Journalism That Matters: Justice Served at Notre Dame

The final score: Faithfully Catholic University of Notre Dame student journalists, 1; entitled pro-abortion Notre Dame professor, 0. This outcome is the gratifying conclusion to the frivolous defamation lawsuit that Tamara Kay filed last May against the intrepid staff of The Irish Rover, a campus newspaper, dedicated to upholding the university’s Catholic identity, that publishes reports about campus activities that conflict with this identity. So why did Kay, a sociologist who teaches at Notre Dame’s Keough School of Global Affairs, file her legal action against the plucky student-run publication? To seek retribution against the Rover staff for publishing a pair of articles about her in October 2022 and March 2023. The articles in question accurately detailed Kay’s strident abortion-rights advocacy, both on and off campus, as well as some recent efforts to facilitate abortion access for Notre Dame students.