Issue 7, Spring 2021 - The Quadrangle

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Volume CIII, Issue 7

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NEW YORK, MARCH 16, 2021

MC Reaches Record High Positive Test Average Kyla Guilfoil

Asst. News Editor

Sunny Days Ahead Students enjoyed the first taste of Spring this week, just in time for Daylight Savings.

MARIA THOMAS / THE QUADRANGLE

The Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith Center Receives Claims Conference Grant Alexa Schmidt & Colleen E. McNamara Senior Writer & Asst. Sports Editor

The Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith (HGI) Education Center, located on the top floor of O’Malley library, has received a grant from the Claims Conference, or The Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.

The Claims Conference, established in 1951, seeks to secure compensation and restitution for survivors of the Holocaust. Their grant will help the HGI Center digitize and create an online exhibit of documents from the lives of Herman Ziering, a Holocaust survivor and

IN NEWS:

HGI Center Receives Grant on p. 2

justice seeker, and his wife, Lea Ziering.

The Herman and Lea Ziering Archive Collection will raise awareness on campus and seek justice for survivors of events of extreme and violence.

Their exhibit will focus on circumstances of violence and prejudice around the world, in hopes to provide a comprehensive understanding of this history to students and educators.

“The Archive’s purpose is to raise public awareness of those who, having survived and/or witnessed genocidal events of mass murder, dedicate themselves to seeking justice for victims and preventing the repetition of such acts, and to promote scholarly research on the psychological, sociolog-

IN FEATURES: Meet the New Campus Nutritionist on p. 6

ical, and historical correlates of this mode of responding to such events,” Manhattan’s HGI Center website stated.

Manhattan College is the third Catholic college in the nation to have a Holocaust exhibit, which is something that serves as an important addition in keeping students educated.

Mehnaz M. Afridi, Ph.D., is the director of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Education Center where this exhibit is located at Manhattan and was a major factor in putting together and receiving the grant.

“I’m really, really proud of writing and receiving the grant, but beyond that, it also puts our name out there in a __________________________ CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

Manhattan College’s COVID-19 positive test average overtook that of New York City for the first time on Wednesday, March 10. According to the Jaspers Return email on March 11, the college’s positive test rate for the previous 14 days landed at 4.2%, while New York City’s seven-day positive test average was 3.9%.

These numbers are representative of last week, when an influx of both exposed and positive testing students were sent to Springhill Suites in Tuckahoe due to a lack of vacancy in the Horan Hall quarantine suites. For more information on the students’ evacuation to Springhill Suites, see Caroline McCarthy’s issue six article, “Jaspers Quarantined in Westchester Hotel as Horan Suites Reach Maximum Occupancy”.

On March 4 the college reported 74 active cases on-campus; that number has now reached 110 active cases according to the most recent Jaspers Return update on March 11.

As reported last week by Gabriella DePinho, the college’s general counsel and vice president for external and legal affairs, Tamara Britt, stated that the college will not transition to fully remote learning until there are approximately 130 positive on-campus cases.

A week ago, this number indicated that the college still had some flexibility before having to shut down. Now, just 20 active cases away from the threshold, administration may need to make adjustments.

The college has already implemented some new protocol in recent weeks to address the rising cases. Jasper Hall has begun the process of de-densifying, as an attempt for there to be less interaction in the shared bathrooms and communal areas of this traditional style dormitory.

Additionally, the bridges leading into Lee Hall and Horan Hall have been blocked, to ensure that any students entering the buildings are first passing through security.

Indoor dining has also

IN A&E:

been suspended from its 35% capacity opening, but outdoor seating has reappeared with the warm weather. Specifically, the large tent outside of Draddy Gymnasium, across from the bridge into Thomas Hall, has been reinstated. Outdoor dining is much lower risk than indoors and the tent features tables with seats for eight.

However, in their most recent email, Jaspers Return did not address any further changes to on-campus dining.

Instead, the email does address meal delivery and improved conditions for quarantined students.

The email announced that there will be a new concierge staff member working on campus to assist students in quarantine with quick deliverance of care packages and meals.

There will also be additional staff members working to further manage these floors.

“To ensure that our students are being properly attended to in quarantine, regardless of the numbers, we have added a concierge staff member to assist in coordinating meal delivery, making sure care packages are delivered quickly and assisting with any needs a student may have,” Jaspers Return wrote to the MC community. “We are also adding additional staff to make sure that coverage of students’ needs is comprehensive and efficient.”

The email adds the current amount of quarantining students has decreased in recent days, and the One Manhattan team hopes that that number will continue to drop. The email concludes by reinforcing the recent testing protocol that was established in the Jaspers Return email on Feb. 18, which states that all on-campus students must receive a pcr test every 14 days, and all employees must receive a PCR test every 21 days. The only exception to this is for positive testing students, who should abide by the 90-day waiting period before receiving another pcr test.

For any further concerns or questions, Jaspers Return asks that you contact the One Manhattan office at 718-862-6398 or jaspersreturn@manhattan.edu

IN SPORTS:

Famous TikTokers Lady Jaspers vs.

Fairfield on Campus on p. 12 on p. 9

News

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the Quadrangle Volume CIII, Issue 7 March 16, 2021

The Editorial Board Anna Woods Editor-in-Chief

Maria Thomas Managing Editor

Jilleen Barrett Managing Editor

Nicole Fitzsimmons News Editor

Kyla Guilfoil Asst. News Editor

Jilleen Barrett Arts & Entertainment Editor

Kelly Cwik Asst. Arts & Entertainment Editor

Christine Nappi Features Editor

Caroline McCarthy Asst. Features Editor

Pete Janny Sports Editor

Colleen McNamara Asst. Sports Editor

Lauren Raziano Social Media Editor

Kelly Kennedy Asst. Social Media Editor

Brian Asare Photography Editor

Emily Hollar Production Editor Asst. Photography Editor

Nicole Rodriguez Production Editor

Adrianne Hutto Jocelyn Visnov Asst. Production Editors

Madalyn Johnson Katherine Heneghan Web Editors Nicholas Gilewicz Faculty Advisor About The Quadrangle A tradition since 1924, The Quadrangle is a news or ganization run by the students of Manhattan College. We strive to cover news around campus and the greater community, publishing weekly in print and daily online. Our goal is always accuracy, relevancy and professionalism.

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

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

Connect with The Quadrangle

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THE QUADRANGLE

The Holocaust, Genocide and Interfaith Center Receives Claims Conference Grant __________________________ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 very important way, like in an interfaith way to show that we care about Jews, we care about Muslims, and what that means in the world is pretty dynamic,” Afridi said.

The grant also helps break stereotypes and works together well with Manhattan’s Lasallian mission of social justice.

“It’s kind of the reason I’m doing this is because I think it breaks the stereotypes of survivors or we see them as victims. And, you know, but here you have somebody who is courageous, who is seeking justice. And part of our school talks about social justice. And I think it’s so important for our students to see that,” Afridi said.

Ireland Twiggs, a senior peace and justice major, works for the HGI Center and is thrilled the center’s work will be furthered. It allows students and educators on Manhattan’s campus and beyond to educate themselves.

“This grant will be a chance to expand and continue to create a space that tells the stories of so many offering more resources to implement ways on broadening the message of the center. It will be a way to lift any restrictions and really get creative with the ways in which we can tell stories and raise awareness,” Twiggs said.

The grant application process is extensive, and can be a long process. It requires recommendations, a budget, and the applicant must have a specific vision and mission of what

they want to accomplish. Dr. Afridi applied during her sabbatical last year, and received the grant on her first try.

“When we got the grant it was such exciting news during COVID, you know, when people are losing money and there are all these issues, then you have this kind of good news, that there are people wanting to do things,” Afridi said.

The availability of the online exhibit extends free education to everyone, including scholars and students around the world. To make up for that fact that those observing the online exhibit will not be able to see artifacts in person, there will be detailed images and close ups of items.

“So someone could be sitting in like Africa and looking at our archive and doing work on, say, Nazi hunting or the Riga Ghetto. So that is a digital digitization process, conserve and preserve,” Afridi said.

People will also be able to conduct deep research and look into different files that contain various stories and accounts.

“The pandemic has really shown how critical connection and storytelling is, and by having a virtual exhibit we are able to break through a lot of limitations on sharing the amazing work of the center and the voices it is amplifying in our community,” Twiggs said. “It is a way to still have a connection to MC and the exhibit, even if we can’t gather together, whether that is due to the pandemic or geographical restrictions.”

In addition to the artifacts, the exhibit will incorporate a

wide variety of resources, such as recordings, to demonstrate a deeper understanding of the Holocaust. Specifically, there will be a couple of actual recordings by Herman Ziering on tapes, and they will be edited so that students can access their voices.

Afridi also plans to expand this exhibit to incorporate both national and international work.

“I started to do it by housing archives, building this exhibit and now showcasing it to people who are interested in coming and actually doing scholarly work with us so that we would build a scholarship program for 10, 12 scholars to come and work at Manhattan, maybe in the summers, even online, and kind of produce something from this archive. We can materially show the world some kind of scholarship, something new and different,” Afridi said.

Afridi’s work represents an effort to educate students around the world on the impact of prejudice through the horrifying violence and degradation that resulted in millions of Jewish, African American, Bosnian, Rwandan and Chinese deaths.

“I want students to take away the message of this archive to be, look at what prejudice does. Any kind of prejudice against people, Jews, women, whatever it might be leads to genocide. I think if students could just understand I need to learn about culture and not reject it, I think we can do much better as a community,” Afridi said.

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SUBMIT YOUR OWN LETTER OR OP-ED Letters to the Editor or an op-ed may be submitted to thequad@manhattan.edu by Saturday at noon to be considered for publication. Profanity, vulgarity and hate will not be published. The Quadrangle reserves the right not to publish a letter.

MARCH 16, 2021

Opinions & Editorials

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I’m Burnt Out and Need a Break– But I Can’t Get One Christine Nappi Features Editor

Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been someone who is super involved. Growing up, I did everything I possibly could, from dancing and playing basketball, to taking art classes and being a Girl Scout and more. It was easy to have a lot on your plate as a kid, because you were just focused on having fun and were simply trying to figure out what you liked to do.

Doing everything I possibly could became a habit that’s stuck with me for as long as I could remember– naturally, I have many interests and consider myself to be a well-rounded person, so having a plethora of hobbies and out-of-school activities seemed normal to me. Yet, it wasn’t until I got to high school that I realized the importance of those activities and the importance of “resume building” for college applications. The question “What do you like to do for fun?” quickly became “What do you do outside of the classroom that sets you apart from other college candidates?” and the pressure to do more was created.

I didn’t think much of this pressure at the time. In fact, I didn’t feel any pressure at all, despite the fact that I was that student involved in everything: vice president of my senior class, softball captain, yearbook editor, newspaper editor, still a Girl Scout… the list goes on. I loved each of the organizations I was involved in, and my only motivation for joining them was purely because I wanted to. I knew that being in everything would look good on my resume, but in all honestly that was simply a coincidence.

I remember during a college interview the interviewer looked at my resume and asked, “How do you manage this all?” I gave some answers about my time management and organization skills, but that was only because I didn’t know what else to say. Back then, it really wasn’t much of a challenge for me to balance it all, even though the interviewer insinuated it was. I just so happened to set myself apart from other college applicants by simply doing the activities I enjoyed, and I never felt like I was spreading myself too thin.

However, doing it all suddenly became challenging once I left high school, and in college, I developed the unhealthy habit of biting off more than I could chew.

Coming into college I was so eager to get involved on campus– I truly loved everything I did in high school and wanted my involvement to transition over into my college experience. I planned to do everything I possibly could– from writing for the newspaper to joining a sorority and more, I was determined to do it all, and I did.

I’m beyond proud to be the Features Editor for The Quad, the Editor-in-Chief of Her Campus, Treasurer of PRSSA, and a sister of Sigma Delta Tau. I really hit the ground running when I got to Manhattan College, and I don’t regret my involvement in these clubs one bit. I wouldn’t be having the experience I am without these amazing organizations. Not only have I grown more as a student, and boosted my resume in the process, but I’ve made friendships through these organizations that I know will last a lifetime.

While more challenging than in high school to balance my involvement in these organizations on top of classwork, I somehow managed to do it my freshman and sophomore year.

Coming into junior year, I was nervous about how I’d be able to manage my leadership roles and a heavier class load during the pandemic, but somehow I did it.

“How’s this semester going?” my friends and family members would ask.

“It’s definitely one of my busiest semesters, but I’m loving it all,” I would say.

And I meant what I said.

Last semester I was crazy busy, but I truly was loving it all and having a great time– even with the restrictions brought on by the pandemic.

But this semester, I can’t say that I’m loving it as much anymore. During last semester and now this one, the pressure to do more and be more involved really settled in.

I was seeing everyone around me somehow balancing leadership roles in seven different organizations, five classes, on-campus jobs, internships and some semblance of a social life. So I felt like I needed to do that too, which is exactly what I did this semester. On top of my

classes, clubs, and on-campus job, I took on my first internship this semester, out of fear of falling behind the crowd.

But in all honesty, it’s getting to be too much.

Unlike in high school, an insane amount of pressure is put on college students to balance and prioritize a billion things at once, and that pressure hasn’t eased up during the pandemic.

It looks something like this: Each professor expects you to prioritize their class, which is impossible. Obviously, I’ve learned to devote more time to more important classes, but this isn’t always the case.

Granted, some professors understand that students can’t prioritize their class but not all of them do. There have been times when I’ve had an insane amount of work for an intro course that I needed to prioritize over classes for my major if I wanted to pass that class.

However, it’s not really about your classes is it? Employers care more about what you do outside of the classroom. We’re told they like to see campus involvement and leadership experience. But don’t be fooled by this– clubs aren’t enough. You need an internship. We’re conditioned to think that if you don’t have intern experience, you won’t get a job.

But you also need to remember to have fun on top of classes, clubs, and internships.

You’re only in college once so you need to go out, spend time with friends, and make the most of it. Yet, in order to go out and have fun, you need money, and that requires having a job.

As you can see, it’s hard for us college students to escape the pressure to balance a full class load, leadership roles in clubs, internships, jobs, and a social life. Being the do-it-all girl has taken a toll on my mental health, like how it has with many other college students.

We’re burnt out, we’re tired, and we’re feeling done. We’re in desperate need of a break– but we can’t get one.

At the end of last semester, the administration made the announcement that Spring Break would be cancelled this semester in an effort to control the spread of COVID-19 on our campus, which I think was the right call. This opinion article is by no means an attack on the administration for making the choice they did to cancel

Spring break. I’ve been on campus since the Fall and have felt completely safe every step of the way, and I know the college is doing what is in the student’s best interest here. Did they make the right move to cancel the break? Yes, 100 percent, especially with the number of COVID-19 cases increasing recently. Do I think we maybe could’ve gotten a long weekend instead as we do for Easter break? Yeah, I do. But by not giving us a break, the college is just trying to keep us safe, and I can’t criticize them for that.

But do we all still need a break? YES! To say our mental health is suffering now is an understatement, and the lack of a break isn’t helping. Pushing through the month of March without a chance to catch my breath has not been healthy for me, or anyone else. I’m one of the many students who are struggling with the pressure of being in college and wondering how they will manage with no Spring Break.

It’s clear that we’re now stuck between a rock and hard place. With the pandemic still among us we can’t have a break, even though we need one.

So what’s left to do?

While I’m still struggling to manage this mess of a semester I’ve gotten myself into, I’ve done some things to help cope with the lack of a break.

If you’re struggling like me, I suggest trying these things too.

They don’t compare to having time off, but they certainly help make a busy semester more bearable and less stressful: Go outside and get some sun: it’s time to leave your dorm/apartment/house and get fresh air. Trust me, your mood will instantly be lifted and you’ll have a more positive mindset when trying to balance your responsibilities.

Exercise: Although it may be easier to sleep in in the mornings, get up and go to the gym, or go for a walk outside.

Exercise increases endorphins, which will make you feel a whole lot better.

Make to-do lists: this just may be the inner organization freak in me, but making to-do lists really helps me when I’m stressed out. Writing everything down that I need to do helps clear my mind and stay focused on what I need to accomplish.

Use the Weekends to Un-

wind: Each weekend I tell myself I’m going to catch up on work because I finally have free time, but I’m too burnt out from the week before to get anything done. Yet, this is a good thing.

Weekends should be for free time, not catch up work. You need time to simply do nothing.

Write Down Good Things that Happen: I’ve picked this habit up from my friends at The Quad, but at the end of each day, make note of the good things that happen to you. This could be as simple as getting an extra hour of sleep or eating your favorite snack– whatever puts a smile on your face during a time when it may not be so easy to smile.

Spend time with Friends: being surrounded by your friends instantly helps you feel better about whatever you’re going through. You should also spend more time with them while you can, because you’re not going to look back at college and remember those long nights in the library– you’re going to remember the memories created with your friends.

One day you’ll look back and wish you had more fun, so have more fun.

Stop Giving into the Pressure: It’s easier said than done and is a concept I’m still trying to grasp but stop giving in to the pressure placed on you.

Stop spreading yourself so thin.

In the grand scheme of things, your mental health is way more important than your grades or leadership roles.

So, to my fellow students who’ve been striving to do all and haven’t stopped since, I hope this article puts you at ease. Sometimes, you can’t do it all, and that’s okay. While you may not have a literal break from school, you still deserve to give yourself one.

Submit your own op-ed!

Submit a Letter to the Editor or your own op-ed to

thequad@manhattan.edu

by Saturdays at noon to be considered for publication.

Features

4

THE QUADRANGLE

Quad Alum Anthony Capote Is Now Adjunct Faculty at MC ALUMNI PROFILES Gabriella DePinho Senior Writer

When Cory Blad, the interim dean for the School of Liberal Arts, knew he would be taking over that role, he began the search for someone to work as an adjunct faculty member to take over his class this semester. Anthony “Tony” Capote ’17, a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the City University of New York Graduate Center and a Manhattan College alum, saw the posting and decided to apply. In a quick turnaround time, Capote was hired and has now taken over the class.

While Capote is new to teaching at his old stomping grounds, he has been teaching sociology courses at Hunter College for the past two years.

“So coming back here and getting to teach after you know I’ve already had some time to refine my craft, you know it’s not the first time I’m teaching,” he said. “I would be really nervous to do that at Manhattan College, but it’s nice to come in and work with some really, really talented students, and get to live out kind of a dream right which was, when I was going here I really, really wanted to teach at Manhattan, so it’s cool.”

Capote’s dream started as he double majored in sociology and communication with a concentration in journalism as an undergraduate student at Manhattan College. During his time at the college, he wrote for The Quadrangle as a staff member and rose to the roles of Assistant News Editor and News Editor.

“I loved being on The Quad, it was so much fun,” he said. “From the moment I

started, I got onto The Quad basically having no idea what I wanted to do and knowing that I really liked this thing called journalism. And I didn’t know what I wanted to do within that field. So at the time there were a lot of really really talented reporters that were sort of going through the sports section …

And so I got there and immediately it was like those couple of students wanted me to be a sportswriter, and it was kind of like ‘this is sort of boring,’ like I don’t really just want to go to games and write about them all the time. In that sense it informed me that I really cared about news, hard news.

It also equipped me with a lot of tools when I was the news editor … And so what it taught me was sometimes you just got to write four stories in a week and call it a day. So, what was great about The Quad is it just was a great place, especially as a journalism student, to cut my teeth.”

One of Capote’s favorite stories he wrote was about adjunct faculty who were attempting to unionize, which he calls “sort of ironic now.” The story covered how the faculty had cast their ballots, voting to unionize three years prior, but college leadership was stalling the process.

“When I wrote that story that was probably the first time that I had an experience where individuals in power, namely, President O’Donnell, were telling me not to write something or they were trying to not necessarily stop it, but they wanted to approve whatever I was writing and they wanted to see it in advance,” said Capote.

“And I was like ‘No, I can’t do that.’ It was a great chance to learn and practice ethics in

real-time, in a way where the stakes felt really high. Whether or not they were that high, I don’t know but they felt really high in the moment.”

After graduation, he started working full-time at The Riverdale Press, where he had previously interned. He stayed in journalism for a little bit but realized he had different aspirations.

“After a while, I kind of felt like I missed school and I kind of felt like I missed writing about whatever I wanted and not necessarily catering what I was talking about to the wants and desires of an editor,” he said. “I wanted to do some research so I started applying to Ph.D. programs.”

Now in his fourth year at CUNY, Capote recently passed his doctoral exams and is considered “ABD” or “All But Dissertation,” but that dissertation is well underway. Capote’s area of research is in surveillance or data capitalism, which is an “umbrella term” to talk about how companies such as Google and Facebook collect users’ data and resell it to advertisers.

“The idea is that you can not just predict how people are going to behave, but you can enhance their behavior,” he said. “You can actually target it, you can give them an ad at just the right time and just the right moment and that will literally change their regular behavior.”

In his research, Capote is more interested in the advertisers in this economy, rather than the big companies that resell the collected information, and in how those advertisers use politics.

“Right now they use political ideology, as sort of a means of interacting with cancel culture, for lack of a better word,”

During his time at the college, he wrote for The Quadrangle as a staff member and rose to the roles of Assistant News Editor and News Editor.

@MCQUAD / THE QUADRANGLE

Anthony “Tony” Capote ’17,is a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the City University of New York Graduate Center and a Manhattan College alum.

CUNY / COURTESY

Capote said. “So, what is it that makes Coca-Cola, put a rainbow filter over their profile picture during Pride Month? What makes Nike release a Black Lives Matter ad? And on the other hand, on the other end, how is it then that companies that advertise on Fox News sort of make themselves conservative companies? So on the one hand you have people that are saying ‘we’re woke, and therefore you should give us money because we’re woke,’ and on the other hand you’re saying, ‘we’re not woke we’re anti-woke and you should give us money because we’re anti-woke.’ So that’s what I’m really interested in is that dichotomy and how ultimately what it does is it contributes to sort of an increasingly divided and disconnected population.”

He cites his experience with The Quad as inspiring him to write things that help others, which as a goal, has informed some of his sociological work.

Right now, Capote is focused on finishing his dissertation and getting his teaching experience in, but he has certain career goals he is looking ahead towards.

“I love teaching, it’s very much a calling for me that I just, I love doing it,” he said.

“I like translating information for people and watching someone get something for the first time is always really fun. Having said that, in the past year, I’ve sort of learned that I also really care about my research, so if you’d asked me a year ago I would have said, ‘No, I want to go to a teaching-based institution’ but I’m also at a point where I like my research and maybe this is hubris, but I think it’s important. So I’d like to go somewhere in the middle. Somewhere where I can do research, and it’s valued, and I

have the space and the resources to do that, but also I get to work with students.”

As a Cuban-American, part of his goal of working with students is to be a mentor to Black students, Indigenous students and students of color.

“Ultimately, what I’m really interested in is identifying students of color, right where, you know, especially in higher education students of color are disproportionately sort of left at the wayside and they have a really hard time finding mentors, because frankly white professors don’t really look for them,” he said. “You know, you just kind of find a ton of talented white kids and mentor them.

So that’s a long term goal is being able to identify really talented students of color and helping them succeed and giving them the mentorship that they need to live really successful influential lives.”

For now, Capote is happy to be back at an institution that is familiar to him and gives him a place to continue strengthening his teaching skills.

“It is really nice coming back to a space that I know, in an institution that I can work in, and it coming back, it reified for me, how much I love small schools,” he said. “What’s nice is getting to come back here and feel like, to a certain extent, nothing changes. All the same people that you knew are still here, they’re still doing the same job and they remember you. You know, every time I see someone that I haven’t seen in a while they’re like ‘Oh my God, Tony, how are you, it’s so good to see you.’ And that’s a really great feeling. It’s always nice to like come back. It really does feel like coming home … and seeing your family, which is really great.”

Features

MARCH 16, 2021

5

HeForSWE Promotes Allyship With Female Peers Shannon Gleba Senior Writer

The student body of Manhattan College is often full of allyship and support for their fellow Jaspers. In order to promote similar sentiments in the field of engineering, an organization called HeForSWE has been revamped within the past year as a space for male engineering students to become allies with their female peers.

For a number of years, there has been a chapter of The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) at the College which works to promote the involvement of women in the often male-dominated field of engineering. The society creates events and programming to get young girls involved in engineering, and to make it clear that anyone can study the topic.

HeForSWE works to further these efforts, along with a number of different goals.

MC’s chapter of HeForSwe’s Instagram account (@mc_heforswe) outlined the organization’s mission statement.

“The mission of HeForSWE is to grow the inclusion and advocacy efforts of SWE by increasing the number of male allies in Stem Fields, expand the image of engineering and technology professions as a positive force in improving the quality of life, and demonstrate the value of diversity and inclusion,” the organization wrote.

Since last year, HeForSWE has been run by a board of four students in the School of Engineering, and led by Ryan Truhn, a junior mechanical engineering major. As the club’s director, Truhn oversees the events and happenings of the club.

The other three members

of the board include Austin Hourican, Matthew Kelly and Jemar Louis Ortega, all of whom share similar goals for HeForSWE. Hourican works as a liaison between the organization and the Civil Engineering Department.

“It is important to have HeForSWE at Manhattan College so we can let people know there are male allies for the women in STEM on campus, and that we can accomplish anything if we work together,” Hourican wrote in an email to the Quadrangle.

The club is planning to begin their programming during the week of March 22-26 during a week they call “HeForSWE Week.” Events throughout the week will be held both in-person and in a virtual setting, and will cover a number of different topics.

On March 24, Rachel Cirelli, director of the Manhattan

College Center for Career Development, will be hosting an information session, sponsored by HeForSWE. In addition, there will be raffles on Instagram, Q&A sessions with professors, a Movie on the Quad, along with a host of other events. This week will be an opportunity for all students to learn what the club is all about, and to get involved in their efforts.

In the upcoming weeks and months, Truhn said the HeForSWE Instagram account will become even more active and eager to have a wider reach to students at MC. “A big idea of ours is getting on social media,” Truhn said. “So, having a social media presence, we want to keep people informed virtually. We are going to be sending out newsletters, and they are going to include important information resources and are going to in-

clude quotes from SWE members and professors.”

All in all, the organizers are looking forward to working alongside SWE in order to achieve both club’s main goals.

“If we want to change the standard of engineering being a male-dominated field, a great place to get involved is in college,” Kelly said. “This is where students are not only learning the essential math, science, and engineering skills associated with becoming a great engineer, but also what new and innovative solutions they can contribute going into their field. By bringing an informative and inclusive resource to Manhattan College that is HeForSWE, we hope that we can help encourage a generation of future engineers who will look forward to helping create a more eclectic and diverse engineering field.”

MC Women’s History Month Panel Lauren Raziano Social Media Editor

On Tuesday, March 9, the Student Government held a panel titled the “Importance of Women in Positions of Government and Political Leadership.”

The event, led by student body president Shannon Gleba, was organized to honor Women’s History Month.

The panel featured four women who have held positions in politics and government, two of whom were former Manhattan College student body presidents, panelists Kaylyn Atkins and Tutti Touray.

Atkins was student body president last year and graduated last spring with her degree in political science. She now works as a paralegal at a Blackowned law firm with future plans for law school as well.

Atkins describes how she gained leadership experience during her time at Manhattan College, and even created change within the campus community. As president of the student body, Atkins created a movement within the college to provide free menstrual products to students and staff.

“During my tenure as president, I worked on an initiative that attacked period poverty, so that was probably a seven-month initiative, and it resulted in having students have free access to menstrual products,” Atkins said.

Tutti Touray was a part of Manhattan College’s class of 2004 and served as former Student Body President and recipient of the Gunn Medal.

The Joseph J. Gunn Alumni Medal is considered to be the most prestigious award given to a graduating senior who has made the most significant overall contribution to Manhattan College during their undergraduate years with an emphasis on excellence, leadership, and service.

The third panelist, Christabel Cruz, is the Director of The Center for American Women and Politics, which is a unit of the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University. The fourth panelist was Lindsey Rodman from the Leadership Council for Women in National Security. She graduated from Harvard Law School and served as an associate at an international law firm. She then joined the Marines and now serves in the Marine Corps reserves.

The panel discussed how women may be diverted away from applying to positions that they may not feel they are qualified for. According to the panelist’s knowledge, women and men take different approaches for applying for positions. However, the panelists urge women to apply for any position they can because they are just as, or even more, qualified than their male counterparts.

“Run for that position and

apply for that job, you’re probably just as qualified as the next man that you’re sitting in class with and you’re both applying for the same position,” Atkins said. “He might be 60 percent qualified for it and you might think that you’re the same level. I think there’s a statistic that men apply for jobs if they think they’re 60 percent qualified for it as women generally only apply when we think we’re 100 percent like no, apply for anything you think that you fit and literally everything else manifests on its own,” Atkins said.

Tourray continued with her thoughts about the best way to establish one’s credibility when getting an interview. She finds that establishing one’s own identity is key to standing out during the interview process.

“Your experience and your identity is your asset,” Tourray said. “Any way in which you can be as true to yourself as possible is how people will connect with you best and how you will be the best leader that you can be.”

The panelists described that even if the position is not offered to a woman, rejection is part of the process and will motivate one to work harder and search for more opportunities.

“Rejection won’t be a thing because you will focus on the opportunities that come your way,” Rodman said.

Considering Women’s History Month follows Black History Month, there was a con-

tinuation of a common theme: Representation and Diversity in leadership positions matters.

Rodman describes how diversity and inclusion is a topic she takes very seriously.

“My nonprofit is about putting more bodies in seats so that we have gender diversity at the highest levels of the national security establishment so that the people who are making the most consequential decisions for this country, look like this country, look like the people they represent,” Rodman said.

The panelists noted how here is still a disconnect between opportunities present to women, especially women of color.

“I think as women and as people of color, this has been really intentional, we’ve been told this is not our place, these are our prescribed roles and responsibilities,” said Criz, a Latinx woman. “And I want to be respectful and understand why that is right, like why people are so afraid to take a chance to apply for a job or position, and it’s awesome because a lot of people don’t have the safety nets right that other groups may have. I will say ‘just do it.’

There’s a lot to be learned from any rejection, so my advice to you would be to just do it. You have no idea what you’re capable of.”

Atkins followed up with the idea of her being a representation of what women of color can

achieve and how to encourage others to do the same.

“I always loved helping people,” Atkins said. “And I thought that the best way that I can do that is to be in leadership positions and make way for women who look like me and girls who would like me to do so.”

Aidan Gormley, a junior who is a part of the Student Government Assembly, attended this panel to learn more about women’s experiences, such as Atkins.

“I found it interesting when the panelists spoke about their own experiences in leadership positions,” Gormley wrote in an email. “It was insightful to hear about their experiences as women, especially because I do not often get that perspective.”

Women’s History Month is a time to celebrate the success of Women’s accomplishments highlighting the advancements that are still needed in society.

As the panelists described, when women see other women in respected positions, they are empowered to use their voice and create a movement.

“Women’s History Month is an important opportunity for us to reflect on the experiences of women in our society, and to celebrate the contributions they make to so many aspects of our lives,” Gormley wrote.

“This panel highlighted why we need women in leadership positions, and I am glad to have attended.”

Features

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THE QUADRANGLE

Meet Tiffany Ma, the New Campus Nutritionist Colleen McNamara & Jocelyn Visnov Asst. Sports Editor & Asst. Production Editor

Manhattan College welcomed a fresh face to its staff at the beginning of this Spring semester. Tiffany Ma, a registered dietician, has come to campus to better the health and wellness of students. Ma prioritizes students’ nutritional needs by holding information sessions, publishing her newsletter and communicating with food services.

Specifically, Ma covers four main concerns: general nutrition in the dining halls, complying with dietary allergies and preferences, providing nutrition information and holding nutrition seminars.

Ma is from Brooklyn, NY and has previously aided the New York State Department of Health as one of their nutritionists. As a registered dietitian for MC, she is well versed with food science to give on-campus students beneficial information.

“Dietitians can help individuals optimize their health through their food choices and eating behaviors,” Ma wrote in her “Meet Your Dietitian” newsletter.

Students are encouraged to reach out to her for nutritional

advice, tips and plans to meet their diet goals. Ma preaches an “everything in moderation” philosophy when it comes to healthy eating, encouraging students to continue eating the foods they want while still being consientious about their health.

Raashi Dev, a senior communication major, met with Ma for a general consultation last month and has been positively influenced ever since.

“Ma is very well educated about nutrition, and has great long-term recommendations, she doesn’t recommend to keep a balanced diet with no restrictions,” Dev said. “I have more energy and have been more active ever since consulting with Ma about my diet.”

Previously, there was an allergy-specific station in the dining hall, yet one of the changes Ma incorporated into Locke’s Loft was the ability for students to directly ask for individual accommodations to their meals.

Dev has been utilizing this option.

“Essentially, I ask the chef behind the first section of Locke’s, or ‘Delicious Destinations’, to cook bell peppers, mushrooms, onions, cooked without oil and he makes it specifically for me,” Dev said.

Dev describes how the countless options in the dining hall can be overwhelming, but finds it is nice to have some-

one guide students through the best options for personal health goals.

“I definitely feel more comfortable that there is a registered dietitian to guide me with what I choose,” Dev said.

Madeline Byrne, a sophomore chemical engineering major, describes how they are pleased with having a dietician on campus. They personally find it beneficial for their health, and for others as well.

“Having a personal dietitian on campus is great,” Byrne said. “She could definitely help out a lot. I have Celiac Disease so it would be nice to have her help me to make sure I get proper nutrition.”

Even if you don’t have specific dietary needs, Ma is here to help. Beyond her credible recommendations, she is a friendly face that consistently checks in on students.

“She is super supportive and a great resource, she even checks in on me ever since I had the initial appointment a month ago,” Dev said.

You can find Ma in Locke’s Loft every Monday from 12:302:00 p.m. or attend her “office hours” for students who would like to ask general questions about nutrition or dietary choices. Feel free to contact Ma for private or group consultations by emailing her at diningservices@manhattan.edu or by calling/texting 718-877-7928.

brid form was a bit strange. For the past 3 years, Agape Latte has always looked like dozens of people crowding into Jasper Lounge to eat carrot cake and drink coffee and listen to the speaker, but now it is much more distanced and the majority of people attended virtually.

Overall, I’m just really glad that Agape Latte has been able to continue in any sort of format.”

As an adjunct religious studies professor, Powell spoke about coming of age, rejecting her religious upbringing and realizing her sexuality.

Most notably, however, she explained how she found herself “lamenting at God” as a young adult and even today. Although it may seem disrespectful, she justifies the emotions that she expresses all people can relate to.

“It is a catharsis to yell or to cry or to let things out,” Powell said.

She first had experiences with this when she was young and faced rejection from several service jobs she thought she was made for, which many college students can understand.

“I was angry, embarrassed and hurt,” Powell said. “...and why would God not bless me with one of those positions? I have been a faithful Christian my whole life and I wanted to

do something in the service of others… so for several days I yelled at God.” She showed a clip from the film “The Apostle,” in which a preacher screams at God after he lost his church and discovered his wife had been having an affair.

“Lord God Jehovah, if you won’t give me back my wife, give me peace,” he yelled. “Give it to me, give it to me, give it to me - give me peace.”

Powell explained that several years after her first experience of unsettlement with what she believed was God taking something away from her, she learned more about the meaning of what she had done, and that it was not all that bad.

“It was not until a few years later when I started seminary that I learned that what I’d been doing was lament,” she said. “I discovered that far from being faithless, lament was a sign of an active and engaged faith that has its roots in the Bible itself.”

She also spoke about how life is not meant to be lived in a linear motion, which is often the reason why people get upset with God. “The greatest lesson… is that we have to live in the present, and see losses as an opportunity to embrace the circumstances in which we find

Tiffany Ma, a registered dietician, has come to campus to better the health and wellness of students.

JOCELYN VISNOV / THE QUADRANGLE

Yelling at God: How Stephanie Powell Became More Faithful Through Lamentation Jilleen Barrett

A&E Editor 366 days after Stephanie Powell was originally scheduled to speak at Agape Latte for Women’s Week, she finally got the chance. Although it was different– it was held in the student commons instead of Jasper lounge, most of the audience was online and the free carrot cake from Lloyd’s was individually wrapped– Powell managed to make the event feel as normal as possible.

Powell was the first in-person speaker at the event since before the pandemic, according to student volunteer Harriet Swager. Swager is a senior who has been involved in planning the event since her freshman year, so she has witnessed the event change over the last year.

“Last semester I was fully remote and living at home, so being able to be involved with planning and then attending the Agape Latte event in the fall virtually was really nice, and made me feel connected back to campus and to the community that Agape Latte brings together,” Swager said.

“Being back on campus and attending Agape Latte through the in-person option of the hy-

ourselves,” she said. “And I really do carry that lesson with me and it was like this really formative moment in my life as I faced similar challenges.”

She concluded her talk by speaking to how she has grown because of her emotional experiences with God. “...I’ve been made better able to cope with disappointments and I’m more resilient

when things don’t unfold the way I imagined,” she said. “And this doesn’t mean that I don’t still yell at God from time to time, I certainly do… but now I see that my prayers of lament are a way of engaging God where I am neither a helpless victim or a hard-hearted citizen, but rather, I’m a beloved conversation partner with the divine.”

Stephanie Powell shares her shory at the Agape Latte in Kelly Commons.

JILLEEN BARRETT / THE QUADRANGLE

MARCH 16, 2021

Features

A COVID Anniversary

Kelly Cwik & Megan LaCreta Asst. A&E Editor & Staff Writer

Last week, Manhattan College reached a milestone: the one-year anniversary of the school closing due to COVID-19. To reflect on the past year, The Quadrangle spoke with three students to see how they felt remembering the one-year mark and how they have managed these strange times.

Alex Castro, a senior mechanical engineering student, looked back on the past year.

“I know that it’s been about a year,” Castro said. “I feel like it’s given us enough time to just kind of take in the fact that this happened, and it’s given enough time for us to overcome it. It was horrible for a lot of people, it was good for some people, but now we just have to overcome the obstacles that we’ve faced within the last year and just try to grow.”

While social media has played a role in keeping many of us connected over the past year, John O’Connor, a sophomore management major, spoke about how it also offered a harsh reminder of how much our world has changed.

“I was getting all the [Snapchat] memories of all of us being like, ‘Yeah!’ for over two weeks, like ‘Long break, long break!’ and we had no clue what we were getting ourselves into, and how long this actually would play out and how it literally changed all of our lives altogether,” O’Connor said.

Samantha Rini, a junior childhood education major, also spoke to the struggles of being reminded of pre-pandemic times, in particular by social media.

“It’s hard,” Rini said. “I mean, it feels like it’s been so much longer than a year, while also feeling like it hasn’t,” Rini said. “I haven’t stepped foot on campus since then, so I miss it a lot, and as the weather’s getting nicer, I’m like ‘Oh today would have been a beautiful day to sit on the quad’ like ‘Today would have been a beautiful day to do all these things’ and now even getting social media memories are like, ‘Oh one year ago today you were with your friends.”

The students also discussed the feeling of missing out on opportunities to grow during a seminal period of our lives.

“I feel like our college years are some of the last years that we have to make ourselves our first priority unapologetically,” Rini said. “So to lose out on a year of that already is a little discouraging and it’s kind of stressful.”

Rini and Castro both described the difficulties they and their peers have had finding jobs and internship opportuni-

ties, an issue that is especially of concern to upperclassmen.

“I feel like I’m being rushed into a future that I’m not ready for, and especially as an education major,” Rini said. “I’ve missed out on a lot of in-person fieldwork hours and observation hours. So the next time that I’m in the classroom, [it] will most likely be when I’m student teaching, which is terrifying.”

While Castro is thankful he was able to secure an internship for summer 2020 before the pandemic, he noticed that his peers were struggling.

“I’ve been grateful to be connected with a hiring manager who has an overview in the industry,” Castro said. “But in terms of job issues, it is very, very difficult. A lot of people, a lot of my fellow peers were not able to get an internship last summer, and now they just don’t have any experience.”

O’Connor also noted that while he was happy to be back on campus, not everyone is lucky enough to have a normal college experience again. He sympathizes with the freshman class, whose only college experience has been during the pandemic.

“I personally feel much worse for the freshmen, because this is their first glimpse of what college is like,” O’Connor said. “I feel like so many of them have to judge their

experience off of remote college and there’s also so many people who haven’t even been to campus yet… And it’s also been super hard to see people that I may have been close to last year still remote, because their classes were remote both semesters, just by the way it worked out, like it wasn’t even by choice.”

Looking to the future, the students are hopeful for a return to normalcy. O’Connor describes how he misses the energetic campus feel and warm environment that places like Locke’s Loft used to foster.

“Honestly, if there’s one thing I miss about Manhattan College, it’s the vibe of Locke’s,” O’Connor said. “Like none of us have ever been a huge fan of the food. But I feel like everyone just had such a great time in Locke’s, something was always going on in there.”

Like many remote students, Rini is excited to potentially see her friends next semester and hopeful to return to campus soon.

“I’m looking forward to seeing my friends,” Rini said.

“You know, there are so many friends that I haven’t seen in a year now, and I’m really really excited to see them.”

With a year of COVID behind us, here’s to more sunny days on the quad in the near future.

Alex Castro is a senior mechanical engineering student ALEX CASTRO / COURTESY

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John O’Connor is a sophomore management major.

JOHN O’CONNOR / COURTESY

Samantha Rini is a junior childhood education major.

SAMANTHA RINI / COURTESY

Arts & Entertainment

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THE QUADRANGLE

Jasper Jams: The Spring Equinox is Almost Upon Us JASPER JAMS Gabriella DePinho & Emily Rumsey

Senior Writer & Contributor Springtime is here! Well, almost. The weather is starting to heat up to more comfortable temperatures so that you won’t lose feelings in your toes while sitting outside for a socially distanced gathering and you can maybe lose the hat and scarf.

This change is welcome after the 8th snowiest winter New York City has ever seen. While the spring equinox, which marks the new season, isn’t until March 20, the weather is arriving early. This Jasper Jams is meant to give you all the dreamy-sunshine-y and upbeat tunes you need to open your windows, go on walks in the park and welcome in the new season.

Emily’s Picks “Vinavil” - Giorgio Poi Vinavil is a glue that is popular in Italian primary schools, and also what gives this song it’s name. Giorgio Poi announced his sophomore album with the release of “Vinavil”, and in it he writes about people with hearts made of glue and wax that melt when they get hot. The song tells a story of nostalgia for happier days and the bittersweet present. Despite the melancholy meaning, this song brightens up any activity, with soft guitar and smooth vocals over relaxed drums and warm, blooming synths. This song is perfect for a sunny picnic or a nature walk in Van Cortlandt!

“Meet Me At Our Spot” - THE ANXIETY, Willow, Tyler Cole This recent release is a great song for warmer days.

The carefree vibes and playful adlibs throughout the chorus gives the feeling of being in the car with friends on your way to the shore. The song, off of Willow and Tyler Cole’s collaboration album THE ANXIETY, combines a strong baseline with simple drums and guitar to create an anthem for the warmer months. The lyrics tell a story of teenage youth and a secret spot that only the two characters know about. This song is perfect for springtime adventures with friends.

“Something Holy” - Alice Phoebe Lou The soft ballad by South African singer-songwriter Alice Phoebe Lou encapsulates the feeling of a spring morning. The song tells a story of

new love and the happiness that comes with it. The story is backed by a jazzy rhythm, a bright electric organ, and a large percussion section which brings an almost beachy tone to the song. This song provides a great soundtrack for a morning walk, a springtime brunch, or a trip to the city.

“This Must Be My Dream” - The 1975 This song is one of my personal favorites for an uplifting and fun song for the spring. It’s a love song about a girl who the singer believes is from his dreams. It has pop-like drums and a great use of synths to create a sort of ethereal sound while keeping the upbeat nature of the genre. It also features a groovy rock guitar line, a 1975 staple. This song is great for dance parties in the park, as well as getting in a good mood while walking to class.

“Softly” - Clairo I feel like it wouldn’t be a springtime playlist without the queen of bedroom pop. “Softly” is off of Clario’s first studio album “Immunity”, and you can tell how she has evolved in her style since the days of “Pretty Girl”. The song is simplistic instrumentally, but the overlapping harmonies that Clario has mastered make the song very pleasing to the ear. The song has a groove to it that you might not expect from Clairo, but her soft voice compliments it very well and gives it the warm weather vibe we’re all craving.

“Good Days” - SZA This is it! This is the spring-

time song! With a soothing guitar line in the background of SZA’s simply beautiful vocals, this song encapsulates spring to me. The added sounds of gentle birdsong and children laughing in the beginning sets the mood of the song and transports the listener to somewhere much more idyllic. The lyrics tell a story of the events leading up to or aftermath of a breakup. However, there is never any anger or sadness expressed in the song, but instead a determination to get through the obstacles and reach the good days ahead. This song is perfect for what seems to be the tail end of the pandemic, knowing that we’re so close to the good days ahead.

Gabs’ Picks “Cupid Tr youts” - Jonah Renna, Molivera, Jalen Renna I definitely think the track’s artwork being primarily a pastel color influenced me to pick this track. The 2018 laidback alternative R&B song is Jonah Renna’s release that features Molivera and Jalen Renna. Jonah Renna, 19, has been releasing music since 2016, and it’s paid off as his music is on the rise, with “Cupid Tryouts” just surpassing 1 million streams at the end of January. With more music on the way, I believe he’s an artist to keep your eye on. “where do you go” - flor The indie rock and synth pop band, flor, got its origins in Oregon and released their first track in 2014. I stumbled upon them through Spotify’s algorithm and I originally mistook

them to be the same group as flora cash, but am happy my mistake introduced me to this new group. This 2018 track asks the question of where people who love hard and love often get that love from. The sweet lyrics paired with an upbeat rhythm and 186 beats per minute makes it a perfect song to ring in warmer weather with.

“Flowers” - James Spaite James Spaite is an independent singer-songwriter and, according to his Spotify about page, a “percussive finger-style guitarist” who has been releasing music since 2014. Again, we have to thank the almighty and potentially creepy Spotify algorithm for recommending this track to me. The subtly heartbreaking lyrics where Spaite ultimately weaves a tale where his “darling” can find a guy that’s better than him are at first not-so heartbreaking thanks to Spaite’s smooth voice and the careful orchestrations he’s added to his guitar-playing. The imagery of flowers, gardens, rays of sunshine, and handful of soil make it a perfect song to listen to as spring arrives.

“When The Lights Go Out” - Gabrielle Aplin This track was released at the end of January, setting it up for yearlong success. The album art — a collage with lots of flowers — screams spring vibes and the song’s upbeat tempo paired with sentimental lyrics, makes it a song I want to listen to as I sit on the quadrangle and soak in the sun. The song is about being seen for who you are and as Alpin wrote in

an Instagram post, she wanted “to make a song that felt like a hug that you can also dance to” and this was her “best attempt.”

Alpin has been releasing music for a little over a decade and if you haven’t started listening to her, now is the time to do so.

“Mango” - Peach Tree Rascals According to Peach Tree Rascals, the song is about “creating positive thoughts on even the worst of days” and I think, after coming out of the long and hard haul of the winter, this song has a message we all need. Peach Tree Rascals is a five-piece music collective that has been making music since 2018 and became famous after their song “Mariposa” went viral on TikTok. “Pierre” - Ryn Weaver I know this song has recently gone viral on TikTok but I would like to clarify I have been listening to Ryn Weaver’s music since sophomore year of high school. I’m so glad more people are listening to the singer-songwriter I have enjoyed for so long, but this is my public and formal claim that I liked her first; this isn’t being elitist, I’m just clarifying that TikTok actually didn’t have an influence here. As I’ve long been in love with her 2015 album “The Fool” which this song comes from, her music always reminds me of the cherry blossom trees my bus used to pass on the way home from school, which makes this track a perfect spring song.

Scan here to listen to The Quadrangle’s playlist!

MARCH 16, 2021

Arts & Entertainment

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Manhattan College Students Rise to Fame on TikTok Madalyn Johnson & Victor Franco Web Editor & Staff Writer

Throughout the chaos of last year, many negatives struck college students who were hoping to end their spring semester on a positive note.

But the uprise of a video-sharing app, TikTok, allowed a lot of college students to cope with the COVID funk that took away so much.

The app is undeniably popular amongst college students, and some from Manhattan College have managed to stand out and obtain “TikTok fame” thanks to their content that shows how it’s like being a college student, going to school in NYC and working to get a degree during a pandemic.

Jessica Solan is a senior at Manhattan College majoring in communication with a concentration in media production.

She’s one of many students who found TikTok to be a humorous escape from the current pandemic as well as the common stresses all college students undergo.

Solan shared how the app distracted her from the abrupt news of leaving campus early last year.

“It was so isolating being there [home] but on TikTok, it’s like everybody feels what you’re going through and you’re talking to each other like it’s a community or there’s a bunch of different communities in it,” Solan said. “I even, to this day, most of the videos I watch are like comedy and travel videos now. I’ve also worked manifestation in there, but like, just like dreaming about traveling again, got me through that. Watching funny videos for hours got me through that too.”

With over 39K followers and over 1 million likes on her

account, @jessicasolarpanel, Solan explained how she’s elated about how many views her content gets, but finds confusing how certain videos can go viral. Unlike how influencers operate on apps like YouTube and Instagram, Solan doesn’t focus on making similar content and instead takes her shot in posting random videos that she finds funny.

“I know that it’s better to find a niche, and stick to it, but I can’t find what I want my niche is. I’ve blown up for like, totally different things. So, I have attracted different audiences, but I haven’t found what I constantly want to do because some videos I’m like, ‘This has one-hit-wonder energy’ and then I’m like, ‘Okay, well it fits into this category.’”

For a student like Solan, who is fascinated with entertaining audiences and working with social media, TikTok was no challenge for Solan to confidently be herself in front of a camera and produce videos that audiences find hilarious and relatable. Although Solan admits her time on the app has helped her with her goal of working with social media professionally.

“I’ve always been comfortable in front of crowds and I’ve been performing since I was little, so public speaking has never really been a big issue for me,” Solan said. “But like, it definitely has made me more confident in my social media abilities because, on Instagram, it’s hard to grow. You can make content and still have trouble finding an audience just because people aren’t randomly scrolling through Instagram like they are on TikTok on the for you page. So, I might go into social media production and now I know I could do that sort of thing in different ways.”

Sami Rini is another upper-

Maria Swiatkowski is always ready to make videos in her dorm, complete with her signature all-pink aesthetic.

MARIA SWIATKOWSKI/ COURTESY

classman at Manhattan College who has successfully achieved TikTok fame. A junior and childhood education major, Rini has over 3,000 followers and over 660,000 likes on her TikTok account, @sami82900.

Her most viral TikTok has 3.5 million views and humorously pokes fun at college students who excessively show others where they’re from.

“It was just a stupid joke that me and my siblings made one night and we thought it was funny to make it into a video,” Rini said.

“We were talking about how college kids, specifically those from Cape Cod, use their arm to demonstrate where they are and we thought it was funny to try to use that idea in different states and make our bodies form different states. So, we just woke up the next morning, we made it a video and all of a sudden, it blew up.”

In addition to watching and making funny videos, Rini found the app useful when learning more about social justice, a topic that was extremely relevant in the middle of 2020.

“It [TikTok] definitely gave me a good laugh when I needed one, but it also opened up my views in a way, like I had access to a lot of educational information regarding things like social action and social justice that I didn’t have access to before. So, it was really helpful in quarantine to kind of like dive into that and find creators that could help educate me in that way.”

Rosalia Cefalu, a sophomore majoring in analytics and minoring in finance is winning over TikTok followers on her comedic account, @iamrosalia.

With over 3 million likes and 40 thousand followers, Cefalu makes silly videos about her life experiences.

“When I first started, it was about having fun and I really liked that desire of going viral, I always thought that would be cool. The more I did TikTok I started posting a lot of videos about family life and I got a lot of people reaching out to me about that.”

Cefalu integrates her humor into her videos to connect with her audience. Through TikTok, she’s found that she could openly share her personal struggles by having a laugh.

“That sort of became my inspiration because I was someone who could make a lot of dark humor jokes about drug abuse and child abuse.

A lot of people related to this and thought it was good to see someone joke about it,” Cefalu said.

On top of going to TikTok for a source of entertainment, Cefalu has been able to use the app to gain experience in

Some Manhattan College students have turned to the popular video-sharing app, TikTok, to share humorous and relatable content during difficult times, like the COVID-19 pandemic.

TIKTOK.COM/ COURTESY her field of study. Cefalu posted an amusing TikTok describing how hard it’s been to find an internship after sophomore year.

A company commented and reached out to her directly after the video was posted.

“It was so funny that this happened, but they hired me.

Part of it is I produce content for them on their TikTok page, but since I have the business analytics background, I do all their data analytics on LinkedIn, Facebook Marketplace, and TikTok.” Cefalu is determined to pursue more in life other than social media, however, her experience on the app so far is appreciated.

“I have no plan, but I would love to see it go somewhere and when I have the time I would definitely do work on it,” she said.

Maria Swiatkowski, a freshman majoring in English, is another upcoming TikTok influencer from Manhattan College.

Swiatkowski, also known as @ mariaswiatkowkii, was able to gain more than 10 million likes and 130 thousand followers since Oct. 2018. She shared how she’s been able to gain a lot of followers.

“I post whatever I want to, like videos of my friends and I, funny videos and compilations of videos. I think of ideas when I hear a Tik Tok sound and then relate it to something that’s happened to me, which can relate and help someone else,” Swiatkowki said.

Swiatkowki explained how she still engages and has fun on the app, even when a video doesn’t do as well as expected.

“If the video is kind of embarrassing I usually just make it private. If the video only gets a small amount of likes, I just keep it up for my friends,” Swiatkowki said.

Because of her mass following, Swiatkowki receives

offers from companies that pay creators to advertise products.

Swiatkowski is given the opportunity to collaborate with these companies by being tasked to show off a product creatively in a TikTok. “One company offers to pay for videos with certain sounds.

It would be like 50 bucks for a video with a specific sound. Another company sent me skincare products so I can make a video with the products,” Swiatkowki said.

As much as Swiatkowki enjoys making content on TikTok, she’s faced downsides when making content for a large audience on a large platform. Swiatkowki described that with a big following also comes people who don’t agree with you.

“Recently since Nov., anytime I get a viral TikTok the comment section is like a warzone. People debate if they agree with me or not. Anything that I post and goes viral becomes very political,” Swiatkowki said.

The several students from Manhattan College who are popular on TikTok have dealt with their own struggles when creating content, yet have persevered to relate to a generation that’s currently enduring so much during the most vital years of their education experience. Despite having a large following, these students want others to know that fame is not important, rather being creative and simply having fun is what should be a priority.

“It’s not a matter of being embarrassed about what you post. Everyone on TikTok is thinking the exact same thing like, ‘It’s so embarrassing,’ but it’s just some app,” Swiatkowki said. “I started posting whatever I want and I usually don’t delete it if it doesn’t get likes because it really doesn’t matter.”

Arts & Entertainment

9

THE QUADRANGLE

“Marcus is Walking” Reimagines the Meaning of a Car Ride Jilleen Barrett A&E Editor

Despite only being able to hold virtual performances, the Manhattan College Players have produced yet another show for the community to view on Twitch. This performance was a series of vignettes stitched together called “Marcus is Walking” and was streamed on the nights of March 12 and 13.

According to the playbill, the story “was created to retell the wide array of emotions and experiences we encounter

in cars.” Each scene was portrayed as though the characters were driving, although they could not sit in actual cars due to the performers being separate from each other as a safety precaution. Besides two pre-recorded dance scenes performed in the player’s box in Thomas Hall, each actor did their scenes from their dorm rooms or homes.

Sophie Ryan, who played four characters throughout the different scenes, explained how the technology of the online performance is different from “The Laramie Project,” which they showcased in the fall via Zoom.

One of the dance scenes included Ryan being behind the wheel of a car.

JILLEEN BARRETT/ THE QUADRANGLE

Posters such as this one were used to advertise the show were posted on social media. @PLAYERSMC / COURTESY “We’re actually using a new platform called OBS ninja that makes it easier for our production team to compile all of our video feeds than it was when we were using Zoom,” Ryan said.

The play was directed by Matthew Blackwood and his assistants were Maddie Byrne and Amy Kohli. Byrne told The Quadrangle about what her responsibilities were while preparing for the show.

“I helped with taking notes on scenes, blocking, enforcement of everyone knowing their lines, and costuming the show,” Byrne said. “...I pulled [clothes] from the Player’s costume closets and pieced everything together from what the cast had and what we had available to us in the box.”

Ryan spoke about how she

felt about performing online yet again, noting that an online show is still a show. Despite playing multiple roles, Ryan still got a chance to connect with all of them, thus enhancing her performance.

“My favorite part of the show is getting to create theater with the people that I care about, it’s definitely different doing it online, but the sense of comradery makes it all worth it,” she said. “All of my characters are so different, but it’s fun to see what parts of myself I can incorporate into my roles.”

The Players immersed themselves in the show by subscribing to “Marcus is Talking: Facts for the Road,” an email chain that shared facts with its readers about all aspects of the show according to the playbill.

Overall, the show seems to

have romanticized the idea of a car ride, particularly a scene featuring Luis Chavez and Erica Cafarelli– playing Henry and Lisa– sitting in the backseat and realizing that they are in love with each other.

“It’s more like a storm, these emotions I have for you– they’re terribly distracting. I can’t focus properly, I can’t do anything with this constant disturbance like a storm of bees inside and outside me,” he said. “This tumultuous obsession with you, it’s hard to describe… Normally, I’m pretty witty and my friends think I’m funny but when I’m with you Lisa, I just– my tongue just gets shipwrecked at my teeth.”

The next performance for The Players will be “Oedipus Rex” in April.

A snapshot of their performance from a virtual audience perspective.

JILLEEN BARRETT/ THE QUADRANGLE

Sports

MARCH 16, 2021

10

With Season On the Line, Jaspers Go Cold Pete Janny Sports Editor

Playing the same team three times in a row is not ideal. In the case of Manhattan and Fairfield, they had no choice but to lace up their sneakers one final time this season in the bloodbath that is the opening round of the MAAC tournament.

After splitting last week at Draddy Gym, it was the Stags who came up with the biggest win of them all, beating the Jaspers in overtime despite Ethan Lasko canning an NBA three-pointer with 0.2 seconds left in regulation that temporarily saved Manhattan’s season. Lasko’s late-game heroics coupled with the Jaspers’ run of success over the Stags in recent seasons made this one an instant classic in the all-time series between the schools.

On Tuesday night, Fairfield looked like an entirely different team from the version that lit the Jaspers up for 85 points last Friday night at Draddy.

The Stags were a step too slow defensively and their missed shots piled up in the first half. As the half progressed, the tide started to turn in Manhattan’s favor, with the Jaspers beginning to play at a faster pace. Led by Ant Nelson and Warren Williams, Manhattan started exploiting holes in the paint that were left open by Fairfield. Despite their own deficiencies too, the Jaspers went into halftime with a nine-point lead, up 25-16.

But only 20 minutes away from their third win over Fairfield in the MAAC tournament in as many years, the Jaspers couldn’t stave off the Stags.

Fairfield rattled off ten unanswered points to tie the game at 29 with 12:05 left. A little over

two minutes later, a layup from Taj Benning gave Fairfield their first lead since leading 4-3 in the opening minutes.

With Manhattan in need of a spark plug, Samba Diallo continued his strong play by dropping 13 points and 11 rebounds, particularly shining when running the floor in transition. Before Fairfield’s game-changing 10-0 run, Diallo showed off his elite athleticism by throwing down a ferocious dunk to extend the Manhattan lead to 10 early in the second half. And if not for a few timely baskets from Diallo throughout the second half, the Stags may have been able to put together even larger scoring runs.

Prior to Lasko’s memorable shot, the Jaspers only made one three, which came from Samir Stewart to open the game. On the night, Manhattan shot 2-of18 from three, marking a dubious downgrade from their 26 percent clip during the regular season and representing the epitaph of their performance.

Given their struggles, it was exciting that the Jaspers were able to force overtime and extend their season temporarily.

Fairfield would score the opening five points in overtime to put the pressure back on Manhattan. However, with time running out for another comeback, the Jaspers found new life when Wojcik missed four straight free throws despite shooting 85 percent from the charity stripe this season.

Manhattan’s final possession in overtime came down by one with 10 seconds left, and that’s where the road officially ended.

The final play appeared to be drawn up for Nelson before ending up in the hands of Lasko again, whose shot missed.

At last, Fairfield had escaped and were on to the quarterfi-

nals to face Monmouth.

According to Masiello, the locker room was “tough” after the game, calling on the players and coaches to accept accountability and promise to come back better.

“It was a tough locker room, the guys were pretty down,” Masiello said. “My message to them was, ‘this is life, fellas. Not everything’s going to go your way. What are you going to do right now? Are you going to sulk, blame people, hang your heads, or are you going to get back to work and get better?’”

Williams fouled out with a few minutes left in regulation but was efficient once again with 11 points on 5-of-6 shooting. After the game, Masiello expressed regret for not finding a way to get Williams more shots.

“Warren only had six field goal attempts so we have to find him a little more in situations and we didn’t do a good enough job of that,” Masiello said in a Zoom interview with reporters after the game.

Even under duress, Nelson still turned in an inspiring performance—16 points and 11 rebounds—to close out his

first season at Manhattan. His job wasn’t made any easier by fellow guards Samir Stewart and Eli Buchanan going a combined 4-of-23 from the field, as well as 1-of-10 from three for Stewart.

The Jaspers’ loss came despite advantages in rebounding, turnovers, blocks, steals, assists, points in the paint and points off turnovers. As has been a theme this season, Manhattan was held back by their three-point shooting with Fairfield hitting five to the Jaspers’ two. Free-throwing shooting came back to haunt the Jaspers as well. They went 12-of-21, good for 57 percent.

Manhattan finishes the season 7-13 for their sixth straight losing season—all of which have come under Masiello— and have a record of 68-109 since winning the second of their MAAC Championships in 2015. Since inking Masiello to a contract extension through 2022-2023 in February 2020, Manhattan has gone 9-22 and failed to get past the quarterfinals in the MAAC tournament.

The sum of the finalists’ seeds is 16, proving just how wide open the field was this year for lower seeds like the

Jaspers. Consequently, Manhattan will be thinking about what could have been this offseason following their deflating loss to Fairfield, who has advanced all the way to the finals to play a Rick Pitino-led Iona team later today, March 16 on ESPNU. During the collegial exchange with reporters, a stoic Masiello was quick to compliment his players and the entire cohort of student-athletes for the sacrifices made this COVID season. There with them every step of the way, Masiello spoke about the character it required for them to stay the course of this unprecedented season.

“Things didn’t always go their way, (but) they showed up,” Masiello said. “They didn’t play on Zoom calls. They were there on the front line every day doing the work, and I have a lot of respect for all the kids and student-athletes that sacrificed to play basketball and do something they love, so kudos to them. I want them to look everyone in their eyes, I want them to hold their heads high, I want them to be proud of who they are and what they are, and the job they did.”

Jaspers men’s basketball team reacts to Fairfield game from the slidelines.

GOJASPERS / COURTESY

Jaspers point guard number 14, Marques Watson sinks basket in game against Fairfield.

GOJASPERS / COURTESY

Ethan Lasko releases a three at the buzzer of regulation that sent Manhattan and Fairfield into overtime in the opening round of the MAAC Tournament.

CAROLO PASCALE / COURTESY

Sports

12

THE QUADRANGLE

Lady Jaspers’ Memorable Season Ends at Hands of Fairfield Pete Janny Sports Editor

On paper, the Manhattan’s women’s basketball team boasts arguably the most talented collection of offensive talent in the MAAC. Unfortunately, their stay in Atlantic City came to an end earlier than expected.

Instead of COVID-19 ending their season like it did last year, this time it was the Fairfield Stags, who held Manhattan to 24 percent shooting in a 61-50 win. The Lady Jaspers’ offense went cold at the wrong time, with star players Emily LaPointe, Courtney Warley and Dee Dee Davis combining to go 10-of-37 from the field in the loss.

The Jaspers’ trio of stars couldn’t keep up with Fairfield’s top players, Lou Lopez-Senechal and Sam Lewis.

Those two were in sync from the get-go and it paid dividends for a Fairfield team that was relatively quiet otherwise.

Both veteran players accounted for 19 of the Stags’ first 25 points, handing their team a 25-10 lead with a little over three minutes left in the second quarter. Although Manhattan played solid interior defense, a few lapses on the perimeter led to Fairfield hitting some open looks from the outside.

As a team, Fairfield went only 6-of-20 from deep, and especially struggled in the second half going 1-of-12 from three.

Sadly, that ended up being a moot point as Manhattan struggled in that category as well.

Their 3-of-23 shooting from three was reminiscent of what the men’s team did two days earlier; in both cases, neither team found enough ways to salvage their season.

“We didn’t shoot well and it’s been an Achilles heel for us this year,” Heather Vulin told reporters on Zoom after the game. “I was pleased with the quality shots we got and how hard my team battled.”

Even despite the cold shooting, the Lady Jaspers were able to get within seven two times in the second half, as they refused to call it quits.

Warley bounced back in the second half with 11 points to at least keep her team competitive. With little to nothing falling, the Lady Jaspers had no other options but to keep giving Warley the ball to see if she could make plays.

Warley and Davis each scored 11 for Manhattan. On the other hand, the Stags were paced by 21 points from Lopez-Senechal and 11 from Lewis.

Thanks to Manhattan’s almost month-long hiatus caused

by COVID-19 at the end of the season, they were never able to play Fairfield in the regular season.

“It was a tough season but that’s what we prepared for,” Dee Dee Davis told reporters on Zoom after the game. “That was just the hand we were dealt and we tried to make the best of it.”

As the preseason number one team in the MAAC, Vulin was tasked with leading a team with championship expecta-

tions through the most trying of circumstances imaginable.

The players did their best with it, and that’s all Vulin and the fans could ask for out of them.

Manhattan will head back to the drawing board this offseason in hopes of taking the next step in their development.

Most of their core will be back, and barring injuries, they will be projected to finish high in the MAAC again. Unless her plans change, the team will be led once again by Warley, who has another year of eligibility left.

As it stands, the two starters not returning are Pamela Miceus and Gabby Campus, who are set to graduate and leave behind legacies that transcend basketball. After earning their Bachelor’s Degrees last May, both are on track to complete graduate school at Manhattan.

After making the team as a walk-on her sophomore year, one could say Miceus overachieved in her four seasons, finishing her career in sixth place on the school’s blocks list with 101 career rejections.

This season also represented her best one at Manhattan, as Miceus averaged 8.1 pointsper-games and 5.5 reboundsper-game.

Undersized at the pointguard position, Cajou did not let any height difference disrupt her confidence on the court. Despite being most known for her speed and defensive motor, Cajou ends her career in eighth place on the program’s all-time assists list with 350 helpers. With Ca-

Photo taken from starting jump at Lady Jaspers last game of the season against Fairfield.

GOJASPERS / COURTESY jou moving on, guards such as Dee Dee Davis and Emily LaPointe will be expected to do most of the heavy lifting in the backcourt next season.

Although far from the ending they wanted, Manhattan can appreciate the opportunity to finally compete at Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall after what happened last season. If they are truly serious about winning a MAAC Championship next season, this season showed there is still more work that needs to be done than expected — and that’s okay. From the

beginning, this season was not going to be normal for anyone while playing during a global pandemic.

“We’re just grateful to compete on this floor this year because last year we didn’t get to take a single shot,” Vulin said about the adversity of last year’s cancellation. “We’ve always had a close-knit team but what was going on in the world with COVID-19 and social justice I think we got even closer.

20 years from now we will appreciate the time we had together this year.”

The Lady Jaspers season came to an end after losing to Fairfield in the opening round of the MAAC Tournament by a score of 51-40.

GOJASPERS / COURTESY