Calvin prof leaves, in part over membership rules

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A Calvin College professor who was denied an exemption from school policy requiring faculty to belong to the Christian Reformed Church (CRC) said she is leaving for a teaching position in California.

Calvin officials said a deal had been in the works that would have allowed Denise Isom to stay at the university and maintain dual membership in her Baptist church and a CRC congregation. Isom is an assistant professor who specializes in race and education.

The agreement called for her to meet regularly with a CRC pastor about the Reformed tradition, and for a CRC pastor and her pastor at Messiah Missionary Baptist Church, Grand Rapids, to report to Calvin on her progress, Isom said. She said she felt there would be "someone watching my presence [in church] and reporting on it."

After being denied an exemption last fall, Isom said she reviewed a draft of the compromise proposal in January but had reservations. While she was considering it, she received and accepted an offer from California Polytechnic State University.