Jesuit university president fired by fellow Jesuits, pledges lawsuit

August 07, 2009

Father Julio Giulietti, president of Wheeling Jesuit University since 2007, has been fired by the university’s board of trustees, which is composed of fellow Jesuits.

“The board's desire to micromanage the university has gotten out of control. They seem to have a poor understanding of the Jesuit education,” said Father Giulietti, who headed the Center for Ignatian Spirituality at Boston College until his assumed the presidency of West Virginia’s sole Catholic university. “We have a large number of freshman coming in this year, higher than expected. Our graduate programs are going gangbusters. There is a greater excitement among the alumni. They are coming back and articulating their excitement, which has not been there in a long time.” He added, “There will be counter legal action filed today in Ohio County.”

A separate board of directors, which includes both Jesuits and laymen, will search for a new president. Sources told the Wheeling News-Register that the board of trustees ousted Father Giulietti after a motion in the board of directors to remove him failed to garnder the necessary two-thirds vote.

In 2000, Father Giulietti-- then director of the Center for Intercultural Education and Development at Georgetown University-- was named to the board of directors of The National Catholic Reporter, a newspaper noted for its criticism of the teaching of the Magisterium.

 

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Further information:

• WJU Firing Came Early (Wheeling News-Register)
• WJU President Fired (Wheeling News-Register)
• Board of Trustees Announce Change of Leadership (Wheeling Jesuit University)
• Inside NCR (2000) (National Catholic Reporter)