Notre Dame

The University of Notre Dame is refusing to release results from a recent sexual assault policy survey that was taken by students. Some of the survey details were given to the university-owned, student-ran newspaper - The Observer. But when WSBT requested a copy of the survey and interviews about it, we were denied. The university said the only interview they would be doing on this survey and its results was with The Observer. They declined our request for more details.

NOTRE DAME - Notre Dame is leaving the Big East Conference to join the Atlantic Coast Conference in all sports but football and ice hockey.    "We have monitored the changing conference landscape for many months and have concluded that moving to the ACC is the best course of action for us," said Jack Swarbrick, Notre Dame athletic director. "This will enable us to maintain our historic independence in football, join in the ACC's non-BCS bowl package, and provide a new and extremely competitive home for our other sports.

It's official.  Gunner Kiel enrolled at Notre Dame on Tuesday, officially becoming a member of the Irish football team. The university issued a statement Tuesday afternoon informing that Gunner Kiel had enrolled in school for the spring semester, along with running back Amir Carlisle (Santa Clara, Calif./Kings Academy/USC) who transferred to Notre Dame after attending the first semester of his freshman year at the University of Southern California . Defensive lineman Sheldon Day (Indianapolis, Ind./Warren Central)

For the first time in program history, the Notre Dame hockey team will start the 2011-12 season as the nuber one ranked team in the nation. USCHO.com has the Irish atop their preseason poll.  Notre Dame will start the year ranked 2nd in the USA Today poll. In the USCHO.com poll, the Irish received 11 first-place votes and had a total of 740 points to take the top spot over Miami (722 points).  North Dakota (720), Denver (670) and Boston College (659) round out the top five spots.  North Dakota had five first-place votes, Boston College and Boston University had two each and Yale one.  Last season's national champion - Minnesota-Duluth - had 10 first-place votes, but checked in with 586 points to rank eighth overall.

SOUTH BEND - Brian Kelly kept his opening remarks about Saturday's University of Tulsa football matchup short and shocking. It took the first-year Notre Dame head football coach all of eight seconds Tuesday to launch into a favorable comparison between Golden Hurricane junior quarterback G.J. Kinne and NFL icon Brett Favre. And that was well down the list of the scariest things the Notre Dame defense is having to deal with this week, just days removed from giving up the most rushing yardage to Navy (367)

NOTRE DAME - They're undefeated and seem to be growing stronger with every game. Saturday, 7 th -ranked Notre Dame takes on Stanford at home, and the party is well underway. WSBT's Colleen Ferreira was at the Joyce Center for Friday night's big pep rally.  

NOTRE DAME - It's a prestigious university known for its top notch research, and this year a top 10 ranked football team. But did you know Notre Dame students actually fought the Ku Klux Klan out of South Bend nearly 80 years ago? WSBT's Kelli Stopczynski continues our series about big moments in Notre Dame's history with a look back to 1924

SOUTH BEND - Close to 10,000 vehicles use Douglas Road around Notre Dame each day. Starting Tuesday, major changes to the road will force most of those drivers to take detours. Crews are scheduled to shut down a quarter-mile section of Douglas between Juniper Road and Wilson Drive to create a roundabout. Then, the old Douglas Road will be curved north and connected to what will become the new realigned Douglas Road. Good weather and fewer vehicles and students on campus - Those were the key factors in the timing of the decision to shut down a part of Douglas Road.

More than 3,000 graduates filed into Notre Dame Stadium Sunday for commencement ceremonies. They heard from Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York. Dolan received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree before giving the commencement speech. He encouraged each graduate to never forget the lessons learned from Notre Dame, including the importance of hard work and faith. Sunday marked the beginning of a new chapter and the end of an old one for new graduates. Loved ones watched proudly from the stands.

The Notre Dame softball team is celebrating a BIG EAST title. Notre Dame won the regular season crown Sunday, by taking two of three games this weekend against 9th ranked Louisville. The Irish won the deciding game 3-1 on Sunday, to win the Big East championship in their final season in the conference. On Monday, the heroes of that clinching victory, Emily Koerner and Laura Winter were named BIG EAST player of the week and pitcher of the week respectively. In 18 seasons in the BIG EAST, Notre Dame leaves with 14 regular season titles, including 7  under current coach Deanna Gumpf.

The University of Notre Dame is refusing to release results from a recent sexual assault policy survey that was taken by students. Some of the survey details were given to the university-owned, student-ran newspaper - The Observer. But when WSBT requested a copy of the survey and interviews about it, we were denied. The university said the only interview they would be doing on this survey and its results was with The Observer. They declined our request for more details.

WSBT has learned Captain Reid Nishizuka - a 2005 Notre Dame graduate - was one of four airmen who died in a plane crash near Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan Saturday. The 30 year old is from Hawaii. KGMB, the CBS affiliate there, reports the crash is under investigation, but there was no enemy activity in the area at the time. The University's Facebook page says it's prayers are with his family. More here: http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/22101653/kailua-airman-one-of-four-killed-in-afghanistan-plane-crash

NOTRE DAME - Add another pair of primetime games for Notre Dame this fall.  ESPN announced that the Sep. 7 game at Michigan and the Sep. 14 game the following week at Purdue will be played at 8:00 at night. That gives the Irish four night games on the schedule for 2013 so far, with a likely fifth at Stanford in late November. Notre Dame will host USC at 7:30 on Oct. 19. In addition, Notre Dame will play in primetime against Arizona State at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.  The Irish wil "host" The Sun Devils in their annual off-site home game, which will start at 6:30 p.m. Central time.

FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. (AP) - The Atlanta Falcons have selected Notre Dame safety Zeke Motta with their second of three seventh-round picks. Motta was the second straight safety selected by Atlanta in the seventh round, following Central Florida's Kemal Ishmael one pick earlier. Each was a compensatory pick. It marked the second time in the draft the Falcons took players at the same position in consecutive picks. They opened the draft by picking cornerbacks Desmond Trufant and Robert Alford.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - Indiana's five Roman Catholic bishops are scheduled to attend a daylong conference at the University of Notre Dame that will seek to find ways to reduce poverty and ease the suffering it causes. Organizers say the Indiana Catholic Poverty Summit on Friday - hosted by Notre Dame's Center for Social Concerns - has been inspired by Catholic Charities USA's campaign to reduce poverty in America. Others expected to participate in the summit include the Rev. Larry Snyder, who's president of Catholic Charities USA, and Society of St. Vincent de Paul President Sheila Gilbert.

On Saturday victims of the Boston Marathon bombings were remembered at the Blue-Gold game.  Players wore decals with the Boston Red Sox "B" over a three leaf clover on their helmets. This weekend the Indiana Department of Homeland Security was urging people at the game and other events going on throughout the state to be extra aware of anything suspicious. A facilities official with Notre Dame Stadium earlier Saturday posted to Facebook that security was tightened for the day's game.

Dozens of tents popped up outside Notre Dame Stadium Saturday morning despite the cold temperatures. The game, which pits the offense and defense against each other, allows fans to see players battle for some open positions. Fans drove from thousands of miles away to enjoy the game and get a taste for what the 2013 team will look like. "We bring a lot of extra people, family for the spring game because it's cheap," explains Brandon Hartzell, an Irish fan from St. Louis.  "It is and you don't have all the people here.