Saint Peter's College, New Jersey

Saint Peter's College is a private, coeducational Roman Catholic college in the United States. Located in Jersey City, New Jersey, it was founded in 1872 by the Society of Jesus. Today, Saint Peter's College is one of 28 member institutions of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. Saint Peter's College offers over 33 majors to more than 3,200 undergraduate and 500 graduate students. Its college mascot is the Peacock (the women's sports teams are called the Peahens), and its sports teams play in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

The school is located on a 15 acre (61,000 m²) campus 2 mi (3 km) west of New York City. Evening and weekend classes are offered in Jersey City, Englewood Cliffs, and South Amboy.

History

The college was chartered in 1872 and enrolled its first students in 1878 at Warren Street, in Jersey City, on the present site of the St. Peter's Preparatory High School. In September 1918, the college was closed, along with several other Jesuit colleges and high schools, because of declining enrollment in the face of World War I. Although the war ended only two months after its closing, and despite clamoring from alumni, it took until 1930 to re-open the college. The college was temporarily located on Newark Avenue, before moving in 1936 to its current location on Hudson (now Kennedy) Boulevard, between Montgomery Street and Glenwood Avenue.

Civil rights have had a long tradition at the college. It was first desegregated in 1936, when the college admitted its first black student. The college granted an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree to Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1965, and the next year it became coeducational.

The college has made an effort to reach out into the New Jersey suburbs, with a satellite campus at Englewood Cliffs opened in 1975 and an extension at South Amboy's McCarrick High School opened in 2003.

Recent years have seen much construction for the college. In 1975, the college constructed the Yanitelli Recreational Life Center, a sports complex. Beginning with the 1983 acquisition of its first residence hall, the college has converted four apartment buildings to dormitory use, and constructed two brand new dormitories. Gannon Hall, the science building and one of the first structures on campus, underwent an $8.2 million renovation, bringing it up to state-of-the-art standards. In 2004, the long-awaited pedestrian bridge over Kennedy Boulevard linked the East Campus and the West Campus. As of 2006, the college is embarking on a $50 million capital campaign, designed to raise funds for a new student center.

Athletics

The college fields 17 athletic teams. The men's teams are known as the Peacocks, and the women's teams are the Peahens; Saint Peter's is the only NCAA Division I institution with this mascot. Owing to the school's urban location, the football team plays its games at Caven Point Stadium, and the baseball, softball and soccer teams play at Joseph J. Jaroschak Field, in Lincoln Park. All other teams play at the The Victor R. Yanitelli, S.J. Recreational Life Center, located on campus.

Basketball has long been the most popular sport at the college. Under legendary coach Don Kennedy, the men's team defeated Duke University in the 1968 NIT Tournament quarterfinals. In recent years the basketball program has seen a resurgence, owing much to the success of Keydren "Kee-Kee" Clark '05. In 2004 and 2005, Clark led the nation in points scored per game, becoming just the eighth player to repeat as NCAA Division I scoring champion. On March 4, 2006, Clark became only the seventh NCAA player to score more than 3,000 points in his career; on the next day, he passed Hersey Hawkins to become the sixth-leading scorer of all time. At the time of his final game on March 6, 2006, Clark held the NCAA all-time record for 3-point shots, with 435. A second fourth-year student and a forward on the basketball team, George Jefferson, died on June 21, 2005, due to a previously undiagnosed heart condition.

Peacock mascot

As mentioned above, Saint Peter's College is the only NCAA Division I institution whose mascot is the peacock. This choice was made for several reasons. Primarily, the land on which Saint Peter's now stands was once owned by a man named Michael Pauw, whose last name means "peacock" in Dutch. Second, a section of Jersey City (albeit not encompassing Saint Peter's) is named Pavonia, in reference to the Latinized form of Pauw's nameJersey City Past and Present: Pavonia, accessed July 6, 2006.

In pagan and Christian mythology, the peacock is considered to be a symbol of rebirth, much like the phoenix. For Saint Peter's, it is a reference to the closing and reopening of the college in the early 20th century.

At one point in the 1960s, live peacocks roamed the campus. Many institutions within the college derive their name from the peacock:

The school newspaper is titled the Pauw Wow.
The literary magazine is titled the Pavo.
The dramatic society calls itself Argus Eyes, in reference to Argus "Panoptes", who, according to Greek mythology, had his 100 eyes preserved by Hera in the tail of the peacock.
One of the major dining facilities is named the Pavonia Room.

Succession of Presidents

Number	Name	Date of ascension
1	Victor Beaudevin, S. J.	April 3, 1872
2	John McQuaid, S. J.	July 31, 1874
3	Peter Cassidy, S. J.	July 1, 1888
4	John Harpes, S. J.	October 22, 1891
5	Joseph Zwinge, S. J.	August 26, 1900
6	John W. Fox, S. J.	July 14, 1902
7	Edward J. McGrath, S. J.	January 21, 1907
8	Joseph A. Mulry, S. J.	October 10, 1911
9	James F. McDermott, S. J.	April 15, 1915
10	Thomas F. Graham, S. J.	July 7, 1921
11	Joseph P. O'Reilly, S. J.	September 30, 1925
12	Joseph S. Dinneen, S. J.	August 15, 1931
13	Denis J. Comey, S. J.	June 21, 1937
14	Vincent J. Hart, S. J.	August 15, 1943
15	James J. Shanahan, S. J.	December 3, 1949
16	Edward F. Clark, S. J.	June 16, 1960
17	Leo P. McLaughlin, S. J.	June 13, 1965
18	Victor R. Yanitelli, S. J.	September 8, 1965
19	L. Edward Glynn, S. J.	July 1, 1978
20	Daniel A. Degnan, S. J.	July 1, 1990
21	James N. Loughran, S. J.	July 1, 1995

Notable alumni

Name
Lawrence R. Codey	New Jersey businessman and brother of former New Jersey acting governor Richard Codey.
Joseph V. Doria, Jr.	Mayor of Bayonne, New Jersey.
Will Durant	philosopher and author. He and his wife co-authored the 11-volume history known as The Story of Civilization.
Michael Garda	Scientist. Responsible for major advancements in the field of Geo-thermal energy usage. Lesser known inventions include the particle accelerator and the flux capacitor.
Thomas P. Mac Mahon	President & CEO, LabCorp, Inc.
William J. Marino	President & CEO, Horizon Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Jersey.
Senator Robert Menendez	formerly the third-highest ranking member of the Democratic House leadership in the 109th United States Congress. Since January 2006, Menendez has filled the U.S. Senate vacated by Jon Corzine to become Governor of New Jersey.
Joseph Patrick Tumulty	Chief of Staff to Woodrow Wilson.

References

External links

Sea-grant universities | Universities and colleges in New Jersey | Jersey City, New Jersey | Roman Catholic universities and colleges in the United States | Jesuit universities and colleges in the United States | Wikipedians by alma mater: Saint Peter's College, New Jersey