Juliana Chang, associate professor of English and president of Santa Clara’s Faculty Senate, presented a statement of concern to the university’s Board of Trustees last week.

“I am hearing about a loss of faith in the mission, vision, and values of the university,” she said. “How can we educate citizens and leaders of competence, conscience, and compassion, some ask, if we are not deemed worthy of exercising our own consciences or if we find this decision uncompassionate? How can we welcome and respect other religious and philosophical traditions if we ourselves do not feel welcome and respected?”

Also last week, a high-profile faculty member broke ties with the university’s Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, saying it was acting as an arm of the administration in organizing a forum for faculty to discuss the decision after it had been made.

“I appreciate that there are deeply held differences within the [Santa Clara] community over the question of abortion,” Stephen Diamond, associate professor of law, said in his resignation letter, noting that he, like Pope Francis recently said in separate statements, had concerns over its being a byproduct of today’s “throwaway” culture.

“However,” Diamond said, “I firmly believe that the question of whether an abortion is acceptable is a question to be resolved by a woman after receiving appropriate medical advice from her doctor.”

via Some professors fear Catholic colleges are ignoring call by the pope to focus less on abortion and homosexuality | Inside Higher Ed.