Dear Incoming Students,
Welcome home. Welcome to one of the best universities in the United States. Welcome to a community of spiritual searching and moral conviction. Welcome to football games, tailgates, semesters abroad, internships and all the other incredible opportunities that Notre Dame offers. Welcome, also, to the realization that sometimes this University is not all we dream it to be. Welcome to the depth and fervor of the political divide on campus. Welcome to inconsistently applied Catholic ideals. Welcome to the reckoning that, although you love this University, it might not always love you back. In light of these tensions — in this vibrant, complicated community — a question arises: how will you join in?
Some people think that in order for Notre Dame to be a great university, they must defend it at all costs. They show up for mass regularly and light candles at the Grotto. These students attend every home football game and every dorm party. They love their classes and their community. But when people share that they don’t feel fully accepted or seen, they push back, they play devil’s advocate, they question the sincerity of the questioner. For these students the only viable complaint is the dining hall and 8:00 a.m. classes. Dear student, this is the wide path, this is the majority of our campus. But there is another way.
The second way is the way of the fully engaged student, the student who refuses to let their regard for Notre Dame stop them from criticizing it to make it better — more loving, more inclusive, more just. Now, students in this second group look a lot like those in the first: they light the same candles at the Grotto. They frequent the same churches, mosques, synagogues, temples or no services at all. They attend the same football games and dorm parties. They know that we are strongest when we fight for a campus and world where everyone can live with dignity, justice and respect. But when they hear about problems on campus they don’t attack the questioner, they listen and step up, they organize, they petition and protest, they pray, they educate themselves and others for the common good. Out of love for the University, they try to stop it from continuing to fail in its values. This is the narrow path.
Right now, our University is invested in the creation of weapons that are currently being used in the genocide of the Palestinian people. The profits from the destruction of others is the same money that helps construct our dorms and research centers. We at Occupation Free Notre Dame find this to be a moral affront. We believe that we cannot be free to learn when all the universities in Gaza have been destroyed. Right now, even as the Pope calls a Gazan parish daily to pray with them, even as he calls Israel’s attacks on Gaza “terrorism,” even as our own Catholic Social Teaching compels us to reject war and genocide at all costs, we remain invested in the mass destruction of Palestinian culture, infrastructure and people. Worse, in the spring when students gathered to non-violently protest this reality, the University decided to arrest 17 peaceful students instead of engaging in good-faith dialogue about bettering our communal values. This is the University community that you are joining.
At the beginning of his collected essays, the great American writer James Baldwin writes: “I love America more than any other country in the world and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.” We feel the same about Notre Dame. We love this University, so we will work to make it better. Why do we share this? Because we want you to know that when you see us criticizing our University, we are doing it out of love. And we want you to know that you can join us in this work of making it better.
Welcome to our community, we hope you chose the narrow path.
In solidarity,
Abdulrahman Atassi
Spencer Clark French
On behalf of Occupation Free Notre Dame
To learn more, follow us on Instagram @occupationfreend or email us at occupationfreenotredame@gmail.com
