USD Magazine, Fall 2002

single-sex education, especially on the Wesc Coast, eventually would have caused boch inscicucions to close. Bue since che merger, a thriving, nationally recognized university has emerged. Like all major changes, however, chis one wasn't easy. The Kids Are Alright Typical of radical cransformacions on college campuses in che 1960s, che merger creating USD scarred wich che students. Despite the historical separation between che two col– leges, their physical proximity led to min– gling among che students, who mer up for lunch, baskecball games, dances and, of course, daces. Noc char ic was always easy to gee together. The nuns kept cheir female charges under lock and key. Prior to 1968, freshmen had to be in their dorms no lacer than 6 p.m. on weeknights, midnight on weekends. Upper– classmen had until 11 p.m. on weeknights before chey were considered AWOL. When

busy social lives. Guys stopping by to pick up a dace endured che nuns' scrutiny as they waiced downstairs, and males weren't allowed in che buildings wichouc an escort. "I was a resident assistant as a junior and a senior, so I'd have co busc che girls if chey had a guy in cheir room, which probably happened abouc four or five times a year, " says Terry (Hanten) Sattler '71. "Ir was a pretty big deal, because yo u goc hauled in front of che nuns and had co explain your– self. As punishment, you'd gee grounded, which meam you couldn't leave che dorm. " From a student perspeccive, che Sacred Heare nuns ran a eight ship on all fronts. In che dining room, housed in whac is now Sacred Heart Hall, che women dressed for a formal dinner once a week. If che nuns, who scill wore habits, didn't approve of an ensem– ble, che offending student was sent back to her room co change. Dresses had to be worn to class, where professors sometimes paused che academic lessons to comment on proper behavior for young ladies.

Sister Nancy Morris, College for Women president, got the merger process moving.

Shipley's marathon signing session was the point of no return on the path to creating today's University of San Diego, which was forged through unification of two indepen– dent schools - the San Diego College for Women, founded by the nuns of the Society of the Sacred Heart, and the University of San Diego College for Men and School

by Michael R. Haskins

of Law, founded by che Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego. For two decades the schools had existed shoulder-to-shoulder on che Alcala Park campus, bur shared lictle more than the Linda Visca hilltop. Academics, admissions, administration, financial opera– tions - all were conducted independently. "There was, in essence, an invisible wall down che middle of Marian Way," says Shipley, who scill teaches ac USD. "For the most part, students and professors weren't encouraged to cross chat line." Bue in 1967, three years before Shipley was selected to chair the search for a new president, the College for Men and College fo r Women slowly began to reach out to each ocher. Swept along by changes in society, the Catholic Church and the campus itself, the institutions soon became so intertwined chat wichin a few years a merger was inevitable. The combination was viral for survival. Had che two institutions remained separate, it's likely chat financial difficulcies, limited academic offerings and dwindling interest in

they did leave the dormitories, che women had to sign out on "porcry cards," which told the nuns at the front desk of Founders Hall where chey were going and wich whom. As a College for Women freshman in 1968, Donna Arnold '72 had one of the most popular rooms on campus. But while many of her classmates dropped by, few stayed for long. "Because of a housing mixup, for one semester I ended up wich my own room

"In a way ic was kind of funny," Sattler says, "because in che lace 1960s the dresses were so shore chat they defeated che idea of modesty." At the ocher end of Marian Way, the situation was in some ways just the opposite. Ocher than the seminary students, who lived in Desales (now Maher) Hall, the men resided across Linda Visca Road in what are now the University Terrace Apartments.

on the first floor of Camino Hall," Arnold recalls, "so the ocher girls would sneak in through my window if they got back too lace from a date." Thar deception and ochers like it - skinny girls, for example, often squeezed through the locked gates between Camino Hall and Founders Hall - were critical to women with

Nuns at the College for Women always knew where to find their students, who signed out of the dorms on "portry cards."

IS

FALL 2002