Student voters consider faith
Before senior Chris Damien turned to news organizations like CNN, Fox News or MSNBC to inform his decisions for the election, he turned to another source – the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ document “Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship.” For Damien, life issues and policies about marriage are important political considerations this Election Day. But more importantly for the senior philosophy major is being an informed Catholic voter on all the issues at stake in this election, not just one or two. “It’s very clear what the Church teaches,” Damien said. “It’s not a secret. It’s not hard to find. … And obviously you’re not going to find someone who agrees with everything the Church teaches. So it’s really important to look at what each candidate has said or promoted in relation to the [Catholic Church’s] teachings and to make an informed decision. “Being a lazy voter has never been a real part of the Catholic sensibility.” Damien is one Notre Dame student who is casting his ballot in this election. He is also one Catholic who is casting his ballot in this election. The overlap between political belief and faith comes to a poignant crossroads on a campus of a Catholic university like Notre Dame, but students and professors considered that intersection to be a more personal and dynamic one today than it has been historically in the United States. A traditional vote Political science professor David Campbell said Catholic voters tended to be Democrats historically because they occupied a lower social class that did not find much support from Republican candidates. “Over the last 50 years or so, American Catholics have lived the American dream in most cases,” Campbell said. “A group that was once isolated to neighborhoods and was a blue collar population, we’ve seen Catholics move to the suburbs and have white collar jobs.” Political science professor Darren Davis agreed, calling the historical working class that tend to favor more liberal economic plays the “New Deal Coalition” of voters. “Catholics’ voting patterns have largely reflected their working class backgrounds, but one could argue that their Democratic Party affiliation began to crystallize with the election of John F. Kennedy,” he said. Now, Campbell said, wealthier voters are more likely to be Republican, and Catholics are more likely to be wealthier members of society. “Over the last 20 to 30 years or so, we’ve seen a divide emerge within the Catholic population that actually perfectly mirrors the divide you find in the national population,” Campbell said. “Catholics that are more religiously devout … they are more likely to lean more Republican than Democrat.” History professor Mark Noll said the influence of religion in national politics ebbs and flows across election seasons. “I think this year [faith] is less significant than it was in 2008 or even 2000 because of the concentration on economic matters,” he said. Noll teaches a course this semester on “Religion and American Politics,” and he said history class creates a “learning season” on the way religion affects hot-button issues and election discourse. “I’m impressed with their seriousness. … They seem to be presenting these positions after the kind of clear thought and careful agenda setting that a democracy requires,” Noll said. “So in the extent that they are representing the Notre Dame campus, I’m quite optimistic about intelligent, morally-based voting, morally-aware voting by the Notre Dame students.” ‘A public servant’ Senior Kara Mathis said she was “pleasantly surprised” with the balanced debate she has experienced as a voter on campus this semester. When her sociology professors have considered the election and campaign politics this semester, she said, faith has not been a dominant part of discourse in the classroom. “For the most part, people are respectful to keep [faith] of it out of the debate, especially in the classroom,” she said. “Personally, if I’m at my house or if I’m with my friends, that may be brought up more.” Even in looking at the larger scale of policy in the country, Mathis said moral values will overlap with the way an individual voter views debate over important issues. “On the issue of health care, my personal belief, my Christian belief, says that you are there to help those who can’t help themselves,” she said. “In that case, I wholeheartedly believe in universal health care policies that would help those to get themselves back on their feet.” But for Mathis, her religion needs to be separate than her political consciousness. “For me, I try and look at my political views through the lens of a public servant,” Mathis said. “These officials are elected to serve citizens whether or not they pray to the same god or they read the same religious script. I try and look at the bigger picture and realize that my beliefs … are not the only religious beliefs represented by the American people, so when I look at issues, especially social issues, I try to understand it through the country as a whole.” Faith, she said, is personal. Politics is not. “I try and live my life in a Christian way, but my faith is based on a personal relationship with Jesus Christ,” she said. “It’s not based on a decision made by someone next to me. So I guess that’s how I look at political issues as well.” The day after Election Day During this election, the economy has been a dagger for both parties and a grenade in the hands of voters watching their candidates debate. “Abortion, gay marriage and other issues that resonate with Catholics have been overshadowed by economic issues,” Davis said. “Moral and social issues have not been prominent in the presidential debates and campaign ads tended to minimize these issues.” The issue of Catholicism has moderately resurfaced in this election among the two major candidates for vice president – Democratic incumbent Vice President Joe Biden and Republican candidate Paul Ryan are both Catholics. During the vice presidential debate Oct. 11, moderator Martha Raddatz of ABC News threw a curveball at the two men. “This debate is, indeed, historic,” she said. “We have two Catholic candidates, first time, on a stage such as this. And I would like to ask you both to tell me what role your religious has played in your own personal views on abortion.” The question, Campbell said, exposed voters to two different perspectives on an issue from Catholic candidates – and two different perspectives on applying personal belief to political policy. “The question was actually quite an odd one,” Campbell said. “Martha Raddatz did not ask, ‘What is your policy on abortion?’ … [She asked,] ‘Talk about your personal feelings on abortion and your Catholic faith.’ Really what should matter is their policies.” Davis said students, like candidates, must evaluate their own beliefs to dictate their own individual votes. “My advice to Notre Dame students is this: Faith and religious beliefs are extremely important, and they should be at the heart of all political decisions,” Davis said. The ballots will be cast, by Catholics and non-Catholics alike, on Tuesday. And then comes the day after Election Day. “A lot of people think that they vote and their responsibility as a citizen is done once Election Day comes, but it’s not,” Damian said. “We’re constantly members of society, so we have a responsibility to live out those values and ideals in every aspect of our lives. It’s important that what we care about in politics also comes out in our daily lives.”
Editor’s note: This is the second installment in a five-part series exploring the events and discussions of Saint Mary’s Love Your Body Week, which aims to foster self-confidence and positive body images.Love Your Body Week at Saint Mary’s kicked off Monday with cotton candy in the dining hall, followed by a discussion with Christina Grasso, an alumna of the Class of 2011, about her struggle with anorexia.The Week, initiated four years ago by Saint Mary’s students, aims to promote self-esteem and to educate students about maintaining healthy lifestyles.In her talk, Grasso said she started struggling with anorexia as a freshman in college, but it wasn’t until her junior year that her friends confronted her about the problem.“The vast majority of those who struggle with eating disorders are normal weight or overweight, and I wish I would have known that then,” she said.By her junior year at Saint Mary’s, Grasso had stopped eating altogether, she said.Grasso said an eating disorder can be deadly, regardless of weight, and those who deprive themselves or abuse their bodies in any way need and deserve help.“I returned home from graduation with a plan to move to New York in mid-July,” Grasso said. “Instead, during a routine visit to my doctor, it was decided that I would be admitted to a hospital across the country specializing in the treatment of eating disorders, where I would spend the next few months getting help. I was heartbroken, but I knew it needed to happen.”Grasso said, at first, she was very resistant to treatment.“I fought tooth-and-nail to keep anorexia close simply because it became something with which I could curl up and always feel safe, even if it was killing me,” she said.Now, Grasso has been out of treatment for two-and-a-half years, and, despite occasional setbacks and lapses, she said she has continued to recover on an out-patient basis.“Life began to get in the way of my eating disorder, rather than vice versa,” she said. “I began checking off boxes on my bucket list and seizing opportunities [of] which I had always dreamed. I began to really live life for the first time in years.”Junior Sam Moorhead, Social Concerns Committee chair for the Student Government Association (SGA), helped to bring Grasso to campus for Love Your Body Week. Moorhead said Grasso is involved with a nonprofit organization, Project HEAL, dedicated to the issue of eating disorders.Junior Mackenzie Woods said Project HEAL, which stands for Help to Eat, Accept and Live, was founded in 2008 by two New York teens who met while battling anorexia. Project HEAL raises money for people who are unable to afford treatment and promotes healthy body image among teens and young adults.Moorhead said Grasso speaks regularly about her experiences with eating disorders and body image at middle schools, high schools and colleges nationwide on behalf of Project HEAL.Grasso said she was never the type of person interested in public speaking, but she presents across the country in the hopes of showing others struggling with eating disorders that recovery is possible.“I have always been a pretty private person, so I don’t know where all of this outspokenness and honesty comes from [in] this area in my life, but I do know that it helps immensely to have someone who endured and survived this horrendous illness, letting other sufferers know that it’s okay, there’s nothing to be ashamed of, there’s help, there’s hope and, most importantly, it is possible to become fully recovered,” she said. “I have seen it and I believe it.“It takes, on average, five to seven years to recover from a full-blown eating disorder, and by the standard, I am almost halfway there.”Moorhead said SGA invited Grasso to speak at Saint Mary’s because health issues relate to young women’s self-perception.Love Your Body Week is a week that strives to emphasize the unique beauty of each individual on our campus and the importance of a healthy and positive self-imagr,” Moorhead said. “Eating disorders affect so many women, and we hope that [Grasso’s] talk can provide hope and encouragement to those who may be strugglin..”Woods said she hopes to start a chapter of Project HEAL at Saint Mary’s sooe.“I decided that this issue doesn’t get talked about enough hers,” Woods said. “I believe this will keep the conversation going and reduce stigmas right here on our own campus.“We plan on hosting fundraising events, and those will contribute to the project HEAL national scholarship fund.”More information about Project HEAL is available at theprojectheal.orgTags: anorexia, Christina Grasso, Class of 2011, eating disorders, Love Your Body Week, Project HEAL
After teaching for 29 years and taking classes for 12 years — one course every fall and spring semester, in addition to one summer course — Patti Sayre, professor of philosophy, achieved a 4.0 GPA and will receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree during the 2016 Commencement ceremony. “I got my Ph.D. the last year that [Fr.] Hesburgh was president at Notre Dame,” Sayre said. “I rather like the idea that I’m getting my BFA in Carol Mooney’s last year.”Sayre said her passion for art began at a young age. “People would ask me if I wanted to be an artist when I was in third grade,” Sayre said, “I got this idea I would be an artist.” However, in her junior year of high school, philosophy pulled her in another direction, she said. “My art didn’t seem to be going anywhere at that time,” she said, “I switched my sense of where I was going to be.” After earning her undergraduate degree from Wheaton College in Illinois and her Ph.D. from Notre Dame, Sayre decided to pursue a career at Saint Mary’s. Sayre said Saint Mary’s was, by far, the best fit for her. “I’m not sure every women’s college is like this one,” she said. “I think this one has got something that others don’t.”Years after she began teaching, one of Sayre’s colleagues took Drawing I and inspired her to do the same, she said. “I thought that’s really wonderful,” she said. “If you work at Saint Mary’s at any capacity, you can take one course for free each semester.”“I was just going to take that one course, but then it was so good, I thought I would take Drawing II as well,” she said. “I just decided I’m really enjoying this, and I’ll just keep going.”According to Sayre, art majors must undergo reviews at the end of each semester where they present their work to faculty for critiquing. However, students taking an art class who are not majoring in art do not have to go through the review.“I thought, ‘Of course I’m not going to do this,’” she said, “And then I thought, ‘Well, what if I decided I did want to get a degree?’ So the night before, I decided, ‘I’m going to do something.’” Sayre said the reviews provide purpose for the classes. “It just makes what you’re doing seem more real,” she said. “Like it’s not just going to end up in a closet — it’s going to hang on the wall, even if it is only for 24 hours.”The review was an “intimidating” process, she said.“I would almost always have a crisis right before the reviews where I felt I couldn’t do it,” she said. “A lot of the art students had more experience when they arrived at Saint Mary’s.”According to Sayre, she could not have earned her degree without the aid of other students and faculty.“They held my hand a lot more than other people’s hands,” she said. “They were looking after me when I was on a point of collapse, because I had just never done this before. … Given where I knew I was when I started and given where I am now, it really does seem like [the program] works. It turns you into someone who has an actual artistic style, focus and goals.”Despite the challenge of the review process, Sayre said her greatest challenge was sleeping. “I’ve had semesters where I’ve gone on two hours a night for several months running,” she said. “But those semesters were sometimes the most exciting semesters — they really helped to keep me sane.”She said the transformation was easier for her to see due to the extended period of time she was taking classes. “Everyone else has to have this magical transformation happen in four years,” she said. “I don’t know if while it’s happening they’re quite aware of it, but I’ve seen it happen in others.”Although Sayre is graduating with a 4.0 GPA, she was not offered the status of valedictorian due to a rule that states students must have taken a certain number of credits at Saint Mary’s to be considered for the position. “I transferred in so much from graduate school and my first undergraduate degree, I believe I was just short,” she said. “Besides, I think it’s more important that the valedictorian speech come from someone who is not in this weird position I’m in.” Even without the valedictorian status, Sayre said she is proud of her accomplishment. “I tell my students all the time that grades don’t matter, but I’m still a little bit proud of it.” she said. “I got more out of myself than I thought was in there. It represents how I pushed myself.”As of now, Sayre does not think she will pursue a career in art, but would like to continue with her work and hopes to eventually have it showcased. “I want very badly to keep going somehow, but I’m not going to jump ship here and try and go start a new career at this point,” she said. “I like the idea that my art is being seen rather than just having it sit in the closet.”According to Sayre, she would like to be considered a portrait artist, and has two favorite types of portraiture — paintings of the ground and portraits of homeless people.“I think [paintings of the ground are] kind of a portrait of a place,” she said. “The faces [of homeless people] on the street are so beautiful. There’s life written on their faces. The idea was by painting it, then people could see the beautiful face that normally they’re just ignoring.” Sayre is done with her days of taking Saint Mary’s classes for credit, she said. However, she still thinks she will sit in on classes both in and out of the art department. “I’m going to miss being a student alongside students,” she said. “I liked feeling that camaraderie and feeling that I was one of the students and not just a faculty member.” Tags: Commencement 2016, professor, SMC
What are CUSOs doing? This is a very common question I hear from credit union and CUSO folks. From our vantage point of working with NACUSO and working with hundreds of CUSOs in the past 30 years, we have a unique perspective to know the CUSO universe. Even NCUA used to call us on CUSO industry questions from time to time. Now that CUSOs are becoming an essential part of the credit union business model, existing CUSOs are being asked to provide more services and new CUSOs are being formed. Will there ever come a day when we have more CUSOs than credit unions…maybe?Since the role of CUSOs is becoming so important to the success and survival of credit unions, NCUA saw the need to know more about CUSOs. While NACUSO and NCUA had differing views on whether CUSOs could be required to report directly to NCUA, the silver lining is a better knowledge base about CUSOs.The good news is that the NCUA’s CUSO Registry is a searchable data base and it attempts to be as comprehensive as possible. The bad news is that NCUA does not share much data… only the CUSO’s name, address, telephone number, web site and services. CUSOs were nervous about NCUA sharing their proprietary data and NCUA erred on the conservative side. continue reading » 10SHARESShareShareSharePrintMailGooglePinterestDiggRedditStumbleuponDeliciousBufferTumblr
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Would you like to read more?Register for free to finish this article.Sign up now for the following benefits:Four FREE articles of your choice per monthBreaking news, comment and analysis from industry experts as it happensChoose from our portfolio of email newsletters To access this article REGISTER NOWWould you like print copies, app and digital replica access too? SUBSCRIBE for as little as £5 per week.
“We conclude that strict physical-distancing measures, as well as a serious public health intervention, should be undertaken if the country wants to get the optimal benefit from its high temperature and humidity in lowering the risks of the COVID-19 outbreak.”The joint study cited two studies that have yet to be peer-reviewed saying that Indonesia, with an average temperature of 27 to 30 degrees Celsius and 70 to 95 percent humidity, is apparently not an ideal place for the virus to survive.Read also: Indonesia’s climate can limit COVID-19, but high mobility exacerbates it: BMKGDespite the odds, the country was eventually exposed to the virus due to high mobility during the outbreak, particularly from the virus epicenter in China. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has played down suggestions quoting its research that Indonesia’s high temperature during the dry season as well as its humidity will curb the spread of COVID-19.BMKG head Dwikorita Karnawati said she was worried that the joint research between the agency and a team from the Gadjah Mada University (UGM) Medical School in Yogyakarta had been misunderstood. The research was conducted to determine the impact of climate on COVID-19 transmission based on modeling, statistical analysis and literature review.“I read that some might not have read our research completely and then concluded that the dry season would kill off the virus. That’s not our conclusion,” Dwikorita said on Tuesday evening. “We made the conclusion based on studies conducted between January and March. In this situation, it was impossible for us to wait for them to be peer-reviewed for another three or six months. We needed to make breakthroughs in handling the crisis, as long as we made transparent how we conducted the study,” said Dwikorita.She went on to say that the agency had handed the study’s results to the government on March 26 to help the latter in policy making.Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said last week that the country would have an advantage compared with other countries as “the virus will be weaker in high-temperature locations.”Such a suggestion had been previously debunked by the World Health Organization. The United Nations health body stated temperatures higher than 25 degrees Celsius would not halt the coronavirus spread, given that the disease had also emerged in countries with a hot climate. (kuk)Topics :
ST. OMER, Ind. – An overpass over I-74 near St. Paul in Decatur County is expected to close for the next 180 days beginning this week.County Road 700 North will be shut down for a $1.2 million replacement project by INDOT contractor Beaty Construction.Shoulder and lane closures will be in effect on I-74 while work is in progress. Intermittent stoppages are also planned on I-74 during demolition and beam setting operations.The project is expected to be complete by October 31. Motorists are encouraged to slow down and use extra caution through work zones.
Press Association He said: “The experience of Dick Advocaat is one they’re looking to draw on and get something a little more out of the players than Gus managed to do and more importantly to get points on the board. “When you see the experience of a man who’s managed across the world I wouldn’t have thought there would be too many surprises for him coming and managing in the Premier League. “There’s a different level of football in this Premier League in terms of its quality and intensity. It’s quicker and better and just as skilful as anywhere else in the world so I think it’s more about him getting used to his players and how best to pick a system with the players he’s got to get a result.” West Ham boss Sam Allardyce has dismissed reports linking him with the Sunderland job as “pure speculation”. The Hammers themselves have won only once in their last 12 league games and Allardyce’s contract runs out at the end of the current campaign – but he insisted he will not be looking to leave east London any time soon. “Pure speculation,” Allardyce replied when asked about reports linking him with a summer move to Sunderland. “I’m West Ham manager and I’m contracted to West Ham and don’t expect anything other than somewhere along the line we’ll be talking about a contract here.” When asked if he saw himself at West Ham next year, he said: “If that contract is right, yes.” Poyet’s 18-month reign at Sunderland came to an end following a 4-0 home defeat to Aston Villa last weekend, a result which leaves the club without a Premier League victory since January, and Allardyce fears a backlash from whatever side is named by Advocaat. “They’ve moved very swiftly for a replacement which is giving them the best possible chance of improving their results,” he said. “It will be one of those for us that makes the game more difficult with a new manager coming in and the fact they lost 4-0 last week. I think the players of Sunderland will be very hurt by the fact they let their fans down and also be feeling like they’ve let Gus down and they’ll want to do something about it.” Despite a managerial career spanning nearly 30 years, Advocaat has yet to taste life as a Premier League boss, but Allardyce believes his experience negates any potential surprises to managing in England. The 60-year-old emerged as an early favourite to be appointed at the Stadium of Light in the summer after the struggling Black Cats sacked Gus Poyet and installed Dick Advocaat on a short-term deal until the end of the season. With Sunderland hovering just one point above the Premier League relegation zone, former Rangers manager Advocaat has been tasked with maintaining their top-flight status – and starts with a trip to face West Ham on Saturday evening. 
Pardew said: “What he did surprise me with on Monday night is his aerial ability. He really was outstanding. “I don’t know if he’s got a bionic knee, but he’s got an extra spring from somewhere.” Pardew says the Cumbrian has many qualities – pace is not among them – and may have had to adapt his game, like Alan Shearer did, after serious injuries. “Glenn has had to change his game a little bit and he goes to Sunderland, goals per minute, as the best striker in the Premier League,” Pardew added. “That is great for him, it really is. It is a great tag for him and he can try and keep it for as long as he can.” Pardew believes he is reaping the rewards of Murray being given a chance to find his feet at Reading earlier this season. Murray scored eight goals in 18 games for the Royals, before committing to Palace on Pardew’s arrival in January. “In defending that decision, of Neil Warnock and the board here, of him going out on loan, he probably did need a few games and it’s difficult to get them in the Premier League,” Pardew said. “In a way the loan, which I think was perceived as a negative by our fans, might not have been a bad thing. I’m obviously getting the benefit of that.” Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew joked Glenn Murray has a “bionic” knee and hopes the striker can continue to torment Premier League defences. Murray missed the majority of last season after rupturing a cruciate knee ligament as Palace won promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs in 2013. The 31-year-old has netted five goals in five games, including in last Monday’s defeat of Manchester City, to earn the best goals-per-minute ratio of anyone in the top-flight. 
Press Association