University sets record low acceptance rate
The class of 2028’s preliminary acceptance rate dropped nearly one percent from last year
Observer Staff Report
Notre Dame again broke the record for its most competitive application cycle yet. The preliminary acceptance rate for both regular and early decisions was about 11% for the Class of 2028, down from 11.9% a year ago.
18,445 students applied via regular decision, with 1,600 students being admitted and roughly 2,200 students being waitlisted. 1,724 students were admitted in December via restrictive early action out of the 11,498 who applied.
Vice president for undergraduate admissions Micki
Kidder said the University typically admits half of its incoming freshmen from the restricted early action pool and half from the regular decision pool. The admission rate for the regular decision pool was lower than restricted early action pool this year in part because the University receives a higher number of applicants for the regular decision timeline. Total applications increased 6% from last year.
The University did not require students to submit standardized test scores for the fourth year in a row after the policy was instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Kidder said 56% of
Professor hosts dialogue for peace
By AYNSLEE DELLACCA Saint Mary’s News Editor
The departments of Religious Studies, Global Studies, and Philosophy, along with the Justice Studies program, hosted North Park University emeritus professor Robert Hostetter Tuesday evening for a lecture on his recently-released book,
“Peacemakers in IsraelPalestine: Dialogues for a Just Peace.”
In addition to Hostetter teaching Communication Arts for 34 years, he also identifies as a peace activist, playwright and is the co-founder and director of the Conflict Transformation Program at
see PEACE PAGE 3
all applicants did not submit test scores. Although more than half of this year’s applicants did not submit a test score, roughly one third of admitted students did not
submit a test score. Kidder wrote in an email there was not a significant increase in the number of students who did not submit test scores from last year.
The University will remain test optional through the 2025 admission cycle. Kidder said that the policy
see
Jorge Vargas Cullell receives Kroc Institute award
By LIAM KELLY Notre Dame News EditorOn Tuesday afternoon in the Hesburgh Center Auditorium, Jorge Vargas Cullell, a 1994 masters graduate from Notre Dame and director of the Programa Estadio de la Nación in Costa Rica, was given the 2024 Distinguished Alumni Award by the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies. Cullell received a masters degree from the Kroc Institute in 1994 and a doctorate from the Kellogg Institute for International Studies in 2006.
The Kroc Institute grants the award anually to graduates of the Kroc Institute “whose careers and lives exemplify the ideals of international peacebuilding,” according to the Institute’s website.
As director of the Programa Estadio de la Nación, founded in 1994, Cullell issues an annual report on the state of democracy and sustainable development in Costa Rica.
After receiving the award, Cullell delivered a lecture discussing the reasons why peace agreements succeeded in stopping civil wars in central America during the 1980’s and 1990’s.
Cullell focused specifically on four agreements: the 1987 Esquipulas Agreement between Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, the 1988 Sapoá Accord in Nicaragua, the 1992 Chapultepec Accord in El Salvador and the 1996 Guatemala Peace Accord. These agreements brought to an end both civil wars and inter-state wars.
Cullell explained the impact these agreements had on the region.
“These peace agreements ended civil wars in Central America and were met with huge hope and expectations in societies ravaged by decades of instability, social exclusion and political violence,” he explained. “That was our opportunity to do things differently, to
leave the authoritarian legacies behind, to do something to ameliorate social inequalities.”
Cullell noted some improvements have been made since the agreements were signed. Some economic and social development has occurred, more foreign investment has entered the region and peace has been more prevalent, with no interstate war occuring.
“Not a small feat in a region which has previously been caught in a never-ending cycle of political violence.”
Roughly three decades after these agreements were signed, however, much of this optimism has faded, Cullell argued. Cullell pointed to the fact that economic growth remains low in the region and that democratic backsliding has occurred with only one “true democracy” — Costa Rica — remaining in the region.
see LECTURE PAGE 5
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Wednesday
Saint Mary’s
Lacrosse
Purcell Athletic Fields 5 p.m.
The Belles play Wooster College.
Maria Ressa lecture Morris Inn
7 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Nobel Peace Prize
Laureaute will lecture on democracy and AI.
Thursday FEMM workshop
123 Regina Hall 7 p.m.
Reproductive health workshop at Saint Mary’s.
“Cosmic Wonder”
Concert Leighton Concert Hall
7:30 p.m. - 8:45 p.m.
Performance of Bach’s concertos.
Friday
Neurodevelopment lecture Jordan Hall of Science 3:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Lecture by Professor Fiona Harrison.
Notre Dame Softball
Melissa Cook Stadium 5 p.m.
The Irish take on North Carolina State at home.
Saturday
“Romeo et Juliette”
Debartolo Performing Arts Center 1 p.m.
Live screening of The Metropolitan Opera.
Notre Dame Women’s Basketball
Purcell Pavillion 2:15 p.m.
ND plays
Admissions
past 2025 is “being evaluated and will be announced at a future date.”
When asked what the purpose of the test-optional policy is, Kidder referred to her September, 2022 statement in which she said the policy is meant to allow students to emphasize qualifications other than their test scores, “including rigor of high school coursework, intellectual curiosity and engagement both in and outside of the classroom.”
This year marked the first year in which Notre Dame, and universities across the country, were prohibited from considering applicants’ race, in accordance with a June supreme court ruling which deemed the practice unconstitutional.
When asked how the end of affirmative action affected this year’s admissions cycle, Kidder said only that “the University did not consider an applicant’s race when determining admissibility to the University of Notre Dame.”
Statistics regarding the number of students of color,
as well as the number of international students, first-generation students, legacy students and low income students, will be released in late May, Kidder said.
The University matched with 83 Questbridge finalists, accounting for 2.5% of the admitted class. Last year, the University matched with 96 Questbridge finalists.
A “limited number” of students were invited to enroll in the Notre DameHoly Cross Gateway program in which students spend one year at Holy Cross College, while taking classes at Notre Dame, before transferring to Notre Dame their sophomore year if they maintain a 3.5 GPA. Kidder said the University anticipates 75 students to enroll in the program.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 543 students had confirmed their enrollment.
Kidder praised the admitted class for “their enthusiasm about Notre Dame’s distinct mission, servant leadership, academic preparation, demonstrated joy and commitment to their communities.”
Peace
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
North Park University.
Hostetter’s book includes 21 different dialogues taken from interviews he conducted in the Middle East from 1998 to around 2020, where Hostetter originally authored a stage play titled, “The Longing,” referring to the longing his participants felt to go back to their homes before war and devastation.
Rather than summarizing his book, Hostetter instead chose to read three separate dialogues from his stage play, allowing those directly involved with the ongoing conflict in Israel-Palestine to speak for themselves.
Though the interviews were conducted a few years ago, Hostetter believes the dialogues still contain relevant insight to the Israel-Palestine conflict. Three students from Saint Mary’s College read as the various individuals while Hostetter read as himself.
The first dialogue, read by freshman Kathryn O’Connell, was titled “Work for the Common Good” and was between Hostetter and assistant professor of the field of public policy from Birzeit University and advisor to
the Prime Minister for planning and aid coordination for Palestine Estephan Salameh.
In the dialogue, Salameh stated he still advocates for a two-state solution, however the momentum for this movement was rapidly dying at the time. Later, he described his experience of the intifada, the non-violent opposition movement by the Palestinian people to the Israeli occupation. While the movement at first had “unprecedented solidarity,” it declined after 1993. He left Israel-Palestine in 2001 and later returned in 2007 to begin working for the Palestinian Ministry of Planning. From 2007 to the time of the interview, Salameh worked towards social justice through various government tools and policies and community organizations.
“Peace and justice are a spillover effect of our work for the common good. If we work for the common good, peace will come,” O’Connell read.
The second dialogue, “A Comprehensive Solution,” includes the interview between Hostetter and self-trained physician and current director of Gaza Projects for the Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA) Dr. Mona El Farra, which was read by
senior Catherine Cushwa and Hostetter.
El Farra was 15 years old when Israel “took over” the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. This traumatic event later influenced her to join nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation. In 2000, her home was destroyed by Israeli soldiers. From that day, El Farra became dedicated to providing medical help to other displaced women and children. Later on, she focused on creating safe spaces for children to regain a sense of security.
“There is nothing more heartbreaking than when people lose their faith, trust and hope,” Cushwa read.
The third and final dialogue, “The Only Nonviolent Alternative,” was between Hostetter and Israeli historian and current professor with the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of Exeter Ilan Pappé. Sophomore Delaney Nold read for Pappé and Hostetter as himself.
Pappé began his dialogue by describing his “typical Israeli life,” which suddenly changed after moving to the United Kingdom for postgraduate studies at Oxford University. During his studies there, he
see PEACE PAGE 4
SMC performance arts hosts ‘Spring Back’ event
By SOFIA BUZATU News Writer
On Monday evening from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Saint Mary’s departments of art came together to host an event called “Spring Back: A Celebration of Belonging” as a way of encouraging students to appreciate the arts.
Sponsored by the departments of art, music, theatre, dance and communication studies, the “Spring Back” was open to all students in the tri-campus. The event featured desserts, hot cocoa, bracelet and button making, as well as vocal, theatrical and instrumental performances. At the end of the event, sociology professor Kelly Faust taught a dance number to those in attendance.
Theater professor and division director for performance arts and communication studies Mark Abram-Copenhaver helped coordinate the event with the hope of encouraging more students to enjoy and become more involved in the arts.
Abram-Copenhaver said the department noticed a division and disconnect on campus earlier in the spring semester and decided there needed to be an event to bring the community together to emphasize and remind
others of being in a community.
“One of the things that is true about the arts is that it throws its arms open wide, and it invites everyone to participate. It’s one of the things I love about the arts, and it’s one of the things my colleagues love about being artists and working with artists,” Abram-Copenhaver said.
Abram-Copenhaver cited the several types of introductory classes in the performance arts and communication studies department that are meant to invite all students, regardless of experience, to take and find a place of belonging within the arts.
“This building has lots and lots of opportunities for you to be able to participate,” he said. “You do not have to be defining yourself as a dancer or a singer or a musician or an actor. We will take you in. We have opportunities for everybody.”
Senior Maeve Kearney, a music education major, performed a vocal piece for the event. Kearney said she believes the arts creates an irreplaceable community for herself.
“Once you’re involved, you meet the most wonderful people,” Kearney said. “You find that community that really only exists in the arts … because the arts are so vulnerable,” she said.
Kearney believes this event could be the start to opening the arts community to the wider range of the Saint Mary’s community and bridge the gap between the two.
“We haven’t really had a lot of events like this before, and I think it’s a good starter … at Saint Mary’s that we all know that we can intertwine theater, art, dance — all of these things — and build a community that exists on purpose,” Kearney said.
Sophomore Delaney Nold and senior Natalie Biegel each performed a solo and then a duet together from Saint Mary’s upcoming performance, “Anne of Green Gables.” These three performances all came from different sections of the musical.
The directors of Green Gables asked Nold and Beigel to prepare these selections in order to advertise their musical, which is on track to showcase April 12 through 14.
“I think communication and representation are really important, and I think that music and the arts are a beautiful way to express themselves,” Nold said.
Contact Sofia Buzatu at sbuzatu01@saintmarys.edu
Laetare Medal awarded to CEO of Feeding America
Observer Staff Report
This year’s Laetare Medal will be awarded to Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, the CEO of Feeding America, the University announced in a press release last week.
The Laetare Medal is awarded annually to a Catholic “whose genius has ennobled the arts and sciences, illustrated the ideals of the Church and enriched the heritage of humanity.”
Feeding America is a
nonprofit food bank organization that served 5.3 billion meals in 2023. The organization operates over 200 food banks in the United States, according to its website.
Babineaux-Fontenot has served as CEO of Feeding America since 2018. Prior to that, she was the executive vice president of finance and global treasurer at Walmart, where she worked for 13 years.
University President Fr. John Jenkins praised
Peace
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
focused on the contrasting perspectives of 1948 between Israelis and Palestinians, the beginning of the Israeli occupation. His concentration on the contrast revealed the “Zionist meta narrative” Pappé was taught his whole life. Pappé recounted how the Israeli occupation and the government-sanctioned propaganda pushed a narrative of victimhood stemming from the Holocaust. Even though the Israelis were not victims of the Holocuast, their poignant relations to those lost in the genocide allowed their actions to be seen as “compensation.” The best solution to combat this, Pappé believed, was to integrate kindergartens, schools and dialogues.
“A just peace is the only nonviolent alternative, and it depends on how the world deals with Israeli accusations of antisemitism. People are waiting for nonviolent support to convince the young generation that there is an alternative to violence,” Nold read.
After reading aloud the three dialogues, Hostetter opened the floor to questions to an audience of roughly 50 people, ranging from Saint Mary’s students to people from the South Bend community. Questions and further discussion continued for the next hour.
During the discussion, Hostetter made a point to differentiate between a negotiation and a dialogue.
“Both Jewish and Palestinian peacemakers talk about negotiation as something which is easily manipulated and pursued ad nauseam,” Hostetter said. “I can say to you, ‘I’ll tell your
community and my community we’re talking,’ and that can go on forever without any productive work. So my notion of dialogue is something which is committed, at some level, to a just peace. Otherwise, it’s wasted energy.”
Later, sophomore Mishelle Yepez asked Hostetter how one can stay neutral and feel empathy for both sides of the conflict.
“I think one can be an advocate for all groups of people, and then you go to other layers of information or perspective [such as] taking classes with professor [NAME] Pierce or someone else to figure out what is the connection here. What is the way in which we can affirm the Jewish people, who have had a very problematic history of suffering, and how to affirm Palestinian people, who are currently being murdered by the thousands?” Hostetter said.
Hostetter connects Yepez’s question to a point made in the third dialogue, where Pappé described the Israeli’s self-victimization as a method to justify the occupation.
“Whether you’re religious or non-religious, that seems like a principle that one can affirm. This should never happen again, to anyone. So to use the Holocaust in order to create a new holocaust of sorts, or genocide, is highly, highly problematic,” Hostetter said.
Towards the end of the discussion, Hostetter admits uncertainty regarding the ultimate solution to peace, despite his years spent in the Middle East as a peace advocate.
“So now what? And I don’t know. I don’t think that people on the ground know,” Hostetter said.
Contact Aynslee Dellacca at adellacca01@saintmarys.edu
PAID ADVERTISEMENT
Babineaux-Fontenot’s work at Feeding America.
“Under her visionary leadership, Feeding America has become a beacon of hope not only to the individuals and families it serves but for all who share her vision of eliminating food insecurity in this country,” he said in the statement.
Babineaux-Fontenot will receive the award during commencement on May 19.
Notre Dame’s power plant through catastrophe
By THOMAS DOBBS, CADE CZARNECKI and LILYANN GARDNERFrom the Archives Researchers
First built in 1932, Notre Dame’s on-campus power plant illustrates an ongoing journey from an era of energy crisis to its present-day commitment to sustainability. Initially caught unprepared during the 1970s energy crisis, the University’s early inaction and the subsequent scramble for policy formulation set the stage for a broader narrative of adaptation and change. This storyline unfolds with a pivotal moment in 1999, when an explosion at the campus power plant not only caused significant damage but also sparked a reevaluation of energy practices and infrastructure. Further complicating the narrative, Notre Dame’s encounters with the EPA over violations related to the Clean Air Act underscored the challenges of aligning University operations with environmental regulations. Each of these episodes — from policy inertia and infrastructural crises to regulatory challenges — paints a vivid picture of Notre Dame’s path toward embracing renewable energy sources and implementing sustainable practices, highlighting its progress from reactive measures to a proactive embrace of a greener future.
Energy Crises to Sustainability:
ND’s Increasingly Obsolescent Power Plant
Nov. 16, 1973 | Melissa Byrne | Nov. 14, 1974 | Paul Young | March 23, 2004 | Joe Trombello | Researched by Thomas Dobbs
During the energy crisis of the 1970s, Notre Dame found itself unprepared with a formal policy for energy conservation. Then-Assistant Vice President
Lecture
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
“Citizen support for democracies is falling into a minority in most Central American countries,” he lamented.
Cullell pointed to the nation of El Salvador as an example of this phenomenon.
Cullell explained that there was widespread rejoicing throughout the country when the Chapultepec Accord was signed in 1992, which marked the end of
for Business Affairs, Brother Kieran Ryan, underscored the University’s early state of inaction with his remark, “The University has not yet formulated a policy concerning the conservation of energy on the Notre Dame campus.”
Waiting periods for updated guidance reflects the broader uncertainty of the 1970s oil crisis, with institutions grappling to respond to the new reality of energy scarcity.
The University’s power plant, capable of burning coal, oil and gas, with coal as the primary source, became a focal point in discussions of energy use. Chief engineer William Ganser provided insight into the looming challenges and the critical need for conservation, noting, “We anticipate the situation will grow worse.” He emphasized that effective conservation must originate from the consumer end — students, faculty and administration alike, underscoring a community-driven approach to energy savings.
The 1974 coal strike further tested Notre Dame’s resilience and preparedness. Ganser again assured the community of the University’s strategic coal reserves: “The Notre Dame power plant has enough coal stockpiled to heat the campus for almost four months, if it is a mild winter.” This stockpile was a testament to Notre Dame’s foresight in the face of potential energy shortages, demonstrating a blend of optimism and pragmatism.
A significant evolution in Notre Dame’s approach to energy conservation was evident in an 2004 energy-saving contest between dorms. Highlighting the initiative’s success, Virginia Kelly pointed out, “Welsh Family Hall reduced their total energy output by 8,310 kilowatt-hours ... This was enough to secure the dorm first place
the civil war. He was in El Salvador at the time the agreement was signed.
Today, however, the government of El Salvador has condemned the agreement and destroyed a monument commemorating it. Cullell noted the dispassionate response to the reversal of the peace agreement in the country.
“When the government rewrote history and threw the agreement into the dustbin, few cared,” he said. Cullell described two main reasons for the failure
and a $100 cash prize.” This contest illustrated the potential of collective action in reducing energy consumption, showcasing the importance of awareness and simple, yet effective measures to decrease energy use.
These episodes in Notre Dame’s history underscore the evolution from an initial absence of an energy conservation policy to a proactive stance on sustainability. The University’s discontinuation of coal use in October 2019 illustrates its ongoing dedication to renewable resources. Particularly keen observers will spot the ongoing construction of a geothermal facility adjacent to the Joyce Center.
The 1999 Explosion that Shook Notre Dame April 15, 1999 | Tim Logan and Robert Pazornik | April 27, 1999 | Observer Staff Report | Aug. 21, 1999 | Observer Staff Report | Researched by Lilyann Gardner
Campus residents nearest to the University’s power plant were awoken in the early hours of April 15, 1999 after the second largest fire in campus history led to an explosion in one of the plant’s northern cooling towers.
After raging from 12:58 a.m. to 2:25 a.m., the blaze was eventually extinguished through the joint effort of the Notre Dame and South Bend Fire Departments. Paul Kempf, chief electrical engineer, and Jami Thibodeaux, the on-call security guard, were both injured and transported to the local hospital with serious but non-life threatening injuries.
The frightened students fled from their beds to investigate into the incident themselves, lining the bank of St. Joseph’s Lake, but Notre Dame and South Bend Police forced them
of the peace agreements: the agreements were too narrow and a systemic failure in leadership occurred in the region.
On the first point, Cullell argued Central American nations believed democracy involved only holding elections and was independent of human development initiatives.
“The whole program for building strong independent institutions, for enforcing open transparent and accountable governance, for opening up the
back due to safety concerns.
In an interview with the Observer, former Zahm Hall president James Moravek ‘00 and witness to the fire shared his initial thoughts during the ordeal.
“Our immediate concern was that something in our residence hall had exploded,” said Moravek. “We just decided the best thing we could do would be to come out here to see if we could lend some assistance to University officials.”
There was ultimately nothing that could be done in the days succeeding the explosion, and by April 27, the Indiana State Fire Marshal’s investigation was unable to determine the cause but had estimated the cost of repairs as totaling $1.35 million.
The majority of the damage affected six of the nine water cooling units, thereby disrupting air conditioning throughout the campus.
The University eventually restored air conditioning in the fall semester by spending $700,000 to rent cooling towers that would run between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., only intended as a temporary fix for the residence halls until the towers could be fully replaced for the spring semester of 2000.
Notre Dame at Odds with the EPA
Feb. 16, 1996 | Liz Foran | Jan. 14, 1998 | Heather Cocks | May 4, 2011 | Megan Doyle | 2019 | ND Stories | Sept. 12, 2022 | ND Stories | Researched by Cade Czarnecki
The power plant on campus became more than just an eyesore when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a citation to Notre Dame in January 1996 for violating the Clean Air Act of 1990. According to the citation, Notre Dame exceeded the allowable limit of
opportunities for citizen participation in education and public policy, was pushed to the back burner,” he said.
When it came to the leadership failure in the region, Cullell, in addition to blaming Central American leaders for not working hard enough to maintain democracy and promote human development, also blamed the United States for failing to promote democracy after often funding groups in civil wars such as the Contras in Nicaragua.
expelled particulate matter (fly ash, smoke, dust) and sulfur dioxide in the operations of its power plant.
Specifically, three of four coal boilers were to blame. Boilers provided the steam and electricity that powered the campus. Yet, when tested on seven separate occasions between 1991 and 1995, they were found noncompliant with federal law. In fact, it was calculated that if all four boilers ran at maximum capacity for an entire year, they would exceed the EPA’s limit for particulate matter by 400 tons and exceed the limit for sulfur dioxide by 500 tons.
By 1998, the EPA issued a $250,000 fine against the University related to the 1996 citation. The amount was paid for out of the University’s “general operations budget.”
Signaling the end of EPA’s investigation of the University power plant, the University responded to the fine with a statement acknowledging that the boilers in question had been fixed in September 1996.
Notre Dame again found itself at odds with the EPA in a 2011 congressional hearing by the Subcommittee on Energy and Power. In a review of newly proposed EPA rules, Notre Dame’s Director of Utilities, Paul Kempf, testified that the EPA had not properly justified these new, stricter rules and noted the high cost of bringing the University into compliance. Additionally, he shared that the University had already spent $20 million improving the efficiency of the power plant to comply with new regulations promulgated in 2004.
Contact Thomas Dobbs at tdobbs@nd.edu
Contact Cade Czarnecki at cczarne3@nd.edu
Contact Lilyann Gardner at lgardne2@nd.edu
“The US, the main international investor in the Central American wars, simply opted out when peace was assured,” he noted.
In order for democracy to thrive again in the region, Cullell argued, human development must be prioritized.
“We have to convey the idea once again that democracies fall out without human development,” he said.
Contact Liam Kelly at lkelly8@nd.edu
Finding faith at Milkshake Mass TikTok: Threat to national security or your sanity?
Throughout its curriculum, research and community engagement, Notre Dame is committed to being a leading research institution where Catholic values and standards are the guiding moral framework and an important part of on-campus life. This integration of Catholic values into academic and personal life was one of the main reasons I decided to come to Notre Dame. It was a place where I could explore the academics I always yearned for but never had the opportunity to in the small country-side city of Brazil I was raised in, and also a place where I could explore my relationship with God, which was not always a good one.
As I arrived at Notre Dame, I immediately sought a way to connect myself with God; however, having attended Mass only a handful of times in Brazil, I was completely lost during the service. I didn’t know most of the prayers, music, rituals and the fact that they were in English added the language barrier element to my confusion. Not only had I never been to Mass in English, but the language used during service is not in any way similar to what I had studied or heard before coming to campus. The more I tried to attend Mass and find the connection I yearned for, the more unwelcome and judged I felt for not having the knowledge that all the “good Catholics” had. It was as if it were some sort of sign that I didn’t belong in religious settings, and the connection with God I hoped to find in Notre Dame was not destined for me. From that, I decided to give up on my attempts at approximation; as a matter of fact, I avoided Mass, trips to the grotto and anything related to religion altogether.
My avoidance of religion and God continued until one of my closest friends asked me to join him at Milkshake Mass with the promise of good and free milkshakes at the end. Despite initially convincing myself that I was only going to keep him company and enjoy the free food, the vibrant and welcoming atmosphere enveloped me from the moment I stepped in. From the first Mass I attended with my friend, I felt welcome, as if my lack of knowledge and experience were not in any way a problem. Since then, Milkshake Mass has become an essential part of my week, where I see some of my closest friends, find some sense of belonging, peace and the approximation with God I yearned for.
Father Joe Corpora, the priest in residence at Dillon Hall, recently penned an article highlighting the inclusive nature of Milkshake Mass and expressing his appreciation for the diverse expressions of faith during the service. He also mentioned facing criticism from some individuals who believe he should have more control over us, especially during the kiss of peace. As one of the people who is going around, hugging everyone and talking during the kiss of peace and also before Mass starts, I want to thank Fr. Joe for continuously welcoming everyone to Mass, making it an inclusive environment where everyone — regardless of their previous knowledge, relationship to God, occasional non-exemplary behavior in church — feels like they belong and have a place at God’s table. His leadership allows people like me who want a better relationship with God, but always struggled to do so, to pursue and nurture that relationship.
Lara is a member of the class of 2026 from Taubaté, Brazil with majors in economics and Chinese. When she is not complaining about the weather, you can find her studying in a random room of O’Shaughnessy with her friends or spending all her flex points in Garbanzo. You can contact Lara by email at lvictor@nd.edu.
The views expressed in this Inside column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
There are a lot of questions concerning TikTok as of late. Will the Chinese government use your fashion and music preferences to interfere in the 2024 Presidential election? Will our senile grandparents in Washington D.C. restrict young people’s rights, once again? How will the economy adjust to the influx of unemployed TikTokers, who have no legitimate skills or work experience? These are the questions, the real concerns that are important. However, there is no limit or necessity to diving into these most pressing issues of our time. If I were to take a definitive political stance, my argument would summarily be discredited, silenced and eliminated by Notre Dame’s very own bureau of TikTok apologists. I’m good. Therefore, this article will be strictly cautionary with respect to the national security threat and implications to your mental sanity as a result of TikTok.
There is concern that your personal data will be accessed by the Chinese government, which in the eyes of the United States government is a foreign adversary. Many fear that this access constitutes foreign surveillance, which could pose a threat to national security, especially in light of the upcoming 2024 Presidential election. This is the dominant view. Whether it be fueled by genuine concern for Americans’ safety or ethnocentric nationalism, I do not know. But I do suggest an alternative view. Perhaps, the Chinese government’s potential desire for Americans’ personal data is compelled by mainly economic interests. In the same way that American social media companies gather your personal data to optimize the user’s experience, could it be that a Chinese social media company wishes to gather personal data to make a more personalized user experience? A more profitable situation? Why is it that the gathering of personal data is more acceptable for an American entity rather than a Chinese entity, as if the former were categorically incapable of committing anything malicious.
There is also concern that if TikTok were to be divested, the U.S. acquirer could be subject to pressures by the U.S. government, as has been the case with other social companies. Essentially, there is worry that a U.S. owned TikTok could become another tool for government surveillance and censorship. Could it be that the eagerness on the part of our lawmakers to divest TikTok be an attempt to increase the security state, rather than a concern for national security? I do not know. Can we trust that anything we find on social media has not been influenced to some degree by the whim of
an unelected government official? I do not know. Do we, as Americans, value freedom and truth, or are we slaves in a cruel, endless cycle of power politics? I do not know.
In regard to one’s sanity, there is concern that TikTok is diminishing one’s intellectual capacity. Some attribute this to the nature of the short videos, that is low-brow, cheap entertainment; while others attribute this to the highly addictive element of an algorithm that offers highly personalized content. Many point toward the consequences on the youth, whose attention span and ability for in-person human socialization are rapidly diminishing.
To this, I offer words of caution. There is no doubt that TikTok users enjoy the entertainment value of the application. But, I would wager that the crux of why TikTok is so highly favored is due to the ability to learn anything from a seemingly infinite number of content creators. If you have a question about who really assassinated JFK, there are answers — quick and many. If you want to learn how to cheat on Canvas quizzes, there is a TikTok for that. If you want to learn about the eternal mystery concerning where babies come from, there is hope for you. TikTok, or any social media application for that matter, has essentially become our primary repository of information. Amidst our lifelong human journey toward true wisdom of the world, we divert course to the attractive pit-stop of TikTok, which offers quick and easy information. Instead of self-examination, dialogue and genuine encounters between persons, we settle for a mere accumulation of data. More data equals more information. More information equals more wisdom. The more data, the better.
Could it not be that this leads to a sort of mental pollution where we are overloaded and confused by the media we consume? It follows that the only way to seek a remedy to this overload and confusion is to refer right back to the source of the issue. It is a vicious cycle of intellectual slavery. For what happens when this source of “wisdom” ceases to exist? We would not know how to fix this void because we depend on this source for the solution. More broadly, what happens when we no longer know how to fix the very problems that we created? What happens then? I think you know.
Jonah Tran is a sophomore at Notre Dame double majoring in finance and classics with a minor in Constitutional studies. He prides himself on sarcasm and his home — the free state of Florida. You can contact Jonah by email at jtran5@nd.edu.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Readership, grief and the pursuit of ugly truth
Maggie Eastland Editor-in-Chief EmeritusBy the numbers, my term as editor-in-chief was certainly colorful. Between these office walls, I was often teased as a fiend for our readership trends. To close out my term, it seems only fitting to publicize our most-read stories of 2023.
1. Miller: Notre Dame should bench Sam Hartman
2. Notre Dame discontinues interhall tackle football
3. Notre Dame to tear down, replace Pangborn and Fisher next summer with new residence halls
4. Notre Dame admits class of 2027, setting record-low acceptance rate of 11.9%
5. Saint Mary’s approves policy to consider applicants who ‘identify as women’
6. In my Eras era: Taylor Swift surprise song predictions
7. Escaping porn’s prison
8. Notre Dame student startup raises $300k, launches on the tri-campus
9. Drag at Notre Dame: Did we regild her only to ridicule her?
An Observer term in review
We’ve had the honor of publishing each of these articles and watching their influence unfold on campus. This year will be forever marked with tales of Sam Hartman deflation, dashed College Football Playoff dreams, the death of interhall football, dorm demolitions, a controversial Saint Mary’s admission decision and ultra-competitive application years. Our tri-campus culture pondered academic freedom, the impact of pornography and opinions on drag shows. We’ve seen the ban of electric scooters, a new University president and a turnover in residential life.
Global headline-makers extended their tentacles across the tri-campus, as we wrestled with the impact of the Israel-Hamas conflict, the end of affirmative action and the rise of AI. At times, The Observer made national news. Twice, stories we reported ended up in the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal — once due to Tamara Kay’s defamation lawsuit against the Irish Rover and again due to Saint Mary’s controversial admissions decision and reversal.
We’ve chronicled two Taylor Swift album rerecording drops, the great Mendoza skateboard fire of 2023 and two national championships in fencing and men’s lacrosse. Some might say we witnessed the golden age of Notre Dame sports.
Following cranes and fresh concrete, we’ve documented a new dorm, a new research building, a new art museum, geothermal installation, a Golden Dome regilding, renovations in LaFortune Student Center and a new off-campus psychology clinic in South Bend (to name a few). Many attention-drawing speakers visited campus and found themselves in the pages of The Observer, including Mike Pompeo, senators Chris Coons and Todd Young, Robert Putnam, Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan. We even dared to ask the age-old question: Is the drunk tank real?
There is no end to my gratitude for the opportunity to experience the life of the tri-campus from this unique perspective. If that wasn’t enough, I’ve undertaken this challenge with countless talented students who work at The Observer.
I’ve been an Observer editor in some capacity for nearly my entire Notre Dame experience. In that time, I’ve learned about lawsuits between members of this community, divisive political debates, senate and student body election drama, the pressure cooker of college admissions,
division within campus clubs and much more. One thing is fore sure: News is messy.
Although the tri-campus is a rare place where the positive stories may outweigh the negative ones, dark, ungilded things still happen here. Clubs fight. People in this community aggravate one another. People abuse their power, including those who once claimed to devote themselves to reflecting divine love. Students die. Dorms foster a culture of drinking and hazing. Rapes occur in on-campus residence halls. There has been one rape and two sexual assaults reported this year alone, in addition to four date rape drug incidents this fall.
The disheartening stories from the past 3.75 years at The Observer beg the question: Why do journalists eagerly dive into difficult situations time and time again? Is this impetus more than cynical and masochistic?
‘Courage is found in unlikely places’: a defense of journalistic cynicism
Campus leaders might prefer that students, prospective students and donors turn a blind eye to bad news, but ignoring things does not make them disappear. The reality of evil is enough to jade even an eternal optimist.
But why write about negative things? Why spend time finding out about them?
Civil Rights journalist Ida B. Wells knows a thing or two about reporting cruelty. She wrote about hundreds of lynchings of Black Americans in the late 1800s and early 1900s. She sought out merciless murder to make stark its injustice.
In the words of Frederick Douglass, “[Wells] dealt with the facts with cool, painstaking fidelity and left those naked and uncontradicted facts to speak for themselves. Brave woman! You have done your people and mine a service which can neither be weighed nor measured.”
Simply put, Wells gathered the courage to report on lynchings because she hoped exposing the truth would lead to change and halt injustice.
On a far humbler scale, we aspire to do this at The Observer because we believe there is power in truth, even the most gut-wrenching variety. The discovery that a terrible thing is true is devastating. Still, there is strength in choosing to look at the bald, ugly truth and daring to hope anyway.
The greatest cynic conceals an inner fire that not even the darkest act can penetrate. To be able to look at the tri-campus and profess my hope for it means far more after spending nearly four years working for The Observer.
“Keep a little fire burning. However small, however hidden.” ~ Hana Segal
Even on the tri-campus, where there are billions of dollars intended to promote student success, health, well-being and spiritual growth, we cannot shirk grief and cruelty. For these situations, I have no words. I have only a small defense of why The Observer writes about these things — and how we bear it.
Journalists choose to seek even the painful truth because we refuse to love anything disingenuous. Instead of false optimism, we have a small inner hope. It looks a bit like a pilot flame beneath a gas stovetop. It won’t be fed on heretoday-gone-tomorrow kindling, but neither will it be extinguished.
In the words of Gildor, “Courage is found in unlikely places.” True hope is found in dark nooks and crannies. I have the “Lord of the Rings” and my dear friend Isa, who lent me the book, to thank for that talisman phrase.
To love a thing as it really is, and not our contrived conceptions of it, is difficult but worthwhile. Excuse my cynicism, but we’ve all failed. We’ve all done things we regret and learned
things we’d like to forget.
It is easy to love a place that is fiction. It’s much harder to love the real thing, especially when loving necessitates knowing fully. There is something powerful about staring the beast head-on before you say “I love you.” We cannot have this place without its flaws, but we can hope for it. If we hypnotize away each negative memory, we will be left loving a straw man.
I’ve learned this from The Observer. I’ve learned it from our impressive staff of student writers, editors and photographers. I’ve learned it from my own mistakes and the places where I wish I could have done more for this newspaper.
To all those I have ever worked with at The Observer (and there are far too many to name), thank you for daring to hope with me.
My imperfect goodbye
I once read, in a book about Bach, that “grief is specific and precise.” There are specific qualities to it. The grief that strikes when a professor dies. The grief of a classmate and friend’s death in a car accident. The grief of two young women dying on Ironwood Road. The grief of a fatal shooting at Cheer’s. The grief of numerous other tragic shootings in South Bend. The grief of political imprisonment. The grief of Christmas. The grief of impending graduation. Grief has a particular way of torturing every minutia of its circumstance. No two heartbreaks are the same.
And now, after publishing articles and news stories sometimes good and sometimes poignantly terrible, I have reached another tombstone: the end of my tenure as Editor-in-Chief. As always, this grief is specific and precise. So far, it is a dull ache, like the kind of headache that creeps in when you forget to drink water. It is subtle and undramatic, but it still makes its presence known.
I will miss the musty post SDH-dinner smell of the office, the particular grins of each of my fellow student journalists, the bell ringing from the Scene computer and the coffee machine that kept me attentive on many late nights. I’ll miss the bold and beautiful columns shared by my fellow students. I’ll miss the challenging and enlivening conversations about upcoming coverage.
I love The Observer. I love the last year of student journalism. At the same time, I am cognizant of our shortcomings, and especially of my own. I could spend hours dreaming up things we could have done and critiquing the things we have done.
We’ve written dozens of editorials, created a sports podcast and newsletter, recruited staff into the world of student journalism and launched a fresh line of merchandise. After more than a year of website troubles, we launched an entirely new website and worked with our staff through the first wrinkles.
Sometimes I think we’ve accomplished a lot. At other times, it seems not enough. There will be plenty of time to mull over those questions in the coming days. For now, I’ll stick to the “humble, bruised truth” (credits to “Life of Pi”) of what I’ve learned at The Observer.
Goodbye to the paper that has taught me that life can be cruel. Goodbye to the paper that has taught me to hope. In the face of real discouragement, we must cling to the truth. Excuse my cynicism, but kindling, so common, is a poor substitute for embers.
This year has been far from perfect, but I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished at The Observer. I’m proud of the hope we’ve cultivated.
You can contact Maggie at meastlan@nd.edu.
The views expressed in this Inside column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
The long road to Grand Rapids
Most people who know me on even the most basic level know this: I have an insatiable appetite for reporting on Notre Dame sports.
Any competition, any time, anywhere. There’s a reason my Twitter bio reads “if Notre Dame plays it, I cover it.” I attended 110 Irish games last year, and I’m on pace to easily outdo that number this year.
Softball game at Michigan State? I was there. Hockey has a series in Wisconsin? Easiest threehour drive of my life. And when women’s soccer announced they’d be playing a meaningless scrimmage in Evanston, Illinois, you could have put your mortgage down then and there that I would be in attendance.
I’ve seen stretch after stretch of pothole-ridden pavement grind itself under the ever-wearing tires of my Honda Clarity. I trek outward with such frequency that I’ve reached a point of repetition where I can recall basically every major roadside landmark and feature on the Interstate 90 corridor that brings me from South Bend to the doorstep of Chicago and everything in the upper Midwest beyond.
Some people call my ever-growing slate of destinations commitment. Others have jokingly called it a sickness.
Personally, I think it’s somewhere in between the two.
Regardless of the characterization, my journey to becoming a ubiquitous presence in every press box on campus is one I’ve never been able to fully explain.
There’s the generic answer: I want to be a professional journalist, and it helps my development as a writer to get as many reps in as possible. That’s not wrong by any means. There’s the sappy answer: I grew up an Irish fan and I want to soak in every opportunity I get to be on campus watching the teams I worshiped growing up. That’s definitely not untrue either.
But those explanations feel incomplete. They’re the answers I want to give, but not the ones I truly believe. In all honesty, the most on-target theory for my perpetually stuffed schedule is how often it gives me an excuse.
From the start of my college career, my social calendar has been … somewhat unconventional. My freshman year at the University of Wisconsin was more or less socially bare — an isolation only compounded by a world and campus still reeling from COVID-related restrictions and changes. Some people adapted to the new reality of college, but I dove into what I already knew — spending more time catching buses across state lines to watch soccer games than being outgoing and
making friends. I enrolled at Wisconsin always knowing that transferring to Notre Dame was a possibility — perhaps more of an inevitability than I would ever admit — but my near-complete lack of social interaction certainly didn’t help matters.
Once I arrived at Notre Dame though, things didn’t change much. I immediately threw myself into work with The Observer and other student media outlets like NDTV, Scholastic and WVFI radio.
Being a transfer student, the prospect of trying to find “your people” is always a little more difficult. Just about everyone else has spent the last year determining their friend groups and making memories. People in my graduating class often cite the 2020 win over Clemson as their defining Notre Dame moment. I watched that field storm from my dorm room in Madison.
I wasn’t blind to how hard it would be to find a group, but I didn’t want to accept this reality either. Instead, I drowned myself in Notre Dame’s athletic schedule. Be it soccer or volleyball, the sport didn’t matter. I jumped at any event I could find to give myself something to do on Friday nights.
I may not have had a car on campus yet, but what I lacked in conventional transportation I made up for in spades with pure vigor. Whether it was trains to Michigan or rental cars to Chicago, if there was a roundabout way for me to get to a Notre Dame sporting event, I was there. It gave me a place to be. I had purpose, and it let me ignore the fact that while everyone was at a dorm party or exploring South Bend, I was alone.
Eventually, largely by pure fortune rather than any sort of respectable effort on my own part, I did manage to amass a small, but certainly legitimate, collection of friends at college. Granted, midway through junior year is pretty behind the curve by all accounts, but it happened! But still, my insane travel and coverage schedule didn’t stop.
I still needed my excuse — just for a different reason. Now, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t more often than not still need a place to be on Friday and Saturday nights, even as a senior with full access to the assorted array of South Bend nightlife. But I was also finding ways to excuse myself from the future. Stop me if you’ve heard this before: local senior has mixed emotions about leaving college. Very original, groundbreaking stuff, I know. Feel free to roll your eyes.
No matter the distance traveled, my expeditions north, south, east and west of South Bend all shared a crucial commonality: they took me further and further away from the inevitable. There was always another highway to be traversed, another campus to be explored. I kept on stacking my calendar, turning my schedule into
an ever-rising wall that I couldn’t — wouldn’t — dare peer over.
I’ve spent most of my life to this point working, both in the classroom and out, to be exactly where I am now, and where I have been for the last three years: a sports journalist attending Notre Dame. That’s an identity that brings me tremendous satisfaction and motivation every day. There’s yet to be a morning where I haven’t woken up proud to simply be a Notre Dame student. But in three months time, this identity will need to be redefined. I’ll receive that diploma I toiled so long for, and hopefully will turn professional in the industry I’ve so long dreamed of being a part of. So what comes next? Answering that question is hard, but there’s no need if I’m too busy working on the question of which softball player is most likely to play well on a windy day in East Lansing.
Now, if you read this far hoping that this musing led me to some sort of wistful metaphysical reflection on what drives me, or a detailed answer for how I intend to make the most of my continually shrinking time in college, I’m afraid you’ll be let down. If anything, I can tell you with even more confidence than usual that my next three months will be just like my first three years — racking up miles and miles of car time to write articles dozens of people, at least on a good day for viewership, will read.
I’ve traveled over 3,000 miles for Notre Dame sports. If you add in assorted flights I’ve taken as part of my duties covering Irish football for The Observer, that number balloons to over 8,000 miles. It’s probably taken longer than it should have, but I’ve come to terms with the role sports play in my life.
It isn’t simply a catalyst for yet another weekend road trip. More often than not, it’s my only source of entertainment, the one thing I can rely on being in place when I’m uncertain about everything else. There’s a definitive nature to my athletic travel schedule that my social life has forever lacked — my team may not win every game (in professional sports, more often than not, they lose) — but barring a freak accident, the game will always be played. Every new contest is an assured opportunity I will get to try and write the forever-elusive perfect article.
So for the next 70 or so days, my calendar will continue to go as Notre Dame’s athletic calendar goes.
What will come after that? Who am I to say.
All I know is that volleyball just added a pair of scrimmages in Grand Rapids to their spring schedule.
You can contact J.J. at jpost2@nd.edu.
The views expressed in this Inside column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
By JAYDEN ESPINOZA Scene Writer
“Deeper Well” is unlike any Kacey Musgraves album that precedes it. It’s unlike 2018’s “Golden Hour,” which basks in the sunlight of new love and stares out into the endless sky, and 2021’s “star-crossed,” which saw the artist sitting in the midst of the anger and frustration of divorce. This Musgraves album reassures us that love and heartbreak are natural, and above all else, everything will be OK.
Just as atmospheric as its predecessors, “Deeper Well” brings listeners through a foggy meadow and into an open clearing to meet this new Musgraves. Alone but not lonely, the Nashville-based artist asks her audience to sit beside her as she recounts the tales of her life since we last heard from her.
Opening with “Cardinal,” we see that the battle between choosing to be alone and loneliness has been at the core of her personal life: “Cardinal / Are you bringing me a message from the other side? / Cardinal / Are you tellin’ me I’m on somebody’s
mind? / Don’t leave me behind.” This leads into the other songs, like the album’s title track, “Deeper Well:” “So, I’m saying goodbye to the people that I feel / Are real good at wasting my time / No regrets, baby, I just think that maybe / You go your way and I’ll go mine.”
While this choice of solitude could have harmed Musgraves, she proves in songs like “Moving Out” that she felt the summer of her life coming to a close. As autumn moved in, she decided to move out. This brings us back to the meadow that much of the album’s visuals take place in: why are we here? It’s not because she’s afraid of going out. She’s given herself the tools to withstand the weather in any environment (as detailed in “Sway”); it’s because she sees the beauty of the space around her, regardless of if she has a partner (highlighted perfectly in “Dinner with Friends”). The singer pulls you into a patch of grass where flowers once were and describes them in such detail that you can almost make them out in front of you.
Each version of the artist, past and present, has room to breathe on this album. With her vocals
stacked heavily on “Heart of the Woods,” Musgraves speaks of herself in the third person, discussing how she and nature are now working together to protect the life she has set up for herself. But temptation, especially to let a stranger in, always exists. It’s the subject of many of the album’s final songs as Musgraves ponders whether her meadow has become a fortress of solitude.
As she lets her guard down and sees her first visitors, she’s almost unable to tell if these people are real, as shown in “Anime Eyes:” “When I look at you, I’m always looking through anime eyes / A million littles stars bursting into hearts in my anime eyes.” By the time she takes her eyes off her partner, her meadow has changed. Where grass once was, flowers take its place. Shocked, both at the beauty and difference of the world she created, she reassures herself and her audience that regardless of what flowers bloom or wilt in this new era, she’s embracing it. As the closing track of the album says, there truly is “Nothing to be Scared Of.”
ContactJayden Espinoza at jespino4@nd.edu.
By PETER MIKULSKI Scene Editor
Every man, even if he hasn’t touched a bat since elementary school tee ball, thinks he could coach an MLB team. Men feel entitled to kvetch about sports — it’s our birthright. And that’s how I feel about architecture. My career never made it past sand castles, pillow forts and Minecraft houses, but I spend 99% of my time in and around buildings — that’s expertise, no?
So, in honor of Mod Quad Appreciation Week, this amateur architect is stepping up to the plate and batting for his home team — Siegfried Hall — to defend the architecture of Notre Dame’s most maligned neighborhood, Mod Quad.
God Quad and South Quad types (the sort of guy who’s a fourteenth generation St. Ed’s resident, the sort of girl whose great-great-grandpapa came here in the nineteenth century and majored in “race science”) are always the first in line to mock Mod Quad. Their dorms are prim, proper and inoffensive. They’re easy to love — like ice cream or pizza.
Everyone likes ice cream and pizza, of course, but it’s a little disconcerting when you see an adult man licking a strawberry ice cream cone, and it’s a little embarrassing when you hear an adult woman say her favorite food is cheese pizza. God Quad and South Quad are child’s play.
Mod Quad, on the other hand, is for adults. It’s like black coffee or cigarettes. At first it’s a little gross, but then it grows on you. You begin to notice subtleties of flavor, and then you start to become addicted. If we make fun of people with infantile taste in music and movies, then why not in architecture too?
Yellow brick and mansard roofs and statues and dormers: that’s kid stuff. Brutalism, functionality, utility, honesty: that’s Mod Quad.
Keough, O’Neill and Welsh Family Halls boast some similar modernist merits, but they’re handicapped by their location. West Quad is stylistically scatterbrained — a mix of newer buildings, older buildings and newer buildings pretending to be older buildings.
Mod Quad, on the other hand, is cohesive. Walking through the spaces the Pasquerillas form with Flanner and Grace on the one side and with Siegfried and Knott on the other, you feel a sense of place — of coherence. Its oldest buildings were built in the 60s and its newest buildings were built in the late 80s, but everything in Mod Quad still speaks the same language: the same forms, the same windows, the same materials, the same colors. The architectural conversation extends past the dorms to the surrounding buildings, so that — even though everyone uses them — Flanner and Grace, the Hesburgh Library and North Dining
Hall still feel distinctively “Mod Quad.” It’s a true neighborhood.
East Quad’s dorms have a family resemblance with each other too, of course. But still, they lack an architectural identity because they contradict themselves. Essentially, they’re modern dorms like Knott or O’Neill (indeed, even nicer), but visually, they pretend they’re vintage dorms like the sort on South Quad and God Quad — e.g. Flaherty Hall feels like Welsh Family Hall wearing the skin of Howard Hall, “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” style.
I’m reminded of the Italian Futurists, artists who aimed to “destroy the cult of the past, the obsession with the ancients, pedantry and academic formalism” and extolled the beauty of “the vibrating nocturnal fervor of factories and shipyards burning under violent electrical moons; bloated railroad stations that devour smoking serpents; factories hanging from the sky by the twisting threads of spiraling smoke; bridges like gigantic gymnasts who span rivers, flashing at the sun with the gleam of a knife.”
I’m proud to live in a place they would have loved, a place which isn’t pretty but is beautiful — I’m proud to live on Mod Quad.
Contact Peter Mikulski at pmikulsk@nd.edu.
Happy Birthday: Dream, believe, and make it happen. Let your creative imagination take you on a tour of possibilities. Explore your options, implement safety measures, and start a new adventure. Get back to the activities you know and love and plan to enjoy more, and stop laboring over what you can’t change. Don’t limit what you can do; embrace life, love, and happiness. Your numbers are 9, 14, 20, 26, 34, 38, 42.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Keep your plans and secrets to yourself. The less you let others know, the easier it will be to reach your target. Check out what interests you and consider turning it into a lucrative pastime. Let the child within give birth to new beginnings.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Settle in and make your home environment user-friendly, and you’ll save time and money. Consider how you can improve your appearance, health, and emotional well-being. Set out on a journey to discover what makes you happy and implement the life you want to live.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Connect with people who spark your imagination and encourage and support your efforts. A short trip, a reunion, or catching up with someone you love and respect will help you gain perspective regarding what you’ve accomplished and what’s next on your agenda. Protect your ideas.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Don’t sit back, do whatever it takes to excel. Be inventive, take the initiative, and strive to be the best. Be the one to bring about change and set new trends. Step into the spotlight and embrace being the center of attention.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Learn something that helps you improve your life. Choosing a lifestyle and occupation that makes you happy will benefit your emotional wellbeing. It’s never too late to start anew and to find your bliss. A physical change will jumpstart your desire for change.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Be receptive to change, and you’ll find a positive path forward. An open mind will lead to unexpected opportunities and a chance to close one door while opening another. Regret is a waste of time; fill your day with research and discovering what’s next.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Put your energy to good use. Take care of unfinished business; it will give you the boost you need to start something new and exciting. Pay attention to where your money goes. It will help to put a strict budget in place.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Listen, but only buy into plans that feel right for you. Revisit your lifestyle and consider what you find limiting. You must address issues directly for change to have a positive effect. Sign up for a course that offers insight into an intriguing lifestyle.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): YWithholding feelings will result in a misunderstanding. Share your intentions and voice what’s important to you, and you’ll find out where you stand and what you must do to keep the peace. Be willing to compromise; a joint effort will exceed your expectations.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Your actions matter. Don’t promise something you cannot deliver. A change at home can make the difference between happiness and regret. Be clear about what you need and are willing to give in return. With change comes opportunity. Truth and honesty are essential.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Observation will be telltale. Fixate on how others respond to your gestures and requests. Discussing shared expenses or possessions will offer insight into what lies ahead. Keep an open mind, be receptive to suggestions, and look for unique alternatives.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Replenish what you’ve depleted emotionally, physically, and financially and jumpstart your life. Nurture what’s meaningful to you, and you’ll feel the difference in attitude and how you utilize your skills and time. Speed things up and put your energy where it brings the highest return.
Birthday Baby: You are intuitive, visual, and entertaining. You are dynamic and helpful.
Sixth-inning rally carries Irish softball over Michigan State in 4-2 victory
By J.J. POST Senior Sports WriterNotre Dame softball won their third consecutive game Tuesday, rallying late to notch a 4-2 win over Michigan State.
The Irish utilized a deep stable of talent in the circle in the triumph, with all three of the team’s usual starting rotation pitching at least one inning. Sophomore Shannon Becker — who started the contest — did the lion’s share of work, throwing 85 pitches and striking out three batters across four nonconsecutive innings of work. Freshman Micaela Kastor came in to pitch in the third inning and graduate student Alexis Laudenslager eventually closed out the game, retiring six batters in quick succession over the
final two frames.
After the game, associate head coach Kris Ganeff praised Becker and Laudenslager for their impressive work on the day. The starter/closer pair faced a total of 23 batters, not allowing a single run across their six combined innings. Ganeff noted that their offspeed pitches in particular were effective against the Spartans.
“The two of them, their balls were moving,” Ganeff said. “If you were watching from home, or watching from behind the plate, you’re going to see that the ball was moving. Up, down, in, out — all the directions. That helped them hit their strikes when they needed them.”
It took time for Notre Dame’s offense — which mustered just three hits
across the game’s first two trips through the order — to find a spark, but they eventually did so in the sixth inning through a motley combination of skill, opportunism and fortune. Both key contributors and substitutes came up big to put the Irish in front. Hits by senior catcher Carlli Kloss and junior left fielder Emily Tran gave Notre Dame a pair of early baserunners. After some deft baserunning by Tran put both players in scoring position, a Michigan State error on a ground ball by freshman infielder Addison Amaral helped get the Irish on the board.
Eventually, after another hit by junior right fielder Jane Kronenberger and a Spartan force-out, Notre Dame faced a two-out, bases-loaded at-bat. Head coach
Deanna Gumpf opted to call on her bench to make the most of the opportunity, a decision that paid sizable dividends. Senior infielder Mac Vasquez, who drove in the go-ahead runs that won the Irish their weekend series against Georgia Tech as a pinch-hitter two days prior, worked a four-pitch walk to bring the tying run home. Fellow senior infielder Bryn Boznanski then put the home side ahead for good, knocking a two-strike single up the middle to put Notre Dame up 4-2.
Ganeff mentioned that the energy brought by every player in the dugout gave the coaching staff the confidence to utilize those players in clutch situations.
“They just bring a certain passion and fire to the game that changes it for the whole
team,” Ganeff said. “When you see that, we know we can pick any one of them to call on and they’re going to do their job in that moment.”
The win moves the Irish to 3-0 on the year at home, and gives the club their ninth win in their last 11 games. After an up-and-down start saw Notre Dame lose their first four conference matchups, the Irish seem to have found their groove with the season’s midpoint creeping up. Next on the docket will be a weekend series against a North Carolina State squad that’s won just one ACC game in six tries, giving Notre Dame a chance to further foster that momentum and move to a winning record in conference play.
Contact J.J. Post at jpost2@nd.edu
Led by two returning All-ACCers, Notre Dame rowing starts anew
By ANDREW McGUINNESS Senior Sports WriterEvery sports team wants to enter a new season in a good place. No matter the level of talent or preseason expectations, having the right mentality and energy is vital to achieving success. Good news for Notre Dame rowing: head coach Martin Stone, the only coach in the program’s 24year history, believes this year’s group has that.
“I think the preparation has gone really well. There’s been a great vibe on the team all year long. So it’s been a real pleasure to work with them,” Stone said.
The better news for the Irish is arguably their two best talents from last season are still around.
Juniors Natalie Hoefer and Maggie Newell were named First and Second Team AllACC, respectively, a year ago. Hoefer, in particular, is seen as one of the top rowers in the country. She was one of nine rowers in the ACC named to the conference’s preseason watch list and was also recognized by the Collegiate Rowing Coaches Association as an Athlete to Watch. Given that she already holds the Irish record in the 2K and the 6K, Hoefer figures to be in store for more big things
in 2024.
“Natalie is very physically gifted in like her background in her high school sports” Stone said. “She did row but she also ran cross country and she swam so just a great, great engine and she’s natural gifts [but] she has not relied on those. She’s worked really hard to enhance those.”
However, that doesn’t mean Newell should be overlooked.
“Really tough, hard working... [she and Hoefer] have done well so far this year and the fitness tests are going well [and] are ahead of where they were last year,” Stone said.
One of the most unique components of rowing is how big the rosters are. There are 61 members of Notre Dame’s roster this season, with nearly a third of the team consisting of freshmen. That makes for an interesting dynamic as they balance adjusting to college life with beginning their first season at Notre Dame.
“I think that transition everybody transitions differently, right. It takes awhile. It’s just so new when you come in no matter how, how, how well you think you were prepared coming in? It’s just different... I think the freshmen have adapted well, and I think usually with the
freshmen, there’s just more peaks and valleys. Right? Their highs, sometimes, they’re a little bit higher and their lows are a little bit lower.”
The season began for the Irish last weekend at the Cardinal Invitational, hosted by Louisville in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Competing against over a half-dozen schools overall, Notre Dame earned two first place finishes in
11 total races, leading the pack in Saturday morning’s Third Varsity Eight with a time of 6:45.454 and the Fourth Varsity with a time of 7:18.621. The Third Varsity Eight team consisted of freshman Maya Fister, freshman Grayson Conway, junior Clodagh McEvoy-Johnston, senior Lauren Hering, sophomore Megan Vogt, junior Michaela Carroll, senior Elsa Bixby, sophomore
Grace Taylor and freshman coxswain Joyce Kang. Varsity Four was manned by sophomore Morgan Rice, senior Audrey Burri, freshman Scarlett Quinn, junior Victoria Gordon-Brown and sophomore coxswain Annmarie Wallis.
Contact Andrew McGuinness at amcguinn@nd.edu
for everybody that’s going to be there.”
On the Celtic side, Roy Aitken took part in Monday’s proclamation. As a player, he made 484 league appearances for Celtic between 1975 and 1990, also competing internationally for Scotland.
When asked about memories from his days on the pitch, Aitken described the importance of high-energy settings like Notre Dame Stadium from a player’s perspective.
“There’s nothing better for a player [than] to be involved in a game like that — to play in front of so many fans … Celtic Park in Glasgow is a very similar type of covered stadium. 60,000 [fans] every week our boys play in front of,” Aitken recalled. “They’re walking down the tunnel, entering the field of play to huge support. There’s no better feeling for a player — the hairs on the arms are standing up, the heart’s pumping … I know our boys at Celtic will really look forward to come over here and play in such a fantastic stadium.”
In the case of both clubs, this year’s match will allow a unique opportunity for supporters around North America to see their favorite players and teams in live action. Just as Notre Dame football fans flooded into Dublin for the Navy game, so will Chelsea and Celtic diehards into South Bend.
“Pete mentioned Notre Dame being international — Celtic’s very much a team like that,” Aitken said. “We have the national identity in Scotland, but we’re such an international football club. We have supporters all over the world and no more than in North America, and we’re so delighted to be able to come and play in front of hopefully 75 [or] 70 thousand fans.”
Those fans will witness just the second all-time match between Chelsea and Celtic. The two sides previously met in 2004 when the Blues took a 4-2 victory in Seattle, Washington.
With marquee college football games, Garth Brooks concerts, ice hockey battles and rugby matches behind it, Notre Dame Stadium and South Bend as a whole are well-equipped to handle everything this summer’s big event will throw their way.
“Iconic venues such as Notre Dame Stadium are a great fit to host iconic teams like Celtic and Chelsea,” senior vice president of Unified Events Molly Pendleton said. “And while the summer window is great for fans to be able to come and see their teams play, it’s also a unique opportunity for communities like South Bend and Notre Dame to really showcase everything they have to offer to a new audience. So we are very excited — [we] couldn’t be more thrilled to bring together the rich history and culture of Celtic and Chelsea and Notre Dame for the match this summer.”
Contact Tyler Reidy at treidy3@nd.edu
By TYLER REIDY Sports EditorNotre Dame enters NCAA Tournament as No. 2 seed
A week after capturing the ACC Championship, Notre Dame women’s basketball now knows its NCAA Tournament destination. The Irish earned a No. 2 seed in the Albany 1 Region during Sunday’s NCAA Women’s Selection Special. No ACC team earned a higher seed than Notre Dame, with NC State (No. 3 seed), Virginia Tech (No. 4 seed), Louisville (No. 6 seed), Syracuse (No. 6 seed), Duke (No. 7 seed), North Carolina (No. 8 seed) and Florida State (No. 9 seed) all positioning below the Irish.
With their top-four seed, the Irish will host a fourteam sub-regional to start the NCAA Tournament. Notre Dame will host 15thseeded Kent State, the champion from the Mid-American Conference, in the Round of 64 on Saturday. The Golden Flashes enter the tournament at 21-10 overall, having posted a 13-5 record in conference play. They and the Irish faced three common opponents in the regular season: Florida State, Western Michigan and Ball State.
No. 7 Ole Miss will also battle No. 10 Marquette in South Bend during the Round of 64. The winner
of that matchup will face Notre Dame or Kent State in the Round of 32. Should the Irish advance past the Round of 32, they will head to Albany, N.Y., for the Sweet 16 and Elite 8. The Final Four is set for April 5 and 7 in Cleveland, Ohio.
The rest of the Albany 1 Region features two Notre Dame opponents from the regular season. Undefeated South Carolina, the highestranked team in the tournament, holds the No. 1 seed. Notre Dame opened its season with a 100-71 loss to the Gamecocks on Nov. 6 in Paris, France. North Carolina, an ACC team the Irish lost 61-57 to on Jan. 7,
owns the No. 8 seed.
Notre Dame carries a 71-26 all-time record in the NCAA Tournament and a 24-4 First-Round mark.
Contact Tyler Reidy at treidy3@nd.edu
Joined by Brady and Courtney, roommates Graves and Christman take on NCAAs
By MADELINE LADD Assistant Managing EditorAfter an eighth-place finish at the ACC Championships, the Notre Dame swimming and diving team will have representation at the NCAA Women’s Championships. The competition begins Wednesday at the University of Georgia, running through Saturday.
Swimming
Roommates Maggie Graves and Madelyn Christman will be taking on a new adventure together — this time representing the Notre Dame swim and dive women’s team at the NCAA Championships. With the meet set for March 20-23 at the University of Georgia, the junior duo will be competing at this elite level for the first time in their collegiate careers.
“You have the Olympics, you have Olympic Trials, but then you also have NCAAs,” head swimming coach Chris Lindauer said. “Outside of the Olympic Games — for Americans — NCAAs is the hardest meet to qualify for. It’s super competitive, and it’s an honor to represent first and foremost the name on your cap, but also wholly understand the power of representing Notre Dame and what that means to the program, the school and the alumni.”
Graves, a distance specialist, will swim the 1650 freestyle following a best time of 16:11.39 at the Tim Welsh Classic this season. This time ranked her second in program history. Graves also saw another top eight finish, placing fifth at the 2024 ACC Championships.
“I made it at ACCs, but I first made it in January,” Graves said. “I went a best time in the mile at the Tim Welsh Classic. It was really cool to have the whole team watch me and cheer for me the whole way.”
Making it to NCAAs has been a long time coming for Graves, especially following some disappointment last season that comes along with the guessing game of closecall swimming championship qualifications.
“Last year I was less than a second off of making it,” Graves said. “I was two out of the meet in the mile and just missed it which was pretty hard. I had a great ACCs last year and I for sure thought I made it after that.”
After a successful summer of adjusting her training to a more cardio and endurancebased focus, Graves finally reached her goal.
“I feel like I had a little bit of fire and extra motivation in me from last year to make it this year,” Graves said.
As if it weren’t already sweet enough, Graves will be joined at NCAAs by her best friend. Christman earned a spot in the 200 backstroke with a 1:53.06, a time that ranks second in school history and placed her fourth at the ACC Championships. As a result of her qualification, Christman was invited to swim the 100 backstroke (52.66) and 100 freestyle (49.07). She has continually bested these times throughout the season, ranking her third in school history in both events.
“She is the most hardworking person I know, and she gives everything [and] then some,” Graves said. “She made NCAAs as well at Tim Welsh and watching that, I was so excited. Just the realization — even though it wasn’t official — that we both made it and were going to go together. It’s always been a dream of ours.”
Lindauer spoke highly of the two women’s determination to make it to this level.
“Both of these women — Maggie and Madelyn — set out on a mission to take this meet from day one,” Lindauer said. “Just extremely proud of their buy-in to that belief. These two specifically have never skipped a beat. It wasn’t always pretty, but they believed in it and stuck with it.”
Graves is focused on enjoying the moment with her teammates by her side.
“This is the cherry on top for the season, there’s no pressure,” Graves said. “I get to
do it with my best friend. We are super excited to go enjoy it andsee the top level of collegiate swimming.”
Diving
Junior Calie Brady and sophomore Grace Courtney — both divers — will be competing at the competition to round up the female squad to four. Brady is a NCAA veteran, with this being her third time competing at the meet following a fifth place finish in the 1-meter (602.85) and a fourth place finish in the 3-meter (645.95) at the Zone C Diving Championships.
“Divers have had a successful year in a number of ways,” Lindauer said. “You look at dual meets and those consistent performances there, really stepping up in pressure situations where we needed
points and needed them to deliver. It doesn’t just happen out of nowhere. This is all preparation and full vision and belief.”
Courtney will be making her NCAA debut after a ninth place finish in the 1-meter (564.45) at Zone C. Courtney will also compete in the 3-meter after an 11th place finish (603.40).
“That competitiveness that both of them have elevated them to qualify in a tough Zone,” Lindauer said. “Zone C is one of the most competitive zones across the country.”
Head diving coach Mark Bradshaw has been pivotal to his divers’ postseason success. The preparation, vision and belief present among Bradshaw and bestowed upon his divers has been a differentiating factor for the Irish.
“Mark Bradshaw is the master,” Lindauer said. “There’s this inside joke of ‘Postseason Mark’ — he comes out and does that in a big way. Our divers are obviously part of the swimming, but it’s also a different world as well. We share the water but it’s important to have somebody like Mark in that role to share in that philosophy and same postseason goal like NCAAs.”
Brady, Courtney, Christman and Graves will head down to Georgia guided under the leadership of Lindauer, “Postseason Mark” and the assistant coaching staff. The meet will get underway at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 20 and will be broadcasted on ESPN+.
Contact Madeline Ladd at mladd2@nd.edu
Saint Mary’s softball starts season with talents familiar and new
By ANDREW McGUINNESS Sports EditorThe record for Saint Mary’s softball after its first stretch of the season doesn’t paint a pretty picture. The Belles went 1-9 in their swing across central Florida. Their lone win came by just one run and in extra innings while they surrendered eight or more runs in more than half of their games.
But there are plenty of reasons to believe the Belles will be better than their opening week indicates. The team’s offense showed flashes during those opening 10 games, but it’s reasonable to expect them to be able to carry the team this season. Each of the team’s top three offensive threats from last year — second baseman Caitlin Traxler, infielder Libby Bierbaum and shortstop McKenna Myers — are
HCC MEN’S BASKETBALL
all back for their senior seasons. Traxler earned a spot on the All-MIAA Second Team last season.
“When they go, we go … the returners have been very important and making sure the culture is kind of set and just kind of leading the way for the newcomers,” co-head coach Cassie Young said.
This will mark the third season that Cassie and her identical sister Jamie serve as co-head coaches of the team. The two had decorated playing careers for the Belles and are happy to still be on the diamond with each other.
“It’s very cool. You know, I think [being able to coach together is] a pretty unique thing. We never had to step on the field without each other,” Cassie Young said.
They certainly know the start of the season was a disappointment. Improving
the team’s fundamentals, particularly at the plate, will be key to turning things around. When the Belles execute the way they did in their lone victory, successfully executing a sacrifice bunt to set up senior outfielder McKenna Shoupe’s walk-off single, things will go their way.
“Being a little more strategic in the way we play things [is key], as opposed to you know, walking up to the plate and just swinging for the fence. Or, you know, if there’s runners on first and second, we need to, you know, well behind the runners hit to the right side, which we’re getting there by the end of the week,” said Cassie Young. “I feel much better about where we were last Friday as opposed to where we were last Sunday.”
The walk-off was a high point of a great week for
Shoupe. After hitting .352 with an OPS over .900 as a freshman, her production dipped a bit sophomore year and continued to fall last season, leading to an underwhelming .216/.270/.261 slash line. But that hasn’t necessarily been indicative of her overall level of play.
“Maybe the numbers don’t show it, but she has always been a very strong presence on the field. She’s one you can always count on to know what the situation is and what needs to be done. Always willing to take one for the team,” Cassie Young said.
One player who the numbers do tell an honest story about is freshman Mary Charniak. She held her own at the plate, delivering seven hits and driving in two runs in 31 at-bats. However, she’s particularly shined in the circle, a major
weakness for the team last season. Charniak holds a team-best 3.73 ERA and 1.53 WHIP, both team bests. Her 15 innings pitched were second most, showing the coaching staff’s willingness to throw her right into the fire.
“She just doesn’t let anything faze her. It doesn’t matter what kind of situation she’s in. She’s just like, ‘Give me the ball and this is what we’re gonna do.’ Very coachable. Listens. Yeah, she just plays the game the right way,” Cassie Young said.
At the end of the day, a 1-9 start is a 1-9 start. It’s not great. But it’s just the start. And the Belles have the talent to be in a better position by the time the finish line approaches.
Contact Andrew McGuinness at amcguinn@nd.eduHoly Cross basketball head coach McBride resigns after 11 seasons
By THOMAS ZWILLER Senior Sports WriterOn Friday, Holy Cross College announced the resignation of head men’s basketball coach Mike McBride. According to the announcement, McBride, who has been with the Saints since April 2013, stepped down from the program to “pursue other opportunities.”
The resignation came as a surprise to Holy Cross College administration. In an interview, Tom Robbins, director of athletics and head women’s basketball coach, stated he was “was not aware of the situation” beforehand.
McBride’s concurring role as the school’s senior associate athletic director prompts reorganization of the athletics department following his departure.
For the foreseeable future, assistant coach and assistant athletic director Tyler Braidic will take over as the interim head coach.
In pursuit of a new head coach, Robbins stated that the department would conduct a “national search.”
“We will be looking at any and all people that are interested and certainly vetting and looking at
who the best-qualified person will be,” he said. “I can’t speak to whether [Interim Coach Braidic] intends to apply or not, but certainly everyone who applies will be considered.”
In the press release, Robbins praised McBride for his “tireless” efforts to form studentathletes. He stated that McBride would “forever be a part of the Saints basketball legacy.”
Under McBride’s tenure at Holy Cross, the program reached new heights. In the 2019-20 season, the Saints won the program’s first-ever CCAC regular-season title, reaching the NAIA National Tournament.
The Saints had an outstanding run, making it to the second round before the tournament was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
During his interview, Robbins spoke about the disappointment caused by the cancellation of the tournament.
“The disappointment of the COVID year is probably the biggest thing,” said Robbins. “We had a really good team there and won [in] the first round of the national tournament and were heading on. In that second round, it looked like we could really make a great run, and then everything was canceled.”
McBride’s resignation comes after three consecutive losing seasons in conference play. During that stretch, the team combined to go 20-42 against Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference opponents while going 36-52 overall.
Since the 2013-2014 season, the Saints have gone 190-151 (.557) overall and 114-101 (.530) in CCAC play. McBride also produced 28 CCAC All-Academic players, three NAIA All-Americans and 23 CCAC All-Conference players.
Contact Thomas Zwiller at tzwiller@hcc-nd.edu
NOTRE DAME STADIUM
Notre Dame to host Chelsea-Celtic friendly
By TYLER REIDY Sports EditorAdd another coveted game to the storied history of Notre Dame Stadium.
Pete Bevacqua, the special assistant to the president for athletics, announced Monday that the 93-year-old venue will host an international friendly match between England’s Chelsea Football Club and Scotland’s Celtic Football Club on Saturday, July 27. The 77,622-seat stadium previously hosted a similar match between Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool in July 2019.
This year’s match will continue an impressive run of international endeavors from Notre Dame athletics. Back in August, Notre Dame football opened its 2023 season by returning to Dublin, Ireland, for a game against Navy. Two months later, the Irish men’s and women’s golf teams competed at the Old Course at St. Andrew’s in Scotland. Then, in November, Notre Dame and South Carolina kicked off the women’s college basketball season with a game in Paris, France.
Bevacqua, who will take over as director of athletics at Notre
Dame on March 25, cited the University’s international presence as a driving factor behind landing the Chelsea-Celtic match.
“We certainly think of Notre Dame as not just a great national university but really an international university. That’s so important to who we are — that’s one of our strategic priorities,” Bevacqua said. “And we’ve had the ability to take our great teams abroad, but now it’s such an honor and such a pleasure to bring a wonderful international event here to Notre Dame and to the South Bend community.”
Bevacqua also recognized the importance of bringing such a high-profile match to American soil. Through his time serving as the chairman of NBC Sports, he has taken note of how international leagues — such as Chelsea’s Premier League in England — have rapidly gained attention in the United States. He also noted the rise of America’s professional leagues, Major League Soccer and the National Women’s Soccer League, as significant. And with the World Cup set to don the Stars and Stripes in 2026, Bevacqua perceived this summer as the
perfect one for another match in South Bend.
“This is a great moment for soccer in this country, so I think the timing of this in July of this summer is ideal because there’s a fever for soccer right now in the United States,” he said. “We certainly see it here on campus with our men’s team and our women’s team — we had such a wonderful season with our men’s team going to the National Championship … I think it continues this growth and this evolution of soccer in this country that I’ve never been more bullish about than I am right now.”
For Bevacqua, settling on Chelsea and Celtic boiled down to the clubs’ respective pedigrees and histories. Chelsea dates back to 1905 at Stamford Bridge and West London, currently checking in as the world’s eighth most valuable soccer franchise according to Forbes Magazine. The Blues own two Champions League and six English Premier League titles, capturing seven of those eight championships since 2004.
Meanwhile, Celtic began play in 1887, the same year in which Notre Dame football competed in its inaugural game. Brother
Walfrid, an Irish Marist Brother, founded the club for the purpose of alleviating poverty in Glasgow’s East End, an area of the city known for its Irish population. Celtic has won 53 Scottish league championships and currently sits atop the Scottish Premier League table with a record of 22-5-3. With so much tradition and excellence in play, people like Bevacqua couldn’t help but notice the parallels between Chelsea, Celtic and Notre Dame.
“There’s an expectation when you talk about Chelsea Football Club and Celtic Football Club — that history of success, that history of championships,” Bevacqua said. “Nothing less than championships is expected, and that’s what we have here at Notre Dame for all of our sports. Certainly, every time we go into that stadium and play another school on the football field, we want to win. That’s the Notre Dame way … I think it’s a great coming-together of these winning cultures.”
Representatives for both clubs attended Monday’s match announcement at Notre Dame Stadium. Roberto Di Matteo, a former midfielder who scored several memorable FA Cup goals
for Chelsea in the late 1990s, marveled at the athletic offerings on campus.
“We were fortunate enough to have a tour of the facilities, the University and especially the stadium, and it was quite impressive,” Di Matteo said. “I think the facilities here are incredibly good. Every pro team in Europe could only wish to have such facilities that you have here at the University, so I think the athletes here are very fortunate.”
Having played, managed and spectated in countless European cathedrals for soccer, Di Matteo expressed optimism for the fan environment at Notre Dame. In 2019, 40,361 fans attended the match between Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund. Bevacqua expects the crowd to push much closer to 70,000 for this year’s friendly.
“What struck me was how big [Notre Dame Stadium] is, but also the sort of atmosphere that you could generate in a stadium like that — because it’s like a bowl, and you’re close to the action,” Di Matteo said. “I have no doubt that it’s going to be a great spectacle