On December 4, 2023, it was announced that Robert Dowd, CSC, would replace John Jenkins, CSC, as President of the University of Notre Dame in July, 2024. Fr. Dowd was introduced by John Brennan, the Chair of the Notre Dame Board of Trustees as a “global citizen” who would soon lead Notre Dame, a “global research university.” It was a momentous moment, one that marked the passing of another which was the drive at the beginning of Fr. Jenkins’ tenure to increase the Catholic character of the University.
Who Is Father Dowd?
Fr. Dowd is a Hoosier, having been born in Michigan City, Indiana or about 45 minutes from the University. He graduated in 1987 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and Economics, and was ordained a priest of the Holy Cross Congregation (CSC) in 1994 after some time in East Africa. Later, he earned a Master’s Degree in African Studies as well as a Ph.D. in Political Science in 2003. He joined the Political Science Department of Notre Dame in 2004.[1]
Fr. Dowd authored Christianity, Islam and Liberal Democracy: Lessons from Sub-Saharan Africa, which focused on the Christianity and Islam in African countries. In a 2015 interview discussing the book and put on Notre Dame’s website, it was written that Fr. Dowd “provocatively argues that religious diversity in Nigeria and other African countries actually encourages, rather than inhibits, religious tolerance.” The article went on to say that he found “Christian and Islamic Communities were more encouraging of actions and attitudes conducive to Liberal democracy in Sub-Saharan Africa.” In a slap to the idea of the Catholic Confessional State, the article went on to state that Fr. Dowd’s book “questions the wisdom of policies that espouse the creation or maintenance of religious homogenous political units as always and everywhere.”[2]
Notre Dame’s global nature is seen in Fr. Dowd’s global citizenship and is reflected in the positions he holds at the University. He is currently the Vice President and Associate Provost for Interdisciplinary Initiatives, and has oversight of the Center for Social Concerns, the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, the Fitzgerald Institute for Real Estate, and Industry Labs, the Institute for Educational Initiatives, the McGrath Institute for Church Life, and the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art. It was at the opening gala of the Raclin Murphy Museum of Art that I met Fr. Dowd on December 7. [3]
In addition, Fr. Dowd’s credentials grow lengthier with his work overseeing the Dublin Global Gateway and Kylemore Abbey Global Center in Ireland and the Sao Paolo Global Center in Brazil with an office in Nairobi, Kenya to “promote and support Notre Dame’s research and educational partnership in Africa.” [4]
Other global initiative involvements include the Ford Program in Human Development Studies and Solidarity at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies which is “dedicated to foreign community-engaged research partnerships in the global south”; the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion; the Kellogg Institute for International Studies; the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies; and the Nanovic Institute for European Studies in the University’s Keough School of Global Affairs.
The Kroc Institute, a part of the Keough School of Global Affairs, was started around 2014 under the presidency of Fr. Jenkins. Previously I wrote about how that institute, named after wealthy benefactors to the University, subverted Catholic teaching by calling this Potawatomi homelands when the lands were bought by the US Government and then by a Catholic priest who helped the Americans, Fr. Stephen Badin, nearly 200 years ago.
John Brennan
John Brennan is the current Chair of the 40 person Board of Trustees, and in July, 2024, he will hand over his position to John Veihmeyer. The Board of Trustees consists of 34 lay persons and six CSC priests.[5] There are two other groups of trustees known as the Emeriti and the Hesburgh Trustees, but the control of the University is theoretically in the hands of the Board of Fellows which consists of twelve, of whom six are CSC priests.[6] The mission of the Board of Fellows is:
“The Fellows of the University are a `self-perpetuating body,’ consisting of six members who at all times must be ‘members of the Priests Society of the Congregation of Holy Cross, United States Province of Priests and Brothers, and six of whom shall be lay persons.’ The Fellows are the ‘successors and associates in office’ of the original founders of the University and perform the following duties of office:
- Determine powers to be delegated to the Board of Trustees;
- Elect the Trustees of the University in accordance with the Bylaws;
- Adopt and amend the Bylaws of the University;
- Approve the sale or transfer of substantial parts of the University’s physical property;
- Ensure that the University maintains its essential character as a Catholic institution of higher learning.”[7]
Brennan is very successful, and that is probably one of the biggest reasons for his ascension to the Board of Trustees. Brennan’s success came from his work at Vanguard, and being the chosen successor of John Bogle in January, 1996.[8]
Bogle (1929-2019) founded Vanguard, a private investment firm. A Princeton graduate, his thesis was “Economic Role of the Investment Company.” Beginning in 1976, he popularized the passive investing concept using index funds (mutual funds or exchange traded funds) which are designed to follow certain preset rules so that it can replicate the performance or track the performance of a specified basket of underlying investments. Passive investing saves the investor money and is to be contrasted with active investing which involves a broker making decisions for which he or she is paid commissions.[9]
Brennan was the son of Francis Brennan who was the CEO of Union Warren Savings Bank, and he grew up in Boston. He received an Economics Degree from Dartmouth, and an MBA from Harvard. In 1982, when Bogle needed an assistant good at operations, he turned to Brennan. One report said “Bogle was impressed by Brennan’s facility with figures and hired him. Both men carry reams of numbers in their head and can instantly pick out what’s important from a stream of financial data…” Brennan was intensely competitive.[10]
During his tenure, from 1996 to 2009, he grew the amount of money under management of Vanguard from about $ 300 billion to about $ 2.4 trillion. In 2012 he became a director of General Electric, and he became the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Notre Dame in October, 2015. Brennan continued his corporate career and in 2017 he became a member of the Board of Directors of American Express. In the same year, he received a Harvard Alumni Achievement Award. The news report of that event said:
“While work has always been important to him, Brennan’s commitment to his family has guided his time outside of the office. We had a no briefcase at home policy, says Cathy Brennan, his Dartmouth classmate to whom he has been married since 1980. Family dinners were a priority in the Brennan household, even if they were sometimes held after 8 p.m. to accommodate frenetic schedules….Jack Brennan was raised and remains a devout Catholic. He chairs the Board of the University of Notre Dame, from which his and Cathy’s three children graduated. There is, however, a second religion in the family: sports. Brennan, a marathon runner, coached his kids’ teams to the point that some neighborhood parents though he worked for the Recreation Department….
“The Brennans now split their time between Pennsylvania and Boston, where Cathy runs a nonprofit mentoring program for inner-city high school students. `These are amazing kids who just need a chance, says Jack, whose paternal grandfather labored as a janitor at Harvard to put his kids through college…..`People ask about my biggest accomplishment and want to hear about Vanguard….but that is incidental to what really matters: my kids and my marriage.”[11]
Powerful Private Interests
Vanguard now manages about $ 7.7 trillion, and it does it by calling its customers, owners-investors. Vanguard is one of the three most influential investment firms with the other two being Black Rock and State Street. If you listen to Alex Jones, then you know these are the three most influential firms with a worldwide – global – network. This network pushes things like net zero carbon emissions, and is committed to DEI.
In Summer, 2023, this troika came center stage. Leaked interviews of Larry Fink of Black Rock and the chatter of presidential candidates helped to raise awareness. According to a Yahoo.com story, Vivek Ramaswamy, a GOP contender for President with next to zero chance of success, was reportedly taking “aim at some of the world’s biggest money managers as part of his campaign against the environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework. The GOP presidential longshot said in a post on X on Sunday that the ‘Big Three’ investment firms – BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard – represent ‘arguably the most powerful cartel in human history’. `They’re the largest shareholders of nearly every major public company (even of each other),’ he wrote. `And they use *your* own money to foist ESG agendas onto corporate boards – voting for `racial equity audits’ & `Scope 3 emissions caps’ that don’t advance your best financial interests. This raises serious fiduciary, antitrust, and conflict-of-interest concerns.’ Ramaswamy’s comments echoed the Wall Street Journal’s 2022 op-ed on breaking up ESG investing giants into political rhetoric, which argued that the ‘Big Three’ have `long used their dominance in passive-investment funds to force corporations to comply with their preferred set of environmental, social and governance policies.’” [12]
Yahoo went on to say that “The idea can be traced back to a 2017 academic paper which found that BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard together constitute the largest shareholder in 88 percent of S&P 500 firms. According to its authors, the firms’ illiquid and permanent positions affords them heavy influence in shareholder voting at the expense of passive index investors themselves.”[13]
The referenced 2017 paper is by Jan Fichtner*, Eelke M. Heemskerk and Javier Garcia-Bernardo and entitled “Hidden power of the Big Three? Passive index funds, re-concentration of corporate ownership, and new financial risk.” The Abstract explains it:
“Since 2008, a massive shift has occurred from active toward passive investment strategies. The passive index fund industry is dominated by BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street, which we call the “Big Three.” We comprehensively map the ownership of the Big Three in the United States and find that together they constitute the largest shareholder in 88 percent of the S&P 500 firms. In contrast to active funds, the Big Three hold relatively illiquid and permanent ownership positions. This has led to opposing views on incentives and possibilities to actively exert shareholder power. Some argue passive investors have little shareholder power because they cannot “exit,” while others point out this gives them stronger incentives to actively influence corporations. Through an analysis of proxy vote records we find that the Big Three do utilize coordinated voting strategies and hence follow a centralized corporate governance strategy. However, they generally vote with management, except at director (re-)elections. Moreover, the Big Three may exert “hidden power” through two channels: First, via private engagements with management of invested companies; and second, because company executives could be prone to internalizing the objectives of the Big Three. We discuss how this development entails new forms of financial risk.” (emphasis supplied)
CNBC and others have tried to debunk but they admit that the big three own large amounts of stock and are “top shareholders” in Apple, Lockheed and Pfizer.[14]
This is power to influence behavior and values as entities and as individuals. Brennan, and his successor John Veihmeyer are two of the guys that have great control over corporate America and the peoples of the world. Barnet and Muller writing in 1974 said “The global corporation is the most powerful human organization yet devised for colonizing the future……the global corporations are constantly accelerating their control over the world productive system and are helping to bring about a profound change in the way wealth is produced, distributed, and defended….enormous bargaining power.”[15]
Global citizenship is one of those things that can be used to change loyalties of target peoples. Google says a global citizen is one whose “identity transcends geography or political borders and that responsibilities or rights are derived from membership in a broader class: `humanity’.” Oxfam says “Global citizenship is a term used to describe the social, environmental, and economic actions taken by individuals and communities who recognise that every person is a citizen of the world.” The vernacular says a citizen of the world is someone who is at home in any country on earth, and that means having no particular attachment to one country or another. That cuts against patriotism and national identity while helping to create a new man, a new person, a new nation.
The Passing
Notre Dame’s new Chairman will be John B. Veihmeyer who received a BBA in Accounting from Notre Dame. His corporate career consisted of a number of positions including CEO of KPMG from 2014-2017. The magazine Accounting Today recognized him as one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Corporate Governance. What are his values, or the values he supports?
In a 2014 article in Profiles in Diversity Journal, Veihmeyer said “As we strive to accelerate our growth and forge the future of our firm, diversity and inclusion are as fundamental to our business strategy as technical expertise and industry knowledge. In today’s dynamic marketplace, diversity allows us to deliver services that reflect a broad range of experiences, talents, ideas and perspectives. At the same time, inclusion is about reflecting the values of our professionals and taking pride in being a place where every person has the opportunity to excel and build a great career.”[16]
The Irish Rover in its November 15, 2023 edition in an article entitled “New Board of Trustees Chair Elected” by Michael Cassidy, picked up on it: “In a 2017 article, he stated `diversity in my view is actually an outcome of building a culture of inclusion in your organization…inclusion and diversity are fundamental to our business strategy, and not something that’s nice to have. Unless people in your organization…see building an inclusive culture that stimulates diversity as fundamental to both the organization’s and their success, it simply won’t be a priority.”
The Rover went on to note that Veihmeyer was recognized in 2011 for his commitment to diversity by Diversity Best Practices, billed as “The leading source of insights for corporate DEI talent teams.” He received the “CEO Diversity Leadership Award…for embedding a commitment to diversity and inclusion excellence throughout KPMG.” The LGBTQ community awarded him for his work in leadership roles. In 2012, on behalf of KPMG, he accepted the “Straight for Equality IN the Workplace Award” from PFLG National which is “The Nation’s Largest Organization Dedicated to Supporting, Educating, and Advocating for LGBTQ+ People.” Veihmeyer was also quoted in the March, 2012 issue of Lesbian/Gay Law Notes Journal in which he said that “We [at KPMG] are committed to a culture of inclusiveness and value the contributions of all of our people. Diversity is a business imperative. For our firm to continue to be a great place to work and build a career, we must be able to attract and retain the best people with the skills and determination to deliver above and beyond regardless of their sexual orientation.”
In October, 2023, the Rover noted that when Fr. Jenkins took the helm, the talk was about increasing the Catholic identity of Notre Dame. Under his watch, the percentage of nominal Catholic professors rose from 53 to 54 percent. There was no talk about Notre Dame being a Catholic University when John Brennan introduced Fr. Dowd. It was about being global.
Conclusion
The Thinking Ahead Institute,[17] and the statements of some corporate leaders, portrays DEI a tool to improve the competitiveness of corporations as they reach around the globe to different cultures and societies. Theoretically, embracing this makes it easier to penetrate foreign markets where people of different ethnicities and religions and cultures exist.
But, it is also more than that. It serves to reduce the presence of Whites, or those of European descent, and it can be used to reorder societies as part of the characteristics or values these global companies are able to impart and reinforce everywhere they go. It is a reordering of societies to make it easier for entrance of capital especially foreign capital into other societies and opening markets in those societies by breaking down traditional values and traditional social organization.
Commerce between peoples is a good thing, but teaching deleterious values in the process is a bad thing. This mixing of bad with good is a dynamic that is quite prevalent, and one that the Church should be aware of as it purifies human activities to advance the common good everywhere. A truly global Catholic university, which Notre Dame claims to be now, is one that should do just this, and hold its alum to that. Ambitious Catholics always were willing to relinquish living the faith in all aspects of their life for a good career, or social advancement. That is why many in the Catholic leadership – clerics, laity, chatterers — do not wish to effect societal change in any meaningful and fundamental manner.
Global citizenship carries with it the connotation of doing away with one’s identity or nationality and substitution of another one, one of a consumer, an individual without membership in a nation or any sense of patriotism. Rootedness, ethnicity, nationhood is a check on the powers and desires and ambitions of the rich and ambitious, or the lovers of Mammon. These things are essential for leading us in a smart, immediate response to the destroyers of nations.
On the same day Fr. Dowd was being introduced as a global citizen, Ludwig Cardinal Mueller called Catholics and all peoples back to being rooted, having a nationality. He said:
“Mass immigration is not about helping people but about destroying national identity. They say that national identity is nationalism, which has caused all the wars, so they say they are against nationalism, but they are really against the nation.
“If nationalism is the reason for wars, we must ask who is financing the wars and what interests are behind it.
“They want everyone to be completely isolated and not connected by language, culture, family ties, or a native land where you feel at home.
“They want to destroy all that. They want everyone to be atomized, without cultural and religious roots and identity.”[18]
The Church leadership continues rousing itself. It is a new year, and things can happen quickly and unexpectedly, with the impetus from an unexpected quarter. Prepare for the worse, work and pray for the best, watch, and trust the Triune God.
[1] “Rev. Robert A. Dowd, CSC, elected 18th president of the University of Notre Dame,” Notre Dame News, December 4, 2023.
[2] “Three Questions with Political Scientist Rev. Robert Dowd,” Notre Dame News, October 23, 2015.
[3] See Fn. 1
[4] Ibid.
[5] “Board of Trustees,” University of Notre Dame. The members as of December, 2023 are John J. Brennan, Chair; Rev. José E. Ahumada F., C.S.C.; Carlos J. Betancourt; Stephen J. Brogan; John J. Coyle; Scott A. Dahnke; Karen McCartan DeSantis; Dorene C. Dominguez; Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C.; James J. Dunne III; James F. Flaherty III; Lois K. Folger; Stephanie A. Gallo; Tracy D. Graham; Rev. Daniel G. Groody, C.S.C.; Nathan O. Hatch; Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C.; Tanya M. Kne; Kathryn A. Koch; Rev. William M. Lies, C.S.C.; Justin R. Liu; Rev. Thomas P. Looney, C.S.C.; Thomas G. Maheras; Andrew McKenna, Jr.; Michael G. O’Grady; Cindy K. Parseghian; James C. Parsons; Paulita A. Pike; J. Christopher Reyes; Kenneth C. Ricci; Clare Stack Richer; Martin W. Rodgers; Raul R. Romero; Shayla Keough Rumely; Jennifer F. Scanlon; Byron O. Spruell; Phyllis W. Stone; Anne E. Thompson; Sara Martinez Tucker; John B. Veihmeyer.
[6] The members as of December, 2023 are Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., Chair; Rev. José E. Ahumada F., C.S.C.; John J. Brennan; Stephen J. Brogan; Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C.; James F. Flaherty III; Rev. Daniel G. Groody, C.S.C.; Rev. William M. Lies, C.S.C.; Rev. Thomas P. Looney, C.S.C.; Shayla Keough Rumely; Sara Martinez Tucker; John B. Veihmeyer.
[7] “Fellows,” University of Notre Dame.
[8] “Vanguard’s New Boss: `Being Famous Was Never On My Agenda,’” Business Week September 1, 1997; John Brennan elected chair of Notre Dame’s Board of Trustee’s, Notre Dame News, October 16, 2015.
[9] “Passive Investing Definition, and Pros & Cons, vs. Active Investing,” Investopedia.
[10] See Fn. 8.
[11] Ibid.; “John J. Brennan, MBA 1980 2017 Alumni Achievement Award Recipient” Stories May 24, 2017.
[12] “RAMASWAMY: The ‘Big Three’ investment firms hold significant shareholder rights in most S&P 500 companies, according to him,” Yahoo Finance, August, 2023.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Ryan Ermey, “Debunking claims that a cartel of asset managers controls major us corporations,’ CNBC October 23, 2023.
[15] Barnet and Muller, p. 365
[16] “John B. Veihmeyer KPMG,” Profiles in Diversity Journal, March 31, 2014.
[17] See, “Culture – the Organizational Superpower,” The Thinking Ahead Institute.
[18] See, “Cardinal Muller Slams Mass Immigration,” Catholic Arena, December 4, 2023.