Gu Trustees Apologize For Glynn Controversy Chairman Says ‘Mistakes Were Made’ In Handling Dismissal Of President

Gonzaga University’s board of trustees apologized Friday for the way it handled the Rev. Edward Glynn saga.

Trustees chairman James Jundt said the board should not have hired Glynn, but it also failed to communicate properly with the Jesuit owners of the university and other campus groups before Glynn’s resignation May 16.

“Mistakes were made,” Jundt said in a statement released moments after the trustees concluded a rare, two-day meeting with the nine Jesuit owners and the 65-member Board of Regents, a group that advises the policy-making trustees.

“We are not perfect,” the Minneapolis businessman continued, “but I assure you everyone on this volunteer board acts with their hearts and minds for the best interest of Gonzaga.”

The regents, in turn, unanimously voted their support of the trustees, saying the group made the correct decision in seeking Glynn’s resignation after nine months on the job.

“We are now ready to move forward in a spirit of healing and reconciliation that will be carried to the entire Gonzaga family,” said Board of Regents President Chuck Steilen of Spokane. “We support the trustees 100 percent.”

About 4,500 students attend the Catholic university on the north bank of the Spokane River. About 8,000 Gonzaga alumni live in the Inland Northwest.

The boards met at the Coeur d’Alene Resort, a few blocks from North Idaho College, another school that dismissed its president this year.

The assembly was called in the aftermath of the May 16 resignation of Glynn, a favorite among faculty and students but a president who clashed with trustees.

Nearly half the 260 full-time faculty had asked the trustees to reinstate Glynn. They also sought a change in board policy to avoid a similar crisis in the future, including term limits and non-Jesuit faculty representation on the board of trustees.

“Healing needs to occur,” Ron Large, president of Gonzaga’s Faculty Assembly said Friday. “People have been angry, people have been upset and there is a sense of need for healing to occur.”

The trustees did not act on proposals for term limits or faculty representation. But they vowed to better communicate with the Jesuits, faculty, students and alumni when considering important matters.

A trustees meeting with these groups has been scheduled for September.

In a later interview, Jundt said the trustees formed three committees to evaluate the presidential search process and draft expectations for future candidates.

The Rev. Scott Coble, rector of the Jesuit Community of Gonzaga and one of nine Jesuit owners, said the university will continue its tradition of hiring a Jesuit as president.

“I feel very good about what has happened here today,” he said.

, DataTimes