Xavier University Celebrates Its Centennial Anniversary

It was founded as a high school by Mother Katherine Drexel and Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in 1915.

Xavier University, the nation’s oldest and only Catholic HBCU, celebrated its Centennial anniversary on Jan. 17 in true New Orleans style as the sound of handbells rang out all across the university’s hallowed campus.

According to Nola.com, the celebration kicks off what will be a year filled with celebrations looking back on the institution’s history since its founding as a high school by Mother Katherine Drexel and Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in 1915.

In 1925, a four-year college program was added to the school in order to allow expanded access to education for Black students, who due to Jim Crow were locked out of schools that admitted white students in Louisiana and elsewhere in the South.

Xavier has evolved from those humble beginnings to a powerhouse in the medical field, and as BLACK ENTERPRISE previously reported, has plans in motion to collaborate with Ochsner Health on a new medical school, in addition to having one of the best pharmacy schools in the nation.

According to Xavier University President Reynold Verret, the celebration is a key piece of reflection on the university’s past and how that gives them a blueprint for future plans.

“This day is both looking at our history and our purpose and really preparing us for our next many years,” Verret told Nola.com. “Xavier is not just a unique university and college, it’s a sacred space.”

From its inception, Xavier was unique, according to Verret, the university integrated well before it was the law of the land, was the first Catholic college or university to be co-ed, and seated New Orleans residents of all socio-economic backgrounds together in the Xavier opera.

The university also played a small but important role during the Civil Rights movement, in 1961, as the Freedom Riders tested the federal enforcement of Morgan v. Virginia and Boynton v. Virginia, both Supreme court rulings that allowed for desegregated public transit across the South.

When a group of Freedom Riders came to New Orleans, Xavier offered them respite from angry mobs at St. Michael’s Residence Hall thanks to the efforts of Norman C. Francis, who would later become the university’s first Black president and served in that role from 1968 until his retirement in 2015.

Upon Francis’ retirement, Verret became president of the university, and upon its completion, the medical school will likely be regarded as one of, if not his most signature achievements while serving as president.

The medical school, Verret indicated to Nola.com, is on track to become an accredited medical school and he expects that it will become the fifth historically Black medical school in America within three years of its accreditation.

“That commitment to all,” Verret said in reference to Xavier’s mission to educate underrepresented students, is furthered by “creating opportunity and creating service to communities around the country and around the world.”

In addition to the medical school, in 2024, Xavier set out to fulfill a $500 million fundraising campaign, and according to Xavier Board of Trustees chair Justin Augustine, its mission is to create the same type of endowment as another highly respected Catholic institution in South Bend, Indiana.

The campaign raised $125 million in its first full year, a remarkable achievement for a university of Xavier’s size.

“If Notre Dame and Harvard can have a billion-dollar endowment, why can’t Xavier?” Augustine rhetorically questioned Nola.com. “Imagine what a billion dollars could do for the foundation of our university, what it would do for our community.”