This week has seen Notre Dame fans rise up against the notion that the “Fighting Irish” nickname should be abolished. They see the moniker as a badge of honor, not a stereotype. One event frequently cited is when students went toe-to-toe with the Klu Klux Klan. Two years ago, “Journey Indiana” took a look at the battle that occurred in South Bend on May 17, 1924, five days before my grandfather, a 1948 Notre Dame graduate, was born:
As the video and a story about the riot from the university’s website conclude, it was the Rev. Matthew Walsh, the President at the time of the riot, who signed off on Notre Dame officially adopting the nickname “Fighting Irish” a few years later. A Klan group headquartered in South Bend was founded in 1960 and remains active, but it has posed far less of a threat to the community than the group that rallied on that fateful night. Perhaps it knows better than to risk messing with Notre Dame students again, even as we approach 100 years since the Klan last did it.