She said she’s also open to a proposal by the college’s Academic Senate to create an Academic Freedom Advisory Council where professors could consult with their colleagues on potentially controversial topics or guest speakers.

Atheist speaker invited

Aj Scarpino, a film and television major who’s set to graduate in June, filmed and participated in the march and the town hall meeting. He said there’s a perception among many on campus that the college is catering to its more conservative alumni, parents and donors, and being less than transparent with students.

“There’s a lot of anger and passion and miscommunication right now,” said Scarpino. “But if we go the rest of our lives without standing up to what we deeply feel is wrong, then we have no point in being given this wonderful blessing to be at PUC.”

Mailand, who’s taken many of Fulton’s classes, was disappointed that the administration cancelled the scheduled appearance by Bell, who became an atheist after spending “a year without God” as a thought experiment.

“I was looking forward to hearing him speak, especially because he was going to be interviewed by Fulton, who’s not an atheist,” Mailand said. “There was going to be an interesting give-and-take between them.”