Greetings!
For the first time, Assumption will officially celebrate the Juneteenth holiday this year. The federal holiday is Monday, June 20. University offices will be closed except for those necessary to support our summer session (classes will still be held because the academic calendar was already set), the second session of orientation, and other needs like admissions tours. If you need to work, please talk with your supervisor about taking an alternate flex day.
As we celebrate this day, I hope we find inspiration in the words of Frederick Douglass. In his 1952 Fourth of July Oration--often known by the title "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"--Douglass noted that America was a young country, and he was glad of it. Youth meant it was capable of reform: America was "still in the impressionable stage of her existence."
We are still a young country: still capable of aspiring to enduring but as yet unattained ideals. I hope this first official celebration of Juneteenth at Assumption provides an opportunity for reflecting on that work.
Sincerely,
