Print Edition of The Observer for Friday, March 3, 2017

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Volume 51, Issue 99 | friday, march 3, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com

Pence accepts Commencement invitation Vice president to address class of 2017 graduates

ND student groups react to announcement

Observer Staff Report

By COURTNEY BECKER News Writer

The University announced Thursday that Vice President Mike Pence will be the principal speaker at the 2017 Commencement ceremony.

Pence, who was governor of Indiana from 2013 to 2017 and a U.S. congressman and conservative talk radio host before that, will receive an honorary degree.

The announcement comes after months of speculation over whether the University would invite or host President Donald Trump as Commencement speaker, as it has done with several U.S. presidents in the past. Earlier see PENCE PAGE 3

MICHAEL YU | The Observer

Vice President Mike Pence speaks at Fr. Theodore Hesburgh’s memorial service March 4, 2015, at Purcell Pavilion. The former Indiana governor will address students at this year’s Commencement ceremony.

The University’s announcement of Vice President Mike Pence as the 2017 Commencement speaker Thursday incited a variety of reactions from the student body, particularly from members of the class of 2017.

The Senior Class Council released a statement to The Observer encouraging students to remain focused on the purpose of the Commencement ceremony.

“This weekend is ultimately a celebration of our accomplishments, and we are proud to be a part of this see REACTIONS PAGE 4

Speakers address student Hall fair connects disciplinary processes dorm, community

By LUCAS MASIN-MOYER News Writer

In an event that was the first of its kind in several years — and the first since student disciplinary processes underwent profound changes starting in 2011 — associate

vice president for student development M. Brian Coughlin and Ryan Willerton, director of the Office of Community Standards, answered questions from local media on student disciplinary processes.

Coughlin first addressed how Notre Dame’s

disciplinary process is related to outside disciplinary action taken against students.

“The criminal system here in town, in St. [Joseph] County — and even some cases in their hometown — don’t see DISCIPLINE PAGE 4

Lecturer discusses effectiveness of mediation

By ARTHUR ZHAO News Writer

Laurie Nathan, a v isiting research fellow from the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, lectured on international mediation — a form of conf lict management in which mediators abide by specified objectives, strategies and norms — at Hesburgh

NEWS PAGE 3

Center on Friday.

Nathan said locating literature on the topic is an arduous task, which makes it difficult for people to understand the level of authorization and requirements given to mediators.

“There’s not a single logical [publication] that prov ides a systematic analysis of the mandate,” Nathan said.

SCENE PAGE 5

Nathan said six varieties of the mediation mandate ex ist, including the constitutional mandate, which authorizes an organization to conduct mediation.

Confusion about this mandate can lead to serious consequences, such as the prolonged peace mediation in the 2009 Malagasy see MEDIATION PAGE 3

VIEWPOINT PAGE 6

By ALEXANDRA MUCK News Writer

Flaherty Hall, one of Notre Dame’s newest dorms, is excited to establish itself this year as a dorm focused on outreach in the community. One way the residents of Flaherty are demonstrating their dorm’s focus is through their new signature event, Flaherty Fair, which will take place Friday from 6-8 p.m. on the first f loor of Flaherty.

Sophomore Katie Scherzinger, one of the event commissioners, said the inspiration for the event came from a desire to draw people to Flaherty, particularly since Pangborn Hall — where most Flaherty residents used to live — didn’t have large signature events.

“It’s a new dorm, new year and we didn’t have any events — except we wanted to keep Pangborn’s tradition of Project Pumpkin Pie, which takes place around

ND w basketball PAGE 12

Thanksgiving,” she said.

“This event came from a year of brainstorming what we could do to get Flaherty involved with charities in the community and get Flaherty as a community [and] as a dorm involved in dorm life.”

Sophomore Laura Migliore, a member of the event’s publicity committee, said students can pay $5 to eat from a nacho bar and an ice cream bar at the event, and all proceeds will go to the Robinson Community Learning Center.

“As a new dorm, we’re excited about this being a signature event because we really want to establish ourselves as committed to serving others,” she said. “I think there’s a general consensus in Flaherty that serving others brings out the best in individuals.”

Flaherty is also building its reputation as a community-focused dorm with see FAIR PAGE 3

MEN’s BASKETBALl PAGE 12

2

TODAY

The observer | Friday, march 3, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com

Question of the Day: ndsmcobserver.com

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What are your thoughts on Mike Pence being invited to be the Commencement speaker?

P.O. Box 779, Notre Dame, IN 46556 024 South Dining Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556

Dan Fisk

Michael O’Brien

junior Alumni Hall

sophomore Sorin Hall

“Cool honor.”

“A potentially polarizing choice.”

Connor Reilly

Colleen Johnston

freshman Dunne Hall

sophomore McGlinn Hall

“It splits the difference that will make nobody happy.”

“He’s going to make my job miserable at the phone center.”

(574) 631-4542 mhynds@nd.edu

Tim Bentley

Maddy Altenau

Managing Editor

freshman Dunne Hall

sophomore Ryan Hall

“A wimpy soft-shoe move.”

“Oh, I hate that guy.”

Editor-in-Chief Margaret Hynds Managing Editor Business Manager Kayla Mullen Emily Reckmeyer

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Today’s Staff News

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Courtney Becker Martha Reilly Gina Twardosz

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KAT ROBINSON | The Observer

Notre Dame watches a video play on the JumboTron following its game against Boston College on Wednesday night in Purcell Pavilion. The Irish beat the Eagles, 82-66, and will play their next game Saturday against the Cardinals in Louisville, Kentucky.

The next Five days:

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Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Monday

Tuesday

Graduate First Friday Dinner Coleman-Morse Center 6:15 p.m. - 8:15 p.m.

Open to graduate students of all faiths.

Freebie Yoga Class Rockne Memorial 11 a.m. - noon No registration required, but space is limited. Arrive early.

Theatre: “I and You”

by Lauren Gunderson DeBartolo Performing Arts Center 2:30 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Tickets available online.

Center for Digital Scholarship Workshop: Introduction to Stata Hesburgh Library 3 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Diane Nash: Civil Rights Movements of the ’60s - A Legacy for Today Eck Hall of Law 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Bengal Bouts Finals Joyce Center 7 p.m.

Tickets can be purchased online or at the door for $10.

Men’s Lacrosse vs.

Maryland Arlotta Stadium Noon The Irish take on the Terrapins.

Monthly Fellowship: Jamii Coleman-Morse Center 9 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Food will be served.

ACMS Colloqium: Mapping Cell States from Single-Cell Gene Expression Hayes-Healy Center 4:15 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.

“Biodiversity and Invasive Species” Geddes Hall 7 p.m. - 8:15 p.m.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

News

ndsmcobserver.com | friday, march 3, 2017 | The Observer

3

Underclassmen sell clothing, donate proceeds

By ANDREW CAMERON News Writer

Last December during finals week, two students had an idea to create a new sort of clothing brand, calling it “The Cove.” The students, freshman Anthony DiCarlo and sophomore Charliepat Hart, both residents of Siegfried Hall, plan to sell high-quality clothing to college students, with a portion of the proceeds going to charity.

DiCarlo and Hart have already held one sale of t-shirts and are currently receiving orders for crew-neck shirts, both with original designs made by Hart.

“We had 17 [shirts] sold, so it was kinda small, but people were buying them and people wear them and more people are asking, ‘What is The Cove?’”

Mediation Continued from page 1

political crisis, according to Nathan.

“The U.N. had a mandate to mediate, the African Union had a mandate to mediate and [the Southern African Development Community] had a mandate to mediate,” Nathan said. “These three organizations had a very vicious diplomatic fight over which of them would lead the mediation.”

The political mandate plays

DiCarlo said. “We’re currently doing a crewneck order [and] we currently have 20 orders.

Hopefully as time goes on, with more exposure, we’ll be able to sell more and raise more money for this program.”

Hart said the inspiration to start the brand came while the two were studying for finals in the Fishbowl of Hesburgh Library.

“We were sitting on the couch, and I needed an outlet,” Hart said. “I moved the couch around to get to the outlet, and we found out that when we moved the couches around, it sort of created this cool space that resembled a cove, so we decided to call it the ‘cove.’ We just started to decorate it to make it feel more homey and to be a more enjoyable place to study. I went and got all my pillows and blankets

from my dorm room — we made [paper] snowflakes at 3 a.m. one night. We brought a Christmas tree over, and we put a fireplace up on the TV. It was a very inclusive space — we wanted people to come in. We had communal snacks that anyone could take.”

Hart said they wanted to share this experience with other students.

“We decided that we wanted to share this with everyone and were thinking about how we could do that, so we decided to sell t-shirts,” Hart said. “Then we thought, instead of just selling t-shirts aimlessly, we could also put it towards a good cause, so we decided 20 percent of our profits would go to a charitable cause.”

Hart said that they currently are donating to the Whale and

Dolphin Conservation (WDC), a global charity “dedicated to the protection of whales and dolphins,” according to the WDC website. The motivation for choosing this charity, Hart said, was from watching the 2009 Academy Award-winning documentary “The Cove,” criticizing Japanese dolphin hunting practices.

Hart said that once he and DiCarlo became privy to what was going on over in Japan, “we decided we had to do something.”

DiCarlo said that The Cove does not currently have any staff besides Hart and himself.

“I was a co-founder along with Charliepat — we kind of both do about everything for it,” DiCarlo said. “We’re a two-man show running everything — working

an integral role in the outcome of a mediation because it provides mediators with various instructions and approaches to the peacemaking process, Nathan said. In the Madagascar mediation of 2009, a rejection of the original political mandate resulted in the crisis lasting for 18 months, according to Nathan.

“So you can see here, in a succinct way, how a mandate contributes to prolonging a constitutional crisis over 18 months,” he said.

Nathan said the normative

mandate and the organizational mandate both prov ide general norms and detailed requirements for mediation, while the parties’ mandate and the donors’ mandate are demands set by parties and funders in the negotiation. He said the various branches of the mediation mandate prov ide mediators w ith the parameters necessar y to help states reach a consensus.

“When you can’t get consensus from member states around a particular conf lict, you can see how important

that mandate is,” he said.

According to Nathan, the mediation mandate could potentially lead to disputes between member states who have differing interpretations of its parameters. He said although the mandate can be useful, it also carries drawbacks.

“At the f lip side of the coin, the mandate can be significant by impairing the effectiveness of the mediation,” he said.

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Contact Arthur Zhao at szhao4@nd.edu

Pence Continued from page 1

this week, students protested the possibility that President Trump would be invited.

University vice president for public affairs and communications Paul Browne said Thursday that he would not “speculate or disclose” who the University had considered or invited, including Trump.

“Certainly one of the things that figured prominently was the fact that he was governor in our home state who had just become vice president of the United States … and Governor Pence is a native son of Indiana and coincidentally, we will be celebrating ND’s founding 175 years ago in Indiana,” Browne said. “Those were elements of it.”

The Commencement ceremony will take place May 21 in Notre Dame Stadium.

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on new designs, new t-shirts, marketing, everything. It’s a dual effort in a sense.”

Hart said that he and DiCarlo have great aspirations for the brand while starting small.

“Our immediate goal is to become a real presence in our local area: this campus,” he said.

“Long term, we want to be a premier outfitter for college students across the nation, for students who want that quality of Vineyard Vines or Patagonia but at an affordable price.”

“We’re just trying to be something that can provide good for the world, in a sense. Yes, we’re very small right now, but who knows where this could end up going?” DiCarlo said.

Contact Andrew Cameron at acamero2@nd.edu

Fair Continued from page 1

other service events, including an upcoming Habit for Humanity build and its prison libraries book drive, but chose to focus on benefitting The Robinson Community Learning Center — an offcampus Notre Dame initiative that enrolls over 600 participants each week and 8,000 youth per year in its learning programs, according to the Center’s website — with the event due to its connection to the University, Scherzinger said.

“Robinson Community Learning Center is a group that a lot of people are involved in or working with, so it’s definitely close to home for Notre Dame,” she said.

In addition to providing an opportunity for Flaherty residents to perform community outreach, the Fair is a chance for Flaherty residents to build their own Flaherty community by helping with the event by serving ice cream and nachos and working on table tents and banners, Scherzinger said.

“It’s a way to meet people in the dorm and work with girls in the dorm,” she said. “For those who responded, I think it’s a really fun experience.”

The coordinators already have high hopes that next year’s Flaherty Fair will be even bigger than this year’s, Migliore said.

“Because it’s our first year, we’re starting small, but I think in the future, it will be bigger and more fun,” she said. “I’m thinking a pie throw next year.”

Contact Alexandra Muck at amuck@nd.edu

4

NEWS

The observer | friday, march 3, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com

Reactions Continued from page 1

class,” the statement said. “We hope that in spite of the diverse political beliefs among our class, our graduation weekend will be an opportunity to spend quality time with our friends and family as we say goodbye to the place that we have grown to love.”

The executive board of Diversity Council, a student group promoting “awareness, understanding and acceptance of all differences that make up the Notre Dame community,” released a statement expressing the group’s dissatisfaction with the University’s decision.

“Our working definition of diversity spans, but is not limited to race, gender, ethnicity/ culture, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status and spirituality,” it said. “In the spirit of our mission, we are disappointed and angered by the University’s announcement of Vice President Mike Pence as the 172nd Commencement speaker.”

The Diversity Council’s statement called into question University President Fr. John Jenkins’s statement announcing Pence as the speaker.

Discipline Continued from page 1

have an influence on what we’re doing here,” he said.

“The questions that we’re addressing with our students are violations of community standards of conduct. … If a student comes in and says these charges were dropped in town, that doesn’t mean we won’t have our conference or our hearing.”

Willerton then described how his office reaches decisions in cases brought to the Office of Community Standards.

“Every decision is a unanimous decision. … It’s working through a decision and deciding, ‘Is this the right decision based on the information we have?’” he said. “These are all decisions we make as a panel, as a group.”

Coughlin also addressed concerns from some alumni and community members, who claim the recent reforms made to the disciplinary process result in the process itself being too relaxed.

“It’s a different perspective on what it is that we’re doing,” he said. “My goal — and the goal I give to Ryan’s office — is, ‘Can we have an impact on these students’ lives [so] that when they live here, they have the tools to make good decisions in all different settings?’

If I can do that, I think I’ve accomplished most of the work.

I also have the goal that I need to make this a safe place for everyone and that the community as a whole functions.”

“In his statement, Fr. John Jenkins commended Vice President Pence for his ‘moral conviction’ and ‘dedication to the common good’ throughout his career as a public official,” the council’s statement said.

“In response, we ask: Who is excluded from this vision of the common good? According to the vice president’s actions, many.”

The statement denounced the administration’s decision to invite Pence, citing his rhetoric regarding the Muslim community, his stances against Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) refugees and legislation he introduced and supported that allowed discrimination of the LGBT community.

“As the Diversity Council Executive Board, we wholeheartedly include these members of society, and of the Notre Dame family, in our vision of the common good,” it said. “In light of this invitation and endorsement of Vice President Pence as a representative of Notre Dame through the conferral of an honorary degree, we question whether the University’s administration can say the same.”

Other students, however, take a more positive view

Additionally, Coughlin discussed the readmission process for students that have been dismissed after they failed to meet community standards.

“They apply just like any other student that would be either transferring or being readmitted to the university to say somebody who left the University for academic reasons — they fail out of school,” he said.

The media session ended with a discussion pertaining to the University’s change in policy regarding marijuana.

“What we created was called a deferred decision on dismissal,” Coughlin said. “So we don’t necessarily dismiss students on a first possession or paraphernalia possession charge any more — we could and we have, depending on the amount or the circumstances,” he said. “The student has technically been dismissed, but we defer that and give them the opportunity to enter something called the TRAC Program.”

The TRAC program, Coughlin said, varies depending on the severity of the student’s offense.

“It might come with loss of campus housing,” he said. “It might come with the weekly meetings with Ryan’s staff, it might come with meetings in our wellness center with a drug and alcohol counselor and it absolutely does, in every case, [come] with random drug testing.”

Contact Lucas Masin-Moyer at lmasinmo@nd.edu

of Pence’s history in politics. The Notre Dame College Republicans — who met with Pence as a group last spring — released a statement in support of Pence as the commencement speaker shortly after the University’s announcement.

“The Notre Dame College Republicans are very proud to have Notre Dame host Vice President Mike Pence as this year’s commencement speaker,” the statement said. “Vice President Pence has a proven track record of conservative principles and has staunchly defended Christian values during his time in public office.

We were honored to host him on campus during his time as governor of Indiana, and now we are excited for him to return as the vice president of the United States to deliver the keynote speech at this year’s commencement ceremony.”

Senior Pat Crane, president of the College Republicans, said in an email that although he is disappointed the administration has not upheld the “tradition of bringing the president to speak” at commencement, he looks forward to Pence serving as the commencement speaker instead.

“I am personally pleased to welcome Vice President

Pence to campus as President Trump’s right hand man,” he said. “ … I am proud to hear his speech in May, which will continue the drive of the Trump administration to further unite this country and make America great again.”

The perceived tradition of inviting the president of the United States to speak at Notre Dame’s Commencement ceremony during his first year in office is a common misconception among members of the Notre Dame community. While six presidents have spoken at Notre Dame, only four have spoken at the Commencement ceremony during their first year in office: Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

The Notre Dame College Democrats also released a statement Thursday in response to the University’s announcement, which cites the intended purpose of the Commencement ceremony as a primary cause of the group’s stance against the decision.

“Commencement weekend is a time to honor our graduates and their families after four years of hard work and commitment,” the statement said.

“As we send the class of 2017 into the world, we are given

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one last opportunity to celebrate their time and achievements here at the University of Notre Dame. We are profoundly disappointed that University President Fr. John Jenkins has chosen Vice President Mike Pence as Notre Dame’s 172nd Commencement speaker.”

The statement additionally challenged Jenkins’s assertion that Pence served with “quiet earnestness, moral conviction and a dedication to the common good characteristic of true statesmen” during his time as Indiana governor, pointing to Pence’s discrimination against the LGBT community in Indiana, as well as his stances on the Syrian refugee crisis and women’s rights as contradictions.

“The new Administration has shown a basic disregard for the fundamental rights of so many communities,” it said. “We are saddened that Fr. Jenkins would invite Vice President Pence to serve as an ambassador of that Administration, as he receives an honorary degree on a stage shared by members of the very communities he marginalizes.”

Contact Courtney Becker at cbecker3@nd.edu

5

The observer | friday, march 3, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com

By ADRIAN MARK LORE Scene Writer

Xiu Xiu has been busy. Unlike most other Western bands who condense their output into discrete, full-length albums and release them in usually predictable intervals of time, the members of this avant-garde musical group have sunk their hands into a wide variety of formats and genres in recent years. Since the turn of the millennium, few groups have been as versatile.

Last year, the group released a low-key record of electroacoustic drone music, a “Twin Peaks” cover album and a 38-minute spoken-word recording. In 2015, it released two rare and album-length industrial tracks on cassette, a collaboration with infamous Japanoise producer Merzbow, a 43-minute field recording and two avant-garde collections of indeterminacy — one of them produced using solely hundreds of pink vibrators. And in 2014, aside from composing the soundtrack to a movie, the group released both a folk album and a synth punk album.

Suffice it to say that it has been hard to keep up. In fact, among all of these extraneous releases, Xiu Xiu’s latest fulllength effort, “FORGET,” almost went unnoticed. With its innocuous pastel cover, the new record promised little.

One could reasonably have expected a fresh batch of field recordings and calming background noise.

Yet the record delivers a colossal dose of the noise pop artistry that Xiu Xiu has perfected over the past decade. Like almost any other Xiu Xiu release, “FORGET” has teeth under its harmless veneer — and they sprout where you least expect them.

By CAELIN MILTKO Scene Writer

Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” is this semester’s play of choice for Notre Dame’s Not-So-Royal Shakespeare Company.

“The Merchant of Venice” is a complicated show, and some of its themes are made even more complicated by the current political climate. It tells the story of Antonio, Bassanio, Portia and Shylock. It is half marriage-plot comedy and half confusing commentary on the relationships between Jews, Christians and money.

The play itself is a bit of a paradox. Although it was perhaps progressive for its time, the final scene throws around “Jew” like an insult, and its plot seems to identify Jewishness with greed to a certain extent. Yet certainly, Shylock as villain is not purely evil — his central speech (“Hath not a Jew eyes?”) pushes back against a plot that seeks to malign him.

But still, the question remains as to whether the play is really made to stand the test of time.

For the actors’ part, the performance put on by the NotSo-Royal Shakespeare company is incredibly well-done.

Its acting is impressive, its use of the black-box theater is always fun to see and its performances consistently feature amazing minor parts that truly bring Shakespeare’s work to life.

In particular, Candace LeBron-Williams as Morocco

The most biting songs, however, spare the subtlety. The first track, “The Call,” bursts open with a bellicose invocation, with frigid synths fist-pumping to aggressive beats in the subsequent fallout. As always, frontman Jamie Stewart’s quavering voice haunts the track, surrounding the listener with duplicitous personas that speak like maddening apparitions.

His distorted, doom-filled cadence similarly carries “Queen of the Losers,” where he towers over a cacophony of apocalyptic bass, discordant glitches, electric howls, harsh noise and percussive sparring. Certainly the most colossal track on “FORGET,” it is also the most emotionally devastating. While Stewart does not craft a precise narrative, the track’s refrain is sufficiently miserable: “Everyone hates you / The pain has just begun,” he sings over the chaos.

The world-building is relegated to the record’s humbler tracks, including “Petite” and “Faith, Torn Apart.” While the former is heartbreaking in its tenderness, it does lack the abrasive flair that accentuates Xiu Xiu’s most affecting work, including the otherwise acoustic “Sad Pony Guerilla Girl” off the group’s 2003 breakthrough, “A Promise.”

That said, the alien simplicity of “Faith, Torn Apart” is effectively disorienting, featuring stellar audio engineering and moments of unsettling lyricism. Particularly affecting is the track’s latter half: a straight-faced monologue by an anonymous victim of structural oppression. This is the closest Xiu Xiu comes to a political statement, with biting lines such as, “My family will never see me again / My goofy jokes hide my goofy damnation.” By describing a mosaic of features — including a baseball cap, a hijab, a feather boa and a bindi — that do not quite point at any social group in

particular, the group asserts that this victim could represent anyone at all.

While the powerful statement looms over the record’s solemn conclusion, what precedes it is markedly less calm.

Indeed, “FORGET” is a maximalist storm overall, more energetic than some of the band’s more intricate efforts.

Tracks such as “At Last, At Last” and the lush, danceable “Wondering” — another memorable highlight — are just a step away from pop music, yet the record’s disconsolate narrative never falters.

But this is Xiu Xiu, after all — the band responsible for “Apistat Commander,” a track about the suicide of Stewart’s father, rife with disarming screams and harsh noise.

Though the group has undergone many transformations since “A Promise,” it once again demonstrates on “FORGET” its ability to capitalize on emotional devastation. The result is a record that is simultaneously haunting and uplifting, grotesque yet sublime.

and Louise Gregory as Launcelot shine as small comedic parts in the production. LeBron-Williams is hilariously dramatic as Morocco, and her scene is one of the best of the first half. Gregory’s interaction with Erik Mickiewicz’s Old Gobbo is wonderfully portrayed.

The marriage-plot portion of the play succeeds comedically and theatrically. Mary Elsa Henrichs as Portia and Lydia Costello as Nerissa comprise a wonderful duo, acting their parts with great facial expressions and hilarity. Bassanio (Joe Crowley) and Gratiano (Zach Spitzer) form impressive counterparts.

But any performance of “The Merchant of Venice” cannot be judged on the basis of the lighter aspects of its plot — and in this day and age, it is in some ways not enough to perform the play as it might have been produced in the past.

In some ways, the Not-So-Royal Shakespeare company’s performance is not particularly innovative. The costumes are fairly standard. Compared with “Hamlet” from this past fall, the gender-bending in “Merchant of Venice” is not particularly notable or interesting. The producers likewise made no substantive changes to the setting or timing of the narrative.

It is in the first details that the performance attempts to make its mark. When Jessica (Tori Babcock) looks forward to stealing away with Lorenzo (PJ Harig), she says, “If thou keep promise, I shall end this strife / Become a Christian and thy loving wife.” Babcock’s inflection on

the first half of the line makes her seem ambivalent about Christianity, though her Jessica is clearly infatuated with Lorenzo.

Most importantly, however, is the character and performance of the play’s central villain, Shylock. The clearly talented Michael Vaclav plays Shylock with an emotional depth not necessarily inherent in the written character.

The scene where Shylock leaves Jessica behind in his house the night she runs away was, for me, one of the most heart-rending moments of the play. Babcock’s Jessica seemed conflicted, truly sorry to leave her father behind; Vaclav’s Shylock did not seem cruel or greedy, but rather loving as he presented a gift to his daughter and walked slowly off the stage.

The emotion with which Vaclav played Shylock in the first half engendered a sympathy which functioned throughout the play, despite the cruel manner in which Shylock behaves in the final court scene. That scene is difficult — and a major portion of the reason why “The Merchant of Venice” is far from my personal favorite of Shakespeare’s plays — yet undeniably well-performed. w The Not-So-Royal Shakespeare company’s production ends with a baptismal scene which feels a bit like watching someone go to the gallows. As a whole, the performance is moving. It is up to the audience to decide what to do with the experience.

Contact Adrian Mark Lore at lore.1@nd.edu

“FORGET” Xiu Xiu Label: Polyvinyl If you like: Coil, Nine Inch Nails, Baths Tracks: “Queen of Losers,” “Petite,” “Faith, Torn Apart”

Contact Caelin Miltko at cmoriari@nd.edu DOMINIQUE DeMOE | The Observer

6

The observer | friday, March 3, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com

Inside Column

The people who built me

Seniors should have more say in Commencement process

Margaret Hynds Editor-In-Chief

For one more day, I have an office in the basement of South Dining Hall w ith a breathtaking v iew of an interior hallway and a rather beat-up couch slumped against the wall.

There are yellow ing newspapers taped up on display, press credentials tacked to the corkboard and a gently used “Play like a champion” poster hanging from the wall.

Just above my desk is the piece de resistance: the business cards of our last 30 or so editors-in-chief.

I managed to be The Obser ver’s 50th editor-in-chief. I inherited a legacy that, when I took over a year ago, seemed crushing, but that I now find incredibly comforting.

In our histor y of covering Notre Dame and Saint Mar y’s, there have been so many incredible highs — resourceful reporting and excellent w riting — and also a few lows that we would rather forget about, but are important all the same.

We’ve had both this year, too.

I rather naively and conceitedly thought when I took over that the success or failure of the paper this year was solely a ref lection on myself. And to a certain extent that is true, especially when it came to the mistakes. But the successes, what we did well, are a testament to a lot more than just me.

W hat The Obser ver is, what we are, consists of 50 years worth of student journalists’ work, on which we build and sometimes take for granted.

So, unsurprisingly, I find I have a lot of people to thank today as I officially retire at the age of 22.

Primarily, I am thankful for the work of ever y editor who has come before me, particularly those who have offered their help in times of need and ser ved as mentors to myself and the rest of staff. These are the people who have made me the person I am now — who told me, when I was a sophomore ready to quit and find something else to do w ith my time, that I should stay. Jack and Ann Marie, I hope you both understand how much of an impact you had on me when I was an underclassman.

I am grateful to my staff this year: You consistently impressed me w ith your dedication and the qualit y of your work over the past year, and I cannot adequately describe how proud I am of you.

I am beyond grateful to my family — biological and chosen — for listening to my complaints w ithout judgment and w ith unwavering support. In particular, my roommates Anne, Mallor y and Maria, who have become my chosen sisters and the most wonderful indiv iduals I ever could have asked for.

And finally, that leaves Greg Hadley, my predecessor and best friend, w ithout whom I would have been utterly lost this year.

So thank you to the people who have built me.

And best of luck to those to come.

Contact Margaret Hynds at mhynds@nd.edu The views expressed in this Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

The University announced Thursday morning that the 2017 Commencement speaker will be Vice President Mike Pence. A University spokesperson Thursday declined to say whether or not the University had invited President Donald Trump.

The debate over whether or not Trump should have been invited to speak at Notre Dame’s graduation ceremony was the most divisive topic on campus this year — especially amongst seniors. Six U.S. presidents have spoken at Notre Dame’s Commencement ceremonies since 1960, four of whom — including Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush — spoke during their first year in office. Throughout the 2016 election and in the first few months of the new administration, the question of whether President Trump would be invited was the subject of intense, heated debate. We have seen this in conversations and demonstrations around campus supporting both sides of the issue, and it’s been especially noticeable in our Viewpoint section.

The debate over inviting presidents to be Commencement speakers will certainly continue with the selection of Pence, the former governor of Indiana and another divisive political figure for his stances on, among other things, LGBT rights and reproductive issues.

We were sharply divided over whether or not Trump should have been invited to speak this year, and thus we could not, as one board, take either side in the debate.

However, we are in agreement that the students — especially graduating seniors who will be attending Commencement — did not have satisfactory input into this incredibly divisive decision.

Not giving the student body, particularly graduating seniors, adequate say in the matter undermines the idea that Commencement “is for graduates and their parents,” as Jenkins said in an interview with The Observer last semester. Leaving students out of the process almost entirely also caused undue confusion, especially as the weeks and months without an announced speaker were drawn out.

On Monday, about 30 protestors from a coalition that included Diversity Council, the Notre Dame College Democrats and We Stand For gathered in front of Main Building to protest what they originally said was Notre Dame’s decision to invite Trump to Commencement, even though the University has never said whether he was invited or not.

The Notre Dame College Republicans also sent an email to its members Monday reminding them of a club meeting held that night to “discuss meeting with Fr. Jenkins regarding Commencement.”

In 2009, President Barack Obama spoke at Commencement during what Jenkins himself recently described as “a political circus.” The decision to let him speak was vehemently protested from the moment it was announced — and the outcries only increased until the ceremony concluded. While alumni and Catholic figures like Bishop Kevin Rhoades spoke out against the decision

to invite Obama and award him an honorary degree, several hundred students voiced their dissent by planning an alternate graduation ceremony at the Grotto.

The decision to invite Obama divided — literally, not just figuratively — the student body on a day that was supposed to be a celebration of the common achievement of the class of 2009. It happened on a day that was supposed to be “for graduates.”

Just last year, then-Vice President Joe Biden and former Speaker of the House John Boehner controversially received the Laetare Medal at Commencement. Alumni signed a petition, which stated that Biden should not receive the medal due to his pro-choice views. Students held prayer services in protest of the decision.

It is clear to us that any time a controversial political figure like Trump or Obama — and certainly Pence qualifies, as well — is invited to campus, Commencement will be, to use Jenkins’ description, a “circus.”

In light of this fact, when inviting a Commencement speaker to campus, we feel it is time to start considering the opinions of the people at the focus of this celebration: the graduates. Though the University has failed to do this for the 2017 Commencement, we feel students should become a much greater part of the process for future graduations.

This is not to say the University should shy away from inviting these figures to campus in general; in fact, we encourage the University to continue to do so, as this generates important and impassioned debate that helps shape the students at Notre Dame into the graduates we celebrate every May. And that is not to say Commencement should be excluded from consideration for such speakers.

Rather, we call on the University to better seek and consider input from the very people whose Commencement could be affected by any “political circus.” From Obama to Trump, and Biden to Pence, members of our Editorial Board were able to make cases that each should be invited; that the benefits of engaging in this debate outweighed the negative distractions from Commencement.

If it is the decision of the student body that these figures should be invited, then the University should not shy away from inviting these figures.

Now, given the decision to invite Vice President Pence, we will have another polarizing Commencement ceremony. Some people on campus will certainly protest Pence’s presence; others might protest the fact Trump is not the speaker.

The fact is, seniors who had no choice in who would speak at their Commencement are now facing a graduation day that will not be about their graduation.

If Commencement, and the days leading up to it, are to be filled with protests and vitriolic dialogue, those most affected by it should be able to have a say in whether that chaos is worth it. And, if they decide it is, then by all means we should invite the controversial speakers.

It is too late to fix this process for the class of 2017, but moving forward, we urge the University to actually make Commencement “for graduates” by stopping the practice of inviting polarizing political figures to speak at Commencement without those seniors’ input.

Follow us on Twitter. @ObserverViewpnt

7

The observer | friday, March 3, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com

Lenten angels waiting at the DMV Gary Caruso Capitol Comments

Two days into another fast-paced, twenty-first centur y Lenten season, many Catholics, like this w riter, not only have thus far failed to prepare for the Lenten obser vation, but also have yet to groom their souls to become more spiritual.

Since Francis was elected pope, the Catholic f lock has been directed to be less judgmental based on orthodox dogma in secular political squabbles while perfecting their hearts and internal motives. Francis has consistently suggested during Lent that the faithful shed the stale, rigidly rote abstention from chocolate, alcohol or television that satisfies only us and sacrifice in a way that creates an inner awareness, which eliminates indifference towards others. For example, he admonishes us for justif ying our indifference by denying a handout to the homeless based on where that money will be spent. Overall, the pope asks us to become angels amid our neighbors throughout Lent.

Ash Wednesday — coincidentally the month’s first day this year — afforded itself the monthly overlapping of motor vehicle deadlines. For those of us last-minute lambs forced to sit two hours in an overheated room w ith an overf low crowd at the DMV to render applications, identification proof and money orders to satisf y Caesar, Lent had arrived like the proverbial March lion.

Luckily for me, a neighbor — an acquaintance of a handful of times while my condominium board worked w ith his on a neighborhood issue — sat in the front row next to an open seat. I had struck upon a fortunate opportunity to pass time. In reality, I sat next to the first of two spiritually awakening lessons of the day.

This neighbor is an attorney in both New York and Washington, D.C. His 23-year-old daughter, his youngest child, spent last summer in Haiti

working on a community ser vice project. She was his family’s free spirit who arrived in Haiti to help change the world. Rather, he said, the Haitian people changed her. At a school for girls, his daughter noticed that each child practically inhaled their meager lunch ration of food, except for one girl who clutched onto her bread nicely wrapped in paper. W hen asked through an interpreter why the girl had not even nibbled on her lunch portion, she answered, “It’s not my turn today.”

In Februar y, my neighbor’s daughter returned to the Caribbean to volunteer with another program. She had ventured alone away from her group on a water ta x i to a close-by island, where she explored a small coastal town. In an effort not to miss the return water ta x i, down a 10-minute safe walkway, she veered off onto the shortcut. Authorities believe that during a botched robber y attempt, she either slipped or was pushed and hit her head on a rock. She was then strangled. Her body was found the following morning.

As my neighbor spoke, he gazed through me, obviously hurt and numb. He spoke of his frantic calls to State Department friends when she was first reported missing. He recalled making arrangements to return her body to New York. After his number had been called, he ended with a shrug of his shoulders as he rose.

Next, a grimacing tall, thin man climbed off a small motorized cart and sat in my neighbor’s seat. At first glance, I thought of the wheelchair commercial theme-song lyrics: “Hoveround takes me where I want to go.” How ironic it was that he needed to travel to the DMV. I learned that his grandfather died at age 98 but was the W hite House chef for Presidents Frank lin Roosevelt and Harr y Truman. My new waiting room pal recalled opening the cabinets in the Truman kitchen as a child. Then, he mentioned that he wore a prosthetic leg. As we joked about the heat, the crowd

and the wait, he told me he was a casualty of the 9/11 Pentagon attack. Ever y thing in his life had changed for the worse on that day.

My new acquaintance was with a television production crew located in the parking lot a mere 20 yards from the Pentagon. His multiple police, Secret Ser vice and fire department radio monitors had burst with incessant chatter as the plane approached. He remembers a huge shadow over him and rev ving-engine sounds before all went dark. Awakening, he was covered with jet fuel and suffered a broken foot. Since the hospitals were overcrowded, he waited three days before seeking medical attention and developed an infection that forced the doctors to amputate his lower leg.

Since 2001, he developed diabetes, sur vived two strokes and was given Last Rights twice. He confessed that he did not know why he still lived.

In an effort to cheer him, I relayed the stor y of my father’s diabetic cousin, Mar y, who sur vived sampling dozens of my parents’ 25th wedding anniversar y cookies after asking if each cookie she sampled contained sugar. Yes, they all did, Mar y! We laughed again after he spoke of his service as a D.C. policeman, and we both knew his childhood friend and fellow homicide detective, Ted. Then, my number was announced, so I bid him farewell — both of us sporting broad smiles.

Pope Francis asks us not to show indifference to our neighbors, and sometimes angels sit at the DMV just to prove the pope’s point.

Gary J. Caruso, Notre Dame ’73 American Studies major, serves in the Department of Homeland Security and was a legislative and public affairs director at the U.S. House of Representatives and in President Clinton’s administration. His column appears every other Friday.

Contact him on Twitter: @GaryJCaruso or e-mail: GaryJCaruso@alumni.nd.edu.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Bread and whine, or why I am spiritually hangry We all want what we can’t have. If we have brown hair, we want to be blond. If we’re good at math, we wish we could write better. If we’re Lutheran, we wish we were Catholic.

At least when Communion rolls around. We recite the words along with ever yone else but half heartedly, because we know “take and eat, all of you” does not include us. We walk up with our arms folded across our chest to receive a blessing in external deference, but internally we’re squashing negative little thoughts about “consolation prizes.” We look at actual Jesus, right in front of us, and then refuse Him. And then we sit back down, look at our friends with their heads bowed in Eucharist-fueled prayer and feel a ver y real sense of FOMO. I get fired up about this at the dinner table.

“We basically believe the same thing,” I whine to my friends. “See, Jesus is fully present in the Eucharist in my church, too,” I say, pulling up the PDF of the recently ratified “Declaration on the Way,” a joint Catholic-Lutheran work that claims “there are no longer church-dividing issues” between our two churches.

My friends — who are awesome by the way, and I hope they don’t object to me talking about them because I love them all — have all but convinced me of transubstantiation, but this isn’t enough.

“It’s about Church unity,” they say. I wonder about the importance of Christian unity in general.

“Spiritual communion is good too!” they say. If spiritual communion is so good, then why does ever yone else get the Eucharist?

“If it’s this important to you, just convert,” they say. Sometimes, I have a hard time expressing that I don’t feel I’m missing anything from my own church, so I just grumble to myself about the time some Lutherans received communion at the Vatican.

But my frustration, I think, has led to some good things. My dinner table conversations have taught me things I never knew about the Eucharist. Now, I know what the substances and the accidents are, and I know that the Eucharist is an actual portal to Heaven — how cool is that?

My little rants have also forced me to question my own beliefs. W hy does missing out bother

me so much? Is it the awkwardness of having the congregation watch you walk up only to receive a blessing? Or is it because I’m finally realizing how important the Eucharist actually is, and I’m noticing the hole it leaves behind when it’s not there? I hope it’s the latter.

These questions don’t stop at the Eucharist.

Often, conversations turn to the Immaculate Conception, Adoration or why I still haven’t converted to Catholicism. And even though my friends and I don’t understand the finer points of each other’s religions, I’d like to think we are all growing in faith through our discussions.

So now, when I’m in my home church, I march up to Communion in obnoxiously emblazoned Notre Dame gear, and I think about the gifts I am (actually) about to receive with a new joy and appreciation. And I think of how beautiful it would be if I could share these gifts with my friends at Notre Dame.

Petra Rantanen senior Feb. 28

Submit a Letter to the Editor. Email viewpoint@ndsmcobserver.com

8

Daily

ndsmcobserver.com | friday, march 3, 2017 | The Observer

Crossword | Will Shortz

Horoscope | Eugenia Last Happy Birthday: Take pride in what you do. Don’t let anyone make you feel awkward for being original or for delving into the unknown or unfamiliar.

Growth comes from being inquisitive and curious, not from doing things the same way every day. Let your emotions lead you into rich encounters that offer knowledge, experience and variety. Live life your way. Your numbers are 8, 12, 20, 23, 31, 37, 46.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): You may have to take an emotional look at the past before you can move forward. Do what has to be done and put any negativity behind you. Don’t let anger mount. Remain calm and offer an intelligent perspective.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Share your feelings and thoughts. Once you make your position clear, you will discover that you are not alone in the way you are thinking. Join forces with someone willing to go the distance in order to bring about change.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Truth will be difficult to find. Do your own factfinding and make a change based on what you need, not what others prompt you to do. Personal gains will result if you make honest personal assessments.

Make love a priority.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Excess will be your downfall. Stick to basics and use what you have to come up with and develop what you want to do. Your efforts will attract attention and the support you need to make progress toward your goals.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Networking will prove beneficial when it comes to working your way into a cushy position. Getting along with your peers will not be easy due to jealousy and underhandedness. Protect your reputation and your position. Practice diplomacy.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Opportunity will stem from conversations, business trips or educational pursuits. Expand your interests, ask questions and get involved in events that will spark your imagination. Collaboration will lead to important long-term partnerships. Mix business with pleasure.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Consider what others have to offer regarding financial, medical or legal concerns. Greater insight will come if you are more resourceful pressing forward. Take your time and you will avoid a costly mistake. Pay attention to detail.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Make personal and partnership changes. Aligning yourself with people who are dedicated to reaching similar goals will encourage greater creativity and stimulate new interest and diverse options to the way you use your skills.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Network and you’ll intrigue someone with your enthusiasm and pioneering thoughts. Be careful not to offer too much information or someone may try to pass your ideas off as his or her own. Offer just enough to capture your audience.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): You’ll get more back if you put your time and effort into making your surroundings comfortable and convenient. Bringing some of the people and pastimes you used to enjoy back into your life will bring you peace of mind.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): An emotional situation will quickly turn into confusion if you are too open about the way you feel. Take time to evaluate what you truly want before you get into a conversation that could change the way you move forward.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Believe in yourself and you will find a way to accomplish your goals. Set standards that will make you stretch your skills, knowledge and creativity. Surround yourself with people who inspire rather than drain you.

Birthday Baby: You are emotional, passionate and thoughtful. You are distinguished and appealing.

just add water | Eric CARLSON & John roddy

Sudoku | The Mepham Group

Jumble | David Hoyt and Jeff knurek

Draw comics.

Email Margaret at mhynds@nd.edu

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sports

The observer | friday, march 3, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com

Sports Authority

NBA | bulls 94, warriors 87

Tournaments get too much credit Ryan Klaus Sports Writer

Earlier this week, college basketball fans collectively turned their calendars in earnest to the long-anticipated month of March — the beginning of 2017’s installment of “March Madness.”

On Tuesday, college basketball offered immediate returns to those fans willing to pour their furor into day one of the madness.

Northwestern, notorious for being the only Power-5 conference school to have never appeared in the NCA A tournament, all but secured an at-large bid to the tournament by virtue of an 88-foot Tom Brady-esque pass from senior forward Nathan Taphorn that led to a buzzer-beating basket to top Michigan, 67-65. And that was just the first day. As the final regular season games are played this weekend, conference tournaments — the natural bridge between the regular season and the eventual NCA A tournament — have already begun in some mid-major conferences.

Of course, the conference tournaments for even the most seemingly nugatory conferences have ramifications regarding the makeup of the NCA A tournament.

Since the Iv y League — the last league to previously offer its automatic bid to its regular season champion — finally succumbed and agreed to award an automatic bid to its conference tournament winner, all conferences now have a bid to the NCA A tournament on the line, irrespective of regular-season standings.

Therefore, before all the excitement and eccentricity of these undeniably significant conference tournaments commences, it is imperative that college basketball fans take a brief, but necessary, moment to note the inherent malfeasance that is conference tournaments with automatic-bid ramifications in conferences that will ultimately only send one team to the NCA A tournament.

Every year, there are multiple teams with impressive regular-season records

9

that get upset during their conference tournaments and end up watching the NCA A tournament at home.

Regular-season conference champions are assured a bid in the supplementary NIT tournament, but — as Northwestern fans will finally be to attest to next Sunday — the elation of a NCA A Tournament berth is eons ahead of whatever utility an NIT appearance garners.

Obviously, it makes sense that the automatic-berth system involving conference tournaments is now ubiquitous across college basketball. High-stakes basketball with intrinsic meaning due to the NCA A tournament draws fans to watch games from mid-major conferences that they would otherwise brush aside. Of course, there is also the explicit potential for monetary gain driving the format due to viewer demand that would otherwise be nonexistent if the games weren’t quite as meaningful.

To be clear, the motive of this piece is not to solely condemn a system that clearly generates excitement for games that would otherwise go unnoticed and draws attention to conferences that have been ignored throughout the regular season.

However, the purpose of this piece is to encourage fans to take an annual moment to offer deserved recognition to the many mid-major, regular-season champions whose efforts are given mere crocodilian concern by the structure of postseason conference tournaments.

So, to the Vermont Catamounts, who have put together a perfect 16-0 season in America East Conference play and have not lost since falling to Butler in late December, I offer my congratulations.

To the Monmouths, Akrons, Bucknells, Mount Saint Mary’s and Middle Tennessees of the world: Your achievements have not completely fallen on deaf ears.

Contact Ryan Klaus at rklaus1@nd.edu The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Bulls hand Warriors second consecutive loss Associated Press

CHICAGO — Jimmy Butler scored 22 points and the Chicago Bulls beat Golden State 94-87 on Thursday night in the Warriors’ first game since Kevin Durant injured his left leg.

Golden State was breathing a little easier after learning Durant probably will play again this season. He was hurt two nights earlier in a loss at Washington.

The NBA-leading Warriors’ league-record regular-season streak without consecutive losses ended at 146 games.

Stephen Curry scored 23 points, and Klay Thompson finished with 13. The star guards combined to hit just 3 of 22 3-pointers, and the Warriors made it back-toback losses for the first time since April 2015.

Bobby Portis added 17 points and a season-high 13

rebounds for Chicago. The Bulls outscored Golden State 10-2 over the final three minutes to wipe out a one-point deficit and come away with their fifth win in six games.

Butler made all 10 free throws and had five rebounds and six assists. And Portis had his best game of the season.

Durant is scheduled to be examined again in about a month. If the eight-time AllStar is ready to return at that time, there would be about two weeks left in the regular season.

Of course, the Warriors have won big without Durant. They captured the championship two years ago and followed that up with a league-record 73 wins last year.

The Warriors, who beat the Bulls by 31 at home last month, were leading 8584 when Butler hit two free throws with 2:53 left to start

the game-ending run.

Wade buried a fadeaway jumper and Paul Zipser nailed a 3-pointer from the right wing to make it 91-85 with 1:41 left.

Tip-ins Warriors: Coach Steve Kerr coached the game after missing the morning shootaround because of a stomach illness. ... Thursday marked the 55th anniversary of Wilt Chamberlain’s record 100-point game for the Philadelphia Warriors against the New York Knicks.

Bulls: G Michael CarterWilliams missed his third consecutive game because of knee tendinitis. ... Zipser had been sidelined by tendinitis in his left ankle.

Up next Warriors: Visit the New York Knicks on Sunday.

Bulls: Host the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.

NCAA men’s Basketball | Cincinnati 65, houston 47

Bearcats complete perfect season at home Associated Press

CINCINNATI — Confetti floated from the rafters and covered the court at the final buzzer. Cincinnati finished its perfect home season with a flourish.

Gary Clark had 14 points and seven rebounds in a balanced attack, and the 18th-ranked Bearcats rolled to their 26th straight win at home, 65-47 over Houston on Thursday night.

Cincinnati (26-4, 15-2 American Athletic) wrapped up its fourth undefeated season at Fifth Third Arena, which opened in 1989. The Bearcats’ home winning streak is the second-longest at the arena. They won 41 in a row from 1997-2000.

“We knew it would be a big part of our success, honestly,” said guard Kevin Johnson, one of three seniors honored before the game. “We always try to put on a show here.”

They will play at Northern Kentucky University next season while Fifth Third is renovated.

“It was a great way to close out Fifth Third Arena, to dominate the way we did,” coach Mick Cronin said. “Defensively we were as good as we’ve been in a long, long time.”

Houston (20-9, 11-6 ) came in with the second-best offense in the league but came away with its lowest point total of the season. Rob Gray led with 17 points.

The Cougars also lead the league in fewest turnovers, averaging 9.8. They had 13 against the Bearcats. Houston got outrebounded 40-24.

“They scored 22 points off our turnovers,” said coach Kelvin Sampson, who is 1-7 in his career against Cincinnati. “It’s the ballgame. And then they were just way more physical on the boards.”

Damyean Dotson made a 3-pointer in the closing minutes after missing on his first four tries, giving him the Houston record of 29 consecutive games with a 3. He moved one ahead of Robert McKiver’s mark from 2007-08.

The Bearcats took control by

closing the first half with a 20-4 run for a 37-20 lead, Houston’s lowest-scoring half of the season. Two of their three worst games offensively this season came against the Bearcats.

“The way we play our matchup zone is really tough for them,” Johnson said.

Big picture Cincinnati: The Bearcats also went undefeated at Fifth Third during the 1992-93, 1998-99 and 2001-02 seasons.

Poll implications The Bearcats slipped three spots after a 53-49 loss at UCF on Sunday, but stabilized with a convincing win over the Cougars.

Walk-on moment Cincinnati senior walk-on Zack Tobler started the game, got the ball for the opening basket and then went to the bench with an ovation from the fans.

He also got back in the game late and made a free throw after Houston’s technical foul.

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Sports

The observer | friday, march 3, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com

M Lax Continued from page 12

While this will be the toughest team Notre Dame has faced this season in terms of ranking, Corrigan said he is confident in his team’s defensive capabilities. After a 16-5 victory over Michigan on Sunday, Irish senior defender Garrett Epple, who ranks 10th in the nation with two caused turnovers per game, was awarded the distinction of co-ACC Defensive Player of the Week.

“That is a collaborative award,” Corrigan said. “That’s something that goes because our defense had a good day.

I think Garrett’s doing a nice job. He’s taken a little bit more of our communication or just taking that as more of a responsibility. But when a guy wins a defensive player of the week award, and the way we play, it’s really a recognition of the fact that we had a good day defensively.”

Notre Dame’s defense currently ranks tied for ninth in the country in goals allowed per game, giving up just 7.5 scores per contest.

Going into Saturday’s top-five matchup, Corrigan believes his team has to continue doing what it has done successfully in its first two games. If the Irish can consistently limit their turnovers and play intelligently, Corrigan believes they will be more than prepared to compete with the Terrapins.

“Offensively, we’ve been really, really efficient,” Corrigan said. “We have not had a lot of turnovers. We’ve handled the ball well, and we’ve been smart and patient and still aggressive. We’re getting good shots, ending almost every possession with a good shot. We have been selective about what we’re doing there, so that’s got to continue.

“Defensively, we’re getting minutes for a lot of guys who haven’t had minutes in the past, so to hold a team to five goals with a young group like we have is good. We’ve been doing a good job in the middle of the field. We’ve made good decisions, so we haven’t hurt ourselves there, and that will be a big part of this week’s games. I think all of those things have been positive.”

The Irish will face off against the visiting Terrapins at noon Saturday at Arlotta Stadium.

Contact Manny De Jesus at mdejesus@nd.edu

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M Bball Continued from page 12

proud of this group,” Irish head coach Mike Brey said.

“And I told them, ‘I don’t want anybody talking about a double bye. I want us thinking about trying to share the regular season championship.’ We win on Saturday, and we’ll root for the Blue Devils on Saturday night, and we’ll see where we stand.”

Brey said he hasn’t been surprised by his team’s sixgame winning streak — one that featured a demonstrative win over No. 15 Florida State and tight wins over bubble squads Wake Forest and Georgia Tech.

“I never doubted we’d be back in form,” he said. “We’ve got a stable group, we’ve got a mature group — the schedule was gonna change, there’s no question about it. And we’ve taken advantage of that, so really proud of our leadership. We’re healthy, and I think we’ve got good energy heading to this postseason.”

While the Cardinals (23-7, 11-6) are one of college basketball’s best teams this year, this senior class has handled Louisville teams throughout the last three years — since the Cardinals joined the ACC for the 2014-15 season, Notre Dame has won all three contests between the teams.

Senior forward V.J. Beachem said the Irish have nothing to lose Saturday, and the Irish will enter the KFC Yum! Center confident.

“We’re a very confident team, not only with our history against them, but the last six games we’ve played,” Beachem said. “We’re just gonna go down there and let it rip — we have absolutely nothing to lose, we just want to play up to the best of our abilities.”

Wednesday’s 82-66 win over Boston College gave Brey a chance to work junior forward Martinas Geben

Football Continued from page 12

most anticipated, when Notre Dame and Michigan rekindle their rivalr y at Notre Dame Stadium on Sept. 1. A contest w ith Vanderbilt at Notre Dame Stadium on Sept. 15 was announced Thursday, while other home foes for the 2018 season include Ball State, Stanford, Pittsburgh, Florida State and Sy racuse.

One of those games may be moved off campus, as part of the Shamrock Series initiative.

Notre Dame won’t play a road game until the fourth week of its 2018 season, when it v isits Wake Forest, before making trips to Virginia Tech, Northwestern and USC the

KAT ROBINSON | The Observer

Irish senior forward V.J. Beachem releases a jump shot over a defender during Notre Dame’s 82-66 win over Boston College on Wednesday night at Purcell Pavilion. Beachem scored a team-high 22 points.

back into the rotation. After not playing at all the previous two games, the former starter was handed 10 minutes, stepping up for a six-point, four-rebound performance. Beachem said the Irish will need the depth and energy Geben can provide the rest of the way.

“Those guys have just been working so hard in practice,” Beachem said. “Marty has had a great week of practice from our bye week on, and he was ready when his number was called tonight. … It was great to see him with great energ y and activity, and we’re going to need him in March.”

Not only has Notre Dame had Louisville’s number the last few seasons, but the Irish have already registered a win

rest of the season. The traditional game w ith Nav y w ill take place in San Diego that year.

The 2019 season w ill feature a new look for Irish fans: Notre Dame w ill open the season on Labor Day, v isiting Louisv ille on Sept.

2. The Irish w ill immediately jump to one of t wo bye weeks the next weekend, before opening the home slate w ith New Mex ico, currently coached by former Irish head coach Bob Dav ie. Virginia, Bowling Green, USC, Virginia Tech, Nav y and Boston College are the other home games for 2019, while Notre Dame w ill also make trips to Georgia, Michigan, Duke and Stanford. Again, like in 2018, one of the home games may be moved to be a Shamrock Series contest.

over the Cardinals this season, a 77-70 triumph back on Jan. 4 — a game that doesn’t even feel like part of this season for Brey.

“It really does feel like last season,” Brey said. “W hen you play somebody the second game [of ACC play] — we’ll have to go back; I remember a little bit of the game, not much of it.”

Since that game, Notre Dame has spent more time downshifting — and that could prove to be the difference one way or another against a Cardinals team with high-level forward play.

“Here, we face one of these teams that can pound us on the backboard when we’re playing small,” Brey said.

“Can we hold our own? We did here; we were able to

hold our own here on the backboard, but if we’re playing smaller longer, can we not get beat up on the backboard? And I think we’re hard to guard, though, if they’re playing two big guys, so you’re trying to balance what’s being effective for us.”

Notre Dame will look to seal the No. 2 seed in the ACC tournament — and potentially grab a share of the conference’s regular season title — Saturday afternoon at Louisville, with tipoff scheduled for 2 p.m.

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nd Women’s Lacrosse

Irish host Cardinals with win streak at stake Observer Sports Staff

Fresh off a road win over No. 10 Duke, No. 8 Notre Dame welcomes No. 20 Louisville this weekend in its first conference game at home.

The Cardinals (6-1, 0-0 ACC) are no pushover, however, as they have won three straight, including the program’s 100th victory in a 13-9 win on Feb. 25 over Brown, the nation’s top-ranked defensive team.

The Irish (6-1, 1-0) played Louisville twice last year, dropping the first game 10-9 on the road in double overtime before avenging the loss with a 12-10 victory in the ACC tournament quarterfinals. This year, the Irish look to continue their current sixgame win streak in their ACC home opener.

Saturday’s game marks Notre Dame’s first in Arlotta Stadium this season. The Irish have found playing in Arlotta to be a strong suit in

recent history, as they went 8-2 at home last year with four of those wins coming in its outdoor venue. So far this season, all of Notre Dame’s home games have been played indoors at Loftus Sports Center.

The Irish boast the fifthranked scoring offense in the country coming into the matchup, thanks in large part to a balanced offense, led by senior attack and captain Cortney Fortunato’s consistent high level of play.

Fortunato leads the team with 27 goals in seven games.

Fortunato set a career-high in points on Feb. 11 in a 24-9 win over Detroit, as she scored six of Notre Dame’s goals and accounted for ten of her team’s points in the victory.

Fortunato has only failed to score in one game this season — Notre Dame’s 12-11, comefrom-behind win over the Blue Devils (4-1, 0-1). However, the rest of the offense stepped up, as five different Notre Dame players accounted for all of

the team’s scores. Sophomore midfielder Samantha Lynch and junior midfielder Molly Cobb led the way for the Irish, as they picked up four goals apiece against the Blue Devils.

Notre Dame’s win over Duke is evidence of the squad’s depth: Lynch, who is in the midst of a breakout campaign during her first season as a starter, is second on the team to Fortunato with 21 goals. Five other players on the Irish roster have doubledigit point totals on the year.

Another strong suit for the Irish so far this season has been their second-half performances. Notre Dame has been dominant coming out of the break: Through seven games, the Irish have outscored their opponents 6022 in the second half, while also winning more draws and forcing more turnovers.

The Irish will take on the Cardinals on Saturday at Arlotta Stadium. First draw is scheduled for 3 p.m.

KATHLEEN DONAHUE | The Observer

Irish freshman guard Jackie Young shoots a layup over a defender during Notre Dame’s 80-69 win over Boston College on Jan. 19.

W Bball Continued from page 12

Write Sports.

Email Marek at mmazurek@nd.edu

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amazing. Seven teams ranked in the top 25 — hoping to get eight in the NCAA tournament, which would be tremendous for us, and I think we certainly deserve it.

“Every game is going to be a battle. You’ve had teams that have had some [injuries] all year long that now are getting healthy. I think everyone is coming into this with a chance to win it.”

However, Notre Dame has the advantage of momentum, coming off a victory over No. 8 Florida State on Sunday that McGraw called “the best game we’ve played all year.”

“Every single starter played well [against the Seminoles],” McGraw said. “ … I’m happy with where we are right now. This is the team we knew we could be.

It took us until March to get there, but that’s when you want to be peaking.”

Earlier in the season, there were doubts — even in McGraw’s mind — about whether the squad would fulfill its annual tradition of dominance after a couple of disappointing losses to ACC rival North Carolina State and unranked Tennessee.

“Back in January, after losing to Tennessee, I thought there was no hope for us to get a No. 1 seed. And now we’ve played our way back, haven’t lost since then,” McGraw said. “This year, when we won [the regular season conference title], I was probably more excited than I have been in the past couple years just because we’ve really had to

battle, and we had to come from a little bit behind.”

That comeback effort was headlined by senior guard Lindsay Allen and junior forward Brianna Turner, who were both named to the all-ACC first team Tuesday, while guard Jackie Young was named to the conference’s all-freshman squad.

On Wednesday, Turner added a second ACC Defensive Player of the Year award to her resume, too.

“I couldn’t be happier for Bri and Lindsay for what they’ve done for us all year long,” McGraw said. “They have been our most consistent players; they have played well in the big games, in every game.”

The quarterfinals matchup with the Cavaliers (19-11, 7-9), who the Irish beat 8274 on Jan. 29 in their regular season meeting, is next on the list of big games for Allen, Turner and the rest of the team.

“Virginia gave us a really good game here,” McGraw said. “That was a very close game, came down to the wire. … They played really, really well.”

If the Irish defeat Virginia, they will play in the ACC semifinals Saturday and potentially the finals Sunday.

“This is definitely gonna be the toughest three-game schedule we’ve ever had, if we can win the first game,” McGraw said.

Notre Dame takes on Virginia at 2 p.m. Friday at HTC Center in Conway, South Carolina.

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nd women’s basketball

Football

ND looks to take home ACC tournament crown

By RENEE GRIFFIN

Observer Sports Staff

Sports Writer

After a week in which No. 3 Notre Dame secured a fourth regular season ACC title and saw three of its players earn league honors, the Irish will begin their postseason journey Friday at the ACC tournament quarterfinals against Virginia.

With a tournament title, Notre Dame (27-3, 15-1 ACC) would become just the second program to win both the ACC regular season conference championship and the conference tournament for four consecutive years.

Though the Irish are a No. 1 seed yet again, head coach Muffet McGraw said this year’s tourney will be anything but easy.

“This is absolutely the best ACC since we’ve been in it,” McGraw said. “The talent, unbelievable; the competition is see W BBALL PAGE 11

KATHLEEN DONAHUE | The Observer

Irish junior forward Brianna Turner shoots a layup during Notre Dame’s 80-69 win over Boston College on Jan. 19.

MEN’S LACROSSE

Sports Writer

It’s that time of the year again.

Last season, No. 4 Notre Dame fell in overtime to then-No. 2 Denver at home.

Two years ago, the Irish (2-0) defeated then-No. 1 Syracuse in a 13-12 double-overtime thriller. This year, Notre Dame will get its shot at another top-ranked team when No. 1 Maryland visits Arlotta Stadium on Saturday.

In just four games, the Terrapins (4-0) have established themselves as one of the best offensive teams this season. With wins against Nav y and No. 6 Yale, Maryland is averaging 15.5 goals per game, which stands as the seventh-best mark in the country. One of the most impressive feats of its offense thus far is the six goals recorded by its defensemen. It is not conventional to have defensemen scoring as often as Maryland has, but it has contributed to its potent offense four games into the season.

Notre Dame officially announced its 2017, 2018 and 2019 football schedules Thursday afternoon, releasing a slate of 36 games that will see the Irish travel to nine different states for 15 road games.

The Irish will open the 2017 campaign with a third game in five seasons against Temple, when the Owls come to Notre Dame Stadium on Sept. 2 for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff.

Notre Dame will be on campus again the next weekend Sept. 9, when Georgia visits for a marquee matchup at 7:30 p.m. for the second of seven home games next season.

Other 3:30 p.m. kickoffs are North Carolina State on Oct. 28, Wake Forest on Nov. 4 and Nav y on Nov. 18 for Senior Day. USC will visit Oct. 21 for another under-the-lights, 7:30 p.m. kickoff, while Miami (Ohio) comes to South

Bend for a 5 p.m. kickoff on Sept. 30 on NBCSN. The new time slot allows the Irish game to be televised between NASCAR and Presidents Cup action. The other six home games will be on NBC, as always.

Notre Dame will make its first road trip of the season Sept. 16 when it visits Boston College, before making the short trek to Michigan State on Sept. 23. The Irish will return to the road for North Carolina on Oct. 7, then will take a week off for the bye.

Two final road contests will appear in the season’s final month — a trip to Miami (Fla.) is on the schedule for Nov. 11, while the season will end in California, as is tradition, at Stanford on Nov 25.

Game times are not yet determined for road contests.

Of the 36 games officially announced Thursday, 2018’s season opener might be the see FOOTBALL PAGE 10

men’s basketball

Squad set to play Terrapins at home

By MANNY DE JESUS

Irish announce future schedules

In addition to its versatile defense, Irish head coach Kevin Corrigan has recognized Maryland’s three attackmen as arguably one of the best groups in the country.

“They’re very wellcoached,” Corrigan said.

“They’re very athletic.

They’ve got three extremely skilled attackmen, who I think are probably about as good an attack group as we’ll see this year. They play a very aggressive full-field style, which really just means that you have no relaxing on the field. They’re going to press you and transition.

“They’re going to press out on the defensive end and make you work without the ball. They’re going to be aggressive offensively and kind of a continuous movement style that means you have to constantly work. They’re just a very good team all around and have a style that means you have to play 60 full minutes to beat them.” see M LAX PAGE 10

Notre Dame seeks win in quest for ACC title

By ALEX CARSON Assistant Managing Editor

When Notre Dame lost at North Carolina on Feb. 5, it dropped its fourth consecutive game and completed a slide from 5-0 in the ACC to just 6-5.

Now, as the No. 19 Irish head to No. 8 Louisville nearly a month later, they sit alone in second place in the conference, riding a six-game winning streak into Saturday’s 2 p.m. tipoff. A win would secure the conference’s No. 2 seed and potentially procure a share of the ACC regular season championship for the Irish, completing the rescue of a season that once looked like it could head off the rails.

If Notre Dame (23-7, 12-5 ACC) wins Saturday afternoon, and No. 17 Duke defeats No. 5 North Carolina (25-5, 13-4) later that night, the Irish will share the regular season championship with the Tar Heels.

“It’s unbelievable. I’m so see M BBALL PAGE 10

KAT ROBINSON | The Observer

Irish junior guard Matt Farrell chases a loose ball during Notre Dame’s 82-66 win over Boston College on Wednesday.