Uncertain Times

The 1960s and 1970s were uncertain times for the United States, as well as for Saint Joseph’s College. Among the manifestations of this uncertainty in the country at large were the youthful counterculture, urban riots, protests over the war in Vietnam, the Watergate scandals, inflation and then economic stagnation, energy shortages, and a loss of confidence in the country’s mission both at home and abroad. Many of these forces had echoes at Saint Joseph’s College, however faint in comparison to other campuses around the country.

Yet other sources of uncertainty at Saint Joseph’s stemmed from profound economic and demographic shifts in Philadelphia and the surrounding region that undermined the college’s traditional base of recruitment. In addition, a slow but continuing decline in the proportion of Jesuits on the faculty made their presence less visible and their authority over the institution less intense. By the early 1970s the Jesuits had officially turned over control of the college to a board of trustees when they established separate corporations for the college, the Jesuit community, and the other institutions in the area that had been held under the 1852 college charter.

The student newspaper, long a dependable support for official views, was sometimes critical of the administration and its policies. At the same time, student social life underwent significant changes, including an abandonment of the dress code, a decline in the number of formal balls and dances, and the admission of women to the day program....

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