Julianna Mariani ‘24

Editor-in-Chief

The Fauci Effect

Fall 2022, welcome back to the Spire! Even though it is now my third year at Holy Cross, I still feel like a first-year. Which is why the fact that there are so many of them, is very concerning. The only people that I feel aren’t first-years, are the seniors. At the College of the Holy Cross for this year, 100 more first-year students in the pool of accepted applicants, chose to attend the College than was expected. In a letter President Vincent D. Rougeau sent out, he made us aware of these numbers and explained that measures would be taken to prepare for the larger-than-average class size. The rumor around campus is that there are officially about 930 first-year students. That’s over 100 more students than my smaller-than-average junior class. COVID-19 caused many of my 2024 classmates to defer for a year, while the King of COVID spiked record applicant numbers for the class of 2026. Yes, I am talking about the man, the myth, the legend… Doctor Anthony Fauci. 

Dr. Fauci is the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and has been since 1984. Smack in the middle of the best decade. Great music, great hair, great people. For those of you that don’t know, and you really should at this point, Dr. Fauci graduated from Holy Cross. That’s right, he is an alumnus of our very own alma mater. This is my favorite tid-bit about our college. I love this man. He is genuinely one of my favorite people and I’ve never even met the guy. He worked overtime to help us through a global pandemic concerning a disease that nobody had ever experienced before. Not to mention he is the most precious soul that has ever walked the earth, he only ever wants to help. If that’s not reason enough to attend the College, then I don’t know what is. 

To me, it comes as no surprise that the first-year class is amongst the highest volume we have ever seen, and I attribute it all to Anthony Fauci. There’s no wonder everyone wanted to come here when one of our alumni was the man who led us through some of the darkest days of the 21st century. My sister is one of them. As much as I would like to take credit for my younger sister following me to college, it really has to be given to Fauci. My parents watched that man like the Pope on television every night during the first months of COVID, and drilled it into our heads that he was next to Jesus on the totem pole. Apparently Holy Cross must think along similar lines because we fully renamed the science building after Fauci. We went from the “Integrated Science Complex” to the “Anthony S. Fauci Integrated Science Complex.” Money moves I know. Regardless, this was a pretty big deal in our community. 

This love for Fauci in Worcester, Massachusetts has been deemed “The Fauci Effect.” Which, after a quick google search, has also been applied to the influx of medical school applications in the last year. Fauci is breeding more doctors and more members of the Holy Cross community than ever before just by being the man he is. Aside from the increased amount of forced triples and the lack of alfredo in the pasta section at KimbalI, I am thrilled to have my sister here, along with the rest of the first-years. Go Cross go.