Dialogue with President Beth Paul

Today the United States Supreme Court issued an important ruling regarding affirmative action in higher education. Specifically, the court ruled that colleges and universities can no longer consider race as a specific, express factor in admissions. The Supreme Court did not rule out race completely in admission programs, saying, "nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicant’s discussion of how race affected the applicant’s life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university." Supreme Court decisions are complex, and legal experts spend years analyzing their impact. It’s certainly not possible for me or anyone at Nazareth University to assess — only hours after the ruling — how this decision will ultimately impact society or Nazareth. I can, however, share our initial institutional reaction, and provide context regarding what, if any, effect this ruling mi...

As Nazareth’s Centennial draws closer, many people are hard at work outlining plans to celebrate this incredible milestone. Not surprisingly, discussions about the Centennial often reference the past, the present, and the future. With that in mind, I would like to share some news with you that very much involves the past and the present, and also has promise for our Centennial and beyond. Most students, faculty, and staff know that Golisano Academic Center was the Motherhouse for our founders, the Sisters of St. Joseph. The Sisters kept horses in a small paddock/barn between GAC and Golisano Training Center. When campus expanded in the early 2000s, the Sisters moved to their new home on French Road; the horses remained and continued to be lovingly cared for, in particular by Srs. Margaret Mary and Sienna. Many alumni, students, faculty, and staff fondly remember the stables being a popular stop on cross-campus walks. This small cluster of wooden structures sat unused since the last ho...

Dear students, faculty, and staff, Today is  Juneteenth , commemorating the day in 1865 when Union soldiers landed in Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War was over and that all who’d been enslaved in Texas were free.  Juneteenth  is one of America’s oldest nationally celebrated commemorations of the end of slavery. In recognition, Nazareth is closed today.  Taking a collective pause as a campus community provides a chance to solemnly contemplate the evils of slavery while at the same time appreciating — and celebrating – the joy and hope that the news of the end of that terrible practice brought to so many 158 years ago.    We speak of changemakers often; today’s really about change, period.  Juneteenth  celebrates a moment in history and in the American spirit when we faced injustice and tried to make it right. While racism and the struggle for equality continues and remains challenging, that moment — when people who’d never known freed...