I'm currently a graduate student at ND. I have taught undergrads (including football players). There are a list of things that ND should not be doing- permitting Obama to speak was a huge blunder (and heaven forbid they invite Clinton- a huge number of students might skip graduation rather than be lectured by her, especially as her party moves to attack Catholic education and use tax money for abortions). Fawning treatment of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who is contemptuous of the religious liberties of Catholics and fanatically pro-abortion, is similarly embarrassing. She should be allowed to speak on campus -
everyone should be allowed to speak on campus- but, as Prof. Garnett of the Law School has explained, there is a difference between
what is said at a Catholic university and what a Catholic university says. Such people should not be honored by ND, under any circumstances.
(I should note that the administration seems utterly unaware of how controversial the Obama visit remains. During the Hesburgh memorial, for example, a former president of Princeton praised Fr. Hesburgh and Fr. Jenkins for honoring Obama, as if everyone at ND now accepts that it was a good decision. Of course, plenty of students and alumni, not to mention everyone else who cares about ND, do not accept that it was a good decision.)
Why is ND special? One reason is that it attracts people like Rick Garnett- and innumerable other people who want to be at ND specifically because it is Catholic. We aren't Harvard, and should not try to be, as Cardinal Dolan remarked in his Commencement address two years ago. Even Fr. Jenkins, who otherwise seems to slavishly follow academic trends, has said that ND needs to be the best ND it can be, not imitate somewhere else (despite this sounding like a human resources poster, it is true).
The consistency the ND administration shows is this: it wants to be Harvard. Or Stanford. Or whatever. This is why it is embarrassed both by ND's Catholicity and the importance of its football program. (Yes, Stanford has football, but it is more of a fun hobby than a central or defining feature of the school.) In reality, the reason that ND should not be a 'factory' is because it is Catholic, not because it is Harvard. Treating football players as essentially money-making machines, rather than trying to cultivate their personalities and intellects, is not what a good Catholic school should do.
I have documented in several posts here that the main problem at ND is not academic restrictions. Our offered players in 2015 were almost exactly equal in rating to those offered by Ohio State. The fact that we did not sign as many of the top players as OSU is not the fault of admissions. You can't tell me that if Urban Meyer were the coach here we wouldn't be winning titles because of academic restrictions. He'd be landing enough of the best guys, and coaching them up. The problem with the administration is less a lack of desire to win than a specific incompetence at picking coaches.
And yeah, the FB stadium deserved an upgrade, but Crossroads is goofy looking. It was a foolish decision. But that is something both lefty profs, conservative ultra-Catholic profs, and FB fans all agree upon.
