By CatholicVote | Created at 2024-11-06 22:06:24 | Updated at 2024-11-07 00:35:57
2 hours ago
CV NEWS FEED // A Catholic Wisconsin college recently changed its gender policy to reflect the Church’s teaching that there are only two sexes, sparking backlash from several students.
Citing a paywalled article from the Green Bay Press Gazette, the College Fix reported that St. Norbert College in Brown County decided to change its policy in order to “[reaffirm] the church’s [sic] opposition to gender fluidity and gender-affirming surgery” as well as to base “gender on biological sex.”
According to the Sentinel Journal, faculty members learned of the change during a meeting on September 17, while more faculty and staff members were notified the following day. St. Norbert’s has reportedly said it will change the gender options on its enrollment applications and other school-related materials or forms.
While a clear reason was not given for the change, the College Fix noted that the college’s new values align themselves with Pope Francis’ declaration on human dignity and gender ideology, “Dignitas Infinita”, which was published in August.
The Sentinel Journal simply reported that “The change originated from the college’s sponsoring religious order, the Norbertines of St. Norbert Abbey, working with the executive committee of the Board” based on “Dignitas Infinita.”
Joe Webb, St. Norbert’s vice president for student affairs, reportedly told the Press Gazette that nothing has changed regarding the school’s sense of inclusion.
“This is simply the college aligning its gender identity language and policies with the principles recently set forth by the Catholic church,” he reportedly stated, according to the College Fix. “All services and benefits for all students, faculty and staff remain intact.”
He added, “There are no plans to change any curriculum or teaching practices based on this alignment. This alignment in no way changes the college’s ongoing commitment to creating a safe and supportive community where every individual is deeply respected.”
The decision was welcomed by the leader of a national Catholic student action group, who told the College Fix that “Education divorced from truth is worthless.”
“Higher learning aims to transmit truth, which includes the self-evident fact that God created us male and female,” TFP Student Action leader John Ritchie said. “There are only two sexes. Every cell in the human body is stamped with fixed chromosomes: females have XX, and males have XY. Therefore, it’s good to hear that St. Norbert College might be finally stepping away from radical gender ideology.”
However, some students at St. Norbert’s raised concerns. Gracelyn Giese, who is minoring in women’s and gender studies, told the Sentinel Journal that the new policy goes against “what some of my classes for the past 3½ years have been teaching and have been discussing.”
Another student, Kayla Clark, said that changing the policy to reflect the two sexes is “completely erasing the human dignity of [an LGBT-identifying individual] by not giving them the freedom to express who they are.”
According to the Sentinel Journal, about 70% of St. Norbert’s roughly 2,000 students identify as religious, while just 41% of that number are Catholic.
