The Spire

Ashwin Prabaharan ’26 and Will McHale ‘26

Co-Editors-in-Chief

On Feb. 12, The Spire conducted our first interview of the semester with President Vincent Rougeau. The topics of conversation included the official release of SuarezAI for Holy Cross students, student success related to the Fulbright Program, plans for the Easy Street dorms, the Holy Cross student competing in the 2026 Winter Olympics, and improvements to the senior dining plans for the new semester.

Our first question for President Rougeau concerned the recent launch of SuarezAI, part of the College’s response to the rise of generative AI. Following the completion of a GenAI Literacy Essentials course on Canvas, students are now granted access to SuarezAI, the in-house AI platform named for Francisco Suárez, S.J., a Spanish Jesuit known for breaking complex questions into manageable steps. The platform provides users with access to several leading subscription-level AI models such as ChatGPT 5.2, Claude Sonnet 4.5, Google Gemini 3 Pro, and Meta’s Llama. President Rougeau stated that the initial response to Suarez has been positive, and he noted a few key aspects that drove the development of the platform. First, he highlighted the reality that AI is present now and is not something that the College can ignore or pretend that it is not there. Secondly, he mentioned the important issue of ensuring equity of platforms so that there is not a disparity between students who are able to pay for subscription-AI services and those who cannot. Suarez is a platform that is proprietary to the College and makes sure that all students are on a level playing field. President Rougeau stressed that the College is still grappling with the benefits as well as the risks of the rise of artificial intelligence, with conversations ongoing about best practices among faculty, students, staff, and administrators. President Rougeau said that the rapid evolution of AI makes it something that students, especially those entering the workforce, will have to reckon with; the College is committed to making sure students are in the best possible position to meet this challenge.

We then asked President Rougeau for his thoughts on Holy Cross being recognized once again as a top producer of Fulbright Scholars. He expressed that he is always thrilled about this recognition and stated that it is certainly something to be proud of. The Fulbright Scholar Program offers over 400 awards in more than 135 countries for U.S. citizens to teach, engage in research, and take part in professional projects around the world. Over the last 14 years, there have been 107 Holy Cross graduates who have earned Fulbright Scholarships. President Rougeau noted that Holy Cross has a culture of mentoring undergraduate students for the Fulbright Program, giving a shoutout to the faculty who help students through the application process. When asked what makes Holy Cross students great candidates for Fulbright, President Rougeau thought that our students have true curiosity and want to engage with the world.

Our interview then turned to the topic of Easy Street, as there have been rumblings around campus about a potential renovation or update to the Easy Street dorms. While President Rougeau understood the nostalgia that the current Easy Street dorms evoke for students & alumni, he noted that there are real limitations to the current dorms that make it difficult to adapt them to the current needs of the College. President Rougeau explained that an upcoming philanthropic campaign for the College will center around first- and second-year student housing that will bring some updates and upgrades to Easy Street, though he could not yet say whether or not that will include new construction.

The next topic covered was the exciting news of Holy Cross freshman Naemi Herzig of the women’s hockey team competing in the 2026 Olympics as a member of the Swiss National Team. President Rougeau expressed how excited and proud he is for Holy Cross to have an Olympian, how proud he is of the Women’s Hockey team, and how happy he is for Herzig as she represents her country. He described this as part of the wide range of opportunities that students have to demonstrate excellence in academics, athletics, and more.

Finally, our interview turned to the welcome change to the senior food plans for the new semester, which now include an increased number of Kimball swipes. President Rougeau explained that this initiative was student-inspired and that he was impressed with how students worked directly with Dining Services to find a solution to a pressing student need. He stated that this was a great example of how to work together to effectively resolve problems in a community like ours.

We would like to thank President Rougeau and his office for speaking with us, and we hope to bring the campus community continued information and insights directly from our school’s leadership.