CCHA, Historical Studies, 61 (1995), 195-214
A Matter of Identity:
St. Thomas More College
at the University of Saskatchewan,
1961-1977
Margaret F. SANCHE
During the
1960s and 1970s, Catholic colleges in English Canada came under pressure from a
number of sources. They found their academic relevance and professionalism
questioned by secular universities; they found the nature and value of their
Catholic identity questioned from within and beyond in light of the changes of
Vatican II, and they found their right to receive government grants questioned
by those opposed to public funding of religious institutions. As a result of
these pressures, a number of Catholic colleges in Canada lost much or all of
their autonomy and, in some cases, were fully absorbed by larger, secular
universities. Although St. Thomas More College (STM) at the University of
Saskatchewan in Saskatoon came under similar pressures during this period, it
was able, for a number of reasons, to retain its financial viability, its
Catholic identity and the basic elements of its academic autonomy within the
university.
Much of St.
Thomas More College’s ability to endure as a Catholic college undoubtedly came
from its original agreement of federation. This understanding, worked out by
University of Saskatchewan President Walter Murray (1866-1945) and Basilian
Superior General Fr. Henry Can (18801963) at the time the college was
established in 1936, included several key provisions which became foundational
to St. Thomas More College’s relationship with the university over the years.
From the
outset, St. Thomas More’s federation with the University of Saskatchewan was to
be modeled on the relationship of St. Michael’s College with the University of
Toronto. According to this arrangement, qualified students would be able to
register through St. Thomas More College, take classes for university credit
from the college as well as from the university and, upon completion of the
requirements, receive their degrees from the University of Saskatchewan.
President
Walter Murray had favoured the idea of having a Catholic college located on the
campus of the provincial university ever since he had first been approached by
a group of Saskatoon Catholics, possibly as early as 1913, to consider the
establishment of such an institution within the new
provincial university.
Murray was supportive of such an arrangement, partly because he wanted to
encourage the twenty per cent of the population who were Catholic to avail
themselves of the provincial university. In addition, a Catholic college would
provide an alternative to efforts by the Frenchspeaking Catholic hierarchy to
establish a Catholic university for western Canada. Over the years Murray kept
an eye on developments at the University of Toronto and was well aware of its
model of federation.
Following an initial meeting in Saskatoon
early in 1936, Fr. Carr and President Murray worked out the details of the
federation agreement in a series of letters between Toronto and Saskatoon.1 Out
of their deliberations a number of points of agreement emerged, including the
following: the university would recognize the equivalency of the classes and
examinations of the college, STM students would have the right to take classes
in both the college and the university, and full-time faculty of the college
would also be members of the university’s Faculty of Arts and Science. Carr
insisted, and Murray concurred, that faculty members of the college were not to
come under the authority of the university department heads, but were to enjoy
equivalent status in their own college departments with their own department
heads. As for courses, the university agreed to “recognize the instruction
given by St. Thomas More College in Classics, French,
German, English, Economics, History and Philosophy now offered by St. Michael’s
for recognition for the B.A. of Toronto, and such other subjects as may from
time to time be agreed upon.”2
In the
initial financial arrangement accepted by St. Thomas More College, students
paid their tuition to the college and their student fees to the university. The
university agreed to teach them any other courses in arts and science without
further adjustment, provided that the same annual tuition fee was required by
both the college and the university. Salaries of St. Thomas More faculty were
to be paid entirely by the college and the university offered to let STM use
university classrooms “until St. Thomas More College is in a position to
provide sufficient accommodation for its lecture courses.”3
Changes in
the funding arrangement occurred in 1951 when the federal government
inaugurated grants paid directly to both the university and the college. At that
time, at the suggestion of the university president, STM Principal Fr. Basil
Sullivan began to turn over the college’s total annual grant to the university.4 In
1956, when the college found itself short of funds for its new stone building,
Principal Fr. Joseph O’Donnell requested that the college and university split
the college’s grant 40%-60%, in keeping with the arrangement of St. Michael's
and the University of Toronto.5 The university agreed and this arrangement, with the
college retaining forty per cent and turning over sixty per cent of the grant
to the university, continued for the next ten years or so.
One more
thing should be said about federation at this point. In 1936, in his
negotiations with President Murray, Fr. Can had been very much aware of the
importance of the federation agreement. Carr wrote of this understanding in a
letter to Bishop Gerald Murray of Saskatoon:
In all probability the conditions and privileges accorded a Catholic college now by the University of Saskatchewan will endure indefinitely into the future. Once the contract is completed it is very doubtful if any further advantages will ever be conceded to the Catholic college.... Whatever agreement is entered into now will settle for the future what kind of education the Catholics of Saskatchewan are going to receive. There is no need for me to call attention to the great preparation and care that should be put upon these conditions.6
Carr also pointed out, however, that written
agreements are not usually enough by themselves. He described the arrangement
between St. Michael’s and the University of Toronto as a relationship which had
been nurtured over a number of years through respect and goodwill: “It was a
case of men living and working together with mutual confidence in each other
rather than parties to a legal bargain who stood upon their rights.”7
____________________
At this
point we will move forward in time to 1961 and the arrival of Fr. Peter Swan, CSB,
as the new principal of St. Thomas More College. It was under Swan’s
administration and according to his vision that, during the next decade and a
half, STM dealt with many of the difficulties which were swamping other
Catholic colleges in Canada.
Born in
England and raised in British Columbia, Swan had studied at St. Michael’s
College in Toronto before joining the Congregation of St. Basil in 1938. He was
ordained to the priesthood in 1943 and received a doctorate in philosophy from
the University of Toronto in 1946. From then until 1961 he taught philosophy at
Assumption University in Windsor and was registrar there from 1949 until 1961,
at which time he became principal of STM. It is important to keep the fifteen
Windsor years in mind, because Swan came to Saskatoon having learned a great
deal about the vulnerability of Catholic colleges, especially with regard to
finances.
Fr. Peter
Swan arrived at a St. Thomas More College which was now twenty-five years old
and growing by leaps and bounds. After a slow start, during the 1950s and early
1960s STM student registrations and faculty numbers were on the increase.
Whereas in 1951, there were 130 registrants and a faculty of six Basilians, the
numbers rose over the next decade-and-a-half to 375 students and eight faculty
in 1960-1961 and 740 students and twenty-five faculty by 1966-1967.8 To
accommodate the increase, the college, which had for its first two decades been
housed in a building known as “the white house,” began what was to become a
three-stage building program, with sections completed in 1957, 1964 and 1969.
St. Thomas More College was now housed in a solid greystone edifice which
blended architecturally with the other buildings on the university campus – a
testimony in stone to the college’s standing as a permanent, strong, integral
part of the University of Saskatchewan.
The rapid
growth of the college had, of course, made the hiring of additional faculty
necessary and the college administration was forced to look beyond the Basilian
Congregation for qualified personnel. In 1958 the first lay full-time member of
the teaching faculty had been hired for the English department; the numbers of
lay faculty increased each year from then on and by 1966-1967, of the
twenty-five full-time faculty members, thirteen were lay people.
The
increased numbers of college faculty, and of lay faculty in particular, placed
an added strain on finances. The college had survived financially during its
first three decades largely because of the contributed salaries and services of
the Basilians. With the hiring of lay faculty, the issue of paying a just
living wage in line with salaries paid to university faculty had to be
confronted and in July 1965 the college moved to full parity with the
university in this area. The Basilians received this
higher salary also, but sixty per cent of their salaries continued to be
contributed back to the college.
More
students meant more tuition income, but with more and higher salaries, plus the
construction expenses, Swan was constantly concerned about the college’s
precarious financial situation during these years. In 1963, he tried to
alleviate the situation with a request that the university allow the college to
retain fifty per cent of its federal grant; this request was politely but
firmly refused, and the 40%-60% arrangement continued.9
The federal
budget of 1967 threatened to make the situation even more difficult. Beginning
in 1967-1968, federal funding for higher education would go directly to the
provinces, which in turn were to provide grants to post-secondary educational
institutions. This development proved problematic for a number of Catholic
colleges in Canada, especially in provinces in which funding for affiliated or
federated colleges was now included in the total grant allotted to the parent
universities. In such cases, the smaller institutions were forced to negotiate
with the larger institutions to obtain a share of the funds, and in many
instances they were required to make concessions amounting to a reduction or
total loss of their autonomy. Fortunately, in the case of Saskatchewan, this
did not happen, and St. Thomas More College began to receive its own grant
directly from the provincial government. Under this new arrangement, St. Thomas
More College retained the total amount of its provincial grant and instead
began to turn over sixty per cent of its student tuition fees to the
university.10
In
retrospect, it is not clear exactly why St. Thomas More College continued to
receive its own grants while Catholic colleges in many other parts of Canada
were unable to do so. The shift in the grant arrangement from federal to
provincial jurisdiction certainly caused anxiety for the STM principal, and he
kept a close watch on what was happening in other provinces, particularly
Ontario. Perhaps because of the cordial relations between STM and the
university regarding funding over the years, there was no reason for the
university to request the total amount nor for the provincial government to
change the basic arrangement it had inherited. In addition, Saskatchewan could
not claim, as did Ontario, a long-standing policy “that Provincial funds should
not be directed to institutions of higher learning which are under
denominational control.”11 Indeed, what threatened to undermine the college and
its work was not a matter of which institution would receive and control STM’s grant,
but whether the amount of the provincial funding would or would not be
adequate.
At first,
the Saskatchewan government promised to maintain the grants to STM at the same
level as those provided under the federal grant structure. When the college was
asked to report its registration figures for the 19671968 year, however, it
became apparent that there was a problem with the calculation of student
numbers in the formula of funding. The reporting form stated: “For students
enrolled in classes at both your college and the University of Saskatchewan,
the students should be reported on the basis of only those credits being taken
at your college.”12 Over the years, the college had been teaching more
university-registered students than STM-registered students; therefore, this
new way of calculating the student numbers resulted in funding insufficient to
support the college’s academic program. Although this particular problem was
eventually ironed out, the new provincial grants were still much lower than the
former federal grants.
Fr. Swan
began to appeal to the provincial government for a change in the funding
arrangements for STM and the two newer federated colleges (Campion and Luther
Colleges) in Regina. The many letters Swan sent to Provincial Treasurer D.G.
Steuart between 1968 and 1971 brought about some token increases in the grant,
but Swan’s request that the way of calculating the grant be revised to take
into account actual operating expenses
rather than
the number of students enrolled in a particular college brought no response.13
During this
period, with the peculiarities of the funding arrangements, St. Thomas More
College found itself to be extremely vulnerable to fluctuations in the numbers
of its registered students. In his January 1971 Principal’s Report to the
Corporation, Fr. Swan pointed out some of the painful ironies of the situation.
He described the numerical growth of the faculty, the development of several
new courses and the increased numbers of students enrolled in STM classes. The
problem was that students enrolled in STM classes were not necessarily STM
students. Indeed, most of the students taught by STM professors were not
registered through the college – the number of STM registrations fluctuated
erratically during this period – and the increases in class size and numbers of
faculty were not reflected in the funding at all. Funding to the college from
tuition and grants was based solely on the number of Full Time Equivalent (FTE)
students registering through STM, and this had gone down from 889 in 1969-1970
to 827 in 1970-1971.14
A March 1971
letter from Principal Swan to University of Saskatchewan Vice-President Lloyd
Barber, asking for assistance in negotiating a more equitable grant structure,
outlined some of the concerns with the “per student” calculation of grants:
“Our staff members are becoming increasingly distressed by the large amount of
personal solicitation to which we have to resort in order to persuade students
to go through the motions of officially registering here, simply in order to
meet the government’s specifications.”15 Swan suggested to Barber that a formula should be
developed to take into consideration the college’s teaching of students
registered directly through the university as well as those registered through
STM. Swan emphasized the seriousness of the situation: “The decisions the
government makes in the near future are crucial, since they will in effect decide
whether federated colleges continue to exist.”16
The 1971
provincial election brought in an NDP government to replace the Liberals,
offering a new opportunity for the college to negotiate adequate funding. Swan
lost no time in approaching the new government with a brief entitled “Financial
Problems of St. Thomas More College.”17 In response, Swan was invited by the government to
join with other post-secondary college heads in a study of college financing
and also to propose a grant formula which would provide for a more equitable
apportioning of funds to all the federated colleges. Over the next two years,
discussions and negotiations took place between St. Thomas More, Campion and
Luther Colleges on the one hand and the Government of Saskatchewan on the
other, with a view to improving the grant structure for the colleges. The
principals of the three federated colleges emphasized that any new funding
arrangement would have to take into account the unique status of federated
colleges within the university, in order to avoid disrupting the delicately
balanced relationships:
The intimate participation of the federated colleges in the total teaching effort of their respective campuses obliges them to maintain the same salary and wage scales, the same fringe benefits and the same conditions of employment, as those maintained by the University itself. Both the University and the colleges prefer to avoid any solution to this problem which would, in effect, make the colleges mere creatures of the University. The colleges, for their part, do not ask for preferential treatment. We only seek revenues which are adequate to support our contribution to higher education in this Province.18
In 1973, the
government agreed to provide grants to St. Thomas More College in Saskatoon and
the two federated colleges in Regina according to a formula devised by Fr.
Swan. This formula became the basis of the grant calculation for the next five
years or so, at which time the grant was locked in and subsequently increased
in accordance with the annual increase allotted to the university in the
provincial budget.
___________________
Dependence
on public funding posed serious problems for Catholic post-secondary institutions
in Canada during the 1950s and 1960s, and some were required to relinquish much
of their distinctive Catholic identity in order to continue their existence. As
noted earlier, Fr. Peter Swan had been at Assumption University during the
period when it was forced to change, mainly for financial reasons, from an
independent Catholic university to the non-denominational University of
Windsor.19 As a result of his Windsor experience, Swan saw the
need to establish structures which would place St. Thomas More College on a
firm financial and administrative footing with a broad base of community
support and thus reduce any threat to its continued existence as a relatively
independent Catholic federated college. For this reason, as well as from his
personal vision that the Catholic identity of the college must be reforged in
light of the new spirit of Vatican II, Swan began in 1966 to implement a series
of changes to the inner structures of the college.
Briefly, the
first changes initiated by Swan in 1966 and 1967 involved the splitting of the
function of local Basilian superior from that of principal of the college, the
formation of both a Basilian Council and a College Council (in place of the
single council of the past), the expansion of the college’s Corporation or
ownership body to include non-Basilian faculty, and an enlargement of the
College Council. In 1968 Swan introduced additional changes, including further
enlargement of the College Council and the formation of both a
Faculty-Administration Forum and a Collegium.20 It
was Swan’s proposed changes to the Corporation, however, which were to cause
the most difficulty within the college.
Following
the addition of tenured faculty to the Corporation in 1967, Fr. Swan had
introduced a number of proposals which extended Corporation membership to
representatives of the students, the STM alumni/ae and the dioceses of
Saskatchewan.21 By 1970, Swan had also begun to think about adding
distinguished members of the general public to Corporation membership, but
found himself restricted by a clause in the Act of Incorporation which stated
that members of this body must be Roman Catholic and residents of Saskatchewan.
As well as prohibiting the membership of nonCatholic “friends of the college”
and alumni/ae from outside Saskatchewan, this clause had implications within
the college’s academic community. In effect, it denied membership in the
Corporation to non-Catholic tenured faculty members, in contrast to their
Catholic counterparts. Swan became determined to open up the Act of
Incorporation and change some of the troublesome clauses.
Although
Swan had a number of supporters within and beyond the walls of the college in
this endeavour, many others who had watched the series of changes in the
college over the past few years with increasing unease found this plan to
change the Act of Incorporation to be the last straw. They saw the Catholic
identity of the college threatened and decided to protest this latest proposal,
thus bringing about what is known in STM folklore as “the Corporation crisis.”
The
Corporation crisis was, in fact, precipitated by a number of factors which
converged in 1971. One of these was the aforementioned increase in the number
of lay faculty members hired by the college to fill the demands of the growing
student population. Universities all over North America were hungry for
qualified academics during this period and the University of Saskatchewan was
no exception. It was difficult to attract scholars to Saskatchewan in the first
place and, once attracted, it was then difficult to keep them from moving on to
other universities in more moderate climes after one or two years. For a small
Catholic college like STM, recruitment of academically-qualified Catholic
faculty became particularly challenging.
In addition
to having the necessary academic qualifications, “being Catholic” had, in its
early years, been one of the basic requirements for a faculty position at the
college. The rapid growth in some academic areas during the late 1960s made it
necessary for the college to broaden its criteria for hiring. In particular,
with the growth in the social sciences throughout the academic world, St.
Thomas More College was finding that it must offer courses in Sociology,
Psychology and Political Science or it would be left behind. There were few
Catholics with the academic qualifications to teach such courses, and even
fewer who were inclined to come to Saskatoon at a time when there were abundant
jobs available in universities throughout North America.
Among the
lay faculty hired in the late 1960s there had been a few nonCatholic sessional
lecturers in subject areas such as English, History and the Social Sciences.
Eventually, however, it became necessary for the college to hire non-Catholic
full-time faculty in order to provide the desired program of course offerings.
One non-Catholic, a Pentecostal minister, was hired for a full-time position in
1969-1970, and three or four more non-Catholics came on faculty the following
year. As these individuals became eligible for tenure, the opening up of
membership on Corporation to non-Catholics turned into a matter of simple
fairness. This practical consideration of hiring non-Catholics because of the
college’s need for qualified faculty to teach in particular subject areas was
accompanied by Fr. Swan’s desire for the college to be more open to other
Christian denominations in the ecumenical spirit of Vatican II, and that it be
able to offer to Catholic students opportunities to learn about other Christian
traditions and beliefs.
Over and
above ecumenical and social justice elements in the proposed changes, there was
also the matter of the college’s image in the eyes of the provincial
government. Because Swan was involved in negotiating for additional government
grants during this time, he felt it was extremely important that the college
be, and be seen to be, an institution with broad community involvement in its
operations. If it could demonstrate that, not only did it hire non-Catholic
faculty and teach non-Catholic students, but also that it included
non-Catholics on its governing body, the college’s claim to public funding
would be strengthened.
As the
college community reconvened in September 1971, memoranda and discussions abounded
concerning the proposed changes and the preliminary votes to be taken both in
the Faculty Forum and in the Corporation in October. On October 6, Fr. McReavy,
the Chairman of the Faculty Forum, circulated a portion of a report entitled A Commitment
to Higher Education in Canada. Published by the National Education Office
of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1970, it seemed to lend
support to the point of view of those who favoured the proposed changes. In its
discussion on “the essential marks of a Catholic institution of higher
learning,” the report included some observations pertinent to the debate at
STM:
The most important [mark] is the presence in the institution of a community of scholars who are “intellectually Catholic.” These are committed scholars in the best Catholic (or Christian) tradition – academics fully qualified in their respective disciplines, dedicated to the pursuit of learning through teaching and research and placing these at the service of society, and sensitive to the relevance of spiritual and moral values (to the extent that these are relevant) in their scholarship. Such persons need not be members of the Catholic Church, though in normal circumstances most will be; but they will have wide-ranging interdisciplinary interests and be both conversant with and interested in dealing with religious values as these confront contemporary culture. They will be scholars committed to pursue the totality of truth and to relate intellectual truths and human values (religious and moral, including civic) within a Christian context. Such a commitment is Catholic and universal in the best sense, involving no limitations on academic inquiry and welcoming into the community those who share these ideals and who are willing to be associated with a community pursuing them.22
Forum
discussed the proposed constitutional changes at its October 12, 1971 meeting
but was unable to vote on them. Due to the large number of speakers on both
sides of the question, the meeting had to be reconvened on October 14 and again
on October 19. The speakers focused on their concerns about the Catholic
identity of the college, the implications of the changes with regard to the
“ownership” of the college, the importance of the “ecumenical spirit” within the
college, and the threatened disruption of good working relationships within the
college community. When a preliminary or “straw vote” was taken, those in
favour of the changes formed a strong majority.
The proposed
amendments came up again at the meeting of the Corporation on October 23,
1971, during which another preliminary vote was to be taken and forwarded to
the College Council. This particular Corporation meeting was probably more
dramatic than any other in the history of the college; indeed, STM faculty
member Jean-Guy Quenneville, who chaired this meeting as well as the earlier
three-stage Forum meeting, had invested in a slide-rule version of Robert's
Rules of Order to assist him with the intricacies of motions, amendments
to motions, amendments to amendments and so on. Telegrams and letters arrived
at the college throughout the week prior to the meeting and more appeared as
the Corporation meeting commenced. The telegrams were read aloud to those
assembled and, because they all expressed opposition to the proposed changes,
many using the same or similar wording, there were accusations of an
orchestrated campaign to attempt to influence the vote.
Those
members of the Corporation opposed to the changes asked for more time before
the making of a final decision, in order to inform the STM alumni/ae and the
Catholic people of Saskatchewan of what was happening. They felt that it was
important for local people who had contributed financially to the college over
the years to have some voice in the matter. One faculty member stated that
“more effective consultation with our wider community is absolutely necessary.
Catholic education is at stake here; we don't have the right to move on this
issue at the present time.23 Another disagreed, claiming further delay to be
unfortunate and especially embarrassing for the non-Catholic members of
faculty:
We have at STM a unique community where we attempt to embrace all members and where all participate fully. We have accepted non-Catholic students. Non-Catholic professors have something to give to us. By all means, of course, we do want to maintain the Catholic character of our College. The non-Catholic teachers will act in the best interests of STM.24
Fr. Swan tried to explain, as he had many times in the
past, that he was not trying to undermine the Catholic character of the
college, but to challenge it in new ways in the spirit of Vatican II. He
stated:
This matter before us today is of grave importance. We do wish to maintain the Catholic character of STM.... There is no intention to develop into an interdenominational college. STM is, however, acquiring an ecumenical dimension.... What makes a Catholic college Catholic? There are fundamental characteristics inherent in such a college. It is all important that we have a community of scholars who are dedicated, committed, who have deep spiritual values, who are morally good persons.... A good Catholic college must reflect a pluralistic character.25
Although
only a preliminary vote for the information of the College Council, it was of
considerable importance. Following the addresses by all the speakers, there was
a final vote: fifteen voted for the motion and five against, with two
abstensions. Two members of faculty, one a lay faculty member and the other a
Basilian, immediately tendered their resignations from the Corporation, and
another lay faculty member announced his intention to remain in the meeting as
an observer only.
In order to
clear the air, a motion was presented declaring that the Corporation,
notwithstanding these changes, “understands and maintains: a) that St. Thomas
More College has not thereby become an interdenominational college; and b)
that STM remains a Catholic College, though a Catholic College with some
ecumenical participation.” This statement was approved by a vote of fifteen to
one. Another motion, that “the Corporation instruct the appropriate college
authority to inform the Saskatchewan Catholic community of the proposed change”
was carried unanimously.26 The final vote on the proposed amendments was to be
taken, after consultation with the Saskatchewan Catholic community and
alumni/ae of the college, at the next meeting of the Corporation in January
1972.
In November,
on the recommendation of the Corporation, the College Council formed a
Committee on Structure and Organization to “consult with STM’s constituency
regarding the proposed changes to the Act” and to “initiate and carry forward
discussions regarding the most suitable structure and organization of the
college.”27 During the next two months members of the committee
consulted with STM faculty members and alumni/ae and arranged informational
meetings of the latter in Saskatoon, Regina, Edmonton and Calgary.
An article written
by Fr. Alphonse de Valk, CSB to mark St. Thomas More College’s 35th anniversary
was printed in the November 7, 1971 issue of The Prairie Messenger. De Valk made use of
the opportunity to outline the proposed changes to the Act of Incorporation,
eliciting in response a number of letters to the editor from STM faculty
members. Copies of The Prairie Messenger article were sent to all
alumni/ae, along with letters of explanation from Principal Swan and copies of
the proposed amendments to the Act.
Among the many differing views expressed by
STM faculty in the Letters to the Editor in response to The Prairie
Messenger article were two which exemplified the very real concerns on both
sides of the issue. One faculty member opposed to the proposed changes claimed
that, in fact, the college had always been “ecumenical” in its relationships
with other Christians and with the university community. This move to
de-emphasize the Catholic identity represented a false kind of ecumenism: “We
are convinced that the friends of the college will insist that the values and
the outlook of the college are specifically Catholic in substance as well as in
name. It is certain that unless we remain recognizably Catholic, neither
ecumenism nor pluralism will have any meaning.”28
In response, another faculty member
presented a different view:
I wonder if the way
in which we remain recognizably Catholic is to cling together behind an
impregnable fortress, untouched by our separated brethren and unaware of the
outside world.
Are we, as
committed Christians, so afraid that our faith will somehow be compromised by
the presence on the Corporation of tenured faculty members who happen to be
non-Catholic? Are we so unconcerned about the standard of academic excellence
at St. Thomas More College, that we would wish to see faculty members chosen
more for their religious affiliation than for their competence?29
When Corporation
met on January 19, 1972, the members voted overwhelmingly, though not
unanimously, to petition the Legislature for the amendment of the Act of
Incorporation. To some within the college community, STM had successfully
managed to protect and reaffirm its Catholic identity while also providing
opportunities for the contribution of non-Catholics who were committed to the
goals and spirit of the college. To those of the other view, however, the
Catholic identity of the college was being eroded and the institution was in
danger of becoming secular in nature and Catholic in name only. Supporters of
the change pointed to the provision restricting non - Catholics to no more than
twenty per cent of the Corporation as a safeguard of the Catholic identity of
STM. Another sign of the college’s desire to maintain a strong Catholic
identity was the continuing role of the Basilian Congregation in the college
and the reaffirmation that “the offices of principal and treasurer [would]
continue to be filled by persons chosen by the Superior General of the
Congregation of St. Basil after consultation with the Corporation.”30 The Basilian
superior general continued to have a say in appointments to the two highest
offices in the college administration, ensuring the Basilian connection with
and involvement in the college.
On October 1972, Dr. David Farmer became the
first non-Catholic member of the Corporation and in October 1973, Bernard M.
Daly and Justice Emmett Hall, Catholics residing outside Saskatchewan, as well
as Senator Sidney L. Buckwold and Dr. Hilda Neatby, both non-Catholics, became
members of the Corporation. The controversy died down, with both sides agreeing
to disagree on whether the changes would ultimately undermine or strengthen
St. Thomas More College and its identity as a Catholic institution of higher
learning.
___________
During the period in which St. Thomas More
College was involved in clarifying its identity as a Catholic institution and
in securing its funding base as a small college federated with a large
university, it was also faced with challenges to its academic autonomy from
within the university itself. With a reexamination of university operations and
structures during the 1960s and 1970s, several of the university departments in
the College of Arts and Science became more aware of their counterparts in the
Catholic college across the way. In addition to the increasing interest in
faculty rights and responsibilities in the areas of hiring, promotion, tenure
and teaching standards, university faculty began to express various degrees of
concern about the amount of autonomy St. Thomas More College exercised in these
areas.
Most of the time over the years the
relationship between the university and the college had worked well. From time
to time, one university department or another misunderstood STM’s position as
a federated college or tried to override the college’s decisions on matters the
university department regarded as legitimately within its own authority. It was
really a question of what federation meant in theory and how it worked in
practice – and whether it was an arrangement of benefit to both university and
college.
The question of whether and how federation
worked would have been answered differently for each of the eight corresponding
Arts and Science departments in the college and university during this period.
Some, such as the history departments, developed close working relationships.
Indeed, a challenge to STM’s autonomy came from that unexpected source in 1969.
The two history department heads, overstepping their authority somewhat, signed
an agreement in which STM’s department of history agreed to consult with the
university department of history in matters of hiring, promotion and tenure, as
well as in decisions regarding the teaching of senior courses.31Although sound in
the principle of cooperation and, indeed, representative of standard practice
over the years, the written agreement limited STM’s voice in decisions
regarding senior classes and even in the appointment of faculty to its own
history department.
Other tests of STM’s autonomy came from the
philosophy department of the university. First in 1963, the new university
department head assumed that he was also the head of the philosophy faculty at
STM and began to act accordingly. Again in 1974, the university department
challenged STM’s proposals for three new philosophy courses, claiming it
unacceptable that these courses be taught from a Catholic perspective. In both
cases, Principal Fr. Swan and Acting Principal Ernest McCullough were able to
point to the 1936 federation agreement as the basis for STM’s autonomy in
academic matters within the university.32
In the 1974 incident, following a series of
discussions, memoranda, briefs and so on, the new STM philosophy courses were
eventually approved. A new document appeared on the scene on December 30 of
that year, however – this time from the dean of Arts and Science. The document
was entitled “Proposed Agreement Between the College of Arts and Science and
St. Thomas More College Regarding the Teaching of Philosophy” and called for a
closer association between the two departments. The document was similar to the
history departments’ agreement of 1969. It suggested that the STM philosophy
department consult with the university philosophy
department head
regarding proposed new classes, new faculty appointments, renewal of
probationary appointments and the award of tenure and promotion. Such
consultation would “obviate the necessity for any exercise of veto power by the
Senior Committee on Studies, the faculty of the College of Arts and Science, or
the dean of the College of Arts and Science.”33 STM’s agreement to
such "consultation" would amount to the signing away of much of its
autonomy.
In response to the proposal, Fr. Swan
prepared a memo for the dean of arts and science and this was eventually
acknowledged by the dean as reflecting “the true state of affairs.” A section
of this memo is worth quoting, as it points out the advantages of federation to
both college and university. Fr. Swan wrote:
St. Thomas More
College is ready at all times to co-operate with the college of Arts and
Science in maintaining and strengthening academic standards, and in taking
steps to ensure the best use of resources. In so doing, however, we wish to
preserve both the principles of federation, under which we have operated so
happily since our foundation, and the academic freedom of our staff.
In this connection,
we think it pertinent to remark that within each academic discipline there are
usually various schools of thought. It is desirable that as many as possible of
these schools or points of view be represented in the University. The
University of Saskatchewan is fortunate that through federation the
representation on this campus of various philosophic schools is wider than it
might otherwise be. Hence the existence of two departments of philosophy – each
permitted and encouraged to pursue its objectives – should be seen as a source
of strength rather than of weakness.34
Another challenge
to STM's status as a federated college took place in 1976 with the university
faculty’s decision to form a union. Faced with the possibility of either
requesting integration with the university faculty union or doing nothing and
thus risking being absorbed by it, the STM faculty decided instead to try to
form their own independent union. During this period, on October 21, 1976, a
meeting of university department heads with Dean of Arts and Science D.R.
Cherry and Vice President R.N. Haslam discussed a number of issues regarding
the relationship of STM with the university. Their concerns were outlined in a
statement dated October 22, 1976 and included the suggestion that the university
should consider intervening in STM’s union application.
Neither informed of the meeting nor given a
copy of the statement until December, Swan responded with a detailed memorandum
to Haslam and Cherry early in 1977. One portion of Swan’s memorandum focused on
the university administrators’ misinterpretation, or perhaps reinterpretation,
of the Senate Statutes regarding St. Thomas More College. He wrote:
Senate Statutes
XXIII, 6, requires the heads of corresponding departments to work together in co-operation.
We are, therefore, astonished to see the word “co-operation” replaced in the
second paragraph by the word “supervision.” This one change by itself alone
would alter the status of St. Thomas More College from that of a federated
college to that of a junior college.35
President Swan and
Dean Michael Keenan from St. Thomas More College met with Cherry and Haslam
from the university on January 8, 1977 to clarify once again STM’s position
with regard to the parent institution. The matter was resolved on a positive
note with an agreement by all parties that the relationship was one of
cooperation between St. Thomas More College and the College of Arts and
Science, with final authority in matters of dispute resting with the president
of the university. As well, STM faculty formed their own faculty union without
interference and proceeded to negotiate their initial collective agreement
with the board of governors of the college.
Of course, the challenges for St. Thomas More College did not disappear with the completion of Swan’s term as principal in 1977. Funding concerns for the college still emerged from time to time in the years following, even though new structures had been set in place to ensure the college’s ability to function as a publicly-funded institution. Challenges to STM’s autonomy continued to be raised by those within the university who were opposed to denominational colleges, but the tenets of the federation agreement negotiated by Carr and Murray in 1936 had been affirmed again and again in the 1970s and were now buttressed by a strong body of precedents. As for St. Thomas More College’s role as a Catholic institution, there continued to be lively discussions, debates and disagreements – within STM and beyond – about the nature of its identity as a Catholic college and how that identity could best be expressed and lived out in a meaningful way within the milieu of a large secular university.