'It's definitely a rule that gets broken a lot'

Watch me go behind the scenes to uncover how women feel about parietals at Notre Dame.

For my final video project, I decided to answer the question: How do women feel about parietals at Notre Dame? Notre Dame's visiting policy regarding members of the opposite sex staying in the dorms at night is called Parietals. Throughout this project, I explored how the policy impacts the lives of undergraduate women and the hall staff in a women's hall on campus. I was specifically interested to learn how parietals impact in the social culture at Notre Dame, if they can have a negative impact, what the benefits of the policy are, and how the social culture would change on campus if the policy didn't exist at Notre Dame.

This project opened my eyes to many sides of the issue that I did not consider previously. The women I interviewed brought forth strong points that both supported and opposed parietals. They made it clear that the policy has a noticeable impact on social culture and gender relations at Notre Dame. Through interviewing multiple subjects, I found that parietals hinder friendships between men and women on campus more often than relationships. The women spoke about an underlying assumption that the policy is in place to prevent sexual relationships. In reality, the policy cuts in on the time men and women can spend building friendships by creating a blatant division between sexes. It also puts in place an assumption that any relationship carried on between a man and women in the middle of the night must be a sexual one, and leaves no room for heterosexual friendships to grow.

After completing the project, I came up with a few suggestions for how University could improve the policy. First, as Sr. Mary Donnelly suggested, would be to raise the number and quality of 24-hour spaces in the dorms, giving men and women a good alternative location to spend time together after parietals go into effect. Second, I suggest the University extend the policy to 2a.m. during weekdays (the policy currently requires students to vacate dorms of the opposite sex by midnight), which would allow slightly more time for men and women to hang out or study together at night without a curfew that can get in the way. By 2a.m. it is late enough that the curfew would be less of a nuisance.

This project also clarified the ways which parietals and the dorm culture at Notre Dame have fundamentally played a role in how our community is shaped. While the rules can be annoying at times, the hall staff that I interviewed for the project pointed out strong benefits of the system. She argued the policy helps to solidify relationships between women in residence halls by allowing them a time to comfortably just "hanging out with the girls."

The policy remains a fact of life at Notre Dame, and likely will for a long time. Although the rules now seem outdated and hinder social dynamics, there are ways the policy could be updated to serve the student body better while still maintaining the values of the University at the same time.

Ring by Spring

Listen to my report on to see how the shifting face of marriage has changed the Ring by Spring tradition at Notre Dame.

"Ring by Spring" is a marriage tradition dating back to coeducation at Notre Dame. The term refers to couples who become engaged before graduating from college. As the legend goes, a couple will take a romantic walk around the lakes, the boyfriend will propose to his girlfriend at the Grotto, and their wedding will take place at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. These three steps complete the Ring by Spring tradition.

At Notre Dame, where traditions abound, Ring by Spring is perceived to have been wildly popular in the past. I interviewed different parties at Notre Dame to get the inside scoop about Ring by Spring. Kailyn and Mark, seniors who became engaged last December, discussed their reasons for wanting to marry. Professor Pamela Butler, an expert on the history of marriage in America, discussed the implications of marrying at a young age and how Ring by Spring fits into the larger history of marriage in this country. Lastly, Freshman Katie DuFour shared the results of the study she did at Notre Dame about whether or not people are interested in getting engaged at a young age and her opinions on the tradition.

I came to the conclusion that Ring by Spring is not as common as it is perceived to be at Notre Dame. While there are still a number of undergraduate couples who are engaged, they are in the minority of their class and often judged by their classmates for choosing to get married so early. Most importantly, their motivation to get engaged is not at all connected to an interest in carrying out the Ring by Spring fantasy. Kailyn and Mark insist that the Ring by Spring tradition had nothing to do with their motivation to get engaged before graduation. They feel they are simply ready to settle down and live their lives together.

In history, marrying young could benefit women especially. Many of them attended college looking to obtain an "MRS degree," basically on the lookout for a future husband. Once becoming engaged, they gained the security the marriage provided. In the present, this reality no longer exists. In fact, marrying young can work against the potential economic prosperity a women will have in her career. Especially at Notre Dame, where a large majority of women are career focused and capable.

Marrying young has shifted from goal to a happenstance.

Behind the Duties of a Notre Dame Rectress

Sr. Mary is the rectress of Pangborn Hall on Notre Dame campus. As a rectress, her duties include providing comfort and support for residents of the Hall, coordinating dorm events, enforcing dorm rules, and regulating the on-campus living experience in Pangborn. This is her fifth year living as a rectress in Pangborn after being raised and living in Grand Rapids, MI. 

Sr. Mary participates in the Our Father during chapel mass in Pangborn.

Sr. Mary directs students during the process of room picks.

Sr. Mary directed room picks, a process in which residents pick their
 room assignments for the following year in the dorm. 

Beginning at 8:00pm, Sr. Mary and the rest of hall staff worked
late into the night on room assignments for the dorm residents next year.

Working with Resident Assistants (RA) is a big part of
the rectress's job. She is also responsible for interviewing
and choosing students to fill the position of RA each year.

Sr. Mary assists the priest during communion at
mass on Sunday nights in the Pangborn chapel.

As is tradition, Sr. Mary addresses the members of Pangborn Hall
following Sunday mass. Her announcements include information about
upcoming dorm events, opportunities to get involved on campus, and administrative details. 

Check out my latest article in The Observer: Student hits 'College Gameday' Shot

Senior Casey Murdock had the luck of the Irish on his side Saturday morning when he made a half-court shot at College GameDay to win $18,000.
“When I saw the ball bank into the hoop on the second shot, I honestly did not know how to feel,” Murdock said. “I was completely at a loss for words.”
Murdock hit the shot on his second attempt during the ESPN program’s broadcast from Purcell Pavilion.
The avid basketball fan said he plans to act responsibly with his winnings.

Photo courtesy of The Observer

“I’m definitely going to save the majority of it; I’ll invest it somehow so that I can prepare for life after college,” Murdock said. “At the same time, when something like that happens, you need to celebrate somehow, so I’ll figure out a way to have fun with a little bit of it.”
Murdock’s favorite part of the experience was the crowd rushing the court to pile on him after he made the winning shot. Being surrounded by a horde of people, including the Notre Dame men’s basketball team, was completely overwhelming, he said.
“It felt like the entire Notre Dame community was celebrating this amazing moment not only for me, but with me,” he said. “It truly made me feel like part of a family, and at that point there was no more I could ask for.”
After the shot, Murdock said he found his friends and captured the moment through taking pictures and then continued celebrating at his home.
“I returned to my off-campus house, and as soon as I walked in the door all of my friend piled on me and started screaming with excitement,” he said.
Murdock said he practices shooting the ball around almost every day and has made half-court shots before, but he did not actually practice in preparation for “College GameDay.”
He has received many comments about the unorthodox form he used to get the winning shot, he said.
“I seem to have a better chance from half-court when I float the ball,” Murdock said. “In the end, though, I made it, and that’s about all that matters.”
Murdock said he continued celebrating by attending the men’s basketball game Saturday night, in which the Irish defeated Louisville 104-101 in a five-overtime game.
“It was all completely surreal, and definitely made one of the best days of my life,” Murdock said.

iPad Apps According to Meg

My goal of the week was to explore the app store and expand the list of apps I use. Basically, I wanted to force myself to take advantage of all the cool things my iPad can do, which I may as well use! Most of the things I tried out were journalism related, and the ones I particularly liked were apps that will help a lot with school and classes...

So without further ado, here are my reviews. The award for top app goes to....

1. HootSuite! This app makes it insanely easy to follow our Notre Dame #NDJED thread by allowing me to save the search and create a feed solely to follow tweets with our hashtag. By not having to specifically search for the #NDJED feed every time I open Twitter, I have found myself following the class feed more closely, and taking the time to read and comment on other people's tweets more often. This is, after all, why we have the feed. I'm glad we are taking full advantage of the #NDJED feed and happy that HootSuite will help me follow it as closely as I can. It could potentially allow me to follow Facebook in the same window, if I chose to hook mine up.

The app HootSuite is great for allowing me to follow our class #NDJED hashtag.

2. Evernote reminds me a little bit of Pinterest, but is useful in a more academic way. For me, it has been helpful to just have an outlet to record all of the thoughts going on inside my head, and to tag things that seem interesting so I do not forget them. The app allows me to keep track of cool things I come across on the Internet, keep track of reminders, post and save pictures, etc. While there are other apps on my iPad that can do these things, the most helpful part of Evernote is that you can save and export your account so that it can be shared with others (great if you are working on a group project of some sort). Also, it keeps all of your ideas in one place. This app is great.

3. Dropbox is an oldie-but-goodie that I discovered last semester. If you are a student working with multiple devices, such as an iPhone, iPad and laptop, Dropbox is a must. It is especially helpful to allow me to send photos back and forth between my devices, but I also use it to send readings/articles/papers from my laptop to read later on my iPad.

Dropbox is great for transferring academic documents among devices and transferring photos as well.

4. Photoshop Express is another app I worked with, and I would highly recommend it. It's free, which is awesome. Although I usually use photo-editing apps like Instagram or iPhoto, Photoshop Express has more effects and allows me to crop/enhance photos so that they look even better. I think this will be a really helpful app to use when putting photos up in my blog or in projects later in the semester.

5. Ustream has been used by many people in our class to broadcast all of the exciting things going on at Notre Dame. This app is awesome because it allows you to still take advantage of the many events that are happening without having to go to all of them in person. Especially at a school like Notre Dame where cool things are going on all the time, I forsee this app becoming really useful in our #NDJED class. If any student is attending an interesting lecture/speech/event on campus, they can Ustream it for everyone to see and then the rest of the class will be able to tune in. This weekend Fiona did so with the Meyo run and it was great to be able to watch that even though I didn't make it over to watch it in person.

Fiona's Ustream broadcast of the Notre Dame Meyo Run on Saturday, February 2.

6. Banjo has a great idea behind it: make an app where all of your social networks can work as one. The app is cool in that it allows you to input your current location and see what is going on across many social networking sites all around you. However, the app is somewhat hard to understand at first, not the most user-friendly. Also, some of the information seems irrevant because it is posted by people you may not know.

So, there's my thoughts. These apps were all free or cost only a few dollars, and they all helped to expand what I can use my iPad for greatly. They also just make life easier in many ways. Using them in conjunction with my all-time favorite apps like Feedly, Flipboard, PDF Notes, and Readability has allowed me to expand beyond just using my iPad to read the news and check email. These apps show how the iPad is getting better at bringing us future of news. The addition of these great apps to the device make it even more usable and helpful in daily life.

Notre Dame Students Lead Washington D.C. March for Life

The Washington D.C. March for Life left Notre Dame students with a renewed urgency for the pro-life movement, Sophomore Mary Olivia Balmert told The Observer.

More 600 members of the Notre Dame Right to Life club, including both students and faculty members, traveled to Washington D.C. to attend the national march last Saturday. Notre Dame were given the opportunity to lead the march, which sophomore Susanna Floyd called "an incredibly cool experience."

Notre Dame students show off their pro-life signs at the March for Life in Washington D.C.

The participants from Notre Dame converged on the National Mall with more than 650,000 people from across the country to march in protest of the 1973 Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in America. This years march held special significance because 2013 marks the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling. 

Standing up for their beliefs in solidarity was very memorable, Sophomore Lexi Stroud said. "It was amazing to see how many people showed up for the cause. I especially loved marching along side my friends and participating together to demonstrate our beliefs."

Mary Olivia Balmert, who serves as a comissioner in Notre Dame's Right to Life club, saw the event as a wake up call for the nation, she told The Observer.

"This trip [was] especially serious because it encouraged us to look back over the past four decades and remember how many lives have been lost in that time framed: over 55 million," Balmert said to The Observer. "Roe v. Wade occurred before I was born, meaning that when I was in utero it was considered legal for my mother to terminate her pregnancy and end my life if she had wanted. As my poster at the march said, I'm a survivor."

Notre Dame sophomores Susanna Floyd and Lexi Stroud at the march in Washington D.C.

Sophomore Right to Life club media commissioner Andrew Weiner was one of 50 students who got to carry the official March for Life banner at the front of the crowd. 

"It was great being with a group of young people leading the march, leading the way and showing people that we are a generation that really cares about this issue," Weiner said. 

Notre Dame students commuted to the march via two overnight bus trips, each lasting upwards of nine hours. The travel was definitely worth it, Susanna Floyd said. 

"It was just a really fun experience to attend the march and to be able to see Washington D.C." Floyd said. "I am so happy to attend a university that makes it possible to attend events like this and I am so happy I took advantage of the opportunity to come."

Manti Te'o: A Tough Lesson Learned

When I was first informed about the hoax surrounding star Notre Dame football player Manti Te'o and his deceased girlfriend, I immediately flashed back to the first time I heard about the tragedy. I remember sitting in South Dining Hall when a friend of mine received a cell phone notification: "Oh my God, the girlfriend and grandmother of Manti Te'o both died this week but he is still expected to play on Saturday." My instinctual reaction involved pure sympathy; questioning the truth of the story never even crossed my mind. 

Over the past week, our school has been at the eye of the storm that is the Te'o debacle, which seems to get stranger with every report. Although more questions have been raised than answered, one particular aspect of the story has particularly interested me as an undergraduate journalism student: how did this happen? Why didn't anybody catch the lie before now? 

If you've been paying attention to the coverage in the least, you most likely have read testimonials from many journalists, most notably Pete Thamel of Sports Illustrated, who admitted failure in their reporting. Thamel acknowledged three red flags raised during his research following an interview with Te'o- a missing obituary for Lennay Kekua, the lack of record of Kekua attending Stanford University, and the non-existent record of her reported automobile accident during their relationship- that he neglected to pursue. Even reading through the transcript of their interview, it is hard to understand why Thamel did not press further in his investigation of Te'o's relationship with her, which Te'o was undeniably uncomfortable discussing. In total, it has been reported that 21 media organizations fell for the hoax (http://sbn.to/10dDfdW). This is a glaring error on the part of journalists in America. The situation clearly demonstrates the consequences that accompany the diminished amount of investigative journalism that is carried out today.

A partial transcript of Te'o's interview with SI writer Pete Thamel from Sept. 23, 2012

It seems to me another fault of journalists comes in their blind trust for the big-name news outlets. Once they reported the story, it seems other journalists trusted in the story and felt comfortable sharing it without doing the necessary research themselves. The "colossal embarrassment" will hopefully inspire a new wave of diligent research in the media (http://bo.st/VPP3iP).

As a journalist, falling for a hoax like this has many repercussions, not the least of which is losing the trust of your readers. Obviously, questioning the reality of Te'o's relationship with Kekua could be seen as awkward or insensitive. The situation is undeniably weird- who would ever expect someone to have a fake girlfriend? The missteps taken by journalists have been attributed to how unusual the situation is. However, the fact is that Americans expect journalists to have built in bullshit detectors that pick up on lies such as this. It is their job. 

As a journalism student, one of the main lessons drilled into us repeatedly is the importance of asking questions and following leads. In fact, the media has gained the epithet of the "fourth estate" because of the work they do keeping government and people in check. A vital part of their job comes in acting as a watchdog to pick up on scams such as the Te'o hoax and avoid misleading the public. 

This unfortunate incident is an awakening to journalists everywhere: we must ask questions, backup our reports, follow up on inconsistencies and be diligent in our work. The controversy following the hoax has focused on whether or not Te'o was involved with the hoax, if the situation affected Notre Dame's loss in the January 7 BCS Championship game, and the reasons the hoax was designed. These conversations simply distract from the true lesson learned by this event. Journalists today need to hold themselves to a higher standard to ensure that the quality of news provided to the public remains valuable and trustworthy.