4 minute read
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.
Advertisement
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, 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.”
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. 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
Fr. Colman Barry
Study Committee to work with consultants like Lewis B. Mayhew of Stanford University. “What really happened in that momentous year reverberated through every segment of both campuses as the benefits of this commitment to share resources began to unfold.”
1968
The Mayhew Report of 1968 had some bold things to say: “Our panel has thought most seriously about the problems of the two institutions and has reached the unanimous conviction that merger of the two into a new corporate entity is the only plausible solution. Thus, we recommend that the two institutions merge and merge quickly. We believe to delay more than two years would so irreparably damage either or both institutions that ultimate merger or cooperation would no longer be possible.” A few weeks later, the Board of Trustees of the College of Saint Benedict and the Board of Regents of Saint John’s University met jointly at Saint John’s Abbey to make a decision on the proposal of the consultants. The following motion was made and seconded:
“Be it resolved that the joint Boards of Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict today declare the desirability of a merger, to take place within the next thirty months, and that the Boards engage immediately in the hiring of a coordinator for this task; the final decision on the merger is to be made not later than thirty months from this date.”
And so, with the appointed coordinator, Dr. Sylvester Theisen, nudging, prodding and frequently pleading, the two schools set off down that one road. In 1969 the Registrar’s office was united. The libraries combined some services under a joint head librarian. Academic departments continued (some with more success than others) inching closer together.
1970
Still, in 1970, “By the end of the coordinator’s second year, the thirtymonth deadline to realize a possible merger was fast approaching. There was considerable unrest among constituencies of the institutions – trustees, some administrators, and particularly the presidents about an impending merger. The issue was addressed again and it was agreed that a high degree of coordination was advisable but a merger would destroy the identity of each institution. There was some anxiety about losing that uniqueness which each institution believes is essential to its own identity and purpose. There were equally strong beliefs that coordinate institutions could realize an effective solution toward achieving the goal reiterated so many times over an eight-year period. And so the idea of merger was ruled out and a high degree of coordination between two autonomous institutions was determined as the goal.” That was the end of merger talk. Some might call it stubborn. Others might call it faithful. Either way, it has led to 50 years of Johnnies and Bennies learning and living together in our own unique format. The results speak for themselves and no one in this process has been interested in disrupting that part of our magic.
