Patrick Henry College President Graham Walker Announces Resignation

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Mon Nov 17, 2014, 01:32 PM - Edit history (1)

Okay, it was a month ago, but I'm not on their mailing list.

Graham Walker Announces Resignation

October 16th, 2014
CONTACT: David Halbrook

Patrick Henry College
[phone]
[e-mail]

Dr. Graham Walker announced his resignation as President of Patrick Henry College on Wednesday, Oct. 15, in an all-campus meeting in Townhall. Dr. Walker has served at the College for eight-and-a-half-years, named to the post following a unanimous vote of the College’s Board of Trustees on Monday, April 3, 2006.

“The Board and I have simply decided that sometimes it is best to agree to disagree, in a healthy and amicable way as fellow servants of Christ,” Dr. Walker explained. “It is a fully mutual agreement.”

Those words "sometimes it is best to agree to disagree" got me to thinking that there must be more to this story than meets the eye.

There was.

Patrick Henry President Graham Walker Resigns: The Inside Story

Education
October 30, 2014

By Kiera Feldman @kierafeldman

Late in the afternoon of Wednesday, October 15, the students of Patrick Henry College were called to an all-campus meeting. Patrick Henry College President Graham Walker announced his resignation, effective immediately. With his wife accompanying him on the piano, Walker bid the students farewell singing "I'd Rather Have Jesus," a song from his April 2006 inauguration ceremony. 

Patrick Henry College officials were quick to say that Walker's abrupt resignation had "zero connection" with "Sexual Assault at God's Harvard" a story I wrote in March for The New Republic about the mishandling of sexual assault and harassment cases at the elite evangelical school. (Patrick Henry maintained that Walker stepped down over a disagreement with the Board about the school's plans for raising enrollment.) In my investigation, I reported allegations that PHC administrators treated accused sexual assault perpetrators with impunity, discouraged women from going to the police, and blamed victims for dressing or behaving immodestly.

"It is no secret that there has been tremendous friction between the alumni community and Dr. Walker during the independent review process," Patrick Henry College Alumni Association President Daniel Noa wrote in a statement the night of Walker's resignation. Noa was referring to the "Alumni Review Committee" the school created to examine the issues raised in my article. (The college also announced the hiring of "a specialized legal firm” to audit the school’s policies and procedures but refused to disclose the name of the firm.)

In early August, the nine-member Alumni Review Committee released its findings. The report grappled honestly with sexual assault and harassment and institutional failure. Clearly frustrated with Patrick Henry administrators, the report noted, "The Committee is unanimous in our belief that the responses we received from the College did not display the level of candor and transparency that we expected upon the formation of this Committee.”
....

But others saw a different side of Walker. He often recounted his denial of tenure at the University of Pennsylvania, attributing it to anti-gay comments he'd made to colleagues and students during an orientation event. "I thought the freshmen needed some ability to resist the indoctrination that was going on," Walker once said. Walker recounted this story again last year in a speech in Uganda shortly before Parliament passed the notoriously draconian Anti-Homosexuality Act (which was later struck down). 

Don't miss the comments. One of them linked to this article:

Patrick Henry College president steps down

Higher Education | Leadership change comes as school pushes for growth
By Daniel James Devine
Posted Oct. 17, 2014, 02:32 p.m.

Students wore bow ties Friday morning at Patrick Henry College, an evangelical liberal arts school in Purcellville, Va. It was a gesture to honor the school’s president—a somber gesture, not a cheerful one.
....

Follow Daniel on Twitter @DanJamDevine.

Graham Walker, center, poses with students. Photo by Christine Roe

PHC has appeared at DU before.

Patrick Henry College officials respond, refute ‘New Republic’ story

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