The story
Canisius has its roots in the Jesuit community that arose from disputed ownership of St. Louis Church in Buffalo in 1851. Rev. Lucas Caveng, a German Jesuit, along with 19 families from St. Louis Church, founded St. Michael's Church on Washington Street.
Canisius College along with Canisius High School were both founded in 1870, primarily for serving sons of German immigrants. Both were originally located at 434 Ellicott Street, next to St. Michael's Church. In 1913 construction of the Old Main building at 2001 Main Street was completed.
In 2015, Canisius College was one of more than 90 colleges investigated by the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights for its handling of sexual assault and harassment complaints. In 2021, three former female student athletes filed a federal lawsuit in the Western District of New York alleging a hostile environment and that the college "failed to take appropriate action in response to these reports and complaints of sexual harassment, abuse and sexual assault". On June 27, 2022, a judge allowed the lawsuit launched by former Canisius athletes’ to proceed, describing the college’s delayed response to sexual assault allegations as "inexplicable."
Layoffs
In July 2020, President John Hurley and the board of trustees laid off 96 employees, including 25 faculty positions, most of them tenured. Several majors were eliminated, including Classics, Entrepreneurship, European studies, Fine Arts, Human Services, International Business, Physics, Religious Studies and Urban Studies. In response, the college's faculty senate issued votes of no confidence in the president and board of trustees. In June 2021, the college was sanctioned by the American Association of University Professors "for infringement of governance standards".
Several affected tenured faculty members sued the college for violation of contract. The lawsuit was resulted in a summary judgement in favor of Canisius in 2023, and an appeal by the faculty plaintiffs was dismissed in 2024, effectively ending case and allowing the dismissal of tenured faculty without a declaration of financial exigiency. The move attracted criticism from academic organizations, including the American Historical Association and the Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies.
It officially changed its name to Canisius University on August 1, 2023.
Presidents
The early presidents of the college were German Jesuits. The first lay leader president of the college was John Hurley in 2010.
John Hurley (2010–2022).
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Steve Stoute (2022–present)
From Wikipedia’s article on Canisius University, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5