Decision reverses earlier consolidation, continues PrideFest

In an email to Notre Dame students on February 28, incoming student body president Jerry Vielhauer reversed policies he and vice president-elect Sonia Lumley had intended to implement to restructure student departments. The changes effectively re-established the LGBTQ+ Advocacy Department among others, and it expressed the intention to continue PrideFest and expand LGBTQ programming.

Originally, Vielhauer and Lumley planned to combine the Department of First-Generation, Low-Income (FGLI) Student Advocacy with the Department of Disability Advocacy to form a single department, as well as to consolidate the Gender Relations Department by combining the Title IX and Women’s Initiatives with the LGBTQ+ Advocacy Department. 

The administration also intended to combine the Department of Community Service with the Department of South Bend Engagement to form the Department of Community Outreach and Engagement, and to eliminate the Department of National Affairs and Political Engagement.

On February 24, Vielhauer described these intended initiatives in an email announcing Executive Cabinet applications. The email included a document with details of the incoming administration’s goals and policies listed by department. 

Four days later, however, the president-elect reversed the intended restructuring in his second email, splitting the consolidated departments back into their preexisting states. Vielhauer wrote, “We have heard meaningful feedback regarding our policy and we appreciate all of your interest and insight. As we promised, we are constantly listening to you, and we are prepared to make the changes necessary to serve the student body to the best of our ability.” In the same email, Vielhauer also re-established the Department of National Affairs and Political Engagement and established a Committee for Sustainability.

In an interview with the Rover, Vielhauer explained the reversal, saying, “At first, we had a certain vision of trying to consolidate some things and make it a little more efficient, but we had a lot of student feedback, as well as talking to a lot of current directors for departments and past directors, and we were able to get a little more insight into what these departments did that you can’t really see from the outside perspective.”

He continued, “There are things about keeping those departments separated that would benefit the student body. So connections, administrators, having certain departments dedicated to certain things. And at the end of the day, we want to listen to the student body. We’re here to serve the student body, so when we have that feedback, that’s where we’re proactive … so while still keeping our vision, making sure that we’re incorporating the students into our goals.”

The document detailing the Vielhauer-Lumley administration’s goals was updated to reflect the changes. 

The goals and initiatives document also contains detailed policies describing the administration’s DEI goals, including plans to “continue the annual Pride Fest event,” “work with PrismND for programming,” “work with the Gay & Lesbian Alumni of Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s to create stronger connections with undergrad students,” and “work with the Gender Relations Center to facilitate programming.”

PrideFest is a week-long event that Student Government has hosted since 2022. It is intended “to support LGBTQ+ students and their campus presence,” according to the current Student Government page.

One freshman from Welsh Family Hall shared her opinion about the DEI policies, saying, “I think it’s important to make sure the whole community feels included, but also, we are a Catholic college, so in doing that we need to be in line with the Church’s teachings.”

She continued, “I think there are ways to make people who are Catholic and struggle with [LGBTQ issues] feel welcome within the Catholic community, but I don’t think the right way to go about it is to support what they’re doing outside of the Catholic faith. We should still support them as people, but not necessarily their actions if they’re not in line with the Church’s teaching.”

Another student from Morrissey Hall echoed these sentiments, saying, “I feel it is grossly hypocritical to claim to support the Catholic values of students on this campus while also pandering to LGBTQ. While I agree Catholics are called to love our LGBTQ brothers and sisters, PrideFest is not a proper expression of that love. We do not celebrate, support, or condone the actions or relationships that disorder and sin brings about.”

Vielhauer addressed these concerns, telling the Rover, “Our faith is very important to us. We want to lead through our Catholicism and our faith, with it being a Catholic university. And we think a big part of that is emphasizing, everyone’s created in the perfect image of God, right? And that while we are humans and imperfect, we should be proud of who we are as humans created in the image of God.”

He continued, “I would just reassure [Catholics] that that is our top priority, to stay true to who we are as a university and our mission, and that we will definitely be going off of our mission as a university and from Catholic social teaching.”

Vielhauer and Lumley’s original election campaign included a commitment to both DEI practices and the Catholic character of the University. The ticket’s platform touted goals such as bringing in more Catholic speakers “like Fr. Mike Schmitz” and increasing outdoor Masses, as well as emphasizing the importance of inclusivity and ensuring that “all voices on campus feel heard.” 

Vielhauer told the Rover, “While sometimes there can be a little bit of what seems like conflict between some of the DEI things and the Catholic faith, we are committed to working with priests in the administration and the department of faith here at Notre Dame as well as the DEI centers, to make sure that everyone feels included and a part of Notre Dame’s Catholic mission.”

One student living in Pasquerilla West expressed her agreement with these two goals, saying, “I want people who identify as LGBTQ to still feel like they are welcome here on campus and to still be included and to be celebrated, but at the same time, I want the University of Notre Dame to be very clear in recognizing that acting on same-sex attraction is morally wrong.” 

She continued, “Student Government has a responsibility to make these people feel welcomed and celebrated. I think it’s more of a university role to be clear about, we don’t endorse same-sex marriage. I don’t know that that’s the student government’s position, to make this moral claim, but I think it is their job to respect and follow the university’s teaching on that.”

​​The in-depth goals and initiatives document aims to implement this vision, but it is open to revision based on student feedback. Vielhauer told the Rover, “We’ve seen a lot of feedback, which is great, and the big thing that we want to do is not go too much in the weeds and the details of our original policy, we want to be a little broad and allow for some creativity in there.”

He continued, “And that’s where we have this big vision, and we want to incorporate student feedback into the specifics of those policies in some cases. And we had a lot of different groups of students who kind of represented each department that came and talked to us about specific policies, and then we expanded on those. And that’s just really what we’re working to do now, is to keep fleshing these out even deeper with the specific policies.”

Vielhauer and Lumley will be sworn in on April 1 and begin their term the following day, along with the student senate and Student Government staff.

Abby Strelow is a freshman theology major who can ponder the beauty of apotheosis for hours but still has no clue why her socks always disappear in the laundry. To help her with this mystery of life, you can email her at astrelow@nd.edu. 

Photo Credit: Notre Dame Instagram

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