Ethical Questions in Habitat's Firing of Millard Fuller

Contrary to headlines prompted by Habitat for Humanity’s board statement, the organization’s founder and president Millard Fuller was fired due to changes in corporate culture, not unsubstantiated sexual harassment allegations.



This troubling finding is included in an article that I wrote for Christianity Today, which was posted this afternoon.



Although I am restrained from saying more at this point, because I may do additional reporting on this issue for CT, as is the case in many of the dramas surrounding the interaction of men and women in the workplace, it is unlikely that anyone but the participants will know whether Fuller was inappropriate with the female employee last spring, and others before her, or if the warm and friendly nature of the 70-year-old south Georgian was an uncomfortable fit with the modern era’s climate of sexual politics.



What is certain is that the events that led to the firing reveal the changing culture of the highly successful housing provider, and the inability of its charismatic founder to thrive in the environment he helped create.



The board’s decision to use the allegations in the first paragraph of its announcement demonstrates the rancor between the parties, and raises ethical questions about the board’s handling of information that personally smears one of the Christendom’s fine, hardworking servants.

--James Jewell