Beginning with the fall semester, the UI will pay the salary of instructors teaching any Catholic studies courses taught for university credit. Previously, St. John’s Catholic Newman Center had funded the instructors.
The university says it values its relationship with the Newman Center and plans to continue offering courses in Catholic studies.
The move comes with the recommendation July 29 of the Faculty Senate’s General University Policy committee. The committee called for dissolution of the arrangement whereby St. John’s Catholic Newman Center funds instructors for credit-bearing University of Illinois courses in Catholic studies.
Additionally, the department of religion will continue Kenneth Howell’s adjunct appointment for the fall semester, and has offered him the opportunity to teach Religion 127, Introduction to Catholicism.
This offer of appointment does not affect the process or outcome of a review by the Faculty Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure. The UI is committed to upholding principles of academic freedom and the requirements of the First Amendment.
