Despite heckling the university president during an outburst at the Scholarship Donor Dinner the night of Oct. 11, Douglas M. Schmidt plans to continue donating money to Loyola.

“That’s the beautiful thing about this country,” Schmidt said. “Everyone has a right to free speech and to their opinion.”

Schmidt added that he’d “always stand up for Loyola ideals and be a soldier for Jesus Christ,” so “of course” he’d continue to donate money to the university.

When Schmidt interrupted the closing remarks of the Rev. Kevin Wildes, S.J., university president, biology junior Danish Siddiqui had just concluded a speech before a crowded Audubon Tea Room. She closed by thanking all the Loyola donors for the aid they’d provided her and her classmates.

That people would come together and help a “Muslim woman succeed” not only served as testament to the ideals of the university, but hopefully would pave a path of opportunities for students behind her, Siddiqui said. The audience, seated around candlelit dinner tables, applauded her speech as she stepped down and Wildes took the podium.

Wildes thanked Siddiqui for her speech and said he’d forget “everything else (he) had to say” and zip right to the closing remarks.

That’s when Schmidt – a local family lawyer who donated $125,000 to have the middle seminar room in the College of Law named after his grandfather, Gustavus Schmidt, and also donated $35,000 for the College of Law’s Douglas and Gustavus Schmidt Scholarship – rose his hand, asked if he could proceed and shouted a demand that a “Catholic go up there and speak.”

He added that “a Muslim and a person of color” had spoken beforehand, and given that “Loyola was a Catholic university,” it was right for a Catholic to take the podium and speak.

“I’m not prejudiced against Muslims,” he shouted. “They’re great. But I want a Catholic up there.”

Wildes shot back, “Well, what about me? I’m a Catholic.” The room laughed and applauded, but Schmidt repeated his demand.

Chris Wiseman, the associate vice president of Major Gifts in Institutional Advancement, and a group of men then tried to restrain him and remove him from the Tea Room, saying, “Okay, let’s go.”

“What, you’re not going to let me speak?” Schmidt asked. He made his demands again as Wildes thanked him for his comments, trying to move the proceedings onward as guests identified themselves as Catholic to Schmidt. The ceremony ended, but the Jesuit High School and Loyola alum continued to voice his displeasure over the fact that a Catholic didn’t speak during the dinner.

“Why couldn’t Catholics be up there saying the same thing?” Schmidt said in a telephone interview on Oct. 16. “If great students should speak at a great event, one of them should be Catholic, talking about how their faith and the university has helped them … Next year, they should pick out a Catholic because the school’s there to promote Catholic ideals.

“I hope they select someone that will talk about the Catholic faith just like the beautiful Muslim girl (Siddiqui) did about hers in her speech. I’m proud of her for being proud of her faith, but why was no one speaking on behalf of the Catholics?” he said.

In a university-wide e-mail, Wildes disagreed with the “manner and content” of Schmidt’s message. “His outburst … reflects a way of seeing other human beings that is inappropriate to Loyola.”

Added Victoria Frank, vice president of Institutional Advancement, “His attitudes are deeply troubling and do not reflect the character of Loyola and our Jesuit beliefs.”

Additionally, Schmidt’s behavior the night of Oct. 11 “will preclude invitations to future university events.”

“With that said,” Frank continued, “as a Catholic university, we firmly believe in the always-open possibility of reconciliation based upon sincere dialogue and a commitment to respect difference in others.”

But Schmidt pointed out that his outburst wasn’t directed toward any one person.

“The girl was wonderful. It was misconstrued as an insult because I guess they didn’t hear what I said. I’m not prejudiced in any way. I apologize if (Siddiqui) misunderstood me and was offended,” he said.

In an e-mail to The Maroon, Siddiqui said that it was “unfortunate” the event even occurred. However, with the morals, love and support of Islam, her family and the university behind her, she said she won’t dwell on it.

“If anything is going to be done,” Siddiqui wrote, “I would like … for our Loyola University community to move on from this in … unity. Through uniting together on the true morals of this university, there will be no need for future discussions of what happened or what should happen.”

Ramon Antonio Vargas can be reached at [email protected].