A Better Path
Strong Integration is a thoughtful response to the current and pending landscape of higher education. It’s an innovative evolution from our Coordinate Relationship, which was an innovative evolution in its own rite. So how did we end up on that path that has led us to this point? Did CSB and SJU ever consider just merging? As it turns out, yes, we did. Content quoted is from “An Interinstitutional Cooperative Higher Education Program of Two Benedictine Institutions: CSB and SJU, 1962-1980,” by S. Firmin Escher, OSB (CSB Director of Planning and Research), in 1981. only a few faculty were moving between campuses.”
1962 By November 1962, SJU President Fr. Arno Gustin “asked for a meeting of the presidents, academic deans and registrars of both colleges to discuss possibilities of sharing some resources for the mutual benefit of both colleges.”
S. Firmin Escher, OSB
1950s “In the early 1950s, the faculties of the two Sociology Departments, recognizing the strength of their respective faculty members in their departments, arranged that one or two courses be offered on both campuses. In two other departments, an English and art professor from the College of Saint Benedict taught courses on the Saint John’s University campus. So far, 26
Mary Grell appointed a Joint Summer Study Curriculum Committee to look closer at cooperation and smoothing out some of the rough spots.
1967 In September 1967, Fr. Colman and S. Mary appointed a Co-Institutional
1963-64 The trial year for that was 1963-64. “A tuitional figure for a credit hour was agreed upon by administration and an exchange of actual tuition dollars occurred at the end of each semester.” That first year, about 80 Bennies traveled to SJU and 46 Johnnies traveled to CSB.
1965 For the summer of 1965, SJU President Fr. Colman Barry and CSB President S.
Fr. Arno Gustin
