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SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 VOLUME XXXIII ISSUE II
WHAT’S INSIDE
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A student newspaper of New College of Florida
Reserve fund request approved for CWC BY SYDNEY KRULJAC
BIG E’S CLOSING
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Last spring, New College of Florida’s Board of Trustees (BOT) voted to increase the health services fee by $1.46 per credit hour, which would in turn amount to roughly $40,000 per year for the Counseling and Wellness Center (CWC). Shortly after, Gov. Rick Scott implied that the legislative budget requests would be at risk if the school followed through and increased the health services fee, leaving the CWC at a loss for funding. On Thursday, Sept. 3, students at the Towne Meeting voted in favor of a reserve fund request of $20,000 to go toward CWC psychiatry. Because of the funding, psychiatry is now available and free on Friday afternoons for students referred to a psychiatrist by the CWC therapists. “It’s kind of got a history,” said Dr. Anne Fisher, who has been working with the CWC for 26 years. “Quite a few years ago, we were able to have a psychiatrist here that the health fee paid for. So they came a couple hours a week, and we were able to provide the resources.” When Dr. Fisher first began, she placed money into reserves, recognizing the CWC would need it someday.
Sydney Kruljac/Catalyst
A reserve fund request of $20,000 was recently approved for the CWC.
“I would tell the students we need health increases because we’re going to get in trouble someday,” Dr. Fisher continued. “‘Oh but there’s a reserve right now, we’ll worry about that in the future.’ So what kind of happened is […] we just got into a place where the reserve got down.” Prior to the reserve fund request, psychiatry was not as easily accessible to students, and, at one point, was not available at all due to lack of funding. This meant students who needed psychiatric help had to go off campus
and use their medical insurance. Last year, Dr. Fisher tried to contract Manatee Glens, a not-for-profit organization for mental health and addictions, but they denied the request at the last minute. It was not until Dr. Laura D’Angelo agreed to provide psychiatric services with her insurance that New College had a psychiatrist on campus again. “Last year, students with
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Data science program awaiting accreditation BY BIANCA BENEDI Previously just a lofty idea, New College’s first master’s program in data science has begun its test run this semester, with the application for accreditation turned in on Sept. 15. The college will have to wait until Dec. 6 for the final accreditation decision. In the meantime, courses intended for the data science program are already underway. New College undergraduates as well as non-degree seeking graduate students are attending, or “prototyping,” the courses this semester. Among the students are those who have just earned their bachelor’s degree and some who have already established careers in the data science field. Many of them plan are interested in applying for the program once accredited. “We’ve taken only a couple of students, maybe one, who comes right out of undergraduate school without some type of work history,” said Professor Patrick McDonald, director of the data science program and one of the nine professors who will teach the master’s level courses. “It’s better if people have
some type of work history. Then they have a much more informed position regarding what it is they want out of data science.” Four new professors hired for the program are teaching courses this semester, including Professors Simant Dube, Gary Kalmanovich, Matt Lepinski and Mike Sutherland. Each of them was hired over the past year in order to accommodate the anticipated program as well as expand the computer science resources, an increasingly popular area of concentration (AOC). Professor Dube and Professor Sutherland are teaching Statistical Inference for Science, as well as Dealing with Data, an introductory data science courses created for and available to students of all AOCs. Professor Kalmanovich is teaching Introduction to Algorithms and Algorithms for Data Science, and Professor Lepinski is teaching Introduction to Programming in Python and Computer Networks this semester, the latter of which has a prerequisite of one year of programming. The cost of the program has still not been fully hammered out, but some
numbers are being thrown around amongst faculty and the state. In-state students are tentatively slated to pay roughly $460 per credit hour, while out-of-state students may be looking at a price tag of $1,170 per credit hour. For the current semester however, nondegree seeking students are not paying for the courses they attend. Should the program be granted accreditation in December, an equivalency exam may be offered to the non-degree seeking students to waive the required courses that they are currently taking without credit. Graham “Tanner” Robart, (’09), is one of the graduate students proto-typing this semester’s classes and planning on applying for the program once it reaches accreditation. Robart graduated from New College with a neuroscience and computer science AOC two years ago, and returned for the chance to participate in the program. “It’s of personal interest to me,” Robart said. “I’m excited to work with the same professors, and new professors as well, in a more advanced context.” Robart is planning on taking
the equivalency exam, but, “in the meantime, it’s like, why not take these courses?” Attending New College as a pseudo-graduate student, Robart said, is a strange experience for an alum. “I don’t spend a lot of time on campus. It’s weird to see people that I was living with in third court who are now thesising.” The chance to work one-onone with professors in close quarters is a big draw for Robart, who appreciates the current 1:2 professor to student ratio in the program. For now, the data science master’s program has to rely on patience until December. In the meantime, Professor McDonald and Professor Sutherland are working on coordinating a statistics consulting group in the coming months to offer help to other students. The group would be composed of current data science program members who would serve as a tutoring resource for other New College students. This could be a
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BRIEFS
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briefs by Giulia Heyward
NCSA Weekly Updates BY CAITLYN RALPH Student Court met on Sunday, Sept. 5 to elect yet another new secretary. Originally, third-year and Catalyst staff writer Dylan Pryor was elected into the position on Sunday, Aug. 23. However, due to conflict with another NCSA position, he was forced to decline. In response, Student Court elected second-year and Catalyst staff writer Giulia Heyward as secretary for this coming academic year. Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion (VPDI) and thesis student Raina Senae attended President Donal O’Shea’s Committee on Diversity. There, Senae suggested updating diversity training and making it mandatory for all faculty and staff. Senae also held the first Council of Diversity and Inclusion (CDI) meeting in ACE Lounge on Wednesday, Sept. 9 where CDI members discussed goals for the term and elected a new secretary. The CDI secretary is New College Student Alliance (NCSA) Diversity Representative on the Council of Student Life (CSL) and secondyear Carl Romer. Senae, Romer and third-year Christina Harn attended a meeting with Dean of Student Affairs Tracy Murry to talk about housing practices. Senae also attended a Black History Month planning meeting where themes, speakers and activities were discussed. The NCSA has once again connected with CARES Outreach to provide free, confidential and fast 15-minute HIV testing. Walk-ins are welcome. Testing occurs every Sunday from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the NCSA Office, which is located in the Ham mailroom adjacent to the pool table. The NCSA is in the process of working with CARES to get STI testing on campus as well. This will require a mobile testing facility. Look out for updates in the next couple of weeks on the status of STI testing. Tonight, on Wednesday, Sept. 16, there will be a Towne Meeting in Palm Court starting at 6:00 p.m. Everyone is encouraged to attend.
Task force to host panel The Drug and Alcohol Task Force is hosting a panel on Monday, Sept. 21 to discuss the recommendations sent out to the community in August of this year. The Student Forum in Response to Substance Policy will be held in Hamilton Classroom (HCL) 8 from 6:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. The panel will consist of task force members, as well as President Donal O’Shea. Students will have the opportunity to ask questions about the recommendations and discuss plans for the remaining school year. In anticipation for what is expected to be a tense and emotionally charged event, the panel will also feature Counseling and Wellness Center (CWC) therapists Dr. Nicole Archer and Dr. Eric Rosmith. “I think that the student forum is going to be absolutely imperative to set the direction that students want to see with the recommendations,”
New College Student Alliance (NCSA) co-president and third-year Paige Pellaton said. Pellaton also served as a student representative on the task force. “Because we only had two students serving on the task force, we didn’t quite bridge enough for me to be satisfied with the progress we made. Something that is really imperative is for students to give their input on the recommendations: which ones they think will work, which ones they think won’t work, which ones they want to see compromised or changed on, which ones to pursue, which ones are absolute garbage, and which ones they think are going to be absolutely successful to stopping serious drug use and abuse on campus.” Additional information can be found on the event’s Facebook page.
Tensions rise at open meeting An open meeting with administration and students brought communication issues and tension to the forefront. The meeting was held Sept. 8 at 4:00 p.m. in the Harry Sudakoff Conference Center. Sudakoff was filled with approximately 60 students and faculty. Attendees spoke directly with President Donal O’Shea, Provost Stephen Miles and Dean of Student Affairs Tracy Murray. Counseling and Wellness (CWC) Psychological Fellow Dr. Duane Khan acted as a facilitator. Attendees were also given a phone number to which they could send anonymous text messages that were read aloud by Health Educator Mandy Parente. Although the event was scheduled for an hour and a half, audience members’ hands remained raised for the duration of the meeting, which lasted for more than two hours. Additionally, more than 90 text messages were sent to the phone number. Some of the issues that came up included the medical amnesty policy and the criterion for probable cause that allows a faculty member to open a dorm room without permission. Some attendees also expressed concern over a perceived lack of community this school year.
“I don’t deserve this parking ticket, I am the media.” -Giulia Heyward © 2015, the Catalyst. All rights reserved. The Catalyst is available online at www.ncfcatalyst.com, facebook.com/NCFcatalyst, @ncfcatalyst The Catalyst is an academic tutorial sponsored by Professor Maria Vesperi. It is developed in the New College Publications Lab using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign and printed at Sun Coast Press with funds provided by the New College Student Alliance.
At times, the meeting became charged. Several attendees voluntarily shared personal testimonials of interactions with administration and the New College Police Department (NCPD). In one instance, second-year and student representative Lorraine Cruz said she felt that the effort she put into the task force was a waste of time. “It was a pleasure to work with you,” said Khan, responding directly to Cruz, who was a member of the task force. “What you did mattered.” Murray issued an apology when confronted by students who were upset over his statement regarding campus community. Murray reportedly told first-year students there is a lack of community between the incoming class and the rest of the student body. “I will apologize to anything I said during Orientation [Week],” Murray said. Thesis student Patricia “Tricia” Johnson, reminded O’Shea that he had an open invitation to attend all Towne Meetings held by the New College Student Alliance (NCSA). There was also talk of extending office hours for students to come in and speak with the president. O’Shea, who had to leave early, gave one final message to the room as he left: “This conversation is to be continued.”
General Editor Managing Editor Copy Editor Online Editor Layout Editors Staff Writers & Photographers
Kaylie Stokes Pariesa Young Yadira Lopez Caitlyn Ralph Haley Jordan & Audrey Warne Bianca Benedí, Katelyn Grimmett, Giulia Heyward, Sydney Kruljac, Jasmine Respess, Ryan Paice, Dylan Pryor, Angela Duda
Parente and CWC host event to help students heal Good Grief, a facilitated healing program that promotes working through the stages of grief, was held on Sept. 10 in Hamilton “Ham” Center. The event was designed to address the emotional state of community members after the tragic events that occurred on campus this year. “This isn’t necessarily about grief counseling,” Health Educator Mandy Parente said. Parente hosted the event in partnership with the Counseling and Wellness Center (CWC). “This is about recognizing what the stages of grief are, something that ignites the ‘Oh, this is what I’m doing and this makes sense now and this is why I’m doing it. Let me process this a little more.’” The event consisted of multiple stations explaining the stages of grief through various activities. One stage, anger, was exhibited through a yelling activity. Participants were free to move from station to station. “One [reason] is that not everybody goes through grief the same way,” Parente said. “And grief is an umbrella term but it’s not one thing. Grief is so many different things. And sometimes you’re in one stage for years and you don’t realize it. I really wanted to give students the autonomy to float through different stations in a way that felt organized to them.” Parente plans to make the program an ongoing event on campus. Its sequel is tentatively set for the following school year. This event will be followed by other activities that aim to bring back a sense of safety and belonging in the community.
CORRECTION: First-year Andreina Carrasquero’s name was spelled incorrectly in last week’s issue. The Catalyst apologizes for the error.
Direct submissions, letters, announcements and inquiries to: The Catalyst 5800 Bay Shore Road Sarasota, Florida 34243 ncfcatalyst@gmail.com The Catalyst reserves the right to edit all submissions for grammar, space and style. No anonymous submissions will be accepted. Submissions must be received by 12:00 p.m. Friday for consideration in the next issue.
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NEWS PAGE 3
New RHDs join Student Affairs amidst campus tension BY GIULIA HEYWARD After months of searching and interviewing, Amanda Haskins and Alexandra Pearson have joined the Student Affairs department as Residence Hall Directors (RHDs). Haskins received her master’s degree in higher education from Springfield College last May. She was involved in extracurricular activities from being an orientation advisor to working as a peer advisor and resident assistant (RA). After living in Massachusetts, Haskins wanted to relocate to the South where she could enjoy warm weather and the beach. Haskins was drawn to the academic structure at New College, which she found intriguing. Pearson received a master’s degree in educational leadership with a concentration in higher education from the University of Central Florida (UCF). While an undergrad at Rollins College, Pearson was involved in several extracurricular activities including student government, working as a lifeguard, and being an RA. “My residents were absolutely amazing,” Pearson said. “It’s obviously a hard line to kind of balance because you’re a student but at the same time you’re an enforcer of policy.” Both Haskins and Pearson are eager to become involved with the community.
“I was looking for something that was similar to Rollins but public,” Pearson said. “I actually studied abroad with two people that went to New College, so it was kind of on my radar of schools that I knew a little bit about.” RHDs are in charge of overseeing the RAs as well as helping them create a safe environment for their residents. They also assist with room changes and roommate mediations. “We’re always creating new projects for ourselves,” Haskins said. “I’m really looking forward to doing more latenight weekend programming and just offering a variety of programs as well as getting to know all of the students, what the students are interested in, and then getting to work with that as best as I can.” The search for the new RHDs began in January. The hiring process included on-site visits to conferences and campus interviews. By May, applicants had been narrowed down to Haskins and Pearson, who officially started working in July. Training consisted of two weeks dedicated to learning basic procedures. According to Dean of Student Affairs Tracy Murray, the new RHDs have yet to cover the protocol for fall break inspections. Due to being hired late in the summer, the new RHDs were not able to attend all of the four task force meetings that took place on campus
before the fall semester started. “It was not expected that they go,” Murray said. “We have not, as a group, talked about the task force report. [...] We’re really just waiting for direction.” At an open meeting, held by President Donal O’Shea, Murray and Provost Stephen Miles, students expressed concern with the lack of knowledge the administration has on the recommendations given by the task force. Following the arrest of a student on Aug. 21, tension erupted between students and administration both in person and on social media. “Following the arrest, some students taunted members of the professional Student Affairs staff whom they deemed responsible for involving the Campus Police,” O’Shea wrote in an email addressed to students, faculty and staff. “Since then, social media, especially Yik Yak, have been filled with threats, sexual and physical. A notice on one of the Campus Life Coordinator’s door was burned. Knocks have come at all hours of the night, as well as shouts from outside the room. This is bullying, pure and simple.” Many members of the community are disappointed with the violent threats, and would like to see more of a productive dialogue focused on solutions. “Both sides have a say in what happens on campus,” second-year and
a student representative on the task force, Lorraine Cruz, said. “I’ve seen students be vocal about what they want to change. But I have not heard administration talking about what they want to change when it comes to the recommendations or making the community safe for students. We always hear from students, but we never hear from administration. And it shouldn’t be like that.” Other students are preoccupied with having members of administration who are not properly aware of issues on campus. “At a campus so small, I think that the presence of so many RHDs and CLCs feels as if New College is hiring people to make decisions for our community who have no interest and don’t particularly like the students or the community here,” second-year and Student Allocations Committee representative and secretary Rebecca “Becca” Caccavo said. “I think that the CLC position could be incredible if an alum had that position.” And while other students have echoed the idea of having an alum hired to work for the school, there has not been a significant presence of alumni willing to work here. “I don’t think we’ve had an alum apply for the position in four or five years,” Murray said. “We have not had
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Palm Court Party (PCP) now known as COUP BY ANGELA DUDA The tri-annual, campus-wide celebration formerly known as Palm Court Party (PCP) has been renamed Center of the Universe Party (COUP). The change came as administration tries to distance the school from its “drug culture” reputation. PCP is also the acronym for the dissociative drug phencyclidine. The recommendation to change the name first came from the Drug and Alcohol Task Force. The task force, which consisted of student and faculty representatives, gathered to “examine New College’s policies on alcohol and drugs, attitudes on campus, and the reputation of the institution.” President O’Shea created the task force in response to the drug-related deaths on campus last spring. The preliminary round of voting eliminated less popular names and narrowed the options down to 10. Students were then asked to rank the remaining choices from one to 10, with one being their favorite and 10 being their least favorite. Although the weighted average leaned in COUP’s favor, only 14.77 percent of voters selected it as their first choice, as opposed to the third runner-up, Palm Court Party. A distinction is to be made between Palm Court Party – which lacked the PCP abbreviation – and the former name, which obtained an overwhelming 26.14 percent of the first-choice vote. Despite demand to retain the name, Palm Court Party also received a surprising 12.27
percent of abstentions, or voters that refused to list it as one of their top 10. In contrast, COUP received 2.95 percent of abstentions. Professor of Biochemistry Katherine Walstrom, who was chair of the task force, said the name change was a minor recommendation, “[It was recommended] mainly for outside perception, because anyone outside of NCF wouldn’t know what Palm Court is.” Walstrom acknowledged that the reason people use drugs is “way more complicated” than something a name change could resolve. Walstrom also noted the element of nostalgia present in the former name, and laughed when made aware, for the first time, of the new one. “[COUP] doesn’t have the same concerns. I don’t see a problem with it.” When asked who had final authority on whether or not there should be a name change, Walstrom replied, “It should be up to the students to discuss the cost[s] and benefit[s].” However, Evann Soltys-Gilbert, thesis student and co-speaker of the Towne Meeting, explained that an email sent out by Campus Life Coordinator (CLC) Vanessa Van Dyke made it seem like the name change was necessary. As noted from the results of the final poll, more than 25 percent of the voting body chose to retain the name without the acronym, with many others voting for it as their second or third favorite choice. Yet many students agree with
Center of the Universe Party NCPD (New College Party Day) Palm Court Party (CUP)Center of the Universe Party Palm Quart Party The Great Wall Graph created with data generated on surveymonkey by McAlister Grant and Evann Soltys-Gilbert
Center of the Universe Party (COUP) beat out the 2nd runner up, New College Party Day (NCPD) by a slim margin; 440 students voted on the PCP name change,
the name change. Thesis student Erika Folk stands firm in her belief that the renaming of PCP is an essential part of what she calls “the healing process.” Although she recognizes the administration pushed for the students to change the name, Folk said, “[The name change] is a call to action rather than a forced change of tradition.” Folk also stressed the importance of a new name, because unlike PCP, “[it will make] people who are substance free be more comfortable.” Though she discussed her own
personal favorite name changes, such as Wall but Larger (WaBL) and Center of the Universe Party (CUP), she ultimately agreed with COUP because, playing upon the meaning of the word, “The decision was handed over to the students.” Some who oppose the acronym COUP claim it invokes violent and problematic connotations of a coup d’état, but Folk, in disagreement, concluded, “COUP has violent
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NEWS PAGE 4
Refugees struggle for asylum in western Europe BY BIANCA BENEDI Europe is in a state of crisis. Migrants from the Middle East and Africa have been arriving in the hundreds of thousands, finding any way they can to cross the borders into European countries that can grant them asylum. More than 620,000 applications for asylum in the EU were presented in 2014, higher than any year since 1992. That number has no indication of falling in 2015, with more than 500,000 migrants already estimated to have crossed the border this year. Germany alone has estimated that they will receive 1 million applications for asylum by the end of the year; more than four times the amount for 2014. Migrants are coming from Syria, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Erirtrea and Serbia, seeking asylum from violence, poverty and persecution. Germany is the preferred destination for migrants, but countries all along the EU border are receiving an influx higher than they can handle. The stress has become a political pressure point for European politicians, who have spent much of the year in heated debate about how best
to handle, distribute and care for the migrants, most of whom fully qualify for asylum. A list of common countries considered safe for migrants to be returned to has been proposed in an effort to reduce some of the stress on the European countries. After weeks of balking, Germany recently announced the decision to impose border controls along the Austrian border. This decision puts stress on the Schengen agreement – an agreement encompassing almost all of Europe in which participating members impose no internal borders halting migration. Under the terms of the agreement, once a migrant is granted access within the border countries of the Schengen agreement, they can move with much greater ease within Europe. Austria, Slovakia and the Netherlands imposed tighter sanctions on their own borders within hours of Germany’s announcement. “The aim of these measures is to limit the current inflows to Germany and to return to orderly procedures when people enter the country,” Germany’s Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said in a press conference on
Sept. 14. Meanwhile, Turkey has already had to toughen up its border control system. Earlier in September, the border country completed the construction of a 13-foot razor wire fence along its border in an effort to stem the flow of migrants coming into the country undocumented, with plans to reinforce the border in the works. On Sept. 15, Turkey announced a state of emergency at the Serbian border, granting police extra powers and the possibility of troop deployment. Police are mounted along the border, and migrants caught attempting to pass through illegally are sent in police buses to the registration centers. “The official and legal ways to come to Hungary and therefore to the European Union remain open,” Turkish government spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs said. “That’s all we ask from all migrants - that they should comply with international and European law.” Migrants passing through Europe have been keen to skip the registration in the border country for the opportunity to reach a country further into the EU before applying for asylum. Under the
EU system, migrants are able to apply for asylum and have a good chance of being granted access to the EU if they pass the border legally, but the result is a limitation on their ability to choose the country they may end up in. This is an unpopular option for many migrants, most of whom are attempting to reach Germany, which has one of the strongest internal economies in Europe. Refugees have been attempting to bypass the Dublin regulation, an EU law that stipulates that refugees should apply for asylum in the country where they first arrive and are registered, rather than traveling undocumented across borders to reach their country of choice. Part of managing the resources available to assist migrants includes several plans to implement mandatory quotas across the EU stipulating that countries take in a certain number of refugees. This would begin the process of relocating migrants and distributing them more evenly across Europe so that no one country, such as Germany, has to take the brunt of the load unassisted. Current plans suggest a relocation
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Ridin’ with Biden: VP considers a third run for office BY DYLAN PRYOR Although Election Day is still more than a year away, the 2016 presidential election is poised to become one characterized by strong personalities ranging from the business mogul Donald Trump to the politically seasoned former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. However, one critical and potentially game changing question remains: Will Vice President Joe Biden throw his own hat in the ring for a third outing as a presidential candidate? “There are two things going on,” Professor of Political Science Keith Fitzgerald said. “There are very talented and experienced people at work building a campaign. And it’s real. And it’s going on right now. On the other hand, he has not made up his mind.” There is, however, a clear groundwork that has been laid out for a Biden campaign. On Aug. 22, Biden met with Senator Elizabeth Warren to discuss economic policy. On Sept. 7, he spoke at the United Steelworkers’ headquarters in downtown Pittsburgh, eliciting chants of “Run Joe Run!” According to NBC, Biden did not hesitate to remind union workers about what separates him from the candidates already in the race. “In D.C., I’m known as ‘Middle Class Joe,’” Biden told the crowd. “And they say it in D.C. not like a compliment. It’s like I’m unsophisticated.” The populist tone of his speech is not new to the 2016 race. The goal of every candidate has been to convince the voters that he or she is the right option for the citizenry going forward. “I think people are looking for some sort of reassurance and ‘real talk’ from the candidates as they will potentially be the leader of the biggest
photo courtesy of Adam Fagen via flickr
Biden in 2013. The third time may be the charm for Biden, if he chooses to run.
economy which is on shaky social and financial stilts,” thesis student Adrian Rosario commented. Biden’s speech was also punctuated by points such as the need for higher wages and infrastructure investment, as well as improved access to education paid for by increased taxes on the wealthy. However, the question of whether he would run remained unanswered. “Biden needs to step up and announce his candidacy before his chance slips,” Rosario added. “Right now the Democrats are wary of Clinton, but unwilling to risk the chance of Bernie Sanders losing, despite his excellent policy goals.”
Considering the lack of an official announcement, Biden has been polling fairly well. In the latest Monmouth survey, Biden received 22 percent of the vote, compared to 42 percent for Clinton and 20 percent for Sanders. However, despite Clinton’s early lead, “Middle Class Joe” appears to be quickly gaining support as interest in his potential campaign grows. “It’s really sort of a throwback to an age when ‘politician’ wasn’t a dirty word – that’s the way I describe Joe Biden,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s a politician, but he’s a politician in a way that politicians used to be. Because he really works hard to relate to people and he maintains this connection to people
after years of being in power – he stays close to people.” Biden’s honesty and connection to the people was especially apparent in a recent interview with Stephen Colbert, where he opened up about his ongoing struggle coping with the loss of his son Beau earlier this year, as well as his doubts concerning his candidacy. “I’d be lying if I said that I knew I was there,” Biden said. “I’m being completely honest. Nobody has a right in my view to seek that office unless they are willing to give it 110 percent of who they are.” While Biden is no stranger to giving his all to an election, it remains to be seen whether he believes he can continue that trend this year. “If he runs and it’s not fun, that’s bad. I think it is bad news for everybody,” Fitzgerald commented on Biden’s possible bid for office. “I think fun is a key word for his campaign, just the level of enjoyment, and how you see him having the time of his life.” However, Beau’s memory seemed to serve another purpose during Colbert’s interview, as Biden recalled his son’s endorsement of his father. “You’ve just got to get up. And I’d feel like I was letting down Beau…if I didn’t just get up,” Biden explained. While the question of whether Biden will ultimately join the race remains, Rosario remains optimistic about Biden’s eventual decision. “I want to say he will run. It’s just a question of when,” Rosario said. “As a democratic voter, I have a lot of options, strong candidates, lots of experience, or just very good suggestions. But I feel like I’ll be ‘ridin’ with Biden.’”
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NEWS PAGE 5
New College welcomes the largest first-year class to date BY AUDREY WARNE This year’s incoming first-years made up the largest and least diverse class New College has ever seen. The first-year class consists of 293 students, 27 of which are transfers. Although 25 states and five countries are represented, 81 percent of the new students are from Florida. A full 63 percent identify as female and 37 percent identify as male. According to collegedata.com, out of the 1,376 applications received, 61 percent of students were accepted. The three most important factors in admission to New College were: rigor of secondary school record, academic GPA and application essay. More than 50 percent of the admitted first-years were in the top 10 percent of their class in high school. The average SAT scores were 628, 670 and 635; the average GPA was 3.98, and the average ACT score was 29 for the incoming class. Demographics New College’s undergraduate program consists of 922 students. Instate students make up 79 percent, with the largest number of students coming from Miami-Dade, Broward and Hillsborough counties. Out-ofstate students make up 19 percent of the school, with the majority hailing from the Northeast and Middle Atlantic states, and 1 percent coming from outside the U.S.
photo courtesy of New College Fact Book 2014-2015
New College’s fall term enrollment head count has grown progressively since 2005, except for in 2010 and 2013, and continued to increase in both the 2014 and 2015 fall terms.
A total of 74 percent of the students identify as white, 14.5 percent identify as Hispanic or Latino, 2.7 percent identify as black or African American, 2.9 percent identify as Asian, 0.1 percent identify as Alaskan native or American Indian, 3.8 percent identify as two or more races, and 2 percent identify as an unknown race or ethnicity. Orientation Week Orientation took place the week prior to the first day of classes, with first-years participating in a variety of
activities designed to introduce them to the New College environment and give them information about student culture, residential life and academic expectations. “I connected with some of the people in my group, and with my orientation leader very well,” first-year Jackie Scholl said. “I expected it to be more filled with stuff, it wasn’t as busy as I expected. It was definitely different when the upper years got here, but it wasn’t like a misrepresentation” First-year Sophia Eury said, “It
kind of felt like a summer camp almost, we weren’t taking classes and we were just all living together.” Academic Life New College’s small class sizes, discussion-based learning style, and contract-based evaluation system provide students with unique academic opportunities. For many in the incoming class, academic life was a major factor in their decision to come to New College. “The price was really good, it was a small school with small classes, the computer science program was focused on software engineering as opposed to more theoretical stuff and it was a growing program, and also the community here just seemed so fantastic,” Scholl said. The biggest concern, for first-years especially, is the possibility of being capped out of a class. “There’s definitely a lot of fear of like being capped out of classes, especially in that first week,” Eury said. “It is cool that it is smaller classes and that you can have more discussions, but I was capped out of one class.” Scholl added, “Getting into classes was more of a process than I expected, but it wasn’t awful. For one or two classes there were prerequisites that weren’t listed on the course list, so I had to move stuff around a lot.”
Local community space Students for Sensible Drug and campus favorite, Big Policy host panel on ‘party culture’ E’s closing after more than a decade BY AUDREY WARNE
BY JASMINE RESPESS The popular off-campus gathering place, Big E’s, is nearing its last days. The owner, Eric Hamilton, has decided to close his doors after 11 years due to raised rent prices and an offer to be a manager at Starbucks. The eatery is celebrated for prices that usually do not exceed five dollars. Students and members of the Sarasota community are disappointed to lose a place where they could congregate, share a meal, and see the friendly faces of the staff. Big E’s came to be known as a place for discussion, creativity and community. “Big E's, probably more than any other spot off-campus, and more than a lot of places on-campus, is a real community space,” third-year Scott Smedley said. “It's more than a little sad to think of it not being around any more.” For many people, Big E’s provided an opportunity to meet people they might not have come in contact with before. “Everyone comes as equals,” alum Dyl Robitaille (’10) said. “You can meet
new and old friends.” Robitaille explained that Big E’s is a place that is accessible from the nearby colleges, open late, and a good place to go when you want wholesome, affordable food. “It is a home away from home for many of the regulars,” Robitaille said. “The mood is very playful and easygoing, the decor is low key and homey. Many New College students have had positive experiences with Big E’s. Specifically with its owner Eric Hamilton. Thesis student Bailey Peterson describes a time when she showed up to Big E’s before it opened, but since she and a friend helped take down chairs with Hamilton, he gave them free quesadillas. “That was probably the coolest anyone has ever been,” Peterson said. “It’s a bummer that can’t happen anymore.” “[Big E’s] is the place where I've met students from Ringling and other members of the community,” Robitaille said. “So I will no longer have that common ground.”
The Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) hosted a panel on Aug. 28 to discuss the potential dangers associated with college “party culture” and give students valuable information on harm-reduction techniques and their rights as citizens and students. “The panel’s goal was to provide a safe and non-judgmental environment where discussion about taboo topics could take place,” said third-year Mariana Bonilla, co-president of SSDP. In providing a safe space where students, many of them first-years, could openly discuss their concerns and voice their opinions about party culture on NCF’s campus, SSDP has started a conversation that some believe the administration and authorities have shied away from. By informing students about the risks associated with the use and abuse of substances (including alcohol), the SSDP thinks tragedies can be more easily avoided. On an international scale SSDP’s main goal is to end the war on drugs which, according to their website, it believes is “failing our generation and our
society.” SSDP is involved with inciting change at a national level through lobbying and attending conferences on drug use and policy around the world, including contact with influential politicians, scientists and psychologists who are on the forefront of cutting-edge drug policy issues. SSDP also considers the role of law-enforcement and the legal system in the war on drugs and the effects harsh punitive action can have on students’ lives. On a campus-wide level, this means focusing on harm-reduction techniques through peer-support. One major change created by SSDP was the extension of the medical amnesty clause to include the individual who contacted the authorities, which gives limited immunity from being prosecuted by the school for drug possession if an individual seeks medical attention for someone suffering from an overdose. This is in addition to the 911 Good Samaritan Act, which removes the risk of being prosecuted by law enforcement, and has the potential to prevent more serious injuries associated with overdosing, including death.
Downtown Farmers BY KAYLIE STOKES The Sarasota Farmers Market is one of the oldest in Florida. Since it opened in 1979, it has continued to grow, bringing in more than 10,000 visitors on Saturdays during peak season. Every Saturday, from 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., dozens of vendors line the edges of Lemon Avenue at the intersection of Main Street. For many New College students, this Saturday morning outing has become a favorite escape off campus. While fresh produce is typically what comes to mind when thinking of a farmers market, the downtown vendors have a variety of offerings from artwork, handmade soaps and candles, artisan popsicles, hot sauce, guacamole, flowers and seafood. Tasty snacks and meals are also available in the form of freshly made empanadas, breakfast sandwiches and crepes. There is sure to be something for everyone.
(top) The Sarasota Farmers Market attracts thousands of visitors to downtown every Saturday. (left) Vendors sell fresh produce as an alternative to shopping at the nearby Whole Foods. (right) A local vendor advertises their produce as pesticide-free.
Sarasota Market
(top left) Chicken in a Basket provided musical entertainment for those passing by. (top right) Colorful displays of produce lined the opening of the market. (right) Many visitors walked around with sunflowers purchased for a dollar.
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Professor Lepinski joins the New College faculty BY KATELYN GRIMMETT Between securing global Internet trafficking routes and writing three theses throughout his education, Professor of Computer Science Matthew Lepinski developed an interest in teaching. Lepinski, who got his doctorate in computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), worked with BBN Technologies for almost nine years as a research scientist in cybersecurity. “New College is different from anywhere I’ve been so far but I’ve been really impressed by the students here,” Lepinski said. “I really like the idea of professors working with students on projects and building collaborations so that was one of the things that attracted me to New College. I have a broad interest so what I like about New College is there’s an opportunity to teach a variety of classes.” Lepinski is teaching two courses this semester: Computer Networks and Introduction to Programming with Python. Python is a computing language useful for organizing dataheavy tasks. One of Lepinski’s goals for the course is for each student to learn how to talk like a computer scientist. “I want the students to be amazed at how much goes on under the hood in order to make the Internet work every
Katelyn Grimmett/Catalyst
Lepinski gives a lecture in his Computer Networks course.
day,” Lepinski said. Lepinski has always loved mathematics. When he was younger, he was interested in artificial intelligence and games. “I made a modified version of Space Invaders once,” he said. “I thought that there should be more types of lasers that you could shoot so I modified it to add a variety of different guns.” During his time working at BBN Technologies, a small research and development firm, Lepinski got involved in the network security group
and worked with teams on prototyping for new security technologies. “BBN is strongly associated with MIT as it was actually started by some MIT professors back in the 50s,” Lepinski explained. “They were early pioneers in the Internet and I actually had the pleasure to work with Ray Tomlinson at BBN, who was the guy who wrote the first email program and chose the @ sign. Ray is now semi-retired and he raises sheep.” Last spring, Lepinski co-taught Politics of the Digital Age at the
University of Tampa with his wife, Liv Coleman. “It was a good joint class because I was able to talk about how the Internet works and then my wife was able to talk about the implication of the Internet for politics and social movements.” Lepinski expressed interest in holding a seminar-style course about the Internet’s effect on the social sciences. “I would love to have the opportunity to have a tutorial of sorts to talk to non-technical students about what is the Internet and how does it work,” Lepinski said. “How the Internet changes over time is something that’s really interesting to me, I’m also interested in starting a project relating to security for mobile applications.” As someone who wrote an undergraduate thesis, Lepinski noted the benefits of the thesis requirement here at New College. “One of the most valuable things with writing an undergraduate thesis is just to get hands-on experience with problems that aren’t very well defined or well scoped,” Lepinski said. “The thesis gives an open ended, amorphous problem and you have to use the tools you’ve built up in your undergraduate career to figure out what kind of analysis, what type of problem solving works for this problem and that’s a very valuable real life experience.”
Offseason inflated with drama results in explosive start to NFL season BY RYAN PAICE It has been years since any sport league’s offseason has been so eventful, generating buzz from the dramatic and controversial unraveling of “Deflategate,” to a flurry of leaguealtering trades and team-dooming injuries. Adrian Peterson, one of the best running backs in the league, is coming off an entire season away from the game after a suspension for physically abusing his child. Both Kelvin Benjamin and Jordy Nelson have torn their ACLs this preseason, leaving the Carolina Panthers and Green Bay Packers, respectively, without their most reliable wide receivers. Entering the 2015-2016 NFL season the league has an all new look, and with the season just kicking off, it will be exciting to see how it plays out. “Deflategate” has been the most talked about subject in all of sports following last season’s playoffs, where the Indianapolis Colts brought attention to suspiciously deflated footballs that were being used by the New England Patriots during the AFC Championship. Roger Goodell – the NFL Commissioner – has been at the center of it all, playing as the judge, jury and executioner when dealing with the scandal. After an official investigation into the matter, no conclusive evidence was revealed, but Goodell suspended Patriots quarterback Tom Brady for the first four games of the season.
After the appeal for the revocation of Brady’s suspension failed, with Goodell once again as the head of operations, it took the U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman until Sept. 3 to nullify Brady’s suspension due to lack of sufficient evidence. “It’s a non-issue: the report had no conclusive evidence,” second-year Mika Lorenzo said. “All it said was that they could not rule out that he may have knowledge that somebody may have been inflating the balls. Really it was stupid.” While many football fans, especially Patriots fans, back Brady, the scandal has been incredibly polarizing. Several fans believe that, while there was no conclusive evidence, it was obvious that Tom Brady was involved with the deflation of the footballs. “I think that it is a terrible thing that they just let him get off with no suspension, not even one game,” second-year State College of Florida student Jac Durr said. “I think that he cheated and he should be punished for it.” Fresh through his run-in with the courts, and winning the Super Bowl before that, Brady unleashed on the Pittsburgh Steelers for 288 yards and 4 touchdowns in a convincing 28-21 win for the Pats to open the NFL season. The strong opening performance only reinforced the belief many have that the offseason drama will only motivate New England to another Super Bowl win.
“Well I am a Patriots fan and I think Tom Brady is going to be pissed off about Deflategate, and come out of the gate swinging, and go out and win another Super Bowl and finally get his fifth and pass his childhood idol, Joe Montana,” Lorenzo said. Another team in constant contention for the Super Bowl is the Seattle Seahawks, who lost in lastminute fashion to the Patriots in last season’s Super Bowl 28-24 but dominated the Denver Broncos the year before for the ring. With Russell Wilson signed on to a four-year $87.5 million contract extension this offseason, Jimmy Graham looking to be the offensive centerpiece for the Seahawks – who acquired him from the Saints – and the same stifling defense as always, another deep playoff run has to be expected for the team. While the Miami Dolphins have not made the playoffs since 2008, many expect the Dolphins to break out and make the playoffs on the backs of their frightening defensive line, bolstered by the newly signed Ndamukong Suh, and the young Ryan Tannehill. Now in his fourth season with the Dolphins since being drafted by them 14 overall in the 2012 NFL Draft, the offseason has been good for him, finally displaying the ability to throw the deep ball and the killer instinct to lead Miami’s offense, perhaps into the playoffs. “I think the Dolphins are going to make the wild card in the AFC East and
I actually think that they have a chance to be pretty good,” Lorenzo said. “I think they have the chance to be a nine-win team that manages to win that tenth game to sneak into the wild card.” While the Philadelphia Eagles did make the playoffs the season before last, Chip Kelly used the offseason to completely overhaul the Eagles’ roster. Kelly traded the NFL’s 2013 leading rusher LeSean McCoy to the Bills for young stud linebacker Kiko Alonso, who, along with cornerback Byron Maxwell, former member of the Seahawks’ “Legion of Boom.” Replacing McCoy, the Eagles signed DeMarco Murray, the 2014 NFL rushing leader, out from their division rival, the Dallas Cowboys. Along with trading Nick Foles to the St. Louis Rams in exchange for former first overall draft pick Sam Bradford, the Eagles have made some massive changes to their team, and so far it looks like they might pay off. “The additions of Kiko Alonso, Byron Maxwell, DeMarco Murray, and Sam Bradford I think will prove to be great offseason moves that bring the Eagles back into the playoffs,” Durr said. “They might even have the talent to make a deep run.” With the season finally upon us, NFL fans can sit back and watch the competition heat up in what looks to be a thrilling season of professional football.
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Try not to drown in Foals’ ‘What Went Down’ BY JASMINE RESPESS Foals’ latest album “What Went Down,” the band’s fourth studio album, has left the near addictive catchy songs, such as “My Number,” behind. More than Foals’ previous albums, “Antidote,” “Total Life Forever” and “Holy Fire.” “What Went Down” tells a story. Although not a very uplifting one, due to lyrics such as, “I see a darkness in my fate/ I’ll drive my car without the brakes” in the song ”Mountain At My Gate,” the tale is at least vivid. Unlike Foals’ two previous albums, this album feels more confident, but it could also be argued that the band sounds complacent. That is not to say that the flow of this album is not above and beyond the previous albums, but it leaves the listener feeling like most of the songs are essentially the same, if not in sound, certainly in theme. A sad album can be effective, but the power of Foals’ past albums was that they featured moments of lightness that allowed for relief. This can be heard in romantic songs such as “Miami” and “Blue Blood” on “Total Life Forever.” These songs also had kind of funky beats that allowed for dancing. One could easily imagine these
image courtesy of foals.co.uk
“What Went Down” was released Aug. 28 via Transgressive Records.
songs in the background of a film or a montage of a night on the town. This was evenly balanced with melancholy ballads such as “Spanish Sahara” that follow on the album.
“What Went Down” delves into darkness and stays there. The sixth song on the album, “Snake Oil,” sounds very much like The Black Keys’ “Lonely Boy,” only I cannot imagine someone joyously
dancing to it, as in the “Lonely Boy” video. “Snake Oil” continues the theme of disappointment and bitterness and ends with the line “In the day/ You leave me to want what I crave/ No surprise, to want what I can’t find.” But there is a familiar old time twang that has been very popular with bands lately. Foals’ takes it a step further with imagery featuring the snake oil salesman of yesteryear. The listener gets a break from the wallowing in the song “Night Swimmers.” It features a fun moment of guitar strumming in the beginning and goes into lyrics similar to Weezer’s “Holiday” as they describe a secret oasis of love. This song is the most pleasant, but it comes out of left field. The album is quickly reabsorbed by the dark ballads. Maybe that’s what bands do when they have reached a certain level of notoriety, and, one could argue, “What Went Down” matches the current social climate. This album is in no way a failure, and the growth of the band can be easily charted, but “What Went Down” needs a little more sugar to get that medicine down.
Drawn to the dead: The immaculate, impassioned ‘Phoenix’ SUBMITTED BY DAVID CANFIELD “I’m more drawn to our dead than I am to our living.” Start to finish, the dramatically precise “Phoenix” takes its every cue from this encompassing, chillingly recited line of dialogue. Director Christian Petzold fuses Hitchcockian tension with classical noir for his latest film. With “Phoenix,” he continues his thematic exploration of dual identity and romantic tragedy, bolstering the resonance of such ideas by working within a more abstract construct. Set in postwar Berlin and centered on Holocaust survivor Nelly (Nina Hoss, Petzold’s muse), in “Phoenix” you see more ghosts than you see people. The film opens with Nelly exiting Auschwitz with severe facial injuries, her face wrapped-up like a mummy; forced to undergo reconstructive surgery, she emerges unrecognizable in the procedure’s aftermath. She and Lene shack up in a small German camp co-occupied by locals and Americans. Nelly immediately, nervously wanders. Her quest, it’s soon made clear, can’t be focused on the future as Lene suggests – not with so much lost. Nelly’s estranged husband, the gentile Johnny (Ronald Zehrfeld), is still alive, lurking around the camp. While there’s a question as to whether or not he actually turned Nelly in – Lene is convinced he did – Johnny is what kept her spiritually alive. He’s all that she had, and now, he’s all that she has. When Nelly finds Johnny, he doesn’t recognize her – but he seeks
her out with destabilizing rapidity even still. The film subsequently delves into a performative romance, “Vertigo”style. Johnny recruits “Esther” (Nelly’s pseudonym), not realizing her true identity, to pose as his wife in order to acquire her inheritance. He coaches her on how to be her, from her handwriting to her hairstyle to her very way of walking. As Johnny reconstructs his wife as he knew her, Nelly reclaims herself, free of trauma and isolation. The set-up here is admittedly contrived, but the film’s middle stretch, mostly confined to Johnny’s small-scale apartment, convinces as fascinating psychological drama. It plays like a piece of theater, rendered with an anticipatory score and a cinematographic distance. It shifts away from “Vertigo,” hewing closer to Truffaut’s performance-centric “The Last Metro.” “Phoenix” manages a confluence of the latter’s intellectual verbosity with an arrestingly twisted atmosphere. Interludes featuring Nelly and Lene break up the insular central action at Johnny’s apartment. In these brief scenes, Petzold lights Nelly like a silhouette, a faceless figure speaking to her increasingly skeptical and impatient confidante. She speaks of “being jealous of me,” or the version of Nelly whom Johnny so nostalgically longs for. She rebuffs Lene’s assertions of his betrayal. In effect, the physical darkness enveloping Nelly exposes a woman between who she is and who she was. She’s chasing a ghost. The same goes for Johnny, for no matter how close “Esther” gets, she is
always far from Nelly in his eyes. His denial is indicative of a subconscious acknowledgment of truth that he refuses to activate. He instructs Nelly to turn herself into a fantasy as a way to convince, but also because it’s the only way he could imagine her. His construction can only be rooted in that reminder of the past, rather than in a true contention with what she may have become. It’s why he’s chasing the “before” – why he’s drawn to the dead. “Phoenix” is interpretive in the moral judgment of its characters, as the emotions at play are authentically inexplicable. Hoss’ embodiment of Nelly is both thick and defined, but only because the actress brings to her a stringent, compelling perspective. The character is introduced as beyond vulnerable – a likely shell of her former self. But as Nelly recreates herself for the man with whom she once shared a life, Hoss imbues her with deepening resolve. Her burgeoning strength radiates. It’s a long tradition in theater and cinema, to act through acting and to give a performance about performance. But here, it’s a window into a sharper concept. Nelly is acting out herself, and as a result, Hoss is essentially playing the past. That characterization is realized within an aesthetic of impassioned melodrama and inevitable menace. At its core, “Phoenix” is a tautly executed mood piece, swerving messily between genres but kept in total control due to its deliberate artistry. One could call it a ghost story, too; it percolates with tension, sustaining its mood by
image courtesy of cinemapolis.org
situating characters’ actions within that sense of ensuing dread. To close the film, a dolled-up Nelly sings to her husband “Speak Low,” the 1943 Ogden Nash ballad. She’s still concealed in her mask. In the music, the film unabashedly swells. Nelly’s sound, finally discovered, leaves you hypnotized. And the final image thrusts “Phoenix” towards an ending of fatalistic irony. Yet the song itself is what guides “Phoenix” to its conclusion. The words say it all.
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Wall previews BY GIULIA HEYWARD Friday, Sept. 18 Pool Party Wall Pool Party Wall will be hosted by thesis students Garret Murto and Zachary Poe. “Pool Party Wall began two years ago as Zack’s inspiration to expand the use of all of New College’s facilities for entertainment and fun by hosting a Wall at the Fitness Center Pool,” Murto said. “This will be the third year that this Wall has been hosted and Zack and I are hoping that it will continue even after our graduation.” Wall-goers can expect an open-grill with vegetarian options and “banging” music. The event will be substance-free and no open containers will be allowed. Saturday, Sept. 19 Innocent Wall Innocent Wall will be hosted by thesis students Nasib McIntosh and Alejandro Rosado. “I was inspired by the music of Black Kray aka Gucci Kray la Goth,” McIntosh said. “In his work we perceived an absolute quality which can be captured by the word ‘innocent.’ We will be as children; honest to our desires both creative and destructive. The Wall will be a throwback to an era of simplicity as well as a beacon pointing the way towards new horizons and conceptions of love, humanity and harmony. Never forget 1999 to 2005, the glory days. The struggle for reparations and justice for the horrors of slavery, colonialism and imperialism continues. How will you free yourself from the chains?” Wall attendees, who have been promised “thug ballads” all night long, should congregate in Palm Court. “Be prepared to plumb the deepest depths of your soul for that thing that you lost touch with long ago but have always yearned to rediscover,” McIntosh continued. “Shine on; avast, shine on!”
Familiar growing pains BY BIANCA BENEDI In the Spring 2015 semester, the student body voted to change the name of the New College Student Alliance (NCSA) body known as the Council of Student Affairs (CSA) to the Council of Student Life (CSL). This council serves to represent students and their needs across various fields of student life, and it is not the first rendition of such a group to do so. The 1980s group, the Student Life Committee (SLC), dedicated themselves to similar topics, but without student control. A mixed faculty-and-student group, old minutes from the SLC document their efforts to work with students on current issues and pressing matters. Although the time between today’s Council and the SLC is a hefty 25 years or more, the issues seem amusingly familiar. “Smillie read a letter from Oare Dozier-Henry urging our support for the
referendum issue on providing funding for the Counseling Center,” minutes from a November 1988 meeting read. It was only early this September that the Towne Meeting passed a resolution granting the Counseling and Wellness Center a $20,000 supplement from the NCSA reserve fund in order to bolster and keep intact the psychiatry program. The “peer-counseling project” mentioned in the same minutes as an assignment for Henckell (presumably Professor Henckell) sounds similar to the peer mentorship program advocated for by current third year NCSA coPresident Shelby Statham and former NCSA president Carlos Santos. Yet another set of minutes reflected another current issue. Notes from an October 1984 meeting discuss the need for more dorms and cost-effective ways to expand student accommodations, including building dorms that are “contiguous with current dorms,” because “the cost would be significantly
less than to construct new buildings.” Earlier this summer, Student Affairs had to reserve rooms at the nearby Holiday Inn hotel as a safety measure for student overflow. Although they did not need to use them, dorm capacity has once again reached its peak, and the construction of new dorms for the campus is now on the table. In the notes from the February 1984 meeting, members asked about Palm Court Party (PCP) security, suggesting student patrols as a safety measure. A November 1988 meeting discussed the athletics fee, at the time approximately 66 cents per credit hour, and a December 1988 meeting discussed raising the activities and services fee to $1 per credit hour (a fee raise which, the notes add, students opposed due to “inadequate student consultation”). Finally, an October 1988 meeting included an agenda item regarding
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The Windmill Theatre Company Presents nightnight by Lucas Hnath SUBMITTED BY MONICA CROSS New College of Florida’s Windmill Theatre Company presents nightnight at 8 p.m. September 24th and 25th, at 8:30 p.m. Saturday the 26th, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday the 27th at the New College Black Box Theater, on campus. This piece is co-directed by third year student, Logan Schulman and thesis student, Michael Valdez; similarly all of the performers are New College students. In nightnight, written by Lucas Hnath, three scientists are trapped
in a single-cabin space shuttle together for a six month mission. They each have their own ideas of what it means to be an astronaut, and each will do whatever they feel necessary to reap the glory that comes with that title. Nightnight explores our deepest understandings of ego, anxiety, the failures of language, and the hopelessness of loneliness. This piece attempts at a breakage from our ideas of theatrical space and time, and in doing so, enables the audience to take the adventurous ascent — or maybe descent — out into the unknown, along with our heroic cosmonauts.
Nightnight portrays some of the hardest ethical choices humans could have to make, and will force the audience to decide if they would do the same, or if they even could. The Windmill Theatre Company’s production of nightnight on September 24th through September 27th in the Black Box Theatre is a free performance and open to the public, with a suggested donation at the door of $10. Space is limited. If you would like to reserve seats, please email the the Box Office at bbt@ncf.edu.
EVENTS: SEPT. 16-23
Off Campus
On Campus Wednesday, September 16 • 8:00 p.m. Anime Club Meeting @ HCL 8 Thursday, September 17 • 12:00 - 1:30 p.m. Constitution Day Observance @ Hamilton Center • 6:00 p.m. RA Event: Self Care Jars @ GDC Friday, September 18
• 12:00 p.m. Feminist Fridays @ ACE Lounge
• 12:30 - 2:00 p.m. Student Writing Discussion @ College Hall Music Room • 6:00 p.m. Jesus Club @ GDC • 7:00 p.m. Radical Acts of Kindness @ GDC
• 8:00 p.m. Movie Double Feature Nights @ HCL 7
Saturday, September 19 • 8:00 p.m. Movie Double Feature Nights @ HCL 7 Sunday, September 20 • 4:00-8:00 p.m. Free HIV testing @ NCSA office
Wednesday, September 16 • 8:00-9:30 a.m. Free Yoga @ Siesta Key Beach • 7:00 p.m. Team Trivia @ Growler’s Pub Thursday, September 17
• 5:00 p.m. Art after 5 @ Ringling Museum
Key Beach
• 6:00 p.m. Nokomis beach drum
circle @ Casey Key • 9:00 p.m. Live music @ Growler’s Pub Sunday, September 20
• 7:30 p.m. Joseph’s Coat Skyspace
• 8:00 p.m. Game night @ Growler’s
Friday, September 18 • 8:00-9:30 a.m. Free Yoga @ Siesta Key Beach • 5:00 p.m. Towles Court Art Walk @ Towles Court
Monday, September 21 • 8:00-9:30 a.m. Free Yoga @ Siesta Key Beach • 9:00 p.m. Karaoke @ Growler’s Pub
Saturday, September 19 • 7:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Dowtown
• 9:00 p.m. Open Mic @ Growler’s
light show @ Ringling Museum
Want your event to be featured on our calendar? Email ncfcatalyst@gmail.com by the Friday prior to your event.
Farmer’s Market
• 8:00-9:30 a.m. Free Yoga @ Siesta
Pub
Tuesday, September 22 Pub
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insurance could see her, but they could see her here,” Dr. Fisher said. “[Dr. D’Angelo’s] problem was, she said, she only made about 40 percent of her fee because people’s insurance is basically difficult. People have a not great plan because insurance is so expensive, so they have a five or six thousand dollar deductible or a $200 co-pay, and they can’t afford to do it.” After Gov. Rick Scott shot down the health services fee increase, New College Student Alliance (NCSA) copresidents Paige Pellaton and Shelby Statham agreed to bring the issue forward. They met with Dean of Student Affairs Tracy Murray, Vice President for Finance and Administration John Martin and Dr. to discuss the Board of Governors’ problem with raising student fees. “Shelby and I originally ran on a platform including searching for ways to provide free psychiatric care for our students through the CWC,” Pellaton said. “The process for making a reserve fund request involves getting approval from the Student Allocations Committee, who, if in favor, approve to send the request to the Towne Meeting for a vote.” This year, the A&S reserve request was to be voted on in the first Towne Meeting. However, the psychiatrist’s contract was not received and reviewed by the Student Allocations Committee (SAC) in time. “As such, at the first Towne Meeting we voted on whether or not the student body believed this was worth pursuing for transparency,” Pellaton explained. “When they voted in favor of continuing negotiations, Alex Galarce, then SAC Chair, called an emergency
SAC meeting to vote on the reserve fund request.” The SAC approved the reserve fund request causing speakers of the Towne Meeting, third-years McAllister Grant and Evan Solyts-Gilbert, to call an emergency Towne Meeting in order to vote on the request before Sept. 4. Otherwise, the psychiatrist would have walked away from the contract. “Luckily, the CWC reserve fund request was approved as a nonrecurring, one-year $20,000 request to fund psychiatric care through the CWC on Fridays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.,” Pellaton said. Much like Pellaton, Dr. Fisher was unsure of how the request would be received. “I thought the way Shelby and Paige were speaking and Sophia Doescher, our CWC [representative], that it was possible that it would,” Dr. Fisher said. “But I have had multiple disappointments with trying to have other things happen over time, so I didn’t know. I was hopeful.” Pellaton and Statham were passionate about this issue, though having been on the SAC for the past two years, they were worried administration was asking students to pay such a large amount of money for services the administration could not offer. “Once [Statham and I] and the SAC found out the psychiatric services would be free for students who are seeing a therapist at the CWC, we were more in favor of the motion passing,” Pellaton said. “This is definitely a valuable service, and seeing a psychiatrist can be an exceptional financial hardship for some, so we felt it was something that students should not be asked to go without.”
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connotations, but to this campus, it is more related to student empowerment.” Thesis student Stefan Drakulich stated in an email “I think it’s just as much a play on the word as PCP was.” The problem, even to those who oppose the name change, is not necessarily the new name of the celebration, but rather the differences in the celebration itself. Drakulich stressed that the atmosphere of parties on campus is slowly pushing people into their rooms, where they abuse substances more so than if they had stayed outside. Expressing his frustration, he continued, “Losing something that’s been one of the keystones of NCF culture so easily to the wills of the administration has made me disheartened even further. It’s just one in a long list of slow changes the school has made with the students completely powerless.” Drakulich concluded, “I think it comes down to what we make of it. If we truly get our hands tied with how the party is thrown, then we’ll have to reconsider how we wish the school to continue. We’re the students, after all.”
We’re late; Darling we’re late; The curtain descends; Everything ends; Too soon, too soon. Drawn to the dead, indeed. Strong Sat “Phoenix” is now playing at Burns Court Cinemas
Archives CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10 the Food Services on campus. “[Oare] suggested that New College Students are not aware that DAKA is paid to offer the service but does not make a profit from it ... Oare’s final point was that this is a major problem.” The issue of food services being cost effective will be familiar to any students present before the 2014-2015 academic year, when former food service provider Sodexo’s contract had ended and the school had to obtain bids from new providers. Expansion happens at New College, but we cannot seem to outgrow our growing pains.
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any applications.” Murray stated that the school has occasionally kept graduating RAs on for an additional year after graduating. According to Murray, there have also been changes in the criterion for RHDs this year, which have largely been influenced by the deaths of first-year student, Julian Toomsen-Hall, and University of Central Florida (UCF) student Dylan Besser last May. The position for RHD requires a bachelor’s degree while the position for CLC requires a master’s. RHDs are also expected to have had experience working at other colleges and expertise dealing with crisis and intervention. “We changed our focus in the position to focus on dealing with students in crisis and mental health and crisis management,” Murray said. When asked about his predictions for the success of the new RHDs, Murray pointed to the unique structure and community of the school as an inevitable obstacle for new hires. “I’ve been here eight years and we have always had a difficult transition bringing people in because of the cultural piece, and the community piece,” Murray said. “There is always adjustment. I think that, unfortunately, there is a serious incident that occurred where that [...] could not have happened. What we are planning to do is find ways to introduce them to the campus with student organizations and making small contacts with different groups of people. Every school will say that it’s student centered and that students have a role in the decision making process,” CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 Murray said. “And then you come here of between 120,000 and 200,000 and you see what it’s really like.” migrants. Migrants have been taking extreme and often dangerous measures in an effort to get to and through European borders. Traveling primarily through the central and eastern Mediterranean and Balkan areas, traveling by truck, bus and boat, often illegally, in order to cross. In April, a boat carrying 800 migrants capsized off the coast of Libya, allegedly due to overcrowding. On Sept. 13, a boat carrying 100 migrants capsized while crossing the Aegean Sea, resulting in 34 deaths, including 11 children. More than 2,600 people crossing the Mediterranean area have died in 2015. In France, many migrants have been taking the chance and jumping onto trucks and trains crossing the channel into the UK, which is not a part of the Schengen agreement. Europe is scrambling to process migrants and distribute them functionally, while migrants are attempting to secure their best possible chances, often putting the two groups at odds with each other. But with a civil war raging in Syria and poverty plaguing much of the Middle East and Africa, there is little to indicate that the crisis will ease up any time soon. possible addition to the Quantitative Resource Center (QRC) or a separate resource. “[The program is] to get us to get our hands dirty and learn how to work with different piece of data from across a variety of different fields and topics,” Robart said. Should the December decision go well, McDonald has plans lined up for the rest of the school year, including an Independent Study Project (ISP) with Professor Flakne on Ethics for Data Science, and spring semester courses such as Statistical Inference II and Machine Learning and Optimization. “I’m really excited about [the ISP],” McDonald said. “I think I’m gonna be here in January so I can sit in on that.” “In between [now and the decision], a lot of things have to be constructed,” Professor McDonald said. “Networks have to be built involving where students come from, marketing materials have to be developed. There are additional structures that I’m sure we have not addressed yet ... and there are all the other things that we forgot.” “There is already a data science seminar that will run throughout the year,” McDonald added. The first seminar is planned for Sept. 18 at 4:00 p.m. Each seminar will bring in speakers across an expanse of topics within the data science field. The pieces for the program are falling in place; the rest of the semester is a waiting game.
Syria
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Free Hatha yoga on Siesta Key beach BY HALEY JORDAN Tourists and locals alike frequent the soft quartz sand and calm waters of Siesta Key Beach, but in the breezy mornings before the crowds descend, there is more to the “No. 1 beach in the USA,” than mere sun and surf. Outdoor hatha yoga specialist Avananda Csiszar has been offering free yoga classes on Siesta Key Beach for the past six years. Csiszar teaches anywhere from 25-400 people Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and runs her classes exclusively on donations. “It’s a spiritual practice after all, it’s not a thing, it’s not a product, and spiritual understanding should be free,” Csiszar commented. The classes start at 8:00 a.m. in summer and spring and 9:00 a.m. in fall and winter, usually lasting an hour and a half or longer. Classes are located near the red lifeguard stand. “You would be surprised even in a class that large, you’re not disturbed... people are very quiet and respectful and very sweet, and there’s young and old, every age imaginable comes,” Csiszar said. She came to Sarasota from Hawaii, where she ran a surfing school for eight years, to take care of her late mother. “I like to tell people I was born in 1952,” Csiszar said. “I’m 63 years old,
and I am in extremely good health. I want people to know that because I want young people to know that it’s a myth! The whole thing about deteriorating as you age, it’s not true, it’s how you take care of yourself, and you have to start young because it’s a matter of practice.” Csiszar has been a vegetarian since the age of 14, has taught yoga for 40 years and advocates the lifestyle to anyone. Csiszar writes on her website, “When you practice yoga outside you feel as if the natural environment becomes a wondrous spiritual sanctuary for enriching and broadening your experience of each pose and yourself.” Csiszar emphases the style of hatha yoga, which she says is derived from the body’s “natural inclination and rhythms.” The class is open to all levels of experience. Beginners can easily follow Csiszar’s instructions, and no two classes are exactly alike. The only things one needs to participate in “yoga the way it was meant to be,” is a yoga mat or towel, sunscreen, water and the desire to participate in what Csiszar proclaims is “one of the most beautiful therapies... that will take you until the day you die.” For more information on Csiszar’s classes visit http://yogaonsiestabeach.com/
(top) Outdoor Hatha Yoga Specialist Avananda Csiszar offers free yoga. (left) All ages and experience levels are welcome to attend yoga sessions. (right) Classes are offered Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday mornings by the red lifeguard stand. all photos Haley Jordan/Catalyst