Sacrifice and Survival: Identity, Mission, and Jesuit Higher Education in the American South

Conclusion: Adapting to the South

conclusion Adapting to the South it is . . . evident that a few colleges or schools, furnished with an able faculty and the necessary equipment, and measuring up to the recognized standards, will be much better fitted for the good formation of catholic boys and young men, and at the same time reflect greater credit on the Society [of Jesus], than many colleges and schools that are deficient in teachers and in equipment. —father norbert de boynes in probing the history of Jesuit higher education in the american South, this study has formulated an understanding of how some Jesuit institutions failed to survive while others adapted and thrived. This book presents a possible explanation as to how institutional identity, mission, and town and gown relationships work together to either promote or inhibit institutional survivability. as such, it has been necessary to investigate the various responses of southern Jesuit colleges and universities to historically hostile or hospitable social environments in order to determine whether the relationship between a college or university and its social surroundings contribute to its ability to persist. ultimately, an examination of these factors through historic case examples, especially through close analysis of the town and gown relationship, has shown that institutional identity and mission do indeed play a role in the survival of colleges and universities. Given the identity and mission of the Society of Jesus and its catholic educational institutions founded in a highly Protestant region of america, coupled with periods of unrest concerning anti-catholic and anti-Jesuit sentiment, it was certainly difficult for Jesuits to maintain viable institutions. more important, the ability to enroll sufficient numbers of students who identified with a Jesuit college or university offering liberal arts curricula to financially sustain these institutions was difficult, unless the institution was located in a heavily catholic or sociallysupportiveenvironment .amajorfactorconcerningtheidentityandmission of these institutions was the ability to adapt without losing the characteristics of Jesuit higher education. Such, characteristics (identity, mission) are, according to alice brown, guiding elements of effective administrative planning that “ensure[s] the sustainability of the institution.”1 as has been expressed, the identity and mission of these Jesuit institutions played a major role in their survival primarily through adaptability. in each case, adapting curricula to address social needs was imperative for sustainability. The Adapting to the South / 163 need to provide practical education and to culturally alter the methods of the Ratio Studiorum, which ignatius himself had emphasized, were of great importance to both catholic and non-catholic students. not only was curricular adaptation needed,religiousinclusionwasessential. indeed,advertisementsfrom loyolauniversity and Spring hill college proclaimed the acceptance of non-catholic students and emphasized respect for individual religious preferences. This open and adaptive stance of Jesuit higher education created an atmosphere centered on the development of the whole student—mind, body, and soul—not simply catholic higher education for catholics alone. also important, the separate identity and mission of the Society of Jesus as a supervisorial organization, as opposed to those of each individual Jesuit college or university, played a significant role in the failure or survival of each institution in the new orleans Province. as an organization, the guiding principles of the Society of Jesus often trumped those of individual higher education administrators and instructors. a prime example of the role of identity and mission within the Society of Jesus itself is the vow of obedience all Jesuit priests and brothers take. for this study, the recommendations of norbert de boynes serve as the ultimate example of the effect of obedience on Jesuit identity, mission, and, in due course, institutional survival. When de boynes recommended the closure of colleges so as to fortify Jesuit education in the new orleans Province, the only exception to his verdict was Spring hill college. Due to the influence of father cummings and his conversations with de boynes, Spring hill college was spared, whereas St. charles college and St. mary’s university were shut down. Despite cummings’s success at saving Spring hill college from father visitor’s recommendations, other direct orders to close institutions were followed. Superior General Wlodimir ledóchowski ’s 1917 order to close the college of the Sacred heart in augusta, Georgia, was obeyed. Such obedience typified the culture of the Society of Jesus. This factor of obedience is transparent throughout the Jesuit college and university cases presented in this book and influenced each institution’s administrative actions and reactions to local environs. as such, the ability to sacrifice particular colleges and universities in order to...