Faculty Assembly Finalizes Statement on Dr. McKenna Scandal

By Catherine O’Grady

On Tuesday afternoon, the Faculty Assembly met to finalize its collective statement regarding the dismissal of Dr. Stephen  J. McKenna. Eighteen members of the faculty were in attendance and met in Curley Hall.

“The Faculty Assembly of the Catholic University of America provides a forum for discussion and a means for concerted action,” according to the faculty assembly website. “Its aim is to bring the faculties of the various Schools of the University together for discussion and action on issues of importance and common concern to the University as a whole.”

The assembly, an informal gathering of current and retired faculty, was reinstated in May of 2018 in response to the Academic Renewal proposal that was widely opposed by faculty. All full time faculty qualify for membership.

“The Faculty Assembly is an organization that is open to all full-time faculty on campus, “ said the Faculty Assembly Executive Board. “It exists in order to bring the faculties of the various Schools of the University together for discussion and action on issues of importance and common concern to the University as a whole. At Faculty Assembly meetings, we raise matters of general concern, deliberate upon them, and then recommend specific actions to the appropriate authorities.”

Dr. McKenna was dismissed from his tenured associate professor position and his role as chairman in the Department of Media and Communication Studies last December for a consensual sexual relationship with a subordinate full-time employee. Catholic University’s policy forbids relationships between university employees and their inferiors, regardless of consent. The employee was under his supervision from February-October 2013, when she resigned to take a different job. The relationship lasted four years, until it was first brought to the attention of the university in 2017 by an anonymous source, then brought to its attention by the former employee herself.

When McKenna was dismissed, the university released an official statement in which President John Garvey commented on Mckenna’s behavior by saying, “[He] violated the standards expected of any faculty member, and also violated the University’s express prohibition of all dating and sexual relationships between faculty and employees they supervise, even if the parties believe them to be consensual.”

The university’s faculty committee has been working towards releasing a statement on the issue, especially after a statement on the dismissal by Dr. Ernest M. Zampelli, emeritus professor of economics, was published.

“However, whether someone believes the dismissal decision was appropriate punishment or not, no one who values decency can condone, in any way, the deplorable public shaming executed by the University in publishing, on its homepage, the details of the case involving Professor McKenna,” wrote Zampelli in his statement. “It is imperative that the faculty, in the strongest possible unified voice and language, condemn the University’s contemptible action and demand that the University President and Provost be held accountable.”

“The Faculty Assembly’s statement condemns the University’s action against Dr. McKenna in the strongest possible terms, and demands that the Administration: 1) remove the President’s announcement from the University website, and 2) issue an apology to Dr. McKenna and to the University community for publishing a misleading statement about a member of our community,” said the Assembly. The Assembly’s statement was released on February 19 and can be found on the Faculty Assembly website.