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Volume 53, Issue 15 | friday, september 7, 2018 | ndsmcobserver.com
University manages game day logistics Office of Game Day Operations coordinates campus events taking place each football Saturday By TOM NAATZ Associate News Editor
In a given semester, Notre Dame’s campus consists of about 8,600 undergraduate students. Nevertheless, on six Saturdays throughout the fall semester, many thousands more fans descend on campus for Notre Dame home football games. Mike Seamon, the University’s vice president or campus safety and event management, estimated that about 100,000-120,000 come to Notre Dame on a given weekend. For last weekend’s game against the University of Michigan, that number was probably closer to 150,000, he said. Coordinating the logistics
for these large events is Game Day Operations, the office responsible for ensuring home game weekends proceed as smoothly as possible. University President Fr. John Jenkins established the office, which began work ahead of the 2009 football season, Seamon said. “In 2008, [Jenkins] commissioned a task force … to look at the game day experience on campus,” Seamon said. “[It was] a 17-person task force. Student body, alumni association, athletics, student affairs — they used the 2008 season to look at the Notre Dame game day experience. Then, they provided a report to Fr. see LOGISTICS PAGE 4
ANNIE SMIERCIAK | The Observer
Fans watch the Irish take on the University of Michigan in the Stadium on Sept. 1. The University employs a number of strategies to enhance the game day experience for visitors, who flood campus on game day.
Notre Dame panel promotes ethical dialogue By MADISON BOLLENBACHER News Writer
Hoping to open up a discussion on how to have ethical and and productive debates, the University Writing Program, the Higgins Labor Program, the Student Coalition for Immigration Advocacy, the Snite Museum and the Young
Americans for Freedom jointly hosted a panel Thursday night in the Geddes coffee house. John Duffy, associate professor of English at Notre Dame, began the panel by considering what is meant by the words “ethics” and “ethical arguments.” Duffy said there are three major philosophies through which one can interpret and ask
questions about ethics. The first perspective, Deontology, assumes there are actions which are categorically right and categorically wrong, and asks a person to consider what, in actuality, is the right thing to do. The second perspective, Duffy said, examines the consequences of see ETHICS PAGE 3
Lecture examines reform of East African prisons By ANNE ELIZABETH BARR News Writer
Alexander McLean, founder of the African Prisons Project, discussed his mission of reforming the criminal justice system in eastern Africa at a lecture Thursday at the Hesburgh Center Auditorium. McLean discussed the African Prisons Project’s
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work with members of eastern African prison communities. With a goal of improving the criminal justice system and empowering the poor, the African Prisons Project provides prisoners and prison staff with an education in law through the University of London. “Regardless of what’s been done to you or what you have done to others, you are
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welcome here,” McLean said. McLean said such vision helps bridge the gap between those who are privileged and capable of defending themselves, and those who are poor and uneducated in the prison system. “What would it look like to take those who understand the power of the law see PRISONS PAGE 5
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College program fosters diversity By IMAN OMAR News Writer
For over 10 years, Saint Mar y’s has facilitated the Diversit y Dialogues program which prov ides an opportunit y for students to engage in respectful conversation across differences and learn through that experience. The program, which is done in collaboration w ith Iv y Tech, is designed to talk about race and issues related to race in a facilitated context, said the director of the Center for Women’s Intercultural Leadership, Mana Derak hshani. “The program ser ves as a way to prov ide students w ith an opportunit y to practice civ il discourse on important issues w ith indiv iduals from different per spec t ives,”Dera k h sha n i said. “In particular, it is important to have the students from Iv y Tech or other schools participate as they bring diversit y to the group in terms of life experiences
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as well as other aspects of their identit y. It also aims to bring together small numbers of communit y members from different races [and] ethnicities, to learn about and discuss the issue of race and racism in the U.S. and in their communit y, w ith the intention of coming up w ith action plans that the group could implement and thus improve things in their communit y.” Senior Elizabeth Innis, who took the course in the spring of 2017, explained that the program inv ites students to engage w ith identities and experiences that are essential to the societ y in which we live today. “I believe there is a need for programs like these in all communities, but for Saint Mar y’s specifically there is a histor y of not being ver y diverse,” she said. “It is not because we are not inclusive, but because nationw ide there is a lack of opportunit y see DIVERSITY PAGE 5
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