Student Senate had its last meeting of semester on Wednesday evening. Marisa Olsen and Louis Bertolotti, directors of the First Undergratuate Experience in Leadership (FUEL), presented their concerns about the new traditions associated with the Celtic chant during football games.
According to Olsen, the freshmen on FUEL are concerned by the “negative representation” of Notre Dame when students chant expletives directed towards Zahm on national television.
“The chant does not reflect well on the Catholic University and the strong tradition in faith that we have here,” Bertolotti said. “We are one family and this is something that we can change to better the University.”
Olsen and Bertolotti suggested using Frosh-O as a way to change the cheer. FUEL suggests simply teaching different words to chant during the Celtic Chant to avoid cursing at football games.
“This isn’t necessarily a tradition as it only began two or three years ago,” Bertolotti said. “But we most definitely want to keep it from becoming a tradition.”
The group had mixed opinions about the issue at hand. Michael Wajda, co-chair of Hall President’s Council, said he was totally unaware of the chant and had never heard it been used before. Olsen and Bertolotti encouraged the group to step up and make this change happen.
“We want you as student leaders to project the changes to the student body to bring us together as a family,” Bertolotti said.
Senate also focused on the discussion of student safety on campus. Vidal said during his meeting with local law enforcement on Dec. 10 to discuss off campus safety, the police gave good tips for securing off campus homes during break.
“We are going to post a webinar link soon so that students have the opportunity to ask the law enforcement questions live about campus safety,” Vidal said.
As the meeting was the last of the semester, Senate plans to continue the 29 for 29 initiative and the discussion about campus safety during the spring semester.
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