William K. Thierfelder

Dr. Thierfelder's leadership of Belmont Abbey College has been marked by controversy, specifically related to issues of implementation regarding the Affordable Care Act. In 2011, the college under his leadership filed a lawsuit against the Obama administration, arguing that its mandated coverage of contraceptives for employees participating in employer-sponsored healthcare violated the college's right to religious liberty.[6] The lawsuit was a source of division for the campus, with many students and faculty members both in favor of the measure and opposed. Those opposed argued that Belmont Abbey College had never been a particularly religious institution, since many of its faculty members and administrators came from non-Catholic backgrounds. Those in favor of the lawsuit argued that the college's roots as a monastery, with a Catholic basilica on the main campus, were indicators that its faith tradition and daily operations were deeply rooted in Catholicism.[7]

As filed, the original lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge in 2012 due to the Obama administration's failure, at that point in time, to add and clarify religious exemptions to specific parts of the Affordable Care Act and its coverage mandates. Further, U.S. District Judge James Boasberg wrote in his decision at the time that "Belmont’s injury is too speculative to confer standing and that the case is also not ripe for decision.” Belmont Abbey College refiled the lawsuit in late 2013, after the Obama administration granted religious exemptions to another religious institution.[8]

In 2016, the college, along with other religious colleges and universities throughout the United States came under increasing criticism from LGBT advocates for refusing to implement policies advocating lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender behaviors. Belmont Abbey College argued that its status as a primarily Catholic institution was in conflict with these policies. In a statement, the college claimed that such recognition and approval of LGBT behavior would "abdicate the responsibility of the college community as a whole to act in accord with its fundamental identity as a community which publicly identifies itself as in communion with the Catholic Church."[9]