HOLLAND (WHTC) — A petition drive is underway appealing to Hope College’s board of trustees to support President John C. Knapp. Posted Friday morning, the change.org petition garnered 101 signatures within four hours, as word of the drive spread.
At noon Friday, crowd of Hope College students, staff and faculty gathered along one side of Pine Grove, a green space at the center of campus, in view of President John C. Knapp’s home.
Some carried signs proclaiming support. Others shared messages and photos on social media. At 12:30 p.m. Friday, the crowd numbered at least 100; people were coming and going at a steady rate.
At issue, according to multiple sources, is the divergent opinions on the college’s future. Knapp appears to represent a drive to be more inclusive — a word most of the supportive social media statements are usings — and tolerant.
Last July, for example, in response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that same-sex marriages were legal, Knapp issued a statement that the school would provide benefits to married same-sex couples.
That’s a marked turnaround from a 2009 incident in which Oscar-winning director Dustin Lance Black was barred from campus after being invited to a screenwriting class to show his 2008 film, “Milk,” about San Francisco’s first openly-gay mayor, and talk to students. At that time, college officials said Black’s stance on gay rights was “too divisive.”
College officials later amended that stance. this week, students, alumni and some faculty speculated that an emergency board of trustees meeting meant Knapp could be fired.
Hope spokeswoman Jennifer Fellinger said there is no truth to speculation that trustees had delivered a no-confidence vote on Knapp’s performance.
“The issue, really, right now is just differences in leadership and differences in management,” she said. “We are coming to the end of the academic year. Our priority is getting students across the finish line.”
On Friday, one petition signer, Lisa Hofman of Grand Rapids, wrote, in part, that as a Hope student, she’d has professors who “encouraged us to question and learn, not just cling to narrow ideologies with blinders on. The institution, sadly, has never supported that perspective. How wonderful that this president does.”
Sarah Burrichter of Batavia, IL, wrote simply, “Jesus was inclusive and you should be too.”
