OREM, Utah – More than 100 faculty at Utah Valley University issued a public letter of disappointment in school president Matthew Holland after he signed an amicus brief in opposition to same-sex marriage.

Holland was one of “100 Scholars of Marriage” who signed onto a Supreme Court amicus brief in Utah’s fight against same-sex marriage, The Salt Lake Tribune reports.

The recent Tribune report highlighted Holland and dozen other Utah academics among the “100 Scholars of Marriage,” a group led by attorney Gene Schaerr. Schaerr previously argued against gay marriage on behalf of Utah in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, according to the Tribune.

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News of Holland’s signature on the document, as well as his title of president of UVU, prompted more than 100 educators at the university to issue their own letter in the Tribune to condemn Holland for supporting traditional marriage, arguing that his signature somehow speaks for the entire campus.

Published Friday in the Tribune:

George Pyle wrote Sunday in the Salt Lake Tribune that Gene Schaerr, the lawyer hired by the state of Utah to argue against marriage equality in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, has filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case and has done so for “100 scholars of marriage.” Pyle noted that among the 100 are 13 with connections to Utah, including, “most notably, Matthew Holland, the president of Utah Valley University.”

All of us, including our university president Matthew Holland, have the right to speak publicly as private citizens on controversial issues. However, as the public face of UVU to the larger community, Holland has a special responsibility to avoid public pronouncements that would harm his ability to carry out his duties as president of a state university officially committed to “diversity and inclusion.”

As current and former members of the Utah Valley University faculty and staff, we find President Matthew Holland’s promotion of the spurious ideas expressed by the “100 scholars” and the potential association of UVU with the Schaerr brief to be disappointing and harmful to values at the core of our public university.

One of the professors who signed the letter condemning Holland, Jim Harris, told KUTV it was “a little disturbing to see the president signed on to” the brief, which argued that if same-sex marriage is legalized it could lead to 900,000 more abortions over the next three decades.

“We want to make sure that the public at large and our students at large know that we are an inclusive university,” another professor, Joel Bradford, told the news site.

Bradford contends it’s not the fact that Holland signed the document that was upsetting, but rather that he affixed his title as president of the university.

“The difference is Matt Holland put it on there as ‘Matt Holland, president of UVU,’” he said.

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Holland would not agree to a television interview, but said through a statement that he was simply speaking for himself when he signed the brief, and not all at UVU.

“As the brief clearly indicates, Matthew Holland’s title was used for identification purposes only. He was signing as an individual and not in any capacity on behalf of Utah Valley University,” the statement read.

“Matthew Holland has always championed on campus, diversity and inclusion mean creating an environment of genuine respect and civility for all people in the exercise of strong and different beliefs, and from different backgrounds.”

Harris agreed that Holland has “done a lot for diversity, for gay and lesbian individuals,” but said his role as head of the university means he should not identify himself by title when expressing his beliefs.

Over a hundred professors signing a document condemning a colleague for expressing his beliefs isn’t the same thing as Holland signing in support of traditional marriage, Harris said.

“We’re not the leader of the institution,” he told KUTV. “We clearly don’t speak for the institution. A president of a university kind of does.”