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.