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	Part-Time Chaplain & Former Dean at St. Joe's Defendant in '99 Sexual Harassment Suit By Sam Koch The Hawk March 6, 2011 http://www.sjuhawknews.com/news/part-time-chaplain-former-dean-at-st-joe-s-defendant-in-99-sexual-harassment-suit-1.2067326 A press release from the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) sent early Friday afternoon leveled accusations against Saint Joseph's University for the recent re-hire of Thomas Gleeson, S.J., a part-time chaplain in the Office of Development and Alumni Relations. Gleeson was the target of a civil sexual harassment lawsuit in California in 1999 which alleged that he and two other priests at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley had harassed John Bollard, a former seminarian. In the suit, Bollard alleged that Gleeson, who was president of the seminary at the time, asked him to masturbate with him and made other verbal sexual advances. The suit also alleged that the other Jesuit priests, Drew Sotelo and Anton (Tony) Harris, sent Bollard sexually explicit emails with pornographic pictures, as well as asked the then-25-year-old to cruise gay bars. The case made its way to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which provided a groundbreaking ruling that determined that sexual harassment against religious institutions must be treated the same as any other harassment claims. The suit was ultimately settled out of court in 2000 by the Jesuits with no acknowledgment of wrongdoing through a private settlement for an undisclosed amount. The 1999 lawsuit sought one million dollars. The case was featured on "60 Minutes" and represented the first sexual harassment suit by a former seminarian against the Jesuits, according to SNAP's release. Bollard subsequently withdrew from the seminary and is currently employed at the University of California-Los Angeles as an administrator. In 2009, SNAP also protested Gleeson's presence on the Board of Trustees at Wheeling Jesuit University in West Virginia. Gleeson has also sat on the board of Alvernia College in Pennsylvania and Georgetown Preparatory School. SNAP Midwest Associate Director Judy Jones led the protests against Gleeson in 2009, and said that the communications from St. Joe's to students were similar to Wheeling Jesuit University's response. "[St. Joe's] knew the history, but they hired him anyway," Jones said. "But the fact that they're saying he's a chaplain there but he doesn't work directly with students, well that's just about the lamest excuse. Because he's there, he can be with anybody, he can be with any of the students, you know? He's the chaplain there—they can't guarantee that." In the 1970s, Gleeson served as the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at St. Joe's. According to the Office of Development and Alumni Relations, "[Gleeson] provides Grace and Blessings [sic] at alumni functions, represents the University at funerals and celebrates [and] concelebrates Mass at some alumni events." Friday's press release from SNAP ultimately called for a protest that day at noon outside of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia's offices in Center City. The release also stated that "SNAP wants Cardinal Justin Rigali and St. Joseph [sic] officials to suspend Gleeson and investigate allegations." Saint Joseph's University President Timothy Lannon, S.J., sent separate emails to students and staff regarding Gleeson's employment at the university and the allegations leveled against him late yesterday afternoon. Both emails indicated that the university was made aware of Gleeson's past by a recent letter from the Archdiocese of Philadelphia. "According to a letter recently received by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, afterward [Gleeson's tenure as dean], and while living in Berkeley, California, Father Gleeson was accused of sexual harassment by a former seminarian," Lannon's email said. According to Harriet Goodheart, vice president of University Communications at St. Joe's, the letter was from an anonymous sender and had been forwarded to the university by the Archdiocese. "[The letter] definitely put this issue on our radar screen," Goodheart said. "We did talk at that point, and the consensus was that we didn't know where this letter was coming from or whom it was coming from… The discussion then went back to [the fact that] this was someone whose civil lawsuit was settled, the charges had been denied and continued to be denied, and he had been approved and assigned for service and received faculties from the Archdiocese and there were no objections raised by the Maryland Province." Goodheart said that she couldn't share the contents of the letter because "we don't know if this is a credible source or who it came from," but said that it "detailed Father Gleeson's history." Jones said that Gleeson's history is a disconcerting one, and said that the university should have thought twice before re-hiring him for a part-time chaplain position last year. "I would say it's better to err on the side of safety and the vulnerable and kids rather than a man's name. He still has a history," Jones said. Goodheart said that while she was not part of the hiring process in Gleeson's case last fall, "there were no objections raised." "I can't speak to those who made the hiring decisions. I do know that the university was aware of the allegations that were asserted against [Gleeson] 11 years ago or more while he was living out in the Bay Area. He denied the allegations against him and the civil case was settled," Goodheart said. Goodheart said that she was not aware of any conversations among administrators concerning Gleeson's employment at the university when lawsuits were filed against the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in February. "I wasn't part of any conversations if they did take place," Goodheart said. "This didn't come to my attention until—I can't exactly remember when—but I wasn't involved in any conversations at the higher administrative level at that point. I'm trying to remember my timeline, and I don't know—I would have to go back and look when I became involved in conversations." Gleeson was not the only priest involved in the 1999 suit that faced protests for employment at a Jesuit university. Harris, one of the other accused priests, arrived at Seattle University in 2001 as an assistant to President Stephen Sundborg, S.J., overseeing the Office of Mission and Ministry. When reports of the 1999 lawsuit surfaced in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Oct. 6, 2006, Harris resigned from his position as vice president one week later. Moving forward, Goodheart said the university "will determine if there's additional information that the university needs to consider in connection with this," but that she could not give details regarding who St. Joe's will work with or how they would go about that process. Jones said that St. Joe's next step should be removing Gleeson from his current position at the university. "The biggest thing that needs to be taken away is his authority," Jones said. "He's an authority figure… This doesn't necessarily have to do with sex; it has to do with power and the abuse of power. And as long as they are kept in authoritarian positions then they can get away with it and they can do it again. If they're capable of doing it once, they're probably been doing it many, many times. That's the biggest thing."
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