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Volume 56, Issue 62 | MONDAY, april 4, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com
Jewish Club raises awareness Second annual Antisemitism Awareness week sheds light on Judaism at ND By RYAN PETERS Notre Dame News Editor
I Last week, the Jewish Club of Notre Dame hosted the second annual Antisemitism Awareness Week. The event is an effort to educate the campus about Judaism and combat misconceptions about Jewish culture that can potentially evolve into antisemitism, Jewish Club co-president Blake Ziegler said. The week consisted of events designed to inform students of any faith background about Judaism, allow Jewish students to celebrate their faith and raise awareness about antisemitism on campus. Ziegler said raising awareness
of antisemitism is especially important at Notre Dame, which historically has a small number of Jewish students. “The Jewish Club firmly believes that, especially on a campus like Notre Dame where students tend to not really have much exposure to Jews or Judaism, education is the best way to combat ... misperceptions about Judaism,” Ziegler said. The first event of the week was a lecture last Monday by Sarah van Loon from the American Jewish Committee. Van Loon discussed the state of antisemitism in the U.S, referencing the agency’s annual survey. Van Loon highlighted the survey’s finding that 90% of
American Jews find antisemitism to be either a serious problem or somewhat of a problem yet that number lowers to 60% for the general public, Ziegler said. The club also hosted a panel featuring students and faculty. During the panel, students asked questions to the panel members about what life is like for members of the Jewish community at Notre Dame. Graduate student Karla Gonzalez-Serrano said the panel provided a valuable discussion among students and faculty, bringing to light ways the campus can be more inclusive for Jewish students. These ideas included allowing students to time exams so they do
Fraud found in election
not conflict with fasting and providing more kosher dining options at University events. Though a Catholic, GonzalezSerrano said she has enjoyed participating in the Jewish Club during the past year because it has allowed her to learn about another culture and help build a sense of interfaith community. “We’re praying to the same God, so it definitely feels like an enriching spiritual practice for me,” she said. Other events included a Holocaust prayer service on Wednesday, bystander training for microaggressions and an information session on the club’s
Holy Cross’s Student Government Association (SGA) elections held Thursday resulted in an indeterminable winner in the presidential and vice presidential races because of voter fraud in the election, dean and vice president for student life Andrew Polaniecki informed students in an email Friday. “Unfortunately, due to voter fraud, we were not able to determine a winner for Student Body
see AWARENESS PAGE 4
see ELECTION PAGE 4
Observer Staff Report
Record number participate in Back the Bend This weekend, over 700 students from Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s and Holy Cross spent their Saturday morning volunteering at local South Bend organizations for the annual Back the Bend community service day. Back the Bend is organized by Notre Dame student government and this year, they sent student volunteers to 19 community organizations including the Robinson Community Learning Center, the South Bend Bike Garage, the City of South Bend, Downtown South Bend, the Notre Dame Center for Civic Innovation and Unity Gardens. This was Back the Bend’s twelfth year. It began in 2009 as “Communiversity Day,” but was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because Back the Bend last took place in 2019, co-organizers outgoing student government director of community engagement and outreach Erica Maggelet and outgoing student government director of faith and service Mary Elizabeth Stern said they focused heavily on
marketing and educating students about the event. Stern said a record number of volunteers participated this year. “The record in the past 10 years has been like 600 volunteers, and this year, we broke that record by 100,” she said. “It is really incredible … we took a two-year hiatus because of COVID, and it was so wonderful to see the students so excited to get back engaged in the community and really reconnect with South Bend.” Volunteers began their day at 9:30 a.m. at the Robinson Center where they enjoyed Einstein’s bagels and coffee before heading off to the various community organizations. Students returned to the Robinson Center just before 2 p.m. for free tacos from the Junbuggies food truck. Sara Stewart, the executive director and founder of Unity Gardens, said she greatly appreciated the volunteers’ help and enthusiasm. She described Unity Gardens as a “dignified free food model and edible park” where people of all socioeconomic backgrounds can pick fresh fruit and vegetables for free. In addition to other projects, Saturday’s volunteers
helped pave the garden’s accessible “wheelchair garden” pathway and created mulch pathways to prevent weed growth and frame the garden. “They’ve changed winter to spring for us,” Stewart said. “Every year, it seems like there’s more work done and more efficiency.” She said over 150 Back the Bend volunteers helped out in the garden Saturday. “We’ve never had this many people,” she said. “Every single person I met was super enthusiastic … they asked questions anytime they saw me. They’re wanting to know
more about all this and how to stay involved.” Stern and Maggelet spent Saturday visiting each of the different community sites — including Unity Gardens — and checking in with volunteers and the organizations’ leaders about the experience. Maggelet said many organizational leaders and community members echoed similar sentiments to Stewart. “The community partners were really excited to have so many volunteers. A lot of them didn’t even put a cap on the amount of people they
could have at their sites,” Maggelet said. “It was really fun to see the magnitude of this event and everyone working together.” She said she also received positive feedback from students which felt really rewarding after planning Back the Bend for five months. “I got a few emails … thanking us for planning the event saying that people made great friends and had fun at their sites,” she said. Stern added she is excited to see the future of Back the
News PAGE 4
SCENE PAGE 5
Viewpoint PAGE 7
Bengal Bouts PAGE 12
Baseball PAGE 12
By CLAIRE REID Associate News Editor
CLAIRE REID | The Observer
Tri-campus students help create mulch pathways at South Bend’s Unity Gardens to prevent the growth of weeds. Over 150 students volunteered at the garden as part of Saturday’s Back the Bend service day.
see THE BEND PAGE 4