Let's Talk Notre Dame (Covid)

[Ghost of LL 15492]

@immamac--I don't know if this thread belongs in Cloak Room, Daily Texan, or Football.  So please move as you see fit.

Notre Dame has had most of its students back on campus throughout the pandemic, even as case counts throughout Indiana have risen.  To try to reduce the spread, it has restricted on-campus and off-campus gatherings (which is somewhat easier at ND that it is elsewhere, because freshman (and sophomores (?)) are required to live on-campus).  But still-there are off-campus parties.

The administration's efforts on it are somewhat disjointed, because on the first day of school, the university's president, Fr. John Jenkins, was out greeting students and posing for photos without a mask.  And then he famously went to the White House Rose Garden event (sans mask) for Justice Barrett's introduction.    Maybe he contracted Covid there.  Maybe he himself was the superspreader.  Who gives a fuck--he was running around in close quarters without a mask and got the 'Rona.

Oh, and so there's been the whole thing with football.  Don't worry about the details--they don't really matter.  Let it suffice to say that the administration has been using football as leverage in the way a parent uses a cookie with a toddler.  

So when ND beat Clemson, all hell broke loose.  The students stormed the field.  And then there were parties into the night.  And now Jenkins is threatening to suspend or expel students for [checks notes] doing exactly what he did.

It's just a complete failure of leadership.  And it strikes me that it is not at all unusual (even though it's the most televised).  And it really does raise a secondary question about the bizarre and deleterious role football plays on college campuses.

[Prepuce of Doom 20988]

First time reading about the Catholic Church, is it? 

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

13 minutes ago, Ghost of LL said:

And it really does raise a secondary question about the bizarre and deleterious role football plays on college campuses

It sure does.  It's one of those things where anyone with eyes and a brain can see that sports with spectators is a bad idea, but too many people are blind because "footbawww!!".  And I'm a little hypocritical here, because I enjoy watching. 

 

[Tuco 5076]

Money.  Any discussion that deals with Notre Dame's (or any other college's) response to Covid needs to have money at the center of the discussion.  Notre Dame was not going to be able to charge ~70k per year for telecourses.  Tradition is what they sell, and that includes a beautiful campus and a cool football experience.  Without it, they'd lose a significant portion of their enrollment.  10%? 30% Who knows.  But the math is ugly regardless.  

[UpperWestside 6136]

God is a loving God.

He is also a vengeful God. You decide which one He is being at the moment.

[RPM 26228]

Regis is already dead. Who cares about the rest? Let 'em crash.

[Ghost of LL 15492]

59 minutes ago, Prepuce of Doom said:

First time reading about the Catholic Church, is it? 

I grew up Catholic.  I know plenty about it.  Learned from the Jesuits (as did Fr. Jenkins).  Which actually makes this all the more shocking to me.  A guy who learned from the Jesuits shouldn't exhibit such egregious lapses of judgment.

[tantric superman 4667]

Nobody expects the mackerel snapper pandemic!

[Firemans4Horn 17833]

Notre Dame has a $14bn endowment, but let’s squeeze a few nickels out of our students and placate our alumni in a raging pandemic.

And that goes for UT and 50+ other schools that are letting fans into the stands. 

[UpperWestside 6136]

2 minutes ago, Ghost of LL said:

I grew up Catholic.  I know plenty about it.  Learned from the Jesuits (as did Fr. Jenkins).  Which actually makes this all the more shocking to me.  A guy who learned from the Jesuits shouldn't exhibit such egregious lapses of judgment.

I don't just think or pre-suppose the answer to his amazing lack of rational judgment in the midst of a pandemic that has killed almost 250k Americans is because he is just making some bad decisions. He went all in with Trump over judges and he knows, as we all do, that the big-time FOOTBAW schools are hurting financially without the money that their programs generate. He also can see the writing on the wall of, as was mentioned upthread by Tuco, that people are not going to spend egregious amounts of money for distance learning from Notre Dame. That isn't how it works. I visited the campus once and it is beautiful. They needed students on-campus even though health-wise it is absolutely insane to have done so. Fr. Jenkins is no different than a CEO at this point. Notre Dame is his business and his business needs money. Jesus stopped being his savior a long time ago. Money took His place and that is not changing for Fr. Jenkins and by extension Notre Dame.

[UpperWestside 6136]

7 minutes ago, Firemans4Horn said:

Notre Dame has a $14bn endowment, but let’s squeeze a few nickels out of our students and placate our alumni in a raging pandemic.

And that goes for UT and 50+ other schools that are letting fans into the stands. 

No matter how much money you have it is never enough. This is not personally my own viewpoint, but we need not look any further than the folks who profited the most during this pandemic to see how that is the case. Nobody should be in the stands at these games, but money motivates people (those running universities especially it seems) to do reckless and dangerous things.

[Wulaw Horn 18980]

6 hours ago, Tuco said:

Money.  Any discussion that deals with Notre Dame's (or any other college's) response to Covid needs to have money at the center of the discussion.  Notre Dame was not going to be able to charge ~70k per year for telecourses.  Tradition is what they sell, and that includes a beautiful campus and a cool football experience.  Without it, they'd lose a significant portion of their enrollment.  10%? 30% Who knows.  But the math is ugly regardless.  

Holy shit- it costs 70K a year to go to Domer now?  Holy fucking shit.

I had a friend ask me what I was going to do for education with my kids with the high cost.  My off the cuff response was marry well,  TV VCR Repair, marry well.  My real plan was state school or the financial equivalent if it was on my dime.  But, I think my wife would like to pay regardless of where they go.  But holy fucking shit 70K?  For a non-Ivy?  Wow.  

[Guest Lobo]

It's closer to $55k actually.  But I'm sure a chunk of that goes to the Catholic Church proper.  Which is weird.  

I'll never not be impressed that the Holy Cross Order created and fosters such a great academic institution considering how much they tried to burn learning to the fucking ground for the better part of a century.  I'm team Jesuit all the way.  

[Tuco 5076]

8 minutes ago, Lobo said:

It's closer to $55k actually.  But I'm sure a chunk of that goes to the Catholic Church proper.  Which is weird.  

I'll never not be impressed that the Holy Cross Order created and fosters such a great academic institution considering how much they tried to burn learning to the fucking ground for the better part of a century.  I'm team Jesuit all the way.  

52k tuition. 15.4k room and board.  Granted, they wouldn't charge room and board for remote learning, but that is part of the lost revenue. If 1000 students (~11%) didn't enroll because they didn't want to spend 52k for telecourses, that's $50M in lost tuition revenue.  Let's say half of the students normally live on campus, that's $65M in lost room and board revenue. 

Money decisions are overriding medical ones.  That's certainly not just at Notre Dame. 

[Ghost of LL 15492]

39 minutes ago, Tuco said:

52k tuition. 15.4k room and board.  Granted, they wouldn't charge room and board for remote learning, but that is part of the lost revenue. If 1000 students (~11%) didn't enroll because they didn't want to spend 52k for telecourses, that's $50M in lost tuition revenue.  Let's say half of the students normally live on campus, that's $65M in lost room and board revenue. 

Money decisions are overriding medical ones.  That's certainly not just at Notre Dame. 

To reiterate--at a non-Ivy?  That's absurd.  I mean, it's a good school.  But it's not that good.

[Parliament 14138]

I'll play devils advocate a bit and say if we aren't criticized got celebrating a Biden win, we oughtn't be criticized for a Notre Dame win. The Presidency is more important of course, but neither celebration makes the world a better place. Just the opposite.