The Notre Dame Irish Guard is no more. Last spring, for one reason or another — inclusiveness, political correctness, or the rare occasions of poor judgment not uncommon amongst college students — the Administration dismantled this unique and treasured 65-year-old tradition. It was killed quietly behind the closed doors of the Main Building and pronounced dead in The Observer's final issue before the summer vacation.
Tradition: difficult to define or summarize, yet its mention invariably elicits strong emotions. It’s a concept less sacred these days everywhere in contemporary society, as progress triumphs over history. Progress, of course, is often the stated motive for changing traditions, but change ought only be termed “progress” when a tangible net benefit results. Change for its own sake lacks vision and understanding. This has been the fate of the Irish Guard.
Don’t know what the Guard is? Don’t care that it’s gone? Here is why you should:
The Irish Guard is unique to Notre Dame. For generations of Guardsmen, families, visitors and fans, the Guard was the thing cherished and remembered most from time spent on campus. For decades, a cadre of imposing, stern-faced students clad in Notre Dame Tartan have marched alongside the band. No other university has anything quite like it. Unfortunately, the Irish Guard is not what it once was.
"But wait, didn’t I see the Irish Guard do the Victory Clog on Saturday?" Indeed, there were eight students wearing the uniform. But the eight band members in uniform last week came into their positions after all returning Guardsmen — and the decades-old traditions of which they were stewards — were shown the door.
Today, virtually everything that distinguished the Irish Guard from a color guard has been eliminated. Gone is the famed Inspection, where old Guards and new Guards came together in a unique and public display of stoicism and camaraderie. Gone are the open tryouts where any Notre Dame student — not just members of the marching band — could earn their spot. Gone is the imposing height requirement, which inspired admiration among fans and dismay among opposing football teams. Gone is the shared lineage that links 2014 to the experiences of 1978 and the stories of 1949.
Gone is the tradition. Nothing has been kept, save for the uniforms.
Gutting a tradition such as the Irish Guard for the sake of arbitrary ideals like "citizenship" is not something that can be swept under a rug. It is unfair and unjust to describe the surreptitious disposal of a great tradition as merely a "revision.”
Moreover, the new protocol of selecting Guardsmen only from the ranks of the band, on the pretense that doing so will provide “a stronger pool of applicants” that “exemplify the best qualities of a Notre Dame student,” (“Band restructures Irish Guard,” May 2) alienates all former and formerly aspiring Guardsmen. Such claims also suggest that our service to Our Lady's University was somehow tainted while simultaneously questioning the character of all Guardsmen.
The Notre Dame Administration and Band leaders suggest that “model Notre Dame students” can be found only in the marching band and that only with these changes will this new Guard include “the kind of person you want for a manager or a CEO of a company.” This is not so. Our ranks include veterans of our nation’s Armed Forces, doctors, corporate executives, entrepreneurs, teachers and community leaders. We owe much of the success in our lives beyond Notre Dame to our education and the habits of discipline, leadership and teamwork that the Guard helped to form. We regret that the Administration and Director of Bands have precluded the vast majority of the student body from sharing in this experience.
It is with sadness that we write this letter. We felt it necessary after an online petition, signed by nearly 3,000 students, alumni and fans of the traditional Irish Guard, was sent to and subsequently ignored by the University, the Department of Student Affairs and the Director of Bands. We hope that, if nothing else, other traditions will be given more thorough consideration before being discarded, as the Irish Guard we knew and loved has been.
In Notre Dame,
Tomas Abrate
Class of 2014
Thomas Altmeyer
Class of 1969
Alex Andreichuk
Class of 1997
Joseph P. H. Babington, Esq.
Class of 1981
Michael Baer
Class of 2011
Paul Balthrop, MD
Class of 2000
Mark A. Baumgartner
Class of 1978
S. Louis Bridges, Jr., MD, PhD
Class of 1980
Thomas Brisken
Class of 1998
Louis C. Blaum, III, MD, Lt. Col., USAFR
Class of 1993
Matt Clary
Class of 2013
Pat Conklin
Class of 1981
Mike Decker
Class of 1995
Chris Digan
Class of 1981
David A. Ellett
Class of 2013
Justin Funk
Class of 2005
Tim Goldsmith
Class of 2008
Brian T. Hardy, MD, MBA
Class of 1998
Kevin Hardy, DDS, MBA, JD
Class of 2002
Dr. Larry Hartung, USN (Ret)
Class of 1971
Joseph Harris, CPA
Class of 2006
Patrick M. Hess
Class of 2013
Jerry Hogan
Class of 1972
Kip Horvath
Class of 1969
Douglas Hummon
Class of 2010
Jack Keeley
Class of 1963
Nick Lambrecht, Esq.
Class of 2002
Edward Linczer
Class of 2014
David B. Leeney
Class of 2000
Joseph V Lillis, MD
Class of 2001
Brent Locey
Class of 2009
Kyle Looft, CPA
Class of 2011
Brian McDonald
Class of 1989
Thomas McGinty
Class of 2003
Paul Madden, RA
Class of 1978
Brian Martin
Class of 2006
Connor Martin
Class of 2008
Steven McMullen
Class of 1998
John Megall
Class of 1970
Stoney Mitchell, Capt., USNR
Class of 1985
Nathan W. Mogren, DMD
Class of 2002
Patrick Newcomer
Class of 2012
Jim Osborne
Class of 2007
Andrew Peiffer, J.D.
Class of 2011
Jack Prendergast, Rear Admiral, USN (Ret)
Class of 1979
Paul T. Raih, CFA
Class of 2001
Thomas W. Reagan, 1st Lieutenant, USAF
Class of 2011
Timothy J. Regan, MD
Class of 1996
Paul Reuvers, Esq.
Class of 1988
Colin Rich
Class of 2011
Bruno M. Rizzo
Class of 1967
Brian T. Rush, CPA
Class of 2002
Richard Saxen, MD
Class of 2000
R. Christopher Salata, Esq.
Class of 1998
Andrew Steves
Class of 2010
Colin Sullivan
Class of 2012
Doug Wilson
Class of 2002
Andy Wolf
Class of 1985
Chris Wolf, CPA
Class of 1970
Ben Wright
Class of 1999
