Back the Bend is Back
For over 10 years, Notre Dame student government has organized “Back...
Vol.No.
For over 10 years, Notre Dame student government has organized “Back...
Laura Dassow Walls is the William P. and Hazel B. White Professor of English at Notre Dame. Her research primarily focuses on the Transcendentalism movement. Interested in historical American figures such as Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walls explores how language finds its place in the non-human world of the outdoor environment.
From masked to almost fully vaccinated, the Notre Dame campus community has undergone a 360-degree turnaround on the COVID-19 front. With vaccination rates over 90%, there’s a palpable sense of a return to what once was. Dining halls are operating at full capacity, classes are held entirely in-person and clubs and activities have resumed.
On June 1, 2021, Rev. Gerard “Gerry” J. Olinger, C.S.C., was named to serve as the vice president for student affairs, replacing former VP Erin Hoffmann Harding. While he only started serving this year, Olinger has already made large strides in his new role.
“I wish people knew how hard we did fight for it to be in person,” junior Maya Puterbaugh, an event chair on the Junior Parents Weekend committee said.
#Textmewhenyougethome began trending on social media channels in the wake of Sarah Everard’s murder in London on March 3, 2021.
“Honestly, it’s really complicated,” said Patrick Cassidy, a senior equity specialist at the Office of Institutional Equity at the University of Notre Dame, about the changes to federal Title IX Regulations implemented in August 2020.
Over the past two months, new details have emerged about the issues at Zahm that formed a backdrop for the university’s decision.
When I wrote my first letter from the editor, I was sitting at the desk of my childhood bedroom, a space I hadn’t done any serious work from since I had graduated from high school — until the pandemic sent me home.
After a year marked by viral outbreaks and uncertainty, the university finally obtained approval from the Indiana Department of Health to open a vaccination center on campus...
Therapy through video calls, dining hall anxiety and restrictions on exercise — for those with eating disorders, routine moments of college life can bring people like Russo face to face with their illness
Brooke Ammerman is an assistant psychology professor at Notre Dame who focuses her clinical research on self-injurious thoughts and behaviors.
As spring blooms and the vaccine rollout continues successfully, we are more grateful than ever to begin our term in office...
The lure of freedom and independence has pulled at college students for decades.
So long, Hinge and Tinder! The Marriage Pact is the new matchmaking application taking the Notre Dame campus by storm.
This year, the Jewish Club of Notre Dame hosted the first annual Antisemitism Awareness Week to raise awareness about Jewish traditions, beliefs, history and Zionism.
For most, the past year has consisted of masks, hand sanitizer, six feet of separation and endless references to these “unprecedented times.” But many health officials seem to think that the end may be in sight.
Amidst all the turbulence and all the disappointments of the pandemic, it would be easy to overlook the good.
A particularly recognizable figurehead throughout the Notre Dame community, Rev. Edward “Monk” Malloy has many distinguishing titles.
Since 2013, the men of St. Edward’s Hall have partnered with the Nothing But Nets charity to create the fundraiser “Mullets Against Malaria,” raising thousands of dollars to purchase mosquito netting to prevent malaria in global communities affected by the disease.
As the admissions process seems to grow more selective, it has evoked a national dialogue about the utility of evaluating candidates based on a singular day’s performance, especially when it might be impacted by factors that not all students have equitable access to, such as test prep courses or specialized tutors.
After talking with David Krashna, the student body president from 2016 to 2017 and editor of “Black Domers” — a book of essays about the African American experience at Notre Dame — freshman Dane Sherman recognized that the LGBTQ+ community needed to be represented in the same way.
For many, Notre Dame traditions are ingrained in their childhood as much as their own family traditions.
While the pandemic has required us to be increasingly attuned to the negative, let’s also remember to step back and appreciate some of the goodness that exists here in our own backyard.
At about 9:15 a.m. on Tuesday and Thursday mornings, Rachel Palermo can be found beelining from the Notre Dame Law School to her parking spot in order to join a very important phone call.
As a senior, I have many regrets. One of the biggest ones is not having explored more of South Bend when I had the chance. Now that I’m about to graduate, there’s nothing I love more than getting out of the classroom, off of Zoom and away from campus with my friends. I’ve compiled a list of all things worth doing and checking out around town that comply with CDC and school standards. So take a beat from burying your nose in the books and peel your eyeballs away from that screen for an afternoon or night on the town.
My freshman year experience looked a lot different than what freshmen are experiencing today. Everyone in the Class of 2021 arrived to campus the same weekend. We were always allowed in each other’s rooms and in other dorms. Classes were held in person. The dining halls were a place for friends to sit, dine and catch up for hours on end. Brother and sister dorms often commingled. And we weren’t trying to navigate our first year at Notre Dame in the midst of a pandemic.
It’s no secret that one year ago campus looked a lot different. You could recognize your friends and passers-by since no one was wearing masks. There weren’t as many hand sanitizer stations let alone any “HERE” signs or posters indicating the full force of the pandemic we now find ourselves in. The only texts you’d get from Notre Dame were Weather and Emergency Alerts.
When campus isn’t filled with students over winter and summer break sessions, the library echoes with a unique quiet and has an eerily empty feel, like an airport at 2:00 a.m. or the grocery store late at night. Chairs sit uninhabited and a sense of restfulness hums in the air. It’s no surprise Hesburgh Library didn’t look or feel quite that empty Tuesday, March 2. Amidst the advice to slow down and take a moment for yourself, Notre Dame students still populated this well-loved study spot. At 8:50 p.m. in the evening, the library seemed just as full as it always is on the university’s scheduled “mini-break” day.
You grab your boxed dinner from North Dining Hall and tote it back to the dorm. You forgot to bring a bag again so your bare fingers are stiff and numb around the container by the time you enter your room. You shut the door behind you and go to your desk where you’ll sit facing a wall, eating another meal alone. But it doesn’t have to be that way. You could jump onto a Zoom call instead to share stimulating conversation and make new friends — all from the comfort of your own room.
Dreams for a bigger kitchen and redecorated interior dining space still exist but have been put on the back burner. People comment on the work the restaurant needs, and Dont’e Shaw simply takes it in stride. He’s aware of the necessary renovations, he even had them planned out, but when you open your restaurant in the middle of a global pandemic, most plans have to be changed. Pandemic living has made so many things impossible and other things so anxiety-ridden that other alternatives have to be sought out instead.