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Volume 52, Issue 42 | friday, november 3, 2017 | ndsmcobserver.com
Trainers play key role for team Group of 20 students provide support for football program on gameday By NICOLE SIMON News Writer
Although they spend most of their time in the training room or on the sidelines, Notre Dame’s student trainers perform a valuable service for the football team. Working closely with the head trainers of the Sports Medicine staff, student trainers are responsible for everything from providing the players with water to assisting trainers with medical treatments. Junior Rose Hart said she wanted to be a student trainer before she was even at Notre Dame. Her brother, a former Notre Dame student, told her about the program and encouraged her to do it. “I had been telling my friends since junior year of high school, ‘I’m going to be an athletic
trainer at Notre Dame,’” Hart said. Student trainers’ primary responsibility is working closely with head trainers to ensure the players are healthy and hydrated on and off the field, Hart said. “We do pre- and post-practice treatments,” she said. “We’ll assist the head trainers in whatever they need us to do. It’s a lot of taping ankles, wrists, fingers.” Junior Claire Boyce works alongside Hart and said the student trainers enjoy their responsibility. “We work in the training room helping with rehab treatments and other responsibilities,” Boyce said in an email. “We also work with the football team and take pride in being ‘hydration specialists’ at practices and see TRAINERS PAGE 5
Observer Staff Report
Photo courtesy of Rose Hart
The football student trainers work with the head trainers and play an integral role in helping the football team stay healthy.
Month spotlights black leaders in Catholicism By SERENA ZACHARIAS News Writer
Campus Ministry, McGrath Institute for Church Life, ND Folk Choir, Cushwa Center for the Study of American Catholicism and Sacred Music are hosting a series of events throughout November to celebrate Black Catholic History Month.
The committee, composed of individuals from the host organizations, have been working since September to tailor the events in terms of prayer, celebration and education. Deacon Mel Tardy, vice president of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, said the month serves to draw attention to black Catholic leaders.
“National Black Catholic History Month was started by the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus in 1990,” Tardy said. “It’s meant to celebrate black Catholic history and culture, and to create an awareness of the history of lesser-known black individuals who have lived see CATHOLICISM PAGE 5
Office of the Registrar to introduce new feature By COURTNEY BECKER News Editor
The Office of the Registrar is testing a new class registration tool — ND Academic Planner — that will be available to students during course registration for the Fall 2018 semester. The tool is intended to simplify the process of searching for courses, planning schedules and registering
NEWS PAGE 3
for classes. The Office of the Registrar collaborated with student government to create the planner and is receiving feedback from a group of around 40 students who are testing the tool during this semester’s registration process. University registrar Chuck Hurley said planners such as Coursicle and Schedulizer inspired the tool during the design
VIEWPOINT PAGE 6
Rape reported at Notre Dame
process. ND Academic Planner’s uniqueness, Hurley said, lies in its integration with Banner, Notre Dame’s registration program. “[We] wanted to build something that was actually integrated with Banner because students will go to Coursicle and see REGISTRAR PAGE 4
SCENE PAGE 8
A rape was reported to the University’s deputy Title IX coordinator, according to Thursday’s Notre Dame Security Police (NDSP) crime log. The alleged rape occurred in a men’s residence hall between the night of Aug. 31 and the morning of Sept. 1. Information about sexual assault prevention and resources for survivors of sexual assault are available online from NDSP and from the Title IX office.
College hosts lecture on Pope Francis’ teachings By MAEVE FILBIN News Writer
The final installment of a threepart lecture series, “The Francis Effort: His Impact on The Church and The World,” was delivered Thursday by Susan Wood, chair of the department of theology at Marquette University. Her talk addressed five recurring themes throughout the pope’s writings, as well as the ecumenical gestures he has made over the years. Wood said there are a number of repeating motifs throughout the Pope’s writings that relate to ecumenical relationships — namely the themes of dialogue, encounter, journey, the model of unity as a reconciled diversity and the ecumenism of blood. The dialogue of ecumenism, Wood said, can be considered “an encounter and conversation, a speaking and a listening between partners.” Each partner speaks from his or her own perspective
of the world, and offers a unique context to be considered by the receptive party, she said. “A successful ecumenist engaged in dialogue can articulate the partner’s perspective not only so that the partner recognizes it as her own, but sometimes better than she can articulate it herself,” Wood said. “The first aim of dialogue is not to convince the partner of one’s own deeply-held convictions, but to understand another in a deep way. It is above all a spiritual experience in understanding the other, a listening and speaking to one another in love.” Wood said dialogue is a necessary partner to doctrine, as it humanizes the often “disembodied words” or “abstract propositions” imposed on real-life situations. Applied dialogue, she said, provides more transparency and authenticity to ideology, as well as a deeper, more see FRANCIS PAGE 4
irish insider inside