Santa Clara's 100th

In California, where everything grows fast, even colleges and universities can become giants within a few years. But California's oldest college has never gone in for bigness. Last week, as the University of Santa Clara celebrated its 100th anniversary, it still seemed a place apart from the rest of the brash and bustling state.

In modest celebration, Santa Clara set aside three days for learned talk on such subjects as "Constitutional and Natural Rights," "Philosophy and the Social Sciences," "Labor and Management"; guest speakers included Roscoe Pound, famed onetime dean of the Harvard Law School and now of U.C.L.A., and Jim Carey, national C.I.O. braintruster. But there was no great fanfare, just discussion of the sorts of things that have been Santa Clara's concerns since the day it began.

Santa Clara was originally founded as a Franciscan mission, and Father Junipero Serra, California's great mission priest, dedicated its church himself in 1784. But in 1851, with California booming with gold rush, the mission was transferred to the Jesuits for a college.

Most of Santa Clara's physical growth has come in the last 25 years. In that time it has developed a modern plant of 14 mission-style buildings, schools of law, engineering and business administration. But it was not until after World War II that the school passed the 1,000-mark in enrollment (present enrollment: 1,130).* It has never grown rich, has an endowment of only $400,000. Nonetheless, its president since 1945, Father William C. Gianera, has so far kept Santa Clara in the black. One reason: the 32 non-salaried Jesuits on the staff of 87 are maintained by the order, a fact which President Gianera reckons is worth an endowment of $2,500,000. Moreover, despite its lack of size and money, Santa Clara has turned out its share of well-trained businessmen, teachers and scholars, not to overlook a few movie actors (among them: Andy Devine, Lloyd Nolan, Edmund Lowe).

Though 85% of its students are Roman Catholics, only a handful go into the Jesuit order. Courses in religion, required for Catholics, are optional for non-Catholics. But all students in liberal arts must take four years of philosophy, the core of the curriculum. Today, says President Gianera, Santa Clara's mission is just what it always was: "To give a sound Christian education to men who must deal with the problems of modern living."

*Among 27 Jesuit colleges and universities in the U.S. (total enrollment: 88,000), Santa Clara ranks 21th in size. The biggest: Fordham (9,500).

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