Gallaudet University's chief diversity officer, Angela McCaskill, has been placed on paid leave after she signed a petition to put a gay-marriage referendum on the ballot in Maryland, the Washington Post reports.
Gallaudet President T. Alan Hurwitz announced Angela McCaskill’s leave in a statement Wednesday.
Hurwitz says McCaskill “participated in a legislative initiative that some feel is inappropriate” for someone in her position.
Gallaudet is the nation’s leading university for the deaf and hard of hearing.
McCaskill lives in Maryland, where voters will decide in November whether to approve a state law legalizing gay marriage. The referendum was placed on the ballot by opponents of same-sex unions.
Sure, it would be awesome for the person leading the school's diversity charge to support equality for all of the country's diverse citizens in addition to all of the school's students. But while McCaskill's apparent dedication to keeping gay couples from getting married and the petition she signed in her private time might very well earn her a collective side-eye from the university community, these things really shouldn't lead to a pink slip — or any other threat to her continued employment. Unless she brought her biases to campus in a way that hasn't yet been revealed, we don't think Gallaudet will be able to defend this move. Let us know how you see it in the comments sectiom.
Read more at the Washington Post.