Written by Tanya Terry
A special meeting of the Mott Community College Board of Trustees was called after the college’s president was accused of trying to convert others to Christianity in ways some consider offensive. At the February 18 meeting, almost an equal number of residents from Flint and surrounding areas expressed they were opposed to, or agreed with, the controversial words and actions taken by Mott Community College President Shaunda Richardson-Snell.
During the 33rd Annual Peace & Dignity Observance Sacred Ceremony Wayne Wilson, a member of the Navajo tribe was allegedly asked by Richardson-Snell if he’d accepted Christ,
On December 12, Richardson-Snell and the Board of Trustees received a letter from Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. The letter from Americans United Staff Attorney Ian Smith said the organization had received a complaint that Richardson-Snell made “proselytizing religious comments” on multiple occasions despite her position at a public college.
One local community member who attended the recent meeting, Paula Weston, identified herself as an English professor at the college.
“You cannot expect people who work at an institution to feel comfortable as employees, to feel valued and respected, after you’ve learned that the CEO of that institution, the president of that at that institution, has made comments in the context of her faith on the that if you don’t agree with her, you may in fact be in league with the devil,” Weston said. “I can’t get past that. I can’t get past that because the comment that she made to that student that Trustee Reyes brought up months ago now that there is a one truth and that the devil is at work against that truth was on the clock.
Weston continued: “Never in my 40 years of teaching have I ever tried to influence a student in my classroom, or or in any kind of institution sponsored event ever. Never have I thought I need to express my faith to this student while on the clock. Off the clock is different, right? Because I never want anyone that I teach to feel as though they are beholdened to me in some way to earn a grade in my class. There’s a power differential and that’s what we are really trying to talk about here tonight…”
Another speaker, Katherine Bussard, said she serves as the executive director and COO of Salt and Lake Global, which she described as a faith-based organization that works to defend good governance and the rule of law. Bussard said she was speaking that evening “in her personal capacity.”
“And in questions of free speech, or even speech that might be offensive to some and and beloved by others, the answer is never censorship. It’s more free speech. That’s what needs to be protected.”
