Big shake-up at New Orleans area Catholic college

Holy Cross College disposes of president, 19-member board

Published: Tuesday, August 16, 2011, 10:25 PM

By John Pope, The Times-Picayune NOLA.com With no warning and no explanation, the president of Our Lady of Holy Cross College and all 19 members of its policy-making board have been dismissed.

Times-Picayune archiveThe Rev. Anthony DeConciliis, who became president of Our Lady of Holy Cross College shortly before Hurricane Katrina hit, has been removed from his post. DeConciliis nearly tripled the college's endowment during his tenure, raising it from slightly less than $9 million to about $23 million.

Notification came Monday via email from Sister Suellen Tennyson, local leader of the order of Marianite nuns that owns the Algiers college, board members said.
The Rev. Anthony DeConciliis, who had been installed as the college's president the Friday before Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
Myles Seghers, the college's coordinator of graduate education, has been named interim president.
In Tennyson's statement announcing Seghers' appointment, Tennyson did not indicate why DeConciliis and the board were removed. She said only that the nuns wanted to form a new board.
"Please join us in prayer for the students, faculty, staff and administration as they begin the 2011 fall semester on Aug. 27," her statement concluded.
Tennyson and Seghers did not return calls seeking comment.

The local leader of the order of Marianite nuns that owns the Algiers college, which was founded in 1916, gave no reason for cleaning house at the West Bank institution, saying only that the nuns preferred to name a new board.

Ron Blitch, a trustee since 2005, said he was baffled by the upheaval at what is generally a tranquil campus.
"I thought the college was in excellent shape and heading in the right direction under solid leadership," he said.
"I'm certainly sorry that this has happened," said board member Michael Rapier, who had served three years of a nine-year term.
He said he was given no reason to believe his position might be in jeopardy.
"The reasoning of the order is not clear," Rapier said. "I'm sorry that the service to the college was not acceptable to the Marianites, and my thoughts and prayers are with the students."
The college was founded in 1916 as a teaching school in the 9th Ward by the nuns of the Marianites of Holy Cross. It became a four-year college in 1938, and it acquired its present name in 1960, when it moved to Algiers to occupy a 16-acre tract that the Ernest B. Norman family gave the nuns.
Because the college is on the West Bank, it sustained the least Katrina-related damage -- about $3 million -- of any local institute of higher education.
Since the storm, enrollment has ranged from just less than 1,200 to slightly more than 1,300. Last fall, the school had 1,260 students.
During those years, Rapier said, DeConciliis nearly tripled the college's endowment, raising it from slightly less than $9 million to about $23 million, and it has no debt.
In the same email in which she announced Seghers' appointment, Tennyson named Patricia Prechter, longtime director of the college's nursing program, as interim provost.
Prechter did not replace anyone because there had been no provost, college spokeswoman Julianne Nice said.

>>>This Catholic college is located in the Algiers community of New Orleans, on what we call the Westbank.  This is home territory for me; having been raised in Algiers.  I have very fond memories of this college and the community activities the Marianites hosted here.