THE INDEPENDENT
TO UNCOVER
NEWSPAPER SERVING
THE TRUTH
NOTRE DAME, SAINT MARY’S
AND REPORT
AND HOLY CROSS
IT ACCURATELY
VOLUME 58, ISSUE 45 | WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 31, 2024 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM
Notre Dame Senior class council president resigns
Rover asks Kay for legal fees
Observer Staff Report
Senior class council president Paul Stoller resigned this week in an email sent to Judicial Council. Lulu Romero, who prev iously ser ved as v ice president, has replaced Stoller, according to her email signature. Stoller, a business analy tics student, was elected three times by his peers and has ser ved as class president for the class of 2024 since his sophomore year. According to the 20232024 constitution, class see COUNCIL PAGE 3
Observer Staff Report
ISA SHEIKH | The Observer
Senior class council president Paul Stoller resigned this week in an email. He will be succeeded by current vice president Lulu Romero.
John Mearsheimer talks war and international politics By GRAY NOCJAR News Writer
Students and facult y packed a room in Jenkins-Nanov ic Hall for an international relations lecture given by John J. Mearsheimer. The professor of political science from the Universit y of Chicago spoke on his newest paper, titled “War and International Politics.” The lecture was part of a seminar series hosted by the Notre Dame International Securit y Center. Mearsheimer began by outlining three key themes that would encompass his lecture. The were, what the essence of international politics was, why states chose to enter into conf lict and why escalation of conf licts from a limited to total war were so commonplace. On the inner workings of international politics, Mearsheimer emphasized that war, or even the threat of conf lict, was the most important factor in determining how states behave on a global level. “War is the dominating
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feature of international politics,” said Mearsheimer. “It really matters enormously. It matters in terms of inf luencing how leaders think, and inf luences how states interact w ith each other, whether talking about an actual war, or the fact that war is sitting there in the background.” Due to the devastating destructiveness of international conf lict, Mearsheimer stated that over time many nations had attempted to outlaw war entirely. However, he explained that ever y effort had ultimately failed due to the nature of politics w ithin nations and the architecture of the international system. “Politics is all about fundamental disagreements on first principles, fundamental differences about questions regarding the good life and these fundamental differences that indiv iduals or societies or states have, are sometimes so profound, that people want to kill each other,” said Mearsheimer.
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On the reasoning for states to initiate conf lict, he named a variet y of motives, some more morally or legally justified than others. He stated that there were three cases in which war was considered appropriate by the international communit y. “The first case is a preemptive strike. The second case is a UN Securit y Council resolution and the third is that you’re allowed to initiate a war w ith a countr y if it’s engaging in mass murder or genocide,” he said. Mearsheimer specified that other justifications, such as wars to prevent an adversar y from grow ing too powerful or simply engaging in conf lict to benefit a nation’s economy are considered unjust by the international communit y. The Russo-Ukrainian war was brought up as an example, w ith Mearsheimer explaining, “the Russians clearly invaded Ukraine and the basic argument is that this war see POLITICS PAGE 3
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The Irish Rover is asking a court to order Notre Dame professor Tamara Kay to pay $178,000 in legal fees for an unsuccessful defamation lawsuit that she filed against the student publication. Attorneys for the Rover filed a motion for attorney’s fees in St. Joseph Superior Court Friday. “Because the Irish Rover was the prevailing defendant on a motion to dismiss filed according to Indiana’s Anti-SLAPP law, it is entitled to a mandatory award of attorney’s fees,” the motion said.
The court had found on Jan. 8 that alleged defamatory statements in two Rover articles “were made in the furtherance of the defendant’s right to free speech, were made in connection with a public issue” and “were made with good faith and with a reasonable basis in law and fact.” “The court found that ‘healthcare’ in this context referred to abortion services and concluded The Irish Rover’s reporting on Dr. Kay’s pro-abortion activities and speeches were accurate and lawful,” argued the Bopp Law Firm, the Rover’s counsel, in a Monday news release.
SMC alumna writes children’s By SALLY BR ADSHAW News Writer
O n Fr id ay, S a i nt Ma r y ’s C ol le ge a lu m n a Steph a n ie R y a n g av e a r e ad i ng of her c h i ld r en’s b o ok , “L et ’s L e a r n A b out C hem i st r y,” at t he Robi n s on C om mu n it y L e a r n i ng C enter. R y a n’s “pa s sion pr oje c t ” w a s i n s pi r e d by s e v er a l pa r t s of her l i fe. “I h ad my s on, a nd I a m a c u r r ic u lu m de v elop er, a nd I st a r te d to t h i n k of m i s c onc ept ion s p e ople h av e a b out c hem i st r y. I’m ju st w r it i ng a nd I’m t h i n ki ng , y ou k now a lot of ba sic c hem i st r y i s ac t u a l l y ju st s ol id s, l iqu id s a nd g a s s e s ... a nd I t hou g ht , y ou k now w e c ou ld ac t u a l l y do t h i s a lot e a r l ier,” R y a n s a id . T he b o ok b e g a n a s a Pow erPoi nt s l ide s how, a nd onc e R y a n r e a l i z e d it s p otent i a l s he b e g a n a K ic k st a r ter c a mpa ig n to l au nc h t he b o ok . She s a id t h at t he S a i nt Ma r y ’s a nd Not r e Da me c om mu n it ie s “r e a l l y help e d get it of f t he g r ou nd .” A s t he pr oje c t g a i ne d moment u m Ryan s ent
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i l lu st r at ion s out to t he c om mu n it y w ho help e d f u nd t he b o ok to get a s en s e of w h ic h st y le w or ke d b e st . T hen, R y a n r e ac he d out to t he i l lu st r ator C h r i st i ne C a g a r a w ho help e d br i ng her a r t i st ic v i sion to l i fe. R y a n s a id her hu sba nd, w ho i s not a c hem i st , r e ad ov er t he b o ok i n it s e a rl y st a ge s a nd felt t h at it “t a l ke d dow n” to t he r e ader. S o, R y a n h i r e d a de v elopment a l e d itor b e c au s e “ b e c au s e s omet i me s t a l ki ng to k id s i s not a s e a s y a s y ou’d t h i n k it i s,” R y a n s a id . R y a n s a id, “[ My de v elopment a l e d itor] w a s t he one w ho s u g ge ste d putt i ng t he w ord s u nder ne at h w it h t he a n s w er s i n it s o t h at t he pa r ent , w ho m ig ht not b e a s c ient i st , w ou ld k now [w h ic h i s ] t he s ol id, t he l iqu id a nd t he g a s s o t h at t he y don’t h av e to fe el l i ke t he y don’t k now t he a n s w er.” “L et ’s Learn A b out C hem i st r y ” i s for m at te d w it h s er ie s of fou r i m a ge s a nd t he y ou ng r e ader see ALUMNA PAGE 3
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