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Convocation Address, 2014

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CONVOCATION ADDRESS
Mission Church, SCU
16 September 2014

Welcome

Thank you very much for the introduction, Dennis. I am pleased to see so many of you here and welcome you to the start of a new academic year. Special greetings to all of our new faculty and staff members, a number of whom I have had the privilege of meeting last week.

Let me take a few moments to introduce by name several new members of our Santa Clara campus community and to welcome our distinguished guests:

  • Mike Hindery, new Vice President for Finance and Administration, comes to us from UCSF. He is a Santa Clara alumnus, class of 1976, and is excited to return to campus. He is hard at work on many fronts.
  • We also welcome Bob Owen, our new Vice Provost for Technology and Information Services. He, too, is already actively engaged.
  • Not a newcomer to us after seventeen years on staff, but let us recognize Lulu Santana as the new director of Campus Ministry.
  • Terri Peretti has graciously agreed to serve as Acting Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, and I thank her for stepping in to assist in this leadership role.
  • As you know, Atom Yee, Dean of the College, is seriously ill and under medical treatment. Atom is watching the live-streamed video being filmed of this Convocation, so I invite you to face our cameras, and send him a message of prayers and support through our applause.
UCA Delegation and the 25th Anniversary of the UCA murders

We are honored to welcome the President and senior Administration of the University of Central America, San Salvador - the UCA. One year ago they hosted me and my Cabinet during our immersion trip to El Salvador. I am pleased that they have accepted our invitation to visit our campus so we may broaden our collaboration in teaching, research, and service. These administrators arrived early this morning, and began their meetings at 9:00 a.m. From here they will explore Silicon Valley sites, such as Google and Stanford, and then see USF.

The leader of the delegation is Father Andreu Oliva, S.J., the President, known in Spanish as the "Rector."

  • Omar Serrano, Vicerrector de Proyección Social
  • Lidia Salamanca, Vicerrectora Académica
  • Juan Carlos Colocho, Vicerrector Financiero
  • Carlos Rivas, Vicerrector Académico Adjunto
  • Silvia Azucena de Fernández, Secretaria General
  • Amparo Marroquín, Directora de Postgrados
  • Erick Burgos, Jefe Departamento de Mecánica Estructural
  • Karla Martell, Jefa Departamento de Ciencias Jurídicas
  • Marielos Torres, Jefa Oficina de Cooperación Internacional

At least since 1982, when the then-president of UCA, Fr Ignacio Ellacuria, received an honorary doctorate from Santa Clara, our university has been inspired by the UCA. Members of today's delegation now hold positions that Fr. Ellacuria and his companions once held. Our visitors are the successors of those whose lives are commemorated by the white crosses outside this Mission Church. We pass those crosses every day. They stand as mute yet steady witnesses that we who aspire to educate creators of a more just world must also cultivate in our students courage and a sense of commitment. While we hope that our students will never suffer the violence that so many endured in El Salvador, we remain inspired by their witness to justice.

Padre Andreu, distinguidos visitantes, bienvenidos a nuestra universidad. In a spirit of solidarity, we are honored to welcome you to our campus.

These colleagues remind us that this year marks the 25th anniversary of the killing of the 6 Jesuits and 2 female workers at the UCA. We are sending a delegation to El Salvador for the commemoration in November, and I thank the faculty and staff who have volunteered to represent Santa Clara with me. The deadline for submitting nominations for the delegation is coming up, shortly thereafter, I shall extend invitations.

We shall also commemorate the 25th anniversary of the killings through a series of events and liturgies that the Ignatian Center is coordinating. As part of these memorials, Santa Clara has published the memoir of the principal witness of the massacre 25 years ago. Lucia Cerna, in conjunction with SCU alumna Mary Jo Ignoffo, has recorded her eyewitness testimony of the massacre in La Verdad: A Witness to the Salvadoran Martyrs. Copies of this book will be available to you at the completion of our Convocation. In all these ways we honor the long and cordial relations between the UCA and Santa Clara University.

Reflections on African Travels

Other relationships with our alumni stretch around the world. This summer, I had the privilege to spend two weeks in east Africa. The trip provided a powerful set of experiences. I was representing our Jesuit School of Theology at the ordinations of its graduates in Kenya and in Madagascar and recruiting students. In Kenya, my host was Fidelis Udahemuka, a graduate of both JST and the MBA program in our Leavey School of Business. He also brought me up to date on the plans to found a Jesuit university in Kenya. Fidelis praised Don Dodson for his visits as a consultant for the development of this projected university.

During my week in Nairobi, Fidelis toured me around the city. We visited Jesuit sponsored projects that included the Jesuit Refugee Service for the thousands displaced from the warfare in South Sudan; the HIV/Aids support centre; Hekima College for the study of theology; an elementary school for children with disabilities; and the amazing parish of St. Joseph the Worker in the immense slum of Kangemi. We joined the parish for the opening of a maternity center, dispensary, and medical clinic for women. Hundreds of impoverished single mothers have found a welcoming home in the parish, and they turned out in force to celebrate their collective achievement. We spoke with the women as we shared a meal together. Finally, Fidelis and I attended the almost four-hour ordination ceremony in the parish church where the joyful singing and dancing made the time fly by unnoticed.

From Kangemi we also visited Kibera, reputedly the largest slum in Africa. One of its residents, Valarie, was our guide and shared her stories of life amid one million people in this section of Nairobi that has no paved roads or even street signs. People shared the paths with chickens, goats, pigs, ducks, and emaciated dogs that roamed freely through the open sewers and scattered garbage. A smoky haze hung over the area from the wood burning stoves in thousands of homes.

Standing on a ridge in the slum, we viewed a vast section of Kibera that stretched off into the distance. The enormous expanse of corrugated-tin roofs over mud-plastered homes gave new meaning to the term we use of living on the "margins of society." I was staggered by the deprivation, the noise, the heat, the numbers of barefoot children, and the aromas of this crowded, jostling urban sprawl. Obviously dazed and rooted to where I stood on the ridge, Valarie and Fidelis gave me time to absorb this encounter with Kibera.

As these experiences washed over me, I asked myself, what does this encounter mean to me? What claim do these fellow human beings have on me and on my heart? Does what I am doing with my life matter in the greater scheme of our world when people exist in such grinding circumstances? The questions reverberated within when I continued on to Madagascar, that enormous island now 90% deforested by people seeking fuel for their wood-burning stoves. What claim do these fellow human beings have on me and on my heart?

Returning to this beautiful campus, I am stirred with a deeper sense of the importance of what we do as people dedicated to higher education. I feel a greater urgency about our training leaders to create a more just, humane, and sustainable world. The problems and challenges are enormous, both overseas and in our country. We are the privileged ones who educate, support, and challenge our students to grapple with the great issues of the world. I am more deeply convinced than ever that we possess a mission of enormous significance to our world, a mission vital to the future of humanity.

Let me turn now to where we are at this time as a university community. Given the difficulties we experienced in the last academic year, let me begin by addressing health care and shared governance. Next, I shall recognize significant achievements on campus, and then speak of the next steps in planning for the future.

Where We Are as an Academic Community

Over the past year, I have been inspired by the deep commitments that you have expressed about being part of Santa Clara University- a dedication to this shared vocation of Jesuit higher education. The affection within this community runs deep; the commitment to our common enterprise rests on strong organic networks of friendships, loyalties, and a shared history of collaboration. We all belong, and we all care.

In the heightened discourse over the past year, we confronted a series of questions.

  • How does a modern Jesuit university balance faithfulness to its Catholic heritage while also respecting the diverse beliefs of its pluralistic faculty, staff, and students?
  • How do we maintain balance, fairness, and inclusion, without settling on the lowest common denominator of agreement of generic principles?
  • How do all faculty and staff enrich and enliven the Jesuit Catholic character of Santa Clara?
  • Finally, what do we mean to one another: Jesuits and lay, Catholics and other believers, straight and gay, female and male. What do we mean to one another?

These questions remain alive, and I look forward to opportunities to listen to your reflections. The questions invite discussion on the mission of the university as a Jesuit and correspondingly Catholic institution. As educators, staff, and administrators, we share in the mission of Santa Clara, and we do so alongside students, trustees, alumni, the Society of Jesus, and friends of the University. We all contribute, we all enliven the University in its complexity and in its ambitions to be an ever-more effective force for good in this world that so needs us.

We live our Santa Clara mission as we practice a deep respect for the views of others, engage in candid dialogue, express our personal beliefs respectfully, listen carefully to the beliefs of others, and remain engaged in conversation with one another. Such respect is consistent with a Jesuit heritage of listening and learning.

To rebuild trust on campus and to strengthen our shared governance system, the University Coordinating Committee and I planned and held a day-long retreat on the 31st of May. At that gathering we openly articulated the struggles of the preceding nine months and looked for ways to restore confidence in our shared governance system. We spoke candidly, freely, and respectfully. We agreed on seventeen points for moving forward, to which we committed ourselves. Much progress has been made since.

  • In two weeks, the University Coordinating Committee will run a Fall Orientation for faculty and staff serving on the University Policy Committees to share and thus clarify the principles of, the process, and the agenda for shared governance.
  • Now that we have returned to campus, I have initiated conversations with the chair of the University Coordinating Committee about appropriate support for shared government. I am committed to filling a half-time staff position to help support our shared governance operation. With this person, we shall be able to coordinate with the University Policy Committees the creation and dissemination of timely communications throughout the governance process. This matter will be discussed with the University Coordinating Committee.
  • We have already secured and distributed all of the end-of-year reports from the University Policy Committees.
  • At the May 31st retreat we reaffirmed the 1994 Shared Governance document and the 2012 Enhancements.
  • Since the May 31st retreat, the California Department of Managed Health Care has reversed its prior approval of specific language regarding limitations and exclusions of certain abortion services in health plans. Santa Clara University has consistently structured its healthcare plans to ensure full compliance with federal and state laws and regulations, and it will continue to do so, as it always has. Apart from the law, providing quality, affordable health-care plans for our faculty, staff, and your families is a longstanding institutional commitment. We shall continue to do so.

This year, in addition to improving our practice of shared governance, we seek ways to deepen our lived Jesuit mission. I would encourage all of us to engage in both formal and informal discussions about the mission we share. Such conversations should be widely engaging and reflect the broad participation that we all share in the mission of the University.

One avenue for such dialogue is through programs sponsored by the Bannan Institute of the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education. Examples of this year's Bannan Institute offerings include:

  • "Already but Not Yet: Diversity, Inclusion, and the Call to Justice in Jesuit, Catholic Education;"
  • "Engaging Differences: Diversity and Divisions within our SCU Community: An Intergroup Dialogue Series;" and
  • "Interreligious Dialogue and Leadership: Building Relationships as Persons."

The Ignatian Center is making many opportunities available to everyone for substantive exploration and discussion. I strongly encourage your active participation. My thanks to Theresa Ladrigan-Whelpley for organizing another year of outstanding events in the Bannan Institute, and to the Executive Director, Mick McCarthy, S.J., for the dynamic growth of the Ignatian Center.

In a different venue, Michael Zampelli is hosting a year-long series of "Santa Clara Conversations" with faculty and staff. The Jesuit Community is opening this "conversational space" to explore what it means to be colleagues in the University community. This dialogue is a creative example of gathering for discussions about matters of great importance in our shared enterprise that means so much to us.

Again, I would encourage others to initiate similar conversations for the exchange of ideas about our common mission. We all have roles in the mission of the university, and we should all consider ways to discuss the significance of our participation.

Recent Accomplishments

Amid our challenges last year, it would be unfortunate if we lost sight of significant achievements we accomplished.

Our regional accreditor, WASC, has responded very positively to the University's interim report that detailed what the institution has done in four key areas: (1) promoting a community of inclusive excellence; (2) integrating the Jesuit School of Theology into the life of SCU; (3) refining and expanding assessment and program review; and (4) enhancing shared governance and communication. WASC noted that there was "significant evidence of progress in each of the areas, even as the institution was grappling with a significant campus event." The panel also commented that the report was "well-organized, thoughtfully balanced between description and analysis, amply supported by appropriate evidence, and characterized by a forthright and candid perspective." I would like to thank all those across the campus who contributed to the interim report, and give special credit to Diane Jonte-Pace and Ed Ryan who coordinated and compiled the report. As a result of Santa Clara's outstanding progress, WASC has scheduled our next Offsite Review for spring 2020 and will conduct an Accreditation Visit in spring 2021.

No Smoking/Tobacco-Free policy for campus. Over three years, Craig Stephens has led the effort through our shared governance process to create a healthier environment by banning tobacco and tobacco-products. I wish to note the active involvement of the students in the Public Health program who assisted with the research and advocacy of this policy. Also, I want to cite this as an example of a grassroots initiative that involved widespread consultation through the shared governance process. The next step is a public education campaign to prepare the way for full implementation of the policy in July 2015. Let us salute Craig Stephens and his dedicated team.

Thanks to the generosity of the Jesuit Community, $500,000 has been placed in an endowment to support a new Center for Arts and Humanities. The Dean of the College has convened a seven-member faculty group for planning the programs of the Center. The first cycle of events will feature a "salon" of multidisciplinary presentations on a theme yet to be determined. From gifts and donations I have received, and with the support of the Dean's office, up to $75,000 will be available annually for the first years of the Center's operation. Arts and Humanities are essential.

As these gifts suggest, not only is the national economy recovering, but our University Relations team has achieved remarkable results. In his first year as vice president of University Relations, Jim Lyons has reported $50 million in cash, pledges, and estate planning gifts. Major donations have come from Victor and Julia Botto Vari's estate planning, trustee Mary Stevens with $7.7 million to support athletic facilities and scholarships, and a series of sizable benefactions for the new Edward M. Dowd Art and Art History building. Undergraduate alumni giving also rose in dollars received to $11.6M and demonstrated again that every gift counts, no matter the size.

I should note that our endowment continues to recover from those calamitous times in 2008 and 2009. John Kerrigan and Tony Nguyen have provided outstanding care for our investments that support so many scholarships, endowed chairs, and operating costs. Thank you, John and Tony.

The Child Care Task Force has completed it work, having been ably led by Carol Ann Gittens, Associate Dean in College of Arts and Sciences. The report is based on wide consultation and I am grateful to all who participated in this task force. Mike Hindery will be reviewing the report.

You may have noted the New York Times story this past week about elite colleges that support and graduate students in greatest need. I congratulate Mike Sexton, Rich Toomey, and the staff in the Financial Aid office for growing our percentage of Pell Grant eligible students from 8% of the student body to 12%. I should note that over 75% of these students graduated from Santa Clara in four years. The University provides over $58 million in various forms of financial aid each year, and need-based aid remains a continuing challenge. We are making progress in this area so central to the mission of the University.

There are many other achievements worthy of note. Let me conclude with mention of an honor that has come to Santa Clara. As representative of our University, in under two weeks I shall be in Rome, as one of a handful of presidents of American Jesuit universities invited to a meeting by the Vatican's Congregation for Catholic Education. The president of Loyola University Chicago, Michael Garanzini, S.J., is coordinating this gathering to help Vatican officials better understand what we do in the United States and why. There is much that we take for granted in this country like religious diversity with which Roman officials are unfamiliar. With new leadership in Rome, there is more willingness to listen and to learn why we proceed as we do in universities like Santa Clara. It is a testimony to all of you that Santa Clara is so respected.

Planning for the Future

The University has further refined its integrated strategic plan as it prepares for Santa Clara's next comprehensive fundraising campaign. I want to take this opportunity to thank well over one hundred faculty and staff who have engaged in identifying and defining dozens of critical components needed to realize the strategic goals and objectives expressed in Santa Clara 2020. The descriptions of these critical components will provide much of the framework and rationale for the University's fundraising efforts over the next six-seven years.

The comprehensive fundraising campaign will invite friends and benefactors of Santa Clara University to:

  • endow scholarships to help undergraduate and graduate students afford a Santa Clara education,
  • endow professorships to help us recruit and retain stellar faculty,
  • endow centers and programs that advance our strategic priorities, and
  • fund the construction of new facilities and the renovation of existing buildings to foster transformative teaching, learning and scholarship.

I am grateful to those who have helped shape a bold vision for Santa Clara University, and I thank all of you who are working tirelessly to build a brighter future for generations to come.

Concluding Reflection

In her account in La Verdad, Lucia Cerna explained why she spoke her truth about the assassinations at the UCA. As you will read in La Verdad, numerous officials in El Salvador and in the United States had attempted to force her to deny what she had witnessed. She was isolated, interrogated, and terrorized for days on end. And still she told the story of the murders she had seen committed by the Salvadoran military. When questioned about her reason for persisting in the face of such intimidation, Lucia stated that telling the truth was the right thing to do. The truth. La Verdad.

Permit me to draw a parallel to Santa Clara. Working in higher education for justice and positive change in the world is the right thing to do. Recommitting ourselves to respecting one another to heal wounds is the right thing to do. Sharing opposing viewpoints while attempting to hear those who differ from us is the right thing to do. Discussing our personal roles in the mission of the university is the right thing to do. Allowing the needs of others, particularly those most marginalized, to have a claim on our hearts is the right thing to do.

And finally, after seeing the slums of Kengami and Kibera, working with all of you to transform our world through our students is definitely the right thing to do.

Thank you, and best wishes for the new academic year.

Michael E. Engh, S.J.
President