Issue 3, Fall 2015 - The Quadrangle

THE Volume 92, Issue 3

Q

UADRANGLE A Student Publication of Manhattan College Since 1924

Sept. 15, 2015

www.mcquad.org

Residence Never Forget Halls at Mc Remembers 9/11 Capacity Ally Hutzler Assistant Editor

Kevin Fuhrmann/The Quadrangle

A Unionization Effort At MC and Across the U.S., Adjunct Professors Push for Collective Bargaining as Administration Pushes Back Anthony Capote Assistant Editor

It always starts the same; disgruntled workers, compounded by economic downturns and the constant fear of illness or termination, and then someone mentions the unthinkable: a union.

That’s precisely what adjunct professors at Manhattan College said four years ago, in 2011, when a group of part-time faculty members filed with the college to open an election for adjuncts to form a union.

The New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), a union organization that represents most public colleges and universities in New York, namely SUNY and CUNY schools, supported the professors.

“Adjuncts at Manhattan College and at other institutions increasingly have been finding themselves working very hard without the benefits that they need and deserve,” said Carl Korn, a spokesperson for NYSUT. “The best way for workers to make gains is to organize and work collectively towards a common goal.”

Holly Hepp-Galvan, M.P.A., has been an adjunct professor at MC since 2003 and has been involved in the unionization efforts since 2009, a full year before President Brennan O’Donnell first addressed the issue in 2010. Hepp-Galvan is teaching six classes this semester between MC, Hunter College, Marymount Manhattan College and Fordham University.

“I would never recommend teaching at a million different places,” she said. “It’s

not that I’m not recommending teaching, teaching at the college level is one of the most incredible things.”

Hepp-Galvan was contacted by NYSUT six years ago and was initially hesitant about joining the effort.

“I’m not an idiot, I understand that a union would come in here and we would have to pay them dues, I get that,” she said.

“But then when I started hearing more about it and I started researching and seeing that other universities had adjunct unions and how that worked I started saying ‘Hey this is kind of a good thing.’”

Hepp-Galvan said she, and her colleagues, never set out to create an adversarial relationship between part-time faculty and administration, as is the stigma often associated with unions.

“I want to be more in the Manhattan College community and I feel that I don’t like the dynamic that is being set up,” Hepp-Galvan said. “I think all adjuncts want to be a part of the Manhattan College community, I mean, we are here because we like the school. I think unionizing is going to be a good thing all around. No one is going to make ridiculous demands.”

Jeff Horn, Ph.D., is a tenured professor of history at Manhattan College and former chair of the department. As a former chair he was in charge of hiring and firing adjuncts in his department and had extensive experience with the unionization effort of adjuncts.

“In many ways there are several sets of issues. There is the issue of allowing adjuncts the rights to unionize,” he said.

“There was a long effort to stop that and to

get the adjuncts to vote against the union, which is something that many institutions choose to do but an election was held and votes were cast but as [O’Donnell] has indicated on the website, the administration chose to challenge that effort and they have been challenging it ever since.”

Manhattan College set out on a longstanding mission to stop the adjunct union effort, and while O’Donnell legally could not comment on what the College has done and hopes to do to help adjuncts, there has been some progress.

“Manhattan College has made some good changes since we started the unionization process,” Hepp-Galvan said.

“We have had some small raises and now we get paid every two weeks instead of once a month, so there have been some changes.”

Horn said that most professors would, realistically, have to teach seven or eight courses to make a truly livable wage in New York City.

“This is not an adversarial thing. We want to be here, we want to be with the students,” Hepp-Galvan said.

“We just more of a say in certain things like wages and healthcare and I don’t even know if a union is the perfect way to do it but it’s the only way that’s been presented.”

The Investigation Another thing that always starts the

Continued on page 3

Manhattan College has one very clear advantage over other urban colleges and universities, and that is its multiple oncampus housing facilities.

Housing is made available and is guaranteed for each undergraduate student during his or her four years at the school.

However, as the college has been successful in turning its focus from a commuter to a residential student population, residence halls are nearing their maximum capacity.

“As of Sept. 1 we are at 99.7 percent capacity,” Andrew Weingarten, director of residence life, said.

While the percentage seems daunting, there is some leeway in how the school is able and will continue to meet the needs of each student who wishes to live on campus.

“It’s 99.7 percent after being able to accommodate all of the single room requests that I possibly could and all of the requests for graduate students to live on campus that I possibly could,” Weingarten said.

There are about 45 students paying an additional surcharge for single rooms, most of which are located in Horan Hall, with a waiting list for single rooms.

It is also not expected for the undergraduate population to increase drastically, according to the college’s master plan.

Currently every single dorm space on campus is being utilized and Overlook Manor has reached its full capacity, housing a total of 393 students.

“This year we have made every room available on campus, when in years past some would occasionally be used as a show room for admissions tours,” Tiffany French, area coordinator for Horan Hall, said.

Although the room to make adjustments is limited, faculty and staff have not experienced any significant problems.

“At least once a day, everyday we talk about where we’re at with different things and what is essential in terms of student needs,” AJ Goodman, area coordinator of Jasper, Chrysostom and Overlook, said.

In recent years the college has undertaken various initiatives to investigate the state of campus housing, including surveying students and gathering feedback, which concluded there was cause for change.

“When it was all condensed down it became quite obvious that we needed to do some things in housing. Housing is a major component of the campus master plan going forward,” Vice President of Facilities Andrew Ryan said.

The college intends to run a study within the next few weeks, through an outside organization, to further quantify housing needs.

“Part of the housing study will be looking at all the housing we currently have and looking at where the college should go with housing in the future,” Ryan said.

This research will include the type of

Continued on page 3

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The

opinions & editorials

Quadrangle www.mcquad.org

Vol. 92 Issue 3 Sept. 15, 2015

Sean Sonnemann Editor-in-Chief Michelle DePinho Managing Editor/News Editor Anthony Capote Asst. News Editor Kieran Rock Managing Editor/Features Editor Ally Hutzler Asst. Features Editor Lauren Carr Arts & Entertainment Editor Lindsey Burns Asst. Arts & Entertainment Editor Jon Reyes Sports Editor Jaclyn Marr Asst. Sports Editor Daniel Ynfante Asst. Sports Editor Victoria Hernández Kristie Killen Social Media Editors Kevin Fuhrmann Photography Editor Vanessa Sanchez Asst. Photography Editor

Notes from

Sept. 15, 2015

The Editor

From time to time people will approach either myself or other members of The Quadrangle editorial board asking why we don’t offer commentary or reporting on national issues, especially those that often lead to strong opinions.

For example, I was asked last week why The Quadrangle doesn’t write an editorial on the controversy surrounding the jailing of Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refused to grant marriage licenses to gay couples.

Certainly it is an interesting issue, one that has lead to an abundance of media coverage, editorials, think pieces and other forms of commentary in print, online and on television.

However, it is not necessary or appropriate for The Quadrangle to get involved with those kinds of stories and join the national conversation.

As a college newspaper, we can do our best work on what we know and what we have the most access to.

It is analogous to the same reason that our sports coverage focuses on the Jaspers and the MAAC, not the Knicks or the Yankees.

That is not to say that the staff members of The Quadrangle are unqualified to have an opinion on the matter or by avoiding divisive issues we simply trying to avoid controversy.

Rather, writing only about issues that are related to Manhattan College keeps with our mission and history as a community newspaper focused on hyper-local news.

This limitation is also what gives us our strength as a journalism outlet.

The New York Times or The Daily News is not going to write a story detailing the college’s Master Plan, what performances The Manhattan College Players have planned for the fall semester or how the volleyball team is starting off their season.

That kind of news can only be found in The Quadrangle. It is the reason why students and faculty pick up the paper from stacks around campus. And it is the reason why alumni and parents read online to stay informed on events and updates relevant to the Manhattan College community.

When national topics are directly related to MC, we will certainly do our best to cover them. That can be seen in this very paper as Assistant News Editor Anthony Capote examines the important issue of adjunct professor unionization.

Again, I take this opportunity to remind everyone that this space is always open for letters to the editor or guest editorials from anyone who is a member from the Manhattan College community.

If you disagree, have comments, or want to just offer feedback, please let us know.

Sean Sonnemann

Editor-in-Chief

Kelly Burns Luke Hartman Natalie Heinitz Production Editors Daniel Molina Distribution Manager Tom Callahan Faculty Adviser

A tradition since 1924, The Quadrangle is a news organization 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 staff of The Quadrangle meets every Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. in room 412 of the Student Commons.

Contact The Quadrangle at thequad@manhattan.edu 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.

John Abbatangelo/The Quadrangle

news

A Unionization Effort At MC and Across the U.S., Adjunct Professors Push for

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Collective Bargaining as Administration Pushes Back

Anthony Capote Assistant Editor

Continued from page 1 same is the corporate response to talks of unions. In a letter to the Manhattan College faculty on Oct. 20, 2010, O’Donnell addressed the issue.

“I wanted to take a moment in the midst of all this good work briefly to address some questions that have arisen over the College’s stance with respect to the recent activity on our campus of a labor union,” O’Donnell’s letter reads.

“NYSUT, which is seeking to expand the number of employees it represents, has decided to insert itself into the Manhattan College community.”

In his letter, O’Donnell assured faculty members, like most employers have in the face of unionization, that NYSUT was trying to infiltrate the Manhattan College community for monetary gain.

“There is a script, and it is a well-worn script, that corporations use,” said Paul Dinter, Ph.D., an adjunct faculty member in the religious studies department. “I just don’t think the script is appropriate for a Catholic institution to practice.”

In 2011, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that Manhattan College had to open the ballot for unionization. MC challenged the ruling, saying that as a Catholic institution, whose adjunct professors play a significant role in the perpetuation of a religious community, the NLRB, a government organization, had no jurisdiction over the matter.

“In the first round [the NLRB] said ‘You’re right, the test we had in place was a bad test, and we will put another test in place,’” O’Donnell said. “They applied that test to us and found that they still have jurisdiction over us but we think that test is no less intrusive, from a constitutional perspective, than the first one was.”

The first test the NLRB had in place that would determine whether the governmental institution could intervene and force the college to count the union ballots is called the Yeshiva test.

The Yeshiva test was put in place after the NLRB v. Yeshiva University case came before the Supreme Court in 1979.

The test laid out a list of requirements

an institution must meet in order to be free of the NLRB’s jurisdiction.

The Yeshiva test was replaced in 2015 by what is called the Pacific Lutheran University test, which lays out new guidelines for governmental control.

“The issue is a first amendment, freedom of religious cause issue,” O’Donnell said. “This is an issue that the Supreme Court ruled in 1979 and reaffirmed in 2002, the record is clear that colleges have a right to operate and make decisions— with regards to their mission—free from entanglement of the government.”

O’Donnell said that having a union amongst adjuncts—which the college has argued are vital to MC’s mission—could be considered government interference at the college.

“The NLRB should deny jurisdiction,” he said. “That’s the issue.”

On Aug. 26, Karen Fernbach, regional director of the NLRB, ruled that adjuncts at Manhattan do not serve a religious purpose that would exempt them from the board’s ruling. Setting in place a new test, by which the NLRB would determine the role religion plays at college institutions, and whether they have any jurisdiction to govern over them.

“I have carefully reviewed and considered the record evidence and the arguments of the parties at hearing and in their respective post-hearing brief,” Kerbach said in her decision. “I find that the College holds itself out as a religious educational environment, but the College failed to establish that it holds out the petitioned-for adjunct faculty members as performing a specific role in maintaining the College’s religious educational environment.”

While chair of the history department, Horn participated in the hearings and spoke to the role adjuncts play at the College.

“The argument [Manhattan College’s] lawyer was attempting to make is that because the adjuncts were vital to the Lasallian Catholic mission of the College, they should not be allowed the right to unionize,” he said. “I was able to say, categorically, that no adjunct was ever fired because they did not teach Catholic or Lasallian values, nor did I ever say that it was required that an adjunct teach Catholic or Lasallian values.”

Horn said that history is a discipline that offers many opportunities to discuss the Catholic mission of Manhattan Col-

lege, but that he, as chair, never required an adjunct professor to do so. He added that there is no mandatory training for adjuncts that taught them about the mission.

“We are an institution with complete academic freedom,” Horn said. “Although we are a Catholic school and we are in the Lasallian tradition, when I’m hiring an adjunct, one of the first things I say to them is ‘you have complete academic freedom in the classroom.’ And I would be tremendously surprised if every other chair did not say something similar.”

Kernbach, in the decision, said that she interviewed several other Manhattan College department chairs including Lance Evans, Ph.D., of the biology department and Moujalli Hourani, Ph.D. and former department chair of civil engineering.

“According to the Employee Handbook,” her decision reads. “There is no requirement that the College hire adjunct faculty based on their ability to integrate the College’s mission.”

“It would be my view,” Horn said.

“That the argument that the adjuncts should not be allowed to unionize based on their participation in teaching that element of the mission does not hold up to reality.”

A Catholic Institution The primary argument of the College is that as a Catholic institution, they should be exempt from being forced to allow their adjuncts to unionize.

However, Dinter, who was formerly a full-time faculty member at Manhattan College and now serves as an adjunct professor in the religious studies department, said this argument is directly contradictory to MC’s Catholic mission.

“Since it is the clear teaching of the Catholic Church, with which Manhattan associates itself, that workers have a right to organize or unionize,” he said. “So not even to allow or to spend hundred of thousands of dollars in legal fees to stop the counting of the ballots in, again, a contravention of clear advice in Matthew 5, that when someone takes you to court, you give them your code, you don’t depend on legal decisions, but Manhattan has thrown in its lot with the way things are done in society as a whole.”

Dinter referenced the fifth chapter of Matthew, a book in the New Testament that discusses how Christ’s disciples should

conduct themselves in the face of the law and abide by all oaths they make.

“Going to court to stop the adjuncts from freely voting seems to me to be something of a scandal,” he said. “Claiming that [unionization] would somehow compromise the Catholic identity of the College has always puzzled me.”

O’Donnell argued the point that, in this case, a union simply was not appropriate.

“The Catholic social thought tradition does not say that all unions in all times in all places in all circumstances are to be accepted and supported and embraced, that’s just not a legitimate application of Catholic social thought,” he said. “So my response to that is that the institutional good of maintaining [MC’s] identity, free of government entanglement is a more compelling good for us at this moment than accepting the jurisdiction of the NLRB by allowing the adjuncts to unionize.”

The issue of adjunct unionizing is not unique to Manhattan College. In fact, it has become a national issue amongst Catholic institutions, including Xavier and Duquesne Universities. However, Manhattan College has become the focal point of a new national discussion about the right of adjuncts to unionize.

“We called on Manhattan College to stop wasting tuition dollars on attorneys’ fees and start offering benefits to adjunct professors,” Korn said. “Manhattan College has consistently thrown up roadblocks to stop the unionization process and [on Aug. 26] the Labor Board ordered them open the ballot.”

Editor’s Note: The Quadrangle will continue to follow the results of the Labor Board’s decision and report the latest develoments pertinent to the Manhattan College community.

With Residence Halls Near Capacity, College Launches Housing Study Ally Hutzler Assistant Editor

Continued from page 1 housing, such as apartment-style living or single room, quantity of each type of housing and where the housing should be located.

It will also determine if the college is going to acquire new properties or modernize its currently owned buildings.

“There is an assumption that we that we would be looking to have some additional or different housing in a four to five year time frame,” Ryan said.

Residence Life/Courtesy

news

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Sept. 15, 2015

Freshman Enrollment Up 20 Percent as College Admits One of Its Largest Classes in Recent Years Stephen Zubrycky Staff Writer

For returning students this fall, Manhattan College’s campus may seem a little more crowded--and rightfully so--as one of its largest freshman classes descended onto campus this August.

“It’s nice seeing a bunch of new faces,” senior Aaron Plantz said of the freshman class.

Those 905 new faces make up the largest class in at least five years, according to Caitlin Read, executive director of admissions and enrollment operations.

Part of the reason that the class is so large is that enrollment is on the rise.

Read said enrollment rose 20 percent from the last year’s admissions process, which only saw 747 freshmen enroll. The jump in enrollment occurred despite a plateau in the number of applications, which rose just one percent.

The one percent rise in applications is paired with an acceptance rate that rose just shy of one percent.

The acceptance rate remained a relatively stable 67.1 percent, which was a marginal increase of from last year’s 66.5 percent acceptance rate.

“We expect the acceptance rate to remain steady,” for fall of 2016, Read said.

Not only is this class exceptionally large, but it scored higher on entrance exams than the class before it. According to SAT Scores provided by the Office of Admissions, the average combined SAT score for critical reading and math was 1100 for the Fall 2015 pool, a six point jump from last year’s average score of 1094.

Manhattan freshmen also exceeded the

national average in SAT Scores, which was 1006, according to the College Board.

Though it is much larger, the class of 2019 appears to be roughly in step with other recent freshman classes in terms of racial and ethnic diversity.

“The diversity of this year’s class is very similar to other recent classes,” Read said in an email.

Sixty-two percent of the freshman class is white, 22 percent Hispanic, 7 percent Asian, 4 percent black, and 2 percent multiracial. Three percent of freshmen identified as “other” or “unknown.”

Geographic diversity in the class wields some notable trends.

Primarily hailing from the local area, 63 percent of freshmen are originally from New York and another 16 percent are from New Jersey. Twenty-six states and Puerto Rico are represented in the Class of 2019, which, according to Ms. Read, “is very similar to past years.”

But geographic diversity involving international students has seen a spike.

There are 29 international students in the new freshman class, an 80 percent jump from last year. These students come from 27 different countries, with two students from China and two from the Repub-

lic of Georgia.

The School of Engineering remains the largest of the college’s five schools with 301 students (and 33 percent of the class), followed by the School of Business with 224 students (and 25 percent of the class).

The School of Engineering also had the highest acceptance rate of the five schools, with 74 percent of School of Engineering applicants accepted, compared to 68 percent in the School of Science, 62 percent in the School of Liberal Arts, 62 percent in the School of Education and 60 percent in the School of Business.

However, Read said that the admissions standards do not differ by school, and that the “differences have to do with the number of qualified applicants applying to each school.”

But the size of the freshman class – 76 percent of which reside on campus – has created a particularly tight situation in the residence halls.

According to Andrew Weingarten, the director of residence life, the on-campus residence occupancy rate is at 99.7 percent as of Sept. 1.

Weingarten said that Residence Life is striving to maintain consistency in its

Manhattan College/Courtesy policies despite the increase in freshman enrollment. This includes keeping the guaranteed four-year housing policy for undergraduates.

“There are no plans for that to change,” Weingarten said.

Part of accommodating the large freshman class is by making a concerted effort to curb room switching, which typically occurs when roommates do not get along and want to move to a different room.

“We have to work with students a lot more and a lot harder on things like roommate mediations,” Weingarten said.

“Sometimes parents say, ‘the only option is another room,’ and the reality is we might not have that.”

Weingarten also said that Residence Life would have the ability to accommodate another large freshman class in the fall due to the outgoing senior class which he called “particularly large.”

But the challenges associated with a large freshman class are also an indicator of growth for the college.

“I think a big class is great for the college,” Weingarten said. “It’s a sign that your college is doing well.”

Editor’s Note: All admission statistics will be official as of Oct. 1

Manhattan College Rolls Out First Online Degree Programs Plans to Expand Graduate Offerings Over Next Five Years

Michelle DePinho Editor

Starting next year, some Jaspers may never see the quadrangle, taste Broadway Joe’s pizza or take the trek up the Overlook Manor stairs.

With two new online master’s degrees that the college will offer starting January 2016, students can get a Manhattan College graduate education without ever stepping foot on campus.

These degrees are part of over a dozen graduate programs the college plans to launch over the next five years.

“Our undergraduates are asking us to offer a master’s program and they are instead going someplace else nearby to take a master’s program. And they are quite often extensions of what we are doing with them,” Provost William Clyde said. “We are thinking that graduate [education] is an important extension of what we’re already doing.”

“There’s a market,” for them, Clyde said.

These programs are the first of four online degrees the college is rolling out in 2016 as part of its overall college expansion of graduate program offerings. The specific online degrees are a Master of Science in

Instructional Design and Development and a Master of Science in Organizational Leadership, a degree that is already offered at the college as an in-person program.

But the idea of integrating technology into coursework is not a foreign one for the college. The school offers strictly online classes over the summer for students looking to catch up on coursework but save on a commute to campus (or rent, if they live far away). This past summer, over a dozen online courses were offered.

Other classes during the fall and spring semesters typically have a web-based component or use technology as part of the class. Professors sometimes utilize online homework submissions or reading responses, videos on YouTube or virtual class discussion forums.

“We’ve tripled the percentage of courses that have web enhancement,” Clyde said.

While they still meet as a traditional class would, the online components are used to complement the coursework.

These new online degrees, however, are the first time the college is providing a strictly online program, which requires more support and resources than offering individual online classes.

The college enlisted Wiley, an education company that provides content, re-

search and web-based resources for educational development. They were selected for their extensive resume of working with Catholic institutions on implementing online degree programs and their positive client reviews. The college even interviewed clients at other institutions on their experience with Wiley.

“In all cases the reviews of their work were glowing,” Clyde said.

Wiley researched which degree programs should be offered online, how to launch them and how to best market them.

Wiley is currently marketing both degrees taking off in January and is compiling lists of interested students.

The directors of these online degrees said they are excited for the new programs and what they will offer students.

“I think it would really make our offerings at Manhattan really competitive with everyone else,” Shawna Bu Shell, director of the master’s degree in instructional design and delivery.

Bu Shell has worked in instructional design for over 20 years, developing online learning initiatives in classrooms and building curriculums around technology.

In her experience in technology-centered education, she said, “I think it’s going to be better than a face-to-face class. We have to think about the whole class first.”

Cheryl Harrison, director of the mas-

ter’s degree in organizational leadership, says that expanding this degree from its campus-only offering to online and blended learning equivalents will give students more options.

“A lot of times these are adults who have been working. They’re mid-career,” Harrison said. “They’re probably a little older than the traditional student. They know what they want.”

William Merriman, Ph.D. and dean of the School of Education and Health, feels that these new programs will make graduate school more available to non-traditional students.

“I’m all for it because it gives people, working people, a chance to get a master’s degree that they might not be able to if they had to attend,” Merriman said.

The organizational leadership degree is also one with wide appeal and application.

“This degree is beneficial to many people from various kinds of backgrounds,” Harrison said. The degree will focus on “skills that most employers are saying that their new employees lack.”

But one of Harrison’s focuses is to ensure quality and consistency across the degree and its several platforms.

“We are trying to make sure that the online is equivalent,” Harrison said.

features

Meet the People Behind the Fun

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RikkiLynn Shields Staff Writer

The Student Activities Center at Manhattan College is responsible for planning fun events for Jaspers to attend. From Broadway shows to major league sports games, the activities center makes student involvement its top priority. Although the office is always packed, students do not always know what goes on behind closed doors. It’s the team of John Bennett, Sharon Ortega and Michael Steele behind the magic.

John Bennett, director of Student Activities, is in charge of the departments of Student Activities, Performing Arts and Recreations and Intramurals at Manhattan College--along with the spirit squads, student government and clubs. John attended Manhattan College and graduated in 2003. After graduation, he got a job with the NBA, working in the league offices in New York City. Travelling the country and working with teams lets him consider Chris Paul, David Lee and Diana Taurus good friends today.

In 2009 he returned to Manhattan to work the events at Student Activities, a job with its own rewards. “When students are happy with an event. It’s truly such a rewarding feeling when you have students getting off the boat at Spring Fling, or walking out of the gym at Madness, and you can just see their faces beaming and everyone’s happy,” Bennett said. “Also, I love the people I work with, it’s like a family, not just my office, but our entire Student Life division.”

When Bennett is not coordinating events, he devotes his time to his newborn son Duke and his wife Jenelyn. “It might as well have snowed this past summer and I wouldn’t have known the difference, we were inside changing diapers the entire time and not sleeping,” he said. Along with spending time with his family, Bennett enjoys traveling to new stadiums and ballparks, and has had a list running of every stadium he has ever been to since he was a kid. His other passion is his motorcycle, a Ducati 1198. “I consider it to have been my first baby, though with a real baby now, the bike just gets washed a lot now.”

Student Activities/Courtesy Bennett’s assistant director Michael Steele, originally from Manhattan, attended Lehman College in The Bronx. After college, he was looking for a change somewhere close by.

“Working with students and meeting with them is something I enjoy everyday, and learning something new from them is enjoyable as well,” Steele said. As much as he loves his job working with students, when he’s not at Manhattan College, his current hobby is his eight-month old son.

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“I go home everyday and him and I have playtime. I am pretty much set with him.”

Sharon Ortega is the Student Activities Coordinator here at Manhattan College. Originally from New York City, Ortega came to Manhattan College to work.

“I live in Riverdale and love working so close to home. Growing up I always heard about Manhattan College. I know it is such a prominent school, so I had a passion for working for it,” Ortega said.

Her favorite part of the job, she said,

is working with the students. “I have children, and one of them is seventeen, so I love having the same cool relationship I have with my children, with the students here.”

When Ortega is not working with students, she considers herself to be a busy housewife, constantly doing chores. However, once the chores are done, she loves going to the movies, or even just kicking back in front of her television with a bowl of popcorn binge watching movies.

Features

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Sept. 15, 2015

features

Life as a New Resident Assistant Meghan Sackman Staff Writer

Our Jasper Nation

Mahamoud Diop/Courtesy

Finding A Home Away From Home Marissa Piazza Senior Staff Writer

The farthest most ten-year-olds travel is a distance that can be covered by car in less than a day, or at most, a few day’s time. At age ten, Mahamoud Diop made a trip halfway across the world to what would become his new home. Born and raised in Bamako, the capital city of Mali in West Africa, Diop did not step foot in the United States with his family until his father was asked to move to Washington DC. “My dad was the Mali ambassador to the US so that’s when I first came here,” Diop said.

While Diop seems at ease talking about both his home and his college experience, he admits he felt culture shock soon after arriving in the United States. Diop’s inability to speak English was the biggest challenge of the move. “I came straight from Mali and I struggled with English,” Diop said. Growing up, Diop spoke both French and Bambara. In Mali, French is an official language used in both government and school. Bambara is one of the other official languages of Mali, and it is also spoken in other parts of West Africa like Burkina Faso and the Côte d’Ivoire.

Since English is not one of his native languages, what helped Diop learn it was watching television shows and movies.

“I didn’t understand it at first but people told me to keep watching it, keep trying to speak it, you know… so that’s what I did,” Diop said. Diop even credits Disney channel shows, in part, for his language skills.

“I think that helped me a lot, to learn English,” Diop said with a laugh.

For Diop, a junior in the School of Lib-

eral Arts, the choice to attend Manhattan College and pursue a degree in International and Labor Studies, seemed natural.

“For one, they had my area of study that I wanted to do… and they were in New York City, so I figured there is no city like New York,” he said.

Like his father, Diop is interested in international affairs, and after graduating he hopes to be working for a Non-Governmental Organization, specifically one that addresses humanitarian needs and is involved in post-conflict resolution.

“That would be the ideal situation,” Diop said. While he still has a degree to finish, Diop has already taken the first steps toward a career in his field of choice.

Currently, he is working with the African Union Mission to the United Nations. “It’s a busy time [at The United Nations],” he said, “especially around this time [since] we are getting ready for the general assembly and the pope is coming.”

Since being in the United States, Diop has embraced both American culture and the culture of New York. “I think I have adapted to the New York culture. I’m more self driven now. I’m self motivated. I’ve also learned a lot from the professors here and the students here, also, definitely,” Diop said.

At the same time, he has not forgotten his roots. “People in New York are much more to themselves… they try to be somebody… [and have their] own thing going on,” he said. In Mali, there is more of a focus to “take time to get to know people,” Diop said. An emphasis on hospitality is a common African thing, his description being an ability to “…take a journey on your feet and [in] every village you stop at you will never go hungry.” The Bambara

word to describe this is known as “Mogoya.” The term has a similar meaning to the Ubuntu philosophy widely accepted in South African culture, encouraging human kindness and humanity towards others.

Even a small moment can serve as a shining example of what Mogoya means to the people of Mali. In Mali, “when it’s time to cut the fast, no matter what you’re doing you have to stop and cut it,” Diop said, “so we were outside…coming from somewhere and we were running late so we stopped at a store.” The store manager did not know Diop or who he was traveling with, and they did not know the manager.

“He looked at his clock and said ‘Oh it’s time to break the fast, do you guys have anything?’ We said no, so he invited us, gave us tea, gave us all these little cookies to break the fast” said Diop, “in the store too, and we just broke our fast, ten minutes and then just got going… that’s what I mean.”

While being away from his family is something that is still hard, Diop has slowly gotten used to it. “I’ve been away since I was 14… when my parents got called back to Mali [from DC] I went to boarding school in Utah,” Diop said. “My parents left after we were in DC for five years… [my father’s] mission was done so they called him back but then I obtained a scholarship to go to boarding school in Utah.” From Utah, Diop found his way to Manhattan College.

“I try to go [home] every year but this semester was the first time I went home in two years since I started college basically, so that was good to see everybody again.”

When Diop goes home, the first thing he does is make his way to his grandmother’s home. “Every year is the same thing,

when we get out of the airport we just head to my grandmother’s house… she gets mad if we don’t and she prepares a big meal for us, a big welcome, she calls all my cousins, uncles, every time and everyone just comes to the big house,” Diop said, “we go there first and eat and see everybody.”

Like so many college students, if Diop could take one thing from his home and bring it to Manhattan College, it would be the food, “… as much as I love Locke’s food, it doesn’t compare to back home…

I would bring the food,” Diop said. Food that is common in Mali is rice and sauce, sauces with flavors ranging from peanut butter to spinach.

While conflict in the northern part of the country has limited tourists’ access to these regions, the capital, his hometown of Bamako, is still a place Diop would recommend visiting. Diop’s suggestions include the National Museum and National Park.

Another one of his favorite places is Ibiza Nightclub, the premier nightclub in Mali where all the young people are. “There’s a great atmosphere, I like it,” Diop said.

When reflecting on his home, it’s easy for Diop to think of what a perfect day would include. For Diop, a perfect day would be a Friday. It is the day for Jumma prayer, “it’s like how Catholics have Sundays… we have Fridays,” Diop said. The day would include seeing his grandmother and uncles, with a visit to his grandmother’s house. “We pray first, then we go to the Mosque and everybody eats together on a plate with their hands… then after that we go to this place in Mali called the American Club.” The American Club, with it’s basketball court and pool, is place Diop goes with friends, sometimes followed by a visit to a movie theater called Babemba. “I say that’s the perfect day in Mali,” said Diop.

With the start of a new year comes a fresh wave of newly trained resident assistants. These carefully selected individuals have endured a vigorous training process and have been engaged in their duties since before most Manhattan College students have even stepped foot onto campus for the new semester.

This new batch of leaders seems promising, according to the Assistant Director of Residence Life, AJ Goodman. “I think the RAs are knowledgeable about what is available on campus and know what it takes to be successful here,” Goodman said. “They are a very welcoming group that really has a genuine interest in getting to know other people and helping them get connected to the college.”

As students, we tend to make assumptions about what the position entails as well as what it would be like to adopt these responsibilities. This is where the difference between expectation and reality comes into play for the most recent additions to the residence life community.

New RA, Erica Rebussini, discussed the ups and downs of the job. “I adore all the people here and just being able to connect with the new members of the community has been awesome,” she said.

Rebussini expressed a level of nervousness that came with such a great responsibility. “It was a little nerve-wracking thinking about the commitment it was going to be because I know that I want to put my all into being an RA,” she said.

Rebussini has expressed how her experience with the job so far has already ex-

7

ceeded her preconceived notions of what an RA would be. “It’s more than I thought it would be. I walk by the common rooms and game rooms and I see my residents and other residents mingling and finally gaining a sense of comfort and home here and it’s so rewarding,” she said.

Considering the hiring process that these students are put through, this reward is greatly earned. Fellow first year RA, John Fiore discussed the many steps that led to him being hired. “It wasn’t that bad; I had to answer a few essay questions, then be evaluated while working in groups with the other applicants and if you made it past that part you got a one on one interview that determined if you were hired or not,” Fiore said.

Fiore, an RA in Jasper Hall, is also one of the new RAs that has enjoyed getting familiar with different members of Manhattan College, many of which he may not have otherwise had the opportunity of getting acquainted with. “I like the fact that in my wing I have mostly freshman but the rest are a mix of sophomores, juniors and seniors, so it’s good to get to know all of them,” he said.

According to Godman, this year’s selection of RAs has been surpassing expectations.

“This is my 10th year working in Residence Life professionally, and this is easily one of the best groups I have worked with,” Goodman said. “The work they did during that week and getting buildings prepared was very impressive and really set up a great, welcoming environment for our residents as they arrived to campus.”

Residence Life/Courtesy

The Myths of Manhattan College?

Catherine Goodyear and Daniel Molina Staff Writers

Rumors are always spreading, and being a school that has been around for 162 years, there are a fair share of beliefs that have been passed down from generation to generation. Where did these myths come from and is there any truth behind them?

Myth 1: Why are we called Manhattan College but are located in the Bronx?

Manhattan College wasn’t always in the Riverdale location it has today. It actually had two other campuses before this.

In 1853, The Brothers of Christian Schools established the college as The Academy of Holy Infancy. The school was originally located on Canal Street in lower Manhattan. Being such a popular school, the demand of space caused the school to relocate to 131st Street and Broadway in the Manhattanville section of Harlem. In 1863 the school was renamed Manhattan College. After 59 years in this area, the school needed to expand a second time, which led them to Riverdale--its location ever since.

Myth 2: Engineering is the hardest major and Communications is the easiest.

There is no doubt that engineering is a hard major but is it really the hardest?

There are five accredited undergraduate degrees: chemical, civil, computer, electrical, and mechanical. Each engineering student takes about 131-134 credits by the time they graduate. An engineer is in the classroom about 16 hours a week. The up-

perclassmen can put in up to 60 hours a week of work.

“We expect our students to get their degree in four years. That means you aren’t going to have as much time as the other students, being an engineer, but if you manage your time well, you should have at least one day off to enjoy yourself, then get right back to it. It cost too much money to go here an extra year just to get your degree,” Tim Ward, Dean of the School of Engineering, said.

“Engineering may not necessarily be the hardest major but we believe there’s more work. Some of our students tell us that it is hard for them to study because they are assigned more work than their roommate. How hard your major is depends on the individual. I’ve met engineers that no matter what they did it would have been easy,” Ward said.

On the other hand, the bachelor’s degree for a communications major is 120 credits total and the students are in the classroom roughly 16 hours a week, depending on the concentration.

“In communication, the majority of the classes have to do with writing, and this is the most important skill set you can develop as a student of communication. And, of course, you cannot write if you cannot read, so there is a lot of reading involved too,” Thom Gencarelli, Chair of the communications department, said.

“Compared to engineering, if a student in Calculus 1 failed a course, then the instructor would not let them move on because that student needs those skills to move on to Calculus 2. We don’t have that in the literature and humanities classes,”

Gencarelli said.

“I would not say one is harder than the other, I would say they are different. Math is a form of intelligence and some people have it more than others, but that does not make it a deficiency. You just need to look at what that student is more efficient at,” Gencarelli said.

Myth 3. Broadway Joe’s has the best pizza around.

The most well known food rivalry surrounding our campus has been held the last years between Broadway Joe’s and Goodfellas pizza.

“Location is what differentiate us,” Mike Orfano, manager of Godfellas, said.

“We are right in front of OV, and we receive an average of 80 students daily.”

After being 17 years in their current location, Orfano is certain that the variety

Michelle DePinho/The Quadrangle of products they have is also an important factor of preference for their customers.

The average cost of a slice is $3.75, and the most ordered product is the Buffalo Chicken pizza.

Broadway Joe’s has been in this neighborhood for 46 years, and Louie Porco, coowner of the establishment, says that the quality and taste of its pizza is what keeps old customers coming back, and new customers trying it.

The average cost of a slice is $4.00, and although the cost is slightly higher than their competitors, they are certain that there is no need to lower their prices to differentiate from them.

“We have a nice relationship with the community, specially with Manhattan College,” Porco said. “Students are polite and we respect each other, so it’s a win-win situation.”

arts & entertainment

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Sept. 15, 2015

Manhattan College Players Preview Taylor Brethauer Staff Writer

The Manhattan Players certainly have their plates full this semester with many shows and events planned that they hope will interest those who have participated in theater before. There’s a reason that requirements for the ensemble on the manhattan.edu page list “a love of acting and the theatrical arts.”

Yet no matter what your theatrical background is, the group is happy to welcome anyone. All shows not only have students acting in them, they also have students in the tech crew building sets and working on lighting with specialist Kevin Reed, whom the company has worked with before. Students interested in costuming will also be able to work with local professional costumer Elizabeth Cipollini this year. Players continuously grow as a group because of all of the opportunities available to perfect their craft, which is what sets them apart from other performance groups on campus.

“We definitely get stronger because we figure out our identity a little better,” Players Student Producer/Stage Manager Andrea Lopilato said. “We figure out the kind of students who get involved with Players and the kinds of people who come to see our shows. In that sense, it definitely helps us to pick our season and pick out what we do best.”

Martin Marchitto, the faculty advisor for the Players, believes the shows themselves aren’t placed on a hierarchy, meaning all of the shows are equal. Each one gets its own attention with set design, rehearsals and advertising. Regardless of whether the show is in Smith Auditorium or The Black Box in Thomas Hall, the de-

Taylor Brethauer/The Quadrangle tail and attentiveness is important to make each show special and have them work.

Most importantly, the students work hard to produce the best shows they can.

“What’s exciting for me is that Players is a student- run organization, with students who are passionate about their work and dedicated to creating good quality theater,” Marchitto said.

To start off the 2015-2016 year, the group plans on putting on quite a few shows, including a dinner theater/murder mystery titled “Murder’s in the Heir,” a stage-reading of a play titled “8” about the

legalization of gay marriage and wrapping up the semester with a Cabaret showcase.

The big main stage shows are an actordriven play titled “The Dining Room” in the fall and novel-turned-musical hit “Little Women” in the spring.

The performing arts group prides itself on creating a close-knit community and plans social events for the semester such as an outing to the Broadway Flea Market and musical movie nights. By maintaining a close community, putting together shows are easier when everyone gets along.

“Just like all of the other clubs, we’re

bringing together students with a common interest. Ours is theater. It’s something fun to do, that we all like doing. Then we become really good friends through it,” Liz Corrigan, Players Treasurer, said.

To find out more information including Players auditions, show times and more, follow them on Twitter @PlayersMC, follow them on Instagram @Manhattan_Players or like them on Facebook. The group is looking forward to putting on their first show, “Murder in the Heir” during family weekend Oct. 3 and 4.

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arts & entertainment

A Peek Inside The Pipes and Drums Band

9

MC’s Group of Alumni and Students Who Bring the Music of Ireland to Life

Sean Sonnemann Editor-in-Chief

A student stands in the Performing Arts room of Thomas Hall, chatting with a friend about an upcoming trip to Ireland his family has planned for this December.

It will be his tenth visit.

Another walks in wearing an emeraldcolored Trinity College Dublin t-shirt as a closet door is opened to reveal a hidden Irish tricolor and a sign reading “Warning: Kilt Check Ahead.”

St. Patrick’s Day is more than six months away. Yet anyone walking across the fifth floor of Thomas on a Thursday evening might think they are instead on Fifth Avenue during the middle of March when the Manhattan College Pipes and Drums Band begins practicing.

“It’s sort of the heart of the school in a way, everybody thinks of the pipe band when they think of Manhattan College,” Rich Janniello, the band’s drum instructor, said.

Janniello has been with the band for more than 11 years, helping to teach the challenging cadences and beats that accompany the bagpipers’ signature Celtic sound.

Unlike the majority of the band, he is not an alumnus of the college—Janiello graduated from nearby rival Fordham University (a fact that many of the band members are quick to remind him about).

A unique organization on campus, the Pipes and Drums Band is made up of alumni, current students, faculty, staff and a few self-described “friends of the college.”

Since 1981, the group has kept the traditions of Irish music alive by playing in festivals and parades ranging from Pearl River to The Rockaways. While marching down Fifth Avenue with a contingent of Manhattan College supporters each St. Patrick’s Day is certainly their flagship event, the band has also played in parades as far away as Naples, Florida and Dublin, Ireland. Averaging about eight parades each March, the month is the group’s busy season with the numerous performance fees providing much of their annual funding for uniforms and equipment.

“March is wild,” Tom McCarthy, the college’s director of alumni relations, said.

A piper since he began as a student at the college in 2002, McCarthy now also serves as the band’s moderator.

Last year he was interviewed by television personality Carson Daly when the band performed on “The Today Show” the morning of the New York City St. Patrick’s Day parade. While occasionally he must act as the band’s spokesman, his role usually consists of leading practices and booking events for the group, led by band director Mike Hogan, class of 1991.

Hogan’s late father Robert, class of 1975, first helped found the band back in ’81. The elder Hogan was a member of the Emerald Society’s Pipe and Drums Band of the New York Police Department.

He worked with the late Brother Kenneth Fitzgerald, moderator of the Gaelic Society on campus at the time, to start the band from a small group of interested students.

Described by current members as a “fraternity” and a “family” the band has grown to be much more than just a collection of musicians. It has fostered marriages and countless friendships.

“There are friendships that go back years,” drummer Dan Burke, class of 2008, said. “It’s an excellent network and

Leony Anne McKeown/The Quadrangle age isn’t really an issue,” Band member Jack Carey, 81-yearsold and a member of the class of 1956, is living proof.

Carey was a professor at the college, coach for both the baseball and swim teams, as well as a previous moderator for the band. It was only last spring that he gave up playing the bass drum, but he still is a regular attendee of practices and parades.

“81 is old,” Carey said. “I’d like to give it [the bass drum] to one of the students to take over, because they enjoy it so much.”

Most of those students have prior experience playing either the pipes or drums

before joining the band, often learned from relatives as they keep up with Irish-American family traditions.

Experienced musicians are always welcome to join the band. However, this year offers a unique opportunity for any student to get involved—even someone who has never picked up a drumstick or blown on a bagpipe.

Every two to three years, the band offers open recruitment to all those interested in joining. Musical instruction, a uniform and even instruments are available for those students willing to put in the time to practice and perform. All those interested are required to attend the band’s upcoming recruitment session and practice in Thomas

Hall on Thursday, September 17 at 7:30 p.m.

While McCarthy expects a significant turnout, the group of novices quickly dwindles as cuts are made and people realize the work involved in becoming part of an award-winning group.

“It’s not all about partying and parades, it’s a very a serious instrument,” McCarthy said.

Still, as the current members greeted each other with warm smiles as they drifted into the Performing Arts room last Thursday, it was hard to remember that the gathering was a band practice and not a family reunion.

arts & entertainment

10

Sept. 15, 2015

The Book Nook Title: “Tiny Beautiful Things” Author: Cheryl Strayed Genre: Non-Fiction

Madeleine Schwartz Senior Writer

“The best thing you can possibly do with your life is to tackle the motherf*ing shit out of it.”

If this doesn’t give you some encouragement to start the new school year with a bang, I’m not sure what will.

Cheryl Strayed, author of bestselling book “Wild,” shares witty and painstakingly true statements like this one all throughout in her book “Tiny Beautiful Things.”

Part memoir, part non-fiction, Strayed compiles answers to questions about life and love from her advice column “Dear Sugar” which she wrote anonymously up until 2012. Her answers address everything from finding love to discovering one’s true identity. Her 3 best nuggets of wisdom, in my opinion, are listed below.

1.

“Trusting yourself means living out what you already know to be true.” Although this seems inexplicably deep when glanced at first hand, this statement couldn’t be more simple.

For example, if you believe that you are a good person and you act on that thought, you are trusting what you know to be true.

Furthermore, you can only begin to trust yourself once you act on the truth--which is harder said than done in some situations.

2.

of the ones you’re holding.”

Everyone thinks that their life is unfair or that the grass is always greener on the other side. This eloquent phrase tells those people to forget about the others around them and to instead, focus on themselves.

No one’s life is perfect, but you have to give it all you’ve got when you have the chance.

3.

“Forgiveness doesn’t sit there like a pretty boy in a bar. Forgiveness is the old fat guy you have to haul up a hill.”

This extremely amusing analogy rings all too clear to anyone who has had to make amends with someone they care about.

Forgiveness isn’t as simple as saying sorry, although it is a start. It is a more complex and difficult process than uttering a few short words. To truly be able to forgive someone is a lifelong skill that we are constantly perfecting.

Strayed’s “Tiny Beautiful Things” is more than an advice column; it is a snapshot from people’s everyday, bewildering, wonderful lives. Her words are relatable at any age and at points, make you look back at your own life with a new found sense of appreciation.

The Book Nook is a bi-weekly column that reviews any different genres of literature in hopes of inspiring at least one student to read something other than their monotonous Twitter feed or boxed Mac and Cheese cooking instructions.

“You don’t have a right to the cards you believe you should have been dealt with.

You have an obligation to play the hell out Madeleine Schwartz/The Quadrangle

Follow @mcquadsports Your New Home for Manhattan College Sports!

sports

11

Women’s Soccer Ends Win Streak at Three Jaclyn Marr Assistant Editor

Three games, 343 minutes. Manhattan’s women’s soccer team had an impressive streak going.

After being shut out 2-0 by Fordham on Aug. 28, the Manhattan Jaspers had gone three games of denying the opponents a goal. Perhaps as impressive as that, they had scored eight of their own.

“Our defense is strong and it shows something about our offense as well,” Erica Modena, the team’s leading scorer said.

“Defense makes good offense.”

But the streak ended at the hands of the Columbia Lions, who defeated the Jaspers 1-0 in Friday night’s matchup. The goal came in the 15th minute of the first half, a half which the Lions controlled, limiting the Jaspers to only one shot.

The Jaspers came out strong in the second, however, and tallied four shots. They did not allow Columbia to get any shots in the second.

“We competed hard against a very good Ivy League program,” head coach Brendan Lawler said. “We showed that we could battle with them.”

After the loss, the Jaspers stand at 4-2 on the season. Their three-game win streak included victories over Hartford, NJIT and Lafayette. All the victories were on the road, making it the first time Manhattan has won three-straight road matches since the 2006 season.

The season has been full of highlights individually and collectively. Modena and Nicole Aylmer were both recognized by the MAAC this week. Modena was named MAAC Player of the Week and Aylmer earned MAAC Defensive Player of the Week.

“The best thing about it is that those individual results usually come from quality team performances,” Lawler said. “It’s always great when people outside the team recognize that the team is doing well and which individuals are spurring that along.”

Modena notched four goals in the contests against NJIT and Lafayette.

She scored her first career hat trick, as she scored all three of Manhattan’s goals against Lafayette. So far this season, she leads the MAAC with five goals.

“It was a great honor,” Modena said. “I didn’t think I would be able to come back like this after an injury last year but it was an amazing feeling.”

Aylmer earned Defensive Player of the Week after stepping in for Kristen Skonieczny in goal. Aylmer tallied threeplus shutout minutes against NJIT and a four-save shutout against Lafayette, giving them their first loss.

“For not playing at my position, I’m pretty proud of keeping the shutout,” Aylmer said.

Last season, the Jaspers were eliminated from playoff contention after a loss to Canisius gave the Golden Griffs the sixth and final spot for the playoffs. Just missing the postseason has only given the Jaspers more motivation to get back on top this year.

“We’re ready,” Modena said. “We can’t wait. Last year was a big loss but this year we are ready. I’m excited for the conference.”

They suffered a lot of injuries last season, and managed to play well before their lack of depth ended up hurting them. This season, the Jaspers are hoping to keep the injuries to a minimum.

The Jaspers will get a chance to start their redemption when conference play opens up against Canisius on Sept. 19.

“It drives us everyday,” Lawler said

A scene of celebration from one of the Jaspers’ previous victories.

Sam Washuk is one of six seniors for Manhattan this season. about last year’s elimination. “We knew last year we were good enough to be in the top four. We’ve gotten past the believing

stage to knowing that we can be there.”

“We have a senior class that has had to show a lot of belief in what we were trying

James O’Connor/The Quadrangle to do when they first came here,” Lawler continued. “They are really leading the way to know that we can get back there.”

sports

12

Alex Shackley (above right) looking unhappy with how the last game of the ‘14 season against Iona was going.

Jon Reyes/The Quadrangle

Final Third on the MAAC Pitch:

State of Manhattan with Alex Shackley Jon Reyes Editor

This is a bi-weekly column that takes a look at all of the MAAC men’s soccer teams throughout the course of the season and off-season.

Disclaimer: This interview was conducted prior to the start of the ‘15 MAAC men’s soccer season.

If there ever was to be a definition for how ‘14 was for Manhattan College last season. Look no further than the second to last “Back of the Net” column “Season Meanings.” Its opening reads as follows: The Manhattan Jaspers found themselves looking up at every other school in the MAAC after failing to win 12 straight games from early September to late October. … To this point in the season, the offense was inconsistent. They went through a 587-minute goal-less streak in a span of six games and followed that up with only three goals in the five games leading up to Niagara. … Throughout the entire season, Scott’s message was about how all it took for either team playing on the soccer field was one mistake, one moment of brilliance, one horrific decision.

Three games into ‘15, Manhattan is off to an 0-3 start. “The Quadrangle” recently conducted a conference call interview with one of the team’s midfielders, Alex Shackley, to discuss the state of the squad going forward.

The Quadrangle: Coach [Jorden Scott]

said at the end of last season, “We were that one moment short this year, the whole season. That’s tough to take because it tells you that you’re there. It tells you that you’re good enough. It tells you that you need someone to really step up in that moment, and we just didn’t get it.” What do you think about what he said?

Alex Shackley: I thought we played well for a lot of the season, actually, which is hard to believe because we ended up last in the conference. We created plenty of chances all season long, and just never really took them. We missed that finishing touch up front pretty much all season, which is unfortunate, but it happens. Since it was so many games in such a short amount of time, it’s hard to get things going. Once we hit a bad patch, we just couldn’t get out of it. We didn’t play bad as a team though.

TQ: What’s going to be the difference this season?

AS: We’re still trying to gel as a team, at the moment. We’ve got a lot of new players, so we’re working on that. But we’ve definitely added a lot of speed and athleticism up front, just to give us that extra edge going forward. At times, we try to play a little bit too pass heavy and don’t go as direct when we need to. With who we brought on, maybe we can catch some teams off guard. That’ll be good for us.

TQ: As you mentioned, a lot of new players are on this roster. How have they fit in, in terms of their play on the pitch?

AS: We have a bit of a new look attacking-wise, at the moment. It’s just some new

guys trying to gel. In our mid-field, we’ve got a couple more guys thrown into the mix. It’s been good in practice because it’s added a lot of good competition for places and working hard every single day to keep their spot on the team. We look a lot stronger and deeper as a squad now.

TQ: How key is it to have a few more home games on the schedule, including a balance between being home and away?

AS: It’s really important. Coach aimed to give us a schedule this season where we got to play more at home just because he wanted to really develop a mentality that we need to win every single game at home, especially in the out of conference schedule. We want to make Gaelic Park a fortress. We really just want to get as many points as we can in the MAAC when we play at home, and hopefully when we’re on the road we can get a point here or there. It’s just more comfortable for the guys. Don’t have to travel, worry about missing class and things like that. It’s just a lot easier and Gaelic Park is a unique field too -- a lot of teams struggle when they come here, so it’s nice if we can get that upper hand.

TQ: Do you recall how the team found success at home in ‘13 but none in ‘14?

What did or didn’t change?

AS: To be honest, I don’t really think it had too much to do with anything. I just think last year we just struggled up front and a poor run of form, and that just made things difficult and affected our home and away form, all together. The year before, we gelled really well as a team. We’re try-

ing to get that back this year. That connection that we had.

TQ: What will help bring the team together?

AS: So far during preseason, we’ve had team bonding sessions. We’ve been hanging out a lot more as a team, acting more as a family, spending time with one another every single day. It’s definitely helped and it’s going to help this season because you need to know on the field where that partner is going to be on the field. Last year there was a little bit of a disconnect between the newer, younger players and the older guys, as there is at every program. But this year we’ve really tried to step it up.

TQ: How does it feel being one of the elder statesmen, and it being your last year as both a student and athlete?

AS: These guys are my best friends at school. It’s going to be an emotional year when it comes down to it at the end. We just need to start off strong and keep that going through the season.

TQ: Everyone in the MAAC qualifies for the tournament this season. Thoughts?

AS: Our mindset is to finish as high up in the table as possible because we want a good seed for the playoffs. It’s really important that we do have a solid season.

At the same time, coach has really been stressing that he’s going to be rotating the squad a little bit more. He hasn’t said too much other than that he wants to focus on the now, he doesn’t want to look too far forward.

For links and footnotes, visit MCQuad.org.