Epilogue
However, from interviews with alumni, experts, and college faculty, it seems clear to us that the numbers of students dropped significantly, so that by the 1970s and 1980s, the number of Jewish students on campus was miniscule. We believe there are several reasons why that could be: as anti-Semitism in the United States fell following WWII, Jewish students had a wide plethora of educational opportunities to choose from, and thus, a Catholic institution became less appealing. The ethnic makeup of the Smith Hill neighborhood also changed (see our map), meaning that PC was no longer a "neigborhood" school for Jewish students, who had moved to the suburbs or the East Side. The tenor of our interviews of alumni and faculty who were on campus after 1965 was also different. We heard more stories clearly alluding to a sense of feeling "different" and "less welcome" at Providence College. For example, we found a small hint of this in the student handbook language regarding non-Catholic students in 1951. We have puzzled over this seeming irony: as the Catholic Church placed more emphasis on issues of interfaith dialogue and the common heritage of the Jewish and Catholic faiths, Providence College became a place where fewer Jews were present in the everyday life and community on campus. We are continuing to try to understand this phenomenon, but one step might be recognizing the historical importance of the Jewish community in the building of Providence College. Their presence is literally inscribed on the stones of the War Memorial Grotto and the walls of Harkins Hall.
