Four years of student leadership at Notre Dame

April 4, 2022

When seniors Elaine Carter, accounting, and Maddie Whitney, business analytics, registered for the Institute for Social Concerns’ Advocacy for the Common Good seminar their freshman year, they had no idea the one-credit course would turn into a four-year campaign that would shape their entire undergraduate experience. Along with classmate Sophia Henn, who was in her second year at the time, Carter and Whitney formed a group on the first day of class and set themselves the task of investigating the University of Notre Dame’s mandatory 403(b) retirement plan. A shared passion for immigration reform sparked their interest in this pursuit because they had heard the retirement plan included investments in GEO Group and CoreCivic, the two largest private prison corporations in the United States whose facilities include Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers. 

When Carter and Whitney learned that ICE centers are part of an immigrant detention system that separates immigrant parents and children–and that most Notre Dame employees are unaware of that–they began to develop and implement the Notre Dame Socially Responsible Investing (NDSRI) Campaign. For the next three years they informed the campus community through workshops, op-ed writing, and social media. They built relationships with faculty and staff who joined them in meetings they conducted with members of the 403(b) Investment Committee overseeing retirement plan options. They researched socially responsible funds and proposed them to the committee, one of which the committee is now considering. And they navigated the unexpected challenges that often arise in advocacy work, like when the Department of Labor (DOL) issued a ruling severely limiting investment in socially-responsible funds. 

The students responded to the DOL ruling by submitting a letter to the DOL arguing for socially responsible investing. The letter was signed by more than a thousand faculty, staff, and students from the Notre Dame community. The work required patience, persistence, and courage as the students called upon University leaders to make investment decisions rooted in human dignity, and it made all the difference in their undergraduate experience. Carter explained in a recent presentation to younger students who will carry the campaign forward, “I can’t imagine my four years here without NDSRI. Not only did I learn so much about advocacy work that I will carry with me, but I also got to build lots of relationships with people at Notre Dame who I never would’ve crossed paths with otherwise.” 

Next year Carter will be working in auditing with Deloitte in Chicago and Whitney will be working as technical engagement analyst with Yext in New York City.