View From Above: Fr. Earle Markey, S.J., '49

Principal: 1971-76

Also: former trustee, prefect of discipline, faculty member

In the eyes of many Prep graduates, news of Fr. Earle Markey,. S.J., ‘49’s return to the campus as prefect of discipline and then principal was the natural progression of a Jesuit career that began as a signature student-athlete just over two decades earlier. But his route back to his alma mater coincided with the school confronting one of the more challenging periods in its history.

In 1970, seven years following his ordination, Fr. Markey had recently completed a teaching assignment in Manila and was beginning theology classes in Berkeley, California, as part of a Ph.D. program in Comparative Religions. Then came the call from the Provincial of the New York Province: Fr. Markey would be joining the Prep administration.

“My reaction to that call was one of fear,” he noted with a laugh. “In a very short period of time I was going from teaching college religion in the Philippines to running a high school. That was quite an abrupt change.”

Immediately upon his return to Grand & Warren, he became acutely aware of the difficult atmosphere facing Jesuit high schools such as Saint Peter’s Prep. “In the early 1970s, Prep was no longer the only college preparatory school in the area, and that was a challenge,” he explained, mentioning such relative newcomers as Bergen Catholic, Hudson Catholic, Marist, Paramus Catholic, Don Bosco Prep and the two St. Joseph’s (Montvale and Metuchen). “Enrollment was dropping, and the broader New York metropolitan area was suffering economically, as was the country at large.”

The Vietnam War and Watergate were playing a role in creating this sense of instability...and Prep was feeling the pain. Affected by these same outside forces, St. Benedict’s Prep in Newark closed in 1972 (with Prep picking up some of their students as transfers, which temporarily provided an enrollment boost), and that same year, Brooklyn’s Jesuit high school, Brooklyn Prep, also closed its doors.

“We were adapting...the mission had changed a little,” Fr. Markey explained. “There were fewer students from Bayonne, partly due to increased competition but also because of a reduced bus schedule to parts of Jersey City. The academic profile suffered a little bit, but we made a few adjustments to ensure that the guys who came to Prep continued to receive a competitive college preparatory program.”

He made particular mention of a special program put in place by English teacher Hank Rodgers, aimed at assisting the students whose reading skills needed a boost. As he put it, “That class was a great success, and the boys who took it benefited greatly. It definitely helped us stay on an even keel.”

He also mentioned the great support provided by the Jesuit scholastics who were on the faculty at that time: “Young guys like Jim Joyce and John Mullin were tremendous assets both in and out of the classroom. They were a crucial link to their students, maintaining that special spirit of what it means to be a Jesuit college preparatory school. They and others were an important counterpoint to the negative pressures the school was facing.”

(Following ordination, Fr. Joyce would return to Prep as its president in 1990, and Fr. Mullin would expand his reach beyond the science classroom, to this day serving as one of the school’s most admired guidance counselors, especially noted for his formative role in assisting freshmen with their transition to high school.)

Concurrent with the increased academic competition from newer high schools in northern and central New Jersey was competition for athletic talent, providing new options for accomplished young athletes when choosing their high schools. “Prep no longer had the monopoly on those very bright athletes, and the talent was being dispersed more than ever,” Fr. Markey explained.

In addition to the emergence of the newer schools, particularly in the suburbs, which offered new on-campus facilities for academics, the arts, science and athletics, Prep’s neighborhood was suffering the same decline as was occurring across the Hudson River in New York City. “We held our own during those difficult days, but the money just wasn’t there to make dramatic improvements,” Fr. Markey noted. “Budgets were extremely tight across the board.”

Finally, there was a growing spirit of non-conformity among young people throughout the country. As he explained, “Not only our sports teams, but activities like the band were seeing decreased participation. Many of the kids at that time just weren’t inclined to be engaged in cocurricular activities. They were more likely to create their own small off-campus music groups.

“As prefect and then as principal, I had to adjust to the times. This was not the same social or cultural climate as the Prep of my own student years in the late 1940s. All of the Jesuit schools had to adapt, especially in areas such as the dress code and hair styles. The key goal was to be as flexible as possible, while also maintaining a sense of discipline, academic and otherwise. These challenges were new to all of us and we had to work through them.”

Despite these outside forces that were affecting Prep in the early ‘70s, the school maintained a relatively high overall level of academic achievement, and college acceptances remained impressive. And while the downtown neighborhood was decades away from its incredible transformation into “the Gold Coast,” many of the graduates from that era now stand in the ranks of the school’s most supportive alumni.

Also, the ongoing maturity of the Higher Achievement Program (HAP)--started in the early ‘60s by two Jesuits--helped open Prep’s doors to an increasingly diverse pool of talented prospective students.

Looking back, these challenging years during Fr. Markey’s tenure underscore the mosaic of experiences that when taken together help define (and, in some cases, explain) Prep’s unique stature as it celebrates the conclusion of its 15th decade...and prepares for the next 15.