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Volume 53, Issue 44 | friday, november 2, 2018 | ndsmcobserver.com
Asian Allure celebrates heritage Lawsuit Asian American Association to host event showcasing variety of performances against ND to proceed
By THOMAS MURPHY News Writer
The Asian American Association of Notre Dame will host Asian Allure, its annual showcase celebrating Asian culture and heritage, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. in Washington Hall. This year’s show includes traditional songs, dances and a fashion show. “Asian Allure is a multicultural performance where we gather and unite all of the Asian cultural clubs together to perform different acts — whether it’s a dance or a song — that highlight unique elements about their culture,” senior and president of the Asian American Association Sid Magdaong said.
W hile there are several, more specific cultural clubs, the Asian American Association (AAA) is a conglomerate of all of these clubs. Senior Alyssa Ngo, director of the show, said Asian Allure is an opportunity for the cultural clubs to come together and celebrate Asian culture in general. “There’s a number of different clubs [within the Asian American Association],” Ngo said. “Most of the clubs, since they’re more specific to their student demographic, they do most of their own events. … A lot of the events that [the Asian American Association] usually puts on are mostly social events or events for see ALLURE PAGE 4
Observer Staff Report
Observer File Photo
Students perform a dance for Asian Aullure in 2014. This year’s program aims to address misconceptions about Asian culture.
Jenkins creates task force to respond to church crisis Observer Staff Report
Notre Dame is spearheading a Campus Engagement Task Force and a Research and Scholarship Task Force to help address the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse crisis, the University announced Thursday in an email to students, faculty and staff.
“The charge of the Campus Engagement Task Force is to facilitate dialogue, to listen to the observations, thoughts, and recommendations of the Notre Dame community and to summarize feedback so that it can be directed constructively,” the email said. Rev. Gerry Olinger and Jennifer Mason McAward are
serving as co-chairs of the Campus Engagement Task Force. The force will include seven other members: sophomore Aaron Benavides; Christine Caron Gebhardt, director of the Gender Relations Center; Fr. Pete McCormick, director of Campus Ministry; Karrah Miller, director see TASK FORCE PAGE 3
Food justice week aims to combat world hunger By SARAH SCHLECHT News Writer
The Office for Civic and Social Engagement (OCSE) is hosting its second food justice week, which will include events to engage the Saint Mary’s community in the pursuit of access to quality food for all people. Rebekah DeLine, director of the OCSE, said food justice
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week was an idea that came to her when she started working on Holy Cross Harvest. “When I started here at Saint Mary’s in 2016, I inherited Holy Cross Harvest,” she said. “Holy Cross Harvest is a tricampus effort to raise money and nonperishable food items for the Food Bank of Northern Indiana — basically a food drive.” DeLine said she thought the
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idea of Holy Cross Harvest was great but that more should be done. “It’s easy to just give the dollar in your pocket or the can of soup under your bed in your dorm room and not ever think about how you should change your life or be advocating for those who don’t have choices,” she said. see FOOD PAGE 3
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The Ohio Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the widow of a former Notre Dame football player’s lawsuit against both the University and the NCAA could proceed, an Associated Press (AP) article said. Yvette Schmitz is alleging that her husband, Steve, was adversely affected by concussions sustained during his football career at Notre Dame from 1974-1978. Steve see LAWSUIT PAGE 4
Race Relations Week promotes racial awareness By NATALIE WEBER News Editor
Notre Dame’s student government began its annual Race Relations Week on Thursday and is working with various groups across campus to host educational and cultural events through Tuesday. Junior Mita Ramani, student government’s director of diversity and inclusion, said in past years, Race Relations Week events often conflicted with other programming. “This year, we decided, ‘Let’s do something different,’” she said. “So, essentially, we reached out to a bunch of organizations on campus and were like, ‘What programming are you already having in November?’ We tried to find a time that included a lot of different groups.” The week kicked off with a Dia de los Muertos altar dedication, the SUB movie “Crazy Rich Asians” and a
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Latino Film Series showing of “Coco.” Other events include “Beautiful 2018 — Respect, Protect, Honor the Black Woman,” Asian Allure, Black Catholic History Month Mass and a screening of “Selma.” Additionally, Multicultural Student Programs and Services (MSPS) is sponsoring a talk by Megan Red Shirt-Shaw, an advocate for Native American rights. Iris Outlaw, director of MSPS, commended the efforts of student leaders in planning Race Relations Week. “It also shows the vested interest or commitment that student government has toward diversity and inclusion, which I think is important when we’re talking about creating an environment that is welcoming and embracing of all members of the community,” she said. Though many students may not see how race relations see RACE PAGE 4
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