The Independent Newspaper Serving Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s Volume 45: Issue 109
Friday, March 23, 2012
Ndsmcobserver.com
Conference Video inspires solidarity Student discusses Loyola University of Chicago joins the 4 to 5 Movement publishes d iversit y novels By ADAM LLORENS
By MARISA IATI
News Writer
Associate News Editor
The Mendoza College of Business kicks off its fifthannual diversity conference this weekend in hopes of exploring diversity found in the workplace. Graduate student Jay Xie, co-chair of the conference, said the event is geared toward building awareness of diversity both on campus and in the business world. “We want to look at what diversity means in the global environment,” Xie said. “With the information and technology we have, the market is moving at a quick rate and organizations have to make decisions quickly. We want to see how diversity plays a part in these decisions.” Several companies will participate this weekend, including Ernst & Young, CocaCola, Bank of America and Deloitte. “Diversity is a really important issue for the participating companies,” Xie said. “A lot of these companies want to talk about the success and challenges they face by working with a diverse employee base.”
changes. Russell Gonzalez, senior senator and chair of the Constitutional Review Board at Loyola Chicago, said the group passed the act to show a school with a similar faith-based mission to Notre Dame has been able to successfully integrate a gay-straight alliance and an inclusive non-discrimination clause. “We hope that the administration of [Notre Dame] takes notice that other Catholic universities have achieved a balance between faith and student experience such that no one needs to feel excluded,” he said. A Jesuit Catholic university, Loyola Chicago has both an inclusive non-discrimination
The past few months brought major stepping-stones toward second-year graduate student Betsy Cornwell’s dream of becoming a published author. Cornwell, who is seeking her master’s degree in creative writing, recently sold two chilBetsy Cornwell dren’s novels, “Tides” and “Megraduate c h a n i c a ,” student to Clarion Books, an imprint of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. “I think I’ve always wanted to be a writer,” Cornwell said. “When I was little, I was pretty shy and introverted, and I read books all the time and it was really important to me. Now I like the idea of writing books for kids who really rely on books the same way that I did.” Cornwell said she sent cover letters to literary agents during the 2010-2011 school year and
see MOVEMENT/page 6
see BOOK/page 6
see DIVERSITY/page 3
MARINA KOZAK | Observer Graphic
By SAM STRYKER Assistant Managing Editor
On Feb. 28, the 4 to 5 Movement, a student group pushing for inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) rights at Notre Dame released the “It Needs to Get Better” video in the midst of a push for the University to officially recognize a gay-straight alliance and include sexual orientation in its non-discrimination clause. But the support for LGBTQ inclusion at Notre Dame is not limited to the University’s campus, sophomore Alex Coccia, a leader of the 4 to 5 Movement, said. (Editor’s Note: Coccia is a Viewpoint columnist for The Observer.) Within 24 hours of the video’s release, members of
Loyola University of Chicago’s student government had contacted him about a display of solidarity, and on March 20, Loyola Chicago’s Unified Student Government Association (USGA) passed the “It Needs to Get Better” Act, a demonstration of support for the 4 to 5 Movement and the LGBTQ community at Notre Dame. According to the act, the USGA stands “now and forever in solidarity” with the LGBTQ community at Notre Dame in support of an inclusive nondiscrimination clause and the formation of a University-recognized gay-straight alliance. The act finds the Notre Dame administration would be “flouting the reigning moral culture of our day and our shared Catholic heritage” if it were to not allow for such
SMC Theatre opens spring show Archbishop discusses Second Vatican Council
By MEAGHAN DALY News Writer
With a production advertised as “Not suitable for children, mothers, or the faint of heart,” the Saint Mary’s College Theatre Program’s spring production will be the ballyhoo burlesque women’s translation of “Lysistrata.” Mark Abram-Copenhaver, Saint Mary’s College theatre professor, said “Lysistrata” is a comedic account of one woman’s determination to bring an end to the Peloponnesian War. “It is a combination of burlesque, circus, ‘Looney Tunes,’ and stand-up comedy,” he said. Abram-Copenhaver said the piece was written by Aristophanes and was originally performed in ancient Greece. The
see LYSISTRATA/page 7
Inside today’s paper
By CHRISTIAN MEYERS News Writer
MARINA KOZAK | Observer Graphic
T h u r s d ay a f ter noon, A rch bishop Je a n - L o u i s Br ug uès, secreta r y of t he C o n g r e g a t i o n fo r C a t h o l i c E d u c a t i o n , g av e t h e s e ve n t h a n n u a l Te r r e n c e R . K e e l e y Va t i c a n l e c t u r e, “ T h e S e c o n d Va t i c a n C o u n c i l a h e a d o f u s ,” i n t h e E c k V i s i t o r C e n t e r. D i r e c t o r o f t h e Na n o v i c I n s t i t u t e A . Ja m e s M c Ada ms sa id orga n i zat ion sponsors t he lect u re to st reng t hen t he relat ionsh ip bet ween Not re Da me a n d t h e Va t i c a n . Br ug uès sa id t he Seco n d Va t i c a n C o u n c i l h a s
b e e n a c e n t r a l fo r c e i n t h e C hu rch si nce it s i ncept ion a nd st i l l i mpact s Cat hol ic i s m w o r l d w i d e. “G e n e r a l [ C h a r l e s ] d e Gau l le once sa id he cons i d e r e d t h e S e c o n d Va t i can Cou nci l t he most i mpor ta nt event of t he c e n t u r y, b u t t h a t c e n t u r y i s n o t o v e r,” B r u g u è s s a i d . “ T h e e f fe c t s o f t h e S e c o n d Va t i c a n C o u n c i l c a n o n l y b e a p p r e c i a t e d u s i n g l o n gr a n g e b i n o c u l a r s .” It i s i m p o r t a n t fo r C a t h ol ics to ma i nta i n t he percept ion of t he Second Va t i c a n C o u n c i l a s a g u i d i n g fo r c e fo r t h e m o d e r n
see VATICAN/page 7
DSLC closes with women’s activist page 3 u Viewpoint page 10 u Spy Spoofs play at DePac page 12 u Men’s lacrosse to take on Rutgets page 24