It similarly failed to ask whether Notre Dame should deny the truth of human reality and the biological differences between men and women, as this increasingly dominant ideology would demand. The report failed to ask just how inclusive Notre Dame should be in accommodating elements of the gender ideology that dominates important areas of university life in the United States. The task force held back from acknowledging that there are certain elements in the woke “inclusivity” agenda that run counter to Catholic thinking. ” The report attempted to address these subjects within the context of Notre Dame’s Catholic mission, but there was tension evident between the two.
And certainly at Notre Dame one hears much more about them than the traditional transcendentals of truth, beauty, and goodness-to say nothing of the actual Trinity professed by Christians, which should provide the ground of our being.Ī task force of the Notre Dame Board of Trustees recently delivered a report entitled “ Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Notre Dame: A Strategic Framework. Enforcing the DEI agenda has become so prevalent that Jonathan Haidt, a thoughtful liberal scholar and founder of the Heterodox Academy, argues that the prosecution of this agenda now supplants the pursuit of truth as the basic aim in many American universities. Notre Dame now advertises that it is committed to the new trinity of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) which is pervasive on many American campuses. Notre Dame’s strength has been founded on its identity as a Catholic school, but sadly, the hollowing out of this identity from within has occurred in recent decades. Ironically, the Edelman survey of perceptions of Notre Dame might not have accurately captured the reality concerning Notre Dame’s Catholicity. It has an impact across a wide range of university entities, among them the Alumni Association and the Office of Admissions. This appeasement effort has been evident at Notre Dame for some time and is revealed in the dilution of the curriculum as well as in the programming of various academic units.
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Instead, it has made notable concessions to the trends set elsewhere in the academy as it has pursued its quest to gain full acceptance in the upper realms of American higher education. Notre Dame increasingly has met this circumstance not by standing strong in its Catholic identity. Christian morality, and especially sexual morality, is expressly repudiated and seen as almost a threat to the public good such that holding to an orthodox Christian view on marriage and on respect for life can be deemed offensive. But now the dominant elements in the audiences Notre Dame seeks to impress-the elite universities, the big foundations, the corporate media and many of the woke corporations-hold a negative view of Christianity, and especially of Catholicism. I look forward to reading the “testimonials” that they might help arrange to showcase (if that be the term) our research.Ī distinct challenge for such public relations exercises, however, is that Notre Dame still trades on its past iconic place in American Catholic life. Perhaps Edelman will offer its manipulative expertise to assist Notre Dame’s public relations staff as they fashion a strategy to communicate Notre Dame’s accomplishments to various target audiences in the academy and beyond. These are calculated operations in which Edelman aids its clients to create various front groups and arranges for them to strategically submit various testimonials, letters and op-eds to media outlets under the guise of grassroots support to enhance the client’s reputation.
It is reportedly noted for organizing so-called “astroturf campaigns” and has been very successful in doing so.
The University engaged, presumably at considerable cost, the world’s largest communications firm-Edelman-to bring this revelation to us.Įdelman is well known for servicing some of the major corporations in the country.
While outsiders know our school well for Catholicism and for football, they apparently do not appreciate sufficiently the scholarship and research that emanates from here. According to Notre Dame’s leadership, the university has what might be called a perception problem with external audiences.
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