University of Notre Dame - Dome Yearbook (Notre Dame, IN)

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ACADEMICS ADMINISTRATION Vice-President for Public Relations and Development James W. Frick views the task of his office as securing both understanding and support for the three functions of the University education, research and public service. His division includes such units as the Notre Dame Foun- dation, the department of division units, public informa- tion, the Alumni Association, and the Placement Bureau. Never working solely for the present, Mr. Frick is always planning for the Notre Dame of five to ten years from now. Although his office is not charged with ex- penditures or allocations of funds, Mr. Frick necessarily works in close coordination with the Vice-President for Business Affairs. The present list of projections num- bers twenty-three items, ranging from endowment of professorial chairs and student scholarships to addi- tional dining facilities for the new dormitories north of the Library. To realize all of these hopes would require some fifty million dollars within five years. Notre Dame alumni are traditionally generous, but the University has also been fortunate in having Ford Foundation support in the two challenge programs. The publicity impetus as well as the matching funds have been beneficial to both campaigns, while the challenge programs have considerably broadened the general base of support. Although the University ' s bid for an un- precedented third consecutive grant for a capital gift campaign is still under consideration by Ford, another drive will be necessary in the near future with or with- out Ford assistance. The independent fund-raising drives of Notre Dame have been amazingly successful as well, and the office of public relations and development manages its own publicity and contacts, rather than hiring an outside agency. Its success is characterized by the Foundation, which since its inception in 1947 has raised 100 million dollars for the school. The Valley of Vision campaign raised some $1,850,000 in the St. Joseph Valley area at a time when President Johnson was visiting it on a poverty tour. The many supporters with no other con- nection with the school leads Mr. Frick to consider the famous Notre Dame mystique as absolutely real. For the office of business affairs, the change in gov- ernance of the University will have an immediate and direct effect. Although the office has already begun to move in that direction. Vice-President Rev. Jerome J. Wilson, C.S.C., feels the new Board of Trustees will be even more insistent on programmed budgeting. The forecasting of the University ' s needs, from new profes- sors to increased maintenance costs, requires difficult present decisions for the next five or ten years of the school. One indication of the new emphasis was the reorganization this year of the accounting department for greater efficiency and better control in all areas. Henceforth appointed by the Board of Trustees, the vice-president for business affairs will report to a board with governing authority, not to an advisory board. Under the office of business affairs are the areas of finance, including accounting, investing and auditing; auxiliary enterprises, such as the Bookstore, Morris Inn and golf course; plants and equipment; and other gen- eral departments. Contrary to much student opinion, the University fees for room, board and laundry do not cover the ser- vices offered, including maintenance. And of some four- teen million dollars annual academic expeditures, stu- dent tuitions including scholarships cover only ten and a half million. While gifts and other sources of income make up the remainder of academic outlay, however, there are also unromantic hidden costs, such as needed expansion of the steam plant, for which gifts are generally unobtainable. Notre Dame ' s operating budget this year neared 31 million dollars, while two years ago it was 27 million. Hopes for greatly expanded facilities and development of the graduate faculty in the next five years emphasize the crucial demands to be placed on the office of busi- ness affairs, as well as the necessity for yet another fund-raising program, probably beginning next fall. 28

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As the only vice-president concerned directly and primarily with the students, Rev. Charles I. McCar- ragher, C.S.C., directs and advises all student ventures, including Student Government and publications. Influential in enacting this year ' s rules changes, Fr. McCarragher feels they have relaxed people on campus and allowed them to face their more important basic concerns as students. But he holds that a much greater uniformity of interpretation is necessary, and a regula- tions book next fall will spell out the implications and limitations of the changes. With SBP Jim Fish, Fr. McCarragher this year scru- tinized Student Government and discovered a pressing need for structural reorganization. High Student Gov- ernment positions, especially those of the president and treasurer, have in recent years become almost full-time jobs, while the Senate ' s ineffectual debates over details are for the most part irrelevant. The new Student Union resulted from these consid- erations. Unlike the buildings and incorporations tagged student union at some colleges, the Notre Dame student union will be the functional branch of stu- dent government, including most of the present com- missions. A Student Union president will be appointed by the SBP. The hope of the plan is that the SBP, Cabinet and Senate will respond with creativity and ini- tiative to their freedom from implementing details. Rais- ing the activities fee is an important part of the pro- gram, since the union will require a paid accountant and secretarial help. But Fr. McCarragher feels the plan will meet the most pressing need of student govern- ment that of involving more people for less time. In student publications a similar situation exists. Heavy demands, especially great since no journalism training is available at Notre Dame, limit the number of students involved. With all the staffs low on experi- ence next fall, Fr. McCarragher hopes a non-credit jour- nalism course can be offered a course, he empha- sizes, for education, not for censorship. The Observer in a bitter article in February accused him and the Ad- ministration of censorship. His opinion of the Ob- server ' s problem was lack of direction: while WSND pro- vided the quickest news coverage and the Scholastic offered the most considered news analysis, the Observer had no tradition or special purpose to guide it, and editorialism dominated. Although he admits that stu- dent publications are often misunderstood, a more basic fault, in his view, was the failure of the Observer to address its audience the student body. More alarming to him, however, is the low level of cultural awareness on campus. Although he feels stu- dent government should be more actively concerned with this, Fr. McCarragher lays the blame with the stu- dents: cultural concerts and lectures are generally un- popular. His office is willing to promote improvements, and he hopes the new convocation center facilities may help. Meanwhile, the rising price of dance and con- cert tickets reflects Notre Dame ' s false sophistication. 27

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Opposite, Rev. Jerome J. Wilson, C.S.C., Vice-President for Business Affairs. Below, Rev. Paul G. Wendel, C.S.C., Assis- tant Vice-President for Business Affairs. Bottom, James E. Armstrong, Secretary of the Alumni Association. Right, James W. Frick, Vice-President for Public Relations and Develop- ment. 29