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Volume 53, Issue 125 | friday, april 26, 2019 | ndsmcobserver.com
Fisher to host annual regatta Hall members look to draw large crowd Saturday with spring signature event By CATE VON DOHLEN News Writer
Students, alumni and friends of Notre Dame will gather at St. Mary’s Lake at 1 p.m. for the annual Fisher Regatta. The dorm will provide free food and music for its signature even, which invites residence halls and campus organizations to participate in a boat race. This year, funds will go toward St. Adalbert Catholic School in South Bend, junior Frank Dijak, the event’s commissioner, said. “This year, [the raised funds are] for air conditioning in the junior high,” Dijak said. Previous fundraising had
gone toward a new gym f loor, AC units, new concrete slabs and a new check-in area at the school, senior Dan Blackburn said. While most funds come from t-shirt sales, in addition to the small fee to enter a boat, Dijak said a few independent fundraisers on Eddy Street this semester and proceeds from Fisher Hall’s fall signature event, the car smash, will also be donated to St. Adalbert. Sophomore Owen Donnelly said the hall purposefully chose to hold the Regatta before finals. “Having the Regatta at the see REGATTA PAGE 4
Symposium to recall Rwandan Genocide By JOE ANDREWS News Writer
Notre Dame’s Law School is hosting a symposium this Friday and Saturday commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 1994 Genocide Against the Tutsi, a 100-day period where an estimated 800,000 innocent Rwandans were slaughtered by their fellow citizens over ethnic differences. Genocide survivor Immaculee Mukantaganira, the symposium’s organizer, said she arranges events like this one at Notre Dame to ensure the memory of those lost in the genocide are not forgotten. “I think there is a reason for me to surviving. It’s not for myself, but it’s to tell the world that there were 1 million people who were killed that were innocent,” Mukantaganira said. “I wasn’t prayerful like my brother. I didn’t do good things to people [like] my brother. So why did I survive,
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not him? So I was like, ‘Maybe God knew that I would do this.’ … I think these people deserve justice, and the justice for them is for me and for other survivors to talk about them, to tell the world, and to be instruments of peace.” Throughout most of Mukantaganira’s childhood, Rwanda’s three ethnic groups — the Hutus, the Tutsis and the Twa — coexisted relatively peacefully. This all changed, however, when colonists began moving into the country and placing labels on the ethnic minorities. Any illusion of peace that persisted was shattered April 6, 1994 when a plane carrying Rwandan President Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundi president Cyprien Ntaryamira, both Hutu men, was shot down as it prepared to land in Kigali. Hours later, the mass slaughter of Tutsis began. During the genocide, see SYMPOSIUM PAGE 4
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Morris Inn to upgrade Observer Staff Report
Photo courtesy of Frank Dijak
One of Fisher Hall’s boats competes in their namesake’s regatta on St. Mary’s Lake last year to benefit St. Adalbert Catholic School.
The Morris Inn will undergo five months of dining renovations beginning in November, the University announced in a press release Thursday. Rohr’s restaurant will receive a number of expansions, including a new bar, “increased intimate seating for small groups” and an “elevated focus on food and beverage offerings,” the release said. see RENOVATIONS PAGE 3
Storm the Stadium to benefit military students By SERENA ZACHARIAS Associate News Editor
Notre Dame’s Office of Military and Veterans Affairs will host its second Storm the Stadium event Saturday to benefit the University’s military men and women with a day of stair climbing and other festivities on the field. Regan Jones, director of Military and Veteran Affairs,
said the proceeds will benefit Notre Dame’s militaryconnected students — a term used to describe those on active duty, service veterans, ROTC students and their families. “The purpose of the event is to honor the men and women that bravely serve our nation in uniform, to engage the community in a family fun event, and then the money raised will
support the military and veteran students on campus, the veterans fund, and it goes towards scholarships, fellowships, for those students,” he said. Designing the event for those interested in a fitness challenge and people who just want to spend time with their community, Jones said they worked to make the see STADIUM PAGE 4
Tri-campus marches for sexual assault survivors By EMMA AULT News Writer
Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s and Holy Cross came together Thursday evening to participate in the Take Back the Night march in support of sexual assault survivors. Senior Meredith Mackowicz, who took the lead
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in organizing the event, said a number of different groups on each of the three campuses were involved in the march’s success. “Holy Cross — it was their dean of students a nd a couple of their interns. Notre Dame — it was the [Gender Relations Center] with the director John Johnston and a few of his
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interns, and then Saint Mary’s [Belles Against Violence Office], specifically the Events and Campaigns committee put on the event,” Mackowicz said. Mackowicz stressed the importance of supporting sexual assault survivors especially in universities. see MARCH PAGE 4
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