DISTINCTION WITHOUT PRETENSION: The Little School That Did

An uncensored memoir, DistinctionWithout Pretension is one man's view of the people, the events, and themerits of one of America's two-thousand independent colleges and universitiesthat share a common heritage-the roots of higher education established byreligious orders.Jim Brunnemer-student,alumnus, and longtime administrator-looks back over a nearly forty-yearassociation with the institution that was founded in 1902 as Indiana CentralUniversity, was commonly known as Indiana Central College from 1921 until 1976,and ultimately became the modern University of Indianapolis in 1986.Former academic dean CarlStockton calls the book "a love story ... a collection of memories, recalledhonestly and skillfully with a smile, sometimes erupting in irrepressiblelaughter."It is a candid story ofpeople-founders, faculty and staff, students, and loyal alumni and friends, aswell as detractors. In the telling of their follies, successes, mishaps, andtriumphs, the soul of an institution emerges. Gene Lausch,a 1960 graduate, calls it "a story of triumph over adversity, of service toothers, remarkable dedication by able persons, and of achievement withoutarrogance."In sharing a window of time atthe university as viewed through his personal prism, Brunnemeroffers a picture of collegiate life that may be appreciated by anyone who hasexperienced higher education in the second half of the twentieth century.