BU president defends dismissal of lesbian educator

Benedictine University President William Carroll released a statement Tuesday vigorously defending the Lisle-based institution's actions involving a lesbian educator who says she was dismissed from her post for publishing her wedding announcement.

Laine Tadlock, who served as director of the education department, says she was fired from the school's Springfield campus after the announcement ran this summer in The (Springfield) State Journal-Register.

Benedictine officials said they were upset because the wedding announcement mentioned the university.

Carroll has refused requests for interviews since the incident became public last week, but did release a lengthy statement to explain the university's position.

“This is not about a person but about an institution, particularly, Benedictine University and its Catholic identity,” Carroll wrote in his statement. “... The issue at hand is about responsibility. For instance, if you wanted to be an officer of an environmental group that premised its mission on the reality of global warming, you would expect that your fellow members would hold you to advocating that doctrine and not give speeches claiming that the phenomenon is a chimera.”

Benedictine officials deny they fired Tadlock. They said they offered her a different position the newly created post of director of assessment, accreditation and institutional effectiveness but she declined. She also rejected an early retirement offer.

Tadlock said Tuesday she doesn't understand how placing her in a new post would protect Benedictine's morals.

“If they are to uphold the Catholic Church as part of the university, then why did they offer me second job?” she said. “I could understand if they fired me from the first job. That would be clear to me. But to fire me from one job that had to deal with one department ... and move me to another job that some might consider a promotion because it has a direct relationship with all departments and the Lisle campus is illogical.”

Articles about Tadlock's departure published in newspapers and online sparked a flurry of e-mails and phone calls to Benedictine, some calling for the university to apologize to Tadlock and to reinstate her and others supporting the school's actions.

Maureen Lavin, the campus' assistant director of the education program, resigned from Benedictine in support of her colleague.

Tadlock's partner is Kae Helstrom, a fellow Benedictine University professor who still works at the Springfield campus. They married in June in Iowa and the couple said they told supervisors about their plans. Tadlock also said she was upfront about being a lesbian throughout her tenure.

Carroll's statement said he meets with all potential faculty members before they are hired and he always asks what he calls “the religious question.”

“I (say) something to the effect: ‘Benedictine University is a Catholic university with a set of beliefs and traditions,” he wrote in his statement. “No matter your religious background and affiliation, you are expected to respect and honor this tradition and set of beliefs. Can you accept that?' In 15 years of such interviews, every candidate has said yes.”

Tadlock maintains she was never asked such a question, nor was there any written material outlining that requirement when Benedictine took over the Springfield campus in 2009.

“There was never at any point in time when I was asked the Catholic question, I was never given a morals clause to sign,” Tadlock said. “They courted me to take the director position and when (my supervisor) offered me the job, I said ‘First of all, you know that I am a lesbian. And I am becoming more politically active. If this is an issue, you need to let me know.'”

She said her supervisor did not find her orientation problematic.

Carroll's statement maintains the main conflict lies not with Tadlock's sexual orientation but with the wedding announcement.

“When something is publicly proclaimed and it detracts from the credibility of the institution for which that person works, there is a problem,” he wrote.

Tadlock and her attorney, Richard Frazier, say they are considering legal action because they believe Benedictine discriminated against her. Frazier said Carroll's statement Tuesday was “backpedaling.”

“I'm sure it is hypocritical in that there might be other employees at Benedictine who have other lifestyles that are not in line with what the Catholic Church believes is a Catholic lifestyle; perhaps people who are divorced, on birth control, co-habitating before marriage, or who attend a pro-choice rally,” he said. “Are they going to start scrutinizing every student or every professor's lifestyle or beliefs?”

Carroll, however, said the controversy really centers on the ability of church-related institutions to be “church-related.”

“‘Catholic' stands for something a particular tradition, set of beliefs and practices,” he wrote. “For Benedictine not to be true to the tradition, beliefs and practices would make it less than a Catholic institution of higher learning.

“Thus what is at stake in the current controversy is the fundamental ability of church-related institutions in this country to be church-related. While our state institutions of higher learning are wonderful educational institutions, they are not us we have different missions. Anyone working at a university like Benedictine knows that.”