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OCTOBER 11, 2017 VOLUME XXXV ISSUE V
New College of Florida's student-run newspaper
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A brief history of the NCPD: past, present and future BY COLE ZELZNAK “Let me think of all the things that have changed so much,” Sergeant Mike Mahaney pondered, sitting in the driver’s seat of an unmarked squad car, a battleship grey Chevrolet Impala. Sgt. Mahaney, hired in 2003, is the New College Police Department’s (NCPD) most senior law enforcement officer (LEO). Campus security has changed drastically since the early 2000s, but its evolution since New College of Florida’s (NCF) 1964 charter class presents an deeper story about the changing role of policing on college campuses. In 1970, the Florida legislature passed a law mandating public universities recruit security officers with the same training and authority as city, county and state police. Before NCF’s 1975 merger with the University of South Florida (USF), the then-
photo courtesy of Officer Kelley Masten
An unidentified University Police officer and another unidentified individual in front of Hamilton Center in the late 1970s or early 1980s.
private college was patrolled by unarmed security guards. Records from the few years after the merger suggest that armed LEOs were a generally unwelcome development. In a 1977 faculty meeting, the
late Professor Emerita of Political Science, Margaret L. Bates, suggested that students felt that the college’s security had become more “obnoxious,” and that students felt they were living under a police state.
“Some claim that the presence of armed police and the bureaucratic USF administration administrative structure are severely damaging the anarchic, innovative spirit that prevailed when New College was a private institution. This is the hottest issue on campus,” a 1978 issue of the Yale Daily News notes. These sentiments are not new, and they persist even as students graduate and officers retire. In 1994, former New College Student Alliance (NCSA) President Ed Moore worked with administration and the NCPD to organize a meeting to defuse tensions between police and students. The meeting was not well-attended. “Campus culture has changed since I’ve been here, largely due to the radically different, almost antagonistic, approach the campus police have taken,” thesis student Michael continued on p. 11
‘What they don’t teach you is how to deal with the aftermath’ Alum and KNPR producer Casey Morell on the Las Vegas shooting BY GIULIA HEYWARD
https://doc-0k-18-docs. googleusercontent.com/ docs/securesc/s7jurnmk912se8sp3mgg3hd8llrh0uos/obdpo7fpcdn719 co01n4qb7t57rv346b/1 506448800000/0533393 9401667025082/025783 83506865688437/0B4ze ECbsUTILVjVXY25YUU 52ZUk?e=download
Alum Casey Morell (‘08) graduated from the New College of Florida in 2012 with an Area of Concentration (AOC) in Political Science/International and Area Studies. He served as the General Editor of the Catalyst during his thesis year before later attending the University of Missouri, where he obtained his M.A. in Journalism. Today, he is the coordinating producer of KNPR, a npr member radio station located in Las Vegas, Nevada. Morell spoke with current General Editor and thesis student, Giulia Heyward, in a phone interview about his experiences covering the Oct. 1 Las Vegas shooting at the Route 91 country music festival. GH: Can you talk about what you do with NPR? CM: My job is essentially making sure that the daily talk show that
WHAT’S INSIDE
Photo courtesy of Casey Morell
Casey Morell worked a 22-hour shift reporting on the Las Vegas Shooting, mere miles from his home, on Oct. 1.
the Nevada Public Radio puts on, which is called State of Nevada, stays on the air. I help organize the show that we run, figuring out how long segments on the broadcast need to be, I work with different producers
TAKE A KNEE
in our newsroom on booking guests, editing scripts, things like that. I handle all of the technical work for our show, so that’s directing, broadcast when it goes out and making post production work that needs to
BIKE SHOPPE INCLUSIVE
be done like editing for time or making it sound better. The easiest way to describe it is just making sure all the trains are running on time and are on the air everyday. GH: Can you tell me where you were when the Las Vegas shooting occurred? CM: I need to back up a little. My typical work week is Monday through Friday and I work from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., so usually I am in bed between 10:30 and 9:00 p.m. every night. Sunday night I was in bed around 9:30, I think I fell asleep around 10:00 and I got a phone call around 11:00. As you probably know as a journalist, when you get phone calls in the middle of the night, it’s probably for a good reason. I looked at the phone and noticed [...] that the phone number was from Ireland, so I continued on p. 10
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Giant tree rat species, Uromys vika, found at last BY MIRANDA GALE What lives in trees, is a footand-a-half long, can punch holes in coconuts with its teeth and has eluded mammalogists for two decades? For all of the aspiring naturalists out there, the answer is the newly discovered Uromys vika, a species of giant rat whose existence has been rumored but never scientifically confirmed until now. Captured from a commercially-felled tree on Vangunu Island, it is the first new rodent to be catalogued on the Solomon Islands in 80 years. The sole specimen to have ever been apprehended, the rat was photographed but died in captivity a few
days later due to injuries sustained during its capture. After burial in a stone tomb, its remains--at that point decayed to the point of skeletal--were excavated, flown to the Queensland Museum and then examined by mammalogist Tyrone H. Lavery, a PhD student who had been trying to find this rat since hearing stories about it from residents of Vangunu in 2010. It resembled rats native to the surrounding islands, but had several key morphological differences including a shorter maxillary tooth row and shorter incisive foramina. Additionally, molecular analysis provided enough evidence for recognition of a distinct taxon. Many different species of rats
live in the Solomon Islands. While most locals can discern between Rattus exulans--which has lived in the Solomon Islands for an estimated 2,000 to 6,000 years, and is known as kutu in the Marovo and Vangunu languages--and other native rats, younger generations have a harder time differentiating native rats from the more recently arrived Rattus rattus. The rat identified by Lavery is called vika by the locals and while older generations have seen the it before, almost none of the younger generation had seen one. Vika is elusive, which makes casual rat identification difficult for younger residents of Vangunu, especially as logging identifies and more species are threatened.
As of now, U. vika is categorized as “critically endangered” due to its low population density, narrow range of habitat and the rapid spread of logging on Vangunu. Lavery urges community-led conservation efforts, which landowners of three tribal areas in the Vangunu Caldera have expressed support for. However, outside parties seek logging rights to parts of the land and it is feared the any more destruction of habitat could be irreversibly detrimental to this species. Information for this article was gathered from washingtonpost.com and The Journal of Mammalogy.
Miami Dolphins offensive line coach caught snorting white substance, resigns BY RYAN PAICE “I am resigning from my position with the Miami Dolphins and accept full responsibility for my actions,” Dolphins’ offensive line coach Chris Foerster said in an official statement on Oct. 9, less than a day after a video of the coach snorting a white substance through a $20 bill was released on the Facebook by Las Vegas-based model Kijuana Nige.
The Dolphins, who are currently last in their division at 2-2 and had already lost their starting quarterback in Ryan Tannehill before the start of the season, released a statement regarding Foerster’s. “We were made aware of the video late last night and have no tolerance for this behavior,” the team said. “After speaking with Chris this morning, he accepted full responsibility and we accepted his resigna-
tion effective immediately. “Although Chris is no longer with the organization, we will work with him to get the help he needs during this time.” Foerster had been an assistant coach in the National Football League (NFL) since 1992, serving as an offensive line coach for both the San Francisco 49ers and the Miami Dolphins. The person filling the offensive
line coach position has not yet been detailed, though it is expected for either Chris Kuper—who had been Foerster’s assistant—or offensive coordinator Clyde Christensen to fill the role. Information gathered from Bleacher Report, the NY Post and The Palm Beach Post.
US vote on death penalty causes outrage BY MIRANDA GALE In a turn of events that appalled activists, allies and members of the LGBTQ+ community, the United States voted against a United Nations (UN) motion at the Human Rights Council in Geneva that urged states that had not already abolished the death penalty to ensure that it was not imposed in a way that violates international human rights law. Key phrasing in the motion included “[urging] States that have not yet abolished the death penalty” to avoid using it as punishment for “apostasy, blasphemy, adultery and consensual same-sex relationships”. The motion, titled “The Question of the Death Penalty”, was presented on Sept. 29 at the Human
Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland. Twenty-seven countries voted in favor, seven abstained and 13 voted against it, including Botswana, Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, China, India, Iraq, Japan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and the United States. The motion passed despite opposition. Language in the motion focused on the fact that the death penalty is imposed disproportionately against “poor or economically vulnerable individuals, foreign nationals, individuals exercising the rights to freedom of religion or belief and freedom of expression [...] persons belonging to racial and ethnic minorities... [and] individuals with mental or intellectual disabilities”. It is also used in a discriminatory fashion “based
"Is it cool that my headline stays like that? Seriously?!" © 2017 the Catalyst. All rights reserved. The Catalyst is available online at www.ncfcatalyst.com, facebook.com/NCFcatalyst instagram.com/NCFcatalyst twitter.com/ncfcatalyst The Catalyst is an academic tutorial sponsored by Professor Maria D. 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.
on gender or sexual orientation”. Additionally, the motion sought to protect pregnant women and individuals who committed crimes while under age of 18. Despite the outrage, the U.S.’s choice to vote against the motion isn’t a new one. According to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (USUN) Nikki Haley, and confirmed by Forbes and other news sites, the United States has never actually voted to restrict the death penalty, although ambassadors have sometimes abstained from voting. The reasoning behind this is that avoiding condemnation of the death penalty abroad allows the U.S. to continue to use capital punishment at home in 31 states, including Florida. Following outrage over the vote,
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Ambassador Haley tweeted “there was NO vote by the USUN that supported the death penalty for gay people”. “The headlines and much of the reporting that has come out of that has been misleading,” Department of State spokesperson Heather Nauert said. “We voted against that resolution because...it called for the abolition of the death penalty altogether. We had hoped for a balanced and inclusive resolution that would better reflect the positions of states that can apply the death penalty lawfully, as the United States does. The United States unequivocally condemns the death penalty for conduct such as homosexuality, blasphemy, adultery, and apostasy."
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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Program promises to impart students with toolkit for change BY JASON D'AMOURS
Director of Student Activities and Campus Engagement Tara Centeno and Director of Diversity and Inclusion Autumn Harrell recently sent a somewhat mysterious, but promising, email to the students list promoting a program they wish to launch at the start of mod two. The program, Agents of Change, is an hour-per-month commitment that promises to help those passionate about social justice and fashioning change build a toolkit to achieve their goals--a toolkit that importantly integrates diversity, social justice and leadership. The one-of-a-kind program was handcrafted by both Centeno and Harrell, but greatly influenced by similar programs at colleges across the country. Specifically, they looked at programs involving leadership, social justice and diversity at New College’s aspiring institutions, like U.C. Berkeley. “It was late spring when we first started talking about it and when we realized that we both wanted to do similar things,” Harrell said. “We recognized we were both doing this separately and decided to make a concerted effort to look into programs and what this could look like.” Over the summer, while students were home on break, Harrell and Centeno were huddled over a small circular desk in Harrell’s office, flipping and scrolling through pages of notes, research and examples of comparable initiatives. Through many conversations and shared google documents, Agents of Change was brought to fruition. “This came out of random conversations Autumn and I had over the summer about different articles we were reading, looking at our positions at other schools, reflecting on some of the conferences we’ve been to and looking at other campuses,” Centeno said. “There are these institutions that do academically similar to us, whose students rally around similar causes and engage in similar ways and are very issue driven and justice driven. And we recognized that our students here are so committed to that and so excited about that. So we wanted to really support them in that more.” Centeno and Harrell purposefully constructed the program to be a fit for anyone, regardless of participants’ leadership capacities, social justice experience and even learning style. In each 60-minute session, students can expect a mini-lecture, discussions, a group activity and time for reflection. Centeno and Harrell hope that these short but impactful meetings will help students become
image courtesy of Autumn Harrell and Tara Centeno
The Activist Newsletter Phoro courtesy of Jasmine Respess
BY ANYA CONTRERAS-GARCIA
Students interested in joining Agents of Change, a unique program designed to bestow students passionate about social justice with a toolkit to achieve their goals, should contact Autumn Harrell and Tara Centeno.
well-rounded leaders who are malleable to different circumstances and confident in working with others. “People who participate will surely come out of this experience with gained knowledge and tools that they can implement and employ to achieve whatever their personal goals might be,” Centeno said. “Even if their goals are just to communicate better, we’re going to talk about how to be a strong communicator across different styles--so making sure that, one, you are able to listen and truly hear people, and two, be able to deliver a message that is not just for auditory learners, or just for visual learners.” The program may appear to focus on helping an individual become a better leader or helping an individual foster improved communication prowess, but really it is meant to help students work and engage with others in productive, vulnerable and sensitive ways. “During planning we talked about having a component on leadership, specifically what you might think of as traditional leadership topics of ethics and communication, paired with diversity and social justice components,” Harrell said. “So when Tara was talking about communicating differently, I thought of different cultures. So in that session, we will talk about both. Are you communicating in a way that as many people as possible in the room can receive it and understand your message?” Although it is only in the beginning stages, Agents of Change already has a long future ahead. Centeno and continued on p. 11
This week (10/11 – 10/19), activists have the opportunity to participate in open mics, film screenings, festivals, marches and protests! Read on if you want to get involved in the community regarding LGBTQ+ rights, the visual and performing arts, racial justice or farmworker’s rights. Tue., Oct. 11, Coming Out Stories Open Mic @ 5 – 8 P.M. 2227 Central Ave, St. Pete, FL 33713 Join the LGBT Welcome Center in sharing your short stories, poetry or music in observance on National Coming Out Day. There will be light snacks and refreshments available. This event is free and open to the public. For more info, check out the event page on Facebook. Thurs., Oct. 12, LGTQB+ Film Series: Other People @ 7 – 9 P.M. Gulfport Public Library, Friends Room, 5501 28th Ave S, Gulfport, FL 33707 The LGBTQ Resource Center at Gulfport Public Library is proud to continue its monthly LGBTQ Film Series on with Other People, an independent “dramedy” about a gay son returning home to care for his dying mother. Popcorn, candy, bottled water and soda will be available. Donations will be accepted to benefit the LGBTQ Resource Center. For more info, check out the event page on Facebook. Fri., Oct. 13, Tampa Bay International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival @ 6:30 – 11:30 P.M. AMC Sundial 20, 151 2nd Ave
N, St. Pete, FL 33701 Come Out St Pete is a Grand Central District Association event in collaboration with neighboring districts and other non-profit organizations. This event coincides with National Coming Out Day and is a celebration of St. Petersburg's rich LGBTQ history. Sat., Oct. 14, LGBTQ+ Community March @ 9 A.M. – 12 P.M. Seminole Park, 2900 3rd Ave N, St. Pete, FL 33713 Join Project No Labels and Come Out St. Pete for this march uniting the Tampa and St. Pete LGBTQ+ communities. With proposed religious freedom acts, a trans military service ban, rampant “bathroom bills” and other attacks on LGBTQ+ equality, now is the time to join together and stand for tolerance and justice. The event will begin with a conversation with elected officials from 9 – 10 A.M. followed by a 1.2-mile march from 10 A.M. – 12 P.M. For more info or to register for the event, check out projectnolabels.org or the event page: goo.gl/u3jMh5 Gainesville, FL 32611 Have an event that you want put in our activist newsletter? Send an email to ncfcatalyst@ gmail.com!
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Sarasota Climate Justice Coalition Kicks off its Campaign for Solar at the Reserve BY TIM MANNING Movement for Renewables in Sarasota Earlier this year, the city of Sarasota made a pledge to convert to using completely renewable energies by the year 2030. A contract with FPL means that the target date for a complete residential switch is more conservative--2045--but nevertheless, the city stands poised for radical changes in the way it gets it energy. Communities and environmental activists have their work cut out for them--a pledge far from being a binding commitment and farther from being a clear path--so the onus is on local individuals and organizations to ensure that changes happen. After being the driving force behind Sarasota's spring pledge to switch to renewable energies, the Sarasota Climate Justice Coalition had its kickoff meeting at The Reserve this past week. The agenda for the meeting focused on establishing a few points of interest and putting together working commissions of local individuals to drive initiatives forward in those areas. The underlying theme of the evening was solar. Due to Sarasota’s geography, it represents the most feasible path forward to a green energy future. It also has, in recent years, become a more appealing and popular energy option. “There's been a broad outpouring of support because renewable energy is not only cleaner but is now also cost-competitive with fossil fuels. And over the long run, it's actually
cheaper. The economics have shifted dramatically over the past ten years, as has the public's awareness about the risks of climate disruption,” Sean Sellers, one of the driving activists behind Sarasota’s pledge, said. But, as a production method that could reshape electricity grids, renewable energy also could reshape the way energy is distributed, lessening reliance on large electricity providers and creating energy networks less likely to crash when put under stress by events like hurricanes. Sellers spoke about solar’s capacity to do just that, while creating more social equity. “In terms of economics, energy efficiency, rooftop solar and community solar can reduce energy bills for cost-burdened households while providing skilled employment pathways,” Sellers said. “In terms of public health, climate mitigation will reduce the risks of disproportionate impacts from extreme weather events, heat waves, poor air quality, and job market disruption for vulnerable residents who have fewer financial or physical means to adapt, recover and rebuild.“ Positioned for Action In many ways, Sarasota is ripe for a solar revolution. A Washington Post article recently pointed out that, as opposed to after Hurricane Katrina when only 39 percent of Americans believed that climate change contributed to the force of the storm, 55 percent of those polled believed that global warming contributed to the intensity of this past hurricane season. This change pro-
vides the impetus for a response to the hurricanes that would focus not only on recovery, but also on redesigning and renovating infrastructure to be greener and more resilient. Some benefits of solar have clear and direct impacts on how municipalities fare when hit by natural disasters. “When paired with smart microgrids and/or battery storage, energy efficiency and renewable energy will reduce vulnerabilities to extended, costly and potentially fatal power outages such as those experienced following Hurricane Irma,” Sellers said. These steps in environmental action and innovation also have the potential to promote equity. Sarasota, which landed the number the 16th-highest spot on a 2016 list of the United States’s cities with the highest wealth disparity, stands to benefit from that side of solar. How New College Factors in A few central areas of focus came out of the meeting. New College, presented as offering the potential for a symbolic victory and a large consumer of electricity in Sarasota, stands as one of the central points of focus for the campaign. “As one of the biggest consumers of electricity in Sarasota, New College should, as its students are requesting, develop its own 100 percent renewable energy timelines,” Sellers said. “This will help ensure that the school is a responsible steward of its financial and ecological resources as it expands its footprint in the coming years, while enhancing
its local reputation as a thought leader and good neighbor.” At NCF, students have already driven the school towards the goal of 100 percent renewables. Last year, during the construction of the new Heiser building, the Council for Green Affairs (CGA) provided funding for New College to put solar panels onto the building. Lili Benitez, a second-year environmental studies student who attended the kickoff meeting, believes that the CGA is positioned to push for more changes and progress. “Going forward into the growth plan, we have a landscape rep who is supposed to be talking with Alan Burr so that Green Affairs is represented. And I know that sustainability is a part of the growth plan,” Benitez said. However, she acknowledges that even though there have been successes, applying pressure to the administration and those who orchestrate the growth plan will be an imperative part of the process of making New College more sustainable. “For the New Heiser, we did put solar panels on that [...] but in the future, ideally we would have buildings that are predominantly powered by solar.” As New College enters this period of growth, student pressure and activism will determine whether green infrastructure will occur. Information about sustainability on campus can be found by contacting the Vice President of Green Affairs.
Submission: Žižkov TV tower loses its ten crawling baby sculptures SUBMITTED BY CASSIE MANZ Several blocks from my apartment resides the second ugliest building in the world. Ignorant of this harsh label, the tower stands out from the Prague skyline as a relic of the country’s communist past. The Žižkov Television Tower, once called “Jakeš [Warning] Finger” by the locals--a reference to the last leader of the communist Czech Republic--stands 700 feet above the small neighborhood surrounding it. It’s the tallest building in the city and offers a panoramic view from the top. It’s overshadowing height is one of the reasons locals despised it from its inception. Nowadays, the tower is most well-known for the ten identical, crawling babies affixed to it. The babies are not the only interesting thing about the building-it has an intriguing and controversial political past. It was designed by architects Václav Aulický and Jiří
Kozák and built between 1985 and 1992, during the decline of the Communist regime in the Czech Republic. The tower functioned as a transmitter for broadcasting but it is rumored that communists built it to interfere with television and radio signals from the West, especially from Radio Free Europe, an organization aiming to deliver uncensored news to a Communist-controlled eastern Europe. The tower is right next to the remains of an old Jewish cemetery. Although the official line is that the cemetery was moved before the tower was built, many Czechs say, including my professor who took a group of us there, that the communists chose to build the tower on top of the cemetery. To do so, they simply dug up the Jewish graves that were in the way, with no regard for the bones. This deeply upset many residents of Prague and engendered the negative feelings towards the building.
The tower’s website fails to mention anything regarding the destruction of the Jewish cemetery. On the history page, it simply writes, “The remaining preserved part of the cemetery, where you will find tombstones of figures such as Franz Kafka, is now separated by the park walls.” In 2000, David Černý--a famous and controversial Czech artist--constructed the ten crawling, copper babies and affixed them to the building. After a period of exhibition, they were permanently installed in 2001. According to an article by Radio Praha, public reception to the tower increased positively after the babies arrived. Michal Zelenka, the tower’s administrator, told Radio Praha the babies make the tower seem more human. Černý gained notoriety after spray painting an old Soviet war tank pink, that had been placed in the center of Prague as a monument,
and subsequently being arrested. He is well-known for his sculpture of St. Wenceslas sitting atop a dead horse and a floating purple hand on the Vltava River with an outstretched middle finger pointing to the Prague Castle residence of Czech president Milos Zeman--famously known for his drunken debacle at the ceremonial display of the Czech crown jewels. If you haven’t seen it, Youtube it. Several days ago, the famous babies were taken down for a renovation. The sculptures stand over six feet tall and weigh 264 pounds. After 17 years exposed to the elements, Černý is anxious to see how the creations have fared. It is expected that the ten identical babies will return to the Žižkov TV Tower next Spring. Information for this article was gathered from www.radio.cz, www.cbc. ca, towerpark.cz, en.wikiarquitectura. com.
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Economic bubbles: Another crash on the horizon?
BY NOAH BASLAW
Have the leaders of the U.S. economy made the same short sighted play of ten years ago, the impetus to the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression? Stock markets, global housing markets, auto loans and corporate debt are all back to significant market highs, while the health of the U.S. economy looks uncertain enough for the Federal Reserve to continue implementing low interest rates which help the economy to expand. The Fed’s duty is to help the economy expand when it cannot alone, but these days the Federal Reserve officially reports an expanding economy while reiterating their stance on low interest rates for the foreseeable future. The central bank of the U.S. is not supposed to help a expanding economy, especially at unprecedented, historically low rates. The bubble leading to the Great Financial Crisis of 2008 occurred during a time of a historically low Federal Funds Rate, though this blame is contested by the Fed. “The Federal Reserve has been tussling with a succession of poor inflation readings since the spring,” the Financial Times (FT) reported, “casting doubt over its strategy for normalising interest rates.” The central bank neglects to notice how cheap dollars directly increase asset classes like real estate and stock markets while indirectly rising employment. The Federal Reserve conflates healthy inflation with rising gross domestic product (GDP) growth, value added into the economy each year. President Trump has been boasting about a three percent rise in GDP, and stocks are initially reacting well. At the last semiannual monetary policy report to the U.S. Congress--which oversees the Fed-Chairwoman of the Federal Reserve Janet Yellen noted, “The labor force participation rate has changed little, on net, this year,” though she did reiterate the official prediction of expansion in the economy for the next few years, citing an overall trend in rising employment. Despite an explicit mention official forecasts, no one seems able to actually predict the future. “At present, I see roughly equal odds that the U.S. economy's performance will be somewhat stronger or somewhat less strong than we currently project,” Yellen stated in conclusion. The median American family was richer in 1998 than today, which also has about 30 percent less wealth than at its peak in 2008, as reported by the Federal Reserve Bulletin.
The makings of financial crisis New College Professor of Economics Tarron Khemraj told the Catalyst, “We are in the ninth year of expansion, and given the historical average business cycle of eight-anda-half-years, there is a good chance that we are heading close to a recession, though I don’t anticipate the next recession to be that severe. “Recessions don’t have to be severe events, however those that are sparked by financial crises are really harsh--like the Great Depression which was triggered by stock price collapse--or the case of the Great Financial Crisis of 2009 subprime market collapse,” Khemraj said. In each of these cases, secondary markets--the buying and selling
long-term shareholders—like pension funds and retirees—because they allow managers to siphon away corporate cash that could have otherwise been spent on innovation, employment, wages, or expansion that would ensure the future success of the business,” Forbes said in paraphrase of economic researchers Robert Ayres and Michael Olenick. “From 2003 to 2012, companies in the S&P spent 54 percent of their earnings—a total of $2.4 trillion— to buy back their own stock [...] since 2010, over $3 trillion has been spent on buybacks by American companies,” Forbes reported. The ratio of corporate debt to output is at or near pre-crisis levels, according to Federal Reserve data. Si-
Photo courtesy of Federal Reserve Economic Data
This graph shows the level of debt a business takes on to finance their wealth, in relation to the equity (wealth) of the firm's shareholders.
of stocks and other securities--were over-invested into, and at a certain precipice investors lost confidence that the values will hold and sold accordingly. “When finance goes bad, you get severe recessions, and without intervention as in the case of the 30s you get a depression,” Khemraj continued. Though growing stock prices do help the portions of the economy invested in them and can rise employment, mal-investment in these markets takes away capital from real people who need real securities, like houses, food and jobs. U.S. stocks have recently hit a 20-year record, surpassing historic highs for the past six weeks, according to Reuters, while U.S. corporations have bought back their own stocks, at rates approaching precrisis levels to increase the value of them. “Buybacks may inflate shortterm earnings for the benefit of corporate executives and savvy activist hedge funds, but they harm
multaneously industrial sectors are starting to slip on the loans they took to recapitalize after the last shock. “Nearly one-in-five U.S. retailers are now rated in deep junk territory by S&P—double that of the start of the year. About 18 percent of U.S. retailers’ debt is rated in the ‘CCC’ or lower category by rating agency S&P Global,” FT reported. According to Standard & Poor's definition, a triple-C rating means a firm is “dependent upon favorable business, financial and economic conditions for the obligor to meet its financial commitments.” S&P analyst Dianne Vazza also noted for FT that “the retailing environment is not going to go back… These are permanent changes.” At the same time, monopolies like Amazon are dominating the market and there is limited demand for consumer goods.
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on the performance of other financial products like mortgages or other loans owned by large financial firms. CDOs for house mortgages were the substratum of the notorious house of cards which brought Wall Street, with most of America’s invested wealth, to its knees in 2008. Despite post-crisis regulation, the market for these exotic securities has begun again. “Fitch credit rating agency expects $3bn of issuance of nonprime mortgage-backed securities this year. The sector is on course to produce about $10bn this year—a tiny slice of America’s $1.6tn overall homeloan market but one that’s growing rapidly,” FT reported. Though the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act focused on stabilizing the mortgage industry, finance is in the business to relax standards and push more product. There are timely examples of this trend. American International Group (AIG), a multinational insurance corporation, was officially removed from Dodd-Frank Act oversight on Sept. 29, 2017. The Trump administration asserts regulation is stifling these industries. Many now fear the rollback of regulation for AIG is a foundation for future problems, according to the New York Times. “Ten years after the recession, low volatility [movement in the price] in financial markets coupled with near-zero interest rates have left investors looking for higher returns, at the expense of much higher risk,” Business Insider reported. Debtors are having a harder time paying back the value of what those securities are derived from. It does not take long for financial firms to roll up bad debt to push the game a bit further, making subprime securities markets larger and more volatile. It's a matter of when, not if, the economy will need stimulation from a recessionary spiral. The consequence of cheap currency from the Fed illustrates the two real classes in society. Those who earn on fixed-income and those who earn on equity. As more fiat currency is added to the market, people with fixed-incomes, most folks, get paid the same number but see rising prices in costs. Equity earners--the few-see their assets only increase in size. Most folks have significantly less leverage into wealth than the few.
Information gathered from Federal Reserve Testimony, Fannie Mae testiDebt and exotic securities mar- mony, Reuters, Pew Research, Market Watch, Forbes, Financial Times, New kets déjà vu York Times and Business Insider. Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDO) are securities that are based
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Take a Knee, Manatee!
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Manatee students press Board of Education for the right to kneel BY AZIA KEEVER “Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard,” the Supreme Court said in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, a famous case for students’ rights. It was overruling a previous one, Minersville School District v. Gobitis. Minersville School District v. Gobitis stated public schools could force students to salute the flag and recite the pledge regardless of student objection and religious faith. It was brought to the court’s attention because Jehovah's Witnesses, who believe that their allegiance belongs to God’s Kingdom and are not allowed to pledge allegiance to any other establishment or symbol. According to Oyez.com, a multimedia archive devoted to making the Supreme Court of the United States accessible to everyone, “refusal to salute was treated as "insubordination" and was punishable by expulsion and charges of delinquency.” Despite this decision being overruled, students’ rights to freedom of expression are still being infringed upon today. This time, student athletes are being told they do not have the right to decide for themselves to not stand for the national anthem. Students have been choosing to kneel during the pledge and anthem in protest of police brutality and prevalent racism against people of color in the U.S.
Manatee County Board of Education wanted to be clear, before students chose to align themselves with the National Football League (NFL) players choosing to kneel, that the code of conduct did not allow students to make a decision to protest inequality for themselves. An email was sent out even though kneeling had not yet become an issue in Manatee county. “After the sunday afternoon where the NFL players took a knee and it became a big issue what our director of secondary schools did was send an email to the high school principals to let them know we’re going to abide by our code of student conduct,” Mike Barber, director of Communications for the Manatee Board of Education said in an interview outside the Manatee Board of Education building. “What our student code of conduct says is students are expected to stand for the pledge of allegiance unless they have a letter from their parents saying they don’t have to.” The code of student conduct for Manatee County schools, in section 5780 - student/parent rights, also states that the district shall guarantee “free expression and association.” A protest was about to begin behind him. Manatee High School student Léah Tiberini and her friend Mercury Clarke had organized for students’ First Amendment rights. According to Tiberini, student athletes could expect to be punished if they chose to take a knee without
parents permission. “I stand for the rights of my student athletes and my friends that are people of color that they have the right to kneel in protest,” Tiberini said in an interview with the Catalyst. About two dozen people showed up, despite over 200 being invited to the event via Facebook. The wind was strong at everyone’s backs, leaving many to grip their signs with both hands, or risk losing them. They protested on the sidewalk directly facing Manatee Ave, a busy street in Bradenton. At one moment, a man yelled out of his window, “Stand up for the flag!” Another time, a large truck drove by while the driver emptied his exhaust onto the protestors. However, the protesters remained positive. A few cars honked in support. “What do we want?” New College student Hal Trejo said over a megaphone. “Equality!” everyone shouted back. A Vietnam Veteran, Lou Murray, spoke at the end of the rally. Voice wavering, he recalled how both his mother and sister had been denied services because they were black. His mother was denied access to a gas station’s restroom and was forced to use the grass behind it. His sister suffers life-time paralysis after being denied help from a hospital in Mississippi. Martin Luther King was killed while Murray was fighting in Vietnam. While he opened up the
crowd went silent. “Don’t let them tell you that veterans don’t support you. We are with you,” he said at the end of his speech. “Next week we will definitely be coming to the school board meeting and making sure they know what we stand for and that we will still come back until they fix this,” Tiberini said. The Manatee School Board will host one of their regular meetings on Tuesday, Oct. 10. Residents, students and parents are encouraged to attend and speak out in favor for the right of students to kneel during the pledge and national anthem. An RSVP form must be filled out in order to speak, but not to be present. The Supreme Court ruling of West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette not only gave Jehova Witnesses the right to practice their faith, it underlined a crucial truth about leading successful, free institutions: trying to force allegiance only ends in revolution, or at the very least, resistance. It is exactly the right to dissent authority that creates a more unified foundation. As Justice Jackson wrote of West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, "it is in that freedom and the example of persuasion, not in force and compulsion, that the real unity of America lies.” Information for this article was gathered from various interviews, oyez. com, neola.com and justia.com.
(Left) New College student Hal Trejo leading the rally. They are shouting, "Take a Knee, Manatee!" (Right) The protest was organized after Manatee Board of Education stated that students were expected to stand for the pledge, despite the Student Code of Conduct stating students' rights to freedom of expression.
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About two dozen people showed up, despite over 200 being invited to the event via Facebook.
(Left) Anti-protestor in favor of all students standing for the pledge wears a flag as a cape and harasses the rally, yelling, "What you're saying is a lie!" (Right) Protestors on the sidewalk facing Manatee Ave.
Photo courtesy
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Bike shoppe or boys club? Campus cyclists address inclusivity BY MAGDALENE TAYLOR Bicycles can be intimidating, from the mechanics to the culture to the physical ability required of simply riding. For the campus bike repair co-operative, the Bike Shoppe, student TAs are trying to change that sense of intimidation - and make the space more inclusive toward everyone. Bike Shoppe TA and third-year Emily Anne King created a public survey along with her fellow TA’s thesis student Cole Zelznak and second-year Ella White. King was inspired by an informational event and discussion on pronouns during Radical Rush Week at the beginning of the semester. This got the TAs thinking about how people may or may not feel comfortable in the co-op. “We’re having more conversations about our behavioral tendencies, how we greet people, how we comment on their bikes and their abilities. We’re using the suggestions people voted on to implement workshops,” King said. The anonymous survey asked for respondent’s gender and ethnic identity, and then asked for a number of closed and open-ended questions regarding whether the respondent had ever found the Bike Shoppe intimidating, had experienced discriminatory/uncomfortable behav-
Cole Zelznak/Catalyst
The Bike Shoppe is often a popular location for socializing, a factor that can impact the resource's perceived accessibility. ior in the space or had avoided going. The survey furthermore asked for opinions regarding possible future events, like an evening catered toward women, non-binary, trans and femme-identifying people. There was
a section for comments, and no question was required to be answered in order to submit the survey. 56 people responded to the survey. “Some people proposed ideas like having tutorials in places that
aren’t this dirty garage, like Ham or in front of the library, which would be a good way to get out there because people find this space scary, especially at night.” “We wanted to know if the reputation is fully in the past, it used to have a bit of a seedy reputation. That was somewhat before I came.” “People mentioned how the Bike Shoppe could be ableist, which is kind of an inherent problem, but we’re now thinking about that and how to change it,” King said as she worked to repair a tire from a wheelchair. “This is really cool because I see how wheelchair [wheels] are compared to bicycle wheels. Similar system, just different dimensions.” The Bike Shoppe originally began around 1992, according to alum Chris Brand (‘90), who helped get the space up and running in Pei. The space was much smaller, with far fewer resources. “The main idea was to have a central location with a couple bike stands for working on bikes, some high quality tools for people to work on them, and to get people together who wanted to work on them,” Brand said. Just as it does today, the early Bike Shoppe was able to offer discounted parts and covered tool expenses. continued on p. 11
Jordi's Declassified Transfer Survival Guide BY JORDI GONZALEZ
Transferring from one educational institution to another can easily become a daunting and hectic experience in getting all the right paperwork and credits over to the right people successfully. Most other schools don’t have contracts, Independent Study Projects (ISPs), or narrative evaluations for credit--this is when coming to New College could get tricky. “I honestly didn’t think it would be as hard as it would be to transfer to New College,” third-semester transfer Mary Stevens [thirdyear] said, explaining not the process but the experience of going through this school. Coming from Florida International University (FIU), I think it’s safe to say that research is the name of the game, but even then transfers-making up 10 to 15 percent of total enrollment--are left in the dark frequently. Most of the information a transfer student would need comes straight from New College’s school website and it definitely gives a simplistic breakdown of all the necessities, as I’m sure any other school
would. The issue a lot of the time comes when a student arrives without an Associate in Arts (AA) degree, which many of the interviewed transfers believed creates a stable foundation for jumping into the New College lifestyle. “It really wasn’t made clear exactly what kind of credits would transfer,” second-semester transfer Benjamin Cook [second-year] said. “Honestly, I still don’t really know what I really have here.” If a student already has their AA degree from another institution in the state university system, then this grants them some beneficial shortcuts and liberties. For one, probably the most frightening and confusing aspect of transferring to New College is knowing for sure how one’s GPA-related credits translate to contracts and ISPs, but with an AA it is clearly described on the website that the degree is equivalent to a total of three completed contracts and an ISP. Leaving four or five more contracts (the average student completes seven to eight before graduating) and two ISPs to go for a successful graduation. For these reasons,
it is highly recommended so that a basis or foundation could be laid out for the student before arriving to the idiosyncratic system of this school. However, without an AA, students like Cook are left pretty clueless until a couple semesters in. Second-semester transfer Lev Gurt, who came to NCF last spring, was awarded just one contract and one ISP. In describing his experience of logging into NewCleis and never finding any indication of a set contract number, shows how a transfer could be left floating around unanchored. “ISP is such a vague thing to a transfer student,” Gurt said. “To figure out New College you kind of just have to be here.” The curriculum is so unique here that the same course, like Introduction to Statistics, taught at another school may not cover everything or translate well from one school to New College. Hence, it takes on average three full years for a transfer student, even having an AA, to graduate because a lot of course may not even be accepted. Hinting at the level of rigor and difficulty this school exhibits, students like thesis transfer student Danielle Zeris encourage taking
as many useful requirements before coming to New College because the courses would probably be easier to complete. “Here it’s a lot different. It’s a lot harder. It’s an Honors College,” Zeris said. “Think about what you want to do here.” Commonly, a student’s success relies heavily upon their advisors and professors. These faculty truly shape and help forge the path many students go down, especially in a school like New College that has less boundaries and constrictions, it’s as if almost anything can happen. Every student in this school could be considered a unique case in terms of what’s going on semesterby-semester, but even more so with transfers, since instead of stepping into the pool at the beginning, they get thrown into the deep end immediately. “You need to be working twice or three times harder than everyone else in class,” Stevens said. “Because you start behind.” New College touts a strong do-it-yourself ideology that lets continued on p. 11
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University of Florida takes a stand against white supremacy, halts visit from Richard Spencer BY SAMANTHA RAMIREZ An email with a subject title “Potential Speaker on Campus” was sent out on Aug. 12, 2017 by University of Florida (UF) President Kent Fuchs, unveiling that the speaker would be white nationalist and “altright” activist Richard Spencer. The email further explained the National Policy Institutes request towards the university to reserve space for a speaking event on campus grounds with the featuring guest on Sept. 12, 2017. Making it clear that the university itself, student groups and other university groups were unaffiliated with the organization, President Kent Fuchs further explained that due to regulations, the university may rent space towards third-party renters, provided the party cover the cost of rental expenses and security costs. The university's first email did not contain a definite answer of whether the school would allow the speaker rental space, however it did state the following words from President Fuchs, “For many in our community, including myself, this speaker’s presence would be deeply disturbing. The University of Florida is a community of learners, educators and scholars. We encourage open and honest dialogue, and we strive to build an
photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons The University of Florida in the past has rented space for controversial speakers, but had no intention of allowing Spencer on school grounds however a hovering lawsuit has changed the schools decision.
inclusive environment where hate is not welcome. While this speaker’s views do not align with our values as an institution, we must follow the law, upholding the First Amendment not to discriminate based on content and provide access to a public space.” For many students the news was shocking and the events of Charlottesville were still fresh in their minds. Students began to organize and prepare counter-protests, got
in touch with friends in other universities and prepare for the news to come. On Aug. 16, 2017, the students would receive another email from Fuchs regarding the subject line, “Dear Campus Community: Amid serious concerns for safety, we have decided to deny the National Policy Institute’s request to rent event space at the University of Florida.” President Fuchs further stated the follow-
ing words, “I find the racist rhetoric of Richard Spencer and white nationalism repugnant and counter to everything the university and this nation stands for.” The likelihood of violence and potential injury--not the words or ideas--were the reason as to why the school would deny the space. However, further emails from President Fuchs to the student body would reveal the university's struggle to truly halt a visit from Richard Spencer. The University of Florida in the past has rented space for controversial speakers, but had no intention of allowing Spencer on school grounds. With the threat of a lawsuit from Spencer's lawyers for presumably “banning” the speaker from renting a space and allowing him to express his constitutional right, UF reconsidered the probability of a new date, and informed the students of Thursday, Oct. 19 as the possible event date. With this new date, the school has not given up on its attempt to halt the proceeding, many students are once again organizing counter-protests and reaching out to peers from other schools in order to join in solidarity against the deplorable National Policy Institute’s rhetoric and views.
Meet an Emotional Support Animal! BY ANYA MARÍA CONTRERAS-GARCÍA
Photo courtesy of Adilyne McKinlay
Sugar
DOB: 11/30/2014 Zodiac sign: Sagittarius Weight: 16lbs Fun Fact: Sugar can tear apart a brand new tennis ball in 10 minutes.
Photo courtesy of Opal Rain
Isabella
DOB:05/08/2007 Zodiac sign: Taurus Weight: 14 lbs of angel energy Fun Fact: Her tail never straightened out in the womb so she has a cute little stub.
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MORELL ON LAS VEGAS SHOOTING CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
thought ‘Okay, something is wrong.’ I was asked if I had heard anything about a shooting on the Las Vegas strip and I had said, ‘No, I haven’t. I’ve been asleep. [Writer’s Note: A piece by Morell titled ‘At Least 2 Dead Following Shooting on Las Vegas Strip’ can be found online. Another piece by Morell, titled ‘Deadliest U.S. Mass Shooting Happened at Las Vegas Concert’ was posted online, also by Morell, that same day.] [...] I went to the newsroom and got there at 1 a.m. and was there until 8:45. It was almost a 22-hour work day. GH: Who were some of the people who you got to talk to? CM: The radio show that we do is a call-in show so, that Monday, we scrapped everything that we had planned for that show and basically opened up that phone line to ask people what they were thinking and what they were feeling. I’ll never forget that one of the people who called was a women of color, she identified herself on air as a women of color, and said that she was a Muslim. She said that she was grateful that the gunman was not a Muslim and was not a person of color because she was worried that, if he had been, then her kids would be targeted and she would be targeted, and she didn’t want them to have to go through with that. That was something that really stuck with me those first few hours after everything had happened. GH: As a reporter and someone who was covering what was happening, what was that like for you from a behind the scenes perspective? You were both learning about what was happening as you were also then reporting about this to other people. CM: It’s something else because
when something like this is happening, your adrenaline just starts to take over. You are going full speed for hours and hours and hours on end and not really processing what exactly has happened in the city that you live in. [...] It’s a strange thing when your city is under attack like that and you don’t get a chance until much, much later on, to try and comprehend what happened. Speaking honestly, I don’t know if I’ve been able to do that yet just because of a lot of hate [of the crime], the scale of what happened and the fact that we still don’t understand what the motive was. GH: Do you think that we’ll ever be able to find a motive? CM: I hope so. I hope that we’ll have some idea as to why. I think that the community needs to come to some sort of answer, in that sense, or some sort of motivation because, to write it off and to say that the motivation was simply just a senseless act, I don’t think will satisfy people. Everything seems to have been premeditated to a frightening degree based on how long he was at the hotel, the measures he took to make sure that he wasn’t detected, the preplanning that he had done by getting hotel rooms, condos and airbnbs near other music festivals, there is some level of premeditation to this which means that there has to be some motive to this, at least what we would think. And I hope that, if we’re able to figure it out, it won’t make the situation any easier but at least we’ll have some semblance of understanding why. GH: What do you think we have to learn from this tragedy? CM: I honestly don’t know. You would think, just from a policy stand-
point, that when it comes to guns and gun violence, that there have been so many lines in the sand drawn already, that there would have been so many events that have already taken place that would have spurred us into action. I honestly don’t know, I feel as if there has to be something to take away from this, there has to be something that we can learn so that these people did not die and hurt in vain. I don’t know if I have a good answer for that. [...] One of the things that you learn as you go on to be a journalist, whether it’s on the job experience, in journalism school, or both, is how to deal with covering breaking news like this, how to keep your wits about you and report while everything around you seems to be going to hell in a handbasket. The one thing that they don’t teach you is how to deal with the aftermath, and how to take care of yourself when you can slow down for a minute and actually reflect on what’s happened. You don’t get that sort of training or education about making sure that you are okay after dealing with all of this and I feel like, as now someone who has had to experience that, that that kind of things need to be taught because it’s hard. [...] This whole community has gone through a huge, traumatic event and I don’t know if anybody has really thought about the impact that that has had, in a lingering sense, on the people who live here. An abridged interview was sent to print. The full interview can be found online at ncfcatalyst.com. More information about Casey Morell can be found on his website caseym.org.
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Songs you should heAR Relaxation Edition
BY JORDI GONZALEZ
With midterms breathing down our necks, stress levels can be at an alltime high. We can turn to science to help us as neuroscientists from the United Kingdom have recently identified the most physiological relaxing songs to date. You could listen to the full playlist on Spotify titled "Most Relaxing Songs Ever" by Melanie Curtin the writer for www.inc.com. "Weightless" by Marconi Union This song has been found to reduce overall anxiety by an impressive 65 percent. The song was made in collaboration with sound therapists for this reason. It is purely instrumental and sounds almost ethereal with gentle synths, harmonies, and arrangements making the magic. Rated the most effective relaxation song. "Strawberry Swing" by Coldplay An incredibly positive energy comes from this deep nostalgic track from the band's earlier, arguably best, days. The song includes such nice hypnotizing guitar riffs floating around in the background. It recalls of a place where lovers would pass the days away living in their own world. "We Can Fly" Rue du Soleil This has a similar vibe to "Weightless" but has an accompaniment from saxaphone's, some vocalists, flute-like instruments and some rad guitar solos. "Pure Shores" by All Saints This song instantly make me want to be at the beach sipping on some Mai Tai thanks to the ridiculous positivity radiating from the song. It is practically materialized euphoria. "Canzonetta sull'aria... Che soave zeffiretto (Duettino)" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Classical music has long since been considered beneficial to the mind and makes for brain fuel for those intense moments of studying.
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NCPD
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Pulsifer said. Campus police departments first came into vogue within state university systems (SUS) after the turbulent student uprisings of the 1960s. State legislators and university administrators felt that an in-house approach to campus law enforcement would foster a closer and more productive relationship between LEOs and students. The Clery Act, a federal regulation passed in 1990, further codified campus safety procedures by requiring colleges and universities to track, publicize and respond to crime on or near their campuses. When Sgt. Mahaney joined the NCPD in 2003, the police were based in the Viking Motel and he was the youngest of a cohort of old-timers-New York transplants enjoying the relatively relaxed pace of life on the bay. According to Sgt. Mahaney, the biggest change he has noticed over the years is in the makeup of the police force. The officers are much younger now. His concerns are the same though—troublemakers on campus are usually non-students— and he doesn’t hesitate to issue trespass warnings. Sgt. Mahaney noted that, these days, far fewer students request police escorts when crossing campus at night. “For some reason, we’ve lost that closeness with the students,” Sgt. Mahaney said. He still uses a golf cart to patrol during Wall nights. “You don’t get to know the students as good. They don’t come over and talk to you when you’re in a car.” Sgt. Mahaney agreed that policing at NCF has evolved in response to certain watershed events. In 2008, a student was assaulted by a non-affiliate at a Wall. The administration’s current policy requiring at least two police officers to patrol on Wall nights and a Wall curfew of 2 a.m. was the direct outcome of that event. Records available in the NCSA archives indicate that security protocols were strengthened after a 1984 incident in which a student was assaulted by a non-affiliate in a Pei dorm, and in 1995 a Palm Court Party (PCP) was abruptly shut down after a non-student threw a beer can at an officer. A sponsor of the PCP described the shutdown as “the largest scale of control in New College history.” According to a 2008 memorandum from former NCF President Gordon “Mike” Michalson, the network of blue emergency phones around campus was put in place in response to shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University. According to Sgt. Mahaney, the
NCPD’s communications department at one point consisted of a single telephone. A peek inside the dispatch center now reveals a vast grid of camera feeds, and the department can notify the community through text, email, social media and a PA system. “We’re as close as possible to a 911 center,” Sgt. Mahaney said. Campus police departments in Florida have consistently expanded over the years. Between 2006 and 2016, the Florida Board of Governors (BOG) increased the NCPD’s budget from $555,772 to $825,564. The BOG requested another $750,000 for the 2016-2017 fiscal year to pay for seven new personnel, updated equipment and training programs. Sgt. Mahaney and Officer Masten maintain that the NCPD is chronically understaffed. Funding increases allowed the recruitment and training of two new officers last year, and the department is currently in the hiring process for more personnel. According to Officer Masten, when leave time and training schedules are taken into account, the department is still at its 2002 staffing levels, but with greater responsibility put on individual officers. There are currently nine full time officers on staff, not including three sergeants, who also have patrol duties. The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) standard for effective community policing is two officers per 1,000 students. As enrollment increases, other Florida universities are currently struggling to meet this standard, with the University of Central Florida (UCF) reporting a paltry ratio of 1.06 officers per 1,000 students in 2015. The combined enrollment of NCF and USF Sarasota-Manatee is approximately 3,000, a ratio of three officers per 1,000 students. Even though the NCPD’s resources have increased in recent years, it’s clear that money isn’t everything when it comes to fostering a friendly and respectful relationship between students and police. According to Sgt. Mahaney, the 2013 release of the New College Police Presence White Paper led to an increase in negative feelings towards the department. “I feel like I know everybody here, at least at one time I did. That camaraderie is not as tight as it was a few years ago, and it’s unfortunate,” Sgt. Mahaney said. “I wish it could go back to the older days, and I wish it would.” Information from FLBOG.gov, the Catalyst archives, the NCSA archives, the Atlantic, and the Miami Herald.
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BIKE SHOPPE INCLUSIVE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4
“There wasn’t a good low-cost bike shop close to campus, and a lot of us liked bikes as a hobby… it seemed like a natural thing to do.” In Brand’s opinion, the people who visited the Bike Shoppe the most were those who either loved biking or depending on bikes as their mode of transportation. Given its lower prices and proximity to dorms, the Bike Shoppe has offered a more accessible way of building, repairing and maintaining bikes. Though Brand maintains that the early Bike Shoppe “wasn’t a bunch of gear-heads,” the Bike Shoppe has previously had issues with maintaining a sense of inclusivity. In a February 2016 article in the Catalyst, former Bike Shoppe TA and alum Francisco Perez (‘13) said that the Shoppe is “a weirdly intimidating environment… I think people go there under the assumption that the people there know more about something than them… but the point of the Bike Shoppe is to teach.” Meanwhile, zines made by the Shoppe’s TAs in 2005 state that the first step to becoming a bike mechanic is simple: “Go. To the Bike Shoppe. Don’t be scared. Of the Bike Shoppe. While they may be speaking bike
talk, they also speak English pretty well, so don’t be afraid to approach them and ask about volunteering.” Nevertheless, nearly 40 percent of survey respondents said that they found the Bike Shoppe intimidating. The vast majority of respondents said that they did not experience discrimination at the Shoppe, however, though a few responses identified being mistreated by former Bike Shoppe TAs. 20 percent of participants said they have avoided the space in the last year. 44 percent of respondents were in favor of a night geared toward non-cis men, though many expressed concerns for how this would be adequately inclusive towards trans individuals or felt that making the space more inclusive overall was more important. Even so, nearly all respondents identified that a night such as this, a repair workshop, or some combination of the two would help increase people’s sense of comfortability with the co-op. Most of the comments left on the survey were tokens of gratitude to the TAs for their work and for offering the survey.
AGENTS OF CHANGE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3
Harrell hope to eventually turn it into a multi-year completion-based program if students show interest. Those who aspire to build upon their foundation developed from participation in the first year of the program may continue to do so in a program with different projects, purposes and perspectives. At the time of publication, 15 indi-
viduals from a diverse range of years and areas of concentration have expressed interest in the program. If students are passionate about social justice, or simply keen on developing any personal goal, and wish to join the first charter class of New College Student Agents of Change, they should contact Tara Centeno and Autumn Harrell.
TRANSFERS
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8
new students fall through cracks if they’re not careful. A critical point all transfers--and possibly all students-find out is that advisors and professors truly are the answer to any and all questions. “You need to go and talk to your professors,” Stevens said. “That is the best thing about New College, the professors.” While some may have more helpful advisors than others, there’s a unanimous appreciation for everything advisors and professors do. “I was just stuck in these huge classes and I didn’t really feel like I was learning anything,” Cook said about his previous school University of South Florida (USF) at Tampa. “I think professors [at New College] are
here because they actually want to be educators.” Still, there are a number of discrepancies that occur between the school and transfer students coming that need to be worked on and improved for the future. There may be issues with understaffing causing a lot of the lack of communication, or confusion, between the two parties in whatever given situation, but there could be a handout book, or workshop given in Transfer Orientation to really have everyone starting on the right foot. “They need to learn how to handles transfers much better,” Stevens said.
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DRY HANDS AND DANCE:
AN EVENING WITH IRON X FITNESS BY MICHALA HEAD Climbs, spins, tricks and sweat are can be expected on the average Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings at Iron X Fitness. Founded in 2016 by Nattalie Johnson and Stephanie “Frost” Romanello, Iron X Fitness is a pole studio that encourages people of all backgrounds and levels to challenge themselves to grow, both physically and personally through pole fitness. There is a rich history to pole dancing and pole athleticism, such as Chinese pole climbing and Mallakhamb, however in the modern Western world it is largely conceptualized as sex work carried out by femme presenting bodies. Due to sexist and classist attitudes towards sex work, pole dancing is often looked down upon in American culture and society. Pole fitness is a recent trend that attempts to move away from the hypersexualized image of pole dancing by reframing it as an exercise or an art form. Pole fitness is distinct due to being conducted in a studio setting where patrons are paying to learn a skill rather than performing pole dance as work. Even the name “Iron X Fitness” establishes the studio as centered on fitness rather than sexuality. In an interview with the Catalyst, Johnson and Romanello conveyed that they are not seeking to cast judgment upon pole dancing as sex work through their branding, rather they are hoping to create an environment that provides people with the inner strength and confidence to surmount the challenge of pole training. Q: How did you each get your start with pole fitness? N: My cousin dragged me to a different studio and I just got hooked. S: I had a friend in college that had a pole in her apartment, so one night we went over and we played on it for three hours and I was so sore the next day, and it was just so much fun. Then, years later, our old studio [Apple Jelly] was running a Living Social offering ten classes for a month and I thought what the heck? I need a hobby, and I also wanted to get more comfortable with myself and my own body. Q: Sarasota seems to really be lacking spaces to get into pole fitness, in your experiences, why do you think that is? N: It is definitely hard to get people hooked. There is not a huge demand. The closest studio is in Fort Lauderdale, south of us and then there are a few north of us in Tampa and Brandon.
S: You are trying to ask people to commit their time, usually in their evenings, and commit their bodies to this challenge. It is a commitment, and you will see growth. It is a matter of not getting discouraged early on… I think that if you are looking for pole fitness then you know what you are looking for, a lot of people who I find call and have been looking for months. There is usually some kind of spark of curiosity that tends to bring in a lot of our clientele Q: Coming here, I felt encouraged to try this new and strenuous thing, and I see you use the term “sisterhood” a lot, and wanted your input on why you feel these elements are important to pole fitness? N: We definitely want a close environment; we want people to come in and feel welcomed, comfortable and encouraged. Days are hard and the last thing we want is for people to come in and feel uncomfortable or like they don’t belong. S: I think as women we are often trained to be really critical of ourselves and other women, what I loved about pole fitness is that when you come in here it’s about feeling like you are enough and being celebrated for that. I have had days when I was having a rough time with something personal, and we sometimes want people to leave things at the door in order to come in with an open mind and heart to this, but if you come in with a heavy weight this becomes like a family, and you have this whole other support system, and people I have met in pole fitness are some of my best friends in the world. I trust them to catch me aerially and I trust them to catch me emotionally. Q: What are you hoping to convey to people who have never been here about Iron X Fitness? S: When I first started pole I met a lot of praise, but also some nervousness about doing it… If people came in here, they would experience this transforming kind of experience, it does not just change your levels of strength and flexibility, but it changes you inside in a really positive way and that’s something I love being able to bring to the community. I do not think a lot of things tell you that you are enough, that you are perfect the way you are and badass the way you are and I think that is really special… The beauty of pole fitness is that it can be anything you want it to be it can be sexy, sultry, fit, strong--pole can be anything. To learn more about Iron X Fitness, visit ironxfitnesspole.com, located at 1990 Main Street Sarasota, FL 34236, each class costs $15.00
Iron X Fitness owner Stephanie Frost shows her strength in one of her favorite pole poses.
Iron X Fitness owner Natalie Johnson demonstrates a pole
Natalie Johnson leads her Beginner Basics class in pole climbs.