READING, Pa. — Students at Alvernia and Marian universities could have opportunities to spend time on each other’s campuses under a proposed deal that the Catholic schools announced Monday, amid a challenging time for higher education.

Marian University has been part of its Wisconsin community for 90 years. If the deal goes through, it would become an Alvernia campus.

“We are an economic driver of this Fond du Lac community, and for us to go away, that’d be a huge void,” said Marian University President Aaron Sadoff.

The deal would transfer the sponsorship of Marian University from the Congregation of Sisters of St. Agnes to the Bernardine Franciscan Sisters, who founded Alvernia as a college for the sisters in 1958. Alvernia later became a four-year liberal arts school.

Marian was founded by the Sisters of St. Agnes in 1936.

As Alvernia and Marian begin the formal process of bringing their universities together, they are committed to honoring Marian’s heritage and identity while exploring how shared resources, expertise and mission can strengthen both universities for the future.

“Every college is in the same storm. We are [latching] our boats together so that we can be stronger throughout it,” said Alvernia University President Glynis Fitzgerald.

What would that look like in Wisconsin?

“We will still be Marian. We’ll become the Marian campus of Alvernia University, but we’ll be blue and white,” Sadoff said. “We’re the Sabres.”

In Reading, classes and tuition will stay the same while the deal is reviewed. But what could students gain down the road?

“We’re looking forward to having students from both Marian and Alvernia working together on some of our alternative break programs, where they can make an even bigger impact in their communities,” Fitzgerald said.

Asked whether staff should expect any changes right away, Fitzgerald said, “Nothing at all. Nothing on either side.”

Both presidents told 69 News this is just the beginning of a process that could take about two years.

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