By Bishop James Conley
Last August, I wrote to you about my concerns with reports of a University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) doctoral student producing a drag performance mocking the Catholic Mass for his dissertation project. At that time, I met with University of Nebraska President Jeffrey Gold and other members of his leadership team, including several members of the Board of Regents, to voice my strongly stated objections to what took place.
Following that meeting, then-UNL Chancellor Rodney Bennett responded with a letter in which he wrote, “We regret deeply that the matter we met to discuss has caused disruption, and we sincerely apologize.” Chancellor Bennett promised to “educate members of our community about the impact individual acts may have on people and communities – both positively and negatively, and whether intended or inadvertent.”
President Gold also promised to establish a first-of-its-kind in the country advisory group with the goal of eliminating such incidents of discrimination in the future. I said at the time, the university’s response was a good start, but I would be reaching back out to President Gold in the future to ask for an update on the progress of the proposed initiatives.
I did that and that meeting took place last week. I met with President Gold, UNL Interim Chancellor Katherine Ankerson, Regent Jack Stark and Regent Tim Clare. Diocesan Director of Communications Dennis Kellogg and Marion Miner of the Nebraska Catholic Conference joined me for the discussion as well.
President Gold told us the advisory group had been created and currently consists of nine members. President Gold worked with Creighton University President Father Daniel Hendrickson to select and recruit the members from across the country. In addition to those initial individual meetings with prospective members, the group met once in July of last year to set up the structure of how it would operate, and again in August to discuss the incident involving the doctoral student. Both meetings took place remotely over Zoom.
President Gold and President Hendrickson have decided not to publicize the names of the other members of the advisory group. President Gold said if they did that, some of the members would likely choose not to participate because they would not want to deal with the publicity that would come with the discussions on very sensitive issues before them. He said “it’s about trust” with the group members. “If we can’t do it confidentially, we wouldn’t get the results. Some people involved would not participate.”
President Gold did share with me that in addition to Father Hendrickson, one of the members of the group is a part of Creighton University’s leadership team. He said about half of the members are “card-carrying ethicists.” The group includes senior-level academicians, two attorneys and a bioethicist. Members come from across the country, including Boston and New York.
President Gold and Regent Clare emphasized the scope of the advisory group’s work will not be focused only on Catholic, or religiously ethical issues. It will advise on any ethical issue confronting the university, including important issues at the intersection of free speech and academic freedom with race, politics and other topics.
President Gold said the university system is taking an overall approach to addressing ethical concerns on campus. He told me incidents like the mock “Mass” dissertation project don’t make the university better and don’t make society better.
When asked what he learned from the discussion with the group about the incident involving the student mocking the Catholic Mass, and from the university’s own investigation of the matter, President Gold said there were “a number of failures on our part that have been addressed.”
“A failure of communication and judgment tripped us up,” President Gold told me. He said there was a problem with the academic advisor and the dissertation committee. He said the advising faculty and the student did not understand the impact or potential impact and the advisor should have notified campus leadership. “In this case, the student may have met the qualifications for a degree but neglected the implications.
President Gold added that, due to construction on campus at the time, the student was told the performance had to be held elsewhere. The student chose a church to stage the performance. Gold said that was bad judgment on the student’s part, but asked the question, “Who authorized it?” He added that lack of control won’t happen again.
Regent Stark concurred that “advising is where it failed. That should have been better.” Stark added it needs to be clear that when ethical issues such as this arise, advisors need to talk to someone in campus leadership. “If they’re not sure, ask,” he said.
Regent Clare said the university does not condone what took place with this student or anything like it. “Why mock another’s religion, race, political beliefs?” Clare said. “Blowing out your candle doesn’t make mine burn brighter.”
President Gold said then-Chancellor Bennett met with the grad committee involved and made it clear there should have been a different process. “They should have told the student to find a different dissertation project.” He added that everyone needs to understand academics doesn’t live in a silo, but in the real world, and the implications of actions need to be considered. President Gold said “guardrails” have now been put in place and that the faculty advisor was made “painfully aware” of his or her failure in this instance.
President Gold said the advisory group discussion brought forth several main takeaways. First, there was a serious failure of communication. Second, the advising of the student was faulty on multiple levels. And finally, having a system in place such as the advisory group for ethical issues that arise is beneficial. The individuals in the group have agreed to be a part of that ongoing process as needed.
UNL Interim Chancellor Ankerson said she also feels this incident highlights the need for more mentoring of all sorts for both faculty and students.
President Gold told me that just one month ago, academic leadership on all campuses was again reminded of their access to this group and its availability to convene for difficult academic/ethical issues that arise. UNL Interim Chancellor Ankerson added onboarding training for grad students has been developed within the last year and a half, and sensitivity is a part of that training.
Regarding further meetings, President Gold said the advisory group has not met since last August because there has been no reason to reconvene. He said he would not hesitate to assemble the group again and Father Hendrickson at Creighton has the same access to the group and could convene it at any time as well.
Gold added the issue would need to be of sufficient size and scope and the outcome would need to be in question to convene the group, but he has access to them to bring them together. He said he would be surprised if the need to convene this group in the future doesn’t arise.
President Gold said he has talked with other college presidents, and he is not aware of any others who have assembled such a group of experts available when needed to advise on ethical concerns.
During our conversation, President Gold, Chancellor Ankerson and the regents also made a point to acknowledge the success and work of the Newman Centers on the Lincoln, Omaha, and Kearney campuses. They called those Catholic student centers “remarkable” and commented on their value to the universities.
I appreciate the willingness of the University leaders to meet with us to discuss issues of concern to the Catholic community. They said they would be willing to do so again in the next year.
President Gold and his team have made good on their promise to keep us updated on their progress so far. I would like to know more about the membership of the committee that President Gold and Father Hendrickson have put together, but I also understand to some degree their reluctance to share more about it given committee members’ request for anonymity. I believe we can all agree there is more work that needs to be done, and my hope and prayer is that we all continue to strive to eliminate unjust discrimination of any kind on our campuses… and in our world. I am also hopeful that continued engagement with community leaders at the University and elsewhere will help not only to prevent future problems, but will also assist in the continued development of a culture that is respectful of religion and of the Catholic presence in and contribution to our state and its universities.
