Dear President Garvey and Dean Abela,

Transcription

1 Dear President Garvey and Dean Abela, December 13, 2013 We congratulate you on the opening of a new business school at The Catholic University of America. This is an opportune time to educate students about the importance of business ethics and global solidarity. Both Pope Francis and Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI have raised ethical and moral questions about global financial markets, and emphasize the need for preparing business leaders to not simply serve a profit motive but to serve the common good. While we understand the challenges of starting a business school during a time of fiscal constraints and restrained philanthropic and government funding, we must raise our serious concerns about a recent $1 million gift the university has accepted from the Charles Koch Foundation. Given the troubling track record the foundation has in making gifts to universities that in some cases include unacceptable meddling in academic content and the hiring process of faculty, we urge you to be more transparent about the details of this grant. Charles and David Koch have an ideological agenda when it comes to shaping the national debate over economics and politics that is not simply academic in nature. The Koch brothers are billionaire industrialists who fund organizations that advance public policies that directly contradict Catholic teaching on a range of moral issues from economic justice to environmental stewardship. As

2 you well know, Catholic social teaching articulates a positive role for government, an indispensable role for unions, just tax policies, and the need for prudent regulation of financial markets in service of the common good. We are concerned that by accepting such a donation you send a confusing message to Catholic students and other faithful Catholics that the Koch brothers antigovernment, Tea Party ideology has the blessing of a university sanctioned by Catholic bishops. While the Koch brothers lobby for sweeping deregulation of industries and markets, Pope Francis has criticized trickle-down economic theories, and insists on the need for stronger oversight of global financial markets to protect workers from what he calls the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal. As Catholic bishops affirm the rights of workers to collectively bargain and organize, the Koch brothers gave generously to Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who stripped public employee unions of their rights to bargain. The Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, published by the Vatican, recognizes that unions are an indispensable element of social life. In their pastoral letter, Economic Justice for All, Catholic bishops emphasized that the Church fully supports the rights of workers to form unions and other associations to secure their rights to fair wages and working conditions.no one may deny the right to organize without attacking human dignity itself.

3 While the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops advocates for Medicaid expansion, the Koch brothers primary political arm, Americans for Prosperity, has aggressively opposed Medicaid expansion in several states and demonized elected officials who support expansion that will improve the lives of the working poor, pregnant women, the disabled, and seniors in nursing homes. Koch Industries, the second largest privately held company in the United States, also has an abysmal environmental record. The Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Justice announced a settlement with a Kochaffiliated group, Invista, in 2009 that required the company to pay a $1.7 million civil penalty and spend up to an estimated $500 million to correct environmental violations at facilities in seven states. In addition, Koch Industries funds an array of organizations that deny the reality of climate change, which the Vatican and many Catholic leaders around the world have made a central pro-life concern because of the disproportionate impact climate change has on the poor and most vulnerable. The Koch Foundation does noble philanthropic work as a leading patron of arts and culture. We commend them for these charitable endeavors. However, we must not ignore the stark contrast between the Koch brothers public policy agenda and our Church s traditional social justice teachings. In his recent Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelli Gaudium, Pope Francis writes:

4 While the earnings of a minority are growing exponentially, so too is the gap separating the majority from the prosperity enjoyed by those happy few. This imbalance is the result of ideologies, which defend the absolute autonomy of the marketplace and financial speculation To all this we can add widespread corruption and selfserving tax evasion, which have taken on worldwide dimensions. With this in mind, I encourage financial experts and political leaders to ponder the words of one of the sages of antiquity: 'Not to share one's wealth with the poor is to steal from them and to take away their livelihood. It is not our own goods which we hold, but theirs.' A financial reform open to such ethical considerations would require a vigorous change of approach on the part of political leaders. It is this absolute autonomy of the marketplace that Charles and David Koch are working to achieve. Our Catholic intellectual and social tradition offers an important critique of this vision. We look forward to a productive and civil dialogue with you both on how we can protect the integrity of our Church s consistent ethic of life teachings. Sincerely,

5 Rev. Stephen A. Privett, S.J. President University of San Francisco (Catholic University of America, 85) William A. Barbieri Jr. Associate Professor School of Theology and Religious Studies The Catholic University of America Ken Pennington Kelly-Quinn Professor of Ecclesiastical and Legal History The Catholic University of America School of Canon Law The Columbus School of Law Frederick L. Ahearn, Jr., D.S.W Ordinary Professor and Co-Chair Center for International Social Development National Catholic School of Social Service The Catholic University of America

6 William V. D Antonio Senior Fellow Institute for Policy Research and Catholic Studies The Catholic University of America Mary Ann Hindsdale, IHM, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Theology Boston College (Catholic University of America, MA '71) Rev. Fred Kammer, S.J. Executive Director Jesuit Social Research Institute Loyola University, New Orleans Rev. Clete Kiley Director of Immigration Policy UNITE HERE International Union

7 Marty Wolfson Director, Higgins Labor Studies Program University of Notre Dame Susan A. Ross Professor and Department Chair, Loyola University Chicago Past President, Catholic Theological Society of America Miguel Diaz Former U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See University Professor of Faith and Culture University of Dayton Rev. Drew Christiansen, S.J. Visiting Scholar ('13), Boston College Nicholas P. Cafardi Dean Emeritus Duquesne University School of Law

8 Rev. Raymond G. Decker, Ph.D. Pastor Emeritus, Archdiocese of San Francisco Steering Committee, Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice Joseph J. Fahey, Ph.D. Chair, Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice Professor of Religious Studies Manhattan College Maureen H. O Connell Associate Professor and Chair of Religion La Salle University Dennis M. Doyle Professor of Religious Studies University of Dayton Thomas Shellabarger Public Policy Associate

9 Interfaith Worker Justice Anthony B. Smith, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Religious Studies University of Dayton John Sniegocki Associate Professor of Christian Ethics Xavier University (Cincinnati) Michael Duffy Director Joan and Ralph Lane Center for Catholic Studies and Social Thought University of San Francisco Terrence W. Tilley Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., Chair in Catholic Theology Fordham University

10 Francis X. Doyle Associate General Secretary (retired) U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Rev. James Hug, S.J. President Emeritus Center of Concern Eugene McCarraher Associate Professor of Humanities Villanova University Donald C. Carroll Pres. Law Offices of Carroll & Scully, Inc. Catholic Scholars for Worker Justice Adj. Professor of Law School of Law, Univ. of San Francisco David O Brien Professor Emeritus College of Holy Cross

11 Rev. John A. Coleman Associate Pastor St. Ignatius Church, San Francisco Retired Professor, Loyola Marymount University Padraic O Hare Professor of Religious and Theological Studies Merrimack College Frederick Glennon, Ph.D. Professor of Social Ethics and Chair Department of Religious Studies Le Moyne College Paul Misner Professor Emeritus Department of Theology Marquette University Alex Mikulich Jesuit Social Research Institute

12 Loyola University New Orleans Susan Weisher Migration Specialist/Fellow Jesuit Social Research Institute Loyola University New Orleans John Inglis Chair and Professor of Philosophy Cross-appointed to Department of Religious Studies University of Dayton Christopher Pramuk Associate Professor of Theology Xavier University (Cincinnati) Rev. T. Michael McNulty, S.J. Adjunct Professor of Philosophy Marquette University Edward Joe Holland

13 Professor of Philosophy & Religion Adjunct Professor School of Law St. Thomas University, Miami, Fla. President, Pax Romana Marian K. Diaz Lecturer University of Dayton Kathleen Mass Weigert Carolyn Farrell, BVM Professor of Women and Leadership Loyola University Chicago Brian M. Doyle, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Theology Department Chair Director of Center for Ethical Concerns Marymount University Arlington, VA

14 Dr. Sixto J. Garcia, Ph.D. Professor of Theology St. Vincent de Paul Regional Seminary John R. Morris, ThD Lecturer, St. Mary s College Promoter of Justice and Peace Western Dominican Province David McLoughlin Former President Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain Senior Lecturer in Theology Newman University Birmingham, England Dr. Dolores L. Christie John Carroll University

15 Michael Childers, Ph.D. Associate Professor & Department Chair Department of Labor Education University of Wisconsin-Extension John Philo Legal Director Sugar Law Center for Economic & Social Justice Joe Torma Professor of Theology Walsh University Dr. Judith Remy Leder Emerita Business Writing California State University, Fullerton Jeannette Henriquez Doctoral Student

16 Graduate Theological Union