A professor at Gonzaga University has countered claims by the school
that it supports the campus' Knights of Columbus Council after the
group's application to be a student organization was denied.
“Honestly I don't see that they're supported in any way,” Dr. Eric
Cunningham, assistant director of Catholic Studies and faculty adviser
to the university's Knights council, told CNA April 15.
On March 7, the university's student life division denied the council's
application for recognition as a “student organization,” according to
an April 5 report by the Cardinal Newman Society. The Knights of
Columbus is a Catholic charitable fraternal organization with 1.8
million members globally.
“If they've been denied club status, the only way they exist here is
that the members of the Knights of Columbus council are enrolled here,”
Cunningham stated.
On April 10, Gonzaga's community relations director, Mary Joan Hahn,
told CNA that “the Knights of Columbus College Council is on-campus and
is supported by the University currently.”
This year the council has met at a seminary attached to the university,
but has not been affiliated with the university, according to
university paper “The Gonzaga Bulletin.”
Cunningham has noticed that the council is “listed in our advertising
materials,” specifically in a brochure “that goes out to parents”
showing the group listed as a student organization.
“So in other words, we're kind of using them as recruiting tool,
telling parents that we have a Knights of Columbus council that their
sons can certainly join if they come here.”
The Cardinal Newman Society posted excerpts from a letter from the vice
president for student life at Gonzaga, Sue Weitz, saying that the
Knights of Columbus could not be recognized as a “student organization”
because the group is closed to women and to non-Catholics.
“These criteria are inconsistent with the policy and practice of
student organization recognition at Gonzaga University, as well as the
University’s commitment to non-discrimination based on certain
characteristics, one of which is religion.”
Weitz wrote that the decision is not “some kind of litmus test of Gonzaga's Catholicity,” according to The Gonzaga Bulletin.
“It is a decision about social justice, equity, and the desire of the
University to create and maintain an environment in which none are
excluded,” she wrote.
Cunningham understands that roughly $1000 of the council's funds had
been frozen by the Gonzaga student body association, and he said that
“what I hear from the membership, is that hasn't been returned yet.”
“Not only are they not being supported, they haven't had their money returned to them. There's no official support.”
Cunningham has been associated with the council since 2006, and noted
that he has made available to them the Catholic studies house, after
“they were asked by the director of university ministry to stop meeting
there.”
“They don't have a chapter house, they were actually asked to stop
meeting in the house they had been using. So I'd really love to know
what Gonzaga is defining as support for the campus council.”
Catholic identity, Cunningham added, is neither well understood nor
promoted at Gonzaga University. The school was founded in 1887 and
describes itself as a “Catholic, Jesuit, and humanistic university.”
Although during his pontificate Benedict XVI emphasized the importance
of Catholic identity in Catholic higher education, “there was no ground
for anything Benedict said to gain any traction,” according to
Cunningham.
The decision to deny the Knight's application to be a student group on
the basis of non-discrimination policy “epitomizes the condition” at
Gonzaga University, and that those who made the decision are “very much
representative of the current governing climate of Gonzaga.”
Cunningham lamented that this is typical of numerous Catholic
universities, saying that “there's nothing new about this” and that it
“goes on I'm sure at every Catholic college campus in America, that
hasn't made its decision to reform itself as a more 'Magisterial'
school.”
“They just embrace a view of Catholicism that deviates wildly from any
objective understanding of Catholicism that we might want to call
'Magisterial' or 'orthodox,' for lack of a better word.”
According to Cunningham, “Catholic universities are leading the way in
turning Catholicism into a purely secular discourse and are restricting a
serious intellectual engagement with what it means to be Catholic.”
Gonzaga University president Thayne McCulloh will be reviewing the
school's Student Life Office decision, and is expected to come to his
decision shortly after the academic year ends.
As faculty advisor to the Knights' council, Cunningham hopes to
preserve the council as an “independent agent” rather than placing it
under student ministry or the student life office at Gonzaga.
“We understand that Gonzaga considers the Knights of Columbus a
discriminatory agency, and...they're going to be better off as an
independent, free-standing club.”