the Quadrangle THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF MANHATTAN COLLEGE | SINCE 1924
Volume XCVI, Issue 7
OCTOBER 10, 2017
www.mcquad.org
Manhattan Trails Benchmarks on Sexual Assault Rose Brennan & Lauren Schuster Asst. Editor & Staff Writer
A Vigil for Vegas
Days after 58 were slain at a country music concert in Las Vegas, the largest mass shooting in American history, students and faculty gathered on the quadrangle to reflect and pray by candlelight. FULL COVERAGE ON PAGE 3. PHOTO BY FERNANDO BERRA KOSSIK/ COURTESY
Assembly Talks Transfer Credits, Wi-Fi at Second Meeting Stephen Zubrycky Editor-in-Chief
The Manhattan College Student Government Assembly met Wednesday for its third open meeting of the academic year. The meeting, which was notable for its absences among Assembly members, was called to order shortly after noon in Kelly 4B by President Micaela Bishop. The floor went first to Vice President for Club Administration Patrick Maurer, who discussed his plans to review club proposals starting this week. The floor then passed to Ryan Quattromani of the Neighborhood Relations Committee. Quattromani described his committee’s cooperation with the event services department on a venture to open Kelly Commons to local Riverdale residents for movie nights. Event Services Coordina-
IN NEWS:
Coffee and Conversation on p. 2
President Micaela Bishop and Executive Vice President Phillip Mourikes led the semester’s second Assembly meeting. STEPHEN ZUBRYCKY / THE QUADRANGLE tor Devin Keast described his department’s vision for the program. “On behalf of the events department, we’d like to show off these rooms a little more… while including the neighborhood and perhaps even strengthening our community ties by showing classic films… films that kids and perhaps
even their parents haven’t seen on the big screen,” Keast said. Keast cited such films as “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” and the “Harry Potter” series as examples of what the college would
The 2017 Safety and Fire Report released by the Office of Public Safety revealed some troubling trends regarding sexual assault and dating violence on campus. Within the past three years, there have been four rapes on Manhattan College’s campus. The report also recorded one dating violence allegation and four stalking allegations during this time. Out of these nine allegations, none of them were later revealed to be unfounded. The rape and stalking numbers have increased from last year’s report which recorded three rape allegations and one stalking allegation. The dating violence number remained at one allegation. As a way to raise awareness of these issues, the college holds a mandatory presentation titled “Fundamentals for Freshmen” at the beginning of each school year. However, this presentation may not have been as effective as intended, especially with its newly employed skits which depicted scenarios of sexual assault. “They took comedy as a part of it, and it did help in a way because it got people to relate to them, but it also took away from it being a serious topic,” said Jennifer Bueti, a freshman who attended the presentation. According to senior Samantha Roth, the information provided in the presentation might be more effective if it was reinforced yearly. “It doesn’t matter how old you get. Sexual assault is always going to be prevalent in every grade,” she said. The campus provides many resources for victims of sexual assault. These include confidential resources such as the campus chaplain, counseling center and Health Services Office and non-confidential re-
sources such as the Office of the Dean of Students, Office of Residence Life and the Office of Public Safety, among others. But according to Bueti, these resources were almost given as an afterthought during the presentation. “They did [it] at the end because it was a requirement. They were like, ‘oh, by the way, in your school, this is where this is. Thanks for listening, bye,’” she said. Some of the college’s resources have a limited engagement. The Health Services office and the Counseling Center are only open on weekdays. In contrast, Fordham University’s Health Center provides office hours for its students seven days a week. Fordham also provides 24-hour emergency medical services to students on the Rose Hill campus seven days a week. According to a study done by the U.S Department of Justice titled “The Campus Sexual Assault Study”, sexual assaults were most likely to occur between September and November, on Friday and Saturday nights between the hours of midnight and 6:00 a.m. MC students can seek help off-campus at the 50th Precinct of the New York City Police Department (non-confidential) and at the North Central Bronx Hospital (confidential). MC’s resources should not be viewed as all-encompassing for victims of such crimes, as the college’s Health Services office does not provide rape kits. This was confirmed by the college’s Counseling Center, as well as senior student Alannah Boyle. Though she was not a victim of a crime which would merit a rape kit, Boyle once visited the Health Services office and asked for one. She was then told that Health Services did
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IN FEATURES: Students Launch #DoItForPR Campaign on p. 6
IN A&E:
Multicultural Center launches “Frankencast” podcast on p. 10
IN SPORTS:
MC starts Jasper Jumpstart program on p. 11