‘Muslim solidarity’ professor ‘parting ways’ with Christian college

A professor at a conservative Christian college in suburban Chicago who was suspended after saying Muslims and Christians “worship the same God” is now “parting ways” with her employers.

Wheaton College announced the news this weekend in a joint statement with Professor Dr Larycia Hawkins.

The private evangelical Protestant college released the statement between its president Philip Graham Ryken and the political science professor on its website.

Both parties expressed mutual respect for each other saying, “while parting ways, both Wheaton College and Dr Hawkins wish the best for each other in their ongoing work.”

No details were given on how they came to a decision of “parting ways.”

In December Hawkins, herself a Christian, posted a photo Facebook in which she is wearing a hijab along with a message that she stands in “human solidarity” with Muslims “because we are formed of the same primordial clay.”

She added that Muslims, like Christians, are “people of the book… and as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God” and urged women of all creeds to wear hijabs to show solidarity with Muslims.

The post has since been removed.

Hawkins was suspended by the college after becoming its first tenured female African-American professor in 2013.

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Provost Stanton Jones issued an apology for the suspension hours before the joint statement was released on Saturday.

Jones said he stands by his concerns over the statements raised by Hawkins, but that they were “a promising start toward answering satisfactorily some of the questions that I was raising at the time”.

Jones said he showed a "lack of wisdom and collegiality” when he announced disciplinary actions without first meeting with Hawkins.

A joint press conference will be held this Wednesday at the famous Chicago Temple Building downtown.