Abstract: History of the coordinate relationship between the College of St Benedict and St John's University which evolved from 1963 to the current time. A list of additional documents related to the history of cooperation between the two institutions can be found the History of Cooperation page.

Collection History

In one sense there has always been cooperation between the College of Saint Benedict (CSB) and Saint John's University (SJU). CSB had had priests as chaplains until recently. From 1913 until the late 1940s two priests from SJU taught in the theology department. Women were not permitted to get degrees in the field of theology until late 1940s when St. Mary's College, Indiana, offered MA and PhD in theology for women religious. Sister Berchmans received her degree from there.

In the 1950s there was some exchange of faculty from one campus to the next: e.g., Social Work, Sociology, Art. Also, in 1954, women and men were permitted to be in plays together.

In Spring 1963, the two presidents and the prioress and abbot met to discuss the possibility of further cooperation, and they agreed to do so on a limited basis. E.g., seniors were permitted to take a course on the other campus which had a small number of students in them. Thus, in Fall 1963, the formal experiment began despite the fact we didn't have a bus service and both campuses taught classes from 8 to 8:50 etc. Nevertheless, the faculty and students found the experience both challenging and worth developing further. It took until the 1990s for several of the administrative offices to become joint or to work closely. In the latter case, the Student Development offices work together when needed but the focus of attention at CSB is on the developmental needs of women students.

This coordinate relationship is unique in American higher education because we rejected the idea of merger or the idea of each college going co-ed. Instead we cooperated for the good of both colleges. We have made the academic departments joint. Faculty assemblies meet together but vote separately. Most faculty committees are joint. The Board of Trustees meet together as well as meeting separately. There are two Board coordinate committees: the Joint Academic Affairs Committee and the Joint Governance committee. Other committees meet together on issues that affect both colleges.

The following offices are coordinate since the 1990s:
Admissions
Bookstore
Counseling and Health Education
Environmental Health and Safety
Fine Arts Programming
Human Resources
Information Technology
Institutional Planning, Research and Communication
Institutional Student Advising
Library
Multicultural Student Program
Provost
Registrar
Telecommunications

See Also; Board of Trustees
See Also Search Term; Coordinate Relations