news

Belles celebrate freedom

By The Observer · Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2012

In honor of the 225th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution's ratification yesterday, the Center for Academic Innovation at Saint Mary's College hosted "Constitution Day 2012: Reflections on the Letter and the Spirit of the U.S. Constitution." Associate professor of communication studies Michael Kramer coordinated the day, including a panel in the Haggar College Center that featured veteran reporter and communication studies professor Susan Baxter, history professor Edith Miguda and political science professor Sean Savage. Baxter reflected on the importance of the Constitution in terms of her experiences as a reporter. Baxter said it was the right of the public to be present at city council meetings unless certain requirements and processes are followed to close the session. Baxter said at one meeting she refused to leave, and the mayor told her the next time she refused she would be arrested. "I told [the mayor] to prepare the sheriff because I'm not leaving," Baxter said. "I thought 'Wow, I'm going to jail for the Constitution.'" Baxter said the right to be present at public meetings is important to the freedom of speech. "Many times these public meetings are not important, but when they are, people need to know," said Baxter. Miguda also emphasized the importance of protecting the Constitution. "The spirit of the Constitution is the spirit that lets us defend it," Miguda stated. "The U.S. Constitution is exemplary in how we [Americans] defend it." Savage spoke about how Americans have different ways of interpreting the document. "No matter how Americans differ [the constitution] is supposed to be the one thing that we have in common," Savagedsaid. "It unites the U.S. in a basic document but it sustains an ongoing debate." Savage said the Constitution is strong and that unlike the United States, other countries will often go through and review the wording of their respective constitutions. "We, [the United States], don't do that," Savage said. "We only added about 17 amendments since [the Bill of Rights]. ...Maybe [the Constitution] unites us because we are always disagreeing about what it means." Contact Sarah Swiderski at sswide01@saintmarys.edu

Local food co-op helps relieve 'food desert'

By The Observer · Monday, Sept. 17, 2012

In the spring of 2011, now-senior Erin Wright helped launch a South Bend food co-op for a community-based research course, and the quality of both the produce and neighborhood interaction has kept her going back ever since. The Monroe Park Food Co-op in downtown South Bend welcomes students and residents of any income level to purchase nutritious, low-cost fruits, vegetables and other staple food items. "I really like the personal interaction with the people that work there and its members," Wright said. "And it's really affordable, high-quality fruits and vegetables that I probably wouldn't buy otherwise." Professor Margaret Pfeil, a theology professor and staff member at the Center for Social Concerns, said the idea for the co-op was developed during the spring of 2011 after the Catholic Worker community asked residents of Monroe Park where they purchased groceries. "There really is no accessible grocery store nearby that offers healthy food at affordable prices," Pfeil said. "Lots of people said they either borrowed a car or got a ride from a friend to Wal-Mart." Monroe Park qualifies as a food desert, Pfeil said, which is a neighborhood that is located more than one mile away from a full-service source of food. "There are smaller markets, but they don't offer a great variety and are relatively expensive," Pfeil said. "It would be a place you would go in a snowstorm to get milk or emergency provisions." After asking the residents what food options they would like to see nearby, Pfeil said most of the community wanted easier access to fresh vegetables and produce. Pfeil, along with Wright and other students in the community-based theology course Pfeil was teaching at the time, began to explore options among local farmers. Most of the farmers agreed they would support the co-op, Pfeil said. "They were in need of market venues in the city," she said. Since then, the Monroe Park Co-Op has expanded from one day of sales to three days, Thursday through Saturday. Pfeil said the organization currently has 200 members, who include students, average-income sponsor members and low-income members who volunteer time rather than money to the co-op. "Members are self-selected," Pfeil said. "If people self-identify as low-income, they can choose a neighbor membership or resident of Michiana membership, and they volunteer at the co-op three hours per month." The collaboration between the community of South Bend and Notre Dame students has been vital to the launch and growth of the co-op, Pfeil said. "I can't say enough about the enthusiasm, energy and thoughtfulness from the students who have become involved in the co-op," she said. "Students with interests in economic and theological issues involved with food security have all been able to find an interesting connection at the co-op." Wright, who held a student membership for one year and has volunteered as a worker-member since, said the co-op provides her with a great opportunity to work with, rather than for, South Bend community members. "It's not Notre Dame students doing something for the community, but it's working together with community members to create something that serves everyone," she said. "It's very much a collaborative effort, nothing we could have just done on our own." Other students at Notre Dame have become involved with different sections of the co-op's food chain. Freshman Tony Zhong is currently enrolled in a community-based writing and Rhetoric course in which he volunteers at the farms that supply the co-op. Zhong said he has already enjoyed the experience immensely and plans to become more immersed in the world of the Monroe Park Co-Op, particularly with trying to publicize the co-op. "I want to have more people shop there and to encourage more Notre Dame students to volunteer there," Zhong said. "The farms produce inexpensive, high-quality, organic food. And it's cheaper than Martin's." Contact Mel Flanagan at mflanag3@nd.edu

Renovations 'go green' in Madeleva

By The Observer · Monday, Sept. 17, 2012

In an age of environmental awareness, Saint Mary's has been making efforts to create an environmentally friendly campus through this year's new renovations.

Club explores American culture

By The Observer · Monday, Sept. 17, 2012

Senior Colin O'Neill, the president of the American Studies Club, wants students to know why he thinks American Studies is the best major at Notre Dame. American Studies, O'Neill said, is more than just an interdisciplinary study of what it means to be American. "It is understanding American thought and American behavior through our everyday experiences and things like [television], movies and books," O'Neill said. O'Neill chose American Studies as a major because he was not interested in studying one specific subject, and the interdisciplinary approach of the classes appealed to him, he said. As president of the American Studies Club, which is in its second year at Notre Dame, O'Neill hopes that fellow students, both majors and non-majors, will also be drawn to the interdisciplinary aspect and want to join the club. "It's an opportunity to take whatever it is you're studying - economics, political science - and bring your expertise to a much broader conversation," O'Neill said. "The club is all-inclusive and allows people from all majors to contribute to the conversation." On Sept. 13, the club hosted an event titled "Mediating Media: The Contemporary Face of American Journalism?" in which members gathered together to watch clips of "The Colbert Report" and "The Daily Show". American Studies professor Josh Roiland, who also teaches classes in the Journalism, Ethics and Democracy minor, facilitated a discussion related to the shows and their effect on politics and journalism. O'Neill said the club hopes to hold similar events in the future where students can speak to professors in an informal setting about contemporary issues in American culture. "We would like to let professors come in and talk about what their interests are," O'Neill said. "We want them to share their thoughts on what they're reading, watching and listening to, and then talk about how and why those things are American." O'Neill also said that the club officers are trying to organize a "Mad Men" marathon as a potential event. He said that he hopes fun events like these will keep people interested and allow them to learn more about the connection between contemporary American culture and American history. This Friday, the club is sponsoring a lecture on the relationship between football and universities, entitled "The Rise of Gridiron University: Higher Education's Uneasy Alliance with Big-Time Football," at 3 p.m. in the Hesburgh Center Auditorium. Preceding the lecture will be a football tailgate with food and flag football, O'Neill said. "This event is a way for us to build awareness around something that is so relevant to us: football," O'Neill said. Ultimately, O'Neill said that he hopes students will recognize that the American Studies Club, besides being interesting, informative and engaging, can also be a fun and worthwhile use of their time. "When people hear 'American Studies Club,' they hear the word study ... but the emphasis of this club is to take our education and put it into something that is a part of our everyday lives, such as playing football on the quad," O'Neill said. "There is something truly American about our everyday activities." Contact Sarah McCarthy at smccart6@nd.edu

Two receive 'Spirit' award

By The Observer · Monday, Sept. 17, 2012

Over the weekend, two members of the Notre Dame community received the Spirit of Holy Cross award.

Sister interprets the 'good'

By The Observer · Monday, Sept. 17, 2012

Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine sister and author of 45 books, discussed the common good during the annual Fr. Bernie Clarke Lecture on Catholic Social Tradition on Monday night in the Hesburgh Library auditorium. "Tonight I want to spend a little time sorting out ... the whole concept of 'the common good,'" she said. Chittister said celebrating the 50th anniversary of the encyclical "Pacem en Terris" brings people to the very heart of what it means not only to be a Christian or a Catholic, but also to be a citizen of the United States."In every single presidential election cycle, we enter as a people into the centrifuge of one of the oldest debates and at the same time one of the most pressing contemporary questions in the life of this country," she said. "That question is what exactly as a people are we about? Is such a think as the common good even possible in a world such as ours?" Chittister said in "Pacem in Terris", Pope John XIII does not talk about peace in terms of war or weapons of mass destruction, but in terms of the common good. "In 176 paragraphs of that encyclical, he talks 48 times about the common good," she said. "Without the common good, there will never be peace and certainly no justice." Chittister said the issue of the common good even divided Alexis de Tocqueville and James Madison on the question of what the common good is and how to obtain it. "[The common good] riveted the Founding Fathers 200 years ago and it clearly confuses this session of Congress," she said. "It has plagued political philosophers and economists across centuries and it continues to do so to this very day." The common good is the holy grail of politics, Chittister said. "The common good is a vision of public virtue, which engages the individual citizen, energizes the government, shapes the public system and points the public direction and all it's policies, all it's institutions and all it's legislative intents," Chittister said. "The common good is the answer to the question, what, that we all want for this country ... what is it that we really want for this country and how do we go about getting it." Chittister said now the discourse in the U.S. is more inclined to talk about the general good instead of the common good. "We talk about the public good, meaning natural gifts that benefit us all equally, like air, water and good order if of course we have the good fortune to find air that is pure, water that is clean and land that is toxin free, resources that are sufficient to afford anywhere," she said. There is no doubt the common good is an endangered species, Chittister said. Chittister said the world is changing through globalization with more diversity present in religion, nations and neighborhoods. What once divided people - language, geography - no longer do so, she said. "'Pacem in Terris' gets clearer everyday," she said. "The fact that one is a citizen of a particular state does not detract from anyway from his of her membership in the human family as a whole or from their citizenship in the world community." Contact Anna Boarini at aboari01@saintmarys.edu