Bahamian prime minister to visit campus

Philip Davis, Prime Minister of The Bahamas, is slated to give the annual McCarthy Lecture on Dec. 11 – rescheduled after a postponement earlier this fall.

Davis’s speech is the 17th lecture put on by the Eugene J. McCarthy Center for Public Policy and Civic Engagement since its founding in 2006. Davis was originally scheduled to speak on Nov. 20, but the death of Obediah Hercules Wilchcombe, social services and urban development minister, and subsequent special election required Davis to remain in the country and the lecture date to be moved.

Davis, who is a human rights and corporate lawyer, is the leader of the Progressive Liberal Party in The Bahamas and has been since 2017. He has served as Prime Minister since his election in the fall of 2021.

Davis’s visit marks another milestone in the long history between The Bahamas and CSB+SJU, spanning over a century.

According to information from the CSB+SJU archives, Rev. Chrysostom Schreiner established a headquarters for the Benedictines in The Bahamas named “The Priory” in 1893. Under this church, a convent was established in 1936, and the first Catholic high school for boys in The Bahamas, St. Augustine’s College, opened in 1945.

Both the convent and the school were opened under Bishop Bernard Kevenhoester, an SJU alumni, and several sisters from St. Benedict’s Monastery were sent to The Bahamas to affiliate with the Bahamian sisters of St. Martin de Porres in the convent.

The collegiate connection to CSB+SJU continued as young Bahamians at St. Augustine’s were encouraged to attend St. John’s for their higher education. Additionally, various St. Ben’s and St. Martin de Porres sisters worked together to establish a program for higher education in The Bahamas, with some classes led by CSB faculty members. This became known as the Continuing Education Program.

From there, the program evolved to allow Bahamian students to take classes taught by CSB+SJU faculty in Nassau before completing a semester or more in Minnesota on the CSB+SJU campuses. CSB+SJU’s boards of trustees voted to sponsor the Benedictine University College (BUC) in 1994, an expansion of the original program.

As higher education opportunities in The Bahamas expanded, the BUC closed in 2000. Despite this, high school students graduating from St. Augustine’s College were still strongly encouraged to attend CSB+SJU, resulting in the strong Bahamian presence on campus today.

Many Bahamian students have attended CSB+SJU and left a legacy of academic, social and professional success. Bahamian alum Eugene Dupuch SJU ‘31 wrote the Johnnie fight song, and Bahamian alumna Trevare Sherman CSB ’09 founded the Archipelago Association and was the first president of the Bahamian club. This past week, Jervon Sands, SJU ‘23, was named a Rhodes Scholar, the second in SJU history. Sands is from The Bahamas and was heavily involved on campus during his time at CSB+SJU.

To maintain students’ connection with The Bahamas, SJU Campus Ministry will sponsor a Bahamas Service Immersion trip to Nassau this March, their third time doing so.

For his lecture, Davis is expected to discuss the connection between The Bahamas and CSB+SJU while also addressing challenges facing The Bahamas, like climate change and economic topics.

Each year, the McCarthy lecture seeks to further the legacy of senator, presidential candidate and Johnnie alumni Eugene J. McCarthy by enabling attendees to explore new ideas that allow them to enact positive change in their communities through civic engagement.

This year’s lecture is free and open to the public and will be held in the Stephen B. Humphrey Theater at SJU at 7:30. A reception will be held prior to the lecture from 5:30-7:00 in the Founders Room at SJU. Registration for the lecture is required, and attendees can register through the McCarthy Center website or by scanning the QR code on any of the event posters.