Santa Clara University

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Jan 25, 2005 – Following a plea from SCU president Paul Locatelli, S.J., the SCU community rallied in support of the victims of the devastating tsunami, and raised more than $133,000.

            A small portion of those funds ($1,250) was donated by students in the residential learning communities, Alpha and da Vinci. The students donated the funds for the privilege of shaving a checkboard pattern into one professor’s beard and dying another professor’s hair pink! The money will be donated to Catholic Relief Services, Jesuit Refugee Services, and the Jesuit Provincial of Sri Lanka. The charitable groups were chosen because they pledge to use 100 percent of the funds for relief work.

            The relief effort was kicked off by Fr. Locatelli with a $10,000 contribution from the president’s discretionary fund. During the first week of contributions, more than $50,000 was raised, including the $9,960 collection from the Jan. 9 Mission Church mass.

            Contributions from faculty and staff, students, board of trustees, regents, alumni and friends of SCU came through Campus Ministry. Other donations were sent to a fund set up by the Development Office. Additionally, the Jesuits contribute $20,000.

            The tsunami relief effort ran from Jan. 3-14, with a final tally of $133, 649.

About Santa Clara University

Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its 8,047 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering, plus master’s and law degrees. Distinguished nationally by the second -highest graduation rate among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. More information is online at www.scu.edu

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