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Volume 51, Issue 4 | Thursday, august 25, 2016 | ndsmcobserver.com
Students marked safe
Robinson, Blais unveil goals Student government plans to focus on innovation, inclusion and safety By KATIE GALIOTO News Editor
Photo courtesy of Becca Blais
Student body president Corey Robinson and vice president Becca Blais, who have recently announced new initiatives, pose for a photo.
Construction continues at Saint Mary’s By KATHRYN MARSHALL News Writer
The Saint Mar y’s Science Hall, which was under construction during the 20152016 academic year, is ready for use, and construction on the new Angela Athletic and Wellness Complex w ill begin later this fall. The Science Hall is almost complete despite slipping a few weeks past the intended July completion date, professor of biolog y Thomas Fogle said. “We are right at the ver y end, and we’ve been talking to construction people and they are beginning to move out,” Fogle said. “They’re just finishing the last little details, and we are going to be mov ing equipment in over the next few weeks as space becomes available.”
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Austin Stahly, manager of energ y and facilities projects, said the construction hold-up was in part due to a nearby tunnel being unable to support the originally planned construction load. Now that is settled, concrete trucks w ill pull in and complete the sidewalk, stairs and handicap entrance ver y soon, he said. Fogle said the physics lab and lecture rooms, on the basement level, have been completed and in use since last December. The biolog y and chemistr y rooms w ill be ready for use soon, as well. “I would expect over the next few months we’ll be fully integrated into there, using these spaces certainly w ithin the next few weeks,” Fogle said. see SCIENCE HALL PAGE 3
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Corey Robinson said in some ways, his two roles on campus — student body president and a student assistant to the football team — can be similar. Both allow him to help others reach their goals. “Here at Notre Dame, we have world changers,” Robinson said. “And we’re just trying to put them in the best position to be successful.” After a summer of brainstorming and organizing, student government is ready for the new school year, Robinson said. He and student body vice president Becca Blais have plans to roll out a number of new initiatives this semester. And they’ve got big ideas for big
events. For the upcoming presidential election, for example, student government will host a campus-wide debate over policy points, with representatives from the College Republicans and College Democrats, followed by a mock election. “We hope to have a big turnout because it’s going to be what everyone’s talking about,” Blais said. The group plans to continue to build upon and improve some of the main points from their campaign platform last winter. That’s why they’re here, Robinson said. “It’s the reason we ran and the reason all of our cabinet’s here — to serve the student body,” he said.
Saint Mar y’s and Notre Dame administrators have confirmed the safet y of students studying abroad in Rome after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake hit 100 kilometers north of the cit y. Haleigh Ehmsen, media relations associate for the College, said in an email that 12 Saint Mar y’s students arrived at John Cabot Universit y on Wednesday, but were not on site during the earthquake. The students are enrolled in the State Department Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, and received an emergency message from the U.S. Embassy in Rome at 3:30 a.m. (Editor’s
see GOVERNMENT PAGE 4
see ROME PAGE 3
Observer Staff Report
ND International adds new summer programs By JENNA WILSON News Writer
More than 500 students students studied abroad through Notre Dame International (NDI) programs across the world this summer — including seven new locations — according to Rosemary Max, director of international programs at the University. New locations for summer 2016 included Brazil, Berlin, Rome, Japan and Russia. “Some of the new locations are chosen because we ... have a faculty member who is very interested in a location and wants to start a program there,” Max said. “Our China Summer Language Program is a perfect example of that. Others are because we see a need that isn’t being filled. For example, we didn’t have a lot of options in Africa, and we believe that South Africa was such a good destination,
VIEWPOINT PAGE 7
so we worked with faculty to develop a program there.” Max said new summer programs were added to give Notre Dame students the same opportunities that students at peer institutions were receiving. “Many schools around the US … offer both semester traditional programs for students and offer summer short term programs,” she said.“A few years ago, we realized that our summer offerings were few, so we’ve been expanding those.” In addition to the new programs, Max said NDI continued to run popular programs, such as London and Dublin. “Some longstanding summer programs that we’ve had, like the London Program, are a mainstay for us, and it remains a very popular program for us,” Max said. “This summer we had over 80 students go to London, and so we are going to continue to
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run the program. We always tweak and update due to student feedback though. We send out surveys and make changes accordingly.” According to Max, the summer programs can last three, five or six weeks. “The feedback that we get from students is that the three-week intensive period is very formative for them,” she said.“There is a lot that they get out from being together, and being with a faculty member, for a three-week period. The overwhelming positive feedback on that timeframe was a surprise. I do think that having a very close relationship with a faculty member over that time is very positive for students.” Max said she believes the three-week programs, particularly those that run at the end of May into the first week of see ABROAD PAGE 4
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