Inside Higher Education, one of the leading magazines which cover all things pertaining to university and college news, has published an extensive story on the Crenshaw case. What makes the story interesting is the extensive references drawn from a popular website which deals with ARP issues, written by ARP Minister Chuck Wilson.

A Dissenter Is Fired

Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Education

On Tuesday, the American Association of University Professors wrote to Erskine College, expressing worry about the treatment of William Crenshaw, an English professor who has been among the most outspoken critics of the role of religious conservatives in shaping the direction of the institution. While the AAUP didn’t weigh in on the disputes over Erskine, it said that Crenshaw never should have been suspended and barred from teaching — as he recently had been — unless he met the college handbook’s requirement of causing “immediate harm” by his presence.

On Wednesday, Erskine fired Crenshaw, who had taught at the college for 35 years, earning tenure, an endowed chair and teaching awards, and attracting devoted students and alumni. Religious traditionalists have been pushing for years for Crenshaw’s ouster. Some of the documents about the case suggest that officials at the college argue that Crenshaw — with his criticisms of the college — discouraged potential students from enrolling at Erskine. He says this is inaccurate.

The firing is the latest escalation in an increasingly intense fight over the future of the college. The disputes have led to court battles. And in contrast to the fights of the last two years, Crenshaw won’t be on campus anymore to participate. According to various letters between Crenshaw and college officials, he was willing to negotiate a retirement deal, but balked at any arrangement that would have required him to stop speaking out about the college.

Erskine, in South Carolina, is part of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church, a small denomination that describes itself as conservative and evangelical. For most of his career at Erskine, Crenshaw and other faculty members of a variety of faiths (the denomination is too small to have only its members teach at the college) juggled the responsibilities and sometimes the tensions of providing a liberal arts education in a religious community. Crenshaw developed a reputation as someone who questioned assumptions (even religious assumptions), which he said over the years was a way to build up students’ reasoning and logic skills, not to denigrate anyone’s faith.

But while many alumni have rallied behind Crenshaw, traditionalists in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church have made him a target, and they have been rejoicing over word that he had been suspended from teaching. ARP Talk, a blog that has criticized the college for not being strict enough on issues of faith, has repeatedly called for his ouster. “Crenshaw Is GONE!” reads a headline from last week about his suspension.

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