As the campus prepares for "Spring Break" and the students fan out across the country for service projects, basketball, and fun-in-the-sun, I want to update you on several fronts.

SPRING BREAK SERVICE PROJECTS
This week over 130 Creighton students will fan across the city, region and the nation participating in service projects at 19 different sites. This Spirit of Service continues to be a hallmark of a Creighton education as these young members of our community give meaning to the ideal of being "women and men for others."

FINANCIAL ENHANCEMENT PLAN
Early next week Dan Burkey will share with the University the results of the administrative areas' Financial Enhancement Plan. The memo will contain general information about the purpose of the plan, the process undertaken and the areas of savings. I am pleased to report that, as mentioned in my Founders Day talk, the 02-03 budget is balanced, and we are projecting a balanced budget for 03-04, which includes both compensation and benefits enhancements. I have been gratified by the cooperative response on behalf of all participants.

CAMPUS MASTER PLAN
On March 3rd the Board of Directors reviewed the Campus Master Plan. As mentioned in February, this plan is the product of months of participation from many sectors across the campus. The plan is futuristic, projecting the University's physical development 10-12 years out. The plan also is highly practical in that the multiple phases of development can be both independent (free standing) of one another and/or integrated into one another. There will be a presentation of the Master Plan to the University community in late March or early April.

WAR AND PEACE
Finally, we live in trying times. The economy, employment patterns, the talk of war, all contribute to the uncertainty we all are experiencing. While I do not know the U.S. administration's agenda for solving the vexing conundrums of Iraq and North Korea, I do know that this generation of Creighton students has no experience of extended overseas involvement much less a first-hand knowledge of war. So again, as at 9-11, you as faculty and staff, will be called upon to mentor and teach them, to comfort them, and to be present to them. While I truly hope this turn of events will not happen, it is best to be prepared; so I ask you to reflect on how you may respond in the face of adversity. Observing you during the September 11th tragedy, I am confident that the Creighton community will be there for each one of our members.

Let me end with a few reflections from Pope John Paul II, who has been a consistently balanced and tempering voice amidst the din of war drums.

On February 23rd he said: "For months the international community has been living in great apprehension on account of the danger of war that might upset the Middle East region and aggravate the tensions that, unfortunately, are already present at the beginning of the third millennium. It is a duty for believers, regardless of what religion they belong to, to proclaim that we can never be happy if we are against one another, the future of humanity can never be assured by terrorism and the logic of war."

"We Christians, especially, are called to be sentinels of peace wherever we live and work.... the Church believes that peace can be constructed even in the darkest moments. The Church believes in the power of the human mind and courage of the human heart to find peaceful solutions to disagreements, using the vast and rich patrimony of international law and institutions created for that very purpose."

"Yes, they may be incomplete; they may act too slowly at times; they may not have yet even caught up with the realities of our times that threaten world order. But they are based on principles that are true and relative for all times: honest and patient dialogue between and among disagreeing parties and the absolute duty of each member of the family of nations to comply fully with all its obligations. That is why war is a defeat for humanity. War is a defeat for humanity because war is a defeat for our intelligence, our creativity and our firm conviction that peace is always possible."

So think good thoughts and pray for peace in our global community.

John P. Schlegel, S.J.
President