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RUTGERS UNIVERSITY—NEW BRUNSWICK
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2, 2016
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U. President makes statement on free speech, speakers NIKHILESH DE NEWS EDITOR
University President Robert L. Barchi released a statement on the first amendment and freedom of speech at Rutgers on March 1. Barchi defended the rights of the University community to say what they want, including the rights of faculty members to express their own views in class. “All of the members of our community — our faculty members, students, alumni and staff — are free to express their viewpoints in public forums as private citizens, including viewpoints that the University itself or I personally may not share,” he said. Statements or comments made at Rutgers should not be taken to mean they reflect the values of every student or members of the University Administration, Barchi said. Rutgers does not necessarily support these statements, including controversial ones, Barchi said. “We do not restrict the activities of recognized University organizations, including the speakers they invite to campus, as long as these organizations obey the law and SEE SPEECH ON PAGE 5
Several student groups held a vigil to remember three East-African Muslim men shot and killed last week in Fort Wayne, In., as well as to pray for another man shot by police Monday in Salt Lake City, Nv. NIKITA BIRYUKOV / ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
Groups host vigil for recent shooting victims NIKITA BIRYUKOV ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
Roughly 80 students gathered Tuesday night in order to mourn the deaths of three young men and pray for another who was wounded and remains in critical condition following a police shooting on Feb. 26. One of many now being held across the country, this vigil, held by the Muslim Public Relations
Council, the University’s Black Lives Matter chapter, the Rutgers University Muslim Student Association and the Ahlul-Bayt Student Association, grieved for Mohamed Taha Omar, Adam Kamel Mekki and Muhannad Adam Tairab. The three East-African men were shot multiple times “execution style” in a home in Fort Wayne, Indiana, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The last victim, 17-year-old Abdi Mohamed, was shot by police after officers interceded in an assault that the Salt Lake City resident allegedly committed, according to a statement released by the Salt Lake City Police Department. As civil rights groups called for police transparency, several hundred protesters incensed by the shooting protested in the city on Monday, according to ABC.
Those attending the vigil were not there out of anger, said Mujtaba Qureshi, Vice President of the Muslim Student Association. Instead, they sought to acknowledge the shootings and lend a voice to the victims. “There are a lot of concerns ... with what happened, with how there wasn’t much media coverage of the situation. Today, we’re not talking SEE VIGIL ON PAGE 4
Professor, student creates 3-D braille map for blind students SAMANTHA KARAS CORRESPONDENT
Jason Kim, left, a School of Engineering senior, and Howon Lee, right, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, created a braille map of the Joseph Kohn Training Center to help blind students find their way around. SOE.RUTGERS.EDU
An academic trip to South Korea has morphed into a project to provide visually impaired students with 3-D-printed braille maps. When giving a seminar on his research on 3-D printing, Howon Lee, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, said the host of the seminar introduced him to some of their outreach activities using 3-D printers. “One of the interesting things that I found there was that they used 3-D printers to develop educational materials for children (who are) blind and visually impaired,” Lee said. When children start to learn letters, they usually rely on pictures, Lee said. But kids without sight do not have the means to do so. The 3-D printers produced related materials, such as a 2-D apple silhouette marked with braille saying “apple.” After researching schools for blind children for his project, Lee found the Joseph Kohn Training Center, which is the only training center run by the state of New Jersey.
Because students do not stay long at the training center — typically only two weeks — they need to learn their surroundings as quickly as possible so they can focus on their training, Lee said. “Every time they navigate the building, they have to go specifically to the place where the map is found (on a wall), and they have to touch the wall,” Lee said. “Imagine how difficult it is to memorize everything — you cannot just carry that map with you.” Lee modeled the maps using computer aided design (CAD) software, said Jason Kim, a School of Engineering senior who assisted Lee with the project. The computer models were then processed and printed using the department’s 3-D printer. Some difficulties with putting the maps together included the 3-D printer’s capabilities, such as object size, can affect how well the printer can print and how small of a feature the printer can resolve, Kim said. “We can model anything on a computer, but that doesn’t mean a 3-D printer can print exactly that,” Kim said. “So I had to be cognizant
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