Volume 102, Issue 3

The Fordham Ram Volume 102, Issue 3

Serving The Fordham University Community Since 1918 FordhamRam.com

February 5, 2020

Iowa Caucus Results Delayed

McGinley Entrance to Change Location

By ABBEY DELK and HELEN STEVENSON

By MARISA VALENTINO

The Iowa Caucuses were this Monday, Feb. 3. The state, with nearly 1,700 neighborhood caucuses, is the first to vote in the 2020 primary cycle. Fourty-one pledged delegates are at stake.

Typically, results begin to come in about an hour after voting begins, with more tallies released over several hours. As of Tuesday night, Feb. 4, the results remain incomplete.

According to the official website of the Iowa Democratic Party, there were changes this year to the caucus process that were designed to increase “fairness and transparency.”

The website explained that there would now be three numbers reported by each precinct: totals from the first alignment, final alignment, and the state delegate equivalents (SDE) earned by each presidential preference group. In the past, precincts only reported the SDE. This is one possible reason for the delay.

There were also reportedly issues with an app used to tally votes. The app was developed relatively recently and was subject to technical difficulties and crashes. Additionally, voters were unfamiliar with the system.

Michael Fissinger, FCRH ’21, president of College Democrats, spoke to the Ram on behalf of the club. He said the lack of results on Monday night was disheartening.

“Using a new reporting system that will make public three sets of data instead of the usual one, the Iowa Democratic Party should have done more to prepare precinct chairs to report the data in a quick and effective way,” he said.

Fissinger said he wishes the Iowa Democratic Party had a SEE CAUCUS, PAGE 3

in this issue

Opinion

Page 7

Lack of Clarity in Iowa Results Proves Caucus System Ineffective

Culture

Page 15

Rampant Discrimination at the Grammys

Sports

Page 21

The End of the Patriots?

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

“I just want kind of tell you guys how much it means to me that you guys are all here for the promo dinner,” said codirector Matt Fisher, FCRH ’21. “You guys are collectively helping us for an amazing cause, to help fight pediatric

As construction on the McGinley Center continues, students can expect the building’s entrance to change location in the coming weeks.

The doors on the side of the McGinley Center that lead to Lombardi Fieldhouse will serve as the primary entrance for the next 18 months to allow construction of the new building, said Marco Valera, vice president of Administration.

Throughout the next phases of construction, students can expect various changes in access doors. Valera said there will be work done soon on the west wing of McGinley Center to install electrical service.

Parts of the wing will be demolished to allow room for the new campus center building.

For the past five months, construction has been dedicated to updating the sewer and electri-

SEE FDM, PAGE 6

SEE MCGINLEY, PAGE 5

COURTESY OF FORDHAM DANCE MARATHON

The B-Sides performed at FDM’s annual promo dinner. Other groups such as the Satin Dolls also performed.

Promotional Dinner Raises Money for B+ Foundation

By GRACE McLAUGHLIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

On Jan. 30, Fordham Dance Marathon (FDM) hosted a promotional dinner in McGinley North Dining room. Guests were asked to send emails asking friends, family and others to donate to the B+

Foundation to help families and children who have been affected by pediatric cancer. In exchange, they received a free dinner catered by restaurants on Arthur Avenue such as Enzo’s and Pasquale’s. Operations Director Theresa Amoruso, said the restaurants also donated to the larger cause.

Fordham Plans Events for BHM

By SARAH HUFFMAN NEWS EDITOR

The start of February means the start of Black History Month, and offices such as the Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA), The Office of the Chief Diversity Officer and ASILI, the black student alliance at Fordham are all preparing events for it.

ASILI has events planned throughout the month. On Feb. 13, ASILI is hosting “Caught Off Guard” in collaboration with Fordham Our Story. The event will take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

On Feb. 21, ASILI will hold their annual Being Black at Fordham panel from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., and on Feb. 28 they will host their Black and Gold formal from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

In addition to these events, ASILI is planning to have a speaker for Black History Month. The lecture event had to be rescheduled due to scheduling conflicts with the speaker, but according to Cameron DeChalus, FCRH ’20, president of ASILI, they are SEE BHM, PAGE 6

SARAH HUFFMAN/ THE FORDHAM RAM

Ram Express in Keating Hall’s basement closed due to a plumbing related infrastructure issue.

Keating Kiosk Closes Due to Plumbing Infrastructure Issue

By MARISA VALENTINO CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The kiosk in the basement of Keating Hall, Keating Ram Express, currently bears a bright yellow ‘Closed’ notice from the the City of New York’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

The kiosk was closed by order of the commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene at the end of the fall 2019 semester.

Gina Vergel, senior director of Communications at Fordham University said it was closed due to a plumbing-

related infrastructure issue that Fordham is working to address.

There are signs posted on the kiosk stating that it was not closed for sanitary reasons, but for an immediate plumbing need.

The sink underneath the cash register at Keating Ram Express SEE KEATING, PAGE 3

NEWS

Page 2

PUBLIC SAFETY BRIEFS Jan. 29 Terra Nova House 3:15 p.m.

A fire alarm went off when food cooking in the oven caused smoke at the Terra Nova house.

The FDNY and Public Safety responded, and everyone was eventually allowed back inside the building.

Jan. 30 Parking Garage 10:00 a.m.

A student who parked their car in the garage reported that their front bumper was damaged. A Public Safety investigation is ongoing.

Jan. 31 188th and Hoffman 5:00 p.m.

A student reported that he parked his vehicle in the vicinity of 188th and Hoffman. A snowboard and other related items were taken out of the car. He may have left his car unlocked, as there was no broken glass or forced entry.

Feb. 1 Loschert Hall 12:00 p.m.

A fire in the third floor trash room set off the fire alarm and triggered the sprinkler activation. The fire was contained to one metal receptacle, and the sprinklers put the fire out. The incident is under investigation by the fire marshall. .

Feb. 1 Southern Blvd.

3:30 p.m.

There was a vehicle accident on the main entrance to Southern Boulevard. Only property was damaged.

—Compiled by Joergen Ostensen

Follow us on Twitter! @TheFordhamRam

February 5, 2020

Dr. Riofrancos Lectures On Green New Deal Kicks Off American Studies Election Series

By HASNA CERAN

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

The American Studies Election Lecture Series debuted on Feb. 3, with its first lecture “A Globally Just Green New Deal” presented by Thea Riofrancos, an assistant professor of political science at Providence College in Rhode Island. Riofrancos’ research focuses primarily on resource extraction as it relates to the development of renewable energy and ecotechnology in the wake of a climate crisis.

The lecture “A Globally Just Green New Deal” was on the viability of the Green New Deal, which is a proposed set of legislation changes intended to reduce the effects of environmental destruction, climate change and socioeconomic inequality.

Riofrancos said that the Green New Deal’s views on climate policy are scientifically grounded, as she believes the climate crisis is already happening and that we as a planet have a decade to cut global carbon emissions in half.

She said that the world needs to decarbonize as fast as possible to ensure that global warming remains at a level that is still mostly safe, as even what could seem like minute to minute changes in global temperature could lead to thousands of deaths.

“It’s not a future event,” she said. “It’s a current event that threatens to become very exacerbated if we don’t do anything about it.”

She also said that the Green New Deal was “politically astute,” and that it would be a change of legislation particularly focused on material concerns of the everyman.

Riofrancos, while supportive of the Green New Deal and saying that it is a “historic opportunity,” did not shy away from criticizing aspects of current clean-energy developments, especially when those developments require minerals that damage the environment when they are extracted from the earth’s crust.

“Nothing comes from nowhere, right? Our gleamingclean tech also comes from stuff extracted of the earth,” she said.

Her lecture on socioeconomic equality as it relates to the proposed Green New Deal examined the effects of resource extraction and global supply chains for resources required for green

HASNA CERAN/THE FORDHAM RAM

Thea Riofrancos presented her lecture “A Globally Just Green New Deal” in a lecture series on American politics.

technologies on countries with natural resources that are exploited by global superpowers, such as communities in the Atacama Salt Flats in Chile.

As she displayed a projection of a supply chain for materials commonly used in the batteries of electric vehicles, Riofrancos pointed out that the supply of the minerals came from all over the world.

“This is just a visual of where some of the key raw materials that are in electric vehicles, specifically some of them in the batteries of electric vehicles, which is what I’m researching right now in Chile because it’s one of the sites where we have Lithium exports,” she said.

The demand for lithium-ion batteries in our world continues to grow, as they are necessary for electric vehicles, as well as the storage of power from renewable sources, not to mention mobile phones, personal computers and most other portable electronic devices. However, the extraction of this has numerous negative effects on the communities that live on the land where lithium is found,

explained Riofrancos.

“But it’s global, right? This is just a visualization of the supply chains in the global economy that allow Tesla to be made,” she said.

“Each of these nodes, if you were to zoom in and go to that place, you would see a coal-fire factory that oppresses labor, you would see a factory that is literally generating emissions that also has some nefarious labor conditions that is producing the capital for the batteries in Tesla.”

The lecture ended on a call to action, as she explained that while the majority of the population’s consumption hardly matches the consumption of those of the top 10% of consumers, people with private jets and various other avenues of producing more than the average amount of emissions, every individual working together can reduce emissions by a noticeable amount.

Riofrancos particularly focused on how we as a population need to work on larger cultural and social changes in order to reduce our consumption and environmental impact as a whole.

“We know that we need to rethink how we think about consumption, how we think about leisure as ‘we drive to the mall and buy things’ or ‘we stream Netflix,’” Riofrancos said. “You know, it’s kind of shocking. One hour of streaming? That’s two refrigerators running for an entire year.”

Cassandra Gonzalez, FCRH ’21, attended the lecture for a class, and stated that while she knew that many professors, including her own, were offering class credit to students that attended the lectures, she came because she has an interest in the Green New Deal.

To learn more about topics relating to American politics throughout the elections, all are welcome to attend the upcoming lectures in this series, all of which will be in the auditorium on the third floor of Keating between 1 and 2:15 p.m. The next lecture in the series, “Angela Davis for President: Embracing the Black Radical Tradition in Perilous times,” will be on Feb. 24, with Robyn Spencer from Lehman College.

This Week at Fordham

Thursday Feb. 6

Thursday Feb. 6

Friday Feb. 7

Saturday Feb. 8

Monday Feb. 10

CSS Sip N Paint

FFP “Project Runway” Screening

Ice Skating at Bryant Park

Dealy 308 7:00 p.m-9:00 p.m

The Vagina Monologues

Collins Auditorium 8:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m.

CAB Dating Profile Picture Photo Shoot

Fashion for Philantropy will be screening episodes of hit reality television series “Project Runway” with a Fordham student who is a current intern at NBCUniversal and will be bringing a few giveaway items from work.

The Fordham Women and Gender Studies department will be presenting Eve Ensler’s play “The Vagina Monologues” on Friday and Saturday.

Admission is three to five dollars. All proceeds will be donated to support a women’s shelter.

Outdoors Club will be taking a trip down to Bryant Park to ice skate.

Students will be free to skate and explore Bryant Park’s winter village as long as they want before returning to campus on their own. Ice skate rentals will be provided at no cost.

McGinley Student Lounge 4:00 p.m.-6:00 p.m.

Commuter Students Services will be hosting a Sip N Paint group painting lesson in McGinley. Students will be able to socialize with other students while creating a souvenir to take home. Snacks and sparkling beverages will be provided.

Bryant Park 5:00 p.m.-7:30 p.m.

McGinley Lobby 12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m.

The Campus Activities Board will be bringing back an activity from last year’s Valentine’s Week. Students will be able to have their photo taken for Valentine’s swipes on their dating profile or any other purpose.

NEWS

February 5, 2020

Page 3

College Democrats Comment On Iowa Caucus Delayed Results Reveal Problems With System FROM CAUCUS, PAGE 1

more efficient backup plan prepared in the event of technological glitches.

Despite the significant delay in results, Iowa officials said there was no sign of a hack or cybersecurity issues. It is still unclear what caused the app to malfunction.

Tim Kyle, FCRH ’21, president of College Republicans, said he thought the delays could be a Democratic National Committee (DNC) failing or conspiracy to elect former vice president Joe Biden.

“The delays in the Iowa Caucus reporting is at best a massive failure of key DNC infrastructure in the most important primary in the nation,” he said. “And at worst, an attempt to cover for the DNC’s anointed candidate, Joe Biden.”

Kyle said regardless, the incident was a bad look for the DNC. “It is clear that the DNC is unprepared for a competitive and fair primary season and seriously undermines faith in our democratic institutions,” he said.

Fissinger and the College Democrats still have faith in the election, without evidence of foul play.

“We still have confidence that the results will be an accurate and fair representation of how Io-

wans caucused on Monday night,” Fissinger said.

However, he said the issues Monday night are indicative of why Democrats should replace Iowa as the first state in the nation to vote in presidential primaries.

“Caucuses are inherently undemocratic operations that favor people who have the means to spend hours of a weeknight voting,” he said. “This naturally leaves out working people, people who don’t have access to childcare, differently-abled individuals and countless others who should have their voices heard in a democratic process.”

Fissinger also said that Iowa’s demographics are increasingly unrepresentative of the country and the Democratic Party as a whole.

The state consists of 90.7% white people.

He said that last night was particularly unfortunate for the thousands of organizers and campaign staffers from the Democratic Party who spent the better part of a year in Iowa campaigning.

“Because of last night’s events, they were robbed of a chance to celebrate their work,” Fissinger said. “We sincerely hope the party can release the results in a diligent manner and that the primary can continue in a way that honors the work of these organizers and campaign staffers.”

COURTESY OF TWITTER

Iowa caucus results were delayed due to problems with changes made in this year’s system, including a new app.

Others criticized the process of the election. In place of the anonymity of a voting booth, during the Iowa caucuses, voters are required to align in different parts of the room based on candidate preference.

“It’s ... weird because people in your area can see (you). It’s

your neighbors and your bosses and your teachers ... you’re all in the same room, and you can all see who each other supports,” said Boris Heersink, a political science professor at Fordham University.

The Iowa Democratic Party released 62% of the results early this Tuesday, Feb. 4. Mayor Pete

Buttigeg and Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) are leading with 10 pledged delegates each. Regardless of the winner, Fissinger said the College Democrats will not be endorsing a candidate before he or she is named the nominee at the Democratic National Convention later this year.

Students React to Keating Ram Express Closure FROM KEATING, PAGE 1

is not up to the Department of Health’s new food code, according to Deming Yuan, university dining contract liaison.

Domenic Setarro, FCRH’20, chair of the dining committee,

said that even if the employee does not have hands-on interaction with the food, the law states that each dining location in New York must be equipped with a hand-washing station.

Yuan said he is unsure when

SARAH HUFFMAN/THE FORDHAM RAM

The Department of Health and Mental Hygiene posted a notice on the kiosk.

exactly the code was changed, but it was brought to Fordham’s attention by the Department of Health in the fall of this year.

Since then, Fordham has made several declined appeals to the Board of Health requesting it stay open as it met previous codes and had no option but to renovate the kiosk, said Yuan.

Setarro said that Aramark, the food provider at Fordham University, had set aside a budget for the repairs that must be made to bring Ram Express’ plumbing standards up to code.

“Aramark claimed that the kiosk was ideally going to be up and running at the start of this semester, but that is clearly not the case,” said Setarro.

Although the construction did not begin on time, it is scheduled to be completed by Thursday, Feb. 6, said Yuan.

The renovation will “more than likely” cause disruption to the nearby lounge as work must be done in the ceiling, said Yuan.

Once completed, the Department of Health will need to reevaluate the kiosk.

Yuan said he predicts it will be approved, as the corrected plumbing plans were already approved by the city of New York’s building department.

The United Student Government and the Dining Committee “were informed of the closing and notices were posted at the kiosk; however, a notice was not sent out to the entire student body,” said Yuan.

Some students were surprised that the convenient kiosk closed.

SARAH HUFFMAN/THE FORDHAM RAM

Aramark set aside money to repair the issues with the kiosk.

“It’s a good centralized area to get food in between classes,” said Alex Go, FCRH ’22.

Tereze Nika, FCRH ’21, said she noticed it was closed and was surprised. She said she comes to Keating basement often and was

used to having it there.

Diana Reynoso, FCRH ’22, said she only noticed it was closed about a week ago, but was also surprised. She said she did not understand what the problem was.

NEWS

Page 4

Research Spotlight

USG Column

Senate Discusses Elections

February 5, 2020

Fordham Professor Researches Food Tech Justice Tries to Develop More Sustainable Food System

By KRISTEN MCNERNEY

By CARMEN COLLINS

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The United Student Government (USG) Senate addressed several updates at last Thursday’s meeting on Jan. 30, which included policy changes and future partnerships.

The senate discussed changing USG’s election code. In future elections, candidates will be able to acquire signatures for petitioning from anyone in their class year, not just within their school. Those running for senate must acquire a minimum of 50 signatures, while those running for positions of vice president of FCRH and vice president of GSB must acquire 100. The executive vice president must acquire 150, and the executive president must acquire 250. Signatures must be collected in person.

Another change is that for each class year, FCRH and GSB will each elect two senators, and a fifth senator will be determined by whichever candidate has the most votes after the four positions are secured for FCRH and GSB. The school which is represented by the fifth position will effectively serve as a swing school. Senate debates will be held this semester, consisting of two nights for all candidates to speak.

The election code stated explicit rules for campaigning, including the rule that posters can be placed in any building on campus with a classroom. Additionally, candidates are banned from using Aramark boards, or using the official USG logo, since they are not representatives of the senate. The use of any administrator’s likeness is prohibited, and the use of any person’s likeness without their consent is prohibited.

USG is considering including a new position for vice president of Diversity and Inclusion.

The senate welcomed student employees from Metro Consulting, a Bronx-based company that helps small businesses get off the ground. Metro Consulting explained their partnership with Baba Juice, a new Nigerian-based health food restaurant on Fordham Road, and the students said they were looking to extend the partnership to USG. Senator Matthew Heutel, GSB ’22, said the role of USG in the potential collaboration would be to secure a student discount at the restaurant in exchange for promoting the business around campus.

Baba, the owner and executive plant-based chef at Baba Juice, addressed the senate. He explained the roots of his business and its purpose: to help the Bronx get healthier. Baba said he is looking forward to working with Fordham.

Vice President of Sustainability Maggie Tattersfield, FCRH ’22, presented a new sustainability petition, which will be released to the public.

The statement addresses the goal that Fordham stand with Governor Cuomo’s initiative to convert to 100% renewable energy by 2040. Fordham students have the option to sign the petition.

Senator Maya Bentovim, GSB ’23, spoke about the approval of her initiative to have a Gabelli major fair, for students who would like to explore options within GSB. The fair will be held on March 12 from 1 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.

Garrett Broad, assistant professor of communication and media studies and director of the Public Media Masters of Art Program, is researching food system injustices and plant-based alternatives to meat in the United States and abroad. Broad said “food system” means food production and consumption from field to fork.

His research revolves around how new food technology can be used together with social justice, “food tech justice,” as he calls it, to create a more sustainable and equitable future in the world of food.

Broad has been looking into “cellular agriculture,” where by using tissue engineering, scientists take a small bit of tissue from an animal and actually grow a piece of meat without slaughtering the animal.

“The food system is really complex and involves all sorts of different stakeholders, from producers to eaters to businesses and everything in between,” Broad said. “And it’s also really central to some of our biggest local and global challenges related to environmental health and environmental sustainability, to public health and nutrition, to issues related to labor, to our relationship with animals.”

A vegan since his college days, Broad said he has always had a long-term interest in the role of animals in the food system and movements around animal rights.

This interest in animal rights began when he was an undergraduate at Leiden University in the Netherlands, where he took a

COURTESY OF GARRETT BOARD

Garrett Board, pictured above, the director of the Public Media Masters of Art Program is researching food tech justice.

sustainable development course with a Dutch political theorist.

This was the first time Broad really dove into climate change and the role of animals in agriculture, that contribute to worsening environmental conditions.

“There’s this concept of ex-

panding our circle of compassion, that over time there is the incorporation of more and more nonhuman animal life into what we think deserve their own compassion and consideration,” Broad said. “[This] has been something that’s important to me personally,

JOERGEN OSTENSEN/THE FORDHAM RAM

Photo of the Week: The Hudson River, pictured above, flows along the Western side of Manhattan Island. The water in the river is saturated with pollutants.

but then also being something that’s been a part of my research and in my activism as well.”

His research now is looking into big meat-loving cultures such as the United States and Brazil. he collaborates with faculty in different countries to understand differing perspectives around meat alternatives.

As part of the Faculty Research Abroad Program, he will be attending a conference in June at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where he will be working with other Jesuit university professors.

At this conference, he said he hopes to research the global issue of meat production and consumption with new technologies.

“So what I do is I do a mix of critical analysis of movements and countermovements and debates related to different food system issues, as well as a lot of long-term ethnographic research,” said Broad. “I’m doing a lot of participant observation with movement actors and activists and advocates during a lot of interviews to try to understand how and why are people doing what they’re doing, what’s effective and how do we craft a better food system works for everybody.”

Over the next couple of years, Broad said he wants to dive deeper into online forums revolving around meat — be it meat-lovers or meat-haters — and how the media plays a role in fostering arguments about plant-based alternatives to meat. Broad’s past work regarding sustainable food production has been published

by Civil Eats and Geoforum.

NEWS

February 5, 2020

Page 5

Renovation Will Move McGinley’s Main Entrance

Students Have Mixed Reactions to Construction FROM MCGINLEY, PAGE 1

cal systems connected to McGinley. Valera said this phase was particularly difficult as these systems ran through several buildings, including McGinley.

According to Valera, the construction is on schedule and will be completed by approximately fall of 2021.

“In addition to the new building at the campus center, the project will also renovate all sections of the existing McGinley Center, with new club space on the second floor, renovated ballroom and meeting spaces, renovated Marketplace and a food venue," said Valera.

He also said the current post office will be moved to the garage, next to the Ram Van Offices and the Dagger John's area and post office will be converted to a sports varsity center.

The renovations will also include a fitness center, arcade, Career Services space and special events space according to an article reported by the Fordham Ram in October of 2019.

Some students expressed concern over the ongoing construction at McGinley Center and questioned what was happening.

“I don’t understand what the

purpose of the construction is,” said Julia Corbett, FCRH ’20.

“I’m sure that in five years we’ll be grateful for the changes, but at the moment they seem to be causing endless traffic issues in front of McGinley,” Annika Fagerstrom, FCRH ’21 said she was concerned about the lack of communication in general when it came to the construction on campus.

“The purposes of each project and how it will impact students throughout the semester isn’t well known,” she said.

Kelvin Buck, FCRH ’21, said it seems strange to make McGinley Center a priority for the foreseeable future instead of fixing other problems around campus, like the elevators in John Mulcahy Hall ( JMH).

Although construction on McGinley began five months ago, Valera said the process started over a decade ago when the Ram Van center was moved out of McGinley and into the parking garage.

The physical construction took a while to begin because the administration was dealing with other priorities, said Valera. However, renovating McGinley has been a necessary

COURTESY OF THE RAM ARCHIVES

The construction on McGinley Center started in the fall 2019 semester and it has been expanding since then.

project for 20 years.

The new student center is a project that will serve the whole community, according to Valera. This new space is ex-

pected to better accommodate clubs, student organizations and individual students.

“I’m excited to see what the new and improved McGinley

Center has in store for us all — hopefully it’s something we can all use, otherwise it’s a waste of our tuition,” said Alex Go, FCRH ’22.

NEWS

Page 6

February 5, 2020

FDM Hosts Successful Annual Promotional Dinner Location Change Contributes to High Attendance FROM FDM, PAGE 1

cancer for our B+ heroes, who we all know and love and we’re all so dedicated to helping.”

The location played a big part in the success of this year’s promo dinner, according to Amoruso.

She said there was more space for tables and seats in North Dining than McGinley Ballroom, plus more performers. This year’s entertainment included Expressions Dance Alliance and the BSides, among others.

“I’m really glad I heard about FDM through RHA,” said Julie Connelly, FCRH ’23. “I had a lot of fun at the dinner, and I’m really excited to participate in all the other events this year.”

Amoruso explained that she got involved with FDM freshman year through her roommates and helped to fundraise. In her sophomore and junior year, Amoruso said she worked on the annual auction, and senior year, she became the Operations Director.

“I joined FDM because members of my family have been affected by cancer,” said Amoruso.

“It’s incredibly upsetting when an adult passes away from cancer, but it is even more heartbreaking when a child gets cancer because they’re supposed to have their whole lives ahead of them.”

She said she plans on going to graduate school for social work and working with children who have cancer.

Collette Cambell, FCRH ’22, the co-director of FDM, said she

was pleased with how the event went.

“The FDM promo dinner was incredibly successful,” she said.

“We had multiple student groups come and perform, and the environment involving everyone who attended was great.”

Jacklyn Onody, GSB ’20, the auction and fundraising director of FDM, agreed with her sentiments.

“We had a great turn out, and we were happy to see everyone having fun, while supporting FDM,” she said.

She said the event helps spread FDM’s message.

“The promo dinner is important because it helps spread the word of FDM and what it is that we do as an organization,” she said.

Those who want to get involved can also do so through signing up for the email list on the FDM website to get notified about fundraisers and events. People are able to donate directly through the website. Currently, there is an Insomnia Cookies fundraiser on the Fordham Dance Marathon Facebook page that people can donate to.

The next fundraiser for FDM will be an auction on Wednesday, Feb. 12. Baskets will be raffled off, and other prizes will be auctioned off through a live auction. The FDM Team encourages people who are not currently involved with Fordham Dance Marathon or RHA to come to

COURTESY OF FORDHAM DANCE MARATHON

Guests received a free catered dinner in exchange for sending emails asking people to donate to the B+ Foundation.

their events to support a great cause, said Amoruso.

FDM is an annual event that helps to raise money for the B+ Foundation. This year FDM will be held on March 7 in Lombardi Fieldhouse.

The B+ Foundation is an organization founded by Joe McDonough in 2007 to honor

his son, Andrew, who passed away from AML Leukemia at age 14.

The B+ Foundation reflects not only Andrew’s blood type, but his attitude towards life, always staying positive.

The B+ Foundation uses donations to help families who have a child suffering from pediatric cancer. The children, or heroes, who

the foundation works closely with, come to Fordham Dance Marathon sponsored events, such as Trick-or-Treat Trot in October and, of course, Fordham Dance Marathon itself.

“You would never know that any of these kids had cancer,” said Amoruso. “They’re just normal kids who want to play."

ASILI and OMA Plan Events for Black History Month Plans Include Lectures, Performances and Screenings FROM BHM, PAGE 1

looking to reschedule later in February.

The Office of the Chief Diversity Officer is co-sponsoring the annual Black History Month lecture by Professor Saidiya Hartman from Columbia University.

Hartman is a professor of English and Comparative Literature and the author of multiple books.

“In 2019 she was awarded the prestigious MacArthur Fellow-

ship, widely known as the ‘genius grant,’ for her work as a literary scholar and cultural historian,” said the description of the event.

Fordham University Department of African and African American Studies is organizing the lecture, but it is co-sponsored by the Office of Chief Diversity Officer, Department of Communication and Media Studies, Department of English, Comparative Literature Program and

COURTESY OF THE RAM ARCHIVES

ASILI and OMA planned multiple events for black history month.

Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program.

The lecture will be on Friday Feb. 21 at 6 p.m. on the 12th Floor Lounge of the Lowenstein Bulding at Lincoln Center Campus. The title of the lecture is “Wild Thoughts and Rumors about the Auspicious Era of Extensive Freedom, or A Speculative History of the Demise of White Supremacy.”

The lecture will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience, and the event is free and open to the public. RSVP is strongly recommended.

The Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA) and the Black History Month Committee also put together a series of events for Black History Month in collaboration with the Office of the Chief Diversity Officer and Counseling and Psychological services.

On Feb. 4 and Feb. 5, Jazz at Noon will be held at both campuses from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.

For the event, OMA will bring a jazz performer from Orlando to perform for an hour and a half in a location with a lot of foot traffic, said Lilibeth Ramos Flores, a graduate intern with OMA. “It’s an homage to jazz mu-

sic and black culture,” she said.

“I think it’s a really good way to have people involved in a Black History Month event without having to sit down and go through a lecture.”

She said the event tends to connect multiple generations, from undergrad students to older staff and faculty.

Black Student Alliance (BSA) will be doing themed tabling at Lincoln Center every Thursday throughout the month of February. Also at Lincoln Center is the Black History Month Mixer on Feb. 27.

The Office of Multicultural Affairs and Counseling and Psychological services are putting on Blackademics on Feb. 24 in McGinley 236 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Supervising psychologist Ashley Davis describes the event as an interactive and psychoeducation dialogue about navigating oppressive systems such as gendered racial stereotypes, imposter feelings and microaggressions within a predominantly white institution.

Flores said it is a space for people to share how they navigate these situations and how they make them feel.

“Time: The Kalief Browder Story” Screening and Special

Guest will be on Feb. 28 in Bepler Commons from 4 p.m. to 5:30p.m.

This is a screening of the Netflix docuseries that shares information and the backstory of Kalief Browder.

The series provides an opportunity for an in depth conversation about mental health and civic engagement. Akim Browder, Kalief Browder’s brother, will be coming to speak as well.

Lastly, the Love Your Hair Expo is on Feb. 29 in Bepler Commons from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

This is a first-time event at Fordham and will feature vendors and performances about natural hair and textured hair products.

“People talking about experiences having hair that is not the ‘norm’ and how that’s been a struggle or an experience for them overall,” said Flores.

She said it is a way to celebrate natural and textured hair and recognize issues with products people with natural or textured hair have faced.

Flores said that although this event is closing out Black History Month, since many of these experiences are shared by women, it is an opening to Women’s History Month in March.

February 5, 2020

OPINION

Page 7

The Fordham Ram

Safety Precautions at Gun Rallies Must Continue

By TAYLOR HERZLICH CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Virginia gun rally has been an extremely controversial topic, dominating the news for days leading up to the event. The gun rally was held on Monday, Jan. 20 in Richmond, Virginia, in a response to new gun control bills that were proposed by the Virginia State Senate. These new attempts to increase gun control regulations are especially threatening to current American gun owners because of the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives under Nancy Pelosi, current speaker of the house. Although there are exceptions to the rule, gun control tends to be a partisan issue, with conservatives defending the right to own guns under the Second Amendment and liberals pushing for stricter gun regulations.

However, the real reason the Virginia gun rally remains such a provocative issue was because of the panic leading up to the event. In fact, days before the event, Governor Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency. In attempt to increase safety, Northam temporarily banned the possession of weapons on State Capitol property after receiving numerous threats of violence from extremist groups. This is a shockingly strong response from the government, yet it may be reasonable under the context of the violence that ensued at a similar event held in Charlottesville, Virginia in Aug. 2017, which had one fatal-

ity. Thankfully, the Virginia gun rally ended peacefully, with no severe signs of violence. Many who attended the event vouched for its safety. Therefore, the question remains: Was the state of emergency declared really necessary?

Most proponents of gun rights will say no. Overall, the rally went smoothly. There were no signs of violence on the day of the event, and no one was hurt, so it makes sense to take this as a sign that the governor’s reaction was over-the-top. However, this is not the true issue. The lack of violence at the gun rally does not make the declaration of a state of emergency invalid or overdramatic. These preventive measures were put into place out of fear, and the fear that is associated with guns is completely valid.

It makes sense that people were scared of the violence that could ensue at the gun rally because at the end of the day, guns are weapons. They can be used for good or bad, for selfdefense or for cruelty, but nonetheless, guns remain weapons. The natural instinct of feeling fear at the sight of a gun is common for many, regardless of the individual purpose of the firearm. For example, if I find myself walking around an airport and see law enforcement carrying a gun, I feel fear. It is instinctual. It does not matter if the guns are there for my own protection; I feel fear either way.

That is the true controversy of the Virginia gun rally. Though the real issue may be disguising itself as a ques-

tion of whether preventative measures were truly necessary, the question is as simple as it ever was. Should gun control laws be stricter? Are guns really necessary for personal safety?

To delve into the purpose behind the Virginia gun rally, it is necessary to take a deeper look at the specifics of the gun laws being proposed. The bills proposed suggest that gun owners should be limited to purchasing one handgun per month, that those purchasing guns should be required to pass a background check and that local governments should have the ability to ban guns in public parks and property.

It seems shocking that these restrictions were not already in place. They seem extremely reasonable, and not at all restrictive enough to provoke a massive rally. I assume the rally was more of a figurative approach attempting to display the frustration of gun owners at having any portion of their Second Amendment rights stripped away.

Nevertheless, what is so wrong about these laws? If the defense remains that Americans need to be able to own guns to protect themselves, what about these new laws prevent citizens from protecting themselves? Is it necessary to purchase more than one gun per month? Last time I checked, handguns don’t have a 30-day expiration date. Are gun owners really that worried about failing a background check? If so, that argument does not do much to support their case. Last-

COURTESY OF FLICKR

In the wake of Charlottesville, officials must be cautious with gun rallies.

ly, is the thought of having to avoid public parks while carrying a firearm that much to ask? Public smoking is already banned in plenty of parks to prevent children from inhaling secondhand smoke, and this issue seems to receive little argument. Yet the thought of banning dangerous firearms from parks — that is a debate. Whether or not the declaration of a state of emergency was necessary is not the argument at hand. It was not necessary. It is obvious that it was not necessary now, after the fact, because the Virginia gun rally was a fairly peaceful and wholly safe event.

However, the state of emergency still remains relevant because it displays the valid fear that comes with the congregation of numerous firearms.

Although this specific event went smoothly, it very easily could have been a different story, just as Charlottesville was.

The uneasiness that comes with gun rallies will never cease to exist because of the natural anxiety that comes with virtually any kind of weapon. If there was a huge rally held where tons of people showed up with knives, or cannons, or battle axes for that matter, to defend their right to self-defense, there would be fear. Weapons naturally instill fear. It is what they are meant to do.

Taylor Herzlich, GSB ’23, is a business administration major from Mount Sinai, N.Y.

Lack of Clarity in Iowa Results Proves Caucus System Ineffective

By EMMA LIPKIND OPINION EDITOR

Every four years, America experiences something magnificent: a presidential election. To kick off this exciting time, Iowans are first in the primary calendar, holding caucuses to begin the process of voting for their nominee of choice for their party. In an election season, each state holds either caucuses or primaries to choose candidates for various political offices. A primary is what you would imagine a typical voting process would look like: people gather at local community site, place their votes on secret ballots and are usually in and out in less than 30 minutes. However, a caucus requires people to spend hours publicly debating various candidates before a winner is eventually declared.

During a caucus, voters gather in public areas and debate their political opinions in front of their neighbors, friends, family and acquaintances. This is highly off-putting for many people who choose to keep their political views private.

Additionally, the lengthy — and often times dysfunctional — caucusing prevents large numbers of individuals from attending because they simply do not have time.

In 2016, most states that held caucuses saw less than 16% voter

COURTESY OF TWITTER

Iowans gather at community centers to debate the Democratic candidates.

turnout, while all other states saw at least 18% voter turnout, with most of them well above this number. If people who want to vote are unable to because they lack the luxury of spending hours debating ideas on a Monday night, then there needs to be immediate reform in the voting process for caucusing states. People also excluded from caucuses are disabled individuals and anybody out of town at the time of the public debates. Unlike ballot primaries, absentee ballots are not offered for those who are unable to physically attend the debate. Just by their nature, caucuses strip constituents of their natural rights to cast their votes.

Iowa also changed its caucusing

rules for this year, further adding to the complexity and inaccessibility of its caucuses. One major difference required caucus leaders to report three sets of data. This new rule prompted an array of misinformation and a lack of clarity, as the individual reports may result in different victors. In a primary with ballots, the votes can easily be counted with little contestation about who the true winner is.

The cloudy nature of caucuses, with their multiple rounds of debate and various moving parts, reduces the efficiency of these debates. This year, especially, was a disgrace. Iowa results were delayed almost 24 hours due to “technical issues” from a new implementa-

tion of data reporting through a smartphone application. Not only did this application malfunction, but caucus chairs were given the option to report data to a hotline that left them on hold for hours, forcing them to stay at polling sites late into the night. In a state with over 1,600 voting precincts, this is unacceptable.

During a time when the nation is so divided over the removal of President Trump, there is no room for a delay of this severity. The setback in results is not only a loss for the American public because it raises questions of legitimacy concerning this method of voting, but also a loss for the front-running candidates.

Iowa only has 41 pledged delegates for the nomination, but the real reason presidential candidates spend so much time and money campaigning in this midwestern state is for momentum. At the start of election season, many candidates view a win in Iowa as a way to get the ball rolling for more victorious elections. Even more important is Iowa’s unique ability to “predict” the presidential nominee.

Out of the last 9 presidential races with contested Democratic nominees, seven of them were both winners of the Iowa primary and the Democratic nomination.

Some presidential candidates

such as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg took this delay as incentive to declare victory. This led to the direct confusion of many candidates’ constituencies, since results had not yet been declared by the state of Iowa at the time of the candidates’ respective announcements.

There was relatively no reason for these declarations besides rallying supporters, but the result was nationwide frustration and controversy. Although this was a localized decision made by certain candidates and their campaigns, there would be no opportunity for such behavior if Iowa had primaries rather than caucuses.

To streamline the election process and ensure both the integrity and efficiency of an election, it is imperative that the nation move to eliminate caucusing all together.

This will allow for better turnout in a state such as Iowa, the first state to hold primaries in an election cycle. Creating a uniform system of elections will give people the clarity they deserve, rather than confusing the public and providing misleading information.

Emma Lipkind, FCRH ’23, is an international political economy major from Holland, Penn.

OPINION

Page 8

R

Serving the Fordham University campus and community since 1918 The Fordham Ram the university journal of record. The mission of The Fordham Ram is to provide a forum for the free and open exchange of ideas in service to the community and to act as a student advocate. The Fordham Ram is published and distributed free of charge every Wednesday during the academic year to the Rose Hill, Lincoln Center and Westchester campuses with a readership of over 12,000 and a web readership of over 300,000. The Fordham Ram office is located in the basement of the McGinley Center, room B-52.

Website FordhamRam.com Email Address theram@fordham.edu Editor-in-Chief Helen Stevenson Managing Editor Andrew Posadas Editorial Director Kelly Christ Multimedia Director Kristen Egan Business Director James Rosato Operations Director Robert (Max) Quintas Production Editor Vanessa DeJesus Copy Chiefs Emma Butler Erica Weidner News Editor Sarah Huffman Projects Editor Joergen Ostensen Assistant News Editor Hasna Sena Ceran Opinion Editors Kelly Christ Emma Lipkind Culture Editors Rachel Gow Kieran Press-Reynolds Sports Editor Jimmy Sullivan Assistant Sports Editors Dylan Balsamo Alexander Wolz Digital Producer Katherine Morris Visual Director Hunter Benegas Photo Editor Jennifer Huang Graphics/Illustrations Pia Fischetti Faculty Advisor Jessica Baldwin-Philippi Editorial Page Policy The Fordham Ram’s editorial and ramblings topics are selected on a weekly basis and reflect the editorial board’s view on a campus issue.

Opinions Policy The Fordham Ram appreciates submissions to fordhamramopinions@gmail. com. Commentaries are printed on a space available basis. The Fordham Ram reserves the right to reject any submission for any reason, without notice. Submissions become the exclusive property of The Fordham Ram . The Fordham Ram reserves the right to edit any submissions. The opinions in The Fordham Ram ’s editorials are those of the editorial board; those expressed in articles, letters, commentaries, cartoons or graphics are those of the individual author. No part of The Fordham Ram may be reproduced without written consent.

February 5, 2020

From the Desk | Pia Fischetti

Finding Home Away from Home

In life, we are constantly faced with new or startling experiences, one of which is the transition from high school to college. For many students, going away for college can be very daunting, as it means leaving behind the place you have always known as home.

Not only are you propelled into a completely new environment, but you are also forced to navigate that new setting without the reassuring company of your family and friends.

As a result, many freshmen, myself included, often begin their college experience with conflicting feelings of panic and anticipation. My first semester was certainly full of overwhelming experiences. I knew that I had made the right choice attending and living at Fordham, and yet I would have these occasional feelings of uneasiness that stemmed from leaving the comfort of my home. Although I was excited to begin a new journey into college life, a part of me longed for the sense of routine and security I had developed in high school.

Nonetheless, I told myself that I would not allow my anxiety to keep me from taking advantage of the opportunities that college had to offer. So when it came time for the fall club fair, I decided to sign

up for anything and everything.

In the week following the fair, my email was flooded with welcome messages from a variety of clubs and organizations. I knew that I would end up neglecting most of those emails as my main objective was not to participate in every club, but rather to find one or two clubs to which I could fully commit. I wanted to find a club that would provide a sense of community and companionship. Essentially, I was looking for a new home.

Fortunately, I found that home at The Fordham Ram. I still distinctly remember how nervous I was at the information meeting. I was looking to become a photographer for the newspaper but started to worry that I did not possess the necessary skills or equipment. Despite this concern, though, I decided to attend the following meeting and every meeting thereafter. I may have only had a basic knowledge of photography, but I knew that through the Ram, I would be able to further my abilities and gain more experience.

I am so grateful for the Ram and all of the opportunities the publication has already provided me.

I have been able to photograph a variety of events, from museum

exhibits in New York City to club functions on campus. However, I also had the opportunity to learn about key aspects of graphic design, which led to me applying for the position of graphics/illustrations editor.

I know that I am still a freshman and am not yet qualified to provide any sage wisdom about life at Fordham or college in general. Yet I feel that I have already learned one important lesson, and that is to never be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone, whether it be during or after college. Of course, this is eas-

ier said than done, but we must understand that there’s always going to be new aspects of our lives that confuse or overwhelm us.

The thing to keep in mind is that new experiences are healthy and allow us to grow as individuals.

By stepping out of my comfort zone, I was able to find a home at Fordham. I now have that same feeling of safety and security that I thought I lost only a few months ago. I know there is still so much more that awaits me in the next three years, and I truly cannot wait to experience it all.

Editorial | Social Media

Coronavirus Puts Generation Z’s Dark Humor on Display Coronavirus, which is shorthand for the 2019 novel coronavirus, has made headlines as cases of the new disease are reported in the United States. The disease is believed to have originated in Wuhan, China, and it is a new type of virus that has not yet been identified. Of course, the outbreak of a new, unknown disease is sure to become a big news story, especially with 11 reported cases in the United States.

Some of the humorous responses to the coronavirus have gone viral, such as those comparing the virus to Corona beer.

Though the xenophobic jokes are compeltely unacceptable, other jokes show that humor is often a way of coping with fear. The internet has given a platform for this type of comedy, especially for Generation Z. This is the generation that is too young to remember so many tragedies that shaped the generations before us: the terrorist attacks of 9/11 (2001), the shooting at Columbine High School (1999), the Oklahoma City bombing (1995) — just to name a few. We don’t know a world before these unimaginable events.

Since the attacks on Sept.

11, 2001, the United States has been in a state of national emergency due to looming threats of terrorism. There is a low-level anxiety that permeates through the generation. We have become

so desensitized to tragedy and darkness that we are no longer shocked by it. In Generation Z’s most formative years, the country has witnessed acts of terrorism, the impact of climate change, skyrocketing student debt, incidents of police brutality and so much more.

Many of the tragedies we have seen, such as the mass shooting in Sandy Hook, were completely unprecedented. Now, the youngest members of our generation are accustomed to realistic shooting drills starting in elementary school. When the shooting in Sandy Hook happened in 2012, change was demanded. Instead, there have been at least 2,369 mass shootings since then, including the 2017 shooting at a Las Vegas music festival that left 59 dead.

These heartbreaking and unacceptable events are ingrained in our minds. The pattern of inaction that inevitably follows only cements our frustration and fear.

We are losing faith in our government to protect us from the world. A president of the United States who is so frequently publicly criticized for racist and sexist behavior, as well as owning a rampant Twitter account, is representative of how different the government that Generation Z has grown up with truly is.

Hearing the news that a new, unknown virus has emerged is

just one more on top of many fears and concerns.

Just this January, the tension between Iran and the United States rose following the killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani. Social media was filled with jokes about impending World War III. While it seemed like a humorous exaggeration, President Trump recently told the media that war with the country was “closer than you thought.”

When faced with near-constant instances of horror, it should come as no surprise that dark humor is a staple of millennials and Generation Z. The internet has seen countless memes about college debt, climate change and now coronavirus. This humor allows us to cope, to bring some light to a seemingly hopeless situation.

Psychological studies have consistently supported the idea that humor can be an effective coping mechanism. In a study from Stanford, researchers found that “positive humor” about dark, disturbing situations can prove beneficial. The findings demonstrate that the humor works by changing the viewer’s perspective.

In addition to the laughs that these jokes provide, sharing this humor with an internet community fosters a sense of solidarity that is much needed in times of fear. Thus, one’s feelings evolve from panic and fear to perceiving

a unified front against a common threat.

Unfortunately, some of the dark comedy has also facilitated a spread of xenophobic behavior and expressions. Given that the first known outbreak occurred in China, heightened levels of racist incidents towards Asian populations in the United States, Canada and Europe have appeared.

Additionally, the internet has run rampant with racist memes, such as those joking about avoiding Asian women on dating apps.

These responses to the outbreak are unacceptable. There is no excuse for racist or xenophobic behavior, even when a potential threat such as the novel coronavirus looms.

Humor has helped individuals not only cope with the fear of the disease itself, but also these ignorant reactions. Asian teenagers on the popular platform TikTok have counteracted racist memes with their own humor — this time mocking the ignorance of others in response to the virus.

It is easier to laugh at the chaos of the new coronavirus rather than confront the frightening realities of a potentially fatal new disease. The scariest part of the outbreak is the unknown. Gathering data on the disease’s severity requires extended study, and the disease will continue to spread in the meantime.

OPINION

February 5, 2020

Page 9

Television Takes on the Trump Trial

By NOAH OSBORNE STAFF WRITER

The impeachment trial of President Donald Trump could be described as a roller coaster of partisanship, lectures and revelations. More likely than not, you have found your screen inundated with the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump.

In this respect, major news networks take center stage in the trial. This may not seem like much on the surface, but the media portrayal of such a historic event speaks volumes.

The media’s influence in the impeachment trial of Trump is something that cannot be denied. News networks such as CNN, with an inclination of being politically liberal, may cover key circumstances encompassing the trial that are vastly different from agencies like Fox News, with more conservative leanings.

CNN reported on Trump’s Ukraine call as “President Donald Trump repeatedly pushed for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to investigate a potential 2020 political rival, Joe Biden, and his son, Hunter, during a July 25 phone call, according to a transcript of the conversation released by the White House.”

Compare this to Fox News’ report on the transcript which states, “On Monday, Republicans still questioned the process.”

“Democrats cherry pick which transcripts they release and when,” said Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan. “Why not release Ambassador Volker’s testimony? He was the very first witness to testify!”

It is apparent how these sentiments differ, as CNN adopts an accusatory tone, where Fox News sounds incredulous to the endeavors of the Democratic party to implicate

COURTESY OF FLICKR

The coverage of the impeachment trial impacts the attitudes of viewers.

President Trump.

Regardless of political standings, one cannot deny the impact such media representation has over the trial. Depending on how both liberals and conservatives present the information, they will be able to manipulate public opinion on the trial. Fox can brand into the minds of many Americans that Trump did nothing wrong, and should be vindicated of his accusations. On the other hand, CNN’s dissemination of the trial information can persuade Americans that Trump is guilty of the misdemeanors he is disparate with and should be convicted. Public opinion will grow so charged that it will become almost impossible to ignore. After all, the members of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives are elected to work in the best interest of their constituency.

How the public receives such information is crucial to the trajectory the impeachment trial will take. The facts regarding the trial eventually become blurred as a result of how those contrasting news networks have mobilized them to better serve their political interest. The sway of the public opinion in relation to such mobilization of the facts will be highly impactful.

However, there are a multitude of quintessential elements at play that make the intricacies of impeachment

function. A more obvious example of this can be found within the imperiled White House walls itself: the White House’s representatives.

A common sentiment amongst such representatives is that the impeachment trial is a tool concocted by the Democrats to tarnish Trump’s election prospects in 2020. For example, South Carolina Congressman Trey Gowdy stated: “Trump impeachment trial is not about him. This is what the Democrats want now.”

Claims like these affect the way society views the trial, and even the constitution. What is apparent is that impeachment is a method engendered by our founding fathers to accuse and ultimatelythwart an oppressive government. However, by making claims such as this, White House representatives are almost defying this intent by stating that impeachment has become less about the interests of the nation and more so about politicalization and partisan desires.

This is a dangerous way to think about impeachment because no matter Awhat is to be the fate of Trump’s now imperiled presidency, should we have a president who presumptuously oversteps the bounds placed unto him or her by the Constitution?

How can we as a nation address this threat when our understanding of the meaning of ‘impeachment’ has been clouded by ignorant notions of

partisan interest rather than national interest? Comments like this sow and perpetuate ignorance, and I believe that if America begins to think in terms of partisan ideals rather than national interest, we may be headed for dire straits worse than the divisive impeachment trial.

Trump’s defense commenced on Saturday, a time slot which he has dubbed “the death valley of TV.” Additionally, Deadline News states, “The Senate impeachment schedule will see President Donald Trump’s White House and personal lawyers begin their allotted 24 hours of oral arguments defending Trump on Saturday ... that’s no good for ratings.”

However, no matter how you decipher the ratings, the impeachment trial of Trump is something that the world will always be tuned in to, whether it is the first 30 minutes, or the lengthy almost 24 hours.

The impeachment trial of Trump may even be the potential series finale to what many Americans have named “the soap opera presidency.”

This may be a finale for the ages, or just another special episode that is Trump-ier than ever. One thing is certain: the world is watching.

Noah Osborne, FCRH ’23, is a journalism major from Harlem, N.Y.

Media Literacy Must Be Emphasized

By ERICA SCALISE

PROJECTS EDITOR EMERITUS

On Jan. 21, liberatarian-leaning broadcaster, stand-up comedian and mixed martial arts commentator Joe Rogan declared he’s backing Bernie Sanders on his podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.” The endorsement came as an upset for many on the left who know the talk-show host for his conspiracy theory commentary, racist wisecracks and bigoted remarks toward transgender people.

Rogan’s endorsement, and Sanders’ unexpected embrace in the days following, struck the Twittersphere in tsunami-like waves, ushering in a flood of commentary on the power of endorsements and what it means to be a practitioner of purity politics in the wake of a critical election.

As a self-proclaimed local news junkie with an affinity for the Times’ Metro section, “The Joe Rogan Experience” doesn’t fare as well when seated beside my regular line-up of local politics podcasts and old standbys.

Rogan’s voice is nothing like Ira Glass’ and he regularly discusses national politics. Meanwhile, I’m still taking to Twitter to mourn the loss of Andy Byford, former New York City Transit Authority president.

I’ve been on Twitter long enough to know when to, but more importantly, when not to dip my toe into the vapid whirlpool that is Twitter politics. Yet, I somehow found myself indirectly entangled in the Rogan discourse after reading a tweet by Ryan Broderick, a senior reporter at Buzzfeed News.

Broderick tweeted: “On a recent trip to the Boston area, I was talking to a bunch of 20-something guys

from my small town. They get their news from 3 places: Bill Simmons, Joe Rogan, Reddit. Beyond the Bernie endorsement, there is a big problem happening here that journalists need to deal with.”

I want to make this clear from the get-go; this tweet isn’t completely unfounded. Broderick’s claim that 20-something guys living in Boston, a city that’s 52.58% white, get their news almost exclusively from two white men outside of the journalistic sphere is sadly believable. The addition of Reddit, a site where 70% of users are white, also checks out. What I’m quick to take issue with is Broderick’s assertion that this “big problem” is somehow due to the journalists rather than the consumers.

The veiled problem Broderick ambiguously dangles in 278 characters is actually one of critical thinking concerning media or “media literacy,” not journalistic negligence. As a chronic retweeter, occasional replier, but almost never a “retweet with comment” kind of person — I found myself responding to Broderick with a quote tweet, remaining steadfast on a quest to engage in political discourse rather than aimlessly shout into the void. Of course, he didn’t reply to me, but the question still begs to be asked: in a time governed by instant gratification where news is available at the touch of a button, why is media literacy such a problem?

In order to better understand media literacy, it’s crucial to consider where we as consumers have fallen short in nurturing our news ecosystem — how can we come to understand media literacy in a time when we’re increasingly being steered away from the very practices that make us

literate? Simply spending 20 minutes per day perusing Twitter, watching a video long enough for it to count as a view — a whopping three seconds on Instagram, shouting into a vast echochamber on Facebook, or joining the scholarly likes of Snapchat news savants are not viable ways to stay informed.

News begs to be read, consumed, engaged with and analyzed apropos of the betterment of the greater world around us. With morning/ evening news briefings, 10 minute daily podcasts on National Public Radio (NPR) and headlines such as, “10 Things to Know for Today,” reporters work to consistently produce digestible news in tandem with longform pieces, providing endless opportunities for media consumption.

To scapegoat journalists as the beall-end-all gatekeepers of media is to wrongfully ignore the stake that consumers have in choosing how they get to consume news.

However, staying informed via morning briefings doesn’t exactly epitomize media literacy. Whether on the surface or deep in the catacombs of comment sections, boldface lies and factual inaccuracies run rampant.

A 2018 study by MIT found false news stories are 70% more likely to be retweeted than true stories, and it takes true stories about six times as long to reach 1,500 people as it takes for false stories to reach the same number. This is where media literacy comes in. Being able to recognize news as a trustable avenue toward a pathway for democracy and truth, rather than as something cheap and easily attainable through the podcast of a stand-up comedian is essential. I like to think pouring over several op-

COURTESY OF FLICKR

Social media platforms often circulate many false news stories on the web.

tions for an accurate and trustworthy news outlet is a bit like choosing a romantic partner — you’re going to have to sift through a lot of seemingly promising outlets before you strike gold.

There also lies the issue of partisanship. Studies by Pew Research Center show Republicans and Republicanleaning independents are most likely to be skeptical of news derived from social media. Axios also reported that a whopping 92% of Republicans and 52% of Democrats say traditional news outlets knowingly report false or misleading stories at least sometimes. A large part of being media literate involves being skeptical to an extent, checking one’s own personal biases and being open to dissecting multiple angles of a story in order to obtain the news in its fullest capacity.

When the news begins to function like regurgitated political jargon to feed a consumer’s confirmation biases, media literacy is extinguished and consumers are left in the dark. Surely, The Washington Post was onto something when it declared that “Democracy Dies in Darkness.”

In considering all of this, I’m obliged to wonder, is the small town Broderick describes in his tweet

simply a macrocosm for the greater Fordham community? Sure, Gabelli students are granted a free subscription to the Wall Street Journal. the New York Times is in the entry way of every dorm and we have an NPRaffiliate radio station on our campus, but is it really enough? In order for media literacy to effectively flow through the university, enough to spit us out into the women and men for others that the administration so consistently touts, the core should dedicate an entire class, beyond Communications 1000, to media literacy, a mandatory skill in any profession, not just for those preparing for a liberal arts degree.

As a student journalist who serves as both an informant and consumer, I recognize I am not the final arbiter in the case for improved media literacy, though I do know the commitment to staying informed is not a mere suggestion, but a civic duty. As long as journalists are on the frontlines churning out content today, it is up to the informed consumers to be the critical thinkers of tomorrow.

Erica Scalise, FCRH ’20, is a journalism major from Chicago, Ill.

Page 10

ADVERTISEMENTS

February 5, 2020

February 5, 2020

ADVERTISEMENTS

Page 11

Page 12

On this day

February 5, 2020

The Ram Archives

February 5, 2020

Page 13

U.S. Postage PAID Bronx, N Y P e r m i t # 7608 Non-Profit O r .

^ ^

U.S. Postage PAID Bronx, N Y Fordham University • Broi Bronx, New York P e r m i t # 7608 Servinp Camnux aiiH Cnmmuni Serving Campus and Community since 1918 Non-Profit O r .

I

Volume 80 Number 3 • Thursday, February 5,1998 ^ ^

I

Fordham University • Broi Bronx, New York Servinp Campus Camnuxand aiiHCommunity Cnmmuni since 1918 Serving

N e w dorm to open i n the fall Volume 80 Number 3 • Thursday, February 5,1998

U.S. Postage U.S. Postage PAID PAID Bronx, N Y Bronx, N Y P e r m i t # 7608 P e rrenovated m i t # 7608 being for O the Non-Profit r .UniverO r . Nova, who sityNon-Profit

by Peter Terra

N e w dorm to open i n the fall will be located behind Pete's

dent Assistant.

nienced us very much," she said.

• No 5's and 7's in Cafe on Hoffman Avenue, acT h e construction of the new "Having five's and seven's would Walsh next year, have made living in a dorm cording to Assistant Dean of facility will mean that suites in also owns Belmont 2, another dent will Assistant. nienced usprobably very much," will be located behind Pete's she said. property being renovated the Fordham.

Univerworse, and I wouldn't Walsh Hall not be given an Student Life Michele Cavanagh. says Cavanagh Fordham University • Broi Bronx, York leasedforby • No 5's and 7's in Cafe on Hoffman ^ ^ Avenue, acIT h Ie construction of Fordham University • Broi Bronx, NewNew York the new "Having five's and seven's would sity by Peter Terra Nova, who have come back toCnmmuni Res Life."

T e r r a Nova was in touch with suite, housing, known as additional resident per Serving ^ Servinp Camnux aiiH and Community since Walsh next year,T h e newcording have aiiH made living in a dorm Servinp Cnmmuni that suitesCamnux inCampus to ^Assistant Dean of facility will meanServing also1918 owns Belmont 2, another Community Director of Government and thereby preventingfive or seven Campus Terraand Nova Houses will since be a 1918 Terra Nova Houses, will conworse, and I probably wouldn't Walsh Hall will not be given an property leased by Fordham.

Student Life Michele Cavanagh. says Cavanagh housing option for this year's Urban Affairsjoseph Muriana's people living in suites designed tain 12 five-person suites. Inihave come back to Res Life."

T e r r a Nova was in touch with residentFebruary per suite, 5,1998 T h e new housing, known as 3 •additional Volume 80 Number Thursday, Volume 80 Number 3four • Thursday, February 5,1998 office last summer to begin the lottery,Terra although students will University will lease a tial fioor plans or six people, according show that each ofwill for thereby preventingfive or seven Nova Houses will be a Director of Government and Terra Nova Houses, con-

By K A T H L E E N T H O M P S O N

The

By K A T H L E E N T H O M P S O N project. Muriana's not be able to see the now off campus property for the Cavanagh. the suites will five single Urban Affairsjoseph Muriana's ofhousing option fornew this propyear's housing people living in suites designed tain have 12 five-person suites.to Inifice handles off-campus erty because it will be under 1998-99 academic in an willbedrooms, office last summer to beginleases. the with a living a eachTofh e news came a relief to lottery, although students will for four or sixas T h eyear University lease a tial people, according fioor plans room, show that housing Muriana's of- be construction through the sumnot be able to see the new propnow off campus property for the and to Cavanagh. effort to meet the increased housthe two suites bathrooms. will have five single kitchen Karen Bermudez, C B A '99, who T h e project. fioor plan will also fice handles off-campus leases. will be under erty because it mer until the beginning of the 1998-99 academic year in an bedrooms, with a living room, a T h e news came as a relief to ing demands of upperclassmen. T e r r a Nova Houses will be a lives in a six-person suite in available at the housing lottery. construction the sumthe increased houseffort to meet and that two will bathrooms.

Karen Bermudez, C B A '99, who T h e fioor plan will also be academic year,through according to T h e ()0-bed facility, which is duplex withkitchen three floors Walsh Hall. mer untilTthe of the ing demands of upperclassmen. T e r r a Nova Houses will be a lives in a six-person suite in available at the housing lottery.

Cavanagh. h e beginning new facility is currently under construction, house 59 students and one R e s i - .

"It would have inconve— See Housing, Page 4 — year, according to being renovated for the UniverT h e ()0-bed facility, is duplex with three that will Walsh Hall. dent Assistant. willbewhich belocated located behind Pete'sfloors much," she said. nienced us very dent Assistant. will behind Pete's nienced usacademic very much," she said. being renovated for the UniverNo 5's 5's and andcurrently 7's inin •• No 7's Cavanagh.

T h e new facility is under Cafe construction, house 59 students ees iconstruction -.

"It would have inconveSeePeter Housing, Page 4— hconstruction of the "Having five's seven's would Hoffman Avenue, Terra Nova, who by T hTeR of the newnew "Having five's andand seven's would Cafe ononHoffman Avenue, ac-ac-and one sity sity by— Peter Terra Nova, who Walsh next next year, year, Walsh have made living in a dorm facility will mean that suites in also owns Belmont 2, another cording to Assistant Dean of have made living in a dorm facility will mean that suites in cording to Assistant Dean of also owns Belmont 2, another worse, I probably wouldn't andand I probably wouldn't property leased

by Fordham.

Walsh Hall given Student Life Michele Cavanagh. Walsh Hall willwill notnot be be given an anworse, property leased

by Fordham.

Student Life Michele Cavanagh. says Cavanagh says Cavanagh come back to Res Life." T e r rTae rNova have come back to Res Life." r a Nova in touch was was in touch with with additional resident suite,have resident perper suite, newhousing, housing,known known TT h eh enew as as additional Director of Government and and Director of Government thereby preventingfive or seven Terra Nova Houses will be a thereby preventingfive or seven Terra Nova Houses will be a Terra Nova Houses, will conTerra Nova Houses, will conBy NN

By KKAATTHHLLEEEENN TTHHOOMMPPS SOO Urban Affairsjoseph Muriana's Urban Affairsjoseph Muriana's option for for this this year's By SinT E H A Ndesigned I Edesigned T O T I housing living suites tain housing option year's people living inP suites tain1212five-person five-personsuites. suites.IniIni- people

By S T EPHANIE T O T Ilottery, last summer to begin the the although students will willoffice office last summer to begin TThhee University people, according four or or sixsix show that each of of forfor although students four Universitywill will lease lease a a tial people, accordinglottery, tialfioor fioorplans plans show that each The Global Outreach (GO!) housing project.

Muriana's of- ofnot be able to see the new prophousing project.

Muriana's now Cavanagh. not be able to see the new propnowoff offcampus campusproperty propertyfor forthe the the Cavanagh.The Global Outreach thesuites suiteswill willhave havefive fivesingle single to to (GO!) project to Guatemala, scheduled off-campus leases. because it will be under fice handles off-campus leases.

1998-99 a living room, a a T hTe hnews came as to scheduled because it will be underfice handles project to a Guatemala, 1998-99 academic academic year year ininan an bedrooms, bedrooms,with with a living room, e news came asrelief a relief toertyerty to take place during Spring construction through the the sum-sum- T h e Tfioor to take place during Spring When watchman guards areffort the increased houskitchen and two bathrooms.

Karen Bermudez, C B A '99, who construction through plan will also be be effort•totomeet meet the increased houskitchen and two bathrooms.

Karen Bermudez, C B A '99, who h e fioor plan will also When watchman guards ar- has been canceled after a DAs will Break, • call DAs hosts will ecall hosts Break, has been canceled after a until until the the beginning of the at Houses 10:15 the former ing rerrarrive bebe a a lives in in a six-person suite in inmer at the housing lottery. mer beginning of theavailable ingdemands demandsofofupperclassmen. upperclassmen. T T rivep.m., atwill 10:15 p.m., the former lives a six-person suite aNova Nova Houses will available at the housing lottery. recent recent attack attack on a on group of of when guests arrive a group when guests arrive academic year, according to to policy will be in effect.

Students TThhee ()0-bed with three floors that Walsh Hall. academic year, according will bewill inwill effect.

Students policy ()0-bed facility, facility, which which isis duplex duplex with three floors that Walsh Hall.

American students in.

GuateAmerican students in.Cavanagh.

GuateT h e new facility is

N ew w dorm dorm to to open open iinnthe the fall fall

ResRes LifeLife changes changesGO! GO!Guatemala Guatemala canceled canceled sign-in policy sign-in policy

CULTURE

Page 14

February 5, 2020

Who’s That Kid? | It’s Colleen Cochran, FCRH ’21!

Junior Strives to Save the Earth, One Policy at a Time

By KIERAN PRESS-REYNOLDS CULTURE EDITOR

If we change nothing, we will commit irreparable damage to our planet — and that is a fact.

From the violent fires in Australia, which scientists say climate change magnified, to heart-jolting studies, some of which predict millions or even billions of people displaced by rising sea-levels, the climate catastrophe has become a constant topic of discussion. So far, it is the scary, depressing and defining theme of the 21st century.

And yet, worst of all, President Donald Trump and many of his supporters remain unconvinced. They mock climate activists like Greta Thunberg.

In the midst of this, Colleen Cochran, FCRH ’21, is a beacon of hope.

Cochran’s work focuses on climate change and public policy. She first began after Hurricane Sandy. The storm devastated her coastal community in Long Beach Island, New Jersey.

“We lost most of our homes,” she said.

During Sandy, the ocean shattered the natural dune structures in her area. These were vital to coastal management and habitat preservation. With her family, she tried new methods like irregular fence patterns to rebuild the dunes.

Coming into high school, Cochran had an opportunity to expand this work — her school required freshmen to do a research project.

She did it on dunes.

“I wanted to give back to my community, and I thought the best way I could do that was through research,” she said. “I ended up partnering with homeowner agencies, town planners, people in my neighborhood that were involved in public facilities

and actual homeowners.”

She tested new methods for their dune systems and helped build up many dune systems in her community. Although it wasn’t easy, she loved the experience.

“I would get eaten alive by greenhead flies,” she confessed. “There’s not a lot of dune research because it is really hard.”

In the wake of Sandy, one of the most jarring things for Cochran was seeing policy run contrary to science.

“What I learned is that environmental policy lends more to the political than the scientific or what the community wants,” she said. “A lot of that is towards sustaining tourism revenue and supporting affluent beachfront homeowners who want that immediate gratification … instead of investing in something that would be gradual and long-term.”

Now, she wants to move away from dunes and into environmental policy.

“As I’m beginning to publish in larger journals, I’m giving back to a much larger community,” she said.

“And hopefully influencing local — and my goal is larger than local — policies.”

This past summer, Cochran published a study that she has been working on for four years.

“We interviewed long-term residents, beachgoers and any coastal stakeholders on their opinion and knowledge on coastal management,” she said. “We presented a study that was aimed at policymakers to produce better policies and communication strategies.”

The result has been gratifying.

“It’s been rewarding to have people reach out to me and talk about how the research I have done has impacted them,” she said.

Since she started her work so young, she said that many people did not take her seriously. Yet, working with professionals proved beneficial.

“The co-authors on all my papers all have Ph.Ds,” she explained. “It’s very challenging but good because I’ve been pushed to a very high level in the way I collect data and write, and these skills have translated to other parts of my life.”

Since coming to Fordham, Cochran has continued her work. Her freshman year, she was the sole undergrad to speak at the Fordham/ NYU/Columbia Sustainable Cities conference.

“I don’t think they realized I was an undergraduate student when they accepted me to present,” she said.

“They emailed me and they were like, ‘Dr. Cochran, congrats for presenting!’”

She credits the Fordham College research program as a fantastic resource.

“They help partner you with different scientific departments,” she said.

Cochran is partnered with Dr. Franks’ evolutionary ecology lab.

She has done research on dune ecology with him over the past two summers. This past summer, she was also a Fordham and NYU research intern.

She studied food security in relation to climate change.

Besides this research, Cochran is also intimately involved with Fordham’s Social Innovation Collaboratory.

“It’s a network of students and community members and faculty and administrators that are all working towards the advancement of social innovation, whether that’s through entrepreneurship, environmental sustainability or social justice,” she explained.

Cochran has helped to organize a network of people, and a map that highlights all the sustainable resources at Fordham. Now, they’re working towards getting Fordham to divest from fossil fuels and commit to 100%

renewable energy.

She also stressed the need for Fordham, as an institution, to take part in sustainability reporting.

“They set goals, but there’s not a lot of recording, just putting out goals without concrete plans,” she said.

This semester, her focus is on fostering community and raising climate consciousness. She wants to highlight people doing sustainable things at Fordham, such as plant-based cooking, and bring attention to resources on campus, like composting at St. Rose’s Garden.

She urges everyone to follow their Instagram, @fuclimatechange.

“It’s a double-entendre,” she explained, laughing. “Fordham University, and also like, F-U, climate

change!”

Outside of her work with climate change and research, she loves to cook. Recently, she has gotten into baking. Her favorite food to bake is banana bread.

“You can have it for breakfast, lunch and dessert,” she said.

Between balancing school, friends, research, the Collaboratory and baking, Cochran has a lot on her plate.

Although she is modest about her success — casually slipping that she was a Udall scholar last year — it is clear that she is in pursuit of something much bigger.

Let her serve as an example to you, to me and to everyone — we can all do more to protect our planet, and we must.

COURTESY OF COLLEEN COCHRAN FOR THE FORDHAM RAM

Colleen Cochran has been involved in climate change research since age 13.

Editor’s Pick | People

The Fashion Flame of Fieri’s Flavortown

By KATIE MORRIS DIGITAL PRODUCER

COURTESY OF FLICKR

Guy Fieri is known for his eclectic fashion sense and idiosyncratic personality.

Long before the world ignited with hot cheetos, fire mixtapes and wildfires, one man’s flame burned with fashion, flavor and flare. His authenticity shonethrough as a fiery spark against a world trending towards monotony and is still burning today.

I speak of the man of three Ds: Guy Fieri.

With the Emmy-nominated “Diners Drive-ins and Dives,” Fieri introduced grit to the small screen culinary arena. Over the course of 384 episodes, his show enthusiastically explored America through the quintessential pastimes of football, beer and barbeque sauce. Though his television days are over, Fieri is far from a stale ex-Food Network host. In addition to serving wings and bbq, Fieri also serves hashtag looks.

Fieri is a fashion king. Fueled by his eccentricism, spunk and love of fire, Fieri created a recipe

for his own unique style. Most importantly, he uses his physical canvas as a backdrop for his personality, thereby encouraging people to embrace individuality and authenticity, even if it means deviating from the norm.

Fieri’s signature look is defined by his dazzling crown of frosted tips, spiked up with messy ease.

His bleached hair shines as a bright beacon and broadcasts a message of rebellion against formalities. Instead of adhering to traditional styles, Fieri is unapologetically bold.

Though Fieri was forged in fire, the man also knows ice. As a culinary master, he knows how to properly present his accessories in order to make a snack look like a full course meal.

This means that at the time when the current e-girls and eboys were still learning to speak, Fieri was iced up in chunky chains and edgy piercings. He created the tasteful soft grunge aesthetic that the e-children now emulate.

As a man well tuned to human

limitations, he knows not to attempt low-rise jeans, and instead embraces his own unique aesthetic: slightly oversized. Instead of drowning in baggie jeans and draping button-downs, his outfits form a subtle statement that allows his personality to shine.

Only a few (see: Gustavo Rocque from “Big Time Rush” or Billie Eilish) have been able to handle the Fieri fashion sauce.

Fieri’s attention to tasteful eccentricism is what makes him a star capable of evolving from chef to television host to entrepreneur to meme.

Compared to his Food Network peers Rachel Ray and Anthony Bourdain, Fieri’s casual edge stands out.

In many ways, it is his uncustomary defiance which contributes to his lasting popularity. Fieri is unwilling to compromise his personality to match the prevailing norms and has been rewarded with flaming success, demonstrating the ultimate triumph of originality.

CULTURE

February 5, 2020

Page 15

“If You Open Your Mouth, You’re Gone” Rampant Discrimination at the Grammys

By KATIE SCHULTE

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Deborah Dugan made history. In 2019, she became the first woman to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Recording Academy in the Grammys’ 62-year history.

She succeeds Neil Portnow, who is known for making misogynistic comments about women in the music industry. In 2018, he said women needed to “step up” if they wanted recognition.

Dugan symbolized a more inclusive era of the Grammys. She told “Good Morning America” that her goal was to “make change from within.” Clearly, Dugan and the diversity task force created in 2018 had a ways to go to create a safer, more inclusive music industry.

Yet, this all came to an abrupt end on Jan. 16, 2020, only 10 days before the awards, which took place Jan. 26.

Dugan was placed on administrative leave after the Academy board of trustees hired investigators to look into “a formal allegation of misconduct by a senior female member of the Recording Academy team.”

Dugan filed a 44-page complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in response. It asserts that the board filed these claims to retaliate against her for trying to right the wrongs of their “boys’ club.” The EEOC report also details corruption in the Academy. This includes sexual harassment in the workplace, vote rigging and favoritism within the nomination

process.

Allies have supported Dugan to bolster the claims made in the report, primarily of the rampant sexism and racism ingrained in the institution.

Ty Stiklorius, John Legend’s manager and a member of the diversity task force, spoke about the complaint. “[It exposes] an organization whose senior management was focused primarily on the benefits, financial and otherwise, of their longstanding privileged positions,” he said.

In detailing the “boys’ club mentality,” the report tells of how Dugan was sexually harassed by an industry lawyer. It also says how she learned that many of her predecessors, including Portnow, were accused of sexual misconduct and assault.

The former Chief Information Officer (CIO) Megan Clarke also experienced harassment from a male board member and suffered punishment for speaking out. The previous CIO told Clarke, “If you open your mouth, you’re gone.” After following up with human resources about the incident, she was forced to resign just as she had been warned.

The discrimination described by Dugan and Stiklorius is reinforced by the lack of transparency in the voting process. There is a pattern of excluding women and people of color from the “Big Four” Awards: Best New Artist, Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Album of the Year.

Twelve thousand members vote on submissions, and secret commit-

tees review the top 20 selections.

Many committee members have relationships with nominees. The report claims that this allows the board to push forward the artists they know, rather than those who merit it.

The board can also add in artists who did not make the list. They are especially likely to do so if they have a business or personal relationship with the performer.

This corrupt system helps those with systemic advantages, such as white male privilege. As a result of privilege, they have better connections.

The University of Southern California Annenberg Inclusion Initiative found a large gender disparity in award winners. Of all the nominees from 2013-2020, only 11.7% were women. Of this percentage, 62% were white and 38% were women of color.

This report makes the routine snubbing of artists like Beyoncé less of a coincidence. Instead, it is evidence of systemic racism. Only 10 black artists have won Album of the Year since the show’s start in 1959.

Only one rap album, OutKast’s “SpeakerBoxxx/The Love Below,” received the honor.

In 2017, Adele won over Beyoncé’s “Lemonade” for Album of the Year, to the upset of many. “Lemonade” was hailed both as a visual and lyrical masterpiece that empowered black women. Adele acknowledged this in her acceptance speech, saying that Beyoncé deserved the award.

Many black artists are siphoned

off from the Big Four to the HipHop/Rap, R&B and, more recently, Urban Contemporary categories. At the 2020 awards, Tyler, the Creator, who took home a gramophone for Best Rap Album, felt bittersweet about his win.

“On one side, I’m very grateful that what I made could just be acknowledged in a world like this,” he said.

“But also it sucks that whenever we, and I mean guys that look like me, do anything that’s genre-bending, they always put it in a ‘rap’ or ‘urban’ category. I don’t like that ‘urban’ word.

To me, it’s just a politically correct way to say the N-word. Why can’t we just be in pop?”

As P. Diddy pointed out at the PreGrammys gala, what Dugan brought to light with her complaint is noth-

ing new. “So, right now, this current situation — it’s not a revelation. This thing’s been going on. And it’s not just going on in music, it’s going on in film, it’s going on in sports, it’s been going on around the world,” he said.

With many notable absences on Sunday, including Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Halsey and Taylor Swift, the discrimination in the Grammys, as with other institutions, is impossible to ignore. The diversity task force urges the Academy to install changes before they reconvene in 90 days. The world waits alongside them. The awards must reflect the diversity in music that it claims to celebrate.

As said by this year’s host Alicia Keys, “It’s a new decade. It’s time for newness and we refuse the negative energy. We refuse the old systems.”

COURTESY OF FACEBOOK

In his acceptance speech, Tyler, the Creator spoke out about industry racism.

Jack’s Wife Freda: Tastes Like Home

By ISABEL CELIO

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

When you walk into Jack’s Wife Freda in New York City, a smiling waiter and the wafting smell of Middle Eastern, Israeli and American food greet you.

Once seated at one of the family-style dining tables, you look around. You smile at the strangers sitting beside you and begin to make small talk with your friends.

Most people would think that sitting an elbow’s length away from

a stranger would be weird and uncomfortable, but here it is quite the opposite.

The family atmosphere of Jack’s Wife Freda is just what you need when you are feeling nostalgic and want to reminisce about your childhood. It’s perfect for when you are missing the homecooked meals that used to adorn your dining room table.

Jack’s Wife Freda is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The restaurant offers a vast array of plates. The meals cost an average

COURTESY OF FACEBOOK

Jack’s Wife Freda will remind you of the taste and smell of home-cooked food.

of $20 and come with a side, such as a chopped salad or fries.

One of the more popular breakfast dishes at Jack’s Wife Freda is the Rosewater Waffle topped with Lebanese yogurt, mixed berries and honey syrup. This take on classic breakfast food is one that will make you never look at waffles the same way again.

Although yogurt may not sound appealing on a waffle to some, it is what makes this dish so unique.

The Rosewater Waffle meets your mouth with a tantalizing mixture of sweet and sour. This mixture causes you not only to savor every bite, but also to feel full without the heaviness of carbs weighing your stomach down.

The dish is ordered often because of its tremendous taste, and for its visual appeal. The vibrant berries and cream-colored yogurt, which contrasts with the yellow waffle itself, make passersby stop and admire it. The waffle is also a great excuse to take an artsy photo for your Instagram story.

Although the waffle is a very popular dish for breakfast, nothing compares to the Prego Roll at lunch. It is a Portuguese skirt steak sandwich with garlic butter. The minute this dish is put

in front of you, your mouth will water.

You will devour this sandwich in less than five minutes. When you feel sad that you did not savor it enough, you will soon come to realize that the fries on your plate, and the aioli-based hot sauce beside them, are just as magnificent.

This aioli hot sauce is famous at Jack’s Wife Freda because of its smoothness. The texture contrasts with the kick of the everso-present hot sauce. Its almost ketchup-like feel doubles as the perfect spread for Jack’s Burger or the Prego Roll, and even to dip your fries in.

Some people have gone as far as to ask for some hot sauce in a to go box. Others have drunk the leftover sauce as if it were a smoothie. This is because these people know that they will never be able to recreate it.

Although the dinner menu at Jack’s Wife Freda includes some of the entrees from lunch, nothing compares to the Bloody Mary Mussels with fries. Although this entree is a little pricier at $24, it is worth it. You receive a generous portion of mussels soaked in a light tomato purée.

After you finish every mussel and you think you cannot eat another bite, you come to realize, yet

again, that there are still fries on your plate. This leads to another enticing aspect of the Bloody Mary Mussels: dipping your fries into the leftover Bloody Mary sauce at the bottom of your dish.

Despite being full after dinner, people cannot seem to pass up the many enticing desserts after seeing the waiters bring them out for other customers.

A very popular dessert is the Flourless Chipotle Chocolate Cake with chocolate mousse. The cake, although flourless, is very light. The chipotle and mousse combination deftly pronounces the undertones of the chocolate.

The chocolate cake is so good that you will hear it calling you back for more.

Once you have signed your check and received a collectible postcard from Jack’s Wife Freda, you leave feeling as though you had a home-cooked meal.

If you fell in love with one of the amazing meals at Jack’s Wife Freda but cannot go there every weekend, do not worry. There is a cookbook with all their fantastic recipes available to buy.

A warning, though: it will never taste the same as when you are in the family-style feel of the restaurant.

CULTURE

Page 16

February 5, 2020

“The Gentlemen” Remains Stuck in the Past

By MATT DILLON STAFF WRITER

After nearly a decade of exclusively directing reboots and reimaginings like “Aladdin” and

“Sherlock Holmes,” Guy Ritchie returns to the work that defined his earlier career with “The Gentlemen.” In the vein of “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch,” his newest film follows

COURTESY OF FACEBOOK

Guy Ritchie’s “The Gentlemen” is too convoluted and offensive.

British gangsters and their often dark, comedic conflicts, but this time the illicit dealings, brawls and hooliganism are between the elites of a bygone era. Past-their-peak gangsters, diminished nobility and shameless tabloid writers rule the England depicted in “The Gentleman.”

The protagonist of “The Gentlemen” is Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey), an American cannabis baron trying to cash out and buy his way into British aristocracy.

We learn about his struggle to break free through Fletcher (Hugh Grant), a sleazy journalist, unlicensed private eye and aspiring screenwriter. Mickey’s story becomes obscured by the elaborate power plays and volatile personalities, all filtered through a narrator who is as inconsistent as he is biased.

The movie’s unreliable narrator ends up being the source of its identity, as well as almost all of its problems. Grant perfectly depicts Fletcher as a voyeur who prioritizes theatrics over money.

His bizarre, lopsided account of Mickey’s tale would feel a lot less distinct without so much obvious tampering.

Unfortunately, this also makes the film difficult to follow, and even getting used to his style doesn’t make things entirely clear.

A larger issue is how frankly backwards this film is in so many respects. While I’ve enjoyed Ritchie’s previous work, I wouldn’t place him on the forefront of progress. However, that’s nothing compared to how “The Gentlemen” handles its representation. Mick-

ey’s primary rivals are Chinese gangsters led by the ruthless young upstart Dry Eye (Henry Golding).

Their depiction is reminiscent of turn-of-the-century “yellow peril” racist tropes and more recent, but equally objectionable, notions.

The same goes for Mickey’s other rival, fellow American Matthew Berger (Jeremy Strong). Strong and the script at least lend him some more complexity, but he still ends up as a “Jewish billionaire” caricature, especially towards the end of the film.

The few prominent women present in the film play small roles and meet horrible fates, a fact even Michelle Dockery’s smart, cold performance as Mickey’s wife Roz can’t mitigate.

Further complicating this is how most of the representation issues come from Fletcher’s account, which is pointed out as unreliable throughout the film.

The journalist himself is a gay stereotype, but there’s a nuance to Fletcher and the act he puts on that feels different from the much more vicious depictions of other groups in this film.

So the question remains: is this a story of deeply flawed, amoral individuals through the eyes of a shameless tabloid writer? Or, is the film just unequivocally offensive?

I suspect both are true to some extent, but it’s a meaningless distinction altogether. Whatever “The Gentlemen” was intending to do, the outcome is something that just doesn’t sit right.

Throughout the film, moving on from the past or obstructing the future is a prominent theme. Much like Fletcher’s screenplay term-

filled narration, it’s a bit of a metacommentary too. How does Guy Ritchie bring the gangster genre into the new decade? Poorly, as it turns out. The fact that Mickey and ’ they his cohorts get everything wanted and more feels a little dirty.

The attempts at incorporating social media, modern slang and changing social norms feels incongruous with the distinctly old school narrative and values of “The Gentlemen.”

The key issue is how Mickey and company’s ruthless self-interest is somehow more virtuous than that of their primarily non-white adversaries, a claim the film, or at the very least Fletcher, never adequately supports.

It’s an interesting contrast with “The Irishman,” in which the last hour of the film dwells on the utter emptiness of the protagonist’s material success.

“The Gentlemen” isn’t a complete letdown. The soundtrack flows well, energizing the already frantic action scenes. The visuals, particularly the costumes, are consistent even when the story isn’t.

Every actor gives it their best, and when working with the screenplay’s better moments, they consistently manage to draw out laughs.

The soul of Ritchie’s previous work is there, embodied through young criminals in over their heads and horrible fates involving pigs.

Unfortunately, it’s all mired by convoluted delivery and offensive content. At its core, “The Gentlemen” is a straight take on the gangster flick.

But these days, that ends up feeling mean-spirited, dated and just plain wrong.

“The Assistant” Captures Cyclical Office Abuse

By ALEX DICKISON STAFF WRITER

“The Assistant” has all the makings of an A minus on a graduate film school student’s capstone project. The picture begins with a long shot of an SUV idling on a dark and empty street in front of some house. After twenty motionless seconds, a well-dressed woman steps outside and gets in the car. Cut to traffic moving over the 59th Street Bridge, establishing the film’s locale. Next cut is to another empty street, cobblestoned and with higher buildings, where the car stops for the lady to get out.

Then we’re in an office. She maintains a blank stare as she wordlessly turns on the lights and Xerox machines, dusting up some desks and ordering coffee. The camera peers straight down into a bowl of dry cheerios to watch as milk is delicately poured in, as if the angle was supposed to be interesting or inventive. Finally we get some company: a couple of laughing, suited interns, a parade of harried office workers already chattering about meetings and deadlines.

The phones start ringing, and our lowly heroine sits mostly left out of the accumulating noise that corporate world emits.

“The Assistant” tells us that we

are watching a movie about Jane (Julia Garner), an entry-level secretary working for a Manhattan production company. Painstaking visual storytelling deliberately sidelines verbal exposition to give the audience the pretense of being able to sort out the facts for themselves. It is detectivelike, without a single concession to straightforward, explanatory narration.

This style of filmmaking continues throughout the film, as the production office isn’t an innocuous one. Writer and director Kitty Green never says it outright, but the boss is of the Weinstein school — an abusive, sex-obsessed fiend only present in the film through explosively violent phone calls, objects thrown against office walls and anxious expressions of his underlings.

How are you supposed to film sexual assault? How are you supposed to film it in the context of corporate film producers and their brothelization of the casting couch? Director Green relies on gossip and half-overheard phone calls, suggestive comments and knowing glances. She films nothing but the implications, resting her camera gaze on a collection of office still lifes and charging them up with the indirect traumatic energy that comes from proximity to

abuse. We get a bespectacled male assistant dangling a frosted donut from his finger as he asks Jane to pick up a call from the boss’ angry and betrayed wife. We get another producer trying to calm down some incensed Chinese businessmen as they walk to the elevator — tired of waiting for the big man while he was in his office “on a personal.”

Julia Garner’s Jane turns out to be the moral thermometer for this icy, collaborationist office-building. Her joyless blank expression transforming as the film progresses from what seemed like early listlessness caused by corporatedrone work into deadened reaction to the crimes she knows are happening and the verbal abuse she receives from the boss-man.

Practically the only emotion we get from her is a feeling of contrition, but that too is composed, kept under the surface. The tears dry before they wet her cheeks, in muted grey close-ups of the psychological disintegration of this assistant-girl climbing the executive stairs.

The scariest scenes in the movie, though, turn out to be the ones where we worry not that she might speak up, but that in doing so she might lose any hope she could have of being a successful film producer.

In this lies the movie’s central tension: despite everything, we still accept the terms of the game, we understand the stakes. We know that speaking out gets you fired, and that speaking out is the right thing to do, but we’re still tempted to hope that Jane wins, to hope that she can get out of this with a career in the end. But at what cost?

Maybe that’s already getting ahead of ourselves. Can she speak out? Against whom? The producer boss is never even given a name: a nameless boss, with nameless colleagues, nameless assistants. It is carefree anonymity, chosen to prove that this drama could play out in any office, and that it does play out, again and again and again.

COURTESY OF FACEBOOK

Kitty Green’s “The Assistant” captures systemic abuse in the workplace.

CULTURE Byte Vs. TikTok The Sex Ed We All Need

Page 17

February 5, 2020

By AVA ERIKSON

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Many people were sorry to see Vine, the popular six-second loop app, shut down on Jan. 16, 2017. Vital in forming a new generation of internet humor, its tremors are still felt today. Fear not, though, because Vine 2.0 has launched. A new app, called Byte, has the same concept and creators as Vine, but with a different vibe. It is full of bright colors, moving graphics and bumping music.

So far, a few former Vine stars like Chris Melberger, Joshdarnit and Lance Stewart have joined the app.

Yet, there doesn’t appear to be much buzz around the new platform.

Upon first look, it appears that Byte is succeeding. On Apple’s App Store, Byte has a four-and-a-half out of five star rating based on 26,000 reviews. It is currently rated number one on the Social Networking app charts.

That said, it’s difficult to compare Byte to its competitors. Snapchat and Instagram are on the Photo & Video charts and Twitter is on the News charts. This means that Byte is competing on a chart that includes Hoop, Pinterest and YOLO. These are not apps we would typically associate with social media.

At the moment, nostalgia is working in Byte’s favor, but it can’t hold on to that forever. The concept is the same as the original Vine, which failed against competitors. How, then, will it be able to succeed against those same sites as well as new ones? It is impossible to discuss Byte without mentioning TikTok. In many ways, TikTok replaced Vine. The app allows users to share videos between 15 seconds and one minute, with background music or sounds to which users dance or lip sync. Additionally, users can apply special effects, like face morphing, to videos.

TikTok’s base is in China and, with its increasing popularity, a host of concerns have sprung up around national security. TikTok has denied all allegations of espionage, but the United States government is still investigating the app.

Another issue people have with TikTok is its dependence on artificial intelligence (AI). Using AI technology, TikTok can figure out exactly what the user wants to see based on likes, comments and time spent on a video. Based on what the user appears to enjoy, AI can determine the user’s age, location, socioeconomic status and more. This allows the app to push more desired content. However, since the app pushes such specific content to each user, it’s addictive and invasive.

Byte, in contrast, flaunts its origins in the United States and emphasizes privacy.

“Explore what’s loved by the community, handpicked by our human editors, or just served up at random,” its description reads.

Despite this, TikTok’s algorithm may be too strong for Byte. The algorithm not only makes TikTok enticing to watch, it also convinces watchers to become video makers themselves.

This provides the app with an infinite amount of free content.

When a person posts a video on TikTok, it goes to a random group of users. If they like the video or watch the whole thing, the algorithm sends it to an even larger group of people.

This cycle continues until the video goes viral. Since this same algorithm affects every video, anyone can become TikTok famous.

I tested Byte’s algorithm and compared it to TikTok. I downloaded both apps and scrolled through them for 10 minutes each. At the end of the 10 minutes, TikTok was pushing me videos about college girls living in New York. Byte, though, was still pushing generic videos and often repeating the same video every few minutes, even if I didn’t like or comment on it.

Byte may stay popular for a while as people reminisce about all the funny content from the original Vine, but TikTok will stay ahead as the leading video sharing app. At the end of the day, TikTok’s flawless algorithm will keep people hooked.

Byte will never be able to compete with TikTok because human intelligence will never be able to generate the same addictive quality as AI.

By SARAH GOLDSTEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The new season of “Sex Education” hit Netflix just over two weeks ago and whether you binge the entire season or spread out the eight hours of watching over a week, its a mustsee. The British drama depicts realistic teens’ thoughts, eliciting both laughter and tears.

The show follows 16-year-old Otis, the child of two sex and relationship therapists, on his journey as Moordale Secondary’s underground sex advisor — while he is still a virgin.

Imagine one’s surprise when the series’ opening scene features best friends Otis and Eric bike riding through rural England discussing Otis’ inability to perform sexually — not the start expected out of every Netflix original.

As the title suggests, sex is the forefront of the show’s plot. However, the show goes far deeper than the surface. The students might appear to be sex-crazed and one dimensional — Otis the weirdo, Maeve the mysterious love interest, Jean the

overbearing mom and Eric the gay best friend — but their stories are far denser.

As playwright Laurie Nunn’s first screen creation, “Sex Education” positively surprised many viewers and critics. In the first season, Otis is a nerdy teenager who is unenthusiastic about sex, despite his mother’s job as a sex and relationship therapist, and her openess about all facets of sexuality. He sets up a sex counseling company with Maeve, a cool but troubled classmate, after his mother’s profession is brought to light and he unwittingly assists a school bully with his sexual anxieties. Otis and Maeve set forth to educate their fellow students about the sexual problems they are experiencing.

The second season continues to follow Otis, who is now hit with the truth and stresses of a high school romance. New students challenge the status quo at Moordale High and an assumed epidemic of STDs cause students to struggle further.

However, when the school takes action towards the parental outrage, Otis’ business and personal lives are brought under fire. The show, espe-

COURTESY OF FACEBOOK

“Sex Education” features best friends Otis and Eric as they grapple with their youth.

cially season two, touches on many difficult experiences commonly faced by teenagers.

Heroine Maeve is the embodiment of the “misunderstood teen.”

Her subplot allows viewers to watch as she navigates around monetary, familial, educational and emotional hardships. While Maeve’s relationship with her family is hard, characters Otis, Eric and Jackson work through problems within their households as well.

It is obvious sex is a popular plot point in the show, but sexual identity and orientation make their presences known as well. The new season follows many characters in their journey of exploring, discovering and embracing their sexualities and identities.

“Sex Education” is an honest take on sex and teenage insecurities, as well as the idiosyncrasies that go with it — a truly refreshing approach to the typical on-screen sexual awakening and teen coming-of-age story.

While critics expressed their approval of the show, it has also found a home in the hearts of many teens and college students. It is a rare occurrence to bring up the show in conversation and find someone who has not seen it, let alone never heard of it.

Netflix and Laurie Nunn did well with this production, because while entertaining, it also offers the candid sex education many did not receive in school. From advice on STDs and sexuality to consent, Otis and his clan cover it all.

Now, if that isn’t enough to convince you to dive into the Netflix hit, maybe humor will. Otis and Eric express their anxieties in the most comedic ways. I promise if you’re not laughing at the characters, you’re laughing with them.

While the romantic relationship formed at the end of season two left some disappointed, I think it’s only an invitation to be eager for future seasons, as this show will keep you on your toes.

I’d give this Netflix original five stars out of five, but maybe I’m just another teen in need of some sex education and laughs.

Lil Wayne Experiments on “Funeral”

By ALEXANDRA LANGE STAFF WRITER

Lil Wayne has already established an unforgettable legacy.

Birdman discovered the rapper at 13-years-old, and he signed with Cash Money Records. He became one of the hottest stars in rap by the mid- 2000s. He dropped albums that went multi-platinum and won several Grammy awards.

However, his career took a turn in the late 2000s and early 2010s, as he struggled with substance abuse and feuded with his rap family Cash Money. Lil Wayne’s music faltered amid his personal issues.

He released a rock album, “Rebirth,” in 2009, after stating he got tired of rapping. Even when he returned to rap with his later albums, his signature flow and wit couldn’t compare to his early career.

With a reputation and influence so powerful, expectations are al-

ways high, and while his new albums seem increasingly less exciting, they are more intriguing. Fans wonder what the legendary rapper will do next.

Lil Wayne gave fans little time to set expectations for his latest project. He announced he would drop a new album only a week before its release date.

“Funeral” is unlike anything Lil Wayne has ever put out. At 24 tracks and 75 minutes long, the album could be a slow burn if not for its long list of features. Appearances from rappers like Lil Baby, XXXTentacion and 2 Chainz along with production by Murda Beatz, Mike Will Made-It and more make the album worth your while.

The album begins with a cinematic title track. Lil Wayne’s voice is passionate and explosive like the old Weezy. The project continues to impress with an early fan favorite “Mahogany.” Lil Wayne teams

up with producer Mannie Fresh, who brings out the youth in the 37-year-old rapper. The production complements Lil Wayne’s vocals with each drum kick enlivening his worn-out voice.

However, Lil Wayne begins to lose focus in the middle of the album. He flirts with experimental rock on “Dreams” and uses AutoTune as a crutch during melodic bits of “Dreams” and “Stop Playin with Me.” Lil Wayne continues to experiment with other styles on the middle tracks. He opts for a New Orleans bounce vibe on “Clap for Em” and goes pop on “Trust Nobody,” a regrettable collaboration with Adam Levine.

While it is clear “Funeral” isn’t focused in a singular direction or style, Lil Wayne regains his footing by the end of the project. “Piano Trap,” another Mannie Fresh standout, evokes Lil Wayne’s “Tha

Carter” days. The track boasts swaggering rap passion and hardhitting production. Meanwhile, “Darkside” highlights Lil Wayne’s lyricism and ability to captivate listeners through only his rapping.

Nearly all of Lil Wayne’s musical eras are present on “Funeral.”

This clutters the album, but gives glimpses of Wayne’s legendary ability. While he does highlight the various facets of his musical skill on the project, there is a bit of unevenness in the lyrics and production.

Still, the highs of the album are exhilarating. They remind listeners why Wayne captivated the music world over 20 years ago.

Lil Wayne also makes a statement on a level deeper than music as he pays tribute to NBA legend Kobe Bryant. On “Ball Hard,” the rapper name-drops Black Mamba on the chorus. While that lyric was likely always in the song, in the

wake of Kobe’s passing on Jan. 26, it appears that Lil Wayne added finishing touches to honor the NBA star who he deeply admired.

At the end of “Bing James,” Weezy takes a 24-second pause, paying respects to the jersey number Kobe wore from 2006 to his retirement in 2016. This song is also the eighth track on the album, another homage to Kobe’s original jersey number. “Funeral” is also 24 songs long. While there’s no confirmation that Lil Wayne intended these details to be an ode to the fallen NBA legend, it seems likely.

Lil Wayne frequently mentioned the mutual respect he and Kobe had for each other.

Lil Wayne is still as aggressive as ever on “Funeral.” He refuses to change with the times in his sound, style and substance. Despite a few forgettable tracks, he lets the rap world know his legacy is alive and well.

CULTURE

Page 18

February 5, 2020

Kesha Takes the“High Road” in Her New Album

By TAYLOR MASCETTA CONTRIBUTING WRITER

When asked about the release of her newest album “High Road,” bonafide pop star Kesha described it with some wise words from rapper Pitbull: “We’re not here for a long time, we’re here for a good time.”

Following the timeless anthems from both “Animal” and “Warrior” and the quiet yet powerful “Rainbow,” “High Road” attempts to blend Kesha’s party girl roots and raw vulnerability following her court struggles.

While it does work in some aspects, it feels as if Kesha’s experimentation with a variety of genres and moods throughout the album feels inconsistent.

Power anthems, including leading single “Raising Hell,” are followed by country-esque crooning tunes like “Cowboy Blues,” before transitioning to arousing melodies like “Birthday Suit.”

Notably, the end of the album, the emotional ballad “Father Daughter Dance,” immediately follows the happy-go-lucky “BFF” and humorous “Potato Song (Cuz I Want To).”

It’s as if the album doesn’t identify with any genre in particular; it doesn’t know what exactly it’s supposed to be.

Yet these deviations showcase Kesha at her strongest through her everlasting range in various types of music. She can take any genre and shape it into her own unique style, incorporating her

COURTESY OF FACEBOOK

Kesha released her new album “High Road” on Jan. 31, displaying both her love of partying and emotional vulnerabilities.

exciting sensations and vulnerable spots.

In a way, a college girl’s dream manifests itself in “High Road.” It emphasizes the excitement surrounding the nightlife, from the wild parties, staying out with your best friends, giving absolutely no cares and embracing your youth.

The album opens with a bang with “Tonight,” a tune equivalent to an acid flashback to the celebratory “Animal” era.

The song opens with swelling piano and Kesha’s powerful vocals, but gets down to business as soon as the beat drops. Catchy lyrics beckon us into the nightlife, making us want to go out and embrace the party scene for an eternity.

It’s the type of song that will get

an entire club on their feet, and it’s a perfect way to launch “High Road.” While “Tonight” hypes us up for the celebrations to follow, “My Own Dance” assures us that being the “party girl” is perfectly okay. On these songs she encourages listeners to get over their struggles by dancing. She doesn’t care about others judging her as long as she’s having fun, and that’s a mindset she wants her listeners to share.

This attitude remains evident throughout “High Road” in upbeat tracks and slower anthems.

This gives a sense of diversity to a relatively similar topic; Kesha goes out, loves to get lit, fights for female recognition and doesn’t care what others think about it.

“Raising Hell” embodies a sense

of female empowerment for all listeners and how we should embrace our behaviors and preferences, while “High Road” takes pride in both the buzz and her own morals.

However, the album goes on and this mindset grows more personal in message. “Shadow” and “Honey” take a slower tempo, but the lyrics stay sharp. “Honey,” in particular, feels like a letter to a scorned ex, tearing her target down with silky vocals.

Kesha expresses a more vulnerable side as the album comes to a close. It’s tough to follow her previous masterpiece, “Rainbow,” which showcased her strength following court battles with Dr. Luke who she alleges sexually and emotionally abused her. The

smash hit “Praying” most notably addressed this struggle.

“Rainbow” closed the chapter of her struggles in court, yet “High Road” succeeds in uncovering her newfound emotions pertaining to her strained relationship with her father in “Father Daughter Dance” and wanting to always reach for the stars for her grandmother.

“High Road” does not reach the same emotional level as “Rainbow” — the raw emotion in that previous outing is impossible to replicate — yet it still has its fair share of powerful moments.

Kesha makes sure to incorporate a sense of humor into the album to lighten the mood, which is a welcome breath of fresh air.

Her song “Kinky” includes a humorous exchange between Kesha and her mother in the opening notes, and “Potato Song (Cuz I Want To)” is a strange but enjoyable addition.

Overall, “High Road” succeeds through its singles. All the songs, on their own, demonstrate Kesha’s powerful vocals and strength through her lyrics.

The songs do match with some of their partners, but the album altogether does not seem as cohesive as some of her previous collections. Nevertheless, this mixture of genres gives Kesha the chance to reveal her skills through a variety of styles, and somehow she manages to make it work.

It’s satisfying to see Kesha succeed after all she has been through, and she deserves to express her voice to the world.

The Ram Crossword: Veggies and Fairies 1. Iowa crop 5. Answer to the riddle “The higher it goes, the less you hear it” 9. Wrestler-actor John 13. Tankard filler 14. Signature item for Superman 15. Missing 16. Closest bud 20. Espionage org.

21. Bread, for one 22. Plant with edible shoots 24. Timmy Turner’s fairy god

mother 25. Uproar 26. It protects everybody 28. What makes a wok work?

29. Miatas and Millanias 30. Pod veggie 33. Baldwin of “30 Rock” 36. One one five, to Cicero 37. Incite 38. Romaine, for one 41. Bug’s meal 43. J-Lo’s fiance 44. Parisian pal 46. E-cig 47. Hole number 48. Don Quixote’s devil

50. “Fresh Prince” Actress Long 53. One year, in France 54. Askew 56. Timmy Turner’s other fairy godparent 60. Veggie with a heart 62. Actor Rob 63. “Lord, is __ _?” (Last supper question) 64. Norway neighbor 65. Bolivian blue 66. Sweetheart 68. Urban transit sys.

69. Sample 70. Common contradiction 71. Minus Down

ANSWERS TO ISSUE 2

1. Beach building 2. Store-owning family on “Little House on the Prairie” 3. Breathing apparatus 5. DC alternative 6. Spa fixture 7. Like many TV dramas 8. Some like it hot 9. Doody 10. Obi-Wan actor McGregor 11. Ancient Scandinavian 12. Actress Jessica 17. Prof’s helpers 18. Anger 19. Game developing company 23. African antelope 24. Director Anderson 27. New Mexico native 29. Senate veteran John 30. Tubular flotation device 31. Nosh

ANSWERS IN ISSUE 4

Across

CREATED BY KEVIN DINEEN

32. Super Bowl entertainment, to one who doesn’t care for sports 34. Business abbr.

35. Euro alliance 37. Despicable Me hero/villain 38. Drink like a dog 39. Historical period 40. Radiates 45. Europe’s _______ Peninsula 48. Chinese religious belief 49. Permit

51. Dye workers 52. Some feds 54. Midweek expression of admiration on social media, abbr.

55. Scoreboard letters 56. Wearing 57. Give off 58. Swim, swam, ____ 59. Anthony, formerly of the Knicks 61. Exists 63. Infamous Amin 67. Twitter interaction

SPORTS

February 5, 2020

Beyond the Scorebard: The Curious Case of Antonio Brown

By ANDREW POSADAS MANAGING EDITOR

In his annual state-of-theleague news conference last Wednesday during Super Bowl week, Roger Goodell spoke on various topics from potential league expansion to cities outside of the U.S., to the lack of diversity in head coaching and higher-ranking executive positions. When asked for an update on former allpro wide receiver Antonio Brown, the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) emphasized “the first step” in answering that question concerns Brown’s health and not his playing status.

Goodell would go on to say, “We don’t talk about the wellness of our players publicly, but I can tell you that you can be sure that the NFL and NFLPA (Players Association) have tremendous amounts of resources available to all players. They are going to be made available to Antonio.”

Whether you like Goodell or not, his stance in prioritizing Brown’s well-being over a potential return to the league is valid.

Brown’s behavior has been erratic since he was released by the New England Patriots back in September after being accused of sexual misconduct twice in a 10-day span. Brown would use social me-

dia in the months that followed to voice his displeasure toward the likes of Roger Goodell and personally campaign for the NFL to allow him back onto the field.

Then, in January, Brown was arrested in Hollywood, Florida and charged on counts of felony burglary with battery, burglary of an unoccupied conveyance and criminal mischief. On Jan. 21, a disturbance call to officials was made by a moving-truck driver who alleged that Brown, along with his trainer Glenn Holt, assaulted him outside of Brown’s residence.

His path would cross with the Hollywood Police Department again when officers responded to a domestic disturbance call at Brown’s home between him and the mother of his children, Chelsie Kyriss. A video of the incident went viral, and you could hear Brown hurling obscenities towards Kyriss as she and Brown’s children were shown being escorted into a police vehicle. The children were visibly upset, but it did not stop Brown from continuing to go off on a profanitylaced tirade for his kids to hear.

He would then turn his attention to the police officers themselves, screaming at them until they left his property.

Over the weekend, Brown sat

COURTESY OF FLICKR

Brown’s decisions have been questionable, and his latest is no exception.

down with ESPN’s Josina Anderson to show remorse for his recent actions. Brown told Anderson, “I think I owe the whole NFL an apology for my past behavior.

I think I could have done a lot of things better.” Brown would also take to Instagram to issue official apologies to Kyriss and the Hollywood PD in hopes of repairing the self-inflicted damage caused to his public image.

Anderson used the interview opportunity with Brown to ask whether he thought he was suffering from any early symptoms of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), considering people from his former agent Drew Rosenhaus to former Steelers teammate and fellow wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster expressed concern for Brown’s mental health.

Brown answered that question by saying, “If I had CTE, I wouldn’t be able to have this beautiful gym, I wouldn’t be able to be creative. I wouldn’t be able to communicate.”

Clearly, Brown is not wellversed in CTE or else he would find that symptoms like a diminished ability to make decisions and poor judgment and impulse control all fit into his behavior the last couple of years.

It led to him being traded from one of the most prestigious franchises in the Pittsburgh Steelers.

It played a factor in his short stint with the Oakland Raiders, where he was released before even playing a regular season game. Now, his inability to make the right decisions and judgments are the primary reasons for his current unemployed status from the sport that he loves.

I want to be optimistic that this is finally going to be when Brown turns his life around, but then I see that he has recently agreed to a boxing match against YouTube star Logan Paul. If Brown were really focused on getting back on the gridiron, why would he entertain fighting a celebrity in a sport where he has no experience?

Brown currently finds himself at the border of a vicious “wash, rinse, repeat” type of cycle.

Just when he apologizes and exclaims that he has turned a new leaf, he baffles and leaves us dumbfounded with a questionable decision like fighting in a boxing ring for money because he needs the financial gain and media attention. Where will this ultimately leave him? I do not know.

And that is what should scare the man self-proclaimed “A.B.” the most.

Page 19

Women’s Tennis Earns First Win of 2020

By GIGI SPEER

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Fordham women’s tennis team started its 2020 campaign with a trip to Massachusetts, where it was handed losses at Harvard University and Boston College. Later in the week, the squad made its way to New Haven, Connecticut to battle against the Bobcats at Quinnipiac University.

The results would be quite the opposite. Junior Arina Taluyenko, sophomores Valeriya Deminova and Nicole Li, senior Maia Balce and freshmen Weronika Pociej and Avery Aude swept their respective singles matches.

In doubles, Deminova and Aude paired up to win their match 6-2, while Taluyenko and Pociej overtook Quinnipiac by the same score. The sophomore team of Genevieve Quenville and Li won its match 6-4.

After the fall campaign, first singles star Taluyenko was ranked 74th in the nation in the 2019 Oracle ITA Division I National Fall Rankings. She dominated Quinnipiac’s Kamilla Nella, taking the sets 6-2 and 6-3.

Fordham finished Atlantic 10 play ranked seventh in the conference last year, and after beating George Mason University in the first round of playoffs, dropped to second-ranked George Washington University in the second round.

The team hopes to continue getting solid wins before the start of conference matches in late March.

This 7-0 victory is a good way to propel Fordham into another difficult week, when they head to West Point to face Stony Brook University at 5:30 p.m. on Friday and Army University at 9 a.m. on Sunday.

COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS

Women’s Tennis overcame some early season struggles against Quinnipiac.

Men’s Tennis Defeats Fairfield University

By DOMINIC CAPONE STAFF WRITER

The 2020 slate of matches for Fordham tennis is well underway.

The Rams started the year with a win at Bucknell University before dropping the next two at home against Davidson College and then at Brown University. They are now back in the win column after a 5-2 victory at Fairfield University.

Fordham exploded, winning four of the six singles matches on Saturday at the Trumbull Racquet Club in Connecticut. Senior Fabian Mauritszon from Sweden led the charge, knocking off Fairfield sophomore Kaya Gore in straight sets 6-4, 7-6.

Mauritzson, along with junior Lutwin de Macar, also won a doubles match with a 6-4 defeat of Gore and freshman Jonathan Olive-Blanco. Lutwin de Macar

won in straight sets in a singles win against Olive-Blanco 6-4, 6-1.

The Rams continued its winning ways with junior Max Green’s victory over senior Tyler Shibles in three sets 5-7, 6-1, 7-6.

The other doubles win came at the hands of junior Alex Makatsaria and senior Finn Kemper when they defeated Shibles and William Townsend Font, 6-4.

Kemper also picked up a singles win 6-2, 6-4, in straight sets over junior Allan Magid.

This was an important victory for a Fordham team that now has a record of 2-2. The Rams will be on the road for most of their spring schedule. The next event in the Bronx is March 22 when they host Sacred Heart University.

Fordham has the University of Connecticut up next on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Storrs, Connecticut.

Think you know sports?

Become a writer!

Email: fordhamramsports@gmail.com COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS

The Rams picked up a crucial win as they remain road warriors.

SPORTS

Page 20

February 5, 2020

Student-Athlete Column: The Comeback

By KELLY BRIGHT

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

As a collegiate athlete, the sport you compete in plays a significant role in shaping your identity. You schedule class and work around practice and conditioning. You relieve stress by lifting weights or taking reps. Your teammates are your best friends — the people you spend all day training beside that still want to hang out with you afterwards. Even though you call yourself a “studentathlete,” it’s hard during the season to remember there’s something more important in life than winning an Atlantic 10 title. So when you’re injured, your whole world gets rocked to its core.

Unfortunately, it’s one of the most common, relatable and unavoidable obstacles in competitive sports. It happens to the best, the worst, the least expecting and even those who dedicate the majority of their training to its prevention. Suffering any injury, no matter how severe, devastates an athlete both physically and mentally.

Although I consider myself lucky compared to most, I’ve still had some experience with injuries. My first real injury came in my junior year of high school. Since I had already verbally committed to playing softball in college, I thought cross-training with basketball during the winter would be a fun way to stay in shape. It was early in the season, only the third or fourth game. About five minutes into the first quarter, I jumped to save a ball from going out of bounds by deflecting it towards a teammate up the court.

Unfortunately, my leg went one direction and the rest of my body went another. I screamed and crumpled to the ground in excruciating pain,

too afraid to look at my knee, which felt like it was completely detached from my leg. Naive and optimistic, I remember telling my friends after the game that I probably just strained something and would be back in no time. Instead, the MRI came back with a fully torn ACL, a partially torn MCL and a slightly damaged meniscus. Six to 10 months of rehab before I could “return to play.”

They always give you a range when you’re injured because when it comes to the human body, there are no certainties. It’s an extremely confusing time. There’s always someone telling you to suck it up, another person telling you to rest more and a nagging little voice inside your head telling you it’ll never feel the same again. You start questioning if your teammates are judging you or if they’ve forgotten about you altogether. Sometimes you think it’s too much, other times it’s not enough.

The only thing you know for sure is how badly you want to play again.

By the time I was back on the field, about nine months post-surgery, it was fall of my senior year, and I was on the daily training grind again. After finishing as conference player of the year as a sophomore and then missing my junior season, I was ready to come out as a senior and make a statement. Sadly, my knee had other plans. I was with my mom in a batting cage working on some new hitting drills when I felt a sudden pop in my knee. The next few months were an endless cycle of playing for a few games until it hurt too bad and swelled too much, sitting out a week and then playing through it again until it became too much to bear. In the end, I lost most of my senior season and the summer before college because of my second positive MRI result: a torn meniscus in my left knee.

One of the scariest parts of being injured is the feeling of being left behind. When one obstacle sends you backwards, it feels like everyone else pushes ahead twice as fast. Fear oozes into the deepest, darkest crevices of the soul and wears your confidence down to its thinnest. Jake Baker, a baseball player at Fordham, recently reminded me of a Teddy Roosevelt quote that resonates strongly with me: “comparison is the thief of joy.”

The more you concern yourself with the condition of others during rehab, the less energy you’ll have left to focus on yourself.

Anyway, in Oct. 2017, a little over halfway through the first fall season as an NCAA student-athlete, I was hit with my third positive MRI result. After recovering as fast as possible from my arthroscopic surgery in the summer to be able to play at Fordham, a simple misstep on a cutoff play in the outfield ended with another trip to the hospital for another meniscal repair surgery.

To be fair, surgery isn’t all bad. You leave the hospital rocking a new pair of socks, they prescribe you unnecessarily heavy doses of painkillers, your friends buy your favorite candy or snacks and you’ll have cool scars people will ask you about the rest of your life. If you hate running, you won’t have to do that for a while, and strangers are a tad bit nicer than they would be if you weren’t hobbling around on crutches. Life is pretty good, untli you wake up at 3 a.m. with second night soreness and reality hits you like a fastball to the face.

In my fourth knee surgery, after I tore my meniscus for a third time and a few weeks before the start of my sophomore spring season, the doctor found that my ACL graft from my first surgery was stretched out to the point where I could either redshirt

COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS

The physical side of injuries is tough; the mental side can be just as scary.

and rehab like crazy (enough to pass a stress test and play with a brace) or endure another ACL reconstruction.

I chose to rehab, and so far that was one of the best decisions of my life. In less than a week, I’ll finally get to start a season in college fully healthy, fully healed and with more confidence than I’ve had in a long, long time.

For me, the physical part of rehab is the easy part; it’s the mental side that will drag you down. It’s the separation from your team when they talk about today’s practice or last night’s game. It’s the loneliness of sitting in your room icing and elevating while the rest of the world moves on without you. It’s the frustration of still having so many days to go until things feel normal. It’s the overwhelming anxiety of getting hurt while completing mundane actions that used to be part of your everyday life. The hopelessness of “why me?,” “why now?,” and “how am I gonna get through all this again?”

So, how do you get through it?

For me, it’s learning to embrace the

clichés. For example: take it day by day. If you start worrying about the far-out future, it’ll be hard to get done what needs to get done in the present. Secondly, focus on the little victories, the silver linings. It’s a process, not an overnight fix, and you have to learn to give yourself credit where and when it’s due. You have to give yourself a reason to wake up and do it all again in the morning.

Finally, you’re never alone. Lean on your family, friends, teammates, coaches, trainers and doctors. They all want you to succeed, and they all want to help. If you’re spiritual, pray, and if you’re not, find another way (journaling, music, talking, etc.) to express yourself so everything isn’t so bottled up. I know it may not seem like it now, but you can and will come back stronger than ever.

The experience of being injured will teach you more about yourself, your love for your sport and your ability to bounce back than you would’ve ever known before.

Softball’s Aughinbaugh Ready for Yet Another Title Defense

By EMMANUEL BERBARI STAFF WRITER

The ball explodes off the bat, and the pitch thumps the mitt, reverberating throughout Lombardi Center on a Monday afternoon in November.

It is the middle of the offseason for Fordham Softball and Bahoshy Field practices are an afterthought as the winter wind gusts through the Rose Hill Campus.

Despite that, senior captain, pitcher and outfielder Madie Auginbaugh does not rest.

Even with three Atlantic 10 titles in three years, and the addition of Pitcher of the Year to her iconic resumé last season, if she is not working, someone else could be.

“I need to do better because UMass or George Washington might be doing this,” Auginbaugh said. “I’m going to do it better.”

The Port Tobacco, Maryland native is top 10 in program history in starts, complete games, wins, innings, strikeouts and career Earned Run Average.

Aughinbaugh will graduate as one of the best players to sport the maroon and white across any sport, but never satisfied is an understatement.

“We’ve had the title for so many years,” Auginbaugh said, referring to sharing it with George Washington last season. “Just the fact that we had to share it for a year doesn’t sit well with any of us, so it’s more motivation to come back harder and better than ever.”

The two-way threat recorded a

COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS

Fordham ace Madie Aughinbaugh has had a stellar career at Rose Hill and wants to end it on a high note.

2.44 ERA over 38 appearances and 33 starts last year, with 25 complete games, two saves and one shutout. She hit a team-high .354 and went 11-2 with a 1.77 ERA over 15 conference appearances when her team needed it most.

Auginbaugh credits her father, Rob, for molding her work ethic.

“I would not be allowed in the house until I did a certain amount of things,” Auginbaugh said. “If we were playing catch, I would need to hit him five times in the chest (and not stop until I did it).”

Former college softball standouts Monica Abbott (Tennessee) and Cat Osterman (Texas) have been role models since childhood, when she would watch them in the Women’s College World Series.

Arizona State legend Megan Elliott resonates on a personal level,

also hailing from a small town in Maryland and training Auginbaugh throughout her youth.

“It was really fun working with her,” Auginbaugh said. “She was the first to come out of my town and make it to a power five, so she was kind of a big icon for me and motivational in the sense that I could come out of a small town and compete on the highest level.”

Auginbaugh was recruited by power five teams, and did not know Fordham existed until former head coach Bridget Orchard came calling.

“I instantly fell in love with it,” Auginbaugh said. “The day I came they did an intrasquad, which are very boring and tedious when you’ve been in college for a while, but it looked like it was gameday for them, and that’s an environment I wanted to be a part of.

Every offseason, she goes through

previous highlights to spark motivation and the right frame of mind for the coming season.

Winning the A-10 title at home in 2018 represents her top moment in a Fordham uniform, and she believes last year would have topped it if the weather had cooperated for the championship game.

“She worked for it and deserved it and carried us quite a bit,” head coach Melissa Inouye said, crediting Auginbaugh for playing injured at various points of the season.

“She’s a never-satisfied kind of kid, and that’s what makes her competitive and successful because of the standard she holds herself to.”

With a perfect resumé entering her swan song season, there is little upwards mobility for an outsider to point to.

“She’s the person you look to

in the biggest moments,” junior outfielder Kelly Bright said. “Her passion and tenacity is inspiring and truly embodies what the Fordham Softball legacy is all about.”

Auginbaugh said she never looks at statistics and calls them distracting. She rarely even talks while she is playing, keeping everything competitive and simple. When she is home, she loves spending time around animals and shelters, citing a bond with her grandmother.

“I’m happy she got Pitcher of the Year,” Inouye said. “We want to push for a super regional.”

All of her teammates strive for that level of excellence, so verbal communication is rarely necessary to make sure everyone is focused.

“I’m more so a leader through action,” Auginbaugh said. “My teammates feed off of energy, and I’m a better captain when I don’t talk and lead by example.”

The two-time A-10 Tournament Most Outstanding Player hopes to become a coach when she graduates and pass it down to softball’s next generation.

Maintaining a championship standard can be more difficult than building one. When Auginbaugh graduates this coming spring, her teammates will have the lofty task of keeping the Rams atop the mountain.

“It’s always the most fun to be the best at what you’re doing,” Auginbaugh said. “Work hard at it and you can accomplish anything.”

SPORTS

February 5, 2020

Page 21

Swim and Dive Hosts Final Dual Meet

By JACK ROCHE

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The Fordham swim and dive team traveled to Amherst this weekend to take on Massachusetts University in their final dual meet of the season.

The match yielded up-and-down results, as the women claimed victory with a score of 173-126, while the men fell to the Minutemen, 207-86.

The women dominated the day, with 11 total events going in favor of the Rams. Vaula Vekkeli, the junior transfer from Wingate University, played a major role in these victories, with three individual wins (taking first in the 100 breaststroke, 1:06.50, 200 breaststroke, 2:24.62 and the 200 individual medley, 2:06.85). She continued her incredible afternoon as a part of the winning 200 medley relay team (1:47.90), along with junior Michelle Martin, sophomore Kiara Norris and senior Theresa Mullen.

Martin, from Monterey Park, California, also chipped in, with two individual wins on top of two medley victories. She touched first in the 50 freestyle (23.69) and 100 butterfly (56.33), and won with the senior trio of Samantha McDonald, Paulina Watson and Theresa Mullen in the 200 freestyle relay (1:36.41).

This caps an incredible season of meets for the women, going 10-1.

Their only loss came to Boston College, by a margin of one point.

The men fell to UMass Amherst 207-86, highlighted by two event winners. Josh Stegen, the sophomore from South Africa, was the first of these two, touching first in the 200

freestyle with a time of 1:43.81. Junior Patrick Wilson also headlined the 200 breaststroke, finishing ahead of the pack at 2:08.19.

Stegen and Wilson both were a part of the second-place 200 freestyle relay, along with senior Kevin Berry and junior Bryce Bolleson (1:25.65).

A.J. Frakes, the sophomore from Phoenix, Arizona, had this to say about their final head-to-head matchup: “A lot of people went into it looking at it as a stepping stone towards the (A-10 Championship).

The environment was very positive, we wanted to go in, do our best and win. The season was almost over, but we wanted to perform.”

Frakes, who competed in five events at the Atlantic 10 Championship as a freshman, certainly has more to look forward to. However, the same cannot be said about his teammates, whose winters end without a trip to the tournament. Frates elaborated on what this team meant, and what they were able to accomplish in a season with a great deal of turnover.

“Coming into the season, everything was very new, as there were a lot of changes made to the team. The expectations were really anything.

We knew we would be good, and we would compete, but we didn’t know the extent of that, which I think we surprised ourselves with.”

Looking ahead, Fordham heads downtown to compete in the NYU Winter Invite, with the Rams competing on Feb. 7 and 8. This is the last time they compete ahead of the A-10 Championship at the Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio, beginning on Feb. 19.

decades together, bringing their franchise from irrelevance to the top of the food chain. They are not Sonny and Cher — they are Hall and Oates.

At least, for all we know they are.

The year is 2020. Tom Brady’s most recent contract in New England has come to an end. He is a free agent. Technically, he can go anywhere. He might end up back with the Pats, but he might not. Who knows?

Not to mention that he is 42 years old. And as you might expect, his age is beginning to show. It was bound to eventually.

And then, of course, there is Belichick, one of the oddest figures the sports world has produced this side of former Yankees and Mets manager Casey Stengel. He is a quiet kind of terrifying, like the neighbor at the end of the street that the kids don’t approach. Now, many believe that Belichick is the only true genius in the success of the Patriots’ operation these last 20 years.

That Brady is just the quarterback and figurehead in a powerful system that any Tom, Dick or Harry could succeed in.

At the end of the day, Bellichick, for the most part, has only really known Brady as a head coach. Bellichick’s record in New England is a whopping 237-83. Before that, he had been the head coach of the Cleveland Browns from 1991-95, and over those five seasons, his

By DYLAN BALSAMO

ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

There was a particularly odd feeling just a month ago, watching the New England Patriots take an early exit in the opening Wild Card round of the 2019-20 National Football League Playoffs. They had appeared in four of the last five Super Bowls, winning three of them, and before our very eyes, the squad had been defeated. They were the third seed in the American Football Conference (AFC) and fell at home to the sixth-seeded Tennessee Titans. This had not been the first time that the Patriots (who have been led by head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady for two decades) surrendered a game and bowed out early in the playoffs: New York fans will not quickly forget New England falling at home in the 2011 AFC divisional game to the Jets. But there was something strange about watching it happen this time.

It was an odd feeling watching this past weekend’s Super Bowl LIV commence in Miami, between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco 49ers, without the Pats playing in the game. In fact, it was strange to wrap our heads around the fact that by the time the Super Bowl happened, it had been almost a month since the last time New England played.

The Patriots have been one of the top headlines in the football universe, for both the best and worst of reasons, for as long as most of us current college students are able to remember. Now, all of a sudden they were just another team, a king that had unexpectedly joined the masses. It felt incredibly strange, as if something was ending. And perhaps something is ending.

Brady and Belichick have only known each other in New England.

Belichick came on board to be the head coach of the Patriots in 2000, the year that the franchise drafted Tom Brady in the sixth round out of the University of Michigan. The two are synonymous with each other; one’s success is that of the other — not to mention that their downfalls and public embarrassments are of the same nature. The two of them have won six Super Bowls in two

squad went 36-44.

Perhaps the relationship is not so one-sided after all. As far as we have seen, these two men, a conductor and his virtuosic concertmaster violinist, truly need each other to succeed. And this coming season, for the first time in two decades, they might not be together.

All of this begs the question: is the dynasty that led New England to the promised land over?

Well, like many fans, if I have learned one thing from even the most casual observation of the football world, it is to never bet against the Patriots.

We have questioned their stamina as a franchise before, as by every metric, Tom Brady should have lost any ability to start at quarterback five years ago. But they have kept on winning. Last season, they defeated a young and hungry Los Angeles Rams team to claim their sixth title.

They overcame a 25-point deficit in the Super Bowl to defeat the Atlanta Falcons two years prior. They’ve made early exits before and then gotten right back to their norm. If magic exists, the New England Patriots have it.

So, will this current generation of the Pats get back to their winning ways? Will it depend upon Tom Brady staying or leaving New England? Honestly, who knows? If the Patriots have taught us one thing time and time again, it is to never count them out.

COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS

COURTESY OF FLICKR

Fordham Swimming and Diving hosted its final home meet of the season.

Is this really the end for Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and the storied Patriots dynasty?

Varsity Calendar HOME AWAY

Follow us on Twitter at @theram_sports

Thursday Feb. 6

Friday Feb. 7

Saturday Feb. 8

Men’s Basketball

Richmond 2 p.m.

Women’s Basketball

UMass 1 p.m.

Softball

Stony Brook 5:30 p.m.

Track

Tuesday Feb. 11

Wednesday Feb. 12

Davidson 7 p.m.

Stony Brook Army 5:30 p.m.

9 a.m.

Valparaiso/ UMass-Lowell 11:30 a.m/2 p.m.

Swimming

Monday Feb. 10

UConn 1 p.m.

Men’s Tennis Women’s Tennis

Sunday Feb. 9

Valparaiso/ Northwestern Houston State 3 p.m./8 p.m. 12:30 p.m.

NYU Invite TBD

Millrose Games 11:30 a.m.

Temple 11:15 a.m.

SPORTS

Page 22

February 5, 2020

Track Men and Women Maintain Solid Finish at Metropolitan Championship

By DYLAN BALSAMO

ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

It is no secret to anybody in the world of collegiate athletics that the winter track season is in full swing. It can sometimes seem as if it is merely a semi colon that links together the cross country events of the fall with the outdoor grandeur of the much more celebrated spring season.

With second semester just beginning, Fordham Track & Field participated in their first championship of the winter season this past weekend.

Competing with 14 other schools in the Metropolitan Championship in Staten Island’s Ocean Breeze Complex, the men tied for second and the women came in fourth place.

The men’s second-place finish makes them the runner-up for the second year in a row. The Fordham men were behind Rutgers’ 206 total points, tied with Fairleigh Dickinson at 101 and followed by Manhattan with 70. For the women, St. John’s placed in first at 160, followed

by Rutgers with 142, Fairleigh Dickinson with 94 and Fordham with 74.

On the men’s side, the day saw three event wins for the Rams. Graduate student Nicholas Raefski won the 5,000-meter run with a finishing time of 14:32.86, an IC4A qualifying time. He was not the only Ram runner to post such a time in the race, as right behind him in second and third, respectively, were sophomore Brandon Hall and senior Ryan Kutch. Hall’s time was 14:38.85, and

COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS

The Metropolitan Championship saw success for both men’s and women’s track, as Fordham had multiple event wins.

Kutch’s time was 14:39.01.

The other events the men took home at the Championship included the 1,000-meter, with senior Sean Sullivan crossing the finish line at 2:20.50, and the heptathlon competition, with senior Jeremy Milite’s 3,779 beating the 3,728 of Connor Penrod from the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT).

Milite earned those 3,779 points by having success in multiple events.

He finished first in the long jump (18’ 8 1/2”), the shot put (33’ 6 1/2”) and the pole vault (10’ 6”), while coming in second in the 60 meter dash (7.70), the high jump (5’ 5”), the 60-meter hurdles (10.35) and the 1,000 meter (2:54.40).

The Rams had a few other competitors who finished in second place in their respective events, as freshman Colin Flood’s 8:47.34 was good enough for second in the 3,000-meter race, and junior Nikolas Reardon did the same in the triple jump with a mark of 44’ 8 3/4”.

It was a successful day all around for the men. On the ladies’ side, the Rams did not have a shabby day either.

The Fordham women won two events at the Metropolitan Championship. The first one was a solo event: freshman Radha Dooley’s performance at the pole vault was electric, as she won the event by clearing with a height of 10’ 6”, a

Squash Closes Out Their Regular Season in Style

By JIMMY SULLIVAN SPORTS EDITOR

After an up-and-down January, the Fordham squash team found its bearings last weekend in its final regular-season matches, taking down New York University and Boston University before being crowned victorious over Siena College by forfeit.

All three matches were held on Saturday morning and afternoon, Feb. 1 at the Lombardi Squash Courts at Fordham. The Rams’ 10 a.m. matchup with NYU was a fascinating affair, one that went back-andforth between the two sides. The teams split the first two individual matchups, as NYU’s Hamaad Jafry and Fordham junior Griffin Fitzgerald were each able to win thrilling five-setters over their respective opponents. The next two matches were less tight, as NYU’s Liam Pope and Fordham junior Justin Deckoff each prevailed to make the match a bestout-of-five down the stretch. Fordham dropped the first of those five when sophomore Jack Reed fell to Shane Fries in four sets.

However, with Fordham’s margin for error extremely slim, the Rams were able to step up.

The comeback started with freshman Justin George’s straight-sets victory over Gene Chung; after Saturday’s results, George finished the regular season with a 14-5 record.

Fellow freshman Jacob Bennett took down Kenneth Nakamura,

COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS

Fordham Squash brought their regular season to a successful finish.

and sophomore Dylan Panichello clinched the Fordham win by defeating NYU’s William McPhail in three sets. Fordham forfeited the last individual match, but it did not matter — the Rams won 5-4 and carried that momentum with them the rest of the day.

In match two, Fordham fell behind early on as Frederick Haab and Hunter Chun started off the match with victories for BU. However, Fordham dug in once again, as senior Bruce Czachor, Deckoff, Reed, George, Bennett and Panichello all took their matches in straight sets to give Fordham another victory.

The Rams were supposed to play a third match Saturday against Siena,

but it turned into a forfeit victory for Fordham. With three more wins under their belt, the Rams finished the season at 18-9 and, despite some lumps over the course of the season, the team can consider the year a success so far. Last year’s team finished with 20 wins, as did the 2017-18 squad.

Next stop for Fordham is the CSA (College Squash Association) Team Championship, which will be held in Boston, Massachusetts. Last year’s Fordham team took home the Chaffee Cup title for the first time in recent memory, and this year’s team will look to make it two straight titles. The tournament kicks off on Feb. 28.

season best for her. Also taking first in the 4x8000 relay with a time of 9:27.20 was the team of sophomore Jilli Jones, freshman Taylor Mascetta, freshman Mary Kathryn Underwood and sophomore Helen Connolly.

The relay formula proved itself somewhat successful for the Rams at the competition. A third place finish and a season-best time of 12:11.19 were the result of the distance medley relay for the squad of senior Sydney Snow, senior Gabrielle Schreib, freshman Alexandra Thomas and sophomore Bridget Alex. Also having success was the 4x400 relay team of junior Sarinnagh Budris, sophomore Dominique Valentine, fresh-

man Kyla Hill and junior Kathryn Kelly, as they came in fourth place in their race at 3:55.64, also a seasonbest time.

Thomas also came in second place at the 5,000-meter run, coming in with a season-best mark of 17:33.74. There was one other runner-up for the Fordham women, as Connolly also had a season-best time of 2:16.69 in the 800-meter event, earning second place.

Though they may have come in fourth place, the women of the Rams brought their A-game to the Metros.

It was what one might call a successful day on both ends.

“Last week’s race was just a nice reminder of how fit we are right now, and that there is a lot of room for progression, not just from me, but for a lot of our distance team,” Raefski said of the standout weekend for the Rams. “We have a lot of freshmen who are poised to have big breakthroughs in the near future.

And it is a really exciting time to be a Fordham distance runner. Coach Horowitz has done a great job getting us ready for championship season.”

The Rams will have this coming weekend off, and with a performance like theirs this past weekend, the rest is well-deserved. Up next for them on Feb. 14 and 15 is the David Hemery Valentine Invitational, taking place at the Track & Tennis Center of Boston University.

SPORTS

February 5, 2020

Anthony Cardone Who Went Where in Major League Baseball?

The page has turned to February, and this is the month that baseball begins, with spring training in a couple of weeks. Each of the 30 teams made some kind of move to try to improve their team, but who did the best?

We will start in the AL East.

The Yankees got the best pitcher on the market in Gerrit Cole with a nine-year, $324 million deal and re-signed Aroldis Chapman and Brett Gardner. The Red Sox signed infielders José Peraza and Mitch Moreland, as well as pitcher Martín Pérez. The Blue Jays added to their young group by signing pitchers Hyn-Jin Ryu, Chase Anderson and Tanner Roark. The Rays traded for Hunter Renfroe.

The Orioles added veterans José Iglesias and Wade LeBlanc.

In the AL Central, it was the White Sox who stood out, adding Yasmani Grandal, Dallas Keuchel, Edwin Encarnación, Nomar Mazara, Gio Gonzalez, Steve Cishek and their top prospect, Luis Robert. The Indians added César Hernández, Sandy León and Delino DeShields. The Twins stole Josh Donaldson and signed Alex Avila, Michael Pineda, Homer Bailey and pitcher Rich Hill. The Tigers added infielders C.J. Cron and Jonathan Schoop. The Royals just re-signed their veteran outfielder Alex Gordon and Maikel Franco.

The AL West was busy. The Angels signed Anthony Rendon and added pitchers Julio Terehán and Dylan Bundy. The Rangers traded for Corey Kluber and Sam Travis and signed Kyle Gibson, Todd Frazier, Robinson Chirinos and Jordan Lyles. The Athletics added outfielder Tony Kemp, and the Mariners signed their top prospect Evan White.

In the NL East, the Phillies added Didi Gregorius and Josh Harrison to their offense. The Mets added Dellin Betances, Michael Wacha, Rick Porcello and Jake Marisnick. The Braves signed Marcell Ozuna, Travis d’Arnaud, Will Smith, Cole Hamels and Félix Hernández. The Nationals re-signed Stephen Strasburg, Howie Kendrick, Daniel Hudson and Ryan Zimmerman. The Marlins signed Chris Dickerson, Matt Kemp, Brandon Kintzler, Francisco Cervelli and Matt Joyce.

The Reds, who added Mike Moustakas, Nick Castellanos, Pedro Strop and Wade Miley, led the NL Central. The Brewers added Avisail Garcia, Omar Narvaez, Justin Smoak, Ryon Healy, Brett Anderson, Eric Lauer, Luis Urías and Jedd Gyorko. The Cardinals re-signed Adam Wainwright. The Cubs added Jeremy Jeffress, and the Pirates added J.T. Riddle.

Two teams led the NL West.

The Diamondbacks signed Madison Bumgarner and traded for Starling Marte. The Padres traded for Tommy Pham, Zach Davies, Jurickson Profar and Trent Grisham, signing Drew Pomeranz also.

The Giants added Kevin Gausman and Drew Smyly, the Dodgers signed Alex Wood and the Rockies added Chris Owings.

What a couple of months, huh?

Page 23

Chris Hennessy

Varsity Scores & Stats Women’s Basketball Fordham 52 VCU 62 (FOR) Cavanaugh: 22 PTS, 8 FG

Women’s Swimming & Diving Fordham 173 UMass 126 (FOR) Vekkeli: 100 Breaststroke - 1:06.50 - 1st

La Salle 45 Fordham 62 (FOR) Heremaia: 13 PTS, 5 FG

Men’s Track & Field Metropolitan Championship 101 - T-2nd (FOR) Raefski: 5,000m - 14:32.86 - 1st

Men’s Basketball St. Bonaventure 62 Fordham 55 (FOR) Perry: 16 PTS, 4 3PT Fordham 56 Dayton 70 (FOR) Cobb: 22 PTS, 4 3PT

Men’s Swimming & Diving Fordham 86 UMass 207 (FOR) Stegen: 200 Freestyle - 1:43.81 - 1st Women’s Track & Field Metropolitan Championship 74 - 4th (FOR) Dooley: Pole Vault - 10’ 6” - 1st

Men’s Squash NYU 4 Fordham 5 (FOR) George: 11-6, 11-8, 11-1 Boston U Fordham (FOR) Czachor: 11-4, 11-3, 11-5

6 3

Siena Fordham FORFEIT

0 9

Men’s Tennis Fordham Fairfield (FOR) Kemper: 6-2, 6-4

5 2

Women’s Tennis Fordham Quinnipiac (FOR) Taluyenko: 6-2, 5-3

7 0

Athletes of the Week Justin George

Vaula Vekkeli

Freshman

Junior

Men’s Squash

Swimming & Diving

Fordham Squash played three matches on a busy Saturday, and George was a stable leader on the scoreboard for the Rams. In the 5-4 win over NYU, George dominated his opponent Gene Chung by a commanding score of 11-6, 11-8, 11-1 at the sixth position.

In the Rams’ weekend matchup at UMass, Vekkeli had the day of a lifetime, winning three separate solo events and taking part on a relay team that won as well. The wins were in the 100 breastroke, 200 breaststroke, 200 individual medley and 200 medley relay.

Each week, The Fordham Ram’s sports editors honor one male athlete and one female athlete for their on-field performances as their “Athletes of the Week.”

News & Notes • Taluyenko Receives Honor

As was announced on Tuesday afternoon, Fordham Women’s Tennis junior Arina Taluyenko was named the Atlantic 10 Women’s Player of the Week for the tennis week that concluded on Monday, Feb. 3. Taluyenko, a native of Almaty, Kazhakstan, is no stranger to honors such as this one and an assortment of others. This is her first weekly award of 2020 and the second of this kind in her three years at Fordham. Taluyenko and her teammates took part in just one match over the course of this week, a weekend affair with Quinnipiac. At first singles, Taluyenko beat Kamilla Nella 6-2, 6-3 and then joined Weronika Pociej to win in second doubles by a score of 6-2.

• Women’s Hoops Has Kids Day

The Fordham Women’s Basketball team will be having its Wednesday matchup at home against Rhode Island as a sort of matinee. The game will begin at 11 a.m., as the program will be having its annual Kids Day festivities presented by United Healthcare. The Rams have been quite active in the community lately. During their Saturday home victory over La Salle, the squad participated in its annual Lace Up 4 Pediatric Cancer, where the players wear yellow shoelaces to raise awareness and money for the research of pediatric cancer. They also did Play4Kay, where fans can pledge money for every free throw that their team makes in February.

• Football Has New WR Coach

A former assistant football coach at Yale Univer-

sity, Art Asselta, has been announced as the newest hire by Fordham Football. He was named an assistant coach for the program on Tuesday. He will take charge of the team’s wide receivers. “We’re excited that Art has decided to join the Fordham staff,” said Fordham head coach Joe Conlin. He was the one to officially announce the hire of Asselta and actually worked with Asselta at Yale.

“Having worked with him at Yale, I’m confident that his coaching experience will greatly benefit our wide receivers as we prepare for the 2020 season.” Asselta served six years at Yale, five of them in the recruting department.

• Former Ram Joins Staff

On Tuesday, Fordham University made the an-

nouncement that Liam Cadmen would be the athletic department’s newest assistant equipment manager. Cadmen, who graduated from Fordham in 2018 with a degree in history, was a member of the football team all four of his undergrad years.

In his final season, he was a student assistant equipment manager, working in management and inventory of equipment on behalf of all of Fordham’s athletic programs. In his new position, Cadmen will work alongside the assistant director of athletics for equipment operation and purchasing, Jean-Michel Royall.

—Compiled by Dylan Balsamo

Battle of Alberta Gets Even More Inetersting The “Battle of Alberta” rivalry between the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames has burned deep for generations, ever since the Flames moved to Calgary and joined the Smythe Division in 1980. In the past month, the rivalry took a step that we haven’t really seen since Lanny McDonald’s luscious mustache was involved: true hatred.

The past month of Oilers/ Flames has been another level. It started on Jan. 11, when the two teams faced off at Calgary’s Saddledome. Matthew Tkachuk of Calgary does what he has gained a reputation for doing over his short career: getting under the skin of opponents. This time it was Edmonton winger Zach Kassian, who was sitting in the penalty box when Calgary scored the game winner.

That game was just two weeks before Tkachuk was set to team up with Edmonton’s Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on the Pacific Division team at the AllStar game. After the game on Jan. 11, Draisaitl, the NHL’s points leader, said he would “get off the ice” if he was paired up with Tkachuk in the 3-on-3 exhibition.

However, not only did he not get off the ice, Tkachuk assisted on one of Draisaitl’s four goals in the two games. The Pacific Division won the tournament, and the whole team split $1 million.

Coming out of the break, the big story was that the two teams would play two times in a span of four days: Wednesday night in Edmonton and Saturday night in Calgary. Wednesday night was contentious with multiple fights, scraps and a bat-flip celebration from Calgary goaltender David Rittich after his team won in the shootout. Connor McDavid, hockey’s greatest player, stayed out of the physical part of the game, until he felt Mark Giordano hit him with intent to injure. Then, he began yelling and getting mad.

Everyone on both teams were involved, not just the bruisers.

Leading up to Saturday’s primetime tilt, Rittich added fuel to the fire when he got the start for the home team.

Saturday night was wild, making headlines across hockey, and was topped off with a goalie fight.

Rittich was pulled from the Calgary net after giving up four goals and was replaced by former Oiler Cam Talbot. In the Oilers net was former Flame Mike Smith. The goalies were on the opposite team last year, and swapped jerseys this summer. There were a few fights in the first two periods and multiple scrums after the whistle, but nothing out of control. Then, with 30 seconds left in the second period, the Oilers went poking at Talbot after the whistle, leading to another pushing and shoving match. Then Tkachuk and Oiler rookie defenseman Ethan Bear dropped the gloves. Talbot was in the middle of all of this, while Mike Smith watched from center ice, which is goalie-talk for “Wanna go?”, and Talbot did. The two threw some punches and were both ejected for engaging in a secondary fight (a fight that begins after another fight has started).

If the season ended today, the two teams would play in the playoffs. That would be a hockey fan’s dream.

SPORTS

Page 24

February 5, 2020

The Fordham Ram

Women’s Basketball Falls to VCU, Takes Down La Salle

By JIMMY SULLIVAN SPORTS EDITOR

There are some interesting parallels between this season and last for Fordham Women’s Basketball.

Last year’s Rams lost three games in Atlantic 10 Conference play to Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Dayton and Davidson College, all in January.

After losing to Davidson and falling to 4-3 in conference play last January, the Rams took on La Salle University and pulled away late despite a tough test from the Explorers. After that game, Fordham ran the table en route to a conference title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

If 2019 sounds like 2020, at least to this point in the season, you’re on to something.

Let’s start with last Wednesday.

Fordham made the trek down to Richmond, Virginia for a date with the Rams of VCU, one of just two remaining undefeated teams in the A-10.

Fordham came out on the short end after having two double-digit leads in the game, one in each half. The visiting Rams built a 42-32 lead late in the third quarter, but VCU outscored Fordham 30-10 over the final 13 minutes of the game to pull away to a 62-52 victory.

Fordham struggled with its three-point shot all night, going 3-19 (15.8%) overall and 0-8 in the second half. This was not lost on Fordham head coach Stephanie Gaitley.

“I think we settled too much for threes,” Gaitley said. “We were

having success attacking the basket and when we got the switch, instead of attacking the big kid (VCU center Danielle Hammond), we just pulled threes.

We’re not shooting well, let’s attack the basket.”

Fordham also struggled mightily on defense in the second half.

Part of this was due to foul trouble, as sophomore Kaitlyn Downey, junior Bre Cavanaugh and freshman Sarah Karpell all had four fouls with several minutes to play in regulation. This foul trouble — and the players’ preventative response to try to avoid fouling out — allowed VCU to do whatever it wanted inside. In fact, all but two of VCU’s 23 fourth-quarter points came either in the paint or at the free throw line, as Fordham had no answer for VCU’s combination of Hammond and Tera Reed near the basket.

“I just think, as good as we did in the first half against the post, it was the opposite in the second half,” Gaitley said.

Offensively, Fordham struggled to put the ball in the basket and had just four scorers. Cavanaugh led the way with 22 points, junior Kendell Heremaia had 11 points, Downey had 10 and freshman Anna DeWolfe had nine.

Outside of those four, all other Fordham players combined to take just five shots on the game.

On the other side, Hammond and Reed combined for 42 of VCU’s 62 points while Taya Robinson added 11 more. With the loss on Wednesday, Fordham fell to 4-3 in A-10 play and needed to put the game behind them as quickly as

possible.

Unfortunately, that could not happen right away. The Rams were forced to bus back from Richmond — a roughly six-hour trip — after the game following charter issues in Virginia. The delay forced the team to lose a day of practice in advance of its Saturday home game against La Salle, a team that was picked to finish last in the conference but has been competitive to this point in the season. As promised, La Salle did not give Fordham anything easy for the first three quarters.

The Explorers never led in the game, but kept themselves in it until the final stages, much like last year’s game. Fordham’s lead was down to one point late in the third quarter, and the Explorers had four shots to take the lead late in the third quarter but missed all of them. In the fourth, Fordham pulled away, outscoring La Salle 21-9 en route to a 62-45 win.

“It feels great, just because it went in a game of spurts,” Gaitley said. “There was a lot of different runs and when they cut it to one, I think we regrouped and gained our composure back and settled down a little bit and got good possessions offensively.”

Part of Fordham’s success was being able to stay out of the foul trouble that doomed the team at VCU. Downey earned three fouls midway through the third quarter, but played a smart game and excellent defense that allowed her to stay on the floor for most of the day. Karpell, despite battling illness, was able to hold La Salle’s best player, freshman Claire Ja-

MACKENZIE CRANNA /THE FORDHAM RAM

The Rams overcame troubles in Virginia to down the Explorers. cobs, in check with just 11 points on 5-13 shooting.

Offensively, Cavanaugh once again led the way with 21 points and seven rebounds, continuing her tear from the start of conference play. Cavanaugh currently leads the conference in scoring and has put up at least 20 points in seven of Fordham’s eight Atlantic 10 games. Heremaia came one rebound short of a double-double with 13 points, and DeWolfe and

Downey each had 12.

With the win, Fordham sits at 5-3 in conference play and tied for fourth place in the Atlantic 10.

Next up for the team is a matchup with The University of Rhode Island on Wednesday morning at 11 a.m. at the Rose Hill Gym. Rhode Island has the A-10’s leading rebounder in Nicole Jorgensen and will be a tough task for Fordham, who has the A-10’s second-leading rebounder in Heremaia.

Men’s Basketball Falls to Flyers in Dayton

By ANDREW POSADAS MANAGING EDITOR

Fordham Men’s Basketball had its toughest road test of the season, traveling to Ohio over the weekend for a match-up with the Atlantic 10 Conference’s first place team in Dayton University.

Although the Rams were able to outscore the Flyers 39-34 in the second half, it was not enough, as the seventh ranked team in the nation beat Fordham convincingly 70-56.

After what head coach Jeff Neubauer called his team’s “best defensive effort and best overall performance of the year” against St. Bonaventure University last Wednesday, albeit in a losing effort that went into overtime, the Rams needed to shift their focus toward Saturday’s game against Dayton.

The Flyers came in with the third best scoring offense in the country, averaging over 83 points a game this season and shooting the ball as a team at an absurdly efficient 53%. Leading the charge for the conference’s best team is the conference’s best player: forward Obi Toppin, who finds himself on four national player of the year watch-lists and is projected to be a top 10 pick in this year’s NBA draft.

Early in the first half, Toppin made his presence known by

scoring five quick points. Dayton opened the game by going on a 7-2 run, ultimately taking a 13-4 lead after back-to-back threepoint baskets. Slow first half starts have plagued Fordham all season, and they reared their ugly head again at the UD Arena. The Rams were held to just 31% shooting in the first 20 minutes of regulation, scoring only four points in a 10-minute span.

It would take nearly 12 min-

utes before the Rams broke the double-digit mark, as a staunch Dayton defense was able to use its superior size and length to continually make offensive possessions difficult. What further complicated matters was the absence of sophomore center Onyi Eyisi, who did not play after suffering an injury in the loss to St. Bonaventure. The Rams had only one player taller than 6’4” appear in Saturday’s game, and Dayton

took full advantage of the size discrepancy on the court.

The Flyers took a 36-17 lead at the half, and it seemed abundantly clear that Fordham was no match for Toppin and Dayton’s prolific attack. However, as has been the case this season, the Rams offense was finally able to wake up in the second half behind the efforts of sophomore guard and leading scorer, Jalen Cobb.

Cobb took it upon himself to

COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS

A strong half and defensive effort were not enough for Fordham to overcome one of the nation’s best.

jumpstart Fordham’s offense after foul trouble held him to four points in the first half. Cobb scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half, with the Rams doing a majority of damage from beyond the arc. Fordham shot 9-of14 from the three-point line in the second half, playing hard until the final buzzer.

Even though they were able to shoot 54% from the field during that stretch, Fordham was never able to cut the deficit back down to single digits. Dayton would ultimately win by 14 behind 18 points from both Toppin and guard Trey Landers, improving to 9-0 in conference and 20-2 overall. The loss drops the Rams to 1-8 in the A-10 and 7-14 on the season.

Cobb is now averaging 15 points in the last six games, quickly becoming coach Neubauer’s best scoring option. Senior guard Antwon Portley was the only other Ram to score in doubledigits, adding 10 points and three rebounds.

Fordham Men’s Basketball is back in action this Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Rose Hill Gymnasium against the University of Richmond. The game can be heard on WFUV 90.7 FM and seen exclusively on ESPN+.