SENATOR TED KENNEDY, FRIEND OF HIGHER EDUCATION AND THE

ASSOCIATION OF JESUIT COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES

 

He has been called the liberal lion, a giant, irreplaceable, a great light, the consummate legislator, and an extraordinary force for humanity and compassion in our politics. At the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU), we have known him as a caring friend and a fierce advocate for so many of the issues we care about: education, health care, civil rights, immigration and other social justice causes that might help the less fortunate.
 
Elected nine times to the Senate, his legislative skill and successes are legendary.  We have been privileged to work with him and his staff on higher education issues such as Pell grants, direct student loans, the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, and international education. 
 
How he was able to rally the troops with his spellbinding and passionate talks to us! We will certainly miss the excitement created by this larger than life and good man.
 
On Wednesday evening, outside our office on Dupont Circle, a candle-light vigil was held with participants holding signs with those famous words from Senator Kennedy’s speech at the 1980 Democratic convention: “The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream will never die.”
 
Those words have special poignancy now as we try to fill the void his death leaves behind. 
 
May he rest in peace, and may his wife and family share in God’s deepest consolation.