Monday, May 2, 2016

John McAdams Sues Marquette

Professor John McAdams is suing Marquette University.

From CBS 58:

Marquette University Professor John McAdams filed a lawsuit in Milwaukee County Circuit Court against Marquette University for allegedly illegally suspending Professor McAdams in the fall of 2014 and making the decision to terminate his tenure and fire him from Marquette.

According to a press release, Marquette University guarantees its tenured faculty academic freedoms, including the right to free speech.

The release from McAdams attorney goes on to say, Marquette suspended Professor McAdams for blogging about an incident between an undergraduate student and a graduate instructor where the Instructor told the student that any discussion on gay marriage in an ethics course would be considered homophobic and inappropriate.

In February Marquette University President Michael Lovell announced that he would follow the recommendation of Marquette’s Faculty Hearing Committee and suspend McAdams without pay through January 2017, and adding the requirement that McAdams apologize in order to be reinstated.

McAdams attorney said, “Professor McAdams will not apologize because he has done nothing wrong. “

...Professor McAdams also stated that, “I think the most overlooked aspect of this matter is that no one in the Marquette Administration has taken seriously the complaint of the undergraduate student who was silenced by the Instructor. I’m saddened that Marquette’s treatment of the undergraduate student at the center of this controversy failed to adhere to its guiding principle of Cura Personalis.”
I gave Lovell and Marquette way too much credit.

I really thought that eventually they would realize how inappropriate their stance on this matter was. I thought they would quietly reinstate McAdams and do their best to make the matter go away, because they were so clearly in the wrong.

Instead, Marquette dug in, deep, against academic freedom and Catholic values. How could they possibly think that would turn out well?

Marquette has been exposed as advocating censorship. The environment of this alleged Catholic institution is hostile to Catholic teaching. Academically, the atmosphere is chilling.

Big problem.

This bears repeating. I encourage donors to Marquette University to withhold their financial support.




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