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Dear Members of the Campus Community, 

Like many of you, I imagine, I am watching closely as the Supreme Court hears the legal question of whether we can continue to consider race as a factor in college admissions. I share the deep concern that the Court may take away our ability to do just this.

The oral arguments heard today in two cases—Students for Fair Admissions v. University of North Carolina and Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard University—surely will be analyzed thoroughly for clues as to what the Court will decide, a ruling we are unlikely to know for several months. We do know that the ability of higher education institutions to consider race as one factor in a holistic admissions process has been a critical component of our efforts to build a diverse student body and learning environment. In states where such bans have been enacted, racial diversity has fallen at public institutions. The consequences of a change in this 40-year-old legal precedent could be significant for all students—for underrepresented racial/ethnic minority students most acutely—and for our broader work in higher education to deliver on the promise we make to serve the public good. 

At ��������, we feel this promise profoundly. We believe that creating a diverse learning environment is essential to our academic and Jesuit, Catholic missions. That’s why in August, , led by Georgetown University, in urging the Court to uphold affirmative action in these two cases.

The brief notes that creating diverse communities is core to our identities as Catholic higher education institutions. 

“The education that students receive in a diverse environment fosters the Catholic values of universal human dignity and respect for divine creation, and in turn creates alumni equipped to contribute to the Catholic goals of leadership in service.” 

While it’s likely to be several months before we know the Court’s decision, I can assure you now that no matter the ruling, �������� will continue steadfastly on the path toward a diverse, equitable and inclusive community. Should the Court take away our ability to consider race in admissions, we will continue to employ strategies known to be successful as well as look to create new and innovative ways to achieve our goals.

We have long endeavored at this work, and in recent years, we have accelerated and broadened our efforts to build a diverse student pipeline, including through deepened investments in financial aid and new partnerships with community-based organizations. It’s worth highlighting here some of our recent progress toward expanded access and opportunity: 

• Earlier this year, �������� was one of five colleges named to the second cohort of partner institutions with the , creating a $20 million matching grant—for a total of $40 million—to expand the College’s financial aid support of underrepresented and Pell-eligible students. 
•  Already one of only a few dozen colleges nationally that meet 100 percent of admitted students’ demonstrated financial need, the College recently deepened its commitment to financial aid by raising more than $56 million for need-based aid (and creating 90 new endowed scholarships) in the successful Hope and Access campaign.
• We are now partnering with the national nonprofit Questbridge, having joined this year the powerful network of institutions committed to enrolling high-achieving students from low-income backgrounds. 
• In 2021, �������� was designated a by the Center for First-generation Student Success, an initiative of NASPA—Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education—and the Suder Foundation. 

And we are only getting started. As I have discussed in numerous forums, including the recent President’s Town Hall, we will commit collegewide to inclusive excellence as a core strategic priority. This commitment will live in work across every division of the College. At a high level this includes delivering an exceptional student learning environment and experience, creating conditions for students to pursue and achieve excellence, fostering an inclusive culture of belonging and ensuring equity in policies and procedures. Critically, we are also committed to expanding our efforts to recruit and retain a diverse faculty and staff and an academically talented student body that is truly representative of the world in which we live, informed by the presence of diverse experiences and perspectives. 

I know that Vice President for Enrollment Management Cornell LeSane and his teams in admissions and financial aid are aggressively pursuing multiple strategies for building the diversity of our student body and that they are constantly innovating in the face of changing circumstances in the national and global landscape of higher education. And while we can’t yet know what the Supreme Court will decide in the two affirmative action cases, I hope you are confident in our unwavering commitment to becoming a truly diverse, equitable and inclusive community. I know we will continue to work together to advance this critical mission. 

Sincerely,

Vincent D. Rougeau

President