Separate rooms for unmarried partners on trips, says University of St. Thomas

St. Paul Pioneer Press ^ | April 19, 2006 | PAUL TOSTO

[Caleb1411]

The University of St. Thomas today said it will not let staff or faculty who travel officially with students share a room on those trips with an unmarried partner.

The decision by St. Thomas President Rev. Dennis Dease, posted on the St. Thomas Web site this morning, puts into policy the university's position. But it's unlikely to end the controversy that's divided the campus the past few months.

While the travel policy affects only a few professors, it became a flashpoint on campus after two professors who live together as unmarried, heterosexual partners were told in December they could travel with students only if they stayed in separate rooms. That followed a similar incident last spring when a choral director was told she couldn't officially bring her lesbian partner along on a trip with a university choir.

The university acknowledged the travel policy was unclear and a task force had spent the past few months reviewing the matter. The university, though, strongly defended its stance.

In March, several faculty told Dease that position had some on campus fearing that those who aren't Catholic or whose lives don't completely reflect Catholic doctrine aren't welcome.

Those worries are likely to continue.

"This policy is not about the private lives or consciences of faculty and staff," Dease wrote in his online column today. "Rather, it is about the University of St. Thomas, in its institutional acts, being what it purports to be: a Catholic university."

A link to Dease's statement can be found at St. Thomas under the "headlines" banner.

[noobiangod]

It's a private Catholic university. Go pound sand ACLU types.

[cantfindagoodscreenname]

Good for them. It's sad that a rule like this even has to be made.

[Thorin]

Three cheers for St. Thomas.

[John Jorsett]

This seems a bit silly, since the partners could get two rooms and end up staying together in just one anyway. Unless the University wants to send along a chaperone, how are they going to enforce this?

[speed_addiction]

The most sage advice my father ever shared with me was, "Never, ever share a motel room with a woman who is not your mother, sister, girlfriend or wife. Something WILL happen."


What We Are About To Do Here Is What The Good Lord Would Call A Cleansing of the Wicked. I Call It A Good Old Fashioned Texas Ass Kicking.

[Caleb1411]

"This policy is not about the private lives or consciences of faculty and staff," Dease wrote in his online column today. "Rather, it is about the University of St. Thomas, in its institutional acts, being what it purports to be: a Catholic university."

[Young Scholar]

The most sage advice my father ever shared with me was, "Never, ever share a motel room with a woman who is not your mother, sister, girlfriend or wife. Something WILL happen."

I'm pretty sure that would be out, too.

[Integrityrocks]

What part of "its not a democracy" don't people get about the Catholic Church. Deal with it or go away.

[Skooz]

Good for them. It's sad that a rule like this even has to be made.

Agreed.

[wallcrawlr]

its called integrity

[fizziwig]

"Unless the University wants to send along a chaperone, how are they going to enforce this?"
_________________________________

Its the difference between condoning and not condoning sex outside marriage. Yes, they can get together anyway, but at least the University isn't condining it.

[Gingersnap]

St. Thomas can't enforce Catholic standards of morality on faculty and students but it can stop supporting immoral behaviors. That's all this does.

If you want to engage in immoral acts while on school business, you will have to do it on your own dime. This seems fair. Nobody should be forced to pay for someone else's vice.

[NJ_gent]

"The most sage advice my father ever shared with me was, "Never, ever share a motel room with a woman who is not your mother, sister, girlfriend or wife. Something WILL happen.""

That depends a lot on the individual. I've stayed with female friends in motel rooms, hotel rooms, in their homes and even in their bedroom. I've shared beds with women before who were none of the above. There was never a time when something happened that I didn't want to happen going into the whole thing. Your father's advice makes great sense for someone whose self-control in such situations isn't solid, but it most certainly is not universal. Off the top of my head, I can think of four female friends I've shared a bed with (with and without others in the room) without having a single sexual thing happen.

[Caleb1411]

This seems a bit silly, since the partners could get two rooms and end up staying together in just one anyway. Unless the University wants to send along a chaperone, how are they going to enforce this?

True. St. Thomas can't prevent every debauched, unethical and un-Catholic act of profligacy by its employees, but its unequivocal message that it won't subsidize debauched, unethical and un-Catholic acts of profligacy by its employees is good enough for me, though.

[freemama]

Catholic University with a lesbian choir director.

They did the right thing with the ban on bringing along partners on school trips, but they seem to have dropped the ball on that hire.

[Caleb1411]

What part of "its not a democracy" don't people get about the Catholic Church. Deal with it or go away.

It's about time the apostate "Catholics for Choice" heard that message.

[balch3]

simple: have a morally upright student report back on whether they're complying with the separate rooms rule. You can't keep secrets on a trip like this. Or call the rooms a random times during the night to make sure everybody's in their assigned room. There are easy ways to enforce this.

[Yo-Yo]

They can only tell the ACLU types to pound sand if they refuse all Federal Aid including Federal Student Loans, like Hillsdale College does.

[jagusafr]

Amen! Nice to see that principles aren't completely dead. We had to tell two unmarried heterosexuals who were living together that they were completely welcome at our church, but they couldn't teach a Sunday School class. They were offended. Sheesh...