University of Notre Dame

On June 29, 2023, Notre Dame's President issued a statement in response to the Supreme Court's ruling on affirmative action which reads in part as follows: "We undertake a comprehensive assessment of applicants, admit talented students with interests and aspirations consonant with our mission, and provide opportunities for a wide range of young people...We will study the Supreme Court’s decision and consider any implications for our admissions process as we strive to fulfill our distinctive mission."

All incoming students are required to attend the “Building Community the Notre Dame Way” programs on "diverse individuals who make up our community, forming healthy relationships, being safe on and off campus, and providing information and prevention skills for high-risk topics."

The Africana Program focuses "on race, politics, theology, education, and history related to the Africana world." All majors and minors are required to take "Introduction to Africana Studies" and choose from classes such as "Atlantic Slavery," "Black Political Thought," "Black Politics in Multiracial America," and "African Literature and the Moral Imagination" among others.

The Department of Film, Television, and Theatre (FTT) stated that it has "conducted faculty workshops on anti-racist curriculum and pedagogy, encouraging examination of syllabi and teaching methods" and has "implemented an Identity/International attribute to ensure that students take at least one FTT class primarily concerned with the exploration of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, ability, religion, class, age, and/or nationality."

All staff are required to attend inclusivity training, called "Creating a Community of Respect."

Every college and school has an appointed "diversity and inclusion coordinator to assist its dean with monitoring its diversity and inclusion plan and to serve as a liaison to the director for academic diversity and inclusion in the Office of the Provost." The coordinator supports each college and school with recruiting goals.

There are several required trainings for managers including "Multicultural Competencies at Notre Dame" which is part of the University's ongoing diversity and inclusion initiative. The required workshop defines the "D&I Strategic Plan, explains multicultural competencies and discusses their benefits to Notre Dame, as well as, behaviors that can negatively influence campus climate and your team dynamics."

All residential staff (including assistants) "participate in mandatory training related to topics of diversity and inclusion."

Hiring managers are required to "check with Human Resources' Talent Acquisition team to ensure that all exempt initial interview pools meet or exceed the expected diversity percentage based on market availability data." According to the Office of Diversity and Inclusivity, "this process will focus on ensuring sufficient representation of minorities and women in a key stage of the search process from which final candidates are selected."

Notre Dame University joined 57 Catholic colleges and universities that "filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in support of affirmative action in college admissions." The brief argued "Achieving racial diversity in admissions... is 'inextricably intertwined' with the institutions’ 'religious foundations.'"

The University's Gender Studies program "affirms and supports [the] Black students, faculty, and staff in their efforts to transform [the] campus’s racial politics." The program also "[stands] in solidarity with communities of color and indigenous people, as well as movements against racism, colonization, and state violence worldwide" and states it is "committed to the intersectional study of gender and sexuality that identifies, examines, and challenges injustice while imagining and creating better futures that serve the common good."

The Board of Trustees congregated a Task Force on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. The task force met more than 25 times and released a report on its findings. The report stated, "We must also be willing to deepen our capacity to respond to the anger and pain that racist or discriminatory actions—or the failure to address such actions—have caused, and to consistently think, act, and speak in ways that are anti-racist."

The university launched the "Initiative on Race and Resilience" focused on "the redress of systemic racism and the support of communities of color both within and beyond the Notre Dame campus"

The University has an "Initiative on Race and Resilience" which "promotes multiracial collaboration, qualitative and quantitative methodologies, and inclusive pedagogy."

The Notre Dame Police Department released a statement on "Equity in Policing" which stated, "We must stand with our community in the wake of injustices that have been plaguing our nation and our communities" and that "we must not allow the seeds of discord and racial intolerance to take root in our department or in our lives." The statement continued, "We acknowledge the pain, anger, and frustration felt by so many members of our community, particularly our Black and Brown brothers and sisters."

All NDPD officers are required to attend training on implicit bias at least every two years.

All NDPD staff are required to attend “We are ALL ND” diversity and inclusion training which is led by Human Resources.

Klau Center for Civil and Human Rights will be offering a course titled “Building an Anti-Racist Vocabulary”.

Notre Dame says that "antiracist pedagogy is essential for instructors who wish to dismantle these systems and to educate the next generation of change agents." Resources the university provides to encourage antiracist teaching include: Introduction to Antiracist Pedagogy, Effective Teaching is Antiracist Teaching, Decolonizing the Curriculum, and LibGuide on Antiracism.

The Klau Institute for Civil & Human Rights houses the International Race and Rights Lab, which approaches the right to racial equality from an international perspective.

The College of Arts and Letters Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee (DEIC) was established in the fall of 2020. DEIC "promotes an inclusive and equitable climate; facilitates the recruitment, retention, and development of a flourishing diverse community; and sustains and champions innovative and inclusive scholarship and teaching."

The Office of the Provost provides diversity and inclusivity resources for faculty.

The Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (SEED) Seminars help "colleges embrace varied faculty, staff and student experiences in an effort to transform the diversity climate and offer a more inclusive educational experience." Seminars talk "in-depth" about topics such as: "gender, privilege, race, racism and oppression, sexuality, religion, religious privilege/oppression, education, class and classism, and structural/systemic sources for bias."

The University provides "select resources on anti-racism."

The Office of the Provost, Notre Dame Research, and Foundation Relations all sponsored the “Are You All Inclusive?” workshop, which "addressed questions of broader impacts and diversity in federal and private foundation proposals."

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion has several Advisory Committees such as the "Committee for Student Climate Related to LGBTQ Students" and the "Committee for Student Climate Related to Race and Ethnicity."

The Discussion Series "presents an opportunity for all Notre Dame staff to share experiences, learn from each other, and ultimately grow to make the University a more diverse and inclusive place where everyone can do their very best work."

Murals of Christopher Columbus were covered.

In celebration of Juneteenth, Notre Dame President Jenkins released a university statement in which he encourages the school community to "expose and challenge" "institutionalized structures of sin that foster racist attitudes and practices." He says that "Notre Dame is and must be anti-racist" and justifies this using Catholic teaching.

Notre Dame conducts an annual Inclusive Campus Survey, in which the report assesses the overall climate on campus related to diversity and inclusion. The survey instrument is developed by the Division of Student Affairs in partnership with the Office of Strategic Planning & Institutional Research (OSPIR) and in consultation with numerous students, faculty, and staff.

On Jan 10, 2023, Georgia Tech anounced that Dr. Keona Lewis would be named as the new Assistant Provost for Academic Diversity and Inclusion at Notre Dame.

On February 9, 2023, Notre Dame posted on Twitter "During #NDWalktheWalk Week, we asked members of the Notre Dame community, “What can you do to make Notre Dame a more diverse and inclusive community?” Fr. Gerry Olinger, C.S.C. is going to engage with and listen to our students more, especially underrepresented voices."

Several murals of Christopher Columbus have been covered by removable tapestries after discussions about the figure's racist and "genocidal" actions. The tapestries are periodically removed for academic purposes.

The University's strategic plan states its objective is to "communicate the intrinsic value of diversity, equity, and inclusion at Notre Dame and expand programmatic support, mentoring opportunities, and resources available to diverse and underrepresented students." The school also aims to "assess and deepen the understanding of the campus climate related to issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion to better inform the Division’s efforts to foster a diverse and inclusive campus."

Notre Dame's President released a message titled "Our Catholic Mission and Anti-Racism." The message was given in response to the "mass murder of innocent people in Buffalo last month by a gunman driven by racial hatred" which, the President stated, "compels us to give attention particularly to anti-Black racism." In regards to "race and racism," the message stated, "Our primary duty... is to rid our hearts of racial bias."

The Medieval Insitute held a "Pilgrimage for Healing and Liberation" to support "liberation and racial healing." The pilgrimage was done in remembrance of "Father Augustus Tolton’s witness to the Gospel and his perseverance in the face of endemic racism."

Notre Dame offers a "Native American Graduation Ceremony."