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Volume 51, Issue 68 | thursday, january 19, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com
Panel explores sanctuary status Speakers examine implications of designating ND a sanctuary campus By ALEXANDRA MUCK News Writer
A panel co-sponsored by the Center for Social Concerns and the Institute for Latino Studies discussed what it means for a city, state, university or faith-based organization to be declared a sanctuary, and what the implications of using the “sanctuary” designation might be. The moderator, director of the Center for Civil and Human Rights Jennifer Mason McAward, led the panelists, who included co-director of the Institute for Latino Studies Luis Fraga, professor of law Rick Garnett, graduate student Leo Guardado and professor of law Lisa Koop. Fraga began the panelists’ remarks by defining sanctuary. Though not technically a “legal jurisdiction,” Fraga said groups that declare themselves as sanctuaries see PANEL PAGE 3
By RACHEL O’GRADY News Editor
EMMET FARNAN | The Observer
Professor Luis Fraga speaks on a panel discussing what it means to be designated a sanctuary campus. Fraga began by defining sanctuary and noted it is not technically a “legal jurisdiction.”
Press supports unique works By MEGAN VALLEY Associate News Editor
Over the past decade, Action Books has established itself as the press for both “authors that go too far” and “international superstars” who never expected to have a large American audience. Founded in 2004 by Joyelle McSweeney and Johannes Goransson — current Notre Dame professors who at the time were both teaching at the University of Alabama — Action Books has helped to introduce Americans to writers from around the world, including Tao Lin, Aase Berg, Kim Hyesoon, Hiromi Ito and Raul Zurita. “We felt there was an appetite for a type of work that wasn’t being accepted at the publishing houses,” McSweeney said. “This is the sort of stuff that’s stylistically exuberant, vocally exuberant, often in translation, coming from feminist
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women, at times. We found that work was met with the response ‘this just goes too far.’ So we decided we would start this press and we would be the press for authors that go too far.” The press publishes six to eight books — most of them poetry — a year, with authors who hail from Japan, Korea, Uruguay, Mexico, Cuba, Argentina, Chile and the Ivory Coast, amongst others. Goransson said Action Books was part of a wave of small publishers that moved American poetry so it “didn’t need the traditional gatekeepers of the established university presses.” “They could be open to younger poets or poets in translation who, at that point, didn’t have this ability,” he said. “ … Now, I think poetry is much better. It’s much improved.” Action Books’ website features the press’s manifesto, another shift from more
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traditional presses. “We’ve done several manifestos,” Goransson said. “The established way of running presses was to say ‘we just pick what’s best.’ It would make me furious. … We didn’t want to be a press like that. We wanted to say this is what we’re interested in, this is the conversation we are having.” According to the manifesto, that conversation is “transnational,” “feminist,” “political” and “for noises.” McSweeney said another reason for the manifesto was to emulate some 20thcentury modernists, who frequently wrote manifestos themselves. “In a way, writing our manifesto was a way to say we’re aligning with this moment 100 years earlier that was totally rev ved up with the energ y of the contemporary world,” she said. “ … We wanted that see PRESS PAGE 4
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In a special session held Monday evening, the Notre Dame faculty senate passed a resolution calling for University President Fr. John Jenkins to declare Notre Dame a sanctuary campus for undocumented students. American Studies professor Jason Ruiz, who was part of the group presenting the resolution, said the resolution was “asking for Fr. Jenkins to keep doing what he’s doing.” “Fr. Jenkins, I think, has taken a national leadership position in terms of supporting and admitting undocumented see RESOLUTION PAGE 4
Speaker stresses power of women By MARTHA REILLY Associate Saint Mary’s Editor
Diversity and Inclusion Officer for the city of South Bend, Christina Brooks, spoke at Mass on Wednesday night in Le Mans Hall, instructing students to remain vocal about issues that concern them if they want to make valuable change in their communities. “If your voice is missing, the revolution doesn’t take place,” she said. “Justice doesn’t lead to peace if women are silent.” According to Brooks, women play an integral role in establishing justice. “Women are the paradigm shifters, the change makers,” she said. “We’re the life givers. We’re the pivot points. We are what brings the revolution.” Brooks said women should maintain a sense of pride for the women who came before them and stood up for their beliefs in the face of adversity and
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judgment. These figures can serve not only as examples, but also as sources of inspiration, she said. “When we think about Martin Luther King [Jr.], he is indeed the face of the Civil Rights Movement,” she said. “But Rosa Parks [also] said, ‘Not today.’” Women should embrace life’s difficulties with patience and understanding, for they must often undergo challenges while promoting just causes, according to Brooks. “In this day and time, God is still calling out to the women not to be complacent, to be troubled in your spirit so the change will come,” she said. “Where is your voice? It’s a call to action.” Brooks said as a young girl, her grandfather would always tell her not to be tired. She said she embraces this mentality in her role as Diversity and Inclusion see BROOKS PAGE 3
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