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NEWS
The observer | WEDNESDAY, march 24, 2021 | ndsmcobserver.com
Community-based course adapts to pandemic By MEGAN FAHRNEY News Writer
Despite COV ID-19 restrictions, Notre Dame professor Tatiana Botero has found ways to help students engage with the South Bend Latino community through her community-based learning course, “Immigration and the Construction of Memor y.” The course is taught in Spanish and covers the histor y of immigration, border crossings and current migrant issues. For the community-based aspect of the course, students meet with members of two non-profit organizations that serve the Latino community in South Bend: El Campito and La Casa de Amistad. On Thursday evenings, students gather in Hesburgh Librar y to listen to stories and interact with different people associated with the community organizations. This semester, students are putting together books about each of the organizations’ histories and key contributors over the years. Botero, a teaching professor of Spanish in the department of romance languages, said
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and hanging out w ith some friends,” she said. “It was ver y rela x ing to have a day off, but I definitely would have preferred the week off instead of hav ing these randomly scattered days.” First-year Maria Dy ro said she planned to use the day off to catch up on sleep and work. “I w ill be sleeping in, napping and reading Jane Austen for my literature class,” she said. “I plan to have a leisurely morning and am grateful to have the day off.” Dy ro a lso expressed
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the petition had received over 19,000 signatures. “W hen they announced that Justin Cava llo was only getting t wo misdemeanors, it didn’t rea lly get much attention, at least from the media that people back home, where Oliv ia’s from, rea lly k now about,” Hodnett, who attends the Universit y of Florida, said. “It honestly took a lot of digging for me to actua lly find this information out.” Sophomore Isabella Botello said she hopes the petition w ill be able to bring some peace to the families of the v ictims. “I don’t k now if something
this semester’s project idea was inspired by El Campito celebrating its 50th anniversar y and La Casa de Amistad celebrating its 48th anniversar y. She said these anniversaries led her to want to feature the organizations themselves. In past years, students traveled to the organizations to visit the children and interview their family members. They put together books about the family histories of those with whom they spoke and gave them the books at the end of the semester. Shannon Weyer, director of programs and operations at El Campito, said there are a lot of immigrant families at El Campito that have rich cultural and diverse backgrounds. “Giving [students] the opportunity to hear different people’s stories and backgrounds and kind of connect and ref lect on that is a huge takeaway for them,” Weyer said. Sophomore Caroline Zitnik, who is currently enrolled in the course, said it is challenging and nerve-wracking — yet worthwhile — to speak with native Spanish speakers. “It just kind of opens your eyes to other people’s
experiences more and allows you to be more empathetic and understand how this huge political issue right now is affecting real people,” Zitnik said. Botero created the course and has offered it for the past eight years. As the daughter of Colombian immigrants, she said she has always been interested in immigration issues. “Stor ytelling has always been also ver y important for me, so I kind of thought about it and pieced it together,” Botero said. “I started thinking about how I can create a class that works with the Latino community and what would be the project that the students would work on.” In the classroom, students read the book “La Otra Cara de América” (“The Other Face of America”) by Jorge Ramos, which tells immigrant stories and dispels common myths about immigration into the U.S. After taking the course last spring, junior Patrick Kelly said he was inspired to continue work on immigration issues. He currently interns at Friends Committee on National Legislation, a lobbying firm based in Washington D.C.
disappointment at the lack of a week long spring brea k. “I would rather have a week off because it would be more of a vacation than a catch up day,” she said. “If I did have the week off, I would be v isiting family, but this one day obv iously does not a llow us to leave.” A lthough first-year Riley Kostic said she w ished she could have had a norma l spring brea k, she was grateful to have a day w ithout classes. Kostic said she hoped to spend the day rela x ing and study ing. “I honestly don’t rea lly like that we don’t get a spring brea k, but there’s not much we can do about it,” she said.
“Of course, I would love to have a norma l spring brea k, but given the circumstances, one reading day is better than nothing.” In contrast w ith the students that said they planned on using the reading day to rela x on campus, there were some who planned on spending it outdoors. First-year Liz Grimm said she wanted to use the reading day to get outside and take a break from schoolwork. “I am going out to eat with my friends to take a mental health break from the stress of school,” Grimm said. “We like trying new restaurants in the area and eating outdoors, which allows us
big is going to happen or come out of this,” Botello said. “But I think doing this whole movement and giv ing the support to the families is what matters the most right now — giv ing them the strength that people are w ith them.” The petition is ca lling on the South Bend Police Department, the St. Joseph Count y Prosecutor, Indiana Attorney Genera l, U.S. Attorney Genera l, U.S. Attorney Northern District of Indiana and Gov. Eric Holcomb to change the charges in order to directly connect Cava llo to the fata l crash. Currently, he is only facing t wo class C misdemeanor charges related to drunk driv ing. On the day of the accident, Cava llo’s blood a lcohol
content was 0.13, according to the South Bend Tribune, 0.05 over the limit of 0.08. Drunk driv ing, Hodnett said, is a per vasive issue that impacts many communities, not just Notre Dame. “If this happens and people who are driv ing drunk don’t get the correct sentence,” Hodnett said, “I feel like that sends a message say ing ‘It’s okay. You can get drunk, you can drive. You can even k ill people and you won’t go to jail.’ So, it rea lly sets a bad example for ever y communit y.” The petition cites Tim Spencer — commander of the St. Joseph Count y Fata l Crash Team (FACT) — as saying that an inabilit y to prove Cava llo actua lly caused the crash is the reason no charges
Photo courtesy of Tatiana Botero
Students sit in Hesburgh Library as part of professor Tatiana Botero’s “Immigration and the Construction of Memory” course. Kelly’s job is to organize students on campus to lobby Indiana senators and representatives to pass the Dream and Promise Act, which provides a pathway to citizenship for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients. Botero said she has many students who go on to address immigration issues after the course.
“I know that the students that come through the class, to those students, the class has a great impact,” she said. “And then they’re able, many of them, to continue on doing different projects w ith the Latino communit y, so I k now that then the impact k ind of grows through their projects.”
to enjoy the beautiful spring weather but also maintain our distance from others.” Despite the lack of a spring break, students still expressed gratitude for the day off. “I appreciate the effort that is being made by the Saint Mary’s community,” Grimm said. “They are doing the best they can.” Grimm said she thought a weeklong break would have been feasible, since students and staff are beginning to receive the vaccine. “With vaccines beginning to roll out, I believe that a week long brea k could’ve been permitted, especia lly since Easter is a ver y significant and important celebration for
the Catholic faith,“ she said. “A lthough it has been ver y positive to have something rather than nothing, I feel as though it would’ve been better to have a spring brea k.” The Student Government Association’s Social Concerns Committee hosted “Togetherness Tuesday” during the reading day, as part of the annua l Love Your Body Week. The event was open to a ll students and took place in the tent outside of the student center. Belles were able to come grab a goodie bag and deliver it to a close friend.
Contact Megan Fahrney at mfahrney@nd.edu
Contact Carmen Feucht at cfeucht1@saintmarys.edu
Photo courtesy of Carlos Fabrega
Two first-years, Valeria Espinel, left, and Olivia Rojas, right, were killed Oct. 24, 2020, after being struck by a car on Ironwood Road. pertaining to the crash itself have been filed. “There should be some justice done to give more peace for ever y thing that happened,”
Botello said. “Justice has to be done in some way.” Contact Maggie Klaers at mklaers@nd.edu
