SAN DIEGO -- A petition containing more than 2,000 signatures was delivered Thursday to the University of San Diego, opposing a decision to rescind a position to a Catholic feminist theologian.

The private Catholic university withdrew its appointment of Rosemary Radford Ruether to an endowed chair because she is on the board of Catholics for Choice, an abortion rights group.

The petition was circulated by the Women's Ordination Conference, a Catholic organization that works for women to be ordained as priests, deacons and bishops, and the Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual, a multi-religious feminist education center.

"The University of San Diego has violated the principle of academic freedom, and we expect more from a Catholic university that states their intention 'to uphold the highest standards of intellectual inquiry and academic freedom' as one of its five core values," WOC Executive Director Aisha Taylor said in a statement.

"Rosemary Radford Ruether is a highly respected, world-renowned theologian, and USD's shocking treatment of her has inspired thousands (of) Catholics from around the world to take action and express their support for her and for academic freedom," Taylor wrote.

USD officials told The San Diego Union-Tribune they stand by their decision, on the grounds that abortion goes against Roman Catholic theology.

The university told the newspaper that Ruether's "public position and the symbol of this chair are in direct conflict."

The petition demanded that USD honor the chair offered to Ruether, or invite her to deliver the Portman Lecture on the matter of academic freedom in Catholic higher education and receive her negotiated pay.