The former British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, once joked with her cabinet colleagues that “When I’m out of politics I’m going to run a business, it’ll be called rent-a-spine.” I never imagined that the University of Notre Dame could be a customer.
On Feb. 9, a Hong Kong court sentenced prominent democracy activist Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison for his opposition to the Chinese Communist regime and for his love of liberty. The response from Western governments and institutions to this affront to individual rights and human dignity has been disappointing and desultory. U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio issued a short statement calling the sentence “unjust and tragic.” The Canadian foreign ministry was “disappointed.” The European Union deplored the “heavy prison sentence.” Even the United Kingdom, of which Lai is a citizen, was lukewarm, with foreign secretary Yvette Cooper promising merely that “we will rapidly engage further on Mr. Lai’s case.” Notre Dame’s reaction, however, has proved particularly damning — stone cold silence.
This absence of a statement from the University perhaps should not surprise me since I encountered the same lack of interest in my previous efforts to draw Notre Dame’s attention to the plight of Lai and democracy in Hong Kong. As a junior, I urged the Student Senate to lobby the University to award an honorary degree to Lai. Similarly, I co-authored an article on the subject in the Scholastic with Fr. Bill Miscamble, all to no avail. With the sentence now handed down, I once again take up my pen, perhaps in vain, to urge Notre Dame to show some backbone when it comes to basic human rights in Hong Kong and the case of Lai.
There is no other way of summing up the situation than to say Lai is a hero of freedom and a champion of liberal government. A man of deep Catholic faith, he opposed Communist China’s designs to suppress Hong Kong’s democracy and bring the former British colony completely under Beijing’s sway. Lai supported the massive pro-democracy protests which swept Hong Kong in 2019-2020. His Apple Daily newspaper frequently criticized the Chinese dictatorship’s “security” law which provided for the transfer of prisoners from Hong Kong to the mainland — a flagrant violation of the 1984 Sino-British Declaration. Lai took a stand for free speech and for that basic human right he will now likely die. As the British government rightly pointed out, a 20-year sentence for a 78-year-old man is “tantamount to a death sentence.” His sacrifice warrants at least passing notice from the world’s leading Catholic university, Notre Dame.
For Notre Dame to claim her mantle as the preeminent institution of Catholic education, she must be not only a center of academic excellence but of moral excellence too. Without doubt, the Beijing regime will not alter its decision to condemn Lai because Notre Dame denounces it. Our collective conscience, nevertheless, should compel Our Lady’s University to stand on the side of right. As Lent approaches, banners around campus repeat the words of the Constitutions of the Congregation of Holy Cross: “We hope for a world where love and justice prevail.” Hope without action, however, is a futile endeavor.
There is precedent for the University raising its voice on matters of national and global significance. The murder of George Floyd, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict all garnered public statements from former University President, Fr. John Jenkins, C.S.C. The assassination of Charlie Kirk drew a statement from University President Fr. Robert Dowd. The persecution of a lion of freedom surely merits the same treatment. Indeed, in Mr. Lai’s case, a clear-throated statement from Notre Dame would mark our University apart from the limp and timid reactions of Western governments and institutions. If we believe in free expression and human dignity, let us act like it. If we are the world’s leading Catholic university then we should lead inspired by our Catholic faith. Silence in the face of China’s tyranny is inconsistent with Notre Dame’s fundamental values and core mission — are we a force for good in the world or aren’t we?
In my article with Fr. Bill Miscamble in 2022, we wrote “We all know the phrase ‘the Notre Dame difference’ ... The struggle for democracy in Hong Kong presents us with an opportunity to demonstrate that difference in action. Notre Dame should not be numbered among other cowardly Western institutions cringing and scraping at the foot of the despot Xi Jinping.” Those words remain equally true today. In the game of calling moral balls and strikes, this decision should be easily made. On the one hand, Notre Dame can align herself with Lai who fought for freedom of expression, open discourse and individual liberty, while on the other hand is the oppressive dictatorship which has silenced his voice.
Is Notre Dame afraid of staking a bold claim for what is right even if it is unpopular in the Chinese politburo? The deafening silence cannot go on for Notre Dame to be truly Notre Dame. It is high time we found our spine.
Eoghan Fay
Class of 2023
Law School Class of 2026
Feb. 11
