It was bound to happen at some point; the only surprise is that it took so long. A group of Notre Dame alumni—some distinguished names among them—have organized for the purpose of encouraging the faculty and administration of the university to reassert its Catholic identity. Called Project Sycamore, the initiative aims specifically to stem the longstanding trend toward the hiring of non-Catholic faculty, the effect of which is that the status of Catholic professors at the school currently teeters on the brink of minority. It will be interesting to observe what kind of impact Project Sycamore will have—and thereby whether it will be able to serve as a model for the alumni of other Catholic colleges.
December 11, 2006
ND Alumni Organize for Catholic Identity
By Kevin Schmiesing
Kevin Schmiesing is a research fellow at the Acton Institute. He is the author of American Catholic Intellectuals, 1895-1955 (Edwin Mellen Press, 2002) and, most recently, of Within the Market Strife: American Catholic Economic Thought from Rerum Novarum to Vatican II (Lexington Books, 2004). He is the book review editor for The Journal of Markets & Morality and is also executive director of CatholicHistory.net. Schmiesing earned his Ph.D. in American history from the University of Pennsylvania.
