Dozens of Utah Valley University professors have come forward with concerns relating to UVU President Matthew Holland, who signed his name on an amicus brief before the U.S. Supreme Court opposing gay marriage.
Daniel Horns, who teaches earth science at UVU, is one such professor.
“Well, my concern was that having our college president as a signatory on the amicus brief, that that could create the impression in some people that UVU would not be a welcoming environment,” Horns said.
In a letter featured in the Salt Lake Tribune Saturday, 108 current and former UVU faculty members openly admonished Holland for making the public pronouncement, which they say harmed his ability to carry out his duties as president of a state university committed to diversity.
Horns, the third signatory on the letter, said that while the president signed the anti-gay marriage brief as an individual, he has done a lot to make UVU a welcoming environment for diverse people.
UVU officials maintain that Holland’s title was used for identification purposes only. Signatories were required to include an affiliation.
According to some, the amicus brief itself is founded on poor science. Gene Schaerr, who authored the brief, was hired by the state of Utah to argue against marriage equality in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Commenters on Schaerr’s article from The Daily Signal raised questions concerning the logic, going so far as to call it a slippery slope fallacy.
Horns said the brief was not good science. He called it “a personal view based on theology and tradition with some pseudoscience backing it up.”
“The twist of logic that starts with a group of people getting married and leads to hundreds of thousands of women having abortions—that just illogical, and unfortunate that anyone calling themselves a scholar would sign onto that,” he said.
Richard Sherlock of Utah State University, a scholar, did sign the brief. He maintained that the science is sound and the philosophy is true.
“(Holland) is president of Utah Valley University, so he should have said, ‘this is who I am,’” Sherlock said. “Like I signed it Professor Richard Sherlock, Utah State University. I signed it as both a citizen and a professor.”
Sherlock, Horns and the university agree that Holland had every right to sign the brief. Horns even agreed that the affiliation was not meant to represent the university, but the question raised was how his personal attachment to the idea would reflect on the university.
Horns found it hard to say whether his own views had anything to do with signing the letter. He said he just hopes people have a positive impression of UVU.