Cor Unum Statement and Resources

Convent & Stuart Hall articulated the commitment to the continued support of a diverse working community with the creation of our “Cor Unum Statement” in 2018. President Ann Marie Krejcarek formed a multi-constituent Cor Unum workgroup in 2020 to advance the essential work of our institution, recognizing that a community diverse in backgrounds, beliefs, and ideas requires actionable and intentional cultivation.

Cor Unum Statement

Rooted in the Society of the Religious of the Sacred Heart’s foundational precept of “cor unum et anima una,” relationships between and among members of the community are forged through curious and courageous engagement and dialogue. Through interactions inspired by deep curiosity, we recognize, honor and invoke the “one heart” of humankind that holds sacred each person’s full membership in this world. We commit, through collective and individual learning, to understand the history of power and economic drivers that have shaped inequalities in societal and individual human experiences. With an orientation to hope, we strive to create a more just and equitable future, calling on each member of the community to embrace and live into the core belief that there is a world within us and a world outside of us, and we must be able to engage and encounter both.

Continue to support diversity as an essential feature of a flourishing community
Continue to engage in the practice of dialogue, listening with empathy and speaking authentically
Keep open channels of feedback from all constituencies
Invite and engage with impactful thought leaders in our Cor Unum Voices program
Engage with diverse voices and perspectives in curricular texts
Continue to provide resource lists on Cor Unum topics
Support students' voices

Inspired by the tenets of our International Baccalaureate curriculum to offer an education that is expansive, inclusive and sensitive to the world’s most pressing issues and needs — locally, nationally and globally — we will develop “inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect.”

Our Commitment to Free Expression

Convent & Stuart Hall supports the "Chicago Principles," a statement on free expression and academic freedom created at the University of Chicago that conveys a commitment to promote and protect the ideals of free expression in all its forms. You can learn more here.

Cor Unum Voices

Annual author visits, inspired by the Great Texts Philosophy, animate both the yearly curriculum and our commitment to Cor Unum. Cor Unum voices and our guest author program includes a diverse range of authors. Here is a comprehensive list of the thought leaders and authors who have brought inspiration to our community.

2024-25

2019 and prior

Madeline Miller, Cor Unum Author Fall 2019
Sr. Irma Dillard, RSCJ, attends Convent eighth grade classes to present the Society’s Truth and Reconciliation work, 2019 - Cor Unum Voices Speaker
Mary Kay Hunyady, RSCJ, and Molly McGettigan Arthur ’68 visit high school and eighth grade students to present on Doctrine of Discovery, 2019 - Cor Unum Voices Speaker
Chris Riley, Spring 2019
Dr. Charles Love, a colleague and bodyguard of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who participated in the Selma to Montgomery march, presents at an MLK Day high school assembly and visits classes, January 2019 - Cor Unum Voices Speaker
Rowan Ricardo Philips, Fall 2018
George Saunders, Fall 2017
Billy Collins, Spring 2017
Naomi Shihab-Nye, Spring 2016

Matt de la Pena, Spring 2016
Ashanti Branch, the Founder and the Executive Director of The Ever Forward Club, leads “The Mask You Live In” workshops (Stuart Hall High School 2015–16, Convent & Stuart Hall high school students 2016–17, 2017–18 and 2018–19, Stuart Hall for Boys 2016 - Cor Unum Voices Speaker
The Mask You Live In parent screening, 2016
Ruby Bridges presents to high school students and faculty, 2015
Jacqueline Woodson, Visiting Author, 2014
Mary Beth Tinker, Activist and First Amendment advocate, presents to Convent High School Students, April 2014
Richard Rodriguez, 2013
America’s Promise screening to all faculty, 2013

Key West Literary Seminar

Encounters with authors at the Key West event have brought authors to our community, including Teju Cole, Annette Gordon-Reed, Jason Reynolds, George Saunders and Rowan Ricardo Phillips. The seminar catalyzes expansion of our assigned texts and library collections, facilitating deeper literary engagement and research opportunities for our community.

Setting the Course for Cor Unum and Current Strategic Plan Authorship

The Cor Unum statement emerged from the following initiatives and engagements

A yearly survey of parents started in 2013
Diversity and school culture consultant Ruth Sanchez visited for one week in April 2016.
Faculty, students, trustees and parents had opportunities to share input that informs the strategy and initiatives for 2020 strategic plan; diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) emerges as a major strategy in Area of Impact I of the strategic plan.
A Cor Unum statement was drafted and presented to the Board and Leadership team in March/April 2018.
In summer 2020, President Ann Marie Krejcarek announced the formation of a faculty and staff Cor Unum Workgroup to engage ever more deeply the charge to build a fair and just society. The group had its first meeting on September 10, 2020.