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Volume 53, Issue 50 | tuesday, november 6, 2018 | ndsmcobserver.com
Nonprofit condemns pornography filter Group speaks out against proposed filter on campus WiFi, citing students’ First Amendment rights By MARY STEURER News Writer
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), a nonprofit group that works to protect human rights on college campuses, condemned the call for Notre Dame to implement a pornography filter on its WiFi, spearheaded by the group Students for Child Oriented Policy (SCOP), in a statement published Oct. 26. The nonprofit wrote that a pornography filter would violate students’ First Amendment rights, citing the Supreme Court case American Bookseller’s Association v. Hudnut, which upheld the legality of pornography under the belief that “‘the government must leave to the people the evaluation of ideas.’”
Officially, Notre Dame’s “Responsible Use of Information Technology” policy forbids using campus WiFi to access pornography, except for pre-approved or academic purposes. While FIRE agreed that Notre Dame, as a private institution, reserves the right to enforce its “Responsible Use” policy, the nonprofit drew attention to the University’s Standards of Conduct, which states “students and student organizations are free to examine and to discuss all questions of interest to them and to express opinions publicly and privately.” FIRE program associate for the Individual Rights Defense Program and social see FIRE PAGE 4
Month to celebrate black Catholic culture By MARY CLARE DONNELLY News Writer
During the month of November, American Catholics will observe Black Catholic History Month. Notre Dame will also participate in this commemoration. Deacon Mel Tardy, who is a member of the committee planning the events at Notre Dame, said the event was established by the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus, which is a gathering of African American priests, deacons, bishops and seminarians, because many individuals felt like the experience of African American Catholics was being overlooked. “The Clergy Caucus selected November as Black Catholic History Month because the stories of African American Catholics were not being told and how the Church relates to African Americans in particular was not being addressed,” he said. “They felt that some attention to the history would be good.” At Notre Dame, the month will
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be celebrated in a variety of ways, including Masses, a panel discussion titled “Is Black Lives Matter a Pro-Life Issue?” and a closing ceremony with Bishop Fernand Cheri of New Orleans. The kickoff event for the month was a Mass this past Sunday in Dunne Hall. The goal of these events is to educate Notre Dame students, faculty and staff about African American Catholicism. Eric Styles, the rector of Carroll Hall and member of the organizing committee, said he hopes the month will dispel stereotypes of what it means to be Catholic in the United States. “A lot of assumptions are made about what Catholicism is and that usually translates in the United States to being white American and that’s not always the case,” he said. “So, [a goal is] making students more aware of that, making faculty and staff more aware of that and celebrating the diversity that is already in the Catholic Church.” see CHURCH PAGE 4
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Observer File Photo
Students gather at a table during WRAP Week in 2017. In the wake of WRAP Week this year, a debate centering around whether Notre Dame should implement a pornography filter on campus WiFi has begun.
SMC student runs for local Indiana office By GINA TWARDOSZ News Writer
Inspired by the many women running for office across the nation, Saint Mary’s junior Leticia Torres decided she wanted to run for office in her native Marshall County in the 2018 midterm elections. On Tuesday, when Marshall County voters head to the polls, her name will be on the ballot. “You know Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez from New York? She’s awesome,” she said. “The day after she won the election, Michelle Livinghouse, who’s running for state representative, texted me that I was the next Alexandria Ocasio[-Cortez] and that I should run for office because it’s a really good place to start. She told me to start locally.” Torres is running to be a member of the Treasurer’s Advisory Board, a position that would
require to Torres to meet with other elected officials quarterly to discuss the treasurer’s delegation of funds. Torres said she is able to balance canvassing for office and attending her classes at Saint Mary’s due to a donation made by someone in the South Bend community. “I got a really good donation from someone in South Bend, and see CANDIDATE PAGE 4
Lecture discusses inclusion in Eucharist Members of the Saint Mary’s community gathered Monday in the Welsh Parlor for a lecture by Richard McCarron, an expert on the Eucharist. The lecture was titled, “‘By Your Spirit, Peoples Seek to Meet Together’: The Eucharistic Prayer as Source and Summit of Our Summons to Hospitality.”
Though he holds expertise in many theological concepts, McCarron said one of his titles was missing from his introduction. “If anyone asks you who I am, I am a child of God,” McCarron said. McCarron said through participation in the Eucharist, Catholics become a part of God’s kingdom which is characterized by goodness on Earth. “We are about the reign of
God, justice, love, peace, forgiveness, liberation [and] wholeness,” McCarron said. An important part of the mass and Eucharist, McCarron said, is the principle of inclusion. “The reign of God is inviting everyone without exception to communion with him,” he said. In his discussion of the
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By COLLEEN FISCHER News Writer
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