Last week, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita dropped a bombshell by launching an investigation into the University of Notre Dame’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies five days before their commencements, sending DEI cheerleaders into a tailspin. The probe has ignited a firestorm over race-based practices in higher education, accusing Notre Dame of flouting federal and state civil rights laws and jeopardizing its nonprofit status. Targeting the university’s 2033 Strategic Framework, which obsesses over boosting “underrepresented” student and faculty numbers and tracking enrollment in classes taught by faculty who “look like” certain students, Rokita’s inquiry calls out policies that not only defy the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard ruling but also betray Notre Dame’s Catholic mission, swapping faith and merit for woke ideology and federal cash.
A Personal Story of Rejection
The human toll of these policies hits close to home. My nephew, a stellar Catholic high school student, was co-captain of the football team, boasted a 4.3 GPA, scored a 35 on the ACT, and graduated top of his class. By every metric, he was Notre Dame material, embodying the academic and moral excellence the university claims to champion. Yet, Notre Dame rejected him. Was he, as many suspect, not the “right color” to check the DEI boxes in their admissions playbook? This question haunts families who see their children’s hard-earned merits sidelined by race-based quotas, a grievance now fueling Rokita’s investigation.
The Investigation: DEI’s Legal and Moral Failings
Rokita’s letter to Notre Dame President Rev. Robert Dowd demands answers on whether practices like tracking racial alignment between faculty and students or hosting potentially segregated “multicultural recognition ceremonies” violate the Harvard ruling, which declared race-based admissions unconstitutional. The decision made it clear: prioritizing race over merit spits in the face of the Equal Protection Clause. Yet, Notre Dame’s smug response—that the ruling “will complicate, but not deter” its diversity crusade—shows a stubborn clinging to race-obsessed policies. Rokita wants documentation on admissions, hiring, and DEI guidance by June 9, 2025, warning that defiance could cost Notre Dame its nonprofit status and federal funding.
Notre Dame’s DEI schemes don’t promote fairness—they codify discrimination. The 2033 Strategic Framework’s fixation on “underrepresented” groups screams quotas, likely shafting qualified applicants like my nephew based on skin color. Social media is ablaze with users slamming Notre Dame’s 30 DEI administrators and racially fixated programs for prioritizing identity over achievement. These practices don’t just undermine meritocracy; they flirt with segregation under the guise of inclusion.
A Catholic University’s Secular Drift
This DEI obsession marks a deeper rot in Notre Dame’s Catholic identity, says Dr. Christopher Manion, a Notre Dame alumnus and author of Charity For Sale: Has The American Catholic Church Become ‘Just Another NGO?’. Baptized at Notre Dame’s Sacred Heart Church and son of former Law School Dean Clarence Manion, he laments the university’s chase for federal dollars. “Unfortunately, the Fighting Irish have been fighting for government funding at the federal level as hard as their football team has fought on the field,” he said. “Father Hesburgh wanted Notre Dame to acquire the same prestige as the eastern universities seemed to possess…. Most [faculty] didn’t realize that Father Hesburgh would sacrifice Notre Dame’s Catholic character for money…. But he did.”
In 1967, Notre Dame and other Catholic schools rewrote their charters to become secular entities, opening the federal funding floodgates. Manion points to President Barack Obama’s 2009 visit, where Notre Dame’s leadership prioritized grants over condemning Obama’s abortion policies, as proof of this slide. He ties the DEI push to federal mandates: “Joe Biden’s Executive Orders in the early weeks of his administration required that all federal grantees conform in every particular to those demands for diversity, equity, and inclusion,” including hot-button issues like abortion and gender ideology. “After fifty years on the federal dole, Notre Dame… had acquired the unlovely habit of getting used to that federal money, and they didn’t want to lose it.”
Indoctrination Over Education
DEI’s tentacles reach beyond admissions to campus culture. Notre Dame’s Office of Institutional Transformation and Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity (SEED) Seminars aim to embed DEI dogma but instead breed ideological conformity. The 2022 Inclusive Campus Student Survey revealed 43% of students faced adverse treatment, suggesting DEI stokes division. Manion blasts mandatory DEI sessions for freshmen as “China-style struggle sessions on homosexual and tranny rights—required before they even began their first classes in the fall.” These programs, he argues, clash with Notre Dame’s Catholic mission, shoving secular ideology down students’ throats.
My nephew’s rejection mirrors this broader betrayal. Steeped in Catholic values, he was a perfect fit for Notre Dame, yet its DEI priorities likely favored ideological quotas over his academic excellence. Families like ours wonder if the university’s fixation on racial metrics and federal compliance overshadows its duty to form virtuous leaders.
A National Reckoning
Notre Dame isn’t alone in the crosshairs. In March 2025, the U.S. Department of Education named Notre Dame among 50 universities probed for alleged racial preferences, part of a post-Harvard crackdown on DEI. Across the country, states like Florida and Texas have gutted DEI programs, signaling a growing backlash against policies that penalize qualified applicants—especially White and Asian ones—under the banner of equity. My nephew’s rejection fuels suspicions that such practices sidelined his merits for diversity targets, a practice now under legal and public fire.
Indiana’s Senate Bill 289: Slamming the Brakes on DEI
On May 6, 2025, Governor Mike Braun signed Senate Bill 289 into law, delivering a body blow to DEI in Indiana. The bill bans state funding for DEI initiatives—think trainings, diverse hiring schemes, and woke programming—at public colleges, state agencies, and health profession licensing boards. It even greenlights lawsuits against public institutions that flout the law, capping damages at court costs, attorney fees, and actual damages. While Notre Dame, as a private university, dodges the direct hit aimed at places like Indiana University, this law turns up the heat. It’s a clear signal that Indiana’s fed up with race-obsessed policies, amplifying Rokita’s probe into Notre Dame’s DEI excesses.
The law could still sting Notre Dame. Partnerships with public institutions—joint research, state grants—might dry up if they touch DEI. Worse, the lawsuit provision could embolden activists to target Notre Dame’s programs, especially if they sniff any indirect state support, like student aid. As Dr. Manion puts it, “This law is a wake-up call. Notre Dame’s DEI empire, built on federal and state acquiescence, now faces a reckoning. It must ditch the quotas and return to its Catholic roots or risk becoming another secular casualty.”
A Call for Faith and Fairness
Rokita’s investigation and Senate Bill 289 are a one-two punch, demanding Notre Dame align with legal and moral standards. Manion hopes for more: “Of course I hope they will agree to follow the law, but I’m frankly more interested in seeing them return to teaching the Catholic Faith in harmony with the timeless teaching and tradition of the Church.” For families like mine, it’s personal. My nephew’s rejection is a bitter reminder that universities must judge students by character and achievement, not skin color.
As Notre Dame stares down the loss of nonprofit status or federal funding, Rokita’s probe and Indiana’s new law challenge higher education to reject discriminatory practices masquerading as inclusion. For a Catholic university, the path is clear: reclaim its faith-based identity and embrace colorblind fairness. Indiana’s push for accountability could be the spark that restores meritocracy and faith to a campus that’s wandered too far from both.