On Thursday, Nov. 15, President Lyons addressed USD's University Senate. The following is offered
to contextualize and to clarify the situation surrounding Prof. Tina Beattie's invitation and disinvitation
from USD, as well as the actions of President Lyons in this affair. This brief note does not
examine broader issues pertaining to academic freedom, shared governance, or other university policy;
it aims to clarify the facts upon which President Lyons claims to have based her decision and her
actions. (Supporting documents are available upon request.)

CLAIM: President Lyons has recently and repeatedly claimed that her objection to Professor
Beattie's visit was her receiving an "honorary fellowship" from the Harpst Center of Catholic
Thought and Culture (CCTC).

CLARIFICATION: Prof. Beattie was not offered an "honorary fellowship." She was invited to
give the 2nd annual Emilia Switgall lecture and to be a "visiting fellow" of the CCTC at USD. Her
responsibilities as a "visiting fellow" (or "visiting scholar") of the CCTC were to give a few campus
talks in addition to the Switgall lecture, and to engage faculty and student in discussion during her
visit. There was no question of a "fellowship," whether in the usual sense of a large monetary award
to fund a period of research or in any other sense. Nor was this an "honorary" position (in name or in
reality).

CLAIM: President Lyons has asserted that Prof. Beattie dissented publicly from the teachings of the
Catholic Church by signing the August 13th letter published in the Times (of London).

CLARIFICATION: Prof. Beattie did NOT dissent from the teachings of the Catholic Church by
signing that letter. The position taken by the signatories of the letter simply affirms the reality that
there is no binding Catholic teaching on civil legislation regarding same-sex marriage. On this, as on
other matters, Catholics must inform and follow their consciences.

CLAIM: President Lyons has claimed repeatedly that Prof. Beattie urged Catholics to dissent from
Church teachings.

CLARIFICATION: Prof. Beattie did NOT urge others to dissent from church teachings or to
disregard the guidance of their appropriate pastors. The Aug. 13th letter affirmed that Catholics could,
in good and properly formed conscience, support legislation allowing same sex civil marriage; the
letter does NOT say that they should do so.
[The majority of the letter in fact reminds Catholics of pastoral guidance provided by the bishops
of England and Wales, and accurately paraphrases an official statement by Cardinal Hume, the former
President of the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales. The letter concludes, as does Cardinal
Hume's own statement, that Catholics may come to different positions on the matter of civil
legislation on same sex marriage (notwithstanding the fact that the Congregation for the Doctrine of
the Faith, along with many bishops, have urged rejection of such legislation).]

CLAIM: President Lyons has maintained that she did not have time to find an alternative to canceling
Prof. Beattie's visit.

CLARIFICATION: President Lyons DID have time—and was asked—to find an alternative to
canceling Prof. Beattie's visit. There were 9 days between Oct. 18th (when Pres. Lyons acknowledges
receipt of a complaint about Prof. Beattie's upcoming talks) and the evening of Oct. 27 when
President Lyons' rescission of invitation was emailed to Prof. Beattie.
Further, between Oct. 28th and Oct. 30, Profs. Gerard Mannion, Mary Doak, and Tina Beattie all
emailed Pres. Lyons to ask her to work to resolve this conflict before the rescission became
public, and to allow Prof. Beattie to come to campus in some manner, even (if necessary) under some
other sponsorship than that of the CCTC. In response to these requests, including Prof. Beattie's
invitation to "work together to find a creative solution to this crisis," Pres. Lyons responded to Prof.
Beattie via an email on Oct. 30, reaffirming that President Lyons' original decision to rescind the
invitation "stands."

CLAIM: President Lyons has suggested that efforts to consult with Prof. Mannion, the director of the
CCTC, were made by the administration and were rebuffed by Prof. Mannion.

CLARIFICATION: NO effort was made to consult with Prof. Mannion about canceling Prof.
Beattie's visit. Prof. Mannion was in San Diego and regularly in his office between Oct. 18th and Oct.
27th; he was also available via email and cell-phone. Yet at no time did anyone from the
administration (President Lyons, Provost Sullivan, or Vice-Provost Herrinton) consult with him about
the possibility that Prof. Beattie's visit to USD would be canceled. His first notification that Prof.
Beattie's visit and Switgall lecture were to be canceled was on the evening of Oct. 27th, when he
received via email a copy of the letter Pres. Lyons had already sent to Prof. Beattie canceling her visit.
[Prof. Mannion was contacted by Msgr. Dillabough during this period to discuss whether a
University Ministry-sponsored event with Prof. Beattie should go forward. Prof. Mannion was
eventually informed by Msgr. Dillabough that the University Ministry-sponsored event would be
canceled, even while he was assured that there was no question of canceling Prof. Beattie's academic
lectures, which he was told were protected under academic freedom.]

CLAIM: President Lyons has suggested that canceling academic lectures and visits by theologians—or
other scholars—who dissent from Catholic teachings is within the obligations and normal expectations
of a Catholic university.

CLARIFICATION: Canceling academic lectures of scholars who dissent from Catholic teachings is
NOT part of the obligations or normal expectations of a Catholic University. A recently published
book (Silence Speaks, 2011) cites only one example of a Catholic university rescinding an invitation to
a lay theologian: the University of San Diego's rescission of Prof. Rosemary Radford Ruether's
invitation to hold the Portman chair in 2008. Thus far, requests to scholars across the US have not
uncovered any other case of a US Catholic university rescinding an invitation to a theologian invited to
give an academic address.

Mary Doak, Associate Professor, Dept. of Theology and Religious Studies

Daniel Sheehan, Professor, Dept. of Physics