Students: What is the world asking of us right now?

Dear Nazareth students;

The important conversations continue here at Nazareth. Thank you all for your comments and input, and thank you for keeping the dialog going. Soon our conversations will turn to action as we come together as a community this fall and forge a path forward.

As I contemplate our coming together, I reflect on the power and importance of your college years. They will define you for the rest of your life. It is here, in these years, that you will find your place in the world; you will find your life’s work; you will ignite your purpose and be an agent for change in the world. 

To be a college student during this extraordinary time brings the opportunity for exponential personal change as you prepare to answer the world’s call for you to join a future of change for the betterment of all. These are not easy times. In this unchartered territory, there are no road maps, just a call for the bold and the brave to take part. 

Issues of injustice, poverty, sexism, inequity, human rights, subjugation of peoples, gender rights, environmental crisis — and more, call for your participation and presence. We have seen it before. It is in times of global upheaval, where we are in the crucible of trauma and injustice, that the world is ripe for explosive transformational change. 

And students often lead the way. 

Just as a group of five students — women in the 1920’s with the audacity to earn Ph.D.’s — on the heels of a global pandemic founded a college called Nazareth.

As we approach the new semester, let us be inspired by the students who came before. Your purpose is no less noble, no less important. It is the physical therapist, nurse, doctor, athlete, teacher, artist, scientist, community leader, designer, entrepreneur, spiritual guide, business leader — the ones who boldly bring about substantive change in their life’s work — who are our everyday warriors and heroes. By asking hard questions and listening to voices too-often unheard. By enacting change against intolerance, bias, prejudice. By exercising ingenuity and initiating transformational innovation. Every student has the opportunity to change the world for the better. 

In that spirit you come this fall. 

You will be greeted by faculty who have spoken out, proudly pledging an unswerving commitment to you, our “next generation of engaged citizens.” They greet you with “an unshakable commitment” to you, and an invitation to be “part of systemic change” and “engage in something transformational.” 

We will bring you the best minds, expansive principles, a learned place of tolerance and growth, an environment that nurtures your conviction and supports your courage and activism and asks much of you — and us all — as you enter the world to pursue your life’s work for change. 

You chose Nazareth because this is the place you want to be: a caring, supportive, bold, purpose-driven community. And Nazareth will be changed by your presence. 

You will bring your whole selves, wonderfully diverse, ready to listen, to see past this moment. Open. Impassioned. Driven to learn. To be involved. To be part of the fabric of change here at Nazareth and in the world. To be open to possibility and new ideas — unafraid as you participate in the often messy process of changemaking. To live each day with passion as you contemplate:  How will my presence in the world each and every day change it for the better? 

A world of possibility awaits that answer. 

Warmly,

President Paul

Please respond to the question in the comments section below. I look forward to reading your reflections, as I am eager to continue to learn from and with you.