Affirmative Action
Ed Cohen's article ("Admit by Numbers") showcased Notre Dame's
endorsement of Michigan's automatic point entitlement -- one based
solely upon race. But it did little to illustrate the irony of
a Catholic university joining forces with contemporary, secular
liberalism. This is the same socialist bedfellow that would eliminate
faith-based education in this country, if not faith itself.
Notre Dame and its media avoid the broader debate for three
reasons. First, the University deals poorly with conflict; it
would rather be loved by all. Second, there is a seldom-spoken
understanding on campus that we must pander to our faculty liberals,
and even to the uninitiated undergraduates, in order to join the
elite of higher education. Last, Notre Dame acknowledges the importance
of its conservative following in economic terms only.
If Notre Dame's "Catholic character" is more than a slogan,
the University will respond just as assertively in support of
conservative positions when the Supreme Court revisits issues
such as the abortion holocaust.
Paul Witkowski, M.D., '65
South Bend
How would Father Monk Malloy have felt in 1987 if Don Keough,
chairman of the board of trustees, had appointed a minority as
president because he believed it enriched the educational experience,
although Monk was the most qualified? How would Coach Tyrone Willingham
have felt if Athletic Director Kevin White had hired an Hispanic
simply because he felt there were too few Hispanic coaches? How
does a poor white male from Appalachia, fully qualified to attend
Notre Dame, feel when his place is given to a black whose father
is a corporate executive and has promised to make a large donation?
About as bad as I felt when I was the victim of reverse discrimination
several times in my corporate career.
R. Peter Price '63
Pittsford, New York
Football tickets
How nice of Notre Dame to protect us from the big bad ticket
scalpers. Your article almost makes me forget how Notre Dame extorts
money from me every year in order for me to "earn the privilege"
to enter the football ticket lottery. Let's face it, the University
is cracking down on scalpers not because of an altruistic streak
but for purely business motives. The reality is that it is cheaper
for me to buy two tickets, even at scalpers' prices than it is
for me to "donate" $100 to the annual fund and then "win" the
right to purchase two tickets through the ticket office at about
$50 per ticket. Notre Dame needs to eliminate scalping to help
preserve the cash cow of football tickets.
Brian Potasiewicz '85
Summit, New Jersey
Iraq and the preemptive strike
Bravo to Robert Schmuhl ("Going Our Way") for identifying the
open-ended threat to America's moral leadership in the world presented
by the ideological fundamentalists in the Bush administration.
We devastated a country that had no credible connection to the
events of 9/11, while allowing the very infrastructure of terror
to reroot itself in Afghanistan and elsewhere. We have weakened
nearly to the point of dissolution the institutions and networks
of alliances built over the past 60 years at a time when they
were never more important. We have transformed ourselves in two
short years from being the shining city on the hill, grievously
wounded by the enemies of all that is decent, to being a self-absorbed
hyperpower bent solely on preserving our own security and our
own way of life, regardless of the consequences to the rest of
the world.
Michael Hogan'79, '80
Cambridge, Massachusetts
I do believe the United States has earned the
right to be the sole judge of the legitimacy of preemptive attacks.
No other country can be trusted to defend us or even assist us
in our time of need. Without the United States taking the lead
role in the new world order, the terrorist countries and groups
will create so much havoc and misery that the horrific attacks
of 9/11 could pale by comparison. We may have a one-time opportunity
to stand strong and you, unwittingly, are helping to tear the
fabric of our great country.
Rich Rothschild
Garden City, New York
The Bush action against Iraq with an unmoving United Nations
and the safety and security of the people of the United States
(and the world) in doubt was courageous. We can agree that nobody
likes war, killing and bloodshed, but someone in the world must
step up to protect the people against these threats. If not us,
who? The United States has a right, even a duty, to militarily
dismantle this particular tyranny.
Robert Armstrong '60
Farmington Hills, Michigan
After graduating from Notre Dame I served three years in the
Navy on a carrier in the Far East and as a bomb disposal officer.
I have lived through World War II, the Korean War, McCarthyism
and the Vietnam War, but I have never been afraid for our country's
ultimate survival as a free and economically healthy nation before
now. I can only hope that our citizens can find leaders more worthy
of the country's founders' hopes than the ones we have.
Bert L. Metzger Jr. '55
Seattle
Professor Schmuhl's implicit defense of the wicked regime of
Saddam Hussein, and his sympathy for Arab terror, is abhorrent
and despicable. His evil brings shame to American scholarship
and to the University. He should burn in hell for eternity for
the terrorism he advocates.
Patrick Syring '79
Arlington, Virginia
(January 2004)
