the Quadrangle THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF MANHATTAN COLLEGE | SINCE 1924
Volume XCVII, Issue 12
www.mcquad.org
APRIL 24, 2018
Q10 T HE QUAD T EN
2018’S T EN MOST INFLUENT IAL GRADUAT ES
PAGES 10-11
A QUADRANGLE INVEST IGAT ION
Tumultuous Past, Uncertain Future INSIDE CHEM-E’S TURMOIL AND REBIRTH Rose Brennan & Stephen Zubrycky Editor & Managing Editor
Spring Fest is “Better With You” Jesse McCartney (left) and Marc E. Bassy (right) performed at this year’s Spring Fest. FULL WEEKEND COVERAGE BELOW AND CONTINUED ON PAGE 15. NAOMI KITANO / COURTESY
Taylor Brethauer & Rose Brennan Editor-in-Chief & Editor
Manhattan College’s annual Spring Fest was held this past Saturday, April 21. The day, full of fun activities and a BBQ on the quad, lead up to a concert in Draddy Gymnasium. This year, students voted in Student Engagement’s Instagram contest for pop artist Jesse McCartney to perform. With a slight change to the schedule, students found themselves soaking up the sun before the concert. In years past, the concert typically proceeded the BBQ and games on the quad. As usual, there were inflatables on the grass, including the ever-popular mechanical bull, where students gathered around to cheer on their friends. Inside of Smith Auditorium were photo backdrops painted by student Samitheus Savinon and her classmates. Savinon proposed the idea at a student government assembly meeting a few weeks prior. “There are some students that I know that are hands-on and want to be creative. We want to have backdrops of areas that will remind us of the sixth borough [to take pictures
IN NEWS:
Inside the new sports media production major on p. 7
in front of]. So they’ll be designed around Jasper pride [...] and we’ll plan a hashtag to tag the pictures with too,” said Savinon at the March 28 meeting. The inflatables were deflated and the food was taken away as the concert time loomed near. Around 2:15 p.m., the student body began filing into Draddy Gymnasium, anxious and excited to see the man whom many called one of their first childhood crushes. This particular Spring Fest was unlike any other. Student Government and The Office of Student Engagement had been teasing a second “surprise” artist since the announcement that McCartney would be headlining. It seemed that the students forgot about this excitement in the moments leading up to the show, as they kept chanting, “Jesse! Jesse! Jesse!” But then, the second artist took the stage: up and coming singer/songwriter Marc E. Bassy. Bassy opened with some crowd pumping songs, yelling out “let’s go Manhattan College!” and other expletives. But the surprise performance seemed to be lacking, as several students were seen exiting the gymnasium during this time. Others were shocked that
IN FEATURES: Father Tom meets Pope Francis on p. 8
Bassy had made the surprise appearance and were dancing along to his songs. Bassy finished up his set around 3:00 p.m. with his most popular hit, “You and Me”, after which stagehands began to prep the stage for McCartney’s arrival. Between the set change, vice president of commuter affairs took to the stage to make a few announcements. She began with a clever play on McCartney’s most popular song, “Beautiful Soul”, by saying to the crowd: “let’s hear it for all of those beautiful souls out there.” She reminded seniors about the upcoming senior fair and also mentioned the upcoming commuter carnival. Finally, the moment had arrived: McCartney took the stage and the crowd erupted into screams and cheers of those whose childhood fantasies were being fulfilled at last. McCartney took to the stage with his hair slicked back, sunglasses on. He played some beats on a launchpad instrument, a square device with buttons that play back different sounds and tones. Eventually, the sounds began to form __________________________ CONTINUED ON PAGE 15
“We don’t talk about the department.” These were the words of Ava, a current student in Manhattan College’s chemical engineering department, who has been given a pseudonym to protect her identity. Over the course of the past year, The Quadrangle has spoken with more than a dozen current and former students like Ava about the recent state of the chemical engineering program. In addition, The Quadrangle has received input from chemical engineering faculty members and top administrators at the college. In the past five years, chemical engineering, or “Chem-E” as the department’s members call it, has been marked by uncertainty, division, student action and a widespread lack of student confidence in technical skills and abilities required in the job field. It is through this article that The Quadrangle aims to separate fact from rumor, shedding a light on the cryptic happenings of the chemical engineering department and what they mean for the program’s students. A Brief Chronology of Chem-E Once ranked by U.S. News & World Report among the top five chemical engineering programs of its kind in the U.S., and regarded as one of the college’s finest programs, the department has continuously struggled since 2013. In the five years since, chemical engineering has cycled through six department chairs and swapped out half of
IN A&E:
English professor speaks at Agape Latte on p. 14
its faculty. Of the seven current full-time faculty, four are new to the program this academic year, including Department Chair Sasidhar Varanasi, Ph.D. According to multiple students, this uncertainty in staffing began with the departure of Eric Huang, Ph.D. in the fall of 2013. That same academic year, then-Department Chair Ann Marie Flynn, Ph.D., went on medical leave for Spring 2014. During this time, James Patrick Abulencia, Ph.D., was elevated to interim chair. Flynn’s absence extended into a sabbatical in Fall 2014, during which Gennaro J. Maffia, D.E., was made interim chair of the department. Upon Flynn’s return the following spring, she was not reinstated as chair. It was around this time that students began to notice a change in the quality of their education. “Professors weren’t teaching whatever they needed to teach,” 2015 graduate Ray Lumokso said. “The standard that they were holding us to was not the same.” In Fall 2014, the program, along with the four others in the School of Engineering, was evaluated by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET). After evaluations had concluded, ABET determined that two of the five programs, one of which was chemical engineering, would receive follow-up evaluations two years later during the fall of 2016. During Fall 2016, rumors __________________________ CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
IN SPORTS:
Maeve Parahus named to Ireland all-star team on p. 17