On behalf of the Steering Committee of Project Sycamore, I want to welcome you to our mailing list. We are pleased to be in touch with all interested in Notre Dame whether or not they share our views; but if you do agree with our petition, we urge you to return to it and add your name. We have found that persons often join the mailing list and simply overlook the petition, and therefore we occasionally send reminders so that all who would like to be on the petition actually are. Our impact will depend in part on our numbers, and the most visible sign of those numbers will be the names on the petition.

You will recall that the principal purpose of the petition is to express concern over the precipitous decline in Catholic representation on the Notre Dame faculty and to pledge support to Father Jenkins in his expressed resolve to stem this erosion. In the last thirty years, the proportion of Catholics on the faculty has dropped from 85% to just over 50%; and if the hiring pattern of recent years continues, Catholics will soon be a minority. While able and dedicated non-Catholic faculty have played, and will continue to play, an essential role in the University's impressive development, for Catholics to be reduced to a minority would mark a decisive change. The school's Mission Statement tells us so, for it declares that, to fulfill its fundamental aims, Notre Dame must have a "predominant member of Catholic intellectuals" on the faculty. Since, as the materials on our website show, the faculty has had the primary responsibility for faculty hiring, and since a majority of the faculty opposes taking an applicant's religious affiliation into account, Father Jenkins faces a formidable challenge. Our aim is to lend support and to report as events unfold.

As you will have seen from the materials on the website, we also discuss a number of other issues relating to Notre Dame's Catholic identity, only one of which, "The Vagina Monologues," I mention here because it is referred to in the petition. Father Jenkins has said that, if this issue arises again, he will review it again. Accordingly, the petition urges that in such event he decline to authorize the on-campus performance of the play. While students are performing the play off campus this year because, for the first time in seven years, no academic department would sponsor it, the Sociology Department reportedly has promised sponsorship next year.

Again, we welcome you to our mailing list. We hope the information we provide will be useful to you, and we welcome your suggestions and comments.

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Project Sycamore Steering Committee

Richard V. Allen (’57, ’58)
Dr. Daniel M. Boland (’56, ’61)
Timothy M. Dempsey (’89)
William H. Dempsey (’52)
Dr. John A. Gueguen, Jr. (’56, ’58)
George L. Heidkamp (’52)
Amelia Elizabeth Marcum (’04)
Joseph A. Reich, Jr. (’57)
Dr. Susan Biddle Shearer (’88)