NYU’s Daily Student Newspaper
WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS Vol. 43, No. 1
MONDAY, JANUARY 26, 2015
nyunews.com
FEATURES
LAW SCHOOL AFFAIRS
Trustee’s subpoena attempt denied
Professor recognized for brain research By MARINA ZHENG Features Editor
By MARITA VLACHOU News Editor
Not judging a book by its cover is an axiom to live by. But recent research suggests that it might be easier said than done. Jon Freeman, an assistant professor of psychology at NYU and director of the Social Cognitive & Neural Sciences Lab, was recently listed under Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list in the field of science for his research regarding brain mechanisms underlying snap judgments, specifically on facial recognition. “We routinely use others’ facial cues to slot them into specific social groups and infer their underlying traits,” 28-year-old Freeman said. “The basic visual perception of another person’s face is readily shaped by our own stereotypes, motives and the larger social context.” Freeman, whose love for the field of social neuroscience started during his undergraduate career at NYU, published a study on this sub-
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STAFF PHOTO BY SANG BAE
Amidst a conflict between Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office and the NYPD, three officers stand on duty at the Union Square subway stop.
SPORTS
Violets goalie Sam Daley recovering from surgery By BOBBY WAGNER Sports Editor
The NYU hockey team has faceed a lot more than hardhitting defenseman and stout goaltending this season. Heading into their winter break riding a four game winning streak, the Violets got some news that shook up their season. Their starting goalkeeper, junior Sam Daley, had a brain tumor that required emergency surgery to remove. The news hit hard and it hit quick, assistant coach Dan Fortunato said. “Sam had been playing very well all season,” Fortunato
said. “He hadn’t complained once about anything unusual.” Because the news came while many team members were home on their winter breaks, the team had to come together in ways previously unimaginable. Head coach Chris Cosentino informed the team immediately. “When Sam told me the news he was so confident that he was going to get through it,” Cosentino said. “Here’s a young man going down a dark, unknown road and he did it with an incredible amount of courage. Sam’s confidence in our
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A federal judge ruled that an attempt to subpoena NYU Law students Luke Herrine and Leo Gertner violates their First Amendment rights. The subpoena was issued by Daniel Straus, a former NYU board of trustee, and his company CareOne Management. The two students were subpoenaed last spring after writing a letter critical of Straus. The letter discussed Straus’ unjust practices including his efforts to limit sick and vacation days, freeze pensions and restrict the formation of unions for his workers. This is not the first time Straus has been under the microscope for the poor treatment of his workers. The federal labor board has noticed several labor law violations at his companies.
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REVIEW
‘Girlhood’ portrays French youth By ISABEL JONES Film Editor
Céline Sciamma’s most recent venture is a film of many names: in France it is known as “Bande de filles,” in America as “Girlhood.” With the English name “Girlhood,” some have compared the movie to Richard Linklater’s “Boyhood.” The similarities end with their titles, however, as “Boyhood” capitalized on the American experiences intrinsic to the childhood of a single generation — the songs we grew up singing, the books we’d beg our parents to read to us before sleeping. “Bande de filles” is not this story. It’s a tale of French-African adolescents in one of Paris’ hard-
edged suburbs, known as banlieues — Patricia Arquette, the leading lady of “Boyhood,” is nowhere to be found. With “Bande de filles,” it is difficult to avoid falling into the trap of Hollywood allusion. It is hard to watch the mildmannered Karidja Touré fall in with a group of three dangerously free-willed yet closeknit bad girls without drawing a comparison to “Mean Girls.” Similarly, the gang fights that breakout between teen girls in the neighborhood bring to mind the rumbles of the Socs and Greasers in “The Outsiders” — the “Boyz ‘N the Hood” title song feels like it belongs. It is interesting to imagine a French audience overlooking these unfor-
tunate parallels — that this film could exist in its isolated reality elsewhere. The girls rent a hotel room with money they bummed off their frightened classmates, steal dresses from department stores with the security tags still attached, drink strong drinks and lip sync to Rihanna’s “Diamonds.” Although there’s more theft and debauchery than in the cookiecutter picture of adolescence, the familiarity of the scene is difficult to shake. At its core, “Bande de filles” tells an incredibly common tale of goofing around with your best girlfriends. Beyond the international
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