Fordham Observer - Issue 9

Observer the

SEPTEMBER 25, 2014 VOLUME XXXIII, ISSUE 9

www.fordhamobserver.com

Sexual Health Access on Campus

Photo Feature

By ADRIANA GALLINA Asst. News Editor

Fordham University’s contraceptive policy is clear, but it has not always been that way, according to Mairead Maguire, co-president of Law Students for Reproductive Justice, at Fordham Law School (LAW).

The clarification came only after former law student Brigette Dunlap went to the health center to get birth control for contraceptive purposes in 2011 and was turned down that things started to change at Fordham.

School health insurance must pay for birth control in keeping with New York State law; however, schools can and do refuse to prescribe birth control as means of contraception in keeping with religious doctrine.

“If a student came in here and asked for a prescription for hormonal birth control for contraception, we would not prescribe that; but, if someone is on it for a medical reason, yes, we can prescribe that,” Kathleen Malara, executive director of Student Health Services and family nurse practitioner-board certified, stated.

According to Malara, the faculty in the health center are licensed practitioners and can evaluate the medical need that abide by Catholic teachings for birth control.

Dunlap’s story made headlines across the country and as a result, Prescribe Fordham was born.

Prescribe Fordham is a completely free event where licensed physicians volunteer time to have one-on-one consultations with students about different contraceptive options, including free prescriptions for 12-month refills on hormonal birth control. This year it will be held Wednesday, Oct. 29, from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at John Jay College at 524 West 59th Street. Students must RSVP to see ACCESS pg. 2

SARAH HOWARD/THE OBSERVER

Observer photographers captured moments of Fordham pride.

Students Campaign for Gubernatorial Debates

By TYLER MARTINS Editor-in-Chief

Regardless of who wins or loses come Election Day, the governorship will still belong to Fordham University. Incumbent Andrew Cuomo, Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) ’79, and Republican challenger Rob Astorino, FCRH ’89, both call Fordham their alma mater.

A group of students are capitalizing on this to bring Fordham into the spotlight.

Thomas Samuelson, FCRH ’16, Evan Swager, Gabelli School of Business ’16, and Thomas Roemer, GSB ’16, have begun campaigning for the gubernatorial debates to be held at Fordham.

The idea came to Fort Worth, Texas native Samuelson last spring, as he was researching the upcoming gubernatorial race. “I was going through the biographies of all the possible candidates, and all of them are Fordham people,” he said.

Samuelson tapped roommates Swager and Roemer to join his efforts. When the President of the United Student Government (USG) at Rose Hill agreed to the idea of hosting a debate on campus after Samuelson pitched it, the campaign began in earnest.

Though all three students were in and out of New York during the summer, the task of setting the wheels in motion was divided amongst them. “We were able to di-

vide our workload and make this a big idea, instead of making it a pipe dream,” Swager said.

A long email was drafted and sent to Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham, and the next day, Samuelson’s phone rang.

“The morning after, I get called in the middle of class, and I couldn’t tell who it was, so I just hung up,” Samuelson, who was taking summer classes, said. McShane was also on board and directed him to speak with Vice President of Administration Thomas Dunne. They were both open to the idea and contacted the Astorino campaign.

But what would it take to actually get the debate on campus? “We came to the conclusion that you

have to have four parts: You need to have both of the contestants, the Administration, and the media,” Samuelson said.

With one contestant and the Administration on board, the hardest to convince has been Cuomo, mostly because, prior to the primaries he had stated he had no intention to debate. “For a while, we had given up hope,” Samuelson said. The campaign seemed to be hitting a dead wall.

It was only after he won the Democratic primary against Fordham Law School (LAW) Professor Zephyr Teachout did he change his stance. “I believe we’ll have debates,” see CAMPAIGN pg. 2

Inside

FEATURES

ARTS & CULTURE

OPINIONS

Student Work on Stage

Fit at FCLC

Viewers are part of the problem

Fordham Theatre Programs’ Studio Shows

We need a better gym at Lincoln Center

PAGE 15

PAGE 12

PAGE 7

SPORTS

The Bagpiper in Central Park NFL and Violence Can you hear the music?

Page 13

THE STUDENT VOICE OF FORDHAM COLLEGE AT LINCOLN CENTER

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News

News Editor Noha Mahmoud — nmahmoud2@fordham.edu

September 25, 2014 THE OBSERVER

Contraception Accessiblity on Campus ACCESS FROM PAGE 1

FordhamLSRJ@gmail.com to attend.

“This is Prescribe Fordham’s fourth year. John Jay College offers us their space since it is very expensive to rent a place and their students can also participate,” Maguire said.

Condom distribution on campus is a “violation of the student handbook and is strictly prohibited,” Dean of Students at FCLC Keith Eldredge said.

“There are no financial aid or scholarship repercussions for distributing contraception,” Eldredge stated, “but progressive sanctioning could eventually result in suspension or expulsion from the University and or university housing, but in most instances, it certainly wouldn’t happen off the bat.”

Maguire feels the need for contraception access on campus is necessary.

“When you can come here [to the university’s health center] and get your primary health care for free, and you are blocked from getting what is an essential element of preventative health care and being a healthy person for many people, it is really arresting and stigmatizing,” Maguire said.

Prescribe Fordham, “is frank, it is sex-positive, there is no judgment,” Maquire said. “[The physicians] are aware the problem is that students need continued access,” Maguire explained.

According to Maguire, all the doctors are affiliated with Institute for Family Health - a federally qualified community health center that has several sites around New York City. The event is also co-sponsored with the Reproductive Health Access Project.

“They evaluate you, ask questions about your health, and if they assess that hormonal birth control is not the best choice, they will schedule a follow-up as well as give students advice, like considering and IUD or Depo-Provera,” Maguire continued.

An intrauterine device: a small Tshaped plastic device that is wrapped in copper or contains hormones, according to New York University’s Langone Medical Center. Depo-Provera is a shot of a hormone similar to progesterone and is given by a doctor

to a woman in the arm or buttocks, and can provide contraception for 12 to 14 weeks, according to Mayo Clinic.

The event is mainly geared towards undergraduates; however, Maguire invites all students to attend.

“The school’s policy puts a burden on undergrads who may not know the city and may not know their rights,” Maguire said.

In some ways, “like waiving the $100 deductible to go to an outside gynecologist,” Maguire feels like school health coverage policies are improving.

“But the real problem is students don’t know where to go outside Fordham, they don’t know the health center does not prescribe birth control when they visit, they are not sure if their parents will find out if they go to Planned Parenthood,” Maguire said.

“This year John Jay’s heath center will do rapid HIV testing that will be available for students,” Maguire said.

“Condoms will also be distributed and students’ anonymity will be protected,” Maguire said.

“Men are also encouraged to come, because reproductive health is not just a women’s issue, though sometimes that is the misconception,” Maguire clarified.

According to Maguire, the clinic is multi-purposed. “Part of the clinic is to reach this very real need students have for health care,” she said.

“But it is also to raise attention…

The more people who know the policies and the more talk there is about the policies, the more pressure there is to change the policies.”

She cited the clear written policy on contraception as an example. “I think that is unfortunate that students cannot get the care that they need on campus and within their community,” she said.

“This is a very necessary form of health care and I understand that Fordham adheres to Catholic teachings but students deserve access,” Maguire said.

For more information on free contraception access, students can follow @FUcondomfairy on Twitter.

To learn about free and confidential STD clinics in New York City, go to nycfreeclinic.med.nyu.edu.

REX SAKAMOTO/THE OBSERVER

Distribution of contraception on campus is strictly prohibited.

Students Rally for a Debate on Campus CAMPAIGN FROM PAGE 1

Cuomo said when asked if he’ll debate Astorino. “The campaigns have to work them, but I believe we’ll have debates.”

Swager intends on cold calling local New York television stations before enlisting the help of professors, advisors and students with connections in the industry, in hopes that he can cultivate some interest first.

“I honestly have no idea what that’s going to be like, and based on the reception we get we will see how we want to use our contacts.”

The Administration and faculty have been “willing to work with us on it,” Samuelson said about the Center for Electoral Politics and Democracy’s Director Costas Panagopoulos, Ph.D. Though the Administration cannot officially invite the candidates to partake in a debate on campus because of the University’s nonprofit status, “we passed a resolution through Rose Hill’s USG that we will be extending the invitation through that vehicle, to show that it’s from the students and not from the Administration,” Roemer, a USG representative, said.

If a debate were to happen on campus, Swager said it would most likely take place in the new Law School building at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC), if the

SARAH HOWARD/THE OBSERVER

Evan Swager, GSB ‘16, Thomas Samuelson, FCRH ‘16, Thomas Roemer, GSB ‘16 from left to right.

space were available. “The new law school seems both appropriate because its new and fancy and because it should have all the things we need both in capacity and hosting capa-

bilities,” Swager said.

The team hopes to enlist students in a variety of ways. “We’re going to need all the students that we can get,” Samuelson said. “What we

hope to do is get a ton of signatures and send it in with the invitation [to Cuomo]. You can’t exactly deny thousands of students from your alma mater. Once you get the media

on it, the pressure is on.”

The most valuable thing students can do is sign petitions. “We’re hoping to get at least 3,000 signatures, which would be about half the undergraduate student body, and that would send a strong message to the Cuomo campaign that we really mean business and that the Fordham community really supports this,” Roemer said.

Swager is hoping to connect with clubs and enlist their help in collecting signatures. “Through USG, through CAB, and all the other clubs we have, we can reach students that way by having them sign our petitions or voicing their own support,” he said.

Why is Fordham the right place for a debate? “It’s perfect neutral ground,” Samuelson said. “What’s more neutral than the place you called home for four years?”

Not only would a debate on campus be good for Fordham, it’d also be smart for the candidates. “You’d be bringing attention to a community in the Bronx that is traditionally underserviced and that would be something that both candidates would be looking to do,” Roemer said.

“It’s the perfect opportunity for Fordham to show our greater promise and rising excellence,” Samuelson said, “in pretty much all fields, especially politics.”

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THE OBSERVER September 25, 2014

News

3

McMahon Vacancies Anticipated

By ADRIANA GALLINA Asst. News Editor

Floors two through five are currently vacant in McMahon Hall, the upperclassmen residence hall at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC). Despite speculation of poor residence hall occupancy planning among students, the Administration ensures the 184 vacancies were anticipated.

“We had 300 plus freshmen last year and we knew we weren’t going to replace those,” Dean of Students Keith Eldredge stated.

“When you add a new residence hall that’s how it works. It will take us only a year or two to get to full occupancy in McMahon because we are bringing in larger classes now,” Eldredge continued.

According to both Jenifer Campbell, director of residential life, and Eldredge, McMahon should have “significantly fewer vacancies” by fall of 2015 and will reach full occupancy by fall of 2016.

Currently, the breakdown residents for McMahon is: 95 Law students, 30 graduate students, and for undergraduates: 111 seniors, 159 juniors, and 276 sophomores, for a total of 671 occupants. There are 406 resident freshmen in McKeon Hall.

“We knew there would be a larger than normal number of vacancies this year in McMahon because of adding the new residence hall,” Eldredge said.

Campbell continued, “[The vacancies were] anticipated relative to the budget.”

“Overall we have more housing revenue than last year,” but gesturing out his office window to the new building, “we obviously have more expenses too,” Eldredge said.

“I mean, would the people in development have wanted us to fill all the beds in McMahon Hall, yes, absolutely, but we knew we couldn’t,” Eldredge said.

“You can’t really go from 800 beds to 1300 beds overnight,” he explained.

Residential Life did offer housing to students on the commuter wait list via email, but according to Campbell, that does not suggest a lack of

JESSICA HANELY/THE OBSERVER

Floors two through five in McMahon are empty, but according to Administration, the vacancies were anticipated.

anticipation for the vacancies.

“That’s typical, we go to the commuter wait list every year if we have availability,” Campbell clarified.

Housing is still guaranteed for four years for all undergraduate students who enrolled as a resident their freshmen year and have stayed on campus. According to both Eldredge and Campbell, this is not subject to change in the upcoming years.

“The retention remains to be seen, bringing in classes of 400 plus resident students will gradually fill

up McMahon completely,” Eldredge said, “but it doesn’t look like we will run into a situation where we won’t be able to guarantee housing for folks.”

“If you decide to get an apartment off campus and decide you want to come back, then you have to go on the wait list,” Campbell said.

“The only exception we make is if you go off on study abroad you are still guaranteed housing when you return,” Campbell continued.

Students move off campus for

a multitude of reasons, but money seems to be the most common, according to Eldredge.

“When we ask students, both anecdotally and through the survey, why they are moving out of McMahon, financial issues are their top reason” Eldredge said.

“We saw, I think after 2008, with the recession, a slight spike in the number of students graduating early. But it wasn’t huge,” Eldredge said.

Retention rates are generally consistent throughout the years accord-

ing to Campbell because residents who move off campus, “are often looking for a different experience.”

In regards to why students prefer this different experience, “we get a lot of reasons, like the institution rules, mainly guest and alcohol policy,” Eldredge said.

The main reasons of for students moving out of McMahon according to Res Life surgery results of are: “found alternate housing;” “study abroad,” “university withdrawal;” “graduated;” and “transferring.”

TYLER MARTINS/THE OBSERVER

Protesters smear Fordham outside the Lincoln Center campus for construction worker controversy.

Workers Protest Violations at FCLC

By TYLER MARTINS AND KAMRUN NESA Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor

Construction workers gathered outside Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) on the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 23 to protest workers’ rights violations. A union rat was inflated in front of the Ram Van stop on West 60th Street, and chalk signs saying “Shame on Fordham” and “No worker deserves to be exploited” were drawn on the corner of West 60th and 9th Avenue.

According to Jason Delgado, a Local 79 Laborers Organizer, the goal is to educate the student body, staff and public that Fordham University is helping to exploit construction workers through the employment of Red Ball Contracting. The protestors hope to gain the discontinuation of contractors who exploit workers.

“Fordham University is allowing Red Ball Contracting to exploited [sic] construction workers at their

NYC campus,” the leaflet states. It further read, “Untrained and unskilled workers lead to an unsafe workplace, shoddy workmanship and a lower quality finished product.”

“Many construction contractors that exploit workers are notorious for paying workers off the books to save money on workers comp insurance, pay roll taxes, skimp on safety and other issues to undercut the honest contractors that follow the

law,” the leaflet reads.

“There appears to be a dispute between this small contractor (Red Ball) and the union, in which Fordham is neither involved nor has knowledge of. There is absolutely no evidence that any workers on University projects are being exploited,” Robert Howe, senior director of communications, said in an email. “It appears that the union is trying drag the University into the dispute with the contractor to

strengthen (the union’s) negotiating position.”

The leaflets urge passersby to contact Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham University, and “tell him that all workers deserve a living wage.”

According to Howe, the University has just completed the “$250 million dollar construction of the new Law School and Residence Hall, all of which was done with union labor.”

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News

News Editor Noha Mahmoud — nmahmoud2@fordham.edu

September 25, 2014 THE OBSERVER

JASON BOIT/THE OBSERVER

Thousands walked in protest f0r the People’s Climate March of 2014 on Sunday, Sept. 20.

Marching for Climate Change

By ALANNA KILKEARY Contributing Writer

“Hey Obama, we don’t want no climate drama” was the chant that echoed through the Upper West Side early Sunday, Sept. 20th afternoon. Armed with colorful posters, men and women of all ages made their way from 86th Street by the American Museum of National History down to 34th and 11th Avenue for the 2014 People’s Climate March.

The People’s Climate March is a procession of various social activ-

ist groups, schools and churches that rally and raise awareness for the pressing issue of climate change in New York City and around the world. According to their website, leaders behind the march declare, “We are demanding the world we know is within our reach: a world with an economy that works for people and the planet; a world safe from the ravages of climate change; a world with good jobs, clean air and water, and healthy communities.”

The March itself was divided

into six subcategories for members of different groups to congregate at particular locations. The sections ranged from, “To Change Everything, We Need Everyone” for LGBTQ, NYC Boroughs, community groups, neighborhoods, cities, states, countries and more at 86th Street, all the way to “Frontlines of Crisis, Forefront of Change” for Indigenous, Environmental Justice and other frontline communities at 65th.

The march attracted a vast amount of participants, blocking

off many cross streets and creating buzz at every corner on Central Park West. Posters, costumes and banners articulated powerful sayings such as “We Will Not Die Quietly” and “Imagine This Street Underwater.”

Participants ranged from elderly men and women to adults, college kids, and small children holding signs in their baby carriages. The walk also held a moment of silence at 12:58 p.m., and followed up with cheers shortly after, while walking by the huge HD screen that sat adja-

cent to the Columbus Circle Globe at 59th Street.

This March represents a great turning point for the awareness of climate change and leaves a very poignant message of the importance of protecting our Earth for generations to come.

To follow up and recap the event, follow the hashtag #peoplesclimatemarch on Instagram and Twitter. For more information and to learn more about the cause, check out their website, http://peoplesclimate.org.

Public Safety Expands with Campus

By TYLER MARTINS Editor-In-Chief

Security has adapted with Fordham College at Lincoln Center’s (FCLC), expandions include the opening of the new Law School building, McKeon Residence Hall and the Gabelli School of Business at Lincoln Center (GSBLC).

According to John Carroll, associate vice president for Public Safety, this expansion has only brought a small addition of security guards on campus due to the relocation of guards from the now closed Benjamin A. Javits Law School building.

“The guards that we had, both at the desk and patrol positions at the old law school, were moved to the new law school. Then we still had to add another post up at the Plaza, so there was an addition of one. It was a redistribution plus a small addition,” Carroll said.

Existing safety procedures have only been enhanced, including the full implementation of technology. Radio frequency identification cards (RFID) scanners have been placed at every entrance on campus, including in the McKeon dining hall, so students can swipe in and out more conveniently, according to Carroll.

The use of technology allows for

cost saving, compared to the higher cost of guards. “We want to make the students safe and comfortable and at the same time, save money or not spend money that we don’t have to,” Carroll said.

With a higher population on the FCLC campus, the position of Director of Security and Safety at FCLC was created. “There was always an associate director that reported to me, but that associate director also doubled as a daytime supervisor which didn’t allow the guy to do all the tasks that I needed him to do,” Carroll said.

Robert Dineen, who was the assistant operations manager, has been promoted to director, and now has oversight over “the fire safety piece of the operations, the environmental health piece of the operation, and the emergency management piece of the operation,” Carroll said.

In addition to the creation of the director position, the numbers of duty supervisors were doubled, from five to ten, according to Carroll. Duty supervisors are former NYPD law enforcement officers who oversee security personnel.

Modifications in security procedures come at a time of change within the department. Formerly known as Safety and Security, the

department is now called Public Safety, which is more in line with the department’s purpose, according to Carroll. “The departments mission, frankly, has been changing in an evolving way in the last ten years. We have been taking on more and more responsibilities,” Carroll said.

The department is not only concerned with the security and safety of students, but also manages fire safety on campus. “The guards assigned to these front desks are now qualified to be deputy fire safety directors,” Carroll said.

To be qualified as a fire safety director, guards must complete courses, exams, and be knowledgeable about facilities.

“More than just moving and adding numbers, we’ve added quality,” Carroll said in regards to the security force.

“Fordham University is growing at Lincoln Center, and we’ve increased by 60 percent the square footage, “ Carroll said, “so we’ve had to do some enhancements of our safety programs and security programs. We’ve done it at the same time, trying to maintain a cost effective department. We have a budget like everybody else, and we have to live within that budget.”

SARAH HOWARD/THE OBSERVER

FCLC’s campus expanded by 60 percent square footage and subsequently changed security programs.

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THE OBSERVER September 25, 2014

News

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Fordham Ranked #58, Students Don’t Mind

By ELIZABETH LANDRY Contributing Writer

Despite Fordham University’s drop to 58 in the U.S. News and World Report’s rankings, some students at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) find the ranking system an unreliable measure of the University.

Amanda Lee, FCLC ‘17, thought that the drop in rank probably has to do with the school’s perceived academic standards. Lee said, “The school is good, but even though I’m busy, I don’t get really stressed about my work. That’s a reflection on the school itself.” Feedback like this can, in fact, have at least a small effect on the rankings, since a peer assessment survey counts for around 15 percent of a school’s score.

According to the U.S. News and World Report, the ranking system is based on two sections, using “quantitative measures that education experts have proposed as reliable indicators of academic quality.” After schools are categorized, data is “[gathered] from each college on up to 16 indicators of academic excellence,” which are each assigned different weights by how much the magazine thinks they matter. These include student selectivity, financial resources, and graduation rates, among other things.

Ife Adelona, FCLC ‘17, and Ian Schaefer, FCLC ‘17, agreed that the rankings did not matter. Adelona said, “When looking at the rankings, it doesn’t really specify which campus they’re ranking, so I didn’t see how I could be getting the true score. I didn’t trust them that much.” She added, “It didn’t affect my choice, since Fordham was my no. 1” Schaefer echoed Adelona’s words. “I didn’t look at the rankings

SARAH HOWARD/THE OBSERVER

Fordham University’s rankings have generally remained consisted throughout the years.

while I was looking for schools,” he said. “I don’t think that it matters, though,” he continued. “I think that school, no matter what, is what you make it, and this school has many great resources for us, just as many as my friends that go to Yale have.”

Columbia University, also in

New York City, came in at a tie for no. 4 this year, with a score of 95 buoyed by a high school counselor score of 4.9 out of 5 and 6:1 student to faculty ratio, but only has a 10-point higher freshman retention rate than Fordham. New York University defended its position as no.

32 for the third year in a row, but only has a slightly higher six year graduation rate than Fordham, 84 percent versus 80 percent.

Among Jesuit universities across the country, Fordham ranks high, competing with the likes of Boston College, no. 31 in the same category

and Georgetown University, tied for no. 21.

Josh Hall, FCLC ‘18, utilized the rankings during his college search only loosely, and said, “I only paid enough attention to the rankings to categorize schools. The rank didn’t matter.”

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Opinions

Rachel Shmulevich — Opinions Co-Editor rshmulevich@fordham.edu Marina Recio — Opinions Co-Editor marinarecio@icloud.com

September 25, 2014

STAFF EDITORIAL

D

to wrestle with the great ethical issues of our time, wants us to be bothered by the existence of injustice and motivated to do more, to learn more, to be more.

It’s not surprising then, that a group of students have begun a campaign to have Fordham host a gubernatorial debate on campus.

Whoever wins in November, it will still be a victory for Fordham.

Debate is an integral part of democracy in this country. Being able to discuss your ideologies, your policies, your plans against your opponents and laying out your vision for the next four years is important for voters to know before they walk into the

Observer the

AN OPEN LETTER TO CUOMO AND ASTORINO ear Fellow Rams, Years ago, you were running to class from your dorm, participating in clubs like CAB and USG, chasing professors down during office hours, cheering at football games and exploring New York City as a student at Fordham University.

Fast forward to 2014: You, Governor Cuomo, are running for re-election to remain governor of this great state. You, Mr. Astorino, are seeking to unseat Governor Cuomo and take back the state for the Republican Party.

Did you ever think you would make it this far?

What’s more is you’re running against a fellow Ram. Whoever wins in November, it will still be a victory for Fordham.

One of the aspects that makes Fordham so unique is that it invites students

THE OBSERVER

polls and cast their vote.

What greater way to give back to the community you once called home than to return and debate amongst the student body, faculty and staff that colored your four years here.

The faces have changed, but the spirit is the same.

Fordham continues to grow and not just in acreage. We’re no longer yesterday’s Fordham or today’s Fordham, but tomorrow’s Fordham. It’s growing in prominence as its students step outside of its walls, taking with them the knowledge and motivation to think big and do big. The fact that two alumni are running against each other for the same office just proves it: Fordham is a force to be reckoned with.

So Governor Cuomo, Mr. Astorino, come to Fordham to debate.

Come home.

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

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THE OBSERVER September 25, 2014

Opinions

7

KAYLA OGLE/THE OBSERVER

The Jacob K. Javits Federal Building, home to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services for New York City.

No Deportation Without Immigration Reform Rachel Shmulevich Opinions Co-Editor

I’ll always be an advocate of legal immigration, but in the midst of our country’s current immigration crisis, the legal channels we have in place simply aren’t going to cut it.

Before we make the argument that the millions of undocumented immigrants currently residing in the United States should be deported and then enter the country legally, it’s important to completely reform the current immigration system, updating it for the 21st century.

At a forum held by Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture and Center for Ethics Education, “A Crisis of Conscience: What Do We Owe Immigrant Youth and Families?” on Sept. 16, Ken Salazar, former U.S. secretary of the interior, Sarah Burr, New York immigration judge and former attorney for the Legal Aid Society in New York and Gabriel Salguero, pastor of the Lamb’s Church in New York and president of the National Latino Evangelical Coalition (NaLEC), all presented their expertise and offered commentary on what Salazar called “the No. 1 civil rights and humani-

tarian issue of our time.” Some 12 million people, he stated, “live in the shadows of our society,” and we have yet to take action on the critically important issue of immigration.

It’s not a question of whether or not our country needs immigration reform—it’s a question of why it hasn’t been done, what stands in our way and how to remove those obstacles.

What is important to understand is that these undocumented immigrants cannot enter the country through legal means. Most do not have family already residing in the United States and so cannot apply for legal entry via this path—or for the few that can, the process can take decades. The other legal routes to obtaining a green card are through a job, through refugee or asylee status, or through the diversity lottery. However, these routes are not available to everyone and are dependent on many factors including, but not limited to, the country the immigrant is from, his or her employer and simple luck.

In other words, legal immigration is rarely possible, and for the millions of undocumented immigrants and thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children in the United States today, the outdated immigration system—which oper-

ates in a 20th century context and fails to address the social, economic and political climate of today—currently in place requires time and money that they simply don’t have.

Beyond this is our deeply flawed legal system, which, while it provides counsel free of charge to those who cannot afford it in criminal cases, does not provide free counsel in civil (including immigration) cases.

This is because a defendant in a civil case does not face imprisonment—however, in an immigration case, they face deportation, which Burr sees as just as bad, and in many cases, worse than imprisonment. Burr says that New York is lucky in that the state was able to secure enough funding to provide all juveniles in immigration cases with a lawyer free of charge if they need one, but this is not true in many places in the United States.

Oftentimes, young children with little to no understanding of their own situation, let alone law and courtroom proceedings, are forced to represent themselves. So how can we justify separating families and deporting children if they’re not even given true due process of law, which Burr defines as “fundamental fairness to all persons in all proceedings, civil and criminal”? How

can millions of people whose lack of resources forced them to resort to illegal immigration—because it is a last resort—be expected to pay exorbitant legal fees?

Salguero said it right when he said “Immigration built this nation.”

America is a country of immigrants—less than 2 percent of the population is Native American, and more than 98 percent came to this country for one reason or another— and we can’t forget that.

Immigration reform would give our economy a billion dollar boost: a 2013 Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study found that immigration reform would increase America’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by about $700 billion by 2023, and by an astounding $1.4 trillion by 2033. The reasons for this are many and varied, including, but not limited to, the fact that immigrants start small businesses (the Partnership for a New American Economy found that nearly a third of small businesses founded in 2011 were started by recent immigrants), businesses create new jobs and that many of the people streaming into the United States are skilled workers—imagine the new robust tax base this will create.

But even if the financial benefits

of granting citizenship to millions of hardworking men and women were not as immense, it would simply be the humane thing to do.

Pope Francis called the immigration crisis a “humanitarian emergency,” and that’s exactly what it is. A current initiative by President Barack Obama to grant citizenship to the 12 million undocumented immigrants has been stalled, and even Republican immigration activist Senator Marco Rubio has taken increasingly stricter anti-immigration stances.

How can political leaders claim to represent the public’s interest if no meaningful action has been made in the area of immigration when nearly every single American wants to see immigration reform of some kind?

And how can the United States continue to tell other world leaders how to better run their countries if we can’t even address the very real human rights issues at home?

Even if we disregard the fact that mass deportation will rip families apart and throw refugees back into the dangerous situations they escaped from, the increasingly xenophobic and anti-immigration stances that we’re seeing our leaders take are at best hypocritical, and at worst, detrimental to how we are perceived by the rest of the world.

The Struggle To Be Fit Continues at FCLC Alexander Partridge Contributing Writer

Ah, Fordham University. A well-known school with an expensive price tag. There are many perks of attending a university such as Fordham: small class sizes, brilliant professors, high-tech computer labs, and amenities such as a large, beautiful gym. Well, actually guys, if you want the gym part you will have to go to Rose Hill.

As any Lincoln Center student knows, our gym could use a little work. In fact, if everything in it was replaced, I do not think many would object. It’s what one may call “dinky.” It’s old.

Having such a small, outdated gym is discouraging for students and deters many of them from exercising there. It is not unlikely that students find themselves standing guard, waiting for a treadmill to

open up. How are we going to stop being incorrectly called a “satellite campus” of Fordham if we allow such small, substandard parts to stay? We may have to stay small due to our location, but substandard?

Please. This is Lincoln Center. It is true that we are spoiled enough to be able to go for a run in nearby Central Park, but that is no excuse for such a low quality gym.

By its cost and location, one would assume you have to be wealthy to attend Fordham; however, there are many students who were not born with a silver spoon.

Paying rent, buying groceries and blowing $200 on a textbook that may only be used a couple of times during the entire semester are just some of the struggles. Should a low quality fitness room with two (very old) working treadmills be on the list to add to the frustration? How much does this school cost again?

The inadequacy of the gym has pushed many to seek other

JESSICA HANLEY/THE OBSERVER

outside options. There are plenty of gym options outside of campus of course, but the prices are often not reasonable by any means. Gyms such as Equinox are located in con-

venient locations and much nicer but very expensive. Last semester, the YMCA introduced a special membership program available for Fordham students, but it has now

gone up from $25 to a whopping $75 per semester.

Have no fear, Fordham students (especially the broke ones), there is a pretty good solution in the meantime. Thankfully, there is now a Planet Fitness on West 55th Street, just a few buildings down from the Alvin Ailey School. Sure, it is not Equinox by any means, but it costs only $10 a month and has entirely new equipment. It’s a pretty wonderful deal and convenient as well.

The gym is large, clean and has TVs to watch while you are working out.

Until something is done about our subpar fitness room, we will have to make do with what is there and not hesitate to voice our concerns with the Fordham community. I encourage students to stay optimistic and take advantage of Central Park, as well as everything else there is to offer around campus. Because let’s face it: Our gym might stink, but we are lucky to be at Lincoln Center.

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Opinions

September 25, 2014 THE OBSERVER

www.fordhamobserver.com

COURTESY OF ROY GUTMAN VIA MCT

A Prussian Approach to the Russian-European Conflict Dylan Reilly Asst. Opinions Editor

At a speech in Estonia earlier this month, President Barack Obama asserted that “[t]he defense of Tallinn and Riga and Vilnius is just as important as the defense of Berlin and Paris and London.” He is of course referring to the status of the Baltic states—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—as NATO members, and therefore allies of the United States.

The great Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck once said, “The whole of the Balkans is not worth the bones of a single Pomeranian grenadier,” and I would argue that the whole of the Baltic is not worth the bones of a single Texas Ranger. The United States and NATO need to reconsider their commitment to Eastern Europe.

Obama and Bismarck have a very different grasp of national interest and foreign affairs. Obama, equating the tiny Baltic countries to the large and powerful European states,

is poorly prioritizing our interests abroad. The Baltic countries, like Georgia and Ukraine, were former Soviet republics, and before that, provinces of the Russian Empire.

This is distinct from former Warsaw Pact countries, like NATO members Poland and Hungary, which were Soviet clients but independent countries. NATO, i.e. the U.S. Army and Friends, is now obligated to guarantee the borders of the European Union’s land grab in the former USSR. Along with the Warsaw Pact countries, territory that was until very recently a part of Russia has been incorporated into the E.U. and NATO. We’ve effectively moved the Iron Curtain up to Russia itself. Why should we assume this enormous risk? What would we have to gain in a territorial war with nuclear Russia?

Are we willing to back the expansion of the Eurozone, another country’s free trade and single currency zone, with our own armed forces?

This is where Bismarck’s insight comes in. Our loyalty is to ourselves, not the Europeans. We have to consider our own national interest,

costs and benefits, and above all, risk. Bismarck knew territorial wars in the Balkans were not worth the German Empire’s time or involvement. WWI would later begin in the Balkans between Austria-Hungary and Serbia, and we all know how that went. The Baltic countries have a large Russian minority—Estonia and Latvia are each about a quarter ethnic Russian—and were part of the Soviet Union/Russia until a generation ago. This is why they want us to protect them, a painfully one-sided deal made by signatories drunk on the collapse of international communism. Times have changed. Russia has invaded two former Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs) it borders already to promote its national interests, Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine this year. Neither of those countries is in the E.U. or NATO, which meant their sovereignty was pegged to how aggressive Russian foreign policy was. As weaker states bordering a larger one they have historic ties to, they are in the Russian sphere of influence. The Russian claim to these countries is unquestionable from

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Putin’s view, while our Wilsonian liberal-democratic view has no concept of conquest or reconquest.

Along with Obama’s idealism about the equality of the Baltics with Britain, France and Germany, this impedes our ability to manage risk and pursue our own national interest. Obama isn’t running for president of Europe; naively regarding each European country equally as a strategic ally is a poor move, and it shows how incapable we are at foreign policy. Anger the Russians to please the Estonians? Really? If the E.U. wants to absorb former Russian territory, that should be their own imbroglio. Let the Teutonic Order and Muscovy wrangle over the Baltic. No American should die for Lithuania. The entanglement of the E.U. and NATO does not serve American interests. We are a trading nation and should not have to choose between Europe and Russia over border spats.

Of course, the only reason our NATO obligations to the Baltic countries matter now is because Russia has invaded Ukraine and

annexed Crimea. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, as well as Poland, are obviously concerned. But Putin isn’t stupid. No amount of imperial revanchism—the desire to reclaim “lost” territory—would justify attacking the European Union or NATO. Britain and France have nukes. Russia has nukes. We have nukes. Rather, Putin’s Russia has two objectives, which are to make a show of force in response to decades of international interventions led by NATO members (Yugoslavia/Bosnia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya), and to extend Russian influence or control as far as possible in the former Soviet Union/Russian Empire. So long as Russia and Ukraine dispute Crimea, Ukraine cannot join NATO or the E.U.—just as Georgia cannot because of the Abkhazia-South Ossetia dispute. Sensible alliances don’t add members who are already involved in conflicts.

The bald men in Brussels and Moscow are welcome to fight over their proverbial comb, as they are apt to do. I ask that for once they leave us out of it.

Arts & Culture

Arts & Culture Editor Ramona Venturanza — ramonaventuranza@gmail.com

September 25, 2014

THE OBSERVER

LAUREN MACDONALD/THE OBSERVER

Lipani Gallery at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) will feature Lynn Sullivan’s “Sky Hold”

‘Sky Hold’ to be Displayed in Lipani Gallery at FCLC

By LOULOU CHRYSSIDES Contributing Writer

Fordham students and faculty will have the opportunity to experience Brooklyn-based artist Lynn Sullivan’s new solo exhibition entitled, “Sky Hold”, which is scheduled to run in the Lipani Gallery at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) from Friday, Oct. 3rd through Sunday, Dec. 7, 2014.

The exhibition “will juxtapose photographs of cloudy skies with printed words from the English language. Flat sheets of text and image will be installed on the walls but will also wrap around various three-dimensional objects in the gallery,” Casey Ruble, FCLC artist-in-residence, said, when asked about the concept for the exhibition. It explores the idea of transformation and what that means to the individual.

According to Ruble, “The exhibition itself will transform over the

course of its running time, with Sullivan coming in at several points to alter and rearrange the pieces. These reconfigurations will generate new meanings as the context of the images and words changes.”

“Sky Hold” is quite similar to Sullivan’s prior pieces because as Ruble states, much like Sullivan’s other work, “Sky Hold” demonstrates “how the meaning of words, objects, and images changes in relationship to their context.” Sullivan’s previous works consist of sculptures, videos, sound works and public actions that have been shown in various venues, including the Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles.

Sullivan’s most recent works include an art sculpture, which she installed for Brooklyn’s “Real on Rock Street”.

In addition to her vast works of art in the United States, Lynn Sullivan participated in a residency program in Beijing, China.

Sullivan’s upcoming exhibition contrasts from previous shows that

have been displayed in the galleries of FCLC. Amongst the threedimensional objects within the gallery, there will be images continuously changing in “Sky Hold.”

On Wednesday, Oct. 29, Fordham students and faculty are invited to attend a discussion hosted by the visual arts department and Sullivan in Lipani Gallery. The artist will talk about the exhibition itself and her other previous work. Furthermore, while the discussion is taking place, Sullivan will physically move some of her pieces in the gallery, which demonstrates the transformation of meaning.

While Fordham students are not putting this exhibition together, Ruble wants to get students involved in understanding Sullivan’s piece. Her visual thinking class is involved in a Sullivan’s upcoming discussion, as well as a follow-up project.

The visual thinking class, which is comprised of approximately sixteen Fordham students, will create

collaged postcards, which include image and text.

“Each student’s postcard will be sent to a secret partner in the class, who will then transform the postcard by cutting it up and rearranging the elements or adding new elements. The newly altered postcard will then be sent back to its original maker for yet another transformation, a process that will continue until the end of the semester, when the secret partners will be revealed,” Ruble said.

Ruble is excited to see the ongoing physical changes and transitions of the Sullivan exhibition.

“One of the things I like most about Sullivan’s work is its openended poeticism, and I’m excited to see how that poeticism manifests in this show. I’m also very excited to have a show that welcomes viewer response in the form of student participation during the artist talk,” Ruble said.

“Most exhibitions just go up

and remain unchanged during the course of their run. Everything is pre-decided, there’s a ‘don’t touch the artwork’ policy, and the artist has the ‘last word,’ so to speak,” Ruble added, when asked what she was most looking forward to in anticipation of “Sky Hold.”

Furthermore, Ruble is sure that audiences will be drawn to the artist’s contemporary installation.

“This exhibition, conversely, has the idea of flexibility and openness built into it. Viewers have a chance, during Sullivan’s artist talk, to contribute to the meaning of the work by helping guide its reconfiguration in the space. Other artists have done similar things in the past, but this kind of generosity of spirit is uncommon in most exhibitions.”

IF YOU GO

Sky Hold WHEN: Oct. 3- Dec. 7 WHERE: Lipani Gallery, Fordham College at Lincoln Center

The Comma Interrobang The Demons In My Occupational Closet

By MEREDITH SUMMERS Literary Co-Editor and Copy Editor For as long as I can remember I have been asked the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Throughout the years, the answers have ranged from puppy to doctor to teacher to book editor. However, that is simply because I was never told about the cool jobs that really exist. Had I discovered before my senior year of college that I could be a Cheese Ph.D., a Lifetime movie hashtag writer, or an Occult Specialist with a police department, my life would be going in a completely different direction. It was around this time of inopportune enlightenment that I found my true life’s purpose.

I was born to be a Catholic Church demonologist. Think Lorraine Warren from “The Conjuring” (who is actually a real person) only on the payroll of the Catholic Church. What more could I want? Well, actually quite a lot like access to free birth control and autonomy over my own body, but career wise, it’s a pretty sweet deal.

What’s even better is that I could be terrible at my job and no one would even know. Shockingly, there aren’t many demonologists (funded by the Church or otherwise) so who would be able to tell if I was making things up? Lorraine Warren was

born in 1927. That means she’s pushing 90 and there’s a pretty good chance that she isn’t mobile enough to investigate my work. I could get rich for pretending to do something without having to spend $60,000 a year on a Fordham theatre degree.

However, with graduation only 233 days away, it’s too late for me. There is hope though—my mother recently took a job as a career counselor at a college back home. If I can teach her about all the actually cool careers out there, she will be able to keep future generations of students from following in my footsteps to occupation mediocrity.

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Photo

September 25, 2014 THE OBSERVER

www.fordhamobserver.com

FORDHAM SPIRIT To celebrate the new academic year, Observer photographers captured homecoming weekend and other instances of Fordham pride.

KIRSTIN BUNKLEY/THE OBSERVER

KIRSTIN BUNKLEY/THE OBSERVER

LAUREN MACDONALD/THE OBSERVER

JESSICA HANLEY/THE OBSERVER

TESSA VAN BERGEN/THE OBSERVER

KIRSTIN BUNKLEY/THE OBSERVER

www.fordhamobserver.com

THE OBSERVER September 25, 2014

Photo

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FORDHAM SPIRIT

JESSICA HANLEY/THE OBSERVER

LAUREN MACDONALD/THE OBSERVER

KIRSTIN BUNKLEY/THE OBSERVER

LAUREN MACDONALD/THE OBSERVER

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Arts & Culture

September 25, 2014 THE OBSERVER

www.fordhamobserver.com

Students Under the Spotlight this Studio Season

By JOHN GUERIN Staff Writer

Fordham College at Lincoln Center’s (FCLC) theatre studio lineup this season includes an eclectic mix of acclaimed playwrights and emerging student writers and directors.

Zachary Hodges, FCLC ’15, directs “Danny and The Deep Blue Sea,” which is written by John Patrick Shanley, who has also penned “Doubt” and “Savage in Limbo.”

“Danny and The Deep Blue Sea” premiered at Circle in the Square Theater in 1984 and tells the story of Roberta and Danny, two lonely and damaged individuals who find love and redemption in each other’s company. The production will run from Oct. 16-18 in The White Box Studio Theatre.

On Oct. 27-29, a double bill of student work will include two oneact plays written by Fordham students. The two shows will be performed together at The Veronica Lally Kehoe Studio Theatre. Director and writer of “Darling Can You Answer the Door”, Tomer Adorian, is set to direct “A Story of Small Histories”, which is written by Keenan Hurley, FCLC ’17. “‘A Story of Small Histories’ features a group of traveling players who tell the story of a forgotten southern town, which, after major flooding, now has a population of eight people,” Hurley said.

The second play to be featured in the double bill is a play entitled “Pilot’s Wings,” which is directed by Sara Lyons and written by Garrett David Kim’s, FCLC ’16. “[The play] is about a boy with autism and the important people in his life,” Kim said. “A lot of the play is about exploring this boy as a person. The play is framed as a journey through his memory and his mind.

The main character talks to the audience, in a way that differs from how he talks in real life.”

“Mr. Marmalade,” which is written by Noah Haidle, tells the story of 4-year-old Lucy and her troubling relationship with her imaginary friend, Mr. Marmalade, a bipolar, cocaine-addicted adult.

Drew Brandon Jones, FCLC ’16, directs this black comedy, which will run from Nov. 6-8 at The White Box

ISABEL FRIAS/THE OBSERVER

Students discussing upcoming theatre productions for Fordham’s 2014 Studio Season.

Studio Theatre.

Andrew Watkins, FCLC ’15, directs Henrik Ibsen’s classic “Hedda Gabler.” The show tells the story of Hedda, a newly married woman who experiences the opposite of marital bliss, and wrestles with depression in this realist play. The production will run from Dec. 4-6 in The White Box Studio Theatre.

The season will close with Elizabeth Egloff’s “The Swan,” an absurdist comedy translated from Molière about a swan who starts to live in a woman’s home and who eventually becomes a human being and her lover. Directed by Jose Gamo, FCLC ’16, “The Swan” will run from Dec. 8-10 in the Veronica Lally Kehoe Studio Theatre.

The studio shows offer students

the rare opportunity to show their work and talent to a living, breathing audience. “Everything about the shows, from the costumes, to the sets, to the directing or acting, is a product of student effort,” Carla Jackson, Fordam Theatre program administrator, said.

This studio season, students writing and directing plays have found this experience very rewarding. “The best part about seeing your work in the studio shows is getting to watch people who have worked on your projects. It is always a great experience watching people admire the work you created,” Hurley said.

“I’ve become very interested in Ibsen and chose to direct ‘Hedda Gabler’, even though I knew that it’s a notoriously difficult play to do,”

Watkins said. “I wanted to challenge myself as a director.”

Student directors and writers hope that audiences will take away something new from the plays of this studio season. For Kim, he hopes that “Pilot’s Wings” will give audiences a new perspective on autistic children. “I want audiences to see people with autism in a new light, that differs from the negative way they’re typically depicted in the media,” Kim said.

IF YOU GO

Danny and the Deep Blue Sea WHEN: Oct. 16-18 WHERE: The White Box Studio Theatre

A Story of Small Histories WHEN: Oct. 27-29 WHERE: The Veronica Lally Kehoe

Theatre

Pilot’s Wings WHEN: Oct. 27-29 WHERE: Veronica Lally Kehoe Theatre

Mr. Marmalade WHEN: Nov. 6-8 WHERE: The White Box Studio Theatre

The Swan WHEN: Dec. 8-10 WHERE: The Veronica Lally Kehoe Theater All Studio Shows are free.

Fordham Student Publishes ‘New York Nights’

By RAMONA VENTURANZA AND MEREDITH SUMMERS Arts & Culture Editor and Literary CoEditor/ Copy Editor

COURTESY OF SEAN SMITH

Brandon Harmer, FCLC ’15.

COURTESY OF NEPTUNE PRESS

There are many things that set Brandon Harmer, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’15, apart from his classmates. He is a brown belt in Judo, he has appeared in episodes of television shows such as Biography Channel’s “Celebrity Ghost Stories” and Discovery Channel’s “Deadly Encounters,” and he has his own Internet Movie Database page.

But what makes Harmer stand out most from the rest of the class of 2015 is that he is also about to be a published author.

Harmer’s first novel, “New York Nights” will be published in October of 2014. The novel, a work of literary fiction, is the story of seven friends in New York City struggling to reconnect a year after graduating from college.

The narrator, Will Harrison, works to form, maintain and explore the relationship dynamics (both romantic and platonic) within his group of friends while also endeavoring to find an identity for himself in the unfamiliar world of post-grad life.

Harmer began work on the novel during his freshman year at Fordham. Two and a half years later, he

felt that it was ready to be sent out to be published.

“The plot [of the novel] did not come all at once; it came in parts. I tried to begin with the parts and chapters that mattered most to me, and what I wanted to say. Afterwards, I built it from there. Once completing the major parts, it was like piecing together a puzzle,” Harmer said of his writing process.

“The process was like dealing with a promising but bratty child,” he added. “You see some potential in it, but there are a lot of flaws in it from the beginning; but you don’t give up on it. You stick with it, and you try to erase all those flaws and put in the good things.”

Harmer, who is a philosophy and international political economy double major, has always had a passion for reading—especially Russian literature. “My favorite authors are Tolstoy, Nabokov and Dostoyevsky.

Those are the kind of guys that I try to emulate,” he said.

In addition to the greats of Russian literature, Harmer drew inspiration from his former teachers and his own life in New York City while writing the novel. “My high school teachers were a tremendous influence when approaching this book,” he said, “and yes, there are some sections of the book where I put in some of my experiences in the city.”

In particular there is a scene in which a character feels anxious about the future while riding the subway.

“I’ve felt that same way. I’ve translated that feeling of anxiety into that scene,” he explained.

However, his background in philosophy does also play a role in the novel. He says three of his seven characters have strong philosophical

“My favorite authors are Tolstoy, Nabokov and Dostoyevsky. Those are the kinds of guys I try to emulate.” motivations behind their actions. “I wanted to make these three characters thoughtful and have them use reason to try to go about and make it in the world,” he elaborated.

Prior to writing this novel, Harmer’s only creative writing experience was writing and putting on a play in high school. He developed a love of writing dialogue and character interactions during that play and this penchant is something he is hoping will come through in “New York Nights.”

“I was especially comfortable writing the dialogue scenes in the book. Coming from a theater back-

ground, beginning with the dialogue scenes and building from there was particularly easy for me.”

While writing a novel on top of a double major course load may seem daunting to some, Harmer was not fazed by this task. “I have typically always been good at school and I went to work on the book whenever I felt like I had free time,” he said with nonchalance.

Another remarkable thing about “New York Nights” is that Harmer had no assistance. “I’ve been [working on this novel] all on my own,” he said. The only other person who has put serious input into this book is Harmer’s editor and publicist at Neptune Press, David Stern.

Despite writing his first novel at such a young age, Harmer is not sure that he is going to become a writer for a living.

“I like to keep a lot of doors open.

If this novel thing takes off, that would be great and wonderful, but then again, I would also like to keep the option open to do something with the international politics or philosophy. I’m still involved in theatre, and I’m taking the LSAT very soon— there are still a lot of options open.”

“New York Nights” will be published next month and can be purchased from Neptune Press (www. neptunepress.org) for $12.

Features

Features Editor Ian McKenna —ianmckennawmc@gmail.com

September 25, 2014

THE OBSERVER

IAN MCKENNA/THE OBSERVER

Tyler Tagliaferro, FCLC ’17, practices with his bagpipe in Central Park.

The Bagpiper of Central Park

By IAN MCKENNA Features Editor

“I started Irish dancing at the age of five,” Tyler Tagliaferro, Fordham College at Lincoln Center ’17, said.

“And I thoroughly disliked it.”

But, as the youngest of four children growing up in a half Italian, half Irish family, who were all celebrating their heritage with various activities from the homeland, his mother required him to pursue something.

So, they struck a deal: If Tagliaferro could get first place in a dance

competition, she would allow him to quit. Not even four months later, at his first regional competition, Tagliaferro struck gold.

“I danced. I got first place and then I walked off and told my mother that I quit Irish dancing,” Tagliaferro said. After a couple of months, his interest in bagpiping came to the surface.

He counts his official bagpipe anniversary as his 10th birthday, after an on-again-off-again relationship with the bagpipe transformed into a lifelong affair. His 20th birthday last week marks ten years.

Now, he performs in competi-

tions, both with a band and solo, has made the shift from student to teacher of his own pupils and arranges his own music.

The competition season usually spans the summer, but Tagliaferro practices in the off-season as well.

“I play in Central Park for practice and Central Park is really the only place I can go,” Tagliaferro said, “because the soundproof practice rooms here are not soundproof for bagpipes, as many people have told me.”

“I played once on the Plaza,” he said, “and many people screamed out their windows. So Central Park

is a nice, public location where I can play bagpipes and not too many people are upset about it.”

“I don’t play for money ... officially,” Tagliaferro said. But he leaves his bag open, just in case. He was shocked the first time he played with his case open and got $150, though he averages about $20 for a trip to Central Park.

While he has played funerals, masses and 9/11 memorials throughout his career, the goal going forward is to play for the President in the White House. For now, though, he is happy having performed for the President of the

University, the Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J. Tagliaferro performed on Robert Moses Plaza during the Mass of the Holy Spirit on Sept. 11, 2014 after Rev. Robert R. Grimes, S.J. asked him if he wanted to play.

“I loved it. I’ve always wanted to play at Mass of the Holy Spirit,” Tagliaferro said.

“Father McShane loved it, definitely.”

Catch more of Tyler’s story; check out his video on fordhamobserver.com.

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Features

September 25, 2014 THE OBSERVER

www.fordhamobserver.com

NEXT AND THE CITY

Weeding Them Out, One Tinder Date at a Time PAYTON VINCELETTE Staff Writer

The challenge: Make a Tinder profile, talk to guys, go out on dates with said guys, and then write about it. Challenge accepted.

Tinder, if you don’t know, is a matchmaking app. It asks you to connect through Facebook, so that they can use your profile picture and age. Then, it uses your location to find “interesting” people near you; their pictures, along with names and age, pop up on your phone. If you like the photo, you swipe right; if you don’t, just swipe left. If the person likes you back, you get notified and—congratulations, it’s a match! Yay, you both find each other attractive!

Now you are able to message your match and get to know more about them.

I was initially intrigued by this idea because my friends and I had recently come to the conclusion that dating is dead. It seems as if our generation just doesn’t date, at least not in the traditional sense of the word. I thought this would be the most normal dating experience I’ve ever had. The romantic

dinners always seem to come later, after I’ve already established a relationship with a guy. I’ve never gone out on a real getting-toknow-you-date before. And to be completely honest, I thought that as a transfer student in a new city, this would just be a good way to

The challenge: Make a Tinder profile, talk to guys, go out on dates with said guys, and then write about it.

Challenge accepted. get out and meet people. I really didn’t have anything to lose so why not give that little red f lame a chance?

The more I thought about it, the more excited I got. I made my account, and started liking the guys I was attracted to (even though I felt bad about being so superficial). Getting a match, I’m ashamed to admit, is also kind of gratifying. I’m not going to lie; it does make me feel a bit more con-

fident. (Okay, maybe I am a little superficial. Whatever.)

The problem is that Tinder is not officially a “dating” app. If you download it looking for a relationship, you may be disappointed.

There are plenty of men—and women—who are very clear they are only looking for hookups. The first day I downloaded the app, I was messaged by a match who’s “About” section read: “Girlfriend and I are looking for a threesome.”

Umm, no thanks. Just be careful.

By far the most common opening line is “Hey :)”—very original.

Those ones usually don’t receive a response, unless the guy is really cute. (Fine, I definitely can be superficial. Sue me.) The odd thing is, I’m almost immediately asked for my phone number. Can’t we talk on Tinder for a while? Is there some big rush for my digits?

I’ve been using Tinder for about two weeks and I think I’ve managed to find a couple of decent guys; I’ve also found a couple of assholes. One guy called me and the first question he asked was about my height and weight—at least I’m not that superficial (and rude). But I have my first date this week and I’m thinking it could be good. I’ll let you know.

COURTESY OF TINDER

Payton’s profile on the Tinder app.

WORD OF MOUTH

An Upperclassmen’s Journey to the New Cafeteria ROSANNA CORRADO Staff Writer

ROSANNA CORRADO/THE OBSERVER

One of Rosanna’s meals at FCLC’s newest dining location.

I love to eat. Plain and simple.

Food is important to me, which is why my biggest criticism of Fordham as a freshman was the dining hall, or lack thereof. We’ve all been to the Ram Café, but the food options are extremely limited and often repetitive. That is why I was so excited when the new buildings, McKeon and the new law school, opened and I found out it contained multiple brand new dining options. I accepted the challenge to eat only in the new dining facilities for one whole day; my stomach and I were both impressed.

I am not a breakfast person. I do however believe it is important to shove something in your mouth before a morning class, which is why I went to the new “Simply To Go” kiosk in the lobby of the new building and grabbed a strawberry yogurt cup with granola. The “Simply to Go” kiosk is an extension of the “Simply To Go” stand in the Lowenstein lobby and offers a wider variety of options, such as packaged yogurt parfaits, sandwiches and salads. The strawberry and granola combo was satisfying and energizing before my class.

However, what was best was that the yogurt was simple and easy to pick up on the go, just like the name suggests.

After only having a yogurt parfait for breakfast, my stomach

was rumbling by the time one in the afternoon rolled around, so I decided to head to the communal dining café in the new building.

My first impressions were good.

The new café is buffet style; there is a chrome salad bar and sleek counter tops displaying actual fresh fruit, juice options and a whole dessert case that would satisfy anyone’s mid-afternoon sweet tooth. For lunch I headed for the salad bar and filled a stark white glass bowl with fresh spinach and salad greens. On top of the greens I added a quinoa spinach salad (I know so much spinach! Sometimes I like to get my Popeye on). The quinoa salad had red onion, egg, mushrooms, grape tomatoes and red bell pepper. I also sampled some of the chickpea salad that had feta cheese and tomato. The salad greens were fresh and crisp in texture, while the quinoa had a nice bite to it. The red bell peppers and grape tomatoes gave the salad some sweetness, which was cut by the meatiness of the large slices of sautéed mushroom. The chickpeas had a nice briny quality to them that meshed nicely with the feta cheese.

Overall, I found my lunch to be surprisingly fresh and satisfying.

I really enjoyed having the option of making my salad and being able to add as much, or as little of an ingredient as I wanted. The sleek design of the café made me feel secure in that the salad bar was kept clean and tidy.

I headed back to the communal dining café to sample the hot

dinner entrees from a spacious hot bar at the far end of the café.

While the option of Korean Tofu Stir Fry over rice was tempting, I opted for the black bean burrito on a whole-wheat tortilla. Thick cut sweet potato fries were served on the side (my ultimate guilty pleasure! On second thought, my ultimate guilty pleasure is bacon chocolate, but that is a story for another time). I couldn’t resist going back to the salad bar for my share of dinnertime greens. The burrito was good; I enjoyed having the option to pick between a whole-wheat tortilla versus the wheat tortilla.

The black beans complemented the rice, tomato and onion filling. The chicken featured in the wrap was well cooked and wasn’t rubbery.

My only criticism of the dish was that the tortilla was slightly soggy because it had been nestled in a tray in between other burritos.

The sweet potato fries were sweet and salty and had a nice balance of crisp on the outside mushy on the inside.

Overall, I was impressed with new dining options. The communal dining café is very modern and sleek. I enjoyed being able to eat off the glass plates and liked the control I had over my portions.

The food is certainly elevated and more refined than the food at the Ram Café. The range of vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options were decent and represent a bigger push towards offering a wider variety of dining options to meet the needs of Fordham College at Lincoln Center diners.

You better write.

-Britney Spears/The Observer

Sports

Sports Co-Editors Dylan Penza - dpenza@fordham.edu Conrad Zajkowski - conradzajkowski@gmail.com

September 25, 2014

THE OBSERVER

Can Jersey Advertisments Thrive in America?

By CONRAD ZAJKOWSKI Sports Co-Editor

According to CBS Sports, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s recent statement that advertisements on jerseys will be “inevitable” has caused controversy due to the league’s formerly staunch stance against such licensing. This change in philosophy from the NBA sparks an interesting question: Why isn’t advertising on any of America’s four major sports jerseys already?

If you only watch the MLB, NFL, NBA, or NHL, which a majority of Americans do, the thought of an advertisement on a sports jersey is odd. Imagine seeing LeBron James dunking with the Budweiser logo across his chest or Mike Trout hitting a home run with a Chevrolet logo on his jersey. It would be a visual difference, but that’s all.

If you watch sports around the world, you would be accustomed to seeing advertisements on the players’ jerseys. Every soccer club has a sponsor on their jerseys, and most teams have had them since the 1970s. Since putting advertisements on jerseys, most franchises have profited quite nicely.

According to Sports Illustrated, in 2010, the English Premier League’s 20 teams earned $155 million for selling advertising space on their jerseys for a single season.

That makes one wonder how much the NFL, MLB, NHL and the NBA would make in a year.

Horizon Media did research on that and discovered that the four leagues would make $370 million The real question now has to be, why wouldn’t they?

Those opposed to advertising on American sports jerseys see it as a form of American exceptionalism; everybody else in the world is doing it but we’re not. Paul Lukas, an

PHOTO COURTESY OF JIM RASSOL/SUN SENTINEL VIA MCT

Many within the sports world believe advertisments on jerseys are “inevitable,” but is America ready for this kind of sponsorship?

ESPN columnist, follows this philosophy, saying “People often deride Americans for being too capitalistic or selling anything, but here’s a piece of our heritage and our visual culture that we have not sold, while

the rest of the world has. I think that’s something to be proud of, and I hope that continues to be the case.”

With Adam Silver’s liberal view regarding advertising on sports

jerseys, it seems as though we are seeing the end of an old era and a beginning of a new one in how we visually watch American sports. A new frontier will break open among America’s sports leagues in making

profits. The question now is which league will take the dangerous first step in the wilderness of what some purists will call excess and businessmen will call common sense?

Take your bet.

The NFL’s Violence Problem and How I Enable It

By DYLAN PENZA Sports Co-Editor

It seems ridiculous to say that the NFL has a violence problem.

My apologies for the lack of professionalism or eloquence but, duh.

What might be less fathomable is that the fanbase is at fault. We, the general public who make this the most popular sport in America, may not necessarily advocate the assaults and violent crimes those involved in the NFL commit, but we do somewhat enable them. At the very least, we help perpetuate a culture that breeds the men of the NFL to be monsters and then impose minimal consequences when said monstrous tendencies are unleashed.

Anyone who has watched a minute of football could come to the analytical conclusion that the sport not only allows but glorifies brutality in an unsettling manner. The players and coaches are exalted, as fans such as myself encourage them to act and think as savages, to hurt each other, for our own amusement. We support a league that profits and thrives off this when we turn to CBS or FOX every Sunday. That’s already wrong and backwards enough, but then when the aggression of these players and coaches spill off the field and into the real world, we choose to become apathetic. We allow players and coaches who commit transgressions and the league officials who help bury and cover up these transgressions, to circumvent everything our society deems right because we like watching a game.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KENNETH LAM/BALTIMORE SUN VIA MCT

Ray Rice illustrates the relationship between NFL players and violence.

Fourteen years ago, we allowed Ray Lewis, who allegedly murdered a man, to continue to play football without any real ramifications. He now graces ESPN every Sunday. In 2009 and 2010, Ben Roethlisberger was accused of sexual assault twice.

He was only suspended six games, and no one mentions the incidents anymore because “Big Ben” has won Super Bowls. In 2012, the NFL discovered that a coach named Gregg Williams was paying players extra for injuring opponents. Williams is still allowed to coach in the NFL. The common thread

between these men is simple. They are violent individuals who allegedly committed violent acts, yet because they’re involved in a sport we love, we let that violence pass.

Hopefully, the alleged actions of Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson will make that no longer acceptable.

A few weeks ago, TMZ released a video of Ray Rice, a Baltimore Ravens running back, beating his fiancé senseless in an elevator and then subsequently dragging her through a hotel hallway to the public. The NFL had knowledge of this video since February of this year.

Roger Goodell, the NFL’s commissioner and spin doctor in residence, had a Rice confession by June. As “proper punishment,” he was suspended two games. That’s it. He was not brought to the authorities.

He was barely given a slap on the wrist. If Cleveland Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon can be suspended at least eight games for testing positive for marijuana, but Ray Rice only serves a two-game suspension for punching an innocent victim in the face, then the NFL clearly has to rethink its priorities on infractions. We as a fan base need to accelerate that rethinking.

This last week also saw the indictment of Adrian Peterson, arguably one of the faces of the NFL, on child abuse charges. He allegedly struck his 4-year-old son repeatedly with a switch, leaving incredibly graphic marks and bruises on the child. While the photos of his son’s injuries are sickening, the response from the NFL and the Minnesota Vikings had been disgusting to say the least. Hiding behind due process, the NFL stalled in punishing Peterson. The Vikings had deactivated Peterson for one game but were planning to start Peterson the next Sunday. If this did happen, the NFL would have effectively made a statement proclaiming that child abuse was okay if one is in fact an incredibly great football player.

After caving to public opinion, NFL officials and executives have started to show some signs of humanity. Ray Rice was cut from the Baltimore Ravens and is serving an indefinite suspension from the NFL. Peterson has been suspended

from the Vikings indefinitely and may never play another game for that team. This is progress, despite the immense amounts of anger from the public in general needed to persuade the NFL to enact harsher penalties. Even though Rice does plan to appeal his suspension and may play football again, we are moving forward. Hopefully, these terrible acts lead to the NFL enforcing stronger policies that will lead to less off-field violence, but this will only be achieved if we no longer tolerate or make excuses for this awful behavior.

Football is one of my favorite sports. I haven’t missed a televised Giants game for as long as I can remember. But these last few weeks have changed my entire perspective on not only the NFL, but myself. What if Eli Manning hit his wife or Victor Cruz hurt his child?

Would I still be so harsh and angry about this, or would I be more willing to forgive due to my fandom? I want to say I wouldn’t support either and in fact, I know I wouldn’t.

Domestic and child abuse is wrong, abuse is wrong, and under no circumstances is it right. I will always look fondly on Big Blue, and the memories two Super Bowls and years of football have given me.

But until Rice and Peterson receive proper justice, until Roger Goodell forgets about revenue for a second and makes decisions with integrity, and until the NFL becomes a corporation in which decency can be considered an actual trait, I will no longer watch or support it. I will enable no more.

16

Sports

September 25, 2014 THE OBSERVER

www.fordhamobserver.com

The Bronx is Breaking: The Bleak Future of the Yankees

By DAN FERRARA Staff Writer

The New York Yankees are in a precarious position that they haven’t found themselves in quite some time. They’re good enough to compete and stick around, but not good enough to be playing in October for a championship.

Their payroll, on the other hand, suggests that a different level of success was expected, possibly even World Series aspirations.

After spending $283 million on lineup reinforcements last offseason declining players such as Jacoby Ellsbury, Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran, the Yankees now find themselves in the same position they were in this time last September – on the outside of the playoff picture looking in.

Even after so many free-agent hitters were signed, the Yankees still can’t produce runs. Ellsbury was good but not worth $21 million.

McCann has struggled mightily, hitting just .236 so far this season, and Beltran spent significant time on the disabled list. As a team, the Yankees are currently ranked 20th in the MLB in runs and batting average, and 22nd in on-base percentage.

Sure, they can still hit home runs, but those numbers are certainly buoyed by the short right-field porch in Yankee Stadium which is routinely abused.

In a season in which starting pitchers Masahiro Tanaka, CC Sabathia, Ivan Nova and Michael Pineda (four-fifths of the opening day rotation) spent extended periods of time on the disabled list, it was their sporadic, underperforming hitting that eventually did the Yankees in.

The future doesn’t look any brighter.

In fact, if they choose to keep recycling their current business model of signing aging free-agents to plug roster holes, the Yankees might not be the “Bronx Bombers” for quite some time. Gone are the days when the they sported the most feared lineup in baseball.

At some point, the Yankees have to rebuild, and now would be a perfect time to do so while the franchise is in flux. With the upcoming retirement of shortstop Derek Jeter, the Yankees will effectively have no captain or face of their franchise in

PHOTO COURTESY OF KEITH ALLISON VIA FLICKR

The Yankees will be forced to say goodbye to Derek Jeter this year, but they are not prepared for a captain-less future.

2015. Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada and Andy Pettitte are all gone, so why not try to rebuild a core four? After all, it was the farm system that led to the great dynasty from the mid-1990s to late-2000s. Once they had steady production from their homegrown talent, they built around it with key free agent acquisitions and not the other way around, as the Yankees are currently operating.

The problem with that system is that the Yankees have older players signed to long-term contracts, blocking roster spots for young prospects.

Even worse, since players like Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez and McCann are signed for several more seasons and are regressing, nobody will want to trade for them and take on their immense salaries.

The Yankees’ top hitting prospect is catcher Gary Sanchez but with McCann signed on for four more seasons, who knows when or if they’ll find space for him. They could eventually move McCann to DH full-time and pave the way for Sanchez, but it doesn’t seem like that will be any time soon, with Beltran

occupying that slot until 2016-17. Besides Sanchez, it doesn’t appear that the Yanks have any immediate help down on the farm.

With young prospects still a few years away, aging and declining veterans filling out the 25-man roster and no valuable trade pieces, where can the Yankees go from here?

They can elect to sign one of the big-name free agent starting pitchers to a long-term, high-money contract that will eventually come back to haunt them, or they can just wait it out. There’s no need to rush into a

huge mistake, especially when they got burned with Sabathia, who is signed for two more expensive seasons even though his days as a franchise player effectively came to an end last year.

With mediocre starting pitching and an aging lineup, it’s just not feasible that this team can compete.

If they elect to rebuild, it’ll be a long time before you see the Yankees back in the postseason. Then again, what other option do they have? At some point, the cycle has to break.

In Phil We Trust: New York Knicks 2014-2015 Season Preview

By THOMAS O’CALLAGHAN Contributing Writer

Following a disappointing 201314 season, the New York Knicks look to set the foundation for serious contention in the near future.

After a season characterized by injuries, questionable coaching from the now-fired Mike Woodson and shooting guard J.R. Smith’s on-and-off court shenanigans, the Knicks organization took a meaningful stride toward sensibility by handing the team’s reins over to a familiar face: Phil Jackson. One of the first of the organization-shaking changes occurred when the entire coaching staff was relieved of duty in favor of Jackson’s “Triangle Offense” acolytes. Although first-choice Steve Kerr spurned the Knicks’ offer in favor of the head coaching job with the Warriors, respected veteran Derek Fisher took the job to help institute the Triangle Offense. For those unfamiliar with the Triangle, the emphasis of this system is spacing, passing and catch-and-shoot opportunities. Another splash in Jackson’s short tenure was the blockbuster trade that sent former Defensive Player of the Year Tyson Chandler and guard/ felon Raymond Felton to the Dallas Mavericks for Jose Calderon, Samuel Dalembert, Wayne Ellington and two draft picks, one of which yield-

ed Wichita State product Cleanthony Early.

Re-signing resident superstar Carmelo Anthony was Jackson’s main goal in this busy offseason, and now the veteran forward looks to leading the team in new ways.

Often regarded as just a volume shooter and big-time scorer, Anthony will assume the role of facilitator more often, following suit of former Triangle scorers Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. In order to increase his athleticism, Anthony has lost a considerable amount of weight this summer, so he will most likely be returning to the small forward position.

Point guard is a critical position in the Triangle, so expect substantial contributions from freshlyminted Knick Jose Calderon. This offensive scheme thrives on highpercentage shooting from the guard position, so count on consistent 3-point shooting from Calderon and Pablo Prigioni. In Prigioni and Calderon, the Knicks have the second and fifth best 3-point shooters, by 2013-14 percentage, in the NBA, respectively. Also acquired in the Mavericks trade, Shane Larkin will see some minutes, but is most likely still a work in progress.

The Knicks currently have three players that will split minutes at shooting guard: Tim Hardaway Jr., J.R. Smith and Iman Shumpert.

Hardaway and Smith should excel with more catch-and-shoot opportunities, as Hardaway proved to be an excellent shooter in his rookie campaign, and Smith converted 46.5 percent of his spot-up three-point opportunities in 201314. Meanwhile, defensive-minded Iman Shumpert looks to prove that he can be a consistent NBA contributor.

Backing up Anthony at small forward, will be Quincy Acy, Travis Outlaw and the potential steal of this year’s draft, Cleanthony Early.

Early was a key piece in the Wichita State Shockers’ NCAA tournament run this year.

At the power forward and center positions, minutes will be distributed among Andrea Bargnani, Amar’e Stoudemire, Samuel Dalembert, Cole Aldrich and Jason Smith.

Bargnani and Stoudemire look to excel in the Triangle through crisp passing and knockdown shooting inside the arc. Expect to see the center corps of Dalembert, Aldrich and Smith rebound and finish opportunities around the rim.

If the Knicks buy into the team concept and execute the Triangle, there is no reason why they couldn’t secure a playoff seed in the wideopen Eastern Conference and make some noise in the playoffs. The Knicks open up the season at MSG Oct. 29 against the Chicago Bulls.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MICHAEL GOULDING/ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER VIA MCT

President of the New York Knicks and NBA Legend Phil Jackson is the newest and possibly best hope for the team’s championship aspirations.