Pope Francis, Apostle of Social Justice
April 21, 2025
We woke up this morning to the sad news of the death of Pope Francis. Just yesterday, Easter Sunday, he met with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance, he appeared on the balcony above St. Peter’s Square to deliver the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” blessing, he and he even took a brief ride in the popemobile to greet worshipers in the square. He always wanted to be close to the people, and he conducted his farewell in the same way he conducted his papacy – with the people, a symbol of hope and perseverance, setting aside his personal comfort to be present to all.
From the moment he was elected pope, choosing the unconventional but highly symbolic name Francis, this pope was determined to be a force for change not only in the Catholic Church but throughout the world. He was a champion for environmental justice with his groundbreaking encyclical Laudato Si spelling out the obligations inherent in the social justice mandate to care for God’s creation. He expressed solidarity with the poor and marginalized persons of the earth, and was particularly a champion for migrants who are so deeply oppressed by too many governments, including the current U.S. government. He expressed openness and welcome to gay and lesbian people, a posture that provoked great opposition but he did not budge. He appointed more women to senior Vatican positions than any other pope. He had his critics, not only on the right but also those on the left who felt he did not go far enough to affirm women’s place in the Church. Advocates for justice for those abused by clergy also felt he missed many opportunities to acknowledge the grievous official sins of the Church and to strengthen safeguards.
The death of Pope Francis marks the end of a significantly progressive period for the Church. The conclave that will gather in a few weeks to select the next pope will face many pressures to continue in his direction or to reverse course. With authoritarianism on the rise throughout the world, and with many governments adopting highly oppressive policies toward persons on the margins, we pray that the cardinals in the conclave will have the wisdom and strength to choose a new leader who can continue in the Francis tradition, upholding the Church’s teachings on social justice, expressing solidarity with the poor and marginalized of this earth, confronting oppressive governments, protecting the environment and lifting up the central moral principle of defending human life and dignity in all of its glorious diversity around the globe.
Rest in Peace, Pope Francis.
What are your thoughts about Pope Francis? Send me an email to president@trinitydc.edu I will publish your statements on my blog — either signed or anonymous, let me know your preference.
Continue reading →Read comments (0) Add CommentSeeking Resurrection
April 19, 2025
Easter signifies the triumph of Christ’s Resurrection over suffering and evil, an observance that should be full of joy and hope. But, alas, Easter 2025 dawns amid grave concerns — what Pope Francis called “the dark moments of our existence” seem to abound. More deaths in wanton mass shootings; government agents snatching students from the street with no due process; looming economic crises; wars abroad that are destroying Ukraine and Gaza shattering lives and entire societies; authoritarian threats to crush freedom of speech, due process, civil and human rights. Even colorful Easter eggs are in short supply in this dystopian season.
Easter 2025 comes just in time to remind all of us of the promise inherent in the Resurrection, but also, the pain and suffering endured along the way. Our faith demands that we not waste time lamenting the present, but rather, prepare for the rising that surely will come if we remain steadfast in living by our moral values rooted in the first principle of social justice which is respect for and defense of human life and dignity. We must find the strength and inspiration to confront the darkness of the political movement that is oppressing so many lives, that seems to revel in cruel and inhumane actions particularly against persons living on the margins. Those of us who have the gift of education and the power of expression should raise our voices even more in defense of those who have no voice, who are afraid and slipping back into the shadows in desperate efforts to escape persecution.
On this Easter, let us remember that Jesus willingly and knowingly confronted his persecutors, suffered grievously as a result, but ultimately triumphed. Let this Easter moment renew our hope in the future and give us the strength to get there. Let us live as people of the Resurrection!
Higher Ed Must Defend Freedom of Speech!
April 13, 2025
In the last two weeks, hundreds of international students on university campuses across the country have had their visas revoked. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, sitting next to President Trump who looked on approvingly, explained this latest assault on civil and human rights, by saying that, “If you come to this country as a student, we expect you to go to class and study and get a degree. If you come here to, like, vandalize a library, take over campus and do all kinds of crazy things, you know, we’re going to get rid of these people … when we identify lunatics like these, we take away their student visa….”
Rumeysa Ozturk, a graduate student at Tufts, was arrested in her home and taken to an ICE detention center in Louisiana. She is no “lunatic” nor did she “vandalize a library” — her offense, apparently, was co-authoring an op-ed in the student newspaper in support of Palestinian rights. According to a report in the Washington Post, an internal memo at the State Department said there was no evidence of any link between Rumeysa and terrorism — a memo written before her arrest — but the administration proceeded against her anyway.
Badar Khan Suri, a graduate student and teaching assistant at Georgetown University, and a scholar in conflict resolution, was arrested and detained at an ICE facility in Louisiana even though there is no evidence of any criminal activity on his part. Hardly a “lunatic.”
The list goes on. Similar cases have happened all over the country, including the now-notorious case of Mahmoud Khalil who was a leader in the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University last year.
(I hasten to add that no Trinity student has experienced such an incident to date — but we are wary and constantly vigilant as the current administration ramps-up its assault on immigrants and repression of free speech.)
Exercising freedom of speech does not make someone a “lunatic” worthy of detention, arrest, confinement in a detention center, deportation or worse. Freedom of speech is a human right, not just for American citizens but for ALL people. Freedom of speech permits people to express opinions in opposition to public officials and policies. Allowing the speech does not mean agreement, it means respect for human rights.
The Trump Administration’s wholesale assault on freedom of speech and human rights demands a vigorous and loud response from all of higher education. To our shame and sorrow, however, too many universities and their leaders have chosen to remain silent in the face of the most grievous assaults on our mission, our work, our students, our personnel ever in the history of this nation. The assault on freedom of speech and assembly puts our very purpose as universities at risk, and we have an obligation to mount a vigorous defense of the right of our students and faculty to speak without fear or political reprisal.
Some people have drawn parallels between this historic moment and the McCarthy Era “Red Scare” of the early 1950’s in which academics and others were hauled before Joe McCarthy’s committee as part of investigations into their alleged Communist ties. Perhaps there are parallels, but the present moment seems even more threatening for our fundamental freedoms as academics and defenders of Democracy. For the Secretary of State to call people “lunatics” who are simply exercising their freedom of speech is a complete breach of his own obligation to uphold the Constitution of the United States.
Contrary to the patronizing view of Secretary Rubio that students in universities should shut up and study, in fact, a great university education should teach students how to question convention, how to challenge those in power, how to debate alternative solutions to major social issues, how to confront immoral and corrupt authoritarian abuses of power. We must show our students how to be courageous, how to be advocates for justice and human rights, how to give voice to those who are voiceless.
We also must show our public officials and the world that is watching that universities rising in defense of fundamental freedoms are doing the most patriotic thing possible — we are upholding the very foundation of our nation created to protect the “inalienable rights” of all people here.
It is a deeply patriotic act to defend the First Amendment rights of our students and faculty. That’s what our nation should expect of university leaders! Defending the right to speak does NOT mean that we agree with every idea that is expressed, but it means that we respect the right of any person to express their opinions even when — especially when — we disagree.
Disagreement with the public officials and policies of any political administration is neither unpatriotic nor a danger to the security of our nation. In fact, the only danger is the unchecked authoritarian abuse of power to repress free speech, to arrest and detain people for what they say, to label as “lunatics” people who rightfully express a different point of view.
The Administration claims that its actions are all for the purpose of eradicating antisemitism. Good! Antisemitism is a terrible disease, responsible for some of the most horrific human suffering in all of history. But it is not antisemitic to say that Israel’s obliteration of Gaza is also a crime against humanity; it is not incompatible with defending the right of our Jewish brothers and sisters to live in peace and security to say that Palestinians deserve the same right. To punish some students for advocating on behalf of the Palestinian cause completely undermines the otherwise-worthy goal of eradicating antisemitism.
Universities are, or should be, the great counterweight to government in a free society. It’s part of our work to hold our government and public officials accountable for living up to our nation’s values. We are not an arm of government. We must defend our institutional independence and freedom to challenge what is clearly wrong, to advocate for justice for our students and all those we serve through our teaching and research. Many more issues are now on the table well beyond freedom of speech, which is primary. But where is the collective voice of higher education crying out for justice for our students of color who are deeply threatened by the governmental rollback of initiatives on diversity, equity and inclusion? Where is our clarion call on behalf of all those citizens of this nation and the world who will suffer grievous harm because of the stripping away of federal funding for research on disease and cures, on climate change and solutions for pollution, on technological advances and potential good breakthroughs in the use of AI to support modern life? The stripping away of billions of dollars in research funding from Harvard and Penn and Columbia and Cornell and others is not just a financial problem for those schools, it is a catastrophic retreat from the sources of scientific innovation that have made modern life possible.
Where is the voice of higher education? Time to break the silence and stand up for our mission at a time when the world needs strong, independent voices of reason.
Note:
Trinity joined 86 other colleges, universities and associations on an amicus curiae brief of the Presidents’ Immigration Alliance in the case of AAUP v. Rubio challenging the Administrations visa revocation policy.
See also my essay Higher Education and the Defense of Democracy in AAUP Academe
Continue reading →Read comments (2) Add CommentAlumnae Hall Renaissance: A Modern Campus Center for the 21st Century
March 7, 2025
(From the Archives: Alumnae Hall 1930)
When Alumnae Hall opened for the Fall semester in 1929, it was the height in gracious living for college women of that era. With beautiful Italianate architecture including marble columns, voluminous high-ceilinged dining halls, elegant arched windows and polished terrazzo floors, the building spoke to the elegance and ambition of a women’s college early in the 20th Century. The student rooms on the upper floors embodied an entirely new concept of women’s privacy and independence, with single rooms paired as suites sharing washrooms. Across the subsequent century, generations of Trinity students enjoyed meals, ceremonies, special events and casual living in this marvelous building.
A century later, this beautiful building needs a lot of love — and money — to bring it up to 21st Century standards for living, dining and supporting campus life. The Renaissance Campaign for the Modernization of Alumnae Hall has raised more than $40 million to date, making it possible for the Board of Trustees to approve moving ahead with what is likely to be a $50-$60 million project when all expenses are included. The campaign continues, and remarkable alumnae donors and friends are contributing with extremely generous gifts. Our goal is to achieve the renovation without burdening tuition and with minimal borrowing.
On this blog I will summarize points I shared today with the Trinity community in our Campus Conversations. Going forward, we will have a special web page devoted to the project and I will also send regular updates to the campus community.
What are the Key Components of Modernizing Alumnae Hall?
While retaining the grand spaces and architectural beauty of the building, the modernization project will achieve these goals:
- Install a modern air conditioning and heating system (HVAC) throughout the building; Alumnae Hall has no central air conditioning and the heat is drawn from the boilers in Main Hall; this project will give Alumnae Hall its own HVAC system independent of Main Hall, and that will make maintenance much better and easier for the future. Also, the new systems should resolve the longstanding problem of hot water generation.
- New main elevator and new kitchen elevator.
- Entirely new kitchen, new equipment, dining preparation facilities designed for modern expectations.
- New windows that will facilitate continuous climate control in all seasons.
- Restrooms on the first floor.
- Accessibility through the front entrance.
- Security system throughout.
- Refurbished student rooms including new HVAC and plumbing upgrades.
- Spacious lounges and meeting spaces providing improved student life opportunities.
- Creation of an environmentally sustainable building that meets “green building” standards for DC with a goal to achieve at least silver LEED certification.
Creation of an Entirely New Dining Experience
Dining at Trinity should be for everyone on campus, not just resident students. While some commuter students, faculty and staff do enjoy some meals in Alumnae Hall, our goal is to make the main dining hall a place where everyone will want to gather, have a meal, linger over conversations, study together, and enjoy campus life as a community. We know that food is key to bringing people together, but it must be planned, prepared and presented in ways that satisfy modern tastes and the needs of a very diverse community of diners.
Our Project Management team at Brailsford & Dunlavey will meet with students, faculty and staff to get your input on all of this, and as of now in the early planning phase we envision these goals for the new dining experience in Alumnae Hall:
– Dining designed for modern tastes and expectations
– All Day dining options
– Dining for ALL students, faculty and staff at Trinity, not only residents
– “Food Court” style food preparation and delivery — emphasis on more food prepared on request that the diner can see being prepared
– Variety of food options through the day and meeting needs for
– improved nutrition
– food allergies
– vegan and other food choices
– international tastes
-Pricing plans for all participants that are affordable and that encourage everyone to enjoy dining at Trinity
– Opportunities for student learning especially around culinary management, business practices, marketing and communication, meal planning and potential for learning about food preparation
Creation of a True Campus Center
With its proximity to the Payden Academic Center, the new Alumnae Hall will become a true Campus Center attracting students, faculty and staff for dining, meeting, casual conversation, study and events in a location just steps away from the academic center. In addition to the dining halls, the building has large spaces on the basement level that lend themselves to student activity and lounge spaces. A lovely outdoor patio will lend itself to dining and gathering in good weather. Our goal will be to move student lounges away from Main Hall and into Alumnae Hall with its close proximity to the academic center.
Refurbishing Student Rooms
The student rooms on the upper floors of Alumnae Hall will be refurbished with new HVAC units (replacing the window air conditioners) and upgraded plumbing in the washrooms. The hallways and lounge areas will also receive upgrades, and security access will be improved throughout.
Timetable and Significant Action Steps
This is a complicated project, and we will rely upon the good humor and cooperation of the entire Trinity community to make it work during the period when the project is underway.
The project will take approximately two years, with a ramp-up period of about six months and construction period of about 18 month.
Several big changes will occur during the “ramp-up” period between May 2025 and December 2025:
The residential part of Alumnae Hall will close at the end of the Spring 2025 semester. Alumnae Hall residents will have the option to choose rooms on the “C” wing of Kerby Hall where we have rooms usually used for conference guests; these rooms have full bathrooms. Other students may also choose these rooms as space allows.
Starting in January 2026, dining services will move out of Alumnae Hall when construction starts. Therefore, we have identified new space for relocated dining for an 18-month period:
In January 2026, dining will move to the first floor of Cuvilly Hall where there is space that was originally constructed as a cafeteria; the first floor is large enough (on both sides) to accommodate routine dining services.
Currently, the old Cuvilly cafeteria (Pub, Rathskeller) space is where the MOT (Masters of Occupational Therapy) lab is. So, that lab will move from Cuvilly over to the Payden Center to join the other Health Professions labs on the second floor of Payden. This move will occur in early Summer 2025 so that the new lab is ready for Fall 2025 classes.
Once the lab space is vacated, the contractors will create a new kitchen and service area in that part of Cuvilly. That process will take most of the Fall 2025 semester.
The new “Cuvilly Cafe” will open in January 2026 as the primary dining space on campus for the next 18 months.
Also in January 2026, the construction work on Alumnae Hall will begin, extending to Fall 2027.
Our goal is to have the “new” Alumnae Hall open by Fall 2027, although changing conditions could push that date back to Spring 2028, we are prepared to be flexible if unforseen conditions arise.
Below is the timetable in chart form:
Stay tuned for more updates on this project!
Send your comments and suggestions to me at president@trinitydc.edu
Enjoy these historic photos of the construction of Alumnae Hall 1927-1929:
AND THE BILL FOR ALL OF THAT, FROM 1930: HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED!!
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Denying Black History is Morally Reprehensible
February 24, 2025
“Morally reprehensible” is the devastating judgmental phrase that Acting Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights Craig Trainor uses in his opening sentence of his February 14, 2025 “Dear Colleague” letter spelling out new rules and coercive threats for race conscious practices in education. What is truly morally reprehensible is Trainor’s gaslighting of the history of educational racism in the United States. He cites harm specifically to white and Asian students due to “institutions’ embrace of pervasive and repugnant race-based preferences” while NOT ONCE mentioning the historic, persistent and often violent denial of educational opportunities — and, hence, economic and social opportunities — to Black Americans across centuries. Erasing Black History is shameful. Trainor writes as if generations of segregated and under-funded schools were fiction, as if Thurgood Marshall, Brown v. Board of Education, the Little Rock Nine, James Meredith, Medgar Evers, John Lewis, Martin Luther King, Jr. and so many other who sacrificed so much to gain equal educational opportunity for Black students never existed. He writes with studied agnosticism of the racist barriers that persist even today that prevent too many Black Americans from realizing full participation in the lifelong benefits of education at all levels.
The Dear Colleague letter follows President Trump’s executive order banning any considerations of diversity, equity and inclusion from federal agencies and contractors; a federal judge has issued an injunction against that order. Let’s not be naïve: the campaign against DEI is a campaign against ensuring greater access to education, economic and social opportunities for persons of color, women, LGBTQ persons and others who do not conform to the white male stereotype that the current anti-DEI movement considers intrinsically more competent. But of all of the diversity possibilities, the campaign against DEI is specifically a campaign against the ongoing progress of Black Americans in education as well as the corporate and civic sectors after centuries of horrific racial injustice and persistent discrimination.
The anti-DEI movement reinvents historic truths. Citing a favorite theme of the movement to debilitate and even destroy teaching the truth of U.S. racial history, Trainor writes that, “Educational institutions have toxically indoctrinated students with the false premise that the United States is built upon ‘systemic and structural racism’ and advanced discriminatory policies and practices.” Maybe the descendants of the 272 slaves sold by the Jesuits in 1838 to save Georgetown University would like a word with Trainor about his denial of “systemic and structural racism.”
Remediating the centuries-long harms of race discrimination against Black persons is consistent with Catholic social justice (something we might expect a graduate of Catholic U’s law school to know) but Trainor dismisses social justice as a “nebulous goal” rather than a moral imperative to uphold the rights and dignity of persons who have suffered grave historic oppression. His desire to stamp out any care or compassion for Black students, faculty and staff becomes starkly clear in his utterly mean-spirited attack on affinity group residence halls and graduation activities, small things but deeply meaningful for many students who are often the first in their families to earn degrees.
Picking on campus social life and graduation ceremonies reveals a perniciously wrong interpretation of the law on race discrimination. The law does require all persons on campus to receive equal opportunity — part of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson, Title VI was developed specifically in response to the historic discrimination that Black students suffered throughout education, and all students benefit from that law. So long as all persons on campus have access to the same benefits and opportunities, the law does not prohibit colleges and universities from using racial equity principles in their mission statements or from developing educational and social programs around topics of racial equity. Contrary to what Trainor writes, there is no legal prohibition against a college’s decision to abandon standardized testing, or to have necessary and valuable campus education programs to teach students how to construct productive communities amid great diversity. Trainor cites the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA) to justify his extensive list of activities he says are now prohibited, but in fact, the SFFA case does not support that list and the Acting Assistant Secretary does not have the authority to make new law on his own.
Not content to enumerate his ideas about what ending race discrimination on campus might look like, Trainor weaponizes his presentation with a threat to harm the federal funding of institutions who fail to comply with his demands, along with a very short 14-day window at the end of which the inquisitions will supposedly begin. Some institutions will likely “obey in advance” and scrub their websites, policies and programs of any references to race, diversity, equity, inclusion or social justice. We can hope that more will stand and fight in solidarity and with conviction about the worth of our missions and goals.
Trinity stands strong and in solidarity with our students, faculty and staff. We welcome all persons who can thrive here. One of the nation’s historic Catholic women’s colleges (Title IX allows single gender schools to continue as such), we are also a Predominantly Black and Hispanic Serving Institution by US Department of Education classifications. We welcome students of all races, religions, ethnicities and backgrounds, and we also welcome men in our dual enrollment, graduate and professional programs. We know a little something about American sociology on the topic of race. Into the early 1990’s, Trinity was still a predominantly White, Catholic institution. But as we welcomed more students from the District of Columbia and nearby counties, our population changed, slowly at first and then rapidly. “White flight” is a sociological reality for urban schools, a phenomenon not only about race but also social class and perceptions of prestige. We grew and thrived in new directions not by discriminating or practicing affirmative action, but rather, by welcoming and supporting the new populations of students who find at Trinity a place of support, affirmation, compassion and intellectual challenge. We have lived the American opportunity, promise and challenge of race, ethnicity and social class.
Racial hatred is America’s Original Sin, unresolved and largely unrepented across the American centuries. Racial hatred debilitates lives, warps communities, depresses economic progress, marginalizes persons of great potential and too often kills people whether through direct assaults or the slow long term decline of hope and opportunity. Educational institutions, of all places in our society, must be those places where rising generations learn how to live together, how to respect and appreciate difference, how to lift up the merit in each other and how to confront the prejudices that drive wedges and defeat our more aspirational values as a nation. Colleges and universities, in particular, must be the places that teach our future leaders how to make the idea of the peaceful, productive polity work in the most diverse society the world has ever known. We can’t teach that by ignoring the truth of our history, by submitting to the inappropriate pressures of political operatives, by adopting a stance of institutional neutrality that betrays our entire purpose in higher education.
History is watching us right now. Higher education must rise to the moment with courage and conviction, not just for the sake of our own freedoms and perquisites, but because our freedom to teach and to live mission well makes it possible for our students to learn, grow and thrive. How we respond to the current threats will shape America’s history for generations.
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