Faculty members add selves to Newman Society's 'blacklist'
Cardinal Newman Society, Part 2 of 2
Corinne Iozzio
Issue date: 11/17/05 Section: Archive Extra
Originally published Dec. 9, 2004
Several members of the Fordham faculty have requested that their names be added to the Cardinal Newman Society's Oct. 21 report detailing presidential campaign donations made by Catholic university employees. To date, at least 15 members of the faculty have sent e-mail messages to the Society, but President Patrick J. Reilly says that these names will not be added to the report.
The report showed that employees at the 10 largest Catholic institutions, six of them Jesuit, donated $196,025 to Senator John Kerry's campaign compared to $21,200 donated to President George W. Bush's. At Fordham, the split was $19,460 for Kerry and $4,000 for Bush. Reilly and the report state that this show of support for a pro-choice candidate is inconsistent with Catholic views on abortion, and is indicative of a strong liberal bias on campuses.
In the Nov. 18 issue of The Observer, Susan Beck and Thomas S. DeLuca Jr., associate professors of political science, labeled the report as an attempt to stifle the faculty's freedom of speech. "This is a transparent effort by the Newman Society to chill our political speech and association, and also our academic freedom by making us afraid," DeLuca told The Observer last month.
When other faculty members learned of the Society's report, they felt it appropriate to submit their names to the Society. The e-mail campaign, according to S. Elizabeth Penry, associate professor of history and associate director of Latin American and Latino studies, will allow members who donated to Kerry's presidential campaign but were not listed "to stand in solidarity with those on the list."
Penry copied her initial e-mail, sent to the Newman Society on Nov. 19, to 66 other faculty members. "There has been a tremendous response from the faculty on this issue," Penry said. "This has really touched a chord with many people."
Doron Ben-Atar, associate professor of history, said that he first learned of the "Society's blacklisting of faculty members who gave money to the Kerry campaign and the Democratic National Committee" through Penry's e-mail to the history faculty.
Several members of the Fordham faculty have requested that their names be added to the Cardinal Newman Society's Oct. 21 report detailing presidential campaign donations made by Catholic university employees. To date, at least 15 members of the faculty have sent e-mail messages to the Society, but President Patrick J. Reilly says that these names will not be added to the report.
The report showed that employees at the 10 largest Catholic institutions, six of them Jesuit, donated $196,025 to Senator John Kerry's campaign compared to $21,200 donated to President George W. Bush's. At Fordham, the split was $19,460 for Kerry and $4,000 for Bush. Reilly and the report state that this show of support for a pro-choice candidate is inconsistent with Catholic views on abortion, and is indicative of a strong liberal bias on campuses.
In the Nov. 18 issue of The Observer, Susan Beck and Thomas S. DeLuca Jr., associate professors of political science, labeled the report as an attempt to stifle the faculty's freedom of speech. "This is a transparent effort by the Newman Society to chill our political speech and association, and also our academic freedom by making us afraid," DeLuca told The Observer last month.
When other faculty members learned of the Society's report, they felt it appropriate to submit their names to the Society. The e-mail campaign, according to S. Elizabeth Penry, associate professor of history and associate director of Latin American and Latino studies, will allow members who donated to Kerry's presidential campaign but were not listed "to stand in solidarity with those on the list."
Penry copied her initial e-mail, sent to the Newman Society on Nov. 19, to 66 other faculty members. "There has been a tremendous response from the faculty on this issue," Penry said. "This has really touched a chord with many people."
Doron Ben-Atar, associate professor of history, said that he first learned of the "Society's blacklisting of faculty members who gave money to the Kerry campaign and the Democratic National Committee" through Penry's e-mail to the history faculty.
