I, along with other fellow students and faculty at Holy Cross College, are still trying to comprehend the fact that President Br. John Paige has left Holy Cross College unexpectedly. As one family at Holy Cross, we are not mad or disappointed that Br. Paige left, we are disappointed about how Br. Paige left.
According to the South Bend Tribune and the Inside Indiana Business, Holy Cross College announced Friday that Br. Paige would take a leave and begin a new job in Catholic higher education, and that Notre Dame’s Fr. David Tyson will take over as interim president for the time being. Br. Paige had been president of Holy Cross College since 2011.
This might seem to be a normal press release, however, we the students and faculty found out that our president was leaving via newspapers instead of getting at least a notification from the college via email.
At a Catholic institution like Holy Cross, one would think that if there was news occurring on campus, especially when the news is that the president, the face of Holy Cross College is leaving, the College would send an email to the students and faculty informing them of the news. In this case, that email was never sent. Instead, the students and faculty of Holy Cross found out the news in an article either in the South Bend Tribune or the Inside Indiana Business online.
Three days have passed and Holy Cross College has yet to let their students and faculty know that Br. John Paige has left the college.
From some of the students and faculty members that I have talked to in recent days, they are still surprised and confused at the fact that Br. Paige is no longer president. Some students complained that Holy Cross could have handled the departure of Br. Paige differently, while some faculty members said that they were just as surprised as the students when they saw the announcement in the news.
Both statements are correct in the sense that if Holy Cross College was going to make an announcement, at least let the students and faculty that make up Holy Cross College know of the possible change, either before, or as the news was announced.
The fact is that Holy Cross College made a mistake in not notifying the students and faculty know that Br. Paige is no longer with the school. I do agree with the majority of the students that said that Holy Cross could have easily handled the story a different way, and avoided the displeasure from the students and faculty that has happened since the story broke on the South Bend Tribune and Inside Indiana Business.
The most unfortunate thing for the students who are graduating this semester, including me, is that we will now no longer be able to receive our degrees from the president that we started our college careers with.
