May 2017 by Reporter Magazine

REPORTER FEBRUARY 2017 reporter.rit.edu

Please Recycle

REPORTER EDITOR IN CHIEF Mandi Moon PRINT MANAGING EDITOR Bryanne McDonough ONLINE MANAGING EDITOR Taylor Derrisaw COPY EDITOR Ramya Shankar NEWS EDITOR Alissa Roy TECHNOLOGY EDITOR Ryan Black LEISURE EDITOR Claire Fleming FEATURES EDITOR Kristin Grant SPORTS EDITOR Mandi Moon VIEWS EDITOR Kevin Zampieron WRITERS Taylor Synclair Goethe, Ryan Black, Grace Blondell, Claire Fleming, Bryanne McDonough, Kristin Grant, Kendra Murphy, Taylor Derrisaw, Ty Clauss

ART ART DIRECTOR Alyssa Minko ONLINE ART DIRECTOR Madeleigh Place DESIGNERS Paula Piedrahita, Kevin Zampieron, Dennae Makel, Kendra Murphy, Lauren Mays, Rebecca Wolinski, Cassy Smithies, Emma Fleming ILLUSTRATORS Monica Nguyen-Vo, Angela Krieg, Cynthia Muniz, Unique Fair, Stephanie Chan, Juho Choi

EDITOR’S NOTE RIT has a lot to offer. After five years here, I still really believe that. The opportunities and experiences I’ve had in my time here have definitely been unique and life-changing, and I will always be grateful for the education and life skills I’ve learned. One of the things I’m most grateful for, though, is how going to college has helped me develop the ability to recognize when something is good while still pushing it to be better. Despite what some people may think, we can be grateful for all that a person or institution has done for us and still hold it to a high standard. We can still expect it to be better. We can still hold it accountable when it falls short. Unhappy with the mental health facilities? Sick of the ever-rising costs of tuition? Think that professors should spend more time teaching rather than focusing on research? Sick of seeing the handicapped doors broken? Wish Saunders had a microwave? Talk about it. Post about it. Send us letters. Send the university letters. Stage an event. Do something. We ran an Editor’s Note a few years ago urging the RIT student body to reject slacktivism and actually advocate for change, and I think the sentiment is more relevant now than ever. Student Government’s PawPrints petitions are great and I think they have had a positive impact. Real change sometimes requires you to get off your computer, though — and this will be doubly true once you leave RIT and enter that “real world” that baby boomers keep saying that we’re not prepared for. I love RIT, and I cherish the experiences I’ve had and people I’ve met in my time here. I’m proud of the community that we have established and the support we give to those in need. At the same time, I know that we can do better — and the only way to do that is never be complacent and to learn to be grateful and demanding at the same time.

PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTO EDITOR Rob Rauchwerger ONLINE PHOTO EDITOR Joseph Ressler PHOTOGRAPHERS Ramya Shankar, Joseph Ressler, Catie Rafferty, Daniel Vasta, Madeleigh Place, Rebekah Havens

Mandi Moon Editor in Chief

BUSINESS BUSINESS MANAGER Zachary Grzelka AD / PR MANAGER Alexis Montoya PRODUCTION MANAGER Mitchell Morgan ONLINE SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR Peter Willis WEB MANAGER Joe Jankowiak VIDEO EDITOR Francesco D’Amanda

Letters to the Editor should be sent to rpteic@rit.edu. No letters will be printed unless signed. All letters received become the property of REPORTER.

ADVISOR Rudy Pugliese PRINTING EPi Printing CONTACT 585.475.2212 Online Video Component

Reporter Magazine is published monthly during the academic year by a staff comprised of students at Rochester Institute of Technology. Business, Editorial and Design facilities are located in Room A-730, in the lower level of the Campus Center. Our phone number is 1.585.475.2212. The Advertising Department can be reached at 1.585.475.2213. “The RIT Inn is the equivalent of Narnia to me.” —Z.G. The opinions expressed in Reporter do not necessarily reflect those of the Institute. Reporter is not responsible for materials presented in advertising areas. Reporter takes pride in its membership in the Associated Collegiate Press and American Civil Liberties Union. Copyright © 2016 Reporter Magazine. All rights reserved. No portion of this Magazine may be reproduced without prior written permission.

May 3

TA B L E O F cover and TOC photo-illustration by Ramya Shankar

NE WS 6

THE ALMIGHTY IMPORTANT ACCREDITATION PROCESS How a school becomes accredited

T E CH 8

DONT MIND THE GAP: INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAMS AT RIT

LEISURE 10

RIT’s got more than bricks

Majors distinct to RIT explore the intersection of the arts and sciences

@reportermag 4 May

RIT’S ENVIRONMENT: LOOKING BEYOND THE BRICK CITY

AT YOUR LEISURE What’s behind the 119th Lilac Festival

CONTENTS FE AT URES 16

IMAGINE RIT: TEN YEARS OF RIT’S BEST This year we celebrate the 10 year anniversary of Imagine RIT

THE EVOLUTION OF ROCHESTER Learn more about Rochester’s tumultuous past

FOOD SCIENCES Sweet or salty, someone probably used science to make it that way

SPOR T S 24

GET OUT WHILE YOU CAN Outdoor activities in Rochester

OPPOSING VIEWS What’s the answer to the student debt crisis?

WORD ON THE STREET If you could go to any time period, what would it be?

RINGS Text or call (585) 672-4840

reporter.rit.edu May 5

THE

ALMIGHTY IMPORTANT ACCREDITATION PROCESS

by Taylor Synclair Goethe | photography by Joseph Ressler | design by Paula Piedrahita

IT has recently undergone two accreditation peer review processes. I know what you’re thinking — “Whatever, who cares?” Well, you should, because RIT maintaining its accredited status or not is the difference between your degree getting you a job and being worth diddly squat. According to the online ERIC Thesaurus, accreditation is a process of validation in which colleges, universities and other institutions of higher learning are evaluated. The keyword here is “validation” which means that the accreditation process decides whether RIT qualifies as a university or not. The main reason why Trump University was sued for fraud was because of their use of the word “university” without undergoing the proper accreditation process. Although it isn’t technically illegal for a school to operate without accreditation, most institutions that don’t are forced to close down. “This is because the school (without accreditation) will no longer be eligible to receive federal and state financial aid, which is a significant source of funding for many schools,” according to OnlineCourses.net. Dr. Anthony G. Collins is the president of Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y., and he is also the chair of RIT’s accreditation

6 News

board. This is Collins’ sixth time serving as a chair for an accreditation board. A benefit of the accreditation process is that it is peerreviewed, which means that other academic professionals are reviewing the school. “You wouldn’t want a professional accreditor doing the evaluations. No one would have experience being president of a university or dean ... You want to ask the people whose daily jobs are the equivalent of what they’re evaluating,” Collins said.

THE SCHOOL (WITHOUT ACCREDITATION) WILL NO LONGER BE ELIGIBLE TO RECEIVE FEDERAL AND STATE FINANCIAL AID, WHICH IS A SIGNIFICANT SOURCE OF FUNDING FOR MANY SCHOOLS. The accreditation of America’s universities is spread throughout various districts. The district that RIT is part of is called “Midstate.” According

The accreditation process decides whether RIT qualifies as a university or not.

to Collins, this encompasses the middle states which include Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The Midstate contains approximately 600 universities in which about 60 are evaluated each year. However, the criteria for evaluation has recently changed. Usually, universities undergo evaluation every 10 years with a small review in between, after five years. Now, universities will be reviewed every eight years and the small review will be discontinued. Collins pointedly remarked, “No university can afford to not be accredited.” RIT reported a whopping 70 million dollar budget for research, most of which was through federal funding. Fortunately, the process for accreditation is described as a “pass/fail system.” This means that universities aren’t graded during accreditation — rather they are evaluated if they meet the bare bone standards, or at least are close enough to meet the standards in a reasonable time frame. “If there’s a problem, the university does have a period of time to fix it but that’s not public knowledge,” Collins said. The overall accreditation process is split into two segments: RIT provides a selfassessment report to the accreditation board, then the board arrives on campus to expand

Dr. Anthony G. Collins is the president of Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y., and he is also the chair of RIT’s accreditation board.

“NO UNIVERSITY CAN AFFORD TO NOT BE ACCREDITED.” upon the report and conduct interviews. According to Collins, they check as much as possible. “Literally everything. Everything from senior faculty to groups of students, mostly randomly selected, and people who the evaluation team has identified is qualified to provide more indepth explanations,” Collins said. During the accreditation process, RIT aspires to meet seven standards of excellency: 1. Mission and Goals 2. Ethics and Integrity 3. Design and Delivery of the Student Learning Experience 4. Support of the Student Experience 5. Educational Effectiveness Assessment 6. Planning, Resources and Institutional Improvement 7. Governance, Leadership and Administration The results of the accreditation were announced in the Ingle auditorium and live streamed to the rest of the RIT campus. The

room was filled with professionals and RIT faculty anxious to hear the results. Spoiler: Of course RIT was accredited. This is a fantastic school. “We have concluded that RIT does comply with all standards of accreditation,” Collins said. President Bill Destler responded to the announcement that RIT will retain its accreditation status. “I think it’s gratifying. I found the evaluation of the self-study extremely helpful and it will benefit RIT as an institution moving forward.” However, this is not to say that RIT passed with flying colors either. RIT did meet all requirements of the seven standards, but the board provided 13 areas of suggestions and 14 recommendations in the evaluation. Just as it sounds, suggestions are simply advice that can or cannot be regarded. However, recommendations are a little more serious. Although they technically qualify as standards, no immediate action needs to be done, but the review board does expect some progress to be made in the areas by the next evaluation in eight years. Some areas with recommendations were:

Standard III:

Recommend more attention to diversity in STEM fields. “[We recommend that] RIT consults with individuals of deaf and hard-of-hearing in STEM fields,” Collins said.

Standard IV:

Recommend making pathways to graduation easier, especially for transfer students.

Standard VI:

Be more thoughtful about changes in diversity in future planning.

“RIT should consider the intersections of future graduate programs and tenures for mixed faculty in the budget,” Collins explained.

Standard VII:

Be more thoughtful about changes in diversity in future planning.

President Destler provided his conclusion on how RIT’s standing with accreditation will be shaped, but incoming President Munson will have the final determination. “The new president will want to have his own impact on the strategic plan ...… deciding where he wants to put emphasis on,” President Destler said. Overall, RIT has made positive moves, but with an incoming president, the structure and operations of the campus are subject to change. The student body will have to wait and see where the new president’s strategic plan will take RIT in the future.

News 7

DON’T MIND

THE GAP INTERDISCIPLINARY PROGRAMS AT RIT by Ryan Black | illustration by Monica Nguyen-Vo | design by Kevin Zampieron

o one likes being put in a box. We’re multi-faceted beings, with interests and curiosities that span more than what our diplomas will say after the words “Bachelor of.” Accordingly, higher education is increasingly reflective of how interdisciplinary people’s interests and professions have become; it mirrors how many fields of study have become interconnected. At RIT, at least two majors — Digital Humanities and Social Sciences as well as Motion Picture Science — have sought to take advantage of the university’s unique colleges and strengths to such ends. Each of these majors explores the spaces at the intersection of the arts and sciences.

Engineering Entertainment The Motion Picture Science (MPS) program is a major unique to RIT that prepares students to be technologists in the film and television industry. More specifically, MPS students study to develop the technology that permits cinema or television to be made. “They can build systems for filmmakers to use,” explained Dr. David Long, an associate professor in the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences and the program chair of Motion Picture Science. “They can think of new ways to communicate the stories that the directors and writers have.” The practice of MPS, according to Long, very often takes the shape of finding the ‘sane’ technological means of implementing an otherwise ‘insane’ artistic vision. Those in MPS tend to have an aptitude for engineering, but also enjoy film as an industry, a form of art and a medium of communication. “They are inherently stretching both directions,” he pointed out. “It’s really what makes them uniquely capable to fulfill these specialized roles in the motion picture industry.”

8 Technology

I THINK THERE’S A LOT OF QUESTIONS — THAT ARE SHARED QUESTIONS — THAT HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES CAN HELP TECH ANSWER. For the longest time, technologists in cinema were often traditionally trained engineers, who only apprenticed in cinema once they entered the industry. Long himself experienced this at Kodak as a chemical engineer. It was then and there that he realized there were likely to be students who wanted that knowledge out of school, so they could jump right into the film industry. Long also contextualized MPS’ place in higher education in relation to the trend of “STEAM” — science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) with the arts as well. “We work for creative folks, artists, directors, cinematographers and screen writers; we’re the technologist permitting their vision to happen,” noted Long. “So we are ‘STEAM’ by definition, it’s not even a cool trendy thing, it’s what we have to do or we don’t exist.” One of the clearest intersections of the arts and sciences in MPS is in post-production processes like color correction and visual effects work. The visuals of a film need to convey the emotion and sensibilities of the story being told. “It’s funny to the layperson — like to my parents — to discuss that there’s even such a role in filmmaking,” said Long. “They go, ‘What do you mean? Doesn’t the camera just make it look pretty?’”

Questions and Answers RIT is also home to one of the few undergraduate Digital Humanities and Social Science (DHSS) programs in the nation. The unique intersection of the arts and sciences in DHSS is found from using computing and new media design tools to answer questions from the humanities and social sciences. This can take form in using tech-like databases or scientific visualization to better acquire and convey data pertinent to the liberal arts. Many avenues of DHSS also aim to examine

the implications of engaging with technology to the breadth and degree that we do as human beings. “I think there’s a lot of questions — that are shared questions — that humanities and social sciences can help tech answer,” said Dr. Lisa Hermsen, a professor of English and founder of the program. Dr. Tamar Carroll, an assistant professor of History and the program’s director, pointed to the societal conversations happening around subjects like the sharing of private information and surveillance capitalism, as examples. “A lot of these questions social scientists take on,” said Hermsen. “But you are able to take them on in a more robust way if you actually know the technology — if you’ve had your fingers in it.” She noted that students themselves exercise such an approach with endeavors like their capstone projects. One such student is Everett Kline, a fifth year DHSS and Multidisciplinary Studies major, whose project is “A Matter of Refuge” a modification for the open-world video game “Fallout 4.” “The idea is to simulate a refugee camp,” said Carroll. “It’s getting people to think critically about the ethics involved in something like the Syrian refugee crisis, but through playing it out in a game.” Kline explained that he aims to use a setting disconnected, but relatable enough to our reality, like “Fallout 4’’ to explore such subject matter digitally. “It’s a game that helps people explore their own understanding of empathy and help apply logic to it towards other people — more specifically refugees in a safe constructed environment,” said Kline. He aims to create an application that makes users think about the implications and difficulties of making decisions in such a context.

Why these Programs Are Unique to RIT Long and Carroll each noted that their respective programs are largely indebted to the fact that RIT has a wide array of colleges and disciplines they can leverage. MPS happens only at RIT because there aren’t other universities that can pull from both Imaging Science and Film programs. DHSS capitalizes on the strengths of the College of Liberal Arts, Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences and the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences. According to Hermsen, DHSS at RIT is more interdisciplinary than other similar programs because of it; DH minors at other universities don’t actually reach out to different departments. DHSS is actually the first major at RIT not overseen by a single department. “What we wanted to do is say, ‘Because it’s so interdisciplinary, it doesn’t belong in a department,’” she recalled. “That was kind of a difficult sell. Yet, because all three colleges saw the need for this, I think that was key.” Long also attributed MPS partially to a unique spirit of cross-disciplinary collaboration at RIT, pointing to The MAGIC Center and President Destler’s encouragement to look on the other side of each college’s walls. “Imaging Science is in the College of Science and we’re in the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences,” he pointed out. “We’re two different colleges, we ‘shouldn’t’ naturally talk to one another, there should be silos, but we bridge that gap.” Hermsen similarly noted that we often make the mistake of thinking RIT’s colleges are silos, when they’re really not. They may be distinct, but the fact that we have all these individualized colleges makes RIT almost the perfect place for multidisciplinary studies.

Technology 9

by Grace Blondell photography by Catie Rafferty design by Dennae Makel

10 Leisure

ost students, faculty, staff and even visitors have come to know RIT as Brick City. A 2010 RITPedia post holds the total number of bricks at a whopping 15,194,656 and to many, it was no surprise when our monochromatic campus was included in Travel+Leisure’s 2013 compilation of America’s “Ugliest College Campuses.” However, RIT has not always been a brick city; in fact, as far as campuses go, it has an incredibly unique past that has contributed to some of the special environmental features it has today.

A HISTORY OF THE INSTITUTE RIT’s founding date coincides with the formation of the Athenaeum in 1829, an academic and cultural society established by Nathaniel Rochester, as outlined in “History of RIT” on RIT’s website. In 1847, the Athenaeum merged with another local group, the Mechanics Literary Association, to form the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Association. The new group continued a tradition of lectures and debates at Corinthian Hall and boasted talks by highly regarded speakers like Charles Dickens and Ralph Waldo Emerson. In 1885, the Mechanics Institute was founded as a technical training school with all costs associated with running the school coming from community donations. Finally, in 1891, the Rochester Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute (RAMI) merged, bringing “cultural education and practical technical training” together. The first official building erected by RAMI was the Manual Training Building in 1984, later called the Eastman Annex; it was joined by the Eastman Building seven years later. These early buildings occupied a city block in downtown Rochester, bounded by the Erie Canal, South Plymouth Avenue, Spring Street and South Washington Street. 3,000 students

were enrolled in the school within five different departments by 1903: Industrial Arts, Mechanic Arts and Sciences, Manual Training, Domestic Science and Art and the Fine Arts. The institute adopted the name Rochester Institute of Technology in 1944, and in 1966 became the home campus of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. By this time, RIT had long outgrown its downtown facilities, and relocated to its current location in Henrietta in 1968. Though RIT may be a hideous architectural nightmare to some, the beautifully groomed land around campus helps offset what many see as boring and ugly. In terms of manpower, Dave Harris, director of utilities for FMS, says that the institute employs 16 full-time and six part-time staff members within the Grounds Department for campus upkeep. Their annual budget is about $1.5 million. “In addition, capital investments are made in terms of purchasing large equipment: trucks, highway snow plows, loaders, large mowers and maintaining the hardscape: paving walks, roads and [parking] lots,” said Harris.

THE WETLANDS Prior to being purchased by RIT, the “Super Block” (the land bounded by John Street, Bailey Road, River Road and Jefferson Road) was a farm. According to Harris, a small acreage is still leased out to a local farmer who alternates planting corn and soybeans and in some years, winter wheat. At some locations on campus, you can find remnants of its past as a farm, from apple trees dotting the landscape to rusty equipment resting in the woods by the main entrance. Even before the property was used for agriculture, most of the land RIT now owns was wetlands. “Pretty much everything that was off of the hill [that our campus buildings reside on] was a wetland a long time ago,” says Dr. Christy Tyler, a professor within the

environmental science program. It wasn’t until the 1800s that much of the land was drained for agricultural purposes. But Tyler notes that even today, wetlands are ubiquitous on campus. “Most of the campus is pretty wet, at least part of the year ... In order for a piece of land to be classified as a wetland, it doesn’t have to be wet 365 days a year, it just has to be wet part of the year,” he said. The path leading through the woods from the Gene Polisseni Center to Grace Watson Hall, considered a forested wetland, experiences standing water seasonally. In the early spring, the land is flooded from the melting snow and heavy rainfall, but by the early summer the land is dry. Associate Professor Elizabeth Hane, from the School of Life Sciences, finds these forested wetlands the most intriguing because they are so important for wildlife. Salamanders, frogs and other types of amphibians lay their eggs in vernal pools in the spring, where they stay until they develop into adulthood, by which time the ground has dried out. “For some people, they see it as sort of an eyesore that there’s standing water everywhere and it’s kind of a waste, but if you’re a frog or a salamander, it’s an important part of your life cycle,” Hane emphasizes. Hane also mentions that this same wooded area between the tennis courts and the dorms is noteworthy because it is an old growth forest. This means it has never been harvested or cleared before, as evident from the massive trees. Old growth forests are especially unusual in New York because most of the forests were cleared at some point in time for farming. A visit to this section of the woods in the spring will take you on a beautiful wildflower walk. Yellow trout lilies, hepatica and white trilliums, species unique to old growth areas, carpet the ground. These blooms are called “spring ephemerals” because they last for just a few weeks before the tree leaves

Leisure 11

are out, when the sunlight can penetrate to the understory of the forest. If you choose to check out the flowers, avoid stepping on them; it’s difficult for plants to survive when the soil becomes compacted in heavily trafficked areas. In addition to the natural wetlands around campus, several man-made wetlands have been constructed over the years. In both 2002 and 2007, mitigation wetlands were created as compensation for natural wetlands that had been filled in as required by the EPA’s Clean Water Act. “Basically, RIT kind of got its hand slapped because they filled in a bunch of wetlands when they were making a parking lot,” Tyler says about the creation of wetlands in 2002. Conservation easements between the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and RIT protect these mitigation wetlands (also called conservation wetlands) from any future development.

INVASION OF THE EMERALD ASH BORERS Since coming into the U.S. on cargo ships from Asia around the 1990s, emerald ash borers (EAB) have been nothing more than a nuisance. The bugs are highly destructive to ash tree populations. Larvae laid under the bark create mazes as they feed on the tree during their development, which kills the tree. It is impossible to know if a tree has been infested until the ash borers emerge, leaving behind dime-sized holes. While the infestation in New York has not been as widespread as other areas of the U.S., the 2010 infestation on Scottsville Road made it evident that the bugs would eventually enter the campus. Hane explains that several important questions were brought up when the initial infestation occurred: “The EAB is coming, it’s actually already here now — what will happen to the campus as a whole? We have a lot of forested areas, how much of the forested area is ash ...?”

12 Leisure

Since then, RIT FMS has tried several different methods for controlling the infestation, which includes spraying and injecting trees. However, this can only save individual trees, as it is costly and timeconsuming. This makes it unrealistic to attempt to save the thousands of trees in a forest. Many nearby communities including Canandaigua, Hane’s hometown, have chosen to preemptively remove their ash trees. It is possible that the ash borer infestation will impact RIT’s promise to become carbon neutral by 2030. Because carbon is stored in the soil and in trees, the ash trees that die will no longer be storing carbon. 30 percent of the trees on campus are ash, so researchers are examining what will happen when the trees die and where the carbon goes to determine how our carbon budget will be affected.

“That’s the politically correct or proper name for ‘drones,’ because ‘drones’ has this military connotation,” Professor Jan van Aardt from the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Sciences explains. There is a large netted enclosure down Miller Road, which runs between Bailey Road and Andrew Memorial Drive, for “sense and avoid” research with smaller drones. Associate Professor Agamemnon Crassidis of KGCOE is using the enclosure to examine how the systems fly and sense each other and other obstructions and then avoid them. Because of the acreage being used for the new UAS facilities, as well as the 2015 solar panel installation, Tyler noted that RIT has decreased the land it leases out to be farmed.

UNIQUE ENVIRONMENT = UNIQUE RESEARCH

When Tyler acted as the chair of the Campus Environment Committee, she sent out a survey to find out who was using the campus and what they were using it for. They learned that aside from the professors, researchers and students who use RIT’s land for classes, most people didn’t know much about the campus or the land it sits on. Despite the incredible space and resources available, the campus is not very well used with many people unaware of the trails in the woods or Red Creek flowing through campus. So make sure to get outside and see beyond the brick city. Go look for tadpoles in the creek and get lost on the trails behind Grace Watson Hall. Adventure down Miller Road to check out the drone research enclosure and try to imagine what else a netted cage that large could be used for. Find the old farm equipment buried by the main entrance to campus. Just make sure you don’t step on the wildflowers.

The combination of RIT’s large campus and its location within a unique environment has enabled several fascinating research projects to occur. In the past, Hane has led students through a series of labs looking at the terrestrial isopod population on campus. Also called “rolly pollies” or “pillbugs,” Hane explains, “[They] can be really important indicators of heavy metals in the soil, or contamination ... [they are] good indicators of ecosystem health.” Hane and her students completed several surveys on campus with the bugs, collecting them from various locations. One collection site was at a location that had been an orchard during the campus’ farm days; other sites were primary and secondary growth forests. After data collection and analysis, Hane and her students found that the six species of isopods they found each occupied different areas of the campus due to their “different sensitivities to having the soil disturbed.” RIT’s land has also become important to the newly established Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) research program.

EXPLORE YOUR CAMPUS

“FOR SOME PEOPLE, THEY SEE IT AS SORT OF AN EYESORE THAT THERE’S STANDING WATER EVERYWHERE, AND IT’S KIND OF A WASTE, BUT IF YOU’RE A FROG OR A SALAMANDER, IT’S AN IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR LIFE CYCLE.”

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1876: 1887: 1890: 1892: 1898: 1899: 1901: 1905: 1908: 1909: 1920s:

ROCHESTER’S LILAC FESTIVAL: A HISTORY

1940s: 1978:

A.Y.L. by Claire Fleming illustration by Angie Krieg design by Kendra Murphy

14 Leisure

PRESENT: Over 500 varieties of lilacs in over

1200 lilac plants are celebrated each year. Crowds reach over 500,000 for the 10 day festival which now includes 135 performances, parades, 160 art vendors, wine, beer and food stands. This year, celebrate Rochester’s 119th Lilac Festival from May 12–21, 2017. The festival goes from 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. in Highland Park. Performances include Rusted Root, Zac Brown Band Tribute Band and many more. More information on rochesterevents.com.

IMAGINE RIT TEN YEARS OF RITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S BEST by Bryanne McDonough| photographs compiled by Ramya Shankar | design by Lauren Mays

Above: RIT Theme Park Enthusiasts present a roller coaster built with Kinex on May 22, 2015 Below: A dance group performs at Imagine on May 3, 2014

16 Features

THE GENERAL, POSITIVE UPBEAT ENERGY OF IMAGINE IS A REALLY NICE ENVIRONMENT

years and eight months ago, Dr. Barry Culhane, executive assistant to the president, was presented with an enormous task. “[Destler] was on the job for four months, and he came to me and he said, ‘I have a really good idea, big plan for you,’” Culhane said. “He — very casually — says, ‘You know, I’d really like to get 30,000 people on campus to see everything that our wonderful students, faculty and staff do together.’”

THE LAST NINE YEARS

Imagine RIT was President Bill Destler’s brainchild. Culhane, the festival’s chairman,

brought it to life with the help of many people. “With eight months to go and a hodgepodge lodge of volunteers ... we started working on it day and night,” Culhane said. “Literally day and night the first year.” They decided to call the festival “Imagine RIT.” It wasn’t easy. Pulling together an unprecedented campus-wide festival in eight months was a challenge, but the campus rose to it. On May 3, 2008, some 17,500 visitors came to campus to see what RIT had to offer. Immediately after, the committee debriefed what went wrong and what went right, and to prepare for the next year. Reporter covered the event and had a lot of positive feedback. However, Max Wunderlich, then a fourth year Information Technology major, reportedly remarked that “while he enjoyed the festival, he would not like to see it annually, as a year’s worth of innovation might not be adequate for the festival.” He would be proven wrong. The following years were even more successful. In 2009, the festival drew in 25,000 visitors. The next year, President Destler’s dream was achieved: 32,000 visitors saw the wonderful things happening at RIT. Every year since, according to Culhane, more than 33,000 people have attended. The organizers are happy with that number. “We really don’t care to have 50,000,” said Culhane. “Because we would have lines and things that people would really be annoyed about.” From the beginning, President Destler and his wife, Dr. Rebecca Johnson, have hosted a competition for students called “Destler’s Challenge.” In its early years, the challenges focused on e-vehicles, a special interest of Destler’s. Hot Wheelz, an all-female Formula SAE racing team, began as a way for female engineers to work together on this challenge. Since the challenge has moved on to other fields, Hot Wheelz transitioned to be the only all-female Formula SAE team in the nation. Caitlin Babul, fifth year Mechanical Engineering major and chief electrical engineer for Hot Wheelz, explained that Hot Wheelz usually teams up with the other racing groups on campus to unveil their vehicles at Imagine RIT. She recalled an

unveiling that she attended last year. “There was just a huge crowd of people circled around ... when the cars started coming out, there was just a loud roar from the crowd,” she said. “It was just a really proud moment for us.” Scott Williamson, second year Electrical Engineer major and current Imagine RIT coordinator for Engineering House (E-House), exhibited last year. E-House, a Special Interest House on campus, has participated intermittently since the beginning according to Williamson. In 2016, E-House had four projects that lasted for the entirety of the day. “We also had a Ruben’s tube, which turned into a small pipe bomb,” said Williamson. A Ruben’s tube is a gas tube which produces waves of fire through holes in the top when music is played through it. “When it did work it was awesome.” One of their projects was a theremin, an early electrical musical instrument that plays music when it detects motion. It was designed into a “Star Wars” droid. “I do remember Destler absolutely loving the theremin that we built,” Williamson recalled. “He was sitting there playing with it.” Imagine RIT is about showcasing all that RIT has to offer, and that includes more than just engineering and sciences. Liberal Arts students showcase their work and the various performance groups on campus will also give performances throughout the day. “I think it’s really nice for people walking around,” said Jenna Rahrle, second year Public Policy and Political Science double major and music director of Proof of Purchase (POP), a co-ed a capella group. “They’re seeing all of these different really cool technology tables and then they can go through Infinity Quad and hear people performing.” Rahrle remembers last year’s Imagine RIT fondly. “We were performing ‘Shut Up and Dance’ by Walk the Moon and one girl in the audience got up on the stage with us and started dancing with the soloist,” she said. “It was really fun.”

YEAR TEN

This year, Imagine RIT takes place on May 6; 3,500 exhibitors, including Babul, Williamson and Rahrle will showcase over 400 projects. Exhibitors, interpreters, support staff and 500-600 volunteers will gather together to pull off another Imagine RIT. Rahrle will be performing with the rest of POP at 2 p.m. in Infinity Quad in the “Think Tank” zone. While they haven’t finalized their Features 17

Top Left: Kids play with interactive technology on May 1, 2010 Bottom Left: A visitor experiences virtual reality in May 3, 2014 Right: Exhibitors show their project to a child on May 1, 2010

WHAT IS

IMAGINE RIT? “It’s the joy on the children’s faces as they run through the [ooblek] and they see the robot move ... All these things for them are ‘space-like.’” — Dr. Barry Culhane, festival chairman. “I think it’s about showcasing RIT. We’re not just a tech school, we have other things going on.” — Jenna Rahrle, music director for POP. “We have performances and food ... There’s something for everyone, which I think is really great.” — Scott Williamson, Imagine RIT coordinator for Engineering House. “I think it’s a way to give back to the community and a way for the community to participate with RIT.” — Caitlin Babul, chief electrical engineer for Hot Wheelz.

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set list, POP’s current repertoire includes Delta Rae, Walk the Moon, Ellie Goulding and Muse. Visitors can expect to hear at least one song they recognize. For regular performances, POP puts together choreography, but they focus on the vocals for Imagine RIT. Preparation for performances call for 7 hours of vocal rehearsal a week, but the group looks forward to performing. “It’s really fun and a little more laid back,” said Rahrle. “The general, positive upbeat energy of Imagine is a really nice environment.” The Hot Wheelz team will unveil their car with the other RIT motorsports teams outside in the “RIT Central” zone from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. The rest of the day they will be in the Gordon Field House with their car. “My favorite part [of presenting] is interacting with the community and getting to talk with them and share what you’re passionate about with them and hopefully, go spark some interest or passion in them as well,” said Babul. “Racecars are cool. People like racecars. They like to see them go fast.” The Formula SAE competition that Hot Wheelz participates in is the week before Imagine RIT. They get back on May 5. Luckily, this means that they already have a fully assembled car, built from scratch. The only preparation specific to Imagine RIT is the creation of materials and posters for presentation. Babul will also be presenting with Pi Tau Sigma, an honorary engineering society. Their exhibit is “Six Simple Machines,” and will be located in Infinity Quad. Groups like E-House, who build projects specifically for Imagine RIT, often run into crunch time the week before. Williamson

THE LAST TWO-WEEK BLOCK, THEY’VE STARTED PULLING ALLNIGHTERS. Children run through oobleck on May 2, 2009

manages all of the projects for E-House and coordinates with already-overworked students to get everything in on time. “It tends to get stressful that whole last week,” Williamson said. “We’re about a month away at this point and some people are just starting their projects.” “The last two-week block, they’ve started pulling all-nighters,” Williamson said about last year. The sheer breadth and depth of student groups who present at Imagine RIT really displays all that our school has to offer. Many students are willing to step away from their studies at a crucial time in the semester, to present their projects to the general public. “My favorite part of Imagine by far is walking up to an exhibit and watching how great our students present themselves and how they have learned to vary their abilities to speak at different levels,” said Culhane. “If they have kids there, they will change their presentation to allow those kids to understand it.” Imagine RIT is very friendly for kids, and many people find showcasing their projects to children is very rewarding. “I think it’s a great event for kids because they can come and they can look at all these different things, whether its engineering, or they go into one of the art buildings,” said Babul. “It helps them figure out what they’re interested in.” Babul emphasized that Hot Wheelz showcases their projects to encourage young people to pursue STEM and to show young girls that an all-female team can build a

racecar. Williamson said that E-House always tries to include at least one kid-friendly project. This year, they built a 3D printed puzzle with their on-floor 3D printer; it will be located in Erdle Commons in the Gleason building. A Tesla Turbine and arcade machine built by E-House will also be displayed in Erdle Commons. They have also built a wooden car that will be displayed outside ENT in the “Technology Quarter.”

THE NEXT 10 YEARS

Culhane assures us that the incoming president, Dr. Dave Munson, plans to continue putting on Imagine RIT. Planning for Imagine RIT 2018 has already begun. The date has been set for April 28, the earliest it will have been held, to accomodate the new academic calendar. To begin planning for the next year, the committee debriefs on the current year. “After the festival we also put out a survey to visitors, volunteers and exhibitors so in addition to feedback during debriefing, we analyze the results from the survey and then I usually write up a little report and it’s from that that we develop our plan of work moving into the following year,” said Heather Cottone, chair of program and logistics for Imagine RIT. Representatives from each college also share what happened in their areas, what went well and what could have gone better. The committee attempts to use this feedback to improve future events. For instance, they have been trying to implement an app that will work in real-time to help visitors find their way around the fair. One

issue that they have to deal with is ensuring that the golf carts reserved for disabled attendees to use are not being used as “joyrides” for kids. On July 1, the beginning of RIT’s fiscal year, the Imagine RIT committee starts talking about Destler’s challenge, plans meetings for the following year and announces the “save the date.” On January 1, marketing starts up and things pick up the pace until everything comes together. “There’s a lot of little detail stuff that needs to be sequenced perfectly to all come together on one day,” said Culhane. Culhane and Cottone say that Imagine RIT attracts many future RIT students. “[The students] couldn’t believe all the different stuff,” said Culhane. “From black hole research to beautiful artwork... to electrical engineering to all kinds of sciences.” Rahrle agreed with this. “There are families that go to Imagine because they want to see what RIT is like before their child goes there,” she said. “I think that having things that are not just hands-on is really good for people to understand that you can get more involved than what you’re going to school for.” Imagine RIT has something for everyone and it’s an experience that is unique to RIT. Nobody can see it all in one day, but be sure to check out “Reporter Through the Ages” in the Student Alumni Union!

All photographs compiled with permission from https://www.flickr.com/photos/imaginerit/.

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The Evolution of Rochester by Taylor Synclair Goethe | photography by Daniel Vasta | design by Rebecca Wolinski

View of the Metropolitan, formerly known as Chase Tower, in Rochester, N.Y.

ochester has a long history of innovation, discrimination, success and failure. Many know Rochester for its industrial and civil activism past rather than its present. Some are not so optimistic of its future. Nevertheless, it is undeniable that Rochester’s rich history has shaped it into a place of immense culture, inequality and a city ready for a comeback.

Origin of Rochester Before, the Genesee valley was home to the Six Nations of the Haudenosaunee (or Iroquois League), specifically the Seneca. However, after the nearly established United States won the Revolutionary War, George Washington ordered a campaign to eradicate the indigenous populations who sided with the British. The Iroquois peoples were among them. According to RIT history professor Michael Brown, many veterans of the Revolutionary War aided in the genocide of the Six Nations. Word spread among the enlisted establishing a network of prospective land owners eager to purchase newly vacated land. One of those men was Colonel Nathaniel Rochester. “[What] a lot of people don’t know about Nathaniel Rochester is that he was a broker of other human beings,” Brown said. In other words, he was a slave trader. Colonel Rochester took advantage of the removal of the Seneca people to establish an Anglo American settlement in the Genesee falls. The falls were 20 Features

then used to power mills. The settlement was later called “Rochesterville” and the mills became a valuable resource in the economy.

Stanton stood on the latter, fearful that empowered black men would usurp them in civil liberties.

Early Years of Social Justice

Industrial Revolution

Rochester’s location on the Great Lake and near the Canadian border as well as its large Quaker population made it an opportune depot for the Underground Railroad. The most well-known abolitionist who came to the area was Frederick Douglass, who, after escaping slavery, went to Boston but then decided to come to Rochester. He saw its potential to be a “hotbed” for the abolitionist movement. Douglass allied with Susan B. Anthony and the two of them publicly supported abolition and the Women’s Suffrage Movement. The duo had a falling out over the ratification of the 15th Amendment, which is frequently referred to by historians as “the saddest divorce in American history.” The amendment read: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude” The Amendment gave black men the right to vote, but not white women. The Women’s Suffrage Movement was split between showing solidarity with abolitionists or resisting any new amendments that didn’t provide universal suffrage to all women. Anthony and her comrade Elizabeth Cady

According to Brown, unlike all other Great Lake cities, Rochester’s urban center was built around cataracts. This allowed Rochester to break away from the steel and mining trend and instead develop high quality and high tech manufacturing — none more prominent than George Eastman’s Kodak. A genius in his own right, Eastman developed a dry plate industry and helped in every process from engineering, advertising and production. “People worked for Eastman,” Brown explained. Not only did Eastman employ a fair amount of the city workforce at Kodak, but also funded much of its culture such as museums and the Eastman Theater. Since all industrial jobs in Rochester were for skilled, specialized professions there wasn’t a need for workers to unionize. Rochester therefore did not take part in the Labor Revolution and gained the nickname “Smugtown, USA.”

Economic Inequality According to Brown, Rochester is a city of progress, but also one of extreme inequality.

“The paradox of Rochester is that it ranks high in professional degrees and quality living as well as for childhood poverty,” he explained. The city of Rochester peaked in the 1950s, after which there was a steep decline in both population and economy. In the 1960s, as black people were slowly beginning to break down barriers of discrimination in professional industries like Kodak and Xerox, they witnessed those economic opportunities disappear. After World War II, there was a second wave of migration of African Americans from the segregated south into Rochester in hopes of finding civil and economic opportunity. They were disappointed. Despite the lack of explicit segregation laws, discriminatory rental and housing practices isolated blacks into sectioned communities, de facto segregation. After the passing of the Housing Act of 1954, these urban renewal projects further exiled blacks into “ghettos.” By 1964, the lack of

opportunity, police brutality and poor living conditions culminated in The 1964 Rochester Race Riots. According to a Rochester City Newspaper article titled “Riots Still Haunt Rochester,” the three days of rioting resulted in 800 arrests, 350 injuries, 4 deaths and over 1 million in property damage. “Rochester was actually the first city to deploy the National Guard to deal with urban upheaval in a northern city to establish order and suppress protest in 1964, three years before the Detriot riots,” Brown said. Since the 1950s, white citizens in the city had only slowly been moving to the suburbs. However, after the race riots, a phenomenon known as “white flight” took place. White Rochesterians began to rapidly occupy the suburbs, taking with them their businesses and property tax revenue. In 1968, RIT’s final relocation from downtown Rochester into the Henrietta suburb also aided significantly in

the deterioration of the city’s economy. The fallout disproportionately affected minorities who didn’t have the income to leave the city as well. “As long as suburbanites and suburban governments see their interests at odds with the city government and city residents there will always be tension, particularly around school districts,” Brown noted. “Rochester is a remarkable city with admirable figures. It’s a city of imperfect historical figures.” Rochester has the potential to pull itself up and regain its reputation as a city of innovators and leaders, but it will require “the investment of people willing to give it a second chance again.

Top Left: Cityscape view of Rochester, N.Y., from the Hyatt Regency parking garage Bottom Left: View of the Metropolitan, formerly Chase Tower, and the Alliance Building, East Main St. Rochester, N.Y. Right: Arial view of South Ave, in Center City Rochester, N.Y. Features 21

FOOD BITES: THE SCIENTIFIC PROCESS OF WHAT WE EAT by Kristin Grant |illustration by Cynthia Muniz | design by Cassy Smithies

hat makes Oreos so addictive? Why is it impossible to eat just one Lay’s potato chip? Behind the tastes, textures and smells of every manufactured product on grocery shelves, there is a very intentional thought process. These flavor decisions are usually made by food scientists — people who have been trained to develop food on a mass scale.

FOOD ACADEMY For over 40 years, food scientist and hospitality professor Dr. Carol Whitlock has been teaching RIT students to think critically about food.

“I PREPARE STUDENTS TO DO FOOD EXPERIMENTS.” “I prepare students to do food experiments. Along the way, I teach them sensory evaluation — how to measure qualities of food objectively, not based on personal opinion,” she explained. The research procedure Whitlock has her students follow is identical to any other scientific study. In her classroom, however, the subject matter revolves around food. “They have to start a literature search, just like a scientific approach to any problem.

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They make a plan, they have to state their objective ... then they make their products, they’re evaluated, they have a scorecard they create that is appropriate and they do it twice to make sure that it isn’t a fluke,” Whitlock explained. “They get 20 evaluations, and then they do statistics on those results, and then write their scientific paper.” Projects that focus on dietary restrictions are popular among her Nutrition major students. Her Hospitality and Tourism majors, on the other hand, are more likely to address problems that have to deal with food cost, quality and transportation. Almost right off the bat, Whitlock ensures that her students interact with several food corporations. Just this past month, her class wrapped up a three-week long project geared at creating a product for Dove Chocolate. “We’ve been blessed for 10 years to have this partnership with a higher-profile company,” said Whitlock. “For my students, it’s like a co-op in a class — they’re working directly for a company.”

LIFE OF A FOOD SCIENTIST Andy Narotsky, a Rochester native who now works at Campbell’s headquarters in Camden, N.J., had some additional insights to provide on the food science industry. “Generally speaking, my job is to develop food products,” he said. “That can entail a lot of things. On a given day, I may be making a

new batch of something that we’ve decided to try, or I might be ideating a product.” According to Narotsky, the brainstorming process always begins with the customer. “Marketing or some other side of the corporate ladder can come to us and say, ‘We have researched that consumers want x, y and z,’” he explained. “Then, chefs will make different ‘gold standards’ — their best iteration of whatever we’re trying to make. Then, the technologist — that’s my position — will work with culinary to better understand how to translate what the chef does to something we can produce at scale.” Part of Narotsky’s job also includes revamping old company mainstays. “If we have a product that is doing poorly in the marketplace, we can get data from consumers,” he said. “The first step of tackling an issue is understanding what consumers don’t like about the product.”

“THERE’S AN ESTIMATED 12,000 NEW FOOD PRODUCTS A YEAR” After the problem with the merchandise is identified, Narotsky and his team go through a complex, multi-step process to improve it. “We first ask Culinary how they would solve the problem in a restaurant setting,” he said. “Then we talk to the process engineers

to find out what the capabilities of the plants are, and then also talking to marketing and business people about ... how much money we have to spend on ingredients.”

STAYING RELEVANT Given today’s competitive food market, it is absolutely essential that companies continue to find ways to reinvent their products. “Sometimes, it’s challenging for a company like Campbell, with a rich, long history of making quality products, to change quickly to the changes in the field,” Narotsky said. “I think we’re doing a good job, but it’s definitely a challenge to follow the trends.” Whitlock made similar observations based on her own experiences with the food industry.

“There’s an estimated 12,000 new food products a year — and only about 10 percent make it, and then they have to make it to the grocery store shelves, where space is limited. It’s really a more complex process than people realize,” she said. For that very reason, Whitlock makes sure her students understand the importance of novelty when it comes to food. “If you don’t have something innovative, then you’re probably going to lose market shares. Because today, that’s what people are looking for. They’re looking for foods they perceive to be better,” she explained. When listening to these observations, it can be difficult not to picture large food companies as somewhat conniving entities. Whitlock would argue that the businesses are just catering to what the customers have asked for.

“Some people think that food companies develop food for themselves and their economic reasons. But often they are really producing foods that the public has expressed that they want in some way,” she said. “The food companies follow up because consumers are looking for that.” At the end of the day, Narotsky finds his objective quite simple. “A lot of people hear science and they immediately go to [the] laboratory, with people in lab coats trying to figure out how to genetically modify food and put out the most inauthentic thing possible,” he said. “That’s really not what we do. It’s translating something that you would do in your kitchen for us to do cost effectively and cheaply, to let you have a can of soup year-round, for $1 on the shelf.”

“IT’S TRANSLATING SOMETHING THAT YOU WOULD DO IN YOUR KITCHEN FOR US TO DO COST EFFECTIVELY AND CHEAPLY, TO LET YOU HAVE A CAN OF SOUP YEAR-ROUND, FOR $1 ON THE SHELF.”

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Get Out While You Can!

by Kendra Murphy | photography by Madeleigh Place | design by Emma Fleming

he birds are singing? The air finally doesn’t hurt your face? Are we still in Rochester? So, the bricks really are finally starting to thaw. You lift your head off your textbooks, crawl out of your windowless lab, actually walk to the next building outside of the tunnels. We’re pretty used to exclusively thinking of Rochester as a freezing vortex. But what do students at RIT even do when it’s nice out and there isn’t any snow? Well, there’s always the hiking trails behind Gracie’s. If you fancy yourself climbing rocks instead of mountains of homework, head to the Red Barn. The community gardens just behind the tennis courts can give you your daily dose of orchestrated green space. Plots are available for students to plant if you will be on campus in the summer. And if you need to get a little further off campus? The Lehigh Valley Trail — an excellent path for a hike or a run — is just across the road from Barnes and Noble. But what if you want to stretch your legs a little further off campus than that? Without a car, the great outdoors can feel very inaccessible to those here at RIT. The RIT Outing Club runs two to three hiking trips and other activities around the Rochester area each week. They meet in Gosnell A300 on Wednesdays nights at 9 p.m.,

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and you can connect with them on their Facebook page. All of their events are also posted on Facebook every week. “We try to have some beginner and advanced trips,” said current president Alessandra Suchodolski, third year Biomedical Photographic Communications major. “People in the beginning trips can learn how to backpack and how to pack, what to bring and kind of what it’s like.” RIT’s Outing Club dates all the way back to the granola-munching hippies of the ‘60s. “They actually went on a lot more advanced trips back then. They climbed, like, Mt. Mckinley and crazy ... advanced trips,” Suchodolski recounted. “We found a postcard from there ... then we’ve got some drawings people did. The club room is kind of an archive.” The RIT Outing Club is located behind that door in the tunnels by the NRH loading dock that’s painted with a backpacker and a sunset. Suchodolski gave a more detailed inventory of their headquarters. “We have lots of different equipment to rent — we have sleeping bags, snowshoes, tents and backpacks. We all have a few canoes and we also just got an ocean kayak.” The best part is you don’t even need Tiger Bucks to rent equipment. “We’re a pretty unique club. We don’t charge dues, we don’t charge for gear,” Suchodolski said. “For some

trips we do charge just for food and renting the campsite and all that.” Suchodolski talked about Outing Club’s involvement with other RIT clubs. “We’ve done some rock climbing trips with the Rock Climbing Club,” she said. “We’ve gone to a rock climbing gym in Canada. This year we’re going to help out with Earth Week with SEAL ... the week of the 17th of April. We’re actually going to have a bake sale and we’re going to educate people and hand out flyers about ‘Leave No Trace.’” Suchodolski said the Outing Club hasn’t really connected with any outdoors enthusiasts in the greater Rochester area. Despite the lack of a centralized outdoors hiking community, Rochester has miles of beautiful hiking grounds and parks that the City of Rochester has preserved and cultivated. According to the City of Rochester’s website, the Flower City has over 3,500 acres of parks. Frederick Law Olmsted, the famous designer of New York City’s Central Park, crafted some of Rochester’s very own parks, some of which include playgrounds, picnic grounds, sports fields and even some beaches. One of the city’s programs, the Flower City Feeling Good Series, will be facilitating Thursday Night History and Nature Hikes this summer at 6 p.m. from June 2 to Aug. 25.

“It’s always interesting meeting other people and just chatting with them,” Suchodolski commented. “Get out and tackle a trail — you might end up meeting some fellow hikers as well!” Recently, the city has been working on engaging residents outside in a new way. A number of new initiatives are turning the Flower City into a biking community. Bicycle parking has been added across the city, including the Public Market. The city finished The Bicycle Master Plan project in January 2011, which is serving as a model for their other projects that are currently underway. bikeROCHESTER began in 2011 and has modified 64 miles of Rochester streets to accommodate bicycles safely. The end of 2017 will see the completion of 30 more miles and plans to add 140 more miles have already been drafted. The Inner Loop East Transformation Project, which has been transforming portions of the expressway to include bicycle and walking paths, will be completed this year. Separated bike lanes are also being added along Union Street from Chestnut Street to University Avenue. These routes now link the Genesee Riverway Trail to College Town. The New York State Department of Transportation supplied 80 percent of the funding to the project. There are many ways to get involved with

the Rochester community through biking and other outdoor activities. Rochester will be hosting Bike Week from May 10 to May 16 of this year. Last year’s festival included events such as Bicycle Film Festival, Light up the Night Ride and the Unity Ride to advocate for peace and justice in the community. The Flower City Feeling Good Series also has programs for bikers this summer. Pedal out on Tuesday evenings beginning June 7 until Aug. 30 for guided bicycle tours of the city. Those looking for a way to give back can volunteer with R Community Bikes, an organization that collects unwanted bikes, polishes them up and gives them away to those in need. Their website states that they donate over 2,000 bikes every year. Whether or not you will be at RIT or in Rochester during the summer to take advantage of many of these new opportunities and initiatives, we should be proud and excited that our city is working to transform itself into a green, healthy community. This area has been endowed with great natural beauty that finding ways to enjoy and protect that beauty for future generations is one of the greatest things we can do. So get out and stretch your legs a bit! Everyone needs at least a little study break. Don’t forget to smell the fresh spring air — the textbooks will still be there next semester.

Where can you go to get out? Letchworth State Park 1 Letchworth State Park Castile, N.Y. 14427 Powder Mills Park 154 Park Road Pittsford, N.Y. 14534 Tryon Park 998 Winton Road Rochester, N.Y. 14609 Webster Park 255 Holt Road Webster, N.Y. 14580 Gosnell Big Woods Preserve

680 Vosburg Rd Webster, N.Y. 14580

Seneca Park 259 Winona Blvd Rochester, N.Y. 14617 Maplewood Park and Rose Garden Maplewood Drive and Seneca Parkway Rochester, N.Y. 14613 Highland Park 171 Reservoir Ave Rochester, N.Y. 14620 Corbett’s Glen Nature Park

125 Glen Rd Rochester, N.Y. 14610

Genesee Valley Park Elmwood Avenue & Moore Road Rochester, N.Y. 14620 Sports 25

ANOTHER WAY OF LOOKING

AT TUITION by Taylor Derrisaw | illustration by Unique Fair | design by Lauren Mays

’m going to express a hotly contested opinion on student debt. My opinion is that I don’t think we should have massive student debt and have to pay outrageous amounts of money to go to school debt blah blah blah I’m an entitled millennial, yeah, I get it. I’m not the first to argue this point; you and I know I am not going to be the last. Before I get into that topic however, I’d like to talk about investing. Investing revolves around the idea that if you take up a risk, you’re going to reap a return somewhat proportional to the risk you assumed by taking on the investment. As college students, we do this every time we go to class, pay our tuition bill and study so that we can get a degree, find a well-paying job and do something we love. In order to get there, though, we have to put a lot of money upfront. This would all be well and good if it wasn’t so incredibly expensive.

Under the current model, a student will go to school, graduate and inject whatever they make back into the economy. Brookings, a non-profit organization based out of the DC area, found that the “average bachelor’s degree holder contributes $278,000 more to local economies than the average high school graduate through direct spending.” Although this number fluctuates based on the size and quality of the college they went to, college graduates have the purchasing power to contribute to the economy in more meaningful ways than those who did not pursue college. Before they’re even able to make meaningful change, however, they have to contend with the massive amounts of student debt they may have. A fund of some kind, contributed to by college students once they’ve graduated and are employed that will pay for future generations could help alleviate this matter and ensure that students aren’t stuck

We need to understand that college is an investment and that it contributes to society in meaningful ways.

The views expressed are solely those of the students and do not reflect the views of REPORTER.

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paying monumental costs for tuition. This works kind of like social security, where graduates who are employed and earn income make regular contributions to a fund, which is then invested in safer assets, which will then pay for future generations. The nice part being that if you don’t pursue a college education, you’re not forced into paying it for other people. Intrinsically, this model isn’t much different from the current model where students take out debt in order to pay for their education. The proposal above differs from the current model in that the money contributed to the fund by graduates is then invested in relatively safe investment assets to grow overtime and earn compound interest. Ideally, whoever manages the fund — whether that’s the government or some kind of non-profit — would be able to estimate what college will cost in the future and adjust how the fund is invested accordingly. This idea isn’t without risk. The fund could fail and lose money, leaving us back at square one, but something needs to change. We need to understand that college is an investment and that it contributes to society in meaningful ways. This reflexive view of college will help us find a better way to invest in the future.

THE BEST DEAL OF

OUR LIVES by Ty Clauss | illustration by Unique Fair | design by Lauren Mays

he average dinner table discussion on the cost of a college education wouldn’t be complete without Mom or Dad mentioning how little they paid to attend school. But while the recent rise in prices for college is pretty shocking, so is the rise in financial aid. In a series from the popular podcast Freakonomics, titled “Freakonomics Goes to College,” host Steven Dubner points out that net tuition is rising at a very modest rate in comparison to the actual sticker price of college. Research by the College Board shows that net tuition in public institutions has only increased about $860 over the last decade. This is far from the educational armageddon that many journalists and politicians preach about. Research from The Hamilton Project, a policy think tank, found the average “return on investment” of a college education was still hovering around 16 percent yearly in 2013, a rate that is well over double what an individual is likely to make by investing in stocks. David Autor, an economist from MIT, finds that not going to college will cost most individuals around half a million dollars over the course of their life. If college were wrapped into a stock and sold, it would be impossible to find

an investor who would pass on the deal. Meanwhile, thousands of college students around the country are completely oblivious to how good they’ve got it. Not only are the financial obstacles to college not as great as many people tend to believe, but the financial benefits of a college education are nothing short of thrilling. Of course, just because something is worth a lot of money, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it should cost a lot of money. Although many Americans would pay just about their entire paycheck for clean water, our government regulates the cost of utilities to ensure healthier communities and free up spending. The critical difference between clean water and a college education is that not everyone needs a college education. David Autor suggests that while the U.S. would benefit from more college-educated individuals, the country needs to first have high school students that are prepared to take advantage of the opportunity college presents. As of 2013, only 28 percent of 25–34 year olds in Germany held a bachelor’s degree compared to 43 percent in the United States.

The United States is already sending over 60 percent of high school graduates to university, despite the fact that many of these individuals are underprepared for college. The result is college dropouts, wasted time and wasted money for those that don’t make the most of their college investment. While free tuition isn’t a fundamentally flawed policy — and while many countries provide it with great success — it doesn’t make sense for the U.S. Why push unprepared students into university? Why further advantage a population of college students that is already sitting pretty? Education initiatives should be starting from the ground up, not the top down.

WOTS

If you could time travel, illustration by Stephanie Chan | photography by Rebekah Havens | design by Emma Fleming

Noah Jason Mechanical Engineering 1st Year “The past kinda sucks. Medicine in the past sucked, and you’d die from a toothache. But I’d probably go back to the time of Thomas Edison and people who invented shit, to see how they thought of things.”

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Alessandra Santa Rosa Political Science 2nd Year “I would go back to when CBGB opened up in the late ‘70s. It’s a music venue in the Bowery in New York City that a lot of punk bands went through, like The Talking Heads, Blondie, Iggy Pop. I would like to see that blossoming.”

Trevor Lezynski Software Engineering 1st Year “I would go back not too long ago, middle school or high school. I want to enjoy myself a little bit more, work less hard, do things a little bit differently. I don’t think there’s any event in history that’s more important to me than my own life. It sounds narcissistic, but everyone would like a second chance.”

what period would you visit?

Mark Atwood Political Science 1st Year “I would go back to the drafting of The Constitution. I’m very interesting in politics, I’m a Political Science major, so it would be interesting to go back to the constitutional conventions and hear Madison and Hamilton debating over weird things, like what the president should be called.”

Emily Kiesel Applied and Computational Math Grad Student “I’d go back in time to around the 1950s because they have really fun swing music, and people would go dancing all the time as a norm. And imagine sitting in a diner with a milkshake and the big straws. It sounds really fun.”

Alyssa Mahagan Fine Art Photography 1st Year “I would go back to the Renaissance era because of the uprising of art.”

The views expressed are solely those of the students and do not reflect the views of REPORTER.

R IN GS (585)-627-4840

i on | illustration by Juho Cho compiled by Kevin Zampier design by Kendra Murphy

Dorms suck because I hate playing the “is someone going to barge in on me or can I poop in peace” game. Friday, 24 March, 2017 at 10:22 PM

The views expressed are solely those of the students and do not reflect the views of REPORTER.

My marketing professor just now: “Has anyone ever been to a Furry convention?” Tuesday, 28 March, 2017 at 10:18 AM

Every time I see a baby on my Facebook I feel the need to drink. Sunday, 26 March, 2017 at 2:38 AM

It’s just one of those days where you find a pad in the freezer of Aldis. Wednesday, 22 March, 2017 at 10:12 PM

I have an irrational hatred of Josh Gad. Monday, 6 March, 2017 at 11:49 PM

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO A FURRY CONVENTION? 30 Views

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