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Volume 54, Issue 40 | friday, november 1, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
Boyle, McGuire reflect on progress Notre Dame student body president, vice president talk mid-semester updates By SERENA ZACHARIAS News Writer
Since senior Elizabeth Boyle and junior Patrick McGuire took office as Notre Dame student body president and vice president this past April, the pair said they have been working toward their stated goals of empowering students, improving gender relations and reforming the dorm system. They elaborated their plans and recounted current progress in a recent inter view with The Obser ver. Boyle said they kicked
off the year by creating a Department of Student Empowerment, led by senior Godsee Joy, as promised during their campaign. In terms of gender relations, senior Anne Jarrett recently led the passage of a resolution in the student senate whereby all enumerated student leaders must be GreeNDot trained in order to hold their positions. Boyle said the department of gender relations is also working on reforming the parietals amnesty clause to allow students to leave a dangerous situation without trigger a Title IX report. The
current policy dicates that Title IX incident must occur and be reported in order to have amnesty extended for a parietals violation. “In the near future the Gender Relations Department will be hosting PrideFest, working with the administration when new Title IX changes are released, secure access to free menstrual products on campus, and will continue their close working relationship with Prism ND,” Boyle added in response to a follow-up email. The executive board has
Students weigh in on new Blinkie scheduling By SARA SCHLECHT Associate News Editor
Riding on Blinkie is a timehonored tradition for Saint Mary’s students. The dark blue van with an eponymous orange blinking light on top runs on campus from dark until 2 a.m. each day, taking students to their various oncampus destinations, such as residence halls and the library when they might not want to walk alone. Blinkie’s route includes the Grotto after The Sweep stops for the night. Stops at the Grotto also occur on the weekends,
when “The Sweep” does not run. In an email sent to the Saint Mary’s student body Oct. 27, vice president for student affairs Karen Johnson said Blinkie service would begin at noon on Saturdays and Sundays, making its usual route on campus before going to the Grotto at Notre Dame. According to the email, the route should take about 45 minutes. Last year, Blinkie made trips to the Grotto on Sunday afternoons from fall break to spring break.
Sunday Blinkie service was funded by the Student Government Association (SGA) last year. Since The Sweep no longer runs on Saturdays, transportation between Saint Mary’s and Notre Dame, an additional day of the service was added for this year. In a subsequent email, Johnson said the service was utilized by many students last year. SGA will once again be paying for this service, she said. Freshman Madi Holdsworth see BLINKIE PAGE 6
Kroc Institute monitors Colombia peace deal By TOM NAATZ Notre Dame News Editor
In 2016, the Colombian government signed a peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Marxist rebel group. The accord ended a five-decade
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long civil war in the South American country in which 220,000 Colombians died. W hile many groups have a hand in overseeing the accord’s implementation, one such group working on enacting the deal’s provisions is Notre Dame’s Kroc Institute for International
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Peace Studies. David Cortright, the Kroc Institute’s director of peace studies and its Peace Accords Matrix (PAM), said a senior Colombian official contacted the Kroc Institute throughout the negotiation see COLOMBIA PAGE 5
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also been working closely with the student senate and University administration in light of the new dorm and residential changes. Last spring, the administration announced that students who choose to move off campus for their senior year cannot participate in dorm activites, and at the beginning of this academic year students lost swipe access to all dorms other than their own. W hile Boyle said they will continue to work on ideas for dorm reform, she said starting the year off with
Residential Life’s policy changes has been a challenge for their administration, along with the recent discussion surrounding the treatment of LGBTQ students on campus, which included several viewpoint pieces published in The Observer. “We have a really strong partnership with [PrismND], and we’ve done a lot of partnering with them and the GRC this year, and that’s something we’re going to continue to do,” Boyle said. “But I think it’s been a bit see SG PAGE 4
Band remembers unofficial mascot, Edwin
Courtesy of Sam Sanchez
Edwin, the chihuahua-Boston terrior mix, died Oct. 25. Edwin was adopted by assistant band director Sam Sanchez. By MARIA LEONTARAS Assistant Managing Editor
The beginning of the story is a simple one. In 2007, assistant band director Sam Sanchez made his way to San Antonio to adopt a rescue dog. While Sanchez was playing with one, another dog attempted to snag his attention. The then-2and-a-half-year-old dog’s pursuits proved successful, and Sanchez made his way back to Indiana with his new companion, Edwin. As the years passed, Edwin barked his way into many hearts and became an icon in the
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marching band community. He ran through the halls and greeted everyone he encountered with a yelp all while living with a heart murmur. Last week, the half chihuahua, half Boston terrier’s story came to a close. Edwin died Oct. 25. Sanchez said Edwin never showed signs of his age or condition in his appearance, but toward the end of Edwin’s life, Sanchez would carry Edwin around in various ways, like in his jacket or wrapped up in his dog bed. The pair spent a lot of time together, see EDWIN PAGE 7
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