{"id":8657,"date":"2020-02-24T10:07:39","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T15:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/?p=8657"},"modified":"2021-05-03T12:05:18","modified_gmt":"2021-05-03T16:05:18","slug":"a-long-time-coming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/magazine\/a-long-time-coming\/","title":{"rendered":"A Long Time Coming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Monmouth attained university status 25 years ago this\nmonth, it was the culmination of a nearly decade-long undertaking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beginning in the mid-1980s, Monmouth and several other New\nJersey colleges started lobbying the state\u2019s Board of Higher Education to amend\na 1966 law which prohibited institutions from becoming universities unless they\noffered doctoral programs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But as then-Monmouth President Samuel Magill explained in a 1988 New York Times<\/em> op-ed, such regulations weren\u2019t in line with the higher education landscape in many other states. Even more concerning, Magill wrote, was that they were putting New Jersey \u201cat a competitive disadvantage with neighboring states when it comes to higher-education opportunities.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

College-bound seniors were exiting the Garden State in large numbers, he wrote, and it was getting harder for colleges here to recruit from out of state since many students sought the prestige that comes with attending a university. In short, it was time to update the law to allow New Jersey colleges the opportunity to become universities, Magill argued. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the next several years, legislative attempts to do that\nfell short. Nonetheless, Magill kept up the pressure until his retirement in\n1993. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t until 1994 that the state board finally relented,\namending its regulations and creating a new designation: teaching universities.\nUnder the new guidelines, colleges that offered a certain number of graduate\nprograms, met specific enrollment standards, and showed a commitment to\nexcellence in teaching and learning could apply for teaching university status,\nregardless of whether they offered doctoral programs. <\/p>\n\n\n

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 <\/p><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Various scenes from University Day, March 24, 1995.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat description really fit us like a glove,\u201d explains Stanley Bey \u201959, who was a Monmouth trustee at the time. \u201cSo that\u2019s the course we took.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monmouth applied for teaching university status, but before\nthe Board of Higher Education could issue a ruling, it was disbanded, and\nreplaced shortly thereafter by a new oversight body: the Commission on Higher\nEducation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In summer 1994, then-President Rebecca Stafford and\nthen-Provost Thomas Pearson met with officials in Trenton to discuss Monmouth\u2019s\napplication. \u201cIt became clear we would have to do a bit of \u2018infrastructure\u2019\nwork,\u201d such as designating which faculty members would teach graduate courses\nand organizing existing academic programs under a number of schools, says\nPearson. Much of the work was already underway as part of Stafford\u2019s strategic\nplan for Monmouth. \u201cBut [in the application] there had to be a clear indication\nto the commission that the college was reorganizing itself to assume a teaching\nuniversity mission,\u201d says Pearson. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that meeting, Monmouth filed a new application, one\nthat more clearly \u201cshowed we had the resource base to function as a\nuniversity,\u201d says Pearson. A successful site inspection by state officials\nfollowed in fall 1994, and a unanimous recommendation from the Council of\nCollege Presidents in February 1995 bolstered Monmouth\u2019s chances. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, on March 24, 1995, at 10:40 a.m., the New Jersey\nCommission on Higher Education granted university status to Monmouth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a unanimous vote with one abstention: me,\u201d recalls\nBey. By then, he was chair of Monmouth\u2019s Board of Trustees and serving on the\nstate commission. \u201cI couldn\u2019t vote for my own school,\u201d says Bey. But it didn\u2019t\nmatter, he adds. \u201cI considered the vote a formality. We [Monmouth] had done our\nhomework and there were no issues. All the questions had been answered. All the\nrequirements had been met, and we were ready to go.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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