Craig Knauss writes that your Notre Dame football coverage is excessive because Notre Dame is “easily surpassed” athletically and academically by a number of Midwest schools (Voice, Sept. 6). Whew. As to the athletic part: I have no doubt that when any of Mr. Knauss’ favorite schools wins more than 80 percent of its games for more than a century, the Tribune and other media outlets will notice. Our respected rival, the University of Michigan, has a similar record, and also receives the coverage it has earned.
Academically Notre Dame was recently ranked in a national magazine in the nation’s top 20, in spite of not having a medical school. As to Mr. Knauss’ charge that Notre Dame is not at the top of local high schoolers’ wish lists, why would it be? It’s not for everyone–but for many, many positive reasons. Notre Dame is unique in that its best professors actually teach undergraduates in small-class settings, instead of merely conducting trophy research. The entire student body numbers just over 8,000, a group whose credentials are constantly improving. This year’s average Notre Dame freshman was in the top 5 percent of his or her high school graduating class.
I agree with Mr. Knauss that the Midwest has many excellent universities, including our state university, in which we can all take justifiable pride. Notre Dame is most certainly among them.
