Could it be that Hopkins is an evangelical who earned a degree from Fuller Theological Seminary and who holds a very different view of Scripture than that of Aymer and her phalanx of liberationist, womanist, feminist activists that has obtained faculty dominance at ITC?

The Rev. Margaret Aymer, a high profile Presbyterian Church (USA) leader known for bellicose orations touting “justice,” “human rights,” “inclusivism,” “equality,” “liberation” and “academic freedom,” has succeeded in having a colleague at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta fired because he was in a room where a student was given a book of which she did not approve.

Aymer, who chairs ITC’s Bible Area, charged that the book, The Bible and Homosexual Practice: Texts and Hermeneutics by New Testament scholar Robert A.J. Gagnon is “homophobic literature” and that her colleague, Associate Professor Jamal-Dominique Hopkins, tacitly approved of the book by being present when another person in the room shared it with one of his students.

Book banning

“Are you in favor of book banning?” Hopkins asked Aymer when she interrogated him regarding the incident and threatened his tenure at ITC. Aymer says that she did not threaten Hopkins, but merely “conveyed to Dr. Hopkins that, by FHB 2.7.D8, the FSTW [Faculty Status, Tenure and Welfare Committee] is supposed to conduct a four year review on him as a pre-tenure faculty person in his probationary period …” Aymer says this was merely a statement of fact. Hopkins says it was far more than that, pointing to a campaign apparently orchestrated by Aymer that resulted in his dismissal from the faculty.

‘Safe space’ for some

Not to be dissuaded by Hopkins’ question, Aymer lit into him for allegedly violating ITC’s “Code of Ethics.” The code commits ITC to creating “a safe physical and psychological environment for all members of the community regardless of one’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, sexual orientation, ability, or any other characteristic protected by law.” Aymer contends that distributing Gagnon’s book, a volume that has sold more than 10,000 copies and has been widely acclaimed in scholarly circles as a definitive modern text on New Testament ethics as it relates to sexuality, “is a violation of the code of ethics [and] a question of institutional effectiveness.”

The fact of the matter is that Hopkins did not distribute the book. The transfer occurred during an unofficial prayer and Bible study gathering to which Hopkins invites students, faculty members and Christians from the wider community. On that particular evening, the guest speaker, Dr. Alice Brown-Collins, a regional director of the Intervarsity Christian Fellowship’s Black Campus Ministries, displayed an array of Christian books and resources, encouraging the students to take, free of charge, any of the materials that they might find useful. The Bible and Homosexual Practice appeared in the display.

Aymer objected not only to the book, but to the presence of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship on ITC’s campus. She identified Intervarsity as “an evangelical parachurch organization” with which she had been familiar in her early college years, and she suggested that they “take corporate stands that may violate our code of ethics, so I was concerned that they might be on our campus, sponsored by a member of our faculty, without oversight from our administration.” “That becomes a matter of institutional effectiveness,” she charged.

PCUSA’s posterperson

Aymer is a darling of the PCUSA establishment. She was chosen to be a featured worship leader at the denomination’s 220th General Assembly (2012). She was a member of the PCUSA General Assembly’s high profile special committee on marriage (established by the 218th General Assembly and reported to the following assembly in 2010) which recommended to the assembly that it redefine marriage to encompass more inclusive couplings. She was very vocal with her displeasure when the final vote on the committee’s recommendation was not unanimous, and that some of its members planned to issue a minority report.

She was invited to be the keynote speaker at the national meeting of a liberal lobby organization, the Covenant Network of Presbyterians wherein she declared with greater passion than documentation that the Gospels have little to say on the subject of sex and sexuality and that “questions about same-sex relations simply are not very important to writers trying to pass on the Good News.”

Aymer received effusive accolades from Lee Hinson-Hasty, Coordinator for the General Assembly Office of Theological Education, who in a2009 blog opined that Aymer’s impact on the church is comparable to that of John Calvin and that Aymer has helped the denomination’s Committee on Theological Education “preserve academic freedom for the benefit of the church.”

Aymer authored the 2011-2012 Horizons Bible Study for Presbyterian Women, and was a featured speaker at the denomination’s 2009 Youth Triennium.  Accomplished in the art of inflammatory rhetoric, Aymer has earned a reputation for her ability to passionately express her thoughts.

Another cause Aymer is passionate about is same-sex marriage. Speaking to a street demonstration in downtown Atlanta on Nov. 15, 2008, she extolled the “miracle” of President Obama’s election. “This is not a gay issue,” she yelled into the microphone while lofting her clenched fist. “It is an issue of human rights.”

Aymer’s passion during that street demonstration may explain why her reaction to the appearance of The Bible and Homosexual Practicewas tantamount to throwing gasoline on an open fire. It is not only the book’s content that offends her, but its very existence. Apparently, the open engagement of contrasting ideas has no place in Aymer’s academy.

Or, as Gagnon told World Magazine when learning that his book had been banned, “Their end game is not tolerance for homosexualist views but rather the persecution and removal of any who dare think for themselves and question such views. They cannot allow even reasoned discussion or debate.”

Housecleaning

Determined to oust Hopkins from ITC, Aymer launched what became a three-tiered campaign to drive him out. A list of Hopkins’ colleagues from across the country was obtained and telephone calls were made to several of them, apparently seeking to dig up dirt that could be used in an inquiry regarding his professional standing.

Aymer, whose ITC area of responsibility includes “Queer Theology” in its courses, declared that the orthodox texts Hopkins used in his New Testament classes had to go. “She said none of the books gave the current scholarly view of the New Testament,” Hopkins told World Magazine, and that “I needed more books conducive to womanist theology, post-colonial theology or LGBT theology.”

Hopkins’ students were queried regarding his performance as a professor. And students who had received failing and low grades from Hopkins were invited to have their marks reviewed and upgraded by the administration.  Hopkins learned about the revisions when a student who had received a low grade sent him an email requesting that his grade might also be changed. That revelation sent Hopkins to the record wherein he found that eight students to whom he had initially assigned D’s or F’s were elevated to C’s. One F student received an amended A-minus, as did another student who originally received a D grade. Hopkins replied to the emailing student, “You should contact the provost’s office in that they have now taken oversite [sic] of this matter.”

Standards adopted by the American Association of University Professors declare that faculty members alone should grade their students’ work. “Under no circumstances should administrative officers on their own authority substitute their judgment for that of the faculty concerning the assignment of a grade,” says the organization’s 1998 statement. ITC’s own faculty handbook states a similar position.

Grievances filed and ignored

Under these multiple assaults, Hopkins pushed back. Using the grievance protocols that are published in ITC’s Faculty Handbook, he filed three separate grievances and waited almost three months during which there was no administrative response. Finally, he received word from ITC’s President, Ron Peters, inviting Hopkins to come to a meeting in the provost’s office.

Assuming that the invitation was an administrative response to Hopkins’ grievances, he appeared at the provost’s office accompanied by his teaching assistant who could verify the grade alterations. When he arrived he discovered that President Peters was not present, and his teaching assistant was ordered to leave. Then Provost Temba Mafico handed Hopkins a letter, firing him from the faculty.

“I was shocked,” Hopkins told The Layman. “Contrary to ITC’s published policies, I was summarily dismissed without any notice or warning or opportunity to learn of or answer any complaints that may have been brought against me. I went into that office thinking that the administration was finally going to respond to my grievances, only to discover that I was being fired.”

A know-nothing notice

Following Hopkins’ dismissal, Aymer sent a notice to her department feigning ignorance of the Hopkins affair: “Colleagues,” she wrote, “I am passing on to you this information that I received today by email from the Office of the Provost. I have not received any formal explanation of Dr. Hopkins’ leave-taking of us from the Provost at this time, so I am not at liberty to make any further statement of explanation.”

The Layman has in its possession a copy of Aymer’s memo to Provost Mafico after the meeting in which she castigated Hopkins for being present when “homophobic literature” was given to a student. The document clearly suggests that she initiated the series of events that led to Hopkins’ dismissal, and that her know-nothing notice to faculty colleagues was, to put it mildly, disingenuous.

Next steps

Hopkins, who earned a PhD in Biblical Studies from the University of Manchester (United Kingdom) and has distinguished himself in his research, writing and speaking engagements on the Dead Sea Scrolls, appears to have little in his record that would have warranted dismissal. Ironically, ITC named him to deliver the institution’s prestigious Charles B. Copher Lecture in 2009 and in February, 2012, less than six months before his summary dismissal he was awarded a promotion from assistant professor to associate professor.

So what is the sin that provoked such a vicious attack from Aymer and an administration that she appears heavily to influence? Could it be that Hopkins is an evangelical who earned a degree from Fuller Theological Seminary and who holds a very different view of Scripture than that of Aymer and her phalanx of liberationist, womanist, feminist activists that has obtained faculty dominance at ITC? Hopkins’ extracurricular prayer meetings, voluntarily attended by students, appear to have been too much for Aymer and friends, especially when the students dared to expose themselves to ideas that challenge her liberal mantra. He whom Aymer couldn’t control had to be fired.

Hopkins and his attorney father will not be so easily dismissed, and it appears that they will have an opportunity to argue their case. He has filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging that he was dismissed without due process and discriminated against on the basis of his sex and evangelical faith. Additional litigation may also be forthcoming, although Hopkins has expressed his hope to resolve the dispute without going to court.

The Hopkins case will no doubt complicate an already delicate situation for ITC in that it is under warning from its accreditor, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools for failing to meet its standards of “institutional effectiveness.” Ironically, “institutional effectiveness” is the very category that Aymer cited in launching her lynching campaign.

Calls from The Layman seeking comment from ITC’s president, provost and Dr. Aymer have not been returned.

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