Catholic Colleges Host Events in Solidarity with Immigrants

Twelve Catholic colleges and universities hosted events in solidarity with immigrant brothers and sisters on January 19, as a part of the Ignatian Solidarity Network‘s call to prayer, Prayers of Light.

Saint Peter’s University hosted a prayer service featuring a student choir and students sharing their experience of being undocumented. The service ended with an opportunity to contact Congress on behalf of humane immigration policies.

Students at Loyola University Maryland held a walking candlelight vigil during the busy lunch hour at the campus student center.

Other colleges and universities that held events for the day of prayer include: Fairfield University, Xavier University, John Carroll University, Canisius College, Loyola University of Chicago, Marquette University, Saint Louis University, Gonzaga University, University of San Francisco, and Spring Hill College.

The purpose of the call to prayer was to illuminate, through solidarity and action, the dignity of our immigrant brothers and sisters, and the value of each person’s contribution to our country.  To see prayers and resources related to the event, visit the Ignatian Solidarity Network website.

How are you practicing solidarity on your campus? Share your story with us! Email Lexie Bradley.

Loyola University Maryland Signs Two Climate Change Pledges

Earlier this month, Loyola University Maryland announced that President Rev. Brian F. Linnane, S.J., signed both the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) and the Catholic Climate Covenant sponsored St. Francis Pledge. Fr. Linnane joined 685 college presidents in signing the ACUPCC and 75 Catholic colleges and universities in signing the St. Francis Pledge.

“Colleges and universities play a vital role in advancing sustainable operations and educating future generations about environmental stewardship. Loyola is further called by its Jesuit tradition to join these efforts because sustainability and social justice are inexorably linked,” said Fr. Linnane.

By signing the ACUPCC, Loyola University Maryland commits to educating its students, creating solutions, and providing an example to the rest of the world of what it means to care for our world. The pledge involves committing to an emissions inventory and the integrating sustainability into the college curricula. Similarly, the St. Francis Pledge commits the university to integrating the subject of climate change and care for creation into its prayer life and advocacy work.

In addition to signing the pledges, Loyola University Maryland has also increased its sustainability initiatives, which include the installation of energy-efficient lights, water conservation fixtures, and green-friendly flooring. Visit Loyola’s sustainability website for more information.

 

Catholic Institutions Commit to Action on College Opportunity

The Obama administration’s efforts to increase college opportunity has enticed the White House to ask colleges and universities to commit to helping more students enroll in and graduate from college. Several of our ACCU members have responded to the White House’s Commitment to Action on College Opportunity by pledging efforts in quite a few categories of commitment:

• Completion Commitments 
  • Association of Franciscan Colleges and Universities – Committed to producing an additional 11,500 graduates by 2020, the association will launch their project, “Stopping the Leak in the Educational Pipeline: Improving Matriculation and Graduation Rates at Franciscan Colleges and Universities.” With the help from this project, AFCU member institutions will join together and work closely with student success experts to develop systems, processes, and training to improve retention and graduation rates for all students, with a focus on at-risk students.
  • Loyola University Chicago – Loyola University Chicago has teamed up with Arrupe College in applying several strategies to help low-income, under-prepared and under-served students gain access to, succeed and graduate from a 4-year college or university. Together, they have commit to a total of 2,275 additional graduates by 2025.
  • St. Francis College – The Post–Prison College Opportunity Program at St. Francis College will promote civil rights by challenging the long-term consequences of mass incarceration by giving the formerly incarcerated the opportunity to earn a college degree. In addition, the program will provide tuition for accepted students through a combination of financial aid and scholarships.
• K-16 Partnership Commitment
  • Trinity Washington University – In partnership with the District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS), Trinity Washington University commits to improving college readiness, retention and completion for DCPS students who enroll at Trinity. The partnership will emphasize persistence and success for DCPS graduates who wish to pursue majors that require strong math preparation and that are associated with high-wage/high-demand careers, as well as engage key D.C. college access providers in implementing persistence strategies.
• STEM Commitment
  • Barry University – With the hopes of improving the retention and completion rates of low-income students, underrepresented minorities, and women in STEM majors, BU is working to develop a holistic engagement program designed to provide the outreach and opportunity structures that “fill the gap” for students who lack the pre-college academic preparation and developmental and personal experiences necessary for academic and professional success. As a Hispanic-serving institution whose 4-year graduation rate for the 2009 cohort was 45 percent, the university aims to increase that graduation rate by 10-15 percent by 2018 through interventions designed to foster community building, strong peer and faculty relationships, and a sense of academic self-efficacy.
  • Saint Martin’s University – In order to boost admittance and retention of women, low-income students, and underrepresented minority students in STEM degrees by between 5 and 10 percent, Saint Martin’s University will be launching a series of initiatives. Currently, the university is planning a series of monthly workshops for fifth through eighth graders, in conjunction with the Boys & Girls Club, designed to increase STEM admittance. Also, to increase retention, the university’s biology program is restructuring degree requirements, moving toward a core concept and competency model that includes an increase in active learning models and student research experience.
  • Trinity Washington University – With a strong track record of educating low income women of color in the Washington region, Trinity’s STEM initiative will include best practices such as cohort organization, special academic and co-curricular advising, and focused foundational courses taught by specialists who can provide individualized support. The university commits to increasing their STEM enrollments by 50 percent annually, improving their graduation rates for STEM majors from 35 percent to no less than 65 percent (with a reach goal of 75 percent) and seeking to improve first-to-second year retention from the current rate of 61 percent to no less than 80 percent for STEM cohorts, in order to meet the overall graduation rate goals.
• Counseling Commitment
  • Loyola University Maryland – The School Counseling Program (SCP) at Loyola University Maryland is planning a four-prong approach to support increasing college and career readiness among urban youth in Baltimore City and the surrounding counties. The components of the university’s four-pronged approach include providing direct counseling services to un-served and under-served youth in urban schools to enhance their vocational identity, program rigor, and college readiness; and expanding the research of counseling faculty regarding vocational identity.

Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice – happening now!

The Ignatian Family Teach-In for Justice, an annual gathering of Jesuit schools, began in Washington, DC over the weekend and continues today with advocacy sessions on Capitol Hill. Foremost in participants’ minds is the 25th anniversary of the death of six Jesuit priests and two lay women, who were killed in El Salvador during their civil war. The Teach-In hopes to educate tomorrow’s leaders on their role in the world and their Catholic call to fight the many forms of injustice.

ACCU and CCHD Campus Partnerships

Are you looking to make connections with a local community organizing group working for economic justice?  ACCU works with the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD), the domestic anti-poverty organization of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, to encourage partnerships between Catholic colleges and universities and CCHD staff in local dioceses. Here’s one success story:

Working with CCHD in the Archdiocese of Baltimore, the campus ministry at Loyola University Maryland sponsored a 7 part speaker series on the themes of Catholic Social Teaching in action. The speaker series connected the themes of Catholic Social Teaching to a broad range of topics, from the rights and responsibilities of youth in inner city Baltimore, to the life and dignity of victims of human trafficking, to unemployment and the rights of workers. The series featured speakers from community groups, including those supported by CCHD, and successfully raised student awareness on the themes of Catholic Social Teaching and the ways to incorporate those themes into their own lives. “May the eyes of [your] hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call,” Ephesians 1:18.

 Visit the ACCU-CCHD Partnership Website to learn more about these collaborations. To read more about the benefits of these partnerships for your campus or diocese, view the Campus Benefits Packet and Diocesan Benefits Packet, which also include several success stories of existing CCHD-ACCU campus partnerships.

Do you have a success story of your own campus partnership to share? E-mail ACCU and let us promote your good work!