[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 26 (Friday, February 7, 2020)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E149]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





            CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF SISTER MARGARET CLAYDON

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, February 7, 2020

  Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Sister Margaret 
Claydon, who served as President of Trinity Washington University (then 
Trinity College), my alma mater. Sister Margaret was a beloved pillar 
of the Trinity community, a revolutionary who transformed women's 
education in America and a role model for thousands of young women and 
me.
  Sister Margaret dedicated her life to Trinity. She enrolled at 
Trinity as a freshman in the fall of 1941, entered the Sisters of Notre 
Dame de Namur (SNDdeN) in 1946 and taught Latin at several SNDdeN high 
schools before returning to Trinity in the English Department in 1952. 
She served as Trinity's president from 1959 to 1975, becoming one of 
the youngest college presidents in the country, and then served as a 
professor of English until her retirement in 2004. She continued to 
live in the SNDdeN community at Trinity until moving to Mount Notre 
Dame in Cincinnati in 2015.
  Sister Margaret Claydon was an exemplar of the ideal Trinity Woman: a 
leader of penetrating intellect, firm faith and inquiring mind, whose 
keen sense of purpose and courage to question the status quo was an 
inspiration to all who walked through our school's halls. For the women 
in my class and me, Sister Margaret, with her youth, sophistication and 
success, was a symbol of strength and empowerment, whose leadership was 
a reminder that women could become not only a Secretary or Treasurer, 
but a President--or the Speaker of the House.
  Sister Margaret's leadership of Trinity was transformational. During 
an era of great upheaval on campuses and in communities across America, 
she boldly led Trinity into the future: revitalizing and modernizing 
the curriculum, leading the conversion of governance to the lay board 
and securing a Phi Beta Kappa Chapter for Trinity, all while holding 
firm to Trinity's proud heritage as an all women's Catholic 
institution. The excellence of her leadership was recognized in her 
being named to many of the great boards of higher education and her 
serving as the only woman on a significant delegation of presidents of 
Catholic colleges to the Vatican in the late 1960s.
  Speaking before the National Catholic Educational Association fifty 
years ago, Sister Margaret declared, ``We have to be willing to 
acquaint our students with controversy and problematic knowledge. The 
emphasis cannot be only on the assemblage and mastery of facts, but 
must be on how to make sense of them in relation to the whole human 
condition . . . For the times in which we live, rigidity or timidity 
have no place. These times, these problems cry out for courage, for 
openness.''
  May Sister Margaret's lifetime of courageous leadership to educate 
and empower women to seek the truth and pursue progress for all 
continue to be a blessing to our community. And may it be a comfort to 
the Trinity community, the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, her family 
and all who knew and loved Sister Margaret that so many mourn their 
loss and pray for them during this sad time.

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