Editorial: In support of the APA

The new enforcement system would flag institutions that violate the APA’s anti-discrimination clause on the basis of sexual orientation, along with race, religion and national origin, among other things. The new policy requires institutions to indicate whether they accept the nondiscrimination clause before using the APA’s Jobs for Philosophers listing. Schools that choose not to will be flagged on the job listing. Complaints about hiring discrimination from schools that have accepted the clause will be handled through the APA’s committee on professional rights.

Some religious colleges have criticized the policy because if it is enforced, universities that object to homosexual orientation on religious grounds will be flagged as discriminatory. While it is certainly important for religious colleges and institutions to maintain their identity, this argument is insufficient to merit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

For a religious college, the tenets of faith are central to the very identity of that institution. That is, having a faculty of faith is part of what makes a religious college religious. The APA recognizes this, and it has an exemption to its broader nondiscrimination policy that enables religious colleges to make adherence to faith a condition of faculty employment.

But discriminating by asking for a “faith statement” is different from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. Adherence to faith is a criterion that is relevant to the type of education that religious institutions seek to provide. But an intrinsic characteristic — like being gay or straight, black or white, male or female — is irrelevant to the type of education that any institution (religious or otherwise) seeks to provide. Just as discrimination in faculty hiring on the basis of race or gender — regardless of whether or not there exist religious reasons for such discrimination — should be rejected, so too should discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Though some may consider this policy to be largely symbolic, it is nonetheless significant. It represents another front on which to fight discrimination based on sexual orientation. This kind of discrimination has no place in an academic environment. Professors at Princeton who are leaders in academia can affirm this by encouraging academic associations in their field to follow the APA’s lead.