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-Gary Caruso | Monday, March 22, 2021
Editor’s note: This story includes descriptions of sexual abuse. A list of sexual assault reporting options and on-campus resources can be found on the Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s and Holy Cross websites. The odd paradox about growing old is you’re the same person, and yet you’re not. Each facial wrinkle is a story unto itself. From my life’s viewpoint,
Gary Caruso | Friday, February 26, 2021
While the riotous insurrection unfolded live on television in early January, I recognized every square inch of the U.S. Capitol displayed on the screen. Oftentimes during my 17 years working at the U.S. House of Representatives, I routinely walked through the entrances breached by the misguided domestic traitors. I knew that Officer Eugene Goodman was
Gary Caruso | Wednesday, March 4, 2020
My classmates nearly burned the Golden Dome. My class is the unique anomaly in the Notre Dame annuals. During the chaotic Vietnam War era, not only did we attempt to set the Golden Dome ablaze, but we also initiated a strike from classes, which University President Emeritus Fr. Theodore Hesburgh supported. We wore white t-shirts
Gary Caruso | Thursday, November 14, 2019
For politically minded Notre Dame students — regardless of party affiliation, personal presidential candidate preference or self-identified issue purity — a lifetime opportunity has thrust itself upon you. Call it the luck of the Irish or the planets perfectly aligning, but your neighbor is running for the presidency and needs a legion of volunteers. South
Gary Caruso | Thursday, August 29, 2019
In the time of Knute Rockne, for my incoming class exactly fifty years ago or for the current freshman class, the start of the fall semester is the friendliest time of the school year. Everyone is open to meeting others before they unfortunately settle into more hectic and restrictive routines. We who survived our freshmen
Gary Caruso | Friday, April 26, 2019
Commencement is like a pinata bursting with an orchestrated cacophony of activities that jumble and swirl around the graduating students. By itself, the milestone elicits an array of emotions that range from pure glee to utter dread over departing Catholic Disneyland. On one hand, our graduates sail into the real world eager to embrace their
Gary Caruso | Friday, April 5, 2019
Notre Dame announced that Peggy Noonan, the Wall Street Journal Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, best-selling author and speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan will deliver the principal address and receive an honorary degree at the University’s upcoming commencement ceremony. Noonan is of my political era — rooted in a time of fierce political rivalry, but one of truth,
Gary Caruso | Friday, March 22, 2019
It is not surprising — and should have been expected given the fierce competition high school students encounter to gain entrance to prestigious universities — that dozens have been ensnarled in the recent collegiate admittance scheme. Federal indictments were issued against the alleged opportunist scam artist William “Rick” Singer, along with parents and collaborating college
Gary Caruso | Friday, March 1, 2019
As a child, Easter was the second-grandest giveaway holiday that uniquely features sugary treats. From a child’s limited, but all-absorbing perspective, Easter is solely about finding eggs, chasing bunnies or brightly dyed chicks (fortunately, PETA has campaigned against this tradition) and counting jellybeans. But as time passes by, we grow to learn that the holiday burdens us
Gary Caruso | Friday, February 15, 2019
The recent national cacophony swirling around how we confront or correct racism and slavery has washed over Notre Dame’s 12 Luigi Gregori murals of Christopher Columbus. For more than 130 years, those murals adorned the Main Building as a cultural and historical tribute to Columbus. However, as our society struggles collectively to eradicate racism once