NYU’s Daily Student Newspaper
WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS Vol. 43, No. 42
MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015
nyunews.com UNIVERSITY AFFAIRS
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
Report issued on NYUAD labor
NEWS
By MARITA VLACHOU and ALANNA BAYARIN News Editors
VIA NYU.EDU
The Gazelle: Hackathon Winners of the NYUAD International Hackathon target labor rights violations. STORY on PG. 3 FEATURES
COURTESY OF NYU
Guggenheim Fellowship Six members of NYU faculty became Guggenheim fellows, and discuss what they will do with the grant. STORY on PG. 4 SPORTS STAFF PHOTO BY HARK KANWAL
Linda Montana puts on a performance art piece with music in the background, a baby bottle and multiple facial expressions to make the crowd laugh. STORY ON PAGE 4
Nardello & Co., an independent investigative firm hired by NYU and Tamkeen, an Abu Dhabi government agency, to review allegations of labor violations at the NYU Abu Dhabi campus, released their report Thursday morning. Investigators confirmed that while NYU’s labor standards applied to 20,000 of the 30,000 workers employed during the construction of the Saadiyat Island campus, the remaining 10,000 laborers were subject to labor rights abuses committed by several subcontractors NYU hired. The report showed that one third of the workers were not treated according to NYU’s labor standards due to a de facto exemption policy, but concluded that the university and Tamkeen were not aware of the problem. NYU President John Sexton said in an email that the university was not aware of the policy in place and plans to ensure violations like these do not occur in the future. “Neither we nor Tamkeen knew about the exemption policy or how widely it was being applied (roughly one-third
NYUAD continued on PG. 3
FEATURES VIA GONYUATHLETICS.COM
Weekend sports recap Top news in NYU athletics from the weekend. STORY on PG. 5 OPINION
Opinion: Sexton response to report The editorial board argues that Sexton could have said more. STORY on PG. 7
Junior named to Top 10 College Women list By ZOE THOMPSON Staff Writer CAS junior and economics major Mansi Prakash was named one of Glamour Magazine’s Top 10 College Women 2015 on April 8 for her nonprofit Brighter Today. The organization sends eco-friendly bulbs to people in developing nations to improve their quality of life. A visit to her grandparents’ home in India inspired Prakash to establish the nonprofit. She noticed that the villagers were living without lights to save money. The villagers’ bulbs cost 20 cents and only lasted two months, but Prakash exchanged them for CFL bulbs that cost $2 but last up to five years, cutting
electricity bills by 80 percent. Prakash said that energy saving leads to increased productivity in other areas of life. “Our data has shown that savings go toward food, education and health care,” Prakash said. “Women can take up work from home, and children can use the light to study for longer.” Brighter Today’s team is almost as international as its cause. Prakash’s brother, who attends high school in the Philippines, currently controls the technical aspects of the company. And the nonprofit has a ground team of 12 volunteers and coordinators in India who are responsible for putting the project into place. Prakash won the Social Ven-
ture Challenge and received a fellowship after pitching her idea at Clinton Global University Initiative Conference. Since then, she has been working with mentors who have provided her with the funds to move the project forward. “Last summer we actually partnered with Philips, who have provided 100 percent of our bulbs,” Prakash said. “We carried out the project on a really large scale.” Prakash and her team have recently developed a new, more expensive bulb prototype that uses sunlight to act as a 60watt bulb. She plans to utilize her contacts, partnerships and Glamour recognition to establish Brighter Today bulbs in over
500 homes in the Philippines. “I came up with the prototype last year,” Prakash said. “It’s like a plastic bottle. You fill it up with bleach and water and it has an LED strip connected to a cellphone charger, bulb and fan. We don’t really have the money to make it on a large scale, but with this award, we can make this prototype the best possible and then implement it on a large scale.” For the future, Prakash hopes Brighter Today will become more sustainable by encouraging the involvement of high school students. “We want to go through the high school route,” Prakash said.
PRAKASH continued on PG. 4
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WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS | MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015 | NYUNEWS.COM
ON THE SIDE
COMPILED BY THE
WSN STAFF
EXPOSURE BY SANG BAE
The summer before I applied for college, I spent three and a half weeks living on the streets of Seoul. My parents gave me enough money to rent a tiny apartment deep inside an alleyway — at least before getting evicted a week later and then staying with friends and family.
WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS Editor-in-Chief
VALENTINA DUQUE BOJANINI Managing Editor
THOMAS DEVLIN Assistant Managing Editor
JOHN AMBROSIO Digital Director
I kept to myself a lot. I spent most of my time just wandering around the city, taking subway trips for a couple hours to end up in a new neighborhood and maybe experience something new. The places I visited were the most interesting part of the trip. I took photos because I want to go back to the places someday, and maybe make new memories while I’m there.
HANNAH TREASURE Creative Director, Special Editions
OLIVIA MARTIN Creative Director
TEERIN JULSAWAD deputy ALEXA WONG Copy Chief
MADELINE PAZZANI deputy RICHARD SHU Multimedia
SHAWN PAIK photo SAM BEARZI video CALVIN FALK deputy photo SANG BAE, MATHILDE VAN TULDER deputy video CHRISTIAN FORTE
SENIOR STAFF
news ALANNA BAYARIN, MARITA VLACHOU features MARINA ZHENG arts ALEXA SPIELER sports BOBBY WAGNER senior editors LARSON BINZER, CHRISTINA
COLEBURN, FELIPE DE LA HOZ, FRANCISCO NAVAS, IFE OLUJOBI
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news ALEX BAZELEY features NINA JANG beauty & style SOPHIE LEWIS dining REBECCA RIDDLE film ISABEL JONES entertainment AUDREY DENG music E.R. PULGAR theater/books CAROLINE CUNFER sports KYLE LUTHER
OPINION PAGE opinion editor
TESS WOOSLEY deputy opinion editors
ANNIE COHEN, TOMMY COLLISON, MATTHEW TESSLER
BLOGS
Exposure
editor EMILY BELL exposure HANNAH LUU violet vision GABRIELLA BOWER the highlighter MARISSA ELLIOT LITTLE under the arch EMMA SCOBLE global DANA RESZUTEK
ADVERTISING BUSINESS MANAGER
ALISON LIZZIO UNIVERSITY SALES RELATIONS
CLAIRE MAHANY
SNAPSHOT
TODAY ON CAMPUS
SALES MANAGER
EMMA HOWCROFT SALES REPRESENTATIVES
AMY LU, BEN SWINEHART
Steinhardt Undergraduate Photography Show Today marks the opening of the Steinhardt Undergraduate Photography Show with an opening reception on the second floor of 34 Stuyvesant St. at 4 p.m.
SALES ASSOCIATES
MIKE GROTT, LUXI PENG GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
KALEEL MUNROE CIRCULATION MANAGER
JESSICA TIEN
Rabelais’s Game Professors from a variety of universities are participating in a discussion of Michel Beaujour’s republished “Le Jeau de Rabelais” and its effect on Rabelais studies. The event will be held in La Maison Française at 7 p.m.
CIRCULATION ASSISTANTS
ALEX HANSON, FIONA GORRY-HINES
ADVISING DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
NANCI HEALY EDITORIAL ADVISER
What’s Radical About “Mixed Race”?
An NYU student film crew interviews an incoming freshman during Weekend on the Square.
SNAPSHOT BY CALVIN FALK
The A/P/A is hosting a discussion of the status of mixed raced persons in the world. Minelle Mahtani and Jared Sexton will give lectures, followed by a roundtable moderated by Ann Morning. The event will be at 6 p.m. at the Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU. TODAY’S EVENTS ARE FREE FOR NYU STUDENTS.
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RACHEL HOLLIDAY SMITH EDITORS-AT-LARGE
TATIANA BAEZ, NICOLE BROWN, ALEX GREENBERGER, CLIO MCCONNELL, JORDAN MELENDREZ About WSN: Washington Square News (ISSN 15499389) is the student newspaper of New York University. WSN is published Monday through Thursday during NYU’s academic year, except for university holidays, vacations and exam periods. Corrections: WSN is committed to accurate reporting. When we make errors, we do our best to correct them as quickly as possible. If you believe we have erred, contact the managing editors at managing@nyunews.com or at 212.998.4302.
NYUNEWS.COM | MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS
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NYUAD continued from PG. 1
Investigation finds 10,000 unprotected workers at NYUAD
of the workers — about 10,000 people — worked for contractors deemed exempt from the rules),” Sexton said. “Both we and Tamkeen commit to ensuring that we will not allow such a compliance gap to occur in the future.” Despite their shortcomings, the report showed that NYU tried to comply with the labor standards, including the provision of fair wages, compensation for overtime work and protection against harassment or abuse. “Reports by several newspapers and Non-Governmental Organizations have alleged that many workers on the campus
construction project were not treated in accordance with the guidelines and implied that NYU and its government partners merely paid lip service to their commitment,” the report reads. “Our investigation found that the commitment was real, implemented in good faith and, to a large measure, effective.” Paula Chakravartty, Gallatin professor and member of Coalition for Fair Labor at NYU, said the report verified the problems CFL had identified and implored the university to implement the investigators’ recommendations. “We hope that the public acknowledgement of violations of
labor standards for some 10,000 workers involved in the building of the NYUAD campus, the ongoing issues around crushing recruitment debt and lack of mechanisms for worker representation make it clear that meaningful changes are urgently needed,” Chakravartty said. In response to the email Sexton sent to the NYU community, the NYU Abu Dhabi Justice Coalition, a coalition of students, faculty, and workers at NYU, released a statement regarding the abuses. The coalition said NYU should commit itself to ensuring labor abuses never happen again on its campus and securing the
rights of all current and future workers to strike, organize and bargain collectively. “While we endorse the report’s recommendations for a third-party labor standards compliance monitor and a confidential, robust grievance procedure for workers on Saadiyat Island, this is no substitute for genuine, institutionally-protected collective bargaining,” the statement reads. “As long as NYU continues to operate uncritically within a system so hostile to workers’ right to organize, a compliance gap will always exist — and will undermine the possibil-
ity of labor peace in future NYUAD operations.” The United Arab Emirates government has barred from entry or penalized its critics, like professor Andrew Ross, in the past. However, Nardello & Co. founder Daniel Nardello, who led the inquiry, said the investigators did not run into such problems. “We had no contacts with the government in a hostile manner,” Nardello said. “We were left to do our job and as far as I know were not banned from the country.” Email Alanna Bayarin and Marita Vlachou at news@nyunews.com.
CRIME LOG
april 8 to 16
By LEXI FAUNCE Staff Writer
PHOTO BY FARAH SHAMOUT/THE GAZELLE
The Hakeeme team took first place at NYUAD’s hackathon for Social Good in the Arab World.
THE GAZELLE: WINNING HACKATHON PROJECT TO ADDRESS LABOR ABUSE ON CONSTRUCTION SITES Published on TheGazelle.org, NYU Abu Dhabi’s weekly student publication, on April 18, 2015 By ZOE HU Editor-in-Chief A long task-list, 5 a.m. coding grinds and a single idea plucked from a tempting pool of many others — all this culminated in a first place win for the Hakeeme team at NYUAD’s International Hackathon for Social Good in the Arab World this year. The 12-student team was a microcosm of Hackathon diversity, gathering students from universities around the world that spanned North Africa, the Middle East and the USA. Four NYU Abu Dhabi students, sophomore Martin Slosarik, sophomore Tony Lin and juniors Farah Shamout and Dóri Pálfi, held spots on the team, assisting in everything from hardware building to the product design of their final idea. The group’s website title, Hakee.Me, is an elastic play on language — Hakee means doctor in both Arabic and Urdu, and the me tacked on the end turns the final translation into my doctor. The product itself aims to address labor abuse in construction sites around the Gulf, a salient issue for those in the NYUAD commu-
nity now grappling with the recent release of the Nardello & Co. report. Hakeeme is a device that takes the form of an armband for construction workers. It aims to serve as an on the ground aid, a wearable check against employer abuse. “We were trying to find [a solution] that’s more substantial to the region,” said Shamout. “To tackle something that’s actually going to have a real impact.” Through laser-cutting and 3D printing, the Hakeeme team created a physical prototype of the device to present to judges at the end of the weekend. The final iteration of Hakeeme will measure the vitals of individual workers, like heartbeat and temperature, and record the data for governmental agencies. The people on the other end, by analyzing the data on a computer, will conceivably be able to mark instances of abuse — places or projects where workers are being over-worked and must endure conditions of extreme heat or long hours. The armband also comes with a panic button for emergencies. Hakeeme’s website showcases
sleek images of the black prototype, in addition to examples of the product’s data displays. For the Hakeeme team, the Hackathon served as a convergence point for 150 students around the world and all their accompanying ideas, a time and place to exchange knowhow and perspectives with others, as well as receive guidance from helpful mentors in the field — many of whom came from big-name companies like Google and Microsoft. For Shamout, learning from mentors was one of the most rewarding aspects of the weekend. “They were extremely supportive, we felt like they were really part of our team,” said Shamout. The Hakeeme group had been mentored by Katy Blumer, a member of NYUAD’s first graduating class; Anas Shahrour, a research assistant at NYUAD and Ayman Farhat, a software engineer working in Lebanon. “It’s awesome to have a mentor that collaborates rather than tutors you,” added Slosarik. For the rest of the story, go online to thegazelle.org
The NYU Department of Public Safety received reports of one incident of burglary, eight incidents of larceny, one incident of criminal mischief, one incident of arson, one incident of robbery and one incident of sexual offense between April 8 and April 16.
Burglary At 9:57 a.m. on April 9, Public Safety was notified that an NYU student at the Buenos Aires study away site reported to the local police that her host family’s house had been burglarized.
Larceny At 10:20 a.m. on April 8, Public Safety received a report from a Bobst Library member that her laptop was missing from a locker. The student reported that she had left the laptop for several hours and discovered it was missing when she went to retrieve it. At 7:45 p.m. on April 8, a student notified Public Safety that her backpack, laptop and notebooks were stolen from the back of her chair while she was at the Kimmel Center for University Life. At 2:26 p.m. on April 9, a student reported that her bicycle was stolen from Coles Sports Center after she had chained it to a bicycle rack that morning. At 6:05 p.m. on April 9, Public Safety was notified that a student discovered her iPhone was missing while she was sitting at the Academic Resource Center. At 6:30 p.m. on April 11, Public Safety received a report from a faculty member that his iPad and laptop were stolen from the Leslie Computer Lab while he was helping his students earlier that afternoon. At 1:15 p.m. on April 12, Public Safety was notified that a student found his NYU BikeShare bicycle
missing after he had tied it to a bike rack near Thompson Street earlier that morning. At 1:30 p.m. on April 16, Public Safety received a report from a contractor not affiliated with NYU that two construction carts were stolen from the loading dock entrance of Warren Weaver Hall. At 3:10 p.m. on April 16, Public Safety was notified that three video cameras had been stolen from an office in Tisch Hall.
Criminal Mischief At 4 p.m. on April 10, a Brittany Hall resident reported to Public Safety that his ex-girlfriend destroyed items he had left in a suitcase in her dormitory.
Arson At 11:58 a.m. on April 13, Public Safety was notified that a student had set a piece of paper on fire and made a burn mark on the floor of Othmer Residence Hall.
Robbery At 5:35 a.m. on April 16, Public Safety was notified that three unidentified men pushed a contract employee to the ground and stole her purse near campus. The university sent a safety alert to students via email notifying them about the incident.
Sexual Offense At 12:15 p.m. on April 16, someone affiliated with NYU reported to public safety that they witnessed a white male inappropriately touch two women in Washington Square Park. The New York City Police Department was notified and deemed the individual emotionally disturbed. Email Lexi Faunce at news@nyunews.com.
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WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS | MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015 | NYUNEWS.COM
FEATURES
EDITED BY MARINA ZHENG FEATURES@NYUNEWS.COM
Professors talk about Guggenheim award By BENJAMIN MOK Staff Writer
STAFF PHOTO BY HARK KANWAL
Montana spoke and performed at an event on April 14.
Panel discusses works of Linda Montano By NATALIA BARR Staff Writer
The panel discussion and performance “Linda Mary Montano: Living Art/Living Life” explored and celebrated a lifetime of art on April 14. NYU’s Fales Library commended Montano, a contemporary feminist performance artist, by opening her archives in the library. Panelists included Kathy Brew, Karen Finley, Linda Weintraub and Martha Wilson, who appeared via video call. Montano has sought to dissolve the boundaries between art and life since the mid-1960s. One of her most notable works was “Handcuff,” a project in which she was physically tied to artist Tom Marioni for three days. The artist collaborated with Marioni again in “Tehching Hsieh’s One Year Performance” when the two were bound to each other by rope for an entire year. Montano also began “Seven Years of Living Art,” a performance based on the Chakras, in which she spent each year wearing a single color of clothing and spending part of each day in a colored room listening to a designated tone. “It’s called alchemy,” Montano said. “You take two inert substances that aren’t making any sense, and you put them together, and you create gold.” Emily King, a graduate fellow at Fales, compiled over 150 boxes of materials that represent 50 years of work into the newly completed archive. “A lot of artists say that their art is separate from their life,” King said. “For Linda, I think something that makes it really meaningful is that there isn’t that separation and that a lot of times really meaningful art comes out of life experiences.” While much of the attention in performance art has been
and still is placed on male performers, King believes that the authenticity of Montano’s art draws people to the artist and her works. “It really comes from a place that’s inward,” King said. “It gives another side of the story of women doing everything that a male performer can do and even more than that because they have the power and flexibility to push the envelope further.” During the panel discussion, curator, artist, educator and author Linda Weintraub focused on “Dad Art,” a performance Montano gave after the death of her father. Weintraub emphasized how Montano’s time as primary caregiver for her father at the end of his life influenced her art. “He wasn’t only a dad,” Weintraub said. “He was the subject of her art, the muse, the inspiration.” Montano spoke of her training in San Francisco, a city that she believes is less patriarchal than those on the East Coast. “The woman’s building was all really rock and roll and heavy duty,” said Montano, “We can have babies but we can also really change consciousness. Let’s change consciousness. Let’s meet once a month and change each other.” The archive, which reflects the Montano’s lifetime efforts of creating art, will now be preserved at NYU’s Fales Library. “Emily King has taken my whole life and has created a means of transportation through 50 years of my process in such a loving, careful, and diligent way,” Montano said, “I never had children and my art is my child. Emily King has been a doula, caregiver, and second mother in adopting my art as her child too.” Email Natalia Barr at features@nyunews.com.
This year, six professors and instructors from NYU were selected from approximately 3,000 applicants and awarded 2015 Guggenheim Fellowships. The prizes are annual grants awarded to citizens and permanent residents of the United States, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean. In order to receive the grant, one must have demonstrated exceptional scholarly or creative ability in the arts, excluding the performing arts — although choreographers, film directors and composers are still eligible. Jeffrey Renard Allen, a faculty member in the creative writing program, plans on using the grant money as he works on his next book, a novel based on the life of Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, who is the primary founder of Chicago. “It feels good to have this validation at what essentially is the midpoint of my writing career,” Allen said. Chris Collins, a professor of linguistics, received the award for his work in that field. Originally studying mathematics as an undergraduate, Collins decided to change to linguistics because it was more human-oriented. “One is trying to understand an aspect of the human mind, and that appealed to me,” Collins said. “It also has a kind of mathematical feel to
it. Formalization plays a role in all branches of linguistic research. So if you have a love of language and a love of puzzles, then linguistics might be for you.” Collins plans on using the grant money to fund a trip to Botswana, where he will do research on the Khoisan languages. “Those languages are highly endangered languages with unique linguistic properties,” Collins said. “Since there are very few speakers and they are all elderly, the task is urgent.” Keith Miller, a faculty member in the Gallatin School of Individualized Study and curator of the Gallatin Galleries, received the grant for his film-making achievements. He advises students who are pursuing careers in the artistic fields to discover their own unique way of making art. “The real challenge of any creative practice is figuring out how you do it,” Miller said. “Especially in film today, one can make a really great movie — both in performance and look — with a smart phone. Big budgets are great I hear, but they are not a requirement. Ideas, energy and hubris are the only necessity.” G. Gabrielle Starr, the Seryl Kushner dean of the College of Arts and Science and English professor, was both pleased and surprised upon discovering that she was awarded with the grant. She also said the award comes at a particularly poignant moment in her life.
COURTESY OF NYU
Professor Starr was awarded a 2015 Guggenheim Fellowship. “When I got the email, I was just thrilled and in a bit of disbelief,” Starr said. “An hour later, though, I was in tears. My father died last summer, and I wanted more than anything just to be able to give him a call.” She said constructive criticism from her peers and colleagues contributed to her success. “I think the best thing you can do is to get as much critical input as you can from people whom you respect before you submit any application,” Starr said. “Ask them to be tough with you, and to give you their sharpest critique.” The two other NYU-affiliated recipients of the grant were Lucas Hnath, faculty member in the Rita and Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and Laurence Maloney, a professor in NYU’s Department of Psychology. Email Benjamin Mok at features@nyunews.com.
PRAKASH continued from PG. 1
Student nonprofit targets energy
VIA NYU.EDU
Manasi Prakash is the winner of Glamour Magazine’s Top 10 College Women 2015 prize for her nonprofit, Brighter Today.
“If we work with my brother’s high school and elect a group of students who want to partake in community service, we can allow them to go in and distribute the bulbs and see the effect it has on these families.” Prakash credits her success to her interest in social changes, a passion that developed out of her exposure to social problems. “I grew up in third-world countries my entire life and I saw the poverty first-hand growing up,” Prakash said of her years spent in India and the Philippines. “That passion transferred over to me, and I think that giving back and creating opportunities for people that don’t have the same opportunities as you is important.” Email Zoe Thompson at features@nyunews.com.
NYUNEWS.COM | MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS
SPORTS
EDITED BY BOBBY WAGNER SPORTS@NYUNEWS.COM
Sports Recap: April 18-19
Spitz transfers to NYU for athletics, academics By BOBBY WAGNER Sports Editor
By KYLE LUTHER Deputy Sports Editor
Baseball The NYU baseball team came out on top against Bard College this weekend, winning an extra inning affair in the first game on Saturday and then the rubber match on Sunday. The two wins this weekend helped the Violets get that much closer to a .500 record. NYU split the day in a doubleheader on Saturday. In the first game, the Violets and Raptors traded runs early, but both struggled to score in the later innings. An error and wild pitch by the Raptors allowed leadoff hitter freshman Jonathan Iaione to get into scoring position for freshman Michael Vokulich’s game winning single. The game’s most notable performance came from sophomore outfielder Adrian Spitz who went 3-5 with a double, a stolen base and three runs scored. Game two looked to be NYU’s to take when they led 6-4 by the bottom of the fifth. The Raptors responded in the top of the sixth, putting up three runs and holding onto a 7-6 lead for the victory. On the bright side, Spitz went 1-3 with another run and freshman middle infielder Jeremy Wayne was 1-1 with a double, two runs scored and two hit by pitches. The Violets closed out the series on a high note the next day, winning 7-4 and putting up 14 hits. Vokulich pitched a
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STAFF PHOTO BY RACHEL KAPLAN
Wells throws to first during a game against the Bard Raptors. good game, allowing just four runs over eight innings and getting the win. Despite the amount of hits, the Violets only started getting baserunners home later in the game, scoring two runs in the eighth and three in the ninth. They will be back on the diamond against Maritime College on April 22 at home.
Men’s Golf The men’s golf team also had a stellar weekend, finishing second out of nine teams at the Tim Brown Invitational in Saratoga Springs, New York. The Violets 598 point total was only seven away from first place. The low scorer for the Violets was freshman Christopher Nolte, who shot 147 and finished the competition tied for third place. Freshmen Paul Park and Hartej Gill ended the two-day competition with 148 and 150 totals, which were good enough for seventh and 11th place respectively. Senior captain Matthew Gjonaj tied for 16th place after shooting 153.
The Violets will be back in action to finish the spring season with the Liberty League Championship on the weekend of April 25 to 26 at the Locust Hill Country Club in Pittsfield, New York.
Women’s Golf The women’s golf team did very well at the Jack Leeman Invitational, placing fourth out of nine teams in Amherst, Massachusetts. The Violets shot 330 as a team in a close competition in which Ithaca College came out on top by six strokes over the Violets. Freshman Lina Kim had a great weekend, tying for fifth place with a score of 79. Two other freshmen, Phoebe Zhao and Kristin Lee, finished in 10th and 14th place with scores of 82 and 83, respectively. The women’s team will also finish their season on April 26 at the Liberty League Championship in Clifton Springs, New York. Email Kyle Luther at kluther@nyunews.com.
Every time Violet sophomore outfielder Adrian Spitz steps to the plate, a game within the game goes on in his head. “The game of baseball is a game of failure, a true mental challenge,” Spitz said. “You need to be able to take out any pros you can and keep your head up.” Since transferring from Northeastern University, a Division I school, Spitz has been using this mental focus to gracefully transition to NYU. Spitz, who has been manning the second spot in the Violets’ lineup, is raking opposing pitchers to the tune of a team-best .407 batting average this year. Despite his success, he wasn’t always sure of where he would end up, or even if he would be on the diamond, where he has been playing comfortably since first grade. “I didn’t know until late that I would for sure be playing baseball in college, because in high school I played football, soccer and baseball,” Spitz said. “I ended up being heavily recruited for both baseball and soccer.” Even after he had made the decision to continue playing baseball, the dust still had not settled around the question of where he would end up later in his career. Spitz redshirted and sat out his first season at Northeastern, after which he decided that he would be better suited for NYU, where he believed he could find more balanced academics and athletics. Now a junior academi-
cally, he has found a major that suits him better than any he could find at Northeastern: sports management. Spitz is a true fan of almost all sports. When he is not in the outfield for the Violets, he is watching other games or taking photos around the city. The California native also spends the offseason surfing in his home state. As for the remaining seven games in the Violets’ season, Spitz said he is just looking to continue doing his part to get the team a few more wins. He has faith that his teammates will come into their own and find ways to string together more wins as they mature. “You can’t try to be anyone else,” Spitz said. “You need to find your best tools and focus on them. Every day is a new day, and everyone has new jobs on a daily basis. We know we can’t win unless everyone does their job.” Email Bobby Wagner at bwagner@nyunews.com.
STAFF PHOTO BY RACHEL KAPLAN
Spitz during a game against the Bard Raptors at MCU Park.
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Crossword ACROSS 1 Streisand, familiarly 5 “Planet of the ___” 9 Banana split or fudge brownie 14 Pac-12 hoops giant 15 Depend (on) 16 Grand Canyon pack animal 17 Toy in a water fight 19 Urban renewal areas 20 High-end leather variety 21 ___ good job 23 Breyers rival
32 Chinese path of enlightenment 33 Worshipers’ seats 35 Carry-___ (airplane totes) 37 Singing, juggling or performing magic 39 1995 crime caper based on an Elmore Leonard novel 42 PC key combo 45 Garden tool 46 “Grade A” purchase 50 Reason to play overtime 51 One thanked in the statement “Thank you for your service” 53 Japanese path of enlightenment 55 Over there, to a poet 56 Hall-of-Fame Dodger nicknamed “The Little Colonel”
59 Hosp. body scan 60 This: Sp. 61 Basketball net holder 62 Greek column variety 64 Still kicking 66 Chitchat … or an apt title for this puzzle? 69 Heavenly body with a tail 70 Overly promote 71 Tahiti, for one 72 Big-mouthed pitchers 73 Venomous Nile dwellers 74 ★
DOWN 1 Spot about every two blocks on a 25 Crispy seafood major city street dish 2 Obtain 29 ___ pro nobis 3 Sunday liquor prohibition 30 III, to Jr. 4 “You ___ it, 31 That woman brother!” 5 Field for Robert ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE Indiana or L O B S T E R B I B N S F W Georgia O’Keeffe A N I M A N I A C S O H I O 6 Hatrack piece M O N E Y T A L K S R E N O 7 Avoid, as capture A N G E L T A Y S L E D 8 Clerical R E O O M A N S M E L T S gatherings S R I C O C A G U M 9 “Conan” network W H I S T E R I C B A N A S H A M W O W B A H A M E N 10 Aid in drawing straight lines H A R P I S T S T I R E D 11 Well-educated O C R F I S T I N N V A U L T S P A C E P R U 12 Every West Point graduate until E M M A H E T W I R E S 1980 L O P S E A T E N A L I V E 13 Drunkard E L H I T H E I N S I D E R 18 Gridiron officials, D E S K C A R T W H E E L S in brief 24 “Shop ___ you drop”
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PUZZLE BY IAN LIVENGOOD
22 Wood sources for baseball bats 26 Barq’s or Mug 27 Overnight stops on road trips 28 Furnace output 34 ___ Pepper 36 “Quiet!” 38 Potent cleaning solution 40 Roof overhang 41 Trickle (through) 42 In a calm state
43 Stays off the grid, say 44 When a golf round starts 47 Pommel horse user 48 Thug 49 Tee-hee 52 Yearwood of country music 54 Simon who won a Tony for writing “The Odd Couple”
57 Vacillate 58 Top TV honors 63 Soul singer Redding 65 U.F.O. crew, supposedly 67 Words With Friends, e.g. 68 TV exec Moonves
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NYUNEWS.COM | MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS
OPINION
EDITED BY TESS WOOSLEY OPINION@NYUNEWS.COM
LGBTQ ISSUES STAFF EDITORIAL
Ally Week ideals must go further
By TOMMY COLLISON Deputy Opinion Editor
Last week, NYU held Ally Week, five days of programming designed to encourage students and faculty to support marginalized communities and to challenge stereotypes. The initiative acted almost as a recruitment drive for the wider NYU community to stand against injustice. Pledge stations were set up around campus where students were encouraged to educate themselves and others about being an ally to marginalized communities. The organizers should be commended for a comprehensive week of events, but it is important to remember that the twin issues of racial justice and violence against LGBTQ individuals cannot be clearly delineated. During one of the week’s main events on Tuesday night, CeCe McDonald, an activist who was imprisoned for manslaughter after being attacked outside a bar in 2011, spoke about allyship with black and transgender communities. She addressed the fact that transgender individuals and people of color are disproportionately targeted. Violence toward
LGBTQ communities in 2013 disproportionately targeted transgender individuals and people of color. Transgender women were 72 percent of LGBTQ homicide victims, while 89 percent were people of color. The issues Ally Week confronted — racial justice, transgender rights, the prison-industrial complex — cannot be easily distilled or separated. College activism often crystallizes into single-issue politics, becoming blind to overlaps. McDonald, a trans woman, was forced to serve time in a men’s prison after a man she injured in self-defense died from his wounds. It was reported that the attack was motivated by transphobia, and that the man reportedly had a swastika tattooed on his chest. The racial and gender-based underpinnings to this attack are undeniable. The attack highlights the fact that events cannot
be condensed to a single issue. McDonald stated emphatically last week that transgender women of color must not be excluded from the Black Lives Matter movement, which is itself a combination of racial violence and a U.S. prison complex which sees black bodies as inherently inferior. It is good when college activists fight individual struggles — such as Fight for 15 — but success will only come when it links with other issues. Ally Week provided NYU students with a framework to discuss important social justice issues. While this year’s gold and black T-shirts focused on the idea of allyship as a verb rather than a noun, the shirts in previous years unequivocally stated “I am here to recruit you.” Calls for more education are needed, and the wider NYU community must be made aware of issues such as LGBTQ violence and racial dynamics. More can and must be done. These recruits must be called on to link up with wider campaigns and show their allyship throughout the year, not just during universityorganized campaigns. Email Tommy Collison at tcollison@nyunews.com.
WOMEN’S ISSUES
Take stand against street harassment By LARSON BINZER Senior Editor
Every day, women around the world share stories about being harassed on the street. Men yell at these women, screaming about their bodies, whooping and hollering at their walk and threatening them with attacks and rape, sometimes even escalating from verbal assaults to physical ones. Sixty-five percent of American women have experienced this kind of street harassment, according to a study last year. In our society, it is commonplace for women to hear “Come at me, baby,” and “Take off your clothes,” and women are expected to prepare themselves for this unacceptable treatment. Women are told never to walk alone at night, to cover up their bodies and to ignore these threatening comments. They are expected to live in a state of fear and accept nothing can be done about it. Some people even blame the women, citing the common characterization of men as not being able to control themselves. The specifics of what a woman chooses to wear vary between religions, cultures and individual
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people. But a man does not have the right to threaten a woman’s physical safety, no matter what the situation is. A video surfaced online in October showing a woman being harassed 108 times just walking down the street in New York City. The woman was not harassed 108 times because what she was wearing was disgraceful or because men could not control themselves. Harassment continues because it is often unaddressed by society, which enables men to get away with this rampant disrespectful treatment. NYU has taken huge steps to try to combat sexual assault on campus through a revised sexual assault policy and mandatory sexual misconduct training. However, while the policy prohibits “any unwelcome sexual advance, request for sexual favors or other unwanted conduct of a sexual
nature, whether verbal, non-verbal, graphic, physical or otherwise,” there is still a fight that needs to be fought against street harassment for women’s safety. The new mandatory online training works to prevent sexual assault between partners, but fails to address harassment of strangers. The main goal currently is for a woman to remain unharmed in a society where threats and advances will inevitably be made against her. This might include taking steps that she ideally would not have to take, such as not fighting back against a perpetrator or making sure she does not walk alone at night. However, once she is safe, the stories of threats and catcalls need to be told. Whether it is through a university policy, federal law, individual action or a dialogue with friends, others need to take the steps to make sure the harasser is stigmatized rather than the victim. Street harassment is contemptible, but choosing to ignore the problem or blame the victim is the true disgrace. Email Larson Binzer at opinion@nyunews.com.
Sexton response to labor violations limited
Independent investigative firm Nardello & Co. released a report last week in response to allegations of labor violations at the NYU Abu Dhabi campus dating to last December. The report revealed that approximately one-third of the migrant construction workers employed — some 10,000 people — were excluded from the protections of NYU’s labor standards. In a university-wide email, NYU President John Sexton acknowledged the lapses, citing a de facto policy unknown to the NYU administration that allowed exemptions to NYU’s labor standards for certain contractors. Sexton’s admission is a positive development, but the alarming report after a nearly year-long investigation demonstrates the need for increased monitoring of labor standards abroad. It remains unclear what control NYU has over contractors and workers at other campuses, particularly those that also have histories of human rights violations. Sexton’s explanation for the Abu Dhabi violations hinged on the fact that the administration was unaware of them. This demonstrates a worrying breakdown between the university and its contractors, and is especially concerning in light of recent reports concerning labor protection issues at NYU Shanghai. NYU plans to implement many of the recommendations made in the Nardello report, but it must also step up its monitoring of conditions at these other sites. Lofty rhetoric about the pursuit of academic excellence is meaningless if basic human rights are trampled in the process. Sexton’s statement that “NYU cannot dictate a nation’s labor laws” negates his support of the right of workers to air complaints. Despite the standards set by Sexton in the email and in the larger policies of the university, the transgressions will continue to occur if NYU takes this hands-off approach. The administration should take a nation’s labor practices into consideration before committing to a multimilliondollar expansion there. All this comes back to the fact that the United Arab Emirates is not known for protecting the ideals of free speech and human rights. Reports of press censorship and abductions are rampant. Because the Abu Dhabi government finances NYUAD, questions about academic independence emerge. After the UAE denied professor Andrew Ross entry, it is clear that NYU is unable to exercise full control over university affairs. It is encouraging that Sexton is taking responsibility for these labor violations, especially given that NYU 2031 was his initiative. However, it has been almost a full year since details of labor abuses on Saadiyat Island emerged in The New York Times. Each time Sexton sidesteps criticism by pointing to the fact that the Abu Dhabi campus is a “major innovation” in the idea of a modern university, it becomes harder to believe that the university is committed to people over prestige.
Email the WSN Editorial Board at editboard@nyunews.com. EDITORIAL BOARD: Tess Woosley (Chair), Annie Cohen (Co-chair), Tommy Collison (Co-chair), Matthew Tessler (Co-chair) ILLUSTRATION BY JOURDAN ENRIQUEZ
Send mail to: 838 Broadway, Fifth Floor New York, N.Y. 10003 or email: opinion@nyunews.com WSN welcomes letters to the editor, opinion pieces and articles relevant to the NYU community, or in response to articles. Letters should be less than 450 words. All submissions must be typed or emailed and must include the author’s name, address and phone number. Members of the NYU community must include a year and school or job title.
WSN does not print unsigned letters or editorials. WSN reserves the right to reject any submission and edit accepted submissions in any and all ways. With the exception of the staff editorial, opinions expressed on the editorial pages are not necessarily those of WSN, and our publication of opinions is not an endorsement of them.
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NYUNEWS.COM | MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS