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Soldiers Become Students, and Villanova Becomes a University
The More Things Change…
The Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, better known as the GI Bill,
was one of the most significant pieces of legislation ever enacted by
the United States Congress. Along with other provisions, it offered a
college education to millions of returning veterans, thus opening new
opportunities for them and their families, changing the shape of American
society and public life, and transforming the very nature of higher education.
The response to the bill was far greater than anyone had predicted. Between
1945 and 1950, the GI Bill supported some 2.3 million students, most of
whom would never have been able to get a college education without it.
Close to two thousand students showed up for classes at Villanova in the
fall of 1946, almost twice the pre-war high. By September 1949, enrollment
reached 2,650.
Although there were many more students at Villanova than in the past,
student life did not change dramatically. The major social events endured,
including Mother’s Day, Junior Week, and the Belle Air Ball, and
the same kinds of big bands continued to come after the war. However,
a new note of informality was evident in many of the social events of
the postwar period. Many dances replaced formal attire with a conventional
suit and tie, and by the early 1950s, yearbook photographs reveal that
some men were no longer wearing ties to class.
From College to University
Villanova opened two new professional schools on campus in the early 1950s,
one in law and the other in nursing. “The university had offered
courses in nursing for twenty years, but they were not given on campus
and they did not lead to the bachelor’s degree,” noted David
R. Contosta and the Rev. Dennis J. Gallagher, O.S.A., Ph.D. in Villanova
University: Ever Ancient, Ever New. The full-fledged degree program occupied
Austin Hall in the early years.
With the new professional schools, combined with the older programs in
engineering, commerce and finance, and the liberal arts, Villanova had
the look and form of a university without the legal status. The Rev. Francis
X.N. McGuire, O.S.A., ’32, D.D. was president of Villanova from
1944 to 1954. He and the Board of Trustees recognized the importance of
public esteem, and the public relations value of being a university.
Actually, the original college charter of 1848 had granted Villanova “all
such powers, authorities and jurisdiction as are held, enjoyed or exercised
by any other university or college within this commonwealth.” “Since
the 1848 charter had designated the institution as ‘The Augustinian
College of Villanova, in the State of Pennsylvania,’ it was necessary
to amend the charter in order to change the name,” Contosta wrote
in Villanova University 1842-1992.
On November 18, 1953, Villanova College officially became “Villanova
University in the State of Pennsylvania.” Other than the change
of name, the university charter was identical to the original of 1848.
It soon became clear that Villanova’s administrative structure would
need to be altered before it could claim to be the equal of other American
universities. A relatively new position
125 Years Young
Villanova University observed its 125th anniversary in 1967-1968 with
events including a concert at Philadelphia’s Academy of Music and
a Pontifical Mass celebrated by John Cardinal Krol, Archbishop of Philadelphia.
On June 11, 1968, Villanova’s Board of Trustees voted to expand
itself from seven members to a minimum of 11 and a maximum of 25. In keeping
with the trend begun by Notre Dame University in 1967, the Board also
voted to drop the requirement that members must be Roman Catholic. The
requirement had been in place since the original Charter of 1848. However,
this prerequisite drastically limited the pool of qualified Board members,
and there was the possibility that the religious requirement might make
the university ineligible for public aid. Many other Catholic colleges
and universities followed the lead of Notre Dame and Villanova, including
Loyola Baltimore in 1970 and St. Joseph’s in 1971, and abandoned
the religious requirement.
In that same year, Villanova opened all its programs to women for the
first time. Women had been taking classes on campus since the first World
War, and the College of Nursing was bringing increasing numbers of women
to campus. It was in 1968, however, that coeducation was official. Both
La Salle and St. Joseph’s universities would follow Villanova and
adopt coeducation over the next several years.
1968 was also a year of upheaval in the United States. Both Robert F.
Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. were assassinated, and growing opposition
to the Vietnam War forced President Lyndon B. Johnson not to seek another
term in the White House. Riots and demonstrations spread across the nation’s
cities and college campuses. There was a growing discontent among Villanova
students. In the years to follow, student protests, as well as a series
of academic and social reforms, would transform Villanova in many ways.
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