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Gay Student at Messiah College Will Transfer

May 9, 2011, 10:55 am

Isaiah Thomas, an openly gay freshman at Messiah College, plans to transfer at the end of the semester as a result of harassment at the Pennsylvania institution, reported The Patriot-News, in Harrisburg, Pa. The college includes sexual orientation in its antiharassment policy, its provost told the newspaper, but its “Community Covenant” prohibits “homosexual behavior.” Mr. Thomas said that a professor had called him an “abomination” in class; that he had found his student ID cut up and covered with urine; and that he had received a death threat via Facebook. The provost, Randy Bassinger, told the newspaper that campus officials had looked into Mr. Thomas’s complaints and had called in the police, but that Messiah could not disclose the results of the investigation.

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  • disembedded

    Another wonderfully disgusting evangelical college.

  • reidwmc

    I think the the harassment this student has received is horrible.

    But stuff like this can (and does) happen at all colleges everywhere – private and public, Christian and secular)

  • marymcg

    What was that song they taught us in Sunday School? “And They’ll Know We Are Christians By Our Love…”?

  • jarnold119

    Messiah, as an evangelical Christian college, includes a prohibition against pre-marital or extra-marital sex within their code of conduct. As such, any sexual relationship outside of marriage would constitute a violation of their policies, both hetero or homosexual. Certainly runs against the grain of what we might expect at a college or university…but as a voluntary community, they are free to maintain any expectations they feel best reflect their mission and values. Most evangelical colleges require students to sign their “community life covenant” as a condition of enrollment, and so students choose to attend schools like Messiah in full knowledge of their values and expectations. Of course…these schools, as any other, still need to treat their LGBT students who do choose to attend with respect and dignity. Many evangelical schools are actively seeking ways to reconcile this difficult tension…see discussions at Bethel University for a good example: http://www.bethel.edu/publications-archive/focus/past-issues/vol56-num2/homosexuality/

  • adjunk

    I continually fail to understand how these bastions of religions indoctrination get accredited as educational institutions.

  • messiahstudent

    Check out the ORIGINAL article at Messiah College’s student newspaper, The Swinging Bridge, at

    http://media.www.messiahsb.com/media/storage/paper1242/news/2011/04/27/Entertainment/Excerpt.From.community.Vs.Covenant-3995397.shtml

    We took the time to address this issue from the inside, and I know
    from personal experience that Messiah administration is working towards
    providing open dialogue.

    Thanks for the credit, Patriot News.

  • dubious

    As messiahstudent requested, I read the original article.

    I found this:
    “Matt Hunter, adjunct professor and ’97 Messiah alum, understands the magnitude of poor relationships between mainstream Christians and the gay community.”

    This is the problem in a nutshell. There is NOT a poor relationship between mainstream Christians and the gay community. I believe that majority of the Christians accept the commandment which states “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself” as a core principle of Christianity.

  • jarnold119

    I would presume the same way that the bastions of non-religious indoctrination are accredited, and by similar standards and means.

  • tlnorth

    It has always amazed me why individuals can claim to be Christian, but treat others with such unChristian-like behavior. Christ ministered to the lepers, treated all with kindness, and lived the golden rule. Yet, to some Christians, and seemingly in particular, the fundamentalists and evangelicals, Christ’s goodness only exists in like beings, i.e., them, not all of God’s creatures. To hate the perceived sin, does not mean to hate the perceived sinner, far from it, indeed.

  • 22036365

    Let’s put some real-life context to this commentary. Mr. Thomas has been harassed and demeaned in ways both large and repulsive. Here we are in 2011. Discussions of bullying are everywhere and, among gay and lesbian students, we’ve had homicides (Matthew Sheppard) and unmentionable numbers of suicides . As director of a mental health company, all I can tell you is that I worry deeply for this student. Whether this is an evangelical college or not, what happened is – plainly – wrong. And the professor who deemed this young man an “abomination” should only confront him or herself in the mirror. Profound shame would be the right response, but I wonder if this individual has the capacity for such self-reflection…..

  • 3345513

    The student was harassed, threatened, bullied, and told he would die. The college’s first duty should be for the safety of all at their campus (students, faculty, staff, guests), and to resolve their religious issues after safety concerns are resolved. The provost’s weak response is typical of this type of religious school administrator. Other administrators interviewed in local papers (link posted several times below) echo the same sentiment.

    By the way – jarnold119′s mention of the school’s requirements and expectations are a valid point only if all the students, faculty, staff, and others affiliated with the institution meet the same code. Page 23 prohibits drug or alcohol use. Page 24 requires they have access to excellent faculty, academic technology, classrooms, etc. (Wonder who evaluates those excellent resources?) The same page also indicates, “students will benefit from a caring and response Messiah College Administration…” Does the provost’s response and the other responses seem particularly caring? Pages 24 and 25 specifically prohibit assault, harassment, vandalism, and profanity. Oh – don’t forget “wrong attitudes”, greed, jealousy, pride, lust, factiousness. Finally, prejudice is mentioned in the same sentence. Good thing none of the students exhibit any of those undesirable traits – of course those who threatened, harassed, cut up his ID and urinated on it weren’t doing any of those prohibited things, they were acting with the best intentions and behaviors as taught to them by their faculty.

    http://www.messiah.edu/offices/student_affairs/student_handbook/resources/1011/studenthandbook1011.pdfFortunately, the student will have the opportunity to disclose the entire episode in court or through the press. Just as beneficially, he may be able to attend a different college or university where he can refine his faith, his personality, and his learning in an environment free of harassment, bigotry, violence, and threats.

  • http://www.facebook.com/msouthard Matt Southard

    I’m a Messiah alumnus myself, and although the story doesn’t surprise me, it pisses me off beyond belief. I know the type of person that would harass Isaiah — those were the people I refused to associate myself with.People that are quick to dismiss Messiah College would be surprised to hear this, but there are a great many students and professors at Messiah that DO actually live the love and acceptance that they preach and accept others regardless of their sexual orientation. Unfortunately, the loud voices are those of a handful of professors that are truly bigoted and some stupid homeschooled kids that think that rated R movies will send you to hell. The rest are the same gay-bashers that you see anywhere else, just with a few poorly chosen words to “validate” their bigotry. It makes me sick.

  • wchristie

    Whoa, there. On what basis do you call the provost’s response weak? He looked into the complaint and called the police. At that point an investigation begins to determine whether a criminal act has occurred. And therefore at that same point the provost’s ability to make public comments is reduced to near zero. As an officer of the institution, he simply can’t be seen to compromise a police investigation in any way. As a Christian, I deplore the behavior of the unnamed professor and of the others who harassed this student. But on the basis of so little information I cannot assume that the provost’s response was weak. Perhaps he fried the professor’s posterior. We’ll never know, because such disciplinary action cannot be revealed. You note that the student will have the opportunity to disclose the whole episode in court or through the press. The provost will probably not have the same opportunity, so give him a break and don’t be so quick to judge his actions.

  • mathmaven

    So the members of this Christian community threatened to kill him and cut up his student ID and poured urine all over it? What ever happened to WWJD? Surely Jesus does not instruct his followers to behave this way toward their fellow humans. At least not in the New Testament I read.

  • tee_bee

    Another wonderfully uninformed declarative sentence based on limited information and plenty of ideology. I don’t like what happened here either. But it’s unclear to me whether the school itself harassed this student.

  • tee_bee

    Because, for example, one of the nation’s finest sociologists, an expert on the Amish and on Mennonites, works there. And does stellar work. Don’t paint the whole administration with one brush, considering we have no idea where the investigation will lead.

  • jarnold119

    “The provost’s weak response is typical of this type of religious school administrator.”

    I would be curious to know what responses have been employed by non-religious schools beyond an investigation by its own student conduct review board and campus police (in collaboration with local authorities). Seems like it would be a superb example of best practices.

    In regard to your question pertaining to who evaluates their “excellent resources”…the answer would be the Middle States Association of Colleges and Universities…the same regional accreditation body that affirms the academic worth of neighboring universities such as Temple and the University of Pennsylvania (both of whom regularly accept MC students into their graduate programs).

  • jarnold119

    I imagine that, like most evangelical schools, Messiah maintains an open enrollment policy and admits students who may or may not share all of their values, provided that they are willing to accept the conditions of their community covenant (like all other schools that require students to adhere to the terms outlined in their student handbook as a condition of membership). Of course, that is not to suggest that Christians don’t ever act “un-Christianly” (just as non-Christians don’t always hit the mark of their own ethical system, violate their own consciences, etc.) I do suspect that they, as a community, strive to live faithfully to their mission.

  • jarnold119

    I would be curious to know if the professor directly referred to the student as an “abomination” or simply referred to a biblical text discussing homosexuality in the context of a classroom discussion in which the offended student was present. Albeit…the comment has painful implications either way..it would be interesting to know if the professor’s comments have been characterized fairly.

  • 609zr

    You are absolutely correct. I hope the professor is fired. How dare any one least a professor call a student an abomination. Tax this school too or better yet, shut it down.

  • mrmars

    Messiah College has a beautifully maintained small campus to the point where there is hardly a blade of grass out of place, it’s so well-manicured that it’s neatness is almost disturbing. Evidently God loveth when everything is in its place. This may be over-stretching an analogy, but their view of life is evidently equally ordered, with their students expected to march lock-step to their version of the conservative Christian life-style. On one level they seem to provide a fine education, but why anyone (student or faculty) would willingly place themselves in, what seems from the outside at least, to be such an intellectual “straight jacket” is a bit of a mystery (as can be said of religion in general). As a friend once opined about another school, it would seem to be the epitome of a “small Christian college for small Christian minds.” Before anyone becomes incensed by that phrase I should point out that it didn’t originate with me, and (I believe) was not meant to imply any lack of ability, but rather to emphasize the degree to which some institutions impose religious limitations on what goes on within their walls.

  • 22036365

    It’s hard to imagine, at least based on the story as reported, that the professor didn’t directly refer to Mr. Thomas as an “abomination.” But, as you note, there are implications either way. Since Mr. Thomas is described as an “openly gay” student, it would stretch beyond belief the likelihood that this professor wasn’t aware of the significance of that word. It’s very sad, if not distressing. And to think that Mr. Thomas actually has to pay tuition for the privilege.

  • tobyg1

    As a gay activist who thinks Christianity is merely an historic fraud and colleges such as Messiah are ridiculous, I would love to jump on the Trash Messiah College bandwagon. However, long experience has taught me there are always at least two sides to a story and often many more. None of us on this thread are, evidently, witnesses to any of the alledged offenses. All of our information is hear-say. We can not convict the college administration or the offending professor on that basis. The one aspect of this affair that I think can be readily affirmed is that the student is doing the smart thing by transferring to a school that will affirm his worth as a gay person. Personally, I wouldn’t send a kid to a school like Messiah if it was free – I don’t care how good their resident sociologist is. “Christian Institutions of higher learning” is usually an oxymoron. There are a few exceptions of course but most are morally medieval and intellectually stultifying. As for the no sex policy, what world do these people live in? If my sons weren’t having a normal, healthy sex life in college, I’d be very worried about their mental and physical well-being.

  • jarnold119

    I know that many evangelical colleges and universities are genuinely wresting with the implications of how to maintain their historic, orthodox position on human sexuality, while at the same time creating a space that respects the dignity of those who don’t share this view. It’s a difficult balance…and Mr. Thomas certainly represents the heart of the ideological conversation and why it is so important. I’m saddened by his experience. In regard to the context in which the professor’s comments may have occurred, I am reminded of the many university professors who take great pleasure in demeaning and dismantling the faith and religiosity of their fledgling students at traditional universities…many of whom are hostage to these professors because of the low cost of in-state public education. While it certainly does not diminish the significance of his experience, Mr. Thomas did enjoy a measure of choice that many of these kinds of students do not share.

  • keis8427

    It really has very little to do with Christian and non-Christian and more to do with being human. Put 25- 5’4″, brown hair/eyed “white” all females or all males in a room with each for a couple of days and see what happens… one would be lucky to come out alive! I really don’t think we were meant to live on top of each other the way we do.

  • keis8427

    This is drivel…

  • coco_rico

    I have my doubts about the full truth of this case. Lately gay people have been getting fanfare and financial benefits from pulling wild bully tales out of hats. Maybe some hostility was expressed but probably not to this extent. And I wonder whether the student himself did obnoxious things to irritate his peers. I sincerely doubt the professor called him an abomination. Some context is missing. I am sure he did not get a death threat on Facebook but rather a rude, hostile message.

    More importantly, I have no faith in the Chronicle to report these issues fairly. I am an Army reservist, bisexual, Latino Christian teaching at California State University. I have been maligned, picketed, protested, and slurred by white male anti-Christian leftists (both gay and straight) because of my ties to the military. I have had flags ripped, knife scratches on my door, and flyers targeting me papered all over my floor. I too got vile messages and drama with Facebook, campus email, and my personal blogs. I was called a “vendido” and “asshole” in emails from floresmagon@yahoo.com, and nobody would investigate to see who that sender was. The Chair blamed me for writing a letter protesting what was going on and hanging it on my door. I was told by the University to delete my blog and stay quiet. The Dean told me there was nothing to be done because “you’re a minority in this leftist department and we can’t help you.” All of this has been documented with hard evidence, including a police report, photographs, emails, and everything.

    Since I am conservative and Christian and military, gays and ethnic people on campus will tolerate and even encourage racism and homophobia from a powerful antiwar straight male. Nothing is done about it. The author of the 14 harassing flyers, which accused units like mine of war crimes and drug addiction and graft with no evidence, is now on my personnel review committee and will probably refuse to step down.

    I wrote to the Governor of California and got no help. I wrote to the Palm Institute and Servicemembers and the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund. The diversity office in my school which is reviewing the harassment and discrimination case recently sponsored an event and featured a keynote speech from one of the South Asian lesbians who collaborated with the straight white male harasser — she took her students to his antiwar play and gleefully joined in the protests to disrupt the Puerto Rican lesbian from the military whom I brought to campus to discuss the repeal of DADT. The same people who are in charge of the ‘safe space’ project on campus refused to assist me in post-repeal safety issues, protested against my events, took students to the antiwar play, and passed on my Facebook pages to my chair to get me in trouble. One of my gay colleagues happily cooperated with the straight white professor who pressured me to play the role of a Cuban gardener in front of a bunch of grad students I didn’t know, when I had been at the department for a month and didn’t know anyone; I was told I had to go along with it for my service requirements.

    A Jewish conservative student had to work with me after being kicked out of classes by other professors and labeled a mental health problem. A Christian female student who worked with me got her MA thesis blocked and told she couldn’t take the thesis at all after arguing that Melville’s Confidence-Man had themes compliant with Christianity. An Iranian gay undergrad who worked with me on a national security project was told “you have blood on your hands” by a white professor. A black Army veteran who works with me on projects was horrified by all the treatment but her objections received no attention.

    I am NOT alone. Conservatives, Christians, and military people all over America are bullied savagely by the Left, often involving racial and sexual slurs, and publications like the Chronicle of Higher Education do nothing about it. Articles like this one are part of the bullying because they keep on reinforcing stereotypes of Christians. It is discrimination because different standards are applied. In cases like mine no evidence is sufficient to be granted a hearing. In cases like this gay student hearsay and exaggerations are taken as truth without input from the opposing side.

    My rage against the Left has evolved now into a calm effort to change things with scholarship. My website is here — http://www.colorfulconservative.com , and my book is coming out this summer. Please listen to the other side. Clean up your backyard before bothering with people at Messiah College, an anomalous place most readers of the Chronicle will not understand.

  • whizzkid43

    Why did this freshman sign up to go to this school? Surely he and his parents had to have known that there are people who go to evangelical schools because they find homosexuality incompatible with their beliefs? Was he trying to make a statement? Change the school? Win a lawsuit? I don’t believe the whole story has been told. And i do agree with another writer– these types of things happen at every school. Remember Rutgers. My school is trying to set up an advocacy group for gay students and faculty and it is a state university in the south.

  • katisumas

    ..oh and pissing on his id card and sending him a death threat was because?

  • katisumas

    … if only it were true, there would no longer be any hate crimes committed by anyone calling him/herself a Christian. And so called Christian preachers wouldn’t be citing Leviticus more than they cite the New Testament.

    What it boils down to is individual actions. Hate mongers will seize any ideology at hand to foment fear and hatred and eventually bloodshed.

  • katisumas

    …and their students are elligible for financial aid…

  • katisumas

    It’s great but not enough. There should be a campus wide campaign of tolerance for gay and lesbian and transgendered students. I will believe you when the administration invites a gay Christian speaker (yes, they are around) to speak to the whole of the student body and faculty and staff.

  • katisumas

    So why are they using my financial aid tax $ to impose their views on others?

    From the faith viewpoint, why do they doubt the strength of their religious faith so much that they have to impose a code of conduct on their adherents? Don’t they think that Christian students will have the inner conviction to follow it anyway? Do they assume that Christian education is such a failure that it has to be supplemented by some sort of coercion?

  • katisumas

    Good points. You made me wonder about home schooled kids and their lack of experience in socializing with kids different from themselves?

    But what about the faculty?

    If Messiah college means its anti-bullying policy, then it should have an orientation for faculty and also for all incoming students. There should be gay and lesbian and transgender speakers at that orientation. It would not be difficult to find GLT Christian speakers.

    Bullying by faculty and staff, as well as by students should be cause for immediate firing and expulsion.

  • katisumas

    Thank you for worrying. I suspect you’re right. The student is obviously a Christian or he wouldn’t have gone to Messiah College. That means the bullying and harassment are surely causing him untold anguish. I hope he resist thinking of himself as an “abomination” and remembers to hang on because “it will get better”…..

  • katisumas

    For a useful source of info. on the continuying rise in anti-Gay hate crimes, see the 2010 issue of SPLC, an organization that keeps track of hate crimes and hate groups in the US:

    http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2010/winter/fuel-on-the-fire

    …and yes, that hatred and blood thirstiness in the US is clothed in pseudo Christian ideology.

    As for saying “hate the sin but love the sinner”, does anyone realize that was what the Inquisition used to have its torturers say? It’s victims after tortured (including waterboarded) till they confessed to all sorts of heresies, including flying on a broom stick and consorting with Satan, had to thank their torturers for saving their souls. Then they were turned over to secular “justice” and executed in public usually by being burned alive

    So you know, I’m pretty sceptical about the “love the sinner” that follows “hate the sin”…. Real Christians tend to follow Christ’s commandment to “love your neighbor as you love yourself”. Jesus didn’t add any caveat to that.

  • katisumas

    The difference is that a student caught doing this at other institutions would be expelled. A prof. would be fired.

    And in many states that have passed anti-bullying legislation, that would in addition be illegal.

  • Dakotahgeo

    Gotta jus’ loooove dem die-hard chris-chuns! Now if they only WOULD!!!

  • jarnold119

    Despite their best efforts to educate civility, community responsibility, and citizenship…nearly every traditional university, both public and private, has a code of conduct for their students. I wouldn’t characterize a code of conduct as evidence of their failure to instill these values. And if it is any consolation, I’m not always happy with how my tax dollars are spent either.

  • 609zr

    Source: Messiah.edu crime statistics.
    “* A hate crime is a crime manifesting evidence that the victim was intentionally selected because of the perpetrator’s bias based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, disability, or ethnicity/national origin.”

    Reports of disorderly conduct: eg. harassment: 2007 = 65, 2008 = 60, 2009 = 46

    I did not find any statement that denies admission to gays and lesbians.

    It is an interesting read.

  • anonytrans

    There doesn’t seem to be any evidence of allegations that the student in question broke the school’s code. Simply identifying oneself as gay does not entail that one is having sex with someone of the same sex/gender. It is possible to be gay/lesbian/bisexual and celibate, just as it is possible to be straight and celibate.

    The school also apparently has a rule against harassment on the basis of sexual orientation, which is not contradictory with their rule against sex outside of marriage. Even if a student does break the school’s code for sexual behavior, doing so is not grounds for harrassment according to the institutional policies.

  • anonytrans

    One could say that about any of the reported facts. Several people have wondered whether the administration really did make a good faith attempt to stop the reported harassment, but others have jumped on that as an unreasonable assumption. The story states that the student was referred to as an abomination, and there’s no evidence except our imaginations to lead us to another conclusion.

  • barberanne

    As I read through these comments, I was amazed at how freely people express broad, hateful, and bigoted comments about Christianity without any fear that those comments might offend or hurt anyone who shares those values.   

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