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Volume 57, Issue 16 | WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2022 | ndsmcobserver.com
Diversity Board celebrates Hispanic Heritage month By LIAM PRICE Associate News Editor
The Student Diversity Board (SDB) at Saint Mary’s is acknowledging Hispanic Heritage Month for the third year from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 by spotlighting diverse Latin American countries once a week at tables in the Saint Mary’s student center. For the first month of tabling events, SDB handed out Honduran caramel and mango candies to celebrate the country, senior and president of SDB Crystal Ramirez said,
The events have been “really successful, students are often intrigued by what we have there since it’s usually something you can eat or try,” she said. “It’s really informal. Anyone’s allowed to stop by and grab a treat for you and your friend.” The month, Ramirez said, celebrates the students at Saint Mary’s who identify as Latina in any way. “In order for us to kind of celebrate that and foster that community here, this is something that we do that is simple but that’s fun and interactive,” she said.
Sophomore and vice president of SDB Anais Juliano said Latino-Americans are actively contributing to growing American diversity and SDB hopes to take part in the national conversation of “uplifting people who came from these Latino-American countries.” The United States, Juliano said, is unique for fostering celebrations like Hispanic Heritage Month. “That’s something about the United States that I like, that we do that,” she said. But Juliano see HERITAGE PAGE 4
Architects discuss NotreDame Cathedral rebuild By KATIE MUCHNICK News Writer
The French architects Philippe Villeneuve and Rémi Fromont, who are in charge of rebuilding the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de París follow ing the fire that ravaged it in 2019, spoke about the reconstruction in the Walsh Family Hall of Architecture on Tuesday. Villeneuve, a licensed architect since 1989, has led the reconstruction since the 2019 fire. Fromont, who graduated from the École de Chaillot in 2014, conducted
a sur vey of the Gothic frameworks of the NotreDame Cathedral during his training which proved v ital in the reconstruction. Michel Picaud, the president of the Friends of NotreDame de Paris, translated for Villenueve. The Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris is the charit y leading the fundraising efforts to rebuild and restore the cathedral. The Notre-Dame Cathedral caught fire on the evening of April 15, 2019. The fire destroyed the spire, the majorit y of the roof and a lattice of wooden
KATIE MUCHNICK | The Observer
The gold rooster will replace the original that partially melted in the fire. The wings are meant to suggest the fire and the Holy Spirit.
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beams in the attic. The walls of the nave, choir and t wo transepts sustained severe water damage from efforts to put out the fire. The stained glass w indows, bell towers and the famous grand organ avoided the fire, but the grand organ was in critical condition because of dust collection and lead contamination from the melting of the exterior. “Even if the images of the fire were ver y scar y, actually no part of the interior of the cathedral was really touched,” said Villenueve. The rebuilding and restoration of the cathedral are div ided into three phases. The safet y phase, which focused on ensuring the stabilit y of the cathedral, lasted from April 2019 until August 2021. The reconstruction phase began in 2021 and w ill last until 2024, and the final restoration phase w ill last from 2025 until the completion of the project. According to the Friends of Notre-Dame de Paris see CATHEDRAL PAGE 4
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Students discuss Juul settlement By MATTHEW BRODER News Writer
On September 16, Juul Labs, the company behind the Juul e-cigarette, agreed to pay a sum of nearly $440 million to settle a two-year investigation launched by 33 states, including Indiana. The investigation, launched in early 2020, called into question the marketing and sales of the brand’s e-cigarette products, including whether the company targeted youths and made misleading claims about the nicotine content of
their devices. According to a statement, the investigation found that Juul knowingly marketed its products to teenagers with launch parties, product giveaways and ads and social media posts using young-looking models. The sum will be paid out over a period of six to ten years. Since the technology was first brought to market in 2015, Juul has taken the world by storm. Sleek and easily concealable, with fruity flavors considered irresistible see JUUL PAGE 3
Science-business major dropped By EMMA DUFFY News Writer
The science-business major, a n interdisciplina r y prog ra m t hat included aspects of t he curricu la f rom bot h t he Mendoza Col lege of Business a nd t he Col lege of Science, w i l l no longer be ava i lable to t hose who have not a lready decla red t he major beg inning in fa l l
2023. Interdisciplina r y majors a re intended to a l low students to ga in f rom studying in more t ha n one of Not re Da me’s si x col leges. The science-business major had been of fered by t he Universit y for a round 40 yea rs, a l low ing students to delve into t he world of see SCIENCE PAGE 3
Police investigate sexual assault Observer Staff Report
The St. Joseph Count y Police Department is investigating t wo instances of sexual assault reported last weekend, according to an email from the Saint Mar y’s campus safet y department. Phil Bambenek, the College’s director of the campus safet y department, said in the email the assaults appear to be
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connected to at least one student part y that occurred Friday night and Saturday morning at Universit y Edge Apartments. The email said one of the instances of sexual assault occurred when a student was coerced into a sexual act but then did not explicitly consent to any further activ it y. see ASSAULT PAGE 3
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