Board of trustees at Catholic University nixes tenure for Eastern religions scholar - board may question Michael Stoeber's beliefs on reincarnation

National Catholic Reporter, July 2, 1999 by John L. Jr. Allen

In a highly unusual move, the board of trustees at the Catholic University of America has denied tenure to a faculty member despite approval at every other level of review, including unanimous support from the Academic Senate.

The June 8 decision came on the application of Michael Stoeber, a professor in the department of Religion and Religious Education.

Members of the board -- which includes all 8 American cardinals and 16 other bishops among its 49 members -- apparently took a special interest in Stoeber. Sources told NCR that Msgr. Richard Malone, currently on the faculty at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in the Philadelphia archdiocese, studied Stoeber's published work on behalf of board members in advance of the June 8 vote. Malone is a former theological adviser to the U.S. bishops, as well as a former staff member for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome.

Stoeber is a specialist in Eastern religions. Faculty sources, who asked not to be identified, say the board was especially concerned with writings by Stoeber that touch on reincarnation and on hell.

While sources said board members have investigated other tenure cases, they could not remember another instance in which the board actually rejected an application.

A university spokesperson declined to say whether the board had ever done so following a positive faculty recommendation, calling it an "internal matter." According to the university's policies the board does have that prerogative.

A special meeting of the Academic Senate is scheduled for July 8. University policies allow for the creation of a special joint committee in the event of a dispute between the Academic Senate and the board, and Fr. Stephen Happel, interm dean of the School of Religious Studies and Stoeber's department chair, told NCR that he expects the senate to request such a committee in the July 8 meeting.

In terms of whether he's optimistic that the verdict on Stoeber can be reversed, Happel said, "I don't have a clue what might happen."

A spokesperson for American Association of University Professors, a group that monitors tenure and academic freedom cases, told NCR that the action was "highly unusual" and "of obvious concern." Catholic University is already under censure from the AAUP for its 1987 dismissal of Fr. Charles Curran, who defended a right of dissent from church teachings. Curran, a moral theologian currently teaching at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, first drew attention when he objected to Humanae Vitae, the 1968 papal document reaffirming the ban on artificial birth control.

Stoeber declined to discuss his case. "My tenure application is still ongoing," he said in an e-mail to an NCR reporter. "I have nothing to say publicly or privately about the issue because it is still in process."

The action against Stoeber comes on the heels of the resignation of Fr. Raymond Collins as dean of the School of Religious Studies under pressure from Catholic University's president, Vincentian Fr. David O'Connell (NCR, June 18). Though the two matters are not directly related, Collins had approved Stoeber's application and supported it before the Academic Senate and the board of trustees.

The tenure process at Catholic University requires a faculty member to make application in the sixth year of service. Stoeber's case began in the fall of 1998. A tenure application moves through three levels of review -- department, school and Academic Senate. In Stoeber's case, most of these ballots, including the vote of the full Academic Senate, were unanimous in his favor.

Stoeber's application came before the board of trustees at an early March meeting. The board decided to table it along with several others until its next session in June.

A faculty member at Catholic University said the timing struck many of his colleagues as suspicious. "Faculty feel set up, that this got put off until the summer purposefully so no one would be around to protest it," he said.

Sources told NCR that on April 14, a librarian from St. Charles Borromeo Seminary contacted Happel seeking information on Stoeber. According to the sources, the caller said he was acting for Malone, who was investigating Stoeber on behalf of the board.

Attempts to contact Malone, who was in Rome as NCR went to press, drew no response. According to sources, Happel went to Collins seeking advice on how to respond to Malone's request.

Sources told NCR that Malone was unlikely to be acting on behalf of the full board of trustees. Instead, they said Malone was probably collecting information for one or more of the cardinals. In addition to his connection with Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua through St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, Malone also has ties to Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, who chairs the Catholic University board. After coming back from Rome in the 1980s, Malone worked in an institute in Boston created by Law. Also associated with Law's institute at the same time was Fr. Francis George before he was named a bishop and eventually cardinal of the Chicago archdiocese.