its effect on younger generations through intimate partner violence.
Thomas said she is very passionate about both african american studies and efforts to counter stereotyping and prejudice.
“my goal for all the research i do on black men and women is [to] combat the many stereotypes applied to them and help create new narratives,” Thomas said in an email. “Furthermore, i hope to inspire the people who heard my presentation to analyze the media they take in and to critique it publicly [by telling] those in power, loud and clear, representation matters.”
studying gender relations is important because women, especially women of color, are more likely to experience physical violence than men, Thomas said. Through her research, Thomas said she analyzed the statistics surrounding gender relations, such as the wage gap between male and female workers, as well as the violence directed toward LGbTQ youth.
“americans like to think that we are so far beyond the times of racial discrimination and women’s suffrage, but the truth is that we still face many of the same issues — just in different ways,” Thomas said. “We never actually solved the problems of the past, we just found
band-aid solutions. Gender relations and gender studies asks us to look deeper. in the same way you must remove the root of a weed to be completely rid of it, you must do the same to problems in our current world.”
saint mary’s sophomore Katherine Wankelman said she titled her presentation “‘Who Tells Your story?’: Lin manuel miranda’s color-conscious casting and the Women of ‘hamilton’” because of its focus on the implications of the renderings of gender and race in miranda’s hit broadway production “hamilton.” miranda provides his audiences with commentary that invites them to reconsider the ways they have learned and engaged with the history of the United states through the lens of gender and race, Wankelman said.
“The telling of our history is predominantly white-centric and androcentric, and that is problematic for a number of reasons,” Wankelman said in an email. “Too often, we think that history can be considered outside of race and gender, merely perpetuating the cultural norms of whiteness and maleness. Therefore, if we … remove race and gender from history, we are excluding a number of important voices from the narrative.” miranda’s purposeful manner in which he presents the constructs of race and gender to his audiences is especially evident in his color-conscious casting and the
partners with schools who provide financial aid packages to low-socioeconomic status students.
recruit a more diverse pool of applicants and attract those who might otherwise feel that the University was out of their reach, bishop said.
“We put a high priority on lowincome or U.s. students of color or first [generation students], because those are not the natural groups that, even [in their] junior or senior year, assume that they should apply to a top-end school,” bishop said. “You have to be more inviting, you have to get out there and contact them more.”
as part of its efforts, bishop said the University pairs with a number of community based organizations (cbo’s), such as Questbridge, cristo rey and KiPP, to identify and attract students.
sophomore and Questbridge liaison eric Kim said he first discovered notre dame through Questbridge, an organization that
“There are approximately 40 partner colleges, which means they will offer a financial package or scholarship that resembles a full ride,” Kim said. “notre dame is on that list, which is how i found out about the school. not to generalize, but a lot of the scholars have not heard about notre dame when they apply, so it’s never on our radar, whether it’s because we’re not good enough, it’s not in our culture [or] we live in a family that hasn’t been exposed to notre dame, such as myself.”
While Questbridge does not provide any aid towards student tuition, it helps connect low-socioeconomic status students with the resources they need, Kim said.
Kim described Questbridge’s senior year program as “a long, arduous application process.” students first complete a Questbridge application, and the organization
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dialogue of “hamilton” character eliza schuyler, Wankelman said. Through her research, Wankelman found the version of history most often taught and analyzed excludes people of color and women — both by chance and purposeful omission. The cultural phenomenon of “hamilton” cultivated an enormous fan base, she said, allowing for the important, widespread reception of the inclusive renderings of race and gender.
“i think it is important to think critically about the media and aspects of pop culture that we engage with and acknowledge where they may or may not be problematic in the ways they discuss various social constructs,” Wankelman said. “The media we consume has an influence on the way that we see the world, and no one is truly immune from this. Therefore, we must carefully consider what ideas the media … [perpetuate], such as gender binary and gendered norms.”
Gender and women’s studies highlight the intersectionality between race and gender issues, which could lead to greater success for feminist movements like the Women’s march, Wankelman noted. The research of topics like race and gender can push people to consider those who are excluded from the narrative of history, she said, and empower others with the tools necessary to make effective and lasting change for the future.
“The way we engage with gender,
selects a pool of finalists. as finalists, students can choose up to 12 colleges from Questbridge’s partner schools, and apply to be matched with the schools through Questbridge.
“if you get matched, you get a financial aid package that resembles a full ride, plus a stipend, depending on the college,” Kim said. “a few students here have stipends so they can go back home. it really depends on the financial aid office at each school. if you get matched with multiple schools, that’s where their ranking system comes in. … The match process is a binding one to the highest-ranking one you’re matched with.”
bishop said the University has also focused on its financial aid, increasing its aid budget by 44 percent over the past seven years.
in the 2017-2018 school year, 99 percent of saint mary’s students received some sort of financial aid from the college. beginning in 2018, 100 percent of incoming students will receive some financial assistance, saint mary’s director of financial aid Kathleen brown said.
“in the past, not every student would receive a merit scholarship, but beginning this past year admission changed how they award scholarships and now every admitted student receives some type of award from the admission office,” brown said. “so that award is not based on need, that’s based on a combination of their high school curriculum, their GPa, and their test score on either the acT or saT.”
brown said she encourages students to apply for small and local scholarships to aid them in financing their education.
“There are a lot of free
be it our gender or someone else’s, is so contingent on our understanding and education,” Wankelman said. “Gender is something that we are surrounded with every day, and that necessitates a conversation coupled with education.”
notre dame senior Liam maher presented on his thesis, which he said discusses “the performativity of gender and how [drag artists] turn it into an art form.” despite being nervous about public speaking, maher said the discussion was “a fantastic experience.”
“especially since i plan to go into academia after graduating, it was a really great experience for me to practice presenting my research, talking about it with other people and workshopping with other people about their research to try to relate it to wider trends in different fields,” maher said. “it was a lot of fun — super causal and lowkey, but a lot of cool topics were discussed. … it was really great to see people from all these different academic institutions able to get together and really be able to talk and relax and have fun.”
maher said he believes the status of gender relations at notre dame makes the topic especially important for students.
“notre dame kind of has a funky gender relations dynamic, which you find out really quickly when you go anywhere else in the country or even out into south bend,” he said. “i think it’s really important
scholarship searches on the internet, but because they’re on the internet everyone in the world is applying for them and often the small local ones that perhaps don’t post their scholarships on the internet — perhaps they don’t have the tech savvy to do so — they have a much smaller applicant pool and students have much better odds of winning them,” brown said.
although finding local scholarships can be difficult for students, brown said she recommends students speak with high school guidance counselors for information on locating them.
“a lot of high schools have award ceremonies right before graduation, where the high school counselor will collect information where all of their high school seniors have won scholarships,” brown said. “so if a student goes back to that counselor, that counselor usually knows what organizations have given students scholarships.”
an additional resource brown feels saint mary’s students should be aware of, she said, is the emergency fund for personal needs.
“[The emergency fund] is for financial emergencies not related to paying your bill at saint mary’s,” brown said. “any student that is having any sort of a personal emergency that they feel they need funding for should go to Karen Johnson to see if she might be able to help them with some of that funding.”
To further increase the number of low-socioeconomic students at notre dame, bishop said the University is working to create a $1 billion endowment to fund student scholarships. currently, the University would need to raise approximately $300 million in
that notre dame hosts conferences like this that talk about these gender issues and historical trends of gender relations and gender itself. in future years i’d like to see it grow into an even bigger event that gets more of the notre dame community involved, because a lot of the topics that were discussed were just so cool and i wish more people could have heard them.”
notre dame senior Taylor still’s presentation of her thesis, “‘chi rappresenta noi?’ [‘Who represents us?’]: What it means to act in the interest of women from italy and the United states,” focused on issues of citizenship and the treatment of italian-american women, still said.
“as a first-time presenter, i was pretty nervous going in, but it was such a welcoming environment and it was awesome to see how interdisciplinary everything was,” she said. “i think people tend to think of gender studies as insular, but that’s not the case at all. it was great to see everyone enter into the conversation and try to make connections between each other, even between the days. i think it was evidence that there was a lot of authentic listening going on — people trying to constructively learn from each other.”
Contact Maeve Filbin at mfilbin01@saintmarys.edu and Andrew Cameron at acamero@nd.edu
endowment to increase the percentage of students with incomes below $60,000 from 11 percent to over 15 percent, bishop said. To raise that figure to 20 percent, the University would need to raise $700 million in endowment.
To date, the University has raised over $580 million in pledges. however, bishop said, this does not mean all the money is available.
“some of that money has been raised and received and it’s given us more money to fund,” bishop said. “others are promises that, over a period of time, that donor has identified when the money will be given … so it’s in all different levels of readiness to help fund.”
bishop said the University does not currently have the funds to increase the number of low-socioeconomic status students as quickly as schools like Princeton University, which increased its Pell student enrollment from 7 percent to 23 percent between 2001 and this year. however, bishop said he remains optimistic when considering notre dame’s progress.
“do we have all the money right now, lined up, to be as aggressive as Princeton and the other schools? no, we do not,” he said. “are we getting more money each year? Yes. do we need to show progress each year and report it? Yes. and then you guys can judge each year if we’re making enough progress or not.”
Senior News Writer Megan Valley and News Writer Mary Bernard contributed to this story.
Contact Natalie Weber at nweber@nd.edu and Jordan Cockrum at
