In early 2014, there was a controversy when a long-time department chair announced his resignation in response to president Heather Knight, preparing to remove a 26-year, tenured professor in his department for "lectures on sex that administrators said clashed with church teachings." Her actions were viewed as a reinterpretation of the school's policy on academic freedom which were previously interpreted to allow variations from church teachings. Knight withdrew her threat to fire the professor but "doubled down" on her reinterpretation of academic freedom despite a major outcry from faculty, students and alumni.