Since the White House Rose Garden Ceremony two weeks ago, many newspapers, including The Observer, have focused on the behavior of Notre Dame President Fr. John Jenkins. However, Jenkins’ egregious maskless handshaking behavior wasn’t the only violation of Notre Dame’s COVID-19 policies that day. According to one source, 17 Notre Dame professors, administrators and spouses attended the event in addition to Fr. Jenkins.
While Fr. Jenkins’ apology may have been lackluster, the silence in the walls of the law school is deafening.
I am a third-year law student. I am also immunocompromised. And I am shocked, appalled and frankly embarrassed by the behavior of the law school faculty and staff who attended the White House Rose Garden event. The fact that they felt it necessary to attend the function in the first place goes against school policy, but I can understand that decision.
However, the fact that many of them took off their masks, sat right on top of each other, hugged and shook hands and then, when word got out that a number of the attendees tested positive for COVID-19, decided not to quarantine and did not apologize for their behavior is all beyond the pale. It shows a lack of leadership, a lack of empathy and frankly, a lack of common sense. I am aware that many of them received rapid tests before the event, but clearly those tests were not effective, judging by the sheer number of people who tested positive mere days later. And even if they hadn’t, optics matter. (cont)