A Tale of Two Newmans

The expanding controversy over President Simon Newman’s words and actions at Mount St. Mary’s University in Maryland provides an opportunity to reflect on how much has changed since a previous Newman, Cardinal John Henry Newman, authored his still widely read The Idea of a University (1853). Cardinal Newman was writing at a time when the German ideal of research was transforming universities on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Simon Newman became president of his university at a time when higher education institutions are being asked to redefine themselves to produce employable graduates.