By Branko Dubravcic ’25, Emery Jansen ’26 and Lucy Lindgren ’25

Mary Phillips ’25, Lucy Lindgeren ’25, Branko Dubravcic ’25 and Emery Jansen ’26.

Did you know that St. Olaf is one of 26 other institutions in the Network of ELCA Colleges and Universities (NECU)? We didn’t either, but our trip to Chicago to participate in the summit changed all that. The NECU Student Leadership Summit was a great welcome to our role as Interfaith Fellows, as it helped us think about our role with new lenses. Asked to nominate two student leaders to attend the NECU Summit in Chicago, St. Olaf ultimately sent four eager representatives: Branko Dubravcic ’25, Emery Jansen ’26, Lucy Lindgren ’25, and Mary Phillips ’26. We gathered at the ELCA headquarters in Chicago in early September for a weekend of thoughtful dialogue, community building, and advocacy with student representatives from nineteen NECU schools across the country.

It was eye-opening to hear how many similarities we have across NECU institutions. The summit also brought awareness to our many differences. As groups presented, we listened and noted projects that might benefit the St. Olaf community if initiated on the Hill.

We connected with our peers over dinner the evening we arrived. On Saturday morning, the Executive Director of NECU, Rev. Lamont Wells, introduced us to the guiding principles of Lutheran higher education—critical thinking, questioning of current knowledge (epistemological humility), focusing on vocation, freedom of expression, protection of academic freedom, and a foundation in the liberal arts—and what it means for us to be part of this community. Throughout the weekend, we also engaged in interfaith centering, reflected on our campus climate, and shared areas of strength and potential growth opportunities with a compassionate and earnest group of NECU students. After hearing from each school, we brainstormed next steps for our institutions in living out our rooted and open Lutheran identity through discussion and crafting vision boards. We also participated in God’s Work Our Hands Sunday by learning about ELCA advocacy efforts and hand-writing letters to our senators and representatives. Lamont was traveling to Washington D.C. the following week, so he volunteered to deliver our letters to the US Capitol for us.

An impactful part of the weekend was hearing from student representatives about how their institutions are responding to current events. After contemplating these topics as school groups, each presented about pressing issues on their campuses: their impact on students and responses from administration. Issues discussed ranged from climate change and food insecurity to DEI and responses to larger global conflicts. Students described concerns about on-campus safety in light of economic hardship and institutional under-enrollment. Many school groups placed importance on supporting students directly affected by issues on-campus, as well as on a national and global level. It was eye-opening to hear how many similarities we have across NECU institutions. The summit also brought awareness to our many differences. As groups presented, we listened and noted projects that might benefit the St. Olaf community if initiated on the Hill. Following the presentations, we discussed over dinner potential proposals to our schools and how, as NECU institutions, we could collaborate in the future.After learning the guiding principles of Lutheran higher education and hearing from students across different ELCA colleges and universities, we returned to St. Olaf with a more robust understanding of what it means to be students at an NECU institution. The summit showed us that St. Olaf is inclusive and open to diverse viewpoints because of its Lutheran identity, not despite it. In October, the four of us had the privilege of meeting with St. Olaf’s President, Susan Rundell Singer, to share our takeaways from the summit. In our conversation with President Singer, we discussed the ways these key elements of a NECU institution could be introduced to new and current students to foster conversations about them across campus. We came away from the NECU Student Leadership Summit with a greater love for our school and the qualities that make Oles, well, Oles. Looking forward, we seek to empower our peers to feel the same way.

We came away from the NECU Student Leadership Summit with a greater love for our school and the qualities that make Oles, well, Oles. Looking forward, we seek to empower our peers to feel the same way.