University President Rev. Robert Dowd, CSC, ’87 met Pope Leo XIV in Rome in November. A small delegation from the University gathered with the pontiff to discuss the role Notre Dame and other Catholic universities might play in supporting the Catholic Church, addressing world challenges and fostering human flourishing.
Dowd presented the Chicago-born pope with a sculpture of St. John Henry Newman, the newest doctor of the Church, crafted by the late Rev. Anthony Lauck, CSC, ’42, a longtime faculty member in Notre Dame’s art department.
The University’s architecture school has a new name — and a major gift to carry the program into the future. Matthew Walsh ’68 and his wife, Joyce, recently made a $150 million gift to significantly expand the global reach, research capacity and long-term vision of the school, renamed the Matthew and Joyce Walsh School of Architecture in the couple’s honor.
Thirteen years ago, the Walshes gave a $33 million gift to construct Walsh Family Hall of Architecture, which opened in 2018. Matthew Walsh earned an English degree at Notre Dame and a law degree at Loyola University in Chicago. He is co-chairman of The Walsh Group, a Chicago-based construction management firm, and led the school’s advisory council from 2004 to 2021.
Each one of the 17 individuals arrested and charged with misdemeanor trespassing during a pro-Palestine protest on campus in May 2024 completed St. Joseph County’s pretrial diversion program, The Observer reported in November. At the time of the protest, those arrested were Notre Dame graduate and undergraduate students and one recent graduate.
Pretrial diversion is an alternative to trial for people who have little or no criminal background and are charged with misdemeanor offenses. Requirements include paying court fines and agreeing to refrain from criminal activity for a year.
The protesters had gathered on a campus lawn to read aloud a letter demanding that Notre Dame divest from military contractor firms, reevaluate its ties with Israeli universities and end the University’s longstanding 15-minute rule regarding campus demonstrations. After refusing to disperse, they were arrested by Notre Dame police officers and transported to the county jail.
The Fighting Irish men’s and women’s basketball teams kicked off the 2025-26 season on a Friday evening in October with the Irish Jam, an inaugural outdoor basketball festival at Eddy Street Commons. The free gathering featured a half-court in the middle of Eddy Street. It included team introductions, mini tournaments, 3-on-3 residence hall competitions, photos with fans, and music.
The main event was a co-ed faceoff of varsity players on temporary squads. Fan-selected captains — point guards Hannah Hidalgo of the Shamrock City team and Markus Burton of Irish Jammers — led teams of men’s and women’s players in three events: a 3-point shooting contest, a skills challenge and a shooting stars competition, Scholastic magazine reported. Shamrock City won 2-1, capped by a half-court shot by Hidalgo.
At the Jam, the Irish unveiled new jerseys in homage to South Bend. The new black and gold uniforms feature “The Bend” in script across the chest, the design a nod to a downtown South Bend mural. Player numbers use a custom font inspired by Studebaker, the former automaker long headquartered in South Bend. The city’s flag appears on the waistband of the shorts. Both Irish squads will wear “The Bend” uniforms at some home games this season.
A former home of football coach Knute Rockne and his family has new residents. Sean McFadden ’19 and Keenan (White) McFadden ’19 bought the circa-1920 house, which in 2024 was moved from St. Vincent Street to a vacant lot on Foster Street in the neighborhood south of campus. The house was relocated to make way for a condominium development.
The McFaddens, who have two young sons, have renovated the house to restore its historical character. It is now their family home. “We wanted to have a happy ending for this house,” Sean McFadden told the South Bend Tribune.
The Rocknes lived in the house during most of the 1920s. It was later home to Ed Fischer ’37, a professor of American studies, and his wife, Mary, who raised their two sons there.
Students now have more dining options with the addition of new, 24-hour “technology-forward” vending machines in the lobby of North Dining Hall. The machines dispense such offerings as hot pizza, burger sliders, Philly cheesesteaks, cinnamon rolls, burritos and fresh smoothies.
The machines were added by Notre Dame Campus Dining to provide options for individuals on the go, late at night or any time regular food service isn’t available. Students may access the North lobby after hours with their student ID.
Professor Meghan Sullivan promotes a “love ethic” based on the parable of the Good Samaritan, arguing that love is the basis of moral reasoning and that we should love all people regardless of our differences.
The Wilsey Family College Professor of Philosophy and director of both the University’s Institute for Ethics and the Common Good and its Ethics Initiative, Sullivan shared her approach in November before a live audience at the TEDNext conference in Atlanta. The gathering was organized by the nonprofit TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) organization and highlighted brief talks focusing on personal and societal growth.
Sullivan, whose popular God and the Good Life course is designed to help Notre Dame students develop a philosophical plan for their lives, was among some 50 individuals from around the globe invited to speak. She gave her talk dressed in an outfit by fashion designer Thom Browne ’88, a former fellow of Notre Dame’s Institute for Advanced Study — an ethics institute precursor that Sullivan also directed.
Her research on the love ethic is supported by a $10 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation, with which she and a team of researchers and others will define the concept and apply it to social issues such as migration, global philanthropy, political polarization and artificial intelligence.
The Main Circle at the terminus of Notre Dame Avenue has a new look and a new name honoring the contributions of female students and graduates. The redesign of the Notre Dame Circle was commissioned in 2022 as part of the celebration of 50 years of coeducation. The area now features a wide plaza, benches and lighting, with a bronze rendering of the University seal at its center.
The space was designed by Melissa DelVecchio ’94 and Tony McConnell ’06 of Robert A.M. Stern Architects. The familiar, bronze “Our Lady of the University” statue, a 1954 piece by Rev. Anthony Lauck, CSC, ’42, stands prominently within it. Colorado-based sculptor Gail Folwell, a parent of two Notre Dame graduates, added a bronze relief panel in the plaza that depicts women across five decades of campus life, accompanied by a quote from St. Catherine of Siena: “For God’s true servants, every place is their place, every time is their time.”
Howard Hall will no longer serve as a permanent residence hall after May 2026, residents learned in November. Next August, current Ducks will become part of the inaugural group to move into Grojean Hall, a new women’s dorm under construction on the site of the former Pangborn Hall, which was demolished in 2024.
“Unlike other halls that can accommodate large-scale renovations, Howard Hall’s construction does not lend itself to the same type of restoration,” Karen Kennedy ’03, associate vice president for residential life, told residents in an email. “This transition to an entirely new hall is necessary to both meet the housing needs of students and provide sufficient common spaces for community building.” The University is evaluating potential future uses for Howard Hall, Kennedy said.
Meanwhile, residents of Lyons Hall will move into Zahm Hall for the 2026-27 academic year to allow for a major renovation of Lyons.
Howard Hall was built starting in 1924 and has housed students since 1925, serving as a residence for male students before its conversion into a women’s dorm in 1987. It’s named in honor of Timothy Howard, Class of 1862, whose career included service as a professor and dean of Notre Dame Law School and as an Indiana Supreme Court justice.
A quiet area for prayer and contemplation has opened along the north shore of Saint Mary’s Lake. The Holy Cross Rosary Walk was dedicated in September. The rosary-shaped path winds through the woods around Holy Cross Hill and near the community cemetery. Along the way are five nooks with benches, one for each of the five mysteries within the four mystery groups.
Open to the public, the walk “will be a place where Mary’s words come alive, where generations will come to walk and to pray, where sorrows and joys alike will be carried into God’s presence. It will be a place where the cross is not only remembered but embraced with hope,” Provincial Superior Father William Lies, CSC, ’93M.Div., said at the dedication ceremony.