Authored by Zachary Petrizzo via Campus Reform,
I am leaving Marquette University due to the rampant political bias on campus and the school’s growing separation from the Catholic Church.
When I made the decision to attend college, I wanted to be a part of a community of learners that pushed boundaries, yet still held the values of the Catholic Church in high regard. I applied to many types of schools—East and West coast, large and small, with many in the middle.
One component I always returned to was the idea of faith being the cornerstone of the institution, because it is something I wanted to incorporate into my higher education experience. I remember sharing this idea many times with my parents and knowing that it was my calling to continue to be at an institution that held the same values as I.
Marquette University would be something new for me—a new adventure in a new state. It is a Jesuit and Catholic institution, which was one of the largest factors that prompted me to accept the opportunity to enroll.
After one year at the institution, however, I have discovered that Marquette is anything but a Jesuit and Catholic university. There is no acceptance of conservative thoughts, let alone “diversity of thought,” and opinions that I support are frequently shut down in the classrooms.
I remember vividly a Comparative Politics class during which I mentioned that I found merit to the idea of building a border wall, only to be verbally rebuked by the professor for my opinion.
At one point, several professors hung Planned Parenthood signs on their office doors, yet the same administrators who are always quick to warn students against “microaggressions” still have not even issued a statement affirming the school’s pro-life values.
Dr. Ed de St. Aubin, a psychology professor at Marquette, perhaps put it best when he told The College Fix that “We are not a seminary.”
This is exactly what is wrong with the institution in my opinion. Putting our faith and heritage in a box and saying it can only be practiced in this setting. Our faith should be intertwined in each class and throughout daily life at the university.
The firing of Dr. John McAdams has also inspired a great amount of concern among conservative students and professors, as it has shown that speaking one’s mind, at least when it doesn’t involve pandering to leftist ideas, can lead not only to the typical accusations of racism and bigotry, but can even jeopardize one’s very livelihood.
In McAdams’ case, he was put on indefinite suspension and told to issue a formal apology after he wrote a post on his personal blog reporting that a graduate student instructor had forbidden students from discussing gay marriage in class because it would be “homophobic” for someone to express opposition to the concept.
I spoke out against...