Students, Faculty Honor India's Independence

t i ac H OBSERVER Wednesday, April 1, 1998 * Vol. XXXI No. 117 THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING NOTRE DAME AND SAINT MARY'S Students, faculty honor India’s independence By ANNE MARIE MATTINGLY tems of India that has taken place throughout Assistant News Editor the last half-century. She emphasized the plu ralist nature of India, commenting that the In an effort to expose the Notre Dame com country is a “multinational state” that has munity to the past, present and future of India, learned many ways to approach its diversity. faculty and students gathered yesterday to “The nation has changed from a system of honor the 50th anniversary of the nation’s state centralization, a government running as a independence. unitary federalism. Now it runs by a method of Sponsors for the event included the South de-centralized federalism,” explained Asia Studies Group, the India Association of Randolph. Notre Dame, the Office of the Provost and the Randolph attributed the distribution of Helen Kellogg Institute for International national power to local centers of authority to Studies. the federal government’s relinquishing some of “We wanted to increase awareness about the its control over the economy, as well as to large country of India, a country that shares changes in the party structure. many goals and beliefs with the United States “[India] changed because its central com and to celebrate [India’s] independence,” said mand economy has given way to economic Arvind Varma, a professor of Chemical reforms and liberalization, and because its one- Engineering who helped to coordinate the party system gave way to a multi-party system event. strongly influenced by regional parties,” “We wanted to emphasize political and eco Randolph said. nomic aspects, as well as religion and art,” said The symposium’s second speaker, University Varma. To achieve this goal, the members of of Florida professor of religion Vasudha the Fiftieth Anniversary Program Committee Narayanan, discussed Hinduism in the United selected three speakers, each of whom focused States and India by describing Hindu temples, on a different aspects of Indian life and culture. while showing corresponding slides. The Observer/Kevin Dalum Susanne Randolph, professor of'political sci “Traditional architecture is a source of Father Theodore Hesburgh, the final speaker at yesterday’s sympo ence at the University of Chicago, addressed the power,” Narayanan stated. “The size of deity is sium honoring India’s 50 years of independence, discussed his travel development of the political and economic sys in that country. see IN D IA / page 7 Student Senate readyStudying the Great Irish Rebellion ... to begin ‘98-‘99 term By TIM LOGAN from Lyons Hall. Mamak was News Writer chair of the Senate’s Oversight Committee last year, and A new era in student govern worked extensively on ment will begin tonight with improvements in the Student the initiation of the new Union Constitution. Balchunas Student Senate term, one of took over the Lyons seat in several student union institu January and was unable to tions being turned over to new serve on any committees due hands this week. to her short tenure on the Twenty-six new representa Senate. tives will join two returning Both Mamak and Balchunas members of the Senate, which hope to continue work on will be led by student body issues debated by the ‘97-‘98 vice-president Andrea Selak. body. Among these are 10 freshmen, “I wanted to ensure that a lot of our projects were continued, The Observer/Liz Lang 11 sophomores and three The Great Irish Rebellion Convention continued yesterday juniors. Four residence halls and that we can move into new with three sessions of two addresses each. Daniel Gahan of the have not yet elected their sena areas, ” said Mamak about run University of Evansville began today’s proceedings with a lec tors. n in g fo r a second te rm . He ture on the impact of the revolution in county Wexford. He was The two returning senators highlighted laundry service in followed by Notre Dame’s Kevin Whelan, who compared the are Matt Mamak from Keenan Irish revolution of 1798 to the American and French revolutions. Hall, and Melissa Balchunas David Miller of Carnegie Mellon and Michael Durey of Murdoch see SENATE / page 7 University spoke at the second session of the day, while Thomas Bartlett of University College, Dublin, and Jim Smyth spoke at the final session. Pictured above are Smyth and mod erator Daire Keogh of St. Patrick’s College, Drumcondra. Today’s session begins at 10:45 a.m. in the Center for Ignatieff analyzes Continuing Education. Seamus Deane will deliver the plenary address at 8 p.m. effect of Holocaust By FIN N PRESSLY Holocaust, and how those News W riter changes are evident in the Students prepare for Holy Year 1948 Universal Declaration. By P. COLLEEN NUGENT every 25 years. The start of the Michael Ignatieff, noted He began by examining the Saint Mary's News Editor millennium in the year 2000 historian and journalist, gave pre-war attitudes towards a series of lectures this week civilization and morality, and C / " > ! W e d n e s will mark the change of life as to mark the 50th anniversary how it was thought that the During each Holy Year of the we celebrate 2000 years of o f the two went hand-in-hand. Catholic Church, thousands of Christ’s presence and relation United “European civilization was people journey to Rome to pass with human kind. N a t i o n s ’ thought to civilize instinct,” through the Holy Year doors in The Great Jubilee marks a each of the city’s four majestic 500 year period based on the U n iv e r s a l said Ignatieff. Following the stated. “Through themes such basilicas. Hebrew understanding of the Declaration horrors of the Holocaust, as this, we as citizens are going Despite the fact that many Jubilee found in Leviticus o f H um an though, it became apparent to be able to reflect and think cannot make this pilgrimage, it 20:25. Rights. that aesthetic cultivation had back upon our lives and how will still be possible to experi Other themes that follow this In his talk little effect on moral cultiva they are influenced by the ence and undertake a deeper spring will be The Door to Our e n t i t l e d tion. Catholic Church,” she added. understanding of this event. Hearts’, ‘The Door to our “ C h a p te rs Ig n atieff He then went on to com This spring, the doors located In participating and experi Homes’, and will conclude with In the pare the United Nations near the courtyard of LeMans encing the doors throughout the The Door to the Church,’ in the History of Moral Imagination: Charter, drafted in 1945, to Hall will be decorated. The dec semesters in LeMans Hall, one fall of 1999. the Universal Declaration of the Universal Declaration, orations on the building’s main can prepare for the Great One of the main goals of the Human Rights,” Ignatieff and how the documents doors will remain until the Jubilee of 2000. jubilee for the 21st century will analyzed how European atti reflect the historical contexts beginning of the next theme in “This spring, the theme to the consist of conveying feelings of tudes concerning humanity in which they were written. the fall. Jubilee is ‘The Door of Our hospitality, openness, friendli- and human rights were dras The Holy Years have roots Lives,’” Sr. Betty Smoyer, SND tically altered by the dating back to the 1300s, and see IG N A T IE F F / page 7 deNamur of campus ministry have been commemorated see HOLY YEAR / page 7 page 2 The Observer • INSIDE Wednesday, April 1, 1998 ■ I nsid e Co lu m n Springs here, O utside the Dom e batter up \ f - Compiled from U-Wire reports Students: Indictment will not blemish school’s reputation Spring began yester- ------------------------------- EVANSTON, 111. ed last week, it was almost like d ay. Tim Logan The indictment of two former Northwestern was the fifth team in the It didn’t begin on News Copy Editor Northwestern basketball players on Final Four,” said freshman John Mone. March 21, w ith the charges of point shaving during the Like many other students, Mone coming of the vernal equinox. It didn’t begin 1994-95 season will not affect NU's learned of the indictments while watch with this unusual stretch of sun and warmth prestigious reputation, students said ing the NCAA Tournament. we’ve been having lately. It began yesterday Monday. “1 saw [athletic director! Rick Taylor at about 1:30 p.m. when Bobby Jones of the NU students expressed mixed emo addressing the media in a nationally New York Mets wound up and hurled a ball tions about the scandal, from apathy to televised press conference,” said Ben towards the plate. shock and disbelief. Most students dis Pabst, a freshman. “We’re not a high- That’s right, it’s baseball season once missed the controversy as a series of profile sports program yet, so you don’t again. That annual rite of passage is upon us, isolated events. normally expect to see our school as and we’re moving from winter into a better Because the alleged point shaving the lead story on ‘SportsCenter.’” time of year. A time when we can sit beneath was committed by student-athletes who since graduated from the school," said Other students read about the scan the stars and the big lights on a warm night have graduated from or left NU, stu dal in national newspapers such as USA and enjoy a nice, relaxing game of baseball.

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