THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING NOTRE DAME, SAINT MARY’S AND HOLY CROSS ESTABLISHED 1966
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2025 | VOL. LX, NO. 7
ND reforms Moreau program By Sophie Hanawalt Notre Dame News Editor
With the class of 2029 settling into campus, freshmen are amidst their third week of the Moreau First-Year Experience. The course has been a staple of Notre Dame’s curriculum for the past decade, although the course has undergone significant changes this year. Last year, a portion of the class of 2028 was given a pilot Moreau curriculum. This school year, the pilot was fully adopted: Each freshman will take one semester of Moreau followed by a second semester their senior year. Andrew Whittington, the program’s senior director, explained in a statement to The Observer that after the program’s initial creation in 2015 “to build upon Notre Dame’s aim to educate both the minds and hearts of her students,” an initiative was launched in 2022 to rethink the experience. In collaboration with the Office of Strategic Planning and Institutional Research, a committee of faculty and staff leaders researched new approaches for the
program. According to Whittington, the new program maintains “fundamental principles” of the former rendition of the course, including a common syllabus, small class sizes and an overarching goal of building community. Theology professor Bill Mattison, the faculty director of the Moreau program, shared that the process of creating this year’s rendition of the program was sparked when leaders in student affairs and the provost’s office came together two years ago to discuss how they “thought it could be more, particularly if campus-wide faculty and staff leaders were involved in redesigning it and teaching it,” Mattison wrote in a statement to The Observer. Mattison later formed two committees to support the program’s creation, the curriculum committee, whose task according to Whittington was to “integrate intellectual reflection on ultimate questions about God, relationships, and the human person with practical see “Moreau” page 4
NDSMCOBSERVER.COM
Memorial mass held for late student Audrey DeShetler
AVABELLA MITRANO | The Observer
Fr. Peter McCormick gives the homily at Audrey DeShetler’s memorial mass, sharing her life story and highlighting her impact on campus. DeShetler, who would have been a sophomore this year, died in June.
By Avabella Mitrano News Writer
Welsh Family Hall held a memorial Mass at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Monday evening for sophomore Audrey DeShetler.
DeShetler passed away on June 8 after a 14-year battle with neuroblastoma, a rare pediatric cancer. University President Fr. Robert Dowd presided over the Mass, which was wellattended by DeShetler’s family, students and other
members of the Notre Dame community. Dowd began by thanking DeShetler’s family for sharing their daughter with the Notre Dame community and see “Memorial” page 4
New restaurants open near ND
Saint Mary’s opens new Language and Literacy Lab
By Megan Cornell
By Berhan Hagezom
Associate News Editor
In the past few months three restaurants opened near campus: a taco bar, an Asian fusion restaurant and a neighborhood bar and grill. These restaurants cater specifically to students,
offering special promotions for game days and other events. After its grand opening on Tuesday evening, Barrio: Tacos + Tequila + Whiskey became Eddy Street’s newest addition. The taco bar has locations see “Restaurants” page 2
MEGAN CORNELL | The Observer
Barrio: Tacos + Tequila + Whiskey is the nearby Eddy Street’s newest edition, serving homemade tacos and craft cocktails. It opened Sept. 9.
Saint Mary’s News Editor
The speech language pathology (SLP) department at Saint Mary’s held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the College’s new Language and Literacy Lab from 1:30-2 p.m. on Monday in room 18 of Havican Hall. The lab aims to help SLP students gain holistic skills while benefiting the children at the Early Childhood Development Center (ECDC), who will receive specialized attention in the space designed for them. During the ceremony, various faculty associated with the department shared remarks while students discussed the importance of the new lab. College President Katie Conboy spoke at the ceremony and was joined by Susan Calandra ‘72, the donor of the lab. Calandra discussed her personal experiences with her son in SLP services and explained why she
believes a space like this was needed at Saint Mary’s. Susan Latham, associate professor and founding chair of the department of speech language pathology, spoke to the purpose of the lab as an innovative opportunity for SLP students to work directly and closely with children and aid in educating them on verbal and written communication skills. “There are several purposes to this room. Primarily, it’s to help our students both in speech language pathology and education know how to be the teacher of the classroom,” Latham said, discussing students’ role in building connections with the students. “So the different things that will happen in this lab first is a language and literacy-based classroom for three and four-year-olds. We will also extend our services for literacy after school program to
help children who are struggling with written language.” Four graduate students will work in the lab with eight children per semester. Latham hopes to grow the number of children using the lab to 16 in the following academic year. One of the graduate students in the program, second-year master’s student Olivia Herbst, provided insight on the development process of the lab itself. “I know it’s been in the works for four or five years now, since they first got the funding for it and started brainstorming what it would look like exactly. It’s the product of a lot of really hard work and a lot of planning before the students even really came into the picture. I know Dr. Latham has been working really closely with Kari Alford, the director of ECDC, see “Lab” page 4
NEWS | PAGE 2
OPINION | PAGE 5
SCENE | PAGE 7
SPORTS | PAGE 8
SPORTS | PAGE 12
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