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WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS | MONDAY, APRIL 17, 2017 | NYUNEWS.COM
NYU Guesses Racial, Ethnic Identity of Some Employees By SAYER DEVLIN Deputy News Editor
An NYU professor, who is a person of color, told Washington Square News that he had a very brief meeting — less than five minutes — with the university’s human resources department, which he believes was used to guess his ethnicity. The practice of determining the race and ethnicity of employees through post-employment records and visual observations is explicitly legal according to a directive by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs. However, the practice of assigning an employee’s race based on their appearance raises ethical questions. NYU is required to collect data on the race, ethnicity, gender, veteran status and disability status of all their employees — though employees are not required to disclose this information — because the university receives federal funding. “Self-identification will remain the preferred method for compiling information about the sex, race or ethnicity of applicants and employees,” the directive reads. “A
contractor’s invitation to self-identify race or ethnicity should state that the submission of such information is voluntary. However, contractors may use post-employment records or visual observation when an individual declines to self-identify his or her race or ethnicity.” NYU Spokesperson John Beckman said in an email that he could not comment on this incident regarding the aforementioned professor. “I can tell you that, one, visual identification is what we — and presumably other employers — resort to when people don’t self-identify, and two, we strive to do it with sensitivity and respect when it must be done,” Beckman said. An Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement written by President Andrew Hamilton said that the data gathered is never attached to individual candidates, but is instead used by the university to aid in its affirmative action hiring practices. The statement says that NYU uses this information “to recruit and advance qualified women, racial and ethnic minorities, persons of minority sexual orientation and gender
identity, individuals with disabilities and veterans.” The gathered data is also used to assess specific areas for improvement in affirmative action outreach and recruiting effort. CAS Associate Professor of Sociology Ann Morning serves on one of the U.S. Census Bureau Committees, the National Advisory Committee on Racial, Ethnic and Other Populations, which advises the racial categories used in the census. Morning said that guessing the racial identities of faculty might be the best way to to collect that information. “Some people argue that the ‘racial eyeballing’ of people, while it seems problematic, is actually the best kind of race data we want to get,” Morning said. “That is, it doesn’t matter so much what you think you are or what I think I am. It just matters what other people think we are because that’s how we’re likely to be treated in the workplace.” Morning believes that people won’t report information on their ethnicity if they think it will disadvantage them. “There are probably also some people who don’t report it out of a
Gallatin Sophomores Create Up2Code By DEANNA TRAN Contributing Writer
A nationwide surge in entrepreneurialism has swept across NYU’s campus, and two Gallatin sophomores in Gallatin, Willy Wheeler and Dan Cleary, have been successful in these ventures with their startup, Up2Code. Wheeler said that last year the two students decided to take a shot at a business idea that they had conceived over drinks in Montreal. The duo founded Up2Code — a budding web and mobile development agency that has already secured both NYU and non-NYU clients. According to its website, Up2Code enrolls users in a jumpstart program in order to assist with the development of a consumer’s product. The team at Up2Code helps users drive sales, develop marketing strategies and decide where to initially launch products. Washington Square News spoke with Wheeler about founding his company, his hopes for the future of Up2Code and its impact on the NYU community. Washington Square News: How did you and Dan Cleary meet? Willy Wheeler: Dan and I
met in our first year Gallatin writing seminar. We got paired up for a small project and hit it off and have been great friends ever since. WSN: What does the company do? WW: In our words, Up2Code works closely with entrepreneurs to design, develop and deploy modern websites and mobile applications. We have a great team with a varied expertise that serves to include the client in the process of bringing their idea to life in the best way possible. WSN: Why and how did you guys decide to start Up2Code? WW: It all started out with a drink in a foreign country. Our freshman year spring break we went to Montreal, and while getting a beer one night we started talking about how many businesses are struggling with deploying modern software products like websites and mobile applications. Since we were both interested in the field and had a number of friends that were involved in working on software products, we decided that we could help these businesses out. In terms of actually forming a company, it’s very easy — we just registered an LLC as a partnership and were
STAFF PHOTO BY EUAN PRENTIS
Two Gallatin sophomores, Dan Cleary and Willy Wheeler, use the Leslie eLab for weekly meetings to develop their startup, Up2Code.
up and running in about a week. WSN: How many people are a part of Up2Code, and are you hiring or do you plan to hire soon? WW: Currently, we have seven employees, five of which are NYU students. As work becomes more and more available, we are looking to bring on new members to the team — currently, our focus is on mobile developers. WSN: How has NYU facilitated the startup’s efforts? WW: As far as support from NYU, the Leslie eLab was a great resource. Being able to hold weekly meetings in the conference rooms gave us a great headquarters. WSN: In what ways do you think NYU students can benefit from using Up2Code? WW: NYU students can benefit from using Up2Code for our accessibility and passion to create. We love working with students and obviously with fellow NYU students. There’s something special about a team of students putting in their entire effort to create a great product. Up2Code provides a service to make that effort work as best as possible. WSN: What would you tell aspiring entrepreneurs at NYU? WW: If we were to give advice to aspiring entrepreneurs, it would be to just go for it. Just take one of your ideas and roll with it, see it all the way through and put in all of your effort, and see what happens. The worst case is you learn a ton of valuable lessons along the way. Email Deanna Tran at news@nyunews.com.
certain principle, but my guess is that most of the people who don’t report it think it would work to their disadvantage in this context, looking at the makeup of this university,” Morning said. “It would most likely be white applicants who would not put that information down.” Vice Provost for Faculty, Arts, Humanities and Diversity Ulrich Baer said in a previous interview with Washington Square News that 75 percent of faculty self-report their race. When asked about this figure, Beckman said that Baer denied reporting this number. “I spoke with Uli,” Beckman said. “He said it is not correct that he gave [WSN] a figure about what percentage of people self-identify or don’t self-identify — indeed, he said it was impossible to give you, because we do not track that figure.” Beckman said that because the university is required to collect information on employees’ race and ethnicity but employees are not required to report it, the university is put in a difficult position. “Our preferred method for gathering the data is self-identification,”
PHOTO BY JESSICA FRANCIS
Because NYU receives federal funding, the university’s office of human resources is required to guess the racial and ethnic identities of employees who do not self-report that information.
Beckman said. “However, while it is mandatory for NYU and other employers to collect the information, it is not mandatory for job applicants or those being hired to self-identify. That remains the individual’s choice.” Email Sayer Devlin at sdevlin@nyunews.com.
CRIME LOG
April 10 to April 13
By COCO WANG Deputy News Editor The NYU Department of Public Safety received four reports of larceny, one report of criminal mischief, one report of harassment and one report of fondling between April 10 and April 13.
Larceny On April 10 at 8:50 a.m. a student reported that their gym bag was missing from a study lounge in the Basic Science Building. Police notification was declined. On April 12 at 3:11 p.m. a student reported that their bicycle was missing from its lock attached to a sign on Washington Square South at LaGuardia Place. A police report was filed. On April 12 at 3:46 p.m. a staff member reported that a piece of equipment was missing from a classroom in Furman Hall. A police report was filed.
On April 13 at 5:00 p.m. a student reported that cash was missing from their wallet left in their room in Third North Residence Hall. Police notification was declined.
Criminal Mischief On April 10 at 6:10 a.m. Public Safety reported graffiti painted on the loading dock door in Bobst Library.
Controlled Substance On April 10 at 4:26 p.m. Public Safety received a report of a controlled substance and recovered a small amount of marijuana in Broome Street Residential College.
Fondling On April 12 at 11:40 p.m a student reported that they were sexually assaulted by a non-NYU female in the Kimmel Center for University Life. Email Coco Wang at cwang@nyunews.com.
Premonition Announces Partnership With NYU Law By COCO WANG Deputy News Editor
According to a press release, Premonition Analytics — an artificial intelligence firm — will partner with NYU School of Law to allow students and faculty free access to the company’s legal database. This collaboration aims to facilitate research on the effects of different rules of civil law procedure on the cost, duration and outcome of legal cases. Premonition Analytics is a Miami-based startup that applies artificial intelligence and big data technology to build the world’s largest litigation database. Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Premonition Analytics Toby Unwin said that NYU first reached out to the firm because of the tremendous size and unique focus of Premonition Analytics’ legal database. Unwin said that the firm partnered with other academic institutions before NYU Law. “Our litigation database is the world’s largest — bigger than LexisNexis, Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg combined,” Unwin said. “While other databases focus on how law is formed at an appellate level, [Premonition Analytics] is focused on results.”
STAFF PHOTO BY RENEE YANG
NYU Law and Premonition Analytics are trying to make Premonition’s database more widely accessible to students.
Unwin said that his company uses its software to discover if certain attorneys win before certain judges, as the current practice that is in place can give parties an unfair advantage in litigation if a particular attorney in a court case is more likely to win over the presiding judge. Unwin said that NYU Law faculty and students can get access to Premonition’s legal database from now on, and Premonition regards the cooperation as a permanent partnership with NYU Law. He also said that Premonition’s legal database provides help to NYU Law students in different ways. “We can help with providing data for research,” Unwin said. “We can also use our tools to help students ask questions of data, like which lawyers win before which judges? How likely a case is to get a certain outcome? The volume of litigation in certain areas and how factors like statutes, venue, judge and attorney selection affect outcomes. The questions are limited primarily by your imagination.” NYU Law spokesperson Michelle Tsai said that the partnership with Premonition wa spurred by an already existing relationship between the company and NYU Law. “One of the law school’s centers had worked with Premonition to find data for a research project and suggested it might be a useful tool for others at NYU Law as well,” Tsai said. Tsai also said that NYU Law Dean Trevor Morrison’s public statement highlights the importance of ensuring that NYU Law students and faculty have the latest research tools for their scholarship. “We’re committed to providing our scholars with the most cutting-edge research tools available,” Morrison said in the statement. “And I’m grateful to Premonition for sharing their unique database with us.” Email Coco Wang at cwang@nyunews.com.
NYUNEWS.COM | MONDAY, APRIL 17, 2017 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS
NYU Developing New Wireless Technology By SANJUKTA PHADKE Contributing Writer
NYU recently received $1 million worth of equipment from National Instruments — the founding sponsor of the NYU Wireless Center — to support the development of 5G wireless technology and facilitate the simulation of experiments in this field, according to Technically Media. According to its website, NYU Wireless is a multi-disciplinary academic research center located at Tandon. The initiative has been responsible for some developments in research fields related to cell and data signals, and it is currently leading the nation in 5G development. 5G will bring in a groundbreaking tech shift since it will carry data at a speed 100 to 1000 times faster than the current fourth generation cell phone. This will enable downloading full-feature movies within seconds, support high-speed gaming techniques and foster the fields of virtual reality and artificial intelligence while encouraging research on the Internet of Things — the interconnection of computing devices embedded in everyday objects through the internet. Tandon Professor of Electrical Engineering Ted Rappaport is the director of NYU Wireless. He has spearheaded the promising developmental efforts and encouraged students to concentrate their research on this domain.
“We are one of the few universities around the world that [National Instruments] trusts to use their latest equipment even before they commercialize it,” Rappaport said. “We help them make their products better, give them feedback and they have currently donated to us cutting-edge instruments.” Tandon graduate student and NYU IT employee Sugandan Gopalakrishnan believes that the development of 5G technology could be extremely beneficial to the industry. “Growth is the future and this research is certainly going to enhance opportunities in the telecommunications industry,” Gopalakrishnan said. “I believe with 5G, there would be a spike in data transmission rate and we can overcome network latency.” Rappaport said that NYU Wireless will be showcasing its research projects alongside other startups who will be exhibiting their products. “We have world leaders convening on the NYU Tandon Engineering Campus next week,” Rappaport said. “We have invited the press, the CTO of MTT DoCoMo, CTO of Korea Telecom, executives from Verizon and the riveting event will be made available to the world as IEEE livestreams it.” Email Sanjukta Phadke at news@nyunews.com.
STAFF PHOTO BY VERONICA LIOW
The NYU Wireless Center, which works through Tandon, plans to develop its 5G wireless technology. More on the development will be discussed at the Brooklyn Summit 5G.
NYU Alumnus Tyehimba Jess Wins Pulitzer Prize
COLLAGE BY JULIA MOSES
Tyehimba Jess, left, won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry for his work “Olio.” Surya Mattu, center, and Micki McElya, right, were finalists for explanatory reporting and general nonfiction, respectively. By MACK DEGEURIN Staff Writer NYU’s own Tyehimba Jess, a 2004 alumnus of the Graduate School of Arts and Science, was recently named the winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in poetry for his second book entitled “Olio.” Jess’s success was accompanied by two more NYU alumni — 2014 Tisch alum Surya Mattu and 2003 GSAS alum Micki McElya, who were both finalists in explanatory reporting and general nonfiction, respectively.
Jess hails from Detroit and attended the University of Chicago before acquiring his masters in Fine Arts at NYU. His first book of poetry, “leadbelly,” hit shelves in 2004 and tells the story of the 20th century jazz musician of the same name through a combination of poems and songs. “leadbelly” was met with critical acclaim and won the National Poetry Series Award. Jess’s sophomore release, “Olio,” focuses on African American musicians prior to the Harlem Renaissance. In his creative collec-
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tion of poems, Jess tells a story of culture and art through a mixture of sonnet, song and narrative. Jess’s work has been commended by members of the poetry community. In a blog post, Douglas Luman of Found Poetry Review said that Jess’s “Olio” has the ability to change preconceived notions about the nature of poetry. “‘Olio’ is and is not like any book you’ve seen before, summoning up reading experiences of the research-driven poetry of Martha Collins and visual/spectacular/performance work of Douglas Kearney, among many others — the same way that one can imagine a spectacle, but to attend it is altogether different,” Luman wrote in his post. “Olio” beat out Adrienne Rich’s “Collected Poems: 1950-2012” and Campbell McGrath’s “XX” to win the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Jess currently teaches poetry at the CUNY College of Staten Island. Surya Mattu is an artist and engineer who also works as a contributing researcher for the non-profit investigative journalism outlet
ProPublica. Mattu was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting. While working for ProPublica, Mattu used data analysis to inform the public on a variety of issues ranging from the analysis of information collection algorithms by companies like Facebook and Amazon, to machine learning in headline creation by news outlets and even racial discrimination in auto insurance prices. Mick McElya’s “The Politics of Mourning: Death and Honor in Arlington National Cemetery” tells a story of U.S. history through parallels observed in the representation of the nation’s national cemetery. McElya currently serves as an Associate Professor in the University of Connecticut’s Department of History. In a WNYC interview with Brian Lehrer last year, McElya said, “It [the cemetery] really is a microcosm of American history and culture and population and diversity, both military and nonmilitary since the Civil War.” Administrative aide for the Creative Writing program Soren
Stockman said in a statement to Washington Square News that in recent years, NYU alumni have won a National Book Award, a National Book Critics Circle Award, two Stegnar Fellowships, two NEA fellowships and a Whiting Award. Jess joins the likes of Harold C. Schonberg, GSAS 1939, Dorothy Rabinowitz, GSAS 1960, and over 20 other NYU writers and reporters who can claim Pulitzer Prize Awards to their name. Vice President of Alumni Relations and Annual Givings Brian Perillo said he was impressed by the accomplishments of these NYU alums. “We are incredibly excited for Tyehimba Jess, Micki McElya and Surya Mattu to receive this recognition, which is a well-deserved acknowledgment of their hard work and talent,” Perillo said. “It is immensely fulfilling to see the impact that NYU alumni, a community near half-a-million strong, are having on the world.” Email Mack Degeurin at news@nyunews.com.
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WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS | MONDAY, APRIL 17, 2017 | NYUNEWS.COM
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EDITED BY HAILEY NUTHALS ARTS@NYUNEWS.COM
Aliens Land at NYU in New Musical Comedy
COURTESY OF JMA PHOTOGRAPHY
Attacking stereotypes about modern youth through a barrage of musical comedy, “Aliens Coming” is a lighthearted critical success from Tisch senior Joe Kelly. By RYAN MIKEL Staff Writer This past week, extraterrestrials landed at NYU in “Aliens Coming,” a musical comedy exploring stereotypes and themes of today’s youth through song and dance. “Aliens” was created and performed by NYU alumni and students, including creator and Tisch senior Joe Kelly and executive producer and Stern senior James Young. These American Apparel-wearing, Tumblr-flu-
By HAILEY NUTHALS Arts Editor
ent extraterrestrials came, saw and came in this overtly sexual theatrical work. The story begins at an avantgarde art party hosted by the evening’s ingenue Clementine Tweedy. Played by Tisch alum Alice Kors, the protagonist desperately seeks approval from the cool art kids who aesthetically smoke American Spirits, wear the latest Urban Outfitters staples and discuss vaginally-shaped feminist fruit art. Their unbearable coolness is
interrupted when the evening’s most comedic character, soonto-be antagonist Brandi (Tisch alum Maia Scalia), enters the room in an unfortunate romper/ jean ensemble, discussing uncouth topics like her favorite film “Schindler’s List” and her affinity for YouTube makeup tutorials. To further dampen the vibe, Clementine reveals she won’t be attending state school with Brandi. Instead, she plans to enroll as a film student at Emerson University, which sets up the musical’s main conflict. Outraged by Clementine’s betrayal of darties — day parties — and sorority sisterhood, Brandi leaves the party in a drunken rage, and runs into extraterrestrial Zooby. This alien wants to use Brandi’s “Kylie Jenner career” aspirations to destroy Clementine and eventually the human race. Meanwhile, Smib, another extraterrestrial who Zooby thinks is missing, happens upon the coolart-kid party and his first earthly crush, Clementine. While Clementine and Smib test their sea legs — in art and on Earth respectively — Brandi takes control of the Earth’s millennials through viral YouTube videos, a play on technology’s heavy influence. Without giving too much away, Smib and Clementine use sex to save the day, foiling Brandi and Zooby’s plan of
totalitarianism. “Aliens Coming” is an unconventional examination of today’s youth that comically explores themes of identity, sex and technology through memorable punch lines like “I’m not a father. Why’d she call me daddy?” and raunchy musical numbers about losing one’s virginity and the Dirty Sanchez. Leads Kors and Scalia, who were no aliens to the stage, fed off of the audience’s uncontrollable laughter with every punch line and nuance. The extraterrestrials, Tisch senior Andrew Ricci and NYU master’s alum Martavius
mances, the production as a whole was a critical and commercial success — every performance was sold out. This is largely due to the ingenious creative team behind “Aliens,” in particular director and Tisch alum Rachel Deutsch. “‘Aliens’ has been a crazy exploration of important life themes we seem to be thinking about all the time,” Deutsch said. “The surprise of suddenly finding distance between you and your best friend, becoming a ‘cool art kid,’ discovering what sex is and how genitals work and of course, taking over the world one makeup
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‘Aliens Coming’ is an unconventional examination of today’s youth that comically explores themes of identity, sex and technology through memorable punch lines like ‘I’m not a father. Why’d she call me daddy?’
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Parrish, were adorned in bedazzled white jumpsuits and LED sneakers. Their standout performances and brilliantly written dialogue evoked a large percentage of the evening’s laughter. Aside from individual perfor-
tutorial at a time.” “Aliens Coming” ran at the People’s Improv Theater from April 11 to April 16. Email Ryan Mikel at entertainment@nyunews.com.
On Conversations About John Mayer
John Mayer’s been around the block so many times he’s not even a regular — he’s a part of the block itself. He’s been covered so thoroughly in nearly every major publication that it’s a wonder there are any more stories to write about him. Except that’s hardly true, because as humans tend to do, Mayer has — buckle up your seat belts — changed over the years. This past Friday, he dropped his seventh studio album “The Search For Everything.” He did a lot of heavy promoting work leading up to the release, including granting an extensive interview to the New York Times that was so long and filled with quotable tidbits that they published a follow-up piece that compiled other golden lines from the singer-songwriter. The album itself is both stylistically and symbolically a return to the pop mainstream that Mayer used to inhabit. After two albums and several years spent living in Montana where he explored bluegrass and folk sounds, an impressive side gig playing guitar in Dead & Company — a band made up of mem-
bers of the Grateful Dead with a few other musicians — and a lot of self-evaluation, he’s finally ready to take another shot at being a pop star. This time, he’s not rolling around in beds with conventionally-attractive brunettes and making brash statements while inebriated. The Mayer of “The Search for Everything” is not the Mayer of “Battle Studies.” His style of answering interview questions is more stream-of-consciousness, less audacious. He admitted in his interview in the New York Times that he’s done with the dating scene, and is instead looking for a more permanent partner. He also mentioned that he’s stopped caring — or is working toward not caring — about what the tabloids and social media swarms say about him, a shift from his former days of constant anxiety about all the multitudes of fans and critics alike painting him as a shallow, entitled pop star. And still, Mayer is written about in a way that’s reminiscent of the way that pop stars too often are, in terms of their dating life and past histories — think of when Nicki Minaj wrote a song denying having slept with anyone to earn her fame
or the time Patrick Stump wrote an entire essay in response to the grossly popular slogan “We liked you better fat!” when he released a solo pop album during Fall Out Boy’s hiatus. This strange taste for old stories is everywhere. For Mayer, it’s visible in lines like NPR’s : “[‘The Search for Everything’ is] beautiful, heartbreaking and a stark reminder that even though Mayer’s made headlines in the past couple years for the celebrities he’s dated, or things he’s said, he is first and foremost a talented musician.” Mayer’s had a string of celebrity romances, it’s true, and he’s admitted that much of his songwriting is about those heartbreaks. Still, it seems strange to constantly focus on his old flames and controversial interviews when it’s been nearly five years since any of those things were relevant. What’s not spoken about is the much more conversation-worthy part of the new Mayer. Take, for instance, his music video for “Still Feel Like Your Man.” The vibe was described in that same New York Times interview as “disco dojo,” and it features Mayer starting a dance-off in a Japanese geisha house for his
lost love, who happens to be a white woman on a pedestal, surrounded by butterflies. The rest of the room has a moderate amount of diverse skin tones, but still features gag-worthy dancing pandas and a shrewd Japanese ringleader who gets
to determine the woman’s ultimate fate. True, he’s not rolling around in beds for music videos anymore — but maybe that’s better than this new approach. Email Hailey Nuthals at arts@nyunews.com.
VIA YOUTUBE.COM
This past Friday, singer-songwriter John Mayer dropped his seventh studio album, “The Search For Everything.” In constrast to his last two folk albums, this new album returns to his more pop mainstream roots.
NYUNEWS.COM | MONDAY, APRIL 17, 2017 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS
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EDITED BY HAILEY NUTHALS ARTS@NYUNEWS.COM
Daye Jack Brings New School Flows to Old School Cool By CONNOR GATESMAN Staff Writer
What Daye Jack lacks in data, he makes up in earnest through his music. Born in Nigeria and raised in Atlanta, Jack has worked with the likes of Killer Mike and Ariana Grande, crafting a sound that defies convention. His debut album with Warner Bros. Records, “No Data,” is more than a proof of concept — it’s proof of talent. While it isn’t perfect, the project is a seriously impressive show of energy from a former NYU student striving to prove himself in a crowded musical space. The opening track “No Data” is easily one of the album’s best. Jack dives in with cool verses that cruise atop a neoboom bap beat. The chorus exudes the signature ‘90s aesthetic that Jack has perfected. The next tune, “Deep End — Jayvon Remix” is a thundering track that has Jack dropping deft bars over a seriously clean instrumental filled with pop-
ping percussion and sharp snares. “Supernatural” follows the vibe set forth by the first two tracks with an impressive verse from Donmonique and smooth crooning from Jack. “Finish Line” shakes it up instrumentally, with a choppy back and forth sawtooth synth colliding across sturdy kick drums. Jack’s verses here are sharp, but the chorus follows the same formula as the tracks prior to it — his voice glides over the track with a catchy hook that seems directly pulled from Pharrell’s handbook. The strategy is infectious and successful, but can grow tiresome — style verges on being consistent to a fault. Jack shakes this minor hiccup as the album progresses, however. “Lady Villain” is a memorable, slow-paced trek through romantic ruminations with a chorus that’s driven and varied. Denzel Curry and Grim Dave lend their signature grit to “Raw” as crunchy guitar chords power through the instrumental. “Casino” is a
‘Free Fire’ Is Coordinated Chaos
By DANIELLA NICHINSON Staff Writer
Boston, a dark and unwelcoming warehouse, sometime in the 1970s. Enter a wide array of characters: two Provisional Irish Republican Army members, a female middleman, a gang associate named Ord and a raucous South African arms dealer. In “Free Fire,” writer and director Ben Wheatley combines the ingredients of humor and shameless violence to cook up a highly entertaining and happily nostalgic film which parodies, through its own distinct lens, an era of gangster epics. The bullets fly like a Tarantino movie and the jokes are fired one after the other — a canon of stand-up comedy routines. “Free Fire” is an explosive story built on a relatively simple premise — an arms deal that goes horribly wrong. It surpasses its straightforward plot with a delightfully picked cast and their ability to unveil a sardonic humor in seemingly serious moments. Just when the situation appears to be resolving itself, someone else gets shot in the leg, forcing them to crawl across the floor for the rest of the film. It’s as if the characters intentionally avoid killing each other to prolong the suffering — and provide the audience with sadistic comic relief. One of the film’s strongest features is its versatile and diverse cast. Brie Larson as Justine often acts as the voice of reason, the mediator between the buyers and the sellers. Armie Hammer’s Ord is the sarcastic associate to the arms dealer. Vernon, played with a brilliant exaggeration by Sharlto Copley, is the standout performance. Cillian Murphy is Chris, the IRA member and one of the only level-headed characters. By placing such opposite personalities in one warehouse, Wheatley creates an environment where problems are bound to arise — and the audience loves it. The film’s soundtrack is essential to the story. While the original music composed by Geoff Barrow and Ben Salisbury fits perfectly, the most memorable piece is a surprising classic — John Denver’s “An-
nie’s Song.” When the credits roll around, the song — and its association with the story — will forever be implanted into the memories of the audience. Most of the time, “Free Fire” is absurdly hilarious, hitting every mark and executing each punchline with impeccable timing. However, if there’s one thing lacking in the film, it is that it leaves the audience wanting more. While it’s extraordinarily funny, the feeling of joy is transient and doesn’t stick with the viewer after the screen fades to black. Nevertheless, while the antics continue, the audience still grasps onto a sense of pleasure and unabashed amusement in the increasingly unlucky situations the characters find themselves in. “Free Fire” is a peculiar, yet refreshingly original homage to 1970s action flicks. Driven by its eccentric group of characters and hilarious dialogue, the film infuses dark humor into a supposedly bleak circumstance. It thrives between outright violence and an ideal balance of physical comedy that doesn’t punish the audience for laughing at the unfortunate pickle the two gangs have cornered themselves in. “Free Fire” opens in theaters Friday, April 21. Email Daniella Nichinson at film@nyunews.com.
VIA FACEBOOK.COM
“Free Fire,”the explosive action-comedy by Ben Wheatley which parodies the classic era of gangster film in 1970s Boston, opens April 21.
soon-to-be certified chart-topper, dripping with catchy verses that come with swagger. Jack plays to his strengths here, mixing catchy choruses with memorable bars. With this track, he seems more confident in his sound than ever. The penultimate track “Kick — Door” is another one of the album’s highlights. The pounding beat compliments Jack’s fervent and relentless rapping. His “walk is about realness / it ain’t all digital.” If anything, this very track is a testimony to that claim. The breakbeat interlude later on in the song is jazzy and full of life, as Jack channels East Coast cool while staying true to his sound. “No Data” is an album with a signature vibe. Each track is full of life, and it’s clear that a lot of passion was put into every part of this project. The album is a fusion of throwback vibes with modern rhymes and consistent instrumentals. For an artist this new to the scene, Jack’s album is an impressive exhibition of
both style and substance, and “No Data” likely marks the start of a very promising musical career. Email Connor Gatesman at music@nyunews.com.
PHOTO BY HAILEY NUTHALS
Daye Jack, a former NYU student, has a new debut album with Warner Bros. Records called “No Data.”
The Show Must Go Wrong
PHOTO BY JEREMY DANIEL
“The Play That Goes Wrong,” a comedy using slapstick humor, is playing at the Lyceum Theater at 149 W. 45th St. through December 30. By ANNALUZ CABRERA Staff Writer Broadway shows and musicals are a defining characteristic of the New York City experience. These shows are held in such high regard because of the immense amount of talent, preparation, creativity and perfection that goes into their production. Thus, when audiences attend a show, they expect to see the most talented and thoroughly trained performers, as well as the most glamorous sets. However, this sense of perfection is not for everyone. Those looking for a more lighthearted show peppered with hilarious flaws should turn to “The Play That Goes Wrong.” This comedy, which traveled to the United States from London’s West End, opened April 2 at the Lyceum Theater. In “The Play That Goes Wrong,” the performers adequately introduce the Cornley University Drama Society’s performance of “The Murder at Haversham Manor.” That is about the last time everything seems to go right in the performance. This show doesn’t follow the typical path of other Broadway shows
— but that’s not to say that the cast or set are lacking. In fact, the complicated set-up of a play within a play is executed magnificently so that audience members are not confused, but rather astonished at how the actors are able to feign bad acting. If anything, they are even more skilled because they are able to navigate the intentional errors, exaggerations and occasional improvisations. The set is also exceptional as it breaks down without seeming ramshackle. Sure, sparks may fly, second floors may collapse and performers may be forced to substitute their own bodies for various props and furniture, but it is this excellent handiwork and acting that makes the play so hilarious. The faulty set plays an enormous comical role and the way in which the performers make use of it is equally amusing. “The Play That Goes Wrong” calls back to a vaudevillian era where simple slapstick ruled in theaters. The play itself is like a mashup of scenes from the Three Stooges and the board game Clue. A number of faces may be smashed by doors, corpses may be caught walking on stage and audiences may have to pretend to see the antics of an invisible dog, but it is all these little details and clumsy bits throughout the show that add to itscharm and humor. Any audience members who have performed in a play themselves will recognize the common mistakes that this performance amplifies. The performers almost never break character, even if this means having to circle through a certain scene four times to accommodate one of the actors’ forgotten lines. In a hysterical showcase of Murphy’s Law, in which everything that can go wrong does, the performers carry out an incredibly and unbelievably entertaining feat. “The Play That Goes Wrong” is playing at The Lyceum Theater at 149 W. 45th St. through December 30. Email Annaluz Cabrera at theater@nyunews.com.
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WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS | MONDAY, APRIL 17, 2017 | NYUNEWS.COM
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EDITED BY TAYLOR NICOLE ROGERS FEATURES@NYUNEWS.COM
Sandwich Politics: Chopped Cheese By DREW LEDERMAN Staff Writer
Most major American cities have a signature dish based on the tastes and flavors of the city’s local cultures. Miami has the Cuban, Philadelphia has the cheesesteak, Chicago has the Italian Beef and New Orleans has the Po’Boy. So what does New York, the most populous city in America, have? The secret is: it has multiple, but chopped cheese is one that is growing in popularity outside of where it was originally created. Toss ground beef with onions, top with melted cheese, add an array of lettuce, tomatoes and condiments, layer it all on a hero roll and you have a classic chopped cheese sandwich. Quick, easy and delicious. The sandwich’s origins are clouded in mystery. Some say it was an attempt at a Philly cheesesteak without the proper ingredients, while others say it was a solution to fitting a cheeseburger onto a hero roll. Either way, all you have to do to get this New York staple is trek uptown to Harlem or the Bronx, choose amongst the selection of bodegas and pay a hefty price of $4.50 or less. But while the bodegas are still serving up a cheap and fast on-the-go favorite, they seem to be gathering some competition. If you are not a New York native, you may have never heard of the
chopped cheese sandwich — unless you are a die-hard fan of Harlem or Bronx rappers or you have heard about the raging controversy. Media outlets from the New York Times to Refinery29 have commented on the irony of putting a culturally significant culinary staple in higher-end eateries and charging more for it. Recently, a restaurant opened on the Upper West Side featuring classic New York fare including the chopped cheese sandwich — and selling it for a solid $11. One of the owners, Erika Nakamura, justified the decision. “We’re not going to make this sandwich and be billionaires,” Nakamura said to the New York Times. “For us, it’s a genuine and very innocent admiration of what it is.” While that is a nice sentiment in theory, the name of the restaurant is telling: White Gold. Of course, in this globalized world, it is nearly impossible to prevent the gentrification of anything, let alone food. It has generally been considered safe to mix and match cultures in culinary fusion. Tisch freshman and Queens native Douglas McHugh shared his solution to this problem. “The only real way to fight against that would be for someone to get a copyright on the sandwich,” McHugh said. In an age of communication and media, people are bound to discover different cultural traditions
PHOTO BY FAITH GATES
VIA INSTAGRAM.COM
The chopped cheese sandwich is supposed to be New York City’s version of a famous destination sandwich.
— food, dress or anything else. Learning and becoming interested in other people’s cultures is about sharing, especially in the culinary sense. And although overpricing the chopped cheese might defeat its original intention, McHugh thinks that things won’t change. “It might suck, but fancier restaurants are going to overprice everything,” McHugh said. In the end, patrons will go where the food is best, no matter the price or the prestige of the venue. Email Drew Lederman at dining@nyunews.com.
For All the QT’s in Science By HAN WANG Staff Writer
One NYU organization is working to create an inclusive space for LGBTQ individuals in STEM fields. oSTEM, or Out in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, is an international organization that supports the QT (queer/trans) community in the STEM fields. According to Tandon professor Peter Li, oSTEM’s faculty advisor, NYU’s chapter of the organization was founded because the Brooklyn campus didn’t have an LGBT center. Now the club has extended its focus from campus to the job market. oSTEM changed the way Tandon third year student Eric Kwok, who is the oSTEM’s incoming secretary, viewed the power dynamic of the interviewing and hiring process.
PHOTO BY HAN WANG
oSTEM, which stands for Out in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, is an international organization that supports the queer and trans community in the STEM fields.
“If there’s a company that doesn’t support LGBTQ rights, then they just don’t get your talent,” Kwok said. “There were so many recruiters and professionals in the field that said if a company does not support you, then they don’t deserve to have you and I think that changed the way I looked at being out and being myself in the professional workforce.” Tandon fourth year student Malcolm Lewis is the president of oSTEM. They were the mastermind behind the club’s recent event that brought STEM professionals from Google, Twitter, Facebook and IBM to campus to network and talk with students about life in the workplace. “[The event] was fire,” Lewis said. “I wanted to bring more queer and trans people that worked in the STEM fields to NYU and to have conversations with us about what life was like on the outside.” Lewis networked with various representatives and recruiters from these big companies at conferences, events and even movie showings to bring the event together. Tandon fourth year student Angie Gonzalez is the chapter liaison of oSTEM. She moderated the panel at the event and asked questions about diverse professionals’ backgrounds, workplaces and college experiences — especially concerning with LGBTQ resources. The
panel was extremely diverse, with a large variety of ages, gender identities and races. “We asked them advice on how we can be ourselves in the workplace and a lot of them were like, ‘F—k that. Don’t work for a company that doesn’t want you,’” Gonzalez said. “Know your worth and know you’re good at what you do. If a company doesn’t want you they’re basically not worth it. Or if you do want to work for that company, a panelist said she worked more internally to get more policies changed.” But what is special about oSTEM’s mission is that the group constantly questions the norms of gender in the workplace, which includes dress code and being professional. “What I like about oSTEM conferences is that you can wear whatever you want — whatever you’re comfortable in,” Kwok said. “[Professional standards are] all very heteronormative and very cis. Anything professional has very rigid rules and regulations. I can do what I want [in oSTEM] because the space is very safe and nonjudgmental and all expectations are stripped so you can be yourself.” Read the full article online at nyunews.com. Email Han Wang at features@nyunews.com.
Pop Pasta in New York created spaghetti donuts, a treat that’s also featured at Smorgasburg, a food festival in Brooklyn. The spaghetti donut consists of regular pasta that is deep fried in the shape of a donut.
I Tried… Spaghetti Donuts
By FAITH GATES Deputy Features Editor
Have you ever wanted to eat pasta, but you were in a rush? Well luckily, Pop Pasta in New York has just the treat for you: spaghetti donuts. Spaghetti donuts offer the taste and satisfaction of a full pasta meal, right in the palm of your hand. So what is a spaghetti donut? Most passerby asked the same question when they saw Pop Pasta at the Smorgasburg food festival in Brooklyn. One person wondered if it was a donut shredded like pasta, while another suggested that it might be a donut filled with noodles and topped with red sauce. It is neither. These creations consist of regular pasta that is deep fried in the shape of a donut. According to Pop Pasta’s website, there are five flavors: Aglio e Olio (Garlic and Olive Oil), Red Sauce, Carbonara, Zucchini and Bolognese. Pro tip: Arrive early so they don’t run out of all the flavors. When I arrived, my only two options were Red Pasta and Cheese — a new flavor not yet listed on the website. Despite only trying one flavor, I can pretty much guess what the other ones will taste like, considering they all have the same base ingredients: spaghetti noodles, parmesan, eggs, black pepper and salt, all fried in oil. I ordered the Cheese Pop flavor, which had the same ingredients, just heavier on the parmesan. The first thing you’ll need to know about these creations is they are made beforehand and kept warm in an oven for the employees to grab quickly for customers waving $5 bills like it’s the stock exchange. Now for the big reveal — they’re amazing. Granted, I love
most fried foods, so I’m not sure how trustworthy my opinion is. While there are undertones of the taste of dry, clumpy, reheated pasta, the donut is so good you won’t even care. I’m not sure if there is something about waiting in long lines or the shape of food that makes it taste better, but I highly recommend the flavorful donut. You can’t even taste the oil — it just tastes like spaghetti that you can hold in your hand without a mess. It probably doesn’t hurt that the creators are Italian themselves, lending credibility to their pasta creation. Additionally, the family business effect makes the company even more lovable, with their young son also working with customers of the shop. If you are reading this on a weekday and your mouth is starting to water, you are out of luck, as these delicious delicacies are only available 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays at Smorgasburg in Williamsburg. Pop Pasta does not have a store yet, but they offer catering. The donuts must be a hit outside Smorgasburg as well, as their website says their catering service is booked for the next three to four weeks. Like all up-and-coming trends, the spaghetti donut has its haters. When the crazy creation hit social media earlier this year, nay-sayers took to the internet to voice their displeasure. Some wanted to stomp the donut out off the hands of people eating it, while some just did not want to live in a world where this creation existed. While the spaghetti donut might be the next generation’s pineapple pizza debate, I know which side I will be on. Email Faith Gates at fgates@nyunews.com.
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FEATURES
EDITED BY TAYLOR NICOLE ROGERS FEATURES@NYUNEWS.COM
NYU Recycles Through re-fashioNYC
By SOPHIE SHAW Beauty & Style Editor
When recycling comes to mind, many people think of plastic bottles and paper products, but it’s just as important to recycle clothing. Many textiles aren’t biodegradable, so they’ll potentially sit in landfills for centuries. On NYU’s campus, students are encouraged to recycle clothing, rather than trash it. Re-fashioNYC, a non-profit collaboration between the city of New York and Housing Works, aims to lessen the environmental footprint of textile waste on campus and around New York City. According to the Housing Works website, NYC residents throw away approximately 200,000 tons of clothing, accessories and linens each year. The re-fashioNYC program offers participating resi-
dences, private businesses and offices an alternative bin to place used clothing in, rather than the garbage can. The secure donation bins ensure that any clothing or materials that go into them end up being resold at Housing Works thrift shops or recycled — none of the donations go to a landfill. Plus, the good deed goes even further, as Housing Works donates all of its proceeds to charities working to end homelessness and AIDS. While NYU has many eco-friendly initiatives, the re-fashioNYC program is a particularly successful one. NYU has been adding more locations each year since the initiative began in 2012 and now 16 residence halls have donation bins. Based on data from the NYU Office of Sustainability, nearly 100,000 pounds of clothing have been donated from the NYU dorms since the university be-
gan participating. That hefty sum of textile waste translates to aid for local organizations and the promotion of a clean and green neighborhood. George Reis, NYU’s manager of grounds and waste management, expressed in an email that the university’s location plays a role in its environmental responsibility. Because of the city’s urban domain, people are confronted with the effects of a lack of recycling every day. “I would say the density of our urban environment at NYU makes the urgency of recycling even more acute than it would be elsewhere,” Reis said. “The more material we can divert from both our landfills and sidewalk garbage pickup spots, the healthier our environment will be.” Each residence hall makes a sizable impact on the amount of clothes diverted from becoming litter and garbage. In 2016, Alumni
Hall donated 8,190 pounds of clothing and textile products to re-fashioNYC — more than any other dorm that year — according to the NYU Office of Sustainability. Students like Steinhardt sophomore and Carlyle Court resident Vivian Song value the convenience of the re-fashioNYC bins, which are mostly located in participating residence halls’ laundry facilities. “The bins are brilliant in the fact that they’re so close and within reach whenever needed,” Song said. “Since everything is in close proximity and being accustomed to convenience in the city, I wouldn’t be able to donate as often nor as much [without the re-fashioNYC program].” Song also spoke to the pay-it-forward aspect of donating, in terms of eco-friendliness and charitability. “Donation bins promote a sustainable way of living, which in the long
What Up, NYU’s Got a Big Hawk VIA USTREAM.TV
The NYU Hawk Cam shows a pair of red-tailed hawks overlooking Washington Square Park in their nest at Bobst. By PAMELA JEW Staff Writer
Perched in the window outside NYU President Hamilton’s office is a pair of red-tailed hawks overlooking Washington Square Park from the 12th floor of Bobst. The pair nested on Hamilton’s window sill back in 2011 when John Sexton was NYU’s president. The Hawk Cam recently returned last month and people have been flocking to the site to
By THOMAS CHOU Staff Writer Trump Models, the NYC-based modeling agency that President Donald Trump founded in 1999, is closing. The company, formerly known as T Models, is a boutique modeling agency originally started and funded by Trump. While over the years the agency has cultivated few models of notable status, it has recently made headlines as models have begun to leave the agency, due to the perceived prejudice that casting agents and bookers might have toward the agency’s affiliation with the controversial president. Mia Kang, one of the agency’s most profitable models, has chosen to leave. Kang, who recently booked a spread in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, has decided to sign on with a rival agency, Women/360,
see the hawk as she nests with a fresh set of eggs. CAS professor Colin Jerolmack studies urban wildlife in NYU’s animal studies department and was first to unofficially name them after spotting their nest from his apartment window a few years ago when he lived on the park’s perimeter. “I named the male, Bobby, after Bobst library, and his original mate Violet, after the school colors,” Jerolmack said. “Bobby’s new mate is Rosie, who was named by hawkwatcher Roger Paw.” Despite Jerolmack’s nicknames for them, NYU has stated they refuse to officially name the birds in attempt against anthropomorphizing them. In the height of the hawks’ popularity, bird watchers would whip out their binoculars and cameras and watch them from afar. Jerolmack said a few dozen birdwatchers would meet up to compare hawk sightings. The New York Times caught on to the hawk craze and used to write
and host a webcam on their website. President Sexton approved the webcam, and soon after the New York Times set up a camera hidden in the folds of the president’s office curtains. When the hawks were first found, they had a big following watching them daily on the live Hawk Cam. Students would head over to Bobst to see the hawks in person. In the lobby of Bobst, screens were put up to stream the livecam. Soon, Violet laid three eggs, drawing even more viewers. But suddenly Violet became ill, which caused the eggs to hatch late and brought more attention to the hawks. Many of the students who were part of the bird following have now graduated from NYU, which made the interest in the Hawk Cam feather away. The Hawk Cam was eventually taken down after lack of interest and the birds being scared of movement from inside the window. However, when Hamilton came to NYU last
semester, he was aware of the previous Hawk Cam and got it back up and running very soon. CAS sophomore Lourania Oliver enjoys watching the Hawk Cam, and loves how birds can get creative with where they nest when trees are lacking in the city. “It’s funny how it’s outside the president’s office like he’s watching us all like a hawk as we play in the park and avoid homework,” Oliver said. Many people have shown interest in the hawks, most choosing to watch from their homes on the Hawk Cam whereas some people hope Jerolmack and the rest of his department will intervene in the hawks’ lives by making sure their eggs safely hatch. “People talk about how it’s great opportunity to see ‘wild nature,’” Jerolmack said. “Many viewers have suggested we intervene more in the lives of the hawks by protecting them from a storm or removing trash. We have romantic concep-
Trump Models Says Goodbye
in an effort to distance her name from Trump’s. According to Vogue Magazine, Trump Models allegedly has had “reports of boycotts from behind the scenes, and many models were said to have questioned the ethics of working for an owner whose political views were at odds with their own.” In an industry that is highly competitive and cutthroat, it comes as no surprise that some models might consider the name of their agency a liability or an extension of how they represent themselves as a model. Whether or not the models themselves agree with Trump’s political opinions, it is understandable that the name Trump attached to one’s agency might make those in the industry uncomfortable or unwilling to book a model. However, CAS sophomore and intern at Trump Models Olivia Giddens says otherwise.
“The company received a lot of discrimination due to the name, but actually had very little to do with Trump himself,” Giddens said. “I have nothing bad to say about the company or the people that work there, it operates just as any other modeling agency.” In 2016, affiliation with Trump’s name created unrest at some of his former New York City properties, despite the fact that Equity International, a Chicago-based company, was the current landlord. Many tenants of the multi-building complex complained of vandalism and perceived judgment due to the sign on their apartment buildings, which read “Trump Place.” Residents managed to vote his name off the building, after creating a petition called “Dump The Trump name” which gathered over 800 names from various tenants. Eventually the three buildings were renamed after their
street addresses — 140, 160 and 189 Riverside Boulevard — and the name “Trump” was removed from the face of the buildings. While Trump’s name can be cause for contention, it is understandable that the closing of Trump Models is unfair to those who work for the agency. Founded long before Trump ran for office, the agency has had many years to grow, but for some reason has fallen flat, unable to surpass its status as a boutique agency rather than a top one. Now, with Trump’s dismal approval rating and his life in the White House in the public
STAFF PHOTO BY VERONICA LIOW
Third North’s laundry room holds a re-fashioNYC recycling point; 16 other halls have joined this initiative. run is beneficial to a society’s standard of living,” Song said. “It can help the environment, and it’s a bonus to declutter while knowing the donation may help another individual.” Email Sophie Shaw at sshaw@nyunews.com.
tions of what ‘wild’ is, yet we grow so attached that we want to intervene even if it means corrupting the wild ideal.” Tandon graduate student Devon Powell agrees that he loves being able to watch the full extent of nature so close to campus. “It’s awesome that we’re supporting nature in this urban forest and it’s good that the footage is raw,” Powell said. Currently, the female hawk presides over the nest with the male making an appearance from time to time to visit their three soonto-be hawks. Soon, all three eggs will be hatched, with the first baby hawk making its appearance just recently on Sunday. With spring upon us, the Hawk Cam is in full bloom. Migrate over to the Hawk Cam to watch this ruffling hatching unfold. Email Pamela Jew at features@nyunews.com.
eye, it is not difficult to see why one might actively discriminate against his businesses. Less about the models as it is about his name, the closing of Trump Models is a completely unfortunate but totally unsurprising business move on Trump’s part. A Trump Organization spokesperson told the New York Post that the company would be turning its attention to real estate, the golf industry and hospitality services — a decided refocusing and editing of Trump’s brand. Email Thomas Chou at bstyle@nyunews.com.
VIA TWITTER.COM
Trump Models is a boutique modeling agency founded in 1999 by President Donald Trump.
NYU SENIORS’ NGO CHANGES WORLD WITH SOCCER By SHAWN PAIK Editor-at-Large CAS senior Darshan Mahabare stood at the front of a classroom in Sewri, Mumbai. It was January and hot. As he spoke, everyone listened, and everyone watched. “This is how you wash your hands,” Mahabare said. The room was packed with fiveyear-olds, moms, teachers and social workers. The children’s bright eyes gleamed up at this tall, dark American man in a Mickey Mouse shirt as he scrubbed his hands together. Each child was wearing a plaid uniform that read ‘CORP’ — referring to the Community Outreach Program, an initiative that provides access to fundamental social services including education and healthcare. The children attend school on Reay Road, which is about a kilometer away from the Arabian Sea. It’s one of the hardest slums to grow up in, and the beach is full of sewage, garbage and other waste. Some dwellings hover over water, and every year, several will fall. The slum floods in the monsoon season. The poverty in this corner of the world is beyond comparison. Everyone sweats. The children smile. Over winter break, Mahabare and CAS senior Kanyon Iwami went to India to represent NYU with their organization, KickToChange. The organization, which exists in a few other cities, is designed to generate revenue by teaching soccer lessons in the United States, and it uses the profits to package hygiene kits for people in five South Asian
countries. A kit costs about $2.50, depending on the country, but it goes a long way. In the kits are sanitation products like soap and toothpaste. When a family in Sewri receives a kit, it gets shown off because it is a luxury good. Silvia Simo, who works at CORP, said that if someone has to choose between buying soap or candy for their kids, many might choose the candy, even though it’s bad for their teeth. Sanitation and hygiene in this area are not only environmental concerns, but are cultural problems. Through his research, Mahabare has found that many children die from preventable diseases and improving basic hygiene in slum regions could significantly reduce the probability of infections. “Both of my parents were born and raised in India,” Mahabare said. “After traveling to India and looking at the conditions people were living in, I thought to myself that there must be some way I can help and make a difference.” In 2015, KickToChange became a nongovernmental organization. In less than two years, not only did it win a CAS DURF grant, but it also caught the eye of the Clinton Foundation. Mahabare said that the Clinton Global Initiative awarded KickToChange mentorship and funding. The team will travel to Boston for a conference from Oct. 13 to 15 where they will meet many officials, including Bill Clinton, to discuss global issues in the field of global health. The statistical impact of KickToChange is not easy to pinpoint. The situation in Mumbai has too many variables to prove that Ma-
habare’s organization has cleaned up the slums. What KickToChange has done, though, is beyond valuable for these communities, and numerical differences regarding cases of illnesses should not undermine the quality of work done by this organization. KickToChange’s goal is to use its additional funding to build water sanitation systems in slum areas. This is where the real difference will be made. The organization is already working on a well project in Dharavi, India’s largest slum. “The authority of Darshan as an American guy had a great impact on their behavior afterwards,” Simo said. “It led people to start and join [KickToChange]. They are more happy.” CORP has played a significant role in understanding Sewri’s needs. The group works closely with the slums and tracks the progress of the KickToChange participants. One CORP member, Cecilia Vaira, was surprised to see that KickToChange has had a growing rate of participation. She was expecting to see a decrease in participation because research incentive typically drops with time. But that is not the case here as KickToChange is establishing a community culture that is working to improve its health. “I always have the impression that different worlds share the same urban space while ignoring each other,” Vaira said. “The more time I spend here, the more I feel that what these people need the most is simply not being ignored.” Beyond providing sanitation
kits, KickToChange is influencing the local mentality surrounding the hygiene. What is most impressive is the fact that KickToChange is not only changing the global environmental perspective by encouraging the children involved in this program to think about other parts of the world, but is also shaping our own. The idea of generating revenue through soccer lessons has allowed KickToChange organizers like Nestor Cotton, director of operations and an engineering student from the University of Maryland, to really engage with players. Mahabare and Cotton connected through their love of soccer, then figured out how to use it for a greater purpose. “When we first started last year’s training, we told the kids that they were helping a great cause,” Cotton said. “We told them about children in other countries who have it harder than them and how they were helping to change the world. When they heard this they were happy and excited to know they were helping other kids their age in other parts of the world.” Cotton has also gotten positive reactions from kids in the United States regarding the work done by KickToChange, and some individuals have already requested that the project return to their communities.
“We have already been receiving calls from last year’s parents asking when our sessions will start and telling us how they’ve spread our message to other people they know,” Cotton said. KickToChange is a global nonprofit that is growing each year, and taking on larger projects. The secret to success? The organization is rooted with a strong sense of teamwork. Everyone understands their roles and looks forward with a common goal in mind. The group has surprised itself with its own progress, but their rewards are well deserved. “I really have to owe it to my team members — they are all super talented and are the engine that helps me execute the ideas I have for the NGO,” Mahabare said.
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Email Shawn Paik at spaik@nyunews.com.
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“After traveling to India and looking at the conditions people were living in, I thought to myself that there must be some way I can help and make a difference.” DARSHAN MAHABARE
GREEN POLICIES: FROM DC TO NYC By NATASHA ROY News Editor
POLICY
Donald Trump’s election to the presidency has brought on a multitude of changes, including significant alterations to the environmental policies enacted under the Obama administration. According to the White House website, Trump is planning to eliminate the Obama administration’s Climate Action Plan, which aims to augment energy efficiency and lower carbon pollution, as well as the Waters of the United States rule, which gives the federal government extensive control over U.S. waterways.
Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies David Kanter said that Trump’s policies are attempting to entirely undo Obama’s climate legacy. Kanter also said that Trump’s policies will directly affect the NYU community, as they will heavily impact New York City. “The fact that these actions delay momentum on climate change — so it makes it more likely that we will exceed the two-degree target that was set by the international community — that has real implications for New York City in terms of [carbon dioxide level] rise and in terms of the investments we’d need to make to actually adapt to climate change,” Kanter said. “So
“The government is an incredibly important force in our fight against climate change and in other environmental issues.” DAVID KANTER
PHOTO BY HANNAH SHULMAN
that would be a huge part of New York City’s budget.” Kanter also said that students may refrain from going into environmental studies as they would not want to work for a government that is supportive of Trump’s climate policies. However, he believes that a lack of educated students in the government will make the situation worse. “The government is an incredibly important force in our fight against climate change and in other environmental issues,” Kanter said. “So if there’s a brain drain in the government in terms of young, smart people going in, that could severely impact government efforts to deal with these problems, particularly once Trump is gone.” Kanter said that the potential reduction of funds for research on climate change and other environmental issues will make it harder for professors to study these topics and help students get experience
in these areas of research. Despite the negative effects of Trump’s environmental policies, Kanter said that during his experience teaching this semester, students seem to be more mobilized and ready to tackle policies they don’t agree with. “People are much more aware of the issues and what’s at stake, and much more willing to protest and get out there,” Kanter said. “I’d be interested to know what proportion of NYU students actually voted, and what proportion now are actually fighting against this agenda and against the Trump agenda. My guess would be that there are several people who are fighting the agenda who didn’t vote because they just weren’t particularly enthused by either choice, and now realize that this is a real threat to our environment and to humanity itself.” Kanter is one of two professors leading NYU’s presence at the March for Science next weekend,
and is bri students. H still make do not wa governmen change, by politics, ca and senat cerns and change pro “If you wanted to but becaus certain iss yourself to tion or som issue, then said. “Perh you might using you from being yer and bu that perha bring abou
Email Nata at nroy@n
ACTIVISM
OURTESY OF KICK TO CHANGE
inging along about 200 He believes students can a difference even if they ant to pursue a career in ent or reversing climate y being involved in local alling their congressmen tors to voice their cond going to anti-climate otests. decided you originally o go on one career path, se of how you feel about sues you want to devote o environmental protecme other important social n that’s also great,” Kanter haps, reconsidering where t be useful in society and ur talents — everything g an artist to being a lawusinessperson — in a way aps actually might help ut change in the world.”
asha Roy nyunews.com.
DOES NYU REALLY RECYCLE? BY ANDREW HEYING Deputy Opinion Editor Although it’s clear NYU actively works toward increasing sustainability at the university, my recent observations as a freshman student suggest that at least some of this eco-friendly pride is all just a front. The NYU sustainability site has a page dedicated to affirming the university’s deep and historic commitment to recycling. “NYU’s commitment to waste minimization goes back decades,” the statement on the website reads. “New York City passed the first of its many recycling laws in 1989, and in 1990, NYU established its Recycling Program, which has since become a model for institutionalized recycling in New York City.” Despite this, I was not even through my first week of classes when I realized a trend — the NYU janitorial staff habitually dumps all the recyclables into a giant bin, along with the trash. The first time I noticed this, I thought it might just be one janitor being lazy or unaware of NYU’s vigorous commitment to sustainability. However, I noticed this practice day after day — particularly in Bobst Library and the Kimmel Center for University Life, where I usually study. But, I wasn’t the only student who noticed this problem. CAS senior Natalie Petrulla said that she conducted an experiment for class last year that observed how recycling is handled at Kimmel. She found that for some unknown reason, both recyclables and waste tend to be mixed together by the janitorial and maintenance staff. “[We] had employees tell [me and my classmate] while sorting out our recycling materials that we should ‘put it all in the trash because it all goes to the same place,’” Petrulla said. “I spoke to one employee about why they do this, and they said that [Action Environmental Services] comes and sorts through it before they pick it up, but according to
other [NYU employees], the company says that they just pick it up and [their] employees sort it.” Petrulla said that there is clearly some confusion about this process, and she thinks it is unclear who exactly is sorting the recycled products — if anyone is doing it at all. When questioned about this trend of mixing the university’s recycling with the trash, NYU’s Sustainability Department’s Overseer of Waste Management George Reis avoided directly commenting on recent student observations. “Community education is a never-ending task for any recycling program, and that challenge is especially striking on a campus as large and complex as NYU’s,” Reis said. “We are always looking for ways to continually improve our process to increase recycling and reduce our waste stream in the first place, such as removing bottled water from student meal plans, food waste composting in the dining halls, and educating the community on sustainable purchasing practices.” Reis said that thanks to a sophisticated off-campus optical sorting system employed by the university’s recycling and waste hauler, Action Environmental, NYU is available to offer mixed recycling for all paper, glass, plastics and metal. He said that in a typical month, NYU diverts about 140 tons of recycling material from landfills. Reis’ words suggest that NYU’s recycling is sorted off-site. However, as stated above, other students have been told it is sorted here. Clearly, there is confusion regarding the sorting. It is therefore impossible to be sure if the recycling is being sorted at all. Nikki Cabezal, a marketing strategist from Action Environmental Services, said that the company does the recycling but the university separates all of the material before it is picked up. “All of the cardboard or paper is one container and the metal, plastics and glass are in an-
LOCAL
other,” Cabezal said. “We then bring it to our Material Recovery Facility in the [Bronx] where it is dumped on a tipping flower. Then through a system of infrared camera machines it is separated by material — plastic goes one way, paper another, etc.” Due to NYU’s size, it is virtually impossible to track down why some recycling is being thrown
“Community education is a never -ending task for any recycling program, and that challenge is especially striking on a campus as large and complex as NYU.” GEORGE REIS
in with trash. I have tried to find the root of the problem, but as expected, neither the sustainability office nor university administration is willing to acknowledge that at least some of NYU’s recycling is not actually being recycled. In such a large institution, it is possible that the problem simply exists amongst a few janitorial staff scattered throughout NYU, without being connected to a larger trend. However, these conflicting statements show that something fishy is going on in a school that prides itself on sustainability. To solve this problem, everyone needs to hold the university accountable, and demand results that reflect the university’s outward sustainability efforts. We must all question whether the recycling is being mixed with the trash. Hopefully, we will find that NYU can truly live up to and exceed its claims of sustainability. If not, then we are only contributing to this unfortunate and disturbing hypocrisy. Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of WSN, and our publication of opinions is not an endorsement of them. Email Andrew Heying at aheying@nyunews.com.
PHOTO BY JULIA MOSES
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WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS | MONDAY, APRIL 17, 2017 | NYUNEWS.COM
OPINION
EDITED BY THOMAS PRICE OPINION@NYUNEWS.COM
UNIVERSITY LIFE
By LOUIS RODRIGUEZ Contributing Writer
Required Writing Class Needs Updating
Many first years walk into college thinking they’re hot stuff with a pen. Writing the Essay, the bane of the freshmen existence, serves as a rude awakening. That’s exactly what expository writing programs should do, and they’re necessary to help break the mold of the five-paragraph essay drilled into the high school brain. But the class causes frustrations, not only because of its difficulty. Too many find it nebulous and rigid. Writing the Essay needs some revisions on its structure. Because there are so many classes and so many professors
teaching them, the program’s curriculum is scattershot. The website is a good example of the vague set of course guidelines which allow for personalization by each professor. There is a vague set of rules while the professor guides the rest of the course. The site advertises the broad batch of writers that make up the faculty: poets, journalists and scholars in the social sciences are just a few. When you have to decide among a melting pot of career writers, the chances of meshing well with the one you choose is tough. That’s not to say students don’t find satisfying teachers — many do. But if the class centers around the pro-
fessor’s style, then students have to be properly informed on his or her subject area. Albert, NYU’s course-finding platform which is also begging for an update, should be consistent and clear about the professor that corresponds to each class. Even displaying a small blurb about the teacher’s experience would be a step in the
right direction. The Writing the Essay courses vary as wildly as the sources you’re asked to place “in conversation” with one another. Tisch, Steinhardt and Tandon students all have specialized courses for their specific majors. This idea works in theory: We should be strengthening the tenets of our majors and eventual careers, right? But the assumption that we write and think in the specialized manner our major implies is misguided. Writing is as ubiquitous as language and should not be organized into cookie-cutter classifications. At the very least, freshmen should be given options and the
freedom to decide what class will best fit their writing style. A science-driven curriculum may help the arts student tired of murky lectures on poets and paintings, while the engineering student may be more geared toward creative thinking than the filmmaker. Writing the Essay is crucial to strengthening critical thinking and analysis, but too many students are understandably frustrated and others are being left behind. NYU needs to reckon with its flagship course and deepen its positive impact. Email Louis Rodriguez at opinion@nyunews.com.
POLITICS
Social Justice Is a Movement, Not a Marketing Strategy By MELANIE PINEDA Staff Writer Pepsi’s most recent advertising ploy has made headlines for the past couple of weeks. Using Kendall Jenner — a model who has done no actual work or activism regarding social justice — as the face of their product in an ad deliberately using protests as an attempt to appeal to the resistance is both morally wrong and extremely offensive. Even though Pepsi is by no means the only company guilty of using social justice in their marketing tactics, this ever-growing trend of abusing activism for companies’ personal gain needs to be called out and stopped. The soda company’s first mistake was hiring a spokesperson
who has never taken an actual stance on social justice issues and who is unmistakably privileged. To then scatter several stereotyped minorities across the ad was blatantly offensive and racist. One Muslim woman wearing a hijab was meant to specifically stand out amongst the crowd as she took pictures and went on to look in awe at Jenner’s brave act of handing a Pepsi to a cop. The audience is meant to interpret that this unnamed woman is being used as a clear message of defiance solely for the way she is dressed. But this tactic is problematic becasue it reduces her solely to a figurine rather than an actual person. The specific traits of this Muslim woman are, at best, stereotypical, and do not exemplify
the voices and diversity within the Muslim community itself. Black Muslim women, for example, are rarely seen in advertisements and mainstream media alike, even though almost a third of American Muslims also identify as African-American, according to NPR. Pepsi is not the only company jumping onto the social justice wagon. During this year’s Super Bowl, countless ads featured subliminal messages resisting Don-
ald Trump’s harmful agenda, including one 2014 Coca-Cola ad highlighting the diversity of the American people. This ad also portrayed only one certain type of Muslim woman, but the backlash against it mostly came from right-wingers, and was otherwise received much more positively by general audiences. Other ads, however, such as an ad for 84 Lumber that showed the border wall with a gigantic, welcoming door, later went on to proclaim that they were not at all in support of illegal immigration, with its CEO claiming her full support for Trump. The message of this ad deceived thousands across the country, with 84 Lumber’s hidden agenda only coming to light after the general public gave its ad constant coverage for the
following weeks. Movements created to resist hatred and discrimination began long before the mere action of handing someone a soda was supposed to be considered revolutionary. #BlackLivesMatter and other organization-driven protests are meant to give a voice to those who have been silenced for too long, not become exploited for the sake of a corporation’s greedy agenda. Pepsi, as well as 84 Lumber and countless other corporations, must be held responsible to take into account diverse viewpoints rather than offensively emulating a movement so significant and so sensitive to millions. Email Melanie Pineda at opinion@nyunews.com.
RACE
By ADRYAN BARLIA Staff Writer It has been nearly a month since Netflix released its latest Marvel show “Iron Fist,” which was met with mixed reviews. Aside from plot and character-related criticisms, many viewers criticized the show for casting a white actor to play Danny Rand, the leading character, rather than an Asian actor. The show’s plot revolves around a warrior from a fictional Buddhist sanctuary in K’un Lun who learns ancient martial arts and rises to the position of the immortal Iron Fist — a warrior sworn to fight an ancient league of as-
Netflix’s ‘Iron Fist’ Has No Race Issue sassins called The Hand. People believe that because the show has a culturally Asian theme, the lead actor should have been of that race. Yet these critics miss the entire point of a comic book-based adaptation show. As any Marvel fan would know, Iron Fist’s origins in the show are near identical to that of the comics, and casting Danny Rand as white doesn’t give much room for criticism of the Netflix adaptation. When determining what makes a show or film whitewashed, these critics have to consider how important race is to that particular story — and in the case of Danny Rand, it’s not. The story of the Iron
Fist, at least this version, does not revolve in anyway around race. So when watching a show or movie, we have to ask ourselves: Are race and culture crucial to the narrative? With “Iron Fist,” the answers are no and yes respectively. Culture is central to the functionality of the show because the character is literally supposed to be a martial arts
warrior, and of course martial arts is an essential to ancient Asian cultures. So the directors and choreographers have to get that part right. However, the race aspect of it is not imperative to the character, since anyone from any race could obtain the skills to understand any culture, which is exactly what Danny Rand did. Could Marvel Cinematic Universe and Netflix have chosen an Asian lead? Yes, they could have done that as easily as they could have cast an African-American lead. Should they have chosen an Asian lead? No, there is no “should,” since their initial decision was not flawed. The fact that the character is
white does not in any way affect the story, and if anything MCU and Netflix are just being faithful to the source material, which is really what any true fan would want. For those who argue that the character’s race should have changed, they should realize that they are stereotyping who they deem appropriate to lead a show with a lot of Asian influences. By not accepting that any person of any race can portray skills from any culture — because unlike race, culture is learned — these critics are failing to be open-minded. Email Adryan Barlia at opinion@nyunews.com.
NYUNEWS.COM | MONDAY, APRIL 17, 2017 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS
OPINION
EDITED BY THOMAS PRICE OPINION@NYUNEWS.COM
CULTURE
STAFF EDITORIAL
The iPhone Is a Part of Human Anatomy By HENRY COHEN Staff Writer
Human dependency on the smartphone has become an accepted part of life in the first world. iPhone Separation Anxiety is a very real effect of being deprived of your smartphone for extended periods of time. Trivial as it may sound, not having your phone within reach can result in higher blood pressure, increased heart rate, worsened anxiety and poor cognitive performance, according to Psychology Today. In a CBS News interview, addictive behavior psychologist Dr. Harris Stratyner said that many people subconsciously treat smartphones as an extension of their bodies. “We can literally feel almost as if we are disembodied from an extension of ourselves,” Stratyner said, “We don’t feel the same ability to be individuals that we are with our iPhone, because we have become so dependent on that being a part of our knowledge base.” Smartphones have become a huge part of how as much as 77 percent of American adults, according to a Pew Research Center 2017 study,
interact with the world. They perfect our perception of time, give us full access to the wealth of human knowledge that is the internet, remind us of appointments, communicate with anyone, anywhere, at any time — they can even tell us what the weather is going to be tomorrow at 3 p.m. In short, they are enhancements to our human abilities that manifest themselves in a slim block of metal and glass. It may be difficult to see the iPhone as a true part of the human anatomy, but it is no different than a prosthetic leg or glass eye. It is always at hand, not physically a part of us but rarely apart from our person in much the same way that a prosthetic leg can be removed but is a part of the body when it is attached. Both the leg and smartphone serve to make up for some deficiency in
the person who uses them. In the case of the prosthetic, it is the lack of a leg, while in the case of the phone, it is man’s inability to naturally perform tasks such as taking photos and playing music wherever they are. Transhumanist thinkers like Zoltan Istvan and Daniel Dennett have long advocated for and predicted the rise of a new brand of humanity, one enhanced by technology such that we can effectively accelerate our own evolution. While some outspoken critics like Francis Fukuyama have decried the dangers of transhumanism, this process is clearly already underway. Is having all earthly knowledge at our fingertips comparable to having a superpower? What about a human who can participate in a dozen text conversations at once spanning hundreds of miles in an instant? The smartphone represents the first and most successful step towards an entirely new variety of human, one that is almost a different species from those that came before and is capable of anything. Email Henry Cohen at opinion@nyunews.com.
CULTURE
Celebrities Give False Hope
by MOLLIE YELLIN Contributing Writer
In 2015, supermodel Karlie Kloss launched Kode with Klossy, an initiative to empower young women and support their interest in computer science. Since its start, it has spread to 10 cities and has given hundreds of girls the opportunity to pursue their interest during a two-week summer camp, free of charge. Kloss promoted her hopefulness and positivity about girls in computer science to the masses through her staggering 6.5 million Instagram followers, and her massive network eventually reached me, an unsuspecting innocent. Her glamourous posts were so empowering that they enticed me to take the plunge into computer science. After all, in Kloss’s own words, we need to “change the stigma of ‘this is just for boys.’” This was a battle cry to feminists everywhere — the world
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needs more women in STEM, and I am a woman. I thought I could be the change in the world Karlie Kloss is so desperate to see. In a frantic move to change the world, I registered for Introduction to Computer Programming, a prerequisite for any computer science class at NYU. Celebrities have this way of encouraging the masses into thinking that they can do anything, which is not true in most cases. Almost every piece of advice a celebrity has posted on their Instagram or spoken in an acceptance speech is tinged with this feeling of super-human optimism. It comes as no surprise that regular people cannot do anything they put their minds to. It’s sim-
ply out of our control — I was not born with the capabilities to code, which I found out shortly into my first midterm in that class. Karlie Kloss’s enthusiasm for women’s capabilities made me think that I could do it. The greatest and most real advice I ever received from a celebrity came from legend Lea Salonga at a workshop she held at my old school. She told us that if you do not have the talent to do something, no matter how hard you work at it, success in that field is almost impossible. It sounds harsh, but in my own life this seems to make the most sense. I do not have the ability to code, but I was deluded into thinking that I could by the influence of a celebrity. No matter how hard I work at it, I can’t get better. The same is true for millions of other average people like me. Don’t fall for the false hope a celebrity can give you.
Students Should Care About Climate
Recently, climate change has received extensive coverage, as President Donald Trump’s administration attempts to silence government employees discussing the problem while also vastly defunding the Environmental Protection Agency. It is often easy to just look the other way and ignore the changing climate. However — no matter what Trump says — climate change is real, and working as individuals to protect the environment is essential now more than ever. Another major facet of this debate is the fact that New York City, and therefore NYU especially, will be facing a larger and more adverse amount of environmental ramifications. Because Manhattan is on an island and sea levels are continuing to rise, environmental issues will be literally brought to the doorstep of NYU students if immediate action is not taken. This, along with the likelihood of more extreme weather on the coast, including hurricanes and heat waves, means that climate change will soon directly affect the lives of NYU students. As college students, we possess the ability to shape the future of our environment. We are the future engineers, climate scientists and politicians who will play major roles in the coming decades, so the responsibility falls on us to act in good faith with environmental protection. Ours is a unique position — the most brutal, lethal repercussions of global climate change are predicted to occur in the near future. Three in four millennials believe in climate change, giving our generation a massive leg up as compared to previous generations. Global temperature has risen 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880, and nine out of 10 of the warmest years on record have occurred since 2000. The effects of these climate changes are evident around the world in environmental fluctuations like carbon dioxide increases, polar ice shrinkage and rising sea levels. The subsequent effects are clear and must be acknowledged by each individual in order to enact change. College students specifically must recognize the various preventative actions that are accessible to them, because it is our future that is becoming endangered.
Email the WSN Editorial Board at opinion@nyunews.com. EDITORIAL BOARD: Thomas Price (Chair), Emma Rudd (Co-chair), Andrew Heying (Co-chair)
Email Mollie Yellin at opinion@nyunews.com.
STAFF PHOTO BY POLINA BUCHAK
Send mail to: 75 Third Ave. #SB07, 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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WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS | MONDAY, APRIL 17, 2017 | NYUNEWS.COM
SPORTS By JAKE STEEL Contributing Writer NYU senior Joe Timmes recently wrapped up his tremendous collegiate career as captain of the men’s basketball team and, with a job with the Brooklyn Nets on the horizon, shows no signs of stopping his association with the sport post-graduation. Timmes, who grew up in Morristown, NJ and attended Chatham High School, committed to NYU because of its basketball program’s reputation among DIII schools as well as its quality players. He also saw living in the city as a challenge in finding balance, returning to his home in the New Jersey suburbs yet remaining in New York City enough to keep his personal independence. Timmes’ basketball talent transformed into a stellar four-year career at NYU. During his senior season, he averaged 30.8 minutes per game with 14.0 points per game and 6.8 rebounds per game as the team’s starting shooting guard. He also shot a superb 39.2 percent from beyond the arc and led the team in steals. More impressively, he capped off his collegiate career by becoming the second NYU men’s basketball player to be named to the Men’s Division III College Sports Information Directors of America All-Amer-
EDITED BY RACHEL RUECKER SPORTS@NYUNEWS.COM
Joe Timmes: From NYU to NBA
ica Third Team. “It’s quite an award to win,” Timmes said, confessing that he was unaware of his candidacy for the award due to its secretive selection process. “I felt very honored and proud of the accomplishment. In DIII, you [have the ability to] improve in the class and on the field. It is a huge time commitment that acclimates you to get adjusted for time management. It’s challenging, yet rewarding.” Timmes reflected on his final season at NYU, during which the team finished 7-18 after losing seven seniors to graduation and adding ten freshmen to the roster. “Our year with the NYU basketball team was a process,” Timmes said. “I looked at it in terms of a bigger macro-level view. We were trying to build for the future. I was trying to develop this winning culture with these ten young freshmen and trying to lead by example so that they could further improve off of that, that they could further grow and become more successful than the year we had.” Ross Udine, junior guard for the Violets, is grateful to have played alongside Timmes. “I loved having Joe by my side these past three seasons and [I’m] extremely thankful to have had him to push me everyday and make me a better player,” Udine said. “I am looking forward to see what he
accomplishes in the future.” Coach Joe Nesci, who coached Timmes for the whole of his collegiate career, spoke to his leadership abilities. “Joe has been a great leader and role model for our team,” Nesci said. “With a roster that included 10 freshmen this year, Joe set a great example through how hard he worked each and every day in practice and games. He was a pleasure to coach for the last four years.” Timmes admires NBA players such as Russell Westbrook for “his motor always [being] at 100 percent,” LeBron James for his mentality and “mesmerizing” pure talent, and Klay Thompson for his shot. “If I’m ever in a slump, I’ll watch him shoot,” Timmes acknowledged. Timmes also demonstrates his affinity for basketball as a writer for STATCAT, an analytics sports blog. Graduating in May with a degree in Sports Management from the School of Professional Studies, Timmes recently accepted a job to work with the Brooklyn Nets as their Basketball Operations Seasonal Assistant, for which he will work in their front office to assist with the Nets’ upcoming offseason and regular season. “My passion is in basketball,” Timmes said. “The ultimate goal would be to end up working as a [general manager].”
Timmes aims to translate his leadership on the court to his new job with the Nets, and hopefully make that dream come true. “It’s going to take a lot of work,” Timmes said. “It’s going to take a lot of persistence that you have to slowly churn out day by day, month by month, year by year, and that’s
something that I’m looking forward to doing with them.” Based on Timmes’ track record, there should be no doubt as to whether the captain can guide his career to greater heights. Email Jake Steel at sports@nyunews.com.
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Joe Timmes, School of Professional Studies Sports Management senior and captain of the NYU men’s basketball team, will be joining the Brooklyn Nets as their Basketball Operations Seasonal Assistant after graduation.
The Newest Addition to NYU’s Athletic Training Family By TREVOR FRANCESCONI Contributing Writer
Whether in the mid-atlantic area or in the south, Bryan Costello will follow wherever his athletic training career takes him. The youngest of four children, Costello grew up in
Levittown, N.Y. and attended Kellenberg Memorial High School. And while he considered following in his father’s footsteps and becoming a police officer for the New York Police Department, he chose to pursue athletic training professionally because of his love for sports and medicine.
COURTESY OF BRYAN COSTELLO
Bryan Costello joined NYU’s sport medicine department as an athletic trainer in July 2016. He works with the wrestling, women’s soccer and men’s volleyball teams.
A 2013 graduate of Quinnipiac University, Costello said that balancing clinical hours, friends, clubs and a full academic course load was a big part of his development into the person he is today — one who is able to pursue multiple passions simultaneously. Aside from studying sports medicine as an undergraduate, Costello also competed in intramural sports, specifically dodgeball and softball. After graduating from Quinnipiac magna cum laude, Costello continued his education at the University of Tennessee, where he acquired his masters in recreation and sports management. Following two years at Tennessee, Costello interned as an athletic trainer at the United States Naval Academy, working mainly with the wrestling, swimming and diving teams. Costello joined the NYU sports medicine department in July 2016. He is currently a member of the National Athletic Trainers’ Association and the Eastern Athletic Trainers’ Association. Costello said that the one word that describes him as both a person and an athletic trainer is selfless. “I think a big part of athletic training is working in the background while the athletes have the spotlight,” Costello said. “I
am always ready to help the athletes when they need me so they can compete at the best of their ability.” Costello has been an athletic trainer for the wrestling, women’s soccer and men’s volleyball teams throughout his first year at NYU. Working with the wrestling team at the Naval Academy and at NYU has brought Costello a newfound appreciation for the sport. “Wrestling is high energy and quick, which is what I love
while competing. Costello also highlighted NYU’s own Nathan Pike who, after battling through an elbow injury early in the season, won the Division III Wrestling National Championship in the 133-lb division. Costello enjoys athletic training at the college level and hopes to become a head athletic trainer someday. The fun and lively atmosphere in NYU’s athletic training room makes coming to work enjoyable for Costello.
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Establishing trust with the athletes and seeing them grow throughout their four years is something I’m really excited to see. BRYAN COSTELLO
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about it,” Costello said. “While at [the Naval Academy], I attended and worked the NCAA Division I National Wrestling Championship at Madison Square Garden where there were sold out crowds and extensive media coverage.” Costello mentioned Navy All-American Matt Miller, who pinned four straight opponents
“My coworkers are great — we are in tight quarters but we make it fun and interesting every day,” Costello said. “Establishing trust with the athletes and seeing them grow throughout their four years is something I’m really excited to see.” Email Trevor Francesconi at sports@nyunews.com.
NYUNEWS.COM | MONDAY, APRIL 17, 2017 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS
SPORTS
EDITED BY RACHEL RUECKER SPORTS@NYUNEWS.COM
WEEKLY SPORTS UPDATE April 10 to April16 By KAITLYN WANG Managing Editor
Softball (15-11, 4-4 UAA) The Violets had a successful week, splitting a doubleheader versus Manhattanville College on Tuesday, April 11, sweeping a doubleheader against Brandeis University on Friday, April 14 and splitting another doubleheader against Brandeis on Saturday, April 15. The three wins against Brandeis allowed the team to clinch the University Athletic Association series 9-4. On April 11, Manhattanville won the first game 7-0, and NYU took the second game 10-9. In the first doubleheader against Brandeis, NYU won 10-2 and 6-3, while in the second doubleheader NYU lost game one 4-5 and won game two 9-4. The softball team returns to play against Hunter College on Tuesday at Randall’s Island.
Baseball (14-9, 3-5 UAA)
In a weekend UAA series against Brandeis University, the Violets took two games and lost two games. On Friday, April 14, the team lost 2-4 to the Judges at MCU Park in Brooklyn. After NYU tied the game up in the sixth, Brandeis broke it in the eighth with two runs to the win. In the doubleheader on Saturday, April 15, the Violets swept the Judges 12-2 and 8-1. But the team couldn’t take the series, as they fell to Brandeis on Sunday, April 16, losing 6-12. The Violets will take on Emory University in Atlanta Friday, April 21, beginning another four-game series.
Tennis (M: 9-2, W: 7-3)
The men’s tennis team hung onto a 5-4 win against Stevens Institute of Technology on Wednesday, April 12 in Brooklyn. The team had a doubles win from senior Matt DeMichiel and freshman Zeb Zheng, and singles wins from seniors DeMichiel and Umberto Setter, sophomore Benedict Teoh and freshman Michael Li. The women’s team also won 5-4, but against The College of New Jersey on Thursday, April 13. With a doubles win from freshmen Rupa Ganesh and Judy Kam, the Violets were able to win it all with singles wins from sophomores Vanessa Scott and Alice McGinty, senior Laila El Dessouski and Ganesh. Both teams will compete next at the UAA Championships in Altamonte Springs, Florida — the women compete April 20-22 and the men April 21-23.
Track and Field
Both men and women’s teams competed Saturday, April 15 at the Greyhound Invitational hosted by Moravian College in
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Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. For the men, senior Budd Brown placed second in the 200m and fifth in the 400m, posting season-best times of 22.06 seconds and 49.66 seconds respectively. Four men placed in the 1,500m — senior Nick Karam placed third, junior Robert DeSisto fifth, Karn Setya seventh and Ben Karam eighth. Senior Curtis Mann placed third in the 800m, and junior Vince Booth took sixth. Finally, the 4x400 relay team of Booth, Brown, Mann and freshman Grayson Hepp took fifth. The women’s team was also successful. Junior Ireland Gibbons, along with teammates sophomore Mimi Conti, freshman Evelyn Nkanga and sophomore Samantha Scoggins, took third in the 4x400 relay. Senior Simone Cooper took seventh in the triple jump. Both teams compete at the UAA Outdoor Championships at the University of Chicago April 22-23.
Golf
The golf teams enjoyed success in this past week, with the men finishing fourth at the Fred Kravetz Invitational at the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York and the women winning it all at the Jack Leaman Invitational at Amherst College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. In Rochester, two Violets made it to the top five leaderboard, with sophomore Luke Oberholtzer in second and freshman Kelly Sun in fourth. Meanwhile, at Amherst, sophomore Jenni Bluetling won the individual title, and junior Alyssa Poentis and sophomore Patty Treevichaphan earned third and fifth, respectively. The men play next April 29-30 at the Liberty League Championships in Baldwinsville, New York and the women play April 22-23 at the Liberty League Championships in Suffern, New York.
Men’s Volleyball (18-9)
The Violets defeated SUNY New Paltz on Saturday, April 15 in five sets to win the first ever United Volleyball Conference Championship in the program’s history. After defeating Stevens Institute of Technology on Friday, April 14 to advance to the UVC finals, NYU lost two sets and won three to secure the championship. Freshman Evan Lindley was named the MVP of the tournament, and senior Derrick Chiu and freshman Alex Li were both named to the all-tournament team. The championship berth automatically qualifies NYU for the NCAA Division III Volleyball Championship. Email Kaitlyn Wang at kwang@nyunews.com.
New Rules Destroy the Game By THOMAS PRICE Opinion Editor
As baseball season has begun, a few rule changes that occurred during the offseason have been enacted into regular gameplay, according to ESPN. With the intentional walk no longer requiring four pitches to the plate and instead being replaced with a hand wave to first, the destruction of baseball strategy took another step forward. Baseball does not rely as heavily on feats of great athleticism and power as football or basketball do, but instead on the immense skill and strategy of the game itself. An intentional walk is used to make the pitcher throw four balls well beyond the strike zone to get the hitter to first. This puts the pitcher out of the rhythm of the game, and this can lead to potential mistakes and also give any runners on base the chance to either steal or provoke a balk. The next batter gets to face a pitcher who just made four pitches completely out of sync with the rest of the game as well as the mental acceptance that it was strategically smarter to walk the batter than give the pitcher a chance to strike the batter out. This has always been the built-in cost to essentially mak-
ing any dangerous batter a non-factor in a potentially run-scoring situation. An intentional walk represents another facet in the chess game taking place between the two teams in play, and changing the nature of it detracts from the game. This is the perpetual problem with Major League Baseball in the modern era. As fans continue to look for shorter and more exciting content, the league is responding by cutting time wherever it can — even when it would only result in shaving seconds off the run time. The league did not think about the effects it would have on a game that builds on itself every second, whether it is electrifying or tedious. Baseball creates tension slowly and steadily. It is about how each pitch and at-bat changes the strategy and game plan that each player and each team have in place. Forcing the pitcher to make the intentional walk himself is a part of that. The more that the MLB tears away from the game to speed it up, the easier it will be to lose what makes the game great in the first place. Baseball should never be competing with basketball or football regarding the speed or general liveliness of the game. It thrives off the slow build that leads to its un-
paralleled ability to create drama. An intentional walk in the ninth inning that leads to a walk off hit only happens with the growth of nine other innings of play, and yes, four pitches into the glove of a standing catcher. At the very least, however, Detroit Tigers infielder Miguel Cabrera’s base hit off of an intentional walk pitch a bit too close to the strike zone demonstrates that we should never discount what can happen over the course of an at-bat that is not just waved to first.
Email Thomas Price at tprice@nyunews.com
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The new MLB rule about the intentional walk is an abomination to the strategy of the game.
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