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Volume 51, Issue 118 | tuesday, april 11, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com
Stanford Hall awarded Hall of the Year Farley Hall wins women’s dorm of the year, Carroll Hall wins men’s dorm honor at awards banquet By LUCAS MASIN-MOYER Associate News Editor
Notre Dame’s Student Leadership Awards Banquet took place Monday evening at Legends where Hall Presidents Council (HPC) announced Stanford Hall as its Hall of the Year. Men’s Hall of the Year and Women’s Hall of the Year were also announced with Carroll Hall and Farley Hall taking home the awards respectively. HPC co-chair Christina Fernandez said the halls were selected through an extensive evaluation process. “The halls throughout the year submit seven Rockne reports, which adds up to one a month, in which they detail events they have, who attended [and] what the purpose of the event was,” she said. “All [the halls’] presentations detail the work that they’ve done this year — what were their goals, did they achieve them how did they do so, how did they impact residents personal growth.”
Fernandez said each dorm’s unique approach to residence life was crucial in selecting victors. “Each hall caters to its residents’ needs differently and that’s something very valuable for us,” she said. Andrew Foster, president of Hall of the Year recipient Stanford Hall, said the dorm made strides in growing an already strong community this year. “It was really just everyone getting out, everyone really forming that good group of people in Stanford Hall — people who are proud to be there,” he said. Stanford Hall vice president, Matt Geenen said a new mantra help to motivate the dorm to be its best. “We had the mantra of ‘record year’ and everyone just really got behind that and it went towards everything we did,” he said. “... I think it was the whole mentality of the dorm, everyone just really see HALLS PAGE 3
Photo courtesy of Janet Stengle
Members of the three winning halls, Stanford, Farley and Carroll, pose with plaques honoring their dorms’ achievements. The Hall of the Year winners were announced in an event held at Legends.
Notre Dame researchers shed light on tuberculosis Observer Staff Report
Notre Dame researchers have developed a new strain of Tuberculosis (TB) as well as a new method to study the disease in an effort to increase the global health community’s understanding of the disease, according to a University press release. The National Institutes
of Health funded the study in which Notre Dame researchers improved upon analytical techniques that measured the mass of proteins. Before their efforts, the proteins were unsuitable with current analytical methods. After this study, scientists were able to study the functions of the Esx A protein more thoroughly.
Matthew Champion, research associate professor of chemistry and biochemistry in the Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics Facility in McCourtney Hall, and Patricia Champion, associate professor of biological sciences, improved the analysis of the Esx A protein see RESEARCH PAGE 4
Saint Mary’s announces visiting artist in-residence Observer Staff Report
Writer, comedian and actress Casey W hitaker is this year’s Margaret M. Hill visiting artist in residence, an annual series made possible by a gift from Hill,
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an alumna and Broadway producer, according to a College press release. “Saint Mary’s is forever grateful to Pegg y Hill for her gift to the College which allows us to, year after year, host artists who coach and
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instruct our students,” professor of theater Katie Sullivan said in the release. “The students receive advice about how to make their way in the professional theater see ARTIST PAGE 4
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Speaker explores charitable work By NATALIE WEBER News Writer
Occassionally referred to as “The Mother Teresa of A frica,” Marguerite Barankitse spoke on Monday on her humanitarian work, sparked in response to a genocide she w itnessed in her native countr y, Burundi. Fr. Emmanuel Katongole, associate professor of theolog y and peace studies, inter v iewed Barankitse in a lecture titled “Love Has Made Me an Inventor.” According to Barankitse, a Hutu politician arranged for the murder of several of her family members due to social conf lict bet ween Hutus and Tutsis; her family members being Tutsis. She lost 60 percent of her family to the massacre that day and a few days later, Barankitse, a Tutsi herself, took refuge at her bishop’s house w ith
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a group of both Hutus and Tutsis. However, a group of Tutsis came to take revenge on the Hutus for the killings from a few days before. “Hutu and Tutsi were together but they came to [take] revenge,” she said. “But I said to them ‘W hy do you [take] revenge [on] these mothers and fathers and children who are here? They didn’t kill.’” Barankitse was tied dow n by her fellow Tutsis and forced to watch as they killed Hutus who were hiding in the bishop’s buildings. She said this experience inspired her to want to bring change and peace to the world. “ … That was why I wanted to create a new generation,” she said. “W hen I was there, watching, I couldn’t stop them. I knew all the killers. Some of them were members see GENOCIDE PAGE 4
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