College of Saint Teresa

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The Seal of the College of Saint Teresa

The College of Saint Teresa was a Catholic women's college in Winona, Minnesota. Previously a seminary, it became a college in 1907 and was operated by the Sisters of Saint Francis of Rochester, Minnesota until its closing in 1989.

Since its dissolution, it has been best known for its scholarship programs available to women attending other Catholic colleges and universities, as well as its connection to the Saint Teresa Leadership and Service Institute at Saint Mary's University of Minnesota, which has an undergraduate campus based at Saint Teresa's former campus in Winona.

Some cite the conversion of Saint Mary's University to a coeducational institution as the ultimate downfall of Saint Teresa.^{[citation needed]} That view, however, may overstate the importance of what was only one of many factors. Coeducation at SMU, then called Saint Mary's College, eventually ended the two schools' brother-sister relationship and harmed the social life of Saint Teresa, but that alone cannot explain the closing of the school. The College of Saint Catherine survived coeducation at its brother school, Saint Thomas, and continues to thrive. Saint Mary's College in Indiana has easily survived the arrival of coeducation at its neighbor the University of Notre Dame. The issues that brought about the closing of Saint Teresa are far more complex than the end of campus mixers.

The closing of Saint Teresa came during an era that saw a general decline in women's colleges (other than the most elite) and the closing of, or switch to coeducation at, many smaller Catholic women's colleges. Recruiting was to some degree hurt by the school's insistence on maintaining a strict code of student conduct years after such things had been abandoned at other colleges. Such rules as nightly curfews and bed checks for first-semester freshmen and a total, campus-wide ban on alcohol were not eased until the early 1980s, and then only slightly.

And in a sense the college found itself in a vortex from which it could not escape. As enrollment fell cutbacks in spending were made which, in turn, made it more difficult to attract and retain students. A major layoff of faculty and cutbacks in programs in 1980 led to a large number of student transfers and a corresponding drop in revenues. This, of course, worsened the financial situation and invited further cuts in spending. Saint Teresa might have survived with a reduced enrollment but as enrollment fell it was never able to stabilize at a consistent level.

The college was also hurt to some extent by overreliance upon its signature nursing program. Junior and senior nursing majors lived and studied in Rochester, Minnesota, fifty miles distant. As enrollment declined this left the main campus in Winona largely empty of upperclasswomen, making campus life unattractive for those who stayed in Winona.

In the 1980s a plan was developed to convert one the school's three large dormitories to a residence for older women who could have access to the college's programs in hopes of reviving Saint Teresa's financial prospects. A model unit was built and prospective residents found but the school was unable to find a bank willing to lend the necessary funds.

Before St. Mary's went coed in 1969 there were discussions between the two colleges about merger. The potential of such an arrangement is illustrated by the present relationship between the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University in Collegeville, Minnesota. Ultimately Saint Teresa broke off the discussions. While this proved in the end to be short-sighted, at the time Saint Teresa had a larger enrollment, higher admissions standards and a superior physical plant.

The two schools then went their separate ways until the mid-1980s when a new President at St. Mary's, Brother Louis DeThomasis, took an interest in helping Saint Teresa pull through its crisis. Joint programs were established to help expand Saint Teresa's offerings but it was too little too late. At the very end, when closing the college seemed inevitable, DeThomasis proposed a full merger of the two colleges but was vetoed by his Board of Trustees. It was generally assumed that the trustees concluded that the serious financial problems of Saint Teresa were too great a burden, or at least too risky, for Saint Mary's to handle.