The Archives of The University of Notre Dame 607 Hesburgh Library Notre Dame, IN 46556 574-631-6448 [email protected] Notre Dame Archives: Alumnus .. "" Opinio11 On CIA- and .Dow . TuE recent rule-breaking CIA-DOW they are seeking they will be a ·part demonstration has been a source of of the community. They will be free discomfort to alumni, administrators, ·to go, if what they find is inconsistent faculty and students. This· irrespon- with. what they are· seeking. sible act of interference with . the For an institution to function it I Give IJs· justifiable rights of others is i~con- must havo order. Mimbers of any ' siste:rit with the definition of a uni- ._society 'must obser\re some primary You•• Vote versity, and particularly repulsive to rules which· are nothing more than the nature of .a great university. the practice of basic good man~e'rs. n·ECENT political events in ·Notre Dame does rightfully lay claim It is senseless for the Notre Dame hair-rais~ to the designation, "great uhiversity." community not to enforce the few ing down-to-the-wire fashion revived , It may be ironic that this act of simple rules of good manners which the old-fashioned specter of represen­ interference with :the rightful free- · exist.. Rtiles should be enforced or, if tation without consensus. Whether or doin of -others may ,in fact b~ the they are meaningless, repealed. not the mandate is .the catalyst to ef­ catalyst that polarizes the "Commu- . If we hold anything sacred at a fective political action has been de­ nity of Notre Dame." university it would seem to be truth. bated. But there is little d~ubt that it All segments of Notre Dame have Why, then, in the name of freedom provides a much more comfortable · longed for Father Hesburgh's ideal does a community permit interference · posture from which to create and that the community may . one day with rights of others? Why in the launch. ·effeCtive programs. ·From coalesce into a unique body . that name of freedom do we tolerate in­ within the framework of the Alumni· Association the same. principles are stands for the best in man through decency? Why in the n~me of freedom · God - a dream, incidentally, be- must property b~ destroyed? · germaine. The Association Board of fitting the author. The Student Life . Those who have the ·authority to Directors, th~ policy making,· the pro- . gram creating head of the family · Coun~i~, the Faculty Senate, .and t~e ·maintain an' atmosphere of "good needs your endorsement. In this age of · Alumm ·Body' have all been -asked to ma~ners" on 'the campus do not act · express:.themselves on this issue. It· unilaterally when they ·enforce the gaps. a:t:td backlashes, imd the PO\.ver: would seem in the best tradition ·of rules of the University. They act to contacts, alumni voice. in University affairs becomes a crucial . balan'cing . Notre Dame for these groups to limit . protect .the coniinon good of all. If . their expression to this isol~ted act, they fail to act they deny. the rights factor. Alumni have- always played. and to aspire to a resolv_e of. what of the community majority. A rector signifi~ant, roles in the internal life of . life at Notre Dame is 'to be. · or others who "turn· their backs" or the University-as trustees, executive officers, key administrative personnel, If it is to be a !'Catholi.c universi- "shut their doors". can't avoid ·their and members of the faculty. This ty" .it ·must .be academic, it must be · responsibilities. R~sponsibility ought · kind of participating is probably one . religious, it inust be responsive and . to be taught at a university. relevant, it must be open and it must · .of the most important factors under- Tho University will not get on . lying·the traditions and consistencies .· _be orderly. What itis idealistically' is · with. its maturity through demonstra­ of the pl~ce today. Externally, the 1 · easjly described, .·generally. What it tion and· complaint. It will· mature will be actually, requirCli. painstaking Alumni sector has chalked up a record through ·the leadership, .interaction, of stipport, action a~d promoti~n u~­ evaluation, cooperation, and action·. a!J.d' integi·ity of its membership body. from the varied ~embers of the com­ matched at any other university. So, Community. must preyail over fac- . munity; (Each group must, howev'er, there ·is. remarkable precedent backing tiona! power. The CIA-DOW demon-· . reco~ize the limited scope of its the· concept that alum~i are a vital· stration strongly suggests that· the competence.) . · ~ force in the 'life of this institution. co~~ unity . must . now stimd. up and ·Perhaps, what Notre Da~e will be ackno\~ledge what it stands for. niay not necessarily be satisfactory 'FA TilER. Hesburgh has i·ecently issued to alL Individuals can come and·· if ~RiChard A. Ra$enthal '54 a call for support by members of the Notl:e D~me is-consistent with what Alumni. AS$ociation Pre$ident "-communitY" in connection: with the : ,; '·., . 1 ~ '. ' Dow-CIA dispute. Whether or not necessarily from the Left, are The poverty, and race in his Commonweal Alumni are full-fledged or associate New York Times, the NatitnuU Cath­ column. members of that "community" is per­ olic Reporter, Commonweal, News- ^^OODWARD is a 1957 alumnus who haps a matter of semantics. We may week. Twin Circle, and The Critic. edits Newsweek's religion section. He not reside directly within the "com­ All cover religion, and more to the watches Notre Dame for much the munity," but at least we're in the point of this column, they are what same reasons as Fiske and Hoyt, but suburbs. And the suburbs today are we might call "Notre Dame Watch­ knows the campus better. being called on more and more to pro­ ers." It is doubtful whether Dans Herr vide some resolution to the inner-city They watch Notre Dame for two and Lyons would ever be found shar­ crisis. A bad analogy, perhaps, but in­ main reasons: 1) the University as an ing the same pew. Herr is a liberal dicative I think, of a new oneness of institution is a pace-setter in Catholic while Father Lyons likes the side of alimini today. The Board of Directors higher education, and 2) the people the street they drive on in America. of the Alumni Association is the prop­ who teach here make news. Herr edits one of the best Catholic er and historically effective vehicle for Fiske, a religion writer for the magazines going, the bi-monthly emerging Alumni voice and involve­ Times, is interested in Notre Dame Critic, and a newsletter on ti-ends in ment. The new slate of nominees cur­ because it represents the post-Vatican the Church called Overview. Father rently circulated is an outstanding 11 Church coming to giips with ag- Lyons is editor of Tivin Circle, the one and indicates great potential for giomamento on an academic level. He conservative's NCR. He watches the future. A strong membership vote reads (we hope) the University's na­ closely over Notre Dame's orthodoxy, for these candidates can fuel the tional news releases concerning reli­ reporting faithfully incidents which alumni thrust and propel the board gion on campus, and he relies on he interprets as aberrant behavior, into an even mox-e relevant role in the "stringers" (persons who report on many of them gleaned from the stu­ life of the University. Give the board request and are paid on the basis of dent press. your mandate. what is printed) both on the campus To the surprise of many, Herr and —James D. Cooney '59 and on the staff of South Bend's Father Lyons recently passed along Alumni Secretory daily newspaper. the same tip: Notre Dame is likely Fiske shares a student stringer to be taken over by the Students For with the National Catholic Reporter a Democratic Society (SDS). No (NCR). NCR's publisher, managing person close to the campus would editor, and news editor all have Notre deny that Notre Dame has some of Dame ties, but their fascination with the same problems which afflict other the campus is hardly nostalgic.. major universities and is searching, Watchers Notre Dame provides NCR with a as are all the others, for workable and regular quota of what is generally solutions. At the same time, few called "conflict-news." The life of the would agree with the dire prediction Writers Church in NCR's pages rather re­ of Herr and Father Lyons. sembles a guerilla war situational Part of the problem stems from ^T^HAT do Ted Fiske, Bob Hoyt, Jack map and virtually every week the the fact that, while observers of the Deedy, Ken Woodward, the Eev. reader finds a colored pin stuck in best in private secular education have Daniel Lyons, S.J., and Dan Herr Notre Dame, Ind. same past experience of restlessness have in common? Jack Deedy, who is a graduate of which serves to qualify their reaction It isn't Catholicism, because Fiske what he calls "wall-to-wall Irish" to the latest campus flap, followers of is a Presbyterian minister and it isn't Holy Cross, likes to chide Notre Catholic higher education's leading Alma Mater, because only Woodward Dame for what he considers to be its edge are somewhat nervous and apt has a Notre Dame degree. covert conservatism, but he is more to overreact at the slightest sign of The six are journalists and their frequently concerned (and rightly tension.