Holy Cross

Page 1 grown into a tradition that brings both individual dorms and the community at large together.

“b efore the tournament, there wasn’t much of a hall identity. People really didn’t get together and do things together at hall events,” Williams noted. “The whole tournament, it got a lot of people out of their rooms and it just built friendships within the hall and within the holy c ross community.” student body president d ion Payne-m iller also praised the tournament for its effect on the community. he described how the tournament aims to “get people who are in the dorms to come out and interact with each other.”

“it has allowed for a greater integration of community and a close knit relationship between the dorms,” a fter the basketball games last week, the festivities continued with a spirit day where students wore their halls’ designated color, a bake-off and a talent show before concluding with trivia night on Wednesday night. a lthough the men in the first floor of Pulte hall pulled forward with an 80 point lead after winning the talent show, the women in the second floor of Pulte made a comeback in Trivia night to bring the hardware home.

Payne-m iller said.

Pulte hall second floor ra c armie c ataldo said she celebrated the comeback victory.

“Pulte 2 did an amazing job,” c ataldo said. “We are the first women’s hall to win, so our trophy is proudly on display in our hall!”

The Pulte women’s win did not go undisputed, however, with the men of Pulte claiming that not all of their team members had been counted at the final event. a fter discussion, the hall directors decided not to recount the points. d espite the controversy, Williams congratulated the women on “showing up and showing out,” while c ataldo thanked the men for “putting up a tough fight.” reflecting on the eventful week, Payne-m iller praised residence Life at holy c ross for “doing a great job” and noted that he hopes that events like this continue in the future.

Williams did add, though, that he plans on purchasing his own trophy for what he believes was a victory for the first floor of Pulte.

“it’s been a great success,” he said.

Contact Liam Kelly at lkelly8@nd.edu topics and complex issues.”

Zwart is the director of the dialogue Project, a program dedicated to encouraging communication across difficult subjects. Through this program, Zwart gained experience in promoting productive dialogue in tough topics.

Zwart says she also has experience facilitating topics about abortion due to her teaching. she has taught a medical ethics class for 15 years that has a unit dedicated to abortion. d ue to this experience, horan said Zwart is “the perfect person to help give the campus community some resources for how to approach listening, learning about and discussing topics like abortion on campus.”

Zwart’s conversation centered around three points she wanted the audience to consider: why is this a hard issue to talk about, why is it that it matters that we talk about it and what are some strategies we can use to have productive conversations? next, she asked the audience to ponder why it matters that we have these conversations. Zwart proposed to benefit ourselves as individuals, “we should always be testing our view and checking clarity and consistency.” i n short, she is asking people to learn from others in order to “create a community where people feel welcome.” she also encouraged what she referred to as curious questions. These questions are “routed in wanting to understand someone’s difference from you.” she emphasized that to ask these questions that are rooted in curiosity is to genuinely learn someone’s viewpoint, not defensive of your own.

First, she brought up that abortion is hard to talk about due to religious, political, moral and other differences. Zwart said that despite these differences, we don’t have to abandon our beliefs to have productive conversations and build a community.

Zwart lastly touched on important things to keep in mind when trying to have productive conversations, such as trust, sharing experiences and intending on gaining knowledge. she used these strategies to emphasize talking versus debating.

“i n debate there is a winner,” Zwart said.

“i f we shout down at others, we miss opportunities,” Zwart said.

The event wrapped up with a question and answer segment that centered around themes of places to have conversations, how to desolate bad conversations and the complexities of abortion rights.

The academic Program committee’s next event is march 2, horan says features “a team of sociologists who will present on their research on the local history of abortion in the greater south bend area.”

Following that, horan advertises the final event of the semester, a panel featuring President Katie conboy and other faculty members “addressing how the post-dobbs context affects the saint mary’s college community from a variety of perspectives.” additionally, several events on the same subject are being put on by the student Program committee. This committee is similar to the academic Program committee, except it is made up of students from various disciplines. Wallace said that this committee worked with Zwart in the fall to learn ways to have these difficult conversations.

Contact Katelyn Waldschmidt at kwaldschmidt01@saintmarys.edu