Women in Catholic Higher Education: Border Work, Living Experiences, and Social Justice (review)

Catholic colleges and universities in the United States have become increasingly diverse institutions over the past 40 years and are now generously populated by non-Catholic students, non-traditional-aged students and students of color. Ethnic and ideological diversity is also reflected among faculty and administrators, as most Catholic colleges have, since the 1960s and '70s, hired applicants based on their professional qualifications with only limited concern for their religious affiliation.

The demographic growth of these new constituencies has generally been steadier than their growth in influence. Women in Catholic Higher Education: Border Work, Living Experiences, and Social Justice, edited by Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber and Denise Leckenby, presents narrative accounts of women and minorities working in Catholic higher education without the ascribed power and status afforded more traditional constituencies.

The editors hold leadership positions in NAWCHE, the National Association of Women in Catholic Higher Education; Hesse-Biber is the founder and current director. The book they have edited offers the experiences and perspectives of several faculty and administrators at Catholic colleges, primarily those involved in women's studies programs. Organized into three sections, it addresses the challenges that women and other somewhat marginal members of the Catholic college community face within the contexts of traditional, patriarchal institutions.

The concept of "border work," as the editors employ it, describes work done by women academicians that crosses the structural and philosophical boundaries of the traditional, Catholic academy. These stories bear witness to the resistance faced by female "outsiders," an experience the editors describe as being both "at home" and "in exile" within their own academic institutions.

The first two sections offer critical views of what it is like to be members of Catholic institutions while being outside their traditional mainstream in terms of personal identity, role, or academic specialty. The first section, somewhat unrepresentatively labeled as "Feminist Border Work," presents challenges that minority groups such as African Americans, Asians, gays, and lesbians face in traditionally White, ostensibly straight, Catholic colleges. Stereotypes, good intentions, defensiveness and accommodation are the contradictions portrayed in these chapters. Indeed, one of the strongest chapters in the book is the first, Stephanie Y. Mitchem's "What Doesn't Kill You Will Make You Strong." She presents a balanced and convincing description of her oft dismissive treatment as an African American professor at a campus that, like many Catholic colleges, purports to address the needs of underserved students (often African American) as an important part of its mission.

The section on "Living Experiences," in addition to the editors' conclusion, focuses on the status of women's studies curricula on Catholic campuses. Most of the authors and the editors directly equate the status of women's studies programs with the status of women at Catholic colleges and universities. Several chapters outline the obstacles that individual authors have faced in developing a women's studies program at their institution. One wonders, however, whether the status of women's studies programs and the reception that sponsoring faculty receive when fighting for resources, is itself a sufficient and reasonable measure of women's status on Catholic campuses.

The final section, "Social Justice: The Ideal, The Reality, and the Quest," offers perhaps the broadest challenge to Catholic colleges. It is in the context of "social justice" that feminist and Catholic ideologies intersect, so it is here that one would expect the least resistance to these women authors and their efforts. The authors in this section, notably Joan A. Range and Barbara E. Wall, demonstrate a sophisticated knowledge of the history and theology, both traditional and feminist, which has shaped women's experience at these institutions. They see the future as holding distinctive potential if Catholic colleges engage in an inclusive and meaningful commitment to social justice issues.

The third author, Stephanie Bressler, ultimately decided that she could more effectively work for social justice outside the confines of...