Basic HTML Version
On Coming Home: The Most Welcoming Embrace
Message from the President
2
Few words convey the warmth associated with
“home.” And when we combine the word with other
parts of speech, in each case “home” elevates the phrase
to the highest level of comfort: Come home. Go home.
Arrive at home. Reach home. At home. Homecoming.
Home run. Even when we say “homebound,” familiar
embrace defines the confinement.
Two institutions in our society replicate, even
supplant, the cherished destination we assign to “home:”
the church/synagogue and the university. It is no accident
that Western universities grew up alongside churches and
houses of worship, indistinguishable in their architecture
from holy spaces. Private universities, when they can
afford it, design their buildings to suggest the perdurable
grandeur of ecclesiastic structures.
InAmerica, because we proudly separate Church and
State, religion and politics, sectarian leanings and public
governance, public universities must define themselves
apart from any religious root. For that reason, many have
asked how it is that TAMIU is now acquiring a Catholic
Two institutions in our society
replicate, even supplant,
the cherished destination
we assign to “home:” the
church/synagogue and the
university.
Dr. Ray Keck, III