Washington Square News | March 30, 2020

3 SPORTS

5 ARTS

A Reflection on Lost Endings

Is Gal Gadot the First Horsewoman of the Entertainment Apocalypse?

4 CULTURE

Gallatin Senior Defies Gravity and Expectations

6 OPINION

The Principled Necessity of Tuition Reimbursement

VOLUME LIV | ISSUE 9

MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2020

Tisch Students Lead Movement for Partial Tuition Refunds Tisch Partial Refund Effort sent out a mass email laying out its next steps to get students’ demands met after Tisch Dean Allyson Green responded to concerns about partial refunds on students’ tuitions with a video of herself dancing.

By AARUSHI SHARMA Staff Writer

JAKE CAPRIOTTI | WSN

Tisch students have petitioned tuition refunds, but received a video of Dean Green lip syncing and dancing along with a blanket statement of refusal. Many Tisch students have experienced difficulties continuing their classes remotely, and the extra fees meant for equipment, studios and more are no longer applicable to their study.

As NYU has made the full shift to remote instruction, students at Tisch School of the Arts are demanding partial refunds for their classes, many of which are not easily transferable to online platforms.

The day before Zoom classes began, Tisch Dean Allyson Green sent an email to students addressing NYU’s decision not to offer partial tuition refunds to students.

“I am sorry that in trying to be clear and transparent about tuition refunds (as this is a university decision), I did not acknowledge the heavy financial burden you are under,” the email read.

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New Yorkers Reflect on the PAUSE

By NICK MEAD Deputy News Editor Two days before New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced New York State On PAUSE — a policy mandating non-essential workers remain at home — Tom Birchard made the tough decision to temporarily close his popular East Village restaurant, Veselka.

Known for serving pierogi in the East Village 24 hours a day, Veselka

is a favorite among New Yorkers, especially NYU students, as two NYU dorms are located less than five-minutes walking distance from the establishment.

“There was a part of me that wanted to stay open just for our loyal fans,” Birchard said. “But our employees were concerned about coming to work and facing the public every day.”

Birchard is not alone in his decision. Many businesses across the city were affected as New York City rap-

idly became the United States’ coronavirus epicenter. And with the NYS on PAUSE policy extended to April 15 as of Sunday, restaurant owners are looking to government officials for answers.

To stay on top of the rapid updates, Birchard, like many New Yorkers, tunes in to the Governor’s daily briefings on CNBC. “I’ve never been a huge Cuomo fan, but I’ve been inspired by how he’s been handling this,” Birchard said.

“In this situation, my general perspective is he’s been doing a good job. My wife and I go out of our way to watch his briefings every day.”

The number of confirmed cases in New York City has risen to 33,768 as of Sunday, March 29. Altogether, New York State has almost 60,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

Shutting down nonessential business may slow the spread of the virus, while inevitably striking a blow to businesses and tenants

who might barely make enough to pay their bills month to month. According to a 2019 survey, only 40% of Americans have enough money saved to weather a thousand dollar emergency expense, which is minor compared to the income disruption caused by COVID-19.

Birchard said he’s confident his business will be able to reopen, but he fears the financial strain his employees will suffer.

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Edited by LISA COCHRAN and EMILY MASON

Tisch Students Lead Movement for Partial Tuition Refunds CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Attached was a video of the dean providing updates in an effort to connect with students, according to the email. At the end of the message she attempts to lift students spirits by dancing to R.E.M.’s “Losing My Religion,” which many students perceived as poorly timed, including Tisch first-year film and television major Alex Dekelbaum.

“Dean Green is a kind person that genuinely cares about Tisch,” Dekelbaum said. “Although her response had good intentions, it was tone-deaf and disappointing. Students are being displaced and families are losing their source of income.”

Dekelbaum said that not being able to take in-person classes has a negative effect on Tisch students.

“Tisch students are simply not getting the hands-on education that they paid for online, and people are hurt,” he said. “In this time of crisis, NYU should do the right thing and use our endowment, currently standing at $4.3 billion. The university should take the hit on this one, not the students.”

The push for partial tuition refunds comes after the senate approved a $14 billion relief fund as part of the $2 trillion COVID-19 stimulus package for colleges to bear the costs of the crisis.

On average, students paid a total of $29,276 for the Spring 2020 semester and the tuition poses a financial burden on many Tisch students.

To organize the call for a partial refund, students have banded together to create the NYU Tisch Partial Refund Effort, a petition appealing to the Board of Trustees to offer a partial refund for Tisch students. At the time of publication the petition had 3,705 signatures.

“By placing profits above the concerns, needs, and quality of education being received by students, NYU ignores the fact that us art students will be paying full price for an education

that lacks the facilities, equipment, technology, services, and hands-on experience we are explicitly paying for,” the petition reads.

Tisch first-year Katrina Kwok, a film and television major, states that while online classes have not been completely unsatisfactory, the quality of education that students are paying for has been compromised.

“I don’t feel like the online classes reflect what in-person classes would have been, especially my production classes,” she said. “It’s a lot harder to film projects from home when you don’t have the equipment you need and class is just different now.”

The petition asks for the Tisch Dean and departmental chairs to support Tisch students in their efforts to persuade the NYU Board of Trustees. Student requests include asking for a full refund for credits paid for internships and jobs that have been suspended, in addition to production fees for cancelled in-person events. Students would also like for administration to offer partial tuition refunds for classes whose equipment and studio spaces they do not have access to anymore.

The team behind the NYU Tisch Partial Refund effort also demands providing salary protection for all faculty and staff members, resources, including mental health and wellbeing services for displaced students, domestic students and international students who are facing increased uncertainty due to holds on visa, job authorization and housing statuses and travel restrictions.

Tisch first-year Meg Yamada — an interactive media arts major — believes the dean’s video was insensitive given the circumstances.

“In regards to the dean’s video, although she has good intentions, it wasn’t helpful to that cause in any way,” Yamada said. “However, I do be-

lieve that the blame shouldn’t be put entirely on her, as it’s not in her control. Sure, the video was a bit unnecessary, but at the end of the day the issue is larger than just her emails.”

Tisch senior Kaylee Scinto, who has actively been involved with the Refund Effort, stated that while students have received no formal apology or update from Dean Green or other Tisch leadership representatives, the team is currently formalizing a final set of demands which they intend to send to the dean on March 30.

“We still have not received further correspondence from the dean so we are hoping that by sending this letter just along with all the media coverage and attention this has been receiving it will prompt further response from them,” Scinto said.

The students’ pleas have caught the attention of several Tisch Alumni including actress Rachel Bloom and Saturday Night Live writer Anna Drezen, who have publicly supported the students’ demands after Tisch senior Michael Price shared the dean’s video on his twitter. Blogger Perez Hilton even signed the petition himself.

Tisch alumnus and Emmy-nominated news producer Dan Przygoda tweeted his support and expressed his dissatisfaction with the measures undertaken by the NYU administration. He stated that the students are facing a burden for something that is not their fault.

“Telling [students] how much money is already being spent constructing new facilities, buying new equipment, etc. Let’s be clear: NONE OF THIS IS THE STUDENTS’ FAULT,” he wrote. “In order to get the full value out of their tuition or scholarships students need access to the equipment that was promised to them. Not everyone has the resources or access to similar equipment outside of the school.”

While Dean Green has not formally

issued an apology to the students, she has commented on the situation to The New York Post and NBC news stating that her sending of the video bore no malintent and she regrets hurting students’ sentiments.

“What I meant to demonstrate is my certainty that even with the unprecedented hardships of social distancing and remotely-held classes, it is still possible for the Tisch community to make art together, and that all the artists in our school will find ways to remain closely connected even as circumstances challenge us,” Green told NBC news.

So far, only the the Board of Regents for the University System of Maryland have voted to offer students partial refunds on their tuition. Other universities — including NYU — have issued statements offering refunds on housing and dining fees but have yet to grant any tuition refunds.

On Sunday morning, around 250 students received an email with the subject line “The email I wish NYU would send us.” The email included a mock message with a university letterhead expressing the sympathy that students hope to see from the administration.

The email ended by reminding students of its fabricated nature.

“This is the email I wish we could receive from NYU,” the message reads.

“And it really hurts that it’s not. But it’s not too late to try to make it a reality.”

At the bottom links are included to the Tisch Partial Refund petition, the group’s ever-growing Facebook page and a petition urging transparency from the NYU administration started

by Steinhardt students.

While the email received some positive feedback, others missed the warning that it was from a student and felt tricked when they discovered it wasn’t real. The sender of the email, who wished to remain anonymous after receiving several angry emails commented

on their intentions behind sending it.

“I just wanted to give people somewhere to channel the anger and the energy to a cause we all have in common,” they said. “I just wanted them to see that they could do something about it because if all the students spoke their minds and everyone signed it, it would be harder for NYU to not respond or at least compromise.”

The author of the email hoped the email would be a way to redirect students’ energies from focusing on individuals to thinking about how to persuade the administration.

“I feel like this is one way to sort of getting what we want without necessarily pushing down certain faculty members at NYU because I do know a lot of the people at NYU are very mad and targeting specific individuals like the dean and they’re commenting on her dancing video and stuff and I just wanted to target the NYU administration as a whole and not single one person out because it’s not any person’s fault,” they said.

Tisch senior Emma Hoersdig founded the Tisch Partial Refund Effort in collaboration with her peers in the drama department to assimilate everyone’s concerns on one joint platform. The Facebook group, created on March 22, now has nearly 1000 members.

“Our professors are trying really hard and we are all learning about how to do this at the same time but there is just so much that is in-person that is important to our education that we are losing completely like our dance studios [and] opportunities for singing,” she said. “The safety of acting in a studio feels really different to try to experiment with it at home, especially if you can not be completely alone. Basically, we are losing a lot.”

Email Aarushi Sharma at news@nyunews.com.

New Yorkers Reflect on the PAUSE CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

“The most hurtful thing about all this is all my employees who have been so loyal to us suddenly having no income,” he said.

To aid tenants, New York State has issued a moratorium on all evictions until June 20, meaning that while rent will still be due, no tenants can be evicted from their homes or places of business. This is a lifeline to business owners who run on slim profit margins, but it’s possible that many businesses still won’t be able to reopen when the crisis has passed without further government intervention.

Three days after the eviction moratorium went into force, a bill was proposed in the State Senate that would also place a 90-day suspension on rent and some mortgage payments for those who lost employment or their business due to the restrictions on non-essential commerce.

“That is theft of services,” New York landlord David Lochow said in an email to WSN. “Low-income tenants—all of mine [sic]—can’t get

loans to pay rent, have no savings, are the first to be let go at jobs... they are the most at risk. But they also have no chance of catching up any back rent. The eviction courts will be full after this virus.”

Most of Lochow’s tenants are nurses or other essential workers, so their income will not be affected or covered by any rent relief bill passed.

For the others facing unemployment, he said he wants to work with them on a case by case basis to forgive some of their rent. Lochow also hopes that in the future, the local government will subsidize some of the utilities and property taxes for landlords who will lose income.

“These are worldwide problems,” Lochow continued. “I have read what others are doing and adapted our strategy with these concepts.

Tenants have problems, landlords have problems... if we each take a part of the load we all will be better in the long run.”

JAKE CAPRIOTTI | WSN

Email Nick Mead at nmead@nyunews.com.

On Sunday, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo extended New York State On PAUSE, a policy mandating non-essential workers remain at home until at least April 15. Small business owners wonder about the future of their livelihoods and many are concerned about the strain on their income.

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SPORTS

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No Obstacles Can Stop This Junior Guard

Edited by ARVIND SRIRAM

A Reflection on Lost Endings

By BELA KIRPALANI Editor-at-Large

PHOTO COURTESY OF HALEY WILL

Steinhardt junior Haley Will, back row center, is ready to make a comeback on the basketball court. Will has been injured during most of her career at NYU, but her passion for the sport won’t let that hold her back.

By KEVIN RYU Staff Writer When her asthma and pneumonia sidelined her for all of junior year of high school, Haley Will questioned how concerns about her health would impact her college recruitment. Now a Steinhardt junior, Will did not think many coaches would use a roster spot on someone who could potentially never play basketball again. Thankfully, she had already impressed NYU women’s basketball team coaches, then led by Head Coach Lauren Hall-Gregory.

“I have so much gratitude [for them] for taking that risk on me because, as I told them, I didn’t know if I’ll get healthy,” Will said.

Unfortunately, these concerns have proven to be true so far; Will has yet to step on the court in her three seasons at NYU. As a child, Will suffered from a weak immune system and severe asthma, which worsened after she developed asthmatic bronchitis during her sophomore year of high school. From then on, no medication or treatment has given her more than a week or two of sustained time on the court.

Despite repeated setbacks and a never-ending cycle of new treatments, Will has never seriously considered leaving the team.

“We all love the game and are supportive of each other,” Will said. “When you find that group, I just think you’d be foolish to walk

away from it, no matter what you’re going through.”

For Will, not being able to play did not rob her of a role on the team; her circumstances just changed how she could be a helpful teammate. She has become a vocal leader from the sideline, engaging with each teammate before every practice and providing a positive lift even during frustrating runs of games.

“Even in practice, she’ll come and be the loudest person,” Rory Meyers College of Nursing junior Katie Foos said. “[She] gets everybody’s spirits up.”

They also recognize how frustrating this experience must be for Will, forced into a three-year hiatus from a game she loves. Basketball has always been a huge part of Will and her family’s life. Her older sister plays at Brown University and her younger sister plays at her local high school.

Even after developing asthmatic bronchitis, Will pushed through to play the rest of her sophomore year, which is when she captured the interest of Head Coach Hall-Gregory and her staff.

“She’s the only person that I think could ever deal with a situation [like her’s] and be so positive,” CAS senior Annie Barrett said.

Will has also found other outlets to express her love for basketball. After her first year at NYU, Will volunteered in Kenya, coaching basketball to school students through an organization called Play BOLD.

“It was a humbling experience to be able to bring the game that you loved growing up to these kids,” Will said.

The excitement of the kids also reaffirmed her commitment to returning to the court.

“They just wanted to play, and that’s what you remember about your own sports,” Will said. “You just want to play, you just want to be out there.”

Will is cautiously optimistic about the prospect of finally returning next season. The recently-regimented diet and medication have been agreeable, and she has begun to gradually incorporate longer workouts into her rehabilitation. It has been a delicate process, trying to strengthen her immune system and raise her conditioning without endangering her health. However, she believes she is on track to return for her senior season.

“This past year has been a huge year for me,” she said. “It’s been the first time since 2013 that I haven’t been sick during the winter.”

Whether or not Will successfully returns to the court next season, she will continue to inspire her teammates.

“She hasn’t touched the court in three years and yet she continues to persevere,” Foos said. “I think it’s incredible.”

I realized that I spent my last spring break of college in the exact way I had spent every spring break before that: playing a lot of FIFA 20, watching reruns of classic games and wishing for the return of some sense of normalcy.

The only difference is that this year, I didn’t really have a choice.

My last semester of college was effectively ending prematurely and in a way that I never could have imagined.

I began to spiral in a whirlwind of sad thoughts; I feared I would never see some of my closest friends again — one was going back home to Singapore, another was scheduled to join the Peace Corps in Kyrgyzstan weeks after graduation. As an RA, I would never get to host another hall snacks session with my residents or feast at Palladium brunch with my friends. I didn’t even realize that my last night in my dorm room would be my final one.

It’s never easy when you don’t get the ending you imagined. It’s even harder when you don’t know what the future holds.

This same feeling of an ending being ripped away has hit so many athletes, fans and coaches as a wave of cancellations and postponements rippled through the sports stratosphere.

Before you get too upset, I realize that after all, I am just talking about sports. There are certainly far more pressing issues in a global pandemic like ours, and the decision to put sports on hold was absolutely the correct one. But sports have a way of compelling us to go crazy for every play, worship athletes who defy the laws of nature and forget about everything else in life.

Sports have a way of making moments so much richer for everyone who loves them.

On March 12, the NCAA officially canceled the men’s and women’s college basketball championships, which meant that we would never get to see the Oregon great, Sabrina Ionescu, Baylor’s Lauren Cox and so many others have one last run at a national title. The South Carolina Gamecocks enjoyed their best-ever season under AP Women’s Basketball Coach of the Year Dawn

Staley, winning 32 games, earning the SEC title and finishing the season as the No. 1 ranked team in the nation for the first time in school history. Those players more than earned a trip to the NCAA tournament — but they’ll never know how it would have ended. The same goes for the thousands of other college athletes who never even had the chance to start their final seasons.

The NBA season has been suspended indefinitely, and whatever the league ends up doing will certainly impact the WNBA in some way. Was Vince Carter’s last game ever a crushing defeat to the New York Knicks?

Liverpool was enjoying an electrifying title run in the Premier League.

Then the season was suspended, forcing even the lightning-fast Mohamed Salah to a screeching halt and throwing the team’s fated chance at glory up in the air. Since then, there have been calls to void the season and declare no winner, numerous suggestions on how and when to resume play and prayers to end the season and grant Liverpool the trophy. I can’t help but feel for the players who worked for that moment all their lives and now live in uncertainty about its fruition.

Meanwhile, in baseball, opening day came and went without a single at-bat.

Instead of witnessing the world’s greatest athletes compete at the Tokyo Olympics this summer, we are forced to wait until next year. How many swimmers, gymnasts, fencers, runners and weightlifters have waited their entire lives for this moment only to have one more test in front of them? What will next summer even look like?

Instead of watching the next gut-wrenching loss or fairytale ending, we’re sitting at home, playing a lot of FIFA 20, watching reruns of classic games and wishing for the return of some sense of normalcy.

While we think back on what could have been, all we’re left with are the questions of ‘What if?’

The Sports Girl is a weekly column that features a girl’s take on sports. Yes, a girl. Yes, on sports.

Email Bela Kirpalani at bkirpalani@nyunews.com.

Email Kevin Ryu at sports@nyunews.com.

INFORMING YOU FIRST

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CULTURE

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Focus on Your Home Work With Tips From These Commuters

By ANNA CUCIUREAN-ZAPAN Contributing Writer Who in a million years thought they would be reading an article on how to successfully transition to a semester at home taking online classes? Not me!

You’re probably even reading this while avoiding said online classes. Maybe it’s time to start thinking about how you can make your remote semester the best it can be. We’re here to help, along with advice from our fellow classmates who have some experience

working from home.

Liberal Studies sophomore Tomás Rios grew used to his New Jersey-to-Manhattan train rides and developed the work routine he needed to keep up with his Economics courses.

ALEXANDRA CHAN | WSN

A student sets up their study area on a desk back home. Since the COVID-19 crisis has sent many students away, some commuters offer advice on the experience of working from home.

One of the best ways Rios studies at home is by sitting down and grinding out reading and studying by using what’s called the “Pomodoro Technique,” a time management system created by Francesco Cirillo. The system says to work for four half-hour intervals with five minute breaks in between each one, until finally taking a longer 15-30 minute break.

But aside from completing schoolwork, what are some crucial parts to having a productive day?

“Working out in the morning and talking to at least one friend during the day helps my sanity,” Rios said.

Balancing your work life and social life is now more important than ever, so if you realize you haven’t spoken to anyone except your dog in a couple days, try to Facetime one of your fellow social distancing friends.

CAS first-year Patrycja Lis quickly learned what time management means as a student athlete here at NYU. Traveling back and forth from Queens while attending both classes and track practices meant long days for Lis. She’s more of a morning person, and hates having any work left after her night classes. Lis advises to do schoolwork during the day if you can, so that you have the time after dinner to relax instead of cramming in an essay before midnight.

Something we can all do is create a more solidified morning routine,

which is exactly what Lis does, now that she has three free hours of her day that used to be spent on the subway.

“I wake up at the same time every day so my sleep schedule doesn’t get messed up,” Lis said. “And now I have time to make breakfast so I’ve been better about eating more scheduled meals, because I’m not running around everywhere.”

A lot of what the news and social media are now pushing is productivity. Tweets have been circulating, reminding us with an unkind nudge that Shakespeare wrote King Lear under quarantine and that Sir Isaac Newton discovered calculus under the same circumstances. But in reality, it’s hard to be cooped up in one place for so long. We’re all still students, and we’re all still facing the ramifications of this pandemic. None of us can deny how isolating this whole remote semester is.

You may not feel like organizing your closet or reading a book; you may just want to stay in bed all day, and that’s okay. It’s more than okay, especially in such a panic-inducing and surreal time like this. Take care of one another and check in with your friends and family.

Take the time you need to feel at peace — or at least semi-okay — with everything that’s happening, and then get to becoming the next Rembrandt.

Email Anna Cuciurean-Zapan at culture@nyunews.com.

Gallatin Senior Defies Gravity and Expectations

By ELIF KESIKBAS Staff Writer College life is like walking on a tightrope: balance is everything.

While many students are trying to find the perfect balance between their academics, social lives and career paths in the circus of university life, Gallatin School of Individualized Study senior Ingrid Amelia Apgar defies gravity and expectations as a circus artist at Circus Warehouse.

Apgar started her journey in circus arts with the trapeze classes she took at Trapeze School New York in Boston. Immediately drawn to the excitement of aerial arts, she expanded her skills with a silks course in Santa Monica. Apgar then fully immersed herself in aerial arts with a series of summers at French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts’ summer camp, where she went from being a beginner-level aerial arts student to getting hired as an instructor teaching/coaching 100 campers. However, her professional career as a circus arts performer kicked off when she met Suzi Winson.

“I met the woman who owns the Circus Warehouse in Queens, and her name is Suzi Winston [sic],” Apgar said. “And she was like, ‘If you are family to these guys, you are family to me; come do flying trapeze!’”

Since June 2018, Apgar has been a part of the professional program at Circus Warehouse in Long Island City under the mentorship of Suzi Winson.

While Apgar is now a part of the adrenaline-filled atmosphere of the

circus arts, she started her performance arts career with ballet when she was two-and-a-half years old.

“So they [Apgar’s parents] took me to class and maybe the first few classes, I refused to get off of their lap,” Apgar said. “So I would just sit on their lap and watch the class. And then after class was over and the teacher was gone and all the kids out, I would run up to the ballet bar and try to imitate what I had seen and dance myself.”

Even though Apgar spent the first few classes sitting on her parents’ lap, she embarked on a 15-year-long journey in ballet that would shape her as a performance artist and inspire her studies at Gallatin.

During her high school years, she started easing out of ballet and building an interest in aerial acts. At the same time, Apgar joined a dance program at her school, where she explored “what she thought dance was” and how “choreography related to the embodied sense of movement,” which allowed her to encourage herself to break out of the strictly classical regimen of ballet.

“Since I grew up in ballet, I grew up with a very specific idea of what dance was and what choreography was worth watching on stage or putting on stage,” Apgar said. “In high school I had a very postmodern dance program, but I didn’t have the term ‘postmodern’ to describe it, necessarily.”

When beginning her studies at Gallatin, Apgar had the opportunity to build the theoretical tools to put her high school experience into a linguistic and psychological framework,

which then inspired her concentration “Fragile Bodies, Transient Matters.”

Using her concentration, Apgar challenges the relationship between “spaces in the body and spaces that the body can construct in the context of performance,” and explores the ways that technological entities affect performances. She dives deeper into the topics of theoretical physics, how spaces define different things and radioactivity.

“So the idea of a very small amount of entropy and decay, it all sort of comes together in nuclearity as an idea,” Apgar said.

Just as her career in performance arts have influenced her studies, her studies have influenced her stage presence. Apgar directed “Of Our Bodies” in May 2019 for the Dancers/Choreographers Alliance at NYU, in which she concentrated on improvised movements onstage.

In addition to the performance side of the arts, Apgar is also interested in their technical components. Apgar works as an audio-visual technician at the Jerry H. Labowitz Theatre for the Performing Arts, where she stage and house manages the events held all year round. She also works part-time at Secret Loft, where she stage-manages the biweekly shows “Secret Circus” and “Street Meat” at nights.

You can catch Apgar stage managing at Secret Loft or performing every month at Circus Warehouse — once social life resumes!

YECHIEL MICHAEL HUSARSKY

Email Elif Kesikbas at culture@nyunews.com.

Gallatin senior Ingrid Amelia Apgar is a circus artist training and performing at Circus Warehouse of NYC. Apgar shapes her studies around movement and physics, and works as a technician at the Labowitz theatre, taking interest in all aspects of her performing art.

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Edited by KAYLEE DEFREITAS and ETHAN ZACK

Is Gal Gadot the First Horsewoman of the Entertainment Apocalypse?

VIA INSTAGRAM @GAL_GADOT

A multitude of celebrities collaborated on an Instagram video singing John Lennon’s “Imagine,” coordinated by actress Gal Gadot. It is time to examine the actions and roles of these influential figures during a crisis that calls for change.

By ISABELLA ARMUS Staff Writer In the midst of mass chaos, misinformation and confusion, audiences tend to look for a type of healing salve that can soothe some of the looming anxieties that surround them. On March 18, 2020, in the throes of a global pandemic, “Wonder Woman” star Gal Gadot thought that she had found the perfect remedy.

Armed with a maroon turtleneck and a fresh-faced, sunlit glow, Gadot posted a video to her Instagram account that begins with her somberly talking directly to camera about how the mandated quarantine had been making her feel a bit “philosophical” lately. The starlet goes on to encourage her 37 million followers, in the same earnest vein as the

“High School Musical” franchise, that “we’re all in this together.”

Then, in what is now known as the grand fromage of all IGTV videos ever posted, she begins to awkwardly sing the classic 1971 song “Imagine” by John Lennon. The video then switches to a cacophony of celebrities semi-crooning a bar or two of the track, including household names like Kristen Wiig, Amy Adams, Mark Ruffalo and a humble, maskless Sia. The backgrounds of these cameos were the most telling, as most of them chose to film in oh-so-despairing settings that ranged from mid-century, modern living rooms to well-kept lawns at swanky summer homes. Usually, the hot new artists of the 1990s sing classic songs to encourage listeners to make a charitable donation toward

a cause, but this time, it’s without the whole donation part.

The general demeanor of all celebrities involved with the video seemed to be that posting their off-key, upper echelon performances for the masses to see was charity enough. Naturally, the video was swiftly met with a response not quite as enthusiastic as its creators desired. Fans went to Twitter in droves to obliterate any of the positive connotations this video was attempting to uphold, quick to criticize their favorite film stars’ participation in this whole mess. Someone even photoshopped Gadot’s face onto that of one of the leading actresses of the hit 2019 film “Parasite,” whose character helped portray the aptly brutal and comic depiction of class divide.

While on the surface this could seem like just a laughable moment for cancel culture to bury alive and never be thought of again, this whole debacle cements itself as a strong example of the growing public resentment toward rich celebrities who largely engage in performative activism rather than using their wealth to enact any substantial change.

The sheer amount of damage that this health crisis will cause — and is currently causing — for the entertainment industry is undeniable. Movie theaters are closed across the country with some major chains questioning if they’ll even be able to bounce back, film production has come to a halt and both live concerts and Broadway shows have been canceled until further notice.

The large platforms that most celebrities possess on social media — mostly utilized to promote their latest upcoming projects — now have a nullified

purpose as traditional entertainment production and daily life skids to a halt.

Celebrities, like most of us, don’t have much to do — or rather, sell — right now. Some stars are now just simply choosing to operate as a familiar figure that can create a charismatic distraction, a la Chrissy Teigen, who dealt with people overbuying groceries by begging for romaine lettuce on Twitter. However, fuzzy feelings of false comfort aside, celebrities’ earnest attempts at relatability at this time only seem to highlight the faintly-disguised rift between the unaffected entertainment aristocracy and the rest of the population, which makes little stunts like the “Imagine” video a tone-deaf gut punch to those greatly suffering from the pandemic.

Even as power structures and facades begin to crack, celebrities’ platforms, status and immense privilege remain the same because, again, they really are not just like us. Though during this time, there is that added pesky scrutiny and valid social critique, it is not a signal for celebrities to just sit idly by atop their lavish mansions and say nothing. There is actually plenty of opportunity to help!

What they can do instead of breaking out the karaoke mic is actually use their influence to help spread the word on safety practices to their enormous audience. They could donate a few of their massive Marvel residual checks to get that sweet, positive press and actually help medical professionals cap the spread of this disease — power couple Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively donated over a million dollars last week.

There are also relief packages and

various fundraisers that have been set up recently to help the now-struggling movie theater industry, which could surely use a huge tip from the people who both gain from and are intrinsically linked to it. There are dozens of other ways to create instrumental change with a person’s inherent privilege, such as donating to the organizations of medical professionals operating under dire circumstances or to programs directly attempting to curb the pandemic, like the CDC. These financial acts are actually what these celebrities should be doing if they have the means to.

It’s truly a confusing time, especially in context of the typically dynamic, experiential entertainment industry.

We’re now in a position where so much content is being injected on both streaming services and social media, and every minute there seems to be a new factor popping up that will play into how drastic the effects this pandemic will have on the whole. No one really has a clear solution yet to the abrupt hits that the media industry has been taking and will continue to take throughout this entire experience. It’s also a slippery slope talking about how to keep film, music — hell, even Instagram culture — alive without seeming vapid. But it shouldn’t be that hard for celebrities to understand that posting superficial videos and repping their status during a global crisis isn’t helping, especially when they have the financial means to do so much more. It’s time for them to put their money where their mouth is.

Email Isabella Armus at film@nyunews.com.

J Balvin’s Vibrant Plea for Positivity Radiates Like A Rainbow

By ANA CUBAS Contributing Writer Do you ever think of colors when you listen to music?

When you listen to “Colores,” shut your eyes, clear your mind and explore its spectrum of suave emotions and fruity colors.

Columbian reggaetonero J Balvin’s concept album is as vast in its themes as a 64-count box of crayons, but remains as brilliant and, perhaps, even more sophisticated than his past endeavors.

The 10-track album pairs the sentiment behind each song, whether it be lyrics, melody or influences, to a specific color that can cheer the souls of those stuck in isolation due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The album opens with “Amarillo,” the chipper aural equivalent of a beach party in which he reminds listeners in the chorus “Y yo no me complico, ¿cómo te explico / Que a mí me gusta pasarla rico?” (And I don’t mess around, how can I explain / That I like to have a good time?). The prelude serves as a simple and lively preview of what’s to come.

Later on, tracks like “Rojo” explore despair and passion, wrapped in the inescapable reggaeton dembow beat but hindered in speed, straying from the

dashing rhythm of many popular songs in the genre. This ballad is Balvin’s most sentimental song on the record, illustrating the unconditional love of a soon-tobe father that was killed in a car crash.

The tempo fits the poignant, hearty cries of Balvin singing “Tratan y se caen de la mata / Quieren comprarte siempre con plata / Pero ese tesoro tiene pirata” (They try and never get you / They always want to buy you with money / But that treasure has a pirate).

“Colores” is based on Balvin and his growth as an artist. He steers away from what’s to be expected from your typical reggaeton album, tackling unconventional beats and subject matter for the genre. The album is quite unorthodox for the genre, seeing as its drum arrangements are warped, rendering a sound that’s familiar in its drumbeat but foreign in its composition.

Another evident departure from convention is in his decision to feature only two musicians: Mr. Eazi and Sky Rompiendo, Balvin’s frequent partner in crime. Rompiendo and Balvin famously collaborated on a track called “Karma” and are both considered Colombian pioneers of reggaeton. That being said, production collaborations include the likes of DJ Snake, Afro Bros, Justin Quiles and Diplo.

The bass-brimmed “Negro” packs a punch. The track adopts the dark stylings of malianteo, a hardcore rock and hip hip subgenre of reggaeton. With crisp lyrics like, “Ella tiene maldad, ella tiene una diabla guardá’ / Loco por darle una nalgá’ que la deje marcá’” (She is evil, she has a she-devil within her / Crazy to give her a spank that leaves her branded) and gritty, sirenic noises mingling throughout, “Negro” is richly chromatic.

A similarly darker, equally spunky, shade of reggaeton flashes in “Morado.”

The color of royalty, “Morado” is the epitome of opulent indulgence. Boasting “Yo pedí un trago y ella la botella / Abusa siempre que estoy con ella / Hazle caso, si no te estrellas” (I ordered a drink, and she ordered the whole bottle / She always abuses when I’m with her / Pay attention to her, if you don’t, you’ll crash) while accompanied by lush melodies and gothic synths, this track is both seductive and glamorous.

If colors represented rhythm, it is no surprise Balvin titled his collaboration track with Mr. Eazi “Arcoíris,” which translates to “Rainbow.” An optimistic celebration of a chromatic trip, the changing beats are both distinctly reggaeton and far from the genre’s usual sound, sampling from the sounds of electronic and Afrobeat. “Arcoíris” is

CHARLIE DODGE | WSN

J Balvin’s new album “Colores” explores his unique sound through ten tracks named after colors. His reggaeton style shines through different themes in each track, creating an album meant to be experienced as a whole.

the most Afrobeat-influenced track on the album, adopting drums that glide through the track as fluently as wind through palm trees.

It seems J Balvin might have established his unique sound in “Colores” after seven albums. It thrusts the flourishing genre of reggaeton into uncharted territory while still having Balvin’s unmistakable sound. “Colores” shows

Balvin dedicating his mind, body and soul to the creation of an entire album as opposed to working on how to create the best new single, a notion that’s fully evident in the consistency of vividly juicy, robust tracks that you just won’t be able to get out of your head.

Email Ana Cubas at music@nyunews.com.

Washington Square News

6

MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2020

OPINION

OPINION@NYUNEWS.COM

Edited by JUN SUNG

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Navigating the Coronavirus as Student Journalists STAFF EDITORIAL

By COLE STALLONE Editor-in-Chief Dear readers, At times, it feels like words aren’t enough to describe what’s happening. On one hand, it’s almost as if life has been put on pause in the midst of the crisis, but at the same time, life still goes on. Returning from break and trying to establish a new normal has been more difficult than anyone could have foreseen. Despite this, WSN is continuing to report.

As an essential service, it is our responsibility to provide information to our community now more than ever. And we’ve been following the coronavirus since the beginning of the semester.

In late January, our news desk first reported on the anxiety and frustration felt by the NYU Shanghai community as the virus spread throughout China. By the end of February, as the situation began to improve in China, we covered the changing feelings and push for solidarity at NYU Shanghai.

However, in early March saw the beginning of the global escalation of the virus and by the time we left for spring break, the university had shut down all European sites and transitioned to online classes — proving to be a challenge for some. Over the break, nearly all global and study-away sites closed — with the exception of NYU Abu Dhabi — shortly followed by the New York campus.

As a result of this decision, and with practically no one left on campus, WSN has decided to cease issuing a weekly print publication. That does not mean our work has stopped. We will continue to produce our weekly print issues and upload them online, where you can see some of our past publications as well. In addition, we will continue to report and run stories throughout the week, as we have during and throughout the break — coronavirus-related or otherwise.

Just this past week, we covered

Submitting to

everything from the postponement of this year’s commencement to how NYUAD students are reacting to the coronavirus as well as how their administration is handling it. Aside from our reporting, we’re continuing with our normal coverage, talking about everything from quarantine bangs and food recipes to streaming performances and music reviews. Our magazine, Under the Arch, continues to put out original, creative content, pushing the boundaries of what stories our newsroom can tell. As the world adjusts to our new normal and tries to maintain some sense of routine, we’ll be here to talk about it.

In addition to our reporting, WSN’s Editorial Board continues to discuss crucial issues regarding our university, and our opinion desk continues to serve as a way to hear all the different voices that make up our community. In times like these, having a space to be heard is more important than ever. If you are a member of the NYU community, especially the student body, please consider reaching out to opinion@nyunews.com. Everyone has opinions or experiences they feel should be shared; at WSN, we work to make that happen.

Beyond talking about the key issues going on in our everyday lives, WSN wants to help. Last week we published an article that provided a list of resources that will hopefully be of use for anyone in need as the pandemic goes on.

We will continue to update that article as we find more resources that might be of use, and we encourage anyone who might have anything useful to reach out to tips@nyunews.com.

In my last letter, I wrote about the privilege and necessity of the work that WSN does and that sentiment feels true now more so than ever. In addition, the dedication and talent of WSN’s staff has become clear throughout this experience, and the real privilege is having the ability to continue working with them. Beyond that, the same gratitude I felt at the beginning of the semester has been amplified by the work we’ve done thus far — and the ability to continue that work every day.

The Principled Necessity of Tuition Reimbursement On Monday, March 16, NYU President Andrew Hamilton announced the university would be transitioning to online classes due to the spread of the novel coronavirus. On the same day, Hamilton also wrote in a letter to parents that the NYU community is “experiencing something very new and unusual.” Yet, even after petitions from students, as well as a demand for a full tuition reimbursement from the NYU COVID Coalition (consisting of multiple NYU student groups), the university still hasn’t made any steps toward providing any kind of tuition refund. The university is failing to provide any serious financial solution to its students during what President Hamilton himself has deemed an unprecedented situation.

It is important to note that this move to remote classes has lowered the quality of education for many, but especially for those in the Tisch School of the Arts. A number of music majors, for instance, have said that the Zoom platform is insufficient for music-based learning, as the sound quality is sub-standard and lag is common. Other Tisch students have also lost access to facilities such as dance studios and rehearsal spaces that they need and that their tuition money is still paying for. In addition to this, many students must pay extra fees for laboratory and equipment insurance that average $879 per semester. Directors of student projects pay up from $2,000 to $15,000 in additional costs. These are fees the university is still charging students for, even though students don’t have this equipment at home.

This reduction in quality isn’t only limited to programs that rely on handson interaction. A 2017 report from the Brookings Institution found that those who take online courses “perform substantially worse than students in traditional in-person courses and that experience in these online courses impact performance in future classes and their

likelihood of dropping out of college as well.” A 2019 study from Kent State University found that this issue mainly stems from the fact that students engage in non-course related activities during class. Overall, online classes fail to reach the same standards that are normally achieved in in-person classes.

So, in the transition from in-person to online classes, why is the university still charging students normal tuition when it is obviously providing a lower quality of education?

NYU argues that the university simply loses too much money. In her email to Tisch students on March 22, Tisch Dean Allyson Green wrote that “having to switch to remote learning in the midst of a global pandemic in two weeks is not revenue making in the slightest,” and that the school is losing much more due to the continued payment and maintenance of its facilities. It can be assumed that this is the position of the university as a whole as well. Both President Hamilton and Vice President of Student Affairs Marc Wais didn’t mention the subject in their letters to the student body, which were sent March 16 and March 17, respectively.

The underlying problem with the university and its reasoning is that students and the rest of the NYU community have no choice but to take the administration’s word, since there is little to no transparency with the university. For example, when Dean Green says that Tisch and the university as a whole are losing millions from equipment and facility maintenance, there is no way of knowing whether that information is valid. The university provides no evidence for their decisions, so students and organizations are kept in the dark.

The fact of the matter is that students paid for a semester of in-person classes, not online ones. Currently, undergraduate students are paying an average of around $26,654 for a lower-quality education, but the university refuses to acknowledge

the need for tuition reduction. A university has a responsibility to its students, and NYU is failing to meet this standard.

Nevertheless, the university’s efforts during the crisis before March 16 must be commended. Before it decided to evict students from residential housing and to not reimburse tuition after the transition to remote instruction, it was handling the issue reasonably well. A notable example is when it closed global sites relatively quickly, especially in Europe, while providing travel arrangements for students who needed it.

Still, the actions the university took on March 16 — and the ones it didn’t take — showed that these measures don’t go far enough.

Some may argue that tuition refunds are unrealistic. However, partial solutions to tuition refunds during this pandemic aren’t unprecedented among American universities. Stanford has allowed students to take a leave of absence for the spring quarter if individuals don’t want to attend online classes, and has ensured full tuition refunds if they fill out an application by April 5. If a student wishes to take this leave after the deadline, they will still receive a full prorated refund. Meanwhile, the only time NYU has mentioned leave of absences was on Feb. 3 — far before the administration’s decision to transition to online classes. It hasn’t discussed any kind of tuition refunds in conjunction with leave of absences as well. To be clear, this isn’t even close to the policy that should be implemented at NYU — students shouldn’t be forced to leave during the semester in order to be reimbursed for tuition — but it is an acknowledgement of the lower quality of online education and students’ financial needs.

Students are currently paying normal tution for a semester of subpar online classes. As an institution, NYU has a responsibility to accommodate members of its community and provide a tuition refund policy.

Email the Editorial Board at editboard@nyunews.com.

CHAIR Jun Sung CO-CHAIR Emily Dai, Gabby Lozano, Asha Ramachandran, Helen Wajda CHAIR EX OFFICIO Cole Stallone, Abby Hofstetter,

Ronni Husmann, Paul Kim, Anna-Dmitry Muratova

Email Cole Stallone at cstallone@nyunews.com.

SEND MAIL TO: 75 THIRD AVE. #SB07, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10003 OR EMAIL: OPINION@NYUNEWS.COM WSN welcomes letters to the editor, opinion pieces and articles relevant to the NYU community, or in response to articles. Letters should be less than 450 words. All submissions must be typed or emailed and must include the author’s name, address and phone number. Members of the NYU community must include a year and school or job title. WSN does not print unsigned letters or editorials. WSN reserves the right to reject any submission and edit accepted submissions in any and all ways. With the exception of the staff editorial, opinions expressed on the editorial pages are not necessarily those of WSN, and our publication of opinions is not an endorsement of them.

MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2020

UNDERTHEARCH@NYUNEWS.COM

Washington Square News

7

UNDER THE ARCH

Edited by GURU RAMANATHAN

New York City, Asleep at Last

A journey through the empty streets of New York City during the COVID-19 outbreak.

Words and Photos by

ALEKSANDRA PANKRATOVA

Contributing Photographer

A lonely biker rides the Brooklyn Bridge at night crossing from the Two Bridges area and DUMBO Park.

FDR Drive, the 9.6-mile limited-access highway on the east side of Manhattan, resembles a suburban road now.

The familiar hum of traffic is almost nonexistent.

The Oculus, which draws in many viewers per day, is now a sterile-looking ghost town.

A biker in Times Square at night prepares to cross the street.

They distance themselves from others on the ride.

The empty Chinatown streets at sunset are eerily quiet.

It is Sunday, March 22, in one of the biggest cities in the world, through what used to be some of its most crowded neighborhoods, along some of the busiest streets. Areas that were once bustling with racing taxis and bubbly tourists now sit in complete silence. I saw closed stores that would, no less than a month ago, be open until the late hours of the night, always filled with the buzz of a New Yorker ready to jump to the next adventure. Empty subway cars move in solitude under the streets.

I took a ride from the Lower East Side all the way up to Central Park and back on March 22nd. On the following day, I biked again through the

West Village. On this day I realized how different this city looks without its people. My journey is surreal.

There’s a strange sort of gratitude that comes with seeing other people shuttering bar windows with plywood sheets. Everyone wears masks, people walk far away from others, the streets are silent, there are no ambulances and no honking. The thing that surprised me most of all was how silent the city is. It’s almost a miracle to hear only birds singing in Manhattan on a sunny afternoon. New York City is quiet for the first time in my memory. COVID-19 has placed the city in a forced standstill, placing uncertainty on when it will return to what it was.

Email Aleksandra Pankratova at underthearch@nyunews.com.

Only a few civilians can be seen along the streets in the West Village during the pandemic.

Two men wearing masks play chess in Washington Square Park on a spring day, March 22, 2020 in the midst of the social distancing order in effect.

A look down deserted Broadway at the Prince Street intersection.

There are no cars on the once-busy inner-city street.

A “man in the bubble” performs his routine show in Times Square, this time with new meaning.

The intersection of Greene and Broome Streets in SoHo remains empty. Looking up the street, no cars or people pass as usual.

Washington Square News

8

UNDERTHEARCH@NYUNEWS.COM

UNDER THE ARCH

MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2020

Edited by GURU RAMANATHAN

The Challenge of Navigating an Intersectional Identity as a Queer Student of Color Students discuss the tools they use for self-acceptance when their queer identities clash with the cultural norms they associate with home.

By SAMMY TAVASSOLI Under the Arch Deputy Editor After En Chyi Goh first came out as queer to her mother, they never spoke about it again.

For Goh, identifying as queer, a slur now broadly reclaimed by the LGBTQ+ community, meant being free to explore her sexuality beyond labels of gay or straight. She wanted to share this part of herself with her mother when she came out. But for a while, her mother was so adamant to pretend it never happened that the Tisch first-year felt as if she hadn’t come out to her family at all.

According to Goh, her mother was quite “traumatized,” her reaction likely fueled by the discriminatory laws and social attitudes toward the LGBTQ+ community in her home country of Malaysia. Given the importance Malaysian families place on upholding their reputations, Goh was deeply hurt but understood her mother being in denial.

In Malaysia, where Islam is the official state religion, LGBTQ+ individuals can be forced into the closet by laws that stipulate openly gay and transgender individuals are committing public indecency. These laws do not protect against the abuse, imprisonment or killing of queer people, and punishments for LGBTQ+ citizens can extend from caning to physical and sexual assault by law enforcement officials. Measures for the safety of queer people are sought after before any hopes of legalizing gay marriage or gender transitions can be realized.

This kind of brutal intolerance at home can be familiar and difficult to handle for many queer international students, especially given the current global pandemic — COVID-19.

Yet luckily, much to Goh’s surprise, her mother showed signs of subtle tolerance after the incident.

Goh continued to express her homosexuality online where her parents could see it without them having to discuss it with each other: Neither of Goh’s parents objected to her involvement in online LGBTQ+ platforms, such as including

a pride flag in her Instagram bio and regularly sharing LGBTQ+ relevant stories on Facebook.

They silently agreed to prioritize living in harmony over confrontation. Over time, Goh and her parents both became considerate of the differences between her Americanized perspective and their traditional Malaysian values.

“I grew up at an American school [in Malaysia] and I can see there’s this total clash of cultures between my parents’ worldview and my whole new one,” Goh said.

“We have to be considerate of each other’s differences, which makes it possible for us to still live together. It was hard for me at first, but I know there’s no point in me pushing my identity on them all at once.”

Goh believes that it is important to recognize that beyond the NYU community, cultures and societal morals have a valuable role in how someone expresses their LGBTQ+ identity. Like Goh, many other queer students with strong cultural and familial ties grapple when conflicts arise between their cultural values and intersectional identities. They often have to find a balance between what they grew up with and what they need to feel comfortable with their identities.

Before coming out as bisexual to part of her extended family, Steinhardt senior Jennifer Castillo seriously considered the impact religious and cultural values would have on her mental health, their understanding, and their treatment of her after the fact. Castillo’s parents, who migrated from El Salvador and the Dominican Republic, have their values not only rooted in their national cultures but also in Catholicism.

“I definitely felt the clash of the pseudo-Catholicism that was placed onto me with my identity and stayed in the closet way longer than I should have because of how that impacted me,” Castillo said.

While she was closeted to her family in middle school, Castillo began to overcome her struggle through focused self-reflection and journaling. Having a contained, private space to explore herself and come to terms with her sexuality in the context

of her family’s religious and cultural values helped Castillo feel more comfortable with her bisexuality, and eventually come out to her family.

Still, Castillo had to be cautious about who she could open up to. While she was comfortable coming out to friends as early as middle school, her immediate family was one of the last to know. She eventually had the courage to introduce her girlfriend to other family members at her aunt’s house this past winter break.

Through each stage of Castillo’s coming out journey, she opened up to a new family member and gained enough support to feel confident in expressing her bisexuality to a large majority of her extended family.

Castillo also found comfort in NYU’s student queer community. One of the LGBTQ Center’s clubs, Shades, provides support and community for queer people of color specifically. Through Shades she found solace and guidance in a community with numerous others that were going on journeys similar to hers.

Yet outside of safe spaces like Shades, being a person of color or an international student in the LGBTQ+ community can feel isolating, as some LGBTQ+ students at NYU fail to acknowledge the significance of the intersection between culture and sexuality. It doesn’t help that mainstream media tends to perpetuate a white American experience, either.

For instance, Goh is often taken aback by domestic LGBTQ+ students who judge her mindset of reducing family conflict instead of engaging in direct confrontation. Sometimes she wishes they would do more to understand her situation and the issues that come with identifying as LGBTQ+ and not coming from the U.S. “There’s only awareness about what’s happening in America and not about the world,” Goh said. “What I’m experiencing here in Malaysia is a hundred years plus back from what you have, and what I’m fighting for is not even the right to get married but the right to not get killed on the street.”

In New York, many LGBTQ+ organizations have made a special effort to prior-

SAMMY TAVASSOLI | WSN

SAMMY TAVASSOLI | WSN

itize the narratives of people of color, and emphasize an expanded, intersectional perspective of people’s experiences. Steinhardt senior Somaya Gupta works with one such organization, GLAAD. They are a transgender, genderfluid and sexually queer student of color. Gupta has taken on the role of a campus ambassador in GLAAD, acting as a role model and inspiration for those new to the queer community, particularly people of color, on Instagram and beyond.

“I’ve had quite a few people reach out to me, saying my Instagram has helped them and made them more comfortable in wanting to come out to people,” Gupta said. “Social media is what I use to find other people like me and express my queerness while feeling safe behind a screen where I can’t be easily attacked.”

Through social media, Gupta has found others who understand their identity as a queer, Indian person and the struggles they face. It was one of the major tools they used to feel comfortable in their own skin, given their difficult experience being openly queer to their Indian extended family and in their home state of North Carolina. “[In India] I’ve had a lot of aunties being homophobic in the past, especially when I was in the closet because they didn’t think it counted then,” Gupta said.

“When I go to the bathroom [in North Carolina], I get a lot of stares from other women, particularly white women. I used to force myself to be as femme and straight-passing as possible, but after meeting more people like me, I’ve become more comfortable ‘looking gay.’”

Having long-standing support online and on campus has made it easier for them to understand themselves and the full scope of their identity. Gupta has grown comfortable in their own skin, appreciating their intersectional identity and no longer feeling obligated to conform to the expectations of their hometown, extended family or one particular type of LGBTQ+ identity.

“I’d say focus less on finding a label and focus more on doing what feels good,” Gupta said. “For a long time, I was like, am I this, am I this, am I this? And eventually I decided I’ll just cut my hair, I don’t need to figure out the exact way to say how I am.”

More comfortable members of the

LGBTQ+ community, like Gupta, can have an extremely meaningful impact on those in the early stages of figuring out their identities.

For Goh, this kind of advice came from her gay older brother, who also remains closeted in the family, who wanted to help her explore her sexuality while living in Manhattan. Her brother, who also had been exposed to online queer discourse, was the one who actually encouraged her to identify as queer so she wouldn’t feel pressured to stick to one definitive sexuality label.

The inclusivity and intersectional understanding that Goh’s brother and Gupta share are vital to the NYU LGBTQ+ community becoming more supportive of the struggles LGBTQ+ people of non-American experience and people of color face.

For many students – Goh, Gupta, and Castillo included – being a person of color, an international student and queer means having to deal with an intersection of family life, cultural values, religion, American perspectives and even restricting labels as one hopes to achieve self-acceptance. With organizations like GLAAD and Shades, students are working to promote awareness for such complex experiences in hopes of making spaces, including NYU and the university’s existing queer community, safer and more understanding.

“The hardest part was figuring out how to balance my Indian identity and my queer one,” Gupta said. “But now that I have, I love having both of these identities and they give me a unique perspective on the world. The coolest thing is seeing someone who’s visibly queer like me and having this weird mental connection.”

Students like Gupta who encounter identity struggles from multiple sides can lean on other queer students and allies to lessen their burdens, making them feel far less alone. By having their voices heard and their paths respected, LGBTQ+ students of color, including international students, may feel greater comfort in being their most authentic selves. As the current COVID-19 situation continues to demand students remain at home, this kind of support has become vital to their wellbeing and happiness.

Email Sammy Tavassoli at stavassoli@nyunews.com.

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Washington Square News

ABOUT WSN: Washington Square News (ISSN 15499389) is the student newspaper of New York University. WSN is published in print on Mondays and throughout the week online during NYU’s academic year, except for university holidays, vacations and exam periods.

CORRECTIONS: WSN is committed to accurate reporting. When we make errors, we do our best to correct them as quickly as possible. If you believe we have erred, contact the managing editors at managing@nyunews.com.

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