Milwaukee, Wis., May 8, 2010 / 05:22 am
Marquette University defended its decision to withdraw an offer to an openly lesbian faculty member to become a college dean after it became evident that the teacher's published writings opposed Church teachings on human sexuality.
The Jesuit university underscored the importance of finding a dean who is not only academically competent but represents “our Catholic identity.”
On Thursday, university officials announced that they withdrew an offer to Seattle University professor Jodi O'Brien to serve as the dean of Marquette's College of Arts and Sciences. The university said in a statement that O'Brien “was not the person who could best fill this very important position”and that the school had made “oversights” in their search process. According to the Associated Press, O'Brien's scholastic writings include sociological studies that detail lesbian sexual activity.
The professor expressed her disappointment to the AP in a recent email.