Inside Higher Ed: Gender Change Costs Dean a Job
Religious institutions have long had leeway to hire and fire based on creed. But what happens when a man who professes the faith also starts to appear on campus as a woman?
At Spring Arbor University, a Michigan institution affiliated with the Free Methodist Church, the pending termination of a transgender faculty member (and ordained Baptist minister) has raised just that question. John — who now goes by Julie – Nemecek, the former associate dean for The School of Adult Studies, said she was demoted after sharing her diagnosis of gender identity disorder with supervisors. She has filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint, alleging that the university discriminated against her based on sex and perceived disability.
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