Issue 11, Fall 2014 - The Quadrangle

THE Vol.90 Issue 11

Q

UADRANGLE A Student Publication of Manhattan College Since 1924

Nov. 4, 2014

George Beamon Drafted by the Oklahoma City Blue

Story on Page 10 Daniel Ynfante/The Quadrangle

George Beamon is the reigning MAAC conference men’s basketball MVP and will now join the Oklahoma City Blue, the D-league NBA affiliate of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

www.mcquad.org

LGBT Culture at MC Sean McIntyre Social Media Editor

Manhattan College's LGBT Friends and Allies became an official campus club this fall semester. Ivan Rios, President of LGBT Friends and Allies, created this club as a safe space for members and friends of the LGBT community to bond together and share stories.

“Last semester I came back to my room one night to find homophobic slurs written on my door,” said Rios. “I took offense to the slurs and contacted my RA on LGBT resources.”

Rios was directed to Resident Director Stephanie Brooks. The two teamed together to design a club that allowed students to have a place to seek help. The process of becoming an official club was rather easy according to Rios.

“The faculty was very supportive of our club and even donated money to the organization,” Rios said.

The club members fluctuate between 12 to 30 people per meeting, but its email list consists of over 100 names. During meetings, members discuss conflicts experienced and ways to integrate the club into the larger college community. One major event the club hosted was the Coming Out Day on Oct. 11.

“This day promoted the sharing of coming out stories, LGBT topics like asexual awareness, discussions of personal conContinued on page 2

The Quadrangle’s Halloween Photo Contest Winners

Madison Brown/Courtesy

Madison Brown and Patricia Colton dress as mermaid man and barnacle boy.

Ilena DeRose/Courtesy

Ilena DeRose dresses as Flo from Progressive Insurance commercials.

Nereida Millan/Courtesy

Nereida Millan and Chris Loof dress as skeletons.

news

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Newly Formed LGBT Club Offers Look Into Campus Culture

Nov. 4, 2014

Continued from page 1

flicts and to build strong bonds with one another in a safe space,” Rios said.

The club has partnered with Manhattan College ALLY Safe Zone Program which was founded by Cory Blad, Ph.D., associate professor of sociology and director of the urban affairs program. The club and Blad partnered together to create a Safe Zone Program event consisting of a group of LGBT speakers on Nov. 11.

“Ivan is a great leader with amazing organizational skills,” Blad said of their collaboration.

Five years ago Blad brought the ALLY Safe Zone Program to the college. The organization is geared towards the heterosexual audience to understand members of the LGBT community and provide a space that they can go to be supported.

The ALLY program focuses on newly independent adults who are facing the realities of living on their own and adjusting to a new community. Rather than feeling unwelcome, the program allows spaces for students to talk and to be heard. MC members include over 50 teachers, over 50 staff members and numerous students who have pledged to be allies.

“When I first came to Manhattan College there was nothing like ALLY,” Blad said. “There wasn’t anything formally addressing the inclusion of the LGBT community into the MC community.”

Like LGBT Friends and Allies, Blad said he received only positive feedback when launching the ALLY program. Blad said that his colleagues at other Catholic colleges have experienced questioning and a lack of acceptance when launching or backing similar programs on their campuses.

The foundation of ALLY is a grass roots movement with no defined organizational form. MC received help from Lehman College to help establish the organization’s presence. Lehman further assisted with the training process of becoming an ALLY Safe Zone member.

“The process is quick and simple. All you have to do is come in, sit down, and understand the reasoning behind the program’s existence,” Blad said. “Then I layout the responsibilities of being a member, and you then sign an agreement and received an ALLY Safe Zone plaque.”

Before the LGBT Friends and Allies club, Lois Harr, Director of Campus Ministry and Social Action, said that the college offered a club called Standing Together.

“At one time it was very active and very full of straight and gay people. They would do things together and have activities together and had parties together,” Harr said.

“I remembered Tom Ferguson [from the] religious studies department took people downtown to show them Stonewall and to

Ivan Rios/Courtesy

Leadership of the LGBT club poses at a pride event.

Ivan Rios/Courtesy

The LGBT club holds meetings where members can discuss upcoming events and share stories of their experience on campus. tour around the village. The club did other things with faculty who were particularly interested.”

Standing Together, like other college clubs, slowly faded out as leadership graduated and membership decreased. Harr said this is normal behavior and that this is the first time in a couple years that a club like this has been brought back to MC. Regarding the overall campus culture towards the LGBT community, the responses were varied, but overall positive.

“It’s an irritating persistence to hear people use the phrase ‘that’s so gay.’ I have noticed that negative vernacular has decreased,” Blad said. “Some students are not fully comfortable with themselves at MC.” Rios confirmed Blad’s opinion that people cannot walk around with their significant other while being on campus. Harr said that the faculty are more accepting.

“I think the faculty here are very welcoming, and I think we have faculty members throughout the LGBT community too,” Harr said.

Harr said that the college wants to help young people feel safe and welcomed.

“The students are entrusted to our care, and everyone here is entrusted to our care matters. We want to be a warm and welcoming place,” Harr said.

“I think that fact that we would encourage a club like this, or an organization or a group, to let a person talk and are welcomed to come in and see them, makes our community very inclusive.”

Even with some of the college’s positive attitudes towards the LGBT community, there are still some limitations because of the school’s Lasallian Catholic heritage.

“We want to help young people be safe, nurture them and grow up to be who they are supposed to be in the world. It’s a tricky thing since it is a Catholic school, so there may be some limits on what we can say, or support, but anyone who is here now we want to take care of them,” Harr said.

As a part of a Catholic school, Campus Ministry constantly discovers new ways to give back to the community. Jenn Edwards Robinson, coordinator for social action for the Office of Campus Ministry and Social

Action, confirmed campus ministry’s interest in partnering with LGBT Friends and Allies.

“We would love to partner with this new club in the future and for them to know that the social action suite is a space that is open, inclusive, and welcoming for all students and student groups,” Edwards Robinson said.

Feeling open, inclusive, and welcoming is the ultimate goal behind LGBT Friends and Allies. When entering MC, Rios wished he received a key piece of advice.

“I’m welcomed here, and supported here for people similar to me. I can just be myself,” Rios said.

Blad’s goal with the ALLY Safe Zone Program is that in the future the club would not be needed since diversity will be totally integrated into MC. “I hope this program will be irrelevant because there will be no need for the program to exist,” Blad said. “It is slightly ‘utopian,’ but not impractical.”

Results Show an Increase in Participation in Freshman Class Elections Daniel Molina Staff Writer

The annual election for freshman class representatives held this fall was historical one for Manhattan College. Almost half of the entire class of 2018, totaling to 450 voters, and 14 candidates participated in this process. T he election marks one of the biggest responses from any class according to data collected by the Student Government Association which organizes the election.

“It’s really good to see all this response from the students. It means that they care about decisions made,” Gabrielle Occhiogrosso, Ph.D. and assistant director of Student Activities, said.

The election was conducted though an online platform, in which candidates were divided into either freshman class representatives or commuter representatives, according to their residence status, and each category had two vacancies.

“It was really quick actually,” Havana Fox, one of the freshman candidates, said.

“You had a week to campaign and they [the classmates] voted electronically so you weren’t sure if people would actually go to their e-mail and check it.”

These and other concerns encouraged the contestants to campaign by covering the walls of the college with fliers and brochures with their names and what they were offering to the incoming class.

The winners included Oscar Ortiz and Isra Khaled as commuter representatives,

and Fox as one of the two freshman class representatives. For the first time, the election resulted in a tie among two candidates to occupy the place of the second freshman class representative. The class of 2018 had voted 44 times for LisaMarie Nilaj and 44 times for Ryan James Quattromani.

A Student Government assembly was held to analyze the situation and decided to listen to both contestants’ proposals and pick the winner. Both candidates had to inform why they wanted the position and what past experience they had in the field.

“I was nervous that we tied,” Quattromani said. “I talked about all the different things that I was involved in high school that made me qualify for this position and, eventually they [the assembly] choose me.”

After the closest election ever held for a freshman class representative, the winners are planning how they would like to improve the lives of the student body and are discussing new ideas.

As a result of these dialogues, the first big initiative proposed by Quattromani is some type of availability of coffee in the library, especially during midterms and finals weeks. This would satisfy an unfilled demand at times where Locke’s is closed from 10 p.m. to 7:30 a.m.

“It’s our education, you know?” Fox said. “They [the students] should participate in it. If something is wrong, that’s a part of our responsibility, to represent them.”

Letters to

the Editor

Dear Editor, The library policy mentioned in an Oct. 28 Quadrangle article (“New library policy catches MC students by surprise”) is not a new policy, but one that was announced and implemented last spring. The policy can be found at http://lib.manhattan.edu/room-reservations/make-room-reservation Contrary to the article, there is no fine for the use of a group study room for longer than three hours. I believe the fine was charged because the key hadn’t been checked in after four hours and was therefore assumed to be missing.

In this instance, the library staff failed to check in the key when it was returned. On behalf of the Library, I apologize to Mr. Wintiel. In the future, we will be sure to (a) check in each key as soon as it is returned and (b) check the key rack very carefully before claiming that a key hasn’t been returned.

Of course we will rescind any lost key fines whenever a key is checked in. (If a lost key fine appears on a student’s record, the fine will be removed as soon as the key is returned.) Students who need to use a group study room for longer than three hours can simply renew the room, just as they’d renew a book, as long as it hasn’t been reserved by anyone else.

We will be reconsidering all our group study room policies over the next few weeks, and we’ll keep everyone informed about any changes in policy.

There are two other things I should mention. First, Amy Handfield is the access services librarian, not the daytime circulation desk manager. Second, the lost key policy is simply intended to minimize the number of keys that are lost or stolen. We are not, as one student surmised, “trying to find new ways to charge you.” We already have a very effective method of doing that—tuition—and the processing of lost key fees is not a cost-effective way to get your money.

William H. Walters, Ph.D. Executive Director, O’Malley Library

The

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Quadrangle www.mcquad.org

Vol. 90 Issue 11 Nov. 4, 2014

Natalie E. Sullivan Editor-in-Chief Michelle DePinho Managing Editor/News Editor Michael Peyko Asst. News Editor Claire Leaden Managing Editor/Features Editor Kieran Rock Asst. Features Editor Natalie Heinitz Op/Ed Editor/Production Editor Maya Astabie Asst. Op/Ed Editor Lauren Carr Arts & Entertainment Editor Kelly Burns Asst. Arts & Entertainment Editor/ Production Editor

Dear Quad editor, I attended the "Safe Halloween Experience" this past Friday with my daughter and her two children. What a great time the children had, and not just mine – you can hear it in the hallways as we walked through them. The Kappa Delta Pi society did a fantastic job!

It was many departments that joined in this festive treat and they all did a good job at entertaining the kids with activities...making colored slime, building with mini marshmallows and toothpicks, coloring paper bags, coloring activity sheets, decorating cupcakes and cookies, which they were able to take home; games of toss, games of pin the tail (and bow), visiting a haunted house, a Frozen room, a zoo, and so much more! The college students were very attentive to the children and were themselves costumed up delighting the kids.

I must especially thank "Anna" from the Frozen room for singing and twirling with my kids. They chatted about it on their way home (they thought it was really ‘her’). She was great and I predict would be very successful in a career involving kids.

Thanks again Manhattan College, Kappa Delta Pi, and other participating departments, for a wonderful ‘safe halloween experience’!

--Mary Ellen Skehill & family Mary Ellen Skehill Cataloging Assistant O'Malley Library

Chris Cirillo Sports Editor Jonathan Reyes Asst. Sports Editor Jaclyn Marr Asst. Sports Editor Sean McIntyre Social Media Editor James O’Connor Photography Editor Sean Sonnemann Web Editor John Abbatangelo Sam Martin Editorial Cartoonists Daniel Molina Distribution Manager

Dear Editor - Congratulations are extended to Jenna Bloomer for her carefully crafted comments found throughout her article The Epidemic of Sexual Assault in the October 28th issue The Quadrangle. Jenna's keen observations and insights can lead to a lively discussion among members of the college community. With her article came the example of a poster that read, "Without Consent.....It's Sexual Assault." Perhaps with that message comes a question, "With Consent....What is it?"

Brother Robert Berger, FSC Department of Religious Studies Department of Residence Life

Joe Cutbirth, Ph.D. Faculty Adviser The Quadrangle is a news organization run by the students of Manhattan College.

The staff of The Quadrangle meets every Tuesday at 4:30 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.

opinions & editorials

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Nov. 4, 2014

How New York is Improving Two Years After Sandy Jaclyn Marr

Asst. Sports Editor The East Coast was changed forever when it was hit hard by Superstorm Sandy in the fall of 2012. Boardwalks were ripped apart, houses were destroyed and there were record-breaking flood levels. Miles of shoreline beaches were damaged up the coast. The storm resulted in 117 deaths, 53 in New York State. Two years later, New York City is one of the areas still recovering from the storm and looking forward to prepare for future storms.

On October 26 2012, Hurricane Sandy barreled up the East Coast as a category one storm with 80 mph winds. New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Maryland declared states of emergency. Connecticut, New Jersey and Massachusetts declared it a day later. On October 28, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) suspended all services.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg ordered the closing of NYC public schools and evacuations in low-lying areas. Sandy hit land on October 29 as a category two storm.

Eleven million commuters were left with no service. About 6,700 National Guard were in active duty in the affected states. By the time the storm made landfall in New Jersey, it had downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone. Still strong, it caused almost eight million businesses and households to lose power across 15 states and 9,000 people spent the night in Red Cross shelters in 13 states.

Two years later, plans and proposals have been made to improve the coastline of New York City in preparation of the next big storm. The Housing and Urban Development started an international design competition to elicit innovative plans.

Michelle DePinho/The Quadrangle

Manhattan College was closed during the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. Much of New York was affected and two years later improvement are being seen.

The winning proposal is called Big U and campaign. These will add natural protec- receive any assistance - that is 14,000 homit would contain an eight-mile construction tions in the waters off of the Staten Island eowners.

In addition, the Federal Emergency around the Manhattan coastline. It would shore, the New York Harbor and the South start at West 57th Street south to Battery Bronx shoreline. These projects, on the Management Agency originally gave $1.4 other hand, need additional funding and billion for disaster relief in five different Park and up to East 42nd Street.

The project will contain 10-foot-tall political support in order to be completed. states. However, they are asking for some beams that will guard the edges of the is- The problem is that we need significant of its money back. The Associated Press land. They will be barriers to the water while changes now. With the rate of climate learned in September that FEMA asked also blending into and becoming a part of change and dangerous storms, something about 850 households to return $5.8 mila newly imagined set of waterfront parks needs to be done now to protect this area lion. The agency mismanaged the amount of money they could give and now about along the bottom coast of New York City. from future trouble.

As the two-year anniversary has ap- $53 million is under review.

However, the plan is designed in so-called As the hurricane season of 2014 is compartments and the first one is set to start proached, there are still many aspects and in 2017 with construction on the East Side areas that need to be fixed. For one, New coming to a close, we can only look forlasting three years and a $335 million price York City’s “Build It Back” program has ward to the city’s proposed protection of tag. It is like a trial to see if it helps enough stalled. It was launched after the storm to the coastlines and hope that the area is not to spread to the rest of the coastline. The rebuild damaged or destroyed homes and hit hard by another storm before the conproject is still unfunded for the West Side cover out-of-pocket expenses for the ho- struction can be finished in the coming meowners and businesses. It was revealed years. and Lower Manhattan.

More projects have been chosen in the by the city’s Department of Investigation federal government’s Rebuild by Design that 90 percent of applicants have yet to

Marching for (Climate) Change 2014: Social Movements and the College Student Amy Cardoza Staff Writer

Throngs of people push through the crowded streets of Manhattan in a sea of colorful protest signs and even more colorful personalities. Amidst the sea of people chanting about “climate justice” and “global drama,” there I am standing among the crowd, dazed and confused. People, young and old alike thrusting signs into the air and chanting enthusiastically about how Obama is ruining the climate and how we must watch and protect the ever-melting icecaps.

As the march begins, everything is pretty straightforward, but as I progress through the crowd, things proceeded to get steadily unclear. Turns out climate justice encompasses pretty much every human rights cause that has ever existed, because the amount of different things people were protesting for varied greatly. There was the man dressed as a banana ranting about why vegan is the right life choice, people chanting about world hunger, signs about the ice caps, girls dressed as mother nature/fairy creatures advocating for the end of global warming, people protesting big business and the oil industry. It just seemed like 400,000 people had gathered with their own different ideal they wanted to advocate and it happened to fall under the giant umbrella of “climate justice.” Still, the Climate March of 2014 took the record for the largest climate-related protest ever held

in history.

The great thing about marches is that there is power in numbers. When you gather 400,000 people in a space, people have to notice. It is impossible to ignore that number of people all united under the same (or at least similar) goals. From personal observation, a large percentage of protesters were comprised of young people. Huge groups of college students were all collected together, chanting and wearing matching t-shirts.

Robert Geraci, Ph.D., of Manhattan College’s religious studies department feels that it is vital for youth to take a stand for social change. “As so many people have already learned the lessons of sitting down, staying quiet, and doing what they're told, we need for young people (who are not yet fully indoctrinated into that) to learn that they can have a real voice and go about using it,” he said.

“There are many college students in the U.S., and among them are most of the best educated and best prepared young people. If they can find a unified voice and stand up in defense of their rights and in solidarity with those less fortunate, they will find that they can pretty well run the place.”

From the turnout at the Climate March, it seems young people are making a comeback on the protesting scene and are slowly becoming more and more socially conscious.

“If all they [students] want is the latest iPhone and to know what's happening on the latest episode of the Desperate Housewives of New Jersey, then they will find

themselves disenfranchised at every turn.

I want students to dream big and march for those dreams. If they will, all of us (except maybe the Koch brothers) will cheer at the outcomes,” Geraci said.

However, controversy over the Climate March began almost immediately after it concluded. Viral photos circulated rapidly over Twitter following the end of the event depicting massive amounts of trash and litter left behind by the protesters. Clearly the hypocrisy of that statement is enough to show that some of the protesters are not living the way they are advocating for other people to live. Almost immediately, their advocacy fell through.

These actions radically draw away from the true purpose of marches and protests, and are a detriment to advocating people to join in others in the future.

This pattern unfortunately seems to repeat itself among huge events such as the Climate March. It seems that advocacy ends once the crowds clear. I went to the Climate March with my religion class and shortly after the event I never heard any of them talk about it again. Most would say it was a cool experience, but they aren’t climate change pioneers now because of the impact of the march. They aren’t standing in the Quad demanding that people recycle their Starbucks cups.

And although this is a shortsighted example, the same can be true for society. It’s as if society gives people one day to get out all of their protests, and then that’s it.

They can shut up after that.

If you walk down the Upper East Side I can almost guarantee there aren’t protesters still walking around shouting “Hey Obama, we don’t want no global drama.” The chanting ceased as the crowd dispersed, and now society can enjoy the silence. People will still support big business, even the people that took part in the march, and the cycle will continue. If protesters like those at the Climate March that discarded their signs and trash along the streets they marched on continue their hypocrisy, nothing will ever get better and nothing will change. Students need to become involved in social change, because we are the generation that is rising up to take the place of the previous one. “[I] consider marching for social causes to be a vital part of a college education. On the one hand, this is because our broader society needs people--perhaps especially people who have flexible schedules--to call attention to injustice and broken social structures. On the other, it is because I think the students themselves learn what it means to be socially aware and constructively engaged by being part of such movements,” Geraci said.

“Further, I think it is a vital part of education to learn what it means to stand up to authority figures. I'm afraid we do a poor job of teaching people that, but the more people who know what it means to push back against the ignorance or hunger for power that characterizes authorities and their ‘just because...’ the better, and the better off, we will all eventually be,” Geraci said.

opinions & editorials

“Who is Malala?”

Victoria Hernandez Staff Writer

In a society that knows more about celebrities than people who are truly impacting the world, it is not rare to encounter citizens that do not know who Malala Yousafza is.

I asked Allison Mangan, a junior accounting major, if she knew about Yousafza.

“I have no idea who you’re talking about,” Mangan said.

Astonished of her response, I asked the same question to Brenda Carhuayo, a freshman biology major.

“She got shot for what she believed in,” Carhuayo said.

Malala Yousafza is a 17-year-old girl who was born in Pakistan and was recently honored as the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize since it was created in 1901.

The Nobel Peace Prize website states that she was recognized “for her struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education."

This young adolescent has started a revolution. The movement is so big that it has even caught the attention of the President of the United States, Barack Obama, and the queen of England, who Malala has visited. She has also addressed the United Nations with an unforgettable speech. She has astonished some of the world’s greatest leaders because of the complexity of her words and message at such a young age.

“The terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions but nothing changed in my life except this: weakness, fear and hopelessness died,” Yousafza said in a speech. “Strength, power and courage was born.”

She was referring to the incident where she faced death two years ago. A member of the Taliban searching for her on a crowded bus in northwestern Pakistan shouted,

“Who is Malala?” Then, he proceeded to fire a bullet into Malala’s forehead with the goal of silencing her cry for education and equal rights for girls.

It may be hard to imagine a young girl who has to stand up for her rights and beliefs in another part of the world. But, these are the type of stories that need to be published on the front page of every magazine and newspaper instead of the latest celebrity scandal. All of the setbacks she has overcome, instead of silencing her, have made her stronger and more fearless. Those are two qualities every girl should look up to.

No matter your religion, your ethnicity or age, Yousafza is a role model.

While reading about Malala’s campaign, I started questioning whether or not we, as college students, value the education we have been offered. Sometimes it seems like we take for granted the opportunities and resources we have. We should give our education the value it deserves.

Yousafza certainly thinks of education as a cause worth living for, and maybe even worth dying for.

“We do take that [our education] for granted, some people can’t [be educated] for different reasons like money or religion,” Carhuayo said.

On the topic of education, Malala has said some thought-provoking things.

“Dear sisters and brothers, we realize the importance of light when we see darkness. We realize the importance of our voice when we are silenced. In the same way, when we were in Swat, the north of Pakistan, we realized the importance of pens and books when we saw the guns,” Malala said in a speech at the United Nations on her 16th birthday.

Intrigued by the thought of knowing if women knew about who Malala is, I kept looking for more answers to the question: “Who is Malala?”

Menna Elkady, a senior chemical engineering major, said, “I think her whole campaign is something that society needs to get girls out of the role of just being

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Creative Commons/Courtesy

Malala Yousafza overcame the Taliban attack on her life and used her platform to fight for education and equal rights for girls, wives or housewives.”

Elorna Pierre, a freshman biology major, also had a similar response.

“Malala is great. Especially from where she is, it is good for girls to have someone to look up to. I would look up to her as a role model,” Pierre said.

Malala has even written a book about her story.

“The book is part history, part politics, part tragedy, but mostly good overcom-

ing evil,” critic Ken Kish of The Macomb Daily said.

“With her courage and determination, Malala has shown what terrorists fear most: a girl with a book,” United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-Moon told The New York Times.

Clearly, Malala has done much more than speak her mind. She has spurred a revolution everyone should join.

Sam Martin/The Quadrangle

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features

Nov. 4, 2014

Where Are They Now? Alessandra Rosso Tara Marin Staff Writer

Graduation is both an exciting and daunting event for every student in college. With such a wide array of opportunities and a handful of choices to make, the time between graduating and going into the workforce can be a difficult one.

For Alessandra Rosso, this in-between time only lasted one day. After crossing the stage at Manhattan College graduation last May, she had just one day off before immediately going to work as a rebar field engineer for the Tappan Zee Bridge.

For those who aren't familiar with engineering, rebar are the reinforcing steel bars that go in concrete to make it stronger. Rosso is currently in charge of running the pre-assembly yard at Tomkin's Cove in Rockland County, which is where the rebar is assembled and inspected. Rosso and her team then send it down the river via boat, where another team is waiting at the bridge to put the rebar in place.

The bridge will take a little over five years to build and cost a hefty 4 billion dollars, but is designed to last 100 years without structural maintenance. The New York State Website states, “This new bridge will

mean less congestion for motorists, with eight traffic lanes, four breakdown/emergency lanes, and state-of-the-art traffic monitoring systems, as well as a dedicated commuter bus lane from the day it opens.”

A large portion of her job is coordinating with others, which Rosso enjoys, but she says that problem solving on the job is definitely the most fun for her.

“With good planning, we can anticipate issues in the field weeks in advance and engineer solutions to them,” she said.

“That's when I use what I learned in school.

I help design things that will be used to make construction easier.”

Her love for engineering was discovered during her senior year of high school.

It was at this time that her older sister, a Manhattan College alumnus also with a degree in Civil Engineering, had been working as a field engineer on the World Trade Center.

“It seemed like controlled chaos with a lot of different variables. It had a real energy to it. I kind of decided then that I would definitely go into engineering,” Rosso said regarding her first visit to the site.

During her first Christmas break at MC, her life took another turn when her sister dragged her out of bed to come to work with her and do a drawing for her boss.

“To be honest, I have no idea what the drawing was of,” Rosso said. “I just knew what specific things they wanted me to change. I guess I did something right because the company then asked me to come back.”

After this, she started working for Granite Construction every day that she had off from school, even taking holidays and weekends.

“I took the shifts that no one wanted,” she said. “I was just an intern doing mostly office work, but I got to be a part of the East Side Access Project in Queens and the World Trade Center in Manhattan.”

By her senior year of college, she returned for another summer internship and was placed on the Tappan Zee Bridge project. Since they were understaffed, Rosso continued to work part-time during school and switched to full-time upon graduating.

She said that after graduation, everything

changed.

“The bridge boomed, and I was immediately buried in work and the standards were now much higher because I had graduated,” Rosso said. She laughs at herself for not realizing that the one day in between graduating and working was “the calm before the storm.”

“This past summer was the best and worst time of my life," she said. Her days were extremely long and exhausting, but she was getting to apply the things she had been studying for so long in school to real life.

When reminiscing about graduation, she said she felt she was going to miss her professors, but that she also made a short term goal to return for her master’s degree within the next year or so. Right now, it would be too busy to juggle work and school, so she looks forward to moving on and learning more in the future.

Rosso calls the bridge “a monster that has taken over my life,” but also admits she truly does love it. “Working on a project this big is like standing in front of a really, really big picture. It's hard to see anything but it.”

Alessandra Rosso/Courtesy

Top left: Alessandra Rosso standing on a column form at her site. Bottom: A view of the entire pre-assembly site in Rockland County.

features

7

Murder Mystery Dinner, Brought to You by MC Players

Christian Roodal/The Quadrangle

Scenes from the Thursday, Oct. 30 Murder Mystery Dinner that MC Players performed for students, faculty and community members.

features Professor Chat The Freshman Files

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Nov. 4, 2014

Lisa D. Toscano

Manhattan What?

Ally Hutzler

Lindsey Burns

Staff Writer

Manhattan Madness is the crown jewel of school spirit events held in our beloved Draddy Gymnasium.

The occasion marks the beginning of the men and women’s basketball seasons and is sponsored by Student Activities and Student Government. We all know that it is a night full of spirit, a lot of green and is in honor of a team or two, but what can us freshmen truly expect from the night of madness?

“That is just it, you never really know what to expect,” junior Lauren Sciarrotto said. Sciarrotto, who attended last year’s Manhattan Madness, said the student body was surprised with a performance by rapper and hip-hop artist Maino. “We have no idea who it will be this year, it is all part of the excitement,” Sciarrotto said.

Admission is free for all students, along with a t-shirt and various contests and giveaways throughout the evening. And, while there is usually a performer or entertainer which Student Activities likes to keep under wraps, the main focus of the night is on Manhattan College athletics.

The school recognizes each player and all coaches and staff associated with both basketball squads.

“They introduce each player, and they walk out to their choice of music and do a little dance. It’s a lot of fun,” Sciarrotto said.

So far, it seems like most of our memories of school-organized events involve over-zealous teachers, bad cafeteria food and lousy entertainment. Unlike events in high school where student attendance was

Staff Writer

virtually non-existent, Manhattan Madness is always a popular scene.

“I don’t know exactly what it is but I am excited to find out,” said freshman Lauren Kalina, who plans to attend Thursday night. Most of us agree that we can use a little campus fun as the winter blues and final exams are approaching fast.

While the night is primarily concerned with celebrating its talented athletes, it also celebrates their devoted fans. At MC we call them “The 6th Borough.” Despite the fact that you can’t exactly plug that into Google maps, you can make your presence known and show your support.

“I think it shows all of our great school spirit, the way a great number of the student body comes together and cares for one another,” Kalina said.

With the men’s basketball team’s wellknown success, making it to the NCAA tournament and almost defeating defending champion Louisville last year, we want to give them the best start of the season that we can. The more the merrier has never been a truer statement, and it wouldn’t hurt to win a raffle or two.

Only a few days away, recent buzz of the upcoming night brings with it chatter about our other teams here at MC. Should Manhattan Madness support all of our Division I sports, not just basketball? The school is home to eight men’s teams and 10 women’s teams; do they all get the same amount of attention and care?

“I definitely believe that every sport here deserves a Manhattan Madness,” freshman Patrick Estanbouli said.

This week’s “Professor Chat” is with Lisa D. Toscano, professor of kinesiology.

Toscano can be found teaching Anatomical Kinesiology, Care and Prevention of Athletic Injuries, Therapeutic Exercise Prescription and Modalities, Personal Wellness and Introduction to Exercise Science this semester.

Recently, Toscano was named to the MAAC Honor Roll, along with Junius Kellogg of the class of 1953. Toscano was one of the leading founders of Manhattan College's inaugural varsity women's basketball team. She is also a member of Manhattan College's Athletic Hall of Fame. In addition to her own athletic honors, she has received the 25 year service award from the National Athletic Training Association in recognition for her efforts.

Read on to find out a little more about your professor.

Q: Why are you a professor in the subject that you are?

A: I am a professor of Kinesiology probably for two reasons: 1) I always loved school and I was blessed with many, many great professors—teachers that were truly inspiring. I wanted to do the same one day. 2) As an athlete I became interested in sports medicine and orthopedic injuries. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to teach here at Manhattan (my undergraduate home) in the department I love.

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Q: What is your favorite part about MC? A: My students!

Q: What is your biggest student pet peeve?

A: Not sure I have one.

Q: Where can you be found on the weekends?

A: Summer: beaches. Fall: biking, hiking, snow shoeing (when possible), theater, movies and eating.

Q: What is your favorite thing to read (book, newspaper, magazine, etc.)?

A: The New York Times.

arts & entertainment

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Student Musician Spotlight Kiri Cormack

Caroline Heimerl Staff Writer

Every Tuesday the popular bar, An Beal Bocht Café, hosts an open mic night. The event has been known to bring in a diverse group of artists, including R&B singers, guitar soloists and folk bands. The familiar atmosphere has been a haven for Jaspers for several years, and has seen its fair share of campus musicians take the stage.

However, not many have made as strong of an impression as Kiri Cormack, a student in the School of Education. Her powerful voice graces almost every open mic night, and she has captured the attention of many An Beal patrons. Her beautiful renditions of songs such as Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” and Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” are consistently met with enthusiastic applause. Luckily, The Quadrangle had the opportunity to sit down with Kiri and ask about the story behind her talents.

Quadrangle: You have a really great voice, how long have you been singing?

Kiri Cormack: A long time. Yeah, since… I hate when people say “Since I could talk, I’ve been singing,” but it’s kind of true. I just used to sing a lot in the car.

My mom would go to work and I would go into work with her and we would just jam out in the car. I’d also make up my own songs, singing in my hairbrush. I would always sing, and I’d get in trouble for singing in class. During tests, they’d ask, “Who is singing? Kiri, stop humming.” I wouldn’t even know I was singing, I’d be in my own world. I’m a weirdo.

Q: Aside from car jam sessions, have you had formal training?

KC: I tried for one year. I did musical theater, that’s what I went to school for at my first college. Then, I was required to take lessons at Berklee where we would do voice exercises, but I never really had a teacher.

Q: Why did you transfer?

KC: Well my first transfer [from Wagner College] was because I didn’t think I was cut throat enough to be in musical theater, on a professional level. I didn’t want it as bad as everyone else did. So I thought, “You know what, that’s a sign to me.”

Through my two years there, I wrote a musical and put out two CDs, and I thought, “I’m a songwriter, I need to write,” so I went to Berklee. I think I realized then that with musical theater and with Berklee, I just didn’t want to be in classes that teach you music, I feel like that’s more something that I learn, that I self-teach everything.

With piano, I just improve by playing on my own. With singing, I only improve with singing on my own.

Q: So your relationship with music is pretty much personal?

KC: Not solely personal. I still struggle with whether I want to do it as a living or not. But, going to school for it, no. Maybe taking occasional classes, but nothing that depends on a grade and graduating. That, to me, intimidates me. It should be more fun, and not cut throat. Music is more therapeutic for me, is really what it is. Music is therapy.

Q: So the part that music is going to play in your future is still not decided?

KC: I think about it every day. My first step is to graduate with my masters and get it out of the way. I say it like I don’t love what I’m doing, but I really love education.

But, the guys that are in my band that I met at Berklee have pretty much convinced me that I’m moving to Nashville when I graduate. It’s a much more relaxed atmosphere than New York. I am very fast paced, “go, go, go” all the time, I need to do fifty million things at once, but at the same time, I love everyone working together. I don’t like the cattiness, especially in musical theater.

KC: Education has a lot to do with it.

There’s a lot of reasons why I wanted to do [education]. One being that you have summers, weekends and sometimes nights.

No matter what, I need to be around music, to have it in my life. I was looking for open mics, and I found “Tuesday nights at An Beal Bocht.” Living in OV, right next door, it was perfect. Literally next door, it couldn’t have been more perfect. This school is everything that I needed, everything that I wanted, and An Beal was right there. I’d only discovered it after I transferred and it was a sign that this is where I needed to be. This is it, found it, got it, third try’s a charm.

Q: We’ve noticed you’ve done some interesting covers, so I’m assuming your inspirations are very varied?

KC: Oh yeah. All over the board.

I listen to a lot of pop jazz. I love Jamie Cullum, I listen to a lot of Kings of Leon, musical theater. If you put my iPod on shuffle… I know that everyone says, “I like everything,” but I’m serious. I like country music, like I love, “America, drinking beers, yeah!” but I also love like jazz and all of that “[scats]”. People are like, “Who are you?” and I’m like “Yo, I don’t know, let me just do a tap dance and sing a melody.” Oh and I love rap. I listen to Drake all of the time, and I love Lil Wayne. People ask me, “Kiri, what kind of music do you play?” and I’m like “I don’t know. I don’t know what to call it.”

Q: How many years have you been doing the open mic night?

KC: I’m going on my third now, this is now my third year here. My friend Josh just came down to An Beal too, because my third CD is coming out, and he came down to perform some stuff.

Q: So why did you decide to start singing at An Beal?

Q: Do you put your CDs out yourself?

KC: Yeah. I’ve done everything. I mean, I have a sound engineer and a CD crew, but I write all of the songs and do everything else.

Q: Where do you record?

KC: Nashville. So that’s why they tell me I should just stay down there, maybe I will.

Kiri Cormack performs Tuesday nights at An Beal Bocht and can also be found on YouTube and at www.kiricormack.com.

Welcome to the ‘80s Sean Sonnemann Web Editor

Taylor Swift has once again taken the music industry by storm with the recent release of her new album, “1989.” The album of course features the addictive single that you haven’t been able to get out of your head for the past few months, “Shake It Off.” More importantly, the album also signals Swift’s final break from her country star roots, a transition several years in the making and a process that has brought Swift massive amounts of record sales.

Critics have given “1989” mostly favorable reviews. “Deeply weird, feverishly emotional, wildly enthusiastic, “1989” sounds exactly like Taylor Swift, even when it sounds like nothing she's ever tried before,” Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone said.

Swift herself has cited the music of the ’80s as the main inspiration for her new sound. In an interesting review of the album, Jon Caramanica of The New York Times lauds Swift for smartly setting herself apart from the rest of mainstream pop music. Caramanica claims that most modern pop stars have recently achieved success by emulating the sounds of hip-hop

and R&B. The new musical direction of “1989” allows Swift “to stake out popular turf without having to keep up with the latest microtrends” of pop music.

Whether you buy into Caramanica’s commentary (that also touches on the topics of race and cultural appropriation) or not, there is no doubt that the music of the ’80s influenced the production of the album. Synthesizers abound—reminiscent of the new wave, synthpop and electronic movements of the era. It is perhaps most recognizable on the tracks “Out of the Woods” and “Style.”

This week Jasper Jams has picked out some specific songs from the ’80s that could have influenced Swift in making her new album. She is not the first artist to treat the decade as her muse, but her enormous popularity and fan base could certainly spark another revival of interest in the time period.

1) “Something Good” by Paul Haig On “Something Good,” Haig exemplifies the deep and heavy synthesizers that were a frequent feature of the new wave songs of the ’80s. The backing of Swift’s “Style” bears close resemblance to this track from the Scottish musician.

2) “Rush Hour” by Jane Wiedlin Released in 1988, “Rush Hour” is a track that appears to be one of the most obvious songs that Swift modeled on “1989.”

Wiedlin is a guitarist and vocalist of The Go-Go’s, the all-female ’80s band that had big hits with “We’ve Got the Beat” and “Vacation.” This song was one of her most successful solo efforts and has a breezy pop sound also seen on Swift’s album.

3) “Tainted Love/Where Did Our Love Go” by Soft Cell Technically two separate songs, both are in fact covers. “Tainted Love” was originally recorded by American singer Gloria Jones back in the ’60s. In 1981, British group Soft Cell slowed the tempo and used electronic instruments to craft their take on the tune. Soft Cell then paired their version with an electronic cover of Motown classic “Where Did Our Love Go” by The Supremes for a slick, seamless medley that just oozes synthesizers.

4) “Straight Up” by Paula Abdul Rapper J. Cole borrowed the chorus from Abdul’s snappy hit for his song “Work Out” back in 2011. Before she was a judge for “American Idol” and other competition

shows, Abdul had her own career in music and choreography. “Straight Up” was one of her biggest hits when released in 1988.

5) “Tell It to My Heart” by Taylor Dane Now a dance mainstay, “Tell It to My Heart” was the breakthrough record for Dane back in 1987. While Swift’s vocals really don’t have the same punch as those of Dane, her more upbeat songs “I Wish You Would” and even “Shake It Off” call to mind late ’80s pop dance songs like this one.

6) “Wild Wild Life” by Talking Heads It’s hard to summarize Talking Heads, as they were a band that constantly evolved during a career that stretched from the late ’70s throughout the ’80s. While this track may not seem that reflected in the music of “1989,” I included “Wild Wild Life” in this list because Talking Heads epitomize the diversity of the music of ’80s. It is easy to get tricked into thinking that the era was defined by one instrument or sound when trying to organize music and looking for connections between different artists.

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sports Manhattan Basketball Alumni Making History

Nov. 4, 2014

George Beamon Drafted by the Oklahoma Blues Continued from page 1

Playoffs last season with a 24-26 record.

Chris Cirillo

Junius Kellogg and Lisa Toscano Inducted Into MAAC Hall of Fame

Sports Editor

George Beamon Drafted Into the NBA D-League George Beamon, the reigning MAAC Championship MVP, was drafted in the third round – 42nd overall – of the NBA Development League Draft to the Oklahoma City Blue, the D-League affiliate of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“George Beamon is one of the greatest players to ever play at Manhattan,” Head Coach Steve Masiello said on “The Five Borough Hoops Show” on Oct. 27.

He joins his classmates and teammates Mike Alvarado and Rhamel Brown, who also signed with professional basketball teams in Puerto Rico and Israel, respectively.

Beamon, the Jaspers leading scorer last season, is fourth on Manhattan’s alltime scoring list with 1,843 career points.

He was selected to the All-MAAC second team last season where he eventually led his team to its first MAAC Championship in 10 years.

Beamon was the only player from the MAAC drafted into the D-League this year, and the first since 2012 when Ryan Rossiter from Siena and Nate Brown were taken in the second and eighth round respectively.

The Blue failed to make the D-League

It’s hard to imagine what Manhattan College athletics would be like without Junius Kellog ’53 and Lisa Toscano ’79.

Both have been inducted into the MAAC Honor Roll, which will be enshrined in the “MAAC Experience” exhibit at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Each institution of the MAAC honored one male and one female from its basketball program’s history as part of the 2014-2015 induction class.

Kellogg was the first African-American to play basketball for the college in 1949. Kellogg was approached with a $1,000 bribe to shave points off a game in 1951. He refused and reported it to Head Coach Ken Norton, who called authorities and ended the largest betting scandal in American history.

Kellogg was paralyzed in a car accident in 1954, but was able to regain the use of his arms and hands to play wheelchair basketball. He passed away in 1998.

His brother, John Kellogg, accepted the award in his honor.

Toscano was the co-founder of the women’s basketball team. She went around campus and knocked on doors in attempt to find a few women who would make a basketball team. She found teammates, and they bought a few basketballs, taped “Manhattan” over their green

James O’Connor/The Quadrangle Beamon will be playing basketball professionally after he was selected by the Oklahoma City Thunder D-League affiliate.

T-shirts and created the first women’s varsity basketball team at the school. She also helped establish the softball team and was one of the first female members of the crew team.

Kellogg and Toscano have both been inducted into the Manhattan College Athletic Hall of Fame.

This Week In Sports

On Oct. 29, women’s soccer defeated St.Peter’s, 4-2, on the road in the Jaspers final game of the season. Men’s soccer, however, lost to St.Peter’s, 0-1, at home.

On Oct. 30, volleyball lost to Hampton in Draddy Gymnasium in three sets.

On Oct.31, the men’s cross country team finished ninth in the MAAC Championships, and the women’s cross country team finished eighth.

On Nov. 1, men’s soccer defeated Niagara on the road, 5-0, and volleyball fell at Siena in five sets.

As of noon on Nov. 2, the volleyball team (8-5 MAAC, 15-11) is fifth in the MAAC standings. Men’s soccer (1-7-1 MAAC, 2-11-2) is last in the MAAC. The women’s soccer team (3-5-2 MAAC, 8-8-2) is seventh in the MAAC.

of the Week Milena Stoicev: She finished 10th in the MAAC Championships out of 50 runners in the 6 kilometer race with a time of 21 minutes and 55.64 seconds.

Tommy Amos: He scored a goal and added three assists in the 5-0 victory over Niagara.

Aislinn McIlvenny: She scored a goal and added an assist in the win over Saint Peter’s. McIlvenny has shined this season and will go out as one of the best women soccer players in the college’s history.

11 sports Women’s Soccer Finishes Season on High Note Jaclyn Marr

Asst. Sports Editor Fun. Exciting. Inconsistent.

Members of the Manhattan College women’s soccer team (3-5-2 MAAC, 8-82) described their 2014 season as it was coming to an end. They finished the season with a strong 4-2 win against MAAC opponent Saint Peter’s. It was a bittersweet moment for the team as it was their final game playing together.

“We just wanted to play for each other,” senior Daniella Morgante said about her final game. “As seniors, we wanted to take the last four years and put it into one game.”

Their win against Saint Peter’s was their 17th straight over the Peacocks.

Sophomore Tara Teal found the back of the net first for the Jaspers off a pass from senior Aislinn McIlvenny. Sophomore Lizzy Carlson scored with an assist by Teal to give Manhattan a 2-0 lead.

“We had the best record since I’ve been here,” senior Shannon Garrity said. “Everyone has contributed so much this year, on and off the field.”

Saint Peter’s responded quickly before McIlvenny scored on a penalty kick about 20 minutes into the second half, her 10th of the season. Freshman Dylan Burns recorded her first career goal and sealed Manhattan’s 4-2 victory. As the season came to a close, the team had positive thoughts on what they accomplished this year.

“Something to be proud of is getting through the season with limited players,” assistant coach Sarah Brady said. “We were hit terribly with injuries. The positive is that is younger players stepped up and kept us within the running. I couldn’t be prouder of the players who stepped in.”

James O’Connor/The Quadrangle The Jaspers finish the season with a 4-2 win over Saint Peter’s Freshman Carly Perry also looked on the plus side when it came to overcoming injuries.

“I feel like we did really well despite the injuries. We only had two subs for a good chunk of the season,” Perry said. “So it’s really cool that we were able to pull off some wins.”

The team was happy to finish on a high note after a tough loss against Canisius to eliminate them from playoff contention.

Their chances were left up to that game, and it did not go in their favor. However, the team stayed positive that the loss would

help them in the future.

“Any high-pressure situation like that is hard,” Morgante said. “There’s so much on the line. The only thing you can do is be there for each other and support each other no matter what happens, and that’s what we did.”

In their final week of the season, members of the team looked back at their impressive season and how to improve for next year. Injuries were one factor that the team hopes won’t affect them so much in the future. The team also tended to sit back on defense more and being more offensive

is something they want to change.

“We gave up some soft goals, ones that we could have definitely avoided,” Assistant Coach Sarah Brady said. “That’s probably the most disappointing thing. There was nothing that absolutely ripped us apart, but we kept making the same errors.”

“Going forward, we’ve got to work on defense,” Garrity said, “and clearing balls out of the box and the air. On the attacking side, we need to work on finishing our opportunities.”

sports

Steve Masiello: “This Team has the Higher Ceiling”

12

Chris Cirillo/The Quadrangle Masiello celebrated his first MAAC Championship as a head coach last season. Will he do it again this season?

Chris Cirillo Sports Editor

After a historic last season where the Manhattan Jaspers won its first MAAC Championship in 10 years and nearly knocked off the defending national champions in the NCAA Tournament, Head Coach Steve Masiello had a message for the country: This team can be better.

“I think this team has the higher ceiling than last year’s team,” Masiello told Inside Manhattan Basketball, a weekly online show on gojaspers.com “I think this team will struggle more early, but I think come January, February, I think this team’s growth has a ton of potential this year.”

Masiello will face the challenge of replacing 50 percent of last season’s scoring with the departure of seniors George Beamon, Rhamel Brown and Mike Alvarado.

The Jaspers should get a lot of help from sophomore Jermaine Lawrence, a transfer from Cincinnati who was an ESPN Top 100 recruit coming out of high school. Lawrence received a waiver from the NCAA and will be eligible to play this season.

Lawrence played just 15.0 minutes a game last season, which resulted in 2.8 points and 2.9 rebounds a game, but he will have a much larger role in the Manhattan offense.

“I think what he’s bringing to us is just a different dimension to our team,” Masiello told the Five Borough Hoops Show on Oct. 27. “We’ve haven’t had anyone like

him, and I don’t know if many people at our level have anyone like him. He’s a legit 6-9 and a half, three man who can put the ball on the floor. He can face you up from 15. He can post smaller guards. He’s a terrific rebounder.”

The Jaspers will also have to make its way through a tough non-conference schedule which features three teams that made it to the postseason last season. All but one of the games will be played on the road or at a neutral site.

Masiello was an advocate for an atlarge big for the MAAC last season. If the Jaspers fail to win the MAAC Tournament and receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, the team may have a case for an at-large bid if they can win a few games in the non-conference schedule.

There have only been two at-large bids in the conference’s 32 year history, but the Jaspers will get the selection committees attention if they can win some games.

“I look at what other programs have done whether it be a Gonzaga, going back 15-20 years, and Xavier, and these elite mid-majors or whatever you want to call them now, and they set the bar about what needs to be done,” Masiello told the Five Borough Hoops Show. “If we want to be spoken about in that light, we have to be ready to do that [win non-conference games].”

The Jaspers will have its first live action since falling to Louisville in the NCAA Tournament when the team takes on Division II opponent LIU Post in Draddy Gymnasium on Nov. 8.