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

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INotre Dame ' s efflorescence has been one of the most spectacular developments in higher education in the last twenty five years. I suspect that Notre Dame has done more than any other institution in this period, possibly because there was more to do. Robert Hutchins One hundred and twenty five years after its founding in 1842, the University of Notre Dame is the outstanding Catholic institution of higher learning in the United States. Al- though this is by no means obvious to all, Notre Dame is unquestionably at the forefront of Catholic education, and its president, Father Hesburgh, has been instrumental in gain- ing for Notre Dame this position. Prior to the appointment of Father Cavanaugh to the presidency in 1948, however, there was little to indicate the academic prominence that Notre Dame now enjoys. Liter- ally molded by the disciplined hand of its founder, Father Sorin, Notre Dame was a typically self-centered Catholic institution, in possession of all the truth worth knowing, and oblivious to events occurring outside of its narrow constructs. While part of this was due to a mission mentality on the part of the University ' s constituents, much of the parochial atmosphere resulted from institutional exigen- cies; Notre Dame was, quite simply, a financially poor university, and merely keeping the doors open was an all-embracing task. Until 1913, Notre Dame slept quietly by its two lakes. Then by virtue of an upset victory over Army ' s football team, the university was formally introduced to the academic and social world. Under the aegis of Rockne, football be- came a national institution and Notre Dame a national university. Although far from a scholarly activity, football provided the only reliable source of income in the university ' s history, thereby indirectly aiding its academic pursuits. But football does not make a great university, and for most of its history, this was Notre Dame ' s greatest contribution to American life. While the accomplishments of Fathers Nieuwland and Zahm have been endlessly touted, academic accomplishment was obvious- ly not Notre Dame ' s forte. In the early 50 ' s, Father Cavanaugh convinced a conservative alumni and clergy that academic proficiency is necessary to a university. His activity provided a firm foun- dation for Father Hesburgh ' s extraordinary remolding of Notre Dame ' s football image into that of a respected academic institution.

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But it would be inaccurate to characterize what happened to Notre Dame after World War II as a revolution. Rather the change has been evolutionary, noisy to be sure, pre- cipitating new values and molding them in terms of the past. One indication of this is the student body. Although academically far superior to its predecessors, and national in representation, the composition has been consistently white, middle class and Catholic. Despite efforts by the office of admissions, this pattern is un- likely to change in the near future. Another indication is the continuing assumption that quasi-professional football is integral to Notre Dame ' s vitality as an educational institu- tion. While few would question the value of a strong intercollegiate athletic program and none would deny the social benefits a football weekend brings, the place at an academic institution of such a grandiose autumn spectacle is by no means clear. The conflict of past traditions with current academic values is apparent in the election of Ambrose Dudley as president of the alumni association. If Dudley ' s opinions are repre- sentative of most alumni, his overwhelming ignorance of student life, at least at this uni- versity, portends a grave dichotomy between the class of ' 67 and its pre-war predecessors. The process of growth which has characterized Notre Dame since World War II is com- mon to many American educational institutions in both the public and private spheres. And the tension between past and present is not peculiar to this university. Notre Dame, today, despite a slow beginning and continuing conservatism, is vastly different from the institution it was ten years ago. It is physically larger, ten times as wealthy, academically respected, and with the new lay board of trustees, structurally reformed. Today, Notre Dame presents an environment for growth very different than a generation ago while still maintaining, for better or worse, some of the traditions of its past. Student organizations are in large part a measure of institutional excellence on the un- dergraduate level. The diversity and quality of activities invariably reflects the composition of the university which fosters them. Yet the phenomenon of total immersion in extra- curriculars is a new one at Notre Dame, as is the proliferation of campus activities. Ten years ago, there was no CILA, Film Society, Observer, or any of the active political organi- zations like S.D.S. or YAF. TRADITIONS vs. CURRENT ACADEMIC VALUES