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| Autumn 2000 issue | . | Seen and Heard | |
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In an effort to recruit more Notre Dame student workers, the bookstore this fall began offering something that devours a lot of students’ money: textbooks. In addition to an hourly wage, typically $6.50, students could earn the use of one textbook for every 10 hours they worked between August 21 and December 15, with a maximum of six books. The books were the students to use for the whole semester but had to be returned after finals. Students also had to agree to be available to work football weekends. Jim O’Connor, bookstore manager, said today’s most expensive books, in business and engineering, can cost as much as $100. . . . The money wasn’t good enough for pitcher Aaron Heilman. Notre Dame’s first three-time All American in baseball will have a shot at becoming a four-timer next spring because he turned down a contract offer from the Minnesota Twins and was back in classes fall semester. Heilman was expected to turn pro but after some shaky outings late in the season went much lower in the amateur draft, No. 31, than projected, and he and the Twins couldn’t come to terms. . . . For a college or university, the sincerest compliment may be to have eminent colleges and universities try to lure away its faculty. At the Board of Trustees meeting last spring, Mark Roche, dean of Arts & Letters, reported that four of his faculty recently had turned down offers of endowed professorships — at Texas, Vanderbilt, Yale and Harvard. Faculty in the College of Arts and Letters won more National Endowment for the Humanities fellowships this past year — five — than faculty of any other university. . . . On the way to Notre Dame for his 50th class reunion, Richard Mosier ’50 had to land his 54-year-old single-engine plane in a cornfield 20 miles west of Peoria, Illinois. Mosier, a semi-retired dentist, was flying to South Bend from Herington, Kansas. After a stop to refuel in western Illinois, his engine lost oil and then shut off, necessitating the emergency tour of the cornfield. He rented a car and drove the rest of the way. . . . The artist who designed the original Fighting Irish leprechaun character, Ted Drake of Elkhart, Indiana, died in May at age 92. Drake also created the logo of the Chicago Bulls, designed several Notre Dame football program covers and did all the print artwork for the famous children’s show Kukla, Fran and Ollie. . . . The basketball court in the woods at the west end of Saint Mary’s Lake near Carroll Hall, which had deteriorated into more of a ghost court in recent years, was brought back to life this summer. Crews resurfaced and striped the court and installed new backboards, fencing, lights. Pat McCauslin of landscape services says it was the first update of the mosquito-prone court since he’s been here, which is 16 years. . . . Our sources in the student body tell us that about a third of students now carry cell phones, and the figure rises to about 80 percent of those from the Midwest. One reason for the second figure is that cell phones are a bargain for calling Mom or Dad in neighboring states because monthly fees usually include free long-distance within the regional coverage area. . . . . Websites are being born everywhere, and that includes Notre Dame dorm rooms. In addition to the celebrated NDToday.com, two Siegfried Hall freshmen — Brian Scofield of Austin, Texas, and Brian Bircher of Rochester, New York — last year launched FilmJunkies.net (www.filmjunkies.net), which concentrates on reviews of current films and film fan discussion. . . . The movie rental shop in the basement of LaFortune, ND Video, closed last spring after seven years in business. The student-run enterprise — one of four in LaFortune — had been losing customers and money for years because it couldn’t afford new releases. Like its predecessor, The Cellar record store, it also faced increasing competition from retail stores near campus. Plus some residence halls have built up their own small loaner libraries of video cassettes. Plans call for ND Video’s space to be taken by a another student business, possibly a late-night coffee bar. The remaining students businesses in LaFortune are the Irish Gardens flower shop, Adworks advertising, and Dome Designs web page design service. . . . Visitors to LaFortune may notice in a corner of the lounge on the main floor a bust of Brother Frank Gorch, CSC, who served as manager of the student center and the rec room from 1963-1989. Beneath the bust is a chunk of rock labeled "Authentic- Blarney Stone." A plaque says, "May all who touch this stone be blessed by it's (sic) legendary powers of luck and eloquence." Trouble is, you can't touch it. It's locked in a display cabinet. . . Alumni of Carroll Hall, whose residents proudly call themselves Vermin, should check out the website www.verminnet.com created by five members of the Class of ’97. The site includes a message board and alumni registry to post news and contact other Carroll alums. . . . It took 42 years, but the dining room in the Morris Inn finally has a name: Sorin’s. The name was added about a year ago along with changes to the restaurant’s decor and menu. . .. . It will be an unprecedented repeat performance this year by the mercurial men in green. Notre Dame’s varsity leprechaun mascot, Michael Brown ’01, who made history last year by becoming the first African-American in the role, won the yearly audition again this past spring and will be on the sidelines at football and men’s basketball games. Fellow senior C.J. Lankford returns as leprechaun for the other teams. . . . Protesting without a license got the Progressive Student Alliance into trouble spring semester. The liberal student group distributed flyers outside the last Junior Parents Weekend Mass calling for the University to take an even stronger stand against sweatshop labor. Du Lac requires all demonstrations be registered beforehand with Residence Life. The PSA neglected to do so. The group was initially placed on probation through fall semester but appealed and got the punishment reduced a warning. . . . Though he prefers not to discuss dollars, Director of Licensing Larry Williams ’85, a former offensive lineman for the football Irish and in the NFL, confirms that the downturn in popularity of team-logo sportswear has hurt Notre Dame’s licensing revenues. . . . "Hey, Ted Hesburgh. You just won the Congressional Gold Medal, what are you gonna do now?" He flew back to South Bend right after the ceremony and had dinner at the Bob Evans north of campus with his secretary, Melanie Chapleau, and driver, Marty Ogren. The holder of more honorary degrees than anyone in history later went to bed in the same room in Corby Hall where he’s slept for more than 50 years. The one overlooking a dumpster. |
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