The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

The student news site of Marquette University

Marquette Wire

READER SUBMISSION: Revitalizing MU aims to stimulate discussion

Last June, University President the Rev. Robert A. Wild wrote a letter to the Marquette community that this school year would be one of “community discernment” with a priority in “continuing dialogue and reflection among faculty, staff and students about our Catholic, Jesuit identity, and the important principals of academic freedom, shared governance and the needs of our LGBT community.”

In response to this call, a group of students formed an initiative called the Revitalizing Marquette Student Task Force with the goal of creating a conversation series to bring together students, faculty and administrators of similar and divergent opinions to dialogue about issues that affect the entire community. The task force, a network of 27 students from across the university, ultimately hopes this model will be integrated into campus life to foster inclusion, transparency and constructive dialogue among the community.

The first event in the Revitalizing Marquette conversation series sought to reflect, discuss and develop concrete suggestions and ideas to collectively move forward with the issues that Wild prioritized for the 2010-’11 academic year. More than 100 people attended the first conversation on Feb. 22.

At this event, we solicited comments from all attendees in regard to suggestions they had about where we go from here, not only with this discussion series, but also as an institution. All submitted comments were compiled into the first installment of a comprehensive report, which we hope will aid in the open and honest nature of these discussions. This first report may be found on the website, revitalizingmarquette.com.

Ultimately, the Student Task Force plans to compile a complete report detailing issues and ideas that have emerged from these dialogues. This report will be made public to the entire Marquette community, including the incoming University President the Rev. Scott Pilarz and the board of trustees. We hope these reports will encourage all members of the Marquette community to seek a greater understanding of the breadth of these issues, furthering participation in the community of which we are all an integral part.

The second event in the series, IMAGINE MISSION, will take place this Thursday at 5:30 p.m. in the Alumni Memorial Union Lunda Room.

After compiling participant comments from the first event, the Student Task Force identified a need for discussion on the topic of Marquette’s Catholic, Jesuit mission and identity. By engaging students, faculty and administrators in reflection and dialogue, we seek to hold each other accountable for integrating our mission into all that we do as individuals, a university and as a part of the greater Milwaukee community.

In the pursuit of fostering personal and professional excellence, we will probe what mission means, how it is reflected within our Marquette community and where we can better act in the spirit of that mission for “the common benefit of the human community.”

The Revitalizing Marquette Student Task Force would like to extend an invitation to the entire Marquette community to IMAGINE MISSION. Please join us in dialogue to probe what mission means and discern how we may best live out that mission through our work at both the institutional and individual level.

The Revitalizing Marquette Student Task Force

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