Print Edition for The Observer for Friday, February 17, 2023

Class of 2024 hosts Junior Parents Weekend

Parents,

By PETER BREEN news writer

guardians are invited to annual weekend to celebrate this year’s junior class

The c lass of 2024 welcomes parents and guardians to campus Friday through s unday in celebration of the u niversity’s annual Junior p arents weekend (J pw ). d uring three days of events, family members have the opportunity to get a taste of the lives of their n otre d ame students.

Focal points this weekend include academic workshops and residence hall open houses, which will take place s aturday morning and afternoon. o ver 3,000 people are slated to attend the p resident’s d inner in the Joyce c enter s aturday evening. Fr. e dward “ m onk”

m alloy, former u niversity president, will deliver the homily at a special c lass of 2024 mass to close out the weekend s unday.

a long with a host of fellow juniors on the 2023 J pw c ommittee, celebration cochairs Juliana d antas and c esar s anchez have been hard at work coordinating the weekend’s signature events since the fall semester. s anchez said that J pw deserves a high ranking on the list of best n otre d ame traditions.

“ i t’s a n otre d ame tradition, to the point that many alumni talk about their memories from their time doing it,” s anchez said. “[ a lumni] look back on it as a highlight of their junior

Senate calls on Campus Dining

By LIAM PRICE a ssociate news e ditor

The n otre d ame student senate met w ednesday night, once again located in the m endoza c ollege of b usiness building rather than on the second floor of l aFortune s tudent c enter, which is currently undergoing renovations.

The highlights of the

meeting included the senate passing a resolution calling on c ampus d ining to provide free cooking classes to students as well as approving the nomination of sophomore h annah b laskiewicz to serve as s tudent u nion Treasurer for the 2023-2024 term. b ut before that, student body

see senaTe PAGE 5

Panel discusses earthquake crisis

By TESS KESLER

news writer

i n The n anovic c enter for e uropean studies hosted a flash panel w ednesday in response to the recent disastrous earthquake in Turkey and s yria, which left infrastructure destroyed and over 40,000 dead as governments struggled to

provide aid. The panel was moderated by political rights and peace activist a vrum b urg, adjunct faculty in history for the u niversity of n otre d ame at Tantur. The panelists included graduate student Şehrazat m art, lecturer for l ondon m etropolitan

see panel PAGE 3

year and their time here.”

s anchez added that the celebration provides a rare chance for n otre d ame students to meet their friends’ parents.

“ i n high school, you’re always used to seeing your friends’ parents, and you get to know them pretty well,” s anchez said. “ you never really meet [your college friends’] parents, outside of occasional tailgates.”

Fortunately for families making lengthy domestic and international commutes to s outh b end, d antas said that the o ffice of s tudent e nrichment and n otre d ame’s partner travel agency offer travel and accommodation support. d antas added that she’s eager to

welcome her mother, who has only been able to visit the u niversity one other time, to campus this weekend.

“ i ’m super excited because i ’m from b razil, and my mom is flying all the way just to spend the weekend,” d antas said. “ i ’m really excited to spend the weekend with her here, especially after midterms. i feel like it’s a nice little break from the craziness of studying.”

s aturday’s p resident’s d inner — the celebration’s largest centralized gathering — will feature speeches from student leaders of the junior class and u niversity president Fr. John Jenkins. d inner chair c aroline d aniher said she’s looking forward to the formal meal of 379 tables on

the u niversity’s tab.

“ i t’s nice to have a dinner hosted by n otre d ame. The dinner is going to be really good,” d aniher said. “There’s a really good salted caramel brownie tart.”

o ne of two J pw event cochairs, s arah o chocki, has helped organize s aturday evening’s d ueling p ianos show, s unday morning’s continental breakfast and campus tours throughout the weekend. s he echoed s anchez’s attitude regarding the meaning of the celebration to the c lass of 2024.

“ we’re hoping to give a small slice of life of what normal campus looks like,

see weeKend PAGE 5

Bishop Joseph Perry discusses first Black priest

By LIAM KELLY news writer

b ishop Joseph p erry of the a rchdiocese of c hicago urged the c atholic c hurch to embrace diversity in his lecture Thursday night at h oly c ross c ollege on the life of Fr. a ugustus Tolton, the first c atholic priest in the u nited s tates publicly known to be b lack.

Tolton lived his life with a “heroic seriousness” that allowed him to persevere through the land mines of the racial discrimination in the 19th century, p erry asserted.

b orn into slavery, Tolton’s family escaped to i llinois during the c ivil w ar where he became a devout c atholic — despite being required to sit in a segregated section of his church and being forbidden from attending the local c atholic school.

“ p arishioners threatened priests, and so Tolton was expelled,” p erry said.

p erry explained that Tolton remained steadfast

in his faith despite the many obstacles. h e was privately tutored by local nuns and then became ordained as a priest in r ome, as there were no seminaries that would accept him in the

u nited s tates.

i nstead of being sent to a frica as he assumed he would be, Tolton was sent to his local parish in the u nited s tates, which is when he became the first b lack priest in the u nited s tates.

w hile Tolton’s masterful

rhetoric earned him a great deal of respect by many parishioners — both white and b lack — many were hostile to his preaching.

“There were those who were not at all happy about Tolton’s success in the area and began to see Fr. Tolton as a threat to the status quo,” p erry said.

Tolton was then sent to a poor diocese in the south side of c hicago where he

see holy cross PAGE 5

LIAM KELLY | The Observer Bishop Joseph Perry lectures about the trailblazer, Fr. Augustus Tolton who was the first Black Catholic priest at Holy Cross College.

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SOPHIA CRIMIVAROLI | The Observer

The student men’s boxing club, Bengal Bouts, started their tournament Thursday. Boxing at Notre Dame dates back to 1920, when Knute Rockne first organized interhall tournaments. Proceeds from Bengal Bouts are donated

Mardi

and culture.

University Ahmet Öztürk and nd Tantur director of undergraduate studies Gabriel m itchell.

b urg opened by asking the panelists to describe the situation on the ground. m art described that in wartorn s yria, the lack of a central government and infrastructure means that it is proving difficult for international organizations to aid victims of the devastating earthquake and that the disaster has also been met with a delayed response from the Turkish government to provide relief to civilians.

m art explained how volunteers “spent hours on the first day waiting for the necessary signatures before they could actually start their rescue and search missions,” while many people remained trapped under collapsed buildings.

o n paper, m art noted, Turkey was prepared for a disaster of this magnitude. In the past two decades, the country has implemented an extensive legal and bureaucratic earthquake preparedness framework to reconstruct areas that are at risk to earthquakes. The government also collected over $38 million in earthquake taxes, according to the Turkish s tatistical Institute. h owever, m art said the reality is vastly different.

“Part of it is corruption,” m art said. “Public officials overlooked aberrations from the law and construction regulations for their own political and economic gains.”

Another reason for the current situation is the corrupted use of the earthquake preparedness framework, which has become an economic tool. Law 6306, for example, gives the ministry of urbanization the right to evacuate and reconstruct areas of earthquake risk, but according to m art, this law is used instead to “demolish the neighborhoods of marginalized communities and to forcefully evacuate them from urban centers.”

Öztürk attributes the corruption and ultimately unstable construction work to president r ecep e rdogan’s “neo-patrimonial” authoritarian regime, which allows companies to disobey regulations for quick and cheap construction instead of stable buildings that can withstand earthquakes.

Öztürk said the disaster has many underlying political implications because e rdogan used the earthquake as a “political tool”

to polarize the population by targeting individuals who criticized his delayed response. The earthquake in s yria and Turkey has created a devastating humanitarian crisis and will likely have large impacts on e rdogan’s regime as well as stir up regional tensions. According to Öztörk, “this is a geographic disaster and this is a disaster of politics.”

c ontinuing, Öztürk said it is clear that the disaster will have large impacts on Turkish internal politics as well as the surrounding areas. With the number of displaced people whose homes were destroyed, there will likely be a large wave of immigrants to Western countries. That wave has the potential to stir up tensions as Western states deal with another refugee crisis.

m itchell predicts that Turkey’s foreign policy may be impacted by the earthquake and that the country “is going to have a lot of difficult challenging choices to make” if e rgodan is to resolve problems with neighbors and cooperate in return for humanitarian aid.

m itchell also added that the earthquake has made the situation in s yria even worse, a country already caught in the midst of a 10year conflict has even more damage and casualties.

“The civil war in s yria is not going to end,” m itchell said. “A lot of the issues about delivering aid to that area are going to persist.”

b urg concluded by prompting the panelists to consider whether the international community is prepared with pre-existing institutions to handle future humanitarian crises caused by events like natural disasters. Panelists agreed that there are sufficient mechanisms and organizations to respond to the crisis in s yria and Turkey, but problems may arise if developments in other parts of the world stretch resources thin.

“Like the d utch boy, we’re sticking our fingers trying to plug up all of these holes, but eventually there’s going to be one hole in which the water continues to pour out,” m itchell responded. h e noted that “the international community’s biggest challenge right now is a lack of unity,” which may impact the effectiveness of disaster responses in the future.

Tornifolio also announced that Judy h utchinson, director of student engagement for n otre d ame International.

Professor launches book on women’s agency

By KATE KIRWAN news Writer

“

m any thanks to all of you for joining us to talk about my book about gender-based violence on v alentine’s d ay. I can’t think of anything more romantic than spending time together interrogating the ideological underpinnings of kinship,” Julia Kowalski, assistant professor of global affairs at n otre d ame, ironically remarked.

n otre d ame celebrated the launch of Kowalski’s book “ c ounseling Women: Kinship Against v iolence in India,” Tuesday evening in Jenkins n anovic h alls. The event was sponsored by the Keough s chool of global affairs, the Liu Institute for Asia and Asian studies, the gender studies program, the Kroc Institute for international peace studies, the Kellogg Institute for international studies and the department of anthropology.

Lakshmi Iyer, associate professor of economics, moderated the event, commenting on how the collaboration of this event’s sponsors serves as a demonstration of the intersectionality of Kolwalski’s work.

“The fact that so many different units are supporting this event actually speaks to the broad relevance of Julia’s work for all these fields,” Iyer said.

Kowalski’s book centers around her ethnographic field research at counseling centers in Jaipur, India where she followed frontline workers, known as family counselors, who support women coping with violence, change and adjustment in domestic spaces.

In an interview with The o bserver, Kowalski described that her interest in the dynamics of gender began from a young age. As early as elementary school, she recalls inquisitively observing how many times her teacher would call on boys versus girls in class and coming home from school to voice these insights to her mother after school.

h er interest in gender and kinship was further cultivated through her undergraduate study abroad experience in India, building the framework for her

book’s focus.

s arah Lamb, professor of humanistic social sciences and anthropology at b randeis University, and m ichele f riedner, associate professor of comparative human development at the University of c hicago, offered commentary on the book.

Lamb described how Kolwaski’s work moves beyond traditional notions of Western feminism and emphasizes the importance of local, cultural social relations of family structures in Jaipur.

“Julia’s work is really important in the ways it complicates and pushes beyond prevailing models of liberal personhood and imaginaries of what constitutes social progress,” Lamb said. “People are never quite as free as scholars and policymakers often like to imagine them to be able to make choices according to their own independent desires. r ather, persons in most contexts make their lives intimately in relation with others.”

Lamb emphasized that family and kinship relations in Jaipur are vital for women’s security as they are central to their social, emotional and economic survival and well-being.

Kowalski’s research was primarily conducted immersed in counseling sessions–observing and documenting how women can maintain agency within family structures. f riedner commented on the unique nature of Kowalski’s research design.

“I was really interested in the way that you made this choice to stay in the counseling session. I’d love to know more about why you didn’t go home with folks, and could you have gone home?” f riedner asked.

Kowalski answered that the research was designed to demonstrate a different way to think about gender-based and domestic violence.

“There’s often a real desire in research on gender-based violence to look directly at victims. And part of what I was very interested in looking at in this book is how violence is getting problematized and connected to these wider institutional patterns and dynamics,” Kowalski responded.

Kowalski told The o bserver that throughout the entirety of her research, her main focus was always on empathizing with and creating personal relationships with the individuals she worked with.

Kowalski said that one of the defining aspects of her research was reaching a point where she was able to spend time with the families outside of her research.

“I was able to get to know these folks as people, not just as figures and institutions. And that really started to change how I was understanding what they were doing, because I could contextualize it in their wider lives, as well,” Kowalski said.

o ne of the main themes of her book is interdependence, and Kowalski said she hopes readers will take away a more nuanced understanding of the contextual nature of relationships and family structures.

“If we want to have and develop and understand the kinds of interventions that are going to most holistically help support people, we can’t discard an approach that families matter in people’s lives. o ftentimes, these relationships are a central source of meaning, even though they’re also sometimes a central source of harm,” Kowalski noted.

Kowalski closed the launch by reflecting upon how her book’s insight on interdependence appears in her career at n otre d ame.

“This book, as you’ve now heard, is about how people try to repair relations of interdependence, but its very existence is a testament to what’s possible when our interdependent relationships sustain us,” Kowalski said.

Kowalski stressed her gratitude for the interdependent community she is a part of at n otre d ame.

“ o ur community consists of scholars who have so many different, diverse, disciplinary and methodological perspectives for tackling these difficult questions,” Kowalski said. “I’m so looking forward to continuing to think about these challenges together in dialogue.”

Contact Kate Kirwan at kkirwan@nd.edu

From the Future: New cancer treatments

By SPENCER KELLY and GABBY BEECHERT news Writers

For many, the phrase “curing cancer” has devolved into a tongue-in-cheek expression to deride projects that are too ambitious or miraculous to be taken seriously. b ut in truth, progress is being made on cancer treatment, even if an outright cure hasn’t yet been found. The national c ancer Institute notes that from 2015-2019, “cancer death rates continued to fall among men, women, children and adolescents and young adults in every major racial and ethnic group in the United s tates.” n otre d ame is contributing to this progress with its h arper c ancer r esearch Institute in collaboration with Indiana University, s outh b end. In this edition of From the Future, The o bserver showcases three n otre d ame researchers exploring innovative ways of treating cancer and improving the lives of those afflicted by it.

Atmospheric pressure plasma jets: A compelling cancer treatment from the world of physics d r. s ylwia Ptasinska, Associate Professor, d epartment of Physics and Astronomy

s ylwia Ptasinska, associate professor of physics and astronomy, came to n otre d ame for opportunities like this.

A physicist by training, she was lured to s outh b end 12 years ago with the promise of being able to do applied, interdisciplinary research.

“I always wanted to do physics, but not pure theoretical physics,” Ptasinska said. “I wanted to have some motivation behind [my work].

And in medical applications, I could see I can contribute.”

Today, Ptasinska’s interdisciplinary research group explores, among other topics, biomedical applications for atmospheric pressure plasma jets. In conjunction with the h arper c ancer r esearch Institute, Ptasinska and her colleagues are studying the use of plasma jets as a cancer treatment option.

Ptasinska’s team has created a device that emits a low-power artificial plasma jet capable of damaging biological tissues, including cancerous cells. This device presents numerous advantages to existing cancer treatment options.

For one, plasma jets are simple and cheap to construct. Ptasinska noted that you could potentially build such a device “even in your home … if you know a little bit

about electricity and you’re careful with high voltage.”

This, of course, is not an invitation from Ptasinska to do so. s till, it emphasizes how accessible plasma jets can be, especially in comparison to something like the X-ray technology used in certain cancer treatments.

Plasma jets have also shown to be more accurate than most current cancer treatment options. m any methods have a side effect of killing healthy tissues as well as harmful ones, but early studies seem to indicate that plasma jets can kill cancerous cells in a targeted manner.

While plasma jets have clear advantages over existing options, there is still work to be done before this method can be deployed as a standalone or adjuvant treatment — which is exactly the objective of Ptasinska’s lab.

The primary obstacle at the moment is determining the appropriate dose of plasma radiation for the treatment. Ptasinska said that estimating radiation doses with plasma is more difficult than other types of matter, and this issue cannot necessarily be solved using a physics lens alone. s o, her lab collaborates with people from chemistry and computer science backgrounds who can help address the plasma radiation problem in creative, interdisciplinary ways.

“We are trying to find methods like borrowing ideas from chemistry or from computational methodology to estimate the dose of plasma,” Ptasinska said.

Though hurdles remain, Ptasinska explained that plasma jets are already employed to treat cancer in countries like Germany and Japan, which have highly respected biomedical technology industries. d iffering medical treatment protocols are slowing the process of implementation in the United s tates, but clinical trials are underway. Ptasinska thinks atmospheric pressure plasma jets will be approved in the Us as a standalone or adjuvant cancer treatment very soon.

“I think it will be just a few years,” Ptasinska said.

Lighting up cancerous tissue

d r. b radley s mith, e mil T. h ofman Professor of s cience, d epartment of c hemistry and b iochemistry

b radley s mith, the e mil T. h ofman professor of science, works to improve current methods of cancer-removing surgeries by researching new fluorescence imaging methods and photothermal therapy techniques.

In his research, he utilizes either nanoparticle probes or dye molecules that accumulate in tumor cells that absorb a certain frequency of near-infrared light. When the particles are exposed to this frequency during high resolution body imaging techniques, the location of tumors can be identified. b y using these images, the tumor can be removed in a process known as fluorescence-guided surgery, s mith said.

s mith, who began working at the University in 1991, began his research in this area due to his interest in imaging and sensing technology.

“I’m a chemistry professor who looks at a lot of fundamental chemistry things. And then in the last 20 years, I’ve gotten into imaging technologies and detection technologies,” s mith said. “We’ve looked at a number of diseases, and cancer is one of them.”

Although the cancer death rate has dropped in the last 20 years — and there is an increase in cancer treatments — improving surgical methods of removing cancer is still a “very sensible and common thing to do,” s mith said.

Locating a tumor is very important because surgeons must cut out a small portion of healthy tissue surrounding the tumor to ensure that all cancerous cells have been removed. This is known as a negative margin, s mith said.

“If they see a spot where there’s not that margin — that is called a positive margin — that has still got cancer cells in it, that is not good. You don’t want your surgeon doing that,” s mith said. “And that means they’ll have to go back and try to cut more of it out. And it is known that if you have positive margins, you’re more likely to get the cancer coming back.”

s urgeons are better equipped to determine a negative margin when conducting fluorescence-guided surgery, s mith said. The surgeons shine a light on the area with the cancer cells and a camera that is more sensitive than the human eye collects an image of the fluorescent cells.

In addition to locating the tumor, s mith said a similar technique could ultimately be used to kill cancerous cells.

“If I now just shined stronger light, then I could put a lot of energy and I could begin to heat it up. That would also kill cancer cells,” s mith said. s o far, s mith and his team successfully killed the cancerous cells from a mouse. They injected the mouse with a nanoparticle that accumulated into the tumor, shined

a laser beam on the area and removed it.

s mith’s current work also aspires to improve two aspects of the nanoparticles and dyes: the part that targets the cancer cells, and the part that absorbs the light.

“Wherever the dye is, is where you’re going to get heat. s o if our dye is selectively in the cancer, we’re golden, but it’s not 100 percent,” s mith said.

b ecause this treatment is still being researched and improved, it will only benefit patients of the future. b ut s mith hopes that people recognize the role their tax dollars will play in the current research in this area.

“Their taxes are going to things that in the long term may not benefit them, but their children and their children’s children and all of that sort of stuff,” s mith said. “ s o there’s sort of a public message in there that if you can’t directly do this research yourself, by paying your taxes, you are indirectly supporting that.”

The psychology of coping with cancer

d r. Thomas m erluzzi, Professor, d epartment of Psychology

Thomas m erluzzi, a newly-retired professor of psychology, researches how the coping processes of those with cancer influences their quality of life.

m erluzzi began his psychology career studying the cognitive aspects of social anxiety. b ut after his first wife passed away of breast cancer, he delved into psycho-oncology, the study of the psychological aspects of cancer.

“ s o what I did was probably turn this tragedy into something that I hoped would benefit people, including myself,” m erluzzi said.

Although his own personal experiences inspired him to join the field, he used to not share this information. m erluzzi said he believed it was important to be respected for his work separate from his personal life.

h is research is focused on the mindset of the patients themselves and how they view themselves in the context of their own cancer treatment.

“Within the bounds of the disease, I look at persons with cancer as agents, collaborators in their care,” m erluzzi said. “ s o, what they want for their life in terms of quality of life, the decisions they make, [we] try to encourage them to participate in that as an active agent of their care, rather than a passive recipient of care.”

There is evidence that those who feel more efficacious about coping with cancer will feel less depressed and feel their quality of life is better, m erluzzi said. This will help them adhere to treatments better and increase satisfaction with their care.

It is important to note that this form of research may not affect the longevity of life-after treatment, but it still has its benefits.

“If someone has a great attitude, is that going to mean they’re going to live longer? Well, no, but they’re gonna live better,” m erluzzi said.

The quality of social support that those going through cancer treatment receive also plays a role in improving their quality of life.

s ocial support, m erluzzi said, is tantamount to medicine. Just as patients are active in their coping, they must also be active in the pursuit of social connections.

e ffective social support should also match the needs of the patient because not all social support is good, m erluzzi said.

“If somebody is doing something for you, and you don’t need the help, it’s debilitating. It will make you feel more like a patient,” m erluzzi said. “[There is] this matching of need and provision. s o in other words, when that comes together, that means you’re getting the social support you need when you need it. And if you don’t need it, you’re doing stuff on your own, as you usually did.”

h e is also currently working on a project that involves religious coping. h is research has determined that the quality of life for patients who put the outcome of their treatment “in God’s hands” is better than that of patients who take on the responsibility of future outcomes, he said.

“The best possible thing you can do would be to be an empowered patient who takes responsibility, who’s self-efficacious, but also is not going to get all wrapped up in whether they’re going to live 30 years from now or whether their cancer is going to be cured,” s mith said. “They’re going to let go of that, but they’re going to concentrate on the present.”

m erluzzi said he hopes to investigate a secular version of this mindset. Although m erluzzi retired on d ec. 31 of last year— after spending 48 years at the University — he plans to continue his research in this area with colleagues from around the globe.

Contact Spencer Kelly at skelly25@nd.edu and Gabby Beechert at gbeecher@nd.edu

vice president s ofie s titt had sophomore Lauren Taylor read the opening prayer, approved the prior meeting’s minutes with a vote from the senate and announced the return of the s tudent Life c ouncil ( s L c ) to n otre d ame.

“It’s a huge deal,” s titt said of the upcoming s L c forum, which will be held Tuesday at 8 p.m. in c arey Auditorium. “ b ut the continuation is contingent upon attendance because I gave them my scouts honor that we really wanted this, the student body really wants this… Please come and bring your friends.”

Cooking Classes

After the announcement, the senate moved on to general orders. s ophomore and Keenan h all senator c onnor

because some people that we are welcoming will have never seen campus and some will have only seen it covered in masks,” o chocki said. “It’s been an odd class in terms of even just bonding. I’m hopeful that people can see that we made it through — we made those relationships still.”

Julia c acciotti, the other event co-chair, spoke on how the weekend could be improved. This year, the JPW committee had the idea to offer n otre d ame s tadium tours, but could not because the stadium is not “winterized.” c acciotti added that although she likes the concept, hosting a more general family weekend for siblings would be complicated logistically.

“It’s hard enough with 3,000 people coming,” c acciotti said. “To add siblings in that mix would be a huge undertaking… It’d be cool to get siblings in the dorms and give them a taste of college life.”

Junior class president Paul s toller, who will be speaking at s aturday’s dinner, said the celebration is “huge” for the c lass of 2024, who transitioned into college at the height of the cov I d -19 pandemic.

“It’s really night and day that we have 3,500 people coming together for that dinner compared to what we had to go through freshman year,” s toller said. “ b ut that experience really made our class a lot closer. And I think across the board, we have a very strong bond.”

Contact Peter Breen at pbreen2@nd.edu

m c c loskey read ss 2223-14, the resolution calling upon c ampus d ining to “make cooking classes available to students.” m c c loskey, who co-sponsored the resolution with four other senators, argued that c ampus d ining stands to mutually benefit from the proposed classes.

“ c ampus d ining struggles to maintain an adequate workforce to fully staff the dining halls and efficiently operate the kitchen facilities,” m c c loskey said while reading the resolution.

“

questions on the bill, there was no debate and no dissenters when the senate voted.

Treasurer Confirmation

The nomination of b laskiewicz for the treasurer position was originally part of new business on the senate agenda Wednesday night, but the senate, considering the fact that the treasurer term begins on m arch 1, motioned to move the nomination into general orders for the meeting.

said. “I am requesting that the senate approve her nomination as a result of her extensive qualifications.”

o nce again, though some senators posed questions to b laskiewicz during questioning, there was no debate against the nomination and no dissenters when the senate was asked to vote on it.

Anti-Robot Federation

s tudent workers already employed at both n orth and s outh d ining h all have expressed an interest and desire to learn more about the kitchen facilities and cooking procedures at the university to meet the need for more workers and to complete additional professional training and development.”

Although senators asked

o utgoing treasurer c laire e velyn s ison read her submission nominating b laskiewicz for the position to the senate.

“I recommend this student without reservation because of her passion to become more involved in the n otre d ame community and to assist the o ffice of the s tudent Union Treasurer in becoming more efficient,” s ison

m oving on to new business for a second time in the meeting, the senate listened to Alumni h all senator James b aird give an impassioned speech against the recent development of Grubhub delivery robots that have been implemented onto n otre d ame’s campus. Though the senators laughed when b aird referred to “the Anti r obot Federation, otherwise known as ‘A r F,’” which he said was formed by disgruntled members of Alumni

h all, b aird insisted that the issue was serious.

“This is a very important issue to Alumni [ h all] students and the students at n otre d ame and, perhaps, the students of the entire world,” b aird said. “The [artificial intelligence] revolution can start right here under our nose, we have no idea. s o please, please take this seriously.”

b efore the meeting adjourned, s titt briefly thanked the senators for behaving well during the recent student government elections.

“We had a pretty brutal election last year, and I didn’t want that to happen again,” s titt said. “And I cannot tell you how appreciative I am of all of you for your character — so much better all around this year.”

Contact Liam Price at lprice3@nd.edu

ND hosts foreign language week

By COLLEEN FARRELL news Writer

The University held the Foreign Language Week culture fair on Wednesday, showcasing food, music and presentations of various cultures from around the world. The event occurred in the d ahnke b allroom in d uncan s tudent c enter and featured booths and performances from many language departments and cultural groups.

Junior b ecca Kubick worked at the booth for the s panish club, which had candies from s panishspeaking countries as well as paper and scissors for making paper picador, a traditional m exican craft. s he spoke about the benefits the culture fair offers for n otre d ame students.

“A lot of people in a university like this are so wrapped up in the school and the academics that they forget to incorporate extracurriculars, specifically

culture,” Kubick said. “It’s a really good opportunity for everyone to remind themselves of the importance to learn about different cultures because we’ve seen so many others just by being here.”

s abina Iusupova, a Fulbright foreign language teaching assistant, hosted an event showcasing r ussian food on Tuesday as well as a booth for decorating r ussian nesting dolls at the culture fair. s he explained that Foreign Language Week was important to her because of her goal to share r ussian culture with the world.

“ r ight now… there [aren’t] that many opportunities to go and visit r ussia. s o, it’s like, I’m bringing r ussia here.” Iusupova said.

Jefferson s aransig, a Fulbright foreign language teaching assistant of the Quechua language, hosted a booth featuring a traditional kind of embroidery from

that the problems he faced were unique to his time.

e cuador. h e noted how the culture fair helps n otre d ame students learn about less well-known languages.

“This [week] gives students the chance to know that there are more languages, not only the big languages like s panish, French, Italian but in this case, for example, many people came to this table because they were interested in the embroidery activity, but then they started asking about the language, the Quechua language,” he explained. “ s o I think this is a great [idea] for the languages and for students to get to know that there are many other options, many other languages that they can study here.”

m onica Jancha, an associate teaching professor for the department of romance languages and literature, explained how the culture fair helps the department reach out to students and

celebrate the four romance languages studied by the department.

“You can connect with the students who might be interested in taking our languages or who already do take our languages to celebrate with them the cultures of our department,” Jancha said.

s he mentioned the many student-run clubs related to romance languages and explained the role these organizations play in Foreign Language Week.

“There are student-run organizations for dance and music and performance and so it was really easy to reach out to them and invite and they’re usually here to participate, they participated last year and now this year,” she noted. “It is a nice place to give them the stage to highlight all the work they do.”

Contact Colleen Farrell at cfarre23@nd.edu

was deprived of any accommodations. d espite the difficulties, Perry said, Tolton remained a committed priest and continued his mission.

“Like all of the b lacks of his day, Tolton had to take all of the wacks and insults, and keep his dignity and the holiness of his priesthood,” Perry said.

Although Tolton may have preached almost a century and a half ago, b ishop Perry stood against the notion

“The 19th century which we like at first glance considered to be antiquated, backwards in its concepts of social relations,” Perry said, but Tolton’s time “presented a challenge that is set before us still to this day.”

While there are many b lack priests in the United s tates today, Perry noted, there is still a great degree of racial segregation between parishes, and there are only about three million b lack c atholics in the country. Perry urged Americans to confront these facts.

“The ideal parish is not one in which everyone looks alike, talks alike, shops at the same stores, wears the same clothing, sports the same hairdo, cheers for the same sports teams and votes for the same political candidates,” Perry argued. “The c hurch was never meant to be that comfortable.”

To Perry, much of blame for the lack of diversity in the c hurch rests on the historical exclusion of African Americans in the c hurch.

“ o rganized churches, on the other hand, have a mixed record with the acceptance of b lacks in their

churches, participants and leadership-wise,” Perry said.

Perry urged the c hurch to confront its shameful past of racial discrimination and, in doing so, stay true to its teachings.

“

r acism is an evil because it attacks the inherent dignity of the human person created in the image and likeness of God,” he said. “The c hurch was meant to branch out to embrace every man, woman and child on the face of the earth.”

Contact Liam Kelly at lkelly8@nd.edu

Special minds, special interests

Jack Griffiths neurodivergence

Autistic people are often incorrectly thought of as passionless. o ne might meet an autistic person who seems anxious or reserved and misinterpret her demeanor as a sign that she’s simply not someone who feels very strongly about anything. This could not be further from the truth. Autistic people are still invested in the topics and people around them, just like everybody else. In fact, they might even form affinities and passions that take the form of “special interests.”

What are special interests? They are passions that are pursued past the extent that neurotypical individuals might consider normal. special interests become defining aspects of autistic people’s lives. We almost always want to talk about them, even with people we’re unfamiliar with or with people who might not have the same level of interest. We might daydream about them throughout the day and think about how much we’d rather be pursuing our interests than doing other tasks. special interests can come in many forms. They might be actions, such as organizing things in one’s room in a particular way. They might be hobbies, such as playing an instrument or writing stories.

o ne of my special interests is liturgical singing. I believe that is an outlet through which my spirituality and my autistic identity intersect to create one of my deepest passions. From singing in the pews for the first time as a kindergartener during weekly school masses to becoming part of the Liturgical c hoir at notre dame, I’ve always been driven to musical worship, so much so that a mass without opportunities for singing seems like having tortilla chips without salsa.

I also have a special interest that’s less ontologically crucial to me but still has played a meaningful role in my life: Pokémon. e ver since I played d iamond for the first time as a sixyear-old during the c hristmas season, I’ve become engrossed in a world filled with bizarre yet fascinating creatures, each with their own moves, abilities, designs, statistics and more. Pokémon stimulated my imagination, but its complicated depth also challenged me in a fun and engaging way, especially when I become more intrigued by the competitive scene as I entered high school. To this day, I still love Pokémon. And even though the company’s newer games have their warts, I still find comfort in enjoying an activity that has brought me joy for so long.

s ometimes there exists a narrative that special interests, despite their perks, are inherently detrimental because they are ultimately too distracting. however, while autists like me can occasionally get fixated on our interests, this fixation can have its own benefits. Primarily, it can grant us levels of expertise that enable us to

create and innovate within our interests. For example, my special interest in liturgical music motivated me to pursue leadership positions in the Liturgical c hoir and my special interest in Pokémon enhanced my strategic thinking, which I could apply in my academic pursuits.

Furthermore, autistic people are fully capable of learning how to engage with their special interests while also being able to pay attention and properly focus on other tasks. having a small object for swimming purposes can aid with this. Personally, I like to connect my special interest to whatever other task I might be completing. For instance, I might listen to music while writing essays. I might also use special interests as a reward for completing tasks, such as by allowing myself to play the new Pokémon game on my s witch once I finish the assigned reading for my classes.

however, there is another incorrect narrative that exists around special interests. Instead of believing that special interests are damaging, some might believe in a positive stereotype that expects an autistic person to always have a “savant”-like skill linked to their special interest. These people might be surprised when not every autistic person is ready to give you a memorized list of all the U. s . presidents or do differential equations in their head. Thus, I believe it necessary to clarify that not every special interest is linked to “savant” abilities, even if this can sometimes happen. It’s also crucial for us to reframe the discussion around special interests in ways that don’t exclude those without a seemingly miraculous skill. much like neurotypical people, autistic people can find joy in activities even if they don’t become the best at doing them.

special interests are a prominent yet often misunderstood facet of autistic life and culture. s o, whenever you speak with people on the spectrum, remember to be patient when they seem fixated on particular topics or passions. b efore you dismiss their special interests, remember how much joy autists garner from them. b etter yet, if you allow autistic individuals to feel comfortable embracing their special interests, it’ll help them feel safer and more confident overall in expressing themselves, even if they might otherwise be excluded.

Jack Griffiths is a senior at Notre Dame majoring in English with a supplementary major in global affairs. His areas of interest include neurodivergence, migration and the intersections between faith and public policy. When he’s not writing, you can find him singing with the Liturgical Choir, walking around the lakes or playing Super Smash Bros. with folks in his dorm. He can be reached at jgriff22@nd.edu.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

insiDE ColUmn

Tenure as the gateway to careless teaching

Katelyn Waldschmidt Associate news editor

valentine’s day is a huge deal in America. even if you ignore the unbridled consumerism (candy, flowers, expensive gifts) there is so much emphasis on celebrating the day even if you’re not in a romantic relationship. Just walking around my residence hall, with most of the bulletin boards awash in various shades of pink, emblazoned advertisements for love themed events.

Though the day’s fixation on love can be a bit much, I’ve enjoyed the chance to celebrate the people who’ve seen me through two and a half years of college. so far my valentine’s/Galentines celebrations have involved accepting my roommate’s spontaneous invitation to go to the bee club’s meeting in debart to drink tea with honey, color apian themed valentines (pre-school style, with actual crayons!) as the most iconic film about cross species love (“bee movie” 2007) played on the projector.

I also upheld some consumerism (for a good cause!) by helping to deliver flowers to dorms as part of P-dub’s carnation sale. It was heartwarming to see the cute notes people had written to each other and fun to talk to the obliging strangers who helped me locate their fellow dorm mates’ rooms. other Galentine’s day plans are in the works from rounding up friends for ‘all you can eat’ sushi to meshing different friend groups to paint pottery. honoring love one random Tuesday a year seems trite but it gives us a nice structure to remember our friends. Amidst the chaos of college life and people’s parents visiting for JPW, I know that these plans will take around a month to actually happen.

but that’s okay because I love when love is like pleasant background noise, instead of punctuated.

I love how love sneaks into my daily life.

Love is when my dad will read every line of a twelve page essay and give me feedback over WhatsApp. Love is his questions about the progress of various drafts of pieces that others may not even realize are subtly different.

Love is conversations with my close friends where we commiserate — about not getting a certain internship, about people who don’t respond to our texts, new friends who don’t seem as enthusiastic as we are. Love is whining about being busy and gossiping about people we both know in rapid back and forths that would be unintelligible and annoying to most other people. Love is listening with interest as they talk about clubs or jobs you know nothing about.

Love is phrases from my favorite books living rent-free in my mind, materializing whenever I have writer’s block and letting me remember stories I’ve re-read too many times. some of my favorites from “Americanah” by chimamanda ngozi Adichie are:

“her joy … a restless thing, flapping its wings inside her.”

“With him, she was at ease: her skin felt as though it was the right size.”w

And some whimsical ones from “The God of small Things” by Arundhati roy:

“The loss of sophie mol stepped softly around the Ayemenem house like a quiet thing in socks.”

“The yellow wasp wasping against the windowpane in a dangerous dzzzz.”

Love is spending christmas eve in pajamas peeling 12 potatoes with my mom who took on the valiant task of teaching me how to cook. With our other festive plans cancelled because of family members being ill or only coming home closer to new Year’s eve, we spent the day making biryani — a dish of spicy rice, mutton, fried onions and potatoes (in our version). Though that day and the following weeks of break were spent chopping, shelling, stirring and steaming, I am by no means a good cook. however, I’ll always value those times with my mom a lot, especially when I’m contemplating ordering overpriced biryani from India Garden in south bend.

Love is a friend asking the question “What are you excited for?” when you run into each other after months. catching up on the highlights of each others’ lives and getting thrown back into the memories and mindsets you had the last time you spoke, as if the conversation was a sort of time capsule.

Love is my sister taking time out from her days working in a hospital to share pictures of cute cats with me or to tell me theories about Jane Austen, v ikram seth, George r r martin and her other favorite authors who I don’t know much about, except from her.

Love is telling college friends about my hometown, about my favorite street food and bookstores, about art-deco architecture, crowded footpaths and the salty air.

Go celebrate love wherever you find it!

You can contact Katelyn at kwaldschmidt01@saintmarys.edu

The views expressed in this Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

o ne of my earliest memories is gripping our kitchen’s cold stainless steel table. It was originally a h ome d epot work bench that my dads thought would look modern and hip as a dining room table. o r maybe it was just them trying to save money.

m y legs swung unable to touch the ground. Their nervous energy replicated in my body. m y mind raced, we never had family meetings unless I had fudged up — big time.

Like the time I tried to steal a paper lantern from my elementary school art room, thinking I was slyly hiding it behind my dad’s jacket as I tried to push him out the door. h e wasn’t fooled, making me bring it back to the teacher. This was followed by a family meeting about stealing.

This time it wasn’t about me. It was my dads letting me know that they were ‘separating for a little while’ and that one of them would get an apartment down the street and we’d go on living our merry lives.

o riginally over the moon, I thought, “how many kids are cool enough to have T hree bedrooms ,” one at each of my dads’ and one at my mom’s. Those feelings subsided when I figured out what it meant, a fracturing of my family as it was currently constructed and a destabilization of the world that had been so carefully constructed around me.

m y family has always been a little weird to explain. Two gay men. s ingle lesbian mom of three. A hodgepodge of queers thrown into the c atholic blender—my dad was kicked out of his house when he was 14 for being gay and my mom 17. s omehow, they were all crazy enough to come together and have me.

That theological blender left deep scars inside my dad and mom. s cars they attempted to medicate with drugs, opioids and alcohol. s cars that festered and never quite went away. s cars exacerbated by family, churches, and the state which had—in many ways—disposed of them. m y dads were taking a break because, unbeknownst to seven-year-old me, one of them was now severely addicted to methamphetamine.

m y dad Paul, the sober one, decided this was a decision that had to be made to protect me,as drug dealers and other potentially dangerous actors were now clouding the spaces around us.

h e loved my other dad more than life itself, but made the decision to cut off his own heart to protect me. A few years later, I lost my mom too.

In the span of 4 years I went from having three parents to one. Three tree trunks of support, to one stilt carrying all the weight. I don’t know how he did it. Working 60-hour weeks, making dinner and coming home to read the “ c hronicles of n arnia” or some other adventure novel to me.

e very parent makes immense sacrifices for their children — getting up early to make them breakfast and lunch, putting away boatloads of money to send them to college or pulling an allnighter to bake some insane array of cupcakes to take to school the next day.

In the “Five People You m eet in h eaven” by m itch Albom, one character professes, “ s acrifice is a part of life. It’s supposed to be. It’s not something to regret. It’s something to aspire to. Little sacrifices. b ig sacrifices. A mother works so her son can go to school. A daughter moves home to take care of her sick father.”

b eing a parent (or guardian), at its core, involves these types of sacrifices to give their children the type of life they deserve. n ot a single person is capable of being at a school like n otre d ame without someone believing in them and sacrificing parts of their life to get them here. We all work hard and have different backgrounds that have made it easier or harder to get in here, but the linchpin of our success is guardians who are willing to risk their own happy endings for ours.

I would not be at n otre d ame, maybe even alive, without my dad, Paul’s constant support, guidance and will to help got me through the seas of my rocky middle years. h e sacrificed his ‘happily ever after’ again and again and again all in the hopes of making sure I was able to survive my odyssey.

If you ever get the chance to read my inbox after one of my columns is published you’ll realize that I have a lot of unpopular opinions. h owever, in my personal life, I receive the most hate from my friends for my unabashed love of country music.

o ne of my favorite songs is Zach b ryan’s “ s now”. m y favorite line is ”You bring heaven down to me / c ourse it through my blood as I breathe”. I think that’s my dad, and truly all of our parents at their best. They bring heaven

down to us. There is nobody who makes me happier or forces me to think more passionately about the world than him.

For the longest time it has been us against the world. This has not been without its challenges—from me running away from home for 12 hours barefoot to him grounding me from being able to go to a baseball game with my friends because of a fly in my mac and cheese—we’ve yelled, been so deeply upset with one another, but always come back to forgive each other.

m y life could have been better or happier had addiction and deep-festering scars not impacted my other parents so intensely. b ut some of the holiest families in my life aren’t always a father, mother and kids. They’re two grandparents taking over for their children that aren’t able to take care of them, lesbian saints that make your toes tingle from all the half-finished woodworking projects they have scattered throughout the house or a single mom doing her best to do right by her kids.

m y dad just proposed to s teve, the new love of his life. At first I was scared because for so long it’s been just my dad and I against the world. b ut love only grows and this year we’ll be celebrating my family getting a little bigger and a little holier.

At the bottom of the h oly h andoff statue on b ond Quad there is a quote by George b ernard s haw, “A happy family is but an earlier heaven.” m y heaven has come a little closer and has become a little bigger thanks to s teve and Paul. o ur relationship isn’t ‘normal’ and our family isn’t ‘normal,’ but Paul e dward s herman, my dad, brings heaven down to me every single day. To my dad, truly to all the parents, guardians, and funky families celebrating Junior Parents Weekend at this time, thank you for bringing heaven down to us kids.

Dane Sherman is a junior at Notre Dame studying American Studies, peace studies, philosophy, and gender studies. Dane enjoys good company, good books, good food and talking about faith in public life. Outside of The Observer, Dane can be found exploring Erasmus books with friends, researching philosophy, with folks from Prism, reading NYT op-eds from David Brooks/ Ezra Klein/Michelle Goldberg or at the Purple Porch getting some food. Dane ALWAYS wants to chat and can be reached at @danesherm on twitter or lsherma2@nd.edu.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Dane Sherman saints among us

Why we don’t see term limits in congress

o n Tuesday, s enator d ianne Feinstein ( d - c A) announced that she would not be seeking re-election in 2024. This revelation should come as no surprise, as speculation about her departure from politics has been anticipated for some time now. s ome prominent c alifornia d emocrats even announced campaigns for s en. Feinstein’s seat before the announcement, such as representatives Katie Porter and Adam s chiff.

o ver the years, discussions about the oldest senator’s fitness for office mirrors the national debate over term limits for members of c ongress. In many ways, the media treats s en. Feinstein as an embodiment of the issue. c oncerns over her declining mental capacity, her tenure in the senate (over thirty years!), and speaking bluntly on when she should’ve retired are the same talking points employed when discussing term limits. s ome articles about s en. Feinstein discussed term limits themselves as a way to avoid future situations like the senator. As such, s en. Feinstein’s retirement allows us to consider the term limits debate one more time.

Although we don’t have term limits for members of c ongress, the debate over whether to have them has occurred throughout American history. e ven at the Founding, the framers argued over whether term limits should be included in the c onstitution itself. In Federalist 62, we find opposition to term limits. Their argument was that governing effectively requires elected officials to be in office long enough to acquire “a knowledge of the means by which” to be strong leaders. o ther framers reasoned that because representatives only served two-year terms, term limits aren’t necessary. If that failed, the electorate could force politicians into retirement by voting them out of office.

After the Founding, the debate over term limits didn’t rise to the national level again until President Franklin d elano roosevelt broke precedent and was elected to four terms as president. since then, various senators and representatives have advocated for term limits to no avail. We even see these efforts today. s enator Ted c ruz ( r-TX) recently submitted legislation to add congressional term limits to the c onstitution. Additionally, part of speaker Kevin mc c arthy’s ( r- c A) concessions to far-right republicans included a floor vote on term limits.

There’s also vast public support for the measure. According to a 2021 survey, 80% of voters are in favor of such a constitutional amendment, including 87% of republicans and 73% of d emocrats. There’s more agreement on term limits than abortion, gun control, health care, and more. o n an issue with such vast public and bipartisan support, we’d expect this to be one of the few pieces of legislation to pass with ease. The lack of success raises the question of why term limits haven’t been instituted.

research can point to three obstacles that have prevented the passage of term limits legislation. First, lack of substantial resources prevents adequate momentum to pass any proposal regarding term limits.

s cholars note that it’s often one or a few members of c ongress who advocate heavily for term limits. even then, it’s among a number of other congressional reforms that tend to take precedent. For instance, speaker mc c arthy also conceded a number of other reforms to the house’s governing rules, likely leaving term limits on the backburner. s en. c ruz’s bill was introduced less than a month ago, so we can’t expect much movement at this point. however, if it’s anything like his other term limits resolutions, it won’t get far. h is previous efforts, whether under a d emocratic or republican s enate, didn’t get past the committee stage. Although we’ve seen term limits be proposed throughout history, there simply aren’t enough elected officials supporting it to move it forward.

s econd, the political reality of c ongress imposing term limits on itself diminishes any hope of it actually happening. There is little reason to suspect that individuals who ordinarily act out of self-interest would willingly act against their personal benefit, especially the U. s c ongress. Ironically, the last time c ongress imposed term limits was when a president elected four times. At that point, c ongress wasn’t reflecting the will of the people at all by limiting the power of a popular president. now, when the public does support term limits, we see no movement because it affects members of c ongress. When we do see action on term limits, it’s often minimal and primarily done for press coverage, especially for congressional candidates who want to brand themselves as anti-establishment.

Third, the logistics behind an amendment on congressional term limits presents an enormous hurdle. The process of amending the c onstitution itself is already challenging, requiring either a two-thirds vote in both houses of c ongress or a convention called by two-thirds of the state legislatures. Then, either three-fourths of the states or delegates at the convention must ratify the amendment. With the c onstitution only being ratified twenty-seven times in U. s history and polarization in c ongress at its highest in decades, we can see why this is extremely unlikely to happen. This also assumes that elected officials can agree on the exact number of terms a representative or senator may serve.

The lack of substantial momentum on congressional term limits reveals that the U. s c ongress is often unresponsive to public opinion. This is especially disappointing on an issue with such vast support in the American electorate. This points to a larger issue of how the legislative branch can be better structured to serve the people of this country, but that requires a much longer column.

Blake Ziegler is a senior at Notre Dame studying political science, philosophy and constitutional studies. He enjoys writing about Judaism, the good life, pressing political issues and more. Outside of The Observer, Blake serves as president of the Jewish Club and a teaching assistant for God and the Good Life. He can be reached at @NewsWithZig on Twitter or bziegler@nd.edu.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Junior Parents Weekend isn’t onesize-fits-all

Junior Parents Weekend is an opportune time to reflect on nearly three full years under the Golden d ome. For n otre d ame students who began their college careers under the shadow of steep cov I d -19 infection rates and assiduous here ambassadors, the weekend is an opportunity for families to come together and celebrate how much the class of 2024 has grown. b ut as juniors prepare for the festivities, we must acknowledge this weekend is not easy for everyone.

The name alone implies that students have two parents with the financial means to travel to s outh b end and shell out nearly $300 for both of them to attend programming. For many students, this is simply not feasible.

o n top of the cost, the University assumes a certain level of knowledge about JPW and the University itself, and those with an existing family connection to the University are more likely to feel welcomed by the programming. n otre d ame is known for admitting a high number of legacy students — students with a parent or close relative that attended the same institution. e ach n otre d ame class typically consists of 20 to 25% who are children of alumni. It can sometimes feel like every student has a sibling, parent, uncle or great-great-grandparent who went to n otre d ame.

As JPW approaches, bear in mind that some students may have lost a parent or guardian; some may be navigating the dynamics of divorced parents; others might have a difficult home life. Parents of international students may face difficulty coordinating flights and travel documents, and first-generation, low-income families might confront similar obstacles. e ven with support from the o ffice of s tudent e nrichment, availing those resources and financial assistance comes with plentiful stress, expectations and hoops to jump through. There also exists a social barrier for some families. s ame-sex parents of n otre d ame students may experience an added level of stress in trying to visit a campus with policies and people that can be less than welcoming. A lack of inclusive activities, such as nonreligious events or services, may even deter parents from even considering to visit at all.

s o, check in on your friends this weekend. s pend time with them, especially if you know the title of “Junior Parents Weekend” may surface insecurities, doubts or worries. And if you don’t feel like this weekend is for you, take comfort in your own tri-campus family — whoever that may be, whatever that may look like. n o matter your situation, take time to reflect this weekend and participate in the events you wish to attend. e ven if your parents or guardians can’t attend, this weekend is still for you

We hope this editorial serves as a reminder that Junior Parents Weekend can and should be treasured, but we should do so without assuming all students will be able to bring their loved ones to campus. While we do not want to ignore the storied tradition of JPW, the University can and should do more to be inclusive in its programming toward those who might not have the means to celebrate their college accomplishments with their family.

While accommodations exist for families who might struggle to make it to campus, they are not widely publicized in messages about the weekend, and this lack of acknowledgement only deepens feelings of isolation. It should not be on individual students to uncover, dig for or seek out the assistance they need. In its communications about the weekend, the University seems to send the message that if you don’t have two parents who are willing to travel to s outh b end, you aren’t “normal.” The student body should push back on that narrative by championing a more inclusive weekend and reassuring friends that they should celebrate however they feel most comfortable.

s o when you inevitably run into juniors and their parents walking around campus or checking out the s outh b end bar scene, remember that there is no right or wrong way to share the tri-campus with your loved ones.

Blake Ziegler news with Zig

By MARCELLE COUTO scene Writer

In light of the spectacular reception of “ e verything e verywhere All at o nce” at the box office, I thought it fitting to unpack the implicit philosophical message of the film. I recall emerging from the movie theater bewildered by the pathos and cinematic quality of “ e verything e verywhere All At o nce.” b ut, I was also remarkably conflicted in my feelings regarding its central message.

In many ways, the movie promotes an increasingly popular, emergent approach toward meaning and morality among our generation, one gravitating toward optimistic nihilism. In a sense, my query about the film reflects my broader issues with this school of thought.

o ptimistic nihilism suggests that since life has no inherent meaning, we are free to create our own purpose, and therefore should embrace the uncertainty and randomness of existence. In the case of “ e verything e verywhere All at o nce,” love itself, particularly the choice to love, serves as the ultimate weapon against despair. While this perspective may seem liberating, there are several potential shortcomings.

This resolution is useless in the grand scheme of things. After all, what is love in a meaningless universe? There is no definition of love — an immaterial concept — in this pure materialist worldview. The problem lies not in the noble idea

of love, but in the epistemological failing of the word under the aforementioned preconceptions. It does not follow via logical implication. Furthermore, why should I sacrifice my desires for the sake of another (which I will do if I truly love someone) in a meaningless universe? Why should I choose suffering, and vulnerability, when egoism offers a much greater reward under utilitarian arithmetic? Yes, I can feel affection toward my friends and family, but why in the world would I choose to forgive, to love persistently amidst failure and disappointment? In this universe, love is an empty attitude. b ut I think love never comes back empty. It always flourishes and to love is never a vain thing. I would dare say we all know this, intuitively.

“ e verything e verywhere All at o nce” knows this, too, and therein lies its tremendous influence. Audiences have frequently been left in tears — and not without reason — after observing the mother-daughter reconciliation central to the plot. This very scenario contradicts the movie’s philosophy because it calls for an unspoken understanding of what true love should actually look like. Love is an inherent good, and an inherent good cannot exist under nihilism no matter how much we attempt to fabricate it. In other words, “ e verything e verywhere All at o nce” has not earned the right to use the word “love.” Its philosophy does not allow for there to be anything remarkable about whatever combination of atoms consists of “love,” or any other neurological

phenomenon for that matter.

o n the one hand, I believe we should choose to love despite the apparent absurdity of the world; we should accept that we cannot find answers to certain questions and cease insisting on “intellectual hubris.” o n the other, I believe our resignation need not eliminate the notion that there really is an answer, albeit beyond our comprehension. It is possible to embrace the world’s chaos, and its indefatigable oddity and still adhere to an objective good, truth or resolution to the endless cycle of doubt. Perhaps that truth is a mystery, or it is simply transcendent. b y logical argument, we can reason our way to a conclusion and yet the final settling point remains a startling “leap of faith” (as Kierkegaard would helpfully articulate). o r even, if I wax in the direction of faith, why not rather just state we are uncertain, but that there still could be the hope of an answer? Isn’t it part of the human experience to wonder? While “ e verything e verywhere All at o nce” succeeds in acknowledging the fundamental human impulse to dare or to love in spite of suffering, it falls short in its defense of a proper reason for doing so.

d on’t misunderstand me, I think the movie is fantastic, humorous and powerful. Further, its acting is verifiably superb. I only perceive its failings as a mere reflection of our broader misalignment as a society.

Contact Marcelle Couto at mcouto@nd.edu

CLAIRE KIRNER | The Observer

By RACHEL HARTMANN scene Writer

As the celebrations for valentine’s d ay continue throughout the week, I look to romantic comedies to fill the void which comes with being single on a holiday made for couples. There are always the classic romantic comedies that I can rely on such as “10 Things I h ate About You” or “When h arry m et s ally,” but this year I decided to stray from the comfort shows and try something new.

“Your Place or m ine” is the current trending movie on n etflix that stars Ashton Kutcher and r eese Witherspoon as a couple who slept together once and then became best friends — best friends for the next 20 years I might add. When they have the chance to house-swap for a week, they are able to finally understand the other person and maybe

even find love. n ow, I know the premise is kind of cliche. b est friends to lovers trope? b een there and done that. h owever, “Your Place or m ine” is actually really sweet — almost too sweet at points — and it is funny. d ebbie ( r eese Witherspoon) goes after her dreams during that week and Peter (Ashton Kutcher) takes care of her teenage son. b oth characters are flawed and make mistakes, but that makes them more genuine. There are also more love interests in the mix such as Theo James (Jesse Williams) and m inka (Zoe c hao).

“Your Place or m ine” is a feel-good, romantic, lighthearted comedy which was exactly what I needed for my valentine’s d ay. It is a movie that reminds us that sometimes it takes a while to find “the one” and that we shouldn’t stop trying just because things do not work out. The plot does have some strange elements such as d ebbie’s

gardener Zen ( s teve Zahn), who felt unnecessary, and Peter’s inability to keep relationships for more than six months (an immediate red flag), but overall I enjoyed this movie and would recommend it to anyone searching for a good romantic comedy, especially during the season of love.

Contact Rachel Hartmann at rhartma4@nd.edu

“Your Place or Mine”

Director: Aline Brosh McKenna

Starring: Ashton Kutcher, Reese Witherspoon

If you like: “10 Things I Hate About You,” “When Harry Met Sally”

By CAITLIN BRANNIGAN scene Writer

on Feb. 8, nintendo released the second official trailer for “The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom,” the highly anticipated sequel to “The Legend of Zelda: breath of the Wild.” It has been six years since a new game was released in the extremely popular “Zelda” franchise, which typically features its heroes, Link and Zelda, solving puzzles and fighting the big bad, Ganon, to save their homeland. The wildly successful “breath of the Wild” completely challenged the boundaries of the franchise by featuring a vast open world, allowing players to choose what monsters and puzzles they wanted to pursue, rather than following the traditional linear format of previous games. because of how groundbreaking and fun “breath of the Wild” proved to be, fans have been excited about the sequel since it was first announced in 2019.

Though the game’s story hasn’t been completely revealed yet, there have been hints that Ganon is back and that Zelda and Link are going to be separated somehow. none of this is super interesting and is very typical of “Zelda” games, but since the story hasn’t entirely been unveiled, I’m hoping there’s still a twist somewhere.

Although some have expressed disappointment that “Tears of the Kingdom” uses mostly the same map as “breath of the Wild,” I’m very excited to revisit it. The map is so large that you could explore it for a hundred hours and still not have discovered every area and secret in the game. Additionally, there will be two completely new areas — the underground and the sky — that feel very promising. The sky brings back fond memories of “skyward s word,” an earlier game in the series that featured traveling from a civilization in the sky to the surface world as one of its main mechanics. I’m really curious about who inhabits the sky and the underground in “Tears of the Kingdom” and what purpose these areas will serve.

The latest trailer highlighted a variety of intriguing new mechanics, but also raised some related story questions. Link seems to be wearing some kind of glove or arm prosthetic that allows him to telekinetically move certain objects, as he could with another piece of technology in “breath of the Wild.” Where did he get this arm from? Is it an ancient technology, or perhaps a new invention?

Link can ride in various vehicles now, including what looks like a large lawn mower, a hover bike and a balloon. These vehicles are comically reminiscent of

the range of ridiculous yet entertaining tricks players exploited in “breath of the Wild” to get Link to places quickly, many of which would end up accidentally killing him because they often involved launching him too far and too fast.

For years, fans have speculated that in “Tears of the Kingdom,” Zelda might finally be playable alongside Link. A playable Zelda would be a fun way for the series to innovate upon its foundation. The possibilities for her abilities are vast, but I could see her functioning as a quasi-mage, using her magical powers in addition to Link’s technology. being able to switch between playing as Zelda and Link would also be a great way to learn more about Zelda’s storyline, which we often don’t see much of in earlier games. Zelda being playable is far-fetched, but if this happens I would probably spend all my money on the game immediately. It’s gotten to the point where I think I would be a little sad if it didn’t happen, despite the fact that there’s no reason to expect it at all.

“Tears of the Kingdom” will be released on may 12, 2023. Until then, I will be eagerly awaiting news of a playable Zelda and more information about the game’s plot.

Contact Caitlin Brannigan at cbrannig@nd.edu

By OLIVIA SCHATZ scene Writer

Just like any other girl growing up in the 2000s, I watched TLc (which at one point stood for “The Learning channel”) religiously. From “19 Kids and counting” to “sister Wives,” I was obsessed with watching whatever strange concoction TLc brewed on that given day. This past year, however, I think TLc has outdone themselves.

dating shows like “Love Island,” “The bachelor” and “Too hot to handle” have taken the internet by storm. every week, there seems to be a new dating show with some new twist to hook the viewer. on Jan. 15, 2023, TLc separated itself from the pack, unleashing “mILF manor.” If you haven’t already heard of this hot mess of a television show, buckle up, because it’s a wild ride.

The premise is a twist on the more traditional “older man with younger girl” trope. rather than renouncing this stereotype, “mILF manor” plans to capitalize on it, this time with older women. The show begins with eight women in their 40s-50s at a resort in mexico. These women were supposedly told that they would be prospects for young, attractive men. After drinking and getting to know each other, the producers bring the “milfs” to a white curtain. As it drops, these milfs quickly realize that their sons are the “hot, young” men for them to seduce.

out of the countless crazy reality dating shows out there, “mILF manor” might take the cake for the cringiest and most uncomfortable to watch. so far, there are four episodes released, with TLc skipping last week’s episode due to the super bowl.

Just like other reality shows, “mILF manor” has challenges

for each mother-son pair to complete in to win perks. The first episode has the blindfolded mothers feeling up the shirtless young men to guess which is their son. The winners (the ones who could complete the challenge in the shortest amount of time) won two suites, each with their own jacuzzi or hot tub. Yes, the mother and son share a room while simultaneously trying to seduce other contestants, as that totally won’t create any awkward situations.

This episode has Kelle, aka “disco mommy,” telling another mom that she was going to sleep with her son. Later on, she complains that her own son was blocking her from her desires because he followed her into their bedroom that night. Another majorly uncomfortable snippet from the episode is Jimmy telling the camera how much he loves another mom’s feet. This confession forces the audience to do nothing but cringe as Jimmy goes into excruciating detail about his fantasy.

now, if you somehow got through the first episode, the second episode is even more… chaotic?

The challenge for the second episode was “the wall of secrets,” which is exactly what it sounds like. The contestants are presented with a wall of confessions and must guess which was their mother’s or son’s. While most are definitely not PG — they range from sleeping with someone on the beach or in a fancy restaurant — none compare to the revelation that one mother slept with her son’s best friend. You might be asking why would anyone ever do that, or ever admit to it on national television. And I have no real answer for you, except: Why would you go on this show in the first place?

In addition to all the extremely awkward interactions, there was also some racism in the mix. “disco mom” can’t stand two mothers speaking spanish — their native language,

while in mexico — to their sons.

The third and fourth episode follow in a similar vein to the first two. With only eight prospects, jealousy is festering in the manor at this point. romance is beginning to flourish, and a love triangle between two sons and one mom. The addition of an absurd amount of alcohol in each episode definitely causes some of the tension that we love.

In the third episode, there is a scene where a son massages his blindfolded mom, and his mom starts moaning and saying some explicit things about him. episode four kicks off a mother-son duo that was not finding any romantic relationships in the villa. episode five will introduce a new motherson duo into the already-crazy mansion.

so would I recommend watching it? Probably not. Will I continue to watch it? Absolutely. It is like a car crash — I can’t peel my eyes away, no matter how horrendous it is.

If you want to watch it, I would honestly just recommend watching cody Ko’s reactions to the first three episodes and picking up from there; he really gets all the highlights. episode five will release on sunday, Feb. 19, so if you plan on watching it, you can binge it this weekend.

Contact Olivia Schatz at oschatz@nd.edu

“MILF Manor”

Favorite episodes: They’re all equally terrible, but also fantastic.

If you like: Freud, Oedipus, “Are You the One?”

Where to watch: Discovery+, TLC GO

Happy Birthday: Set high standards, forge ahead and refuse to let changes others make throw you off course. Intelligence, speed and agility will help you outmaneuver anyone who gets in your way this year. Adjust your surroundings to suit your needs, making your life more convenient and your time better spent. have patience and build a solid foundation; you will thrive. your numbers are 7, 12, 24, 27, 31, 34, 43.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Say less and do more. Work alone, perfect what you are trying to achieve, and present and market what you have to offer. Acting in haste will put you in a vulnerable position and can cost you getting the approval you require.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Dream on, but don’t lose sight of what’s possible. Be observant, and don’t ignore a valid point that can help bring about change at a price you can afford. rethink your steps and pay attention to what’s within your reach. romance is favored.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): It will be easier to accomplish your objective if you don’t let others take over. A geographical change will entice you, but before you move or plan a trip, do your homework. A poor decision will turn into a costly mistake.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Put your best foot forward. Enhance your personal life, update your image or pick up additional skills or qualifications. Discuss your plans with someone who can offer expert advice. Turn your aspiration into a reality; speak up and pursue your dream.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Travel, Be realistic and map out a plan to help you get from one point to another without interference. Don’t be afraid to make suggestions or follow through with your goals alone. Emotional spending will ruin your budget and slow down your plans.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Take a chance and play to win. Size up situations and consider the benefits of participating in something. you’ll discover how to improve your life and relationships with others. Put your energy into self-improvement, relaxation and rejuvenation.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Make up your mind and either fork to the left or right, but don’t keep switching sides or changing your mind. Discipline and hard work will get you where you want to go. your intelligence won’t let you down; step forward with confidence.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Explore events, activities and educational pursuits and see how what you discover plays into your plans. keeping busy and engaging in informative and affirming outings will encourage positive conversation and development. romance is in the stars.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Think; if you act in haste, you’ll overstep your bounds or end up paying too much for something. research will spare you from making a mistake. Ask questions and choose to do your own thing if it makes more sense.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Emotions will surface regarding money matters. Be upfront; a solution will help you put things in perspective and a strategy in place. A passionate approach to living and working will make life easier.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Don’t sit back if you want to make an impression. Make your move with finesse. your energy and intellect will capture someone’s interest and encourage talks that can bring about positive change. leave nothing to chance; doors will open.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): learn from your mistakes, and you’ll know instinctively when to make a move and when to sit tight. Sign up for projects that make a difference to those less fortunate or help to keep our planet and its inhabitants healthy and strong.

Birthday Baby: you are insightful, reactive and diligent. you are knowledgeable and organized.

Irish look to best No. 7 Virginia

By MATTHEW CROW

Associate sports editor

notre dame men’s basketball will be on the road for an Acc matchup saturday afternoon with no. 7 virginia. In the last week and a half, the Irish have lost three games by a combined 12 points. saturday provides another opportunity to flip the script and win away from home for the first time all season. It won’t be easy, though, as virginia has looked like the strongest team in the Acc and enters the game on the heels of three consecutive wins.

notre dame will be seeking their first-ever win at virginia’s John Paul Jones Arena in their eighth trip to charlottesville. The Irish have struggled to compete with the cavaliers since joining the Acc in 2013, posting a 2-11 record in the teams’ meetings during that time frame. To be fair, the same could be said for most programs in the country, as virginia has been one of college basketball’s best and most consistent programs of the last decade.

The Irish did get the better of the cavaliers in their most recent matchup, pulling out a narrow 69-65 win at Purcell Pavilion last January. They were led by graduate students guard dane Goodwin and forward nate Laszewski, who each scored 16 points. notre dame will need similar standout performances from their two leading scorers if they hope to get the same result this year.

Last season, the Irish entered that virginia game having won nine of their previous 10 games. They would finish the year with a 15-5 conference record, good for a share of second place in the Acc and a trip to the ncAA Tournament. It’s been a different story for the current notre dame squad. These Irish have won just one of their last nine, sending their record tumbling down to 10-16 — 2-13 in Acc play.

The good news for notre dame fans is that the Irish come into the game after a solid effort that saw them nearly come away with a road victory against duke on Tuesday. The game was especially meaningful, given that it represented the last trip to durham for notre dame head coach mike brey, who served as an assistant coach for the blue devils from 1987 to 1995. While his team fell 68-64, they pushed one of the Acc’s best teams to the limit in a challenging environment. It was a clear step forward for the Irish after suffering a string of uninspiring defeats in prior days.

The Irish as a whole had a tough shooting night against duke, going 6-21 from three-point range. but a Goodwin scoring clinic gave them a massive boost. coming off the bench for the first time this year, he finished with a season-high 25 points on an efficient 11-13 from the floor. he almost single-handedly kept notre dame in the game

during the second half, especially during an incredible stretch in which he scored seven straight Irish baskets worth 17 points. That one-man run saw notre dame trim their deficit from 10 down to four. They would get within one in the final minute after a critical basket from freshman guard JJ starling. but a duke three-pointer on the ensuing possession allowed the blue devils to escape with a win.

Goodwin’s red-hot shooting was perhaps the primary factor in the Irish nearly pulling off the upset. but their defensive effort was almost as important. Just three days after ceding 93 points against virginia Tech, notre dame buckled down, largely stifling a talented duke team. They will need to bring that same intensity on saturday. The cavaliers are stout defensively, allowing 70-plus points just twice all season. both teams like to play at a slow pace offensively. The Irish hope to connect on more shots than virginia, who is second in the Acc in three-point percentage.

The cavaliers (20-4, 12-3 Acc) have been one of the most efficient offensive teams in the country. They make shots at a high rate, lead the conference in assists per game and rarely turn the ball over. Like notre dame, they don’t play with much size, but their dynamic backcourt makes them tough to stop. starting guards Kihei clark and reece beekman each average at least five assists per game and shoot around 40% from threepoint range. It is vital for the Irish to prevent them from getting too comfortable and dictating the pace of the game. Jayden Gardner averages just over 11 points per game and is the cavaliers’ primary interior presence. Armaan Franklin and Isaac mcKneely have been among the Acc’s deadliest long-range shooters. Their balanced offense means that it will take a full-team effort from notre dame to slow them down.

defeating a top-10 opponent is never easy, especially on the road. but notre dame has an opportunity on saturday to come away with a true, signature win. The Irish will make the trip to v irginia as heavy underdogs. but if they get another standout performance from Goodwin — combined with locked-in defensive play and a bounce-back shooting game from the entire team — there’s no reason notre dame can’t keep the game close into the late stages. maybe they even emerge with a much-needed victory.

notre dame will face off with v irginia on saturday in c harlottesville. Tipoff is at noon, and the game is available on esPn2.

Contact Matthew Crow at mcrow@nd.edu

Irish set to promote Parker, hire Guidugli

By J.J. POST sports Writer

After the departure of Tommy r ees, who held both the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator positions at n otre d ame, the Irish appear set to replace him with a pair of coaches. s ources expect n otre d ame to promote tight ends coach Gerad Parker to offensive coordinator. They’ll fill the quarterbacks coach position with Wisconsin assistant Gino Guidugli.

o n Tuesday, multiple outlets first reported that n otre d ame had filled the quarterback coach vacancy. Guidugli is currently the tight ends coach at Wisconsin after a stint as c incinnati’s offensive coordinator. The Irish tabbed him for the role in s outh b end after just a few months in m adison. Guidugli worked with Irish head coach m arcus Freeman on the b earcats’ staff from 2017-2020 before Freeman’s move to n otre d ame.

c oaching staffs can’t be of unlimited size, and the hiring of Guidugli as an additional position-specific coach, along with the ongoing offensive line coach vacancy, seemed to imply n otre d ame planned on an internal hire. Irish tight ends coach Gerad Parker, considered a longshot candidate to fill the offensive coordinator role at the beginning of the search, emerged as a likely and potentially imminent option.

o ther sources reported the news as Wednesday evening progressed. Parker, who has no experience coaching quarterbacks and thus couldn’t fill a similar dual role as r ees, is in line to be promoted.

Guidugli’s track record is far from the longest, having

smC BAskEtBAll

five years of experience as a quarterbacks coach.

h owever, plenty of achievements stand out on his resume. For one, he helped develop d esmond r idder from an unheralded threestar ( r idder wasn’t even ranked on 247sports’ composite top 1000 players) to a two-time AA c offensive player of the year and a 2022 n FL draft pick. Also notable is Guidugli’s role in helping to develop the 2021 c incinnati offense. Guidugli helped the b earcats make a shock run to the c ollege Football Playoff as the team’s passing game coordinator, designing and calling plays on an offense that averaged nearly 37 points per game.

Irish fans no doubt will have plenty of familiarity with Guidugli’s offense, as c incinnati’s signature win in their underdog Playoff run was an upset of n otre d ame on the road in s outh b end.

Further enhancing Guidugli’s resume is his experience, however brief, as the head of an offense. Guidugli was promoted to offensive coordinator by former b earcats head coach Luke Fickell ahead of last season, expanding his role that was previously much more passing-specific. The Irish are set to have a young staff on the offensive side of the ball. The average age of the present Irish offensive staff is just over 43, overseen by a 37-year-old defensive-minded head coach. With such young staff members, Guidugli’s experience will likely prove invaluable. h is experience as a playcaller and passing-game coordinator looms especially large when considering the expected promotion of Parker to offensive coordinator. m ost reports at this

time indicate n otre d ame passed up, for one reason or the other, on potentially hiring Andy Ludwig, who has two decades of play calling and coordinating experience.

The Irish staff clearly sees something in Parker, but the 42-year-old has only two years of experience as a coordinator under his belt. e ven then, it’s unclear precisely how much playcalling autonomy Parker had at his previous stop at West v irginia. b ut if n otre d ame’s decision is betting on Parker, it makes sense for them to try to surround him with as solid of a sounding board as possible.

Parker’s aforementioned tenure at West v irginia is uneven. The m ountaineer offense showed progression over the course of Parker’s two years, particularly during the back half of 2021 when he reportedly gained full play-calling duties. h owever, the fact of the matter still remains that Parker was demoted ahead of the 2022 campaign, a decision that no doubt played a role in his eventual departure to coach tight ends at n otre d ame.

A close friend of Freeman dating back to their shared time at Purdue, Parker’s relationship with the Irish head coach has been emphasized as a strong point in his potential promotion. There’s a mutual trust between the two that should aid their working partnership.

b ut as spring ball looms large just a month away, the Irish will need to start work rapidly to ensure their gamble on staff continuity turns into tangible results.

Contact J.J. Post at jpost2@nd.edu

Belles fall to Trine

By AIDAN THOMAS sports editor

d espite 15 points from senior guard m addie r zepka, the s aint m ary’s b elles couldn’t pull off a shocker to end their season, losing 85-49 to nationally-ranked Trine. The Thunder are currently tied for the first in the m IAA; the b elles sit at seventh. They finished their season with a 4-12 conference record, going

7-18 overall. The latter mark represented a small improvement on last year’s 6-20 mark.

Junior guard Athena s amson also stood out for the b elles on Wednesday night, collecting 10 rebounds and nine points. Freshman guard n icole c onnolly added nine points and a pair of steals off the bench. d espite the strong individual performances, however, s aint m ary’s

couldn’t match Trine’s firepower. The Thunder’s s idney Wagner led all scorers with 23 points and Trine’s bench scored 44 points, sparked by 14 from Abby s anner. s aint m ary’s got off to a quick start, stifling Trine for the first three minutes and taking a 5-4 lead on a three-pointer from sophomore guard Julia s chutz.

coaching, valdez found a groove at the opening of the second, but he couldn’t slow mcLeod down for long. The third was more of the same, with valdez landing some body jabs and mcLeod aiming hooks to the head. ultimately, mcLeod took the bout by split decision.

Luke “Mantequilla” Slahor def. Scott “Mr. Clean”

Weitman

senior club captain slahor quickly took control of the first round in this bout landing few but tactical punches. With a more dominant stance, “mantequilla” sealed the deal in the second round, forcing several counts on “mr. clean.” slahor won by unanimous decision after a referee stoppage in the third round.

Noah “Bingus” Mader def.

Elliot “The Lake” Como both boxers hesitated to throw the first punch and danced around the ring for a bit until mader landed a hard hit. mader subsequently ended the round with an offensive attack. como reset in the second but couldn’t get away from mader’s right hook. mader got como into the corner to end the second, much to the delight of a boisterous crowd for “bingus.” After pushing “The Lake” on the back of his heels for most of the third, mader won by unanimous decision.

Alex “JackPotts” Potts def.

Vinny “Cold Cut” Galassi

After a slow start, potts found a window to land a series of jabs one right after another. potts didn’t let up, leaving galassi with little time to recuperate in the first round. “cold cut” was ready for the second round, putting “Jackpotts” on the defensive for the first time. but the latter steadily regained control in front of a massive crowd. some hesitation from galassi left the door wide open for potts to win by unanimous decision.

Graham “El Toro” McColgan

def. Richard “The Lionheart”

The first round of this bout between two sorin boxers was all mccolgan. “el Toro” swung and landed most of his hits. graf barely had time to swing in the second before mccolgan pushed him into the ropes and almost to the ground. even with a bloody nose, mccolgan continued his rampage. neither boxer held anything back in the final round, and “el Toro”

Belles

con TI nued from pAge 12

b ut over the final six minutes and 59 seconds of the first quarter, the b elles managed just a single free throw. That free throw actually extended the s aint m ary’s lead to 6-4 with four minutes and 33 seconds left. b ut after six minutes of stifling defense from the b elles, the floodgates opened. Trine flexed

took the win home by unanimous decision.

Mitchell “Downtown” Brown def. Sean “Wheezy” McAleer both boxers came out swinging early, with mcAleer having a slight advantage in terms of significant strikes. The highlight moment of this round came when a right hook from “Wheezy” caused brown to stumble before recovering. despite bleeding in the first round, “downtown” came out in the second with newfound energy, landing many body and head shots. entering the third round with the result undecided, both boxers had something to prove. While brown exited the fight more bloody than his opponent, he edged out an impressive split-decision victory.

Yanni “Quadzilla” Vu def.

Kyle “Rub” Pulido

With an onslaught of body shots, vu looked to tire his opponent early in the first. however, composure from “rub” pulido allowed him to hammer vu with many upper body hooks. pulido continued to show discipline in the second, backing vu into a corner before being separated by the referee. After a close third round where ‘Quadzilla’ landed many headshots, the judge called a split-decision victory for vu.

Nicholas “Nick” Buhay def. Jack “Post” Malone nicholas “nick” buhay took the first round in this bout after quick feet and hands allowed him to effectively strike his opponent while slipping most punches. despite a valiant effort from “post” malone, buhay continued to display his dominance in the second round, landing a variety of strikes that left “post” with a bloody nose. The third round was split in terms of strikes landed for both fighters. but buhay took this contest by unanimous decision.

Mitch “Mr. Snowman” MacDonald def. Noah “The Manic Hispanic” Baca

In a close first round, macdonald showed his composure, landing many hits to the head of baca. “mr. snowman” continued to get the better of his opponent, with baca on the back heel for the majority of the second round. determined to turn the tide of the bout, “The manic hispanic” exited the final round with many significant strikes landed. however, macdonald took the win after a consistent display of excellence throughout the fight.

Kevin “For The Brand” Stein def. Daniel “The Rocketman”

Mooney

After a long wait to begin the fight, stein came running into the ring to avoid being disqualified before the bout started. but stein was ready once he stepped into the ring, showboating after landing numerous hits in the first round on mooney. on the front foot entering the second round, “for The brand” continued to display his dominance with a series of shots to the head of mooney. despite an attempt to come back in the third, “The rocketman” was unable to return the hooks that “for The bran” was laying onto him. stein brought the unanimous decision victory back to the o’.

Matthew “Two Cup” Turzai def. Matheson “Schlime”

McCune

“Two cup” Turzai came into the ring guns blazing from the gold corner, forcing an eight-count in the first few seconds of the bout. The pittsburgh native continued to work the levels, landing jabs and hooks both to the body and head of his opponent mccune. “Two cup” continued the onslaught of punches in the second round, pushing “schlime” into the ropes and resulting in an early end to the bout. Turzai was declared the winner by a referee stop contest.

“Average” Joe Rozgonyi def. “Wham Bam” Cameron Hagy stepping out to chants of “Let’s go Joe,” namesake “Average” Joe rozgonyi landed the first punches. hagy made an effort to keep out of striking distance, but rozgonyi still connected with several measured jabs and hooks. “Wham ba”’ turned up the counterattack in round two, but “Average” responded stronger, resulting in two eightcounts and sending hagy toppling over. both boxers sent fists flying in the final round, but “Average” found the target with accuracy and power, ultimately winning the bout by unanimous decision.

“The Real Big” Mike Guyette def. Dante “The Inferno”

Gardini

Though he did not quite descend to the ninth circle, dante “The Inferno” gardini withstood some heat from guyette. gardini slid in a few jabs, but guyette kept him on the defensive with repeated bursts of offensive combos that jostled his opponent’s red headgear. by unanimous decision, “The real big” took home the victory.

Chris “The Delco Destroyer”

Zack def. PJ “Northside”

Summers roving the ring in a pair of nonchalant nike sneakers,” Zack started the round with several heavy-handed hooks. summers answered with some jabs of his own, but “The delco destroyer” and his nearly automatic right hook proved punishing. Though he walked out of the ring nose bloodied, Zack won the bout by unanimous decision.

Charlie “Scro” Fredian def. Brooks “Reds” McConnell fredian and brooks met in the ring with impressive agility and movement around the ring. When “scro” landed a punch, fans could hear his sharp contact from across dahnke ballroom. The fight continued with lightning-quick hands and ample slips, fakes and fades from both sides. fredian solidified the upper hand in the third round, winning the bout by split decision.

Charles “Attilio” Martin def.

Brendan “Classic” McGinn

In a bout characterized by powerful punches from both sides, martin generated a strong offense right away. “Attilio” frequently stepped into striking distance with a barrage of punches, rendering mcginn unable to fire back. In the final round, “classic” gave martin a run for his money, but it wasn’t enough to split the decision. “Attilio” won the bout unanimously.

Patrick “PSweet” Sweet def.

Matthew “Big Chief” Daly daly had a distinct height and reach advantage, but sweet managed the challenge strategically, punching at an angle and leaping quickly out of reach. “psweet” connected with his opponent’s body and chin, while “big chief” countered with pendulum-like swings. sweet continued to find daly’s headgear in the final round, earning a unanimous victory.

Nolan “Toothless” Lyon def. Liam “Young Blood” Emerick moving quickly from body to head, Lyon berated emerick with punches early. “Toothless” moved quickly, leaving emerick unsure where to keep his hands to defend. The unflagging attack from Lyon gave “Young blood” the opportunity to land a few jabs. but that effort would not be enough. out of the blue corner, “Toothless” won the bout by unanimous decision.

Bobby “Sweet Bobby Ray” Fitzpatrickdef.Aldo“Modelo”

Plascencia unlike the barbecue sauce, “sweet bobby ray” and his punches were more spicy than sweet. plascencia faced a slew of sharp and technical jabs from fitzpatrick. “modelo” threw more in the second round, but “sweet bobby ray” adjusted to leap out of reach and land several of his own clean hits. fitzpatrick dominated the third round, securing his unanimous victory.

Nirajan “One Punch” Koirala def. Theo “Pacman” Pacchiana fighting fire with fire, Koirala and pacchiana both wanted to be the most aggressive boxer in the ring. The duo continued to swing and lap the ring, but “pacman” began to show signs of fatigue at the end of the second round. favoring hooks, “one punch” controlled the floor in the final round and won the bout by split decision.

Chris Myint def. Ralphy “Cuba Libre” Rodriguez myint started the bout with a lot of aggression, focusing on hyper-fast body shots and uppercuts. “cuba Libre” refused to cave to the ambush, throwing his own punches back at myint. both sides absorbed a lot of heavy punches, but myint held his competitive edge, winning the bout by unanimous decision.

Raleigh “Silver” Bulleit def. Brendan “Beebs” Bwyer “silver” bulleit shot off continual punches in round one while bwyer maintained a fortress-like shell of protection. “beebs” succumbed to pressure as the bout went on, and bulleit imposed repeated eightcounts. “silver” bulleit perfected his hook by the final round, earning a decisive victory by unanimous decision.

William “Heinsberg” White def. Sebastian “Ace” Villa villa showed his hand immediately upon the opening bell, slipping punches from “heinberg” and quickly counterattacking. simultaneously, White threaded villa’s gloves, placing several punches to the head. The two battled through all three rounds, slowing from fatigue by the final round and counteracting each other’s punches. In the end, persistence from “heinberg” made him the victor by split decision.

Contact Alysa Guffey at aguffey@ nd.edu, Nicholas Morles at nmorles@nd.edu and Maggie Eastland at meastlan@nd.edu

their muscles, ripping off a 13-0 run to seize control of the game.

That momentum carried to the second quarter, as Trine scored 28 points in the frame.

Triples from r zepka and c onnolly kept the b elles within striking distance, down 2516 after five minutes expired in the quarter. An ensuing 13-2 run by Trine buried the b elles in the first half, however, as the Thunder opened up a 38-18 lead. They led 45-23 at

the halftime break.

The second half was largely academic. The two squads went back and forth in the third quarter, which Trine was more than happy with, maintaining an advantage of more than 20 points. The Thunder led by 26 at the end of the quarter. In the final

quarter of the b elles’ season, they notched 12 points but couldn’t stop Trine’s redhot offense. Trine shot 55% from the field on the day. The Thunder ballooned their lead to 34 points and saw out their victory. r zepka notched the final three-pointer of s aint m ary’s season with just under

two and a half minutes to play.

The b elles graduate three seniors but return the rest of the roster next season, and they’ll look to improve on their win total again in 2023-24.

Contact Aidan Thomas at athoma28@nd.edu

Ring B

con T inued from page 16

The first round saw the quickness of both fighters. mistichelli got mendez on his heels a few times, but mendez landed a hit to force a count midway through the round. The second round was much more even as the boxers exchanged hits. mistichelli took off after mendez to start the third and got him on the ropes several times. a lthough a count was forced both ways, mistichelli dominated the round and ultimately, by unanimous decision, won the bout.

Michael “Deagle” Nilsen of O’Neill Family Hall def. Mike “Mack Truck” Thieme nilsen stayed out of Thieme’s reach for most of the first round, landing his own combinations on the off-campus senior. in the second round, nilsen stayed out of reach again and eventually landed a hard hit to Thieme’s head. a fter the referee stopped the contest to force a count for Thieme, he declared nilsen the winner.

Robert “The Puma from Petulma” Isetta def. Phil “Il Capo” Pollice of Baumer Hall pollice wasted no time forcing a count for isetta in the first and he landed several more blows before the round ended. The second round started much more even, but pollice still led. isetta dodged well until late in the round when pollice landed two hard hits and forced a count just before time was called. pollice danced around isetta through the third as well, forcing one more count before time was called and ultimately pollice won by unanimous decision.

Charlie “Monk” Alberino of O’Neill Family Hall def. Sean “Ice” Cole of Sorin College a lberino was patient, allowing some early hits from cole, but closed the round with a rocket into cole’s head that forced a count. a lberino stayed patient but sped up his pace a little in the second round. cole made more significant contact through the second, but not without an answer from a lberino. a lberino forced another count early in the third, but that lit a fire under cole — until a lberino threw another hook and cole went into an eight-count again. by split decision, a lberino won the bout.

Damien “Sauce of the Month” Sylva of Fisher Hall def. Sebastian “The Portuguese Stallion” Pires of Dillon Hall both boxers came out on the offensive, but sylva ended round one on a high note, landing some jabs on pires. in the second round, both boxers found some energy and landed some punches out of the gate. but sylva again asserted himself as the round went on. in the final round, sylva yet again took control of the fight, forcing pires into a count

multiple times. sylva dominated the fight from start to finish and ultimately won by unanimous decision.

Jackson “The Stallion”

Graham of Stanford Hall def. Michael ”Hendy” Hendrickson of St. Edward’s Hall

hendrickson went on the offensive early and landed some punches, but graham countered well and landed some strong jabs on hendrickson. graham wasted no time building off his momentum in the second round, landing some decisive blows to hendrickson early in the round. graham landed some more large blows to hendrickson, forcing the referee to stop the contest and award graham the victory.

Michael “Money”

Winchester def. Brendan “Bedtime” Nolte

nolte tried to come out on the offensive, but Winchester successfully blocked some punches and landed some jabs of his own. both boxers then landed some jabs early in the next round. but nolte landed some decisive punches late, outlasting Winchester in the round to take control of the fight. in the third round, both boxers were noticeably fatigued, but Winchester landed some strong jabs early in the round to win the fight by split decision.

Caz “Manian Devil” Kotsen of Alumni Hall def. Ben “The Crusader” Romenesko of Dunne Hall

in the opening round, Kotsen took control of the fight early by landing some strong blows on romenesko. Kotsen seized control of the fight in the second round, pinning romenesko in the corner and landing a series of decisive blows. in the final round, romenesko showed some heart and landed some jabs, but Kotsen proved to be too much for romenesko to overcome. ultimately, Kotsen won the fight by unanimous decision.

Kian “The Persian Excursion” Shinaver of Keough Hall def. Charlie “Chill” Schmidt of Morrissey Manor

both boxers came out of the gates on the offensive and each boxer landed some strong jabs in a competitive opening round. in the second round, shinaver took control of the fight by landing some strong blows on schmidt. in the final round, schmidt fought back by landing some quick one-two punches on shinaver. shinaver would fight back, though, to take control of the fight and win by split decision.

Nicolas “The Italian Bullet” Biondo of Duncan Hall def. Zach “The Beast from the Bay” McKay of O’Neill Family Hall

both boxers flew out of the gate and went on the offensive early, but biondo finished strong in the opening round by slipping some punches from

mcKay and landing some strong jabs. biondo took control of the fight early in the second round, forcing mcKay into the corner. mcKay fought back in the final round and landed some punches on biondo. however, biondo finished the round by landing some punishing blows, doing enough to win by split decision.

Christian “X” Miller of Knott Hall def. Gavin “The Beard” Carr of Siegfried Hall both boxers came out of the gate cautiously, but miller landed some strong blows on carr in the later part of the round, forcing carr into a count early. carr fought back in the second round, landing some blows on miller to make the fight interesting heading into the final round. both boxers landed some jabs in the early part of the last round, but miller landed some decisive late blows to win the fight by unanimous decision.

Jack “Ghost” Phillips def. Eli “Beepbop” Gay gay started out on the offensive in the opening round, forcing phillip to use his athleticism and footwork to dodge and block punches. phillips kept active in the second round, and he was better able to hold his ground against gay’s attacks. To start off the final minute of the competition, phillips landed a huge hit, causing the third stoppage of boxing in as many rounds. behind his big blows, phillips carried the day by unanimous decision.

Rob “The Voodoo Ranger”

Rucki of Carroll Hall def. Rodrigo “Rorro” Juarez of Keough Hall rucki displayed a relaxed composure in the first round, throwing Juarez off his guard. Kicking off the second round, rucki again would not back down, and Juarez opted for a second clinch of the match, procrastinating the inevitable rucki onslaught. Juarez showed some resolve in the third round, bouncing around the ring to get a better angle over rucki. at the final round’s end, though, no debate was needed, as rucki won by unanimous decision.

Jesse “Justice” Salazar of Morrissey Manor def. Harry “The Water Buffalo” Clinton despite taking some heavy hits, clinton kept his head down and chipped away at salazar’s endurance in the opening minute of the matchup. clinton put salazar on the ropes to start off round two before “The Water buffalo” stumbled on one knee. Later in the second, a dazed clinton fell into the ropes and emerged with a bloody mouth. salazar took advantage of clinton’s caution in the third round and again forced clinton head-first into the ropes. salazar would win by unanimous decision.

Cole “Buonanotte”

Ceravolo of Baumer Hall def. Dan “The Problem”

Law of Dillon Hall

The first round started off fairly even with both boxers throwing many punches of moderate vigor. however, to close round one, ceravolo powered Law onto the ropes for almost 10 seconds. ceravolo again got the better of Law midway through the second round, pushing his opponent in blue shorts around the ring. The match would be suddenly stopped there, and the first-year from baumer hall brought home the victory for his buccaneers.

Sean “Peg-Leg” Mullen of Morrissey Manor def. Felix

“Mardi Graze” Smolen of O’Neill Family Hall

mullen landed several righthand blows in the first 30 seconds of the matchup, pinning smolen again and again into the east-end ropes of ring b. round two was much of the same, with mullen pushing smolen in a northwesterly direction this time. early in round three, mullen caused a quick stoppage in the boxing. When blood appeared on smolen’s left arm, the bout was stopped again for good. in the gold shorts, mullen stood victorious, winning by referee stoppage.

Jacob “Goose” Gose def.

Tommy “The Tank Engine”

Sylvia of Knott Hall

The sophomore in blue, sylvia stood comfortably in his shoes for most of the first 60 seconds. gose nonetheless turned it around in round two, necessitating two referee pauses for sylvia’s safety. in the final round of play, “goose” came out firing, leaning into every blow against sylvia and eventually causing another stoppage. before the bell rang to end the fight, gose was able to put his head down further, and he stuck some more fatal blows into sylvia. gose would win by unanimous decision.

Isaac “Ice” Culp of Fisher Hall def. Will “Sleepy Time”

Robbins of Knott Hall

in the 186-pound division preliminary, both boxers displayed picture-perfect form throughout the first round. by the end of 60 seconds, neither gold nor blue shorts could get the better of the other. robbins worked hard to catch his breath during round two, but still, no competitor showed any advantage with a minute to go. The third round was not messy, but both culp and robbins got into the weeds together. The judges favored culp by unanimous decision.

Jack “Scudboat” Taylor of Dillion Hall def. Ethan “Crouton” Hoying of Fisher Hall

it took about half of round one before the sculpted Taylor induced hoying into a stumble. in round two, Taylor knocked hoying’s face skyward a couple of times. nevertheless, hoying continued to employ footwork to get around Taylor’s relentless attacks. Taylor continued to bully hoying around the ring in the final round, causing a brief stoppage. before it was all said and done, hoying launched a last-second offensive,

which fell short of making up for the previous intervals of fighting. Taylor won by unanimous decision.

Ayush “The Tandoori Titan” Sindhwani def. Cam “White Noise” White of Fisher Hall White started off with no abandon, consecutively landing punch after punch. sindhwani led off the second round on a better note, making White work to get back on the offensive. by the end of round two, sindhwani had made some progress, leaving his opponent with a bloody face. That clearly angered White, and “White noise” immediately came out in round three slinging, pinning sindhwani up upon the ropes. both boxers furiously threw blows at one another to the final bell. by split decision, sindhwani’s late efforts took home the win.

Loren “Bird Legz” Hahn def. Max “Circus Maximus” Van Hollebeke

This matchup between two graduate students tilted in van hollebeke’s favor through round one. The seattle native van hollebeke, wearing gold, was not afraid to use his knees and get low for his own cause. hahn looked more intimidating in the next 60 seconds of action, and the second round closed in a clinch. van hollebeke again was required to put in the extra effort to reach the towering hahn in round three. arm raised high in the air, hahn won by split decision.

Roberto “El Patron” Rodriguez def. Jakub “Pizza Man” Drwal of Siegfried

Hall

The venezuelan native rodriguez laid drwal to waste with a slew of gut punches in the opening round. rodriguez did not relent in the next round, causing a referee stoppage about halfway through the match-up. drwal, though on his heels, kept his arms up valiantly to fend off rodriguez’s relentless swings in the final round. after another unsightly stoppage in the third round, “el patron” took home the victory by unanimous decision.

Hector “Bueno” Juarez def. Luke “The Slim Reaper” Huglin of Duncan Hall

a 168-lb round division preliminary between Juarez in gold and huglin in blue was ring b’s final matchup of the night. hughlin came out wildly in round one with a host of roundhouses, and his aggressiveness was rewarded when Juarez fell to his knees at the end of the opening minute. Juarez performed more formidably in round two, landing quite a few body hits on the lanky hgulin. both boxers laudably exerted all their remaining vitality in round three. To the joy of the dahnke ballroom crowd, Juarez won by split decision.

Contact Aidan O’Malley at aomalle2@nd.edu, Mannion McGinley at mmcginl3@nd.edu, Nate Moller at nmoller2@ nd.edu and Peter Breen at pbreen2@nd.edu and

BEngAl BoUts

2023 Bengal Bouts Preliminary Round: Ring A results

By ALYSA GUFFEY, NICOLAS MORLES and MAGGIE EASTLAND

editor-in-c

hief, sports Writer, Assistant managing editor

Emanuel “Escobar” telles Chaves def. Anthony “the Punisher” Papa

In front of a packed house to kick off the 93rd annual bouts, chaves came out swinging hard, but Papa was ready with firm punches of his own. both boxers stood their ground but started to grow fatigued at the end of the first round.

“The Punisher” pushed “escober” into the ropes early in the second round, and in the third, both had moments on the offensive. chaves landed enough to win by split decision.

Mattheos “Mattheos”

Mattheos def. Charlie “teletubby” gussen

What started out as an even first round led to mattheos pushing Gussen back on his heels and ended with a hard hit by mattheos. The second round was a defensive battle with both men dodging several series of jabs before mattheos

once again landed one to the head. With a loud siegfried crowd behind him, mattheos left it all in the ring in the third, pushing Gusen into a count. A hard right hook to the head sealed the win for mattheos by unanimous decision.

Michael “Crispy Chicken”

Rauch def. CJ “Chug Jug”

Kelly

This bout began as a test of who had quicker feet, with both rauch and Kelly using the whole ring. In the second, “crispy chicken” had “chug Jug” pushed into the ropes with a flurry of punches, but Kelly didn’t let up and dominated rauch up to the bell. both boxers stood their crowd with equally loud cheers of “Let’s go crispy” and “Let’s go cJ,” before rauch finished out the round to win by split decision, continuing the early dominance of the siegfried ramblers.

Andrew “Cowboy” Foote def. David “Mac Daddy”

McAllister

mcAllister and Foote were both ready to be aggressive, but neither could pull away in the first round. The boxers stuck together in the

second round each landed a fair share of punches to wear the other down. “mac daddy” swung more in the third but couldn’t connect as often as “cowboy,” eventually resulting in a win for Foote by split decision.

Patrick “the Farmer” Fitzgerald def. William “Best o’ the West” Brady

Fitzgerald used his smaller frame and worked his feet in the first and second rounds to his advantage and landed most of his punches on target, preventing brady from getting on the offensive. brady tamed “The Farmer’s” attack in the third, though, pushing him to a count not once, but twice. brady’s late surge was not enough to secure the win, with Fitzgerald taking it by split decision.

nathan “short stack” Mcleod def. Erick “Wu-tang” Valdez

In another even bout, mcLeod got to business early with aggressive punches and jabs, but valdez fended off the former’s attacks to stand his ground. After some

BEngAl BoUts

2023 Bengal Bouts Preliminary Round: Ring B results

By AIDAN O’MALLEY, MANNION McGINLEY, NATE MOLLER

and PETER

BREEN managing editor, Assistant managing editor, senior sports Writer, sports Writer

Ryan “Homie” Quan of Morrissey Manor def.

James “Italian scallion” sylvester of Knott Hall

In the first bout of ring b, Quan came out swinging, delivering a flurry of punches on sylvester with so much fury that the fighters backed into the referee, causing him to tip onto his back and nearly off the stage. To start off the second, sylvester regained his ground. but it was clear both boxers were still exhausted from the first. Quan ended the third round by backing sylvester against the ring. by unanimous decision, Quan was crowned the champion.

Caden “Cadenator”

McDevitt of Morrissey Manor def. grayson “g-Force” gabet of Knott Hall

To kick things off, Gabet nailed mcdevitt with a hit to the head

within the first seconds of the fight. but mcdevitt returned the favor to end the round. mcdevitt asserted his dominance in the second round, so much so that the match was cut short there. by referee-stopped contest, mcdevitt was the winner.

Dylan “Cha Cha” Cha of Dunne Hall def. Rob “the Builder” Crawford of stanford Hall

The boxers were evenly matched in the first round of this fight, dancing around the ring and exchanging blows. At the start of the second, cha was put on the defensive. but by the end of the round, he had turned the tables on crawford. cha continued to assert his control in the third. by unanimous decision, cha won the bout.

Ryan “letty” lally of Dunne Hall def. James “lindell l”

lindell of Dunne Hall

Lally immediately took the lead in this bout with his fellow dunne sentinel, bringing the heat early on and never taking his foot off the gas. In the second

round, Lindell took back some control, but not for long, with Lally backing him against the ring on two occasions. Lindell tried to turn things around in the third, but Lally ultimately took the W.

Aidan “sigma” Francfort of Morrisey Manor def. Varun “singapore slinger” taneja of Alumni Hall

Taneja struck first and quickly, landing a few but making sure to stay out of Francfort’s reach. Francfort went on his own run though, as the bell ended the first round. Taneja struck first again in the second, but Francfort answered much quicker this time and the round stayed even from there. Francfort brought his all in the third and forced Taneja to take a count. by unanimous decision, Francfort’s third round showing was enough to win.

Richie “Mysterious” Mistichelli of Keenan Hall def. CJ Mendez of sorin College

MICHAEL LI | The Observer

In the night’s first bout in Ring A, Carroll Hall senior Anthony Papa faces off against Siegfried Hall sophomore Emanuel Telles Chaves.

MICHAEL

Morrissey Manor senior Ryan Quan and Knott Hall freshman James Sylvester go head to head in the first fight of the night on Ring B.