Print Edition for Friday, August 22, 2025

ND athletics releases new leprechaun logo for football

On Thursday, Aug. 21, the University launched a fresh take on the classic Fighting Irish leprechaun on the Notre Dame football Instagram account. Donning green eyes and, most notably, lacking raised fists, the new leprechaun wields a football in his left arm.

Editorial: Pick up a book

As freshmen move onto campus, make new friends and settle into their dorms this weekend, their sights will inevitably soon be set on the start of classes and perhaps their professional ambitions. 

Notre Dame class of 2029, transfer students arrive on campus

Roughly 2,100 newly enrolled members of Notre Dame’s class of 2029 and 208 transfer students, including those who have completed the Gateway guarantee transfer program at Holy Cross College, have begun to move into their new homes under the Dome. 

Notre Dame’s Welcome Weekend begins

Freshmen and transfer students have begun to arrive for Welcome Weekend, Notre Dame’s annual orientation program that sets the tone for the Catholic mission and residential community that the University prides itself on. 

The summer everyone turned crazy

“The Summer I Turned Pretty” Season 3 is turning out to be a bit more of a train wreck than anyone could have expected. The shift from the first two seasons, which focused on the relationships between Isabella “Belly” Concklin and her family friends, brothers Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher, to the current focus on the upcoming marriage of Belly and Jeremiah, is a disappointment for many fans. 

‘Diciannove’ deserves respect it won’t get

“Diciannove” forces you to become intimately acquainted with the main character, Leonardo, a 19-year-old student who leaves his hometown of Palermo to study business in London. Before he even starts his classes, Leonardo decides to make an impulsive switch, enrolling at the University of Siena to study literature, where he finds the lectures boring. After receiving what is the American equivalent of a B- on an oral exam, he elects not to go to classes and begins a sort of self-study of Italian literature where his antisocial tendencies begin to be exacerbated.

Welcome back to The Observer

Welcome back to The Observer. As you open the page this year, you’ll probably notice a few changes to our paper. First and foremost, we’re excited this year to introduce our new logo, the end result of months of design and deliberation. For the first time, the logo includes the iconic Golden Dome in the “O,” grounding the paper in a sense of place and community. The classic text harkens back to past Observer logos, honoring the history of the paper in our 60th year of production.

2025 Notre Dame volleyball season preview

The Notre Dame volleyball team will enter its fourth year under head coach Salima Rockwell, looking to improve upon a 5-15 record in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2024. That mark was bogged down by their inability to close out road games — the Irish went 2-9 away from Purcell Pavilion — and had an 11-game losing streak throughout October and November. For all their struggles, the Irish did start 8-1 and treaded water in ACC play with a 6-6 record at home.

All’s fair in love and sheep breeding

Sometimes a summer in South Bend is a hectic thing. First, it’s reunion weekend, and boomers who can’t quite drink like they used to are nevertheless drinking like they can. Then it’s the soccer camps and softball programs, so the dining hall is swarmed with elementary and middle schoolers, and suddenly North Dining Hall starts to feel like fourth period lunch in a linoleum-floored junior high cafeteria. Next, it’s Notre Dame Vision — essentially the McGrath Institute for Church Life’s take on Vacation Bible School — so the quads are swamped with zealous high schoolers who have resting Carlos Acutis face and chatter away about just how much that evening’s Eucharistic Adoration affected them. Last, it’s the Summer Scholars, a cohort of Common App and LinkedIn-oriented zoomers who call to mind those studies about how our generation isn’t misbehaving enough.

2025 Notre Dame football preview: Can the Irish reach the mountaintop?

For the Notre Dame football program, 2024 proved to be an incredible ride encompassing the lowest of lows and nearly the highest of highs. In early September, fans and national pundits alike questioned whether third-year head coach Marcus Freeman was the man for the job following a shocking home defeat to Northern Illinois. Just three months later, the entire college football community would be crowning him as the coaching profession’s rising star after he orchestrated a wild transformation culminating in a National Championship Game appearance. But the confetti falling that chilly January evening in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium would be scarlet and gray instead of blue and gold.

Conboy: Embrace your differences

Dear Saint Mary’s students,

Trust your choices

First-years, I feel your gnarly stomachache.

Irish football fall camp impressions and updates

Notre Dame football began its fall camp on July 31. Coming off a magical run to the national championship last season, the Irish entered camp with big questions to answer following the departures of defensive coordinator Al Golden, four defensive captains and starting quarterback Riley Leonard. Chris Ash will look to fill Golden’s shoes and will have a deep and talented defensive roster to do so. Among that group, several new leaders have emerged to step into the captain positions previously filled by Leonard, Jack Kiser, Rylie Mills, Xavier Watts and Benjamin Morrison. However, one question rose above them all: Who would be Notre Dame's quarterback?

Clark: Be virtuous, scholarly

Welcome back to a new year! I want to especially welcome those of you who are first year students. I pray that you will receive the same kind of Holy Cross hospitality that I experienced this past year. What you are about to embark on is so much more than a college education. As Sister Madeleva Wolff, C.S.C., the president at Saint Mary’s College from 1934 to 1961, would say when welcoming her first-year students, this endeavor is “soul sized.”

Dowd: Welcome home

Dear students,

Notre Dame students cross the globe for summer service opportunities

While many Notre Dame students spend the summer completing professional and volunteering opportunities far from campus, many of these students do so through the help of Notre Dame programs and funding, enabling them to travel to different continents to pursue their interests.

Saint Mary’s welcomes class of 2029

Saint Mary’s College will welcome the class of 2029 throughout this weekend with 497 students enrolled out of 1,928 accepted. That is the largest number of freshmen at the College since 2007 and a significant increase from the 406 freshmen enrolled last year.

Barbara Gordon to lead Heritage and Research Center at Saint Mary’s

On July 11, the Heritage and Research Center (HARC) at Saint Mary’s announced Barbara Gordon as their first executive director. HARC’s historical record collections highlight the history of nine different women’s religious organizations, including the Sisters of the Holy Cross. 

Seven new members, including student, join Saint Mary’s Board of Trustees

Saint Mary’s College Board of Trustees will have seven new members this year, as announced in a June 11 press release. The newly introduced group includes Saint Mary’s alumnae Christina Calhoun Augustine ‘96, Mollie Meehan Baumer ’90, Candace L. Novak Sabers ’96, Princess Mae Dela Rosa Visconde ‘18, rising Saint Mary’s senior Angelina Stupak and David M. Jones, a Saint Mary’s dad and Notre Dame graduate.