To spend more time with his family of other apostolic opportunities

After just two years, Pilarz stepping down as Marquette president, Bill Glauber reports at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

"[Fr. Scott R.] Pilarz notified the board of his decision during a meeting Thursday afternoon in Washington, D.C., said Marquette spokesman Brian Dorrington. ...

"Multiple calls to board members, faculty and administrators were not returned Friday evening."

Announced after Friday's press deadline. No one available for comment. Are those ever good signs?

With the University having invited speculation, John McAdams obliges at Marquette Warrior.

"We don’t claim any inside sources, but a common assumption seems to be that Pilarz simply wasn’t a good fundraiser. He he didn’t have the gregarious personality necessary to glad-hand alumni and others who might write big checks to Marquette."

Fund-raising might not be a university president's ultimate responsibility, but it's usually his immediate priority.

On the positive side, for Professor McAdams,

"He had the gumption to pull official sponsorship from the salacious FexSem seminar that was being sponsored by the Gender and Sexuality Resource Center last spring.

"More importantly, he canned Provost John Pauly after allowing him to serve a 'decent interval.' Then he made it clear that, with Pauly’s replacement, there was going to be a fundamental change in how the University is run.

"When Albert J. DiUlio, S.J. took over the presidency of Marquette in 1990, he shifted the balance of power in the University away from the 'academic side' toward the 'business side' of the organization. Where before the bureaucrats running the business affairs of the institution had been rather deferential to deans, department chairs and even individual faculty members, they began to dictate all kinds of decisions."

So the concern might be that a president who is a better fundraiser might be someone also inclined to increase the authority of the non-academic professional staff.