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Volume 52, Issue 75 | monday, february 5, 2018 ndsmcobserver.com
Student groups adjust to new locations Student media, climbing club preserve culture, embrace improvements in the Duncan Student Center By NATALIE WEBER Associate News Editor
Several student organizations — including most student media and the climbing club — relocated to the Duncan Student Center this semester with the opening of the new facilities. With the transition, many of the groups have seen increased visibility and significant upgrades in technology. Once located in the basement of Washington Hall, NDtv’s offices now include a broadcasting studio on the second f loor of the student center. This prominent location has given the station an increased presence on campus, senior and co-executive producer Amanda Pilarski said. “Nobody knew NDtv existed really [and] didn’t
really know where we were,” she said. “You had to look for our space, but now it’s just so visible that we’ve gotten people reaching out to us being like ‘What is this? Can I be involved?’ We’re hard to miss now, which is a good thing.” Alongside this studio, equipment upgrades have allowed NDtv to expand its livestream content, senior and co-executive producer Robert Kesman said. “We were doing strictly shoots outside of the studio but now we’ve gotten all new teleprompters, cameras, broadcasting equipment, and we’ve had this team of people showing us how to do it every time we’re in here,” he said. “They’re helping us out and learn how to do it, so now we kind of feel a little bit see LOCATIONS PAGE 3
CHRIS COLLINS | The Observer
Sophomore Saul Cortez broadcasts “Sunday Classical Requests Program” from WSND’s new location in the Duncan Student Center. Media groups received updated equipment and more open work spaces.
Hall revamps ninth-annual Activist to lecture on community polar plunge fundraiser leaders, activism Observer Staff Report
TOM NAATZ | The Observer
Students run into St. Mary’s Lake on Saturday morning at Badin Hall’s annual Polar Bear Plunge, a fundraiser supporting impoverished women and children at St. Margaret’s House. By TOM NAATZ News Writer
Temperatures in the high 20s do not make for pleasant swimming weather. Nevertheless, community members gathered on Saturday to take a dip in Saint Joseph’s Lake as part of Badin Hall’s ninth
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annual Polar Bear Plunge. The event aims to benefit Saint Margaret’s House in South Bend, which helps women and children living in poverty. Saturday’s event culminated a year of planning, event director and junior Alyssa Cook said. “This is something you
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have to think about almost a year in advance,” Cook said. “We started talking with our rector last year … and basically what we said is we want to revamp it.” Cook said she estimated about 250 people usually participate in this Badin see PLUNGE PAGE 4
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Dolores Huerta, social activist and co-founder of United Farm Workers who worked alongside Cesar Chavez, will speak at McKenna Hall on Tuesday, according to a University press release. Her lecture is a part of the Institute for Latino Studies’ Transformative Latino Leadership Series. Huertes is known for her social advocacy, specifically for the rights for farm workers, women’s rights and the poor, and is known for coining the rallying phrase “Si, se puede.” She is famous for leading the boycott against California grapes, which resulted in a victory for the farm workers and was the first national boycott of its kind. This boycott led to the Chicano Civil Rights Movement, when farm worker rights fused together with student and
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community activism. In 1998, Huerta received the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award from President Bill Clinton and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012 from President Barack Obama. This same lecture series has hosted U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, former San Antonio mayor Julian Castro and Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles. According to their website, the Institute for Latino Studies aims to prepare transformative leaders in various academic and social spheres among Latinos and all members of society. This particular lectures series “links Notre Dame with the ‘who’s-who’ of Latino leaders in the United States.” Huerta’s speech will include a conversation moderated by Luis Fraga, director of the Institute for Latino Studies. The lecture is free and open to the public.
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