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STUDENT ORGANIZATION PUSHES HONORARY DEGREE FOR GAY BISHOP
Sewanee Urged to Award DD to Gene Robinson
By David W. Virtue
SEWANEE, TN--A battle is looming on the campus of the University of the South over whether or not V. Gene Robinson, the gay bishop of New Hampshire, should receive an honorary doctorate. Robinson is a 1969 graduate of the university and holds a B.A. in American Studies/History.
The Board of Regents of the University of the South (Sewanee) received a letter last fall from the Student Assembly and the school's Gay-Straight Alliance. The letter contained a resolution passed jointly by the groups requesting that the university confer an honorary degree to Bishop V. Gene Robinson.
They argued that the University of the South has a long standing tradition of conferring upon graduates of both the School of Theology and the College of Arts and Sciences, who become Episcopal bishops the honorary degree Doctor of Divinity. Neither the Student Assembly nor the Gay-Straight Alliance has any official connection to the Episcopal Church.
But reports VirtueOnline has received say that while the Board of Regents will consider the resolution at its meeting this week, there is little chance that it will pass.
The vice-chancellor's office reportedly assured a Sewanee trustee that it has no intention of conferring the degree on Bishop Robinson, but absent an official denial, many remain concerned. The Regents have decided that there will be no consideration of this at this time.
Some trustees have sent out an official communications saying they have no intentions of giving him a doctorate.
At least one parish vestry, St. Barnabas in Tullahoma and one Mission Council, St. Agnes Mission in Cowan have issued urgent letters to Mr. Nicholas Babson, Chair of the Board of Regents opposing any such conferral on Robinson.
When VirtueOnline called the university we were told by a woman in the Communications Department that there had been "considerable discussion but no decision had been made."
"There is no possibility of a decision being made at this time. There is a nominating process which takes a good bit of time to be resolved," she said.
Neither the president of the university Joel Cunningham or Communications Director Joe Romano returned calls.
It is thought that there are some 9 pro-gay Bishops of Sewanee's 28 who represent a powerful and political block that could pressure the Sewanee into awarding Robinson the doctorate.
But four persons are slated to receive honorary doctorates. They include James Hefner, president of Tennessee State University, the Rt. Rev. Porter Taylor, bishop of Western North Carolina, Dr. Allan Parrent, former interim dean at Sewanee, and the Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor. They will all receive honorary degrees at the University of the South's School of Theology commencement on Friday, May 13, beginning at 10 a.m.
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