The Ignatian Leadership Symposium: Rep. Zoe Lofgren J.D. ’75 on leadership and justice in the halls of Congress. And Yale chaplain Sharon Kugler ’81 on faith on college campuses—and her “Dreamsicle job.”
Among the questions SCU’s Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education tackled this year: faith leadership on campus, and leadership in the halls of Congress. One forum: The Ignatian Leadership Symposium, held Feb. 28, with keynotes from Sharon Kugler ’81, chaplain at Yale—the first woman and first Catholic to hold the post—and Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren J.D. ’75, representing Silicon Valley’s 19th district. Lofgren is known for work on patent reform, copyright, and net neutrality; she has actually practiced and taught immigration law as well as legislating it. One lesson she learned from Santa Clara Law connected to immigration law: “If you are going to give dignity to the individual, you actually have to meet with those individuals … see them personally, hear their stories—so it’s not just an intellectual exercise, it’s a visceral understanding of your obligation to help bring justice.” One story she tells: “A young man brought to the United States as a toddler, raised by his grandfather. He was the captain of the football team, valedictorian of the high school; he believed he was an American citizen until he went to get his student loans for college and discovered that he had been born in another country.” More on Zoe Lofgren and Sharon Kugler.