Influential 2016 by Washington Square News

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COVER BY LAURA SHKOURATOFF, RACHEL BUIGAS-LOPEZ AND ANNA LETSON

LETTER FROM THE When you go to NYU, it’s easy to be cynical. The inevitably of failure isn’t an easy thing to come to terms with. Going to class, nabbing internships, making connections — these are the things that make it seem like the ground beneath your feet is speeding up, whether you’re ready to run or not. The 10 distinguished individuals on the following pages don’t subscribe to any of that. Their compassion mitigates cynicism. Their admiration for failure and ability to learn from it keeps them grounded. Their ambition to take big-world problems and fight them within the confines of our diverse university is astounding. Even though they’ve been ready to run for quite some time, they hang back and make sure the rest of us learn how to walk first. I want to first thank all those who wrote for this issue. We need writers who are open and willing to delve into the details to tell the multifaceted stories of Influentials, and that’s exactly what we

had. Additionally, it must be noted the care that each editor put into refining these sprawling stories into the beautiful, packaged versions you see before you. So, thank you to Editor-in-Chief Alex Bazeley, Deputy Managing Editor Grace Halio and Assistant Managing Editor Abbey Wilson. Thank you to our copy team — Anna Yao, Zoe Hall and Qianqian Li — for preserving the holiness of AP style. If you’re reading this in print, know that my deepest thanks go to Creative Directors Easton Self and Wen Ni, as well as Laura Shkouratoff and Rachel Buigas-Lopez, both of whom had a large hand in designing this beautiful issue. Without them, you would be holding a Microsoft Word template brochure, replete with both clip and word art. Similarly, I extend my thanks to Digital Director Nina Jang for those of you who are viewing this online. Of course, boundless thanks go to Multime-

dia Editor Anna Letson, Deputy Multimedia Editor Polina Buchak, Deputy Photo Editors Euan Prentis, Veronica Liow and Ryan Quan and Deputy Video Editor Viola Mai. To all of you: your eye for the aesthetic is divine. Lastly, I would be remiss if I did not thank the 10 students featured in this issue. Your love for your communities and your ability to see the scope and impact of your actions are inspiring — both NYU and the world are better because of you.

BOBBY WAGNER Managing Editor

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FADUMO OSMAN CAROLINE DE QUESADA MICHAEL LEONETTI CAROLYN FAN MICHAEL FRAZIER TYLER BENJAMIN AFRAZ KHAN JOSEPH ONWUGHALU ANAMI NGUYEN CHANDNI SHARMA

FA DUM O

OSMAN // ON THE FRONT LINES OF ORGANIZING

STAFF PHOTO BY ANNA LETSON

itting on a bench in Washington Square Park, the cold November air biting at her blue headscarf, Fadumo Osman is tired but in good spirits. It has been a long week. Not 48 hours have passed since Donald Trump was elected President of the United States, and Osman, a CAS junior, has spent the previous day consoling her fellow students and dealing with her own emotions. “It was really the first time where I couldn’t tell someone that it’s going to be okay,” Osman says. “I felt wrong saying it.” Despite this, she tries to keep things in perspective and lend her shoulder to others who need it. As we talk, she recognizes a student walking by. “How are you doing, dear? Are you doing better?” The young woman nods, and Osman smiles a little. “I’ll see you tonight.” In a few hours, Osman will speak at the Rise Above Hate rally hosted by the Muslim Students Association. More than anything else, she wants the community to stand up for the most vulnerable among them. As the political director for the College Democrats, Osman has been instrumental in helping give a voice to marginalized students since she came to NYU — people like herself, a black Muslim-American whose dad came to Canada as a refugee in 1989 to flee political unrest in Somalia, with her mother following a year later. When she was five, her family immigrated to the Bay Area in California. This wealth of experience probably has something to do with why she switched her academic focus from biomedical engineering, which she saw as too specialized, to computer

7 science and social and cultural analysis after freshman year. She wanted to use her passion for technology to create tools that would help everyone. The College Democrats and Tech@NYU, a student-run group for those geared towards coding and designing, were among the first clubs she joined on campus, attending meetings as a meek and soft-spoken freshman. Two years later, she is on the executive board of the former, bringing a unique perspective as the only woman of color in the group’s leadership. Early on, she felt frustrated by the lack of action on campus by the College Democrats. She freely questioned whether or not they were active enough in the community, reminding them that, as liberals, it was important to get out and fight for the rights of others. “I started realizing that organizing didn’t just mean we all got together and talked for an hour over food,” Osman says. “We support our brothers and sisters with whatever they are doing, on campus or off campus.”

of technology and data to advocate for others. Others struggle to hone this skill, but Osman has displayed it so gracefully that others who work alongside her can’t help but envision something larger. “I could see Fadumo as a technology executive challenging the paradigms of computing while championing diversity in her organization,” says Freia Lobo, who has worked with Osman at Tech@NYU. “She has strong beliefs and values, and she channels those into execution.” Her penchant for execution is rooted in her curiosity for the individual; more than anything, she wants to know what makes you tick. It’s a sense of awareness that the political sphere could use right now, which Michael DeLuca, the president of the College Democrats, recognizes. “I see her creating new tools for youth political engagement, pushing more women to get involved in STEM and spreading messages of love,” DeLuca says. He can even see her running for office one day. “We’ll all be better off when our representatives are more like her.” These are lofty goals, but for now, Osman is taking it one step at a time, which means speaking her mind about the political challenges of today. Back at the Rise Above rally, she stirs the crowd speaking about her sister, a student at UCLA, who had been harassed by Trump supporters the night of the election. A long week, indeed. She urges the hundreds listening attentively that just showing up isn’t enough. The last time they had gathered like this was in support of the Black Student Union last year — a fight that, in Osman’s eyes, tapered off too much. She wants to know who kept organizing after that rally, and who is willing to keep up the fight now? It’s a question that may make some uncomfortable, and it’s not always easy for her to ask it, but that’s okay, she says. For her, complacency is not an option, no matter how many people she has to call out. “We’ve been doing the work,” Osman says to the crowd. “Now it’s time for all of us to come together.”

“I started realizing that organizing didn’t just mean we all got together and talked for an hour over food.” This is part of what drives her work — her understanding that inaction is unacceptable, even if it means calling out close friends of hers. Beyond this, she’s using her technology skills to organize. She created a website for the American Muslim Women PAC to encourage Muslim women to register to vote in the months leading up to the election. “I saw that the narrative was shifting from us just being victims and our friends sympathizing with us to us actually taking control and getting work done,” Osman says. That’s not to mention her work with the New York State College Democrats and her time spent interning at Facebook. She has a keen sense of the ways she can take advantage

By ALEX BAZELEY Editor-in-Chief

STAFF PHOTO BY POLINA BUCHAK

CARO L IN E

DE Q UES A DA // THE FACE OF NYU GREEK LIFE

STAFF PHOTO BY ANNA LETSON

“I want to draw from the best at NYU and have Greek life be at the forefront. We’re not insulated. I want to be a part of the bigger picture.”

STAFF PHOTO BY VERONICA LIOW

aroline De Quesada is sitting in front of a room of Greek chapter leaders who, by late November, are burnt out by a long semester. Her chihuahua Hamilton — named after Alexander, the Founding Father for whom her affinity runs deep — is perched magisterially on her lap. She hates having to read Robert’s Rules of Order to start and end the meeting, but the first requirement of being Inter-Greek Council president, the face of NYU Greek life, is showing up. Caroline De Quesada shows up. Perhaps she’d rather be behind her camera, snapping pictures of sweaty dancers at Greek Life’s New York Dance Marathon as it roars on in Kimmel. Or maybe she’d rather be live from Studio 8 at her Saturday Night Live photo internship, where she spends Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. She’d even rather be darting to class on Mondays and Wednesdays, the only days she could find time to be on campus and complete her history major, declared only this semester after starting on a pre-law track and meandering through two years in Tisch photo. “I get really sad if I’m not supremely busy,” De Quesada said. “I don’t do well with having free time. It makes me go a little bit nutty.” Hustling is kind of her specialty. As a freshman, it landed her the Panhellenic Council social media gig. When she was a sophomore, it allowed her to take the leap to Panhellenic president, a spot usually reserved for juniors and seniors. When junior year rolled around, she was pretty much a lock

for IGC president. She hardly takes credit for any of it. That’s part of her charm. “I’m just surrounded by excellent, excellent people that make my mediocrity seem semi-excellent,” she said. The crowning achievement of her presidency has been overhauling Gateways, the members education program of NYU Greek life, and prioritizing adding a sexual assault component to the program. Working with Fraternity and Sorority Life Assistant Director David Gonzalez, she revamped the material to make it more palatable to a group of college kids. The old Gateways was everything you’d imagine it to be — like a dull class or meeting. The new Gateways engages students, replete with Anderson Cooper videos and presenters that will make people laugh while simultaneously understanding the severity of the material, she said. “When it comes to Gateways, she has a certain lens to everything that I simply don’t have,” Gonzalez said. “She was able to be a great insight as to what she’s seeing and what the community sees.” She didn’t feign to undertake the task of reforming Gateways on her own, however. She called on the expertise of Students for Sexual Respect to help shape it. “I want to draw from the best at NYU and have Greek life be at the forefront,” De Quesada said. “We’re not insulated. I want to be a part of the bigger picture.” That intrinsic ability to see scope without getting consumed by it has been the theme of her time as IGC president. She doesn’t get today’s busy schedule tangled with tomorrow’s to-do list. “She has such an uncanny way of seeing that view, sitting back and saying, ‘It is what it is, I’m only one human,’” Gonzalez, who meets with her weekly as FSL adviser, said. “It’s easy to break down for a second. I’ve never got that from her. She just laughs about it moves forward.” For one student, she’s gotten quite a lot done. She’s done away

with the IGC’s stiff executive board meetings, instead starting every meeting with “pows and wows,” the board members’ highs and lows for the week. And she’s very hands-on: She’s met with all 32 fraternity and sorority chapter leaders, all of whom have her number in their phones if they need to text her in the middle of the night when the wheels begin to fall off. That’s only for emergencies, though. If she had it her way, she’d be in bed by 10 p.m. — Greek life’s grandmother, if everyone wanted to be best friends with their grandmothers. She’s as likely to show up to a meeting in an oversized cat T-shirt as a blazer. In lieu of partying constantly, she whips up some bagel bites and sits down with a nice historical biography in her spare time. “Throughout the time that I’ve known her, she’s always been compassionate, energetic and thoughtful,” Ryan Thomas, chair of the Student Senators Council, said. “She focuses on building a sense of support and community for those around her.” You’d be hard-pressed to find a time where De Quesada wasn’t leading. In high school in Tampa, Florida, she held a laundry list of leadership roles: president of the All-Boys Theatre Club and the All-Girls Theatre Club, president of the Animal Rights Club, editor-in-chief of the newspaper. She’s never gone more than a couple months without being in charge of something, so when college ends, the only plan she has for filling that void is to mother the hell out of Hamilton and her other dog, Eleanor. If history is any indication, though, it’s a safe bet she’ll find herself at the helm of something soon. “I don’t know why I kept getting picked for leadership positions,” De Quesada said. “I was just always there, and they were like, ‘alright you can have it.’ Just showing up is literally why I am who I am.” By BOBBY WAGNER Managing Editor

n Michael Leonetti’s first day in Skala Sikaminias on the island of Lesvos, Greece, he rode around the sparkling Aegean Sea on a small dinghy, sitting atop bags of broken up boats that were to be recycled. Littered along the shores of the island, these boats had previously been used to carry asylum seekers to Lesvos. After spending his first year at NYU DC, Leonetti, a GLS sophomore, spent five and a half weeks volunteering at an open refugee camp in Greece. His experiences there spawned a desire to involve a larger community in the relief initiative, and when he returned to the states, NYU provided just that. This semester, he started a chapter of the International Rescue Committee on campus. IRC, one of the largest refugee organizations in the world, provides resources for volunteers to work on the ground in areas most afflicted by the refugee crisis. “I think when I went over to Lesvos I’d assumed you could only help from the front lines, which is wrong,” Leonetti said. “I see that now there’s a lot to do from everywhere.” In the coming months, IRC @ NYU will train volunteers to help with a tutoring program for those who have been resettled. Additionally, the club aims to spread awareness of and fundraise for the refugee crisis by hosting events on campus. Leonetti placed weighted emphasis on inviting refugees to these events — “The best experts are those who are being resettled” — and giving them a chance to paint a picture with their own voices. Many of the core values that Leonetti tactfully applied to the creation of IRC @ NYU were instilled by Lighthouse Refugee Relief, the organization that created the camp he volunteered at — the First Reception Camp — in Lesvos. Lighthouse built an open refugee camp on the island where families have the opportunity to regroup before proceeding to government camps. The First Reception Camp, nestled against the rocky Greek hillside, was small enough that it took less than a minute to walk its entire length. Instead of the authorities making decisions about the structure and

STAFF PHOTO BY CARIN LEONG

programming of the camp, the residents do. “The goal is to give more agency to the residents,” Leonetti said. “It’s about increasing the quality of life at a refugee camp and redefining what it means.” He joined Lighthouse’s eco-relief team, which had two functions: to receive boats that came in near their camp and to clean the beaches, lifejackets and dinghies that had accumulated as a result of the crisis. Julio Favorito, a Middlebury College graduate, worked with Leonetti on this team and noted the way his intense commitment was underscored by a positive, calm attitude. Leonetti never had trouble connecting on a personal level with those who landed on the island. “With so many people coming in large groups, it is easy to start thinking they have all had the same experience,” Favorito said. “That could not be further from the truth. Michael seemed to understand this more than most and was always interested in listening to people’s stories if they desired to share them.” Leonetti’s trip to Greece last summer was a result of following the crisis on the news for much of his young adult life. In addition, NYU DC provided a space for panels and discussions centering on the crisis. However, he knew that there was a less

the traditional camps to newer camp models — unrestricted by local government — in hopes of seeing how quality of life differs by using metrics such as safety, perception and water access. Leonetti saw the future of refugee camps trending toward these newer camp models, and he wants to gather as much evidence as possible to make sure this trend is the best option. He remains skeptical — “It might not be the best solution, I think it’s under-researched” — but he’s careful not to jump to conclusions. Leonetti’s on-campus involvement doesn’t stop at IRC @ NYU — he believes in the ultimate fight for liberation of the self and the intersectionality that fight shares between different facets of his life. He is also a co-chair of inQUEERy, a Liberal Studies club for LGBTQ students who have an interest in the queer history and culture of New York City, and though these two clubs do not relate by definition, each informs his participation in the other. inQUEERy fosters discussion through tours of the city, visits to galleries and film screenings. It provides a space for LS students to sound their thoughts on current events and the effects they have on the LGBTQ community. He became involved when Chris Packard, inQUEERy’s faculty sponsor and his former professor at NYU

“Since we’re so separated from the crisis — physically and emotionally — I didn’t really feel that much agency. I thought the best idea for me was to just go over there and see what I could do.” topical way to be involved than solely consuming media. “Since we’re so separated from the crisis — physically and emotionally — I didn’t really feel that much agency.” Leonetti said. “I thought the best idea for me was to just go over there and see what I could do.” A recent Gallatin Human Rights fellow, he plans to build on his time in Lesvos and continue researching the changing state of refugee camps. Over the course of roughly 12 weeks this summer, he wants to compare

DC, approached him, noticing his natural penchant for leadership. Packard honed in on the central characteristic that, throughout Leonetti’s laundry list of leadership roles, keeps him grounded in the best interests of all involved. “If Michael were an orchestra conductor, he’d lead from one of the musician’s chairs, not from a podium,” Packard said. “He starts by listening.” By GRACE HALIO Deputy Managing Editor

M ICHAEL

LE O N E TTI // RE-HUMANIZING THE REFUGEE CRISIS

STAFF PHOTO BY ANNA LETSON

C A R O LYN FAN

// TRANSFORMING RESEARCH INTO ACTIVISM

STAFF PHOTO BY ANNA LETSON

C STAFF PHOTO BY ANTHONY LEE

“NYU made me realize that I had all this internalized oppression, thinking about myself and my family. A lot of things that I face and that my friends and family face aren’t just individual problems, they’re systemwide, societal issues.”

arolyn Fan arrives just before a meeting of NYU’s Asian Pacific American Medical Student Association, nearly tipping over from the weight of an armload of pizza. In her work with APAMSA, Fan has made it her primary goal to advocate for voices that are not usually heard. She emphasizes her uninhibited availability to members of the club, a message that resonates especially well this Monday, just six days removed from the election result. “I think there’s a stereotype that Asian-Americans are sort of apathetic to political issues,” Fan said. “Even though I’ve seen so many students who are super active in the community, there are other people who are still searching for that space and haven’t found it yet.” As the president of APAMSA and an active member of NYU Asian/Pacific/Americans Building Relationships to Inspire Diversity, Growth and Empowerment, Fan seeks to create that space for Asian-American students to share their experiences and critically engage with the world. Fan’s gift for guiding conversation is innate in her leadership. “She’s amazing at recognizing people’s specific needs and working to accommodate,” Shivon Shah, a CAS senior and veteran BRIDGE member, said. “She’s just on the pulse at all times.” Her activist bent didn’t come

out of nowhere. While she always had some inclination towards social justice, most of it was limited to reblogging activist posts on Tumblr in high school. The issue of identity and justice “just wasn’t talked about” in the small town she lived in near Chicago, Illinois. Fan credits Project Outreach, a service group on campus that she now helps to coordinate, for initially opening that door for her freshman year. Not only did Outreach help Fan see firsthand how service impacts a local community, but activities and lectures sponsored by the group also made abstract concepts like privilege and microaggressions concrete. Her renewed interest in social justice initiatives fed into her academics. A frustrating sophomore year threatened to derail her studies in sociology and pre-med, but eventually led Fan to pursue her passion in public health after she interned at NYU’s Socioeconomic Evaluation of Dietary Decisions Program lab, colloquially known as the SeedProgram. Fan realized that research was the key to combating health disparities for marginalized groups. Fan now double majors in global public health and sociology in the College of Global Public Health with a minor in history. As a co-president of the college, she is working to build a community for undergraduates in CGPH. The amalgamation of research and community has played an important role in how Fan molds her activism; it is something that she has been interested in since a young age. She joked that her sixth grade science fair project — a study on how music affects study habits — kickstarted her interest in research, “but that was just an excuse for me to make my friends to listen to the music that I liked.” In college, she focuses her studies

on Asian-American health research in order to tackle the root causes of oppression in relation to health. Fan was also tapped by professors to take an active role as a founding member of the NYU Tobacco Lab. Because of her experience working in the SeedProgram lab, a professor recommended that she help set up the Tobacco Lab and incorporate undergrad students into its disparate projects. It’s hard to get everyone on the same page, CGPH senior and Tobacco Lab researcher Maggie Ruzich said, since the common thread between the Lab’s projects are just that they are tangentially related to tobacco. However, Fan still manages to pull it off. “She’s a phenomenal leader, and I think that ability comes from always being able to put herself in another person’s shoes,” Ruzich said. “That way she is always able to manage a group, no matter who’s in it, in order to get things done.” Though she juggles responsibility on all ends of the spectrum, Fan never loses the fire that drives each individual endeavor. “She’s very humble about it all,” Ruzich said. “You almost have to dig in to realize how much she’s doing because she won’t be the first one to tell you.” Fan hopes to continue fighting for Asian-American rights and healthcare even after she graduates. Her experiences have taught her to think critically not just about her own position in this world, but also how to aid others in elevating theirs. “NYU made me realize that I had all this internalized oppression, thinking about myself and my family,” Fan said. “A lot of things that I face and that my friends and family face aren’t just individual problems, they’re system-wide, societal issues.” By EMILY FONG Opinion Editor

ichael Frazier is more than qualified to offer advice to his fellow students, and there’s hardly a friendlier face it could come from. The Gallatin senior certainly has a way with words — he’s the vice president of NYU’s slam poetry club, a poetry managing editor for the Gallatin Review and a co-founder of the city-wide group Radical Writers of Color. That’s on top of all of the creative writing courses he’s taking in his literary arts and narratives course of study. More than anything, though, his defining characteristic is his sense of compassion and his big heart. With dreams of becoming a teacher, he explained that he started out in in the Liberal Studies program, thinking that it would be the perfect fit for him and his goals. Much to his disappointment, the LS curriculum at NYU turned out to be a lot of “white, canon [and] not-diverse” writers. Frazier refused to give up on his dreams, and instead created his own path to reach them. Now, he focuses on African-American narratives in literature while using these tools outside the classroom to mentor his peers and support them in their endeavors. “It’s realizing that why I like telling stories is that I can tell stories that aren’t heard,” Frazier said. “I wanted to study literature and I also wanted to write. I wanted those two ways of thinking — analytical and creative — to inform each other.” Of all the groups Frazier participates in, Radical Writers of Color distinguishes itself the most. He helped found the club last January with a few friends, explaining that

over and over in his creative writing courses, the complaints that he would hear from his peers of color were the same. Namely, any time they tried to include details of their own culture in their stories, all of the feedback from white peers or professors would essentially boil down to this: “Can you change things that are unique to you? It doesn’t appeal to the larger audience.” Never one to miss an opportunity to lend support, Frazier and his friends created a group that they then marketed through RA networks and on “every Facebook page [they] could find” to reach out to as many students within NYU and around the city as possible. “I wanted to create a space where we can all come from different backgrounds [and] all bring our different backgrounds into the

“Michael is an exuberant, positive person who brightens every space he occupies,” Lia Hagen said, an NYU junior and the president of Slam! at NYU. “He has his own issues that he explores through his poetry, and I have watched him tackle obstacles with optimism and tenacity. He makes people feel more comfortable.” His leadership extends beyond the clubs he’s a part of and into core parts of the NYU experience, helping students find their footing at a school as big as NYU. He’s a Gallatin Orientation Leader, a leader of LiveWellNYU and a mentor in the Opportunity Program at NYU, all on top of being an RA, a position he held both in his semester in London and last year in Second Street dorm. But this lengthy list of roles is really to emphasize what is obvious about Frazier from one’s very first impression of him — his support for his peers is constant and boundless. Nearly everything anyone says will earn enthusiastic snaps and smiles, and it’s both his own work and fierce loyalty that moves those around him. “Even if our stories aren’t as developed as they could be ... that person’s in that poem,” Frazier said of the intense uniqueness of slam poetry. “I want to encourage that, because that’s how you get the great stuff.” And so, at Slam! at NYU’s Grand Slam in mid-November, the snaps were frequent and passionate during his fellow competitors’ pieces, and his own poems were so eloquent that Frazier earned a spot on the team that will go on to compete in Chicago in April at the National College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational. The result, however, wasn’t the driving force behind Frazier’s happiness. Filled with nerves as he stood on stage waiting for the results, the simple act of holding his teammates’ hands provided him all the comfort he could ever need.

“It’s realizing that why I like telling stories is that I can tell stories that aren’t heard. I wanted to study literature and I also wanted to write. I wanted those two ways of thinking — analytical and creative — to inform each other.” same space,” Frazier said. “One where even if we aren’t familiar with each other’s specific cultural backgrounds, we create an atmosphere where we feel comfortable to educate ourselves, to actually make it inclusive.” For Frazier, the most rewarding parts of leading the group are “those little moments of people coming and feeling sad or heavy, and leaving feeling lighter because they got to write and share and all praise each other.” It’s easy to see that he is a good teacher — fair and honest in his critiques.

By HAILEY NUTHALS Arts Editor

STAFF PHOTOS BY AUDREY LEE

MICHAEL

FRAZIER // SNAPPING: DIVERSITYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S WEAPON OF CHOICE

STAFF PHOTO BY ANNA LETSON

yler Benjamin can wear just about any hat you want him to. There’s the committed Tyler who acts as treasurer for both the Black Students Union and Gentlemen of Quality. There’s the motivated Tyler who makes a name for himself by creating spaces for students to collaborate. And there’s the friendly Tyler who loves to cook, dance and dole out life advice. His resourcefulness is astounding. He turned an unfortunate stretch of homelessness as a kid into a private high school degree by teaching himself how to repair iPhones and working part-time at a snow cone shop. Now Benjamin, a senior and Gallatin Student Council President, sleeps five hours a night, working around the clock to improve the NYU experience for black men like himself. If that doesn’t convince you of his resourcefulness, consider the fact that he does all this without the crutch of coffee or tea. “Literally every conversation I have with my friends is about how to make minorities feel better at NYU, how to recruit minorities, how to impact the minority community,” he said, emphasizing the importance not only of community building but also of financial empowerment for students of color. Benjamin traces his motivation — and his affinity for seafood — back to his roots in Breaux Bridge,

STAFF PHOTOS BY EUAN PRENTIS

Louisiana, where he grew up with seven sisters and three brothers. His path at NYU was forged before he got here — he made it a goal to combat the possibility of anybody experiencing economic hardship similar to what he faced growing up. Benjamin’s history predisposed him for an interest in the business and finance world — his Gallatin concentration is “Wealth and the Cause and Effects of the Financial Markets.” To aid in the redistribution of wealth, his career goals are to provide students with free information on stocks and to start his own consulting firm. Benjamin first ventured into the consulting world by trying it out within the NYU community. When he began to wonder why black

plies his financial knowledge to existing NYU organizations through his roles at GQ and BSU. “Being a black man at NYU, I found it very hard to find my place,” Benjamin said. “At GQ, I didn’t feel judged.” He took on the role of treasurer because he enjoys managing funds. His ability to make money, it seems, is innate. Above all, Benjamin knows how to make things. He has ideas and sets the wheels in motion. When he decided on a whim to spread his love of music by starting his own record label, he gathered an executive board and got to work within a week. “The best way for me to get calm and de-stress is live performances,” Benjamin said. “I noticed that there was no space for people in Gallatin to get out and jam.” So he set to work establishing New Major Records, which allocates studio space for Gallatin musicians, hosts open mic nights and helps students release mixtapes. The project arose from his passion not only for music but for helping people collaborate. Despite the tenacity with which he tackles these endeavors, Benjamin has the wherewithal to step down from his leadership roles when the time comes. His personal motto is “make space, take space,” meaning that he’s always conscious of the voices he may be silencing by making himself heard. This humility, above all, is what makes Tyler stand out from the crowd, his friend CAS senior Eric Dornevil said. “Something I admire is that the things he does, he doesn’t do for recognition,” Dornevil said. “He just does what he thinks is right.”

“A lot of the work I’ve been doing at NYU has been building from the ground up and establishing something I know will be there when I’m gone. Something sustainable.” businesses weren’t thriving, he got together an executive board and established Consult Your Community, an NYU chapter of a national program that helps students provide consulting services to low-income businesses. “A lot of the work I’ve been doing at NYU has been building from the ground up and establishing something I know will be there when I’m gone,” he said. “Something sustainable.” In addition to starting ventures from scratch, Benjamin also ap-

By ABIGAIL WEINBERG Features Editor

TY LER

BEN JAM I N

// TAKING AND MAKING SPACE FOR COLLABORATION STAFF PHOTO BY ANNA LETSON

fraz Khan gazed up into a crowded staircase during the NYU Rise Above Hate Rally. He was met with a sea of faces, eager to hear him continue reading in poetic verse. “I see us getting buried alive, that the convictions are so rooted, that as we nourish these bonds, we can branch out to the greatest evils of society, y’all got to trust us,” Khan read. “You all have to trust us.” Emotions still raw, Khan, a CAS senior and the president of the Muslim Student Association, called upon students, faculty and staff to stand together in mutual understanding. The rally — just one day after an act of hate in which a Muslim prayer room at the Tandon School of Engineering was vandalized — represented the manifestation of solidarity among Muslims at NYU and in the surrounding community. “To utilize [my identity] to enter spaces, whether it be going to open mics or speaking at different events, it’s really transformed me in seeing how powerful spoken word is for many people,” Khan said. “Faith is never really talked about in the slam poetry circle. I think that’s something that gives me a unique perspective.” Khan’s vision of bridging the gap between communities — shaped by his time as MSA president and a senator on the Student Senators Council — has culminated in events such as the joint panel with the NYU Black Students Union. For this event, they invited activist and daughter of Malcolm X, Ilyasah Shabazz, to engage in a dialogue about the current racial issues facing black and Muslim communities

on campus. The act of listening is a practice that has long stemmed from Khan’s faith. Seeing friends practicing the traditional five daily prayers in between their busy schedules at the NYU Islamic Center – a place that created a new channel for his faith away from his family – renewed an overall reassessment of himself. “I ultimately see faith as a principle of life that allows me to be consistent in times of need and in times of prosperity,” Khan said. “For me to live to the standard that goes beyond what this world demands of me makes me feel like I’m developing my character, my actions and my attention on a deeper level.” Khan is pursuing higher education administration, merging studies in International Relations and Management and Public Policy. Rather than being viewed as just a Muslim, Khan wishes to incorporate his multifaceted layers as distinct strengths on the path to leadership. Khan’s close friend and fellow MSA board member RJ Khalaf believes that Khan embodies the role of a leader that the youth Muslim community currently needs. “When people work with Afraz, they know they are working with someone who will be straightforward and honest,” Khalaf said. “This ultimately helps him find balance in his work life, relationships with others and his relationship to himself.” This sentiment for others to feel both included and represented fuels Khan’s ambition to extend a hand to students who may not be quite sure of their own identities, an uncertainty he has felt. “It’s such a formative period for students going into college, especially people of minority backgrounds, so for them to see people in positions that look like them, have the same faith and are on the administration side of things helps them understand that faith and identity don’t necessarily need to stop,” Khan said. Before reaching this future goal,

Khan has actively pursued the ambition to help others with his willingness to listen and share advice. As a mentor at the Violet Leadership Institute, Khan guides firstand second-year students to pursue personal growth and use the various resources at NYU. Khan does not take the rash correlations of Islam to terrorism and extremism lightly. The beauty of faith is something he’s been living out since childhood. He sought to revitalize discourse around this beauty when he launched the Tasbeeh Initiative last year — “tasbeeh” meaning a state of remembering. This initiative seeks to build spaces for him and fellow peers to engage with different praises of God. Steve To, a residence hall director who serves as a supervisor for Khan’s role as a resident advisor, stresses that Khan’s charisma is what sets him apart. “When he speaks, everyone is captivated and listens to his message of respect, unity and equality,” To said. “He is compassionate, which allows him to understand difference and [focus] on bringing people together.” At his core, Khan believes in the power of creating communities that hold people accountable — a trait that will serve his ambition to pursue higher education administration. His future prospects include a desire to continue dialogue around the teachings of Islam, which he hopes will help mitigate the constant bombardment of hate targeted at the Muslim community. “I would hate for that to be the only narrative [young Muslim children] hear, to the point where they turn away from this faith that I’ve used as so much a guiding set of principles,” Khan said. In fact, Khan may already have the foundation for a potential resolve, conveyed in one rhythmic line: “The moment we start denouncing hate, we can start purging it from the realms of our society.”

“I see us getting buried alive, that the convictions are so rooted, that as we nourish these bonds, we can branch out to the greatest evils of society, y’all got to trust us.”

By NINA JANG Digital Director STAFF PHOTOS BY RYAN QUAN

AFR A Z

KH A N // REVEALING BEAUTY IN ISLAM

STAFF PHOTO BY ANNA LETSON

JOSEPH

ONWUGHALU // THE INTERNATIONAL OPPORTUNIST

STAFF PHOTO BY ANNA LETSON

t 9 a.m., while some NYU students are still fast asleep, Stern senior Joey Onwughalu is wide awake and raring to go to his University Senate meeting with members of the administration, faculty and other prominent student leaders. Onwughalu is all ears as he listens to students’ concerns and ideas for new initiatives the university plans to take on. He not only wants to make an impact here at NYU, but also around the world. At the global network university, Onwughalu fits right in, having grown up on three continents — North America, Africa and Europe. After a brief stint in the Empire State, Onwughalu moved to Nigeria following his third birthday. He left for England for the duration of his high school career and finally returned to the place where it all started for college. Once at NYU, Onwughalu was instantly drawn to the diverse campus, ecstatic to develop his character by learning from others. “At this university there are so many different people from so many different parts of the world,” Onwughalu said. “Learning from different perspectives and being exposed to different cultures, it’s an opportunity that I think everyone should have.” As a finance and economic theory major, Onwughalu hopes to take what he has learned at NYU

back to his family’s roots in Nigeria. He aspires to raise Nigerians out of impoverished neighborhoods and improve their standards of living by starting his own business to provide communities with well-paying jobs while simultaneously developing better infrastructure within the country. He certainly isn’t afraid of shooting for the stars: he hopes to one day becomes president of Nigeria. Although he isn’t too fond of politics, he says the only way to create lasting change in a society is to implement new leadership that will put the people’s interests ahead of political opportunism. He’s taking this first steps here at NYU. As chair of the International Student Affairs Committee, Onwughalu leads the fight to address a number of issues international students face at NYU, such as finding community on campus and, most notably, rising tuition costs. “A lot of the affordability issues we talk about don’t really consider international students, especially because a lot of them have to pay the full tuition,” Onwughalu said. “So the International Student Affairs Committee is working hard to improve transparency between NYU administration and international students.” The committee is currently working with international alumni to create a new fund to award additional scholarships to undergraduates coming from outside the United States. Onwughalu hopes the committee’s work will empower students to take matters into their own hands and generate more fundraising initiatives rather than rely on the university for assistance. Never satisfied, Onwughalu fills his dwindling free time by working closely with Student Activities Board to help clubs establish their place on campus. Steinhardt senior and Chair of SAB Rose Liu works alongside Onwughalu and admires

the objectivity with which he approaches difficult situations. “His experiences help us tremendously when deciding the budgeting and contingencies for NYU clubs,” Liu said. “He always approaches every situation with a fair judgement and is overall just the nicest, most hardworking and genuine person you will meet at NYU.” Onwughalu’s own organization, the Association for African Development, has grown to more than 200 members strong. Onwughalu and Stern senior Emeka Mba-Kalu co-founded the group, as they both felt it could fill a niche that was lacking in the NYU community. The two funneled their passion for the continent into reaching out to other African leaders on campus who wanted to create a positive impact on underrepresented communities. AAD aims to educate students on current affairs going on in the continent and the various challenges different communities are facing. The organization has invited speakers to NYU from a variety of industries such as finance, nonprofits, entrepreneurship and healthcare. Onwughalu says his goal is to have people view Africa as an investment rather than a charity. At the end of the day, Onwughalu wants to continue building on this sense of community within NYU and push his peers — and himself — to use their talents for a greater good. “I see a lot of potential everywhere I look,” Onwughalu said. “It’s in the students here at NYU and it’s back in the communities in Nigeria. But it’s up to someone to harvest that potential and turn it into real action. It’s time to step up to the plate, because I want to lead our generation into a better future here and abroad.” By LEXI FAUNCE Investigative Editor

“It’s time to step up to the plate, because I want to lead our generation into a better future here and abroad.” PHOTO BY WANTING HUANG

German hip hop artist covered in lettuce convinced Anami Nguyen to become a vegetarian — she was seven years old at the time. “It clicked to me that if you want to eat meat, somebody has to die for that,” Nguyen said. “As a child, I was very empathetic and I didn’t want to kill. That’s it.” Now, almost 15 years later, she is advocating for herself, other people and animals. The vegan animal-lover is president of the NYU Animal Welfare Collective. She’s currently fighting to make Lipton Dining Hall entirely vegan, catering to students with specialized diets and saving animal lives in the process. “If you’re vegan or vegetarian or kosher and you’re trying to eat that way, you have a very limited amount of options,” Nguyen said. “You’re paying a lot of money for that, and if we would have a plant-based dining hall, people with dietary restrictions — or if you have any type of allergy — you’re covered.” Leading Animal Welfare Collective has grown into such a time commitment and responsibility that it is just as demanding as a part-time job. But Nguyen finds it worthwhile, because she’s focused on bringing people together for a greater cause. “You have a responsibility towards your work and towards all your colleagues,” Nguyen said. “I want Animal Welfare Collective to be a place where we can rant to each other too, because most people don’t think about these things for one reason or another.” STAFF PHOTO BY TAYLER MACMILLAN

In addition to running the club, working two other jobs and tending to daily student duties, she is trying to start a club surrounding effective altruism — a potential club at NYU would apply these principles to rally students around the idea of charitable giving. This social philosophy is based on both theory and statistics to find the most optimal way of creating good. Nguyen said that with effective altruism, one voice can make much more of a difference, and she drew a comparison with breast cancer and prostate cancer — a large sum of money would have a larger impact on prostate cancer than it would on breast cancer, since it has less funding. Jay Shooster, a research fellow at the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, said that this concept directly influences how Nguyen leads her life. He has worked with her in animal rights activism and admires her emotional drive to alleviate suffering and fight for justice. “She does a great job combining the heart and the head,” Shooster said. “She’s really known to do good — but not just good — the most good, and doing the most good as effectively as possible.” Nguyen believes effective altruism can help people make better daily decisions, and Shooster said that she has a unique understanding that allows her to grasp serious, abstract issues with a philosophical approach. But Nguyen does not hold everybody to this standard. She is understanding of people’s flaws and recognizes that it is impossible to always know what to do. “It’s not always easy to be an activist — you see all these images, you know?” Nguyen said. “You know what’s going on, and you know much violence and suffering is at stake, and you’re constantly confronted with that.” She said that while some people do not know about the suffering they inflict, other people simply don’t care, and this is what she

wants to fix. Meanwhile, to keep activists from becoming disillusioned or disheartened, Nguyen organizes community-building events such as vegan potlucks and animal sanctuary visits. These events don’t just keep morale high, they keep the carrot dangling in front of them. Gallatin senior and animal rights activist Eve Wetlaufer said that Nguyen’s unifying spirit and positive view of everybody makes her one of the most compassionate people she knows. The two visited and volunteered at the Catskills Animal Sanctuary together two years ago, and she said that Nguyen got everybody on the trip to bond during the over six-hour car ride. “She’s honestly just a force to be reckoned with,” Wetlauff said. “At the end of the day, every single thing she does is to make this world a better place for everybody: humans, non-humans, people of color, people with disabilities — everybody.” Wetlauff said that Nguyen helped make Animal Welfare Collective a more intersectional club and expanded the club’s focus to become more inclusive. Nguyen’s passion and conviction in others stem from her belief that people have the capacity to change. Being raised in Germany was synonymous with being steeped in homogeny — despite being half-Polish and half-Vietnamese, she was raised entirely German. This experience rendered her completely unaware of the issues she cares so much about now, so much so that she says the person she entered college as is someone she’d hate now. To her, ignorance is the biggest enemy to social progress. “Back in Germany, people would question whether I was German, even though I am, culturally,” Nguyen said. “Now that I’m here, I feel like I’m allowed to explore and explain these things — I’m allowed to be myself.” By DIAMOND NAGA SIU News Editor

“I want Animal Welfare Collective to be a place where we can rant to each other, too, because most people don’t think about these things for one reason or another.”

AN A M I

NGUYEN // THE ALTRUISTIC INNOVATOR

STAFF PHOTO BY ANNA LETSON

CHANDNI

SHARM A // REFUSING TO COMPROMISE IDENTITY

STAFF PHOTO BY ANNA LETSON

er name is Chandni, and she’s going to make damn sure you take the time to learn it right. “You know how people have their, like, Starbucks name or whatever?” Sharma said. “I don’t do that. I friggin’ make them spell my name.” Chandni Sharma, a CAS senior

25 ditional student events that didn’t serve her vision or the greater community, such as the high-price tag senior boat cruise that CAB became known for. “When I go into a new event, I ask myself — is everyone there the same?” Sharma said. In CAB meetings, she interjects when she sees fit, prioritizing discussions around issues that matter most, like affordability. Her realism and envelope-pushing is only a testament to her love for the school. She’s working on simple but complex school-wide issues, like bringing commuter students more into the fold and bridging the Brooklyn-Manhattan campus in a way student leaders around her aren’t. This is something Student Resource Center Associate Director Zach Harrell, a CAB17 liaison who Sharma lightheartedly calls her NYU

points that she addresses head on with the power she has as a leader. While the university does the talking, Sharma seeks to do the doing. At the end of the day, what’s essential to her is not being high and mighty in her leadership, but instead remaining grounded in human interaction. That’s why people are willing to work so closely with her — the environment she builds are wholly dependent on person-to-person relationships. “When we bring it back down to a human level, beyond who we see day-to-day, we really learn who a person is” Sharma said. “We might know a person for a year and still know such a small part of them.” Fellow CAB17 member Aisha Khan brought this point home, asserting that Sharma leads by exam-

STAFF PHOTO BY RYAN QUAN

studying psychology, serves as the president of the senior Class Activities Board and to her, names are of utmost importance. “That’s the way that you make people learn,” Sharma said. “You have to challenge what you see dayto-day. I care so much about learning other people’s names.” Identities are at the forefront of the conversation for her, and each of her own — Indian, Hindu, a woman — plays largely into how and why she leads. Sharma initially joined CAB as a freshman when she knew she’d be commuting from New Jersey and wouldn’t have a built-in dorm community, but it has blossomed into more than just an extracurricular. CAB is the largest programming board on campus and is open to anyone and everyone, regardless of housing status or school. That openness brings in a world of diverse identities that Sharma champions as she strives to have those voices heard. It wasn’t always that way though. When she arrived on campus, the leaders she saw around her fit too tightly into a mold. She sought to shatter that. She also dropped tra-

dad, can attest to. “Having someone who is really able to think about identities that she may not be a part of is something that I think speaks loudly to her commitment to NYU,” Harrell said. Sharma rejects the common NYU student’s cynicism toward their school. Since her childhood, she’s been a huge cheerleader for NYU. “I knew I wanted to go to NYU since I was, like, five years old,” Sharma said. “I didn’t know what college was, but I knew these letters: N-Y-U.”

ple, and the example she sets is one of collaboration and connection. “She never lets titles or hierarchies of positions cloud her interactions with peers,” Khan said. “She always makes you feel like your ideas are valuable and that they’re being heard.” When Sharma takes her talents beyond her beloved dream school, she expects no dip in ambition for herself. She hopes to work with families and would ultimately love to teach someday, with interest in maybe even creating her own class on women, children and the media. But it’s not the title that she cares about; it’s the impact that she has. “I hope I can be a leader in every facet of my life,” Sharma said. Ultimately, Sharma’s charm lies in her character. It’s who she is at her core — her identities — that give her the fuel to inspire. Her unabashed sense of self has allowed her quirks and faults to shine through as strengths. Above all, she never wants to stop learning about herself — and she wants to empower others to do the same.

“When I go into a new event, I ask myself — is everyone there the same?” Her passion makes her message resonate with those who work with her. She understands that the university has faults, and she isn’t selling anything hollow. She wants to make change. Accountability is a value Sharma holds close — things like the alienation of the Tandon School of Engineering and questions of affordability that the university makes big claims about are focus

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