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Volume 54, Issue 47 | tuesday, november 12, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
Students advocate for healthier options Eating disorder prevalence brought to light, leads to discussion about nutritious dining availability By GINA TWARDOSZ News Writer
Editor’s Note: This is the second article in an investigative series on the accessibility and effectiveness of mental health resources available within the tri-campus community. In spite of heightened discourse surrounding anxiety and depression on college campuses, many students who are aff licted with eating disorders still suffer in silence. Several Saint Mary’s students are looking to spread awareness about eating disorders and healthy
eating in the hopes the College will provide more resources on campus. Senior Anne Nowalk said she considers herself an eating disorders activist and has called for expanded campus resources for students with eating disorders. Nowalk said her perception of eating disorders, and her perspective on how others view them, changed when her friend developed an eating disorder. Eating disorders are common among young women ages 18 to 24, Nowalk said, and this can become exacerbated at a place like Saint
MBA student shares passion for painting
Photo courtesy of Jacob Mazurek
Depicted above is a self portrait by MBA student and veteran Jacob Mazurek. He cultivated his passion for art while serving in the Navy. By ZIXU WANG News Writer
Jacob Mazurek, a second year Mendoza MBA student, stands out among his peers not only as a Navy veteran of 23 years, but also as a devoted and accomplished painter. Students may recognize him from around campus, where he can often be found painting in public spaces. His favorite
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spots, he said, include Modern Market in the Duncan Student Center, Starbucks in the LaFortune Student Center and the Hammes Bookstore. He completed his latest piece, a painting of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart, two weeks ago. He said he spent over 950 hours painting it. “I was on the campus tour see MAZUREK PAGE 4
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Mary’s — an all women’s college. “Something I started to realize was that there are a lack of resources and a lack of understanding about eating disorders on campus,” Nowalk said. “Based on studies done by the National Eating Disorder Association and others, we know that eating disorders are most likely present on campus. The fact that we don’t hear students talking about them shows the extreme stigmatization that is attached to having an eating disorder.” And this stigma can prove deadly, Nowalk said.
“[Eating disorders have] one of the highest mortality rates for mental disorders, but that’s not really recognized by most people because there’s a stigma that an eating disorder has to do with a person being selfish or just wanting to lose weight,” she said. Saint Mary’s used to employ a registered dietician on campus, Anna Uhran Wasierski, but she left the College in 2018 and is now employed at Notre Dame. No replacement has been hired so far, yet Uhran Wasierski is still listed on the website as an active campus dietician.
Saint Mary’s hosts “Love Your Body Week” annually, a week of events focused on student body positivity, but Nowalk said she feels like the week doesn’t place sufficient emphasis on eating disorder awareness. “We have ‘Love Your Body Week’ on campus in February, which is actually ‘National Eating Disorder Awareness month,’ and it’s nice to have that, but over the years it’s become less and less about the knowledge of eating disorders and more about doing activities that surround see HEALTH PAGE 3
Philanthropy course gives funding to non-profits By TOM NAATZ Notre Dame News Editor
Among the many unique courses offered by Notre Dame, only one is accompanied by a grant worth tens of thousands of dollars to be awarded to nonprofits in the Michiana area. Notre Dame professor Jonathan Hannah is teaching “Philanthropy and Society” for the first year it is offered at the University. The funding, he said, comes from an outside group. “The class is interesting in that it’s sponsored by a nonprofit called the Philanthropy Lab. They’re an organization based in Texas. We’re about one of 20 partner schools that offer this class,” he said. “This lab, they grant us between $50,000 and $70,000 to give to the community. The students get to sort of create their own mini-foundation and decide ‘What is the best place to invest this money in our local community?’” The Philanthropy Lab has worked with over 29 other U.S. colleges and universities to offer similar courses, giving, along with their donor partners, over $9 million since the group was founded in 2011. Hannah said deciding where the money is awarded is entirely up to the students.
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“I really don’t influence the grantmaking at all,” he said. “It’s totally on the students. The students get to decide which nonprofits to visit, and then over the next two weeks we’re going to have votes and decide where this money is going to ultimately go.” Though the class is taught through the political science department and the Hesburgh Public Policy program, it is open to all students. Senior Laksumi Sivanandan said she was drawn to the course after a summer internship at the University’s development office. “I worked as an intern for Notre Dame’s development office this summer. As a result, I became really interested in fundraising and philanthropy,” Sivanandan said in an email. “I wanted to learn more about philanthropy through lenses other than higher education, and this class has certainly helped with that.” Senior Evan DaCosta — another student taking the class — was motivated to take the class after reading about how bad actors can abuse the philanthropy process. (Editor’s Note: DaCosta is a former news and sports writer for The Observer.) “It was two things,” he said. “One, it fit my schedule well. Two,
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it was right at the time when all of the [Jeffrey] Epstein stuff was coming out and people were talking a lot about his philanthropic activity — because he had donated a lot of money to Harvard, MIT and all these schools — so people were criticizing philanthropy at that time as a way people could cover their tracks. … It was topical and newsworthy at the time, so I thought it would be interesting. I didn’t realize at the time that we would be getting money to actually do stuff with.” While the class focuses somewhat on general philanthropic principles, much of the instruction time is spent on hands-on activities as students decide how the money is ultimately going to be awarded, student and sophomore Ciara Donovan explained. “The structure of the class and the way Professor Hannah runs things is really different than any class I’ve ever taken,” she said. “Basically, about 60% of our class days are normal lectures in which we talk about varying topics under the category of philanthropy. But the other classes are what we call ‘board meetings’ and every member of our class together acts as a board of directors for our see COURSE PAGE 3
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