Happy Thanksgiving

Dear Seattle University Community,

As we prepare to gather with loved ones to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday, I am grateful to be a member of this community of care, dedicated to our Jesuit values, to academic excellence, and to empowering our students to become leaders for a just and humane world. 

This year, I give special thanks for the gift of the migrants who have touched my life—from my grandmother and my father, who fled Cuba with “una mano delante y otra detrás,” to my grandfather, who arrived in this country from Switzerland as a teenager orphaned by the Spanish flu, to my parents-in-law, who came to New York City from India with just a few dollars in their pockets and hopes of building a better life for their daughter, now my wife. I owe so much to all these courageous migrants who left their homelands and loved ones in search of a brighter future for their descendants—including me. 

I am also grateful to the United States, and to its leaders at the time, who had the vision and largeness of heart to welcome these immigrants, to recognize their humanity, and to see in them an optimism and yearning that is quintessentially American. As Ronald Reagan put it, what makes this country unique is that “anyone, from any corner of the Earth, can come to live in America and become an American.” 

In their Special Pastoral Message of November 12, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops observed that,“[d]espite obstacles and prejudices, generations of immigrants have made enormous contributions to the well-being of our nation. . . .” They decried the “vilification of immigrants,” which has become such a central feature of our national discourse, even at the highest levels, threatening their “God-given human dignity.” In times like these, it becomes more important than ever to remember with gratitude the many contributions immigrants have made—and continue to make—to our communities, including to this academic community. 

Finally, I want to extend my thanks for the privilege of serving as the 22^nd president of Seattle University for the past five academic years. I will always be grateful for the opportunity to steward this remarkable university. And I wish you and your families and loved ones a happy Thanksgiving.

Respectfully,

Eduardo M. Peñalver
President