William Bennett Opts Out of Role in Hillsdale College Presidential Search By MARTIN VAN DER WERF
William J. Bennett, the best-selling author and former U.S. Education Secretary, has stepped down from a committee searching for a new president of Hillsdale College, generating a rift in the conservative movement.
Mr. Bennett said the college has "an obligation" to its students, faculty members, and supporters to make clear what led to the sudden departure last week of George C. Roche III after a 28-year stint as the college's leader. Mr. Roche was known for having raised a reported $325-million and endearing the college to conservatives by defying federal mandates such as affirmative action.
The conservative National Review reported on its Web site that Mr. Roche had been having an affair with his daughter-in-law, Lissa Roche, who was editor of the Hillsdale College Press. Ms. Roche died, of a gunshot wound that was apparently self-inflicted, on the college's southern Michigan campus on October 17. She had confessed the affair just hours before, according to the report by the National Review, which was based on an interview with her husband, George C. Roche IV.
"During the past few days, it has become clear that the administration and I have profound disagreements on how best to handle the matter," Mr. Bennett wrote in a statement, released Tuesday. "The administration seems to believe that the facts will never be known and so the matter is closed. I disagree."
He said college officials had suggested that Mr. Roche may be innocent of the affair, and that if so, the college should help clear his name. Mr. Bennett did not respond to an interview request from The Chronicle. He told the Detroit Free Press: "I don't think that morally you can hold the position that the president is innocent, but he has to leave. You should not allow a condemned innocent man to be removed."
Mr. Bennett was to serve on the presidential search committee along with three trustees and the conservative commentator William F. Buckley, Jr. Both Mr. Bennett and Mr. Buckley have been strong supporters of the college. Mr. Buckley, in an editorial for the forthcoming issue of the National Review, takes a sharply contrasting view from Mr. Bennett's.
"Mr. Roche has had a distinguished career, he is a practicing Christian, and like his brothers in the faith, he is a sinner; perhaps, even, he has sinned here," Mr. Buckley wrote. "But he gave his word as a Christian that he is innocent of this particular wrongdoing, and fellow Christians should accept the formal implication of his pleading, and devote themselves -- those who feel that America has a stake in the continuing success of Hillsdale -- to preserving and encouraging the institution to which George Roche contributed so much."
The Hillsdale Board of Trustees accepted Mr. Roche's retirement at a meeting last week. Mr. Roche wrote in his retirement letter, "I am nearly 65 years of age and have no wish to continue." Afterward, officials of the college said they would not disclose further details about the situation out of respect for his privacy.
Ronald L. Trowbridge, Hillsdale's vice-president for external programs and communications, in responding Wednesday to Mr. Bennett's statement, wrote: "I respond by analogy that you will understand: Suppose your best friend accused you of some terrible, terrible thing. Would you like it if we announced those accusations to a wide national press? Of course not. Such reporting of accusations would perhaps be libelous and a violation of your rights and privacy, and the allegations against you just might be wrong."
Mr. Roche denied to the trustees that he was involved in an affair. The National Review quoted his son as saying that the elder Mr. Roche did not confirm or deny the affair when Ms. Roche made her accusation. "I could tell by looking at him that she was telling the truth," the younger Mr. Roche was quoted as saying.
Mr. Trowbridge, in his statement, wrote, "The matter is more complex than the world realizes, and circumstantial evidence leads in contrary directions on the charge of adultery. ... There are only two people in the world who know for certain what happened: One is dead and the other denies it, invoking 'God as my witness.'"