Excerpts from a letter by Dr. Edward N. Peters:
Recently I was quoted accurately to the effect that, if I or my family suffer one more broken promise at the hands of Ave Maria leadership, I will sue. I think such a declaration came as a surprise to those who know me. I’m sure it did to many who think they know Ave Maria. So I will offer both groups some background explanation.
Despite the evidence around me, I still can’t quite believe that as of now, the Summer before my son’s senior year at Ave Maria College, AMC students and their families don’t even know whether the repeated assurances of a fully functional AMC will be honored come this Fall, or whether their college will suffer the same startling fate that has been or is being visited upon a variety of other splendid Ave Maria projects, namely, to be summarily closed, set adrift, merged into, or traded away to some completely different entity, in a word, sacrificed, in heedless pursuit of Tom Monaghan’s newest interests. To impose this kind of uncertainty on truly innocent students and families is inexcusable. As the father of one of those students, I am angry that I and my son have been put in this position.
But I am more than a parent here. For three years I have worked for one part of Ave Maria and have been an active friend to at least three others. I believe that Ave Maria is in the grips of crisis, a crisis, moreover, that is almost completely self-created. Indeed, I find it incredible that practically the only people who don’t think there is crisis unfolding at Ave Maria are those comprising the small group at the top.
I am a good enough lawyer to know that good lawyers don’t want to go to court. . . . But I have, not only the right to protect my legitimate interests from being trampled, but the obligation to protect the interests of my family, the precious people who came here with me and who have lived with constant uncertainty since shortly after our arrival at Ave Maria.
Three years ago, I came to work for the Institute for Pastoral Theology, one of several projects in the Ave Maria system (itself funded, of course, by Tom Monaghan) for which numerous accomplished professionals were being recruited. At that time, these undertakings included, besides my graduate theological institute, a law school, one (then two) regional liberal arts colleges, a pair of radio stations, a newspaper, a network of elementary schools, and a new convent, to name just some.
[E]ach of the once-vibrant major operations listed above has, in less than three years, either been abandoned by Monaghan (and since disappeared) or is in turmoil, if not crisis, as a result of his preemptory announcement that he’s now pursuing different plans
So far, neither Tom Monaghan’s governing boards nor his inner circle, notably President Nicholas Healy and Chancellor Joseph Fessio, SJ, seem willing or able to resist the relentless, even reckless, pursuit of whatever constitutes the latest version of the Monaghan vision, despite the serious suffering that such vacillations and abrupt reversals impose on the very people who came here in good faith to serve.
Personally, though, and notwithstanding the unprofessional treatment I have frequently experienced at the hands of Ave Maria leadership, I had hoped that I would quietly continue to work in what’s left of my graduate program and to manage on what’s left of my salary while I earnestly seek employment elsewhere. But suddenly there has arisen a move to transfer what remains of the Ave Maria College in Michigan to an entirely different school, and that move threatens not just me, but more importantly, my son.
Simply put: the forbearance with which I have tolerated contempt for my rights and dignity will not be shown to those who disregard my children’s. I will fight any attempt to abandon the Ave Maria College that was offered to me and my family and which we accepted in return for my hard work.