I love Notre Dame — always will. While I wasn’t a fan of the Crossroads project when it was first announced, I was always willing to admit that there were significant needs for more student union-type spaces, and that using the space around the stadium was creative, even if it was not a desirable symbol. My refrain in the debates about Crossroads was about the unnecessary extravagance that I knew would be involved. The directional signage, I anticipated, would be gold lettering on gleaming mahogany on stylishly asymmetrical slabs of frosted glass. A few weeks ago, I visited Duncan Student Center for the first time and I wasn’t far off. The place absolutely screams wealth. But it was worse than I thought. Picture this. I’m an alumna with a baby, attending a conference. I might just as well be a graduate student with a baby, or a football game attendee with a baby or a concert-goer with a baby. My baby does what babies do. After walking the length of an airport terminal, I find a women’s restroom. The single “family” restroom I see is closed — not just locked, but closed. I assume, naturally, that there will be a changing table in the women’s restroom. Airplanes? We all know to expect inconvenience. Restaurants? Hit or miss. But Notre Dame, in a busy, brand-new, multi-purpose building? Surely, I think, sighing with relief as I start to lower the diaper bag from my shoulder, Notre Dame gets it.But no — $400 million, and no changing table, in 2018, at a Catholic university — pardon me, a Catholic research university, constantly patting itself on the back for its boundless resources and excellence at being excellent — and there isn’t a changing table in the women’s restroom. Seriously? Whose decision was that? My husband is a graduate student at Duke, and has said there have been changing tables in every men’s restroom he’s been in. Come on, Notre Dame. Calm down about the rock wall, and install a few changing tables for the members of your Notre Dame “family” to use when we come home.
Rebecca Devine
class of 2016
Feb. 3