Fordham Observer — Issue 12

Observer the

NOVEMBER 1, 2012 VOLUME XXXI, ISSUE 12

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Groups Push for Voter Turnout

By MEHGAN ABDELMASSIH News Editor

The Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) community is preparing for the presidential election on Nov. 6. Two events, “To Vote or Not to Vote” and “Religion and the Millennial Voter” are scheduled to be held at FCLC, both concerning the youth vote.

According to Gallup, 58 percent of registered voters 18 to 29 years old have said they will be “definitely voting” in the 2012 presidential election. The national average of the youth audience’s intent to vote in the fall of 2008 was 78 percent. The 20 percent difference displays the weakened inf luence the youth vote will bring on Nov. 6. FCLC’s last-minute events, both being held on Nov. 1, are hoping to encourage students to hit the voting booths.

Marsha Sommervil, a graduate intern at the Office of Multicultural Affairs has helped prepare “To Vote or Not to Vote” along with Students for Solidarity and the Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice. Sommervil said that “To Vote or Not to Vote” is designed to offer advice to first time voters about where to access information about candidates and also to address the topic of having a political identity.

“We know this might be the first time a student is voting for a president,” Sommervil said. “‘To Vote or Not to Vote’ is about voter education and forming a political identity.”

“To Vote or Not to Vote” will be held on Nov. 1 at 12:30 pm in McMahon 205/206.

The second event revolving around the imminent presidential election, “Religion and the Millennial Voter” will also be held on Nov. 1 at 12 pm in Lowenstein 816. “Religion and the Millennial Voter” is sponsored by the theology department and will feature a panel of students see VOTING pg. 3

TAVY WU/THE OBSERVER

As Hurricane Sandy approached the East Coast and New York City on Oct. 29, here pictured around 2 p.m. at Riverside Park looking at the Hudson River, Fordham residents and commuters hunkered down and prepared for possible flooding and power outages. The Observer chronicles the aftermath of the Category 1 storm in this week’s photo feature on pages 8-9.

Hurricane Sandy Disrupts Classes, Commute

By HARRY HUGGINS Editor-in-Chief

Hurricane Sandy hit the tri-state area Monday night, knocking out power to millions and forcing evacuations from lower Manhattan and coastal regions. Despite precautionary measures, the storm had major impacts on the Fordham community, resulting in class cancellations for the entire week of Oct. 29 through Nov. 2.

Fordham announced via email on Sunday, Oct. 28 that all classes and events would be cancelled for Monday, Oct. 29 and Tuesday, Oct. 30 at the Lincoln Center, Rose Hill, Westchester and Calder Center campuses. On Tuesday, it was announced that classes would also be cancelled Wednesday, Oct. 31. Then on Wednesday, Dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) Robert R. Grimes, S.J., announced

that classes would be cancelled for the remainder of the week, resuming at 8 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 5.

Grimes’ email also included new dates for registration and withdrawal from classes. The new deadline for withdrawing from a class without incurring a “WF” marking will be Nov. 13, and registration for spring 2013 classes will be moved to the week of Nov. 12 to allow students time to meet with their advisors, according to the email On Monday afternoon, Fordham’s graduate school residence on 58th Street was evacuated due to a fallen crane. At 2:30 p.m., the winch boom and operator control box of a 1,000-foot crane attached to an apartment building on West 57th Street doubled over backwards as a result of the storm’s 80 mph gusts of wind.

According to NBC 4, much debris fell on surrounding streets. At the time

of print, the multi-thousand pound crane boom and control box still dangled high in the air, and reports say there is no way yet to secure it. In order to ensure the safety of New Yorkers, all buildings within a two-block radius have been evacuated.

As a result, about 40 graduate student residents were evacuated to McMahon Hall. Fordham intends for them to stay only the night or until the crane situation can be properly assessed. Despite Fordham’s strict same-sex dorm policy, Fordham has allowed female residents to reside in male apartments with an extra bed.

According to an emergency text alerts from Fordham, the university website, email and servers were down Tuesday morning and were still down at the time of print.

A major source of frustration for Fordham commuters was the termination of all MTA activity from

Sunday night at 7 p.m. to Tuesday at 5 p.m., when limited bus service was restored. Although most bridges in and out of Manhattan were reopened Tuesday, flooding continued to prevent the opening of subway lines or tunnels at time of print.

Prior to the storm, residents of McMahon Hall and all Fordham residents were warned on Oct. 26 to remain indoors and away from windows by an emergency email alert from Bob Howe, director of communications.

Residents were even warned to keep a small bag ready with critical items in case conditions worsened, requiring evacuation. Fortunately, power remained uninterrupted throughout the storm.

Signs posted around McMahon on Monday relayed information to residents that the out-of-commission see HURRICANE SANDY pg. 2

Inside

LITERARY

FEATURES

SPORTS

ARTS & CULTURE

OPINIONS

Afraid of Nighttime

Political Views

Patrick Murray

39 of 70 Scenes

Love Cats?

It’s not fair.

PAGE 15

Fordham football superstar sits down Everyone has an opinion. Even your The White Box Studio hosts a Halwith The Observer. parents. loween special.

PAGE 16 PAGE 12 PAGE 7

THE STUDENT VOICE OF FORDHAM COLLEGE AT LINCOLN CENTER

Why is an affection for felines synonmyous with spinster?

PAGE 5

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News

Mehgan Abdelmassih abdelmassih.mehgan@gmail.com

November 1, 2012 THE OBSERVER

Hurricane Strands Commuters, Knocks Out Network HURRICANE SANDY FROM PAGE 1

network. One hand-written sign told residents, “No guest passes tonight sorry for the inconvenience.” Another instructed residents to “please close all windows” due to the high winds, while another assured students that the Ram Café would be open for limited hours on Monday and Tuesday.

Commuters were also majorly affected by the storm. York Campos, FCLC ’13 of Forest Hills, Queens could not be reached by phone due to the hurricane, but he explained via text how his family prepared for the storm.

“My family was well off this time,” Campos said. “We stocked up on food.

We kept all our electronics charged and we safeguarded the windows.

However, I’m scared about schools opening this week because the trains are projected to not run for the rest of this week and the only way for me to get to school is by train. And my parents both work, so dropping me off at school would put them in a tough situation for work.”

Jerri Javier, FCLC ’13, of Elmhurst, Queens, stayed home beginning Sunday. She dreaded what her commute to school will be like without full use of the MTA. “It’s going to be longer, however it’s going to be an awkward commute. My commute is 45 minutes usually, but I’m looking at at least a hour-and-a-half commute or longer.”

Killing time while struck in an apartment was another challenge for Javier. “I have been eating cupcakes I bought for Halloween and basically eating and snacking,” Javier said. “I really thought I would use this time to do something productive, but being here has been kind of a nice surprise because I think that for everyone, after midterms everyone was in really low spirits…and I think this is a nice break for folks, at least for me. I really did need it.”

Jolaubi Osho, FCLC ’13, of Canarsie, Brooklyn, said that although her neighborhood is surrounded by water that rushed up the nearby pier and flooded many houses, her street was fine. Still, commenting on whether or not she will make it to campus in time for the beginning of classes, Osho was less than optimistic.

TAYLER BENNETT/THE OBSERVER

Signs throughout McMahon Hall announced safety precautions to residents in the run-up to Hurricane Sandy on Sunday night.

“There’s only one train that comes here [the L train], and that’s down,” Osho said. “They were already making repairs to that track for the last two years, so if anything damaged that, that’s probably done…. Even if there’s buses, I have classes at Rose Hill, so I doubt I would ever make it all the way

over there.”

When asked to estimate the soonest she could make it to either campus, Osho said, “The buses don’t really run here often, so for me to get to a train from the buses here would be like another hour, so the trains would have to be running again for me to go back to

school.”

As for media coverage of the storm’s destruction, Osho said her neighborhood has received inadequate attention. “There’s no coverage of what’s going on in my area at all,” Osha said. “I saw a little about Red Hook, but not that much. I’ve seen

Long Island, I’ve seen New Jersey.”

Additional Reporting by Mehgan Abdelmassih, Rex Sakamoto, Ian McKenna, Monique John and Tayler Bennett

Despite MTA closures and power and internet outages, we at The Observer decided to follow our production schedule and bring you as much of the planned issue as we could, given the circumstances. For continued coverage, follow us online at www.fordhamobserver.com.

Thank you for your loyalty, The Observer

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THE OBSERVER November 1, 2012

News

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Events Aimed at Promoting Student Voting VOTING FROM PAGE 1

representing different religious backgrounds. The event will be addressing the relationship religion and politics plays in the lives of young individuals.

“This particular generation, I think, doesn’t tend to associate religion and politics compared to their parents where religion would affect the way they’d vote,” Karina Hogan, associate professor and associate chair of theology at FCLC, said.

Although the focus of the event concerns the role that religion plays in a young individual’s political beliefs, Hogan said that the important message is that people need to vote. “People need to get out there and vote. I think it is important for people to exercise that privilege,” Hogan said. “At the beginning of the semester the theology faculty got together and we felt our students are less politically engaged than four or five years ago. Get out and vote. It may be that religion is not that big of a factor, but we want to hear why students think it is not.”

Individual students in the FCLC community are taking it upon themselves to encourage people to vote on Nov. 6. Emmanuel Pardilla, FCLC ’14 and member of Students for Solidarity, is active in the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), a third party.

Pardilla is aware of the unlikeliness of a third party winning the presidential election. “Voting for PSL sends a statement that I do not believe in the two party system, and that I’m willing to vote for something I actually believe in,” Pardilla said. “I am aware that PSL wont get presidential seat, but I will not eliminate my right to vote.”

According to a poll conducted by the Center for Information

OLIVIER DOULIERY/ABACA PRESS/MCT AND PAUL VIDELA/BRADENTON HERALD/MCT

Events like “To Vote or Not to Vote” and “Religion and the Millennial Voter” are being put-on at Fordham this week to promote student voting.

and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), if the presidential election were held today, Obama would obtain the youth vote at 52.1 percent in

comparison to Mitt Romney’s 35.1 percent. Although Obama has a 17 point lead over Romney, Obama does not meet the 66 percent mark that he won in 2008 against Sena-

tor John McCain.

“How do you go about voting?

Do you look at statistics? What are the facts? If someone hasn’t been following the 2012 election, hope-

fully they will four years from now and become a well-equipped voter,” Sommervil said.

College Council Addresses Fiscal Changes, Expansion

By MEHGAN ABDELMASSIH News Editor

Among the topics covered in the Oct. 25 meeting of Fordham College at Lincoln Center’s (FCLC) College Council were money and majors. Students at FCLC engaged in discussion with Rev. Robert R. Grimes, S.J., about the fiscal and demographic changes that occurred during the 2012-2013 academic year thus far.

Grimes addressed these changes during the College Council meeting. “It is very clear that something has changed, not just for Fordham but also nationally,” Grimes said. “I’m told that the law school had one-third fewer applications than last year. We earned $1,275,000 less in revenue than expected. I think we will survive.

We’re not doing that badly this year. My concern is what’s going to happen next year.”

Although Grimes took the time to contemplate FCLC’s future during College Council, he also focused on the current financial conf licts that students are encountering.

Associate Chair of sociology Jeanne Flavin introduced the topic of financial aid during the meeting. “Students are really struggling financially and I don’t exactly know how to advise and help them,” Flavin said.

Grimes’s response included the necessary actions that students need to take in order to solve their problems, without factoring in the university’s role in financial aid difficulties. “The best thing to do is advise [students] to go to financial services. It’s not at all uncom-

TAYLER BENNETT/THE OBSERVER

The Oct. 25 meeting of Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC)’s College council covered topics from new majors to advising problems.

mon that they haven’t done what they should do,” Grimes said.

Developing new majors and expanding on existing majors within FCLC was a topic linked to the issue of tuition. Grimes spoke about expanding the “liberal arts option” while focusing on the fashion design major. “We wouldn’t be competing with schools like the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), but offering an alternative.

My understanding is that FIT is great in terms of fashion design, but terrible in terms of liberal arts,” Grimes said.

The Task Force on the Future of FCLC, which is a committee

that met during the 2012 summer discussed the development of new programs, including reconfiguring existing majors. Preliminary ideas brought to light include introducing a concentration in musical theatre, having the Graduate School of Social Service to work with the social work major and restructuring the music major that was introduced last year.

The facts were presented at the College Council meeting that FCLC has experienced financial loss in revenue and also a decrease in applications. There was also a 6 percent decrease in attendance for the high school senior open house

this fall. Faculty and students engaged with Grimes about not only the future of FCLC, but also the financial future of current students in terms of debt and the anticipated job search. Will reconfiguring existing majors alleviate the worry about finding a job?

Assistant Professor of economics Shapoor Vali responded to Grimes’s restructuring of majors and the liberal arts role in FCLC. “If tuition and cost is the issue for students here, how does offering new and more developed majors help, especially since these majors aren’t even that promising for future jobs,” Vali said.

The main concern was laid out at the College Council meeting: students who are financially restricted want to feel secure about their major producing a job upon graduation. Besides the preliminary ideas offered by Grimes during College Council, he also said that Fordham cannot provide financial assistance to all students.

“There are also students that just simply shouldn’t be here. We can’t afford to take on the debt. It’s sad but there’s nothing we can do about it,” Grimes said.

The next College Council meeting will take place on Nov. 29 at 11:30 a.m. in the South Lounge.

Opinions

Monique John mnqjohn@gmail.com November 1, 2012 THE OBSERVER

STAFF EDITORIAL

Observer

AN ENDORSEMENT OF PERSEVERANCE

Fordham College at Lincoln Center 113 West 60th Street Room 408 New York, New York 10023 Tel: (212) 636-6015 Fax: (212) 636-7047

T

raditionally, The Observer would use this space to endorse a candidate that we believe truly represents the concerns of students like us. But in the mess of Hurricane Sandy, the traditions of the American political system seemed less important than making sure everyone is alright. With some editors stranded in Westchester and Queens and almost unreachable, needless to say we were unable to come to a complete consensus for an endorsement.

Although the East Coast bared the brunt of Hurricane Sandy’s wrath, the disruptions she caused echoed across the nation. Yes, we in New York City are seeing the physical aftermath of the 80 mph winds and the tidal swells and flooding. But the whole nation was thrown off pace when President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney put their campaigns on hold to focus on the state of emergency.

But when the floodwaters subside and Fordham classes begin again, a few things will be clear. First, the relatively low death toll from such an intense storm and the swift and effective response from first-responders proves beyond doubt the ways in which government intervention can be

After recovering from Sandy, the nation has to make a decision that will last the next four years. efficient and save lives.

Second, we have obviously learned from past mistakes.

After the horrors of Hurricane Katrina, responses to recent Hurricanes Irene and Sandy have been well organized and relatively disaster-free.

We’ve learned a lot from past mistakes as a nation as well. Since the 2008 election, one in which many of us were still too young to vote, we saw unemployment rates climb to staggering heights and then slowly fall below 8 percent, all while our national output has continued to grow.

Still, students are faced with a tough decision next week when they trek home to vote or mail in their absentee ballots.

From a students’ perspective, both candidates have their attractive features.

Obama has consistently

the

fought to protect financial aid for college students and capped repayment of federal student loans at 10 percent of a student’s income. Female students especially have a reason to support Obama: his Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) ensured that proper reproductive health care would be available for all women.

But many students believe the economic situation under Obama has not been friendly to college graduates and any senior who faces the job market with the same sense of doom with which we faced Sandy knows that it’s hard out there for a grad. Not only is a college degree no longer an employment guarantee, but many students’ college debt continues to grow despite Obama’s efforts. For many, it is time to believe in another change.

No matter your political leanings, the Observer stresses the importance of fulfilling your civic duty on (or before!)

Nov. 6. As students, voting can foster a pattern of involvement in your community that will benefit you and your neighbors in years to come. As Americans, voting unites us in exercising the voice upon which our nation is founded.

News Editor Mehgan Abdulmassih Asst. News Editor Gabriela Méndes-Novoa Opinions Editor Monique John Asst. Opinions Editor Alissa Fajek Arts & Culture Co-Editors Olivia Perdoch Clinton Holloway Asst. Arts & Culture Editor Brian Bruegge Features Editor Jewel Galbraith Asst. Features Editor Rex Sakamoto Literary Editor Salma Elmehdawi Sports Editor Michael McMahon Copy Editor Anna Luciano Asst. Copy Editor Zoë Simpson Layout Co-Editors Amanda Fimbers Tayler Bennett

Photo Co-Editors Sara Azoulay Ayer Chan

SOCIAL MEDIA

Tune into the @FordhamObserver Twitter account to get up-to-date information on who’s in the lead, who’s down, what states have voted and ultimately, who our president is going to be for the next four years. We expect a long night—coffee, cookies and Wolf Blitzer’s beard will suffice.

Managing Editor Ian McKenna

Layout Staff Sara Azoulay Biannca Mackill Brian Bruegge

Online Round-Up Twitter Coverage of Election Night 2012

Editor-in-Chief Harry Huggins

Online Editor Ariella Mastroianni

Check us out online at fordhamobserver.com and lcradar.com

Multimedia Producer Mike Madden Business Manager Amanda Fimbers Blog Editor Nick Milanes Asst. Blog Editor Nina Guidice Faculty Advisor Prof. Elizabeth Stone

AUDIO

The Hurricane Sandy Playlist Did Sandy leave you bouncing off the walls of your dorm?Did you make a fort out of Justino’s pizza boxes? Watch all eight Harry Potter movies? Or did you venture out in the storm with nothing but boxers, a transparent raincoat and the flag of Denmark? (That one actually happened.) Whatever it may be, enjoy this musical ode to Hurricane Sandy that features the Olivia Newton John classic as well as the “Pete & Pete” opener, “Hey Sandy.”

Faculty Layout Advisor Kim Moy Faculty Photo Advisor Amelia Hennighausen

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES • Letters to the Editor should be typed and sent to The Observer, Fordham University, 113 West 60th Street, Room 408, New York, NY 10023, or e-mailed to fordhamobserver@gmail.com. Length should not exceed 200 words.

All letters must be signed and include contact information, official titles, and year of graduation (if applicable) for verification.

• If submitters fail to include this information, the editorial board will do so at its own discretion.

• The Observer has the right to withhold any submissions from publication and will not

consider more than two letters from the same individual on one topic. The Observer reserves the right to edit all letters and submissions for content, clarity and length.

• Opinions articles and commentaries represent the view of their authors. These articles are in no way the views held by the editorial board of The Observer or Fordham University.

• The Editorial is the opinion held by a majority of The Observer’s editorial board.

The Editorial does not reflect the views held by Fordham University.

PUBLIC NOTICE

No part of The Observer may be reprinted or reproduced without the expressed written consent of The Observer board.

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THE OBSERVER November 1, 2012

Opinions

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I’m Not In A Relationship With My Cat A So-Called “Cat-Lady” Speaks Out ALISSA FAJEK Asst. Opinions Editor

Are you single? Are you female?

Are you approaching your midtwenties? Do you live alone? Do you happen to like cats? Be careful, you don’t want to become one of “those” women—the crazy Cat Lady.

Wide eyed, gawky, awkward as hell and covered from head to toe in cat hair, the Cat Lady is unmistakable.

All it takes is the adoption of one cat (maybe two or three, but you get the point) to make an average girl hop on the express train to Crazy Town, thus marking her descent into insanity and ultimate solitude.

Some people believe that the Cat Ladies are bachelorettes desperate to find a husband. Others believe that it is their longing for motherhood kicking in, and with no fetus (or a man to start a family with for that matter), they are forced to look elsewhere to fulfill their fantasy. No matter the case, the Cat Lady exists for one reason: the single woman is lonely, and cannot function properly in her single state. So she invests her time and money into a little furball as a silent protest against men.

Though I’m sure there are quite a few women out there who embody the stereotype, most single-female cat owners are not frizzy-haired and unkempt with apartments filled with stacks of newspapers, kitty litter and the stench of cat pee.

In the case of the single man, or the Playboy if you will, a life of solitude is just fine. It is good-and-well for them to go about their lives in apartments buried under a dozen beer cans and stacks of empty pizza boxes, all

SAVANNAH SCHECHTER/THE OBSERVER

Being a Cat Lady doesn’t mean you’re going to venture down the road of isolation and frizzy hair with a hint of cat pee in your apartment.

with man’s best friend: his dog. This, seemingly, is the male version of the stereotype, only one thing is missing: the negative implications.

And older single man can treat his dog like his child, bring it to the beach and the park like some sort of trophy wife and live for or with no one else.

This only implies he’s an old spirit, a real man’s man. But for a woman, living alone with her cat(s) means that she probably hasn’t had sex in a few years, has no real connection to

society, rarely leaves her home and is just downright sad and weird.

Let’s get one thing straight: times are a-changin.’ Women are starting their families later and homemaking is less of a priority since they are striving in the workplace. By no means is any self-respecting woman going to define her life by a man or a baby.

And she is certainly not going to fill that void by putting a bonnet on her cat, singing it a lullaby before bed and deeming it her child.

Cats are not boyfriends. In the same respect, cats do not serve as their replacements, either. Though, arguably, it is probably easier to get along with a cat than a man most days, this doesn’t mean they are interchangeable in a woman’s life. If a woman is single, it is her choice, and she does not need to cry into the fur of her cat at night to deal with her relationship status.

Personally, I don’t believe in stereotypes. Live and let live. If I want to spend my days on the Internet looking

at funny cat pictures or spending my night with my pet, who cares? That is in no way correlated to the way that I live any other part of my life. I am sick of hearing that I am going to end up a crazy cat lady all by myself. These remarks are what make me prefer animals to humans, anyway.

In the end, a cat is just a pet. Unless your cats outnumber your human companions, you’re probably not headed down the Crazy Trail.

Will New “Low-Profit” College Model Be More Beneficial to Students?

POINT

Low Profits will Better Allocate Academic Funding BRITTANY FIELDS Contributing Writer

At for-profit schools, roughly an extra $60,000 (the average income for professors according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics) could be the difference between taking a communications class with a professor who is a recently retired employee of a TV network and taking a class with someone who has minimal experience in the field of the students’ concentration.

Of course, there are many reasons why students do not get the optimal academic experience. One of the reasons is some of the money students at for-profit colleges pay goes towards the pockets of shareholders and not that well experienced professor who can teach students academics, as well as provide students with tricks of the trade.

Something about this system seems morally wrong. It is a system that has the ability to place its shareholders above its students, charging students large amounts for tuition to ensure a profit. Unlike nonprofit schools like Fordham that use subsidies to help students pay tuition, money made at for-profit schools are the additional profits of shareholders. Also, investing in academics comes in second on a for-profit school’s to do list, even though it disadvantages students.

An attempt to fix this is called a “lowprofit” school. As implied, the profit is not taken out of the equation; profits are used in a different way. Rather than all of profits going to shareholders, some, if not most, goes into the academics—reversing the priorities.

Based on “Low-profit Limited Liability Companies,” a research article published in the Journal of Public Affairs and conducted by three professors from the University of Maine, people seem to be confused with the idea that low-profits seem to help both for-profit and nonprofit companies. However their research also finds that with low-profit companies everyone wins in some way. The shareholders make some profit, not the highest possible, but a profit. Then some of the profit taken from shareholders are given to the students by improving educational methods.

Some advocates ask: what is to stop one school from lying about their academic performance, still giving their shareholders more of the profit? And how would business operated schools transition to a “low-profit” model?

According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, low profit must adhere to an important provision to ensure the efficiency of low-profit schools. Investors would be able to sue the “low profit” if it does not keep up with its mission. This provision would cause most low profits to abide by the purpose of the model. At the same time, because more pressure is placed on producing a strong academic performance, more students would levitate toward lowprofit schools.

While this may not be the most absolute perfect model, and, of course, there are things that can be tweaked to make it more efficient, low-profit schools don’t seem to be a bad idea. With for-profits schools that treat other people’s education like something that can be placed on the back-burner for a few bucks, and with the fact that for-profit schools are not going away (despite their issues in this economy), we need to start somewhere.

COUNTERPOINT

Low Profits Are Still No Match for Public and Private Schools RACHEL SHUMLEVICH Staff Writer

The fact that college tuition is severely inflated isn’t debatable—it’s an overwhelming fact evinced by the five figures we pay to attend school each year—but even $50,000 or more per year isn’t enough to completely cover the costs of education. There are still books, lab fees, and those annoying little charges that keep popping up all over the place. Sure, this model may be flawed, but it’s important to consider the value of the education itself—what are you getting out of it?

Just 40 years ago, a college degree guaranteed you a job. It’s not the case today, but it makes having a degree all the more important. We definitely aren’t guaranteed employment the moment we graduate; but in order to get that job at all, we are expected to earn a diploma.

A proposed alternative to the model of private colleges are the so called “low profit” institutions—which include schools such as the University of Phoenix and Kaplan and DeVry universities. On paper, these educational companies forward more of their costs to education and less to shareholders and executives. However, their mission doesn’t translate to reality. The amount of money going into both marketing and corporate profit significantly outweighs how much is spent on student instruction. It’s obvious where the focus here is: advertising—not academics.

But what about public universities as an alternative to private? Public schools are much cheaper than their private counterparts, and most have resources that match or even exceed prestigious private universi-

These educational companies are in fact a “watered-down” version of private colleges and universities–and nothing more. ties. Many of them are considered among some of the best schools in the nation—UC Berkeley, University of Virginia and College of William and Mary—just to name a few.

Even for-profits cannot match the generally low tuition of publics. And they definitely don’t match the average amount of money allocated for each individual student’s instruction.

Gregory Ruzis, senior manager of Fulcrum Analytics, stated that when hiring, where the degree comes from isn’t important for him in evaluating whether or not the candidate can do the job. However, he notes that candidates from public and private universities, as opposed to those from for profits, tend to have a more complete education.

An education in a for-profit institution isn’t useless—but if you’re looking for a good alternative to a private college, this isn’t it.

These educational companies are in fact a “watered-down” version of private colleges and universities and nothing more. They offer no meaningful difference from private institutions in the amount spent on students versus how much is diverted to shareholders.

Moreover, their education, while convenient and trimmed of all the “nonsense,” is limiting. If you’re really looking for change, look no further than the publics.

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Opinions

November 1, 2012 THE OBSERVER

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Turning My Phone Off has Never Been so Difficult REX SAKAMOTO Asst. Features Editor

Last weekend, my friend and I went out to brunch to celebrate her birthday. The place was quaint and naturally we wanted to take some pictures. Immediately we started posting them to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Throughout brunch we kept our phones on the table right next to our silverware. Whenever one of us received a notification, we would pick up our phones and reply back to the person who liked it or made a comment. Throughout brunch either I was talking to a person on their cell phone or she was talking to me while I was on my phone.

This caused me to realize that our generation has become so consumed by our social devices that we forget to relate with one another in the present. Instead of interacting with the person with us, we would rather talk to a person miles away. Unfortunately, this doesn’t just happen at brunch. It occurs during all parts of the day and has handicapped our generation’s lives.

We live in a fast-paced world where messages are sent in mere seconds, conversations occur in real time among two or three continents, and news is relayed as it happens at all times of the day and in all parts of the world. Personally, I have become accustomed to this constant feed of information and it almost seems necessary to have your phone with you at all

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY REX SAKAMOTO/THE OBSERVER

With all that goes on in the world around us, turning off our cell phones, as well as other aspects of social media, could be one of the most difficult challenges our generation faces.

times.

For instance, once I went grocery shopping and I left my phone at home by accident. Instead of returning home, I went to the store thinking I would be back shortly.

When I returned home a half hour later, a whole conversation between my friends about dinner plans had occurred via group text.

Unfortunately, I did not have my phone and they left without me since I had not responded.

Another time I was out with my friend and we saw Mila Kunis.

Of course, we had to take a picture and post it on Instagram. The only problem was that I left my phone at home because it needed to charge.

Big mistake! I missed out on over

a hundred “Likes” and probably a few new followers.

On the other hand my phone has interfered with my day on various occasions. In class it is difficult for me to set my phone aside and give my whole attention to the professor. Especially if my phone vibrates, I absolutely have to check my phone. Even worse, if the

lecture seems boring, I will play a game on my phone. This causes me to miss information in class.

At night I never turn off my phone because I am afraid someone might have an emergency and need to call me. This is never the case. If I receive a text late at night, it is usually from a West coast friend who forgot about the time difference or a friend asking about some piece of homework they didn’t do. This repeated late night texting results in a less than attentive student in the morning.

As an experiment I turned my phone off for one night to see if I could unplug. A few minutes later I wanted to turn it back on and see if I had missed anything, trying to convince myself that I had something urgent to respond to, even though I didn’t. Listening to the hum of dryers and washing machines below, I finally fell asleep by 11.

When I turned on my phone the next morning during breakfast, a few text messages and emails appeared. I responded and that was it. The world did not collapse while I slept, nor did anyone suffer because I didn’t respond to them immediately.

Although I did not like turning off my phone, I still did it. Our generation needs to develop a code of ethics for when it is and is not appropriate to use one’s electronic device. We have placed precedence on our virtual relationships and as a result we ignore what is happening before us. Instead of fixing our eyes on a millions of pixels, we need to re-learn to engage with the people around us.

Rape, Fraud and the Welfare System Recently Revoked Pennsylvania Bill Reflects Stereotypes of Welfare Recipients MONIQUE JOHN Opinions Editor

The slothful, hypersexual, manipulative welfare mother has plagued headlines once again with the withdrawal of a recent Pennsylvania House Bill on Oct. 24. Drafted by Republican and Democratic state representatives, the Pennsylvania House Bill 2718 ruled that families currently under assistance with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) would be refused coverage for newborns—unless the mother could supply proof that her child was a product of rape as well as the identity of her rapist.

The last clause is extremely difficult for me to swallow.

Though it is hard to see, the representatives that drafted 2718 had somewhat good intentions. Obviously they were trying to reform welfare in their state to promote their idea of a stable, model family while doing what they believed would conserve state funds and reduce fraudulent use of welfare benefits. But what happens to a woman who accidentally becomes pregnant and doesn’t have the money for an abortion? What if her religion prevents her from having one? Or what about the woman who loses her job once she becomes pregnant? And how could legislators expect to create effective legislation by glossing over important, complicated facts surrounding rape, children’s rights and family structures that construct welfare recipients’ home environments?

The bill’s mandate implies that lawmakers are concerned about women falsely claiming rape to take advantage of welfare benefits. But did they forget that according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network, less than half, exactly 46%, of all rapes are actually reported? The problem is

not that women are falsely claiming they’ve been raped. The problem is that not enough women are reporting they’ve been raped. Given the societal pressures surrounding a woman’s assault such as fear of retaliation from her attacker, severe trauma and humiliation, and even disbelief from authorities, there are plenty valid (though extremely unfortunate and problematic) reasons as to why a rape isn’t reported. Besides, is a woman’s rape only legitimate if it’s been filed with the authorities?

Legislators don’t even have a plausible reason to be concerned

“It’s implied that the pregnant woman who had consensual sex must lack work ethic and self worth.” over welfare fraud. In a 2010 report from the United States Government accountability office, only four percent of allowances to families within the Supplemental Assistance Program (SNAP), otherwise known as the food stamp program, were incorrectly distributed. Within that four percent, two-thirds of them were errors on the part of SNAP caseworkers.

In attacking their parents, we’re indirectly harming the children that need the aid the most. Regardless of how they were brought into the world, a child is a dependent being that deserves the resources they need for healthcare, proper nutrition, and a prosperous education to grow.

With the overwhelming response from journalists at the Pennsylvania State House offices, the bill was revoked only hours after it was reported by various news outlets. However, even though the bill was struck down

by those who drafted it, it is one of many government policies of its kind that has left a lasting impression on the American public with long held myths and stereotypes of those living on welfare. For one, in only giving aid to impregnated women who have been raped, the bill promotes the idea that most mothers on welfare are immoral, manipulative sexual deviants, using their children for checks. If it is only the woman that has been forced into conception is a valid applicant for assistance, then we are left with the implication that the pregnant woman who had consensual sex lacks work ethic and self worth, complacent with living in poverty.

As in any social service program, there is a population of people who abuse the system. But this is just a stereotype that disregards the fact that two-thirds of single mothers on welfare work outside of their homes.

Furthermore, the aid that families actually receive from TANF is hardly extravagant. A family of three is only given up to $5,000 for a maximum of five years while on TANF, a program that only services two percent of Pennsylvania’s population. It’s not realistic to entertain the idea that mothers on welfare want to live as a dependent on the system (much less use their children as forms of profit) because the amount of money they receive from these programs is so meager. Plus, average middle and upper class Americans are quick to forget that are dependent on financial aid and other forms of welfare programs from the government themselves, with access to public education, mortgage deductions, Social Security and corporate tax breaks and in many cases, inherited wealth.

We are in the third wave of the feminist movement, but it feels like the first. The decision of whether or not a woman is worthy of receiving public assistance is based on her prior

DAVID TROTMAN-WILKINS/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/MCT

What do you think you know about this woman without knowing her?

relation to a man as opposed to her personal merit, and lawmakers have found yet another way to humiliate welfare recipients by invading their personal lives, putting their (oftentimes painful) sexual past on display.

In a year that has fostered such a large discussion on women’s rights, it’s unbelievable that our government officials have put forth yet another effort to gain control of women’s bodies and reproductive rights.

Arts & Culture

Clint Holloway, Olivia Perdoch cholloway4@fordham.edu, oliviaperdoch@gmail.com

November 1, 2012 THE OBSERVER

Five NYC Movie Theaters That Break From the Mainstream

By CLINT HOLLOWAY Arts & Culture Co-Editor

Anthology Film Archives

With accessible instant-stream platforms like Netflix and iTunes becoming the norm, it seems that movie theaters are becoming obsolete. Today’s high-speed technological innovations have heralded a desire for instant gratification, where people want to watch movies as quickly, conveniently and cheaply as possible, rather than having to make the trek to the multiplex to see a movie that will be available to own in two months.

That being said, there is a barrage of unique movie theaters around New York City that are keeping the moviegoing tradition alive, whether it is through their rich cultural tradition or their unique reinvention of the movie-going experience.

32 Second Ave. Ticket price: $8 for students, $10 general admission Founded in 1969, the Anthology Film Archives operates as more than just a movie theater. From its inception, its intent was to facilitate the discussion and study of the cinematic medium, which explains the fact that it has a massive reference library of books devoted to avant-garde cinema. The Archive’s brick-lined exterior and copper-plated entrance sign contribute to it as feeling like a serious establishment or institution.

As mentioned before, the primary emphasis of the Archive’s programming is avant-garde cinema, so do not expect any overtly mainstream cinematic fare.

Lincoln Plaza Cinema

Film Forum

1886 Broadway Ticket price: $13 general admission Just a brief walk from Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC)’s campus, Lincoln Plaza Cinema has been providing New York City with art house films for over three decades.

The devotion to independence in cinema seems to have carried over to its décor, as the lobby, small theatres and even sound system give off of a somewhat lo-fi vibe, intimating that there may not have been any substantial restorations since it opened in 1981.

The Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center

144 West 65th St. Ticket price: $9 for students, $13 general admission Right across from The Juilliard School lies the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center. Relatively new (it was unveiled in 2011) and with an exterior adorned in sleek glass, it is an invitingly sophisticated place to see the newest independent film releases and grab a snack at their WiFiequipped café. In addition to its two movie screens is an amphitheatre, which plays host to various lectures, panels and special events throughout the year.

209 West Houston St. Ticket price: $12.50 general admission Like the Anthology Film Archives, the Film Forum is a movie exhibition located downtown that has devoted itself to presenting and preserving the medium film for the past four decades. The Forum’s old-school marquee is indicative of its film programming; in addition to current independent releases are showings of various older films. By placing these films alongside each other, one can say that the Film Forum allows you to immerse yourself in the world of cinema, where the rules of time do not apply.

Nitehawk Cinema

136 Metropolitan Ave. Ticket price: $12 general admission Located in Brooklyn’s perpetually hip Williamsburg neighborhood, Nitehawk Cinema offers moviegoers a relaxed and interesting movie-going experience. All three of its theaters are equipped with table-like settings, and moviegoers are given the opportunity to order food and drinks throughout the film’s duration. Even better, their menu features items that are inspired, albeit cheek-

TAVY WU/THE OBSERVER

NYC’s storied multiplexes have as much character and personality as the actors who appear on screen.

ily, by the films they are showing at the time. For example, in honor of current Nitehawk feature “The Mas-

ter,” which stars Joaquin Phoenix as a hard-drinking World War II dispatch, their menu includes an entrée

playfully titled “Drunken Phoenix,” consisting of beer-battered chicken breast with whiskey dipping sauce.

Students Get Scary With “39 of 70 Scenes” in FCLC’s White Box

By BRIAN MANGAN Staff Writer

“It’s just a stretchy sheet, you could stick your face in it though” said Director John Bezark, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’13. Moments later, a light fell to the ground behind a curtain playing the role of a wall in the White Box Studio during preparations for the production of “39 of 70 Scenes of Halloween.”

“It looks really good though,” Bezark said, “that’s kind of how things happen.” Immediately after this, the crew began experimenting with the curtain, awed by how the newly discovered lighting options, and stretchiness of the fabric create exactly the monstrous looks they were hoping to find.

“Since studio shows are entirely student-run, you end up feeling not only a lot more proud of your work; you have a lot more fun with it because you can work with the people around you more,” Aiden Meyer, FCLC ’13 and sound designer said.

“You also feel a lot more like helping them out because your excited about it and excited about everyone getting obsessed with what they’re doing.”

Studio shows take place in a much smaller room than main-stage shows and are entirely student run.

This allows for student directors like Bezark to take the lead for a camaraderie which comes out in every aspect of their preparation, and pre-

sumably just as well in the performance.

Jeffrey Jones’s play is “funny and tragic and beautiful and mysterious and scary,” Bezark said. The play is written in a rather odd manner in that it gives the director the opportunity to organize the 70 scenes in any sequence they see fit. “We’re trying to create a very strict story structure” Bezark said, “a structure for the play that gets the audience to appreciate the way the play is written in and of itself.”

Bezark wasn’t willing to give any specific hints at how that story structure might look, so viewers re-

The show takes place entirely within the living room of Joan and Jeff as they wait for trick-or-treaters to stop at their house. ally won’t be able to guess the plot until they see it. What we do know is that the play is about the relationships between the cryptically named characters; Actress 1/ Joan, played

by Dana Walsh, FCLC ’13, Actor 1/ Jeff, played by Johnny Pozzi, FCLC ’15, Actor 2/The Beast, played by Yaron Lotan, FCLC ’15, and Actress 2/The Witch, played by Erin Reitz,

IAN MCKENNA/THE OBSERVER

Director John Bezark, FCLC ’14, gives the audience members a chance to reorganize the scenes of “39 of 70 Scenes of Halloween” in any manner they choose.

IF YOU GO

FCLC ’13.

The show takes place entirely within the living room of Joan and Jeff as they sit on their sofa watching TV and waiting for trick-ortreaters to stop at their small suburban house. This perfectly average

Halloween setting transforms into something much more fantastical as their house is invaded with visions of the Beast and the Witch. From there, everything is up to the ordering of the scenes and the imaginations of the cast and crew.

39 of 70 Scenes of Halloween WHEN: Nov. 2-4 WHERE: White Box Studio Theater PRICE: Free MORE INFO: kandykornplay@gmail.com

for reservations

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Arts & Culture

November 1, 2012 THE OBSERVER

www.fordhamobserver.com

Ditch the Classics: Read for Pleasure with These Student Favs

By ELIZABETH COLE Staff Writer

When looking for a good book to read, classic novels are often the most recommended. Classics are wonderful, as they have been read by many generations for a reason, but given the fact that college students are all forced to read the classics for class assignments, these may not be the preferred options for leisure reading. Here are the most popular books that Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) students are reading for pleasure.

“A Song of Ice and Fire” Series

Better known as the “Game of Thrones” series after the title of the first book, “A Song of Ice and Fire” is insanely popular among FCLC students. The fourth and fifth volumes were New York Times bestsellers, and the series is currently an ongoing HBO television show.

“They’re fast-paced, have extremely compelling characters, and a super complex storyline that’s fun to piece together,” Jeffrey Cipriano, FCLC ’14, said. “Plus they’re long books with short chapters, so it’s easy to break up around a hectic schedule—one chapter here, two chapters there.”

IAN MCKENNA/THE OBSERVER

“ The Casual Vacancy”

J.K. Rowling’s new book is her first since the Harry Potter series.

In the U.K., “The Casual Vacancy” was the fastest-selling book this year and had a best-selling opening week. According to The New York Times, it was the 15th best-selling book of 2012 during its first week of release. Cosette Carlomusto, FCLC ’15, said that though she’s only partway through the book, she thinks it’s very good, even though “it’s not Harry Potter—it’s very different.”

Michael Ciaccio, FCLC ’14, said, “I thought it was very impressive that she has a dozen fully-developed and complex characters without a single clear protagonist or likeable character. At the same time, you care about all of them equally.”

Take some time off from your assigned reading for class and pick up some contemporary titles that have caught FCLC students’ eyes.

“Everything is Illuminated” Jonathan Safran Foer’s “Everything is Illuminated” is a blend between fiction and non-fiction, and was adapted into a film in 2005. It was a 2002 New York Times Bestseller and won the National Jewish Book Award, The Guardian First Book Award and The Young Lions Fiction Award, among others.

Tori Campbell, FCLC ’14, said, “I liked how clever this book was. It’s the kind of book that when I finished it, I was left completely speechless. It was so amazing.”

“ The Alchemist ”

A novel by Paulo Coelho, “The Alchemist” was first published in 1988 and was originally in Portugese. The book is now an international bestseller. According to the Agence France-Presse, a global news agency, it has sold more than 65 million copies in more than 160 countries. It has also won the Guinness World Record for most translated book by a living author.

Tanio Bello, FCLC ’14, said that this book was enchanting. “It’s one of those books that soaks you up, and you’re left worrying about the character—what will happen to him, what will he do next. You care about the characters in a way you normally

Arts & Sciences Faculty Day Nominations for Teaching Awards Fordham College at Lincoln Center is seeking nominations for awards for outstanding undergraduate teaching in the areas of the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences.

These awards will be presented at the annual Arts & Sciences Faculty Day on February 1, 2013.

If you wish to nominate a full-time member of the Arts & Sciences Faculty at Fordham for one of these awards, please submit your choice in writing. Deadline for entries is January 4, 2013.

Send nominations to: Rev. Robert R. Grimes, S.J. Office of the Dean Fordham College at Lincoln Center Lowenstein 821

don’t. I also liked the message at the end of the book: if you try, you can succeed.”

“The Perks of Being a Walflower” Written by novelist Stephen Chbosky, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” was recently made into a movie with a cast that included Emma Watson.

Cipriano said, “It really strikes a chord with young people because it addresses their fears in a sincere way.” These fears include starting high school, feeling unnoticed and so on.

“Anything” “Anything” along with author John Green’s other books “Looking for Alaska” and “An Abundance of Catherines,” are favorites for college students. Green is a bestelling author on The New York Times bestseller list. Each book has won at least one award, which is almost impossible to do in a very competitive genre.

Joe Harris, FCLC ’14, said the only reason he has read any of these books and the reason why he enjoyed them is because he really likes Green “as a person, and he’s also a really good writer.”

What’s your passion?

Theater?

Art? Television?

Celebrity Interviews?

Movies?

Music?

Books?

Write it in the Observer!

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Arts & Culture

November 1, 2012 THE OBSERVER

www.fordhamobserver.com

PHOTO FEATURE Observer photographers braved the winds, rain and flying debris to capture images of Hurricane Sandy’s arrival and aftermath.

WEIYU LI/THE OBSERVER

An old shipping dock down by Riverside Park takes a beating as Hurricane Sandy approaches.

WEIYU LI/THE OBSERVER

NYC posts notices at the entrances of public parks notifying New Yorkers of their closure due to the hurricane.

TAVY WU/THE OBSERVER

Water splashes up against a dock at Riverside Park as the tides rise.

WEIYU LIYUAN/THE OBSERVER

A dog sits in a dog run on West End during the storm.

TAVY WU/ THE OBSERVER

Leaves shake in the strong winds as Hurricane Sandy approaches New York City.

EMILY SAWICKI/THE OBSERVER

Caution tape blocks the entrance down to Lake Huron.

www.fordhamobserver.com

THE OBSERVER November 1, 2012

Arts & Culture

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PHOTO FEATURE

EMILY SAWICKI/THE OBSERVER

A fire hose draws water right along the shore of the St. Clair R. in Port Huron.

EMILY SAWACKI/THE OBSERVER

Houses facing Lake Huron are crushed by downed power lines.

TAVY WU/THE OBSERVER

An old loading dock at West End Avenue stands strong despite the blustering winds and Sandy’s rains.

REX SAKAMOTO/THE OBSERVER WEIYU LI/THE OBSERVER

Two people brave the high winds and pounding rain at Riverside Park.

A crane attached to a luxury apartment building on 58th Street collapsed during the storm.

WEIYU LI/THE OBSERVER

EMILY SAWICKI/THE OBSERVER

At a strip mall in Port Huron, MI lamps are strewn across the parking lot.

Caution tape blocks the entrance to the docks at West End Avenue.

WEIYU LI/THE OBSERVER

A view across the river from West End Avenue shows the dark hurricane clouds looming New Jersey.

Features

Jewel Galbraith jgalbraith1@fordham.edu November 1, 2012 THE OBSERVER

All in the Family: Political Ideologies From Parent to Child

By MEGAN O’HARA Staff Writer

Here’s one we’ve all heard a million times: if you don’t want to offend anyone, don’t talk politics or religion. But when it comes to family, this rule often doesn’t apply—members of a family tend to share religious and political views.

But not for Troy Krusz, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’15. Krusz grew up in Mount Vernon, NY in the midst of two very different political philosophies. So when he was old enough to make his own decision, he was bound to clash with one of his parents.

“My mom grew up in Bronxville, New York, which is kind of a one square mile little bubble. She’s a total liberal,” he said. “But my dad, he grew up an Irish Catholic as one of six kids in Boston, and he’s a conservative Republican.”

Krusz said he knows his parents’ political views are products of their environments. “My dad, I think, part of what shapes his views is the fact that he got a job, got into a relationship with my mom, built a family, all this stuff… and he adopted this Republican outlook because he thought it’d make my future easier. He saw it like the American Dream, that whole thing,” he said. “My mom grew up in this small town outside of New York, so I think it’s pretty obvious she was going to end up a liberal.”

Before he became interested in politics, Krusz said it wasn’t a huge subject of conversation at home. He mostly remembers “fragments of political brainwashing from the TV and radio.”

In elections, his mom would vote Democrat, his dad would vote Republican, and that would be it— there wasn’t much discussion to go along with it. He said that political views “were never really forced on

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY TAVY WU/THE OBSERVER

With a conservative dad and a liberal mom, Troy Krusz, FCLC ’15, has opposing viewpoints from his dad—he is now a registered Democrat.

[him],” although his dad did control the radio on their daily car rides.

“It was just me and him in the car every morning,” Krusz said.

“He was always listening to Don Imus, Rush Limbaugh, you name it. In the creation of my political views, radio was a really important thing. I mean, there weren’t any liberals on our radio—my mom didn’t make me aware of that like my dad did. But I’ve heard all kinds of stuff over the years… like Obama’s a terrorist, or that he wasn’t even born here, you know.

You can’t stop yourself from form-

ing an opinion after listening to that stuff for so long.”

Eventually Krusz’s interest in politics grew and he “started asking questions.” This is when he and his father’s opposing views became clear—Krusz is now a registered Democrat.

“We’d stay up late having these heated political discussions, about what he thought was good for me,” he said. “There was this one night we were out on the porch for two or three hours, drinking beers, really getting into it… and I was saying, ‘Dad, you’re 56 now, you’re getting ready to retire and you have

to think about that stuff.’ And he’s telling me, ‘Troy, you have to build your life, you have to take care of yourself.’ So that right there was really the crux of the argument… it’s something we will just never see eye to eye on.”

Krusz is voting for Obama (“obviously,” he said when asked) and claims there is nothing Romney could say to convince him otherwise. He knows his dad will vote for Romney, but Krusz said he doesn’t understand why.

“I mean, he’s gonna do what he’s gonna do. But I just don’t get it… he’s just not in any economical

position to vote for Romney.”

When asked if his dad has feelings towards Krusz’z status as a registered Democrat, he responds, “Yeah! He hates me for it. He thinks I’m rejecting this whole American Dream that he feels so strongly about.”

But at the end of the day, he said, the politics of his childhood shaped the way he sees the world now, so he’s grateful for the exposure. “By the time I became conscious, I had seen a lot of both sides of the spectrum. So I feel confident I’m making the right decision, definitely.”

Fordham ID: Your Ticket to Access and Discounts Across the City

By KIMBERLY GALBRAITH Staff Writer

For Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) students, carrying around a student ID is a must. It gets us into the Lowenstein Building, pays for food at the Ram Café and allows us to check out books at the Quinn Library. However, it can also be used to acquire discount show tickets around NYC. Broadway shows, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Ballet and Jazz at Lincoln Center provide student rush tickets to students with a valid student ID. Student rush tickets give students a discount, with some tickets as low as $10.

AYER CHAN/THE OBSERVER

A Fordham ID can go a long way when living in the big city, from Broadway shows to ballet at Lincoln Center.

Broadway “Anyone willing to wake up and get to the box office early, spend some time in a line, or stand during the show, can get greatly discounted tickets to the majority of shows on Broadway,” Matthew Blank, online art editor of Playbill.com, said. Student rush tickets to shows on Broadway “are sold on the day of the performance, usually as soon as the box office opens,” Blank said. A student ID must be displayed upon purchase. Broadway box offices open at 10 a.m. (12 p.m. on Sundays), but it is best to be in line 3-4 hours before the office opens. According to Playbill.com, the student rush prices vary from $25 to $40 depending upon the show.

“The Book of Mormon,” regular price tickets range from $69 to $175, but their lottery ticket is only $32.

Go two and a half hours before the show starts to print your name and number of tickets (choose between one or two) you want to purchase.

Names are drawn two hours before show time for a limited number of tickets. If the show is sold out, standing room only tickets will be available for $27 each. A student rush ticket for the show “Once” is $34.50 Tuesday through Thursday and $39.50 Friday through Sunday.

Regular price tickets range from $60 to $160.

The New York City Ballet For student rush tickets to the ballet, “Students are entitled to two tickets. They are $20 each. All you have to do is show your ID and come the day of the performance in person to the box office,” Erica Marie, a sales ticket representative for the New York City Ballet, said. Twentydollar tickets are cheap, compared to regular price tickets that range from $29 to $135. Students can get tickets at the David H. Koch Theater box office, located at 20 Lincoln Center Plaza (Columbus Avenue at 63rd Street). The box office is open Monday 10 a.m.–7:30 p.m., Tuesday – Saturday 10 a.m.–8:30 p.m., and Sunday 11:30 a.m.–7:30 p.m. Student rush tickets are available for “Swan Lake,” “The Sleeping Beauty,” and “Serenade.” However, there are no student rush tickets available for “The Nutcracker,” which starts playing Nov. 23.

The Metropolitan Opera The Opera has a program, called

the “Met Opera Student Program,” which provides discounted tickets to students. Students must register for the program online at www.

MetOperaFamily.org/metopera/ students and will then be eligible to ticket savings and access to final dress rehearsals. Once registered, tickets can be purchased online or by phone by calling the box office at 212-362-6000. Student ticket prices are $25 with a $2.50 fee for weekday performances and $35 with a $2.50 fee for performances from Friday through Sunday. Regular priced tickets range from $25 to $340, depending upon the day of the week.

“The Tempest,” “Turandot” and “Le Nozze di Figaro” are shows that are currently playing.

Jazz at Lincoln Center Jazz at Lincoln Center offers the cheapest student tickets of any theater. According to Karen Reeze, a sales ticket representative for the Jazz at Lincoln Center, student rush tickets are only available one hour before show time if there are any seats available. The tickets are $10 each, for any show, and you can get up to two tickets. You can save around $30 by getting the student rush ticket instead of a regular priced ticket. Student rush tickets can be purchased at the box office, which is located in The Shops at Columbus Circle at the Broadway and 60th Street entrance. “Molly Johnson,” “Pete Zimmer Quartet” and “Gregory Porter: Be Good” are currently playing. Shows usually start at 7:30 p.m.

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November 1, 2012 THE OBSERVER

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I PITY THE JEWEL

Fire Stations, Parades and Other Tales of Fright and Horror Jewel Remembers the Scary Halloweens of Yore JEWEL GALBRAITH Features Editor

From the Easter Bunny to the confusing story of Hannukah to the fact that no one has any idea what Labor Day is, the United States has a long history of celebrating holidays whose real meanings have long been forgotten. So it makes perfect sense that Halloween is never actually scary, unless you’re afraid of Reese’s Cups or sexy nurses.

In my life, I’ve had only two Halloweens that have lived up to the spooky reputation of the holiday. They happened 13 years apart, obviously: one when I was five, and another last year when I was 18.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget the details of my first experience with Halloween terror. It was October of 1998. My parents were looking through the newspaper, as parents do, when they found a posting for a haunted house at a nearby fire station. The posting said that the event was meant for kids ages eight and up. In their infinite wisdom, my mom and dad decided that I was “mature enough” to handle it—we all know, of course, that maturity is the best defense against getting scared at a haunted house.

So we hopped into our Volvo and drove off toward the firehouse, excited to check out some goofy fake vampires and howling ghosts.

Grinning, we took our places in a tour group and laughed at our guide, who was wearing a long black robe and an incredibly realistic skeleton mask. “He’s taking himself too seriously!” we told ourselves. “This is fun!”

“Follow me inside,” he intoned in a booming voice, knocking on the door of the station with three resounding thuds. My mom and I looked at each other nervously.

From that point on, the tour was more than my mature 5-year-old self could handle. We walked up a narrow flight of stairs and were greeted immediately by a room filled with people on gurneys, moaning and covered in fake blood.

I burst into tears. Horrified, my parents picked me up and led me back downstairs.

There I was treated to a nonscary ghost lollipop, which was a Tootsie Roll Pop covered in a tissue with a face on it. While I ate it and tried to get over the scars of the previous ten minutes, I started to think maybe Halloween was okay. But then we were approached by a man wearing a bloody T-shirt and holding a whirring chainsaw. When he wouldn’t leave us alone, my parents

COURTESY OF JEWEL GALBRAITH

Halloween is all about getting scared by ghosts, vampires and zombies. But for Jewel, some of the scariest things can be a cheap haunted firehouse and the most terrifying of them all: The Village Halloween Parade.

shepherded me to the car and drove me back to the safety of our house.

But it was too late to avoid permanent damage. The sad truth is that I now live with a crippling fear of fire stations, hospital gurneys, chainsaws and Tootsie Roll pops.

After that, the rest of my Halloweens as a kid were pretty tame until my experience last year opened up old wounds. At the time, I was a student at Rose Hill. My Rose Hill friends and I decided to go see the Halloween parade in the Village.

I had planned on taking a dance class that Monday night, so I took my class and then went downtown to meet up with the group. As soon as I emerged from the subway at Union Square into the cloudy, weed-infused air above, I realized it would be harder to find my friends

than I had anticipated.

As I started walking, it became clear that most of the streets west of the subway were blocked off horizontally by police barricades. I would have to walk up or down ten blocks any time I wanted to cross over to another avenue. Fifteen minutes of walking turned into an hour and a half, all of it down darkening streets teeming with highly realistic zombies and weirdly sexual superheroes.

Finally I reached the Starbucks where my friends and I had planned to meet. You know, Starbucks, that unique, impossible-to-miss New York landmark. Upon getting to the Starbucks, I called the group and found out that they were, in fact, at a different Starbucks. At that moment, I turned toward the street

and saw an old-fashioned pink convertible blasting “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” pop a wheelie while stopped at a traffic light. I considered the possibility that I was in the middle of a lucid dream.

Now it was getting to be pitch black outside and I wondered if I would ever find my friends, let alone make it back to the Bronx.

Then, like a beacon of hope gliding toward me, I saw what would turn out to be my salvation: the Occupy Wall Street parade.

That was my chance. I made a bold move and jumped out from behind a barricade. Before any of the policeman noticed, I fell into the Occupy crowd, who were the only ones being allowed to pass through.

I marched along and pretended to yell protest slogans while the pro-

testers around me flashed their elaborate signs. Soon enough I had made it two blocks east to where my friends were waiting for me.

It took hours, but we did return to Rose Hill that night, and so ended the second scary Halloween of my life. Like the first one, it was terrifying, but since it didn’t kill me I have to assume it made me stronger. I wasn’t anticipating any more spooky shenanigans this year, but thanks to Hurricane Sandy, 2012 may just measure up to 1998 and 2011 in terms of fright factor.

If things get windy and rainy, I’m going to stay inside where I know there won’t be any chainsaws. At the very least, you definitely won’t find me in the Village.

So you survived Hurricane Sandy?

Well what about the next four years?

Don’t forget to vote.

www.fordhamobserver.com

THE OBSERVER November 1, 2012

Features

13

UNDERSTANDING HISTORICAL CHANGE

Joseph Dembo: FCLC Patron Saint of Practicing Professionals

By IAN MCKENNA Managing Editor

“Ninety-six percent of our faculty have terminal degrees in their field.”

The information rings in the empty eighth-floor hallway as the tour guide taps the faculty publication book case, directing potential students to the number of books our faculty have authored, the number of journals they have been featured in.

But not all of our faculty members are strictly academics, entrenched in the world of scholarship, nor should they be. In fact, the presence of many successful practicing professionals enhances our academic environment here at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC).

As a group of students, our collective memory often fails us. We are here for only so long, a fleeting moment of our lives, and are not exposed to the great students and faculty members that have come before us. This is especially the case of Professor Joseph Dembo.

Dembo was more than a teacher, he was a newsman, more specifically a CBS newsman through and through.

His career at CBS began in 1960 when he joined WCBS Radio, promptly being promoted to executive producer of the station. His work at WCBS pioneered the “up-to-the-minute” news concept.

His list of credentials is dazzling. When National Public Radio (NPR) was left without a president, he stepped in as acting president and continued to serve on the NPR Board of Directors. He served as a Vice President of CBS News, CBS News Bureau Chief in Rome, and as the Vice President and General Manager of WCBS Radio in New York. His body of work, spending 28 years at CBS, yielded two George Foster Peabody Awards among other accolades.

He was truly an accomplished individual, respected in his field, a member of the construction party responsible for where we find ourselves today.

“He was hired and joined the department, because he really was eminent in his field. And so, he was brought in to really educate students in terms of his own massive media experience,” Elizabeth Stone, professor of both English and communication and media studies, said of Dembo.

But résumés mean nothing when it comes to teaching.

Fortunately for FCLC and all the students’ lives that he touched, this wasn’t the case for Dembo.

Dembo joined FCLC in 1988 with a history of teaching journalism courses at such prestigious institutions as Yale University, the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia and New York University. Above all, Dembo had a respect for the field of journalism and revered the ethical approach to journalism, leading him to find great pleasure in teaching the course “Ethical Issues in the Media.”

“What I think is great about having Mr. Dembo was that here was someone from the outside world who not only had experience but also came from an organization, CBS News in particular, that had the highest standards of ethics and conduct. He was able to bring to our students decades of real-world experience and how it was possible to be a working journalist and still have a serious experiences with the first amendment and all sorts of legal issues and how they affected journalism,” Brian Rose, professor of communication and media studies, said.

His passion for the ethical approach to media studies was apparent to many of his students, but what was more striking to those who worked along side or took classes with Dembo was the fact that he was a part of the history they learned about.

“He was a part of all of that. He lived the history before he became a professor,” Bonnie Turner, FCLC ’00,

now a producer for CNN, recalled.

“He really got me more and more interested in broadcast journalism. I work for CNN now, but he really inspired me to do what I do as a journalist.”

Anthony Hazell, FCLC ’02, said, “I thought that his experience in the media was probably not only the greatest asset to what he taught but also to the Fordham communication department. I don’t think there was any other professor with the knowledge and experience he had that was available to students to learn from. You’re talking to someone who worked with Walter Conkrite, Edward R. Murrow, Dan Rather.”

“His experience was the history of the industry. He wasn’t talking about something he didn’t know, he was talking about the life he lived and the work he had done,” Stone said.

His experience in the media industry, dealing first-hand with the ethical issues he lectured on, was unmatched in the communication and media studies department at the time, allowing his students to not only learn from someone who represented the most upright practices of journalism but also allowing them to become analytical of the problems facing the next wave of journalists, the downfalls of the media industry as ethical standards and practices began falling by the wayside.

“He brought all that rich experience into every classroom. He was a superb raconteur. At the same time, he could reflect on his experience and apply it to student learning today,” James VanOosting, professor of communication and media studies and a close personal friend of Dembo, said.

Speaking with former students, it became obvious that Dembo felt a duty to help the next generation of journalists strive for an ethical approach to media, to protect the public from a deteriorating sense of right and wrong propagated by the media.

“Joe taught true journalism,” Turner said. “He always taught us to be objective. You need to tell the story, leave your opinion out of it and let the viewer make up his or her mind.”

“He was very open to students and to what was going on in modern journalism even after he had retired.

It wasn’t just what happened in the past. The classroom was an open door to everything that was happening in the world and after he retired he saw so many changes in journalism. CBS News became a very different organization after he left it,” Rose said.

But success in the industry never tampered his attitude towards students; he always respected his students perspective.

Dembo died in March 2010 at the age of 83 after a battle with cancer, having retired from FCLC in 2009, and his passing sparked many to remember him and his impact on their lives, both here at Fordham and throughout the industry he helped to build.

In a remembrance piece, a former student and current attorney with the Student Press Law Center, Adam Goldstein, FCLC ’99, recalled the late Dembo. “Professor Dembo was a news man. You didn’t need to be a journalist to tell that; neither coat or tie ever traveled much farther than the back of his chair,” Goldstein wrote.

“He had a booming voice and a laugh to match. He wasn’t very tall and didn’t like height jokes,” Larry McCoy, former executive at CBS, recalled in a memorial piece.

“He was such a character from another era. He had this crazy deep, smooth voice that was perfect for radio—and it worked out really well holding people’s attention in the classroom too. I never heard him yell. He didn’t need to. He wasn’t necessarily intimidating but he was commanding. And he had a dry sense of humor too,” Joanna Bonfiglio, FCLC ’04, said.

“He was a cute little Italian guy.

He was a total New Yorker; he was

TOP: SEAN GALLAGHER/OBSERVER ARCHIVAL PHOTO; BOTTOM: NENA CONTE/OBSERVER ARCHIVAL PHOTO

Top: Dembo shares her cheery demeanor with members of the Fordham community. This photo originally ran in The Observer’s March 31 issue in 1993 to mark Dembo’s move to NPR as acting president. Bottom: Dembo attends “Darkness and Light: New York City in 1968,” an event he supervised in 1994.

just fun. He had a smile on his face, always, all the time; its really hard to forget,” Turner said.

“He was a quiet man, completely non-confrontational, with a big laugh and a deep voice. Students loved him,” Stone said. “He told lots of war stories.”

His second retirement, this time from teaching, in 2009 marked the end of an era for FCLC. Almost an entire generation of students has passed through FCLC without him, unfortunately wiping the slate clear of Dembo’s memory.

But his influence has by no means ended.

“There is a continuity of his impact that extends beyond 20 years and his former students are now well-placed in broadcast journalism. So, his impact or influence started at Lincoln Center, but the circle gets wider and wider and wider across space and time,” VanOosting remarked.

“Professor Dembo was the first person to teach a college course on the career of Edward R. Murrow. No one else was doing,” Rose said of “The Murrow Years,” a course pioneered by Dembo during his time at FCLC. Lori Knight, a professor at communication and media studies, is now his successor in teaching the “Ethical Issues in Media” course.

Knight and Dembo are strikingly similar in their career arcs. Both are graduates of Rutgers University. Both

have held positions at CBS; Dembo in radio and news, and Knight in “60 Minutes,” working as a part of a team that earned two Gracie Awards, the Edward R. Murrow Award, and an Emmy Award for the documentary “Legacy of Shame.” And, above all, both dedicated to the protection of ethics in the media.

“Her background at CBS News was not quite the same as when Mr. Dembo was there many decades before, but CBS still stands as the model of a kind of serious, committed approach to how journalism should function at its best,” Rose said of the two Rutgers alum.

One of Knight’s early roles at CBS was serving as an assistant to Charles Osgood.

“Because I was working with talent, I would talk to the presidents of all of these news divisions. And sometimes they would invite me, as a courtesy, to some of their luncheons and programs. So I only knew [Dembo] peripherally, because he was much higher above. But he was very, very, very well-respected,” Knight said.

Knight began teaching the course “Ethical Issues in the Media,” a course Dembo taught passionately before her, in the fall of 2010 and cited her family’s history as teachers and administrators as one of the motivating factors of her decision.

“The other reason that I did was, and it may speak to the connection

that Joe and I have by coincidence, CBS News was considered, still is, to an extent, the big grand-daddy of all television broadcasting, particularly in news, and because we had the giant of broadcasting, Edward R. Murrow, start at CBS, set us up at CBS, develop the standards and practices,” Knight said. “[Murrow] was so good, so smart, and so humble. That ethos was handed down to those people who started working at CBS News, and because Edward R. Murrow developed it, along with the Murrow boys, it was a tradition that was handed down through the generations.

“My generation, we all started at the same time because we were right out of college, and our generation was the last one to learn from the real Murrow Boys, and what they would tell us was that, ‘One day, you are going to be an old hand at this, and your responsibility is to pass it down to the next generation.’”

Prompted by her time with the “Murrow Boys,” Knight often volunteered to aid CBS interns in understanding the importance of the integrity of journalism, the tradition and the legacy passed down to her.

“I feel that its my chance now to not only teach people here about the ethics, but its my passion. A passion and a duty,” Knight said.

A passion and a duty. Dembo would approve.

14

Features

November 1, 2012 THE OBSERVER

www.fordhamobserver.com

WORD OF MOUTH

REX SAKAMOTO/THE OBSERVER

Top Left: A pita packed with the tapas; Top Right: The takeout box with sauteed spinach, baba ganoush, taramousalata and dolmas; Bottom: A close up of the taramosalata.

A Shabby-Looking Greek Restaurant Serves Up A Delicious Authentic Meal The Twenty-five Tapas Allow You to Try a Wide Selection of Greek Cuisine REX SAKAMOTO Asst. Features Editor

Every time I walk down Columbus Avenue into Hell’s Kitchen I pass by a sign that advertises $10 Greek tapas sampler plates at a restaurant called Kashkaval. At first glance Kashkaval looks like a run-down wine and cheese shop, so I was deterred from entering. However, I looked the restaurant up on Yelp and to my great surprise, it received rave reviews. I decided to see for myself if the restaurant lived up to its online accolades.

Inside it looked like a tavern with a takeout section up front. Since I

had been curious about their sign outside, I asked how the sampler plate worked. Without looking up the man pointed to a sign which read, “Tapas Platter: Choose any four sides, comes with pita. Chicken is an extra dollar.”

The diplay case held an assortment of about 25 tapas ranging from olive hummus to chicken curry kebabs. When I decided what four sides I wanted, I asked the man to help me.

Casually he grabbed for a takeout container and gestured at the tapas.

I asked for the cold sautéed spinach with feta salad, taramosalata, dolmas and baba ganoush. Since the seating in the back was for customers ordering from their main menu, I took my food back to my dorm.

Excited for a good Greek meal, I ripped the top off the container and tore off a chunk of pita. Unfortunately, the pita was nothing special.

It was just a whole wheat bread roundel, which served as a good vehicle for the tapas.

The spinach salad was tasty and seasoned with garlic and pepper and tossed with olive oil. The greens were still slightly tender and had not wilted completely, adding a slight crunch to the dish. The salad also had large cubes of feta cheese, which was nice in comparison to the miniscule amount of crumbles usually included in pre-packed Whole Foods salads.

Taramosalata is a creamy pink tapas that has salted fish roe folded

into a mixture of mashed potatoes, bread crumbs, vinegar, lemon juice and olive oil. I had never tried this before, but it tasted almost like lox and cream cheese. The reason I say almost was because it was extremely salty and had a fishier taste. It was good in small doses, but it had to be eaten with another less salty side or the pita bread.

The dolmas, which are stuffed grape leaves, tasted great. Unlike other restaurants I have visited, where the dolmas are saturated in their own juices and are soggy and slightly slimy, these were firm and had a slight pop as I bit through the grape leaf. It was nice and tart, and served as a good counter balance to the intense taste of the taramosalata.

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Finally, the baba ganoush was a little lemonier than I was expecting, but still had a nice smooth consistency with small chunks of eggplant.

Baba ganoush is one of those delicious dishes where it does not look appetizing because it is lumpy and beige. This tapas is essentially an eggplant hummus, but has a looser consistency than the traditional chickpea hummus.

Overall the food was tasty and I am glad I finally ventured into this rustic restaurant. They advertise Gruyere fondue, which I am interested in trying in a later visit.

Reviewers on Yelp gave that a great review as well. Despite the restaurant’s uninviting appearance, it still served up a decent meal.

Get it?

Literary

Salma Elmehdawi Submissions: litsection.observer@gmail.com November 1, 2012 THE OBSERVER

AFRAID OF NIGHTTIME

By LOREAL LINGAD Contributing Writer

I bet you’re on a date Right now with a girl Who puts sex to shame I bet her tattooed hands are Twisted in your black hair And your body wrapped Around hers My words always fall Apart on nights like these Nights when I wish That it would be my hand In your back pocket And my rose perfume Stuck to your leather jacket It’s not fair that she Gets to keep your smile I bet you’re on a date Right now with a girl Who makes you laugh I bet she has the guts To tell you that your Touch sings louder than Cicadas in the summer My words always fall Apart on nights like these Nights when I wish You knew how it feels To have someone Tugging at the Marrow in your bones Everything That I’m Afraid To Tell You It’s not fair.

THE MOONLIGHT MOURNING

By SASHA GEORGE Contributing Writer

Detoxifying my insides of your misleading gaze and the remainder of your nectar.

You’ve displaced my shadow in an abyss without sun, You’ve left me drowning in a sea of cold stars.

The last moonlit tide fading from sight, A night engulfed by silence.

You’ve carved it out, with me As the product of your dose.

You are forgiven, but your grasp not forgotten, My tears follow your memory.

Once illuminated, now stripped of innocence With your leaving, everything has withered away All that can no longer be.

Sports

Mike McMahon mmcmahon27@fordham.edu November 1, 2012 THE OBSERVER

Gaelic Football, Father an Inspiration for Fordham Kicker Murray

By JENNIFER KHEDAROO Staff Writer

He is one of the most successful kickers in Fordham football history. But Patrick Murray, Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH ’13), remains a humble guy who credits the support from his teammates and family, as well as the influences of Gaelic culture, for his success.

Murray, the National Placekicker Player of the Week for the fourth time this season, said he actually fell into the role of being a kicker.

“I grew up a Gaelic football player and a soccer player,” Murray said.

“And when I got to high school, the opportunity was presented to me to try out for the football team. I obviously tried out kicking and found out I could do it pretty well, and it kind of just stuck from there.”

The Rams kicker had a consistent approach before every game.

“Every kick in practice, I put myself in a game situation so that when the game is on, I felt this way before; it’s nothing new to me,” Murray said.

This has been a winning formula, since for the season Murray has already kicked four field goals of 50 yards or longer.

But don’t expect him to be worrying about the statistics. Although Murray is three field goals away from the school’s all time record, 18 field goals made by Matt Fordyce in 2002, he doesn’t let that distract him. “The records, honestly, they don’t matter to me. I’m not one of those guys who’s gonna look back twenty years from now and say ‘Oh, I had the field goal record.’ I’m one of those guys who’s gonna look back and say ‘Oh, we won eight games

COURTESY OF FORDHAM SPORTS

Murray credited his love and involvement of Gaelic football for his first interest in kicking for football.

and went to the playoffs and turned the Fordham football program around.’”

However, Murray is already in

the record books, having kicked the longest field goal in Fordham history, a 55-yarder in a loss against the undefeated University of Cin-

cinnati Bearcats on Oct. 14. The 55yard field goal broke the old record of 52 yards, also made by Murray.

“It was great to do it against Cincin-

nati, but to be honest with you, I really could not have done it without first of all, my snapper Joe Sullivan, FCRH ’14, my holder Brian Wetzel, FCRH ’15, and the rest of the guys on the line,” Murray recalled.

When asked about his future plans about joining the NFL, Murray was not ready to think about it just yet. “I’m going to think about that when the season is over. We still have four more games left, and we still have four more wins to get.

It would be entirely unfair for me to think about that stuff when I have to focus on the season right now and win this for the seniors, for my teammates, and the coaches.”

Murray identified his favorite NFL kickers as Adam Vinatieri and Lawrence Tynes, who he once met during a kicking camp at Rutgers University.

Other than his teammates and coaches, Murray says that his father has helped him enormously during his football career at Fordham.

Murray’s father came from Ireland around twenty years ago and he believes his father would have been a natural at the game. “If he had tried out for a team when he first came over, he would’ve made a pro team, no problem. He’s over 50 years old and he’s still hitting 45 yard field goals. He’s absolutely tremendous.

I wouldn’t be in the position that I am in today without the help of my dad.”

Murray and his family all play Gaelic football. He credits Gaelic football, his first love, entirely to his ability to punt the ball on the move because that is what Gaelic football entails.

1 Class, 2 Weeks, 3 Credits

Make your winter break count. Registation is October 29 through December 21. Classes begin January 2, 2013.

Students must meet with their academic advisor to ensure satisfaction of their degree requirements and ensure eligibility.

For more information, visit sju.edu/pls.

live greater. that’s the magis.

Saint Joseph’s University | 5600 City Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19131 | Questions? Call 610-660-1267

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