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Volume 52, Issue 51 | thursday, november 16, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com
University establishes military resource Office of Military and Veteran Affairs will provide support for military-connected students, families By KELLI SMITH News Writer
The University announced the establishment of an Office of Military and Veteran Affairs (OMVA) in a press release Wednesday. According to the release, the office will expand the University’s support for Notre Dame-enrolled veterans and their families, active-duty and ROTC students and those who are dependents of service members. The office will be led by Regan Jones, who, according to the OMVA’s website, is a United States Marine Corps veteran who came to Notre Dame in 2014. Jones said he was hired as the director of the OMVA in September, and since
then has accomplished “a lot of work” through collaboration with various resources, offices and departments at the University. “The creation of this office is really special because I’m in a position to help foster sort of this connective tissue amongst pockets of excellence to create an ecosystem and ensure that these [militaryconnected] students have a robust Notre Dame experience,” Jones said. Provost Thomas G. Burish said in the press release that the Military and Veteran Initiative Steering Committee, an organization Jones said he was involved with for 10 months before the OMVA’s establishment, led the initiative to create the new office.
“With this new [OMVA], we will further strengthen our commitment to serving those who have given so much to our nation and the University,” Burish said in the press release. According to the release, the new office will focus on growing the military-connected undergraduate and graduate student populations and developing targeted services to meet their unique needs. Jones said his immediate goals for the office are centered on “infrastructure and capacity.” “An important first step includes things that may not seem very exciting: how do we tag and track these types of [militaryconnected] students on campus,
NOVO system crashes during junior registration By COURTNEY BECKER News Editor
The course registration process was more stressful than usual for many Notre Dame juniors Wednesday morning when the NOVO registration system unexpectedly malfunctioned. Chris Corrente, the manager of student solutions in the Office of Information Technology (OIT),
said the amount of traffic during registration overloaded the system. “The University’s class registration system runs on two servers in order to help distribute load during heavy usage,” he said in an email. “This morning, it appears the load was not properly distributed, resulting in one of the servers becoming overloaded with traffic.”
The lack of access to NOVO resulted in students registering well after their assigned registration time slots. Junior Madeline Petrovich, who had a 7 a.m. time slot, said she “wasn’t really stressed” about registering for classes until she realized none of her friends could access the system before her time slot. When
News Writer
Give the gift of literacy to someone you know today, and the gift will also be shared with others. That is the aim of the ninth annual Usborne Book Fair which will be held Thursday and Friday in the atrium of the Student Center at Saint Mary’s. This fair is held to assist The Learning Tree, a resource education center in Madeleva Hall open to
News PAGE 3
both college students and the wider community. Half of the sales from the book fair will be returned to The Learning Tree in the form of free books. Jayne Fogle, The Learning Tree’s director, said the fair has contributed many books to its library throughout its existence. As the center operates without a budget, these contributions are critical. “We have a children’s literature library, textbooks … educational game packets … a laminator,
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with different stakeholders depending on what program we’re talking about,” Jones said. “So looking with the enrollment division and our deans to think about how we can structure not only our financial aid, but also more development and recruitment strategies to attract [military-connected students] for undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees.” Jones said when he considers the community aspect of the OMVA, he believes it is important to both integrate the students into the campus community and ensure that they have a network they can meet and connect with in a “really deep and meaningful way.” see VETERAN PAGE 4
Lecture explores racism, oppression
see REGISTRATION PAGE 4
Book fair to benefit Saint Mary’s learning center By SARA SCHLECHT
what’s the success rate and what programs are they interested in,” Jones said. “That’ll tell us a little bit about not only how to support the students we have but how to attract more.” Jones said the OMVA will also expand existing programs such as The Warriors Scholar Project, a program designed to help service members pivot from the battlefield to the classroom, and the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), among others. As an example, Jones said, the OMVA is working with the enrollment division to further support ROTC students through financial aid for room and board. “We’re going to leverage all of the available resources and work
poster board, cardstock and lots of other types of paper. We also have machines that punch out shapes and letters for bulletin boards,” Fogle said. These tools are useful to a wide range of students, not just education majors and professors. Students use The Learning Tree’s resources for class assignments as well as personal projects, such as making birthday cards. The center offers see BOOK FAIR PAGE 4
Viewpoint PAGE 6
RUNJIE PAN | The Observer
Dr. Carol Anderson gives the second lecture of the Race and Ideas Lecture Series on Wednesday, discussing racism and oppression. By CIARA HOPKINSON News Writer
Following the backlash against a lecture given by political scientist Charles Murray last spring, the department of Africana Studies initiated the Race and Ideas Lecture Series in partnership with several other academic departments. The second speaker in that series, Dr. Carol Anderson of Emory University, spoke on Wednesday night about her most recent book, “White
Men’s Soccer PAGE 12
Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Nation’s Divide.” Anderson explained that racism does not always manifest itself in expected ways. “White rage is not about the way we often think about racism,“ Anderson said. “White rage is not overtly violent. It’s not a [Ku Klux] Klan cross burning. White rage works smoothly, calmly, efficiently, through the legislature, through the courts, through the see LECTURE PAGE 4
Men’s Basketball PAGE 12
2
TODAY
The observer | thursday, november 16, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com
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senior Flaherty Hall
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“‘Dragon Tales.’”
“‘Arthur.’”
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senior off campus
“‘iCarly.’”
“‘Blues’ Clues.’”
Natalie Ingram
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sophomore Flaherty Hall
sophomore Keough Hall
“‘Scooby-Doo.’”
“‘Teletubbies.’”
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Students Michael Szopiak, left, Andres Fernandez del Castillo, center, and John Judge gather at a reception Wednesday in the Jordan Hall of Science after the inaugural Gold Mass for science and engineering students and faculty in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart.
The next Five days:
Want your event included here? Email news@ndsmcobserver.com
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday
Monday
Be Immortalized: Become a Work of Art Snite Museum 10 a.m. - noon 3-D scanning.
“Is Capitalism Moral?” Dahnke Ballroom 12:30 p.m. - 2 p.m. Lecture by visiting professor.
Football vs. Navy Notre Dame Stadium 3:30 p.m. The Irish take on the Midshipmen on Senior Day.
RCIA - Rite of Acceptance and Rite of Welcome Basilica of the Sacred Heart 3:30 p.m.
This Far By Faith LaFortune Ballroom 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. Celebrate Black Catholic History with Campus Ministry.
Men’s Basketball vs. Chicago State Purcell Pavilion 7 p.m. The Irish take on the Cougars.
Volleyball vs. North Carolina Purcell Pavilion 7 p.m. The Irish take on the Tar Heels.
“Total Mobilization — World War II and American Literature” Snite Museum of Art 12:30 p.m - 1:30 p.m. World War II lecture.
Volleyball vs. North Carolina State Purcell Pavilion 1 p.m. The Irish take on the Wolfpack.
Mass at St. Mary’s College Our Lady of Wisdom Chapel, McCandless Hall 9 p.m. - 10 p.m.
News
ndsmcobserver.com | thursday, november 16, 2017 | The Observer
3
student SENATE
Senators discuss Shirt Project, housing policy By MARY BERNARD News Writer
At Wednesday’s student senate meeting, senators discussed the Shirt Project, student health and wellness updates, revisions to the Constitution of the Undergraduate Student Body and a response to the new university housing policy. The senate unanimously confirmed junior Kristin Andrejko as the Shirt Project President. “[Andrejko] has been working on the Shirt Project since freshman year and she has a lot of experience,” Henderson said. “She’s really excited about this upcoming year.” Student senate also passed three revisions to the Constitution of the Undergraduate Student Body. The Department for Constitutional Procedures
brought the revisions to the senate for a vote. The first allowed proxy members to count towards a quorum, which passed unanimously. The second revision instituted an attendance policy for senators. After four unexcused absences or seven total absences, the Student Union Ethics Commission will conduct a hearing regarding the Senator’s potential negligence. This revision passed with only one Senator in opposition and no abstentions. The third revision increased the quorum from 3/5 to 2/3 to be consistent with the requisite quorum for the Election Committee, per the Constitution. This revision passed unanimously as well. The senate’s housing policy committee is continuing to prepare for action regarding the updated housing policy. One subcommittee is writing a
letter to the administration asking specific questions regarding the policy, another is creating a survey to understand student sentiment toward the policy and the third is dealing with the proposed waiver policy and discussing how to ameliorate the waiver process. “I’m really happy with how it’s looking so far,” Shewit said. “We’re going to continue to push for student feedback through this process.” Jade Martinez, student government‘s director of health and wellness, presented potential updates to RecSports, including creating a new fitness class plan. The senate also covered fitness options on campus. Martinez and representatives from her department discussed a Fit Pass option which would allow students to buy a certain number of fitness classes each semester rather than sign up
to attend the same class weekly. The department’s goal is to implement the Fit Pass as a semester long pass. The fee will allow for classes throughout the entire semester but the department has yet to decide on a class limit or if there will be multiple options for plans. Sibonay Shewit, student body vice president, recommended a monthly membership option to alleviate the pressure of signing up for classes early in the semester. “At the start of the semester, I may not know how many times a week I’d be able to do [a class],” Shewit said. A trial period will be offered at the beginning of the semester, just as the fitness classes work now, but the department hopes the Fit Pass will dissuade students from signing up for classes that they might not be able to attend consistently. “One of the biggest problems
that comes from the [trial period] is the next week, all the classes fill because everyone wants a class but they don’t actually have their schedule developed,” Martinez said. “Halfway through the semester, half of the people are showing up because they can’t actually go to the classes.” The classes will take place in the new recreation center in the Duncan Student Center, which will be larger and feature twice as much equipment as there is currently in Rolfs, according to RecSports. “There’s a lot of new, cool equipment that people might not know how to use, so we’re going to try to partner with tours so people can get an understanding of how to work the equipment,” Martinez. Contact Mary Bernard at mbernar5@nd.edu
Community celebrates work of Audre Lorde By GINA TWARDOSZ Associate Saint Mary’s Editor
On Wednesday night, Saint Mary’s professors and students reflected on the life and work of Audre Lorde, a writer, feminist and civil rights activist. The presentation commemorated the 25th anniversary of Lorde’s death. Ann Marie Short, professor of English and gender and women’s studies, emphasized the key aspects of Lorde’s writings. “Lorde’s work demands intersectionality, challenging us to confront how patriarchy, heterosexism, racism, classism, ageism and ableism insidiously reinforce one another,” Short said. “Her work legitimizes the value of unabated fury. Those who have been historically oppressed,
particularly women, especially women of color and more notably black women, are often called out when they express anger in the face of injustice. In these circumstances, the accusation of anger is meant to delegitimize, to distract. It is meant to make the anger more objectionable than the offense that elicits it. For Lorde, anger is not simply an emotional response, but it’s also an aesthetic...a productive way of being in the face of gross injustice.” Lorde’s poetry broke silences, said Jamie Wagman, professor of history and gender and women’s studies. “She wrote about police brutality targeting women of color in the 1980s,” Wagman said. “She remembered Malcolm X. She recalled her first love and lost. She
came out as a lesbian. She discussed mothering, marriage, her mastectomy, and her tone was consistently honest, unapologetic and critical. She was an icon...in celebrating difference, and building alliances and networks.” Lorde’s gift was her progressivism and activism, explained Stacey Davis, professor of religious studies and gender and women’s studies. “The ability to encourage others through tireless praxis was and remains Audre Lorde’s gift,” Davis said. “An activist to her bones, Lorde worked to bring about the recognition of others’ humanity...she was intersectional before intersectionality was cool. She... recognized that you will not win every battle you fight — but you will not lose every battle either.”
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Wagman said Lorde’s writing aims to inspire her audience to act. “So many who write and speak about Lorde today, comment that they felt that she spoke to them... when they first read her work,” Wagman said. “She called readers to action.” Eli Williams, the former executive-director for the LGBT Center in South Bend, read Lorde’s poem ‘Litany for Survival.’ “I use this poem often to summon the strength to speak when I’m afraid,” Williams said. “Whenever I am in conflict now as an adult and don’t want to jump, or to speak, I count to three and hear Audre Lorde in my mind. I remember I was not meant to survive, and I take the plunge.” Dionne Bremyer, professor of
creative writing, said Lorde inspired her to create a collage of both her and Lorde’s words. “Looking to Lorde for inspiration, for the invisible labor of pain, mental anguish,” she said. “Who will testify for my black body? I sustain being black. I celebrate being black. I sorrow over being black ... Women of color in America have grown up within a symphony of anger — at being silenced, at being unchosen, at knowing that when we survive, it is in spite of a world that takes for granted our lack of humanness and which hates our very existence outside of its surface. And I say symphony rather than cacophony because we have had to learn how to orchestrate those furies so that they do not tear us apart.” Senior Alex Shambery lauded Lorde‘s articulation of the experience of women of color. “She understood what it’s like to be a woman of color — always concerned about doing the right thing and living behind the storm inside of us,” she said. Senior Nina Steele said Lorde’s work encourages her, as a white person, to support marginalized groups. “As white people, we need to support women, LGBT people and people of color,” she said. “Their access to complete liberation can lead us all to possess of true autonomy and personhood, where our lives are determined by the love we give and not by the amount of violence we administer onto others.” Wagman said she has come to depend on the writings of Lorde, because Lorde helps us to understand the world by encouraging us to speak up. “‘Speak’, [Lorde] tells us, ‘Your silence will not protect you,’” Wagman said. Contact Gina Twardosz at gtwardosz01@saintmarys.edu
4
NEWS
The observer | thursday, november 16, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com
Book Fair
Veteran
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workspace for student use. The Learning Tree charges for its resources and services in order for the items to be replenished, Fogle said. The costs must be paid with cash or a check. The children’s literature library has picture books, chapter books and reference books that Saint Mary’s students use for education classes and student teaching. Among the collection Fogle said the Usborne books among the collection are “high quality and informative.” Reference and instruction librarian Catherine Pellegrino said familiarity with books is essential for children. “Even before kids are reading, getting to know what a book is and how it works is important — turning the pages and such,” Pellegrino said. “The benefits of books for young kids are obvious, and now there are programs that recognize that benefit of having age-appropriate children’s material in a household.“ Young children can become acquainted with books by visiting the offices of doctors and social service agencies. Some such offices even send the children home with a book, allowing for a home library to be built for all those who enter the household, Pellegrino said. College students also gain much from access to books, both for their studies and for leisure. In today’s world, however, the fact that physical books are still being used — and purchased — is surprising to many people. “We’ve asked, and the response has been overwhelming that students prefer print over electronic format… nobody asks for the e-book format. They check out the print,” Pellegrino said. “The leisure reading books circulate like crazy. They get checked out way more than anything in the building, especially right before breaks. That’s when a lot of [books] go off the shelves.” Saint Mary’s librarians sometimes call this collection, located at the very front of the library, the “fun books.” The book fair takes place just as the onset of holiday shopping is becoming apparent. Books for all ages will be available, including picture books, middle grade chapter books, reference books and adult coloring books. Purchasing these books benefits more than just those who receive them, thanks to Usborne’s sharing of the sales with the Learning Tree.
“Being someone from the military [with a] military background, I put myself in the minds of these students,” Jones said. “They’ve done incredibly brave things, [such as going] overseas in combat, but they’re terrified about their next act and what life looks like after service. I feel fortunate to be able to help create a bridge for them from service to their next act and ensure that they’re successful, that they have a robust Notre Dame experience and that they go out and graduate and become a force for good
Contact Sara Schlecht at sschlecht01@saintmarys.edu
Lecture Continued from page 1
White House, through Congress, through school boards, through zoning commissions. It works subtly, it works corrosively. And I also began to realize that for white rage to become operational, it wasn’t the presence of black people that did it … Black advancement is the trigger for white rage.” While the seed of Anderson’s understanding of white rage was planted by the 1999 shooting of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed, 23-year-old black man, by four New York City police officers, it was not until the protests in Ferguson, MO following the death of Michael Brown that her ideas fully formed. Part of it comes from the narrative of black pathology. “It didn’t matter if it was MSNBC, CNN, or Fox. It didn’t matter. They were all saying the same thing: look at black people burning up where they live...because when you begin to think about it, underneath all of that is a key element that lives
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the problem persisted for her, Petrovich said, “a whole panic mode” set in. “Registering is stressful enough, and this kind of added another layer on top of it,” she said. “The one saving grace was when [my friend] came in and realized that none of the classes were filling up at like 7:20 a.m. … It was kind of a moment of realization that no one was able to register.” Rochelle Jones, associate registrar of academic services, said the Office of the Registrar was unaware of the extent of the issue until well into Wednesday afternoon. “We had 12 phone calls, so as far as we know, 12 students were affected,” she said. “But we don’t know because we only know who called us or who called — I know two students called the OIT Help Desk, and we received 12 calls.” Corrente said the OIT, which remains in “close
so it’s super exciting.” The announcement comes during a special time, Jones said, in terms of the backdrop of the football game between Navy and Notre Dame to take place this Saturday. “It’s really special, that historical relationship [Notre Dame has] with the U.S. military in general, but more specifically, the U.S. Navy and that rich, deep history in relationship with Navy that really kind of saved the University back in the 1940’s,” Jones said. According to the OMVA website, during World War II more than two-thirds of the Notre Dame student body enlisted in the military, placing
the University in “dire financial straits.” However, after the creation of a Navy program through which 12,000 officers were trained on campus and the University was financially “kept afloat,” former University president Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh promised to play the Naval Academy in football every year. “The bonds between Notre Dame and the U.S. military predate the American Civil War and have grown stronger over many years, as successive generations of Notre Dame graduates and Holy Cross priests have served our nation in times of war and peace,” Burish said Laura Carlson, vice president
and associate provost and chair of the Military and Veteran Initiative Steering Committee, said in the release that she believes Notre Dame can achieve singular distinction as one of the nation’s “best universities for veterans, military, ROTC and their families.” “In Regan Jones, a highly decorated Marine Corps veteran who has spent the past threeplus years getting to know the University from a variety of perspectives, we have the ideal leader to direct us in this endeavor,” Carlson said in the release.
vibrantly in American society,“ Anderson said. ”And that is the narrative of black pathology, that there is something systemically wrong with black people.” Anderson said this perspective fails to consider the crippling of the African-American population through policy. “I saw the way that AfricanAmericans’ rights were systematically undermined, but what I also saw, being in this nation, is that we are so focused in on the flames that we miss the kindling. We see the fire and we don’t see what started that fire. And that fire, that kindling, are the policies,” she said. Anderson went on to describe that “kindling,” from policing strategies and voter ID laws to apathetic school boards and mass incarceration. Many of the policies that disenfranchise the African-American population, Anderson said, are couched in patriotic terms that are difficult to argue with. One such instance is the War on Drugs, which many studies show disproportionately targeted African-Americans, Anderson said.
“What the War on Drugs actually does is that it eviscerates the Civil Rights Act of 1964 … The rights that are protected under the Civil Rights Act do not apply to felons. So if you have mass incarceration of African-Americans, you have just reversed the gains of the Civil Rights Act of 9164. And, as an added bonus, you have permanent felony disenfranchisement, which means that if you have a felony conviction, you cannot vote,” Anderson said. Anderson pointed to the recent focus on voter identification laws following the 2008 election and the subsequent state policy changes that make it virtually impossible for many African-Americans and other minorities to obtain the appropriate identification. In reality, voter fraud is an incredibly rare occurrence, according to a study conducted by Justin Levitt of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. “He looked at voter impersonation fraud because this is what voter ID laws go after... he looked, and what he found, from the years 2000 to 2014 or
15, out of one billion votes there were thirty one cases. Yet we have 33 states that have implemented voter suppression laws using the language of protecting the integrity of the ballot box,” Anderson said. Anderson then traced the history of white rage, linking every gain for the rights of AfricanAmericans to a massive pushback from white supremacy embedded in governmental institutions. Anderson finished with a reading from her book, calling for honest conversation and a refusal to stand by and allow oppression to continue. “Not even a full month after Dylann Roof gunned down nine African-Americans at Emmanuel AME, Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump fired up an audience of thousands in July 2015 with a macabre promise: ‘Don’t worry, we’ll take our country back.’ No. It’s time, instead, that we take our country forward, into the future. A better future,” Anderson said.
communication with the Registrar’s Office during critical system usage times such as class registration,” started working to resolve any problems with the system as soon as the Registrar’s Office notified the OIT about calls from students. Most of students’ calls, however, were not about the system overload, Jones said. “This is what we have heard: slowness — no malfunction,” she said. “No one [had] mentioned a malfunction, all we’ve heard is slowness in the system. That’s the only reports that kept coming to our office.” However, Petrovich said NOVO wouldn’t let her friends enter their registration pin numbers and kicked her out of the system when she tried to submit course registration numbers — which she said was the farthest point to which anyone in her group made it. “I got all the way to the screen where I would hit submit — it had the whole calendar schedule up — and it just wouldn’t go through,” she said. “And then it would say, ‘Invalid class, reload
your screen.’ So when you would reload the screen, it would take you back, all the way to the beginning to your pin to start over.” Eventually, Petrovich said, students began turning to the old DART registration system to register. “This is 7:25 [a.m.], so this is 25 minutes past my registration time — and [I was in] full panic mode, full stress — until I was informed to use the actual DART system,” she said. “ … It definitely made it a lot more stressful than it needed to be.” Jones said she encouraged those who encountered a problem during registration to email the Office of the Registrar and explain their experiences. Calling the Office in the midst of registration likely didn’t occur to most juniors since they are used to NOVO malfunctioning in some way, Petrovich said. “There’s always been problems with NOVO,” she said. “I don’t think anyone has ever had a successful NOVO experience. That’s the only platform that we’ve used now, as juniors, so since freshman year, I’ve never
had it go perfectly each time. … So we’ve always had these issues, but we didn’t realize how wide-scale the issue was.” The OIT is working to ensure sophomores and freshmen who register within the next week do not have any trouble with NOVO, Corrente said. “The OIT will be taking measures Wednesday and Thursday evening to enhance our infrastructure and better prevent performance issues for subsequent class registrations,” he said. “As usual, the OIT will be monitoring system performance during sophomore and freshman registration on Friday and Monday.” In the event of anyone encountering difficulties with the registration system, Jones said, students should contact the Office of the Registrar as soon as possible. “Any of the students who called us, we responded to immediately,” she said. “We can’t respond to you if you don’t call us.”
Contact Kelli Smith at ksmith67@nd.edu
Contact Ciara Hopkinson at chopkin1@nd.edu
Contact Courtney Becker at cbecker3@nd.edu
5
The observer | thursday, november 16, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com
By ELLEN O’BRIEN Scene Writer
Sam Smith has a lot to live up to. At only 25 years old, he already has four Grammys under his belt, thanks to his debut album “In the Lonely Hour,” as well as an Academy Award for his “Writing’s on the Wall” from “Spectre.” Smith has found a way to achieve international acclaim during an unusually short period of time. His follow-up album, “The Thrill of It All,” has been longanticipated by both fans and critics ever since his debut. And it in some regards it lives up to his past successes, but in no way outdoes them. Almost every song on “The Thrill of It All” rips your heart out. The melancholy in a few is disguised with upbeat choruses and catchy lyrics, but they are the outliers. This sad, reflective take on romance is nothing new to Smith, however. It’s his trademark in a sense — the thing that made him famous and what will most likely keep him relevant. These songs about falling in and out of love are nothing new to music in general either. They focus on a rather exhausted subject matter; something music seems to gravitate towards these days. With his vocal variety, range and sheer talent, however, Smith can get away with this. Any monochromatic, overdone lyric sound beautiful in his falsetto and with his signature retro beats. It is clear that lyrics of “The Thrill of It All” come second to style and aesthetic. The opening track, “Too Good at Goodbyes,” doesn’t waste any time in capitalizing on this. Drawing listeners in with his smooth, soulful voice, and pondering the times he
By OWEN LANE Scene Writer
A geeky looking, yet incredibly famous musician from Long Island once wrote, “We’re living here in Allentown / and they’re closing all the factories down / Out in Bethlehem they’re killing time / Filling out forms / Standing in line.” The cheery tune by Billy Joel chronicled the bittersweet nostalgia that accompanied the demise of the steel industry in Bethlehem and Allentown, Pennsylvania. That was 1982. Since that time, the manufacturing hubs of the United States have stumbled and stagnated; meanwhile, the seeds of class resentment planted in the “Allentown” era have germinated. In 2017, a Buffalo, New York, band call themselves Bethlehem Steel out of tribute to all cities that just ain’t what they used to be. Places like South Bend come to mind. Bethlehem Steel imbue their music with the resentment and pride that come from living in a forgotten city where opportunities evaporated long ago, leaving puzzled people behind. This quality is palpable on the new EP/album “Party Naked Forever,” which tempers punk-rock anger with empathetic tenderness. The album begins with a slow and quiet interlude that suddenly explodes into a loud punk sound. “Fig” is a standout track, with a melody carried by stabs at crunchy, minor guitar chords. The track is passively haunting until the guitar’s volume picks up and front woman Rebecca Ryskalczyk cries out, “How old were
has thrown away relationships, Smith has you mesmerized from the get-go. It’s not a song that tries to hard to pull you in, though. Like many of the album’s subsequent songs, it is minimalistic, with primarily finger snaps, light piano playing and a gorgeous choir supplementing Smith’s vocals — nothing over the top, but more than enough. “Too Good at Goodbyes” and numerous following tracks have a definite formula. They all involve a stripped-down start and end, a steady build to a chorus that allows Smith to showcase his vocal range and an ever-present gospel choir turned pop. These components work together to produce catchy enough songs, but a little more variety would have been refreshing. A swathe of the songs are indistinguishable from one another, meshing together more than they should. A sense of unity within the album is no doubt a positive thing, but too much can become drole and leave its listeners inattentive. The variety that this album does have should not be not be applied to the entire album, though. “One Last Song” and “Baby, You Make Me Crazy” are both more upbeat tracks that provide a release from the overbearing melancholy of the rest of the album. They feel reminiscent of the 1960s without sacrificing Smith’s uniquely modern sound. These simple love songs are definite highlights of the album — both in style and content. “No Peace” is the only song with a feature on “The Thrill of It All”. YEBBA, the featured artist, matches Smith’s powerful voice adequately, but doesn’t add much to the track. A more successful song is “HIM,” which diverges from the theme of heartbreak. It is more of an anthem about Smith’s
homosexuality and facing the struggles that come along with it. Seeing Smith use his platform as an artist to spark conversation about the prejudice against the LGBTQ community is both inspiring and refreshing. Smith closes his album with a duet of ballads. “Nothing Left for You” and “The Thrill of It All” are more entertaining tunes than the ones stuck in the monotony of the middle of the album. They encompass the best parts of the previous tracks, emphasizing Smith’s greatest strength, his voice. These final songs contain perhaps the most captivating lyricism Smith has ever put into song. The album “The Thrill of It All,” although nothing groundbreaking, is worth a listen, and will undoubtedly garner Sam Smith more respect as a musician and more fans as a celebrity.
you when you stopped sleeping in your mother’s bed?” After that, you know that things are going to get a little weird. Then, when you hear Ryskalczyk answer her own question, you immediately wonder what you’ve gotten yourself into. Hearing Ryskalczyk get disturbingly personal (possibly even surreal) is refreshing. Men have monopolized hyperbolized, hyperemotional personal songwriting for too long. Bethlehem Steel is, for better or worse, Rivers Cuomo-esque here. Bethlehem Steel owe a great deal to the many iterations of punk and post-punk acts that have preceded them. Sometimes they are as simple as The Sex Pistols or The Ramones. Other times they resemble the more refined punk sound of 90s acts like Sleater-Kinney. The group’s energy and potential are most obvious on “Finger It Out,” the punchiest track of the entire album. About halfway through the song Ryskalczyk lets out a “Yeah!” so full of disgust and grit that it almost sounds like “yuck.” There is a lot of anger on this album; Bethlehem Steel make their social justice critiques particularly clear on “Untitled Entitlement.” The spoken verses are snarled over an intimidatingly spare bass guitar and half-time snare drum. The breakdowns and choruses adopt and at sometimes mimic the menacing sound Black Sabbath perfected in their prime. Despite their hardness, Bethlehem Steel is agile, delicate. Ryskalczyk flaunts her voice’s startling range on the sweetly melodious track “Donnie.” Not since Frankie Cosmos’s track “Is It Possible/Sleep Song” has anyone sung “the f-word” with with such loving
aplomb and tenderness. “Deep Back,” the most subdued track on the album, is so sweet and smooth that you could slow dance to it at prom. “Deep Back” and “Donnie” demonstrate Bethlehem Steel’s extraordinary talent to embed beautiful kernels of emotion into abrasive packaging. “Party Naked Forever” is not subtle, but it’s not pretentious or polite either. Ryskalczyk is brutally honest, to the point of uncomfortable idiosyncrasy. The refreshing record is not only delightfully weird, but also delivers on some of its serious risks. This band is not perfect, but they are young and definitely have their best work in front of them. Authentic emotion and gorgeous singing are reason enough to pay attention to these industrial misfits.
Contact Ellen O’Brien at eobrie14@nd.edu
“The Thrill of It All” Sam Smith Label: Capitol Records Tracks: “One Last Song,” “Baby, You Make Me Crazy,” “HIM” If you like: Adele, Charlie Puth
Contact Owen Lane at olane@nd.edu
“Party Naked Forever” Bethlehem Steel Label: Exploding in Sound Records Tracks: “Donnie,” “Fig,” “Deep Back” If you like: Angel Olsen, Big Thief, Ratboys
CRISTINA INTERIANO | The Observer
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The observer | thursday, november 16, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com
Inside Column
The plight of lowincome students Adrian Mark Lore Associate Scene Editor
Let’s get this straight: The University of Notre Dame offers generous financial aid packages. But failing to move past this strategy to address the University’s wide socioeconomic inequality, the administration leaves low-income students facing a variety of financial obstacles to participation in the University’s rigorous academic life. Perhaps this inequality itself drowns our concerns. According to a study by the New York Times, around 75 percent of students at the University belong to the country’s top 20 percent income bracket, and more students belong to the top 0.1 percent of the country’s wealthiest families than belong to its bottom quintile. This divide transforms the culture of labor at the University, to the detriment of low-income students like myself. See, lowincome students generally resort to part-time work to make ends meet — not for “pocket money,” but because non-tuition costs of attendance are overwhelming; in fact, many of our financial aid packages include a “work-study” component that requires us to labor. As a result, many low-income students have experienced the full 20-hour workweek that University policy allows — not because we want to, but because it’s our only alternative. If taking up part-time work is not a choice that many lowincome students have, then by keeping student wage rates low, the University administration gratuitously extends the number of work hours necessary to break even — which seldom happens, even when we break our backs. The choice to work might appear to be in our hands, to be sure. However, to the extent we work unreasonable hours at the expense of schoolwork and sanity, this is forced labor. Contrary to popular belief, low-income students want higher wages not because we don’t want to work hard, but because we want to work hard at school — not at the Huddle. In fact, I violated University policy my first semester, working over 20 weekly hours — and up to 30 — because I wasn’t breaking even. As you can imagine, I did poorly academically; besides, I wasn’t sleeping, and began to see a therapist to address my declining mental health. The following semester, however, I made the difficult choice not to work at all. My grade-point average rose by a full integer and I even started making it back to the gym. Unfortunately, that became financially unsustainable — especially given my participation in summer programs through the University. Though educational, low-income students receive no aid to participate in these programs. Instead, my student financial account has been charged about $4,700 toward the costs of one credit-bearing program last summer. Working for $8.00 hourly, however, the program’s cost amounts to about 590 work hours — almost exactly 20 weekly hours over the course of two semesters. In other words, the entire year’s wages are shot. (Note: Prior to this semester, the lowest hourly rate was $7.80; these were my earnings the past two years.) Perhaps it was unwise to participate in these programs; I should have known my place, and sacrificed among the most transformative experiences of my time in college — right? Fortunately, the administration has taken steps to tackle these issues, including the establishment of the Office of Student Enrichment for low-income students with extant needs. But it’s not that simple. Low-income students resort to the Office when they cannot independently make ends meet — precisely because wages are paltry; thus, the administration creates a gratuitous vetting process for our needs. By shifting the locus of control toward them, in other words, they prevent us from making financial decisions as independent adults and thereby undermine our agency. (Besides, the Office doesn’t assist with summer programs.) Meager student wage rates enforce the socioeconomic status quo, forcing low-income students to labor at the expense of academic success while pricing them out of important educational opportunities. Indeed, did you know only 1 percent of low-income students at the University move up to the highest income quintile later in life? As you can imagine, this fact does not surprise me. Contact Adrian Mark Lore at lore.1@nd.edu The views expressed in the Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Response to ‘Notre Dame doesn’t owe you birth control’ First, I would like to offer my support and appreciation to the University for reversing its oppressive decision to exclude birth control from employee health care plans. However, it is also necessary to address the rhetoric on campus that has encompassed the issue. Specifically, the letter to the editor entitled “Notre Dame doesn’t owe you birth control.” The problem with the author’s claim that corporations can claim freedom of religion, as with the decision in the controversial Supreme Court case “Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby Stores Inc.,” is that it allows the corporation’s religious views to restrict the religious liberty of the individual employee. Institutions don’t have guaranteed religious freedom, individuals do. Notre Dame’s choice to discontinue birth control in its employee health care plan (which, importantly, is paid for by employees of the University and supplied by a third-party provider) restricts individual religious liberty for the benefit of its own views as an institution, not an individual. To compare requesting free alcohol from Brigham Young University to asking Notre Dame to cover basic employee health care is an analogy that does not prove the point. Health care is an individual right, alcohol is not. The better analogy for the author’s argument is that individual rights limit how far an institution can go in imposing its religious views; presumably the author would not argue that a university’s religious views could be the basis to deny admission based upon certain classifications. In that instance, individual rights do trump the institution’s religious views. If the author agrees, then the real issue is not free alcohol at BYU but rather the individual liberties of the University’s employees and whether the University can restrict those freedoms based on its institutional views. As the debate tries to reconcile issues of Catholic identity with the law, it is important to acknowledge common Catholic perception of the issue. In a 2016 survey of likely Catholic voters, conducted by Belden Russonello Strategists, 79 percent agree that health insurance companies should be required to offer health care plans that include birth control. Additionally, according to the Guttmacher Institute, 98 percent of Catholic women use contraception at some point in their lives. Therefore, while the University’s initial decision affected women of other religious practices, it would also have substantially affected a large number of women who identify
as Catholic, but may practice their personal decisions in adherence with their individual conscience, which is acceptable due to their freedom to practice religion. Furthermore, the policy is inherently sexist, whether intentional or not, as it restricts basic health care for women, but does not do the same for men. This furthers the message that women’s private lives are not up to them and are open to public debate. Hormonal birth control is, for many women, a vital component of their individual health care routine that should not require justification in order for a prescription to be written. Yet, the University chose to restrict women’s birth control and not Viagra for men. Is Viagra not as important to sexual freedom for men as hormonal birth control is for women who choose to use it for the primary purpose of contraception? In addition, while condoms are characterized by the author as “male birth control,” they clearly are not within the same realm of health care as hormonal birth control, which requires a medical prescription and is substantially more expensive. Finally, it is important to acknowledge in this debate that the policy is inherently elitist. Not elitist because, as the author argues, a sense of entitlement demands that “ …an institution defy its religious beliefs to support your sex life”, but rather because it fails to acknowledge that this debate is most important to those who would not be able to afford this type of health care except through the subsidized program. Ultimately the author’s argument is that if the University’s insurance plan does not cover birth control, the woman can pay for it herself. But it is those who cannot pay that are most affected by this policy. While I recognize, and personally strongly embrace, Notre Dame’s Catholic identity, I do not believe institutional religious freedom should not come at the expense of individual liberty or women’s health. We must respect the diversity of religious and personal convictions present on our campus. Therefore, I applaud the University for continuing to provide birth control, through a third party, for its employees — employees who are the backbone and spirit of this wonderful institution, and who, without them, Notre Dame community members would not be able to engage in such an important debate. Jackie O’Brien sophomore Nov. 15
Join the conversation. Submit a Letter to the Editor. Email viewpoint@ndsmcobserver.com
The observer | thursday, november 16, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com
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For a sustainable future at Notre Dame BridgeND Kevin Gallagher
On Nov. 13, 2017, the Global Carbon Project released a report detailing expectations of a global rise in carbon diox ide emissions of approx imately 2 percent. Because there was no grow th in output between 2014 and 2016, some climate scientists believed that we had established a peak level of output. Now, however, there is renewed cause for concern, as scientists fear that Earth has entered another period of increasingly alarming grow th in emissions. In 2017, we are mov ing past the debate over whether climate change is real because as more and more ev idence accumulates, it becomes ever more challenging to deny. There is merit, however, to the debate over what we can and should do as a result of climate change, given all of the implications of changing policy (loss of jobs in certain markets, raising prices for particular goods, and a whole list of other potential costs and benefits). Still, on balance, w ith the right policies, the benefits of addressing climate change w ill out weigh the harms. The problem of global climate change, of course, has billions of contributors. Consequently, though, it also has billions of potential problem-solvers. If humanit y is able to contribute to a problem, it is w ithin our means to discover ways to mitigate the problem as well. It is crucial that the thousands of indiv iduals who compose the Notre Dame communit y demand and enact changes on campus to forge a future rooted in sustainabilit y and responsibilit y. The catastrophic events of climate change have already hit close to home this school year, and we haven’t even reached the end of the semester. Even though climate change didn’t create the natural disasters of Hurricane Har vey, Irma
and Maria, NASA, TIME Maga zine, CNN and a variet y of other outlets have all reported that the storms were strengthened as a result of our changing climate. As a universit y formed out of a national net work of people, certainly including those from Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, the devastation of those storms has been carried in the hearts of our ow n students and facult y. As time goes on, the realit y that we must face is that more and more students and their families w ill be impacted in a similarly tragic way. The Notre Dame family is strong: our prayers at mass, grab-and-go collections and online fundraising campaigns have been imperative to relief efforts, but these t y pes of assistance don’t prov ide longterm solutions. Notre Dame is unquestionably the nation’s leading Catholic universit y. It is no secret that we are equipped w ith an endow ment nearing $12 billion. Not only do we have an expectation to be innovators on all fronts, especially including sustainabilit y, we have a moral obligation to take action. We certainly have the means to make investments in green infrastructure that other institutions are simply unable to make. Care for creation and stewardship of the Earth are integral parts of Catholic Social Teaching. The United States is now the only countr y in the entire world who hasn’t committed to the standards established in the Paris Accords; even war-torn Sy ria joined in early November 2017. At a moment in histor y where standing proudly in affirmation of climate action is more necessar y than it has ever been, w ith a depressingly complacent government in the face of clearly alarming problems, now is the time for Notre Dame to put our money where our mouth is. Institutional changes are difficult to manage, especially because depending on the intricacy of plans, many different departments and indiv iduals are involved in analysis and consideration.
Difficult y managing bureaucracy, though, is not a sufficient excuse to justif y stagnancy. Student Government in particular has been making strides, in cooperation w ith the Office of Sustainabilit y and many other entities, when it comes to climate action. They have set goals to rely solely on renewable energ y by 2050 through the development of solar and thermal energ y w ith Notre Dame’s energ y system, are working toward increasing accessibilit y to recycling options throughout campus (in dorms, outside and in academic buildings), and are tr y ing to make Notre Dame a st y rofoam-free campus by Spring 2018. These campus-w ide policy components w ill require patience, grit and negotiation, but in the meantime, ever y single person on campus can play a role in making progress. This communit y can only thrive when each its indiv idual members accepts that he or she has a role to play. W henever possible, choose products that don’t come in st y rofoam packaging or cups. As Student Government works to make recycling more accessible and equitable w ith landfill disposal options, choose to walk a little bit further to a recycling bin to dispose of a bottle. Choose to think global and act local, choose personal responsibilit y and choose to safeguard Notre Dame’s reputation as a powerhouse for innovation by play ing an indiv idual role in the ushering in of a new era of sustainabilit y. Contact Kevin Gallagher at kgalla18@nd.edu BridgeND is a bipartisan student political organization that brings together people from all across the ideological spectrum to discuss public policy issues of national importance. They meet Monday nights in the McNeil Room of LaFortune from 6–7 p.m. They can be reached at bridgend@nd.edu or by following them on Twitter @bridge_ND The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Notre Dame’s desire for secular acceptance Eddie Damstra Dinner Table Talks
A little over a week ago, the University of Notre Dame stated that it will now provide contraceptives and abortifacients in University health insurance plans through a third-party insurer. No longer will the university limit the supplying of contraceptives to students and faculty who possess certain medical conditions. Rather, the supplying of contraceptives and abortifacients will now be broadly provided. After the University’s expensive and lengthy lawsuit was resolved through expansions made by the Health and Human Ser vices under President Trump, the university has cowardly surrendered its newly bestowed right to abide by its religious principles. This move displays that the University is willing to be complicit in gross violations of Church doctrine as long as such heretical acts come with the promise of acceptance into the surrounding secular culture. Notre Dame is drifting further and further from its once assumed position as a principled bastion of religious conviction. This is because Notre Dame now intensely desires to be liked and
accepted by the secular world. The University does not want to be fully indistinguishable from the secular world; policies such as parietals signal such; however, the University does not want to be so indistinguishable from the secular world as to significantly upset people. I do not expect Notre Dame to be a religiously tyrannical school, enforcing ever y minutia of Church doctrine. However, one should reasonably expect a Catholic school to hold true to core Christian values. Notre Dame comes up short in this regard. Being in conf lict with the surrounding culture should be a goal of Notre Dame, not a fear. The University should not capitulate to the demands of angr y secularism. Rather, the secular world being angr y at Notre Dame should be a signal to the University that it is abiding by Christian values. Surrendering to a culture of secularism and hedonism is not only cowardly; it is heretical. From awarding Joe Biden, an adamant supporter of pro-abortion legislation, with the highest honor for any American Catholic to now providing contraceptives and abortifacients to faculty and students, the university has proven that its current agenda is to appease the secular world. The
University now cowers in the face of controversy, even when holding true to the Church’s core values necessitates acting boldly in the face of controversy. This recent cowardice is a repulsive trend by the University’s administration. Notre Dame wants it both ways. It wants to say that it is a distinctly Catholic university while also not upsetting those who may be opposed to fundamental Catholic teaching. This is simply logistically impossible. Notre Dame must choose to be either distinctly Catholic or plainly secular. To be distinctly Catholic is to be in conf lict with the surrounding secular culture. This is a fact Notre Dame must confront. I pray that Fr. Jenkins and Notre Dame realize this and reverse their recent decision that appeases secularism at the expense of entirely disregarding the ver y religious convictions upon which this university was built. Eddie is a junior majoring in economics and political science with a minor in constitutional studies. He plans on attending law school after his time as an undergraduate at Notre Dame. He can be reached at edamstra@nd.edu The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
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DAILY
The observer | thursday, november 16, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com
Crossword | Will Shortz
Horoscope | Eugenia Last Happy Birthday: You’ll be torn between taking action and taking time to strategize. Keep your thoughts clear and your plans doable. It’s OK to move fast once you know exactly what you want to achieve. You can do great things this year if you are organized. Call on people you have worked with in the past to share their skills and expertise. Your numbers are 3, 10, 18, 25, 31, 33, 48. ARIES (March 21-April 19): BBe careful when dealing with work-related matters or people of influence who could affect your future. Listen and look for solutions that will be in accordance with what the majority wants to see happen. Keep the peace. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Protect your money and your belongings. Don’t share personal information or passwords. Focus on partnerships and how to best keep them amicable and advantageous. Taking an unusual route to reach your goals is in your best interest. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Change the way you do business, where you work or the people you collaborate with. Fine-tune what you want to accomplish and focus on what and who you actually need in your corner to reach your goals. CANCER (June 21-July 22): You’ll experience an unexpected turn of events if your relationships with others haven’t been copacetic. Do your best to calm the situation by offering unique alternatives and incentives to those reluctant to do things your way. LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Expect an emotional outburst if you haven’t been taking care of your personal responsibilities. Avoid practicing poor habits that may bother the people who love and care about you. Soul-searching will be required if you want to make progress. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Live and learn. Look inward and concentrate on how you can strive to be the best you can possibly be. Personal growth and nurturing important relationships will help ease any stress you face. Take care of responsibilities graciously. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Anger issues should be dealt with in competitive ways. Challenges and debates will help you gain access to something you’ve wanted for some time. Don’t venture far from the truth or someone will call you on your oversight. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Keep moving forward. Inject what you have done in the past into future plans in order to save time. Using your skills wisely will give you the edge you need to conquer what you set out to do. Keep your life simple. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Refuse to get emotional if someone pressures you. Size up the situation and do whatever it takes to live up to your promises and responsibilities. Embrace change by turning whatever comes your way into a new opportunity. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Avoid a run-in with someone in a position of authority. Use intelligence and charm to help present your plans. Anger will not solve anything, and it may even put you in a precarious position. Treat sensitive issues with courtesy and patience. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Channel your energy into getting your way. Negotiate on your own behalf and know exactly what you want the outcome to be. Your strength is in your ability to articulate the facts and come up with fair figures. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Concentrate on your goals and bringing about positive changes. A move or personal financial deal can be put into play. Personal growth is within reach if you are willing to put in the time and energy. Birthday Baby: You are edgy, intense and progressive. You are diverse and secretive.
WINGin’ it | OLIVIA WANG & BAILEE EGAN
Sudoku | The Mepham Group
Jumble | David Hoyt and Jeff knurek
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ndsmcobserver.com | thursday, november 16, 2017 | The Observer
Sports Authority
Swimming & diving
Party on, NFL touchdown scorers Marek Mazurek Assistant Managing Editor
Imagine you’re one of the increasingly shrinking number of Americans who regularly watch the NFL, despite anthem protests and concussion risks. Now imagine you’re watching your favorite team and they score a touchdown. What would you want to see happen next? A) The player should immediately hand the ball to the referee, formally shake hands with two teammates and go to the bench. B) The player jumps up and down a couple times, butt heads with his teammates and then goes to the bench. C) The player and his teammates enact a choreographed celebration that could be anything from duck-duck-goose to a sack race to a reenacted fight between two players on rival teams. If you said C, you would be correct. The whacky variety of NFL touchdown celebrations have been one of the precious few bright spots in a league beset by a number of on-field injuries and off-field distractions. These celebrations have sprung up around the league, injected a sense of excitement to viewers and given players the freedom to be creative and express themselves. My fellow columnist Courtney Becker wrote in this column recently that many of these celebrations are too extravagant and they leave out the majority of the team — as each celebration is only choreographed by a few members of the team. Becker and I both readily agree that going back to the Draconian celebration fines of 2016 would be horrible, but I disagree with Becker on the merits of the new, moreinvolved celebrations. First, I will address Becker’s concern that the celebrations often leave teammates standing awkwardly by while the players involved finish the act. I agree the celebrations we have seen so far are not built around inclusivity. Le’Veon Bell and JuJu SmithSchuster’s re-enactment of A.J. Green’s fight, for example, only had room for two people.
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But Kyle Rudolph and the Minnesota Vikings played a game of duck-duck-goose for a celebration on Monday Night Football in early October. I would argue that involved a large amount of the offense. And we’ve only scratched the surface of what’s possible with these celebrations. Imagine more large-scale celebrations like a high school prom with every offensive player grabbing a buddy and awkwardly slowdancing. Or maybe a certain team is really into Hamilton and can put together the choreography to a broadway number. I want to see some 300-pound offensive linemen tap-dancing — that’s entertainment right there. That’s where I think Becker and I diverge in our opinions. At the end of the day, the NFL is an entertainment industry. While some fans watch for the athletic product that gets teams to the endzone, there are countless others who watch for the zany celebrations. Fans love players with personalities, and what better way to show that — and market yourself — than an endzone dance? Soon, the internet will be f looded with videos from pee-wee football of little kids trying to copy their idols in the NFL. What’s not to love there? Players are clearly having fun, or else this wouldn’t be a trend. The league loves it because the celebrations aren’t lewd, and it draws positive attention. Heck, even Papa John’s loves it. I agree with Becker that in some situations, such as when a team is trailing by a significant margin, the routines look bad. But given time, the extravagance will find it’s own equilibrium. Some coaches will forbid choreographed dances, and as the media and viewing public becomes more accustomed to the celebrations, they will cease to be such an item. But for now, embrace the greatest show business in the country. Embrace the whacky and the zany, and party on. Contact Marek Mazurek at mmazurek@nd.edu The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
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Irish finish up fall season at Ohio State Invitational By MIA BERRY Sports Writer
The No. 13 men’s and the No. 18 women’s swimming and diving teams will conclude their fall seasons this weekend when they travel to Columbus, Ohio, to compete in the Ohio State Invitational. Heading into a competitive meet and the final one of the fall season for Notre Dame, Irish head coach Mike Litzinger insists the goal for his team is to focus on their individual times. “The whole goal at Ohio State is to produce season bests in a championship format. We have a lot of confidence, and hopefully that will come through,” Litzinger said. The fall season has been anything but a warm up for the Irish — through the seven meets so far, Notre Dame has faced off against four top-25 opponents. In head-to-head competition, the Irish have fared very well against ranked opponents as the men’s team is 2-2 and the women’s team is 3-1 on the season.
In their final meet of the season, the Irish are staying true to their commitment to facing top competition, as the Ohio State Invitation features North Carolina State‘s fifth-ranked men and 12th-ranked women’s swim teams, the No. 21 Utah men and host Ohio State’s No. 16 men and No. 23 ranked women. Litzinger feels the competitive schedule early on against top ranked teams will be an advantage to the Irish moving forward into their spring season. “It is a huge advantage to see a team like NC State and another ACC opponent in Pitt. We can get a preview of our championship meet, as well as matching up against the Ohio States and Penn States. It seasons our athletes for our championship run in February,” Litzinger said. As the fall season comes to a close, Litzinger is proud of Notre Dame‘s progression this season as a nationally ranked program, a goal of his when he took the job in 2015. “We are constantly breaking new ground in this program,” Litzinger said. “I am
proud of our staff, the swimmers, and the divers. I presented a vision in December of 2015 and we are steadily moving toward making that vision a reality. We need to continue to hold ourselves accountable to one and other, as well as the process ... success will come.” The success of the Irish this fall season has included the highest ranking in school history, as the men are currently ranked 13th and the women’s team reached No. 10 earlier in the season. Irish swimmers have also won ACC swimmer of the week awards, as sophomore Abbie Dolan has already one it twice, while freshman Zachary Yeadon and senior diver Joe Coumos have also achieved the recognition. The Irish are looking to close out their fall season on a strong note as they compete in the Ohio State Invitational in Columbus, Ohio, this weekend. Swimming events are scheduled to start Friday and continue through Sunday. Contact Mia Berry at mberry1@nd.edu
EMMET FARNAN | The Observer
Sophomore Tabahn Afrik competes in the 200-yard freestyle during Notre Dame’s dual meet with Texas A&M on Oct. 14 at Rolf ’s Aquatic Center. Afrik raced as part of the 200- and 400-yard freestyle relays. The Observer accepts classifieds every business day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Notre Dame office, 024 South Dining Hall. Deadline for next-day classifieds is 3 p.m. All classifieds must be prepaid. The charge is 5 cents per character per day, including all spaces. The Observer reserves the right to edit all classifieds for content without issuing refunds.
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The observer | thursday, november 16, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com
M Bball Continued from page 12
just hoping I can get from year to year and hope I can maybe get one extension. … To have been here this long, I’m honored. I’ve been really, really lucky.” Brey also said he hopes he breaks the record as soon as he can. “I’d like to get it sooner rather than later for two reasons,” Brey said. “One, it means we’re having a pretty good start. Two, I won’t be distracted by it, and we can move on to ACC play.” Leading Brey’s team to those wins will be a staunch Irish defense. Through its two games, Notre Dame has given up an average of 60 points a game, in addition to holding teams to 36.5 percent shooting from the f loor. “I think we really are defending. We know we can defend, we like to defend,” Brey said. “I don’t have to sell it, I don’t have to put a whip on them to guard — like they are upset when they get scored on. There’s a great mentality there, and that’s led by [senior forward] Bonzie [Colson]. Bonzie’s really set a tone by talking about it.” W hile Colson and junior guard Rex Pf lueger are the engines of Notre Dame’s defense, Brey said the team’s experience as a whole is a major factor in its strong defensive play. “W hen you have an older team, they know how to talk to each other,” Brey said. “Young guys don’t know what to say sometimes. … The old guys have been in our system, and they have heard each other’s voice a lot. That group that starts has played a lot together now — I love their chemistry on both ends of the f loor.” “That’s a point of emphasis,” Colson said. “We want to play hard defensively. I think when we have our
communication and we talk and we move, I think that’s when we’re at our best. We want to gets kills, we want to get stops because we know that’s when we’re efficient offensively as well.” The Irish will look to keep up their active defense against Chicago State on Thursday. The Cougars (1-2) come into Purcell on the heels of a 101-53 victory over Silver Lake College, but in their two games against major conference foes, the Cougars have lost 95-62 and 111-42 against Iowa and Purdue, respectively. Thursday’s game marks the last time the Irish play before heading to Hawaii for the Maui Invitational. One player who the Irish hope will continue to play well is Pf lueger, who picked up his first career double-double versus Mount St. Mary’s on Monday night, totaling career highs with 13 points and 10 boards. Brey has praised Pf lueger’s ability to do everything the team needs from rebounding, guarding and moving the ball on offense. Though Pf lueger only scored three points in Notre Dame’s first game against DePaul, he picked up a career-best mark in points the next game. That turnaround speaks to Pf luger having the right mentality, Brey said. “I think that’s a key for him, understanding not to hang his hat on his jump shot,” Brey said. “He drove it and got fouled when we were having a hard time scoring in the first half. He’s understanding where to get his stuff offensively. The defense and the rebounding and the good stuff with the ball and the overall communication, just fabulous. He’s really another leader on the f loor.” Notre Dame and Chicago State will tip-off Thursday at 7 p.m. at Purcell Pavilion. Contact Marek Mazurek at mmazurek@nd.edu
PETER ST. JOHN | The Observer
Junior forward Thomas Ueland pushes the ball past a defender during Notre Dame’s 3-1 victory over Michigan at Alumni Stadium. Ueland is fourth on the team in points, tallying six in 15 games this year.
M Soccer Continued from page 12
either UIC, who’s gone 11 games w ithout losing — that’s prett y impressive — or you’re playing the w inner of the Big Ten [conference tournament], one of the top conferences in the countr y. It’s the same for ever ybody — ever yone who’s alive and going in the tournament is feeling good about themselves — you’ve got to know that. We’re feeling good about ourselves — we’re exactly where we want to be. We’re in the tournament and we’ve got a [prett y good] seed.” UIC (11-5-3, 6-2-1 Horizon League) and Wisconsin (104-5, 4-3-1 Big Ten) are set to play Thursday night at the McClimon Memorial Track and Soccer Complex in Madison, Wisconsin. The Badgers earned the home match by w inning the Big Ten conference tournament, defeating No. 2-seed Indiana 4-2 in penalt y kicks
Volleyball Continued from page 12
SARAH OLSON | The Observer
Junior guard Rex Pflueger sidesteps a defender during Notre Dame’s 88-62 victory over Mount St. Mary’s on Monday at Purcell Pavilion.
on a good team and you have a good culture, it’s about people doing their jobs with high and positive energy. We’re doing a good job. Then you can become a bit cooperative where you understand your job and do it together and help each other. They are doing their jobs at a high level — nothing
after knocking off both No. 4-seed Mar yland and No. 1-seed Michigan to get there. On the other side, UIC secured its automatic berth to the College Cup by w inning the Horizon league for the second straight season, defeating top-seeded Green Bay 2-0 in the title game. Preparing for and studying each team in advance, Clark praised the play of both squads and said that the Irish w ill face a stiff test no matter who they face on Sunday. “We’ll go up and watch the game up in Madison, so we’ll get a better idea of [both teams],” Clark said. “We’ve already watched game tape on both. The last two days I’ve watched Wisconsin [in the Big Ten tournament] and they looked really good. Today, I’ll be watching UIC, and then we’ll go up and watch them live. The first thing that’s impressed me w ith Wisconsin is that they’re ver y good, and I know [Irish assistant] coach [Michael]
Casper watched UIC, and he’s come up w ith exactly the same sentiments. W hichever team comes through, we’re play ing a ver y good team.” Up to this point, it’s safe to say that Notre Dame has already registered a successful season. However, if the team aims to repeat the magic of its 2013 national championship run, Clark says the Irish can’t take any thing for granted, and that any thing is possible. “We’ve done well, but it doesn’t really matter,” Clark said. “Virginia won it as the 16 seed recently and Indiana won it as a 16 seed, so while it’s always handy to have a top-16 seed because you play one game less, at the end of the day, you’ve got to w in some tough games.” The Irish and the w inner of Wisconsin–UIC w ill kick things off Sunday evening at 6 p.m. inside A lumni Stadium.
more and nothing less.” In preparing to take on North Carolina (14-10, 115) and North Carolina State (19-8, 14-2), McLaughlin said the Irish are committed to playing a high-energ y game after resting well during the week leading up. “We wanted to go short and intense with good, crisp practice this week,” McLaughlin said. “We want low errors but high intensity. We’ll take [Wednesday]
off to watch the film, and then we are going to go hard again on Thursday to be ready for Friday night. Mostly, we are looking to play clean but very aggressively with a lot of energ y.” The Irish take on the Tarheels on Friday at 7 p.m. and the Wolfpack on Sunday at 1 p.m. Both matches will take place in Purcell Pavilion.
Contact Joe Everett at jeveret4@nd.edu
Contact Darcy Dehais at ddehais@nd.edu
Sports
ndsmcobserver.com | thursday, november 16, 2017 | The Observer
MACKENZI MARINOVICH | The Observer
Irish sophomore goaltender Cale Morris stands in net during Notre Dame’s 5-4 victory over NebraskaOmaha on Oct. 27 at Compton Family Ice Arena. In six starts this season, Morris is 5-1 and has 173 saves.
Hockey Continued from page 12
challenge for us right now — to make sure we maintain that level of play that we’ve developed over
the last four games. We can’t lose it because it’s non-conference. We can’t lose it because it may not be one of the top two or three teams in the ECAC,” Jackson said. “RPI has a new coach; they have a new energy about them; they’ve
got some skill and talent. They’re a team that knocked off Ohio State too, at Ohio State, and they beat Quinnipiac last week, so they’re a team that’s going to be tough to beat in their building for sure. The biggest thing for us is,
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if we keep playing the way we’ve been playing, I think we can have some success. If we drop off a little bit, then it’s going to be more difficult.” The Irish have been having the most success they have all season, thanks in part to the goaltending of sophomore Cale Morris, along with a strong defensive unit. The team has tallied 42 goals thus far, tied for second in the nation, and their 3.5 goals per game stands at tied for ninth in the country. “There’s a number of positives. I think now that we have everybody back, we’re trying to solidify our lines,” Jackson said. “I think, through that process, it has opened up the door for guys to identify a role on our team. Through that process, I think [sophomore forward] Mike O’Leary and [senior forwards] Dawson Cook and Bo Brauer created a bit of an identity with their lines. ... It has opened the door for them to take a bigger role, because they’ve been playing top-three line minutes, and
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I wouldn’t have thought that would have happened if everybody had stayed healthy. Other than that, I think we’ve gotten a much better grasp of who our defensive core is — which guys are going to be the guys that fit our identity as a team better. And I think our penalty kill has been very consistent.” Nevertheless, Jackson feels there are always areas of improvement, especially for a team in a conference as competitive as the Big Ten. The team’s power play unit has struggled as of late, despite a great start to the season. It’s a problem Jackson and his staff are dedicated to solving. “We’re not shooting the puck enough — that’s the first thing,” Jackson said. “And secondly, is that the chemistry that we had fell off, we lost [junior forward Andrew] Oglevie there for two or three weeks, we lost [junior forward Joe] Wegwerth, he was on the power play. So, the chemistry kind of dropped off a little bit, and we need to see if we can get it back.” Jackson stressed the importance of chemistry over individual talent as a recipe for success as the season goes on. “It’s funny, you could have great players on the ice, but it’s not so much about the great players as much as it is about the chemistry amongst the great players,” he said. On another note, the Irish seem to be starting slow in their matchups as of late, which could certainly be a disadvantage, although the team has persevered thus far. In fact, half of the team’s goals have come in the second period. That dynamic is something that Jackson and his staff are looking into as the first half of the season nears a close. “It is a bit of a concern, actually. I’ve been talking to the leadership group and I’ve broached it with the team, as far as how we start games,” Jackson said. “We’re trying to identify why it’s happening … We’re looking at different things like what they do prior to the game, as far as their warm ups, and also the on-ice warm up- what are we doing as far as preparing them, but more importantly what are they doing to prepare themselves to play. It’s not good to get off to poor starts, you don’t want to be playing from behind.” Morris, whose play in net has been a key to the team’s success, stressed the importance of dedication in practice and on the ice. “I think we’ve gotten off to a pretty good start here, and we definitely want to end the first half on a positive note with six games remaining,” Morris said. “Each game is important and each practice is important, so we kind of go in there with the business mindset that each time you step on the ice you’re trying to get better.” The Irish will take on RPI at Houston Field House in Troy, New York, on Friday evening. The puck will drop at 7:05 p.m. Contact Connor Mulvena at cmulvena@nd.edu
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The observer | thursday, november 16, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com
Men’s Soccer
MEn’s BasketbaLl
ND takes on Chicago State Irish set to open before leaving for Hawaii NCAAs on Sunday By MAREK MAZUREK
By JOE EVERETT
Assistant Managing Editor
Sports Writer
On Monday afternoon, there was a banner in Purcell Pavilion with “383” written on it. On Tuesday, it changed to 384, and Notre Dame fans hope it will change to 385 after Thursday night’s game against Chicago State. The banner — adorned with #BreysChase — is tracking Irish head coach Mike Brey’s career win total at Notre Dame (2-0). The chase? Brey needs just 10 more wins to pass Digger Phelps as the winningest head men’s basketball coach in Irish history. “That’s cool, it’s more pressure” Brey said of the banner. “I mean, first of all, I can’t believe I’ve been here 18 years and have a chance to be the all-time winningest coach. W hen I got the job 18 years ago, man, I was just trying not to get fired. I’m
SARAH OLSON | The Observer
see M BBALL PAGE 10
Senior forward Bonzie Colson gathers the ball during Notre Dame’s 88-62 victory over Mount St. Mary’s on Monday at Purcell Pavilion.
For the 20th time in program histor y, Notre Dame has earned a bid into the NCA A championship. The Irish (11-6-2, 3-3-2 ACC) drew the No. 12 seed when the tournament field was unveiled Monday — their sixth-straight top-16 national seed — and are set to host the w inner of Wisconsin and Universit y of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) on Sunday inside A lumni Stadium. This w ill be Notre Dame’s 16th NCA A tournament appearance in its 17 years under Bobby Clark, and the veteran head coach shared his mindset as the team prepares for Sunday’s matchup. “I always say ever y season that if you make the tournament, it’s a good season,” Clark said. “That’s your first objective: Make the tournament. Then, after that, you can start adding on. It becomes a ver y good season,
then a great season, and then a fantastic season, adding a superlative on ever y week from now on. For the moment, we’ll put it dow n as a good season, and hopefully we can get up to a fantastic season, but there’s a few superlatives in the middle that we’ve got to take one at a time. But it’s going to be hard, it’s a tough road.” With the College Cup consisting of 32 conference champions and 16 at-large bids, the idea of “easy games” takes even less credence than before for Clark, who says all 48 teams are always confident and dangerous. “Ever y team that’s in the NCA A tournament is feeling good about themselves for one reason or another,” Clark said. “It’s either because they’ve had a ver y good regular season, or it’s because they’ve won their tournament. Either way you’re play ing a good team. We’re going to be play ing see M SOCCER PAGE 10
hockey
ND Volleyball
Squad looks ahead No. 4 Notre Dame seeks to earn sixth consecutive win to home finale By DARCY DEHAIS Sports Writer
Notre Dame (19-8, 9-7 ACC) takes on North Carolina and North Carolina State this weekend in the last two home matches of the regular season. The Irish are coming off of two 3-0 wins against Virginia and Virginia Tech last weekend at home, and they are looking to carry this momentum into their next ACC matchup as the program makes a push for the postseason. Notre Dame committed a season low in attacking errors against Virginia, something the team has been striving to achieve all season. In addition to minimizing errors, the Irish have also focused on getting out to an early lead in each set, something they did well in the match against the Cavaliers. Head coach Jim McLaughlin said the Irish aim to continue this trend and learn to recognize the importance of each play within a set. “We’ve been starting slow, and we addressed it,” McLaughlin
said. “We wanted to win the first five points, and we did that in most of those games. Now we have to learn just to maintain it. One or two plays could define the game or the match. We have to play each play like this is the play that could influence the whole thing. It’s really hard; it’s not human nature. But we are fighting that human nature a little bit, and we were better start to finish last weekend.” Senior middle blocker Sam Fry was a key player for the Irish in the win over Virginia, swinging for her best hitting percentage of the season thus far at .600. Sophomore outside hitter Jemma Yeadon had a team-high 13 kills. McLaughlin said Fry’s leadership and the individual contributions of all the leaders on the team will be important going forward in the rest of the regular season and looking to the postseason. “Everybody means everything,” McLaughlin said. “You have to do your job, but if you’re see VOLLEYBALL PAGE 10
By CONNOR MULVENA Sports Writer
ANN CURTIS | The Observer
Junior forward Andrew Oglevie tracks the puck during Notre Dame’s 5-3 win over Penn State on Friday at Compton Family Ice Arena.
After sweeping Penn State in their Big Ten series at home, the No. 4 Irish will take on Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) this weekend at the Houston Field House in Troy, New York. The Irish are currently on a five-game winning streak, which is tied for the secondlongest winning streak in the country at the moment. Although the Irish will take a break from conference play this weekend, RPI could still present a challenge to Notre Dame’s momentum. Notre Dame has played RPI a total of eight times in the past, and the series stands tied at 4-4-0. Irish head coach Jeff Jackson and his team are thoroughly focused on maintaining the level of play it has displayed over the past few weeks. “I think that’s a real see HOCKEY PAGE 11