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The American Association of University Professors has asked for a fuller explanation of the University of San Diego's decision last week to rescind an invitation to Tina Beattie, a British professor asked to be a visiting fellow at the Roman Catholic university, because of her positions on social issues. In a letter to Mary Lyons, the university's president, the group drew parallels with a similar situation four years earlier and said it was "surprised and disappointed" that the issues arose again. "We appreciate that you may have additional information that would contribute to our understanding of the serious issues of academic freedom with which we are concerned. We would therefore welcome your comments," wrote B. Robert Kreiser, the AAUP's associate secretary.
Lyons, in a statement, said that it was Beattie's decision to sign a letter supporting gay marriage as a Catholic theologian that influenced her decision. "I want to emphasize that it was not her teaching or scholarship that prompted me to rescind this invitation," Lyons wrote. "I respect her right, as an academic and a Catholic theologian, to engage in whatever work she deems necessary and important." But she said that those speaking at the university's Center for Catholic Thought and Culture should support "both the mission of the center and the Catholic character of our university," and she believed Beattie's public dissent from the church was at odds with those goals.
