Negotiating Identity

In this work Alice Gallin, O.S.U., takes on questions of the identity of Catholic colleges and institutions—those that educate young lay men and women—from a broad historical perspective: How have these institutions acclimated themselves to the standards of American higher education since the 1960s and, at the same time, attempted to retain a distinctive Catholic mission?

Catholic colleges and universities in the modern world are continually negotiating, questioning, and defining their Catholic identity with four major constituencies by no means always in harmony: the Roman Catholic Church, state and federal government, the broad American higher education community, and the internal constituencies of faculty, students, parents, and administration. As in her earlier study of governance change in seven Catholic colleges, one of Gallin's primary concerns is to demonstrate the complexity of the task, which rules out any simple interpretations or answers. Gallin describes the crucial impact of theological changes from Vatican II, the threat of exclusion from government funding for higher education after World War II, issues of academic freedom from the differing perspectives, the transformations in student bodies and faculty loyalties, and the struggle of Catholic colleges and universities to become respected memebers of the American higher education community. Of special interest will be her discussion of events leaading up to the issuance of Ex Corde Ecclesiae, on which debate continues. Written by a historian with a lifelong involvement in Catholic higher education, this work will evoke in readers both an appreciation of the challenges and a sense of ressponsibility for the future.