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"A Purge." Fed up, Father Cahill fired at least 31 teachers, effective next summer; 23 of them, members of the teachers' union, were immediately suspended from classroom duties. Among them was the Rev. Peter O'Reilly, a philosophy teacher and head of the union. The faculty reaction was predictable. Many teachers indicated that they will quit if the dismissals are carried out, and Francis Souer, a chemistry professor who was not fired, called Cahill's action "a purge of liberal Catholicism." The teachers' union, backed by the students, called for a faculty strike.
Pledging that there would be "no interruption of the educational process" at St. John's, Father Cahill last week announced a new faculty senate to advise on policy. He bitterly condemned the fired professors for "unprofessional conduct," and for issuing "libelous and slanderous statements" about St. John's. He also pointed out, sensibly enough, that it is the job of the administration to run a university, and that no board of trustees can simply rubber-stamp anything a faculty demands. There is academic freedom at St. John's, he insisted, and it is necessary. But, he added, "freedom without responsibility becomes license."