The leader of Samford University defends the institution’s support of social justice, calling it “biblical justice.”
” Hot Woman Training” in a Faith-Based Setting. Bible sites used to make artwork Biblical justice as” cultural justice.”
These are just a few of the contentious issues that have sparked a row at Samford University, a Christian school outside of Birmingham, Alabama, which announced recently that it would include elements of cultural justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion material into its core education.
After some group members and relatives expressed issue, a local media store, 1819 News, published a number of articles about DEI initiatives at Samford over the past few weeks.
According to Samford’s chairman, who spoke to faculty this week in notes that doubled down on the university’s commitment to its liberal stance, the articles have sparked consternation on campus.
Beck Taylor, president of Samford, criticized new media coverage of the school’s La activities and announced that the board of trustees voted this week to ensure its commitment to “biblical righteousness.”
In a personal address to university on Wednesday, Taylor referred to 1819’s posts as an endeavor to” stir the pot” among those who believe that any mention of racism and sexism in our society and our educational establishments is a violation of some freshly imagined social contract that magically removes the need to continue to teach kids about significant aspects of our past and of our present lived experience.
According to an audio recording of his comments obtained by The College Fix, Taylor continued,” What this publication is doing is despicable and it’s wrong, and whatever agenda is motivating them to do this will not succeed.”
The media affairs division at Samford University and President Taylor’s office did not respond to several requests for comment from The College Fix.
A” Diversity Action Plan” that promises to” [i]ncorporate elements of racial justice and diversity, equity, and inclusion content was introduced by Samford last month and pledged to do so was a response to DEI.
1819 reviewed the action plan on April 13 and claimed it was just the most recent push made as part of a” campus-wide initiative to mandate diversity, equity, and inclusion ( DEI ) in every aspect of its campus experience.” The organization released a timeline that shows the initiatives ‘ timelines that date back to George Floyd’s passing in 2020.
The initiatives included faculty training on racism, DEI efforts to be integrated into Greek Life, a new position that only offers counseling to students of color, the formation of a Task Force on Racial Justice, and a book club that teaches professors how to be anti-racist.
Another article provides details on the university’s support for Samford Associate Professor Geoff Sciacca’s” Fifteen-Twelve,” which he incorporated into his artwork through pages” torn out of a Bible.”
It is no secret that America has not lived up to its promise to uphold the idea that” All men are created equal,” Sciacca stated in his description of the work online. The evangelical church has been a fundamental component of all of America, from the beginning of slavery and indigenous genocides to the tragic of Jim Crow and the current systemic racial injustice and inequality.
” And in this time, they have either been complicit or, at worst, complicit,” he continued, noting that the country’s largest Protestant denomination was founded as a result of a disagreement over their position on slavery. Or at best complacently watching as silent spectators, with the majority of people choosing to ignore the injustices that are occurring all around them.
The artwork was featured in a campus exhibit twice, in 2020 and 2024. The College Fix contacted Scacca for comment, but she did not respond.
Additionally, 1819 published an email President Taylor sent to the Board of Trustees that called the outlet’s coverage of Samford “unfair, out of context, and occasionally completely false.”
According to Taylor,” [t]he article on April 10 plants the notion that classes at Samford were taught with potentially objectionable content… they weren’t,” quoting an article describing an “upper-level course on Race in Popular Culture and Media” taught by Professor Niya Pickett Miller.
” Hot Girl Teaching in a Faith-Based Environment” is one of Miller’s most recent publications. According to the article’s abstract,” [t]he self-declared “hot girl coach,” Megan Thee Stallion, there is a lot to learn. However, her provocative lyrics and hyper-sexuality are difficult to incorporate into communication-related classes at a predominately white, faith-based university.
In a proposed course syllabus Miller co-authored, she claims that” Megan and others use their platforms to reject the labels of oppressors and reclaim and reframe Black women as unapologetic leaders, cultural tastemakers, and pleasure activists who are also deserving of love and adoration.” The texts on this syllabus contain misunderstandings about Black women.
The syllabus’s” Trust A Big Butt and A Smile” and” Twerk Something” are included in the subsections.
Miller did not respond to The College Fix’s request for comment.
Another article that attracted the ire of campus officials focused on the biases of two faculty panels that were focused on President Trump and his goals.
Taylor stated in his speech that “because the readership of this publication is small and limited our approach has been to not breathe any oxygen into the embers or give credibility to an agenda that is so clearly meant to unfairly shame Samford from the work we feel so firmly called to precisely because of our Christ-centered educational mission.”
According to Taylor, the Board of Trustees voted unanimously on April 22 to “affirm the University’s leadership and its Christian call to biblical justice.” We won’t be forced to alter our values or priorities, he declared.
The journalist for 1819 who wrote the Samford articles, Apryl Marie Fogel, defends her work, claiming that she has provided Samford with opportunities to respond to or refute her conclusions.
The university’s sole public response to Fogel’s reports was centered on a new anti-discrimination policy that student clubs were required to include in their respective constitutions.
The suggestion that it was a part of DEI’s effort was opposed by the university. They claimed that the club charter was updated to reflect the policy, which was long-standing, and that the only recent change was that students had to incorporate it.
MORE: Samford rejects the idea of a campus club in response to conservative students ‘ requests.
IMAGE CREDIT AND CAPTION: A screenshot of the cover of Samford University’s Diversity Action Plan.
Follow The College Fix on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.
