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Wheaton College President Philip Ryken denies targeting professor for wearing a hijab

by Lynda Carson (tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com)
Despite the denial of Wheaton College president, Philip Ryken, that Hawkins was targeted for administrative leave because she decided to wear a hijab, he claimed that she was placed on leave for stating that Muslims and Christians worship the same God. Many critics, including students and faculty at the college find that very difficult to believe!
Wheaton College President Philip Ryken denies targeting professor for wearing a hijab

By Lynda Carson - December 19, 2015

On Wednesday Dec. 16, students and faculty rallied at Wheaton College in support of Dr. Larycia Hawkins, a political science teacher who was placed on administrative leave for stating on Facebook that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. The students and faculty want her to be reinstated immediately to her position as a tenured political professor at the evangelical Christian college. Hawkins is the only black tenured professor at Wheaton College.

In recent days, Dr. Larycia Hawkins, a Christian, also chose to wear a hijab, a Muslim head scarf, during advent as a way to show solidarity with Muslim women facing discrimination and violence, all across the nation.

Hawkins said on her Facebook page after she was criticized, that there are convincing arguments for expressing religious solidarity with Muslims and Jews. She also asked people who do not agree with her to accept her love and her offering of peace.

The ramped up hatred being expressed against Muslims by Republican right-wing extremist presidential candidates have been amplified by the media to extremes since the San Bernardino mass killings took place recently, including the recent mass killings in Paris.

Despite the denial of Wheaton College president, Philip Ryken, that Hawkins was targeted for administrative leave because she decided to wear a hijab, he claimed that she was placed on leave for stating that Muslims and Christians worship the same God. Many critics, including students and faculty at the college find that very difficult to believe.

In a scathing Dec. 17, commentary published by Religious News Service, Tobin Grant, an alumnus of Wheaton College who taught a course there declared: “The news of Wheaton’s decision is shameful. I say this as an alumnus of the college, someone who has even taught a course at Wheaton, and someone who knows Hawkins and the rest of the political science faculty. Put bluntly: I know and love Wheaton and its students. And it’s from this position that I am profoundly disappointed in how Hawkins has been treated.”

“Wheaton holds a unique place among evangelicals. It seeks to excel academically while maintaining a distinctive evangelical identity.”

“So, I’m not surprised that Wheaton made a public statement responding to the controversy. The college, as an institution, often needs to make clear its positions on theological matters.”

“But the college erred by putting Hawkins on leave and making this decision public. Correction: It was not an error. It was a disgrace.”

Click below for full commentary…

http://tinyurl.com/hzxzc5v

According to another critic, on the website called Patheos, Fred Clark said: “Well, this was sadly predictable. After a brief flurry of news hinting that at least some folks at Wheaton College take its “For Christ and His Kingdom” motto seriously, administrators at the white evangelical school have stepped up to reassure us that this was an aberration: “Wheaton College says view of Islam, not hijab, got Christian teacher suspended.”

“The Wheaton administration’s explanation for its actions is not credible. Had the college been concerned about “conflation of Christian and Muslim theology,” they could simply have asked Prof. Hawkins to clarify that part of her statement. They didn’t ask her to do that — they just suspended her. Tenure schmenure.”

“Wheaton administrators are asking us to accept that this black woman’s suspension has nothing to do with her gesture being, in part, a rebuke to the viciously anti-Islamic rhetoric of political candidates (and a home-state governor) from the party they explicitly support as an article of faith. That’s not credible.”

“Wheaton administrators are asking us to accept that this black woman’s suspension has nothing to do with appeasing rich white Christian donors who share that partisan militancy and anti-Islamic sentiment and were thus horrified when this picture of Hawkins wearing a hijab was splashed all over the media as representative of the institution they fund in the understanding that it continue to represent people who look and think just like them. That’s not credible.”


The Mission Of Wheaton College Is To Serve Jesus Christ


According to their latest tax filing ending June 2014, Wheaton College, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, had gross receipts of $327,696,605. After subtracting their liabilities from their assets that year, they had a fund balance of $624,980,150.

Additionally, according to the mission of Wheaton College: Wheaton College serves Jesus Christ and advances his kingdom through excellence in liberal arts and graduate programs that educate the whole person to build the church and benefit society worldwide.

The mission statement appears to be a little bit fuzzy when questioning how it actually serves Jesus Christ to place Dr. Larycia Hawkins on administrative leave until spring, because she decided to wear a hijab in solidarity with Muslim women facing mistreatment, or that she stated on Facebook that Muslims and Christians worship the same God.

Regardless, it appears that it pays very well to serve Jesus Christ at Wheaton College. According to the latest tax filing during 2014, Wheaton College president, Philip G. Ryken, raked in a whopping $303,111, plus an additional $132,352 in other compensation that year.

Other executives at the college made out very well serving Jesus Christ that same year also. Dale Kemp raked in $204,938, plus $51,791 in other compensation. Mark Dillon raked in $220,860, plus $114,305 in other compensation. Paul Chelsen raked in $135,100, plus $32,748 in other compensation. Stanton Jones raked in $217,687, plus $113,117 in other compensation. Dave Teune raked in $127,604, plus $29,935 in other compensation. Dorothy Chappell raked in $133,753, plus $17,749 in other compensation. Julie Bullock raked in $131,663, plus $19,601 in other compensation. Kenneth Larson raked in $145,131, plus $35,583 in other compensation, and Patrick Brooke raked in $130,101, plus $28,193 in other compensation that year.

Wheaton College also made some headlines during late May 2015, when it announced that Dennis Hastert’s name is no longer associated with the college after federal charges were filed against the former U.S. House speaker. Hastert also resigned from his position on the board of the Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy, at Wheaton College, after he was accused of paying $3.5 million in hush money to conceal his alleged sexual misconduct with a male student, while he was a high school wrestling coach and teacher.

Wheaton College is located in Wheaton, a wealthy suburban town with around 53,500 residents, and is located around 30 miles west of Chicago. According to a recent census report, Wheaton is around 90% white in population. Politically, Republicans are mostly in control of Wheaton, and have been for many years.

According to Wheaton College, they have seen their share of political campaigns and candidates. Wheaton College and the surrounding area is a bastion of Republican politics, with a large number of visits by Republicans running for high office through the years that end up in the local 4th of July Parade, and many other events, while seeking voter approval for their right-wing aganda.

For the teenagers growing up in Wheaton years ago who became over-saturated with the tall tales of Jerry Falwell Sr., or Billy Graham, it all became a bit too much for them, and many tried to escape the right-wing Republican conservative propaganda as best as they can.

For a few examples, actor and comedian John Belushi, and his actor brother Jim Belushi grew up in Wheaton, went to Central High, and eventually escaped Wheaton’s conservative agenda by joining Second City Theater in Chicago, as they were on their way to fame and fortune.

Back in those days, Jim Belushi could still be found driving in an old volkswagen bug on his way from Wheaton, to Second City Theater, picking up hitch hikers along the way. Years ago, many of the younger folk in Wheaton would also end up at Lord & Lady Q Billiards, downtown on Main Street, to play pool and ping pong, and find out where the next party was. Alcohol was totally illegal in Wheaton during those days, including alcoholic beverages for adults, and many of the youth turned to drugs as a result.

There were many times that the Belushi brothers could also be found at the pool hall back in those days, to party it up with the rest of the crowd. Lord & Lady Q Billiards was one of many places in Wheaton, where the young folks hung out, who did not fit in with the conservative ways of the Republicans, and Wheaton College. Eventually the local pool hall was shut down, due to the activities occurring there.

Additionally, famed journalist Bob Woodward is also from Wheaton. Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein investigated and reported on the break-in at the Watergate Hotel in Washington D.C., which eventually helped to bring down President Richard Nixon (Tricky Dick). Back in those days as Bob Woodward was hot on the trail of Tricky Dick, his younger sister Wendy partied with the so-called Doodle Gang, in Wheaton. Yankee Doodle Burgers was one of the places where older teenagers and people in their young 20s would meet to find the next party during that period, which is why they were called the Doodle Gang. At times Wendy would have large parties with her friends from the Doodle Gang where she lived with her father Judge Alfred Woodward, near Northside Park.

More about Wheaton College. According to wikipedia, Wheaton College is a private four-year Evangelical Protestant Christian liberal arts school with around 2,500 undergraduates, and was founded by abolitionists in 1860. Evangelist, Billy Graham, graduated from Wheaton College with a degree in anthropology in 1943, and The Billy Graham Center, is presently located at Wheaton College.

Jerry Falwell Sr., and his organization called the Moral Majority were also popular in Wheaton years ago, despite the fact that many people tried to ignore them, and wanted nothing to do with the so-called Moral Majority, or their right-wing agenda.

Wheaton is known as one of Chicago’s most conservative suburbs, with forty-five churches within the city limits, plus an additional thirty places of worship in the surrounding unincorporated areas, representing around forty religious denominations in total. For a city with a population of around 54,000, there is a lot of religious activity occurring in Wheaton.

Being diverse, Wheaton is also home to the modern Theosophical Society in America, which has been based in Wheaton since 1927, and is located on around 10 acres of land along Main St., and Cole Ave. According to Wikipedia, the organization members see each religion as an expression of Divine Wisdom, adapted to the needs of a particular time and place.

According to public records, the City of Wheaton was founded sometime between 1831 and 1837, by Warren L. Wheaton, and his brother Jesse Wheaton, following the implementation of the notorious Indian Removal Act.

Click on link below for more about the Indian Removal Act…

http://tinyurl.com/p25hztu

As the students and faculty continue to rally at Wheaton College in support of Dr. Larycia Hawkins, a political science teacher who was placed on administrative leave for stating on Facebook that Christians and Muslims worship the same God, or for wearing a hijab, the students and faculty want her to be reinstated immediately to her position as a tenured political professor at the evangelical Christian college.

For more on the feud at Wheaton College involving Dr. Larycia Hawkins, click on link below…

http://tinyurl.com/o6vs93x

Lynda Carson may be reached at tenantsrule [at] yahoo.com

Note: The author of this article resided in Wheaton, Illinois, many years ago.


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