Mahatma Gandhi, Dorothy Day and Martin Luther King Jr., persons that I admire, were constantly searching for the truth. They did not claim to have the truth but were always struggling to discover the truth. When they believed something was important they acted on their ‘opinion of truth.’

I mentioned this because tonight I and other members of Breaking the Silence listened to a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist talk at Marquette University about the real meaning of objectivity. According to her it does not mean being neutral, presenting both sides without passion or values. A true journalist seeks the truth of a story while admitting she is describing her own opinion of the truth.

I kept thinking of an institution like Marquette University that professes certain moral and ethical values in its mission statement. If Marquette only says it believes in these values and truths but does not practice them in the operation of the university it is not fulfilling its mission. Young men and women, I have learned over the years, learn more from actions than words.

After the meeting I had a chance to talk with the Provost of Marquette University and another administrator. As Provost he is responsible for academic affairs and institutional planning. Also as Provost he provides intellectual vision and leadership for the 10 academic deans.

Marquette hosts three departments of military sciences for the region. When I expressed concerns about the academic, moral and ethical values and standards taught on campus in these military schools he said that was my ‘opinion.’ I agree with him but asked what would happen if other moral and ethical values contrary to the Catholic Church were taught in the curricula of other departments in the university. He said that would not happen since he and his office oversee all the curricula of the university. I asked him if that referred to the three departments of military sciences at the university and he admitted that this was not true. These three departments of the the university are not subject to the oversight of the provost. I guess they trust the military departments at the university to do the right thing. They responded to my quoting from the Army Manual which says that army values take priority over religious values and to the Army teaching on reflexive killing, killing without conscience by calling them my ‘opinions’.

My friend Joe joined the discussion and said how we have been “ruined by our Jesuit education” which taught us to practice what we believe. We all laughed at that remark but it displays the extent of the militarization of the education system. When a Provost of a major Jesuit Catholic University does not share in the ‘opinion of the truth’ which we learned from the Gospel and our Catholic faith, when all truth is relative, even killing without conscience, one has to wonder what Marquette or any Christian university that hosts schools of the army stand for.

The military is very good at teaching young men and woman who is the enemy and how to kill them. Christian universities are not very good at teaching young men and women who is the enemy and how to love them.

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