Pardon me, but I expect much more of Notre Dame

In a sports landscape filled with irrational fans, none are more irrational than those of college teams.

So it isn’t surprising that some Notre Dame supporters think I’m biased against the school because I have been critical of its role in the death of student videographer Declan Sullivan.

The Long Grove native was taping a Fighting Irish football practice in October when excessive winds blew down a hydraulic lift, sending him crashing to the ground.

Monday, Notre Dame released the results of an internal investigation. It’s difficult at this point for ND to come out looking good in this matter regardless of what it does, says or finds.

The Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration already fined the school $77,500 for ignoring industry standards that could have prevented the tragedy.

Notre Dame’s findings seem in conflict with IOSHA’s.

Look, I always have respected Notre Dame just for being Notre Dame.

Irish zealots ignore that I often wrote, after years of covering a couple of Notre Dame football games a season, that its players were more intelligent and articulate than those at other schools.

These same fans ignore that while others insist that it’s impossible, I wrote that Notre Dame can be among football’s national elite again.

Finally, Irish fans ignore that I wrote a lot about Notre Dame having a higher level of academic and athletic ethics than other schools had.

If this sounds like I doth protest too much, so be it, but I did believe all of that.

I always expect the Red Cross to set the standard for compassion in times of need, newspapers to set the standard for ethics in journalism, and ND to set the standard for integrity in higher education.

Sorry, but the impression from the outside now is that ND has compromised its standards. That’s only a suspicion but if valid would be terrible for education.

Even if Notre Dame lives up to loftier morals than other universities and other athletic programs aspire to, ND still must live up to the ones it established for itself.

In other words, Notre Dame must keep proving it really is holier than thou.

Several episodes involving football blotched Notre Dame this school year. The Sullivan case received the most attention because it involved both death and football.

Notre Dame since has altered policies, which in a way is an admission that foresight could have prevented Sullivan’s death.

After revealing Monday’s findings, school president Rev. John Jenkins wrote on Notre Dame’s website, “ … we have reached the conclusion that no one acted in disregard for safety.”

It sure seems that someone must have, perhaps in omission rather than commission, yet ND’s probe declined to blame any person or persons.

“The university, then, is collectively responsible,” Jenkins added. “Insofar as the President is responsible for the university as a whole, I am the individual who bears the most responsibility, and I accept that responsibility.”

Sorry, but that sounds like, “Nobody’s to blame, but if anybody must blame somebody, blame me if you want.”

This whole matter is sad for Notre Dame but also for those of us who expect the school to set a higher standard in academics and sports.

If that’s asking too much, Notre Dame should say so and we’ll look elsewhere for a beacon of integrity.

mimrem@dailyherald.com