President Rob Manuel and Provost Russell Ivy delivered remarks at DePaul’s 2026 Academic Convocation ceremony to welcome faculty and staff to a new academic year, celebrate the university’s accomplishments and reflect on the opportunities ahead. Provost Ivy's full remarks are available here.
Good morning. It’s wonderful to be back with you all as we begin our new term together.
I spent significant time reflecting this summer — thinking about the state of our world, the needs at DePaul, what it means to be alive at this moment — and what we need in our community to weather the storm.
I keep coming back to the image of St. Vincent’s table. It is a powerful reminder of the community we’re called to create at DePaul - one where everyone is valued, everyone has something to contribute, and there is always room for more.
This morning, I want to focus on what you can expect from me — and our senior leaders — as we work together to build that community and go through the storm that is happening in contemporary society.
It is my hope that these thoughts offer some reassurance and comfort knowing that we will protect our people, our work, and the mission that defines us.
At a time when higher education faces extraordinary scrutiny, WE must find a way to be both focused on answering our critics AND devoted to finding new ways to continue to deliver our mission through our educational programming. We must dedicate ourselves to preserving institutional autonomy, academic freedom, and our mission. And we must do this so that EVERYONE feels like they can participate and access all that DePaul has to offer.
For the past two years, higher education has been focused on the idea of institutional neutrality. Advocates of institutional neutrality argue that universities best protect academic freedom when the institution itself refrains from taking positions on contested public questions.
If we weren’t a faith-based institution, I could see the utility in neutrality. Our mission statement, however, is clear.
We are guided by an ethic of Catholic, Vincentian personalism. Through education and research, we address the great questions of our day, promoting peaceful, just, and equitable solutions to social and environmental challenges.
Since our founding in 1898, we have remained dedicated to making education accessible — which has allowed us to focus on preparing ALL our students to develop their own skills, AND to use those skills to better the communities in which they live.
I do not know how our mission can support a truly neutral stance.
So let me be direct about where we CANNOT stay neutral and what you can expect from me as DePaul’s president.
1. We cannot be neutral to the suffering and loss of life caused by war.
Lives are being lost in armed conflicts around the world. As a Catholic, Vincentian institution, we must acknowledge that human suffering anywhere affects our lives everywhere.
That does not mean we have the capacity to solve geopolitical conflicts from our campus. It DOES mean we must promote exploration into the most difficult of topics.
It also means that we must hold each other accountable to the rules and policies that govern civility in our community. We must hold each other accountable for balancing the freedoms we value against the rules, policies, and regulations that allow everyone to enjoy the benefits of our community.
2. We cannot be neutral to the dehumanizing of our immigrant and undocumented people.
We live in a nation where people seeking safety, opportunity, and a better life are too often treated as criminals or as less deserving of dignity. Our Catholic, Vincentian tradition calls us to see Christ in the stranger, to defend the dignity of those who are vulnerable and to stand alongside those who are marginalized. At DePaul, we will always choose human dignity.
Today, I am happy to announce one way we are putting that commitment into action. The Division of Belonging, Engagement and Mission is leading a new effort to support DePaul students affected by a broad range of issues and barriers that may prevent them from thriving in our community and in America.
Starting this year, we will launch a pilot program to train faculty and staff as human dignity advocates, helping students connect with appropriate resources and services. By listening with compassion, responding without judgement, and connecting students to the right support, these advocates will help ensure that every student feels seen, valued, accompanied, and protected.
Dania Matos will share more information with you soon, including opportunities to get involved.
3. We cannot be neutral when international students on our campus and in our communities are devalued.
Our friends, colleagues, and students from other countries bring extraordinary gifts to our institution. They enrich the DePaul experience and bring global perspectives that benefit our entire community. They are an important part of who we are as a Catholic, Vincentian university, and we must continue to ensure they feel welcomed, valued, and supported.
4. We cannot be neutral to the attempts to villainize truth-seeking and research.
Universities exist to pursue truth. Yet this core function is under attack.
Scholars are being pressured to avoid certain topics. Too many scholars around the country are beginning to wonder whether certain questions are becoming too risky to pursue in the classroom. When academic freedom is compromised, we cease to be a university.
I will defend, explicitly and consistently, the right of our faculty to teach, to research, and to speak freely — especially when that speech is uncomfortable or challenges prevailing orthodoxies.
I will also defend the need to make inquiry accessible to ALL — so that everyone can explore these questions together — around the common Vincentian Table we are building.
Truth can withstand criticism and our job — through research — is to model this civil engagement for the world. Research matters. Evidence matters. Empiricism matters. The disciplined work of understanding our world matters — because our mission matters.
And today, I’m excited to share one example of where that work can lead.
DePaul will serve as the Chicago-based partner for the Vatican’s Laudato si’ Center for Higher Education. To drive this interdisciplinary, global collaboration forward, we are launching the DePaul Institute for a Sustainable Future. Look for the press release announcing the new partnership and institute this afternoon in Newsline.
Jointly housed in DePaul’s College of Science and Health and the Driehaus College of Business, the institute will support interdisciplinary collaboration between faculty and students, focused on the science of sustainability and its application in global business practices.
I am especially proud of the faculty and staff who are bringing the new institute to life and would like to recognize the group who recently traveled to Vatican to finalize our partnership. Would the faculty and staff who were part of this work please stand so we can recognize your work?
Please give a round of applause for Christie Klimas, Martha McGivern, Siobhan O’Donoghue, Howard Rosing, and Alyssa Westring.
5. We cannot be neutral when entire fields of study, bodies of knowledge, or dimensions of human experience are declared unworthy of inquiry
Scholars and students must be free to ask difficult questions, study our full history, and study every aspect of the human experience without being told that certain areas of inquiry are off limits.
At this moment — much like at other pivotal moments in our country’s history, we need universities with institutional integrity and moral conviction more than ever. We MUST show the world that we are ready to change — AND that we are the architects of that change.
If universities cannot think for themselves, cannot speak for themselves, cannot maintain their independence as places where truth is pursued — then we cease to be of use to our society. We become tools of whoever has the most power or money. And that is precisely what would destroy the kind of institution we are — the kind of institution that the world needs now.
To remind us of that commitment throughout the year, you will receive a card with an image of St. Vincent’s table as you leave the church today. On the back, you’ll find a QR code inviting you to explore more about the university’s performance this past year.
I hope you’ll keep the image somewhere you can see it — in your office, at home or wherever it might remind you of what we are working to build together.
Because St. Vincent’s table is more than an image from our past. It represents the DePaul we are called to create today: a university where every person is valued, where every person has something to contribute, and where there is always room for more.
I hope you will take this charge seriously. I hope you will exercise our right to shape our future. The challenges before us are real, but so is our ability to meet them. If we are to remain the authors of our own future, then we must act now and together.
That is the DePaul I believe in. That is the DePaul we are building together. And I could not be more excited about what we will accomplish in the year ahead.
Thank you for everything you do for DePaul. And welcome to a new academic year.