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Volume 53, Issue 104 | TUESDAY, march 26, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
ND starts clean energy program New sustainability initiative to convert nonconsumable food waste to energy Observer Staff Report
Notre Dame is implementing a new system to reduce nonconsumable food waste while also fueling the clean energ y needs of an Indiana farm, the University announced in a press release Monday. The system, Grind2Energ y, helps convert food waste into renewable energ y — reducing food waste and emissions, odors and pests. Notre Dame is the second school in the nation to invest in the food-recycling system, the release said. The project is a collaboration with Campus Dining, the Office of Sustainability and
Homestead Dairy, a dairy farm about 30 miles south of Notre Dame in Plymouth, Indiana. “Our implementation of this solution to tackle a large portion of our nonconsumable food waste enables us to take a big step towards meeting our waste diversion goals set as part of our University Comprehensive Sustainability Strateg y,” Carol Mullaney, senior director of sustainability, said. “W hile we continue to work on source reduction and donations of consumable food to local outlets, we will still have food waste and it’s exciting to know that it will now avoid the landfill and
be converted into clean energ y.” The first of what will be three Grind2Energ y systems — made up of a processing sink, a grinder and an outdoor holding tank — was installed at the University’s Center for Culinary Excellence in January, according to the release. The 15-foot-tall holding tank can hold 5,000 gallons and is heated from inside so the contacts do not freeze, the release said. W hen it is time to empty the tank, a septic hauler adheres a hose to the bottom of the tank and pumps the waste into a septic truck, which is then transported to a nearby farm
SMC to host literacy night at local elementary school By CALLIE PATRICK News Writer
W hen asked about Saint Mary’s annual Literacy Night event, senior Sam Schickel summarized the event in just four words — “Reading, math, science, food.” “Literacy Night is an annual event that Saint Mary’s College hosts at an area elementary school,“ Rebekah
DeLine, head of the Office for Civil and Social Engagement (OCSE), said in an email. ”It’s an event wherein children and their families can participate in activities that focus on reading and arithmetic, have some fun and also take home a book or two for their home library.” Literacy Night is organized by the OCSE, Coquillard Elementary School in South Bend and Saint Mary’s
students. “This event started as a celebration of the late Dr. Seuss and has transformed into a general promotion of reading,” DeLine said. DeLine said that the event has been a good way for Saint Mary’s students to interact with the local South Bend community. “Literacy Night has
News Writer
Sandra Yocum, associate professor of Religious Studies at the University of Dayton, spoke to the Saint Mary’s community about the origins of the Saint Mary’s Graduate School of Theolog y in a lecture Monday night in the Student
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Center. The lecture, titled “A School of Their Own: Saint Mary’s Graduate School of Sacred Theolog y (1943 – 1969),” took place to commemorate the College’s 175th anniversary and to celebrate the legacy of poet and third College president Sister Madeleva Wolff. Yocum began her lecture
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see ENERGY PAGE 3
Observer Staff Report
Interim College President Nancy Nekvasil informed the community that Saint Mary’s has filed a response to former College President Janice Cervelli’s lawsuit in an email Monday afternoon. The response will remain sealed. “Our Board of Trustees see LAWSUIT PAGE 4
Seamstress crafts vestments for Basilica, chapels
see LITERACY PAGE 3
Speaker remembers SMC school of theology By MARIROSE OSBORNE
where the waste is converted to energ y. The report said the waste is a donation to the farm, though the University will experience the benefit of lower trash costs. North and South dining halls will receive Grind2Energ y systems “in the near future,” the report said. “We’re excited to partner with our colleagues from the Office of Sustainability in the introduction of Grind2Energ y at Notre Dame,” Chris Abayasinghe, senior director of Campus Dining, said. “Campus Dining is able to divert a
College issues response to suit
with a quote from “A Room of One’s Own” by author Virginia Woolf. “Less than 100 years ago, Virginia Woolf wrote the famous phrase, ‘A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction,’” Yocum said. “The kind of deep cultural see THEOLOGY PAGE 4
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AARON BENAVIDES | The Observer
Liturgical seamstress Patti Schlarb has been handcrafting religious vestments for the Basilica and campus chapels for the past 20 years. By AARON BENAVIDES News Writer
For the last 20 years, Patti Schlarb has served as the liturgical seamstress for the Basilica of the Sacred Heart — a role that has not only brought her across campus, but across the globe as well. In her role as liturgical seamstress, Schlarb is
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responsible for handcrafting the vestments and other decor for the Basilica and all the chapels on campus. Not only does she make items for Notre Dame, she also covers the needs of the University of Portland and the Holy Cross Missions in Chile, Uganda, Kenya and Mexico. see SEAMSTRESS PAGE 4
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