The Newman Hymnal, a staple in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart and residence hall chapels for about a decade, is no more. The blue books were retired at the end of the academic year. In their place, Campus Ministry has purchased copies of the fourth edition of Gather, a hymnal produced by GIA Publications, which is now being used in all campus chapels.
Copyright rules disincentivized Notre Dame from reprinting the Newman Hymnal, the work of now-retired Notre Dame Folk Choir founder Steve Warner ’80M.A., and the University no longer had enough copies to serve every chapel.
The new hymnal provides increased flexibility in instrumentation and music selection, choral program director Patrick Kronner told The Observer. Residence halls will have access to supplemental books for piano, guitar, B flat and E flat instruments.
Campus Ministry has created a Mass-planning and choral resources webpage to make liturgical music more accessible to students in residence halls. Included are tips on selecting music and psalm settings and information about the old and new hymnals.
University president Rev. Robert Dowd, CSC,’87 is among more than 500 university leaders nationwide who signed a public statement issued in April by the American Association of Colleges & Universities in protest of “unprecedented government overreach and political interference” by the Trump administration regarding institutions of higher education.
“Our colleges and universities share a commitment to serve as centers of open inquiry where, in their pursuit of truth, faculty, students and staff are free to exchange ideas and opinions across a full range of viewpoints without fear of retribution, censorship or deportation,” the letter states. Notre Dame is a member of the association.
The University is one of 45 schools being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights for alleged race-based discrimination in its graduate programs, according to news reports in March.
A letter issued by the government said the schools have violated the 1964 Civil Rights Act by partnering with The PhD Project, a nonprofit that helps students from underrepresented groups earn doctoral degrees in business.
One of the goals listed in the University’s 2023 strategic framework is to “increase diversity in our graduate student and postdoctoral scholar populations” as a way to enrich the postgraduate experience.
In March, Father Dowd voiced Notre Dame’s support for Ukraine in defending itself against Russia. Dowd spoke at the start of a three-day international conference held on campus in collaboration with Ukrainian Catholic University.
At the time, support for Ukraine among U.S. officials appeared to be shifting in favor of Russia.
In welcoming participants to “Revolutions of Hope: Resilience and Recovery in Ukraine,” Dowd said: “We know that this war, triggered by the aggression of Russia’s leader, has gone on for far too long — more than three years now — and the people of Ukraine continue to courageously defend themselves, defying all odds.
“Let me be perfectly clear here today. We here at Notre Dame stand with the people of Ukraine and offer them our full support,” Dowd said to loud applause.
“We all want peace. There’s no doubt about that. But a sustainable peace — it’s just not possible if the wishes of the Ukrainian people are not respected. A sustainable peace is not possible if aggression is seen to be rewarded. Might must never make right. Military might must never give any country the right to invade and occupy another country.”
In a historic change of policy, the sale of alcoholic beverages in Notre Dame Stadium will expand in September to include general admission seating areas. The policy also will be in effect at Irish home hockey games at Compton Family Ice Arena and basketball games at Purcell Pavilion.
“This expansion will provide for a modern fan experience consistent with other professional and collegiate stadiums and venues throughout the nation. Notre Dame is committed to promoting responsible consumption and ensuring a safe and enjoyable environment for all attendees,” the University announced in April.
Alcohol sales at college football games have become commonplace. A 2023 Associated Press survey of Power Five schools and Notre Dame found that 80 percent were selling beer and other alcoholic beverages in general seating areas on game day. As of fall 2024, all Big Ten football stadiums except Nebraska’s sold alcohol in such areas.
The change appeared suddenly in late April. If you used Apple Maps or related apps to look at campus, the body of water long known as Saint Mary’s Lake was identified as the “Gulf of Carroll.”
Someone poking fun at international news headlines? A Carroll Hall resident proudly calling attention to the Vermin and their quaint lakeside retreat?
We’ll likely never know. A few days later, the moniker on these apps reverted to “Saint Mary’s Lake.”
Hadiah Mabry ’25J.D. and second-year Notre Dame Law School student Jessica Smith had the opportunity in April to witness oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court for a high-profile religious liberty case they had worked on.
St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School v. Drummond challenged the exclusion of faith-based schools from a program that supports privately operated charter schools in Oklahoma.
Mabry and Smith were among five current and former ND law students in attendance as a result of their work with a team of attorneys from Notre Dame’s Lindsay and Matt Moroun Religious Liberty Clinic and two law firms. They observed as Michael McGinley ’06 of Dechert LLP argued on behalf of St. Isidore.
The school argued that religious organizations in Oklahoma have the constitutional right to access to a state program that allows other private groups to operate charter schools, and that to deny St. Isidore’s charter constitutes unlawful religious discrimination.
The school was set to open as a charter in 2024 when Oklahoma’s attorney general filed suit to block it, stating it violated the state and U.S. constitutions. After the Oklahoma Supreme Court sided with the attorney general, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review its decision.
The high court announced its decision in late May: a 4-to-4 split, unsigned decision handed down without opinion or explanation. Justice Amy Coney Barrett ’97J.D. had recused herself from the case. The deadlock means the earlier ruling by the state court stands.
The case was considered a potential landmark that might determine whether public money can be used to fund religious charter schools, possibly affecting education funding in most other states.
Nicole Stelle Garnett, the John P. Murphy Foundation Professor of Law, other attorneys and more than a dozen Notre Dame law students have assisted the Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa in their efforts to operate the school.
“They looked at the color of my skin and not the content of my character and deemed me guilty,” Yusef Salaam, a New York City councilman, told an audience during Notre Dame Law School’s inaugural Death Penalty Abolition Week in March.
At age 15, Salaam was one of five Black and Latino youths — then known as the “Central Park Five” — who in 1989 were falsely accused of raping a female jogger in Central Park. Salaam was tried as an adult and sent to prison, where he spent almost seven years before being exonerated.
At Eck Hall of Law, Salaam held up a copy of a full-page newspaper advertisement, placed at the time of the trial by New York businessman Donald Trump, calling for reinstatement of the state’s death penalty so that the five youths could be executed for their alleged crimes. Salaam cited the moment as an example of how people may inflame popular sentiment to prop up a broken system. Capital punishment “needs a cure, and that cure is us fighting against spiritual wickedness,” he declared.
Women have been underrepresented in engineering classrooms and the profession, but the needle is moving. At Notre Dame, women make up 40 percent of undergraduate engineering students — surpassing the national average reported by the American Society for Engineering Education — and 29 percent of graduate students, the College of Engineering announced in March.
Women also comprise nearly a quarter of the college’s 200-member faculty. More than 1,300 engineering alumnae hold leadership positions in industry, government and higher education.