Some Universities Offering Grave Plots to Students

Posted on December 2, 2005

The University of Notre Dame in Indiana and Norwich University in Vermont have come up with plans to expand the school cemeteries so alumni can be buried there. Boston University's Daily Free Press says Notre Dame's Cedar Grove Cemetery will be expanded to allow for alumni burials and funeral services.

Rev. William Seetch, the university's alumni chaplain, says, "So many [alumni] said to me, 'Notre Dame is home for us now, Notre Dame is where we gather, so this would be like coming home, if we could be buried there.

The chaplain also says, "Our society is so mobile. People no longer have the family center back where they and their grandparents and parents may have lived. As careers and jobs move away, those centers break up, and what many families have in common is the place where they were educated."

Many schools like Notre Dame have strong alumni associations that keep up with students even as they travel to other cities, get married, change jobs, etc. -- so maybe the grave plots idea should not be a big surprise. It is an interesting idea and as the article suggests it certainly gives new meaning to the term "school spirit." Norwich University told the Daily Free Press that they have already sold 300 plots and Notre Dame said they get a few calls from interested alumni each week so maybe these schools are on to a new trend.