ISU football coach Gene Chizik got off on the wrong foot with several ISU faculty and staff this past summer after expressing interest in hiring a chaplain for the football team.

The chaplain position is meant to provide religious counsel for players on the team, and is present at other schools, most prominently at Chizik’s former university – Auburn. The attempt to bring a religious figure into a state university sparked a monthlong debate.

Hector Avalos, professor of philosophy and religious studies, said when it was first reported that Chizik wanted to hire a chaplain for the football team, a copy of the e-mail that William David, university professor of music, sent to ISU President Gregory Geoffroy and athletic director Jamie Pollard was sent to him.

It was then decided to start a petition to express the position of the faculty concerning the proposal of a chaplain position on the team.

Avalos said the reason he was opposed to the proposed position was because of the issue of separation of government and religion.

“I don’t believe that the government should be in the business of preferring one religion over another, and that’s what we saw happening,” he said.

Avalos also said it was a matter of letting the faculty’s voice be heard.

Both Avalos and Warren Blumenfeld, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, said they had not been aware of an unofficial chaplain under former coach Dan McCarney and said they would have been opposed to that as well.

Other than the petition, Avalos said he and others had written letters to the editor and given interviews explaining their position.

The controversy was also a chance to tell people about the issue of religion and government, Avalos said, and what the founding fathers would have thought about the proposed position.

“We also saw it as an opportunity to educate and generate discussion on a very important issue of government and religion.”

The American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation also followed the story through the summer.

After the proposal was sent to the Iowa State athletics council, Avalos said it was a “good step.” However, when the council made its recommendation he was not pleased.

“It still seemed to favor a religion, one religion,” he said. “It still seemed to allow one religion to be endorsed over another.”

Avalos said the reason the United States has more religious diversity is because the government does not favor one specific religion.

Although the position would not be funded by the university, Avalos said that the source of the pay was not the issue.

“It’s not who funds the chaplain, it’s what the chaplain does,” he said.

Avalos said the final decision of life skills assistant by Geoffroy was acceptable if the restrictions outlined in his decision are followed as he and the others who opposed the original idea understand them.

“The way we understand them is this life skills volunteer will be able to do very little, if anything, without violating them,” he said. “Any time they give any kind of religious advice, they may be in violation of what Dr. Geoffroy prohibited.”

With the decision being made, Avalos said they will continue to monitor the situation.

Blumenfeld said the reason he and others objected to Chizik’s proposal was because they felt it was illegal.

“Well, first of all, it violates the separation of religion and government. For one thing, it’s illegal, we feel,” he said.

He also said it supported one religion over others.

“On a football team, you want to have unity, and this is a very divisive issue,” Blumenfeld said.

Blumenfeld also said those who wanted the chaplain had a notion of “one-size-fits-all” religious counseling, which he does not believe is possible. He also said there are enough opportunities around town for students to get religious counseling and to have it for the football team was unnecessary.

When Geoffroy decided to give the proposals to the athletics council, Blumenfeld said he and others were “optimistic” about the outcome.

“We were optimistic that the athletic council would reject the position of a chaplain,” he said.

Blumenfeld said it was disappointing when the council came out with its recommendation and basically only changed the name of the position.

“A Christian chaplain by any other name is still a Christian chaplain,” Blumenfeld said.

Blumenfeld said they had the students’ best interests in mind in protesting the proposal, believing it would “alienate” students with different beliefs.

He said students wanting to impress or get in good with the coach may go against his own beliefs if the chaplain position would have been approved.

“In many ways, it’s a very intimidating process to have this one-size-fits-all minister for this team, which will alienate the team. It brings a disunity rather than unity on the team,” Blumenfeld said.

Blumenfeld also responded to those who didn’t think the position was a problem because it wouldn’t be paid for by school funds.

“The separation of religion and government doesn’t talk about funding,” he said.

Blumenfeld also said that if the position were to be paid by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which it had been reported it would, it would also be a problem.

“Their mission is to bring Jesus to sports or Christ to sports. That is totally opposed to the Constitution,” he said, referring the mission statement on the FCA’s Web site.

After the Athletic Council sent their proposal to Geoffroy, he approved it with a few more clarifications.

Geoffroy wrote that the person who fills the position would only be a volunteer, and not receive “any state, university, athletic, or ISU Foundation funds.”

Geoffroy also wrote in his statement that the person who fills the position cannot promote a religion or religious viewpoint and cannot pressure or coerce any student-athlete to participate in religious activity, or choose “religion over non-religion.”

Another clarification Geoffroy made was that the person must assist student-athletes of all beliefs and help those with different beliefs find other resources when asked to do so.

The final point Geoffroy made was that the person holding the position must adhere to the university’s nondiscrimination policy.

Geoffroy also wrote that the person in the position will be evaluated every year for effectiveness and value. The student-athlete responses will be assessed by Paula Morrow, university professor of management and ISU faculty athletics representative.