Elie Wiesel comes to Saint Xavier University

Thursday night, Saint Xavier University presented an honorary Doctor of Humanities to Nobel Peace Prize recipient, author and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel. The honor, of course, was ours. Mr. Wiesel serves as one of the greatest living beacons of peace and human dignity in the world.

That evening, he spoke movingly about his experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps, where he lost so many members of his family. I’m sure that the more than 3,200 people who filled the Shannon Center to capacity will remember his lecture as one of the most powerful of the SXU Voices & Visions Speaker Series.

Given that Mr. Wiesel is someone who has seen and personally suffered some of the worst of which people are capable, I was particularly inspired by both his warmth and his tireless desire to search out the best in humanity. He repeatedly shared his belief that the truest meaning he finds in life comes from how he shapes others with his ideas.

“I believe human culture to be an open palm, not a fist,” he said with the warmth of someone speaking to one person instead of thousands. “Shake my hand.”

I cannot overstate how important I believe our Voices & Visions Speaker Series is to the University’s mission of providing a scholarly, supportive community which helps students cultivate ethical and moral sensibilities promoting the common good. Prior to his lecture, Mr. Wiesel conducted a special classroom discussion with a small group of Saint Xavier students. Opportunities such as these are what make Saint Xavier such a unique school and community. Students can read of different eras and learn facts about the Holocaust, but nothing can make these periods more real or relevant today than to hear such stories told personally.

Those lucky students will remember the hour the spent with Mr. Wiesel for the rest of their lives. Hopefully, they will carry some of the wisdom he so generously imparted as they take their place within our society.

Saint Xavier University: A Good Neighbor

Saint Xavier University is growing and changing at an unbelievable rate.

This summer the offices of Alumni and Parent Relations, Community and Government Relations, and Web Development moved to a new location at 3625 West 103rd Street. University Relations, including Special Events, Media Relations, Publications and Marketing, moved to its new location at 3537 West 111th Street.

We will soon be renovating the former Baptist church facility at 104th and Spaulding into a state-of-the-art Visual Arts Campus, and we plan to turn the former United Methodist church building at 110th and South St. Louis into a one-stop Student Operations Center for advising and financial services. We are also completing plans for a development for the corner of Pulaski and 103rd Street into a student residence/retail center.

Students have just moved into our newest residence hall, completed this summer (pictured left). The “green” facility, to be named after one of our founding Sisters of Mercy, Mother Agatha O’Brien, was built to LEED Gold environmental standards as set forth by the U.S. Green Building Council.

We make all such changes in conjunction with our ongoing effort to be the best neighbor possible to surrounding residents. Why is this important? Because as a liberal arts university founded upon the principles of the Sisters of Mercy, we are bound to serve and enhance the lives of everyone. To that end, Saint Xavier University provides a wide array of programs and services to improve the quality of life for the surrounding community.

• For better communication with its neighbors, Saint Xavier created the Community Connection Council to meet regularly to share ideas and concerns.

• Saint Xavier sends a periodic Community Connections Newsletter to apprise neighbors of its many resources and cultural/sporting events available to the community. Saint Xavier also created a Community Connections Web site.

• Saint Xavier University Health Center, a nurse practitioner-staffed primary care facility, accommodated 4,500 patient visits last year. More than 50 percent were community members from outside the University.

• The Ludden Speech Language Clinic provides diagnosis and treatment for 150-200 clients per year.

• Merwick Academy, founded in 1956, provides educational tutorial programs for elementary and secondary students of public, parochial, and private schools.

• Saint Xavier University sends $110 million into the local economy every year.

We also have an entire office dedicated to addressing any concerns or questions our neighbors might have. You can reach our director of Community and Government Relations, Maureen Connor-Kelly, at (773) 298-3449 or connorkelly@sxu.edu.

Welcome!

Welcome to Saint Xavier University's new presidential blog, The Warde Report. This fall we have much to look forward to, and I will be providing additional updates throughout the year.

We are honored that Nobel Peace Prize recipient and Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel accepted our invitation to be the third speaker in our highly successful SXU Voices & Visions Speaker Series on September 25. The University will also award Mr. Wiesel the degree of Doctor of Humanities, honoris causa. Prior to his lecture, Mr. Wiesel will conduct a special class with Saint Xavier students.

We are also honored to welcome James Carville and Mary Matalin to the Saint Xavier University Shannon Center Thursday, Oct. 30, just days before our exciting November presidential election. Carville and Matalin, who are married, are two of the foremost Democratic and Republican political consultants in the country.

We look forward to the dedication of the newest residence hall on October 15, following the meeting of the Board of Trustees. In recognition of her founding role as one of the original Chicago Sisters of Mercy, Saint Xavier University will name this residence hall in honor of Mother Mary Agatha O’Brien, R.S.M.

This year, Saint Xavier University will incorporate a number of initiatives in order to further ensure the safety of all students, faculty and staff. An informative tabletop safety guide will soon be distributed throughout campus in all classrooms, offices and residence halls so that important safety information will be readily available. In addition, we plan a Campus Safety Awareness Day for the fall semester, and safety information cards will be added to the back of all doors in each residence hall.

I look forward to sharing more with you throughout the year.

Sincerely,

Judith A. Dwyer, Ph.D. President