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

Page 12 text:

THE STUDENTS: A MEASURE OF THE UNIVERSITY Otudent organizations, their quality and diversi- fication, are often observed closely by those en- deavoring to measure the quality of a university. It has been said, for instance, that a university is no better than its student newspaper. An ex- aggeration, perhaps, but it is true that when cor- porations and foundations come visiting the cam- pus, they make it a point to talk with campus lead- ers. Thus, the Ford Foundation and the Ryerson Corporation had long taTks with student leaders this winter of about four hours apiece, both to get student ideas on how Notre Dame was faring, and to gauge the quality of the student body. Most observers of Notre Dame life agree that, by and large, student organizations were vast im- provements over other years. Several organiza- tions stood out. There were the Student-Faculty Film Society and WSND-FM, who provided cul- tural stimulus for both Notre Dame and South Bend. There was the theatre, whose productions of Hamlet, Billy Budd, Long Day ' s Journey, and The Fantasticks brought acclaim both for their selection and for their execution. There were the student publications the Scholastic, which met, alas, a nasty end ; the Juggler, which combined a brilliant layout and, better, vibrant copy; the Technical Review, which cut away the placid edi- torial policy of former years; and the Science Quarterly, which made a good start. There was CILA, whose idealism, and practical application of such, was widely publicized. There was, finally, Student Government, which, under the perceptive leadership of Kevin Hart, made a horizontal move to define its role. There is at Notre Dame, an underlying current, a life force, a vital attitude which will not be dammed. Student organizations, in their willing- ness to think big, to move forward, have, this year, successfully captured that spirit.

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Previously, at Notre Dame, Father John Cavan- augh had laid the groundwork for expansion ; his acknowledgement of the noticeable lack of Catho- lic intellects and desire for improvement pointed toward the future. Father Cavanaugh was con- vinced that the Catholic University must aim for the intellectual heights while retaining much of what was good of traditional Notre Dame atti- tudes. As early as 1950, Father Cavanaugh, who wanted to retain the integrity of the miracle of Notre Dame, realized that the best football would be played by the professionals. He convinced a conservative clergy and football alumni that Notre Dame must be academically proficient. But the face and future of the University really changed under Father Theodore M. Hesburgh. What Hes- burgh inherited was a university ready for take- off, Time noted in 1961. Alongside a dramatic decline in football vic- tories, Notre Dame has undergone greater physi- cal, academic, disciplinar y, and spiritual change than during any other four year span in the University ' s history. More than previous classes, this Senior Class has been acutely aware of the tortuous evolution that Notre Dame is under- going Seniors have felt the strain of values past and present, the struggle between a Catholicism of yesterday and a University of today.

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The Notre Dame campus spans three conti- nents: (above, left) a Northern Rhodesian family visited by Joe Simoni, Student Gov- ernment International Commissioner, on his tour of Africa sponsored by the State De- partment through Operation Crossroads; (Left) Bill McDonald, current President of CILA (Council for International Lay Apos- tolate, an organization unique to Notre Dame), at work digging a foundation for a new house in Tacambaro, Mexico; other groups of Notre Dame students worked all summer in Aguascalientes, Mexico, and in the slums of Lima, Peru.