There’s a big controversy brewing on campus right now, and no it doesn’t involve the basketball team… It involves the hiring of a dean for the College of Arts & Sciences. A from what I can tell highly qualified and respected candidate, Jodi O’Brien, who was applying from another Jesuit institution, stood out as the top candidate in the search, and was offered the position according to a few sources that I’ve seen. (NY Times, HuffPo, Seattle PI, JSOnline)  But when the university did “further research” on her, they quickly withdrew the offer.  Why?  From all indications, it’s because she’s a lesbian….of course, Marquette won’t tell you that.

From the Seattle PI:

Nancy E. Snow, a philosophy professor who helped O’Brien hunt for houses in the area last month, said O’Brien’s work is not the real issue. “I think it’s all about her sexual orientation,” she told the newspaper.

The University’s official statement (video statement included), and what they’ve been sending out to all alumni who are complaining, is the following:

While this person has an excellent background, a record of achievement and a strong academic track record, it was decided after further analysis that this individual was not the person who could best fill this very important position.

…and from the NY Times:

Marquette, a Roman Catholic university run by Jesuits in Milwaukee, said the professor lacked “the ability to represent the Marquette mission and identity.”

It makes sense that they will point out that it’s her writings that were the reason for the withdrawal, and not her sexual orientation, because in Wisconsin, discriminating on sexual orientation is not legal.  It hasn’t been that way since 1982.  In fact according to WikiPedia, Wisconsin was the first state in the country to ban it.

I think this is a bullshit.  I, and quite a few alumni, are not buying Marquette’s statement on this.  I don’t think that her academic writings had anything to do with Marquette rescinding the offer.  I think that EVERYTHING had to do with the fact that she’s an out-and-proud lesbian.   And that saddens me greatly.  Marquette should know better.  Just because an applicant is a lesbian does not mean that she’s not able to lead a department.  And if her sexual orientation, or academic work, were really that big of a deal to the Catholic identity, why then is she currently employed by another Jesuit university?   She was obviously qualified enough to be offered the position in the first place, so why not put your money where your mouth is Father Wild and hire her.  You say the University doesn’t discriminate on sexual orientation in your recorded statement, and that there are other LGB (maybe T?) faculty on staff at the University….  So show us alumni that you know how to do the right thing.  Hire Jodi O’Brien.  Or don’t, and don’t come begging for money anytime soon from me.

One Two more things:

I’m glad to see that Marquette students are voicing their displeasure in this too, and standing behind her. (And here’s the Facebook group.)

As a MUTV alum, as much as I feel dirty linking to them….here’s the Marquette Tribune’s take on this.

Technorati Tags: discrimiation, Jodi OBrien, lgbt, Marquette

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Posted in Commentary, Marquette

How do you feel about the existing tax structure where you live? Do you believe individual income tax is the best way to raise funds or are there better alternatives?

I think it’s wholly unfair. Those who make gobs and gobs of money such as most of Wall Street (didn’t they just bankrupt the country??), upper management in companies, etc. and the mega corporations that are “headquartered” in this country though tax loopholes and use of off-shore tax shelters, etc. pay little-to-no income tax on their money, while the rest of us are left to foot the bill. (Ex: ExxonMobil has their HQ in like Bermuda or something and doesn’t pay the US Government a penny in taxes)

I think we need a serious revision in tax law in this country. One that more fairly shifts the tax burden onto those who can afford it, the people making larger sums of money and corporations, so that the middle and lower class individuals, families, and small businesses are not being unfairly taxed out of existence.

Individual income tax is fine. What we need is what I said above, a shift of the major chunk of the tax burden from the lower and middle class families and individuals, and small businesses, to the upper class families, individuals, and corporations who are paying less than their fair share of taxes, or no taxes, at the moment.

Technorati Tags: money, taxes

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Posted in Commentary

Or maybe you didn’t! I made 4 changes to the site over the last 2 days:

1. It’s now on a faster server, on a faster connection. Hopefully this will improve stability, too.
2. I’ve set all the domains to re-direct to chernow.org. I have the domain, so why not use it, right?
3. The “clean URLs” work again

…ok 4, because I updated the version of Wordpress I’m running, as well.

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Posted in Random