Catholic College President Resigns After Massive Uproar
Simon Newman, the embattled president of Mount St. Mary’s University, has resigned after complaints he wanted to purge low-performing students and gut the religious identity of the country’s second-oldest Catholic college.
Newman, who cut his teeth in the business world rather than academia, took over in 2015 with the goal of turning around Mount St. Mary’s flagging financial fortunes. But his approach quickly created friction with faculty members, some of whom he tried to fire for opposing him. Now, Newman has been driven out, making the surprise announcement of his departure Monday night.
The mess at the Mount began in January when The Mountain Echo, a student publication, posted an account of a private meeting between Newman and faculty members. At the meeting, Newman outlined a plan to improve the school’s retention rate (and by extension, its rankings) by using a survey to identify the most vulnerable students and encourage them to drop out early before they could appear in school statistics. When faculty balked at the plan, he quipped that they viewed students as “cuddly bunnies” and had to learn to “drown the bunnies” and “put a Glock to their heads.”
Shortly after The Mountain Echo report came out, Newman fired the publication’s faculty adviser along with a tenured professor at the school whom he accused of being disloyal. The firings were reversed after an outcry, but Newman’s credibility with the faculty was extinguished. The faculty senate voted 87-3 in mid-February to demand Newman’s resignation, and one of the fired professors said he wouldn’t return until Newman was gone.
The pressure was increased thanks to additional allegations that suggested Newman was attempting to undermine the Mount’s Catholic identity. Even though the school hosts the country’s second-largest Catholic seminary, Newman reportedly complained about there being so many crucifixes on campus, and said that “Catholic doesn’t sell” on the college marketplace.
Despite the numerous scandals, Newman enjoyed the support of the school’s board of directors and much of the student body, so his sudden resignation Monday night was a surprise.
The most immediate reason for his departure may be an inquiry from the school’s accreditor, which asked the college to explain how the recent controversies affected compliance with various accreditation requirements, such as institutional integrity.
Newman’s downfall reflects the fierce battles occurring on campuses around the country as more marginal schools struggle to cope with a decline in the higher education market. The number of students attending college has declined in recent years, and expensive liberal arts schools like Mount St. Mary’s that aren’t highly-ranked are particularly vulnerable to shrinking enrollment. Newman’s changes may have been radical, but he could also justify his actions by claiming they were needed to keep the school from closing entirely.
In his statement announcing his resignation, Newman defended his brief record. “I am proud of what I have been able to achieve in a relatively short time particularly in helping the University chart a clear course toward a bright future,” Newman said. “I care deeply about the school and the recent publicity relating to my leadership has become too great of a distraction to our mission of educating students.”
Send tips to [email protected].
Copyright 2016 Daily Caller News Foundation
