Alumni criticism is a disservice
Letter to the Editor
How ashamed we, as a student body, should be of ourselves. Misconduct at basketball games, poor displays of sportsmanship and self-control and immaturity in the national spotlight have tainted our image. We are no longer the "MVPs." We have let ourselves, our school, our alumni and our historical reputation down.
This doesn't seem like a particularly wrong statement to make. In fact, I am willing to concede, to a large degree, that we, the Notre Dame student body, are lacking in the behavior befitting of a university with such a historical and reknowned reputation. Notre Dame students have brought a lot of shame to the University through their recent actions at sporting events out of a simple lack of respect for the opponents, the nature of sportsmanship and the ideals of the Notre Dame community.
This issue has been debated in our school paper for two weeks now. Granted, I, above all people, am willing to admit the big mistakes that were made. I am willing to respect the fact that each person has and is entitled to give their opinion. However, there is a certain irony to the recent outlashes in the Viewpoint letters to the editor.
I was particularly shocked by the words of one author in Friday's paper. Mark Laughman must have thought his words of anger would either scare good behavior into the student body, rile lots of support from alumni or turn the student body against the "waterboy" to the point of his death (which I hear is almost a reality, unfortunately).
What I don't understand is this: Did Mr. Laughman really make his point through all of that immaturity? I don't think so. I think Mr. Laughman is ridiculously immature (sorry, sir, I have an opinion too).
Using kiddy words to criticize an obviously immature act by a student is still immature. If you go to work, sir, at your high and mighty job, and your peers from rival universities jeering at you bothers you so much that you feel the need to write such a hateful letter to our student body, you should seek counseling. Professional counseling.
I, along with a number of my friends who wear clothes bought on sale at JCPenney, live in the near east side of Cleveland, Ohio, and pay out of own our pockets to go to school here. We don't appreciate your ignorance of the lifestyles of some of the students here at Notre Dame.
Generalizing us through your critique of the "waterboy" is a shame to those of us who feel we work hard and embody the strong tradition Notre Dame has laid before us.
You give all the blame to the "waterboy" for ruining everything about Notre Dame you love. I can respect that he destroyed some of that by his actions. However, sir, I must tell you now that you blew it for me.
I HAD faith in all the alumni. The shame I see here is that you were ever given a diploma from Notre Dame to begin with.
Please understand that I will not make the same mistake Mr. Laughman has made. I do not believe he is an accurate representation of alumni body on the whole. My personal experiences with alumni through summer service projects, community task forces and public relations have been overwhelmingly positive.
I feel that Mr. Laughman, if nothing else, does a deep disservice to the Notre Dame alumni by the image he has created for himself as a Notre Dame alum.
John Bauters
Sophomore
Keenan Hall
March 3, 2000
All Viewpoint Stories for Wednesday, March 8, 2000
