Santa Clara University’s O’Brien resigns
Indiscretions during conversations with grad students cited
Five months ago, Santa Clara University President Kevin O’Brien stood beneath the marble and mosaics of St. Matthews Cathedral in Washington, D.C., presiding over an inauguration morning Mass and wishing his old friend and President-elect Joe Biden “a deepseated peace that will sustain you.”
On Wednesday, the 54-year-old Jesuit priest’s rising star came crashing down when the Santa Clara University Board of Trustees announced
O’Brien’s resignation, citing unspecified “inappropriate behaviors” that involved mostly conversations
with Jesuit graduate students.
The unfathomable downfall of the man who was a lawyer before a priest, cared for lepers in India and rose through the ranks at Georgetown University before being named Santa Clara University president two years ago left the Catholic school stunned. At the same time, in a letter to the school community, O’Brien opened up about personal alcohol use and stress management.
Placed on leave two months ago by the Jesuits USA West Province when an investigation into his behavior was first announced, O’Brien was given the option of remaining on leave and enrolling in a four- to six-month therapeutic outpatient program — which he has begun — to address “related personal issues,” including alcohol, ac
cording to a letter sent to the university Wednesday.
O’Brien resigned Sunday instead. In his own letter to the school community, he explained “with a heavy heart but clear mind” why he was resigning.
“My extended absence from campus during these challenging times does not serve the university well,” O’Brien wrote. “After much prayer and thought and out of deep love for Santa Clara, I have concluded that the best service I can offer to our beloved university is to step aside now.”
The resignation was announced by Board of Trustees Chairman John M. Sobrato, who gave few details of O’Brien’s apparent transgressions except to say that he “engaged in behaviors,
consisting primarily of conversations, during a series of informal dinners with Jesuit graduate students that were inconsistent with established Jesuit protocols and boundaries.” Alcohol was involved, and no inappropriate behavior was found in any settings outside of these dinners, Sobrato wrote.
The dinners involved Jesuit grad students studying to become priests.
“The Board of Trustees takes this situation very seriously and fully supports those who came forward to provide their accounts,” Sobrato wrote. The board accepted O’Brien’s resignation on Monday.
A search for a new president will begin, Sobrato said. In the meantime, Provost Lisa Kloppenberg will continue to serve as acting president.
The cryptic account of O’Brien’s unspecified behaviors
frustrated some members of the university community who had expected more transparency, and for the many who admired him left them wondering whether the punishment was worse than the crime.
It also devastated those who held high hopes for O’Brien, who became close to the Bidens during his years at Georgetown University, had been a frequent television commentator on church issues on MSNBC and had written extensively about church reforms in the wake of the priest sex abuse scandal. At Santa Clara, he took over a billion-dollar capital campaign that was scaled back amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“I hope that he gets the help that he needs, which he is, and hopefully the work he outlined in advancing racial justice continues,” said Maria Nash Vaughn, a Santa Clara alumnus and former
member of the university’s board of regents. “From his letter to students, I understand why he resigned, but it makes me sad that he had so many great hopes and desires for the school, and I’m praying that that doesn’t get diverted.”
Shavi Sikaria, a 20-yearold sophomore from the Seattle area, said she was shocked by the news. O’Brien was so popular among students, she said, that she and a friend took a photo with him at a basketball game last year.
“I’m definitely sad to see him go. He was always at the games, and everyone loves him,” Sikaria said. “He was just really nice and wanted to get to know everyone. He was really involved with things the students cared about, like student activities and initiatives on campus that he would go out of his way to get involved in and everyone
really appreciated that. The students would talk about him a lot. We’re all hoping that he does OK.”
In his letter, O’Brien wrote that Jesuit Provincial Scott Santarosa in early March “expressed concerns to me about my well-being” based on “accounts of my behavior over the past year in certain social settings with adults that did not meet the highest standards of decorum expected of me as a Jesuit.”
After the Province investigation concluded in April, O’Brien wrote, Santarosa asked him to enter the outpatient therapeutic program, “which many Jesuits over the years have found helpful in living a full, healthy life of service.”
While O’Brien said his “deepest desire and skill set are attuned to return to leadership,” he said that at the least, he will finish the program and will likely return to active ministry as a Jesuit priest.
Santarosa, meanwhile, said in a statement Wednesday that “Santa Clara will move forward with grace, strength and the deep commitment of the Jesuits, who have been linked in mission to this great university since its founding, in 1851, as the first Jesuit university in the West.”
O’Brien’s shocking departure leaves a void in the university built around a historic Mission with its signature bell tower.
“Thank you for your company and your support, especially when the days and decisions were hard,” he wrote. “I trust that God will use my labor here for good, even when I fell short of my or your expectations.”