The firing of an adjunct professor from the U. Illinois Department of Religion over comments made in an e-mail to students has sparked a flurry of reactions on campus.

Dr. Kenneth Howell said he was dismissed by department head Robert McKim at the end of last spring after a student e-mailed McKim, accusing Howell of “hate speech” in an earlier May 4 e-mail discussing the Catholic Church’s views on homosexuality in the context of utilitarianism and natural moral theory.

The complaint, made by an anonymous student on the behalf of a friend who was in Howell’s Introduction to Catholicism class, said Howell “would preach (not teach) his ideology to the class” and accused the professor, who had been teaching the course since 2001, of trying to indoctrinate students with his own Catholic beliefs.

Howell was also dismissed at his position at St. John’s Catholic Newman Center, since he no longer works for the University.

Some members of the Champaign-Urbana community disagree. Ed Clint, who had previously met with Howell in religious forums, said he supported Howell despite their natural differences.

“As an atheist, I really agree with almost nothing in such a class as Dr. Howell taught,” said Clint, junior in Psychology and president of the registered student organization Atheists, Agnostics and Freethinkers. “But I didn’t feel that anything that he did solicited termination as a result.”

Chancellor Robert Easter said he hopes to have a decision from the Faculty Senate’s Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure by the time classes start in the fall.

The review is to determine whether Howell’s academic freedom was violated by his firing.

“We want to be able to reassure ourselves there was no infringement on academic freedom here,” new University President Michael Hogan told members of the Faculty Senate on Monday. “This is a very, very important, not to mention a touchy and sensitive, issue. Did this cross the line somehow?”

A former student of Howell’s, Brian Miller, who graduated from the University in 2009 and is currently a law student, expressed disappointment over the fallout.

“I took both of his classes, and honestly, both would rank in the top five or 10 classes I took in undergrad,” Miller said.

“At the time, he would talk about controversial issues,” he said. “But he was making it very clear that we don’t have to believe this.”

Others think Howell went too far with his e-mail.

“I think he was usually careful. He lost some of his restraint in that e-mail, got caught up in his own thought,” graduate student Nathan Fredrickson said.

A movement to reinstate Howell to his position at the University as well as at St. John’s Catholic Newman Center has been surging in the wake of Howell’s dismissal. More than 2,000 people have already joined the Facebook group “Save Dr. Ken” to show their support for Howell.

One member wrote on the group’s wall, “They fired him for teaching what he was hired to teach. Catholic Ethics.”

Since his firing, Howell has been working with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a Christian-based organization that provides First Amendment legal support and resources, to defend his position. On Monday, the ADF sent an official letter to the University demanding Howell’s reinstatement.

“We are gravely disappointed that the University would succumb to such a ‘heckler’s veto,’” the letter said, claiming that Howell’s First Amendment rights were violated when he was relieved of his teaching duties.

Clint said he believes Howell should not have been punished for stating his beliefs.

“We feel that what’s happened is a breach of academic freedom and speech on this campus,” he said.