It was with humor and pride that I read the viewpoint regarding the Bush/Cheney bumper sticker that closes out the video highlighting the class of 2011. The writers, while heralding the ethnic diversity showcased in the video, disdainfully lament the impression left that Notre Dame may be regarded as endorsing the current administration. What about political diversity? As the owner and driver of the vehicle in question, I should note that the car has transported to campus not one, but two students who embrace decidedly opposing political viewpoints from that of their parents. Ours continues to be a household where members are encouraged to discuss varying viewpoints and welcomes and accepts political differences. Diversity calls for one to step outside previously held considerations and assumptions. The inclusion of the bumper sticker in the video, if notable at all, should be seen as an indication of the diversity present on campus, not as an indication of its absence. The University of Notre Dame fosters a climate of critical epistemology and it saddens me that the writers have seemingly lost that open-mindedness and choose to make their own political statement by zeroing in on a small, and what could have been an unremarkable, inclusion on the video.
Donna Shelton
Yorktown, Va
Sept. 4
