A Chief Diversity Officer at Gallaudet University has been placed under administrative leave after the university learned that she had signed against the same-sex marriage law of the state of Maryland.
Dr. Angela McCaskill, whose job profile as diversity official includes promoting diversity and inclusion at the university, signed the anti-gay marriage petition.
McCaskill's name was allegedly spotted by an unnamed Gallaudet faculty member who filed the complaint, reports Planet Deaf Queer. The university reportedly has a copy of her name on the petition.
Gallaudet University President T. Alan Hurwitz's Wednesday's email to campus community, announcing the decision of placing McCaskill's on leave, reads:
"It recently came to my attention that Dr. McCaskill has participated in a legislative initiative that some feel is inappropriate for an individual serving as Chief Diversity Officer; however, other individuals feel differently."
"I will use the extended time while she is on administrative leave to determine the appropriate next steps taking into consideration the duties of this position at the university," his statement reads.
According to her biography on the university website, McCaskill was the first deaf African American female to earn a Ph.D. in Gallaudet and has served the university in various positions for 23 years. She assumed her current position of diversity official in 2011.
Incidentally, according to the sources cited by Planet Deaf Queer, McCaskill has been an 'ardent supporter' of Gallaudet's LGBTQA Resource Center formed in October 2010 and part of the Office of Diversity and Equity for Students.
"She's been a great ally to the LGBT community and supported many of the LGBTQA Resource Center's programs," said one student to the website.
"I'm heartbroken about this."
Teddi Fishman, director of the International Center for Academic Integrity at Clemson University responded to the issue by saying that some 'incongruity' crops up when a person appointed to provide equal opportunities to all students goes on record 'as being opposed to equal opportunities for people based on their gender and sexual orientation.'
But, she also added in the email to NBC News that if she was supervising McCaskill she would handle the issue more carefully and 'would want to talk with her to make sure that her commitment to equal opportunity to all students does indeed extend to them all.'
The Maryland voters are set to decide in the November ballot whether to keep the same-sex marriage law which was passed earlier this year by the state legislature.