Issue 7, Fall 2017 - The Quadrangle

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

News

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the Quadrangle Volume XCVI, Issue 7 OCTOBER 10, 2017

THE QUADRANGLE

Students Weigh in at Coffee and Conversation

The Editorial Board

Stephen Zubrycky Editor in Chief Jack Melanson News Editor

Haley Burnside Joseph Liggio Asst. News Editors

Ally Hutzler Features Editor Managing Editor

Megan Dreher Asst. Features Editor

Taylor Brethauer Arts & Entertainment Editor Managing Editor

Rose Brennan Asst. Arts & Entertainment Editor

RikkiLynn Shields Sports Editor

Charles Lippolis Asst. Sports Editor

Tara Marin Social Media Editor

Catherine Goodyear Asst. Social Media Editor

Aaron Mayorga Photography Editor

Anja Pollozi Asst. Photography Editor

Alyssa Velazquez Production Editor

Abbi Kirollos Asst. Production Editor

Victoria Hernandez Morales Multimedia Editor August Kissel Daniel Molina Web Editors Thomas Callahan Faculty Advisor About The Quadrangle A tradition since 1924, The Quadrangle is a news or ganization run by the students of Manhattan College. We strive to cover news around campus and the greater community, publishing weekly in print and daily online. Our goal is always accuracy, relevancy and professionalism.

The opinions expressed in The Quadrangle are those of the individual writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board, the College or the student body.

Join The Quadrangle The Quadrangle’s staff holds weekly open meetings on Tuesdays at 4 p.m. in Kelly Commons Room 412. All are welcome to come and join the club.

Connect with The Quadrangle

mcquad.org @mcquad @the_quadrangle mcquad

Coffee and Conversation is held in the Multicultural Center a few times a month. kelsey kovacs/ THE QUADRANGLE

Alexa Schmidt & Samantha Walla Staff Writers

On the first night of October, a mass shooting occurred on the Las Vegas Strip. It was reported that 58 were killed and that 489 were injured. This was the deadliest mass shooting by one person in U.S. history. On October 4, Manhattan College’s Multicultural Center held its third weekly Coffee and Conversation to discuss this topic.

Advertised as an event for “open-minded people,” Coffee and Conversation meets almost three times a month and aims to open a dialogue among students regarding the current events of the campus, community, and world at large.

This main goal of Coffee and Conversation, which is to broaden student views on important matters, continued to drive Monday’s event.

“We learned that it worked to have a topic that we can anticipate people having maybe different opinions on,” said Michael Vinci, a civil engineering student. “You come in, you discuss it, you hash it out and talk about your position and that’s what gets people to talk. It’s integral to the whole program.”

At the start of the event attendees wrote their definition of terrorism on a piece of paper before exchanging them with one another to anonymously share and discuss the complicated definition of terrorism.

After the brief introduction to the topic, the group delved into the topic of the week. To jump start discussion, a 2015

CNN article “When is a Mass Shooting Considered Terrorism?” was read and discussed.

With a topic as complex as terrorism, the discussion ranged far beyond personal responses and opinions to the event. Students brought up the logistics of gun laws, the media’s response to the incident, and the way in which police handle attacks of this magnitude. There were no breaks in discussion as students had a lot to say about the issue. Despite the grave nature of the topic, the talk served not only as an intellectual platform, but as a place of emotional support.

When dealing with upsetting and intricate topics, it is easy for people to refrain from speaking their minds. Tondreanna Esquilín and Mary Harsch, who serve on the Events Board along with Vinci, have experienced this first-hand.

“Sometimes the back-andforth between two people really discourages others from talking,” said Harsch. “In this environment, we don’t want to discourage anyone from saying their opinion, regardless of whether it’s drastically different than our opinion.”

This open nature of the Multicultural Center is an opportune place for meeting new people, especially for first-year students.

Although the Multicultural Center is fairly new, it regularly hosts Poetry Night, Trivia Night and Movies and Desserts in addition to Coffee and Conversation. This year they have began offering breakdancing classes in Alumni Hall to immerse students in hip hop culture.

Hayden Greene serves as

the coordinator of the Multicultural Events Board, but the students are mostly self-directed in leading, setting up, and advertising for the events. This self-direction allows for any student to start an event through the Multicultural Center.

“As long as there’s a purpose or meaning behind it, creates conversations, thought, provokes something, you’re not just doing something for fun. It’s to benefit the student body,” said sophomore Tondreanna Esquilín.

The Events Board meets once a week to plan their events, including the topics for Coffee and Conversation, which are usually based on current events. Other weeks the topics are centered around historical events or history month, as seen by this semester’s previous topics, such as DACA and Hurricane Maria during Latino Heritage Month. The members recall last year’s election producing the biggest turnout.

Above all, the Multicultural Center aims for Coffee and Conversation to be a place where all students can feel comfortable speaking their minds.

“It’s important to know that this is a respectful place.

The point of it is that someone who is anti-abortion can come in here and talk with someone who is pro-abortion and they can still have that mutual respect for each other and just hear each other’s sides. Or someone who is conservative can talk with somebody who is liberal. This is a place for them where they can just come and talk about it and express their opinions safely,” said Esquilín.

CORRECT IONS In “Columbus Day Bill Tabled by Manhattan College Senate After Tense Debate,” the line, “According to later interviews with Cacciavillani and Jayawickreme, he shot back at McEneney, saying, ‘You can’t do that,’ in response to McEneney’s motion,” was removed in a later version.

News

OCTOBER 10, 2017

Las Vegas Shooting Starts Discussion

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Just Peace Holds Candle Vigil on the Quad for Victims Megan Dreher & August Kissel Asst. Editor & Editor

In the late hours of Oct. 1, 2017, America witnessed the deadliest mass shooting to date. At approximately 10:08 p.m., Stephen Paddock, 64, opened fire on a crowd of concert goers in Las Vegas from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort. In the estimated 10 minutes of gunfire, 58 people were killed and almost 500 were injured.

According to BBC World News, approximately 23 weapons were found within Paddock’s suite. He had also set up cameras inside and outside of the suite to monitor anyone approaching.

At 11:20 p.m., SWAT teams and police officers entered Paddock’s suite to find him dead.

The cause of death was determined to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Paddock had a pilot and hunting license, he had no criminal record and also no known mental illnesses.

Many United States citizens reached out through social media to express their sympathy for victims and families.

Dr. Jonathan Keller, an assistant professor in the government department at Manhattan College, noted that this shooting differed from recent shootings the nation has seen largely in part due to its classification.

“First, let’s be clear about the fact that this event is being explained as a mass shooting, not as an act of domestic terrorism,” aid Dr. Keller. “In part because of the race of the shooter.

Contrast the coverage of this event with the San Bernadino and Orlando shootings, for example. That said, however we classify it, it is the worst such shooting in American history.”

A device known as a “bump stock” was used by Paddock during his attack on Sunday night. “Bump stocks” are an attachment that can be added to semiautomatic weapons allowing them to shoot at the caliber of an automatic weapon.

“Curiously, even the NRA, whose playbook is usually to ‘go dark’ after a mass shooting, has said that, while they do not support a bump stocks ban, they are not categorically opposed to it,” said Dr. Keller. “While a ban on these attachments is needed, in my view this does not really get us anywhere near the heart of the problem. The Assault Weapons Ban of 1994 - which effectively codified the ban President George H.W. Bush imposed via executive order in 1989, banning broad categories of semiautomatic

weapons, was allowed to sunset in 2004. Congress could have reauthorized it, and indeed, strengthened it.”

This shooting also raised more questions as to who can purchase and possess a firearm. Citizens are more hesitant to allow those with a diagnosed mental illness to possess a weapon capable of such destruction.

While there are background checks in place, many can slip through the cracks.

“Strengthening the mental health component of background checks is always a good idea, yes. But hitting this refrain — as if this is an appropriate/sufficient solution — is the standard playbook of congressional opponents of gun control after events like Las Vegas. The fact is that Stephen Paddock would not have been red flagged in any such check.

So that is a necessary but nowhere near sufficient response here,” said Keller.

Many members of the Manhattan College community woke up to news alerts of the shooting on their phones early Monday morning. While saddened by the news, many students were not particularly surprised.

“I think I felt very numb and I think that’s because when you are used to stuff like this happening in the news all of the time it kinda can seem like ‘well, it’s just another news story’ and then you realize that you’ve become so desensitized to it,” said president of Just Peace, Samantha Wilson.

As mass shootings have become all too common on both national and international stages, students have found it increasingly difficult to sympathize with those affected.

“I think that reading individual accounts of what happened helped me to put it into perspective a lot more than just reading numbers. The individual stories were the hardest to hear,” said Carly Brownell, sophomore.

President Brennan O’Donnell echoed the feelings of the nation, as well as the Manhattan College community.

“Words fail in the wake of such evil and such suffering.

The assault on our brothers and sisters in Las Vegas—and in Orlando, or Sandy Hook, or anywhere in the world—is an assault on all of us,” said O’Donnell. “As Lasallians, we are called to sympathy and prayer for the dead and injured; we are also called to the hard work of building a more peaceful society, one in which obscenities such as we witnessed—yet again—this week would be unthinkable.”

With the Manhattan College

Flags with hopeful messages were placed into the grass on the quad during the candle vigil.

Rose brennan/ THE QUADRANGLE community pulling students coming from all corners of the world, there were students on campus who had connections with those affected by the massacre. As a result, members of Just Peace, with the help of Campus Ministry and Social Action (CMSA), felt the need to step forward and honor the victims.

On Thursday Oct. 5, students gathered in the Quad to attend a candlelight vigil. The students were lead in prayer by Conor Reidy, the campus minister, as well as select members of Just Peace. Each student received a candle and an orange flag, which represented gun violence awareness. 58 flags were handed out, each one representing a life lost. Students were then asked to write their thoughts and prayers and plant the flags in the quad to demonstrate Manhattan College’s support.

“I think doing stuff like this

Students gathered on the quad for a candle vigil on Oct. 5, led by Just Peace and Conor Reidy of CMSA. Rose brennan/ THE QUADRANGLE

[the vigil] is a good way to help people to overcome that and realize that it’s not just another news story, it’s another life lost and it’s important to recognize them,” said Wilson.

Junior Mattie Thrall agreed.

“In the desensitized society that we live in, it’s nice to have a visual to represent the lives lost, and we felt a vigil would represent that best,” said Thrall.

Reidy credited the students for the urgency in responding to the mass shooting.

“I believe that responses of this nature need to come first and foremost from the student body. I think when tragedies, massacres, horrible instances like this occur, then the onus should be the backs and the wills of the students. If you look throughout history, it is students and student groups that have made huge differences in social movements throughout the course of the 20th

century… I believe that it is the power of the student body, which is over 3000 individuals in a unified voice saying ‘Stop’,” said Reidy.

Reidy, who assisted in planning the vigil, enforced the importance of student involvement with political, social and environmental issues that our country has faced in recent years. As a Lasallian community, students are called to respond to those in need with compassion and support.

“As a catholic campus ministry we are called to read the signs of the times and stand in solidarity with those who are suffering wherever they are.

Respond as appropriately as we can. Whether that be advocating for policy change in order to help alleviate the suffering of others. Or whether it be through prayer and encouraging others that our minds and hearts start with prayer in order to walk that road of solidarity that calls us to action,” Reidy said.

Dr. Keller reiterated the importance of student involvement, and encourages students to continue to care and reach out to their local public officials to make their concerns known.

“Find out if your congressman or senator supports gun control, and how hard (s)he is working to pass meaningful legislation. Find out if they are a major recipient of N.R.A. contributions. Let them know how you feel,” said Dr. Keller.

In Thursday night’s vigil, the prayer read, “We represent one voice, the voice of bitter weeping echoing throughout our cities and resounding in communities throughout the world.” Students and faculty of MC plan to contribute to that global voice in speaking out against gun violence and the mass murdering of innocent civilians.

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News

THE QUADRANGLE

Assembly Talks Transfer Credits, Manhattan College Trails Benchmarks on Internet Access at Meeting

Sexual Assault

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Students met on the fourth floor of Kelly Commons for the Assembly meeting.

STEPHEN ZUBRYCKY / THE QUADRANGLE offer to locals.

Event Services, looking for funding for the films and possibly concessions, reached out to Quattromani’s committee. Keast also mentioned that Hayden Greene of the Multicultural Center was interested in becoming involved.

Following this, Vice President for Residential Affairs Partick Estanbouli took over the floor to discuss his work with the Resident Student Association (RSA).

The RSA is planning to circulate a petition to repair elevators in Horan and Jasper Halls. The ultimate goal of this petition is total replacement of the chronically broken elevator systems in those buildings.

The RSA’s petition follows a Horan Hall work order workshop, which, according to Estanbouli, resulted in a flood of hundreds of elevator-related work orders descending on Physical Plant.

Estanbouli then went on to discuss internet access both inside and outside of the residence halls.

Student Government will be piloting an ethernet-cable giveaway program to lessen the burden on the college’s WiFi infrastructure.

Estanbouli urged students with gaming consoles, desktop computers or stationary laptops to make the switch to ethernet.

“A lot of students are not using their ethernet cords for things that should be in ethernet cords,” Estanbouli said.

“People who are sitting down watching HBOGo shouldn’t really be watching off the Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi should really be for the students who are trying to do homework.”

For Estanbouli, improving Wi-Fi is a top priority. Estanbouli wants to push Wi-Fi improvements, which he says are currently located at the end of Residence Life’s ten year plan, to the top of the priorities list.

Following the discussion about residence halls was the topic of commuter students. In Vice President for Commuter Affairs Margaret Flores’ absence, Executive Vice Presi-

dent Phillip Mourikes spoke on the matter.

“The goal that they’ve been working on for years is finding a space for commuters,” Mourikes said. “Ideally we want it Kelly Commons.”

The Assembly then discussed an upcoming commuter talent show, which, according to Commuter Representative Anna Rosario, is scheduled to be held in November.

The final, broad discussion of the meeting centered on the business of the Educational Affairs Commission (EAC), of which Vice President for Academic Affairs Kaitlyn von Runnen.

The EAC is currently working on changes to the transfer credit policy.

“You have to have off campus courses be equivalent to a course that’s offered at Manhattan College,” von Runnen said.

“And it has to be approved.”

While the policy is not yet finalized, von Runnen said she expects that students will be required to seek approval from the chair of the equivalent course’s department, and the dean of that department’s school.

The college is also tightening its restrictions on courses that it will accept transfer credit for from other institutions.

Students applying for transfer credit will now be required to have a reason to take a course off campus.

“They are going to be stricter on allowing [transfer courses],” von Runnen said. “So it’s going to be more geared towards students who either had to drop a class, medical leave of absence, failed a course, things like that.”

Von Runnen also reiterated that all faculty members are required to give midterm grades to all students, and that that grade must be an accurate reflection of the student’s performance. This policy contradicts an email sent to faculty earlier this semester.

“The email that was sent to faculty said that they only had to give grades if it was a D or an F,” von Runnen said. “So,

they’re resending an email. You should all have midterm grades for all of your courses.”

Von Runnen concluded with a discussion of the college’s macroscopic academic plans for the future.

Manhattan plans to revamp its first year experience programs, bringing them into all five undergraduate schools by next fall. The EAC is also looking to offer more experiential learning opportunities, including service learning, study abroad, research, internships and capstone projects.

Student Government is looking to increase participation in its committees and in the Assembly.

The meeting had several notable absences, including newly elected Freshman Vice Presidents Jack Kornutik and Grace Owens.

Mourikes emphasized the importance of participation in the Assembly and expressed his frustration with the meeting’s limited attendance.

“We try to do things, and we can only do so much. Our eyes and our ears are only in so many places,” Mourikes said.

“That’s why we have an assembly of 35, 40 people. And yet we have half attendance.”

Bishop is looking to prime the participation pump, arguing that active and engaged students and representatives are fundamentally important to the operations of the Student Government.

“We just need representatives to at least be part of one committee,” Bishop said. “People need to show up at those committee meetings as well.”

“This isn’t a group of students that you come to every other week to sit in a meeting,” Bishop said. “This is a place where you come with your comments and your concerns and you are a voice for the people that you’re supposed to be representing.”

The next Assembly meeting will meet on Wednesday, Oct. 18, in Kelly Commons Room 5A at noon.

not provide this service. Boyle did this in order to understand the resources provided by the campus.

“I wasn’t trying to create any controversy, I just was trying to find out the information, and the only way I was really able to do that was to go to Health Services and ask for information about whether or not they did it,” Boyle said.

A “rape kit” is a forensic exam used to collect DNA evidence from a victim’s clothes and body following a sexual assault. The exam is time-consuming, but can be instrumental in determining the crime’s perpetrator.

While Health Services does not provide rape kits, it does conduct other services a victim might want, such as STD and pregnancy testing.

Rape kits can be obtained off-campus at the North Bronx Central Hospital, which has a Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) unit. The college can provide transportation to this hospital should the victim request it.

“SARTs combine medicine, law enforcement and victim advocacy to ensure that sexual assault victims receive appropriate medical attention, emotional support and referral information,” said Amy Dall, the assistant director for health services at MC. When asked about the lack of this service on campus, some of MC’s female students were upset and confused.

“That infuriates a lot of people that I know, and I was shocked when I heard that,” Bueti said.

“If we’re paying $56,000 a year to go here and have health services, we should be afforded all of the health services that are needed,” Roth said.

However, Boyle said that the school’s inability to provide rape kits could stem from a lack of practical resources.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea if a school doesn’t have the space or the ability to do something really well,” Boyle said. “We live in New York City and there’s phenomenal places within a five minute drive from here that do provide services.

So partnering with them is probably a more pragmatic solution.”

Assistant Vice President for Human Resources and Title IX Coordinator Vicki Cowan urged all students to familiarize themselves with the college’s sexual assault procedures, which can be found on the college’s website.

“The campus community is encouraged to take advantage

of educational training offered by the college and to familiarize themselves with our policies and procedures,” she said.

Boyle believes that Cowan has been instrumental in communicating the availability of the school’s resources for sexual assault victims.

“I think that she’s done a very great job in working with students, personally, in talking to me about [...] what I saw on campus and helping me to better understand the process of how things work on campus

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Manhattan College Health Services does not offer “rape kits” on campus. They can, however, be obtained at North Bronx Central Hospital. and why the policies are in place and how they’re in place to protect students,” Boyle said.

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, more than 90 percent of sexual assault victims on college campuses do not report the assault. With this statistic in mind, Resident Director Ron Jovi Ramirez said that it was “very likely that some violations were not reported” to the college.

“Even if the availability is there, we’re still going to have that problem where women or men aren’t going to feel comfortable enough to use those facilities,” Roth said.

To Ramirez, the solution to the issue of campus sexual assault can begin with students raising awareness on campus.

“To be more aware of these violations occurring, the campus must be a community and look out for one another. Being an active bystander can help to prevent a possibility of these crimes to occur on this campus,” he said.

Ramirez is also a certified trainer for the college’s Green Dot program, which serves to empower bystanders when they witness “power-based personal violence”.

“As active bystanders, we can help each other out when we see something that we do not feel right about, and it can help promote the culture here on campus that these violations and actions are not allowed and will not be tolerated here,” he said.

Features

OCTOBER 10, 2017

Communication Alumni Turns Internship into Career at “Saturday Night Live” Taylor Brethauer Editor

Manhattan College always encourages students to find internships to better their chances at getting a career in their field of study. This is especially the case for seniors, where some often find a job at the very place they intern.

For Cristina “Tina” Fernandez, her internship was a dream come true for any broadcasting student: “Saturday Night Live”.

“I originally went into the communication field because it is such a broad spectrum and I knew I wanted to go into the entertainment industry, I just wasn’t completely sure what aspect. I declared my concentration as broadcasting going into sophomore year of college. I did this because I wanted to get closer to TV production itself and learn as much as I could,” said Fernandez in her email interview.

Fernandez graduated in 2016 but had already been interning at the sketch comedy show during her final semester at MC. She credits her broadcasting classes for teaching her valuable information she would need when she would inevitably work on a set.

But the person she credits most of all is Michael Grabowski, Ph.D., an associate professor of the communication department. Grabowski teaches broadcasting classes on working in a television studio, fieldwork and post-production work.

“Professor Grabowski is such a great teacher. Some of the best things I learned from him that inspired me in relation to my internship and job are the daily tips and pieces of advice he would give the class.

He taught us as much as he could in the classroom but in this field, I feel, there are certain situations where you could only learn on the job and that’s where I’ve found his advice has come to mind more than I can count. It may sound like common sense but in relation to internships I remember him saying that we had to make

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Eoin O’Connell Discusses the Virtue of “Cool” in Dante Seminar Samantha Walla Staff Writer

Fernandez is now “SNL” star Leslie Jones’ personal assistant.

TINA FERNANDEZ / COURTESY ourselves irreplaceable. To go above and beyond what was expected of us in our internships so when the internship was over they had to hire you because they felt they needed you around. I tried my best to do just that in my ‘SNL’ internship and I think it worked,” said Fernandez.

It clearly worked as she has maintained her position on the “Saturday Night Live” team, but this time as an assistant to cast member Leslie Jones. Her job has her on set every week to help with Jones and her team.

When the show has a “dark week” (when there isn’t a new episode scheduled for that Saturday), Fernandez is on the road with Jones to other shows she has booked like the BET Awards, which Jones hosted over the past summer in June, or attending the Emmy Awards, where Jones was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series.

“My internship with ‘SNL’ got me where I am now so that’s really the best part. It helped tremendously because I made so many great connections at the show that were happy and willing to help me by referring me to other jobs they had heard of, including the job I have now,” said Fernandez.

At “SNL”, the MC alumni served as a writers research intern, helping writers and cast members with production and nonproduction-based tasks. “SNL” welcomes interns through their doors every semester to do jobs like these to help with the show’s busy work week leading up to the live show on Saturday.

“It was truly an awesome experience and I don’t think I would have ever experienced anything close to it elsewhere…

Fernandez worked at “Saturday Night Live” as a writers research intern during her senior year at MC. TINA FERNANDEZ / COURTESY

The best things I learned during my intern days [were] how to work in such a fast-paced environment and how to act and interact with talent. I was able to observe so much and I really tried to absorb as much as I could,” said Fernandez.

During her time interning, Fernandez was still a full-time student, finishing up her bachelor’s degree in broadcasting and being committed to the Jasper Dancers squad. The balancing act she had between her work life and school life allowed her to have valuable life skills in managing her time.

“Jasper Dancers was really one of the core aspects of my college experience that I wouldn’t trade for the world.

When I was a senior on the dance team, I was also interning at ‘SNL’. At times it was a lot to handle but it made me an expert at time management and was extremely disciplining. I remember having to skip some senior events so I could fulfill my commitments to dance team and ‘SNL’ so I feel the lessons I learned then have impacted how I prioritize my life after college,” said Fernandez.

Fernandez’s lucky break with “Saturday Night Live” and being an assistant to cast member Leslie Jones relates back to something professors always encourage students to take advantage of: apply for internships, put yourself out there and excel.

As for advice from Fernandez herself, she reassures students there is no hurt in trying and continuously make yourself open and available to anything.

“The advice I would give is to simply go for it. Work hard and put in the hours because it won’t go unnoticed. Say yes to everything that is asked of you and figure it out later. More specifically for ‘SNL’, I would say to apply and don’t get discouraged. Any way you can get your foot in the NBC door is amazing and then you can always network. It’s a huge part of this world so you might as well get good at it.”

Slang terms may come and go, but students have referred to everything from movies to music to having a class cancelled as “cool” for years.

Where did this term originate, and is it more than just a staple of teenage vernacular?

Eoin O’Connell, Ph.D., kicked off this semester’s first Dante Seminar at 4:30 p.m. on Oct. 4 in the Alumni Room of O’Malley Library. Newly returned from sabbatical, the associate professor and chairperson of the philosophy department explored the true meaning of “cool” through a lense of virtue ethics.

Before O’Connell began, Rocco Marinaccio welcomed the mingling crowd of new and old professors before the event began and encouraged everyone to attend the two remaining seminars of the semester, which will be given by Deirdre O’Leary and Claire Nolte.

Although the Dante Seminar is open to all members of the Manhattan College community, Wednesday’s meeting was comprised almost entirely of professors. The group meets six times a year, featuring scholarly discussions led by its members as well as an annual guest speaker. The seminar owes its name to the original purpose of the group: to discuss Dante Alighieri’s “Divine Comedy” in 1979.

“Virtue seems an old fashioned concept,” began O’Connell. “[But] philosophers talk about it because it is fundamental.”

O’Connell also noted that virtues regard total character as opposed to emotion, and that the word “cool” in particular is often used to describe admiration. However, being an admired trait is not enough for it to be a virtue, as “vicious people admire vicious traits.”

Before assessing “cool” as a virtue, O’Connell noted that understanding the origin and definition of the word is essential.

When contrasted with warm, cool has a negative connotation, as the word implies that the person whom it is describing is emotionally detached.

Alternatively, when contrasted with hot, cool takes a positive connotation, meaning that the person described is under control as opposed to being hotheaded.

Surprisingly, there is very little scholarly work done on the term, as O’Connell is only able to point to one article, “We’re Cool, Mom and Dad are Swell: Basic Slang and Generational Shifts in Values” by

Robert L. Moore. In this paper, Moore writes: “the slang term cool that emerged in the 1930s elaborated on the basic metaphor of subdued emotion adding in particular the qualities of knowingness, detachment, and control.”

O’Connell tackled each aspect of Moore’s thesis individually to complete the working definition of “cool.” Control is one’s ability to balance their person and their environment to protect themselves. Self control is often debated as being a virtue. Detachment implies emotional distance and the disengagement of the self from the rest of the world. O’Connell also references Ralph Ellison’s “Invisible Man” in which sunglasses are utilized to create a feeling of distance and detachment from the ugliness of the world. Knowingness is simply having inside knowledge.

The origin of the word “cool” may be attributed to Lester Young, one of the most influential jazz saxophonists of all time, who used the O’Connell word to refer described the to a state of word “cool” in mind, mean- the context of ing calm and virtues. in control.

“It might PHOTO COURTESY be the right MANHATTAN answer but COLLEGE not necessarily the most interesting answer,” said O’Connell.

The speaker then went on to discuss the concept of “cool” in the context of black Americans under white supremacy and its many complexities.

Cool often comes with confidence, of which there are different types. There is confidence of bravado and confidence of happiness, the latter occurs when one is in harmony with their environment. In the context of an African American’s “cool” under white supremacy, the environment of a cool person is not comfortable.

Following O’Connell’s presentation, professors responded with comments, critiques and questions to further develop the presentation. The impact of the seminar did not end there, as attendees came away with a hefty reading list, as O’Connell cited the works of Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, and Norman Mailer among others.

The next Dante seminar is scheduled for 4:00 p.m. on Nov. 2 with presenter Deirdre O’Leary of the English department.

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Manhattan Students Come To Launching #DoItForP Taylor Brethauer Editor

After the devastation and destruction in Puerto Rico left

by Hurricane Maria, help and donations have come pouring into the island, which has been without water and electricity since the end of September.

One group on the Manhattan College campus has been a key factor in collecting monetary and supply donations, aptly calling themselves “Do It for Puerto Rico.”

As reported in The Quadrangle in the story “MC Reflects on Hurricane Maria,” there was a group of students planning relief efforts soon after the hurricane ruined the island in the Caribbean. This group has since made their name known on campus.

Hurricane Maria has left all of the island’s inhabitants without water, electricity and means of communication to family members. It was one of the worst hurricanes in recent history to hit the island.

“The second worst one was like in the [1920s]. Like our great-grandparents remember it, not even our grandparents. It was intense to see… not even our parents could prepare us or tell us from experience ‘this is what’s gonna happen, don’t worry, we’ll bounce back,’” said Rocio Ramallo, a junior biology major and Puerto Rico native.

“We would joke about hurricane season but nothing would ever happen. [This time], my mom was telling me ‘I’m actually nervous.’ I told her it’s going to be fine, nothing ever happens in Puerto Rico, it’s going to be fine. She’s like

The students went to a donation drive on Sept. 30 hosted by Bronx borough president Ruben Diaz Jr (fourth from left). do it for puerto rico / Courtesy ‘no this time, I think it’s going to be bad,’” said Maria De Francisco, a junior communication major. She’s from Colombia but has lived in Puerto Rico for a few years.

It was because of this connection to Puerto Rico— students from there, who have family there, who have lived there at some point or just want to help those in need—that Do It for Puerto Rico, or #DoItForPR, came together.

“We basically created like a group message saying ‘this is a meeting we’ll have and we’ll talk about any ideas we have to try and raise money [and] col-

Junior Emilia Rosaly helps tape up a box of donations at the drive. do it for puerto rico / Courtesy

lect products to send to Puerto Rico.’ It consists of people that aren’t really Puerto Ricans but know us and want to help us… people who live there… It’s open, we’re not really closed to just us it’s open to anyone who can and wants to help,” said Ramallo.

Many of the members do share the common link of coming from Puerto Rico, but it has also been about friends coming together to help any way that they can.

“After the hurricane crisis in Puerto Rico we all automatically came together to kind of help even though we’re far away

from home. So all of the Puerto Ricans said ‘what are we going to do about it?’ Some [resident assistants] got involved, like Nate [Garcia]… even though he’s not from the island but he’s been really involved in it. It was just an automatic thing for us,” said Natalia Alvarez, a junior international studies major.

Things quickly went underway with planning events to give back. Nathanial Garcia, as Alvarez mentioned, began helping with the group when they began looking to help out in any way they could. Garcia is a senior biology major and resident assistant in Horan Hall.

Garcia, reached out to Amanda Septimo, a contact he had through the local Bronx government. Septimo helps out with nonprofit events and had previously worked on Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.’s campaign, so she let Garcia and the group know about a donation drive the borough president was running.

Kathleen Von Euw from Campus Ministry and Social Action was able to orchestrate a van and driver for the group’s trip to the drive, where nine members attended.

“The event was crazy. I thought it was going to be like a couple people organizing some things but there were hundreds of volunteers and thousands of people donating,” said Garcia.

The group arrived around 10 a.m. on Sept. 30 and helped fill three cargo containers to the brim only three hours later.

As the group was leaving, they commented on the fact that two empty 18-wheelers were pulling up to house more donations. Cars had been lined up down the street for a mile or so, ready to donate to the drive.

It was a clear showing of community coming together during a time of need. Before the group left for the day, they were interviewed by CBS News affiliate 1010 WINS about the importance of helping Puerto Rico.

Bringing their help back to the campus of Manhattan College, the group then planned a grilled cheese night on Oct. 3.

“We were looking for different ideas for different fundraisers because we didn’t want to stick one. Basically we had taken the idea [from L.O.V.E trips] and then talked to student government who told us what to do and who to talk to like Gourmet Dining, who donated a lot of the food,” said De Francisco.

Brian Weinstein was another key contact for this event, but the group also saw an outpour of help from others around campus in special ways, either in ingredient donations or monetary donations.

The Horan Hall lobby was full of music and the smell of grilled cheese that night, with group members running in and out to deliver the sandwiches to students around campus. The fundraiser was also accepting Venmo, the money-sharing app, in order to collect money from

Features

OCTOBER 10, 2017

7

ogether to Help Puerto Rico, PR Campaign for Relief

The group has brought together students from Puerto Rico and those wanting to help those in need, in order to support the relief efforts. do it for puerto rico / Courtesy

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#DoItForPR raised over $1200 at their grilled cheese fundraiser in Horan Hall on Oct. 3. those who weren’t carrying cash. Overall, the group raised over $1200 for their cause, all of which will be donated to Puerto Rico relief funds.

Other help has presented itself in the student’s connections, such as Sofia Tollinche’s past internship with state assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz.

“His office, along with three other representatives, is serving as a donation point and right now we’re going to send in two vans next Friday to go pick up a lot of donations. They have boxes up to the ceiling… they’re getting donations from the school league, getting donations from local schools, it’s been crazy. They didn’t think [and] I didn’t think we were going to get so many donations and that’s only his office. I don’t know how many donations the other representatives are getting. It’s a big deal and I’m very happy with the outcome,” said Tollinche, a junior international studies and communication major, who is a Puerto Rico native.

The response, not just from community representatives, but also students from Manhattan College, has been moving to the students involved.

“Since it technically happened to us and our families, it’s not the same as someone being like ‘hey I’m not from this place but I want to raise money.’

The passion is different. They

see our faces, they see how we have been affected by what happened. People are more willing to be involved because they see ‘oh you are a person that has been affected, I can see how this has affected your life so I can be more sympathetic to you’ so they’re more willing to donate,” said Ramallo.

The sympathy has been evident not just in benefits for Puerto Rico, but also for Hurricane Harvey and the Las Vegas shooting. Manhattan College has been known to respectfully respond to a hurting community which makes #DoItForPR a cause many are doing anything they can do to help, due in part to classmates being directly affected by it.

“It makes it real for students… they have class with them, they see them around campus, it’s their family. [It’s] their dads, moms, dogs, little brothers and sisters, you know?

It’s real,” said Garcia.

Student response has been clear for #DoItForPR while they have been doing other events such as tabling on the quad during Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the month.

It allows for people to see those who have been affected and talk to directly on their experiences.

“People that were just passing by [the tabling event] who know us, they were stopping and donate each time they passed by not just once. It was very nice to see people wanting to support the cause and help us,” said De Francisco.

Most recently, statistics have been showing that half of the citizens in Puerto Rico, whose total population is 3.4 million, have regained access to safe drinking water. Only five percent of the island has electricity. The students were open to sharing stories and the status of their families.

“I couldn’t get in contact

with my parents after a week.

I think I was the last one to get in contact with my mom. I had to wait like a week to get someone to answer my call and calls wouldn’t go through. It was pretty intense and hard. I complain that my mom calls twenty-eight times a day… but that day I was like, ‘you know, I’d rather have her call thirty times a day than [having] no idea where she was. I had no idea where she was or how any of my family was doing… I received a text from my mom a few days ago and she told me ‘you know what, you have to stay in the States, don’t come back because we are never going to be what we were… Don’t you dare come back because there is nothing for you here.’

To hear your mom to tell you that… that’s how we are right now,” said Tollinche.

The stories shared by these Puerto Rican students is the phrase used “luxury of talk to parents.” Many don’t have plans of going home, not until winter break, but that is still only a possibility. Tollinche, however, plans to return for a wedding in November but she is unsure if she’s mentally prepared to see the destruction of the place she grew up. She also plans on studying abroad in the winter intercession as per her mother’s instructions, so she doesn’t have to stay in the destruction back home.

“When you hear [stuff like that] from your parents, you know your parents are there to comfort you, that’s when you realize it’s bad. Like my dad, I find him like a fearless man and for him to tell me ‘I’m scared for this’ was really shocking.

Then to not hear from them for a couple of days was more nerve-wracking… I saw videos of my street where I live but I didn’t even recognize it until they said it was my street. It’s very real for us even though

we’re not there. I don’t know what will happen when we go back, I don’t know if it’s going to be very overwhelming to see it so differently,” said Alvarez.

For more ways to gain awareness of what is happening in their lives, the Social Action Suite plans to “donate” their window and allow the students to share their stories of what is going on back home and why they will continue to raise funds and collect supplies for their families and friends in a broken country.

What the group has planned next is the possibility of an off-campus benefit concert, more tabling and talking to more community representatives. Some students expressed guilt for being so far away from home while their families are hurting, but the spirit and love they express for their island

knows no distance as they continue to cultivate more help.

“They embody the spirit of Puerto Rico: they’re resilient, they’re proud and they’re persistent. They’ll bounce back and it’s not easy for them. I know they’re all really anxious for what their family is going through… everyday life has stopped in Puerto Rico but they’re still managing, they’re going to classes and taking their tests and doing well. I think they set an example and while I might not be from there or directly impacted, I at least want to donate my time. But also, this community extends well beyond Puerto Rico,” said Garcia.

Junior Sofia Tollinche speaks to a news anchor from CBS affliate 1010 WINS during the drive. do it for puerto rico / Courtesy

Hundreds of volunteers lined up to donate goods for those on the island devastated by Hurricane Maria. do it for puerto rico / Courtesy

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THE QUADRANGLE

Cartoonist Art Spiegelman Pens Graphic Novel THE BOOK NOOK Gillian Puma Contributor

Art Spiegelman is an American cartoonist known for writing graphic novels.

Spiegelman uses his talent in his biographical novels known as “Maus”. Short for Mauschwitz (an alternative for Auschwitz), Maus is a tragic yet uniquely told story about a man reconnecting with his father and learning about his survival in the Holocaust.

Coming in two volumes known as “Maus: My Father Bleeds History” and “Maus: And Here My Troubles Began”, Spiegelman tells this biography in the most unique way. Using his skills in comic design, Spiegelman separates the Jews by designing them as mice. He then designs the Nazis as cats and the Polish as pigs, adding a sense of allegory to this story.

Spiegelman starts the novel in 1958 describing a childhood experience he encountered with his father, Vladek.

While complaining to Vladek that his friends left him behind, his father responds with a statement regarding to his experience while hiding from

the Nazis. It is now 1978 and Spiegelman is now an adult who has become distant from Vladek. Vladek has remarried a new woman since the suicide of Spiegelman’s mother and has become difficult to get along with. However, this doesn’t stop him from exploring his father’s history.

Vladek recollects stories from the Holocaust, but also tells of his personal life outside of the events. We learn of Vladek’s relationship with his original wife, being drafted into the war, the harsh realities of the concentration camps, and finally the harsh toll on Vladek and his wife mentally once the war ended. The novel takes us in what is one of the most realistic interpretation of what living in Poland in these dark times.

In 1992, “Maus” was the first graphic novel to win a Pulitzer Prize and won the American Book Award the same year.

When I told people that it was a graphic novel, they instantly assumed it was a comic book. I feel that graphic novels as a genre is never taken seriously because people see it as a

The title of Art Spiegelman’s graphic novels, “Maus,” is short for “Mauschwitz,” an alternative for Auschwitz, the Holocaust concentration camp.

GILLIAN PUMA / THE QUADRANGLE bunch of drawings and an “easy of Charlottesville. I immedi- These neo-Nazis don’t seem read”. However I finished both ately thought back to the sto- to be truly educated about the volumes in a day not because it ries that Vladek had discussed destruction the events caused they were easy reads, but be- in Maus. After rereading this on a lot of people. Rereading cause it was so intriguing to see novel again, I was absolutely the novel at this time opened the events Vladek had encoun- disgusted by the events that my eyes even more. I highly tered during this time period. occurred. The fact that these recommend reading this novel Even though I read this American men were support- if you are looking for not only book in the summer of 2016, I ing the events that happened a quick read, but to be inspired decided to reread it in the sum- less than a hundred years and educated on the events of mer of 2017 during the events ago was genuinely terrifying. the Holocaust.

American Shakespeare Center to Perform at MC Ally Hutzler Editor

This Friday, Oct. 13, the American Shakespeare Center will be returning to Manhattan College for a performance of “Macbeth” at 8 p.m. in Smith Auditorium.

The traveling troupe has been visiting the campus for the last five years, and in the past has presented sold out performances of “Romeo and Juliet” and “Much Ado About Nothing.”

The ASC was founded in 1988 by Jim Warren and Ralph Alan Cohen, but is connected to MC by English professor Brian Chalk who, during his undergraduate years at James Madison University, was taught

by Cohen and was inspired by him to pursue a career in Shakespearean literature.

“Macbeth is about an ambitious man trying to make a mark, thinking through what it means to achieve something in this world at the expense of leaving something positive be-

hind for posterity and he makes the wrong decision,” Chalk said. “More interestingly, he is a murderer with an acute sense of his own moral failings.”

The American Shakespeare Center performs these plays as though they are performing for a Shakespearean audience in the sixteenth century.

The actors take the stage in full lighting, they move quickly, and they never change even a single word of the original text.

Joseph Clark, who is on his second consecutive tour with the group, will be playing the role of Banquo this upcoming Friday. After performing at MC last year, he admits that performing for a college crowd is different from a traditional audience.

“I do find that most college crowds are more outspoken, and less afraid to vocally react to what they see on stage, which is nice,” he said.

In order to prepare for his role as Banquo, Clark has to activate the lower register of his voice due to the fact that his normal speaking voice is a bit

higher than the character he is trying to portray. He also has to practice widening his stance and his walk, because of Banquo’s role as a soldier.

As far as what messages and themes students can take away from “Macbeth” Clark states that there is a “careful what you wish for” message that is universal for any audience.

“I also think there’s some interesting questions about whether we have control over our destiny and our actions or if we’re merely puppets being beckoned forward by more powerful beings than ourselves,” he added.

Ally Farzetta will take the stage playing the role of Lady Macbeth in the upcoming performance. It is her first season with the traveling troupe.

While she has never performed at MC, Farzetta is from the New York City area and has been preparing for the role by spreading the word to her family and friends about the show.

She agrees with Clark that performing for a college audience is very vocal

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The American Shakespeare Center will be performing “Macbeth” on Friday night in Smith Auditorium. and interactive.

“Often times students have recently read the plays we’re performing for them, so they are pretty familiar with it and able to really go on the ride with us without trying to figure out who’s who and what’s going on as much,” she said.

Farzetta’s favorite role she has ever played is Elinor from Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility,” which she is currently performing this season on tour.

“From day one I’ve felt re-

ally connected to her and I feel like I know her more than I’ve ever known any other character I’ve played before,” she said.

Kyle Powell, who will be performing the roles of witch, Donalbain, and murderer, is looking forward to the play on Friday because he states that college students force the actors to “show up 100 percent of the time.”

As far as relations and connections to Shakespeare’s work, Powell notes that the words of Shakespeare are as prevalent in a college community than they were hundreds of years ago.

“I think college is a time when people get really ambitious, both academically and socially. Because of this, a lot of rash decisions and mistakes are made,” he said. “Sometimes beautiful, sometimes not so much. Macbeth is a good lesson about how cutting corners never works out in the long run and secrets rarely remain secret without destroying the person.”

OCTOBER 10, 2017

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Grabowski Lectures on VR in the Classroom Timothy Hamling Staff Writer

Ever since personal computers became an affordable consumer product in the late 20th century, technology has continued to evolve and find ways to integrate with education. Computer labs turned into personal laptops for students, and personal laptops turned into tablet devices. With technological advances increasing at a nonstop pace, the future of educational technology, or EdTech, sits at a precipice: the precipice of virtual reality.

Manhattan College students and faculty got a taste of the “virtual world” on Thursday Oct. 5 with an event titled “The State of EdTech in 2017.”

Organized by Shawna Bu Shell, Ph.D., an assistant professor from the School of Education, the goal of the event was to highlight some interesting new technologies, and explain how they could be integrated into an educational setting.

The event began with an overview of virtual reality technology presented by Michael Grabowski, Ph.D., of the communications department. Virtual reality, sometimes shortened to “VR,” is the ability to create and interact with virtual worlds.

Often, VR is implemented using mounted headsets. These VR headsets can be as simple as the $5 Google Cardboard, which is a box that allows you to use a smartphone to create a virtual environment, or can be as advanced as the $500 Oculus Rift, a headset that tracks body and hand movement and delivers haptic feedback and stereo sound. Devices such as the Rift have also seen increased usage in the development of VR videogames.

With education the key point of the event, Grabowski made the point that VR headsets can easily be applied to any classroom environment. “VR, it’s a great medium for seeing spaces that are difficult to get to,” said Grabowski.

An example application Grabowski gave for a science class could be a virtual tour of the international space station.

“If you want to demonstrate what [it] looks like on the inside, you can watch a video, or you can put on these VR goggles and see all around you and feel like you’re actually inside that vehicle.”

However, VR has many uses beyond science classes.

“There was a 360-video [The New York Times] created

The lecture, entitled “The State of EdTech in 2017,” was delivered by Michael Grabowski, Ph.D., of the communication department.

MEGHAN POLHEMUS / THE QUADRANGLE called ‘The Displaced’ and that video shows refugee children and how they’re living in war zones and in refugee camps,” Grabowski said. Videos like this can be useful for a history lesson or someone studying current events. “This technology can bring students outside of the classroom and into these other spaces virtually,” emphasized Grabowski.

The presentation went on to describe virtual reality in more detail. The technology we see today in devices such as the Oculus Rift or the HTC Vive, which is another VR Headset, has evolved from older devices such as the Kinetiscope— a VR predecessor developed by Edison in the 1880s. VR headsets set themselves apart from other video projection methods because, as Grabowski said, “we can’t look at these things together. VR is an individual experience.”

VR technology still has improvements to be made and hurdles to overcome, such as problems with latency (keeping the virtual display synced up to real time without lag), and visual pixilation (producing an image that is as high-resolution as possible). However, these are minor improvements, and will only get better as new technology is created.

Manhattan College is beginning to tread the virtual water, and has acquired a few pieces of VR technology. “Our communication department just purchased a VR camera and

our students are going to experiment on shooting 360-degree videos and understand how that’s different from the traditional two-dimensional screen,” said Grabowski. Grabowski showed off the camera, called the Ricoh Theta V, during his presentation.

Grabowski ended by arguing that VR is no longer technology of the future— it is technology of the present, and can easily be integrated into many aspects of the classroom. However, VR is not the only technology that schools are adopting.

The event went on to discuss 3D Printing, an area of mechanical design that Manhattan College has already adopted.

Companies such as MakerBot are trying to bring 3D printers into all levels of schools, from elementary to collegiate.

By using simple computeraided design software, known as CADD software, anyone can create and print a physical object using 3D printers.

Grabowski pointed out that 3D printing can easily be combined with VR to further aid and immerse students.

“You can create and design something in CADD and then put the VR goggles on and go into the design yourself,” said Grabowski. “Rather than seeing the design from a flat screen, you can see it from a 3D space and see how it is operating.”

The ability to interact with a virtual object before printing it from a 3D printer and physically holding it has uses in en-

gineering settings both inside and outside the classroom.

After the presentations concluded, attendees could test out some of the technologies talked about, and talk to distributors about how the devices could be integrated into a classroom.

MakerBot had a table set up with a 3D printer that was constructing various models as students and faculty watched on, as well as other machines and tools that were entirely printed and created by the machine. These included an Archimedes screw, models of clouds, gears, and pulleys, and even a replica of Hogwarts castle from the Harry Potter book series.

Tucked away in the corner of the room was a table that featured a fully operational tech demo of the Oculus Rift VR headset. The two-minute demonstration set the user on an underwater shipwreck, and showed them swarms of fish, stingrays, and even a close encounter with a humpback whale. Students lined up to try out the headset for themselves and immerse themselves in the virtual underwater environment.

“I’ve experienced 3D printing before and I know about VR, but I never got to experience [VR] first hand and that was pretty crazy,” said junior Joe Doyle, who majors in broadcasting. The sensation of seeing such a detailed, albeit computer-generated, environment was a new one for Doyle. “It felt like

you were kind of actually there.

It was pretty ridiculous.”

The focus of the EdTech event was to show how new technology can be brought into the world of education.

Grabowski and Doyle were both convinced that virtual reality and 3D printing would soon be brought into Manhattan College’s classrooms. Doyle said he could imagine virtual reality being used to help students prepare for the working world. “[VR] can give you virtual representation of what a field is like ... if you’re going in for a job.”

Technology often needs to be adopted by the masses before it is accepted into the everyday setting. Despite the steep investment of a headset such as the Oculus Rift, Grabowski insists that nearly any student has access to VR capabilities.

“I think any student who has a smartphone can download free VR apps” said Grabowski.

“For as little as $5, you can buy these [Google Cardboard] devices and put your phone inside there and that’s minimal cost to getting inside this technology.”

Virtual reality can be an incredible tool, useful for anyone and everyone. Watching a 360-degree video is the simplest way to experience this technology for yourself. You can explore the depths of the ocean or the outer reaches of space— anything is a possibility when you’re experiencing the virtual world.

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THE QUADRANGLE

Multicultural Center Launches New “Frankencast” Podcast C. Garrett Keidel Staff Writer

As the Director of Multicultural Affairs, Hayden Greene says in the first episode of the center’s new podcast, it’s “all about what goes into making up Manhattan College.” This first episode was posted on Oct. 1, titled Frankencast.

“We called it the Frankencast because it’s supposed to be a combination of things combined, so it’s a reference to the Frankenstein monster.

We really want to focus on student interviews where they can come in and tell their stories about how they identify, what they like to do, what it means for them to be of a specific, race, religion, identification,” says junior Sydney Kukoda.

The idea for the show developed in the Multicultural Center with students showing

interest in creating a podcast and Hayden Greene having some experience with podcasts and the equipment.

“I think the idea for a podcast was one that was always on the Multicultural Center’s mind, but we never had a chance to put it together until now. It stems from a place of wanting to have people’s stories shared and more importantly, heard. The goal was to be able to create a platform, where people can feel safe and invited to share their stories and thoughts with the rest of the community,” said sophomore Gabriella Montes.

The podcast has multiple segments per episode with student interviews, student submitted jokes, and listings for the events on and around campus and those being hosted by the Multicultural Center.

This is a very new group on campus with an active search

for new members. “Looking for new members has been the biggest challenge for sure. We have a good list going of students we’d like to interview,” says junior Hannah Rome.

Because the show is so new and because students haven’t had much exposure to the show, it’s been hard to get participation in segments like the student submitted jokes.

Students “outside the bubble” of the Multicultural Center are encouraged to come in and talk or share their jokes one the show.

For the students involved, they hope that in the future the show can become a connecting agent between students on campus, a way to get to know people and their stories better.

“I just think it will be a way for students to really know who else is on campus, maybe you have something in common

with them and you can reach out to each other and know you’re not alone. Trying to connect students by what they may have in common, and to celebrate the differences too,” says Rome.

Right now the show is being hosted, directed and pieced together by Hayden Greene.

But in the future the goal is to try and gets students more involved in the process of creating the show and holding interviews, editing the show and doing it mostly on their own. “We want people to look forward to it every week,” says Rome.

“There’s one thing that I would say about everything we do at the Multicultural Center.

There are a lot of people on campus who would say that ‘I don’t need the Multicultural Center’ because I don’t identify as multicultural, or I’m white or

I’m from New Jersey, etc. It’s really a place where people can come and talk about who they believe they are in any sense.

So the emphasis with this and the podcast is that the show is for everyone, not just people who are international students, or identify as a person of color, who speak a different language at home besides English,” says Kukoda.

The podcast airs every week on Sunday, with the third episode set to come out Oct. 15.

The show is currently available on SoundCloud, YouTube, and the multicultural center website.

The podcast will be linked on mcquad.org.

Time as an Unacknowledged Character in “Time and the Conways” THEATER & THE CITY Theater and the City is a column of student-written reviews in the ENGL 400 class taught

by Deirdre O’Leary Cunningham.

This week’s entry is by Carly Corbett-Frank.

How much does time weigh? In J. B. Priestley’s “Time and the Conways”, the answer seems to be an unbearable amount. Exasperated with herself and her family, Kay Conway bitterly remarks that “Time is beating us.” As most of can attest, it feels as though we are in race with time. There is such pressure to fill our lives with only happiness, it can make other times in life feel irrelevant. Alan, Kay’s brother, views time as being the “cross sections of our real selves,” making all of our moments, big or small, a part of who we are.

Alan quotes William Blake, reciting, “Joy and woe are woven fine/ A clothing for the soul divine.” Kay interprets time as her enemy, with “every tick of the clock--making everything worse,” while Alan sees time as an extension of himself, and of all, “all our time, will be us-the real you and me.” Time is sort of a funny thing. The bad times seem more memorable than the good, but also seem more wasteful. Yet it is often the worst of times that affect us the greatest as people, making the most ugly of moments beautiful.

The production of Time and

the Conways at the the American Airlines Theatre, directed

by Rebecca Taichman, presents the story of the Conways, an upper-class British family desperately trying to keep their way of life at a time where the fate of Britain and the status of the wealthy were still uncertain. In Act 1, taking place in 1919, we see celebration; a party for Kay’s 21st birthday and a celebration the end of World War 1. Laughter comes from an unseen room of party-people and the audience watches the Conway family preparing for a game of charades. A family of 6 children, the Conway siblings could not be more different; Kay (Charlotte Parry) is the literary of the group, Hazel (Anna Camp)is the beauty and the charmer, Alan (Gabriel Ebert) is the “butt-of-the-joke” caregiver, Robin (Matthew James Thomas) is the strong and alluring soldier back from war, Carol (Anna Baryshnikov) is the youngest and most favored, and Madge (Brooke Bloom) is the outspoken socialist. At the head of it all is Mrs. Conway (Elizabeth McGovern), a widow whose love for her family appears in honest humor. Time is cheery in Act 1, hidden in the golden embellishments of the stage and in accents filled with sounds of privilege. I was misled by time in Act 1, thinking it to be a statically blithe character.

A breathtaking set change

involves the parlor room set from Act 1 moving backwards with an eerily similar set dropping from the ceiling. The whole transition felt very ghostly, which fitting as we learn that Act 2 takes place 18 years in the future. The cool lighting of the translucent walls juxtaposes the warm gold wallpaper that had been there once before.

Yet in the background is Carol, sitting in the Act 1 set perfectly still, looking almost like a doll or a painting. The effect is eerie. Costumes have changed from the elegant dresses of the roaring 20s to the sophisticated and sharp suits of the 40s (costume designer Paloma Young).

The Conway children enter the stage at different times.

What we witness is the destruction of relationships over time, as well as the destruction of the family estate to due Mrs. Conway’s inept management of funds. Each character is harsher with no golden glow of happiness on their faces. Kay faces her life alone in a job that does not interest her, Robin is a drunk and an absent father, Hazel becomes an insecure and timid wife. Madge becomes a strict and joyless headmistress, and Mrs.Conway is a pathetic and spiteful shadow of herself.

The only ones unchanged are Carol, and Alan. His inability to be angry, or what his family may refer to as his inability to think deeply about anything, is arguably a reiteration of his un-

Time takes it toll on the Conway family.

TARA MARIN / THE QUADRANGLE derstanding of Blake’s poem.

Alan does not feel the constraints of time like other characters. He understands that the heartwarming memories of his family in 1919 are equally as important to his makeup and his life as the grim times.

Act 3 brings us back to 1919 and the first set is brought forward. Although we are back to the original set, everything seems different. Kay, who was lying on the couch, is waking up from a nap. While this is directed to appear that Act 2 is a dream, there is a knowing truth that this dream will be the fate of the Conways. Every moment of 1919 is an explanation of what is to come. As I sat in the audience watching, through Kay’s eyes, the decisions that would

eventually destroy her family, I wanted to reject it. I wanted to Kay to yell at them and tell them to change their choices.

She did not, and it made me wonder if the whole point of Priestley’s play was to question our own moments of time. Are we supposed to look at every moment of our lives as part of the outcome of our future or should we simply be present in the now?

“Time and the Conways” brings our fears and hopes of what time is to light in a beautiful and fluid way. It truly makes us wonder if it is “safely through the world we go.”

Sports

OCTOBER 10, 2017

With NCAA Payout, College Begins Jasper Jumpstart Program Ally Hutzler Editor

With a one time payout from the NCAA, the Manhattan College athletic department has started its inaugural year of the Jasper Jumpstart Program.

The idea behind the program, whose purpose is to enhance the student-athlete experience at the college, began over a year ago and was submitted to the NCAA this past summer.

All colleges and universities who are members of the national athletic association had the ability to apply for the monetary payout, but each school received a different lump sum that was directly related to the amount of scholarship dollars used by the institution during the 2013-2014 academic year.

While the funds could have been simply used to buy new athletic equipment or modify facilities, the athletic department recognized a need to enrich the overall life of a student athlete.

“Realistically the majority of our student athletes aren’t going to go and play professionally,” Will Aloia, assistant athletic director for compliance and life skills, said. “I think the majority understand that and realize that and so we need to prepare them to enter the workforce and to one day be able to buy a home-- stuff like that is important.”

The Jasper Jumpstart program has three essential focus areas including academic, life skills and health and wellness.

Academic support has been in place for student athletes before, but as roster sizes continue to grow a strain has been put on the resources available.

Rory Redmond and Cristian Ramos are the only two athletic academic advisors for over 400 student athletes.

“There are very busy times in these offices where it’s like a revolving door of people just in and out,” Redmond said.

As a part of the academic initiative under the Jumpstart program, a graduate assistant

has been hired to help lighten the load for the two advisors.

“It’s been a huge relief I would say just so that we can have the opportunity to be a little bit more intentional with the work that we’re doing, be able to see more students,” Ramos said.

Along with the new staff, the center has been able to extend the hours of study hall for student athletes by keeping the office open on Sundays and adding hours during the weekdays. The center has also been able to provide additional tutoring services, more programming, and added new technology such as laptops for student athlete use.

The newest program that Redmond and Ramos want to get off the ground under the Jasper Jumpstart plan is peer programming, which would assign all freshman a upperclass peer mentor that they can turn two when they have questions or need someone to talk to if a problem arises.

“It’s just someone else look-

ing out for for them,” Redmond said. Ramos and Redmond hope to start the program during the 2018-2019 school year.

The second focus area of the Jasper Jumpstart program is dedicated to life skills. This includes bringing in guest speakers to talk to the student athletes as well as working with the career development center at the college to provide opportunities for resume building, job applications, and interview skills.

Two major goals for the athletic department when it comes to advancing life skills is to bring back alumni to talk about their experiences and to hold another career fair in the spring semester.

“There’s a lot going on in the world outside of your sport, outside of your class, and we want to get other people in front of the student athletes to have those dialogues,” Aloia said.

The third prong to the Jumpstart program is dedicated to health and wellness. Currently the athletic department does

11

not have any experts in sports psychology or nutrition on staff, but with these new funds they will be able to source out to experts when an athlete comes forward with an issue.

“There is a need nationally for sport psychologists, nutritionists, and for experts in that field,” Aloia said. “Unfortunately for us on campus we don’t have the luxury like at bigger schools to have a sports psychologists dedicated to our student athletes, but we want to be able provide the support they may need.”

The Jasper Jumpstart program is timelined for three to five years, and after that the athletic department will turn to the college to provide the funds to keep these resources alive.

“Our goal is to be able to show the college that it was valuable and there was a need for it so that the college will pick up the tab and continue the programming with institutional dollars,” Aloia said. “These are all things that we should be doing that we don’t do.”

This Week in Sports

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Sports

Rough Weekend

THE QUADRANGLE

Women’s Volleyball Drops Two More at Home

Michevi Dufflart & Stephen Zubrycky

Staff Writer & Editor-in-Chief Jaspers’ women’s volleyball started their two-week, fourmatch homestand last weekend, coming home for two matches in Draddy against MAAC rivals Niagara and Canisius.

The Jaspers entered the weekend looking for their first win after 17 straight losses in overall play. Saturday’s match against Niagara was their first match in Draddy since Sept.

17, and since then they had taken road losses at St. Francis Brooklyn, Iona, Marist and Siena.

Saturday’s match began at noon against Niagara University.

Second place Niagara, fresh off a 3-2 defeat against MAAC rival Fairfield, entered 9-6 overall and 5-1 in MAAC play.

The Jaspers hung tough with the Purple Eagles in the start of the first set, drawing first blood with the first kill of the match.

The Jaspers were tied 9-9 with Niagara when the Purple Eagles began to open a meaningful lead. Niagara then went on a 6-3 run, prompting a timeout call from Jaspers Head Coach Lora Sarich.

Niagara came back out and topped the Jaspers 10-8 to take the first set 25-20.

The Purple Eagles made

The volleyball team sustained a loss against the second place Niagara Purple Eagles.

LEON WU / THE QUADRANGLE quicker work of Manhattan in the second set, winning three consecutive points off serves from senior outside hitter Nicole Matheis (12).

Niagara took the set 25-16.

Sandra Lozanova serves against Niagara.

STEPHEN ZUBRYCKY / THE QUADRANGLE.

The Purple Eagles came out of the gate hot in the third set, jumping to an early and commanding lead of 10-2.

In the second half of the set, the Jaspers put together something of a comeback, drawing to 23-19 late in the third set off kills from freshman middle blocker Meagan Miller and sophomore middle blocker Kenza Hall.

In the end, the Purple Knights finished off the Jaspers in three sets, taking the third set 25-20.

Senior outside hitter Mary Donnelly was a bright spot for the Jaspers, leading the team with 10 kills. Junior outside hitter Sandra Lozanova led the Jaspers in digs with eight, and junior setter Zoe Lindsey had the most assists at 20.

Sunday’s match against Canisius was closer, but the Jaspers still ended up falling short. The Jaspers started Jade Jeffrey, Mary Donnelly, Zoe Lindsey, Kenya Hall and Erin Hoener.

Canisius entered the match in seventh place in the MAAC, 5-12 overall and 3-4 in confer-

ence play.

The Jaspers started strong in the first set with a block and a kill. However, Canisius fired back. Several kills from freshman middle hitter Claire Leonard gave Canisius a comfortable lead. The Golden Griffins took the first set over the Jaspers, 25-21.

The Jaspers were off to another fast start in the second set, taking a 2-0 lead off a kill from Erin Hoener. The Golden Griffins fought back, however, and took the second set 25-21.

Canisius appeared comfortable and confident as the team left the court for the break.

For the third set, the Jaspers subbed out libero Samantha Wagner for Alyssa Rehrer. The Jaspers hung close throughout this set, tying Canisius 12-12 through the first half.

Kills and aces from Donnelly, Jeffrey, Hoener and Miller brought the Jaspers into the lead late in the set, 18-15.

But then Canisius roared back, going on a 5-2 run and bringing the set back to a tie at 20. An ace from Lozanova brought the Jaspers into three

point lead, 23-20.

Tied at 25, the teams went into extra time.

Both teams shot back and forth, neither claiming the set until the Jaspers got a two point lead, 33-31.

In the fourth set, both teams traded the serve to start. The Jaspers led 3-2.

Through the first half, the teams remained close - with neither gaining an edge of more than two points until the Jaspers jumped ahead 17-14. The Jaspers would expand that lead to four, taking a 20-16 edge.

Canisius then went on a 4-0 run to tie the set at 20. The lead then went back and forth for some time, and the Jaspers lost the set 25-23, dropping the match three sets to one.

Jade Jeffrey led the Jaspers in kills with 12; Alyssa Rehrer had the most digs at 24; and Kenza Hall had the most blocks at five.

Manhattan will be playing in Draddy again this weekend against St. Peter’s and Rider.

The Jaspers fell to 0-19 overall, 0-7 in conference play and last in the MAAC overall.