The Pendulum
OPINION
Thursday, April 26,2007 i Page 11
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Elon must maintain it’s commitment
As scholars, teachers and staff mem
bers who are concerned with the well
being of Elon as a whole, we recognize
that the community’s interest includes
those of women and lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgendered people at Elon. Out of
this concern, we are >vriting to express our
dismay at the most recent choice for the
“Legends of Business” lecture series, Tom
Monaghan, founder of Domino’s Pizza.
This lecture series, according to the
Love School of Business Web page,
“brings seasoned executives to campus [to
share] their philosophy for success, senior
executives help students model their
careers and enrich the classroom
experience.” While it is admirable that the
Love School of Business seeks to provide
role models for our students at Elon, the
choice of Monaghan as an appropriate role
model for is questionable.
David Hibbard’s E-Net announcement
describing Monaghan’s qualifications sug
gests that he was noted for his
“ethical business practices.” However,
Monaghan was also noted for his support
of political organizations that vehemently
oppose women’s reproductive rights and
deny equal rights to lesbians, gays, bisexu-
We read with interest the Op-ed article
in the April 19 issue of The Pendulum
regarding the visit of Thomas Monaghan
to Elon University as a Legend of
Business.
Monaghan was invited to speak as a
Legend of Business in recognition of his
accomplishments over a long period of
time, nurturing and building the Domino s
brand.
He told the story of his business accom
plishments and his personal rise from dis
advantage to organizational and financial
success - on the basis of hard work and
perseverance, exercised day-by-day over a
long period of time.
This message of adaptive persistence is
an important one for the Love School o
Business students and the Elon community
to hear. We believe everyone who attended
the lecture agreed that the business mes
sage Monaghan delivered was an impor
tant one.
Monaghan has taken a stand on con o
versial issues, and his views, like t ose o
als and transgendered persons.
While Monaghan is obviously finan
cially successful, we are concerned that his
wealth is used to forward an agenda that
seeks to restrict the rights of women and
the LGBT community. Monaghan’s busi
ness interests are not limited to his con
nections with Domino’s, but include his
Ave Maria Foundation, the Ave Maria
University, Ave Maria Radio, Legatus and
the Ave Maria Mutual Funds. For
example, Monaghan was quite public in
his financial support of organizations such
as “Operation Rescue,” an organization
known for obstructing access to clinics for
women seeking legal abortions and for
using sensationalistic images and propa
ganda, and Monaghan was the owner of
“Credo,” a Roman Catholic newspaper
that ran for seven years, until October
2002, that actively opposed gay rights in
its news coverage.
The former provost of Ave Maria
University, the Rev. Joseph Fessio,
appointed by Monaghan, has called homo
sexuality a disorder that needs to be cured.
Sadly, these are just a few of the ways that
Monaghan’s financial successes have been
used in support of activities and organiza-
other speakers on campus, generated
debate and discussion. Those discussions
demand that we assess and clarify our own
views, individually and as a community. If
Monaghan’s visit accomplished that as
well, his visit was all the richer.
In the final analysis, we are all here to
examine and develop the values and prin
ciples that will allow us to contribute to a
good and a genuine life for ourselves and
our community.
The visit of Monaghan - his story, the
questions asked of him and the answers he
gave, your letter - all contribute to this
important goal at Elon. We can look for
ward to other debates and discussions
resulting from the visits of other speakers
at Elon. It is something that keeps us vital
and alive and relevant.
-John Burbridge, dean of business
school
tions that prevent women fi-om exercising
their legal rights as citizens and contribute
to a homophobic culture. Elon’s emphasis
on civic engagement explicitly promotes a
holistic understanding of the self that does
not differentiate between public and private
spheres.
We are in favor of a campus that is open
to many different voices and views. We
would support open and frank discussions
with those who hold very different views
than those that our community supports.
That is, in fact, a value of our community.
But this does not appear to be the intention
of Monaghan’s visit; instead, he is being
portrayed as an example for our students to
emulate and that makes all the difference.
Many of us are proud of Elon’s efforts
to be a place that respects individuals
regardless of gender, sexual orientation or
gender identity. We are happy that the
institution is a “college with a conscience.”
However, we regard this invitation and the
suggestion that Monaghan be upheld as a
role model to be a serious misstep.
Moreover, it is especially disappointing
given that he was at Elon during LGBT
Pride week, specifically the day before the
annual “Gay? Fine by Me” program, which
Our nation is at
On April 16,1 woke up to see and hear
of the horror at VT. I am afraid it will hap
pen again unless we as a nation consider it
a serious problem rooted in our social and
cultural structure and do something to
address its root causes rather than trying to
combat it by “policing it” as and when it
occurs and then forgetting all about it the
next day.
We are currently engaged in two
foreign wars under the banner of “War on
Terrorism,” wasting our precious
emotional energy and national resources to
win these wars thousands of miles away
while we ignore the Oklahoma City,
Columbine, and VT type of domestic ter
rorism.
Our government’s approach to these
overseas wars on terrorism is similar to the
approach to combat terrorism and other
forms of violence here at home. Police
work, disregarding the root causes of why
people might resort to violence as a pow
erful reaction to their real or perceived
powerlessness, like the young man at VT
and the insurgents in the cities of Iraq and
to diversity
demonstrates the institutional and commu
nity support of our lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgendered persons on campus.
It is a most confusing message that is
being sent to members of Elon University
to have Monaghan here on campus and
raises doubts about the true commitment
that the institution has to all students,
faculty and staff. As a sign of support to
this commitment, we would ask that you
sit down with students, faculty and staff
members to discuss the issues surrounding
Monaghan’s selection as a “Legend of
Business” and why this selection might be
hurtful to
others within our community and how the
process for selection can be made more
open to the Elon community in the future.
We also ask that you consider making a
statement that explains the reasoning
behind Monaghan’s presence on campus
and that indicates Love School of
Business’ continued support of Elon’s
commitment to diversity.
-Lynn Huber, assistant professor oj
Religious Studies
(signed by 40 other professors)
war with itself
the streets of Baghdad.
This police work overseas is responsible
for killing and maiming hundreds of thou
sands of innocent people; it has destroyed
their communities and families, and
brought upon them a bleak vision of their
future, causing the death and destruction of
thousands of our own troops and their fam
ilies.
There is a close connection between the
violence our nation inflicts on other soci
eties, the death penalty our justice system
inflicts on violent criminals and the vio
lence here at home committed by disillu
sioned individuals.
Strong as this connection might be, it
does not offer a sensible explanation of the
homegrown violence.
Most discussion on the subject was met
with sentiments of denial proclaiming that
“[youth] violence is no longer a
serious problem in America” against over
whelming evidence to the contrary.
-Aqueil Ahmad, adjunct professor
Speech not about morality