Print Edition for The Observer for Monday, April 7, 2025
Admitted students reflect on The Rally
The weekend event offered admitted Notre Dame students a glimpse into campus life and culture
By SOPHIE HANAWALT AND MEGAN CORNELL Notre Dame News Editor and Staff Writer
As prospective students and their families arrived at The Rally on Thursday, Notre Dame student volunteers and admissions team members welcomed them to the Joyce Center, their hub for the weekend.
The Rally, Notre Dame’s admitted student event, drew thousands of visitors to campus.
At “Commit Alley at the Rally” in the Joyce Center, admitted students celebrated their commitment to the University with photo-ops, confetti and the chance to build a take-home Lego figure.
Freshman Nora Kulak
volunteered at the Lego station, inspired by her own positive experience at The Rally.
“I was in charge of the Lego station ... I chose to work at this station because I remember making a Lego when I came to the Rally and still have it on a shelf in my room,” she wrote in a statement to The Observer.
After arriving on campus, prospective students took campus tours and visited residence halls.
Kulak helped walk the prospective students to the starting locations for these tours.
“I really enjoyed this, as I got to talk with the students and share with them the best parts of residential life and Notre Dame in general. I also enjoyed answering their questions and I could
Trump protests reach South Bend
By BERHAN HAGEZOM
Saint Mary’s News Editor
On Saturday at noon, a nationwide protest called “Hands Off!” occurred throughout all 50 states, including on the side of Indiana State Road 933 to Angela Boulevard. The protest was a pushback of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s control over current national and global issues.
Signs were held by individuals throughout the protest that carried the ‘hands off’ theme, including
“Hands off Canada”, “Hands off the post office” and “Hands off the Judiciary.” Chants were also said throughout the protest, including “Throw him out” and “Show me what democracy looks like - This is what democracy looks like.”
The local protest was organized by the Michiana Alliance for Democracy-Indiana (MADIndiana), part of the Indivisible Network, a progressive organization established after the 2016
see PROTEST PAGE 3
see how excited they had gotten about residential life on our way back from the hall tours,” Kulak wrote.
Prospective students gathered in Purcell Pavilion on Thursday evening for the official kick off of The Rally, where members of the Notre Dame community such as the band, spirit squad and current students welcomed them to campus.
Afterward, the admitted students met in the Loftus Sports Center for the “Class of 2029 Connect,” where students had a chance to meet each other, talk with current students and play games.
“My favorite event was the ‘Connect’ event last night and the official opening to The Rally. The
band played the ‘Victory March’ and that was really cool,” said John Vincent, a newly admitted freshman. Vincent officially accepted his place in the class of 2029 this weekend.
“I met so many interesting, smart and fun people that I can’t wait to call my classmates,” William Cahill wrote in a statement to The Observer. Cahill has been committed to Notre Dame since December.
On Friday, the events were split by college and academic interest. Depending on their prospective major, admitted students could attend a wide variety of classes, ranging from the philosophy department’s “God and the Good Life,” the sociology department’s “Becoming a Force for Social
Good” to a class on cancer cells offered by the College of Science. Faculty in various colleges and programs also held panels for students to ask questions.
“I sat in a class learning about cancer cells and how they divide. It was really cool seeing that aspect of college life,” said Ryan Crafton, a committed student.
Throughout the weekend, the admissions team held concurrent sessions on studying abroad, residential life, financial aid, accessibility, spirituality and pursuing research opportunities.
For students who were not already committed to Notre Dame, attending The Rally provided insight into the University’s
see RALLY PAGE 3
College Democrats travel to DC for career trek
By SOPHIE HANAWALT Notre Dame News Editor
Notre Dame’s College Democrats (CDems) concluded their career trek to DC last Tuesday.
While CDems have traveled to DC for the past five years, outgoing political director of CDems and this year’s director of the trip Jack Sirianni shared that he changed the format of the trip from being a lobbying weekend to a career trek. Rather than attending conferences and lobbying Indiana legislators, the group attended a series of panels and networking events organized by Sirianni and the club’s seniors.
Editor’s note: Sirianni is a columnist for The Observer.
“It was always one of my favorite things, so it meant the world to me when I got the opportunity to lead it, but I knew I wanted it to look a little different,” said Sirianni, a Fisher Hall senior.
For past renditions of the trip, Sirianni explained, “what would happen is, as Democrats, if we’re talking to the Indiana members of Congress, they’re all Republicans. So as nice as they were, we never really got taken very seriously.
Although we had put a lot of time and effort into it, they always just kind of ignored us, which didn’t feel good.”
This year, Sirianni elected to organize a boot camp teaching the 24 students who were chosen via application to attend what it looks like to “live, work and be a force for good in DC.”
While the group hasn’t had to turn interested club members away in the past, Sirianni shared, the group had enough interest this year to warrant participants being chosen carefully. “Everyone who was chosen for this, we chose them for a reason. It’s kind of like an investment,” he said.
Rather than attending pre-organized conferences, “we had to organize every single one of our about 10 to 15 events, meaning we had to coordinate with everyone’s schedule. I don’t know how we did it all, but the entire trip went off without a hitch. I have a lot of people to thank for that,” Sirianni said.
“Everyone we talked to was a Notre Dame alum, so the first question was always what dorm were you in? For kids who’ve never been to DC or haven’t really engaged in these communities
before, it was really cool,” Sirianni said.
For Sirianni and the other outgoing seniors, the trip was a way for them to think about what kind of legacy they’d like to leave for the club, saying “we wanted to leave behind a group of students who really care about the values of Democratic Party and who are committed to one day working in DC and being a force for good.”
The trip’s budget, which came from their NDDay funding and Club Coordination Council allocation funds, was $35,000. Sirianni cited a “record breaking year in fundraising” for the club last year in preparation for the 2024 election that made the trip possible.
“Going to DC as a first year, it really changed my outlook. It changed what I wanted to do after I graduated. It made me really, really passionate about giving back to the club. That really changed my life,” Sirianni said.
Sirianni explained that the group arrived Friday and spent the weekend “bonding.”
Freshman and newly appointed political co-director for the
see CAREER PAGE 3
MARIELLA TADDONIO | The Observer
Several protestors part of the “Hands Off” movement were seen protesting from the side of Indiana State Road 933 to Angela Boulevard.
Members of the South Bend community showed out on Saturday at a “Hands Off!” rally on State Road 933 to protest against the Trump administration’s actions. Demonstrations have erupted nationally, with many protestors’ anger directed at Elon Musk.
Today’s Staff
News
Sophie Hanawalt
David Murphy
Madyson Casiano
Graphics
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Declan Huggins
Corrections
The Observer regards itself as a professional publication and strives for the highest standards of journalism at all times. We do, however, recognize that we will make mistakes. If we have made a mistake, please contact us at editor@ndsmcobserver.com so we can correct our error.
5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.
Learn self-defense from NDPD.
Third-Year MFA Thesis Exhibition AAHD Galleries, Riley Hall
8 a.m. - 5 p.m. Graduate art display.
Tuesday
Dog Toy Making SMC Student Center
6:30 p.m. - 8 p.m.
Event to make dog toys from donated materials.
Baseball vs. Wildcats Frank Eck Stadium
5:30 p.m.
Notre Dame faces off against Northwestern University. Wednesday
Theater: ‘Eurydice’ DPAC
7:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m. Humorous and poetic classic myth reimagined on stage.
Notre Dame Student Peace Conference Hesburgh Center for International Studies All day Free conference.
Theater: ‘King Lear’ Washington Hall 7 p.m. - 9 p.m.
Play by Not-SoRoyal Shakespeare Company.
Center provides childcare at ND, SMC
By SOPHIA TRAN Associate News Editor
For a number of students, employees and faculty, childcare services have been an essential part of balancing both work and parenting. Notre Dame’s Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC) offers childcare throughout the academic year.
The ECDC program at Saint Mary’s, located in Havican Hall, welcomes families unaffiliated with Notre Dame or Saint Mary’s. The ECDC program at Notre Dame, located between McCourtney Hall and the Undergraduate Community at Fischer, serves only students, alumni and employees.
At the moment, the Notre Dame ECDC location serves children ages two through kindergarten while the Saint Mary’s site operates as a preschool for 3- to 5-year olds. In its entirety, the ECDC enrolls a total of 272 children across part-time and full-time programs.
The ECDC’s mission of serving families has been a multi-decade
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
group, Alexandra Funk, wrote in a statement to The Observer, “we spent time exploring, going to museums and seeing the cherry blossom trees which peaked the same weekend we were there.”
“Seeing DC in this capacity, with so many of my Notre Dame friends, was one of the greatest times I have had all year,” Funk wrote.
Freshman Jorden Poulson, the other half of the political co-director team, shared in a statement to The Observer that the trip’s participants took the time to get to know each other, “which really made the trip special.”
endeavor. The first ECDC site was established in 1974 at Saint Mary’s by a small group of students and faculty looking to develop a safe environment for the children of building and maintenance service staff.
Since then, the ECDC has developed into an accredited nonprofit organization and expanded to create a second location on Notre Dame’s campus 30 years ago.
The ECDC has experienced a number of changes that naturally came with the program’s expansion. Kari Alford, the executive director of the ECDC, has been at the center for 29 years and noted the change in staff numbers as well as each site’s age groups.
“A couple of the big changes that we’ve seen are [that] we have expanded the number of teachers that we have on site so that we have an additional teacher in every classroom to provide support for children,” Alford said. “We have changed age groups at the Saint Mary’s site. Now we have kindergarten only at the Notre Dame site.”
Poulson shared that the group began their day Monday with a meeting with Crystal Martinez, the executive director for federal relations at Notre Dame.
The CDems then attended a panel organized by Martinez’s team of Notre Dame alumni working on Capitol Hill. Panel participants worked in defence policy, immigration policy and healthcare policy, among others. They also met with the Environmental Defense Fund.
“It was fantastic to get to be on Capitol Hill and hear from people who were once in our shoes about what going into politics could look like,” Sirianni said.
On a connection she made with
While at the sites, children have the opportunity to engage in a variety of learning activities. Loree Greenwood serves as one of the co-lead teachers and oversees the daily activities for the children in her group. Along with foundational activities such as reading and singing songs with the children, Greenwood emphasized the importance of helping students to develop their learning skills.
“We are trying to prepare them for their next role in childhood,” Greenwood said. “Because a lot of our four-year-olds will go into kindergarten, we try to help them form those relationships and those conflict resolution skills. At the same time, we do try to get them educationally prepared for kindergarten with letters, numbers [and] patterns.”
Editors Note: This is an abbreviated version. The full vesion can be found on The Observer’s website.
C ontact Sophia Tran at stran2@nd.edu
an alumna currently working on Senator Kaine’s staff, Funk wrote, “She gave me great career advice as well as great life advice. She told me to make sure to keep an open mind and stay flexible for work and in my personal life as well. Like she explained, it is important to make sure I have friends with differing political views from my own.”
Monday evening, the Notre Dame club of DC hosted a happy hour for the College Democrats, students in Notre Dame’s Washington Program and around 100 Democratic alumni in DC.
“This was my proudest thing we did, because there’s never been a trip like this. There’s never been an event where we’ve brought that
Protest
FROM PAGE 1
election.
Mary Ellen Hegedus, a committee member of MADIndiana, mentioned the reach of the Indivisible Network and what it aims to do for the national agenda and local community. She also discusses the purpose of its establishment on Trump’s policies.
“They started first around 2016 when Trump was first elected to protest his agenda because we knew things were going to be bad. About that same time, the local Indivisible started and we’ve been involved since then. There are Indivisibles all over the country … we’re just one of them … there are over 1,200 protests nationwide today,” Hegedus said.
At least 600 people were expected to attend this event from signing up on Mobilize, but Hegedus mentioned that they are “hoping for a thousand.” A mixture of tri-campus community members and South Bend residents attended the event, including Notre Dame’s former head women’s basketball coach, Muffet McGraw.
Carrie Bowie, a committee
many active students together with that many liberal alumni who care about students and helping them be a force for good,” Sirianni said. He explained that the happy hour was “like a big family reunion because we know these people. They were big brothers and sisters to us when they were here… it was refreshing as a senior to see that, as sad as I am to leave Notre Dame, there is something on the other side.”
The group met Tuesday with three nonprofits where Notre Dame alumni work, including the Student Aid Alliance and the National Education Association.
“We talked about not only their education work, but a lot of their
member for MAD-Indiana, discussed the purpose of the protest as a way for citizens’ voices to be heard and equally represented. She mentioned how people came to this protest for a variety of reasons.
“Everybody comes for a different reason. They come because of social security, Medicaid, veterans, scientific research. They come to say hands off all of these things that are being affected by Elon Musk, Trump and our Republican officials who won’t do anything,” Bowie stated.
Organizers and protesters mentioned these issues what’s most affecting them and why they decided to stay for the hours-long protest. These issues were pressing to those who compared the past to the future.
“I am afraid of the future. I am a grandmother and 80 years old marching for my kids and grandchildren and I’m marching for their rights. I’m marching for those who have no voice or can’t find a voice or who are hidden,” protester Marla Sisti said.
Editors Note: This is an abbreviated version. The full vesion can be found on The Observer’s website.
ContactBerhan Hagezom at bhagezom01@saintmarys.edu
immigration policy, especially after the Department of Education was just closed by the Trump administration… they were really in the weeds on all of this,” Sirianni said.
“This was my first time in Washington and just seeing the place where democracy takes place was amazing to me. Being there just hours before Cory Booker’s historic speech made me realize that our voices have an impact on the world.,” Poulson wrote.
Editors Note: This is an abbreviated version. The full vesion can be found on The Observer’s website.
Contact Sophie Hanawalt at shanawal@nd.edu
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
academic programs, spiritual life and campus community.
Vincent discussed his decision to commit to Notre Dame while on campus.
14, 2025
Workshops and Keynote Address Featuring Andrea L. Pino-Silva
Andrea L. Pino-Silva is co-author of We Believe You: Survivors of Campus Sexual Assault Speak Out, and co-founder of the national survivor advocacy organization End Rape on Campus. Her work and personal journey is prominently featured in the film The Hunting Ground, which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, and she appeared alongside Lady Gaga and 50 other survivors at the 2016 Academy Awards.
Workshops begin at 1 p.m. ET Rice Commons, Student Center Keynote 6 p.m. ET Carroll Auditorium
“I was struck by the campus environment, the people I met, how inclusive it is and just the amount of support that’s there for everybody. I think that’s something you don’t find anywhere else, something really special here,” he said.
Cahill echoed these sentiments.
“Everyone at Notre Dame is so inviting and personable, and I can tell that character is a major part of the admissions process. I never once felt uncomfortable socially, even in a situation that would normally be overwhelming for many,” Cahill wrote.
Contact Sophie Hanawalt at shanawal@nd.edu and Megan Cornell at mcornell@nd.edu
ESTEEM Graduate Program
11-month M.S. program that emphasizes the action of entrepreneurship and technology, not just the study of it.
The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine ranked ESTEEM/Notre Dame #14 in the Top 50 Graduate Entrepreneurship Programs for 2025
Recieve Your Decision By: April 25th
Final Application Deadline: April 13
Candidates from the College of Arts & Letters, Engineering and Science will have a chance to receive an Innovation Fellowship
Nine Innovation Fellowships will be offered to three candidates from each of the three colleges
ESTEEM is invested in your success! Innovation Fellowship candidates will automatically recieve a $45,000 scholarship when admitted to the program, with the opportunity to apply for additional need-based aid.
OBSERVER EDITORIAL
Why Notre Dame
This weekend, over 1,500 admitted students and their families arrived on campus for “The Rally” — Notre Dame’s accepted student weekend. For many, this weekend’s drive down Notre Dame Avenue may have been the first time they set their eyes on the Golden Dome. To these students, the fortunate 9% of applicants who were accepted, the next month before decision day on May 1 will be a time for choosing, as they weigh options from other elite universities across the country. While many current students likely have compartmentalized their college admissions experiences in remote recesses of their minds, choosing to attend Notre Dame was probably one of the first hugely consequential decisions they made and is the choice the accepted class of 2029 now faces. Every student’s reason for choosing their college will differ, but the roughly 2,000 students who make the big decision to attend the University each year, despite their myriad experiences, all seem to have something which draws them to spend four years in South Bend, Indiana, often many miles from home.
In an age when tuition stands at a staggering $82,000, college is undeniably an investment. Students and their parents expect a level of academic pedigree and professional resources commensurate with their investment. Indeed, Notre Dame not only matches but exceeds these expectations, whether it be through world-class professors, innovative research opportunities or the expansive alumni network. Moreover, some of the most generous financial aid in the country has made these benefits available for more and more students. In the end, however, these reasons are not why students should come to Notre Dame. Students who have been accepted here have already proven themselves and will likely excel at whatever institution
they choose before achieving success after graduation. Notre Dame will foster their success as well as and better than most institutions, but it offers something fundamentally greater.
Prospective students should come to Notre Dame because it provides something which no other elite institution does — an overarching sense of mission and purpose in a tumultuous world. Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s and Holy Cross remain genuinely Catholic institutions with authentic commitments to truth, justice and the common good. Even for those students who are not Catholic, this identity and desire to do good forms a unique community which is increasingly rare in higher education, but timeless in its value. It is a lighthouse which calls students here and an anchor in the lives of those who embrace it.
This sense of community is no mere cliche. The dorm life, despite what prospective students may have been told about strict rules, does indeed foster a genuine sense of community and lasting friendships. Dorm Masses offer you the chance to grow closer to God and your peers. Moreover, the tri-campus community with Saint Mary’s and Holy Cross allows students to expand their horizons and gives them yet more people to forge lasting connections with. And, of course, the thrill of doing touchdown pushups at a Notre Dame football game with 80,000 people in the stands will unite you with your classmates like nothing else.
Beyond being academically challenging, courses at Notre Dame foster genuine academic discussion, where a wide range of viewpoints can be heard. Open inquiry is welcome and celebrated at Notre Dame. Classes ask questions which seek to bind faith and reason for an authentic understanding of the human experience, not to divorce the two. A collaborative, not
a cutthroat, competitive spirit truly pervades both academic and extracurricular activities. A cohesive and beautiful campus architecture seeks to uplift the human spirit and physically reflects the values which the institution espouses.
Many schools offer a great education, but not all offer what Notre Dame does. Ultimately, many of the challenges students face at Notre Dame will likely be the same challenges they would face at any college they might attend. They will deal with a challenging academic course load, confront social difficulties as they adjust to college and may often feel pressured or stressed. While it may be an enclave at times, Notre Dame is not immune to the difficulties and chaos of the real world. And, indeed, despite its guiding mission, the University often does not fully live up to the mighty values it preaches.
What Notre Dame can give you, however, is the sense of purpose and the spirit necessary to rise above your challenges and move forward with courage and compassion. When you fail a difficult test, your professors will work with you to help you succeed. When you have conflicts with your friends, your RAs will advise you. When you feel confused or angry with the world, you can find clarity and solace in your studies and discussions. When the South Bend perma-cloud has you down in January, you can cast your gaze upon the Golden Dome and be uplifted for a moment. And when the troubles of life are simply too much, you can kneel down at the Grotto and set down your burdens for a moment. What Notre Dame will give you and has given generations before you cannot be quantified. It cannot be encapsulated in an average SAT score, an acceptance rate or a U.S. News and World Report Ranking. It is invaluable, and it will last you a lifetime.
Room picks and a response to Lang
It’s room pick season. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard “quad” or “six-man” in the last week, I would be a very wealthy man. Even when I’m not in Keenan, when I’m walking between classes or eavesdropping in dining hall lines, I cannot escape room pick drama. This article is for all those stressing over room picks: In the words of Aaron Rodgers, “R-E-L-A-X.”
You would be stupid to take advice from me. Last year, I lived your worst nightmare — I was left out of my group’s plans and left with no plan of my own. I remember walking into Keenan common rooms asking, “Do you guys know of anyone who needs a roommate?” Almost everyone in my grade had already paired up, so I reached out to my friend Gray, who is a year younger than me. Averaging my high lottery number with their low numbers, Gray, his other two sophomore friends and I were able to get the worst quad in Keenan.
What got me through the process last year was prayer. I gave up my fears and hopes to the Big Man. And the Big Man came through, as He always does. The quad this year has been a great time, and I fit better in my current group of guys than my previous one. And, as if telling me He had heard me and had everything under control, God put me in the closest room to the chapel, inviting me to pray even more. I know prayer often feels useless and ineffective compared to figuring things out yourself, but if you pray you will find that God will deal with your problems in surprising ways.
I share my story to say that no matter how screwed you think you are for room picks this year, you will be
okay. Say a few prayers, and God will take care of it — maybe not how you think you want Him to, but how He knows is best for you. Don’t get sucked into the drama of room picks. Don’t let it divide your dorm; don’t let it ruin friendships. Let it bring you together. Let it offer new friendships. Dorm life is less than ideal in many ways — it never quite feels like a true home. But who are we to have a luscious life when “the Son of Man has nowhere to rest his head” (Matthew 8:20)? In other ways, dorm life is a special time we will never get back. Let’s be patient, let’s make the most of it, let’s r-e-l-a-x, and let’s be just glad to be here.
In the remainder of this column, I’d like to respond briefly to my fellow columnist Jackson Lang’s most recent column, “Catholicism cannot be the only true faith.”
As far as I can tell, what Jackson is getting at is this: It is narrow-minded and unreflective to believe your religion to be uniquely true simply because it is what you have grown up with. I actually do not disagree with this, but I would like to point out that it is a distinctly modern (or postmodern) way of looking at religion. For better or worse, pre-moderns did not reflect on how their religious worldview might be at odds with others’ worldviews; they just believed. But the moderns became disillusioned with their childhood faith because they felt the need to reflect on the truth of their faith in an objective, non-biased way; only then could they affirm its unique truth.
Now, we postmoderns go a step further and say that such objective reflection is a waste and fails to arrive at the one true faith, so we can either say that all religions are equally false or that all religions are equally true (which is Jackson’s conclusion).
The trouble with saying that all religions are equally true is that often the falsity of other religions is built into the truth of one religion. Catholicism and
Judaism cannot be equally true: either Christ was (is) the Messiah or not; either Christ rose (rises) from the dead on the third day or not. As St. Paul says, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain” (1 Corinthians 15:17). Catholics and Protestants who deny the real presence cannot be equally right: either the consecrated host is the Body of Christ or not. Catholicism and atheism cannot see the same God through two different windows, for atheists do not believe they see God at all. Either one or the other is true, not both, not a dialectical synthesis (as Jackson must know well from his Kierkegaard).
It is indeed narrow-minded and unreflective to believe your religion to be true simply because it is what you have grown up with. But just because your belief is narrow-minded and unreflective does not mean that it is not true faith. Of course, nothing ensures that an unreflective belief is true, but neither does anything ensure it is false.
That said, I agree that a reflective belief is preferable to an unreflective one. And a reflective belief in Catholicism says that Catholicism is the one true faith. The reflective Catholic is undeterred by the sincere belief of those of other religions, just as one who argues for the truth is undeterred by the sincere arguments of those with dissenting opinions. And a reflective Catholic has no reason to doubt that if he were brought up under a different faith, the Holy Spirit would have guided his heart to convert to Catholicism, the one true faith.
Richard Taylor is a junior from St. Louis living in Keenan Hall. He studies physics and also has an interest in theology. He encourages all readers to send reactions, reflections or refutations to rtaylo23@nd.edu.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Richard Taylor
Just Glad to Be Here
The politics of scientific evidence
Before the 2024 election, fears loomed about the fate of evidence-based health policymaking. Today, those fears have materialized. The U.S. has withdrawn from the World Health Organization, frozen billions of dollars in biomedical research and terminated thousands of employees at the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Science Foundation.
This is not just a political matter. It is a public health emergency. With the systemic erosion of evidence-based decision-making, it is urgent for the research community to be skilled health diplomats and to redefine tools of knowledge translation.
Scientific evidence has shaped innovative and transformative health policies. Evidence has served as a moral tool to counteract self-interests and biases, and to support fairer, more effective decision-making. While no data is ever entirely impartial, rigorous methods, transparent data collection and triangulation across sources can mitigate distortions and strengthen the credibility of findings. But even the best evidence is powerless if ignored.
Evidence-based policies have historically led to vital improvements in public health. The RAND Health Insurance Experiment of the 1970s proved that increased cost-sharing lowered healthcare spending, helped shape national health insurance debates and led to major reforms. Similarly, laws have been implemented to lower blood alcohol limits for motor vehicle drivers and to inform the United States Food and Drug Administration’s ban of partially hydrogenated oils.
These regulations have in turn saved countless lives.
Ignoring the evidence would be a catastrophic decision. It would normalize the abhorration of scientific and academic freedom, strengthen the threat to human health and destroy the principles of integral human development. Disregarding the evidence creates a thriving environment for public health crises to persist, to exacerbate the existing emergency and to create new ones.
Consider the measles double-dose vaccinations: They are 97% effective, but vaccination rates have declined drastically over the years. Consequently, measles has spread to 22 states, infected more than 600 individuals and killed two of them. Despite overwhelming evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic and other infectious diseases, no strong public endorsements of the MMR vaccine have been issued from the people that matter.
Similarly, veterinary experts have opposed proposals to let the H5N1 bird flu spread naturally through poultry flocks to identify immune birds. This unscientific strategy creates countless opportunities for the virus to mutate and potentially jump to humans — yet it’s being seriously considered. How many more lives must be lost before evidence is taken seriously again? The discordance between what ought to be done and what is actually done is not only devastatingly striking — it is dangerous.
It is an emergency then, for the research community to strategically and creatively engage in health diplomacy and to become expert storytellers. Scientists, researchers and
their teams must be prepared to enter into the convoluted dynamics of health policymaking. They need to be capable of navigating complex political bureaucracies and negotiations. If the best evidence-based solution lacks support, researchers must ask: What is second best to gain momentum? They must also invest the time to build relationships with policymakers, listen to opposing views and engage in the frictional drag of democratic disagreement. Researchers must wear multiple hats: as academics, advocates, coordinators and reformists.
Most critically, they must redesign how they communicate evidence. Conventional policy briefs and memos are not enough. Behavioral psychology shows us that people make decisions based on values, emotions and perceived consequences — not just data, rationality and logic. We must stop asking only, “What does the evidence show?” and start asking, “What story does the evidence tell?” What’s at stake if policymakers ignore it? What will they and their constituents lose? What could they gain by acting now?
Policymaking divorced from evidence is policymaking that endangers lives. As we question what role will evidence play in health policy making, we cannot abandon the principle. In fact, it means that we need to fight harder for it when no one else is.
Castillo second-year Master of Global Affairs student April 4
So, what of the Severed?
With the end of the second season of Apple TV’s masterpiece, “Severance,” there has been great debate within the community regarding the central plot device of the show, which fully exposes the philosophical underlying question of the show. And, depending on your answer, the connotations of the actions taken by our protagonists wildly change character.
The following discussion will be entirely spoiler-free and will not involve any characters or plot points, as the show ought to truly be experienced as blind as possible. We will merely examine the psychologically complex situation proposed by the show — mainly, what of the Severed?
Severance is a dystopian mystery thriller which follows a select group of people who have undergone a medical procedure to manipulate their memories. A brain implant divides the person’s stream of consciousness into two: an ‘outie,’ who retains all memories except for those made by their counterpart, and an ‘innie’ who has no recollection of the outie’s experiences. Therefore, the person becomes Severed: two independent streams of consciousness and sets of memories share a single physical body, swapping control routinely. Both innie and outie thus have gaps in their consciousness as one takes over the other and generates their own experiences and memories with the body. Importantly, the innie is a clean slate: a fully functional adult with no identity or past: they maintain general knowledge but not their individual name, family or experiences. They are “born” from the procedure, whereas the outie continues their life, albeit unaware of the innie’s experiences in their shared body. And so, the two continue to persist, so long as they keep swapping control.
Immediately, the fascinating scenario triggers a barrage of interpretations. I encourage you to consider them thoroughly
with time, for this brief column could never make the full circumstances justice, but let us focus on arguably the most important. That is, the fundamental question throughout the show is that of identity: who, precisely, is the innie? Are they the same person as the outie? Or, perhaps, are they a “true” version of the Severed person, having been released of their memories who shaped them? Better yet, are they even a person? They certainly feel that way, yet the show’s world is unsure—who gets to decide?
While brain transplants remain a matter of science fiction for now, many of us have the strong intuition that if our brain was transferred into another body, so would our identity. Same person, different body. Naturally, this is the case because our brain is the physical center of our cognition and what allows us to experience a stream of consciousness. Note that by “experience” I do not refer to memory, feelings or qualia, but a much more intrinsic subjective undergoing. And this answers the first component of our question: the innie, by definition, does not have any psychological continuity or experience of the outie’s life. All the innie has ever known is their being them. Therefore, they must be different from the outie.
However, from this it does not immediately follow that the innie is a person. A rock possesses a different experience than I, but it is not a person. But we can then ask, if the innie were not a person, what would they be? We have comprehensive evidence that the innie possesses a body, a stream of consciousness and an innate psychological experience, for we know that their experience parallels the outie’s. For most, the outie is indisputably the same person as who they were before Severance, for there is an evident psychological continuity.
Given that the experiences of the outie and innie are equivalent, if we were to say the innie is not a person, the outie would necessarily not be a person either. Other than the particular memories created, the outie and innie have the same medium with which to experience the world—they
both have fully independent emotions, memories, hopes and dreams. If we argued these were not sufficient elements to qualify for personhood, then what is left? None of us would be persons at all then, would we?
Thus, the innie and outie are both fully independent persons who possess their own identity, and are deserving of the same rights as any other human. Or in other words, such is the argument I postulate given our current evidence. What characterizes the masterful philosophically challenging media is their refusal to provide a full answer. Even if we take all that has been stated for granted, the show throws one final twist into this dilemma of personhood: reintegration. Reintegration is the opposite procedure of Severance, merging both streams of consciousness and memories back into a single person.
What, precisely, happens then? What would happen if you tried to merge your consciousness with someone else? Would you still be you? Would you be them, or perhaps someone else entirely? What happens to you? Do you die? Do you persevere in a different mode of existence? Or does nothing at all change your identity? Does having similar dispositions affect this procedure?
Will we ever know? That which distinguishes us, that which severs us from all others, what if that went away? What happens then?
Editor’s note: This is an abbreviated version of the column. The full version can be found on The Observer’s website.
Carlos A. Basurto is a junior at Notre Dame studying philosophy, computer science and German. He’s president of the video game club and will convince you to join, regardless of your degree of interest. Now, with the power to channel his least insane ideas, feel free to talk about them further at cbasurto@ nd.edu.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
Jailene
Carlos Basurto
Eudaemonic Banter
By NATALIE SWIDERSKI Scene Writer
Woodstock, Lady Gaga’s meat dress and Will Smith’s 2022 slapgate. What do these three things have in common? While generally considered some of the biggest pop culture moments in history and bound to remain relevant for generations to come, none can compare to the sheer perfection of the March 28 Sound of SUB concert featuring Del Water Gap, Samuel Holden Jaffe’s indie pop solo project.
The show began with three talented student openers — Maura McMahon, Ben Warren Flynn and Libby Garnett — performing everything from contemporary classics to original pieces. McMahon’s impassioned rendition of Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves’ “I Remember Everything” was exceptional, ensuring good things to come for the rest of the show.
Following the openers, Del Water Gap — Sound of SUB’s main act — delivered electricity and passion in their show, combining songs from their new album “I Miss You Already + I Haven’t Left Yet” with some of their most popular hits into a masterful set.
The addition of their contemplative acoustic track “Chastain” into the middle of the act grounded an otherwise lively concert while songs like “All We Ever Do Is Talk” and “Ode to a Conversation Stuck in Your Throat” energized the crowd.
Not only did the music sound incredible, but the band committed itself to showmanship. Despite the small stage, Jaffe brought a level of dynamism to the concert that many bands tend to lack in such an environment. He moved effortlessly throughout the space, dancing energetically along to his songs, flashing a sly smile to every particularly excited female fan and even pulling guitarist Nick Cianci in for a faux kiss. In a memorable moment during the band’s performance of “Perfume,” Jaffe descended from the stage to the right side of the audience, climbed the barricade and sang on his knees in the middle of the pit as stunned fans quickly moved to form a circle around the singer and dance — well, “mosh” might be a better word — along with him.
The performance was magical, and — judging by the euphoric faces of those in attendance — many others seemed to agree. In fact, the Dow Jones’ recent calamitous plunge of over 2,000 points is rumored not to have
been the result of the new administration’s economic policies but of Del Water Gap’s Sound of SUB performance as music lovers everywhere are ditching their stocks for tickets to the band’s international tour. Who needs a 401(k) anyways?
In addition to a lively performance, Jaffe seemed genuinely interested in Notre Dame. Domers were delighted as he inquired a bit about the University, remarking upon the golden dome’s Wikipedia page and intrigued by the Fighting Irish mascot. He asked the crowd if “Fighting Irish” meant that the school is full of Irish people who fight other people or people who exclusively fight Irish people. Fans were puzzled but amused, and a few shouted, “Both!”
Ultimately, Del Water Gap seemed to bring the audience back to simpler times. In a music industry plagued with social media trends and Twitter feuds, it can sometimes feel we may have forgotten that music can exist just for fun. But, judging by the impeccable track record for the annual Sound of SUB concert (Noah Kahan, Tai Verdes and Del Water Gap), it seems the spirit of music lives on at Notre Dame.
Contact Natalie Swiderski at nswider2@nd.edu
By
You have probably never heard of the British TV series “We Are Lady Parts,” and it would have flown under my radar as well if not for the film “Polite Society.” A review of this film led me to discover other projects from the writer and director, Nida Manzoor. Manzoor created “We Are Lady Parts,” pulling inspiration from her own life and upbringing. I binged the entire first season in one day and watched the second one over the summer.
Set in modern-day London, “We Are Lady Parts” follows a microbiology Ph.D. student, Amina Hussein, who is determined to find a husband. Meanwhile, a punk band called “Lady Parts,” formed by lead vocalist Saira, bass player Bisma, drummer Ayesha and band manager Momtaz, is in search of a lead guitarist. Ayesha gets her brother Ahsan to hand out flyers advertising auditions, and Amina shows up since she has a crush on him. Having briefly gone to school together, Saira remembers Amina as well as the fact that she plays guitar, ultimately convincing her to join the band in exchange for Ahsan’s contact information.
When the idea of an all-female punk rock band is pitched, it isn’t likely that you’d be picturing Muslim women in those roles. The show shatters stereotypes and tropes that we often see in media portrayals of Muslim women. They are often portrayed as subservient, quiet
and oppressed, but the women in “We Are Lady Parts” are loud, angry, messy, assertive and mostly autonomous. They are treated as any other human beings: They make their own choices, they make mistakes, they grow, they learn, they change.
The series features punk covers of pop and rock songs as well as original songs that are well written both lyrically and musically, shockingly funny, but still meaningful. Manzoor and her siblings write the music in the series, with original songs such as “Ain’t No One Gonna Honour Kill My Sister But Me,” “Voldemort Under My Headscarf” and “Bashir With the Good Beard.” The latter features Amina’s first guitar solo which made my soul feel like it was levitating and marked the moment the series became one of my favorites.
The band as well as the series “We Are Lady Parts” are both perpetually at risk of being misunderstood, and — inspired by a real event — this becomes a plot point in the series.
As the band gets more popular through online streaming, they are approached by an influencer and journalist named Zarina who will write an article about them for an online magazine. But since all five women do not fit the societal mold of a Muslim woman, Zarina distorts their words to create the narrative of the “bad girls of Islam.” They are met with backlash and anger online, being told that they are not real Muslims and that they’re going to hell. After struggling through the hate, they realize they
still have some fans despite everything, and the season ends with “Lady Parts” surviving the damaging article, reuniting for a concert and playing an uplifting cover of “We Are the Champions.” In Season 2, they still have the challenge of navigating the music industry with new songs, as well as further character development and a cameo from Malala Yousafzai herself.
The online backlash plot line is similar to what Manzoor experienced when she aired the original “We Are Lady Parts” pilot. What followed was an online barrage of hate labeling her as a “fake Muslim” who sought only to create negative and untrue portrayals of Muslim women that were not representative of the entire community. She deleted her social media accounts.
Whether or not you agree with the portrayal of Muslim women in the show, it is clear how realistic every character is. To me, this is a key aspect of representation: highlighting the diversity in appearance, experience and behaviors of people in a certain group, to portray them not as a general “Muslim woman” but as a human character who is a woman and is Muslim. It is impossible to portray the vastness of such a large group since every person contains multitudes, so why was Manzoor punished for not carrying that burden? What could be more representative than creating a story based around her own life?
Contact Sheila-Marie Manyara at smanyara01@saintmarys.edu
SHEILA-MARIE MANYARA Scene Writer
ND WOMEN’S LACROSSE
Irish drop Senior Day heartbreaker to Stanford
By BEN HICKS Associate Sports Editor
Notre Dame women’s lacrosse was back in Arlotta Stadium over the weekend for yet another top-25 matchup. The No. 21 Irish welcomed No. 9 Stanford to South Bend on Saturday afternoon for a pivotal ACC showdown for both sides, which also doubled as Notre Dame’s senior day.
Head coach Christine Halfpenny’s Irish entered the day at 6-6 and just 1-5 in the ACC, which had them in ninth place and on the outside looking in at the eightteam ACC tournament field with just a few games remaining. Saturday’s contest with the Cardinal was the eighth game against a ranked opponent for Notre Dame this season. The Irish were 1-6 in their previous seven games against ranked opponents, and would need to pick up a marquee win to solidify their spot in the postseason despite holding the NCAA’s toughest strength of
schedule.
For Stanford, the transition into the ACC had been smooth sailing as the Cardinal cruised to a 10-3 overall mark and 4-2 conference record entering their seventh top-25 affair of the year. A win against Notre Dame would clinch their spot in the ACC tournament, which will take place in Charlotte, North Carolina. at the end of April.
After the Irish program honored its seven seniors, along with Stanford’s graduating class, it was a backand-forth start to a chilly afternoon that saw the score level at 2-2 10 minutes in. After the Cardinal swiftly netted the first two goals of the game, freshman attack Katie Mallaber got the Irish on the board before sophomore attack Kate Timarky tied the match off a nice feed from junior midfielder Franny O’Brien.
That spark would develop into a 5-0 Irish run, as sophomore midfielder Kathryn Morrissey found graduate
captain midfielder Kristen Shanahan for the first Irish lead of the day, before scoring herself as the first quarter buzzer sounded. Morrissey found sophomore midfielder Meghan O’Hare on the other side of the quarter break to put Notre Dame up 5-2. Sophomore attack Aliya Polisky, Stanford’s leading scorer, recorded her second goal of the match and 44th of the season to draw one back for the Cardinal prior to the intermission.
Right on the other side of halftime, the pass-first O’Hare extended the Irish lead to 6-3 with her second goal of the day just 17 seconds after the draw. The Irish sputtered from there, however, as they found the back of the net just one more time over the final nearly 30 minutes.
Five Cardinal goals would bookend Morrissey’s 20th goal of the season, which
came off a beautiful dime from Shanahan early in the fourth quarter to make the lead 7-5. Stanford closed the match on a deciding 3-0 run, with the game-winner coming with just under nine minutes remaining.
Junior midfielder Rylee Bouvier was set up in the middle of the cage by sophomore attack Elise Murphy, where the game-winner was initially waved off due to a charge, before instant review overturned the call, allowing the goal to stand.
The Irish would continue to attack over the closing stages, but the Cardinal defense, which had been stout all year long in the final frame, held true and denied Notre Dame a game-tying and seasonsaving goal to win the battle 8-7.
The Cardinal will now spend the remainder of the regular season back on the
Pacific Coast, as they welcome No. 15 Clemson and Denver to Palo Alto before wrapping things up with a rivalry showdown in Berkeley against California.
Now sitting with a losing record, the Irish will battle Pittsburgh and Louisville over the next two weeks, with all three teams tied for ninth place in the ACC at 1-6. Notre Dame will need to collect both wins to leapfrog 2-5 Virginia Tech, who currently clings to the final spot in the field. The Irish get back in action on Saturday, April 12, at Pittsburgh before closing out the regular season at Arlotta the following Thursday with the Cardinals. Saturday’s must-win game in Pittsburgh is set for a noon opening draw with streaming available on ACCNX.
Contact Ben Hicks at bhicks2@nd.edu
KEIRA JONES | The Observer
Junior attacker Emma Murphy closes in for a shot during Notre Dame’s 8-7 loss to 10th-ranked Stanford at Arlotta Stadium on April 5, 2024. The Irish led 4-2 after the first quarter, 5-3 at halftime and 6-4 after three quarters before conceding four goals to Stanford in the fourth. Notre Dame has two games left in the regular season against Pitt and Louisville.
Happy Birthday: Don’t take anything for granted. Do your homework and set and stay within boundaries. Talk is cheap, so follow through and complete your plans to avoid being misunderstood or ignored. Make this the year of transformation, not innuendos. Step out of your comfort zone and commit to doing what you say. Revise your calendar to project the outcome you want to achieve. Your numbers are 8, 11, 15, 23, 31, 36, 44.
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Look at a situation closer before you act. It’s important to know what and who you are up against and direct your energy appropriately. A misconception will give you a false sense of what’s possible. Consider how timeconsuming it is, along with the emotional and financial costs, first.
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Adjust to the changes around you. The less fuss, the easier it becomes to satisfy your soul and put your heart into something that matters to you. It’s how you perceive and respond to situations that make the difference. Actions are proof that you follow through.
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Distance yourself from what you cannot change and focus on improving your life. Adjusting your skills and attributes to blend in flawlessly with new trends will open doors. Make sure everything you promise is doable to avoid criticism. Sign up to learn something new or expand your qualifications.
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Establish what you enjoy doing most and find a way to turn it into additional income. Get your house in order, and you’ll feel at peace. Put money matters to rest by selling items you no longer use. You have more resources than you realize.
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Take the uncertainty out of any situation by asking direct questions and giving straight answers. Facts are your route to reform, replacement, and revitalizing your path forward with honesty and a chance to make a positive difference. Personal growth will help transform your life.
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Monitor what others do and say. A problem at work or in your community influencing your position or reputation is best averted quickly. Control your emotions and speak the truth; you’ll overrule anyone trying to make you look bad. Don’t let uncertainty interfere with authenticity.
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): An open mind and compassionate heart will get you through anything you encounter if you aren’t gullible. Use common sense and bounce your ideas off people you trust to give you an honest opinion. Stop worrying about your approval ratings and start trying to please yourself.
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): As long as you keep changing your mind, it is best not to make a move. Focus on getting things done before you venture down a new path. Check out an activity or event that captures your attention. What and who you encounter will offer valid considerations.
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Rethink your plans and eliminate any action fueled by someone else’s wants. It’s you who must be happy with your path forward. Choose what makes you happy and content with yourself, your lifestyle, and the company you keep. Self-improvement is within reach.
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Take the train that leads to financial gain, a better lifestyle, and a healthier attitude. Don’t abuse yourself to amuse others or to fit in with the wrong crowd. Surround yourself with positivity and a plan that ensures you do and achieve the best outcome possible.
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Spend more time sourcing how to look and feel your best. Whether you implement a healthy, active daily routine, give yourself more time to unwind or recover, or concentrate on something that brings you joy, it will encourage greater clarity and footprint to follow.
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): A shift will help you avoid a run-in with someone. Expect matters to get blown out of proportion and no improvements made if anger takes over. Use your imagination, be innovative, and do your best to get along or offer others the freedom you want in return.
Birthday Baby: You are sensitive, helpful, and ambitious. You are changeable and timely.
JUMBLE
BASEBALL
Irish drop fifth straight ACC series against VT
By TYLER REIDY Associate Sports Editor
For the second consecutive weekend, Notre Dame baseball put itself in position to win an Atlantic Coast Conference series at home but couldn’t finish the job. After dropping both ends of a Sunday doubleheader last week against Florida State, the Irish lost on Saturday and Sunday against Virginia Tech despite defeating the Hokies by a 7-2 score on Friday.
Notre Dame now stands just a game above .500 at 1514 overall and 3-12 within ACC play with its five-week gauntlet schedule now over with. Virginia Tech, meanwhile, improved to 22-10 overall and 9-6 within the ACC thanks to the series win in South Bend.
Friday: Virginia Tech 2, Notre Dame 7
The Irish captured Friday’s game with an outstanding starting pitching performance from sophomore right-hander Jack Radel. He threw a career-long seven innings on 104 pitches, allowing only two runs on three hits and three walks while striking out five to earn the win. Graduate right-hander Tobey McDonough finished the game with two scoreless frames out of the bullpen.
Though the Hokies started the scoring with a homer from Jackson Cherry to the left in the second, Notre Dame plated a run in each of the following two halfinnings to claim a 2-1 lead. Junior shortstop Estevan Moreno came home after a leadoff double in the second before driving in another run with a fielder’s choice in the third.
Although they tied the game at 2-2 in the fifth, the Hokies had problems from the third inning on. Offensively, Virginia Tech collected only one hit in the final six innings of the game, as Radel set down nine batters in a row to finish his outing. On the opposite side, Hokie starting pitcher and ace Brett Renfrow inexplicably departed the game after pitching only three innings, leaving a long day ahead for the Hokie bullpen.
Notre Dame would attack that bullpen for five runs across the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. The eventual game-winning run scored on one of three Hokie errors in the first of those three innings. Notre Dame’s freshmen then padded the lead in the sixth, as left fielder Jayce Lee and first baseman Parker Brzustewicz each struck run-producing
singles. Sophomore catcher Carson Tinney topped off the 7-2 Irish win with a left fieldbound bullet of a two-run home run in the seventh, his fifth long ball of the season.
Saturday: Virginia Tech 6, Notre Dame 1
In game two, it was Virginia Tech’s turn to ride an elite start on the mound. Hokie freshman southpaw Jake Marciano spun 6.2 innings without an earned run allowed, walking only one and punching out nine on 116 pitches for the best start of his young career. Though the Hokies didn’t score in seven of the game’s nine innings, they did enough to win with three-run bunches in the third and ninth frames.
Virginia Tech’s first clump of runs chased Irish sophomore starter DJ Helwig, who was making his first
career ACC start, from the ballgame. Hokie freshman Hudson Lutterman laced a two-run double down the line in left, building a 3-0 Virginia Tech lead at the end of the inning.
Notre Dame’s bullpen performed well from there to remain within striking distance. Graduate righthanders Sammy Cooper and Dylan Heine combined with freshman righty Oisin Lee to shut out the Hokies for five straight innings, affording the Irish offense plenty of time to tie or take the lead. However, Notre Dame did neither, scoring only once in the fifth thanks to a Hokie error and an RBI infield single from graduate center fielder Jared Zimbardo.
Virginia Tech would eventually put the game out of reach in the ninth as Lee lost some steam. The redshirt
senior star Hokie outfielder Sam Tackett with two outs, putting two runners on for Cherry. Having already been on base three times, the designated hitter blew the game open with a three-run moonshot that barely cleared the fence in right-center field, shifting the Hokies into a 6-1 lead. Virginia Tech reliever Grant Manning would work around a leadoff walk in the bottom of the ninth to level the series.
Sunday:
Virginia Tech 11, Notre Dame 5
Like last Sunday, this weekend’s rubber match wasn’t competitive for very long. The Hokies jumped on Notre Dame best starting pitcher, junior right-hander Rory Fox, for three runs in both the third and fourth innings, as Jared Davis and Ben Watson each cleared
the bases with a double. They would tag Irish graduate starter-turned-reliever Jackson Dennies for five more runs between the fifth and sixth innings, constructing leads of 10-0 and 11-2.
Notre Dame took a while to crack the Logan Eisenreich code at the plate, as the freshman Hokie pitcher struck out seven in 4.1 innings of one-run baseball. The Irish scored one of their two fifthinning runs against him, as senior third baseman Nick DeMarco belted a tworun home run. They would score an additional three runs between the fifth and eighth innings, while sophomore Justin Mayes Jr., junior Xavier Hirsch and sophomore Keenan Mork combined to toss 3.1 scoreless
KEIRA JONES | The Observer
Graduate center fielder Jared Zimbardo watches a pitch come in during Notre Dame’s 7-2 defeat of Virginia Tech at Frank Eck Stadium on April 4, 2025. The Irish leadoff hitter walked and came around to score a run on Friday before singling three times and driving in a run on Saturday.
innings as the last three out of the Notre Dame bullpen. Both teams finished the day with double digits in the hit column, Virginia
ND MEN’S TENNIS
Tech producing 12 and Notre Dame 10. Davis and Watson shined atop the batting order for the Hokies, going a combined 5 for 11 with eight runs batted in. Eight of Notre Dame’s nine starters recorded a hit, with Tinney leading
the charge on a 3-for-4 day. The Irish will wrap up their 13-game homestand with a 5:30 p.m. Tuesday matchup against regional foe Northwestern. The Big Ten-based Wildcats are 1415 overall with a 6-6 mark
in conference play. They lost this past weekend’s series to Iowa but salvaged a 5-4 victory on Sunday. A below-average team both on offense and the mound, Northwestern follows the lead of junior infielder
Trent Liolios. He paces the Wildcats by a wide margin in batting average (.337), home runs (14), slugging percentage (.837) and OPS (1.258).
Contact Tyler Reidy at treidy3@nd.edu
Irish fall to Florida State, Miami on the road
By NOAH CAHILL Sports Editor
The Notre Dame men’s tennis team traveled to Florida for two of their last three regular season matches of 2025. On their trip to the Sunshine State, the Irish went 0-2 with a 4-1 loss to No. 19 Florida State on Thursday and a 4-2 loss to No. 33 Miami two days later.
Florida State
On Thursday night at the Scott Speicher Tennis Center, the Seminoles rattled off their fifth consecutive ACC win over Notre Dame. The Irish started strong on the doubles courts, claiming the point after wins from the No. 1 pairing of junior Sebastian Dominko and sophomore Chase Thompson as well
SMC LACROSSE
as the freshman pairing of Peter Nad and Luis Llorens at No. 3. The win marked the fifth straight for Dominko/ Thompson and the ninth straight for Nad/Llorens, the two teams having paced a successful Irish doubles contingent all season. However, that would prove to be Notre Dame’s only point, as the Seminoles roared back on the singles courts.
The comeback was sparked by five of six opening set victories on courts 2-6 for Florida State, as the No. 18-ranked Dominko was the only Irish player who took a first set. Thompson fell first to Erik Schiessl on court three before sophomore Kyran Magimay dropped his match at No. 6, surrendering eight consecutive games in the 7-5, 6-0 defeat. Within
seconds, No. 52-ranked Jamie Connel extended Florida State’s newfound lead on court two, downing senior Yu Zhang 6-2, 6-0. On court four, Llorens responded to a firstset loss with a 6-1 second, but ultimately lost the decider to Alex Bulte, ending the match at 4-1. As the match finished, Nad led 5-4 in the second set, looking to battle back after a first-set loss on court five. No. 15 Corey Craig took a set off Dominko to even the score, but the Slovenian lefty was up a break at 3-1 in the decider.
Miami
Notre Dame made their way to Miami two days later for a Saturday afternoon match with the Hurricanes in the Neil Schiff Tennis Center. They once again secured
the doubles point, this time via wins on courts two and three from the senior pairing of Zhang and Jameson Corsillo and the rookie duo of Nad/Llorens, who made it 10 straight with their impressive 6-1 victory. Miami would quickly respond in singles play, taking the opening two matches on courts one and three. Dominko suffered his first loss since midFebruary, falling 6-4, 6-0 to the No. 24-ranked Martin Katz. Nacho Serra Sanchez then put the Hurricanes in front with his 6-2, 6-2 win over Thompson. Magimay evened the score, however, earning a hard-fought 6-4, 7-5 victory over Jules Garot in the No. 6 matchup. The next two wins for Miami required third sets, as Antonio Prat took down Zhang 6-3 in the
decider on court two before Leonardo Dal Boni secured the win after outlasting Nad 7-5 in a third-set tiebreak on court five. After dropping the first set, the freshman Nad battled back to win the second set tiebreak 10-8. He could not survive his second consecutive set tiebreak, however, and his valiant attempt to keep Notre Dame in the match fell just short.
The two losses leave Notre Dame at an even 13-13 for the season, with a 1-11 conference mark. They play one final regular season match in Kentucky against Louisville on Saturday before turning their focus to the ACC Championships on April 16-20.
Contact Noah Cahill at ncahill2@nd.edu
Belles bounce back in 11-8 victory against Alma
By CLAIRE WATSON Associate Sports Editor
After a hard loss against Albion, the Saint Mary’s lacrosse team was back in action on Saturday as it faced off against Alma and took the 11-8 win. The Belles now improve to 4-6 overall on the season and 1-1 in conference play.
Neither team scored in the first seven minutes of the first quarter until Alma made its way down the field and Kylie Lewis put in the first goal with an assist from Rileigh McGeorge. Seven minutes passed with no goals until Alma’s Briar-Rose Mackey added an unassisted goal.
A quick start in the second quarter followed as Mackey
put in her second goal of the day for Alma. Nearing the end of the quarter with no goals from either team, senior midfielder Valentina Rubio put in a goal with an assist from freshman midfielder Piper Downey to put the Belles on the board.
Now going into a very high-scoring third quarter, Saint Mary’s kicked it off as
sophomore attacker Rachel Speckhard added her first goal of the day with an assist from freshman midfielder Annabelle Spruill. Alma made its comeback as Sarah Bollinger nailed a free position shot to keep Alma ahead 4-2. Despite this, the Belles came back with two goals as Speckhard added on with an assist from sophomore
attacker Lana Skibins and junior midfielder Mary Grace Heekin put in a free position shot to tie the score. Alma returned the favor with two goals of its own, one from Maya Durham on an assist from Lewis and the second from Mackey unassisted. But the Belles continued to push, rounding out the quarter with a free position shot from Downey and a last-second goal from Heekin with an assist from Speckhard to tie the score.
In the final quarter, Alma continued its drive as Mackey put in her third goal of the night. But Saint Mary’s did not give up, putting in four goals to follow including a free position shot from sophomore attack Kathryn Kalinowski, two goals from Speckhard with two assists from Skibins and an unassisted goal from sophomore attacker Cate Krema, putting the Belles ahead 10-8. Alma managed another goal, but Skibins came through in the final minute with an unassisted goal to make the final score 11-8.
Speckhard led the Belles as she finished the day with four goals and one assist. The Belles now prepare to travel as they face Adrian on April 8, starting at 4 p.m.
Contact Claire Watson at cwatson01@saintmarys.edu
MEN’S LACROSSE
Irish fall to No. 7 Syracuse, 14-9, on the road
By NOAH CAHILL Sports Editor
The Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team looked to be finding its stride in 2025 after back-to-back losses to the Maryland and Ohio State. They allowed only seven goals in their next two contests, taking wire-to-wire victories over Michigan and Duke 19-7 and 14-7, respectively. However, the Irish had their momentum halted in the JMA Wireless Dome on Saturday, as they were stymied in a 14-9 defeat to No. 7 Syracuse.
Notre Dame jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the opening four minutes. They continued to get scoring production from the midfield, as freshman Matt Jeffery got the scoring started before graduate Devon McLane added two more. The Irish would not score again until the 1:10
mark in the third quarter, coinciding with a 9-0 Syracuse run. It began with two goals from the Orange to finish the first frame, cutting the deficit to one after 15 minutes.
The rookie Payton Anderson got them on the board before midfielder Sam English scored under a minute later to make it 3-2.
The second quarter was all Syracuse, the Orange scoring six while leaving the Irish attack blocked. Joey Spallina, the team’s leading point-getter, had been quiet in the first quarter. That would change in the second, however, as Syracuse’s talisman notched three of their six goals. He began the run by capitalizing on a man-up opportunity to tie the score at 3-3. He scored again on a pretty, no-look setup from Tyler McCarthy a few minutes later. English then tallied his second of
the day, followed by goals from Michael Leo and Wyatt Hottle. Spallina capped off the onslaught with a little over a minute remaining, securing his hat trick and giving his team an 8-3 going into halftime.
Owen Hiltz, who leads the Orange in the goal department, got in on the action in a low-scoring third, extending Syracuse’s lead to 9-3. Notre Dame finally broke their goal drought as junior midfielder Will Maheras cut the lead to five. His goal sparked a 3-0 Irish run with senior Chris Kavanagh scoring in the dying seconds of the quarter and senior attacker Jeffery Ricciardelli adding another to start the fourth. Leo and Kavanaugh traded the next two goals of the contest, as Notre Dame looked to stay in the game down three. However, as their offense ran cold again,
the Orange put together a 3-0 run in the following six minutes that iced the game.
Spallina got it started with his fourth of the day. Hottle’s second came next before Spallina set the table for Trey Deere in the man advantage, extending the lead to 13-7. Graduate attacker
Jake Taylor and junior Max Busenkell found the back of the net in the closing stages for a little window dressing, but after Hiltz added on one more for Syracuse, the Orange took the 14-9 win.
In a dominant defensive display against the defending champs, Syracuse’s top performers arguably did not even feature in the goal column. The matchup between John Mullen and senior Will Lynch, two of the best draw specialists in the country, was a defining one and one that Mullen owned all game.
The sophomore won 16 of
his 23 faceoff attempts and scooped 11 ground balls in the game, helping the Orange dominate possession, particularly during their 9-0 run that spanned 30 minutes and 52 seconds. Also pivotal during that stretch was the play of netminder Jimmy McCool. The sophomore played to his namesake, unfazed by one of the nation’s best attacks. He allowed only nine goals in the contest while making ten saves, several of them worthy of the highlight reel. It was only the second time this season Notre Dame failed to reach a double-digit goal output.
After falling to 5-3 and 1-1 in conference play, the Irish are set to return home and face Virginia on Saturday evening in their penultimate game of the ACC schedule.
Contact Noah Cahill at ncahill2@nd.edu
DECLAN LEE | The Observer
Sophomore midfielder Jordan Faison drives with the ball during Notre Dame’s 14-7 defeat of Duke at Arlotta Stadium on March 29, 2025. Faison put two shots on target and scored a goal in the game. However, he was held without a goal on three shots attempted as Notre Dame dropped a 14-9 result at seventh-ranked Syracuse on Saturday in Upstate New York.
