- Wednesday, August 28, 2013

I am an alumnus of Notre Dame, a member of the class of 1970. The school recently announced it would begin admitting illegal immigrants to the university and providing them financial aid — all in the spirit of “strengthening” the student body (“Notre Dame to begin accepting illegal immigrants,” Web, Aug. 23).

Let me get this straight: Instead of perhaps providing that fully-funded, coveted, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to some poor, legal and underprivileged kid from a low-income area or an orphanage or foster home, or perhaps a disabled veteran, Notre Dame chooses instead to displace them with illegal immigrants?

Our country was embroiled in bitter political conflict during my undergraduate years at Notre Dame. But within the confines of the campus there was no such disharmony; the academic environment — a Catholic one at that — provided a sanctuary to pursue knowledge and truth without political pollution. Students were free to develop their own beliefs because they were insulated by a Notre Dame faculty and administration that understood and fought to preserve an environment where undergraduates could flourish. Now graduating students witness a sitting U.S. president receive an honorary Notre Dame degree while his own administration is a defendant in a federal lawsuit versus the Catholic church for violating the separation of church and state statute.

If the Notre Dame administration has deluded itself into thinking its personal political proclivities will set an example and prove beneficial to the student body, I submit it to consider this: When you believe in everything, you stand for nothing.

RALPH BIANCO

Scottsdale, Ariz.

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