Print Edition of The Observer for Thursday, March 3, 2016

MARGARET HYNDS

editor-in-c hief

details emerge in investigation student’s death ruled

The united states department of education’s office of civil r ights (ocr) said Tuesday it had opened an investigation Feb. 19 into the university’s handling of a sexual assault case last spring. The office also has four open investigations into the university for its handling of sexual harassment cases as far back as september 2013.

in 2013, the ocr opened two investigations into the handling of two graduate students’ complaints of possible Title i X violations pertaining to sexual harassment.

investigation has the same complainant as the sexual assault investigation launched the same day.

a ll three of those cases — the most recent harassment cases and the sexual assault case — involve the same alleged perpetrator. according to university spokesperson dennis brown, the alleged perpetrator in question was dismissed from the university nearly a year ago.

“... The university acted swiftly in this matter, and the accused student was dismissed from the university nearly a year ago, months before any Title i X complaint was filed with the ocr,” brown said in an email wednesday night.

laura dunn, who represents

Observer Staff Report

The ocr launched the two most recent sexual harassment investigations against notre dame on oct. 21, 2015, and Feb. 19, 2016. The latter harassment

nd named a top Fulbright producer

By SELENA PONIO news writer

For the second consecutive year, notre dame has been on The chronicle of higher education’s Fulbright u s student program Top producing list. Fourteen students have received Fulbright grants for the 2015-2016 program and have been given chances to pursue their academic passions and inquiries in countries such as brazil, senegal, italy and more.

mae k ilker, a medieval institute graduate student and native of south bend, is a Fulbright recipient currently studying and conducting research in sweden.

“my research explores how people from the medieval ages understood the physical environment — and not only the way that they experience that, but also how they told stories about it,” k ilker said. “The reason i’m in sweden is my particular field is looking at a nglo-saxon england, but the current scholarship is to understand the north atlantic

cultural sphere as a whole because england was settled by scandinavian-germanic tribes.”

k ilker said she has always had a passion for the middle ages because of its language and poetry, and it was this passion that inspired her to apply for the Fulbright program. she said she hopes that completion of the program will bring her closer to a career in academia.

“in addition to just being able to have a year in sweden and do my research and connect with scholars in my field, it has actually brought me to other opportunities such as postdocs and publication,” k ilker said.

mike westrate, associate program director for the office of grants and Fellowships, works in the graduate school to help graduate and undergraduate students distill their research into written form in order to apply for grants and fellowships.

“i have always said that there are two sort of gateway fellowships and that you can

By RACHEL O’GRADY news writer

Editor’s Note: Throughout the 2016 presidential campaign, The Observer will sit down with Notre Dame experts to break down the election and its importance to students. In this seventh installment, News writer Rachel O’Grady asks Editorin-Chief of the Wall Street Journal and Managing Editor of Dow Jones Gerard Baker about his experience

moderating a GOP debate and covering the election for the Journal.

rog : i t increasingly looks like Trump will get the r epublican nomination. w hat are the implications of that? h ow does the gop avoid getting trounced in the general election?

gb : The gop faces some tough challenges if, as seems likely, Trump is the nominee. m ainstream and so-called establishment

m ichael o ’c onnell, deputy coroner for s t. Joseph’s c ounty, ruled junior Jake s canlan’s death as due to natural causes Tuesday, according to a s outh b end Tribune report. s canlan, who was found unresponsive in his dorm room the morning of n ov. 11, “died as a result of an enlarged and weakened heart,” the report stated.

The 20-year-old resident of s iegfried h all was a mechanical engineering major from n orth p otomac, m aryland. Complaint alleges University allowed repeat offender to avoid Title IX hearings

WSJ editor analyzes races activists host ‘edit-a-thon’

By MEGAN VALLEY news writer

students, staff, faculty and members of the s outh bend community will gather Friday at 6 p.m. at the notre dame a rts and culture c enter to research, write and publish the stories of notre dame black faculty and alumni on w ikipedia.

v isiting assistant

librarian k ai smith organized the “edit-a-thon.”

“The nd black l ives matter [event] is a w ikipedia edit-athon that i’ve decided to put together to highlight the notable black alumni and faculty here at the university of notre dame,” she said. “s ome of the people they’ll be featuring are current faculty, including some from the a fricana studies department: r ichard

r epublicans will have to decide whether they can back him, which is difficult for many of them because of his unorthodox views. i f they don’t, they will have to further decide whether to actually field a candidate against him in the general election. i f they do, they will likely hand the election to m rs. c linton, as they will surely split the republican vote, and at the same time could

p ierce, d ianne p inderhughes and a number of different athletic alumni, like dave d uerson.”

smith and some of her colleagues will be on site to support participants with technical issues, research and writing.

“ we’ve done a lot of the research beforehand,

mgreen8@nd.edu

Question of the Day:

What

is your favorite restaurant in South Bend?

viewpoint@ndsmcobserver.com

Sports Desk (574) 631-4543 sports@ndsmcobserver.com

Scene Desk (574) 631-4540 scene@ndsmcobserver.com

hehmse01@saintmarys.edu

Photo Desk (574) 631-8767 photo@ndsmcobserver.com

Systems & Web Administrators (574) 631-8839

Policies

Isaiah Brown sophomore morrissey manor

“The mark.”

Maya Jain junior ryan hall

“c hicory cafe.”

Alex Groesch junior siegfried hall

“evil c zech.”

Madlen Karnatz junior ryan hall “rocco’s.”

Reed Miller junior o’neill hall “main street grill.”

Nathan Troscinski junior morrissey manor

“Fiddler’s hearth.”

Freshman fencer Madeline Antekeier competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference Championships on Feb. 27. Both the women’s and men’s teams claimed conference titles and are now preparing for the NCAA Midwest regional qualifier on March 12.

Thursday

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie O’Laughlin Auditorium

7:30 p.m.-9 p.m.

Lecture about her life and writing.

Iron Sharpens Iron Coleman-Morse Center

10 p.m.-11:30 p.m.

Fellowship for all denominations.

Friday

Graduate Student First Friday Dinner Coleman-Morse Center

6:15 p.m.-7:30 p.m. All faiths are invited.

Edit-a-thon Notre Dame Center for Arts & Culture

6 p.m.-8 p.m.

Edit Wikipedia with ND Black Lives Matter.

Saturday

Men’s Basketball vs. NC State Purcell Pavilion

12 p.m.-2 p.m.

The Irish take on the Wolfpack.

Hats Off to Reading Notre Dame Bookstore 10 a.m.-11 a.m.

p.m.-2

Group approves new Judicial Council president

By Justine Wang news writer

s tudent s enate met wednesday evening to approve a new Judicial c ouncil president and make amendments to both the s tudent u nion constitution and the h all of the year presentation,

review board and scoring system.

s enior Zach w aterson, current president of Judicial c ouncil, nominated junior c aitlin g eary for the position. g eary serves as vice president of elections under w aterson, a position she has held for the past two years.

“There is no one more qualified for this position than c aitlin. s he has been an excellent vice president of elections, demonstrating adept knowledge of the s tudent u nion and its constitution and collaborating with myself on important judicial council initiatives,” w aterson said. “ o ver the past year, she has demonstrated composure under pressure, a strong foundation in ethics and morality and extraordinary skill at managing responsibilities, deadlines and the members of a team.”

e arlier in the meeting, w aterson also proposed amendments to redundancies and errors in the s tudent u nion constitution, addressing grammatical corrections and more specificity regarding outdated subsections.

w aterson also nominated 2014-2015 Judicial c ouncil president and n otre d ame alumna k athryn m argaret p eruski as judicial council president emeritus, in recognition of her dedication and contribution to the u niversity.

“ k athryn leveraged her experience to readily and generously provide support and counsel to Judicial c ouncil president Zach w aterson and vice president of elections

c aitlin g eary during several unprecedented situations, even well after her term had completed and she had graduated,” w aterson stated in his resolution.

b estowing the title of judicial council president emeritus upon p eruski will be the first time this has been done in Judicial c ouncil history, according to w aterson.

o ther senatorial orders included amendments to the h all of the year review process, put together by focus groups within the h all p residents c ouncil ( hpc ). s eniors m eredith Fraser and s eamus Quilty, co-chairs of hpc , proposed three amendments, all of which were passed by s enate.

The first amendment will allow four members of a residence hall to contribute to presentations received by the review board. i n past years, only three residents from each dorm were allowed to be on the presenting team.

“ we heard from the focus groups that one of the things [the hall presidents] wish they could have is a testimonial or a witness from a random resident in the hall ... to share about why [their hall] is a great place to be, just to share why [their] hall is the

best,” Quilty said.

The second amendment proposed that the director of the department of residence life be added to the nine-person h all of the year review board, effective immediately.

The third amendment changed the the h all of the year scoring system, so that 55 percent of the points come from a presentation and 45 percent from r ockne awards. p reviously, 65 percent of points came from the hall presentations, while the r ockne awards only counted for 35 percent of the total score.

“ p art of that 65 was a signature event form, where you submit a separate form about your signature event telling us more details about it,” Quilty said. “That’s graded and that’s part of that presentation score. n ow, we’re just moving it to the r ockne because we felt that it’s more representative of what r ocknes are.”

“ i n addition, we created a favorite event form, so we’re moving that to the r ockne category too,” Fraser said. s enate will not meet the week after s pring b reak.

Contact Justine Wang at jwang27@nd.edu

nd announces honorary degrees

Observer Staff Report

notre dame will confer six honorary degrees at this year’s commencement ceremony, the university announced in a press release wednesday.

diane nash, richard notebaert, arturo sandoval, cardinal donald wuerl and pauline yu will join u s army gen. martin dempsey, the 2015 commencement speaker, as honorary degree recipients.

dempsey, the former chairman of the Joint chiefs of staff, will receive an honorary doctor of laws degree.

nash, a civil rights movement leader, will also receive a doctor of laws. nash helped shaped the selma right-to-vote movement that eventually led to the voting rights act of 1965, according to the press release.

notebaert, chair of notre dame’s board of Trustees, will be receive a doctor of laws.

notebaert is the retired chair and ceo of Qwest communications international. during his time as chair, the university has provided more financial aid, welcomed more diverse groups of incoming students and launched the

campus crossroads construction project, the press release stated.

The university will honor arturo sandoval, an internationally acclaimed jazz and classical musician and composer, with a doctor of fine arts. sandoval, who began playing the trumpet at age 12 at his home in cuba, has since received 10 grammy awards, six billboard awards, an emmy award and the presidential medal of Freedom in 2013, according to the release.

wuerl, the archbishop of washington d c., will receive an honorary doctor of laws. wuerl was appointed a cardinal by pope benedict X vi in march 2010 and is a chair of the board of Trustees of the basilica of the national shrine of the immaculate conception, according to the release.

The university will award an honorary doctor of humanities to pauline yu, president of the american council of learned societies, a private, nonprofit federation of 73 national scholarly organizations that represent american scholarship in the humanities and related social sciences, according to the release.

The commencement ceremony will be held on may 15.

do even more lasting damage to the party. i f the number of r epublicans who refuse to support Trump is small — as it could be — i would not rule out at all the possibility that he could win the presidency in n ovember. h e has tapped into and articulated a deep anger among many middle class a mericans and if he can get them to come out and vote in unusually large numbers, he could beat m rs. c linton, who is in many ways not the most skilled campaigner and whose own negative ratings among voters are high.

rog : you moderated a gop debate a few weeks ago. c an you give us some insight on how that was? i imagine it’s certainly a unique experience.

gb : it was literally unique for me. it was also a great privilege. i must confess it was fairly nerve wracking. Though i have done plenty of television, appearing live before more than 15 million people for more than two hours in prime time was certainly daunting. b ut we were very well prepared, and we made a conscious decision to stick very much to policy

issues in our questions as opposed to some of the more trivial topics or “horse-race” coverage, which i felt, as editor of the Journal, was appropriate for me. it was a wonderful and invigorating experience.

rog : w hat were your goals or aims for the wall s treet Journal’s coverage of the election season? h ow has the media played a role in the 2016 election, and has it been

different than any other year?

gb : The media has clearly played a very important role in 2016. The attention given to d onald Trump — and the T v ratings associated with him — have been extremely important in his rise. b ut we shouldn’t forget also that social media has played an increasingly important role. m r. Trump himself is a big tweeter and has gained widespread and sustained attention through his tweets. a t the Journal, we have aimed to focus as much as possible

on the big topics — with important investigative stories on Trump’s background and m rs. c linton’s political and fundraising record, as well as on the other candidates. a nd we’ve looked hard at the major policy issues and how each candidate would handle them.

rog : you’ve covered economics for the bbc and you’ve been an economist for the b ank of e ngland. h ow does the economy play into this election?

gb : “ it’s the economy, stupid” was how b ill c linton’s campaign manager described the key factor driving the election in 1992. a nd that is still true today. w hile the u s . economy has grown over the last few years, growth has been disappointing for millions of people, with stagnant wages and a sense that technology and trade are destroying a merican jobs. w hile economic uncertainty and fear is understandable, it is important to try to sift fact from fiction, so helping voters understand the big changes at work in the global economy and how they affect them is a very important role for the Journal.

Contact Rachel O’Grady at rogrady@nd.edu

paid a dverT isemen T

both complainants, serves as e xecutive director of survJustice, a washington, d c.-based nonprofit that offers free legal assistance to sexual violence survivors. in a phone conversation wednesday, dunn said the alleged perpetrator was dismissed from the university on disciplinary charges separate from her clients’ sexual harassment and sexual violence complaints.

in a survJustice press release sent to The observer on Tuesday, dunn said the separate charges led to the alleged perpetrator being temporarily dismissed, allowing him the option to apply to return to the university at a later date.

“[The university] allowed an identified repeat perpetrator to avoid a Title i X hearing on campus that could have led to expulsion so he would retain the option to re-enroll later — that’s unacceptable,” dunn said in the release.

brown said the university deals with separate complaints against a single respondent on an individual basis.

“if more than one complaint is made against a student, each incident is thoroughly examined,” brown said. “ …

a student with multiple complaints is therefore likely to have separate hearings. if the accused student is found responsible for a conduct violation, outcomes for that complaint will be assigned, up to and including dismissal. The best interests of the overall campus community may require implementing the dismissal of a student before all pending charges can be fully resolved, especially where the student may pose a threat to the community.”

brown said at the time the complainant’s case was being evaluated, the existing policy was not to conduct hearings if the accused student was no longer enrolled. he said that policy was amended last summer.

“if a student is dismissed as the result of a hearing and additional conduct matters are pending, he or she would be subject to additional hearings immediately upon readmission,” he said. “it is important to note, however, that readmission to the university is not guaranteed.”

Associate News Editor Kayla Mullen contributed to this report.

Contact Margaret Hynds at mhynds@nd.edu

use your application materials to apply,” he said. “The first of those is the national s cience Foundation g raduate r esearch Fellowship and the second is the Fulbright p rogram.”

westrate, a Fulbright recipient himself, went to u kraine in 2010 and 2011 for the program. he was the only graduate student to go on the Fulbright that year.

“h aving been a Fulbrighter myself, i can tell you that a year of research or study abroad is a life changing experience,” westrate said.

“Furthermore, doing that year abroad as a Fulbrighter is even more rewarding. you get to tap into the world’s largest international network of scholars.”

westrate said this year notre d ame has an award rate exactly equal to h arvard, which is the top-producing Fulbright award university in the country.

“notre d ame students are some of the best students in the world, and when properly assisted they’re also some of the most successful students in the world,” westrate said. “o ther schools have much higher student populations and not only does it say that our students are successful,

paid a dverT isemen T

but that our students apply at a much higher rate.”

he said aside from the academic opportunities that the Fulbright program offers its scholars, the professional and scholarly alumni network is yet another benefit. westrate said since the mid-1940s, the Fulbright program has brought between 10,000 and 12,000 students to the united s tates from all over the world.

The instant students decide they might want to apply for a Fulbright, they should meet with the c enter for undergraduate s cholarly e ngagement ( cuse ), westrate said.

k ilker said the application process was writing intensive and having ties to the community worked in the applicant’s favor.

“The more you can do ahead of time to create those relationships and create that project idea, the sooner you can hit the ground running,” k ilker said. “g etting help from other people to read your materials and give you feedback makes your applications so much better. b e prepared to write and rewrite, five, six and seven times — it will be better each time.”

Contact Selena Ponio at sponio@nd.edu

intentionally, because it is only two hours, so we wanted to take that component out a bit,” smith said. “we’ve done research to help them jump off, so they’re not completely researched, but it’s enough to get them started.”

some members of the black Faculty and staff a ssociation — who are co-sponsoring the event with hesburgh l ibraries — have also been trained by smith so they can plan and oversee these kind of events in the future.

“The idea for this is to, hopefully, start something that will go on again,” smith said. “i’m trying to teach people how to do these types of events. i’ve been involved with a number of people throughout the community to help them do edit-a-thons since last spring. There was one on s outh bend, there was one at the c ivil r ights heritage museum.” smith organized another edit-a-thon last spring that was centered around the new york organization, a rt+Feminism. according to smith, w ikipedia is “notorious for having editors who are mainly white males.” she said

events like the nd black l ives matter edit-a-thon are important to encourage people to participate in that culture.

“This event is going to hopefully encourage people to become editors from a diverse background — male and female and from diverse communities,” smith said. “i’m also trying to empower people, not only here at notre dame, but within the whole community, to highlight these ideas and people within our community and uplift them and empower them to understand the process that involves research.”

smith said she’s hopeful that edit-a-thons will gain traction in the notre dame community. according to her, a few faculty members even approached her about incorporating the process into their class curriculums.

“it’s pretty easy to do, so it’s interesting to see how it can grow in the community,” she said. “i’m really excited about this and i really do hope that it spreads. i never expected that people would be so interested. i know things take time to grow, so hopefully i’ve planted the seeds to make that happen here at notre dame.”

Contact Megan Valley at mvalley@nd.edu

so you want to write a column...

i ’ve written o bserver columns for three years now. s ome columns have received a lot of positive feedback, and some have — rightfully — endured considerable criticism. w riting for the o bserver, or any paper, can be a great way to engage in the life of your community and to contribute to dialogue on a number of important issues. u nfortunately, a lot of people who have good things to say can be ineffective when it comes to actually communicating their ideas. h ere are some things that i ’ve learned from writing.

First, it’s usually best to ditch your first paragraph. w ith only a few hundred words in a column, you don’t have room to ramble on or engage in a long wind-up. m ost writers are still working on how to frame their work as they’re writing the first sentences. i ’ve found that, with most columns, cutting the first paragraph makes it punchier and more engaging.

s econd, don’t try to say everything. you can’t pack a column like a clown car. d on’t try to say everything to everyone. p ick your strongest points, and make them well.

Third, know to whom you’re writing. w hen you’re making an argument, this usually comes down to the question: are you writing to inspire your supporters while attacking your detractors, or are you trying to thoughtfully engage with those who disagree with you? Few people

can do both of these, and many people think they’re doing the latter when they’re actually doing the former. s ometimes there’s value in being a caricaturing polemicist. a fter all, the only way to gain Trump supporters is to be d onald Trump. b ut make sure you know whether you’re Trumping or dialoguing.

Fourth, make sure your paragraphs flow naturally from one to the next. r ead and reread each paragraph’s last sentence and the first sentence of the following paragraph. d o these sentences follow each other, or are they distinct, disconnected thoughts? i f you only had these two sentences, would they make sense next to each other? i n a column of a few hundred words, your first draft is likely to have at least two disconnections. s mooth them out, or cut one of them.

Fifth, edit, edit, edit. a fter you write your first draft, put it away for a day and then read it again the next day. The less time you allow between drafting and publishing, the more likely you’ll publish something you’ll later regret. This regret is inevitable when you publish frequently enough, but don’t let the regret happen because you had a typo in the first sentence. i ’ll always regret the published version of a 2012 column i wrote on race and the admissions process where i “walked about walking along the quiet beach…” (which makes no sense).

s ixth, don’t do the editing on your own. h ave some friends edit and critique your drafts. They’re going to see it anyway, and they’re going to have opinions when it’s published. you might as well get those opinions now and try to craft

a piece that takes them into account. i t can be very helpful to have friends who disagree with your viewpoint to edit and critique, especially if you’re hoping your column will engage with opposing views. This can also help you learn the difference between what you’re writing and what people are reading. There can often be a big difference, but you won’t know it unless you really engage with your readers.

s eventh, ask your friends before you write about them or the things they’ve said. i f you start publishing your private conversations, even if you don’t include names, your friends will probably be less open with you. you’ll become more of a reporter than a friend. w hen it comes to personal relationships, avoid publishing without permission.

Finally, understand that you are responsible for how you’re read. n otre d ame’s r alph m c i nerny used to have over his desk: “ n o one owes you a reading.” i f no one understands what you’re saying, don’t immediately conclude it’s just because you’re smarter than everyone else. e ven if you are smarter, you might be a terrible writer. b ut we all start out as terrible writers, and the only way to improve is to write.

Christopher Damian graduated from Notre Dame in 2013 with a B.A. in philosophy. He is currently a Terrence J. Murphy Fellow at the University of St. Thomas, where he is pursuing a J.D. and an M.A. in Catholic Studies. He can be reached at cdamian1@alumni.nd.edu

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

Make Canada great again

h ighlands n ational p ark. i t sounds tempting, doesn’t it?

l et’s all move to c anada, eh? Think about it. c anada is pretty great! i ce hockey, Tim h orton’s, Toronto, maple syrup, d rake and r yan g osling. They’ve got a new, young, good-looking prime minister in Justin Trudeau. The h uman d evelopment i ndex ranks c anada ninth and among the highest in civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom and education. They also have socialized health insurance that provides coverage to all c anadian citizens, but hey, we all have our faults.

c anadians even want us to come to c anada! They’re extending a warm, mittened hand of friendship. a c anadian radio host, r ob c alabrese, created the website cbiftrumpwins. com, which stands for “ c ape b reton i f d onald Trump w ins.” o n the website, c alabrese writes, “ h i a mericans! d onald Trump may become the president of your country. i f that happens, and you decide to get the hell out of there, might i suggest moving to c ape b reton i sland?” a quick search for c ape b reton i sland reveals a breathtaking island in n ova s cotia, complete with rolling hills, a lush landscape and c ape b reton

a fter s uper Tuesday, a mericans frantically g oogled “move to c anada,” overwhelming c anada’s website for i mmigration and c itizenship ( cic ). w ith d onald Trump winning in seven out of 11 states, many a mericans were clearly petrified by democracy in action. a nd who can blame them? The 2016 election cycle has just been too much. The d emocratic candidate will either be an admitted democratic socialist or a woman who may have committed a crime. a rogue, incredibly anti-establishment businessman has based his campaign on building a better wall between the u nited s tates and m exico, verbal exchanges with p ope Francis and r osie o ’ d onnell jokes. h is main opponent has compared anti- m uslim bigotry to hating the n ew e ngland p atriots. i don’t like b elichick either, but it has apparently been too much to bear for some. s o, why wait? b ook that a ir c anada ticket right now. Fill out those c anadian study and work visas. c all the estranged uncle living in s askatchewan and see if he has an open couch. l et’s make e dmonton great again! o r w innipeg! r un for the ( c ypress) h ills! There is no other way. i t is simply inconceivable to mobilize ourselves

into responsible citizens. w hat’s the point of voting, anyway? i t’s just one vote; it can’t make a difference. i t would take too long to fill out an absentee ballot, anyway. i t would just be so much easier to pack up and leave for the b lue water b ridge border crossing. This is no time for heroics, social change or political responsibility! r estoring the moral fiber of this country takes quite a bit of work, you know; any engagement in political and civic life among students is too much to ask. There’s no need to participate in voter education, registration or mobilization. w ill going to an ndvotes ’16 event actually do anything? h istorically, mobilized university students have accomplished incredible things in this country, and there is an opportunity now to continue the noble tradition of student activism. o r, instead, there is an opportunity to curl up in a log cabin in vancouver — with some ketchup chips, poutine and a l abatt b lue — and watch the l eafs take on the c anucks. m uch like Trump, it almost sounds too good to be true.

Seamus Ronan is a senior political science, international peace studies major and Head Writer Emeritus for the Keenan Revue. He can be bothered at sronan@nd.edu

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

By NORA McGREEVY scene writer

i’m only seven pages into “a mericanah,” the poignant and incisive novel by chimamanda ngozi adichie, when adichie delivers the first of many lines that strike me at my core:

“it had been there for a while, an early morning disease of fatigue, a bleakness and borderlessness. it brought with it amorphous longings, shapeless desires, brief imaginary glints of other lives she could be living, that over months melded into a piercing homesickness.”

These words describe ifemelu, the main character, and her longing to return to her home country of nigeria after a 15-year stay in the united states. adichie writes in vivid, poetic prose that reads as naturally as breathing. in this instance, as well as in all of “a mericanah,” she displays a power to capture uniquely nuanced emotions, demonstrating a keen sensitivity to the complexity of the human experience.

adichie will give a lecture on her life and writings at the o’laughlin auditorium at saint mary’s this evening at 7:30 p.m. The event is sponsored in conjunction with the saint mary a lumnae club’s “one book, one saint mary’s” initiative, which selected “a mericanah” as its book for the 2015-2016 school year.

adichie’s lecture, like her writing, promises to stand out. since its publication in 2013, “a mericanah” has garnered overwhelmingly positive critical praise. it won the 2013 national book critics circle award in Fiction, npr named it a “great reads book,” and the new york Times included it in its 2013 Ten best books of the year. previous lectures of hers — including the Ted Talks “we should all

be feminists” and “The danger of a single story” — have reached 2.6 million and 2 million views on youTube respectively — not to mention that beyoncé sampled “we should all be feminists” in her 2013 song “***Flawless,” released later that year.)

w hat gives adichie’s words much of their power is her fearless ability to dole out empathy and searing criticism in equal measure. born in nigeria but educated in the united states, adichie writes with authority and acute sensitivity to issues of identity, especially racial and gender identity. in “a mericanah,” she focuses on the stories of ifemelu and obinze, a nigerian man and woman who are long-lost lovers — ifemelu traveled to a merica for school and post-doctoral education at princeton, and obinze moved to england as an undocumented worker before returning to nigeria. Their romance drives the arc of the plot forward; yet it’s the navigation of muddied racial and social waters in a merica, england and nigeria that forms the bulk of the narrative for both characters. in each setting, across various continents, ifemelu and obinze remain outsiders. in england, obinze faces trials as an illegal worker and ultimately fails to succeed “in the harsh glare of life abroad.” in a merica, ifemelu struggles to find her place, highlighting the not-so-subtle distinctions between a frican a mericans and a fricans — distinctions many white a mericans disregard entirely. w hen she returns to nigeria, her friends write her off as an “a mericanah:” a pretentious pseudo-nigerian, with a nigerian heritage now distorted by “a merican eyes.”

The love between obinze and ifemelu is inspired, in part, by the realization that both ifemelu and obinze feel most at home when they are together. w hen ifemelu rests her head against obinze’s shoulder, she registers a new

phenomenon: “ ... a self-affection. he made her like herself. with him, she was at ease; her skin felt as though it was her right size.”

social criticism in “a mericanah” appears in varied forms. interspersed throughout the novel are excerpts from ifemulu’s blog — “racenteenth or various observations about a merican blacks (Those Formerly k nown as negroes) by a non-a merican black” — that deal with her experiences head-on. “in a merica, tribalism is alive and well.” Formidable images, such as ifemulu’s changing hairstyles, also speak volumes about her journey toward self-realization — when ifemelu decides to “relax” her natural texture, she laments “the smell of burning, of something organic dying which should not have died.” w hen she desires to keep her braids, her aunt warns her, “if you have braids, they will think you are unprofessional. … you are in a country that is not your own.”

a lthough adichie writes in specifics, the stories she shares don’t work to alienate her readers. This quality, not endemic to “a mericanah,” informs her whole body of work — her public writing and speeches consistently underline a shared humanity. in her 2009 Ted Talk, “The danger of a single story,” she said. “stories matter. many stories matter … when we reject the single story, when we realize that there is never a single story about any place, we regain a kind of paradise.”

The event this Thursday is scheduled to last from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tickets cost $8 for adults, $7 for seniors and $6 for saint mary’s, notre dame and holy cross students.

Contact Nora McGreevy at nmcgreev@nd.edu

By ADAM RAMOS scene editor

perseverance can mean many things. For a ndy c luxton, the drummer of the plucky prog-rock-funk outfit automagik, it means coming back to play a show at s outh bend’s well despite crashing the band’s van on the last trip out. undeterred, c luxton assured me in a recent phone interview that the c incinnati quartet aims at righting their previous transportation faux pas. w ith a new batch of songs off the band’s splendid new ep, “dark daze,” it seems automajik is poised to do so.

a ptly describing automagik’s sound as “pop and roll,” c luxton cites his group’s eclectic energies as a key factor in their success. “ we are all super influenced by a ton of different stuff and really nothing is off limits,” he explains. “it’s great to be that kind of band where you don’t have to stick to anything.” a nd he’s right — a quick listen through automagik’s limited anthology proves anything but boring. From the rchp “o ne hot minute”-era bass line in “p ink c hampagne” to the swinging doo-wop intro of “r ick rubin” and the twangy guitar licks of the 1970s’ psychedelic “pop k iss”, it’s clear that automagik has yet to find their sound — and that’s a good thing.

The dynamism of automagik’s blend of pop is refreshing. “it’s a nice a freedom we have until someone picks us up and tells us we have to play pop tunes,” c luxton jokes. w hile c luxton’s comment was certainly tongue in cheek, the claim still has merit. recently, there has been clear trend for indie pop bands — most obvious with indie super-group walk the moon — where the band decides to shed the creative process for a more formulaic approach, producing methodically catchy hooks and listless lyrics. yet, i would be naïve to blame these “sell-out” indie pop groups. i n a world continuously devaluing creativity and art, artists must find a way to make a buck.

For automagik, the struggle between preserving the art and playing to the crowd for profit is a main theme on the automagik’s recently released “dark daze,” culminating on the bubbly abrasive “F***ed up.” The track features front man Zachary evans crooning, “i’ve forsaken my dreams in black leather,” before releasing an onslaught of chaotic, self-destructive musings behind searing guitar chords and head-banging percussion.

c luxton explained how it was this frustration that automagik channeled towards real growth from 2013’s one-dimensional “black sundae” to their current, more vibrant sound, stating that while “black

sundae is very carefree, punch(ing) you in the face with rock and roll power chords, the songs on ‘dark daze’ have a lot of heavy content and it’s just real and raw. it’s just a lot of raw emotion of frustration coming to the forefront, it’s definitely the next logical step.” lucky for us, it’s a step is in the right direction. “dark daze” is automagik’s best. The creative collaboration of evans and lead guitarist devin w illiams blossoms in “dark daze,” producing more innovative productions and a new sonic confidence.

Though frustration may bear creativity, c luxton admitted to feeling the burden of this frustration from time to time. u ltimately though, it’s all in days work. “For me it’s about doing what i really have felt that i’ve wanted to do my whole life,” c luxton affirms, adding that “the fact that we’re building towards something, it’s this ultimate belief that what we’re doing is right.” well said.

c atch automagik this tomorrow, march 4, at the well in s outh bend. The Quartet will join other indie rockers spaceships, l eones and s canlines. music begins at 7 p.m., and while it’s a free show, donations are highly encouraged. c ome to celebrate the start of spring break, or better yet, the end of midterms.

Contact Adam Ramos at aramos6@nd.edu

By ADRIAN LORE scene writer

venetian snares has been busy. The prolific electronic composer, who brought a semblance of notoriety to the breakcore genre he helped pioneer in the late 1990s and early 2000s, has slowed his output considerably in the past decade but not for lack of ideas. rather, as he made clear in an announcement to his fans in mid-2015, his output has stagnated under the pressure of “very serious financial trouble.” but fortunately for aaron Funk, the man behind the project, his loyal fan base subsequently flooded him with donations. maybe this means that Funk will not go the way of van gogh; certainly it has enabled him to return to the studio and release allnew music. Following last year’s quickly-assembled “Thank you for your consideration,” a free download that doubled as Funk’s token of gratitude to his benefactors, “Traditional synthesizer music” is the latest installation in the venetian snares musical saga of electronic experimentation.

This time around, Funk elected to produce an album solely through the use of modular synthesizers, to which the music owes its characteristic early-electronic sound. of course, this decision is hardly a creative obstruction — Funk has clearly tamed his instruments to work the usual wonders. indeed, the tracks on this lp are bouncy, aggressive and hyperactive, and in terms of quality, Funk certainly does not disappoint. but he doesn’t quite

impress either. The sound of this lp doesn’t deviate from the project’s typical sound; it’s pleasantly familiar, but not exactly refreshing.

This problem is not unique to Funk. indeed, to achieve a fresh sound using familiar techniques is the greatest hurdle that has kept many of the pioneers of the so-called idm umbrella genre from maintaining their relevance in the electronic landscape of today. boards of canada, once the poster boys of industrial downtempo, stuck to formula on their tepidly-received “The campfire headphase” in 2005 and retreated into obscurity soon thereafter. once one of underground electronica’s most prominent names, aphex Twin virtually disappeared after the flop of his uninspired lp “drukqs” in 2001. a mbient house group The orb has precariously remained afloat amid ill-informed forays into reggae-infused techno. massive attack’s 2010 would-be comeback “heligoland” was haunted by the specter of their former glory. members of drexciya and lFo literally died, bringing those projects to a whimpering halt. of course, the list goes on. evidently, artists and even genres that cannot evolve (and this evolution could very well be wholly unorthodox) with the times are set to become history. w hile boards of canada released the wonderfully alien “Tomorrow’s harvest” in 2013 and aphex Twin took the grammy for “syro” in 2015, many of the rest — venetian snares included — simply have not been able to revitalize their sound for the new decade. so while “Traditional synthesizer music” would have been revolutionary 20 or

even 15 years ago — in Funk’s heyday — today it quite passively recedes into the background, overtaken by the output of electronic frontrunners like oneohtrix point never, a rca, Jlin and so on.

i will always admire Funk’s artistic capabilities. This is the guy who gave modern classical music electroshock therapy on “rossz csillag a latt született” — one of idm’s signature lps and a demonstration of music in one its most out-of-the-box forms. a nd i am sure that just as he did it once, he can do it again. but then again, “Traditional synthesizer music” is Funk “doing it again.” if projects like venetian snares are to thrive today, what they need to understand, rather, is that the world doesn’t want them to do it again. it wants to hear them innovate, work their magic in a wholly new and unexpected way.

Contact Adrian Lore at asanchez11@nd.edu

“Traditional Synthesizer Music”

Venetian Snares

Label: Timesig

Tracks: N/A

If you like: Dntel, Boards of Canada, Ryoji Iyeda

By NICK LAUREANO scene writer

i’m generally skeptical of movie review aggregators like rotten Tomatoes — quantitative measures like the algorithms applied by rotten Tomatoes rob our appreciation and understanding of the movies. There are moments, however, when sites like rotten Tomatoes are essential to understanding a movie. The release of robert eggers’ new horror movie, “The w itch,” ushered in one of these moments.

“The w itch,” now playing in movie theaters nationwide, holds an impressive approval score of 89 percent among critics. The corresponding fan-score is a meager 53 percent. w hat could possibly account for this split reception? having seen “The w itch” i understand why many moviegoers dislike it: its slow, the 17th century dialogue can be difficult to follow and there aren’t many jump-scares. so is “The w itch” just a dull horror movie dressed up as a pretentious art house film? well, no, it isn’t. “The w itch” is a fascinating installment in the horror canon, and it continues the genrebending tradition of recent horror films like “The cabin in the woods,” “a ntichrist,” “The babadook” and “it Follows.” l ast Thursday i had the privilege of speaking with writer-director robert eggers, and one of the chief pleasures of the conversation was hearing his take on how “The w itch” fits into horror.

“The w itch” documents the misadventures of a family exiled to the massachusetts wilderness in the 1630s: babies are stolen, sibling rivalry hits old Testament lows and, of course, there is a witch hunt. eggers claimed that the film’s style — its quiet photography characterized by long, often stationary cameras and the film’s languid pace — was born not from a desire to be contrarian or pretentious, but from a genuine love of understated filmmaking. For one thing, eggers may not be familiar enough with contemporary horror to react against it: “i don’t watch many contemporary horror movies,” he said.

but don’t doubt eggers’ cinephilia — he professed his love of “slow, boring movies,” particularly those of i ngmar bergman, carl Theodor dreyer and a ndrei Tarkovsky. i ndeed, as a meditation on religion and mortality among other themes, “The w itch” evokes bergman’s “The seventh seal,” and eggers’ frequent use of long takes points to Tarkovsky’s “solaris.”

For eggers, this is far from style for style’s sake, and he insisted, “working with my cinematographer and editor in the context of a horror movie, we hoped to use the long takes and slow pace to create and sustain tension and dread.” eggers’ claims ring true throughout the film, and especially at its climax, when he presents an exorcism in an uninterrupted shot. writhing bodies, demonic shouts and biblical imagery populate the scene. i n seamlessly transitioning from symbols

of childlike innocence to icons of original sin, eggers creates true terror.

“The w itch,” billed as “a new e ngland Folktale,” is clearly a personal statement for eggers. a native of the area, eggers has always been fascinated by 17th century culture, particularly the salem witch trials. perhaps it’s no surprise that he asserts that the film’s central conceit is the idea that people in this moment in history perceived witches to be a very real threat, and that the film is ultimately an exploration of how that threat interacts with the intense p uritanism of the time.

u ltimately, this level of authorship — the combination of stylistic influences and deep-seated obsession with a particular set of themes — is what eggers’ thinks is missing from most contemporary horror movies … at least from the ones he has seen. “The reason ‘a ntichrist,’ ‘The babadook’ and ‘it Follows’ are so strong is because the filmmakers behind those movies are clearly bringing a very personal vision to the screen,” he said, before going on to argue that the flip side of this coin is crass commercialization. “w hen you have a movie that is a product and is about formula rather than artistic form, when you’re merely trying to get someone to throw popcorn on his girlfriend using jump-scares, is when this genre falls apart.”

Contact Nick Laureano at nlaurean@nd.edu

sudoku | The mepham group

Happy Birthday: handle whatever comes your way with grace, dignity and empathy. don’t give in to temptation or let anyone talk you into something that will lead to trouble. good choices aren’t always easy to make, especially when faced with peer pressure. use your intellect and do what’s best for you, even if it means moving forward alone. your numbers are 4, 12, 17, 24, 33, 38, 42.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Take time to treat yourself to something that will make you feel good and look good, as well as give you the incentive you need to forge ahead. romance is on the rise, and playful action with someone you love will bring you closer together.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): you’ll feel pressure if you oppose someone who has as much invested in a project or plan as you do. use friendly persuasion over brute force and you will find the compromise you need to keep moving forward. Teamwork will pay off.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): listen carefully. make sure you fully understand what’s expected of you before you commit. it’s ok to be friendly and to want everyone to like you, but don’t let anyone take advantage of you. Focus on selfimprovements, not on helping others.

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Take control and make decisions based on your gut feelings. position yourself to be the nucleus of whatever endeavor you embark on, and you will make an impression and gain popularity among your peers. don’t be afraid to be different.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Target the problems that are looming, and offer a solution. Taking charge will bring about new interest from your superiors and could make you a hero in the eyes of your friends and family. romance is on the rise.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): gravitate toward the people who appreciate you and what you have to offer. look at the big picture, but don’t be too eager to put your cash into something you cannot control. Trust your instincts, not what someone else tells you.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): get out with friends or make plans with your significant other. any form of entertainment, travel or pampering will improve your attitude and give you the incentive to do your best in all aspects of life.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): you will face some opposition at home if you try to do things differently. do your best to keep your plans a secret until they are fully developed and hard to dispute. someone from your past will contribute to your success.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): venture down a path that will help you explore personal options regarding your skills, appearances and ways you can change the way you live to suit what you want out of life. romance is encouraged.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): it’s ok to do things differently. alter your routine and you will keep everyone guessing. a joint venture looks promising and can bring about a development that will improve a personal relationship or your current living arrangement.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Trust in your ability to make good decisions. if you get things done and express unique solutions, it will result in recognition and praise. a positive attitude combined with hard work will result in an unexpected surprise.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): put your energy into achieving your objectives. less talk and more action will help you avoid criticism. subtle changes in your approach will be your best and quickest route to success. avoid letting anger take over.

Birthday Baby: you are charming, adventurous and playful. you are intelligent and impulsive.

The observer in your

MLB is better when Cubs are better

Brett O’Connell sports writer

For a c hicago sports fan like myself, there is a special thrill that always accompanies the closing days of February. d espite the horrendous weather — which seems determined to lead us on every few days with another tantalizing sampling of spring before ruthlessly burying us beneath a fresh wave of snowfall — doing its best to ruin my mood, i must admit that the winter weather in s outh b end, i ndiana, becomes a little more bearable once m arch is around the corner. w hy is that? i t’s because pitchers and catchers reported to spring training about a week ago. To me, that means winter is officially over. b aseball season is back, and i couldn’t be happier.

To be honest, i don’t know whether my love of spring came before or after my love of baseball. p erhaps it’s something of a p avlovian reaction at work; pair the turning of the season with the glee-inducing sights and sounds of the ballpark enough times, and eventually, you’ll just get giddy at the slightest sign of the springtime. s ome of my fondest baseball memories circle around spring training. a fter all, from the yearly enterprise of getting my little league gear in order after a winter spent collecting dust to my memories of making the long trek to a rizona to watch the c ubs play against a backdrop of dark mountains and green cacti, spring break always meant more than just a few days off of school.

Today, though, spring training feels a bit different than it has in the past. a s a c ubs fan, i am in the unfamiliar position of actually being excited for the results of the upcoming season. n ot that i haven’t been

hopeful for good seasons in the past, but this year carries with it a certain set of expectations for what has become one of the youngest, most talented and most exciting teams in baseball.

i t’s a bit cliché to say that baseball is at its best when the c ubs are good. a nd, to be honest, it’s a difficult claim to argue, since that would basically mean that baseball hasn’t been at its best in roughly 100 years. b ut honestly, i think that statement might hold true. That c ubs fans are excited about the product the team is putting on the diamond of late comes as little surprise. w hat does strike me as interesting, though, are the number of fans of other teams — or even people who don’t claim to follow baseball at all — that suddenly seem invested in the c ubs’ quest to claim a pennant for the first time since the fall of the o ttoman e mpire.

m ore than merely a baseball team, the c ubs have become a cultural institution in a merica — one that serves to foster baseball as both a sport and a brand when they are firing on all cylinders.

There’s no telling whether the c ubs will win anything at all this year. The baseball season is astronomically lengthy, and there is no predicting with any sort of accuracy what may or may not happen. s till, for the first time in a long time, i get to look forward to seeing good baseball being played at the corner of a ddison and c lark.

i suppose i can’t speak for anyone else, but that’s more than enough to get me through the last dredges of winter with a smile on my face.

Contact Brett O’Connell at boconne1@nd.edu

The views expressed in this Sports Authority are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.

i rish to travel to a labama and Texas over break

By DOMINIC IANNELLI sports writer

notre d ame competed in the national i nvitational Tournament two weeks ago at the c atalina c ourse of o mni Tucson national in Tucson, a rizona, and placed 13th out of the 14 teams competing, finishing 31 strokes behind the tournament winner, s anta c lara.

i rish head coach Jim k ubinski said he and the team were not satisfied with their performance, as they failed to build on their progress in previous tournaments.

“ we’re disappointed we didn’t take any momentum from our second-place finish outside Tampa three weeks ago,” k ubinski said. “ we felt we could put ourselves in the mix here.”

notre d ame finished the tournament with a final score of 13-over par. o n the first day of the tournament, the i rish shot a one-over par 289, but failed to match or exceed that performance the next two days of the tournament. The i rish shot a seven-over

smc lacrossE

par 295 on the second day of the tournament before following it up with a five-over par 293 on day three.

i ndividually, freshman b en a lbin finished tied for eighth place with a final score of five-under par. Juniors m atthew r ushton and b lake b arens finished tied for 41st and 48th with scores of fiveover par and six-over par, respectively. r ounding out the weekend for the i rish were freshmen k evin c onnors and m iguel d elgado, who finished tied for 64th and 76th at 11-over and 18-over par, respectively.

a lthough k ubinski said the team’s performance fell short of expectations, a lbin’s play was one of the bright spots that the i rish can take away from this weekend, he added.

“b en played beautifully all week,” k ubinski said. “he gave himself dozens of great birdie looks. he was probably a couple shots and putts from contending for the win. i’m both proud of his effort here and happy to see his hard work yielding strong results.”

The i rish will look for

their upperclassmen to step up in their next tournament, k ubinski said. he also stressed the need for the golfers to shoot the scores that they have proved they’re able to hit on a more consistent basis.

“ we just need our capable players to post scores,” k ubinski said. “a t this level, you need four scores each day. m att broke out today with a good round and b lake played two of three this weekend. i’m confident m iguel and k evin will hit their stride at a uburn. This week was our first stroke play format since o ctober. i expect more good scores next week.”

notre d ame has a quick turnaround, as the team will travel to compete in the Tiger i nvitational from m arch 6-8 at g rand national l ake c ourse in o pelika, a labama, before following that with the b order o lympics from m arch 11-12 at l aredo c ountry c lub in l aredo, Texas.

Contact Dominic Iannelli at riannell@nd.edu

belles hope to build on last season’s success

By ELIZABETH GREASON sports writer

a lthough 2016 will only be saint mary’s third year with a varsity lacrosse program, the team has improved over its short history. in the the belles’ second season, they more than doubled their win total from their first and finished last season with a 7-10 record. according to belles head coach a my long, the team is looking to make similar progress this season.

“our team did make a huge amount of progress during our second year, and i expect an even larger amount of growth this season,” long said.

one of the characteristics of this year’s team is its youth. a fter only losing a few seniors, the team will be captained led by three juniors: katlynn dee, emilie vanneste and shannon weyer. The belles also return six of their seven leading scorers from last year. on top of retaining the majority of the team, the belles have added six new members to the roster. a s a result, long says that teambuilding has been a major focal point of preseason training.

“Throughout our preseason,

we have focused on working together and the development of our offensive unit and our defensive unit,” long said. “with six new players and four players who were abroad during our fall season, we have placed an emphasis on building relationships and communication to ensure we are working together as a team effectively. we have also been paying special attention to the small details of many of our basic lacrosse skills to create consistency, as these little things will be the difference maker in many of our games.”

w hile other teams and coaches might consider fielding such a young team to be a risk, long expects the team to maintain a high caliber of play.

“emilie vanneste and katlynn dee were our program’s first a ll-miaa selections, and i have even higher expectations for them this season,” long said. “vanneste along with [sophomore] clare Theisen will lead our offense and midfield. dee will continue to have an important role as a main leader for our defense and our two goalies, shannon weyer and [freshman] cara givens who will also serve as vocal leaders.”

The belles are looking to expand upon their reputation for strong defense this season. last season, weyer had 120 saves as goalkeeper last season and the belles totaled 185 caused turnovers.

on top of sustaining its strong defense, the saint mary’s lacrosse team has optimistic hopes for the season as a whole. as long outlined, the team hopes to both start and finish the season in a strong manner.

“our team goals include coming back from our spring break training trip to hilton head with at least one win and qualifying for our conference tournament this season,” long said. “more than qualifying for the miaa tournament which is accomplished through a topfour finish, our goal is to win at least six of our eight conference games to earn a home game in the tournament.”

The belles will embark on their season during their spring break trip from march 5 to march 13, when they will travel to hilton head, south carolina, to take on shenandoah, elms and bryn mawr.

Contact Elizabeth Greason at egreason@nd.edu

ND puts winning streak on the line in Florida

Observer Staff Report

no. 21 notre dame will return to Florida this weekend to compete in the Four points by sheraton spring break classic hosted by Florida gulf coast in Fort myers.

The irish (12-3) spent this past weekend in kissimmee, Florida, playing in the diamond 9 citrus classic. in five games, the team swept its competition and outscored their opponents, 33-6.

This weekend, the irish will play four more nonconference games before their regular weekend slate of acc games gets underway. on saturday, notre dame will face stony brook and host Florida gulf coast. Then, on sunday, the team will battle stony brook for a second time before finishing their weekend against ball state.

The irish will carry their eightgame winning streak into the weekend, which includes wins over no. 13 ucla and no. 25 ucF. during this streak, the irish lineup is averaging over seven runs per game, while the pitching staff is holding opponents to less than two runs per game.

The offensive success has largely been an all-around, team effort for the irish this season, as the team has nine players batting over .300 and a team average of .359, which is currently the 16th

best mark in the country. Junior outfielder karley wester has been particularly effective at the top of the lineup, as she leads the team with 19 runs, 29 hits and a .492 average. The freshmen class has made its impact felt as well, as third baseman melissa rochford, outfielder ali wester and pitcher caitlyn brooks all have averages of .390 or better.

The pitching staff has also begun to find its form on the field during this winning streak. Junior rachel nasland leads the rotation with a 1.22 earned-run average, while senior allie rhodes has a team-high five wins. rhodes also sports an era of 2.84 and leads the staff with 58 strikeouts in under 50 innings pitched. w hile no other pitcher has an era under three, the rotation has shown improvement in the last eight games. each pitcher saw her era drop last weekend, and sophomore katie beriont saw the most improvement after throwing a one-hit shutout against bryant on saturday.

stony brook (4-6) has struggled offensively this season, with their team average of .220. The seawolves have been carried by senior catcher allie pisciotta, who is the only member on the team batting over .310, and she leads stony brook in eight offensive

categories. The seawolves are also led by a senior on the mound, as Jane sallen has five complete games in six starts and a 3.10 era

Florida gulf coast (9-5) carries an eight game winning streak of its own into the weekend, with six of those wins coming over oakland and sacred heart last weekend. offensively, freshman first baseman racquel Fournet leads Florida gulf coast in seven offensive categories. The strength of the team, however, is its pitching staff. in 14 games this season, the eagles’ staff holds an era of 2.38, which ranks 49th amongst division 1 teams.

ball state (8-6) also carries an extended winning streak into play this weekend, having won its last six games. The cardinals have won primarily behind the strength of their lineup, which features three players hitting at least .400. They also boast power in their lineup, as five hitters have better than a .500 slugging percentage. Their rotation has struggled thus far, however, as their staff era is 6.94 and opposing lineups sport a .330 batting average against them.

notre dame will first take the field this weekend saturday at 1:15 p.m. when they battle stony brook at Fgcu softball complex in Fort myers, Florida.

nd WomEn’s GolF

Irish to host Clover Cup over spring break

By TOBIAS HOONHOUT sports writer

d uring spring break, n otre

d ame will be busy as the i rish host the c lover c up in m esa, a rizona, at l ongbow g olf c lub.

The i rish opened their spring campaign two weeks ago at the westbrook s pring i nvitational, where the team finished sixth among a field of 15 teams. d espite dropping four strokes in the final three holes on the last day of the tournament, i rish head coach s usan h olt said she feels her team is ahead of where it should be at this point in the season, and is focused on improving as the c lover c up approaches.

“a fter the tournament, they all had their own areas they needed to work on, so we’ve had a really good couple of weeks of practice,” h olt said.

“ i was happy with the overall

play from the tournament, i mean first tournament out and we played really well and shot below our stroke average for the year and there were a lot of positives. i feel like we’re ahead of the curve as far as preparations from where we would normally be this time of year.”

h olt also said she is excited to host the c lover c up and plans to get in multiple practice rounds before the tournament begins.

“ i ’m excited for the tournament in a rizona, especially since it’s a tournament we host and there’s a lot to do with all of that and with the planning,” h olt said. “ i think we are in pretty good shape. we are going to get out there on s aturday so we are actually going to get four practice rounds in before the event and have four solid days of practice and play so i think we will be ready to go once

the tournament starts.”

l ed by senior captain Talia c ampbell, who finished in ninth at the westbrook s pring i nvitational, the n o. 25 i rish will compete against a field that includes T cu, smu, o klahoma, Tulsa and a rizona s tate, among others. h olt said the team will rely on the freshmen trio of i sabella d i l isio, e mma a lbrecht and m addie h amilton, who came in ninth, 33rd and 48th respectively in the westbrook i nvitational, to perform well again. e ntering the tournament, h olt said the i rish expect to face stiff competition from smu, T cu and o klahoma.

“ well based on the rankings, i mean, we are the best ranked team in the field,” she said. “ smu, they beat us by one shot at the last tournament we played in and they are ranked right behind us so i think they are our most

immediate competition. There’s also T cu — they’re a good team — o klahoma, so i think us and those three teams will probably be in contention come the last day.”

“[The freshmen] have certainly been a big part of our success,” h olt said. “ i thought all three played really well in the first event of the spring and i ’m just looking for them to continue their good play.”

s ophomore k ari b ellville and junior Jordan Ferreira will also be important factors in the contest. b ellville finished tied for 79th at the westbrook s pring i nvitational with a 15-over par 231, while Ferreira tied for 56th place with an eightover par score of 224. h olt said she likes her team’s depth and that the team’s busy schedule will allow it to improve rapidly as the spring

season picks up. “ we’ve had really good team depth and team effort all year and we’re going to really need that to continue as we move through our spring schedule,” h olt said. “ we have big goals and i think this team is good enough to do some really special things this spring. we’re just excited to get things going, because when we play three tournaments in a month, we’re gonna be super busy. b ut i ’m also excited for the fact that i think our weather is going start turning once we get back. i t’s supposed to be in the 50s and 60s which means we should be able to get outside and practice here, which is huge as well.”

The i rish tee-off m arch 11 in m esa, a rizona, for the c lover c up.

Contact Tobias Hoonhout at thoonhou@nd.edu

16

that night. n otre d ame then held off a late charge from the Terriers (19-10-5, 12-6-4) on s aturday night to clinch the third seed with a 1-0 victory on s enior n ight at c ompton Family i ce a rena.

The 1-0 win in the final game of the season for the i rish snapped the team’s three-game losing streak entering s aturday night’s action.

n otre d ame found success against both n ortheastern and m aine during the regular season. The h uskies visited c ompton Family i ce a rena on n ov. 12 and 13, when n otre d ame won the first night’s contest 3-2, and then the two teams skated to a 2-2 tie the following night.

The i rish swept the b lack b ears when m aine visited s outh b end exactly three months later, Feb. 12 and 13. n otre d ame took Friday’s contest 4-1 while triumphing again 5-1 in s aturday night’s matchup.

s ophomore goaltender c al p etersen started every regular season game in net for the i rish, allowing just 2.08 goals against per game while posting a .932 save percentage. p etersen was named a m ike r ichter a ward nominee last Friday and currently leads the ncaa in saves with 970. n o other goaltender has more than 900 ( s t. l awrence sophomore netminder kyle h ayton is second with 880).

p etersen posted his first shutout of the season in s aturday night’s 1-0 win over bu, but after the game he said it was more important for the team to build momentum heading into the postseason with a highquality win.

“That was a total playoff game,” p etersen said following s aturday night’s win. “ … They were battling for their playoff lives, and we

were too, even though we had that bye. w e need to put ourselves in the best position to be successful and to reach one of our goals: going to b oston g arden.

“That was a playoff game for both teams, and i think it showed.”

s ophomore center Jake e vans leads the i rish with 32 points this season (eight goals and 24 assists), but n otre d ame boasts one of the most balanced offenses in the country. s even players have registered more than 20 points and the team boasts 12 skaters with at least 10 points. s enior center Thomas d i p auli has a teamhigh 12 goals while left wings sophomore a nders b jork (11) and seniors m ario l ucia and s am h err and freshman d ylan m almquist (10) have also hit doubledigits in the goal category.

The i rish pulled off a surprise run to the h ockey e ast semifinals in b oston during its first season in the conference in 2014 after defeating bu in a single-game elimination series in the first round and then winning two games on the road against b oston c ollege in a best-ofthree series.

n otre d ame reached the second round of the h ockey e ast playoffs last season, defeating m assachusetts in a three-game series at c ompton Family i ce a rena before falling to um assl owell in three games.

The winner of the series between n otre d ame and either n ortheastern or m aine will advance to the semifinals of this season’s conference tournament held at T d g arden in b oston. p uck drop for g ame 1 will be m arch 11 at 7:35 p.m. while g ames 2 and 3 (if necessary) will start at 7:05 p.m. the following nights at c ompton Family i ce a rena.

Contact Zach Klonsinski at zklonsin@nd.edu

baseball

con T inued F rom page 16

the n o. 5 c ardinals (5-2) in a three-game series, kicking off acc play for both squads.

“This weekend, a labama’s an sec team with a lot of potential, and l ouisville is ranked pretty high in the polls across most of college baseball,” s moyer said. “To have those teams this early is challenging, but it also puts the task upon us to raise our level of commitment as far as our work goes day to day. The focus we put into our preparation with those kinds of teams is a great challenge that we’re

ready to take on, and, especially with the talent those teams bring, it’s going be a great test to see what we’re made of right away. h opefully down the road it helps us out.”

Following the end of the a stressful midterms week, s moyer said being able to focus on baseball should help the team gel early in the season.

“ we’re gonna be travelling a lot over spring break,” s moyer said. “ we have a little bit of a bus ride from n orth c arolina to k entucky when we’re in between those two weekend series, but for our routine it doesn’t really change much. … i t’s just a little more down time. g uys

get to kind of hang out and decompress from the stress of the academics that have been hitting us at the end of this half of the semester. i t kind of gives us that mental break and allows us to focus on something other than academics for a little while.”

The i rish will play seven road games over break before returning for their home opener against Toledo on m arch 16.

The usa b aseball- i rish c lassic gets under way Friday evening as n otre d ame faces a labama in c ary, n orth c arolina.

Contact Hunter McDaniel at hmcdani1@nd.edu

paid a dverT isemen T

W bball

con T inued F rom page 16

seed v irginia. This season, the i rish edged the b lue d evils (19-11, 8-8) on the road Feb. 1, 68-61, and blew past the c avaliers (16-14, 6-10) on Jan. 7, 74-46.

n otre d ame then would most likely play n o. 4 seed Florida s tate in the semifinals, followed by either n o. 2 seed l ouisville or n o. 3 seed s yracuse in the championship game.

“ we’ve got a tough, tough draw with d uke ending up in the 8/9 game, which — nobody expected that,” m c g raw said. “Florida s tate was picked to finish second, finishes fourth, and then l ouisville and s yracuse in the other games, so it looks like we’re played what were originally the top three teams in the league each round, if we can advance.

“a nd that is gonna be a big question for us. i think this is the toughest draw, and we’ve gotta be ready. d uke really will be ready for us, and everybody will be. e verybody’s trying to knock us off and make their seed in the ncaa tournament a little better, so we’ve gotta be ready.”

m c g raw said she has noticed her players, especially the younger ones, lose focus in the second halves of games recently, a trend her veteran leaders add they’ve

seen as well and need to correct if they want to capture their third consecutive tournament title.

“ u s, as upperclassmen, we’ve got to set that mentality,” senior guard m ichaela m abrey said. “ i t’s not a game. i t is possible for us to lose. i know that they [the freshmen] might not think that that’s a thing, but it is. i think just setting the tone of being really mentally and physically focused.”

Joining m abrey in the starting lineup will the be usual group of junior guard l indsay a llen, graduate student guard m adison c able and sophomore forward b rianna Turner, all three of whom were named Tuesday to the 10-player a ll- acc first team, while Turner earned the conference’s d efensive p layer of the year award wednesday. h owever, the fifth spot is still up in the air, as usual starting forward k athryn westbeld has not played since suffering an ankle injury against Florida s tate on Feb. 22, and she has not participated in practice through Tuesday of this week.

m c g raw said westbeld is “probable” for Friday’s game, adding she hoped to have her back in practice by Thursday.

“ we’re a little thin in the post, and without k at lately, it’s seemed even worse,” m c g raw said. “ i like the

paid a dverT isemen T

four-guard look, but we play a couple of teams that have a lot of big guys, so it’s difficult to go four guards against some of them, so i think subbing is goings to be really key. we’re going to really need the freshmen to be ready; we’re going to need k oko [junior forward k ristina n elson] and [junior forward] d iamond [Thompson] and [sophomore guard] m ychal Johnson; we’re going to need everybody, so everybody has to be able to come in for three or four minutes and give somebody a spell and give them a rest.”

Fortunately for m c g raw, the freshmen she’s tasked with being ready for the tournament are two of the conference’s best: b oth m arina m abrey and a rike o gunbowale were selected for the acc a ll-Freshman team Tuesday.

w ith a target on their back, the i rish will open the acc tournament on Friday at 2 p.m. against either d uke or v irginia, with possible semifinal and finalround games to take place s aturday and s unday, respectively. a ll matchups will be held at the g reensboro c oliseum in g reensboro, n orth c arolina, and the tournament’s winner will secure an automatic bid to the ncaa tournament.

Contact Mary Green at mgreen8@nd.edu

m bball

con T inued F rom page 16

leading scorer and junior guard d emetrius Jackson starting the game 2-for-11 from the field while junior guard s teve vasturia missed all nine of his shot attempts.

“ w hen your guards can’t get going like that — and i love my guards, and our guards have been key — we won’t beat many teams,” b rey said.

The i rish were able to bounce back to a degree, at one point closing the gap to 29-22 late in the first half with an 8-0 run. The h urricanes would counter with a 6-0 run, however, making the halftime deficit 13. n otre d ame would only get within nine points from that point on.

“ we gave ourselves chances,” b rey said. “ i t would have been interesting to see how the second half would have been if we didn’t turn it over three times in the last three minutes, when you’re getting a bit of momentum.”

s enior forward Zach a uguste led the way for the i rish, finishing the night with 18 points and 11 rebounds. w ith just under 10 minutes to play, a uguste and sophomore forward b onzie c olson had 25 of n otre d ame’s 38 points.

“ i thought Zach a uguste, again, in an ugly afternoon was just a warrior,” b rey said. “ h e’s been flat-out fabulous.”

w ith the win, the h urricanes tied n o. 8 n orth c arolina atop the acc standings. They were led by senior guard a ngel r odriguez with 19 points. s enior guard s heldon m c c lellan added 17 points while senior forward

Tonye Jekiri was good for 14 points and nine rebounds. d espite the loss, n otre d ame can still earn a double bye in the acc tournament next week. w ith p ittsburgh’s loss to v irginia Tech wednesday night, the i rish now just need a win and a d uke loss to n orth c arolina on s aturday.

l ooking to salvage the double bye, n otre d ame now looks to its s aturday matinee tilt with n orth c arolina s tate.

nc s tate (15-15, 4-12) has struggled this season after notching 22 wins last season and reaching the s weet s ixteen. d espite their poor showing on the year, the wolfpack did upset m iami on Jan. 30.

The wolfpack are led by junior guard a nthony b arber, who has scored 30 or more points eight times this year on his way to averaging 23.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game. o utside of b arber, the wolfpack have threats in freshman guard m averick r owan (12.7 ppg), sophomore forward a bdulm alik a bu (12.6 ppg, 8.6 rpg) and freshman guard c aleb m artin (11.3 ppg).

“ s aturday, i want it bad for Zach and [senior forward a .J. b urgett],” b rey said. “… i ’d love to win for them and have a little juice going into d c .”

Tip-off is scheduled for noon s aturday.

a fter s enior d ay, n otre d ame will have a few days off before the acc tournament begins Tuesday. The i rish will either play their first game wednesday in the second round or Thursday in the quarterfinals.

Contact Brian Plamondon at bplamond@nd.edu

mEn’s baskEtball | miami 68, nd 50

Notre Dame’s offensive struggles continue at home

By BRIAN PLAMONDON sports writer

n o. 7 m iami dominated n otre d ame from the opening tip at p urcell p avilion on its way to a 68-50 victory over the i rish.

The h urricanes (24-5, 13-4 acc ) scored the first 12 points of the game and jumped out to a 21-3 lead just over six minutes into the game.

“ i wouldn’t be surprised if they win the national championship, first of all,” i rish head coach m ike b rey said. “They’re really good. a nd they’re really old and their men were playing against our boys i thought most of the night. we can’t get off to a start like that and try and dig out of a hole against a team like that.”

n otre d ame (19-10, 10-7 acc ) never looked comfortable during the game, with

basEball

squad travels to north carolina

By HUNTER McDANIEL sports writer

a fter taking three of four games at the a lamo i rish c lassic last weekend, n otre d ame heads into spring break looking to build on its newfound momentum.

Junior righty r yan s moyer, who has opened the season with a 1.35 era in two starts, said the way his team was able to win two close games last weekend should give them confidence heading into a tough stretch.

“ i t’s great, especially the comebacks — those walkoffs,” s moyer said. “The game where we gave up the lead late and were able to battle back and grab that win is huge. i t really gives the pitching staff confidence to know that we can come back and get bailed out by our hitters. They did a great job all weekend at having really good at-bats.

“ e specially in the beginning of the season, it just seems like the bats across college baseball are a

little behind. To know that we have that kind of support behind us, not only in the field but at the plate is a great feeling.”

o ver the first weekend of break, the i rish (4-3) hit the road for the usa b aseballi rish c lassic in c ary, n orth c arolina, at the usa b aseball n ational Training c omplex.

n otre d ame will face opponents from four different conferences at the classic, including a labama (7-1) on Friday, b rown (0-0) and b ucknell (4-3) in a s aturday doubleheader and n iagara (2-8) to conclude the c lassic on s unday morning.

w hile each of these teams will present a specific challenge to the i rish, the c rimson Tide, who have won their last six games, will arguably be their toughest opponent.

Then, following the conclusion of the usa b aseball i rish c lassic, the i rish will head to l ouisville the following weekend to take on

nd WomEn’s baskEtball

i rish aim for third straight title

By MARY GREEN a ssistant managing editor

w henever n o. 2 n otre d ame takes the court at p urcell p avilion, the stands are packed, most of the time at almost full capacity, with fans decked out in blue, gold and the ubiquitous lime green.

b ut when the i rish go down to g reensboro, n orth c arolina, for this weekend’s acc tournament as the conference’s top seed, they’re not expecting that same kind of friendly reception.

“The welcoming committee gets smaller and smaller every year we go down there, and i think that we’ll have a lot of people cheering against us,” i rish head coach m uffet m c g raw said. “ i think that they’d like to see some of the familiar teams win, and so it’ll be good for us to really get motivated to be ready.”

There will be plenty of

teams eager to knock off the top-seeded i rish (28-1, 16-0 acc ), with plenty reason: i n just three seasons in the conference, n otre d ame has collected three outright regular-season titles, two conference tournament rings and amassed a 47-1 acc record, along with all but locking in a n o. 1 seed in the upcoming ncaa tournament.

o n paper, it might not look like the i rish have much to be challenged by, especially after sweeping acc competition with a perfect 16-0 record this season. b ut that’s not how m c g raw, who was named this season’s acc c oach of the year on wednesday, and her team see it.

They’ll open the tournament Friday with a matchup against the winner of Thursday’s game between n o. 8 seed d uke and n o. 9

hockE

y ND turns focus toward Hockey East tournament

By ZACH KLONSINSKI sports e ditor

a fter clinching the third seed in the h ockey e ast playoffs last weekend, n o. 10 n otre d ame will host a best-of-three series next weekend against either n ortheastern or m aine in the second round of the conference tournament.

The i rish (19-8-7, 15-5-2 h ockey e ast) earned a bye during the first round of the playoffs because they clinched a top-four finish in the conference during the regular season. n otre d ame will meet the winner of a best-of-three series between the sixthseeded h uskies (16-13-5, 10-8-4) and the 11th-seeded b lack b ears (8-22-6, 5-15-2) at n ortheastern’s m atthews a rena this weekend.

The i rish clinched a first-round bye last Friday despite losing to n o. 9 b oston u niversity, 3-2,