Breaking news, blogs and more at TCNJSignal.net. Vol. XLVII, No. 9
November 1, 2017
Serving The College of New Jersey community since 1885
‘Baby Driver’ star shakes up Deaf Culture Night
Board of Trustees discusses campus initiatives for academic year
Few students clapped for deaf actor and comedian CJ Jones during his performance in the Decker Social Space — instead they shook two hands in the air, the sign language equivalent for a round of applause. Jones came to the College as the featured performer for Deaf Culture Night, a night filled with free comedy, pizza and a photo booth on Oct. 24. The College’s Deaf-Hearing Connection hosted the event to raise awareness for language and culture of the deaf community. The event featured Jones, who recently performed in the summer blockbuster, “Baby Driver.” Marie Katzenbach School for the Deaf in Ewing, New Jersey, also came to campus for the event. Fabriana Andriella, a junior deaf education and psychology double major and president of Deaf-Hearing Connection, hoped the event would raise awareness for the deaf community. “In the spring, we always do Deaf Awareness Day (now called
By Michelle Lampariello News Editor
By Gianna Melillo Correspondent
Jones interacts with the audience by signing.
Deaf Celebration Day),” she said. “We thought it would be nice to do something smaller in the fall to allow people to be exposed to our club and deaf culture.” Jones kicked off the event by signing life stories to the audience and cracking jokes about his experiences.
Professor highlights creative opportunities at Brown Bag By Emmy Liederman Staff Writer For the first 18 years of his life, John Kuiphoff, an associate professor of interactive multimedia, did not have access to Google. When problems arose, the only tool he could rely on was his own imagination. “Without Google, you owned your own problems and you created your own solutions,” Kuiphoff said. “It was all about the journey. We built tree houses that were three stories high. Learning was completely hands-on and completely unsupervised.” But now, the 36-year-old professor is using today’s most advanced technology to guide his work. In a Brown Bag lecture titled “The Maker Movement: Opportunities for Student Innovation at TCNJ,” Kuiphoff discussed ways in which students can use modern resources, such as 3-D printers and laser cutters, to foster their individual creativity and refocus on ideas rather than rely on technology for inspiration. Kuiphoff believes search engines like Google have hindered the creative process by creating solutions with the touch of a button. His solution is MakerSpace, a program at the College that combines modern technology and individual innovation. “What if you could have the best of both worlds: the exploratory charisma of the internet and a see INNOVATE page 4
Sign Language students from the College. There was also a live interpreter for those that didn’t know how to interpret sign language. Jones later called an audience member onto the stage
The College’s Board of Trustees met on Oct. 24, to discuss an array of items pertaining to the campus community. College President R. Barbara Gitenstein reiterated the major initiatives she discussed in a meeting with The Signal on Oct. 11. She hopes to tackle these initiatives in her final year as the College’s president, which includes implementing recommendations made by the Advisory Commission on Social Justice: Race and Educational Attainment. The commission released five recommendations to alleviate social injustice at the College on Sept. 5, including changing the name of Paul Loser Hall to Trenton Hall. Gitenstein plans to continue the implementation of the commission’s recommendations by holding a recruitment event for high school students from Trenton and Ewing, New Jersey, which will include an opportunity for scholarship money to be raised for local high school students, and enhance welcoming programs at the College for high school students from Trenton and Ewing. Gitenstein also seeks to establish a history gallery in Trenton Hall that depicts the College’s relationship with the city and create a
see SIGN page 13
see MEETING page 3
Meagan McDowell / Photo Assistant
The comedian, who hails from St. Louis, was born to two deaf parents. At a young age, he was diagnosed with spinal meningitis — a near-death experience that left him completely deaf. Jones interacted directly through signing to deaf students from Katzenbach and American
Students transform AIMM into Halloween haven By Alyssa Louis Staff Writer
The thick fog dressing the Art and Interactive Multimedia Building hallways clouded Kayla Kolaritsch’s better judgement. Despite her tendency to get frightened easily, Kolaritsch, a freshman health and exercise science major, decided she would step into a haunted virtual reality. “Even though I knew I wasn’t in it, I still felt like I was going to pee myself,” Kolaritsch said after being unable to travel the entirety of the digital world. The Haunted Hallway, hosted by the College’s Association for Computing Machinery’s Special Interest Group on Computer GRAPHics and Interactive Techniques, the Association for Music Production and Discussion, Rebel Art Movement and WTSR, was held in the AIMM Building on Friday, Oct. 27.
INDEX: Nation & World / page 5 Editorial / page 7 Stigmonologues Follow us on... Students combat the stigma of mental health The Signal See Features page 13 @tcnjsignal
Horacio Hernandez / Staff Photographer
The decorations are inspired by the newly released horror film, ‘It.’ Rooms and hallways were transformed into a scarily impressive display of student art. The virtual reality experience, or VR, was created by Matt Kahrer, a senior interactive multimedia major, for his senior thesis in
Opinions / page 9
Features / page 13
April. He felt that his design was very fitting for the event. Kahrer provided the most “high-tech VR experience” that Dorian Armstrong, a junior mechanical engineering major, has ever had. Each individual that
wanted to go into the digital world would wear goggles to display the realistic images, a controller to navigate them and headphones that played ominous music, according to Kolaritsch. see SPOOKY page 14
Arts & Entertainment / page 16
Sports / page 24
CUB Alt Alumni perform in student center
Women’s Cross Country Lions take NJAC championship
See A&E page 16
See Sports page 24