Gender in the Classroom

The College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University in recognition of the importance of both women and men about the issues related to Gender in the pursuit of a Liberal Arts education has developed the Gender and Women Studies minor.

Educating Young Men

A Philosophy Statement on Gender Education at Saint John’s University in Partnership with College of Saint Benedict.


Saint John's Is Committed to Educating Young Men
Saint John’s University enrolls only men, presently about 1,700 undergraduates, and is coordinate with the College of Saint Benedict, a women's college of about 1,900 students five miles away. Most Saint John's men, like most Saint Benedict's women, live in a residential setting.

Both colleges are dedicated to learning and creativity in the liberal arts. Our undergraduate curriculum and coordinate residential programs guide a common mission and identity. Our Benedictine history affirms an integrative view of life, neither separating intellectual from moral worth nor individual from social development.

Each college values its gender identity. Our residential programs and classroom pedagogy recognize that gender roles significantly affect how students have been trained to think and what they value in learning.

Our faculty and staff are responsive to the developmental needs of all students. As a men’s college, Saint John’s University pays explicit attention to the intellectual, personal, social and spiritual development of young men. We regard the male experience as relevant and important to both men and women, and we support the academic study of men--the diversity, subtlety, and complexity of the male experience that takes into account race, religion, origins, class, and sexual orientation. We advocate the reform of social and educational practices oppressive to women and injurious to men.

Saint John's University and the College of Saint Benedict promote a balanced view of a man's life. We honor a young man’s academic and personal achievement, while fostering a larger view of himself and his roles in society. We support his intellectual development, his physical and emotional needs, his relationship with others and his community, and his spiritual life.

In our curriculum and residential programs, we call for an examination of gender roles which may involve the unspoken and untested assumptions about the power of a male’s gender, a power that is often invisible to him. We believe that a young man’s understanding of gender roles makes a profound difference in how he knows and what he knows. His understanding of gender roles define who and what he values.

Benedictine Values Influence Saint John's Commitment to Educating Young Men
The Benedictine values of Saint John's Abbey greatly influence the educational aims of Saint John's University, just as the Benedictine values of the sisters of St. Benedict's Monastery influence the College of St. Benedict. In the Abbey, the spirit of lectio divina (meaning "holy reading" and taken in the amplified sense of reflection and perception), is closely followed by the central values of Benedictines --monastic conversatio (meaning simply "a way of life"), obedience (especially in the sense of listening), stability, hospitality, and service.

In emphasizing community, diversity, interdependence, reflection, and listening, these Benedictine values signal our departure from the prevailing and "normative" view of masculinity and manhood in American society.

Saint John’s Expects Young Men to Learn about Themselves as Men
Ideally, the Saint John’s graduate achieves not only intellectual and professional skills but also self-understanding as a young man. He values reflective learning and understands that listening is the foundation of learning about others and himself. He values personal relationships, male and female, and attends to his spiritual life. He sees himself as part of a racially and sexually diverse community of men and women. He works for justice for the disenfranchised. He continues to examine critically the fundamental, recurring questions about himself, his community, and the world.

September 1, 1998

This "Working Document" was written in the summer of 1998 by faculty Charles Thornbury, Ozzie Mayers, S. Nancy Hynes, Fr. John Klassen, Chris Freeman, Vice President for Student Development Gar Kellom, counseling and career staff Michael Ewing and John Clarkson, SJU student Brian Kelly and other members of the SJU Student Senate.