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Volume 54, Issue 88 | friday, february 21, 2020 | ndsmcobserver.com
Panelists discuss inclusion on campus Students, administrators gather to examine faults of ‘whiteness’ in Notre Dame experience By TOM NAATZ Notre Dame News Editor
A group of students, administrators and faculty gathered for “Identity and Belonging: Highlighting Diverse Voices in the Classroom and Dorm,” a panel discussion about diversity and inclusion at Notre Dame on Thursday evening. Sponsored by End Hate at ND, the Film, Television and Theater Department and the Gender Relations Center, the panel featured speakers who reflected on how Notre Dame could be a more inclusive environment for underrepresented students. Senior Savanna Morgan — one of the principal organizers of the End Hate at ND movement — began by speaking about her positive experiences at Notre Dame. “I’ve had some incredible
experiences here as a student at Notre Dame,” Morgan said. “I’ve met amazing people here and I’ve grown intellectually and spiritually in ways I couldn’t even have imagined growing up.” Nevertheless, Morgan said the positives only comprise a portion of her experience at the University. “While these accomplishments have been essential to my professional and intellectual growth, accomplishments have only made up a small piece of the pie that is my Notre Dame experience,” she said. Morgan then described three instances of overt racism she has experienced during her time as a student. Once during her freshman year, a group of students in her dorm harassed her about her hair and addressed her in a disrespectful way. In a sophomore
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philosophy class, she said a white student argued that America’s wealth excused the enslavement of African Americans, as well as the “genocide” committed against Native Americans; the professor did not challenge these remarks. Finally, she discussed being the victim of hate speech in Stanford and Keenan Halls last November — the incidents which incited the creation of End Hate at ND. Morgan condemned the systematic racism she said exists at Notre Dame. “We fail to address the preferential treatment of white people and white things,” she said. “Every type of thing at this school is extremely white, even our curriculum. Black and brown voices are not equally prioritized in the classroom or the dorm, so how can we expect student and faculty to value our
contributions as human beings? As equals?” Hugh Page, vice president and associate provost for undergraduate affairs, acknowledged that, though some progress has been made, Notre Dame has work to do in addressing issues of inclusion. “The root problem I would identify is how to enhance belonging on campus in ways that honor the identities and embody the experiences of faculty, staff and students, and empower them to be change agents and move towards becoming a more fully engaged community of compassionate intellectuals,” he said. While he mentioned some recent steps to alleviate the issue — including new administration posts related to diversity and inclusion, more affinity groups and college and school specific
diversity plans — he lamented the lack of diversity at the school. “Some of our undergraduates are likely to receive degrees without ever having been taught or mentored by a faculty-person of color. Some will leave without having encountered or heard the works of some women and scholars of color,” Page said. Justin McDevitt, the rector of Stanford Hall, spoke about his college years at the University of Houston. McDevitt said his school was one of the most diverse in the country, so the whiteness of Notre Dame was apparent to him. “I remember one football Saturday last year, I was walking across campus taking in the sights, and sounds of game day. The bagpipes, the green shamrocks see HATE PAGE 4
College hosts guest writer By MARIROSE OSBORNE News Writer
The Visiting Writers Series of Spring hosted by Saint Mary’s opened with a visit from writer and former Saint Mary’s English professor Dionne Irving Bremyer on Thursday in Stapleton Lounge. The event began with an introduction from English professor Rebecca Lehmann. “The power of [Bremyer’s]
writing is to take the thing we thought we knew and turn it on its head,” Lehmann said in her preface to the reading. Bremyer presented two pieces of creative nonfiction to the Saint Mary’s community. The first, a work in progress started while Bremyer was at Saint Mary’s, described Bremyer’s experiences on her trip to famed entertainer Josephine Baker’s home in France, the Château des
Milandes. “I feel as if I have known [Baker] always,” Bremyer said. “Of course, I wanted to be like Josephine … her performances were a testament to the way she loved herself.” The piece also reflected Bremyer’s experiences as a woman of color and contrasted them with Baker’s life in France, she see BREMYER PAGE 3
One-act plays to debut CHRISTOPHER PARKER | The Observer
Professor Alan Dowty discusses his new book “Arabs and Jews in Ottoman Palestine” detailing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. By CHRISTOPHER PARKER News Writer
Alan Dowty, a faculty fellow at the Kroc Institute, addressed the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its roots in a discussion of his new book, “Arabs and Jews in Ottoman Palestine” on Thursday. Dowty traces the dispute back to 1882, specifically the arrival of a strange group of foreigners. “My basic thesis is that the East /
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West, or if you like, the European / Middle East cultural clash is at the center of this,” he said. Dowty’s thesis explores the escalation of conflict during two waves of Jewish immigration to Ottoman Palestine, called “aliya.” Dowty said the second wave saw themselves as the pioneers of Jewish Israel. Because of this, the second aliya has received most see BOOK PAGE 3
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By TRINITY REILLY News Writer
The Philbin Studio Theater at DeBartolo Performing Arts Center will run two new studentdirected one-act plays, “Coats” by junior Henry Stone and “The Tea on ND” by senior Samuel Jackson II. Both plays debuted Thursday and will show until March. Each of the two plays are set in a flipped world. “Coats” is an absurdist comedy that takes place in a world where empathy is a disease, and “The Tea on ND” explores a parallel universe in
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which being gay is the norm and straight people are the marginalized minority. Senior Amenabar Farias, director of “The Tea on ND” and senior Patrick Starner, director of “Coats,” said these worlds were fleshed out in a workshopping class they took last semester. “The big thing that we focused on was just trying to figure out what this physical world actually looks like, how the characters interact,” Starner said. “We just messed around with that, and it taught me the world of the play — it’s a very unique piece of theater
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in this absolutely wonderful world that Henry has crafted.” As director, Starner said he did not come in with a strict plan. Instead, he wanted to collaborate with the actors to create something that felt real. That process, he said, taught him a lot about theater. “I had thoughts and rough guidelines,” Starner said. “But I didn’t want to dictate what all the performers were going to do. We were really able to collaboratively, as a unit, create the show see PLAYS PAGE 4
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