Pizza owner's school graduates first class (Domino's delivers!)

Bakersfield Californian ^ | 5/8/05 | AP

[NormsRevenge]

NAPLES, Fla. (AP) - The Roman Catholic university founded by Domino's pizza magnate Thomas Monaghan has graduated its first class, giving an honorary degree to L. Paul Bremer, who once led the U.S. occupation in Iraq.

Twenty-three students received bachelor's degrees Saturday from Ave Maria University, the first Catholic university to open in the United States in four decades.

Bremer, a Catholic, told graduates their generation will fight Islamic extremism the way their fathers fought communism. He said Muslim extremists "hate the very foundations of Western civilization," including separation of church and state, democracy and freedom of religion.

The school has been holding classes in temporary facilities since it opened in August 2003. A $220 million, 750-acre campus is expected to open next year, featuring one of the largest cathedrals and crucifixes in the United States.

According to its Web site, the school has an enrollment of 310 students.

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Ave Maria University: http://www.naples.avemaria.edu/

[NormsRevenge]

AP Photo/SCOTT GRIES

In this picture provided by Domino's Pizza, Thomas S. Monaghan, founder and chairman of Domino's Pizza, Inc. signs an agreement to sell a "significant portion" of his stake in the company as he announced his retirement from day-to-day operations of the pizza company. Ave Maria University, the first Roman Catholic university to open in the United States in four decades, has graduated its first class. Twenty-three students received bachelor's degrees Saturday, May 7, 2005 at the school, which its founder, Monaghan, hopes will one day rival Notre Dame as a focal point of American Catholic higher education.

[Incorrigible]

Bump!

[Chode]

what was the name of that BurgerSchool movie???

No Flash... NO FLASH!!!

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

Tom is a good man. I am so happy that he walks the walk and I hope for great things from his school.

[Dan from Michigan]

Good to see.

[Malesherbes]

Yes!

[Tunehead54]

Good works bump! ;-)

[Clemenza]

Way to go Tom! To think, the nuns told him that he wouldn't amount to much. Another man who beat the odds and the criticism of all who were against him from youth to the present day.

[jamaly]

If he or his franchisees paid their management employees a living wage he might not have enough money to build a university. I know a person who has been a manager for this company for nearly a year. He works between 70 and 90 hours a week and makes $500 a week. The monthly and quarterly bonus is supposed to make it worthwile. It doesn't, not even close. So far, Dominos has not kept it's word as an employer.

[JCEccles]

There is also an Ave Maria Law School in Ann Arbor. Robert Bork is on the faculty. For a new school it is doing surprisingly well, attracting an excellent faculty and quality students.

[jocon307]

Tell your friend he needs to look for another job if he is not satisfied.

It's really just that darn simple.

I, on the other hand, will definately be ordering another Dominoes DELICIOUS bacon & onion pizza real soon. They are super yummy!

[TexasKamaAina]

Tell your friend he needs to look for another job if he is not satisfied.

That's certainly what I would do in a similar circumstance. But I think jamaly is pointing out that as a Catholic empoloyer, Mr. Monaghan has responsiblities laid out by Pope Leo XIII in Rerum Novarum (On Capital and Labor). Although the encyclical roundly condemns collectivism, it also mentions the obligations of employers:

"Let the working man and the employer make free agreements, and in particular let them agree freely as to the wages; nevertheless, there underlies a dictate of natural justice more imperious and ancient than any bargain between man and man, namely, that wages ought not to be insufficient to support a frugal and well behaved wage-earner."

With this in mind I would say that by putting such a public focus on his Catholicism, Mr. Monaghan is rightly open to jamaly's criticism.

[jocon307]

"Mr. Monaghan is rightly open to jamaly's criticism."


Er, well, maybe. But I just checked that post again, jamaly says his friend is working between 70 and 90 hours a week, for $500! So, you know, I don't belive it, that's the thing.

As a professional paymistress I say "Show me the timecards!"

[Roy Tucker]

What's a living wage? I would assume that if he didn't pay them enough, he couldn't find anyone to work for him. Are there no other alternatives in the neighborhood for your friend.

Unless...he is holding your friend and his 100,000 employees hostage?! The fiend.

[SuziQ]

I think the website hasn't updated for this year yet. I think there are over 400 students there now. Our daughter is looking seriously at Ave. She likes the idea of a small college where she won't have to deal with frap like co-ed dorms, homosexual activists spouting off everywhere, and teachers who are continually trying to undermine her Faith.

She may not do the full four years there because eventually, she's looking for a degree in Digital Video Editing, but likes the idea of a good solid liberal arts foundation in a truly Catholic environment.

[SuziQ]

Tom Monaghan no longer runs the company, and hasn't done for almost 10 years. That's why he has all this money to open a university. He started Ave Maria College in Michigan several years ago, with the money he got from the sale of Dominos. He wanted to do something with the money that was needed by Catholics; I've read that he wants to die a poor man. When he tried to expand Ave Maria College so that it could become a University, the 'city fathers' would not allow the things he wanted to do, one of which was to erect a HUGH cross on the property that could be seen from the nearby highway. The town said that it would be a 'distraction' to drivers.

He was down in Naples on vacation, when a friend suggested that he talk to the Collier family. He did so, and the family donated some land (over 800 acres, I think) for the construction of a new school, and they would develop the town around it. The University opened its doors in 2003 with 85 students, and has been growing ever since.

I got a letter from Fr. Joseph Fessio, several years ago, announcing the new school and town and looking for 'founders'. I was on the Ignatius Press mailing list because I'd ordered books from them, so he likely sent letters to all of us. I was thrilled about the new, truly Catholic college, and absolutely fascinated by the concept of building a new town at the same time. I've been sending them money every month since; not much, but every little bit helps.

I believe the school still has it's campus in Michigan, and will remain open until all those attending there have graduated. All of the new students since the Fall of 2003 have gone to the temporary Naples campus. The new campus is slated to open in the Fall of 2007. Ave Maria Law School is still in Michigan, and I don't know if it plans to move, or not.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Monaghan sold Domino's back in 1998, putz.

[Rebelbase]

Pizza management isn't known for it's rewarding pay and career advancement.