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Denis McDonough ’92 Adds New Title to His Long Legacy of Public Service
In December, it was announced that President Joe Biden had nominated the Saint John’s University alumnus and Stillwater, Minnesota native to be Secretary of Veterans Affairs in his administration.
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“When I received the call from President-elect Biden, I assured him that I will represent the voices of all veterans at every level, on every issue, every day,” McDonough tweeted following the announcement of his appointment. “Those who have served this nation, their caregivers and survivors should expect nothing less.” It marks a return to the corridors of government for McDonough, who served as White House Chief of Staff for former President Barack Obama from 2013-17 – during which time Biden was Vice President.
Prior to his 2013 selection to the highest non-elected position in the White House, McDonough served as Obama’s Deputy National Security Advisor, Chief of Staff to the National Security Council and as head of the National Security Council Strategic Communication division. Before his work in the Obama Administration, he served in leadership and policy positions in the U.S. House of Representatives, as professional staff member on the International Relations Committee and in the U.S. Senate for then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota and then-Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado.
The Stillwater High School graduate, who was raised in a family of 11 children, arrived at SJU in the fall of 1988. He graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in History and Spanish and was a student commencement speaker. He also played safety for legendary football coach John Gagliardi and helped the Johnnies win MIAC championships in 1989 and 1991. He had 12 career interceptions and recorded 171 tackles and 25 passes defended in 38 career games played. The 1991 SJU squad advanced to the NCAA Division III national playoff semifinals. He completed his graduate work at Georgetown University, and he was a 2012 recipient of an Alumni Achievement Award from SJU. McDonough began his association with Obama in 2007 – when the future president was still a U.S. Senator from Illinois – as his Chief Foreign Policy Adviser. When Obama was elected to his first presidential term in 2008, McDonough joined his administration as the National Security Council’s head of Strategic Communication. He also served as National Security Council Chief of Staff. On Oct. 20, 2010, Obama announced McDonough would become Deputy National Security Adviser. It was in this position that he was part of one of the most iconic photos of the Obama Administration — when Obama’s security team watched from the White House Situation Room on May 2, 2011, as U.S. Navy SEALs conducted an operation to capture or kill Osama bin Laden.
When Obama was sworn in on Jan. 20, 2013 for his second term, he appointed McDonough as Chief of Staff – a position McDonough held until Jan. 20, 2017. After his service in the Obama Administration, McDonough returned to the SJU campus for his first public appearance since leaving the White House in March 2017, as commencement speaker in May 2018 and to present the 12th annual Eugene J. McCarthy lecture in October of that year. He was named to the NCAA’s Board of Governors the following year.
CSB/SJU Launching Graduate-Level Nursing Programs
The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University began accepting applications in November for a new graduate program in Nursing, with the first cohort of students beginning the program in fall 2021. “This is a program that has been under consideration for a number of years,” said Professor Carrie Hoover who, along with Visiting Assistant Professor Jennifer Peterson, is co-chairing the new CSB/SJU graduate Nursing program. “In 2019 we worked with the Hanover Group to conduct a thorough feasibility study. We concluded that there is a solid market for a program like this. Our alums have been asking for this for a number of years.” All three of the graduate tracks will be offered in a hybrid format. The Doctor of Nursing Practice programs can be completed in three years when attending full-time.
Program options
• Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) –
Family Nurse Practitioner track • Doctor of Nursing Practice – Leadership track • Master of Science in Nursing Education
Program highlights
• Guaranteed clinical placements • Electives for specialty practice areas • Eligibility to become certified as a Nurse Educator and/or
Nurse Executive • One-to-one mentorship for DNP project • Graduate assistant teaching scholarships available (limited quantity) • Discounted tuition available for CentraCare and
VA employees • Part-time options may be available You can learn more about these new programs at
csbsju.edu/graduate-nursing-programs
New Global Health Minor Starts in Fall 2022
“The momentum for (a) Global Health minor has been apparent in recent years, as students have expressed growing interest in exploring global health challenges,” said Ellen Block, associate professor of sociology at Saint John’s/Saint Ben’s. “Even before COVID-19, global health has been on our students’ radar – from Ebola to the Zika virus to health disparities in our own communities, these are issues that impact everyone and that students care deeply about.” Now, thanks to a $143,563 grant from the Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language Program through the U.S. Department of Education, SJU and CSB will soon be offering an interdisciplinary minor in Global Health that takes a liberal arts approach to the study of health within a global context. The new minor will likely begin in fall semester 2022, but classes are being offered for the 20-22 credit minor in spring semester 2021.
“The Global Health minor, which builds on significant expertise among faculty across disciplines at SJU and CSB, will finally be able to give students some academic foundation in this important area of interest,” said Block, who will serve as the grant’s director. The courses and training provided by the minor will help students analyze some of the most pressing problems that shape our world, preparing students for exciting careers in health care, public policy, international service and more. This timely program particularly complements majors in the sciences.
One of the quirks of this school year’s block schedule is that there is a Friday left open at the end of each block in order for faculty to wrap up grading and prepare for the next block. Of course, the safest course of action is for all students to spend those Fridays on campus, safely within their usual bubbles. To make staying on campus as attractive as possible, the Student Activities office developed Community Engagement Days. Each of these Fridays is packed with outdoor activities, panel discussions, programs, presentations and performances. The highlight of each is a signature event featuring prominent speakers on timely topics. It’s a dedicated space for the important learning that happens beyond the classroom at Saint John’s and Saint Benedict. Spring semester event dates were set for Feb. 19 and March 19.
You can find links to recordings of the fall’s three signature events at csbsju.edu/community-engagement-days
Kathleen Hall Jamieson (Sept. 25)
Jamieson delivered the 14th annual Eugene J. McCarthy Lecture. She is the Elizabeth Ware Packard Professor at the Annenberg School for Communication of the University of Pennsylvania and director of the university’s Annenberg Public Policy Center. (She’s also an alumna of Saint Benedict’s High School) Jamieson delivered her lecture on Russian Hackers, Trolls and #DemocracyRIP.
Ibram X. Kendi (Oct. 23)
Kendi is the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at Boston University and the founding director of the BU Center for Antiracist Research. He is the author of three New York Times bestsellers: How to Be an Antiracist, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You (co-authored with Jason Reynolds), and Antiracist Baby as well as Stamped From the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction.
Eboo Patel (Nov. 20)
Patel is the founder and President of Interfaith Youth Core, a non-profit organization that is working to make interfaith cooperation a social norm in America. He is the author of four books and dozens of articles, has spoken on more than 150 campuses and served on President Barack Obama’s inaugural Faith Council. In November he spoke on building communities where sources of difference become sources of strength – where shared humanity and communal aspirations compel dialogue, not division.
Update on Enhanced Collaboration
In 2020, the Joint Strategic Visioning Committee of the Saint John’s and Saint Ben’s Boards of Trustees announced a commitment to a single leader and a common board for the two colleges. Work toward that goal continues. Since 2018, the two boards have been working toward stronger integration of governance and leadership structures to simplify processes and decision making across the two institutions.
The move to a single president and a common board is a complex undertaking with far-reaching implications. Our accrediting body, the Higher Learning Commission, considers the move to a common board and a single president a “change of control,” which triggers a review of a number of legal and regulatory matters. “We are confident that we will find the legal and regulatory way forward, and all parties are committed to the end goal, but we need a little more time and work,” said Board Chairs Dan McKeown (SJU) and Barb Brandes (CSB) in a joint statement. For this 2020-21 academic year, Interim Presidents Eugene McAllister (SJU) and Laurie Hamen (CSB) have common aligned goals, according to McKeown and Brandes. A priority is implementing key actions toward stronger integration of Saint John’s and Saint Ben’s, including consolidation of essential functions at SJU and CSB and holding Leadership Team meetings jointly.
Fr. Don Reflects on 95th Birthday
Fr. Don Talafous ’48 never imagined turning 95. He certainly never imagined doing so in times like these. But the Saint John’s University Alumni Chaplain Emeritus, whose popular Daily Reflections (saintjohnsabbey.org/reflection/) continue to offer hope and encouragement to readers across the globe, said it is the connection he feels to the SJU/CSB community that keeps him young at heart – even as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continues to make in-person visits difficult. “I never really imagined coming to this age,” said Talafous, who was born in Duluth Jan. 4, 1926. “And especially when still quarantined after over 10 months.
“But all this can be not simply tolerable but stimulating and even pleasant because of contact with so many of you alumni/alumnae. You are considerably younger than 95 and intent on living, full of life, despite the horrors of COVID-19.”
Even in these socially distanced times, SJU Executive Director of University Relations Adam Herbst ’99 said Fr. Don remains as important as ever to so many people – across generations, vocations and locations. “Fr. Don’s connection with alumni and friends has been unparalleled in the history of Saint John’s,” Herbst said. “I am amazed by his ability to stay in touch with so many, and by how he continues to inspire people through his Daily Reflections. “He is selfless in the way he cares for others, especially people facing difficulties in life. I am so fortunate to be one of many who consider him a friend and mentor.”
Benedictine Volunteer Corps Selects Cohort for 2021-22
These are indeed challenging times. But that only serves to underscore how truly vital the mission of the Benedictine Volunteer Corps really is. And it’s certainly one of the reasons why Tyler Johnson ’21, Simeon Farquharson ’21 and the 18 other members of the BVC’s 2021-22 cohort were so eager to sign on for the challenge. “To see things where they are right now, especially with all the pain and suffering the (ongoing COVID-19 global) pandemic has brought on, really made me feel like it was more important than ever to volunteer and get involved,” said Johnson, a senior Mathematics Major who maintains a GPA of 3.97. “The pandemic did play a role in my decision to do this,” added Farquharson, a senior Accounting major who, as a sophomore, received SJU’s Man of Extraordinary Service Award.
“It makes it more challenging in some ways. But, at the same time, it makes what we’re going to be doing even more important too.” The BVC is a service opportunity offered to recent graduates of SJU. Since its founding in 2003, the BVC has sent over 250 volunteers to Benedictine monasteries around the world. Here is a list of this year’s volunteers and where they will be posted: • Sam Black (Cuernavaca, Mexico) • Simeon Farquharson (Esquipulas, Guatemala) • Ryan Gallagher (Montserrat, Spain) • Thomas Gillach (Tororo, Uganda) • Mitch Hansen (Montserrat, Spain) • Blake Hoeschen (Esquipulas, Guatemala) • Tyler Johnson (Newark, New Jersey) • Johnny Krawczyk (Newark, New Jersey) • Max LaBine (Bogota, Columbia) • Logan Lintvedt (Tororo, Uganda) • Will Matuska (Hanga, Tanzania) • Rob McManus (Newark, New Jersey) • Patrick Mullon (Imiliwaha, Tanzania) • Austin O’Keefe (Rome, Italy) • Joe Pieschel (India and Sri Lanka) • Michael Pineda (Bogota, Columbia) • Jack Scheck (Tabgha, Israel) • Gregory Stubbs (Newark, New Jersey) • Colin Yokanovic (Tabgha, Israel) • Joseph Smith Zavier (Tabgha, Israel)
Mystery Writer’s 1968 Note Uncovered
A renovation project last summer at the Peter Engel Science Center on the Saint John’s University campus unlocked a voice from the past – and members of the SJU/CSB biology department would like know to whom it belonged to. “The third floor of the building underwent renovations, and as I was moving back in, one of the electricians was finishing some work,” said Stephen Saupe, Professor and Herbarium Curator at SJU/CSB.
“Some of the ceiling panels were still removed and he had his head up there. I asked him if he found anything interesting. He said no, but they had found something tucked behind the outlet in the office next to mine.”
That something was a note written by a student studying for finals in December 1968 and left behind for posterity. “This is a note written on December 12, 1968 A.D. by a student working on the entomological work in this room which is labelled as ‘radio isotope,’ ” the note reads.
“The occasion for writing is a time of frustration right before the final examination. Merry X’mas and Happy New Year for the discoverer of this note.” If you were the writer, or you know who was, drop Saupe an email at ssaupe@csbsju.edu, or give him a call at (320) 363-2782.
McNeely Center Names Entrepreneurs of the Year
The Donald McNeely Center for Entrepreneurship is an interdisciplinary center focused on “inspiring the entrepreneurial spirit” throughout the campus community through curricular, extracurricular and community events for students of all majors and class years. Since 2011, the McNeely Center has presented Johnnie and Bennie alums with its Entrepreneur of the Year awards.
The 2020 awards were presented in November (albeit without the traditional ceremony and celebration).
SJU Entrepreneur of the Year:
Dennis Carlson ’86 Chairman and CEO WeDriveU
Since founding the company in 1988, Carlson has led WeDriveU’s growth as the leader in shuttle transportation solutions. His vision for transforming transportation has been featured by the Financial Times, Fox Business News, The New York Times and The Mercury News. His entrepreneurial spirit inspired the company’s early growth as the leader in professional chauffeurs who drive executives in the executives’ personal cars, and he continues to advance WeDriveU’s vision to address clients’ evolving mobility challenges with workplace and campus commuting solutions for companies, universities and hospitals. CSB Entrepreneur of the Year:
Jennifer Dugan Roth ’91 CEO and Co-founder GrowthMode Marketing
During her 20-plus year career, Roth has cultivated a passion for and expertise in B2B marketing that she channels into meaningful marketing strategies that help her clients achieve real growth. GrowthMode has been recognized by Inc. Magazine as a fastest growing company in 2020 – ranked in the top 25 percent. GrowthMode has also been recognized by Minneapolis/ St. Paul Business Journal as a 2020 Twin Cities Largest Agency, as a 2020 Best Web Developer in St. Paul and is a WBENC-certified enterprise. CSB/SJU Social Entrepreneur of the Year:
Angela Untiedt Jerabek ’90 Founder and Executive Director BARR Center®
Jerabek began her career in education as a licensed K-12 teacher and a secondary school counselor in Minneapolis. She used her passion to help students succeed by becoming the founder of BARR Center, which is a nationally recognized nonprofit organization that builds strong school communities. BARR Center supports student success by improving school culture, school climate and educator effectiveness, and has served more than 100,000 students in more than 180 schools. As the Executive Director and founder of BARR Center, Jerabek provides thought leadership and operational oversight of the organization and the national network of BARR educators.
Putnam Elected to Minnesota Senate
Aric Putnam isn’t interested in being labeled as a politician. “I want to make the world a little better, and politics is how I’m doing that right now,” he said.
Now, Putnam has a forum to do just that. In November, the Communication Professor at Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict defeated incumbent State Sen. Jerry Relph to represent District 14 in the Minnesota State Legislature for four years. Putnam’s first day in the Senate chamber was Jan. 5, when the 92nd session of the Minnesota Legislature was convened. Deciding to run for office was much like becoming a professor, said Putnam, who is on sabbatical spring semester. “It’s a space where I think I can do good, and I will keep doing it as long as I feel that way,” he said. “Then I’ll do something else. “As George Washington said in his farewell address, politics isn’t a career. I think the job is to do good, inspire others to want to do good, and then get out of the way and support them when they do it,” Putnam said. Putnam has been assigned to two high-profile committees – Higher Education Finance and Policy and Jobs and Economic Growth Finance and Policy – in addition to the Aging and Long-Term Care Policy Committee. Putnam represents a district that encompasses parts of three counties – Stearns, Benton and Sherburne. It includes both the city of St. Cloud and rural, largely farming areas in Benton and Sherburne counties. He’ll see one familiar face at the State Capitol in St. Paul: Rep. Dan Wolgamott, who won re-election in House District 14B in November and is a 2013 graduate of SJU, was named an assistant majority leader in the Minnesota House. He was elected to the position by his DFL peers in mid-December.
Study Abroad Numbers Remain Strong at SJU/CSB
Study abroad continues to be a signature program for students at Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict. SJU and CSB are ranked among the top 10 baccalaureate schools nationally for both mid-length study abroad and the total number of students who studied abroad, according to Open Doors 2020, the annual report on international education published by the Institute of International Education (IIE) in partnership with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.
The 2020 report, which was released Nov. 16, found: • SJU and CSB are ranked No. 6 among baccalaureate schools with 320 students who studied abroad in mid-length study abroad programs during 2018-19, according to the most recent data measured by the IIE. The IIE defines mid-length study abroad programs as lasting one semester or one or two quarters. • SJU and CSB are ranked No. 9 among baccalaureate schools with 494 students who studied abroad during the 2018-19 school year. That was an increase of 51 students from the 2017-18 report. The 2020 Open Doors report found that 347,099 Americans studied abroad for academic credit from their colleges and universities in 2018-19. That represented an increase of 1.6 percent over 2017-18. The leading destinations for U.S. students were (in order) the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain.
A Look Back
Black History
at Saint John’s University
Black History Month is an annual celebration of the culture and achievements of African Americans in the United States. Celebrated each year since 1976 during the month of February, it is a way of appropriately honoring and remembering important people and events and an opportunity to recognize their central role in this country’s history.
As we observe Black History Month, there could be no better time to explore this history at Saint John’s University. What is the Black and African American history of Saint John’s? Who were the first Black students to arrive in Collegeville? What are some of the seminal events and activities that have occurred over the decades? Who were the people that faced problems, promoted progress and pursued educational justice? What is the lived experience of SJU’s Black and African American students? In this issue, we recount this history in three ways: • First, a timeline of some of the pioneering
Black students at Saint John’s from the 1920s through the 1970s. Their experiences chronicle the earliest phases of integration and assimilation in
Collegeville. Much of this history is drawn from research done in 1973 by Timothy Ghess ’77 for his research paper History of the Black Student at
Saint John’s. At the time, Ghess was a student of
the late Fr. Vincent Tegeder, OSB, a Saint John’s monk, History Professor and archivist. • Next, we take an in-depth look at an historic event in SJU history – the takeover of the Saint John’s
President’s Office by Black students in November 1970. Distinguished SJU/CSB History Professor
Ken Jones provides a detailed look at the event: what happened, why it happened, what we learned from it then and what we can learn from it now.
This is an unvarnished look at a troubling chapter in Saint John’s history. We caution readers that this isn’t an easy read. It’s a gut punch, and this was not Saint John’s finest moment. But it’s a part of our history that we must own and grapple with, particularly if we are to move beyond division and avoid repeating mistakes of the past. • Finally, we are pleased to profile 12 African
American Johnnie alumni from the past three decades. These vignettes highlight their Saint
John’s experiences and celebrate their extraordinary personal and professional accomplishments. They are exceptional Johnnies, and their personal narratives make us proud.
Excerpts from A History of the Black Student At Saint John’s by Timothy W. Ghess ’77
“There was a time when a Black man was more or less denied a higher – or for that fact, lower – form of education.” “Literally decades have to be passed before any evidence can be found of a Black student on this campus.” “Saint John’s University is obviously a Catholic institution, and the Catholic institutions were (among) the first of the white colleges to open their doors to the Black man for an education in this country.”
Left: Etienne Dupuch; Right: Walter Jones
1920s–1930s
1927 The first two Black students at Saint John’s were Etienne Dupuch from The Bahamas and Walter Jones from Washington, D.C. Dupuch, who left in 1928, and Jones, who left in 1929, are pictured together in the 1928 Sagatagan as members of the Alexian Literary Society. “I came across instances of blackface being used in play productions, in the 1930 Sagatagan. One there is particularly egregious, saying ‘As Sam, the colored servant, Dolor Lauer softened his accent and shambled about the stage in a manner that won favor with the audience.’ ” – Ghess.
1933 Eugene Dupuch ’34, Etienne’s brother, leaves a lasting SJU legacy by writing the Johnnie Fight Song. He composed it in his dorm room and broke it out at the Johnnies’ Homecoming football game. Negro sharecroppers in the South. He related the position of the sharecropper and explained their deplorable situation. He compared the present situation of the Negro sharecropper as perhaps being worse than that of the Negro slave before emancipation.” 1937 Famed Black opera singer Marian Anderson performs in nearby St. “To Eugene Dupuch has been awarded the prize of a ten-dollar bill for the best ‘Johnnie Fight Song’ … and at its premiere on the Cloud. According to The Record, she was made to come in the back doors of the auditorium and stay in second-rate hotels. Homecoming Day of October 1939 Allan Augustine 14 it was played by the Saint Archibald ’42 (New York John’s Student Band. It was City) and Herbert Vincent hailed with great applause.” McKnight ’42 (Washington, – The Record, Oct. 19, 1933 D.C.) arrive on campus. Dupuch was editor of The “Archibald and McKnight were Record in 1934. He went on to a distinguished career in Allan Augustine Archibald the first Blacks to graduate out of Saint John’s. It’s quite obvious The Bahamas as a lawyer that Saint John’s did them a (the Dupuch Law School is world of good in the academic named after him), as Associate Editor field. Both of them were active in the of the Nassau Tribune, as a statesman, school organizations and sports programs.” musician and advocate for equal rights – Ghess and improved racial relations. Archibald went on to a career as a 1937 Black artist Robert social welfare attorney in the Bronx, Belton performs at Saint New York, while McKnight became a John’s, singing spirituals and medical doctor and college professor in speaking on the “social and Washington, D.C.economic status of his race.” According to an article in The Record: 1940s–1950s
Eugene Dupuch
“Mr. Belton spoke for a few minutes on the problems of the “The decades of the ’40s and ’50s … were the nativity years for the Black student
at Saint John’s. It was also the hardest of times for a Black man in this country.” “Altogether there were 24 Blacks (at Saint John’s during the 1940s). Out of those 24, 17 graduated, 7 were Bahamian, the rest American, and 6 are now in the religious order.”
Fr. Bartholomew Sayles, OSB
“Evidently, it wasn’t right for every Black student because a lot of Blacks up here during that period only stayed a year or two and left … the majority of the Black students that were on campus were studying for the priesthood.” – Ghess 1940 David Rodgers ’46 (SJP ’42) arrives at Saint John’s Prep from Chicago and goes on to graduate from Saint John’s University. “David Rodgers graduated in 1946 as a Chemistry major. He was called ‘Popular
Herbert Vincent McKnight
Dave’ by his comrades at school, so it’s obvious he was well received.” – Ghess
1941 Edward (Fr. Prosper) Meyer
becomes the first Black Benedictine in the Saint John’s Monastery. He is followed by Fr. Harvey Shepherd. Fr. Prosper was transferred to The Bahamas in 1947, and Fr. Harvey was transferred to Kentucky in 1949. 1941 Philip Woodby ’45 arrives from Philadelphia. “In a tribute to him under his graduation picture it states: ‘To find a student at Saint John’s with more consistently high marks would indeed be difficult … as a feature writer for The Record he was known for his ornate style. He is preparing to join the Benedictine order.’ ” – Ghess 1942 Charles R. Thompson ’48 arrives, leaves, then returns in 1947 and graduates in 1948. 1943 Fr. Bartholomew Sayles SOT ’46, OSB arrives to the novitiate after graduating from Xavier University in New Orleans. He becomes Saint John’s first Black faculty member, teaching music starting in 1947. His 2006 obituary states he took pride “in being the third African American to be accepted into the Saint John’s community when few other Catholic seminaries would accept Black students.”
1945 Jonathan Patterson ’49, SOT ’53 arrives. He later took the name Fr. Bernadine Patterson.
1945 William Brooks ’49 arrives. He graduates with an English degree, then goes on to earn a law degree and becomes a major in the U.S. Air Force. 1945 Richard Francis ’49 arrives from New York. He graduates with a Chemistry degree and becomes a biochemist back in New York.
“A definite trend can be seen developing at Saint John’s in the 1950s: Black Bahamian dominance in population over American Blacks. Out of 13 Blacks on campus in this decade 8 were from the Bahamas.” – Ghess
1946 Fr. Aidan McCall ’50, SOT ’54, OSB arrives at Saint John’s. He takes his final vows as a Benedictine monk in 1948 and goes on to become Saint John’s second Black faculty member, teaching in the classics department starting in 1957. He also served as SJU’s Dean of Students from 1968-73. (His title was changed to Vice President of Student Affairs in 1971.) 1950 Joseph Adderley ’53, Charles Coakley ’53, SOT ’47, Adison Byrd and Russell Bartee are all freshmen at the start of a new decade. Adderley graduated in 1953 and became an administration staffer for a hospital in St. Paul. Coakley graduated the same year and became a priest in The Bahamas. Byrd and Bartee did not graduate. Also here were Leviticus ‘Lou’ Adderley, who graduated in ’55, Richard Juba ’52, Andrew Curry ’57, SOT ’60, Timothy McCartney ’57, William Ware ’58 and Cyril Paul ’59. 1950 “Maurice Britts graduated in ’50 and became an English professor at the University of Minnesota and a renowned author. He wrote a very interesting book coincidentally titled Blacks on White College Campuses.” – Ghess
1967 Norwood Banks ’71 becomes the first African American elected to the Saint John’s Student Council. 1968 Black SJU students establish an official campus club – the Organization of Afro-American Students (OAAS).
1968 A “Black Weekend” is held to promote solidarity among the Black students at Saint John’s and other Black college students in Minnesota. It becomes an annual event.
1969 The first Black-related course becomes part of the curriculum at Saint John’s – Afro-American History, taught by a visiting professor from Trinidad. He becomes the third Black faculty member at Saint John’s University, following Sayles and McCall. 1969 The OAAS asks for physical space for a Black Cultural Center. Having a center would create a Black experience on campus.
(Left to right) OAAS members Ron Morris, Rich Moore and Lewis Nixon
1960s
“Whereas the Saint John’s campus was a tolerable place for those Black students of the ’40s and ’50s, the new Black student looked about him and saw definite disadvantages of his rights and obvious injustices.” “In the decade of the 1960s there were exactly 50 Black students on the Saint John’s campus. Of that 50, 21 were from The Bahamas, 10 from Illinois, 5 from Missouri, 3 from Africa, 2 from Washington D.C., 1 from Pennsylvania and 1 from Texas.” “What would make a Black man come all the way up to the boondocks where the Black race is in a definite minority, and in a time when the Black man was trying to rediscover his heritage? He would have to abandon his social as well as cultural life.” – Ghess 1961 Wendell Edgecombe ’61, SOT ’65 earns his undergraduate degree. 1961 Preston Moss ’61, SOT ’65 earns his undergraduate degree. He goes on to become a priest in The Bahamas. 1962 Sylvestor Guillory ’62 graduates. 1963 Mathew Ahmann ’52, founding director of the National Catholic Council for Interracial Justice, becomes an unsung hero of the Civil Rights Movement. 1965 Fr. Godfrey Diekmann, OSB travels to Selma, Alabama and marches to Montgomery in protest of the denial of Black voting rights. “We have marched for a specific reason: We marched to procure Negro voting rights. Since the march drew national attention to the fact that Negroes are being denied their rights, we felt that the march served a very useful purpose.” – Fr. Godfrey Diekmann
Dr. Norman James
1970s
1970 A rally for political activist, academic and author Angela Davis is held in front of the Saint John’s Abbey Church. “Homer Brown was the President of OAAS at that time and he reported that while about 25 Black students were there, at no time were there ever more than 7 white students. That was a clear example of the apathy that existed. “As one Black student so aptly put it, they wanted to ‘promote Blackness not as a color but as an idea, an uplifting force. I think we’ve done enough to try and understand the white point of view these past 200 years. I think it’s their turn now.’ ” – Ghess
1970 Politician, diplomat and activist Andrew Young delivers the Saint John’s Commencement address. He is the first person of color to do so in Saint John’s history. 1970 “Approximately 20 Black students occupied the President’s Office on Nov. 18. The event took only a couple of hours and no violence occurred. This move proved to be the most important event that ever presented itself to a Black man on this campus. Our time as Black people is limited since we are fighting for our survival.”
“Obviously, the event did open some eyes, but it is a tragic thing that it took such measures as take-overs and riots before the white man would stand up and recognize the Black man as equal.” – Ghess 1971 The Organization of AfroAmerican Students (OAAS) changes its name to the Black Student Union (BSU). This was done so that every member of the Black race could be a member.
“The Black Student Union was truly at its zenith in the early ’70s with 75 members. It was then that they began to chart
specific courses, the first being to assist the University in the hiring of Black faculty members.” – Ghess the first to seek her party’s nomination for President (1972). 1973 Gospel singers Marion Williams and Arthur Thompson (of the famed Dixie Hummingbirds gospel group) perform on campus. 1973 Intercultural Week on campus includes African art and speaker Joanna Featherstone. 1973 Comedian, writer and social activist Dick Gregory speaks on campus and returns in 1977 for another speaking engagement. Other Black
Shirley Chisholm
1973 Dr. Norman James becomes the first Black lay person to teach at Saint John’s. He serves as an Asssistant Professor of Psychology and consultant to the SJU president for minority affairs. James taught a Blackrelated course and was also appointed moderator of the Black Student Union.
“I think it is necessary for Black kids to learn some kind of self-identity that does not include input from white people. There are times when you only want to be with certain groups of people.” – Dr. Norman James 1973 Rep. Shirley Chisholm speaks on campus. She was the first Black woman elected to the U.S. Congress (1968) and
Angela Davis
campus speakers that year include Oliver LaGrone, Undine Moore and Dr. Margaret Burroughs. 1973 The Paul Taylor Dance Company from New York does a twoweek residency and performance at Saint John’s. 1974 Angela Davis speaks at the Auditorium at Saint John’s. She makes another visit to Saint John’s in 2000. 1978 Georgia Senator and civil rights activist Julian Bond speaks on campus. Thirty years later, he returns to Saint John’s in 2008 to deliver the McCarthy Lecture.
80s 90s 00s 10s
A future issue of Saint John’s Magazine will present the remainder of SJU’s Black History timeline.
2020 marked the 50th anniversary the occupation of the President’s Office at Saint John’s University by a group of Black students.
Prior to the occupation, the Organization of African American Students (OAAS) had created a manifesto “A Proposition Concerning Black Survival.” To emphasize the urgency, the authors directed their missive to the Presidents rather than “channels” because “our time, as Black people, is limited since we are fighting for our survival.”
When the Administration did not meet the demands in the Proposition by the deadline of Nov. 16, approximately 20 Black students occupied Fr. Colman Barry’s office. Fr. Colman was out of town and the University had already planned its response: Sensitive files had been removed and lawyers alerted to the possible need for a county court injunction ordering the students to leave.
The injunction was delivered at SJU by sheriff’s deputies, who gave the students 30 minutes to leave the office or face arrest on contempt of court charges. Some of the students decided to leave, but nine remained. They were arrested, charged and jailed overnight. Many historical events like this one are presented to us as though they “just happened.” We record the date and move on, as though the occurrence was bound to occur that moment, and the causes are obvious and fully understood. That perspective obscures reality by smoothing over the myriad decisions made by multiple actors with complicated motives. It also misses a lot of the joy of history. I love the complexity or messiness of the story, and trying to figure out the puzzle. I believe that history is more engaging, and more relevant to our lives, if instead of inevitability and simple answers, we think about events as being contingent and the causes complicated and intertwined. My goal in this essay, then, is to invite you into an examination of why President Colman’s office was occupied on that day in November 1970. Your task is to sort through the evidence, weigh the various pieces and decide what matters most.
A PERIOD OF UNREST
If a standard U.S. history textbook were to mention the occupation, it would be glossed over with a line or two about the late 1960s and early 1970s being a period of student unrest, typically focused on opposition to the war in Vietnam. That is certainly true, but it misses the sense that small groups of students made decisions that determined where, when, how and if they would create a visible manifestation of their concerns.
Let me remind you of a few things shaping the atmosphere at Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict during the later 1960s. In July 1968, the Boards of the two schools voted to “declare the desirability of a merger to take place within the next 30 months,” a decision that suggested that the immutable division into single-sex institutions was not sacrosanct.
Student dissatisfaction with the relevance of their education led to a “Time-Out Day” in February 1969 where classes were replaced by discussions about how to make education more meaningful. Imagine that – students challenging the idea that faculty alone determined what and how students should learn.
In April, a Firehouse Theater
with History
The Black Student Experience at SJU 50 Years Ago
By Dr. Ken Jones
presentation at Saint John’s that included very brief nudity ended up pitting the authority of student organizations against the will of the Abbey. The former prevailed. The sense that students were in charge of the asylum continued in May when the Presidents accepted the concept of the Community Education Project, which was to be co-educational. Not only would male and female students be sharing some off-campus facilities, but their intellectual questions would shape much of the curriculum. The old order was definitely crumbling. The war in Vietnam did radicalize students at SJU/CSB, but the most significant events on these campuses didn’t occur until the 1969-70 academic year. In October, many boycotted classes as part of a national moratorium against the war. The following spring, SJU and CSB students joined a march in St. Cloud to protest the Cambodian incursion, with several Johnnies arrested for occupying the Federal building. Finally, the 1970 ROTC Spring Review at SJU had to be cancelled due to fear of protests. It was, in short, a time of turmoil when students, including white students from the upper Midwest, were no longer coloring within the lines.
DEMANDING CHANGE
Even before his death in 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King’s approach to Civil Rights was losing traction. King recognized that power rested with the dominant society, so he attempted to appeal to the conscience of whites by showing them that the nation was not living up to the “all men are created equal” ideal. While this was a realistic approach for a group that constituted approximately 12 percent of the population, it had the downside of implicitly acknowledging that Blacks were supplicants. Increasingly, especially for younger Blacks, King’s tactics were seen as too deferential, and the results he achieved were more cosmetic than real. In addition, large urban riots in the mid-to-late 1960s undermined King’s leadership by showing that many Blacks publicly rejected his core tenet of non-violence while simultaneously alienating an increasing percentage of whites. As the 1960s wore on, more Blacks – especially younger ones – turned to the Black Power movement that at least rhetorically insisted that oppressed people had to create change rather than asking for those in power to grant it. In the universe of higher education, this frequently led to student occupation of campus buildings to illustrate their demand for change. In The Black Campus Movement, Ibram H. Rogers (now Kendi) asserts that between 1968 and 1972 there were more than 300 institutions where Black students occupied spaces or otherwise broke the law to demand change. These ranged from historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU’s) like Howard, Ivy League schools like Cornell, state universities like Minnesota and San Francisco State, and small midwestern colleges like Augustana in Illinois. Not everyone occupied the president’s office, but it was a popular target because of its symbolic value.
A RISING TIDE
The baby boom meant rising numbers of 18-year-olds through the mid-1970s, and the percentage of Black college graduates grew significantly. Some of the new Black college students went to HBCU’s, but the movement of large numbers of Blacks out of the Jim Crow system of the South also greatly increased their access to local public institutions in the North and West. Of course, private colleges could also woo them once the loan and grant provisions of the Higher Education Act of 1965 “provided the financial keys to open up previously closed doors of access and opportunity.”
CULTURE SHOCK
Black students who came to Central Minnesota found it a daunting experience. There was some overt racism, such as the use of “boy” and “coon.” A white reporter for The Record who interviewed a number of Blacks in 1968 about the campus climate concluded that “overt manifestations of prejudice are at a minimum on campus (but) the thing that digs at many of the Blacks are the innuendos and subtleties” suggesting that they are “inadequate in various ways.”
One of the most cringeworthy stories comes from Ron Morris ’70, a Black pioneer who enrolled in 1966. Shortly after he arrived in Collegeville, Morris met a white Johnnie who kept trying to look at him from behind. When Morris asked what was going on, the white student said, “I thought you were supposed to have a tail.” Ignorance and overt racism certainly were present, but there was also a chilly climate simply because of the fear of engaging with the “other.” Interviewees point to examples of strong interracial friendships, but in general, people found it easier to hang out with their own group within the white, Bahamian or American Black communities on campus. As a result, people were less likely to work past the initial awkwardness. At the same time, however, when administrators asked if all Blacks wanted to live on the same floor in a dorm, the answer was that “it appeared … (they) do not wish to live separately from white students.” Beyond the racial microaggressions, the first Black students simply felt uprooted and tossed into a strange land. Fred Hill, who came from Chicago in 1969, remembers getting more and more uneasy as he and his mother saw nothing but farmland after they left the Twin Cities. Upon arriving at Saint John’s, the Abbey Church seemed intimidating, and when he didn’t see any Black faces, Hill told his mom not to turn the car off because they were driving right back to Chicago. His mother responded, “We just drove 10 hours. You are going here!” For someone from Chicago, Collegeville was deathly quiet, sterile and alien. Both the food in the Refectory and the music on the campus radio station were unfamiliar. Conversations about “home” were difficult because the white students from mostly rural areas had nothing but stereotypes about life on the Southside of Chicago, while urban Blacks couldn’t imagine anything positive about living on a farm. For
someone used to Chicago, the fact that a movie was shown every Saturday night in the campus auditorium didn’t exactly constitute an exciting distraction. And escaping to St. Cloud wasn’t an improvement: Shopping there meant being followed by white clerks who assumed that a young Black man was planning on stealing something. Perhaps the biggest irritant for Black men in the first few years was that they outnumbered the Black women at CSB by more than three to one. Interracial dating occurred but was socially discouraged. Marcus Ahmad ’70 told The Record in 1968 that “white Bennies who go on dates with Black Johnnies are ridiculed by their friends and looks of disapproval are encountered on both campuses.” One solution was road trips to schools with Black populations from the Twin Cities to Morris, but that didn’t fill the need for home. Lewis Nixon ’71 was so lonely that he estimates that he went back to Chicago 11 times during his first year, catching the Greyhound bus in front of the Abbey Church on Thursday evening and returning in time for his Monday classes. Leonard Smith ’74 summed up his view as follows: “You mellow out as you get older. I don’t hate Saint John’s, but it was a rough experience.”
Ron Morris CREATING A PLACE
Despite the microaggressions and sense of isolation in the north woods, most of the Black men who arrived in 1966 and 1967 made an effort to create a place for themselves within the dominant culture. Morris remembers joining whites in an on-campus fraternity, and Nixon took his ROTC obligation to the next level by joining the Pershing Rifles. Morris insisted on integrating the music at parties, telling the organizers that the first hour could be white music, but that he would provide Black sounds for the second hour. Nixon became a DJ on the campus radio station, where he had a regular 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. slot he called “Soul A-Go-Go.” Thom Woodward ’70, who had more interest in soul music than most whites, once loaned his collection of Stax recordings to Nixon for a dance. By 1967-68, Chicago native Norwood Banks ’71 became the first American Black to be elected to the SJU Student Council.
GETTING ORGANIZED
In the fall of 1968, Black students at the two colleges felt comfortable enough to move from “hanging out”
to “getting organized” in the sense of creating an official campus club. To reflect their combination of American Blacks, Bahamians and occasional students from African countries, they initially settled on the name “Organization of Afro-Affiliated Students.” From the beginning the OAAS looked both inward and outward. As Morris remembered, the goal was “more of a social thing – to have something of our own.” The OAAS was open to Black students only because “it is felt that an all-Black organization will be more capable of assisting Black students in overcoming the shock of entering a predominately white community.” At the same time, the OAAS intended to expand their understanding of their heritage and “make the average white student aware of the Black man, his unique problems and culture” by bringing various events to campus. Nixon also convinced Fr. Don LeMay, the SJU Admissions Director, to provide some money so he could go to Chicago and recruit, particularly more Black women.
In short, the response of Black students at SJU from the fall of 1966 through the spring of 1969 was generally to try to fit in to the majority culture while creating a space for themselves and hoping for more understanding. They didn’t make demands, used the standard student government structure in creating the OAAS and worked with sympathetic white administrators. The situation at SJU and CSB was much like it was at other private colleges that had begun to diversify their student bodies.
The First Big Question
So, what had happened by November 1970 that would help explain a very different outcome? Keep in mind that historians can’t run experiments to test hypotheses, and our evidence is limited to what is available to the writer. As a result, answers are always temporary and generally debatable.
Lewis Nixon
FISH OR CUT BAIT
The leaders of the two institutions apparently had not given any thought to the needs of the Black students who began to arrive in the late 1960s. Presidents Fr. Colman Barry of SJU and Dr. Stan Idzerda of CSB were quoted as welcoming them into the Benedictine “family” but that was it. When Fr. Colman talked about Blacks joining the “family” at SJU, he was no doubt thinking about the way the monastery had taken in several American Blacks in the 1930s and 1940s, including Dean of Students Fr. Aidan McCall, when they weren’t welcome in other Catholic houses. Or, he may have been thinking about the Bahamians and the smaller numbers of American Black students who had attended SJU from the 1920s on. These people were welcome to join the “family,” but they were expected to fit in. In other words, they had to abandon their culture for that of their new “family.” That didn’t work for many of the newcomers in the 1960s. As Fred Hill remembered of Fr. Colman, “That particular president at that time had little if any interest in any accommodation for minority students on campus. It is OK to have a white environment, but you should make some effort at accommodation to make it comfortable for those you invite. Saint John’s and Saint Ben’s did none of that. It was fish or cut bait.”
A survey of courses offered when the first American Black students arrived in 1966-67 doesn’t suggest any adjustment in the traditional curriculum. The first course that was explicitly linked
to issues of race was the History department’s “Race and Ethnic Groups in America,” taught in January Term 1968. In the next semester, Sociology offered a course on “Racial and Cultural Minorities.”
Black students took the lead in January 1969, offering a course titled “Adventures in Understanding.” Officially sponsored by Fr. Aidan’s office, the course was billed as discussing “various facets of the ‘race question’ with presentations by students, faculty and guest speakers.” In the spring of 1969, the only clearly designated course was History’s “Race in America.”
The paucity of offerings, however, did begin to draw a little wider faculty attention by spring 1969. Committees on both campuses discussed the “the lack of offerings in our curriculum in Afro-American culture” and in February 1969, it was suggested that perhaps the English department could pilot a course on Black writers in January 1970. Evidently trying to diversify the faculty beyond Fr. Aidan, the History department hired a priest from Trinidad in the fall of 1969. Over the next two years, he would teach “Afro-American History,” and a January Term class titled “The Black American Search: Stereotype v. Reality.” The first recognition that the new members of the “family” might have even broader needs came in February 1969, when a few faculty members called for a discussion of the “academic, personal and social welfare of the Black students at Saint John’s.” They “understand that the administration is exploring this area but feel that any further delay would be inexcusable and devastating regardless of any good intentions held by this institution.” By April, Saint John’s had created a Black Advisory Council that quickly concluded they should find a Black counselor to serve as a mentor and sounding board for minority students. They tried to find someone in St. Cloud or Minneapolis who could be on campus a day or two per week, but the search proved very difficult. It would be two years before a hire was made. Would Black students decide that promises and expressions of goodwill were not sufficient?
SEARCHING FOR SPACE
While Black students complained about the curriculum and the absence of Black faculty and staff, their most frequently voiced issue was the creation of a Black Cultural Center. The purpose was described as “for the education of whites and the consolidation of Black pride and spirit,” but also to “give us a home-like environment, a place to hang around.”
Students in the OAAS evidently started asking for a physical space of their own shortly after the club was created in late 1968, but the push became more insistent in 1969. A key step came two days after the Cornell University administration ended the occupation of a building there by promising a Black cultural center and Africana Studies major. On April 22, sophomore Jerome Barney and junior Ron Morris wrote to Fr. Aidan, asking for Frank House for a center that “will make a meaningful contribution to the Black and white racial crisis as well as prove a very natural Black perspective. Equally important is that we feel more than justified in asking for said center because we are striving for a complete university experience.” They pointed out that quick action was necessary since housing registration started in six days. Fr. Aidan’s response the next day could not have won him many friends in the OAAS. He noted that “we have been discussing possible locations for such a center for some time. In a place such as ours, space is at a premium.” He suggested that there might be some space in the Benet Hall basement, but money to fix and furnish it “would be a very touchy thing.” He did, however, offer to work with the Development office to raise funds, and reminded the students that “most worthwhile projects have begun small.” The discussion continued April 24 at a meeting of the Black Advisory Council where Morris called the Benet site “unacceptable,” and Barney continued to push for Frank House. Fr. Hilary Thimmesh “resurrected his proposal” to remodel the Day Student Lounge. Barney agreed that the lounge would work, but only if it was fully remodeled and if the OAAS received a written statement that this was only a temporary location. In response to faculty frustration with the vagueness of student demands, Barney agreed to provide drawings and a list of necessary furnishings. Fr. Aidan ended on a placatory note, saying
Fr. Aidan McCall
that “Saint John’s does want to do everything within its power to provide for Blacks attending college here an environment congenial to their tastes and needs,” and promised a decision before the end of April. A careful listener would have paid attention to the “within its power” phrase in Fr. Aidan’s response. The Development office sent a message to Fr. Colman April 28 warning that Fr. Aidan and the students had a list of furnishings and equipment that “could easily exceed 5 or 6 thousand dollars.” The message went on to warn that spending this kind of money on a Black center would invite complaints from “other” students.
It isn’t clear if Fr. Colman and Fr. Aidan talked, but on the next day the Dean sent a memo to Morris and Barney that could not have been well received. He reminded them that “this is only one” of his many concerns, and that he had told them that any decision would have to come from the Administrative Council and the Board because of the “large expenditure” involved.
The students must have complained about this at the earlier Black Advisory Council meeting, for Fr. Aidan wrote, “You will recall that when you said you felt that you were speaking to the wrong group that I reminded you of the fact that you had to start with this group.” Fr. Aidan then explained that he would present the proposal for consideration at the next Administrative Council meeting but suggested that the students should scale down the cost of their request, especially since the space would be temporary. The OAAS didn’t get what it wanted in the spring of 1969, but by September the Administrative Council had agreed to remodel the spaces that formally held the student post office and draft counseling center into a Black Cultural Center. No evidence on the Black student response has emerged yet, but excitement might have been tempered by the delay. The space wasn’t ready for use until near the end of the fall semester. And, as predicted, evidently there was some resentment expressed by white students about the creation of a Black space. In mid-December, even before the Center had been officially dedicated, the OAAS felt the need to defend it in a letter in The Record. They explained its importance and challenged white students to join them in “a sincere effort to reduce or eliminate racial friction.”
Was the delay and sense of resistance pushing Black students to a more dramatic statement of their existence? Did they feel that they needed to cut through the bureaucratic structure?
GROWING NUMBERS
The size of the Black population was growing on both campuses. In the early 1960s, Black students constituted no more than 0.5 percent of the student body on either campus, which usually meant a total of four to six students between the two campuses. By 196768, the number had grown to 18 on the two campuses, and then it shot up to 50 Black students by 1969-70. The fall of 1970 set new records in both totals (67) and entering first-year students (27). That year, Blacks constituted 3.1 percent of the student body, while at CSB the number was 2.7 percent. There also were approximately 18 Asian students at SJU and 10 at CSB, as well as a handful of Hispanic and Indigenous students. Taken together, in the fall of 1970 about 4.3 percent of the student body at SJU and 4.0 percent at CSB represented a background that was different from the dominant culture on campus. Is it possible that greater numbers brought not only more visibility, but more status and confidence? And less need to deal with people outside your group?
CAMPUS DIVISIONS
As the size of the Black population grew, divisions within it became more significant. Small numbers of Bahamians, trained in Benedictine schools at home, had attended Saint John’s for several decades. In the early 1960s the entire Black presence on both campuses consisted of perhaps a half-dozen Bahamians and someone from an African nation. By the end of the decade, the number of American Blacks would reach 21 at SJU and 11 at CSB. At the same point, there were 14 Bahamians and two Africans at Saint John’s, plus two Bahamian women at CSB. In 1970-71, between the two campuses, there would be 35 American Blacks, 26 Bahamians and six from various African countries.
American Black interviewees consistently note that they and the Bahamians tended to hang out socially, either at meals or when they threw parties. As Leonard Smith ’74 noted, “we all did the ‘Funky Bahama’ together.” At the same time, for the most part, there was a real division on how the two groups responded to their situation on campus. Charles Bush, who arrived from St. Louis in 1971, pointed out that the Bahamians had grown up middle class in a Benedictine environment that was very different from the poor, public school and largely Baptist world of the St. Louis people. More importantly, the Bahamians didn’t really have to come to terms with how they fit in the U.S. While American Blacks were struggling to define their place and gain acknowledgement that they belonged, the Bahamians had their own country. Furthermore, they knew they were going back to a significant future in a nation that gained its formal independence in 1971. As Herman Rudolph Sawyer ’74 explained, “Opportunity in The Bahamas was already there.” The goal was to get the degree and go home to take over their father’s business or run the government: This “was their legacy and they weren’t about to blow it.” Getting arrested, Pamela Woods ’74 remembered, might mean getting sent home. They were, in short, foreign students on an extended study abroad where they could observe but didn’t have a stake in what was going on in the host country. As a result, while a few Bahamians took part in the OAAS efforts to
create change, most didn’t. As Charles Bush explained, a lot of the American Blacks didn’t know how to react to this because they were used to assuming that people who looked like them would share the same values.
Did the American Blacks feel driven to do more out of frustration with the Bahamians?
DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES
Another important demographic issue might be the background of the Black American students. Of the first seven who enrolled at SJU in the mid-to-late 1960s, six were from Chicago, and four of those were from Hales Franciscan, an elite Catholic boys school for Blacks. The Hales students were not only Catholic, but the school saw mixing with whites as an important part of their curriculum. As a result, Hales students did weekend excursions with white youth groups in Wisconsin. The first student from St. Louis came to Saint John’s in 1968, and by the next fall St. Louis had replaced Chicago as the dominant source of Black American Johnnies. By the fall of 1970, it was totally lop-sided: St. Louis provided eight first-year students, there were two from Chicago and two from other parts of the country. The young men from St. Louis are generally portrayed as having very different backgrounds from most of the Chicago students. Very few of them were Catholic, they all went to public schools, and they typically came from farther down the income ladder than the Hales students. Chet McCoy ’72 recalled that he rarely had cause to interact with whites and didn’t have a white teacher until high school. His first significant interaction was with Denis O’Brien ’69, a recent SJU grad who worked in a Jesuit-run program for low-income students called Sophia House. Almost all of the St. Louis
Rich Moore
male students received tutoring and mentoring there, but a few attended the parallel program at North House. It seems pretty clear from several sources that most of the St. Louis students came in with what was described as an “aggressive” or “radical” attitude. Leonard Smith ’74 said that “we were big followers of Malcolm X – ‘by any means necessary.’ ” Chet McCoy mentioned that some of them proudly identified themselves as Communists or Socialists. Even if that was youthful braggadocio, McCoy made it clear that growing up in a manufacturing city – where strong unions were the ticket to a decent income – made the St. Louis men very prepared to stand up for their rights. The differences between the Chicago and St. Louis groups were also apparent to some faculty members. Professor Joe Farry offered the fullest account, explaining that the Chicago guys were “more low-key. Hales taught them that you could make it if you just follow the rules. The Jesuits who worked in places like Sophia often believed that it was necessary to transform the entire system.” The St. Louis perspective would soon permeate the OAAS. Homer Brown was elected president his first year in 1969, and Leroy Smith would follow in 1970, again as a first-year student. Leroy and Russell Larkin soon announced that they preferred to be called by African names, Amiri Damu Imara and Kwahu Shebazz Nkrumah. Leonard Smith, his classmate and fellow Saint Louis resident, characterized Russell as “really radical, while some people found him crazy.” Leroy was remembered as a brilliant and charismatic figure who, when invited to give the homily at the Student Mass in October 1970, used a classic Black Baptist approach to deliver a stunning exposition on “The Suffering Servant.” Farry remembers him as not only talented, but someone Fr. Aidan, the Dean of Students, respected. This seems significant since some of the St. Louis students “despised” Fr. Aidan as an “Oreo.”
ESCALATING TENSION
Although it seems as though there may have been enough difference in background between the St. Louis students and those from Chicago to explain the different situation in 1970, there are other factors that also may help explain the escalation in tactics. One is that the rapid influx of students in 1969 and 1970 shifted the balance among the Black American students. All eight of the American Blacks at CSB were either freshmen or sophomores. At SJU, there were 12 freshmen, eight sophomores, three juniors and only two seniors. Leonard Smith remembers that “the seniors just wanted to graduate, but the freshmen had nothing to lose and everything to gain. They were unhappy at SJU and felt pushed to the limit.” Given that we are typically more prone to a sense of righteousness and impatience in our early college years, the absence of older leadership may have allowed things to go further than they would have otherwise. Earlier arrivals like Ron Morris and Lewis Nixon agreed that “it was just a matter of time before it happened because they were bubbling when we were there. But we were still in charge. When we left, Fred (Hill) was still there, but I don’t know if he could be a calming influence.” According to Hill, he got outvoted.
Youthful impatience might have been particularly important in the areas of culturally appropriate courses and hiring Black staff and faculty. They would have heard that these were longstanding requests, but not known about some of the efforts in this direction and assumed that the older students just hadn’t pushed hard enough. There wasn’t any significant increase in courses in the fall of 1970, and the English department course on Black writers wasn’t offered until spring 1971, two full years after it had first been encouraged by a faculty committee. Furthermore, when it did become reality, it would be taught by two white monks. Similarly, the pursuit of a Black staff member to mentor minority students didn’t come to fruition until fall 1971.
Another area of frustration, especially among the St. Louis group, was the sense that they hadn’t gotten the financial aid they had expected. Admissions staff member Jim DeChaine ’65 wrote in February 1969 that “Some Black students had expected to receive total support from Saint John’s,” and that someone needs to review their finances. This may have been simply a miscommunication, but it nevertheless added to the sense that whites promised but didn’t deliver.
VERBALIZING FRICTION
By 1970 the American Black students also seemed more willing to verbalize a sense that the schools were benefiting from their presence. Part of this was the sense that the schools wanted some Black students so they could look liberal and feel like they were doing something good. One American Black was quoted as
saying that we are “being forced to blend in and diversify a predominantly white student body at our own expense.” More concretely, there were widely repeated rumors that the Federal government required schools to have a 10 percent minority enrollment to get Federal construction loans. Saint Ben’s had built dormitories, and talk of building what would become the Palaestra was buzzing around SJU. Since fundraising for the Palaestra was slow, stories circulated among Black students that the schools owed them because their presence was the key to getting federal loans.
THE PROPOSITION
The OAAS manifesto, “A Proposition Concerning Black Survival,” contained two specific demands. The first was that SJU and CSB immediately (by Nov. 16) allocate a total of $10,000 to the OAAS so that it could promote the “culture and unity among people of African descent on the twin campuses socially and politically” during the current 1970-71 school year. The second was that the two schools guarantee that they would continue to fund the OAAS in the future to an amount “decided by the Financial Committee of the Organization of African American Students with the assistance and consent of its members.”
Saint John’s had already provided a space for a Black Cultural Center. The new funding was intended to pay for furnishings (African relics, pictures, statues, bookcases, tables), equipment (film projector, typewriters, tape recorder) and library materials (books, magazines, newspapers, films, records). The money was also to go to “lectures and speakers, Black entertainers, dances, Black programs, convention representatives” and an “emergency fund.”
The authors of the “Proposition” explained that the “financial amount was not something that was fabricated at random but decided through careful planning” of what was needed to enable the OAAS to “for the first time” reach its goal. The aim was to achieve “outstanding effectiveness” in bringing African heritage to “contribute to the Westernized atmosphere of the Saint John’s University and the College of Saint Benedict community.” On the surface, the “Proposition” was about funding for the Organization of African American Students, but it was about much more than money for a student club. The OAAS was something they controlled, and in the absence of other gains became the indicator of institutional support for Blacks on campus. The demands in the “Proposition” were thus both a way of demanding acknowledgement that they mattered, and at the same time payback for a host of perceived failures by the schools.
The authors make it clear that they are not supplicants negotiating for a little larger budget in several ways. They are instead demanding and insisting on charting their own course. First, the “Proposition” rejects the whole bureaucratic process that they had found frustrating. Instead of a request, they ignore channels and demand action by the Presidents. In addition, they presented an ultimatum that had to be addressed in a span of two working days and a weekend.
Furthermore, the argument isn’t about more, but rather insuring their survival. The “Proposition” ends with the assertion that “we cannot survive the way conditions stand now here on the twin campuses.” The dollar amount in the first demand was by itself assertive: $10,000 is the equivalent of $66,664 in 2020 dollars. To put it another way, it was significantly more than the cost of a faculty member at the time. The “Proposition” asserted that it wasn’t a random amount, but it certainly seems that way. The sense that it was a rebuttal to Fr. Aidan’s insistence
that they explain their needs in detail and trim prices comes across in lines about “it being an insult for us, as Black people, to think that the administrations would expect us to pursuit (sic) this course of dealing with materials and prices precisely … it is downright ludicrous to denote specific prices …” The second demand is even bolder in that it completely eliminates the whole concept of limits by demanding that the institutions essentially write a blank check for the future by making a commitment to provide whatever level of funding the OAAS decided it needed.
Shortly after the occupation, J.O. Grantham, an African American business executive, reached out to Fr. Colman to offer his advice in dealing with members of the OAAS. Grantham explained that there are two main themes “running through the Black problem in America today. One is I want to escape the discrimination I have experienced in the past and want the same chance as other people in America. I want to be considered as a person regardless of color, creed or background.” The other is “I see very little hope of ever escaping my blackness. In fact, the more I accept this point and look at the fact that I am Black, the more I like the idea of being separated from white America. So, I will build my life without ‘Whitey’. I will exploit him wherever I can to improve my own economic and political position.” Grantham concludes: “Every young Black student in America today is torn between these two positions. Among bright young college-age students the latter position seems to be emerging as the most popular.” So, what is your conclusion? What motivates these young people in 1970? Why do they write the “Proposition” and occupy the President’s office? Does the “Proposition” reflect a 1970s version of Black Power that is shorn of the threat of violence but nevertheless wants to be separate from white society? Or is it still somehow following the King vision of hoping for white support to create a world where whites and Blacks live in equality and harmony? Or is it somewhere in between? “People might ask, ‘If you hate the place, why don’t you leave?’ “I would say to them that if I did that I would have to pack up and leave America, because America is Western culture, and the only way is to stay here and face it,” remarked 18-year-old sophomore Russell J. Larkin.
This historical document is the first part of a larger project by Dr. Ken Jones, Professor of History at Saint John’s/Saint Benedict and recipient of the 2020 Sister Mary Grell/Robert Spaeth Teacher of Distinction Award.
PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE OCCUPIERS
Those arrested in the President’s office on Nov. 16, 1970 were: Homer Brown (Soph., St. Louis) Charles Harvey (FY, St. Louis) Russell Larkin aka Kwahu Shebazz Nkrumah (Soph., St. Louis) Leroy Smith aka Amiri Damu Imara (FY, St. Louis) Michael Rolle (Jr., Bahamas) Madie Anderson (FY, Arkansas) Maeola Brunson aka Maisha Lamumbah Tawfiq (Soph., Arkansas) Elizabeth Harris (FY, Chicago) Shirley Sanders aka Furasha Nkrumah (Soph., Mississippi) Those who were likely to have been in the President’s office, but who chose to leave rather than be arrested:
William (Frank) Carroll (FY, St. Louis) Reginald Johnson (FY, St. Louis,) Fred Larry (FY, St. Louis) Fred McDonald (Soph., St. Louis) Carl Martin (FY, St. Louis) Leonard Smith, (FY, St. Louis)
Norwood Banks
