This week marks two important occasions that call us to reflect on our Jesuit, Catholic identity and our commitment to social justice. Today, the U.S. Supreme Court holds its first hearing on the suspension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. This Saturday, we mark the 30^th anniversary of the murder of six Jesuits and their companions at the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) in El Salvador.

30^th Anniversary of the UCA Martyrs

Representatives of our community - Lisa Kloppenberg (Interim Provost), Ray Plaza (Director of the Office for Diversity and Inclusion), Paul Schutz (Assistant Professor of Religious Studies) and Kathleen Schneider (Senior Assistant Dean, College of Arts and Sciences) - are in El Salvador this week to commemorate the 30^th anniversary of the deaths of six Jesuits, their housekeeper and their housekeeper’s fifteen-year old daughter at the hands of members of the Salvadoran military. Because of their advocacy for those harmed by the Salvadoran civil war and their attempt to seek peace and reconciliation, they paid the ultimate price.

The witness of their lives to faith, justice and reconciliation is an integral part of Santa Clara University in several ways:

• Ignacio Ellacuría, SJ, one of the murdered Jesuits and the rector of the UCA, delivered Santa Clara’s 1982 Commencement Address on the responsibility of Catholic universities to “Do everything possible so that liberty is victorious over oppression, justice over injustice, love over hate.”
• Jesuit Superior General Peter-Hans Kolvenbach, S.J. delivered a historic address at Santa Clara in 2000 titled, “The Service of Faith and the Promotion of Justice”, in which he reiterated Ellacuría’s call to Jesuit universities “to take conscious responsibility for being such a force for faith and justice.”
• Generations of SCU students, faculty and staff have taken part in immersion trips to El Salvador over the last 30 years to learn first-hand the reality of injustice from those experiencing it. Our visionary Casa de la Solidaridad study abroad program deeply impacted the lives of hundreds of students from Santa Clara and other universities. Today, it continues to educate UCA students about living the values of solidarity, faith, and Catholic social teaching.

In front of our historic Mission Santa Clara de Asís church stand eight white crosses, reminding us of the faith, sacrifice and witness of the eight UCA martyrs. By commemorating this tragic event, our community refuses to allow the continuing injustices and violence in El Salvador and neighboring countries to go forgotten, and re-commits to being a “force for faith and justice” in the new contexts of today.

U. S. Supreme Court Hearing Regarding DACA

One of those contexts that calls our attention today is the Supreme Court hearing on the termination of the DACA program.

As a Jesuit, Catholic institution of higher education, Santa Clara University reiterates its strong support for continuing legal protections for the young adults currently covered by the program, many of whom are exceptional members of our campus community and other universities across the country. Likewise, we express our solidarity and concern for members of our community who are undocumented and without DACA status. They are unjustly left in uncertainty. You can learn more about Santa Clara University’s support for students who are undocumented or from mixed-status families here.

Our responses to the UCA martyrs’ commemoration and DACA Supreme Court hearing this week are united by our living tradition and commitment to justice and reconciliation. Together as a campus community, we can honor the UCA martyrs by advocating for justice through our learning, teaching, research, service, worship, and community life. In a world of increasing division and rancor, we can also commit ourselves to being sources of reconciliation in our daily life and caring for the most vulnerable among us.