The independent
To uncover
newspaper serving
the truth
Notre Dame and
and report
Saint Mary’s
it accurately
Volume 51 Issue 37 | Thursday, October 13, 2016 | ndsmcobserver.com
Committee to address sustainability issues Standing committee, working groups will expand new strategy and set goals for University’s future By MEGAN VALLEY News Writer
On Sept. 20, University president Fr. John Jenkins announced a fiveyear sustainability plan which includes eliminating coal usage on campus by 2020 and providing at least 25 percent of the University’s energy through renewable and recoverable energy by 2050. To implement the plan, recommendation committee member and associate professor of accountancy Sandra Vera-Munoz said the committee chair, director of sustainability Linda Kurtos, and the committee’s sponsor, associate vice president John AffleckGraves, are putting together a “standing committee that will oversee working groups.” “Those [working groups] are the ones who are going to roll up
their sleeves and make specific concrete actions to make this happen,” Vera-Munoz said. The Comprehensive Sustainability Strategy was written by the committee over the fall 2015 and spring 2016 semesters. “We were fortunate to have knowledgeable members in so many areas of sustainability that touched the University: energy, law, construction, operations, research, education, facilities, procurement, strategy,” Kurtos said in an email. “We started by identifying the areas that we thought should be the major focus areas for the strategy and used that foundation as the basis for the strategy discussions.” The 20-member committee — made up of faculty, administrators see COMMITTEE PAGE 3
SMC reports second campus clown sighting Observer Staff Report
On Tuesday night, Saint Mary’s security responded to another report of a clown sighting on campus, according to an email sent to students Wednesday by Karen Johnson, vice president for student affairs. According to Johnson, staff members spoke with the reporting individual and proceeded to patrol the campus but were unable to substantiate any clown sightings on campus. Johnson said the College takes any incident that causes concern to students seriously. “Even if a person’s intentions are to entertain, scaring people isn’t funny,” Johnson said in the email. “Individuals found wearing clown masks and other costumes in order to create a stir in their community will be addressed by local law enforcement agencies and through the Saint Mary’s College Code of Student Conduct.”
NEWS PAGE 3
Johnson urged people in the Saint Mary’s community to “stop sharing social media posts about the sighting.” “Snapchats, tweets and Facebook postings by others typically do not contain firsthand accurate information regarding emergencies or threats,” she said. “Please use good judgment and avoid wearing clown masks, as it could be perceived as a hazard or threat to others.” According to Johnson, campus security staff are actively monitoring and responding to any reports and sightings. Johnson urged students to “resist the urge to track down clowns on their own.” Johnson said Sgt. Earl Wigfall from the St. Joseph County Police will assist campus security in providing additional patrols as of Wednesday night. David Gariepy, director of campus security, declined to elaborate further on the situation.
SCENE PAGE 5
CRISTINA INTERIANO | The Observer
New York Times reporter weighs in on 2016 election In national discussions surrounding the 2016 election, Washington correspondent Binyamin Appelbaum said, one issue is conspicuously missing: economics. “There are a lot of very smart people who want to downplay the role that economics is playing in this election,” Appelbaum, who writes for the New York Times, said Wednesday night in DeBartolo Hall. “They want to say — and there is evidence — that the anger that we are hearing, the discontent, is based on hate, on racism, sexism and xenophobia. “It’s not an either-or choice ... when people are struggling economically, they are more likely to voice these concerns.” Throughout his address, sponsored by student government, Appelbaum discussed several economic issues which he believed to be key to the 2016 election. Appelbaum said a “dominant narrative” about trade is that other countries are cheating the United States. “The standard story you hear is that this is our problem, and that
this can be reversed,” he said. “It is really to easy to tell voters that someone else is screwing us, that if we could just get one over on them, and [if] they could feel the pain that we are feeling … [then] we could feel the prosperity that they are feeling.” Appelbaum said the United States’ domestic economic output is better than what is commonly perceived. “A statistic that surprises many people is that America’s manufacturing output is at the highest in history.” he said. “We are making more stuff in the United States of America than we ever have before.” Despite this growth in manufacturing, many have been left behind by technological advancement, leading to a decrease in overall employment in these sectors, Appelbaum said. Appelbaum cited the case of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, a town situated between Philadelphia and New York, as a key example of the effects of the loss of industrial jobs. “Half the population of Hazleton feels economically disenfranchised, lacks future prospects and is increasingly spinning downward,” he said. “These are the economic problems that we have.”
Appelbaum said the key to revival in these towns is turning their attention to new, high-tech sectors in order to bring back some degree of economic growth. Another major problem facing the economy is that the labor movement had failed to recognize the changing nature of the working class, Appelbaum said. “Our working class is no longer primarily composed of white men,” he said. “It is primarily made up by minority women doing jobs like home health care aid. The union system in our country is still dominated by these white male workers, so it remains their voice primarily.” Appelbaum argued that all these factors have contributed to economic stagnation among the working class, motivating its anger. He said no matter which candidate wins the election, due to institutional problems, he has little faith that economic conditions will improve. “We have an institution that you may have heard of called Congress that’s very gridlocked and dysfunctional,” he said. “Whoever wins … very little will change.”
VIEWPOINT PAGE 7
Hockey PAGE 12
Women’s Soccer PAGE 12
By LUCAS MASIN-MOYER News Writer
Contact Lucas Masin-Moyer at lmasinmo@nd.edu