Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast, STF
Larycia Hawkins, a Christian, wore a hijab to protest "vitriolic" rhetoric against Muslims.
lessLarycia Hawkins, a Christian, wore a hijab to protest "vitriolic" rhetoric against Muslims.
Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast, STF Wheaton College associate professor Larycia Hawkins Phd., center, is greeted with applause from supporters as she begins her remarks during a news conference Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015, in Chicago. Hawkins, a Christian teaching political science at the private evangelical school west of Chicago, was put on leave Tuesday. In recent days, she began wearing a hijab, the headscarf worn by some Muslim women, to counter what she called the "vitriolic" rhetoric against Muslims in recent weeks. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
lessWheaton College associate professor Larycia Hawkins Phd., center, is greeted with applause from supporters as she begins her remarks during a news conference Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015, in Chicago. Hawkins, a
... more Professor Larycia Hawkins, who is a Christian, donned a hijab last month in solidarity with Muslims.
lessProfessor Larycia Hawkins, who is a Christian, donned a hijab last month in solidarity with Muslims.
Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast, STF Wheaton College associate professor Larycia Hawkins Phd., listens to a question during a news conference Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015, in Chicago. Hawkins, a Christian teaching political science at the private evangelical school west of Chicago, was put on leave Tuesday. In recent days, she began wearing a hijab, the headscarf worn by some Muslim women, to counter what she called the "vitriolic" rhetoric against Muslims in recent weeks. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
lessWheaton College associate professor Larycia Hawkins Phd., listens to a question during a news conference Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015, in Chicago. Hawkins, a Christian teaching political science at the private
... more In this Dec. 13, 2015 photo, Larycia Hawkins, a Christian, and an associate professor of political science at Wheaton College, a private evangelical school in Wheaton, Ill., wears a hijab at a church service in Chicago. The school said in a statement Tuesday Dec. 16, 2015, it has Hawkins placed on administrative leave because of statements she made on social media about similarities between Islam and Christianity. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune via AP)
lessIn this Dec. 13, 2015 photo, Larycia Hawkins, a Christian, and an associate professor of political science at Wheaton College, a private evangelical school in Wheaton, Ill., wears a hijab at a church service in
... more Wheaton flap over 'hijab prof' ends peaceably - or does it?
The rancorous debate over the teaching future of a tenured, African-American woman professor at Illinois' evangelical Wheaton College has ended on a conciliatory note -- apologetic words from the administration and the professor's apparent resignation.
The dispute, which pitted college administrators against the Christian college's faculty council, grew out of political science professor Larycia Hawkins' December pledge to wear a Muslim headscarf during Advent in solidarity with Muslims "because they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book." Advent is the period leading up to Christmas in the Christian tradition.
She then quoted Pope Francis as saying "we worship the same God."
Wheaton Provost Stanton Jones placed Hawkins on administrative leave, and a February meeting with administrators was scheduled. The meeting was expected to bring her termination. Meanwhile, the faculty council unanimously voted to recommend dropping the suspension and planned termination "due to grave concerns about the process," the Chicago Tribune reported.
On Saturday, Jones told professors in an email that he had turned the matter of Hawkins' future at the college over to university president Philip Ryken.
Jones said he stood by his concerns regarding Hawkins' statements. But, he "asked Dr. Hawkins for her forgiveness for the ways I contributed to the fracture of our relationship and to the fracture of Dr. Hawkins' relationship with the college....I apologized for my lack of wisdom and collegiality as I initially approached Dr. Hawkins, and for imposing an administrative leave more precipitously than was necessary."
Two hours later, Ryken told faculty members that Hawkins and administrators had "come to a place of resolution and reconciliation. "With a mutual desire for God's blessing, we have decided to part ways."
The newspaper did not indicate Hawkins' response.
Ryken said he has asked the college's board of trustees to review the case, given concerns over academic freedom, due process and and possible racial and gender discrimination.
Ryken invited faculty to a private Tuesday worship service at which Hawkins will say goodbye.
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