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President Barchi invites students to support BRIDGE Act
President Robert L. Barchi sent an email to the Rutgers community on Monday inviting students to support a legislative act that would protect DACA students. DIMITRI RODRIGUEZ / PHOTO EDITOR
NikHILESH De News editor
Students have the opportunity to advocate for bipartisan legislation that would cement Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) protection for undocumented students, University President Robert L. Barchi said in an email on Monday. This follows several protests last semester where Rutgers students called for the school to declare itself a “sanctuary campus” and
protect undocumented students from potential deportation by then President-elect Donald J. Trump. Instead, Barchi announced that the University would be a “safe haven” for students. “Many students at the University have called for protections for undocumented students. This legislation would provide those protections,” he said in the email. “If you feel strongly about this issue, I encourage you to … send an automatic letter to your U.S.
senators and your member in the House of Representatives.” The legislation in question is known as the BRIDGE Act (Bar Removal of Individuals who Dream of Growing our Economy) and was sponsored by both Republican and Democratic senators last year. It effectively secures the protections afforded by former President Barack Obama’s executive order authorizing DACA. The act will allow all current DACA students to retain their status. Barchi’s email encouraging students to advocate for the act is a way of helping students to become more involved with the political instruments surrounding undocumented immigrants who are students, said Peter McDonough, senior vice president of the Department of External Affairs at Rutgers. “(For) any number of students protesting, demonstrating, calling for an extension of DACA, this is an opportunity,” he said. Last fall, students participated in several protests in response to certain comments made by Trump during his campaign that were deemed as anti-immigrant rhetoric.
“Our hope is that we’re giving students who would like to support extending DACA protections a way to speak up and let their voices be heard in a way that is more direct and more constructive (by) reaching out directly to their members of Congress,” McDonough said. In the first three hours after the email was sent out, he said more than 3,400 messages were sent through the included automated form. Students are not required to fill out the form or sign anything, he said. “(Barchi) has made this option available but he recognizes that some people do not agree and he just wants people to participate,” he said. “There’s room for disagreement and certainly those students who want to voice an opposing opinion are welcome to do that, but that is not the position we are taking.” Rutgers’ president emphasized the point in his email, telling students that it was not mandatory to fill out the form. “I would never presume to tell you what to do with respect to legislative advocacy,” he said. “We are offering this option to you because
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Campaign for DeGeneres to speak at U. continues
eSports hosts annual Spring Social event for gamers
Abigail Lyon contributing writer
Max Marcus contributing writer
During this year’s Spring Social, casual game players and experienced eSports competitors alike had the chance to bond over video games and learn about different clubs and teams within the Rutgers eSports organization. According to the roster, 170 students attended the event, said Kevin Luyo, an event coordinator and Rutgers Business School junior. “Ninety percent of the people who showed up were Rutgers—New Brunswick students,” Luyo said. “Freshmen were the majority, with 52 percent, and the rest were pretty evenly split between the other three classes, alumni and others.” Some of the most popular eSports clubs at Rutgers are for games like “Hearthstone,” “Overwatch,” “League of Legends” and “Pokemon,” said Vanessa Gao, manager of the competitive eSports team and a School of Arts and Sciences sophomore. “We only started trying to become a sports club and have a board this past summer, so I’m on the first group of board members,”
many in our community have participated in activities to bring attention to the plight and status of undocumented students.” This is not the first time Rutgers has been involved in supporting the BRIDGE Act. Last fall, Barchi signed a letter supporting DACA and the protections it provides undocumented immigrants, McDonough said. DACA was first launched as an executive order by Obama in 2012, and was opposed by Trump during his campaign. On Monday, Press Secretary Sean Spicer said repealing DACA may not necessarily be a priority for Trump. McDonough said this creates some breathing room for students who were afraid of being deported and allows proponents of the bill to take more time in ensuring it is passed. “It does create some flexibility and time for the Senate,” he said. “I’m sure there are students who will be comforted by that statement.” This is not the first time Rutgers has involved itself in advocating for a piece of legislation, McDonough said. The Department of External Affairs
The eSports Spring Social is intended to draw both experienced and amateur eSports players together. This year, the event took place at the Livingston Student Center. FACEBOOK Gao said. “We’ve had teams before but not much of an infrastructure, so this year has been our attempt at gaining an infrastructure so that it will carry on in the future.” Most Rutgers eSports clubs compete against teams from other universities, but competing is not a necessary part of joining an eSports club, Gao said. Many club members who compete have little to no experience playing competitively, said Jonathan Lin, a School of Engineering firstyear student. Lin is a member of the Rutgers Pokémon Trainers club. He said he played Pokémon in elementary school and recently picked it up again after buying a Nintendo 3DS. Lin played in his first tournament last December and placed second. “It’s mostly a friendly environment,” Lin said. “We don’t force
people to go into competitive play. Usually, it’s centered around the video games and Pokémon Go. It’s more of a bonding experience with other people.” Lin said club meetings usually have about 30 attendees. Filip Donskoy said he plays “Starcraft 2” competitively, and he started playing it when it released and has played competitively for about three years, he said. He was recently ranked as 1 of the top 10 grandmasters in “Starcraft 2” in North America. “Starcraft 2” has a very large and very active competitive community, but the club is open to people of all skill levels, the School of Arts and Sciences senior said. “The club is not like football, where you have a coach and people See gamers on Page 4
Rutgers students wrapped up a promotional video shoot Saturday as part of a campaign for Ellen DeGeneres to speak at the University’s graduation commencement. The final scene involved students gathering outside the Buccleuch Park Museum, adjacent to the College Avenue campus, spelling out “Ellen” with their bodies, said Kayla Brantley, a School of Arts and Sciences senior. Students stood on top of the duct tape letters, while Phillip Shvartsman, a School of Arts and Sciences senior, shot the scene with a drone. Brantley organized the rally and the campaign to get DeGeneres to speak at Rutgers with the help of her friends. In the campaign’s first stage, she created a Facebook page and a petition that about has 1,000 student signatures. Despite this success, she said she expected the completed video to be when the campaign “really took off.” “Videos go viral,” Brantley said. “Ellen is always bringing people on her show (for them) ... so the whole point of this is to get her attention, so I think a video will be perfect for that.”
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With the success of past video and petition campaigns at Rutgers for former President Barack Obama and William Sanford Nye, popularly known as “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” to come for commencement, she thinks it is possible to convince DeGeneres to come, too, Brantley said. The students prepared for the event with hot chocolate, a speaker blasting Beyoncé and a box of t-shirts with Ellen DeGeneres’s face on them. After, students were invited to write reasons why they want DeGeneres to speak at commencement on a dry-erase board. Photos of the finished board were shared on the “Ellen for Rutgers Commencement 2017” Facebook page. Shvartsman said there are a group of seniors from different organizations throughout Rutgers who helped create the video, many of them being friends of Brantley and himself. Kiera Del Vecchio, a School of Arts and Sciences senior, said the talk show host would be the perfect person to speak at the commencement ceremony. “We love Ellen because she is so inclusive and giving ... and See campaign on Page 4