HJBR Jul/Aug 2023

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE I  JUL / AUG 2023 19 also of being of service to the rest, of being others centered, which is very important in both our historically Black identity and also our Catholic identity. We are not here for just the benefit of ourselves, but for the ben- efit of the larger community and of neigh- bors. It is a very different sense from the individualistic sense that often permeates our identity asAmericans. It is counter cul- tural in that sense that it is fundamentally others-centered in the sense of education. Editor What do you think it means to be a historically Black university today? President Verret It means many things to many people. In some ways people think that it is a distinct culture. For others, it is about the sense of being linked to those who were enslaved, who were the oppressed, and that includes a very broad swathe of the African diaspora. It is also a recognition of the great difference in breadth of what it means to be Black in this country, and also crosses that diaspora. Across the United States, there are many different senses of what it means to experience Blackness. It also brings a certain sense of history — a history of where we came from and what we are called to be. There’s a sense of call- ing and of expectation that comes from the institution of what we are called to do once we graduate with our degrees. That’s very much within the essence of being Xavier, of being historically Black and Catholic. Editor Xavier, I’m told, has a history of producing more Black graduates who go on to become physicians than any other institutions. Is that true? President Verret Not only is it true, it’s been true consistently for many decades. It is something my predecessor began many decades past. But also, I would add that Xavier has the leadership position in send- ing more African Americans to doctoral programs in the physical and life sciences. There are many broad swathes where Xavier has been excelling in remarkable ways for its size. The fact that we have a number of our Xavier graduates who are not only judges but federal judges from a school of our size also says something about what Xavier does. Xavier has been a school where we meet our students with very high expecta- tions and then work with them to help them meet those expectations. That is probably why we see the outcomes that we see among our graduates. Editor With the success of that, why do you think Xavier alone holds that dis- tinct Black historical university/Catholic model and that wasn’t used by other uni- versities across the country? President Verret Well, I think first of all, there are roughly 200 plus Catholic institutions, and there are 102 historically Black institu- tions. The majority of Black institutions in