ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, December 20, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A former Republican candidate for Minnesota governor says a local university offered him a job, then reneged when faculty members objected to his defense of traditional marriage.
Tom Emmer lost a close election to Democrat Mark Dayton in last year’s contest to succeed Tim Pawlenty. He said officials at St. Paul’s Hamline University approached him about serving as an “executive in residence” in the business school, where he would teach and aid the university in fundraising. However, the university abruptly terminated the position after appearing to offer it to him.
A statement from the university simply acknowledged, “Although there were conversations over several months about the opportunity for Mr. Emmer to join the Hamline faculty, there was no finalized agreement between Mr. Emmer and the university.”
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However, one e-mail Emmer released shows university officials apparently preparing him to assume teaching duties:
For the spring we are offering a session during the day and Tom Emmer is going to teach it. This is Tom’s first time teaching the course. I have given him a copy of your syllabus but am hoping you would be able to let him know exactly what text you are using and anything else that might be helpful for him.
Another e-mail from business school dean Anne McCarthy offered Emmer a chance to “teach next spring as an adjunct” if he did not “want to come to Hamline on a full-time basis.”
Emmer, who campaigned on his support for the traditional family, promoted his views as a radio talk show host. He says his hiring did not sit well with the university’s activist homosexual lobby.
Jim Bonilla, an associate professor in the business school, essentially admitted launching a political crusade again Emmer. Bonilla, who founded Hamline’s “Race, Gender, & Beyond” diversity program, said he and two professors not in the business program complained the hire would not be “congruent with our values.”
Hamline is affiliated with the United Methodist church, whose official position statement on marriage says, “We support laws in civil society that define marriage as the union of one man and one woman.”
“It’s not just the issue of gay marriage,” Bonilla stated, alleging Emmer has said “you can’t be a patriotic American and be a Democrat. There is an expectation that a teacher will think people can disagree and still be patriots.” Emmer responded that the quotation was taken out of context.
In withdrawing the position, McCarthy told Emmer a “very vocal few” protested strongly enough to convince them to deny him the job.
Emmer asked in a letter to Hamline President Linda Hanson, “Isn’t this exactly what certain segments of our population call bullying?”
“It’s political bigotry,” Emmer said. “If this is what’s going on in all these institutions of higher learning, the most important thing we can do is expose it.”
As a would-be business professor, Emmerson has garnered support from those who most ardently opposed him in the political realm. Minneapolis’ liberal newspaper, the Star Tribune, wrote in an editorial:
[W]hile many may find Emmer’s stances alarming, the reality is that 43.2 percent of those who voted in the 2010 election found him the best gubernatorial candidate. Are those Minnesotans not welcome at Hamline either?
“While this page strongly differs with Emmer’s strident views on taxes, health reform, state’s rights and social issues, especially when it comes to the state’s proposed marriage amendment,” the unsigned editorial offered, “the Hamline incident raises disturbing questions about academic freedom and administrative backbone at one of Minnesota’s most respected educational institutions.”
Others question the role of the United Methodist church in this and other affiliated universities. Columnist Mike S. Adams, a criminology professor at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, wrote, “[M]aybe I misunderstood the United Methodist Church with which Hamline is affiliated. I knew they had open hearts, open minds, and open doors for those who support the gay agenda. I thought they also had room for those who place God above contemporary notions of social justice.”