The History of Creighton University, 1878-2003 (review)

Dennis Mihelich's conscientiousness in recording Creighton University's 125-year history is truly impressive. He has mined the local sources (house diaries, board minutes, student publications, etc.) in great detail and presented his findings comprehensively. What this means for an institution like Creighton, with its collection of professional schools and specialized programs, can best be illustrated by reviewing the contents of the final chapter, "Extending the American Dream, 1992-2003." Like the other chapters, it begins with a brief summary of the period covered. After this come discussions of: financial issues and enrollment (3 pages); changes in the physical plant (4 pages); religious issues (1 page); curriculum (3 pages); business school (2 pages); nursing program (1 page); graduate school (1 page); law school (2 pages); dental school (1 page); pharmacy and health professions (2 pages); medical school (5 pages); student life and athletics (5 pages); presidential succession 1999-2000 and issues confronting the new president (4 pages); and, finally, a capsule summary of Creighton's history (1 page).

As the foregoing will perhaps suggest, the book is not intended for casual browsers. Nor is Mihelich's devotion to detail always justified. Why, for example, should the reader be burdened with the information that Creighton's "first phone number was 330," but became "DO(uglas)-2873" when a new system was installed in 1921? Yet the book has real value as a record of change in the history of Catholic higher education, especially in the area of professional education.

Mihelich presents the story in three parts of four chapters each. Part One, "Americanization," covers Creighton's foundation in 1878 and evolution from a more or less typical nineteenth-century Jesuit college into a complex institution with recognizably modern features. What makes this phase of the university's development unique among Catholic institutions of higher education is the role of the Creighton family as benefactors. The total value of their largesse probably came to around thirty million dollars in today's money—which, not unnaturally, gave rise to what Mihelich calls the "wealthy Creighton" myth that hampered later fund-raising efforts. Yet it also permitted the high school and arts college to operate tuition-free until the early 1920's.

Part Two, "Marking Time," covers the years from the end of World War I to 1950. Mihelich's theme here is "unfulfilled aspirations," the principal one being Creighton's failure to achieve "structural assimilation" into the Omaha community. Yet the university's modernization continued as graduate work developed, especially in summer school, and the enrollment of women in professional schools made Creighton coeducational long before that condition was officially tolerated by Jesuit authorities.

The last four chapters, grouped under the heading "The American Dream Accomplished," bring the story up to the present. The fifties were boom years for higher education and Creighton was fortunate in the leadership of Carl Reinert, S.J., who established positive connections with Omaha's civic leaders, led successful fund drives, and renovated the campus. The chapters dealing with the confrontational sixties and the decades since are of particular value because the historical literature is sparse for this epoch in the development of Catholic higher education. As is true throughout, narrative momentum is smothered in detail and in the range of topics covered, but Mihelich provides a wealth of information on these years.

The text is accompanied by some seventy photographs, but one can only wonder why a positively funereal night-time shot of the administration building was chosen for the cover.