College Lets Professor's Anti-Christian Bias Go Unchecked, Student Says

by Jim Brown
March 11, 2004

(AgapePress) - The chairman of the University of North Carolina College Republicans is criticizing the school for its handling of the latest incident of anti-Christian bias on campus.

A professor at UNC-Chapel Hill recently singled out a Christian student for saying homosexuality is a sin. In an e-mail to students in her Literature and Cultural Diversity class, Professor Elyse Crystall accused the male student of "hate speech" and making "violent, heterosexist comments." (See Related Article)

Tripp Costas, chairman of the UNC College Republicans, believes school administrators have tried to sweep the issue under the rug. "They've tried to cover this up and issued a blanket apology on behalf of the professor for the comments that she made," he says.

However, Costas feels the university administration has not acted in a "sincere and decisive manner," not only in response to this incident, but on the issue of Crystall's pattern of anti-Christian behavior toward students. He says there is "a very colorful history surrounding this professor and comments she has made in class" as well as "comments she has made to other students outside of class."

The conservative student says UNC officials are apparently uncomfortable with what he believes is a resurgence of the Christian faith since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

"People who are concerned about faith and maybe don't share the same faith I believe have taken a very strong defensive angle toward that faith," Costas says. "And we also have a president in office who has expressed his deep faith in God, and that comes as a threat to a lot of these professors."

Costas says despite Crystall's record of anti-Christian comments and actions, the school has taken no disciplinary action against her, and the administration has done nothing to try to stop the professor from discriminating against Christian students again in the future.