Article Image

IPFS News Link • Religion: Believers

Duke divinity professor calls diversity training 'a waste,' faces discipline

• http://www.newsobserver.com, BY JANE STANCILL

Paul Griffiths, a professor of Catholic theology at the school, could not be reached for comment Tuesday about the flap. A colleague at the school says Griffiths, 61, has resigned, effective next year.

string of emails, first published by The American Conservative website, revealed a chain of events that began with a February invitation to all divinity school faculty to participate in two full days of racial equity training in March.

"Those who have participated in the training have described it as transformative, powerful, and life-changing," wrote Anathea Portier-Young, an associate professor of Old Testament. "We recognize that it is a significant commitment of time; we also believe it will have great dividends for our community."

Griffiths responded the same day to Portier-Young, Feb. 6, copying all faculty on the email and calling the training a waste of time.

"I exhort you not to attend this training," he wrote, according to the published exchange. "Don't lay waste your time by doing so. It'll be, I predict with confidence, intellectually flaccid: there'll be bromides, clichés, and amen-corner rah-rahs in plenty. When (if) it gets beyond that, its illiberal roots and totalitarian tendencies will show. Events of this sort are definitively anti-intellectual."


www.BlackMarketFridays.com