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The University News

The Student News Site of Saint Louis University

The University News

The Student News Site of Saint Louis University

The University News

SGA president emeritus sets record straight

In his April 11 commentary (“Fr. Veltrie responds to Dr. Parker”), Fr. Jim Veltrie, SJ, a family friend, mentioned me as representative of people who have moved on from the no-confidence vote in 1999 (over which I presided as Student Government president) and, by implication, “forgiven” Fr. Biondi and his offenses toward students, faculty and staff.  While I respect Fr. Veltrie and am grateful for his long friendship with my family, I have never discussed these issues with him, and he has obviously profoundly misunderstood my views on Biondi’s leadership of Saint Louis University. My wife and I were frankly shocked to be cited in support of Fr. Veltrie’s suggestion that a longtime tenured professor at SLU pack up and get lost if he could not support the highly controversial actions of Biondi and the Board of Trustees. To avoid confusion among those who may know me from my tenure as SGA president, I feel it necessary to respond to Father’s letter.

My wife and I have certainly “moved on with our lives” since 1999, as appropriate after one graduates from college, but graduation has not effected a change in our opinions or our interest in the university. We have the same interest as all alumni in seeing our alma mater flourish and in someday recommending it to our children, who could be third-generation Billikens. We probably follow events at the university more closely than most through connections with former professors, and each year that goes by strengthens our conviction that the university will only suffer while Biondi is its leader.

As such, Mary Catherine and I wish to express our whole-hearted support for the current no confidence effort. While some of the issues that caused Student Government to vote no confidence in 1999 were resolved with a change of personnel, the deep rift between Biondi’s hand-picked administration and students, staff and faculty has only grown in the past 14 years. Nothing could have made that clearer than the successive decisions that led to the embarrassment of the Law School and the administration’s proposal to end faculty tenure at SLU. These decisions have jeopardized the value of our degrees and imperiled the very relevance of the institution. We applaud, and have joined as much as possible, the efforts of those who have opposed these measures.

I believe Fr. Veltrie’s confusion about our position comes from two sources. The first is that I avoided raising the issue of no confidence in front of him at the birthday party we recently attended, in order to avoid making him and others uncomfortable. Obviously, I did not expect my restraint to land my family on the Op-Ed page of the U. News as now supportive of Biondi.

The second source of Fr. Veltrie’s confusion is that, as alumni, the avenues of protest open to my wife and me are naturally limited. Until recently, our views could be expressed mainly through refusing general donations to SLU and the Jesuits until Biondi is the former president of the University. (In this, we are in good company: Our generation includes an enormous proportion of “conscientious objectors” pending Biondi’s departure.) We regret that we have had to qualify our otherwise robust recommendation of the university to potential students with a caveat about the effects of Biondi’s presidency. Since last year, we have welcomed opportunities to assist those seeking recognition of the recent votes of no confidence. We have solicited signatures for a letter to the Jesuit trustees; my wife and daughter joined a novena on campus; and I spoke with the current SGA president about no confidence.

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In short, we have protested Biondi’s leadership as much as we could as alumni. Fr. Veltrie’s comparison between myself, an alum, and Dr. Parker, a tenured faculty member, is grossly unjust, because if I were a member of the faculty or staff, I hope I would be standing alongside Dr. Parker and other professors—some dear friends of ours—in leading the way through this turmoil.

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