William Seavey Joyce SJ (September 3, 1913 – May 19, 1988) was an American Catholic priest and Jesuit who was the president of Boston College from 1968 to 1972.

Born in Boston, Massachusetts, he entered the Society of Jesus in 1931 and later received a doctorate in economics from Harvard University.

Boston College students, faculty, and alumni widely viewed Joyce's presidency unfavorably, and he resigned in 1971.

This conference led to the creation of the Boston Citizens Seminars, which met multiple times per year and discussed urban development, taxation, zoning, and municipal construction.

[6] In 1953, the leadership of Boston College began a long-running discussion about whether to change the name of the institution to reflect its status as a university.

[8] Joyce was involved in the creation of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council in 1963 and was appointed by Massachusetts Governor Endicott Peabody as its first president, holding this position until at least 1967.

[14] On May 15, 1968, Joyce was appointed by the Jesuit Superior General, Pedro Arrupe, to succeed Michael P. Walsh as the president of Boston College.

Meanwhile, the board of trustees, a group of 10 Jesuits, retained control over the selection of the university's president and the right to amend its statutes.

[16] Jesuit influence over academic and campus policies decreased, and Joyce appointed laymen to senior positions.

[20] In 1969, Joyce decided not to grant tenure to Mary Daly, a theology professor, terminating her employment at the school.

[24] Another controversy occurred when Joyce replaced the dean of the College of Arts & Sciences with someone more receptive to student protests without the prior input of the faculty.

[25] On June 1, 1970, the UAS voted to disband Boston College's Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program.

[26] In October, Joyce notified the commander of ROTC that the university was disbanding the program and requested that it leave campus by June 1, 1971.

[29] The student newspaper, The Heights, published interviews slanted in support of controversial interviewees, including pro-contraception activist Bill Baird and the founder of the Yippies, Paul Krassner.

[32] On August 25, 1970, construction began on 43 modular, duplex apartment buildings, which became known as "the Mods", on the site of the filled-in Lawrence Basin reservoir.

[35] A report about the status of Boston College submitted in 1971 to its board of directors concluded that Joyce's presidency coincided with a period of unprecedented turmoil but that the alumni, faculty, administration, and Jesuits almost universally disapproved of Joyce's handling of problems and criticized the lack of student discipline, the university's finances, and the decline of the school's Catholic and Jesuit identity.

[36] On January 1, 1971, the board of trustees announced that Joyce would be replaced as rector of the university's Jesuit community by Francis Nicholson.

[6] He also became involved in the Cheswick Center and was a community affairs consultant to the Massachusetts Department of Commerce and the John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Company.