A Crisis Of Faith At Gonzaga University Firing Has Many Wondering About How School Is Governed

Everything seems normal on campus summer school students run to class, fliers cover billboards, loud voices emanate from classrooms.

But beneath the surface, the mood is dark at Gonzaga University.

More than a month after the board of trustees forced the Rev. Ed Glynn to resign, the shock of losing a well-liked university president hasn’t worn off.

“It was like Kennedy’s assassination,” said one faculty member who asked not to be identified. “Like JFK after Eisenhower, Father Glynn embodied a feeling, a spirit of youthfulness, energy and progress.

“When he was fired, that spirit was attacked.”

Glynn, who had been president for less than nine months, was dismissed a week after graduation when most students already had left for summer break.

Despite letters of support from faculty, staff and other Jesuits, Glynn was dismissed because of “deep philosophical differences,” said board chairman James Jundt.

There was no scandal. Glynn and the board just didn’t get along.

The controversy has been aired in several Catholic periodicals, including The Catholic Reporter and the National Jesuit News.

In those articles, Jesuits from Gonzaga and across the country criticize the board’s action, calling what happened “a botch,” “insensitive” and without regard for the Jesuit mission of education.

Many say what happened was unjust but it can’t be undone.

Morale is low on the 94-acre campus. A drop in enrollment last year has forced the university to eliminate 30 positions and lay off five employees. At the end of the fiscal year, Gonzaga is expected to have a budget deficit of just under $1 million.

Then there is the Glynn fallout.

“The approach of the trustees is absolutely contradictory from what we would expect of our students,” said Michael Carey, associate professor of organizational leadership.

“If our students were to do that and be that way in society, we would be disappointed,” Carey said.

Most students don’t even know what’s going on, said Billy Barquin, a Gonzaga law student.

“They did it after everyone had left for the summer,” he said. “As students, we have no idea how things work at Gonzaga.”

GU is one of 28 American colleges and universities run by The Society of Jesus, which consists of about 20,000 Jesuit priests worldwide. The Jesuits - the largest order within the Roman Catholic Church - take pride not only in providing an excellent liberal arts education but also in shaping their students’ spirituality and intellect by teaching them to serve others.

Once run entirely by Jesuits, the universities have had boards of trustees, including many non-Jesuit members, since the 1970s. Now, schools such as GU face a balancing act: delivering a Jesuit-based education under the supervision of trustees whose primary mission is to raise money.

“A Jesuit education means you work to make people happier,” said the Rev. Kevin Waters, a member of the board of trustees. “You bring hope where there is hopelessness and trust where there is lack of trust.”

Asked about the university’s mission, Jundt said: “That’s for the Jesuits to define, and we support that wholeheartedly. Our whole existence is to provide a support for them to carry out their apostolic mission.”

Most people throughout the Jesuit school system agree that boards of trustees with lay members are an improvement over the old system. Universities once were governed by the Jesuit provincial, a regional authority in charge of the Jesuits in the area.

But several caution that board members need to be well-schooled in the Jesuit mission and philosophy of education.

“Who you put on a board will affect the distinctive moral character of a university,” said the Rev. Paul Locatelli, chairman of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities and president of Santa Clara University in California.

The need to raise money shouldn’t clash with promoting Jesuit ideals, he said. In fact, they go hand in hand; without healthy endowments, Jesuit schools will not be able to continue to operate, he said.

“Including the board in discussions about what Jesuit spirituality and Jesuit education mean is crucial to this whole process,” Locatelli said.

Gonzaga formed its board of trustees 30 years ago when the school needed cash. Since then, the group has grown to 29 members - 23 lay members and six Jesuits - who personally have contributed a total of $20 million to Gonzaga. On top of that, they have helped build the endowment to $70 million.

Except for the Jesuits appointed to the board, new members are picked by current trustees.

“Wealth, work and wisdom” are the three attributes necessary to be a member of the board, said Harry Sladich, interim university president and former board secretary.

Some people think the board is out of touch with the Gonzaga campus.

“(Glynn’s firing) happened because the board of trustees has complete authority,” said Blaine Garvin, GU professor of political science.

The trustees don’t ask for input from students or faculty, he said.

Jundt, a 1964 GU graduate who runs an investment firm in Minnesota, says the trustees are independent people who volunteer their time and service to Gonzaga.

Their recent decision to fire Glynn was not made arbitrarily, Jundt said. The two parties didn’t get along and Glynn’s dismissal was in Gonzaga’s best interest, he said.

“Father Glynn was not the right person. It would have been easy for the board not to have taken action, but because of our love for the university, it was necessary to do it. … It was an unpopular decision, but it was for the overall good of the university.”

While acknowledging that most trustees wanted Glynn to leave, one lay board member who asked for anonymity complained that the board didn’t conduct a formal vote during the May 16 meeting when the ouster occurred.

“I had argued that time is a great healer and that we should wait and see,” the trustee said. “But they didn’t accept my ideas. … I’ve been able to compromise, but I’m getting older and getting tired.

“It was a sad day for Gonzaga University, a sad day for all of us.”

Since Glynn’s dismissal, students, faculty and staff have sent letters to the trustees to express their outrage. Many are afraid that unless the board changes its policies, the Glynn scenario may happen again.

Next month, the trustees will meet with the Board of Members, a group of nine Jesuits that owns the university and has the power to change the bylaws and even dissolve the trustees. Like other GU constituencies, the Board of Members wrote a letter last month in support of Glynn before he was fired.

“We’re not in an adversarial relationship with the board of trustees,” said the Rev. Scott Coble, rector of Gonzaga’s Jesuit community who also belongs to the Board of Members. “We’re all working for the good of the university.”

A presidential search committee should be formed by the end of the summer, Sladich said. Unlike the last committee, which had 30 members, this group will be limited to about six, he said.

But before hiring someone, the board of trustees needs to deliberately change public perception, Locatelli said.

“The outside perspective is that a few members of the board and Father Glynn had significant differences they could not resolve,” Locatelli said. “They are going to have a difficult time finding someone to step into that situation.”

Jundt disagrees.

“Just because one man was dismissed for sound reasons doesn’t mean that no other Jesuit will take his post,” Jundt said. “Gonzaga was fortunate for nearly a quarter of a century with Father (Bernard) Coughlin,” Glynn’s predecessor. “I can assure you we will be able to find an appropriate president.”

Locatelli said that from what he has heard and read, the Gonzaga campus is unifying in response to Glynn’s dismissal. If the board of trustees addresses concerns, the damage can be minimized, he said.

“This does not necessarily have to become this big dark episode,” Locatelli said. “A time of crisis can be the beginning of growth.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo