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Mid-Year Message 2021

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.@NotreDame invited President Biden to be the 2021 commencement speaker but Biden dodged at the last minute with almost 5,000 alumni and friends signing our Open Letter. #GoCatholicND Click To Tweet

This message from Bill Dempsey  (click the image above)  was taped just before Notre Dame’s Commencement and provides a brief mid-year report on Sycamore Trust with remarks about Father Jenkins’s invitation to President Biden to be commencement speaker, the university’s unprecedented decision to withhold from alumni information about Catholic representation on the faculty, and an important new project by Sycamore Trust.

After the video was recorded, a number of reports about the Biden/Notre Dame episode appeared attributing Biden’s dodging the Commencement to concern over a “backlash” or “uproar” over his abortion policy triggered by the Sycamore Trust Open Letter to Father Jenkins.  We will publish shortly a detailed report providing you with an opportunity to comment. 


Transcript

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Comments Closed

We value the effort of those who took the time to comment on this bulletin. However, after careful review we have concluded that some elements of some comments might be cited as showing we give only lip service to our “Commenting Code.” Since everyone has had their say, we think it best to eliminate this possibility by replacing the comments with our Code:  

Commenting Code

Many of the issues we discuss stir up strong emotions for people who care very deeply about Notre Dame and the state of Catholic higher education in America. Our purpose is to inform our readers about these issues and to provide a place where they can exchange their thoughts about them. The more civil the tone the better we can accomplish this purpose. To this end, we request all comments adhere to the following code of conduct:

  1. Maintain decorum and civility
  2. Stick to the topic
  3. Be sure of your facts and, if errors are discovered, acknowledge them.
  4. Strive for clarity and conciseness.
  5. Use links to references instead of reproducing them
  6. Disclose any conflicts of interest
  7. Take credit for comments (i.e., no anonymous or pseudonymous posts)

We will, naturally, delete any harassing, abusive, threatening, libelous, deceptive, inaccurate, plagiaristic and otherwise unacceptable comments.