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Volume 53, Issue 128 | wednesday, may 1, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
Senate discusses dorm policy Representatives from Residental Life, Student Affairs respond to backlash By MARIE FAZIO News Writer
Student senate was joined by associate vice president of residential life Heather Rakoczy Russell and vice president for Student Affairs Erin Hoffmann Harding for a special meeting to address recently announced residential life policies Tuesday night in Duncan Student Center. The policies — which include incentives for on-campus seniors, enhancements for all students and efforts that differentiate on and off-campus experiences — were announced April 11 and met with major pushback from the student body. “We didn’t call this policy the senior exclusion policy. We
called this policy differentiating on and off-campus experience,” Rakoczy Russell said. “What that means is what things off-campus will have access to and the ways that they will build community will look different than how on-campus students will.” Hoffmann Harding said the journey to the April 11 announcement began over four years ago, when Flaherty and Dunne Halls were opened to address the issue of overcrowding on campus. “We had seen a significant increase in proportion of seniors living off-campus,” Hoffmann Harding said. “We wanted to understand how important it see SENATE PAGE 4
Observer Staff Report
MARIE FAZIO| The Observer
Erin Hoffmann Harding and Heather Rakoczy Russell meet with students to address negative reactions to the new housing policy.
ND Day breaks records, increases student presence By SOPHIA LAUBER News Writer
Notre Dame Day hit a record high in the number of gifts given and the number of campus organizations that received donations, raising over $2.3 million from 6:42 p.m. Sunday evening to 12:11 a.m. on Monday. Director of Notre Dame Day Matt Gelchion said the number of donations given
increased by over 3,200 from last year and that 809 groups received funding, compared to last year’s 663. “I think part of it was that now that this is the sixth year. There’s more familiarity among fundraising groups about how they can leverage this day,” Gelchion said. A 29-hour live broadcast of interviews, events and performances ran during the entirety of the fundraising
period. Jim Small, associate vice president in the development office, said people from 119 countries tuned into the broadcast. “We had 38 broadcasting professionals help us put on the show — six were students and 32 were pros in the business,” Small said. “They bring the excitement, and we had some great In see ND DAY PAGE 4
Gymnastics club travels to national competition By MAX LANDER News Writer
The Notre Dame Gymnastics Club, although smaller than it has been in the past, concluded a successful season of competition at the national level. This year the club sent 17 students — three men and 14 women — to compete in nationals, where the team took second place and some students
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placed individually in events. Senior Abigail Whalen, the former co-president of club, said the meet was a three-day event with various stages. The team geared up for finals with practices during the school year off campus at a gymnastics facility in Mishawaka. Jennifer Indelicato, a first year graduate student, has participated in the club for the past five
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Forum to reflect on crisis
years. She said practices tend to be open, as many of those on the team have prior experience with the sport. “For first semester we usually try and go once or twice a week and then second semester I think we pretty much always went twice a week for a few hours. It all kind of depended on everyone’s see GYMNAST PAGE 3
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The 2019-2020 Notre Dame Forum, titled “Rebuild My Church: Crisis and Response” will focus on the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church, University President Fr. John Jenkins announced in press release Tuesday. “While we must never fail to be honest and forthright about terrible acts of abuse and failures of oversight, the forum is designed to be constructive and forward-looking,” Jenkins said in the release. The forum will “examine see CRISIS PAGE 3
Professors debate gender biases By MARIROSE OSBORNE News Writer
Ever y spring semester, students at Saint Mar y’s are encouraged to prov ide feedback about their professors from the prev ious semester through spring course evaluations. The purpose of the evaluations is for professors to receive feedback on their performance, w ith the aim of helping them grow professionally. However, Terri Russ, associate professor of communication studies, said gendered bias often presents itself in these evaluations. “I have studied this w ith colleagues at Notre Dame,” Russ said. “We’ve discovered that the further you are from the straight, white male norm, the more negative rev iews you w ill receive.” Russ said she has had her ow n experiences w ith gendered bias in the courses she has taught. “I’m a feminist and I teach critical theor y,” she said. “We talk about a lot of heav y
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subjects like oppression, racism and sex ism. I also teach a rhetoric class. There is a lot of w riting involved and I force students to look at both sides of the stor y. I’ve had students say that I’m mean because I don’t smile enough or that I’m unprofessional.” Russ added her experiences w ith gender biased evaluations are not limited to her ow n evaluations. “I have never met a female professor who didn’t have her appearance critiqued,” she said. “No matter what they wear, it’s w rong. You could wear a suit and it wouldn’t be right.” Bill Svelmoe, a histor y professor, said he has a ver y different experience. Svelmoe wears Hawaiian shirts to class and in the w inter, he often doesn’t wear shoes inside. Yet, he has never had a negative comment about his appearance. The comments on his appearance are often complimentary. In an email, Svelmoe said he see BIAS PAGE 3
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