ON JESUIT HIGHER EDUCATION Spring 2011 • Number 39

“We hold these truths to be self evident...”

Excellence: Where Is It? Excellence & Honors Programs • Best Practices • • Obstacles • Talking Back SPRING 2011 NUMBER 39

Members of the National Seminar on ON JESUIT HIGHER EDUCATION Jesuit Higher Education

Lisa Sowle Cahill Boston College Excellence: Where Is It? Harry R. Dammer Scranton University

Margaret Haigler Davis Spring Hill College Features Susanne E. Foster 2 A Characteristic Impulse Toward Excellence, John W. O’Malley, S.J. 5 Aspiring to Be Great, Michael McFarland, S.J. Patrick J. Howell, S.J. 9 At the Frontier and in the Heart: Jesuit Schools, Kent Hickey Paul V, Murphy 13 HUMBITION: Excellence in Jesuit Business Education, William J. Byron, S.J. 18 Coming Home: An Immersion Experience, Amanda Malik John J. O’Callaghan, S.J. 22 Obstacles to Excellence, Harry R. Dammer Stritch School of Medicine Loyola University Chicago 24 “Controlled By A Creed?” Chad Flanders Mark P. Scalese, S.J. Fairfield University

Raymond A. Schroth, S.J. America Magazine Excellence Aparna Venkatesan 27 Partnership with Pests, Karen Price University of San Francisco

Charles T. Phipps, S.J. 29 EXCELLENCE - Marquette University • Boston College • Scranton University Saint Joseph’s University • Spring Hill College • Rockhurst University Loyola Marymount University • • University of San Francisco Seattle University • College of the Holy Cross • Fordham University Conversations is published by the National Seminar on Jesuit Higher Education, which is jointly spon- sored by the Jesuit Conference Board and the Board of the Honors Programs Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. The opinions stated 34 Honors Programs at Jesuit Institutions: Learning and Joy, Harry P. Nasuti herein are those of the authors 39 Something Special at Scranton, Ronald H. McKinney,S.J. and not necessarily those of the JC or the AJCU. 43 What We Did Last Summer — Intellectually, Constance Mui and John Sebastian 45 What New Orleans Taught Me, Jacqueline McSweeney

Comments and inquiries may be addressed to the editor of 41 Best Practices - Le Moyne University • Conversations • Rockhurst University Raymond A. Schroth, S.J. /Loyola University Baltimore America House 106 W. 56th Street New York, NY, 10019-3596 Phone: 212-515-0142 46 Alpha Sigma Nu: A SHORT HISTORY, Beatrice Henson-O’Neal e-mail: [email protected] 47 ALPHA SIGMA NU Scholarship, Loyalty, Service: Joan Van Hise

For information about subscriptions to Conversations: Charles T. Phipps, S.J. Talking Back Secretary to the National Seminar on Jesuit Higher Education 49 Sex and the Young Adult Catholic College Student, Richard G. Malloy, S.J. Santa Clara University 500 El Camino Real 53 The Dishonesty of “Cores Lite,” D. R. Kouka Santa Clara, CA 95053-1600 55 How Jesuit Stars Can Win the Core Wars, Justin Daffron, S.J. Phone: 408-554-4124 57 Math and Gospels, Richard Escobales Fax: 408-554-4795 e-mail: [email protected]

Conversations back issues are available online at Photo Collage http://epublications.marquette. edu/conversations/ 8 Regis University • 44 Wheeling Jesuit University Design and layout by Pauline Heaney. 59 Book Review: Charles R. Gallagher, S.J. Printed by Peacock Communications, Maplewood, N.J. From the Editor

Excellence. Where is it? On Doing Things Well

xcellence, like beauty, is often in the eye of the In the Jesuit educational tradition, therefore, the high beholder. But in the intellectual life — and especial- school, college, or university is not really “Jesuit” if anything ly in the education profession — we must use less than one’s best becomes acceptable. There is a correla- Ewords as precisely as we can. Inevitably, as Michael tion between how well students perform and how much McFarland, S.J. suggests in his essay, the words “to excel” they are challenged to attempt. Even a college with fewer have the ting of an athletic competition in their resonance. resources — low endowment, students less prepared by It reminds me of a story during the First World War. The their high schools, space shortage, etc. — can pursue elo- troops on the ship on the way to France decided to entertain quentia perfecta, which translates as: demanding lists of themselves by staging a boxing match between the army and required classic readings, daily written assignments, tough the navy, and my father was chosen to fight for the army. All sanctions on plagiarism, frequent exams or quizzes, and assembled on the deck, the bell rang and the boxers came out insisting that every student learn how to stand up in front of of their corners and started sparring around. The fighters got an audience and speak intelligently for ten minuets without into a clinch and the sailor said, “No need to overdo this. Let’s saying “kinda,” “like” or “y’know.” The classic image of the just put on a show for them and take it easy.” Jesuit-trained young man or woman for a long while has “No,” said my father. Let each man do his best.” And he been the one who could analyze and argue rationally. That knocked the sailor out of the ring. is a goal to which every institution can aspire, regardless of Yet, excellence is not synonymous with winning. Watch the size of the football stadium. the marathon runners who stumble across the finish line two Excellence has many faces. In this issue we try to answer hours after the winners have crossed. Some are handi- the question: Excellence, where is it? To some degree we have capped, elderly, very young, blind or lame. They have focused on standard sign posts — honors programs, Alpha excelled in stamina, determination, character. The runners Sigma Nu, etc — but we have reached out. We wrote directly have a saying, ”To compete is to win.” to the presidents of all 28 Jesuit colleges and universities and The various magazine rankings — U. S. News and World invited them to send short descriptions and pictures of one Report and Washington Monthly — are useful, but not the person or activity which illustrates excellence on their campus. last word. Jesuit schools, for the most part, do well. The They responded with a rich list of scholars, an athletic coach, London Times Higher Education World survey includes teaching methods, a book fair, student research, and service Boston College (161) and (164) projects. They demonstrate that the ideal Jesuit student is not among the top 200 universities in the world. U.S. News lists just a walking brain but a complex person who travels, works, Georgetown, Boston College, Fordham, Marquette, St. Louis, runs, competes, prays, and serves. and Loyola Chicago among the top 191 national universities We have opened our discussion with general articles on and 19 Jesuit schools among the best regional universities, the history of excellence as a Jesuit concept, suggested most in the first 10-20 in their regions. Xavier is singled out norms by which it may be achieved, the high school gener- for its first year experience, Loyola New Orleans for its serv- ation approaching our gates, a challenge for excellence in ice learning, Georgetown and St. Louis for study abroad, and professional education, a student’s report on an excellent Saint Peter’s for diversity. service experience, and a warning that we may still have a Washington Monthly, using different criteria, lists eight way to go. Examples follow. Jesuit schools among its top 50 master’s universities, and seven Finally, our Talking Back section exemplifies how the in the first 90 among 258 national universities. Holy Cross, our main goal of this publication may be achieved, with three only strictly liberal arts college, is 15 out of 252. First Things essays following up on the previous “Core Wars” theme and magazine offers 100-word sketches evaluating 103 colleges and one adding more insights to our Donna Freitas interview on universities, including seven Jesuit institutions, on how well the hook-up culture on our campuses. And now we wel- they conform to the editors’ conservative flavor of Catholicism. come your responses. I’m sure we may have left someone or Charts list no Jesuit schools among the 12 “most Catholic” and something out. ■ four among the “least Catholic.” Their conclusions can be enjoyed even when they cannot be believed. RASsj.

Conversations 1 A Characteristic Impulse Toward Excellence “We are not born for ourselves alone.”

By John O’Malley, S.J.

ny school worth talking about into the ethos of the order and thence into the ethos wants to excel. That’s why it hires of the schools. I can point out three sources for it. coaches to produce winning Though the sources can be distinguished from one teams. That’s why it sets up search another, they are so interrelated that they become committees to hire the best facul- one in their historical manifestations. ty. That’s why it sends out agents The first source is the person of Ignatius himself. to recruit the best students, and Like the founders of other orders, he impressed traits why it spends lavishly to build the of his personality on the . He is often smartest classrooms and the most described as a “Renaissance man.” That designation attractive residence halls. Striving is true up to a point, but we must remember that he for excellence is hardly a monopoly of Jesuit schools, was born into a noble family in which the chivalric andA we should beware of making silly claims about ideals of the medieval knight valiant were still very our purchase on it. much alive. Before his religious conversion, his Nonetheless, we are heirs of a tradition of edu- favorite reading was stories about great deeds of cation that stretches over four and a half centuries in such heroes, and on his sick bed at Loyola he made which excellence was a consistent leit-motif, some- St. Francis and St. Dominic over into great achievers times implicit and subtle but always in play. It had its for God like the knights of old. As he decided to imi- origins in the origins of the Jesuit order and especial- tate those saints, he determined he too would con- ly in the main founder, Saint Ignatius. It got woven quer souls and do great deeds for God.

2 Conversations As he progressed in the spiritual life, he purified As a classic the book by definition is susceptible, the ideal, but he never lost the desire to achieve within clear parameters, to a range of interpretations, “great things” for the king he now served. That and in the course of its long shelf-life it has in fact desire manifested itself in a number of ways. undergone a considerable range. The text itself sug- Especially pertinent for us academics is his decision gests and even encourages a certain malleability of per- when he was about thirty-three to go “spend some spective on what is to be accomplished by “doing the time in studies in order to help souls.” In the con- Exercises.” When they are undertaken in their entirety, crete, that meant going to a university, which meant however, in their full thirty-day form, the motif of “dis- he had first to learn Latin. I find it remarkable that tinguishing oneself” emerges clear and strong. this man, who according to sixteenth-century stan- The Exercises, then, are the second source of dards was well into middle-age, would sit in a class- striving for excellence. They are a distillation of key room with pre-pubescent boys to try to drum into his elements in the Christian tradition of spirituality but reluctant head the rudiments of Latin and then matriculate into a university, where in this period of history students entered in the early teens. Equivalently, Ignatius would Much more remarkable, however, is the list of universities in which he tried to pursue his goal— be studying at Stanford, Johns Alcalá, Salamanca, and, finally, Paris. These ranked Hopkins, and Harvard. among the “top ten” or even top five on the conti- nent of Europe. In our day he would equivalently be taking on Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and Harvard. as interpreted by Ignatius. Their full program is clear- Ignatius, though academically not particularly well ly impregnated with his personality. A key moment equipped to do so, not only tackled the best, but in them, as everybody acknowledges, is the contem- gravitated toward them with a characteristic impulse plation on “The Kingdom of Christ” placed between toward excellence. the First and the Second Weeks. In the Third Point He was not a great writer, but he produced a (n. 97) Ignatius makes clear the level of response to classic of spiritual literature, the Spiritual Exercises. the call to serve Christ that is expected: “Those who

Conversations 3 wish to give greater proof of their love and to dis- suit of justice and right order in society that might tinguish themselves...will not only offer themselves even cost one’s life. He proposed the ideal of high entirely...but will make offerings of greater value courage and magnanimity, of undertaking “not only and of more importance...” Here is the first and most great deeds and ones useful in the highest degree to significant font of the magis with which we are all the common good,” but also “those fraught with so familiar—a code word for excellence. danger both to life itself and to many other goods The central moment in the Second Week comes that make life worth living (ibid. I.20.66).” This text with the considerations Ignatius provides in prepa- was taught in all the Jesuit schools, and many Jesuits ration for the “election” or major decision the indi- therefore knew passages from it by heart. vidual is facing. In those considerations—the ost remarkable, however, is the “Meditation on the Two Standards,” “On the Three fact that the passage from which I Kinds of People,” and the “Three Kinds of just quoted was, without acknowl- Humility”—the same spirit prevails. In the last of edgment, paraphrased and incor- these, for instance, the “third kind” of humility, porated into the Constitutions which is the one held up as the ideal to strive for, is Ignatius and his secretary, Juan described as “the most perfect kind.” Alfonso de Polanco, wrote for the Much, much more could be said about the Mmembers of the Society of Jesus. The passage occurs Exercises in this regard, but the third source is less in Part IX that deals with the superior general and well known and appreciated. It was only when that includes a list of the qualities he should have. As Ignatius rather late in life moved to Rome with his is often noted, those qualities are ideals held up not companions that he encountered Renaissance cul- only for the general but for every Jesuit—by exten- ture in its home. Almost immediately young men sion for everybody engaged in enterprises in the tra- began joining the order who were imbued with it. ditions of the Society. The passage echoes Cicero. To make a long story short, this led to the momen- The general must possess “magnanimity and fortitude tous decision to begin to operate schools that for the of soul.” Those qualities will lead him into “initiating most part would operate according to the ideals of great undertakings...and persevering in them with humanist educators of Renaissance Italy. constancy and not losing courage in the face of con- What attracted the Jesuits to the humanist pro- tradictions, even though they come from persons of gram was its student-centered focus, unlike the uni- high rank and power” and even though they may cost versities, which were by definition professions-cen- him great suffering and even loss of life. There is something, I believe, in the human spir- it that urges us to do our best, but, as we know all Deeds fraught with danger too well, we do not always heed that something. Attending a little bit to the tradition of which we are a part can perhaps help us pay closer heed and tered. The humanist program was not only student- make it operative in our common enterprise. I have centered but had quite specific ideas about the kind provided a scrawny sketch of some elements of the of graduate it could help produce—somebody striving for excellence that is a component of the devoted to the public weal, somebody devoted to Jesuit tradition and that has manifested itself in so the service of others. Cicero had articulated the ideal many ways in the history of the order. Every school centuries earlier, “We are not born for ourselves strives for excellence. So do we. We have a charac- alone” (De officiis, I.7.22). That pagan ideal the teristic impulse toward it. ■ Jesuits found more than compatible with their Christian ideals and made it their own. Centuries after Ignatius, Pedro Arrupe almost certainly unwit- tingly paraphrased Cicero when he crystallized the John W. O’Malley, S.J., author of The First Jesuits ideal in the expression “Men and women for others.” and What Happened at Vatican II, is university But Cicero proposed an ideal beyond mere serv- professor at Georgetown University. ice. He proposed an ideal of self-sacrifice in the pur-

4 Conversations Aspiring to Be Great We must only play to win

By Michael McFarland, S.J.

n his talk to leaders from Jesuit higher education discuss five elements that I believe are essential for institutions from around the world gathered in achieving the academic excellence that all of our col- Mexico City last April, Fr. General Adolfo Nicolás leges and universities must strive for if we are to be threw out this challenge: “Can Jesuit universities faithful to our missions. today, with energy and creativity, continue the The first is talent. Great organizations build around legacy of Jesuit learned ministry and forge intel- great people, those who have the ability, commitment lectual bridges between Gospel and culture, faith and drive to carry the organization to the highest possi- Iand reason, for the sake of the world and its great ques- ble level. That is especially true in higher education, tions and problems?” As he detailed in his talk, he sees where the work is so personal and specialized. At the a compelling need for Jesuit higher education to have a center of this is the faculty, who have primary responsi- strong voice in the important intellectual debates and bility not only for the experience and student cultural movements of our day and a major impact on learning, but also for research, innovation, curriculum critical social issues, such as poverty, human rights and development and the overall intellectual life of the insti- the environment. tution. Moreover, it is through the faculty that the insti- This ambitious vision can only be realized if our tution has its greatest impact on the wider society. In institutions strive to maximize their impact in forming recruiting faculty, therefore, our institutions must look the generation of leaders, becoming significant cen- for candidates that have the interest and ability to ters of intellectual life and serving as resources and ani- mators for community development. This is the Jesuit principle of the magis, by which we always strive for the The teacher who is engaged greater, not out of pride or ambition, but because we believe that what we do matters, and it must be done in in serious intellectual pursuits the very best way possible. Every one of our institutions brings an energy and must aspire to be great, in a way that is appropriate to its time, place and circumstances; and that begins with freshness to the classroom. our academic life, which is at the core of everything we do. Anything less is a betrayal of the mission we have been given by the Society of Jesus. become outstanding teachers, first of all. In addition, I have had the good fortune of studying and work- they should have the quality of mind, intellectual ing at a number of great institutions that have a signifi- engagement, preparation and passion to pursue serious cant impact nationally and even globally, and have intellectual or artistic work and make substantial contri- worked with colleagues at several others. Especially butions to their fields. They should come from programs influential was my time at Bell Laboratories in its heyday, where they have been held to high standards, so that when it had some of the best minds in the world, and they have a sense of what it takes to achieve excellence, produced a long line of dazzling innovations that signif- both for themselves and for their students. They should icantly changed the way we live. From those experi- also have the understanding and commitment needed to ences I have learned something about what it takes to be part of a community of shared values and mutual build a premier academic institution. In this article I will support. When the intellectual life is the foundation of an

Conversations 5 tion and influence, but also ensures that the faculty member will remain intellectually alive and current in the discipline and will have more to offer students both in the classroom and in student research, internships and other individualized work. The teacher who is engaged in serious intellectual pur- suits brings an energy and freshness to the classroom that deepens and enriches the student experience. Finally, faculty members need to take on their share of the advising, committee work and other service that are such an important part of the community’s life. These activities may not be glamorous or satisfying, but they are necessary for any institution to function well, and should be shared equitably. Expectations are not effective unless there is accountability. There must be ways of measuring performance and its effectiveness and providing good feedback. That feedback is an essential part of learning; and we should all be learning organiza- tions. That is how one gets better and avoids medi- ocrity and stagnation. Recognizing positive accom- plishments and contributions is every bit as impor- tant as an incentive as identifying areas that need improvement. At Holy Cross administrators are eval- uated annually through a system that compares College of the Holy Cross. numerous metrics related to the performance of their divisions to goals set at the beginning of the year. institution’s mission, as it is with our colleges and uni- They also receive periodic feedback on their effec- versities, “hiring for mission” has to start with candi- tiveness as leaders from surveys of their supervisors, dates’ potential to contribute to that life. peers, subordinates and other colleagues. It is also necessary to create the conditions Faculty need regular evaluation and feedback under which the talent can flourish. That requires also, and not just before promotion and tenure deci- above all maintaining high expectations. People tend sions. That should begin with the effectiveness of to perform up – or down – to expectations. We see their teaching, their most important function. One part that in our students; and it is true for us as well. A of that is their classroom performance, based on stu- high performing organization must set high stan- dent evaluations, teaching materials and other evi- dards for its members. For faculty that starts with dence. It should also include measures of collective true excellence in teaching, which includes present- effectiveness at the department, program and general ing difficult material in a clear and understandable education levels, through the assessment of student manner; stimulating students’ interest, curiosity and learning outcomes, which is increasingly being seen engagement; pushing students to achieve at a high as an essential component of quality in higher educa- level; providing timely and helpful feedback; over- tion. Scholarship and other professional development seeing independent work; and staying on the lead- should be evaluated in terms of the usual disciplinary ing edge of the discipline. There should also be con- standards for publication, peer review, grants and tinued growth and innovation in pedagogy, new similar measures. That is the best guarantee of depth courses and expertise. Moreover, a faculty member and quality. Service, leadership and other contribu- should be expected to be a productive scholar, artist tions to the department, institution and wider commu- or professional. This is important in any academic nity should also be factored in. institution, though the extent and level may be dif- It is just as important that faculty and others be ferent, depending on the specific character and mis- provided with the environment they need to meet sion of the school. This type of professional devel- high expectations. That includes several important opment not only enhances the institution’s reputa-

6 Conversations dimensions. Facilities are a very visible one. Space aspect of the truth. As Thomas Aquinas often matters. It can limit what we can achieve in class- reminded us, God is Truth, so the search for truth is rooms, laboratories, studios and other work spaces; ultimately a search for God, an important dimension or it can open up many exciting new possibilities. It of “finding God in all things,” which is at the heart influences the way we interact and even how we of Jesuit spirituality. feel about ourselves, one another and our institu- To be true to our Jesuit heritage, we should be tions. The quality of our facilities and how well they known for our relentless, uncompromising drive for are maintained also sends a strong message about excellence. I came across one especially compelling our institutional commitment to excellence. In addi- example of this in the life of Dr. Mortimer Buckley, tion, there are many other ways in which our invest- a Holy Cross graduate who became the head of car- ment in the academic enterprise affects its quality, diac surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and including libraries, support staff, start-up funds, a professor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Buckley research grants, equipment and travel. was an outstanding and innovative surgeon who Just as important are the many intangible ele- counted many famous people among his patients. ments that help shape the environment. These include a sense of collegiality, both within depart- ments and across the institution, and a creative, stim- Relentless, uncompromising drive ulating intellectual atmosphere, where bright, pro- ductive scholars from both inside and outside the He was best known, however, for having produced institution are brought together to share their ideas, some of the finest cardiac surgeons in the world insights and work. We have found that these factors today. Upon his death in October 2008, The Harvard can be just as important in attracting and retaining Gazette wrote the following: the best faculty as the more tangible ones, such as Professionally Mortimer Buckley combined salary, workload and institutional standing. raw intelligence, a prodigious memory, great Admittedly, many of our institutions have very limit- ed resources; and none of us is so wealthy that we technical facility, tenacity in the care of patients, can do everything we would like. We all have to an unbelievable work ethic, and absolute dedi- make difficult tradeoffs among student needs and cation to teaching with an inability to accept wants, athletics, marketing political interests and so anything less than the complete commitment of on. Nevertheless, in these as in all the decisions we his residents to learning and the total dedication make, our mission requires that those elements that of the staff to the welfare of the patients.… enhance academic quality be given a high priority. While Mort could make accommodations for he fifth element I will discuss here, open- lesser degrees of intelligence or native surgical ness, is especially important in creating an environment in which academic excellence skills, he accepted nothing less than a resident’s can flourish. Everyone must have the free- absolute best efforts to try to be perfect – no cut- dom to ask hard questions, challenge ting corners, no half-hearted attempts, only total accepted “truths,” and think about issues in involvement…. As his residents quickly learned, Tunconventional ways. That is how new ideas and Dr. Buckley was an intense competitor. In car- deeper understanding emerge. At Bell Labs I often diac surgery he had to be; his opponent was heard the saying, “You don’t invent the transistor by death. In the care of patients Mortimer Buckley trying to improve the vacuum tube.” Significant only played to win. breakthroughs require new approaches. That kind While our work may not have the life-or-death of freedom can seem threatening, especially when it drama of cardiac surgery, we must realize nonethe- leads to conflict with established norms, whether less that the stakes are high. We are instruments of they are scientific, social, political, moral or reli- God’s saving, healing work in the world. That gious. However, we have to trust the process and the ability, good will and integrity of the people involved. Rigorous academic inquiry and peer review are generally self-correcting and lead to fuller Michael McFarland, S.J., is president of the understanding, thus bringing us closer to some College of the Holy Cross.

Conversations 7 REgis University

8 Conversations At the Frontier and in the Heart: Jesuit Schools Today’s high school students, tomorrow yours

By Kent Hickey

t’s said that the only place without tension is the changes, the Pope also exhorted the Society to “…faith- grave. If that’s true, Jesuit secondary schools are fully help the Church” within its heart. alive and well. It’s a good tension but, even so, it This image - pushing forward to new frontiers while doesn’t always make for easy living. . . . remaining in the heart of the Church – helps us better Our companions in Jesuit universities understand the heightened tensions that are surfacing at know this tension well. We share the same ideals a number of intersecting points. I suggest to our fellow and principles that shape who we are and what educators in Jesuit higher education that often these ten- Iwe do. We also share the understanding that, although sions are first realized most acutely at the high school our excellence is born from these principles, they do not level. These tensions are shaping our work and also coexist in perfect harmony. We are, for example, people shaping the students we work with - students who will of the magis, but also of cura personalis. Therefore, we soon land on your doorsteps. strive for the more, but also care for the person. This striving and caring often create friction. Preferential option for the poor/an Leaders at our schools are charged with the addi- tional responsibility of exercising cura apostolica, care option for the middle class for the apostolic work (the school itself), and this layer chafes as well. What is good for the institution is not We are fortunate that the wealthy are attracted to our always good for the individual, and this sometimes leads high schools and universities. Many of our benefactors to hard choices and the tension that comes with them. grew up in middle income, blue collar families who We are not Jesuit schools - middle, secondary, or uni- “made it” because of the excellent education they versity – if any of these basic principles are missing. So, it received from Jesuits in the decades after WWII. This follows, we are also not truly Jesuit without the tension education was heavily subsidized by “vow of poverty” that’s produced as they rub up against each other. This labor, a subsidy that no longer exists. Generally 80 per- dynamism fuels our shared “way of proceeding.” cent of a school’s expenses come from labor costs, and There is clearly, however, a greater tension in the air our tuition rates reflect the rightful commitment to pay in secondary schools than the normal tension that exists just wages and benefits to faculty and staff. simply because of who we are. Decree 1, a document As these costs necessarily rise, so do our tuition written in response to Pope Benedict’s remarks to the rates. We rely upon a solid core of wealthy parents to Jesuits at General Congregation 35, describes a dual not only pay these higher rates but also to join other challenge that points to the source of this extra-ordinary benefactors in contributing to capital and other needs. tension. Pope Benedict reminded the Society of Jesus of However, we are also committed to Fr. Pedro Arrupe’s the essential role it plays at the edges and urged Jesuits call to exercise a preferential option for the poor. This to continue to “…reach new social, cultural, and reli- frontier, to reach out to those on the socio-economic gious frontiers.” However, during this time of complex margins of society, rightfully requires that we provide financial aid to those in need, and our schools are

Conversations 9 Technology/Relationships We don’t allow cell phones Technology isn’t just accelerating, it is accelerating expo- universally committed to this ideal. (This is especially nentially. The rate of advancement pushes us toward true at Jesuit Nativity and Christo Rey schools.) ever expanding frontiers of possibility – a mostly posi- What has become, however, of the middle class in tive development for education. This does not mean, for Jesuit schools - the heart of our schools throughout most example, that the textbook as we know it may die. That of the 20th century? Our ever increasing tuition rates and death is a given. The only question is what will replace the diminishment of the middle class in the United States it. Will it be the multiple function flexibility of the i-pad over the past decade (especially in regards to solid blue or will we see more benefit in the limitations of the pure collar jobs) are creating donut schools. The wealthy can e-reader that is the Kindle? What new product will afford our tuition and we provide assistance to the poor, emerge within the next few years (or months) that will but there is an ever widening gap in the center where knock both off the shelves? the middle class used to reside. But these questions are no different than “pencil vs. pen” or “vhs vs. beta” debates. The only difference is

10 Conversations rate of change. We need to approach the frontiers of et, American culture, with its emphasis on new technologies pragmatically: adopt smarter tools that standardized testing, merit pay for teachers work; disregard those that don’t; and stay clear of tech- for content driven results, and inclusion on no-fadism lest we mindlessly bounce from one trendy “best of” lists based upon quantitative rather teaching tool to the next. than qualitative measurements, does not Further, our technological exploration must recog- value the role of reflection in education. It’s nize that tools, however smart, don’t reside at the heart akin to Wall Street’s valuation of companies: of Jesuit education. Our heart is relational. The early short term earnings reports take precedence companions were friends in the Lord and friends with Yover less sexy building blocks like research and develop- each other. Their meetings were characterized by rau- ment that yield long term results. cous laughter. Their letters were tear-stained. They were Seattle Prep’s principal, Dr. Matt Barmore, speaks pas- bold enough to pray to the persons of the Trinity in col- sionately about the goal of Jesuit education being formation, loquies, conversations between friends. To the early not information (and at magical moments even transforma- companions their friend, Ignatius, seemed to be all love. tion). But formation only comes with reflection, and that Technology connects, but it can also isolate. That’s requires a sacrifice on our part. We could find ourselves in why we don’t allow students to use their cell phones at a more isolated frontier of greater wisdom but lower stan- Seattle Prep. Texting means we don’t see eyes, and we dardized test scores. I hope Jesuit universities would be want eyes to meet constantly throughout the school day. accepting of students who come from such a place. An insightful Marquette University educator and spiritual director, Frank Majka S.J., once wrote that Jesuit schools are Exclusion/Belonging all about tables: We work on projects around library tables; gather for meals at lunchroom tables; pull desks together to As wonderful as the teenage years can be, I’m a firm form discussion tables in the classroom; eat and drink the believer that no one goes through high school body and blood of our Lord around Eucharistic tables. unscarred. At times all teenagers feel themselves to be Tables will always be our best technology. on the edges looking in, uncertain of how or where they fit, a feeling that often persists well into college years. Information/Formation This is especially true of homosexual young people. They are subjected to homophobic comments, harass- In 1994 while I was academic dean at Marquette High I ment, and even violence. It’s no wonder that the suicide attended the first JSEA (Jesuit Secondary Education and drug dependency rates for gay teens and young Association) symposium in New York. We were intro- adults are so much higher than their heterosexual peers. duced to the Ignatian pedagogical paradigm (IPP) and The Catholic Church and its Gospel emphasis on were charged with bringing this pedagogy into our love of neighbor should provide a respite for all our schools. Honest reflection leads me to conclude that I young people, including those of homosexual orienta- bungled this responsibility rather badly, especially in my tion. Sadly, that’s not always the case. For example, attempts to emphasize reflection (the third step in the Archbishop Dadeus Grings recently drew a facile con- IPP) over content. The Ignatian educators who developed the IPP were amazingly prescient. Smarter tools and the internet’s One can be both fully gay guiding principle – information wants to be free – will and fully Catholic continue to expand what is knowable beyond our capacity to know it. The Ignatian approach, reflection over content, recognized this reality before it even exist- nection between homosexuality and pedophilia: ed. It is becoming increasingly clear, as described in “Homosexuals used to be discriminated against. When Nicholas Carr’s writings, that an emphasis on informa- we begin to say they have rights…pretty soon we’ll find tion (through such practices as constant texting) may the rights of pedophiles.” In this country the Catholicity even be injurious to young brains. Reflection based ped- of schools has been questioned due to support of gay agogy allows for deeper thought and understanding. students. Children of gay parents have even been barred Conversely, incessant information exchanging may be from Catholic schools. creating shallow, twitching brains less capable of pon- The increasing tension surrounding this issue sug- dering and imagination. gests that this would be a very good place to respond to

Conversations 11 ages. We also committed ourselves to prayer, including prayers for the victim of the crime, Meredith Kercher, and her family. If we were a private school this would have been a very dumb decision on our part. We were lambasted in the local paper and on talk radio, a parent called for my resignation, we received some very hateful and deeply disturbing emails, and some donors stopped giving. It was not good marketing and bad for business. But it was, in the end, very beneficial to our community. It raised awareness through a concrete and difficult expe- rience that we are not a business, nor a marketing firm, nor even a private school. As a Catholic, Jesuit school we discern differently because we seek different ends. One end is the person herself, and the call to live cura personalis is a sine qua non for living in mission, even if (especially if) we find ourselves in an isolated frontier, sub- jected to ridicule and scorn. This care is even more impor- tant as our schools live within the aftermath of the sex abuse crisis, something we have yet to really get a handle on. Students who enter high school now know only a Church of this crisis. Our young people have many rea- sons to opt out and pursue a purely personal spirituality, especially as they move away from whatever spirituality is found at home and into the greater independence of uni- versity life. If we are to pull our young people back into the heart of the Church – a heart that has nothing to do with the evil and hypocrisy of the crisis – they need to live in a community that cares deeply for them, one precious young person at a time. As St. Ignatius said, “Love is shown more in deeds than in words.” An ornate doorway, Fordham University. Pope Benedict’s call to faithfully help the Church. One Conclusion way to do so would be to consistently voice the Catholic Church’s teachings about homosexuality: Our Church These are all difficult issues, made more so in a nation of teaches that one’s sexuality is intrinsic to the person. It blue vs. red amidst a common need to reduce all discus- is a matter of nature, not a question of choice. All are sion to talking points and sound bite simplicities. In his made in the image of God; therefore, one can be both remarks to General Congregation 35, Pope Benedict called fully gay and fully Catholic. for a different approach and cited surprising examples of Asserting this truth and acting accordingly may complexity and conflict to both honor and encourage the cause anxiety and even anger for those who see such Jesuits: Matteo Ricci in China, Robert DeNobli in India, and actions as pushing toward a frontier that stretches the the Reductions in Latin America. Given that our Pope is Church too far. However, walking in truth and living in known for choosing words carefully, there is clearly a mes- love are core Gospel values and these values place us sage here that should guide those who strive for excel- very much within the heart of the Church. lence in all of our Jesuit schools: We should not fear moving into frontiers, though we Private/Catholic, Jesuit should also be mindful that we never leave our heart, especially the heart of the Church, when doing so. ■ This past school year a Seattle Prep graduate, Amanda Knox, was convicted of murdering her British roommate in Perugia, Italy. The case attracted attention world-wide Kent Hickey is the president of Seattle Preparatory and we were faced with a decision about our response. School and a graduate of Marquette University. We decided to help Amanda’s family through a fundrais- [email protected] er and to support Amanda with letters and care pack-

12 Conversations HUMBITION: Excellence in Jesuit Business Education

Not all Jesuit business schools succeed in communicating Jesuit ideals

By William J. Byron, S.J.

xcellence is a relative term. Think of a Society of Jesus; they have broad applicability Little League pitcher who will certainly beyond Jesuit organizational life. They apply to lead- not win the Cy Young award, but is ership in any organization, including leadership in nonetheless an excellent baseball player. completely secular settings. This makes them rele- Think of a 1000 SAT student who gradu- vant to what Jesuits do in educating the young for ates magna cum laude. Excellence is a leadership in the real world of business. These prin- measure of progress from a well-defined ciples are available Estarting point to a higher level of achievement. to lay persons, Excellence means top of the class wherever and indeed to persons Ignatian principles whatever that class happens to be. who are not even are completely No Jesuit business school can be excellent with- Catholic or Christian. out being authentically Jesuit. “Jesuit” is one of the I’ll use the terms countercultural markers that sets them apart, establishes them in a rec- Ignatian and Jesuit ognizable class. Most, if not all Jesuit business schools interchangeably here, not to deny a distinction have miles to go in their respective efforts to articulate between them, but to emphasize the availability of their Jesuit identity and integrate genuine principles of Ignatian principles to the laity. These principles are Ignatian leadership into education for business. not “Jesuit” in any proprietary sense. My concern in this essay is not with the rankings Ignatian principles can be relevant and practical of Jesuit business schools (U.S News & World Report, as part of the leadership toolkit that graduates of Business Week, etc.). I’m concerned with the ability Jesuit schools should carry with them into leadership of Jesuit schools to educate the young for positions positions in the 21st -century world of business and of leadership. I also want to see Jesuit business organizational life. This will by no means be easy. It schools integrate the principles of Ignatian leader- will, however, be necessary if the business system is ship into the educational experience they provide. to deliver on its promise of enhancing human life These Ignatian principles are unapologetically and advancing the common good. The potential for Christian and, when considered in the context of positive influence in this regard is an important rea- American capitalism, completely countercultural. son why Jesuit institutions take education for busi- They are directly connected to the person and life of ness so seriously. St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), founder of the Not all Jesuit business schools succeed in artic-

Conversations 13 ulating a clear understanding of Jesuit in their mis- one can complete the full experience of the Spiritual sion statements, nor do they meet with notable suc- Exercises in this way. cess in translating their understanding of the institu- The Jesuit Order, founded on Ignatian princi- tion’s Jesuit character into their curricula and pro- ples, has numbered in its own ranks many outstand- grams. Unless they do, however, they will fall short ing leaders. Through their educational ministries, of any claim to excellence. the Jesuits have produced notable lay leaders There is no need to apologize for referring to throughout the world who, if they draw on the the Jesuit brand in American higher education. Ignatian foundations of their Jesuit education, have Jesuit is a good brand name. Similarly, “product dif- ferentiation” and “comparative advantage” are con- genial ideas among business educators. Jesuit—once “riches, honor, pride” they understand what that notion means and implies—can be of great practical assistance in setting something quite special to offer. That special some- Jesuit educators and their institutions apart from the thing strengthens their claim to excellence and can rest of the pack. The Jesuit brand can attract students, quite literally set Jesuit schools apart. faculty, and money to Jesuit schools of business that These Ignatian principles are, as I said, counter- will not go to other less distinctive and less competi- cultural. They are grounded in the Gospel of Jesus tive brands. It is clearly in their individual and institu- Christ and stand in opposition to the dominant val- tional self interest for Jesuit schools to articulate the ues that shape secular culture. Ignatius would iden- meaning of the reality behind the brand. tify those dominant secular values as “riches, honor, pride” (Spiritual Exercises No. 142). The countercul- Here lies an enormous challenge tural values he recommends are “poverty, insults, humility” (Spiritual Exercises No.146). The challenge that confronts Jesuit business educators today is You cannot understand what Jesuit means how to translate these countercultural values, these unless you are familiar with the Spiritual Exercises authentic Ignatian principles, into practical guide- of St. Ignatius of Loyola. It is not enough simply to lines for effective leadership in contemporary secu- know about of the existence of the Spiritual lar culture. Exercises; something of the experience of the Anyone who has been touched in any way by Spiritual Exercises is required in order to understand Ignatian influences will recall that Ignatius referred Jesuit identity and to become familiar with the to himself in his early post-conversion years as a Ignatian way (the reality that stands behind the “pilgrim.” His pilgrimage and that of those who Jesuit brand). teach and learn in Jesuit business schools might ere lies an enormous challenge for converge on the path to leadership in a world that the future of all Jesuit higher educa- needs principled leadership of the type Jesuit edu- tion at a moment in history when cation can produce. there are significantly fewer Jesuits Ignatius worked for the “greater glory of God,” in classrooms and administrative understood as involving a greater, more generous, posts. It is a challenge that is now and selfless service to others. For Ignatius, the help being met on some Jesuit campuses of souls meant the help of bodies too, because he through the offices of campus min- sent his men into hospitals for the care of the sick Histry or mission and identity that are providing an poor, into cities for the protection of prostitutes and opportunity for faculty and staff to experience what marginalized people, as well as into classrooms for is known as the “19th Annotation Retreat.” It the religious instruction of unsophisticated children. amounts to making the Exercises “in daily life.” Ignatius had a tendency to see life as a struggle Under the direction of a spiritual guide who knows between the forces of good and the forces of evil. Ignatian spirituality, the retreatant (Ignatius would He was a mystic who saw the world from God’s call him or her the “exercitant”) experiences the point of view. He founded his religious order for Spiritual Exercises by setting aside a half-hour a day like-minded men called, as he was, to be contem- for prayer and another half-hour a week for consul- platives in action. Ignatius and his first companions tation with the director. Over the course of a year committed themselves “to travel anywhere in the

14 Conversations world where there is hope of God’s greater glory and the good of souls.” The initials “A.M.D.G.” and the phrase, “God’s greater glory,” appear on the logo or “coat of arms,” of many Jesuit institu- tions and organizations. The Jesuit motto, “Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam” suggests that Ignatian leadership keeps looking higher—to the greater good of others and to the greater glory of God. “More” — not “the most” in any acquisitive sense —but “more,” “the magis,” means that Jesuits always want to meet any challenge with a fuller stretch of effort and talent, in other words, to excel. In the book of the Spiritual Exercises, there is a special Meditation on Two Standards (SpEx, No.136ff.), “the one of Christ, our Supreme Commander Boston College. and Lord, the other of Lucifer, the mortal enemy of all the other virtues. our human nature.” (A “standard,” as used here, is The Standard of Christ offers this counter-cultural a military banner or “guide on” employed to lead Ignatian principle of leadership: The three steps to gen- forces in battle.) The following paragraphs, excerpt- uine success are poverty as opposed to riches; insults or ed from that meditation, pertain to the Standard of contempt as opposed to the honor of this world; humil- Christ (SpEx 145-146). Ignatius states that “Christ ity as opposed to pride. “From these three steps let them calls and desires all persons to come under his stan- lead men to all other virtues.” (SpEx 146). dard,” and then invites the retreatant, in an exercise It was remarked in 2008 by Jesuit Cardinal Carlos of the imagination, to place him- or herself in the Martini that delivery of the Spiritual Exercises, particu- presence of Christ and listen. larly the proclamation of the Standard of Christ, is “the service that the Society of Jesus is called to perform for Consider the address which Christ our Lord makes the Church today.” To the completely secular eye, that will be seen as no service at all. To the eye of faith, to all his servants and friends whom he is sending acceptance of the genuine Ignatian vision and values on this expedition. He recommends that they will be seen as a form of liberation that frees a person endeavor to aid all persons, by attracting them, to become an effective leader. first, to the most perfect spiritual poverty and also, There are, according to St. Ignatius, three levels if the Divine Majesty should be served and should of alignment of one’s will with the will of God. The wish to choose them for it, even to no less a first is necessary for salvation. “I so subject and hum- degree of actual poverty; and second, by attracting ble myself as to obey the law of God our Lord in all them to a desire for reproaches and contempt, things” (SpEx No.165). This level of humility is thus since from these results humility. understood as obedience to God’s will. The second kind or degree of humility means “that I neither In this way there will be three steps: the first, pover- desire nor am I inclined to have riches rather than ty in opposition to riches; the second, reproaches or poverty, to seek honor rather than dishonor, to contempt in opposition to honor from the world; desire a long life rather than a short life, provided and the third, humility in opposition to pride. Then only in either alternative I would promote equally the service of God our Lord and the salvation of my from these three steps they should induce people to

Conversations 15 Byron’s Words Reach a Young Man Getting Started

soul” (SpEx No.166). This is what is known as Ignatian Despite how far society has advanced techno- “indifference”—humility thus understood eliminates one’s logically, the tenets of true leadership have personal desire as finally decisive. The third or highest remained timeless, and Fr. William Byron, S.J. degree of humility implies the desire to be like Christ who has artfully collected and presented those prin- is poor, despised, and deemed foolish. ciples in a way that they is accessible to all. This third is a high level or degree of sanctity—a goal to To listen, to speak, to read, to write, to be sought, a condition to be valued. Ignatius says that the one think, remember, decide, effect change and, making the Exercises “should beg our Lord to deign to choose finally, serve – yes, this is what it is to lead. him [or her] for this kind of humility...provided equal praise and service be given to the Divine Majesty” (SpEx No.168). Whether a young person is looking to assume a The leadership lesson to be derived from a considera- leadership role or simply become a better tion of the Third Degree of Humility can be explained by leader than he or she already is, Byron has something to offer. In my early leadership roles I often used the Think Humbition examples set by my childhood role models, and my limited life experiences, to help guide my reference to a secular setting completely unrelated to the decisions. Now, as I make my way through the context of Ignatian spirituality, namely, a back-office service company SEI Investments in Oak, Pennsylvania, where the professional world (and this economy), knowing word “humbition” is held up for praise and imitation. “At how to lead is more important than ever. A SEI, the most effective leaders exude a blend of humility resource like Byron’s offers invaluable insights to and ambition—humbition—that relies on the power of per- the young person, with the chapter on ethics suasion rather than formal authority” (See William C. Taylor being especially poignant. It is the one area lead- and Polly LaBarre, Mavericks at Work)). ers have historically found challenging. The Ignatian leadership principle that is relevant here is Can one be a leader on Facebook? Can you that humility, as demonstrated in the life of Christ, is a high- show leadership while commenting on a con- ly desirable leadership characteristic. Think of it as “humbi- tion,” an amalgam of humility and the magis, and you have troversial YouTube video? Is it possible to be a a clue to what Jesuit business schools should be doing in leader during this social network renaissance? their quest for excellence. These are issues faced by today’s future leaders. he Standard of Satan, according to Ignatius, rep- If there is anything that you can pull from the resents a three-step strategy intended to trap the of Next Generation Leadership, it is that unwary and lead them away from Christ and the answer to all is a resounding, “Yes.” In this into perdition. To ignore this warning is sheer age of cyber-bullying young leaders will learn folly. And for Jesuit business schools not to fore- more than to just take a stand for the weak, they warn their students about this three-fold threat is a tragic failure comparable to permitting them will learn how. to sleepwalk into an unknown future. Byron’s book captures the essence of lead- In order to enable the retreatant to consider the Standard ership in such a matter-of-fact manner that any- T of Satan, Ignatius would have him or her “see the chief of all one can take something away from its pages. the enemy in the vast plain about Babylon, seated on a great You would be hard-pressed to find better. Great throne of fire and smoke, his appearance inspiring horror and leaders may still be hard to come by, but per- terror” (SpEx, 140). Then Ignatius would have the retreatant haps now they will be a little easier to find. “consider how [Satan] summons innumerable demons, and scatters them, some to one city and some to another, through- out the whole world, so that no province, no place, no state Joseph Galbo is an aspiring multimedia of life, no individual is overlooked.” journalist and graduate of Saint Peter’s And finally, Ignatius would ask those who put them- College. He can be reached at selves in prayer in this way to “consider the address [Satan] [email protected]. makes to them [the demons], how he goads them on to lay snares for men, to seek to chain them. First they are to tempt

16 Conversations them to covet riches (as Satan himself is accustomed to our human nature. Graduates of Jesuit schools do in most cases) that they may the more easily attain should have antennae that are attuned to these cul- the empty honors of this world, and then come to tural currents. A Jesuit I know likes to suggest to stu- overweening pride. The first step, then, will be riches, dents, who are barraged daily with televised, the second honor, the third pride. From these three Internet or print advertisements that are the infra- steps the evil one leads to all other vices” (SpEx 142). structure of our culture of consumerism, that they Obviously, there is a Jesuit viewpoint that is should ask, “not what this ad invites you to buy; ask shaped by the Spiritual Exercises and it is clearly coun- what this ad presumes you to be!” tercultural. When John Kenneth Galbraith’s landmark Jesuit business school educators should think book The Affluent Society was making the rounds in humbition. They should think of the importance the late 1950s, the author’s comments about the “basic Jesuit spirituality attaches to not being possessed by benefits” of having wealth reflected the values of the your possessions. They should also think of how far dominant culture, but they also struck an unintended they have to go in persuading their students of the echo of the Standard of Satan. Here is what Galbraith validity and practical worth of the countercultural wrote: “Broadly speaking, there are three basic bene- values that underlie the Jesuit brand. fits from wealth. First, is the satisfaction in the power Assuming instructional and research excellence with which it endows the individual. Second is the physical possession of the things which money can buy. Third is the distinction or esteem that accrues to William J. Byron, S.J., is university professor of the rich man as a result of his wealth” business and society at Saint Joseph’s University. The power-possession-esteem triad echoes the His most recent book is Next Generation Leadership strategy Ignatius saw as the trap set by the enemy of (University of Scranton Press).

A statue of Pere Jacques by the chapel at Marquette University.

Conversations 17 Coming Home: An Immersion Experience

“You say you love the poor...”

By Amanda Malik

he sun glints through the backseat can be seen window as I rest my chin in the darting about, palm of my hand. The radio is off, and we’re told and every passenger stares quietly they’re poison- out at this New Jersey city as a vol- ous from all unteer coordinator turned tour the toxic T guide narrates the urban landscape debris in the around us. water, though Driving down the main street of the waterfront that doesn’t past the aquarium and ballpark, a tall apartment stop some building looms over us. Nobody walks in or out, and r e s i d e n t s all the restaurants and shops on the first floor are from eating deserted. Further along we pass the Tweeter center, them any- where I saw Brittney Spears at my first concert and way. When watched my first boyfriend graduate from high you’re hungry, . . school. I am familiar with these revitalized outskirts anything will do. of Camden, the fresh fringes of a wilted city. But as Next we head down Broadway, a street once we drive further down the same road, we cross into famous for its shops and restaurants, where people the parts I have never seen, the parts I’m not quite came to stroll on a Sunday afternoon. Now, most of sure I’m ready for. the buildings are empty, and nobody is outside. We As we approach the other end of the waterfront, don’t pass a single up-and-running business. a silver pile rises in front of us, reflecting pieces of Instead, the street is dotted with superfund sites, the sun. We turn down a side street that leads fenced off and littered. Once the places where paint towards the sewage plant at the edge of the water, and dye factories stood, the lots have now been des- which is where my own flushes from home are ignated by the government as too toxic to be occu- deposited, and the smell becomes almost unbear- pied for the next hundred years. able. The plant faces the Philadelphia skyline, where We turn left suddenly and enter the heart of perfectly designed architecture pierces the sky, sep- South Camden. Every other house is boarded up, arated from where we are by just a few hundred and occasionally we pass entire blocks of deserted yards of dark cold water. In front of us on this side homes. Thick iron bars guard the doors and win- is the massive mound of metal, the dirt and grime dows. None of the yards have grass or trees, and much more apparent up close. Small scraps have even the best-looking houses are sagging from the drifted away and now float on the edge of the water weight of poverty. and the shoreline is black with pollution. A few fish Noticing a couple of boys kicking a can around

18 Conversations the empty driveway of a deserted house, I can’t help jeans and an oversized hoodie, I am prepared for a thinking of my own childhood, growing up in the day in the kitchen and shocked when the program lush suburb of Cherry Hill that is just minutes away director tells us we’ll be working the floor instead. physically, but light years socioeconomically. As we enter the room where residents spend their We pass Cathedral Kitchen, a free meal center that I days, very few look up or take notice of us. The used to send sandwiches to for the poor but never palms of my hands are damp as I look around, actually visited. I’m surprised by how nice and new unsure of where to go or who to talk to. When I it looks, as well as by the long line of diverse peo- finally pick a seat only one guy looks up and I grate- ple waiting outside its doors. fully introduce myself despite the bitter scowl on his When we pull into the driveway at the Romero face. Forcing him into conversation with me, others Center, the sun is fading and the air is still. Terrified slowly join in. Before long, I’ve incited a debate expressions fill the faces of my friends who can’t about where to get the best cheesesteak in nearby ignore the siren wailing constantly for the ten min- Philadelphia. I listen eagerly to the opinions of fif- utes we are in the parking lot. The building we are teen different men, one who includes clackety-clack staying in mimics a fortress, with brick walls and sound effects of knives chopping steak, and all who barbed-wire fences. The front door boasts a compli- seem to have difficulty agreeing about anything. cated series of locks, and we are told not to open any of the first-floor windows because they are set to an alarm. But the mismatched couches and cheery paint that greet us in the living room provide Once the places where paint a kind of worn safety, contrasting fiercely with the and dye factories stood, the lots stern exterior. Across the back wall is a quote from Archbishop Romero; “You say you love the poor… have now been designated by name them.” the government as too toxic to A homeless shelter be occupied for the next The first day I am sent to a men’s homeless shel- hundred years. ter with instructions not to wear anything form fit- ting so that the residents don’t stare. Sporting baggy

Conversations 19 Back at the Romero Center, planned reflection AIDS allows me time to think about the quote on the wall. At St. Francis AIDS House during lunch, Vince, While participating in a similar immersion trip the a resident, talks so much that his plate’s still filled year before, though I swung hammers and chopped with food long after the rest of us have finished. He wood with gusto, I had not met any of the people I tells us about his boyfriend who’s currently in jail, supposedly served. This time, I am determined to but then points to a hickey on his neck to show he’s leave Camden with names of the people I have met. not letting that stop him from enjoying himself. “You know, I got boyfriends 365 days a year, 366 during

20 Conversations leap year!” He spends most of his time cracking jokes drug addiction seem less crazy than I previously and laughing at himself, but when it comes to sex he thought it was. becomes very solemn. “Now, listen here girls. Wear condoms. And if your boyfriend don’t wanna go buy Tent City ‘em, you go buy ‘em. ‘Cause it ain’t fun when you got Jamaica, as we are introduced to him, is the AIDS. People look at you different’, they don’t wanna fearless leader of Tent City, a triangle-shaped lot dot- associate themselves with you anymore.” When we ted with blue and gray tarps just next to a highway leave he kisses us each on the cheek. ramp. As he shows us around, pointing out the At New Visions, a homeless day shelter right donated water reservoir, down the street from Cooper, it is not until the end the central fire where most of the day that I befriend Brian, who has been sit- of the cooking is done, We have our pride. ting with his back against the wall for most of the and the various damage to day. I am attempting to survey some uncooperative tents by the recent snow- fellows when he calls me over with a wave of his falls, his chest swells with pride. He leads us hand. “You can survey me,” he says, but he begins through the camp to the community tent near the talking immediately so I never get the chance. back, where weekly meetings are held and the writ- “The guys here, they can get a bit out of hand. ten rules are nailed to a tree. He reads them aloud, They get a little bit rowdy e’ery once in a while, explaining the importance of each one. “No lyin’, angry at the world for what it’s done to them. But cause then there ain’t no trust. And no bringin’ your they all here for a reason – life was going along and tricks around here, cause this is our home, and we then somethin’ happened to ’em. Mostly drugs, but ain’t gonna stand for that.” that can happen to anyone. Look here, take Bruce.” He tells us how important rules are in a commu- He points to the man sitting mutely beside him. “He nity, how everything is bound to fall apart without used to be a schoolteacher, even won an award for them. Jamaica is a stern leader, checking tents week- teachin’, and now he’s here. No one’s safe from ly and prioritizing cleanliness. “We got intelligent drugs, it’s so easy just to fall into the trap. And here people here, skilled people here, we’re just down it’s so easy to get ’em. Truth is though, it’s not most- on our luck. The only thing we have now, we have ly Camden folks who are buyin’ and usin’. It’s the our pride. And we stick with our pride. Our pride outsiders, from all these nice towns nearby, that keeps us going.” come in for their fix when somethin’ goes bad at As we head out of Camden, driving towards the home. And then what do ya know, soon enough freeway and Baltimore, we pass all the sites from they end up here.” our tour earlier in the week. I wonder why it took I nod sympathetically. I find myself opening up to me until college, until I went away from home, to be Brian, telling him about a former classmate who died able to take a closer look at the place where I grew of a heroin overdose after buying the drug in Camden. up. I always knew Cherry Hill was full of wonderful s he listens to my story, fear grows in people, but I was a bit more skeptical about the his eyes. “Too many people dyin’, out reportedly drug-addicted residents of Camden. Yet on the streets, all because of drugs. I now I knew the names, faces, and stories of my know it’s gonna kill me, never know hurting neighbors. I knew about Vince’s worsening when, but I just can’t stop.” With that, AIDS, Bryan’s downhill struggle with cocaine, and he goes on to tell me about his fami- Jamaica’s desperate attempt to build a community in A ly, his 6’3” daughter who plays bas- a place where so many had lost hope. More than ketball at Tennessee, his estranged wife who divorced anything, I felt their plea for presence, their need for him because of his cocaine habit, and his subsequent engaging in conversation and sharing their stories spiral into addiction. He beams with pride when he with someone who would listen and remember their talks about his daughter, tells me to look her up, but names. Sending sandwiches along with our sewage is crushed when he mentions how long it’s been since to ease my conscious was not what they had he’s seen her. He admits he’s been doing cocaine for required all those years; it was a friend. ■ fifteen years now, continually pushing his family away from him and leaving him with nothing but the desire Amanda Malik is a sophomore at Loyola University to get high. Putting Brian’s face to the problem makes Maryland.

Conversations 21 OBSTACLES TO EXCELLENCE By Harry R. Dammer

his issue of Conversations contains many 2. The costs of a Jesuit Education examples of excellence at our 28 Jesuit Tuition at Jesuit schools ranges from about $25,000 to institutions. However, we are called to do almost $50,000 per year. The average cost of private better and more. So with appreciation for higher education in the United States is around $50,000 what we have accomplished, here are some per year and the cost of college overall has risen by 250 challenges that face us. These ideas are not to 300 percent since 1980. novel, nor are they necessarily special to Financial issues have created a bifurcated system. Catholic or Jesuit universities. But our pur- Those in the top tier Jesuit schools have excellent stu- poseT here is simply to jumpstart a “conversation” about dents who are smart enough to get at least a partial the pursuit of excellence. scholarship or have parents rich enough to afford tuition. Because alums from these institutions are also wealthy Five obstacles to excellence. (and many have Division I athletics), endowments that provide additional financial aid have a better chance to 1. The explosion in the use of technology increase. Many of our tuition-driven institutions however Technology is not inherently bad. Those of us in the are forced to give full scholarships to the good students trenches, however, are aware of the difficulty of getting or accept marginal or poorly prepared students to fill the students to focus and/or even read a challenging text. freshman class because they are full pays. Those same Why? Research reflects lower reading and math scores schools also continue, as they should, to increase diver- for those that have more technology and fewer books sity which most often calls for considerable tuition assis- around the house while growing up. Students cannot tance. The problem with all this is the middle class— concentrate and cannot focus on one thing for longer those who paid to fill our schools during the mid to late than fifteen minutes. 20th century—are now attending State U. The impact of The inability to concentrate leads directly to their these financial realities may soon lead to closing some of inability to think deeply and later express themselves clear- our less resourced Jesuit colleges and universities. ly in written or oral forms (eloquentia perfecta). Further, can students under the influence of electronic stimulation Possible solutions: ever truly focus on context, experience, reflection, action, • Reduce the size of administration and staff and evaluation or deal with the key issues of life — ‘who • Reduce the cost of organized sports am I, and for whom shall I serve?’ Superior General Fr. • Develop locked-in tuition plans Adolfo Nicolás, S.J., has referred to this expanding problem • Increase the teaching load of faculty who do not publish. of technology as the “globalization of superficiality.” He argues with authority that new technologies, along with the 3. The issue of rigor influences of moral relativism and consumerism, are shap- Veteran teachers agree that years ago we required more ing the interior worlds of young people in ways that limit of students. We have heard about the “anti-intellectual their ability to respond to their own “intellectual, moral and culture” that is pervasive today. This argument is sup- spiritual healing.” ported with “Students just care about partying and not about their work,” or, ‘They care only about the grades Possible solutions: and not about learning or having a real thirst for knowl- • Include context, experience, reflection and self-evalu- edge.” We must challenge our students to do more. As ation components in all classes Fr. Superior General Kolvenbach who said in 1989 “the • Prohibit cell phones or computer use in class. And pursuit of each student’s intellectual development to the less power point would help too! full measure of God-given talents rightly remains a • Bring back quiet hours to library and dorms prominent goal of Jesuit education.” One way to increase rigor is to reduce grade

22 Conversations inflation. Any perusal of grade distribution data or a Alasdair MacIntyre says it well: “only the faculty can secure comparison of GPAs for past and current students will the Catholic identity of a college and determine what kind support this position. We should also review course syl- of identity it is and what form of academic expression labi to determine whether students are asked to read should be.” more, take more exams, or write more than in the past. The good news is that since the issuance of Ex corde Are courses more likely to have ‘take-home’ exams, true ecclesiae (“From the Heart of the Church”) some twenty and false questions, group projects, or other “soft” peda- years ago by Pope John Paul II, many of our Jesuit institu- gogic strategies? Rather, are students required to take tions have responded with training of staff, seminars on the comprehensive exams with essay requirements, write Catholic intellectual tradition, and hiring for mission. papers that require correct grammar, and take daily or weekly quizzes to “encourage” reading the text material? 5. Obstinacy to change Recent books by Mark C. Taylor (Crisis on Campus: A Bold Possible Solutions: Plan for Reforming our Colleges and Universities) and the • Grading guidelines to corral grade inflation team of Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus (Higher • University-wide attendance policies Education? How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and • Better supervision of adjunct faculty Failing Our Kids and What We Can Do About It) stress the • Post-tenure review for full-time faculty need for thinking more creatively, about the way we do our business of education. All four of the “obstacles” dis- 4. Diversity as a challenge to mission cussed here feed directly into this point. The will be At the risk of sounding un-PC, I think it is important addressed only if we are willing to “think outside the box” to mention a major challenge to mission that has devel- about how Jesuit and Catholic education is administered. oped quickly over the last twenty-five or so years— Some possible paradigm shifts follow: diversity. No one would argue that diversity is a bad thing. But emphasis on diversity creates challenges from • AJCU schools can pool technological and faculty three sources: students, faculty, and ideas. Our current resources and offer more blended and on-line degree students differ more than in religion and skin color. They alternatives. are also more likely to be from single parent families, • Consolidate Catholic universities. For example, if foreign countries, have learning disabilities or psycholog- Jesuit college (A) has a weak sociology program but a ical disorders, and are less likely to have attended local non-Jesuit Catholic college (B) has a strong Catholic secondary schools. social work program and they are only one mile down Our faculties are even more diverse than our stu- the road, they could offer one joint degree program dents. At my medium-size university I have colleagues • Should some of our financially challenged institutions who have attended universities in twenty-one countries become Catholic junior colleges that would better and I have met those who are who are Buddhist, Jewish, serve the mission to inner-city students? Muslim, Hindu, Wiccan, atheist, and agnostic. Ideas that • Do we really need tenure or would we all best be are brought forth in the classroom, the laboratory and at served by five or seven year renewable contracts? public lectures are also much different from those only twenty-five years ago. The science of stem cell research, For sure there are many reasons why each of these the sociology of post-modernism, and the discussion ideas is impractical or politically uncomfortable. But they about GLBTQ issues, cause consternation for presidents all are ideas that will be part of the “conversations” with- and bishops across the country. in Jesuit circles in this century—if we like it or not. In some ways our schools are less Catholic and less Adolfo Nicolás, S.J., Fr. Superior General of the Society Jesuit than they used to be. The impact is visible in the short of Jesus, in a recent address suggested that we “place term and problematic for the long term survival of our insti- ourselves in the spiritual space of St. Ignatius... as if we tutions. Students with poor academic backgrounds are chal- were the first companions” and then ask the question lenged by the rigors of philosophy and theology as well as “What kind of universities, with what emphases and other liberal arts courses. What percentage of students and what directions, would we run, if we were re-founding faculty are Catholic or attend campus-held Masses? Students the Society of Jesus in today’s world?” These are the who have serious psychological issues may find it difficult “conversations” we are called to have. ■ to handle the stress of rigorous study. Comparatively few of our courses address any aspect of Catholic social teaching. Because of the emphasis on research (and tenure!) current faculty are more likely to think only of their own discipline Harry R. Dammer is chair of sociology and criminal and not be interested in the linkages to the Catholic intel- justice at the University of Scranton. lectual tradition or any other faith traditions. Philosopher

Conversations 23 “Controlled By A Creed?”

Is a religious institution?

By Chad Flanders

hen I teach dents to the two big ideas the class why it was called the “Chaifetz” a course at would be covering: first, that both Arena)? Did they find a loophole in Saint Louis state constitutions and the United the Missouri Constitution? University States Constitution protect the “free As it turned out it was the latter, (SLU) law exercise” of religion and second, that although not in the way I expected. I school, I both state constitutions and the U.S. knew that it was common for religious like to start Constitution also prohibit the “estab- institutions to make the argument that W the first lishment” of religion. I had already even though they were religious, gov- class with a case from the Missouri found my case for free exercise, and ernment funding was OK, so long as state courts. Giving my students a Masonic Temple would be my case that money went to secular projects. “local angle” is my way of showing about establishment. My sense was that this was SLU’s best them that the principles they’ll be Even better, the case demon- argument. After all, they weren’t using learning are relevant to issues right strated something I also wanted to the money to fund repairs to the cam- in their own neighborhood. Imagine emphasize to my students: some- pus church down the street from the my delight, then, when preparing for times states will offer slightly differ- law school. They were using it to pay my class on Religion and the First ent (sometimes better, sometimes for a basketball arena. I know some Amendment, I found a case that was- worse) protections for the religious people treat Billiken basketball as a n’t just from Missouri, but that people and institutions. In the case religion but still... involved my own home institution. of Missouri, its “establishment In my mind I had also anticipat- The case, Saint Louis University v. clause” was more restrictive than the ed the argument that, it turns out, the Masonic Temple Association, arose U.S. Constitution’s. Where the U.S. ACLU (which filed an amicus brief in out of SLU’s efforts to secure funding Constitution didn’t specify what it the case) had made several times for its new sports arena. Predictably, meant to be an “establishment of reli- before: when you give money to a SLU sought state money, in the form gion,” the Missouri Constitution was religious institution, even if they say of Tax Increment Financing (TIFs). I pretty clear that it meant no funding that they will spend the money on don’t pretend to know how the to aid of religious institutions. secular projects like sports arenas, details of how that financing works (I Things looked bad for my dear this still frees up money in the rest of leave that to the tax professors), but SLU. But at the same time, I knew the University budget, and some of the connection between SLU and that money will be used for religious government money was apparently purposes. The logic was simple: if too close for comfort for the Masons. I almost couldn’t SLU has money to spend on its arena They balked and, in good American courtesy of the government, that fashion, filed a lawsuit. Funding SLU’s believe my eyes. means it can spend other money on sports arena using public money was repairs to the church. Government an “establishment of religion,” they ends up indirectly funding religion claimed, something forbidden under that the arena had been built. I had and, under the Missouri Constitution, the Missouri constitution. even recently attended a basketball it can’t do that. I couldn’t believe my luck. The game there. What happened? Did the So I sat back, ready to see the case was perfect. I had been search- University secure extra funding from battle joined on familiar turf. ing for cases to introduce my stu- some non-state benefactor (was that But as I read on, my predictions

24 Conversations turned out to be totally wrong. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled for SLU not because the money was going to a basketball court and not a church, but because SLU wasn’t a religious institution. I almost couldn’t believe my eyes. SLU not a religious institution? What about the crosses in the law school classrooms? What about the part of the orientation session I attended last semester emphasizing our Catholic mission? What about our web page, which touted SLU as among the top five Jesuit universities in the nation? And what about those e-mails we faculty always get from Father Biondi, a Jesuit priest? Yet there it was: the Court ruled that because SLU was not controlled by a religious creed, it was not a reli- gious institution (the language of being “controlled by a creed” was from earlier decisions, which set this as the standard for being a religious institution). The Court decided the matter on summary judgment, which meant that it thought there was not a “genuine issue of material fact” over whether SLU was controlled by a religious creed. It might have Jesuit Students and faculty at Saint Louis University. ideals and aspirations, the Court con- ceded. But “controlled” by a religion? the Court was talking about. We ferent. It says, probably not as often as No way. aren’t an institution that follows the it should, that our purpose is not just Reading the decision over again Rule of Saint Benedict. Should we, preparing students to get the best jobs later, I concluded that the Court’s however, as individual teachers and that pay the most money. It says that decision was probably technically students at a Jesuit university see we are bound by, if not “controlled correct. Our daily affairs are not ourselves as controlled by a creed? by,” a creed which says that the state of meticulously run by nuns; we are not I am also discomfited by this possi- our students’ souls should be our given marching orders from Rome. bility. I am only in the vaguest sense utmost concern. Our university’s mission is in a sense a Christian, still less a Catholic, and This is something no govern- spiritual, but it is not first and fore- not a Jesuit. I don’t view it as any ment funding can give us and no most to convert students. We wel- part of my job to proselytize. court decision can take away. For come all faiths. But I still find it important that SLU that we should be grateful. ■ But even if the decision was right as identifies itself as Jesuit. I smile when I a matter of law, it still discomfits me. pass the Jesuit Hall down the street, It seems a lawyerly way out of a kitty corner to the newly built Chaifetz deep and important question. Arena. I grin and try to say hello to the Chad Flanders, J.D., Ph.D., is Should we be controlled by a creed? priests in robes and sandals strolling Perhaps SLU shouldn’t — and isn’t an assistant professor at Saint through campus. Our association with Louis University School of Law. — controlled by a creed in the way a religious order makes us at SLU dif-

Conversations 25 Excellence [ Some Things We Are Doing Well

Introduction to Excellence

Each of the 28 colleges and universities, many founded in the 19th century, has its own history and its own priorities which, though sharing in the goals spelled out in the recent Jesuit General Congregations, express themselves in the language and culture of their local environment. Already aware of the national rankings in U.S. News and World Report and The Washington Monthly, we wanted to know what excellence looks like on the home front. We wrote to every college and uni- versity president and invited all to send us a brief report on something they were doing of which they were particularly proud. It could be a scholarly break- through, an athletic conquest, a new imaginative program — whatever they wished to put forward. The results follow. RASsj

26 Conversations Partnership with Pests How to create an excellent sustainability program

By Karen Price

t many universities, including Seattle Expanding sustainability out of facilities and into co- University, sustainability initiatives curricular education, academics and other departments’ with a high degree of excellence start daily operations is the next step toward moving along with a passionate staff, faculty or stu- the path to sustainability. This often requires sustainabil- dents. Your university doesn’t have ity champions at the highest levels of a university’s to be located on the U.S. West administration. In Seattle University’s case it has been Coast—known for cultivating inno- the senior vice president, the vice president for business Avation and governmental policies and finance, and the associate vice president of facilities. that protect the environment—to have an excellent sus- Their support created a sustainability coordinator posi- tainability program. No matter the location of your Jesuit tion, an office for sustainability and a campus sustain- institution, there are things you can do to move your ability committee to involve students and faculty in iden- school further along the path to sustainability. Take for tifying and advocating for new sustainability initiatives. instance the journey that Seattle University traveled on. Universities that have an excellent sustainability program The roots of SU’s sustainability movement were plant- typically employ one of these strategies to coordinate ed in 1981. The new head of the grounds department, campus-wide efforts. Ciscoe Morris, inherited a severe aphid infestation on cam- pus caused by spraying the trees with a highly toxic pes- How to sign on to sustainability ticide. This non-selective spraying killed both good and Another thing a university can do to develop and sup- bad bugs and resulted in an out-of-control aphid popula- port a sustainability program is to sign the American tion. Morris wanted to figure out a way to develop a bal- College and University Presidents Climate Commitment. ance of nature on campus where there would be enough Presidents signing this commitment pledge to eliminate beneficial insects to help keep the bad ones in check. their campuses’ net greenhouse gas emissions in a reason- Having just taken an integrated pest management course, able period of time as determined by each institution. This which taught him how to manage pests in partnership involves setting up a committee to guide the process, with nature, Morris proposed to the vice-president that he tracking greenhouse gas emissions, creating and imple- release lacewings—a “good” bug—to eat the aphids. menting a climate action plan and taking tangible steps to Initially, the idea was met with skepticism—introducing reduce greenhouse gas emissions while the more compre- more bugs to address a growing bug problem. hensive plan is being developed. It also involves integrat- After Morris enlisted the enthusiastic support of the ing sustainability into the curriculum and making it part of student government and faculty members, the vice pres- the educational experience. To date, 674 college and uni- ident agreed on the condition that if it failed, he’d either versity presidents have signed including: Creighton have to continue spraying with a pesticide or lose his University, Fairfield University, Gonzaga University Loyola job. The lacewings successfully ate the aphids until a few remained. This experiment by Morris, a staff mem- ber who was passionate about protecting the environ- ment and willing to stick his next out by trying some- Karen Price is the campus sustainability manager at thing new, epitomizes the culture within the facilities Seattle University, which won the 2010 recycling department. Within five years, all herbicides and pesti- award for outstanding achievements in composting. cides were removed from campus.

Conversations 27 Marymount University, Loyola University New Orleans, Networks of interdependence Saint Peter’s College, Santa Clara University, Seattle Sustainability has been defined as meeting the needs University, and Xavier University. of the present without compromising the needs of future At Fairfield University David Frassinelli, associate generations. What does that mean? For a campus build- vice president for facilities management says, “Signing ing it would be a building that regenerates nature, the President’s Commitment was a significant step … The improves the lives of tenants and the lives of those in green movement was alive with faculty and student need within community, and is affordable to operate for groups actively pursuing their initiatives. The President’s many decades. What might that look like? A green roof Commitment with its requirement for the creation of a regenerates nature by providing the foundation for an campus sustainability committee that involved faculty, ecosystem to emerge within an urban environment. staff and students created a method to coordinate the Windows that open, disparate efforts and views to nature and streamline the daylight make for process. Case in happy and healthy point, one group students, faculty wanted to create an and staff. A fruit and organic garden on vegetable garden campus. By bringing run by students it to the committee, brings the harvest to the location was the local food bank. determined quickly, Designing a building grounds crews built that creates its own fences and provided energy using renew- soils. The labor to able resources pro- plant and manage tects the university was provided by fac- from having to ulty and students.” increase tuition to While improv- pay the utility bill. ing the environmen- All these sustainable tal stewardship of a building features are university’s opera- opportunities for stu- tions reduces oper- dent learning during ating costs and the planning, imple- green house gas mentation and ongo- emissions, the ing maintenance and impact of educating evaluation. the next generation of leaders about climate The huge problems change and how to live sustainably will be facing us today—climate many times more effective. It will be the mark change, overpopulation, of a genuinely excellent Jesuit education for the species extinction, peak 21st century. Next is integrating sustainability oil, terrorism, a weak into the curriculum. economy—are a crisis of Many educators do not see a connection perception derived from between learning how to improve the lives of the fact that the world is those in need within one’s vocation and learn- now globally connected ing about sustainability. This is because most and our worldview has- people think of recycling when they hear the n’t changed to keep up with it. The solutions to these prob- word sustainability. Or they want to say ‘environmental lems require a radical shift in perception, thinking and val- sustainability’ which only focuses attention on one soci- ues that acknowledges all living beings as members of eco- etal problem. Sustainability is a framework for making logical communities bound together in a network of inter- decisions that value human, environmental and econom- dependencies. The next level for a university to have an ic needs as a whole system. The concept of sustainabili- excellent sustainability program is for college students to ty is often shown as a Venn diagram where the overlap- graduate with a deep understanding of caring for creation ping circles of social equity, environment, and economy within their vocation. ■ creates sustainability in the middle.

28 Conversations Excellence [ MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY center. After obtaining a master’s degree from BC’s Lynch School of Education, he began his What David Baker Does coaching career at Clarkson and became the Knights’ head coach in 1972. He also was Scientific excellence is the guiding principle head coach at Bowling Green University, that keeps David Baker’s research laboratory where he coached the first of three NCAA moving toward its purpose: help those afflict- hockey championships won by his teams. ed with one of humankind’s most debilitating In addition to his coaching skills, York is psychiatric disorders. The well-published asso- a popular inspirational speaker who frequent- ciate professor of biomedical sciences in ly shares examples of his own Catholic faith Marquette University’s College of Health and formation with audiences. He has been a Sciences has received millions of dollars in featured speaker at numerous parish and federal research grants to understand the brain Archdiocese of Boston events throughout his mechanisms behind and ultimately develop BC coaching career. effective treatments for schizophrenia. To that end, he and John Mantsch, a fellow associate professor of biomedical sciences at Marquette, launched Promentis Pharmaceuticals, SCRANTON UNIVERSITY the university’s first pharmaceutical spin-off. David Baker, Marquette University Rooted in Baker’s research into a key neuro- Student/faculty research transmitter involved in schizophrenia, Promentis is developing pharmaceutical compounds that The University of Scranton’s faculty/student target this particular mechanism. research program gives undergraduate stu- For Baker, though, it’s about more than dents an opportunity to become involved in research dollars or building a successful com- faculty research. The program is especially pany. “We typically measure scientific accom- thriving in the sciences, where more than 50 plishments through grants, manuscripts, cita- percent of the Scranton’s students in sciences, tions and awards. However, focusing on these engineering, technology and mathematics par- can detract from scientific excellence, which is ticipate in research. Forty-five percent of these best achieved when we strive for something undergraduate students wrote a formal thesis, greater,” Baker says. “My motivation is to and 38 percent authored or coauthored a pub- reveal how our brain works in order to relieve lication and/or conference papers. suffering from neural disorders; anything less Goldwater Scholar Maria A. Gubbiotti, a would be a disappointment.” biochemistry, cell and molecular biology major, has participated in the faculty-student research program since her first year at Scranton. Her research with faculty mentor BOSTON COLLEGE Timothy Foley, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry, involves isolating and identifying Jerry York, Hockey Coach proteins in the brain that contain oxidative Jerry York, Boston College stress-sensitive molecular switches in order to Boston College ice hockey coach Jerry York is gain a biochemical understanding of how pro- the winningest active coach in all of college teins respond to oxidative stress under both hockey, beginning the new season with 850 normal and disease conditions. career victories – including the 2010 NCAA “It is a little piece of the puzzle that could hockey championship tournament won by the contribute to a better understanding of Eagles last April. Alzheimer’s or other degenerative diseases,” Beyond his teams’ on-ice success, York’s said Gubbiotti. players acquit themselves equally well in the The Faculty/Student Research Program classroom — his student-athletes have an encourages even further success in graduate excellent graduation rate over his 38 years as studies. According to the 2008 NSF survey on a head coach — and he instills a team com- earned doctorates, in 2006 (the most recent year mitment to community service in the Greater reported), Scranton ranked 9th out of 568 mas- Boston area, with student-led outreach activi- ter’s institutions that reported data for alumni ties ranging from hospital and school visits to who earned doctoral degrees in life sciences, fund-raising efforts for cancer research. and 37th of 568 in the physical sciences. York is graduate of Jesuit-run Boston College High School and he played his col- lege hockey at BC from 1963 through 1967, earning All-America honors as a high-scoring Maria A. Gubbiotti, Scranton

Conversations 29 Excellence Saint Joseph’s University’s Pedro Arrupe Center for Business Ethics.

SPRING HILL COLLEGE With the Poor in Managua

Every spring when many college students head for the beaches to enjoy their spring break, groups of Spring Hill College students put into action their commitment to excellence in service. Dozens of students and several faculty and staff members embark on international immersion trips with the hope that they will make a difference in the lives of others. And, year after year they return with the realization that they were blessed by the experience just as much, if not more, than those they set out to serve. This year students, faculty and staff will travel to Belize, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Ecuador. In Belize City and Managua, they will work with faith-based international service organizations that provide life’s essentials to and students at all levels participate in ethical Saint JOSEPH’S UNIVERSITY the poor. business practices first hand through Students build houses, ensure medical Center for Business Ethics NetImpact, a network of MBAs, graduate stu- attention for those in need and deliver food dents and young professionals committed to and supplies to the poor. In Punta Gorda, the Founded in 2005, Saint Joseph’s University’s earning profits while creating social change, group works at a Jesuit parish that provides Pedro Arrupe Center for Business Ethics and KIVA, a not-for-profit microlending religious and educational services to nearby serves as an intellectual resource for students organization which makes small loans to Mayan and Garifuna villages. and faculty. With a focus on infusing ethics global entrepreneurs. across the curriculum, the Arrupe Center’s mission is to prepare students to make informed, socially-conscious business deci- sions far beyond their time on campus. The Erivan K. Haub School of Business Center supports faculty and students in research and development programs and sponsors confer- ences public lectures. Faculty integrate ethics into their class- room teaching and pursue research that will influence curricular development. Papers by SJU faculty members have been published in the Journal of Business Ethics Education and presented at Catholic education conferences and seminars nationwide. To date, nearly two- thirds of all full-time, tenure-track Haub School faculty participate in Center fellow- ships for research, conferences, and course development; And every summer, almost one- third have fellowships to participate in Ethics Across the Curriculum, a six-week seminar While undergraduates received their eth- ical training in the classroom and through learning development programs, graduate students enter an essay contest. The winning papers offer a theoretical analysis of a busi- University of Scranton’s faculty/student research program. ness case and recommend a solution. Faculty

30 Conversations [

Right: Loyola Marymount University’s mission- driven education embraces educating traditionally under-

“Spring Hill stu- dents take part in immersion trips because they have generous hearts,” says Maureen Bergan SHC director of campus ministry. “To be immersed in a differ- ent culture for a week, to work alongside the poor and needy, is to dis- cover parts of them- selves students have never seen before. They are transformed by their experience.” The mission of excellence in service at Spring Hill is found closer to home which as well. Last year more than 50 percent of all introduces them to Ignatian spiri- undergraduate students were involved in com- tuality, Ignatian pedagogy, the development tutions munity service in the Mobile area that includ- of active learning strategies, and development with the most-favorable graduation ed working as tutors, teaching English as a of curriculum and curricular strategies. rates for Hispanic students and No. 13 for second language programs, and working with Through peer-to-peer sharing and collabora- graduating African-American students. mentally challenged youth. This summer, tion, faculty at the university have an opportu- The success was partially due to its more than 60 staff members participated in a nity for formative development throughout Catholic, mission-driven education, which special community “service day” established their careers. In addition to its programming, embraces educating traditionally underserved to honor St. Ignatius Loyola. the center provides individual consultation students. They also singled out LMU for strong and classroom visitations. leadership from the president and administra- tors, successful recruiting efforts, and close data monitoring to identify struggling students ROCKHURST early and provide needed help. UNIVERSITY LOYOLA MARYMOUNT Developing our faculty UNIVERSITY Closing the Gap XAVIER UNIVERSITY For more than a decade, the Center for Paul Colella, Teacher Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) at Rockhurst University has developed the facul- Loyola Marymount University is recognized as and Scholar ty. As the center point for faculty development, one of the most successful universities in the nation at graduating African-American and CETL is a sign of the university’s commitment Dr. Paul Colella, professor of philosophy at Hispanic students, according to a pair of stud- to its core values of magis and cura personalis. Xavier University, is a stellar teacher and ies released this summer by The Education Consistent with these core values, CETL offers scholar. In addition to receiving Xavier’s Trust. The studies, “Big Gaps, Small Gaps,” rich opportunities for faculty to develop skills Bishop Fenwick Award for Excellence in examined the disparity in graduation rates by in learner centered pedagogies, assessment of Teaching, which is the most prestigious teach- ethnicity at colleges across the country (not student learning, and effective classroom man- ing award at the University, he has been active including historically African-American institu- agement. A hallmark of the center’s program- in introducing innovative pedagogical tions). LMU ranked No. 7 among private insti- ming is the new faculty mentoring program, approaches to courses in the core curriculum.

Conversations 31 Excellence As a scholar, he has pub- projects are designed and SEATTLE UNIVERSITY lished in many areas of built as a collaborative philosophy. Since his effort between students We get them to read books. arrival at Xavier in 1979, and the partnering commu- Paul has continually sup- nity, while international They say the Pacific Northwest is one of the ported our students projects are designed with most “unchurched” regions in the country. An through his good work in the partnering community odd place to be, it would seem, for an institu- and beyond the class- via the Internet; through tion like Seattle University. Sometimes yes, but room. As the founder and email, pdf attachments, a critical dimension of SU’s mission as a Jesuit director of the philoso- and Skype conferences. Catholic institution, “is to bring issues of faith phy, politics, and public When a project is ready to and spirituality into the messy chaos of the (PPP) honors program, build, the student team and world of ideas, especially the ideas that are one of Xavier’s signature professor travel to build shaping cultures, social institutions and peo- academic programs, his the design with the part- ple’s lives,” says Mark Markuly, dean of the emphasis on the students’ nering community. SU’s School of Theology and Ministry. strengths in better under- Current international It was in that spirit that Dean Markuly standing the concept of projects are in India, and his colleagues two years ago launched the “the public sphere” in Nepal, Belize, Haiti, Search for Meaning: Pacific Northwest Book democratic societies has Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Festival. The largest gathering of its kind in the positioned these students Colombia. All require con- region, the festival engages the wider commu- to better engage the active siderable research into the nity in conversations around religion, faith, world of politics. The pro- Dr. Paul Colella, professor of social context and history spirituality, morality and social justice. Dozens gram involves students in of vernacular architecture of nationally and regionally recognized writers large-scale interdepart- and indigenous building are featured each year, including National mental courses, seminars, and individualized methods, so that the work produced is sensi- Book Award-winning author Sherman Alexie, tutorials in which faculty and students meet tive to cultural, aesthetic and historic realities who keynoted the first festival, and New York for intense personal instruction. Prior of the place and peoples being served. Times best-selling author Kathleen Norris, to his directorship of PPP, he served as direc- tor of the University scholars program, in which he regularly offered interdisciplinary courses in philosophy and history to first-year students. Moreover, he established, designed, and taught in five week summer study pro- grams in Rome and London respectively dur- ing the past thirteen years.

UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO Designed here, built in India and Belize

University of San Francisco’s Architecture and Community Design program provides an aca- demically rigorous social justice-oriented educa- tion, where students learn by working on real projects for underserved communities. As part of the 4-year program ARCD majors become committed and capable of making positive social change through collaborative design. In the courses on community design out- reach, international projects, and construction innovation lab, student teams work on proj- ects ranging from local parks, urban food gar- dens, and historic preservation adaptive reuse, to internationally located community centers, libraries, housing, vocational training centers, Students participating in the University of San Francisco’s Architecture and Community health clinics, and small-scale factories. Local Design program.

32 Conversations [

Top right: Attendees thumbing through the books on display at Seattle University’s Pacific Northwest Book Festival. Below: Author Sherman Alexie (left) with Dr. Mark Markuly, dean of Seattle’s School of Theology and Ministry. Photos by Chris Joseph Taylor. who keynoted the second year, as well as sev- eral scholars from SU’s own faculty. Best-sell- ing author Anne Lamott and noted Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan will headline the 2011 festival on Feb. 5. Perhaps most notably, the festival attracts a broad cross section of attendees. Everyone—from the practicing religious to the “spiritual but not religious,” from the non- believers to the searching—is welcome and has a place in the dialogue. The event, as President Stephen Sundborg, S.J., sees it, is a powerful example of the university’s uncompromising commit- ment to academic excellence. “People from all offers. And at the over the region come to our campus to grap- beginning of their ple with the relationship between faith and final semester, our the human condition,” he says, “and in doing seniors meet as a so, they grow intellectually and spiritually.” class in Saint Joseph chapel to think together about all that they College of the have learned and HOLY CROSS the ways in which those les- We Think sons have pre- pared them for When addressing excellence, our language lives of excel- favors metaphors related to height: raising the lence after they bar, reaching for the stars, scaling new peaks. graduate. These At the College of the Holy Cross, a series of are just three examples programs in academic affairs, student affairs of the many ways in which we encourage times and the office of the College chaplains Holy Cross students to develop habits of during the semester, the encourages students instead to consider reflective practice as the most assured path to seminar provides students an opportunity to excellence as resulting from reflecting more excellence in all facets of their lives. reflect on their own experience in conversa- deeply (as well as more frequently and more tion with key texts from the Jesuit tradition of intentionally) on their educational experi- liberal arts education. ence. During their orientation, for instance, The meetings progress from a general first-year students write reflective journals in FORDHAM UNIVERSITY focus on the liberal arts in the first session to which they explore what aspects of their Reflecting upon Key Texts a focus on the Catholic intellectual tradition, high-school selves they will need to leave Jesuit spirituality and pedagogy, and specific behind in order to become excellent college Fordham issues in the sessions that follow. The Fordham College at Rose Hill honors pro- students, as well as what talents they bring The faculty coordinators for the seminar are gram seeks to make a contribution to the with them as their most significant contribu- both Jesuit and lay, and they have included wider college community. The program has tion to our campus community. the dean of Fordham College, the directors of for the last three years has sponsored the A year later, as part of our distinctive 2YO the honors program, the American Catholic Ignatian Education Seminar, which is open to program, we again challenge them to reflect – Studies Center, and other faculty. So far, over all Fordham College juniors and seniors. A this time on how they will exploit the many two hundred students have participated. Many one credit, pass/fail course that meets four “Second-Year Opportunities” the College conclude it should be required of all. ■

Conversations 33 Honors Programs Honors Programs at Jesuit Institutions: Learning and Joy

By Harry P. Nasuti

hile of great importance for Jesuit edu- cation as a whole, the topic of this issue of Conversations has a special HONORS PROGRAMS: resonance for the honors programs that one finds at most Jesuit colleges. One THE SAME naturally expects to find in these pro- grams a commitment to excellence on BUT DIFFERENT the part of both institution and student Walike. It is not surprising that the question of what such excel- lence entails should be a particular concern there as well. INTRODUCTION. Along with our invitation Honors programs have existed at Jesuit colleges and univer- to the presidents to tell us about some one sities since the middle of the last century. These programs attract very talented students, many of whom have chosen to attend special example of excellence on each their present colleges at least in part because of the opportunity campus, we have focused on honors programs to participate in their honors programs. These students usually shine during their college careers and go on to win competitive as a specific means of both challenging the fellowships, study at the best graduate and professional schools, more intellectually ambitious students and and undertake careers of distinction in a variety of fields. As is the case with their honors counterparts at other uni- elevating the academic atmosphere of the versities, the curricula of Jesuit honors programs come in a institution. Here Professor Harry Nasuti of wide variety of shapes and sizes. Despite their different approaches, these programs all challenge their students to Fordham University offers an overall philoso- develop their communication skills, analytical abilities, and phy on what should be the goals of an honors research talents to the highest level. However, to describe honors programs only in such terms would imply an exceed- program on a Jesuit campus. Then we follow- ingly narrow understanding of their commitment to excel- up with examples of what several campuses lence, one with which I suspect no Jesuit honors program would be content. On the contrary, these programs are much consider their “best practice” which others more inclined to see that commitment as rooted in a rich and might want to imitate. RASsj multifaceted relationship between their honors and their Ignatian identities.

34 Conversations Between Honors and Ignatius: In broader terms, the presence on campus of a community defined by the love of learning for its Towards a Deeper own sake serves as an important counterweight to Understanding of Excellence the ever-present tendency towards a more instru- mental view of education that focuses on its useful- To understand the distinctive character of Jesuit ness for what happens after college. Without deny- honors programs, one might well begin by taking a ing the necessity, legitimacy, or importance of pro- closer look at the students who participate in these fessional training at our institutions, I would like to programs. The individuals usually sought by honors suggest that honors programs often provide a vital programs have something that in my talks to witness to a different vision of education, one more prospective students I describe as a “deep, dark secret.” These students not only excel in their stud- ies but actually enjoy them for their own sake. They Most Jesuit honors programs glory in the exchange of ideas, both in the classroom have a unifying vision and the cafeteria. Above all, they tend to read with- out ceasing, well beyond what is required for school assignments in both amount and breadth. in keeping with John Henry Newman’s ever-radical In other words, the ideal honors student is an view of the liberal arts as an independent and inte- independent and active learner who possesses a grating endeavor. This vision, with its “contempla- vibrant intellectual curiosity. Not every high achiev- tive” appreciation of knowledge for its own sake, is er fits this profile, and it is certainly the case that certainly no less necessary, legitimate, or important many honors admissions committees routinely pass at our institutions – though it may well be more over prospective students with extremely fine stan- endangered, both there and in society at large. dardized test scores in favor of other talented stu- Newman’s idea of a university is, of course, not dents who have that certain intellectual “spark.” necessarily the same as Ignatius’ idea of a university. One of the most important things that honors pro- As Fr. Peter-Hans Kolvenbach S.J., noted in his 2001 grams do is provide an environment where students address, “The Jesuit University in the Light of the both feel at home and are challenged to grow. For Ignatian Charism,” the Ignatian view of education some of them, it is the first time in their lives that they differs from that of Newman in that it is an “intellec- have encountered a critical mass of their fellow stu- tual apostolate” with an explicit purpose – the serv- dents who are as intellectually passionate as them- ice of faith and the promotion of justice. In this view, selves. Good things happen when students who are Jesuit education aims at the formation of a particular used to providing the defining insight in their classes type of human being, one who lives one’s life for and with others. In other words, Jesuit institutions do not call their students to contemplation alone but to Contagious joy in the life an ever-deeper relationship between contemplation of the mind and action. How does this Ignatian vision manifest itself in honors programs at Jesuit institutions? Obviously, have to defend, and even change, their views in con- many honors students are active participants and versation with their equally perceptive peers. leaders in their institutions’ campus ministry and At their best, honors classes are characterized by a community service activities. Indeed, a number of contagious joy in the life of the mind, a joy that is often honors programs sponsor their own retreats and difficult to shut off at the end of the hour. Honors class- service projects and strongly encourage their stu- es delight and reinvigorate the faculty who teach them. dents to undertake service and justice-oriented work Their discussions go on to enliven other courses, extra- after graduation. These activities are obviously curricular activities, and late night dormitory conversa- important. Nevertheless, the real answer to the ques- tions. In these ways, as well as by sponsoring lectures tion that opened this paragraph needs to be found in and other more formal events on campus, honors pro- the midst of the honors curricula themselves. grams make a significant contribution to the intellectu- Especially supportive of their Ignatian identity is al life of the larger institution. the fact that most Jesuit honors curricula tend to

Conversations 35 have a unifying vision. While drawn from many dif- according to O’Malley exists in a certain tension with ferent disciplines, the faculty involved in designing the more specialized type of analysis that marks the these curricula – and in staffing honors courses – modern research university. In this alternative vision, have usually engaged in a wider conversation about an analysis of The Iliad’s literary structure or histori- pedagogical goals and methods. The result is that cal accuracy complements, but does not replace, a honors curricula are almost always a series of spe- more existential wrestling with Homer’s insights on cially designed courses that build on each other over anger, duty, honor, and shame. In other words, hon- the course of four years rather than a set of unrelat- ors programs not only train their students to do ed distribution requirements. Since a number of research on significant texts (which, as Fr. Nicolás these courses also tend to be interdisciplinary and has noted, should not be restricted to the majority even team-taught, this larger conversation usually voices of the west); they also seriously entertain the continues in the classroom itself. possibility that such texts will transform the way that s part of this unifying vision, many pro- these students understand their own humanity and grams include courses that require their the way they interact with their fellow human beings. students to grapple with what religious Like the professional training discussed previous- faith and a commitment to justice ly, the acquisition of advanced research skills in a means in the modern world. Some particular discipline is necessary, legitimate, and explicitly incorporate Ignatian methods important for students at Jesuit institutions – not least of reflection and discernment in cours- for honors students who write honors theses as part es that invite their students to examine of their course of studies. However, it is also neces- Atheir lives and to grow in wisdom and compassion. sary, legitimate, and important to attend to how these The increasing tendency to incorporate service learn- students’ academic work contributes to their under- ing in honors curricula fits in very nicely with both the standing of what it means to be human. Ultimately, methods and goals of Ignatian pedagogy. the criterion of excellence in Jesuit education must Less overt perhaps, but just as characteristic of take into account what kind of human beings our Jesuit education, is the way that many honors pro- students become. grams highlight the humanities, often by continuing to expose their students to the “great texts” that have long been the pillars of the western humanistic tradi- The Honors Com munity for Others tion. As Fr. John O’Malley, S.J., has noted in his mas- terful Four Cultures That Shaped the West, this tradi- This essay has so far largely concentrated on tion is marked by its explicit interest in shaping stu- some of the ways that honors curricula at Jesuit insti- dents’ character and its concern for the good of soci- tutions express their programs’ honors and Ignatian ety. With its deep roots in Christian humanism, Jesuit identities. This focus on the curriculum is perhaps education has been one of the foremost proponents understandable, since it is participation in a special of this text-based approach to fostering its students’ course of studies that distinguishes honors students development as human beings. The important role from their fellow students. However, to do full justice to what goes on in these programs one needs to look Studying texts fosters students’ beyond the honors classroom to the honors commu- nity. It is this community that both reinforces a wider development as human beings concept of excellence and enables it to assume prac- tical form. In contrast to honors programs and honors col- such texts play in training the imagination and foster- leges at many larger state and private institutions, ing depth of thought was recently reaffirmed by Fr. most Jesuit honors programs are small enough that Adolfo Nicolás, S.J., the current General of the students in a given year come to know each other Society, in his comments at the 2010 conference on fairly well. These students usually take a number of Jesuit Higher Education in Mexico City. small discussion-oriented seminars together over the To the extent that they preserve a central role for course of their college careers. They also participate the humanities, honors programs once again bear in a wide range of extra-curricular activities, from witness to a different vision of education, one that social gatherings to cultural excursions, that bring

36 Conversations them into contact with each other on a regular basis outside the classroom. At some institutions, honors students are even part of the same residential com- munity, at least for some of their col- lege years. All of this means that Jesuit honors programs are designed, on both the curricular and extra-curricular levels, to foster the development of a communi- ty in which personal and intellectual relationships reinforce each other. The wisdom of such a model is perhaps well attested by the recent introduction of a variety of “living and learning com- munities” at many institutions. These communities are a major pedagogical advance, especially at institutions that seek to actualize the traditional Ignatian concern for the education of the whole person. Where honors communities may differ, at least to some extent, from many living and learning communities is in their inclusiveness and continuity. So, for example, some living and learn- ing communities bring together stu- dents who have either a particular aca- demic interest, such as science or poli- tics, or a particular extra-curricular involvement, such as service or sports. Other, more inclusive living and learn- ing communities are often situated in a particular year (usually the first), after which students either go on to more specialized living and learning commu- Lacrosse team, College of the Holy Cross. nities or to other living arrangements with their friends. In contrast, honors programs pur- grams once again bear witness to Newman’s vision posefully seek to include students with a wide variety of the university, as well as to the Ignatian concern of academic and extra-curricular interests and to keep for finding God in all things. To use the language of these very different individuals in extended personal Fr. Nicolás, honors programs engage in the “hard and intellectual contact over the course of their entire work of forming communities of dialogue in the college careers, even if they never live together. search of truth and understanding.” For Newman, it is the common presence and In an Ignatian institution it is at least as impor- interaction of different disciplines that defines the tant that the honors community provides an oppor- university as an institution and leads to a wider but tunity for its diverse members to grow in friendship more integrated view of truth. Honors programs pro- and compassion for each other. In this community, vide a curricular and extra-curricular structure that honors students not only receive “personal care” keeps scientists and English majors, as well as varsi- from their institution’s faculty and staff; they also are ty athletes and social activists, in an ongoing person- given the opportunity to show such care for their fel- al and intellectual relationship. In so doing, pro- low students. The honors students with whom I

Conversations 37 Library atrium, University of San Francisco.

the search for truth. In what many feel is an overly com- petitive and cynical age, it is a perhaps a powerful witness even to contemplate the pos- sibility of a community defined by such lofty ideals as trust and truth – however imperfectly these ideals are realized at any given time. The Many-Layered Excellence of Jesuit Honors Programs

Honors programs at Jesuit institutions routinely produce graduates that can easily be described as “excellent” according to anyone’s defini- tion of that term. As a long- time honors director, I rejoice when the talented but tenta- tive first year students that I welcome on opening day blossom into the class vale- dictorians and prestigious fel- lowship winners that I always knew that they would be. I rejoice at least as much, however, when I Personal tragedies and observe the daily personal and intellectual interac- deaths in families tions that enable these students to practice the virtues of wisdom and compassion and lead them to embrace lives of integrity and broad humanity. To the extent that Jesuit honors programs pro- work regularly take on mentorship and orientation vide the curricular and communal structures that responsibilities for new students, plan activities that make possible such interactions, they bear witness to enrich both the honors community and the wider a many-layered educational vision that includes not college, and help with the basic grunt work that only academic and professional training but also an makes our program function. They also come appreciation of knowledge for its own sake and a together in impressive ways to support each other in generous solidarity with others. The excellence times of unexpected personal tragedies, such as the proper to such a vision is one with which I suspect deaths of family and friends. Newman and Ignatius, as well as most graduates of These practical acts of mutual care do more than Jesuit honors programs, would be quite at home. enhance personal relationships within the honors ■ community. They also help to engender a climate of Harry P. Nasuti is director of the Fordham College trust in which very different individuals feel secure at Rose Hill Honors Program. enough with each other to take intellectual risks in

38 Conversations Something Special at Scranton Some student testimony

By Ronald H. McKinney,S.J.

sawed the human head in half yesterday, weekly under-200-words essay. They argue that their right down the midline of the face. Oddly ability to communicate effectively is what makes them enough it got me thinking about SJLA.” I attractive to their superiors. Another science grad student often get letters that start like that from claims she got the only A+ a professor ever gave because alumni who are graduates of the Special SJLA “taught her how to write a well-developed argu- Jesuit Liberal Arts Honors Program here at ment.” The other important course is the Jesuit magis that the University of Scranton. I have spent the helps students reflect on the volunteer service that is also past 24 years honored to be the Jesuit required of them here through the study of Jesuit history director‘I of this program. I am passing on this position to and spirituality. Recently a a lay colleague next year, not because I am dying or fear student claimed that reading assassination, but because others deserve to experience The Sparrow for this course Some call us elitist the same privilege I have had. Watching so many fresh- “has been one of the most men over the years grow into the marvelous alumni they powerful experiences I’ve had in my educational career.” are today is what makes teaching worthwhile. In his 25 page paper (4-5 pages were assigned!), he SJLA is a unique program that tries to package the maintains this novel “is not so much about Jesuits explor- general education core of our curriculum in a way that ing outer space, but it is primarily interested about con- privileges philosophy as the central discipline. As a cerns of faith, friendship, pain, providence, suffering, result, most students in this learning community, while and God.” He says he has learned in this course to be taking all the “gen ed” courses others take, still manage more open “because I’m still growing into who I am and to take a few extra courses to get a double major in phi- learning about myself, God, and life every day.” losophy as well. They think it worthwhile because our The medical student whose quote began this essay department has the reputation of having professors who goes on to say that “philosophy, I have found, is not a know how to engage their students in and outside the class, but after SJLA, is a way of life.” He argues that classroom. The program is equally attractive for the cal- “SJLA has taught me to operate on a different level, one iber of other students they meet in the thirteen J-desig- where I am not what I do, but what I do is part of nated courses in philosophy, theology, and literature that me…Take it from me. I started in the back row; the they take together over their four years. nihilist, the anti-idealist, the black-sheep of the class…So, At the heart of the program are two important cours- think a lot. Be stumped,” he tells current SJLA students, “since confusion here, in class, will allow everything else 200 words a week to make sense…I’m [now] serving the underserved in north Philly and loving every second of it.” Obviously not every SJLA graduate achieves this grat- es. The Trivium is an arduous rhetoric course that teach- itude and clarity. Some would argue that we are elitist, es them writing, speech, and logic in order for them to only choosing the very best freshmen for admission. master “eloquentia perfecta.” Many graduates who go True, but we do allow others to join the following two into business claim they owe their success to Trivium’s semesters, and the GPA requirement is a negotiable item

Conversations 39 for probation, depending upon the unique circum- made me more aware of the world around me and stances of each student. Motivation and character can has given me spiritual guidance as well.” mean as much as one’s GPA. Indeed, one student Another acknowledges that “many of us have argues that “rather than isolating me from the general strong convictions which often conflict. There are student body, SJLA…has prompted me to direct my those who would characterize us as ‘highly motivat- talents back into the university community.” ed and competitive.’ Although we are competitive Other critics have argued that we put too much and desire to do well in life, we never held it over stress on philosophy. Indeed, very bright students do each other. SJLA is not cutthroat, but it has demand- drop out because philosophy is not their cup of tea. Still there are other honors programs here for them Many drop out to join. However, one alumnus argues that it was the “interdisciplinary nature of the program [that] led me to become an historian. By junior year I recognized ed excellence from each of us, and it is something to how the book we read in Masterworks was connect- be proud of…We are called to promote justice in an ed to the history paper I wrote next week, then relat- apparently unjust world, and I believe that we have ed to the issues in philosophy we debated the fol- been given the tools to do so in SJLA.” lowing week, and how those same ideas played out Fifty to sixty students begin as freshmen and a in the service work we did in the Scranton commu- few others join along the way, but it is expected that nity.” Indeed, there are also those who remain in there will only be about 30-45 who will graduate SJLA, in spite of philosophy (or to spite it!), because together in SJLA to preserve its community ethos. they love the community atmosphere: the pizza SJLA tries to balance the inevitable stress that can socials, retreats, late night study groups, and Frisbee develop by promoting in our students a realization matches between classes. that grades are not what it is all about. As one stu- I have been sometimes asked by outsiders dent puts it: “This semester I wanted to drop SJLA. whether our SJLA curriculum could successfully be But after talking to an upperclassman in the pro- adopted elsewhere. And I try to get them to see that gram, I remembered why I’m in this program—for anyone can start an SJLA Program elsewhere, but an education. I’m getting my money’s worth!” that it is not the curriculum that will make it work. I am sure that the goals of its founder in 1975, Fr. Indeed, any of our current philosophy requirements Ed Gannon, S.J., have been adapted a bit by me, and could be replaced by any other liberal arts offering that my successor will do the same as regards my aims that evokes critical thinking. for SJLA. Yet the unchanging heart of this G.E. program hat makes SJLA work, is the collaboration that occurs between members of though, is its M.O of putting our faculty. It is only if we model for our students the both conservative and liberal ideals we hold up to them that we will succeed in pro- students together, with faculty ducing “women and men for others” that we can be serving as mentors (or refer- proud of here at this Jesuit University. ees!), into an experience Would it bother me if an SJLA graduate suggested where they have to question that our SJLA professors could better promote the everything they hold dear. magis by leaving Scranton and teaching at some Cristo Many go on to become committed leaders in our Rey school for the underprivileged instead? No. On the W contrary, I would consider it a great success that they American culture as doctors, lawyers, business entre- preneurs, and teachers. Others prefer less traditional were able to critique the very program that gave them paths by working in non-profit organizations and such skills of discernment. In the end, though, perhaps doing service work here and abroad. But whether or we should attribute it simply to divine grace that one not they maintain their current faith (most enter as of our graduates can be as eloquent as that student white middle-class Catholics), those who do remain above who sawed into a human head: “In the blizzard staunch Catholics are less likely to ignore the margin- of technical science, I find that my time in SJLA has left alized in their community; and those who stop practic- my mind open, allotting enough space for all the ing their institutional faith have learned to realize the anatomical relations of the human body, since I am importance of being a spiritual person who is capable always also in constant reflection about the occur- of grappling with religious questions. As one student rences of my everyday reality.” ■ put it: “This program is like one big family pulling together to help each other. It has changed my whole Ronald H. McKinney, S.J., is in the philosophy way of thinking and outlook on life as well. It has department at Scranton University.

40 Conversations Honors Programs Best Practices

Le MOYNE COLLEGE general discussion on the assigned readings in the assistance of a faculty mentor. From day light of what they had learned in the first two one, every student works toward the culminat- Volcanoes and Songs hours. After class, students write a short reflec- ing senior experience: conducting original, fac- tion paper. ulty-supervised research for public presenta- The signature offering in the “all-interdiscipli- Students develop a class identity and tion at the college’s annual honors day event nary” Integral Honors Program at Le Moyne become active citizens in their new communi- and, in many cases, in print journals or profes- College is a four-week study-abroad ty. Many remain engaged in service activities sional conferences. Some of the resulting living/learning course taught in early summer throughout their time at Gonzaga and beyond. works of scholarship and art have garnered in a Latin American country. An alternative to Last year seven of 26 graduates from the hon- national recognition. our contemporary world course, The World of ors program committed to service work for the The Honors curriculum affords students the Other is taught and the trip organized by coming year. the flexibility to pursue double majors, intern- two Le Moyne professors from different disci- ships, study abroad, community service, and plines, at least one of whom is fluent in Tim Clancy, S.J., directs the Gonzaga honors research opportunities. Also subsidized over- Spanish. Seven classes with readings and dis- program. load credits, travel grants, Honors summer cussion are held during the spring semester to research grants, admission to honors study prepare the group for immersion in a culture abroad at the University of Glasgow, the AJCU where they will be “the other.” The first week Summer Institute (a site-specific “city-as-text” in the chosen country, classes are held at the CREIGHTON UNIVERSITY program with students from all of the Jesuit local university and are taught by professors An Emphasis on Individual universities), and for research placements with from that university. During the subsequent health science faculty. We encourage them to three weeks, classes are run by the Le Moyne Research apply for prestigious fellowships. professors as the group travels to different Students admitted to the program are areas of the country. The Creighton University Honors Program mis- housed in a freshman living-learning dormito- Students climb volcanoes; hike and bike sion relies on the belief, articulated by Pope ry that forms the College’s most visible com- through the countryside; visit ruins, museums, John Paul II, that “the united endeavor of intel- munity of scholars and encourages students to open-air markets, and churches; sample local ligence and faith will enable people to come to share their intellectual gifts with the Omaha dishes, learn local dances and songs, and inter- the full measure of their humanity.” community through service. act with the people of the area. Last summer in The fifty best applicants to Creighton are Guatemala, the students painted the classroom offered a unique, multi-disciplinary, research- Isabelle Cherney directs the Creighton honors walls of an elementary school and created a oriented curriculum that students design with program. mural on one wall with all the children’s hand prints and names.

Dr. Elizabeth Hayes is director of the integral honors program at .

GONZAGA UNIVERSITY Meeting Marginal Groups

The honors program freshman colloquium, exposes students to a wide array of various marginal groups in Spokane. Each week we look at a different social issue -— homeless- ness, the working poor, American Indians, bat- tered women, public mental health, GLBT teens, illegal immigration, etc. Students are also placed in a service agency for 20 hours throughout the semester . Each week the first hour is devoted to a question and answer session with a member of the community working in a local agency. In the second hour, the class breaks up into four groups, each led by an experienced honors student, to discuss the issue of the day. These four honors students receive a $1,000 scholar- ship/stipend for their work. The third hour is a Creighton University chemistry professor Bruce Mattson, Ph.D., works with a student.

Conversations 41 Honors Programs Best Practices

ROCKHURST UNIVERSITY revisiting the values of the core curriculum Endorsing the view that a university edu- itself. A recent comprehensive revision of the cation should offer a student opportunities to Poems and Public Art honors program at Loyola University Maryland, examine her life, challenge her to discern the for instance, reshaped honors as an alternate good from the bad, and encourage her to inte- An observer might best understand the core centered explicitly on “examined learn- grate knowledge and diverse ways of under- Rockhurst honors curriculum in roughly two ing.” As students progress through their honors standing the world, the Regis faculty devel- parts: traditional honors courses in the first two courses at Loyola, they reflect on the progress oped a series of five new integrated honors years and honors options in the last two. While of their studies, including a the critical re-read- seminars, each thematically anchored by a honors courses bring students together into ing of key texts studied in foundation courses, timeless Jesuit question. Students engage cen- shared intellectual experience, honors options especially as students prepare for the research tral questions— the balance between faith and provide them with individual learning oppor- and writing of theses in their final year. reason, or the role magis might play in a stu- tunities. The honors option allows a student to The Loyola program’s capstone course, dent’s own quest for meaning—in an effort to convert a non-honors course by collaborating The Examined Life, during the last semester of develop their powers of discernment. At Regis, with a professor on a project with specified the senior year, and designed in large part by students are wrestling with the very idea of a conditions formalized in a contract by the third the students themselves, serves as a culmina- university in the foundational freshman semi- week of the semester. tion of students’ engagement with their own nar, or probing notions of justice in a junior The possibilities are limited only by the learning process, preparing them to be life- seminar titled Justice for All: Reflections on the imagination of the student and professor. long learners. At the same time, it refocuses Common Good. Students have explored the physics of the gui- their study of previous texts through the lens Whether they go to Oxford as a Rhodes tar, written a set of poems about urban envi- of particular ethical concerns as they prepare Scholar, or to El Salvador as an election moni- ronment, created a customized user manual for to make the transition from college to careers tor, or to Africa to work with HIV/AIDS vic- a new piece of physical therapy equipment, and families. tims, four years of “fruitful conversation,” as developed a companion website for a musical A similar focus on the integrative power one recent graduate puts it, invariably lead performance, interviewed a children’s book of the honors core led the honors faculty at them to live their lives more intentionally, to author, collaborated on a piece of art for a Regis University to a substantial revision of its discern the world’s injustices more fully, and to public space, produced a spiritual care guide- own curriculum five years ago. In a world that share in the hope of redeeming their speck of book for nursing students, just to name a few. often values specialization over the hard-won the world more completely. ■ but transformative effects of a liberal educa- Daniel J. Martin is a past director of the tion, Regis took a dramatic step toward re- Thomas G. Bowie, Jr. and Nicholas Miller honors program. imagining what educational excellence within direct the honors programs at Regis University a Jesuit context might look like for the twenty- and Loyola University Maryland. first-century student.

REGIS UNIVERSITY LOYOLA UNIVERSITY Maryland Discerning the genuine from the counterfeit

Expert discernment in all things…how do you cultivate such discernment? Many Jesuit honors programs focus on the same questions: critical- ly, in Samuel Johnson’s phrase, “to tell the good and the bad, the genuine and the coun- terfeit,” and to prefer the good and the gen- uine. Or, “to help develop,” in Fr. Kolvenbach’s words, “a deeply human person, one of integrity, wholeness, and dedication.” Jesuit honors programs seek to transform the lives of their students even as they invite their students to transform the world. Honors programs can serve as catalysts for entire institutions, inviting transformation of the curriculum and faculty well beyond the limited direct reach of the programs them- selves. They provide a practical structure for The chapel at Regis University.

42 Conversations What We Did Last Summer — Intellectually

By Constance Mui and John Sebastian

aunching the pilot program for the Jesuit Creighton University, Fordham University, College of Summer Institute for Advanced Study Holy Cross, John Carroll University, Le Moyne (JSIAS) was a joint venture of member College, Loyola University Maryland, Loyola institutions of the Association of Jesuit Marymount University, Loyola University Chicago, Colleges and Universities and Honors Loyola University New Orleans, Regis University, Programs. In the Summer of 2009, stu- Rockhurst University, University of Scranton, and dents from 15 Jesuit colleges and univer- Xavier University. sities traveled to our city to immerse What about next year? Lthemselves in New Orleans. Although we had originally planned to limit the Loosely modeled after the Erasmus Institute at Institute to 20, we were overwhelmed by the 70 we the University of Notre Dame, the Institute serves as received and expanded our list. At the conclusion. a domestic immersion program that combines a rig- students presented writings, reports, poems, and art- orous academic seminar and active engagement with work to capture their experience. They also dis- the world, all in the Ignatian spirit of reflection and cussed how the visit changed their perceptions of individual formation. The pilot JSIAS at Loyola was the city, what lessons they would take back, and entitled, “After the Deluge: Crisis and Culture in New how they would put what they had learned to use in Orleans.” During the two-week program (May 31- their home cities. Many were led to question their June 12, 2009), JSIAS fellows had the opportunity to long-held beliefs and assumptions. participate in a seminar convened by two Loyola fac- In some ways, our timing could not have been ulty, meet with experts and activists, attend cultural worse. Perhaps our biggest challenge was finding events, sample local cuisine, and explore post- funding for the program given the economic climate Katrina New Orleans. They examined the moral following the financial meltdown in late 2008. Many dimension of our city’s unique and persistent chal- of our sister Jesuit institutions faced severe budget lenges, especially those that have led New Orleans cuts, and they were in no position to sponsor a stu- through its many crises and rebirths. dent, even at the reduced rate of $1,500 (We had The program included a service day in which fel- previously planned to ask for $5000 each.) Several lows participated in the city’s rebuilding efforts, and institutions had to withdraw. While the JSIAS was ini- there was also time set aside for Ignatian spiritual exer- tially conceived as an annual program to be hosted cises and reflections. All told, whereas the Erasmus on a different campus each year, the relentlessly Institute is devoted primarily to Catholic intellectual life, bleak economic outlook continues to threaten the our Institute aims at developing fellows as whole per- long-term success of the Institute. As successful as sons—intellectually, morally, and spiritually. our pilot program was, the future of the JSIAS Undergraduates from all of the 28 AJCU institu- remains uncertain. At the last AJCU Honors tions were invited to apply for the program. Conference, held at Marquette University in early Participating colleges and universities agreed to 2010, it was decided that an AJCU school would host sponsor their students by contributing $1,500 for the program every two years. ■ each fellow to assist in defraying the costs of airfare, meals, and fieldtrips while also providing each stu- dent with a modest stipend. We had 28 women and Constance Mui and John Sebastian are co- men at Loyola for the JSIAS, representing 15 Jesuit directors of the Loyola University New Orleans institutions: Boston College, Canisius College, honors program.

Conversations 43 Wheeling Jesuit University

44 Conversations n June 2009, I was one of the 28 lucky stu- dents to participate in the Jesuit Summer Institute for Advanced Study through Loyola New Orleans. . . . . The program was structured in order to highlight a variety of issues and What New Orleans promote interdisciplinary analysis. Every morning, we met with Loyola professors Taught Me IJohn Biguenet and John P. Clark to discuss a press- ing social issue. We learned about the history, geog- raphy and evolution of the city from an academic point of view. We would then spend our afternoons exploring the different neighborhoods. We helped In a summer program, rebuild houses destroyed in Hurricane Katrina, toured the districts, walked through the swamps, vis- student confronts “socially ited historical sites, and spoke with native citizens. In constructed othering” the evenings, we watched documentaries and met with guest speakers, including local scientists, radio jockeys, journalists, artists, and community leaders. Over the course of the two weeks, we each had the By Jacqueline McSweeney opportunity to explore an issue that struck our par- ticular interest. I chose to evaluate the relationship between race and community. Drawing from the multitude of sources, I began to construct a historical understand- ing of race in New Orleans and analyzed its impact the narrow barriers we wedge between one another. on the evolution of culture. The study broadened my A large portion of perception is shaped by the definition of race and reexamined its social role. media. This applies on both a small and large scale. It Though the notion of race has always been associat- seems to me that before the storm hit, New Orleans’ ed with pigment color, I found that it actually public reputation centered on the festivities of Mardi extends beyond just that. It entails language, loca- Gras in the French Quarter and the experiences of vis- tion, culture and tradition. It is a socially constructed itors rather than those of New Orleans’ citizens. means of othering, of drawing lines between people. However, the events of 2005 redirected the attention To say that race is defined only by physical charac- of the media and world. Headlines began to highlight teristics is to simplify the issue in a way that detracts the community’s hardships and triumphs, emphasizing from the significance of racial segregation. the sense of comradeship that emerged from the dam- Throughout New Orleans’ history, segregation has age. The image of the city developed into something occurred not only because of color, but also because deeper and richer than the superficial reputation it people distinguish themselves from others based on once had. Similarly, based on the events in our per- dialect, district, educational background, and even sonal lives, we continually shift the focus of what we occupation. It is important to note, though, that the are defined by. Thus, how we define race evolves with patterns of separation apply to almost every human our sense of identity. community – it is not unique to New Orleans. New Orleans has a lot to teach us. If we exam- Our notions of race are passed down from gen- ine the strengths, weaknesses, and unique character- eration to generation. Children who grow up aware istics of a community, we can begin to recognize the of differences tend to divide themselves into groups manifestation of its ideals in ourselves. As leaders, even when placed in situations with opportunity to we must then be in touch with the identity of our mingle. If we are to introduce change into this city and the social barriers that exist within it to ini- human paradigm, we must first grasp the reality of tiate positive growth and change. ■ the situation and look beyond particular events to understand the larger picture. The first step is to Jacqueline McSweeney is a senior Chemistry and define the cultures with which people identify. Once Spanish double major and member of the honors we recognize the ways we define ourselves in rela- program at Loyola Marymount University. tion to other people, we can begin to move beyond

Conversations 45 Alpha Sigma Nu: A SHORT HISTORY

By Beatrice Henson-O’Neal

n the first half of the 20th century, admin- ate the ideals of a Jesuit education and to impress these istrators of Catholic institutions of higher ideals upon their fellow men.” Alpha Sigma Tau spread education found that their students were in its first decade to include Creighton University, St. being systematically locked out of honor Louis University, and the University of Detroit. By societies, especially Phi Beta Kappa. Neil 1930, the society became Alpha Sigma Nu. IMcCluskey, S.J.,’s research on Catholic Meanwhile in 1924, Marquette also founded school applications to Phi Beta Kappa Gamma Pi Epsilon to honor outstanding women, with from 1931 to 1958 seemed to verify that claim. Of the the motto, “For the Glory of the School.” They became 23 Catholic schools considered during the period a national organization in 1947. Alpha Sigma Nu and McCluskey examined, only two were awarded chap- Gamma Pi Epsilon pursued separate but similar paths ters, leading the author to respond that “the absence of for almost 50 years, expanding nationally and cooper- certain distinguished Catholic colleges, which by every ating on campuses where they existed together. criterion are blue-ribbon, is perplexing.”(America, Despite the student unrest on many American February 22, 1958)) campuses in the 1960’s, Alpha Sigma Nu continued to Catholic educators called this lock-out discrimina- flourish and was ready to usher in a new era that includ- tion, while their secular counterparts argued that poor ed women. At the 1964 ΑΣΝ conference, the issues academic standards among Catholic schools were to committee reasoned that: “If ΑΣΝ is to honor students blame. The Catholic college and university administra- desirous of said honor, no one should be eliminated on tors repeatedly attempted to bring national honor soci- grounds of sex. The present set-up contradicts the eties onto their campuses and failed. notion of Jesuit honor students.” By 1973, they were John Danihy, S.J., who arrived at Marquette in 1899, officially merged. Currently, 1,800 men and women are first as the athletic director and later as the football coach, annually inducted as life-time members into ΑΣΝ, the visited many colleges and universities and developed an only honor society permitted to bear the Jesuit name. affinity for honor societies. In 1915, he founded Alpha The tradition that Danihy began of giving new mem- Sigma Nu (then Alpha Sigma Tau) at Marquette as a par- bers a key and certificate that bore the three Greek let- tial response to the discrimination of his day but also to ters ΑΣΝ and the eye of wisdom continues today as its acknowledge something deeper that went beyond one’s 60,000 members commit themselves to scholarship, academic discipline. Since Jesuit colleges and universities loyalty, and service. ■ were not yet coeducational, it was for men only. In 1921, Fr. Danihy’s vision went beyond the walls Beatrice Henson-O’Neal, is coordinator of Alpha of Marquette towards the creation of a national Jesuit Sigma Nu and supervisor of the honors program at organization. Inductees were instructed “to band Loyola Marymount University. together those who most fully understand and appreci-

46 Conversations ALPHA SIGMA NU Scholarship, Loyalty, Service: What do they mean?

By Joan Van Hise

y father, a proud graduate of a ally in stimulating classes. Unfortunately, the world Jesuit high school and college, outside the classroom was homogenous, closed- wore his Alpha Sigma Nu tie bar minded and overwhelmingly anti-intellectual. After every day of his working life. one semester, I transferred to another Jesuit college, Recently, an Alpha Sigma one that was diverse, open, and accepting. But was Nu newsletter listed the three this change more as a result of the external environs core principles of Jesuit educa- – a large urban area rather than a small city in a tion and Alpha Sigma Nu: schol- largely rural area? And, while I did receive an excel- Marship, loyalty, and service. My father clearly con- lent education, I managed to complete my B.S. com- nected with the first two, but the third, service, pletely untouched by the Jesuit charism. No cura seems to be a more modern interpretation of what it personalis, men and women for others, finding God means to be “Jesuit educated.” in all things, magis; no mention of Ignatian spiritu- How has what we mean by the phrase Jesuit- ality or the Spiritual Exercises. educated changed since my father’s Jesuit days? Perhaps it was because I was in the business My Jesuit journey has been different from that of school and so many of the faculty worked full-time my father – and the journey on which today’s stu- outside of school to support their families. But not dents have embarked. one class ever addressed any aspect of anything All the males in my father’s family went to Jesuit uniquely Jesuit. The business school essentially high schools and colleges. At that time there were operated separately from the rest of the University, numerous Jesuits on campus - in the classrooms, and in that, modeled for us how we should sepa- even on every floor in the dorms. My father’s high rately compartmentalize faith and reason. school and college experiences were separated by At the university commencement exercises, many WWII. When he started college, he was one of many of the graduates from the business school waved dol- war-weary veterans in his early 20’s who also hap- lar bills as the Archbishop of Sao Paulo spoke of our pened to be a college freshman. He mixed cocktails in his room every night before dinner — a clear violation of the dorm’s no While I received an excellent alcohol rule. And each night the Jesuit prefect who lived on the floor would come knocking when he education, I was completely heard the cocktail shaker saying, “Bill, you’re not untouched by the Jesuit charism. allowed to have a drink before dinner – unless you make one for me too.” In a truly Ignatian manner, that young prefect recognized the importance of adapting responsibility to help the poor. It was the first time the to the circumstances of his students. So my image of message had been shared with most of the graduates Jesuit education was one that inspired loyalty and on the commencement field. Unfortunately, the oppor- adapted well to changing times. When an older sib- tunity to share that message had passed; it was too lit- ling attended a Jesuit high school, academic excel- tle, too late for most of us. And so I became a Jesuit lence was emphasized in the brand description. graduate, with little new insight into what it meant to I started at a small Jesuit college where I was be Jesuit-educated, except, perhaps, that lay faculty taught by professors who challenged me intellectu- could also contribute to a Jesuit education.

Conversations 47 content of my courses expanded. I started weaving For most of the faculty, their in the concepts of Catholic social teaching. I incor- relationships with students started porated more examples of accounting in not-for- profit organizations, and encouraged my business and ended at the classroom door. students to consider non-traditional career paths, including a service year after graduation. Teaching ethics through a living and learning res- In three years of public accounting following col- idential college that focused on the exploration of lege I learned that ethics were negotiable to many. I vocation, I had my first formal introduction to the left the business world and retreated to the safety of Ignatian pedagogical paradigm. With guidance from my Jesuit cocoon for a master’s degree. Here I benefit- symposia and thoughtful colleagues, I began to adopt ed more from individual interaction with the faculty; an Ignatian approach in more of my classes. “Who am but was that only because I was a graduate student? I I?” “Whose am I?” and “Who am I called to be?” am still not sure. The phrase cura personalis had come became common questions in my classes, and in my into vogue – and was tossed into the school’s exten- discussions with students in the office. I experienced sive promotional literature, along with the brand the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and learned of the “Jesuit” with abandon. I was nearing completion of powerful connections between the Exercises and another Jesuit degree, and no closer to learning what Ignatian pedagogy. Reflections became required it meant to be Jesuit-educated. assignments in many of my classes. In short, I, the Before I finished my MBA, I was offered the teacher, joined my students in learning. opportunity to join the faculty at the school at which I What does it mean to be Jesuit-educated today? was studying. Did the Jesuit character of the university You might wonder that I haven’t yet figured it out. and my own experience as a Jesuit-educated student The mission statement of Alpha Sigma Nu states inform my teaching there? I practiced cura personalis “Our mission is to understand, appreciate and pro- with aplomb, I emphasized ethics in all of my classes, mote the ideals of Jesuit education — opening and did my part to support academic excellence. I also minds, doors and hearts to a lifelong journey in wis- got to know my former professors in a different way, dom, faith and service.” As one on that lifelong jour- as colleagues. They were good and caring men – yes, ney, I have come to see the phrase “Jesuit-educated” men (I was only the third female on the business fac- in a new light. ulty!) – and wonderful colleagues. But, for most of In our 24/7 world we realize that students typi- them, their relationships with their students started and cally spend more than 90 percent of their hours each ended at the classroom door. week outside the classroom. That’s a lot of time! But When I left the faculty six years later to concen- I am not troubled by this – as the Jesuits following trate on my doctorate and raising my growing fami- WWII adapted for the returning veterans, we are ly, I still had not been touched by much that I could learning to adapt to this new reality by creating identify as uniquely Jesuit. Yet, for some reason, I intentional living and learning communities for our felt an affinity to the Jesuits – loyalty I guess. When students. I discussed job placement with my dissertation com- You may have heard that the “golden days” of mittee some years later, I insisted that I would only Catholic Jesuit education are behind us. These sages teach at a Jesuit university. I’m not sure why. After speak of the golden days when Jesuits accounted for finishing the PhD, I was home with my kids when the majority of the faculty on campus. My local my next opportunity came knocking; it seems the paper recently ran an article on how the shortage of Jesuits weren’t finished with me yet. priests is affecting . One Jesuit was quoted as saying Perhaps I happened back into Jesuit education “Without Jesuits, how can you call yourself Jesuit?” at just the right moment in time in 1997, but I soon I must respectfully disagree with those who feel noticed that my concept of being Jesuit-educated our best days have passed. The presence of an was being enlarged. There was more to Jesuit edu- Alpha Sigma Nu chapter on a campus is evidence cation than cura personalis and academic excel- that the values of scholarship, loyalty and service are lence; a Jesuit education should address “the service cherished. The challenge is to make them operative of the faith which absolutely demands the promo- through intellectual engagement enlivened by the tion of justice.” So the focus had changed: scholar- quest for justice and faith. ■ ship, loyalty — and service too. As the integral links between faith, reason, and Joan Van Hise is associate professor of accounting justice became more apparent to me, the topical at Fairfield University.

48 Conversations Sex and the Young Adult Catholic College Student A further commentary on the “hook-up” culture

By Richard G. Malloy, S.J.

ook, Fr. Rick, youth true life in Christ. This gen- the kids to leave room for the Holy no disrespect eration of young adults saw the Spirit to single sex dorms without or nothing child molester Fr. Fellatio featured visitation privileges, have gone the but I’m doing as a character on Mad TV as they way of the electric typewriter. stuff the were growing up and the real “Grinding” on the dance floor does C a t h o l i c priest sex scandals have certainly not refer to making coffee. Church does- done damage. Still, there are even The church has much to offer n’t want me deeper currents carrying them young adults, but our young peo- ‘Lto do. So my going to Mass would away from Mass. ple have never heard it. Many be hypocritical.” He doesn’t want Throughout history young vociferously tell politicians to do the Eucharist. He wants the con- people were married and parent- something about Roe v. Wade stant and crazy drinking and sex- ing almost as soon as their sexual (which, if ever overturned, will ual practices ubiquitous on col- equipment was operative. Now just throw the question back to lege campuses. twelve to fourteen year olds’ bod- the States). Yet I have listened to Attracting young adults when ies are hormonally raging while hundreds of young adults who the cultural practices of their pres- their culture instructs them to put admit no one, no parent or friend- ent life stage seemingly contradict off marriage until they are in their ly, admirable adult has ever spo- an authentic following of Jesus, is late twenties or early thirties. All ken to them about their develop- the pastoral challenge for those of constraints culture used to put in ment of character and moral for- us who minister to and with the place to keep boys and girls apart, mation in the area of sex. young. These days, we face some from dances where Sr. Mother The kids watch thousands of new permutations when offering Superior would walk around telling hours of shows like Two and a

Conversations 49 Talking Back

Half Men and The Big Bang, all of surrounding sexual behavior. The reserved for marriage. Another 50 which are just long, predictable argu- prevailing perceived ideology is that percent see sex as something ments that what matters in life is sex is best had often, “hot” and with engaged in only within very “mean- “getting laid,” while we fail to offer a no strings attached. The sad reality is ingful” and “committed” relation- counter narrative more attractive and that not only are so many having ships (maybe an occasional “wild” mindless, meaningless sex; they also weekend is to be expected and Oral sex has become no are having a lot of bad sex, unsatis- excused). Sex before marriage is OK, fying on many levels, from the lack especially when marriage is thought more meaningful nor less of romance and tenderness to the to be part of the “near” future. The rather pleasure-less and embarrass- remaining 25 percent, who are into prevalent than the good- ing humping of horny bodies too multiple partners, as many and as night kiss inebriated to perform. Theology of often as one can, who see sex as the Body programs with a retro mostly recreational and totally non- emphasis on outdated gender roles committal, are thought by many to meaningful. Animal House and (one version speaks of the man as a be in the majority. American Pie: Beta House form their Knight treating the woman as a Second virginity clubs and True social imaginations of college, yet Princess who is the daughter of the Love Revolutions (e.g., Harvard’s pro we expect them to be able to assume King, i.e. God the Father) are at least abstinence club: “Because you’re the responsibility of young Christians well intentioned attempts to address worth waiting for”) evidence some- to live sexually free, responsible and the issues. But for most young peo- thing stirring among the young. They loving lives with no aid from their ple whose worldviews are formatted know what research reveals. Casual elders. Eighteen-yea -olds hit cam- more by Tarantino and Twilight, sex among students produces nei- pus and are thrown into the tsunami such a reaching back to previous ther passion nor companionship. of beer, babes, bodies and beds. And paradigms proves insufficient to “Love for them was not a source of we wonder why they don’t show up unintelligible. joy.” Jersey Shore Guidos and at Mass. Guidettes may get it on, but they are Oppressive hook up culture not finding love. roams and stalks their souls and we Even more revelatory is the find- say little to nothing in response. ing that what people really want is Many freshman orientation programs not wild monkey sex with anyone warn of “STIs” and date rape scenar- they meet in a bar, nor endless seri- , but do little to help young adults al monogamy. “When college stu- explore and understand the joys and dents are asked how many sex part- demands of honest communication ners they would like to have over and loving relationships. To “hook the rest of their lives, the typical up” means solely physical sex, response from an overwhelming everything from kissing to full geni- majority of both men and women is tal encounters, all with no meaning, ‘one’. ” People really want that one no further expectations, no romance lifelong lover, companion and friend. and certainly no love. The really rev- Young adults need to hear that the olutionary attitudes and practices lifelong loving relationship champi- surrounding oral sex — it has he real oned by church teaching is what become no more meaningful or less news is that there is not as much wild most people actually want. prevalent than the good night kiss — and crazy sex as many seem to think. The Catholic vision of transfor- have thrust young people into TNewsweek reports 80 percent of col- mation in Christ (“God became what engaging in behaviors they are quite lege students said they had only one we are so we might become what ambivalent about the next day. or no sexual partners in the past year. God is” – St. Athanatius, can help a Many, both male and female, are Researchers have found that in boy or girl grow and develop from profoundly dissatisfied and dis- the USA about 25 percent of the an awkward and confused adoles- tressed about what they perceive to population adheres to traditional cent into a fully alive human being, be the expectations of their peers moral meanings, i.e., sex is solely conscious of choices in the sexual

50 Conversations Talking Back

areas of one’s life, virtuous choices about the vision of the faith concern- 3) Preach a full and flexible that help all of us live happy and ing matters of sex and sexuality, we Catholicism. The faith is rooted in healthy and holy and free. Everyone need to do a much better job of our relationship with Jesus. His Holy is called to freedom from all that is communicating the richly nuanced Spirit develops within us desires for dehumanizing in the hook up cul- and thoroughly human wisdom of God and service of others. To be ture, and freedom for making com- our Catholic tradition. Catholic is to be striving to glimpse mitments that are authentic, true, What the Church actually teach- the grace of God forming our hearts lasting and loving. es is chastity, “The successful inte- and minds over time. Our God is No one wants to end up like gration of sexuality within the per- patient and compassionate. There Tiger Woods, John Edwards or son.” This integration leads to “inner are many ways of being authentical- Samantha from Sex and the City. Nor unity” and the personal expression ly Catholic. does anyone want to end up in an of just and loving relationships. The 4) Lean into the practice of unhappy marriage, harnessed to a gift of sex is the power to give of our discerning Justice. Every college person he or she has come to selves, body and soul, to another in student wants to be treated fairly. Is despise, all in the name of supposed love, which mirrors our relationship what one is doing on multiple party fidelity to the sacrament of matrimo- with God. Challenging students to nights throughout the week fair, just, ny. The people of God need assis- experience the sanity and serenity right? Would you want someone tance from the faithful in many ways the heroic embrace of chastity offers doing this with your little brother or and walks of life, articulating how young adults is a powerful remedy sister? If your mother or father were sex and marriage unite us in Christ to the chronic confusion and pulver- doing what you are doing, would and lead to conversion and consola- izing pain surrounding the hook up you be cheering, or ashamed? Is all tion. Married lay people would be culture in which they are immersed. the partying right and just to those best to lead this effort. Together the Here are some suggestions for open- paying the tuition bills? people of God need to produce ing young adult minds to the possi- 5) Get real about the seismic sound reflections and share wisdom bility of making such an embrace changes surrounding the whole on how to fall and stay in love and 1) Converse with them about “GLBTQ” population. Although the then live out the covenant of love development in discipleship: gay population is nowhere near pledged at the altar. Peter didn’t have it all together from 10 percent (it’s more like 3 percent, This necessarily will include day one. Nor did Mary Magdalene. a sizable number of people, some 9 frank and honest discussion of the None of us do. The church calls us million in the USA, self identify as practice of birth control and the all to grow in Christ. Fidelity to Christ being homosexually oriented in their Church will have to be open to the in matters sexual is a process, not a desires. Homosexual promiscuity idea that some practice of birth con- product. Tell them the truth: Sex is must be challenged, as must hetero- trol is good and loving. There’s a dif- like baseball; errors are part of the sexual promiscuity, for neither sup- ference between artificial means of game. port just or loving relationships. As birth control employed by a married 2) Challenge Drunkenness: gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered couple who are trying to raise three College is the only institution where and queer people continue to kids on $30,000 a year and the giv- public intoxication is still acceptable. become more public ly accepted ing of the pill to the 15 year old Point out that the alcohol soaked (the military is moving toward drop- cheerleader so she can keep the half- party nights in college mask their ping “don’t ask don’t tell”), a church back happy. true selves and only benefit the idols perceived as staunchly, vociferously Rarely does a Catholic institution and profit margins of Smirnoff, and rabidly anti-gay will be shunned of higher education undertake the Bacardi, and Bud Light. College-age task of systematically presenting people need to learn how to relate Twenty-five percent of Catholic teaching and aims in all while sober. No one wants to find their attractiveness and glory. Too the future mother or father of his or the population believes many Catholic students report that her children while four sheets to the that sex is solely all they hear is “Three word Catholic wind. And Everclear (grain alcohol) teaching: ‘Don’t do it.’ ‘Don’t be gay.’ served in a clean trash can is always reserved for marriage. ” (Conversations, Spring 2010, p. 15). a clear indication you are at the To engage and enrich young adults wrong frat party.

Conversations 51 Talking Back

Fans cheer on their team at Xavier University.

by young adults who know well God will cast you into hell, even insights from world religions). Young adjusted and loving homosexual per- though God loves you, a theology adults need to learn how to discern sons, some of whom are family and George Carlin so savagely satirized. the choices that lead us toward or friends. We all must live up to the Catholic teaching envisioned more away from being in tune with the teachings of the church that homo- as a set of recipes will be very help- energies of love. Peace and happi- sexual persons are to be accepted ful in inviting young people into the ness mark our realization that we are and no discrimination is to be shown practices and power of the faith. in tune with God’s grace and action towards them. Recipes do not mean “anything our lives. One way forward: rulebook goes.” You cannot put ice cream Until young adults find a way to or recipe? So often arguments about birthday cake on pizza. Still pizza Christ in terms that make sense to them such issues discuss the surface can come with a variety of toppings. in their cultural milieus, a way offering aspects of the behaviors without The recipe of Catholic living for freedom from the absurdity of the examining or being aware of the young people will involve necessary hook up scene, there is little chance of root metaphors that determine one’s ingredients, i.e., a real Baptismal attracting them to the table where we conclusions concerning these mat- commitment, along with a variety of receive the Body of Christ, our food for ters. For many, Catholic teaching is a variable toppings: contemplating “the Way.” Pull out the recipes, get rulebook and any violation of the Jesus in the gospels; experiencing cooking and invite the young to din- rules constitutes grounds for a penal- the real presence in the community ner. College kids love pizza. ■ ty. This fits with an ancient atone- gathered for Eucharist; finding joy in ment theory of salvation which serving others and treating others images God as an angry, vengeful with justice; exploring a multitude of Richard G. Malloy, S.J., is vice being who must be appeased by our spiritualities (e.g., Franciscan and president for ministry at Saint good behavior. Break the rules and Ignatian to hybrids incorporating Joseph’s University.

52 Conversations Talking Back

The Dishonesty of “Cores Lite” The Battle for a Truly Common Core

By D. R. Koukal

s a scarred veteran of a Jesuit university has every right to of electives allowed by various pro- five year attempt to expect that his or her “whole per- grams. Professional schools have to revise the core curricu- son” will be educated. put much effort into navigating these lum at the University I understand this to mean that no various demands, and so their admin- of Detroit Mercy, I matter the major chosen by any istrators are understandably reluctant found the Fall 2010 undergraduate, his or her horizons to make programmatic adjustments “Core Wars” issue of will be broadened by a core curricu- that could accommodate a stronger Conversations a very lum which brings students into mean- Aworthwhile read. However, I was ingful contact with scholars from the A “dishonest practice” surprised at the omission of one humanities as well as from the natural major field of battle that centers and human sciences, so that these stu- around the following question: how dents may have a fuller sense of the core. Furthermore, in an increasingly to balance the programmatic require- intellectual, social, ethical and spiritu- corporatized academia, the relatively ments of professional schools with a al complexities of the world. major-poor humanities are perceived robust core in the arts and sciences? On the other hand, the moment as “getting in the way” of the “rev- In my view, this question has a Jesuit undergraduate chooses a enue-producing” professional schools. bedeviled our efforts to revise the core major, the “broadening” function of The net result of all this is that great at UDM, and I can’t imagine that it has the core comes into conflict with the pressure is put on the core to shrink, not also challenged other Jesuit uni- “narrowing” function demanded by or to at least not grow in size. versities — especially since a good specialization, which is required so A good number of Jesuit schools many of these universities have at least the student may achieve competence have dealt with this pressure is by one (and often many) professional in a specific field. embracing multiple core curricula. schools. In what follows, I want to This conflict is intensified by As part of our committee’s work at explore the contours of this conflict, professional programs that must UDM, we surveyed the cores of the lay out exactly what is at stake for meet stringent accreditation require- Jesuit institutions most similar to us in Jesuit education in this struggle, and to ments, and is exacerbated further by size and programming. What we conclude with some suggestions that programs that are credit hour-inten- found is that all of these schools — might ease these tensions in the serv- including UDM — have a definitive ice of retrieving a truly common core The humanities “university core” that is front-and- while still respecting the various con- center and loudly touted as being straints under which many profession- are seen as “getting central to each institution’s mission. al schools must labor. But upon digging just a little deeper If Jesuit education was strictly in the way” into these school’s websites, we dis- about narrow vocational training, covered that each professional peace would reign over the land. school within these institutions However, the vast literature on Jesuit sive. This, in turn, puts pressure on has its own “derivative” core tailored education makes it crystal clear that the number of credit hours required to their own programmatic needs. any undergraduate who attends a for graduation, as well as the number This dishonest practice severely

Conversations 53 Talking Back

undermines any claim that a com- social justice like poverty and racism, The first step in attempting to rem- mon general education is fundamen- I found that some undergraduates are edy this situation is to reaffirm that tal to any of these institutions. instead required to take classes like both professional and general educa- The picture grows even more “Recent Advances in Biochemistry tion are equally important in Jesuit uni- disturbing when one delves into the Related to Social Issues” and “The versities, and that on the grounds of details of these various “cores lite.” Professional World of Work.” Finally, academic excellence the integrity of One strategy employed by some and closer to home, one of my profes- each must be respected. What follows sional colleagues cavalierly told me from this is that the requirements of that in her college, if a core-required professional programs do not automat- These practices course stood between a student and ically trump the requirements of a graduation, it was not unusual for the strong core for every undergraduate. subvert the purpose of course to be waived. Indeed, since professional accredita- Jesuit education. tion is tied to curricular content rather than the number of credit hours in a program, there is potentially more schools is to simply waive university “wiggle room” within professional pro- core requirements for their majors. grams to accommodate a strong and For example, at one university, engi- truly common core than is typically neering, biology, chemistry and bio- admitted. This, in turn, would require chemistry students are simply the chief academic officers of our uni- exempted from the social science versities to bring the deans of every requirement in the university core. academic unit to the table in order to Another strategy is to “flood” a dis- facilitate the implementation of a com- tributive part of the university core mon core, once the faculty responsible with a programmatic requirement for teaching the core have created it. that squeezes out other core options. his is a far from I suspect that many will consider a For instance, at one school, business exhaustive list of examples, but it is common core to be impossible to students are required to take three sufficient to make this general point: achieve in our now Balkanized institu- economics courses at the expense of Tall of these practices subvert the tions, but my scrutiny of these multiple possible core courses in psychology, broadening function of the general cores has revealed to me that many sociology or political science. A third education promised by the Jesuits, Jesuit universities are closer to a com- strategy is to waive disciplinary com- and as a consequence turn out stu- mon core than is often imagined. I do petencies. This is seen most often in dents who are less “well rounded” concede the difficulty of this task, but I the way many professional programs than others — in some cases, consid- believe that with good faith and the satisfy an institution’s ethics require- erably less so. If Jesuit education is spirit of compromise, creativity, and ment. Here, as often as not, courses truly about educating not only profes- most importantly, a fixed and resolute narrowly concerned with profession- sionals but also persons, these prac- focus on the Jesuit educational mission, al standards are passed off as cours- tices raise at least two uncomfortable it can be achieved. The grim alterna- es in general ethics, and are taught questions. First, why are some stu- tive, in my view, is the continued slow not by ethicists, but by practitioners dents at Jesuit universities regarded as erosion of the unique contribution the with at best a layperson’s grasp of less worthy of having their whole per- Jesuits have made to higher education ethical theory. son educated? And second, if these over the last four and a half centuries, Yet another strategy is to compel are standard practices at our universi- with the sad result that for a good students to fulfill core requirements ties, then why should our parents pay many of our students, their education by taking courses relating only to significantly more for their children’s will be Jesuit in name only. ■ their major field of study. For exam- college education when virtually the ple, at another school, under a uni- same education can be had at a con- versity core element titled siderably lower cost at the local tech- D. R. Koukal is associate professor “Contemporary Social Problems,” nical school? These questions cut to of philosophy and co-director of where one might expect all students the very essence of the Jesuit educa- the honors program at the to engage encompassing matters of tional tradition. University of Detroit Mercy.

54 Conversations Talking Back

How Jesuit Stars Can Win the Core Wars

By Justin Daffron, S.J.

y imagination was formed in the 1970s in part by the film Star Wars. So, as I started to read the Fall 2010 issue of Conversations, I began to wonder how we might permanently harnessM the force to be used for the good so that our students win in the Core Wars. Who wants the dark side to win: turf bat- tles, wasted resources, disenfranchised stu- dents and frustrated faculty? Having completed a research study on the core curriculum at the 28 schools of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU), I have also approached the topics addressed by the 36 contributing authors through the lens of my own survey data collected from 266 Jesuit faculty and administrators working at these Jesuit institutions in the United States. I offer three tactics, grounded in my research.

Tactic 1: Put the Best Faculty Teaching in Core Courses Students emerge as winners when they have the opportunity to engage with excel- lent faculty in their core courses. In the Star Wars trilogy, Jedi Master Yoda was an excellent teacher and he imparted to Luke Skywalker the basics so he would need to be able to learn on his own. The core cur- riculum needs to do the same. The majority of students who earn degrees from Jesuit institutions remem- Jesuits from Saint Peter’s College. ber little from the disciplinary specific

Conversations 55 Talking Back

knowledge they were exposed to dur- at 16 of 28 Jesuit institutions. Explicit mission of Jesuit higher education, a ing their core courses; however, they connections with the core and justice lack of appreciation for the liberal arts, do remember the teachers who chal- will continue, but there is no single a lack of belief that a distinctively lenged them to develop a love for method to accomplish this aim. Jesuit Catholic core curriculum can be learning. The majority of core courses developed, and the fear that a specifi- are often those that students take sim- cally Jesuit Catholic center to the core ply “to get them out of the way” so will limit academic freedom. they can focus on their major courses. The faculty member who is able to Tactic 3: Properly Resource inspire a young adult through excellent the Core teaching, scholarly expertise, and cre- Students win when they have ative pedagogy will engender a love the opportunity to engage with a for learning that transcends any one curriculum that is more than a set of discipline. It is this type of Jedi Master disconnected courses aimed at com- Yoda faculty member who is essential pleting a certain amount of credit to the success of the core curriculum. hour requirements. Threats to this tactic include the The core curriculum cannot exist number of adjuncts teaching in the solely as the majority of course work core, the quality of instruction, com- ore that a student will take during her first peting demands for faculty time, and requirements within philosophy and two years of study. If the core remains a lack of resources for on-going fac- theology have historically served as a disconnected from the rest of a stu- ulty professional development. The disciplinaryC context for much of the dent’s experience—his or her campus best faculty will need to address justice related subject matter and activities, work, community involve- these issues to assure that the force have been a distinguishing element ment, major studies—it becomes is harnessed for the good. of the core curriculum at Jesuit insti- insignificant and a burden. The core tutions. Jesuits working at AJCU insti- curriculum will be strengthened for Tactic 2: Stay True to the tutions closely connect their own sat- students when high-impact learning Tradition isfaction with the core curriculum experiences, including service learn- Students win when they have with their perception of the quality of ing, research, cross-cultural experi- the opportunity to engage with a cur- the philosophy and theology courses. ences, integration of classroom and riculum that is uniquely Jesuit Catholic. Given the important role theology and out of class learning, and capstone Each core curriculum is different, philosophy play in the curriculum, projects are part of its structure. and from this we see that Jesuit insti- further research into the type of theol- Threats to this tactic include a tutions can share a common history ogy and philosophy appropriate for lack of understanding of an integrat- and future vision while maintaining the today’s undergraduate students ed approach, a lack of financial sup- distinctive academic programs that will be essential. The aim of this port for an integrated learning expe- allow each institution to offer a research would not be to narrowly rience, and a lack of administrative unique approach to Jesuit education. define a curriculum but rather to support to assist faculty in develop- The era of a prescribed curriculum investigate how philosophy and theol- ing high-impact learning activities that all Jesuit institutions must follow ogy can become a foundational com- and assignments in their courses. is undesirable in our day. At the same ponent to student learning. Throughout the history of Jesuit edu- time, the renewal of Jesuit education, Some institutions, like Boston cation, the best faculties have consis- initiated by Father Pedro Arrupe in College’s PULSE program, have tently been able to grapple with the 1973, re-positioned the purpose of made significant headway in devel- challenges of their day to assure that Jesuit education towards justice. The oping academic programs for philos- needs of their students were served. trajectory towards justice has ophy and theology that are relevant May the force be with you! ■ remained one of the most important to today’s college students and there- aims of Jesuit education throughout fore should be studied for the bene- the world. The connection between fit of other Jesuit institutions. Justin Daffron, S.J., is associate justice related themes and the goals of Some of the threats to this tactic provost for academic student serv- the core curriculum is explicitly drawn include a lack of understanding of the ices at Loyola University Chicago.

56 Conversations Talking Back

Math and Gospels

By Richard Escobales

s a longtime veteran For example, some might on water, Mark 6: 45-52. In Mark of the Math Wars argue that those education majors, 6:50 Jesus utters the words “I am and as a member of not teaching mathematics or sci- , be not afraid.” The clueless dis- the faculty at ences that use mathematics exten- ciples do not get the message. But Canisius College for sively, should not be required to later, when Jesus utters the identi- 37 years, I am con- take two mathematics courses in cal words in Mark 14:62, “I am.” cerned about core college. Unhappily, these same their meaning is not lost on the reductions that education majors who received a high priest, who describes what Ahave taken place at Jesuit reprieve from college level math- Jesus says as “blasphemy (Mark Colleges. I write as a graduate ematics may later be making deci- 14:64).” In Genesis and Exodus the from the honors program of a sions as principals or as superin- words “I am” express God’s identi- Jesuit College, (St. Peter’s College) tendents about what curriculum in ty. And unless Jesus is God, this in 1965 and as one who complet- school mathematics should be expression would be blasphemous. ed a Ph.D. in mathematics in implemented. While their relative The cutbacks in required August 1972 at the University of mathematical ignorance may not courses in theology and philoso- Notre Dame. have adversely affected their own phy are disservice to Catholic A traditional liberal arts core careers as administrators, inept education, to the students who curriculum allows students who are curricular decisions following study at Jesuit Colleges, and to the often unsure about what major to from that ignorance could ham- nation. As a result many students pursue to encounter different disci- string generations of students and who graduate from Jesuit Colleges plines at the college level. In that this nation’s ability to compete in will not have been forced to think encounter they sometimes discover disciplines that use mathematics. about the meaning of the New something totally alien to their pre- This is one lesson that I learned Testament and the Hebrew vious experience, but something from battles in the Math Wars. Scriptures in a serious way. They that they like and want to pursue Required study of a modern will have been provided an edu- for a lifetime. The remarkable foreign or classical language was cation that leaves them intellectu- upward mobility of so many gradu- once a hallmark of Jesuit educa- ally and culturally deracinated ates from Jesuit colleges and uni- tion. Unhappily, at many schools from the rich Catholic intellectual versities, including a former United foreign or classical language study tradition and as a result from the States President, gives eloquent tes- is no longer mandated. This richness of western history. These timony to the effectiveness of the requirement could work synergis- graduates will be prime fodder for Jesuit education of forty years ago. tically with study in other disci- doctrines proposed by religious Although demands from plines. The importance of lan- extremists. accrediting bodies for some majors guage is especially apparent in I am desirous that students at have forced some cutbacks in core biblical exegesis. For example, Jesuit College learn something courses, many of these cutbacks some familiarity with Greek about other religions, but not at have been far too drastic. As a con- would be important in doing the expense of learning some- sequence, the emphasis on a broad some textual analysis of a Gospel. thing about Scripture and some- educational experience has been Consider, for example, the thing about Catholic teaching. To dramatically diluted. Marcan redaction of Jesus walking require three required courses in

Conversations 57 Talking Back

theology and religion is not exces- the Gospel of John. I view the that might be addressed in a course sive and could be structured to canonical Gospels as four facets in ethics. Unhappily, an ethics accomplish these ends. of a priceless jewel. Given the requirement is no longer mandato- great accomplishments of biblical ry in many Jesuit colleges and scholars of all faiths, it is heart- requirements in metaphysics have breaking to realize that students disappeared altogether. routinely graduate from Catholic I would also like some history colleges without that in-depth requirements, some science experience. requirements, a social science Clear thinking, once empha- requirement, and a course in the sized by a required course in logic arts. Happily, English requirements, is now history in some Jesuit writing and literature, are still pre- schools, often replaced by some served at most Jesuit colleges. ■ gentle genuflection to “critical thinking. ” ne One of the triumphs of the of the great joys of my life has Catholic Church is its well-articulat- Richard Escobales teaches been the contemplation of pas- ed positions on war and peace, mathematics at Canisius College. Osages in the Gospels, especially social justice, and right-to-life issues

Students from Marquette University enjoy winter fun in the snow.

58 Conversations Book Review

Shirl Kasper, Rockhurst University: The First Hundred Years.

Kansas City: Rockhurst University Press, 2010. 403 pp. $50.00. By Charles R. Gallagher, S.J.

he magnet erative lay discernment, and faith. his Creighton experience in which attract- Kasper does a fine job of Kansas City. Lacking major ed young anchoring Rockhurst’s past in the donors, and swimming in an men to larger story of Catholicism in expanding pool of debt, the Rockhurst,” America and the American West. school received its charter in P r e s i d e n t Drawing largely on the analysis of 1910, but did not open its doors Maurice E. Notre Dame historian Philip until 1914. Regional anti- ‘T Van Ackeren, Gleason and to a lesser extent Catholicism, the World War, and a S.J. stated about his then co-edu- Holy Cross and the University of largely immigrant Irish church cational institution in 1971, “is still Dayton’s David J. O’Brien, she bereft of cash kept Father the effective force today – their shows at every turn how the Dowling from realizing his dream recognition that the campus offers Rockhurst story intersected with immediately. His enthusiasm for a friendly climate in which to con- the larger vision of Catholics in the Rockhurst enterprise, howev- duct their search for truth and the U.S. In the early years, much er, created a positive founding value.” (p.283) Shirl Kasper’s of that vision was granted to one theme for future endeavors. beautifully bound, four-color, man, the founding president, Rev. Rockhurst College was like commemorative yet critical history Michael Dowling, S.J. Dowling any other Jesuit “college” of the of Rockhurst University pays trib- thought big, bought big, and early 20th century – essentially a ute to the friendly atmosphere of spent even bigger. Convinced that high school with a curriculum the institution as well as the abid- his initial 25 acre purchase would grounded in the Jesuit plan of ing serious search for truth con- pay for future needs through the studies dating from 1599, the ducted on the rocky rises near eventual sale of properties adja- Ratio Studiorum. But in America, Troost Avenue in Kansas City, cent to his building lot, Dowling the Jesuit schema was coming Missouri. Kasper, the biographer was shaken only one year in under scrutiny just as Rockhurst of Annie Oakley, and former when the property values moder- award-winning journalist for the ated and city expansion ceased. Kansas City Star, has marshaled “Let us thank the Lord…and Charles R. Gallagher, S.J., a the archival resources of begin, “Dowling asserted as the member of the history Rockhurst University to present a foundations of the first building department at Boston College, picture of Rockhurst as an institu- were being laid. received the John Gilmary Shea tion heroically persevering, some- Dowling, who keenly cut his Prize for Vatican Secret times against the odds, toward full teeth as president of Creighton Diplomacy: Joseph P. Hurley integration into its host city, the University, had visions of creating and Pius XII from the American Catholic experience, schools of dentistry, medicine, sci- American Catholic Historical and the world. Rockhurst’s story is ence, and law at Rockhurst. But Association. one of Jesuit determination, coop- Dowling found it hard to replicate

Conversations 59 Book Review

got off the ground. Under debt, tus in early 1939. The high school pus heroes and institutional unaccredited, and with endow- and the university would not sepa- movers. Special profiles of major ment efforts failing, by the mid- rate campuses until 1963. With donors such as Lee M. Sedgwick 1920’s Father Dowling’s dream of a attention to detail interspersed with are balanced with profiles of illus- modern, multi-faculty, university- lively anecdote, Kasper conveys the trious alums of intellectual level institution had to be put on story of Rockhurst in compelling, achievement, including Walter J. hold. As Kasper points out, it was readable prose. Ong, S.J. accreditation which became the The author writes in chrono- perennial hurdle for Rockhurst as it logical fashion. The book is heavy moved forward as a young college. on top-down exposition of presi- The accreditation challenge dential decision-making and ini- had to be met before any other – tiatives. Consequently, the for- and it called for the jettisoning of tunes of the university seem to many traditional Jesuit methods and rise and fall with the personalities, curricular themes. Leaning on the and pecuniary success, of its pres- Jesuit values of consultation, prayer, idents. “Presidential Profiles” side- and adaptation, in April of 1925 bars are illuminating and of great Rockhurst became accredited as a interest. Building and expansion two-year junior college. The North projects are also highlighted, How Central Association of Colleges and sometimes with every feature Rockhurst was distinct from its sis- Secondary Schools would grant explained. Campus life is depicted ter colleges of the same size is left Rockhurst full four-year Class A sta- through various vignettes of cam- for a larger study. Campus culture of the 1950’s and 1960’s is taken up within the context of the times, but organizational history prevails. Issues of race and gen- der are mentioned and described. Issues such as separate incorpora- tion (transfer of university author- ity from Jesuit control to control by a lay board of trustees), or the influence of Vatican II on campus culture are left unexamined. Amid myriad challenges, opti- mism has marked the path of advancement of Rockhurst University. This unbridled opti- mism in God’s grace makes its centenary all the more elusive. Father Dowling began building the college in 1909, one year before he was granted a charter by the state of Missouri even to operate one. This optimism in searching for truth, its expression in friendliness, is excellently cap- tured by Shirl Kasper’s expertly- researched commemorative histo- ry of Rockhurst University’s first one-hundred years. ■

60 Conversations MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL SEMINAR ON JESUIT HIGHER EDUCATION

Lisa Sowle Cahill is a professor in the theology department at Boston College, Boston, Massachusetts. Harry R. Dammer is chair and professor of criminal justice and sociology at Scranton University, Scranton, Pennsylvania. Margaret Haigler Davis is associate professor of English at Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama. Susanne E. Foster is an associate professor in the philosophy department at Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Patrick J. Howell, S.J., is professor of pastoral theology and rector of the Jesuit community at Seattle University, Seattle, Washington. Paul V. Murphy is director of the Institute for Catholic Studies and associate professor history at John Carroll University, Cleveland, Ohio. John J. O’Callaghan, S.J., chairman, is chaplain at the Stritch School of Medicine, Loyola University Chicago, Illinois. Mark P. Scalese, S.J., is associate professor of visual and performing arts at Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut. Raymond A. Schroth, S.J., editor, is also associate editor of America magazine. Aparna Venkatesan is assistant professor in the department of physics and astronomy at the University of San Francisco. Charles T. Phipps, S.J., secretary, is a professor of English at Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, California.

A Note to Contributors COMING UP The fall issue of Conversations is inspired by an address given HOW THE SEMINAR WORKS by Fr. General Adolfo Nicolas in Mexico last April in which he challenged the Society to rethink its role in higher education. The Seminar plans each of the two annual issues during its Three basic themes emerged from his talk: promoting depth three annual meetings, each at a different Jesuit college or of thought and imagination, re-discovering the international university. For the most part, an issue focuses on one theme; network of Jesuit institutions, and sharing the fruits of research in but, at the same time, through the various departments — let- response to both secularism and fundamentalism. ters, Talking Back, occasional forums, other articles, and book We’re looking for the best authors to write on these issues. reviews — there are opportunities to keep the conversation Our next meeting is in April, so please email the editor at going on a variety of concerns. [email protected] with your proposals. We will need the Our ten Seminar members come from across the spec- manuscripts by mid-March to consider them at the meeting. trum of our colleges and universities, representing varied aca- For future issues we are talking about a general issue on demic disciplines and a broad range of experience with the faculty life, faith traditions on campus, and the impact of Jesuit educational tradition. The themes we choose to explore the economy. come out of our common reflection on that experience and from the discussions we hold with faculty, administrators, HOW TO WRITE FOR US staff, and students as we rotate among our schools. Please keep the article to fewer than 3000 words. Do NOT So, although most of the major articles are commissioned include footnotes. Incorporate any references into the text. by the Seminar, we welcome unsolicited articles from the Please, DON’T capitalize: chairman of the biology department, readers. Ideally, they should be written to explore an idea names of committees, or administrative titles, unless the title which will generate discussion rather than describe a news- precedes the name, as in President Woodrow Wilson. We wel- worthy project at one’s institution. Please understand that, come photographs, fully captioned, preferably action rather since the Seminar meets only three times a year, it may take than posed shots. Preferable format: a CD containing digital several months for each issue to take shape. images scanned at not less than 300 dpi. Or a traditional print. Send the article as a Microsoft WORD attachment to RASsj [email protected]. Archive issues available at Permission is granted to reprint articles from Conversations for any educational purpose, provided credit is given to the original source. http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/ Georgetown University Washington, DC, 1789 Saint Louis University Saint Louis, 1818 Spring Hill College Mobile, 1830 Xavier University Cincinnati, 1831 Fordham University New York, 1841 College of the Holy Cross Worcester, 1843 Saint Joseph’s University Philadelphia, 1851 Santa Clara University Santa Clara, 1851 Loyola University Maryland Baltimore, 1852 University of San Francisco San Francisco, 1855 Boston College Boston, 1863 Canisius College “Fourscore and Buffalo, 1870 Loyola University Chicago seven years ago Chicago, 1870 Saint Peter’s College our fathers Jersey City, 1872 University of Detroit-Mercy brought forth...” Detroit, 1877 Regis University Denver, 1877 Creighton University Omaha, 1878 Marquette University Milwaukee, 1881 John Carroll University Cleveland, 1886 Gonzaga University Spokane, 1887 University of Scranton Scranton, 1888 Seattle University Seattle, 1891 Rockhurst University Kansas City, 1910 Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles, 1911 Loyola University New Orleans New Orleans, 1912 Fairfield University Fairfield, 1942 Le Moyne College Syracuse, 1946 Wheeling Jesuit University Wheeling, 1954