McKevitt, S.J., Gerald

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Conversations on Jesuit Higher EducationVolume 40 Re-creating Jesuit Higher Education: TheGeneral's Challenge Article 33September 2011Book Review: University History at its Best. RobertEmmett Curran, A History of GeorgetownUniversityGerald McKevitt, S.J.Follow this and additional works at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversationsRecommended CitationMcKevitt, S.J., Gerald (2011) "Book Review: University History at its Best. Robert Emmett Curran, A History of GeorgetownUniversity," Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education: Vol. 40, Article 33.Available at: http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/vol40/iss1/33Conversations 61Book Reviewn recent years a number ofnew university histories haveappeared, shedding fresh lighton the evolution of Jesuit high-er education in the UnitedStates. Few, however, havebeen as eagerly anticipated orare as ultimately satisfying as A Historyof Georgetown University. Written byRobert Emmett Curran, the author ofseveral works on American Jesuit histo-ry, this new study explores the universi-ty’s unfolding from its founding in 1789to its bicentennial in1989, with a briefepilogue summarizing the last twodecades. Among the twenty-eight insti-tutions in the Jesuit tradition,Georgetown University is of singularimportance not only because it ranksfirst historically—it is America’s oldestCatholic institution of higher learning—but also because it is one of the top-tiered schools in the Jesuit cohort.Curran examines how GeorgetownUniversity attained national prominencein a relatively short time. He also iden-tifies decisions and decision-makersthat sometimes thwarted the school’seducational advance. Although focusedon the story of a single institution, theauthor provides useful information onthe long history of Catholic higher edu-cation in the United States, especially itsJesuit version. Critical and exhaustive,this is a model university history. Georgetown was planted in thenation’s capital during the heady firstyears of the American Republic by JohnCarroll, the former Jesuit and archbishopof Baltimore. Created “to diffuse knowl-edge, promote virtue, and serveReligion,” its mission was both academ-ic and religious. Sulpicians kept thefledgling academy alive for its first fifteenyears, but with the Society of Jesus’restoration, Jesuits assumed responsibili-ty. Uncertain funding and a scarcity ofteachers made it unsure on whether theplace would survive. The arrival of Jesuitexiles driven from Europe by the revolu-tions of 1848 revitalized the institution, asthey did several Jesuit schools in mid-century America. Prominent natural sci-entists among the émigrés proved idealeducators in a country that prized scien-tific learning. The European refugees broughtacclaim to the institution, but they alsobrought conflict. Continental andUniversity history at its bestRobert Emmett Curran, A History of Georgetown University. 3 vols Washington, D.C., Georgetown University Press, 2010By Gerald McKevitt, S.J. Gerald McKevitt, S.J., author ofBrokers of Culture, Italian Jesuits inthe American West 1848-1919, isEllacuria Professor for Jesuit Studies,in the history department, at SantaClara University.I1McKevitt, S.J.: Book Review: University History at its Best. Robert Emmett CurranPublished by e-Publications@Marquette, 201162 ConversationsBook ReviewAnglo-American-Irish Jesuits clashedover adapting Catholic educational tra-dition to the republican values of youngAmerica, especially curriculum and stu-dent discipline. Continental Jesuitschampioned a traditional course ofstudies centered on Latin, Greek, andphilosophy. Anglophone clergy arguedthat science—not moral philosophy—should be the curricular capstone.Science was the best instrument forintellectual integration, they argued,because it was through science thatGod “chiefly manifested his greatnessand majesty.” Curran’s description ofnineteenth-century student culture andJesuit pedagogy and curriculum is themost informative you are apt to findanywhere. And his analysis of studentdemographics that appears at the endof volume one is superb.Although its current preeminencesets Georgetown apart from many Jesuitinstitutions, it mirrored the struggles ofits sister schools for most of its history.Presidential terms were often cut shortbecause appointees were not up to thetask—Georgetown once had four pres-idents in seven years. Institutions com-peted for resources and personnel, frus-trating the academic ambitions ofvisionary leaders. There were “toomany Catholic colleges in too many iso-lated places,” a Georgetown presidentlamented in 1889. The Jesuits alonestaffed seven colleges on the EastCoast. When Joseph Havens Richards,Georgetown’s thirteenth president,sought to promote graduate studies inthe hope of creating at an AmericanJesuit institution “worthy of our times,”his provincial superior replied, “Ihaven’t got a limitless supply of greatmen on tap” to make progress possible.Richards’s plan to make Georgetownthe center piece of Jesuit education inthe United States was also rebuffed byFather General Luís Martín whofrowned on creating a rivalry withCatholic University, which was spon-sored by the American hierarchy andpowerful ecclesiastics in Rome. Thus, ifGeorgetown owed its existence andmuch of its uniqueness to its Jesuitfounders, its ecclesiastical connectionwas sometimes problematic. One motif ofGeorgetown’s story is its zig-zag courseto university status. In 1919, the institu-tion took an important step by estab-lishing its School of Foreign Service, thefirst such institution of its type in theUnited States. The quality of profession-al education improved slowly, however,evidenced by obstacles to accreditationfaced by the Medical School duringmuch of the early twentieth century.According to Jesuit President GerardCampbell, until the 1960s, Georgetownwas “a college with professional schoolsatellites grouped unevenly around it”rather than a true university. Under theleadership of his successors, FathersRobert Henle and Timothy Healy, itmoved steadily toward the mainstream. A host of critical factors explainGeorgetown’s rise in the ranks ofAmerican higher education. Exploitingits location, the school forged a newpartnership in the 1960s with the feder-al government. Despite spiraling costs,budgets were balanced and endow-ment soared for several decades. Theuniversity also profited from the leader-ship of a series of farseeing presidentsand administrators. During the presi-dency of Jesuit Timothy S. Healy in1976-89, Georgetown finally joined theranks of the elite. One of the twentymost selective colleges in the nation, itsgraduate and professional educationprograms, including the School ofForeign Service, enjoyed new promi-nence. By the mid-1990s, theGeorgetown Law School was not onlythe largest in the nation but also amongthe best. Progress was accompanied by adecoupling of academic achievementand religious character, a shift thatbegan in the late 1960s with the emer-gence of ascendent presidents inAmerican Jesuit higher education.Strong leaders such as Edward Bunnbecame increasingly independent ofsupervision by provincial superiors andthe once powerful Jesuit EducationalAssociation. Separate incorporation ofthe Jesuit Community in 1968 furthermoved the institution away from “famil-ial and paternalistic governance.”Additional changes came quickly.“There is serious question today,” thedean of the graduate school noted in1971, “whether Georgetown in its grad-uate programs can or should reflect aJesuit and Catholic character.” Thosehallmarks, once guaranteed by thepresence of a large Jesuit faculty,seemed to pale with the ascendancy ofa more composite professorate.Populated by an undergraduate popula-tion that was only marginally (59.3 per-cent) Catholic by 1975, the campusnewspaper even claimed “Georgetownis no longer Catholic.” Hyperbolenotwithstanding, authorities acknowl-edged the challenge. It was vital, Healyhad noted in 1988, that Georgetown2Conversations on Jesuit Higher Education, Vol. 40, Iss. 1 [2011], Art. 33http://epublications.marquette.edu/conversations/vol40/iss1/33Conversations 63marry its “secular excellence with itsreligious tradition.” “We have shownthat we can be ‘good’ as a university,”he declared, “but we have yet to showthat we can continue to be ‘Catholic’and all that means.” Issues of identityremained on the forefront atGeorgetown—as at other Jesuitschools—in the years that followed,although perhaps with more urgencyand attention at Georgetown because ofits prominence.This three-volume study, weighingin at ten pounds, is grand in everysense of the word. It rests on researchin American and European archives,numerous interviews, and an impres-sive array of source materials.Georgetown is university history at itsbest—thoroughly grounded, impartiallytold, and crisply written. It is also beau-tifully designed and illustrated, satisfy-ing both mind and eye. One hesitates todescribe a work as definitive, but that isthe right adjective for this elegant andinformative study. ■s a non-Catholic fac-ulty member at aJesuit university, Ifound A Jesuit Guide to (Almost)Everything: A Spirit-uality for Real Life tobe very well writtenand an enjoyable read for the generallayperson. It is entertaining and humor-ous, but its accessible style goes hand-in-hand with depth of material. The authorconveys simply and succinctly the back-ground of the Ignatian paradigm and theSpiritual Exercises, and how to applythese teachings practically in one’s life andto the world today. I found much of thisbackground as well as the topics and spe-cific suggestions interesting and helpfulfor my understanding of Jesuit practices. James Martin, S.J., begins with adescription of the life of St. Ignatius andkey Ignatian qualities, including findingGod in all things, and seeking freedomand detachment. He stresses thatIgnatian life is not just about prayer butabout being contemplatives in action.Within this context, and the threeCatholic religious vows of poverty,chastity and obedience, he presents aprovocative discussion of the purposeand goals of chastity in the wake of thesexual-abuse crisis in the Catholicchurch. He also points to the unexpect-ed freedom of “downward mobility” (aterm coined by Dean Brackley, S.J., anauthor in this Conversations issue), inrelation to the vow of poverty. A simpli-fied life with fewer possessions couldbe a potent antidote for some of themodern gods of career and monetaryambitions, and have an impact on manylives. This reminded me of the Gandhianmotto “Live simply so that others mayJames Martin, S.J., A Jesuit Guide to (Almost)Everything: A Spirituality for Real Life Harper One, 432 pp, $26. By Aparna VenkatesanBook ReviewAAparna Venkatesan is an assistantprofessor of physics and astronomy atthe University of San Francisco.3McKevitt, S.J.: Book Review: University History at its Best. Robert Emmett CurranPublished by e-Publications@Marquette, 2011

Book Review: University History at its Best. Robert Emmett Curran, A History of Georgetown University

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Book Review: University History at its Best. Robert Emmett Curran, A History of Georgetown University

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