Identity

As you may know, I'm employed by an outstanding liberal arts university that is, by nature and charter, Catholic and Jesuit. The association of Jesuit schools has been having a years-long conversation about what exactly it means to be "big-C" Catholic as an educational institution.

That conversation recently leaped into the public eye as a result of the university's decision to rescind a job offer made to a candidate for the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. The candidate is a lesbian, whose area of study and publication centers around sexuality. These facts were known before the job offer was made; concerns about her writings didn't come to the fore until after the candidate's acceptance; that concern was part of the basis for the rescinding of the offer.

It is true the university fumbled things in the hiring process; they've admitted that and are correcting the system going forward. But you can imagine the tempest this has stirred up. Actually, no need to imagine - if you go to JSOnline and search on "O'Brien"* you'll find plenty of information and commentary (in fact, the best picture of the emotions the story has stirred up can be found by perusing the reader comments).

The most interesting reaction, at least from my point of view, has been from the faculty. While the faculty senate was quick to condemn the narrow mindedness of the administration in not hiring the candidate, they were just as quick, in typical academic fashion, to cry "it's all about meeeeeee" and demand firm resolutions from the administration that their own academic freedom would not be infringed upon in any way, no matter how contrary or offensive to the teachings of the Church it may be.

This is the heart of the tension between academic freedom and our identity as a Catholic institution: when does the "right" to academic freedom trump adherence to the values on which the institution is based?

By not defining clearly what it means to be Catholic and Jesuit, we've allowed ourselves to devolve into a secular institution that happens to be more friendly to Catholics than most others. It is a particular irony that by insisting on their academic freedom, the faculty would deny the institution's freedom to adhere to it's own values.

*The search function appears not to be working at the moment; no fears, there is yet another related article on the main page today.