The Ass in Assumption

College Prez Snubs Gay Iraq Vet

Assumption College faculty members, by a vote of 45-33 this week, charged President Francesco Cesareo and his cabinet with violating policy when they refused to host a gay activist veteran as a Veterans Day speaker, but the faculty also voted not to pursue the issue.

The faculty voted Monday that the president and cabinet “violated published College policy when they canceled the appearance of a speaker invited by an official student organization, AC (Assumption College) Allies.”

Speaking for the administration, Thomas E. Ryan, vice president of Institutional Advancement, argued there could not have been a violation or a cancellation because the speaker never signed a contract.


The issue came up in August, when the campus’ gay-lesbian-bisexual student group, Assumption College Allies, was pursuing a contract to bring retired Staff Sgt. Eric Alva to campus for Veterans Day. Mr. Alva, a gay Marine, is a vocal opponent of the military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. Mr. Cesareo, who is new to Assumption this year, and the college’s vice presidents decided Mr. Alva was too political a guest for that observance.

Read my interview with Eric Alva here.