http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-marquette-sex-assaults-20110621,0,6489360.story?page=1
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-marquette-assaults-timeline-20110621,0,7441382.story
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
A Word on Wild; a Plea to Pilarz
The Office of Marketing and Communication (which I call the "MUPU" -- Marquette University Propaganda Unit) -- has announced that $43 million in scholarship money has been raised to honor Robert Wild. This is a wonderful addition to his legacy. Until last May, I would have been honored to contribute to the honoring. I had always liked Wild since knowing him in 1976, when I was a freshman resident of O'Donnell Hall and he was the hall chaplain. Last May, when he undid the contract with Jodi O'Brien on what I believe was sheer pretext -- her alleged inadequacy to represent MU's Catholic identity as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, I felt betrayed. I felt I had not really known this man, nor the institution at which I had spent 6 years as a student (B.A., then M. A.), and 21 years as a faculty member. I have not yet come to grips with this betrayal, nor the secrecy surrounding it. I carry this wound as I would a piece of shrapnel embedded in my flesh, with no way of removing it.
All of this was exacerbated by the sexual assault scandals that broke this past spring, as well as about the revelations that Wild had protected an alleged pedophile and had allowed MU facilities to be used to help the man prepare his legal defense. With these events, MU has not exactly "been the difference," at least not in a positive sense.
Before last May, an image of Wild prevailed that had been carefully presented to the MU community -- that of a benevolent "father figure." Yet it had become clear in recent years that Wild was being fed information -- told what to say at public events. He "punted" on difficult questions to his underlings. None of that was surprising, as higher administrators often defer to subordinates who have more "hands on" experience with knotty problems. Besides, people generally liked Wild -- he used to be a likeable guy, and his fuzziness and lack of contact with what was going on inside MU didn't seem to make much of a difference. Until last May, that is, when his lack of contact with reality exploded like a bombshell and harmed so many people, both inside and outside of MU. At the end of the day, Wild's legacy is far from untarnished.
Where do we go from here? Wild retires on July 31. On August 1, Scott Pilarz, SJ, will assume the presidency at MU. I hope he will give us what we need: a firm and committed leader. What MU needs now is an actual President -- not the dithering ball of fuzz and confusion that Wild turned out to be. We do not need yet another administrator. MU is chock full of those -- people who cannot or will not utter a clear sentence -- probably due to their concern with "plausible deniability."
With the appointment of Jodi O'Brien as Arts and Sciences Dean, we had reached a crossroads and were clearly moving ahead. Some people couldn't tolerate that, yearning, apparently, for some sort of pre-Vatican II version of conservative Catholicism. They knew which buttons of Wild's to push, and pushed they did. With the breach of Dr. O'Brien's contract, MU was set back by at least 20 years. Will Pilarz be up to the challenge of restoration?
All of this was exacerbated by the sexual assault scandals that broke this past spring, as well as about the revelations that Wild had protected an alleged pedophile and had allowed MU facilities to be used to help the man prepare his legal defense. With these events, MU has not exactly "been the difference," at least not in a positive sense.
Before last May, an image of Wild prevailed that had been carefully presented to the MU community -- that of a benevolent "father figure." Yet it had become clear in recent years that Wild was being fed information -- told what to say at public events. He "punted" on difficult questions to his underlings. None of that was surprising, as higher administrators often defer to subordinates who have more "hands on" experience with knotty problems. Besides, people generally liked Wild -- he used to be a likeable guy, and his fuzziness and lack of contact with what was going on inside MU didn't seem to make much of a difference. Until last May, that is, when his lack of contact with reality exploded like a bombshell and harmed so many people, both inside and outside of MU. At the end of the day, Wild's legacy is far from untarnished.
Where do we go from here? Wild retires on July 31. On August 1, Scott Pilarz, SJ, will assume the presidency at MU. I hope he will give us what we need: a firm and committed leader. What MU needs now is an actual President -- not the dithering ball of fuzz and confusion that Wild turned out to be. We do not need yet another administrator. MU is chock full of those -- people who cannot or will not utter a clear sentence -- probably due to their concern with "plausible deniability."
With the appointment of Jodi O'Brien as Arts and Sciences Dean, we had reached a crossroads and were clearly moving ahead. Some people couldn't tolerate that, yearning, apparently, for some sort of pre-Vatican II version of conservative Catholicism. They knew which buttons of Wild's to push, and pushed they did. With the breach of Dr. O'Brien's contract, MU was set back by at least 20 years. Will Pilarz be up to the challenge of restoration?
Chicago Tribune series on sexual assaults in midwest colleges and universities
The Chicago Tribune is doing a series of stories on sexual assaults and how they are handled in colleges and universities in the midwest. Here's the link to the first story, from Thursday, June 16th:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-campus-sexual-assaults-0617-20110616,0,6617854.story
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/education/ct-met-campus-sexual-assaults-0617-20110616,0,6617854.story
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Restoring Trust
In an earlier post, I listed three damaging incidents at MU that have occurred during the past two years: Wild's breach of contract with Jodi O'Brien, the sexual assault scandal, and the revelation of Wild's (and MU's) involvement with an accused Jesuit pedophile. These events can be interpreted as a long and painful record of broken trust. How can trust be restored?
The best case scenario would be that in which the perpetrators involved in all three events make a clean breast of what they did and why. We would then know who approached Wild to break the contract with Dr. O'Brien and why, and what money was involved, if any. We would know who felt they could circumvent procedure and be protected from the negative consequences of a stupid, wrong, and harmful decision. Similarly, we could know why the basketball coaching staff as well as the Department of Public Safety felt they could dispense with legally required procedures with apparent impunity. We would also know why Wild felt he could use MU facilities for personal and morally dubious purposes.
The answers are clear -- some people at MU feel they have absolute power to do as they please. So far, they seem to be right -- the only person to have lost his job is Wild, and he was retiring anyway. It boggles the mind to think that the basketball coaching staff has been let off the hook, as well as the Captain of DPS.
Since we are clearly not going to have the kind of public reckoning needed for the full restoration of trust at MU, what is our second best option? I believe that resides with the new President. He needs to do four key things. First, he needs to fire the guilty parties at the very top who created the culture of secrecy and complacency that led MU into these fiascos. Second, if lower level administrators are to be kept on, he needs to have a "come to Jesus" talk with each of them in which he makes clear that times have changed, and that cock-ups and cover-ups are no longer the order of the day. Third, he needs to restructure the current divide between academics and the administrative side, and take the absolute power that the latter now enjoys away from it. Finally, he needs to pledge to a new kind of decision-making at MU: collaborative, transparent, and committed to principled adherence to procedure. Wild evidently thought he was some kind of absolute monarch -- a Hobbesian sovereign with no responsibility or accountability within Marquette. That day needs to end, before MU is brought down by further stupidity and scandal.
The best case scenario would be that in which the perpetrators involved in all three events make a clean breast of what they did and why. We would then know who approached Wild to break the contract with Dr. O'Brien and why, and what money was involved, if any. We would know who felt they could circumvent procedure and be protected from the negative consequences of a stupid, wrong, and harmful decision. Similarly, we could know why the basketball coaching staff as well as the Department of Public Safety felt they could dispense with legally required procedures with apparent impunity. We would also know why Wild felt he could use MU facilities for personal and morally dubious purposes.
The answers are clear -- some people at MU feel they have absolute power to do as they please. So far, they seem to be right -- the only person to have lost his job is Wild, and he was retiring anyway. It boggles the mind to think that the basketball coaching staff has been let off the hook, as well as the Captain of DPS.
Since we are clearly not going to have the kind of public reckoning needed for the full restoration of trust at MU, what is our second best option? I believe that resides with the new President. He needs to do four key things. First, he needs to fire the guilty parties at the very top who created the culture of secrecy and complacency that led MU into these fiascos. Second, if lower level administrators are to be kept on, he needs to have a "come to Jesus" talk with each of them in which he makes clear that times have changed, and that cock-ups and cover-ups are no longer the order of the day. Third, he needs to restructure the current divide between academics and the administrative side, and take the absolute power that the latter now enjoys away from it. Finally, he needs to pledge to a new kind of decision-making at MU: collaborative, transparent, and committed to principled adherence to procedure. Wild evidently thought he was some kind of absolute monarch -- a Hobbesian sovereign with no responsibility or accountability within Marquette. That day needs to end, before MU is brought down by further stupidity and scandal.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Let's End Sadism Against Gays and Lesbians at MU
This past year, John McAdams conducted a campaign against gays and lesbians on his MU Warrior blog. He did this by obtaining leaked e-mails from someone on the University Academic Senate about deliberations to initiate domestic partnership benefits at MU. His retired colleague, Christopher Wolfe, chimed in with his usual sadistic views of gays and lesbians. Wolfe, if not McAdams, purveys his views in the name of Roman Catholicism. Several members of the Theology department at MU also mask their hatred and ignorance in the garb of religious belief. Let us be clear: nothing in Roman Catholicism mandates opposition to, or hatred of, gays and lesbians. Those who interpret RC to do so have made a choice to embrace hatred in the name of religious belief.
It is time for this mockery of religion to end. It is time for the Marquette community to recognize the essential dignity and humanity of all people -- gays and lesbians included. It is time for members of Roman Catholicism who disagree with the right wing haters to speak out and speak up -- take back your religion.
In the meantime, we wait for the MU administration to take some action against McAdams' hateful blog. Not only does he publish lies and venom, he uses University resources to do so, by making telephone calls to faculty and administrators for information for his "reports." Over the years, he has attacked liberal faculty members, myself included, and, several years ago, interfered with one of my classes. Requesting information for his blog, he called a student at home and upset her parents. Arguably, this behavior is harassment. It falls foul of conduct codes in the Faculty Handbook that are posted on the Provost's website. Why, then, has McAdams not been sanctioned for misconduct? What action did the University Academic Senate take in response to the leaked e-mails? Perhaps this year, under the leadership of James South, the UAS will be a genuinely representative body that will act in the interests of the faculty. We can hope that steps will be taken by the administration and the UAS to end McAdams' "reign of error."
Tammy Baldwin once said, "If you can't change hearts and minds, change faces." We have a new University President and a new President of the University Academic Senate. With any luck, we'll see new faces in other positions at MU. The ball is in their court to move MU forward. There is a lot of work to be done.
It is time for this mockery of religion to end. It is time for the Marquette community to recognize the essential dignity and humanity of all people -- gays and lesbians included. It is time for members of Roman Catholicism who disagree with the right wing haters to speak out and speak up -- take back your religion.
In the meantime, we wait for the MU administration to take some action against McAdams' hateful blog. Not only does he publish lies and venom, he uses University resources to do so, by making telephone calls to faculty and administrators for information for his "reports." Over the years, he has attacked liberal faculty members, myself included, and, several years ago, interfered with one of my classes. Requesting information for his blog, he called a student at home and upset her parents. Arguably, this behavior is harassment. It falls foul of conduct codes in the Faculty Handbook that are posted on the Provost's website. Why, then, has McAdams not been sanctioned for misconduct? What action did the University Academic Senate take in response to the leaked e-mails? Perhaps this year, under the leadership of James South, the UAS will be a genuinely representative body that will act in the interests of the faculty. We can hope that steps will be taken by the administration and the UAS to end McAdams' "reign of error."
Tammy Baldwin once said, "If you can't change hearts and minds, change faces." We have a new University President and a new President of the University Academic Senate. With any luck, we'll see new faces in other positions at MU. The ball is in their court to move MU forward. There is a lot of work to be done.
Marquette's Two Big Problems: Secrecy and Complacency
MU has had a series of setbacks in the past two years. The first was the breach of contract with Jodi O'Brien. The second was the sexual assault scandal involving basketball players. The third was the revelation about Robert Wild's involvement with an alleged Jesuit pedophile.
Several threads run through these incidents. The most obvious is sexuality. The Church is notoriously bad on issues of sexuality, and Marquette is no exception. The second and third threads are the secrecy that continues to shroud aspects of these events, and the complacency that seems to characterize the reaction of most of the MU community. Again, secrecy and complacency are not unique to MU, but seem to characterize larger problems within contemporary Catholicism.
MU's leadership seems to think it can get away with keeping dirty secrets. For example, we still do not know who approached Wild with cherry-picked passages from Jodi O'Brien's work, interpreted them out of context, and induced him to break MU's contract with her. We do not know who violated procedures to undo a done deal. We might never know this for certain, though we have suspicions. We do not know if money was involved -- that is, if Wild capitulated to pressure from conservative donors.
Similarly, we do not know who foots the bill for Gerry Boyle's presence as an advocate for accused basketball players during student conduct hearings. We do not know why the coaching staff, allegedly trained professionals, chose to have a meeting concerning allegations of sexual assaults that occurred in October. During this meeting, one of the players texted a victim to ask if she had reported the alleged assault. We do not know why reporting procedures weren't followed, or why there is no standardized mechanism for appeals of student conduct system results by victims, as required by Title IX.
We did not know, until the media broke the story, that Wild had allowed MU facilities to be used by an alleged pedophile in the preparation of his legal defense. We do know that Wild couldn't tolerate the fact that Jodi O'Brien had written about lesbian sexuality in respected academic journals. She couldn't be here because, years ago, she had written about lesbian sexuality. It was fine, of course, for an alleged pedophile not connected with MU to use campus resources to prepare a legal defense. What hypocrisy!
If we cannot break the secrecy that is killing MU, at least, let us overcome the complacency. The new President, Scott Pilarz, SJ, should be urged to fire the sycophantic administrators at the top levels who pandered to Wild's need to be kept in an information vacuum. Pilarz needs to do serious housecleaning at MU. This should extend not only to urgently needed personnel changes, but also to restructuring the divide between the administrative and academic sides. The former should not hold the purse strings of the latter. Academics needs to have control over its own budget, and not be subject to the whims of those who remain ignorant of academia and enrich themselves at MU's expense. I hope that someone at the top -- Pilarz and more enlightened members of the Board of Trustees -- recognize this.
Several threads run through these incidents. The most obvious is sexuality. The Church is notoriously bad on issues of sexuality, and Marquette is no exception. The second and third threads are the secrecy that continues to shroud aspects of these events, and the complacency that seems to characterize the reaction of most of the MU community. Again, secrecy and complacency are not unique to MU, but seem to characterize larger problems within contemporary Catholicism.
MU's leadership seems to think it can get away with keeping dirty secrets. For example, we still do not know who approached Wild with cherry-picked passages from Jodi O'Brien's work, interpreted them out of context, and induced him to break MU's contract with her. We do not know who violated procedures to undo a done deal. We might never know this for certain, though we have suspicions. We do not know if money was involved -- that is, if Wild capitulated to pressure from conservative donors.
Similarly, we do not know who foots the bill for Gerry Boyle's presence as an advocate for accused basketball players during student conduct hearings. We do not know why the coaching staff, allegedly trained professionals, chose to have a meeting concerning allegations of sexual assaults that occurred in October. During this meeting, one of the players texted a victim to ask if she had reported the alleged assault. We do not know why reporting procedures weren't followed, or why there is no standardized mechanism for appeals of student conduct system results by victims, as required by Title IX.
We did not know, until the media broke the story, that Wild had allowed MU facilities to be used by an alleged pedophile in the preparation of his legal defense. We do know that Wild couldn't tolerate the fact that Jodi O'Brien had written about lesbian sexuality in respected academic journals. She couldn't be here because, years ago, she had written about lesbian sexuality. It was fine, of course, for an alleged pedophile not connected with MU to use campus resources to prepare a legal defense. What hypocrisy!
If we cannot break the secrecy that is killing MU, at least, let us overcome the complacency. The new President, Scott Pilarz, SJ, should be urged to fire the sycophantic administrators at the top levels who pandered to Wild's need to be kept in an information vacuum. Pilarz needs to do serious housecleaning at MU. This should extend not only to urgently needed personnel changes, but also to restructuring the divide between the administrative and academic sides. The former should not hold the purse strings of the latter. Academics needs to have control over its own budget, and not be subject to the whims of those who remain ignorant of academia and enrich themselves at MU's expense. I hope that someone at the top -- Pilarz and more enlightened members of the Board of Trustees -- recognize this.
Friday, June 3, 2011
Welcome!
This blog has been created as a forum for commentary on Marquette University events, and as an alternative to the MU Warrior blog, which is operated by John McAdams. I invite commentary from people on Marquette news and events, current and past.
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