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Volume 56, Issue 15 | FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2021 | ndsmcobserver.com
Tri-campus discusses Yik Yak posts Leaders reflect on culture, possible solutions after derogatory social media posts against SMC students By GENEVIEVE COLEMAN Saint Mary’s News Editor
Editor’s note: This story includes strong language, as well as mentions of sexual assault and suicide. A list of sexual assault reporting options and oncampus resources can be found on the Notre Dame, Saint Mary’s and Holy Cross websites. Following the release of Shamrock Series ticket lottery results on Sunday, Saint Mary’s students were targeted through anonymous online posts on the social media platform Yik Yak.
These posts belittled Saint Mary’s students’ intelligence, compared them to terrorist organizations and joked about survivors of sexual assault and victims of suicide like Lizzy Seeberg, a first-year student at Saint Mary’s who took her own life in 2010 after she reported that she had been sexually assaulted by former Notre Dame linebacker Prince Shembo on August of that year. College president Katie Conboy sent an email to students on Tuesday, noting that the College was “here to support” students in the aftermath of the posts.
University spokesperson Dennis Brown told The Observer these Yik Yak comments did not align with Notre Dame’s values. “Notre Dame finds abhorrent the anonymous postings that recently appeared on the social media application Yik Yak,” Brown said. “They are antithetical to the spirit of Notre Dame and to the close relationship between it and Saint Mary’s College, dating back to their respective founders.” The Observer also reached out to Yik Yak for comment about the process for
Women’s Network comes to Notre Dame campus By EMMA DUFFY News Writer
The Women’s Network, an organization dedicated to connecting young ambitious women nationally, recently joined the Notre Dame campus. The network is a slightly new organization that started at Syracuse University and is making its way across colleges in the United States. In 2017, Founder and President Jamie Vinick attended a lecture at her own university which inspired her but left her wondering
why the subject of gender had never been addressed. “There was a tremendous void in conversation, and we should be having conversations about topics like gender in the workplace, especially at this stage in our lives,” Vinick said. Women’s Network aims to remedy gender bias issues by offering young women the opportunity to network in an environment that is non-competitive and inclusive to all backgrounds and majors. But networking “is not collecting LinkedIn
connections, or seeking someone once and then ending that relationship,” said Vinick. The idea is that women on the Notre Dame campus will be able to advance their careers while cultivating true connections with other motivated women. For the average Notre Dame student, who is constantly in search of different ways to network, getting involved in the network would offer an opportunity to make meaningful connections in their
By ISA SHEIKH News Writer
America’s first universit y band, the Band of the Fighting Irish, is back in full force after a challenging year. This season, students and fans from across the countr y have been able
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Community Guardrails.” The Observer spoke with student leaders across the schools in order to delve into tri-campus culture and into possible solutions to issues like the one evidenced by the Yik Yak controversy. Notre Dame Student Government leaders encourage unity, change in the tri-campus Notre Dame student body vice president Matthew Bisner offered some descriptions of the messages on Yik Yak and explained their disparaging see POSTS PAGE 3
Medieval Institute marks 75th anniversary
see NETWORK PAGE 5
Band of the Fighting Irish returns in full force to fully experience the music and ornate marching routines performed by the approx imately 380 members of the band. “We have a say ing in the band that ever y time you play the fight song, it’s gonna be someone’s first time hearing it, and it’s gonna be
removing posts that go against the application’s “Community Guardrails”, which according to their website are meant to protect users. “Any post that violates the Community Guardrails should be taken down and the user potentially banned,” Yik Yak’s statement said. “It is important for anyone who sees anything that violates the Community Guardrails to report any post in the app by tapping the three dots icon on the yak itself. We will immediately take it down once our moderators see it. We will not stand for people posting content that violates the
someone’s last time hearing it. So ever y performance matters,” said Ian Baker, a senior, who’s an assistant drum major in the band. In his role, Baker dons the drum major’s white uniform to help conduct the band see BAND PAGE 5
SCENE PAGE 10
Courtesy of Megan J. Hall
Medieval studies librarian Julia Schneider shows facsimiles to students at the Medieval Institute, which is celebrating 75 years. By MARCELLE COUTO News Writer
This year, the Notre Dame Medieval Institute is celebrating its 75th anniversary since its inception in 1946. The Notre Dame Medieval Institute is the nation’s “largest and most prestigious” center for the study of the Middle Ages. It contains fifty faculty members from thirteen different departments and an incomparable
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library with a growing collection of manuscripts. Students within the Institute become future academics, medievalists and leaders in all spheres of life. Anyone can enjoy conferences and lectures which invite world-renowned scholars to campus. Professor of history and Medieval Institute director Thomas E. Burman see MEDIEVAL PAGE 4
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