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VOLUME 59, ISSUE 51 | FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2025 | NDSMCOBSERVER.COM
Best-selling authors discuss classics Saint Mary’s humanistic studies held the annual 2025 Francis A. McAnaney Humanities Lecture By AYNSLEE DELLACCA Saint Mary’s News Editor
On Tuesday evening in the packed O’Laughlin Auditorium, the humanistic studies department of Saint Mary’s College hosted best-selling author Madeline Miller and classicist Emily Wilson for the 2025 Francis A. McAnaney Humanities Lecture. Previously known as the Christian Culture Lecture until 2022, this was the first time in the lecture’s history to host a classicist and the first time two lecturers were invited. Wilson, known as the first woman to translate Homer’s “The Odyssey” into English, is a professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
In addition to her translation of “The Odyssey,” she has also translated several ancient Greek plays and “The Iliad” during her career. As a novelist, Miller is best known for her debut novel, “The Song of Achilles,” which earned the Orange Prize for Fiction and was a New York Times bestseller. Her second novel, “Circe,” was also an instant New York Times bestseller. Miller’s essays have also made appearances in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian and NPR. Jessalynn Bird, associate professor of humanistic studies, said she felt excited at the idea of inviting both Wilson and Miller, see AUTHORS PAGE 3
Students, faculty fear for USAID By SOPHIA TRAN Staff Writer
On Feb. 4, the Trump administration issued an announcement stating all directly hired U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) employees would be put on leave beginning Friday, Feb. 7. The decision was made amidst a whirlwind of efforts by the Trump administration to dismantle USAID. At the moment, USAID and its respective international work have been put on a 90day stop work order imposed by the U.S. Department of State. With the current pause on international aid, a number of individuals at Notre Dame have expressed concerns over the effects of this decision on international global health initiatives funded by the agency. Bernard Nahlen, director of the Eck Institute for Global Health, said Notre Dame will indeed feel indirect effects of the cut funds through its partnered programs. However, Nahlen emphasized the much more significant impact will be on the international initiatives themselves. “People need to understand that the real disruption is in countries
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and people who are recipients of services being funded by USAID,” Nahlen stated. “From the perspective of the Eck Institute of the University of Notre Dame, as a Catholic university, we really need to focus on the downstream part of what’s going on and that the real impact is not on the Eck Institute — it’s on the people that we all are working to serve.” Nahlen emphasized Notre Dame’s Catholic identity and the need to promote advocacy in regard to the current situation with USAID. “Notre Dame’s Catholic mission is a driving force for what we’re trying to do,” Nahlen said. “We all need to figure out how not to be silent and to be actively moving forward.” Nahlen described the specific effects of USAID’s cancellation on marginalized populations served by various organizations. A number of USAID-funded humanitarian programs, such as Catholic Relief Services, are associated with Notre Dame. “Poor people in remote areas are not going to have beds now, are not going to be able to be diagnosed see USAID PAGE 4
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AYNSLEE DELLACCA | The Observer
Associate professor of humanistic studies Laura Williamson interviews classicists Emily Wilson and Madeline Miller. The authors engaged in a Q&A following their presentations in the O’Laughlin Auditorium.
Engaged undergrad couple discern marriage By GRACE TADAJWESKI Associate News Editor
While some students are spending Valentine’s Day with friends, others will be spending the holiday with their fiances. Junior Colby Whitehouse met junior Callie Rogers during November of their freshman year at a dorm party in Duncan Hall. They began dating the following semester. This past semester, Rogers and Whitehouse studied abroad at University College Dublin. Whitehouse proposed to Rogers on Nov. 9 during a weekend trip to Norway in which the couple went on a bus tour to see the northern lights. According to Rogers, the couple began talking about their future together quickly after they started dating. Whitehouse continued, stating the two both intended to “date to marry." “As we grew closer to each other and dated each other for a while, eventually, it was just like, ‘OK … when do we kind of want to do this? We kind of know … the direction we want to go,’ and so then it was just a question of timing with
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college and stuff,” Whitehouse said. The couple plans to get married the summer after graduation. “We both were definitely ready for [an engagement]. We both knew we wanted to take the next step,” Whitehouse said. “She wanted to get engaged early to start with the wedding planning and stuff, hopefully as early as possible, just to make that process easier.” Whitehouse was not set on a date to propose. Instead, he considered when the “best time” would be, and he settled on their semester abroad in Dublin. Whitehouse also said he attended one of his sister’s friend’s weddings last summer. The couple who got married had been engaged their junior year of college and got married the summer after their graduation. “I had just seen that [wedding] happen too ... it’s early, but it's not that uncommon as sometimes it seems,” he said. “There’s also a guy in Duncan who two years ago, proposed abroad fall junior year. So just kind of all that [I thought] it’s a good time.” The couple want to get married
in Colorado. Whitehouse plans to look at wedding venues over spring break. “Hopefully, we’ll get married in June or July of 2026, and then move,” Rogers said. “I’d like to be close to one of our families, but it really just depends on where we can get jobs.” Whitehouse added they would like to find jobs in Denver, which he believes will offer technology and environment-related opportunities. Both Rogers and Whitehouse are Catholic and intend to be married in the Catholic Church. “I was really struggling with Catholicism because I was raised Catholic, but it … felt kind of like a blind Catholicism to me,’” Rogers said. “And then I met Colby, and that’s when everything kind of changed. Even before we were dating, he was having conversations with me about my faith.” Whitehouse said he viewed their faith as a couple as a “journey.” “Even before we started dating, just being able to talk … being able to build that relationship and really let God work through me to
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see VALENTINE’S PAGE 4