An upcoming book tells the story of the University’s colorful history and rise to prominence.
Jesuits and laypersons together were building this thing on a wing and a prayer. We have to wonder what they would have thought of Fairfield today, but I do believe that they would have been proud and astonished in equal measure.
— Paul Lakeland, PhD, Co-author of Success on the Sound
Founded in 1942 in a flurry of letters between New England Jesuits, Fairfield University has grown from a small, regional Catholic university for young men from local parishes, to a doctoral professional university of national prominence.
An upcoming book by University Archivist Elise Bochinski and two recently retired professors, Paul Lakeland, PhD, and Kurt Schlichting, PhD, charts the rise of the University and tells the stories of some of the characters and events that have made Fairfield what it is today.
The book, Success on the Sound, is expected to be published in early 2024 and will be available through the Fairfield University Bookstore at that time.
Dr. Lakeland served as the Rev. Aloysius P. Kelley, S.J., Professor of Catholic Studies and was the founding director of the Center for Catholic Studies. Kurt Schlichting was the E. Gerald Corrigan Endowed Chair in the Humanities and Social Sciences and a professor of sociology and anthropology. Elise Bochinski is the current University archivist & special collections librarian at the DiMenna-Nyselius Library.
Dr. Lakeland spoke with Fairfield University Magazine about the origins of the book and the stories it tells.
Fairfield University Magazine: What moved you, Elise, and Dr. Schlichting to write the book at this time?
Dr. Lakeland: Kurt had idly mentioned to me that he was thinking about a history of the University, or maybe it was the other way around. So we decided to do it, and soon found ourselves needing to consult the University archivist. It made sense to expand to a third author because two old guys have evident limitations, and we were both faculty. Elise was a godsend, because she is staff, not faculty, female not male, considerably younger, and possessed of great skills with archival materials and data. We persuaded her to join us as an author.
Fairfield University Magazine: Why did the Jesuits choose to found a college in the Bridgeport area at this period, the early 1940s?
Dr. Lakeland: This is a very good question. The Jesuits went to Bishop Maurice McAuliffe in Hartford, the only Connecticut diocese at the time, and asked his permission to open a college and a prep school in the diocese. The bishop readily consented, qualifying his agreement with the proviso that they should not do it anywhere near Hartford. Presumably he wanted to protect his own St. Joseph’s College from the Jesuits. But whatever the case, they looked further south and decided on Fairfield because of the opportunity to buy two adjacent estates very inexpensively – the Jennings estate, now McAuliffe Hall, and the Lashar estate, now Bellarmine Hall. The details are laid out in chapter one: what became Bellarmine Hall was a casualty of the Great Depression; what became McAuliffe Hall took more work to obtain because the owner didn’t want to sell to Catholics, even less to Jesuits.
Group portrait of the first faculty of Fairfield University, 1947–1948. Front row, (l-r): Rev. Francis C. Buck, S.J.; Rev. Robert B. MacDonnell, S.J.; Rev. Laurence C. Langguth, S.J.; Fairfield University President Rev. James H. Dolan, S.J.; Rev. Vincent A. Gookin, S.J.; Rev. Arthur A. MacGillivray, S.J; Rev. James A. Walsh, S.J. Back row: Rev. Victor F. Leeber, S.J.; Rev. James T. Creamer, S.J.; Mr. Arthur R. Riel, Jr.; Mr. Carmen F. Donnarumma; Mr. John F. Cody; Mr. Chester J. Stuart; Rev. Frederick A. Harkins; Rev. John P. Murray, S.J.
Fairfield University Magazine: At first, there were no residence halls. I was really struck by the energy and dedication that it took to make things work, and the long commutes for some students. For instance, Dr. Carmen Donnarumma [professor of politics, 1947-92] would pick up a group of students in Waterbury on his way to Fairfield every day, and then take them home.
Dr. Lakeland: It wasn’t just Carmen. Chester Stuart [professor of German, English, American studies, and education, 1947-86] also did much the same. But you are absolutely right about the dedication of the early faculty. Jesuits and laypersons together were building this thing on a wing and a prayer. We have to wonder what they would have thought of Fairfield today, but I do believe that they would have been proud and astonished in equal measure.
Fairfield University Magazine: For the first 20 years, the University was totally operated by the Society of Jesus; there were 60 Jesuits teaching and working on campus in 1962. It was very much a “Catholic,” religious institution well into the 1960s.
Dr. Lakeland: I think it was a Catholic institution long after the ’60s, and in a sense still is, though not if you measure it by the religious identity of the faculty or staff. The mission priorities remain Catholic and the majority of students could still check the Catholic box. But the school had to separately incorporate if it was to grow into something more than a narrowly provincial institution, as indeed did most if not all Catholic institutions of higher education. All of this happened [at Fairfield] in the turbulent ’60s, largely thanks to President William McInnes.
Fairfield University Magazine: Those seem to have been the watershed years — under Rev. William C. McInnes, S.J. [President, 1964-73]. In his words, Fairfield was a “small, isolated, parochial university” when he took over in 1964. He really presided over tremendous changes, didn’t he?
Dr. Lakeland: McInnes pushed the school to become more professional, to establish an independent board of trustees, to separate the school from the religious community, to engage with the nearby Bridgeport community, and to admit women. He also built a ton of buildings and defended the school from a very challenging lawsuit [The Tilton vs. Richardson lawsuit, filed against Fairfield University and three other Roman Catholic colleges; the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Fairfield in 1971]. McInnes changed Fairfield, for the most part for the better.
More than 50 students held a silent peace vigil on the lawn outside Gonzaga Hall on April 12, 1967.
Fairfield University Magazine: In the 1960s, the students were calling for radical changes to the University’s structure. The administration even canceled a concert by The Doors in 1970, which didn’t go over well. How did Fairfield cope with the counter-culture? Elise Bochinski, one of your co-authors, has said the ’60s impacted the student body on a personal level significantly: the men lobbied to change the dress code, Black students demanded more representation, and the student body in general envisioned more agency for themselves in a variety of ways.
Dr. Lakeland: Yes, that’s true of changes in the culture at that time. However, I don’t think the seriousness of the ’60s ended up having a huge impact at Fairfield institutionally. There were a few demonstrations and threats of one kind or another, but they were mild compared to many, and almost non-existent alongside the student unrest in Europe at the same time. The one big deal, the push for “tripartite governance,” [which would have given students more of a governing hand in the University] just fizzled out for lack of enthusiasm and, perhaps, because students are just passing through — not permanent fixtures.
Fairfield University Magazine: The introduction of women students in 1970 really changed things dramatically; it seems to have gone quite smoothly. Within a decade students described the idea of a women-free campus as unimaginable.
Dr. Lakeland: That was the first salvo in [a transformational process] that would take decades to accomplish and is still going on. The Great Transformation is the historical process by which Fairfield University has become a significant academic institution, on its way to greater things, hopefully without losing its sense of mission. And my own guess is that the University administration at the time approved of admitting women out of a commitment to grow the size of the undergraduate student body. Which it achieved, considerably!
Fairfield University Magazine: Fairfield has really grown in the last 25 years — both financially and in terms of programs, research, facilities. How has that affected the character of the University?
Charles McCullough ’52 was the first student to be registered at Fairfield University in September 1947 by the Dean of Freshman, Rev. Laurence C. Langguth, S.J.
Dr. Lakeland: You can see in our text how relatively well Fairfield has done financially over the past couple of decades, and this continues. We are in a much better financial position than many of our competitor schools, and we have so much to offer to our student body. Growing complexity makes for a more exciting institution, but it has its stresses. A Jesuit institution simply must have a vigorous commitment to the liberal arts in general and the humanities in particular, and that needs to be balanced with the drive for excellence evident in our professional schools. It has to be financially solvent but at the same time it needs to attend to the least fortunate members of our human society.
Fairfield University Magazine: The original vision of the University was for it to look like the “Notre Dame of the East” — neo-Gothic, with medical and law schools, and so on. But it has evolved in what seems a sleeker, more modern direction. Is that a reflection of our location and cultural environment?
Dr. Lakeland: Well, the main reason the original vision was not realized was purely financial. Look at the Prep school building and then look at cinder-block Canisius Hall. Which was more expensive? And while we have never looked closely at the possibility of a medical school, there was a moment when Rev. Aloysius Kelley, S.J. [President, 1979- 2004] could have had a law school if he had thought it a wise move. He didn’t. Had the decision been different, Fairfield might well have become a very lopsided institution, with the law school calling the shots.
What we have today seems to me to be a clear instance of the organic growth of a small liberal arts institution into something more complex, which maintains, at its stillsizable core, a concrete commitment to being something more than just a professional institution. I would like to believe that our location is well-mirrored in the mix of artistic, business, and medical specializations that make Connecticut distinctive. And I also hope going forward that we continue to attend to the vast disparities of income and opportunity that also mark our area.
An artist’s rendering of The Comprehensive Plan for the Development of Fairfield University, 1947.
Fairfield University Magazine: Dr. Lakeland, you retired this year. As you look back at your years at Fairfield, what is your feeling about the University as a project?
Dr. Lakeland: After 42 years and at the age of 77 it is probably time. I could certainly have continued for a year or two more, but who wants to reach the point where people start dropping hints?
I have every confidence that the faculty, staff, and administration will manage the increasing academic and professional excellence of the University. Above all, the issue is one of more and more firmly embedding in the University’s consciousness the nature of the intellectual, artistic, and ethical components of the Jesuit and Catholic tradition. For the past 19 years, as director of the Center for Catholic Studies, this is the endeavor that I have been involved in, together with my extraordinary colleagues in the Center for Social Impact, and I am confident that my successor as director will keep up the struggle.
