Footing the bill
** "The Village of Notre Dame" in the Autumn 2005 issue failed
to address the upwardly spiraling costs of a Notre Dame education.
While the wealthy name buildings after themselves, tuition and
fees for one year at Notre Dame rapidly approach the median household
income in America. Lowering the shamefully excessive cost of a
Notre Dame education should be the first priority of the new president,
Rev. John Jenkins, CSC. With roughly 75 percent of all Notre Dame
students on financial aid, shouldn't this be converted into lower
tuition and fees? If you ask any prospective Notre Dame parent
what's more important, affordable tuition or a new lacrosse field,
you'd better be ready for an earful.
Bob Kruse '78
Bloomington, Minnesota
Stuck in traffic
** The autumn issue noted a request by local officials for the
University to help fund traffic control for an additional football
game. The Notre Dame response is silly -- that it's solely South
Bend's responsibility. It takes anywhere from one to two hours
to travel between the toll road and campus. Notre Dame should
pay its rightful amounts to help expedite the traffic. Maybe the
University administrators who live near campus or the big-bucks
alumni who fly in and can afford hotel rooms don't recognize the
ridiculous hassle of not having legitimate traffic control.
Frank Keres '75
Northbrook, Illinois
The new president
** As a former student of Father John Jenkins and now a philosophy
professor at Xavier University, I found the article on his intellectual
development very interesting ("My Love for the Place"). It is
heartening to see the role that philosophy played in his formation
in the Catholic intellectual tradition. Father Jenkins' love for
Notre Dame is equally a love for the kind of free and open inquiry
into questions of truth, beauty and goodness still carried on
by many professors in the department today. When someone asks
me what an undergraduate can do with a philosophy degree, I can
now point to Father Jenkins as an academic leader committed to
implementing the intellectual tradition of philosophy at a place
like Notre Dame.
Daniel J. Dwyer '93
Cincinnati, Ohio
** After getting my doctorate from Notre Dame in 1975, I have
been an Evangelical Protestant and college/seminary professor
throughout my career. Father Jenkins' article warmed my heart
and made me again thankful for the five years I spent on campus
with its intellectual challenges and the generosity of the faculty
accepting my biblically oriented philosophy and relatively different
perspective. My relationship there was a highlight of my education
and intellectual understanding. The essay, articulating the moral
and spiritual course that I experienced, made me even more thankful
that this same course has been set for the future, remaining in
the tradition of the philosophical and religious pursuits in which
I felt so at home.
John H. Stoll '75Ph.D.
Minneapolis
** While I read with interest the article about the installation
of Notre Dame President Rev. John I. Jenkins, CSC, I could not
help but contrast it with the installation of Ball State University's
new president, Jo Ann Gora. Rather than spend the $150,000 budgeted
on her installation ceremony, Ms. Gora chose to fund "inauguration
scholarships" to deserving students. My niece was admitted to
Notre Dame but had to decline her admission because, with her
father seriously ill with cancer, her family could not consider
financing a Notre Dame education. Instead, she enrolled at another
outstanding university that recognized her many achievements and
awarded her four years of free tuition and room and board. Considering
Notre Dame's refusal to fund academic scholarships to outstanding
students, I think it a shame that the University did not follow
Ms. Gora's example.
Patricia Bowron
Indianapolis
Father Jenkins article was a tremendous reaffairmation of the
centrality of the truth"of divine revelation from Scripture and
Tradition" in Notre Dame's mission. Thank you, Father.
Paul J. Cella, Jr. '66
via email
Generation now
** According to "Generation Map," today's students appear to
be "conservative" people with "evangelical zeal" who watch Fox
News, "lack the theological or philosophical underpinnings for
their stances," but still "incorporate religious values when issuing
agendas for action" and are likely to advance to the financial
and political centers of the country. I couldn't have described
a George Bush disciple any better.
Jeremy W. Jaskunas, M.D., '97
Columbus, Wisconsin
Another view of Haiti
** Walt Collins' interesting article on Louverture Cleary School
("A Gift of Hope") is marred by the distorted history in his sidebar,
one more chapter in the shameful failure of Catholics here --
bishops, academics, politicians and especially journalists --
to respect and defend the heroic efforts of Father Jean-Bertrand
Aristide to bring "poverty with dignity" to Haiti's desperately
poor in the face of Washington's and the Haitian elite's consignment
of them to the despair of maquiladora exploitation.
William H. Slavick '49, '51 M.A., '71 Ph.D.
Portland, Maine
Bad decision
** I can understand your attraction to "Moral Relativism on the
Phoenix Streets." The anecdotes were compelling. They took me
back to my work with the homeless of Colorado Springs. I'm grateful,
however, that my experiences didn't leave me vulnerable to such
questionable moralizing. I hope that you at least agonized over
the essay's thesis statement ("The concepts of honesty and falsehood
are luxuries of the rich, those not beneath the boot heel.").
I hope that you at least almost rejected the piece, figuring
that your readers would conclude that you've crossed the line
and are now no better than the mainstream media from which you've
so successfully distanced yourself. Because you made the wrong
choice.
Geoffrey Parker '83
Saint Joseph, Indiana
Oldies and Goodies
About the Letter from campus -- Ed Cohen's "Oldies and Goodies.
" I'm amazed how often people from my generation want to criticize
current music, and tend to assume that everything new is hip-hop.
My 19-year-old son has turned me on to the music of such groups
as Guster, A.O.R., Counting Crows and Incubus. (I've seen them
all in concert with him as well.) There is plenty of great new
music out there which can be appreciated by both generations.
The lines that our parents used back in the '60s and '70s, "It
just sounds like noise" and "Your music doesn't have a melody"
were incorrect then, and they're incorrect now. And we baby boomers
should know better than to be close-minded.
Tony Chifari '77
via email
Winter Lights
I would have imagined ducking snowballs in hell before reading
"Seasons Greetings" inscribed on Notre Dame Christmas cards. I
mean "holiday cards," as described in the recent catalogue which
claimed -- "A Collection of Fine Merchandise Echoing the Spirit
of Notre Dame." Is that so?
Of course, when one pacts with the Gods of Merchandising certain
tradeoffs are expected. You get a store full of "your college
name goes here" um, stuff, tradition homogenized in a licensing
agreement, and "Winter Lights," the reconstituted name for Christmas
decorations as noted on a photomontage in this magazine in the
winter 2004-05 issue. If Notre Dame wants to become a Brand, which
it has, then it must hire a Brand Manager, which it has not. Because
if exorcising "Christmas" echoes the spirit of Notre Dame, we're
all in trouble. Duck.
James Hayden '66
via email
'Domers' disappointment
I usually have nothing but praise for the quality of Notre
Dame Magazine, however, it was with great disappointment
that I read "Domers in the News," in the Autumn 2005 issue.
It is my recollection that "Domers in the News" is typically
a celebration of the achievements of the Notre Dame alumni, not
their missteps. What point does it serve to announce the legal
challenges facing Joseph Cari? If there was any reason to do so,
it would be to ask the Notre Dame community for its prayers for
Joe and his family.
As Mother Teresa said, "words which do not give out the light
of Christ only increase the darkness." For all of us, individuals
and editors alike, our greatest glory is not in never failing
but in rising up to new heights.
Paddy Mullen '80
via email
(January 2006)
