THE Jesuit University is first a university. It is a community - “universitas” -committed to the truth – its discovery, discussion, and articulation not only within the walls of the university, but beyond it. If it is the truth, for instance, that the earth is endangered through our compulsive consumerist lifestyle, the Jesuit university articulates this, no matter how disturbing for obese individuals, pollutive corporations or governments bereft of enlightened environmental structures and policies like ours. We continue to have a DENR, for instance, that is not only the protector, but the exploiter of our natural resources; it “protects” our minerals by pillaging them.

The Jesuit university is Jesuit in a twofold manner: first, in its appropriation of the Jesuit mission: the service of the faith, the promotion of justice, sensitivity to culture, inter-religious dialogue and the protection and defense of the environment; second, in its appropriation of Ignatian spirituality. The Jesuit mission and Ignatian spirituality are appropriated in academic freedom by the university through its vision-mission statements, its operational soul.