Maggie Jones ’25, PharmD wanted something for graduating legacy University of the Sciences students at St. Joe’s that many of them wanted too: a diploma from USciences, not St. Joe’s.
The two universities officially merged on June 1, 2022, a decision Jones said surprised, saddened and angered many former USciences students when it was first announced. For those set to graduate this year, it has been particularly tough to learn they will not graduate with a USciences diploma, said Jones, who spent months talking to students, professors and administrators, trying to get that decision reversed, or find a loophole.
“Everyone thought you could have a choice basically, if you wanted USciences on [your diploma] or if you wanted SJU on it because that was the first round of thought,” Jones said. “When that did not come to fruition, it was even more of a blow because you love your alma mater.”
For a few months last year, students did have a choice.
St. Joe’s Registrar Deanna Daly confirmed that St. Joe’s was able to award USciences diplomas while UScience’s accreditation was valid, which was through Dec. 31, 2022.
“The first time we awarded degrees as a combined institution was on August 31, and at that time, the accreditation for USciences was still valid within the grace period,” Daly said. “We were able to issue those USciences diplomas. The next conferral date after the summer is January 15, so those diplomas were all issued as Saint Joseph’s University.
St. Joe’s awards degrees three times a year, in May, August and January.
Peter Norberg, Ph.D., professor of English and associate provost for academic and faculty support, said a university’s accreditation — St. Joe’s is accredited through the Middle States Commission on Higher Education — is connected to the legitimacy of its diplomas, which carry the official seal of the accredited institution. That seal must be on record with the National Student Clearinghouse, a service provider that issues degree verification.
“Even if we were to try and find a way to give a diploma from USciences, it would be a meaningless piece of paper because it wouldn’t be associated, given the date, with an existing institution,” Norberg said. “Even at a very basic legal level, that would put Saint Joseph’s in jeopardy because now the registrar issued you a diploma that’s essentially fraudulent.”
Daly said St. Joe’s has pre-made approved templates for its diplomas.
“The only thing that changes on the diploma when we order them for students is the name, the degree and the date. Everything else stays the same,” Daly said. “We can’t have different diplomas out there. The only other thing that you will see on the diploma will be the signatures.”
Jones, who attended Moravian University as an undergraduate and served on its Board of Trustees, said she understands it is a “no-no” in higher education to have more than one diploma.
“Regardless of what school you’re from, the overarching body that’s giving [your diploma] to you is really the only name that should be on it, meaning SJU,” Jones said. “So, in order for me to move forward with my petition, I would basically have to fight against state regulation, federal regulation, and even before I got to those steps, you would have to question SJU’s doctrine of what they use and why they use this.”
Jones said a lot of the frustration around this issue comes from the loss of the institution she and others chose to attend, and the merger with a religious institution they did not.
“They’re grieving that they signed up for one thing and then they are ending up with something completely different,” Jones said.
Chief among those differences is the fact that St. Joe’s is a Jesuit, Catholic institution, Jones said, and the diploma reflects that.
“USciences was home to many people because it was rooted in science, something that we could all converge on in fact, not fiction, but it was also home to diverse students who don’t practice Catholicism,” Jones said.
St. Joe’s official seal depicts four symbols: stripes, which signify the seven sons of the House of Loyola; wolves over a kettle to show the generosity of the Loyola family; a lily, which is commonly used to represent St. Joseph; and IHS, an abbreviation of the Greek name for Jesus Christ.
It’s the religious symbolism in this seal that led Siham Saih ’23, DrOT, to try to push university officials to issue her a diploma without it. Saih said her Muslim faith prevents her from displaying a cross or anything related to Christianity or other religions.
“I don’t have any problem with the Saint Joseph’s name on my diploma, but the seal has Catholic images,” Saih said. “I wish to hang my diploma on the wall, but because it has a Catholic seal, I cannot do that unless I cover the seal.”
Saih said she understands that the diploma is not valid without a seal, but she was hoping there could be an alternative seal for non-Catholic students. She said she was upset that, even after being told no, the university did not indicate it would ever consider a change to accommodate students who practice other faiths.
“I was told you can graduate without having a paper diploma, which was really upsetting for me,” Saih said. “I wasn’t happy with that answer because I have been working for the last six years, very hard, putting in so much effort, so much money, to get this diploma.”
Norberg said although St. Joe’s is a Jesuit Catholic institution that prides itself “on being supportive and open to the world’s religions,” he understands the concerns of students like Saih. But, legally, the university’s hands are tied.
“Part of what’s kept me within the Catholic faith tradition is the Jesuits, because they’re so open and on the edge of trying to welcome or engage with other cultures, other religions,” Norberg said. “So, this student’s concerns are understandable, but we’re up against the same ethical and legal dilemma. If we were to issue a diploma that didn’t carry the official seal, it would be an illegitimate diploma, and we basically would be handing you an empty paper document.”
At the end of the day, Jones said it is not worth the battle because the battle is bigger than just St. Joe’s.
“It would be a battle I would not win during my time here,” Jones said. “When you start to get into state accreditation and whatnot, you don’t want to mess with that because the last thing a school wants is to not be accredited. I worked on this for a couple of months to look into the right things and talk to the right people, but it just didn’t pan out. Even just to change the wording, you have to propose that you’re changing the entire diploma, so that’s the main issue.” Saih said she wished there were more students working on this issue and making their voices heard.
“I know right now it’s too late to do any changes, but hopefully in the future they will work on it,” Saih said. “I know there are other students who are not happy with the situation, but they’re not voicing their opinion and not going out to talk about it. They just want to deal with it, graduate and leave.”