[Mobties]

“This is a highly cynical act, contemptuous of the Church’s prophetic voice in civil society and wagering that there will be no retribution. If a midwestern school seeks attention by granting Mr. Obama an honorary doctorate in law, the next logical step would be to grant Judas Iscariot posthumously an honorary doctorate in business administration.”

Fr. George Rutler’s comment (3/25/2009) on Notre Dame University's granting abortion champion Obama an honorary degree is appropriate for this latest disgusting act which reminded me of Henry II’s comment regarding Thomas a Beckett, “Who will rid me of this turbulent priest.”

[EternalVigilance]

"...the next logical step would be to grant Judas Iscariot posthumously an honorary doctorate in business administration.”

Perfect.

[mathurine]

I agree it is cynical, and there will be a backlash that Notre Dame will eventually feel right here on earth. But the article has insufficient detail on the situation to make much of a judgment. If the victim is a tenured professor in addition to a dean, he will just go back to teaching. Happens all the time, and those non-academic appointments are at the will and pleasure of the CEO, and anyone who takes such an appointment knows that. If the victim doesn’t have tenured faculty status, he probably shouldn’t have accepted the appointment, because his safeguards and freedoms are utterly without security. It’s not just at Notre Dame, either. It’s the governance model of virtually every university, public or private.