Last February GetReligion mentioned the story of Matthew Bass, who was expelled from Baylor's George W. Truett Theological Seminary who was expelled after administrators heard that he was gay and asked him about it. Now Baylor has filed a lawsuit that accuses Bass of sending lewd e-mail to -- and about -- university employees.
Mike Anderson of the Waco Tribune-Herald describes the lawsuit's claims:
The amended petition says many of the e-mails were sent under the names of Baylor employees or their family members. One e-mail cited in the petition was addressed as if it came from the child of an unidentified Baylor employee. In the e-mail the child implores the parent to stop committing sexual abuse. The e-mail was sent to the employee and many other Baylor staff members, the suit alleges.
The petition also says one group of e-mails incorrectly reported that a faculty member who had recently had a stroke had died. A message with the obituary of an administrator was sent to news organizations, the petition says. Another e-mail, sent in the name of a George W. Truett Theological Seminary administrator, reported to one of Baylor's accrediting agencies that the seminary was involved in a cheating scandal involving faculty and students, the petition says.
The suit "appears to lack proof that the emails came from Bass," says the 365gay.com Newscenter Staff, without elaboration.
Anderson's story offers richer detail:
The petition says the e-mails were traced to the modem of an Internet service subscriber with Bass's same home address, identified as his roommate. The suit continues that Bass using his own name repeatedly accessed various computer services hosted on Baylor computers last fall, with the calls originating from the modem at Bass's residence.
"In order to access these services, Bass was required to 'log in' using a secure password known only to him, thereby indicating that he had personal access to, and used, a computer associated with the broadband modem in question," the petition states.
Two other details appear in Anderson's story but not at 365gay: "Other e-mails cited in the petition refer to sexual activities by Jesus Christ. The suit also alleges some of the e-mails contained racial epithets."