Amid immense criticisms from the Bahamas Christian Council (BCC) over the University of The Bahamas' (UB) decision to host a Pride Week forum on the Oakes Field campus this week, Acting President of UB Janyne Hodder said yesterday that the university is merely upholding its duties as outlined in the University of The Bahamas Act.

At a press conference at the UB campus on Sunday, BCC President Bishop Delton Fernander said his group considers the event "an affront to our national values on the campus of a publicly funded institute of higher learning".

Asked to respond to the BCC's position, Hodder said, "I say you have to read the University of The Bahamas Act, which is what we are respecting."

She made the comments on Guardian Radio's "Morning Blend" with Dwight Strachan.

"The University of The Bahamas Act makes clear what our responsibility is, which is to provide a forum to support national development, to be free from religious and political intervention, and to be a place for debate and civil discourse," Hodder said.

"And so, we hold to the mission that we have as a university and we support our faculty who carry out events and expose students to different points of view based on their discipline, and that's what's happening this week."

The University of The Bahamas Act, which was passed and came into force in 2016, provides that the Board of Trustees shall be "free from undue influence from political, religious, or other external bodies and shall protect the institution from such influence."

The BCC, however, has appealed to Hodder and UB's board to cancel the event, noting that doing so would "return the university, back to the basic tenets of standard education and the decency of higher learning".

Fernander said the forum is "intended to attack the very moral tenets of our country" and is being put on by "a non-university special interest group with an expressed immoral agenda".

"It is our understanding the university was established as a place of learning, not a place for the immoral indoctrination of our young people with one-sided panel discussions," Fernander said.

"It is also our understanding that this event is not a UB event and it is also not part of a course offered by the university, and is instead being hosted by a private group of special interest advancing a special agenda."

Fernander also said the BCC believes that a university funded by taxpayer dollars ought not be the platform to "advance a lifestyle and agenda that are in contradiction to our nation's constitution and the values, standards and morals of our country and its people".

"The University of The Bahamas was intended by its own charter and bylaws to be a safe space for higher learning and not a playground for an immoral homosexual agenda and LGBTQ activists," he said.

Responding to the Christian Council's concerns on Sunday, Allyson Maynard Gibson KC, who chairs the UB board, stated, "Forums such as this are the places where, as a part of UB's national development mandate, our national spirit will be enriched and developed, as people with differing views engage in civil discourse and our students and citizens develop a better understanding of different viewpoints."

The Pride Week event is set for Thursday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Michael Eldon Building, UB.

According to the flier, the keynote speaker will be Dr. Kreimild Saunders, assistant professor of sociology at UB.

There will be a welcome address by Dr. Richard Adderley, chair of Social Sciences.

The event's moderator is listed as Alexus D'Marco, pride coordinator and human rights defender.

Several panel members are also listed on the flier: Alicia Wallace, Tribune journalist and feminist activist; Erin Green, radio host and LGBTQ+ activist; and Helen Klonaris, adjunct UB professor of English Studies, novelist and LGBTQ+ activist.

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