University of Notre Dame President John Jenkins announced Friday that he will leave his post at the end of the school year, capping a tumultuous 19-year tenure atop the prestigious Catholic university.
“Serving as president of Notre Dame for me, as a Holy Cross priest, has been both a privilege and a calling,” Jenkins said in a statement announcing his resignation. “While I am proud of the accomplishments of past years, I am above all grateful for the Trustees, benefactors, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends who made them possible. There is much to celebrate now, but I believe Notre Dame’s best years lie ahead.”
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Jenkins has been Notre Dame’s president since 2004, and the university has weathered numerous controversies over its fidelity to its Catholic mission. The most high profile was the decision to invite then-President Barack Obama to deliver the university’s commencement address in 2009 despite his support for abortion, which is opposed by the Catholic Church.
“Notre Dame is and has been incredibly blessed by Father Jenkins’ courageous and visionary leadership,” John Brennan, the chairman of the university’s board of trustees, said in a statement. “Together with the remarkable leadership team he has assembled, he has devoted himself to advancing the University and its mission, fulfilling the promise he made when he was inaugurated — to work collaboratively to build a great Catholic university for the 21st century.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Jenkins was one of a handful of university presidents who pushed for their schools to return to in-person classes for the fall of 2020. The school had tight social distancing restrictions and mask requirements for the school year.
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But Jenkins made national headlines in September 2020 when he attended a White House event for the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court by then-President Donald Trump. Jenkins was seen unmasked at the Rose Garden event and later contracted COVID-19, along with a number of the attendees at the event.
Jenkins will remain president until the end of the 2023-2024 school year while the university’s board of trustees selects his replacement. University by-laws require the president to be a priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross, which founded the university in 1842.
