WORCESTER, Mass. - The Police Pipes and Drums of Worcester led hundreds of representatives from colleges and universities around the country in a procession up Mount Saint James Friday.
It kicked off the College of the Holy Cross's inauguration of President Vincent Rougeau. He became the school's president in July, but was officially inaugurated Friday.
Rougeau is Holy Cross' 33rd president and the first who is not a priest or a member of the clergy.
He is also the first Black president in the college’s history.
"These Jesuit values enable us to be agile learners, capable of interrogating truths and uncovering predispositions and biases," Rougeau said. “At Holy Cross we accept that our world is naughty and imperfect. We believe that the best preparation for the challenges of the 21st century is a broad, liberal education, rooted in discovery and amplified by catholic intellectual traditions."
Before coming to Holy Cross, he was the dean of the Boston College Law School and the inaugural director of the new Boston College Forum on Racial Justice in America.