CHICAGO (AP) – A professor at a suburban Chicago Christian college who has been placed on administrative leave after donning a headscarf to demonstrate solidarity with Muslims said Wednesday that her actions are demonstrations of her own faith.
Larycia Hawkins, who is a Christian and an associate professor of political science at Wheaton College, a private evangelical school west of Chicago, was put on leave Tuesday. In recent days, she began wearing a hijab, the headscarf worn by some Muslim women, to counter what she called the “vitriolic” rhetoric against Muslims in recent weeks.
“In the spirit of Advent, my actions were motivated by a desire to live out my faith. Period,” Hawkins said Wednesday at a news conference at a Chicago church. Advent is the season leading up to Christmas.
With fears of terrorism simmering and Donald Trump calling for Muslims to be blocked from entering the United States, many American Muslims are on edge. Hawkins said she felt it was important to show solidarity with Muslims in the country.
“Theoretical solidarity is not solidarity,” the tenured faculty member said.