Newsman Calls for Separation of Public, Private Realms

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SCGflG • 12"13 News- 8 1999 T h e O BSERVER The Independent Newspaper Serving Notre Dame and Saint M ary’s VOL XXXII NO. 110 WWW.ND.EDU/-OBSERVER Newsman calls for separation of public, private realms By TIM LOGAN President Ronald Reagan’s first elected officials received more News Editor term , has led to a decline in civil attention. discourse in government. “At a time when our standards Journalists, politicians and gener “A rival can’t simply be mistaken, weren’t quite as high, we wanted to al society must guard against the misguided or impractical... he must know more and expose more about erosion of barriers between public be made the moral equivalent of Al our political leaders because we and private matters if the United Capone or the Marquis do Sadi;," weren’t going to let them get away States is to maintain a vibrant and Dionne said. “A lot of it is not sim with hypocrisy,” he explained. responsive democracy, said nation ply about honest disagreement ... a While this focus on the personal ally syndicated political columnist lot of attack becomes intensely per is inherent in the very nature of our E.J. Dionne in a lecture Tuesday. sonal.” democratic system. Dionne con In the wake of President Bill This trend began in the late tended, journalists must work Clinton’s impeachment and the 1960s, according to Dionne. At this against the apathy that it engenders increasing focus on the private lives time, there was a fundamental con by bringing their audience bal of elected officials, Dionne warned flict between “cultural traditional anced, thoughtful coverage and that overemphasizing the private ists” and the movements for greater taking the public seriously. sphere poisons healthy political rights for blacks, women and “If Americans in large numbers debate and damages the democrat homosexuals. This put conserva choose to sit out and decide govern ic process. tives in a position of “defensive ment’s not important to them, then “The complete collapse of distinc offense,” that led to a focus on we journalists will have failed," lie tion between public and private is moral issues and a “ a new feroci said. “We’d best not do that." anathema to democratic thinking,” ty,” according to Dionne. “The old Media coverage of the Clinton The Observer/ Joe Stark he said, noting that philosophical rules went out the window.” Investigation was another topic Washington Post syndicated columnist E.J. Dionne visited differences have led to attacks on As Americans became more toler which Dionne discussed. campus to speak on the media’s responsibility to focus on the private behavior of political ant of different lifestyles, he said, While acknowledging that main- appropriate public affairs. Dionne is this year’s journalist-in- opponents. The polarized climate in they also became more suspicious residence for the Notre Dame Program in Journalism. Washington, D C., particularly over of politicians. The private lives of MEDIA / page - Medical ethicist shares field’s progress Academic By LINDSAY PRANK form of religion actually improved their News Writer health. One of these epidemiological studies from California’s Almeda A careful dose of faith may be the County performed a 28-year patient fol luncheons only necessity to successfully reunite low-up. Controlling for family history spirituality with medicine, according to and substance abuse, the data suggest a lecture by Daniel Sulmasy, a ed that people who attended a religious resume Franciscan friar and bioethics scholar. institution on a regular basis had a 77 Despite long-term trends that dimin percent lower mortality rate than those By JACKIE OSTROWSKI ished spirituality’s role in healing, that who did not attend. News W rite r________________________________________ relationship may be growing again, Sulmasy proposed several reasons to explained Sulmasy, who serves as explain religion’s affect on people. Academic Pride Week luncheons spon director of the Bioethics Institute of “ One explanation is the relaxation sored by Notre Dame student govern New York Medical College. response, there is evidence that this ment began last week and continue with “ In the twentieth century, it’s gotten can effect the immune system,” he said. the optimism of sponsors, despite mixed lo the point that it seems that science is lie also said that the community sup responses from some faculty. all that counts," he said. “ Medical stu port. sense of purpose and discipline The program consists of a series of dents are trained to think only of sci associated with religious practices luncheons designed to enhance ence and not of spirituality." enable people to “find some sort of student/faculty relations. According to several studies conduct meaning to their suffering which allows Although Academic Pride Week origi ed in North Carolina and Pennsylvania, them to view their illness in a positive nated last November in an attempt to 77 percent of patients wanted to dis way." start a new Notre Dame tradition, it has cuss spiritual issues with th eir physi Sulmasy also cautioned prudence in expanded. The program first included all cians, while 4>S percent of those sur use of religion to aid health. college deans, but this semester student The Observer/ Joe Stark veyed wanted to pray with their physi “ Wo shouldn’t advise people to believe Daniel Sulmasy lectured Wednesday on government chose to expand the pro cians. in God for health care reasons. We efforts to reconnect spirituality with the gram to all undergraduate teaching pro- Other studies Sulmasy cited indicated shouldn’t put God on the level of oat medical field. Faith can aid physical heal that individuals who practiced some bran and wearing seal belts.” he said. ing, he said. see LUNCHEON / page 4 Women’s studies program exhibits strong potential By NOREEN GILLESPIE women’s studies!." coordinator. “The college has “probably will be proposed in major, which must be declared Saint Mary's News F.ilitor Undaunted, Kelley’s interest other staffing needs.” the near future. I’ve had stu no later than spring break of a in women’s studies motivated But with an increase in dents ask more than once a student's sophomore year. She When sophomore Carolyn her lo submit a proposal this interested students in the sub year about the possibility.” must have a 3.2 GPA, two let Kelley began lo research her spring for a student-designed ject, a proposal may be on the On average, between seven ters of recommendation from student-designed women’s major in the area. The stu horizon. and 10 students graduate with faculty and write a proposal studies major proposal over dent-designed major, a pro While only one student has a women’s studies minor each outlining the course of study Christmas break, she reached gram established by the graduated with a women’s year. However, since the the student plans. This pro a startling realization. College in 1993, grew out of a studies major since the estab establishment of the women’s posal must detail the intellec Saint Mary’s might not be women’s studies subgroup dis lishment of the student- studies program in 1987, tual rationale for the major the place to explore such a cussion when a student want designed major, two proposals 3,256 women have taken and describe reasons why the field. ed to major in the area, and wore submitted for women’s courses, indicating a height course of study does not fit in “1 looked at a lot of women’s the college only offered a studies major this year, and ened level of interest among any other established major studies programs at other col minor. there is more interest with students. This may lead to offered by the College. leges and saw how phenome “The reason we do not have underclassmen. growth in the program in the It is a program designed only nal they were," Kelley said. "I a women’s studies major at the “ I’ve had four or five fresh near future. for the motivated student, began thinking that if this was moment is purely a matter of men ask me about women’s Currently, the only way a assured Haigwood. “For those what I really wanted to do, staffing and funding,” said studies, and I expect that trend student can graduate with a students who do take the step that maybe Saint Mary’s professor Laura Haigwood, to continue,” Haigwood said. A women’s studies degree is wasn’t the best place [for women’s studies program formal women’s studies major through the student-designed see W O M EN / page 4 page 2 The Observer • INSIDE Wednesday, March 24, 1999 0 INSIDE COLUMN ^fhitsidc the Dome Fire Demons V Compiled from U-Wire reports Infest O ’Shag Administrators admit to discrimination against female faculty BOSTON Administrators have also shuffled Administrators at the class assignments and given female Massachusetts Institute of faculty more office and laboratory I’ve come to the conclusion that in its zeal Technology acknowledged last week space. to become research-oriented, the University they have systematically discriminat “Using the word discrimination has transformed all of our classroom build ed against female faculty for makes it sound deliberate,” said ings into controlled experimentsjTatjdeter^ decades, a bias they said has had Nancy Hopkins, an MIT professor of mine that precise tern- p;nn Pressley long-term negative effects on profes biology who was among those who perature at which S tU - Assisstant News Editor sors and the university.

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