Exodus! Professors Quit En Masse After Georgia College Tries To Ban Gay Faculty

A Baptist college has discovered that there is such thing as ‘blowback’ in the culture wars:

More than two dozen faculty members have resigned from Shorter University, a Baptist school in Georgia, after it required them to sign a “personal lifestyle statement” that condemns homosexuality, premarital sex and public drinking.

An online campaign called “Save Our Shorter” says that the lifestyle pledge, adopted in the fall of 2011 along with a statement of faith, has led to dozens of resignations. University president Donald Dowless on Friday confirmed that 36 faculty have resigned and at least 25 cited disagreement with either the personal lifestyle statement or the faith statement.

In 2005, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled that the state’s Baptist Convention could fully stock the board with its allies, and their decisions have apparently led to the exodus of more than a third of the school’s faculty in less than a year. Even worse, a new survey reveals that only 12 percent of professors plan to stay for next year — one tenured librarian, who is gay, lost his tenure after he crossed out the “lifestyle statement.”