Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 146, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 June 1913 — FATHER A. SEIFERT RESIGNS AS RECTOR [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FATHER A. SEIFERT RESIGNS AS RECTOR

Head of St. Joseph’s College Since It Was Founded to Be Succeeded by Father Hugo. father Augustin Seifert, head of St. Joseph’s College since it was founded in IS®l, has tendered his resignation as rector and will be succeeded by Father Hugo Lear and an executive council of priests. Heretofore the president has had supreme power and upon Father Seifert has devolved the financial management of the growing institution as well as all matters pertaining to the courses of study, the discipline, etc., have been worked out by him. Of couse, the faculty has counseled with him in this work but he had supreme control. How well he has

accomplished the task is told by the great college he has built up, the magnificent buildings that have been erected, the excellent community of priests and brothers, the splendidly kept farm, the excellently disciplined student body, the progressive pursuit qf education along modern lines of thought, the large number of graduates who have proven the substantiality of the foundation given them during their years of study at St. Joseph’s college. Started twenty-two years ago as a small school, St. Joseph’s college has grown as very few colleges have ever grown. The erection of the magnificent chapel was the crowning labor of his long service and its dedication brought here many prominent Catholics who did not realize until their arrival that St. Joseph’s college had attained so great proportions. Everything has been bulit for the future, the build* ings being equipped with everything that is modern in colleges. An estimate of the building improvements and their furniture at the college is placed at three-quarter of a million dollars and this may be insufficient to cover their cost. All this has been accomplished under the direction of Father Seifert, who has worked with a diligence possible only through his devotion. Naturally he has broken considerably from the task and it is for this reason that he desires to relinquish the presidency and to give over the task of management to new hands. Probably there never was a college president more retiring in disposition and yet more positive in his control. His service was performed right on the grounds, where he spent twenty years without any rest. Last year he took a trip abroad and enjoyed it very much, but it did not restore his broken health and this year he found the task so tiring that he determined to relinquish it

He will be succeeded by Father Hugo Lear, as president; Father Nicholas Greive, vice-president and prefect of the religious students; Father Justin Henkel, economist; Father Theodore Saurer will be retained as prefecty of the secular students and will have three assistants, one priest and two brothers; Father Arnold Wayman and Father Plus Kanney, as secretaries and Father Ignatius Wagner, as prefect of studies. While the change in the head of the school had been rumored for two or three days it was not publicly known until announced by Father Seifert himself at the dose of the commencement Wednesday morning. Father Seifert is one of the consultors of the Community of the Precious Blood, and as such will continue. He has not decided where be located and may decide to accept an offer made to him from Rome to become chaplain of the sister house in Austria but it Is more probable that he will remain in America, he being a native of the United States. Prior to starting his Work here he had for some time been the rector of the seminary at Carthagenja, Ohio. The new rector. Father Hugo Lear, is a graduate of the college and seminary at Oarthagenia, while the majority of the faculty are grad-

uates of St. Joseph college and also of the seminary. The new head to the institution will proceed along the most progressive lines, laboring toward the building up of a very large college here and this year will spend about $75,000 in building improvements, Involved in these improvements will be a feat of mechanical engineering never undertaken In Jasper county and probably very few times in Indiana. The plan has been approved by a Chicago engineer and will doubtless be carried out. lit is to raise the gymnasium building twelve feet and construct a first floor underneath. The building is a massive brick structure and to persona not versed in engineering the task of jacking it up twelve feet would look quite out of the question. This will put the gymnasium on an upstairs floor, while beneath will be placed bowling alleys and other gymnasium equipment which could not be installed heretofore because basketball utilized about the entire auditorium. In the rear of the gymnasium will be erected a fine new science hall and beneath it a natatorium or swimming pool. The improvement will probably cost $75,000. The tuition will be raised some the coming year, but this is not expected to reduce the attendance, and, in fact, the normal growth Is expected. Within another year or so other expensive buildings will be erected and the college so ably conducted for the past twenty-two years is certain to become one of the great institutions of learning In the Catholic church, a monument to his enterprise, his resourcefulness, his intellect and devotion.