Is Christopher Rollston being "disciplined" for a HuffPo essay?

THIS CONTROVERSY has been roiling in the biblioblogosphere for a couple of weeks. I have been following it and now seems like a good time to comment. The short version of the story is that there is rumor that Dr. Christopher Rollston, a fine Northwest Semitic epigrapher to whom I have linked often on this blog, is being "disciplined" by Emmanuel Christian Seminary, the institution where he works and where he is tenured, for a recently published essay at the Huffington Post: The Marginalization of Women: A Biblical Value We Don't Like to Talk About. The essay is completely uncontroversial: it simply points out that the cultural framework of the entire Bible in relationship to women is consistently (although not entirely unexceptionally) patriarchal and that this framework goes very much against the values of the twenty-first century.

There have been endless online posts etc. on the controversy (about Rollston being disciplined, not about patriarchy in the Bible; the latter, as I said, is uncontroversial). The following are some of the most informative ones:

Thom Stark: The Affair of Dr. Blowers and the Blog of the Three Young Men: A Response to Christopher Rollston’s Cultured Despisers

Thomas Verenna: On Academic Integrity and the Future of Biblical Studies in Confessional Institutions (Bible and Interpretation)

Paul Blowers: Academic Integrity within a Confessional Institution: An “Insider’s” Response to Thomas Verenna (Bible and Interpretation)

(The comments following the two Bible and Interpretation essays are also informative.)

There is good commentary and thorough linkage in the following:

Mark Goodacre: In Support of Christopher Rollston and Academic Integrity

James McGrath: In Support of Christopher Rollston

To return to the story, the rumor is well enough based to be very disquieting. A professor at Emmauel named Paul Blowers reportedly stated publicly on Facebook (in what he evidently thought was a private post) to someone (Thom Stark says "a former student") that he had drawn the attention of the institutional hierarchy to the essay and criticisms of it and that "We are looking at disciplinary action in the next few days." The post has since been deleted, but in the subsequent lengthy interchanges he admitted the post went up and has taken responsibility for it and apologized for posting it.

The real issues, which I have not yet seen either Professor Blowers or Emmanuel Christian Seminary address, are that, first, an academic at this institution has apparently violated fundamental confidentiality principles by disclosing an ongoing disciplinary case against a colleague to someone not involved in the case and, indeed, apparently someone not at the institution at all. That the improper disclosure went public through a misunderstanding of how Facebook works only exacerbates the breach of confidentiality and illustrates why rules of confidentiality exist in the first place. This is arguably an internal matter for the institution, but given that the issue has gone public, it can hardly be kept quiet now. (If Professor Blowers or Emmanuel College have commented substantively on this and I have missed it, I would be grateful for the link.  Apologizing for accidentally making the breach of confidentiality even more public is not addressing it substantively.)

The second issue is even more disturbing. Is the institution really contemplating disciplining Dr. Rollston for publishing a popular essay that simply presents some uncontroversial points about how women are viewed in the Bible and how this clashes with the values of our society? I frequently bring up many of the points that Chris raised when I teach my own classes at the University of St. Andrews. So do pretty much all other biblical scholars in other academic institutions. Is this a matter for discipline at Emmanuel? Is Christopher Rollston to be reprimanded, punished, or even fired for it?

Now there is much that we don't know here and we should not jump to conclusions. There have obviously been some mistakes made, and there is the danger of these reflecting badly on Emmanuel Christian Seminary. I hope this does not happen. The simplest way to settle matters is for the Seminary to make a public statement to the effect that there is a misunderstanding that Dr. Rollston is being disciplined for a recent essay that he published, but in fact this is not the case; that the institution fully respects his right to express his scholarly views in his areas of expertise in public venues; and that he is not being investigated or censured, nor is his position at the institution in any way compromised or in danger.

Problem solved.

I look forward to a statement from Emmanuel and I hope they produce it sooner rather than later. This controversy is not going to go away or get any better until the air is cleared.

UPDATE (15 October): Today Libby A. Nelson takes up the story at Inside Higher Ed, confirming that a disciplinary procedure is in progress and placing it a larger context: Tenure vs. Donors. Excerpt:

The article led to a very public disagreement with another member of Emmanuel’s faculty and a letter of rebuke from the seminary’s president, Michael Sweeney, who issued a less-than-veiled threat to Rollston: stop taking liberal positions that alienate donors and prospective students, or find another place to work.

Rollston has tenure, but Emmanuel professors can be dismissed for cause if they exhibit “behavior demonstrating that [they are] no longer in sympathy with the purposes and goals of the school,” according to the seminary’s faculty handbook. In an undated letter to Rollston, forwarded to Inside Higher Ed by a person who does not work at Emmanuel, Sweeney writes that the professor’s teaching style and the effect he has on his students “have demonstrably exacerbated our current financial problems. That, along with your recent blog, puts you at odds with the purpose and goals of the school... If you feel that you are unwilling or unable to change any of this, and, frankly, I am not even sure it is possible for you to do so at this stage, I strongly suggest you increase your efforts at finding a position in a university where people are not studying for the ministry."

The article has additional details and it quotes from and links to this PaleoJudaica post.

Ms. Nelson reports that she has communicated with President Sweeny by e-mail, so it appears that the letter is genuine:

Sweeney declined to comment because “at this stage no decisions have been made and we are handling things through our protocols,” he wrote in an e-mail to Inside Higher Ed. Both Sweeney and Rollston’s lawyer, Stephen Rush, to whom Rollston referred all questions, said that the professor is still employed and tenured at Emmanuel, although disciplinary proceedings are ongoing.

It appears that Emmanuel Christian Seminary finds itself in a difficult position. Naturally, they want a good relationship with trustees, affiliated institutions, and donors. But at the same time, dismissing someone from a tenured academic post is no small matter. The larger academic world is watching, and whatever decision they make could have an effect on their wider academic reputation and their future efforts to recruit high-quality academic staff.

UPDATE (17 October): In this post and the update on 15 October I mistakenly associated Inside Higher Ed with The Chronicle of Higher Education. Apologies for the error.