The Quadrangle- Issue 11, Fall 2022

Jasper Baseball Alum to Play for the San Diego Padres

CMSA Spends Day at United Nations to Honor Pope Francis’ World Day of the Poor

Nicole Fitzsimmons News Editor

A group of students spent the day at the United Nations in order to honor Pope Francis’ World Day of the Poor, led by Campus Ministry and Social Action and campus minister, Conor Reidy.

According to Vatican News, Pope Francis’ World Day of the Poor is observed on the 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time in the liturgical calendar, em phasizing solidarity amongst members of your community who are in need. This year, the observance date was Sunday, Nov. 13.

The day before the trip, Reidy told The Quadrangle that attending this event at the UN might be an opportunity to

show students the importance of understanding each other and building knowledge from various perspectives.

“It’s so important to hear the ways in which we can tie our international economic development work from the stance of our Catholic faith to what the wider world is doing and how to best partner and communicate across lines of difference,” Reidy said. “I think one of my passions is teaching students about dialogue prac tices. I think, you know, not de bate, debate is where we would have a conversation I try to win you over and not discussion where you and I would have a discussion and one of us might be trying to convince the other something else. With dialogue is where we really try to come to better understand one an

other and that’s where I think I really hope that this will be a great dialogue with many dif ferent backgrounds that can kind of come to common un derstandings.”

The event consisted of in formative sessions from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m., including panel discussions on international re lations with different UN mod erators and leaders from sev eral churches and institutions. Afterwards, attendees toured the UN building.

The panel which stood out to two Manhattan College stu dent attendees was Fordham University’s graduate program in International Political Econ omy and Development discus sion on the global poverty in

Fall 2022 Student Government Highlights: What to Expect for Next Semester

Angelina Persaud Asst. News Editor

Manhattan College’s Stu dent Government Association (SGA) is putting mental health at the top of their upcoming agenda, alongside initiatives fo cused on uniting and support ing the college’s community.

SGA’s executive board ex pressed much enthusiasm re garding campus life and the po tential plans they have in store for students. Alixandria James, a senior public health major with a concentration in health care administration, serves as the vice president for academic affairs of SGA.

James told The Quadran gle that the communication between students and the SGA serves a vital role in ensur ing that everyone’s needs are heard and addressed down the line.

“ If I ever hear anything from other students, I always do my best to figure out who we can go to,” James said. “If we get an email from students on campus who want to do something or change some thing… within a couple days, they have a response about when they can come and meet with us. We’re very open to new ideas I’d say.”

James also emphasized the importance of the mental health campaign and the ongo ing plan to initiate the Jasper Day of Wellness for the Spring 2023 semester.

“My big project this year has actually been working to get classes canceled so that it can really be a day of well ness,” James said. “So far, the president and the provost have

been very receptive. We al ready have picked a date in the spring. We have been able to cancel classes that fall within a suitable [time range].”

The ‘Day of Wellness’ will include a variety of panels and activities throughout the day that will encourage students and faculty to prioritize their mental health throughout the semester.

James also spoke about the importance these initiatives will hold in the future and how it can instill a healthy, clear pathway between administra tion and meeting the needs of the students.

“We all come here to get an education, but for a lot of us, we live here, this is our home,” James said. “We leave our fam ilies and we come here, so I feel that it’s really important to see that not just students care about their mental health, but to see that our faculty and our administrators care about our mental health.”

Calissa McNeely, a senior international studies major and SGA president, told The Quad rangle about the achievements the organization has gathered over the semester. Namely, she emphasized the increase in communication between ad ministration and SGA, Manhat tan Madness and other annual events that have been success ful so far.

“Something student gov ernment’s done internally, is we have now fostered a better line of communication between the VP of our schools and their deans,” McNeely said. “We’re

A valued player during his time on the baseball team, Tom Cosgrove ‘17 has recently agreed to continue his baseball career with the San Diego Padres.

Volume CV, Issue 10

November 22, 2022

The Editorial Board

Kyla Guilfoil Editor-in-Chief

Caroline McCarthy Managing Editor Jilleen Barrett Managing Editor

Lauren Raziano Copy Editor

Angelina Persaud Asst. News Editor

Zoe DeFazio Asst. Arts & Entertainment Editor

Angelica Niedermeyer Maddie Mulkigan Asst. Sports Editors

Rebecca Kranich Asst. Social Media Editor

Nicole Fitzsimmons News Editor

Megan LaCreta Arts & Entertainment Editor

LETTER from the EDITOR

Dear Readers, Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you are able to grab a copy of the latest Quadrangle as you head off to celebrate with your families this week.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I wanted to thank you all for supporting journalism on Manhattan’s campus. It’s so important to stay involved in what matters to our stu dents, staff, faculty and administrators, and that’s what we strive to do.

Jilleen Barrett Features Editor

Caroline McCarthy Sports Editor

Kelly Kennedy Social Media Editor

I myself am incredibly grateful for the wonderful staff here at The Quadrangle. It is my absolute pleasure and privilege to be your editor-in-chief.

Speaking of our lovely staff, we are going on vaca tion, too! There will be no issue on stands next Tuesday, Nov. 29. However, the following Tuesday, Dec. 6, there will be a double issue waiting for you!

Adrianne Hutto

Jocelyn Visnov Production Editors

Jocelyn Visnov Lauren Raziano Web Editors

Ross Photography Editor

Mars

Karen Flores Asst. Features Editor Mack Olmsted Asst. Production Editor Nicholas Gilewicz Faculty Advisor

A tradition since 1924, The Quadrangle is a news organization run by the students of Manhattan College. We strive to cover news around campus and the greater community, publishing weekly in print and daily online. Our goal is always accu racy, relevancy and professionalism.

The opinions expressed in The Quadrangle are those of the individual writ er 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.

Dec. 6 will be our last print edition of the semester, and it will feature our special issue. We can’t wait for you to see this semester’s theme!

In the meantime, feel free to reach us at thequad@ manhattan.edu, or send a note my way at kguilfoil01@ manhattan.edu. We want to hear from YOU!

Happy Thanksgiving, Jaspers!

Sincerely,

Kyla Guilfoil

CMSA Spends Day at United Nations to Honor Pope Francis’ World Day of the Poor

dex.

“For me, given that I don’t necessarily want to be a UN ambassador, [my favorite sec tion was] the beginning section on the global poverty index,” junior peace and justice studies and philosophy major, Melan nie Estrella, said. “I think be cause they were talking about it in comparison to other index es and how it focuses not just on the needs of like, housing, water and food, but they also focus on gender inequality and education through illiteracy, and so they focus on what is the absolute need of the people in these places? And so once we’ve managed to lower those scores or those rates like I said, we’re helping the planet. So I felt like that was for me, that was what was most profound.”

Christopher Belden, junior triple major in history, eco

nomics and peace and justice studies, thought hearing from professionals in international relations was an opportunity to further learn about the field he wants to enter in the future.

“Rather than just hearing the young professionals talk about their path to working in the UN, they actually gave us a lot of tips of how you should go about pursuing a career in international relations, which I took a lot of stuff away from as well,” Belden said.

The experience touring the UN was another component of the trip attendees thought was unique.

“I have never been to the UN so this is actually one of the reasons why I wanted to go. It was absolutely an amazing experience. Very, like surreal experience walking, being able to see where Security Council sits and we were able to go see these seats, the upper seats, not the member seats, but the special organization seats in

the General Assembly,” Belden said. “In two of the rooms to day, we actually were able to walk in while they were having an ongoing meeting, which was extremely cool, and surprising. So it was definitely an amazing experience.”

Reidy emphasizes how stu dents might learn more about how connected their passions are through exposure and edu cation.

“I hope that maybe the students will learn a little bit more about the role of the Catholic Church has in places like the United Nations, and how it’s applicable and easy to find a passion for both maybe your faith journey and your passion for international work, and how they can work togeth er really well. And of course, not only Catholic students, we have several students of many different faith backgrounds are attending with us,” Reidy said.

Fall 2022 Student Government Highlights: What to Expect for Next Semester

I don’t think SGA gets enough credit for.”

now regularly meeting with each other. Manhattan mad ness was one where we worked collaboratively with the athlet ics department, recreation and had gotten student input on the T shirt designs.”

McNeely highlighted the need for access to various of fices and faculty members to ensure student needs are thor oughly addressed.

“Having more accessible communication to different of fices, different administrators, and also not letting that access to be cherry picked,” McNeely said. “It would be nice for stu dents to know all the access they have…and to make sure they leave here feeling well pre pared, and they’ve utilized all the resources they could here.”

John Bennett, the assistant vice president of student life, spoke about the effort SGA has put into planning events postCOVID and how event plan ning has shifted following the pandemic.

“I think SGA has been giv en a harder task that people realize this year, in the fact that while their budgets have been cut since the pre-COVID days, the number of groups have only expanded since then,” Bennett wrote in an email to the Quad rangle. “Taking care of their already existing groups and clubs and initiatives, helping support the new ones, all with a smaller budget...but being fully operational, in person, running all these great events on and off campus, it’s a balancing act that

Bennett also emphasized the upcoming events planned between Student Engagement and SGA and the hopes he has to see the MC community come together and participate in.

“Just like Madness is the highest attended event of the fall semester, we know Spring fest will be for the spring, but by the time students come back from winter break, it seems nonstop to that point,” Bennett wrote. “The Senior Class Reps, VP of Social Life, and Executive Board have also been spending

a lot of time advocating for stu dents and the graduating class to have a great set of senior class events.”

Michael Steele, the assis tant director of student engage ment, told The Quadrangle that the connection between stu dent engagement and SGA has been impactful in ensuring all activities are carried out to full potential for students.

“I’m proud of how our stu dent groups are collaborating with each other and with var ious offices across campus. I would like that to continue for next semester,” Steele wrote in an email to the Quadrangle.

Members of SGA and Stu dent Engagement encourage students and members of the MC community to participate in upcoming events and delve into the realm of student life. Leaders told The Quadrangle they also encourage communi ty members and students to be vocal about the types of events they want to attend so that ev eryone can have a holistic and enjoyable experience at MC.

“Our office is here to serve our students and give them a good experience, so it’s import ant that there’s communication with our office, and usually that comes in the form of Student

Government, to make sure students are having the events they want on campus,” Bennett wrote.

“Our one goal of student government is to make sure that students have points of access and resources so that we can advocate for them,” Mc Neely said. “And if my student ever has an initiative that they would want to see the campus, they’re always more than wel come to come to our meetings.”

Student Government meet ings are held every other Wednesday at noon and are open to anyone in the MC com munity to attend.

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MC Alum, Thomas Scarangello, Returns as a Member of the Board of Trustees

Adrianne Hutto Production Editor

Thomas Scarangello ‘79 has been selected as the new mem ber of the Board of Trustees by the current members of the board.

“As a proud Jasper, I am honored to join the board of trustees of Manhattan Col lege,” Scarangello said in an article on manhattan.edu. “I look forward to contributing to strategic planning and vision ing that will incorporate emerg ing technologies and reimagine how fine institutions of higher education like Manhattan Col lege can best serve our stu dents, our community, and the world.”

Scarangello, a graduate of the class of 1979, earned both his bachelors and masters de grees from MC. As a result, he has kept strong ties with the school.

“I have taught and lectured with the School of Engineering, including as part of the struc tural engineering capstone course that Thornton Tomaset ti helped create and has sup ported for 40 years,” Scarang ello wrote in an email to the Quadrangle.

According to a manhattan. edu article, Scarangello was the former chief executive of ficer and current executive chairman of Thornton Toma setti which is a new-York based engineering consulting firm.

Thornton Tomasetti was found ed by Charles H. Thornton and Richard L. Tomasetti, two Man hattan College alumni. The company has been involved in projects all over New York City and the world.

“Tom has more than 40 years of experience leading the structural engineering and analysis of a wide variety of building types worldwide, from long-span sports and en

tertainment venues to highrise commercial and mixed-use buildings,” according to thorn tontomasetti.com.

Scarangello explained that he is passionate about driving collaborative innovation.

“I hope to contribute to a strategic planning and vision ing process that will reimagine Manhattan College through that lens in ways that will serve our students, our community, and the world,” Scarangello said.

The role of a trustee is to serve and strengthen many valued institutions from MC to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, which Scarangello also serves as a Trustee for.

“By bringing in outside experience, expertise, and di verse points of view to these institutions, trustees provide a vital service to help them thrive and grow,” Scarangello said.

In regards to new projects, Scarangello explained that

there was not much he could share at the moment. Howev er, for those interested they should see thorntontomasetti. com for more details.

“A good deal of my career has been focused on sports and entertainment projects, such as Yankee Stadium, the Pru dential Center, Barclays Cen ter, MetLife Stadium and the UBS Arena in the NYC metro area and many more outside New York City,” Scarangello said. “What I find exciting is how this industry continues to grow, evolve, and innovate. As sports like soccer and e-sports move into the spotlight we will continue to redefine entertain ment venues. Your generation is redefining entertainment.”

Scarangello credits his Jas per mentors in helping him to shape his life post-college.

“I thank my Jasper mentors Charlie Thornton and Rich ard Tomasetti, who set me off on my journey, and my Jasper

partners including Mike Squar zini our Co-CEO,” Scarangello said. “They all have and contin ue to support Manhattan and our fellow Jaspers.”

Jasper Angels, Student Government Executive board

Thomas Scarangello ‘79.

MCCelebratesAdministratorof20 YearswithDistinguishedLasallian AdministratorAward:Sr.Asst.Dean ofSoLA,DianaCruz

Mack Olmsted Asst. Production Editor

Senior assistant dean of The School of Liberal Arts, Di ana Cruz, was recognized for her 20 years of service at MC and was presented the Distin guished Lasallian Administra tor Award on Wednesday.The honor came as part of the an nual Staff and Administrator Convocation.

At the convocation, the fu ture of MC was discussed and explained by President Daniel Gardner, FSC, before recog nizing many members of the community for their years of service for the college. Many awards were given out by Pres ident Gardner and vice presi dent of human resources, Bar bara Fabe.

At the convocation, the Distinguished Lasallian Award is given every year to three members within MC: a faculty member, a staff member and an administrative employee. The award is given to members of the community embodying the spirit of St. John Baptist de La Salle and advancing the La sallian mission of the College through their work. Cruz re ceived the Distinguished Lasal lian Administrator Award. The award was established

in 1987, during the global La sallian education movement. Each year Manhattan College pursues nominations for the prestigious award. The award is honored after Saint John Baptist de La Salle, because he is famously known as the founder of the Brothers of The Christan Schools.

According to Manhattan. edu, “Distinguished Lasallians are people who exemplify the highest of Lasallian values to students, colleagues, and com munity members. They are persons of faith who teach by example and give life to the La sallian values that animate and sustain the core identity that inspires the mission of Manhat tan College as a Lasallian Cath olic college.”

Angie Thrapsimis, academ ic advisor for the School of Liberal Arts, has been working with Cruz for 15 years. Thrap simis said she and Cruz have a good dynamic in the office, advising students and mak ing sure that they are on their most successful path for their college career so that students graduate with the knowledge they need for the next chapter in their life.

“She’s most deserving. She is an inspiration. She’s a role model. She’s my mentor and friend. She’s devoted not only

to the students but to the col lege, her colleagues, everyone she tries to help absolutely everyone in all areas, multifac eted assistance,” Thrapsimis said.

Cory Blad, Ph.D., dean of the School of Liberal Arts, has also had many years of experi ence working with Cruz. Blad told The Quadrangle he appre ciates Cruz’s hard work and is grateful to work alongside her.

“She is an incredible person in every way, shape and form. She is a good friend …she is incredibly rare. She’s talent ed, she’s skilled, she’s unbe lievably intelligent and we are deeply fortunate to have her here,” Blad said.

Days before receiving the award, Cruz expressed her gratitude to be given the pres tigious award to The Quadran gle.

“I’m a little shocked. I didn’t know about it until last week. I’m very honored to be receiv ing this. It’s very nice and it’s a lovely gesture on part of the college and people who decid ed I should be the recipient of this,” Cruz said.

Before Cruz received the Distinguished Lasallian Award, Blad decided to write a citation where he celebrates Cruz’s character and why she de served to earn this extraordi

nary award.

“It takes a special person to tolerate a state of liquidity of constant change,” Blad wrote. “It takes an extraordinary per son to enjoy that professional reality. Of course, intelligence and skill are the foundation for

that exceptionalism. But even more influential is your sense of purpose. And interest is here because she believes in our shared work of education for the purpose of creating oppor tunities in a better world.”

MCSenateDiscussesOpenPosition,CLEPand LibraryCatalogUpdates

Anna Carroll Contributor

The Manhattan College Senate gathered for its final meeting until February on Nov. 15 to discuss a new open senate position, CLEP and library cat alog update for the upcoming semester.

To begin, the meeting dis cussed the opening of a posi tion for a second deputy speak er.

“The second deputy speak er is a member of the Senate Agenda Committee, which sets the agenda for each Senate meeting. The second deputy speaker also runs the Senate meetings in the case that both the Speaker and First Deputy

Speaker are absent,” senate speaker and assistant profes sor of mathematics, Richard Gustavson, Ph.D., said.

A special meeting has been scheduled to elect someone to the position on Dec. 7, accord ing to Gustavson, because sen ate member and dean of SOLA, Cory Blad, Ph.D nominated a student, Jazi Riley, who wasn’t present to accept the nomina tion.

Once it was decided to push off electing a second deputy speaker, the meeting moved into the Educational Affairs Committee report by Amy Handfield, senate member and director of library services, where the decision was made about CLEP credits.

“It was decided that yes,

[school of professional and con tinuing studies] students can get 12 CLEP credits towards their undergraduate [degree],” Hanfield said.

Similar to AP exams and dual enrollment programs, CLEP, or college level examina tion program, allows students to earn college credit before matriculation. The Education al Affairs Committee clarified the terms for accepting these credits.

The final topic on the agen da was updates to the techno logical infrastructure of O’Mal ley Library. Handfield took the floor to walk the Senate through these changes.

“One thing that is actually new and as I just said, that a lot of people have been asking

about, is being able to renew your own items. Now you can do it in the comfort of your own space,” Handfield said.

Another update to the online library system is that resourc es available through O’Malley have been made more easily accessible to students. Now, there are research guides and resources organized by school and subject to aid students in their work.

Additionally, the discovery tool that provides access to the library catalog has been refur bished.

“The largest change in our library services is our new discovery tool. It searches for items, which are not just books, ebooks, media, but also journal articles and other content, con

tent that exists in other library systems. It’s all in this one stop shop,” Handfield said.

These improvements will increase the accessibility of re sources such as ebooks, jour nals and databases to students and faculty.

“One of the ongoing chal lenges here is how do we match technology and search func tions with not only what people need but with the resources that are available with what the library has. Having this kind of consolidation is always going to be a good thing as it puts people closer to the resources that are available as it can be difficult to see what those re sources are just because of the infrastructure,” Blad said.

Dianna Cruz has served as Asst. Dean of Liberal Arts for 20 years.

MANHATTAN.EDU/COURTESY

AcceptingRachelRoca‘21TalksFinding, andCelebratingIdentity

Brianna Coppola

Contributor

Manhattan College wel comes back alumni Rachel Roca ‘21, who shares her jour ney of finding, accepting and celebrating her identity.

Roca is a second year Ph.D student at Michigan State Uni versity in the Department of Computational Mathematics, Science and Engineering. Roca graduated from MC having ma jored in math and minored in Spanish and computer science. During her time at MC, Roca was also the co-president of Just Peace, and was involved in the Math Club, Women in Suc cessful Enterprise and went on L.O.V.E trips.

Roca started off by discuss ing identity and its importance, more specifically from a math education lens. Roca discusses how identity can challenge and transform society.

“Throughout all this span, though, we do see a lot of com monalities in terms of math, education and identity in the classroom,” Roca said. “Be cause identity is super import ant, not only to what happens in the world, but also how we learn and interact in a class room.”

Roca discussed being queer and how it has been a big part of her identity. Roca notes how there’s no specific label that she uses which makes her queerness more fluid and more dynamic.

“Someone asked me what I meant when I said that I iden tify as a queer woman,” Roca said. “And I want to emphasize

that, you know, sexuality and gender and our identities are really intimate, but we use our words and vocabulary in order to, you know, communicate some stuff about ourselves.”

Roca’s childhood has been a major contributor to who she is today. Roca dealt with sever al hardships growing up which impacted her education. Due to a few medical issues, Roca missed many months of school.

“In fifth grade, I originally broke my ankle, and that led to nerve damage,” Roca said. “And so there were large pe riods of time where I couldn’t walk and often used crutches, and I try not to let that stop me.”

Roca reflects heavily on her identity. Roca uses sever al words and themes that best describe who she is. One of the words that stood out the most was daydreaming. Roca spent so much time dreaming about who she wanted to be.

“So the first thing that came to mind in my journey has been becoming the person I dreamed of being,” Roca said. “So like I said, I spent a lot of time not being able to have a super normal childhood grow ing up and I’ve probably non consecutively missed over a year of school. And so during this time I spent a lot of time daydreaming and I spent a lot of time reading. I’ve always loved to read and I would think about all the things that I would love to do.”

Roca talked about finding the right group of people within her department in grad school. Roca had friends that were all able to share and discuss iden

tity and what was important to them. Roca noted how there’s a lot of diversity in her group, specifically female representa tion which is empowering.

“Our lab group is the only one that’s predominantly fe male and it’s so powerful,” Roca said. “So representation really does matter and it’s important because math is not neutral and science is not nature, right? These are human endeavors that are not neutral and wheth er or not we want it we do bring ourselves, our biases, and our positionality to the work we do. And so it’s super powerful to have other people who repre sent that.”

Roca spent a semester in Budapest in 2020. The semes ter was centered around her studies in math and it was the only topic that was ever talk ed about. Roca discussed the things she dealt with during her time in Budapest and the struggles she faced.

“Instead of traveling and seeing new cities, all they want ed to do was talk about math and nothing else and that’s to tally fine,” Roca said. “Except that ended up getting really competitive and toxic because people have contests with each other. And so I ended up feeling

very uncomfortable, not just because of that but that the professors are also encourag ing this behavior and again, an issue of representation, having 30 professors and only one of them being a woman.”

Roca soon found that it wasn’t a good environment for her and she was sacrificing her mental health in order to make it through the semester. Roca stopped doing a lot of the things she loved and solely fo cused on math.

Roca decided graduate school would be the next big step in her life. Graduate school was a place for Roca to create and fund spaces. Roca notes how she was tested and challenged a lot.

“There was another profes sor who was literally testing me who had sheets of paper and it wasn’t a great experience for me,” Roca said. “I remember crying afterwards and then I found out that they would be teaching the qualifying classes and exams you needed to pass in order to be in good stand ing with the department and I knew that no matter what those classes were, I would never be able to walk into one of their classrooms and feel safe. And so I chose not to go to that

MANHATTAN.EDU/COURTESY

space.”

Roca found herself in lead ership roles and created her own spaces. Roca is now co-ed itor for the journal of humanis tic mathematics because she’s interested in math and social justice. Roca has found many people within her department that motivate and inspire her. Roca has a great advisor that was able to uplift her.

Roca spoke to balancing mental health and maintaining a social life. Roca knew limits and knew when to take time for herself. She often had dedicat ed days in the week that was her time.

“I do a lot of work on the weekend and I’m not super social, but I tried to build in at least a few hours that I can pri oritize in whatever way I want to give myself more of a bal ance, because balance is really important,” Roca said.

Roca didn’t let any battles in life stop her from becoming who she is today. Roca lets both the good and bad define her. Roca was able to create spaces and surround herself with the most important people in her life that support her, especially her parents. Roca is proud of her identity and is not ashamed of anything.

LWGRC hosts google meet with alumni Rachel Roca, class of 2021.

Roca is a second year Ph.D student at Michigan State University in the Department of Compu tational Mathematics, Science and Engineering.

“What’sHappeninginIran?” DiscussionHostedbyMSAand OthersCampusOrganizations

Jilleen Barrett Features Editor/Managing Editor

The Muslim Student Asso ciation, the Lasallian Women and Gender Resource Center, the Holocaust and Genocide Interfaith Center and Cam pus Ministry & Social Action hosted an event called “What’s Happening in Iran?” this past week. The event, which attract ed many audience members, was held to inform students about the revolution that was sparked after Mahsa (Jina) Amini passed away while de tained for not wearing a hijab, a head covering often worn by

Muslim women.

Wafa Quhshi, the presi dent of the Muslim Student Association, opened the event by reminding the audience that Islam as a religion is separate from any governmental regula tions.

“No woman should be forced to wear a headscarf nor denied the right to wear a head scarf,” Quhshi said. “Islam has given us an ideal code of hu man rights. Those rights aim to confer honor and dignity and eliminate injustice, exploitation and oppression.”

Evelyn Scaramella, Ph.D., Pamela Chasek, Ph.D., Mehnaz Afridi, Ph.D. and Conor Reidy

were the panelists for this event. They started by showing a YouTube video by Al Jazeera English entitled “Iran Protests: Mahsa Amini’s Death,” which explained that 22-year-old Ami ni was allegedly arrested by morality police for dressing inappropriately while on vaca tion with her family on Sept. 13, 2022, because she was not wearing a hijab.

Women in Iran are now be ing mandated to wear the hijab, and those who choose not to are sent to a reeducation class like Amini was. Sometime after being taken to this class, Amini passed away. Authorities claim she died due to a heart attack before she fell into a coma and suffered from a second heart attack. Her family believes this is not true, and that Amini was abused by police.

Once the backstory was laid out, Chasek explained the political background of the case. She said that up un til 1979, the country was pro gressing in terms of women’s rights. However, a revolution began in order to take the Shah out of power as he was seen as an “American puppet,” Chasek said.

Chasek explained that the protests Amini’s death sparked are not the first of their kind, and that since the 90s, women have been protesting the law that they must wear the hijab as well as other laws that were enacted over time after the rev olution.

Women in Iran are now being mandated to wear the hijab, and those who choose not to are sent to a reeducation class like Amini was

@MC_LWGRC/COURTESY

in this case, this has been the one of the longest protests that we’ve seen.”

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“There have been numer ous accounts of women rising trying to challenge these laws and to express their, you know, calling for their rights,” Chasek said. “And so over time, women have photographed themselves without the headscarf, they’ve posted videos online. Social media has been a very big part of this, rap music has been a very big part of this. And so,

Afridi’s role on the panel was to explain the religious as pects of the protests. She said that only three countries cur rently require women to wear the hijab: Iran, Sudan and Saudi Arabia. However, wearing it is ultimately a religious choice in the faith.

“We want to be careful about how we see Islam, specifically in this instance … the hijab is certainly a choice,” Afridi said.

“Modesty is required of both males and females. However, the hijab is a choice in Islam, and in the Quran, as well.”

Afridi mentioned the way Islam is seen because of what Quhshi touched on earlier in the event; that the Muslim faith is not a form of oppression in and of itself.

“The religion isn’t the prob lem,” Quhshi told The Quad rangle after the event. “The political part — that’s the prob lem.”

Wafa Quhshi, the president of the Muslim Student Associa tion.

AlphaPhiDeltaHostsCharity Event“HoopsforTroops”

Andrew Mannion Staff Writer

The Alpha Phi Delta fra ternity hosted a charity event called “Hoops for Troops” in Draddy Gymnasium last Wednesday. This basketball tournament raised over 180 dollars for the “Homes for our Troops” organization.

Six teams entered the tour nament with one mission: to be the last one standing. The tournament winner would win quite the prize — three tickets to watch the Orlando Magic take on the Brooklyn Nets live at the Barclays Center.

Teams were eliminated one by one, with “Money Team” and “Dom Russo” being the fi nal two teams standing. Many participants in the tournament crowded around the court to watch the championship game.

Both teams put it all on the line, playing a physical game and fighting for every loose ball. The game featured plen ty of three-pointers, fade-away jumpers and slam dunks. Both teams left nothing up for grabs in this game.

“People got really into it. That final’s game got intense,” APD President Jon Deutsch said.

The game came down to the wire, having a final score of 21-19, with the Money Team coming out on top. Jaures Seg ning, one of the members of “Money Team,” spoke highly of the event.

“It was a fun event,” Segn

ing said. “It got me to leave my house on a Wednesday night, and it was a good sweat. Every one had good sportsmanship. It was overall a good event.”

After the pandemic affected many of APD’s philanthropy events for a couple of years, many fraternity members noted that it is very nice to get back to having these events. Deutsch made a point of this after the event.

“We used to do Hoops for Troops a lot more, but the pandemic happened, and we weren’t able to work that ac tively,” Deutsch said. “But last semester, we were really ac tive with our philanthropy, and we’re trying to stay on that track now.”

Events like these are essen tial for the charities that frater nities raise money for. Charity events like “Hoops for Troops” play a significant role in giv ing back to the community for APD. Jordan Gaylord, a mem ber of APD, noted his excite ment about doing community

events within the fraternity.

“I love doing events like this,” Gaylord said. “It’s the main reason why I joined a fraternity. After COVID hap pened, a lot of these philanthro py events died down. I’m just really happy that events like Hoops for Troops are coming back.”

The other beneficiary of the event is the “Homes for our Troops” organization. They are a charity organization that rais es money to help out victims of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. They focus on building “smart homes” specifically designed to fit the needs of disabled vet erans.

The organization has had great success, building 346 homes for veterans and receiv ing the highest possible grade a charity could receive from “Charity Navigator” and “Char ity Watch.” The organization has changed the lives of many, including Army specialist Ste phen Baskis.

Baskis lost his eyesight af

ter an EFP (explosively formed penetrator) detonated close to his vehicle. HFOT heard about this story and built a smart home so Baskis could live on his own again. He was able to get back into some of his former interests, like making music, because of the house. Baskis noted how grateful he is for the home and everyone involved in building the home.

“I can’t see the home, but I can feel it. It’s an amazing space for me,” he told Homes for our Troops. “This home, and the people who donated to make it happen, helped me create a foundation and move forward.”

Having an event like this greatly helps out their cause. They announced on their web site that “HFOT has more than 100 Veterans in the application process for our program for se verely injured Veterans.” Hav ing an event that would raise money would help their pro gram, and it seems Alpha Phi Delta did just that.

APD Brother Isaiah Rosario drives for a layup against “The Sweethearts”

ANDREW MANNION/THE QUADRANGLE

“Hoops for Troops” Champions, The Money Team. ANDREW MANNION/THE QUADRANGLE

Interfaith Coffee House Showcases Art within Religion

Andrew Mannion and Carlos Santana Staff Writer & Contributer

This past Wednesday, Cam pus Ministry and Social Action (CMSA) hosted their Inter faith Coffee House event at Café 1853. The event was an open mic where students could showcase their musical talents and tell stories about how reli gion impacted their lives.

CMSA is a department under student life that hosts events such as LOVE retreats and mass services. Like many events hosted by the CMSA, Interfaith Coffee House started as an idea brought up by a stu dent. Campus Minister Conor Reidy helps students make these ideas a reality. Reidy de scribed CMSA as a place where people can share different ideas and cultures while build

ing a community within it.

“I hope… we’re building back a sense of peace on cam pus, after all this time within a pandemic,” Reidy said. “I am really excited to see CMSA en gaging in what I call student life building projects where we just create spaces where students can come together, meet one another, have conversations in person, make new friends. [The coffee house] was an area where people were coming in, sharing food and music from their faith traditions, and get ting to know one another on a deeper level.”

The idea for the event was introduced by senior Sarah Rosen, inspired by a similar event.

“I went to a coffee house event in October sometime,” Rosen said. “I was trying to think of events to do for [CMSA], and I was like, ‘Well, what if we mix these two ideas

together?’ Then I reached out to CMSA to kind of just hang out together. We were looking to find some type of interfaith

event that combines food and music. With this platform, I just felt there’s a really great oppor tunity.”

Food played a big part in the event. Participants were welcome to bring food that was meaningful within their culture. One food that was on the table was jelly rings. Besides being a delicious snack, it represented something with deeper mean ing within Jewish culture. Lau ra Litvak, a senior who attend ed the event, explained the rich history behind the jelly rings.

“During Hanukkah, you are supposed to eat fried things be cause the [use of cooking] oil symbolizes the oil in the me norah,” Litvak said. “A lot of people eat jelly donuts during Hanukkah for that. So the jelly rings on the table are just the candy version of that.”

The other significant aspect of the event was, of course, the entertainment. The night be gan with Rosen playing a flute solo called “Hava Nagila.” Ros en explained where she had heard the song throughout her life and the meaning it has to her and in Jewish culture.

“The last time I played [Hava Nagila] was a while ago. I was looking for traditional ly Jewish songs. This one just was the simplest but sounded the nicest,” Rosen said. “So it’s pretty easy for me to perform. And at the same time, a lot of people know it, and I recognize

its importance. During Jew ish weddings or celebrations, there are some good circles we form, it’s what we do.”

Another act was a pow erful story from Sabrina Be harry. She told the tale of her grandparents’ love story and the sacrifices they made. She explained that the story was initially written for a class, and not made for the event, but she decided to share it at the coffee house.

“I wrote it for my creative nonfiction writing class with Dr. Wrozynski,” Beharry said. “It was a profile piece about my grandfather. And I was debat ing about sharing it with every body, but then I decided to.”

Beharry continued by dis cussing her own personal his tory and the significance of her family. Beharry’s piece was about how her grandparents’ differences in religions caused problems with their families. She shared her thoughts about it and how the story inspired her.

My grandpa is Hindu, and my grandma is Catholic. My grandfather’s family didn’t cut him off [entirely], but he was [viewed as] a little bit strange. You’re not supposed to date outside of your religion. But I guess I thought it was cool that their love overcame that. So I decided to share that story,” Beharry said.

Sarah Rosen plays “Hava Nagila” at the event ANDREW MANNION/THE QUADRANGLE

CMSA is a department under student life that hosts events such as LOVE retreats and mass ser vices.

ANDREW MANNION/THE QUADRANGLE

MC Orchestra Brings Elegance and a Bit Of Christmas Cheer to the Campus

Karen Flores Asst. Features Editor

Musicians wishing to ser enade the campus community from Mozart to Christmas car ols, or even students who want to hear some music after a stressful semester, should look out for the Manhattan College orchestra.

An ensemble formed by string, brass and woodwind musicians, the MC orchestra meets on Monday nights from 7p.m. to 9p.m. in the Chapel of de La Salle and performs a concert at the end of each se mester. New members are wel come at the beginning of every semester.

Orchestra director Gwen dolyn Toth, Ph.D, told The Quadrangle about the reper toire the orchestra and string ensemble have been working on throughout the semester.

“We have two pieces for the string section. One is ‘The Sonata No.5’ by Handel which has a solo violin part that our concertmaster, George Lee, is

playing,” Toth said. “The sec ond piece is called ‘Palladio’… The orchestra’s main piece is Mozart’s quintet in C minor. We’re playing an arrangement where both strings and winds play together. One of the move ments has a solo being played by our principal clarinet player, Amaya Hill. The last piece that the orchestra is playing is a set of miniature pieces named ‘The Romanian Dances’ by Bela Bar tok.”

Ava Cruz, junior biology major, is vice president of the orchestra and is a violinist. She says that the violin has been a significant part of her life and the orchestra has been a way for her to keep it in her life as well as share her passion with other musicians.

“I have been playing violin since I was five,” Cruz said. “I can’t really remember a time where I wasn’t playing it and my family is also very musical. My grandfather was a physician but he also was a really good pianist. Being in the orchestra is a way for me to connect with him and stuff. I’ve always en

joyed music and it’s something that brings me peace and calm ness, especially with taking on such a stressful major.”

Grace Dillon, sophomore digital media arts major, is a piccolo and flute player in the orchestra. She is also the social media manager and secretary of the group.

Dillon explained that being in the orchestra allows her to take a break from academ ics and helps her relax after a stressful day.

“It’s kind of like a little break from whatever stressful work might be going on or anything else,” Dillon said. “It’s like, I have these two hours for the orchestra and I can just fully immerse myself in the music.”

Manhattan College offers a performing arts scholarship to incoming freshmen and accord ing to the MC website, scholar ship recipients must enroll in two performing arts ensembles as one of the criterias.

Richard Divirgilio, a senior double major in psychology and sociology, is a french horn player for the MC orchestra. He received the performing arts scholarship and was in volved in the pep band and the Manhattan College Singers. He auditioned for the orches tra separately and was able to transfer his scholarship over.

“I come from an area where most of the schools had bands and orchestras,” said Divirgilio. “I’m normally used to playing with winds, other brass instru ments, and percussion. I only really played with orchestras in an honors band or in an all state band. Coming here, it was defi nitely a different experience for me because I essentially repre sent the whole brass section for the group. I feel like I’m playing a solo every time and it’s a good challenge that I think helps me grow as a musician and forces me to really stay on top of my craft.”

Divirgilio believes that the orchestra is a great place to meet new people and hopes to see the number of members grow within the group.

“I think it’s a really great way to meet people and to do something outside of school and to stay involved on cam pus. I would love to see more numbers in general. We’re a relatively small ensemble, but I would love to see more wind and string players and maybe a greater variety of instruments,”

said Divirgilio.

Amaya Hill, a freshman pre-physical therapy major, plays the clarinet for the or chestra. She said she has en joyed her first semester in the group and that the members and directors are very help ful when she has questions or needs help.

“I mean, they’re super helpful and are always there for you if you have questions. They always try to help you out and just always make it a good time,” said Hill.

Toth encourages all stu dents interested in creating music to join and those who wish to listen to classical mu sic to support their peers at concerts. The orchestra is per forming at their Fall concert on Sunday Nov. 20th at 4:00 pm.

“It’s a great chance to hear classical music, live and free, and it’s also a great chance for students to support their fellow peers who work really hard to play this music,” Toth said. “The kids work really hard to pull it off. And we’re always looking for more players for the orchestra. Come, listen to some live instrumental music and really listen to it. The re wards are so great.”

Manhattan College orchestra members at last year’s concert AVA CRUZ/ COURTESY

Grace Dillon, flute and piccolo player. GRACE DILLON/COURTESY

Layer Up! Fashion Finds from the First Frost

Grace Cardinal Staff Writer

With the first snowfall on the way, Manhattan College students are preparing for the chill that’s in the air. This winter is bringing back some past trends, and students Tala Bosmouk, Alicia Camargo, and Jasmine Montenegro give their advice on balancing style with practicality in the colder months.

Tala Bosmouk, Sophomore, Psychology Major

The Quad: How do you balance style with practicality in the winter?

Talia Bosmouk: It’s very bipolar, the weather. In the morning, it’d be cold and then we’d have sun. I’m not a jack et person. I don’t like wearing jackets. I’d rather be cold.

TQ: What is your favorite layering piece in the winter?

TB: I have this turtleneck. It’s ribbed, it’s a nude color. It goes with everything. So when it’s really cold I wear it under neath things.

TQ: Where do you tend to shop for your winter clothes?

TB: I like Zara a lot, I like Garage. Whatever’s trending, I’d say there.

TQ: Where/who do you get your outfit inspo from?

TB: My older sister. I would definitely say her. She’s like an old soul, so she dresses not very modern. I try to add what’s trending now with her style.

TQ: What trends have you noticed coming back this win ter?

TB: I’d say the bell pants. I think that’s what they’re called, like the ones that are very wide. Those are coming back up and I’ve been seeing them more. I actually just bought a pair!

Alicia Camargo, Junior, Computer Informations and Data Analytics

The Quad: How do you balance style with practicali ty in the winter?

Alicia Camargo: In New York, one of the things that I think about is the fact that you’re going to be walking through the city and it’s going to be cold. But then, when you walk in somewhere, let’s say you’re walking into the store, you’re going to get hot. For ex ample, my coats, I try to make the top layer the really warm layer, and then the bottom layers. I try to make them to where they’re not super bulky, they’re just comfortable and still cozy.

TQ: What is your favorite layering piece in the winter?

AC: My favorite layering piece in the winter is actually a scarf. I love a scarf. I feel like a scarf can make or break your outfit. It can really elevate it. A scarf is definitely my favorite layering piece.

TQ: Where do you tend to shop for your winter clothes?

AC: I tend to shop at Nord strom, Zara or Topshop. Those are my three.

TQ: Where/who do you get your outfit inspo from?

AC: I actually get my outfit inspo from my sister. She is a fashion stylist at Nordstrom.

She gets to see all of whatever incoming looks are coming in. I can’t even tell you who I used to get my fashion inspo in the past. And she was the one that got her inspo for me. Now the tables have turned and I got my inspo from her.

TQ: What trends have you noticed coming back this win ter?

AC: Fur. I have noticed fur. Now I know fur never complete ly goes out of style, but I think for a while it was something that people kind of stopped gravitating towards. I recently have been seeing a lot of furs make a comeback, especially coats that are the wool coats with the fur around the trim. That’s what I’ve seen coming back.

Jasmine Montenegro,Soph omore, Psychology major

The Quad: How do you balance style with practicality in the winter?

Jasmine Montenegro: This is so hard because I lit erally want to wear a heating blanket all the time. I think my favorite thing is larger jackets, or colorful jackets. Jackets that give a pop. It’s cold and drea ry so definitely things that are

kind of oversized and give a lit tle pop of color.

TQ: What is your favorite layering piece in the winter?

JM: I would say a fur jacket or something really cozy.

TQ: Where do you tend to shop for your winter clothes?

JM: Honestly, my mom’s closet. She has the best jack ets. Just like my family in gen eral honestly because I have so many jackets from over the years that they’ve kept. This is my mom’s jacket that I’m wear ing now.

TQ: Where/who do you get your outfit inspo from?

JM: Oh my goodness. This is so cliche of me, but honest ly, Pinterest. In the morning I’ll go on Pinterest and be like, Oh, what do I want to wear? In stagram too. I wouldn’t say any one specific. Just whatever I’m feeling that day!

TQ: What trends have you noticed coming back this win ter?

JM: Leg warmers, I’ve defi nitely been seeing leg warm ers.

Student Tala Basmouk shows off one of her outfits for the cooler weather. TALA BASMOUK/COURTESY

With a Smaller Roster, Manhattan Swim Finds Themselves Unlike their Competitors

Andrew Mannion Staff Writer

Manhattan College’s swim roster has just 23 athletes list ed and stands at nearly half the size of other teams in the MAAC. The Manhattan swim team has always had a small er roster than its competitors, making it impossible for them to stack swimmers in events at the same rate of other MAAC teams.

Having a shallower ros ter prohibits Manhattan from stacking events, as athletes are limited to how many races they can compete in at one meet. Other teams within the MAAC conference have approximate ly 50 swimmers on their team. Having almost double the man power of the Jaspers, teams have been able to score the same amount of points as Man hattan, even when a Manhattan swimmer wins the event.

For instance, when the Jaspers swam the women’s 200 freestyle against St. Fran cis Brooklyn, Mackenzie Tut tle won the race and scored 9 points for Manhattan. Since all swimmers on the roster are limited to racing just 3 times a meet, Tuttle would be the lone

scorer for the Jaspers, as she was the only swimmer able to compete in this race. St. Fran cis was able to tie Tuttle with 9 total points from 3 different swimmers entered in the same event.

Past MAAC champions have had larger rosters. Rid er, Fairfield and Marist have been the only teams to win the MAAC championship over the past 12 years. This may not come as a surprise when you consider Fairfield has a roster of 48, Rider has 43 and Marist with the largest at 50 swim mers.

The players are feeling this disadvantage. Teddy Segmuller commented on some of the competitive disadvantages.

“Definitely some of the drawbacks for having a smaller team is that, when it comes to competing in the larger cham pionship meats or even just dual meats in general, we typi cally don’t win those in terms of point wise just because we don’t have the body count to rack up those points that we need,” Segmuller said. “We have the depth in terms of quality swimmers. We just don’t have enough (total swimmers).”

Although the smaller roster size has great effects on the

teams stance in competition, there are also some effects that give them advantages that ther teams may not have.

Being on a smaller team, the swimmers are able to be come closer as friends and create a positive team dynam ic. A main difference between Manhattan College and other schools is that the mens and womens teams practice togeth er.

“We’re a lot closer that you know, we feel more comfort able talking to each other on a personal level,” Saric said. “I think everyone gets along well. When it comes to academics, everyone feels comfortable reaching out to one another for help. We just have a closeness that I feel like on other teams you wouldn’t really have with everybody.”

Saric also talked about how her career has prospered while being on a smaller team like Manhattan’s. Over her career here, she hasnt been kept to speciallizing in just one event or two, but rather can swim multiple events during a meet.

“I was always nervous that

I was going to come to a school where I would only be able to take part in one event and not have any kind of ability to branch out and try something different. Or maybe you know, you know, because my best event is the 200 butterfly but I’m still able to take part in the other events, because again, we don’t have as many girls to fill those other spots. So I can still try and work on those other events that I want to get better in”

This year, Manhattan Col lege and Horace Mann School have come to an agreement where the Jaspers will be able to practice and race at Horace Mann’s facilities. Many swimers on the team have ex perienced their first home meet this year, and the team seemed incredibly excited about that.

Head coach, Eric Rasmus sen Jr., talked about this after their first home meet against St. Francis Brooklyn. Rasmus sen said “It was exciting to have our first home meet in nearly two years, I along with the kids were very excited to have the

opportunity to compete at the Jeffrey H. Loria Family Aquatic Center.”

Having a quality practice facility is crucial for the swim mers.. Having consistent prac tice throughout a season is critical for a team’s success and it seems like they have it this year. Segmuller also remarked on how grateful she is to be able to use the facility.

“I’m very grateful that we formed a relationship with Horace Mann and were able to swim in their beautiful facility,” Segmuller said. “It’s an awe some eight lane pool which we haven’t had for this program. So being able to just utilize such a large space has been re ally great.”

Manhattan swim may have a small team, and it may seem like a disadvantage when look ing at just the score sheet. However, they have made it clear that this is a team that has truly built a family within it and produced powerhouse athletes that can hold their own against larger programs.

Sprinter Teddy Segmuller races for Manhattan. GOJASPERS/COURTESY

Julianna Saric swims for the Jaspers GOJASPERS/COURTESY

Men’s Basketball Crushes Mount Saint Vincent in Stores’ first Win

Angelica Niedermeyer Asst. Sports Editor

Manhattan College Men’s Basketball towered over The College of Mount Saint Vincent in points, skills and height on Fri. Nov. 18. Led by RaShawn Stores in his first season as in terim head-coach and seventh year on the Jaspers’ coaching staff, Manhattan had the game in their hands from the tip-off.

“Great effort tonight,” Stores said in the postgame press conference. “These guys played extremely hard and that’s what I care about– their energy and passion and their bond and their brotherhood–that’s the key to me.”

Stores graduated from Manhattan in 2016 after playing basketball all four years and being a two-time team captain. He was a member of the two MAAC Championship teams and scored eight points in the MAAC Title Game versus Iona in 2015. Friday’s win was Stores’ first

“I just try to bring a lead ership role and be there for

these young men, that’s what this is about,” said Stores. “I got my staff and I care about these young men more than anything. That’s what is key in Jasper Nation, it’s always about family. That’s what happened when we won back to back championships in 2014-2015, I was the leader then, and I just want to lead these guys now.”

At the Jasper’s first game on their home court Draddy Gymnasium on Friday, green seats were sparingly filled with family and fans as the spirit squads cheered on the Jaspers first win of 86-39.

In their first and last game home before the London Clas sic, fifth year guards Elijah Bu chanan and Ant Nelson carried the game. Buchanan scored 10 points in the first half and six in the second half, while Nelson brought in nine points in the first half and the same in the second.

Buchanan is only 190 points away from his 1,000th point as a Jasper. Buchanan explains that he wanted to come back for his fifth year for the team.

“We love each other a lot,”

said Buchanan. “We played a lot this summer in Jersey, so I just wanted to play with them again.”

This game was the first time the Jaspers played Mount Saint

Vincent. Both Riverdale teams had losing streaks before the game. The Jaspers stood 0-2 (now 1-2), while the Dolphins were 1-2.

The Jaspers played this game after following a close loss to Fairleigh Dickinson (7477), a postponement of their game against Central Connecti cut last week due to unfit court conditions during a heavy rainstorm from the passing through of Hurricane Nicole, and a loss to Virginia Common wealth University (56-73) in their season opener.

In addition, after being picked second in the MAAC preseason poll and ex-player Jose Perez named preseason player of the year, two weeks before the beginning of their season, unprecedented chang es were made. Jasper’s ex-head coach Steve Masiello left after 11 years and some of his loyal

players followed including star forward Perez who quickly en tered the transfer portal and now is at West Virginia Univer sity. Coach Stores now leads the team who was the assistant coach to Masiello and before that a player.

On Sun., the revised 20222023 14 player roster of one graduate student, six fifthyears, two seniors, one junior, two sophomores, and two freshmen will travel along with the spirit squad of dance, cheer, and pep band to London for games against Northeast ern on Nov. 24 and Army or Princeton on Nov. 26 during the Thanksgiving break.

“We want Jasper Nation to feel connected together wheth er we are here, in another build ing we are one big family,” said Stores. “That’s what it’s about.”

Stores brings in first win for the season.

GOJASPERS/COURTESY

Marques Watson dribbles down the Court. MAKAYLA DORVIL/COURTESY

The Women’s team had a hard-fought 56-54 win against Howard University on Saturday.