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Volume 56, Issue 43 | WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com
University endowment returns net 53.2% Annual report released by Notre Dame says endowment pool reached $20.3 billion in June 2021 Observer Staff Report
Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story appeared online on Monday, Jan. 31. Notre Dame’s endow ment returned a net 53.2% for the fisca l year that ended June 30, according to the 2021 annua l report released by the Universit y. The endow ment’s year-end market va lue ended at $20.3 billion, the report said. The endow ment pool’s return for the last fisca l year was the second-highest
one-year return in its histor y, driv ing net assets up from nearly $14.5 billion at the beginning of the fisca l year to $21.48 billion as of June 30. The 2021 fisca l year’s return nearly doubled the strategic policy portfolio’s 28.3% return, which acts as the interna l benchmark for the endow ment pool. “Endow ment funds, the payout from which prov ides a critica l stream of see ENDOWMENT PAGE 5
Courtesy of University of Notre Dame 2021 Annual Report
In fiscal 2021, the Endowment Pool percent return shown in light blue nearly doubled the Strategic Policy Portfolio returns shown in gold, the University’s internal benchmark for endowment investment returns.
Callisto resource partners Sophomores with Notre Dame create math band By EMMA DUFFY News Writer
Notre Dame student government began pushing to bring the Ca llisto sexua l v iolence sur v ivor support program to the Universit y in 2017. This Januar y, the effort paid off. A lthough Ca llisto was informa lly involved in the Universit y communit y for a few years, the sexua l v iolence sur v ivor support program became a an officia l Notre Dame partner Friday, Jan. 21. The Ca llisto program is available beginning this semester to aid sur v ivors of sexua l v iolence. Junior Pey ton Nielsen, student government director of gender relations, said she hopes Ca llisto w ill collaborate w ith administration and campus organizations. “We’re gonna develop a relationship w ith administration, then tr y to figure out a way that different organizations like the GRC or the UCC can offer Ca llisto a longside their other resources they have,” Nielsen said. Ca llisto aims to ma ke it easier for v ictims of sexua l v iolence to come for ward about their experience.
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Primarily, the program prov ides sur v ivors w ith an opportunit y to w rite confidentia l journa ls, rather than an officia l report, about instances of sexua l v iolence. “It’s completely encr y pted and safe and no one has access to that unless you choose to give them access. So there’s no risk to creating an entr y, which I think is rea lly important because I feel like a lot of people look back and say they w ish they w rote this dow n,” Nielsen said. “It’s a lot of information that k ind of disappears over the years because of trauma responses.” Time is not a problem w ith Ca llisto, Nielsen added. No matter how long ago the crime occurred, v ictims can still w rite an entr y. “You don’t have to have something happen to you now to create an entr y … it’s not too late to report,” Nielsen said. “The entr y system is rea lly accommodating to people who don’t k now a ll of the details.” Ca llisto puts the emphasis on helping the sur v ivor. Their purpose is to aid the hea ling process more than to focus on punitive measures. “[The goa l is] to power the sur v ivors indiv idua lly
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because they should be the main focus. Like whether that is through just the menta l hea lth resources that have or w ith the lega l options counselors,” Ca llisto program lead Lane Obringer said. Supporting the menta l hea lth of these indiv idua ls is imperative to the focus of Ca llisto. A iding in proper recover y is a founding principle to the institution. To a llow people to recover more effectively, Ca llisto gives 10 hours of free lega l adv ice — a ll of which is confidentia l. Ca llisto a lso aims to help v ictims understand the role of Title I X in cases of sexua l v iolence. “The Universit y of Notre Dame’s Title I X website is this ver y, ver y long document. It goes through a bunch of different things but they’re w ritten in more lega l terms. So the lega l option can k ind of wa lk through each of those, see what they look like,” Obringer said. Obringer added that the data clearly shows the repeat offenders are something to be concerned about. “90% of sexua l assaults see CALLISTO PAGE 4
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By CLAIRE REID News Writer
“I want to emphasize that it definitely started as a joke,” sophomore Honors Math major and Chicago native Madeline Kosobuck i said lightheartedly about the new sophomore math band. Kosobuck i is a member and socia l media manager for Heine Borel and the Finite Subcovers, a new band made up of nine sophomores in the Honors Math major that
performed at Student Union Board’s AcoustiCafé show Thursday night in Duncan Student Center.
The band began one afternoon last fall when the sophomores had t wo mathematics exams on the same day. After the exams, they gathered in a classmate’s dorm room to hang out and unw ind. Many brought their instruments, and the gathering quick ly turned into a jam session. see MATH BAND PAGE 4
Welsh Fam Hall hosts Dance Fest By KATE ROSS News Writer
Welsh Family Ha ll’s signature event, Dance Fest, returns to campus in person this weekend for the first time in t wo years follow ing COVID-19 complications. Performances from 11 different dance groups on campus w ill ta ke place Friday and Saturday night starting at 7 p.m.
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in Washington Ha ll. Admission is $ 5 at the door, or at the LaFortune box office, w ith a ll proceeds going toward Unit y Gardens, a net work of communit y gardens increasing access to hea lthy, loca lly grow n food throughout South Bend. Hanna h Long, a sophomore computer engineering student liv ing in see DANCE FEST PAGE 5
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