Wednesday, February 4, 1998 • Vol. XXXI No. 84 THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING NOTRE DAME AND SAINT MARY'S Survey: Notre Dame freshmen more involved By ANNE MARIE MATTINGLY high school, so ... they're more likely to First Year of Studies, also attributes this At other institutions of higher learn­ Assistant News Editor be concerned about academics and phenomenon to the competitive admis­ ing, this is not often the case. involvement in extracurricular activities sions process, commenting that those "In my Spanish and calculus classes, Despite the reported national trend [ i n students people don't apply themselves. Many that college freshmen are less interested college],"said who are are happy if they get a 'C'," said Ebony in schoolwork and involvement in col­ K e v i n accepted are Smith, a freshman at Ohio State lege life in general, an American Council Rooney, for­ YOU CONSIDER NOTRE among the University. "People don't show up for on Education survey shows that Notre mer director 'IF most stu- class and then they wonder why they Dame's first-year students are consis­ of admis­ DAME STUDENTS AS A dious of don't do well. For many people, being tently more active than their peers at sions. GROUP, THEIR ACADEMIC PER­ applicants. just average is great." other institutions, both in academics Rooney also "If they're Notre Dame freshmen also pursue vol­ and extracurriculars. noted that FORMANCE IS WELL ABOVE interested in unteering and extracurricular activities The survey found 74 percent of Notre admissions is THE NATIONAL AVERAGE IN doing well, more often than their counterparts, the a somewhat [students) 95 Dame freshmen to be "interested in HIGH SCHOOL.' study reported. While percent of ND their studies," a term applied to stu­ "self-selective must be freshmen answered that they participat­ dents who spent six or more hours per process KEVIN ROONEY attentive to ed in service activities in high school, week on homework in high school. Only because the DIRECTOR, FIRST YEAR OF STUDIES study habits only 73 percent of national applicants 34 percent of students nationally students that classes were involved. Of those, a projected 77 claimed the same. choose to here are dif­ percent will continue volunteer work "If you consider Notre Dame students apply to ficult, so during their college years at Notre as a group. their academic performance Notre Dame tend to be of a high caliber. they must apply themselves from the is well above the national average in Louise Litzinger, assistant dean of the beginning." see FRESHMEN I page 7 • SECURITY BEAT Takin' it to the streets ... Local man arrested for three thefts By HEATHER COCKS News Editor A local resident faces a felony charge after Notre Dame Security/Police appre­ hended him Saturday in con­ nection with three campus thefts, according to assistant director Chuck Hurley. Christopher Fallon, 40, con­ fessed to breaking into the poor boxes in the crypt of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart; he also admitted to attempt­ ing the same crime earlier in January. "When our officer was investigating the poor-box theft, he spotted Fallon in LaFortune Student Center and recognized him," Hurley said. The Observer/Jeff Hsu unior Tina Potthoff hands out red AIDS awareness ribbons to students at South Dining Hall yesterday. The Student Union Board was "Fallon is not allowed to set Jhanding out the ribbons as a part of AIDS Week. The activities for the week include a presentation by Jeanne White-Ginder, mother of foot on campus because of a AIDS victim Ryan White, and a public display of a section of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt. see SECURITY I page 7 CAMPAIGN Storybook Festival returns to SMC ., TRAIL By MELANIE GARMAN children to develop both academ­ This week. The Observer will print Saint Mary's Assisrant News Editor ically and intellectually." articles about all 9 tickets running for student Along with nine student clubs and body president and vice president. The classrooms in Madeleva Hall programs from Saint Mary's, spon­ on the Saint Mary's campus will be sors include the Early Childhood Peter Cesaro/Andrea Selak in use an extra day next week, filled Development Center, the South Kevin Corrigan/Brian Doherty with young, inquiring minds - not Bend Tribune, United Limo, Inc., of college students, but of children and Barnes & Noble Booksellers. Michele Costello/Adrian Cuellar between the ages of two and six. As a special treat for the children .... Tim Fitt~imons/Brian Murphy This Sunday marks the third bien­ received national recognition when to encourage continuous reading, Alfonso Kennard/Walker Candelario nial Storybook Festival sponsored it was awarded a silver medal by Barnes & Noble will be giving away by the College, in conjunction with the Council for the Advancement books throughout the day. the Early Childhood Development and Support of Education. "I attended the last festival as a Center. The festival is designed for The afternoon features a celebrity parent with my children, and I was children and their families to cele­ reader room, 17 storybook rooms, very impressed with the turnout and brate together the rewards of read­ storytelling, music and dance per­ the events of the day," Keuhner ing. formances in Carroll Auditorium. said. "Children need to get as much SEEP. 3 FOR STORIES ABOUT "Books create worlds which we Some of the guests include Marilou exposure to the fun and fantasy of TODAY'S FEATURED CANDIDATES enter to learn. to feel, to grow, and, Eldred, president of Saint Mary's; reading, as well as developing their r---:----::::-::-----------------, simply to have fun," reads the festi- Stephen Luecke, mayor of South imaginations." • IN MEMORIAM val's mission statement. "Reading is Bend; Denise Keuhner, musician As a service to the community, the valuable throughout a lifetime. But with the South Bend Symphony; Storybook Festival is free of charge June Davie Dies the impact of reading to children is Mike Hoffman, meteorologist for by ticket only. lifelong and life altering." WNDU-16; and Todd Schurz, editor Members of the community may Word has been received of the death of.June More than 2,000 area children and publisher of the South Bend obtain tickets at Barnes & Noble,· Davie, mother of Notre Dame head football coach and their families attended the first Tribune. Creative Teaching, Community Bob Davie. Storybook Festival, held four years "I have two young children that Coordinated Child Care, Osco Drug Mrs. Davie died on Monday of a sttoke in her ago during the Saint Mary's my wife and I read to frequently," Stores, Makielski's, Saint Mary's home in Moon Township, Pa. She w rs Sesquicentennial Celebration. In Schurz said. "The festival is a Box Office and United Health old. ·· 1996, the Storybook Festival shared experience which allows Services. ,~~·~--~------~--~-~ page 2 The Observer • INSIDE Wednesday, February 4, 1998 • INSIDE COLUMN 7 i •~ R.I.P. Bridget (, .,:.~~.d."~ utside the Dome f ""\_ .. -"'ur'"\~ McGuire's V ., Compiled from U-Wire reports Study reviews political opinions of black college alumni Bridget McGuire's Filling BERKELEY, Calif. to become disenchanted. Station is no more. Black graduates of presti­ "African Americans and all What is an underaged gious colleges are more politi­ persons who are black who drinker to do? cally radical than blacks in have reached the level of After this weekend's general, a recent study has found. with an opportunity to "move in for sophistication of attending a univer­ infamous raid, it is unlikely The Journal of Blacks in Higher the kill." sity become disillusioned as they the bar will see the light of Education, through a mail-in survey, At least 65 percent of the total advance in their studies because the day again. What a shame. found that among the seven highest­ respondents believe that their eco­ university setting, more than any­ Afl'ectionately known Rachel Torres ranked U.S. colleges, black alumni nomic opportunities have been where else, replicates the idea of as "Bridget's," or "Club Saine Mary's Accenr had views that differed greatly from restricted due to the color of their racial exclusion, racial privilege, Bridget" by those who Editor those of the general black popula­ skin. racism and biased understanding of frequented the tavern, it tion. The journal would not disclose This survey contradicts the com­ racial superiority," Ilintzen said. was a rite of passage. which colleges they deemed to be monly held belief that most young "The university continues to be pri­ Sure, it was a hole in the wall, and it smelled "prestigious." people tend to become more politi­ marily male, primarily white, so it kind of funky, and its floor glistened with a The journal found that 77.1 per­ cally conservative as they advance in continues to hold onto racial views of mysteriously sticky goo, and it could get more cent of respondents held the belief age and move up the educational the nineteenth century, especially crowded than a Titanic screening, but we that the white students they went to and economic ladder, according to the ideas of scientific racism," loved it just the same. Well, we loved to hate school with felt they were mentally the journal. Hintzen added. "Academia is an it, anyway. After all, it was BRIDGET'S. inferior. One respondent, a black UC Berkeley faculty and students institution that reinforces notions of Where else could throngs of underaged attorney, felt the white students' said they were not surprised with the hierarchy and gives these notions drinkers flock to dance atop splintered picnic alleged view, when held after col­ study's findings. hierarchy." tables, spill liquids on classmates, and get lege, is advantageous to the black Percy C.