Dignity Center

One of the Dignity Center's signature programs is Auris Connections. This is a three-day orientation designed for students of different backgrounds to engage with the broader campus community, gather information about student support services, and create lasting friendships throughout their college years. Apply in spring semester to be an Auris Mentor next year!  

More about Auris Connections

We offer each first-year student the opportunity to participate in the Saints Mentor with Heart program (SMH). SMH pairs first-year students with an upper-division student—a peer mentor—who champions their personal, academic and professional success. The program helps students adjust to university demands, exploring majors and careers, and cultivating strong ties to the community. Apply to become a Saints Mentor with Heart Mentor! 

More about Saints Mentor with Heart

The Dignity Center partners with the Office of Campus Ministry to help student leaders grow in their understanding Benedictine values and Catholic social teaching. An important part of a student’s personal leadership development is through service. Service trips are hosted over Spring Break, and students are immersed in a community to learn, serve and reflect. Our immersion program is the third phase of our Benedictine Leadership Program.

Past locations:

• Yakima, WA
• Colorado Vincentian Volunteers | Denver, CO
• Respite Center | McAllen, TX
• Homeboys and Dolores Mission | Los Angeles, CA
• L'Arche Tahoma | Tacoma, WA
• Firestone | Flint, MI

More about Benedictine Leadership Program

The Dignity Center and Campus Ministry invite you to engage in a dialogue series, called Breaking Bread. This series is an opportunity for the Saint Martin's community to encounter each other in our sharing of a meal and conversations. The topics of Breaking Bread center on social justice issues. A simple lunch will be provided!

The Dignity Center sponsors several learning opportunities for the university community to put Catholic social justice into action. This includes bringing speakers to campus who reflect the heart of Catholic social teaching; and offering films and lectures series and events that get us thinking about our responsibilities for peace and justice. Topics include immigration rights, worker rights, indigenous sovereignty and racial justice, among others. 

The Passport to Careers Scholarship is administered by the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) and helps unaccompanied youth, homeless youth and current and former foster youth enroll, persist and complete post-secondary education. The Dignity Center staff work collaboratively with other offices and departments to ensure that Passport students find the support they need to be successful college students. 

The Dignity Center makes space for people of different backgrounds and experiences to meet each other as a Sacred Thou. Catholic social teaching calls us to stand in solidarity with the most vulnerable and marginalized in our world. This is true of our campus community. We make solidarity spaces available at various times of the academic year.   

The Dignity Center offers several workshops/trainings throughout the academic year. Topics will vary depending on the request.  

Creating an inclusive and welcoming community requires the dedication of faculty, staff, and students to promote inclusive excellence in all aspects of academic life. To this end, we work collaboratively with campus partners to sponsor a variety of diversity-related programs and events that recognize and validate our distinct identities, worldviews, and cultures. Our diversity is our strength.

Hospitality: “To offer warmth, acceptance, joy in welcoming others” (RB, 48)

Catholic social teaching calls us to protect human life, promote human dignity, and advance the common good. We sponsor a number of service opportunities for students to put this teaching into action. Through service opportunities, students are able to connect their learning about diversity with the political, social, economic, and global issues currently facing our shared humanity. Students emerge from these opportunities engaged citizens ready to transform their world.

Justice: “…that in all things God may be glorified” (RB, 57)

Supporting the overall success of students requires that faculty, staff, and students engage and promote an equitable educational environment. We offer a variety of programs and opportunities that support underrepresented students in their navigation of college life and educate faculty, staff, and students in building a more equitable community.

Respect for persons: “No one is to pursue what is judged best for oneself, but instead, what is better for someone else” (RB, 72)