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Susquehanna University, 1858-2000: A Goodly Heritage.
by Donald D. Housley.
This is a long and detailed book, full of much information that alumni and some university officials may find both interesting and useful. The detail makes the reading something of a slog. That is unfortunate because much about regional history church-related institutions, the diversity of Lutheran higher education, and the uniqueness of Susquehanna is important. The author's broad knowledge of American history is also helpful as he puts Susquehanna's story into relevant contexts.
The book has three large sections: from the institution's i88 founding under the leadership of Benjamin Kurtz as the Missionary Institute of the Evangelical Lutheran Church to university status in 1895; from 1895 to the revolutionary changes brought about by the turbulent times, young faculty; and activist students in the I9óos; and the poSt-1960s responses to the market that turned an American and Lutheran college into an American college.
Susquehanna over 150 years has had to learn to adapt to survive. The author argues that Susquehanna has had four changing missions during these years: (I) to educate poor men for the gospel ministry; (2) to inculcate Christian character in young people, (3) to serve the community, (4) and to educate young people in normative ways using the standards of higher education (26). His discussion of this fourth mission is especially interesting.
As the story unfolds much is included: the squabble between American Lutherans and "old Lutherans" in the nineteenth century; the inter-related genealogies of early university leaders, the culture that church and university shared until the 196os, the relationship with Gettysburg College, the impact of accreditation, the passion for football, campus life, two world wars, the great depression, the five cohorts of faculty with their changing perspectives, and much more. Housley also addresses the secularizing paradigm advanced in books by people like George Marsden, James Burtchaell, and Robert Benne as an explanation for the distancing of many collegiate institutions from their founding church bodies. He argues that the secularizing paradigm is an abstract, ideological model with little room for the uniqueness of institutional evolution and change over time (537). It is ahistorical. The importance of higher education in American culture, the fading of Protestant hegemony, the erosion of Susquehanna's Lutheran market and synodical support, and the university's concern about survival and the need to adopt all should be factored into the analysis. The story is complicated.
Change did take place at Susquehanna, however, dramatically so after the 1960s, and the American and Lutheran college which entered the decade of the 1960s left as an American college that would be as Lutheran as necessity and the leadership and proclivities of select individuals might make it (393). Luther's dialectical theology and educational concerns about service and leadership have sometimes been used to explain and understand the university's mission in the recent past.
Since the 1970s Susquehanna has become a more effectively administered institution, enrollment has grown, a number of buildings have been built, academic successes have been celebrated, and the endowment has increased dramatically. Is there anything constant in its history that explains its various missions, survival, and these recent successes? Adjusting its mission to fit the market and the needs of those enrolled has been basic (537). In recent years, commitment to the academic standards and experiences established by the community of higher education has been important (509). The author concludes that Susquehanna is a place of beauty with appeal and influence for its constituents, its studies have always had a practical cast, and the earmarks of German Lutheran piety-hard work, commitment, and humility-have been present through the century and a half of its history.
This is a thoughtful, informed, and forthright-if over-long- collegiate history. We know more about Lutheran higher education in Pennsylvania because of it.
The book has three large sections: from the institution's i88 founding under the leadership of Benjamin Kurtz as the Missionary Institute of the Evangelical Lutheran Church to university status in 1895; from 1895 to the revolutionary changes brought about by the turbulent times, young faculty; and activist students in the I9óos; and the poSt-1960s responses to the market that turned an American and Lutheran college into an American college.
Susquehanna over 150 years has had to learn to adapt to survive. The author argues that Susquehanna has had four changing missions during these years: (I) to educate poor men for the gospel ministry; (2) to inculcate Christian character in young people, (3) to serve the community, (4) and to educate young people in normative ways using the standards of higher education (26). His discussion of this fourth mission is especially interesting.
As the story unfolds much is included: the squabble between American Lutherans and "old Lutherans" in the nineteenth century; the inter-related genealogies of early university leaders, the culture that church and university shared until the 196os, the relationship with Gettysburg College, the impact of accreditation, the passion for football, campus life, two world wars, the great depression, the five cohorts of faculty with their changing perspectives, and much more. Housley also addresses the secularizing paradigm advanced in books by people like George Marsden, James Burtchaell, and Robert Benne as an explanation for the distancing of many collegiate institutions from their founding church bodies. He argues that the secularizing paradigm is an abstract, ideological model with little room for the uniqueness of institutional evolution and change over time (537). It is ahistorical. The importance of higher education in American culture, the fading of Protestant hegemony, the erosion of Susquehanna's Lutheran market and synodical support, and the university's concern about survival and the need to adopt all should be factored into the analysis. The story is complicated.
Change did take place at Susquehanna, however, dramatically so after the 1960s, and the American and Lutheran college which entered the decade of the 1960s left as an American college that would be as Lutheran as necessity and the leadership and proclivities of select individuals might make it (393). Luther's dialectical theology and educational concerns about service and leadership have sometimes been used to explain and understand the university's mission in the recent past.
Since the 1970s Susquehanna has become a more effectively administered institution, enrollment has grown, a number of buildings have been built, academic successes have been celebrated, and the endowment has increased dramatically. Is there anything constant in its history that explains its various missions, survival, and these recent successes? Adjusting its mission to fit the market and the needs of those enrolled has been basic (537). In recent years, commitment to the academic standards and experiences established by the community of higher education has been important (509). The author concludes that Susquehanna is a place of beauty with appeal and influence for its constituents, its studies have always had a practical cast, and the earmarks of German Lutheran piety-hard work, commitment, and humility-have been present through the century and a half of its history.
This is a thoughtful, informed, and forthright-if over-long- collegiate history. We know more about Lutheran higher education in Pennsylvania because of it.
Philip A. Nordquist, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington. <Top>
Last Reviewed on 10/15/2008 by Nabin Mulepati | SU Press (570)372-4175/fax (570)372-4021 | Email: baileys@susqu.edu | Susquehanna University, Selinsgrove, PA 17870