With the beginning of the fall semester and the 2025-2026 academic year, the Vielhauer administration is poised to hit the ground running. Following an eventful first week of classes, Notre Dame student body president Jerry Vielhauer, along with his vice president Sonia Lumley and chief of staff Ethan Chiang, outlined their plans for the upcoming year, pledging to continue their focus on transparency, student advocacy and community belonging.
“Yeah, all of those things are definitely still priorities for us,” Vielhauer said. “I would definitely emphasize the continuation of the transparency. Things have changed as we’ve all come back, with the dining halls and Grab and Go, so I want to make sure every voice of the student body is heard.”
Lumley echoed Vielhauer’s sentiments, noting their ongoing efforts to establish monthly meetings with the Notre Dame Diversity Council and reach out to specific communities across campus. Lumley described this work as essential to ensuring that a variety of groups are appropriately represented at Notre Dame. Students with allergies and food-related intolerances were also included — an important group, given the administration’s focus on campus dining improvements.
“Going back to nutrition, we have the allergy kitchen now, which is amazing,” Lumley said. “We know specific students on campus really, really appreciate this.”
While the Department of Campus Nutrition is a relatively new body within student government, it has been very active since its establishment — especially regarding improvements in food quality and allergy safety. Its director, Julianna Marchese, who herself suffers from an autoimmune disease that limits her dietary choices, highlighted the work done on this front.
“Campus Dining has launched Olive Kitchen. It’s an allergy-free kitchen [focused] on eliminating cross-contamination. We have those clear labels, and they are updating them every single day,” Marchese said. “My tip as someone who navigates the dining halls all the time is to ask questions to the workers there. We serve them and they serve us … so if you have any questions, talk to them.”
Marchese expressed gratitude for student government, describing them as “so supportive of this new department.” Chiang conveyed similar thoughts, describing the administration’s cooperation with various departments on a broader scale, recognizing them for their work on events such as Flick on the Field and the Wellness Expo.
“All our departments have been prepping and preparing over the summer in anticipation of the school year,” Chiang said. “Our work with departments has gone really well, and we have a lot of exciting events coming up. But at a more policy level, our departments of Campus Nutrition and University Policy have also been working to engage with the administration on these initiatives.”
Among the initiatives undertaken by the Vielhauer administration were the addition of new equipment to the Rockne Memorial and Smith Center, as well as the installation of new laundry machines in several dorms across campus. Regarding the latter, Vielhauer noted the vital role of student feedback in convincing the Notre Dame administration to take action.
“I think some of the survey data used through the student life forms really helped move the needle with the laundry, showing the administration the numbers,” Vielhauer said. “That really helped the change happen. Using that has been really beneficial for working with Residential Life. We look forward to sending out even more surveys on a larger scale.”
Vielhauer explained that using this more comprehensive survey data, they could continue expanding upon these previous achievements with new goals. These include better-managed lines at the dining halls and improvements to Grab and Go around campus, a project that the administration is particularly proud and passionate about.
“[It’s] something that seemed like a pipe dream last year when we started brainstorming, and to see it already coming into fruition as we come back to school is really incredible, even though, like I said, it is a work in progress,” Vielhauer said. “It is something that I am personally really excited to work on, as someone who is a personal trainer and is very cognizant about health and wellness.”
Beyond expanding the Grab and Go services, Vielhauer’s administration is implementing several other initiatives to enhance student life. These include improved meal plans and flex points adjusted for inflation, as well as the promotion of first-year participation in FUEL, applications for which close on Sept. 14 just before midnight. The program allows incoming freshmen to serve in an executive department and provides valuable experience in Student Government.
Lumley also emphasized their shared desire to improve the all-important religious experience of students on campus, offering extra opportunities for students to explore their faith and build community.
“Something that I'm looking forward to is the organization of outdoor Masses more often,” Lumley said. “I think it’s going to be huge and just amazing, especially since, for our administration, we want to keep our Catholic identity and push it forward. As we come to the first week, we're having more conversations, and we hope to see it happen this semester.”
