Print Edition of The Observer for Wednesday, March 7, 2018

The independent

To uncover

newspaper serving

the truth

Notre Dame and

and report

Saint Mary’s

it accurately

Volume 52, Issue 96 | wednesday, march 7, 2018 | ndsmcobserver.com

Professor analyzes floodwater bacteria Biologist’s struggles inspire lab tests on amount of E. coli present in recent South Bend flooding

By MARY BERNARD News Writer

While the rain poured down Tuesday, Feb. 20, one Saint Mary’s professor of biology found refuge in a dorm on campus. Laura Kloepper, unable to get home because of the flooding on Angela Blvd., Ostemo Place and Iroquois St., among others, spent the night with her two dogs in the same building as many of her students.

“There were rumors that we may have forced evacuations [from our houses] where they were going shut off the power and the water,” Kloepper said. “I have two big dogs and I wouldn’t know where to go … so I spent the night in a Saint Mary’s dorm.”

Unsure of how long she would need to stay campus, Kloepper packed her bags and brought her dogs to a dorm room which one of

her students helped to arrange for her.

“I had a little pajama party with my students,” Kloepper said.

“I think every professor should spend the night in a dorm. It was a really fun experience.”

The next day, Kloepper went home and realized that the sewer was backing up into her basement, leaving three feet of standing water.

“There was so much water pressure and the sewer system is pretty outdated and in need of repair,” Kloepper said. “I have a pretty big basement and it was coming up at a rate of an inch and a half an hour.”

Students from Saint Mary’s came to Kloepper’s neighborhood to help her and her neighbors put sandbags in front of their houses see FLOOD PAGE 4

MARY BERNARD | The Observer

A building on the corner of Emerson Ave. and Northshore Blvd. is surrounded by floodwater from February’s heavy rainstorms. The floodwater was found to have an abundance of E. coli.

Comedy series to SMC students raise money reflect on Notre for Holy Cross missions Dame diversity

By MARTHA REILLY Saint Mary’s Editor

By TOM NAATZ News Writer

In spite of its fame, Notre Dame’s Golden Dome has yet to be featured in the name of a television program. That changes Wednesday with the premiere of “Dome-ish”, a four-part sketch comedy series reflecting issues of diversity at Notre Dame.

The show’s producers — seniors Coty Miller, Chandler Turner and Geralyn Smith — said they hope “Dome-ish” will tell stories about minority groups on campus.

“We really want students to kind of understand the positions that minority students have been placed in and hopefully see that and want to either change their views, change how they approach situations,” Miller said. “[We want students] to sympathize more.”

The miniseries, which will consist of four 15-minute episodes, was created in collaboration with Multicultural Student Program

news PAGE 3

and Services (MSPS) and NDtv, Miller said. The program aims to counter stereotypes and educate the campus community about diversity in a “comedic way.”

“Think of it as the funny ‘Show Some Skin,’” Turner said.

Each episode will feature roughly three skits highlighting specific issues, Miller explained.

Examples of issues include the experiences of students who come from families with low socioeconomic status, stereotypes surrounding athletes and the daily struggles students of color and the LGBTQ community.

“In our promo video, we talked about how a lot of times professors can’t tell the difference between different black students, or even students of color in general,” Miller said.

The production process aimed to involve as many students who were interested in getting film production experience as see COMEDY PAGE 3

scene PAGE 5

Learning to sell things in a classroom is one thing. Actually selling things is quite another.

The Professional Sales and Management course at Saint Mary’s rallied together to donate $10,000 to Bengal Bouts, but seniors Madison Marshall and

Sarah Sniegowski raised $2,000 — the most of any team in the 20-person class — and took the uppercut of the sales.

The class’s professor, Michael Montalbano, encouraged his students to engage in — rather than just read about — successful sales techniques, Marshall said.

“He wants to give us the most

real-life experience in sales because you can only teach so much … from a book,” Marshall said. “He does a great job pushing us to get out there and actually do sales. That’s the best way to learn: by actually doing it.”

Selling tickets and ad space, along with soliciting donations, see SALES PAGE 4

Spanish Lenten reflection promotes meditation

By MARY STEURER News Writer

To better serve Notre Dame’s Spanish-speaking community, Campus Ministry created “Caminando Con La Madre Del Amor,” a Spanishlanguage reflection to be held every Wednesday night in the Coleman–Morse chapel during Lent.

viewpoint PAGE 7

According to Campus Ministry’s website, the service, which translates to “walking with the mother of love,” seeks to lead students in meditation on the “Our Lady of Sorrows” rosary mysteries. Rebecca Ruvalcaba, the assistant director of multicultural ministry, said the program aims to provide Spanish-speaking students with more opportunities

men’s basketball PAGE 12

for rosary devotion and grew out of Campus Ministry’s usual Wednesday night Spanish rosary.

“Each service focuses specifically on one of seven ‘Our Lady of Sorrows’ mysteries,” Ruvalcaba said. “The mysteries explore how Mary, the mother of God, shared in Christ’s see MINISTRY PAGE 4

football PAGE 12

2

TODAY

The observer | wednesday, march 7, 2018 | ndsmcobserver.com

Question of the Day: ndsmcobserver.com

Have a question you want answered?

Email photo@ndsmcobserver.com

If you could go anywhere for spring break where would you go?

P.O. Box 779, Notre Dame, IN 46556 024 South Dining Hall, Notre Dame, IN 46556

Lainie Lynch

Harrison Brousseau

graduate student off campus

sophomore Duncan Hall

“The Greek islands.”

“Florida.”

Reagan Stohldr

Julia Dodig

sophomore Holy Cross Hall

freshman Ryan Hall

“Italy.”

“Maldives.”

(574) 631-4542 cbecker3@nd.edu

David Lund

Kimberly Kosman

Managing Editor

sophomore Keough Hall

senior off campus

“Sweden.”

“Duluth, Minnesota.”

Editor-in-Chief Courtney Becker Managing Editor Katie Galioto

Asst. Managing Editor: Marek Mazurek Asst. Managing Editor: Rachel O’Grady Asst. Managing Editor: Megan Valley News Editor: Viewpoint Editor: Sports Editor: Scene Editor: Saint Mary’s Editor: Photo Editor: Graphics Editor: Advertising Manager: Advertising Manager: Ad Design Manager:

Natalie Weber Mary Freeman Elizabeth Greason Adam Ramos Martha Reilly Chris Collins Lauren Weldon Molly McCarthy Alexandra Pucillo Madison Riehle

Office Manager & General Info

Ph: (574) 631-7471 Fax: (574) 631-6927 Advertising

(574) 631-6900 ads@ndsmcobserver.com Editor-in-Chief

(574) 631-4542 kgalioto@nd.edu Assistant Managing Editors

(574) 631-4541 mmazurek@nd.edu, rogrady@nd.edu, mvalley@nd.edu Business Office

(574) 631-5313 News Desk

(574) 631-5323 news@ndsmcobserver.com Viewpoint Desk

(574) 631-5303 viewpoint@ndsmcobserver.com Sports Desk

(574) 631-4543 sports@ndsmcobserver.com Scene Desk

(574) 631-4540 scene@ndsmcobserver.com Saint Mary’s Desk

mreilly01@saintmarys.edu Photo Desk

(574) 631-8767 photo@ndsmcobserver.com

The next Five days:

Want your event included here?

Email news@ndsmcobserver.com

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Chili Cook-Off 101 Harper Hall 4 p.m. - 6 p.m.

All profits will be donated to cancer reasearch.

Exhibit: Modern Women’s Prints Snite Museum of Art all day Prints available until March 18.

Exhibition: “Money Worries” Snite Museum of Art all day Exhibit remains open until March 25.

Midterm Break campus-wide all day No classes until March 19 at Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s.

Midterm Break campus-wide all day No classes until March 19 at Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s.

Visiting Artist Lecture: Jason Middlebrook 200 Riley Hall of Art 5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Open to the public.

Caffè e Conversazione Decio Commons 4:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Meet to practice your Italian with others.

Exhibit: “In a Civilized Nation” Hesburgh Library 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.

View this exhibit until June 28.

Hockey vs. Penn State Compton Ice Arena 5:30 p.m.

The Irish take on the Nittany Lions.

Mass Basilica of the Sacred Heart 10 a.m.

Additional mass is served at 11:45 a.m.

Systems & Web Administrators

(574) 631-8839 Policies The Observer is the independent, daily newspaper published in print and online by the students of the University of Notre Dame du Lac and Saint Mary’s College. Editorial content, including advertisements, is not governed by policies of the administration of either institution. The Observer reserves the right to refuse advertisements based on content.

The news is reported as accurately and objectively as possible. Unsigned editorials represent the opinion of the majority of the Editor-in-Chief, Managing Editor, Assistant Managing Editors and department editors.

Commentaries, letters and columns present the views of the authors and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Viewpoint space is available to all readers. The free expression of all opinions through letters is encouraged.

Letters to the Editor must be signed and must include contact information.

Questions regarding Observer policies should be directed to Editor-in-Chief Courtney Becker.

Lecturer discusses disabled care

Post Office Information The Observer (USPS 599 2-4000) is published Monday through Friday except during exam and vacation periods.

A subscription to The Observer is $130 for one academic year; $75 for one semester.

The Observer is published at: 024 South Dining Hall Notre Dame, IN 46556-0779 Periodical postage paid at Notre Dame and additional mailing offices POSTMASTER Send address corrections to: The Observer P.O. Box 779 024 South Dining hall Notre Dame, IN 46556-077 The Observer is a member of the Associated Press.

All reproduction rights are reserved.

Today’s Staff News

Sports

Tom Naatz Gina Twardosz Lucy Lynch

Ben Padanilam Charlotte Edmonds Thomas Murphy

Graphics

Scene

Cristina Interiano

Charlie Kenney

Photo

Viewpoint

Sarah Olson

Mary Freeman

Corrections A story published in Tuesday’s edition incorrectly identified a speaker at a Dream SB march. The student who spoke was Saint Mary’s junior Marlen Ortiz Benitez. The Observer regrets this error.

By COLLEEN FISCHER News Writer

Dr. Joshua Diehl, the chief strategy officer for autism services at South Bend’s LOGAN Center, explored the issue of care for the developmentally disabled throughout history in a Tuesday lecture, “The Past, Present and Future of Services for People with Disabilities: A LOGAN Perspective.”

Diehl will be a fellow in Saint Mary’s Master of Autism Studies and is involved in autism research at Notre Dame.

Diehl said the purpose of his speech was to discuss the history of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

“It has really been a checkered past and I want to intersperse how [the Michiana] region has played a role in changing that checkered past — at least moving forward to improve the situation of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities,” he said.

During the 19th century, Diehl said states implemented sterilization laws that had adverse effects for disabled people.

“The movement toward eugenics greatly affected people with developmental disabilities,” he said. “ ... Sometimes people were killed. There was not protection under the 14th Amendment ... court case after court case went against people with

disabilities.”

The terms “moron, idiot and imbecile” were not derogatory terms during this time, Diehl explained, but instead were medical terms used to classify people with disabilities.

“Someone who was a moron had moderate intellectual ability, an idiot had moderate intellectual disabilities and a person with very severe intellectual disability was an idiot,” Diehl said. “It is fascinating because it transferred into pop culture and the way that we insult each other. The term that replaced these terms was mental retardation, and the word retard has taken on that role. We have a more visceral response to the word retard but we do not have that same visceral response to these words.”

Following the world wars, there was a proliferation of institutions that frequently offered poor care for patients, Diehl said.

“One of them was in South Bend,” he said. “What was different about this hospital was that it was for all ages and it was enormous; it was for all of the northern area of Indiana … the conditions were atrocious, children were stacked upon children with huge ratios that were one to forty.”

In the 1950’s, public schools were

allowed to deny children with disabilities, Diehl said. In response, a group of parents created the LOGAN School which focused on education for children with disabilities and job preparation for adults with disabilities. In the 1970’s, congressional legislation ensured education for everyone regardless of disability, he said. LOGAN and other organizations had to adapt from being schools to support centers.

“That transition to school took a long time and it is still is taking a long time,” Diehl said.

Diehl said that a deep awareness of disabilities is no longer adequate, and a better understanding is needed.

“Everyone is aware now that developmental disabilities exist and are important, but I think what is missing is knowledge about them,” he said.

Diehl encouraged people to share new ideas to improve education for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

“If you are afraid to say your idea, remember someone pitched an idea about a tornado filled with sharks, which became the multimillion-dollar movie ’Sharknado.’”

Contact Colleen Fischer at cfischer01@saintmarys.edu

News

ndsmcobserver.com | wednesday, march 7, 2018 | The Observer

3

Lecturer reflects on serving disabled patients

By GINA TWARDOSZ Associate Saint Mary’s Editor

Helping is not the same as serving. On Tuesday, Susan Latham, Saint Mary’s associate professor of communication and sciences disorders, explored this idea as it relates to the difference between helping those with disabilities and serving those with disabilities.

For Latham, serving those with disabilities means working alongside them.

“When we say we want to help others, we’re meaning that they need to be helped rather than talking about serving others and being alongside them,” she said.

Latham said that many speech and language pathologists utilize a medical model which focuses on fixing or helping those with disabilities.

“This idea comes from a medical model orientation — as well as when we say that we’re fixing people — it means that we’re starting from someone’s deficits rather than their strengths,” she said. “It sees disability as a problem that belongs to the disabled.

The issue is seen having to do with the individual rather than the issue being with society.”

A social model finds issue with society, not the individual, said Latham.

“If we look at a wheelchairusing student being unable to get into a building because of some steps, the medical model suggests that this is because of the wheelchair, rather than the steps,” she said. “If we approach this disability through the social model, the steps are the disabling barrier. This model draws on the idea that it is society that disables people by designing everything to meet the needs of the majority of people who are not disabled.”

Latham quoted author Rachel Naomi Remen and said that those in the medical profession have to connect with their patients in order have meaningful interactions. “‘Fixing and helping create a distance between people, but we cannot serve at a distance.

We can only serve to which we are profoundly connected,’” Latham said. “So, I feel as a

speech language pathologist, I need to be profoundly connected to my clients, to my families that I work with, and I can’t do that at a distance.”

Serving, as opposed to helping, helps health professionals to see the individual as a whole, Latham explained.

“When you’re helping someone, and you say you’re helping someone, you see that life as being weak,” she said. “When you fix, you see that life as broken.

But when you serve, you see life as a whole. I believe that’s how we should approach our work in the medical professions and health professions.”

Latham said the relationship that grows from merely helping an individual with disabilities is rooted in inequality.

“The relationships that we have when we’re helping, is one that is not between equals … and what happens then is that these people who you work with feel that inequality,” she said. “They’re ashamed when they haven’t done the work that you’ve told them to. We have to make sure that we’re making

them feel, at least equal, if not, the most important person in the room.”

Latham noted that service requires introspection on the part of health professionals..

“What happens when we help? We become aware of our own strength,” she said. “When we serve, we don’t serve with our strength — we serve with ourselves and draw from our experiences.”

Latham said serving is about becoming one’s true self.

“This is really about becoming our true self,” she said. “Not the fault self. Not who you think you’re called to be or how you think other people perceive you.

We’re not embracing our failures or our limitations by serving.”

While helping or fixing can be draining in the professional field, serving those with disabilities can be a rewarding and energizing experience.

“Service is a relationship between people,” she said. “When we try to fix and help, it becomes draining, and that’s when [professionals] become burnt out.

What happens in the schools

and hospitals when you have speech language pathologists who want to quit all the time?

And they want to quit all the time from schools because it’s impossible to serve others if you have a caseload of 120 students.

“You’re going to have to approach your caseload by asking how do I fix this? How do I help people? Not, how do I serve people? And people get burnt out because we don’t find happiness in helping or fixing. When we are serving, it is very rewarding.

Our work itself will renew us. I always know when I’m serving others because I feel excited, I feel that enthusiasm.”

Latham said that while helping those with disabilities may provide some satisfaction, service goes deeper and makes a health professional feel gratitude for being able to do that work that they do.

“In helping, you may find a sense of satisfaction, but in serving, you will find a sense of gratitude.”

Contact Gina Twardosz at gtwardosz01@saintmarys.edu

Professor analyzes institutional development

By LUCY LYNCH News Writer

Yuen Yuen Ang, associate professor of political science at the University of Michigan, presented a lecture titled “A Hammer Is Not a Second-Best Screwdriver: Taking Institutional Fit Seriously in Development,” on Tuesday. Ang detailed the argument of her 2017 book, “How China Escaped the Poverty Trap,” focused on the case study of China, where modern institutions have spurred the country’s development despite being regarded as weak or backwards based on first world standards.

In recent years, Ang said, there has been a shift in the

Comedy Continued from page 1

possible, the producers said.

idea of institutional fit from the argument that “one-size-fitsall” countries to the adaptive “one-size-doesn’t-fit-all.” This modern, developed approach at looking at institutions is better than the old way but still has room for improvement, Ang said.

“I think it’s great; it’s very encouraging to see that we have made this big shift, but I have some complaints,” she said. “I think that the idea of institutional fit is used and evoked, but it hasn’t been taken seriously.”

The problem, Ang said, is that many theorists using this new approach to institutional fit are lacking theory, evidence and examples, and they often equate

these poorer countries’ success with “second-best institutions.”

“If you can’t have something that is the best institutions, then make do with something less good,” Ang said.

In studying regional Chinese governments, as well as several other nations, Ang rejects this notion, arguing that there is historical evidence that alternative institutional systems — systems that are not necessarily inferior to the normative standard — can bring sweeping development.

Her case study centered around the idea that in order to understand institutional fit seriously, the way the topic is thought about and measured

must be changed. Ang also said that she found evidence that institutions for building markets does not equal the same institutions for preserving markets and that even in early stages, these seemingly “weak” or “wrong” institutions can be functionally strong.

Ang said much of institutional ideology is surrounded by the chicken and egg conundrum of whether normatively weak institutions or economically poor countries came first.

She agreed with contemporary authors who say it is difficult to make poor countries prosperous; however, China has provided insight into the feasibility of this objective.

“We have misunderstood that causal process of the government,” Ang said. “It’s not a twostep process; it’s not just one big arrow. We can synthesize development into a co–evolutionary process.”

The institutional steps Ang prescribes are for societies to harness these supposedly “weak” institutions in order to build markets, for emerging markets to stimulate strong institutions and for strong institutions to preserve markets.

“It is a simple, but not simplistic view of development,” Ang said.

Anyone can submit a skit for the producers’ consideration. The show will also include skits written by the producers.

Once the producers have

decided to use a skit, they reach out to people to help out with production. Both Miller and Turner expressed hope that “Dome-ish” will continue to be produced in future semesters.

“In the beginning, before we started writing content and all of that, we reached out to see who was interested in general,” Miller said. “A lot of people got back to us and they just wanted to get involved with production and acting in general, and so based on that interest those are the people we reach out to automatically. More and more people start reaching out the more they hear about it, so we try to include as many people as possible.”

The title “Dome-ish” is derived from the ABC sitcom “Blackish” and its spin-off, “Grownish.” The producers said that it is meant to signify the fact that

many minority students do not get the full “Notre Dame experience” while they are students at the University.

“We kind of played off the whole ‘Black-ish’ and ‘Grownish’ ideas where they’re saying they’re ‘black-ish,’ so what people typically expect black people to be like, they’re kind of like that in terms of … cause they’re black and they do have some similarities with the stereotypes and black experiences, but it’s an ‘ish’ kind of thing,” Miller said. “We’re saying these students kind of get that Notre Dame experience being here, they get a lot of the same experiences other students do but there’s a lot of experiences that they’re not able to get and their experiences are different.

“So, the typical Notre Dame experience people get and walk with and tell people about, which

is a good experience, they’re kind of getting that. They’re unfortunately not able to get that typical Notre Dame experience and that’s where the ‘ish’ comes from.”

Turner said one of the key goals of the “Dome-ish” project is to tell the stories of students who are often forgotten or overlooked.

“One goal of mine is to add to the Notre Dame narrative,” Turner said. “A lot of times Notre Dame just pushes one type of Notre Dame student or one type of narrative and with this visual representation of a lot of the students that go here that don’t feel represented quite so right. So, we’re giving students the chance to write their own narratives and that’s really important to us.”

Paid Advertisement

Contact Lucy Lynch at llynch1@nd.edu

Contact Tom Naatz at tnaatz@nd.edu

4

NEWS

The observer | wednesday, march 7, 2018 | ndsmcobserver.com

Sales Continued from page 1

served as integral goals throughout the process, Marshall said, but she and Sniegowski never lost sight of the most valuable objectivel: helping fund children’s education.

“Working for this cause was obviously a group project, and we could have just done it for a grade, but we took away way more,” she said. “It’s easier to sell when it’s something you actually care about.”

Knowing their efforts would help others helped the class to maintain focus, Sniegowski said.

“My biggest selling point when I was asking for donations was ‘Just $15 is enough money to send a child to school, feed them and house them in Bangladesh for a month,’” Sniegowski said. “When you set a goal, and you have the right mindset and purpose and passion, you can do anything.”

The College’s fundamental ambition to cultivate generous hearts and capable minds aligns perfectly with this particular assignment, Sniegowski said.

“Saint Mary’s really empowers us women to become the best versions of ourselves, and as we go out and set the world on fire, literally, we can do anything because of what we’ve had here at Saint Mary’s,” she said.

Marshall said Montalbano served as a reliable adviser throughout the process, but ultimately, the money was for the students to raise.

“He tracked our progress and basically graded us on how much

we sold, which I love because, in the real world, it’s not about effort as much as it is about results,” she said. “I’ve already learned so much from our first project, and I can’t wait to see what the other two will be.”

For Sniegowski, appreciating incremental progress and trusting the process of gradual improvement made the project a meaningful and fulfilling one.

“The first thing Montalbano said at the beginning of class was ‘You’re going to fail more times than you’re going to succeed,’” Sniegowski said. “So we kind of went into it knowing that we’re not going to get every single sale, but every sale we get is going to make the biggest difference.”

The assignment sparked interest in and ignited excitement about the field of sales, Marshall said.

“I was so hesitant to be in sales in general because normally for marketing — that’s my major — you start with sales jobs, and I was so against it,” Marshall said.

“I forced myself to take this class because it’s a good skill to have, and I’m learning way more than I thought I would.”

Marshall said she looks forward to applying her refined skills to a future career.

“Sales is going out of your comfort zone and talking to people, and you have to be confident,” Marshall said. “Saint Mary’s teaches women to be confident, and the sales class directly reflects that.”

Contact Martha Reilly at mreilly01@saintmarys.edu

Flood Continued from page 1

to divert the water away from the homes. Luckily, a plumber was helping a neighbor and was able to rid Kloepper’s basement water with an industrial pump. Her furnace, hot water heater and dryer were ruined by the water.

Kloepper estimates she has around $5,000 or $6,000 worth of appliance repairs and replacements. However, that is just a fraction of the tens of thousands that some of her neighbors estimate to have lost.

Kloepper’s basement also flooded in August 2016, prompting her to take precautions to avoid future damage in the case of another flood.

“I put everything in my basement up on shelves or in bins, so that if it ever happened again, all my personal belongings would be okay,” Kloepper said.

Before removing the water from her basement, Kloepper took a water sample to Reena Khadka, an assistant professor of microbiology at Saint Mary’s, to test the levels of E. coli.

“Since it was the backup from the sewer, I was really interested to see ‘how contaminated is this water?’” Kloepper said.

Kloepper and Khadka found 450 colonies of E. coli per milliliter of water. Kloepper said the levels in the water are about 200 times the levels that are considered safe for human swimming, but still lower than the levels found in the St. Joseph River.

“It gave us an idea of what we

were dealing with, and then I helped communicate that to my neighbors so everybody would be really careful,” Kloepper said.

“Sometimes you look at water and you just think it’s muddy … but really, when it’s that contaminated, you need to sterilize anything that came into contact with that water.”

Although Kloepper was able to prepare for the flood and bleach the surfaces that possibly were contaminated, the citywide lack of preparation has frustrated her neighbors, Kloepper said.

“Two events within two years is not good for the residents that are there,” Kloepper said. “I know there’s a lot of people in my neighborhood that are really frustrated with this situation. … there’s a lot of people in my neighborhood that are talking about wanting to move out of the neighborhood now because of this.”

Notre Dame business professor Bruce Harris lives a few blocks from Kloepper and also experienced both the 2016 and the recent flooding.

“I got up and I saw that water was trickling into the basement when I went to class,” Harris said. “It hadn’t filled up, it was still draining. And then the drain started flowing backwards.”

By the time he got home, Harris said he found water in the basement. Harris used pumps and hoses to remove the water, but rain on Thursday brought several more inches of water into the basement.

“A lot of times, the water will continue rising after it rains,” Harris said. “It’s coming all the way up from Michigan, so Paid Advertisement

Ministry Continued from page 1

suffering.”

The hour-long program opens with a hymn, followed by a scripture reading, rosary meditation and sermon, Ruvalcaba said. Each sermon is delivered by an invited guest and offers thoughts about the evening’s meditation. “[The service] looks towards Mary’s heart and her relationship with her son and how she walked as that Mother caring for him at different moments,” Ruvalcaba said.

Senior Melissa GutierrezLopez said the service guides students in reflecting on Mary and how, as the mother of God, she watched her son’s crucifixion. She views the devotions as a means for students to “reflect and have a space with God,” she said.

“It’s a nice way to create fellowship through reflection and through spirituality,” GutierrezLopez said.

The theme of the devotion — finding hope in suffering — is particularly appropriate for Lent, she said.

“It’s about how we can open ourselves up to being vulnerable and talking about our own suffering,” GutierrezLopez said.

The sermon is followed by a period of quiet reflection,

Ruvalcaba said, and priests are also available for reconciliation during this time. She said the congregation then breaks into small groups to discuss the meditation.

GutierrezLopez said she values the small group time because it gives students a space to be vulnerable.

“It’s just a nice way to open up and allow yourself to feel,” GutierrezLopez said.

Ruvalcaba said the patient manner in which Mary endured her hardships makes her a fitting role model for Lent.

“At different moments in [Mary’s life] there were moments of sorrow,” Ruvalcaba said. “That being said, she always had a certain dignity, a way of taking it in and reflecting on it.”

Ruvalcaba said she hopes the service will help students come to terms with their own struggles.

“More than anything I hope that [students] gain an openness to Mary’s heart and a way of reflecting on how to deal with sorrow,” she said. “We’re all called to have different struggles as students on campus, [and] to be life not just for ourselves but for other people.

I think that’s really what Lent is all about.”

Contact Mary Steurer at msteure1@nd.edu

everything that’s happening up there is draining in. It could start rising again even when it’s sunny out because the water keeps creeping out of the ground.”

The neighborhood in which Harris and Kloepper live has been using the Nextdoor app to communicate about the damage.

“Everyone’s posting. [Kloepper] put the lab test out there,” Harris said. “People were really good in terms of helping out all the neighbors. Everyone kind of watches out for each other.”

Harris recently rewired his basement because of the damage caused by the 2016 flood, but he moved the outlets from the floor to chest-level, narrowly escaping further electrical damage by a few weeks.

“The last one ‘16, they called that a 100-year flood. The water gets up that high, and it’s this much damage, only once in 100 years,” Harris said. “This was a 500-year flood, so I figure we’re good.”

However, the increase of frequency and intensity of storm events due to climate change might merit a new way to categorize storms, Kloepper said.

“They called this a 500-year flood, and that means it’s supposed to happening once every 500 years. But, with climate change … extreme weather events are supposed to happen more often,” Kloepper said. “Even though it’s called a 500-year flood, with climate change we can expect these things to happen more and more.”

Contact Mary Bernard at mbernar5@nd.edu

The observer | wednesday, MARCH 7, 2018 | ndsmcobserver.com

5

CRISTINA INTERIANO | The Observer

6

The observer | wednesday, march 7, 2018 | ndsmcobserver.com

Inside Column

Failure is the key to winning Rachel O’Grady Assistant Managing Editor

My friends at The Observer have always been there for me when I needed them, starting with the time I didn’t even know I needed them.

I had just had one of the worst weeks of my life during the second semester of my sophomore year. I felt out of place at Notre Dame, like I just wasn’t good enough to be here. At the end of that week, I wrote the worst column I will ever write for The Observer, titled “Boxing out is the key to winning.”

The piece itself wasn’t awful. It wasn’t good, either. It was this incredibly lukewarm opinion for the Sports Authority section about how this simple act, boxing out, was the key to winning basketball games. That obviously is not the case, but the important part is that I wrote it, and the wonderful people of The Observer sports department let me run it.

I wrote that column because that’s what I always did when I was in a weird place or feeling less than myself — I wrote. I wrote because that fixed things.

It always had, and I was confident it always would. So, I wrote about a piece of advice my dad had given me several years before.

“Box out!” he would scream from the sidelines of my grade school basketball games. As a 5-foot-10 eighth grader, this was excellent advice. Several years and a less-than-stellar basketball career later, I wrote about it. I felt better after writing about something I felt was objectively true during a particularly uncertain time in my life.

Looking back, I definitely didn’t know how much that column would mean to me down the line. But two years later, almost everyone here at The Observer knows about this column, and they make fun of me for it pretty consistently.

By not really giving an actual opinion in a column that required one, I failed in some sense. A lot of the people here also know how I’ve failed in other, more serious ways during my time here — and there are no shortage of those — and they’ve watched me as I sometimes tried and failed over and over again.

But they’ve also watched me succeed.

They’ve encouraged me every step of

the way. They’ve let me know when I’ve failed — they make fun of me for that boxing out column at least once a week — and they let me know when I’ve done well. They laugh at my jokes. They’re there to respond, or at least read, my 3 a.m. texts with random story ideas, now-hotter takes and general musings.

They’ve been with me through the large and the small, through the worst weeks and the best. They’ve rarely said no, and they’ve never stopped me from trying my hand at something, even when they knew I would probably fail. They’ve given me the opportunity to learn and grow unlike any other group of people or organization could. These people became my family at Notre Dame, never letting me head into battle alone.

This will be the last time my name appears with this byline. I sort of predicted this three years ago when I bombarded my then-boss, Greg Hadley, about what my “four-year plan” should be at The Observer — this was the end of that game plan. What I couldn’t have predicted was the in-between. The impossibly late Insider Wednesday nights where Katie, Jack and Greg put up with my inability to draw a straight line.

Getting “injured” almost every single News-Sports basketball game. Driving up to East Lansing for the Michigan State game with Ben, Liz and Dan on a whim.

These people published my stupid column about why boxing out was critical when it was critical for me to obtain the validation of my peers. They laughed at me a week later, but they made me feel important and included when I otherwise felt terrible deep down. That’s what they were here for, and that’s what The Observer has been to me. They embodied the idea that it’s not about how many times you fall, it’s about how many times you get up.

So, to every person who has picked me up along the way, or yelled at me until I did it myself: I can’t thank you enough.

Here’s to you, the endless late nights, the good and the bad memories and the battles we fought together. You are the people who made me.

Contact Rachel O’Grady at rogrady@nd.edu The views expressed in the Inside Column are those of the author and not necessarily of The Observer.

Submit a Letter to the Editor: Email

viewpoint@ndsmcobserver.com

On the shoulders of Knights Lauren Fox Life Goes On

Between a set of double doors, 16 men from Keenan Hall raised a fellow Knight on their shoulders and sang “Happy Birthday” to him at the top of their lungs.

It was more screaming than singing. It was crowded. It only lasted a few minutes. And it was junior Kevin Schneier’s favorite moment of the fall semester.

Schneier wasn’t even the birthday boy. He was one of the squished men whose hands propped the celebrant up. But for Schneier, that song in a crowded cubicle was a moment of recognition of personal growth. It was a victory after a small defeat.

Earlier that day, Schneier’s hallmates had agreed to join him for dinner on Eddy Street after their section football game, which they were favored to win and were “riled up” about. The team ranked No. 1 in the Keenan football league, but after a 0-0 tie in the regular game and a quadruple overtime series, his team lost.

This hit Schneier hard. Last year his team had also lost in the first round of playoffs, and it had ruined his day, he said. And this year, he could see the first years were taking the loss just like he had then. So Schneier decided to alter his mindset.

“I made an effort to be positive after the game,” he said.

The men returned to Keenan to shower and change, and Schneier convinced them to keep their plans to eat dinner on Eddy Street. (The dining hall being closed helped his case.) As the guys were about to walk out, they realized they were waiting on a few others and stopped in between a set of double doors to wait.

“The entire floor was covered with people. Not one more person could have fit,” Schneier said, estimating the airlock space to be about 5-by-5.

The guys were waiting for the last straggling first year to arrive, and it just so happened to be his birthday, so someone suggested they sing to him when he got there. When he came, “the front people just picked him up,” Schneier said.

“There were so many hands under him. It was like he was on a solid ground of hands.”

Sixteen men from Keenan Hall lifted their friend on their shoulders and began to sing.

“We were singing but we were laughing at the same time. We were yelling ... as loud as possible.”

Picture this image. Picture this image and grin at the pure joy of it: A first year on the hands and shoulders of his friends, getting a birthday serenade. When Schneier told me about this moment at the end of the fall semester, I couldn’t get the scene out of my head. I wasn’t there, but it was impossible not to picture it and laugh at the simplicity and geniality of it. A bunch of dudes being dudes, singing, and laughing and yelling.

It’s small moments like these that detail a Notre Dame experience.

And it’s storytellers like Schneier who define a Notre Dame student.

Schneier’s favorite memory wasn’t one where he was the center of attention — he wasn’t the one being lifted — it was a private recognition of growth.

As we entered the Lenten season, we heard a gospel from Matthew telling us to give alms in secret, not letting our left hand know what our right hand is doing. This gospel always leaves me ill at ease, for I know I seek and value recognition. After Schneier told me his favorite moment, I thought back to some of my own. Many included accomplishments that gained recognition: a good grade on an essay, say, or being chosen as an interviewee for a summer internship.

And, yes, these accomplishments deserve celebration. But they are not the only moments that defined my semester.

Let’s not just remember the interhall games we won or the audiences who stood up to applaud for us after concerts. Let’s remember the small things that perhaps went unrecognized: the late nights spent comforting a crying friend, vacuuming the rug when your roommates were in class and the moments of camaraderie like the one expressed in Keenan Hall that Friday night. For these are accomplishments done in secret.

That evening in Keenan Hall, Schneier proved to himself that one person’s attitude can make a difference. They had lost their game, but his individual efforts to stay positive resulted in the Knights coming together to celebrate a friend.

After the singing “no one remembered the football game,” Schneier said. “We sprinted out the door. We were doing parkour on the rocks.”

“I feel like that was the victory right there,” he said. “I felt so proud to be a part of that group even though we had just come off a crushing loss. ... This is what I wanted college to be.”

Lauren Fox is a junior PLS major who enjoys listening to summer hits of the 2000s and playing 500 rummy. You can follow her on twitter via @bylaurenfox and send fan mail to lfox6@nd.edu The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

7

The observer | wednesday, march 7, 2018 | ndsmcobserver.com

LETTERs TO THE EDITOR

What happens in a closed senate meeting Given the events of this year’s student body election, closed senate meetings have become a controversial issue. A few people asked for our perspective and, for those interested, we feel it would be appropriate to share our experiences with Judicial Council hearings. This is what happened in last year’s senate hearing regarding the now meme-infamous 7 percent vote reduction.

Background: A closed senate hearing occurs during election cycles when a presidential ticket is accused of misconduct. The election committee, after hearing a statement from the accuser and the accused ticket, in addition to weighing all evidence, levies a punishment. If a ticket appeals this hearing (which is the only protest possible), a closed senate meeting is held. The outcome of this senate meeting can only be one of two options: one, the senate recommends that the election committee reconsider their penalty and two, the election committee’s original decision stands.

Here’s what happened to us: We posted a boosted/paid Facebook post before pre-approving it with Judicial Council.

The content of the post was completely permissible; it was a picture of our ticket with a puppy and our campaign information. There was nothing controversial about it in any regard. We can say with 100 percent certainty that the post would have been approved by Judicial Council. That said, we did break the rule regarding pre-approval of spending on a Facebook post (at no point did we overspend our campaign spending limit), and we take full accountability for our actions. We were just shocked that the election committee arbitrarily decided to hand down the unprecedented punishment of a 7 percent vote reduction. Other penalties are allowed. For fairness’ sake, the penalty should match the offense. Precedent from previous elections was completely ignored. Previous presidential campaigns had seen campaign overspending and a music video which had a very mild insult directed at another ticket. Neither of these resulted in a penalty of vote reduction (again we failed to preapprove an uncontroversial Facebook post). The precedent mentioned was that a previous Freshman Class Council election had seen a similar incident with a 10 percent reduction of votes, so the election committee was being generous with us. Our personal case doesn’t matter because we lost the pre-penalty vote count fair and square. It is important because it could impact the outcome of future elections.

Here’s how a closed senate meeting works — I (Rohit) will give the chronological timeline of our hearing with our details, but the format would be the same for all closed senate

hearings regarding campaign issues: 1. We file an appeal of our unprecedented 7 percent reduction in votes. Someone else also appealed our punishment as well (more on that later).

2. The senate is informed that they have an emergency meeting within 24 hours.

3. When the time of the meeting is set (in our case, the evening after we filed the appeal), we (the ticket) were informed of the senate hearing. We were given strict instructions regarding the time and the exact direction and entrance from which to approach LaFortune Student Center.

4. At the appointed time, my team and I approached in the instructed manner and were escorted to a waiting room (not where senate is held) with the windows covered. All the window coverings are done in the name of protecting the identity of the accuser.

5. The senate convenes for a closed door meeting. I wasn’t in the room, but I understand that Judicial Council gives them a brief on why exactly they are convened, the punishment, etc.

6. The appealing ticket elects one representative to give a five-minute (timed to the second) pitch to the senate as to why they should hear the appeal and open a formal hearing.

I gave the pitch for my ticket.

7. I was led into the room, gave my exactly five-minute pitch on why the punishment was unjust and was escorted back to the waiting room. This took place about a year ago, but I believe this was about 40 minutes into the whole hearing.

8. Point of interest: Since any student can technically appeal a decision, I was informed that someone else had appealed our punishment. Later on, I learned that they had appealed for it to be made worse. How this person knew the details of our rules infraction or why they wanted to punish us more severely remains a mystery to me. I don’t even know with certainty who this person was.

9. The senate rejected his/her five-minute pitch.

10. The senate accepted my five-minute pitch.

11. At this point we (my team of five, including myself) were led back into senate for the true hearing. This ended up lasting three hours and involved a Judicial Council representative and us presenting both sides of the case. The majority of the time was spent with senators asking questions and follow-up questions. There was some confusion on all sides since no student (that I’m aware of) in the room had experience with the situation.

12. After every possible question had been asked and

everyone in the room had a thorough understanding of the entire situation, the senate agreed that the ruling was inappropriate. They were only allowed to send an official note to the election committee to reconsider the punishment.

13. The senate meeting ended.

14. The election committee decided to reduce the punishment by a mere 2 percent. They reached this decision through internal discussion. There is no further appeal process, and we had to accept the 5 percent hit. No reasoning or methodology was made for the 2 percent reduction.

15. This entire process took place after voting ended.

Judicial Council had the voting results before the appeal, so the whole process was done with Judicial Council knowing that no result of the appeal would change the outcome of the election.

This should not be misconstrued as an attack on anyone.

All parties involved followed the rules set forth by the constitution. The main points are: 1. The election committee has no known methodology for their vote reductions, which can seriously impact an election. They can arbitrarily make decisions with no real check on their power (an entire four-hour senate hearing can only recommend that they reconsider). In our case, past precedent was ignored. If our case was precedent for this year’s penalties (as suggested by the Observer article from Monday), by what system or metric were this year’s campaign violations 3 percent and 5 percent worse than not pre-approving a boosted Facebook post?

2. In any election, vote reduction is a serious penalty which disenfranchises voters and should be reserved for misconduct which is objectively serious. (We are not making any claims about this election’s rulings, since we are not fully knowledgeable of their unique situations.)

3. This process should not be so time-consuming, secretive and full of red tape. We need to keep things in perspective.

We would be happy to further discuss or elaborate on anything in this piece. Please reach out at rfonseca@nd.edu or dnarimat@nd.edu Rohit Fonseca senior Daniela Narimatsu senior March 5

Stop pretending we can ignore Syria’s crisis The world looks away as bombs and bullets destroy Syrian communities, especially in Ghouta, Idlib and Afrin. The world is in denial and is pretending that the massacres are not happening. This pretending has to stop.

In the past seven years, almost half a million Syrians have been killed, and 11 million have been displaced from their homes. The media falsely calls the conflict a “civil war,” as if the regime and opposition were equally at fault. Actually, the dictator Bashar al-Assad’s side is responsible for more than nine out of 10 civilian deaths. “Massacre” and “genocide” are more accurate terms to describe the bombings, shelling and sieges conducted by Assad and his Russian government backers against the Syrian population.

In Ghouta, 400,000 people have been trapped in an openair concentration camp for six years, denied basic food, water and medicine and facing continuous airstrikes. Aid workers describe children reduced to “skin and bones.” An estimated 600–800 have died in Ghouta since mid-February.

Thousands are hiding in underground shelters.

The Facebook page “Act for Ghouta” publishes on-theground updates. In a Feb. 24 post, Bayan Rehan described hiding in a basement with other women and children, to take shelter from airstrikes: “I suddenly found myself sound asleep (I haven’t had a chance to sleep for the past 72 hours except for a few sporadic hours). I was woken up by the sound of barrel bombs dropped somewhere near us.” As the air raids continued later in the day, Rehan wrote that

“children have started screaming and their mothers are unable to control them.”

Airstrikes and fighting have turned Idlib into “Syria’s latest version of hell” according to CNN. The aid worker Hassan Boucenine described working with Idlib’s displaced residents: “There’s almost nowhere left for them to stay and it’s winter, so the rain never stops ... the displaced are struggling to get basic necessities like fuel and blankets … for those in more remote areas of this rural province, a long way from health centers, it’s dire.”

To make matters in Syria even worse, Turkish forces began attacks this January in Afrin, displacing civilians and targeting democratic Kurdish forces who have been fighting IS. Human Rights Watch investigated three of Turkey’s attacks in late January against a home, a tent and a farm. The organization accused Turkey of “unlawful” strikes, pointing out that 26 civilians died, including 17 children.

The world is doing little of substance to stop the atrocities.

World leaders could kick Russian and Syrian embassies out of their countries, but instead there is a virtual silence. American planes could drop food to communities under siege, but this has not been happening. Since Turkey is an ally of the United States government, Washington could make a difference by forcefully demanding an end to the bombardment. Instead, the Trump administration passively stood “on the sideline,” according to the New York Times.

With impunity, the governments of Russia, Syria and Turkey

have repeatedly violated calls for cease-fire including one by the United Nations on Feb. 24.

The world is sending Syrians a chilling message of indifference to their displacement, starvation and massacre.

Many Syrians recently signed a statement, “Stop pretending you can’t act immediately to save Syrians.” The signatories call on world leaders to stop the atrocities, to lift the sieges and to provide immediate protection and humanitarian aid. They lament how Syrians have been “abandoned to a fate unimaginable in an era of space explorations and artificial intelligence.” Hundreds of people signed.

It will take more than words, however, to break the silence and cut through the pretending. We could be boycotting Russian products and refusing to share articles from Russia Today. We could be planning marches and teach-ins at community centers and college campuses. We could be fundraising for aid workers and first responders. We could be occupying senators’ offices until more planes drop food (not bombs) to areas under siege. Our leaders, including President Trump, have failed Syria, but we ordinary Americans don’t have to go along with his pretending. While Trump and other politicians live in a make-believe land, we don’t have to do the same. We don’t have to keep pretending.

Daniel Fischer graduate student March 4

8

DAILY

The observer | wednesday, march 7, 2018 | ndsmcobserver.com

Crossword | Will Shortz

Horoscope | Eugenia Last Happy Birthday: Step back and look at the big picture. It’s important to understand the magnitude of what you are trying to accomplish as a whole and to break it down into doable segments that will fit into your day-to-day schedule. Maintaining balance and integrity, and having the vision and the desire to do something beneficial, will make this year worthwhile. Your numbers are 7, 12, 23, 26, 31, 38, 47.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Don’t let impulsiveness get the best of you. Slow down and figure out the right way to handle situations that can affect your reputation or status. Speaking without accurate information will limit how to best move forward.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Take the plunge and get things up and running. Work alone and forego joint financial endeavors. Take pride in what you can do and an opportunity will come your way. Don’t try to do the impossible. Protect against injury.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): An opportunity will not be as good as declared. Do your homework before making a commitment that can tie up your time or cost you money. If you want to bring about positive changes, focus on personal growth and educational pursuits.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): You stand to gain if you participate in what’s going on around you. Networking functions and taking part in activities that include likeminded people are favored. Romance or personal improvements will highlight your day.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Don’t let your generous nature get the best of you. Making others happy can be done without going into debt. The time you spend with the ones you love should be the greatest gift of all. What you provide is secondary.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Addressing matters concerning children, seniors and partners will bring about positive changes. An unusual opportunity will lead to personal gain. Get in touch with an old friend or relative, or sign up for an event that will improve your neighborhood.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Sharing personal information or reconnecting with someone from your past will pose a problem for you. Focus on doing a good job and taking care of unfinished business. A compliment you receive could have ulterior motives attached.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): It’s time to have some fun, follow your heart and engage in activities that make you happy. Look at your prospects and pursue your dreams.

The sky is the limit. If you reach high enough, you will reach your goal.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): You’ll be anxious to make some changes to your social life and future plans. Don’t let impulsiveness take over. You can only fit so much into your day. Falling short on a promise you made will lead to a negative response.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Don’t underestimate others. Just when you think you have agreed on something, someone will make a last-minute change to throw you off guard. Don’t give in to something that doesn’t work for you. Walk away and do your own thing.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Emotions will stand in your way. Make an effort to concentrate on what needs to be done, not what others are doing. Take care of your responsibilities regardless of interference. What you accomplish will lead to an unexpected opportunity.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Opportunity is knocking and the chance to make a financial gain is within reach. Check out your options, look at your resources and don’t get flustered if someone doesn’t see things the same way you do. Do your own thing.

Birthday Baby: You are alert, innovative and charming. You are feisty and unpredictable.

WINGin’ it | OLIVIA WANG & BAILEE EGAN

Sudoku | The Mepham Group

Jumble | David Hoyt and Jeff knurek

Work Area

Make checks payable to and mail to: The Observer

P.O. Box 779 Notre Dame, IN 46556

Published Monday through Friday, The Observer is a vital source of information on people and events in the Notre Dame and Saint Mary’s Community.

Join the more than 13,000 readers who have found The Observer an indispensable link to the two campuses. Please complete the accompanying

Enclosed is $130 for one academic year Enclosed is $75 for one semester Name Address

form and mail it today to receive The Observer in your home.

City State Zip

sports

ndsmcobserver.com | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 2018 | The Observer

Sports Authority

TRACK & FIELD

Loosen up the MLB Hall of Fame Connor Mulvena Sports Writer

A little over a month ago, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) inducted yet another class of the finest players into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. And yet again, the class did not include Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame states that its mission is to “preserve the sport’s history, honor and excellence within the game and make a connection between the generations of people who enjoy baseball.” Still, Bonds and Clemens remain on the outs.

The reason? Well, unfortunately, they cheated. And the BBWAA is very clear: “Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.”

Bonds and Clemens were both featured in the Mitchell Report, which came out in 2007 and exposed a number of players for cheating by means of steroid use.

They simply don’t pass the “integrity, sportsmanship, character” test. What a shame.

It is only right that we honor the brave ethical warriors of the BBWAA who have fought tooth and nail for years to preserve the purity of the Hall of Fame. So, let’s take a look at the enormous success of the writers’ crusade to preserve the integrity, sportsmanship and character of the Hall throughout the years.

Baseball is a game of rules and unwavering respect for those rules. The integrity of baseball’s Hall of Fame is beyond reproach.

Take Gaylord Perry for instance: His dominance was largely a result of his nasty “spitter,” a pitch with crazy action that is almost unhittable when executed properly. It’s also a pitch that relies on the application of saliva and vaseline to the ball, which is blatantly illegal. But there would be no way to prove that Perry was relying on the spitball during his career. Fair.

Except Perry went on to publish his own book in 1974 in which he recounted his career. The title?

“Me and the Spitter.”

OK, the BBWAA may have dropped the ball on Gaylord Perry.

But its defense of the Hall’s purity in the way of sportsmanship and character is simply remarkable.

Just take a look at Cap Anson. He repeatedly refused to take the field against teams whose rosters included black players. His efforts contributed to and heightened the already disgusting racial oppression in the league during his era. And then there’s Ty Cobb. He was involved in numerous altercations with black players on and off the field, one of which resulted in him turning violent. Who could

9

possibly question the character and sportsmanship of these great legends of baseball?

OK, so the BBWAA let a few bad apples slip through. The Hall is still, for the most part, pure. Its members respect the game of baseball.

Oh, really?

Mickey Mantle, the beloved center fielder of the New York Yankees, inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1974 and winner of the 1956 triple crown, is cited on the Hall of Fame’s website for his “drive and love for the game.” But Mantle couldn’t finish the 1961 season, while he was in the middle of a heated home run race with Roger Maris, because he developed an abscess from an infected needle. What was the needle used for? Steroids and speed.

Pud Galvin, a pitcher for the Buffalo Bisons who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1965, is cited on the Hall of Fame’s website for his uncanny ability to “pitch deep into the game.” He is also cited by the Washington Post as having injected himself with monkey testosterone.

Grover Cleveland Alexander, a pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1938, is cited by the Hall of Fame as being one of the “smartest” pitchers to play the game. Alexander was also an alcoholic and was known by owners for being a better pitcher drunk than sober. And he did all of this during Prohibition, when alcohol was not only illegal in baseball, but also nationwide.

What tremendous character.

The list of cheaters, men of subpar moral character and players with a gross disregard for the rules of baseball goes on and on and on. And if you think there are guys in the Hall who played during the Steroid Era but didn’t take steroids, you’re just ignorant.

Baseball is a game with a long history of cheating and moral deliquency. Thomas Boswell, a renowned sports columnist for the Washington Post, once said, “Cheating is baseball’s oldest profession. No other game is so rich in skullduggery, so suited to it or so proud of it.”

To the writers of the BBWAA leading the laughably unsuccessful campaign to maintain the purity of the Hall of Fame: You have already failed. You’ve failed over and over and over again. So please, stop. Let Barry Bonds in.

Let Roger Clemens in. Let Pete Rose in. Let anyone whose effect on baseball has been as remarkable as these men into the Hall of Fame.

Contact Connor Mulvena at cmulvena@nd.edu The views expressed in the Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

NCAA championships ahead for Notre Dame

By PETER BALTES Sports Writer

Several Notre Dame athletes will soon have an opportunity to compete and showcase a season’s worth of hard work on the national stage. The Irish will be looking to make a big mark at this weekend’s NCAA indoor track and field championships at Texas A&M, marking the conclusion of a largely successful indoor season.

The Irish are coming off of an impressive showing at the ACC championships two weekends ago. Twelve Notre Dame athletes placed in the top 10 in an individual event, as did both the men’s and women’s distance medley relay teams. Irish associate head coach Matt Sparks has seen the Irish grow over the course of the season, and he believes this will factor significantly into the team’s performance this weekend.

“Throughout the season, each meet kind of builds upon the one before that,” Sparks said. “This is really the culmination of the entire indoor track season.”

The Irish women’s team on its way to the NCAAs has a strong core of experienced athletes who have previously competed at the meet. Sparks said he believes this wealth of experience should give Notre Dame a boost in the upcoming competition.

“The women’s team has a lot of veteran upperclassmen who have been there and done it before,” he said. “There’s going to be a bit more peace of mind for them [when they are] competing. They know what to expect, and obviously, they’re excited and looking forward to it.”

The women’s distance medley relay team, a talented quartet of junior Kelly Hart and seniors Payton Miller, Samantha Murray and Jessica Harris, will be looking to earn All-American honors for Notre Dame in that event for the

EMMA FARNAN | The Observer

Graduate student Jack Dumford competes in the Meyo Mile event at the 2018 Meyo Invitational at Notre Dame on Feb. 2.

fifth consecutive year.

“The one on the women’s side who has really helped carry our team to where it is now is Jess Harris, helping get the distance medley relay qualified and [qualifying] in her individual event,” Sparks said of Harris, who has won the ACC title in the mile for two consecutive years.

Notre Dame’s male athletes at the event might not have the same level of national-championship-meet experience, but Sparks is confident they will rise to the challenge.

“They’ve been in big meet situations before in qualifying for this meet, so I don’t think they’ll be overwhelmed by the experience of it,” he said. “The unique nature of our sport, of any sport, [is] you’ve competed in that event to [qualify for] that event, and you’ve just got to do the same thing and you’ll represent yourself well.”

The Irish have another highly talented distance medley relay squad on the men’s side.

The team of graduate student Jake Dumford, junior Edward Cheatham, sophomore Clay Goldman and freshman Yared Nuguse will be looking to crack

the top eight nationally and are well-equipped to do so, Sparks said.

“They’ve got a lot of pride in that event,” he said. “In 2012, [the Notre Dame men] were NCAA champions in the distance medley relay. It’s been a few years since they’ve been there as a team, but … there’s been a lot of positive traditions with that event.”

Ultimately, Sparks said he sees an Irish team that has been working hard all year and believes it is more than prepared to put forth its best effort on collegiate indoor track and field’s biggest stage.

“The key to any sport is staying healthy and taking baby steps day after day, and the ones that are still competing at the NCAA meet have been able to do those things, and they’re all healthy and fit and ready to go,” he said.

The meet will take place at Gilliam Indoor Track Stadium on the campus of Texas A&M in College Station, Texas.

Competition will begin this Friday and will run through Saturday.

Contact Peter Baltes at pbaltes@nd.edu

SWIMMING & Diving

Irish prepare to qualify for NCAA events at zone meet Observer Sports Staff

After top-five finishes for the No. 19 ranked men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams at the ACC championships, the Irish divers will compete this Thursday through Saturday at the NCAA diving zone championships.

With the NCAA championships a week away for the

women’s team and two weeks away for the men’s team, the Notre Dame divers will compete in the event for a chance to qualify for the NCAA championships. Spearheaded by senior diver Joe Coumos, a two-time NCAA qualifier, diving coach Caiming Xie will take six additional divers between the men’s and women’s squads: freshmen Kelly Straub, Kate

McCahan and David Waszak; sophomores Cristian Herrera and Erin Isola; and senior Peter Myers.

Notre Dame’s diving team will be looking to secure spots in the NCAA championships when they compete in the NCAA diving zone event Thursday through Saturday at the McCorkle Aquatic Pavilion in Columbus, Ohio.

The Observer accepts classifieds every business day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Notre Dame office, 024 South Dining Hall. Deadline for next-day classifieds is 3 p.m. All classifieds must be prepaid. The charge is 5 cents per character per day, including all spaces. The Observer reserves the right to edit all classifieds for content without issuing refunds.

10

Sports

The observer | wednesday, march 7, 2018 | ndsmcobserver.com

performance from the field in the period, the Irish picked up 22 points from the foul line on 25 attempts.

Irish senior for ward Bonzie Colson led the with an 8-for8 effort from the line in the half — despite going just 1-for-8 from the f loor — on his way to a game-high 19 points, while the starting guards — Farrell, junior Rex Pf lueger and sophomore T.J. Gibbs — all converted at least four foul shots on their way to the other double-digit scoring performances for the Irish in the contest.

“That was the difference in the game,” Irish head coach Mike Brey said of the team’s second-half performance from the charity stripe. “We

got to the bonus quick — we got to double bonus quicker than we’ve gotten to it all year — and we’re really good from the line. It’s a great weapon for us. … It won the game for us, getting there and then making them.”

“Obviously, the difference was our inability to keep them off the foul line,” Panthers head coach Kevin Stallings said. “To hold them to four field goals in the second half is a tremendous accomplishment for our group defensively. … We’re disappointed with the outcome of the game.”

In the first half, it appeared as though the Irish would come away with an easy victor y, holding Pittsburgh to

just 28 percent shooting from the f loor and a 3-for-16 mark from 3-point range, while shooting 48 percent from the f loor themselves to build a 36-24 halftime cushion.

But it proved to be a cushion they would need ever y bit of. As a result, Colson played 33 minutes in just his third game back in action since missing 15 games with a broken left foot, while all three starting guards played at least 37 minutes. Despite the level of energ y his team expended in this one, Brey said he’s not worried about the group coming out tired Wednesday against Virginia Tech, saying Colson won’t be on any minutes restriction and touting the time on the court as a positive.

“I’m not concerned. I think these guys needed to play here,” Brey said. “This group — again, the starting group, because [Colson] had been out, hadn’t played as much together. So I think it helps in that they get to play together.”

And the adversity such a close contest against an opponent that was expected to be weak on paper brought is neither new for the group or unexpected for the conference tournament, Farrell said.

“We feel we’ve gone through more adversity than anybody in the countr y,” he said. “But our guys have fought hard all year, and I think it’s made us mentally tough. We know a lot of games down here are going to come down to game situations, just like today, and that’s things we practice, so we just need to stay calm and do what we do.”

Now, having advanced to Wednesday’s second round, the Irish will take on the Hokies (21-10, 10-8), who earned a bye for the first round as the tournament’s No. 7 seed. In their

Irish loaded the bases and got one run on a w ild pitch.

Then, junior first basemen MK Bonamy cleared the bases and gave the Irish the 11-9 v ictor y w ith a single up the middle.

Bonamy’s offense was a key factor in the Irish victory.

The Hoover, Alabama, native recorded a .750 batting average over the weekend’s first day, with two RBIs and three runs scored. Back on Feb. 20, Irish head coach Deanna Gumpf said Bonamy’s emergence is no surprise.

“MK would have been a big factor last year, but she was injured, so she’s seeing the time she probably earned last year,” Gumpf said. “MK provides a lot of power — she’s got great bat speed. She’s a very dynamic player.”

Bonamy has started all 19 games this season and is hitting .345 on the season.

Against Fordham (4-11) in the second game Friday, the Irish chipped away, racking up runs in four out of the five innings in the game.

On the mound, freshman right-handed pitcher Alexis Holloway threw a complete game shutout.

On Saturday, fellow freshman right-hander Morgan Ryan got her first career start against UC Santa Barbara (8-12) and allowed two runs in just over two innings of work. On offense, freshman center fielder Abby Sweet lead the team with three hits in four at-bats, including two runs and an RBI. Sweet has jumped her season average to .397, good for second on the team.

Notre Dame’s second game Saturday was the second and final game of the weekend which had to go the full seven innings, as the Irish

took a 4-1 win over FIU (1210). Holloway was on the mound again for the Irish and pitched the full seven innings, allowing only two hits in the game. Bazos knocked in a two-run single in the second inning to give Notre Dame an early lead it would not relinquish.

With four wins under their belts, the Irish finished their weekend with a 10-0 rout of Robert Morris (3-12). Five Irish hitters tallied RBIs, with junior outfielder Cait Brooks leading the team with four on the day. Holloway and senior left-hander Katie Beriont split the game on the mound.

On the weekend, Notre Dame outscored its opponents by a 43-12 margin and six Irish hitters hit over .400 in the fives games.

With the sweep, Notre Dame wraps up its nonconference

SARAH OLSON | The Observer

Irish senior guard Matt Farrell brings the ball up the court during Notre Dame’s 73-56 win over Pittsburgh at Purcell Pavilion on Feb. 28. Farrell scored 14 points in the final regular-season home game.

M Bball Continued from page 12

last 6:58.

Despite those offensive struggles, the Irish still found a way to pull out a 6764 win over the Panthers.

“We didn’t really play the way we wanted to offensively,” Irish senior guard Matt Farrell said. “But we defended well enough to win, which is a really good sign for us, and if we want to go far in this tournament, we have to defend.”

The Irish were able to squeak out the win behind their success at the foul line in the second half; despite a 4-for-24 shooting

Softball Continued from page 12

later in the weekend, the Irish had to play a close game against the Minutemen (7-6).

The Irish took an early 3-0 lead thanks to RBIs from sophomore outfielder A lex is Ba zos and junior outfielder A li Wester. The team continued to add to the lead in the top of the third inning, w ith a series of hits capped by a t wo-run home run by senior shortstop Morgan Reed to make it 7-0.

UMass mounted a furious comeback, however, and tied it up at 7-7 heading into the top of the sixth inning.

The Irish edged ahead 8-7, but the Minutemen roared back to a 9-8 lead in the bottom of the frame. Then, in the top of the seventh, the

only matchup this season, Virginia Tech topped Notre Dame, 80-75, at Purcell Pavilion on Jan. 27, though the Irish were without either Colson or Farrell. Despite the reinforcements this time around, Brey said he still expects the Hokies to be as much a challenge as they were when they last met.

“Virginia Tech is really hard to defend, and we’re going to have to be good offensively tomorrow because you’re not just going to stop them,” Brey said. “I really have a lot of respect for them, and it’s a great challenge for us the way they spread you out with guards and the way they shoot the ball.”

For Notre Dame, the matchup stands as a must-win, as the Irish are currently considered a team that is on the cusp of the bubble who could truly bolster their chances with another win against a team already expected to make the field of 68.

However, that’s a conversation Notre Dame is not having right now. Instead, it is keeping its focus on playing within itself and to the best of its ability, letting the rest take care of itself.

“That’s not what we’re focusing on,” Colson said of the tournament implications for Wednesday’s game. “ …

We’re focusing on getting the win tomorrow and doing what we have to do to get the win. And we still got to stick with our habits on both sides of the f loor and do what we do: share the ball, defend and get stops.

“But the future will happen with the tournament. That’s not what we’re focusing on right now.”

The Irish and Hokies will tip off Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.

slate of weekend travel. The Irish start their season with a 12-7 record, with some losses coming to nationally-ranked programs. Gumpf said the heav y travel schedule helps her team form chemistry and teaches it to win on the road.

“It builds a lot of chemistry, you get to know each other on a different level,” Gumpf said Feb. 20. “And you learn to win on the road. Winning on the road is not easy. The best thing that comes out of these early tournaments is winning big games on the road and knowing we can.”

Next up for Notre Dame will be the start of ACC play with a road series against North Carolina State this weekend, followed by a series of three games against North Florida and Jacksonville.

Contact Ben Padanilam at bpadanil@nd.edu

Contact Marek Mazurek at mmazurek@nd.edu

Sports

ndsmcobserver.com | wednesday, march 7, 2018 | The Observer

Tennis Continued from page 12

EMMA FARNAN | The Observer

Irish senior punter Tyler Newsome prepares to punt the ball during Notre Dame’s 41-7 loss at Miami on Nov. 11. Newsome was recently named as one of three captains for the upcoming football season.

Captains Continued from page 12

obviously comes a lot of responsibility, and I recognize that. It’s a lot of work; I saw that last year.”

While Tranquill was a captain last year and Mustipher has become a mainstay along the offensive line, the decision to name Newsome, a punter, captain was an unusual one.

Kelly said the captains were chosen by what he called a “limited democracy,” meaning the team voted for the captains, but Kelly had the final say. He said Tranquill was a runaway favorite to hold his captaincy for his second year, and he added that the voting process was what gave Newsome

the job.

“He had over 51 percent of the votes,” Kelly said. “Where [Mustipher] and [Tranquill] benefit from a unit that they’re with, [Newsome’s] got four guys that he’s with on a day-to-day basis on another field. To get that kind of vote as a punter sends a strong message about how he’s looked at by his peers.”

While it is unorthodox, Newsome said he’s always viewed himself as an integral part of the team, rather than a specialist on the periphery.

“I think the way I came in looking at it in the summer of 2014 was that I’m a football player first and a specialist second,” Newsome said. “I came into it with the mindset that I am one of the guys, even though my Paid Advertisement

position is a specialty position. It’s nice to know my teammates also respect me in that same way.”

Kelly also said a fourth captain would be named after the conclusion of spring practices.

“I’m going to elect a fourth captain,” Kelly said. “That will occur after spring. The method behind that is we had, in total, 25 players receive a vote for captain. And we had about six or seven that were log-jammed in that fourth position. I announced the top three and put their names up … and then the vote totals for everyone else with no names. … I want them to compete for that fourth position.”

Contact Marek Mazurek at mmazurek@nd.edu

played them twice last year and lost both matches 4-3, and that will be another one that will be a nail-biter and another close match. Then we’ll finish the weekend off against DePaul, who is a Big East power and a strong program in their own right as well. We’re expecting it to be quite a challenge but, at the same time, a great opportunity to look forward to and see kind of where we’re at here halfway through the season.”

Despite the recent slump, Sachire said he wants his team to keep continuing to do what they have done all season.

“I think we’ve done a great job this year of letting it f ly, letting it rip and playing really aggressive tennis and going after and attacking the situation, not playing scared and sensitive, and I want to continue to see us doing that same thing,” Sachire said.

“It is an amazing privilege to play in matches like the ones we have coming up here that are going to be close and competitive, playing against some of the best teams in the country. We want to make sure we are in the mindset of attacking those challenges and attacking those opportunities and really giving us the best chance to be successful.”

Sachire said he isn’t worried about the long layoff his team has had from their last match to now.

“I think it is going to help us,” Sachire said. “We played a lot at the beginning of the year, and it’s good for us to kind of be able to take a deep

11

breath and let our guys rest a little bit and recover and focus on school and, at the same time, get some great training in. I feel like our guys have really improved from the last time out there, so hopefully we can take advantage of that and really play our best match of the season [Wednesday].”

All five of the teams Notre Dame has lost to this regular season are now ranked in the top 12 in the country. This is just one of the reasons why Sachire isn’t concerned about the recent slump and why he is optimistic about the future, he said.

“Tennis is interesting — it is nine separate matches going on and a dual match, three doubles and six singles, and so it’s not a team win or loss as an indictment on how you’re playing,” Sachire said.

“I think we’ve been playing very well all year, and we just happened to come up a couple of points short here and there. There were no changes that needed to be made.

I think it was just continuing to improve and stay the course.

“All year, we’ve given ourselves a great chance to be successful and be in matches against the best teams in the country, and that’s again the goal [Wednesday] night. And then, when we get to the stage when it’s time to separate, hopefully we can do it a little bit better than we did in the last couple of matches.”

Notre Dame will next take the court 7 p.m. Wednesday night against Illinois at Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana, Illinois.

Contact Michael Ivey at mivey@hcc-nd.edu

ANN CURTIS | The Observer

Irish freshman Paul Gota prepares to serve during Notre Dame’s 7-0 win over Toledo on Feb. 25 at Eck Tennis Pavilion.

12

The observer | wednesday, march 7, 2018 | ndsmcobserver.com

FOOTBALL

men’s Basketball | ND 67, PITTSBURGH 64

Kelly names 2018 team captains

By MAREK MAZUREK Assistant Managing Editor

Tuesday marked the first day of spring practice for Notre Dame, and with the start of a new season came the announcement of new leaders for the Irish.

Irish head coach Brian Kelly named three team captains before practice Tuesday: center Sam Mustipher, linebacker Drue Tranquill and punter Tyler Newsome.

“I met with each unit, the offense and defense, and what was said was, ‘This is not a popularity contest, and this is not about production,’” Kelly said. “‘This is about those guys who you don’t want to let down. Who don’t you want to let down?’”

All three captains will be graduate students when the 2018 season rolls around.

Mustipher has been a twoyear starter at the center position and follows in the footsteps of Quenton Nelson, Mike McGlinchey, Nick Martin and Zach Martin

as offensive lineman who served as captains in recent years. “[Mustipher is a] two-year starter — I think he’s got grit. He’s got all the things off the field, great student, great role model,” Kelly said of Mustipher. “He represents Notre Dame football in the manner you would want from student-athletes. He just has an immense amount of respect from his peers, coaches, players.”

“It meant the world to me — it’s obviously a blessing and a privilege to be voted by your peers to be a leader of this great football team,” Mustipher said.

Tranquill will serve as a captain for a second straight season, and the linebacker said that continuity will be key for the team.

“Being elected captain last year and this year is the biggest honor of my life thus far,” Tranquill said. “It humbles me and makes me feel really good. But with that see CAPTAINS PAGE 11

ND narrowly advances past Pitt in ACC tourney

By BEN PADANILAM Senior Sports Writer

Needing a few w ins to situate itself as a bubble team for the NCA A tournament, Notre Dame started its week w ith a Tuesday afternoon matchup w ith Pittsburgh, hoping to jumpstart a run in the ACC tournament against a team that went w inless in conference play this season.

But after a 9:19 stretch of play in the second half w ithout a field goal made from the f loor, the Irish (19-13, 8-10 ACC) suddenly found themselves in a 48-45 game w ith the Panthers (8-24, 0-18) w ith nine minutes remaining in the game.

And when Notre Dame pulled away again, pushing the lead to 61-50, the Irish offense once again faltered — Pittsburgh responded w ith an 11-2 run to bring the game to 63-61 w ith 48 seconds remaining a game, and the Irish would go on another extended field-goal drought, this time failing to hit a shot from the f loor over the see M BBALL PAGE 10

SOFTBALL

SARAH OLSON | The Observer

Irish junior guard Rex Pflueger lays the ball up around a Pittsburgh defender during Notre Dame’s 73-56 win Feb. 28.

MEN’S TENNIS

Irish sweep last regularseason contest in Florida

Squad set for trio of matches

By MAREK MAZUREK

By MICHAEL IVEY

Assistant Managing Editor

Sports Writer

In its final major nonconference tournament, Notre Dame swept its competition, w inning five straight games at the Diamond 9 Citrus Classic in Kissimmee, Florida.

The Irish (12-7) started their weekend Friday w ith a close 11-9 w in over UMass, but from there, it was smooth sailing.

Notre Dame bested Fordham 8-0 to end Friday.

Then on Saturday, the Irish beat UC Santa Barbara 10-2 and followed it up w ith w ins over FIU and Robert Morris by scores of 4-1 and 10-0, respectively, to finish the weekend.

In three of Notre Dame’s games (Fordham, UC Santa Barbara and Robert Morris), the Irish won in just five innings v ia mercy rule.

Despite the lack of drama

After more than a week off, No. 19 Notre Dame will play three matches in the course of four days. First, the Irish will travel to Urbana, Illinois, for a road contest against No. 6 Illinois on Wednesday. Notre Dame will then host a conference match against Louisville on Saturday at noon before another Saturday match, this time with DePaul, at 5:30 p.m. Both of those matches will take place at Eck Tennis Pavilion.

The Irish (8-5, 1-0 ACC) are coming off of a 7-0 win over Toledo on Feb. 25. The victory snapped a five-match losing streak, during which the Irish dropped decisions to No. 8 North Carolina, No. 9 Florida, No. 12 Duke, No. 7 Michigan and No. 2 Ohio State. Notre Dame started the regular season 7-0 before the losing streak.

Illinois (8-4, 0-0 Big Ten) is coming off of a 4-3 win over

see SOFTBALL PAGE 10

EMMA FARNAN | The Observer

Irish senior shortstop Morgan Reed chases down a base runner from Alabama in Huntsville during a fall scrimmage Oct. 7.

Virginia on Sunday, while Louisville (9-3, 1-1 ACC) defeated Virginia 6-1 on Friday.

DePaul (11-5, 1-0 Big East) went 1-2 during a three-match set at the HEB Tournament of Champions in Corpus Christi, Texas, last weekend.

Notre Dame head coach Ryan Sachire said he knows his team’s competition in the next coming days will be tough.

“It will definitely be three strong teams we’re going to play,” Sachire said. “Illinois is ranked No. 6 in the country, and we’re playing them [Wednesday] night at their place, which is obviously a great challenge for us. We know their guys very well, we respect them a lot and we expect it to be a very close and competitive match, and we’re definitely excited about that opportunity.

“Then, we’ll come home on Saturday and play one of our biggest rivals in Louisville. We see TENNIS PAGE 11