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-Ben Testani | Thursday, May 7, 2020
Moving off campus as a student at Notre Dame is a political decision. Certain types of people seem almost offended when I told them I was planning to move off campus, shocked that I would dare abandon my hall. The patented Notre Dame Introduction turned awkward upon my departure, as I graced my syllabus weeks
Ben Testani | Thursday, April 16, 2020
In the Notre Dame universe, there have been wide-ranging consequences from the global pandemic currently ravaging our healthcare system and requiring everyone to socially isolate. The University has largely done its best to respond rapidly and flexibly to the challenges presented by COVID-19 to the Notre Dame family. While some of the changes were
Ben Testani | Thursday, March 26, 2020
On March 5, I published a bucket list of sorts for my senior spring. In what quickly became one of the greatest jinxes I have ever pulled off, it has become clear to me that I will not be able to accomplish all of these goals this spring. I may never set foot in Hesburgh
Ben Testani | Wednesday, March 18, 2020
It’s no secret that things are not normal for the Notre Dame community right now. We should have seen the signs coming. The women’s basketball team did not obliterate every team in its path this winter. Fr. John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., did not announce a 3.4% increase in tuition this February. And the squirrels of
Ben Testani | Thursday, March 5, 2020
When this week concludes, I will have a mere one-sixteenth of my time as an undergraduate remaining. The temperature has crept above 40° for consecutive days. The blinds in my house are open to let in precious sunlight. St. Patrick’s Day looms large, as Irish across campus prepare to celebrate the holiday on campus
Ben Testani | Thursday, February 20, 2020
I love democracy. I have voted in the state and federal elections every year since I turned 18, dutifully mailing an absentee ballot back to Onondaga County from my home under the Dome. I encourage (some may say harass) fellow students to vote, regardless of political ideology, going so far as to download VoteWithMe last
Ben Testani | Thursday, February 6, 2020
Perhaps the most common response I get to my columns is “Why did you even come here if you have so many complaints about Notre Dame?” Nothing about this reaction surprises me. Notre Dame, more than many universities, attracts people like legacy students and lifelong fans of the football program. People who grew up going
Ben Testani | Thursday, January 23, 2020
Notre Dame has a $13.8 billion endowment, and I have 14 billion questions. That figure for the endowment comes from October of 2019, and was published at the close of the University’s fiscal year. Notre Dame is a non-profit university, as are the vast majority of American colleges and universities. Therefore, Fr. Jenkins and the
Ben Testani | Thursday, December 12, 2019
Everyone who has ever set foot on the campus of Notre Dame has seen the famous photo of Fr. Ted Hesburgh and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The two are locked in arms, standing together against racial injustice. The image is plastered around our University, iconic for what it represents. Less well known is a
Ben Testani | Thursday, November 21, 2019
I wonder what death feels like. The thought crosses my mind for the hundredth time. Maybe I am on the way to my ethics class in CoMo, or finishing a shift in Loftus or even eating at halftime of a football game. It never seems to matter. The idea is never far from my mind.