DETROIT FREE PRESS - May 1, 2003

Madonna U. to take control of St. Mary's
And a new Catholic college may be coming
BY DAVID CRUMM AND DAWSON BELL
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS
St. Mary's College of Ave Maria University in Orchard Lake will change hands for the second time in three years this summer as former pizza baron Tom Monaghan ends his sponsorship of the school and the Felician Sisters from Madonna University in Livonia take over.
The change takes effect July 1.
"Now, St. Mary's is becoming an integral part of Madonna University," Sister Rose Marie Kujawa, president of 4,000-student Madonna, said Wednesday. "They will become our eighth college. We already have our general education program and professional schools."
A second development in Catholic higher education this week is an announcement expected today by longtime Republican activist Rusty Hills that he hopes to found a new Catholic college in mid-Michigan within five years.
Hills played a prominent role in Gov. John Engler's administration as communications director and then as Republican Party chairman from 2000-02.
Hills said early this year after leaving the state party that managing a Catholic education venture was a long-held dream. He said then that he had had discussions with Monaghan, but couldn't reach an agreement.
Among the backers of the Lansing-area startup will be Detroit businessman and civic activist Jim Nicholson, who ran for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination in 1996. No site has been identified for the new school.
In recent years, the 400-student St. Mary's College had launched an innovative undergraduate program influenced by Monaghan's traditionalist approach to his Catholic faith.
"It's an undergraduate . . . core curriculum that focuses heavily on Catholic dogma along with general education," Kujawa said. "We will continue to focus at St. Mary's on the new curriculum they have developed . . . and we also will continue the Polish studies and their sacred theology and philosophy program."
St. Mary's was founded in Detroit in the late 19th Century by Polish Catholics as a seminary system to train men for the priesthood. It evolved by the late 1920s into a prep school, college and seminary. Today, the three are known collectively as the Orchard Lake Schools. The prep school and seminary are not affected by the leadership change.
To help retain students, Madonna will lower tuition for St. Mary's students this fall from the $325 per credit hour currently charged to $300. St. Mary's students also will be offered the teacher-education and business courses that have become Madonna's trademarks.
Nevertheless, Kujawa said she expects that half of St. Mary's students may leave, especially athletes after St. Mary's baseball, basketball and soccer programs are disbanded this summer.
"Our athletes can play on Madonna teams, but some of our athletes won't stay," said Damian Fedoryka, interim president at St. Mary's until July 1.
A new name for the school hasn't been chosen, Fedoryka said. Kujawa said she expects students will find signs incorporating both names popping up on campus this summer.
Since his departure from Domino's Pizza in the late 1990s, Monaghan has used part of his fortune to develop a traditionalist Catholic educational system. In 2000, his 2-year-old Ave Maria University took over the small college in Orchard Lake and pumped money into revamping the curriculum and upgrading equipment. Ave Maria also has a 250-student campus in Ypsilanti.
The original three-year deal with St. Mary's ends June 30 and, late last year, Monaghan unveiled plans to build a new campus for his university near Naples, Fla.

Contact DAVID CRUMM at 313-223-4526 or crumm@freepress.com

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