Years of Yearning is an intimate look at the complexities of leading the College through changes that were religious, financial, cultural, philosophical, pragmatic, political, liberal and conservative. Upon his arrival as President of Saint Mary’s College in 1969, Br. Mel was informed by numerous members of the College community, both Christian Brothers and other faculty members, that the College was philosophically moving away from the traditions that had been its hallmark for nearly thirty years. That traditional philosophical position was deeply imbedded in a liberal arts and Catholic intellectual tradition to which he was personally attached and which he saw as an academic, social, religious and personal strength, a worthy investment for one’s future.
The early years of Br. Mel’s presidency were marked by numerous tensions both within the campus and from outside. The first challenge was financial that went from difficult to nearly impossible. Added to this dilemma were other tensions that arose from academic factions within the faculty relating to an interpretation and implementation of drastic changes in the College curriculum, the academic calendar, and in the student body composition. The traumatic effects of protests against the draft and the war in Vietnam seriously affected both faculty and student anxieties as did the surging awareness of the Civil Rights Movement and the emerging rights for women. Coupled with these numerous concerns were changes in the Church itself and the disparate attitudes of Catholics regarding those changes expressed by Vatican Council II.
Author: Br. Mel Anderson, FSC
Publisher: Saint Mary’s College of California
