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In May, 143 Marymount College seniors fell into place among nearly 4,000graduates gathered on a grassy field at Fordham University's campus in the Bronx. Their presence marked the first time that students from the women's college, which officially merged with Fordham almost a year ago, took part in the Jesuit institution's commencement exercises.
But a day after the big gathering was held, a much more intimate one took place on Marymount's sleepy suburban campus here, a half- hour north of New York City. The women received their diplomas -- which read "Marymount College" underneath the Fordham University seal -- at a ceremony just like the one the institution has always held.
Marymount students, it seems, are getting the best of both worlds. They signed up for a single-sex education at a small liberal- arts college. But if they want to, they can travel to Fordham's Manhattan and Bronx campuses to participate in social activities, use Fordham's libraries, and, if they qualify, take classes -- with men, of course.
Typically in higher-education mergers, the stronger college wipes out the identity, culture, and traditions of the weaker college, even if such eradication is unintentional. For instance, in 1997, a year after George Washington University took over financially troubled Mount Vernon College, it said financial problems at the women's college remained too severe to keep it open. Faculty members lost their jobs in 1999. Later, the university and some of the former professors settled a lawsuit that claimed that George Washington, which now operates the campus as George Washington University at Mount Vernon College, had violated tenure agreements and failed to give the college a chance to survive.
As Fordham went through the arduous process of stitching together the two institutions, a key factor was allowing Marymount to retain as much of its 96-year-old identity as possible. The Marymount College name has lived on. Long-time professors are still around. So is the "senior tea," where students wearing wide-brimmed straw hats decorated with flowers and ribbons sip tea from fancy cups in the tastefully appointed parlors of the administration building. That traditional event took place during graduation week, as always.
Fordham's sensitivity, in part, was driven by the fact that both institutions are Roman Catholic. The Jesuits who...