Private School Chastised for Hiring Policy

Eight universities, including Harvard, chastised a leading private school in Atlanta, Ga. for its discriminatory faculty hiring policy last month.

In separate letters sent to Westminster School Headmaster William Clarkson, the universities said they disapprove of the elite school's refusal to hire non-Christian faculty members.

Harvard, along with two other schools, withdrew its recruiter from Westminster's career day program in September, said William R. Fitzsimmons '67, dean of admissions and financial aid.

"Had we attended, it might have been interpreted as support for Westminster's hiring process," he said.

In addition, a Harvard alumnus and member of Westminster's board of trustees last month resigned in protest of the rule.

John R. Harrison '55 said although he believes Westminster has the right to determine its own hiring policy, he finds the school's position wrong.

"Westminster has every right to discriminate, but that's not the question. The question is, is that the right thing to do?" Harrison said yesterday. "None of the other private schools in Georgia do it."

Fitzsimmons said Harvard sent Clarkson a letter of protest at Harrison's request.

Duke, Georgetown, MIT, Tufts, Yale and Washington Universities, as well as the University of Massachusetts, sent similar letters, according to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Fitzsimmons would not reveal the exact content of his letter, but said that it expressed disappointment in the policy.

"We did want to let (Westminster) know we do have a policy of non-discrimination," he said.

Fitzsimmons said that Harvard will not treat applicants from Westminster any differently as a result of the school's policy.

"It's like the old cliche--we accept students not schools," Fitzsimmons said.

Clarkson said in an interviews yesterday thatthe policy to hire only teachers who areChristians is not part of the school's charter orbylaws, but rather an assumed requirement foremployment.

"The official [but unwritten] policy statesthat all faculty must be professing Christianity,"he said.

Clarkson said that the policy is based on theschool's mission statement, which he said statesthat "Westminster is a Christian independent dayschool for boys and girls."

Westminster does not require its students toprofess their belief in Christianity.

Harrison said that he finds the hiring policyharmful to non-Christian students at a schoolwhere between 10 and 15 percent of the studentsare Jewish.

"One parent told me her daughter had come homecrying after a speaker at an assembly had told herthat if she wasn't Christian, she'd burn in hell,"he said.

Jaret Blanc, a senior at Westminster whoapplied early to Harvard, said Westminsterstudents have not changed their decisions to applyto schools that sent letters of complaint toClarkson.

Blanc, a professed agnostic whose parents areJewish, said that he does not agree with his highschool's policy.

"The fact that they wouldn't hire me after Igraduated is a slap in the face," Blanc said.

According to Clarkson, Westminster's hiringpolicy is under review as an element of a 20-partplan to prepare the school for the 21st century

Clarkson said in an interviews yesterday thatthe policy to hire only teachers who areChristians is not part of the school's charter orbylaws, but rather an assumed requirement foremployment.

"The official [but unwritten] policy statesthat all faculty must be professing Christianity,"he said.

Clarkson said that the policy is based on theschool's mission statement, which he said statesthat "Westminster is a Christian independent dayschool for boys and girls."

Westminster does not require its students toprofess their belief in Christianity.

Harrison said that he finds the hiring policyharmful to non-Christian students at a schoolwhere between 10 and 15 percent of the studentsare Jewish.

"One parent told me her daughter had come homecrying after a speaker at an assembly had told herthat if she wasn't Christian, she'd burn in hell,"he said.

Jaret Blanc, a senior at Westminster whoapplied early to Harvard, said Westminsterstudents have not changed their decisions to applyto schools that sent letters of complaint toClarkson.

Blanc, a professed agnostic whose parents areJewish, said that he does not agree with his highschool's policy.

"The fact that they wouldn't hire me after Igraduated is a slap in the face," Blanc said.

According to Clarkson, Westminster's hiringpolicy is under review as an element of a 20-partplan to prepare the school for the 21st century