On January 6, the private power struggle between the monks of New Hampshire’s Saint Anselm College and their Board of Trustees became public at the first hearing of a lawsuit concerning bylaws and the Benedictine monks’ ability to make decisions over the mission and identity of the school.
Conflict over the Catholic identity of the college and the founding monks’ agency has been brewing for several years, and the monks, led by Abbot Mark Cooper, filed a lawsuit the day before Thanksgiving.
The first hearing brought the conflict to the attention of the public.
Though this hearing concerned the ability of the college’s law firm of 30 years to fairly represent the monks, it opened up a dialogue on the reasoning behind the lawsuit and related bylaws.
The school is currently undergoing its 10-year regional accreditation process, and the Board of Trustees recently made changes to the bylaws of the school reducing the monks’ power in decision-making for the future of the college.
The monks said, “the changes limit their power to guide the mission and identity of St. Anselm College, alleging the move will make the school less religious,” according to Manchester’s news outlet WMUR.
In court documents, Abbot Cooper writes that the monks should retain the right to fire the president for contradicting Catholic teaching and to veto decisions concerning student wellbeing, including a potential proposal of adding birth control to campus health services.
Similar conflicts have unfolded previously, like when lay administration clashed with the monks over hosting Hillary Clinton on campus before the 2016 elections, as the school is a frequent stopping point on the presidential campaign trail during primaries. The monks did not want to show support of her pro-abortion stance, but the lay administration won out.
The monks currently retain 7 spots out of 40 on the Board of Trustees, but Abbot Cooper states that it is not enough.
From the college’s founding in 1889 until 2009, the monks had governing authority over the mission and identity of the school. In order to meet regional accreditation requirements, the abbey separated from the college, lay trustees were added in 2009, and the school had its first lay president, Steven DiSalvo, in 2013. They recently welcomed their second lay president, Dr. Joseph Favazza in September.
In the past 10 years, the college has seen roughly an 8% increase in enrollment––from 1900 total students in 2009, which fluctuated and increased to 1930 students in 2017, and then shot up to 2050 total students this past year, according to school records.
Many students report that the school’s Catholic identity was an important factor in their decision to attend, along with the notable nursing program and small-campus environment. Steeply discounted tuition for incoming freshmen has been used as a tactic to draw in more students recently. However, tuition has risen in recent years and is heavily relied upon to cover the cost of running the school.
The monks at Saint Anselm, despite having half as many members as they did 50 years ago, are currently following the same positive trends as the students and have gained seven new members since 2010.
Despite these successes, the conflict over the monks’ desire to keep the college Catholic is still contested.
The lay Board of Trustees stands by the fact “that in no way do they wish to impede the fundamental role of the Catholic, Benedictine mission and traditions of the college,” former Saint Anslem president and current Endicott College president, Joseph A. Favazza, told The Boston Globe. “I fully support the Board of Trustees in their efforts to act on behalf of the College to resolve this matter.”
Abbot Cooper has a different outlook.
“You have this group of people who live there on campus, are teaching, are administering, and then you have trustees who have backgrounds in different areas, expertise in different areas.” Cooper told multiple sources, “If you can blend those two well, I think it leads to superior decision-making.”
The monks stand by the fact that they are looking out for the future of the college.
“It comes down to our best opportunity, our best standing to ensure the Catholic identity long into the future,” Cooper stated.
The monks have been instructed to decline from commenting until further notice from the abbot. Student conversation on campus is minimal, except when making light of the situation, exemplified in a student-run Instagram meme account about the incident, which was quickly shut down before the time of publication.
Previously the Campus News Editor and Catholicism 101 Editor, Olivia dabbles in The Torch’s writing and photography. She is a senior studying theology and applied psychology and human development with a minor in journalism. She is unashamedly passionate about youth ministry, Haiti, all things charismatic, the Oxford comma, and CatholicTV––where she can often be found as an on-camera news reporter or host of the To the Heights podcast.
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Hello! I would like to make one correction. The disagreement was not about Clinton speaking on campus. It’s important to host all candidates an equal number of times if they want to maintain neutrality if we want to host debates. Rather, it was about Clinton speaking in the heart of campus or not. She was given a spot in the gym I believe(I was a student at the time), but instead the administration gave her a spot in front of Alumni Hall and the St. Anselm statue, which is right next to the church as well.