The Independent Newspaper Serving Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s Volume 45: Issue 98
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Ndsmcobserver.com
Student Alum advances dialogue Week calls allegedly Superintendent talks about work in educational reform attention to assaulted disorders Observer Staff Report A male Notre Dame student allegedly assaulted a Saint Mary’s student in a taxi early Saturday morning, according to a South Bend Police report. The taxi was already carrying several passengers when it picked up the 21-year-old white suspect. The driver told police she picked up the suspect because she felt bad he was walking without a coat. She said the suspect sat in the front passenger seat and did not say anything until he suddenly shouted at the other passengers in the cab, turned around and began hitting the victim in the neck. The Observer is withholding the identity of the Saint Mary’s student because she is the victim of a crime, and is not naming the Notre Dame student because he has not been charged with a crime. The incident occurred around 2:30 a.m. Saturday near State Road 23 and the 700 block of North St. Peter Street. The victim, a 19-year-old female, said she was keeping to herself and talking to friends in the back of the cab when the suspect suddenly turned around and began assaulting her. She told police she was scared and did not know what to do because she had never seen the suspect before and had never been in a similar situation. The driver came to her aid by pulling the suspect away from her. Immediately after the assault began, the driver said she stopped the cab, pushed the suspect out the door, called 911 and began following the man, keeping police updated on the situation as she drove. Police said the victim was visibly shaken and had redness around her neck, but she said she had no pain and refused medical treatment. The police then transported the victim back to the Saint Mary’s campus. Police performed a portable breath test on the suspect and recorded a blood alcohol content (BAC) of .30, which is above the legal limit of .08. Due to the suspect’s high level of intoxication, police decided not to arrest him at that time and elected to forward the charges of assault, battery and public intoxication to the prosecutor’s office. The suspect was
see CRIME/page 4
Inside today’s paper
By DA N BROMBACH News Writer
MAGGIE O’BRIEN/The Observer
Michael Flanagan, a Notre Dame graduate and the current Michigan Superintendent of Public Instruction, spoke about his experience in education Tuesday as a part of the 2011-2012 Forum. By NICOLE MICHELS News Writer
A Notre Dame graduate who now works as Michigan’s Superintendent of Public Instruction spoke Tuesday about education reform and the progress he has encouraged during his tenure. Michael Flanagan’s talk “Education Reform-Mongering: A Practitioner’s Perspective” in Carole Sandner Hall was the latest event in the Notre Dame
Forum 2011-12: Reimagining School. Flanagan said the most pressing challenge for today’s educators is addressing the needs of the urban and poor. Sharing his experience of growing up in a working class family on Long Island, N.Y., he said education plays a critical role in realizing one’s potential. “I think there’s a certain point that when you see other people believe in you, it changes your whole trajec-
tory,” Flanagan said. Flanagan said his critical point was when he had to adapt to his new environment after his family moved from Brooklyn to Long Island. Flanagan said when a teacher informed him he would be placed in the “89er” program, he assumed it meant he was going to “be put on the short bus” because he was a troublemaker. However, he
see FORUM/page 5
Ceili team dances to victory By AUBREY BUTTS News Writer
For the second time in club history, the Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s Irish Dance Team danced its way to victory at the All-Ireland Dance Championship in Dublin as the team captured the championship trophy Feb. 17. The team previously first won the All-Ireland competition in 2010. Sophomore Connor Reider, the team’s coach, said going beyond simple participation to win the competition was significant. “So many teams from across the world come to AllIrelands that it is basically the world championships,” he said. “It puts Notre Dame on the map.” The Ceili team consists of
see DANCE/page 5
Photo courtesy of Mary Mitchell
Senior Colleen Gerth, left, and sophomores Grace Dearduff, Connor Reider and Cathy Cichon pose with their championship trophy.
Eat i ng d isorders, such as bu l i m ia a nd a norex ia, a re i ncreasi ngly com mon i n t he Un ited States, but t hey rema i n a h igh ly st ig mat i zed topic ma ny feel u ncom for ta ble add ressi ng. Nat iona l Eat i ng Disorder Awa reness Week, wh ich ta kes place t h is week, hopes to cha nge t h is t rend. The event at tempts to foster recog n it ion of eat i ng d isorders not as choices but as ser ious, l i fe-t h reaten i ng i l lnesses, accord i ng to a press release on t he event’s website. A s coord i nator of Eat i ng Disorder Ser v ices at Not re Da me, sta f f cl i n icia n Va ler ie Staples sa id ma ny st udents st r uggle w it h how t hey eat a nd how t hey v iew t hei r bod ies. “Eat i ng concer ns a nd body i mage concer ns a re ver y preva lent on t h is ca mpus,” she sa id. “Last yea r, of st udents who ca me here to t he cou nsel i ng center, 9.8 percent repor ted eat i ng concer ns.” Staples sa id t he f req uency of d isordered eat i ng a mong Not re Da me st udents ca n be at t r i buted to t he Un iversit y’s i ntensely compet it ive at mosphere. “We have a cu lt u re on ou r ca mpus of ‘a lways do bet ter, a lways i mprove,’” she sa id. “Th is rei n forces people t h i n k i ng a bout how t hey look i n compa r ison to somebody else, a bout how much t hey eat a nd exercise i n compa r ison to somebody else.” Staples a lso sa id societ y a nd med ia play a role i n creat i ng pressu res lead i ng to eat i ng d isorders. “It’s ha rd to pick up a magaz i ne or watch a ny sor t of a com mercia l nowadays t hat isn’t encou rag i ng us to lose weight or to re-shape ou r bod ies i n some way, sayi ng t hat we’l l be more happy or successf u l i f we do,” she sa id. “W h i le ma k i ng physica l i mprovements isn’t a bad t h i ng, at what poi nt do we need to appreciate ot her q ua l it ies i n ou rselves? ” Staples sa id eat i ng d isorders a re u nder repor ted at Not re Da me not on ly because ma ny st udents a re
see DISORDERS/page 5
Saint Mary’s College hosts film festival page 3 u Viewpoint page 6 u The Best of Dance Dare page 8 u Bengal Bouts semifinals page 16