I wrote a piece last week updating you guys on all the problems at Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland. Baltimore Sun.
The president of Mount St. Mary’s University defiantly rejected on Monday the faculty’s demand for his resignation, telling scores of cheering students at a rally in Emmitsburg, “I’m not going to stop.”
Faculty members announced Friday that they had voted 87-3 to ask embattled President Simon Newman to resign.
But a survey of about 60 percent of students at the small Catholic university north of Frederick found that a majority support him. The survey was conducted over the weekend by the student government.
Newman, who was named president of the university in December 2014, has drawn criticism from alumni and educators after he fired two faculty members and demoted the provost amid escalating controversy over his new academic policy. On Friday, Newman reinstated the fired professors.
His policy would weed out struggling freshmen by encouraging them to leave the university. The move was intended to bolster Mount St. Mary’s student-retention rate and national ranking.
Criticism escalated after the college newspaper quoted him referring to students as bunnies that should be drowned or shot. Newman later apologized and said his words were taken out of context.
During the weekend, the student government association organized its survey. The association polled 951 students, about 60 percent of the 1,600 students at the college. About 76 percent voted in support of Newman, and 24 percent voted against his leadership, according to an email from SGA President Abel Gonsalves.
So this issue isn’t going away any time soon. Buckle up.
Keep checking the Cardinal Newman Society’s website for updates. Whatever they decide about including Mount St. Mary’s in the next Newman Guide will be quite telling.
