A black professor at Calvin College asked her Board of Trustees if she could join a local black church. At Calvin College, faculty are required to join a Christian Reformed Church. The black church is not a CRCH parish, so the Board of Trustees therefore denied her request:
http://insidehighered.com/news/2008/01/04/calvin

The article raises some interesting dilemmas, as do the comments from faculty and deans below the article. I wonder if the school can't allow her to belong to *both* churches, especially since her academic research is going to be on African American faith.

My PhD is from a Catholic university but most of my professors there are Jewish. Many other schools "make it work," and I think the intellectual diversity and pedagogy are enhanced as a result.

My dissertation looked at a religion-affiliated institution that implemented domestic partner benefits for gay and lesbian couples, and had a faith-based rationale for doing so, so situations like these always catch my eye. Maybe I'm a nerd, then, but I thought this was interesting and worth sharing.

So much for being an institution of "higher education."

B Man, are you a college professor?