Scores of professors have signed on to
a letter criticizing a university president's opposition to marriage
equality.
Matthew Holland, president of Utah
Valley University (UVU), was among the “100 scholars of marriage”
who signed an amicus brief in support of state bans on gay
marriage in a case argued before the Supreme Court last month.
In the brief, attorney Gene Schaerr
argues, among other things, that allowing gay couples to marry would
lead to 900,000 additional abortions over the next 30 years.
In a letter to the editor published by
the Salt
Lake Tribune, dozens of current and former members of the UVU
faculty and staff said Holland's involvement was “disappointing and
harmful to the values at the core of our public university.”
“All of us, including our university
president Matthew Holland, have the right to speak publicly as
private citizens on controversial issues. However, as the public
face of UVU to the larger community, Holland has a special
responsibility to avoid public pronouncements that would harm his
ability to carry out his duties as president of a state university
officially committed to 'diversity and inclusion,'” the letter
reads.
Holland stepped down from the board of
the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) when he was picked to
lead the university in 2009.