Notre Dame

In defending the University of Notre Dame's invitation to President Obama to receive an honorary degree and to be commencement speaker, Kenneth L. Woodward ["Why Notre Dame Should Welcome Obama," op-ed, March 30] and an April 5 letter writer missed the point. The question is not whether the university should be "open to political engagement" but rather whether it should honor the church's most formidable opponent on abortion and embryonic stem cell issues. There is to be a speech, not a debate.

TEMPE, Ariz. — Notre Dame's game at Arizona State in 2014 will take place after all. The schools announced on Tuesday that they had struck a deal to play the game on Nov. 8, two weeks later than scheduled, after the Fighting Irish's move to the Atlantic Coast Conference put it in jeopardy of being cancelled. A game between the Sun Devils and Irish scheduled for 2017 in South Bend, Ind., has been cancelled. This season's game, Oct. 5 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, was struck under a separate deal.

When: Saturday, noon. Where: M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore. Records: Midshipmen 6-3, Fighting Irish 5-4. TV: WUSA (Channel 9), WJZ (Channel 13).

BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Say Yes to Education program, noted for sending public high school graduates to college for free, has added five prestigious private universities to its list of destinations. Harvard University, the University of Notre Dame, Northwestern University, Duke University and Georgetown University have committed to providing tuition scholarships to eligible students from Say Yes chapters, program founder George Weiss announced Monday. "The Say Yes compact is about...

Big East at-large WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW: Four players average between 10.5 and 12.9 points for the Fighting Irish, and nine players have led the team in scoring in at least one game. Notre Dame lost two key reserves to knee injuries early in the season. TOP PLAYERS THE TEAM G Ashley Barlow, 5-9, Jr. 12.4 ppg, 4.9 rpg Coach: Muffet McGraw Record: 22-8, 10-6 G Melissa Lechlitner, 5-7, Jr. 10.5 ppg ...

My reading of Guiseppe Fiorentino's commentary in L'Osservatore Romano differs from that of columnist E.J. Dionne Jr. [" The Stakes at Notre Dame ," op-ed, May 7]. Mr. Dionne saw a debate changer in the article's conclusion that on abortion and other life issues, President Obama "does not seem to have established the radical changes that he had aired. " By suggesting Vatican approval of Obama policy on these issues, Mr. Dionne made it appear that column-writing, like statistics, can sometimes be like dreams: a form of wish-fulfillment.

In her April 29 op-ed column, "The Principle at Stake at Notre Dame," Kathleen Parker asked rhetorically whether there was ever a time when "we should be comfortable with ratification of abortion" because "the truest form of feminism . . . would be to hold abhorrent the state-sanctioned destruction of women's unique life-bearing gifts. " She later insinuated that this "destruction" was akin to the Holocaust. I seriously doubt that a single proponent of reproductive rights and stem cell research harbors similar sentiments; no one looks at abortion...

Epiphanny Prince scored 18 points, Matee Ajavon added 15 and No. 5 Rutgers overcame an eight-minute scoreless drought to beat No. 14 Notre Dame, 57-51, last night in Piscataway, N.J. The win was the 798th of Rutgers Coach C. Vivian Stringer's career. She is aiming to become the third women's basketball coach to win 800 games, joining Pat Summitt and Jody Conradt. Rutgers travels to Providence on Saturday before hosting DePaul next Wednesday. Notre Dame (20-6, 8-4 Big East), which is known for its potent offense that averages nearly 80...

Sunday: No. 19 Notre Dame. Previously: No. 21 Nebraska, No. 22 Oregon State, No. 23 Iowa, No. 24 Brigham Young, No. 25 Cincinnati.

As a fellow graduate of Notre Dame, I was pleased to read Kenneth L. Woodward's March 30 op-ed column , "Why Notre Dame Should Honor Obama. " One reason I voted for President Obama was his willingness to find middle ground on divisive issues. Clearly, the pro-life movement has made little progress over decades in changing the minds of those who are adamantly pro-choice, and whether abortions have decreased is debatable. If Mr. Obama has considered ways to prevent unplanned pregnancies as well as demand for abortions, isn't that a solution...

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Tommy Rees is Notre Dame's starting quarterback again. After telling reporters last week there would be a three-way competition in August to replace suspended starter Everett Golson, coach Brian Kelly disclosed at a Grand Valley State University event in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Wednesday night that the job belongs to Rees, mlive.com reported (http://bit.ly/13mTswS ). "I've always moved forward," Kelly said. "I don't live in the past. I don't spend too much time in...

College football Golson no longer enrolled at Notre Dame Notre Dame spokesman Dennis Brown said quarterback Everett Golson was no longer enrolled at the school as of Friday. Brown said he couldn't comment on why because of federal privacy laws. The departure of Golson leaves the Irish with senior Tommy Rees , who started 12 games in 2011, senior Andrew Hendrix and freshman Malik Zaire at quarterback. Soccer Di Vaio's hat trick leads Impact to a win Marco...

NEW YORK — Manti Te'o is headed to San Diego. Geno Smith is a Jet. Radio City Music Hall was relatively silent for five second-round picks Thursday night. Then the theater shook with two selections within minutes of each other. The Notre Dame All-America linebacker was chosen sixth in the second round by the Chargers, drawing a loud roar from the fans at Radio City Music Hall. One spot later, the Jets took the West Virginia quarterback, drawing a raucous reaction of cheers and boos.

College Football Cavaliers, Hokies schedule the Irish The ACC announced Friday that both Virginia and Virginia Tech will play football games against Notre Dame over the next four seasons as part of the league's scheduling agreement with the Fighting Irish. Virginia will play Notre Dame for the first time since 1989 in Charlottesville in 2015. The Hokies, meanwhile, are scheduled to face the Fighting Irish in South Bend, Ind., in 2016 in the first matchup between the two schools.

The ACC announced Friday that both Virginia and Virginia Tech will play football games against Notre Dame over the next fours seasons as part of the league's scheduling agreement with the Fighting Irish. Virginia will play Notre Dame for the first time since 1989 in Charlottesville in 2015. The Hokies, meanwhile, are scheduled to face the Fighting Irish in South Bend, Ind., in 2016 in the first matchup between the two schools. As part of joining the ACC in all sports but football starting next year, Notre Dame must...

Skylar Diggins was already having such a great day, her coach figured she might as well make it historic. The Notre Dame point guard scored 22 of her 27 points by halftime Sunday and became the school's career scoring leader, leading the top-seeded Fighting Irish to a 93-63 victory against Kansas in the semifinals of the Norfolk Region. Coach Muffet McGraw had forgotten all about Diggins' pursuit of the school scoring mark until the game was well in hand. When she asked, she was told the...

Elizabeth Williams had 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Duke rallied to beat Oklahoma State, 68-59, on Tuesday night in the second round of the Norfolk Region in Durham, N.C. Haley Peters added 15 points and 13 rebounds while Tricia Liston scored eight of her 13 in the final six-plus minutes and Chloe Wells also finished with 13 for the second-seeded Blue Devils (32-2). They advance to face sixth-seeded Nebraska in the region semifinals on Sunday in Norfolk. Duke trailed by 15...

DAYTON, Ohio — In one fluid motion, Sam Thompson slammed home a dunk that shook all of Ohio. Or maybe it was DeShaun Thomas. It might have been Amir Williams, Trey McDonald or even Evan Ravenel. They were all so similar Friday night: so smooth, so violent, so Ohio State. Following 40 minutes of acrobatic, highlight-reel dunks, the red-hot No. 2 Buckeyes had ousted No. 15 Iona from the NCAA tournament. The 95-70 win made clear that the wave of momentum Ohio State rode down the stretch...