THE INDEPENDENT
TO UNCOVER
NEWSPAPER SERVING
THE TRUTH
NOTRE DAME, SAINT MARY’S
AND REPORT
AND HOLY CROSS
IT ACCURATELY
VOLUME 58, ISSUE 70 | MONDAY, APRIL 15, 2024 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM
Students run Holy Half Runners and spectators unite on Saturday morning By GR ACE TADAJWESKI Associate News Editor
On Saturday, volunteers and spectators filled Notre Dame’s campus with cheers and excitement as they gathered to support the 1,700 runners racing in the Holy Half Marathon. The Holy Half Marathon has occurred annually since 2004 and has been raising money for South Bend charities since 2011. This year, the marathon partnered with Cultivate Food Rescue and Girls on the Run
Michiana. “It was just really nice seeing, one, the different age ranges that participated was really cool, and then seeing everybody so excited at packet pickup and then on race day,” Holy Half committee member Sofia de Lira said. “I feel like everybody that was a part of it was super excited to do so. It wasn’t a chore for anybody.” The fastest runners led off the race at 9 a.m., with two more waves of runners following behind them. The male overall winner was Atticus Stonestrom
with a time of 1:14:16.2, and the female overall winner was Olivia Dietzel with a time of 1:19:34.7. “It was just kind of cool seeing how much effort people put into it,” de Lira said. “Especially like people that have no interest in running that just want to put it together.” Holy Half committee members spent all of Friday preparing for the race and arrived at the starting site at 5:30 a.m. on
see HALF PAGE 3
Office of sustainability seeks to increase recycling By LIAM KELLY Notre Dame News Editor
In the past year, Notre Dame students may have noticed the introduction of blue recycling toters across campus. These bins are a part of a larger effort to renew recycling efforts on campus, Austin Poyar, sustainabilit y program manager and Geor y Kurtzhals, senior director of sustainabilit y said. Recycling on campus decreased a few years ago due to a change in recycling practices which no longer allowed for the collection of recyclable materials in plastic
bags and the COV ID-19 pandemic. Poyar and Kurtzhals explained the Notre Dame office of sustainabilit y is now tr y ing to “rebuild trust” in recycling and make it w idespread across campus again. This undertaking has been carried out on a building by building basis, Poyar said. So far 46 buildings now have recycling infrastructure, w ith 170 recycling toters spread out across campus. Rigid plastic, paper, metal and glass are collected in these toters, while cardboard is placed in separate containers. Roughly 4,000 tons of
recycling are collected ever y week from Notre Dame. Kurtzhals explained the process of adding recycling infrastructure to all of campus takes time, as each building has its ow n unique needs. “You can’t just change ever y thing overnight,” Kurtzhals said. Another element of the Office of Sustainabilit y’s recycling initiative is to update signage in order to accurately convey what materials cannot be recycled. Contrar y to what is
News Writer
Sorin College hosted their annual secession week, featuring events to celebrate the dorm’s proclaimed independence from the Universit y in 1969. Jack Burke, Sorin College v ice president, explained that he and dorm president Ivan Turcios had campainged to find a balance
DUNNEDANCE NEWS PAGE 3
bet ween keeping Sorin’s traditions while also bringing in new events. “It’s tr y ing to keep Sorin’s traditions as the oldest dorm on campus but also tr y ing to bring in new things that we think ever yone would like,” Burke said. Philip Hicks, a historian, Sorin College alumni and professor at Saint Mar y’s College, said that Sorin was opened in 1889. It was the
THE MASCULINE URGE TO... VIEWPOINT PAGE 6
Observer Staff Report
Some students may be taking the annual Bookstore Basketball tournament — a Notre Dame tradition since 1972, billed as the largest fiveon-five outdoor basketball tournament in the world — a bit too seriously. According to the Notre Dame Police Department, a battery was allegedly committed at the Bookstore Basketball court on April 8. The department’s crime
log reports that the incident took place between 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. The Observer reached out to the tournament for comment. It was unclear whether the alleged battery was committed by a person frustrated as a result of a development in a tournament game. Before the pandemic, as many as 700 teams competed in Bookstore Basketball. About 250 teams signed up to play this year, according to IMLeagues.
Fisher holds ‘last’ Regatta
SOFIA CRIMIVAROLI | The Observer
Students paddle to safety as a member of their team begins to go overboard during the annual Fisher Regatta held on April 13,2024.
see RECYCLING PAGE 4
Sorin College hosts annual secession week By ROSE ANDROWICH
Battery at court reported
first facilit y declared a residence hall by Universit y founder Fr. Edward Sorin. “Before Sorin Hall, undergraduates lived in mass dormitories, w ith several people in a room in the Main Building and other places. This was the first building that had single rooms for the students, the first Catholic universit y in the United see SORIN PAGE 4
By ANNELISE DEMERS Associate News Editor
The sun came out this Saturday as students and spectators gathered around Saint Mar y’s Lake to watch participants race makeshift f loatation dev ices in hopes of w inning the Fisher Regatta. As of mid-day Saturday, the event had already raised $15,000 for St. Adalbert Catholic School in South Bend. Fisher Hall president Nick Biad, a commissioner for the event, spoke on how although the event has been referred to as “The Last Regatta,” he sees a
future where that is not exactly the case. “We don’t know yet. There’s a ver y good chance that we have one next year while the communit y is living in Zahm. We are concerned that this is it, but we feel confident that there should be one next year,” Biad said. The Fisher communit y w ill be liv ing in Zahm Hall for the next t wo years as their current building is scheduled to be torn dow n this summer. W hen the communit y moves back into their new home it w ill be under a different name see FISHER PAGE 4
BALATRO SCENE PAGE 7
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