3 SPORTS
5 ARTS
NYU Quidditch Team Rides Out Their Season’s Premature End
‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ Pleads for a More Accepting World
4 CULTURE
6 OPINION
Professors Work to Adapt Courses Amidst the Transition to Remote Learning
Prioritizing Transparency in Federal Relief Spending
VOLUME LIV | ISSUE 12
MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020
NYU School of Law Shifts to Mandatory Pass/Fail After NYU School of Law supported the implementation of mandatory pass/ fail policy, the administration put it into place, making grading for nearly all courses pass/fail. By NICK MEAD Deputy News Editor
The Vanderbilt Hall on Washington Square S hosts the NYU Law School. NYU’s School of Law has switched to a pass/fail grading system.
NINA SCHIFANO
The NYU School of Law shifted to a mandatory pass/fail grading model for the remainder of the Spring semester as of Wednesday, March 25. This decision was made based on the recommendation of law students, who overwhelmingly supported the change. “The administration looked to us,” Kevin Tupper, a student in his final year at NYU Law and the president of the Student Bar Association — NYU Law’s student government — said. “Recognizing that this is a divisive issue without a clear choice, they looked to us to find out what the student perspective was.” As of now, NYU School of Law is the only NYU school to implement such a policy. While the remainder of NYU schools have extended the date to May 12 to opt for pass/fail and have come out as being more lenient toward degree requirements, they have yet to make pass/ fail mandatory.
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Panelists Say COVID-19 Has Disproportionate Effects on African American Communities By AARUSHI SHARMA Staff Writer COVID-19 has taken a disproportionate toll on the African-American community, according to experts who spoke at a webinar on Friday, April 17. The panel — held via Zoom — was hosted by the NYU School of Global Public Health. Faculty Members of the school discussed how the pandemic affects the African American community, covering issues arising from racial profiling, how the lingering healthcare deficit for African Americans affects their response to coronavirus and the toll being an essential worker takes on an individual’s risk to exposure. To demonstrate the disproportionate ef-
fect of coronavirus on the African American community, panelists cited a Reuters report utilizing data collected from several states across the United States, which found that African-Americans are far more likely to die from the COVID-19 than white Americans. The report points to Michigan and Illinois where the African American community makes up only 14% and 14.6% of the states’ respective populations but comprises 40% of coronavirus-related deaths each. The same trend can be found in other states including Maryland and South Carolina, in addition to cities like Chicago, New Orleans and Las Vegas. The conversation began with a discussion on how the pandemic is more likely to affect people with preexisting conditions
such as asthma, diabetes and hypertension, which African-Americans are statistically more likely to have. African Americans are also more likely to hold jobs that cannot be done remotely. From 2017 to 2018 only 19.7 percent of African American workers said they were able to telecommute compared to 29.9 percent of white workers. A disproportionate number of essential workers are also African American, leaving them more vulnerable to being exposed to coronavirus. The webinar discussed the task of ensuring the safety of essential workers. Dr. Melody Goodman, Associate Dean for Research commented on the themes coronavirus exposes. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
VIA NYU , CHELSEA LI | WSN
From left to right, Dr. Melody Goodman, Dr. Emanuel Peprah, and Congresswoman Alma Adams spoke during a webinar hosted by NYU School of Global Public Health. The panel addressed how minority groups, especially the African American community, were especially affected by the current health crisis.
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NYU School of Law Shifts to Mandatory Pass/Fail CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Tupper said that the initial discussion of whether to move to mandatory or optional pass/fail grading was divisive, so the Student Bar Association created a survey, compiled the data and sent it to the administration, who adopted the survey’s recommendation as its policy. Tupper said roughly two-thirds of respondents supported mandatory pass/fail. Now, all Law School transcripts for this semester will be annotated to show to future employers that students’ pass/fail grades weren’t a result of
their own decisions, an email from the Law School stated. The only exceptions are several classes for which grades have already been awarded. Additionally, the Master of Science in Cybersecurity Risk and Strategy program, a one-year program offered jointly by NYU Law and NYU Tandon, will also be excused from this system. “There were people who felt they needed grades for employment, people who felt they were getting cheated out of a grade and I’m sympathetic to that point of view,” Tupper said.
Yet, taking into account the far-reaching effects of COVID-19 on students, Tupper maintains that the administration’s decision was the right one. “When we were discussing what to do, we heard so many stories about people who had been so heavily affected by it, people who’d had loved ones die, fall ill or who were symptomatic themselves,” Tupper said. “The wide range of stories that came to light made it clear that there needed to be a solution across the board, to ensure that students weren’t being tested on their ability to cope with
COVID. Mandatory pass/fail was the only solution that could do that.” Lucy Trieshmann, a first-year Law student supported NYU Law administration’s decision as well. “I think it was the only ethical choice that the university had,” Trieshmann said. “For most classes, we’re on a curve, so only so many students can get an A or a B. To put that kind of standard on students when the playing field has changed so drastically due to circumstances outside of our control would not have been fair.”
Despite the possibility of future employers frowning upon the marks she received for this semester as per the policy, Trieshmann said she isn’t opposed to the decision. “I would never want to get an A at the expense of my classmates,” she said. “I’d never want to use their hardship to improve my own grade. Even if it had negative career impacts, later on, I’d still vote for mandatory pass/fail.” Email Nick Mead at nmead@nyunews.com.
Panelists Say COVID-19 Has Disproportionate Effects on African American Communities CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
We are telling big stories — the Bling Ring, Venmo fraud, drug donkeys — ones that expanded past our print-standard 500 words, ones that paint pictures with words. This magazine aims to be a platform where undergraduate and graduate students alike can mutter on about their love of the blue-seated MTA trains or put into words the flavor of their love of grandma’s dumplings.
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“What we are seeing in COVID is really racism in our country and the main public is really surprised by the way this is playing out,” Goodman said. Dr. Melody Goodman — whose research focuses primarily on social risk factors that continue to inflame disparities among underserved communities in urban areas — said that many African-Americans being essential workers puts them at a higher risk of incidence and mortality due to the coronavirus, putting their families and other people they come in contact with at greater risk. North Carolina Congresswoman Alma Adams urged that the ensuing pandemic is not a partisan issue. “It is a life or death issue, so it does not matter if you are a Democrat, a Republican or you claim no party aff iliation,” she said. “There is a saying in our community that when White America catches a cold, Black America catches pneumonia, so that has been true with this virus.” The webinar also discussed African American men being hesitant to comply with the CDC recommendation to wear facemasks in fear of being racially prof iled by police off icers. Dr. Emmanuel Peprah, a panelist and Director of Implementation Science for Global Health, highlighted that since off icials are currently 12 to 18 months away from developing a vaccine to prevent the spread of this virus, it is essential to address this issue so as to not discourage members of the African-American community from protecting themselves. “We have to really address this in a very culturally sensitive way to make sure that African-Americans are not, unfortunately, having to have higher rates of infections, because they cannot protect themselves from doing the essential thing that anyone can do, which is wearing masks,” he said. Touching on the way geographical location affects the pandemic, panelists spoke about population density in places like New York, where social distancing presents a greater challenge. Queens — which is currently the epicenter of the pandemic within New York — has been hardest hit in predominantly African American and Latinx neighborhoods. “The information we are giving to the
general public does not f it every specif ic population and as a black man am I more concerned about COVID or being shot by the police?” Goodman asked. “Is that a risk judgement that we want people in our community to have to make when they are dealing with the pandemic? I do think we really have to think about the way place impacts health.” After the panelists’ discussion, the floor was given to audience members for the latter half of the session. Danielle Ompad, a GPH professor who was in attendance, asked about the role that historically Black colleges and universities can play in addressing the pandemic. In response, Peprah pointed to the caliber for these colleges and universities to f ill what she calls the education void. “There has been a lot of rumors and misinformation, particularly in the African-American community about COVID, particularly in communities where government is not a trusted resource,” she said. “For people who do not trust the government, it would be nice to have some trusted sources give them really reliable information in real time and I know that is hard with information changing but I do think the messenger is as important as the message.” Dr. Nicole Davis, also among the audience members, asked the panel to share their thoughts and concerns about schools reopening as part of President Trump’s re-entry plan. “We have under-tested, we do not even really know the number of individuals that are positive,” Peprah said. “We need to ramp up the testing capabilities of this country to be able to make good, sound policy decisions.” Adams agreed with Peprah, stating that individuals will need to commit to coronavirus precautions. “I am not putting a lot of conf idence in all the stuff [that] I hear coming out of the White House,” Congresswoman Adams added. “We also have to think about how children interact with each other, do you really think they are going to walk six feet apart and not hug ... it is just not going to happen,” the Congresswoman said. Email Aarushi Sharma at news@nyunews.com.
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SPORTS
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NYU Quidditch Team Rides Out Their Season’s Premature End
CHARLIE DODGE | WSN
NYU’s own competitive Quidditch Team reflects on the cancellation of their season.
By KEVIN RYU Staff Writer Steinhardt junior Katelin Martinez originally signed up for Quidditch tryouts thinking it would be a way to connect with other Harry Potter fans. What she soon found out was that Quidditch was much more of a competitive sport than an expression of Hogwarts fandom. “It’s terrifying, but you get used to it after a while,” Martinez said. “It’s a way to face your fears head-on, I guess.” Martinez has even suffered from a torn ACL playing Quidditch. However, while she might not have found a group of Harry Potter aficionados, she did find a tight-knit community united by a passion for a sport still relatively in its nascence. “Every Saturday we would practice and have lunch together,” Tisch senior Jimmy Banta said. “I think that’s the part I’m definitely gonna miss the most, the community.” Like every other team, the NYU Quidditch team saw their season unexpectedly cut short due to the coronavirus outbreak. It was an unsatisfying end to a near-perfect season. The team had won the Northeast Regional Championship for the first time in team history, and they had yet to suffer an official loss when they heard the news. It was not like the news was unexpected, the official confirmation came soon after NYU announced its transition to remote-learning, but the expectations did little to cushion the disappointment. “It was tough because it was my birthday, we’re in quarantine,” Steinhardt senior Sydney Montague said. “I didn’t go to nationals last year because I was studying abroad. And so it was my one chance to go to nationals with NYU gone.” Nationals offered an opportunity to test themselves against the other elite colleges across the country. Despite its growing popularity, Quidditch is still a burgeoning sport, and the bonds between players transcend their school allegiances. At nationals last season, the players from James Madison University — a team that NYU eliminated — came up to talk to them about recruiting and how to grow the program. The Quidditch community offers a unique balance of competition and camaraderie the players cherish.
“It’s a pretty small community,” Banta said, “so you get to know all the Quidditch people in a way that if you’re playing a really popular sport you can’t.” The season ending prematurely is particularly disappointing to seniors like Montague, Banta and Stern senior Frank Minson, the team’s primary tactician. Minson, who also plays in semipro leagues during the summer, was one of the team’s biggest proponents of adopting a more aggressive, pressing style that produced the undefeated season. “It’s strange to think about because it’s been such an integral part of my NYU life,” Minson said. “But I’m happy about the people that I met. I’m disappointed that I’m not going to be able to compete with them one last time, but it’s not like I’m never going to see them all again.” And there are no shortage of memories, both on and off the field, that Montague and the team can look back upon. There are the lunches after practices, the practices in the snow that devolved into snowball fights, the memorable win over Tufts in mud and heavy rain to capture the team’s first regional championship. Even the more aggravating parts of being on the Quidditch team, like the early morning meetups at Penn Station for tournaments, bonded the team over their mutual annoyance. “As college students, getting together that early on a Saturday was an experience,” Banta said. “It was always brutal, but it was nice how we made it work and always found humor in doing it.” Martinez is less enthusiastic about her thoughts on those early morning meetups. “Just going to Penn Station in general is such a soul-sucking experience,” Martinez said. The players have also been keeping close tabs on the Elo-based simulation of nationals. Ran by The Eighth Man, the premier Quidditch-related publication, the simulation has rated NYU as one of the better teams in the tournament. After a 110-20 demolishing of Virginia and a 30-point win over UC Irvine and Sam Houston State University, the team is currently in the finals against the University of Maryland. “[For] all the people who were looking forward to nationals … the simulation is really great because it keeps the community together,” Stern junior Nathan Rey said. Paying attention to the simulated nationals is just one of the ways the team has kept in contact during quarantine. In fact, many players think the one positive they can take from the season cutting short is how it made them appreciate the connections they formed as teammates. “In a weird way, I think it brought us together because there’s been a lot of thanking in general, especially from the seniors, about how great the season was and how nice it has been to spend our time with each other,” Martinez said. “So it was a moment of sadness, but also a moment of appreciation.”
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Edited by ARVIND SRIRAM
Unlike the New York Knicks, the New York Liberty Are Doing Things Right By ARVIND SRIRAM Sports Editor After a disappointing 10-24 record in the 2019 season, the New York Liberty received the number one pick for the WNBA draft, its first in team history. On April 17, with the number one pick, the Liberty selected University of Oregan guard and NCAA standout Sabrina Ionescu, who was considered the best collegiate prospect in the draft. Over the course of her collegiate career, Ionescu became the first player in NCAA history to score more than 2,000 career points as well as more than 1,000 career rebounds and assists. Ionescu also holds the NCAA all-time record with 26 career triple-doubles and has won two John R. Wooden Awards, which are given to the most outstanding men’s and women’s collegiate basketball players. In addition to her on-court accolades, Ionescu brings her “mamba mentality” work ethic and an excitement in “having a platform and a voice” with a team that has not made the playoffs since 2017. Not satisfied with having the first and 13th picks in the draft, the Liberty traded the 31-year-old all-star Tina Charles to the Washington Mystics in a three-team trade that netted the Liberty the 12th pick in WNBA draft from Washington and the ninth and 15th picks from the Dallas Wings. Trading Charles signaled that the Liberty was ready to embrace the youth movement and prioritize homegrown talent, something their NBA counterpart, the New York Knicks, has yet to do. Since drafting Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing with the number one draft pick of the 1985 NBA draft, the New York Knicks have yet to draft a homegrown player that has led the team to anything promising. Under Ewing, the Knicks reached the NBA playoffs for 13 consecutive seasons, even reaching the NBA Finals in 1994 and 1999. Recently, the New York Knicks have not succeeded in drafting NBA quality players. In 2009, the Knicks drafted Jordan Hill with the
eighth pick, who only lasted half a season before getting traded. In 2017, the Knicks drafted Frank Ntilikina, who has a career scoring average of only six points per game. In 2018, the Knicks drafted Kevin Knox II, who has a career scoring average of 6.4 points per game. When drafting the 7-foot-3 Latvian forward, Kristaps Porzingis, with the number four pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, despite the initial reactions, the Knicks had finally drafted a prospect with the potential to lead them to the playoffs. In just his second season, Porzingis averaged 18.1 points per game on 35.7% shooting from the three-point line. This efficiency from long-distance is rare for a big man — so rare that Porzingis received the nickname “The Unicorn.” However, in the 2017-2018 season, Porzingis tore his ACL and due to contract disputes and the Knicks’s desire to clear cap space for the star-studded 2019 NBA Free Agency Class, Porzingis was traded to the Dallas Mavericks. The Knicks’s far-fetched plan to use the number one pick to draft NCAA superstar Zion Williamson and sign NBA All-Stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving failed miserably. Despite having one of the best odds for having the number one draft pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, the Knicks fell to the third pick, missing their opportunity to draft Williamson, who went number one overall to the New Orleans Pelicans. Instead of signing Durant and Irving, who decided to sign with the Brooklyn Nets, the Knicks signed a plethora of power forwards to complement their young core. Now, with an oddly constructed rotation, unlike the Liberty, the Knicks lack direction; their off-season moves indicate their desire to make the playoffs, but their talent and record indicates the necessity to rebuild. Although Ionescu’s long-awaited debut will be delayed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus, it is clear that the New York Liberty is rebuilding the right way, and it is time for the New York Knicks to follow suit. Email Arvind Sriram at asriram@nyunews.com.
Email Kevin Ryu at sports@nyunews.com.
INFORMING YOU FIRST
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CHELSEA LI | WSN
The New York Liberty is a professional women’s basketball team that competes in the Eastern Conference in the WNBA. The team recently drafted Sabrina Ionescu, considered the best collegiate prospect in the draft.
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Edited by BELLA GIL
Professors Work to Adapt Courses Amidst the Transition to Remote Learning By KATE SLATE Contributing Writer Among the many changes reshaping university life as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, professors, now an invisible labor force, work to restructure their courses to accommodate remote instruction. While some lecture-style classes have
remained fairly consistent, professors who teach more hands-on courses are grappling with the limits that on-screen learning puts on their abilities to teach their material effectively. Steinhardt Professor Sean Fuller has adapted to these changes by reorganizing the structure of his Design Studio for Non-Majors course within the Studio Art major.
MATHILDE VAN TULDER
Steinhardt hosts many hands-on courses for its majors and non-majors alike. With the cancellation of in-person classes, professors who teach courses such as book design and studio art have to think outside the box.
The studio course focuses on book art and teaches students about the production of books, from interior and exterior design to binding techniques. Without the physical studio space and the materials it provides, digital learning has paved an unprecedented pathway for the course to continue. “Now, without access to physical materials, many students have been able to only make digital books,” Fuller told WSN in an email. “This has changed the focus of the class to a more typical book design class where the focus is on layout and cover design.” With the shift from physical bookmaking to more commonplace book design elements, Fuller has had to cancel field trips and demonstrations that would have contributed to students’ understanding of course material. One of the cancelled trips was a visit to the Museum of Modern Art the class had planned. In-class letterpress and silkscreen workshops had to be reconsidered as well. Studio-based classes haven’t been alone in adjusting to an online environment that falls short of course needs. CAS Professor Kenneth Paulsen focuses his Journalistic Inquiry course on in-the-field interviewing and reporting, a task impossible to accomplish from home. To compensate for this and support his students better, he’s permitted more creativity with how students approach assignments. “One example is increasing reliance on
social media for information and sources,” Paulsen said. “That’s not a shortcut — that’s how information is being shared and where news is being made. Social media gives us a window into others’ lives like nothing else; it’s indispensable when researched responsibly.” Despite the change in how students collect information for class assignments, Paulsen believes the switch in course environment ought to be approached in the same day-to-day nature real-life journalists took on in the midst of the pandemic. “A constant theme for our class: Journalism is always about adapting and changing your plans, and responding to the unexpected — even in a pandemic,” Paulsen said. This mission to maintain a static environment amidst the transition in Paulsen’s class is shared by several other professors. Steinhardt Professor Ben Kafka is teaching two courses within the Media, Culture and Communications department this semester — Psychoanalysis: Desire and Culture and Psychic Life of Media. His goal has been to maintain as much normalcy as possible across both courses. “For me this meant no pre-recorded lectures, no breakout rooms, none of the other bells and whistles offered by Zoom,” he told WSN in an email. “I think this has worked out alright with the smaller course, but it hasn’t really worked out at all with the larger one.”
In addition to teaching at the university, many professors also work in their respective fields outside of the classroom. Professor Kafka is a psychoanalyst in addition to teaching two courses at NYU and mentoring students on thesis work. Rather than meeting with his patients in person, he has been conducting sessions over the phone. Similarly, Professor Fuller has made changes to his outside job, halting the opening of a new art bookstore in Berlin and figuring out logistics for his wife’s pregnancy. “Since the coronavirus outbreak, the situation in Germany is similar to New York with most businesses and nonessential activities halted,” he said. “Even though this project is on pause, we had the added stress of figuring out where my wife would give birth during the pandemic.” Although there are many changes reshaping his working life, he remains calm about the future and has taken extra precautions since the birth of his son. Across all professors’ commentary regarding remote instruction, it is evident that while the situation may not be desirable, they are adapting, whether that be by restructuring their courses to meet academic needs or making minimal changes to their lecture styles to maintain a sense of normalcy for their students and themselves. Email Kate Slate at culture@nyunews.com.
How These Students Celebrate Birthdays in Quarantine By MARIA OLLOQUI Contributing Writer Being with someone on their birthday in the age of the coronavirus may mean joining a Zoom party or celebrating at a safe distance. Though many traditional birthday celebrations have certainly been spoiled, many Aries and Taurus students are setting the stage for the rest of the year by still putting on their party hats. Before stay-at-home orders were set in place, people maintained some degree of caution — regularly washing their hands and avoiding close contact. But birthdays falling in mid-March started to witness a spiraling chain of uncertainty. That’s why Stern sophomore Juliana Perez celebrated her 20th birthday six feet apart from her friends. “When I had my 20th birthday party on March 15, I didn’t realize the extent to which the coronavirus would affect us — but I understood the risks,” Perez said. Besides distancing physically, Perez made sure all of her friends washed their hands or used the sanitizer she kept on the table. Although her birthday party applied social distancing rules, Perez was spared from a virtual celebration. Many others had to go beyond maintaining a physical distance with friends. CAS first-year Lorena Jimenez never envisioned her 19th birthday would take place in her home. “My birthday was on March 26 and I thought I would be celebrating in New York with completely new people,” Jimenez told WSN in an email.
Jimenez, who shares a birthday with her sister, is used to celebrating at her favorite restaurant with friends. This year, she had no choice but to stay home with her family. So, from baking her own birthday cake to having a photoshoot in her backyard, Jimenez found alternative ways to celebrate. “Even with the separation from the rest of the world, this quarantine was able to bring my family together for a very special day,” Jimenez said. However, April birthdays hit differently. As the peak of the virus approached and the authorities stressed the need to stay home, virtual parties became the newest trend. Stern sophomore Camila Cascavita, who turned 20 on April 13, felt as though her celebration was “a little sad at first” since she was only accompanied by her immediate family. “Luckily, I had a friend that brought me Brazilian desserts and another that sent me flowers,” Cascavita said. But, surprises can go a long way — especially when almost every friendship is long-distance now. Cascavita’s friends joined in the Zoom trend and organized a remote surprise party for the birthday girl. It was as close to an in-person celebration as they could get. One day later, on April 14, Gallatin sophomore Taylor Murphy chimed in the birthday celebrations with an overflow of balloons and cake. “My mom and sister decorated the kitchen and tried to make it cute so it would feel like a normal birthday,” Murphy said. Although making the most of the situa-
tion was difficult, Murphy carried out her birthday traditions as usual. She ordered decorations with her mom weeks before, knowing that stores would run short on party supplies. But even so, some of her party gear couldn’t make it on time. The fate of birthdays beyond the quarantine is up in the air. Many Taurus students have come to terms with quarantine birthdays as the coronavirus clock keeps ticking. Dull expectations for any birthday are disappointing — let alone milestone birthdays. Sipping your first legal drink at home is a little underwhelming, but Stern sophomore Carlos Figueroa is learning to celebrate on his own. “Sure, this is a landmark birthday and spending it alone — not being able to see my friends or family — will be tough,” Figueroa said. “But I’ve made peace with it.” For the time being, Figueroa is more concerned with resuming his dayto-day lifestyle. “I don’t want to delay the process of returning back to normal by not staying put on my birthday,” Figueroa said. “I should value the selflessness that has come by this pandemic.” With this, Figueroa is expecting an ordinary day, only waking up a year older and getting a few more calls. Low expectations may be the best solution to quarantine birthdays. Virtual happy hour, anyone? Email Maria Olloqui at culture@nyunews.com.
ALEXANDRA CHAN | WSN
Despite the lack of physical gatherings, those with March and April birthdays aren’t letting their party hats go to waste. Virtual parties hosted over Zoom have been many students’ go-to when celebrating their birthdays.
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ARTS
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Edited by KAYLEE DEFREITAS and ETHAN ZACK
‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ Pleads for a More Accepting World By SASHA COHEN Performing Arts Editor Seconds before the clock struck eight, panic filled the family room as my dad struggled to set up the live stream for what would be a revolutionary event: the Saturday Night Passover Seder. Due to COVID-19 and social distancing, Jewish individuals had no choice but to celebrate Passover, or Pesach, alone this year. Fortunately, the Saturday Night Passover Seder united Jews around the world for an hour filled with tradition and entertainment while raising money for the CDC’s COVID-19 Emergency Response Fund. From Tisch first-year Milo Manheim saying a hearty “Dayenu” and NYU alumna Debra Messing explaining the story of Passover to Idina Menzel singing “The Four Questions” and Andy Cohen’s Afikomen skit, the program not only spread joy in the Jewish community but illustrated the great solidarity and perseverance the population practices in the face of persistent anti-Semitism. Many of the performances were witty and insightful, yet nothing left me feeling quite as inspired as Ben Platt’s rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” by Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg. Born into immigrant Jewish families, Arlen’s and Harburg’s mutual heritage inspired them to write the beloved show tune that would later become the heart and soul of “The Wizard of Oz” score. When audiences hear this beautiful melody, they often picture Dorothy in her blue-checkered dress and ruby slippers, imagining the endless possibilities her future may hold. Yet, very few recognize how melancholy the song truly is when situated in a larger historical context. “The Wizard of Oz” premiered in 1939, a few months after Kristallnacht, or the Night of Broken Glass: when the
Nazis destroyed Jewish homes, businesses, schools, synagogues and sent 30,000 Jews to concentration camps, killing almost 100 people that night. Passover remembers the Jews’ suffering while enslaved in Egypt and celebrates the freedom their ancestors possess now. But Arlen and Harburg recognized that their people’s suffering was not in the past, rather something they persistently experienced before and after the Holocaust. Yet in the face of evil, the Jewish composers created “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” to illustrate a future society free of hate and filled with acceptance. Platt’s singing during the live stream evoked the very bittersweet feeling the song requires. Shot in black in white, Platt’s performance began with a quiet but delightful mix of chest voice and falsetto. Once he finished the first verse, actress Judith Light discussed how the pogroms — riots that massacred the Jewish people — sent European Jews on an exodus, just like their enslaved ancestors in Egypt, to the land full of promise: the United States of America. Soon, the pictures of hopeful Jewish immigrants on ships to America that appeared on the screen were tarnished by the heartbreaking reality of the Jews’ struggle with Nazi Germany. Paralleling Jewish people’s agony and ongoing persecution, Platt’s singing appropriately switched from a wistful to almost pained and mournful tone to complement the sorrowful mood. Before the end of what seems like an entirely somber performance, Light describes Harburg’s belief that despite the constant anti-Semitism the Jewish people faced, they always found the strength to continue their fight for acceptance — not just for themselves — but for every oppressed individual on the planet. Immediately after she communicated this idea, the song intensified with a lush percussive melody as the music slowed to suspend
CHARLIE DODGE | WSN
The Saturday Night Passover Seder featuring Ben Platt among many other celebrities was a virtual event live-streamed from the Buzzfeed Tasty channel. This unconventional celebration united Jewish people worldwide while raising funds for the CDC Foundation’s Coronavirus Emergency Response Fund.
Platt’s explosive, emotionally charged top note, allowing his voice to flourish while the black and white screen transitioned to color. As the song finished, his singing returned to a hushed, soothing falsetto to match the final picture of optimistic Jewish immigrants looking at the Statue of Liberty. At the beginning of the 20th century, the Jewish people left their home countries to escape religious persecution and immigrated to the United States due to its promising slogan: “the land of the free.” However, these immigrants would be very disappointed in how the country and its people treat minorities today. Xenophobia is thriving across the nation: Jewish Americans attacked during prayer, the KKK’s persistent violence towards African Americans and individuals blam-
ing Chinese Americans for spreading the coronavirus. When I see these events plastered on newspaper headlines, I cannot help but question if America has the right to boast acceptance when discrimination towards these groups continues to grow. These people’s ancestors immigrated to America believing that the country would protect their future generations, but it is heartbreaking to know that the country’s promise of peace and liberty has yet to be fulfilled. “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” does not depict a faraway, fictional escape where rainbows shine and people dream, but rather paints a world without hate. While we live in a time plagued with what feels like endless violence and bigotry, the harmonious place Arlen and Harburg referenced is not as far as we may think.
Minorities have always found a way to persevere during times of adversity, yet neither they nor anyone will ever find freedom or the majestic heaven with blue skies if their small populations are the only ones fighting. Their cries are heard, but they will never transcend the thunderous roars of stereotypes, accusations and derogatory terms as long as they are fighting alone. So let’s all open our eyes and raise our voices. Raise our voices until our neighbors can hear us. Raise our voices until our community can hear us. Raise our voices until the whole world can hear us because then, and only then, will that somewhere over the rainbow become somewhere closer and real: our everyday lives. Email Sasha Cohen at scohen@nyunews.com.
Just Let Tigers Alone: ‘Tigertail’ Review By BEN LINDER Contributing Writer “Tigertail” might not be the feel-good movie you’re yearning for right now, but it is perhaps exactly what’s needed. Written and directed by Alan Yang (“Master of None” and “Little America”),The film is about immigration and all that’s sacrificed in the pursuit of a better life. It depicts Pin-Jui (Tzi Ma), a Taiwanese immigrant, as he reflects on his life before setting out to find economic prosperity in America to give his mother a better and safer life. But the journey to America forced him into an arranged marriage with his boss’ daughter, costing him the love of his youth and leaving him divorced with a distant son and an emotionally estranged daughter (Christine Ko). Flashbacks are spliced through the main storyline, implying shaky foundations. Many narratives that contain both a linearly progressing series of flashbacks and a linear storyline happening in the present are asking for trouble. But Yang uses this structure well by giving each timeline its due and letting them flow into each other purposefully, designing the alternating timelines to better illustrate the contrast between the past and present. The effect is a display of what it means to get the life you pay for. For example, the movie’s opening contains a scene with Tzi Ma’s character as a young boy on a farm in Taiwan, being told by his grandmother that he talks too much. As a child and a young man, it seems to
be all he’s told. Suddenly, the story jumps forward to him as an old man living in America, saying as little as possible with a stoic face that gives away nothing. It’s emblematic of the reserved performance that defines this somber film. The acting in “Tigertail” is incredible. The love between our young protagonist and his girlfriend in Taiwan is palpable. The silence between the hero in his old age and his daughter is heartbreaking, as are the scenes in which they finally come to say something to one another. It is certainly one of the film’s best qualities. In both the momentous and the quiet moments of Pin-Jui’s life, the world around him speaks volumes. Yang uses color beautifully both aesthetically and as a subtle communication device. He shows the brilliance of youth with shots of bright green fields in Taiwan as well as prosperity and happiness with deep reds in clothing and restaurants, contrasting it with whites and faded browns that mark the loneliness and dreariness of his life in America. “Tigertail” is a modern retelling of so many cautionary idioms and tales fashioned to include subjects of immigration and the pursuit of security. It’s a movie about the ensuing heartbreak of sacrificing love for financial stability and how the pain and suffering of that sacrifice can spread from generation to generation. JAKE CAPRIOTTI | WSN
Email Ben Linder at film@nyunews.com.
Alan Yang’s Netflix film “Tigertail” opens with a young boy running through a field. The film is based on the immigration story of Yang’s own parents.
Washington Square News
6
MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020
OPINION
OPINION@NYUNEWS.COM
Edited by JUN SUNG
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Letter to the Editor: “NYU Must Compensate Its Medical Workers Fairly”
By NYU LANGONE HEALTH It is deeply disappointing that an “opinion piece” by one of your own editors was allowed to publish despite numerous factual inaccuracies. Of greatest concern is that the piece makes erroneous and unsubstantiated claims that were not fact checked with reliable sources. Most disturbing are the accusations that NYU Langone staff have not been provided with life-saving personal protective equipment (PPE) during their treatment of Covid-19 patients, and that they are inadequately compensated for the work they performed. Neither statement is accurate. To be clear: • At no point did we deny our staff appropriate PPE required for their protection – and for the protection of their patients. To suggest that our institution knowingly put our staff in harm’s way is simply not true. Like all hospitals, we have been careful to conserve PPE to ensure we will have enough to get us through this crisis. But never did an NYU Langone staff member perform tasks with inadequate or inappropriate PPE. We adhered to the CDC guidelines at all times. • Every single patient who entered an NYU Langone in need of ventilator support received it. No patient was denied the essential care they needed. • Despite stopping all “non-emergent” surgeries and nonessential care, we still managed to pay everyone. Unlike other institutions in the city and throughout the country, none of our employees have been furloughed or f ired. Our goal continues to be to protect all of our staff. • We believe that our entire community contributes to this enormous effort – to single out one group for monetary rewards is naïve and lacks
Submitting to
any understanding of how hospitals deliver care. Traditionally, “opinion pieces” are offered by independent third parties or those not aff iliated with the media organization publishing it. That was not the case here. This is an editorial, plain and simple, written by one of your own editors. We interpret its content as the opinion of WSN. Hiding behind a non-endorsement disclaimer does not distance the paper from its responsibilities for the piece. To call it anything else would be disingenuous and dishonest to your readers. We believe this “opinion piece” ironically is “FAKE NEWS” and an egregious misrepresentation that actually harms the efforts of heroic individuals working tirelessly to care for our patients. Absent your ability to conf irm the accusations in the editorial, we call for a full retraction. In the face of this national crisis, to publish false claims is unconscionable and the WSN, and all those associated with it, should be ashamed. KENNETH G. LANGONE Chairmen of the Board of Trustees, NYU Langone Health Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees, NYU ROBERT I. GROSSMAN, MD Dean and CEO, NYU Langone Health STEVEN B. ABRAMSON, MD Executive Vice President and Vice Dean for Education, Faculty, and Academic Affairs NYU Langone Health ROBERT J. CERFOLIO, MD, MBA Executive Vice President and Vice Dean, Chief of Hospital Operations NYU Langone Health FRITZ FRANÇOIS, MD, MSC, FACG Chief Medical Officer Professor, Department of Medicine NYU Langone Health JOSEPH GRECO, MD Senior Vice President and Chief of Hospital Operations NYU Winthrop BRET J. RUDY, MD Senior Vice President and Chief of Hospital Operations NYU Langone Hospital–Brooklyn
STAFF EDITORIAL
Prioritizing Transparency in Federal Relief Spending The Department of Education recently released the amount of funding certain universities will receive through the CARES Act — the third installment of the coronavirus stimulus plan from Congress. NYU will receive the second highest amount among non-profit, private institutions at $25,626,944. However, as reported by NYU Local, this money comes with conditions. 50% must be used to provide students with emergency costs like food, technology and healthcare. The other 50% can be used according to the university’s judgement, but can’t be used for reimbursement such as student benefits and refunds. Additionally, according to the Funding Certification and Agreement, the “recipient shall not use the advanced funds to reimburse itself for any costs or expenses, including but not limited to any costs associated with significant changes to the delivery of instruction due to the coronavirus and/or any refunds or other benefits that Recipient previously issued to students.” For NYU, this means the university can’t compensate itself for both the prorated housing refunds and the prorated meal plan refunds it gave to students. It can be assumed that it can’t use the funds to reimburse itself for building expenses as well. In light of this, it is imperative that the university provide financial transparency on how these congressional funds will be used. During a time of crisis for both NYU and the rest of the world, the student body deserves to know exactly how the university will spend its stimulus money, as well as how this money will be used to alleviate the financial problems of both students and the institution. With the closure of campus and the start of remote instruction, students have been evicted from university residences, have lost access to dining halls and have been forced to pay full tuition for online classes that aren’t equivalent to the quality of in-person instruction. Clearly, students have been the ones to face the brunt of the current situation. Half of Congress’ stimulus money is meant to alleviate some of these costs when applicable, but the opaque nature of NYU’s relationship with its students, especially when it comes to how they spend their money, makes how the grant money will be implemented unknown. It is unclear how this money will be distributed and if it will be substantially larger than what the university
currently gives to students through the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Grant. How the other half will be spent — which is to be used at the university’s discretion — hasn’t been revealed either. According to the university, NYU is in a distressed financial situation. In an email to Tisch School of the Arts students, Tisch Dean Allyson Green said the university’s financial situation is “not revenue making in the slightest,” and that the pandemic is “costing the school and the University millions more.” But because NYU hasn’t released any financial information or evidence of this, it is impossible to verify this or understand what is actually going on. Assuming it is in that state it claims to be, then the university must clearly communicate how the grant money will be used. Much of the need for this transparency comes from the university’s history of suspicious decisions regarding its own funds. In 2019, when the university released its 2017 tax forms, it was found that it had spent $6 million on a Langone fundraising event that only made $5.2 million in donations, $9 million on the entertainment and travel of public officials and $1.5 million on President Andrew Hamilton’s salary, among other expenditures. These financial decisions all occurred while NYU continued to underspend on programs like Courtesy Meals and understaff services like the Student Health Center. This financial mismanagement indicates that the university may misuse the grant. The only way to prevent this from occurring is for the university to be transparent with how it plans to use the money it’s been given. The NYU COVID Coalition — a group of NYU activists and organizations — has called for open communication between the university and the student body in addition to democratic decision-making. Financial transparency, especially in regard to Congress’ grant, is integral to these goals and is necessary for making sure that the university uses the funds effectively. Transparency in these decisions shouldn’t be negotiable. A failure to do so would mean yet another instance when the administration refused to be transparent and communicate with its community.
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 NYU Langone Health at opinion@nyunew.som.
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Washington Square News
MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2020
UNDERTHEARCH@NYUNEWS.COM
7
UNDER THE ARCH
Edited by GURU RAMANATHAN
Encountering Trauma in the Classroom
Black students often view racially traumatic images, videos and readings for the sake of learning, and that exposure can take a lasting toll on their emotional and mental health. By TATYANA TANDANPOLIE Contributing Writer Content Warning: This article contains mentions of racial trauma, slavery, violence against Black and Brown bodies and racial slurs that can be disturbing or triggering.
Black Student Union co-President Kayla Merriweather remembers being immersed in her Iberian Atlantic class when a graphic black and white photo of a formerly enslaved man flickered onto the projector screen. With an instinctive slide change and no warning, her professor transformed the fall 2019 Spanish history class into a site of pain. The Gallatin junior’s stomach churned, disrupting her typical classroom calm. But this wasn’t the first time she’d felt this way. In fall 2018, her Social and Cultural Analysis 101 professor read the n-word from white LGBTQ activist Carl Wittman’s “A Gay Manifesto” and justified the act. Another time, the professor of her International Human Rights class read the n-word from a text without addressing it at all. She recalled those moments like they happened yesterday, and those were just the first three that came to her mind. “To have professors openly use racial slurs in class or show really graphic images of Black bodies literally just being torn apart — it’s just, as a Black woman, since it speaks so directly to my identity, it’s a lot,” Merriweather said. Merriweather had a “visceral reaction” to each incident, transforming the way she interacted with classmates, professors and the courses themselves. The incidents created painful memories that consumed her thoughts in those spaces and etched themselves into the remainder of those days. While reliving the moments in an armless swivel chair of the SCA Department’s lounge, it became clear that those experiences clouded her memory of the courses, and it seemed they’d stick with her for the rest of her college career, too. To her, these experiences showed that her professors didn’t care much about their actions’ impact on Black students. “I just don’t feel like they prioritize me as a Black student in their classroom and acknowledge that words and images have power, especially because they’re often related to issues and topics that are contemporary that I confront in my daily life,” Merriweather said.
ALEJANDRA AREVALO | WSN
Merriweather’s experiences are common, especially for students at predominantly white institutions like NYU. Professors expose Black students to images and videos of brutalized Black bodies, say the n-word without hesitation and explore texts that detail Black suffering. Many neglect to include trigger warnings or consider the effect these materials have on Black students’ psyches. CAS senior Mili Mansaray feels that, as a journalism major, she’s expected to view and write about traumatic subjects “for the sake of news.” But encountering Black suffering and trauma in her required journalism courses always rattled her. “I’ve had to hold it together because the topic that we’re discussing, the image that we looked at, made me want to break down because it’s just too much for me to synthesize and to stomach,” Mansaray said. “This is just this five minute conversation for [the professor], but what we’re talking about is going to affect me for the rest of my day, if I’m lucky.” Sometimes, she’s not lucky. The moment her multimedia professor displayed a triggering photo in class is etched in her memory. The image showed photojournalists surrounding 15-year-old Fabienne Cherisma’s body after her murder in the aftermath of Haiti’s earthquake. This instance, coupled with unprompted class discussions on gendered violence, took an immense emotional toll on her. “I start thinking just about how sh-tty it is to live in this body sometimes and experience this and the ways that this experience is ancestral to me,” Mansaray said. “This is all history has been for the longest time, and it’s the future we’re still going into.” The hopelessness she feels stems from what clinical psychologist Dr. Monnica T. Williams calls “race-based stress and trauma.” Experiencing racism can take a psychological toll on Black people through “paranoia” and “chronic fear” of further incidents, she says. Over time these feelings can lead to “traumatization” and develop into extreme “psychological distress” and mental illness. Many Black people, however, feel the trauma from these acts without experiencing them. Williams names this “vicarious traumatization.” She states that learning about racist acts, Black suffering and “race-related danger” unearths painful memories that can trigger traumatization in a Black viewer. According to Williams, this experience is ancestral as family and community members pass down the memories of their and others’ encounters with racism and violence. “Over the centuries the Black community has developed a cultural knowledge of these sorts of horrific events, which then primes us
for traumatization when we hear about yet another act of violence,” she wrote. Vicarious traumatization can happen to Black students with experiences like Mansaray and Merriweathers’. Exposure to media tinged with a harrowing history — and racism — leaves them uncomfortable or scarred, affecting their mental health beyond the classroom. Social and Cultural Analysis Professor Nikhil Singh stresses the importance of context in each of his classes. While guiding students through lectures on major thinkers’ work, he ensures that they leave his class comprehending subjects including race, capitalism and empire, and their effect on American society. To punctuate those lessons, he occasionally displays graphic photos with content warnings, creates space for students’ opinions and fosters dialogues on touchy subjects. A lecture on Frederick Douglass’ autobiography in Singh’s fall 2017 course generated a class debate concerning his reading of the n-word from the text. The topic divided the class, with students of all backgrounds adopting common n-word debate stances — no one should use the word, he, as a non-black professor, shouldn’t speak the word, and, in context, it’s fine if he reads the word. Singh, however, focused his argument on intention. “This is not a freedom of speech argument, but as teachers, what we do is we teach words in context, we teach discourse in context,” Singh said. “We teach students how to interpret and make sense critically and develop judgment and understanding of complex ideas and arguments.” While the conversation left him and students without a definitive answer on how he can approach the n-word in texts, he feels that leaving it out of his lectures or giving it excess attention would be pedagogically unethical. “It’s a problematic word, it’s a word of abuse and it’s a word that impacts people, and I understand all that and I respect that,” he said. “But it’s not something that we can actually escape from because it’s part of the reality that we’re trying to teach and understand.” In researching the African Diaspora, Keyanah Nurse, a PhD candidate in NYU’s history department, frequently grapples with that reality. As a teaching assistant, she decides what imagery or readings she’ll expose her students to and how. As a Black academic, she navigates the space between affirming the pain that comes with racial trauma and ensuring that students understand where that pain comes from. “If we’re studying the history of the transatlanic slave trade, I do think that there’s a certain value to showing some of the more grotesque elements of it, as long as it’s always
ALEJANDRA AREVALO | WSN
ALEJANDRA AREVALO | WSN
appropriately contextualized within a good discussion that doesn’t lean on just showing it for the shock value of it,” Nurse said. While triggering Black students is a problem, ignoring this imagery creates a different one. “People don’t walk away from the conversation fully understanding or fully internalizing the stakes of what you’re talking about,” she said. This danger isn’t limited to images of Black suffering; it applies to genocide as well as gendered and religious violence. However, the traumatic images professors show have distinct characteristics: they depict marginalized groups’ suffering against myriad representations of privileged groups’ lives. “It’s almost like if you are representing white people, you don’t show those images in the first place, so you never have that content warning,” Nurse said. “If the only images you show are of Black and Brown people, or women or trans folk, always surrounded in violence, then that is also something to consider.” Mansaray, Merriweather and Nurse cited academia’s roots in white supremacy and racism as the reason professors adhere to this practice. Merriweather referred to it as “an academic fascination with Black suffering.” Stacie McCormick, assistant professor and specialist in African Diasporic literature at Texas Christian University, thinks that this stems from “a long history of white investment in Black suffering.” In her article for the African American Intellectual History Society, she explains that white culture understands Black people and Blackness through “rubrics of containment, pain and subjection.” “We are a society conditioned to see Blackness in a certain way and this certain way aligns with how a significant number of people in the American public need to see Blackness – as objectified, disfigured, derided,” McCormick wrote. Because academia was created to enrich white male minds, and changes to its core principles fall short, professors unknowingly maintain the continued presentation of Black suffering in classes. This cycle reinforces America’s subconscious association of Black people with pain and its roots in white supremacy and racism. “It’s that subconscious element of who’s human,” Mansaray said. “Who’s deserving of discretion, of decency, of empathy? Who are people that you can relate to? Whose pain can you relate to? Whose pain do you see as valid?” If Merriweather could, she’d tell her professors how valuable it would have been for them to check in with her and other black students. She’d say that they should have dismantled the “professor-student hierarchy” in their class and consider their students’ identities more when they put together their syllabi. Given the same opportunity, Mansaray would tell her journalism professors to take more accountability for the negative mental impact they had on her and other Black students.
ALEJANDRA AREVALO | WSN
Merriweather and Mansaray want active care from their professors and consideration for the effects of racism on Black students that manifests in intentional action. But professors have to decide what actions work best for their course and their students. “With the content warnings, the trigger warnings, the opportunity to do alternative assignments, I think that just communicates to me, as the student, that the professor values my academic pursuit,” Merriweather said. A content warning can dismantle the power dynamic between professors and students, too. According to Nurse, clear and specific trigger warnings are about getting student consent and informing them of potential triggers. “It’s really flagging for people that one, I understand that you may not respond well to these images, so I’m giving you the opportunity to consent to seeing them or not seeing them,” Nurse said. “But also letting students know that I’m opening up space for you to have a conversation with me about it.” Mansaray, Merriweather and Nurse also insisted on the importance of student-professor conversations about potentially triggering content. While many Black students have to start these conversations, professors have to create what Nurse calls “an intellectual community” in their classes that welcomes and fosters them. Professors can’t know everything that complicates their Black students’ experiences, but with a willingness to listen, learn and accommodate these needs, they can start. Black students understand the importance of sharing traumatic historical images and texts in class. Like Mansaray, however, many believe that those shouldn’t be the only historical representations of Blackness and Black people that students see in class. “What about images of Black joy and resilience?” Mansaray asked. “Our triumphs? Blackness outside of contestation with white oppression and white colonization? What do Black people look like when they’re not fighting the white power? What is our existence outside of this constant battle?” Email Tatyana Tandanpolie at underthearch@nyunews.com.
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