Margaret Mary Vojtko

Margaret Mary Vojtko (January 15, 1930 – September 1, 2013) was an American adjunct professor of French at Duquesne University. Her death caused controversy at Duquesne and prompted conversations about unions and the role of adjunct faculty at American universities.

Early life and education Margaret Mary Paula Vojtko was born on January 15, 1930, to Catholic Slovak parents. She had five older siblings. Her father worked at Homestead Steel Works, a large steel mill once owned by Andrew Carnegie. Her father belonged to a labor union that would later become the United Steelworkers. Her mother died when she was seven, and her older sister Anne helped raise her. Growing up, Margaret spoke mostly Slovak at home. She attended a high school run by the Vincentian Sisters of Charity and became a secretary at the University of Pittsburgh after graduation; at the time, she wanted to be a nun, although she later abandoned this plan. She remained a traditionalist Catholic throughout her life, however, and opposed the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.

After her father's death in 1957, Vojtko attended the University of Pittsburgh, earning a bachelor's degree in 1967 and a master's in 1970. In the mid-1970s, she began working on a doctoral degree from The Catholic University of America. She never completed her dissertation, which focused on the history of Homestead. She received a nursing degree in 1987. She had previously been receiving treatment for cancer, and a reaction to pills she had been prescribed had caused her to have an earlier heart attack the previous year. Vice President for University Advancement John Plante described reports that the university did nothing to help Ms. Vojtko as 'reckless' and 'mischaracterizations': "Our defense is the truth. Mr. Kovalik has tried to frame this as an issue of human resources policy, but he is wrong...The support provided and offered to Margaret Mary Vojtko was broad, involving the Spiritan community, student housing, EAP, campus police, facilities management, and her faculty and staff colleagues." Rev. Daniel Walsh, a university chaplain, described reports of Vojtko's death as attempts to promote an 'alternative agenda' and said that she was provided with emergency housing on campus for a few weeks.

Reaction Kansas State University English professor Philip Nel was among those who faulted Duquesne for treating Vojtko unfairly, suggesting that the university's not providing her with health insurance contributed to her death. Representatives of the university defended their treatment of Vojtko, indicating that she had refused repeated offers of assistance from members of the university community. For a time, Vojtko lived in Laval House, a campus residence for priests. Her funeral mass was held at Epiphany Church in Pittsburgh.