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Volume 48, Issue 22 | tuesday, september 23, 2014 | ndsmcobserver.com
Sexual assault prompts prayer service Members of the Notre Dame community gather at the Grotto to pray for an end to sexual violence By MARGARET HYNDS News Writer
Roughly 100 members of the University community gathered at the Grotto on Monday afternoon for a student-led “Prayer service for healing,” sponsored by Notre Dame’s student government. The prayer service was organized following an e-mail alert sent by Notre Dame Security Police (NDSP) on Friday afternoon informing students, faculty and staff that a sexual assault had been reported in a women’s dorm on the northeastern area of campus. The alert, the first one the
community has received this school year, sparked the prayer service, which kept with a tradition started by student body president emeritus Alex Coccia and student body vice president emeritus Nancy Joyce last fall. Senior Francis Vu opened the service with a prayer. “We gather in the peace of the sacred Grotto, joined together, united in Christ to support and pray,” he said. Vu asked those in attendance to pray not only for the healing of the victims, but for the perpetrators as well. see PRAYER SERVICE PAGE 5
ANNMARIE SOLLER | The Observer
Senior Allison Leddy speaks at the prayer service on Monday evening at the Grotto, where members of the Notre Dame community gathered in light of the recent sexual assault report.
Project HEAL promotes healthy living Professor and team discover star
Photo courtesy of SMC Project HEAL
At Activities Night, the Saint Mary’s Project HEAL chapter, headed by senior Mackenzie Woods, recruited new members.
Sa int Ma r y’s sen ior Macken zie Woods has seen Project HEAL ma ke a d if ference on ca mpus since it was recog n i zed as a ca mpus orga n i zat ion last spr ing. HEAL sta nds for Help to Eat, Accept a nd L ive, a nd t he Sa int Ma r y’s chapter is one of severa l in a la rger nat iona l nonprof it orga n i zat ion t hat a ims to cont r ibute to educat ion about eat ing d isorders a nd suppor t for t hose who st r ugg le w it h such d iseases.
News Writer
Assistant Director of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies Holly Rivers received the 11th College of Arts and Letters’ Award of Appreciation from Dean John T. McGreev y on Sept. 10. Rivers received the award for her 12 years of work at the Kellogg Institute, where she has primarily
News PAGE 3
ser ved as an advisor to undergraduates applying to the Institute’s student programs. McGreev y read a laudator y recommendation letter from a faculty member at the award ceremony, according to a Kellogg Institute press release. “Holly is the life force of an astonishing array of undergraduate programming at the Kellogg Institute,” McGreev y read. “She works endlessly to innovate new
viewpoint PAGE 7
and better programs for undergraduates.” McGreev y’s predecessor as dean, Mark Roche, created the College of Arts and Letters Award of Appreciation 14 years ago. McGreev y said the award is typically given to someone who assists in the mission of the College of Arts and Letters. McGreev y cited Rivers’s efforts as being crucial to helping students in
Scene PAGE 8
News Writer
Dr. Timothy C. Beers, Notre Dame Chair in Astrophysics, and an international team of astronomers have discovered a low-mass star in the Milky Way galaxy that could
see PROJECT HEAL PAGE 4
Rivers receives Award of Appreciation By OWEN LANE
By DAN DeTORO
chair in astorphysics
Associate Saint Mary’s Editor
Woods sa id eat ing d isorders a f fect roug h ly 30 m i l lion A mer ica ns, yet t he d iseases a re of ten overlooked, especia l ly on Sa int Ma r y’s ca mpus. Project HEAL is a resou rce for t hose who a re faced w it h u n hea lt hy body i mages a nd eat ing d isorders, prov id ing women w it h a posit ive out let a nd suppor t system, she sa id. “Project HEAL’s nat iona l goa l is to prov ide schola rsh ip f u nd ing for people w it h eat ing d isorders who ca n not a f ford t reat ment,
Timothy C. Beers
By HALEIGH EHMSEN
the College of Arts and Letters obtain opportunities through the Kellogg Institute. “[Rivers] has helped assist students with opportunities in undergraduate research going towards a senior thesis, study abroad and sometimes even language learning,” McGreev y said. “It is much more likely than it was a generation ago
help explain the origin of elements in the universe. The star exhibits the peculiar chemical abundance ratios associated with the process of creating new atomic nuclei (nucleosynthesis) in a firstgeneration very-massive star, according to a University
see RIVERS PAGE 4
see STAR PAGE 5
FOOTBALL PAGE 16
men’s golf PAGE 16