A Q&A with Fr. Engh, S.J.

By Kurt Wagner

Last Thursday, Santa Clara President Fr. Engh, S.J. sat down with the editorial staff for The Santa Clara to answer questions about his presidential goals, campus projects and the World Series.

The Santa Clara: What are your thoughts on Prop 19 and if it were to pass, and the legalization of marijuana were to become a reality, do you envision that changing the landscape at Santa Clara at all?

Fr. Engh, S.J.: They have to figure out first of all how it conforms with federal law, which may trump the whole thing. I thought it was a particularly ill-conceived proposition the way it was drafted and the way it was put together. I think there is a bigger issue about the use of drugs and the use of marijuana and I think it links over to underage drinking on campus. You have these very legally controlled vices in terms of drugs and alcoholic spirits, and you have a university campus where people are not interested in obeying the laws and there are other things going on developmentally in their lives. On this one, Prop 19, I don't see how it's going to be helpful. With California going one way and the federal government going a different way, that's inherently awkward at best and extremely confusing at worst.

TSC: What challenges have you faced in attempting to uphold Jesuit values on a college campus while still catering to a younger generation?

FE: One of the goals of the university is the education of the whole person which is this whole idea of not only are we dispensing knowledge in the disciplines and training people to think but we're also working with people on 'How do you live your life? And how do you make decisions that are beneficial to each individual?' So that's why we have a student life division that has certain values that are informed out of this long Catholic tradition of believing that the individual person has potential and value and dignity and how do we live that our best at a place like this. They crafted various policies and they continually refine those and look at those. So the policies are adapted as we get more data and as we compare to other Jesuit universities and as we look at what national trends are.

TSC: Is Santa Clara becoming too liberal?

FE: I hear this from time to time...Institutions are not static, they change. They're living beings. So we have here a living tradition of Jesuit education. Living means to change, adapt, keep your principles, but find other ways of how they're applied today because the world isn't the same as it was 20 or 30 years ago. And in our adapting, there are some people who disagree with the direction we've gone.

TSC: What are some goals or projects you are currently working on for this year?

FE: First of all is to get the strategic plan finalized and passed by the trustees and we've been working on that for a year and a half and we are on the home stretch now...The second thing is to hire a new provost. There is a search underway right now for a new provost...Thirdly, we are implementing research funding in sustainability for faculty research, so that is going on line this year. And that's part of a bigger agenda of mine in terms of promoting sustainability and linking to the Santa Clara mission and tradition of concern for justice. I had a meeting yesterday with Joe Sugg and our facilities people here in terms of how we can become energy self-sufficient on campus by developing alternative sources of energy. And so we're looking at possible ways of working with other corporations and doing that.

TSC: Are there plans for the new Locatelli Student Activities Center to become the new center of campus in the near future?

FE: There has been a fair amount of discussion about that because that was a project that was underway when I got here. So the site of that was deliberate, putting it over there. At that point we weren't even thinking about building on Campbell Avenue but now if you're going to have 400 students living on Campbell Avenue coming across by the gym and then coming onto campus there will be a lot more traffic on that side. So that's the extent of the conversation that's gone on about that. We have to see how that works.

TSC: How do you decompress or unwind after a long day?FE: I usually leave the office here around 5:20 or 5:25 and we have a community mass at 5:30 and that's the first thing I do when I get back in. I drop my bag off, I go into the community chapel and we have mass there together, that's the first step of decompressing from the day. I can leave a lot of my problems in God's hands right there. We don't talk shop in the house, that's a rule that we have, they don't talk to me about the school. So I know when I go home, the Jesuits won't talk to me about any school policies.

TSC: What would you like to see Santa Clara evolve into during your time here and what would you like to leave the university with as your legacy?

FE: First of all I want to make sure it's still open, that financially we are still in good shape. There's no difficulty there, this is a very well managed place, and we have a great staff and great trustees. Long term, I see the biggest challenge is keeping alive the Jesuit traditions here because of the needs to constantly be adapting to new situations and that takes a lot of serious thinking and discussion. So keeping alive the Jesuit traditions, the Jesuit values, are particularly important and I would like to see us be a national leader in this.

TSC: As a Dodgers fan, could you cheer for the Giants in the World Series?

FE: I turned down tickets to the World Series (game 1). But I can get behind a California team in the World Series.

TSC: Even the Giants?

FE: It was very nice to have you all in here this morning.