Thrilling Book Chronicles 13-Year Journey of Cultural Bridge-Building in Higher Education
SALEM, MA / ACCESS Newswire / January 7, 2026 / In an era when American universities face mounting criticism for ideological divides and cultural conflicts, this memoir offers an unexpectedly hopeful account of overcoming deep-seated prejudice through sustained human connection.
University Follies: Jewish Roots in a Jesuit University chronicles Paul Warren’s thirteen-year tenure as Dean of the School of Education at the University of San Francisco from 1989 to 2001. But this isn’t just another academic tell-all. It’s a profoundly personal account of a man confronting ghosts he’d carried since childhood prejudices formed during the McCarthy era, when the Catholic Church’s support of Senator Joseph McCarthy inflicted real pain on his liberal theatre family in Greenwich Village.
“I arrived at USF carrying invisible baggage I didn’t fully recognize, “Warren reflects. “Through close working relationships with members of the Jesuit community, something unexpected happened: the ghosts of Catholic prejudice thawed. At its heart, my story is about finding common ground in unexpected places, and discovering that our capacity for growth often exceeds our capacity for bias.”
Warren meticulously documented more than 600 anecdotes during his deanship, creating a real-time chronicle that the California Bookwatch praises for “containing more than hindsight writing.” The result is a memoir with unusual immediacy and authenticity, capturing not just events but the emotions and human dimensions that official university histories typically gloss over.
The situations Warren navigated ranged from absurd to profound: staff members decorating a Christmas tree with condoms, requiring delicate navigation of competing values; a pig barbecue for Multicultural Services Day that ended with fire trucks and chaos when someone forgot the fire department permit; and faculty parking disputes that derailed important program initiatives. Through it all, Warren used the metaphor of Sisyphus pushing a boulder uphill, only to watch it roll back down.
Yet amid the “Follies,” transformation occurred. One particularly moving moment came during the inauguration mass for Father President Steve Privett, SJ, when Warren, “a child brought up in a home that questioned the existence of God”, found himself swept up in the mystery and humanity of the Catholic Mass as priests processed down the aisle carrying portraits of six Jesuit martyrs slain in El Salvador.
The memoir arrives at a moment when universities are grappling with questions about free speech, cultural sensitivity, and ideological diversity. Recent surveys show declining public trust in higher education, with critics across the political spectrum questioning whether campuses can bridge deep cultural divides. Warren’s story offers evidence that sustained human contact, openness, and a willingness to examine one’s own biases can lead to genuine transformation even when progress is slow and setbacks are frequent.
Warren’s path to USF wasn’t straightforward. A Princeton graduate (Class of 1960), he taught in Hell’s Kitchen schools serving predominantly Black and Puerto Rican students, earned a PhD from NYU, worked in Brooklyn’s Ocean Hill-Brownsville District, and spent years as professor and dean at Boston University under controversial president John Silber. After differences with Silber signaled it was time to leave, the USF opportunity emerged, taking him from everything familiar into uncharted territory.
When Warren retired and returned to Boston after thirteen years, he carried the university provost’s farewell words: “You have done irremediable good for the School and the University.” But Warren was convinced of something more personal and perhaps more profound: his belief in the university as both a human institution and an academic one had been validated.
The Midwest Book Review calls University Follies “highly recommended,” noting that “readers interested in accounts of educational labor/management battles, dueling principles, the Jesuit ambience of the university Warren worked for, and the follies which emerged from the intersection of student, teacher and management concerns will find University Follies more than entertaining while it educates on challenges particular to university leadership.”
With its combination of humor, honesty, and hard-won wisdom, University Follies: Jewish Roots in a Jesuit University offers a masterclass in navigating cultural differences and overcoming deep-seated biases. Whether readers are connected to Jesuit education, fascinated by university life, interested in Jewish-Catholic relations, or love memoirs that combine wry humor with profound insight, Warren’s honest storytelling resonates across boundaries.
University Follies: Jewish Roots in a Jesuit University is available now in eBook and Paperback, on Amazon, Google Books, Book Baby, Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, and several other major digital platforms
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Paul Warren is a Princeton University graduate (Class of 1960) who dedicated forty years to education, serving in various roles, from classroom teacher to university dean. After earning his PhD from New York University, he worked in urban education, served as professor and Dean of the School of Education at Boston University, and spent thirteen years as Dean at the University of San Francisco. He currently resides in Belmont, Vermont, where he completed his first memoir, University Follies.
Media Contact:
– Name: Paul Warren
– Email: ak9382691@gmail.com
SOURCE: Paul Warren
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