The Impact and Legacy of the BSU at 50

M A G A Z I N E
VOLUME FIFTY-THREE / NUMBER ONEWINTER TWO THOUSAND NINETEEN
THE IMPACT AND LEGACY OF THE BSU AT 50
“NOTHING CHANGES
UNLESS WE REMEMBER
AND LEARN FROM HISTORY.”

F R O M T H E P R E S I D E N T
d a n v a i l l a n c o u r tH O L Y C R O S S M A G A Z I N E W I N T E R 2 0 1 9
College President Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J.,
awards an honorary degree to Theodore V. “Ted”
Wells Jr. ’72 at a special academic convocation.

F R O M T H E P R E S I D E N T / O P E N I N G / 1H O P E F O R T H E N E W Y E A R / F R O M T H E P R E S I D E N T / 1
couple months ago, I had
the privilege of celebrating
the 50th anniversary
of the Black Student
Union at Holy Cross over a
weekend filled with joyous and
powerful events. We began this
important weekend with a special
academic convocation, during
which we conferred an honorary
degree upon prominent litigator
Theodore V. “Ted” Wells Jr. ’72 in
recognition of his extraordinary
success in the courtroom, as
well as his commitment to social
justice, civil rights and educational
opportunity for all.
When Ted and 18 other black
students arrived on campus in
1968, they joined a community
that looked very different from
the one on Mount St. James today.
The Holy Cross student body
was all male, with fewer than 10
students of color. Our students
and our nation were grappling
with war protests and civil rights.
Individuals and groups in our
country were being targeted for
their race, religion, identities
and beliefs. While our campus
community is different today, we
are confronted with similar issues
and we feel the effects of our
contentious social and political
environment, which is fostering
anger and division.
When Rev. John E. Brooks, S.J., ’49
chose those 19 students, he did so
with great intention. He sought
young men who would not only
change the face of the campus,
but who would also lead the Holy
Cross community to new ways
of seeing the world through their
passion and integrity. He chose
students with gifts he knew would
be developed at Holy Cross and
would allow them to have great
impact on the campus community
and beyond. And such an impact
they had, both during their time on
campus and after they left. Along
with Ted, among those students
were Supreme Court Justice
Clarence Thomas ’71, Pulitzer
Prize-winning author Edward P.
Jones ’72, former Deputy Mayor
of New York Stan Grayson ’72
and former Miami Dolphin Eddie
Jenkins ’72.
We still seek to admit students
with the character and gifts that Fr.
Brooks sought in recruiting those
first black students to campus. We
bring those students to Mount St.
James and we challenge them and
life challenges them. At the same
time, we do our best to support
and educate them to become the
ethical leaders that our campus
community, our country and our
world so badly need.
We know that we will succeed
as we have seen ample evidence
of what a Holy Cross education
brings to our world. We see it in
those first black students, the
founders of the Black Student
Union 50 years ago.
We see it in 2018’s Sanctae Crucis
winners, who have advanced
cardiology research and mentored
hundreds of young doctors,
brought to life for us stories
of conflicts in the Middle East
and Latin America, developed
technology that would keep our
troops safe as they navigate war-
torn lands, presided over some of
the most historically significant
cases filed in our federal court
system, and shaped the protocols
for the psychiatric treatment
of children with intellectual or
developmental disabilities.
We see it in the young families
who return to campus for
Homecoming, raising their
children to approach life with
curiosity, to seek different
perspectives and to be people for
and with others.
It is the interaction with our
students and recent graduates that
gives me great hope going into
the new year. This is a complex
moment for our community and
society.
Our students are grappling with
issues, events and a political
climate, the likes of which rival
many similar moments in the
history of our College and our
country. And yet our students
and young alumni continue to
seek ways to use their gifts to
impact their communities, starting
with the one they inhabit on our
campus. I see them standing with
their classmates who represent
different races, religions,
nationalities, socioeconomic
backgrounds, sexual orientations
and abilities. I hear them raising
their voices against disrespect,
bias and hate. While our Holy
Cross community is certainly not
immune to the issues that plague
our society and the divisiveness
and incivility that surround us, I
am heartened that our students
are committed to building
the inclusive and respectful
community that we seek on our
campus. And I know that they will
take this passion and dedication
into the world when they graduate.
A new year is a time for renewal,
for hope. May we find Christ
coming to us in the challenges
and opportunities of this new year
and may our struggling world see
Him in us and the transformative
commitments we make.
I wish you and your families a
blessed 2019. ■
Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J.
President
Hope for the
New Year
A

HOLY CROSS MAGAZINE WINTER 2019 / VOLUME FIFTY-THREE / NUMBER ONE
7428 4640
2 H O L Y C R O S S M A G A Z I N E W I N T E R 2 0 1 9
46
photos by michael quiet (page 28), rebecca blackwell (page 40), afrik ArmandO (page 74) and dan vaillancourt (page 10)
Sanctae Crucis honoree Augustine J. “Gus” Caffrey ’73
conducts a Portable Isotopic Neutron Spectroscopy (PINS)
test at the U.S. Army depot near Tooele, Utah, in August
1992. Caffrey’s signature PINS technology allows users to
“see” through steel casings to detect potential explosives,
chemical warfare agents or otherwise harmful materials.
(Each of these containers held about 1,600 pounds of the
chemical warfare agent known as “mustard gas”.)
58 10

HOLY CROSS MAGAZINE (USPS 0138-860) is published quarterly
by College Marketing and Communications at the College of the
Holy Cross. Address all correspondence to the editor at:
One College Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01610-2395.
Periodicals postage paid at Worcester and additional mailing points.
BRIDGET CAMPOLETTANO ’10 Editorial Director | MELISSA SHAW Managing Editor | STEPHEN ALBANO Art Director / Designer
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Arthur “Art” Martin ’70,
first president of the Black
Student Union, following the
1969 walkout of the majority
of the black students at Holy
Cross, behind a quote from
Jennifer Edwards, M.D., ’81,
from our story about the
BSU’s legacy and impact
over the past 50 years. The
story begins on Page 28.
COVER PHOTO CONTACT US
HCM TEAM
POSTMASTER:
SEND ADDRESS
CHANGES TO
Holy Cross Magazine
One College Street
Worcester, MA
01610-2395
PHONE
508-793-2419
FAX
508-793-2385
E-MAIL
hcmag@holycross.edu
CIRCULATION
45,074
1 From the President
2 Table of Contents
4 Dear HCM,
6 Editor’s Note
7 Who We Are/
Contributors
8 Campus Notebook
8 Snapshot
10 Spotlight
12 On The Hill
20 Faculty & Staff
20 Creative Spaces
22 Headliners
26 Syllabus
28 Features
28 For Us, For
Others, For Action
Alumni reflect on a
CONNECT WITH HOLY CROSS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
@holy_cross @collegeoftheholycross /holycross
FACEBOOK / TWITTER / INSTAGRAM / LINKEDIN / ISSUU
college-of-the-holy-cross@collegeoftheholycross
T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S / 3
half-century of mission
and personal impact
of the Black Student
Union.
40 Examining
the Political
Machine From
the Inside-Out
Thanks to political
veterans Tim Bishop
’72 and Peter
Flaherty ’87, Holy
Cross students had
a once-in-a-lifetime
opportunity to
combine hands-on
experience and veteran
expertise for a front-
row seat to the 2018
midterm elections.
46 The 2018
Sanctae Crucis
Awards
Honoring five
alumni who have
leveraged their
success, influence
and expertise to
support truth, justice
and equality of
opportunity.
58 Sports
58 Women’s Ice
Hockey Joins
Elite Hockey East
The team is finding
top-tier competition
and more oppor-
tunities in its first
Division I season.
60 From One Hill
to Another
Schone Malliet ’74 wants
all children to know the
joy of winter sports.
62 Alumni News
62 Mystery Photo
64 HCAA News
68 Book Notes
69 Solved Photo
70 The Power of One
72 In Your Own Words
74 The Profile
76 Class Notes
80 Milestones
82 In Memoriam
88 Artifact
Ask More
How To Reach Us

D E A R H C M ,
The Off-Campus
Classrooms of
Professor Edward
Callahan
“Better to pass boldly into that
other world in the full glory of
some passion, than fade and
wither dismally with age.”
— James Joyce, “The Dead”
Joyce wrote these words about
Michael Furey in “The Dead,”
the final story in “Dubliners.”
They also apply to the late Dr.
Ed Callahan who, although
“retired” and living at Pocasset
on Cape Cod, kept alive the
full glory of his passion for
Joyce, literature and life well
into his 90s (“In Memoriam,”
Summer 2018, Page 115).
We first met Dr. Ed through
the Academy of Lifelong
Learning in Hyannis, where
he offered a course on
“Dubliners” and “A Portrait of
the Artist as a Young Man.” The
class was learning as it should
be, learning at its very best:
about 12 motivated retirees,
no quizzes, no tests, no
papers, just the enjoyment of
Joyce, led by a Joyce maestro.
(Dr. Ed said he had been
reading Joyce since 1943!)
The good doctor brought a
lifetime of Joyce scholarship
to us, having taught many
years at Holy Cross and also
having attended many Joyce
conferences over the years.
His Irish heritage endowed
him with a ready wit, and his
classes for our group of senior
citizens always seemed too
short, they went by so quickly.
Dr. Ed was entirely at home
with the academic scholarship
on Joyce, easily explaining
“integrity, consomatia, claritas”
to us, but at the same time
he encouraged us: “Don’t
worry, just read the stories.”
His years on the Holy Cross
faculty made him an expert on
Jesuits and he showed us how
they had influenced Joyce. He
made everything accessible,
once describing “Irish
nationalism” as “a potato with
dirt on it.” Mostly, he wanted
us to enjoy the humor in
Joyce, so he delivered a one-
hour history of Irish politics so
we could see that “‘Dubliners’
is a damn funny book.”
By the end of the course, we
were pleading with him to
offer “Ulysses” next semester
and, to our delight, he did.
Again, a group of a dozen
senior citizen students (one
person commuted to The
Cape from Somerville, each
week, just to hear him). He
began by announcing that,
“After ‘Ulysses,’ the novel
is obsolete”— and we were
hooked. He was beginning to
experience some health issues
(notably hearing) but still
stood before us for an hour
and a half each week, almost
never needing his notes. And
we laughed a lot.
Walking out of the final
“Ulysses” class, Dr. Ed said
to our dismay, “I won’t
teach ‘Ulysses’ again.” We
had been planning to ask
him to offer Dante’s “Divine
Comedy” the next semester.
Hoping to change his mind,
we invited him out for a
beer and a burger, and were
delighted when he accepted.
This became a routine that
lasted through his final years;
every two months or so, we
would go out for beer and
a burger and some literary
guidance. After he moved to
Linden Ponds in Hingham,
Massachusetts (where he
offered a poetry course to the
residents), we would drive
up there; he had discovered a
local pub he liked and we got
help reading Dante. (“You have
to read all of it — that means
Purgatorio and Paradiso!”)
So we did. Then Proust (all
of it). Then Pushkin. Then
Tolstoy. Then “Don Quixote.”
We are still reading. We
always brought our literature
questions and Dr. Ed brought
his hilarious tales of being
in the U.S. Air Force during
the war, then being on the
faculty at Holy Cross for
all those decades. His best
tales were about the Jesuit
colleagues he admired and his
grandchildren.
When his health began to
make it more difficult to go
out for lunch, he didn’t stop.
He did not “fade or wither
dismally with age” — we still
went out to the pub. When
Chaucer described his Oxford
clerk — “gladly would he learn
and gladly teach” — he could
have been describing Dr. Ed
Callahan, who taught us much
about literature and a lot more
besides.
Jim Rogers ’65
Bill Collins, Boston College ’64
Sandwich, Massachusetts
The Story Behind
the BEATBC Plate
I would like to kindly and
respectfully note a correction
to a section regarding the
famous BEATBC plate
(“Sanctae Cruciana,” Summer
2018, Page 67).
The Massachusetts BEATBC
plate originally belonged to
my late and beloved uncle,
Edward Long Jr. He was a
diehard football fan (even
noted in his obituary) —
especially of Holy Cross and
Notre Dame. He had a few
variations of this BEATBC
plate over the years, and when
it became too old and new
plates needed to be switched
out, he gave the old green and
white plate to his brother, my
other uncle, James D. Long,
who worked at the College as
superintendent of grounds
for 50 years. My Uncle Jimmy
4 H O L Y C R O S S M A G A Z I N E W I N T E R 2 0 1 9

then subsequently gifted this
to Fr. Brooks, who was a very
good friend of his.
I wanted to share this anecdote
with you because it shows
just how important Holy
Cross and its legacy is to the
Worcester community and the
relationships we foster and
share with one another, in the
spirit of men and women for
others.
Cheers — and,
obviously, beat BC!
Deirdre A. (Milionis)
Mitchell ’10
Waltham, Massachusetts
Reunion, a Time
for Evaluating the
College Experience
Education is claimed to be the
great equalizer in American
society. For many families
like mine, a college education
became my parents’ dream
and that dream was carried
on by the family that I created.
“Obsession” would be too
strong a word, but the best
education possible to create as
many opportunities as possible
was the focus.
As I sit at my dinner table with
a wife who went to Brown, a
child at Yale and the other at
Harvard, I make comparisons
to my education at Holy Cross.
I still check the rankings and
the admissions reports and
wonder about the evaluations
and their meaning. I even
worked on a documentary, “SAT
and the Art of Thinking,” as it
applies to the world of college
admissions.
With all of this background,
I come back to campus
and realize that one of the
most important concepts
in evaluating the college
experience is a word that is
seldom used in evaluating
colleges, college choices
and the college experience:
happiness. One concept is
clearly the actual education,
the opening of the mind to new
knowledge and experiences.
Another is the practical role
of learning skills that can
facilitate gaining meaningful
employment, but the most
important concept that is
seldom discussed or evaluated
is happiness. It is an intangible
quality that seems ever-present
at Holy Cross.
When discussing colleges or
college choice, no one ever
seems to ask, “Are students
happy?” Do they enjoy their
college experience? Have
they made friends? Have they
opened up their world to new
people, new thoughts, ideas and
possibilities? Have they gained
an understanding of what really
matters in life? Have they built
a foundation that can withstand
disappointment, heartache,
failed marriages, the failure of a
career or business, or death of
a friend or family member? Can
they reach back and find the
support they need to survive
life through their friends, moral
compass, religious concepts or
the foundation they created in
college?
In my experience, and in so
many others from my Holy
Cross world, I can proudly say
yes. As I walk the campus and
am greeted by smiling, happy
students in groups of two or
three or more, or as I watch
athletic practices or dramatic
presentations or just wander
the bookstore, I see pride and,
yes, happiness all around this
campus. I think about my
classmate Ann Bowe (now
McDermott), the admissions
director, and I swell with pride
over Holy Cross and how her
staff has changed the world
one student at a time. I know
that in the evaluation that truly
matters, my own, no school
could have provided a greater
benefit to me than the College
of the Holy Cross.
Brian Cook ’79
Duxbury, Massachusetts
Erratum
In “In Memoriam” (Fall 2018,
Page 86), the yearbook photo
of John J. Kapp ’52 was
incorrectly included with the
obituary of the late Philip A.
Kapp, M.D., ’52.
In “In Memoriam” (Fall 2018,
Page 86), the yearbook photo
of the late John F. O’Malley ’52
was incorrectly included with
the obituary of the late John J.
O’Malley ’52.
“Solved Photo” (Fall 2018, Page
75) contained an error. In the
December 1969 walkout in
protest of the suspension of
Holy Cross students, the correct
number of suspended students
was 16: four African-American
students and 12 Caucasian
students.
In “Finding New Things in a
Familiar Place” (Summer 2018,
Page 8), the residence hall’s
name is Brooks-Mulledy.
Holy Cross Magazine regrets
these errors. ■
We Want Your Letters!
Whether it is a response to
something you read, Mystery
Photo identification, Milestones
submission or a story idea, drop
us a line!
WRITE
Holy Cross Magazine
One College Street
Worcester, MA
01610-2395
EMAIL
hcmag@holycross.edu
FAX
(508) 793-2385
D E A R H C M / 5
PROFESSOR
EDWARD CALLAHAN
JOHN J.
O’MALLEY ’52
PHILIP A.
KAPP ’52

he idea behind the photo you
see was simple: a picture of
Arthur “Art” Martin ’70, first
president of the Black Student
Union, on the Hogan Ballroom stage
surrounded by his classmates and
members who followed him.
Team HCM lovingly commandeered the
end of one of the BSU 50th anniversary
events and asked any alumni in the
audience to please head to the stage for
a group photo. To our delight (and relief),
many were willing and walked up the
steps to the stage chuckling, smiling,
arms slung around shoulders.
Then, as people were being arranged by
the photographer, you heard the calls.
Anyone who walked in after we made our
request, or those who were reluctant to
follow suit, were joyfully called to from
the stage and urged on by their fellow
alums: “Get in here!” “Come on up!” “Join
us!”
And that, right there, is the essence of the
organization, one that for half a century
has been encouraging exactly that for
black students at Holy Cross: Join us.
The offer was later extended to any Holy
Cross student, but for black students
since 1968, the BSU has been a safe
place, a welcoming community offering
a shared experience and honing a united
voice for advocacy and education.
Traditionally, what has been written
about the BSU has focused — and
rightfully so — on its founders’ experience
and the early years, a turbulent,
challenging time highlighted by at least
60 black students (nearly the College’s
entire black population) quitting school
in December 1969 to protest the unjust
suspension of four black classmates.
The students, all on scholarship, were
giving up essentially the American dream
— a college education and opportunity
for a successful future — to stand up
for what they believed was right. “I
cannot adequately explain the level of
fear we had about the wisdom of our
decision to leave a college we loved
and the uncertain future we faced,”
said Theodore V. “Ted” Wells Jr. ’72 in
a November speech after receiving an
honorary degree from the College.
That seminal event, and much more, was
chronicled in Diane Brady’s 2012 book,
“Fraternity,” which told the story of the
early days of significant integration at
Holy Cross via the eyes of five black men,
who later forged lives of spectacular
success. (If you haven’t read the book, it
is well worth your time, as it reads like
a movie and is especially poignant in
today’s still racially contentious United
States.)
While the BSU’s founding fathers had
all graduated by 1972, in the 46 years
that followed, new members picked
up the mantle in ways that, while not
always high-stakes, were significant in
sharing the black student experience
in a place where they were still greatly
outnumbered. They brought national
figures to campus to discuss social
justice, equality and advocacy. They
staged film screenings and dance, music
and theatre performances to tell their
story. They challenged the administration
when they believed it was right, such
as the year when classes fell on Martin
Luther King Jr. Day and members
campaigned for a way to honor his
legacy in classrooms. And, at its core,
the group continued to provide a shared
community for a population of students
that may otherwise feel alone: Join us. ■
Melissa Shaw
Managing Editor
E D I T O R ’ S N O T E
“Get in here!”
T
6 H O L Y C R O S S M A G A Z I N E W I N T E R 2 0 1 9 M I C H A E L Q U I E T
Fr. Boroughs and BSU members who
span the group’s 50 years pose for a
photo on the Hogan Ballroom stage.

WRITERS 1 MAURA SULLIVAN HILL is a freelance writer and editor based in Chicago — and a Team HCM alum
who is still thrilled to appear in the pages of the magazine. She writes for higher education clients, including Loyola
University Chicago, University of San Francisco and University of Scranton, as well as the alumni magazine of her
almamater,NotreDame. 2STEVEULFELDERisaTexas-basedfreelancewriterandnovelist.3ELIZABETHWALKER
has been writing to celebrate alumni and to make the case for support of colleges and universities for more than
three decades. 4 MICHAEL BLANDING is a senior fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at
Brandeis University and author of “The Map Thief: The Gripping Story of an Esteemed Rare-Map Dealer Who Made
Millions Stealing Priceless Maps.” He has written for Wired, Slate, The New York Times, The Boston Globe Magazine
and Boston. 5 ANDREW CLARK is a Boston-based freelance writer. 6 MADISON WALSH ’12 writes about creating
spaces and opportunities, building community and celebrating the voices of young women in the Mississippi
Delta after her experience with Teach for America in this issue’s In Your Own Words on Page 72. 7 EVANGELIA
STEFANAKOS ’14 is the managing editor for digital content in College Marketing and Communications. She studied
English and art history at Holy Cross and is a steadfast advocate of the Oxford comma. 8 JANE CARLTON is the staff
writer for College Marketing and Communications. She studied creative writing at the University of Massachusetts
Lowell and loves a good poem. 9 MEREDITH FIDROCKI is a freelance writer who graduated from Bates College
with a degree in English and French. 10 BINAH SAINT-LOTH ’19 is in her final year at Holy Cross. As a psychology
major and Africana studies concentrator, she is open to pursuing endeavors where she can utilize both disciplines
and have a direct impact on people’s lives. When not at Holy Cross, she enjoys cooking, drawing, and being around
her family and friends. 11 REBECCA (TESSITORE) SMITH ’99 and 12 KIMBERLY (OSBORNE) STALEY ’99 are
longtime contributors to Holy Cross Magazine — and even longer-time friends. Former roommates in Loyola,
they’ve come a long way from washing dishes in Kimball, now writing, editing and proofreading marketing and
fundraising communications at their freelance writing firm, SmithWriting. In this issue, Rebecca and Kim wrote In
Memoriam and Book Notes, and also served as our copy editors. PHOTOGRAPHERS 13 REBECCA BLACKWELL
’16 is the executive assistant in the Office of College Marketing and Communications. She studied studio art with a
self-created concentration in photography and transformative special effects. 14 DAN VAILLANCOURT graduated
from the Hallmark Institute of Photography in 1995 and has been photographing professionally for 20 years. He
feels blessed to make a living doing something fun. You’ll see Dan’s photos throughout this issue. 15 CHRISTIAN
SANTILLO ’06 is the associate director of the Office of College Marketing and Communications for College web
communications. While not engrossed in all things digital marketing, Christian enjoys shooting and editing digital
photos. 16 MICHAEL QUIET is a Boston-based sports and fitness photographer whose recent clients include
Adidas, UFC, Reebok, Muscle and Fitness Magazine, the New England Revolution and more. 17 LOUIE DESPRES
is a Worcester-based photographer; his images have appeared in numerous galleries and publications throughout
Massachusetts. He is also involved with the local nonprofit organization stART on the Street and was a recipient of a
Worcester Arts Council Fellowship in 2011. 18 HUI LI ’21 is a photography intern for the Office of College Marketing
and Communications. She is a classics and psychology double major from Boston and is chief photographer of
The Spire, Holy Cross’ student-run newspaper. She is also a student greeter in the Holy Cross admissions office.
19 AFRIK ARMANDO is a Philadelphia-based freelance photographer. CAMPUS CONTRIBUTORS 20 THE HOLY
CROSS ARCHIVES AND SPECIAL COLLECTIONS TEAM collects, preserves, arranges and describes records of
permanent value from the College’s founding in 1843 to the present. Made up of Mark Savolis ’77, archivist, and
Sarah Campbell, assistant archivist, they are invaluable colleagues to HCM. We couldn’t put together an issue
without their historical research and context, as well as the access to archival images and objects.
W H O W E A R E / E D I T O R ’ S N O T E / 7
C O N T R I B U T O R S
W H O W E A R E
MELISSA SHAW
Managing Editor
is celebrating her one-year
anniversary at the helm of Holy
Cross Magazine. She’s extraordinarily
grateful for her colleagues across
campus (especially the gentleman on
the right) for making her first year on
The Hill wonderful. Happy New Year!
STEPHEN ALBANO
Art Director / Designer
has been a part of the HCM team for
seven years – with this being his 30th
issue. He earned his degree in studio
art at Clark University. After this issue
closes, he looks forward to enjoying
time off with his husband at home
during the holidays and hosting their
family and friends now that their
house has modern plumbing and a
new bathroom.
TOM RETTIG
Photographer / Videographer
joined the College Marketing and
Communications office after working
as a photojournalist for 15 years for
newspapers and magazines across the
Northeast. A true New Englander, Tom
enjoys the “country life” in Connecticut
with his family. Tom moved on to
a new role this fall, but HCM is so
grateful for his contributions, and we
wish him the best!
BRIDGET CAMPOLETTANO ’10
Editorial Director
joined the College Marketing and
Communications office in 2013,
and has been seeking out new and
unique stories about the Holy Cross
community to tell since day one.
As winter approaches, she’s looking
forward to fresh snow on campus
and more time to catch up on her
Netflix queue!
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2019

C A M P U S N O T E B O O K
8 H O L Y C R O S S M A G A Z I N E W I N T E R 2 0 1 9 d a n v a i l l a n c o u r t

to m r e t t i g
Ninety-four-year-old St. Joseph Memorial
Chapel remains as majestic as ever, whether
the occasion is December 2018’s Lessons &
Carols, seen here, or daily Mass, as seen in
the black and white overlay photo.
S N A P S H O T / C A M P U S N O T E B O O K / 9
8 Snapshot • 10 Spotlight • 12 On The Hill

S P O T L I G H T
d a n v a i l l a n c o u r t1 0 H O L Y C R O S S M A G A Z I N E W I N T E R 2 0 1 9
Wells addresses the crowd after receiving his
honorary degree. (below left) Wells poses with Fr.
Boroughs, wife Nina Mitchell Wells, and their son,
Phillip. (below right) Wells with classmates Eddie
Jenkins ’72, Art Martin ’70 and Stanley Grayson ’72.

S P O T L I G H T / C A M P U S N O T E B O O K / 1 1
Powerful voice for racial
and social justice. Pillar
of American trial practice.
Masterful strategist for the defense.
Tireless champion for civil rights and
educational opportunity. Exemplary
son of Holy Cross.”
With these words, Margaret Freije,
provost and dean of the College,
addressed Theodore V. “Ted” Wells Jr.
’72 and the hundreds gathered in the
Hogan Ballroom to see him receive an
honorary degree from alma mater.
Since arriving at Holy Cross in 1968 as
one of the 19 black students recruited
by Rev. John E. Brooks, S.J., ’49, Wells
has become a leading white-collar
criminal defense attorney in the
United States. The honorary degree,
which was presented on Nov. 9 as
many alumni returned to campus to
celebrate the Black Student Union’s
50th anniversary, recognized Wells’
legal career, service to the College and
work championing civil rights, racial
and social justice, and educational
equality.
“This weekend is not about me or
any single individual, but is rather a
celebration of the 50th anniversary
of an historic event in the history of
Holy Cross — the decision by Fr. John
Brooks to integrate Holy Cross beyond
a token number of black students,”
Wells said in his address.
Entering kindergarten at an integrated
school the year after the Supreme
Court’s ruling on Brown v. Board of
Education and entering Holy Cross
the year Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was
assassinated, Wells explained that the
black students who arrived at Holy
Cross in 1968 were “the children of the
civil rights movement” who had lived
their teenage years “in the midst of
what was often a violent struggle for
racial equality.”
Their goal in coming to Holy Cross,
he said, was the same as that of their
fellow white students: “We wanted a
great education and we hoped that
great academic training would in turn
help us get good jobs. None of us
thought we would win Pulitzer Prizes
or play on Super Bowl teams or go on
the U.S. Supreme Court.”
The purpose and conviction with
which the men approached their
careers echoes that of their time at
Holy Cross. In his first semester at the
College, Wells co-founded the BSU
and, a year later, was helping lead the
infamous 1969 BSU walkout, when
the organization’s 60-plus members
left Holy Cross, suitcases in hand, in
objection to the College’s suspension
of four black students for participating
in a protest against General Electric’s
involvement in the Vietnam War.
“The night the members of the BSU
decided to withdraw from Holy Cross
in protest was one of the most difficult
nights of our lives. Each black student
called his parents that night to tell
them we were quitting school over a
matter of principle,” Wells shared. “I
cannot adequately explain the level of
fear we had about the wisdom of our
decision to leave a college we loved
and the uncertain future we faced.”
Wells took the opportunity to
recognize the role the late Fr. Brooks
— then academic vice president and
dean, and later the College’s 29th
president — played in negotiating
a resolution to the walkout, which
would not have ended with the black
students’ return without him.
“If it had not been for Fr. Brooks,”
Wells said, “the history of black
students at Holy Cross would be far
different from that which we celebrate
today.”
Wells, who holds an MBA and a J.D.
from Harvard University, has spent
the past 50 years practicing law at
a premier law firm and working pro
bono for nonprofits, such as the
NAACP, focusing on civil rights and
racial justice.
“In that half century,” he shared,
“America has continued its great
experiment in racial integration.” And
while we have seen many positive
developments, Wells said, we still do
not live in a post-racial world.
“The fight for equality in America
must be led by a multiracial coalition.
This country needs whites, blacks and
other people of color to join together
in the struggle for basic human and
civil rights,” he said. “That was the
message that Fr. Brooks taught us by
his words and by his deeds. We should
celebrate his life and vision by fighting
together for a color-blind society,
where all people are not only equal in
the eyes of God, but also in the eyes of
their fellow human beings.”
Rev. Philip L. Boroughs, S.J., president
of the College, said Wells is an
example of the heroic leaders who
have emerged out of this ongoing
struggle for freedom and civil rights:
“We recognize that Ted’s contributions
are the consequence of and his
response to a history and culture of
slavery and racism in this country, and
his participation in prolonged efforts
by individuals and communities and
organizations to fight for equality, and
freedom, and civil rights.
“It is most appropriate then,” he
continued, “that on the occasion of the
50th anniversary of the Black Student
Union at Holy Cross, and in light of the
struggles which produced it, and the
ongoing commitments which enliven
it today, that we honor the life and
work of one of its founders.” ■
Theodore V.
Wells Jr. ’72
Receives
Honorary
Degree
BY E VA N G E L I A
S T E FA N A KOS
“

O N T H E H I L L
OCTOBER
ARTISTIC TRADITIONS The Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery at Holy
Cross opened the exhibit “The Newar Craftsmen of Kathmandu Valley:
Objects of Devotion from Nepal.” Running through December, it featured
repoussé metal work, lost wax castings, wood carvings and paintings
created by the Newar craftsmen of the Kathmandu Valley. The Newars are
among the last groups in the world to make devotional art for Buddhist and
Hindu practices, following preindustrial, highly refined artistic traditions.
Holy Cross Among the
Best Liberal Arts Colleges
for Salary Potential,
According to PayScale
oly Cross ranks No. 16
among liberal arts schools
for graduates’ starting and
mid-career salary potential
by the website PayScale.com. The
annual list is based on the salaries
of recent graduates and those with
more than 10 years of experience.
The starting median salary among
Holy Cross graduates with less than
five years of experience was $58,800,
while the mid-career median was
$121,000. Additionally, 46 percent
of alumni reported having “high
meaning” careers, those they believe
make the world a better place.
PayScale’s College Salary Report
includes salary data of 3.2 million
graduates from 2,700 colleges and
universities across the country. The
data used to produce the report
was collected through an online
compensation survey.
Holy Cross also came in at No. 17 on
PayScale’s “Best Schools for Business
Majors” list, a ranking based on the
College’s successful accounting
major; No. 18 for humanities majors;
No. 8 among religious schools; and
No. 8 overall among colleges in
Massachusetts. Additionally, Holy
Cross was ranked No. 18 among
the best liberal arts colleges in the
country on PayScale’s 2018 College
Return on Investment Report earlier
this year. ■
H
christiansantillo
1 2 H O L Y C R O S S M A G A Z I N E W I N T E R 2 0 1 9
n an effort to engage the com-
munity in building a more
inclusive campus, Holy Cross
held a campuswide summit on
Nov. 16 that drew 1,000 student, fac-
ulty and staff participants. Everyone
on campus was invited to discuss
and explore the College’s culture and
steps needed to build a community
that supports and celebrates all its
members.
The event, ENGAGE Summit: Where
Do We Go From Here?, included more
than 60 different sessions throughout
the day on a variety of topics, includ-
ing LGBTQ issues, Title IX and sexual
College
Cancels
Classes for
Campuswide
Summit
Ichristiansantillo
hui li

««
CHAMPIONING VISITING EDUCATORS Holy Cross was lauded
by The Chronicle of Higher Education for championing its visiting
assistant professors. Discussing the growing challenges facing
young academics, the publication noted how the College is leading
the way in making visiting assistant professors more competitive on
the tenure-track market, whether it’s through faculty-development
workshops and mentoring, support for scholarly studies or more.
FAMILY WEEKEND Held the weekend
before Halloween, Holy Cross families
enjoyed three days of nonstop activity on
The Hill, from Casino Night and musical
performances to president’s hour, a faculty
showcase, pumpkin decorating on The Hoval,
Mass and interfaith worship, and much more.
O N T H E H I L L / C A M P U S N O T E B O O K / 1 3
respect, and inclusion of marginal-
ized groups. All afternoon classes,
Athletics practices and meetings
were canceled to allow each com-
munity member the opportunity
to learn from each other, gain new
perspectives and offer ideas for
how Holy Cross can move forward
as a community.
“Our goal was to reflect on our
shared responsibilities to each
other and to consider how we
might work to create a community
marked by mutual respect and ci-
vility,” says Rev. Philip L. Boroughs,
S.J., president of the College. “While
many of the conversations we had
were difficult and challenging, my
hope is that what [participants] also
saw and heard was a community
wishing to be better and willing
to do the difficult work to achieve
that goal. It was inspiring to see the
crowds walking across campus on
Friday afternoon to attend sessions
and then to gather with more than
1,000 student, faculty and staff
members in Kimball Dining Hall to
conclude the summit.”
The event was the first step in
addressing issues of respect and
inclusion on campus. The College
will also be creating further
opportunities for the community
to work together to identify issues,
brainstorm solutions, respond to
the feedback and suggestions, and
enact needed change.
“There is more work to do and, just
as importantly, concrete action
steps that we as a community must
take,” Fr. Boroughs says. ■
he popular eatery in the
Integrated Science Complex
has been named in honor
of Stephen I. D’Agostino
’55, whose family founded the famed
D’Agostino supermarket chain in
New York City.
Alongside his brother, D’Agostino
took over the business in 1964, which
had long since been considered
one of America’s first
supermarkets after
opening its doors
in 1939. Over the
decades, D’Agostino
supermarkets have
become renowned as
“New York’s grocer.” The
store’s fame grew as
their signature D’AG Bag shopping
bags were seen in the hands of actors
and performers who liked to use the
totes to carry their costumes and
performance items.
The D’Agostino name is also a
familiar one at Holy Cross, with
second- and third-generation family
members joining the Crusader
family. ■
College Dedicates
D’Agostino Café in
Integrated Science
Complex
T
huili

O N T H E H I L L
OCTOBER
INTERSECTION OF MUSIC, ART AND SCIENCE Artists, musicians and scientists
from the multimedia rock opera “Black Inscription” spent a week in residency at the
College. Members encouraged students to see all the unexpected places where science
and art intersect and overlap, such as via a drum circle in a math class, a music lecture
in a marine biology class and a hunt for freshwater shrimp with a group of first-year
students wearing hip-waders. The group also performed its work “Black Inscription,”
a multimedia song cycle that follows a deep-sea diver on an Odyssean journey.
ne hundred seventy students
and alumnae turned out to
hear María Eugenia Ferré
Rangel ’89 (right) and her
sister, Loren Ferré Rangel ’92 (left),
speak about the importance — and
challenge — of mixing good business
practices with good citizenship at the
annual Women in Business Conference,
sponsored by the Carlyse and Arthur A.
Ciocca ’59 Center for Business, Ethics,
and Society.
The sisters hold management
positions at their family’s Puerto
Rican media company, Grupo Ferré
Rangel, which owns one of the largest
newspapers in the country, El Nuevo
Día. In their keynote interview,
moderated by Michele Murray
(middle), vice president for student
affairs and dean of students, the sisters
talked about Hurricane Maria and its
devastating aftermath.
“We had to make a choice: Were we
going to be an observer?” Loren said.
“Or were we going to be an agent of
change? We didn’t have a road map,
but we made the choice to choose to
help. People needed us.”
María Eugenia noted her family’s
company was one of the only media
outlets still working on the island in
the storm’s aftermath. There was no
radio, no television and no internet
— only a printed newspaper. And she
credits lessons learned at Holy Cross
for tapping into the discipline needed
to get the job done under tough
circumstances.
“Holy Cross trains you every day for
that grit,” she said, “for that desire to
become better.” ■
Two Alumnae Deliver Keynote
Address at Annual Women in
Business Conference
O Rodin Exhibit
at Cantor to
Celebrate the
Gallery’s 35th
Anniversary
he 1983 inaugural
exhibition of the Iris
and B. Gerald Cantor Art
Gallery at Holy Cross
featured Rodin sculptures from the
collection of the Cantors. Thirty-
five years later, in celebration of
the Gallery’s anniversary and in
T
louiedespres
tom rettig

n Family Weekend, Alpha
Sigma Nu inducted 28
members of the class of
2019 into its elite ranks. The
inductees exemplify the society’s values
of excellence in scholarship, loyalty,
leadership and service.
The only honor society permitted to
bear the name Jesuit, Alpha Sigma
Nu recognizes students who, along
with classroom excellence, have a
commitment to and concern for the well-
being of others and have made the most
of their experience in a Jesuit academic
community.
Candidates for membership are selected
from the top 15 percent of their class, and
from this group, membership is awarded
to only 4 percent.
The class of 2019 inductees include
Isabel A. Block, Jaclyn M. Brewster,
Lauren R. Carey, Madeline A. Carroll,
Maya E. Collins, Galen L. Comerford,
Declan E. Cronin, Kara M. Cuzzone,
Erin W. Dennehy, Katherine M. Elacqua,
Margaret M. Goddard, Maureen B.
Hodgens, Juliana M. Holcomb, John
Kim, Emily K. Kulp, Sijia Liu, Claire E.
MacMillan, Kerrin M. Mannion, Marie C.
Moncata, Teresa M. Murphy, Lillian J. Piz,
Christopher J. Puntasecca, Rui Qiang,
Stephen J. Ross, Matthew E. Rueter,
Mithra S. Salmassi, Franҫois J. Venne and
Amanda C. Wibben. ■
PURPLE GOES GREEN For the ninth consecutive year, Holy Cross has
been named one of the most environmentally responsible colleges in the
country, according to The Princeton Review’s “Guide to 399 Green Colleges.”
The guide is the only free, comprehensive resource identifying colleges
with exemplary commitments to sustainability based on their academic
offerings and career preparation for students, campus policies, initiatives
and activities. Holy Cross received a “Green Rating” score of 91 out of 99.
MUSIC CONNECTS Grammy Award-
winning Silkroad began the second year of its
three-year residency at Holy Cross. At a jam
session in downtown Worcester, the group
invited amateur and professional musicians
from the city’s immigrant populations and
recently resettled refugees to join them.
««
conjunction with the College’s
175th anniversary, Auguste
Rodin’s sculptures will again
grace O’Kane Hall in the
exhibition “Rodin: Truth,
Form, Life, Selections from
the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor
Collection.” In addition to
22 sculptures on loan from
the Cantor Foundation, the
exhibition will feature several
Rodins from the College’s
permanent collection.
In a career that spanned
the late 19th and early 20th
centuries, Rodin — regarded as
the father of modern sculpture
— created forms that captured
the vitality of the human
spirit. Although respectful
of sculptural traditions, the
intensity of Rodin’s vision
and his innovative studio and
business practices ushered
sculpture into the modern
era and influenced countless
artists who followed him.
The opening reception will be
held 5 p.m.-7 p.m. on Thursday,
Jan. 24, featuring remarks
by Judith Sobol, curator of
collections and exhibitions
for the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor
Foundation. The exhibition
will run through April 6. ■
(left) Auguste Rodin
Head of Shade with Two Hands,
c. 1910
Bronze,
cast 2 in an edition of unknown size,
Alexis Rudier Foundry
7-5/8” x 10 ¾” x 8-1/8”
Alpha Sigma
Nu Inducts
28 New
Members
d a n v a i l l a n c o u r t
O

O N T H E H I L L
ice President for Mission
Rev. William Campbell, S.J.,
’87 and College Marketing and
Communications will once again
offer a daily, digital reflection series for
the holy season of Lent, which begins
with Ash Wednesday on March 6 and
concludes on Easter Sunday, April 21.
Each day, subscribers will receive a
reflection on the reading of the day
written by Holy Cross professors,
students, chaplains, staff and alumni.
This will be the fifth-annual offering
of “Return to Me: Lenten Reflections
from Holy Cross,” attracting more than
4,000 participants. Here’s what some
past recipients have said about the
experience:
“Thank you for sharing this Lenten
journey with me, an alumna. Often, after
a long day at the clinic or teaching my
medical students, I found inspiration in
the reading and reflection awaiting me
in the email. This email Lenten series has
been one of the best connections I have
had with Holy Cross since my student
years; I felt like HC put effort into caring
for my spirituality.” – alumna, class of
1980
“Thank you for the beautiful messages
you sent each day during Lent. I always
look forward to getting them.”
– grandmother of a member of the class
of 2017
“Thank you so very much for spreading
the meaning of the readings during
the days of Lent and Holy Week. The
reflections were lovely and ‘provoking.’
I have printed out many and they will be
my ‘go to’ for days for spiritual reading in
the days to come.” – parent of a member
of the class of 1992
“Whether you have subscribed in past
years or are looking for a new resource
to enhance your devotion in this holy
season, it is my hope that these daily
reflections will help all members of our
community enter deeply into the season
of Lent,” Fr. Campbell says.
To sign up for the daily Lenten
reflection email, fill out the form found
at holycross.edu/return-to-me. If you
have any questions, email returntome@
holycross.edu or call 508-793-3026. ■
‘Return to Me’
Offered for
Lent 2019
STARTUP SUCCESS A Holy Cross student startup competed at the
Beantown Throwdown, an annual pitch contest held in Boston. The
company’s pitch centered around Wilox, a universal, long-lasting product
that can kill bacteria and viruses on many surfaces to prevent the spread
of illness. The eight-person team placed second, beating teams from MIT,
Harvard, Boston College, Boston University, Tufts, McGill, Massachusetts
College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Wentworth, Brandeis and Berklee.
V
NOVEMBER
tomrettig

cattered across a table built
using the golden ratio were a
series of small-scale hybrid
sculptures created by Associate
Professor Michael Beatty (above). His
work, a mix of handmade and digitally
printed forms, was among the artwork
featured in “Summa,” an Iris and B.
Gerald Cantor Art Gallery fall exhibition
that showcased new work by the eight
artists who make up Holy Cross’ visual
arts faculty: Beatty, Rachelle Beaudoin,
John Carney, Matthew Gamber, Victor
Pacheco, Cristi Rinklin, Susan Schmidt
and Leslie Schomp.
A quick scan of the gallery revealed the
scope of the faculty’s mastery, represented
through media that included photography,
painting, digital media and printmaking.
To augment the exhibition, each artist-
educator led a demonstration inviting
students and the wider community into
their process of creation.
“I’m interested in the intersection of art
and science — the two things that I loved
when I was your age in school,” Beatty
shared with students gathered around his
work in the gallery. His sculptures, small
enough to fit in one hand and resembling
organic forms, heavily incorporate
elements created using 3-D printing
technology. In the ideation stage, Beatty
draws his forms on the computer, often
starting with mathematical figures.
“I’m in awe of the way that math can
become this sort of window through
which we can see the world, but I also
realize that our lived experience is very
different from the sort of rigid rules of
mathematics. We see the world and there
is pain and suffering; there is wonder and
awe,” Beatty explained. “In a funny way,
I’m trying to use this mathematical model
to look at something very different — to
give ideas physical form.”
Some of Beatty’s work in “Summa” — like
one 3-D sculpture that was filled in with
plaster rather than left open and porous
like much of his work — was created
during his recent sabbatical when, he
explained, he had the rare opportunity
and space to experiment.
“I think it was just playing in the studio,
to be honest with you,” he shared about
the solid form. “I got bored one day and
started filling in the thing. It’s been a long
time since I’ve had that kind of time to
devote to the studio. And it’s amazing, for
those of you who are studio art students
here, the idea of playing. Have time to
play, make mistakes and throw things
out.”
The exhibition — held every three years
— gave students and the community a
rare glimpse into the creative process of
the practicing visual artists who serve as
educators at Holy Cross. ■
‘Summa’
Exhibition
Showcases
Work of Visual
Arts Faculty
««
STUDENT-ATHLETE SUCCESS Holy Cross Athletics teams are tied for
eighth in the nation with an overall graduation rate of 98 percent, according
to the Graduation Success Rate Report, which has been released by the
NCAA. This marks the 12th straight year in which the Crusaders have posted
a Graduation Success Rate of at least 97 percent. Only five other schools from
New England earned top 20 rankings: Harvard (100 percent), Dartmouth (99
percent), Yale (99 percent), Brown (98 percent) and Fairfield (97 percent).
S
STUDY ABROAD RECOGNITION Holy
Cross was ranked No. 2 among baccalaureate
institutions in the United States for long-term
study abroad participation by the Institute of
International Education. The ranking considers
the 2016-17 academic year. Over the past five
years, the College has made the top 3 each year.
tom rettig

O N T H E H I L L
NOVEMBER
NATIONAL CHAMPIONS The Holy Cross Mediation Team
won the national championship at the 2018 International
Academy of Dispute Resolution Intercollegiate Mediation
Tournament, held at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
Brian Senier ’19 and Jessica Russo ’19 finished in first place;
Caitlin Maple ’21 and Caroline Fredericks ’21 finished in third
place. The team also won a record nine All-American honors.
oday, images of
the cross and
crucifixion are
synonymous with
Christianity — but that has not
always been the case.
“Art historians have been
unable to identify an explicitly
Christian crucifix prior to
the fourth or even the fifth
century, and then only a few
rare examples before the
sixth. Even a plain Christian
cross symbol is virtually
missing in Christian art
much before the middle of
the fourth century,” shared
Robin Jensen, Patrick O’Brien
Professor of Theology at the
University of Notre Dame, at a
lecture examining the history,
art and meanings behind the
College’s namesake a few days
after the Feast of the Holy
Cross.
Some scholars believe the
lack of cross or crucifix
imagery implies that
Christians of the first three
centuries were not as focused
on the matter, purpose
or meaning of Christ’s
crucifixion, but rather on his
message of love, justice and
a promised paradise. Jensen
disagrees.
“As a historian who works
in both early Christian texts
and material culture, I cannot
avoid the evidence that
ancient Christian writers in
fact regarded the cross and
Christ’s crucifixion as a core
event in salvation history,” she
explained. “We have extensive
evidence that early Christians
went about explaining,
defending and even
proclaiming the crucifixion.”
It wasn’t until the middle of
the fourth century that an
unambiguous Christian cross
began to make a frequent
appearance, alongside the
Christogram, a symbol made
up of the interlocked Greek
letters chi and rho, the first
two letters of Christ’s name.
Without question, the
Christogram was initially
associated with the Emperor
Constantine, to whom the
symbol appeared in a dream
or waking vision just before a
major military victory, Jensen
shared. The use of the images
spread under Constantine,
who regarded the cross as his
personal protective insignia.
“Both the Christogram and
the simple cross now start to
appear in a variety of contexts
that are clearly imperial
and specifically military in
character,” she said.
Within a few years, however,
the cross and Christogram
were included in scenes of
the Passion story — still not
showing Jesus’ crucifixion —
as symbols of Christ’s victory
over death, completely
removed from any imperial
context.
“If the cross hadn’t had the
association with Constantine’s
victory, it wouldn’t necessarily
carry the meaning of victory,”
she noted, pointing to this
as a strong example of how
images transform themselves.
Images of the crucifixion
come into prominence after
Constantine’s mother, Helena,
identified the site of the
crucifixion and relics of the
true cross were discovered.
The earliest depictions of
Jesus on the cross were found
within Constantine’s shrine
of the Holy Sepulchre in
Jerusalem, built on the site
identified by his mother.
From then on, cross and
crucifixion images became
steady motifs within Christian
visual culture. In the few
centuries that followed, their
presentation and associations
continued to evolve. Some
depictions linked Jesus’ cross
to the Edenic tree of life,
bringing the story of original
sin full circle to salvation,
while crucifixion depictions
shifted from an emphasis on
Christ’s victory over death to
his participation in human
suffering.
This changing, enriched
visual repertoire, said Jensen,
“expanded the possibilities
and potentialities of the Holy
Cross as a rich and incredibly
complicated Christian
symbol.”
The lecture was presented as
part of the College’s ongoing
celebration of its 175th
anniversary and one of the
Deitchman Family Lectures
on Religion and Modernity,
sponsored by the Rev. Michael
C. McFarland, S.J. Center for
Religion, Ethics and Culture. ■
— Evangelia Stefanakos
‘A Symbol
of Victory
and Sign of
Salvation’
Lecture
Explores
College’s
Namesake
T
hui li

■
OF DOLPHINS AND ETHICS Thomas I. White ’69
visited campus to speak on “Dolphins, Flourishing and the
Challenge of Interspecies Ethics.” White is the author of “In
Defense of Dolphins: The New Moral Frontier,” a scientific
adviser to the Wild Dolphin Project and a fellow of the
Oxford Centre for Animal Ethics. He is currently a visiting
professor of philosophy at Mount Holyoke College.
ob Cousy ’50
and author Gary
Pomerantz sat down
for a conversation
before a standing-room-only
crowd at Holy Cross to talk
about the recently released
book, “The Last Pass: Cousy,
Russell, the Celtics, and What
Matters in the End.”
In Pomerantz’s new book,
Cousy reflects on his complex
relationship with Boston
Celtics teammate Bill Russell,
the racism Russell endured
during the 1950s and 1960s,
and how Cousy feels he could
have — and should have —
done more.
It wasn’t until an ESPN
interview in 2001 that
Cousy realized he felt a great
sense of guilt about how he
handled the situation with
Russell.
Cousy, 90, shared that
the past few years of
introspection have led him to
ask: “Why didn’t I do more?
Why didn’t I reach out more?”
“I was the man,” said Cousy,
the Celtics’ captain. “I was in a
position where maybe it could
have made a difference.”
Although he graduated from
Holy Cross almost 70 years
ago, Cousy pointed to the
impact the social justice
lessons he learned from
the Jesuits had on him and
the formation of his moral
compass — which he admitted
should have been better
utilized in the case of Russell.
“I should have shared his pain
more,” Cousy added.
The event, which was also
attended by fellow basketball
star Togo Palazzi ’54, was
the first time Cousy has
spoken on campus since the
unveiling of his bronze statue
in front of the Hart Center at
the Luth Athletic Complex in
2008. ■ — Evangelia Stefanakos
Cousy Speaks on The Hill
for First Time in 10 Years
TOP COLLEGE Holy Cross ranked No. 3 on Money Magazine’s list
of “10 Top Colleges That Don’t Care About Your SAT Scores,” with the
submission of standardized test scores being optional at the College.
According to the publication, the list was compiled by using data
from the National Center for Education Statistics and FairTest, and
ranked according to Money’s annual “Best Colleges” rankings, which
are based on affordability, educational quality and career outcomes.
n November, College President Rev. Philip L. Boroughs,
S.J., celebrated Mass in Mary Chapel for mission and
identity officers and student affairs officers from
the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities
(AJCU) member schools. Holy Cross hosted separate annual
conferences for both groups on the same week. The groups
met for a joint session — the first time in AJCU conference
history — in which they discussed how they can best
collaborate with one another on shared issues of concern. ■
B
HC Hosts AJCU First
I
huilihuili

F A C U LT Y & S T A F F
SUSAN ELIZABETH SWEENEY | Monsignor Murray Professor in Arts and Humanities, English department | Her backyard treehouse |
“I’m sitting on the second story of a three-story treehouse that my husband built in our
backyard, winding a staircase around an old oak and adding a balcony, a viewing platform,
a weathervane, a letterbox, a built-in folding table for tea with friends and a leafy furnished
hideaway beneath for visiting children. This green and golden place is best for just sitting
quietly, thinking or reading or writing poems. It’s one of the places where I feel most like myself.”
“I’m sitting on the second story of a three-story treehouse that my husband built in our
backyard, winding a staircase around an old oak and adding a balcony, a viewing platform,
a weathervane, a letterbox, a built-in folding table for tea with friends and a leafy furnished
hideaway beneath for visiting children. This green and golden place is best for just sitting
quietly, thinking or reading or writing poems. It’s one of the places where I feel most like myself.”

20 Creative Spaces • 22 Headliners • 26 Syllabus
tom rettig
F A C U L T Y & S T A F F / 2 1Worcester, Massachusetts | READING "DUMBSTRUCK: A CULTURAL HISTORY OF VENTRILOQUISM"

H E A D L I N E R S
oly Cross has welcomed
eight new faculty members to
tenure-track positions for the
2018-19 academic year. They
bring a breadth of expertise on a variety
of topics, from studying fruit flies for
brain function to looking at how the
Declaration of Independence and U.S.
Constitution influence the practice of
modern politics.
CHRISTINE HAGAN,
assistant professor
of chemistry
Hagan earned an A.B. in
chemistry from Amherst
College, an M.Phil. in chemistry from
the University of Cambridge and a Ph.D.
in chemistry from Harvard University.
Prior to Holy Cross, she completed her
postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard
Medical School and was a teaching
fellow at Harvard University.
What excites you most
about joining the faculty?
I'm impressed by the commitment of
the faculty in the chemistry department
to both teaching and research. The
department has a thriving research
program for undergraduates, and it
encourages students to start thinking
like researchers early on by making
laboratory experiments the focus of
the introductory chemistry courses. I'm
drawn to this way of teaching because
it is important for students to learn how
to identify interesting questions and
then figure out how to solve them —
regardless of what the students may end
up doing in the future.
How do you see your work
interacting with the world?
In my research lab, we are trying to
identify new strategies for treating
bacterial infections. Many of the
antibiotics currently used in the clinic
are becoming less effective as bacteria
develop resistance to them. There is
an urgent need for new drugs to treat
infections caused by these resistant
bacteria. My group is studying the
mechanisms bacteria themselves
use to kill one another when they
encounter competing bacteria in
their environment. My hope is that by
understanding these bacterial toxin
delivery systems, we may identify
better ways of overcoming the natural
resistance of many disease-causing
bacteria to antibiotic therapy.
Eight New Tenure-Track
Faculty Members Welcomed
in 2018-19 Academic Year
2 2 H O L Y C R O S S M A G A Z I N E W I N T E R 2 0 1 9 to m r e t t i g
The new scholar-educators bring a wealth of knowledge
to eight departments BY JANE CARLTON
H

ALEXIS HILL,
assistant professor
of biology
Hill earned a B.A. in
biochemistry and
M.S. in chemistry from the University
of Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. in
neurobiology from Columbia University.
Prior to Holy Cross, she completed her
postdoctoral fellowship and taught at
Washington University in St. Louis.
I'm excited about the amazing
environment, created by both students
and faculty. The students have already
surpassed my high expectations, in
that they are eager and engaged, in
both my introductory biology and my
advanced neurobiology courses. The
faculty and administration here have
created a supportive environment for
research and for innovative approaches
to education.
In my research, I use fruit flies to
study genes that are important for
proper brain function, many of which
are associated with neurologic and
psychiatric disease. While the brains
of flies and humans are very different,
the cells that make up the brain are
very similar. Here at Holy Cross, I am
currently setting up a neuroscience
research lab, where I will have students
performing experiments with me,
which will contribute to the broad
understanding of how brains function,
in both healthy and disease states.
ALEX HINDMAN,
assistant professor of
political science
Hindman earned a B.A
in political science
from Saint Vincent College and an M.A.
and Ph.D. in politics from Claremont
Graduate University. Prior to Holy
Cross, he taught at Morehead State
University, Vanguard University and
Azusa Pacific University. He was also a
visiting assistant professor in the Holy
Cross political science department from
2016 to 2018.
I believe in the mission of a Jesuit,
Catholic institution. Holy Cross
consistently pursues vexing questions
with a spirit of civility and free inquiry
that characterizes the best elements of
the intellectual life. From the students
to the faculty and staff here, Holy Cross
has great people who are committed to
learning with — and from — each other.
Holy Cross stands out to me as a place
where it's possible to engage in the
Ignatian search for knowledge among a
community of friends and scholars.
My work in American government
focuses on the Declaration
of Independence and the U.S.
Constitution. In particular, I look at
how the political ideals embodied in
these documents influence (or fail to
influence) the actual practice of our
politics. Through my teaching and my
research, I hope to invite others to
evaluate the American constitutional
tradition's answers to some universal
questions of the human condition,
particularly how we can both live in
a community with others and retain
the individual autonomy necessary for
human flourishing.
MAHRI LEONARD-
FLECKMAN,
assistant professor
of religious studies
Leonard-Fleckman
earned a B.A. in Spanish and English
literature from Washington University
in St. Louis; an M.Div. from Union
Theological Seminary in New York
with a dual focus in Old Testament/
Hebrew Bible and religion and
education; and a Ph.D. in Hebrew
Bible and ancient Near Eastern studies
from New York University. Prior to
Holy Cross, she taught at Providence
College, the University of Scranton,
Stonehill College, Clark University and
Marymount Upper School of New York.
I was deeply attracted to Holy Cross'
unique combination of a strong liberal
arts college and a Jesuit mission. I
was equally attracted to the religious
studies department, which contains
a remarkable breadth of fields and
methodological interests and is simply
a powerhouse of scholar-teachers. Also,
Holy Cross is a true community. I could
not imagine a better fit for my own
blend of interests and values.
My field is Hebrew Bible and ancient
Near Eastern studies ("ancient Near
East" is synonymous with "Middle
East a long time ago"). I believe that
knowledge of the ancient Near East is
vital for engaging with contemporary
Middle Eastern issues, and such
knowledge gives us immense and broad
insight into politics, society and religion.
Depending on how we humans use it,
the Bible continues to have immense
power to cause harm or good. My
desire is to help people gain the tools
necessary to read with integrity and
use the Bible as a positive force in this
world (and perhaps fall in love with it,
too!).
DOMINIC MACHADO,
assistant professor
of classics
Machado earned an
A.B. in classics and
economics from Dartmouth College and
a Ph.D. in ancient history from Brown
University. Prior to Holy Cross, he
taught at Wake Forest University.
Holy Cross calls on faculty members
to be more than just teachers. In
particular, I am excited to answer the
call of providing not just technical
instruction to high-achieving students,
H E A D L I N E R S / F A C U L T Y & S T A F F / 2 3
(from left) Ke Ren, Dominic Machado,
Mahri Leonard-Fleckman, Christine Hagan,
Reginald McGee, Alexis Hill, Ryan Mruczek
(not pictured) Alex Hindman

H E A D L I N E R S
but of delivering a holistic education
aligned with the Jesuit ideals of "cura
personalis." I also look forward to
participating in the College's mission
of fostering social justice that asks
each and every one of us to think
about and work to improve the world
around us.
I am personally interested in engaging
and expanding the field of classics —
long a bastion of the elite in society — to
broader audiences and, especially, to
underserved minority groups. I have
spoken at numerous conferences about
how classicists can become more
engaged with underserved minority
communities and I look forward to
continuing this work at Holy Cross.
Additionally, my academic research
is motivated by what is happening
in the world around us. My work on
protest and dissent in the Roman world
is informed by the ways that we as a
modern society react to, write about
and process resistance.
REGINALD MCGEE,
assistant professor
of mathematics
McGee earned a B.S.
in mathematical
sciences from Florida A&M University
and an M.S. and Ph.D. in mathematics
from Purdue University. Prior to Holy
Cross, he completed his postdoctoral
fellowship at the NSF Mathematical
Biosciences Institute and taught at The
Ohio State University.
Holy Cross strikes me as a positive,
supportive and welcoming community
during both my campus interview and a
colloquium visit in 2016. I also had a gut
feeling that the other new faculty hires
would all be really cool.
I apply mathematics to problems
in biology, particularly cancer
immunology. My research is directed
at building mathematical models and
developing approaches for analyzing
biomedical data to assist collaborators
in clinical research.
RYAN MRUCZEK,
assistant professor
of psychology
Mruczek earned a B.S.
in neuroscience from
the University of Rochester and a Ph.D.
in neuroscience from Brown University.
Prior to Holy Cross, he completed a
postdoctoral research fellowship at
Princeton University, was a research
scientist at the University of Nevada,
Reno, and taught at Swarthmore
College and Worcester State University.
I was specifically drawn to Holy
Cross' commitment to building a
collaborative learning environment
for all its members — students, faculty
and employees alike. The psychology
department's emphasis on meaningful
student research experiences was also
very important to me. These values
mirror my own ideals with respect to an
undergraduate liberal arts education. I
look forward to the opportunity to work
closely with students in the classroom
and in my laboratory.
My research focuses on object vision —
how we see, recognize and interact with
objects. Specifically, I am interested in
how networks of neurons in the brain
encode information about the world
around us. Our brains are limited in
their capacity to acquire and process
sensory information, and these
limitations can lead to biases in our
perceptions and decisions. Thus, these
questions are fundamental to how we
perceive and interact with others and
with our environment.
KE REN,
assistant professor
of history
Ren earned a B.A. in
history and economics
from the University of California,
Berkeley and an M.A. and Ph.D. in
history from Johns Hopkins University.
Prior to Holy Cross, he taught at
Indiana University, South Bend and
Bates College. He was a postdoctoral
teaching fellow in the history
department at Holy Cross from 2016 to
2018.
Why did you choose to
become a faculty member?
I chose to become a tenure-track
faculty member at Holy Cross
after a rewarding two years here
as a postdoctoral teaching fellow.
During that time, I developed a great
appreciation for the cross-disciplinary
liberal arts environment cultivated at
the College, as well as for the support
and generosity of my colleagues
here in the history department and
Asian Studies program. I even had
an opportunity to co-organize a
conference on "Love and Desire in
Premodern China" with colleagues
from the Chinese program and the
Worcester Art Museum, with support
from the McFarland Center. Of course,
I have also developed a fondness for
the diligence and enthusiasm of the
students here!
Both my teaching and my research
are concerned with China's evolving
place in the world. In my research and
writing, I work on Chinese diplomats,
writers, travelers and activists who
have mediated between East and
West, reinvented their own cultural
identities in the process, as well as
the transnational movements and
networks they joined in the late 19th
century and early to mid-20th century.
In my teaching, I also emphasize the
importance of understanding Chinese
and East Asian history in international
contexts. I hope a deeper appreciation
and critical understanding of this
kind of cosmopolitanism and cross-
cultural interaction can help enrich our
thinking and our choices around issues
of diversity, dialogue and identity in a
globalized world. ■

H E A D L I N E R S / F A C U L T Y & S T A F F / 2 5
s a teacher and mentor,
Danuta "Diane"
Bukatko, professor
of psychology, has
played a significant role in the
lives of hundreds of students
over the course of her 42-
year Holy Cross tenure.
In September, she was
awarded the 2018 Donal J.
Burns ’49 Career Teaching
Medal, given annually to one
outstanding faculty member
who has devoted their life to
teaching at the College.
While Bukatko has been
lecturing for decades, her
approach and accessibility
to students is timeless. Her
students describe her as a
professor who "ensures that
all students are equipped
with the necessary resources
to achieve success." One
student noted, "She was
sure to deeply connect with
her students, but it was her
ability to push them outside
of their academic comfort
zones and foster open and
dynamic communication that
set her classes apart from
others."
What drew you to psychology,
especially developmental
psychology?
It was my wanting to
understand how human
beings think — I wanted to
know more about the brain
and how it functions, how
we remember, how we solve
problems, and generally how
we function in the cognitive
domain. I thought adults
were very complicated, and
I thought it made sense to
start that investigation by
looking at the youngest, what
I thought were the least-
complicated organisms.
But, as you know, it turns
out research shows that
even babies are pretty
complicated.
How were you introduced into
developmental psych?
My alma mater is Rutgers
University — I went to the
women's college, Douglass
College. I took a child
development course with
Melinda Small. There were
things that we were reading
in that course that really
captivated me — about babies,
about other species and the
possibility that they had
language and thought. I was
captivated by the possibility
that science could help us
understand some of the
questions I wanted to answer.
Had you ever known that you'd
be teaching developmental
psych in the future?
No, I didn’t. I did an honors
thesis on children's writing,
actually — how they learn
to write the alphabet. I
discovered that I loved that
process of asking a question,
collecting data and coming
to some conclusion about
the question. I went to grad
school to do more of that, and
I didn't realize that teaching
would be a big part of what I
would end up doing.
Knowing what you know now,
what would you tell yourself
as a graduating college senior
and as you first began
your career as a professor?
I wish I had taken advantage
of opportunities to be better
at public speaking. I think
that's the avenue to power.
Not that I want power, but
I think if you're not skilled
at public speaking, it can
be limiting in terms of
opportunities or getting your
message out. We actually
had a required speech class
in college, and I cut it all the
time! It was that difficult for
me. I think the college had
the right idea by offering the
course, I just don’t think I
took full advantage of it.
What can Holy Cross do
to produce well-prepared
leaders?
I think we could do a better
job of preparing students for
public speaking. So many
of our students go on to
be leaders in industry and
education and medicine.
Some of them go on to be
leaders in politics. What
concerns me is the lack of
participation of women in
those leadership roles. As our
research is looking at, part of
that might be related to lack
of confidence or lack of skill
in public speaking. This isn't
just about women; it's about
any student whose tendency
is to be quiet, who has a lot
going on inside. That person
can be a leader, too.
What conversations with your
students have stuck out?
I teach a seminar on gender
role development and I feel
like there is a craving for
some of that skill that we've
been talking about. Next
semester, I'm doing a tutorial
on women in leadership with
two students. One idea is
to develop a course, either
here in the psychology
department or in the Center
for Interdisciplinary Studies,
on women in leadership.
What’s your favorite question
to ask students?
What I like to ask students
is, "Isn't this amazing?"
When we're talking about
what babies do or how the
mind works or how language
functions, I always ask that. I
guess I just hope that students
get as jazzed by the material
as I do — and I do get jazzed
about it. ■
— Binah Saint-Loth '19
to m r e t t i g
Psychology Professor Wins
2018 Donal J. Burns ’49
Career Teaching Medal
Professor, mentor and researcher Danuta Bukatko
talks teaching, making an impact on students and
how she still gets jazzed about psychology
A

S Y L L A B U S
ore than 120 years
ago, readers
huddled by the
amber glow of
candlelight in wide-eyed
terror to devour the pages of
author Bram Stoker’s Gothic
tale, “Dracula.” In 2016,
viewers by the millions sat in
the screen-lit blue light of
streaming devices or
televisions to watch the
Gothic-esque Netflix original
thriller, “Stranger Things.” The
breakout hit affirmed what
English Professor Jonathan
Mulrooney has long known:
The Gothic is alive and well.
Mulrooney created his course,
Stranger Things — Gothic Old
and New, to explore this
genre, asking students to
consider what monsters show
us about ourselves. (After all,
“monster” is derived from the
Latin “monstrare” — “to
show.”) “It’s about inviting
the students to understand in
a deeper way why they’re
scared, why they're excited,
and why these things are so
popular,” he explains.
While the Dracula image
seared into popular memory
is that of the blood-sucking
count, Mulrooney asks
students to think through
how Stoker really got under
the skin of readers of his time:
by twisting and challenging
Victorian societal ideas on
gender, sexuality, religion and
technology, including a recent
startling medical advance —
blood transfusions.
Set in the 1980s, “Stranger
Things” is a nostalgic coming-
of-age tale about a group of
kids investigating the
supernatural while searching
for their disappeared friend,
and — Mulrooney points out
— challenging power
structures in the process.
“The Gothic is always
expressing the possibility of
revolutionary desire or
human experiences that
cannot be contained by the
institutions that want to
contain them,” he says. “And
that’s exciting to people —
even if they don’t know why.”
The course explores that
question. At one class,
students sit with their copies
of “Dracula” and volley back
and forth in discussion with
each other and Mulrooney.
They use textual evidence
from the book and historical
context to explore questions
of desire, religion and agency
— especially for the female
characters — all rooted in a
study of the words on the
page.
“Go to the passages and let
the texts teach you how to
talk about them … Always, at
the center, is the word,” says
Mulrooney; this is his
guidance to students and his
own teaching philosophy —
one he draws from his first
time reading “Dracula.”
“I was assigned ‘Dracula’ in
my eighth-grade English class
by Mrs. Moran,” he
remembers. “She was such a
great teacher — she would
have us look up vocabulary
words from ‘Dracula’ so the
words were connected with
something that was exciting
and mattered to us. An
attention to the way language
works to produce imaginative
effects informs my class to
this day.”
This approach also resonates
for Anastasia Vasko ’19, an
English major with a creative
writing concentration. One of
her favorite parts of
Mulrooney’s class is “seeing
how stylistic choices on the
behalf of the author reinforce
the thematic meanings of the
prose, poetry or film.” She’s
also struck by the way “the
Gothic reveals reality.”
“The monsters in these tales
are not necessarily the people
we would call the monsters
— Frankenstein's creature or
Dracula,” Mulrooney explains.
BY MEREDITH FIDROCKI
Stranger Things —
Gothic Old and New
with Jonathan Mulrooney, professor of English
to m r e t t i g
M
to m r e t t i g

“The scariest part of
these books is the
humans.”
This realization gives
students a foundation to
consider how modern
media, including films
such as “Get Out” and
television series like
“Buffy the Vampire
Slayer,” use the roughly
250-year-old genre to
come to terms with real
contemporary issues of
race, power and gender.
To help his students
start to experience
stories in a new way,
Mulrooney began the
course in September
with a classic by
“Sesame Street” writer,
producer and director
Jon Stone: “The Monster
at the End of This Book,”
which features the
character of Grover
warning young readers
that each page turn
brings them closer to
the monster at the
book’s end.
“It's about the
production of fear in the
child. But, of course,
they’re going to turn the
page — this is why we
watch horror movies,”
Mulrooney says. “There
is a dual engagement:
Go forward, don’t go
forward. Read more,
don’t read more. The
actual act of reading
these texts or seeing
these movies becomes
an experience like the
experiences they’re
describing. That’s one of
the reasons people love
the Gothic.”
English major Bella
Arostegui ’19 chose to
enroll in the class
because she knew the
Gothic would be
interesting, exciting and
revelatory about human
nature. “This class has
shown me how
imaginative and
‘unrealistic’ storytelling
— stories that delve into
the mysterious and
sometimes magical —
can often reveal our
deepest truths and
fears,” she says.
Mulrooney sees this
imaginative jolt to the
self as being at the core
of the College’s liberal
arts and Jesuit focus on
reflection: “In the
Gothic, it’s the scare
that in a bodily way,
makes you jump out of
yourself — which is a
good thing, especially if
you can then think
about, talk about and
imagine your way into
some conversations
about why that just
happened to you.”
It’s also why Mulrooney
suggested Mary
Shelley’s “Frankenstein”
as the first-year book
for the class of 2022: “It
raises issues of: What is
the human? Who do we
get to decide is inside
and outside the border?
Who gets to decide who
is inside and outside the
family? These are things
our students should be
thinking about.
“If we do not allow
ourselves to be haunted
— in profound ways — by
the sins of our past,” he
continues, “then we will
forget them.” ■
ENGL 399
Stranger Things —
Gothic Old and New
PROFESSOR
Jonathan Mulrooney
DEPARTMENT
English
DESCRIPTION
This course traces the Gothic
tradition in novels, poems, plays,
films and serial television. Through
the study of British Gothic literature
of the 18th and 19th centuries,
American authors like Toni
Morrison and Nathaniel Hawthorne,
20th-century filmmakers and
modern media, the course explores
the enduring relevance of the
Gothic story form. Gothic readings
provide the foundation for analysis
of films, including “Nosferatu,” “E.T.:
The Extra-Terrestrial,” “Vertigo” and
“Get Out,” as well as selections from
popular television series, including
“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and
“Stranger Things.”
MEETING TIMES
Tuesday, Thursday
2 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.
CLASSROOM
Stein 202
REQUIRED READING
• “The Castle of Otranto” by
Horace Walpole (Penguin)
• “The Monk” by Matthew Lewis
(Penguin)
• “Northanger Abbey” by Jane
Austen (Penguin)
• “Frankenstein: The 1818 Text”
by Mary Shelley (Penguin)
• “Goblin Market” by Christina
Rossetti (Dover)
• “Dracula” by Bram Stoker
(Penguin)
Course
Catalog
• “The Turn of the Screw and
Other Ghost Stories” by
Henry James (Penguin)
• “Beloved” by Toni Morrison
(Vintage)
ASSIGNMENTS
• Preparation for class
discussion, including
written reactions to texts
• Viewing of films and
television episodes via
Panopto video platform
• Two essays
• Midterm and final exam
GRADES
Short written reflections and
exercises, class participation,
two essays, midterm and final
exam
PREREQUISITES
Open to second-, third- and
fourth-year students
ABOUT THE PROFESSOR
Professor Jonathan Mulrooney
joined the English department
faculty in 2004. He received his
Ph.D. in English from Boston
University and an M.A. in English
from the University of Toronto,
after graduating summa cum
laude from Boston College with
an A.B. in English. His
scholarship focuses on British
Romantic-period theatrical
culture and poetry, especially
the work of John Keats. The
recipient of various grants and
awards, Mulrooney is the author
of the book “Romanticism and
Theatrical Experience: Kean,
Hazlitt, and Keats in the Age of
Theatrical News” (Cambridge
University Press, 2018) and was
recently named the editor of the
“Keats-Shelley Journal.”
Mulrooney was chair of the
Department of English from
2011-2017. His teaching includes
courses on Romantic Poetry,
Jane Austen, J.R.R. Tolkien and
Environmental Poetics.
S Y L L A B U S / F A C U L T Y & S T A F F / 2 7

FOR US,
FOR OTHERS,
FORACTION
BY M E L I S S A S H AW
Alumni reflect on a half-century of mission and
personal impact of the Black Student Union
F O R U S , F O R O T H E R S , F O R A C T I O N / 2 9

He arrived on Mount St. James for a
campus visit, got separated from his
host and unknowingly stumbled upon the
Black Student Union-sponsored Spring
Talent Show.
“Two BSU members immediately
recognized that I was not a current
student and seemed lost,” he remembers.
“That night, they made sure I had a great
time at the event and hosted me in their
dorm. Not only did I join the BSU that fall,
but I also performed twice in the talent
show the following spring.”
Today a proud alumnus of the class of
1991, Principal recognizes the impact of
that happy accident and how it changed
his life: “I credit coming to Holy Cross
to its students and that one particular
event.”
Changing lives, taking action, finding
lost students (usually figuratively, but
in this case, literally) — and inviting
them into a welcoming community of
shared experience is a common thread
that spans the history of the BSU, which
celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2018.
A PLACETO FIND
COMMUNITY
“Prior to 1968, there were very few black
students on campus,” notes Arthur “Art”
Martin Jr. ’70, first BSU president. He
arrived on campus in 1966, one of two
black students in a freshman class of
600. “You may have had eight to 10 black
students, so there wasn’t any organization
or safety net for the number of students
who came on board.”
In the wake of the April 1968
assassination of Martin Luther King
Jr., Rev. John E. Brooks, S.J., ’49, then
academic vice president and dean of the
College, took his now-famous road trip
up and down the East Coast to recruit
more students of color, an effort to better
diversify the student body. That fall, 19
black students arrived at Holy Cross, and
while they greatly bolstered the minority
numbers on campus, they were still a
tiny percentage of a nearly all-white
institution, which was jarring for many of
them — and their new classmates.
“As much as the black students didn’t
know the white students, the white
students didn’t know the black students,”
Martin says. “There were a lot of cultural
differences going on back then, even
down to the music that people listened
to, the way people danced. It was a whole
cultural shock for some.”
Notes Theodore V. “Ted” Wells Jr. ’72,
who was recruited by Fr. Brooks and
later became the BSU’s second president:
“When we arrived on campus, I dare say
that Holy Cross was not ready for us and
we were not ready for Holy Cross.”
The environment was familiar to Martin,
as he graduated from a predominantly
white high school as student council
president of a 2,500-person student body
— one as large as Holy Cross. “I was used
to that demographic; it didn’t bother me,”
he says, “but I knew a lot of people that
came on board that year didn’t have that.
And I think Fr. Brooks realized they didn’t
come out of that environment. So he and
[then College President] Fr. Swords made
an effort as if to say, ‘What do we need to
do to make this whole thing possible?’”
The answer was the formation of the
Black Student Union, which received
recognition as an official student
organization, a budget and office space on
the fourth floor of Hogan Campus Center.
It was the first cultural affinity group in
the then-125-year-old College’s history, a
trailblazer that paved the way for students
from other cultural backgrounds to form
their own groups and find their own voice
in the years to come.
“What the Black Student Union was doing
was giving the students on campus the
opportunity to interact with each other,
ITWAS
SPRING
1987AND
HIGH
SCHOOL
SENIOR
ARNOLD
PRINCIPAL
WAS LOST.
PRINCIPAL ’91

Because their members
represented a small
percentage of the student
body, the Black Student
Union provided a built-in
community of support
and shared experience
— a mission it continues
today.

MARTIN ’70ANDWELLS ’72 IN 1969
The Dec. 12, 1969, press conference at which Ted Wells, flanked by Art
Martin, reads the BSU’s statement. The group announced its mem-
bers would leave Holy Cross in protest of the suspension of four black
classmates — a move the organization argued was racist.
Wells and Martin at the BSU 50th Anniversary
Weekend, which saw more than 300 members return
to The Hill in celebration of the group’s golden
anniversary as a force for advocacy and education.
WELLS ’72AND MARTIN ’70TODAY

to have some commonality, to have some
comfort level,” Martin says. “We were
there at the same time, we breathed the
same air, we suffered the same way. I
mean that not in a negative way, but that
experience really made us brothers —
literally, brothers. We went through some
stuff on campus and it made us stronger.”
ATIMETO
TAKEACTION
The organization would need to draw on
that strength just a year later, when at
least 60 black students — nearly the entire
BSU — famously turned in their student
IDs on Friday, Dec. 12, 1969, and quit Holy
Cross in protest of the suspension of
four black classmates. Martin names “the
walkout” as the BSU experience of which
he is most proud.
Earlier that week, 16 students (four black,
12 white) were charged with violating
College policy and suspended after being
identified in an on-campus protest of
General Electric. The BSU had voted to
remain neutral in the protest itself, but
became involved after the suspensions,
noting that a disproportionately
high number of black students were
charged because they were more easily
identifiable, which the group argued
was an act of racism. Of the 49 white
students involved in the protest, only 12
were identified and suspended, compared
to the five black students, four of whom
were identified and punished.
“It wasn’t so much about [the
suspensions], it was more about, OK,
why them?” Martin says. “‘Well, we could
identify them.’ Well, I guess you could
identify them! There’s the old saying, ‘it’s
the fly in the buttermilk!’” He chuckles,
then continues: “I can look back and smile
and laugh, but at the time this was going
on, it was not quite that funny.”
Martin and Wells decamped to nearby
Clark University (“Our refuge,” Martin
recalls), where Fr. Brooks visited them,
gave them cash out of his own pocket
to ensure they ate and urged them not
to leave the city altogether. The College
administration, torn between upholding
its policy and fairly treating its students,
met continuously over the weekend, and
the college careers of the BSU members —
nearly all the nonwhite students at Holy
Cross — hung in the balance. All of the
students had a lot to lose, but few more
than Martin, who was halfway through
his senior year. He was already accepted
into law school, and now he had quit one
semester shy of receiving his degree.
“[BSU members] came to me and said,
‘Art, you don’t have to do this.’And I
said, ‘No, I have to.’ I helped start the
organization and I wasn’t going to forsake
anybody at this point,” he notes. “What
I’m proud of was the fact that we stuck
together. This was a hard time. Some
people wanted to say, ‘Let’s just go back to
school’ and throw up our hands, and we
couldn’t do it. Trust me, it was not a bluff.
We weren’t playing chicken at that point;
I was gone. We were all thinking about
where we were going to finish school —
we just felt that strong.”
On Sunday evening, Dec. 14, Fr. Swords
announced to a packed Hogan Ballroom
that the suspensions of all 16 students
would be reversed. He noted he agreed
An early BSU executive board,
as noted by the then-director of
student activities. Fifty years later,
the list represents some of the
country’s most influential leaders.

with the BSU and that the procedures
for identifying the students led to what
he later termed in a letter to alumni
and parents, a “de facto mathematical
disproportion of the Blacks who were
identified.”
“I’m so proud of what happened there,”
Martin says. “That really gelled the
organization. It gave us, not a purpose,
but it solidified who we were.
“We went through it, we came through it,”
he continues. “Fr. Swords had a hell of a
decision to make: damned if he did and
damned if he didn’t. A lot of alumni said,
‘Let the n------ go.’ He made the right
decision, and I respect him for that. He
stood up. I think the school is better for
what we did.”
AN OPPPORTUNITY
FOR EDUCATION
“We came from different places and
we had different ideas, but we came
together,” Martin notes of the BSU’s
early days, and it’s a movement that
continues within the organization each
year on Mount St. James. In addition to
its ongoing advocacy for the recruitment
of more black students and faculty, over
time the BSU has become a force for
education, culture, the arts and engaging
the campus in dialogues on challenging
issues.
Members have written and published
magazines and literary journals and
staged plays, film screenings, music and
dance performances, sharing, expressing
and illuminating the black experience.
The group has attracted dozens of
national figures to campus from the fields
of civil rights, politics, entertainment and
social justice, from Coretta Scott King and
Maya Angelou to Alex Haley and Opal
Tometi, co-founder of Black Lives Matter.
Black Week, an annual highlight of the
1970s and 1980s, was a key event for
the organization, merging the arts and
education; in the 1990s, it was renamed
African-American Experience Week. “We
EDWARDS ’81
After a weekend of nonstop
discussions within the
administration, College President
Rev. Raymond J. Swords, S.J., ’38
announces his decision to grant
amnesty to the suspended students,
a move that resulted in the at least
60 black students who walked out
returning to campus.
(right) After turning in their student IDs
and announcing their decision to leave
Holy Cross, students wait outside Hogan
Campus Center for their rides to an
uncertain future.

tried to help others in the community
get a sense of what our culture is,” says
Jennifer Edwards, M.D., ’81. “We had Black
Week every year: events, poetry, speakers
— it was open to the whole campus.” Since
2008, the group has programmed a series
of events across February, celebrating
Black History Month.
Yet education wasn’t limited to a single
week or month; the group seized
opportunities for discussion whenever
they could. Daryl Brown ’09 was a
community liaison for the BSU when
he helped organize a 2007 open forum
about the Jena Six — six black teenagers
in Jena, Louisiana, who were charged
with beating a white student. Supporters
argued that the arrests and charges
brought were excessive, and that white
teens involved in similar incidents were
not treated comparably. In protest,
an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people
marched on Jena in September 2007, one
of the largest civil rights demonstrations
at that time. Brown and the BSU hosted
an event and encouraged all students to
attend to examine the matter.
“It was a good opportunity for people
who had come from completely
different walks of life to see issues that
have plagued the black community for
hundreds of years,” Brown says. “It was an
opportunity to be a part of something that
raised awareness across campus: to open
a forum where everyone was comfortable
to speak, to share what they’ve
experienced and, more importantly, what
they haven’t experienced. To see the white
students really embrace what we were
doing and the cause we were standing up
for was great.”
Brianna Maynard ’19, current co-chair of
the BSU, echoes Brown: “I want to provide
spaces for intellectual dialogue to bring
issues for people of color on campus
and in the country generally to the light.
Students over the years have told me
crazy things other students have said
and done to them on campus. I think this
is largely due to being uninformed and
afraid to ask questions to reverse that.
Something I hope to accomplish in my
last year with the BSU is to bring more
nonstudents of color into conversations
with us to close this gap! A little
understanding can go a long way, and I
think it could definitely transform this
campus for the better.”
Such education didn’t always happen via
formal events. In Edwards’ experience,
she found she carried an everyday
obligation, whether she liked it or not.
“Education became something that even
if you didn’t want to do it, you had to do it,
especially if you’re living on a floor with
several people and they’ve never seen a
black person before. Sometimes some of
the questions were a little strange: ‘Is your
blood red?’ ‘Why is your hair like that?’
‘Can we touch it?’ Sometimes it was hard
to be the ambassador 24-7.”
MAYNARD ’19

The Impact and Legacy of the BSU at 50

The Impact and Legacy of the BSU at 50

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