Flint — After a nearly four-hour board meeting to discuss accusations of “proselytizing religious comments” by Mott Community College’s president, the board postponed action until its next meeting.
The accusations against President Shaunda Richardson-Snell were made by the nonpartisan, nonprofit Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The complaints, detailed in a December letter to the university, said Richardson-Snell allegedly made comments pushing her Christian beliefs onto students and campus visitors.
The letter cited a specific October incident, where Richardson-Snell asked a guest if he had accepted “Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.” The guest was Navajo tribe member Wayne Wilson, who was invited to the college to lead its 33rd Annual Peace & Dignity Observance Sacred Ceremony, as he had for decades. He told The Detroit News that as an Indian boarding school survivor, the comments struck him especially hard.
“Those comments really triggered that,” he said. “I didn’t want (the comment) to impact the event, impact the stipend I would get.”
Celia Perez Booth, a prominent Mexican indigenous cultural preservationist and former Mott Community College professor and academic adviser, said during public comments that Richardson-Snell’s lawyer sent a declaration to Wilson that she wanted him to sign. Perez Booth, who identified herself as Wilson’s adoptive parent, said by signing the declaration, Wilson would be acknowledging the president did nothing wrong. After her remark, gasps could be heard from the audience.
“It is disgusting to us, as people of the First Nations, that more than 500 years later, we as American Indians have to endure a Christian’s continued intrusion on our spiritual rights,” Perez Booth said during an October board meeting. “And, I suspect, attempts of conversion.”
He said Richardson-Snell did not apologized to him.
Richardson-Snell has not said if she made the comments. A call to her office Wednesday night was not immediately returned. A cellphone number listed for her in public records appeared to be disconnected.
She did not attend the meeting. Board Chair Jeffrey Swanson said she was at a previously scheduled conference.
The comment allegedly said to Wilson were investigated by the university, said interim board Legal Counsel Carey DeWitt. He said he was unaware of any letter being sent from Richardson-Snell or her lawyers to Wilson.
DeWitt said he wasn’t prepared to discuss the findings of the investigation and that it was “privileged information.”
Trustee John Daly said that if Richardson-Snell or her lawyers had sent a letter to Wilson, it could be considered “interference in an investigation.”
More than half of the dozens of people who spoke during the two hours of public comment said Richardson-Snell should have the ability to express her religious beliefs.
“What many have argued tonight is that anyone with a belief should have the right to talk freely or express themselves, except for a president exercising her faith, even in a private conversation,” said Katherine Bussard, executive director of Salt & Light Global, a faith-based nonprofit in Lansing. “And I think if it were something were the school president were perhaps a Muslim publicly observing the call to prayer, we probably wouldn’t be here tonight.”
Others said the president had a duty to separate her beliefs from her role as the leader of a publicly funded college.
“As a public institution, Mott Community College must remain a place that is inclusive, respectful and free from the promotion of any individual religious viewpoint in its official leadership or operations,” said Davison resident Diana Van der Vossen. “Students and employees of all beliefs and of no religious belief must feel equally respected and protected.”
satwood@detroitnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Mott college board delays action involving president accused of ‘proselytizing’
Reporting by Sarah Atwood, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
