There are
plenty of numbers from the life of Dr. Thomas Dillon, the 18-year president of
Thomas Aquinas College in California who died in a car accident in Ireland days
before his 63rd birthday. Among them: 38 — number of years he spent at the
college; $100 million — amount raised under his tenure; 10 — average percentage
of graduating seniors who consider a religious vocation; four — children of
Dillon and his wife, Terri, plus 15 grandchildren.
But what the numbers don’t show is
Dillon’s tenacious commitment to Catholic liberal arts education that steered
the small private college through a tumultuous landscape of political
correctness and increasing secularism among its fellow Catholic institutions —
and that nevertheless landed the school atop the rankings of both secular and
Catholic college guides.
That, say his friends and
colleagues, is Dillon’s legacy.
He brought the original vision of
the college founders from principle to reality, said Peter Deluca, a 40-year
friend and longtime colleague who is now the college’s interim president.
Besides overseeing much of the campus construction, including the $23-million
Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity Chapel that was dedicated this March and is
hailed as a revival of classic Catholic architecture, Dillon also brought the
student body and the faculty to full capacity, and worked as a tireless
fundraiser and international ambassador for the school and for Catholic liberal
arts education in general; he was “woven into the fabric” of the college,
living on campus for 18 years as president.
Yet it was not a tenure without
battle.
Thomas Aquinas College was founded
in 1969 (with classes commencing two years later), at a time when the Catholic
identity of American colleges was declining. Its founding document addresses
this: “American Catholics are becoming increasingly aware of the growing
tendency of Catholic colleges to secularize themselves — that is, to loosen
their connection with the teaching Church and to diminish deliberately their
Catholic character.”
“The signs of a serious decline were
already apparent,” said Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman
Society, an organization dedicated to renewing and
strengthening Catholic identity at American Catholic colleges and universities.
“There was already a dramatic shift away from Church ownership of colleges to
lay boards of trustees, which continued through the 1970s.”
This resulted, at most schools, in a
retreat from the strong Catholic moorings of the past. But not at Thomas
Aquinas. “What Thomas Aquinas did,” said Reilly, “was go in the opposite
direction. It looked back to the roots of Catholic higher education — which are
the roots of all higher education.”
Fighting ‘Multiculturalism’
This “opposite direction” meant
smaller, discussion-style classes that used the original texts of authors,
poets, scientists, mathematicians, philosophers and theologians of Western
civilization, known as the Great Books program. There are no textbooks, no
lectures, no majors and minors; the curriculum is organized as a comprehensive
whole.
Mass and confession are offered
three times daily, and Eucharistic adoration is held for several hours every
day.
Dillon joined the staff in 1972 as a
tutor (what the college calls professors) with a doctorate in philosophy from Notre
Dame. In 1976, he became dean, and in 1991, president. Even then, he recognized
that there was only one answer to the threat of secularization.
As he told the Register in a 2006
interview, “Without fidelity to the magisterium, a school simply cannot retain
its Catholic character or foster real wisdom. Even when institutions have good
presidents, it may still be very hard indeed to effect substantial
improvements. Many are like large ships adrift in the wrong direction and
particularly difficult to turn around.”
In its adamant refusal to follow the
trends of secularization, Thomas Aquinas ironically would later bypass its
fellow Catholic institutions in both secular and academic arenas, ranked by The
Princeton Review as the fifth “Best Value” in the country for 2008
and 2009 among all private institutions in the United States.
It was also selected by the Cardinal
Newman Society as a model Catholic institution in The
Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College.
But the road to recognition was not
without its bumps. In 1993, Dillon had to battle a wave of political
correctness that could have resulted in the college’s loss of accreditation
from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
When the organization, which
certifies higher education institutions in California, Hawaii and several
territories, proposed new guidelines that stressed multiculturalism in
students, staff and educational materials, Dillon rallied the presidents of
larger schools such as CalTech and Stanford in resistance.
Richard Ferrier, a Thomas Aquinas
tutor, was the accreditation liaison at the time. He said that the school’s
objection was twofold: first, it was unjust to consider student and faculty
applicants by race; and second, revamping the curriculum to include, as the association
ordered, viewpoints and contributions from all cultures would omit some of the
great thinkers of the world.
‘Man of Vision’
In the movement against the new
guidelines, “Tom presided over it with a steady hand and considerable personal
skills,” said Ferrier. “He had to be bold. We were just a little college. But
he never flinched, just steadily pursued his own course.”
The outcome was a revision of the
guidelines and continued accreditation for Thomas Aquinas. However, Dillon went
even further to stem the tide of political correctness. He helped found a new
national accrediting organization, the American Academy for Liberal Education,
which certifies mostly small, religiously-affiliated colleges.
All this was accomplished through
faith. “He was a person of immense faith,” said Maria Grant, chairman of the
college’s board of governors. “At the bedrock, he was a person of deep devotion
to the college, to the faith, and to his family.”
This was illustrated, she said, by
Dillon’s determination to have the new chapel’s cornerstone blessed in Rome.
However, the 765-pound slab of marble the size of a dining room table presented
a logistical shipping problem. Nevertheless, Dillon was determined, and one
morning at his usual Legatus meeting, he discovered he was sitting across the
table from an executive from the delivery company DHL.
The cornerstone was blessed by Pope
Benedict XVI in Rome on Sept. 3, 2008.
On the occasion of Dillon’s death,
the apostolic nuncio to the United States, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, sent a
letter to Thomas Aquinas College. Of Dillon, with whom he had worked and
encouraged to promote the Catholic faith in the academic arena, he wrote, “By
his countless accomplishments and planning for the future, this man of vision
left a noble legacy of faith and learning which will continue to enrich minds
and hearts for years to come.
“His immense love for the Catholic
Church and its splendid tradition of imparting to others true Christian
principles in the whole of the learning process is an outstanding example to
Catholic educators everywhere.
“May we all continue to be inspired
by his tireless zeal and fervent dedication in his efforts to build up the
Kingdom of God in our midst.”
Dana Lorelle writes from
Cary, North
Carolina.
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