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Volume 53, Issue 8 | wednesday, august 29, 2018 | ndsmcobserver.com
Badin Hall reopens after year of repairs Women’s residence hall’s renovation includes new chapel, air-conditioned lounges and larger rooms By NATALIE WEBER News Editor
Approximately 121 years have passed since Badin Hall was first constructed. And over the course of more than a century, it has served many functions — including an industrial school, a bookstore and post office. Now a women’s residence hall, the building has undergone a year of renovations that aim to upgrade the building while maintaining its unique, traditional characteristics. “I think everyone’s just really excited about it because [the architects] really did do what they promised with keeping the character of the building,” senior and resident assistant Meridith Balbach said. “So really, I think we still
have our pride in that we’re a tiny dorm that still has a lot of old rich tradition.” Sister Sue Sisko, Badin’s rector, said the most noticeable change is the addition of a new chapel, donated through Peter and Nancy Baranay and their children. “I think the crowning jewel of the entire renovation is a magnificent new chapel, through the graciousness of our donors,” Sisko said. “And so, that I think, is the biggest change, in Badin. It’s not the only change — there were certainly many other things that happened — but I think for me and for many other residents, the chapel is just magnificent.” The chapel includes see BADIN PAGE 3
Notre Dame hosts student activities mixer
KENDALL BULLEIT | The Observer
Badin Hall’s reconstruction features a chapel with 20th-century stained glass windows donated by Charles Hayes and Jon Ritten, two Notre Dame alumni. Badin also has new kitchens on every floor.
Saint Mary’s senior starts skincare company By MAEVE FILBIN News Writer
Saint Mary’s senior Julia Veome has recently started her own business: Natural Baller, an organic skincare company that encourages customers to “Live life with no filter.” Veome, a business administration major with a
ANNA MASON | The Observer
Notre Dame Ultimate Frisbee Club captains Meg Cullen and Connor Buckley host the club’s booth at the SAO Activities Night. By ANDREW CAMERON News Writer
The annual frenzy of hundreds of students hoping to learn about and sign up for some of the more than 350 student clubs and organizations represented at Student Activities Night filled the Notre Dame Stadium concourse Tuesday night. The event, hosted by the Student Activities Office (SAO), provides the student body with
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a way to see and get involved with the campus’ myriad of student groups and provides clubs with a unique way to advertise themselves, especially to first-year students. This was the second year that Activities Night had been hosted in the Stadium concourse rather than in the Joyce Center. Karen Kennedy, the director of student centers, activities and see ACTIVITIES PAGE 3
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concentration in marketing and a minor in public relations and advertising, said she had always wanted to open her own company, but only decided to do so at the end of her junior year. “I kind of just jumped into it,” Veome said. “I didn’t think I would ever be able to do something like this as young
as I am.” After extensively researching the detrimental impact of social media on female self-esteem, Veome said she decided to use her business background to help young women feel comfortable in their own skin. In see BALLER PAGE 4
Higgins Labor Program to combine initiatives By ALEXANDRA MUCK News Writer
While the Higgins Labor Program has been around in various forms since the early 1990s, current director Daniel Graff, who has a joint appointment in the history department, is focused on bringing together the research and student engagement sides of the
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program. Graff, who was appointed director in 2014, said Higgins was originally founded by labor economists in the economics department as a small, independent research center called the Higgins Research Center. It was named after Monsignor George Higgins, a Catholic priest who argued for workers’ rights and wrote documents for
the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, writing some of them on social work and justice. “It was folded into the Center for Social Concerns about a decade ago as a way to integrate the Higgins Labor Program’s research on labor questions to add an engaged learning component that we think of
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see LABOR PAGE 3