Myers, Mott and Marriage at Seton Hall
August 26th, 2010 | Uncategorized | Add Your Comment »Despite pleas from Archbishop John J. Myers to have Seton Hall University abandon plans to teach undergrads about same-sex marriage, the course is on. At least its instructor and students think it is.
Dr. W. King Mott, Associate Professor of Political Science at Seton Hall and a member of the Women and Gender Department, created the upperclassmen seminar “The Politics of Gay Marriage” for the fall semester. 
Seton Hall won’t officially confirm nor deny whether the seminar is a go. But Mott says he has yet to be told Tuesday’s first class is canceled, and the class is listed on the school’s online schedule, complete with a classroom number. (Students are told to buy the text What’s Love Got To Do With It?: The Case for Same-Sex Marriage, by Democratic State Sens. Raymond Lesniak and Loretta Weinberg.)
“The best schools offer controversial classes,” Mott told the Setonian in a story published earlier this week. “The class is not about advocacy, but about studying the issue from an academic perspective. It’s about awareness.”
Mott, who is gay, has clashed with the church and university officials before. In 2005, he was demoted from his post as associate dean of Seton Hall’s College of Arts and Sciences after his letter challenging the church’s view on homosexuality was published in The Star-Ledger.
School officials objected to Mott signing the letter with his Seton Hall title, causing confusion about whether he was speaking on behalf of the university. The letter said the church unfairly scapegoats gay men for the clergy sex abuse scandal.
Faculty members protested Mott’s demotion, arguing school officials violated his academic freedom when they punished him for writing a letter. But Seton Hall’s provost upheld the demotion and Mott, who has tenure, remained on campus as a prominent professor.
Read more here.
Hooray for Dr. Mott! His bio.
