Wheeling Jesuit U., unable to fill its open presidency with a Jesuit, has company. Gonzaga U., in Spokane WA, for one, which has promoted its acting president, a 44-year-old layman, to president, suspending its bylaws to do so.
For another, Creighton U., in Omaha NE, is finding “a good Jesuit hard to find.” Its search committee
might bump into a 21st century reality that’s increasingly pushing other Jesuit universities to hire non-priests as presidents.
Nobody wants to see the day (of a non-Jesuit president) come, but it might come. We have to deal with that, said Bill Fitzgerald, the chairman of Creighton’s board of directors
The day has already come for nine of the 28 Jesuit universities in the U.S., each with a permanent or interim president who is not a Jesuit priest, Rev. Charles Currie, president of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, told the World-Herald.
We used to assume that (the president’s job) could only be done by a Jesuit, but we’ve learned over the years that it isn’t true, Currie said. It’s not something we should be fearful of. . . . . There’s clearly value in having a Jesuit, but if that person is not available, you have to move in other directions.
Be that as it may, Currie, who was Wheeling Jesuit’s president 1972-82, was an early (and repeated) defender of Wheeling Jesuit’s surprise ouster of its Jesuit president last August after only two years. In the stormy aftermath of the firing, Currie cited “confidentiality” requirements, inadvertently encouraging suspicion by alumni and others of scandal — which was never either alleged or demonstrated. Three Jesuits acting as Wheeling Jesuit trustees, effected the firing. One of the three was himself later replaced by a layman as president of University of Detroit-Mercy.
Wheeling Jesuit suspended its own search in late October, by which time no Jesuit had applied for the position. Last February the university hired a nun, Sister Francis Marie Thrailkill, as new interim president.
Blithe Spirit 
It’ about one year since Fr. Giulietti’s presidency was terminated. The damage caused by that poorly planned and unjust action by a minority of board members and three troubled Jesuit trustees is now clear to everyone. More facts trickle out. The only way to heal the damage caused by so vile an act is for the Jesuits to call for a South African style Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Only when the truth is open for all to see will there be any possibility for actual healing at the college.
The results of the unjust act continue to surface. Wheeling alumni tell me that the board is once again seeking a new president. (Interim President Sister Frances, slipped and broke her hip; she is further incapacitated than before.) Letters have been sent to the presidents of Jesuit colleges and universities seeking candidates. Will anyone religious or lay apply? If someone does and gets the job, he/she will have to face enormous financial problems. Some causes of those problems are rooted in the departure of students and faculty. About forty first year students departed in January and more students will depart over the summer. Of the goal of 285 new first year undergraduates for 2010 needed to balance a budget already in the red, only 240 have signed up. Since May, six respected faculty left the college for West Liberty University and begin teaching there next semester.
Without a Truth and Reconciliation Commission the college might not survive the next academic year.
Larry Catraro
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