The Rev. Bernard Knoth, S.J. angered some faculty of the College of Arts & Sciences on January 11, during the faculty and staff convocation at Nunemaker Auditorium when he said he was concerned that the college was “lagging behind” the rest of the universty. Before the convocation, A&S faculty had begun a petition to reinforce Arts and Sciences’ central role in the university.”The College of Arts and Sciences is central to this university’s goal of becoming a leading, nationally recognized, comprehensive university since our principal focus is undergraduate education rooted in the liberal arts and sciences. Therefore, funding for the College of Arts and Sciences is the university’s first priority,” the petition said.According to Mary Blue, communications professor and one of eight authors of the document, the petition was written because many felt the college was being underrepresented financially in proportion to the number of students enrolled compared to the College of Business, the College of Music, City College and the Law School.”There is less money spent in our college than in other parts of the university,” Blue said. “But we have more students.” Blue asked Knoth to explain his thoughts about the role of the College of Arts and Sciences in his ultimate plan for the university.”It is important that A&S move ahead with the institution. There are a group of very few people that still have a very strong sense of overriding suspicion (about administrative decisions). Those people should cease and desist,” Knoth said.Knoth’s answer shocked many in the College of Arts and Sciences.”I was surprised and disappointed,” said David Moore, chairman of the history department, who also signed the petition. “The answer could have been simple, but instead it was a total shock.”Blue said she was absolutely surprised by Knoth’s response.”I, as well as many of my colleagues, lost a lot of sleep over his answer. In fact, it really hurt us,” she said.English professor Julian Wasserman asked Knoth at the convocation to explain how the college “lags behind,” because, he said, he doesn’t see it that way at all.”I feel like those statements are irresponsible and insulting,” Wasserman said.Knoth said the college seems to spend a lot of time talking about the past and less time talking about the future. “People need to be able to pull together and push ahead with innovations,” he said. “There is not a sense in the college of a dynamic move toward the future.”Dean of Arts and Sciences Frank Scully said Knoth never told him he felt the college was not keeping up.”I don’t think Father Knoth meant what he said. I think he just misspoke. I don’t think what I heard and what angered some of the faculty is really how he felt,” Scully said.”It might be perceived that A&S is uncooperative, but that is just not the case. . . . We are six or seven times larger than some of the other colleges,” he said.Scully said the size of the college makes it harder to come to a consensus on issues.”He may just not have a full appreciation for how large or complex the college is,” Scully said.Resentment toward Knoth’s statements seemed to run deeper than mere words. Some, like philosophy professor Henry Folse, were angered because of the seemingly dismissive attitude of university committees, such as the Ad-hoc Committee on Faculty Salaries, toward ideas put forward by the College of Arts and Sciences.”You say my college lags behind, and I’m not suppose to take offense? We produce more and teach more than other colleges,” Folse said. “I believe I heard you [Knoth] say earlier that you granted us [the College of Arts and Sciences] time to assimilate to the new faculty salaries recommendation. That’s wrong. We want to revisit the issue and revise the writing of these recommendations because we felt our voices were not heard at the meetings.”Folse said faculty representatives to the committee had very little chance to report back to the rest of the college about proposals made during committee hearings.”If we assimilate to those recommendations, we will indeed ‘lag behind.’ I think that’s where the lagging exists,” Folse said.Knoth was scheduled to meet with faculty from the College of Arts and Sciences Assembly yesterday. He had no comment for The Maroon at press time.