Three weeks ago, a newspaper writer and Ave Maria Town resident was indefinitely banned from setting foot on Ave Maria University property ahead of AMU’s controversial honoring of New York billionaire political activist Tom Golisano. AMU’s naming of a new campus building after Golisano was subsequently denounced by the Cardinal Newman Society. The banning of the reporter prompted a statement by the newspaper’s editor/publisher and was featured in several stories on Naples’ Fox 4 News (1, 2).
In one of the Fox 4 interviews, a student at AMU said
“It seems like there are other cases where it seems like the school is trying to shut down and silence people who might be critical,”
Yesterday, Fox 4 News ran a follow-up story on the school’s cultural intolerance of criticism – “Verbal attack on an Ave Maria student“. According to Fox 4, the aforementioned student’s statement “led 16 fellow students” to create a website devoted to personally bashing the student, calling him a “drama queen” and “a loser who will die alone,” among other things.
Remember the August story of Chris Spina, the overweight middle-aged Naples realtor who got “support of the coaching staff at Ave Maria” to compete for a position on the AMU basketball team? The tryouts were last week and, unfortunately, Spina didn’t get invited to wear a Gyrene jock. According to today’s Naples Daily News, Ave Maria University basketball coaches Jamon Copeland and Luke Niewald did not find the 54 year old Spina or two 19 year old walk-ons to be better than the players already on the 15 person squad. (Photo right shows AMU Coach Niewald, right, giving instructions to the three).
But that was not the most interesting part of the story. NDN excerpt:
Spina, who runs a real estate business in Bonita Springs, enrolled at Ave Maria as a full-time student for the fall term. Committed to finally earning a bachelor’s degree, Spina has rented a dorm room on the Ave Maria campus for the days he’s doesn’t feel like commuting back to Lee County.
A 54 year old full-time student living on a college campus in a dormitory room?! Are there no apartments or rooms to rent in Ave Maria Town?
According to AMU’s Enrollment Kit and Housing Contract:
“To live on campus, an unmarried person 24 and older must receive special permission.”
“Married students must live off campus.”
An August profile in Naples Daily News says that Spina is a “father of three”. If he is not divorced, then he is violating the married student rule. Collier County Clerk of Court records show that a Christopher J. Spina of Bonita Springs had a dissolution of marriage filed August 2008, and foreclosure filed against him in May 2009. AveWatch presumes, but does not have confirmation, that these Chris Spinas of Bonita Springs are the same.
We do not know if on-campus rules apply to Spina. Example from the Housing Contract:
“All students living on campus are required to purchase the Meal Plan.”
Ave Maria’s judgment here deserves scrutiny. It seems socially odd and awkward to have AMU approve of a 54 year old (presumably divorced) full-time student living on campus among 19 year olds. That, of course, is in addition to his trying to displace these kids from a spot on a sports team. Imagine the campus dorm social dynamics if Spina actually made the team.
Even more strange is that an institution claiming to be “unabashedly Catholic” would force married 22 year olds to live off campus while a (presumably divorced) middle-aged male partakes of campus dorm life. Even state-sponsored universities offer married student housing. It is not as if AMU lacks room for married students.
As AveWatch noted recently, AMU enrollment for Fall was off by as much as 57% of projections stated by the University in Spring of this year. Approximately 45% of AMU’s current undergraduate dorm space is unoccupied. That’s a stunning number (about 500 open slots).
This is also not a good reflection on the Town’s development. Spina’s room rent could have helped prevent one of Ave Maria Town’s foreclosures or short sales amid the south Florida housing market bust; instead, Spina’s rental went to Ave Maria.
With the unhealthy amount of control that Tom Monaghan and Baron Collier Company exert in AMT, one wonders how a normal diverse college town economy will ever develop. Consider the lock-up that AMU alone has on housing in AMT. In the Middlebrooke area of Ave Maria Town, the University owns at least 32 properties (see “Monaghan Buys Monaghan” and “Landowner-Voter Inequity May Be Worse Than Reported“). Between the housing plunked on all these properties, and the excess dorm space that AMU is apparently willing to rent to even middle-aged students, the rental market appears saturated and monopolized for decades to come.
A 54 year old (presumably divorced father of three) rents a dorm room on campus at Ave Maria while vying for a spot on the basketball team. Such is Tom Monaghan’s world-class business model for Catholic higher education… the university that he said…
“… very well could be the single most important effort that has taken place in the Catholic church in this country or in any part of the world to date.” (5/10/2008)
Fumare offers several convincing graphical summaries that depict Ave Maria School of Law’s objective numerical decline in relation to various administrative decisions. They are must-reads here and here.
And how does Tom Monaghan’s 4th Tier law school represent its academic record to prospective students and donors?
The following is from an AMSL commercial that has been playing on the Law School’s radio program for a number of weeks (clip from 10/10/09 broadcast)
Such ‘boasting’ should be considered dishonest, anywhere.
Then again, who would take seriously a law school that opened its weekly radio show with the likes of this (excerpt from the 9/19/09 broadcast):
That was “The Voice of Ave Maria” – Fr. Michael Orsi, Chaplain and “Research Fellow in Law & Religion” at Ave Maria School of Law.
It didn’t take long for Ave Maria School of Law to squander its welcome in Naples. The school made local ABC TV news today. Apparently, law students are occupying the parking spaces of a nearby community park to avoid paying a $200 fee charged by the School to leave cars on campus. Local residents are not happy.
Neighbors from the area are pleading their case to the County Commissioners next week. AMSL’s response to the complaints: The students have a ‘right’ to ditch their car in the community park. Excerpts (full story and video here):
Ave Maria School of Law is firing back, and plans to be at the commission meeting Tuesday.
“We think it’s unfair that they should be singled-out and charged a fee when nobody else is,” said John Knowles, Ave Maria School of Law.
“These students pay taxes, they’re members of the community, they contribute, they have every right to use that park as anybody else,” said Knowles.
“To use our public park just to save a buck or two is not right,” said Pacter [a local resident].
Naples Daily News is reporting that a 53 year old local realtor – inspired by a Dave Matthews song – is getting “support of the coaching staff at Ave Maria” to “try out for the team’s basketball team in September”. Excerpts (full text and video; photo courtesy NDN):
“It’s always been a dream of mine to play organized basketball,” said Spina, who owns the Southwest Florida-based Spina Realty Company.
Spina talked with Ave Maria coach Jamon Copeland, who informed him that he would have as good of a chance as any other student hoping to make the squad as a walk-on.
“I wanted to make sure that I would have the same shot as anyone else that was going out for the team,” Spina said. “They were great and assured me I’d be given every opportunity. I told them that I’d arrive for tryouts in the best possible physical condition that a 53-year-old could be in.”
“I was what you would call a late-bloomer athletically,” Spina said.
There was also the matter of his weight, which he said had reached 309 pounds in January [2009].
The intrigue continues for Tom Monaghan’s sports teams. AveWatch readers will recall that AMU fired its first basketball coach without warning just days before the start of last year’s season (1, 2, 3, 4). Naples Daily News did not say if Gyrene Athletic Director Brian Scanlan will have the overweight father of three accompanied by a chubby ball-shooting golden retriever that answers to the name “Buddy“. Other entries in the AveWatch “nutty” category are here.
As predicted, waves are being created well beyond the courtroom as a result of Tom Monaghan’s legal claim to running an exempt “religious organization” of “ministerial” law professors at Ave Maria School of Law.
Renowned canon lawyer Dr. Edward Peters posted a must-read analysis at “In the Light of the Law”. Excerpts:
… ask the local Catholic bishop whether he considers Ave Maria law school professors to be ecclesiastical ministers authorized by him to speak on behalf of the Catholic Church? Betcha he’ll deny it faster than Tom Monaghan can say a Hail Mary, which is pretty darn fast. It is even more preposterous to assert that canon law considers ecclesiastical recognition of the Catholic character of a given school (assuming Ave Maria has that) as rendering the school immune from civil scrutiny in regard to the basic treatment it accords faculty (and students and staff, for that matter). That is goofiness.
But, however goofy it is, we should be clear: In the world beyond the moat behind which sits Tom’s Town, the implications of his claim are very serious. Should Ave Maria’s argument get so much as the time of day from the trial court, I predict we’ll see amicus briefs from the grown-ups at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, to name just two of the dozens of groups with a major stake in these matters, urging appellate courts to reject any theories by which denominational university faculty can be suddenly characterized as “ministerial employees” and consequently stripped of a variety of civil rights.
I keep waiting for Ave Maria to find a bottom in how far it is willing to descend in its efforts to avoid treating certain Catholics (the sort Monaghan dismisses as “academic terrorists”) with due dignity. But this month, Monaghan and Ave Maria tried to label its law school faculty as some sort of religious ministers, conveniently according their academic administrators a discretionary power over Ave Maria law faculty akin to that legitimately enjoyed by bishops over priests!
Background information on Monaghan’s court claim, including the accompanying court documents, can be found here.
Updates -
Fumare author Casimir Pulaski offers an interesting analysis: Excerpt – Monaghan’s motion for summary disposition posits that the Bishop’s approval of AMSoL to use the title “Catholic” extends so much of a degree of agency for the Catholic Church that a trial court is prohibited from looking into the decisions of Monaghan and the board because they are religious matters, “ministerial.” Is AMSoL listed in the diocese as an asset of the Bishop? Did the Bishop exihibit final authority over AMSoL matters?
In a stunning legal maneuver that could trigger unintended negative consequences involving a host of sources (Catholic legal academics, the American Bar Association, Ave Maria students/employees/alumni/recruits, official Church authorities) — Tom Monaghan’s lawyers argued in court on Wednesday that Ave Maria School of Law is a “religious institution” claiming “ministerial exception” such that any inquires into their “underlying motivation for a contested employment situation” should be barred from government courts. They also argued that AMSL’s law professors are “ministerial employees”, claiming that the “legal doctrine of ‘ecclesiastical abstention‘ is pertinent to the court’s lack of subject matter jurisdiction of AMSL’s employment decision and the allegations concerning AMSL’s governance”.
Washtenaw County Circuit Court Judge Melinda Morris will issue a written opinion within thirty days on Monaghan’s motion for summary disposition. Click below for more, including links to public court documents and excerpts.
On January 30, 2009, a press release announced that Massachusetts outsourcing businessman Victor Melfa was the latest addition to the Ave Maria University Board of Trustees. AveWatch server logs indicate that, in early February, one or more individuals from Melfa’s company reviewed the website. Today, on February 19, Naples Daily News reports that Melfa “left the board under mysterious circumstances Thursday following a morning session”. Excerpt from “Mystery surrounds Ave Maria Board member’s exit“:
Asked whether Melfa resigned or was removed, Holman [another Board member] replied, “That’s still to be decided.”
“I have no comment on that,” Melfa said. “I hope to be able to talk to you more openly and frankly in the future.”
“I plan on speaking further to the press in the near future about things and what I’m going to do,” he said.
Melfa’s name was removed from the university’s Web site by 4 p.m.
Apparently, AMU did not see fit to leave Melfa’s name on their website “for recruiting purposes“, unlike inactive members of the school’s basketball program.
UPDATE, 3/7/09 – A Naples Daily News wrap-up of AMU’s first sports season shows more of Ave Maria’s inability to self-assess. Excerpts:
And so began a deluge of difficulties so numerous that two retired NCAA Division I athletic administrators said they have never seen anything like it. Pat Richter, a part-time Bonita Springs resident and University of Wisconsin retired athletic director, said a timeline of the team’s season “almost read like fiction.”
The issues touched nearly every off-court area of concern for a collegiate athletic program: accurate qualifications, coaching stability, criminal activity, player retention and academics.
“I think it was a very successful experience for the university and a successful experience for the athletic department,” Scanlan [AMU's Athletic Director] said.
Original article:
Even after lowering its academic standards and encouraging mid-season walk-ons, Ave Maria University’s basketball program is down to a few players, with only three scholarship athletes remaining (one being the Athletic Director’s son). The team is on its fourth coach this season (see “Fired Coach: Ave Maria is Telling a Lie“).
But the new rookie coach, Jamon Copeland, may have just invited the scrutiny of the NAIA / Sun Conference that AMU hopes to join. (Click below for more…) Read the rest of this article »
The Air Force Reserve Airmen from the 326th Airlift Squadron delivered desks, chairs, file cabinets and books for the new library at Ave Maria University, Latin American Campus, in San Marcos, Carazo.
A “humanitarian” mission? This tops everything in AveWatch’s category of articles tagged “nutty“. Such is Tom Monaghan’s brand of big-government ‘conservatism’.
UPDATE, 1/23/09 – Naples Daily News reports today that at least 25% of the Ave Maria men’s basketball team is gone, with three players leaving AMU completely. Apparently, the roster is currently down to just six players.
Original post from 1/18/09:
When it is uncomfortable for Tom Monaghan to follow his own rules, he simply changes them, even mid-semester.
Ave Maria University has lowered its academic requirements for athletes in the middle of the school year, at the same time that its highest-profile program faces substantial eligibility woes.
Changing student-athlete standards in the middle of a school year rarely occurs, experts said. “To do that mid-year, wow,” said David Ridpath, a sports management professor at Ohio University and a former assistant athletic director at Marshall University. “It really smacks of desperation. It sounds like it’s a last-ditch effort to keep kids eligible.”
Scanlan [AMU Athletic Director] said “very few” Ave Maria athletes are now eligible that wouldn’t have been previously, but declined to give the exact number because last semester’s grades haven’t been finalized.
Scanlan added that he didn’t make the change, although he agreed with it. Instead, Scanlan said, Ave Maria’s university council, a panel of high-ranking administrators that includes Chancellor Tom Monaghan and President Nick Healy, made the decision. “I just had gotten the word that it had been changed,” Scanlan said.
AMU is one week into the Spring semester and “grades haven’t been finalized” yet for Fall semester? The University Athletic Director “just had gotten the word” that Monaghan changed eligibility, supposedly in the middle of last semester? None of this helps AMU’s SACS accreditation application, as SACS guidelines clearly state “Good educational practice presumes that an institution’s academic policies are developed in concert with the appropriate input and participation of the affected constituencies and conform with generally accepted practices and policies of higher education.”
Earlier today, according to Naples Daily News, the Town’s jewelry store was robbed in broad daylight by two gunmen. With this event, the Town lost its innocence, and subsequently, a selling-point used by developer Tom Monaghan and his partners to promote a wholesome safe image to prospective buyers. Now, as with everywhere else in America, AMT kids will need to stay under the watchful eye of an adult while riding bikes and playing. Ave Maria’s remote location and sparse population are part of the public safety concerns voiced previously.
On Tuesday, Fumare showed how Ave Maria School of Law Board member Kate O’Beirne (National Review) was silently replaced on the School’s Board without any public community recognition of O’Beirne’s departure by AMSL administration. What makes the quiet move so odd is that O’Beirne was Tom Monaghan’s most effective thug on the AMSL Board. She was used effectively to beat back opposing viewpoints in the School’s community, going so far as to blindside AMSL alumni with unwelcome calls at work. For all this, O’Beirne fails to receive the customary public appreciation that other Monaghan yes-men have been given on the way out?
Last weekend, Ave Maria Town hosted a “Posh Pet” show that featured “a pet psychic” as well as a “massage boutique”. A number of Catholics contacted AveWatch to express amazement that a planned community said to be culturally oriented toward faithful Catholics would even consider featuring a psychic at a family event in the Town’s park. Then again, this may be Ave Maria’s way to promote its stated desire to appeal to “the broad Catholic middle” - the kind of Catholics who run away from things like altar rails.
Not only was the firing of Ave Maria University basketball coach controversial, but now there are questions about his hiring.
Today, Naples Daily News reports that some of the qualifications cited for hiring Benitez “appear to be questionable”. “In my opinion, I would never hire Ricky Benitez to coach in our league” said the president of a minor league basketball team who, back in 2006, was the marketing director for a team that Benitez coached.
The question may now be “Who hired this guy?” AMU appears to have a problem doing due diligence. Five months ago, when Benitez was hired, Naples Daily News reported:
“Athletic director Brian Scanlan said mutual friends in Fort Myers recommended Benitez to help establish the Gyrenes’ program. ‘There’s no one else I have spoken with that has had as much head coaching experience and that has the winning percentage he has,’ Scanlan said. I believe he’s a very strong man of faith, which will fit in well at Ave Maria.”
Due diligence could also be an issue in the athletic budget’s management. According to today’s NDN, Ave Maria University gave scholarships to basketball players without even seeing them play. How does that happen?! In a potential effort to cover for mismanagement, NDN said that Scanlan “reiterated Monday that Benitez’s profanity was behind his firing. Nothing surrounding his resume was at issue for the school.”
UPDATE, 9/25/08 – Excerpt from new article released this morning: “When asked if any school official warned him [Coach Benitez] of his language, he said, ‘No one, absolutely no one.’”
UPDATE, 9/26/08 – The Naples Daily News editorial staff is a group that always steps-up to defend the behavior of Tom Monaghan and Ave Maria. But, in an editorial released last night, they said that “the firing should have been handled more deftly”. They also agreed with AveWatch (see below) that AMU’s conception of the dismissal as “an entirely internal, personnel matter” shows an unrealistic understanding of college sport as well as a lack of transparency on the part of University administrators.
UPDATE, 9/27/08 – The Fort Myers News-Press editorial staff nailed-it today: “But the way Ave Maria handled the situation raises suspicion that Benitez’s cursing was just a convenient excuse for his dismissal.” See today’s article “School’s foul call suspect”
Original story:
The story of Ave Maria University’s sudden firing of star basketball coach Ricky Benitez is spinning wildly out of control. In an update this evening by Naples Daily News, accusations flew along with suggestions that the Assistant Basketball coach and players may leave en masse. Excerpts:
Benitez, who said he was fielding interviews from local and national media all day, disputed [Athletic Director] Scanlan’s version of events.
“It’s a lie,” said Benitez, 42.
Benitez said he was never warned about his language prior to his dismissal and added that Scanlan was “covering his tracks.”
“He’s scared for his job,” Benitez said.
Ave Maria’s amateurish approach to higher education, and now collegiate athletics, is again clearly on display. Excerpt:
Meanwhile, Scanlan said Benitez’s dismissal after a five-month tenure never should have gone public in the first place.
“We view this situation as an entirely internal, personnel matter, and we regret that Mr. Benitez has taken it upon himself to discuss it with the media,” Scanlan said in the statement.
Did Scanlan or Ave Maria honestly believe that Benitez could be fired after only 5 months on the job and have nobody demanding to know what happened?! Incredible. The story appears to have been leaked first by AMU student athletes who ignored threats of losing scholarships if they spoke to media. With the story going national, it cannot be good for Ave Maria’s hope to have a viable sports program much less join the NAIA athletic conference as a full member. It is also likely that the parents of the student-athletes will call for an investigation of the reported bullying of student speech with scholarship threats.
Tom Monaghan is already in court facing 4 lawsuits for wrongful termination of Ave Maria employees. AveWatch would not be surprised to see it go to 5 or more.
Naples Daily News is reporting that AMU still plans to field a basketball team this season despite the intent expressed by some players to leave the University.
Fumare has insightful commentary. They mention several key aspects to this story beyond just the firing: (1) the now-common use of financial threats to prevent the story from being told and (2) the typical lack of clarity as to who actually made the decision to fire Benitez. The Athletic Director claims it was “university council” (Monaghan and his select group of administrators); Monaghan is said to claim it was the AD.
Original article:
More details unfold in the bizarre firing of Ave Maria University’s star basketball coach. Excerpts from today’s Naples Daily News:
Benitez, 42, said the reason given to him was, “the use of profanity in a scrimmage.”
Benitez said his understanding was a player’s parent complained about his profanity to Ave Maria founder and chancellor Tom Monaghan. Benitez asked for more details about the complaint, but wasn’t given any. He was asked to resign but he refused.
“I was floored,” Benitez said outside of a team meeting he held with his former players at Ave Maria on Tuesday night. “I’m still floored. I’m still shocked.”
When told Benitez was no longer with Ave Maria, FGCU Men’s Basketball Coach Dave Balza replied, “Wow.”
Balza said the two schools had signed a contract to play this year that includes a financial buyout.
“We’re playing unless they drop the program,” Balza said. “I can’t see them doing that because it’ll be real hard to get their credibility back.”
When Benitez was hired, Scanlan said, “There’s no one else I have spoken with that has had as much head coaching experience and that has the winning percentage he has. I believe he’s a very strong man of faith, which will fit in well at Ave Maria.”
It appears Benitez was no longer a good fit. He said the university’s actions were particularly egregious in light of its religious affiliation.
“This is one of the main reasons Catholic people have a bad reputation,” Benitez said. “They don’t abide by the rules in the bible.”
UPDATE, 9/24/08 – The Fort Myers News Press reports that, according to AMU basketball players, Coach Benitez was booted for (hold your breath) swearing. Players are upset, claiming that the profanity was not directed at them, and that other reasons beyond swearing may be behind his release. Benitez was quoted as saying, “I would love to give you the entire story, but I have to take care of my family first.” This suggests to AveWatch that Benitez might have been offered Tom Monaghan’s old reliable cure for keeping critics quiet – a year’s salary in exchange for signing a non-disparagement agreement. AveWatch is now also filing this story under “nutty“.
Original article:
Good people arrive. Good people quit shortly after arriving. That’s an Ave Maria tradition. Add to the list highly regarded basketball coach Rick Benitez.
Excerpts from today’s Naples Daily News:
Ave Maria University confirmed Tuesday morning that its men’s basketball coach Ricky Benitez is no longer with the university.
Athletic Director Brian Scanlan declined further comment, referring calls to university spokesman.
Ricky Benitez, 42, left the position one month before the university’s inaugural season was scheduled to begin.
Benitez began at Ave Maria in April with some high recommendations, including longtime NBA guru Marty Blake and Kansas State University Coach Frank Martin.
Benitez worked quickly to bring 14 players to the team. But the Gyrenes lost their most heralded recruit. Joe Nuss, ranked as the 105th best small forward in the country last year by ESPN, left the school soon after arriving in August as did a former teammate from basketball factory Christ the King Regional High School in Queens, New York, Benitez said.
Both players were neither academically nor athletically prepared for Ave Maria, Benitez added.
Read the full story. Benitez was named head coach just six months ago. Before moving to Ave Maria, he was an NBA scout. The 42 year old is a father of three.
UPDATE, 08/24/08 – A reader asks why AMU’s August 18/19 news articles are now dated “December 31, 1969″. In some types of databases, an entry’s date is stored as an “epoch date” in which the number of seconds since January 1, 1970 are calculated. If the date field for an entry is zero (i.e. the article is scrubbed from the database), then the software automatically sets the empty entry’s date field to December 31, 1969, signifying an invalid date prior to the epoch calculation. It isn’t clear if this is the actual case with AMU’s News database; but, it seems plausible.
Original AveWatch article:
What kind of university scrubs its news archive of public safety announcements?
The national media has been closely following the effects of Hurricane-turned-tropical-storm Fay on Florida. Last week, as Fay passed through Collier County, Fr. Robert Tatman of the Diocese of Venice decided to close the AMU Oratory as a prudent act of safety. On August 18 and 19, that decision was posted into AMU’s News archive - August 18: August 19:
On August 21, here’s what those same news posts looked like - for August 18: for August 19:
The university’s News Archive now appears as if Fay never happened -
What kind of university scrubs its news archive of storm-related announcements? – one that doesn’t want prospective parents and students to see the reality of the environment that impacts the school.
This scrubbing is another example of why Tom Monghan’s management of Ave Maria educational enterprises is not to be trusted (see also 1, 2)
Tom Monaghan continues to whittle away at his credibility. In a recent PBS vignette on Ave Maria University, Monaghan said that his academic institution will “probably have over 2,500 priests” and “45,000 great Catholic marriages” by 2077. One need only look at recent statements to conclude that he, again, is pulling numbers out of nowhere.
Those who would defend Monaghan’s statements as mere embellishment are obligated to answer “What other statistics and goals is he also embellishing for the University, the Law School, and the Town?” Insiders and business partners who might see this as the familiar quaint ramblings of an older enthusiastic benefactor should think again. Tom Monaghan is supposed to be the Chancellor of a credible university and the Chairman of the Board at a reputable law school; by choice, he does not have the luxury of being an old-fashioned whimsical eccentric philanthropist. Monaghan’s own words – such as his recent deposition testimony on his duties as a top academic administrator – are disturbing to those who value qualities like credibility and reputation. Regardless of the numbers that Monaghan casually tosses out, he has stated this wacky issue of projected priests and marriages enough times to make one think that Monaghan actually believes these to be some kind of rational legitimate goals or outcomes from an academic endeavor. Who wants to teach in, or attend, a layman’s Catholic seminary, or a bricks-and-mortar version of Ave Maria Singles masquerading as an academic institution?
A hat-tip goes to PBS for citing AveWatch as one of a few select news sources listed under the broadcast’s “Resources”.
As a result [of slow home sales in Ave Maria Town], Monaghan has modified initial projections of dividends coming into the town in 2010. “We’re not meeting projections,” he concedes. “It’s not a question of if, but when. We’re doing a lot better than anyone else in Florida. People are coming here because of the university, so they’re more than likely to make sacrifices.”
[AW: Is TM doing "a lot better than anyone else in Florida"? - 1,2,3,4,5. What kind of "sacrifice" could he possibly be referring to? ... that living in his Ave Maria Town is a sacrifice? Who on Earth would make 'sacrifices' in the name of supporting a billionaire's for-profit real estate development?]
*****
“You don’t have to be Catholic to go to school here, teach, or work here,” Monaghan says, “but you have to be with a mission. We’d rather have a faculty member who’s a strong Christian in a different faith than a mediocre Catholic. ..”
AMU does not grant tenure to its professors. Each year, there’s generally one contract not renewed through a weeding-out process. The board of director’ bylaws state that every member must be a “serious, dedicated Catholic,” Monaghan says. Student discipline is equally firm, Monaghan says. Dissenters either “straighten out or go.”
[AW: That being the case, who decides who are the "serious dedicated Catholics" and who are the "mediocre Catholics" in the faculty and student body? How can that be assessed either before or after employment, or among Board members? Is it problematic if decisions on internal management are based on such issues of faith? - and not just a Catholic/Protestant distinction, but a "serious" vs. "mediocre" Catholic distinction. Can one be a "serious" Catholic and not support Tom Monaghan's management/projects?]
*****
Monaghan pauses, stricken with emotion. “So I always tried to be good,” he says, his voice cracking. “I’m sorry, I just keep hearing [from a nun his childhood] ‘Tommy, be a good boy.’”
[AW: For as many times as his rags-to-riches story has been told in public, why cry now? Does he, at some level, wonder if he has been "a good boy"? Interestingly, during Monaghan's February deposition, he spontaneously volunteered his self-perception that he treats people fairly and that "I certainly don't feel any guilt about anything I've done." (p.407).]
*****
Throughout his life, Monaghan has embraced five “priorities” – spiritual, social, physical, mental, and financial. Of business, he says, “I believe in visibility, sharing financial information. [..]”
[AW: That is funny given his pervasive lack of transparency in not producing key documents for various lawsuits, or even for his Board.]
*****
Monaghan envisions his legacy to produce, within 70 years, 3,500 priests, 2,000 nuns, 35,000 “really strong marriages”, and 500,000 grandchildren with the hopes of it all having a “domino” effect.
[AW: Monaghan can't even keep his own confabulations straight. On Saturday's graduation at AMU, TM said he'd produce the following in the same time period: 4,000 priests (500 more than the article), 2,500 nuns (500 more), and 40,000 marriages (5,000 more). To produce 500K grandkids with 35K marriages, each couple would need to produce over 14 grandchildren. And all these goals from a man with a Lutheran wife and 4 children. Again, in stunning fashion, TM shows just how much credibility he lacks.]
*****
“I realize what I’m doing is setting myself up for criticism,” he says. “The most important thing to me is to get to heaven. I feel the most important thing I can do for my fellow man is [to help] him get there. The way I was brought up is you either go to heaven or hell. I don’t want to go to hell,” he says with a laugh. “Life is short, but eternity is forever. You’re either going to be in eternal happiness and bliss, or you’re going to be in eternal misery.”
[AW: What Catechism is or did TM read? For all the priests that he lives with, none have set him straight on this yet?! RE: criticism - A man who believes that his academic institution will produce 500,000 grandkids from 35,000 marriages is deserving of criticism - richly. In his February deposition, when asked if he thought Charles Rice was "highly regarded at Notre Dame", Monaghan said "I would assume that he was not regarded very highly by the administration of Notre Dame." Why? "Because he was critical publicly of the administration" (p.310). In this Detroit business interview, we again see TM playing the martyr. By binding his personal goals inextricably to heaven and hell, he does not have to deal honestly with criticism or his methods of addressing criticism (i.e. removing Board members and faculty). Everyone who has something riding on Ave Maria - whether it be an education, a career, or a home/business investment - should give pause when the leader perceives failure as a sort of martyred victory for himself.]
UPDATE, 5/12/08 – If we accept Mr. Monaghan at his word, his university will produce 579 marriages per year for the next 69 years to reach 40,000 in 2077. AMU doesn’t even have 579 undergraduates on campus. Of course, the priest and nun pool will significantly diminish the 1,158 students needed per year to reach the 579 marriages/year goal. Is the Chancellor of Ave Maria University credible?
Naples Daily News reported today on Tom Monaghan’s graduation megalomania. Excerpts:
By 2077, Monaghan said, Ave Maria will have produced 4,000 priests, many of whom, he added, would be bishops, 2,500 nuns, 12,000 Catholic school teachers, 1,500 Catholic school principals and 40,000 “holy, stable Catholic marriages.”
“I think that this very well could be the single most important effort that has taken place in the Catholic church in this country or in any part of the world to date,” Monaghan said.
Read through this website. Read through the recent depositions. Ask yourself what – “to date” – Tom Monaghan has produced. Specifically, what has he produced academically for all the financial and intellectual resources entrusted to him? This was supposed to be an academic endeavor, right?
The following is so objectively pathetic for a law school that we’ve filed it under “nutty“. Ave Maria School of Law Dean/President Bernard Dobranski is now unilaterally redacting the minutes of the Alumni Board’s meetings prior to their distribution to alumni. Remember folks, these alumni are practicing lawyers, not kids; they are elected to the Board by their alumni peers.
Add to this the fact that Dobranski has failed to attend most of the Alumni Board’s meetings over the past year (i.e. he is redacting the minutes of meetings that he did not even attend) and that he likely won’t be attending any meetings in the near future due to his leave of absence. What we see is the level of paranoia that has gripped Tom Monaghan and his administrators. The Alumni Board was reduced to starting its own website to distribute the unredacted meeting minutes – avelawalumni.info
When an institution treats its own alumni with such contempt, it rightfully earns the title “Worst Peer Evaluated Law School” in the country. Congratulations Dean/President Bernard Dobranski, Chairman Tom Monaghan, and all of the AMSL Board of Governors:
Mr. Peter A. Carfagna, Senior Counsel, Calfee, Halter & Griswold L.L.P.
The Honorable Patrick J. Conlin, Michigan 22nd Circuit Court (Retired)
Major General (Ret.) John T. Coyne, USMC; Founding Partner, Jordan Coyne & Savits L.L.P.
His Eminence Edward Cardinal Egan, Archbishop of New York
Mr. Thomas B. Garlick, Managing Partner , Garlick, Stetler & Peeples, L.L.P.
Mr. William F. Harrington, Chairman, Bleakley Platt & Schmidt, L.L.P.
Mr. Leonard A. Leo, Executive Vice President, Federalist Society
His Eminence Adam Cardinal Maida, Archbishop of Detroit
Mrs. Kate W. O’Beirne, Washington Editor, National Review
Mrs. Cathy Cleaver Ruse, Senior Fellow for Legal Studies at the Family Research Council
Dr. Michael M. Uhlmann, Visiting Professor of American Government, Claremont Graduate University
Unilateral redaction of a Board’s minutes by someone who didn’t even attend a meeting is indefensible. These administrators disgrace themselves.
The Alumni Board’s letter of explanation and comments are at (h/t) Fumare.
In October 2007, Naples Daily News ran an article titled “The Eysaman family eye furniture for an eventual move to Ave Maria.” The piece was to be “the first in an occasional series of stories following 39-year-old Dave Eysaman and his family as they become one of the first residents of Ave Maria town.” The family was even featured on CNN.
“It was a huge disappointment,” Dave Eysaman said. “We were looking forward to going there. This whole thing cost us our desire. It wasn’t the same anymore.”
Now they’ve turned their attention to buying a new home in the Valencia Golf and Country Club development… [..] But the Eysamans seem happier with this deal. “It knocks that Ave Maria house dead,” Dave Eysaman said.
The family isn’t the only one whose plans to buy into the new town hit a snag.
Yesterday, AveWatch and hundreds of others were treated to the arrival of Tom Monaghan’s latest laugh-out-loud fund raising letter. You know it will be over-the-top with this printed on the outer envelope:
“After all that you and I have been through in our lives,
I feel confident that I’ve earned your interest and your trust
enough that you will take a few moments to read this letter,
and that you will do me the courtesy of sending me your thoughts.”
- Tom Monaghan
According to the Collier County Sheriff’s office, two Ave Maria University students were arrested last week on Wednesday March 12 at 12:15am for battery. Both had bond set at $1,000. The students were 26 and 23 years old.
The following flier was sent to AveWatch by a concerned Florida Catholic. Although unconfirmed by AMU, sources say that the flier is being distributed on campus and to visitors of the proposed oratory.
Problems:
Continuing to call the building “the Oratory” is a clear act of defiance against the Code of Canon Law. Healy, AMU’s lawyer-President, is thumbing his nose at the Code by disregarding the unambiguous definition of “oratory” found in the Code… a definition that AMU’s building does not meet. Healy believes that – because the Code needs to “catch up to” to his idea of “the laity’s growing influence after the Second Vatican Council” – he has license to simply disregard the Code’s current requirements for a building to be an “oratory”. “Unabashedly Catholic” Ave Maria is content to disregard Canon Code when it suits them, just like the “Cafeteria Catholics” – a group that the self-righteous of Ave Maria enjoy bashing. Calling it “the Oratory” is deceptive to AMU’s visitors who actually know their faith and are aware of the requirements to earn the title “oratory”.
The flier states that “President Nick Healy has opened the Oratory” for the expressed purpose of praying “for the intention of the opening of the Oratory”. How can Healy open it, and call for prayer for the opening of it, at the same time? Healy’s arrogance shines, as if he has any authority to “open” the building for a regularly scheduled para-liturgical event.
This is an act of politics, not piety. Although unconfirmed, AveWatch is told that the Diocese of Venice and AMU are to meet again next week about their situation. Healy would love to say that X number of people have been in the building in hopes of “the opening of the Oratory”. Praying for the intention of “the opening of the Oratory” is different than praying for “a just resolution” or “Thy will be done”. How much better it would be to call for prayer for the latter. It would never occur to Ave Maria that it might be better for the Church (capital C) that their building not be opened as an oratory, particularly on Tom Monaghan’s terms. But, such is their arrogance. The Diocese of Venice clearly has good reason to hold reservations about opening the building. Why push the Bishop’s hand, or waste time trying to pit Mary against the Magisterium’s deliberations?
AveWatch is pursuing evidence that suggests that AMU has become a breeding ground for marginal and dissident lay Catholics with ties to groups like the “Bayside apparation”, the “Garabandal apparition”, and Healy’s “Mother of God” movement – all groups focused on recruiting followers who have engaged in questionable actions beyond canonical oversight. More on this topic will appear in the days ahead.
If Ray Kroc, founder of McDonalds, built his own church and shaped the tabernacle like Golden Arches, people would likely find it tacky to the point of disrespectful.
Tom Monaghan takes his lay ministry of entrepreneurial Catholicism to new “Mass” marketing frontiers by branding, in the shape of his Ave Maria logo, what appears to be the proposed oratory’s tabernacle.
The tabernacle is the holiest part of a Catholic church. It is where Jesus’ actual body, in the form of the Blessed Sacrament, is said to reside. As a sign of respect, Catholics typically genuflect (kneel) or bow facing the tabernacle when entering or exiting a pew, or when passing in front of the altar. Is Monaghan counting on the faithful’s inability to distinguish between the Blessed Sacrament and the Ave Maria brand’s logo when genuflecting or bowing?
It will be difficult, however, to take all this too seriously since the remainder of the proposed altar looks ready to host a meeting of the Jedi Council.
Additional photos from Naples Daily News are here. NDN reports that:
“Ave Maria never received written permission to build a church in the Diocese of Venice. That means, canon law experts say, that the oratory at Ave Maria can never be a parish church.“
Last week, he contradicted himself on his “vision” (or lack thereof) for Ave Maria Town.
This week, Tom Monaghan contradicted himself again, this time on Ave Maria University’s sports program. The contradiction is so unequivocal (see Nov. 2002 press release) that it leads us to ask if the problem is compulsive lying? Or, was this yet another case in which he “just misspoke“?
A hat-tip goes to Fumare for putting it all together.
Tom Monaghan’s answer to Ave Maria’s problems is always the same – more Tom Monaghan. There can be no doubt that he has now taken over direct responsibility for Ave Maria University marketing. Last week, he re-released (almost verbatim) a June 2007 fund-raising letter that, at the time, AveWatch didn’t know whether to laugh or cry about.
Last week’s letter – coverage and comments at Fumare [big hat-tip]
Forget about the 75 uses of “I” in the letter (Fumare’s count). The man actually believes that donations to Ave Maria University are identical to donations to “the Church”! No wonder he refuses the bishop’s right to appoint the chaplain at the proposed oratory.
Honestly, it is to the point that those who in any way affiliate with, or interact with, Ave Maria should be embarrassed to do so. You cannot engage important matters in an environment that is thick with nutty dysfunction in the hope of promoting, of all things, Catholic intellectual and cultural advancement. You can’t.
"If you can franchise pizza restaurants, why can't you franchise Catholic schools?" (9/14/00)
"I think that this [AMU] very well could be the single most important effort that has taken place in the Catholic church in this country or in any part of the world to date." (5/10/2008)
"I feel that it is almost a moral obligation to capture every good idea that comes to me." (10/1/09)
"I think that the hierarchy doesn't know as much about those things as they do about their theology." (when asked to comment on the Catholic Church's recognition of a worker's right to unionize) (8/19/2006)
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You can’t make this stuff up.
The intrigue continues for Tom Monaghan’s sports teams. AveWatch readers will recall that AMU fired its first basketball coach without warning just days before the start of last year’s season (
