The Danger with the Argument

I, and others, have made the argument on occasion that we ought to look to other Jesuit and Catholic schools with greater student involvement on the governing board. However, in recent days it has become clear again that one ought not simply “follow the crowd” when it comes to Jesuit higher education:

In the push for a “gender resource center,” it was argued:

According to the recommendation, Marquette lacks a “clear comprehensive source” to report sexual harassment and is one of only three Jesuit universities in the U.S. that does not offer such a center.

In the push for a higher student activity fee, it was argued:

Among the committee’s recommendations was a gradual $7 increase to the $27 Student Activity Fee, a fee included in each semester’s tuition which helps fund MUSG. The recommendations passed the Senate earlier this month. Pappalardo, who chaired the committee, defended the increase. “We have the most student organizations of any other Jesuit school, but the lowest activity fee,” Pappalardo said.

In the push for a more relaxed policy on co-eds staying the night in University dorms, it was argued:

At Marquette, McMahon said he hears the argument all the time that other Jesuit schools allow more. He said he looked into this and found other Jesuit universities have similar policies, but no mechanism to enforce them.

The Facebook group “Petition to change Marquette University’s Overnight Visitation Policy” cites policies at Xavier, Creighton, and Georgetown.

So two points. The first is something that has been clear to me for a while but ought to be said: As much as we rail on Marquette for being liberal at times, the reality is that Marquette is more conservative than most Jesuit institutions. We are still a “Catholic, Jesuit university,” and not merely “in the Jesuit tradition.” We do not have a pro-choice group or an LGBT living community. Our campus paper does not have a sex column. We don’t offer “equitable” LGBT employee benefits. We won’t embrace the Vagina Monologues. Etc. While our faculty has its sore spots and is dominated by liberals, they are generally nice liberals. Neither our faculty nor our student body engages in the kind of out-of-line, bitter activity that we sometimes see elsewhere.

Second, trotting out the argument “But all the other Jesuit schools are doing it” simply won’t fly by me. That’s usually a ticket to being more liberal. We should look to the experience of other schools, try to see what works and what doesn’t, but we should foremost always think for ourselves.

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