Professor Fired Due to His Masterfully Crafted Beard

Dr. Paul Roof, a professor of sociology at
Charleston Southern University, was recently fired from the small
Christian school in South Carolina for having an amazing beard…or
as the university put it, because his likeness showed up on a beer
can.

The brewing company, ironically called Holy City Brewing, used a picture
that Roof submitted to a beard competition last fall as the design
for their questionably named suds, “Chucktown
Follicle Brown.” 

Roof was called into the dean’s office last Wednesday. He said
in an
interview with Live 5 News in Charleston, “We came to an
understanding, and there appeared to be no problems with the beer
ad or the beer can.” Two days later though, he was called into the
vice president’s office and fired. He told
The Raw News, 

“I was told that it was not representative of a Christian
environment, and for me a Christian environment entails two things:
looking out for other people and forgiveness of others who’ve
transgressed you.” 

It’s hard to see where Roof “transgressed” anyone at all. He
says that he wasn’t even aware that his picture was going to be
used on the can. “I’m not compensated for the image, I don’t
own the image, and the use of the image was a surprise to me.”

The loss of his job would perhaps be understandable if he was
handing out the new beer to his students or if he came to class
with eight of them in his belly, but it seems a bit excessive to
get fired just because this awe-inspiring picture showed up as the
design for a recreational beverage. After all, one of Jesus’ most
well-known miracles was turning water into wine—a feat that every
kid on Charleston Southern University’s campus probably aspires
to.

In the past few years, the
extent to which colleges have gone to put a bubble around their
campus and shelter their students has been nothing short of
amazing, but this episode might just take the cake. Though the
university may not have shown him very much compassion or
forgiveness, he has received an outpouring of support on social
media. He told Live 5 News that he isn’t sure what it would take to
get his job back, and that he’s not even sure that he would want it
back.