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Volume 51, Issue 19 | Thursday, September 15, 2016 | ndsmcobserver.com
University hosts ND Forum on elections ‘Debating Our Future’ panel reflects on history of presidential debates, role of moderators
If Bob Schieffer could ask Hillar y Clinton and Donald Trump one question at a presidential debate this fall, it would be: W hy do you think people don’t like you? “A follow-up question might be ‘W hy do you think it is that this is happening? ’” Schieffer, former “Face the Nation” host and moderator of three debates, said as his audience applauded. “We’re at a point where our whole political infrastructure has collapsed, frank ly, and how is it that the campaign came dow n to these two candidates? That’s the question
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THOMAS MOLOGNE | The Observer
Former president of the League of Women Voters Dorothy Ridings laughs as Janet Brown, executive director of the Commission on Presidential Debates, speaks during the forum Wednesday night in DPAC.
Walsh family donates to build architecture hall By LUCAS MASIN-MOYER News Writer
Bond Hall, constructed in 1917 on the coast of Saint Mar y’s Lake, has long ser ved as the home for the School of A rchitecture. But in the fall of 2018, the School w ill uproot itself from its longtime home and move to a new location. Walsh Family Hall of Architecture, as the new building w ill be called, w ill be located on Eddy Street, just south of Legends of Notre Dame and east of the DeBartolo Performing A rts Center. In Bond Hall on Wednesday night, architecture students were briefed on their new home. Michael Lykoudis, dean of the School of Architecture, began w ith a discussion of the necessit y for a new building. “We were rapidly outsizing [Bond Hall]; we don’t have that much space in the studios,” he said. “We need a different kind of space. Bond Hall is an amazing building, a beautiful building, well-built. The studio
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layout doesn’t work as studios should. One of the most common complaints I hear is that graduates and undergraduates don’t speak to each other.” The construction process of the new building began three years ago w ith a donation of $27 million from adv isor y council members, Matthew and Joyce Walsh. Notre Dame and the School of Architecture chose John Simpson Architects to design Walsh Family Hall. “One of the reasons we selected this firm was not only for the qualit y of the design but that they actually sold a business model on top of the design,” Lykoudis said. “We have a design of a building that has actually gotten better because of the budget, and the creativ it y of the architect has actually come through in the challenges.” Simpson then spoke on the overall design of the building, which is heavily rooted in classicism and Greek st yle. Simpson noted the Temple of Apollo at
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Didy ma as a chief source of inspiration. The central element of the new building w ill be a stoa, a central portico which w ill be used as a meeting area. “It is a double-height space; it is designed so it really stands out and gives you a sense of scale as you look out upon it, one whole side is looking out on the green court,” Simpson said. The classrooms are heavily integrated w ith the stoa, Simpson said. “The way the classrooms are organized is almost like a series of shops that come off from the stoa,” he said. “Some of the activ ities going on in there relate to what’s going on in the stoa.” A tower at the center of the court yard is another prominent element of the new building. Simpson said this tower would be “a beacon which was really highlighting this whole part of campus as the arts district.” The announcement and unveiling of this new home for the School of see DONATION PAGE 3
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SMC professor researches bird genetics, climate By ALLISON SANCHEZ News Writer
Saint Mar y’s assistant biolog y professor Joel Ralston is study ing a population of northern boreal forest birds to determine if climatedriven changes w ill impact species distributions and genetic diversit y. He has been using a field study of w ild birds, genetics and computer modeling to test what inf luence climate change w ill have on the population. “It is generally thought that as climates warm, species w ill move northward or up in elevation to track their ideal conditions,” Ralston said. “This means that populations at the southern edge of their current ranges may be the first to disappear due to climate change and any unique genetic diversit y held in those populations could be lost.” Ralston said his interest in species distributions had made it nearly impossible to
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avoid climate change. “Warming temperatures are already hav ing big effects on w ildlife,” he said. “Distributions are changing, populations are declining, birds are migrating earlier each year and some studies have show n that nearly half
Joel Ralston
Associate News Editor
that I hear more than any other question, and it might be interesting to ask the candidates, ‘W hy do you think it’s come dow n to you t wo? ’” Former PBS anchor Jim Lehrer, who moderated 12 debates, cut in. “Let the record ref lect, I didn’t ask that question,” he said. The role of moderators in presidential debates — how the Commission on Presidential Debates chooses them, which questions they should ask, how they should approach fact-checking — was a key theme in the first installment of the 2016 Notre Dame Forum,
assistant biology professor Saint Mary’s College
By EMILY McCONVILLE
of all North American birds are threatened by climate change.” Saint Mar y’s seniors Kathr y n Marshall, Emily Crimmins and Emilie Vanneste have given Ralston aid in this study, as well as colleagues around the country and student participants from Ralston’s previous see BIRDS PAGE 3
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