On 19 September 1960 - the very first day of classes at Laurentian University - the Sudbury Star editorialized about what it called "the greatest experiment ever undertaken in Canadian higher education." Given the new university's bilingual and tri-cultural mandate, and religious complexities, the Star predicted there would inevitably be tensions and setbacks but that with cooperation, goodwill, and understanding, there would also be major accomplishments. This study, by five Laurentian members of faculty - four historians and one sociologist - explores the many ways in which this prognostication proved accurate, on both scores, over the next half-century.