Negotiating Identity Revisited: A Symposium on Catholic Higher Education at a Turbulent Time

Through the support of a Collegium mini-grant, Iona University in New Rochelle, N.Y., gathered eighty faculty, administrators, and students from the New York area for “Negotiating Identity Revisited: A Symposium on Catholic Higher Education at a Turbulent Time,” a day-long discussion of the particular challenges Catholic colleges and universities face in these times of entrenched secularism, intense competition, declining religious life vocations, and a church reeling from the pain of the sex abuse crisis. This event was dedicated to the memory of former ACCU executive director, Sr. Alice Gallin, OSU, whose seminal work on Catholic higher education, Negotiating Identity, is cited in the symposium’s title and whose stalwart leadership in American Catholic higher education is legend. Dr. Paul Lakeland, the Rev. Aloysius P. Kelley, S.J., Professor of Catholic Studies and Chair of the Center for Catholic Studies at Fairfield University, delivered the keynote address, “In Search of a Future with Meaning: Catholic Education in a Neoliberal World.” The keynote was followed by responses from Dr. Eileen Fagan, SC, College of Mt. St. Vincent; Dr. Mehnaz Afridi, Manhattan College; and Dr. Meryl Nadel, Iona College. Faculty panelists (Dr. Kevin Ahearn, Manhattan College; Dr. Nadine Barnett Cosby, Iona College; and Dr. Jeremy Cruz, St. John’s University) further pursued issues of Catholic identity as they relate to the diverse religious traditions on campus as well as the promotion of institutional charisms.