There is a very real and inevitable tension in play, expecially at the undergraduate level. The Vincentian mission of reaching out to the poor and disadvantaged leads to students being admitted who are not in the top tier, resulting in lower rankings. On the other hand, those kids who work hard and get their degree from SJU want it to be valuable and held in esteem, i.e., for the school to be highly ranked. This is simply not a fully solvable problem. In recent years at the undergrad level, the school has been moving up in some of the categories that lead to higher ranking (e.g., new facilities, faculty hires, etc.) If we were to actually become a top 50 undergrad school, however, I would be very concerned about how we are fulfilling the mission.
At the grad and professional school level, however, it is a different story. There is no reason not to strive for excellence in every respect, still admit bright kids from poorer backgrounds, and be known for the quality of the school. Frankly, we could do better.
I have always believed that we should offer an engineering program (and not the interschool hybrid that we pretend is a program). Engineering is an excellent "up-and-out" major for kids who are first in the family to college, offers great jobs, and provides the skills to do good in the world by designing and building products and services that meet peoples' needs. I have told this to Fr. H numerous times, but he always politely nods and then changes the subject. I am hoping that someday this will get a real hearing from the trustees/board, or at least some sort of a feasibility study. I would happily take a leave from the school where I teach (Harvey Mudd College, ranked #1 in undergraduate engineering for non-Ph.D. programs, BTW) to help with that.
We are....