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Volume 53, Issue 44 | wednesday, october 31, 2018 | ndsmcobserver.com
University remembers shooting victims Notre Dame hosts prayer service to honor 11 victims of Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Synagogue shooting By CLAIRE RAFFORD News Writer
Students, faculty and members of the Notre Dame community gathered at Main Building on Tuesday at noon to pray for the 11 victims of Saturday’s shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. Rabbi Karen Companez of Temple Beth-El in South Bend opened the service with a speech condemning the act of violence and calling for unity in this time of sadness. “The wanton and brazen acts of violence that led to the senseless loss of innocent lives are unconscionable, unfathomable and completely unacceptable,” Companez said. “Somehow or another, they must stop.” Rabbi Michael Friedland of
Sinai Synagogue in South Bend then recited Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd,” in both Hebrew and in English. Imam Mohammed Sirajuddin of the Islamic Society of Michiana delivered words of unity after the psalm recitation, mourning the acts of violence in a religious haven meant for peace and reflection, rather than assault and bloodshed. “We grieve the loss of innocent lives in a place of worship,” Sirajuddin said. “A place of worship is a place of refuge and safety, not violence. We stand in solidarity with our Jewish sisters and brothers in speaking out against anti-Semitism.” Sirajuddin also spoke about how people should remember see PITTSBURGH PAGE 4
CLAIRE RAFFORD | The Observer
Community members gather in Main Building on Tuesday to pray for the victims of the Saturday shooting at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. South Bend religious leaders guided the service through prayers.
ND Votes sponsors Lawyer speaks on election prediction debate immigration policy By SUSANNE SEILER News Writer
The United States is in a time of great political divide. With the midterm elections around the corner, people are seeking answers and closure. Tuesday, Notre Dame Constitutional Studies and the Center for Social Concerns’ ND Votes hosted a
debate titled “A Blue Wave? The 2018 Mid-Term Elections and the Future of American Democracy.” This event featured Damon Linker, a senior correspondent at The Week, a consulting editor at the University of Pennsylvania Press and the author of books on the relationship between religion and politics. Linker described himself as politically
liberal while the other guest speaker, Ramesh Ponnuru, identified himself as a Republican. Ponnuru is a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, senior editor of National Review, a columnist for Bloomberg View, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute and the author see DEBATE PAGE 4
Professor discusses famed dictators Mao, Stalin By MAX LANDER News Writer
Professor Graeme Gill gave a lecture in the Hesburgh Center on Tuesday about dictators Joseph Stalin and Mao Zedong. Gill, who specializes in Soviet and Russian politics, used the two famous dictators to make an argument against common perception of how dictators rule. Authoritarian
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and dictatorial rule are usually characterized as arbitrary and uncontrolled with power bestowed on one person rather than an institution or collective governing body. Gill argued that dictatorships have far more rules and structure than previously thought, using examples the regimes of Mao and Stalin to support his argument. “Ever since Aristotle, people
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have been interested in trying to distinguish between political systems,” Gill said. At the beginning of his lecture, Gill set out the criteria he uses to analyze and understand the structure of a government or political system. Gill focused on two different categories of rules. The first category he termed see DICTATORS PAGE 4
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By COLLEEN FISCHER News Writer
Immigration lawyer Cecilia L. Monterrosa came to Saint Mary’s to speak to students and other community members Tuesday about policies surrounding immigration. The conversation happened over pizza slices and lemonade and covered the constitutionality of some of the recent immigration policy implemented under the Trump administration. She broke down some of the simpler parts of policy such as definitions and the recent changes in policy, but admitted that the issue was also very complicated in nature. “[Immigration Nationality Act] INA is more complicated than the tax codes,” Monterrosa said. She places value on words such as immigrant and refugee, along with some of the finer details such as undocumented versus illegal. “The law does describe these individuals, but I prefer to say undocumented individuals. No person is illegal and that is absolutely true,” Monterrosa said.
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This distinction was important to Monterrosa because the language that undocumented individuals are referred to as in the media and by the President is less than flattering. She said she finds comfort in the fact that a lot of the proposed legislation is in her mind considered unconstitutional, and therefore will not be implemented. Monterrosa believes in the judicial system’s ability to check Donald Trump. “Every time you hear about the crazy stuff that is said in the news, always go back to the fact that there is a constitution and they cannot do this,” Monterrosa said. “It is frustrating to hear many of the things, especially because of the type of work that I do. It is very frustrating to hear the comments, to hear what goes on, to read the tweets, but my mind always goes back to ‘Well the Constitution says that they can’t do this, so sorry buddy you are not going to get this done.’” She offers up the Constitution as a sort of solace for both the people listening in the room and see POLICY PAGE 4
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