Print Edition for The Observer for Wednesday, May 1, 2024

By ISA SHEIKH

Editor-in-Chief

Over the last 19 years, University President Fr. John Ignatius Jenkins hasn’t had much free time.

“There are only so many hours in the day,” he told The Observer as he prepares to step down on June 1.

The occasion has not gone unnoticed. The campus community marked it last Thursday with festivities held by the Office of the President as a way of “thanking students” for supporting Jenkins during his presidency. Students received commemorative mugs reading “Rev. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., University of Notre Dame President, 2005-2024” on one side and “Be a force for good” on the other. Later in the night, fireworks lit up the sky as protestors marched South Quad chanting about Palestine — and Jenkins himself, calling on the president to “act” on his statement calling for a ceasefire.

Jenkins spoke to The Observer earlier that day, in the first interview he’s given to the tri-campus’s independent newspaper since 2016.

The philosopher administrator

After graduating from Notre Dame in 1976 and 1978 with

bachelor’s and master’s degrees in philosophy, Jenkins was ordained a priest and went on to pursue a doctorate in the same field at the University of Oxford.

He wrote his dissertation on “knowledge, faith and philosophy in Thomas Aquinas.” Jenkins returned to Notre Dame to teach philosophy from 1990 until his selection as president.

When he first graduated from Notre Dame “long, long ago,” Jenkins said he did not know what he wanted to do.

“I wasn’t sure what I was going to do, but I wanted to live a meaningful life, that is a life that was about something beyond myself and had meaning, beyond simply self-interest or self-serving, and I’ve been given that in abundance,” Jenkins said.

In “The Republic,” Plato wrote about the idea of a philosopher king, an ideal ruler who combines political skill with philosophical knowledge. Jenkins, with all his expertise in philosophy, has in a sense served as a philosopher administrator. He said that philosophy has undoubtedly shaped his outlook.

“I’m sure there are many things [from studies in philosophy] that kind of informed my work,” he said.

He zeroed in on Aquinas.

“I’d say there’s a deep sense

in Aquinas — going all through that tradition, from Aristotle to Aquinas and beyond — of community and our responsibility to one another, and that’s sort of very much part of what it is to be a university,” he said.

Aquinas wrote in a dialogic form, Jenkins said, harkening back to a lecture he gave his students, and Aquinas’ attempts to emulate a conversation are not unlike Notre Dame as a “community in conversation.”

Two decades of dialogue, two decades of controversy

With conversation comes controversy, and Jenkins has handled his fair share.

“Dialogue, and to an extent, controversy is what we do,” he said.

Uproar early in his tenure over performances of “The Vagina Monologues” was followed by controversy over President Barack Obama’s appearance at the 2009 commencement, the awarding of the Laetare Medal to current president Joe Biden and former Speaker of the House John Boehner, Mike Pence’s speech at commencement in 2017, Jenkins’ unmasked appearance at the White House Rose Garden and various other media cycles.

Jenkins said he regretted removing his mask at the White

House while attending a ceremony for Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination to the Supreme Court, though he does not regret attending.

“I don’t regret being there, because the court has been dominated by two schools, Harvard and Yale, and to have a Notre Dame alum and professor … I’m very proud of that, not that I’m endorsing [Justice Amy Coney] Barrett’s views,” he said.

Jenkins said that Notre Dame has a unique position.

“Our position invites controversies that other places don’t have because there’s a set of values that may conflict with various views, but I feel proud that we’ve worked through those disagreements, controversies … that’s what we should be about,” he said.

Jenkins has waded into some of this discourse on occasion, including when he wrote a letter to the Chicago Tribune distancing the University from two professors’ op-ed arguing for abortion rights. He emphasized that Notre Dame’s priority is not institutional neutrality but the University’s guiding Catholic commitments.

“As a Catholic university, we are just different than most of our peers and there’s a set of moral commitments and a moral

tradition as well as a religious tradition that informs our work. That doesn’t mean that everyone accepts it. It doesn’t mean that everyone has to agree to it. It doesn’t mean that people can’t speak against it. All those things can happen,” he said. “But as the leader of this institution, that broad framework should inform what we do … I tried to do that and articulate as best I could, as best I see it, what Notre Dame’s broad position is.”

Balancing Catholic values with academic freedom and dialogue has been at the forefront of these arguments. Jenkins is eager to discuss Obama’s appearance as commencement speaker, which he said was welcomed.

“There was a lot of agitation, much of it from outside of the campus. But I think on campus, there was a general affirmation that the elected leader of the nation should speak and was received to speak,” he said.

On that graduation day, however, Fr. Wilson Miscamble, a history professor, spoke at a rally against Obama’s presence and argued that administrators were falling short of the University’s values.

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Conboy defends against accusations in email

Observer Staff Report

Saint Mary’s College President Katie Conboy released an email Tuesday afternoon with the subject “Strengthening Our Bonds” and included a response to “misinformation” circulating around campus. The email specifically focused on topics regarding Saint Mary’s administration, Board of Trustees and faculty that Conboy says “contradicts and diminishes the positive campus experience [students] are enjoying.”

“To be clear: even unintentional misinformation hurts these valued members of our community, and I take seriously my responsibility to correct it,” she said in the email.

Conboy took issue with information stemming from last November about the now-rescinded nondiscrimination story, stating

Jexit

Notre Dame’s leaders have planted the damaging seeds of moral confusion,” Miscamble said in his speech.

Critics have repeated those concerns over the allowance of a drag performance on campus

that it was released before the Board of Trustees “were ready” to release a statement. The updated wording of the policy was originally published on the Saint Mary’s official website in June 2023. She wrote in her email the policy “is no longer on the table.”

“I hope this might help any members of our extended community who have lingered in that moment to work towards the unity we seek and to accept that the Board acknowledged mistakes and apologized for them in December,” she wrote.

Conboy later elaborated on other “primary examples of misinformation” further in her email.

The first statement Conboy refuted is the alleged loss of a Catholic identity on campus. She pointed to a letter written by the president of the Sisters of the Holy Cross Sister M. Veronique

and other recent administration moves.

In an interview earlier in the year, Jenkins told the National Catholic Reporter he is concerned about increasing polarization among American Catholics and that some special interest groups in the Church have tried to focus solely on questions regarding gay marriage or abortion.

(Wiedower), CSC ’70, which was a response to an earlier Observer article about the newly established Loretto Trust.

She then responded to an allegation tailored towards the educational programs offered on campus. She said the “Avenue curriculum is under construction” and will implement general education requirements. She also said the currently offered courses on campus are “fully in line” with various other Catholic liberal arts colleges.

“Saint Mary’s will continue to require coursework in theology, religious studies and philosophy, all of which are foundational in the Catholic intellectual tradition,” Conboy wrote.

She also said individuals who brought alleged statements about “inappropriate and unsuitable materials in their courses” have not enrolled or read the course

Jenkins will serve as commencement speaker next month, a move that has elicited some criticism from graduates in the class of 2024.

“Honored to be asked, happy to do it. Will try to give a good speech,” he said bluntly. He offered no preview of what his speech might look like.

“I can’t ruin the suspense.”

materials she referred to.

“We will protect the academic freedom of faculty members to choose the texts, materials, and methodologies they utilize in their areas of expertise,” she said.

Conboy continued to counter accusations by references a letter sent to the Board of Trustees claiming the school lost 87 students from the freshman class during this 2023-2024 school year. She said the retention rate between the fall and spring semester was 98%, a record high in recent years.

Lastly, Conboy commented on the accusation that the College fell behind in its fundraising efforts for the current school year. In response, she stated the 2024 Donor Challenge raised the largest amount in the history of its conception. She also mentioned the College is in a “quiet phase of a comprehensive campaign,” and this

Becoming an elite university

Under Jenkins’ tenure, the University has continued its ascension to the status of an elite university, becoming more selective, higher-ranked and expensive.

“I believe the world does not necessarily need another prestigious university,” Jenkins told the National Catholic Reporter. “But a Catholic university in the richest, broadest sense is something the world needs and the church needs.”

As Notre Dame has nonetheless achieved that prestige, Jenkins said that despite mistakes, he is proud of the University’s trajectory.

“I think it is a remarkable story of how not me, but the whole University has moved forward, academically but also in terms of a distinctive mission,” he said.

Two decades is a long time, as Jenkins acknowledges. He said that he has been concerned about societal trends that have occurred across the country in this period.

“I think it’s a general phenomenon that people of the younger generation are disengaged from not only the Church but from many institutions, and so that does concern me a bit,” he said.

“To be honest with you, what worries me most is a certain isolation.”

He also mentioned concerns over social capital.

“There’s a tendency, really for society in general, but young people in particular, to have fewer friends, fewer connections. I agree with those who say that’s one of the pernicious effects of the digital revolution, and those phones. We kind of connect digitally, but we don’t connect humanly, and I think in the long run, that’s not healthy for people, and it doesn’t lead to the best outcomes of human development,” he said.

campaign has “already exceeded” the total of any other SMC campaign. Conboy compared the endowment fund’s growth from June 2020 of $199.2 million to their last quarterly report of $323.4 million.

She asked students to reach out to the College if they would like clarification on information they may hear in passing and advertised news sources about events happening on campus provided by Saint Mary’s. These sources include their digital newsletter, SMC Stories, their alumnae digital newsletter, Bridge, and an upcoming series of webinars, an idea that came out of listening sessions held in January and February.

“I hope we can move together into the future with a continued commitment to seek the truth and to use it to strengthen our bonds,” Conboy said.

Former presidents and becoming one Jenkins said that the examples and guidance of former presidents Fr. Ted Hesburgh and Fr. Edward “Monk” Malloy were helpful as he learned the ropes.

“One of [Notre Dame’s] strengths is a certain continuity of leadership and consistency of purpose,” he said. “Personally, Fr. Hesburgh and Fr. Malloy were very supportive of me and gave me great advice. I’m deeply indebted to both of them,” Jenkins said. “And that doesn’t always happen in institutions where the new guy comes in and the old guy is shoved aside, and I hope I will be the same sort of help to my successor, Fr. [Robert] Dowd.”

While decades have passed since Hesburgh’s famous opendoor policy and midnight chats, Jenkins says he didn’t feel removed from the student body.

“One of the best things about my situation is I live in Fisher Graduate Apartments and, you know, you walk to campus and you’ll run into people and have a conversation with them. Sometimes it wasn’t the best conversations, but those are the ways, you know … obviously, you get to interact with student government and student leaders a lot and those kinds of things,” he said.

Jenkins said he was excited for the change and looked forward to teaching rather than administering.

“I did love the job. I love the people I work with, but, you know, it’s time for a change after a while — both for the University and for me — and I very much look forward to getting back to reading and writing and teaching. So I’m actually excited about that,” he said.

Contact Isa Sheikh at isheikh@nd.edu

Class teaches generation of hope in preaching

By PETER BREEN Senior News Writer

On Friday mornings this semester, six seminarians and three laypersons gathered in a Malloy Hall seminar room for Preaching III, a master of divinity class taught by Fr. Michael Connors.

One focus of the class was learning how to deliver homilies at special occasions, such as funerals or weddings.

Another was investigating how to proclaim a “prophetic word” attentive to biblical justice and Catholic social teaching.

In line with the latter end, the class read a chapter from the Rev. Luke Powery’s book, “Dem Dry Bones: Preaching, Death, and Hope,” in preparation for a discussion held on April 5.

Powery is a Black Baptist minister and the dean of Duke University Chapel. He’s an up-and-coming “star” in the world of homiletics, according to Connors, who directs Notre Dame’s 41-year-old Marten Program in Homiletics and Liturgics.

After a student lead the class in prayer, Connors got

the conversation rolling by asking if anyone in the room had ever been to a Black church. Three or four hands went up.

Next Connors inquired about what the class found interesting and puzzling in the reading.

The first four students to enter the discussion said they were struck by what Powery wrote regarding hope. Chris Mulholland, a temporarilyprofessed seminarian, was the fourth student to speak. He directed the class to a passage, in which Powery analyzed “Steal Away,” a Black spiritual.

The chorus of the spiritual goes: “Steal away, steal away, steal away to Jesus! / Steal away, steal away home, I ain’t got long to stay here!”

Powery wrote that preaching should generate the type of hope which “steal away” generated for slaves. But Mulholland said he was worried that the spiritual might not generate hope about life on Earth.

The seminarian said one might hear the chorus and think: Earthly life and its inherent suffering must just be

things to “get through,” and the only real home for humans is in heaven. “It’s kind of very not helpful,” he said.

Responding to Mulholland’s concern, a lay student said spirituals sometimes contained hidden messages regarding how to escape slavery. Mulholland speedily found a couple sentences where Powery explained the double meaning of “Steal Away,” and he read them out loud.

“This spiritual could be about ‘stealing away’ to the home known as heaven, but it also could be a call to ‘steal away’ to a free, physical place or a secret meeting among the slaves,” Powery wrote. “The hope voiced in this musical sermon is double-voiced; it is about another world and this world.”

Once the conversation on hope died down and following a few comments on the role of the imagination in preaching, Connors read aloud a statement he flagged in the chapter regarding the spoken word’s capacity to generate light.

The priest then asked the class about their confidence

in the spoken word — in preaching and other realms of life — considering the inundation of media in modern life.

Lauren Walatka, one of the lay students, said in her experience, words have been more likely to “kill” than give rise to something positive.

When Connors wondered aloud if Walatka had examples in mind, she recounted a homily delivered recently at her church that mentioned transgender people. “Some of the people in the pews were transgender or their children are — and those kids I’ve not seen back at church,” Walatka said.

Later the discussion moved on to the power of words in music and the effectiveness of brief homilies. The students also pondered whether to convey a homily’s most important points in the opening — before members of the congregation begin zoning out. (The class syllabus states that homilies should last about seven to nine minutes).

April 5 was the first time

Preaching III met after Easter, so the class concluded

its discussion by reflecting on the preaching students encountered during the Triduum.

Walatka said the preaching she heard at a morning prayer on Good Friday repeatedly used the line, “I thirst.” In the Gospel of John, Christ says “I thirst” just before dying on the cross. The line was returning to Walatka when she prayed, she said.

Mulholland said University President Fr. John Jenkins “crushed it” at the 10 a.m. Mass in the Basilica on Easter.

“I shouldn’t have been surprised,” he said, causing the class to chuckle. “His first line was, ‘Today is the day that makes us Christians.’”

A roughly 25-minute lecture from Connors on “preaching the just word” followed the 50-minute discussion. When the lecture ended, the class walked from the seminar room to the chapel in Malloy Hall. In the chapel, three students practiced delivering a homily.

Contact Peter Breen at pbreen2@nd.edu

Faculty in Residence appreciate community

By ANNELISE DEMERS Associate News Editor

While rectors live in all of the dorms on campus, and some dorms have a resident priest, there are two dorms that offer a unique adult presence: faculty in residence. Dunne Hall is the home to John Deak, a professor of Austrian history, and his wife Karen Deak, who worked in the IDEA Center. Additionally, Lyons Hall is the residence of Ed Hums, an accounting professor, and his wife Shirley Hums, who recently retired from her job in IT for athletics.

Since 2013, the Division of Student Affairs has pioneered a unique initiative to bridge the gap between students and faculty with the faculty-in-residence program. This program invites faculty members, along with their spouses and pets, to reside in student residence halls. Ed and Shirley Hums became the first married couple to take part in the program in the fall of 2013. Between the Hums, they have 100 years of service to the University in their respective roles.

John and Karen Deak moved into Dunne Hall right after its construction was completed in 2016. During COVID, they added Ziggy, their schnauzer, to their dorm apartment. Prior to his position as faculty in

residence, John Deak was a faculty fellow.

“We were faculty fellows, which was a program I don’t think they have anymore. But every dorm had a faculty fellow, and we were faculty fellows for Keenan [Hall].

Every other Friday, I went to play video games with the guys in Keenan in their basement and just hang out. And we would often try to go once a week to the dining hall,” John Deak said.

John and Karen Deak also served as the equivalent of a rector in their graduate years at the University of Chicago.

“In order to make ends meet, the University of Chicago hired graduate students, usually married couples, I think they still do. They are the equivalent of a rector. We did that job at Chicago while in graduate school for three years,” John Deak said. “We knew what we were getting into. We had that experience, so we have not been shocked.”

Ed and Shirley Hums did not have the experience of living in a dorm with college students prior to Student Affairs reaching out to them about this opportunity.

“We didn’t know what really to expect, you know, but we really enjoy it,” Shirley Hums said.

Faculty in residence at the University live full-time

within the dorms. For the Hums, they have a house in Mishawaka which they only return to during Christmas time.

“You can’t just be here during the weekend and go home on the weekends, things like that. No, you got to commit to it, and you know that upfront. And I think that’s one of the other reasons that we’ve been kind of successful, hopefully, is that we do integrate ourselves with the students,” Ed Hums said.

Faculty in residence receive a monthly stipend for any programming that they chose to host within the dorm. They also receive a meal plan from the university.

“I would say the funniest thing that I didn’t expect in this job, in this place, was the physical location of our apartment being directly across from the bathroom ... I hear so many girlfriends and female friends complimenting each other’s shoes and hair and dresses,” Karen Deak said.

Karen and John Deak hand out invitations to everyone in the hall to come over for dinner in groups for tacos, and they host an etiquette dinner before Dunne Hall’s signature event, a feast in South Dining Hall.

Shirley Hums invites students over for tea during the semester and cooks pancakes

for the students twice a semester. Ed Hums hosts a financial literacy class and talks within the dorm.

“I usually describe us to the guys as the fun aunt and uncle. If you really need a grown up, we’re absolutely here for that,” John Deak said.

Faculty in residence do not have the duties or responsibilities that the rector and hall staff in a dorm do, meaning they do not write students up for breaking rules.

“Having that kind of relationship with students would probably be antithetical to the role we have,” John Deak said.

Karen Deak has experienced a much different atmosphere in the dorms when it comes to dorm parties, believing the perceptions most adults have are exaggerated.

“I would say that John, more than me, gets a lot of questions from other faculty members about what it is like in the dorms ... my perception is that most grownups who work at Notre Dame perceive the dorms to be a nonstop party, especially the guy dorms. That’s really not true,” Karen Deak said.

The faculty in residence role serves as a channel for connections not only between lay faculty and students, but also a glimpse into married life. Additionally, it

serves as a bridge between faculty’s classroom interactions and their awareness of student life in the broader context of dormitory living.

Ed Hums emphasized the value of communal living with individuals of all ages in preparing dormitory students for life beyond graduation.

“Everybody living in a community with a bunch of 20 year olds, well, it’s a little bit different. We have some senior citizens down here on the first floor, but you know, that’s what they’re going to have to face in the future, because they’re going to have all different ages living around them. And if you go into an apartment, it’s going to be that way,” Ed Hums said.

Both couples attend their dorm’s events and masses throughout the year. They use this time to work on building relationships with the students. Over the years, students in Lyons have supported and celebrated the Hums. They hosted a surprise retirement party for Shirley Hums and helped Ed Hums during his second open heart surgery.

“I don’t think I could have gotten as good as I did if I was not in Lyons Hall,” Ed Hums said.

Contact Annelise Demers at ademers@nd.edu

Another defense of the liberal arts Here’s why I think you should vote

Rose Quinlan A Contrarian’s Contributions

In my last contribution to this newspaper, I will directly address a topic to which I have already paid some attention in this column: the value of the liberal arts education. As the humanities slowly die in America, I feel a sort of patriotic compulsion to do my part in their defense. I realize that I am adding to a long list of paeans to the humanities, so I will try to avoid what has already been written. You have already heard that liberal arts students can still find jobs. You have also heard about the benefits of small class sizes and “learning how to think, not what to think.” These arguments are true, but apparently not good enough to keep students enrolled. So, without further ado, here is an honest and original letter of recommendation for the liberal arts, addressed to the undecided underclassman.

Let’s start by admitting that the humanities come with some professional drawbacks. Business jobs saturate most of the postgraduate job market. An English major is objectively not the easiest route to a career in finance, and we don’t do ourselves any favors by pretending that it is. Humanities majors are condemned to the “why-my-major-is-useful” spiel at the career fair, to skepticism from family and friends and to independent study of Excel and other technical skills needed for many jobs. These obstacles are easily surmountable, hence the steady stream of graduates out of O’Shag and into the bloodless arms of prestigious investment bankers. Nonetheless, they are obstacles to employment, and therefore my argument must address a tradeoff. Why is it worth it to study the liberal arts? Why should you deal with more career uncertainty just to study something that educates the “whole person”? It’s not enough to prove that the liberal arts are just as good as other courses of study. We must show that they are better.

The first thing that is better about the liberal arts is the students. Thanks to their reputation of being useless, liberal arts courses rarely see students who enroll without genuine interest in the subject. Liberal arts students don’t need the threat of a bad grade to take their studies seriously; they actually like being in class every day. Of course, plenty of non-humanities students enjoy their coursework, but it is generally true that liberal arts students are the most personally invested in learning. I have been told more than once by a non-humanities student to “just SparkNotes” my readings if I am behind: this is considered shameful amongst my classmates in the Program of Liberal Studies. Everybody at Notre Dame works hard, but the culture of the humanities encourages students to work hard for more than just a grade or a job.

The professors are also better in liberal arts classes. In a technical course, your professor wants you to pass the exam. In a humanities course, your professor wants you to be a better thinker, or even a better person, when you leave. Liberal arts professors use all sorts of eccentric tactics to accomplish this. They are generally weirder than other professors, but they also care more. They empower students, shock them or deliberately humble them as Socrates did his interlocutors. I took a few classes at Notre Dame that I will think about for the rest of my life. All of them were small liberal arts courses, taught by professors who cared about my personal growth.

Another thing that is better in the liberal arts is career discernment. Because there is no obvious career path for humanities majors, students are encouraged to spend time reflecting on what they want to do. We have more existential crises about the future, but it also means we choose our paths more carefully. We deliberately select careers that are fulfilling and contribute to society. Following graduation, Arts and Letters students consistently enter community service at higher rates than students in other colleges. Don’t study the liberal arts because a brochure told you that some English major got a job at McKinsey. Study the liberal arts because you want to, because they are better. My final argument to you, the undecided underclassman: All things being even, don’t the artes liberales, the free arts, just sound like more fun?

Rose is a senior from Buffalo, NY with majors in economics and the Program of Liberal Studies. Her writing interests include ethics, campus culture and the intersection of economics, politics and philosophy. When she’s not writing, you can find her reading on the 10th floor of the library, losing intramural basketball games or working at the Law School. You can contact Rose by email at rquinia2@nd.edu.

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

I was recently asked the question: “Why should I vote? It’s not like it matters anyway.” At first, I thought the answer was obvious. But upon further consideration, I realized that there was no simple, compelling reason I could give that would realistically change their mind. I needed time to collect my thoughts, develop an argument and plead my case. Well, here it is:

To the person who asked me this question, I hope you are reading. I do think you should vote, and here is why.

Most Americans can express their preferences for political candidates and public policy issues by participating in the electoral process. Despite having the right to express their preferences by voting, many Americans do not participate in elections. Civic-minded individuals like myself are therefore burdened by the question: Why do certain individuals choose not to vote? These individuals include some of my own peers at Notre Dame.

For the left-dominant brains out there, the calculus of voting can help explain this phenomenon. It goes something like this. The calculus of voting, written as V = P(B) - C + D, predicts the electorate’s voting behavior by focusing on the variable V. V represents an individual’s likelihood to vote and is calculated using four elements.

The variable P represents the probability that one’s vote will be decisive and is almost certainly small. In other words, what are the odds that your vote will actually affect the outcome of a given election?

P is then multiplied by the variable B, which represents the benefit that an individual will receive if their candidate wins the election. Essentially, how high are the stakes of the election for you personally? How much will your life change for the better (or worse) if this person is elected to office?

The negative variable C represents the costs associated with voting. These may include time or effort spent casting a ballot or information-gathering to determine who you will vote for. Many scholars argue that young people actually face higher voting costs, which is why I am especially interested in convincing my peers and other college-age Americans to vote.

Finally, the newest variable D represents duty, or whether people regard voting as a civic duty. While all of these variables can help explain American voting behavior, I want to focus on the idea of voting as a civic duty — a duty that I believe my generation is starting to forget.

I should start by giving my peers some credit. It is true that about 90 percent of Notre Dame students registered to vote in 2020 and nearly 72 percent of eligible Notre Dame students voted in the 2020 election. While these numbers are extremely high compared to other American colleges and universities, I find the gap between students who

registered to vote versus those who actually cast a ballot suspect.

It is true that your vote might not be decisive, especially in solidly partisan states like Indiana. It is true that the differential benefit of one candidate’s success may be small for you. Finally, it is true that voting can be hard. As a college student, my busy schedule makes it difficult to find the time to vote. While I choose to do it anyway, I sympathize with my peers who have to jump over hurdles to engage in mail voting or, perish the thought, absentee voting.

Returning to the concept of civic duty, I do not blame my peers for feeling discouraged and disconnected from the electoral process. The role of social media in citizens’ daily lives gives young voters access to a constant stream of news and information, including negative coverage of politicians and the political system. This infoglut contributes to a distrust of government and the belief that all politicians are corrupt. It is exceptionally hard to deny that young voters exhibit unprecedented levels of cynicism.

Recognizing the inherent value of voting is important. What is more important is the habitual nature of the voting process. Logically, younger voters have not developed the habit of voting. After all, one is more likely to turn out if they view voting as a democratic ritual. Voting is not a concession, and it is certainly not a chore. To vote is to engage in an important ritual that forms the foundation of our democracy (or if you want to be precise, our federal democratic republic) and the safety net of our greatest ambitions and plans. The act of voting is sacred in and of itself. It is how we honor the individuals who died in the effort to secure the universal vote. This not only includes those who serve and have served in our Armed Forces here and abroad but also those who fought and died for basic civil and human rights — including the right to cast a ballot — at home.

It is enough to say that you should vote because you can. And if you can, I believe that you should vote because you have to. I understand and hope to validate your frustration with the political system and the uncertain direction of our country. But I also urge you to think about voting differently. Voting is a privilege. It is your right. And it is an opportunity.

So my pitch to you goes something like this: use it, exercise it and seize it. Vote!

Ashlyn Poppe is a third-year student living in Pasquerilla West Hall studying global affairs and public service. She currently serves as the President of BridgeND.

BridgeND is a multi-partisan political club committed to bridging the partisan divide through respectful and productive discourse. It meets bi-weekly on Mondays at 7 p.m. in Duncan Student Center to learn about and discuss current political issues. You can contact BridgeND at bridgend@nd.edu.

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

Ashlyn Poppe BridgeND

Open letter to Father Jenkins on divestment LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Dear Father Jenkins,

We, the students, faculty and staff of Notre Dame, trust this email finds you in good health well, and is received warmly.

Today marks the 221st day of the harrowing onslaught, marking a period of horrific killings, systematic ethnic persecution and widespread displacement of countless innocent Palestinian children, women and men. The genocide has prevailed, without a stutter, in the face of world leaders calling for a ceasefire, the flow of humanitarian aid to enter Gaza and justice for the Palestinian people. As the President of Notre Dame, you are among the responsive world leaders who called for a ceasefire. Among U.S. leaders, you bravely stood alone on Feb. 9, 2024, demanding “an end to the violence and death in Gaza” along with an “immediate and permanent ceasefire.” We, the students, faculty and staff of Notre Dame, unequivocally appreciate and thank you for these words. However, as you know, the situation in Gaza continues to deteriorate with over

34,138 civilians murdered and many more buried under the rubbles of what was once their homes.

We, the students, faculty and staff of Notre Dame, call for your support; as our mentor, leader and inspiration. We call for you, to enact the very Catholic principles rooted in honesty, justice and compassion when it comes to supporting the Palestinian people. Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, Boeing, Northrop Grumman and General Dynamics have been complicit in supplying arms to the Israeli army, directly profiting from genocide and mass murder. Our hope is that Notre Dame is not associated with these companies through investments, funding or support in any way. We seek transparency; your voice breaking silence with a declarative account of Notre Dame’s stance concerning investments or affiliations with these entities.

At the core of our mission is the absolute extermination of injustice; our form of achieving this mission is through protests. This is why today, the 25th of April 2024, we will peacefully and respectfully protest through a prayer service, poetry and chants of justice

from 5 p.m. to 12 a.m. We in no way intend to harm anyone on campus, rather we intend to bring about awareness of the ongoing slaughter of Palestinians, along with the mission that Notre Dame releases a clear investment portfolio with regards to the aforementioned companies, the reassessment of relationships with Israeli institutions that provide legal and ethical support to the ongoing genocide and finally, our right to protest to be respected.

We, the students, faculty and staff of Notre Dame, hope you take this message well; coming from a place of love for all of humanity and respecting our core catholic principles of justice.

With heartfelt urgency,

231 members of the community affiliated with Notre Dame April 25

Editor’s Note: This letter was written and sent to University President Fr. John Jenkins before the protests on campus last Thursday.

End the complicity

On March 19, 2024, Notre Dame International emailed all ND faculty announcing the Tel Aviv University (TAU)-Notre Dame Collaboration Grants. The email stated, “The University of Notre Dame and Tel Aviv University are pleased to continue and deepen their relationship” by expanding these grant programs. For members of the ND community working toward Palestinian liberation and the dignity and human rights of all people between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, this institutional collaboration is unacceptable. Just weeks after Father Jenkins called for a ceasefire and peaceful dialogue toward ending the current genocide in Gaza, expanding this program normalizes and entrenches relations with an Israeli institution that is complicit in the murder of more than 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza.

Instead of heeding the call of Palestinian civil society to boycott and divest from institutions participating in the Israeli occupation, Notre Dame is expanding its partnership with Israeli institutions in a moment of assault on Palestinian knowledge and memories. There are no universities left in Gaza. In addition to the systematic destruction of countless heritage sites (including mosques, churches and libraries), Israel has destroyed or severely damaged more than 80% of Gaza’s schools. Thousands of professors and students have been murdered or injured. This prompted the United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner to speak of “scholasticide” in an April 18 press release. Scholasticide denotes “the systematic obliteration of education … and the destruction of educational infrastructure.” The targeted destruction of Palestinian knowledge, heritage and institutions of learning reveals an Israeli strategy of elimination that goes beyond the physical human death toll. It is an assault on Palestinian memory, history and knowledge production.

Notre Dame must ascertain how to act morally in the face of “plausible genocide” and scholasticide in Gaza. Israel’s relentless assault has turned Palestinian institutions of learning into tombs and rubble. Beyond Gaza, Israel suppresses universities in the West Bank through bureaucratic restrictions, military closures and raids, and the abduction, detention and torture of

faculty and students. Nevertheless, these Palestinian universities persist as spaces of learning and resistance. On Oct. 15, 2023, Birzeit University issued an open letter calling upon colleges and universities around the world to take concrete action to end the genocide in Gaza, including refusal to collaborate with Israeli academic institutions.

According to a new book by Maya Wind, a JewishIsraeli scholar, Israeli universities have long been implicated in direct and epistemic forms of violence against Palestinians, including forced displacement and military occupation. Tel Aviv University (TAU), for example, was partially built on the destroyed Palestinian village of Al-Shaykh Muwannis. Today, Israeli academic institutions continue to be complicit in the genocide in Gaza. No Israeli university administration has spoken out against scholasticide. But their involvement is also more direct: Israeli universities are producing “hasbara” (the Hebrew concept for public diplomacy) to deflect international criticism, developing weapons for the Israeli military and formulating legal defenses to protect Israel from accountability under international law.

Palestinian civil society — including the Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees, supported by international solidarity organizations such as the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel — has long called for an academic boycott of Israeli universities. This academic boycott is part of the broader Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement working to end international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and pressure Israel to comply with international law. It calls on colleges and universities to boycott or work towards the cancellation or annulment of “events, activities, agreements or projects involving Israeli academic institutions or that otherwise promote the normalization of Israel in the global academy, whitewash Israel’s violations of international law and Palestinian rights, or violate the BDS guidelines.”

Heeding this call would end Notre Dame’s multiple partnerships with Israeli academia, including with Tel Aviv University. TAU is home to the Institute for National Security Studies, a think tank that has

direct ties to the Israeli military establishment and has helped define the state’s military philosophy — including the notorious Dahiya Doctrine, a strategy of disproportionate force that calls for “the destruction of the national [civilian] infrastructure, and intense suffering among the [civilian] population.” Despite TAU’s complicity, Notre Dame is expanding its relationship with the university — directly contradicting Father Jenkins’ call for a ceasefire and peaceful dialogue.

Notre Dame’s Schlindwein Family Tel Aviv University–Notre Dame Collaboration Grants operate through university benefactors who give TAU money to fund faculty collaboration with ND partners. Additionally, in 2021, the Notre Dame Law School established an annual exchange of students and faculty between ND and TAU. These projects normalize TAU’s entanglement with state and military activities that support the violence and infrastructure of occupation, including the violation of international laws regarding the protection of civilians in armed conflict.

Boycotts have proven an effective tactic to challenge systems of injustice, including apartheid in South Africa and racial segregation in the United States. The famed photograph of Father Hesburgh linked arm in arm with Martin Luther King Jr. was taken at a rally held within the context of civil rights boycotts in the summer of 1964. Today, we call on the University of Notre Dame to speak out against the ongoing scholasticide in Gaza and to implement an academic boycott, demanding an end to academic complicity in apartheid.

On behalf of Notre Dame Faculty for Justice in Palestine and Occupation Free ND, Elsa Barron

PhD Student in Peace Studies and Political Science

Pam Butler

Associate Teaching Professor of Gender Studies

Francesca Freeman

PhD Student in Peace Studies and History Anna K. Johnson

PhD Candidate in Peace Studies and Sociology

Atalia Omer

Professor of Religion, Conflict and Peace Studies

By LUKE FOLEY Scene Writer

Summer is fast approaching, and with it, the summer blockbuster. Instead of the typical superhero IP schlock Hollywood usually serves up, they’ve decided to commence the season with “The Fall Guy.” Thanks to an early screening at the DPAC on Sunday, the Notre Dame community could see the film a week before its wide release. I attended the screening, and “The Fall Guy” is a more than worthy inauguration of the summer. It’s an electric, fun romp buoyed by fantastic chemistry between its two romantic leads.

“The Fall Guy” is about stuntman Colt (Ryan Gosling), who does the stunt work for egotistical Hollywood star Tom Ryder (Aaron TaylorJohnson) and is dating a camera operator, Jody (Emily Blunt). His life is going pretty great until he has a tragic accident on set, causing him to retreat from both the industry and Jody. Eighteen months later, Colt is asked to return to his job and do stunt work on Jody’s new movie shooting in Australia. Hoping to win Jody back, Colt accepts, but he quickly becomes entangled in a high-level conspiracy that puts both his life and her movie in danger.

The romance takes the spotlight in “The Fall Guy,” a refreshing choice for an action movie, and the film is all the better for it. Gosling and Blunt’s relationship is endearing and playful. Their scenes are full of flirtatious wit, and the two actors have great on-screen chemistry. While the film doesn’t do a great job selling the supposed rift between the two characters that most of the romantic tension is predicated on, the romance still adds a lot of heart to the film’s action spectacles and unrelenting jokes.

Director David Leitch is one of Hollywood’s most consistent journeymen when it comes to action movies, and he once again delivers the goods. The action sequences are dynamic, stylish and have some appropriately impressive stunt work. Specifically, the final act is a real standout. It has an ambitious scale and complexity, taking place entirely on a film set and using it as a canvas for some ingenious moments I don’t want to spoil. It coalesces the movie’s plot lines and reverence for stunt work and filmmaking into an electrifying, spectacular climax.

“The Fall Guy” is a comedic winner as well. The jokes are consistently excellent, with many breaking the fourth wall and poking fun at the current Hollywood landscape. While I usually

get annoyed very quickly by meta jokes, they’ll all tastefully done in this movie and come from a sincere love for cinema and stunt work. Gosling continues his comedic winning streak from “Barbie” with another hilarious performance. His goofy mannerisms and impassioned line deliveries never fail to amuse. He feels acutely attuned to the film’s wavelength and is the main reason why the film is so much fun. However, Blunt also soars with the material, and her dead-pan delivery is the perfect foil for Gosling. The supporting cast, including Taylor-Johnson, Hannah Waddingham and Winston Duke, are all great. I especially love Taylor-Johnson’s performance, which channels a dozen Hollywood celebrities simultaneously. While the film has a lighthearted, silly tone throughout, the humor never excessively detracts from the action and romance. The film adeptly balances all these vying elements into an engaging, dynamic experience.

“The Fall Guy” is the enjoyable, breezy film every blockbuster should aspire to be. It’s a charming rom-com wrapped up in a thrilling, action-packed extravaganza; I can’t think of a better antidote to the stress and anxiety of finals season.

Contact Luke Foley at lfoley2@nd.edu

By PETER MIKULSKI Scene Editor

JOJO SIWA IS BAD AT BEING BAD

Jojo Siwa is evolving again, as she always has. Oh, the Middle American moth that she is…

Siwa entered the media ecosystem at the age of 10 through the reality show “Dance Moms” and its spin-off competition show “Abby’s Ultimate Dance Competition.” Then, she was sold as a hyper-pink, hyper-girly stage kid. Slowly, Jojo and Jessalynn — her mother — wrested control of the “Jojo” brand into their own hands. She began to release kids’ music and play kids’ concerts, judge for and compete on competition shows, sell cereal and clothes, etc.

Then, in 2021, Siwa ceremoniously came out as lesbian via a viral TikTok and a People exclusive story. Simultaneously, she began to debut a more adult image: She spoke about “labels” and “pansexuality” and “queerness;” she announced that she had a girlfriend and then that she had broken up with said girlfriend.

2024, however, marks Siwa’s most recent and radical metamorphosis — into a raunchy rockstar. In the lyrics of her new single, “Karma,” which ties into her new look, she declares, “I was a bad girl, I did some

bad things / I swear I did it all for fun and it meant nothing,” and, “I was a wild child, you always knew it / It was a matter of time before I blew it.” She also uses the word “b*tch,” but not the way a 20-year-old does — the way a middle schooler does while sitting around unmonitored at a lunch table. She seems to revel in it, savor it, milk it. She comes off, for the lack of a better word, chalant.

In the music video, and on the red carpet as of late, she’s donning a new look. It’s a far cry from the bow-centric, Disney Channel-type outfits she used to wear — now it’s an amalgamation of a heavy metal, Motley Crue thing and an emo, My Chemical Romance vibe. It’s a caricature of rock fashion that could only be fathomed by a Nickelodeon showrunner, or by an earnest Nebraskan striver like Siwa. At DIY shows these days, no one is dressing like Marilyn Manson. In fact, the situation is quite the opposite: Punk rock is all about ill-fitting jeans, schlubby tshirts and unwashed hair — it’s a nuclear arms race to prove just how little you care.

The music video is very explicit, not only by Siwa’s old Great Plains standards, but by any metric. She stares longingly, kisses slowly and gropes awkwardly. To paraphrase the critic Raquel S. Benedict, it is

— like everything these days — sexual without being sexy. It feels like Siwa is selling lesbian eroticism the same way she used to sell pink bows for Walmart (or the way she used to sell asbestos-filled make-up for Claire’s). It seems stilted, frigid and disingenuous. It’s not just Siwa, though. Raunch, it seems, is in. On “The Tortured Poets Department,” Taylor Swift swears more than in any of her previous albums. Olivia Rodrigo’s “GUTS” started as a hit among tweens when it first dropped, but since the tour, she’s been hamming up the sex appeal — performing explicit versions of her tracks, wearing revealing costumes and even distributing Plan B to her audience. Critic Paul Skallas writes about “the Vulgar Wave,” a period from 1990 to 2007 during which the culture industry catered primarily to young men (think shows like “House” and movies by Adam Sandler). Siwa’s commercial lasciviousness sticks out like a sore thumb because she’s chronically and terminally unsubtle, but her recent outburst might represent something more than just that. Perhaps we’re on the verge of a New Vulgar Age, one geared toward young women. Time will tell, but it seems so.

Slaggert joins Irish alums in the NHL ranks

By TYLER REIDY Sports Editor

The transition from college to professional hockey is unlike that of any other major sport in America.

Top players complete their collegiate careers with a team’s draft rights attached to them, bypassing the offseason drafts that dictate football, basketball and baseball.

When those players finish their final college seasons in March or April, the National Hockey League season has less than a month remaining. Most teams look to either solidify their Stanley Cup contender status or evaluate younger talent for future seasons.

It’s the perfect time to bring a new player into the everyday picture, and that’s exactly what the Chicago Blackhawks did with Landon Slaggert.

Notre Dame’s senior captain and top left winger had his sights set on Chicago for a long time. The Blackhawks selected Slaggert in the third round of the 2020 NHL Draft, and the South Bend native answered the bell in the college ranks, posting 48 total points in his first two Notre Dame seasons. However, with a down year production-wise in 2022-23, Slaggert decided to take one more year with the Irish, and it paid off. A permanent fixture on Notre Dame’s top forward line, Slaggert exploded for 20 goals and 11 assists, leading the team in scoring.

BOB COLE

Less than 24 hours after playing his final collegiate game at Michigan, Slaggert signed his two-year entry-level contract on March 10. Five days later, he took the United Center ice for his NHL debut against the Los Angeles Kings. Surrounded by recent firstround picks like Kevin Korchinski, Frank Nazar and Calder Memorial Trophy favorite Connor Bedard, Slaggert hopes to help Chicago snap out of its rebuild and back into contention. But for now, he’s focused on learning from older players like assistant captain Nick Foligno.

“Those [veterans] – they’re real pros and real great guys, just great character guys,” Slaggert said after a game against the Nashville Predators on April 12. “I’m just trying to be like a sponge and learn from them because they’ve got a lot to offer and a lot of experience over the years. [I’m] definitely a lucky guy to be around those guys in the locker room.”

As for his own results, Slaggert posted four points in 16 games to wrap up the 2023-24 professional season. He scored his first career goal on April 10 in St. Louis, roofing a breakaway attempt late in the third period. Less than two weeks into his first professional offseason, Slaggert understands what one month in the NHL revealed to him.

“It gives me a good roadmap on what to work on. Goal-scoring

ability – obviously the goalies and defensemen are so good in this league – and the ability to play down low, too. I think that’s a big thing,” Slaggert said. “Holding on to more pucks and overall poise to make some high-level plays. It definitely gave me a good taste of how hard this league is, but also what I can improve on to be successful here.”

Irish alumni in the Stanley Cup Playoffs

While Slaggert’s Blackhawks will have an early pick in this summer’s NHL draft, a few other Irish players of the past have taken the ice for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The hunt for Lord Stanley began two Saturdays ago and will continue until the champion is crowned in the middle of June.

A journeyman on the blue line in his 14th NHL season, Ian Cole has looked comfortable in his first year with the hotshot Vancouver Canucks. Cole played at least 17 minutes in each of Vancouver’s first four games in the opening series against Nashville, notching an assist in Game 2. With 78 games under his belt in the 202324 regular season, Cole now owns 193 points in 826 career games played, having suited up for eight different NHL teams. The 35-yearold played his way to first-team all-CCHA and All-American honors with Notre Dame in 2008-09 after going 17th overall to St. Louis

in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. Cole spent three seasons in an Irish uniform, accumulating 65 points on 17 goals and 48 assists in 111 games played.

Though his New York Islanders could not get past Carolina in their first-round series, left winger Anders Lee produced quite well. New York’s captain recorded a point in each of the series’ first four games, scoring on the power play in Game 2. Lee is in his 12th NHL season — all with the Islanders, who took him in the sixth round in 2009 — and now owns 260 goals and 453 points at the highest level. A former Irish captain, Lee played at Notre Dame from 2010 to 2013, garnering second-team All-American status as a junior. During his time in South Bend, Lee amassed 61 goals and 55 assists for 116 points in 125 career games.

Lee’s teammate, right winger Kyle Palmieri, also carried momentum from a 30-goal regular season into the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The 14th-year NHL man scored in Game 2 and assisted on another tally in Game 3 of the Carolina series. In 818 career games, the former 26th overall pick of the Anaheim Ducks has 246 goals and 233 assists, good for 479 career points. Playing only his freshman season at Notre Dame before advancing to the NHL, Palmieri tallied 17 points and nine goals and eight assists in 2009-10.

After a March 8 trade sent him from Columbus to Boston, defenseman Andrew Peeke has helped the Bruins out to a strong start against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Peeke, who finished the regular season with 10 points and 88 blocks in 38 games, blocked three shots in his first two playoff games played. The second-round draft pick of the Blue Jackets in 2016 played at Notre Dame from 2016 to 2019. There, he put up at least 14 points in all three of his seasons, surging with 21 assists for 24 points in his 2018-19 campaign as the team’s captain.

Spencer Stastney, a fifth-round draft choice back in 2018, has seen action on the playoff blue line with the Nashville Predators. Through his first three games of Nashville’s series against the Vancouver Canucks, Stastney posted a +1 rating with a blocked shot. After making his NHL debut a season ago, he played 20 games in the regular season this year, scoring his first two professional goals, blocking 29 shots and recording a +9 rating. The former Irish defenseman from 2018-22 played 143 games with Notre Dame, accumulating 63 career points and 212 blocks. Stastney’s 7-goal, 27-point senior season earned him Honorable Mention All-Big Ten status in 2021-22.

Contact Tyler Reidy at treidy3@nd.edu

Murphy: Thank you, Bob Cole

Ryan Murphy Sports Writer

I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube lately.

It’s not something I’m prone to doing a lot, especially at school. If you’ve ever met me, you know that I love sports, especially everything hockey. But truth be told, I don’t often make the time to watch highlight videos or game recaps as much as I did when I was younger. Given a bit of free time now, the first app I open on my phone is no longer YouTube … it’s my email.

But in the last five days at least, that’s changed. No, it’s not because I’m intentionally procrastinating studying for my finals -- although I will say I have achieved that as well.

It all started on Thursday afternoon. I was just about to enter my 3:30 p.m. American Studies class when a notification popped up on my lock screen. Just two lines, it said that Bob Cole, Canadian hockey play-by-play broadcaster, had passed away. Though the various tribute

videos and testimonials have tried, it’s hard to encapsulate what Cole meant to millions of Canadians. I’m not Canadian, but I was raised watching Canadian hockey broadcasts. I like to think more than a bit of their national passion for the sport has rubbed off on me through those innumerable Saturday nights in front of the television set. For me, like many Canadians, those Saturday nights meant listening to Cole. He gave voice to the game, and to a nation.

Sitting in my awkward plastic DeBart chair-desk, I had about one minute to digest the news before class started. I looked up, clicked my phone off and dropped it in my bag. I knew exactly what I would have to do later that night. But for the time being, I went on with my day.

Fast forward to around 12:15 in the morning. I’m back on my futon in Fisher Hall, with most of my roommates asleep and the lights mostly off. I’m ready to go to bed myself, but there’s one thing I have left to do. I open up my phone and go to YouTube. Instinctually, I type

“Bob Cole best moments,” hit search and navigate to a video titled “The Best of Bob Cole on Hockey Night in Canada.”

This video may well be the video I’ve watched the most in my life, but I haven’t returned to it in years. Clicking play, I let the sound of Cole’s voice wash over me and … well, I’m home again.

Yes, I’m nine years old again, sitting in the rink warming room watching my iPod.

I’m 12 years old again, sitting at my kitchen table eating grilled cheese.

I’m 15 in my living room, wishing hockey season would just come faster.

Listening to Cole, I’m a kid again, forming my own dream of broadcasting hockey. I watched those videos over and over. I learned every word. In my head, I can now finish every sentence.

“Here’s Lemieux, to center, penalty coming up…”

“Gilmour back of the net,

Andreychuk in front with Borshevsky…”

“Desjardins following the play, and he missed on the short side. There he is again…”

If you’ll allow me to wax poetic for a moment longer, I’ll add some context. In recent years, I’ve developed a couple of sports hypotheses. I theorize that football roots itself in the concepts of war, while baseball is representative of the rhythms of life. Hockey at its finest, on the other hand, is art.

And if hockey is art, then Cole was its greatest poet. He did not simply broadcast a game, he performed it. As longtime co-worker Ron MacLean characterized it, he sang the game. Few announcers have ever worked with the same passion as Cole, and even fewer who were able to so romantically convey it.

That passion has taught me more than a few things about life. It’s taught me that caring, yes simply caring, matters to

people. It’s taught me that emotion matters, even when it might seem easier to just bottle it up inside. And yes, it’s taught me that togetherness matters, because that’s what Cole did. He brought us hockey fans together.

So, I’ve been watching a lot of YouTube lately. Yes, I’m procrastinating. But I’m also listening to Cole, reminding myself of how passion can illuminate my life and the lives of those around me. I’m spending time with my hero, who like millions of hockey fans across multiple generations, I consider to be a good friend I simply never met. I turn on those familiar YouTube videos, and gratitude comes easy. The thought repeats over and over in my head: Thank you, Bob Cole.

Contact Ryan Murphy at rmurph22@nd.edu.

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

Happy

and

your time efficiently. Refrain from settling for less when ingenuity and energy can take you from getting through each day to making the most of every moment. It’s time to live, laugh, and love. Your numbers are 6, 17, 21, 29, 35, 42, 49.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Pay attention, only share what’s necessary, and make choices based on facts and figures. Listen to those offering a different perspective and consider how you can utilize the insight you gather to improve your position and relationship with someone you want to get to know better.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Physical challenges will limit you today if you overdo it or take unnecessary risks. Pay more attention to what’s possible and go with the flow. Make positive change a choice and opportunity your destination. Trust and believe in yourself and what you can do.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Proceed with caution. Distance yourself from fast-talkers and unrealistic dreamers. Get the lowdown and use your resources to discover what’s possible. Don’t rely on anyone but yourself when it comes time to decide your next move. Don’t share secrets or fold under pressure.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Put your best foot forward and display your wisdom, skills, and insight. What you have to offer will draw attention and position you for success. Forging ahead and offering a unique suggestion or approach will lead to personal growth and gains. Romance is in the stars.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Be careful who you deal with and the information you share. Giving in to demands or taking a path to please someone else instead of yourself will lead to regret. Rely on your intelligence and knowhow, not what others say to convince you of doing otherwise.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Protect your heart and physical and emotional well-being. Save your energy and channel it into bringing about positive lifestyle changes that will encourage relationships with people who are reliable and steady. Say no to excess and indulgence behavior. Make health, diet, and fitness a priority.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Stick close to home and make comfortable and convenient adjustments. Express your feelings and find out where you stand. A heart-to-heart talk will pay off and save you money. Don’t take on something that can lead to a physical or financial setback. Channel your energy wisely.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Emotions will be misleading. Listen and size up situations, but show discipline when deciding what to do next. Don’t expect opportunities to appear magically. Implement the changes required to make your dreams come true. Become the instigator and powerhouse and make things happen.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Refuse to let anyone sidetrack you. Keep your eye on your target and your energy flowing in a direction that brings positive results. It’s up to you to take charge and ward off anyone or anything in your way. Protect your home and possessions.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Only promise what you can deliver. Know what you want, and don’t mince words when dealing with those who can help you reach your goal. Domestic changes will lead to positive change and a chance to spend more time with someone special. Romance is favored.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Don’t dive into something based on hearsay. Do your due diligence and leave no room for error. Be vocal regarding your findings and willing to walk away from anything that doesn’t meet your criteria. Pay attention to your health; see a physician or make a positive lifestyle change.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Clear your schedule if it will help you reach your goal or make time for something or someone meaningful to you. Call the shots instead of letting others decide for you. If you show strength, you’ll gain control. Love and romance are on the rise.

Birthday Baby: You are dynamic, persistent, and energetic. You are systematic and visionary.

Watson: Breaking down the catcher position

Claire Watson Sports Writer

I have been playing catcher for the majority of my softball career. If you do or do not know me, my name is Claire and I am a freshman on the Saint Mary’s softball team. My current primary position is outfield, and my secondary is being a catcher, but I will never deny how much I love being behind the plate.

I will be answering some of the big questions that I get as a catcher and pose them to Notre Dame senior softball catcher Carlli Kloss and Notre Dame junior baseball catcher Joey Spence.

The first few questions that I get often are, “How long have you been playing?” and “When did you start playing catcher?” I started playing softball when I was four years old, and it was the only sport that really clicked with me. I started being a catcher around the age of 10. When my softball team needed a catcher, I just sort of said, “Sure, I’ll do it!”

The second question that I get very often is, “What is your favorite part about being a catcher?” I think that my answer to this question is that I love being able to see the field and see where the ball is and where the runners are.

A third question asked that can be difficult to answer is: “What do you believe is the most important aspect to being a catcher?” I think there are a lot of different answers that I could give, but I think that there are two things that I find to be most important. The first one is being loud so that everyone can hear you. You need to make sure that, as a catcher, the entire field can hear and understand you. The second is blocking the ball so that baserunners cannot steal bases or score a run. Home plate is my base when I am catching, and it is my job to protect it no matter what.

The final question that I get most often is, “What is the mentality of being a catcher during a game?” First, I want to start with the fact that softball is a game of errors. No one is perfect and I have to accept the fact that errors will happen. I just go in being confident in my abilities.

Carlli Kloss

Carlli Kloss is a senior catcher on the Notre Dame softball team. In addition to this, Carlli is the only person in the program’s history to win the ACC Defensive Player of the Year.

Q: When did you start being a catcher?

A: When I was 11 years old, and that is when I was still on a rec ball team.

Q: Why did you choose to be a catcher?

A: I have an older sister who is seven years older than me, and she started catching at a young age. My dad had all of the gear, and she was doing well, so my dad decided to have me try. I get a lot of inspiration from my older sister.

Q: What is your favorite part about being a catcher?

A: I love being able to see the entire field from my view. It taught me to understand the players, especially the pitchers. I love interacting with the umpires as well. And if you get to know them really well, they will help you with the strike zone, which makes the game flow a little bit better.

Q: What do you personally believe is the most important aspect to being a catcher?

A: I think it is having the confidence to put your pitchers before yourself. You have to be able to be the most selfless person on the field, put your body in front of the ball to not let a run score, call the right plays and frame the pitchers’ pitches so that they look better than they actually are.

Q: What is your mentality when you are catching a game?

A: I would say my mentality is to never stop. I think throughout the game it can get really hot, and I think it’s just that perseverance and grinding it out. You have to be there for your pitcher and your team. You have to be tough because you are protecting the plate and the runners might run into you.

Joey Spence

Joey Spence also commented on what it is like being a catcher at Notre Dame.

Q: When did you start playing catcher?

A: I became a catcher [in] my first year of Little League. My dad always wanted [me] to be behind the plate.

Q: What is your favorite part about being a catcher?

A: Being able to be a part of every play and every pitch, helping out my pitchers as much as I can and helping out the pitching staff.

Q: What do you personally believe is the most important aspect to being a catcher?

A: I would say the most important thing is being able to multitask, knowing what is happening and knowing the situation in the field while at the same time being able

to execute your job as the catcher.

Q: What is your mentality when you are catching a game?

The final stretch

Looking ahead, Notre Dame softball hopes to enter the ACC Softball Championship on May 8 depending on results from other conference series this weekend. Notre Dame baseball prepares to face Pittsburgh at home for a three-game series this weekend.

A: I say my mentality when catching a game, I am not letting anything get by me, stealing some pitches, working with umpires and understanding their game plan and how they are calling the game. I treat it like a chess game, being one step ahead and trying to prevent mistakes before they happen.

Saint Mary’s softball has a packed schedule this week with several away games. They face Anderson on May 1, Manchester on May 2 and then return home to play Albion on May 3 for senior night.

Contact Claire Watson at cwatson7@nd.edu.

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

GRAY NOCJAR | THE OBSERVER

Junior catcher Joey Spence squeezes a warmup pitch during Notre Dame’s game against Clemson at Frank Eck Stadium on April 7. Spence has launched home runs in each of Notre Dame baseball’s last two games.

Pineda reflects on blossoming reporting career

By ANDREW MCGUINNESS

Sports Editor Emeritus

As everyone at Notre Dame knows, you never know where you’re going to find a fellow Domer. It may come walking around your hometown, your first day on a new job or a random event you decide to attend or a whim.

Or, you may see one on your TV as the first person to interview Caitlin Clark after becoming the all-time leading scorer in college

basketball history. That’s the opportunity Caroline Pineda found herself in less than two years after graduating from Notre Dame, with Clark’s historic moment coming during a game she was working on as a sideline reporter.

“Getting to talk to her in shootaround that morning about her nerves and how she was feeling, knowing that so many people were waiting for her to have this moment, and then to get to

watch her break the record at home in Carver-Hawkeye Arena, and then to get to be the first person to interview her after that was really a special moment,” Pineda said.

Pineda has worked for NBC since her sophomore year at Notre Dame, first as a sideline intern assisting broadcasts behind the scenes before joining NBC full-time shortly after graduation. The New York native primarily covers football

Arts & Letters

GRADUATE STUDENT MENTORSHIP AWARD

and basketball now, but her interest in sports media was first piqued in fifth grade by a much different sport.

“I started reading about Secretariat and when he won the Triple Crown. And I asked my mom if she thought that I could write a letter to his jockey Ron Turcotte. And so we googled his address and this P.O. box in Maine came up,” Pineda said. “And my mom has since told me that she didn’t really think that there was any chance that he would actually receive the letter or get back to me, but I wrote out some questions, and we sent it off. And then a couple of weeks later in the mail, I received a letter from him, and he had answered all my questions.”

Once she realized that there were people who did this sort of thing for a living, Pineda had a desire to become one of them. As a student, she worked with several different organizations on campus, gaining valuable insight and feedback into what it would take to make her dream a reality.

“NDTV and Scholastic and WVFI were all incredible experiences with student media, and then Fighting Irish Media -- I really can’t say enough good things about how informative and helpful my experiences there were,” Pineda said. “And then of course, the classes and the professors and all of them -- really, I feel like even the classes outside of my major -I learned so much from, and I apply tenets from [them to] my life now. But really the [Film, Television, and Theatre] and [Journalism, Ethics, and Democracy] professors -- I learned a lot from them.”

MICHAEL REA

O’Brien Professor of Philosophy

Before she even got her diploma, she received the 2022 Jim Nantz Award, given every year to the top collegiate sports broadcaster in the country. Pineda is the only Notre Dame student to win the award in its 14year history and was just the second woman to earn the acknowledgment.

“I truly never expected to win that. And it was really just a surreal moment

to find out that I had won, and then to be able to attend the weekend where they give the award ... To get to meet so many incredible people in the industry, people who, like I said, I had seen on my television for so many years and then to be basically a senior in college and getting to meet them and have a conversation with them, was really special,” Pineda said.

Her work at NBC has taken her all across the country, from playoff NFL games to Clark’s milestone moment, and she even helped with coverage of the 2022 Winter Olympics while still a student. But some of the most special trips she has taken are the ones back to campus, as Pineda has worked as a sideline reporter for the annual Blue-Gold Game as both a student and alumna.

“I love getting to go back to campus and walk around,” Pineda said. “I always try to go to God Quad and the Grotto and just some other places on campus that were always very special to me. It’s so neat. I feel like you know what everyone always says, and I remember people saying before I was a student about [how Notre Dame is] four years for the rest of your life is so true.”

Pineda has worn many different hats as a student and a professional, but sideline reporting is probably what she’s most known for. It’s a challenging role, but a very fulfilling one as well.

“I would say what I think is really neat about that role is that it can add so much to broadcast and so much that the booth can’t necessarily see. There have been so many times watching football games that I remember as a kid being so fascinated by a sideline report and so in awe of some of the information that they were able to provide. And what I think is really special about sideline reporters is being able to contextualize the conversations that the booth is having in real-time,” Pineda said.

Contact Andrew McGuinness at amcguinn@nd.edu

COURTESY OF CAROLINE PINEDA

Caroline Pineda (left) interviews former University of Iowa guard and first overall WNBA draft selection Caitlin Clark at Carver Hawkeye Arena. Pineda graduated from the University of Notre Dame in May 2022.

ND MEN’S LACROSSE

Irish rematch Virginia in ACC semifinal round

By NOAH CAHILL Associate Sports Editor

After winning its first national title in program history, the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team continued to assert itself as the premier program in the country throughout the 2024 regular season. The Irish came into the season ranked No. 1 and finished the regular season in the same position, only ceding it briefly after an early-season slip-up against Georgetown, a loss they have since followed with an eightgame winning streak.

Following the conclusion of the regular season, Irish players were honored with numerous individual awards. Graduate attacker Pat Kavanagh earned ACC Offensive Player of the Year after leading his team with 53 points on 19 goals and a team-high 34 assists. Kavanagh would be many people’s pick for the Tewaaraton Award, which is given to the best player in

college lacrosse. On the other side of the ball, graduate goalkeeper Liam Entenmann took home both the ACC Defensive Player of the Year and Goalie of the Year Award.

Rounding out the major awards, in his 36th season as head coach, Kevin Corrigan was given his first ever ACC Coach of the Year award, adding another incredible resume point to his historic tenure at Notre Dame.

The Irish boasted the most All-ACC selections with seven players taking home honors. On top of Pat Kavanaugh and Entenmann, junior attacker Chris Kavanagh, senior midfielder Eric Dobson, sophomore long-stick midfielder Will Donovan, junior faceoff specialist Will Lynch and short-stick defensive midfielder Ben Ramsey all found a spot on the team.

Notre Dame’s wealth of talent across the entire field has powered it to its second unbeaten season in the ACC, going 4-0 to earn the No. 1 seed in the upcoming

tournament.

The Irish have had to earn their 10-1 record. Throughout their impressive winning run, Notre Dame has taken down some of the best competition in the country, but arguably none better than No. 5-ranked Virginia. After leaving Charlottesville with a win last Saturday, Notre Dame now has to gear up for a rematch only six days later in the conference tournament semifinal. The previous two games between these perennial ACC powerhouses have been instant classics, with the Irish avenging two regular-season losses in 2023 with a thrilling comeback win in the NCAA Tournament semifinal last season and most recently finishing off the regular season with a gutsy, 11-9 victory.

Notre Dame’s defense shined in the most recent win, especially down the stretch, as the Irish held the Virginia offense to only one goal in the fourth quarter. While the offense did

not deliver its usual output, it came through at a vital time from a somewhat unlikely source. It wasn’t the Kavanaghs or leading scorer and graduate attacker Jake Taylor, but rather graduate midfielder Devon McLane who scored two decisive goals, one to tie the game early in the fourth and another to seal it later on. After suffering another heartbreaker, the Cavaliers enter this game hungry for revenge, hoping to spoil Notre Dame’s high postseason hopes.

Virginia enters the game with a lot on the line beyond just its aspiration to win the ACC Tournament. While the Cavaliers will have a spot in the NCAA Tournament undoubtedly, there remains a question of whether or not a top-eight seed will be available, and with it, the opportunity to host a first-round matchup. A win on Friday would likely put the question to bed. Virginia had control for most of the game in Charlottesville, but after

losing five of five draws in the fourth quarter and being held to only one goal, it squandered the lead and fell to the Irish.

Virginia will need the best from its two stars to crack Notre Dame’s defense and pull off the upset. That said, it can feel confident in its defensive performance after holding the nation’s secondranked offense to 11 goals, well below Notre Dame’s 15.82 goals per game average. The loss against the Irish left Virginia’s conference record at a disappointing 1-3, earning a No. 4 seed in the tournament. The Cavaliers come into Friday looking to snap a three-game losing streak and punch their ticket to the conference championship game.

The matchup in Charlotte will take place on Friday, May 3 at 5:00 p.m. with ACC Network providing the broadcast.

Contact Noah Cahill at ncahill2@nd.edu

KATE RESTOVICH | THE OBSERVER

Graduate attacker Pat Kavanagh looks to move the ball during Notre Dame’s game against Georgetown at Arlotta Stadium on Feb. 25. Notre Dame has won eight consecutive games since facing Georgetown, and Kavanagh has since claimed the ACC Offensive Player of the Year award by posting a team-high 53 points with 19 goals and 43 assists this season.