Summits like this are frequent occurrences at universities and colleges around the world; oftentimes the goal of these Summits is to bring influential voices together to affect change in policy, procedure and ultimately in the world in which we live.  While we realize that the majority of our students are not yet of voting age, we nonetheless recognize their capacity for change as young people who are in formation.  And so, it is Brophy’s hope that our annual Summit might contribute to the formation of our students such that they become young men of conscience and conviction, willing to stand up against a culture that too often values expediency and efficiency at the expense of human dignity. Ultimately, Brophy hopes to graduate young men who will one day participate in Summits at colleges and universities, young men who will have voices that can positively influence real change in policy, procedure, and the world in which we live.

For this year’s Summit, speakers and presenters have been invited to address the issue of human dignity as it relates to immigration in the United States. Rather than host a debate in which one side will win out over the other, our goal is to examine, to explore and to discuss immigration through the lens of human dignity.  In an effort to focus on people not problems, stories not statistics, we’ve structured the Summit according to four questions: Why is it that migrants travel hundreds, if not thousands of miles to cross into the United States?  What is their journey like?  What are their experiences like when they arrive in the United States?  These questions will be addressed throughout the Summit weeks via presentations and discussions, and it is Brophy’s hope that through this educational experience we can all cross the borders of our own minds to view immigration not merely as a political or economic issue, but as one of human dignity.  Good teaching often means facilitating discomfort in ourselves and in those whom we teach.  Our ultimate goal in organizing this Summit is to initiate this feeling of discomfort amongst the members of our community when we honestly ask ourselves the fourth question: What now?