Jesuit University Presidents Support Immigration Reform

rom the President of the University of San Francico:

Dear Colleagues,

Last week’s meeting of Jesuit university presidents in Washington, D.C. was preceded by a press conference where the findings of a two-year Ford Foundation research project on undocumented college students at Jesuit universities was made available to the general public.  The report is available on-line here.

Along with the results of the study, a statement on immigration signed by twenty-five presidents, including myself, was released to the general public.

Below are excerpts from that statement for your information:

“We oppose public policies that separate human families living peaceably in our midst, especially those involving students and/or minors, and urge all citizens to recognize and support those inhabitants of our nation who seek to contribute more fully to civic life and the common good through education and personal development.

We recognize that the history of Jesuit institutions of higher education in this country is inextricably linked to first- and second-generation immigrant populations.  Our schools have in the past been unique places of opportunity for some of the most disenfranchised and marginalized members of American society.

We continue to affirm that Jesuit colleges and universities are morally committed environments, where our students are inspired and encouraged to understand and address issues of justice, fairness, political involvement, and a preferential option for those whom society has marginalized.

We will continue to support our students – both documented citizens and not – as full members of our campus communities and of society at large, where their voices and personal narratives deserve to be acknowledged.”

Comprehensive immigration reform is an issue whose time has come.  I encourage you to participate in the national debate as voices of reason and compassion on an issue with a direct and immediate impact on some of our most promising students and their families.   This is an opportunity for USF “to distinguish itself as a socially responsible learning community of high quality scholarship and academic rigor sustained by a faith that does justice [Mission]” by shining an ethical light on this complex social/moral issue.

Our core values urge us to “…create, communicate and apply knowledge to a world shared by all people and held in trust for future generations.”  Immigration and the freedom to move beyond one’s borders to preserve life and liberty as well as the need to protect and serve migrants are issues that transcend political ideology and are quite central in Catholic social thought, particularly when migration is not the result of one’s own choice, as is the case of refugees and most undocumented college students. 

Sincerely,

Stephen A. Privett, SJ
President

bh