The official reason for [Bruce] Shipman\u2019s resignation, according to the Episcopal Church at Yale, was not the letter but \u201cdynamics between the Board of Governors and the Priest-in-Charge.\u201d\u009d Ian Douglas, bishop of Connecticut and president of the board of governors for the Episcopal Church at Yale, emphasized this distinction to the Yale Daily News. \u201cIt\u2019s not as glamorous a story to hear that Priest-in-Charge Bruce Shipman resigned because of institutional dynamics within the Episcopal Church at Yale and not the debates related to Israel and Palestine \u201d\u201d but it\u2019s the truth,\u201d\u009d he said.<\/p>\n
Shipman disagrees. \u201cThis story cannot be simply dismissed as the inner problems of the Episcopal Church at Yale. It was not,\u201d\u009d he says. \u201cIt was this letter that set off the firestorm.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
For Shipman, the controversy raises a number of \u201ctroubling questions\u201d\u009d about free speech on campus. In addition to the hate mail, Shipman says he has also received letters of support from people thanking him for taking a courageous stand for Palestinian rights. University chaplains, he adds, have a long history advocating unpopular cultural positions.<\/p>\n