Observer Issue 7 Spring 2019

OBSERVER THE

May 2, 2019 VOLUME XXXVI, ISSUE 7

www.fordhamobserver.com

First New FCLC Dean in 20 Years

Reflections on Sydney Monfries’ Passing

By SOPHIE PATRIDGE-HICKS and COLIN SHEELEY

A SPECIAL REPORT BY THE NEWS DESK

News Editor and Editor-in-Chief Emeritus

For the first time since its opening in 1968, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) will have a female dean leading the school. On Tuesday, April 30, a search committee appointed Laura Auricchio to replace Rev. Robert R. Grimes, S.J., who served the school for a record 20 years.

After a nationwide search spanning six months and a transition that lasted more than a year, University President Joseph M. McShane, S.J., and Jonathan Crystal, interim provost, announced that Auricchio would assume the role in August 2019 from Interim Dean Frederick J. Wertz.

August will not be Auricchio’s first time on a Fordham campus.

When she was four, her mother was completing her Ph.D. in Psychology at the Rose Hill campus.

“It was the first college campus I was ever on,” Auricchio said, recalling the times she would run around on the vast lawns, gazing up at the faces of students and professors.

As the young college grew out see DEAN pg. 3

COURTESY OF LAURA AURICCHIO

Laura Auricchio will be the first female dean of FCLC.

ZOEY LIU/THE OBSERVER

Student staff claim mistrust and toxic working relationships cause high levels of stress and anxiety.

RAs and RFMs Speak Out Against ResLife Work Environment

By SOPHIE PATRIDGE-HICKS News Editor

The 2018-2019 academic year has seen multiple incidents strain the relationship between Fordham’s Office of Residential Life and its students who choose to live in McMahon and McKeon Halls. As the academic year comes to a close, resident assistants (RAs) and resident freshman mentors (RFMs) are voicing their own concerns about working under Residential Life.

The hostile working environment, lack of communication and poor treatment of staff has resulted in students feeling the need to highlight the reality of their experiences working for Residential Life.

Although it is not stated explicitly in their contracts, student staff are discouraged from talking to the press. RAs confirmed that they are expected to “act as representatives” for the office and felt that speaking out against Residential Life might result in serious consequences, even losing their jobs. Consequently, all six interviews given to The Observer were anonymous.

Most RAs and RFMs are dependant on the perks of their positions. For every term, they sign a yearlong contract with Residential Life. RAs receive a $1,050 “RA Tuition award” and are given a free room for the academic year. In McMahon, RAs are given a meal check, and in McKeon, both RAs and RFMs have a full meal plan for the year. All RFMs reside in McKeon Hall, and pay for only one semester of housing. On average, students can save nearly $20,000 per academic year by becoming an RA. “We depend on the job for the benefits,” one RFM said, emphasizing just how much money student staff save because of their positions.

Yet some RAs and RFMs have said that Residential Life takes advantage of this financial dependency. “This is the only job on campus that will pay for your housing and your meal plan … it’s not like you can go and get another RA position,” one RA said. “It’s a lot of money that they’re playing around with, and to wave that around on a

OPINIONS

During the month of April, Fordham University became the center of a national media storm surrounding the passing of Sydney Monfries, Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) ’19. In the eyes of most students close to her, Monfries was the victim of a series of tragic events. Her death, which was in most regards a freak accident, became the target of intense scrutiny nationwide drawing criticism and commentary from the furthest reaches of the country.

Students from New Jersey to California reported that they were approached by family and friends alike over Easter break in regards to Monfries’ passing.

They report being met with every reaction from concern to admonishment, as misperception of the events and a national search to place blame quick-

stick in front of someone, to make that person feel like they’re never safe, it can be really tough.”

The contract specifies that violations of the contract will result in immediate termination of student staff. In that situation, adjustments would be made to the student’s bursar account, and all Office property would need to be returned. “They hold so much power over our living situation that even right now, we only have two weeks left, but if they told me I had to get out, I’d have to get out right now,” another RA said.

Student staff believe that the tone of Residential Life’s management has created a hostile and uncomfortable working culture. At an in-service staff meeting in February, Kelly Sosa, assistant director for the office of residential life, allegedly said that she would rather have fewer staff members than have people who break — or are merely confused by — the rules.

One RA said that Sosa’s sentiment “felt threatening, and like she had no issue firing people.” Another RA

The longest-serving dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center, Rev. Robert Grimes, S.J., has held a room in Murray-Weigel Hall twice in his life. Forty years ago, he boarded with several dozen other Jesuits in their mid-20s, studying philosophy at Fordham College (now Fordham College at Rose Hill). Now, in a first-floor apartment with a railing in the hallway, he’s trying to learn how to walk again.

In the past 20 years, Grimes

see RESLIFE pg. 5

see GRIMES pg. 2

FEATURES

see MONFRIES pg. 2

Former Dean on Road to Recovery

By COLIN SHEELEY Editor In Chief Emeritus

SPORTS & HEALTH

A New Cura Personalis Ailey Senior Showcase LC Athletes Club leader looks back at last four years and gives advice

Two Seniors reflect on the B.F.A. program

A Q&A with club rugby student Abigail Pratt

PAGE 7

PAGE 20

PAGE 23

SPRING WEEKEND

Stream of Consciousness A senior’s recount of Fordham’s infamous festivities ROXANNE CUBERO/THE OBSERVER

PAGE 12

THE STUDENT VOICE OF FORDHAM LINCOLN CENTER

2

News

May 2, 2019 THE OBSERVER

WWW.fordhamobserver.com

Respect in the Face of Tragedy

GABE SAMANDI/THE OBSERVER

Photos, candles and flowers line the steps of Keating Hall, the building where the accident occurred, to honor the life of Sydney Monfries.

MONFRIES FROM PAGE 1

ly overshadowed the impact of Monfries’ loss to the Fordham community.

Coverage by national outlets such as The Daily Mail and The New York Post was regarded by many students as sensational and inappropriate, drawing harsh criticism in a staff editorial by Rose Hill’s student newspaper, The Fordham Ram. Yet that coverage was precisely what guided the national conversation that enabled people — even those completely removed from the Fordham community — to assign blame.

Voices from across the country saw the event as a reason to implicate the Fordham community of wrongdoing. Between the perception that it was the University’s neglect or the accusation that Monfries herself was to blame, there was no shortage of opinion thrown at the Fordham name.

And then, almost as suddenly as it started, the national conversation around Monfries gave way to the next sensational headline.

After passing judgment on the way she died, few took time to reflect on the life that she lead.

To students at Fordham, the hole left in the wake of these events is still apparent. At Rose Hill in particular, there has been a very different tone of the conversation surrounding the life and legacy of Monfries.

Monfries passed away just weeks before graduation. The University confirmed that they will posthumously present Monfries a bachelor’s degree in May. She majored in Journalism and had interned as a Photo Editor at InStyle magazine during her time at the University.

In a joint statement released

by United Student Government, Commuting Students Association, Residence Halls Association and Campus Activities Board, they stated that “she loved, and was loved by, the hundreds of lives that she touched throughout her four years at Fordham.”

Instead of sensationalizing her death as much of the country did, the Fordham community sought to remember and honor the life of Sydney Monfries.

The Sunday of Monfries’ passing, scheduled Palm Sunday services at the Rose Hill University Church were extended to comfort the Rose Hill community.

Students filled every pew, lining

each wall and standing in crowds filing out of the entryways as mourners gathered together.

Sobs could be heard from both the parishioners and over the choir audio system throughout the procession.

On Tuesday, April 16, a memorial service honoring Monfries was held at the same University Church, which was covered closely by The Fordham Ram. The chapel was completely filled, with countless members of the Rose Hill community gathering to celebrate Monfries’ life. Many close friends of Monfries shared stories and expressed gratitude for having her in their lives.

The nature of Monfries’ untimely and tragic death shook nearly every student at Fordham — shortly after Monfries’ passing, Rose Hill students were hesitant to spend time on Eddie’s Lawn, the popular public space in front of Keating Hall, despite the much-awaited warmer temperatures. Crowded elevators in the Leon Lowenstein building became discussion halls about how Monfries had passed. Students from both campuses report that in the week following the event, they could not go more than a few hours without overhearing a

conversation about her.

A story that drew eyes from around the country took place on Fordham’s campus, and directly affected Fordham’s students.

While students from both campuses were affected by the news, there was admittedly a difference in the way that the event and ensuing coverage impacted each campus.

As one Lincoln Center student put it, “the tone at Lincoln Center was a lot less serious. It was definitely in the back of everyone’s mind,” they said, “but if this had happened at Lincoln Center, people would’ve been a lot more affected.”

The Observer, as the student voice of Fordham Lincoln Center, respects that the Rose Hill campus dealt with Monfries’ passing in a much more personal way.

Further, it is understood that in the immediate aftermath of the event, The Observer’s coverage was one of many remote voices that potentially contributed to the sensationalization of Monfries’ passing. Artificial divides between the two communities had in some ways detached the students of Lincoln Center from the gravity of what had occured on the Rose Hill campus.

In the aftermath of such distressing events, one point remains abundantly clear: the loss of a Fordham community member is a loss for all of us.

This academic year also saw the untimely and tragic loss of three other Fordham students: Donika Celaj, FCRH ’18, Nicholas Booker, FCRH ’22 and Rachel Ragone, Gabelli School of Business at Rose Hill ’16. Summer break saw the loss of university provost Stephan M. Freedman.

Over Winter break, Fordham Law lost professor Kimberly Greer.

Just last week on April 26th, Francis Simon, a dining services employee at Rose Hill, passed.

Each circumstance confronted the Fordham community with a different loss, but the absence of these individuals has not gone unnoticed. Each of these deaths were of themselves a tragedy, but the life and legacy of every one of these Fordham community members is worth remembering.

If Monfries’ passing has shown the Fordham community anything, it is that death is not to be sensationalized. Rather, life is to be celebrated.

By Gus Dupree, Sophie Partridge-Hicks and Gabe Samandi

With His Post Behind Him, a Former Dean Looks to His Future GRIMES FROM PAGE 1

charted the course for Lincoln Center, packing McMahon Hall with surging numbers of students, streamlining an antiquated curriculum and putting the odd Manhattan enclave of a Bronx university on the map. But over the past year, he has undergone 43 bouts of radiation and numerous MRI and CT scans for prostate cancer, growing weaker with every session.

He’s feeling better now that treatment has ended. Stronger, too.

“I wake up and I can pretty much hop out of bed these days,” he said, quickly adding, “I need the walker once I’ve hopped out of bed.”

Grimes does an hour of physical therapy in the afternoon, double the prescribed amount. He climbs the stairs for a little while. Going up is getting easier. Down is the tricky part. He and his therapist then move to the corridor outside his room, stepping slowly with a cane past the doors of retired Jesuits, some decades older than him.

Then the cane is taken away, and Grimes has to walk by himself.

It can be frightening on his own, especially going through doors and parts of the hallway without railings. “That’s not unlike what I’ve done in a lot of things in my life,” Grimes said. “I’ve had to do things that I was really scared of over the years, and I mean really scared.

And I learned that the only way to

ter a few times before the new dean comes in, because I don’t think I’ve cleared out all my stuff out of the office down there.”

With projects left unfinished, dreams never realized, Grimes regrets leaving. “If I had my druthers, I’d still be the dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center,” he said. “If I had my druthers and my health.”

“ If I had my druthers,

I’d still be the dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center. If I had my druthers and my health” REV. ROBERT R. GRIMES, S.J., FORMER DEAN OF FCLC

NIGEL ZWEIBROCK/THE OBSERVER

Rev. Robert Grimes, S.J., served as dean for 20 years, making him Fordham’s longest serving dean.

do it frequently is to just put it out of your mind.”

When Grimes, first a professor of music, started as dean in 1997, he would repeat a message to himself: “Survive. Always think before you speak and don’t do anything stupid.” He has a postscript now: “Think things out very carefully,

but then when you’ve got to do something, you’ve got to do it.”

Grimes’s departure from his position surprised him as much as it did the Lincoln Center campus, currently awaiting the appointment of his successor. “It’s like I left in the middle of the night,” he said.

“I’ve gotta get down to Lincoln Cen-

Though his vision for the college is still fresh — even if might not be carried out — Grimes is less sure about his own plans. He’d like to get out of Murray-Weigel Hall, as nice as it is, and move somewhere near Lincoln Center, he said.

He doesn’t suspect he’ll be able to teach at Fordham. Most of his material is 20 years old and playable on cassette, he admitted. But the university currently employs

several former Lincoln Center deans. Edward Bristow, Grimes’s predecessor, lectures on two history courses at Lincoln Center, and George W. Shea, dean from 197085, hosts a class for the College at 60 program.

In his first years in charge, Grimes said he relied on the guidance of the deans still on faculty.

For Bristow, he said, “I had his phone number memorized.” With Shea, “he was more sort of moral support.”

Neither Grimes, nor any Lincoln Center dean, has had a hand in the appointment of a new dean. In fact, he only knows one of the four candidates, he said. The rest are outside prospects.

He worried that the prospectus, a hiring guide for the dean selection committee, outlines a goal to model Lincoln Center after Rose Hill, although he said he hasn’t read it. “I still think Fordham College at Lincoln Center has a tremendous amount to offer,” Grimes said. “But I hope the university doesn’t get too homogenized.”

Throughout his 20 years as dean, Grimes emphasized Lincoln Center’s distinctive presence in Manhattan. He made it more than a satellite school. He made it a campus.

And now, he is looking back on it, trying to do the same thing he bid the college to do: stand and walk on your own.

WWW.fordhamobserver.com

THE OBSERVER May 2, 2019

News

3

Lavender Graduation Community to host first graduation ceremony that honors LGBTQ students

By MARIELLE SARMIENTO Features Editor

On May 8, students, professors and alumni will gather for the first Lavender Graduation held at Fordham University to recognize the achievements of graduating LGBTQ students and faculty.

A Lavender Graduation, affiliated with the Human Rights Campaign, is a separate ceremony from a university’s official commencement to honor the achievements of LGBTQ students. Robin Happel, Fordham College at Rose Hill ’19 and coordinator of the ceremony said, “A Lavender Graduation celebrates LGBTQ students and allies, and provides a positive experience to close out their college years.”

While separate cultural heritage and specialized ceremonies have long since been apart of universities because they often provide a sense of community for minority students, this will be the first event of its kind at Fordham.

When Happel noticed the lack of a Lavender Graduation ceremony at Fordham, she sought to plan the event, even if it meant having a small, unofficial get together with her friends.

The urgency to plan the ceremony increased after Happel realized Fordham’s chosen name policy would not take effect until the Fall 2019 semester, meaning many of her transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) classmates would have their “dead name” on their diploma. “For what many of our students pay in tuition, they deserve at the very least a diploma with their name on it,” Happel said.

Happel is coordinating the event alongside Orit Avishai, associate professor of sociology at Rose Hill, and J. Patrick Hornbeck, chair of the theology department. Happel chose to work with academic departments because “Fordham’s academic freedom policies grant them greater leniency in scheduling events and putting up flyers than most student groups have.”

Lavender Graduation aims to be a safe space for all attendees to be their true seleves without fear or judgment.

The event is sponsored by the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies department, and will involve Rafael Zapata, chief diversity officer, in the ceremony. Happel hopes that the Lavender Graduation will carry on through future years as a Fordham tradition to further support LGBTQ students.

Lavender Graduation will take place on the Butler Commons at Rose Hill from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., with the ceremony starting at 5 p.m. According to the RSVP, the dress code is to “wear something you wouldn’t wear to regular graduation.”

Graduating students, faculty and alumni in attendance will receive a certificate of appreciation and members of of the class of

ILLUSTRATION BY ESMÉ BLEECKER-ADAMS

Students at Lavender Graudation will be able to choose the name on their certificates, giving the option for transgender students to use their preferred name.

2019 will receive an honor cord.

All members of the community and guests are welcome to attend the ceremony and reception.

Lavender Graduation aims to be a safe space for all attendees to be their true selves without fear or judgment. Attendees choose the name that appears on their certificate, along with the option to leave the name field blank, and coordinators promise everyone’s identity will remain private outside of the event. “No photos please” buttons

FCLC’s First Female Dean DEAN FROM PAGE 1

of 1960s radical experiment with higher education, Auricchio was there, a third-generation New Yorker, devoted Manhattanite and die-hard Yankees fan.

It was Lincoln Center’s location that drew her to the campus. “Manhattan is the best possible place in the world to be a student,” she said. Aurrichio has spent the past 17 years at the New School, first as a professor and later as vice provost for curriculum and learning, trying to show the world just that.

“As an urban campus, it’s a challenge to develop community, but I think it’s so important,” she said. At The New School, Aurrichio implemented a bell schedule that facilitated easy movement among the school’s five campuses, a choice she hopes will foster that urban community.

Another challenge Auricchio will face is FCLC’s relationship to the rest of the university. “The idea of Lincoln Center as a satellite campus,” Wertz said, is the most difficult to combat. “The college as a colony” has always hung over Lincoln Center like a shadow from the Rose Hill campus, he said.

Auricchio is determined to toe the line between bridging a connection between the colleges and maintaining Lincoln Center’s distinct identity, though it might take some creative thinking, she said.

While she’s never been great with a paintbrush or a canvas, Auricchio is a textbook academic.

With a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Harvard University, a Ph.D. in Art History and Archaeology from Columbia University and a Twitter feed packed with references to 18th century histo-

ry, Auricchio said, “I have a great intellectual curiosity.”

A specialist of French and American history and an accomplished writer, Auricchio has written two historical novels. Her biography “The Marquis: Lafayette Reconsidered” won the 2015 American Library in Paris Book Award.

Transitioning from teaching to administration was not necessarily a decision she sought out, but one that found her, Auricchio said. “I love students,” she said, but “you can shape a lot more, and help a lot more people in a leadership position.”

As a vice provost, Auricchio said that her email box was often spammed with open positions at universities across the country — but it was only Fordham’s that caught her eye.

“I grew up really influenced by the social justice mission of Fordham and the social justice mission of the Jesuit education,” Auricchio said. Though she is not a Jesuit, Auricchio said she immediately connected to the Jesuit mission.

“When I started reading it, I completely identified with it and I felt that it really expressed fully everything that I believed in.”

“Now that I know more about the Jesuit pedagogy,” she added, “this is actually what I’ve always been striving for but didn’t actually know the words.”

Between Rose Hill and her Italian, Irish and French Canadian family, Auricchio said she grew up in a household steeped in Catholic social justice. She has an aunt in the Sisters of St. Joseph’s and a cousin in the Sisters of Mercy.

Crystal said he was impressed with Auricchio’s commitment to Fordham’s mission, citing “her passion for promoting diversity and inclusion, and her ideas for

enhancing the academic quality of the college and the student experience.”

The hiring process was marked with an emphasis on finding a diverse range of candidates with different backgrounds. But Auricchio says that she didn’t think of her gender in relation to her appointment. To her, diversity is only one part of a three step equation. “Bringing people in is not enough,” she said. Equity and inclusion are just as vital in the process.

Assistant Dean for Freshmen Joseph Desciak said he was impressed with Auricchio’s interest in Lincoln Center’s future.

“I think the new dean has an incredible opportunity for FCLC specifically because we really are on the cusp of incredible greatness,” he said. “I think she seems appropriately aware of ways in which she needs to engage not just the Lincoln Center community, but the New York City community as well.”

Keith Eldredge, dean of students at FCLC, said he welcomes the transition, although it might feel strange at first. “Father Grimes was here for so long, and the history and experience that he brought,” he said, “in some ways this feels like a whole new world, I think that’s both scary and exciting.”

Grimes, whose legacy of shaping FCLC into the school students know today, was optimistic about things to come. “Her credentials are impressive so I am sure she will bring new ideas and energy to the college, leaning it forward into the future,” he said.

Auricchio said she was sad to be leaving The New School. But in joining the Fordham community, she said, “I am finding an intellectual home.”

will be available for everyone who does not wish to be photographed at the event.

Fordham has taken steps in TGNC inclusion in the past, including the chosen name policy and switching the single-occupancy restrooms to all-gender restrooms on campus over the summer. Happel hopes the ceremony can build off this momentum. Her main goal is for TGNC alumni to receive updated versions of their diplomas.

Happel also invited students

who do not identify as either LGBTQ or TGNC to attend because it is a “show of allyship since it shows the administration that there’s support for this becoming a new tradition.”

“For those who have felt excluded and faced prejudice from professors and fellow students, my hope is that it restores a sense of family among Fordham students, and encourages students to stay involved in our community as alumni,” she said.

BROOKLYN

COLLEGE SUMMER SESSIONS THIS SUMMER, CHOOSE FROM HUNDREDS OF COURSES For more information, visit

BROOKLYN.CUNY.EDU/SUMMER

4

News

May 2, 2019 THE OBSERVER

WWW.fordhamobserver.com

Administration Adresses Diversity Concerns Chief Diversity Officer Rafael Zapata promises changes for 2019-20 and beyond

By GABE SAMANDI News Editor

Recent developments from Fordham’s administration indicate that the many conversations surrounding identity and inclusion on Fordham’s campuses have finally come to a head this year.

Fordham University’s tenet of “cura personalis” — care for the whole person — guides the university’s policies to play a role in more than just the academic education of its students. From the student body to the administration, the Fordham community seeks to build an environment that includes diverse perspectives and supports individuals of every background.

However, these values have not prevented the university community from encountering friction when it comes to social change.

Historically, conversations between Fordham’s student activists and its administration have ranged from the cordial to the contentious. In recent years, some student efforts, such as the push for transgender-inclusive housing, have faced near-complete silence from administration. Others, like Students for Justice in Palestine and the Students for Sex and Gender Equity and Safety (SAGES) Coalition, have even been banned entirely.

Rafael Zapata, chief diversity officer of Fordham University, understands that Fordham has had a long and difficult history when it comes to working with its student activists, especially in its understanding of emerging diverse perspectives.

“Fordham is not unique in that regard, in its challenges around diversity,” Zapata said. “It’s always been a challenge here and in our greater culture and community.”

Zapata, who joined the Fordham community in 2018, has worked closely with the 22-person Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Council this year to assess

ANGELA CHEN/THE OBSERVER

Rafael Zapata, chief diversity officer of Fordham University, has used this year to plan policy overhauls.

the circumstances Fordham faces and the changes it needs most.

“Our focus is the structures and policies,” said Zapata, who is a co-chair of the council. “It’s boring stuff, but systems provide results. So how do we create the systems to create the results that we seek?”

The DEI Council has held two meetings this year, with a third slated before the end of the semester.

Zapata and the DEI Council are currently in the process of researching achievement statistics in all Fordham’s programs. “This initial phase of building takes time,” Zapata said. “We want to have data for each school to understand their needs.”

Zapata claimed that concerns from students and faculty were one of the primary reasons for this research. He also noted that academic publications — including those published by Fordham faculty — about race, structural achievement gaps and social mo-

bility have heavily informed the council’s target research areas.

“It’s our responsibility to learn from everything and push ourselves to do better. That’s our charge,” he said.

“You can throw all the money you want at something,” he said.

“But money is not enough, you need leadership and sustained commitment.”

Fordham’s administration appears keen on providing that kind of commitment and leadership moving forward.

University President Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., created a Diversity Task Force in 2015, which released a report in late 2016 about Fordham’s issues in cultivating an inclusive environment. The information in the report has directly informed nearly all the policy changes Fordham has made regarding diversity in the past three years.

In addition to the policy changes the administration has been pursuing, the selection process

for the new Dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) was heavily informed by a commitment to cultivating a diverse and inclusive community at Fordham, both by way of the applicants’ personal backgrounds and their capabilities for leading the policy changes Fordham hopes to make in its future.

However, there is still a sentiment that the University does not do enough to express its commitment to inclusion among many student activists. Emma Kossoy, FCLC ’22, is an activist with a variety of Fordham student organizations. “I’m going to be on four E-Boards next year, all for diversity things,” she said.

Kossoy explained that, to most within student activist circles, Fordham’s tactic of internal deliberation before any public engagement feels like an effort to shut students out of discussions. “It’s just so quiet sometimes,” she said.

“It makes us think that Fordham doesn’t necessarily want to give a

spotlight to [the issues.]”

She admitted that administration’s reception to student input for policy changes has “been mixed.” Some initiatives, such as the new schoolwide chosen name policy and the creation of a prayer space for Muslim students, were the direct result of collaboration between student activist groups and administrators. At the same time, other initiatives — like the push for more transparent and accessible sexual safety resources — have seemingly been dismissed, with little to no collaboration between students and administration.

“There’s kind of a radio silence,” said Kossoy. “Which implies they’re hearing us, but I mean, are they listening to students?”

Yet in most respects, this silence can be attributed to administration’s hesitance to overplay their hand. Acting Associate Dean Mary Bly spoke to the degree of miscommunication between activists and administration.

“There are these artificial barriers, I think,” she said. However, she noted that Fordham’s administration is listening closely, despite their relative silence.

“I can tell you that [groups] like SAGES have had a remarkable effect on the faculty and administration; I just went to a workshop they ran,” she said.

According to Bly, there are often a multitude of factors that are not easily communicated to students that can prevent changes from occurring. “Frankly, it’s complicated,” she said. “But I do think there’s been a lot of acknowledgment of what students want, a lot of celebration, a lot trying to make it happen.”

“We want to engage the community and get their feedback,” said Zapata. “But honestly, we’re building the car as we’re driving it.”

For more about this story, visit www.fordhamobserver.com

Quinn X to Reopen by Finals as Old Quinn Remains Vacant

By JORDAN MELTZER News Editor Emeritus

In May, the graduation of Fordham’s class of 2019 will mark the end of the Old Quinn era. Everyone who will graduate from 2020 onward was not a Fordham student when Old Quinn was still open. But they will get a taste of the space it occupied when Quinn X reopens this semester.

Quinn X, which is short for “the Quinn Annex,” refers to the western section of the former Quinn Library space which contains all books written before the year 2000. Currently, the space is occupied by book stacks that house some 300,000 volumes of books, as well as additional seating and AV storage.

Old Quinn is a physically separate location from Quinn X, but the two originally functioned in tandem before the library moved to its current home in the building at 140 W. 62nd St. in 2016. According to Director of University Libraries Linda LoSchiavo, Old Quinn is currently being used as a “staging area” while areas of the Lowenstein building undergo renovations.

Academic departments have been vying for permanent ownership of the space ever since the relocation to the 140 W. building.

However, they will only be able to use it temporarily and only as a necessity, according to Vice President of Fordham Lincoln Center Frank Simio.

PHOTO SUMBITTED ANONYMOUSLY

Since 2016, Old Quinn has stood empty, prompting questions about use of space at Lincoln Center.

Old Quinn “will eventually be used as swing space as sections of Lowenstein are renovated,” Simio said. In the past year, both the sixth floor and the second floor of the Lowenstein building have undergone renovations, and Simio posited that there are more to come.

Beyond the revolving door of occupation by academic departments, there are no permanent plans for Old Quinn, LoSchiavo said.

LoSchiavo is “confident” that Fordham will be able to reopen

Quinn X in time for finals. The space will serve as a library space, which will include a study area and a functioning book checkout service.

There has been both ongoing debate and confusion about the future of Quinn X and Old Quinn.

At several recent College Council meetings, attendees have proposed several uses for the spaces; some have been accepted, some have been rejected and some have fallen by the wayside with no progression on discussions.

One proposal for Old Quinn

that was discussed at a Feb. 28 College Council meeting was to convert the 24 feet by 24 feet area in the back into an academic help center. LoSchiavo said that she is unaware of any further plans in that area.

At another meeting on April 4, administrators shot down the idea of a “learning commons” in Old Quinn. Instead, they opted to pursue a space in Rose Hill’s Walsh Library for a similar initiative.

But the debate about what to do with Old Quinn dates back even further. Various Fordham departments have released email surveys to the student body that ask recipients’ opinions on certain potential uses for an empty space on campus.

One survey, which the Fordham University Bookstore sent in February 2018, asked students if they wanted a bookstore, performance space, coffee shop or something else if they had the option to choose what could occupy an open space. Another survey, which Fordham IT released in April 2019, asked about opinions regarding a potential virtual reality room or an IT help office.

LoSchiavo said that all of these options are still possibilities, but there is still no permanent plan for Old Quinn. In addition, Elizabeth Cornell, director of IT communications, said Fordham IT has no current plans for Old Quinn.

Students have weighed in on

some of these options, generally opposing those that benefit faculty more than themselves. Tigerlily Cooley, Gabelli School of Business (GSB) ’20, for example, said that an IT office or other academic offices would be “boring,” though she understands the practical reasons for needing them. She would prefer that the school use Old Quinn as a performance and rehearsal space for musicians instead.

“They should be doing more to create spaces for the artistic students that aren’t just drama students,” Cooley said. She also criticized the current music practice rooms, saying that there are too few and that they are too small to be used properly, especially by bands and groups.

Meanwhile, Amanda Scacalossi, GSB ’20, said she would like the space to be turned into a senior-exclusive lounge for studying or food. “That’d be a nice privilege,” she explained.

Like Cooley, Scacalossi said she finds the idea of occupying Old Quinn with office space unappealing. Neither student welcomed the idea of a virtual reality room.

The last update regarding Old Quinn came from the Lincoln Center Space Planning Committee, chaired by Simio, in November 2018. The only change between then and now is that Quinn X is reopening; the rest of Old Quinn, meanwhile, will continue to languish for the foreseeable future.

WWW.fordhamobserver.com

THE OBSERVER May 2, 2019

News

5

ResLife Student Staff Talks of Distressing Work Conditions

ZOEY LIU/THE OBSERVER

Student workers report feelings of isolation and fear as a result of serving as Resident Assistants and Resident Freshmen Mentors at Fordham Lincoln Center.

RESLIFE FROM PAGE 1

said: “During the meeting, she spoke down to the McKeon staff as a whole, and I felt as though she was talking to us as children rather than as RAs and RFMs.” Although the position of an RA or RFM is very demanding and requires a high degree of responsibility, student staff who spoke to The Observer reported feeling expendable to the office.

“There have been times when our supervisors only focus on the things that staff members had done wrong,” another RFM said. “Sometimes we feel underappreciated.”

“The trust just isn’t there,” explained an RA. “There is no job security because it feels like they are only going to keep us on until they find something and then threaten us to leave.”

One RA said that “as soon as you have one strike you get looked at more closely and you feel like you’ve suddenly become a target.”

According to reports from student staff, anxiety runs high for anyone holding a position with the office, citing how their contracts are often unclear. According to one RA, “there is a disparity between what is in the contract and the things that they say.”

RAs are required to serve an on-call rotation as either primary or secondary RA on duty. The contract does little to clarify the difference between the positions, and states that students can face probation or even termination for leaving campus while on duty.

However, during their training sessions in August 2018, staff members were told that the secondary RA on duty was allowed to leave the building within a “five-minute radius” of campus. But according to RAs, professional staff told them that “five minutes is different to everyone,” making the policy vague and confusing to follow.

During the fall semester, some RAs on secondary duty left campus, believing they were following the rules and encountering little to no issues. However, in the second semester, secondary RAs were reprimanded for not being on campus. Students explained that these incidents were handled on a “case-by-case basis.”

In response to the incidents, Residential Life made it clear to student staff that both primary and secondary RAs must be on campus for the entirety of their duty. Staff members did not receive updated contracts to reflect this, they said.

After the change was made, Sosa allegedly told student staff that if they have problems with the changes, then they could “schedule an exit interview.”

One RA explained that they were leaving campus because “there was no clear leadership, and we were confused.”

There are other examples of changes being made to the contracts over the years, including policies on romantic relationships

between student staff and submitting duty reports.

Over the last two years, Residential Life allegedly fired two student staff members mid-semester. “It’s ridiculous; people are not being treated well,” one RA said.

Student staff also expressed they feel there is a significant double standard between the level of dedication and professionalism expected of them and how they are treated by Residential Life staff.

While student staff feel that “each of our actions can have serious consequences,” they feel that professional staff do not lead by example.

As part of their contract, RAs and RFMs must meet with their Residential Directors (RDs) on a biweekly basis — yet student staff report that RDs often cancel meetings for personal reasons. “I cannot imagine what would happen if I said I could not make a meeting,” said one RA. Students also claim there is a double standard to the way contracts are enforced. During the summer training sessions, student staff were told they will be given a $200 “meal check” to cover eating expenses for the duration of the program.

However, RAs and RFMs confirmed that they received these checks over a week after training had ended.

Likewise, RAs have raised concerns about not being reimbursed for the programs that they must plan for their residents; they claim often needing to wait up to four weeks before being reimbursed.

“It’s hard to plan an enjoyable and thoughtful event when you have to pay for it yourself,” one RA said. They said the lack of funds can create friction between staff members, as one student often needs to front the money.

Since staff members believe that they could get in trouble for speaking out, feel like there are no available platforms to voice their dissatisfaction. “It’s always hard to give feedback to your boss,” said another RA. “But in the position that we are in, it’s even harder.”

RDs and professional staff offer feedback surveys to student staff, and although they are anonymous, they require students to write whose staff they are on and what role they have. One RA said this makes it “easy for them to pinpoint who we are, even without our names.”

Students feel they have no one to advocate for them — “we don’t have a human resources in this role,” stated an RA. One RA said, “Do I feel cared for by the department? No, not at all.”

“It makes you feel like you can’t trust anyone,” said another. “It’s affecting my social life and my personal life… It makes me feel like I need to whole up in my room and not talk.”

The Observer reached out to Residential Life but they were unable to comment at this time.

SUMMER SESSION IN NEW YORK CITY

750+ undergraduate and graduate courses Online, classroom, and hybrid formats.

Visiting students welcome.

www.lehman.edu/summer

Opinions Editors Grace Getman - ggetman@fordham.edu Evan Vollbrecht - evollbrecht@fordham.edu

Opinions

May 2, 2019 THE OBSERVER

THE

OBSERVER

STAFF EDITORIAL

NEW DEAN, NEW SCHOOL

O

n April 29, the Office of the Provost announced in email that a new dean for Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) had been found: Dr. Laura Auricchio, third-generation Manhattanite and 17-year member of The New School. She has received a litany of grants and fellowships from a wide array of prestigious institutions and is active in a variety of sociocultural and scholarly organizations.

Auricchio comes to FCLC bringing many qualifications and much experience, but most importantly, she brings a new perspective.

Our campus has been plagued by divisive issues that have pitted an administration steeped in tradition against a student body that lives in a new world.

Controversies over housing for transgender students, g e n d e r- d i s c r i m i n a t o r y sign-in policies and estrictive attitudes towards free speech have poisoned the relationship between administrators and students.

This stands in marked contrast from Auricchio’s previous environment. The New School has condoms readily available in waiting rooms and residence halls, and sex positivity counseling is available upon

request. In addition, The New School has a very active chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, while Fordham is embroiled in a lawsuit over those simply trying to start a group of their own.

We are a campus on the verge of major changes, and we need a dean who will help lead us into the future.

Transgender and gender-nonconforming students have been forced to room with those who are of the same biological sex at Fordham, while The New School refuses to even use the term “co-ed” because it “reflects the assumption that there are two genders” and has instituted gender-inclusive housing on the basis that there can exist an infinite number of gender identities.

The contrast in social policies between Fordham and The New School is stark, and we can only hope that, in fulfilling her new role, Auricchio will bring some of her former community’s ethos with her.

Her affiliation with the PEN American Center, known for its liberal so-

cial policies and soft spot for transparency and free expression, is a promising indicator of her immediate priorities — hopefully more liberal than her predecessors and in marked contrast with some elements of Fordham’s past.

While we in the Fordham community must wait to see the direction Auricchio wants to steer FCLC in, we hope that the voices of students will be taken into account. We are a campus on the verge of major change, and we need a dean who will help lead us into the future. With her background in free speech issues and experience with bringing together disparate communities as vice provost, we are optimistic that Auricchio can be that dean.

The FCLC body awaits Fordham’s engagement in an open and honest discussion about the outdated rules that affect our daily lives. Hopefully, the selection of Auricchio as dean is a sign that the administration is ready to engage with the students who they have long ignored.

As the student voice of Fordham Lincoln Center, we have only one request: please do right by the FCLC community. Know who we are and where we’re going, and help get us there.

Editor-in-Chief Owen Roche Managing Editor Courtney Brogle Business Managers Alexios Avgerinos Kristian Koprivica Teymur Guliyev Online Editor Izzi Duprey Layout Editors Esmé Bleecker-Adams Steph Lawlor Asst. Layout Editors Defne Akiman Lara Foley News Editors Sophie Partridge-Hicks Gabe Samandi Asst. News Editor Gus Dupree Opinions Editors Grace Getman Evan Vollbrecht Asst. Opinions Editors Adriane Kong Nicole Perkins Arts & Culture Editor Gillian Russo Asst. Arts & Culture Editor Ethan Coughlin Features Editor Marielle Sarmiento Asst. Features Editor Roxanne Cubero Sports & Health Editors Luke Osborn Lena Weidenbruch Asst. Sports & Health Editors Aiza Bhuiyan Patrick Moquin Photo Editor Andrew Beecher Asst. Photo Editor Lena Rose Copy Editors Libby Lanza Jill Rice Melanie Riehl Fun & Games Editor Esmé Bleecker-Adams Social Media Managers Maca Leon Shamya Zindani Newsletter Editors Gillian Russo Shamya Zindani Multimedia Editor Zoey Liu Asst. Multimedia Editors Defne Akiman Caitlin Bury Retrospect Host Kevin Christopher Robles Retrospect Producer Alyssa Morales IT Manager EJ Ciriaco Visual Advisor Molly Bedford

SIGN UP FOR

OBSERVER

THE

NEWSLETTER VISIT TINYURL.COM/OBSERVERLC

Editorial Advisor Anthony Hazell PUBLIC NOTICE No part of The Observer may be reprinted or reproduced without the expressed written consent of The Observer board.

The Observer is published on alternate Thursdays during the academic year.

Printed by Five Star Printing Flushing, N.Y

To reach an editor by e-mail, visit www.fordhamobserver.com

POLICIES AND PROCEDURES • The Observer strives for fairness and integrity in all that it publishes.

Corrections may be issued when mistakes made in the publication of a story affect its accuracy. Retractions may be issued when these mistakes are so severe that they change the story entirely. In such a case, the editor-in-chief will make a final decision.

• Letters to the Editor should be typed and sent to The Observer, Fordham University, 140 West 62nd Street, Room G32, 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.

WWW.fordhamobserver.com

THE OBSERVER May 2, 2019

Opinions

7

Club Leader Revises the Meaning of “Cura Personalis” SOPHIE KOZUB

News Editor Emerita

I lay in my bed a week before the end of the Fall 2018 semester, and the shaking wouldn’t stop. My body was exhausted. It had been weeks since I had gotten a good night’s sleep. All I wanted to do was cry.

To say the least, I was burned out. I’d worn myself down in every possible way, playing a monthslong balancing act of activities and commitments. I felt like I had entered college already starting to fizzle. Now I was preparing to graduate not with fireworks, but only with the choking ash they leave behind.

Self-care — and in Fordham’s case, “cura personalis” — is a term that gets thrown around a lot, with varying degrees of seriousness and applicability. Trying to determine what self-care means often becomes a nebulous discussion.

But still, we often find ourselves trying to define it in exact terms.

At Fordham, we have some help in this endeavor from professors, friends and other resources available to us both during and after our time as students, such as Counseling and Psychological Services, the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Office of Career Services. But there’s one potential source of this guidance in self-care that tends to have an immense influence on our ability to see it through our time here: student leaders.

Back in March 2017, I wrote another op-ed for this newspaper discussing the low attendance rates plaguing student-run events, as well as what seemed like an overall decline in student engagement and involvement across campus. That continued to be the case for quite some time, as important clubs such as Black Student Alliance decided to take a hiatus in February 2018, while student organizations that attempted to reinforce student involvement on campus were met with repeated

LENA ROSE/THE OBSERVER

Senior Sophie Kozub, FCLC ’19, reflects on the true meaning of Fordham’s core values.

roadblocks in doing so.

And yet, over the past year, our campus has also witnessed the revitalization of student life.

Black Student Alliance is back, and much-needed clubs such as Students for Disability Awareness have been born. Fordham has hired a Chief Diversity Officer, and following years of student activism, has started to make the university a more welcoming environment for trans students.

Meanwhile, other clubs such as Rainbow Alliance and the students behind Monologue Q have worked to promote inclusivity on campus, while a reinvigorated Environmental Club is working to increase student involvement in one of the biggest issues of our time.

We — the presidents, vice presidents, treasurers, secretaries and editors of the university’s clubs — tend to be some of the most prominent individuals in our peers’ college experiences.

We plan the events, facilitate the meetings, set the deadlines and shape the extracurricular lives of

our peers in more ways than we can count. I did what I could to fulfill this purpose during my time at Fordham, during which I served as a news editor of this newspaper, an orientation coordinator and as satire liaison for Stove’s Comedy Club. In reflecting on the past few years, we should keep in mind that all of these positive changes were made possible because of the efforts of student leaders. That’s something of which we should always be proud.

The issue that we still need to work to overcome, however, is that student leaders are often the worst culprits of burning ourselves out.

In our drive to commit ourselves wholly to the leadership positions we have taken on, we often weather late nights, participate in executive board meetings that at times can be tense and spend our days fretting about submitting budget forms, reserving spaces for events and doing our best to show a strong and enthusiastic face at every meeting. However well-intentioned these efforts may

be, they often lead to us wearing ourselves out with intensity and efficiency.

I was possibly one of the worst perpetrators of this phenomenon. As a news editor during my sophomore and junior years, I wrote more stories than any other student journalist in the publication’s 35-plus-year history. I did my best to help The Observer through a time of upheaval, as we attempted to redefine ourselves in the wake of losing our academic ties to the university. I was most excited about being a part of this newspaper when I started as a freshman; I ended my term exhausted, without an ounce of energy to keep working in the club that had been the defining experience of my college career until that point.

Based on my experiences and interactions with the many student leaders I’ve had the privilege to know at Fordham, I’ve noticed that this kind of burnout tends to stem from us forgetting one of the ultimate purposes of our clubs: they’re supposed to give us enjoyment and

fulfillment. They are supposed to help us find that elusive “cura personalis.”

So how do we guarantee the well-being of others, the causes we care about and of ourselves?

Perhaps the answer lies in another question: what if we took a broader, more inclusive approach to the idea of “cura personalis?”

I have searched for the answer to that question since I entered Fordham four years ago. I looked to my peers, my professors and especially the leaders of the clubs I was involved in for wisdom, but no matter how much they gave me, I still felt like I was coming up short.

Finally, I found my answer. I started to achieve self-care when I realized that the key to “cura personalis” was not the same for every person. Rather, I discovered mine through an intensely personal experience, embracing a part of myself that I’d been denying for years.

A few days ago, I came out publicly as a trans woman. Since I began the coming out process a few months ago, I’ve felt a part of myself come back to life. And in doing so, I’ve felt the meaning of “cura personalis” reveal itself to me, piece by piece.

But being and caring for yourself is not easy. Caring for others is even harder.

When we consider all our responsibilities, we can see how hard it is to be an effective leader.

Full of demands and contradictions, holding leadership not just in title, but in deed, seems incredibly difficult.

In many ways, I wonder if I ever met all the expectations of what a leader should be, or if I ever will. However, if we don’t try to be the leaders we want, we will never know if we are up for the task. There’s plenty of work to be done, whether it’s leading your club for a year, fighting for inclusion on campus, bringing injustices to light or working for the world’s betterment by countering global, political issues.

There are more opportunities than we know to apply “cura personalis” in our lives, and each of them is a challenge of its own.

It’s Your Fault Fordham is Terrible OLIVIA BONENFANT Staff Writer

Ah, Fordham University: the recycling bin for Ivy rejects and NYU hopefuls clinging to their last chance to make it in the big city. Students moan about the day they’ll finally get their chance to transfer out of a school notorious for its total lack of spirit and ghosts of lost dreams wandering the halls.

Well, guess what? It’s your fault Fordham is terrible.

I went to a high school that everyone hated. The closest thing we had to school spirit was the spirited loathing every single student had for being there. Trashing the football team, complaining about the teachers and laughing about how unlucky we were to be at Ocean Township Public High School were the things that united us. Maybe I’m subconsciously seeking out something familiar, but I think I landed myself at a college that feels the exact same.

Back in the beautiful state of New Jersey, my county had something called the vocational school program — lucky, intelligent people could opt to take a speciality school’s exam, submit a college-esque application and be lifted right into a high school that

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY OLIVIA BONENFANT

catered to their specific interests, such as biology, medical science, engineering and communications, all at the IB level. Instead of being stuck in a basic public high school, those lucky few enjoyed a curriculum centered around a specific career path or talent and all the clout that came with it. These were the Ivys of Jersey Shore high schools, if you will.

I wanted to go to the vocational school for writers and artists.

I was not accepted. I was drafted into Ocean Township Public High School with the rest of us who weren’t quite good enough, and spent two years of my life debating if I had a chance to transfer and get out of the second-rate garbage can I was getting an “education” from instead. Every other high-achieving honors chaser in my class felt the same way.

We hated being at Ocean. We hated each other. Then, about

a month before graduation, we looked around and realized that we’d wasted our high school years wishing we were somewhere better, when we’d all had the ability to create that culture we craved all along. Who cared if we were in the Communications or MAST or Hi-Tech high schools? If we’d all been just that much luckier or smarter or friendlier with the review board, the people we were stuck with in cut-rate Ocean

would have been our classmates anyway. We rejects had even more in common with each other than our luckier peers, being the kind of people to put our hobbies before our homework once in a while.

Lesson learned.

Here is the difference between my underfunded high school and our tragically-mismanaged university. Complain all you want, but we’re all paying to be here.

Why in the world would you use that time to hate every second of your existence on this campus, instead of making it a place you want to be?

Yes, I know the campus’s attempts at underclassmen parties and dorm events are kind of cringe, bro. Yes, I know that “STRAIGHT OUTTA FORDHAM” hoodie in the window of our bookstore lurked like a dark spectre for a few months until someone thankfully took it down.

Some things we can’t change.

But you can stop talking about how badly you wanted to go to NYU. You don’t go to NYU. You don’t go to Columbia. Sorry to say, but nobody cares that you wanted to go and you didn’t get in.

A culture is determined by its people, my friends. We’re all rejects already. The least we can do is try not to reject each other.

8

Opinions

May 2, 2019 THE OBSERVER

WWW.fordhamobserver.com

@OverheardAtFordham Insta-Scammed “Power corrupts. Anonymous power corrupts anonymously.” - Me, a martyr ANDY VEGA Contributing Writer

Earlier this semester, I was greeted with a notification from Instagram: “@OverheardAtFordham started following you.”

As I do after reading anything on my phone, I smiled to myself, thought “Wow, what a great day to be alive” and followed them back.

The account’s premise is simple. They accept submissions of “Fordham quotes” overheard on campus and post them to their page for all to enjoy.

Currently, the account sits at 1,833 followers, a rather large percentage of Fordham’s student population. With that number of people listening, @OverheardAtFordham has influence. A content factory for the people, by the people. I decided to bring them down, one lie at a time.

With exclamatory joy, the account’s bio beckons the community to provide them with content: “DM your best overheard quotes to us!”

On March 27, I obliged. However, the quote I sent was not “overheard,” It was created. In my brain. I lied.

On April 1, they posted my quote. My writing was heard around the world: “She shat on the street? Yeah call me when something out of character happens.”

After accepting what I thought was an obvious fabrication, my confidence skyrocketed. A niche meme account posted a bad tweet I wrote on the Ram Van as truth? The possibilities were endless. I was confident the account would post any quote I submitted without question. They were hungry for content. Jesus famously said,

“For I was hungry and you gave me food,” so I gave them some food.

I submitted another fake quote on April 6. The next day, it was up.

The account did not ask whether I had actually overheard the words “This weather makes me wet.” The weather was dry, and no one has ever been aroused at Fordham. They did not care. I had to go further.

On April 13, they lied to the public again.

“I didn’t say you queefed.

I said you a queen” was captioned: “classic mistake amiright[.]”

No, you are wrong. This is not a classic mistake. This is classic fiction. @OverheardAtFordham is lying to you. Sure, it’s because I am lying to them, but how can we be sure that any of their content is true? For all we know, every quote on the page could have been submitted by non-Fordham students. Maybe Elon Musk submitted, “My son’s gonna be my b---- — because he’s going through some stuff.”

Maybe “I was so high there was only me, Juice WRLD, and the music. It was like the Holy Trinity” was submitted as viral marketing ploy by Tinder.

Maybe “When I die, roll up my ashes and smoke” was submitted

by Willie Nelson who famously sings, “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die.” Come on, we all took the same plagiarism/ integrity course freshman year. That took me one Google search. @OverheardAtFordham cannot be trusted.

Upon sliding into the account’s DMs, I experienced one-sided communication.

There was no fact-checking, no questioning, not even a thank you. In fact, I was left on read.

The Instagram account aggregates and posts false information without oversight or accountability. Their bio claims to have “No affiliations with Fordham University,” yet they shovel lies to a mostly Ram fanbase from an account with quotes that were “Overheard at Fordham.” So while they might not be officially affiliated with the school, they sure love to spread lies to its students.

Many have asked me: “Why are you doing this?”

Because I care. I care about Fordham. I care about this community. I care about the truth. @OverheardAtFordham’s content is fun. It builds community, but do we want our community to be built on a foundation of gossip and lies? No. We are better than this.

Fordham, we don’t need an anonymous Instagram to trash talk. Hold each other accountable. If someone says something funny, embarrassing or offensive, tell them to their face. Let’s be more hostile — in person, like a true family. Enough with anonymous quotes. No more subtweeting. Let’s @ each other, for God’s sake.

If you actually overheard someone say, “This weather makes me wet,” tell them that that can’t be true, and then punch them in the throat. If you hear someone say, “She shat on the street? Yeah call me when something out of character happens,” tell them about your experience soiling yourself. Don’t hold back. Be specific, and be loud.

Act like everything you overhear was meant for you, and together, we will become be a more honest and open campus. @OverheardAtFordham, I will continue to lie to you. Block me, and I will use friends’ accounts.

Unless you actually fact-check

APRIL 1

APRIL 6

APRIL 13

COURTESY OF @OVERHEARDATFORDHAM

and use your power for good, your page will continue to grow with lies. You cannot stop me.

You cannot stop us. We are a movement, and I am a hero.

Here’s a submission:

“Ugh — I just want @OverheardAtFordham to delete their account and give Andy Vega $500. Also, I am a hot babe.”

I swear someone said this in the dining hall.

Fixing America’s Public Education: A Complex Solution LEO BERNABEI Staff Writer

As I drive past my old middle school in Milford Square, Pa., I see the now-vacant edifice of what was once a full, bustling and sprawling home of eager and excited students. Today, however, all that remains is a deserted school with an overgrown lawn, some creeping vines and several boarded-up windows.

Public schools may not all be in physical decay, but my former middle school is symbolic of a larger problem with public education in the United States. Between an ever-tightening federal grasp over local authority, alongside the ballooning of a bureaucratic administration, it seems that we’re forgetting the most fundamental part of school: children.

We bog students down with meaningless exams, remove individuality from curricula and create a system that prizes success over creativity. However, the disastrous initiatives and programs that have warped the U.S. public school system into the jungle it is today warrant a complex solution: returning instructional discretion to states and school boards and eliminating administrative waste.

We must first return institutional discretion to states and localities as by any measure, recent federal education standards have been a disaster. Take the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002

SOPHIA LOUISE VIA FLICKR

Schools need to curb their dispraportionate spending practices.

(NCLB). Under threat of losing federal funding, all 50 states either revised or adopted standards to comply with federal law and began testing most students, ostensibly to ensure that proficiency benchmarks in math and language arts were met.

By measuring test results against ambiguous benchmarks that no schools have ever met, NCLB created a false narrative of “failure” in schools across the nation. In Massachusetts — generally considered to house some of the best schools in the country — 80% of public schools faced NCLB sanctions as a result of poor test scores.

Under this false narrative of failure, schools were forced to double down and use test scores

to evaluate teachers, leading the school day to become a monotonous monstrosity of test preparation.

Expanding upon the problems rained down from NCLB came the Common Core Initiatives, a federal incentive from 2010 that attempted to install a top-down approach on public education with the purpose of creating language arts and mathematics standards at the conclusion of each grade level.

These initiatives have been so destructive that they have earned the unique status of unifying criticism across the ideological spectrum, from the Tea Party to democratic socialists. The former dubbed these standards as “Obamacore,” while the latter have worried that the standards

are simply a front for corporate interests. Among others, teachers commented that they received “little to no training” in adopting this new rushed-in wave on standards. Others lament the loss of classic literature, replaced by modern lesser-known novels and biographies. In my own “world literature” course, never once did we pick up “Anna Karenina” or “Don Quixote;” instead we opted for “Things Fall Apart” and “Night,” two depressing avant-garde stories of genocidal regimes.

Furthermore, countless examples support the claim that more funding will not necessarily lead to higher educational outcomes for students. Take Washington, D.C., for instance. Our nation’s capital plays host to some of the highest-funded and worst-performing schools in the entire country. They spent an average of nearly $27,000 per student in 2014, more than $16,000 higher than the national average, and only a third of this money goes directly to instructional purposes.

Instead, as many think tanks have noted, most of this funding goes right over students’ heads and into an ever-growing administrative bureaucracy. Between 1950 and 2009, the number of public school administrative positions soared 702% while the student population increased just 96%.

In my home state of Pennsylvania, the student population grew 5% between 1997 and 2009, yet non-teaching staff grew 36% — and that wasn’t even the most

egregious example in the country.

The student population in the nation’s capital actually shrunk 15% during this period, but their administrative positions ballooned a whopping 42% over that time.

“For a classroom of 25 students in the United States, there would have been an extra $12,314, on average, to spend if public schools had not disproportionately hired non-teaching personnel,” the Friedman Foundation reports.

It boggles my mind that public schools don’t put every spare penny towards their students.

While my grievances of standardization and administrative growth are by no means exhaustive of the discourse of public education reform in the United States, I hope that they can serve as a type of guidepost to steer our nation in a direction that improves the quality of education for all of our children. Luckily, while these problems do require constant lobbying of state and governments for a complete fix, a lot of work can be accomplished at the local level to give schools a helping hand.

A year ago, I never would’ve thought I’d be running for my own school board, but I am doing just that today. Few, if any, of those regulating education have actually been educated in the mold of the current curriculum.

For any student looking to become involved in politics, local decisions often produce the greatest impact on American lives and school boards are a great body to serve the public.

WWW.fordhamobserver.com

THE OBSERVER May 2, 2019

Opinions

9

Measles Outbreak Spreads to Williamsburg AIZA BHUIYAN

Asst. Sports & Health Editor

On April 9, Mayor Bill De Blasio declared a public health emergency in Williamsburg due to the outbreak of measles. Since October, there have been 285 confirmed cases in New York City. De Blasio stated that any person who has not gotten the Measles-Mumps-Rubella (MMR) vaccine is prolonging the lifespan of the outbreak and ordered the immediate vaccination of anyone who resides, works or attends school in Williamsburg. The failure to comply with the order will result in a fine of up to $1,000.

He further stated that individuals who remain unvaccinated violate a New York City Health Code that forbids any person from committing acts that may endanger public health.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that nationally, there was an exponential spike in confirmed cases of measles over the past three years. In 2016 there were only 86 reported cases of measles, an extremely low number compared to the 626 cases were reported this year. Even this number is subject to change, since it is based on only the first four months of the year.

In 2000, the US reported that the measles virus was completely eradicated. However, communities nationwide have experienced mild to severe outbreaks since then. The CDC attributes these cases to unvaccinated travelers who brought the disease back from other countries experiencing the epidemic. Most recently, in 2018, the national outbreaks were traced back to 82 individuals belonging to Orthodox Jewish communities who brought the measles virus back from Israel.

Right now, unvaccinated members of these communities are most at risk to contract measles.

However, laying full blame of the Williamsburg outbreak on Orthodox Jewish communities can have severe consequences. Earlier this month, the Anti-Defamation

MATTHEW LOTZ VIA FLICKR

The recent outbreak has led New Yorkers to call for mandatory measles vaccinations citywide.

League urged people against this because people opposed to vaccines transcend members of Orthodox Jewish communities.

After De Blasio’s statement, an allegation appeared that a bus driver covered her face and said “measles” in a mocking manner as an Orthodox Jewish passenger proceeded onto the bus. This outbreak is serious, but it is not an excuse to engage in anti-Semitic behavior. In actuality, the reasons many Orthodox Jewish individuals choose not to vaccinate themselves or their children is shared by many non-Jewish persons as well.

The driving forces of this epidemic are people neglecting to get vaccinated and the misinformation being propagated through various means in their communities. “The Vaccine Safety Handbook” is just one source of false claims against vaccines, connecting vaccines to autism and aborted fetal tissue, contradicting the many reliable scientific studies that support the efficacy and safety of vaccines.

In 1998, Andrew Wakefield, M.D., published a study with twelve co-authors that claimed there was a link between the MMR vaccine and symptoms of autism in children. However, the study failed to provide evidence of the causal relationship between the MMR vaccination and displaying symptoms of autism.

Wakefield nevertheless went on to claim that there was a relationship between the MMR vaccine and autism. This immediately incited public concern that led to well-meaning but misinformed parents refusing vaccinations for their children.

Many studies were conducted after these claims were made, and none of them could confirm Wakefield’s findings. Instead, researchers lambasted Wakefield’s paper because they found that he falsified data and committed research fraud. Wakefield’s research was funded by lawyers who wanted to file lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers through parents who had children with autism.

Many of the co-authors retracted

their contribution to the paper and Wakefield lost his medical license. Despite the denunciation of Wakefield’s research, many parents still look to this study as a source to validate their anti-vaccine convictions.

A minority of people across all faiths are hesitant to receive vaccines because they believe vaccines are made from aborted fetal tissue. Many vaccines are made from fetal-derived cell lines that originate from cells obtained from two legal abortions in the 1960s. However, new sources of fetal cells are no longer required to make vaccines; these cell lines have replicated so many times over the course of six decades that they are very far removed from the original aborted fetal cells.

There is a general consensus among leaders in many major religious groups that the cells used in vaccines today do not transgress any religious doctrines because the vaccinations are not made from aborted fetal cells.

The National Catholic Bioethics Center has publicly supported

the use of vaccines and many prominent rabbis in the Orthodox Jewish community have declared that obtaining vaccines does not go against the Jewish religious scriptures. In fact, on April 5 many rabbis in Brooklyn gathered together to discuss whether or not they should mandate the vaccination of everyone who attends the synagogue or yeshiva.

Currently, many rabbis are working with New York City officials to increase public awareness regarding the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. However, despite support from religious authorities, many followers of various faiths still claim religious exemptions. Another daunting reality is that many states still grant citizens these moral exemptions against vaccines despite the rise of public health crises nationally. While we justify their decision to remain unvaccinated, their choice is endangering the lives of people around them.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared that this “Vaccine hesitancy” will be one of the top ten threats to global health in 2019. According to the WHO, this fear of vaccines has caused cases of measles alone to increase by 30% globally.

On April 22, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) released a public statement urging people to get vaccinated amid the national measles outbreak.

Peter Marks, M.D., Ph.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research emphasized the extensive scientific evidence that supports the safety and effectiveness of vaccines in combating the disease. One dose of the MMR vaccine is 93% effective in combating the virus, two doses are 97% effective.

Though only 14% of the individuals who contracted the measles virus in Williamsburg are over the age of 18, it is still beneficial for everyone to get vaccinated if they have not already.

Measles can affect anyone at any age, so it is entirely up to you to protect yourself and the people around you.

Prestige Is the Way Out KEVIN CHRISTOPHER ROBLES Retrospect Host

There’s been a lot of talk recently about how prestige is a losing game. It’s true that people shouldn’t let name or ranking define their lives, but there are reasons why schools are considered prestigious in the first place.

Dismissing prestigious institutes out of hand is foolish.

The Ivy Leagues might feel like Hogwarts or the Xavier School for Gifted Youngsters or some other such fantasy land. A lot of kids await the day when a flood of letters comes flying into their home telling them that, yes, they can go to that special place where they can escape the humdrum of their pedestrian life.

So, you have to imagine there’s a certain sense of thrill and hullabaloo to getting those college acceptance letters in the mail — not just because someone really, for sure, definitely wants to go to Yale, but because it’s a way out for them.

Sure, any college can be that, but it is the dream these institutions provide that can give them the motivation to escape.

After all, Hogwarts wouldn’t be as great to go to if Harry wasn’t escaping from a terrible and abusive home life.

I’m not saying that any other prestigious college is Hogwarts or even perfect. Far from it. Even Hogwarts has its own share of bullies, miscreants and dangers that might make one second guess going there.

It’s all a calculus of measuring what you want. For many, especially those with a lower economic standing, going to these schools represents the ultimate goal: a pathway to a better life.

Poor kids have it tough, especially if they’re also smart and talented. They’re often placed in environments where they can’t reach their full potential: failing school systems, inferior extracurriculars, dangerous neighborhoods, overworked parents and more. It’s unsurprising that many feel trapped. More often than not, where they’re born is not a place where they feel they belong. These kids can be outcast and excluded.

At prestigious institutes, you have to be intelligent (at least, if you’re not the child of a Hollywood star or millionaire perpetuating fraud in higher education) in order to get in. It stands to reason that the vast majority of the students at these schools would be reasonably smart and talented to the same or similar degree that our hypothetical poor kid is. To that effect, these schools can become a home, a safe space,

LUKE KITTERMAN VIA FLICKR

Big-name schools give low-income students a chance to succeed.

for those who grew up lacking stability. It’s cool to be smart at these places.

A sense of community and camaraderie is not the only reason someone should attend a prestigious institute of higher learning. Far from it, in fact.

Regardless of one’s performance

at these schools, graduates tend to have larger starting salaries and, generally speaking, make more money overall. It should be obvious, then, that anyone who goes to these institutions simply has a leg up financially over students from other colleges.

Students who come from low-

er-income families would benefit greatly from being exposed to an environment where they can succeed more fully than they ever have before.

And for those who can’t afford it? Many of these institutions have programs to help financially-disadvantaged students. Harvard and Yale, for instance, waive all tuition fees if your household makes less than $65,000 annually. Stanford even does the same thing for families making less than $120,000.

While these schools aren’t perfect, I believe that it’s never bad to want to go to them. Indeed, every parent wants to send their kid to Harvard or Princeton or some other prestigious school. Anyone who attends these schools gets an automatic prestige boost from the name recognition alone, which can never be discounted. “Harvard” looks better on a resume than some state school, after all.

The names of these schools matter because people believe that they matter. Going to these schools provides an incredible opportunity to attain social cache, make friends with the right people and network with groups or individuals with whom they might otherwise not be in the same room.

Prestige is far from a losing game. Indeed, prestige is the way out.

10

Opinions

May 2, 2019 THE OBSERVER

WWW.fordhamobserver.com

My Jesuit Values A Meditation on Residential Life, Service and Community KYLE J. KILKENNY

Staff Writer

The views expressed in this article do not reflect those of the Office of Residential Life, the Division of Student Affairs or Fordham University.

I have been a Resident Assistant (RA) for the past two years. When I applied to be an RA, I thought I knew what this job would look like — putting up bulletin boards, handing out free coffee and being on duty. But the biggest lesson I have learned as an RA is that our principle role is largely misunderstood.

RAs and Resident Freshmen Mentors (RFMs) are the most unique student leaders on campus, crafting educational programs and setting community standards.

Over the past several years, the Office of Residential Life (ORL) and their policies have been challenged, particularly guest and visitation guidelines and accommodations for transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) students.

Criticisms are commonly steeped in the rhetoric that Fordham perpetuates restrictions based on their so-called “Jesuit values.” These “values” presumably refer to tenets like “Cura Personalis,” “Magis” and “Men and Women For and With Others.” Oftentimes, I am unsure if my fellow students understand what Ignatian spirituality truly is, and how it has shaped the identity of this institution.

As a gay man and a practicing Catholic, I certainly do not require a lesson on the shortcomings

COURTESY OF SAMANTHA JUMPER

Kyle Kilkenny and other RAs seek to instill Jesuits values into the students in their charge.

of Catholicism, but I reject the assertion that Fordham and its administrators are unbothered by the sentiments of students. In fact, the ORL staff engages with the needs of students because of these Jesuit values, rather than in spite of them. Ignatian spirituality challenges folks to discern their values and to find what empowers them to initiate change. St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus, was deeply perturbed by injustice and inequity, and Fordham aims to empower leaders who believe in something greater than themselves. For some people it is God, for some it is joy and for some it is intersectional, unadulterated, equality — perhaps all three.

With this in mind, I sent written interview requests to all RAs

and RFMs, asking them how they believe ORL can best serve historically disadvantaged communities on and off campus.

Audrey Fenter, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’19, wrote, “As a Queer RA with non-traditional gender expression, I have deep investment in my residents’ safety, comfortability and inclusion. In my position, I am out and proud.” Fenter continued, “know your resources are there,” citing the Office of Multicultural Affairs, Campus Ministry, Counseling and Psychological Services, faculty and Public Safety.

Fenter wrote, “The people who run these offices are individually empowered to help our TGNC, POC [people of color], disabled and queer students,” and, “I urge

you to talk through your grievances directly with these individuals, rather than focus on policy.”

Eleanor Frechette, FCLC ’19, wrote, “For me, continuously being an active listener and always working in partnership with your residents to amplify their voices is essential. We’re all on a team, and residents are a central part to that.

When we don’t know the answers, we ask, [we] have conversations, we work together.” Frechette continued, “Using privilege to amplify other voices, not to speak on behalf of others, is how I want my community to run.”

There are also several initiatives spearheaded by ORL to educate students on social justice issues. ORL’s Committee on Action and Learning (COAL) provides

a space where staff can develop programs surrounding inequity in today’s world. This year, COAL hosted programs like Pizza for Holiday Cheer, a fundraiser to buy presents for children of incarcerated folks, and Criminal Justice: Criminally Unjust?, an expert panel on serving local immigrant and incarcerated communities.

In addition, next fall, freshmen who took part in a separate application process will live in one of Lincoln Center’s first Integrated Learning Communities, titled “Rams in Action.” This program will immerse students in local community projects assisting struggling New Yorkers, teaching residents to be good neighbors both inside and outside of the residence hall.

As evidenced by these initiatives, the aim of ORL is not to police communities, but rather break bread with them and act as an access point to other resources on campus. Therefore, I encourage students who seek to amend existing policies to be understanding of the slow process of bureaucratic change. Individuals who work at Fordham want to hear from students, and constructive conversation is the first step in bettering the entire university. It may take a minute, but it is possible.

That said, four years is a short time. So, get involved, become a student leader and occupy spaces where you can amplify your voice and those of your peers. Let us relish in being bothered, seek ways to build bridges to our larger community and transform Fordham into a place better than when we found it.

Those are my Jesuit values.

Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence: Appropriate or Appropriation?

ROSE O’NEILL Contributing Writer

In McMahon 109 on April 9, 2019, Melissa Wilcox gave a presentation about the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, a group of gay activists who dress in the fashion of Roman Catholic nuns.

The author of “Queer Nuns: Religion, Activism, and Serious Parody,” Wilcox portrayed the organization in a positive light — a light that it fails to merit.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence often parody sacred religious rituals in an offensive manner. Examples include their “Our Bother” prayer and their “Condom Savior Communion,” which makes fun of the Catholic Mass while distributing something of which the Church strongly disapproves. Additionally, they sexualize religious figures with their annual “Hunky Jesus” and “Foxy Mary” contests.

A slogan at the bottom of the Sisters’ webpage reads, “Go forth and sin some more,” the very opposite of what Christianity endorses.

As a practicing Catholic, I find the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence’s parody upsetting. In the interest of the freedom of speech, I maintain the right of this order to exist, but having the right to do something is not the same thing as being right in doing so.

During the Q&A section of Wilcox’s presentation, I asked her if this group’s actions were classified as appropriation and, if not, why not. Wilcox answered that when using terms like “appropriation,” it’s important to look at the power dynamics — in this

JOE MABEL VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

The drag group toes the line between respectfully parodying and disrespecting the Catholic Church.

case, the dynamic between the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and the Catholic Church. In her view, the actions of the order are excusable because they borrow language and traditions from a powerful group rather than a marginalized minority.

She added that their actions could be seen as emulation, not appropriation. To clarify, I then asked if “emulating” a powerful group is not a form of appropriation, or if it is just a form of appropriation that is not problematic.

Wilcox cautioned that she

could not speak for the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence or the Catholic Church, but said that “appropriation” was perhaps not the best term to use. She did indicate that, because this “emulation” was of a more powerful group, it was less problematic than other examples of appropriation we might envision.

While I do agree that it is less problematic to appropriate a powerful group than a powerless one, I do not think that the power dynamic excuses the actions of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.

An analogy might be helpful: a strong 18-year-old punching a weaker 6-year-old would be in the wrong. If a weak 6-yearold were to punch a stronger 18-year-old, he might cause less damage than when the situation is reversed. Nevertheless, the fact that the 18-year-old is stronger than the 6-year-old does not justify the 6-year-old’s actions.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence wear Catholic nun habits and parody sacred religious rituals. They are, by definition, appropriating Catholic culture, unless one stipulates that for an

action to qualify as appropriation, the appropriator must be in a less powerful position than the one appropriated. Then, a much longer conversation must be had about how to calculate power dynamics and relative agency.

One can argue over whether this appropriation is a bad thing, but, good or bad, it is happening within this organization.

In response, I have heard members and supporters of this organization say that the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence are sometimes supported by Roman Catholic nuns. However, nuns are not official mouthpieces for the Church, and some actually hold opinions contrary to Church doctrine.

The majority of practicing Catholics and Church officials neither appreciate nor approve of this organization’s “emulation” of Catholic vocabulary, imagery and rituals. Archbishop George Niederauer stated, “The manner of dress and public comportment of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence is deeply offensive,” and acknowledged that involvement with the organization is objectionable enough to preclude one from being able to receive Catholic Communion.

The appropriation of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence crosses a line. Rather than offering a helpful and productive critique of Catholicism, the organization celebrates mean-spirited sacrilegious mockery of the religion. When a group like this focuses more on insulting Catholicism than on having a constructive dialogue, it loses credibility and detracts from whatever positive impact it could have.

The Rubberneck

THE OBSERVER May 2, 2019

Opinions

This Was the Worst Spirit Week Ever OWEN ROCHE Editor-in-Chief

I realized something was up when I saw all of those people walking around with plus signs on their foreheads.

Fordham Lincoln Center isn’t a place renowned for its commitment to school spirit. Students walking around in maroon — even more rarely, emblazoned with the university moniker — raise eyebrows among the rest of us without fail.

Our halls are green, our welcome center pioneers hospital-chic and it’s rumored the school store still has an unsold pennant from the ’80s.

When I saw a McMahon bulletin board advertising an upcoming spirit week, I thought things would be different this time. Each day promised new events. It was the culmination of a whole month of “giving it up” for something, apparently. I thought maybe, just maybe, the Jesuits had something fun in store for us.

Boy, was I wrong.

The week started out with what I assumed was a plant giveaway, like the bamboo they sometimes give away during events on the plaza. One thing led to another, and I’m pretty sure I ended up calling for the death of the Son of Man. At least, that’s what everyone around me reading from those books in the

pews was doing. In between shouts of “Crucify him!” I tried to find out if the palms they gave us were re-plantable, to no avail.

I hoped the following days would improve on what was, admittedly, a slow start for Fordham.

Monday and Tuesday, however, no one really had a good idea of what was going on. I could have sworn I heard that Jesus did something with a dead guy, but I must have missed that event. John and Mark, who I assumed were coordinating this whole thing, were nowhere to be found.

I wondered if “The Cleansing of the Temple (21:12 - 21:17)” would even show up on OrgSync.

“Spy Wednesday” (or was it Holy Wednesday?) conjured thoughts of James Bond movie marathons in South Lounge. Suffice it to say, my disappointment after a day of betrayal to high priests and leprosy was palpable.

I was curious to find out the meaning of “Maundy” as Thursday rolled around, but after they told me to take my socks and shoes off to get my feet washed, I got weirded out and left.

They advertised the dinner that night as “the supper to end all suppers,” but honestly, it was lacking. The line was so long to get food, and I’m not entirely sure what we got was anything better than the Community Dining Hall could provide. When someone told

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY ESMÉ BLEECKER-ADAMS

me I was drinking blood and eating flesh, that was enough to send me home early. Not a single free shirt, key chain or Snapchat filter were to be had anywhere.

Good Friday wasn’t even good at all. I heard Jesus died or something. Not a great look, Catholics.

The weekend went from bad to worse as I was made aware that the Lamb of God was still dead.

Asking around about when or if he’d be back (as I’d heard rumors) were only met with knowing smiles and “No spoilers!”

It was frustrating, but even more infuriating after all mentions of rolling stones turned out to be completely unrelated to a surprise concert.

The conclusion of a wholly strange and utterly unorthodox spirit week was yet another left turn. After a week of foot washing, leprosy and not a single giveaway, the school was littered with plastic eggs and rabbit imagery. I had eaten human flesh, called for the death of an innocent man and there wasn’t even a commemorative mug at the end of it all. At the culmination of Fordham’s strangest spirit week yet, I was as lost as I was when I first laid eyes on that bulletin board.

Then, like it all wasn’t overwhelming enough, someone told me Jesus was back again.

Honestly, I would’ve appreciated a warning.

Students Should Rejoice for New McKeon Floor Griddles NICOLE PERKINS Asst. Opinions Editor

This spring, poor Fordham freshmen have found themselves in a sauna every time they set foot in their dorm rooms. The sun has decided to “go off” and turn up to full brightness as it shines into McKeon Hall, ratcheting the temperature up and creating a veritable indoor heatwave in the rooms of the delicate little freshmen.

Being one of these fragile sunflowers myself, I have tried everything to cool down the room when it’s sunny outside. I have closed the blinds. I have opened the windows. I have bought numerous industrial-grade fans. My roommate said no to covering the floor in ice, but when she went home for the weekend, I decided I would do it anyway.

If it paid off, I would be a hero. Alas, it did not. Within seconds, I was standing in a pond four feet deep. I had flooded the hallway and brought intense shame upon my family.

Even worse, I had wasted $40 on ice.

This was why I was overjoyed to learn that Fordham would finally be permitting the use of the floor as a cooking griddle.

Yes, we had to lose the oven in the kitchen on Floor 22. President Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., spontaneously decided we needed more monogrammed cups and needed to find money in the budget. But in return for this noble sacrifice, Fordham will be equipping every student with a spatula, a personalized chef’s apron and a complimentary floor cleaning kit. No longer would the heat box I call my dorm serve a needless purpose. I can fry so many eggs.

GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY LARA FOLEY

Do I eat eggs? No, I find them disgusting. But I will cook so many anyway.

Some students may protest.

“The floor is dirty,” they say.

“I’m not going to cook where I walk,” they state. “Stop trying to quote me in your article,” they yell. I respect those concerns. That was me before Fordham gave us complimentary cleaning kits. Finally, my tuition bill makes sense. With a small

mop and a tiny broom, the floor can quickly and easily be fully sanitized.

The floor griddle solves so many problems in the dorm.

The fact that air conditioning has not been on the entire winter even when students’ rooms continue to climb in temperature is in fact a blessing. Sure, the dorm may be stifling, even when you open all your windows and beg your fan to work

as hard as it can. But it is a gift in disguise as we come to the end of the school year. No more trekking up to the kitchen or waiting to use it when you want to bake cookies; the floor is at your disposal.

So many deodorant sticks, sweat-ridden shirts and high-power fans have been lost in the battle to cool down the dorm rooms in the heat. Many hours have been wasted trying

to do work in a fruitless pursuit against the relentless beam of the sun. Now, brave warriors, it is worth something. All that has been lost has not been for nothing. Sitting in an 84-degree Fahrenheit room may be a losing battle, but finally being allowed to use the scorching floor as a griddle is a war we should be proud to have won. The heat is useless no longer.

How do you like your eggs?

12

Features

May 2, 2019 THE OBSERVER

WWW.fordhamobserver.com

Anticipting a chaotic Spring Weekend, The Observer sent one senior to attend the day concert and asked him to record all of his th This is the transcription of his experience.

SPRING WE

COURTESY OF DAN NASTA AND ROXANNE CUBERO

By JEFFREY UMBRELL Features Editor Emeritus

i’m currently riding uptown on the d train with some of my friends and roommates en route to rose hill for spring weekend i’m not sure what to expect after both soulja boy and sean kingston were cancelled sean kingston was so last minute too they cancelled him just a few days ago and i’m not sure if they’re just planning on having bryce vine and whethan fill his slot or if they’ve found someone else

Pictured above, Bryce Vine stands on speakers to look out over a a sea of Fordham students.

i saw “avengers: endgame” last night the movie started at 11:30 and i was anticipating it being two hours long and i’d be home by 1:30 but no, there were 30 minutes of previews and then the movie itself was close to three hours so i went to bed a little later than expected around 3 or 3:30 a.m then i had to wake up early for spring weekend so I’m running on short sleep for this concert at the fordham road subway station we normally get off at the exit right outside the “best italian pizza” shop but today we exited from a different place near a deli so we’re a little disoriented luckily one of my roommates usually lives at rose hill during the summer so he knew where to go i think most lincoln center students travel to rose hill on the ram van for spring weekend but we’ve always taken the subway

Students ‘mosh’ to the second act of the concert, dancing to the music of DJ Whethan.

we just got to the rose hill campus and my first impression is that the grass looks really luscious and green like it’s just been replanted it looks like it’s ready for graduation in a few weeks’ time passing through the entrance tent on martyrs’ lawn, the crowd is shockingly small, there’s a crowd of approximately 100 students huddled around the main stage and the band is playing cover songs including “old town road” and “psycho killer” by the talking heads maybe it’ll get more crowded as the afternoon progresses spring weekend is certainly known for its food

and this year they have seemingly the same selection from last year it’s a cookout-themed menu and there’s coleslaw mac and cheese potatoes sausages and peppers hot dogs and grilled chicken the lines this year are much shorter than last year i remember waiting for what felt like at least 30 minutes last year but today there’s no line at all they’re now setting up for the next group and there are more and more students flowing in the crowd in front of the stage has at least doubled in size and the back of the lawn is filling up with students the next act is about to come on he may or may not be bryce vine no one’s really sure people are saying it’s probably him but they’re looking him up on their phones to see what he looks like update it is bryce vine currently performing people are saying he looks like a “discount bruno mars” i can kind of see it he’s wearing a blue button-down shirt and sunglasses a bunch of students who live in the martyrs’ court dormitories have opened their windows so they can hear the sounds of spring weekend from the comfort of their own homes apparently there is a rather strict swearing restriction imposed on spring weekend performers bryce vine keeps censoring himself and every time he does he points it out and/or laughs bryce vine just called spring weekend “the most lit day party i’ve ever seen for a group of sober people” i’m not sure exactly how many students here are actually sober but it’s good that bryce likes the crowd somebody in the crowd threw bryce a nip of fireball whiskey and he responded by noting that spring weekend is an alcohol-free event “it’s not very godly to have alcohol on you,”

WWW.fordhamobserver.com

THE OBSERVER May 2, 2019

Features

13

houghts into a voice memo.

EEKEND he said one student in the crowd just took his shirt off and now all of his friends are slapping him on the torso area, both chest and back it seemed to be in jest but they were slapping him fairly hard he ran away in what looked like fear, cowered off and then put his shirt back on you can tell bryce vine really wants to crowd surf he’s standing up right on the edge of the stage with his foot on the barrier that separates the stage from the crowd i wouldn’t be surprised if he crowd surfs at some point in the afternoon bryce didn’t end up crowd surfing but during his last song one student did “crowd surf” is a relative term as he didn’t really move that much some of his friends just hoisted him up and then he hovered there for a little while like a piece of driftwood, a heavy piece of driftwood it’s actually cooled off considerably the sun has gone behind the clouds and the temperature seems to have dropped students sitting in the rear of martyrs’ lawn are actually using their picnic blankets now as actual blankets to keep warm the area around the food tables has been completely ravaged there are small liquor bottles, whole chocolate chip cookies and entire chicken breasts littered all over the ground the chicken has been subsequently stomped over by countless students and currently also looks like pieces of wood in between bryce vine and whethan’s sets the crowd is getting rather rowdy there’s lots of pushing and shoving and i can see people drinking either from flasks or nips and smoking both pot and cigarettes one student looks like she got hit or kicked in the face she came out of the crowd holding what appeared to be her nose and looked like she was in a considerable amount of pain some of her friends came over to help her with concerned looks on their faces and they walked away towards the bathroom area

Stream of Consciousness

whethan has actually garnered quite a crowd students have gotten so rowdy that public safety officers are now walking through the crowd to break up pushing and shoving and to prevents students from crowd surfing the same group of students who were slapping each other earlier are currently wrestling one has another’s arm in a lock and was trying to pull him to the ground he was unsuccessful and now they’re kicking and trying to tackle each other one student has someone in a chokehold it’s now 3 p.m. when we first arrived there couldn’t have been more than 100 people in front of the stage and now students stretch all the way back to the sound engineer’s tent in the rear of the lawn security is still tight it’s now 3:30 p.m. and whethan is still playing there is however a steady stream of students exiting martyrs’ lawn one student is limping down the path that leads to the exit she must have fallen or injured her foot in the mosh pit the crowd at this time has a noticeably lower energy level there’s not as much jumping not as many hands in the air and not as much crowd surfing you can tell people are starting to get fatigued whethan asks where the after party was going to be and told the crowd to “hit him up on instagram” to tell him after whethan’s nearly hour-long set was over i caught one of the t-shirts that spring weekend staff members were throwing into the crowd on the front the shirt said “sw19” on the back an illustration of a pink keating hall in front of a blue new york city skyline

Students hopped up on some of their friend’s shoulders to snap pictures of Bryce Vine.

Arts & Culture

Arts & Culture Editor Gillian Russo - grusso12@fordham.edu May 2, 2019

THE OBSERVER

Camp, But Make It College

College budget-friendly takes on this year’s extravagant Met Gala theme PEARL POX

By ROXANNE CUBERO AND MARINA VERGARA Asst. Features Editor and Staff Writer

It’s not outdoorsy couture, but it’s difficult to define what it is.

Camp is this year’s Met Gala theme, based on Susan Sontag’s 1964 essay, “Notes on ‘Camp.’” Andrew Bolton, head curator of the Costume Institute, chose camp because it “has become increasingly more mainstream in its pluralities — political camp, queer camp, pop camp, the conflation of high and low, the idea that there is no such thing as originality.”

In her essay, Sontag defines camp as “the love of the unnatural: of artifice and exaggeration.” She has found camp in Tiffany lamps, Aubrey Beardsley drawings, the ballet “Swan Lake” and Cuban pop singer La Lupe, among other things.

We’re still scratching our heads figuring out what exactly ties these things together.

Camp fashion is easier described than done. With abundant resources, Met Gala attendees have no excuse to ignore the theme. Yet some celebrities disregard the theme of fashion’s most exclusive costume party.

We created looks that we’d wear on the red carpet on a college student’s budget.

In creating these looks, we got a better grasp on camp. But even Sontag will admit that the camp canon can change and that it’s always evolving. For a better understanding, keep up with the Met Gala red carpet on May and visit the exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from May 9 to Sept. 8.

This look combines two quintessential aspects of the camp canon: unconventional silhouettes and excess. This dress that I thrifted is certainly vintage, yet I can’t place it. I’m reminded of Queen Victoria’s wedding dress, Civil War-era dresses, off-the-shoulder dresses from the 1970’s and Kitri’s Act III costume from the ballet “Don Quixote.” This dress seems to transcend time, which certainly qualifies it as camp. It’s paired with an obscene amount of pearl hair clips (courtesy of Amazon, CVS and Bed Bath & Beyond) and pearls on my face and body. In the camp canon, excess simply isn’t enough. >2 CHAINZ I wanted to take an outfit I would wear on the daily and make it camp. So I took one of my favorite trends, the “chains on chains” look, to the extreme. Camp, after all, is extreme. It likes to live outside the box. Outside of my box was accessorizing vinyl pants and a simple cropped tank, a quintessential I.AM.GIA “Insta-baddie” look with 14 yards of chain wrapped around my body, face and neck. Camp takes trends and amplifies them.

NOT UR BABY I combined the confrontational dresses of Viktor & Rolf’s Spring 2019 Couture Collection and the whimsical accessories of Rodarte’s Fall 2019 Ready-to-Wear (RTW) Collection. I spelled out “NOT UR BABY” onto a dress I thrifted for less than $20. It’s a literal fashion statement. Recall that camp is style at the expense of content. This statement has no meaning without context; it’s up to the readers to come to their own conclusions.

I layered black trousers to undermine the femininity of the gray chiffon muumuu. Lastly, I piled a fake bouquet of lavender in my hair to add to the meaningless statement of an outfit.

BLOOD AND BOWS Why have bows on your tights? Camp would retort, why not? This is another reference to Rodarte’s Fall 2019 RTW Collection, which was saturated with frills and bows adorning heads, legs and everything in between. This Salvation Army dress is layered over a white button-up shirt, poking at the arbitrary line that separates masculinity and femininity. Lastly, avant-garde makeup is topped with a tiara in a nod to 2015 Yves Saint Laurent courtesy of Bed Bath & Beyond, because why not?

REBEL WEDNESDAY I wanted to channel the spirit of Wednesday Addams with the spunk of Alexander McQueen, topped with my own tribute to camp’s eccentric flair. The dress-and-corset silhouette was inspired by a look featured in Alexander McQueen’s Resort 2019 Collection shown in London. Since a designer look isn’t exactly in the ordinary college student’s budget, I opted for pieces I bought at thrift and second-hand stores. I also accessorized with not just one or two clips, but a helmet of them, and made a statement on my face with stickers, because why not? Going beyond the ordinary is what camp is all about.

BUBBLEGUM BRIDE Gucci is sponsoring this year’s Met Gala, so it was fitting that at least one of the looks would be inspired by the eccentric fashion house. In their Fall 2019 RTW Collection, models cried synthetic tears, nodding to Our Lady of Sorrows. I recreated this look with a hot glue gun, pink paint and eyelash glue. This was paired with an oversized flower crown, veil and bouquet, all in pink to further emphasize the holy Molly Ringwald, Mother of God, vibe. One of my favorite quirks of the camp canon is its tendency to flirt with historical silhouettes. The skirt of the vintage dress worn in this look was falling apart when I bought it, so I cut off portions of it, giving the classic ’50s silhouette a quirky update.

BEETLEJUICE Camp loves nodding toward pop culture. I followed suit by styling a Beetlejuice-inspired, black-and-white striped pantsuit with red accent pieces. I furthered the reference to this classic ’80s film by styling my bangs like those worn by Winona Ryder’s character Lydia. Then, to up the creep factor, I stuck googly eyes all over my face to complete the horror-chic aesthetic. Camp is weird, camp is unearthly, camp is cool.

ROXANNE CUBERO AND MARINA VERGARA/THE OBSERVER

WOMXN Fashion isn’t confined to gender binaries, and neither is camp. In this look I wanted to play with the juxtaposition of masculinity and femininity by pairing an oversized blazer with a tulle skirt — each piece a staple of one side of the gender binary — and then accessorizing with androgynous makeup and hair. My features are bare aside from the black lines tracing patterns on my face. Camp is androgynous; it cannot be confined to a dichotomy, to “this” or “that,” just as this look is not clearly masculine or feminine. It is a bit of everything and everyone.

WWW.fordhamobserver.com

THE OBSERVER May 2, 2019

Arts

15

Movie Fest Spotlights Fordham Filmmakers

By GILLIAN RUSSO Arts & Culture Editor

Rose Hill’s McGinley Ballroom was packed full of students on April 24. Student filmmakers, actors and friends gathered to walk the red carpet and view their peers’ work at this year’s Campus Movie Fest (CMF), organized in conjunction with the Campus Activities Board as part of its Spring Weekend programming.

Since its inception more than 15 years ago, CMF has become the largest student film festival in the world. Students from universities all across the United States are given filmmaking equipment and one week to shoot and edit a five-minute movie.

An anonymous panel of students, faculty and staff judges the submissions on technical proficiency, content and overall quality, and the best films are shown at CMF. Between the two campuses, 60 films were submitted this year.

16 were chosen for screening at the event.

One of these films was “Elijah,” written and directed by Cole Wagner and Dan Tuozzoli, Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) ’19.

Tommy Cunningham, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’21 and the president of Fordham’s Filmmaking Club, served as photography director. Their film’s protagonist is a scam artist who sells items he falsely claims have been used by celebrities. When the buyer of “Elijah Wood’s” half-eaten pizza slice uses the item in a vicious voodoo ritual, the scammer himself ends up becoming the victim of otherworldly torment.

“I always really wanted to make a movie with a pentagram to be shown at a Catholic university,” Wagner quipped, on how he conceived the idea for the plot. “It was something that has been on my bucket list.”

Because the allotted filmmaking time was so short and the creators had already conceived of the film’s premise prior to the festival, advance development was crucial to their process.

“We already had the script, and all the props and costumes were laid out within the first day of Campus Movie Fest,” said Wagner. “We spent two days shooting so that we could have the whole last four days editing, which we used to the maximum, and we also had someone do the music for us ahead of time.”

Not all the filmmakers took as much time for prior planning. Director Gill Kwok, editor Shannie Rao and cinematographer Caitlin Bury, FCLC ’22, did not use the full week to develop their film, “Simple Thing.”

JOE ROVEGNO/THE OBSERVER

Students from both Fordham campuses competed to have their films screened at this year’s Campus Movie Fest.

Students from universities all across the United States are given filmmaking equipment and one week to shoot and edit a five-minute movie.

“We made it in about a day and a half, actually, from the time when we came up with the idea to the time that we finished editing,” Rao said.

“Simple Thing” follows two friends as they work to keep in touch across a long distance. The story has special significance to the creators, as they met through their common love of filmmaking.

CMF gave them the opportunity to create their first project together.

“I think we also want to work on something that hopefully isn’t under such time constraints, and that we can spend a little more time on and put our heart and soul into,” said Kwok. “But sometimes it’s fun when you have con-

straints because that brings out some creativity that otherwise wouldn’t have been sparked.”

“It’s a film about friendship,” she added, “and I don’t think we did it on purpose, but we have all really enjoyed each other’s friendship throughout this year and it ended up kind of being a symbol of how our friendship has grown.”

The filmmaking process of Daejah Woolery and Cathleen Freedman, FCLC ’22, had a similar basis in friendship. Their group of seven freshmen submitted four films to CMF. The last one was created entirely on the submission date. The group hosted an Instagram “fan competition,” saying they would undertake this fourth project if their behind-the-scenes post got enough likes.

All four films were entered in the Women in Film category, which highlights movies that have creative teams with female majorities. Their films were not chosen for screening this year, but they were glad to have created female-led projects. “[It] was really cool to have that majority that you don’t really see in the film industry — we narrowly got it in ours,” said Woolery.

“All four were female-led, and ac-

JOE ROVEGNO/THE OBSERVER

The filmmakers and their friends filled the McGinley Ballroom, anxious to see whose films were chosen for the festival.

tually [in] all four, the story idea came from a woman.”

In the event’s culminating awards presentation, the biggest winner of the night was “Neil’s Water Review.” Neil Khilwani, FCRH ’22, created and starred in the film in which he tests various water fountains on the Rose Hill campus. His film was the only submission to receive two awards: the Audience Award and one of four Jury Awards.

“I’m pretty excited,” said Kh-

ilwani after the announcement.

“We all worked really hard, we were editing for hours, we took two days of filming and we just had a lot of fun. We weren’t concerned about the outcome because we just had a lot of fun doing it.”

“Water Review” and the other Jury Award winners will go to CMF’s national film festival, Terminus, and potentially be included in the Cannes Film Festival.

All Fordham submissions can be found on the CMF website.

One Exhibit to Rule Them All

By MACA LEON Social Media Editor

“It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

— J.R.R. Tolkien, “The Lord of the Rings” As I enter The Morgan Library & Museum on a brisk Thursday morning, I’m swept into a world that I’ve only ever read about.

Wizards in tall pointed hats tower above me and elves in elegant white dresses shuffle past me. Sadly, I forgot my own sting at home.

Still, we are all here to experience the magical world of J.R.R. Tolkien through the exhibit “Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth.”

After a grueing 30-minute wait

consisting of three granola bars and a dull conversation with a red-haired elf, I’m finally directed towards a hobbit-shaped entrance.

As I walk under it, I’m greeted by a bright green wall displaying an exquisite watercolor painting of The Shire that was so inspired, had I not been paying attention, I would have believed I was walking into the home of Bilbo Baggins himself.

Additionally, Tolkien family memorabilia such as letters and photographs are displayed alongside original illustrations, maps and designs for “The Hobbit,” “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Similarillon.” Each illustration was more magnificent than the next, but my favorite was one of Smaug the dragon from “The Hobbit.” In it, a bright orange Smaug hoards away a stash of glistening gold

coins while thick billowing smoke comes out of his nostrils.

With the use of some simple writings and props, the exhibit creates an immersive and enjoyable view into the whimsical world of Tolkien — so much so that people wait in line for hours and dress up in elaborate costumes.

It was such an enjoyable experience, and I’m willing to bet a hearty slice of honey cake that even the most glum of museumgoers will walk out of it with a love for Tolkien’s fantasy worlds.

“Tolkien: Maker of Middleearth” is open through May 12 at the Morgan Library, 225 Madison Ave. Fordham students can get there by taking the D train to 34th Street - Herald Square.

Admission is $13 with a valid student ID.

KAMBO DSCHA VIA FLICKR

The Morgan was transformed into Middle Earth for its Tolkien exhibit.

16

Arts

May 2, 2019 THE OBSERVER

WWW.fordhamobserver.com

Harry Potter Couture Spellbinding spring looks to transfigure your closet

By GILLIAN RUSSO Arts & Culture Editor

The winter cold spell has ended.

Deep freezes have transfigured into spring breezes. It’s time to trade in your hot butterbeers for frozen ones, study your psychology or spell-casting on the Outdoor Plaza — and break out your warm-weather wardrobe to do it.

Representing one’s house is a yearround pursuit for the passionate Potter fan, yet even the non-Potterhead can find fashion inspiration in the Hogwarts houses. These modern takes on the houses’ styles reflect characteristics — creativity, sophistication, adventurousness, joy — that anyone could express in the way they dress.

GRyffindoR

The adventurous spirit of Gryffindors translates into a willingness to make bold fashion choices, like layering dresses. The asymmetrical buttoning of the denim dress is eye-catching in itself, and the polka dot dress adds a bold splash of Gryffindor red — the contemporary equivalent of a wizard robe. Pairing the outfit with sneakers and socks (with the house’s emblem on them, of course) makes it casual enough for everyday use and keeps the wearer comfortable as they explore the city or the castle.

Hufflepuff

Hufflepuffs can shine as bright as the summer sun by wearing pops of their signature yellow on a shirt, hat and bag.

The boho style of this outfit points to the fun and carefree nature of the house’s members.

Plus, there’s no better homage to Hufflepuffs’ penchant for Herbology than sporting some plants, like cacti, right on their sleeve.

ZOEY LIU/THE OBSERVER

SlytHeRin

Ever sharply dressed and put together, the Slytherin student takes on the warm weather in something sophisticated and stylish, like a sleek jumpsuit. The versatile piece can be paired with a blazer and heels when its wearer attends an internship or a networking gala. Otherwise, a shawl and statement snakeskin flats maintain a distinctive yet casual look for when the Slytherin takes a break from chasing their ambitions to simply relax and enjoy the season.

R avenclaw

Ravenclaws are wise, and they know there’s no spell to replace sun protection. The solution? A sky-blue sunhat, which also serves as a modern substitute for the classic wizard hat. Various shades of Ravenclaw blue tie this smart outfit together from head to toe.

Fordham Professor Awarded Guggenheim Fellowship

By GILLIAN RUSSO Arts & Culture Editor

Everything’s coming up Joneses for the head of Fordham’s playwriting program.

Daniel Alexander Jones, an associate professor in the theatre department, was recently awarded a 2019 Guggenheim fellowship. It is the latest of many awards he has received over the years, including a Doris Duke Artist Award and a USA Artists Fellowship.

He said he felt “an overwhelming sense of gratitude” when he first learned he had received the prestigious fellowship.

“It is a recognition of the work I’ve been doing over the course of my career, yes, but more importantly of the tribe of artists and the ways of working that I am a part of and that I come from,” Jones said. “I feel great pride to be part of a lineage of artists who believed in and practiced freedom of imagination and the power of expression in community.”

Jones is best known for his work as Jomama Jones, his performance alter ego. He has recorded five albums as Jomama, which have become the basis for soulful, cabaret-style shows that explore themes of self-expression, empowerment and mysticism. He most recently performed as Jomama in “Black Light,” which ran off-Broadway at Joe’s Pub and lat-

NAZLI ARDITI/THE OBSERVER

Professor Daniel Alexander Jones, the head of Fordham Theatre’s playwriting track, poses with his playwriting students.

er at the Greenwich House Theater last year.

Aside from teaching, he is currently developing another forthcoming album, “Anew.” He plans to use the fellowship toward the creation of other social awareness-driven performance works.

“This fellowship will allow me to begin the first phases of a new multi-city performance project that explores public performance, civic engagement and generative speculation,” he said.

He continues to be inspired by connecting with and motivating people through his craft.

“I am considering what we the people desire as our future(s),” he said of his upcoming piece.

“There has been, of necessity, a tremendous emphasis on naming what we do not want. I’m committed, through live art, to creating and holding space for us to access the power of collective lucid dreaming to move toward and move from our generative selves.”

NAZLI ARDITI/THE OBSERVER

Jones received a Guggenheim Fellowship for his theatrical work and that of his performance alter ego, Jomama.

WWW.fordhamobserver.com

THE OBSERVER May 2, 2019

Arts

‘An Antidote to Chaos’ Jordan Peterson’s rules for life aim to help people thrive in a frenzied world

By LEO BERNABEI Staff Writer

Not a seat was left unfilled on the night of April 17 at Manhattan’s Beacon Theatre. Dr. Jordan B. Peterson, acclaimed Canadian psychology professor turned political figurehead, held a nearly 3,000-person audience. All gathered to learn about his book, “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.”

Sporting a three-piece suit, Peterson spoke at length on issues found in his book, dubbed an “antidote to chaos,” an allusion to today’s hyper-partisan and fast-paced world. As college students know better than anyone, it is often extraordinarily difficult to balance tasks such as classwork, jobs, relationships and extracurricular activities.

Starting out of order, Peterson began with his second rule: Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping. In his book, Peterson writes, “To treat yourself as if you were someone you are responsible for helping is, instead, to consider what would be truly good for you.” Using biblical analogies and references to his favorite philosophers, Peterson paints a picture that humans often treat others better than they do themselves. It can benefit anyone to view themselves as someone containing intrinsic value.

Peterson continued with the story of a friend whom he referred to as Chris, “a smart guy” who “read a lot.” Unfortunately, however, Chris associated himself with individuals who had no sense of discipline or responsibility and thus, when Chris came to those friends to address his grievances, they had no advice. Chris subsequently committed suicide after a psychotic break in his 30s.

Peterson uses this anecdote to drive home his third rule — make friends with people who want the best for you.

Anyone familiar with Peterson’s political rhetoric likely has his sixth rule

memorized: set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.

“Have some humility,” he said. “If you cannot bring peace to your household, how dare you try to rule a city.” While his sweeping claims stoke the fire of his political adversaries who argue that structural issues are the reason people are held back, they may hold some credence in the hectic lives of college students.

“Is there something I’m doing wrong, or something I’m not doing, that I could be doing that I would do that would set things right?” Peterson asked rhetorically of the audience. “I don’t think there’s anyone who couldn’t come up with an answer to that question if they spent five minutes contemplating it.”

“If you want an answer to a prayer, so to speak, try that one,” he laughed. “You’ll get a bloody answer.

It won’t be one you’ll like … that’s for sure, but it will definitely appear.”

The psychologist ended on his eighth rule: Tell the truth — or, at least, don’t lie.

“If all of us brought into being what was only brought into being through truth, what would the world look like? It would be more meaningful. Your truth is the revelation of who you are,” he stated.

Through his theological allegories, Peterson reasoned that because life is suffering, humans have a tendency to lie in order to “smooth things over, or to keep the peace.”

But he also reasons that “truth is the light of darkness” and helps us make the best of the future.

“See the truth. Tell the truth,” he opines in his book.

Regardless of political conviction, Peterson’s rules can help serve as a guidepost for a college student’s life during times of stress, growth and learning.

Summer Session Register Now!

Four sessions: four, six, or ten weeks

Summer is coming ■ ■

■ ■

Earn as many as 15 credits Hundreds of undergraduate and graduate classes, including online options Free on-campus parking Low-cost on-campus housing available

www.qc.cuny.edu/summer • 718-997-5600

LEO BERNABEI/THE OBSERVER

Peterson set forth his rules for an audience of almost 3,000 people, advising them on how to live a more meaningful life.

17

Fun & Games

Fun & Games Editor Esme Bleecker-Adams - ebleeckeradams@fordham.edu

May 2, 2019 THE OBSERVER

CROSSWORD

1

3

2

5

4

12

6

7

8 14

13

16

17

23 30

31 35

32

33

36

37

38

39

40

42

43

44

46

47

60

50

61

62

54

51 55

63

52 56

57

58

59

64

66

65

41

48

49 53

27

22 25

24

34

45

26

11

19 21

29

10

15

18

20

28

9

67

68

69

DOWN

70

EDITED BY DAN NASTA

ACROSS 1. Affected 5. Use of digital drawing tool: Abbr.

8. Try out 12. Snack often double stuffed

23. Desiccated 25. Freightage 28. Quranic creed 31. Like vertical angles 34. Entranceway 35. Smooth 37. Texters’ qualification 38. Debtors’ woe for a soon-to-be graduate 42. Disgraced CBS exec.

Moonves 43. Pressurer provider 44. Accounts 45. Take HGH, say 48. Cancel 49. Curate 50. fritas 53. Win over 55. Thickly wooded 60. Couch 63. Loners’ woe for a soonto-be graduate 65. One method 66. Cultivate 67. Listening, in an exam 68. Caresses 69. “I consent!”

70. Big bird

13. Water, to Alejandro 15. Big guns?

16. Tenants’ woe for a soon-to-be graduate 19. Entrust (with) 20. National identification 21. Suffix with house or baby

1. Org. 2. Square footage 3. Like buttons on the right 4. Dutch ovens, for example 5.

Sun: Pacific Cooler 6. Mineral in geodes 7. Charge while .08 or higher: Abbr.

8. Stick and poke

Word Scramble

Question: How did Dan get a job on a fishing boat?

CREET REVOLT

9. Epoch 10. Text: Abbr.

11. Verbally disapprove 14. Influencers’ Insta posts, for example 17. New software 18.

Macdonald 22. One Swiss mount 24. Licensed giver 26. Monologues 27. Dowdy 28. Goal 29. Like a winter puddle 30. Presided over 32. PalmPilot, for one 33. Visits, so to speak 34. The British 35. Soak 36. Beer 39. Blacksmith or platoonmate, in a video game: Abbr.

40. Suckled 41. One New Deal program 46. Forever 47. The One, in “The Matrix” 48. Accrue 51. Blazing 52. Limericks or odes 54. Spoiled 56. gin 57. Carter and Bush had one 58. Jacob’s twin 59. Broadband predecessor: Abbr.

60. Chump 61. I you one 62. Corpulent 64. Nemo’s schoolbus

What do you want to see in Fun & Games?

Send us your

comments, complaints, suggestions and words of puzzling wisdom

CLOGGED EELREE

email: ebleeckeradams@fordham.edu

AQUATICFOILSIN

COMICSANSMILK UNLIT

HICK TOWER

RICEVACUUM TRIUL

Answer: EDITED BY ESMÉ BLEECKER-ADAMS

Features

Features Editor Marielle Sarmiento - msarmiento3@fordham.edu

May 2, 2019 THE OBSERVER

Seniors Say Farewell to Fordham “I’m going to miss the extremely unique community that we have here. It’s so teeny tiny, and we have so many inside jokes. We had a Trump letter printed on a t-shirt — like, where else do you get that? Stuff like that, really tiny jokes that are campus-wide.

Having that type of community.

You don’t get that anywhere else.”

-S ARAH K AYAIAN

“ I’ll miss having that environment to have all the different mindsets in one space. Speaking personally from my friend group composed of students in Gabelli, Philosophy, Econ, Graphic Design, Humanitarian Studies, my friend group was so diverse that the conversations never had a lull and were able to pick up on any argument and expand on it.

People with different objectives in one space.”

-BERFIN CELIK

“The Gamer’s Guild Dance Dance Revolution party last year. It was so much fun; there were so many people that came by. It was like a flash mob.”

-D IAMANTINA KEFALAS

“If I had to pick one favorite moment, it would be the Drag Show.

I didn’t plan it, but some of my friends did. It was just so great to see everyone come together and have fun. ”

“I’m certainly going to miss my view this year.

I’m on the 15th floor and I can see right out over the Hudson. It is a beautiful view that I will never, ever be able to afford ever again in my life because I’m going into community theater. I’m trying to soak that in as much as possible.”

-R OSIE RIZZO

-KYRA CONROY

““I’ll miss my time freezing in White Box and sweating in Kehoe. I hope one day a nice neutral temperature can be achieved in both theatre spaces!”

-DANA SEACH

“I learned about the unpredictability of life.

In chemistry we learned the concept of entropy, often defined as a measure of disorder. In Honors Natural Science, we learned about quantum physics and how it breaks apart the very foundations of mechanical physics. Life doesn’t follow strict laws. I did things I never could have anticipated in the past four years, and I’ve become wiser for each of them.”

-BRANDON SATZ-JACOBOWITZ

JEFFREY UMBRELL, FEATURES EDITOR ‘18-’19

“During one of our production nights, The Observer’s advisers promised to buy the entire staff pizza if we finished production by 10 p.m., which is anywhere from two to four hours earlier than the time we usually finish.

Editors worked tirelessly in the office all day, and we sent the issue to print just before the deadline. That night showed me the motivating power that free food can have.”

An

OBSERVER

Send off

COLIN SHEELEY, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF ‘18-’19

“The most important thing I learned during my time at Fordham is that what they taught us at commencement was true — if you don’t take it upon yourself to strive for something, no one is going to show you the way. It creates students who invest in and care about their interests and their passions and their curiosities. And that creates good people.”

DAN NASTA, FUN & GAMES EDITOR ‘19

“I’ve become a much more confident leader.

I remember setting a goal in the fall of my sophomore year: I wanted to be more comfortable rambling at length in front of large assemblies of people — a talent typified by the student leaders I idolized. If you know me now, it’s clear I’ve accomplished this goal, for better or worse.”

20

Features

May 2, 2019 THE OBSERVER

WWW.fordhamobserver.com

Fordham/Ailey BFAs Go Out With a Bang (And a Battement)

ANGELA CHEN /THE OBSERVER

Amanda Egan and Siobhan Murray are two of 32 seniors from the Fordham/Ailey B.F.A. Program. Like their peers, they plan to audition for professional companies.

By SOPHIA ORTEGA Contributing Writer

Running five blocks in five minutes, studying flashcards at the ballet barre or learning the Horton fortifications might sound all too familiar for students in the Fordham/Ailey B.F.A. program.

The graduating class of 2019 spent eight semesters in a unique program that blends both academic rigor and artistic development as a dancer.

Siobhan Murray, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’19, articulated how the program has shaped her. “It’s taught me so much about myself and the kind of dancer and person that I want to be. I’ve learned that you really have to forge your own path and put yourself in situations that may be out of your comfort zone in order to grow.”

April 8 marked the start of an exciting week for all students at The Ailey School, but a bittersweet one for the senior class.

Senior Week began with three Se-

nior Solo Concerts, each featuring around 10 of the Fordham/Ailey seniors.

On the last two days, the class of 2019 performed ensemble pieces at the Senior Concert. Following the Friday performance, a reception was held at Ailey, inviting teachers and friends to celebrate the success of the seniors.

Monday’s Senior Solo Concert featured 11 seniors, including Amanda Egan and Murray. Closing out the show, Egan performed a work by esteemed choreographer Paul Taylor titled “Runes.”

Although Taylor passed away last August — a tragic loss in the concert dance industry — Egan shared a hopeful outlook on how art can keep his legacy alive.

“I think one of the most beautiful things about dance is how it connects us over generations,” Egan said. “Although I never met Paul Taylor, I feel like I got to meet him through his work and in a small way honor his legacy by performing this solo.”

Murray performed a piece cho-

reographed by Nijawwon Matthews, an emotional narrative of her journey with self-trust.

“ My classmates have served as endless inspiration the past four years, and I only hope that our paths continue to cross, because they’ve all changed my life in some way.”

SIOBHAN MURRAY FCLC ‘19

“This solo was very personal to me, but I think it’s something everyone can connect to in some way,” Murray explained.

“Learning to love yourself and

acknowledging your power as an individual is an ongoing process, but we can all get there. We have so much more to offer than we think.”

As for the future, the B.F.A. program provides students with a strong foundation of technique, allowing seniors to explore a variety of styles in the professional world. Some will pursue a career on Broadway, infusing singing and acting with their passion for dance. Others may choose to follow the traditional route, auditioning for professional companies. “I plan on auditioning for New York-based dance companies like Paul Taylor, Graham, Limon or Mark Morris,” Egan said.

Despite the intimidating names of these world-renowned companies, the Fordham/Ailey alumni network serves as a community within the sometimes overwhelming dance industry.

Murray hopes to stay in contact with her classmates: “My classmates have served as endless inspiration the past four years and

I only hope that our paths continue to cross, because they’ve all changed my life in some way!”

Most people fear the future and the unknown, but some members of the graduating class of 2019 do not. “I’m looking forward to discovering myself as an artist outside the structure of school,” Murray said. Egan agreed, “I am excited for all that lies ahead!”

Sitting in the audience watching the senior solos displayed the product of four years spent pushing past both physical and mental limitations. Four years of classes molded the dancers’ bodies into instruments for their art, classes spent expanding their perspective of the world. Each dancer had a different approach to their movement, whether it was jazz or en pointe, but they all displayed a sense of gratitude in their performances. With this gratitude beaming from their bodies, the seniors took one final bow on stage, thanking themselves, the audience and The Ailey School for the experience of a lifetime.

College Girls Against Catcalls

By AYSESU YILMAZ Contributing Writer

Trigger warning: This article mentions sexual assault.

Ever since the #MeToo movement gained worldwide attention, the once-taboo topic of sexual harassment has been displayed in a new light. Women who are familiar with the experience of harassment on the street are also familiar with its many defenses: “Take a compliment!”

“You’re overreacting!”

“There’s nothing wrong with flirting!” and the most victim-blaming one, “You should dress differently if you don’t want attention.”

Now, women everywhere are taking back the streets and calling out catcalling, and at its forefront are none other than college girls in our very own New York City.

Sophie Sandberg, a senior at NYU, experienced sexual street harassment many times and decided enough was enough. She founded Catcalls of NYC, a social project that raises awareness of street harassment. Through social media accounts, people, almost all women, from New York City send in dozens of stories every single day to Catcalls of NYC describing their experiences with catcalling. A team of “chalkers” then take the catcalls sent in by these women and chalk

them on the street where it took place. The entire team is made of college girls, including yours truly.

If you see any chalkings around Columbus Circle, Lincoln Center or Central Park, chances are they’re by me. The project has reached as far as Miami and London.

The nature of catcalls can range from embarrassing and objectifying to terrifying and threatening.

But what exactly is catcalling?

It’s a nickname given to a specific type of harassment where random strangers on the street shout sexually explicit comments towards other strangers. These comments also sometimes include unwanted physical contact like groping, slapping and grabbing. The nature of catcalls can range from embarrassing and objectifying — “Wow you’re pretty, let’s do it in your dorm!” — to terrifying and threatening — “It’ll be so good, you won’t want to call it rape.” These are two real catcalls sent to Catcalls of NYC. Although catcalling can be ex-

perienced by anyone, regardless of gender, it is important to remember that this is a gender equality epidemic almost always aimed towards women with the goal of degrading or humiliating them.

When a random man shouts at me on the street, “Hey baby, you’re sexy!” I don’t actually feel “sexy.”

Rather, I feel scared — what does this man want to do to me? Is he going to follow me? Is he going to hurt me?

And oftentimes, that is the case.

There are many instances of women being assaulted and even murdered by men who sexually harass them because the women reject their sexual advances.

Catcalling can take many forms of offense. Some of the most common targets for catcalls are underage girls, who receive comments like “Call me when you’re legal, doll!” (another real catcall sent by a 13-year-old). Underage girls are often targeted because they are easily frightened, much to the enjoyment of sexual harassers. Racial slurs are common in catcalls, as well. A recent chalking we did in Central Park by Pilgrim Hill was, “Hey look, a pretty little squaw!

Be my little Pocahontas!” aimed towards a young Native American girl.To learn more about the Catcalls of NYC project, visit www. catcallsofnyc.com.

AYSESU YILMAZ/THE OBSERVER

One of many examples of catcalls sent in to Catcalls of NYC. Every submission is chalked on a sidewalk in the city to raise awareness.

WWW.fordhamobserver.com

THE OBSERVER May 2, 2019

Features

21

How Fordham Serves Its Faith Community

By KEVIN CHRISTOPHER ROBLES Retrospect Host

From Oct. 3 to Oct. 28 of last year, Pope Francis presided over the 2018 Synod on Young People, the Faith and Vocational Discernment, a gathering of bishops, lay theologians and youth delegates from around the world. They discussed many things, chief among them the murky future of young Catholics, many of whom are moving further away from the Church.

This manifests itself in a number of ways, from the detachment of reality stemming from an increasingly technological world to the ever-lessening popularity of priestly vocations among the youth to the tragic abuse of minors by those in positions of power, including the Church.

With the aid of the synod, Pope Francis wrote “Christus Vivit,” a papal document addressed specifically to young people, on March 25. In it, he wrote, “The very first words, then, that I would like to say to every young Christian are these: Christ is alive and he wants you to be alive!”

But how well-maintained are Pope Francis’ platitudes on the campuses of Catholic universities? College is supposed to be a time of great change and growth in the lives of those who attend it, so it would stand to reason that the Church would want to be involved in that process.

Fordham, by its very nature, has an irrevocable connection to a specific religious identity.

Indeed, Fordham’s Jesuit roots place it in deeper communion with Pope Francis, himself a Jesuit, and the words he puts down on paper. Conor O’Kane, director of Campus Ministry at Fordham Lincoln Center, discussed where Fordham fits into the faith conversation.

“Faith at Fordham, or the development of an interior life, is a constituent element of what it means to be a Fordham student,” O’Kane said. “I think it’s one of the things that makes Fordham distinctive. That’s where its Jesuit

TITO CRESPO/THE OBSERVER

The altar in the chapel on the second floor of Lowenstein. Campus Ministry’s office, the heart of spiritual development at FCLC, is also located on the second floor.

and Catholic identity comes to the forefront.”

O’Kane spoke of Fordham’s “robust retreat program” that helps students grow in their faith. “We help them answer some of the deeper questions in their life in the company of the peers,” he said. “We have retreats that focus on their relationship with God … with mentors and guides. I think it’s one of the best things that we do.”

Campus Ministry retreats run throughout the year, includ-

ing Fresh Vision, a retreat which helps integrate freshmen into the wider campus community, and Emmaus, a more personal offering that promotes self-discovery through Ignatian prayer. “Retreats are steeped in the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius,” O’Kane said. “It’s led by students who talk about that in the course of their own lives. Students do find [retreats] fruitful.”

O’Kane also described the Catholic Student Fellowship, aimed at members of Fordham’s

faith community that meets once a month. “That’s a space where we want to explicitly make a connection between faith and life,” he said.

Liturgical spaces exist at Fordham as well. Everything from Mass services to smaller occasions of interfaith ministry is aided by Campus Ministry.

O’Kane also talked about those who have distanced themselves from the Church and how Fordham can adequately serve their faith lives. “Fordham is a great

place to unpack Jesuit values,” he said. “You can encounter that in different ways.” The university imparts these values not only through standard religious practice, but also through volunteer service projects, theology courses, the Fordham University Emerging Leaders program and more.

“You can encounter God and the divine in many different places,” he said. “That’s one of the great graces of Ignatian spirituality: finding God in all things.

In a theological sense, we live a sacramental reality. Everything is an opportunity to grow in your relationship to God. That’s the posture we try to grow here.”

O’Kane admitted that, of course, Fordham is not perfect in its promotion of the faith. “It can be a challenge,” he said. “You have to make a compelling case that this is valuable, worthwhile and practical.”

This is partly why O’Kane resides in McMahon Hall, in order to adequately serve the community of which he is a part. Invoking Pope Francis, O’Kane summed it up: “The shepherds must smell like the sheep.”

Fordham’s Campus Ministry also speaks with other schools in the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities at a semi-annual conference to discuss new methods of serving.

O’Kane keeps in close contact with the campus ministries of these schools, comparing notes on their retreats, service work and other programs.

Towards the end of “Christus Vivit,” Pope Francis, had a lot to say about the place of young people in the modern world. “Dear young people,” he writes. “My joyful hope is to see you keep running the race before you, outstripping all those who are slow and fearful.”

Though not everyone sees it, Fordham serves a proud community of faithful Catholics — and, backed by Ignatian spirituality, helps the Church itself evolve.

“When you arrive where we have not yet reached,” writes Pope Francis, “have the patience to wait for us.”

Summer and the City

By MARIELLE SARMIENTO Features Editor

COURTESY OF MORGAN STEWARD

Morgan Steward, FCLC ’19, spent last summer working at her dream job at OnStage at NY1 and attended the Tony Awards.

There’s nothing like summer in the city. When the fall semester starts at Fordham, students only have a few short weeks of warm weather before winter descends.

Time spent on the plaza enjoying the sun is traded for the underground tunnels to avoid the rain, cold and slush.

Winter in New York City seems to last forever. As soon as the weather gets nice again, the academic year is over and Fordham students scatter for their vacation destinations. Though the length of the vacation never changes, how students spend their summer away from school evolves with each passing year.

For Cate Galliford, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’22, the summer before freshman year of college meant spending time with friends before going their separate ways for school: “One by one, my friends left. Fordham starts really late, so I was the last one left at home.”

This year an internship at a local bank awaits her in her hometown, but last summer she worked at a preschool camp and a bookstore.

“Even though I spend my summers working, it is very relaxing to me to be just done with [school and]

work and go home and have time to spend with myself without worrying about assignments,” Galliford said.

Sophomore summer is a marker for the direct middle of one’s college experience. Michael Fagan, FCLC ’21, is required to take two classes over the summer in order to graduate on time as part of the 3-2 Engineering program. This year, Fagan is balancing work and relaxation. “Last summer, I had an internship and it was just school, work, school. It’d be nice to have a chill out period,” he said.

Junior year is known as “prime time” for internships, and many rising seniors want to secure summer positions to build their resumés.

Psychology major Alisia Ortiz, FCLC ’20, is a recipient of a coveted Fordham Summer Research Grant to study how “bilingual participants perceive memories or if that has an affect on someone’s self perspective,” in Ortiz’s words.

“I’ll be working with bilingual participants all summer and getting to speak English and Spanish, it’s giving me a chance to strengthen my Spanish speaking skills.” When not researching in Fordham’s memory and aging lab, Ortiz will also be working part time at Glossier.

Although she has a busy schedule ahead of her, summers are a much needed mental health

break for Ortiz. “Summers mean self-preservation, especially in college. I’m drained by the time summer rolls around. Those three months feel like a year, and it’s the perfect amount of time that I need to put myself first again. I’m going to start taking yoga again, start doing things that strengthen that mind-body connection.”

For graduating seniors, the summer can either be a looming deadline or a time of excitement.

For Morgan Steward, FCLC ’19, each summer at Fordham has brought something different; her freshman year she returned home to Texas, her sophomore year took her abroad to London, her junior-year summer included her dream job in New York City and this upcoming summer brings entering the workforce full time. “This summer will be interesting because it will be the first one where there’s no end in sight, no going back to school to start the cycle back over again.”

It’s a scary thought that after college means the end of summer vacations. “This summer will still have that summer vacation mindset, because it hasn’t set in that when Fordham has its first day of school, I won’t be there,” Steward said. “Summer is a still time rejuvenate and recalibrate for the year again, but this summer will definitely be different.”

Sports & Health

Sports & Health Editors Luke Osborn - losborn1@fordham.edu Lena Weidenbruch - lweidenbruch@fordham.edu May 2, 2019

THE OBSERVER

North Pole Marathon Frozen by Political Conflict

By LENA WEIDENBRUCH Sports & Health Editor

Jonathan Pang, Fordham College at Lincoln Center ’19, had big plans for April 2019: He was going to run the North Pole Marathon, the northernmost marathon in the world. The race takes place at an international North Pole camp called Barneo on a sheet of ice approximately 20 to 30 miles from the true North Pole, and the participants run in roughly threemile-long laps to cover the full 26.2.

Unfortunately, for the first time in almost two decades, the marathon was canceled.

The Facebook page, race website and emails sent to Pang in preparation for the race repeatedly stated that anything can happen when traveling to the North Pole.

Weather can change and flights can get delayed, meaning the race can sometimes be pushed back by a day or so. Most years this isn’t a problem; during this time of the year in the Arctic, 24-hour daylight ensures that the race can happen at any time.

When Pang arrived in Longyearbyen, Svalbard, the Norwegian archipelago where he would fly to Camp Barneo from, he had already received word that the race would be delayed to some extent. The next day, he was presented with even more concerning news: The marathon, originally scheduled to take place at some point on April 9, was rescheduled for the 16th.

Pang and the other competitors were informed that there were problems securing a plane to make the journey to the ice. Only a specialized type of plane is able to land on the 1,500-foot runway at Camp Barneo.

Shortly after, Oliver Wang, the director of the company that organizes the race, Runbuk, announced that the race was canceled entirely.

The problem that stopped the race from happening altogether was unexpected, even for North Pole standards. Although the com-

COURTESY OF JONATHAN PANG

Pang will run the Chicago Marathon later this year.

petitors flew to the sheet of ice from Norwegian territory, Camp Barneo is Russian-owned. The relationship between Ukraine and Russia, however, was what froze the race in its tracks.

In September 2018, Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko announced and signed a decree stating that he did not intend to renew the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership between Ukraine and Russia that had stood since 1997.

The treaty expired on March 31, 2019, just days before the competitors arrived in Svalbard.

The Antonov 74 plane used for years to land at Camp Barneo is owned and operated by a Ukrainian aircraft manufacturing and services company called Antonov State Company. Although the plane was already in Longyearbyen, because of the expiration of the treaty with Russia, Ukraine revoked flying privileges to the Russian sheet of ice and set new requirements for all aircraft going north of 80 degrees latitude.

Longyearbyen is at 78 degrees latitude, and the North Pole is at 89.5

degrees latitude.

Runbuk looked into hiring a much smaller Basler BT-67 plane to get the runners to the ice. This type of plane is a remodeled version of a Douglas DC-3 plane most commonly used to transport skiers.

The new plane would only be able to carry six passengers at a time. Any pilot flying to Camp Barneo has to expect that they might not be able to land the plane, meaning the plane must be able to carry triple the amount of fuel needed for a one-way trip in anticipation of making a round-trip back to Svalbard.

It would have taken the six-seater plane almost three days to transport the entire group of runners.

After the race was canceled, Pang and the rest of the runners were refunded for their hotel and part of their airfare to Svalbard.

They have also been guaranteed admission to the race in 2020.

Pang has been running for almost a decade. He was born in China and conveniently lived next to Century Park in Shanghai. He

COURTESY OF JONATHAN PANG

To train, Pang ran in subzero temperatures above the Arctic Circle.

started running short distances there until he could complete the entire ring of the park.

He started running initially to lose weight, and in the process transformed himself and his father, who accompanied him on many runs, into passionate runners. His father traveled with him to Svalbard to compete in the North Pole Marathon as well.

In preparation for the race, Pang ran 20 to 25 miles a week outside in Manhattan and even practiced in New Hampshire to expose himself to colder temperatures. As the race got closer, he started to increase his mileage

and was running four to six miles a day.

All of the training won’t go to waste, as Pang will be running the Chicago Marathon in the fall.

Pang did get in some miles in Longyearbyen and even managed to run a half-marathon. “I brought my gear, and it was cold enough in Svalbard, I would say zero to minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit.”

While Pang hoped for more than just extra early preparation for Chicago, he wasn’t entirely disappointed by his trip and looks forward to returning next spring. “It was a fun experience,” he said. “It prepared me for next year.”

Lather Not: Say Nope to Antibacterial Soap

By LUKE OSBORN and MARIELLE SARMIENTO Sports & Health Editor and Features Editor

Walk into any bathroom in Lowenstein and you’ll find a soap dispenser that reads “Antibacterial Hand Soap.” According to the American Cleaning Institute, 50% of Americans wash their hands more than 10 times a day, but what if washing your hands with these soaps is doing more harm than help?

Researchers and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have raised concerns about antibacterial soaps. Researchers have cited its harmful effects on the environment, long-term human health and bacterial resistance as causes for concern with the overuse of medical-grade antibacterial soaps.

Found in Lowenstein bathrooms, brands like the EZ Hand Hygiene line of soaps by Kutol, a bulk hand soap company, contain the antibacterial agent benzalkonium chloride (BAC). This chemical became popular following the FDA’s crackdown on Triclosan, a potentially harmful antibacterial agent sold in consumer hand soaps.

Joan Roberts, Ph.D., warns against the rampant use of antibacterial soap. “Antibacterial soap is not only unnecessary,” said Roberts, “but adds to the worldwide danger of developing resistant bacteria.” Such resistance refers to the tendency of bacteria to evolve against the very agents used to kill them.

Not all bacteria are genetically the same. It takes just one mutant bacterium to develop a whole strain of resistant bacteria. These bacteria have the ability to multiply even after coming into contact with antibacterial agents. Once these mutant bacteria become widespread enough, the agents used to kill them before will become ineffective. For this reason, it is important to be wary of the precautions we take like relying on antibacterial hand soaps.

What we think might be helpful and necessary might actually be giving bacteria an opportunity to evolve.

After observing the rise of superbugs, the FDA decided to prevent companies from overselling consumer antibacterial soaps.

Most of these products contained Triclosan as their active ingredi-

LENA WEIDENBRUCH/THE OBSERVER

Antibacterial soap is great for medical settings, but not so great for everyday use.

ent. Researchers noted that not only did Triclosan have possible harmful long term effects on the body, but it could also cause antibacterial resistance, which would render all of these cleaners obsolete. This effect could have especially dire consequences in the

medical field, because healthcare providers depend on these hand soaps to protect themselves from infection.

The FDA cited evidence that Triclosan was not more effective than simply washing your hands with regular soap. Roberts also affirms these claims: “The most effective way to remove bacteria or other pathogens from your hands is to wash them with soap and warm water.” Medical-grade antibacterial soaps might literally be overkill when it comes to protecting yourself from getting sick.

When the FDA decided to ban Triclosan from consumer sale, they also mentioned BAC as a possible target of a future ban.

BAC is commonly used as a preservative in ear, eye and nasal drops or sprays in addition to hand sanitizers, wet wipes, shampoo, deodorants and cosmetics. BAC is very good at its job; a 1998 study in the AORN Journal of Perioperative Nursing found that BAC hand sanitizers were more effective than name-brand Purell against fighting bacteria. The FDA noted, however, that researchers have not sufficiently explored BAC’s long term effects, but existing research on

BAC’s short-term effects on the human body is incriminating enough.

Although BAC is definitely medical-grade in its effectiveness against bacteria, it’s also potentially harmful, especially when used on a regular basis. BAC is toxic to humans in large concentrations, and though researchers haven’t found significant correlations with long-term use and adverse effects, some have advised against consumer use of BAC altogether.

Antibacterial agents cause more harm than good in a non-medical setting like our campus, so what can you do about it? It turns out that it’s not what you wash your hands with that protects you, but how you wash your hands. Vigorously scrubbing your hands for 20 seconds, making sure to clean every inch of your hands, is your best bet against disease. Above all else, make sure to use naturally derived soaps to wash your hands.

Check the ingredients on the soap for BAC or research the active ingredients to confirm they are safe to use.

Considering these concerns, Fordham should explore safer alternatives for handwashing and infection control.

WWW.fordhamobserver.com

THE OBSERVER May 2, 2019

Sports & Health

23

Taking a Look at Club Sports: Women’s Club Rugby

By JEFFREY UMBRELL Features Editor Emeritus

What do you like best about being on the team?

Honestly, I think right from the beginning, they’ve been the greatest family. I joined probably the first week I was here at Fordham, so they were my first Fordham family. It’s a great group of girls, a very diverse bunch from all different areas of the school.

Fordham Lincoln Center is not a particularly athletic campus.

While Fordham is an NCAA Division I school, all of its varsity, club and intramural teams are located at Rose Hill. It can often feel that, at Lincoln Center, sports of any kind are all but nonexistent.

However, Abigail Pratt, Fordham College at Lincoln Center ’21, wanted to be both a Lincoln Center student and a collegiate athlete, so she decided to join Fordham’s club rugby team. I sat down with Pratt to discuss her experiences on the team, the community she formed with her fellow athletes and how Lincoln Center students might benefit from getting more involved with Fordham athletics.

How does a club team differ from varsity athletics?

I think, at least with our team, it’s not as structured. I have some friends on collegiate-level athletics, and they practice all the time. They’ve got all their different tournaments that are laid out quite in advance, whereas in club rugby we practice twice a week, we have a captains’ practice and then we have games on Sundays. It’s more of a social thing than an intense sport.

How long have you been on the club rugby team?

I started at the beginning of freshman year. I took a bit of a break because I got badly injured. I tore my meniscus in two places and severely sprained my ACL. But I played my first game back this semester. It was a yearlong gap, but I’ve been a part of the team and have gone to watch the games during that time.

Do you typically play a certain position?

I played fullback during the “fifteen” season, which is when there are 15 people on the field, like “regular rugby.” As fullback, basically when you’re on defense, you’re hanging back quite a bit

TITO CRESPO/THE OBSERVER

Pratt played her first game back this semester after two injuries.

behind the line of defense so if anyone breaks through, you’re that person who’s going to tackle them before they score. It’s quite fun, and I like it because it’s not necessarily as much tackling all

the time.

During “sevens” season, which is what we do in the spring, you just kind of play anywhere. I like playing on the wing or doing what they call a “sweeper.”

What does your typical week look like in terms of balancing classes, practices and games?

Our practices this semester have been Monday and Wednesday and a captains’ practice on Thursday. Normally it’s a 6:30– 8:30 p.m. practice, which means I have to take a 5 p.m. Ram Van because it’s the worst traffic time.

Sundays, which are game days, are always fun, because it means taking the subway at a really early hour. If we’re traveling and leaving at 7 a.m., I have to get the subway to get to Rose Hill at 7 a.m. to then get on the Ram Van to travel wherever we’re

going. So if anything, it’s the games that are trickier to get to and that awful Ram Van hour to get up to Rose Hill for night practices, but other than that it’s perfectly manageable.

Do you wish that the Lincoln Center campus had club sports teams of its own?

It would be fun to have something down here, although for rugby especially, it’s impossible to have in the city. I think having, like, a soccer ball to kick around in some kind of fashion would be fun, but I know that space is impossible to find.

What would you say to a Lincoln Center student who is thinking of joining a club sport, rugby or otherwise?

I think it would be probably one of the best decisions that you could make in college, especially if you want to find a new group of friends. Every time I go to Rose Hill now, either for classes or for other meetings, I know I’ll probably bump into someone that I’ve met through rugby, so it definitely increases your sense of Fordham cross-campus spirit.

I would also say to go to Rose Hill club days. We’re allowed to go to those just as we are here, and find what suits you, because they have a huge range of clubs up there. Just go for it. It might be nerve-wracking at first, but it’s fun. It’s worth it.

This interview has been condensed and edited.

Congratulations to the Class of 2019!

Graduates, you can still Think Summer, Think Fordham: Audit a summer class for $300.

Continuing students, let us help you on your way: Summer courses can help you graduate on time.

SUMMER SESSION 2019

Session I: May 28–June 27 Session II: July 2–August 6 fordham.edu/summer

Congratulations to the FCLC Class of 2019

September 1, 2015—New Student Orientation

Four years go by so quickly!

May 18, 2019—University Commencement

We thank God for your presence with us, as you go forth into the future.

Fordham College at Lincoln Center Office of the Dean