The Faculty Senate at the Jesuit Saint Louis University yesterday overwhelmingly (51-4) voted no confidence in the university’s president, Fr. Lawrence Biondi, S.J., acording to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. And SLU’s Student Government Association has just today expressed no confidence in Fr. Biondi in a unanimous vote.
The Faculty Council of the College of Arts and Sciences voted no confidence last month after two faculty no-confidence votes against Vice President for Academic Affairs Manoj Patankar, who was a driving force behind a controversial proposal effecting faculty tenure.
A spokesman for the university called the vote “unjustified,” pointing to Fr. Biondi’s 25 years at the helm.
The Dean of Saint Louis University’s law school resigned at the beginning of the school year with a scathing resignation letter that called into question the integrity and honesty of the institution.
“It is the ultimate irony that a Jesuit university would operate so far outside the bounds of common decency, collegiality, professionalism and integrity,” Annette E. Clark, the resigning dean, wrote in her resignation letter. “I simply cannot be part of, and I assure you I will not be complicit with, an administration that can’t be trusted to act honestly.”
To replace her, Fr. Biondi hired a new interim dean, a personal injury lawyer, who, The Cardinal Newman Society reported, represented a mother in a “wrongful life” lawsuit, claiming doctors had failed to detect that her child had a congenital condition leading to the loss of the baby’s left foot. Had she known, the woman said she would have aborted the baby.
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