10 Mission Statement of the University of Notre Dame freedom, which makes open discussion and inquiry founders were a small and impoverished band of Mission Statement of the possible. French and Irish religious brothers whose leader was Rev. Edward F. Sorin, C.S.C., an impetuous, University of Notre Dame The University prides itself on being an environment strong-willed, and apparently tireless priest. In a of teaching and learning that fosters the development memoir titled My Notre Dame, Thomas Stritch, in its students of those disciplined habits of mind, CONTEXT professor emeritus of American Studies and body, and spirit that characterize educated, skilled, Notre Dame historian, wrote that Father Sorin This statement speaks of the University of and free human beings. In addition, the University “carved Notre Dame out of the Northern Indiana Notre Dame as a place of teaching and research, seeks to cultivate in its students not only an apprecia- wilderness and by sheer strength of character made of scholarship and publication, of service and tion for the great achievements of human beings but it go. He built and rebuilt, recruited students where community. These components flow from three also a disciplined sensibility to the poverty, injustice, he could, and gradually began the unique image characteristics of Roman Catholicism which and oppression that burden the lives of so many. Notre Dame still enjoys. In a college or university, image Jesus Christ, his Gospel, and his Spirit. A The aim is to create a sense of human solidarity and reputation is everything. Somehow Sorin developed sacramental vision encounters God in the whole concern for the common good that will bear fruit as a favorable one for Notre Dame, one that reverber- of creation. In and through the visible world in learning becomes service to justice. which we live, we come to know and experience ated throughout the American Catholic world, the invisible God. In mediation the Catholic vision Notre Dame also has a responsibility to advance the Eastern Seaboard as well as the Midwest. Long perceives God not only present in but also working knowledge in a search for truth through original before football was invented, Notre Dame caught the through persons, events, and material things. There inquiry and publication. This responsibility engages imagination of American Catholics.” the faculty and students in all areas of the University, is an intelligibility and a coherence to all reality, Father Sorin was a member of the Congregation but particularly in graduate and professional educa- discoverable through spirit, mind and imagination. of Holy Cross, a then recently formed Catholic tion and research. The University is committed to God’s grace prompts human activity to assist the religious community3 that would own and administer constructive and critical engagement with the whole world in creating justice grounded in love. God’s way the University from its foundation until 1967, when of human culture. to us comes as communion, through the communi- the University’s governance was legally transferred ties in which men and women live. This community The University encourages a way of living consonant to a two-tiered, mixed board of lay and religious includes the many theological traditions, liturgies, with a Christian community and manifest in prayer, trustees and fellows. The University’s bylaws ensure and spiritualities that fashion the life of the church. liturgy, and service. Residential life endeavors to that the Congregation will continue to exert a The emphasis on community in Catholicism explains develop that sense of community and of responsibil- prominent influence on its administration. They why Notre Dame historically has fostered familial ity that prepares students for subsequent leadership stipulate, for example, that Notre Dame’s presidents bonds in its institutional life. in building a society that is at once more human and must always be chosen from among the priests of A Catholic university draws its basic inspiration more divine. the Congregation. The Congregation also ministers to the University it founded through the many Holy from Jesus Christ as the source of wisdom and from Notre Dame’s character as a Catholic academic the conviction that in him all things can be brought Cross priests serving on the University’s faculty, community presupposes that no genuine search for the counselors and chaplains who live with the to their completion. As a Catholic university, the truth in the human or the cosmic order is alien Notre Dame wishes to contribute to this educational undergraduate students in the residence halls, and to the life of faith. The University welcomes all areas the staff of the campus ministry office. mission. of scholarly activity as consonant with its mission, subject to appropriate critical refinement. There In 1972, five years after the change in governance, a THE MISSION is, however, a special obligation and opportunity, new chapter of University history began to be writ- specifically as a Catholic university, to pursue the ten as the first undergraduate women were admitted The University of Notre Dame is a Catholic aca- religious dimensions of all human learning. Only to Notre Dame. A quarter of a century later, the demic community of higher learning, animated from thus can Catholic intellectual life in all disciplines majority of living Notre Dame alumni have been its origins by the Congregation of Holy Cross. The be animated and fostered. Notre Dame pursues its graduated from a fully coeducational institution. University is dedicated to the pursuit and sharing objectives through the formation of an authentic of truth for its own sake. As a Catholic university, Obviously, many other aspects of the University have human community graced by the Spirit of Christ. one of its distinctive goals is to provide a forum been changed by more than a century and a half where through free inquiry and open discussion of turbulent and unpredictable happenings in the the various lines of Catholic thought may intersect The University Catholic Church and in American life and culture. with all the forms of knowledge found in the arts, of Notre Dame Fires, outbreaks of infectious diseases, the Civil War, sciences, professions, and every other area of human waves of European immigrants and refugees, Church scholarship and creativity. Notre Dame is at once a Catholic university, a controversies, the Great Depression, two world wars national symbol, and an international community and several smaller bloodlettings, the civil rights The intellectual interchange essential toRound a university movement, and other social convulsions in America, requires, and is enriched by, the presence and voices of religious faith, intellectual inquiry, and devotion to the powerless. Among its conspicuous features are all have involved members of the Notre Dame of diverse scholars and students. The Catholic family and have left deep and indelible imprints on identity of the University depends upon, and is nur- its academic reputation, an elaborately designed and golden-domed administration building, a famous the character and rich tradition of the institution. tured by, the continuing presence of a predominant Rev. William Corby, C.S.C., a successor to Father number of Catholic intellectuals. This ideal has been collegiate football team, a popular shrine to the Mother of God, two fascinating lakes, a pleasantly Sorin, played a memorable national role as a Union consistently maintained by the University leadership chaplain at the Battle of Gettysburg; Rev. Julius throughout its history. What the University asks landscaped campus, and a spirited student body sur- rounded by an intensely loyal community of alumni Nieuwland, C.S.C., a scientist and faculty member, of all its scholars and students, however, is not a invented synthetic rubber; Notre Dame students particular creedal affiliation but a respect for the and friends who unabashedly refer to themselves as the Notre Dame “family.” were participants in a nationally publicized scuffle objectives of Notre Dame and a willingness to enter with a resurgent Ku Klux Klan; the University’s into the conversation that gives it life and character. The institution was founded on the site of an colorful football team and something of its campus Therefore, the University insists upon academic old Catholic missionary outpost in 1842. The atmosphere were enshrined in American history and To Table of Contents 11 Student Life myth by a film featuring a memorable performance rich inheritance that comes from our shared past. many spiritual, athletic, social, and volunteer service by an actor who later became a president. More We expect our graduates to be conversant with and activities. recently, a second film dramatized the University’s equipped to contribute to the best thinking across First-year students, sophomores and juniors, spirit and gave a new name to unheralded the disciplines. Notre Dame helps students acquire beginning with the incoming class of 2018, are athletes—Rudy. the virtues necessary for living a good human required to live on campus for six semesters. Study life and prepares them to become leaders in their Most notably, Notre Dame’s reputation, so zealously abroad facilitated through Notre Dame International professions, for their communities, the Church, and nurtured, sustained, and celebrated by Father automatically counts toward the fulfillment of the the world. Sorin and his successors, has become increasingly six-semester expectation, with other exceptions international in recent years because of the establish- As a community committed to service, we challenge considered on an individual basis. Several hall leader- ment of numerous academic and community service students to grow in their understanding of complex ship roles, along with incentives to stay in the halls, programs in the Holy Land, Mexico, Chile, Ireland, human realities, and we call them to respond to the are available to seniors. England, Austria, France, Italy, Spain, Australia, needs of the world with compassion and committed Spiritual Life.