Administrative Transformation: Entering a New Era

    The bureaucratization of secular, public universities across America threatened the legitimacy of Catholic private education—the former cultivating research centers and churning out STEM majors as a part of the Cold War agenda and the latter clinging to outdated religious pedagogy. The issuing of the Vatican II proclamations placed further pressure upon the clerical administration of these institutions, now pushed by their own leader to embrace the modern world in its values and changing social ideologies.

Student report on the transition between BOT in 1969.

    One of the most striking and significant changes made at St. Edward’s University in reaction to these pressures was the 1969 transition of administrative authority from a Board of Trustees (BOT) composed of only Brothers of the Holy Cross to a group of laymen. Among other essential tasks, the BOT was charged with the responsibility of electing the university president, a position held for the previous 76 years by a man of the Brotherhood. [1]

    It is possible that university president at the time, Brother Raymond Fleck, was influenced by a speech presented by Father Earl J. McGrath the previous year on the necessity of laymen on the basis of their business experience, connection with the secular world beyond the bubble of Catholic isolation, and fundraising ability [2]. These crucial issues of money and bureaucracy were born from a national wave of higher education institutions choosing to organize themselves after capitalist models of lucrative companies; it was becoming increasingly important to receive funds and support form outside parties so the complex web of administration stay steady and the changing needs of the university be met [3]. The separation of clerical and lay powers was not abrupt or unexpected; documents from 1968-69 reveal that members of the BOT were seeking autonomy first from the Holy Cross Congregation [4] and then their local bishops [5, 6] in light of the Second Vatican Council’s decision that Catholic higher education not be dictated by figures not involved with running the school.

Brother Fleck on the need for lay faculty

    Even prior to 1962, Brother Fleck was growing aware of the changing landscape of American education and expressed his desire to invite well-educated laymen into faculty positions [7].