Holy Cross names first Black, lay president

Photo | Courtesy | College of the Holy Cross Vincent Rougeau

Write a Comment

By Grant Welker

The College of the Holy Cross has chosen its first ever Black president and first layperson in the Worcester school's 178-year history.

Vincent Rougeau, whose appointment was announced Wednesday, is the dean of the Boston College Law School. He will succeed the Rev. Philip Boroughs on July 1. Boroughs announced his retirement last September after nine years leading the Jesuit school in Worcester.

Rougeau, despite not being ordained, is considered an expert in Catholic social thought, according to Holy Cross' announcement, and he will join Holy Cross after having served in leadership roles at two other prominent Catholic colleges: Boston College and Notre Dame University in Indiana. Before joining BC in 2011, Rougeau was a tenured professor at Notre Dame Law School and its associate dean for academic affairs.

Rougeau is the president-elect of the Association of American Law Schools. He earned his bachelor's degree in international relations from Brown University in Providence and his juris doctor from Harvard Law School in Cambridge.

“I am thrilled to be joining the Holy Cross community as its new president,” Rougeau said in a statement. “I have long admired the college for its academic excellence, its talented students and accomplished alumni, its dedicated faculty and staff and its unique place as our nation's only Jesuit, Catholic liberal arts college. Our current moment in history cries out for the mission-driven education that Holy Cross provides, and I am very excited about what this community can accomplish in the years ahead.”

Rougeau will join Holy Cross following three challenging semesters as the school has looked to find the right balance between safety and holding courses and hosting students on campus during the coronavirus pandemic. Holy Cross was mostly remote last fall, an abrupt change from its previous plans, and this spring semester began classes in person on Feb. 1.

Rougeau will succeed Boroughs, who was one of the longest-tenured college presidents in Central Massachusetts and whose time leading Holy Cross has included a $420-million capital campaign, the start of construction of three major new buildings on campus, and a reckoning with the school's early indirect ties to slavery. Thomas Mulledy, the founding president of Holy Cross, and James Healy, the first valedictorian, were found to have sold and owned slaves, respectively. The college eventually removed Mulledy's name from the dorm building now known as Brooks Hall. Holy Cross' Crusaders athletics nickname was kept despite some concerns about negative connotations, but a knight logo is no longer used.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this story said Holy Cross kept Thomas Mulledy's name on a campus building. It did initially, but in September 2020 chose to remove it, renaming it Brooks Hall.