Universities committed to social justice

In this post we are going back to the contents of the virtual conference on Universities and Social Justice that was held last year by AJCU as we prepare for the global meeting of IAJU this summer at Boston.

The mission of the Society of Jesus has always been to serve the Kingdom of God through justice and reconciliation as pillars of faith. For more than 500 years, these principles have been deployed through different levels, spaces and organisations created by the order founded by St. Ignatius of Loyola. In the field of higher education, the International Association of Jesuit Universities (IAJU) carries out these tasks, together with various organisations at regional level, such as AJCU.

The Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) is made up of 28 institutions of higher education in the United States and Belize. All of these institutions seek to dedicate their creativity, intellect, commitment and service to the greater good of society. This has been evidenced in events such as the virtual conference “Justice in Jesuit Higher Education Conference”.

This event, born in 1999, held its last edition at Georgetown University in 2021. There, participants reflected and dialogued on Universal Apostolic Preferences in synergy with important issues in the framework of Higher Education, such as racial and environmental justice, migration, women’s leadership and Ignatian spirituality.

The conference was opened by Father General of the Society of Jesus, Arturo Sosa Abascal SJ, who in his opening message considered the importance of active engagement with justice in the educational endeavour:

“It is not enough to talk; we need to do. We need to continue deepening the processes of change, the processes of conversion that began some time ago and continue today in our university communities and in our countries”

Father General of the Society of Jesus, Arturo Sosa Abascal SJ

The Jesuit Superior also reiterated the changes that the pandemic has proposed to us based on current needs:

“The pandemic has hit us all. What plans will we change? How can we better accompany young people as they build a future of hope? How will new voices be heard in our classrooms? How will research be reconfigured to better respond to real needs? How can our intellectual work better point beyond ourselves to a more humane world?”

Father General of the Society of Jesus, Arturo Sosa Abascal SJ

Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia, in turn, recalled the legacy of former Father General Peter Hans Kolvenbach SJ in which he called on universities to examine Ignatian and seriously the role of justice in all aspects of Jesuit higher education; an invitation to renew the universities’ commitment. On the occasion of the celebration of the Ignatian Year, DeGioia pointed to this meeting as an opportunity to reflect together:

“This Ignatian Year offers us another opportunity to reflect on the ways in which we are animated by the Jesuit tradition that unites us. We share a commitment to justice, to the work of fostering this commitment in our students, urging them to have hearts on fire, responding to the needs of the word with passion, with courage and with urgency”

John G. DeGiogia, President of Georgetown University

Also speaking at the conference was Andria Wisler, executive director of the Center for Social Justice Research, Teaching and Service at Georgetown University and a member of the conference organising committee. Wisler said that in planning this virtual gathering, the aim was to offer dialogues and conferences that serve as ongoing resources for university communities to invite reflection and action.

The work of Jesuit universities, framed in organisations such as AJCU and IAJU, is to create a network that allows for collaboration, dialogue and reflection following Ignatian principles. Activities such as the conference organised by AJCU serve as inspiration and action to rethink the structures that need to be transformed in order to move towards a more just and supportive world.

The materials of the virtual conference Justice in Jesuit Higher Education are available on AJCU’s YouTube channel.