The following article appeared in the Centennial Newsletter on April 28th, 2025.
Presidential Ponderings – Centennial Newsletter
Sister Marie Louise Hubert, OP first arrived at Albertus as a French professor and taught from 1942 until 1956. In October of 1956, at the age of 31, Sister Marie Louise became the ninth president of Albertus Magnus College. During her fifteen year tenure as president, from 1956 to 1971, Sister Marie Louise saw enrollment grow from 200 students to 600. She directed the purchase of additional buildings to house the growing student population. She oversaw renovation and construction projects on campus to add space for the new academic programs that she initiated. She introduced and welcomed lay people to serve on the college’s board of trustees, which was predominantly unheard of at many Catholic institutions. She was a sister who got things done.
Sister Marie Louise also faced a number of challenging situations. The 1960s in the United States was a decade marked by significant social and political upheaval, including the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War. This period also saw cultural shifts, advancements in technology, and the assassination of prominent figures like President Kennedy. Albertus Magnus College campus mirrored the culture of the day.
In 1967, the student government challenged the administration, asking for curfews to be extended, dress codes to be relaxed, alcohol to be allowed for those who were over 21 years of age, and for greater personal freedoms. The administration of the college did not quite agree. Coming to no amicable agreement, Sister Marie Louise disbanded the Cooperative Government Association on November 7, 1967. Students protested, and 21 members of the Cooperative Government Association, who organized the protests, were suspended. This led to a “girlcott” where nearly all 650 students refused to attend classes until the 21 suspended students were reinstated. On December 12, 1967, the New Haven Register reported that students had returned to classes and had won the battle against the administration. The student government was reinstated in January of 1968. Students gained the right to wear slacks on campus, and curfew was extended for all students.
The turmoil did not end with the student protests. In 1968, Albertus Magnus College, along with Fairfield University, Sacred Heart University, and Annhurst College (now closed) was named as a defendant in Tilton v. Richardson. The four colleges had received federal education grants, and a group of Connecticut taxpayers, through the American Civil Liberties Union, sued, claiming that the grants violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments concerning the separation of church and state. Attorney Edward Bennet Williams represented the colleges and went before the U.S. Supreme Court on June 28, 1971. The Supreme Court ruled favorably on the case and affirmed that all colleges and universities, regardless of affiliation or sponsorship by a religious body, could access and receive federal aid.
Sister Marie Louise stepped down from the presidency in 1971. In her farewell address to alumna she wrote: “My “au revoir” to each of you includes my best wishes and continued prayers that God may bless you abundantly in all your endeavors, together with the fond hope that the essential spirit of Albertus will not only persist but will communicate itself to the generations of undergraduates to come.” – “From the President’s Desk”, Albertus Magnus Alumna, Spring 1971, p. 5. RG 3/C, Box 1, Folder 1.
She was awarded an honorary doctor of laws degree from Albertus in 1972. Her departure from campus however, was short lived. That same year, Sister Marie Louise returned to campus, this time as the college’s Director of Institutional Research. She also resumed her role as French professor at Albertus.
In 1973, Sister Marie Louise helped to develop “Begin Again,” one of the first programs in Connecticut for working adults who aspired to complete, or begin work toward, an academic degree. Although Albertus’ student body was all female, Sister Marie Louise had the future vision to allow the admission of men to the “Begin Again” program in 1975. It would be ten years until all programs at Albertus would become co-educational.
Sister Marie Louise retired to the Mohun Health Center, Saint Mary of the Springs in Columbus, Ohio and celebrated her 60th jubilee with the Dominican Sisters in 2002. She died in Columbus, Ohio on March 2, 2005.
Sister Marie Louise must have been a remarkable woman of faith who relied on God to accomplish amazing things at a school she dearly loved. Albertus could only become a successful environment of higher learning due to the discipline and leadership of women like Sister Marie Louise Hubert.
Contributed by:
Sr. Paula Danforth