Playing Sacred Heart Wed. night at the Rock, I wonder how many Seton Hall people know and appreciate that the Hall was and is the model for the Fairfield, CT college founded in the early 1960's?
Like Seton Hall it is one of the very few Catholic universities established and operated by a diocese. Its founder, Walter W. Curtis, past Bishop of Bridgeport, was a 1939 Hall grad. Its initials, also SHU, is no coincidence.
It started in a large Catholic High School located in Bridgeport, and when it opted to add dormitories about twenty years ago, it really took off: attracting many more applicants from the Northeast. Locally, considering the [then] demise of the University of Bridgeport, it is considered real success story, yet like the Hall its gains have created problems. As it expands and attempts to buy land In its residential neighborhood, it faces push-backs from many of the locals. It took over much of the commercial campus of the recently and contentiously departed General Electric headquarters in Fairfield. Great for the Sacred Heart brand (!), but a huge blow to Fairfield's tax base.
Like Seton Hall it is one of the very few Catholic universities established and operated by a diocese. Its founder, Walter W. Curtis, past Bishop of Bridgeport, was a 1939 Hall grad. Its initials, also SHU, is no coincidence.
It started in a large Catholic High School located in Bridgeport, and when it opted to add dormitories about twenty years ago, it really took off: attracting many more applicants from the Northeast. Locally, considering the [then] demise of the University of Bridgeport, it is considered real success story, yet like the Hall its gains have created problems. As it expands and attempts to buy land In its residential neighborhood, it faces push-backs from many of the locals. It took over much of the commercial campus of the recently and contentiously departed General Electric headquarters in Fairfield. Great for the Sacred Heart brand (!), but a huge blow to Fairfield's tax base.
