G.I. magazine recognizes SMC
Saint Mary’s College was, for the first time, included among a list of 1,220 Military Friendly schools gathered by the G.I. Jobs Magazine, according to a national press release. The list includes the top 15 percent of public and private colleges, universities, vocational and trade schools that “are doing the most to embrace America’s veterans as students.” “This list is especially important now because the Post-9/11 GI Bill has given veterans virtually unlimited financial means to go to school,” Rich McCormack, G.I. Jobs publisher, said in the release. “Veterans can now enroll in any school, provided they’re academically qualified. So schools are clamoring for them like never before. Veterans need a trusted friend to help them decide where to get educated. The Military Friendly Schools list is that trusted friend.” The list is the culmination of research that began last April and included G.I. Jobs polling more than 7,000 schools across the nation. The criteria was developed in cooperation with an Academic Advisory Board whose members include educators from schools such as Carnegie Mellon University, Duquesne University, Colorado State University, Dallas County Community College and Embry Riddle. Members also include Keith Wilson, the director of education service for the Department of Veterans Affairs; Michele Spires, the American Council on Education’s assistant director of military programs; Janet Swandol, associate director for the College Level Examination Program (CLEP); and Derek Blumke, president of Student Veterans of America. “The Military Friendly Schools list is the gold standard in letting veterans know which schools will offer them the greatest opportunity, flexibility and overall experience,” Blumke said. One crucial criterion is financial aid programs offered by the school to veterans. For the second consecutive year, Saint Mary’s is participating in the Yellow Ribbon Program that was created with the passage of the Post-9/11 GI Bill. The Program provides students with up to $20,000 toward tuition and fees in addition to the benefits they receive as part of the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Unlike last year’s limit of five students, Saint Mary’s now accepts an unlimited number of eligible students. The G.I. Jobs profile of Saint Mary’s College also lists the schools offering of scholarships and tuition discounts for military dependents and the ability of military students called to active service to return without penalty under the financial benefits Saint Mary’s offers. In deciding on the top 15 percent of military friendly schools, the board took into account more than the financial aid programs offered to veterans. Other considerations were the schools’ accreditations; credit offered for military service; flexibility given in regards to evening, weekend, online and distance learning courses; and the areas of support for veterans such as full-time veteran counselors, on-campus childcare, advisors on staff to help with career placement and veterans’ clubs. Last year, Saint Mary’s received a $14,999 grant from Operation Diploma — a program designed by Purdue University’s Military Research Institution — in order to develop programs and services to upport student service members and veterans. The money has been used to train student affairs staff to address the unique issues veterans face and develop a peer support network. A spot on the top Military Friendly School list will help promote Saint Mary’s to veteran students and military dependents, which can benefit both women veterans and current Saint Mary’s students. “We believe that women veterans deserve a great educational experience and that Saint Mary’s, with its small classes and engaged faculty, offers that experience,” said Karen Johnson, vice president for student affairs. “In addition, as our other students are interacting with women vets on campus, they will benefit from the great life lessons veterans have and from the leadership skills vets bring to the table.” The list will be available in print in the annual Guide to Military Friendly Schools at the end of September.
Composer Steve Warner said it is exciting to watch different communities adapt and work with his song “Cross of Our Hope” in a lecture at Saint Mary’s Wednesday evening. “Once you write a piece, it belongs to the Church. They take the insight and wrap it around their own flavors,” he said. “That’s the Holy Spirit at work.” Warner, the founder and director of the Notre Dame Folk Choir, composed the piece in honor of the beatification of Blessed Basil Anthony Moreau, who founded the Congregation of Holy Cross. “When I was asked to write a song to honor Blessed Moreau, I had to fulfill several things,” Warner said. “First, I was asked not to use his name in the piece, but rather look to his writing to find and write his message. I was also asked to write it in as many languages as possible.” Warner said that “Cross of Our Hope” exists in English, Spanish and French. “The Holy Cross family embraces several continents and many cultures,” Warner said. “Linguistically, the text had to be spot on. The liturgical and musical parameters had to be respected.” Warner said that one of the hardest parts about writing the song was finding texts of Moreau’s to work with. “I finally stumbled upon a letter about the glory of the cross and sufferings of the world,” Warner said. “Reading his letters, there is an unabashed zeal that he constantly shared with his community. It was my goal to create a piece that reflected that zeal.” Warner said that the refrain of the piece reflects that sense of unbridled joy found in Moreau’s writing. “From the first note of the song, it tells you that we are moving forward. It is gospel-oriented and evangelical,” Warner said. “We are spreading the gospel.” The writing process behind “Cross of Our Hope” took three and a half months, Warner said. “Writing a song is not just writing music. You are rearranging people’s spiritual furniture,” he said. “You put prayer on their list. It’s very humbling.”
Senior Kate Kellogg, vice president of Saint Mary’s Dance Marathon, first introduced her custom-designed canvas tote to campus in the fall of 2011. “When I was in high school, I would choose colors and fabric to create my own bag to bring to school,” Kellogg explained. “My mom’s business, the Queen and I Designs, had talented sewers that would put together exactly what I was envisioning.” Last year, when Kellogg constructed her own vision of a Saint Mary’s bag for students to haul their books around campus, she thought of incorporating Dance Marathon. “I decided to mass-produce the bag that I had wanted for my own personal use and sell it through Dance Marathon,” Kellogg said. “I thought it would be a great way for business and to raise awareness and donations for Dance Marathon.” Kellogg’s mother Jan said she and her company are very supportive of the Saint Mary’s Dance Marathon totes. “I have loved working with Kate on her bag designs,” Jan said. “It’s fun to have a mother-daughter project and to see her ideas produced as a product.” The popular navy canvas totes with a white imprinted French Cross have been extremely popular around campus. This year Kate engineered a new canvas tote for Dance Marathon with a black and tan block pattern, but still imprinted with a white French Cross that is a signature of the College. Kate said Dance Marathon has multiple fundraisers throughout the year in order to reach the final goal of $88,000. Throughout the rest of this week, Dance Marathon will be selling Kate’s custom-designed totes with 30 percent of the proceeds benefitting Riley Children’s Hospital. Along with the sale of the canvas totes, Dance Marathon is also hosting a Giveback night at Between the Buns on November 19, where 15 percent of all purchases will go towards Riley Children’s Hospital. Kate said she has enjoyed her involvement in Dance Marathon and Riley Children’s Hospital and urges all of the Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s and Holy Cross communities to participate. “It’s great to be doing something that I love and that expresses my creativity,” she said, “while also knowing donations will be going to a great cause.”
Editor’s Note: This is the first story in a series featuring the Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s graduates serving as members of Congress. This series, titled “Trading Golden Dome for Capitol Dome,” will run on Fridays. When Sen. Frank Lautenberg died on June 3, 2013, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie asked Sen. Jeff Chiesa, then the state’s attorney general, to advise him on what action to take in light of the senator’s death. Leaving the meeting, Chiesa said he did not think he was someone Christie might ask to fill the vacant Senate seat. At about 10:15 p.m. that night, Chiesa said he received a call from Christie. “I got a call from the Governor, who asked if he could come to my house and talk to my wife and I that night,” Chiesa said. “And that’s when I said to my wife, ‘He is not coming over here to talk Notre Dame football’ … He is coming over because he is going to ask me to go to the Senate. We have a decision to make.’” Chiesa said he spoke at length with his wife and Christie about his appointment to the Senate, and then accepted the offer the next day. “He didn’t care if I was running, he never asked me how I would vote on anything, and he thought that it would be a great way for me to continue my public service – he knew how much I loved being Attorney General,” Chiesa said. “I thought this would be a wonderful thing to do, you can have a big impact even in the four or five months I’m here, and once [my family] was comfortable with [the appointment] we made the decision the next day.” A life of service Chiesa, who graduated from Notre Dame in 1987, became the first Republican to hold a New Jersey Senate seat since 1982. His tenure will be the fourth shortest of the 65 senators in New Jersey’s history. His desire to give some of his life to public service was strengthened during his time at Notre Dame, Chiesa said. “There is a faith-based component to your education here that is with you when you get there, and further nurtured while you’re there,” Chiesa said. “You can tell it’s an atmosphere of community. It’s a college atmosphere where people are always looking to help each other, looking to improve the lives of people they don’t know in many different ways.” “I think anybody who enjoys and admires the kind of thing that Notre Dame stands for, the best way you can translate that professionally is to commit some part of your life – and some people commit their entire careers – to public service.” Chiesa said he feels various aspects of the Notre Dame community instill a desire to serve in its students. “The academic training you get as a student, but just importantly the community that you live with: my friends, my professors, the people at the University [emphasize the value of service],” Chiesa said. “Fr. Hesburgh was president when I was there, and he was somebody who gave his entire life to other people through his priesthood and through his service to the University – I admired him greatly and continue to admire him greatly. “If you’re going to try in some small way to emulate that kind of behavior then you want to try to get into public service. I think the Notre Dame education and the sense of community stay with you for your entire life … I think that is a fundamental characteristic of people who graduate from Notre Dame.” Working for New Jersey After he graduated from Notre Dame with a B.B.S. in accounting, Chiesa received his J.D. from the Catholic University of America and then went into private practice. Following 10 years in private practice and seven years as a U.S. prosecutor, Chiesa said Christie asked him to serve as his campaign counsel. “When he was elected, he made it clear to me he wanted me to be a part of his administration, and that he wanted to pick the role I could best serve in,” Chiesa said. “It was a very easy decision for me – he is one of my closest friends, I have tremendous respect for him as a person and professionally and I knew that he was exactly what New Jersey needed to pull itself out of a horrendous situation, both in terms of the financial picture of the state and moral, generally.” Working in state government positions, Chiesa said he enjoyed being able to work toward tangibly improving New Jersey for its residents. “As a public prosecutor you have a huge impact on your state and on your community,” Chiesa said. “I never thought I was going to be attorney general, but you have that chance and a tremendous opportunity to impact your state and your community.” Still, Chiesa said he never expected to hold elected office. “My last elected office was senior class president in high school, so I did not expect to be here,” he said. Limited time in office Chiesa will serve as one of New Jersey’s senators until the state’s October 16 special election, which will allow the people to elect a new senator. Because Chiesa said he will not run in the special election, he will have served approximately four months in office. Serving in the Senate for a relatively short time period prompted Chiesa to choose several issues to be his focus, he said. “The issue I’m going to pick while I’m here is human trafficking,” he said. “I’m going to try to work to bring awareness to it, to strengthen our laws in any way that I can, and to try to continue as I did as attorney general to communicate the importance of combating human trafficking.” This focus resulted from his experiences as attorney general and his time at Notre Dame, Chiesa said. “Part of your education at Notre Dame and part of our faith teaches us that you have an obligation when you’re in a position to help somebody else out, to help them out,” Chiesa said. “For me as attorney general that meant I targeted people who would pick on vulnerable victims. So, I went hard after child pornographers, I went hard after gangs, I went hard after human traffickers.” “To the extent that now that I’m in the legislative branch, I can help strengthen the laws or bring more awareness to these topics, that’s what I would like to do.” Chiesa said he also plans to continue advocating for his state to receive the aid it needs from the federal government to fully recover from Hurricane Sandy. “The Governor has done a great job, the state is well on its way,” Chiesa said. “But, a lot of the money comes from the federal government so I’m going to continue to push as hard as I can for New Jersey while I’m here.” Because he jumped into a position others have held for years and been prepared to take for an even longer time, Chiesa said he had some work to do to prepare himself to weigh in on the issues under consideration in the Senate. “When I came down here during my first three weeks in-session I was really focused on learning everything I could about [the immigration bill], and then making my judgment at the end of the process,” Chiesa said. “That was something I had to get up to speed on, because they’ve been debating it here in the Senate for months.” Chiesa said he voted in favor of the bill because he felt it would have a very positive effect on the nation and on New Jersey. “It was my feeling at the end of this discussion that the bill that we passed as a Senate improves border security and improves our ability to track people on exit and entry, it improves our e-Verify system so that employers can make sure they’re hiring people who should be here and who are eligible to work,” Chiesa said. “In every measurable way it improves things, and I’m in a state where 450,000 people will be affected by this. … Ultimately, this decision for me was one that made sense. It made sense, I thought, nationally, and I certainly thought it made sense for the people of New Jersey.” Sen. Bob Menendez, Chiesa’s New Jersey counterpart in the Senate and chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, has vocally supported action in Syria and worked with the White House to develop a bill to submit for Congressional approval. Though the Senate shelved the resolution to authorize the use of military force in Syria after President Obama’s national address Tuesday, a Sept. 11 Washington Post article quoted Menendez and several other leaders who indicated talks about potential military action would continue should the use of force be deemed necessary. Communications director Ken Lundberg said Chiesa is “unannounced” on how he intends to vote on a resolution regarding Syria, though he has attended several classified briefings, met with White House officials and other members of Congress. After his term concludes, Chiesa said he plans to reenter private life to lessen the strain his work has put on his family. Though he now contributes to the formation of national policy, Chiesa said attending Notre Dame was one of the “biggest thrills” of his life. “I remember it like it was yesterday — it was March of 1983 that I got my acceptance letter, really it was just a thrill,” Chiesa said. “I had a hard time believing I was going to have a chance to go to school there. … I think anybody who went to school there is very lucky, and my view is that I will do anything I can to help the University.” Contact Nicole Michels at nmichels@nd.edu
In light of recent focus on the Latino vote as the 2014 midterm elections approach, Notre Dame hosted a panel discussion Wednesday evening in McKenna Hall entitled, “American Politics in the 21st Century: The Latino Vote and the 2014 Elections.”Christina Wolbrecht, associate professor of political science at Notre Dame, moderated the three-person panel. Panelists included professor of American politics Ricardo Ramirez, professor Michael Jones-Correa of government from Cornell University and professor of political science Sophia Wallace from Rutgers University.Ramirez spoke first, asking why the Latino vote is suddenly receiving so much attention.In response to his own questions, he said, “We have to look at the dramatic increase. In the period between 1991 and 2011 more than a third of the new 13 million U.S. citizens were Latinos, you had a dramatic increase in the number of 18-24 year old Latinos between 1991-2006.“There’s almost as many Latino voters… to potential Latino voters.”Jones-Correa said the Latino vote matters because these new voters have the possibility of swaying an outcome of an election.“When you have new residents moving into the states will they maintain their own political orientation or create a shift?” he said.There are three ideas around this question, Jones-Correa said. One, because Latinos tend to vote liberally, they will sway the states they move to. Two, Latinos will move to states that match their ideology, and three, Latinos will be influenced by the people around them and may even be swayed themselves to vote conservatively, he said.Jones-Correa said many first generation Latinos likely to claim no party affiliation and be more influenced by their neighbors because they want to integrate into American society or because they do not understand the mission of each party.Wallace continued this thought and asked what the most important issues are for the Latino voter.“[Immigration] has become increasingly an extremely important issue in the Latino community, but it’s also affecting turn out and affecting vote choice and that is both mobilizing Latino voters for democratic candidates as well as mobilizing them against Republicans in specific places,” Wallace said.Wallace said the Latino vote is more important than many American citizens make it out to be. The U.S. should care about the Latino vote, Wallace said, because it has the potential to increase the number of Latino elected officials, mobilize politicians to respond to Latino issues, and moderate campaign ads for immigration.Wallace also said we observe a two-to-one ratio in favor of Democrats.“Both parties are trying to craft specific campaign strategies to mobilize Latinos, but a lot of this hinges on the handling of immigration as an issue.”Wallace said the GOP runs the risk of alienating Latino voters with very conservative viewpoints.Tags: Latino politics, McKenna Hall
University President Fr. John Jenkins led the spring 2014 town hall meeting Monday in Washington Hall, which focused on campus expansion projects as well as ways to improve Notre Dame for future students.Jenkins discussed the importance of constantly adapting and revising Notre Dame, making it better for the future.“Notre Dame’s commitment to education, scholarly engagement, internationality and faith sets it apart as an outstanding research university.” Jenkins said. “Everybody should be asking questions. Everyone should be engaged in discovering new truths — that is what sets Notre Dame apart from other top schools.”Jenkins described the “Strategic Plan”, which involves many important additions to the campus.“The current residence halls are filled to 106 percent, which is a major problem,” Jenkins said.In response, the University will build two new residence halls behind Grace Hall. Other projects include a new architecture building, Nanovic Hall, Jenkins Hall, a new research complex and the expansion of the Hesburgh Library.Katie McCarty | The Observer Jenkins also addressed the Campus Crossroads Project, which aims to maximize use of space around Notre Dame stadium.“One of the goals is to keep the campus compact — Notre Dame is a walking campus, and it should always be a walking campus,” Jenkins said. “This project will work because it will recapture space that isn’t being used but is still in the walking zone.”According to Jenkins, new buildings will be built around the stadium including new professor offices, a music building and a new student center.Executive Vice President John Affleck-Graves also discussed the “ImproveND Project”, which is essentially a survey to identify the school’s weaknesses and strengths.The survey showed that Notre Dame is strongest in campus safety, library services and fitness and recreation services, he said. Lower scores were in timeliness and openness to suggestions, campus eateries and catering and performance management.The president and faculty are constantly working to identify areas of improvement, set achievable goals and monitor progress in order to create accountability and show commitment to justice and fairness in light of Notre Dame’s Catholic mission, Jenkins said. These changes are working to modernize and evolve Notre Dame to keep in competitive among top international universities.The question is whether Fr. Sorin would look at Notre Dame today and see the fulfillment of his dream for the University, Jenkins said.“If we’ve done our job, Sorin would look around and say ‘this is what I dreamed of,” Jenkins said.Tags: Campus Crossroads, Fr. John Jenkins, town hall meeting
Friday night in Saint Mary’s Little Theatre, music brought to life the tragedy of the Civil War. Performed by a guest soprano, a string trio, pianist and the Women’s Choir, William Averitt’s work, “From These Honored Dead,” musically tied together Civil War hymns, quotes and poems.According to the performance program, the piece was commissioned in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War.Throughout the week, Averitt worked with the musicians and the Women’s Choir in preparation for the performance, director of the Women’s Choir Dr. Nancy Menk said.“It’s an appropriate piece for this day [9/11] in history, but was actually written to commemorate the end of the Civil War,” Menk said. “It is moving and heart-wrenching at the same time.”Before the performance began, Averitt spoke to the audience about the structure and arrangement of the piece. The work is divided into three sections each dealing with a theme of the Civil War, and each section has four movements with a similar layout of quote, poem, hymn and instrumental movement, he said.“You probably think of the Civil War perhaps first as the tragic loss of hundreds, thousands, of men,” Averitt said. “But when we think of war, we don’t necessarily think of the women. Me, being a sort of contrarian, I begin each of the three sections with a quote by a woman of commemorable endurance during the civil war era.”The quoted women include the abolitionist Harriet Tubman, Red Cross founder Clara Barton and abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe. During the performance, solo soprano Laurel Thomas sang each quote, accompanied only by piano.Averitt said, “The first movement deals with leading up to the war. Beginning with the Clara Barton [second] section, we deal with the tragedy, wounded and death itself that came so frequently. … The third section deals with the aftermath and focuses really on the Dirge [for Two Veterans] by Walt Whitman.”Each section has a poem, with the first being Herman Melville’s “The Portent,” followed by Melville’s “Shiloh-A Requiem” and finally Whitman’s “Dirge for Two Veterans.” The poems are meant to be the centerpiece of each section, Averitt said.The piece ended with all the musicians together performing Isaac Watts’ hymn, “O, Were I Like a Feathered Dove.”“I don’t know if ‘enjoy’ is the right word, but I hope you find things that move you,” Averitt said.Before the start of “From These Honored Dead,” flutist Frances Lapp Averitt and pianist David Eicher performed Averitt’s piece “Darkling Light.” Averitt said the piece was written right before the composition of “From These Honored Dead.”Saint Mary’s junior Gabrielle Jansen said she found the arrangement of the main piece to be unique and touching at the same time.“It was a great performance,” Jansen said. “It definitely moved me. In a way, you felt more of the emotion behind the war and all the sad things … which brought back thoughts that can be applied to this historical modern day.”Tags: civil war, saint mary’s, Saint Mary’s Music Department, Women’s Choir
A rape was reported to a University administrator March 22, according to the Notre Dame Security Police (NDSP) crime log for March 23.The alleged rape occurred on an unknown date in 2014 in a Notre Dame residence hall, according to the crime log entry.The Jeanne Clery Act, originally known as the Campus Security Act, is the federal law that details how and what universities and colleges are required to disclose in terms of crime on campus, according to the Clery Center for Security on Campus. In accordance with this regulation, students did not receive an NDSP crime alert email detailing the allegations when they were reported to the University.Both the daily crime log kept by NDSP and the crime alert emails the Notre Dame community receives are the result of regulations in the Clery Act. The Clery Act requires universities and colleges to “issue timely warnings about Clery Act crimes which pose a serious or ongoing threat to students and employees.” These crimes fall into three major categories: criminal offenses, hate crimes and arrests and referrals for disciplinary action. Because the Clery Act does not dictate a timeframe or requirement for a “timely” warning, crimes that are reported a significant amount of time after they occur may not meet the timeliness standard. NDSP judges on a case-by-case basis whether or not the reported incident necessitates an alert based on its timeliness and whether or not the offender in question poses a threat to the community at large.Information about sexual assault prevention and resources for survivors of sexual assault are available online from NDSP and from the Committee for Sexual Assault Prevention (CSAP).Tags: Clery Act, NDSP, NDSP crime log, sexual assault, Title IX
ROME — The alarm was set for 4 a.m. on Easter morning.Juniors Annie Richelsen, Elizabeth Crimmins and Derek Meyer — all studying abroad in Dublin for the semester — got up, got dressed and began the trek to St. Peter’s Square with a couple other students from the Ireland brigade.The group arrived at the Vatican and got in a line around 5:30 a.m. It was another 4 1/2 hours before Easter Mass began, celebrated by Pope Francis in front of the historic basilica.But the early wake-up was worth it, Crimmins said from her seat some 20 rows back from the bottom of the basilica’s stairs.“This is a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing,” she said as thousands passed through security checks and flooded into the piazza beneath Bernini’s colonnade. Katie Galioto | The Observer Junior Elizabeth Crimmins watches Pope Francis deliver his traditional “Urbi et Orbi” Easter message. The pope celebrated Easter Mass in Vatican City and traveled through the crowd in his popemobile.About 130 Notre Dame students signed up to attend Easter Mass in the Vatican City as part of Campus Ministry’s Holy Week Pilgrimage, junior Claire Kramer, student minister for the Rome Global Gateway, said. Of those students, about 30 participated in the full-track pilgrimage — a four-day trek allowing them to visit churches and sites across Rome in the days leading up to Easter Sunday.“Even though I’m staying here, I felt like I was on a vacation in Rome,” Kramer said. “I’m pretty sure we walked like a half marathon every day. I was exhausted by the end, but it was so cool to see all these special places on Holy Thursday, on Good Friday.”The program included trips to Rome’s four papal basilicas, a walk up Scala Santa — the stairs which, according to Catholic tradition, Jesus climbed to be tried by Pontius Pilate — and Stations of the Cross led by Pope Francis at the Colosseum.“Basically, instead of a pub crawl, we did an altar crawl,” Richelsen said with a laugh.Shaun Evans, a junior spending the semester in Rome, said he appreciated the chance to experience the history of the Catholic faith over the course of the week.“For Good Friday, I went to Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, where I got to venerate relics of the true cross,” he said. “I went to the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday in St. John Lateran, where there are huge statues of the 12 apostles — the ones whose feet were washed at the Last Supper.”Evans said while he went to Easter Mass at St. Peter’s with his family, he was struck by the number of people from different countries — something which, he said, spoke about the universality of the Catholic faith.“You saw the great draw it has all over the world,” he said. “Most of the Mass was in Latin. The Gospel was also read in the original Greek. And then a couple of readings were in different languages, the intercessions were in all sorts of different languages.”Notre Dame students themselves traveled from campus and study abroad locations across Europe to participate in the pilgrimage.“I booked the trip back in December,” Meyer said. “This is the one place we knew we were coming, and we were definitely looking forward to it.”At the ceremony, Pope Francis gave both an impromptu homily and his traditional “Urbi et Orbi” Easter message. He traversed the crowd in his white popemobile, offering waves and blessings — which junior Maria Kunath said was her favorite part of the weekend.“Even though the crowd was giant, it still felt to me like you were praying with the Pope personally — and that feeling was cemented when he came around in his popemobile,” she said. “And I swear, he made eye contact with me.”In his homily, Francis called for people to hold onto their faith amidst a world of evil and violence, referencing recent bombings in Syria and other wars around the world.“He talked about remembering people who are suffering and going through a lot of hardship right now on a day that’s so joyful for us,” junior Stephanie Reuter said. “I thought that was nice. And it makes sense — he’s been very attentive to immigrants and refugees his whole Pontificate.”“I thought that was great,” Kunath added. “It was the time to do it because everyone was watching.”In the middle of the Mass, a sudden rain shower sprinkled the crowd. The skies had completely cleared, however, by the time the Swiss Guard and band from the Mass processed out of the Square.“I liked that — in the end, everything wasn’t just concentrated at the Vatican,” junior Becket Salerno said. “The Vatican went out into Rome, blowing trumpets and marching through the streets.”Tags: Easter Mass, Rome, Vatican
Newly-constructed Jenkins Hall opens up a world of possibilities for R. Scott Appleby, the Marilyn Keough Dean of the new Keough School of Global Affairs.Jenkins Hall, which will be the home of the newly-opened school, provides opportunities for students to get further engaged in their study of international politics, thanks to a new “mediation room,” which will allow students and faculty to observe diplomacy in action, Appleby said. “It’s a terrific educational facility that can double as a traditional classroom,” he said. “We intend to make the mediation room available to diplomats and mediators who are engaged in negotiating a peace agreement or settlement to end a conflict.”The completion of Jenkins Hall and its attached sister hall, Nanovic Hall, along with the completion Campus Crossroads Project — both of which will open before or during the 2017-18 school year — represent two of the culmination of two of the biggest construction projects in the University’s history.Jenkins Hall and Nanovic HallPerhaps the most iconic view of Notre Dame — more so than even those of Touchdown Jesus, the Grotto or Notre Dame Stadium — is the one visitors, students and faculty alike get of the Golden Dome when driving down Notre Dame Avenue.This year, when those taking in the view look to their right, they will get a glimpse of the University’s two newest academic halls: Nanovic and Jenkins Halls.Construction on this 185,000 square-foot building began June 1, 2015 and cost $72 million.Jenkins and Nanovic Hall will serve as a new focal point for the humanities at Notre Dame, with Jenkins Hall hosting the Keough School for Global Affairs, the Keough-Naughton Institute for Irish Studies, the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian Studies, the Center for Civil and Human Rights, the Kellogg Institute for International Studies, the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies and the Notre Dame Initiative for Global Development, while Nanovic Hall will be home to the Nanovic Institute for European Studies and the departments of Economics, Political Science and Sociology.Monica Caro, the director of operations at the Nanovic Institute, said the building will help bring together many of the disconnected segments of the humanities at Notre Dame.“It will bring in greater proximity to the arts corridor, which is developing with the Debartolo Center for the Performing Arts [and] the new architecture building,” she said. “Because much of our programming is incorporating the arts and humanities, so having those buildings in proximity and being closer to all of this activity is a wonderful activity for the institute and to be closer to the students at the core of the mission.”One of the central congregation points in the new building will be a forum, Appleby said.“[It’s] capable of seating 175 to 200 guests,” he said. “The forum is an elegant and welcoming space in which to host distinguished speakers and special events.”Appleby said one of the key aspects of the new building was the integration labs which will help students engage in “design thinking, creating solutions to real-world problems” for organizations like Catholic Relief Services and Partners in Health.“Students work with that client for a year, researching the topic, testing interdisciplinary solutions in the I-Lab and eventually going into the field to engage the people on the ground,” Appleby said. “It’s an exciting venture into research-based problem solving at a professional level.”Campus CrossroadsWhen students walk into the first football game this year, they will notice quite a few changes to Notre Dame Stadium. In addition to a new video board, the stadium has a redesigned concourse with a new art-deco-inspired design and newly-installed benches. Emma Farnan | The Observer The new premium seats on the east side of Notre Dame Stadium includes a view of the Golden Dome and the Basilica of the Sacred Heart.These additions to the stadium are part of the University’s larger Campus Crossroads project, meant to establish the stadium as the heart of campus by making it a space to congregate for students and faculty alike.The project — which broke ground on Nov. 19, 2014 and cost $505 million — is the largest building project in the University’s history and will contain 800,000 square feet of teaching, performance and social spaces.At the center of student life in “Crossroads” is the Duncan Student Center, which will open in the spring of 2018. Vice president for student affairs Erin Hoffmann Harding said the project is the culmination of a “20-year dream for the University.”The five-floor building will include an innovation lounge, a graduate student lounge, a new fitness center and student eateries.Many student media outlets will be housed in the building, something of which Hoffmann Harding said she is especially proud.“For the first time … we will have our print publications, our radio stations and our student TV station all interacting with each other,” she said.Hoffmann Harding also said she is excited for a newly-integrated space for career services, which will be housed in the building.“When you come to recruit at the University of Notre Dame, you are recruiting all our students,” she said. “We want to offer a common experience.”Above the student center will be Dahnke Ballroom, which will provide a space for student dances and other activities.In addition to the Duncan Student Center, the Campus Crossroads project included Corbett Family Hall, which will house the Anthropology and Psychology Departments and open in spring 2018.John McGreevy, the I.A. O’Shaughnessy Dean of the College of Arts and Letters, said the building will help bring together the departments which were previously stretched across seven buildings.“For the first time ever, those faculty and students will be together,” he said. “They can move from the research lab … to the classroom to the faculty office. An integrated environment for the psychologists and the anthropologists that we’ve never had before.”Corbett Family Hall will also house a newly-integrated media studio, Dan Skendzel, the executive director of ND Studios, said.“This facility in an enterprise, campus-wide facility supporting academics, supporting faith production, supporting student productions, supporting athletics,” he said. “ … No other school in the country is thinking like that — it’s very much more segregated in higher education.”McGreevy said the new O’Neill Hall for Sacred Music, the final major student building constructed as part of Campus Crossroads, will also help students in the College of Arts and Letters — especially those studying music — with its recital and practice spaces.“We didn’t build a music building in the 20th century … and now we have one for the 21st century,” he said. “Music and our program in sacred music will have the opportunity to flourish in a way they’ve never had before.”Editor’s Note: Editor-in-Chief Ben Padanilam contributed to this report.Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the cost and square footage of the Campus Crossroads project. The Observer regrets this error. Tags: Campus Crossroads, Corbett Family Hall, duncan student center, Jenkins Hall, Keough School of Global Affairs, Nanovic Hall, O’Neill Hall, Welcome Weekend 2017
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