To the Editor: 

 Re: “Hellenic College-Holy Cross Expectations (Gone Awry)” by Dan Georgakas (Jun. 23).   

I was Registrar and Director of Admissions from 1968-71 at Hellenic College (HC). I left a position at Northeastern University to go there. Other lay people left their college positions to go there, professors and administrators; I believe we were brought there just to get it accredited.  

After three years and accreditation, the laypeople were let go; a hardship. The clergy and some of the student body staged a “faux” strike. 

I never saw a serious attempt to turn HC into a viable institution – it was known at that time to only a few. We started to assemble a small student body. It appeared to be a good choice with 52 acres of land. Many Boston colleges would have loved having that type of facility, land wise. 

I believe the clergy there wanted to keep it a “private” club.  

Ironically, the Boston Celtics trained there. We brought them!  

We had a basketball team that gained a little notoriety. I got one of the players in Sports Illustrated “Faces in the Crowd.” People were starting to hear about the college.  

Anyway, there was no strong desire to develop HC. I anticipated a loss of accreditation a long time ago. I believe an opportunity was lost. 

A lot of small established colleges are phasing out due to today’s costs. It is time to move on. The concept of a Hellenic college is long gone. That situation pretty much ended my college administration experience, unfortunately. 

The seminary must survive as we need priests! If they keep the seminary, they have to teach the clergy how to speak better Greek. 

 William Pappas 

Weymouth Heights, MA