‘Bittersweet’ Milestone for a Catholic University

Notre Dame de Namur University administrators are marking the 100th anniversary of the Roman Catholic institution’s current San Francisco Bay area campus this month and celebrating a milestone that was far from a certainty just a few years ago when some people were predicting its demise. Enrollment and revenue were falling when its president announced in March 2020 that the university would stop admitting new students while seeking a way to stay open. The level of optimism on campus about the path forward was not high, especially among some faculty members. One faculty leader described the decision as a temporary stay of execution.