National Marquette Day - Giving Challenge

February 21, 2015, is National Marquette Day.

What is National Marquette Day?

In its present form, National Marquette Day has been around since 1992. The celebration was preceded by Spirit Day, with roots dating back to the 1960s. From the early days of satellite coordinates to today’s digital TV and online streaming, NMD has evolved into a global celebration of the Marquette family. Share your NMD memory on Facebook or Twitter using #nationalmarquetteday.

This alleged celebration of the Marquette family is also a fundraising ploy.

This is our day: National Marquette Day. Celebrate a lifetime of pride by participating in the National Marquette Day Giving Challenge.

We need your help to reach 500 donors in 48 hours. A gift of any size to any fund counts toward the challenge -- and will help give students a transformational Marquette education.

Support Marquette nation Feb. 20-21!

No way.

If you want to celebrate the "Marquette family," don't give the university any money.

Help get Marquette back on track by withholding support.

President Michael Lovell is presiding over a PR disaster for Marquette.

Lovell has permitted a tenured professor, Dr. John McAdams, to be harassed, banned from campus, his classes cancelled. McAdams has been informed that the process is underway to fire him, because of a blog post.

Shocking?

Yes.

This is Michael Lovell's Marquette.

Check out the national exposure the supposedly Catholic university is getting:

From The Atlantic:

Stripping a Professor of Tenure Over a Blog Post, Marquette University's attack on academic freedom

From Slate:

Firing a Professor Over a Blog Post

From Bloomberg:

Free Speech and Ivory Towers

From The American Conservative:

Defending John McAdams

From Breitbart:

Marquette University Intends To Fire Tenured Conservative Professor

Marquette looks awful, stifling free speech and trampling on academic freedom.

It's not surprising that McAdams is receiving support from people across the political spectrum, across the country.

What Marquette is doing is outrageous. It's just so wrong.

Hopefully, as the story gets more national attention, members of the "Marquette family" will rally and express their concerns about Lovell and the direction he's taking the university.

Has Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki weighed in on this?

I can't find any public statements.

Is Archbishop Listecki OK with the teaching of the Catholic Church being off limits in a Marquette ethics class?

Perhaps Archbishop Listecki should talk to the very devout Catholic Lovell, and suggest that merely speaking about Catholic teaching should be tolerated on campus. Perhaps he could also remind Lovell that it's inappropriate to FIRE a professor over an innocuous blog post.

The most constructive way to celebrate National Marquette Day is by not participating in the Giving Challenge.

"Help give students a transformational Marquette education"?

Absolutely not.

Unfortunately, a "transformational Marquette education" now refers to one that prohibits the free exchange of ideas and the teaching of the Catholic Church.