Mayhew Report: Appendix C

Appendix C

Report on the Visit to Bellarmine-Ursuline Colleges, Louisville, Kentucky

Bellarmine College -Men’s College     1500 students  Archdiocesan College
Ursuline College -Women’s College    500 students

The two colleges hope to complete a merger by 1969 by developing the cooperative effort on the Bellarmine campus. The exact reasons for coordination do not seem to be spelled out. The Booz-Allen-Hamilton report and the Hart report indicate that finances were uppermost in the minds or those developing the plan. No educational consultant “vas brought to the colleges. With the Hart report, the idea of merger became the guiding principle.

Some of the departments are combined; others are only moving toward combining. The faculty at Bellarmine College generally favor the cooperative effort. Faculty opinion is channeled today through a faculty committee. Bellarmine faculty do not feel threatened by the merger. It does not see any real differences between the students of the two colleges.

At Ursuline College, there was some reticence in communicating opposition to the merger if real opposition does exist. It appears that teaching faculty were not brought into the study until recently. What happens to the 4.5 million dollar Ursuline College campus? Can the Ursuline faculty become a part of the total college concept? These and similar questions have not been answered thus far. It appears that the Boards of Trustees rendered the decisions step by step. After expensive studies which do not offer much help to the two colleges I an attempt is being made to draw up models at this late date to arrive at a proper course of – action.

SOME ITEMS OF INTEREST

Purpose of the Cooperative Program

The reason for the cooperative program was for the good of Catholic Higher Education in the Louisville area. This objective was to be realized through

1) pooling faculty strength
2) increasing student enrollment
3) combining library resources
4) developing financial resources
5) enhancing student social life

Coordinate Administration (functioning now)

Three committees are 1) Inter College Administrative Committee, 2) Academic Program Coordinating Committee, 3) Financial Advisory Committee. One of the Co-Directors of the merger is secretary for all three committees and provides continuity.

Registration

153 women take courses at Bellarmine
57 men are registered at Ursuline

Women are allowed in only certain sections of classes since Bellarmine has a classroom shortage.

Ursuline admissions standards are superior to Bellarmine standards but women are not permitted in Honors classes on the Bellarmine campus.

Joint registration has not yet taken place. Registration occurs on the home campus. There is no evidence on the permanent record that a student has attended classes on the other campus.

Financial arrangements for students registered for courses on the other campus

There are coordinated and independent departments with charges figured differently in each.

1) In coordinated departments, the combined unit is cost accounted and the colleges share the total expense of the department on a per capita basis. If 10 Ursuline students and 90 Bellarmine students were in a department, 10% of the department’s cost would be paid by Ursuline; 90% by Bellarmine.

2) In independent departments, the college operating the department received the full tuitional charge per credit for each student taking a course in that department. If 5 Ursuline students are in Bellarmine I s accounting department, Ursuline pays Bellarmine 5 (girls) x 3 (credit hours) x $30 (cost per credit hour) = $450.

Financial Aid

No cooperation to date.

Admissions

No cooperation as yet.

Bus

Ursuline College owns the bus. It is to “be amortized over a 5-year period. All operating costs are added to the amortization cost and these are split on a 50-50 basis at the end of the year.

Though it is difficult to try to transmit the tone and experience of this cooperative venture in a short report, it would seem that these two colleges recognize several weaknesses in the way they proceeded in their study:

1) No actual authority existe1for the cooperative program in its formative period.
2) Deans, Registrars, and other key persons were too busy with their regular jobs to be thoroughly involved.
3) Too much emphasis on theory as learned from industry rather than from an educational operation.
4) The absence of the same faculty salaries and fringe benefits, student fees and admission requirements.
5) Failure to ask the right questions and secure the advice of outside educators.

These two colleges have much more work to do before a fully coordinated model Can be achieved. There was enough evidence to show that the CSB- SJU program must proceed with a good educational program as the chief goal for the study. The article accompanying this report should provide some fresh ideas on the subject. When personnel can see beyond their immediate departments or offices, the first hurdle will have been met in order to arrive at a desired goal.