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The Critical Years: Excerpts from the Oral History Project on the years 1948–72 at Boston College.

William McInnes, SJ
A graduate of Boston College in the Class of ’44, and former associate dean of BC’s College of Business Administration (1961–64), William McInnes, SJ, went on to become president of Fairfield University, the University of San Francisco, and the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, before returning to BC. He now teaches ethics at BC’s Carroll School of Management. McInnes was interviewed by John Dennehy, a doctoral student in history.

Q. Do you remember the first time you ever heard the statement made that "Gee, Boston College is getting too far away from its Catholic roots?"

A. I don’t remember hearing that during the time I was a student here. I don’t think anybody thought of that at the time. I really didn’t hear it. If I did hear it, it was very, very weak, when I was here as a teacher and as an administrator, which was from 1959 to 1964. What triggered it was probably the issue of student activism and the questioning of where we were going—plus whether we were beginning to pay the consequences of intellectualizing our faculty.

I remember this, because of some of the people we were hiring at the business school. This was the first indication of a new concern. I remember one person we were trying to get, because he was a star in the business world. I interviewed him after all the other people. This was the man we wanted. He came to my office. And I recall saying to him as we talked about what he was going to do, "by the way, you do know that this is a Jesuit school? Does that bother you?" I’ll always regret that, as it was a very weak way to talk about the preservation of a Catholic tradition.

Today we would be much more explicit about that issue. So, I do not remember it as being an acute question at that time, but I do remember it as being pertinent. I thought this was an unobtrusive way, because we were talking about how we want to get the best people. But how did we define best? The emphasis was on the intellectual best, or the reputational best. It wasn’t on the spiritual best. We will preserve our Catholic heritage, but we can take it for granted. We’ve always had that heritage. But it didn’t become an acute challenge until later in my term here.

Q. So the focus was clearly on expanding the intellectual growth?

A. We thought we could do both. When you’re growing up, you think you can do everything. It’s only later that the limitations begin to surface.