Redeemer University College in Ancaster, Ontario, has been added to CAUT’s list of universities and colleges that subject academic staff to a faith test.

The action follows the report of an ad hoc investigatory committee created last year under CAUT’s Procedures in Academic Freedom Cases Involving Allegations of Requirements of an Ideological or Faith Test as a Condition of Employment.

The inquiry was conducted by professors Paul Handford of the University of Western Ontario and Allan Manson of Queen’s University. The committee concluded, based on its review of available materials and in correspondence with Redeemer president Hubert Krygsman, that the institution “explicitly employs a faith test in initial appointments to, and progression in, academic positions.”

The inquiry report shows that “Redeemer is mandated by its Objects, Statement of Basis and Principles, and By-Laws to establish ‘a hiring process that is open and competitive and, at all times, respects the Objects and Statement of Basis and Principles of Redeemer University College, including requiring a personal faith in Jesus Christ, active participation in the church and Christian community, subscription to the Objects and Statement of Basis and Principles … appropriate understanding of a Reformed Christian perspective as related to employment responsibilities, and agreement and conformity with Board approved policies for employee conduct.’”

The report further discloses that applicants for faculty positions at Redeemer must submit a “one-page or two-page statement describing their own faith commitment and how it shapes their academic work.”

The report says it received correspondence from Krygsman contending that “Redeemer does indeed seek to hire faculty who share Redeemer’s faith commitments and mission as a Christian university.”

Krygsman also wrote that “while we affirm the freedom of individual faculty to pursue knowledge and understanding in their academic work, we also affirm the communal freedom of organizations and institution to pursue their distinctive academic missions and projects.”

Redeemer is the fourth university to be investigated under the CAUT policy in place since 2006.

CAUT executive director James Turk said the relevance of the investigations is not about whether an institution has a religious mission, but if it requires an ideologically homogenous professorate.

“The majority of religiously-affiliated universities in Canada do not impose a faith test on faculty. Our concern is over a university that requires faculty to conform to a particular religious belief and religious practice if they want to be hired and to retain their jobs,” he said.