Rooney Firing: Sexual Orientation Not the Issue

Former Marquette History professor John William Rooney has been in the news lately, potentially facing a French court for the theft of a document from a French archive.

Long before that particular issue arose, Rooney was forced out of Marquette. According to a reliable source close to the History Department during the time that Rooney left Marquette, Rooney was presented with a letter of resignation and required to sign it.

Rooney had been, for years before he left Marquette, openly and quite overtly gay. This has led to some rumors that his homosexuality was the reason he was forced out.

But according to another reliable source close to the History Department during the time that Rooney left Marquette his sexual orientation was not the cause of the de facto firing.