You’re Fired. Again.
Having had a good friend whose father was briefly a professor at Ave Maria Law School, I’ve long harbored a quiet fascination with Tom Monaghan’s attempt to create a premiere Catholic university in the swamps of Naples. (Michael Brendan Dougherty profiled the attempt to develop the surrounding town in TAC last August.) But whether or not you share that fascination, anyone with even a mild familiarity with the history of the university’s relationship with Fr. Joseph Fessio can’t but be taken in by this headline from the Naples Daily News:
Ave Maria University fires Rev. Joseph Fessio a second time
At the Ignatius Press blog, Fr. Fessio sums up the decision:
… I think it is an accurate summary to say that I am being dismissed as a faculty member because of a private conversation with the chairman of the board in which I made known my criticisms of the university administration; and because of allegations which have not been made known to me and to which I have not been given an opportunity to respond.
And that’s how you run a university, my friends.
(H/T: First Thoughts.)
Filed under: education, religion
And now I shall fire you a second time! (with apologies to Monty Python)
This hurts AMU more than it hurts Fr. Fessio. He had been isolated there, so it’s better for him to move on.
Anyone with half a brain could not disagree with Fr. Fessio’s point that AMU’d reliance on real estate development puts them at great risk. I believe many would say it’s an understatement.
I have heard that Fr. Fessio’s departure comes not only from his divergence from the ‘vision’, but also from his failure as Provost and inability to work collegially with, um, equally gregarious personalities within the AMU administration.
I’m not saying Fr. Fessio isn’t on the right side here, just that he’s certainly not innocent of willfully making his personal problems at AMU into a larger, public debacle on which every Catholic (including myself!) feels the need to opine.
I you want to read the Padre’s full statement, along with a statement submitted by the local bishop (who is also on AMU’s Board), visit http://www.avewatch.com
After expressing concerns about the school’s financial situation to the Board member, Fessio was ASKED for his opinion on how to fix things. Then he is fired for answering? Out of control.
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