ILLINOIS
Religion News Service
By David Gibson and Emily McFarlan Miller | April 30, 2016
(RNS) Gay students, supporters and alumni at Wheaton College, a top evangelical Christian school that counts former House Speaker Dennis Hastert among its most famous grads, have told the administration they are “stunned” the college has not condemned the sexual abuse of boys that Hastert admitted committing when he was sentenced last Wednesday for fraud in trying to cover up the abuse.
In an open letter dated and released Saturday (April 30), the group, OneWheaton, said “we are stunned that Wheaton College has not issued a stronger statement of condemnation and grief over damage done by someone whose image has been so strongly connected to Wheaton College.”
The college had named a major center on economics and government after the Republican leader, who retired from Congress — and his position as second-in-line to the presidency — in 2007.
After reports first emerged a year ago that Hastert was under investigation for bank fraud (he had sought to hide $3.5 million in transfers to pay one of the boys he abused more than 30 years ago while a wrestling coach) Wheaton said in accepting Hastert’s resignation from the advisory board of the center that it “respects Mr. Hastert’s distinguished public service record.”
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