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Volume 51, Issue 38 | Tuesday, October 25, 2016 | ndsmcobserver.com
Butler pleads guilty to misdemeanor Senior Notre Dame cornerback will pay for damages, complete community service hours Observer Staff Report
Editor’s note: A version of this story appeared online Oct. 17. Notre Dame senior cornerback Devin Butler pleaded guilty at a court appearance Oct. 17 to a Class A misdemeanor count of resisting law enforcement. Butler was charged in
August with two felony counts of resisting law enforcement and battery against a public safety official, but both charges have been dropped as part of the plea deal. Butler will now enter a pretrial diversion program where he will pay the state nearly $150 for damage to officer Aaron Knepper’s clothing and will write an apology to
Knepper, who arrested Butler on Aug. 20 at the Linebacker Lounge near campus. Butler will also complete 24 hours of community service as part of the pretrial diversion program. If Butler violates the terms of the program, the misdemeanor count will stand and Butler could face up to one year in county jail and up to a $5,000 fine. If
Butler successfully completes the program, the misdemeanor charge will be dismissed. The South Bend Police Department conducted an internal investigation regarding Knepper’s actions in the arrest after witnesses, including Butler’s girlfriend, accused Knepper of misconduct. South Bend Police Chief Scott Ruszkowsi said Friday there
was no evidence of wrongdoing in the case, though no formal complaint was filed by Butler. One day after his arrest, Irish head coach Brian Kelly suspended Butler from the football team indefinitely Aug. 21. Neither Butler nor his attorney, Jeffrey Kimmell, commented on the case.
SMC unveils new Student government Science Hall wing presents report to trustees By COURTNEY BECKER News Writer
KELLY VAUGHAN | The Observer
The newly-renovated Saint Mary’s Science Hall features a new physics wing to accommodate the physics major introduced last year. By NICOLE CARATAS Saint Mary’s Editor
Renovation work on the Saint Mary’s Science Hall has been a familiar sight over the past year, but no signs of bulldozers or barricades remained when the hall’s main entrance re-opened at its dedication and blessing
ceremony Oct. 14. The renovation and expansion of the hall was made possible by a $10 million donation from Clayton and MaryAnn Mathile and their daughter, Jennifer Mathile Prikkel, who graduated from the College in 1995. see SCIENCE PAGE 4
Student government presented its research on entrepreneurship and innovation at Notre Dame during its semi-annual report to the University Board of Trustees on Oct. 13. Student body president Corey Robinson said this presentation was unique because no other Notre Dame student government administration has presented research on this subject. “There has been no other type of student government in the past that has talked about entrepreneurship or culture of innovation on campus,” Robinson said. “It’s really run the gamut but [the trustees had] never heard about entrepreneurship before as a student concern in the sense of careers.” Student body vice president Becca Blais said the focus of the report came about through
collaboration with the Board of Trustees. “The cool thing about the board reports is in the fall [the trustees] actually assign it to us, and then in the spring we get to pick our own,” Blais said. “So in the fall it’s really what they want to hear most about and through our conversations with them this is what came up.” “It was perfect timing, really, because the University is trying to hire an associate provost and vice president of innovation,” Robinson said. “They’ve been looking for the past year and they’re trying to hire someone very soon … [so] it was a very good time to talk about this.” This focus on innovation also fits with the platform of the current student government administration, Blais said. “So far in our administration we have really tried to live by that principle,” she said. “Every project that we’ve done has integrated
some principle of innovation, so integrating it into your life and accepting the challenges and the risk that it entails [is part of it].” Robinson said the major points for the report emerged during discussions with student entrepreneurs on campus. “There are four things really that student entrepreneurs said, ‘Hey, we need help with this, [it’s] a severe lack on campus,’” he said. “One of those things was workspace. Another was funding, [another] publicity and the last one was mentorship.” From these points, Robinson said, student government developed the goal of changing the University’s culture surrounding entrepreneurship and innovation. “Our specific goal was how do you change a culture?” Robinson said. “You have to be able to have alignment of incentives. If only a see REPORT PAGE 3
Play encourages conversation on race relations Kicking off Notre Dame’s first Race Relations Week, student government hosted a performance of the play “The Cop” in Legends Nightclub on Monday. The play, written by Rev. Harry Cronin and performed by Brad Erickson of San Francisco’s Theatre
Bay Area, is a solo drama centered around a police officer who is forced to confront his own hidden racism after his daughter is killed and he gains custody of his bi-racial grandson. Following the performance, the audience broke into groups to discuss the issues of racism and implicit bias explored in the play and how these issues can be addressed in the Notre Dame
community and American society as a whole. According to Erickson, the play’s crucial message is about how racism can affect people’s behavior and their ability to love others. “I think it gives us a glimpse into some of the really horrendous things that have been happening in this country, certainly between police and young men of color in
particular,” Erickson said. “A lot of us think ‘Well, that could never be me. I could never do anything like that.’ What the play explores is that the thing that drives people to do those things that we think are so horrendous is actually in all of us. It sort of convicts all of us of this same issue.” Erickson said systemic racism starts with personal racism.
“It gets embodied in systems, in governments,” he said. “But it starts in the heart, and that’s what the play’s looking at. If you had asked this character a year or two before the play if he was racist, he would have responded ‘No, absolutely not. I’m a cop, and we’re trained to treat everyone equally.’ In the course of
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By ANDREW CAMERON News Writer
see RACE PAGE 3