Michael Karlis
St. Philips College terminated Johnson Varkey's employment on Jan. 27, documents show.
That instructor, Johnson Varkey, has been the subject of right-wing media headlines for stating that he was canned from his job teaching biology at St. Philips College for saying in class that a person's sex is determined by X and Y chromosomes. He's represented by First Liberty Institute, a Plano-based law firm with the slogan "We Won't Be Canceled" emblazoned across its homepage.
However, Alamo Colleges' termination letter to Varkey, an adjunct instructor at St. Philips, states that he was let go over reports that he'd made anti-LGBTQ comments, engaged in "misogynistic banter" and engaged in other inappropriate classroom behavior.
"The complaint contained several reports of 'religious preaching, discriminatory comments about homosexuals and transgender individuals, anti-abortion rhetoric, and misogynistic banter,'" Alamo Colleges Vice President for Academic Success Randall Dawson wrote in Varkey's termination letter.
"While some of the subject matter may be connected to class content, it was very clear, from the complaints, that you pushed beyond the bounds of academic freedom with your personal opinions that were offensive to many individuals in the classroom," the letter continued.
Alamo Colleges didn't respond to the Current's request for comment. However, a spokeswoman told publication Inside Higher Ed that "as a practice, the Alamo Colleges does not comment on personnel matters or matters of pending or threatened litigation."
During a flex semester last fall, Alamo Colleges contracted Varkey to teach a biology class at Lackland Air Force Base as part of a program that offers free college-level courses to military families and veterans, according allegations First Liberty Institute made in its letter to the district.
After the semester ended, Alamo Colleges' Dawson sent an email to Varkey saying the district's human resources department had received an ethics complaint about his behavior during the course. The Jan. 12 email, which First Liberty shared, didn't elaborate on specifics of the complaint.
Then, on Jan. 27, Alamo College sent Varkey his termination letter.
In an interview with the Current, First Liberty attorney Kayla Toney disputed the allegations Alamo Colleges made in that correspondence.
"As far as we know, it was just one lecture on Nov. 28," Toney said. "That was the day he covered the entire unit on human reproduction, and a handful of students walked out of his class when he stated — in accordance with what the textbook said — that biological sex is determined by X and Y chromosomes."
In the letter sent to Alamo Colleges, Varkey's attorneys said their client is a "devout Christian" who believes that "one should not attempt to erase or alter his or her sex" and that "absent a compelling reason, one should not sterilize oneself." Despite those beliefs, Toney maintains that Varkey never shared those views during lectures.
Varkey is a part-time pastor at the International Bible Church in San Antonio. What's more, the website for evangelical radio station AM 630 The Word lists him as a contributor. A playlist of Varkey's appearances on the station comes up as "unavailable," however.
"Like I said, he never preached in class," Toney said. "And we think ... the fact that his students accused him of that demonstrates hostility toward his faith and his role as a pastor even though that didn't come into his teaching as a biology professor."
Its letter to Alamo Colleges, First Liberty included a slide purportedly used in Varkey's Nov. 28 lecture showing male and female reproductive organs. It was the only supporting material provided about the contents of that lesson.
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