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Volume 51, Issue 67 | wednesday, january 18, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com
Service honors Martin Luther King Jr. University president speaks on legacy of civil rights leader, need to fight against inequality By SELENA PONIO Associate News Editor
On Monday night, students were welcomed back to Notre Dame’s campus with a typical South Bend chill and a slight drizzle. However, a temporary source of light and warmth on God Quad sliced through that dreary weather: candles with “Walk the Walk Week” labels on them that sat in front of Main Building. The Main Building Rotunda was packed with students and faculty holding candles and celebrating a message of equality during the
Martin Luther King Jr. Day Commemoration. After the celebration, the candles were left by the statue of Jesus in front of Main Building. Speakers for the event included University President Fr. John Jenkins, director of campus ministry Fr. Pete McCormick and associate provost for undergraduate studies Hugh Page; music was provided by Voices of Faith. Jenkins opened the event with a tribute to King’s character. “He was someone who see MLK PAGE 4
Exhibit explores early American Catholicism By ALEXANDRA MUCK News Writer
The new Catholic American exhibit in the Rare Books and Special Collections section of Hesburgh Library tells the story of early American Catholics trying to find a place in both the American and global communities. The exhibit, titled “Preserving the Steadfastness of Your Faith: Catholics in the Early American Republic,” was curated by Rachel Bohlmann, American history librarian, and Jean McManus, associate librarian, who began the project in the fall of 2015. “We started this project with a question about what kinds of materials we had in the collection about Catholics in the early period of the United States’ history,” Bohlmann said. The final result is an exploration of the connections between Catholics and other Americans, and AmericanCatholics and Europeans. “It’s a really interesting sense of how ideas are circulating around the transatlantic community,” Bohlmann
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said. While some parts of the exhibit — such as the maps of Catholic and Protestant paper distributions — show the spread of Catholicism in the U.S., other parts — such as the “Flying Pamphlets” section — highlight the transatlantic communication between Catholics in America and Europe, which brought new ideas to both sides. “The Catholic world is bigger than the boundaries of the United States because of this influx of ideas,” McManus said. Pieces in the exhibit include some of the first Catholic Bibles printed in the U.S. by Mathew Carey; Elizabeth Ann Seton’s copy of “The Imitation of Christ;” and materials from John Carroll, the first bishop of the U.S., and Simon Brute, the first bishop of Indiana. The exhibit takes the viewer from the 1780s to the early 1840s. The end of the exhibit coincides with the founding of Notre Dame, 175 years ago, in 1842. see EXHIBIT PAGE 4
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MICHAEL YU | The Observer
Candles line the pathway to Main Building on Monday to mark the beginning of “Walk the Walk Week.” The prayer service commemorated the life and character of Martin Luther King Jr.
Rector provides details on Walsh renovations By NATALIE WEBER News Writer
As the fall semester drew to a close, the Walsh community girls gathered for a meeting with the Walsh Hall renovation team to discuss the changes to the building. According to Liz Detwiler, the Walsh Hall rector, the building will have a number of updated features including expanded rooms and
new common areas. “For the new renovations, I know that all of the piping and plumbing in the building is going to be new,” Detwiler said. “Some of the rooms are going to be resized to be more appropriate to the amount of people in them. ... We’re going to have lounges on every f loor with full kitchens.” The dorm will have a new elevator and the private
restrooms connected to individual dorms will be replaced with public restrooms. The renovated residence hall will also include new apartments. “We’ll be getting a new apartment space for inresidence priests, or faculty members and probably most importantly, it’s going to be accessible for people of see WALSH PAGE 4
ND faces lawsuit over artwork Observer Staff Report
A lawsuit alleging that the University’s Snite Museum of Art owns art that was stolen more than two decades ago has been transferred to U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Indiana in South Bend, according to Jan. 5 a report from the South Bend Tribune. A Pittsburgh man filed a lawsuit in June against Notre Dame, claiming the museum owns $575,000 worth of his father’s early-American art collection, according to an article in the Pittsburgh
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Post-Gazette. Scott Leff said he learned in 2015 that the University had purchased his father’s collection of several hundred figurines from a dealer in New Mexico in 2005, who allegedly bought it from his father’s ex-wife, according to the Post-Gazette. According to the article, the suit claims the ex-wife of Jay Leff — Scott’s father — pilfered part of his collection in 1996, when the couple divorced. Leff and his wife filed suit in a Pittsburgh court last month, and the case was transferred
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to federal court this week, according to the article. He is seeking the return of the art. University spokesperson Dennis Brown told the PostGazette that Notre Dame acquired the figurines in good faith and is “confident in its ownership of full rightful title” to them. In a written statement, Notre Dame lawyers said Leff has no proof of ownership and made no effort to recover the art for the past 20 years, according to the Post-Gazette. No hearing date for the latest trial has been set yet, according to the Tribune.
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