Identity, academic freedom go head-to-head at Catholic U

National Catholic Reporter, Oct 15, 2004 by Joe Feuerherd

Still, the issue didn't die.

Approximately 70 professors attended a Sept. 23 meeting of the Faculty Assembly, where opposition to the school's speaker policy was the main topic of discussion. That was followed by a statement from members of the Arts and Science faculty charging that "since few persons in public life agree wholly with Catholic position on abortion, the death penalty, and justifiable grounds for waging war, consistent application of the newly issued directives must finally be unsustainable."

Said the statement: "Academic freedom is among the most cherished ideals of the American academic community in which The Catholic University of America claims membership." Further, said the faculty members, "license to speak in a university setting derives from and is contained within ... areas of competence, not from adherence to a set of external norms."

It is here that divisions between O'Connell and the vocal faculty members become most evident. Fundamental moral principals enunciated by the church, he told NCR, are not "external" to the university, but an essential element of its identity and mission. Abortion, he said, is different because the church teaches that it is intrinsically evil and does not allow for the nuance that exists on other issues such as the death penalty.

"I can't fathom why some people don't understand that," said O'Connell.

Further, said O'Connell, the university is a unique institution. "This is the only university established by the pope, founded by the bishops, sponsored by the bishops and governed by a segment of the bishops. It's the only one like that in the United States." One result of that relationship, said O'Connell, is that statements from the bishops' conference related to platforms for pro-choice speakers "inform university policy and not the other way around."

O'Connell draws a distinction between what is taught in the classroom and university-wide events that associate the school with objectionable speakers. Recently, he recalled, Democratic National Party chairman Terry McAuliffe--an abortion rights Catholic--addressed a politics class. The topic was political fundraising. O'Connell expressed no objection to McAnliffe's presence as long as it was confined to the classroom, he said. "In my seven years as president, I have never interfered with anyone's classroom activity," said O'Connell.

And O'Connell has his supporters among the faculty. "I don't think the [Tucci] decision is a problem at all," said Sophia Aguirre, an associate professor of economics. "This is not an issue of freedom of speech, but of acting in accordance with the mission of the university," said Aguirre.

That's not good enough, however, for Some longtime faculty members. "The faculty has to be resolute in this," said psychology professor James E. Youniss.

As a young faculty member in the 1960s, Youniss said that he and others struggled to develop an atmosphere of academic freedom at the university. He pointed to the university's "Statement of Aims," developed during that era, which states that the university welcomes an atmosphere where "freedom is fostered and where the only constraint on truth is truth itself."