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Feb 10, 2011
Institutions of higher learning are typically at the cutting edge of forward-thinking and cultural evolution. But not at Marquette University, where progressives complain that backward religious conservatives have a stranglehold on the administration. As a result, they fear the university’s academic standing is moribund.
“Marquette is where faculty go to die,” an unnamed faculty member told a researcher contracted by the university to examine conditions for LGBT people on campus.
That the examination occurred at all is encouraging. But the clandestine way it was handled clouds hopes that the subsequent report will have much impact on a campus where LGBT people and their allies clearly feel beleaguered. University officials have not been forthcoming about the report and are resistant to discussing it publicly.
Of course, following last year’s hiring scandal involving lesbian scholar Jody O’Brien, Marquette will not attract many LGBT students or faculty in the near future. The recent report only underscores the perception of Marquette created by that incident. So perhaps the people responsible for the study feel there’s little to gain by publicizing it. Perhaps they hope to use it to convince the real decision-makers – i.e., archdiocesan officials – that conditions on campus need to change.
We wish them luck but we don’t have much faith in their success. Other Jesuit institutions have succeeded in balancing the interests of a rapidly changing world with those of a church that took 360 years to forgive Galileo for observing that the Earth revolved around the sun. But Marquette has never found the formula. At Marquette, Vatican orthodoxy trumps Jesuit social justice.
We commend those fighting for LGBT acceptance at Marquette. But we caution anyone considering enrolling or working there: It is no more comfortable or even safe to be out at Marquette than it is at Notre Dame. While baby steps are being taken, the pushback is strong and secretive. Marquette lags far behind many Jesuit universities and is likely to remain that way for some time.
The situation at Marquette not only makes it off-limits for LGBT people but threatens to erode the quality of scholarship, just as faculty there fear. That makes the situation a loss for the entire city.
