Print Edition for The Observer for Monday, September 18, 2023

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Volume 58, Issue 12 | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2023 | ndsmcobserver.com

Ducks totter, fundraise U.S. Poet Laureate Howard Hall event takes over South Quad for 24 hours to visit Saint Mary’s Thursday

By SAKURA YAMANAKA News Writer

On Thursday and Friday, Howard Hall held their signature event, Totter for Water, a 24-hour fundraiser that raises money for Engineers Without Borders, a Notre Dame club and a national organization dedicated to clean water access in communities across the globe.

The event, held on South Quad, began Thursday at 5 p.m. and ended Friday at 5 p.m., and the proceeds from the 2023 edition of see TOTTER PAGE 4

By KATELYN WALDSCHMIDT Associate News Editor

SAKURA YAMANAKA | The Observer

Howard Hall’s signature fall charity event, Totter for Water, took place on South Quad from 5 p.m. Thursday until 5 p.m. on Friday.

LHOP serves breakfast for dinner

By GRAY NOCJAR News Wrtier

On Friday, Sept. 15, the five levels of Lewis Hall were abuzz with activity, as the smell of sizzling bacon and fluffy pancakes wafted through the corridors.

The signature Lewis House of Pancakes, known as LHOP, ran from 9:00 p.m. to midnight. For just five dollars, students were free to enjoy a variety of breakfast-for-dinner options cooked by an large crew of Lewis Hall residents.

“We have bacon in the basement, gluten-free pancakes on the first floor, second floor is eggs, third floor is regular pancakes and fourth floor is cinnamon rolls,” said Áine Boyle, student commissioner for the event. “It’s a whole blast and we go late into the night. Where else can you get pancakes at midnight?”

Throughout the week, the Lewis Hall chicks were hard at work promoting the event.

Students drew advertisements in chalk around North and South Dining Halls, sold $10 commemorative pink T-shirts and walked around campus in chicken suits. On Friday, those

News PAGE 4

efforts appeared to pay off, as students packed the stairways and kept the Lewis cooks on their toes throughout the night.

“It’s all hands on deck,” Lewis Hall rector Megan Moore said.

She stressed how much the cooks cared about the quality of their food.

“We actually started early this morning cooking bacon because it takes a very long time to cook well,” Moore said.

A couple changes were instituted for this year’s rendition.

“Instead of griddling bacon during the event, we baked it ahead of time so as to avoid burning down the building or just causing the fire alarm to go off,” Moore said.

Moore also noted the “eggbreakfast casserole” on the second floor that replaced last year’s “weggs.”

According to Moore, all LHOP proceeds go to the Food Bank of Northern Indiana.

“We raised over $5,000 last year and hope to at least hit that goal if not beat it,” Moore said.

The long lines began to die down as the night went on, but waves of people still wandered

On Thursday, Saint Mary’s will welcome U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón to O’Laughlin Auditorium.

Limón has authored six books of poetry, including her latest work, “The Hurting Kind.”

Limón comes to the College as part of the newly minted Francis A. McAnaney Humanities Lecture series, which was formally known as the Christian Culture Lecture.

Humanistic studies professor and event organizer Laura Williamson said the purpose of the lecture is to bring the best names in literature, philosophy and theology to Saint Mary’s to talk to students.

“It’s so we can appreciate the role that humanities disciplines and humanities thinking play in the world and really why it matters,” Williamson said. see LAUREATE PAGE 3

Mendoza offers new minor in impact consulting

By JENNA ABU-LUGHOD News Writer

Editor’s note: This story appeared online Sept. 14.

In an attempt to expand their offerings for business students, Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business recently launched two new minors. One of these minors is the 15-credit impact consulting minor. This minor aims to give students the opportunity to use interdisciplinary experiential learning to make an impact and

tackle some of the world’s most pressing issues.

“The origins really began from my Innovation and Design Thinking class where we work on solutions grounded in empathy for key stakeholders,” Wendy Angst, professor and Director if Undergraduate Studies for the impact consulting minor, said.

“Then, the course would end with a recommendation to the partner and that would be it. To truly have a transformative impact, we recognized the value of having students continue to work

with the course partners all the way through implementation.”

After recognizing the demand for an impact-oriented field of study, Angst began investigating the idea of enabling students to follow up with their projects and go on site to work hand-in-hand with those most impacted by the challenge at hand.

“We then launched another course piloting what it would look like if those student teams were allocated funding to actually build see MENDOZA PAGE 3

More than 100 shots fired on South Bend’s west side

see LHOP PAGE 3

At least four people were shot Saturday night on South Bend’s west side during Mexican Independence Day celebrations which turned dangerous, police said.

Officers received reports of numerous shots fired around 10:30 p.m. Saturday near the intersection of Philippa and Huron Streets, according to the South Bend Police Department.

Authorities said there were as many as five different shooting scenes, spanning from South Olive Street in the east to Pulaski Park in the west and Western Avenue in the north.

South Bend Police Department chief Scott Ruszkowski said more than 100 rounds were fired.

“We’ve had multiple houses shot up [and] multiple vehicles shot up,” Ruszkowski told reporters early Sunday. “In essence,

bullets were flying through houses and neighborhoods.”

Police said hundreds were gathered for Mexican Independence Day festivities in the parking lots and side streets near El Tecate Restaurant when the shooting began. According to Ruszkowski, the restaurant was the nucleus of the violence.

As of early Sunday, the four people struck by the gunfire were expected to survive their injuries, authorities said.

SCENE PAGE 5

viewpoint PAGE 6

W soccer PAGE 10

Football PAGE 12

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Students cheered on the Notre Dame football team in their matchup against Central Michigan on Saturday afternoon in Notre Dame Stadium. The Fighting Irish finished off the game with a score of 41-17. Notre Dame will play Ohio State at home next week.

The next Five days:

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Monday

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Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Sustainability Expo Floor 8 of Duncan Student Center 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Sustainability career fair for all students.

“The Two Constitutions” Driscoll Auditorium 7 p.m.

Lecture with Dr. Patrick J. Deneen.

Power Plant Tour Notre Dame Facilities Building 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Sponsored by Energy Week. RSVP required.

ND Energy Bouts Carey Auditorium, Hesburgh Library 7 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Meet ND professors in the energy field.

“Is everything sad untrue?” Lecture Geddes Hall, Andrews Auditorium 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.

With Daniel Nayeri.

Belles’ Booknook Read-In Lake Marian Island 3 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Bring a blanket and a something to read.

American Dance Class 205 Rockne Memorial 8:30 p.m. - 10 p.m.

Kevin Guy to lead Ballroom Dance Club.

Healthcare Economics Panel Rice Commons 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Connect with alumni in this indstry.

Cello and Piano Recital LaBar Recital Hall 7 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Listen to Sophie Shao and John Blacklow.

Innovation Rally IDEA Center, Innovation Park Noon - 1:30 p.m.

Networking with Notre Dame startups.

News

Laureate Continued from page 1

According to Williamson, Limón fits into this lecture series for several reasons.

“One of the main reasons is because she’s fabulous,” Williamson said. “She is also a Poet Laureate of the United States, and that is a huge honorific that’s bestowed by the Library of Congress.”

The mission of the Poet Laureate is to advocate for why poetry matters — which aligns with the College’s mission as a whole, according to Williamson.

“We’ve had wonderful success with writers on campus,” Williamson said. “We’ve had a

Mendoza Continued from page 1

the prototypes, test them, visit their clients and go all the way through launching a business,” Angst said.

In 2019, Angst’s class developed a partnership between the University of Notre Dame and St. Bakhita’s Vocational Training Center in Northern Uganda. St. Bakhita’s is a Catholic school created in 2007 as an opportunity for girls who were abducted in the Lord’s Resistance Conflict to receive an education and to support themselves and their children.

Together with her students, Angst worked to reimagine St. Bakhita’s to support the school to become self-sustaining and to improve the economic prosperity of the region through an emphasis on innovation and entrepreneurship.

“Our strategy involved reshaping the curriculum a bit so that aside from students learning and vocation, they’re also learning skills and entrepreneurship,” Angst said. “So, we worked with the school to install a computer lab, solar and internet, and then began offering a work study program for the students.”

The primary projects undertaken by Angst and her students involved creating revenue-generating businesses for St. Bakhita’s.

“Our main goal is to be generating additional revenue for the school because part of their goal is to reduce their student’s tuition because that’s a big barrier for women being able to receive an education in Uganda,” Abbie Hegarty, a 2023 Notre Dame graduate who majored in Management Consulting and Spanish, said.

The projects students tackled allowed them to incorporate knowledge learned in the classroom to their projects at St. Bakhita’s.

“The project I worked on was related to peanut butter, which we called ‘Bakhita butter.’ A lot of what I did was financial tracking and projecting revenues. I also created a Google Sheets tracker for revenues and expenses for their business,” Grace Kamholz, a 2023 Notre Dame graduate who majored in Finance, said.

Several students involved in the various St. Bakhita’s projects

ndsmcobserver.com | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2023 | The ObserveR

previous Poet Laureate on campus, Tracy K. Smith. She sold out the auditorium. Writers often do a great job engaging our student body.”

Williamson said she expects the audience to be wowed.

“She is an exceptional speaker, not simply because of her intellect and her creativity, but because she’s personable. She makes poetry both beautiful and accessible,” Williamson said. “She writes about ancestry, her relationship to relatives, friendship, desire, heartbreak. She write about illness and death and loss and the deep desire to feel human connection.”

Paige Parker is a research assistant in the Humanistic Studies Department under Professor

Williamson. Over the summer, Parker’s research work focused on Limón’s writing and themes.

“Over the summer, I was really interested in post-colonial studies and the concept of identity in her works,” Parker said. “Specifically, I applied the themes of post-colonialism and identity to how a woman’s role as a Poet Laureate can uphold democracy.”

Parker said that more recently she’s been interested in focusing on the the eco-spirituality in her works, specifically “The Hurting Kind.” Parker added that she is excited to see Limón speak not only as a scholar researching her but also as a student.

“I think it’s important for her to bring her poetry to Saint Mary’s

took the Innovation and Design Thinking class, completed the immersion course and then implemented their ideas in the Applied Impact consulting class, both of which are required for the new impact consulting minor.

“When I was in the Innovation and Design Thinking class, my team and I started the project to write a book about Victoria’s story, the principal of St. Bakhita’s,” Hegarty said. “After traveling to Uganda in January for Wendy’s Applied Impact Consulting class, I shifted my focus to helping improve the overall operations of St. Bakhita’s restaurant, while another team continued working on Victoria’s story.”

A unique aspect of the classes that are now required for the impact consulting minor is their interdisciplinary nature. In the past, students with various majors and interests were able to offer their perspectives in order to provide St. Bakhita’s with a holistic experience.

“As I got more involved, I realized there was a possibility to improve the school architecturally,” 2023 architecture graduate Carlos Flores said. “I worked with a younger class of architecture students to design a childhood development center to help take care of the students’ children. We are currently looking for contractors to get the process going.”

While the minor is currently only open to students in Mendoza, Angst is working on making it available to all students.

She is also striving to expand the immersion opportunities available to students in the minor.

“We are working on other projects that are both domestic and international so that we do give students the opportunity of collaborating on projects beyond Uganda,” Angst said.

Students who have been involved in Angst’s projects have already recognized the immersion part of the program as one of the most impactful and important parts of the process.

“You can plan all you want and you can Zoom the people all you want when you’re in the classroom, but you don’t really understand how the culture works or what resources are available or really how remote this place is until you go there and experience it yourself,” Hegarty said.

“The immersion is super

important.”

Based on past students’ positive learning experiences with immersion trips, they are now a required aspect of the minor.

“Consulting is all about making assumptions, and probably every assumption I made about the school was wrong. So, we told Wendy a big thing we thought was really important is the immersion requirement,” Kamholz said.

Students who took Angst’s classes in the past have been vocal about their recommendation that students take advantage of the opportunity to minor in impact consulting.

“It is something I wish was available when I was a student.

It is very rewarding to be a part of that type of collaboration and the classes offer a good way to build your own education and your skills,” Quin Gallagher, a 2022 graduate who majored in Management Consulting and Spanish, said.

A key aspect of the impact consulting minor is that it allows students to gain a different perspective and emphasizes the diverse paths one can take with a business degree.

“The minor takes the best part of the entrepreneurship program and puts it in the frame of consulting. I think it’s really cool that you are required to go to a site and see what is actually happening. You are consulting with people in need,” Alex Potts, a 2023 graduate who majored in Science Computing and minored in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, said.

The impact consulting minor is a demonstration of Mendoza’s theme of “Grow the Good in Business.”

“The idea of growing the good in business, which Mendoza is pushing for, can really benefit Mendoza students and help them realize there is a lot more to do with a business major than the set path several Mendoza students follow,” Flores said.

The application for the minor is open until Friday, October 13 and is available on the impact consulting minor’s webpage. The course requirements and other important information can also be found on the website.

Contact Jenna Abu-Leghod at jabulugh@nd.edu

because we are so focused on uplifting the voices of women,” Parker said. “I think Limón can really speak to what it means to be a woman in today’s day and age. She will speak to us about the way that certain members of our society see us and the way that capitalism has an influence on womanhood and our relationship with our body.”

Parker said she thinks Limón will help Saint Mary’s students bring a reckoning to themselves, feel more confident and uplift their voices as women.

“It’s really important for a women’s institution to have someone to look up to like that,” Parker said.

After studying Limón’s poetry for so long, Parker said she is

LHOP Continued from page 1

in for seconds, thirds or more of the unlimited food. Many also sat down in one of Lewis Hall’s many common rooms, located right next to the food, in order to enjoy their meal with friends or fellow LHOP attendees.

One such late-stayer was

NAUTILUS Continued from page 4

Collon said.

“Yet, it will always primarily be a collaboration with Notre Dame and students and faculty from Notre Dame.

This is going to be an incredible opportunity for students

3

still eager to hear her speak this Thursday.

“Lately I’ve been really drawn to how she aligns her speaker in each of her poems with the natural environment and that kind of spiritual relationship,” Parker said. “I would love to hear her talk a little more about that.”

After Limón’s lecture, there will be a brief question and answer session hosted by Williamson.

Afterward, Limón will do a book signing where masks are required.

Tickets for the lecture are on sale at the Saint Mary’s College Box Office in the lobby of O’Laughlin Auditorium.

Contact Katelyn Waldschmidt at kwaldschmidt01@saintmarys.edu

Carroll Hall freshman Tommy Lariccia, who highlighted the inviting atmosphere.

“I like the environment the most because of its couches,” Lariccia said.

He also shouted out the fourth floor, his favorite because of its world-class cinnamon rolls.

Contact Gray Nocjar at gnocjar@nd.edu

at all levels of academia.”

As of this time, Collon estimated that in the bestcase scenario, the facility for NAUTILUS would be fully ready and available to faculty and students in just over a year.

Contact Nolan Hines at nhines@nd.edu

AmeriCorps awards University education grant Observer Staff Report

Editor’s note: This story appeared online Sept. 14.

AmeriCorps has awarded the University of Notre Dame a $640,000 grant to recruit, train and support 500 volunteers for tutoring in South Bend and schools working with the Alliance for Catholic Education.

One of the largest initiatives benefiting from the award is TutorND, a program which trains tutors in “evidence-based tutoring practices” to work in the Elkhart and South Bend areas, as well as ACE schools.

TutorND, which trains its tutors in the cognitive science of learning, aims to bridge the gap between research and practice. The program developed out of research from Notre Dame’s Cognition, Learning and Development (CLAD) lab.

Nicole McNeil, professor of psychology, is the director of CLAD. “Too many children in our

community still lack access to high-quality, structured tutoring. Volunteers are eager to help, but without the right tools and evidence-based resources, even the most motivated tutors find it challenging to make a meaningful impact,” McNeil said, in the grant announcement.

TutorND provides in-person and virtual one-on-one and small group tutoring. Currently, the program serves 300 students, using methods from the “What Works” evidence clearinghouse that are shown by research to improve student outcomes.

The tutors will use Cognition Connection, a learning hub that connects tutors with cognitive science and learning research.

Early outcomes suggest that TutorND has a positive impact on South Bend students.

All elementary students from South Bend who worked with a tutor in the full support program demonstrated growth at an above-average rate in oral reading fluency.

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NEWS

The observer | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2023 | ndsmcobserver.com

Science journalist lectures in MVP Fridays series

By TY HARRINGTON News Writer

On Friday afternoon Notre Dame hosted Ed Yong, a Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist and bestselling author. Yong’s lecture titled “Can stories of science create a more empathetic world?” was the second event in the MVP Fridays lecture series hosted by the Center for Social Concerns.

A science journalist since 2006, Yong has covered a broad range of topics from the COVID-19 pandemic to the origin of life. He said that throughout his career his thinking about three topics — what science journalism is for, what science journalism can achieve and what it strives to do — has changed.

Yong said his latest book, “An Immense World,” is about how animals sense the world around them and how that differs from human sensation.

The book “is fundamentally an exercise in taking the perspective of other species,” he said.

His latest piece for The Atlantic took on long COVID-19 and the experience of fatigue for those suffering from the disease. The story explained how the fatigue brought on by long COVID-19 is completely unlike what healthy people experience, Yong said.

His book and COVID-19 story both attempt “to get readers to take the perspectives of others who are very different to them, whose experiences lie well outside their own lived realities,” Yong said.

He said both works are fundamentally about empathy and, more broadly, that science and science journalism is

Totter Continued from page 1

Totter for Water will go toward a community in Ecuador.

During the course of the event, Howard Hall residents took shifts operating the totter, and Notre Dame community members were encouraged to take rides with a suggested donation of $2.

According to the hall, planning began as soon as school started for the fall semester. This year’s commissioners were three junior engineering students: Emily Colleran, Anna Fent and Alex Bobbit.

Ashby Whitaker, a sophomore political science and global affairs student, manned the event during the final shift. She said Howard Hall chose to donate to Engineers Without Borders because of the high concentration of STEM students in their hall.

“While there are many girls [in Howard] who are also members of the actual club, our dorm does this on its own because it’s

all about empathy.

Yong also reflected on his reporting about the COVID-19 pandemic, the sum of which won him a Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting.

He discussed the onset of the omicron variant when many individuals observed that it had a “lower risk of bad outcome” and downplayed its significance. Others, especially healthcare workers, noticed that it “spread so much faster” than the previous variants, Yong said. He added that the variant did indeed inundate healthcare systems.

The reaction to the variant differed based on “whether [individuals] believed in collectivism over individualism or whether they center the vulnerable instead of pushing them to the periphery,” Yong said.

He also said he believes the interpretation of scientific data is influenced by values and culture, making diversity and equity incredibly important.

Science, Yong said, is not the tome of facts and statements that it is often caricatured to be. The common conception that science is perfectly objective is a lie, he said. Science is instead a human pursuit.

“It is subject to all the foibles of humanity: ego, power, brands, bias and all the rest,” Yong said.

Yong said science arises from culture.

“Our values are what tell us how to convert science into policy and action,” Yong said.

Often, Yong said, the work of a scientist reflects their individuality.

Sensory biology “is full of people who are neurally atypical, people whose own

perceptions of the world are different from what is the norm,” Yong said. “I think that draws them to understanding how other animals understand the world.”

The absence of those who are marginalized “leaves holes” in scientific understanding, according to Yong.

“The people who get to be part of science influence the kind of science that gets done,” he said.

As such, Yong said he strives to include marginalized voices in his reporting.

Yong analyzed his work and found that he quoted women only 25% of the time, while quoting men 75%, a consistent proportion across the field.

Yong said passive concern is never enough, so he started reaching out to more women and more people of color for pieces.

“Equality matters in science.

Empathy matters in science.

Science is human pursuit. We can not understand it without understanding that,” Yong said. “Science is not divorced from its humanity, from its empathy. It is lesser without them. It is greater for them. So is journalism. So am I and so, I hope, are you.”

In response to a criticism about not reflecting the status quo of science, Yong said journalists can do better than be society’s mirror. He said that by reflecting the status quo in his journalism, he actively maintains it.

“I create the world that I report on and it is part of my moral stance to do that with intention and care,” Yong said.

mostly a STEM dorm, and that’s in conjunction with engineers,” Whitaker said.

Taylor Girard, a sophomore mechanical engineering student who was operating the event with Whitaker, is a part of the Engineers Without Borders club. According to Girard, the totter’s proceeds will go towards two present issues: treatments for cleaning water supply and building a new water tank.

“The Engineer Without Borders club helps to provide basic human resources to communities around the world that need it. So right now, we’re going to try and improve water quality in communities in Ecuador,” Girard said. “In the club, we’re researching treatments that are going to be helpful in cleaning their water, and then I think we’re also looking to rebuild the water tank that stores water for the community.”

Girard explained that the water tanks the club has been mapping out would cost upwards of $30,000.

Howard Hall used social media

to spread the word about Totter for Water, encouraging residents to share an Instagram post with information about the event.

“On Tuesday, we also [direct messaged] campus celebrities with information about the event. We reached out to Marcus Freedman and Sam Hartman, and we hoped they would come and bring some press,” Girard said.

The 24-hour nature of the event served as a fun way for students to take a break during studying. Julia Dunn, a freshman physics major in McGlinn Hall, said she and her friends decided to visit the teeter totter at 2 a.m. in the middle of an intense homework session.

“The Howard Teeter Totter was a unifying experience, and the all-night aspect made everything even more exciting,” Dunn said.

“Despite the fact that I fell off, or rather, was catapulted off by a friend, it was absolutely worth it.”

Contact Ty Harrington at tharrin2@nd.edu

Contact Sakura Yamanaka at syamanak@nd.edu

Navy transfers NAUTILUS system to ND

By NOLAN HINES News Writer

Editor’s note: This story appeared online Sept. 14.

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) recently moved to transfer its groundbreaking NAUTILUS system to Notre Dame, signing an Educational Partnership Agreement (EPA) that transferred all rights, title and interest in the instrument to the University. The measure required approval by Congress.

NAUTILUS, otherwise known as Naval Ultra-Trace Isotope Laboratory Universal Spectrometer, has been revolutionary in the delicate art of material analysis. Unique among spectrometers, it combines secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) analysis with single-stage accelerator mass spectrometry (SSAMS). This makes NAUTILUS significantly more powerful than conventional SIMS instruments and grants the University a unique position in both research and academia.

As such, the College of Science and the College of Engineering have both taken steps to prepare and operate a joint research and teaching facility enclosing NAUTILUS. Several faculty members from both colleges have expressed interest in how this will affect ongoing research projects.

Dr. Philippe Collon, a professor and associate chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, has worked most extensively on the transfer of this system, and has high hopes for its potential. “What we’ll be looking at is what we call the needlein-the-haystack, those small isotopic signatures that make the things like identification of the origin of nuclear materials possible,” Collon explained.

“The signature of various supernovae and other events that get recorded in meteoritic and lunar samples, those very small anomalies that are very hard to find, all things to be gleaned through NAUTILUS.” Dr. Clive Neal, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and the Earth Sciences, also intends to implement NAUTILUS into his research on lunar samples from the Apollo missions. “Well, it’s one-of-a-kind,” Neal said on the instrument.

“It gives unprecedented resolution at very low concentrations and spot sizes. This provides a competitive edge in being able to get the spatial resolution required in some of these some of these analyses, especially if we’re looking for volatiles.”

The vast nature of the transfer, however, requires certain stipulations. Namely, those regarding the facility at which NAUTILUS

is to be kept and maintained.

Among the requirements, Collon lists are fifteen hundred square feet, complete thermal insulation, a dedicated faculty and a reliable source of energy.

Still, the real challenge lies in actually transporting the instrument.

The system’s larger parts, which include a seven-ton magnet, are currently being collected at the NRL and are expected to be fully shipped over to Notre Dame by late December.

Putting it back together will be a collaborative effort between postdoctoral researchers and graduate and undergraduate students alike, both from the College of Science and the College of Engineering. Beyond that, an expansion in research faculty will be required.

“We do not currently have the bandwidth to be able to put it back together and test it fully, because the Institute of Structure and Nuclear Astrophysics (ISNAP) already is running three accelerators here,” Collon said.

“Running one more is simply beyond what we can do, so extra personnel are clearly needed.”

Though the time and resources invested in this project are immense, so are the possibilities it presents. Collon, as the director of undergraduate studies, believes that the system will afford undergraduate students a unique learning experience.

“The usage from the point of view of academia will be training of the next generation of scientists to work on a piece of cutting-edge equipment, combining both a standard accelerator and the modernized Sims,” Collon said.

“In that sense, it allows any student, even an undergraduate student, to do measurements under supervision. Yet, it’s not only working with a piece of equipment like that, but also using it and learning techniques that nowadays, if you’re looking at environmental science, if you’re looking at nuclear forensics, if you’re looking at climate studies, are so telling about the vital processes and breakthroughs of their industry. That’s the sort of training that students will be getting here.”

Besides that, NAUTILUS’s presence at Notre Dame enables an unprecedented degree of collaboration with the University on a national level. Collon stated both the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the NRL to have expressed interest in working with them in these coming years, among many others.

“There is an extensive list of universities and national labs that are heavily interested in using this unique piece of equipment,” see NAUTILUS PAGE 3

5

The observer | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2023 | ndsmcobserver.com

By PETER MIKULSKI Scene Writer

“Taxi Driver,” “American Psycho,” “Clockwork Orange” — men tend to lump movies like these into one post-facto category: movies that make them say “he’s literally me,” “he’s just like me ‘fr’” or some other variation on that theme.

At first, Bertolucci’s “The Conformist” seems like it might fit this mold. Our protagonist is Marcello Clerici, an eager new member of the fascist secret police in Italy.

Like Alex from “Clockwork Orange,” he’s distinguished from the other characters by an appreciation of high culture and a high IQ. He’s a classics scholar, and one character genuinely declares, “He was the best student ever!”

Like in “American Psycho” when the serial killer Patrick Bateman sarcastically bemoans apartheid, the nuclear arms race, terrorism and world hunger, Clerici also cynically performs morality. Heeding his petitebourgeoisie fiancee’s demands, he receives the sacrament of reconciliation, but in his confession he lambasts the priest and threatens him with violence in order to receive absolution.

Like Travis Bickle, the taxi driver in Martin Scorcese’s “Taxi Driver,” he perceives depravity everywhere he looks, and it drives him into a furious rage. For Bickle, it’s prostitution, and for Clerici, it’s homosexuality.

By BRISNEY RODRIGUEZ FLORES Scene Writer

“Horror movies can be an easy hit or miss. The visuals, the storytelling, the acting, the person watching the film and a variety of other factors can cause what could have been a hit (or at least a decent film) to turn into a miss, becoming laughable, annoying or even forgettable.

Sadly for me, “Talk to Me” fell into the latter half. Worst of all? It fell under the umbrella of “forgettable.”

I initially didn’t believe “Talk to Me” would be a miss.

It was one of the biggest horror movies that came out in 2022 with relatively high ratings throughout most platforms. People were saying “it’s a must-watch,” and I would be “scared if this was my first run-through.” It fell under the ghost/demon possession sub-genre of horror, which has always disturbed me. All of this made me excited to watch the film, and that in itself may have been its downfall.

During the first five minutes, I could feel my excitement dampen. Sound was heavily used in the film, and that is perfectly fine. It’s a form of expression and can be used to tell more about the story and the people living in it. It is commonly used to build the anticipation in horror

What keeps “The Conformist” from becoming fodder for clips on Instagram Reels like other “he’s literally me” movies is that Bertolucci depicts this sort of man realistically: he’s the least likable character in the entire film.

He’s smarter than his wife Guilia and his partner Manganiello. Guilia’s foolishness and the actress Stefania Sandrelli’s beauty, though, make her far more charming than her husband. Next to Manganiello, Clerici may be an intellectual, but he seems like a pathetic coward in comparison.

Professor Quadri, whom Clerici is tasked with killing, is a trusting man. He lacks Clerici’s pessimism, and while this ultimately gets him killed, it endears him to the audience. The list goes on. Clerici is so unpleasant that we find ourselves preferring the fascist ideologue Italo, the morphine-addicted mother and the clinically insane father to him.

Clerici is not even a particularly good fascist. He betrays the professor, but once the betrayal is complete and Clerici has his target in his grasp, he’s too much of a coward to finish the job. He makes Manganiello do the dirty work. Once the fascist regime collapses, he doesn’t hesitate as he gives up Italo to an anti-fascist mob and runs away.

This is how the movie makes its anti-fascist argument.

At first Clerici comes off as smart and strong, but by the end we realize he — like all fascists — is compensating

for his weakness, and we’re repulsed by him and by fascism.

Even without this poignant narrative structure, the movie would be fun just to look at with the subtitles off.

“The Conformist” has look very different from Pasolini’s “Il Decameron” (screened at Browning two weeks ago), which is sometimes a little ad hoc in its cinematography. It also differs from “Death in Venice” (playing at Browning this week), where every inch of every shot is covered in props, is in focus and is rendered in technicolor.

Everything Bertolucci does with the camera and on set evokes fascism. Every room in the Italy of “The Conformist” is massive, empty and hewn from marble.

When the plot takes us to Paris, the bohemian apartments full of wicker chairs and houseplants feel like a breath of fresh air. Choices like these, and some smart moves with the lighting, reinforce what he’s doing with the plot and the characters.

There are some loose ends — e.g. a subplot which implies Clerici is fascist because he was molested — but overall “The Conformist” is a hit. The Browning Cinema at DPAC picked a great third installment for their “Learning Beyond the Classics: Early 70s Italian Cinema” series, and you should consider coming to the next four. There’s yet to be dud.

films. However, there is such a thing as an over reliance on sound, or rather, volume.

The volume of the film differed widely based on the scene. In some cases, it was so loud I could feel it in the air, as if it was one of those cars whose music was so loud you could feel the rhythm projected in your lungs and eyes, vibrating them from the inside out. In other cases, the volume was so low I had to strain myself to hear what the people were saying. Or even both! In some scenes, the background noise was so loud it muffled the conversation we were supposed to focus on. The only scene that we didn’t witness this discordance seemed to be the flashes of consecutive possessions that the group underwent.

Going even further along the film, the excitement I had left just turned into irritability (apologies to the people around us who had to witness my reactions) and, at the end, boredom.

Most of the characters didn’t draw me in. Their actions seemed discordant in relation to the traits they already showed. I just wasn’t able to develop sympathy for any of them outside of Riley. Any sympathy I could develop, such as with Mia and the death of her mom, was immediately squashed by their actions, such as Mia letting Riley be possessed for far longer than what she originally stated. This leads me to believe that the writers were

aiming for this sort of reaction, trying to show deeply flawed characters in a sympathetic light. It seemed if they were trying to say, “Hey they’re human, and humans just kinda suck sometimes, even the best of them.”

This attempt felt rather flat, possibly due to how weak the storytelling was.

The story idea was good, but the way it was told was weak. Not bad, but weak. Within the first 15 to 20 minutes (that is whenever Riley went tosleep with Mia), I could figure out the entiremovie. Something was going to happen to Riley, probably possession, and the problem will directly stem from Mia. Mia will then have to conduct the mercy kill she avoided with the kangaroo at the beginning on some other living creature, in alllikelihood Riley.

She’ll fail and end up living her nightmare — existing in a world where she can’t see her reflection and other people can’t see her. In all likelihood, this other world would be on the other side of the hand.

At the end of the line? This film was just forgettable. It didn’t leave much of an impression. It wasn’t satisfying.

It just ended up missing its mark for this member of its audience.

Contact Peter Mikulski at pmikulsk@nd.edu

Contact Brisney Rodriguez Flores at brodrig5@nd.edu CHRISTINA SAYUT | The Observer

6

The observer | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2023 | ndsmcobserver.com

Inside Column

Busy isn’t always bad Christina Sayut Graphics Editor

Recent ly, someone looked at my Google Ca lenda r a nd immediately gasped. “W hy a re you so busy? ” I laughed a nd sa id, “Oh I don’t feel busy.” She pointed at my computer screen a nd asked me where I had f ree time to be by myself, a nd I looked a nd just shr ugged my shoulders. It honest ly doesn’t ex ist — but I wou ld not have it a ny ot her way.

I looked at my Google Ca lenda r a nd tried to perceive it from a n outside perspective a nd see what my f riends saw, a nd I rea lized t hat I just simply a m busy. I saw ever y single minute a nd hour of my day blocked into a few dif ferent sections: class, The Obser ver, R A duties, Ca mpus Ministr y, study/homework time, box ing/workouts, ha ngouts a nd t hesis meetings. My ca lenda r is made up of a bunch of ra inbow recta ngles t hat deta il my life, a nd somehow it brings me peace.

If a ny of you k now me persona lly, you k now t hat I a m a huge ex trovert. I t hrive on k now ing ot hers a nd ha nging out w it h a nyone. Last spring, I told a ll of my f riends in Keena n t hat I wa nted each of t hem to sit dow n w it h me for a 1:1 lunch or dinner, just so I could get to k now t hem a litt le bit more. One of t hem told me t hat I could never get each of t hem to agree to t hat, but I did. I loved ever y second of getting to ta lk to my friends a nd get to k now t hem a litt le deeper. A section of my ca lenda r t hat ta kes up a lot of my week ly time is t he “ha ngouts” section, a place where I schedule va rious lunches, dinners, cof fees a nd genera l study or ha ngout time. Sometimes it is as simple as r unning to Trader Joe’s w it h a fellow R A to grab section snacks or popping into The Obser ver of f ice even when I don’t have to, just in case t hat someone else is doing work in t he basement.

Last semester, I felt busy in a way t hat was over whelming.

But I don’t t hin k t hat it is over whelming now. Last semester it felt like I was r unning a ma rat hon ever y day of my life t hat had no end goa l in sight. Ever y t hing was a chore, a nd I just k new t hat I needed to ma ke a cha nge for my senior yea r. I had big pla ns to quit a ll of t he t hings t hat f illed up my life. To probably no one’s sur prise, I ended up adding more to my plate. Going into t he f irst week of classes, I felt a lot of a n x iet y. I looked at my ca lenda r a nd k new t hat I was going into a semester of 18 credit hours, a t hesis presentation at t he end of t he semester a nd commitments to va rious clubs a nd orga nizations.

Last Wednesday was t he f irst night since classes sta rted where my last schedu led commitment ended at 8 :15 p.m. Norma lly I have somet hing going on until a round 10 or 11 p.m., but for t he f irst time ever I was able to rela x. I orig ina lly pla nned on ta king time for myself a nd going to bed before 10 p.m. instead of my usua l 1 a.m. Instead, I found myself sitting on a friend’s f uton in t he midd le of t he ha llway, ta lk ing about life a nd how our weeks had gone. A f ter t hat, I went a nd sat dow n outside of my f riend’s door way, ta lk ing to dif ferent g irls who passed t hrough t he ha ll. Need less to say, I did not ma ke it to bed before 10 p.m.

No pa rt of me wa nts to cha nge t hat.

There is a beautif ul k ind of joy t hat ca n be found in being busy in a way t hat ma kes life f un. I don’t count dow n t he minutes until somet hing is over, but I instead tr y to soa k up ever y second a nd moment where I a m surrounded by people t hat I love. Even on Tuesday nights where I work w it h A ndrew a nd roll my eyes at him, I k now t hat one day I a m going to look back a nd miss jok ing w it h him a nd Gabby when t he nights get late.

Some nights, I choose to stay even later for no reason ot her t ha n I don’t wa nt to leave t he people a round me.

I have loved ever y single minute of t his semester. A nd it isn’t because I a m less busy. It is because I have f illed up my moments w it h ex periences t hat a llow me to be close to t he people t hat I love. Do I w ish t hat I had more time to sleep in t he mornings when I get up at 5:30 a.m. for box ing practice? Maybe. But do t hose feelings go away t he second I see Maggie or Trista ready to face it w it h me? Def initely.

I don’t t hin k t hat it is a bad t hing to be busy — in fact, it might be t he best t hing t hat ever happened to me.

Contact Christina at csayut@nd.edu.

The views expressed in this Inside column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Nevermind Meghan Markle, why aren’t we talking about Prince Andrew?

Lucy Carrier-Pilkington The Crown Jewel

As a n internat iona l student f rom London, Engla nd, one of t he quest ions I a m most f requent ly asked is: “W hat is your opinion on Megha n Ma rk le? ” W hile Ma rk le has received a lot of press attent ion in recent yea rs since her ma rriage to Prince Ha rr y a nd resig nat ion f rom roya l dut ies, ot her w ise k now n as “Meg x it,” I a rg ue t hat t here is a not her much more problemat ic member of t he fa mily who seems to have a lmost gotten away w it h it.

The person I a m ta lk ing about is Prince A ndrew, who was discovered to have high ly persona l involvement w it h t he most fa mous pedophile, predator a nd sex t ra f f icker in t he world, Jef f rey Epstein.

Prince A ndrew a lso had a close relat ionship w it h Epstein’s right-ha nd woma n Ghisla ine Ma x well, who is now ser v ing 20 yea rs in prison for conspiring w it h Epstein to sex ua lly abuse minors.

It was one photog raph t hat cha nged our v iew of t he queen’s “favorite son” forever. It was f rom over a decade ago, in 2010, when Prince A ndrew was photog raphed in conversat ion w it h Jef f rey Epstein while wa lk ing t hrough Cent ra l Pa rk in New York.

It propelled a young woma n a nd mot her of t hree, Virg inia Rober ts Guif f re, beforeha nd on ly k now n as Ja ne Doe 102, to come out w it h her shock ing stor y.

Rober ts had been coerced by Ma x well to enter t he disturbing a nd t w isted world of Esptein at t he mere age of 17 while work ing at Tr ump’s Ma r-a-Lago spa, a nd during her t ime of horrif y ing ex ploitat ion she had had t wo encounters w it h t he Prince. The f irst when she was 17, a nd t he second was when she had just turned 18 yea rs old.

Rober ts, who accused Prince A ndrew of sex ua lly abusing a nd raping her as a minor, was received w it h suspicion at t he t ime, as press of f ices such as t he Da ily Ma il repor ted t hat “There is no suggest ion t hat t here was a ny sex ua l contact bet ween Virg inia a nd A ndrew, or t hat A ndrew k new t hat Epstein pa id her to have sex w it h his f riends.”

However, in 2022, t he Prince pa id out a $13 million sett lement to Rober ts to sett le t he suit. This added f ur t her f uel to t he specu lat ion aga inst him.

W hat t r u ly shocked t he Brit ish public, a nd indeed t he world, was Prince A ndrew’s inter v iew on BBC Newsnight w it h Emily Ma it lis where he revea led himself to have no remorse for his f riendship or associat ion w it h t he pedophile Epstein.

W hen asked if he reg retted his f riendship w it h Epstein, he immediately

objected, stat ing t hat t he oppor tunit ies he got f rom it “were actua lly ver y usef u l.” Sur prised? Shocked? Sha ken?

We a ll were, as t he queen’s favourite son a nd celebrated wa r hero showed zero reg ret for his associat ion.

“People a ren’t ready for his return,” A nna W hitelock, roya l commentator a nd historia n, sa id.

But cont ra r y to popu la r belief, t here a re hints t hat he is returning to public life.

You wou ld t hin k t hat while K ing Cha rles is t r y ing to establish his ow n ident it y a nd set t he tone of his libera l r u le, bring ing back t he pa lace’s public enemy No.1 wou ld be a bad move, right?

Well, ev idence suggests ot her w ise a fter he was photog raphed in a ca r w it h Prince Willia m a nd Kate Midd leton on t heir fa mily’s a nnua l stay in Ba lmora l, Scot la nd.

But whi le t here is specu lat ion t hat Cha rles is slowly forg iv ing his brot her, it is not iceable t hat he is not ex tending t he sa me olive bra nch to his son.

W hi le Ha rr y is due to be in Eng la nd for t he Wel lChi ld Awa rds on Sept. 7, t he day before t he a nniversa r y of t he Queen’s deat h, The Da i ly Beast repor ted t hat he “is not li kely to see his fat her or brot her, a nd w i l l not be ex pected to attend a ny private or public fa mi ly gat herings to ma rk t he late queen’s passing.”

At t hat point, t he conversat ion quick ly turns to Ha rr y, Spa re, Meg ha n Ma rk le a nd t he Opra h inter v iew. If you sea rch t he na me Prince A ndrew, on ly a ha ndf u l of a r t icles have been published in t he past 24 hours, most of which lin k back to Ha rr y. On t he ot her ha nd, if you sea rch up Meg ha n Ma rk le or Prince Ha rr y t he sea rch ba r f loods w it h a r t icles f rom Meg ha n’s ma ke-up a r t ist gett ing plast ic surger y to t heir appea ra nce at t he Beyonce Rena issa nce tour, w it h Prince A ndrew nowhere to be seen.

So what is our obsession w it h t his infa mous couple? A nd why does it consta nt ly overshadow da rker a nd more disturbing dy na mics t hat brew w it hin t he roya l fa mily? Is out of sight, out of mind rea lly what is going on here?

Eit her way, it is a dy na mic t hat needs to be under f ur t her invest igat ion.

W hile t he tabloids ca nnot get enough of Ma rk le a nd spa rk les, we a re ta king attent ion away f rom a rea l monster lurk ing behind closed cur ta ins at Ba lmora l Cast le.

Lucy Carrier-Pilkington is an international exchange student from London, England.

She is currently a junior studying history, political science and journalism. You can contact her at lcarrier@nd.edu.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

The observer | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2023 | ndsmcobserver.com

7

An introduction to Kazuo Ishiguro’s novels of some of the questions of morality that emerge in “An Artist of the Floating World.” If you enjoy McEwan’s work of British fiction, then perhaps Ishiguro is a natural progression.

Elizabeth Prater SparkND

I’m indulging myself to spend an entire column dedicated to exploring the works of Kazuo Ishiguro — the author who is the focus of my thesis. Born in Nagasaki, Japan in 1954, he later moved to England in 1960. These distinct geographic experiences have integrated themselves into his novels, as he incorporates the landscapes of Japan and Britain in his works. Ishiguro was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature 2017, cited as “who, in novels of great emotional force, has uncovered the abyss beneath our illusory sense of connection with the world.”

One of the most intriguing things about Ishiguro’s novels is that he explores a myriad of genres. W hile there are arguably similar themes across all the novels, the narrative form is quite distinctive between all the books. His books consist of science fiction, speculative fiction, fantasy, historical fiction, literary fiction and even more sub-genres. As I read through his oeuvre this summer in preparation for writing my thesis, I found myself surprised by the vastly different genres he presents his work.

Several of my friends asked which order they should approach his fiction, but I found that it’s up to the individual’s genre preferences. Some of his works are more fast-paced and are rooted in the dystopian world (e.g. “Klara and the Sun”).

However, some are more drawn-out narratives focused on an individual’s characterization (e.g.

“The Remains of the Day”). As such, I found myself creating a mental list of comparative titles every time I read one of his books which is the foundation of this column.

“A Pale View of Hills” (1982) If you liked: “The Ocean at the End of the Lane”

by Neil Gaiman.

This is Ishiguro’s debut novel and my personal favorite. It follows the story of Etsuko ref lecting on her life as a woman who left Japan to live in England with her family. Etsuko grapples with the loss of her eldest daughter, Keiko, to suicide, and the story explores feelings of guilt and culpability through unreliable narration, character projection and the motif of memory.

Its world-building reminded me of Gaiman’s “The Ocean at the End of the Lane,” which follows a man who returns to his hometown for a funeral.

The narrative reminiscence of the past from a renewed perspective struck me as being analogous between the two novels, and much of the magical realism in Gaiman’s work can be found in Ishiguro’s fiction.

“An Artist of the Floating World” (1986) If you liked: “Amsterdam” by Ian McEwan.

“An Artist of the Floating World” follows the protagonist Masuji Ono as he ref lects on the past — particularly after the decline of his prestige and his notoriety post-second world war Japan. Despite the war context, it is a quiet novel — one that reveals certain truths in ref lective comments.

Much of Ishiguro’s work reminds me of Ian McEwan’s writing, which is not a novel observation as both are graduates of the University of East Anglia’s creative writing course. The role of the artist in “Amsterdam,” as well as the political pull that figures of authority have reminded me

“The Remains of the Day” (1989) If you liked: “Howards End” by E.M Forster.

Arguably Ishiguro’s most famous and revered novel, “The Remains of the Day” is what made me want to write my thesis on Ishiguro and write a column for The Observer. It won The Booker Prize in 1989 and features the first-person narrative of Stephens — a butler who dedicates his life to the services of the fictitious Darlington Hall in England.

On the surface, it is the quintessential British novel. However, many literary critics have noted the subversion of the literary scene in which it emerges itself. Author Salman Rushdie said that the novel “is a brilliant subversion of the fictional modes from which it seems at first to descend.”

The relationship between master and servant “and the codes by which both live, are no longer dependable absolutes but rather sources of ruinous self-deceptions.”

The question of human dignity and its relationship to our occupations or roles in society is everpresent as a graduating senior who is looking to work full-time post-graduation. How do we live an authentic life? How does one avoid bad faith?

These existentialist questions were the seeds that later turned into my thesis proposal.

In addition, the arguable use of a house or estate as a metonymy for English social code or nationalism reminded me of similar devices present in “Howards End,” whose title is the name of the estate that surrounds the plot of the work of fiction.

“The Unconsoled” (1995), “When We Were Orphans” (2000) or “The Buried Giant” (2015) If you liked: “The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time” by Mark Haddon or Julio Cortazar’s fiction.

For the sake of brevity, I am lumping these three novels into a single recommendation although their surface-level attributes are vastly different. However, they all create a surreal nature that makes them comparable. “W hen We Were Orphans” is a detective story that reminded me of the mystery in Mark Haddon’s novel, as well as their narrators’ similarities (both named Christopher and seem to lack awareness of their respective situations). “The Buried Giant” is rooted in Arthurian legend, and the mystical mist that descends itself upon its characters cheats the civilization of their memories. This plot lends itself to the consideration of the past, and its transcendent quality seems to permeate the readers themselves.

In addition, the speculative/fantastical worlds created in “The Unconsoled” and “The Buried Giant” reminded me of some of the worldbuilding that Julio Cortazar’s fiction brings to life. These Ishiguro novels are not for the faint of heart; they are more head-scratchers than some of his other novels. Their geographic contexts are a blend between real and fiction, and the narrators seem to oscillate between achieving revelation and succumbing to the ineffable.

“Never Let Me Go” (2005) and “Klara and the Sun” (2021) If you liked: “Station Eleven” by Hilary Mantel or “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie” by Muriel Spark.

Again, for the sake of brevity, I will discuss these two novels in combination as they are Ishiguro’s more dystopian fiction. If you are actively engaged in debates surrounding AI, ChatGPT and technological innovation, either of these books would certainly be of interest. “Klara and the Sun” is a fast-paced novel that follows the experiences of an “Artificial Friend” (Klara) and her integration into a household. “Never Let Me Go” is similarly dystopian, although a slower-paced read that takes place at Hailsham, a boarding school in England whose students are taught little to nothing about their surroundings outside of the school. The progressive unveiling of their reason for existence is both horrif ying and heartbreaking.

The dystopian nature of these novels will intrigue fans of “Station Eleven” and other similar genre-specific texts. However, both novels feature interesting dimensions of pedagog y and how children should approach education. In addition, the books arguably demonstrate the inequities of power when it comes to students, which reminded me of similar themes in Muriel Spark’s “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.”

Final Thoughts My brief synopses of these novels are my ref lections or are in dialogue with literary critics of Ishiguro’s work and may not be the same conclusions that another individual draws towards these respective works. Ishiguro has further speeches, essays and short stories, but the works mentioned previously are the bulk of his oeuvre. Before this summer, I had never attempted to read all an author’s works. W hen people asked about my favorite novel, I simply recited the name of an author whose singular book I enjoyed. However, by reading all of Ishiguro’s works, I gained more of an understanding of his central threads of thought and personally witnessed the progression of his writing.

In Ishiguro’s Nobel Lecture, he states that “in the end, stories are about one person saying to another, ‘This is the way it feels to me. Can you understand what I’m saying? Does it also feel this way to you? ’” This feeling of emotion permeates his literature, regardless of whether the protagonist is an elderly couple in an elusive post-Arthurian England or a detective who returns to Shanghai during the Sino-Japanese War. These different settings, genres and plots merely unveil common questions that prevail over us all. Ishiguro himself says “I tend to write the same book over and over.”

This repetition makes me stop and wonder “W hat is he trying to say? ” And perhaps, more collectively, “W hy should we listen? ” Elizabeth Prater is a senior at Notre Dame double majoring in marketing and the Program of Liberal Studies.

She is interested in the cultural implications of analyzing classics and literature under a contemporary lens. When she isn’t writing, she loves playing the violin, hiking in the Pacific Northwest and offering unsolicited book recommendations. Elizabeth always appreciates hearing from readers, so feel free to reach out to eprater@nd.edu or @elizabethlianap on Twitter.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Interested in Viewpoint?

Contact us at viewpoint@ndsmcobserver.com

8

Sports

The observer | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2023 | ndsmcobserver.com

ND volleyball

ND CROSS COUNTRY

Irish roll to victory at National Catholic Invite

By MATTHEW CROW Associate Sports Editor

On Friday a f ternoon, Not re Da me cross count r y competed in t he Nat iona l Cat holic Inv ite, t heir f irst home meet of t he season.

The Irish won in domina nt fashion, sweeping t he top f ive posit ions in bot h t he women’s a nd men’s races.

The inv itat iona l ser ved as t he season debut for most of Not re Da me’s lead r unners, w it h a few notable except ions. The Irish’s top returners on bot h sides — g raduate student Oliv ia Ma rkezich, senior Ca r ter Solomon a nd sophomore Et ha n Colema n — a re a ll hea lt hy but worked out on Friday instead of racing a f ter gett ing a late jump on t heir summer t ra ining prog ra ms.

“You get more f it t hrough t ra ining t ha n racing, a nd so g iv ing t hem a cha nce to do a workout on t hat Friday versus racing on t hat Friday [is more va luable],” Irish director of t rack & f ield a nd cross count r y Matt Spa rks sa id a f ter t he meet. “W het her it’s a n injur y t hroughout t he summer t hat maybe kept people out of some t ra ining, or if t hey raced late into t he summer, a nd t hen t hey just had a later sta r t to t heir t ra ining cycle, t hat’s how we decide who’s going to race in some of t hese ea rly-season races.”

Spa rks noted t hat a ll t hree r unners a re ex pected to be back in act ion for Not re Da me’s nex t meet.

In Ma rkezich’s absence, t he Irish women were led by junior Siona Chisholm, who broke away f rom a g roup of Not re Da me r unners to w in t he race.

Chisholm t ra nsferred to Not re Da me last fa ll.

A f ter a st rong f irst season in Sout h Bend, she has established herself as a key leader of t he tea m.

“Siona Chisholm’s rea l ly g row n a lot in t he last 12 mont hs [since] she wa l ked in t he door last yea r as a t ra nsfer sophomore,” Spa rks sa id.

“She cont ributed on a conference level a yea r ago, but [we] ex pect her to ma ke a big impact on a nat iona l level [t his season].

So for her to be up f ront for us was a n ex pected piece, a nd she’s become a good leader for t he tea m.”

Chisholm was followed closely by f reshma n Grace Schager, senior Erin St rzeleck i, g raduate

student A ndrea Ma rkezich a nd f reshma n Gretchen Fa rley. Schager a nd Fa rley competed unattached, as t he coaching sta f f is st ill determining whet her to preser ve t heir elig ibilit y by redshir t ing t hem t his fa ll.

Not re Da me’s common pract ice is to redshir t nea rly a ll t r ue f reshma n. But t he impressive ef for ts in t ra ining a nd on t he race course f rom Schager a nd Fa rley have made it dif f icu lt to keep t hem on t he sideline.

“Bot h were ver y successf u l high school sta rs a nd have t ra nsit ioned well to t he college dista nce. It’s just a matter of, ‘Ca n we cont inue to t hrive w it h our upperclassmen, or do we need to rely on t he f reshmen? ’” Spa rks sa id.

“We like to redshir t a ll t he f reshmen to save t heir yea rs of elig ibilit y. Their f if t h yea r versus t heir f irst yea r, we wou ld assume t hey shou ld be dra mat ica lly better. But if t he tea m needs t hem, t hen t hey w ill put a uniform on in October a nd help t he tea m out.”

Ma rkezich, who prev iously attended Washing ton, was one of severa l g raduate t ra nsfers who impressed in t heir Not re Da me debuts on Friday.

“They pa r t icipated for one tea m for four yea rs, a nd t hen [I’m sure] it feels a bit like overnight, [t hey’re sudden ly] wea ring a dif ferent uniform,” Spa rks sa id.

“They’ve adapted to t he t ra ining well, adapted to t he tea m cu lture well, so we ex pect to see g raduate t ra nsfers on bot h sides ma k ing big impacts.”

On t he men’s side, senior Josh Met hner was f irst to t he f inish line. He stuck w it h t he lead pack for most of t he race before pu lling away dow n t he st retch, eventua l ly w inning by a n impressive ma rg in of more t ha n nine seconds.

Met hner dea lt w it h persistent injuries for much of last fa ll but has been in st rong form t his season a f ter redshir t ing in t he spring.

“He cou ld just rea lly focus on t ra ining in t he spring a nd summer, versus hav ing to race a ll t he way t hrough late spring,” Spa rks sa id about Met hner’s redshir t season.

“That f it ness gave him t he conf idence t hat he needed to be where he is today. A nd we’ll have Ca r ter Solomon out t here in t he coming weeks, a nd t hose t wo a re going to g ive us a rea lly good one-t wo punch

when it’s t ime to compete on t he conference a nd nat iona l level in November.”

Beyond Met hner, t he Irish were packed in about as t ight ly as you ca n get.

Graduate student Ja ke Renf ree, senior Robbie Cozea n, g raduate student Quinn Ga llagher a nd g raduate student Tyler Berg f illed out t he second t hrough f if t h slots a nd were sepa rated by less t ha n t hree seconds.

“That’s what we ex pect to see out of t hat g roup a ll yea r. They do a g reat job of t ra ining st ride-for-st ride toget her, a nd so once t hey get into a race, t hey just follow suit a nd work toget her a nd k ind of lock in for t hree-four t hs of t he race,” Spa rks sa id. “Then, t he t heme is, ‘A lright, t he last mile or t wo, let’s pick it up a nd see how ma ny people we ca n r un dow n.’

They did a g reat job of work ing toget her a nd moving t he last mile toget her.”

The Irish w ill look to build on Friday’s per forma nce t hrough t he rema inder of t he season. That sta r ts w it h t heir f ina l home meet, t he Joe Pia ne Not re Da me Inv ite, on Sept. 29.

A f ter not facing much compet it ion to t his point in t he season, Not re Da me w ill match up w it h severa l of t he nat ion’s top tea ms.

The No. 4 Irish women w ill have t heir ha nds f u ll w it h defending nat iona l cha mpion No. 1 NC State. The No. 8 men w ill enter t he meet as favorites aga inst No. 19 But ler a nd No. 21 NC State.

“It’ll be a not her good step for bot h tea ms,” Spa rks sa id.

“To go f rom where we ra n prett y comfor tably in our home meet at [t he] Nat iona l Cat holic [Inv ite], to now racing aga inst severa l top-30 tea ms.”

Contact Matthew Crow at mcrow@nd.edu

M Soccer Continued from page 10

mistake when the ball fell to him. Russo’s composed, right-footed tap bounced inside the right post for his second goal of the season.W hile the clock ticked inside the final five minutes, both teams found chances to pull ahead.

Irish volleyball sweeps Toledo

By RYAN MURPHY Sports Writer

T he Not re Da me volle y ba l l tea m completed a t wo-match s weep of t he Toledo Rocket s t h i s weekend, pu sh i ng t hei r over a l l record to 6 -2.

T he t wo match ser ies aga i n st t he Rocket s ma rked t he end of a successf u l non-con ference schedu le for t he I r i sh, w ho beg i n ACC play nex t weekend.

On Fr iday n ig ht, t he I r i sh u sed fou r set s to t a ke out t he Rocket s at P u rcel l Pav i l ion.

Not re Da me d ropped t he second set, but won t he f i r st, t h i rd a nd fou r t h en route to t he v ic tor y.

St a r f resh ma n Av a L a nge cont i nued her st rong st a r t to t he sea son, leadi ng t he I r i sh over a l l w it h 16 k i l l s on 38 at t ack s.

T h ree-t i me a l l-M AC selec t ion Tay lor A lt a nd fel low sen ior out side h it ter Jada Bouyer led t he w ay w it h 10 k i l l s apiece for Toledo.

I n t he f i r st set, tea m s t r aded poi nt s u nt i l t he I r i sh st r u ng toget her a 4- 0 r u n t hat ex tended t hei r lead to 17-11.

Toledo put t he I r i sh to t he test, t houg h, w hen Not re Da me reached match poi nt, closi ng t he ma r g i n to 24-22 before ju n ior out side h it ter Syd ne y Pa la z z olo f inished of f t he set w it h a k i l l.

Pa la z z olo a nd sen ior m idd le blocker C ha r it y McDowel l each had st rong f i r st set s for t he I r i sh, t a l ly i ng 5 k i l l s.

I n t he second set, seemi ng ly t he rever se occ u r red.

Toledo d ic t ated t he tempo, ju mpi ng out to a n ea rly lead a nd keepi ng t he Irish at bay for most of t he set.

T he I r i sh were able to t ie t h i ngs up at 20 late i n t he set, spu r red by t he play of L a nge.

T he Rocket s went on to a 5-1 r u n a fter t he I r i sh comeback, t houg h, to squa re t he

First, a straight-on UNC free kick from 25 yards out died against the Irish wall. Then, Burns stepped into an edgeof-the-18 shot on the other end, missing the right post by a few feet.

Finally, the Tar Heels neutralized a close look from sophomore midfielder KK Baffour, and the ensuing

match 1-1. W it h 5 k i l l s, t he play of sen ior m idd le blocker A bby E r ick son made t he d i f ference for Toledo i n t he set .

T he I r i sh took t he t h i rd a nd fou r t h set s by t he sa me 25-20 ma r g i n each t i me.

Not re Da me cont i nued it s w i n n i ng w ay s Su nday w hen t he y t r aveled to Sav age A rena i n Toledo for t he second ga me of t he home-a nd-home.

T he I r i sh won t he f i r st a nd t h i rd set s ha ndi ly (25-16 a nd 26 -19 ), but t he second set requ i red a few ex t r a ser ies.

Not re Da me won t hat set a s wel l, 30 -28, a pa r t of t he t h ree-set s weep.

Pa la z z olo, a t r a n sfer f rom H ig h Poi nt Un iver sit y w ho c a me i nto t he weekend 11t h nat iona l ly a nd f i r st a mong ACC player s w it h 4.56 k i l l s per set, cont i nued to lead t he w ay for t he I r i sh on Su nday.

She t a l l ied 16 kills a nd a ser v ice ace for 18 tot a l poi nt s i n t he match, best on t he tea m.

Toledo had t h ree player s record seven k i l l s but no player more t ha n t hat a s t he Rocket s st r ug g led to put up t he sa me offen sive produc t ion t he y d id on T hu r sday n ig ht .

Bot h tea m s begin con ference play this com i ng weekend.

Toledo w i l l host Ea ster n M ich iga n for a t wo match ser ies T hu r sday a nd Fr iday to open play in t he M id-A mer ic a n Con ference ( M AC ).

Not re Da me st a r t s play i n t he st rong ACC on Fr iday w hen t he I r i sh host Boston Col lege at 6 : 30 p.m. T he I r i sh w i l l t hen host Sy r ac u se on Su nday at noon to rou nd out t he weekend. Bot h matches c a n be st rea med on ACC Net work E x t r a .

Contact Rya n Mu r phy at r mu r ph 22 @ nd.edu

Irish corner came up empty. Notre Dame will finish its road trip with a brief return to non-conference play Tuesday at 7 p.m. The Irish will face No. 3 A kron, their second top-three opponent of the opening month.

Contact Tyler Reidy at treidy3@nd.edu

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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ndsmcobserver.com | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2023 | The Observer

Crossword | Will Shortz

9

Horoscope | Eugenia Last Happy Birthday: Take a stance, bring about change and live your dream. Seize the moment and construct your life to harvest success. Choose to take control and use your talents, connections and ideas to improve the world around you and to build a solid foundation that offers you and future generations a platform for growth. Stand up, be counted and make a difference. Your numbers are 8, 14, 22, 26, 33, 37, 45.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Pull in favors if it will help free up time to relax and enjoy the company of someone you love. A break will help improve your attitude and lust for life. Be good to yourself and appreciate those who stand by your side.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Don’t waste time satisfying someone else’s needs.

Your happiness depends on following your heart and pursuing something that makes you happy. Put yourself first and you will achieve your goal. Don’t let temptation throw you off or let someone’s words bring you down.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Too much talk and not enough listening will put you at a disadvantage. Gather information, research and do your own thing.

It’s what you master and present that matters. Don’t limit what you can accomplish because you are too busy trying to impress others.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Take a stance, lift limitations and drive home your goals. Stay focused on the process and use your skills and passion to help finish what you start. Trust in truth, not hearsay, and avoid getting caught up in false information.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Change only what’s necessary. Stick with what you know works and is financially sound. A healthy routine or a trendy new look will boost your morale. Time is on your side; slow down and enjoy the moment. Romance is in the stars.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Pay attention to what things cost before you sign up for something that isn’t budget-friendly. A day trip, social event or creative endeavor will encourage you to spend more time doing what makes you happy with the ones you love.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Reach out to someone with courage, insight and hands-on help. How you utilize your time will determine what others think of you. Be a participant instead of an observer, and you will gain respect.

Personal growth, peace and love are favored.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Get a foothold on the latest news. Having all the facts before you move will make the difference between success and failure.

Reassess your relationships and adjust whatever isn’t working for you. A positive change based on intelligence and foresight is overdue.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Consider what you want instead of caring for others’ demands. Put your energy into pursuits that enhance your ability to bring in more cash, make your body more robust and make prospects more to your liking. Don’t let someone else map out your life.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Don’t get angry; change what you don’t like.

Control the situation and use your knowledge and experience to help energize your plans. It’s OK to do things differently or to make financial gain your purpose. A change at home will lift restrictions and depression.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Be a good listener and be passionate about what you want and how you get your way. Put physical needs and personal gain first before you give in to other people’s demands. Make self-love a priority. You will achieve your goals.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20):Pay attention to how you earn and handle your cash. Don’t share information that identifies you with a stereotype. Keep others guessing. Someone you intrigue will become the ally you need to reach your destination of choice.

Birthday Baby: You are organized, intelligent and adaptable. You are dependable and respected.

Sudoku | The Mepham Group

Jumble | David Hoyt and Jeff knurek

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Sports

The observer | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2023 | ndsmcobserver.com

ND WOMen’s soccer

ND Men’s soccer

Irish start ACC play strong with 3-1 win

Irish secure draw at UNC

By TYLER REIDY Associate Sports Editor

In its first ACC road match this season, No. 10 Notre Dame men’s soccer drew with North Carolina, 1-1.

Despite falling behind in the 34th minute, the Irish equalized on senior for ward Daniel Russo’s 84th-minute finish. Senior goalkeeper Br yan Dowd stopped four Tar Heel shots, all within the game’s opening 32 minutes.

With the result, Notre Dame now wields a 4-1-2 record, including a win and a draw in conference play.

The Irish may have been fortunate to concede just one goal by halftime. Just over 40 minutes in, North Carolina held a 10-0 advantage in the shot column. In the fifth minute, a high cross cleared a host of Irish defenders, landing for David Bercedo at the back post. He lifted a shot from just outside the goal area, but Dowd reached up to make the night’s first save.

Dowd would come up big again on a low, 25-yard rocket from Quenzi Huerman.

Diving to his left, the keeper def lected the strike just before it reached the post, causing one of UNC’s seven first-half corners.

In the 26th minute, Huerman tested Dowd one more time. After Dowd punched out a dangerous lateral ball, the graduate transfer whipped a 15-yard volley, forcing a sprawling denial.

Eight minutes later, the

Wrap Continued from page 12

“That feels great to have my career high,” Estime said. “But hopefully, let’s do it again.”

The Irish lacked consistency at times Saturday.

But they f lashed big-play upside that has been lacking in the past. The type that left them coming up short whenever a national championship contender came up on the schedule.

Graduate student defensive lineman Javontae Jean-Baptiste made two explosive plays in the Chippewas backfield to force another three-and-out.

Graduate student safety Thomas Harper followed suit on the next series, nearly bringing down Bauer for a sack on first down and dropping him with a bone-jarring, fumble-forcing blow the next play.

Sandwiched in between, Hartman turned the excited “ohs” drifting from the stands into jubilant cheers

Heels broke through. Given space on the left wing, Ahmad A l Qaq charged into the 18 and rolled a perfect cross just below the penalty spot. There, Martin Vician sent a right-footed redirection through the sweeping legs of Dowd. The Har vard transfer’s second goal of the season doubled as his first at Dorrance Field.

As the first half whittled away, Notre Dame finally generated a top-f light opportunity. A cleared corner kick careened to junior defender Kyle Genenbacher outside the box. His rising, backspinning deliver y cleared all traffic, including the keeper, but turned just wide of the far post.

The far more even second half saw each team register nine shots. Midway through the final 45, UNC caught the woodwork as Sam Williams charged a loose ball and hammered a long-range shot against the bottom of the crossbar.

But Williams’ near goal occurred during a 12-minute stretch that featured six Notre Dame shots. Riding new found momentum from their push, the Irish leveled the score with under seven minutes remaining. Senior defender Paddy Burns sw ung a cross to the penalty spot, where it pin-balled around and drew the attention of two Tar Heel defenders. As a result, Russo was left unmarked, and he made no see M SOCCER PAGE 8

as he f loated a 76-yard bomb into the bread basket of Tyree.

Two more beautifully thrown deep balls by Hartman in the third quarter, one to junior wide receiver Jayden Thomas and another to freshman wide receiver Rico Flores Jr., both led to scoring drives. The first set up a Hartman sneak.

The second resulted in a 50-yard kick by graduate student Spencer Shrader. It’s been a long time since Notre Dame has had that type of quarterback play, the type capable of not just winning a game but taking it over.

“He’s an NFL guy,” Merriweather said. “The difference between college and NFL is a lot of times the quarterbacks don’t get receivers a choice but to catch. And I think that’s what Sam does for us.”

Still, it was far from perfect for Notre Dame. While the Irish showed the ability to make game-changing plays, they also made the types of mistakes that could sink

By ANDREW McGUINNESS Sports Editor

The first seven games of the Notre Dame women’s soccer season produced some ups, dow ns and inbet weens. But Friday night marked the beginning of what the Irish have been looking for ward to.

A year ago, Notre Dame came up agonizingly close to w inning the ACC regular season championship.

The same could be said about reaching the conference championship game, w ith Notre Dame scoring three goals against No. 5 Florida State but falling in penalt y kicks.

Winning in the ACC is always difficult. The conference is consistently one of the best in college soccer, and it’s shaping up to be that way again in 2023.

Six teams in the conference are ranked in the top 25.

Three are in the top 10.

Wake Forest, who entered Friday at 6-0-1, wasn’t even one of them, although they did make the receiv ing votes section.

The Irish dealt the Demon Deacons their first setback of 2023, though, w ith a conv incing 3-1 v ictor y at A lumni Stadium on Friday night. For the second straight game, the Irish tallied three times from three different goal-scorers.

Two of those goal-scorers were repeats from Notre Dame’s prev ious contest, though.

them next Saturday. Notre Dame gave Central Michigan a roughing the passer penalty, and it turned into a backward pass that went 12 yards in the wrong direction and a missed field goal. It’s safe to expect Ohio State to take full advantage of similar mishaps.

Same with the plague of bad tackling that was especially prevalent during the Chippewas’ first scoring drive.

The absences of graduate student linebacker JD Bertrand (concussion) and safety DJ Brown (hamstring) were felt as the Chippewas found success on the ground throughout the opening half.

Notre Dame’s defense largely played solid in the opening half, but got sloppy again in the closing moments. Two wide-open throws for Bauer, including a 31-yard strike to Tyson Davis, brought Central Michigan back in the game as Bauer capped off the drive with a one-yard rushing score.

As Freeman said before the game, it’s natural for minds to

For the fifth time in their last six games, the Irish drew first blood, barely waiting five minutes to do so. An excellent pass from sophomore midfielder Leah K lenke snuck into the box and found streaking graduate student midfielder Kristina Ly nch for her third goal of the season. It was Ly nch’s first game in the starting lineup since Aug. 27 against Arkansas, an opportunit y she made sure to capitalize on.

Wake Forest nearly answered back just moments later, w ith star scorer Caiya Hanks ripping a shot off the crossbar.

However, both offenses would sputter out for much of the half, w ith Wake Forest in particular struggling to generate chances after the first few minutes.

Given both teams entered the night top 20 nationally in shots per game, it was surprising to see both fall into a slump.

But the Irish wouldn’t stay dow n forever. W hile Wake Forest struggled to put pressure on the Irish defense, they had no trouble racking up fouls.

Wake Forest exceeded its season average for fouls per game in the first half alone, committing 11. Their 10th gave the Irish a free kick just outside the box w ith barely t wo minutes remaining in the half.

That was enough time for graduate student forward Maddie Mercado to

make something happen, as she led the ball into just the right spot for senior midfielder Ellie Ospeck to chip in her third goal of the season and give the Irish a critical insurance marker.

The offensive dormancy quick ly set back in early in the half.

Other than another dangerous bid from Hanks that senior goalkeeper Ashley Naylor made a div ing stop on, chances were few and far bet ween for the first 30 minutes of the second half.

This time, the Irish found the opportunistic trait that had bit them quite a few times earlier this season.

Notre Dame earned its luck, though, w ith K lenke making an impressive run to keep the ball alive along the near sideline.

Moments later, she worked it across to Mercado, who this time called her ow n number w ith a perfectly placed strike to elude the dive of Wake keeper Madison Howard.A lthough Hanks would get a much-earned goal w ith five minutes left, the Irish were never seriously threatened.

With a gauntlet of top opponents to finish their season, it was paramount for the Irish to start conference play strong. Friday’s complete effort checked that box off emphatically.”.

drift to the highly anticipated clash with Ohio State before it arrives. And it’s easy to see why the Irish like their chances against the Buckeyes, even if they will be underdogs.

Though the Irish popped for plenty of big plays, they probably wish those moments didn’t matter as much as they did.

For the second straight week, Notre Dame made things harder on itself than they needed to be.

The Irish committed eight penalties for 72 yards.

It took a high-level pass breakup by sophomore cornerback Benjamin Morrison to prevent the Chippewas from making it a one-score game late in the third.

A dominant fourth quarter that pushed the Irish lead to 41-17 made things feel better, but only a little. The Irish still have work to do. “(We’re) an aggressive team.

Are [we] a disciplined team?

Absolutely, but an aggressive team.

And sometimes you have aggressive penalties,” Freeman said. “You got to let these guys be aggressive.

What I tell them to come out of the locker room, it’s not, ‘Don’t make mistakes.’

Sometimes, you have penalties. But it’s not a discipline issue, it’s an execution issue.”

That alone won’t be enough against the bigtime opponents on Notre Dame’s horizon.

But now comes the exciting part: a high-stakes showdown under the lights against a top10 opponent. It’s an opportunity for a signature moment.

More importantly, it’s an opportunity to elevate the Freeman-era Irish to the championship-caliber level they’re aspiring for.

“We always take it one week (at a) time.” Estime said.

“Central Michigan was our opponent this week, but now it’s Ohio State, all Ohio State.”

Contact Andrew McGuinness at amcguinn@nd.edu

Contact Andrew McGuinness at amcguinn@nd.edu

Sports

ndsmcobserver.com | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2023 | The Observer

11

TRANSFER PORTAL FEATURE

Transfer portal additions make a difference for the Irish against Central Michigan University

By ANNIKA HERKO Sports Writer

It seems fitting that on the same day that former Irish quarterback Tyler Buchner started (and was benched in) his first football game for the Alabama Crimson Tide, the players that transferred into the Notre Dame football program for the 2023 season put together some critical plays for the Irish.

Defensive End Jean-Baptiste

Javontae

The defensive end transfer from Ohio State got a few good hits in this week, slowing down the Chippewas’ running backs. He had one tackle for loss and was credited with three quarterback hurries, the most of anyone on the team.

That was definitely one of the highlights for the Irish defense who struggled at times to get Central Michigan quarterback Jase Bauer off the field.

The back-up only completed 10 of 20 passes during the game, likely becauseexpectedstarterBertEmanuel Jr. was out due to illness. Most of the success of the Central Michigan offense came from running the ball.

Feature Continued from page 12

through the first 40 minutes or so. The Chippewas kept chipping away at Notre Dame’s lead, drawing within 11 on a field goal with 1:59 left in the third quarter. It set up an important drive for the Irish, knowing extending the lead could be enough to put the game out for reach.

Safety Thomas Harper

Quarterback Sam Hartman

There are few universal crowd reactions in a football stadium. The “oooooohhh” that follows watching a safety run at top speed towards a back-turned quarterback to later make a hard hit is one of those few unifiers. That is exactly how graduate student senior Harper caused Bauer to lose control of the football, stalling Central Michigan’s drive and forcing a punt. This is Thomas’ first season at Notre Dame after playing for four years at Oklahoma State.

Besides his big impact on Bauer on the play, his contributions to the defense have been significant.

Harper was fourth on the team during the game for total tackles with four, which include two solo tackles.

Sam Hartman, our savior, our hope. The transfer from Wake Forest has been everything Notre Dame fans wanted and expected him to be. Hartman went 16 for 26 for 330 yards, 3 touchdowns and no picks in this week’s game.

He also ran for six yards and one touchdown. While Notre Dame will have its first real challenge of the year next week against Ohio State, Hartman’s consistent high level of play has given Irish Nation a lot of confidence in their new, poised quarterback. Hartman is a threat that makes defenses respect the pass in ways they didn’t have to when last year’s quarterbacks — Buchner and Drew Pyne — were under center.

His role as captain also shows how much his teammates and coaches value his leadership and other intangible contributions to the team. Sam, any chance you’ll stay in college for a seventh year? The transfer portal has been under a lot of scrutiny recently but it seems to have worked out really well for Notre Dame so far this season.

Kicker Spencer Shrader Shrader missed a 59 yarder for the Irish in the game against Central Michigan, which would’ve been the longest of his career. He already beat his previous long of 52 with the University of South Florida in 2021, last week against NC State. He did make all five of his extra attempts (remaining perfect for Notre Dame in that department) as well two field goals later in the game.

Their first play wasn’t a handoff to electric junior running back Audric Estime, nor was it a short Hartman throw to a trusted target. Instead, the Irish quarterback looked deep down the opposite sideline as his firstquarter bomb and completed another one, this time for 42 yards to freshman Rico Flores Jr. It was no secret entering this season that the Irish receiver

ARIANNA DENNING| The Observer

Contact Annika Herko at aherko@nd.edu

Irish graduate student kicker Spencer Shrader kicks for a field goal in Notre Dame’s 45-24 away victory against North Carolina State.

room needed some help. The wideout corps were basically outproduced by Michael Mayer all by himself last season.

Flores was one of three fourstar recruits brought to South Bend in hopes of adding more talent to the Irish aerial attack. Flores beat junior corner La’Vario Wiley clean off the line, hauled in the pass in stride and fought off Wiley’s reach to add

a few more yards onto the play.

Sometimes, a wide receiver gets open deep based on brilliant scheming or a bust in coverage.

Flores’ big play was pure skill, which is what makes his future so exciting.

But not all big plays have to go for big yardage. The Irish settled for a field goal on that drive which, while important, kept Notre Dame’s lead at two

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scores. After getting the ball back, Marcus Freeman found his team at a critical fourth and two at the Central Michigan 40.

The Irish could’ve gone conservative, either punting the ball or calling a safe running play.

Instead, Hartman rolled to his right, counting on freshman Jaden Greathouse to get open to sustain a drive that would ultimately put the Irish ahead by three scores.

That’s exactly what he did.

Greathouse has already made some explosive plays this season, catching three touchdowns in Notre Dame’s first three games.

But Freeman knows a huge key to the Irish taking a step forward from last season is perfecting the little things. Whether it’s converting on short-yardage situations or Merriweather taking pride in his blocking, the Irish offense has largely made strides in that department.

When the dust settled, Merriweather, Flores and Greathouse combined for eight catches going for 164 yards and a touchdown. None of the three are game-breakers by themselves yet. Maybe they’ll reach that level someday. But they are rewriting what young receivers are capable of in the Irish offense. That bodes well for their futures — and their team’s.

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The observer | MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2023 | ndsmcobserver.com

CENTRAL MICHIGAN GAME WRAP

Irish set the stage for Ohio State with inconsistent win over Central Michigan

By ANDREW McGUINNESS Sports Editor

ARIANNA DENNING | The Observer

Irish junior tight end Mitchell Evans catches a pass for two yards from graduate student quarterback Sam Hartman against NC State.

It’s generally not a great thing when a football game ends and all a team’s fans can think is “Thank God that’s over.”

In fairness to Notre Dame, that sentiment is more a result of what’s to come than what occurred. The latter certainly has some kinks to work out, though. For all of the talk of not looking forward, Notre Dame’s Week 3 showdown against Central Michigan was always going to be a primer, not a feature. That comes next week, as the Irish welcome undefeated No. 6 Ohio State into town for the biggest game of the Marcus Freeman era since the teams met 378 days ago in Columbus.

“These wins are hard to come by. We are so greedy and selfish and we want to be perfect. I was proud of the way they battled. It wasn’t perfect, but they

battled and they battled and they battled,” head coach Marcus Freeman said.

The Irish could not have started the game any better.

After luring the Chippewas defense down with three quality runs by junior running back Audric Estime, graduate student quarterback Sam Hartman took his first shot through the air and hit a 75-yard jackpot courtesy of a wide-open Tobias Merriweather streaking down the left sideline. It was only the sophomore wide receiver’s fifth career reception. But three of them have gone for at least 40 yards. This one wasn’t even the first to find paydirt.

But the Chippewas would not let the early deficit deter them. Aided by a roughing the passer penalty on sophomore defensive lineman Joshua Burnham, Central Michigan methodically marched down the field on the ground. Central Michigan quarterback Jase Bauer and

running backs Myles Bailey and Marion Lukes combined for 34 yards on five carries. An outstretched Bailey crossed the goal line from six yards out to even the score.

Notre Dame responded with the composure they lacked in these types of moments last season. The officials were not exactly friends of the home team on the Irish’s second drive. A pass interference f lag was picked up. Then, an Estime first-down rush was (correctly) overturned after already announcing the initial call would stand. Yet Hartman stood strong to complete a third-and-nine pass to graduate student wide receiver Chris Tyree. And after being ruled short of the sticks on third down, Estime stayed on his feet to turn the ensuing fourth-down conversion into seven points, setting the tone en route to a career-high 176 rushing yards. see WRAP PAGE 10

Receivers FEATURE

Young receivers lead Irish into top 10 home showdown next weekend

By ANDREW McGUINNESS Sports Editor

In past seasons, Notre Dame was dependent on upperclassmen to carry their passing game. On Saturday, a trio of underclassmen wide receivers delivered in an exciting way that could translate into Notre Dame’s highly anticipated matchup with Ohio State.

It’s not that Notre Dame hasn’t produced quality wide receivers in recent memory. In fact, the Irish currently have four active NFL wideouts, the most of any skill position outside of tight end. And that group doesn’t even include Will Fuller, who posted three seasons of at least 600 yards in a sixyear pro career. Miles Boykin, Equanimeous St. Brown, Chase Claypool and Ben Skowronek all enjoyed plenty of success in South Bend. And that’s helped prepare them to be quality NFL contributors — and in Skowronek’s case, a Super Bowl champion.

It took a while for most of them to reach that point,

though. None caught more than eight passes as a freshman — including Skowronek for a 7-6 Northwestern team.

Expecting them to be key contributors heading into a Week 4 showdown against a top-10, blueblood opponent like Ohio State might’ve been too much to ask.

But if Notre Dame’s daydreaming victory over Central Michigan on Saturday was any indication, things might be different this year. They already are in a lot of ways for the Irish passing game. Against the Chippewas, graduate student Sam Hartman became the first Irish quarterback with multiple 75-yard-plus touchdown passes since at least 1996. The first one came on just the third offensive play from scrimmage for the Irish.

And it wasn’t a veteran on the receiving end of it, but sophomore Tobias Merriweather.

It was the fifth reception of Merriweather’s Irish career, which started last season with lots of promise but was derailed due to injuries. Yet that

first-quarter score was already Merriweather’s third career reception of at least 40 yards. His lone catch last season, in fact, was a go-ahead fourth-quarter touchdown against Stanford from 41 yards out. Against NC State, he hauled in a 45-yard grab that set up graduate student Spencer Shrader’s recordsetting 54-yard field goal. And of course, he galloped down the sun-soaked left sideline Saturday for 75 yards to start the scoring.

“I think, obviously, first, that’s your dream. You want to score every play, ” Merriweather said.

“I think football is a patient game. You have to wait for the ball to come your way. A lot of things have to happen for you to get the ball and for you to make big plays. So I think just staying patient and having a good support group around me — my close friends, my family, my coaches — just telling me to keep going.”

The Irish didn’t play their most crisp game, especially see FEATURE PAGE 11

MEGHAN LANGE | The Observer

Irish graduate student quarterback Sam Hartman looks to freshman wide receiver Jaden Greathouse in the Irish’s 42-3 win against Navy.