Scully resigns as executive vice president
By ANDREW SOUKUP
News Writer
The University's third-ranking official announced May 2 he would resign his position as executive vice president but remain a member of the faculty.
Father Timothy Scully informed the University's Board of Trustees that his resignation would take effect June 30. The Trustees met on campus May 2 to discuss business that was scheduled to include a report from a four-person committee formed to investigate Scully's behavior, including a Jan. 16 confrontation with two local television reporters and a cameraman.
However, University spokesman Matt Storin said Scully's resignation was tendered to the Board before the report was discussed. The report, Storin said, cleared Scully of any wrongdoing.
A South Bend Tribune report on May 3 said Scully's resignation averted a possible crisis in the upper echelon of the University's leadership, according to unnamed sources in the University's administration quoted by the Tribune.
A majority of top administrators — including University President Father Edward Malloy — wanted Scully out, according to the Tribune, which also cited sources as saying Malloy was prepared to resign if Scully remained.
In a prepared statement, Scully did not provide a reason for his resignation. Malloy, in the same University-issued statement, said, "His tenure has been marked by his creative thinking, his wise business sense and his enduring commitment to the University community."
A committee established by the Board of Trustees will lead a search to find Scully's successor, but Storin said he did not know when the Board of Trustees would name Scully's successor.
"It has been an honor and a privilege to serve as an officer of the University for the past nine years," Scully said in his statement. "My first love has always been teaching, research and pastoral ministry. I'm excited at the prospect of returning full time to those pursuits."
Neither Scully nor Malloy were available for comment, and the only official University response came in the form of a statement that cited many of Scully's achievements. "The statement largely speaks for itself," Storin said.
"The fruits of his dynamic decision-making and high standards for performance will continue to influence this University long into the future," said the chairman of the Board of Trustees, Patrick McCartan, in a statement. "We respect the personal nature of the decision he has made to step down but look forward to a continuing relationship with him as a member of the Board of Fellows and the Board of Trustees and as a valued member of the faculty."
Scully, who was initially scheduled to teach a class entitled "Leadership and Social Concern" in the fall semester, is instead taking what one member of the political science department called an administrative leave. Typically, when administrators return to the faculty ranks, they can receive at least one semester off from teaching. No students were affected by the decision to cancel class because permission was required to register, and Scully had not approved any students before the class was cancelled.
In a voice mail message left with The Observer Tuesday, Scully said he looks forward to the challenge of returning to the teaching and research field.
A member of the political science department, Scully said he intends to teach one of three courses: comparative politics, Latin American politics and Leadership and Social Concern.
He will continue to chair the advisory board for the Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies, to serve as the director of the Institute for Educational Initiatives and to chair of the board of the Alliance for Catholic Education, which he founded.
"I can't wait to be able to spend more time in my beloved Fisher Hall [where Scully lives] and celebrate Mass," said Scully, who was leading a retreat in Chile when he called. "That, combined with a very heavy teaching agenda and working as a Fellow and Trustee will keep me very busy."
Scully did not talk about what made him decide to resign in the message. He could not be reached for further comment.
Named executive vice president in July 2000, Scully was in charge of human resources, campus construction and oversaw the University's financial matters — which included administering a University operations budget that topped $500 million and an endowment over $2.6 million. Prior to his appointment, he had served since 1994 as the University's vice president and senior associate provost.
In January, Scully was involved in a confrontation with a reporter and cameraman from the University-owned television station WNDU-TV who were covering a Mass for missing freshman Chad Sharon at Fisher Hall. Sharon's body was discovered Feb. 12 in the St. Joseph River.
According to the cameraman, who said he smelled alcohol on Scully's breath during the incident, the executive vice president grabbed reporter Bonnie Druker by the arm and angrily told the pair to move their van, which he said was parked in the wrong spot behind Fisher. Scully later apologized for the incident, but it was unclear what role — if any — the confrontation had in Scully's decision to resign.
Under Scully's nine-year tenure as a University administrator, the number of Notre Dame students studying abroad doubled and Notre Dame established academic programs in Chile, Mexico and Washington, D.C. The University also made significant progress on its master plan for campus construction.
All News Stories for Friday, July 11, 2003
