FanPost

The Father Leahy Discussion

Every year, people line up to run for public office. And right next to them is a line of special interest groups looking to embrace the candidates with endorsements or skewer them with attack ads. And all of these groups have one thing in common: they're acting strictly in their own interests (almost always financial, btw).

Similarly, this discussion board has hosted a litany attacks against Father Leahy, and it should come as no surprise. It is, after all, a special interest group comprised of BC sports fans. And the 3 BC athletic teams about which anyone cares have been lousy (football and basketball) or substandard (hockey) for a long time. "So," the reasoning goes, "we need to dump Father Leahy. He's not meeting our narrow interests."

Are these fans correct? I don't know. I've never met Father Leahy and am unfamiliar with the day to day operations of BC. I haven't been to campus in decades. But I DO know that, like an elected official, a college president must deal with a myriad of issues and subject matters, of which the performance of the football team is just a very small part. Faculty, security, physical plant, fundraising, academic reputation, enrollment, budgeting, and the religious mission of the school are but a fraction of the responsibilities that Fr. Leahy must discharge. He really can't concern himself with the clock management of the football coach or the basketball team's inability to inbound the ball in tight situations.

"But you're forgetting the Flutie Effect! Sports are integral to school exposure and reputation," you shout. No, I haven't forgotten. I was one year ahead of Doug Flutie at BC, so I remember it well. I also note that the overwhelming majority of schools ranked ahead of BC by USN&WR have athletic programs clearly inferior to ours.

"So you're defending Fr Leahy!! You want more of this!" Nope. I'm not close enough to BC to have any opinion of Fr Leahy at all. And I would love to have competitive teams again. I'm just saying that they're a small part of the presidential picture, and I reject as absurd the notion that BC should be run by a lay person. (It's a Catholic institution with a mission of mission of promulgating the faith. Don't like it? BU is just down the street.)

So when we discuss Father Leahy, let's elevate ourselves above the public employee unions or the environmentalists screaming for their own interests. There's a much bigger picture to see.