Issue 6, Spring 2020 - The Quadrangle

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Volume CI, Issue 6

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NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 25, 2020

Anxiety High in Wake of Trespass Report, Sexual Assault Gabriella DePinho Editor-in-Chief

MC Gains National Attention News crews flock to Riverdale in wake of reports of sexual assault in Overlook Manor on 238th St. JOE LIGGIO / COURTESY

Interviews Conclude for the RA Selection Process Madalyn Johnson & Christine Nappi Web Editor & Features Editor

On Feb. 7 Residence Life conducted interviews with about 120 students who applied to be resident assistants at Manhattan College. Only 25 to 30 spots were available for the position and for the first time, rising sophomores were eligible to apply.

The decision for Residence Life to allow rising sophomores in the application pool makes the position more competitive than it already has been in recent years. On top of the qualifications to become an RA broadening for students, appli-

IN NEWS: Keep up with the Democratic primary on p. 4

cants are also required to meet the general academic criteria of a cumulative 2.5 GPA and 30 earn credits once they begin their job if accepted. Additionally, students have to complete the written requirement, which is three essay questions that must be submitted before their interview. Charles Clency, director of Residence Life, commented on the office’s decision to allow the class of 2023 to become student leaders amongst residents at MC. “ResLife fundamentally believes rising sophomores deserve the opportunity to compete for such a highly sought after student-leadership opportunity, plus we were interested in increasing the applicant pool,” Clency said. “A student’s classification does not automatically make them a great

IN FEATURES: Sister Norma talks migration on p.7

candidate for the RA position, but rather, a student’s genuine desire to give back to the Jasper community, serve as a peer mentor, and willingness to implement departmental policies are valuable qualities in a candidate.”

Sophomore Ryan Truhn, an RA applicant in this year’s candidate pool, firmly believes rising sophomores should be given the chance to apply.

“I think it’s a good thing because as an RA, you want to be the best RA you could possibly be. So that means getting the best candidates,” Truhn said.

“You don’t know what kind of experience they have, compared to yourself. You want to get the best people, and that includes sophomores.” __________________________ CONTINUED ON PAGE 5

The Feb. 14 email that informed students of an alleged sexual assault sent shockwaves throughout the Manhattan College community. In the week after hearing the news, students have been looking for answers and a way to feel secure again.

So far, students have not had much luck.

In response to students’ anxiety, administrators decided to host a town hall for Overlook Manor residents. The town hall, held on Feb. 19, was formatted as a panel. There was representation from the Resident Student Association, Student Government Assembly, the Office of Residence Life, the Dean of Students’ office, the Office of Public Safety, and the Counseling Center on the panel.

The common room on the first floor of Overlook Manor was filled with residents, many of whom came prepared with comments, concerns and questions they wanted answered.

The panel fielded questions and concerns for approximately an hour and fifteen minutes.

So What Actually Happened?

Students wanted to know what happened, but it has been made clear that at this time, the college cannot give students anymore information than they already have.

“One of the things that’s really, really important when there are active investigations is that we don’t discuss the specifics of the cases. And that makes sense, right? Not only for the individuals involved confidentiality but also because sometimes in our well-meaning to inform and appease, we can

IN A&E:

also disrupt the investigation.

So we’re not going to be discussing specific cases,” said Esmilda Abreu-Hornbostel, the new dean of students.

Abreu-Hornbostel has been at Manhattan College for less than a month. In the town hall, she identified herself as someone who has worked as a sexual assault advocate since she was a teenager in an effort to reassure students that she cares about the matter. After stating that specifics would not be discussed at the town hall, she encouraged conversation about the climate of the building and other concerns students may have.

In the town hall, Peter DeCaro, the director of Public Safety, did confirm that they were dealing with two reported cases, but no further information was given.

While the college is not at liberty to discuss specifics with the student body, the New York Police Department is not beholden to the same laws. Police reports are public records; while it is an active investigation and many details cannot be shared, the 50th Precinct has been able to share some previously undisclosed information with other news outlets.

In a story by The Riverdale Press that hit stands on Thursday, Feb. 20, police confirmed that the Jan. 26 incident is being treated as sexual abuse and that the Feb. 9 incident is being treated as criminal trespassing.

While the story does not contain further details of the Jan. 26 incident, the story does further detail the events of Feb. 9, confirming some rumors that have floated around campus.

“According to police, a female student awoke in the __________________________ CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

IN SPORTS:

Meet the staff of MC extends Locke’s Loft on Masiello’s contract on p. 12 p. 8

2

Opinons & Editorials THE QUADRANGLE LET T ER from The Editor the Quadrangle Volume CI, Issue 6

FEBRUARY 25, 2020

The Editorial Board Gabriella DePinho Editor-in-Chief

Maria Thomas News Editor

Nicole Fitzsimmons Anna Woods Asst. News Editors

Alexa Schmidt Arts & Entertainment Editor Managing Editor

Jilleen Barrett Asst. Arts & Entertainment Editor

Christine Nappi Features Editor

Jessica McKenzie Asst. Features Editor

Pete Janny Sports Editor Managing Editor

Caroline McCarthy Asst. Sports Editor

C. Garrett Keidel Social Media Editor

Samantha Walla Production Manager

Brian Asare Photography Editor

Sophia Sakellariou Production Editor

Emily Hollar Asst. Photography Editor Asst. Production Editor

Kelly Kennedy Nicole Rodriguez 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 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 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

mcquad.org @mcquad @mcquad mcquad

Dear readers,

There are some things I believe need to be said.

First, I want to let my story stand on its own. I did my best to get the facts straight and I trust that I reported accurately, fairly and in pursuit of the truth.

Second, I want to say I’m grateful. I’m grateful administrators have taken the time to hear students out and to take the heat from the students. It’s not easy to do that. I’m grateful for the students who are making noise about how they feel. It’s not easy to admit when you’re afraid or to be publicly vulnerable. It’s a powerful thing when we, the students, refuse to stop talking about something that matters to us. I encourage you to choose your words carefully and to advocate for what you believe in.

Third, I want to apologize to the women who came forward and reported these incidents. I am so sorry the media has made a spectacle of the terrifying ordeals you went through. This story exists at your expense. I am deeply sorry for the ways The Quadrangle has contributed to the spectacle. We’ve only sought to set the very murky record as straight as possible for your concerned and anxious classmates and we have strived to do so in a way that respects you. What I want you to know is that when the investigation is over, if you want to speak out or share your side of the story, I promise that you have The Quadrangle as a platform. We support you.

I also want you to know, female-identifying student to another, how grateful I am that you came forward. As a woman, I walk around my entire life constantly perceiving threats and modifying my behavior to minimize risk. It’s exhausting. Coming forward may have been hard, but your reports started necessary conversations about safety changes MC can make and about the responsibilities that fall on women to protect themselves.

Finally, I want to address the culture that empowered the perpetrator(s). At the core of these incidents and these conversations, is a deeply-rooted cultural issue. We need to work to address and dismantle the culture that empowers people to assault others. These issues are not just sex-based or sex-related; these issues stem from how we treat each other in our dayto-day interactions: in the classroom, while walking down the street, or meeting someone new for the first time. I, and so many others, are tired of being afraid. We can speak out all we want, but nothing will change if we don’t promote a more respectful culture.

A joke is not just a joke. No will always mean no. Re-learn what consent means, why it’s necessary and when, where and how it becomes nuanced. Don’t stay silent when you see or hear something that is unacceptable. Use positions of power to show others what it means to treat others with respect. Treat people with kindness. Hold each other accountable.

Sincerely,

Gabriella DePinho

Editor-in-Chief

News

FEBRUARY 25, 2020

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Anxiety High in Wake of Trespass Report, Sexual Assault __________________________ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 early morning hours of Feb. 9 to find a man kneeling over her.

The woman screamed, telling him to get out,” wrote Riverdale Press reporter Kirstyn Brendlen in the story titled “Police hunt man breaking into college dorms.”

The same story also confirms the rumor that these two incidents are not the only ones in which a man entered an Overlook apartment late at night. A student who decided to remain anonymous in the story confirmed that she filed a report after hearing someone in the common area of her apartment and later finding that it was “clear that someone had been looking through their belongings.”

This rumor, that the perpetrator of the Feb. 9 incident entered other rooms, was confirmed by Overlook Manor resident and senior Rachel Bianculli.

“I know somebody whose room he went into,” Bianculli said. “I know at least two people’s rooms he went into.”

When other local news outlets got wind of the story, Waldo Avenue and 238th Street were lined with news vans and numerous students were stopped for interviews. However, all of these news outlets reported different narratives regarding the cases.

NBC reported that there were “two incidents of students allegedly waking up to find a stranger watching them sleep, and in one case sexually assaulting a woman” in a report attributed to reporter Anjali Hemphill. An ABC7NY report

by Naveen Dhaliwal states that “two female students from Manhattan College both reported they were sexually assaulted by a man who broke into their dorm rooms while they were sleeping.”

A PIX11 piece by Mark Sundstrom confirmed what Public Safety and Residence Life had initially communicated with students: in the report of the Feb. 9 incident, no injuries were reported. The same piece, “Manhattan College dorm break-in, sexual assaults reported in the Bronx” gives new information: the Jan. 26 incident was not reported to the Office of Public Safety until Feb. 11.

In an effort to try to clarify the differing information reported by other outlets, The Quadrangle attempted to contact the 50th Precinct but was not able to get through to an officer for comment.

Why Did The Emails Come “Late”?

One concern that came up at the town hall was the timing of the email that notified students of the incident. At the time of the town hall, students had no knowledge of or no way of obtaining knowledge about when the incidents were reported.

With the new information reported by Sundstrom, the purported “late” communication to students about the investigation of the Jan. 26 incident makes more sense in the timeline of events. However, no other news outlets have confirmed this information regarding the date of the report being filed for the Jan. 26 incident.

DeCaro claimed both to The Quadrangle and to the attendees of the town hall that the delay in communication was because of the information the office had at the time.

“You guys know everything that we can share with you,” DeCaro said to The Quadrangle. “I know it appears sometimes when you get a response like that, that somebody is hiding something, but it’s all about the privacy stuff, specifically the privacy of the complainant or the victim.”

DeCaro continued, “We received information that day that prompted that message going out, so there was no delay in communicating the information. As soon as we got it, we digested it, we saw what we had and we understood we needed to send out an alert about it.”

At the town hall, students questioned why Residence Life decided to send emails about staying safe with no information about police involvement.

Students expressed a desire to know about police involvement, but Charles Clency, director of Residence Life, stood by the office’s decision to send out the emails solely containing safety tips to Overlook residents.

“That email initially was sent out because of the fact that, in the discovery of what took place with the initial trespass, we learned that it involved a door - to several doors - being unlocked,” Clency said. “So we couldn’t speak to the event that occurred on the weekend, because we didn’t have the facts and that was a police and public safety matter, but we could speak to try to educate the students and remind them that they need to lock their doors for that extra notion of security.”

It is clear that whether or not unlocked doors are a result of broken locks or trusting residents, students had never previously felt unsafe with their

doors unlocked.

“No one ever knew or would think that this is an issue,” Bianculli said. “You know everybody in your hall, you feel safe around them. Everybody has their door unlocked and no one ever thought something like this would happen.”

How Does Campus Get Safer and Stay Safer?

One thing that was important for the panelists to get across to the students in attendance was that students need to actively participate in keeping the campus safe. Suggestions from panelists include making sure students lock their doors, always keep their keys with them and follow access control.

The new access control policy was instituted at the start of the 2019-2020 academic year and was initially met with widespread backlash from students. As the year has gone on, students have become accustomed to signing friends in and making weekend plans around the 2 a.m. sign-out time on Fridays and Saturdays. However, many students still try to find ways around access control by switching ID cards, using the 8th floor bridge in Lee Hall and Horan Hall and by taking advantage of Jasper Hall’s and Chrysostom Hall’s lack of a public safety officer.

The panelists’ comments about students taking action was met with some upset reactions from attendees of the meeting.

“It’s not our job to protect us. It’s your job to protect us.

It’s our job to go to school and get good grades,” said Clayton Williams, an Overlook resident.

Another resident, Kayla McDermott said, “Obviously someone came in, or it’s someone in this building, so what the hell is access control going to do when I can go into a safer building somewhere else?”

Students advocated for more Public Safety officers doing rounds in the dorms and more security cameras.

Additionally, students raised concerns about Public Safety officers not paying attention to students swiping in at the front door when posted there.

There were also students who advocated for access control to be better enforced but also revamped to be more user friendly. A few female residents complained that though they felt unsafe, they could not stay the night in another dorm building with a friend.

DeCaro confirmed that Public Safety presence in all of the dorm buildings have increased since the incidents were reported. He also confirmed that cameras are always being added or

Residents are taking extra precautions after the two reported incidents in Overlook Manor.

GABRIELLA DEPINHO / THE QUADRANGLE

updated around campus but did not say whether or not more were being added to the dorm buildings in the wake of these incidents.

“Security cameras are a very great thing in that they aid the investigation of any incident but they’re not the end all,” DeCaro said. “A security camera may not stop crime from occuring, but it would help in the investigation.”

DeCaro did not confirm or deny if his office had caught the perpetrator of the incidents on camera. According to Overlook residents at the meeting, there are no visible cameras in the hallways. This leads some residents to believe that there may not be any.

Students in the town hall expressed that being told to be safer felt like they were being blamed for the crime that occurred.

“At no point is there blame towards the students,” AbreuHornbostel said. “That’s not the point of reminding us all about personal safety.”

After the town hall occurred, DeCaro said to The Quadrangle, “It’s all about managing risk. I think that’s a good way of putting it. You manage risk for yourself as an individual. So locking your door eliminates risk for you. Not walking down a dark street by yourself eliminates risk for yourself.

Wearing a seatbelt in your car eliminates risk for yourself. So

there’s a whole bunch of things that sometimes you take for granted and that we should do every day to eliminate those risks in our lives.”

As the town hall wore on, it became clear that several distinct issues were being raised and confronted.

“Even in this room, where people care enough to give up so much time, you’re having different approaches,” AbreuHornbostel said. “I think the next step is to come together to create a strategy that can really address conflicting issues, but important issues, like your ability to move around freely, your ability to have adult agency, your ability to be safe and your ability to also know that we’re improving our systems. So I hear you and I think we have to follow through.”

While it’s clear that there is room for improvement on security and room for administrators and students to work together to address concerns students may have, the investigations are still open, the perpetrator is still loose and anxiety is still running high.

“Right now, I’m uneasy,” Bianculli said. “It’s my last semester. I wish there was a better feeling of safety and security and better trust in the people in charge currently but I feel very uneasy right now. What a way to go out.”

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News

THE QUADRANGLE

Bloomberg Joins Debates, Sanders Victorious in Nevada Caucus Rose Brennan & Megan Dreher Senior Writers

After announcing his presidential candidacy last November, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg was not a mainstay at any of the Democratic debates following.

That all changed on Wednesday night, as he took the stage on Feb. 19 with five other candidates at the tenth Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Nev. Soon after the six candidates took the stage, it quickly became open season on Bloomberg, who has spent over $200 million on his campaign.

Bloomberg is one of the richest men in the world, and is currently polling in third place behind Sen. Bernie Sanders and former vice president Joe Biden.

The largest attack on Bloomberg on Wednesday night came from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who addressed some controversial statements he made in the class regarding women.

“I’d like to talk about who we’re running against: a billionaire who calls women fat broads and horse-faced lesbians,” Warren said. “I’m not talking about Donald Trump; I’m talking about Michael Bloom-

berg.”

Warren also asked about the several non-disclosure agreements some of Bloomberg’s female employees signed regarding sexual harassment in the workplace, and asked him if he would consider releasing them from those agreements so people could hear the women’s side of the story. While his answer was not as definitive on Wednesday night, he did agree to release three women from their non-disclosure agreements later that week.

Tensions were also high between the more moderate candidates, particularly Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former mayor Pete Buttigieg. Buttigieg commented on Klobuchar’s inability to remember the name of Mexico’s president, despite standing on several foreign affairs committees in direct relation to Mexico. This led Klobuchar to ask Buttigieg if he was mocking her.

Unlike several of the earlier debates, Biden almost faded into the background, except when he, too, participated in the seemingly collective verbal takedown of Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg also notably clashed with Sanders. Sanders, who identifies as a democratic socialist, has a long-standing vendetta against billionaires and their ability to “buy” the

electoral process and influence Washington politics. Bloomberg also came after Sanders, asking him how someone who identifies as a socialist could be a millionaire and have three houses.

But the performances in the Las Vegas debate all came down to the wire on Saturday, when the Nevada caucuses were held. These caucuses are highly awaited because they provide a more comprehensive view of the American population as opposed to the other early voting states like Iowa and New Hampshire.

On Saturday night, Sanders emerged victorious. As of press time, he garnered 13 pledged candidates. Biden placed a distant second with two pledged delegates, and Buttigieg left Nevada with a grand total of one. Klobuchar, Warren, businessman Tom Steyer, Bloomberg and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard all left Nevada with no delegates to their name.

Sanders’ recent victory in Nevada pushes him to the head of the delegate count, passing by delegate frontrunner Buttigieg for the first time. Now, Sanders is both at the head of the delegate count and the national polls for candidates.

The next primary will be held in South Carolina on Feb. 29. After this primary will be

Both Tom Steyer and Tulsi Gabbard left Nevada without any delegates to their name.

SAMANTHA WALLA / THE QUADRANGLE the long-awaited “Super Tuesday” on March 3, when 13 states (Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont and Virginia) will hold their primary

elections. Similar to the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries, a poor performance on Super Tuesday could spell the end of a campaign.

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[LEFT] Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders continues to surge ahead of other candidates in the polling numbers as of February 23. The next polling numbers will be reported after Super Tuesday on March 3.

SAMANTHA WALLA / THE QUADRANGLE -----------------------------------------------------

News

FEBRUARY 25, 2020

5

New Rouge Media Charging Stations in Kelly Commons Madalyn Johnson & Jilleen Barrett Web Editor & Asst. A&E Editor

New charging stations have been added to Kelly Commons.

The screens that have been placed in the first and second floor of the building are designed by Rouge Media, a media company that prides itself in, “Reaching millions of consumers on their daily journey out-of-home.”

The commons that houses weekly guest speakers, Student Government assembly meetings, community service program meetings, communication club meetings and other important events has notably been admired by Manhattan College. In 2014, the building was commended for being certified LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Now as the 2020 spring semester progresses, Kelly Commons has modernized the inside of its building even more by implementing what many students would call “screens”.

The company behind the charging stations specifically aim at drawing the attention of generation Z, college students who are occupied by regimes of meeting friends, doing homework and eating

lunch in between classes, to specific messages. These messages mainly are sponsored by Rogue Media themselves. One in particular bribes students to become a Rouge Media Brand ambassador to earn rewards, such as $25 Amazon gift card, just by taking pictures of the advertisements.

The Office of Student Engagement’s Instagram account, “mcstudentengage” is also displayed on the screens as a current reminder for people passing by to check the school’s social media to find out about upcoming events. Recent announcements include the Student Government elections and renowned guest speaker, Sister Norma Pimentel’s visit.

The screens additional convenience of offering available charging spots for students does concern some. Junior Brooke Alexander, a commuter student, was pleased at the idea of a free phone charger that would be accessible at all times, but she’s concerned about the security of phones when left unattended at the charging stations.

“I wonder if your phone could possibly get stolen though because you put it on and then walk away, that’s my only concern. A free phone charger is always good,” Alexander said.

Aris Passalaris, a student in the class of 2021, explained how initially he didn’t under-

stand the purpose of the charging stations because of how they appeared and when they were placed in Kelly Commons.

“Well it was pretty self explanatory,” Passalaris. “The screens on top didn’t really give me any information, but when I looked underneath the tabs, I kind of assumed that there would be wireless chargers and that’s why there was an uneven amount of circles at the bottom.”

Passalaris isn’t confident the charging stations will make a profound impact on how students observe ads and go about their day.

“I don’t really see the extra use in it, the thing is that they don’t really serve a purpose other than for the wireless chargeable students, but again, I’ve never seen any other phones there. So I wouldn’t really know how to gauge their usefulness,” he said.

In an email, Kenneth Waldhof, Director of Business Services, explained how confident he was that the charging stations will satisfy the needs of students. He explained how the screens show student oriented advertisements and announcements for the benefit of the company that provides them.

“Rouge Media gets their return through the promotions they sell to external product and service providers seeking to reach college students.”

Waldhof wrote.

The Rouge Charging Stations can be found on the first and second floor of Kelly Commons.

KELLY KENNEDY / THE QUADRANGLE Waldhof as well addressed how Business and Conference Services worked with the office of Student Engagement to ensure a variety of ads, related to Manhattan College and sponsors of Rogue Media, are shown.

“I coordinated with the office of Student Engagement, whereby their office will manage and control college postings while also offering such opportunities to student organizations to post announcements and events,” he wrote.

John Bennett, the executive director of Student Engagement, who also spoke through

email, stressed that the placement of the screens is mainly to provide chargers for students for their convenience as they proceed to different activities and clubs throughout the day.

“From our office perspective, this was a great, and free, initiative offered up to us by our business office that seems like such a win for the students.

Having free charging stations in the building, especially when this is such a commuter hub, and sometimes students may not have their chargers with them, is a great addition,” said Bennett.

Interviews Conclude for the RA Selection Process __________________________ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 William Atkinson, Residence Director for Horan Hall, is overseeing and supervising the RA selection of this year’s applicants. Like Clency, Atkinson firmly believes that future RAs must have great leadership skills, as well as dedication to helping students whenever needed.

“We definitely need our RA’s to be leaders,” Atkinson said. “RAs deal with a variety of different issues, so people who are approachable are really people who we’re looking for.”

As an RA, Truhn is convinced he can do good for the college community through his leadership skills and helping residents open up and adjust to living away from home. He hopes to organize floor events that will greatly encourage students to socialize.

“I think I can really get students out of their dorms and get them to interact with each other and build a good community space,” Truhn said. “Being able to create something that everyone can enjoy, bringing people out of their dorms and actually getting to interact with each other and building friendships. A lot of times we pass each other in the hallway and we don’t know each other, but these [events] will give people an opportunity to interact.”

Regarding interview day, Atkinson shared how the process of talking to applicants generally went well, considering all the interviews were conducted in one day.

“I think it went pretty well,” said Atkinson. “I mean, this year, we did things a little bit differently than we’ve done in years past. We did all of the individual interviews on the same day, which was obviously quite a feat considering how many of

them there were.”

Amongst the applicant pool was sophomore James Curry, who has experience with helping and being a leader to students. Curry discussed how his role as a leader of the social justice and service program, L.O.V.E., persuaded him to try to become an RA. “Right now I’m a L.O.V.E. Leader, where I have to facilitate group discussions and create an enjoyable group atmosphere. I figured being an RA would be the same thing but with a bigger group, and I feel like I’m pretty good at being a L.O.V.E. leader,” said Curry.

Like Truhn, Curry is eager to hold events such as viewing parties for students.

“One of the things I want to do is just host more events around already existing pop culture events. I essentially want to be able to provide food during big events such as the Super Bowl or a popular TV

series finale. In Jasper specifically, it seems that a lot of the times these types of events don’t happen.”

RA applicant and current sophomore Richard Howard finds that he fits the basis of what the RA position entails when it comes to being a guide for residents. Howard is certain his personal experiences of trying to socialize with others will allow him to better relate to students.

“In high school, I was one of the shyer kids, and I feel for those kids,” Howard said.

“I would notice those kids that are more shy and less talkative and try to get them to come to events and really just try to form a relationship with them.”

The RA positions were announced on the week of Feb. 17. Atkinson advises students to apply for next year and to reach out to any member of Residence Life if they have any questions.

“I guess if anybody ever has any questions about the position, even if it’s not during the RA selection time, they can always reach out to ask about next year. Obviously, we’re wrapping up for this year, but it is something where sometimes people don’t think about it in time,” Atkinson said.

Despite the competitive applicant pool, Howard stressed how students can still take on a leadership role on campus even if they don’t get the position.

“It’s definitely something people should try and if they don’t get it, they should still try to find something and get involved,” Howard said. “If you don’t get RA, try to do other stuff around the school where you can get in positions of leadership.”

Editor’s note: James Curry has been selected to work as one of the RAs at Overlook Manor in the fall 2020 semester.

Features

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THE QUADRANGLE

For the Love of Sports: Meet Pete Janny Rose Brennan Senior Writer

Sophomore Pete Janny’s dedication to the world of sports has gotten him far in a relatively short period of time.

After quickly distinguishing himself as a sports writer early on, he became The Quadrangle’s Assistant Sports Editor in 2019. Now, in 2020, Janny is now working in a dual role at the paper: Sports Editor and Managing Editor.

Sports entered Janny’s consciousness quite early on. He was one of countless Yankee fans watching the New York Yankees play the Boston Red Sox on July 1, 2004, when Derek Jeter dove into the stands of Yankee Stadium after catching a ball. This was one of Janny’s earliest sports-related memories, and it cemented Jeter as one of his all-time favorite athletes.

“Derek Jeter was really a hero for all Yankees fans, just the way he conducted himself, both on the field and off the field. [He] was a true leader [and a] very intelligent guy,” Janny said.

Jeter was also a member of the 2009 Yankees, who won the World Series. This was another pivotal sports memory for Janny, as it was the first time he saw one of his favorite teams win a national title.

“That was really the first real achievement that any of my teams accomplished,” Janny said. “Seeing that was something that I’ll never forget, and I’ll always remember watching

Aside from Jeter, Janny’s favorite sports icons include basketball player Kobe Bryant and soccer players Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Citing his recent tragic death, Janny felt that Bryant was so much more than a basketball player for him and for basketball fans worldwide.

“[Bryant] was someone [with a] really cool success story,” Janny said. “His story was amazing, and the fact that he became an entrepreneur, became an author, and he did so many other things besides basketball, is something I really admire. And I think he’s a really good hero in the AfricanAmerican community especially. I completely have so much respect for him, and his legacy will live on forever.”

As a former soccer player himself, Janny is also particularly enthused with the work of Messi and Ronaldo. He doubts that there will ever be athletes of their caliber in the sport of soccer ever again. Janny also cited the international appeal of athletes like Bryant, Messi and Ronaldo.

“Derek Jeter is a hero in New York City; he’s a hero to baseball fans across the country, but when you think of guys like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Lionel Messi, they have appeal around the whole world. I think that’s what’s really cool about their success: it inspires the whole world,” he said.

While Janny was a fan of sports from quite early on, he did not intersect that interest

with journalism until he arrived at MC. Unlike many of The Quad’s writers, Janny entered the world of The Quad without a scholarship. Before long, he was writing weekly for the sports section, and he swiftly climbed the ranks to Assistant Sports Editor in 2019.

To Janny, joining the campus newspaper and becoming a Jasper felt like he was joining two families at the same time.

“I’m really grateful for having the trust that John Jackson [The Quad’s 2018 Sports Editor] gave me back at that time, and I’m just looking to continue and carry on the legacy of so many great people who came before me,” he said.

In his time with The Quad, Janny has two personal favorite articles. The first entailed attending a lecture by Aaron Boone of the New York Yankees, Janny’s favorite team.

“Seeing his insights on things and getting to take a picture with him afterwards I thought was really cool as well.

What I loved about it was I was able to write about the event and talk about some of the leadership advice he gave, and I was also able to bring in some information about baseball in general, which I love talking about,” he said.

Janny’s second favorite article was done as a collaborative effort with the 2019 Sports Editor for Black History Month. It recounted an event where the MC basketball team attended a tournament but, upon learning black players were barred from playing, refused to play unless the rules were changed.

“It’s kind of a hidden gem of our history,” Janny said.

“Just reading those articles reminded me of how great an institution this is and how Manhattan College makes a commitment every day to those Lasallian values and one of the interesting things that people might not realize is … Manhattan College didn’t have any African-American players on their team. So it was really cool that they were standing up for something that didn’t necessarily impact them.”

As the new Managing Editor of The Quadrangle, Janny has a hopeful and optimistic outlook for the paper and its future.

“We’ve had stuff that … a lot of people have not liked that

we’ve reported on, but I think it’s important that we reveal the truth in these important stories, keep these going, make sure to inform the students of what’s happening because they deserve to know it,” Janny said.

He continued.

“I think we do a good job of just getting good student perspectives. You read these articles and we continue to ask diverse groups of students questions about different [things] and we get diverse answers. The more that we can make this about the students and about why we’re here and why Manhattan College is so great … We have to report on the good things and the bad things but I think we’re going in the right direction.”

Vilardi why they came to her presentation.

“I’m currently volunteering for a campaign. So, I want to know what is effective in campaigning. Understand what different types of positions there are, and if there any that would suit me and my sort of personal career goals,” said senior Tomo Dugan.

Other students shared similar themes of canvassing in nearby states for presidential candidates. Some discussed their work on local voter registration drives, and how to answer those who say their vote doesn’t matter. Students asked about how to survive the chaos of the 2020 elections, and how to promote healing on the college’s campus during the time of a divide.

Vilardi then took these different suggestions to tailor the training from the “Run As You Are” 90 Day Challenge. Vilardi and her team use this method to both empower women and teach them about how they can reach the most constituents.

She focused beyond training the students how to run for

office by showing how the students can use information in their day to day lives on campus and live after Manhattan.

Vilardi began the lecture with the first step, know why you are the best person to run, which includes self reflection and seeking a support system.

Vilardi focused on expanding beyond the resume and into making the human connection when reaching out to a potential constituent.

She then expanded into understanding your inventory base and having 15 coffees.

This means learning who your allies are, and who will be willing to help you with your campaign the whole way through, who believes in you. Having 15 coffees means asking someone to coffee and having that someone recommend to you two more people to grab coffee with, to establish a level of human connection and make sure you are tangible to those who are voting for you.

Vilardi then moved on to discuss the importance of the local and school newspaper.

“This is like an old school

political influencer, like this is where the conversation is happening. It’s happening on the op-ed pages of major newspapers. So this is an old tool in the toolbox that will never go away, because it’s long form.

For you all the student newspaper is a great place to sort of practice right and sort of figure out what it is that you want to write,” Vilardi said.

Vilardi then began asking for students to call out steps from the 30 point list to cover.

One student requested stop using language like ‘sorry, just, and like’.

“It’s silly because it’s silly.

The language that we have, sort of quietly learned and ingrained is to keep ourselves small. That is the language of smallness. That is the language of taking up a little bit of space, a lot of this just has to do with just how women are. How we’re taught to sort of be the friendly person, be the person who has the energy that gets everyone together makes everyone happy. A lot of that stuff just gets ingrained and how we talk,” Vilardi said.

Vilardi then went on to encourage attending local demonstrations, learning about topics outside of your sector, using Twitter, and learning the political landscape, specifically becoming an expert in topics that are not your passion projects.

The last point Vilardi touched upon also scaled beyond the political sphere, making time for yourself.

“So even for many of you, as young women are those of you who are really ambitious about the things that you want to do, make sure you’re saying yes to the right things. Yes, I want to do this. Be smart about how you’re extending your own energy… That’s a conversation and I think for your generation of really what is the long haul of being an activist and being a citizen in the United States and being an active citizen in the United States, but you have to make sure your reserves are there for the long haul, and the do the stuff that really fills your cup,” Vilardi said.

it.”

In this edition of “Voices From The Quad” get to know Pete, our beloved sports and managing editor.

BRIAN ASARE / THE QUADRANGLE

Vote Run Lead Inspires Students

August Kissel & Caroline McCarthy Senior Writer & Asst. Sports Editor

“We train women to run for office, and win.” is the motto of nonpartisan nonprofit, Vote Run Lead. Vote Run Lead works to train women to run for office as they are, therefore not requiring them to change as they step into public affairs.

Founder and CEO of Vote, Run Lead, Erin Vilardi came to Manhattan College to teach students about the organization’s “Run As You Are” program.

This event was organized by senior Rabea Ali, junior Ireland Twiggs, and the Office of Career Pathways.

“Ireland and I pursued bringing Vote Run Lead on campus in an effort to promote civic engagement amongst students as well as highlight a nonprofit that is doing incredible work and should be supported in any means possible,” Ali said.

To start the event students gathered and shared with

Features

FEBRUARY 25, 2020

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Sister Norma Pimental Offers a Catholic Response to Migration Madalyn Johnson Web Editor

As the executive director of Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, Sister Norma Pimentel works in the Catholic Diocese of Brownsville and helps immigrants in a variety of ways: providing housing assistance for families, food, counseling and pregnancy care. While her work happens states away from Manhattan College’s corner of the Bronx, many came to hear Pimentel’s stories about her work with immigrants on Feb. 19 during the college’s annual Peace Week.

The lecture, titled “Crossing Borders: A Catholic Response to Migration,” gave eager attendees a chance to hear Pimentel give a more personalized and emotional perspective of what she actually sees at the U.S./Mexico border.

Many departments, offices and faculty members were commended for sponsoring Pimentel’s visit. The Office of Student Engagement, Campus Ministry and Social Action, the peace and studies department, the labor studies department, the Office of Study Abroad, the modern languages and literature department, the religious studies department, sociology department, philosophy department and the Center for Ethics were all responsible for helping spread the word, in addition to Lois Harr, assistant vice president for student life and Kevin Ahern, Ph.D., a professor of religious studies.

Brother Thomas Franks led the room in prayer before President Brennan O’Donnell’s introduction speech, in which O’Donnell spoke about Pimentel’s letter to the U.S. President about how immigrants are dehumanized when traveling to America.

O’Donnell read aloud some of Pimentel’s statements saying, “Before the respite center is open, dozens of immigrant families, hungry, scared and in a foreign land, huddled at the bus station with only the clothes on their back, nothing to eat or drink and nowhere to shower or sleep. They waited hours and sometimes overnight for their busses. For the past several years, every day, from morning to evening, families coming over the border are welcomed at our center with smiles, a warm bowl of soup, a shower and a place to rest.”

After President O’Donnell’s speech, Pimentel was warmly welcomed. She began her speech by explaining what inspired her to engage in the volunteer work and charity she

does today, in addition to what made her grow closer to God. She detailed her desire to become an artist but how her father intervened by urging her to become a teacher and wife.

During that time, Pimentel’s friends encouraged her to join them in a prayer group and it was when the participants prayed for her, Pimentel explained, she knew she wanted to develop a greater connection with God. “I started to discover happiness, true happiness in a totally different way,” Pimentel said. “So as I look back, I can describe it as the skills for my eyes and I started to see life completely different. I was just immersed in wanting to know more about God and just see God in a relationship to me in every way possible.”

She went on to describe what she sees first hand at the border. Pimentel stressed how the current U.S. immigration policy has led to a drop in the number of immigrants that come to seek help at the Catholic Charities centers in Texas.

“In the past couple of years, we have seen thousands of people come to our border, across the Rio Grande and ask for protection for safety,” she said.

“So many of them, we’ve gone beyond 150,000 in the past five years and because of the different policies that have gone into place, to try to deter the families from coming to discourage them, we have seen that these immigrants stop coming.”

Eventually Pimentel’s speech evolved into a discussion about the way the humanitarian crisis is often treated by politicians and addressed in the political sphere.

“It almost seems as if the government just simply swept the humanitarian crisis under the rug. Another was you looking at me at the surface, which you actually see if you come to South Texas, you will see a tendency as you cross the Rio Grande into Mexico. There you will find thousands of families waiting for months in conditions that are so dehumanizing, so sad to see,” she said.

Throughout the speech, Sister referred to the Texas cities that are home to the Catholic Charities centers as “tent cities” to highlight the poor living conditions of immigrant families who are waiting for permission to live in the U.S. Additionally, to break away from discussion about the downheartedness of politicians, Pimentel reminisced about the children who innocently forget about their situation through playing. When talking about her experiences watching chil-

dren play on a playground, Pimentel made the point that God wants to see humans helping other humans.

“I strongly believe that God created us to care. He wired us that way. As soon as we see human suffering, there’s something in us that pulls us to want to help. That’s why I keep inviting our President, ‘You need to come down to South Texas.

You need to see the families like how I see them,’” she said.

After Pimentel spoke, attendees asked a variety of questions from what political action she would like to see be taken regarding immigrants at the border, as well as how she copes with witnessing immigrant families go through these hardships.

Remarkably, Pimentel stated that through her work that involves dealing with devastation, she is not worn down because she has God in mind.

“I cannot start my day without the Eucharist because it’s my way of grounding myself with who I am for God and what he wants me to do,” she said.

When asked what the U.S. Catholic Bishops and Catholic colleges could do to address these issues, Pimentel immediately suggested members speak up and devote themselves to being true Catholics by acknowledging the fact that immigrants are being deprived of basic human rights.

“A stronger voice, a more authentic voice. The announcing of what’s wrong and to not be afraid of it because we’re going to lose support by some.

We need to be true to our true convictions of who we are as Catholics and stand up and shout ‘this is wrong,’” Pimentel said.

Many students, faculty, Christian brothers and sisters came to hear Pimentel speak.

Amongst the crowd were freshmen Isabel Frazza and Joanna Canigiani, who were pleased to hear the opinions about immigration from a nun who witnesses the state and order of immigrant facilities first hand.

Frazza shared how Pimentel’s speech, concerning the Catholic duty to help others, made her realize how critical it is the U.S. helps immigrant families in need.

“We should care because they’re not objects that we can push aside because it could be us, at any second, something could change and we can be in a position where we need help,” Frazza said. “So I don’t understand why they feel like we shouldn’t help other people.”

Canigiani commented about how significant it was for the school to host a religious

ABOVE: Sister Norma spoke to attendees about immigration and the border crisis in the States.

BELOW: Attendees filled Kelly Commons 5B to hear Sister Norma speak.

ISABELLE GUTIERREZ / COURTESY speaker that engages in charity work with immigrants, and hear about what she sees and thinks about refugees.

“I think it’s very important since a lot of the media coverage, what the media covers is all the bad things that happen at the border and to see it from a different perspective where like she sees it as, ‘These people are amazing, they’re human beings,’” Canigiani said.

Kevin Ahern, Ph.D., similarly discussed the benefits of having Pimentel talk about such a heavy issue that has been swarmed with a vast amount of media attention and different perceptions about what political action the President should take.

“I think given that she is a nun and the sister, she has, I think, a type of sort of freedom to speak truth to power in a way that some people might not be able to,” Ahern said. “The Catholic Church, in not just the United States, but around the world, is one of the largest, if not the largest provider of ser-

vices to migrants and refugees.

So [Pimentel] has not just a type of freedom to be sort of prophetic, but also street cred to on this issue.”

President O’Donnell also expressed gratitude for Pimentel’s visit and hopes students who may be in denial of Pimentel’s views learned something from her speech.

“I would like to hope they heard that it’s not enough to just think that this is a political issue, it’s a human issue, it’s a deep, deeper human issue, it’s a spiritual issue. And to an extent, when we reduce this to my political ideology versus your political ideology, we dehumanize people,” O’Donnell said.

After the speech and questionnaire, attendees were encouraged to stop by the Catholic Relief Services tables to find out more information about Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley’s mission, as well as to donate to the humanitarian crisis relief or send letters to their senators.

8

Features

THE QUADRANGLE

A Taste of the Palace brings Middle Eastern Cuisine to MC Community Lilliana Bifferato Contributer

A Taste of the Palace just opened up in Riverdale two weeks ago right by Manhattan College’s beloved Jasper Deli.

Right on West 238th Street, the new Middle Eastern restaurant has already established itself in Riverdale as the place to go for authentic Middle Eastern food.

A Taste of the Palace offers free delivery and is already on UberEats, Grubhub and Seamless. In addition, they also accept Jasper Dollars. Their vast

menu of juices, smoothies and salads, to homemade Middle Eastern cuisine, offers a large variety to choose from.

The Menu A Taste of the Palace’s menu is packed with traditional Middle Eastern dishes as well as a variety of other healthy options. The ingredients that the restaurant uses are incredibly fresh, which you can taste in any dish or smoothie that you buy. This was one of my favorite aspects. The smoothie was made with real fruit and kale, rather than flavorings and too

The barbecue chicken plate is only one of many items on the restaurant’s vast menu.

LILLIANA BIFFERATO/ COURTESY

much ice, which made it so refreshing. A majority of their food is freshly made in the back by one woman. One of the workers claimed that her cooking is “magic.”

The Ambiance The big windows allow for natural light during the day, making the place brightly lit.

The design is clean and minimalistic, contributing to its relaxing atmosphere. This would be a great place to go on an informal date, complete some work or just pick up something quick to eat with a friend. The workers are all super friendly and accommodating. I had a lovely experience going for just the first time this week.

What to get I got the barbecue chicken plate, which came with 2 sides. The restaurant has a long column of side selections to choose from. I chose the hummus (comes with pita) and falafel (comes with tahini). The entire meal was $11.99 (excluding tax) and provided me with a ton of food. I left super filled up without feeling sick because of how fresh and homemade everything was. The new things that I tried I loved. My friend got The Palace smoothie,

A Taste of the Palace just opened on West 238th Street and is serving authentic Middle Eastern Cuisine.

LILLIANA BIFFERATO/ COURTESY which is kale, mango, spinach, apple, pineapple and honey. It was the perfect texture with the perfect amount of both real fruit and ice. It is now definitely my favorite smoothie in the area. The desserts are also all homemade in the kitchen, and they look it too. We got the Baglawa, a dessert prevalent in many cultures, with a special touch added to each. It was deliciously honeyed and flakey topped with a little crumbling of pistachios and sweet glaze.

The Chicken Shawarma, a clas-

sic dish, also received an abundance of praise in the reviews of the restaurant, so I will definitely be trying that next time.

The Scoop I will absolutely be returning to this place as soon as I can. I not only had an amazing meal, but a great experience with both the staff and relaxing mood of the restaurant. Their food is definitely worth a try.

They are open from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. everyday.

The Workers of Locke’s Loft: A Melting Pot of Personalities Pete Janny Sports Editor

The sense of camaraderie that pervades Locke’s Loft is a unique feature of Manhattan College. It’s where friendships flourish and conversations take on deeper meaning. It’s where meals are shared and relaxation takes over. In truth, at the backbone of Locke’s friendly environment are some of the most familiar faces on campus: the workers.

The positivity of the workers at Locke’s Loft is infectious.

These workers embody the pride and resolve what it means to be a Jasper. During the dog days of the semester, these men and women help keep students in good spirits with their words of encouragement and playful humor.

Frequent visitors of Locke’s are probably well aware of who Kency Rivera is. Originally from the Dominican Republic,

Rivera is a valued member of the staff. A social butterfly by nature, Rivera is always looking to converse with students whenever the opportunity presents itself. When he’s not cooking up some of his signature dishes, he’s most likely engaging in thoughtful conversations with others about sports and politics.

“All the students are nice people,” Rivera said. “And the students know me because I’m friendly.”

Rivera’s life is enriched by his elite cooking skills. In his 16 years at Manhattan College, he has prepared a wide array of meals. While the feedback for all of them are generally positive, there are few specific dishes in particular that students love. According to Rivera, his biggest hits are the lo mein, the chicken wings and the french toast with marshmallows and nutella.

“They like everything I make,” Rivera said. “I love see-

ing these people eating good.”

On the days he makes wings, Rivera gets a kick out of watching students devour them with urgency.

“Some will eat 20, even 25,” Rivera said. “I look at them and say to myself ‘these people are crazy.’”

At the pizza station, Bronx native Darrell Foskey can be found, probably chatting with students about mainstream topics.

“We mostly talk about pop culture and sports, preferably basketball,” Foskey said of his interactions with students.

Since his arrival six months ago, Foskey has become a popular man in Locke’s thanks to his aptitude for making good pizza. Foskey, often seen stretching the dough, generally receives excellent reviews for his pizza from students.

“Some people love [the pizza] and nobody doesn’t like it,” Foskey said.

Foskey, who seems to al-

ways have a smile affixed to his face, shared his secret for what makes his pizza so appetizing.

“You got to put a little sugar and garlic in the sauce,” Foskey said.

While on the job, Foskey feels a sense of belonging thanks to the atmosphere of the school. One instance in particular came to Foskey’s mind when reflecting on the politeness of Manhattan students.

“A player on the women’s basketball team gave me words of encouragement on the first day,” Foskey said. “The students are cool and they make me comfortable.”

According to both Rivera and Foskey, the most entertaining time of the year at Locke’s Loft is during the Halloween season. The costume choices of the students around Halloween never fail to catch their attention.

“There was a kid who once came in with pampers and a

pacifier,” Rivera said when considering the funniest moments of his career at the college.

Foskey, referring to his love for basketball, said, “I liked seeing the throwback jerseys during Halloween.”

The goodwill between the students and Locke’s workers is a telling indicator of the special community that Manhattan College fosters. That seems to be the reason why after all these years of working at the college, Rivera still enjoys the experience of working here as if it were new to him.

“The community is great here,” Rivera said. “I’ve been working at colleges my whole life and [MC] is the place I have stayed at the longest. The students are always friendly. They are never disrespectful and they love to joke.”

FEBRUARY 25, 2020

Arts & Entertainment

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DAsH Dives Deep: Spring Courses Offer Tour of Venice and More Shannon Gleba Staff Writer

Manhattan College is constantly looking for ways to create a well-rounded education for all of its students, no matter their area of study. In order to find an effective way to link both the study of humanities, as well as the more technical studies, the Digital Arts and Humanities program was created.

Beginning in 2014, professor of religious studies Robert Geraci, Ph.D, developed an idea for the DAsH program, and created a board of faculty to create the curriculum.

Maeve Adams, assistant professor of English, Ph.D., was part of that original faculty board and credits Geraci with bringing interested faculty together. After the board was formed, the main objectives of the program were decided, and the work to achieve them was starting to be completed.

After a number of years, Adams became the Director of the program during the 2018-2019 academic year and helped to further these objectives.

“It is both a minor program, and it’s also a cross-college curricular initiative. So, the objective is to bring harmony within the kind of inquiries that we do in humanities and social sciences and asking kind of big philosophical questions about the world and the way things operate,” said Adams.

Many of the philosophical questions Adams references include those such as, what does it mean to be human? And how do we avoid social crises like war and police brutality?

Adams continued, “So those big questions that we ask and think about and contemplate and sometimes try to answer in the humanities and social sciences. So, trying to bring those into practices and methodologies that we tend to associate with the technical disciplines, so sciences or engineering or math, for example.”

While it may seem difficult for professors to integrate such seemingly competing objectives of technical analysis and humanist questions into each subject, Adams considers herself a digital humanist and encourages many other professors to think the same way. In addition to the courses Adams teaches under the DAsH attribute, she has always integrated technology into many of her classes.

“I’m writing essays online that are visual and verbal pictures and you know, and descriptions and explanations.

Sometimes I’ve had students create digital archives online

using Omeka, which is a tool that we use on campus. So I’ve always had digital components in my classes,” said Adams.

During the Spring 2020 semester, there are 37 separate courses being taught within the DAsH program, many of which have several class sections. One of these courses is named Gender and Literature and is taught by Adams herself.

In this course, Adams and her students are utilizing online resources to complete linguistic analysis.

Addams said, “So you can read those fairy tales, you can read individual fairy tales, but you can also think about them from a larger, take a larger view and think about the way that gendered language and gender tropes, gendered metaphors pervade all of the fairy tales that you could possibly read. You can take a broader approach to the question using a couple of tools that are easily accessible on the internet. So for example, there’s one called Voyant, which is a linguistic analysis tool that’s on the internet and is totally free. And you basically just copy and paste or upload large texts into Voyant.

And it spits out of you a data analysis of whatever language you put into it. You can put any kind of language at all or any linguistic context at all.”

Another course being taught this semester with a focus on technology is an art course called Virtual Venice, taught by Professor Daniel Savoy, P.h.D. This course is a continuation of the study abroad course from the winter intersession of 2019 called Venice from the Water.

During the winter intersession, Savoy traveled to Venice.

While in Italy with eight students, he lectured about the architecture of the city, as well as the fact that it was meant to be appreciated from the canals.

Savoy explained that due to modern inventions, the intention of viewing the architecture of Venice from canals has been lost.

“This fundamental part of the historical experience that this city has been lost because of these modern artistic interventions, like the railroad bridge. So the idea is to get students on water, get them to gondolas, get them in boats, and have them experience how the city was intended to be seen how the architecture was built to be seen. And you know, all the cinematography, the aesthetics from the water, how the architecture is built in dialogue with the digital properties of the water, spatial properties, the experiential conditions of the water, how you’re always moving things,” said Savoy.

Savoy’s class is connected to the study abroad trip that went to Venice over winter break.

ALEXA SCHMIDT / THE QUADRANGLE In 2012, Savoy wrote a book titled “Venice from the Water” which discussed the architecture of the city and explained that the people of the Renaissance and Middle Ages built the city with the canals in mind. When he wrote this book he included many static images of the city and its architecture, however he wanted to take a more dynamic approach to capturing Venice’s beauty in a new way. His solution was teaching students to use 360 degree cameras.

“So that static images you can see you’re kind of cumbersome, it doesn’t do much justice. So what I wanted to do is get a 360 video camera and get in gondola and actually take students on the waterways and have them experience those views, and then capture them.

And then, so that was the what the class was all about a week, it was kind of half lecture, half digital or half art history, half digital era, where I would lecture about the historical context of all of that, and like what the urbanistic practices, architectural practices that the architects were thinking about and implementing. And then teaching them how to use a 360 video camera, how to do the data collection, and then eventually, the VR headset. Yeah, so they have so we have the videos now in the VR headset. And you can essentially just transport yourself to the canals of Venice,” said Savoy.

After the data was collected in Venice during the winter intersession, the 360 degree videos were brought back to campus where they were started to be used in the Virtual Venice course.

In this DAsH course, students are tasked with editing

the videos from Venice and creating virtual tours by inserting “hotspots” into the videos that can be viewed in a virtual reality headset.

“So what [the students are] doing is they’re doing research on houses and churches that they see in their videos to build the information that they’re going to put it. So, it’s a really nice marriage of art history, and digital media arts,” said Savoy.

He continued, “Students are editing the videos that the other students took. And how they’re editing the videos is fascinating. What we’re doing is using virtual tour software. And what we’re doing, is inserting hotspots onto the videos. But in this program, it allows you to insert little hotspots into the environment. So we’re going to put them on buildings and bridges and canal, anything that you want to explain. And then you can input information texts or images from the Renaissance or things like that into these things.”

Through this technology, the students in the class will be able to create virtual tours of the city, and may even lead viewers through the footsteps of historical figures.

Another one of the courses being offered this semester is the History of Sound Recording & Editing, taught by professor Dennis Sullivan, Ph.D.

Sullivan described this course and said, “It’s a very, very different kind of history course in the way that it’s not purely, like a timeline account of we started here, we ended here, these technologies appeared, they had this effect, this led to this, this led to that.”

He continued, “And it’s not purely a lecture either. And so we’re trying to not only exam-

ine the appearance of different sound reproducing technologies, and audio technologies, but also to take a look at their economic effects and the influence on the socio-economics, the outside forces between like access, and economic class.”

In addition to lectures, the course has many labs that allow the students to be hands-on.

Sullivan said, “One of our labs we just recently had was we experimented with using a record player with different kinds of needles. So we used a knitting needle or we used a safety pin. And then because the original you know, the original gramophone had a small resonant membrane. So the needle sent the audio signal to this membrane it vibrated in the membrane and then it came out of steel horn. And so, essentially, you have resonant membrane and amplifier and so we tried different membranes. We took a safety pin and attached a piece of styrofoam to it a plastic bottle to it a tin can water bottle and tried to start to actually feel and understand why different objects have different resonant properties.”

These courses are three of the many offered among the Schools of Liberal Arts, Business, and Science. The DAsH program has many plans to expand within the upcoming number of years in order to reach a wider range of students and to keep connecting the philosophical questions of the humanities with the technological analysis of the sciences.

Arts & Entertainment

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THE QUADRANGLE

Starving for Gender Equality: WAGS Brown Bag with Rocco Marinaccio Nicole Rodriguez

Asst. Production Editor English professor and director of the liberal arts and science core curriculum at Manhattan College, Rocco Marinaccio, Ph.D., spoke at the most recent brown bag event, a series hosted by the college’s Women and Gender Studies (WAGS) program. Students and faculty members gathered at noon in Cornerstone on Wednesday, Feb. 19 to listen to Marinnacio present his current research.

The event began with a warm welcome and introduction given by history professor and coordinator of the Women and Gender Studies program Nefertiti Takla, Ph.D. followed

by Marinaccio’s enlightening discussion.

Marinaccio works primarily in 19th through 21st century American literature and culture with an emphasis on urban studies, food studies and Ital-

ian-American culture. His talk entitled “Badass in the Kitchen: Gender, Sexual Identity and Food Waves in the Starve Series,” centered on his research of the comic book series Starve while exploring the toxic masculinity that exists within the culinary world today.

“Starve is a ten part graphic novel series from 2016-17, one of a growing genre of food comics, set largely in a vaguely futuristic often dystopian U.S. It relates the adventures of Gavin Cruikshank, a former restaurant chef and host creator of a tv show called Starve. The series opens as Gavin who fled the show, the U.S., his wife and his child three years earlier to perouse in Asia is brought back by the network to complete his contract with one more season of Starve,” said Marinaccio.

Marinaccio explained that the novel’s characters parallel real life chefs, such as Anthony Bourdain and Gordon Ramsey, by embodying the dominant, contemporary media representation of men who cook. He

stated that this construction of the “bad boy celebrity chef” leads to repercussions within the professional culinary environment. He also noted that the restaurant industry has been amongst those most significantly in turmoil in the “Me Too” era according to key statistics he shed light on.

“Such details describe an industry primarily populated by men, especially in positions of authority,” said Marinaccio.

“This disproportionate gender representation contrasts with the reality that historically and globally it is women who do the majority of the cooking. The striking difference between domestic and professional labor tells us, of course, that food work, especially in the West characteristically becomes economically compensated primarily when it is done by men, thereby creating professional kitchens as a largely male dominated space.”

Marinaccio recounted a time wherein restaurant chefs were not celebrities and when

you would turn on the television to find Julia Child. At this time, most people only saw women cooking and therefore constructed food work as feminine. Restaurant kitchens largely dominated and almost exclusively run by men are stocked with men who feel the need to prove their masculinity celebrating a “locker room atmosphere” and “bro culture” as a result. Women in the kitchen are praised as “badass” for being able to coexist in a work environment exuding such toxic masculinity.

While Starve seeks to critique and replace this through digging deep into the current conversation about gender in the restaurant industry, Marinaccio recognizes there is still room for providing accurate narratives that lift up women and people of color in the kitchen.

“The brave new world of food comics built around women chefs who are not badasses and people of color building restaurants in their own communi-

ties is still out there waiting to be fully imagined and brought to the page,” said Marinaccio.

Senior English major Teresa Ramoni was in attendance and shared her thoughts on the lecture.

“I had Rocco for Roots English and for Contemporary American Lit so we talked a lot about food in the Contemporary American Lit class,” said Romani. “I am always interested to hear literary representations of food and how the way we make food relates to our identity in a way. I have seen so many of these shows with Anthony Bourdain and I was never thinking of the gender dimensions of them so this was really interesting to me for that reason. The book that he used seems to take these issues at hand in a cool way so I am glad I came.”

The Women and Gender Studies program’s next event is the WAGS Annual Lecture on Tuesday, March 3 at 3:30 p.m.

Inside Scatterbomb: The Improv Group that “Still Goes to the Pediatrician” Jessica McKenzie Asst. Features Editor

Manhattan College students and faculty have had the pleasure of enjoying the quickwitted, masterfully ridiculous improv comedy shows of Scatterbomb since 2004. 16 years later, Scatterbomb has introduced many new personalities to the stage, attracting full audiences to every performance in Hayden 100.

Current sophomore Sydney Waitt joined Scatterbomb last year as a freshman. A political science and peace and justice major, Waitt was introduced to improv comedy in her freshman year of high school when she took an improv class as a performing arts requirement.

“I’m a huge fan of ‘Saturday Night Live’ so that also factored into my love for improv,” Waitt said. “When I got to Manhattan College I saw [Scatterbomb’s] audition posters … I actually ended up getting in and really ended up loving it.”

Auditions for Scatterbomb usually entail getting to know the members of Scatterbomb and understanding everyone’s sense of humor. If students receive a callback, they will play

more improv games as well as establish more scene work.

“Once you’re [at the audition], everyone’s super nice.

It’s a really friendly atmosphere and doesn’t really feel like a tryout at all. It’s a really relaxed feeling,” said Waitt.

During auditions, Scatterbomb is searching for someone that will enhance the group dynamic and are able to think on their feet. “[Scatterbomb looks for] people that mesh well with the group ... and I think that’s why we’re so successful—we’re also friends,” Waitt said.

Now that she’s been a member of Scatterbomb for a year, Waitt has found the stage to be a second home.

“I honestly think the most difficult part of doing shows would be not laughing while you’re on stage because everyone on Scatterbomb is so funny.

It’s so difficult to not react like the audience,” she said.

Scatterbomb regularly performs many forms of improv such as montage and Spokane.

During a montage, the group asks the audience to shout out a random word. The group will pick one word which inspires a scene. A Spokane scene includes characters reminiscing

and acting out the memory.

“I always like doing the ‘bit’ [form of improv]. It has a lot of short form stuff that people are more familiar with. It’s more similar to ‘Whose Line Is It Anyways?’ … It’s a change of pace for us and the audience,” said Aedan Roney, a junior communication major and member of the troup.

Roney has been a member of Scatterbomb since his freshman year at Manhattan when auditions were advertised at the club fair. In high school, he took a drama class that taught improv so he decided to audition. “[Scatterbomb] got me into being a student leader because I had to learn how to deal with student engagement and posters and booking spaces. It pushed me to get involved in other places as a leader,” said Roney.

Since Roney first joined Scatterbomb, the group hired a coach in 2019 who teaches different forms of improv. Roney hopes to continue performing after graduating.

“There’s actually a group of [former members of Scatterbomb] who are a few years older than us, they graduated [from Manhattan] in 2014 or

Scatterbomb’s ten members performing on Feb. 21 JESSICA MCKENZIE / THE QUADRANGLE 2015. They have an improv group together so we’ve kind of … thought about modeling ourselves after that,” Roney said.

On Friday, Feb. 21, Scatterbomb demonstrated their comedy skills to a packed audience in Hayden 100. The show “Scatterbomb Still Goes to the Pediatrician” was a great way for MC students to sit back and laugh on a Friday night before midterms.

“I’ve never been too much into improv until I started going to school here. There’s just something so fun and manic about like the experience [of going to a Scatterbomb show] … I always have fun here; I laugh all the time,” said audience member senior Tristian Shawley.

The next Scatterbomb show is scheduled for March 6 at 8 p.m. in Hayden 100.

Sports

FEBRUARY 25, 2020

11

A Legacy Worth Playing For Christine Nappi Features Editor

16-15. Game point. The Azuay State Volleyball team had just pulled ahead of the Manabi State team in the National Ecuador Volleyball Finals. The Coliseo Jorge Calvache Stadium was packed to the brim with spectators, just as excited and tense as the players. The nerves began to set in for Diego Lojano, one of the country’s most skilled spikers, and he was anxious to see what would happen next. He knew the other team was more than just good; they had some of the best athletes, whom Lojano played with on Ecuador’s national team.

As Lojano rotated to the front of his team’s formation, he knew the fate of the game laid in his hands.

“Just set the ball to Diego,” his coach repeatedly yelled.

As the ball was set in the air to him, Lojano wound up, ready to end it all, until he saw four big hands appear, ready to block his spike. In order to save the play he hit the ball over the hands, yet the other team was able to return it back. The game’s tension continued as the full house of fans eagerly watched.

“Here we go again,” Lojano thought.

The ball was set back to him as he prepared to spike it again, this time being triple blocked by the other team. It wouldn’t work, he thought, so he rolled the ball again and the other team kept it going, hitting it back to Azuay’s side.

At this point, Lojano was more than ready to finish it.

As the ball was set for him to spike, he closed his eyes and hit it, praying it’d reach the floor.

All of sudden, the fan section swarmed the court; coaches and players were crying out of pure happiness. Lojano just carried his team to state victory.

For Lojano, volleyball has always been something prominent in his life. After watching his dad practice the sport and learning from him at a young age, Lojano knew he was destined to play. When his dad, one of Ecuador’s best volleyball players, passed away, Lojano was encouraged to continue his legacy and follow in his footsteps.

The emotion felt for winning the national championship was greater than just feeling like hard work had paid off.

For Lojano, winning that game meant much more.

“That was the best moment ever because I felt like my dad was controlling me there, that’s what I really felt,”

Lojano said. “It was amazing, it was one of the best experiences ever. It was so emotional, it was really good and I loved it.”

Lojano began playing volleyball when he was little, but didn’t really get into it until he was 12 years old. Once he got to high school, he decided to try out for the school team on a whim and began playing competitively. His coach noticed a great potential in him and encouraged him to keep practicing.

Despite being benched during his first year of high school, Lojano rose to be a star player by the time of his sophomore year. The following year he became captain of his team. During that year, he was called to try out for the state team where he played for two years, until he got called to be on the nationals team for his age, where he also served as captain.

Lojano describes that he was able to advance so quickly in the sport from practicing frequently and challenging himself to get better by playing with “the big guys” who are older and more skilled.

“All my coaches, everyone that I’ve been with, say that I progress really fast, like from one year to another already being in the national team,” Lojano said.

In addition to advancing in competition level, Lojano also received various national recognitions for his impressive volleyball skills. In 2016 he received his first recognition as the best spiker of Ecuador.

That following year, he was dubbed as the best volleyball player in his state. During 2017, following in the footsteps of his father, he received his largest recognition of being the best player of Ecuador.

“That’s when I felt like I really accomplished something,” Lojano said. “[I] felt like I continued his legacy.”

Lojano was additionally the only national player in Ecuador to receive back to back gold medals in national tournaments.

“It’s a good feeling knowing that you’re known for something,” Lojano said. “I’m the only player to have done that.

That’s something special.”

After gaining that recognition, Lojano felt ready to move to the United States. Here, he played for the Downstate Volleyball Club, where he carried his team to a few tournaments.

He was considering playing volleyball at the division one level for NJIT or George Mason University, yet ultimately decided to come to Manhattan College where he is in his second year studying civil engineering.

Despite not playing competitively in college, Lojano is nowhere near the end of the

Lojano led his team to victory during the Ecuador national volleyball championship.

DIEGO LOJANO/COURTESY road for continuing his volleyball legacy.

When playing for Downstate Volleyball club after moving to the U.S., his coach encouraged him to try out for the U.S. national team. Lojano was accepted at the A1 and A2 training level, only being one level away from getting to the national team. Due to complications with his volleyball experience in Ecuador, Lojano held off playing until the following year where he competed at the A2 level. On this team, he got to travel around the country and compete against players from all over, further enhancing his skills and preparing himself to try out for the national level.

“It was a great experience, I got to travel and play with good players from all around, I met players that played in Cali, from Kentucky. It was crazy,” Lojano said. “Right now, I’m still eligible to go next year and I want to, which is why I’m starting again.”

Lojano is currently prepping for the U.S. national team’s upcoming tryouts. He plans on playing over the summer, and aims to be prepared for the upcoming tryout. Lojano misses the game and is eager to get back into it. He hopes to not only continue playing, but also hopes to continue living out his father’s legacy.

“What I enjoyed most about playing was all the emotion that goes through the game,” Lojano said. “Being around my friends, playing the game that I love, it was just beautiful.”

Diego Lojano is a skilled volleyball player recognized at the state and national level in Ecuador. His father, one of Ecuador’s best volleyball players, inspired him to play the game and Lojano fell in love with it.

DIEGO LOJANO / COURTESY

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Sports

THE QUADRANGLE

Manhattan Extends Masiello in Leap of Faith Pete Janny & Megan Dreher

Sports & Managing Editor & Senior Writer Steve Masiello’s run at Manhattan College will live on.

On Feb. 14, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports reported that both sides came to an agreement on a new contract extension that will keep Masiello in charge through the 2022-2023 season.

Currently in his ninth season as head coach for Manhattan, Masiello won’t have to worry about his job status for the foreseeable future. This is the second time Masiello has been extended by Manhattan after agreeing to new terms back in 2016 that locked him in through the 2019-2020 season. The timing of this latest deal has come into question with some wondering why the school wouldn’t just wait until the end of the season to make a decision on Masiello’s future.

On top of it all, the team’s recent struggles in the aftermath of the extension has ignited even more skepticism from fans. In four games since the announcement, the Jaspers are 0-4, having been outscored by 40 points over that span.

Meanwhile, Masiello is motivated to get the Jaspers back to a level of competitiveness that rivals his early Manhattan teams. The future is full of unknown, but Masiello can look back and appreciate how far the program has come under his auspices.

“It’s a huge compliment and

I’m extremely humbled by it,” Masiello said of the extension following Friday night’s 67-64 home loss to Saint Peter’s. “To have the brand recognition where it is I think is a complement to our administration, our athletic department, and to our players.”

Athletic Director Marianne Reilly, who has overseen Masiello’s work with the men’s basketball program since 2016, has complete faith in the direction the program is heading in under the 42-year-old Masiello. With a young team intact, Reilly is confident that Masiello is equipped to maximize the talent of the burgeoning talent currently assembled. More importantly, Reilly is proud of the great mentor Masiello is.

“Steve has been a great mentor to our student-athletes during his time at Manhattan College,” Reilly said according to Go Jaspers. “We have a young team that is improving every day. We’re looking forward to having Steve continue to lead this group and build on their success.”

Masiello has experienced a lot during his time in Riverdale.

He made a strong first impression on the school during his time as an assistant coach from 2001-2005 in which he helped lead the program to back-toback MAAC Championships in 2003 and 2004. Then, after spending six years as an assistant at Louisville under his former coach Rick Pitino, Masiello returned to Manhattan in 2011 to assume the head gig. He quickly rebuilt a program that had won six games in the 2010-

Masiello focuses on the game from the sidelines.

GO JASPERS / COURTESY 2011 season to a 21-win team in his first season. Winning soon became a regular occurence in Riverdale, with Masiello capturing MAAC Championships in 2014 and 2015 to emerge as a rising star in the coaching ranks. Overall, Masiello owns a 138-144 record in nine seasons as head coach of Manhattan and has a school-record 10 MAAC Tournament wins.

“In nine years we’ve come from one of the bottom division one programs in the country to winning two MAAC Championships [2014 and 2015],” Masiello said of his success at Manhattan.

Despite the astronomical rise of the program under Masiello, there have been plenty of frustrations along the way.

At the conclusion of the 20132014 season, Masiello agreed

with the University of South Florida to become the school’s next head coach. The rest is history, with South Florida choosing to rescind the offer after learning that Masiello’s records had falsely indicated that he had graduated from the University of Kentucky. Manhattan was gracious enough to take Masiello back under the condition that he would return to Kentucky to satisfy graduation requirements; of which he eventually did in May of 2014.

Since that infamous incident, the Jaspers have compiled a mediocre 67-93 record across six seasons.

Following Sunday’s 57-56 home loss to Canisius, Manhattan owns an overall record of 11-14 with a 7-9 mark in MAAC play. The team is now stuck in a four-way tie at sixth place as

they continue to lose ground in their pursuit of a top five seed for the MAAC tournament.

In a season that has featured tight competition throughout the MAAC, Masiello should be holding out hope that his team gets hot in March to give them a shot at their first MAAC Championship in five years.

Given the top five teams are guaranteed a first-round bye in the tournament, it’s imperative that the Jaspers finish up their last four games on a strong note.

Manhattan will look to snap their four-game losing streak when they host the Marist Red Foxes (7-18, 6-10 MAAC) on Wednesday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m.

The first meeting between the schools on Jan. 22 ended in a 75-73 overtime win for Marist.

Intramural Basketball is Underway Whit Anderson Staff Writer

Basketball season is in full swing not only for the Manhattan Jaspers’ male and female teams, but for the student population as well. Starting on February 3rd, intramural basketball began for hundreds of Jasper ballers ready to battle it out on the court.

Registration for intramurals opened back in January. In order to sign up, students had to either join a team by invite, or become the captain of their own team and recruit their friends and acquaintances to fill a roster. With such a short registration time, it was fair to figure that only a certain amount of captains could sign up their teams in time. Howev-

er, registration ended up being extremely high this year as 25 men’s teams are participating, and 13 co-ed teams as well.

There are too many teams to all be going against each other, so the leagues are each separated into two divisions with each division broken down even further. For example, part of the division one men’s league plays every Monday and Wednesday while the other half gets the courts every Sunday and Tuesday. A similar format is taking place in co-ed also.

In terms of the difference in divisions, the consensus is that division one consists mostly of players that were either on their high school teams or played some form of competitive basketball. Division two has more participants that are newer to the game. Both leagues are

filled with talent, however.

All games take place on the two available courts in Draddy Gymnasium during the evenings. Being that it’s the same gym that our Division 1 basketball teams play in, the atmosphere and intensity for the games are enhanced.

The game rules are fairly straightforward. There are two 20 minute halves where the clock never stops other than during timeouts, halftime, and when the ball goes out of bounds. Each player is allowed five fouls before having to exit the game, but teams have to be cognizant of not committing too many fouls or else they’ll put their opponent in the bonus. Every foul committed after the bonus gives the other team free throws.

To make sure these rules

are being enforced, the Manhattan Recreation Department hired qualified student officials to officiate the games. One of these refs is sophomore Matt Cahill. When asked about the prior training required to be a ref, he noted that “Usually, they have a full training course, but this year it was more on the fly because of scheduling problems.” Similar to the players, the referees are learning and improving as the season goes on.

But of course, there are always those controversial calls that affect every level of basketball. Cahill, however, says the intramural officiating crew is prepared for this. “If there’s a game-altering call that they(the refs) disagree on, they’ll discuss it. If they still don’t agree, then they’ll go to the supervi-

sor.”

From the student perspective, intramurals are for the most part living up to the hype.

Sophomores Isaiah Kepnes and Alex Messina are teammates on a division two men’s team and gave their thoughts on the season so far.

“Less games than I thought there would be,” Kepnes said.

“It’s been pretty competitive though.”

“We want to win,” Messina said succinctly.

The season will end on February 27th, followed by a one or two week playoff period that should bring out the best in every player as the stakes will be raised.