Edward Donohue 1

1









Edward Donohue
Marist College
Poughkeepsie, NY
Transcribed by Aubrey Giesler
For the Marist College Archives and Special Collections

















Edward Donohue 2

2

Transcript
– Edward Donohue
Interviewee: Edward Donohue
Interviewer: Richard Foy

Interview Date: March 13, 2002
Location: Marist Archives and Special Collections Reading Room
Topic: Marist College History
Subject Headings: Edward Donohue
Marist College—History



Marist College (Poughkeepsie, N.Y.)
Summary:
This interview discuses Donohue’s time at Marist College. His time on as a Marist Brother, and his life a teacher at
Mount St. Michal’s and a Professor at Marist College.






Edward Donohue 3

3

Richard Foy: OK this is an interview conducted with Dr. Edward Donohue we're in the archives room of the
Cannavino library. It's March 13, 2002. And the interviewer is Rich Foy. You don't mind if I call you
Ed you got a better name. Well, let's start with some biographical stuff. What's your full name?
Edward Donohue: Edward Peter Donohue.
RF:
00:29

Peter, were you named after any other family members?
ED:
00:33

My father who was Edward.
RF:
00:36

And where you born and when?
ED:
00:38
In queen, 1932. Astoria.
RF:
00:47

Do you have any brothers or sisters?
ED:
00:50

I do, I have two brothers and two sisters.
RF:
00:53

Oh boy, big family. What did your father do?
ED:
00:59

He was strangely enough he was a fireman in a brewery. A fireman was somebody who ran the boilers.
They generated their own electricity Ruppert’s 98 St. They changed that.
RF:
01:16

I drank quite a bit of beer there.
ED:
01:18

Had a big tap room there. And he was in charge of the boilers. It was important that they didn't make
smoke over the city, so they had people watched it all the time. That was his job.
RF:
01:33

Was he native born?
ED:
01:35
He was born in the old county. He came from the same county as my mother, county cavern. And she
came over when she was a teenager, 17. He was working on his home farm. I guess he was in love, so
he decided to come after her. And meet her over here, and they had a courtship, and they got married
over here.
RF:
01:57

My father was there I just looked him up on the Ellis Island index and found the date he came, plus the
boat he came across on. You could look it up some time its EllisIsland.com. It's a little tricky, but its
interest. How did you hear about the Marist bothers?


Edward Donohue 4

4

ED:
02:18

I went to St. Ann's Academy out of primary schools I went to a Catholic primary school St. Patrick’s in
Long Island City. And from there I went to St. Ann's academy had Brothers there, and I was recruited
by people like Freddie Flannigan was his name.
RF:
02:41

Aiden Frances. That's the typical route. You taught at St. Ann's later. They sheltered, more than half the
students came from the Queens. Which is why they're allowed to move into Archbishop Molloy. But it
was great, great travel the subway brought you right up, it which was nice.
ED:
03:06

Yeah I was riding the subway when I was 12 or 13 years old. There's no problem, queens to 76 street no
problem.
RF:
03:06

When did you go to Juniorate?
ED:
03:18

I went after my freshman year. So I began my sophomore year at Marist prep over in Esopus.
RF:
03:27

And how many years you stay there?
ED:
03:30

It was I think two years. Sophomore, junior and I think senior year was in Tyngsborough.
RF:
03:36

The Novitiate had been moved there by that time. Who was your master?
ED:
03:44

Bimbo.
RF:
03:45

Brother Lewis Omer. Yes, he had been Propitiate. So you did two years of novitiate there. Then that
would mean that you came to Marist campus which year? 1950?
ED:
04:08

Tough with the dates. But I had my senior of high school at Tyngsborough. And another year, second
year as a novice and then immediately after that I came to the Scholastic. I'm sure you know what was.
RF:
04:23
Probably around. I left in 50 and you weren't here yet so you might have gotten here 50 or 51.
ED:
04:25
I was even younger in my group because I was born in November. I went to school earlier. So when I
went away so Marist prep I think I was just turning 14. I look at 14 year-olds now.
RF:
04:54
(Laughter) By the way do you have any children of your own?
ED:
04:57
Yes, I have two, a boy and a girl.
RF:
04:59
One is Ed again.


Edward Donohue 5

5

ED:
05:01
One is Ned, N E D, and the other is Hope.
RF:
05:05
How old are they?
ED:
05:06
Hope is 22, and Ned is 25.
RF:
05:09
So they're finished college?
ED:
05:12
Yup.
RF:
05:14
Did they come to Marist?
ED:
05:16
Hope came to Marist. Hope went into that accelerated program for Teacher Education. So she does get
her master’s degree, and this is like the 50 years in the program. So she's 22 years, and she got a
master’s degree. And she's going to go to Hawaii next year to teach over there.
RF:
05:37
What does Ned do?
ED:
05:39
Ned works in sales. He got his degree from Marist, business marketing. And he's selling
pharmaceuticals. Gets in the car he drives around to different companies.
RF:
05:53
It's a big business.
ED:
05:54
Very lucrative, he's doing very well. I can understand why pharmaceuticals are so expensive. He hardly
works and gets paid a small fortune.
RF:
06:08
A couple of articles showed up they spent billions on that. A lot of that is just contacting the Dr.’s and
hospitals. It's very, very tricky. So you were recruited out of St. Ann's and then you eventually reached
Marist College. About how many student Brothers were there at that time?
ED:
06:32
Well I was a big group myself, we move through there were 30.
RF:
06:40
In your group.
ED:
06:41
In my group alone. And we use to take people on taps through the Novitiate there wasn't much fallout,
too many people leaving. So we pretty much showed up pretty much as a whole globe maybe 27, 26
and 27 at the Scholastic training. I don't remember how many were there.
RF:
07:02
Probably about 80 or so. Where did you sleep?




Edward Donohue 6

6

ED:
07:09
We slept in the old mansion over there, the wooden house.
RF:
07:15
The McPherson Estate
ED:
07:16
Yeah we had somebody watching for the fires every night.
RF:
07:22
It had been a stove that you had somebody stay awake for.
ED:
07:26
Paul Ambros was the master of Scholastics at that time. He had appointed somebody to say awake all
night to make sure no fires get started.
RF:
07:36
That was one of the orders of Cardinal Speldmen who was deathly afraid of fire. And insisted on that
and also on getting the student bugs out of there such age. Was Brother Nilus there when you came?
ED:
07:55
Yes
RF:
07:56
He had been sent about the same time as you were.
ED:
08:00
Yeah he was there I remember him right from the beginning.
RF:
08:03
Did you do any work on the chapel?
ED:
08:05
Oh yeah.
RF:
08:07
You were part of the (inaudible)
ED:
08:09
Worked on the chapel, my strongest memory of me working on chapel when they put the wall and they
did some blasting, and it cracked the wall. And we had to pull the wall down and start over.
RF:
08:26
That was standard procedure.
ED:
08:29
It was kind of trial and error. Just try to see if it works and if it doesn't just do it over.
RF:
08:35
Nilus didn't give you too many instructions. Brother Francis Xavier on the other hand who was doing
construction in Esopus. He told you how to hold the broom as you swept the floor. Everything had to
be very precise. Nilus just told you to put up a wall. Figure out the details. But you weren't here, how
many years did you spend here?
ED:
09:07
It was about two and a half then I came to St. Ann's. Remember I actually replaced you for a couple of
courses at St Ann's Academy. You were going to go to University or something to complete your
Commented [AJG1]: 7:15
Commented [AJG2]: 7:39
Commented [AJG3]: 7:47
Commented [AJG4]: 8:14


Edward Donohue 7

7

degree.
RF:
09:22
Not me, must have been somebody going to second Novitiate. I didn't go that early. You came out in
the middle of the year then.
ED:
09:30
I came out in the middle of the year.
RF:
09:33
And then you had to finish up. How did you finish up?
ED:
09:36
I'd finished up taking courses so-called extension courses. Flat Xavier, Adrian Perrrault.
RF:
09:48
But you’re almost finished. Where were they given out? Mt St. Michael?
ED:
09:54
Most of them given out the mount cause I only spend half a year at St. Ann's and the next year I was
assigned a full year to Mt St. Michael.
RF:
10:05
So that that made it a little easier for you.
ED:
10:08
Made it easy for the extension courses.
RF:
10:10
Where did you get your master’s?
ED:
10:13
Fordham.
RF:
10:14
Fordham, where you at the Mount at the time?
ED:
10:16
I was at the Mount.
RF:
10:18
So that was a relatively easy commute. Did you commute by car or by train?
ED:
10:23
By train.
RF:
10:24
By train, so you had to walk to 38 down to Fordham. I grew up in that area, so I know that train pretty
well. Was well as hysteria trains. So you got your master’s there. How long did you teach at the
mount?
ED:
10:44
I got there I just turned 21, when I went to the mount and when I left I was 28. I guess it was about
seven years?
RF:
10:58
And where did you go after that?
ED:
11:05
I went to our lady of lords for two years. Then I went to Catholic University and started a Ph.D.
Commented [AJG5]: 9:44
Commented [AJG6]: 10:30


Edward Donohue 8

8

program there.
RF:
11:15
The Ph.D. How many years did you spend down there?
ED:
11:20
I think it was three year I spent at CU.
RF:
11:25
Then you have to finish your doctorate then you came back here. So when did you let’s say hit Marist
as a teacher?
ED:
11:34
1966, fall of 1966.
RF:
11:37
66. And that's a period of a lot of turmoil in the church and lot of turmoil at the college. What was your.
Sort of a leading question the place was certainly different when you left in 1953.
ED:
12:04
I had a sense that you were being treated like an adult. You figure it out, you're old enough to figure
this out. like Brother Nilus.(laughter) But that was pretty much the thing there is turmoil, here it’s a
very anxious time. But at the same time, it's a very exciting time a lot of things were happening. Civil
rights programs and Martin Luther King was assassinated when I was here early on. Students
protesting went to Washington. Throw the core out, the beginning that 60/60 core things were rather
turbulent, but they were exciting too. Then I was in that group that went to meet on campus. From
living on campus.
RF:
13:02
Now being in the late 60’s.
ED:
13:06
That's right 1969. 68 I went to the second Novitiate I came back.
RF:
13:17
To Eden Terrace. Who's you master of the second Novitiate?
ED:
13:22
Edsorel, an Australian.
RF:
13:25
Steve Urban had left. When did you leave the Brothers?
ED:
13:34
It was 1970.
RF:
13:40
You left the same year I did.
ED:
13:42
I guess it was. So 70?
RF:
13:44
Yeah. It's a surprise I think of you leaving later, but it's about the same time. Let’s talk about some of
Commented [AJG7]: 12:59


Edward Donohue 9

9

your roles here. By 1970 the Brother probably were a majority of the teachers. They were maybe
significantly one-third be faculty led, led by Brothers. The student Brothers had virtually disappeared
by 70.
ED:
14:25
Well they were still here when I arrive in 66. By 1970 I think they had pretty much disappeared as I
recall.
RF:
14:35
They had moved over to. We had built the two roundhouses Benoit, Gregory. And 69, 70 I was living
in one of them. So there where still some student Brothers here, but abruptly it was decreasing in
number as far as that goes. You taught philosophy, when did your degree finally come through?
ED:
15:06
1973.
RF:
15:08
So you were writing your thesis.
ED:
15:10
Yes
RF:
15:11
Were you writing it on the virtue of hope.
ED:
15:15
Yeah you know how those things work. You're just learning how to teach college courses, so you
spend a lot of time preparing classes and teaching classes. Then summer time comes along, and you
say I got to jump back in that old pool. And where am I in this dissertation trying to catch up by the
time you catch up you back in class again. It was a terrible way to do research. It was jumping into a
cold pool every year. But it was a big relief to have it done.
RF:
15:50
That's not unusual for both bothers and non-Brothers for things to work out that way. But I remember
talking to you when you first got here you were big in the virtue of hope I guess you stayed big you
called your daughter Hope. (Inaudible). There is a certain sense if you don't have hope it’s pretty
depressing life. What about the students how do you find, do you find many changes or similarities
between the student you taught in the early 70's and you’re teaching now?
ED:
16:40
In the early 70's or when I first got here the student velocity student Brothers. People talk about
standers of every college's preparations of the students almost everybody who went to Marist college


Edward Donohue 10

10

got a master’s degree eventually. Our degrees are better than Harvard back then. Just about anybody,
student Brothers who came here got their bachelor’s degree when on and got master’s degree. In the
70’s it was still I think, my sense was that the students were probably strong 1970 -71 by my
recollection. Then there was a period when it fell off in a way we almost had problems with admission.
Recruitment was difficult, and you could see that in the class and more recently it’s tighten up.
RF:
17:54
Is it improving right now?
ED:
17:55
I think its improving right now. You know that's a long discussion though by what do you mean by
improved preparations for students. Students now are very business-like, their grades and the whole
quantitative aspect of going to college they're very careful about that. But I don't see too many
conversations in the current or about some academic subject. I don't remember students arguing about
a point that was made in class. And I use to find that in the early days here. You know you people
would argue about things the psych people would talk about nature and nurture again have a couple of
students outside the door still talking about it. But now I don't find an awful lot of that, there's some,
but I don't find a lot of that. I think they're better qualified as far as the SAT scores and their
performance in high school. But as far as enjoying intellectual life who does at that age. I don't see an
awful lot of that. I see more attention being given to I'll do this amount of, I'll do all these chores if
there is a pay off in the end. I want to see a good grade coming. That's my impression.
RF:
19:27
Do you think some of this comes from the essence the transfer of financial responsibility from the
parent to the student? The way that there are so many student loans now.
ED:
19:40
I don't know. I do know about 70 percent got student loans. And maybe they look at it as a transaction.
I am going into to debt here, so I want to see it paying off.
RF:
19:58
But could be. Because they will be in debt when they get out. They have to pay it off. Let me turn to
another thing you were involved in the Greenhaven program. Could you tell us a little bit about that?
ED:
20:16
I got my degree in 1973 and around that time Ed Waters was in special programs, at the time. He got a


Edward Donohue 11

11

phone call from Greenhaven correctional facility from Nick Burno he was the director of education at
the facility. And he said that he got a lot of long termers here who got their GED's and still got a lot of
time and they are interested in learning and could you come up with some course, could you do
something for us. And Ed took it to Richard LaPietra, who I think was academic vice president at the
time. Ed Waters at least reported to me that LaPietra said get Donohue to run the program because he's
got nothing to do now he’s finished his Ph.D. You can see the difference in the disposition of the
institution at that time and now. Now if you finish your PhD. their say you know how many articles
can you get out of it. Let's get down and make sure you publish two of them before you up for tenure.
In those days their say though you've been in quite loft long enough it’s time to get your hands dirty.
Get over there to that prison take care of that business. And I accepted that I didn't feel different I
thought yeah it's my turn now to do something about that. And then the program really grow rather
rapidly because HEOP was funding it originally. The bureau chief there (inaudible) I think his name
was he told me if this works out well we will replicate it throughout the state with other colleges. We're
watching you as kind of a model to see if it would work well. And that was an incentive to really do
something or other on a wider scale. And it started with just a couple of courses, and eventually, we
moved to a degree program, and people could actually major move to a degree. And then they did
replicated it through the state. They actually had committees lobbying the HEOP offices, say we need
this, we need that. And one of the things about it was frightening in the sense that, not in the sense that
it was new, of course it was new in that you're going into a strange environment, but it was frightening
because I had never envisioned a maximum security prison has an extension of any higher education
community and that is what it was becoming. We had teachers coming in, we had adjuncts, we had
full-time teachers. Dan Kurk sent full-time teacher as part of their regular load to teach in a prison.
Then the financing came through from the federal grant as well as the HEOP grants the state grants and
so there was a certain amount of money available to expanded and really intent to the students to see


Edward Donohue 12

12

that their being cared for properly. And one of the things we were concerned about is that when they
were in prison; what are they going to do when they get out? And that was the question that came to
me, came to us from the corrections administration. You know you guys are coming in here you got
free overhead there a certain money coming out of this program from tax money but what are you
doing for our students after they leave here. We started a program on campus. We actually had
students move from the prison to the campus. That was scary, that scared me. Cause I didn't know
what I was doing. I mean I got to know inmates but all this understanding what happens to somebody
who grew up in Bedford Stuyvesant in a probably an old press neighborhood, never knew his father,
been in and out of jail worked his way up to a maximum security. Most of his adult life even his
childhood being confined. What happens when he comes to this campus? Particularly when a lot of the
parents send the regular student here that's the kind of people we want to avoid. Now we bring here.
RF:
25:00
That's why they're sending their kids up here.
ED:
25:04
So it was scary. You actually said something to me that I thought was very comforting without any
solicitation on my part. You came to one time and you were talking about the program, and you said
you know you bring these guys on campus he said that's ok you got to understand, something is going
to go wrong, and we are going to back you on that, we'll support you on that. That was a big boost.
RF:
25:40
Yeah we found certain parts of it very interesting now there was a fellow named Jerry Hooks I don't
know if you remember him.
ED:
25:49
I remember him very well.
RF:
25:50
I think he when out and got his doctorate at Michigan State. One of the things I liked about him was
that when we had a pretty, not a huge group but a big group of black student who came up from New
York and they thought they were coming to the country and you took someone like Jerry Hooks and
make them their resident advisor. These black kids who know everything. Jerry Hooks would put them
against the wall Jerry would say for every trick you know I know five and don't screw it up for me. So


Edward Donohue 13

13

it was much better than that.
ED:
26:31
We had inmates that were living in his dorm. Told me still feels like I am in jail. One jail to another
jail.
RF:
26:42
But it shows, first of all, there is such a thing as redemption.

ED:
26:49
One of the things to I don't mean to disturb you at all. When we first did this, it was really LaPietra and
Ed Waters and myself I don't know how much you were really told about it. I thought I hear very little.
It started actually to grow very rapidly we were moving people in there. Then we were about to move
people out on the Marist campus. And somebody said to me does Linus know about this is pretty
interesting stuff does he know what’s going on here. and he said I don't think so, don't worry about it
you know I know Linus, and Linus would be for something like this. Linus would be for something
like. Glade you're sure.
RF:
27:44
Waters was a very inventive guy. Let me recall one instance that I remember that you acted pretty
responsibly at. There was a coed kidnapped in the middle of Poughkeepsie. You remember that thing.
And I guess she was getting out of a car and an ex con cussed her. I forgot her name she. They tracked
her across down towards Marlboro, across the river. she was smart enough to either get out of the car
or lock the car or something. Then it was announced that it was one of the Marist criminals that did it
you recall. No it wasn't.
ED:
28:36
No it wasn't it was somebody else who did that it wasn't one of ours as I recall.
RF:
28:44
But what I liked about that I believe that there were a lot of parents that were very upset. I think her
brother was an objective of Vassar hospitable and his was the quote what can you expect. I think what
you did was open up a meeting of concerned parents. Either you just faced the parents, or I don't know
if you brought some of the ex-cons with you do you recall that meeting.
ED:
29:12
Yeah I do very vaguely, but I remember.
RF:
29:18
It was in many cases it’s a question of breaking stereotypes. In the dormitories father’s use to say I hear


Edward Donohue 14

14

you have coed dorms. Particularly when we moved the girls from Leo into Champagne. Then if you
could sit down and explain to them that the girls were safer there because there were men above and
below them and across the hall from them was a lot safer than being isolated they say yeah true, but
those are the ones who complain to you the ones who don't complain to you are the ones you don't get
at. They’re the weirdos they have coed dorms. So I think you have that about convicts too. You can get
some fallbacks, and there certainly were by in large.
ED:
30:16
There were a lot of people who didn't know on campuses, didn't know Jerry Hook was an ex-offender
and I remember was it Teresa Rosse phone who ran that phone over there receptionist and she didn't
seem to know about it a number of other people. And Jerry was in everybody's offices. When you went
to an office either, he was here, or he just left. He was everywhere. Anyway and this is Jerry Hooks,
and people didn't know that he was an ex-offender one time I told a couple of people like what they
knew. They were shocked and they wouldn't believe me because the had another stereotype.
RF:
30:43
This is Jerry Hooks.
ED:
30:45
Jerry Hooks couldn't do that, ex-offender. I say yeah, he was in jail for a long time. So when you say the
stereotype dissolves when you really get into face to face situations that's when it really evaporates.
RF:
31:15
One time he was sent up. We had asked for some volunteers to fold envelopes in my office. If you recall
my office had his big table. Jerry came up and about three other guys I knew who he was, and he wore
a knit cap which was not as usual as it is now. My secretary must of have been late 70’s she thought he
was a very nice young man. I talked to him he's an ex-con, he's still a nice young man. It how
accepting you are.
ED:
31:51
I asked Jerry. No Jerry had some history he was a career criminal, his mother was a prostitute. Didn't
know who his father was. He was in and out of jail currently in primary school, so he went through all
the youth camps and stuff, he worked his way up to maximum security prison. And I asked him I'd like
to understand what turned you around. You know I think I could package it or something. Spread it


Edward Donohue 15

15

around to everybody. I said what was it that lead you to make such a dramatic change in your life. To
go from that to getting a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, Ph.D. and stuff. He said one time I was at
Greenhaven, and I saw the younger kids come in, and he said it dawned on me that I was like that, not
too long ago I was a kid like. And then he said it made me stop and think about my life and I wondered
where it was going. I am I going to go out and come back here again. And he said I went through a
period of depression in the facility. He said I wouldn't be myself and it got to a point he said it really
came down to two things. He said either I was going to turn my life entirely around or I was going to
commit suicide one or the other. He said one point I was very close to suicide. And he said I just
snapped and turned the other way and then he said I left everything behind than I was a different
person I am not that kind of person anymore I am a new kind of person. And the Chaplains help, what
was his name Edward something. He use to worked over with the Dutchess Community College
program. He helped him a lot, helped move Jerry into the Marist program, that how he started to
change. Talk to Jerry he'll talk to you about how to make a decision that really means something. It
struck me when I wanted to stop smoking I kept thinking of Jerry Hooks. Jerry say you don't ever
make a decision thinking that I'll try it to see what will happen and if it hurts too much, maybe I will
change my mind. That can't be part of it. He said when you make a life decision it comes down, it's a
guillotine it leaves everything leaves behind. The head comes off, the old head comes off, and you
grow a new one, and you're a different kind of person. And that's what I thought when I was trying to
stop smoking I said to myself I think that's why (inaudible) doesn't smoke anymore it was really
helpful its behind me I'm not going to wait to see if I am tortured by this maybe I will change my mind
it's been done and it actually made a difference.
RF:
34:43
You were able to stop.
ED:
34:44
I was able to stop you know pretty much cold turkey with that kind of advice.
RF:
34:51
Brother Athanasius (Norbirt) stop smoking and he told me I asked him how he managed and he said


Edward Donohue 16

16

virtually the same thing he had a cigarette in his mouth and he looked at it he said does this run me or
do I run this, so he put it out, and he stopped. They say it’s very hard, but mentally you can make that
decision it virtually turns out easier that sort of just edging.
ED:
35:21
That's right.
RF:
35:42
What did you think of Ed Waters?
ED:
35:28
I thought he was a brilliant guy, and he had to because in that kind of programs. He had to create
different programs. He was a good, I thought that he was good he was good for the business program.
Because once he saw that I had my feet under me he just let me alone, let me know how going have
any problems come and see me. And he was very support of, any time I thought I need money or
something he would try and get in touch with the bureau chief. Set up meetings and so forth.
RF:
36:13
I appreciated him, he was the fifth wheel on the administrative team. There was a classic academic,
discipline, development and finance. And we just added him because he was so inventive he's the one
who basically brought the fashion program on and negotiated that from Bennett and people thought
that was crazy. Now it’s one of the best programs in the college. And he was always looking at
different things. And of course he was instrumental in all the title III work, but I understand some of
the faculty didn't like him or felt that he probably that he was pushing the college in directions which
were not standard. But that's where he was great the others just keep the college-going. And Ed was
constantly on the lookout for where you could do things differently or better.
ED:
37:17
He had that element of persistence too. When he set his sights on something he would work toward it.
The people in Albany, HEOP people in Albany. One time I went up there to solicited funds and make
contacts and stuff, and some people were doing double takes I thought you were Ed Waters, with the
white hair. He said Waters is always around here we call him the silver fox. Just give him money to get
rid of him. So he was a really interesting guy.
RF:
37:52
He was politically astute also you know in terms of he use to instruct me who to see down in


Edward Donohue 17

17

Washington. And how to make the approach, how you should repetitive of Marist. In fact, he got
(inaudible name) which is why we got the title III money. But Ed could do things well he showed
(inaudible name) there is this much money going around the country theirs this much going to New
York state and it’s all gone to these two places and (inaudible name) just swoop in New York state got
more Marist got more. He didn't just go and beg he had a program. Would say he was persistent, if you
brushed him off he wasn't going to go away.
RF:
38:46
No, no, no he would be outside. And if you said no he would be standing outside your door lets go to
lunch.
ED:
38:55
And you can buy it
RF:
39:00
Ok we talked about the change in students what about the change in faculty as the number of Brothers
got less and less have you seen a change in faculty in a sense of attitude or culture?
ED:
39:22
I think so. Maybe just my own bias. The Marist Brothers had as sense of Vocation. You know teaching
was a vocation to them. When I say vocation, there is an element of sanctity in it. It was grounded in
something more than a career it wasn't just a career it was an enterprise, which was a holy enterprise it
was like a great crusade. And showed through you know people didn't sit around and talk about but
you could pick it up in the way they behaved, the kind of commits that they were prepared to make in
the classroom. And the way they would talk about their own careers. I mean even at Eden Terrace. this
happened at Mt. St. Michael’s one of the things the Brothers had was in-service training. You could sit
down at the table and say, it would be open you say I fell on my face today in the classroom gees I
don't know what the hell I did wrong. Say what happened, that happened to me one time too, why don't
you try that. So in a very unbearocratic way and it was more in a loving way your part of this
community sitting here braking bread together you got the same vocation I have let's see if we can
work together on this. And it was never any they weren't reflective about that they were just in it they
were just saturated and submerged in it. So if you were a new teacher at mount St. Michael. I was


Edward Donohue 18

18

basically a new teacher, I had a tremendous amount of help from people who really care about how I
was doing. People had offered to come in and sit in my class. The dean of discipline was Viny, Vin he
was Linus' brother. What was his name?
RF:
41:36
Who's brother?
ED:
41:38
Linus. Linus.
RF:
41:41
Oh yeah Brother Vincent dominant.
ED:
41:44
He was terror dean of discipline, but I went up to him one time, and I said hey you taught math. I said
why don't you drop by my class sometime and tell me how I'm doing. Sure I'll next class. After class,
he'll pat you on the back and say why don't you try these things. You know it was pretty good you
might want to try this and this. Slap you on the back and walk away there was no question of
indebtedness it was just were all in this together. And you could see this in Eden Terrace we would sit
around, and people had a sense of vocation. And understandably now I don't think you would expect
anything else people come in as a career and they want to see how they can advance in that career.
How do I get tenure? How many articles do I have to produce, what do I have to do to get promoted to
associate professor. A lot of time discussing that. We never cared about that stuff we had more
important things to do we worried about the students. How the students making out. A lot of our
meetings even this year ever meeting talk about professional development and what kind of
publications you need for what kind of promotion what kind of quality publications things of that sort.
So it's becomes more career like. And sometimes I think the students are left out of it. Not deliberately
I think these faculties want to teach they like to teach but they look upon it as I am teaching, but there's
going to be something in it for me. And that's understandable they’re people work in the world and
have families and such. I been around a meeting one time and I said the important guideline to have in
all of discussions is how is it benefit the students, how are the students doing, is it going to advanced
there education going to impede it. Let’s keep that in mind. I had a couple of people said what about


Edward Donohue 19

19

the faculty don't we count for anything. I said that's a logical fallacy. Not dumbing down the faculty
you have your importance to the relation to the students. They weren't buy that, they were not going to
buy that. That your importance as a teacher, your role is only as important so far connected to those
students. They’re the ones they're here to serve, they weren't buying that. They say students are
important but watch out for me, I got to my eyes got to be set. There is that attitude. And the only
people who even notice it would be people like me or x-Brothers me who were exposed to the other
thing they would be aware of it. But the new people are not aware of it because they have the same
feeling. They take it for granted.
RF:
45:03
When you first came. I am switching a little bit the Marist, the college was basically being converted to
an interdependent entity instead of being belonging to the Brothers. Did you detect any of that feeling
in 66 to 67?
ED:
45:25
No, not 66, 67 a lot of people didn't even know that the board of trustees was going to be a lay board of
trustees. I remember telling Nilus Donnelly the college is not ours anymore. He said what didn't even
know it. Nilus didn't even know it. He said that's terrible we put, what do you mean give it away?
Listen it the right thing to do, but he doesn't even know it. He put a lot of it together he doesn't even
know that it moved into other hands.
RF:
46:12
But last question. Your get married to Nancy O'Brien she's worked here for god knows how long. I'd
probably auta interview her because she was
ED:
46:22
She'd been interviewed already. Gus interviewed her.
RF:
46:25
Oh he did She was sort of the cusp because she would know a lot about Nilus because they were in that
Adrian building
ED:
46:34
I think she was one of the first female students too
RF:
46:37
She got a degree from there. It's a full Donohue family.
ED:
46:41
That's right


Edward Donohue 20

20

RF:
46:43
Marist degrees well look I want to thank you
ED:
46:49
If you need me again I would be happy to come down
RF:
46:52
Good and if you have other thoughts I think what will happen is we will listen to these we will develop
questions and then you may have some things you'd like to talk about I real appreciate it what’s
happening is were getting different everybody comes in says different things so it’s really fascinating
ok thanks a lot.