Month: March 2011

Marquette University to offer domestic partner benefits

My jaw hit the floor when I read this today. As a Marquette student twenty years ago, I was profoundly saddened by our failed attempts to have sexual orientation added to the university’s non-discrimination policy. It was a defining moment in my life, the beginning of my shift in religious identity.

Back then, I was disturbed by the disconnect between Marquette’s motto, cura personalis (“care for each person”), and the demonstrable lack of care for the person shown in the administration’s decision. Twenty years on, not only is the university listening to the voices of its student and faculty, but it admits that the idea of cura personalis applies to the dignity of the LGBTQ community within its metaphorical walls. What a difference twenty years makes. Kudos to Fr. Wild and the Marquette administration for taking the university another step in the direction of living its values.