Spring Arbor University erred in treatment of faculty
member
30/03/07 04:15 |
News
Spring Arbor University erred in
treatment of faculty member
Friday, March 30, 2007
Kalamazoo Gazette
By Maxine Thome
The National Association of Social Workers (NASW), the largest professional organization of social workers with more than 150,000 members worldwide, has firm policies regarding the ethical treatment of people who are of diverse gender expression or identity. As executive director of the NASW-Michigan Chapter, which represents more than 7,500 social workers from all across the state, I am writing to express our deep concern over the unethical and dehumanizing treatment and eventual firing of a transgender professor at Spring Arbor University.
The NASW policy on gender identity issues is clearly set forth in ``Social Work Speaks,'' and among other guidelines, its requirements include the following:
1. NASW ``promotes proactive efforts to eliminate psychological, social and physical harm directed toward transgender people and to portray them accurately and compassionately.''
2. NASW ``supports the development of programs within schools'' that ``educate students, faculty, and staff about the range of gender diversity.''
3. NASW ``endorses policies in the public and private sectors that ensure nondiscrimination, that are sensitive to the health and mental health needs of transgender people, and that promote an understanding of gender expression and identity issues.''
4. NASW ``encourages the repeal of laws and discriminatory practices that impede individuals from identifying with and/or expressing (their) gender.... in all areas of the public arena, especially employment.''
Spring Arbor University includes satellite educational facilities in 14 communities across Michigan. Students and community members learn not only by attending classes at Spring Arbor, but also by observing the actions of the school's administration.
When President Gayle D. Beebe and the Spring Arbor Executive Team removed Professor Julie Nemecek from her position as Dean of Adult Learning and severely curtailed her ability to perform her professorial duties, subsequently dismissing her from the university, they set a particularly poor example, not just for Spring Arbor students, but for the citizens of Michigan as well. Rather than teaching from a Christian perspective, they taught from a perspective of unfounded fear.
Whether Julie Nemecek is a woman, a man, or a transsexual, one thing is certain -- her gender is clearly female. She has always been a female, and this is confirmed by her health providers. No administrator, whether at Spring Arbor University or at any other such institution, can refute her gender status as a woman without risking a charge of practicing medicine without a medical license -- nor should they be able to challenge her status. Ethics, and even simple good manners, require that Julie Nemecek be treated with the same respect as any other faculty member who identifies as a woman or as a man.
I urge Spring Arbor University's administration to stop demanding that Julie Nemecek come to campus in men's clothing, when she is clearly a woman -- this is a very strange request, and would only be acceptable if you were to require all of your female faculty and staff to wear men's clothing at work. I further urge Spring Arbor University to return this fine professor to her job, both as a faculty member and as a dean.
President Beebe, how would you maintain your dignity and self respect if you were required to come to campus dressed as a woman, while knowing that you are a man? What your administration has required of Julie Nemecek is no less reprehensible than this.
I call upon the administration of Spring Arbor University to set a better example for their students and campus communities throughout Michigan. You may just have enough time left to use this as a learning experience for your administration, and thus as an example of a genuinely enriching educational process occurring at Spring Arbor University.
Maxine Thome is the executive director of the Michigan chapter of The National Association of Social Workers.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Kalamazoo Gazette
By Maxine Thome
The National Association of Social Workers (NASW), the largest professional organization of social workers with more than 150,000 members worldwide, has firm policies regarding the ethical treatment of people who are of diverse gender expression or identity. As executive director of the NASW-Michigan Chapter, which represents more than 7,500 social workers from all across the state, I am writing to express our deep concern over the unethical and dehumanizing treatment and eventual firing of a transgender professor at Spring Arbor University.
The NASW policy on gender identity issues is clearly set forth in ``Social Work Speaks,'' and among other guidelines, its requirements include the following:
1. NASW ``promotes proactive efforts to eliminate psychological, social and physical harm directed toward transgender people and to portray them accurately and compassionately.''
2. NASW ``supports the development of programs within schools'' that ``educate students, faculty, and staff about the range of gender diversity.''
3. NASW ``endorses policies in the public and private sectors that ensure nondiscrimination, that are sensitive to the health and mental health needs of transgender people, and that promote an understanding of gender expression and identity issues.''
4. NASW ``encourages the repeal of laws and discriminatory practices that impede individuals from identifying with and/or expressing (their) gender.... in all areas of the public arena, especially employment.''
Spring Arbor University includes satellite educational facilities in 14 communities across Michigan. Students and community members learn not only by attending classes at Spring Arbor, but also by observing the actions of the school's administration.
When President Gayle D. Beebe and the Spring Arbor Executive Team removed Professor Julie Nemecek from her position as Dean of Adult Learning and severely curtailed her ability to perform her professorial duties, subsequently dismissing her from the university, they set a particularly poor example, not just for Spring Arbor students, but for the citizens of Michigan as well. Rather than teaching from a Christian perspective, they taught from a perspective of unfounded fear.
Whether Julie Nemecek is a woman, a man, or a transsexual, one thing is certain -- her gender is clearly female. She has always been a female, and this is confirmed by her health providers. No administrator, whether at Spring Arbor University or at any other such institution, can refute her gender status as a woman without risking a charge of practicing medicine without a medical license -- nor should they be able to challenge her status. Ethics, and even simple good manners, require that Julie Nemecek be treated with the same respect as any other faculty member who identifies as a woman or as a man.
I urge Spring Arbor University's administration to stop demanding that Julie Nemecek come to campus in men's clothing, when she is clearly a woman -- this is a very strange request, and would only be acceptable if you were to require all of your female faculty and staff to wear men's clothing at work. I further urge Spring Arbor University to return this fine professor to her job, both as a faculty member and as a dean.
President Beebe, how would you maintain your dignity and self respect if you were required to come to campus dressed as a woman, while knowing that you are a man? What your administration has required of Julie Nemecek is no less reprehensible than this.
I call upon the administration of Spring Arbor University to set a better example for their students and campus communities throughout Michigan. You may just have enough time left to use this as a learning experience for your administration, and thus as an example of a genuinely enriching educational process occurring at Spring Arbor University.
Maxine Thome is the executive director of the Michigan chapter of The National Association of Social Workers.