Letter to the editor, Nov. 30

To the editor of The Duke:

Is Duquesne a University?  Catholicism is a self-declared Dogma, whereas a University has the duty and desire to question and debate important knowledge claims, including God's existence. When Duquesne permits its faculty and students to fulfill this aim, it is a University; when it blocks that aim, the tension harbored in the idea of a "Catholic University" becomes destructive rather than creative.  

The recent decision by Duquesne not to recognize officially the Secular Society as a student organization on campus robs us of a new source of opinion and debate on the important topics of secularity and religion.  The decision therefore makes the tension in the idea of a Catholic University destructive and the institution to appear bigoted.

We can only hope that the students on the Oversight Committee and their supporters in the administration will reconsider their decision. At the very least, they should provide better arguments for their negative action than a vague appeal to the Mission Statement's clause, "Duquesne serves God by serving students" (The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Nov. 18, 2011).

Duquesne certainly does not serve students by depriving them of enhanced sources of opinion and debate or by discrediting the institution's standing as an academy for the pursuit of knowledge.

Fred Evans

Duquesne professor of philosophy