PROVIDENCE – Providence College will be seeking a new senior vice president of academic affairs and provost.
Officials at the Dominican Friars college confirmed Monday to Providence Business News that Sean F. Reid is resigning as provost after serving in that role
since July 2020, although it is unclear as to why Reid is stepping down. PC President The Rev. Kenneth R. Sicard in a statement said he has accepted Reid’s resignation “with great reluctance and deep regret.”
Sicard said Reid was his first hire after
he became PC’s president in 2020. Reid, Sicard explained, will remain as PC’s provost while the college conducts a search for a new provost. After that, Reid will continue his service to the college within PC’s School of Business as a full-time faculty member within the school’s finance department.
“Sean has been an astute adviser to me and has made my job easier by handling a variety of difficult issues with integrity, fairness and conviction,” Sicard said. “I value the important role Sean has played as a member of my leadership team, and I sincerely appreciate his relentless efforts to navigate difficult issues on a college campus.”
Among the issues Reid reportedly was helping PC navigate is concerns over alleged discrimination on campus against the LGBTQ+ community. Recently, more than 600 PC students, faculty and staff
signed a formal letter to Sicard claiming that there’s a “continued, flagrant failure” to protect LGBTQ+ members at PC, including claims that campus community members can’t say the word “pride,” among other concerns.
PC spokesperson Steven Maurano told PBN that Reid’s resignation was not because of any action or nonaction he took in handling any concerns from the campus’ LGBTQ+ community. Maurano also said he is unaware if Reid mentioned to campus officials why he chose to step down.
Sicard has since released his statement, titled “Responding in Love to the Members of our Community who Identify as LGBTQ,” that defines the college’s response to allies and campus community members who identify as LGBTQ+. The statement says that PC as an institution refutes the claim that Catholic teaching is “prejudicial” and such teaching and community members “condemns unjust discrimination against anyone, and welcomes all into the full embrace of worship and fellowship and the universal call to holiness.”
The statement also includes seven principles, including the college recognizing and regretting that “some members of the Friar Family who identify as LGBTQ+ have often been made to feel invisible and have been marginalized, including in the name of Catholic teaching.” It is particularly crucial for PC, the statement says, as a Catholic and Dominican community that all members understand that “Church teaching in no way justifies or supports any form of shaming or condemnation on the basis of sexual orientation.”
“Our approach at Providence College must remain faithful to and be informed by the Catholic Church’s vision of the human person and human sexuality,” the statement reads. “Anything less would be inconsistent with our Catholic identity, and therefore unacceptable. Our hope is that this statement will provide some much-needed clarity and a direction for moving forward as a community to answer some of the most challenging questions before us.”
The statement also says PC will create opportunities for “ongoing, informed and charitable dialogue” on these issues to increase understanding within the campus community. Maurano also said that Sicard has led two separate dialogue and discussion groups since the release of the statement, each with about 30 individuals representing students, staff and faculty, and at least one more is scheduled for later this month.
James Bessette is the PBN special projects editor, and also covers the nonprofit and education sectors. You may reach him at Bessette@PBN.com. You may also follow him on Twitter at @James_Bessette.
