Navigating Uncertainty With a Focus on Mission
March 10, 2025
Dear members of the SLU community,
In my message to you last month, I noted that we are living in a period of elevated divisiveness and considerable uncertainty.
I write today to remind you that over the course of the University’s 206-year history, we have faced challenging moments, some where our very existence was imperiled. Each time, however, members of the SLU community rallied around our Jesuit mission and values, and persevered.
The Administration and the Courts
We are taking calm, measured and intentional approaches to the U.S. Administration’s executive orders and actions, the rulings by the federal courts, and the follow-on Administration appeals.
The University’s responses are guided by the facts and our Jesuit values.
SLU’s commitment to academic freedom remains unchanged.
Our schools, colleges and divisions continue to advance their mission-driven work.
Federal agency support for research operations
In light of recent federal court decisions, we continue to invoice and receive payment for our indirect research costs to federal funders, including the National Institutes of Health, at our full negotiated federal rate.
Indirect research costs support essential systems and professionals that keep our research infrastructure operational, so that our faculty researchers can conduct research that saves lives, improves the health and well-being of communities, and increases understanding of the human condition.
Communication and advocacy with legislative officials
Last week, I traveled to Washington D.C. for an Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) breakfast meeting with U.S. Senators and Representatives who are Jesuit educated and friends of our universities. It was a meeting I encouraged the AJCU to schedule.
The meeting room in the Rayburn House Office Building was packed with Members of Congress and their staffs, as well as professionals from AJCU-member institutions. I was joined by SLU Government Relations Director Marc Scheessele and Assistant Vice President of Student Financial Services Alex DeLonis.
A Congressional intern from Marquette University spoke eloquently of the importance of her Jesuit education and the much-needed and appreciated federal financial support she receives. A long-serving member of Congress talked passionately of her Catholic faith and honoring the dignity of all persons, as each is created in the image and likeness of God. Their remarks were a fitting and hopeful message for Ash Wednesday morning.
Over the course of the day, we met in person with several members of the Missouri Congressional delegation, both Republicans and Democrats from the House and the Senate. We discussed our University mission and our R1 status. We reminded them of the extraordinary benefits that SLU research provides to the quality of life of state residents and the economic benefits it brings to our St. Louis economy.
We also discussed the importance of federal support of our SLU students, particularly those of lower socioeconomic status, and the need for the government to continue to invest in America’s future, and share in the cost of educating of America’s young people.
I wish to thank our Missouri elected officials and their staffs for their generous time and insightful conversations.
Mr. Scheessele is in ongoing contact with our elected officials and their staffs.
Going forward
The resilience, resourcefulness, and resolve that have carried our University through our first two centuries will carry us through the early years of our third — grounded always in our Jesuit mission and Catholic Social Teaching. We remain unyielding in our commitment to the work we do to serve the faith-based purposes for which we were founded and have been sustained.
Each of us is an important contributor to this Catholic Jesuit university, committed to human dignity, decency, compassion, and solidarity. Please always remember that we are here to support each of you and to support each other. Do not hesitate to reach out to these resources for faculty, staff and students.
We are OneSLU.
Fred P. Pestello, Ph.D.
President