Washington Square News April 1, 2019

4 CULTURE

8 OPINION

Sophomore Activist Talks Politics of Protest

NYU Moves Away From Aramark — But Not Far

7 ARTS

10 SPORTS

Indie Rock Group Boyscott Wants to Conquer Brooklyn

To Pay or Not to Pay College Athletes

VOLUME LII | ISSUE 9

MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2019

Students Say New Dining Service Provider, Same Problems

An Aramark truck parked across from Weinstein Residence Hall. NYU will be ending its contract with Aramark, which has been its dining service provider for the last 43 years.

By MEGHNA MAHARISHI News Editor After months of deliberation, NYU conf irmed last week that Aramark will be dropped as the university’s food service provider. The controversial company, which has been on campus for over 40 years and faced several recent scandals, will be replaced by Chartwells, a subsidiary of Compass Group.

Though Aramark’s contract was originally set to expire in 2023, NYU initiated a bidding process in 2017 after Lipton Dining Hall received a C grade from the New York City Department of Health. The new f ive-year contract with Chartwells will begin in July.

Initially, there were four food service providers considered in the bidding process: Aramark, Compass Group, Sodexo and AVI Foodsystems. Sodexo dropped out in September and AVI dropped out in October.

Student activists have protest-

ed both Aramark’s and Compass Group’s ties to private and federal prisons. Activists see involvement in the prison-industrial complex as institutionally racist through the perpetration of mass incarceration.

Beyond the companies’ contributions to the prison-industrial complex, the poor service they provide at these facilities has also been levied against them.

In 2014, inmates at a Michigan prison serviced by Aramark reported f inding maggots in the potatoes. An inmate at another prison in the state supplied by Aramark claimed in 2016 that he bit into three rocks in his taco, which then caused damage to his teeth. In 2008, prisons in Ontario serviced by a Compass Group subsidiary tested positive for Listeria monocytogenes, which is found in unpasteurized products and can lead to brain and blood infections. Compass Group also provides vending services to prisons in Florida and a subsidiary of the company provides dining ser-

vices to a prison in Troy, Michigan.

While the university will now cut ties with Aramark, some students do not approve of the university’s decision to negotiate a contract with Compass Group because of their relationship with prisons.

In December, the Incarceration to Education Coalition held a 155-hourlong occupation in the Bobst Library and the Kimmel Center for University Life to protest Aramark and Compass Group, the two companies left in the bidding process.

After the university announced that Compass Group will take over dining operations, the IEC released a statement condemning the new food service provider’s relationship with prisons.

“IEC f irmly condemns both Aramark and Compass Group as companies that continue to prof it off of the mass criminalization of marginalized communities,” the IEC wrote. “IEC is in no way satisf ied by the news of the imminent switch from Aramark

to Compass Group.”

Tisch f irst-year Sam Smith said that he didn’t understand why the university switched food providers when Compass Group also has ties to prisons.

“Well they appeased one group, but they didn’t really f ix anything,” Smith said. “They changed to another prison supplier. Aramark is not the most ethical company, but it seems that the real solution would be to self-provide. It just seems like going from one problematic company to another problematic company.”

Other students, like Steinhardt f irst-year Chloe Finder, said that it seemed like the university took student backlash against Aramark into account when switching food service providers.

“From what I do know about the situation, I would count it as a positive because it seems like they have taken some of the students criticisms into account, especially considering that it’s not something — at least in

MARVA SHI | WSN

my experience so far — the administration has always done,” Finder said.

Tisch f irst-year Geneva Heyward said that she was not familiar with Compass Group but hopes NYU didn’t select a provider with the same problems Aramark had.

“I just wonder who they are partnering with now, and I don’t know much about them,” Hayward said. “I hope that they’re not just like, ‘Well, we’re just going to get rid of this bad company and now partner with another bad company.’”

The IEC also emphasized a need for the university to transition to self-operated food services after its f ive-year contract with Compass Group ends in 2024.

“Our prison divestment campaign has not wavered from the push for self-operative dining,” the IEC wrote. “[W]e will ensure that this switch to Compass Group is only temporary.”

Email Meghna Maharishi at mmaharishi@nyunews.com.

Washington Square News

2

MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2019

NEWS

NEWS@NYUNEWS.COM

Edited by VICTOR PORCELLI and MEGHNA MAHARISHI

University to Launch Chatbot in Response to Trump’s Travel Ban

By AKIVA THALHEIM Social Media Editor When President Trump announced his travel ban in 2017, faculty in NYU’s Office of Global Services panicked.

With over 17,000 international students at NYU — more than any other higher education institution in America — and more applying each year, Trump’s limitation on travel from Libya, Iran, Somalia, Syria, Yemen, Chad, North Korea and Venezuela directly affected many students. Chad has since been dropped from the list, but students from there and many other countries can still face difficulty getting through immigration.

For the 2018 to 2019 academic year, there are approximately 100 members of the NYU community from these countries, according to OGS. Two years and multiple prototypes later, the university is hoping to launch a text message-based bot this summer — named Travel Monitor — that will ensure students arriving to NYC-area airports get through immigration and customs safely.

The new bot, developed by students at NYU IT in collaboration with OGS, is a direct response to the travel ban. Before the flight, students will fill out an online form, including their flight number, date of arrival and phone number. The bot will then send a text one hour after arrival, asking if the student has cleared immigration and customs yet. Notifications will also be sent via email for students who don’t yet have a U.S. phone number.

If the student doesn’t respond after an additional two hours, or sends a text at any time saying something

like “help,” an alert will automatically be sent to Public Safety. A lawyer from NYU Law’s Immigrant Defense Initiative and an officer from Public Safety will travel to the airport to assist the student.

NYU has previously taken legal action against the travel ban at least four times, filing amicus curiae briefs in support of dismantling it. NYU President Andrew Hamilton has said he views the travel ban as harmful to higher education.

The bot is an extension of a previous program established by OGS and IDI. Currently, NYU community members can sign up to have their travel to the U.S. monitored by a volunteer. This is a highly manual process, however, and the bot’s purpose is to automate this workflow, OGS Associate Director Melissa Zuroff explained to WSN. Zuroff added that while there hasn’t yet been a case of a student needing assistance at the airport, she views the Travel Monitor as a kind of insurance policy.

“Originally, when this was conceived, we were a lot more worried, and it’s not like that worry has gone away, because anything could change at any given moment,” Zuroff said. “But we want to have a backup system in place, so that in the event people are held up at the border, we have a way to much more efficiently find out about it.”

Product Designer for NYU IT Sarth Desai managed the creation of the Travel Monitor and hopes that its launch will further cement NYU’s status as a leading institution for international students.

“We are more of a global university where people can go everywhere, so other universities learn from us,

JORENE HE | WSN

A new bot created by NYU IT in collaboration with OGS will assist students traveling from foreign countries to America through the immigration and customs process.

in terms of what we do for global services,” Desai said. “Once we launch this, other schools are going to learn from us and also probably implement it.”

Incoming Class of 2023 CAS firstyear Prafulla Sujatha Nagesh, who is from India, said that she appreciates NYU’s emphasis on assisting international students.

“It’s pretty awesome [that NYU is] helping out international students,

not just focusing on Americans,” Sujatha Nagesh said. “They’re not just getting students into the country, but they also care about what happens to them afterwards. That’s really nice.”

Tandon junior Arystan Tatishev, who is from Kazakhstan, said he thinks Travel Monitor will be useful for students undergoing extra security checks at the airport. He added that while he hasn’t faced any issues, his roommate from Pakistan is often tak-

en for additional questioning.

“As an immigration officer, you have so much power, and at that point, as a traveler, you don’t really want to resist,” Tatishev said. “If you do, then there goes your visa, there goes your approval, there goes your possibility of even being in the country for the next few years.”

Email Akiva Thalheim at athalheim@nyunews.com.

NYU-CUNY Center Involves Immigrant Community Members in Healthcare

By BETHANY ALLARD Staff Writer At the NYU-CUNY Prevention Research Center, researchers are changing the way immigrant and ethnic communities access healthcare by turning to health professionals that are not doctors, nurses or researchers. Rather, they are community members, called community health workers, who provide and translate essential medical knowledge to other residents while providing a sense of familiarity.

The CDC has recently granted the

NYU Langone Health, located at 550 First Ave.

NYU-CUNY Prevention Research Center more than $3 million, which will be used to help provide healthcare to patients who have experienced problems in the justice system. This is the third time the CDC has awarded the money to the center since it first opened in 2009; each grant is intended to aid the work the researcher center does as well as community health workers affiliated with the center over a five-year cycle.

According to research director Dr. Nadia Islam, community health workers are crucial to the center’s work, as they build trust with patients who might oth-

TONY WU | WSN

erwise be unsure of how to navigate the health system or are unable to do so due to language barriers.

Md. Jalal Uddin started working for the center as a community health worker in 2015, when the center began to focus on hypertension in ethnic communities.

He works with Bangladeshi communities by translating medical information for patients to understand and manage their hypertension. He also holds motivational interviews and information sessions to help patients figure out how they can change their lifestyle to improve their condition.

“Doctors provide medicine, but not only medicine helps to lower or manage [patients’] uncontrolled blood pressure or diabetes,” Uddin said. “So there are other things also which need to be implemented or done.”

Islam explained that without the community health workers, a well-researched and developed program is only as impactful as it is accessible to its patients.

“You might have a great program that doesn’t work very well in a very under-resourced, too-busy primary care clinic,” Islam said. “Or you might have a great program that was tested rigorously, but doesn’t really consider a kind of political and cultural environment that it is being implemented in.”

Implementing a program to better suit a certain community can be as simple as translating it into a language that is more accessible or providing meal planning

that takes a culture’s dietary restrictions into consideration.

The center used the last cycle of CDC funding — granted in 2014 — to focus on reducing high blood pressure and improving cardiovascular health in South Asian communities. It uses the community health worker model to implement programs in primary care centers around the city. These programs guide patients on how to adequately manage health problems beyond just taking medicine prescribed by doctors.

The research center also evaluates how to improve practices of primary care centers to better serve patients. The center has taught primary care centers how to better utilize electronic record systems to identify patients with patterns of high blood pressure. Doing so alerts physicians which patients may benefit from additional health advice, according to Islam.

Community health workers like Uddin can use this information to call and encourage patients to attend informational workshops and discuss ways of managing their health. According to Uddin, patients are usually receptive to his calls and are eager to have access to more resources.

In 2009, Islam and the current co-principal investigator for the center, Dr. Chau Trinh-Shevrin, were conducting research on health disparities within immigrant communities in New York when they applied for funding from the

CDC. The money allowed them to develop the center’s infrastructure so that they could not only conduct research but also disseminate their findings into care centers and even create policy briefs — known as white papers — based on their findings. They’ve developed a white paper about integrating community health workers.

“What our center infrastructure enabled us to do was bring together experts and stakeholders from across the country to be able to inform that white paper,” Islam said.

While the research center focuses on New York City, their findings do have a national application.

“Our prevention research center is important because it serves as a hub for innovation on sustainable and scalable policies and programs to address health inequities both in New York City and nationally,” Dr. Anna Divney, a CUNY senior research associate with the center, told WSN via email.

Although the center has focused on different health issues and communities, it is guided by a singular idea.

“A real common theme in our work is to really understand the context that communities are coming from and to shape programs that really work for them,” Islam said.

Email Bethany Allard at news@nyunews.com.

MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2019

Washington Square News | News

3

Student Government Elections, Explained

By VICTOR PORCELLI News Editor Elections for student government positions will be underway in the coming weeks, so WSN broke down how students can vote and what they are voting for.

How to Vote Students can vote for members of the Presidents Council and School Senators, a part of the Students Senators Council, by going to studentvote.nyu.edu and filling out a ballot for the respective position.

Presidents of schools — which make up part of the Presidents Council — and School Senators can only be voted for by students in the schools they represent.

The PC and SSC make up the Student Government Assembly, NYU’s main representative body of students. This semester is the first where there will be all-university elections using the portal.

However, not all councils will use the portal — with the option to conduct their elections differently, those that have traditionally used a different process may continue to do so. Because of this, students cannot vote for every election through the portal but should be able to use it for most.

What SGA Does SGA works to address issues that are relevant to students, mainly by passing resolutions. Sometimes this is in the form of letters of support, which state that SGA backs certain groups or efforts. SGA has passed letters of support for graduate students fighting NYU’s administration due to changes made to their healthcare plans, Jewish students looking to have school

canceled on the holidays Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and others. In addition to letters of support, resolutions can suggest changes to policy such as adding student and faculty representation to the Board of Trustees, adopting a socially responsible investment policy or divesting from fossil fuels. For changes to actually be made in the university’s policy, resolutions passed in SGA have to then be presented and passed in the University Senate, a representative body of students, faculty and administrators. If passed in the University Senate, it then is presented to the Board of Trustees, who have the final say as to whether or not any changes will occur. The Board has struck down multiple resolutions in the past, such as one which would add student and faculty representation to the Board and another which would have NYU divest from fossil fuels.

Presidents Council The Presidents Council is one of two bodies that make up the Student Government Assembly. Presidents of schools, such as the College of Arts and Science or Stern School of Business, account for 27 of the 42 presidents. The remaining 15 are presidents of councils or groups outside of specific schools. For example, Greek life, resident assistants, transfer students and other groups also have presidents on the council.

Student Senators Council The Student Senators Council, along with the Presidents Council, makes up SGA. The SSC also is part of the University Senate and is comprised of 23 School Senators — which represent individual schools — and 14 Senators at-Large meant

to represent communities that may have less of a voice otherwise, such as students of color, LGBTQ students and Muslim students. Each Senator at-Large also appoints their own alternate. Alternate Senators atLarge have no voting power unless their respective senator is absent, but can sit in on meetings. School Senators are voted in by students of the school they represent, while Senators at-Large go through a different process. Senators at-Large submit an application, personal statement, resume and a letter of recommendation from a member of the community they wish to represent. School Senators vote on the applicants to decide who will get positions.

This year, the vote for Senators at-Large will occur on April 11.

The Executive Committee of SGA The Executive Committee is made up of the Chairperson and Vice Chairperson and is elected by the SGA. Both positions apply to SGA and SSC — the Chairperson of the SGA is the Chairperson of the SSC, and the same goes for the Vice Chairperson. The Chairperson calls and runs all meetings and is the official spokesperson of the SGA. The Vice Chairperson assists the Chairperson and fulfills their duties if they are absent for any reason. The current Vice Chairperson is CAS senior Anesu Nyatanga and the Chairperson is CAS senior Hüsniye Çöğür. Only current members of SGA who are returning the following semester can run for the positions. Elections will occur on April 18.

Email Victor Porcelli at vporcelli@nyunews.com.

CRIME LOG

Keys Missing From Vibraphone

By CRIME BOT Robot Reporter From March 21 to 29, the NYU Department of Public Safety received two reports of criminal mischief, three reports of controlled substance violation, one report of disorderly conduct, one report of harassment, one report of harassment/intimidation and six reports of larceny.

Criminal Mischief On March 21 at 5 p.m., a resident assistant reported a broken window caused by criminal mischief in Rubin Residence Hall.

Police notification was declined and the case has been referred to the Office of Community Standards.

On March 24 at 11:24 p.m., a student reported witnessing vandalism on a hallway wall in Lipton Residence Hall. Police notification was declined and the case is open and under investigation.

Controlled Substance Violation On March 21 at 12:24 a.m., an RA reported witnessing underage alcohol possession in Third Avenue North Residence Hall.

Police notification was declined and the case is open and under investigation.

On March 22 at 1:46 a.m., Public Safety responded to a report of an alleged drug law violation and a small amount of marijuana was recovered in Founders Residence Hall. Police notification was declined and the case has been referred to the Office of Community Standards.

On March 29 at 12:18 a.m., an RA reported witnessing underage alcohol possession in Alumni Residence Hall. Police notification was declined and the case has been referred to the Office of Community Standards.

Disorderly Conduct On March 28 at 4:56 p.m., an NYU Public Safety officer reported witnessing disorderly conduct in the lobby in Carlyle Court Residence Hall. Police notification was declined and the case is open and under investigation.

Harassment On March 22 at 11:45 p.m., a student reported being threatened in Bobst Library. Police notification was declined and the case is open and under investigation.

Harassment/Intimidation On March 28 at 10:25 a.m., a student reported being harassed and intimidated by an unknown individual in Waverly Place between Broadway and Mercer.

Police notification was declined and the case is open and under investigation.

Larceny On March 23 at 4:14 p.m., a student reported a missing backpack in Bobst Library. Police notification was declined and the case is open and under investigation.

On March 25 at 9:43 p.m., a student reported that his backpack was missing from the dining hall in Third North. Police notification was declined and the case is open and under investigation.

On March 26 at 3:49 p.m., an NYU staff member reported a missing pair of headphones in 404 Lafayette. Police notification was declined and the case is open and under investigation.

On March 27 at 4:30 p.m., a student reported a missing credit card from a computer lounge in Second Street Residence Hall. The NYPD was notified. A police report was filed and the case is open and under investigation.

On March 28 at 12:30 p.m., a student reported a missing backpack in the Kimmel Center for University Life. A police report was filed and the case is open and under investigation.

On March 28 at 3:07 p.m., an NYU staff member reported missing keys from a Vibraphone in Third North. A police report was filed and the case is open and under investigation.

Email Crime Bot at news@nyunews.com.

INFORMING YOU FIRST

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CULTURE@NYUNEWS.COM

MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2019

CULTURE

Edited by FAITH MARNECHECK

Sophomore Activist Talks Politics of Protest

By ANNA DE LA ROSA Deputy Culture Editor Posters ripped out of hands. Tasers brandished and waved at middle and high schoolers. Bodies pushed and jostled around. Phone numbers written down by lawyers on people’s arms.

Threats of arrest.

When the New York Police Department arrived at 70th Street and Central Park West, kids rushed to leave, wanting to protect their records — some were in the midst of college applications and were worried about their futures. But not Kate Glavan.

“I was older,” she said. “I didn’t have as much to lose.”

Wearing a cinched white blouse, long nude skirt and pearl earrings, lanky Gallatin sophomore Glavan looked like a fashionable Mother Teresa, towering over and marching alongside middle and high school children during the Youth Climate Strike in New York City on March 15.

Carrying a huge black banner with the words, “The youth are ready, when will you listen?”, the kids were crossing and blocking an intersection when the cops came and started ripping posters apart.

Kids and adults alike started linking arms in solidarity as they crossed the street. However, after the children started to disperse from the scene, the adults, including Glavan, maintained the ground.

When cops began yelling over megaphones that the people in the middle of the street were about to be arrested, Glavan, positioned on the edge of the street, decided that this moment wasn’t worth getting written down on her record.

“There wasn’t any injustice happening in the street that motivated me to be arrested,” Glavan said. “If it was something where someone was getting abused by the police, or there’s an unjust interaction and I needed to put my body out there for something, I would do it.”

While she was one of the oldest par-

ticipants at the strike, Glavan was in her early childhood when she first learned about activism from her parents. Advocacy has been part of her life since birth — she grew up seeing the way her parents would fight for her disabled twin brother to get healthcare and adequate help at school. In particular, she saw her mom work tirelessly to get their public school to provide accommodations such as hearing aids and a personal computer and fight pessimistic diagnoses doctors would give her brother.

“My brother wouldn’t have made it without her never taking no for an answer,” Glavan said. “My prior school district, insurance companies [and] our doctors all told my brother some form of no. Because my mother was fighting for him, he’s made it far beyond the projections they had for him at birth — to never talk [and] walk, and now he’s fully enrolled in a four-year college. There were so many larger fights along the way of our adolescence that I would simply hear about in the car on the way home or at the family dinner table. Politics was every day.”

Like mother like daughter, Glavan grew up learning how to be a fighter.

“My mom would always tell me that unless you fight for something or someone, nothing will change,” Glavan said.

“That’s what drives me to wake up — to use any privilege I have to be a voice to fight for the voiceless.”

Her current focus on pre-law, politics and civil liberties drives her studies in Gallatin. While she sees fulfillment in being a lawyer in the future and working tirelessly to advocate for and represent minorities, Glavan fully admits to the privilege she has.

“I’m white, I come from a middle-class family and my parents are paying for my college,” Glavan said. “I worked hard to get scholarships, but I think that’s the kind of discussion that people don’t have — we don’t talk about money.”

Not only is Glavan aware of her per-

sonal privilege, but she even understands the racial disparity in the way people protest and the safety that is secured in her position. “[The participants at the Youth Climate Strike were] mostly white, [and] I’m going to guess [they were] affluent kids,” Glavan said. “If you’re protesting Black Lives Matter, you might be [saying] ‘f-ck the police,’ but these kids weren’t doing anything that related to the cops.”

In addition, Glavan claims that matters of the environment don’t usually warrant police activity.

“I was just so surprised that the NYPD felt so threatened by the issue of climate change that they were like, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re going to rip these posters out of the [hands of these] kids,’” Glavan said.

The issue of climate change is something that Glavan not only feels very passionately about but hopes to put on everyone’s radar. After transitioning to a vegan lifestyle two years ago for environmental reasons, she realized contradictions in her plastic consumption and water usage, and sustainability became her focus. Beyond the conflict in her lifestyle choices, she finds herself torn between social media and how she chooses to portray her lifestyle.

While Glavan has around 2,500 Instagram followers and represents brands like Outdoor Voices, Mejuri and Glossier, she aims to set herself apart from the stereotypical beauty and fashion influencer by incorporating her political knowledge into her daily stories and posts.

“I think that knowing where you are [in the system], even if you do have this privilege in this one sense, you can still contribute and share your knowledge and your experience,” Glavan said.

Glavan also acknowledges the slacktivism stereotype that social media gets, but she debunks the idea that posts can’t make progress. She finds a platform with Instagram where she can reach out to people and give quick and easy ways to be more involved or aware of the ev-

ALINA PATRICK | WSN

Gallatin sophomore Kate Glavan was almost arrested at the Youth Climate Strike.

er-changing world and the social and political forces driving it.

“If I post something, and five people go and register to vote, that’s better than me trying to do the conventional ‘go talk on the street,’” Glavan said.

Her tactics seem to work as she receives many direct messages daily with thanks and questions that ask her to continue posting about her methods for zero-waste shopping and environmental book recommendations. Her followers and friends have also asked her to start a YouTube channel, but she wasn’t interested in generalizing her life and glorifying New York City in a three-minute video.

Instead, Glavan started a newsletter.

She begins each post with a diary-style entry, appeasing her followers who craved day-in-the-life content, but her words entice her readers to continue scrolling down, where she includes a news roundup, fashion and beauty favorites, vegan recipes and zero-waste tips.

Glavan proves that she doesn’t have to sacrifice her interests in style for her love of politics.

Glavan, a self-proclaimed nerd who listens to political podcasts at 1.5 speed for fun, wants to make her daunting passions about law and government more attainable for those that don’t even know where to begin — she particularly targets students her age, with NYU voter turnout at a low 47.8% in 2016.

“What I want to do is make politics digestible [for] the average person, make it a casual conversation and make it more commonplace,” Glavan said. “[With the newsletter,] I’ve just wanted to do something that people feel like they have a fluency and capacity to talk about areas they’re interested in.”

Whether you reach out to her on Instagram or spot her running around the West Village, Glavan will always be down to talk, welcoming the harder conversations about race, politics and the environment. As she aspires to be a voice for the voiceless, she can help us find our own voices in a world where it seems like we can only whisper.

Email Anna de la Rosa at adelarosa@nyunews.com.

Hudson Yards: Students Don’t Believe the Hype

JORENE HE | WSN

The Vessel, a 16-floor structure located at 20 Hudson Yards, is an artistic structure built as part of the Hudson Yards Redevelopment Project.

By ISLA NA Staff Writer Hudson Yards, a shining diamond amid the concrete jungle, does not blend into the neighborhood. It

stands separately, as if enclosed in a glass case at a museum — to be looked at, but not touched. Even its pristine subway station was an anomaly — nothing like the smelly, rodent-infested Union Square stop.

Hudson Yards lacks the hustle and bustle that has become synonymous with the cramped city streets.

Dubbed “a billionaire’s fantasy city,” this $20 billion development opened its doors to the public for the f irst time on March 15. With two interactive artworks named the Vessel and Snake Park, Hudson Yards will only get bigger with more skyscraper buildings like an observation deck with a 10,000-square-foot restaurant 101 floors above Manhattan arriving soon.

It is obvious that Hudson Yards is being marketed as a posh paradise with awe-inspiring views. But its establishment has ramif ications that concern many NYU students, like CAS sophomore Michael Lampel.

“It’s hard for me to comprehend why so many people are so excited about a luxury high rise development while New York City currently has such a severe public housing crisis,” Lampel said. “Homelessness in NYC is steeply on the rise, increasing the demand for public housing, while many public housing developments are quickly deteriorating and few new ones are being built.”

Lampel said the money and space

used to build the Hudson Yards could have gone toward something more practical and helpful.

“I believe that New York should be investing in public housing instead of giving unprecedented tax breaks to developments like Hudson Yards,” Lampel said.

Tisch senior Kayla Zanakis agreed with Lampel and stated that there could be consequences for low-income residents of New York City.

“I feel like this area will only be available to the best money can buy,” Zanakis said. “These high rent prices will only allow for the wealth and poverty gap to increase in the city.”

Hudson Yards truly has everything one needs to live lavishly without stepping foot outside the neighborhood, creating an affluent bubble that separates it from the rest of the city.

Complete with amenities like a concert hall, SoulCycle, Equinox Hotel, a nail salon and a grocery market, it is the epitome of luxury and advanced technological design, fashioned to withstand even a coast-wide power outage with its own power source and communications network.

CAS sophomore Patricia Luk was overwhelmed by the area’s artistry

and functionality.

“I was blown away because it’s supposed to be art, but it was seven or eight floors and felt like a solid building,” Luk said.

CAS f irst-year Mills Reed saw Hudson Yards’ splendor as something that could potentially be harmful — to his wallet, that is.

“Hudson Yards [is] architecturally beautiful and fun to walk around, but [it’s] an unhealthy place to be an impulse buyer,” Reed said. “Even the caution wet floor signs are made of stainless steel.”

CAS f irst-year Adam Moritz says it’s obvious who this million-dollar mecca caters to.

“Hudson Yards is just another addition to the ways New York accommodates for the insanely rich while appearing to benef it the city as a whole,” Moritz said. “The mall is open to everyone — although almost all of the stores are extremely expensive and inaccessible for the average New Yorker — but the space is truly just for the uber-rich people, and pretending otherwise is just ignorance.”

Email Isla Na at culture@nyunews.com.

MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2019

Washington Square News | Culture

5

NYU Trend Report: Spring Edition

By CAROL LEE Beauty & Style Editor IN Square-Toe Chelsea Boots Edgy.

We’ve gone through the round, and we’ve gone through the pointy. Now it’s time for the rise of the square. These rectangular reiterations are bringing a Western-style twist to Washington Square Park without students having to commit to the cliche cowboy boot.

Yeehaw in the big city.

Square Necklines For when you wanna show off your collarbones.

Geometric silhouettes are having their moment. Classy and surprisingly flattering, square necklines not only elongate in all the right places but are perfect for all occasions. Rooftop darty? Broadway show? Casual gathering at your friend’s apartment deep in Brooklyn where you’ll only know two people? Be there and be square.

Flare Jeans Back to the ’70s.

Over the past five years, we’ve seen skinny jeans give into boyfriend jeans give into straight-leg jeans. NYU students have now deemed denim best when flared. Not the spine-chilling low-rise bootcuts of the early 2000s, the newest flare jean renditions create an illusion of added length with their high-rise waistlines and ankle-length hemlines.

VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

A woman wears flare jeans over a pair of heels.

OUT Scrunchies Why did they ever come back?

Unnecessarily bulky and impractical, these long-deplored hair ties took over as the hair accessory equivalent to the ugly white sneaker. Better worn on the wrist than in your hair, they’re a poor excuse for jewelry.

Velvet Hope you’re not too crushed.

Yes, 2018 was the year of velvet. Students sported the luxurious fabric in the form of slip dresses, long trousers, and jaunty berets during all four seasons. In short, velvet overload. At this point, it’s more tacky than it is vintage chic. Time to let go.

Email Carol Lee at clee@nyunews.com.

Stern Alumna Reimagines Ice Cream With New Smoothie Company

JULIA MCNEILL | WSN

NYU Stern alumna Caroline Tseng’s all-natural plant-based smoothie freezes from her store Sweet Nova located at 265 Canal St.

By ELIF KESIKBAS Staff Writer Fashion blogger, brand industrial strategist and food entrepreneur. Whether she’s blogging about the fashion scene at NYU and casually reaching 17,000 page views per month, overseeing new marketing strategies for big brands like Suave and Clinique as a Strategy Director or founding Sweet Nova, her own smoothie freeze company, Caroline Tseng has always had a flair for creativity.

Even while at Stern — she graduated in 2009 — Tseng did not fit into the usual finance-driven mold, preferring the excitement of creating and building businesses. Entrepreneurship classes helped her explore her passion to a deeper degree.

“I took this amazing class called Entrepreneurship 2.0,” Tseng said to WSN. “The metric was that if you could get one customer for your business, then you got an A for the class.”

Determined to get that A, Tseng started

her own — now retired — street fashion blog, street-spotted.com, inspired by fashionable NYU students. In the pre-Instagram world when blogging was not an everyday thing, Tseng gained a lot of experience creating online content. She even continued her blog for a year after graduation, transforming it into a social platform that collaborated with brands like Kate Spade. Her deep understanding of social media platforms caught the attention of advertising agencies.

“Social media was so new,” she said. “It was the beginning of that era where social media agencies began their social department within traditional agencies that did TV commercials.”

Ironically, Tseng’s career did not take off through her social media platforms, but in a more traditional way. She got her first job through an elevator pitch — literally.

“In the elevator going to my internship, I see this woman coming in, and behind her the sign Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners,” Tseng said. “The reason why I knew this name was

that a gentlemen from that agency had come to speak as a guest speaker in one of my classes.”

Eager to learn more about the glamorous and eventful world of advertising, she introduced herself to the woman. By the time Tseng reached her floor, she had the contact for HR at Kirshenbaum, who was expecting her resume.

Shortly after, she started as a social marketing intern in an entrepreneurial environment.

“I ended up really understanding the process of creating creative ideas,” she said. “What you learn at the agency is that there is a structure that allows and fosters great ideas to happen. You balance the openness of what creativity is and then the guidance and focus of what structure gives you. That’s how ideas happen.”

By the time she was 30, she had already made her way up to Strategy Director at Carrot and ACE Content. While she was very successful at her position, Tseng felt like she hit a ceiling.

“In that world, your destiny, no matter how talented you can be, is to be controlled by someone else,” Tseng said. “I had a moment of clarity and I was turning 30. It’s time for a transition. I have been on this path and I am learning and growing, I am at a level where I am very confident at what I do and I’m really good at it; I wanna feel scared again, I wanna feel like a beginner again.”

Tseng’s inspiration for a smoothie freeze company came to her after working long hours at her job and realizing she had no time for sitdown meals. Batch-made smoothies did not satisfy Tseng’s stomach due to their short shelf life, and she was getting tired of peanut butter straight out of the jar. Following her dream to found her own business, Tseng took on developing the perfect snack as a side hustle.

“What if I could have this format, easy like a peanut butter jar but then the whole blend of plant-based ingredients in a smoothie and com-

bine that?” she said.

This was where the idea for a sweet superfood smoothie freeze — which Tseng’s LinkedIn calls “reimagined ice cream” — was born.

Sweet Nova smoothie freezes have the sweet taste of ice cream while providing nutritional benefits from whole ingredients. They are 100% natural, plant-based, gluten free and made with less sugar than an apple, as stated on the website.

The single-serve sized cup helps with portion control, and limits the calorie intake to less than 200 calories per serving.

As of now, Sweet Nova has three flavors: “Pitaya Blueberry Boost,” “Sunflower Protein Power” and “Lean Green Machine,” with three more launching soon. The “Pitaya Blueberry Boost” gives the acai bowl taste a fun twist and “Sunflower Protein Power” boasts after-school banana-chocolate spread snack vibes. The “Lean Green Machine” features matcha-kale notes reminiscent of the salad from Sweetgreen.

All the flavors are priced at $6.50 per cup.

Tseng’s personal favorite is her first-born “Lean Green Machine.”

“You cannot find leafy greens in a snack form,” Tseng said. “And it reflects my personality; must be perfect, must do all the things.”

Inspired by Pinterest recipes and driven by her perfectionist personality, she tested over 100 food combinations from August to November 2017 to optimize nutritional value while minimizing sugar content.

“There is this constant battle between health and taste, because when you have too much of one, you have too little of the other,” she said.

She reached her goal by using the natural sugar found in fruits themselves. However, Sweet Nova uses a little amount of maple syrup for texture and flavor in “Lean Green Machine,” which is considered an added sugar in the most unprocessed form.

Gallatin sophomore Yotam Ponte tried Sweet Nova and thought that the “Lean Green Machine” was too heavy. Taste was sacrificed for health in this case, as he thought the kale and spinach overpowered the matcha. He preferred the “Pitaya Blueberry Boost” and “Sunflower Protein Power.”

“I wouldn’t swap it for a meal, but Sweet Nova seems like a really good way to fill yourself up in between meals in a healthy way that doesn’t make you feel gross,” he said.

In November 2017, the first batch of Sweet Nova found its way to Smorgasburg. The food festival, as well as other pop-up events, gave Tseng the feedback she needed to improve her smoothie blend through numerous reformulations and experimentation.

Sweet Nova began selling locally in New York City in April last year and officially launched in May. Tseng is hoping more and more people will share her love for this healthy snack.

“I think the scary part for me is, will enough people get it, love it and appreciate it,” she says, admitting that she is taking a career risk by leaving the stability of her old job to take on this new one.

However, she is positive about the work that she put into her product and her marketing experience to pitch it to the people.

“The way I’d like to articulate this snack is the overachieving snack for the overachieving person,” Tseng said. “It does so much stuff: it is super healthy, lasts forever, it’s whole ingredients, it’s nourishing and it tastes good.”

Sweet Nova is currently available at Canal Street Market and by delivery through Postmates.

Email Elif Kesikbas at dining@nyunews.com.

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ARTS

ARTS@NYUNEWS.COM

‘The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’ Is a Lackluster Comedy Adaptation

By FAREID EL GAFY Staff Writer Nearly two decades of development hell would defeat most ordinary filmmakers, but Terry Gilliam of Monty Python fame is not deterred so easily. “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” began filming in 2000, but it didn’t wrap until 2017. It went through innumerable reworks and its production cycle outlasted a number of actors slated to star in each of several versions. “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” is finally here, but it does not live up to the high expectations set by its 17-year-long production.

Ten years after shooting his thesis — that shares the name of the film — starring Spanish villagers, American big shot Toby Grisoni (Adam Driver) returns to Spain to film a commercial. Upon revisiting the village of Los Sueños, Toby is shocked to find that his leading man, Javier (Jonathan Pryce), still believes he’s the real Don Quixote. Lady Dulcinea, played by young Angelica (Joana Ribeiro) whose head Toby filled with dreams, ran off to Madrid to be a star. Sancho Panza, Quixote’s novice in the original work, is long since dead, and so Don Quixote mistakes Toby for the donkey-mounted squire. Together, they venture through the countryside in service of their lady and the age of chivalry.

“Don Quixote” is a comedy before anything else, and its leads deliver. Toby is perpetually exasperated and delightfully selfish, while Don Quixote’s blissful ignorance makes his unwavering devotion all the more charming. Unfortunately, their surroundings do not play to these strengths. The world of “Don Quixote”

MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2019

is a cruel one. The enemies that the two encounter in the final leg of their journey are cruel, and the constant suffering of the well-intentioned hero sails closer to tragedy than anything else. Toby is allowed time and again to go unpunished.

He gets a bit bruised and remains helplessly lost, but his characteristic unkindness is actually his greatest strength in a dog-eat-dog world.

It’s hard to laugh when sadistic violence is alluded to and abject humiliation is portrayed in painstaking detail. The film suffers a tone problem, descending from irreverent absurdity to a trial of horrors, drowning out the fun along the way.

Angelica/Lady Dulcinea is objectified due in part to the feudalistic morality of the Don, the brutal real world and Toby’s strange obsession with her, which began when she was 15.

However, “Don Quixote” thrives as an adaptation. The Spanish literary magnum opus is about a truly righteous, outmoded man in an unforgiving, contemporary world. Gilliam effectively captures this story, but the final product floats between comedy and tragedy, dead in the water.

Once the third act begins, the film loses all enjoyment.

“The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” is a bumpy ride. There’s a strange propensity for fish-eye shots and copious Dutch angles, indicative of the off-beat tonal shift. Gilliam is perhaps best known for his bizarre paper cutout animation for Monty Python, and “Don Quixote” feels like one of those stretched across two hours.

Email Fareid El Gafy at film@nyunews.com.

COURTESY OF FALCO INK

Promotional poster of “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.”

Edited by GURU RAMANATHAN

‘Love, Death & Robots’ Is Good, Great and Forgettable

VIA FACEBOOK

On the left side, top to bottom: Fish Night, Beyond the Aquila Rift, Alternate Histories. The right side, top to bottom: When the Yogurt Took Over, Three Robots, Zima Blue Copy.

By GURU RAMANATHAN Arts Editor David Fincher helped bring Netflix’s popularity to new heights with the critically acclaimed “House of Cards,” one of the streaming service’s first big hits. He came back with a strong and innovative season one for the series “Mindhunter,” and is once again pushing streaming’s boundaries with the bizarre “Love, Death & Robots” anthology series. Co-executive produced by creator Tim Miller, the director of “Deadpool,” the series is an ambitious and mostly satisfying package of animated shorts that sometimes explore themes of sexuality and female oppression and are occasionally just plain and fun action set pieces.

The series consists of 18 shorts, ranging between six and 17 minutes, each thematically tied to the show’s title. All but two of the episodes are based on short stories. Episodes also experiment with animation style: some use CGI graphics, some are hand-drawn and one is a live-action-animation hybrid.

While there is an obvious “Black Mirror” comparison to be made, “Love, Death & Robots” does not completely lean into social commentary as the other sci-fi anthology series do. Episodes like “Suits,” in which farmers operating mech suits fight invading aliens, and “Blindspot,” a story about cyborgs trying to complete a heist, are unabashedly fun romps that deliver on heart, character and levity. “Suits” in particular stands out because of its well thoughtout action sequences and the strong family dynamic that it maintains as its emotional core. “Blindspot” is short, but its animation is joyfully reminiscent of an old ’90s cartoon with the tone of “Ben 10.”

There are also more serious episodes that explicitly deal with rape and brutality against women. “Sonnie’s Edge” focuses on a woman who participates in underground gladiatorial battles by remotely controlling genetically engineered monsters. The titular character is revealed to be a rape victim and the episode explores

how she copes with her trauma through the battles and her relationship with the monsters. It is uncompromising, it is gory and it has a killer twist that packs a punch, but still feels like a mature way of grappling with a weighty theme.

The more nuanced “Good Hunting,” an anime-style episode, explores the relationship between Liang and Yan, a female spirit called a huli jing that people believe seduce and kill men. After Liang’s father kills Yan’s mother, the two of them befriend one another. The episode uses a smart mix of folklore and sci-fi to comment on moving away from dying traditions — Liang grows to be an inventor in steampunk Hong Kong, so he literally adapts with the world around him and gives up his father’s rigid perception of huli jings — and discrimination against women. Yan’s ultimate revenge against the world becomes driven by the men who have abused her, believing they can do anything and get away with it. She spends much of the episode in hiding: Liang’s father dies not knowing about their friendship. When she becomes a sex worker, she only comes out at night, and when she has been turned into a cyborg, she comes to Liang in a thick trench coat, refusing to let the outside world see her. But with Liang’s help, Yan transforms into a new being altogether and unleashes herself into the night to prey on abusive men. The episode is one of the best written and directed in the show, and one of the few that warrant multiple watches.

Despite some of these more progressive episodes, there are some that are glaringly gratuitous. Interestingly, the two episodes that are most guilty of this are pretty similar in structure: “Beyond the Aquila Rift” and “The Witness.” The former deals with a space crew that lands at a discreet space station after going off course for an unknown reason, while the latter deals with a stripper who witnesses a murder and is chased down by the murderer. Both episodes are visually stunning — “The Witness” feels like a deliberately messier and darker version of “Spider-Man: Into

the Spider-Verse” — but feature unnecessary nudity that seems to be there for the sake of showing off animated breasts and sex scenes. Unfortunately, neither episode overcomes its own plot contrivances. Each of them ends with the revelation that the character is in a tragically existential endless loop of events — the space captain, especially, is tragic as he will never find a way home, but he’ll never realize this truth completely in his world.

What rounds out the rest of “Love, Death & Robots” is a bunch of absurd and funny episodes that don’t really amount to anything — they are neither action packed nor thought provoking.

“Alternate Histories,” which shows six different ways of how Adolf Hitler could have died, or “Helping Hand,” a “Gravity” rip-off about an astronaut who drifts from her space station and floats around, are some of the more forgettable episodes.

The strangest of them all is “When the Yogurt Took Over” which is — you guessed it — a six-minute narrated piece about a cup of yogurt that takes over the world and builds a seemingly perfect society for humans to live under.

As the episodes range so much in tone and presentation, there is no cohesive theme that runs through all of them. Some delve heavily into either the love, death or robot part of the title, or a combination of some sort, but as a whole, they do not all feel like a connected package.

The show is one of the most notable projects to have graced the streaming platform and although it is an imperfect product, Netflix and the show’s creators should certainly be applauded for their lofty ambitions. While not every episode is a home run, each has some merit that warrants a watch, whether it’s the animation style, the action, dialogue or themes being explored.

Besides, if it ever feels like too much work to watch “Black Mirror,” “Love, Death & Robots” is a much faster — and less emotionally draining — binge.

Email Guru Ramanathan at gramanathan@nyunews.com.

Washington Square News | Arts

MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2019

7

Indie Rock Group Boyscott Wants to Conquer Brooklyn

COURTESY OF BEHIND THE CURTAINS MEDIA

Indie rock group Boyscott performed in Ridgewood, Queens on March 24.

By NICOLE ROSENTHAL Music Editor Indie rock minimalist group Boyscott played to a crowded room in Ridgewood, Queens March 24 in what was their most “intimidating” set yet. In fact, band members flew in their parents and friends from Illinois and California for the quartet’s

highly anticipated New York show.

“New York is scary; I’m just intimidated by it,” singer and guitarist Scott Hermo Jr., 24, said in an interview with WSN before the show. “I look up to so many artists that came out of New York [...] I’ve been intimidated for a while, but now I’m finally starting to get comfortable and realize that everybody is just a person and we’re

all trying to do the same thing.”

The frontman attributes his intimidation to how many good bands have made their name through the New York music scene, as well as the legendary spots — such as CBGB and Webster Hall — that call Manhattan home.

“I can’t wait until the end of tonight when I can be like, ‘Thank you, New

York!’” Hermo said.

Hermo, who was raised in New Jersey and now lives in Connecticut, has almost always lived in the shadow of New York City. His indie rock project had humble beginnings, starting off as a solo project within the confines of his childhood bedroom. Once the frontman moved to college in Nashville, Tennessee, he was encouraged to find a rotating backing band and began to refine his sound.

Boyscott’s sound can be described as a delicate blend of echo-chamber pop, crisp acoustic guitar and summer camp nostalgia. Warm electric guitar licks mix gracefully with soft melodies and natural percussion sounds that are as soothing as they are sonically interesting.

With the addition of powerful hooks and poetic lyricism, it is not hard to see how the band has garnered upwards of 4 million streams on Spotify after the release of their debut album, “Goose Bumps,” in 2015.

Sunday’s show was the last of a 22-gig tour that spanned from Boston to Atlanta, including two dates at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas. Though the band played a variety of venues, Hermo notes his preference for house shows, as they tend to attract crowds of mixed ages.

“The energy is just so different,” Hermo said. “When we walk in and see the stages in some of these venues we were kind of bummed because we like being on the same level as the audience. Being elevated feels a lot scarier. People’s eyes are on you and you’re not with them in the experience.”

This is the first tour for which fans have come out in huddled masses, with audiences singing the band’s hits at the top of their lungs by the end of the night.

To Hermo, it’s an experience that hasn’t quite sunk in yet.

“I can’t even describe it,” he said. “Once we get back to the car [after the show] it’s just confusion. We’re always in awe. We went from playing to no one a year ago in random cities, and now tons of people are coming out to the shows. It’s shocking.”

That night, scores of New York fans flooded the fluorescent backroom as Boyscott graced the stage. The band vivaciously performed fan-favorites such as “Embarrassingly Enough” and “Marco Polo,” thanking the growing crowd for their endless support.

They also played one song that remained unfamiliar to avid listeners, a track set to appear on their upcoming album due for an early 2020 release.

Bathed in fuschia lights, Hermo beamed as the set closed out with the band’s highest-charting track to date, “Nova Scotia 500.” To his delight, fans spewed back the echoing choruses of “oh-oh”s and hummed the signature guitar lick.

As promised, the frontman delivered a special closing remark as the final chord rang out.

With metal-hands poised in the air, Hermo proudly exclaimed: “Thank you, New York!”

Email Nicole Rosenthal at nrosenthal@nyunews.com.

Broke People Play Festival Prioritizes Process and Inclusivity

By JULIE GOLDBERG Staff Writer “Mosaics.” “Pansies.” “Depression Flocks to Black Youths Much Like Moths to Flames.” “A Young Adult Novel by Some White Guy.” These are some of the titles of the short plays that will be showcased at the Broke People Play Festival this Friday and Sunday.

Founded in 2016 by current Tisch senior Anthony Anello and alumna Claire Greising, Tisch ’18, Broke People Theatre is a student organization that focuses on putting up student-written work and encouraging collaboration between writers, directors and actors.

Noticing a lack of opportunity within Tisch’s Department of Dramatic Writing for writers to collaborate with actors and directors, the pair decided to create their own platform for students to get their work on its feet.

Each year, the organization puts on the Broke People Play festival, held over several months. The festival consists of a One Minute Festival of one-minute plays, held in February; a Spring Main Stage Festival consisting of 10- and 30-minute plays, coming this weekend; and a Full Length Festival of longer plays, to be held at the end of April. This year, they have also assembled a writer’s group of six individuals who will present a number of staged readings beginning the first weekend of May. While many theater clubs across NYU also stage student-written works, Broke People Theatre differentiates itself by placing its primary focus on the writers and scripts. Interested more in the workshopping than the production of a piece, the organization is concerned with aiding writers in spotting

flaws in and coming to new realizations about their work.

“It’s just helpful to hear your work read out loud,” Anello said. “What’s great about actors is that they ask questions. You realize things that work on the page don’t always work when they’re said out loud. With directors, if you see they’re struggling to move from moment to moment, that usually reveals some kind of lack of motivation in the script that needs cleaning up.”

Despite Broke People Theatre’s incredible growth in popularity since its inception — this year, they received 128 10-minute submissions — the organization continues to prioritize inclusivity, often favoring scripts with larger casts so they’re able to include as many actors as possible. Anello also notes that though the organization rests on a strong base of Dramatic Writing majors, the festivals and main stage productions draw participation from students across the university, particularly from Gallatin and CAS. Last year, instead of staging a fulllength play in the spring, Broke People Theatre put on an LGBTQ festival, featuring scripts written exclusively by LGBTQ playwrights. For each of their festivals, Anello emphasizes that the organization makes an effort to be inclusive. “[We include] a broad landscape of different types of work,” he said. “We have some comedies, some dramas.

One of our short plays this year is this really highly poetic, kind of on the verge of being experimental.”

The short play, “Amelia,” written

by Tisch sophomore Leorah Woods, is a work Anello expects to stand out at the festival.

Woods, who studies drama at Playwrights Horizon, said that the style

and subject matter of the play are completely out of her wheelhouse. Although she usually writes highly naturalistic and comedic works, she wanted to challenge herself with this play and decided to tackle death. The 10-minute play takes place in the final moments before Amelia Earhart’s plane crashes, as she and co-pilot Fred Noonan grapple with accepting their fate.

“I decided to really challenge myself and do no research on Amelia Earhart, and to just write the play based entirely on what I’ve heard,” she said.

The play then became less about death in the literal sense and more about the way in which it can be tied up with notions of legacy and irrelevance, myth and conspiracy. “[It’s] a compilation of stories I’ve heard,” Woods said. “The dialogue between Amelia and Fred reads as a kind of poem unfolding in the elongated two seconds just before the plane crashes.”

After she was paired with her director, the two met to discuss the work and their respective visions for the piece. Once the actors read through the script, they came to Woods with their questions. She found this collaboration process particularly helpful in identifying moments when characters seem to act without motivation.

Woods participated in the festival last year as an actor, and finds that participating on both sides of the process has given her a new perspective on both writing and performing. “I used to think ‘do writers just hate actors?’” she joked, realizing now that writers can simply have blindspots when it comes to character motivation, and that communication between the two is imperative in bridging the gap.

While Woods discussed the work

with the director and actors at the start of the process, she was not present for the majority of rehearsals. She submitted a final rewrite Sunday and is very excited to see the show next weekend.

Anello, who will graduate in May, expressed his confidence that the students poised to take over Broke People Theatre in the coming year will continue to uphold the values of the organization.

He expects that the new leaders will both launch their own initiatives as well as transform the pre-existing ones, noting that the process is

always changing.

“The 10-minute festival we did in our first year is very different than the 10-minute festival we’re doing now,” Anello said.

The BPPF Spring Main Stage Festival will be held Friday, April 5 and Sunday, April 7, at the Broadway Goldberg Theater. The Full Length Festival will be held on Friday, April 27 and Sunday, April 29.

Email Julie Goldberg at theater@nyunews.com.

COURTESY OF BROKE PEOPLE THEATRE

The Broke People Play Festival, made up of original plays by NYU students, gives playwrights a unique chance to develop their scripts through performance.

Washington Square News | Opinion

8

OPINION@NYUNEWS.COM

MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2019

OPINION

Edited by HANNA KHOSRAVI and MELANIE PINEDA

OP-ED YOUR EYES

Why the Upcoming Indian Elections Could Impact the World

By DIYA JAIN Columnist In only a matter of weeks, the world’s largest democracy will choose its new prime minister and majority party in the government.

Nine-hundred million Indians — almost triple the population of the United States — will decide the party to occupy the majority of seats in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of

Parliament. This party will choose the prime minister of the country. These elections will begin on April 11 and take place over several weeks, and could impact the very definition of democracy in years to come.

Current Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which won a sweeping majority in 2014. The BJP uses pro-Hindu rhetoric in order to draw its support, taking advantage of ongoing Hindu-Muslim conflicts to gain votes from the nearly 80% of India that identifies as Hindu.

Its members employ religiously polarizing tactics such as spreading blatantly anti-Muslim messages and the razing of mosques. To Americans, the anti-Muslim propaganda may sound familiar. Hasan Minhaj’s political variety show “Patriot Act” was quick to note similarities between President Trump and Modi, show-

ing clips from their speeches emphasizing the “America First” and “India First” ideologies, respectively. Modi’s controversial tactics are not unique — politicians across the world have tried to attract votes with the promise of segmentation under the guise of nationalism.

These tactics are troubling because of their consequences. In retaliation to a terrorist attack in Indian-administered Kashmir that killed 40 this past February, India conducted air strikes on a terrorist camp in Pakistan. While Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan denied that the strikes killed anyone and called for peace, the border breach escalated tensions between the two nations. Modi’s strong response may not be a coincidence — fear-mongering and military conquests can be strong draws for votes.

If the BJP succeeds in gaining political leadership in India, it will set a dangerous

precedent for democracies around the world.

Unfortunately, the only party that can offer competition to the BJP is the Indian National Congress, known for its rampant corruption and weak leadership. The state of affairs in India is worrying, and as an Indian citizen who is unable to vote due to the lack of an absentee voting system, I find it concerning that the youth of India are subjected to an unstable future due to a lack of bankable political candidates.

What is even more worrying is the undermining of the democratic process as a whole.

With leaders like Modi who advocate a religiously intolerant ideology and benefit from riots and divisiveness, religious hate crimes are up. Of those reported in the country, 76% have taken place against Muslims, with 90% of these occurring following Modi’s victory

in 2014. The upcoming elections symbolize something much bigger than India’s future — they act as an alarm bell for the current political landscape, even for countries like the U.S. In an increasingly separatist and anti-inclusive world, it is vital that we, as citizens, take the responsibility to choose leaders who promote equality in race and religion, and take positive steps toward fixing bad blood in international relations. Conflict and sensationalism are cheap draws for votes.

“Op-Ed Your Eyes” is a commentary on current affairs, and Diya’s goal is to make her readers more aware about what’s happening in the world. Diya Jain is a first-year in CAS studying economics.

Email Diya Jain at opinion@nyunews.com.

PUNDIT IN TRAINING

Middle America Doesn’t Need a Moderate

By NATHAN MAUE Columnist Others in the modern class of pundits tend to use the idea of appealing to Middle America as a euphemism for being a centrist. But as a native of the Midwest — Ohio, to be specific — and someone who paid attention to the results of the 2018 midterm elections, I disagree. I believe that candidates with a progressive social and econom-

ic message could be more competitive for Democrats in the Midwest battleground states than the theoretical centrist unicorn.

The idealized image of the moderate Democrat is a socially liberal, fiscally conservative candidate, like the older class of Blue Dog Democrats. The politicians that won the Midwestern states in the 2018 midterms championed pragmatic and responsible leadership, but the policies that won were undeniably progressive. Democrats took the House on healthcare and other kitchen-table issues, and won ballot measures advancing progressive policies throughout Middle America.

The people I know from my Midwestern bubble are the same people that Democrats are trying to win all over the country: working class Americans who

experience a common anxiety over the economy, retirement and healthcare.

When we consider Democratic policy independently of the Democratic politicians themselves, the proposals are consistently popular.

Missouri voted to prevent gerrymandering (even though the state GOP is trying to undo it); Louisiana voted in favor of major criminal justice reform, amending Reconstruction-era felony conviction requirements; Medicaid expanded in Idaho, Nebraska and Utah; minimum wage hikes were approved in Arkansas and Missouri.

Considering the popularity of these policies, the problem seems to lie with the common perception of Democrats as coastal elites. In the upcoming 2020 presidential election, the selection of the right candidate could help

break that image by reminding the country that the Democratic Party is the big tent party, even for those who voted for President Trump and especially those who felt ignored by establishment politics.

Republican politicians will continue to demonize Democrats and smear their images, especially in the middle of the country. But the automatic response should be a pivot to policy, because as electoral results show, Democrats can continue to win the policy discussion. I’ve seen Democratic candidates convince some of my fellow Midwesterners — who I would have never thought persuadable — by illustrating and explaining their positive vision for the country, including plans to expand affordable healthcare, increase wages and fight government corruption. Re-

publicans will win at fear mongering, but the Democrats can win the ground game if they start an image-rehabilitation program in the American Heartland to put forward their positive vision and popular progressive message.

In “Pundit in Training,” Nathan takes a look at the fact that while young people are most likely going to constitute the largest voting block in the United States, we seem to lack a proper grasp of their perspectives and opinions. With this column, Nathan aims to wield his many opinions to try and understand the world of American politics through a student lens.Nathan Maue is a senior in CAS majoring in Computer Science.

Email Nathan Maue at opinion@nyunews.com.

STAFF EDITORIAL

NYU Moves Away From Aramark — But Not Far Enough

By WSN EDITORIAL BOARD Aramark is on its way out the door after a host of controversies, including last year’s health inspection of Lipton Dining Hall and the racially stereotyped Black History Month meal at Downstein. These complaints were also accompanied by concerns from student activists over the company’s connections to the prisons. In light of all these events, NYU is set to begin negotiations with Chartwells, a division of Compass Group. It remains unclear if the switch will address all of the students’ concerns.

The first reaction to our dining hall meals being put out by the same company that provides meals to U.S. prisons might be one of discontent. How are we paying over $70,000 a year for tuition at a university where the meals we are provided — and required to have during our first year — are managed by the same company that serves the prison-industrial complex?

But then we face a moral grappling — why should we immediately consider the food served at a prison as beneath us? Why should our prison systems be so thoroughly corrupted that something as basic as the food that prisoners are served is defined as deprivation?

The Detroit Free Press reported in August 2017 that a local prison kitchen worker

was fired after refusing to serve moldy, rotten potatoes. The Marshall Project has written about the human rights investigation at Gordon County Jail in Calhoun, Georgia, where prisoners were reported to be “starving” due to the measly size of the two meals a day they were served — a situation which led to prisoners eating toothpaste and toilet paper out of extreme hunger. And Aramark itself was caught in a firestorm in 2014 when maggots and larvae were discovered in a meal-serving line at the Parnall Correctional Facility in Jackson, Michigan. When 30 prisoners at the facility were medically treated for symptoms of food poisoning later in the week, a spokeswoman for Aramark made a public statement to argue that there is no proof that the food was the reasoning for the prisoners’ illness. Aramark’s role in the prison-industrial complex has been reprehensible, and it is important to remember that NYU made a positive choice by eliminating Aramark’s affiliation with the university, therefore divesting from a blatantly immoral organization.

However, Compass Group, the parent company of what is essentially NYU’s only other option for dining services, has also been criticized by student activists for ties to the prison industry. As reported by the Miami Her-

ald, the company has been accused of several workplace safety violations as early as this past January. Connections to the prison industries — among several other issues looming over potential NYU dining providers — greatly concern the student body. Unfortunately, while there are a surplus of issues with food service providers, there are few realistic solutions.

Looking closely at the industry, there seems to be a never-ending cycle of controversy. All of the companies that initially made a bid to become NYU’s food service provider have some sort of connection to the prison-industrial complex. In response, student activists have pushed NYU to self-provide food and other services, eliminating the need for any outside corporation. While other universities have adopted this kind of system, Owen Moore, Assistant Vice President of Campus Services, has stressed that this wouldn’t be feasible, citing the potential cost of “millions of dollars.”

Regardless of its feasibility, self-providing services has already proven a problematic endeavor. Food service providers employed by the University of California went on strike multiple times last year, in protest of conditions and threats of outsourcing. Even if NYU could provide services the community needs, what would this mean for food accessibility?

To compensate for the cost of self-providing services, the price we pay would most likely increase. Nearly 22% of students currently have difficulty affording food and more than 1,000 students have used NYU’s Courtesy Meal’s Program. With food insecurity this high, can we really say that the most ethical solution is the one that would worsen access to food?

Clearly, there is more work that needs to be done. Moving forward with Compass Group means continuing to work with a company that has hands in the prison industry. And while the concept of self-providing food services to university students does seem ideal on the surface level, it would increase in costs for students, potentially amplifying food insecurity. Nevertheless, it’s a shame that the school cannot provide affordable meals to students without a breach of ethics. We should not have to sacrifice our morality for the sake of

cost-effective meals. NYU’s exorbitant tuition prices are notorious enough as is, but so is any university involvement with the causticity of the current prison system.

Aramark is out, and we should applaud the university for terminating a contract with an unscrupulous organization. But we should also remain cognizant of the fact that there is a complex issue in our midst, and that switching to a different provider is not going to wipe away the stains of our past experiences. We should take advantage of our movement away from Aramark not to make amends for our past involvement, but as an opportunity to explore sustainable solutions. Ultimately, the only acceptable policy is an ethical and sustainable method for distributing the resources the community needs. Anything short of this may be a step in the right direction, but still just a step.

Email the Editorial Board at editboard@nyunews.com.

HANNA KHOSRAVI Chair MELANIE PINEDA Chair COLE STALLONE Co-chair SARAH JOHN Co-chair

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Softball Takes Care of Business in a Busy Week

SAM KLEIN | WSN

First-year James Haag (8) goes for the kill in a game against St. Joseph’s College (L.I.) on Saturday. NYU won the game in four sets, moving their record to 12-8 overall.

Softball The softball team had a busy week, playing in three doubleheaders and going 4-2 over that stretch of games.

The week started off with a home doubleheader sweep of Rutgers-Newark University (10-9, 6-2) on March 26. The Violets used solo home runs from Steinhardt senior Diana King and CAS first-year Serena Ponciano to tie the score at six at the end of the fifth inning. Rutgers came back to take a three-run lead, but NYU capitalized on three Rutgers errors to take the game by a single run. NYU continued to benefit from six errors by Rutgers in the second game and a gem of a pitching game from Stern senior Karissa Zubulake, who had a career high 11 Ks. NYU ran away with the game by the end of the fifth inning, scoring five runs in that inning alone.

The next doubleheader against Stevens Institute of Technology on March 27 saw NYU win the first game 3-1, but dropped the nightcap 1-2. RBIs from CAS first-year Ponciano and SPS senior Claire Stefanelli in the seventh gave NYU the win. The second game was scoreless for seven innings before going to extra innings. SPS senior Ashley Mains scored the first run of the game at the top of the eighth, but Stevens answered with two unearned runs at the bottom of the eighth to take the victory.

The Violets ended the week with the start of UAA play against Case Western Reserve University, splitting their doubleheader (4-2, 3-5). Heading into the fifth inning with a one-run deficit, NYU caught fire and didn’t look back with solo homers from CAS first-year Kalena Paredes and SPS first-year Rachel Colbus and a sacrifice fly by Stefanelli. The Violets got off to a strong start in the second game with a tworun lead, but Case Western came back with three runs in the bottom of the fifth and the Violets couldn’t recover.

The women will return to the field on April 4 when they face off in a doubleheader against local rival Hunter College.

Baseball The baseball team rode the wave of strong pitching and an aggressive offensive approach to go 2-0 for the week.

The men found themselves in a close game against SUNY New Paltz, but hung on late in the game to pull out the win 2-1.

NYU’s star of the game was starting pitcher Stern junior Ford Ladd, who pitched 7.1 innings, only allowing four hits and one earned run.

The Violets came out guns blazing in their second game of the week against the College of Mount Saint Vincent, scoring 10 runs in just the first two innings and coasting to a 11-3 win. Tandon sophomore Austin Stenstedt batted in a game-high five runs, three of which came by way of

a bases-clearing triple in the first inning. A two-RBI single by LS first-year Zane Baker and a pair of RBIs from SPS senior Colman Hendershot and Stenstedt drove in four runs in the second inning. CAS junior Sal Cammisuli was the starting pitcher for the game, only allowing one run with seven Ks in five innings; he now has an ERA of 1.27 for the season, the best in the rotation.

The Violets look to continue this momentum on March 31 when they host the City College of New York.

Men’s Volleyball The men’s volleyball team hosted three matches on March 30 against 13th-ranked Arcadia University and St. Joseph’s College, defending home court and defeating both squads.

NYU faced off first against Arcadia, trading off sets with NYU taking the first and third sets and Arcadia taking the second and fourth sets, forcing a tiebreaker fifth set. The Violets dominated the final set, scoring the first four points en route to a 15-8 set victory and taking the match in five sets. Stern junior Alex Li led the way with 14 kills and Stern first-year Ryan Whealen led the team with 26 assists.

The Violets had a strong start against St. Joseph’s, taking the first two sets. After dropping the third set, the Violets took back the momentum and dominated the fourth set 25-16 to solidify the match win. Tandon junior Neil Ferraro led the way with 10 kills and 10 blocks while CAS junior Matin Bikdeli had a team-high 35 assists.

NYU returns to the court to take on Vassar College in its final United Volleyball Conference match of the regular season on April 3.

Men’s Golf The men’s golf team hosted its NYU Spring Invitational from March 30 to 31 and are currently in second place with a score of 308. Babson College currently leads after shooting 296.

Leading NYU and the rest of the field is Stern first-year Joseph Burlison, who holds the individual lead after shooting an evenpar 71 and is currently tied with a Babson golfer. NYU’s second lowest scorer is Stern first-year Chris Lee, who is in fifth place after shooting 76, following by GLS junior Matt Shen, who is tied for 13th place after shooting 80.

NYU played better as a unit during the second day of the invitational, shaving off eight strokes from the first day and finishing with a total score of 608. Burlison shot 75 (146 total) and finished second overall out of 60 golfers. Lee ended tied for fourth place. Shen and Tisch sophomore Robbie Keyes took 10th and 11th place.

The Violets return to the green when they compete at the Hershey Cup from April 7 to 8.

Email Zach Han at zhan@nyunews.com.

Edited by BRENDAN DUGGAN and ZACH HAN THE SPORTS GIRL

To Pay or Not to Pay College Athletes

By BELA KIRPALANI Deputy Managing Editor

By ZACH HAN Sports Editor

MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2019

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past two weeks, you know that we are in the midst of March Madness, the biggest college basketball tournament in the nation. Over 97 million people in over 180 countries watched last year’s tournament. The National Collegiate Athletic Association raked in over $1 billion during the 2016-17 academic year. According to its official website, the NCAA allocates around $216 million to Division I schools to help fund their sports and provide scholarships for college athletes.

There has always been extensive debate over whether or not Division I college athletes should be paid. After all, student athletes receive a free education, meal plans and travel expenses, and don’t forget about the free WiFi. On the other hand, colleges make millions of dollars off their players — both legally and illegally — while coaches get paid inordinate amounts of money, and shoe companies like Nike stamp their logos on the feet of the most popular athletes.

To many, paying student athletes sounds like fair compensation for the millions of dollars they generate for colleges, cable television networks and sports apparel companies. However, it’s not that clear-cut. As a New York Times op-ed from February said, “A handful of big sports programs would pay top dollar for a select few athletes, while almost every other college would get caught up in a bidding war it couldn’t afford.”

Some also argue that bringing money into college sports would take away from the passion and love for the game.

I don’t doubt that.

Maybe we should allow players to skip college altogether. If athletes know that they only want to pursue a career in sports, they should be allowed to make the jump to the big leagues immediately.

Take Europe, for example. Soccer players there are not required to attend high school or college. Instead, they go straight to team academies where they live, train and go to school. U.S. soccer star Christian Pulisic left his hometown of Hershey, Pennsylvania when he was 16 years old to move to Germany and make his career at the Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund.

Major League Baseball rules allow for high school players to be drafted.

The National Basketball Association recently introduced a new initiative allowing select basketball players to skip college and play in the G-League, the NBA’s developmental league, for a salary of $125,000. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has spoken publicly of his desire to get rid of the “one-and-done” rule, which requires athletes to play at least one year of college ball or play internationally. Obviously, many top sports schools would not be in favor of this since it would allow their top prospects to bypass the universities and thus make the schools less money.

I understand that only three sports actually make colleges money: men’s basketball, women’s basketball and football. I also know that the top athletes in these sports generate a lot of interest and attention from the media and companies. Because of this, some

people have suggested the Olympic model in which players would generate their own income from endorsements, autographs and control of their image and likeness.

Maybe athletes should be allowed to unionize. In 2014, the National College Players Association teamed up with Northwestern University’s football players to try and form a players union. If more teams believed in this and the NCAA changed its rules to support unions, that could solve the problem too.

The truth is that student athletes put in a lot of work, the risk of them getting a career-ending injury is substantial and the odds that they will make it pro are slim. In addition, many of them come from low-income homes and cannot afford to pay for other necessities such as food, clothes and

books. To me, it is not inconceivable to conclude that college athletes deserve a piece of the pie they help bake.

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

Email Bela Kirpalani at bkirpalani@nyunews.com.

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