Missing the Mission | Would Jesus Fire This Professor?
To their credit, both Kent Gramm, a professor of English at Wheaton College, and his bosses at the evangelical Christian school in Illinois are acting like grown-ups with regard to his resignation. Gramm is getting divorced, but because he won’t tell Wheaton the reasons for the split, as is required by the college’s Statement of Faith and Community Covenant, he’s choosing to resign rather than be fired. He’s taking the high road, keeping his private life private but also accepting the consequences of going against a statement he willingly signed. For their part, college officials point out, correctly, that their mission encompasses both education and values equally, and that all faculty, staff, and students are treated the same under the Statement of Faith.
What is sad is that Wheaton is losing a popular and effective teacher, one who even in the midst of a shattered marriage and derailed career believes that his experience offers a lesson for students:
"I want them to know that divorce happens," Gramm said. "That you aren’t deserted by God because your life doesn’t turn out the way you expect. I hope this helps them acquire a broader understanding of what Christianity is and what faithfulness means."
Mission, of course, is the central tenet of a nonprofit’s existence. For faith-based nonprofits, it holds even more resonance. As Gramm’s situation shows, though, competing missions can have unpleasant consequences. I suspect the folks at Wheaton would argue that their dual missions of faith and education are complementary, but one is based on acceptance and the other on inquiry, and instead of sequestering each into separate campus compartments, the college has chosen — as many religious colleges have — to integrate them. And as a result, a highly regarded professor and apparently decent man is losing his job. | 501(c)
