Feminist Firebrand Seeks Injunction Against Boston College
By BEN GOSE
Mary Daly, a feminist theologian who has been banning men from her classes at Boston College for 25 years, asked a judge Friday to bar the institution from telling people she has retired.
The injunction, which Ms. Daly sought from a state court, also seeks to block Boston College from distributing the school catalog, which doesn't include her courses.
A Boston College official said Ms. Daly agreed in January to retire, after she had refused to follow the college's order that she begin teaching male students. She has been collecting retirement checks from the college for the past few months, according to Jack Dunn, a college spokesman.
"We're baffled by this," he said. "Suddenly on a sunny day in Boston she decides that she doesn't want to be retired anymore. But we're convinced that she entered into agreement to retire, and we're not going to let her renege on that agreement now."
Ms. Daly, described as a pioneer in the radical-feminist movement, said that the college's description of the retirement agreement was a "a complete lie."
"I have not retired," she said. "I listened to what they had to say, but I did not sign anything. They have no evidence. This is outrageous."
Ms. Daly said that she had not received any retirement money from the college. The university has been paying her her regular salary, she said, as it agreed to do when it granted her a leave of absence.
Ms. Daly's refusal to teach men erupted in controversy last fall, when a senior, Duane Naquin, threatened to sue the college if he was not admitted to her class. When the college asked Ms. Daly to admit Mr. Naquin to her class, she agreed to stop teaching. The judge will have to sort out whether that decision amounted to a leave, as Ms. Daly maintains, or retirement, as the college asserts.
"Mary misses the spotlight," Mr. Dunn said. "She loves controversy -- it helps her sell books."