Hijab-Wearing Professor Targeted for Firing Reaches Pact with Wheaton College

WHEATON, IL — Wheaton College and the professor targeted for firing because she said Muslims and Christians share the same God — a belief she uttered while wearing a hijab as an instructional statement about solidarity — have reached an agreement that will see her leave the school.

A statement was issued late Saturday in which the Christian college said the school and Dr. Larycia Hawkins had “come together and found a mutual place of resolution and reconciliation.”

The statement also said neither the college nor Hawkins would speak to the news media.

The agreement is confidential.

“Wheaton College sincerely appreciates Dr. Hawkins’ contributions to this institution over the last nine years,” Wheaton College President Dr. Philip Graham Ryken said in the statement. “We are grateful for her passionate teaching, scholarship, community service and mentorship of our students.”

The controversy, which drew national attention and much scrutiny of the school, erupted in December when Hawkins, of Oak Park, posted a statement on Facebook after several weeks of wearing a hijab.

“I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book. And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same God,” Hawkins wrote in her Dec. 10 Facebook post. “As part of my Advent Worship, I will wear the hijab to work at Wheaton College, to play in Chi-town, in the airport and on the airplane to my home state that initiated one of the first anti-Sharia laws (read: unconstitutional and Islamophobic), and at church.”

She was then suspended by the school administration. Faculty rallied to support her. Wheaton College alumni said they would withhold donations to the school. And hate mail poured in criticizing college leadership.

Undeterred, Wheaton College insisted that Hawkins would be fired. At one point, the school offered her a compromise settlement, which she rejected.

The pact she made with the school, she agreed to leave. Hawkins taught political science.

“I appreciate and have great respect for the Christian liberal arts and the ways that Wheaton College exudes that in its mission, programs, and in the caliber of its employees and students,” Hawkins said in the statement released by Wheaton College.

The statement released late Saturday concluded:

Both parties share a commitment to care for the oppressed and the marginalized, including those who are marginalized because of their religious beliefs, and to respectful dialogue with people of other faiths or no faith. While parting ways, both Wheaton College and Dr. Hawkins wish the best for each other in their ongoing work.

A joint press conference will be held at the Chicago Temple First United Methodist Church, 77 W. Washington St., in Chicago, on Wednesday, Feb. 10, at 10 a.m.