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A year has passed since the last protest of Duquesne University President Charles Dougherty. The signs students hoisted — “You Can’t Censor Us Dougherty” — have been put away, and the chants they shouted — “Charlie Dough has got to go!” — have long been silenced.
From the outside, it appears as though Dougherty’s December 2008 removal of law-school Dean Don Guter, which sparked the protests, has largely been forgotten.
From the inside, however, it’s clear that frustration still festers on the Catholic campus.
As City Paper reported last February, some worried that Guter’s ouster was emblematic of a campus where collegiality was disappearing and academic freedoms were at risk. At the time, such concerns were mostly bubbling below the surface. But recent administrative decisions may be bringing tensions between faculty, students and administration to a boiling point.
In recent months, Duquesne has announced that the school will cut four men’s sports teams and sell local NPR affiliate WDUQ-FM. Both decisions, say some faculty members and others, were made with no input and with little explanation.
“There are differences of opinion about the substance of these decisions, but everybody agrees that there is a problem with a lack of respect for shared governance,” says Matt Schneirov, a sociology professor and member of Duquesne’s faculty senate. “This is clearly a hierarchical corporate model, with the business side of the university running the show.”
The university’s executive resolutions say “[t]he purpose of the Faculty Senate shall be to provide greater opportunity for mutual understanding and effective communication” between instructors and “other interdependent components” within the school.
But often, senate members say, the administration simply ignores the body.
Take, for example, the university’s recent decision to sell WDUQ, which has been owned by Duquesne since 1949. At the time of the announcement, administrators said the sale would generate millions of dollars — money that could be invested in academic programs.
Even so, the administration’s decision “didn’t smell very good,” says journalism professor Robert Bellamy. “There may be a good reason for selling, but [the decision] is something that probably could have been handled better.”
For one thing, he says, no one from Duquesne’s journalism department was involved in discussions about WDUQ’s future — even though its students often intern and work at the station.
Notes from a Jan. 25 faculty-senate meeting echo Bellamy’s concern. “There was no discourse in advance of the decision,” reads a section of the senate notes, which were recently included in e-mails to Duquesne’s faculty. The move causes “faculty to have questions about the state of the university and lose faith in its administration.”
Similar sentiments followed the administration’s decision to cut four men’s sports programs — swimming, wrestling, baseball and golf — affecting roughly 70 student-athletes and five coaches. In a Jan. 25 press release, the university announced the move as a “strategic restructuring,” which would help Duquesne strengthen its other 16 sports teams.
“The sports cuts and the WDUQ sale were, in both cases, just announced,” says law professor Nick Cafardi, who will take over as the faculty senate’s next president this summer. “There was no request for the university community to participate.”
Duquesne’s administrative spokesperson, Bridget Fare, argues that faculty members don’t have a say in every university decision. “In matters that are closely related to academic affairs, the faculty is consulted,” she says. She notes that faculty members are represented on a number of university committees, including those that advise Dougherty on budget issues, and academic planning. “Typically, faculty aren’t involved in athletic decisions, just as coaches aren’t involved in academic decisions.”
“These decisions involve our students,” Cafardi counters. “It doesn’t help our university if professors are uninformed.”
Faculty members say their exclusion from such decisions follows a change in the format of meetings of the university’s board of directors. The board runs the university under the oversight of a board of four priests, or Spiritans — known as Corporation Members.
In November, Duquesne’s student newspaper, The Duquesne Duke, reported that the board changed the format of its tri-annual meetings so that the faculty senate president — currently Paula Witt-Enderby — must leave after giving a report to the board and participating in a question-and-answer session. Previously, the faculty-senate president was allowed to stay for further discussions at an executive session.
“Does the Board value communication with faculty?” read notes from the Jan. 25 faculty-senate meeting.
According to the notes, Marie Milie Jones, an attorney who chairs the university’s board, responded to faculty concerns in November, arguing that faculty representation had not been diminished. At each meeting, the board now invites a different dean, chosen on a rotating basis, to attend the full discussion.
“[Faculty’s] input is always considered,” Jones tells CP. “The university is doing phenomenally well. There could be people who are not happy at any given time.”
Phone calls to a half-dozen other board members were not returned for comment. Similarly, Duquesne’s highest-ranking officials are keeping quiet. Father John Sawicki, a political science professor and Corporation Member, declined to comment for this story. A secretary for Father Jeffrey Duaime, another Corporation Member, told CP that Duaime was “not in a position to address” the faculty’s concerns.
To help support the faculty senate, Duquesne faculty members recently revived its long-dormant chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), a national organization that helps professors fight for academic freedoms and shared governance. The chapter was originally formed in 1936, but Schneirov says it’s been inactive for decades — with a moribund membership and no officers chosen. But Schneirov says that there is renewed interest in AAUP, now that faculty feel the senate isn’t taken seriously. The group has recently chosen officers for the first time in years.
“It’s a good thing,” says Bellamy, an executive committee member of Duquesne’s AAUP chapter. “There needs to be other ways for the faculty to express their opinions.”
“[W]hen you leave faculty out of the decision-making process,” says Greg Scholtz, an associate secretary for the national AAUP, “bad decisions are made.”
“From what you’re telling me, people clearly want more proactive communication,” says Fare, the university spokesperson. “That’s always something that can be addressed.”
But the tensions between Duquesne’s faculty and administration sound familiar to James Regar, president of the school’s Student Government Association.
“I do see a lack of communication,” he says. “When big decisions come up, there is always a thought that the administration is making these decisions without much input from students and faculty.”
And once decisions are announced, says Regar, “It usually takes prodding by faculty and students to find out the reasons behind the decisions.”
Just ask Matt Gregg, a junior wrestler who says he was blindsided by the administration’s decision to eliminate four sports teams. But while he was angry about the move, he’s even more upset by the administration’s unwillingness to discuss the decision. He says teammates and parents have sent e-mails to both President Dougherty and the athletic director, hoping to talk about the sports cuts, “but you can’t really get through to anyone.”
“It makes you feel like they don’t really care about you,” Gregg says.
Darren Hill says the swim team’s luck hasn’t been much better. Just days after the sports cuts were announced, the junior swimmer says a couple of his teammates delivered a letter to Dougherty’s office, asking the president to meet with the team. Hill says a secretary accepted the letter on the president’s behalf. Shortly after, though, the secretary called the athletes and said the president would not meet with them.
“It’s absolutely mind-blowing and frustrating,” he says. “How do you have the president telling us that our opinion is just meaningless?”
Some parents, too, complain of trouble getting through.
To help save the men’s swimming program, parents, students and alumni recently developed a fundraising proposal, called “Go For 5.” But the administration “won’t answer anybody’s questions,” says Sharon Doyle, the mother of a swimmer. “The door is shut.”
“The idea that there hasn’t been any time spent with [parents and students] is completely inaccurate,” counters Duquesne spokesperson Fare. She says administrators just received a copy of the “Go For 5” proposal on March 8. Now that they have it, she says, the athletic director and the president plan to set up a meeting with swimmers, parents and alumni.
Records of e-mail correspondence, however, show that the fundraising proposal was first sent to President Dougherty on Feb. 4 — though Fare says she doesn’t “know anything about that.” Jim Doyle, Sharon’s husband, attached it to an e-mail asking for a “short meeting … to discuss the proposal.” The same day the e-mail was sent, however, Jim says he received a phone call notifying him that Dougherty “will not meet with you. His decision is final.”
“I don’t know why the people who run the university put up with this,” Doyle says.
This article appears in Mar 18-24, 2010.
This article sums up the problem with the Duquesne University Administration very well. Our daughter is a Junior Swimmer and Nursing Student at Duquesne, and since we are out of town, I have followed the happenings on campus thru the student newspaper “The Duke” online for the past 2 years. I followed the story about the removal of Dean Guter and wondered what is going on at this school? And yes things did settle down quickly after the original demonstrations, but I don’t think this will happen this time. The parents and alumni of the Swim Team have been very frustrated with the unresponsive tactics of President Dougherty and the way that the Athletic Director Greg Amodio conveniently leaves town when people have tried to meet with him.
The decisions made by the Administration without input from faculty, coaches or students leaves all wondering what are the reasoning behind these decisions, and the reasons given are double speak. Such as the statement made by Bridget Fare “typically faculty are not involved in athletic decisions just as coaches are not involved in academic decisions.” The faculty are saying they are not involved academic related decisions, and I doubt that when the announcement of the 4 mens teams being dropped that the coaches/students had any input into those decisions.
I think a through review of how things are being handled by the Administration should occur by the Corporate Members to decide if these are the kind of responses that Duquesne University wants to be know for, and this kind of turmoil will not attract students and families to the University.
Dave and Mandy Shumaker
Columbus, Ohio
I find it interesting that students and alumni are the ones who pay tuition and provide the endowments that pay for Duquesne university to run, yet their opinions and vision for the school are cast aside and not considered at all in decision making processes. Duquesne is a part of the NCAA, and in order to participate in the NCAA and gain all the benefits that entails, one must also buy into their mission statement. The NCAA’s core value, as per their website, reads
“Our purpose is to govern competition in a fair, safe, equitable and sportsmanlike manner, and to integrate intercollegiate athletics into higher education so that the educational experience of the student-athlete is paramount.”
The mission statement goes on to list several core values, including the importance of strengthening the university’s sense of community, providing an inclusive culture supporting diverse backgrounds, supporting student leadership, and so on.
Seems to me that by cutting a team that boasts one of the highest GPAs of any team on campus, one that has a strong sense of their identity as Dukes and has been highly successful in the past, and one that includes members from across the country, is very much against the whole purpose of NCAA athletics. And all this without even allowing the athletes to have any say, thereby denying them any sense of leadership the NCAA wishes to foster. Perhaps Duquesne is missing the whole point of what it means to be a student athlete in the first place.
As a Duquesne alumnus and a four-year swimmer while attending the school, the potential loss of the team along with several other men’s athletic programs is disappointing. While I’m sure it was a difficult decision to make and eliminating anything from the University is never pleasant, having been actively involved in the process to save the men’s swimming program, I am encouraged that the University is willing to now meet and consider our proposal.
I can only hope and encourage University officials to evaluate how decisions are made and more importantly communicated in the future.
Chris, thanks for taking the time to report on this very sensitive issue. I live in the eastern part of PA and am the parent of a freshman swimmer who turned down the likes of URI, JMU, Richmond, and Rutgers because she wanted to attend a school where she could train with a team consisting of both men and women.
The parent/alumni/student-athlete group that formed on January 26, a day after the team was notified of the University’s decision to eliminate the men’s team, have been afforded an audience with President Dougherty, Vice-President Plante, and AD Amodio for next Friday, March 26. We are hoping that this meeting will allow each group to hear the concerns of the other group and to work together to put in place a plan to reinstate the men’s team. We realize that there are no guarantees associated with the meeting. However, we also realize that this meeting will afford us time to exchange our respective ideas and concerns and to hopefully allow us to understand each other’s positions. With this mutual understanding as the basis for progress, we sincerely believe and pray we can move forward in a productive manner.
We look forward to a day where maybe you can write an article that focuses on a success story where the university and President Dougherty, et al, listened to a vested group of parents/alumni/student-athletes and reversed, what is otherwise, an unfortunate decision.
To all readers of this article,
Although a meeting between the DU Pres. C. Dougherty and the Duquesne Swim Parents and Alumni have been set, please bear in mind that C. Dougherty only agreed to meet with the parents and alumni after being strongly urged by the Spiritan Priests and some Members of the Board.
The Parents and Alumni are coming to this meeting well prepared and with a viable (this is an understatement) proposal on how to fund the Duq Men’s Swim Team.
What I am apprehensive about is the fact that C. Dougherty and G. Amodio are coming to this meeting forced by the powers to be. I hope and pray that they come to this meeting with an open mind and ultimately make the dicision to reinstate the men’s swim team based on the proposal presented to them, and not with their dictatorial and absolute decision that their original decision (to cut men’s swim team) has been made and that is final.
Bobby Hocson
Newburgh, NY
First I would like to thank Chris Young for taking on this story and giving our student –athletes a forum.
When our son first chose Duquesne University we were happy with his decision. Not only was it a great university but we agreed whole heartedly with their mission statement. Had we known then what we know now, we would not have been so eager to write that first check.
In the last few years Duquesne’s Administrators have gotten away from their mission statement. It seems to be run more by dictators then by leaders and there is a difference. A leader makes decisions with the help and input from those around them. A dictator makes decisions, and it’s my way or the highway. It seems to us that Duquesne has fallen into the latter of the two.
It’s time for Duquesne to stop discriminating against the student athletes who are not participating in the “chosen” sports. Perhaps if Mr. Amodio and Mr. Dougherty would have attended even one of the events these sports had, they would have not been so quick to dismiss these athletes. I know for a fact that neither one of them have attended a swim meet in the last 3 years.
The men’s swim team broke six A10 records at their championship meet this year and Eddie LeBlanc (a junior on the team) was awarded Male Swimmer of the Meet.
You would think any university would be honored and proud to have such a team, represent them.
The swimmers do have a scheduled meeting with Mr. Amodio and Mr. Dougherty. Hopefully they will get back to being leaders and come to the table with open minds and open hearts. Let’s get back to making this university a place for that students and faculty are proud of.
Jim & Sharon Doyle
Good article.
It is always a concern when you have a good President, a President that has accomplished much for the school, get to the point where he/she assumes “ownership”.
It is never a good sign when the opinion of the faculty is no longer desired. Duquesne U. has come too far in the past 20yrs. to see the loss of key faculty because their value is not respected. The school is too small to absorb this kind of damage.
Likewise, I fail to see the benefit to the school by eliminating a program, like the men’s swim team, that consistently attracts quality students to the school.
Kevin P. Ferguson
A’84
The decision making going on at Duquesne is what needs to be eliminated. Cutting a successful swim program to help strengthen the sports program makes no sense to me. It doesn’t take a PhD to see that this swim program accomplishes year in and year out what most programs would love to do. If only President Dougherty and Greg Amoido would have attended a swim meet they would see that. They should change their decision, reinstate the mens swim team to do what it does best and continue to attract highly successful student athletes to the university.
Thank you, Chris, for shining a light on the disappointing actions made by President Charles Dougherty and the Duquesne Administration. I am an alumnus and former swimmer of Duquesne who is active in trying to reinstate the Men’s Swimming Team. While being knowledgeable about the Swimming Team’s plight, I was unaware of the full scope of the situation on campus. It is disturbing to know that the adminstration has a trend of not communicating with the faculty and students. My question is, how long will the Spiritans and Board of Trustees allow this gross abuse of power to exist?
While controversy has been such a distracting factor on campus, one must give credit to the swimming team for maintaining their class schedule and setting records and national cuts at the A-10 Championships. Not only are these students some of the most decorated athletes on campus, they hold one of the hightes GPA’s of any swimming team in the country. They are true student athletes and a valuable asset to the University.
Please keep up with the investigation of the administration, Chris. Your voice will help steer Duquesne in the right direction.
Craig Smith
Butler, PA
As an recent alumni of Duquesne University and 4 year member of the Duquesne swim team, I am so thankful that the decision that the University made on January 25th has not been over-looked and buried by everyone in the media. Thank you very much for writing this article and bringing attention to this atrocity. I chose Duquense University based on the fact that the men’s and women’s swimming program acted as 1 team, training and competing together. There were other universities that I considered that had the same academic programs I was interested in and offered me comparable money both academically and athletically. If this had not been the case, I truly believe I would have chosen another University to attend.
I am hopeful for the outcome of the upcoming meeting between both parents, alumni and students with Presient Dougherty and AD Amodio. The men’s program has accomplished too much recently and has produced too many amazing individuals to be cut from the athletic department so unjustly.
To borrow from that old expression, “you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone.” I really don’t see how any organization can benefit from uninformed decision making. Clearly, in difficult economic times there will be hard decisions to make, but it’s is foolish to overlook all posible options or to avail yourself of the advice of those individuals knowledgable in the areas in which you intend to affect change.