A New Era for Red Foxes? Considering a Change to Marist University
Captured on April 24, the Marist College Stone Carving welcomes visitors at the Main South Entrance of campus. Photo by Matthew Devine '24
As the academic year comes to a close, the Marist College Office of Institutional Research and Planning sent out the 2024 Student Evaluation of Marist Services Survey to students.
This year’s survey included a new question regarding the future of the College — students were asked to rate how they would feel if Marist College became Marist University on a numerical scale.
Some students feel that the campus culture at Marist would benefit from an increased enrollment assumed to accompany the switch, bringing a revitalized atmosphere to the school.
“I think that campus culture here can be cliquey and weird at times, so having a larger student body would allow for more diversity,” said Grace Elmer ‘26. “I think it would be a really good thing for Marist.”
In January 2022, the New York State Board of Regents amended legislation adjusting the criteria for higher educational institutions that wish to become universities. Since 1969, as per the Commissioner’s Regulations, a university is defined as a “higher educational institution offering a range of registered undergraduate and graduate curricula in the liberal arts and sciences, degrees in two or more professional fields and doctoral programs in at least three academic fields.”
Iona University, which used to be Iona College, quickly made the switch in July 2022.
The new definition waives the requirement for doctoral programs and degrees in two or more professional fields. It also requires “graduate programs registered in at least three of the following discipline areas: agriculture, biological sciences, business, education, engineering, fine arts, health professions, humanities, physical sciences and social sciences.”
While media studies and production student Christina Georgiou ‘24 acknowledges that a shift from a college to a university could be a positive change through the implementation of additional programs and greater accessibility to international students, she also expressed concerns that current issues at Marist could be further overlooked.
“There are still so many issues going on in the media department specifically that need to be fixed,” she said. “I feel like before they proceed with making Marist a university, they need to tackle the problems at hand.”
For Evan McMullen ‘24, who grew up in a college town — approximately a 10-minute drive from Penn State University — that experience negatively shaped his perception of universities, which he feels have an atmosphere contrary to the Marist campus.
“If Marist were to become a university, the size of the Marist community would [likely] grow tremendously. Class sizes would become bigger, student relationships with professors may weaken and a sense of a small close-knit community may be lost,” said McMullen.
In recent years, the housing selection process has become an obstacle for students across Marist struggling to obtain housing with high demand and limited space available, another potential issue that could arise.
“Although I had a decent time getting housing this year, I knew some friends who had to live off-campus because there wasn’t enough housing,” said Carter McDavitt ‘26. “Because of this, I have worries about Marist becoming a university. As Marist continues to grow, and they don’t accordingly build more housing, things could get pretty sticky.”
Hannah Gnibus ‘24, who is graduating in May, has spent much of her semester applying to graduate schools offering Master of Fine Arts programs throughout the country; Marist currently does not offer such a program.
“If Marist offered a graduate program in fine arts, I think I would definitely consider it,” said Gnibus. “I have enjoyed my time studying studio art as an undergrad; however, I think there needs to be an expansion for the art department regarding materials and space before a graduate program is offered in this field at Marist.”
Gnibus recognized that if Marist became a university, it would drastically change the dynamic of the college, with a greater emphasis on graduate programs potentially raising questions about the institution’s commitment to undergraduate programs.
Several institutions have already rebranded themselves from a college to a university. According to Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities President Lola Brabham, it gives schools the opportunity to attract students they may not have been able to attract before.
A primary reason to make the switch is the different connotations around the two terms. Outside of the United States, ‘college’ and ‘university’ are not synonyms. College often means an educational level before university. For Marist, a school that values an international community, both to attract foreign students and send current students abroad, the nomenclature of ‘university’ may increase its name recognition around the world.
Daryl Richard ‘97, Vice President of Communications and Marketing, shared that his office has been conducting much market research into Marist’s brand and whether it would be beneficial or not for the college to reposition itself as a university.
“There are many elements to consider for a name change, and as such, we continue to gather feedback and evaluate community sentiment, including asking our students, faculty, staff, alumni, prospective students and parents, high school counselors and our board for their thoughts in a variety of ways,” said Richard.