Week Ten, Part 5 - Observing Notre Dame

In the student lounge, I grab an Observer off the rack and sit on a step underneath the Pillsbury pennant. Instead of studying, I indulge the urge to see what’s happening around campus.

The lead story reports that a Notre Dame senior, age 21, was killed in a one-car accident. According to the police, Robert Adams lost control of his vehicle and crashed into a tree at a high rate of speed. “Alcohol may have played a role in the accident,” the paper notes. “A blood alcohol test revealed that Adams had a blood alcohol content (BAC) of 0.18 percent. Under Indiana law a person is considered intoxicated with a BAC of 0.10 percent or more.”

Adam’s death is sad and reminiscent of another accident two years earlier. After drinking with friends, law student John Rita drove back to Notre Dame at night. His car struck and killed undergrad Mara Fox who was walking along Douglas Road in South Bend. Instead of stopping, Rita drove back to his apartment and fell asleep. He later told police he thought he had hit a deer. St. Joseph County Prosecutor Michael Barnes, a ‘73 NDLS grad, had Rita arrested and charged him with two felonies: causing death while driving intoxicated and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. At trial last year, Barnes struck out. A Superior Court jury acquitted Rita of the first charge and hung on the second, unable to arrive at a unanimous conclusion.

During supper I tell Terri about the Adams accident. “What amazes me most,” I say, “is the lack of public condemnation at Notre Dame about alcohol abuse.”

Terri smiles at me, like I’m naive. “That’s part of being Irish Catholic. You can drink to your heart’s desire.”

I then share the other big news on campus. At their fall meeting, the Notre Dame Board of Trustees elected Nathan Hatch, an evangelical Protestant, as provost. According to the Observer, the provost is “the University’s second ranking officer” and exercises “overall responsibility for the academic enterprise.” Hatch earned his undergraduate decree from Wheaton College in Illinois and his Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis. For twenty years he’s been a professor of history and member of the Notre Dame faculty. His book, The Democratization of American Christianity, won the John Hope Franklin Prize as the best book in American studies.

I say to Terri, “Doesn’t it surprise you that such a Catholic university would hire a Protestant for the number two spot?”

“I don’t see Notre Dame like that,” she says. “It’s more open-minded and committed to hiring the best person for the job. Wheaton College has a great reputation and so does Hatch.”

I blink several times, like I’m still unable to comprehend.

“Honey,” she says. “Notre Dame’s not like our circles. At Pillsbury, we make sure a candidate matches every doctrinal jot and tittle, then hope he meets the job description. That’s why Notre Dame’s a national university and Pillsbury’s an unaccredited Bible college. Do I think there’s a place for both in higher education? Yes. Do I wish I’d planned my educational path better? Yes, again. You’re blessed to have experienced them both. Some of us will never be able to make that jump.”

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