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The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts Merrimack, New Hampshire www.thomasmorecollege.edu

Overview The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts is one of several small, faithful Catholic colleges founded over the last generation. Each was launched to provide alternative options to existing Catholic colleges, both in terms of religious identity and academic rigor. Despite similarities, each is distinctive. Indeed, Thomas More College co-founder Dr. Peter Sampo launched his college in 1978 because he was looking for something that he had not found elsewhere. In addition to his association with other colleges, he was president of Magdalen College from 1974 to 1978. What was created was a college dedicated to studying the whole texts of great thinkers as a vehicle for helping transform students. Dr. Sampo referred back to the ancient Greek idea of a paideia, a holistic approach to education that molds young men and women to become active and informed citizens. The college pursues its paideia through a unique set of courses, an emphasis on classroom interaction and balance between the academic and non-academic. It also promotes its Catholic identity with guidance from Ex corde Ecclesiae. According to its catalogue, “Catholicism is manifested in the College not merely as one among many religions with unique observances and beliefs, but as an approach to reality that is implicit in all aspects of the institution’s life.” The Newman Guide

quick facts Founded: 1978 Type of institution: Micro liberal arts college Setting: Rural Undergraduate enrollment: 92 (2006–07 academic year) Undergraduate cost: $20,500 (tuition, room and board for 2007–08) Undergraduate majors: Four

Five Key Points 1. Curriculum places clear emphasis on Catholic intellectual tradition. 2. Emphasizes a paideia approach to transforming students. 3. Has a unique humanities cycle taken by all students at the same time. 4. All sophomores participate in annual spring Rome semester. 5. Spiritual life is faithful but limited; there is no full-time chaplain.

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President Jeffrey Nelson, who came to the college in 2006, said, “The Faith permeates everything [here].” He noted the emphasis placed on Christian humanism in the curriculum, particularly as advanced by Saint Thomas More and John Henry Cardinal Newman. This is done through the integrated curriculum known as the Cowan Program of Liberal Arts, which was devised by Donald and Louise Cowan, both of whom had long associations with the University of Dallas. The most unusual part of the core curriculum is the humanities cycle, in which all students take the same course at the same time. Literally, freshmen through seniors are reading, writing and thinking about the same classical works. The eight-unit cycle spans the period from the ancient world to the 20th century. In the fall of 2007, the unit will be on the Renaissance and Reformation and then move to early modern philosophers and writers in the spring. By the end of their senior year, each student will have taken 48 credits in humanities, spread out over the eight semesters; that accounts for 40 percent of the total credits needed to graduate. And all will have been done so in tandem with every student in the college. According to college officials, this nonlinear approach to studying Western civilization forces students to think in more creative terms while eschewing typical cause-andeffect explanations. It also challenges younger students to mix it up academically with older ones, thereby building self-confidence. Other requirements in the core include 12 credits for writing, 12 in classical languages (Latin or Greek), 12 in science and mathematics and three in fine arts. There also is a twocourse, six-credit requirement in theology,

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“Christology and Ecclesiology” and “Sacraments.” All sophomores spend their spring semester in Rome. But despite its Catholic identity, Thomas More does not offer a theology major. It has four majors: biology, literature, philosophy and political science. Students take 24 credits of work in their discipline during the junior and senior years. All students complete a junior project and a senior thesis. The college prides itself on attracting an inquisitive, yet eclectic group of students. Students hail from all sections of the country, including from the west coast, and have a number of non-traditional, older students. The 2006–07 enrollment was 92, all undergraduates. Although that number is consistent with recent years, President Nelson has new plans for growth to about 250-300 students, “which would allow it the same spiritual and intellectual formation but round it out more.” He also believes that there should be more emphasis placed on history. According to the college, more than 60 percent of alumni pursue graduate study. A recent survey indicated that they have gone on to 26 different law schools, 68 graduate schools and one medical school. The college is fully accredited by both the regional agency, the New England Association of Schools and Colleges and the American Academy for Liberal Education. For the past 26 years, the college has been located in the town of Merrimack, which has about 27,000 residents. It is located in southern New Hampshire near the border with Massachusetts; Boston is one hour away.

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The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts

Governance The college is governed by a 14-member largely lay board, which includes retired Notre Dame law professor Charles Rice. The only religious member of the board is Edward Cardinal Egan of the Archdiocese of New York. Dr. Sampo served as the president of TMC from its founding until 2006 when he became chancellor and a political science professor there. One graduate referred to him as “the patriarch and grandfather on campus.” His successor, Mr. Nelson, had previously been a senior official with the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in Wilmington, Delaware. Another important part of the college administration has been Dr. Mary Mumbach, a co-founder of the college who serves as dean.

Public Identity According to a 2004 alumna, “Thomas More College affirms the union of faith and reason. It also upholds the understanding of the Church as Mother—generous, welcoming, unwavering in its adherence to the truth but loving in the way it offers the truth.” All faculty members are Catholic and most of its students are, but the college emphasizes that non-Catholics are welcome. Accordingly, the website notes that the institution “is dedicated to providing a Catholic education to students of all faiths.” The public identity is manifested in its choice of campus speakers. The commencement speakers from 2004 to 2006 were former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican Raymond Flynn, Heritage Foundation president Edwin Feulner, Jr., and journalist Robert Novak. All are faithful Catholics.

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The 2007 commencement speaker was novelist Ron Hansen, who has written and spoken as a Catholic apologist and is reportedly a daily communicant. At the 2007 commencement, honorary degrees were awarded to Hansen; Dr. John Lukacs, a distinguished historian; and Rt. Rev. Robert Taft, S.J., a scholar of Oriental liturgies. Lecturers have included Dr. Alice von Hildebrand, who spoke on “Purity: This Forgotten Virtue”; Dr. Peter Kreeft, whose topic was “What Thomas Aquinas Really Meant”; and Father George Rutler, speaking on “St. John Vianney and the Enlightenment.” According to one of our alumni interviewees, “Usually our speakers were rather heady but very interesting. They were great choices. Most were not expecting to be grilled so intensely by a well-informed student body.” The college also now runs the Vatican Forum, a speaker series for journalists in Rome, as an adjunct to its Rome semester. Andrea Kirk Assaf had earlier launched the forum; she joined the TMC staff in fall 2007. She is the daughter of the late Catholic conservative Russell Kirk. As another example of a growing interest in expanding its Catholic public presence, the college announced in March 2007 that it had become co-publisher of Second Spring: An International Journal of Faith and Culture. Second Spring, consistent with Thomas More College’s mission, is a Christian Humanist publication. This tool for evangelization has included among its writers Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (now Benedict XVI) when he was the Vatican’s Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Finally, in July 2007 the college announced it was setting up two funds that should help remove one impediment to vocations. The 93

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ing. “Outreach to others was lacking,” according to a recent graduate, “and I think somewhat detrimental to overall student life and for later ministry because our focus on prayer and studies was not given opportunity to flourish.” Another graduate added, “Because of the strong intellectual bent on campus, it can be easy for students to think more than pray.” She cited the need for regular retreats and the importance of having a full-time chaplain. Finding a full-time chaplain, we are told, is a priority for President Nelson. Saint John Vianney Fund for Future Priests and The Saint Mother Katherine Drexel Fund for Future Nuns will absorb student loans accumulated by its graduates who are going into a seminary or convent. President Nelson believes the institution has a “duty, as a Catholic college, to make sacrifices of our own and guarantee that no vocation is ever lost because of fear of student debt.”

Spiritual Life The spiritual life is faithful but basic. The college does not currently have a full-time chaplain. Three local priests visit the campus to celebrate daily Mass (“reverent and peaceful,” according to one alumnus) in a small chapel that is located in a multipurpose 17th-century building. There are regular confessions available before Mass and by appointment. There also is Divine Mercy devotion, nightly recitation of the Rosary and exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. There is a voluntary annual retreat. President Nelson said that although there is no formal campus ministry, “we are a Catholic ministry.” And yet, students have told us that the existing program needs strengthen-

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Students also have access to two local parishes in Merrimack. The cathedral of the Diocese of Manchester, St. Joseph Cathedral, is located 10 minutes away.

Catholicism in the Classroom Students are required to take two courses in theology, one on campus and one in a Rome semester. The on-campus theology class supports Catholic doctrine and is taught by a theology professor who has received the mandatum. The Catholic intellectual tradition is woven into other parts of the curriculum. There is the study of patristics such as Saint Thomas More as well as scholastics such as Saints Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure. Also, the writing workshops that students are required to take have included books by Josef Pieper and Pope Benedict XVI, but one graduate said that the addition of more contemporary Catholic and Christian writers such as Chesterton, C. S. Lewis and Dietrich von Hildebrand would be welcome. The Rome semester generally gets high marks. It is not considered to be a semester

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of tourism, but rather an opportunity, as one said, “to tap into this culture that is our heritage.” It also presents an opportunity to bathe in some of the great landmarks of Catholicism, for which many students are grateful. All Merrimack campus faculty members are reported to be excellent. One 1996 alumna said, “Everyone has invested themselves in their teaching, not just their reputation, ideas or careers.” One who especially comes up for high praise is Dean Mumbach. A 2000 alumna said, “Dr. Mumbach was a role model of faith, intellect and virtue for me as a young student. She inspired thought-provoking dialogue in our literature courses and has devoted her life to God by way of a vocation that only on the surface is expressed in teaching.” Yet another woman, a 2004 graduate, said, “Dr. Mumbach is rather partial to teaching about the authentic feminine and she embodies it beautifully: gracious, interested, everpatient and there with a motherly shoulder to cry on.” The faculty received a boost by the hiring of two veteran professors from Christendom College for the 2007–08 academic year. Dr. Christopher Blum was chairman of the history department and Dr. William Fahey was founding chairman of the classical and early Christian studies department. Together, they had 20 years of teaching experience at Christendom. Despite the intellectual rigor, TMC students study in a relaxed and friendly environment. There are not typical Thomas More students. Students clearly emphasize a degree of individuality as a complement to their inquiring minds. The college, according to one graduate, “doesn’t mold people in a certain way, and that is a distinction between TMC and other small schools—it authentically teaches a tradition, not a mold.” The Newman Guide

The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts

Prospective students are able to experience Thomas More College life as part of the Collegiate Summer Program for High School Students. There are two two-week sessions that cover literature, philosophy and American political heritage.

Student Activities Campus organizations are minimal. There is a St. Cecilia’s choir and a schola cantorum. There is a Theatre Guild, which performed Much Ado About Nothing in fall 2006, and a student newspaper. Students have access to the Merrimack YMCA, which is next to the college. There are no groups that are in opposition to Church teaching. The academic orientation of the campus works to discourage the formation of student groups. One interviewee said, “For TMC your job is to hit the books, and so people who have interests have to suspend them for four years; they don’t have the time. People are pro-life but don’t have time for picketing, pro-life activities or lobbying.” A winter highlight is the annual celebration of Thomas More’s birthday, February 6, with a medieval banquet. There is a Friday night speaker and film series, which is now an institution. So, too, is the annual November Mudbowl football game between the “Saints” and “Sinners.” And students enjoy the Christmas dinner dance. There is, of course, time for informal relaxation. The Student Social Council meets every week to help direct social functions. Social events include excursions to outdoor locales and to cities such as nearby Nashua and Manchester as well as Boston. All students perform service on campus, including working in the dining hall, participating in snow removal and assisting with

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security. This is all part of an effort to create a community spirit.

Residential Life This is primarily a residential campus. There are two residence halls, Kopka Hall for men and Stillman House for women. Students are not allowed into the residences for the opposite sex. Chastity is encouraged by teaching of the Theology of the Body, talks about chastity and peer monitoring. There is a curfew and students may not go off campus without permission. Drinking is not allowed on campus, but problems do occur periodically, more so in the men’s residence hall. A bigger issue, however, is off-campus drinking. Despite the discouragement from faculty, there is a longstanding tradition of drinking in the nearby woods.

The Community Merrimack is a small New England town, with easy access to the state’s two largest cities. Manchester, with a population of 110,000, is nine miles northeast of Merrimack, and Nashua, with a population of 87,000, is eight miles south of Merrimack. New England’s largest city, Boston, is about 50 miles away. Students have access to three regional hospitals, each about 10 minutes away: Elliot Hospital in Manchester and Southern Medical Center and St. Joseph Hospital in Nashua.

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Also nearby is the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, an efficient and rapidly growing airport. And, of course, Boston Logan International Airport is an option for air travelers. The winters, although harsh, provide opportunities for skiing. There also are many hiking options in the mountainous state. Crime in Merrimack is about as low as it gets in the United States. The crime index rate was a mere 15 percent of the national crime figure in 2005.

The Bottom Line The Thomas More College of Liberal Arts provides a rigorous, classical education. Alumni have told us that the college offered a liberating experience that was refreshing and sometimes surprising. There are some unique aspects of the college, including its humanities cycle that fosters a community learning experience. In its nearly 30 years of existence, the college has lived up to its founders’ desire to create a traditional paideia. Thomas More College has long emphasized its intellectual offerings and has recently strengthened its already notable Catholic identity. For students seeking to broaden their minds, this is an attractive institution. It can provide the transforming experience it was designed to be.

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