MINIMUM WAGE Raising compensation to $15 an hour requires heavy deliberation
Biomathematics Organization aims to bring together bio-mathematicians
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Monday, february 13, 2017
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Rutgers observes Black History Month with ‘HAIRitage’ celebration
The “HAIRitage” celebration last weekend included a series of workshops, presentations and screenings, all of which revolved around hair as an aphorism for larger cultural topics. Casey Ambrosio
Brielle Diskin contributing writeR
To celebrate Black Histor y Month, Livingston Residence Life organized “HAIRitage,” a three-day conference featuring workshops, presentations and
screenings that focus on what hair means to the black and Afro-Latino communities. The events were held on Livingston campus from Feb. 9 to 11. They began with a film screening of Chris Rock’s “Good Hair,” and ended with a reception at the
Livingston Student Center, according to the event’s Facebook page. The idea of using hair as the central focus of the event originated during a discussion between the Residence Life coordinators on Livingston campus, said Modinat Sanni, Residence Life coordinator.
They wanted to first establish the department with students and recognize that there is more to Black History Month than what people generally hear about it, Sanni said. When someone in the meeting mentioned hair, it turned into a discussion of how hair shapes identity
Student-run business offers cheap hair cuts Maxwell Marcus contributing writer
Rutgers students have a new and unique option for affordable haircuts on campus. 23 Cuts is a student-run barber shop that operates out of a student’s house on 23 Senior St., on the College Avenue campus. Since opening last summer, the business has garered significant popularity. “At first it was a joke,” said Ronit Hemrajani, a School of Engineering sophomore and one of the barbers. “But then we realized a lot of people liked the haircuts. Some kids live far from home so they can’t go home for haircuts.” 23 Cuts has become more refined since it first opened, Hemrajani said. He was giving his friends haircuts for fun and, at the time, his craft was limited by the quality of the equipment he was using. Because they have no formal training, they have been learning from online sources like YouTube and through trial and error, he said. Although their business has become quite popular, they are still learning as they go, Hemrajani said.
“Recently one of the clippers started making loud noises,” Hemrajani said. “So we had to start messing with it. Take the screws out, adjust it, stuff like that. Sometimes during the haircut, it’ll just start making some random noise and the person will start freaking out.” Despite their popularity with students on campus, Hemrajani said that they are still amateurs. Cutting hair is not their first priority. “We don’t skip class to cut hair. School first, and when we have time, we cut hair,” he said. “Last semester it helped me a lot. If someone says to me, ‘Can I get a haircut at two?’ then I have to get all my work done before two o’clock. So it helps keep me on track with school too. We’re not doing this for the struggle of paying rent. It’s a hobby.” 23 Cuts began with a small clientele, comprised mostly of the barbers’ personal friends, said Dhruv Patel, a Rutgers Business School sophomore and another one of the barbers. As customers told their friends about 23 Cuts, the business grew by word of mouth.
in LGBTQIA communities. They also discussed how the socio-economic status influences how you do your hair, Sanni said. “Once we stopped laughing at the idea we realized that this was a great topic to use to talk about a lot of the different things we try to educate our students on at the University,” she said. When planning the event they thought of the content of the event before developing the structure, Sanni said. The University was extremely supportive in the planning process. Sanni said she did not encounter any negative responses while reaching out to different networks at Rutgers for help. She said her experience working with Rutgers for the conference aided her because there was an understanding that while there are different types of people at the University, many are not engaging with one another and cultures. “I think that people saw that this could be a very interesting and almost a covert way to talk about some of the underlying issues that exist in our society and manifest themselves on campus,” she said. Many students wanted to get involved in the event because this was See celebration on Page 5
3 Rutgers alumni become journalists in North Dakota Alexandra DeMatos editor-in-chief
“Our hours are whenever we’re free. People DM (direct message) us and whatever works for them,” he said. In the near-future, 23 Cuts hopes to organize a fundraising event, Patel said. If people are willing to pay
Three Rutgers graduates have found themselves in the last place they expected — a newsroom halfway across the country in Fargo, North Dakota. The trio includes two Class of 2016 graduates, Morgan Parrish and Jackie Kelly, and Class of 2014 graduate Scott Sincoff, at the KVRR-TV newsroom, a Fox-affiliated television station. Sincoff was offered the position at KVRR while getting his master’s degree at Mississippi State University. “To be honest, I didn’t expect to get out of the Northeast until I interned at the Weather Channel the summer before my junior year,” Sincoff said. “That’s when I realized that if you really want to do what you’re passionate about, you have to go outside of your comfort zone and try new things.” Joe Radske, the news director at KVRR, said that it was coincidental,
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Three students launched 23 Cuts last summer. The business, which operates through a house on Senior Street, has since gained popularity as a go-to for Rutgers students. INSTAGRAM Since then, they have invested in more barber equipment, such as buzzers, straight blades and scissors, he said. Now that they have more experience, the business schedules appointments through their Instagram account, 23cuts, Patel said.
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