THE INDEPENDENT
TO UNCOVER
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NOTRE DAME, SAINT MARY’S
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IT ACCURATELY
VOLUME 59, ISSUE 39 | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2025 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM
Community recalls Bourbon Street attack Students shared their experiences following deadly terrorist attack in New Orleans prior to Sugar Bowl By LIAM KELLY AND SOPHIE HANAWALT Notre Dame News Editor and Associate News Editor
Notre Dame students who traveled to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl expected to ring in the new year with hope and excitement. Instead, they were met with fear and terror in the early hours of Jan. 1 when a terrorist drove a truck down Bourbon Street, killing 14 people and injuring 35. Although no Notre Dame students were injured or killed during the attack, many were in the area at the time. Avery Pitstick, a senior in Breen-Phillips Hall, stayed at the Royal Sonesta on Bourbon Street, just outside where the perpetrator was ultimately killed by police after exchanging
fire. Pitstick said she returned to the hotel around 2 a.m. and was asleep when the attack occurred, but was awoken by her mom at 4 a.m. when an alarm went off in the hotel, telling residents to evacuate. At first, Pitstick thought it was a fire alarm, but she realized things were more serious when she saw a law enforcement officer in the lobby of the hotel with a gun drawn. Officers then made Pitstick and other residents exit the back of the hotel via the valet exit and stand on the curb on a side street, before making them move again. Later, a bystander alerted her to what had happened. “As we’re walking to this next see NEW ORLEANS PAGE 3
JONATHAN KARR | The Observer
Yellow caution tape closes Bourbon Street in New Orleans on New Year’s Day following a deadly terrorist attack early that morning. The Sugar Bowl game against Georgia was subsequently pushed back to Jan. 2.
ND Law Clinic aids Catholic charter school
Art department hosts holiday sale By FIONN NAGEL-MURR AY News Writer
LIAM KELLY | The Observer
A view of Eck Hall of Law, as seen from Notre Dame Avenue, which houses the Notre Dame Law School’s Religious Liberty Clinic. The Clinic has provided legal aid to to the first online Catholic charter school. By MEGAN CORNELL News Writer
For the past few years, the St. Isidore of Sev ille Catholic Virtual School in Ok lahoma Cit y, Ok lahoma, has aimed to become the nation’s first religious charter school
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but has faced a slew of legal challenges in doing so. Notre Dame Law School’s Lindsay and Matt Mouran Religious Libert y Clinic, working w ith Notre Dame alumnus Michael McGinley, prov ides legal representation and consultation to St.
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Isidore. St. Isidore’s mission is to pave the way for Catholic education to be more accessible to families who cannot afford religious private schools, especially in see LAW CLINIC PAGE 4
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The long-running Notre Dame Art Sale broadened its focus last semester, ex hibiting the work of a w ider variet y of students and facult y members. Last semester’s “Holiday Sale” began in the second-f loor galler y of Riley Hall on Dec. 10. The sale had traditionally been potter y-oriented since its inception in the 1970s by professor emeritus William Kremer, but this year has been expanded to include ever y thing from ceramics to prints. The event was coordinated by teaching scholar in ceramics Coleton Lunt, whose goal was to expand the sale to the whole Art, Art Histor y & Design (A AHD) department. “It was a lot of work to change ever y thing, because we had all this infrastructure set in place, but I think it’s working out well now
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that we’ve got it all set up,” said Lunt, “It’s really nice to have all the mediums represented.” Lunt, who completed a master of fine arts at Notre Dame before joining the facult y, also credits the new department chair, professor James Collins, w ith prov iding new energ y to the department. “He’s come in from film, telev ision and theater, and he’s making a lot of really great, positive changes. He’s making a real positive impact on our department, so we’re really grateful,” Lunt said. The sale displays both abstract and practical art. Bowls and platters, fired in both wood and gas kilns, are showcased around the edges of the room, while in the center sits a colorful series of non-figurative 3D works. A lso on that central table lies a packet of Oreos, or so one might assume w ithout see ART SALE PAGE 4
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