Breaking news, blogs and more at TCNJSignal.net. Vol. XLVIII, No. 1
January 24, 2018
Serving The College of New Jersey community since 1885
Police train for active shooter scenarios
By Brielle Bryan News Editor
Police cars lined up outside of Forcina Hall as officers raised their weapons, entering the building with steady hands and skilled caution. While students retreated into their homes, eager to relax over winter break, Campus Police took advantage of a relatively empty campus to educate its officers with its annual Law Enforcement Active Shooter Emergency Response course. Campus Police also invited officers from the Ewing Township Police Department and New Jersey Department of Human Services Police to the four active shooter training sessions held on Jan. 6, 7, 13 and 14. There were 16 officers from Ewing Township, 12 officers from Human Services Police and 16 Campus Police officers attending the training, according to Campus Police Lt. James Lopez. Last year, the training was held in Bliss Hall and Campus Police did not involve other police departments. “We will never know, if this
Brielle Bryan / News Editor
Campus Police Officer Tania Ryan practices maneuvers to take down a target. type of incident occurs, where it will occur,” said Campus Police Sgt. Scott Leusner. “Changing the environment keeps the training fresh for our officers who have been receiving the training yearly, and also changes the scenarios due to the different layouts of the buildings.” The active shooter training
School of Business alumni fondly regard program
evolves every time a mass shooting takes place. In 2016, there was a mass shooting in Pulse Nightclub, located in Orlando, Florida. The tragedy served as a lesson for officers and medics in training. “Police learn better tactics,” Lopez said. “Years ago, the mindset was you wait for SWAT. It’s changed 180 degrees where it’s
the first person on the scene’s job to go in and stop the shooter by whatever means possible. One of the things they found in Pulse Nightclub is that the majority of people died because they bled out in the bathroom because nobody could get to them.” In the past, EMTs were not allowed in a building unless the
see CAREER page 3
INDEX:
Nation & World / page 5
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see FORCINA page 2
Racist post leads to tcnj.snap shutdown
By Brielle Bryan News Editor The College’s School of Business was ranked No. 44 in Wharton Tops Poets&Quants’ Best Undergraduate Business Programs of 2017 on Dec. 5. Poets&Quants, the leading online publication for undergraduate business education news, configures its rankings by asking 2015 graduates to rate their schools based on 15 various open-ended questions, according to the College’s website. A main concern students have when applying to colleges is whether they will receive the education and resources they need to build their careers and have a job when they graduate. Alumni of the School of Business have found that their time at the College was very well spent. Alumnus Brian Dragotto (’16), founder of the College’s Entrepreneurship Club, felt that the College’s School of Business provided him a well rounded education. “It’s so important for students to get involved and be a part of those networks, develop those relationships and learn from some of the nation’s top-rated business professors,” Dragotto said.
active shooter was apprehended. There is a current nationwide initiative to incorporate EMTs into active shooter training so they can help the injured in a building that might not be 100 percent cleared to avoid additional casualties. “If you train like this with everybody in the county, when an incident like this happens everybody will already have an idea of who they’re working with and know the basics of what we need to do and how we need to set up,” Lopez said. There was one incident of a reported active shooter at the College about 10 years ago, but the situation turned out to be a hoax. Lt. David LeBaw of the Ewing Township Police Department said that back when he was a patrolman, he was called in to help Campus Police with an active shooter situation. The active shooter was said to be on the seventh floor of Wolfe Hall, and was reported to have shot someone in a bathroom. “We made our way up to the sixth and eighth floor and converged onto the seventh –– it was nothing,” LeBaw said. “We
Users take offense to the insensitive content. By Connor Smith and Elizabeth Zakaim Former Editor-in-Chief and News Editor
Whether students were traveling across the country Editorial / page 6
Studying Abroad Students share their experiences abroad in South Africa See Features page 10
or enjoying a much-needed winter break at home, the College’s unofficial Snapchat account, tcnj.snap, was uncharacteristically quiet. The yearly “TCNJ Takes” photos of students in exotic locations
Opinions / page 8
were gone, and they may never return. The reason: tcnj.snap was retired by its anonymous creator — who graduated last May and passed it on to a current sophomore — due to a lack of moderation that reflected poorly on the College and its students. The popular account, which shared user submissions from students and alumni to compile a “campus story,” was run by one person, so when he graduated, he left tcnj.snap in the hands of a new moderator, with a mutual understanding that she could have control of the account, as long as she exercised the strict vetting process that tcnj.snap had used in the past. “When you pass on anything to somebody else, you have to make sure that if they’re running something you built, the mission for that product or service must match up completely with what your original goal was,” said the account’s creator, who spoke to The Signal on the phone
Features / page 10
on the condition of anonymity. “I don’t believe that goal matched up. “I figured as long as she was learning, that’s all that matters to me, as long as TCNJ’s reputation and credibility stayed intact,” he added. “As long as the snap kept painting the campus in a positive light. But it didn’t happen that way.” While several students told The Signal they felt that tcnj.snap’s level of moderation dropped when its original founder graduated, the event that triggered the account’s deletion was a photo posted on Dec. 3 of two black women dressed in red with the accompanying caption, “What’s braken blood.” The post, according to students such as Yanaja Joyner, a sophomore journalism and professional writing major, insinuated that the women were part of a gang, and mocked gang culture in general. see POST page 2
Arts & Entertainment / page 13
Sports / page 20
The Last Jedi Newest installment of iconic series is a hit
Men’s Basketball Lions on a five-game winning-streak
See A&E page 13
See Sports page 16