Marquette University announced on Tuesday that its next president would be the Rev. Scott R. Pilarz, who is currently president of the University of Scranton. One issue Father Pilarz is likely to face at Marquette when he takes office next summer is academic freedom at the Roman Catholic institution. Three months ago, Marquette drew sharp criticism both on and off the campus when it rescinded a job offer to a Seattle University sociologist, Jodi O’Brien, a move widely regarded as stemming from her being a lesbian (Marquette denied the allegation). In an interview at the time, Father Pilarz declined to talk specifically about the O’Brien case, but he did discuss the tensions over academic freedom that can arise at Catholic colleges (the question appears at 1:36 of the podcast).
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2 Responses to Marquette’s New President Speaks on Academic Freedom at Catholic Colleges
willynilly - September 2, 2010 at 10:23 am
It is surprising, but nonetheless refreshing that President Pilarz is willing to pronounce his apparently, “newly discovered” reverence to Academic Freedom. While Bishop Martino, headed the Diocese of Scranton, and trampled all over the academic freedom rights in the regional catholic higher educational institutions, Pilarz sat in his office with his door and his mouth closed. The only president in the region to stand up to the mis-guided Bishop was the layman who heads up Misericordia University. I expect Pilarz will crumble under any pressure from the ruling Bishop of that region – unless, of course, that Bishop is enlightened enough to understand the stupidity of attempting to subject ones God given intellect and free-will to the 12th century thinking of the catholic church.
citizenship - September 2, 2010 at 4:36 pm
From the title of this CHE article I assumed Father Pilarz had made a statement about academic freedom after he was recently named the new president of Marquette University. However there was only a link to a dicussion made THREE MONTHS AGO while president of the University of Scranton. Where is the information validating the headline? What is the current news here?