College implies it let go theatre professor for being queer
Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder
Theatre professor Miranda Barnett(she/they) had been teaching part-time at Anderson University since 2018. In 2020, the small private Christian school in South Carolina awarded Barnett the "Excellence in Teaching" for part-time faculty.
Now, just two years later, Barnett is out of a job due to what she says is because she is queer. And judging from a statement by the university, they’re not denying that.
In a video, Barnett explained how their contract was not renewed for the upcoming academic year. She states that the reasoning was because of their openly queer lifestyle which conflicts with university policy.
While it comes to no surprise that a private Christian university in the south would do such a thing, it did surprise me that the university basically confirmed that this was the reason they didn’t renew Barnett’s contract.
In a statement from a university spokesperson, they defended the decision based on their policy.
Anderson University is a private Christian university which upholds the South Carolina Baptist traditional view of sexuality and marriage as set forth in Scripture. As a condition of employment, and as outlined in our employee handbook, “employees are to be actively mindful and respectful of its denominational relationship and the ways in which their behavior may impact this relationship. In doing so, faculty members shall be respectful of and not undermine the University’s Statement of Faith.
In response to Barnett’s dismissal, students and alums organized a protest that was held at the end of June.
"The theater department specifically has been built up off of the backs of the LGBTQ+ students for years now, and to terminate a professor for their queerness is a slap in the face to all queer students and alumni," said 2020 acting graduate Savvy Thompson. "These students deserve to have safe spaces where members of their community aren't actively being oppressed."
As of the publishing of this story, Anderson University has not reversed its decision and it doesn’t look like Barnett would willingly return if they did.
"The students of Anderson University deserve better," Barnett said. "There are a lot of queer students on this campus, and many of them don't have a choice about being here. At a minimum, they should feel safe. But, on a Christian campus, they should feel loved. And many of them right now are feeling betrayed and hurt and scared. And that has to change."
While I understand that Anderson Univeristy is within its rights as a private Christian school to create policies that directly contradict the Bible and its teachings, I can absolutely criticize them and their practices. I could go on and one about how Anderson University seems to be cherry-picking which scripture they want to enforce on their campus. Just because you have the right to discriminate others, does that mean you have to?
So unless you’re a hateful bigot, I would steer clear of applying to Anderson University.