Marquette University, a Jesuit institution, is in hot water with both Catholic conservatives and free speech advocates for a philosophy instructor’s alleged discrimination against a student for privately disagreeing with gay marriage.
The student, who asked to remain anonymous, told The College Fix that the chair of the department is trying to cover up her own involvement in scolding the student and pressuring him to identify a university employee whom he asked for help in the dispute.
The accusations were first aired by Marquette political science professor John McAdams, who knows the student, on his blog, and picked up by the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education.
CherylAbbate.websitePhilosophy instructor Cheryl Abbate’s “Theory of Ethics” class took an awkward turn a few weeks ago when Abbate, a graduate student at Marquette, declared to the class that “everyone agrees on” gay marriage, so “there is no need to discuss it,” unlike other modern issues such as immigration, civil rights and the death penalty, the anonymous student told The Fix in a phone interview.
The student said he raised the issue with Abbate after class and questioned her apparent dismissal of one set of views, which could make some students feel like they cannot share their opinion.
The student said he told Abbate he disagrees with gay marriage. Abbate suggested that gay students could be offended if he shared his view, and told him that he did not have the right to make “homophobic comments or racist comments” in class.
The student said he consulted with a trusted university employee, who suggested he reach out to Susanne Foster, the associate dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and a philosophy professor.
Foster referred the student to Nancy Snow, the department chair, the student said.
In their meeting, Snow pressured the student to divulge which university employee advised him, he said; wanting to protect the employee from retribution, the student declined to tell Snow, saying it did not have anything to do with the class dispute. Snow then opened the door and yelled at him to leave her office.
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