In rejoinder
Provost, James H. & Potvin, Raymond H. & Collins, Mary
WHAT NEXT AT CATHOLIC U? JAMES H. PROVOST RAYMOND H. POTVIN MARY COLLINS . Now that the case that the Reverend Charles Curran brought against Catholic University has been decided in the...
...Only full discussion among the faculty will assure that "such implications not become university policy" without all concerned parties being heard from...
...We direct student research and conduct our own...
...Tr.219-220...
...Yet it could be that the implications for academic freedom as it is understood in the legal processes of our country may reach well beyond the CU campus...
...131), but in the last analysis he came around to the chancellor's position (Dep...
...if some would attempt to make it do so, this would indeed be turning a hard case into bad law...
...Theacademic freedom which we have enjoyed has been Jeopardized, and the reputation of the university in the eyes ffte academic community may suffer unwarranted and un-dsaved diminution...
...It is a local decision in a specific case, and makes much of the so-called "special relationship" of Catholic University of America (CU) to the Holy See...
...We serve as consultants to episcopal conferences, diocesan organizations, and pontifical commissions...
...Aspects of sexual morality are clearly a major concern to Vatican officials these days...
...and (3) that the principles of academic freedom apply to all disciplines in the university, including the sacred sciences...
...The issues in the Vatican's disagreement with Professor Curran addressed not only the legitimacy of dissent, but also specific questions in moral theology, primarily related to sexual questions...
...In defending their action in regard to Professor Curran, have the chancellor and board so weakened the idea of a university that it will be difficult for any Catholic institution to be taken seriously by American academe in the future...
...Accordingly the senate has asked the faculties of all the schools of the university to reflect together on the nature of the academic enterprise in which they are engaged, addressing several statements that the senate itself endorsed as descriptive of the self-understanding of the faculty...
...At the pretrial inquiries, asked why he had limited the committee's mandate to this issue when, in fact, he had already decided that Curran would not be permitted to teach theology anywhere at CU, Cardinal Hickey replied that he did not reveal his intent because he did not want to "short-circuit" the process that was before the board and that he felt obliged "to keep my own counsel" (Dep...
...The end result in the eyes of the civil law could be the leveling of all Catholic institutions of higher education into the same situation as the decision presents...
...While the case of The Reverend Charles E. Curran v. The Catholic University of America in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia does not fit the traditional meaning of a "hard case," it could wind up making bad law...
...Cardinal Hickey's testimony raises fundamental concerns about whether the board of trustees took seriously the procedures which govern the removal of tenured members of the faculty, or which govern the granting, suspension, and withdrawal of required authorizations for members of the university's three ecclesiastical faculties...
...If the Curran case version of this university prevails, the institution will indeed become in the future what it has never been in the past, an institution of higher education defined solely by a special relation with the Vatican...
...It appeared from Cardinal Bernardin's testimony that either this historical commitment had not been made known to the current members of the board, or that they knew about it and refused to be governed by it...
...RAYMOND H. POTVIN Where Do We Go From Here...
...Such views certainly do not carry the ring of "good law" to the Catholic academic community...
...REVEREND RAYMOND H. POTVIN is professor of sociology in the School of Arts and Sciences at The Catholic University of 'America...
...The academic senate of CU has begun the process and has invited participation by the full faculty, the administration, and the trustees...
...The Second Vatican Council began to address this issue when it stated: "Let it be recognized that all the faithful, clerical and lay, possess a lawful freedom of inquiry and of thought, and the freedom to express their minds humbly and courageously about those matters in which they enjoy competence" (Pastoral Constitution on the Church, no...
...The senate's reference to past difficulties is intended to refute the judgment of those who say that suddenly the game is up for CU...
...But can the chilling effect of this intervention be isolated to sexual morality, or is it having a dampening effect on all of moral theology today...
...If there is heaviness in the air, it can be heard in the voices of senior faculty at the university-scientists and engineers, humanists and social scientists, philosophers, theologians, lawyers-observing that they are tired, tired of a struggle to protect and promote the well-being of The Catholic University of America to which they have given a lifetime of coftunitted service, and concerned whether anybody else except them cares enough about this university, its tradition, and its aspiration, to work through this present moment...
...He has paid a price, but has not the church also paid a price...
...Through a letter from Cardinal Joseph Bemardin, former chairman of the board of trustees, the present faculty was informed in December that it could await a "full and precise definition" of academic freedom in the near future...
...Continued from page 271) ring the Reverend Charles Curran from ever teaching theology at CU again...
...forma" only...
...Included in that history have been significant contributions to the intellectual life of Roman Catholicism as the university has sought to attain academic excellence in the sacred sciences as well as in arts and sciences generally and in selected professions...
...Traditionally "hard cases" are those that present issues in which a correct application of the law will result in inappropriate hardships to one or more of the parties involved...
...Concerning this final point, the academic senate observes, "Recent statements made in the public forum have raised questions as to whether academic freedom is uniquely limited at this university and applies differently to faculty members engaged in theological research and teaching than it does to faculty members engaged in other disciplines...
...We live in a time when society at large is struggling with questions of morality, public as well as private, ranging from life and death issues to the conduct of civic and business affairs...
...CU is in the midst of its regular evaluation by Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools forpurposes of accreditation...
...The resolution is also motivated by the recognition that every human institution coheres as a community of memory and interpretation, so that the story it tells itself from one generation to the next shapes its future...
...Tr.C653-C655...
...REVEREND JAMES H. PROVOST, a priest of the diocese of Helena, Montana, is associate professor of canon law and chairs the, Department of Canon Law at The Catholic University of America...
...In the present circumstances, in which the impression lingers that the sole responsibility for the integrity of the institution lies with me trustees and the administration, with the faculty playing little more than a minor role in the enterprise, the academic senate has committed itself to participating from the start in the promised process...
...The church and its universities can ill afford to be absent from this debate...
...theology] is continuity with the tradition of the church" which is to be determined in the final analysis "by the bishop...
...If a university can appeal in court to a "special relationship" to church-or state-as conditioning the academic freedom of a professor, what does "academic freedom" really mean...
...As things now stand, are there any instructions from the bishops of the United States or from Rome that CU's board of trustees or the president can legitimately resist...
...While Cardinal Bernardin subsequently wrote an open letter to the faculty denying this interpretation of his testimony, the fact remains that a right not defined is no right at all...
...In his public declarations, President Byron has tended to emphasize the limits of academic freedom without elaborating on the reasons for its existence even in a university that takes seriously its special relationship to the Holy See (see "A Catholic Reflection on Academic Freedom" in Origins, February 16, 1989...
...What is the faculty at CU doing...
...In acknowledging such periods of difficulty, the senate recalls that it has been through the cooperative efforts of faculty, administration, and trustees that such difficulties have been resolved in the past and that the university has been able to maintain its academic integrity and its Catholic character...
...This extends the issues raised in the Curran case to the whole faculty and leads to'the widespread opinion that academic freedom does not exist at Catholic University...
...From the point of view of the law, the decision is not a binding precedent...
...As late as December 1987, he had tried "to find a way consonant with the decision of the congregation which (Continued on page 272) (Continued from page 271) would permit Father Curran to retain his tenure and rank" (Dep...
...The dialogue on this issue which has already begun on the CU campus is a dialogue which bears repeating on (Continued on page 272) (Continued from page 270) secular as well as religiously affiliated campuses across the country...
...Statutes that can be made can be changed...
...WHAT NEXT AT CATHOLIC U? JAMES H. PROVOST RAYMOND H. POTVIN MARY COLLINS . Now that the case that the Reverend Charles Curran brought against Catholic University has been decided in the university's favour Commotweal, March 24.1989), other unresolved issues have come to the fore...
...Notwithstanding the academic distinction it has attained," so the academic senate's declaration observes, "the, university has experienced moments of tension and difficulty arising from its efforts to be truly a university in accord with American standards of higher education, and, at the same time, truly Catholic in orientation and commitment...
...On a wider scale, the decision in the Curran case must not be seen as setting the limits, or the meaning, of academic freedom for Catholic colleges and universities...
...With Judge Weisberg's observation that it is up to the church and to the university to determine what is good for themselves and what is not in the matter of academic freedom and fealty to Rome, the game js now back on the university's field of play...
...it was not issued by an appellate court, let alone the Supreme Court of the United States...
...This university's battle for academic freedom has never been won or lost definitively...
...The decision also is not a determination by the courts of this land about Catholic higher education in general...
...We collaborate with our professional colleagues in seminars, symposia, and conferences...
...When the Code of Canon Law canonized this conciliar statement as one of the obligations and rights of the Christian faithful, it inserted the phrase "while observing due obsequium for the magisterium of the church" (canon 218...
...A faculty |ne§0hrtkro, "We Teach Under Protest," appears on page 274...
...In the current moment, the university chancellor, trustees, andpresident made a judgment to present the university in civil court in terms which served an immediate narrow interest, namely, effectively bar(Con tinned on page 273) Where Do We Go From Here...
...While neither Professor Curran nor Catholic University claimed to be in this kind of a hardship situation, the facts surrounding the recent case are quite singular...
...Since academic freedom is essential ibar tite fostering of creative scholarship, for attracting and Je&isiiig a faculty of distinction, and for maintaining ac-Sgtt&tfttion by the professional organizations to which CUA .-fafaags, we urge an unequivocal recommitment at this time JMlie university to the commonly accepted principles of yw&temc freedom...
...Trustees, presidents, and faculty come and go...
...Nevertheless, it is being widely quoted and the impression in the general public is that this is a landmark decision...
...If CU's faculty enters its second century still aspiring to seek truth with a tenacious confidence that faith and reason are not irreconcilable, after reading pretrial depositions and trial transcripts, we may be wiser about the difficulties that accompany our conviction and warier about taking too much for granted...
...MARY COLLINS We teach under protest n April 7, 1989, the following resolution ...was adopted by ordinary professors of arts and sciences at Catholic University with a vote of 16 yes, 4 no, 1 abstention: We, the body of ordinary professors of the School of Arts and Sekmces, are distressed and alarmed at the damaging implications for academic freedom of the recent court case Charles Curran v. Catholic University...
...Tr.432...
...it has seen important victories...
...These are not identical issues and the recognition that they are not permits reaching a conclusion quite different from that of Byron who believes that "proclaimfing] a Catholic identity without accepting an ecclesial limit on theological exploration and communication is to misunderstand not only the nature of church-relatedness, but also the idea of a university and the meaning of academic freedom...
...Put simply, faculty throughout the university are doing ordinary things under extraordinary circumstances during this spring semester...
...But from the results of the Curran case, the discussion may have bearing on a wider audience, and bears careful reflection by all who are committed to the cause of Catholic witness in the world of knowledge and culture...
...We teach under protest until the board of trustees reaf-Jtefis die university's commitment to fell academic free.trustees reaf-Jtefis die university's commitment to fell academic free...
...The senate declaration takes full account of what Judge Weisberg noted, that CU-like other Catholic institutions of higher education in this country, incidentally-has "wanted it both ways...
...Hie court concluded that because of the special rela-.Sflroitshipbetween the university and the Holy See...
...trying to base future policy on the decision may wind up causing more harm than good...
...IAY COLLINS, O.S.B...
...So can their interpretation...
...These issues need addressing...
...On April 7, the ordinary professors of the School of Arts and Sciences passed a resolution (see p. 274) stating in part, "We view with grave concern the testimony of the chairman of the board of trustees, the chancellor, and the president, which displayed a lack of understanding of the history of the university and its tradition of academic freedom" and declaring "...we urge an unequivocal recommitment at this time by the university to the commonly-accepted principles of academic freedom" and concluding, "We teach under protest until the board of trustees reaffirms the university's commitment to full academic freedom...
...It is not, therefore, so much the judge's decision but what the chancellor, the chairman of the board of trustees, and the president of the university testified to at the trial that is of concern to the faculty...
...At the very least his testimony suggests that the procedures may have been followed "pro...
...Even Commonweal's otherwise careful editorial (March 24, 1989) succumbs to a prejudicial reading of our actual situation...
...In ordinary circumstances, the faculty might presume that the board of trustees would consult the wisdom of those who had spent their professional lives discovering how to hold in creative tension the commitment to Catholic faith and the search for truth before it acted as a board to make definitive statements about how such commitments must be ordered...
...On page 285, the Reverend William Byron, S.J., objections to Commonweal's March 24 editorial: on page 286, the editors reply to him and to other objections made by Sister Mary Collins, O.S.B., in her essay...
...Previous administrations had been guided on various occasions by this declaration of the academic senate...
...The decision is also not about academic freedom in general, but dealt with the particular case of a specific professor...
...For Cardinal James Hickey, chancellor of the university, it seems the Curran problem was never limited to Curran's teaching in the ecclesiastical faculties, though that was said to be the issue when a special committee of the academic senate was constituted to consider the cardinal's intent to withdraw Curran's canonical mission...
...The crucial issues center on how such fidelity and respect become translated into "being open to episcopal oversight in the area of theology" and on how this oversight is to be exercised, especially in cases of conflict and competing traditions...
...Whether the interpretation given to obsequium by Vatican authorities in the Curran case is to be applied more widely will have a significant bearing on how the church is willing to work with academe in clarifying academic freedom in Catholic institutions...
...On March 16, a unanimous resolution of the academic senate began with the declaration, "The academic senate of The Catholic University of America, in this centennial year of the university, recalls with pride the rich traditions of scholarship and responsible research that have characterized this university in its 100-year history...
...Since all meetings of the board on the Curran case, with one exception when Curran and his lawyers appeared before the trustees, were held in executive session with no faculty representatives present, it is not known what transpired...
...This constricted presentation of CU is not the whole story...
...Are there any limits on what Rome can impose on the university given the argument CU presented in court that its actions regarding Curran were dictated by its "special relationship" to the Vatican...
...He admitted that as far back as November 1985, he was against Curran's teaching theology in any capacity at the university (Dep...
...In The Vatican and the American Hierarchy (Michael Glazier,), Gerald Fogarty has documented that this university, from its very beginnings, has been the scene of many a struggle between liberals and conservatives in America and in Rome...
...An ironic dimension to this case is that CU was founded as a research institution, an effort on the part of the American bishops to see that the church is present to the world of higher education, and to do so in the fullest sense of a university...
...either in the case of "Curran or that of] any other faculty member...
...Judge Weisberg tossed the ball back to the university, to decide what it means by academic freedom...
...We work on committees for curriculum revision and on the self-study report required in preparation for the Middle States Association review of university accreditation in 1990...
...is associate professor and chairperson Sjfdtt department of religion and religious education in the School Religious Studies at The Catholic University of Amer...
...The faculty had hoped that the Reverend William Byron, S J., president of CU, would articulate its concerns that the university's posture at the trial not jeopardize its traditional commitment to academic freedom...
...What does it do when it hears from the court, from trustees, from its own president, from professional colleagues, and from journalists that full academic freedom is beyond its reach because it is a Catholic university...
...The same theme recurs in many university documents, especially the self-studies presented in 1970 and in 1980 to the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools...
...Of course "teachers are not free to profess falsehood," but statements such as Byron's beg the issue...
...We edit journals and encyclopedias and prepare books and articles for publication...
...Whilethere are few hand-wringers or crepe-hangers among the faculty in Northeast Washington, D.C., this spring, this academic community is neither inert nor naive about the importance of this present moment for its own future...
...Among them are the following: (1) that institutional autonomy and academic freedom are essential conditions of the university's life and growth...
...In its history Catholic University has seen sad attempts to curtail academic freedom...
...specifically the definition of academic freedom at CU and the onditions under which the faculty is or is not protected by it...
...This may explain why the board of trustees did not accept the recommendation of the special committee that Curran's canonical mission not be withdrawn until an acceptable teaching position in his area of competence be negotiated first...
...104-105...
...He has been on the faculty therefor the past thirty years and currently a faculty representative to the board of trustees i tda member of the academic senate...
...So in the midst of its ordinary work this spring we have been forced to become newly self-aware, to speak up, to set the record straight...
...We review grant proposals for professional agencies and prepare our own proposals for funding for new research...
...Are there any restrictions on academic freedom that may be applicable in ecclesiastical schools granting ecclesiastical degrees but that are not applicable to faculty in nonecclesiasti-cal programs and schools...
...For example it was the basis of the university's defense against Boris Browzin who sued for breach of contract when, as a tenured professor, he was terminated...
...While it quotes accurately the observation of Judge Weisberg that CU has "wanted to be recognized as a university-a Catholic university, to be sure-but a full-fledged American university nonetheless," it then reinterprets the matter by attributing to Judge Weisberg a quite different conclusion that "when it came to academic freedom, Catholic University had never decided to be 'a full-fledged American university.'" Part of the evident confusion over the self-understanding of The Catholic University of America, past and present, is the complexity of an academic institution and the relationships which, taken together, give it its public identity...
...Accompanying the senate declaration was a further resolution calling for the faculty to reconstitute for itself the memory of that rich tradition, which is in danger of being obscured by the narrow account of the university's purpose set out for Judge Weisberg...
...We administer professional societies and serve as officers for these...
...The opinion of the United States Court of Appeals in this case was filed by Circuit Judge J. Skelly Wright who wrote that the university "also stipulated that the standards which were to govern the case were to be found in the 1968 Recommended Institutional Regulations on Academic Freedom and Tenure, propounded by the American Association of University Professors...
...What does a university faculty do in the face of public judgments that it does not enjoy the full academic freedom associated with its profession...
...Yet even in their weariness, their voices are firm...
...Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, at the time, chairman of the board, concurred with Cardinal Hickey's opinions (Dep...
...Three members of the Catholic University faculty re-d to this situation in the essays that begin on these -Jgjftgss (and are continued on pages 272-73...
...Judge Weisberg concluded his decision with the observation that what is good for the Catholic church and for The Catholic University of America is not something to be determined by his court, but for the church and the university to decide...
...The letter did not specify the process to be used to develop a statement so vital to the present and future well-being of the institution...
...Some church officials are reportedly urging that it be regarded as a precedent that gives carte blanche to interfere with the internal hiring and firing practices of Catholic colleges and universities...
...Among other things, for any college or university to consider itself Catholic it will need to adopt a very special relationship to the Holy See by formally accepting the norms proposed in the papal document...
...This relationship is not limited to the ecclesiastical faculties (theology, philosophy, and canon law), but applies to the whole university as a "pontifical" institution...
...the chill that has descended on teachers of moral theology here and abroad does not serve the church or civil society well...
...it was not clear that the university would "always come down on the side of academic freedom...
...Charles Curran attempted to do just that...
...171-172...
...2) that the university, as a community of scholars, requires an atmosphere of freedom in the pursuit of truth, the absence of external constraints upon that pursuit, and the guarantee of clearly formulated procedures for the just evaluation of academic competence by one's academic peers...
...While nothing in the governing documents of the university currently make such a distinction, the distinction was introduced in the heat of litigation...
...It was, in effect, a stipulation that the 1968 regulations had been adopted as part of the contract between Browzin and the university, an adoption entirely consistent with the statutes of the university and the university's previous responses to AAUP actions" (Browzin v. Catholic University of America, 527F.2nd 843, 1975...
...James Annarelli, in his response to Byron's views on academic freedom, distinguishes between the freedom of the theologian in the church and the academic freedom of the theologian in the university...
...Hard cases," the saying goes, "make bad law...
...It does not help for President Byron to write that "the ecclesial limit on this exercise of human understanding [i.e...
...In 1969 the academic senate stated that "institutional autonomy and academic freedom are essential conditions of university life and growth," and it "endorse[d] the policy statements and proposed regulations of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) concerning academic freedom and tenure as expressed in 1940 and again in 1968...
...What did disturb the faculty, however, was the general thrust of the university's arguments in the pretrial and trial testimony to the court, and the board of trustees' failure to enter into serious dialogue with the academic senate on the issues raised by the Vatican's declaration that Curran was unsuitable to teach Catholic theology at CU...
...But they are worth mentioning now since doubt has been raised in the public consciousness about the credibility of the faculty and the academic enterprise in which we are engaged...
...These are the regular business of a university faculty, so routine they would not be worth mentioning were we not doing them this spring in extraordinary circumstances...
...At The Catholic University of America the academic senate has initiated a faculty-wide dialogue, looking eventually toward candid exchanges with trustees and administrators on the topic...
...JAMES H. PROVOST Setting the Record Straight Superior Court Judge Frederick H. Weisberg's decision that the Reverend Charles Curran's contract with Catholic University "does not give him the right to teach theology in the face of a definitive judgment by the Holy See that he is ineligible to do so" did not come as a surprise to most of the faculty at CU...
...This raises hard for the current faculty, and would seem to raise doubts about die willingness of other teachers and scholars to join the CU faculty in the future...
...Academic freedom is conceived as a framework within which people who disagree about what is true can freely express their views in the hope that dialogue without fear of reprisal will clarify where the truth lies...
...At the time the trustees had been made aware of these self-declarations and voiced no protests...
...He testified at the trial that academic freedom only meant what the board of trustees defined it to be, but that, in fact, the board had never defined it (Ct...
...We deplore the effective JKMffcef academic freedom to Father Curran when the Vfiir?fsity failed to arrange for him an alternative faculty jjdslfioft consistent with bis field of competence and his scholarly accomplishments...
...It may not be possible to contain this case to CU, however, if church officials adopt some of the sweeping statements in the pending Vatican document on Catholic higher education (see Commonweal, January 27,1989...
...A faculty is the heart of a university, and the CU faculty understands both its present identity and its history in terms different from those set out in the context of litigation...
...The ordinary things: We continue to teach, following course syllabi prepared prior to the judgment that our academic freedom is limited...
...This struggle as well as the battle for academic freedom are likely to continue and the Curran case has simply opened up a new phase in that history...
...We view with jmvancem the testimony of the chairman of (he board of jjtotttMS, the chancellor, and the president, which displayed lack of understanding of the history of the university and of academic freedom...
...It has a number of convictions that it wants on the record, none of them novel ideas within the university, despite recent public statements to the contrary...
...The issue of the university's identity is being discussed by faculty and administration...
...We conduct interviews for prospective faculty appointments and we interview prospective students applying for admissions to our various degree programs...
Vol. 116 • May 1989 • No. 9
