Perspectives
6 The Loquitur
On the Give me a By Melanie Greenberg ton of work Staff Writer to do, no time, a filled planner and one credit? Many students can sympathize with me on this one. If a person was to walk into the communication wing Monday nights, it could be filled with frenzied journalists, photographers, video crews and radio personnel. Actually, come in at any point during the day and likely the wing will be a crowded place. Many students will be close to tears or ready to snap at the first person who looks at them the wrong way. One class that I have found is very timeconsuming and stressful is my radio practicum course. An hour and fifteen minutes is dedicated each Monday night to learning the ways of radio style news, laws and history. Two hours a week are dedicated to a radio show of our style choice. I’m not going to lie, Sunday nights may be my favorite two hours of the week. Wait, let me rephrase that. Sunday nights may be my favorite required time of the week. Once a week, I broadcast a sporting event, on top of the events, homework and production hours put in. I know I am not the only student struggling to keep up. At this point, you would probably think I hate my major. As much as I complain and as often as I sit and stare at my planner wondering how in the world I will get my work done, I do love it. Once the assignment or event is over, I can breathe a sigh of relief. And then I do it all over again. To be in control of a show people actually listen to and actually enjoy is amazing. I love the feeling of being accom-
Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010
The highs and lows radio: of a practicum
plished after broadcasting a game but it is very hard to be dedicated to a course which requires so much and rewards so little. It is like asking someone to spend all their money on clothing and never wear a single item. There are other courses that offer one credit such as yoga, pilates, ballet and modern dance. These courses require attendance once a week. Compare those hour and 15-minute courses to an hour and 15 minutes, two hours, events and a game. Let’s look at this even closer. As a communication major, we are all required to attend a professional development course three to four times a semester with various guest speakers. Only two papers are asked of us. This course is worth half a credit. Practicum courses are meant to be like an internship. Typically in U.S. colleges, one credit equals two hours of study time. However, an internship requires eight hours of work per week per credit. Practicum courses are intended to provide college students with real-life experience, similar to an internship. As great as real-life experience is for preparing for the professional world, I already take 14 and a half credits and have two jobs. When I enrolled in this class I was not aware of the workload. I expected two hours of work, but got nearly quadruple that. I believe the experience will be worth it in the end. The friends I have made by bonding through the amount of work will be there for me until senior year and maybe beyond. I am ready to do the work we are given and enjoy the opportunity I am given to experience hands-on type courses. I am just positive that my time and energy wants to see more than just one credit on my transcript. mmg65@cabrini.edu
sarah luckert / staff photographer
The radio station is quite literally hands on from the beginning.
People who know me might call me a masochist. They might call me a glutton for punishment; a cog in a thankless machine in a constant state of change. I’ve spent countless days, nights and weekends cooped up in the mostly windowless, vacant halls of the East Wing in Founders Hall, rendering video, recording, interviewing and yes— even screaming. I’ve torn my hair out and yelled at computer screens. At times in my four years at Cabrini, I’ve driven my body to the point of physical and mental exhaustion—all for classes that grant me one or two credits each. This is the life of a communication major. This is the life I live and I have never in my life been happier. Don’t think of me as crazy, which, granted, I very well might be. If anything, I’m impassioned and dedicated to what I do. Saying that my major hasn’t given me, or anyone, anything in return for hard work is simply asinine. For almost three years now, I’ve been involved with Cabrini’s radio station, 89.1 WYBF-FM “The Burn.” I started out taking the introduction course, moved through the ranks of a DJ and general member of the station’s staff, rose to assistant production director and, shortly followed by being appointed production director. I went from creating sound bites and working with equipment behind the scenes to where I am now, working as the station’s music director. In that time, I have been extremely blessed and privileged enough to see my hard work pay off in the form of a Philadelphia March of Dimes Achievement in Radio award and a College Broadcasters Inc., national nomination for a documentary I helped create, along with fellow senior communication majors Gianna Shikitino and Kerri Dougherty. Radio is a practicum, a term often misunderstood by many. A practicum is not a normal class. At no point in radio have we examined texts by Sartre or Camus to discuss themes of existential philosophy and literary techniques. Why would we? We’re involved with the organization and management of a noncommercial, FCClicensed radio station. Typical classes might follow international business ethics By Joe Cahill Staff Writer
or study the future tenses of verbs in foreign tongues. Radio, like most practicums, is not a common class. Practicums are more like internships as opposed to classes. By their very nature, they require duties outside of the classroom and are meant as professional experience as opposed to strict academic learning. These are not by any means exclusive to communication majors. The Education Practicum, more commonly known as Student Teaching, is the largest practicum on campus. According to the Cabrini College Student Handbook, students enrolled in Student Teaching must complete 40 hours of work for fifteen weeks, totaling 600 hours of in-class work. This does not take into account grading, tutoring, traffic or other obligations tied to teaching that exist outside of the standard required times. For this, education majors earn a total of 12 credits. If one follows the normal path for radio for four years, they end up with 14 credits. Labs and practicums are something those who work hard at truly appreciate. “Labs are the most worthwhile part of courses,” Frank Bearoff, senior chemistry, biotechnology and molecular biology triple-major, said. “They put theory into terms that are more easily understood. I tend to learn most from the labs and my independent study has been the best part of my education here. I’ve developed marketable skills in my field and in the end, I will acquire career skills.” To liken radio or any other practicum to yoga or another throwaway one-credit course is a bold-faced insult to the hard work that I and others have done and continue to do here at Cabrini College. I’m sure that if I did a sun salutation every day for my four years of college, I would have a more toned, svelte physique. None of it, however, would give me professional skills that I can use when applying to jobs when I graduate. Individuals who can’t handle the work of these courses simply shouldn’t take them. They are, as I can attest, a lot of work. Credit-wise, the college has given me what I need. My major and my classes have given me so much more. If you’re a hard worker and you dedicate yourself to what you love, like I along with so many others have done over the years, I promise that perseverance will pay off more than you can ever imagine. jwc722@cabrini.edu
89.1 WYBF FM The Burn
is always playing your favortie songs
for more info and to listen live head to wybf.com
Perspectives
Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010
The Loquitur 7
We can do more: being eco-friendly on campus As the world By Diana Campeggio around us beStaff Writer gins to adapt to a greener attitude, students at Cabrini are putting a great deal of thought into their Ugg boots and lacrosse games. They seem blinded and uncultured to the choices they make and how those choices are affecting our planet. If you need proof, look into any trashcan on campus and I bet you will find recyclable paper and plastic bottles in abundance. But it comes down to more than that. I don’t believe that students here really understand, or care, what the consequences of their decisions are. These are choices that we make each and every day, from what we choose to drink to where we choose to do our shopping. Students at this college seem to be ignorant to the fact that we, as humans, are more rapidly than ever destroying the world in which we are living. Cabrini prides itself in producing students who are world citizens and are aware of serious, problematic events, but students here seem to lack consideration for what their decisions are doing to the planet. They say that Cabrini constructs a “justice matters” curriculum but what about the justice of the planet? Isn’t that also as important? As a generation of young people who have the stereotype of having little interest in world events outside of their own, why not begin learning about what we, as students, can do to reduce our carbon footprint and aid in making the world a greener place. Students are kidding themselves when they defend their economic state by saying they unplug unused electrical cords and turn off lights they aren’t using. That should be second nature by now. People need to be considering their actions and
putting a lot more thought into the decisions they make. Like I stated before, walk past any trashcan on campus and I guarantee that you will find paper and plastic bottles inside. Walk into any classroom and many students have plastic water bottles sitting next to them. It is ridiculous to me that people even buy plastic bottles of water anymore after it has been reported that a large amount of them sit in landfills for 10-plus years. If you consider that more than half of the campus drinks one bottle of water a day, you begin to see how this quickly adds up in landfills around the world. G e t an ecofriendly, reusable water bottle and a Brita filter and you are set for life. You save money and you help save the planet. It’s a win-win. By the time people begin to make responsible decisions it will be too late. Then they will be asking what they can do to reverse the condition of the planet. Start now and start making a difference. Part of this is the college’s fault. There are many places on campus where the only choice is a trashcan because there are not recycling bins in sight, but students need to make a conscious decision to make a difference and not to take the easy way out. I also don’t think that as a campus we understand that when you buy cheap clothing, produce or other goods they need to be transported from those far away places
they are made. Not only are you promoting non-American goods and the outsourcing of jobs but a serious amount of energy is wasted in transporting these goods to the U.S. By buying local foods and products, you are not requiring the amount of energy in transportation. In buying organic products, you know that no chemicals were used and sprayed on your product, which you would otherwise ingest. These sound like senseless things and nitpicking ideas. When you build them up, they make a difference in how much we pollute our planet. As a college, we lack the motivation to care about becoming a greener campus. Though some professors are promoting a paperless curriculum, many still shovel out packets and packets of papers and don’t even try to reuse them. I have been in classes where they hand out a four-page article and after the class was over, 90 percent of the students walk past the trashcan, not recycle bin, and throw those four pages away. This is a waste and does not promote environmental consideration at any means. It is not just the students who are to blame here. It’s the 21st century and technology that is at our fingertips. Schools all over the country are increasing the emphasis they put into these environmental concerns and they are leaving Cabrini in the dust. I did my teaching field experience in a private high school that had a green house worked into their science program and students grew fruits
and vegetables for them to take home and enjoy. Colleges across the country are installing solar panels, green roofs and gray water systems. There are so many things that we could do to create a greener environment for our Cabrini students but the college seems to be putting no emphasis on these ideas. As a campus community, we should be rallying for solar panels on top of campus buildings and composting food scraps from the cafeteria. I think that students need to wake up and realize that they are directly contributing to the economic problem that is destroying our planet. They need to know that when you throw your plastic bag or water bottle into the trash, it sits in landfills for longer than you could imagine. Our planet has a limited water supply and every time you take an hour-long shower, you are wasting gallons of water that could be reused in toilets and watering plants. As a community, we need to understand these things so that we can demand that our campus needs to limit the amount of resources they waste. Until the people say they want a change, nothing will be changed. When it is all said and done, I don’t think that anyone is perfect at being as eco-friendly as possible, even myself. But at least I feel that I understand the consequences of my actions and know where my clothes and food come from and where they will end up when I am done with them. If students put as much thought and effort into making greener choices then they did checking Facebook, then I think, as a campus, we would be in much better shape economically. dcc59@cabrini.edu
The NCAA weighs in on sickle-cell debate When student-athletes are dying, shouldn’t someone step in? Or could that precaution be inherently racist? In a potentially controversial but grossly under-reported decision, the NCAA has decided to implement a system for testing its athletes for sicklecell trait. This trait, which causes a deformation in some red blood cells, can be dangerous when such a person is placed under athletic and aerobic strain. As justification, it has been noted that eight NCAA football players have died in the past decade as a result of sickle-cell complications on the football field. It would appear that this new system of testing is merely designed to protect the players and avoid liability for the schools and the NCAA as a whole. While not officially stated yet, students testing positive may be made ineligible to play to avoid possible complications. However, what may fall unnoticed is that the sickle-cell trait is almost exclusively prevalent in African-Americans (and those of African descent) and is virtually nonexistent in American Caucasians. This fact, some would argue, makes such a precautionary test automatically loaded against African-American athletes, and therefore racist. After all, how can a test be fair if you already know that By Ransom Cozzillio Staff Writer
only African-Americans are going to “fail?” With a student’s athletic career on the line isn’t this obviously racist? No. To the casual observer or the overlyracially sensitive, this may seem to discriminate against African-American studentathletes. But we must realize that there is a difference between “racist” and “unfair but justified.” This is obvious when we can take a mct charged word like “race” out of the equation Now that the NCAA requires testing for sickle cell, some athletes’ for a minute. Take, for example, insurance careers will stop before they really even start. rates. On an individual level, is it “fair” that about liability, it also shows that its callousness is coloryoung males have higher car insurance rates than anyone blind. If any athlete wants to play, sickle-cell trait or not, else, including young females? Not really, but considering they can. young males get in more accidents than any other demoUnfortunately, this whole possible controversy really graphic, the higher rate is certainly justified. points back to how hypersensitive the business of race So, is it fair that, due to testing, several African-Amermakes us. That is not to say that we shouldn’t think about ican college athletes will surely be forced to stop playing it and strive for fairness. while no white players will? Perhaps not. But given that But when a program that is formed as a response to doing nothing would probably lead to more deaths, enyoung men dying on the football field comes under fire for forced testing is certainly reasonable. being racist, we need to examine our motives. Not everyIn fact, the NCAA, in a grand showing of its lack of althing that involves race is racist. This, as it turns out, is just truism, has actually made this testing less biased. Athletes a plain old case of the NCAA and affiliated colleges proare actually allowed to opt out of testing as long as they tecting themselves and their interests. There are certainly sign a waiver indemnifying the NCAA of liability. racial battles to fight with NCAA but this isn’t it. So while this shows that the NCAA doesn’t necessarily care about the health of their athletes as much as it cares rjc72@cabrini.edu