Vol. CXXXVI—No. 78
Thursday, September 13, 2012
columbiaspectator.com
Nightline closed until end of month Peer counselors to receive extra sexual violence training BY ABBY ABRAMS Spectator Senior Staff Writer
DOUGLAS KESSEL / SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
MOVING FORWARD | NYFACS board members Elisabeth Cros, Andolyn Brown, and Richard Ortoli attend Tuesday night’s meeting.
Charter school administration responds to accusations BY AVANTIKA KUMAR Spectator Senior Staff Writer An error in reporting thirdgraders’ test scores has led to accusations that a West Harlem charter school engaged in academic fraud, but administrators at the school say that the reporting error was a simple mistake. At the New York FrenchAmerican Charter School’s board of trustees meeting on Tuesday— which was largely focused on other topics—administrators
addressed NYFACS parent Thomas Lopez-Pierre’s accusation that the school sent parents false test score information. Lopez-Pierre has said that Assistant Principal Claire Zaglauer sent emails to parents informing them that third-graders performed better on standardized tests than they actually did. According to Parent Teacher Organization recording secretary Fia Porter, Zaglauer implied in a June 11 email that 86 percent of
third-graders scored proficiently on English-Language Arts exams, surpassing the 75 percent-proficient benchmark required by the school’s charter. The reality, though, was that 86 percent of students had passed the test— only about 56 percent scored proficiently, short of the 75 percent benchmark. Board of trustees member Elisabeth Cros, though, said at the meeting that the email represented a “little mistake” rather than a real source of concern.
BREAKING DOWN THE NEW CLASS PERIODS 8:00 a.m.
old class periods
new class periods
9:00 a.m. 10:00 a.m. 11:00 a.m. 12:00 a.m.
8:40 a.m. - 9:55 a.m.
9:10 a.m. - 10:25 a.m.
10:10 a.m. - 11:25 a.m. 10:40 a.m. - 11:55 a.m. 11:40 a.m. - 12:55 p.m.
1:00 p.m. 2:00 p.m. 3:00 p.m. 4:00 p.m. 5:00 p.m. 6:00 p.m. 7:00 p.m.
1:10 p.m. - 2:25 p.m.
1:10 p.m. - 2:25 p.m.
2:40 p.m. - 3:55 p.m.
2:40 p.m. - 3:55 p.m.
4:10 p.m. - 5:25 p.m.
4:10 p.m. - 5:25 p.m.
5:40 p.m. - 6:55 p.m.
5:40 p.m. - 6:55 p.m.
8:00 p.m. 9:00 p.m.
7:40 p.m. - 8:55 p.m. *Graphic describes 75-minute lecture classes only GRAPHIC BY YUMA SHINOHARA
Students adjust to first 8:40 a.m. classes BY CECILIA REYES Columbia Daily Spectator Andrew Ghazi, SEAS ’13, doesn’t consider himself a morning person. But that didn’t stop him from enrolling in Applied Data Mining, one of the 8:40 a.m. classes being offered for the first time this semester. “I didn’t have any other choice,” Ghazi said. “It was the only one that fit into my schedule.” Before this semester, the earliest start time for lecture classes was 9:10 a.m. But as the University’s student body has grown over the last decade—there were about 61,000 course enrollments in 2011, up from 41,000 in 2001—classroom space on the already-crowded Morningside Heights campus has become scarcer, leading administrators to look for ways to distribute it more effectively. In early 2011, a committee charged with examining the classroom space crunch recommended
starting classes at 8:40 a.m., so as to allow for the creation of an additional morning lecture period. The committee also recommended creating a new lecture period at 7:40 p.m., adding a seminar period at 8:10 p.m., and scheduling more Friday classes. University Registrar Barry Kane announced in March that those changes would be implemented this semester, garnering mixed reactions from the student body. Still, some students who chose to enroll in 8:40 a.m. classes have taken the early start time in stride. Ellie Kirk, CC ’16, said that she prefers to have earlier classes, because they enable her to use her day more efficiently. “I know that if I took a later class I would sleep later and just laze around my dorm,” said Kirk, who is enrolled in an 8:40 a.m. class. “I think it’s important to get started with the day. Hopefully, this will motivate me to not go to bed too late during the week.”
Sarah Thompson, CC ’16, switched from Frontiers of Science into an 8:40 a.m. University Writing section. She said she was not excited about waking up early, calling it a “necessary evil” but adding that she wasn’t against Columbia offering classes that early. “If people are willing to take a class earlier, they should be allowed to,” Thompson said. Math professor Alexander Drewitz is teaching two sections of Calculus II, one at 8:40 a.m. and one at 10:10 a.m. He said he was surprised that more students signed up for the earlier class than for the later class. “There were a bit more than 90, though I don’t know the details of what the previous schedule was like,” he said. “I mean, I’m hoping I’m not making myself unpopular here, but I think 8:40 is OK.” Barnard French professor
SEE CLASSES, page 2
In a letter to families last week, Richard Ortoli, the chairman of the board of trustees, said that Lopez-Pierre’s accusation of academic fraud was “completely unfounded.” “I realized that my first email was not fully accurate,” Zaglauer said at the board meeting, after Lopez-Pierre asked her about the mistake. “I did my best to rectify it.” Porter, though, said that the SEE NYFACS, page 2
Nightline will stay closed for at least a few more weeks, as the group goes through extra training processes and reviews its procedures at the request of administrators. The Barnard- Columbia anonymous peer counseling hotline, which usually starts operating at the beginning of the semester, is still closed more than a week after the first day of classes. While Nightline’s directors had initially hoped to start taking calls within the first two weeks of the semester, they now say their lines may be closed until the end of the month. “We have to write a lot of documents,” said Nightline co-director Lori Goldman, BC ’13, noting that the beginning of the semester is busy for everyone. She and co-director Katie Mukai, BC ’13, as well as Nightline’s advisers, are “just trying to get all our balls in the same court, and it’s taking a little while,” Goldman said. Prospective Nightline peer counselors must go through a semester-long training process and take a certification test before being accepted into the group. As part of the current review, all Nightline peer counselors will receive training from the Rape Crisis/AntiViolence Support Center. While Nightline covers rape and other forms of sexual violence in its normal training procedures, the extra preparation will serve as a
At 3333, drug bust money funds kids’ athletics BY ADAM KOLING Columbia Daily Spectator A group of police officers gathered in front of 3333 Broadway on July 24, but they weren’t there to make an arrest—they were turning a schoolyard next to the fivebuilding apartment complex into a Police Athletic League Summer Play Street. For nearly 100 years, the Police Athletic League has been creating Play Streets—public spaces designed for children to participate in sports tournaments, play table games, and create cultural art projects over the summer, all supervised by police officers or criminal justice students. But the office of the city’s special narcotics
prosecutor recently pioneered a new way to pay for PAL programs, including the Play Street that was operated next to 3333 Broadway this summer: money confiscated from drug busts. “We were the first prosecutor’s office to use forfeited criminal proceeds from investigations to support a PAL program,” Kati Cornell, the office’s public information director, said. “It was really a model that our office developed.” The decision to open the Play Street at 3333 Broadway, which is located at 133rd Street and Broadway, followed an arrest there in March that resulted in the seizure of $19,000 worth of drugs and weapons. PAL programs are based on the idea that children who have
the eye
The magazine of the Columbia Spectator 13 September 2012 / vol. 13 issue 1
“I woke up with a fever, and a headache behind my eyes, and within three days I had lost ten pounds... And I knew what was going on.”
CASSIDY, TOM TYUS, VICTOR ANDERSON, LARZ F., 2ND THOMPSON, DAVID R. BEDDOW, REID MONROE, RONALD B. CHENITZ-MANLEY, CAROLE MASSA, ROBERT AMILI, ADIMU MCALILEY, ROBERT COX, JOHN GINGELL, BARRY BROWN, JACOB BARNETT, ALLEN O. FAILLA, RICHARD ALMEIDA, FELISBERTO COHEN, DANIEL H. LIST, THEO BELMONTE, THOMAS DIXON, MELVIN SACHNER, PAUL M. REVSON, JAMES BARBER, CHARLES ANDREW BITTERN, ARWIN (AKA ANDREW) COSTE, JEAN-ROLAND AROMANDO, ANTHONY R. MANFORD, MORTY BROOKNER, HOWARD CUMPIANO, HIRAM BOYD, BRIAN ABREU, DANNY WILLIAM JOHNSON, ROSS LANGDON, BRUCE DUNN, JAMES AUSTIN, DAVID CRAIG BROWN, CHARLES
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WARD, MATTHEW MCGARRY, SHAWN RICHARDSON, DAVID MAYERSON, ROBERT PEDUTO, STEPHEN A. RAMOS, ROBERT PERKINS, ANTHONY ANDERSON, OLIN RYAN, MICHAEL RATLIFF, NEIL M. BURTON, SCOTT OPPENHEIM, PHILIP KWALICK, BARRY DAWSON, KENNETH L. WHITINGTON, G. LUTHER LERBLACE, PENN VAN RYZIN, JOHN NORTON, JOSEPH SCHULTZ, GENE SMITH, MARK A. STUART, OTIS SULLIVAN, VICTOR THOMAS, JR GREENSPAN, STUART SCHAEFFER, MARTIN M. SANTOMASSO, EUGENE LIEBERSON, JONATHAN ROZELI, RON STONEHOUSE, JOSEPH DOUGLAS, PAUL NEUMEIER, CHARLES MEDOFF, PETER WIDDOWFIELD, JOSEPH STARR, RICHARD TOWLEN, GARY O’BRIEN, KEVIN RINALDO, TONY COONEY, NEIL POST, RICK WRIGHT, JASON SIRCELLO, GUY SYKES, CURTIS RANGO, NICHOLAS DONALDSON, STEPHEN “DONNIE”
Fight On
The story of AIDS at Columbia by Will Hughes
Pick up a copy to read Will Hughes’s story on the history of AIDS at Columbia.
Baroque-inspired opera stuns audiences
Decoding the bureaucracy
CU improves in second Gone in a Flash? half, beats St. Peters
James Yoon asks for more emphasis on public health.
MASHBURN, ROBERT J. CARPLES, JEFFREY L. GARCIA, STUART BERGER, IRA DEL PONTE, JOSEPH FOX, JOHN LA GIGLIA, ANTHONY FRIEDMAN, LEWIS M. COHN, ROY SCHMALZ, JEFFREY BENNETT, RICHARD FEDORNOCK, FRANK FORTUIN, THOMAS M. PATTERSON, GEORGE HALL, SHELTON WILEY, MASON HAWKESWOOD, WILLIAM BROWN, JAY VENET, STEVEN GEWIRTZ, GEORGE KISH, TONY FERRI, ROGER COHEN, DAVID H. HILL, CHRISTOPHER LIDA, MARK CONTINI, ALAN LICATA, SAL DIAZ ALEJANDRO, CARLOS GOTTESMAN, EDWARD H. MITCHELL, MICHAEL GARDNER, JAMES BUCHOLTZ, JEFFREY MEDEROS, PETER ISRAEL, FRANKLIN D. MCGINTY, TIMOTHY EDWIN PRESTON, ERWIN DESIPIO, GEORGE, JR. HALPERN, KENNETH S., DE RUGERIIS, JOSEPH SCHUTZ, PRESCOTT KADET, SANDFORD MARTIN, JOHN L. NADELSON, ANDREW OLANOFF, GERALD B. KING, DAN WHITE, ROBIN WILSON, WILLIAM STEINKE, WILLIAM
CATHI CHOI / EYE ART DIRECTOR
ACT UP
SPORTS, BACK PAGE
Limited medicine
SEE 3333, page 2
Rediscover the art of the New York City subway system, pg. 14
OPINION, PAGE 4
Miller Theatre starts off the semester with a bang with simple sets, incredible vocals, and new renditions of early music styles.
productive and supervised playtime are less likely to be drawn to drugs and crime. Bridget Brennan, New York City’s special narcotics prosecutor, said that the program takes money from the drug trade and uses it to “create positive recreational opportunities for children.” “Drug dealers have status in the communities that’s not merited, just because they have a lot of money,” Brennan said. “Effective enforcement isn’t just about making an arrest and walking away— it’s about helping the community rebuild.” “It’s what I like to call prevention through sports and through
THIS WEEK IN THE EYE
A&E, PAGE 3
Bob Sun urges more transparency on University committees.
refresher, Goldman said. “If, God forbid, something happens and there was a lawsuit, this is just to make sure we’d have the documentation to show that we did everything right. This is just legal documentation of what we’re already doing,” Goldman said. While Nightline does not publicly release its staff numbers due to its emphasis on anonymity, Sarah Ngu, CC ’12 and a former Nightline peer counselor, described it as “one of the most selective groups on campus” in a Spectator opinion article, “Coming out,” last April. Administrators first approached Nightline about reviewing the group’s procedures last spring, according to Barnard Dean Avis Hinkson. Hinkson said that Barnard requested the review, with Columbia’s support. “As a function of oversight, we believe that regular training is necessary, as does the leadership of Nightline,” Hinkson said in an email. “When reviewing their materials we noted a few areas that could be improved upon and requested that they be addressed.” Goldman characterized the review as a result of an increased focus on risk management throughout the University. “A lot of organizations are doing this right now, and Nightline is just one of the more obvious organizations that you can see is having a delay,” she said. abby.abrams @columbiaspectator.com
After a less than impressive first half, the Lions scored two second half goals in route to a 2-1 victory. Senior Brendan O’Hearn scored the winning goal for the Lions late in the half.
EVENTS
Learn how to manage your digital files at a personal digital archiving workshop hosted by Columbia librarians. 523 Butler, 1 p.m.
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