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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF MANHATTAN COLLEGE | SINCE 1924
Volume CIX, Issue 2
FREE
NEW YORK, JANUARY 30, 2024
Alleged Gunman in Lee Hall Prompts a Campus-Wide Lockdown Brooke DellaRocco News Editor
NYPD Called to Campus after Campus-Wide Lockdown. THE QUADRANGLE/COURTESY
20 Majors and Minors Eliminated Following Sweeping Faculty Layoffs Grace Cardinal Editor-in-Chief
On Jan. 19, Manhattan College announced the elimination of 20 majors and minors without consulting the curriculum committees or faculty chairs. The elimination of these programs was announced on Jan. 21 by the organizer of the “Help Defend Tenure at Manhattan College” GoFundMe, a page dedicated to raising legal fees for faculty. The update on the page read: “On January 19 they also announced the elimination of 20 majors and minors, including Religious Studies, Ethics, Critical Race and Ethnicity Studies, Women and Gender Studies, Urban Studies, and all languages except Spanish and
IN NEWS:
Faculty Grapple with Layoffs on pg. 4
English, without consultation with anyone, not the curriculum committees, not the faculty chairs.” When asked for a statement on why these particular programs were cut, the Office of the President referred The Quadrangle to an email sent out to students on Jan. 16. In the email, the president addressed the cuts, saying “To better align our resources with these efforts, we have made the decision to eliminate a limited number of programs with low enrollments. All students currently enrolled in an affected program will be supported to graduate on-time.” Per New York State law, all current students with declared majors and minors can finish
out their desired program, leaving these cuts to be implemented for the incoming fall class. The cuts immediately followed the slew of layoffs of 23 more faculty at the college, 19 of whom were tenured professors. These layoffs brought the total number of axed faculty up to 63 individuals, more than 25% of the college’s total faculty. Sources have confirmed to The Quadrangle that among those laid off include Jonathan Keller, Ph.D., and Jordan Pascoe, Ph.D., leaving it unclear who will take over the pre-law program at this time. Faculty have also indicated to The Quadrangle that the advisors for Women and Gen__________________________ CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
A reported gun sighting in Manhattan College’s Lee residence hall produced a campus-wide lockdown, prompting the NYPD to respond. The individual involved was taken into custody, but no weapons were retrieved from the scene. Immediate panic ensued the night of Thursday, Jan. 25, when an MC JASPER911 alert was sent to students, parents and faculty. The notification contained no information about the gunman’s description but advised temporary safety measures stating, “possible person with a gun in Lee Hall. stay away or lockdown.” Both dormitory halls, at almost full capacity, were thrown into immediate lockdown, with students breaking into chaos, calling parents and loved ones, informing them of the events taking place. A freshman student, who requested to stay anonymous, lives on the tenth floor of Lee Hall and expressed their immediate fear of the situation when they were alone in their room during the campus shutdown. “I never really thought something like this would happen,” they said. “I called my mom and she was also freaking out. It was just immediately scary. I turned off the game that I was playing and I just listened.” Updates were provided every 15 to 30 minutes, instruct-
ing students to stay locked down and not leave their location, as well as providing limited information about an ongoing NYPD investigation. A little over an hour after the incident, an alert was sent out stating, “incident over. Lockdown is ended. No weapons observed or recovered. NYPD still investigating.” Although this came as a relief to many, there was still tension in the air as students made their way back to their dorms. “I feel like the updates that we got were super vague,” the anonymous student said. “I was so confused when it ended and they said, ‘no weapon obtained’. I thought, ‘how am I supposed to leave my room and feel safe?’.” Keira Rheinheimer, a freshman student who lives in Lee Hall, mentioned her similar distaste for the updates provided. She was in Draddy Gymnasium at the time of the incident and was put into lockdown along with the pep band, dance team and cheer team. “I didn’t know what was going on,” Rheinheimer said. “They were trying to tell us stuff but I didn’t feel like they were telling us the truth. They were not giving us enough information for me to know [what was happening].” Almost two hours after the incident, an email was sent from President Milo Riverso, Ph.D., indicating that Manhattan College responded quickly and effectively to the situation. “The campus immediate__________________________ CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
IN FEATURES:
IN A&E:
IN SPORTS:
Jasper L.O.V.E. Trip on pg. 6
WRCM Spring Semester on pg. 8
Jasper Games of the Week on pg. 11