More Problems surface in Tea House Drama

By Sam Scavuzzo
Collegian Editor
January 23, 2008

When Bro. Joseph Kennan first installed the Japanese Tea Ceremony House at La Salle in the late 1980s, he saw it as a perfect blend of Japanese culture and Catholicism. Students who took courses on the ceremony learned that tea ceremony was akin to recieving the Eucharist.

However, Morgan Beard never saw the former tea house as a church. As the former tea ceremony teaching liaison at one of La Salle campus’ cultural landmarks, Beard viewed it differently.

“I’ve heard tea rooms compared to a church, but that’s not really accurate; it may be blessed, but it’s not sacred space. Tea ceremony isn’t worship, it’s a communal experience,” Beard said.

After an initial inquiry by the university in February, Beard received a few e-mails discussing the possibility of a move; she warned the school that it would be pricey. Then she heard nothing. These questions were similar to several posed in 2002. After Beard submitted a report on the matter, questions ceased.

“So we just kept on doing tea, although, of course we were aware that the issue might come up again,” Beard said. She hoped the inquiries of 2007 were over.

This past August, while preparing for classes in the upcoming semester, Beard’s communal experience with La Salle ended as the tea house was dismantled by physical facilities.

“I’ve given a lot of thought to what kind of analogy to use, and I think the best one is a home,” Beard said, who started

studying at the house in 1994 and began fielding more administrative responsibilities in 1999. 

“Going into that tea house was like coming home from work one day and finding that someone had taken away all my belongings and torn the walls out of my house,” she said. “It’s that kind of shock and loss.” 

Six months later a vacant building sits in place of Beard’s old home away from home.

So what led Beard to think the program she was entrusted with would continue? Like many situations, in this modern time, it all started with an e-mail. 

In February 2007, Brother John McGoldrick, secretary for University President Brother Michael McGinniss, e-mailed the contact to the tea house, Dr. Bernhardt Blumenthal, Chair of the Department of Foreign Languages & Literatures, with some questions regarding the tea house from McGinniss.   The questions from McGoldrick’s Feb. 15 e-mail appear as follows:  

“How many classes are offered? How frequently do they meet? Who ‘runs’ the tea ceremony course for La Salle students/who advertises it, etc. [I had not mentioned Mr. Beard in my original e-mail; is he the one who does this?].” 

Beard, a woman, received the e-mail from Blumenthal and replied the same day that the tea house offers La Salle students weekly non-credit courses on Wednesday and frequently runs demonstrations to other classes. In addition, Beard says, classes are given to members of the public on Saturdays. She listed Mariko Nishi LaFleu, Taeko Shervin and herself as the teachers, operators and promoters for the house. 

May 2007 brought another series of questions. This time they were posed by Associate Dean, School of Arts and Sciences Dr. Margaret M. McManus – again through Blumenthal.  

Many questions similar to McGoldrick’s were asked by McManus. In her May 29 e-mail, she hinted at the idea of moving the tea house for the first time. 

“As the university looks at its facilities, the possibility of moving the location of the tea ceremony is being considered,” McManus wrote. She then inquired on whether a blessing was needed if the house was “decommissioned.” 

Again, Beard answered the university’s questions. She responded to the new questions by noting that a new location would be very pricey and would require certain amenities. 

“The new location would need a separate kitchen with (at a bare minimum) a refrigerator and running water, space that could be renovated to accommodate washing and storage of everyday equipment, and a lot of electrical outlets,” Beard wrote. 

She expressed concern about losing space and the difficulties that would be incurred to build a new ceremony house. 

“When the original tea house was built, the carpenters had to be flown in from Japan. Tens of thousands of dollars is not an unrealistic estimate,” Bead said to the university.  

Blumenthal also expressed similar sentiments that a new location regarding the price would be a “very expensive proposition.” 

A later low estimate by a specialized carpenter in New Jersey to restore the Tea Ceremony House to its original condition was for $100,000. 

As the summer moved along, Beard was not informed of any developments at the house. That was until she received an e-mail forwarded to her by Blumenthal. The original was sent by McManus Aug. 20.  

“Earlier this summer, [Dean of the School of Arts and Science Thomas Keagy] and I had talked with you about the possibility that the Japanese Tea Ceremony would be moved from the Tea House to another facility. Dave Hebert of Physical Facilities department has informed us that this will happen and that the Ceremony will be moved to the Art Annex,” McManus wrote.  

Beard was not directly contacted by the university. She attempted to contact Hebert both by phone and e-mail; she never reached him.  

Two days later, Beard entered the tea house under the impression that she would begin disassembling the ceremony house.  This was not the case. 

“I discovered that the tea room and kitchen area – which was also installed in traditional Japanese style – had been torn apart…we just had no information to go on,” Beard said. 

Throughout dealings with the teahouse Nigro, director of university communications Joseph Donovan and other officials have described the event in certain terms. 

“The administration has been very insistent on using words like ‘disassemble’ and ‘moving’ when describing what happened to the tea room and kitchen…I tend to characterize it as ‘tearing apart’ the tea room,” Beard said.

“I don’t doubt that the university’s intention was always to move the tea room rather than to destroy it. However, to me, it’s very hard to look at what happened to that space and think of anything other than destruction.” 

In addition, many of the items that were used in lessons were the personal property of Shervin, La Fleur and Beard. At the time, they were not made aware of the items location. 

La Salle offered an alterative location at the Art Annex that was to be built constructed based upon a design crafted by Mike Menkevich – the husband of Nigro’s secretary.  

Menkevich stated that he had previously done work at the Japanese House at Fairmont Park and that La Salle found him “through the grape vine.” 

Beard was disappointed when presented with specs drawn up by Menekevich. After discussing the matter with La Fleur, Shervin and Drew Hanson, she wrote a letter to Nigro stating the new location would be insufficient.  

The Sept. 3 letter listed six main grievances, including: a space too small to house enough students for a full credit class, no running water on the first floor and doubts on Menekevich’s qualifications to draw up plans. 

This is when the negotiations between La Salle and Urasenke New York began. A meeting took place Oct. 25 that Nigro and vice president of university advancement Brian Elderton attended along with Shervin, La Fleur and Hanson and representatives from New York. 

“The end result of the discussion was that there were two options: one, that La Salle would rebuild the tea house in its original location; two, that La Salle would not rebuild the tea house but would return the money and tea utensils donated by Urasenke for the purpose of maintaining the tea program,” Beard said. 

Recently La Salle sent a follow-up letter to Urasenke. The organization has yet to respond to the university. 

Built in 1988, the Japanese Tea Ceremony House sprung from an intellectual collaboration between Keenan — who studied tea at Urasenke — and then-president Brother Patrick Ellis. In 1999, Keenan died in an auto accident. Beard feels the stability of the house since his death was shaky. 

A major problem Beard has with the university is the communication throughout the process. 

“I wouldn’t expect university officials to understand all of the cultural nuances involved,” Beard said.  

“On the other hand, a five-minute phone call to the Foreign Language Department office would have gotten them my phone number, and I could have explained anything they wanted to know.” 

Elderton noted the communication problem, but spread the blame to both sides. 

“It was just a breakdown of communication on their end and admittedly on our end with a sense of how active it was,” Elderton said. 

The situation is currently unresolved. No plans for the former Tea Ceremony House have been announced. 

scavuzzos1@lasalle.edu