Los Angeles Times

A signature problem for college

Two students say they lost jobs at Christian university over refusal to remove pronouns from names in emails.

- By Alexandra E. Petri

Raegan Zelaya and Shua Wilmot thought the pronouns in their work email signatures would be a helpful identifier that could foster conversati­on and promote inclusivit­y, particular­ly at the small Christian university in New York where they worked.

But their good intentions ultimately cost them their jobs, Zelaya and Wilmot said in a video posted to YouTube last month.

Zelaya, who uses she/her, and Wilmot, who uses he/ him, said Houghton University asked them to remove the pronouns from theirsigna­turestoali­gnwith an institutio­nal policy introduced in the fall to streamline email formats. Zelaya and Wilmot, neither of whom identifies as transgende­r, were terminated from their jobs as residence hall directors after refusing to remove the identifier­s, they said.

A petition to protest their firings was signed by more than 700 alumni.

“Our overall concern is that these recent changes demonstrat­e a concerning pattern of failure on the part of the current administra­tion to respect that faithful and active Christians reasonably hold a range of theologica­l and ethical views, and in turn, failure to allow for genuine dialogue about these differing views,” the letter states.

Houghton spokespers­on Michael Blankenshi­p declined to comment on personnel matters, citing confidenti­ality, but said in an email that “Houghton University has never terminated an employment relationsh­ip based solely on the use of pronouns in staff email signatures.”

“Over the past years, we’ve required anything extraneous­beremovedf­rom email signatures, including Scripture quotes,” he said.

Campuses around the country are fertile ground for the ongoing culture wars about gender identity, sexual orientatio­n and social justice issues, particular­ly in red states where lawmakers and governors have been chipping away at transgende­r rights and restrictin­g school curriculum. The issues have been especially fraught at Christian colleges, with institutio­ns such as Hillsdale College in Michigan seen as a beacon of conservati­sm against progressiv­e and “leftist” ideology.

Zelaya and Wilmot talked about their terminatio­n in a 50-minute video uploaded to YouTube the week they were fired. Sitting side by side and holding their terminatio­n letters in their hands, Zelaya and Wilmot explained that they added identifier­s to their emails for practical purposes: Their uncommon first names often caused them to be misgendere­d in email correspond­ence, and they also recognized­anindustry-wide shift toward using identifier­s in emails, at convention­s or during job interviews.

The bigger pieces were deeper, they said. Using identifier­s could foster conversati­ons with students and others in the Houghton community, and they marked Zelaya and Wilmot as “safe people” on campus.

“I felt convicted to keep my pronouns in my email signature in the midst of the discrimina­tion towards our queer students on campus, to mark myself as a safe person, so that I can continuous­ly affirm how much our creator loves them and that there is room for them at the table and in the kingdom,” Zelaya wrote on her Facebook page.

A photo of a terminatio­n letter dated April 19 and uploaded to Zelaya’s Facebook page said she was fired “as a result of your refusal to remove pronouns in [your] email signature,” and for “false and defamatory statements” made against the college in the student newspaper, the Houghton Star. Zelaya had recently criticized a decision to close the campus’ multicultu­ral center.

In the YouTube video, Wilmot said his terminatio­n also stated that he was fired because his email signature violated Houghton policy. His letter, a copy of which was shared with The Times, also stated he was fired for a follow-up email he sent in April to a top official at the Wesleyan Church, of which Houghton is a member, that administra­tors deemed threatenin­g. (Neither Zelaya nor Wilmot was set to return to Houghton for the following academic year.)

According to the Wesleyan Church’s view of gender identity and expression explained on a church website, “gender differenti­ation is sacred,” and “gender confusion and dysphoria are ultimately the biological, psychologi­cal, social and spiritual consequenc­es of the human race’s fallen condition.”

In the YouTube video, Wilmot said he sent an email to the church’s general superinten­dent about revising its published views, which Wilmot said are “outdatedan­dproblemat­ic,”and asked that his letter be shared with the church’s board for considerat­ion. In a follow-up email, Wilmot said he wrote that he “did not want to jump right to publishing it as an open letter” and “would appreciate” that his letter be shared with the church’s board members. “That was my threat, alleged threat,” Wilmot said in the video.

Zelaya could not be reached for further comment. In an Instagram message, Wilmot declined to speak further about his terminatio­n, saying only that he’d included his pronouns in his email signature since he created his account. “The expectatio­n to remove them was not communicat­ed until after I signed my contract for this academic year,” he wrote.

He also pointed to recent similar situations at other Christian colleges and universiti­es, including an English professor at Taylor University in Indiana who said she was terminated because of her teachings on racial justice and a veteran professor at Palm Beach Atlantic University who said his contract was terminated early after a complaint that he was “indoctrina­ting” students by teaching about racial justice.

“The [Council for ChristianC­olleges&Universiti­es] should collective­ly re-evaluate its priorities,” Wilmot wrote.

 ?? IN A Malcolm Davon Smith ?? YouTube interview, Raegan Zelaya, left, and Shua Wilmot said they added identifier­s to their work emails because their uncommon first names often caused them to be misgendere­d in email correspond­ence.
IN A Malcolm Davon Smith YouTube interview, Raegan Zelaya, left, and Shua Wilmot said they added identifier­s to their work emails because their uncommon first names often caused them to be misgendere­d in email correspond­ence.

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