Vol. 101 Issue 3

The Fordham Ram Volume 101, Issue 3

Serving The Fordham University Community Since 1918 FordhamRam.com

February 6, 2019

Black History Month Celebrated

FDM Sees Promo Success

By ELIOT SCHIAPARELLI

By SARAH HUFFMAN

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

This month at Fordham University, multiple departments and student groups are holding special events to celebrate Black History Month.

The department of African and African American studies is holding its annual Black History Month lecture on Friday, Feb. 15. The department is working with a theme of building scholarship through activism. This year’s speaker is Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Ph.D. Laurie Lambert, Ph.D., a professor in the African and African American studies department, said her department had been interested in booking Gilmore for over a year now. Lambert said she is both a scholar and an activist, and she exemplifies how academic work can help bring about structural change.

“One of the cornerstones of her work is the idea of prisons as SEE BHM, PAGE 6

HELEN STEVENSON/ THE FORDHAM RAM

The bodega located on 183rd Street and Bathgate Ave., pictured above, became the city's first "safe haven bodega."

Bronx Bodega Becomes NYC's First "Safe Haven Bodega"

By HELEN STEVENSON NEWS EDITOR

Lesandro (“Junior") Guzman-Feliz, a 15-year-old boy and member of the Belmont community, was killed on June 20, 2018 outside of a Bronx bodega on 183rd Street and Bath-

gate Avenue. Seven months after the tragedy, the bodega was selected to be New York City’s first “safe haven bodega.”

According to a report by ABC Eyewitness News, the United Bodegas of America partnered with the New York Police Department to create this safety

initiative. The program consists of a six-step program including a panic button that calls police, in-store cameras, automatic magnetic locks and bright lights.

"We need for these bodega owners to have the equipment necessary to come forth and not SEE JUNIOR, PAGE 6

ASILI Hosts Panel

By JADE DYER-KENNEDY CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

in the Jesuit retirement homes on campus.

A list of Jesuits in residence at Murray-Weigel has been available to anyone with access to Walsh Library, even as allegations against Catholic priests continue to make headlines.

Murray-Weigel said they could

On Friday, Feb. 1, the Black Student Alliance (ASILI) hosted the “Being Black at Fordham” panel in Bepler Commons to discuss what its title indicated: the realities of being black at Fordham University.

According to the ASILI executive board, the panel served to educate and reflect on the experiences of black students on Fordham’s campus. Its participants dedicated an hour and a half of their time, in an effort to share their experiences. About 40 students and faculty attended the event.

The panel consisted of Issy Asianah, FCRH ’19 and programmer for ASILI, Elicia Bates, FCRH ’19, and Jordan Dabney, FCRH ’21, and Clarence Ball, a business communications professor in the Gabelli School of Business.

The discussion began with two members of the ASILI executive board, who posited a question focused on the ad-

SEE LIST, PAGE 3

SEE PANEL, PAGE 3

JULIA COMERFORD/THE FORDHAM RAM

Murray-Weigel Hall is a Jesuit retirement home at Fordham's campus that previously housed alleged abusers.

List of Jesuits in Residence Available At Library

By ERICA SCALISE PROJECTS EDITOR

A number of priests living in Murray-Weigel Hall, a retirement home on campus, have recently been included on lists of priests accused of sexual abuse.

The university has claimed that it did not have access to informa-

tion listing who lives in the retirement homes on campus, operated by the Jesuit Northeast Province.

Bob Howe, director of communications for the university, did not respond to questions on the existence of a list of Jesuits in residence at Fordham. He said the university “does not generally know the histories” of those living

Fordham Dance Marathon (FDM) held its annual promotional dinner on Thursday, Jan. 31 to raise money in an effort to end pediatric cancer.

According to Kimona Dussard, FCRH ’21 and codirector for FDM, the organization has reached 47 percent of their donation goal.

“This year we decided not to publicly announce our goal to build more excitement about the reveal,” she said.

The dinner is one of several events the organization refers to as “the series” in the lead up to the actual day of the dance marathon.

Other events in “the series” include the Trick or Treat Trot in the fall and the auction on Feb. 13. These events and other fundraising come before the day of the dance marathon and usually bring in roughly 80 percent of the group’s fundraising goal, according to Dussan.

Instead of an entrance fee, students were asked to send 10 fundraising emails to non-Fordham students. Dussard said the emails yield more results than one would think.

“Those emails reach beyond the student body for fundraising and awareness and it also brings in a lot of donations,” she said.

“You would be really surprised who will respond to your emails.

You never know who has been touched by pediatric cancer and will support the cause.”

Dussard and her co-director Jacklyn Onody, FCRH ’21, handled logistics for the dinner. The hospitality commitee secured food donations from Burger Lodge earlier in the year.

After the first hour, the food donations from Burger Lodge started to run out.

Onody said she started ordering pizzas to compensate for the SEE FDM, PAGE 5

in this issue

Opinion

Page 8

In Case of Panic: Do Not Shut Down the Government

Sports

Page 24

Men's Basketball takes on UMass Tonight

Culture

Page 16 "Breslin and Hamil" Evokes Nostalgia for Old Style Journalism

NEWS

Page 2

PUBLIC SAFETY BRIEFS

Fordham Student Creates Snow Day Petition Over 4,000 Signatures But Classes Continue

By HELEN STEVENSON NEWS EDITOR

Jan. 30 Lombardi Fieldhouse 8:30 a.m.

A student reported that his sweatpants were missing. The student said they were valued at over $100.

Jan. 31 Lombardi Fieldhouse 5:15 p.m.

A student athlete reported that when he returned to his locker, it was damaged so that it could not be opened.

Feb. 1 189th Street 1:50 a.m.

A student lost his phone at Howl at the Moon. He tracked the phone and realized that a person had it. The person with the phone demanded cash in return. NYPD and Public Safety responded. A police report was filed.

Feb. 2 Dealy Hall 10:15 p.m.

A water pipe burst causing water to flow into the elevator pit. the elevator was taken out of service until a technician checked it.

Public Safety responded and the water was shut off.

February 6, 2019

Temperatures have been upwards of 50 this week, but just days ago Northern states across the nation faced temperatures as low as single digits. As a result of this frigid weather, a petition to cancel class on Thursday, Jan. 31, gathered over 4,000 signatures.

“It’s going to be very cold tomorrow, making it difficult and unsafe for commuting students and commuting professors to make it to class; this weather will also affect administrators, Public Safety and other university employees and their ability to safely make it to campus and perform their jobs, exasperated by mass student movement,” the petition stated. “Cancel class.”

The petition was released after the university cancelled all classes and events as of 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 30 due to severe weather conditions. The petition’s intention was to extend the cancellations into the following day.

David Fretz, FCRH ’22, the organizer behind the snow day petition, said that although it was cold, he actually created it because he did not want to go to class the next day.

“When I started the petition

I hadn’t done any of my work for those classes and didn’t want to start doing it, so I was thinking, ‘Why don’t I try, and get class cancelled instead?’" he said. “And apparently four thousand other people thought the same thing.”

Fretz said he found the popularity of this petition comical.

“At the beginning it was funny watching it reach fifty signatures, then a hundred, and as we kept telling people to pass the petition along it got funnier and funnier,” he said.

However, Fretz said he was not surprised that the petition got so many signatures as he expected students to fully support the idea of no classes.

“Looking back, it’s not crazy how many people signed it, but as we were watching it climb up and up from less than ten signatures to over three thousand by the end of the night, it was pretty surprising,” he said.

Of course, to the disappointment of Fretz and the 4,000 plus other signers, class continued according to schedule last Thursday.

Bob Howe, the university’s senior director of communications, said that the university is concerned about the health and safety of the students, faculty and staff. However, the weather last week did not warrant any further cancellations.

HANNAH GONZALEZ/THE FORDHAM RAM

The Lincoln Center campus (above) suffered a squall, as did Rose Hill.

“The early closing on Wednesday was to allow members of the community who had to travel sufficient time to avoid the predicted whiteout conditions in the area,

Feb. 3 Hoffman Street 6:45 p.m.

A smoke alarm was set off at a Fordham owned off-campus apartment. The alarm was caused by burnt food. FDNY and Public Safety responded.

-Compiled by Eliot Schiaparelli

Follow us on Twitter! @TheFordhamRam

JULIA COMERFORD/THE FORDHAM RAM

A petition to cancel class on change.org, pictured above, garnered over 4,000 signatures in the course of one night.

which, as you know, never materialized — we erred on the side of caution,” he said.

Howe said the decision to continue classes as scheduled was on par with other educational institutions in New York City.

“The New York City public schools were open, as were most, if not all, colleges and universities in the city.”

Howe said that low temperatures are manageable and if any student has specific questions about cold weather health, they should contact the university health center on campus.

“As we reiterate in every severe weather alert, members of the university community should always take local conditions into account when traveling to or from campus,” he said.

Fretz, who is from the snowy city of Buffalo, New York, said although he was disappointed, he has never been surprised when classes are not cancelled for the weather.

“I wasn’t shocked when I woke up and had to go to class. It was a long shot that a petition would get anything to happen,” he said. “But I can’t say I wasn’t a little disappointed that morning to have to make the trek to FMH from the opposite end of campus in near zero degree weather.”

This Week at Fordham Thursday Feb. 7

Friday Feb. 8

Saturday Feb. 9

Sunday Feb. 10

Sunday Feb. 10

SWS Weekly Seminar Series

Free Pizza Sketch Show

Autism Speaks U Valentines Day Party

TCCA Homeless Canvassing

February Bingo

Smart Women Securities (SWS) will be hosting a seminar on career exploration in business that is open to the entire university. The seminar will be held in Freeman Hall 105. It will be on Thursday Feb. 7 from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Fordham Experimental Theater’s Free Pizza Sketch Comedy group will be having their first show of the semester with two new members.

Attendees can enter through the back of Collins Hall. Line starts at 7:30 p.m.

This party invites individuals with autism for a night filled with good food and fun! The party gives students on campus an opportunity to interact with individuals on the autism spectrum and to become advocates for autism awareness.

This event will allow Fordham TCCA to find those immediately in need, especially in the cold winter months. One of the main missions is charity, so this event will be an opportunity for the group to exercise this mission in Manhattan.

Join the Campus Activities Board for February bingo to kick off Valentine's Week. Prizes include Fordham beanies, snack boxes, portable chargers, fuzzy sweatshirts and bean bag chair. Bingo will be held in Keating first auditorium.

Freeman Hall 105 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Blackbox Theater 8:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Campbell Multipurpose Room 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Midtown Manhattan 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Keating First 9:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.

NEWS

February 6, 2019

Page 3

Names of Priests on Campus Cataloged in Library University Denies "Regular Flow of Information" SEE LIST, PAGE 1

not provide The Ram with these lists, and the Northeast Province said they are not available to the public. These

catalogs, known as “Curia,” available from the 19th century to 2018, detail the names of Jesuit priests, their dates of birth, when they entered the

Society of Jesus and when they left. They also include information on where these priests live, including those accused of sexual abuse.

RAM ARCHIVES

Names of Jesuit priests on the university campus are available in catalogs located in Walsh Library, pictued above.

Howe said the university’s statement from a Jan. 30 article in The Ram remains the same.

“The University has never had control over Murray-Weigel Hall or a regular flow of information concerning its tenants and any allegations of misconduct that may have been made against them,” said Howe.

Catalogs mailed to the university from the Jesuit Order contain information on Jesuits across the nation. They are available to the Fordham community in the Special Collections in Walsh Library. According to the Jesuit order, these catalogs are published and mailed to each Jesuit yearly and contain lists of Jesuits divided geographically by province, house, residence or college. They also contain each Jesuit’s date of birth, year of entry into the Society of Jesus, year for final vows and are compiled for individual provinces.

The most recent catalog from 2018 contains an itemized breakdown of every Jesuit priest in the Bronx. According to the book, 72 resided in Murray-Weigel in 2018.

On Jan. 25, the directors of Murray-Weigel declined to com-

ment when a reporter from The Ram went to the hall and inquired about the catalogs and whether there were any catalogs in the hall.

“This is a private home; I can’t give that to you,” said Margaret Monahan, executive director of Murray-Weigel Hall. “You need to ask the province. You should stop coming here.”

According to the Northeast Province, the information in the catalogs is not open to the public.

“The catalog is not for sale; it’s only for Jesuits. Every Jesuit is mailed one,” said a representative at the Northeast Province via a phone call with a reporter from The Ram. “The catalogs show where Jesuits currently live, births and things like that.”

The Ram has reported on the sexual abuse crisis and its relationship to Fordham in light of the recently released abuse allegation lists from Jesuit Provinces.

Clerical abuse has been part of the public consciousness since the early 2000s when The Boston Globe began reporting on abuse allegations and cover-ups within the Boston Diocese. Since then, thousands of cases have been uncovered.

ASILI Hosts Second 'Being Black at Fordham' Panel Panelists Discuss Observations on Race Relations FROM PANEL, PAGE 1

aptation necessary to reside on campus: the responses from the panel varied.

Dabney and Bates said that

their high schools shared a similar demographic and atmosphere as Fordham’s campus and found the changes relatively minor.

Dabney said he still had obser-

COURTESY OF ANYA PATTERSON

Panelists included ASILI members and Ball, a GSB professor.

vations concerning the race relations on Fordham’s campus.

“People of color here separate themselves.” Dabney said.

Ball found issue in the general population of New York. “New York, in general … it’s not the same community of minorities as in Texas,” he said.

Ball said although the demographic is different, he never experienced any notable issues;.

However, he said that the nature of his faculty position guarded him from any unkind actions.

Asianah, an international Fordham University student from Nigeria, said she had a difficult time adapting to Fordham’s campus.

She said the demographic and setting of Fordham’s campus was a jarring contrast to the Nigerian landscape she was accustomed to. In describing the transition, she said she felt a lack of connection with her classmates and those surrounding her. Her reprieve was the close group of friends she now has.

Following the pre-formulated questions, the panel shifted to questions from the audience, allowing for an interactive discussion.

Jeffrey Pelayo, FCRH ’21, attended the event and said the panel would have lasting effects.

“I thought the panel was really informative," he said. "It was nice hearing what black people in the Fordham community feel about their experiences living in New York.”

Pelayo said students typically do not have the opportunity to

COURTESY OF OMA

Panelists at the event spoke on their experience of being black at Fordham.

have these discussion because it is not always appropriate to ask someone about their race.

“I’m grateful that the panelists were able to open up and be honest about being a person of

color in a predominantly white school,” he said. “Overall, I’m hoping that it gave people something to think about, especially how they treat other minority groups on campus.”

NEWS

Page 4

Research Spotlight

USG Column

USG Discusses Pre-Law

By KRISTEN MCNERNEY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The United Student Government (USG) Senate meeting on Thursday, Jan. 31, focused on proposals for the upcoming semester.

Pre-Dental Club, a formerly-active organization looking to come back to campus, received senate approval.

A representative for the club said its mission is to serve students on the pre-dental path and to assist them with the dental school application process, as well as provide research opportunities on campus.

A pre-law proposal discussed by senators Danielle Terracciano, FCRH ’19, and Dean Corrado, GSB ’19 , was also approved.

Terracciano said the proposal would supplement the already existing Pre-Law Society and provide a direct relationship between those who have completed law school applications and those who wish to apply.

USG also discussed revamping its Instagram by consolidating all four class year pages into one account.

Vice President of Communications Roderick Perez, GSB ’20, said there will be a social media contest in which five students each have the opportunity to win a $20 Amazon gift card by following the account, liking a post and tagging three friends.

Vice president of Student Life Ashley Qamar, GSB ’20, discussed Diversity Action Coalition’s (DAC) plans to make students more aware of gender-neutral and single-occupancy bathrooms. She said DAC will publish fliers with a list of these locations on campus.

Executive President Connor Sullivan, FCRH ’19, discussed his meeting with Rev. Joesph M. McShane, S.J., president of the university and Senior Vice President for Student Affairs Jeffrey Gray regarding the closing of Murray-Weigel Hall to students. The decision remains in place in light of credible Jesuit abuse accusations, Sullivan said.

From the Commuting Students’ Association, President Vanessa Reyes, FCRH ’19, spoke about upcoming events for Black History Month.

She said that on Feb. 15, there will be a Nike event, and on Feb. 25, a speaker is coming. Other events will be held throughout the month.

Executive Vice President Kaylee Wong, GSB ’20, said the Fordham Dance Marathon (FDM) will be held on March 8, with the “Rams Got Talent” talent show during FDM. From the Office for Student Involvement, assistant dean for student involvement Cody Arcuri said the new floor for the student lounge in McGinley has arrived and it is currently being installed.

Stephen Esposito, assistant director for leadership and commuter services, said that an application for Fordham University Emerging Leaders (FUEL) is now open to students on OrgSync.

Senator Devin D’Agostino, FCRH ’20, said a proposal was drafted to bring “earth hour” to campus on March 30, during which students turn off all non-essential lights for an hour and meet in St. Rose’s Garden on campus to raise awareness about energy usage.

Corrado said he is working on a hotline for survivors of sexual assault.

February 6, 2019

Fordham Senior Researches Linguistics: Analyzes Students’ Opinions on English Dialects

By ELIOT SCHIAPARELLI ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Instead of a traditional sociology thesis, Catherine Aumiller, FCRH ’19, is studying the attitudes of college students toward different English dialects. Aumiller became interested in linguistics after taking an introductory course and now plans to pursue a master’s in the subject.

The university does not have a formal linguistics department, but students can work in the EEG Lab for Language and Multilingualism Research under Sarah Grey, Ph.D. Grey is Fordham’s only linguistics professor, and Aumiller said she has taken at least four classes with her.

Aumiller started working in Grey’s lab as a junior. With Grey as a mentor, Aumiller formulated a research project that compared the attitudes of college students toward three American dialects: Standard American English, Chicano English and African American Vernacular English.

Chicano English is largely spoken by Mexican Americans, especially in the Southwest, according to Aumiller. African American Vernacular English is most commonly spoken in urban areas.

Standard American English is most similar to broadcast English.

Aumiller said she spent most of the summer before her senior year reading other studies and research on American dialects. In Sept. 2018, she created a survey to conduct her study and formulated a three-pronged hypothesis.

“Participants who speak other languages and grew up in or spent time in racially/ethnically and/ or linguistically diverse environments will feel more positively towards all dialects,” she wrote in

Photo of the Week:

CATHERINE AUMILLER FOR THE FORDHAM RA,M

Aumiller’s survey on English dialects is available for Fordham students to take on SONA until Feb. 8th.

her hypothesis. “I expect that participants who score high on Extraversion and low on Neuroticism will feel more positively towards all dialects and that participants with high levels of tolerance for ambiguity (TA) will have more positive attitudes towards all dialects.”

Aumiller said her survey is based on research published in 2015 by Dewaele and McCloskey.

It collects background biographical information about the person taking the test and asks questions meant to determine the taker’s

attitude toward the different dialects of American English.

The person taking the survey is able to play a voice recording from SoundCloud of each dialect and then is asked to make assumptions about the speaker.

They are able to say how intelligent they believe the speaker to be, how likely they would be to associate with the speaker and what they believe the socioeconomic status of the speaker to be by ranking their agreement with statements.

“Once all the data is compiled,

SARAH HUFFMAN/THE FORDHAM RAM

Three Fordham students sit on the steps of Keating Hall. This week’s warm weather brought students outside and into the sun after temperatures descended to single digits days prior.

I’ll be looking to make correlations between the attitudes toward each language and the socio biographical data,” Aumiller said “So far from what I know now, it isn’t just people answering in the middle on each question. They are showing that they have attitudes either way.”

To ensure that participants in the survey understand what they are doing, they are asked to say what they believe the dialect to be after listening and answering questions.

Aumiller and four other seniors working in Grey’s lab all received FCRH research grants for their projects. Aumiller said her mentor helped her create the project by sending her studies over the summer.

“If you’re not sure what you want to be researching it really helps to talk to a mentor,” she said. “And then once you have a good relationship with your mentor that really helps a lot if you have any uncertainties and they also make really helpful suggestions. So, it’s all about the mentor.”

Aumiller also works alongside Grey on four psycholinguistic projects in the EEG lab. Those studies include everything from “Semantic and Grammar Processing in First and Second Languages” to “Learning French as a Second Language.”

Aumiller compiles data on her survey weekly but has not yet analyzed it. The survey will be up on SONA, the psychology department’s survey portal, until Feb. 8 so that Aumiller can submit her findings to the Fordham Undergraduate Research Journal in March.

After she graduates and earns a master’s degree, Aumiller said she hopes her research background will help her influence policies surrounding linguistics or do more research.

NEWS

February 6, 2019

Page 5

FDM Holds Sixth Annual Promotional Dinner Continues Fight to End Pediatric Cancer SEE FDM, PAGE 1

lack of burgers. She said committee members from FDM trekked to Pugsley's Pizza to secure the pizza pies.

Dussard and Onody also coordinated entertainment for the event, featuring a student DJ and the Fordham B-sides.

While a few students were disgruntled that the Burger Lodge food ran out, Dussard said it spoke to the success of

the event.

Students that serve on the board for their individual residence halls also helped out with the event.

Residence halls hosted walkover programs that enabled students to send their 10 emails ahead of time and check-in to the dinner even faster.

Patrick Sawyer, president of the O’Hare board, said that FDM is an impressive organiza-

SARAH HUFFMAN/THE FORDHAM RAM

Students are seated in McGinley as they attend the FDM promotional dinner.

Earn your master’s degree with only one year of study beyond your bachelor’s degree.

tion with an amazing cause.

“FDM is a great event for two reasons," he said. "First, it is great to put forth all this effort and see a great even come to fruition, and more importantly, it is a great way for the Fordham community to come together to work on something larger than ourselves.”

For the first time this year, Dussard said the FDM team created graphics to advertise the dinner for Residence Halls Association and FDM members to post on their Instagram stories.

She said the graphics were an effort to encourage members of the university community to donate or get involved with FDM's cause, and for the most part, it has worked so far.

Dussard said she thought this year’s promotional dinner was a success.

“We had a pretty decent turnout of people who many of us on FDM and RHA had not seen before, which was really exciting because we want to get people involved in the event who aren’t necessarily the same ones planning them,” she said.

Last year, the FDM donation goal was $100,000, and the organization surpassed that number by $1,643.44. This year, although the goal is not public,

KEVIN STOLTENBORG/THE FORDHAM RAM

FDM raised a total of $101,643.44 at last year's dance marathon.

the percentage that has been made so far is available online.

Dussard said the organization hopes to reach that goal and possibly even surpass that number again.

The Fordham Dance Marathon will be held on Friday, March 8. To participate in the dance marathon or donate to support the cause, visit www. fordhamdancemarathon.org.

Fordham students can apply to accelerated master’s programs in …

• Applied Psychological Methods • Biological Sciences • Catholic Theology • Computer Science • Cybersecurity • Data Analytics • Economics

• Elections and Campaign Management • English • Ethics and Society • Global History • History

• Humanitarian Studies • Philosophy • Public Media • Urban Studies

To learn how you can begin taking graduate courses during your senior year and save up to 30 percent on tuition, contact fuga@fordham.edu.

fordham.edu/gsas/accelerated

NEWS

Page 6

February 6,2019

University Celebrates Black History Month Campus Groups Host Cultural Events FROM BHM, PAGE 1

geography, locating the problems in geography rather than dealing with social and political issues,” said Lambert. “She’ll be speaking on what abolition geography is and where her research is pointing to next.”

She said that this is an opportunity for people to learn about what prison abolition is and to think about how they have accepted certain institutions like the prison system; it is an opportunity to ask questions about why we have accepted this system, if it is working the way it should be and how we can change it.

She said the department hopes people will learn how structural change is being produced both by academics and activists.

“These events are important every month of the year,” said Lambert. “These issues are with us everyday. For me, black history month is important because it gives an extra bit of attention to some of these problems and questions.”

Mark Naison, Ph.D., a professor of history and African American studies here at Fordham, said the Fordham Alumni Association is organizing a trip to Louis Armstrong’s house in Corona. Naison said that he has been asked to speak about Louis Armstrong’s historical significance at the event.

“Getting a chance to spend

a couple of hours talking about [race] in an academic environment is a valuable experience,” said Naison. “What we are hopefully able to do is create a place where students can hear points of view that are important but not necessarily part of what their school, family or neighborhood would expose them to.”

He said that knowledge, communication and empathy are all goals of this kind of program.

The Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Division of Student Affairs are holding multiple training sessions for students to join the Racial Solidarity Network. The program requires two sessions, which they will occur on, Feb. 12 and Feb. 19 at Rose Hill, as well as Feb. 13 and Feb. 20 at Lincoln Center.

Juan Carlos Matos, assistant vice president for Student Affairs for Diversity and Inclusion with the Office of Multicultural Affairs, said in his e-mail that this program hopes to promote a university environment where everyone feels welcome.

The program strives to “provide an opportunity for the Fordham community to increase empathy, awareness and understanding around the complexities related to race and the unique lived experiences people share as racial and ethnic beings,” he said.

Fordham Law School is hosting an alumni of distinction ceremony

COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Ph.D., will speak at the annual Black History Month lecture on Friday, Feb. 15.

on Feb. 12, 2019. The ceremony will honor Ruth Whitehead Whaley, who graduated in 1924, and Eunice Carter, who graduated in 1932. They are celebrating graduates of the law school who have overcome challenges faced by underrepresented groups and made a mark on the world.

Some speakers include the Honorable Deborah Batts, Se-

nior Judge, United States District Court of the Southern District of NY, Leah Carter, great-granddaughter of Eunice Carter, and Tanyell Cooke ’19, Student Bar Association President.

The Black Student Alliance at Fordham (ASILI) hosted the “Being Black at Fordham” Panel on Friday, Feb. 1. The panel included students, faculty and alumni who answered questions about their

experiences at Fordham. The purpose of the panel was to help bridge gaps between communities.

ASILI will host “Until We All Win: A Panel discussion brought to you by Nike and ASILI” on Friday, Feb. 15. ASILI says that the purpose of this panel is to empower and elevate black athlete communities in order to create equal opportunities.

Bronx Bodega Becomes a NYC "Safe Haven" Works to Ensure Safety of Bronx Residents FROM JUNIOR PAGE 1

so much risk their lives but save the lives of others," said Fernando Mateo, spokesperson for United Bodegas of America, to Eyewitness News.

The report said the system costs about $3,000 to $4,000, and only about 10 bodegas have signed up for the program.

Rosa Cruz, who works at the newly appointed “safe haven bodega,” said that the shop has gone through a complete transformation with new safety equipment.

However, she said the project is not finished yet.

“We have not needed to use [the security system] yet, but it is also not completely set up yet,” she said.

However, Cruz said that she feels the system will benefit the community and patrons of the Bathgate bodega.

“I think it is a good idea, and I think people will feel safer when they come in,” she said.

“No one has to worry about calling the cops or anything like that.”

In October 2018, The Fordham Ram reported on a silent tribute organized by the Black Student Alliance (ASILI) and El Grito de Lares to commemorate Guzman-Felizls life and

KEVIN STOLTENBORG/THE FORDHAM RAM

Outside the bodega, a mural commemorates Junior's life with a portrait and the quote, "love is the answer."

mourn his death. The event also sought to protest the lack of response from the university and administration.

About 50 students attended the demonstration, with signs

that read, "Fordham is our school, the Bronx is our community" and "Am I next?"

Over a week after the demonstration and over four months after Junior's death,

Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., the president of the university, sent a university-wide email addressing the university's silence.

Bob Howe, assistant vice

president for communications and special advisor to the president, said that he realized the importance of the issue after a meeting with the Diversity Action Coalition (DAC) in the Fall of 2018.

"As I said to DAC members at the meeting, I dropped the ball; I hadn't brought Junior's death to Father McShane's attention nor advised a statement at that time because I wasn't aware of the depth of students' upset until the Fall semester began," he said.

Ashley Qamar, FCRH ’20, and chair of DAC, said that the security installation will fight to ensure a tragedy such as this one will never happen again.

“I feel that turning the bodega where Junior passed away into a 'safe haven' is a promising step in the right direction,” she said.

She said the joint efforts of the NYPD and the United Bodegas of America give her hope.

“As a direct result of this initiative, multiple city bodega workers have – with the help of the NYPD – sought out formal training on gang attacks,” she said. “I do think that this furthers the mission of bringing 'Justice for Junior' as we continue to grow together as a community.”

El Grito de Lares and ASILI did not respond after several requests for comment.

February 6, 2019

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The Ram

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OPINION

Page 8

February 6, 2019

The Fordham Ram

In Case of Panic: Do Not Shut Down the Government

By SEAN FRANKLIN STAFF WRITER

Last week marked the end of the 34-day government shutdown, the longest in U.S. history. It started with President Trump demanding money to fund his border wall.

When Congress didn’t want to provide it, he shut down the government in an attempt to force its hand. Hundreds of thousands of federal workers went without pay, missing paychecks and leaving citizens without government services.

In most countries, a government shutdown would be an insane, apocalyptic scenario. In the U.S., however, they happen fairly often.

There have already been three shutdowns during Trump’s two years in office.

We’ve become desensitized to shutdowns. They happen so often that we forget that going without a government is not a normal occurrence. It isn’t normal in the slightest. No other country on earth is like this. Most places understand that shutting down the government is a bad idea and is something that shouldn’t be done often. Yet we – the United States, global economic and military superpower – can’t seem to wrap our heads around it.

It’s mind-boggling that this happens at all, and, frankly, it shouldn’t.

So here are a few ways to prevent shutdowns from happening in the future:

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Citizens should consider voting for officials that will not resort to shutting down the government during a deadlock.

1. Force Congress and the president to go without pay instead of government workers.

During a shutdown, federal workers stop getting paid – yet members of Congress and the president continue to recieve paychecks. Given that these are the people whose responsibility is to end the shutdown, maybe they should feel the heat too. In fact, Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas just introduced a bill to Congress that would do exactly that – hold presidential and congressional salaries until the shutdown is over. This would put pressure on our political leaders to come to a solution sooner rather than later.

I would go even further and say that federal workers should continue to receive pay during the shutdown, and only legislators and presidents should see their paychecks hit. Federal workers should be insulated from the fallout of a situation they have no control over.

2. Automatically fund the government if the politicians can’t get their act together.

To end the most recent shutdown, President Trump passed a three-week “continuing resolution” (CR), a short-term spending bill that maintains funding at the previous year’s levels in absence of a new year’s budget. Congress often uses CRs to end shutdowns or when

budget negotiations run over funding deadlines.

They also offer an easy solution to this shutdown problem. Congress could create a mechanism that works like this: if no spending bill is passed, a CR will automatically kick in and fund the government at its previous levels. This CR would be superseded immediately by any funding bill that Congress passes.

Any funding bill that Congress passes would supersede this CR. This would prevent government shutdowns from happening entirely. It would insulate federal workers – and the public – from the fallout of petty political fights and guarantee that federal agencies could

count on funding. We wouldn’t have to worry about shutdowns anymore, and the politicians would get to argue as much as they want.

Everyone wins.

3. Hold your elected officials accountable for shutdowns.

Both of the measures listed above require Congress to pass legislation, something they are not always great at doing. But Congress is an elected body, which means that they are held accountable to us, the voters. If your representative can’t even keep the government running – the bare minimum that we ask of our legislators – then he or she should not be able to keep his or her job.

If we want the government to stop shutting down, we should elect people who promise to keep it operational – and vote out those who don’t. In 2013, Republicans in Congress triggered one of the longest government shutdowns in history at 16 days. Yet the next year, in the 2014 midterms, they picked up 13 seats in the House and nine in the Senate. This is unconscionable. A party should not shut down the government and then be rewarded for it. We, the voters, have to change their incentive structure.

If we don’t, then this shutdown will surely not be our last.

Sean Franklin, FCRH ’21, is an urban studies major from Alexandria, Virginia.

President Trump Did Not Cave on the Border Wall

COURTESY OF FLICKR

President Donald Trump will get funding for his border wall, even if it means declaring a national emergency.

By BRIANNA LYMAN

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The longest government shutdown in U.S. history ended on Jan. 25, with President Trump signing a bill to reopen the government for three weeks.

Democrats, and even some Republicans, have called Trump’s decision to reopen the government a concession of sorts.

Cries that President Trump caved under pressure from Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer echoed throughout major media outlets.

Make no mistake, President Trump will get that wall.

This potentially temporary, three week reopening of the government is a negotiation tactic.

Democrats and Republicans have three weeks to work together, across the aisle, to take a step in the right direction towards curbing the situation on our southern border. If Democrats continue to vehemently refuse to concede to the growing demand amongst Americans and border patrol agents for strong border security, then Democrats will see one of two things.

The government will shut down yet again, or President Trump will declare a national emergency.

If the government shuts down again, Democrats will be to blame.

Three weeks allots ample time for Democrats to begin talks of funding the border wall or to work on a solution that puts border security at the forefront. This solution should keep

the interests of Americans, not illegal immigrants, in prime focus.

By reopening the government, President Trump is putting Americans first and giving our representatives another chance to put America first. If Democrats choose to ignore the growing concerns over border security, they will feel it in 2020.

If President Trump chooses the latter and declares a national emergency, he once again has the upper hand.

Put simply, he gave the government three weeks’ time to propose a bill that would work towards securing our border. If it can’t do its job, he will take matters into his own hands. President Trump is a businessman; when he wants the job done, he gets the job done.

President Trump previously offered

Democrats a deal in which Dreamers brought to the United States illegally as children would be given citizenship in exchange for funding for the border wall. Democrats, however, naively turned it down. Now, President Trump says that he would reject a similar proposal, noting, that “that’s a separate subject to be taken at a separate time.”

Again, this is all part of his negotiations. This is an all-or-nothing deal at this point. The Democrats’ attempt at business negotiation is just a temporary, three-week “success.”

If the president chooses to declare a national emergency, there have been reports that he has already drafted a document which expands his original demand of $5 billion to $7 billion. If Democrats thought they were beating Trump at his own game, they will be sadly mistaken.

Not only could President Trump now get his wall, but he could potentially be getting it with an extra $2 billion. I say potentially because there are legal challenges as to whether or the president has the authority to free up funds to use for border security. If there are challenges, it could hinder any progress on not only the wall, but on the upcoming election season.

Regardless, President Trump’s decision to re-open the government temporarily was the right one. He is ridiculed for “caving” and reopening the government by the very same

people who berated him for keeping the government closed for so long.

In the event of another shutdown, President Trump will again be criticized, and the shutdown will cause hundreds of thousands of federal workers to work without pay.

However, if Americans choose to ignore President Trump’s attempts to reach a deal regarding border security, then Democrats should bear the burden of these attacks.

The president surely does not want to see our federal employees go without pay. He understands that time is money, and he knows families need to be fed and rents need to be paid.

For a man who donates portions of his paycheck to various charities, the media and Democrats have no problem trying to guilt him over postponed federal paychecks while they still collect theirs.

Every single American deserves to live in a nation that enforces its laws equally. They deserve a nation where people who break the law are held accountable and where our politicians are dedicated to enforcing our laws.

Every single American deserves to live in a nation that is secure.

Every single American has a president fighting for them.

Brianna Lyman, FCRH ’20, is an international political economy major from Dobbs Ferry, New York.

OPINION

February 6, 2019

Page 9

Presidential Campaigns Should Be Shorter

By EDWARD SHEEHAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

These presidential campaigns get longer every time, I swear.

In 2012, the campaign kicked off sometime in midsummer. In 2016, most of the candidates had entered by the beginning of May (although, interestingly enough, Donald Trump started his campaign in midsummer, the last to enter).

Now it’s January and close to half a dozen Democrats have entered or are making moves towards doing so. A child who

hasn’t even been born yet will be walking and talking on Election Day 2020. However, we must still endure this insufferable nonsense.

If the current field of candidates was the extent of the Democratic bench, then we might as well just toss it to “The Donald.”

Rep. John Delaney and Former HUD Secretary Julian Castro are nobodies. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has little name recognition and has taken positions on gay rights beyond the pale to the Democratic base unless your name is Hillary Clinton. Sen. Cory Book-

er is an uninspiring orator with enough corporate ties to make Boss Tweed gag. The most impressive of the lot is Kamala Harris, but she has some real weaknesses.

First off, she was California’s Attorney General. That means every rival candidate (almost all of whom didn’t seem to care about police brutality until a couple years ago) can blame her for the actions of any psychotic, Alabama-imported cop, crooked DA and mismanaged prison from Bakersfield to Redding.

The fact is, as far as I can see

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Kamala Harris, along with other presidential candidates, should reconsider starting their campaigns so far out from 2020.

it, there are four candidates with even the slightest prayer of winning this primary.

The first is Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has name recognition and a rabid core of support.

The second is Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has most of Sanders’ strengths and few of his weaknesses, but will likely face fire from both the centrists and the outright socialists in the party.

The third is Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who I think is a dark horse with the right flank of the party.

The fourth, and most horrifying of the lot, is a Hillary Clinton retirement tour.

Its fueled by spite, delusional self-regard, the same kind of insipid advisors who gave us her campaign debacles in 2008 and 2016 and a shrinking but still fanatically loyal base of personal support. Even contemplating such an idea is nightmarish on so many levels.

But what could better capture our nation’s late Soviet state of affairs than those two most doddering, senile old commissars, Clinton and Trump, taking one more tilt at each other for power?

Even though the real campaign hasn’t even started yet, the media profits off of cheap clicks and horse-race coverages, so here we all go. The campaign trail 2020 begins. I just feel beat about it all.

Is this the fate of great civilizations? Must all great republics devolve into sad, spectacle-leaden oligarchies?

I figured our boundless natural resources would give us the edge over the Dutch or Venetians, but here we are. And does my party, the party of William Jennings Bryan and FDR and JFK, the party that built an era of prosperity unprecedented in American History, have nothing better to offer than this mob of mendacious mediocrity (and Elizabeth Warren)?

Anyway, all I can do is implore you to ignore this most boring of reality shows until October.

Don’t attend campaign events or click on articles about it.

When the news switches to the election, put something else on. I’m not saying you shouldn’t be politically engaged, but you definitely shouldn’t put all your money on the presidential horse race.

Maybe if we starve out the media circus, we can finally escape the mental smog of these increasingly endless elections. However, I know the world we live in, so I really think Logan Paul’s 2028 campaign is looking formidable.

Good luck to the candidates, and God help the rest of us.

Edward Sheehan, FCRH ’22, is a history major from Needham, Massachusetts.

After Nearly Two Decades, It’s Time to Leave Afghanistan

By DANE SALMON

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Peace talks with the Taliban terrorist organization were recently initiated by the United States in Doha, Qatar. The goal is to broker a ceasefire between American troops in Afghanistan and the Taliban, and eventually between the Afghan government itself and the Taliban.

While these talks are certainly a significant step in the the right direction, the negotiations have reached a tough point: the Taliban will not commit to a ceasefire unless the United States agrees to a full withdrawal of troops, while the U.S. wants a withdrawal to be conditional on the ceasefire holding.

There are valid fears about a total and sudden withdrawal of troops. A total withdrawal is nothing to be feared and should be wished for, but the speed at which it takes place is crucial.

The last time the U.S. withdrew from a place troops were deployed in the Middle East was Iraq, and the power vacuum created by the lack of American presence led to the establishment of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria/the Levant.

Thinking we had eradicated — or at least diminished the power

of — non-state actors in Iraq, we foolishly up and left.

I will never say this was the wrong decision. Ultimately, the War in Iraq was a waste of American tax dollars, resources and lives.

Conflicts such as those in Iraq and Afghanistan hold little value to us besides attempting to enforce peace on a region which has been volatile since the fall of the Ottoman Empire, when the British and French partitioned the Middle East in the Sykes-Picot agreement.

We must withdraw our troops from Afghanistan, but in a wellrehearsed and planned manner.

The goal must be to not create the same kind of power vacuum which led to the Islamic State’s expansion.

We must be deliberate but not slow, and we must leave but not simply run away. The idea behind the current talks is well-advised.

By having a round of negotiation between the United States and the Taliban, we will allow ourselves to determine the terms of our withdrawal, and after a negotiation between the Afghan government and the Taliban would allow the sovereign state the ability to do what it sees fit with the terrorist organizations occupying parts of their territory.

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Rather than continue fighting in the war in Afghanistan, President Trump should consider pulling the troops out.

Provided that all goes well, this is what we need.

But what about the hardline stance taken by so many in our government that we never negotiate with terrorists in fear of legitimizing them? To them, I say that the best way to get our boys back home is the way we should take.

The time of throwing wave after wave of American troops at rocky peaks in a far-off land needs to end.

We must cease feeding the military-industrial complex its tithe of corpses. Over 2,370 dead and

20,320 wounded Americans is enough.

Some may say these casualty numbers are peanuts compared to other wars, but why should they happen in the first place?

This is no grand crusade against evil as in the Second World War, a struggle for the rights of man as in the Civil War nor the birth pangs of a great nation as in the Revolution.

We are on a misguided, vaguely-defined, profit-driven mission into barren corners of the earth with no end in sight.

The Greatest Generation had

the glory of vanquishing the greatest evil the world has ever known, our great-great-great grandfathers broke millions free of the shackles of slavery, and the Founding Fathers, with their army of farmers, sent the most powerful empire the world had ever known running.

Yet what do we have? Blood on the sand and a deteriorating situation in the region. Bring our boys home. It’s time.

Dane Salmon, FCRH ’21, is an economics and philosophy major from Coppell, Texas.

OPINION

Page 10

R

Serving the Fordham University campus and community since 1918 The Fordham Ram is 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 Aislinn Keely Managing Editor Hannah Gonzalez Business Director Donald Dugan Operations Director Briana Scalia Editorial Director Lindsay Grippo Executive Director Colette Nolan Copy Chief Vanessa DeJesus Maggie Rothfus News Editor Helen Stevenson Projects Editor Erica Scalise Assistant News Editors Eliot Schiaparelli Sarah Huffman Opinion Editors Briana Scalia Collin Bonnell Culture Editors Rachel Gow Kieran Press-Reynolds Sports Editor Jack McLoone Assistant Sports Editors Andrew Posadas Dylan Balsamo Digital Producers Kristen Egan Katherine Morris Photo Editor Julia Comerford Visual Director Bojeung Leung Faculty Advisor Beth Knobel Editorial Page Policy

The Fordham Ram ’s editorial is

selected on a weekly basis and reflects 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 Ramreserves 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 6, 2019

From the Desk | Eliot Schiaparelli

Catholic Schools Need Better Sex Ed As a longtime Catholic school girl, I can attest that many of the stereotypes about private Catholic schools are true. My classmates and I would go without leggings under our skirts in subzero weather, I had at least one teacher who didn’t believe in evolution and we had no sexual education whatsoever.

In the interest of full disclosure, my school was an independent Catholic school that was separated from the archdiocese.

We were co-ed and the only nuns in the building were dead and buried in our chapel. That being said, I took four years of religion classes and went to mass every other week (despite being very Protestant).

When it came to sex ed, what little of it we had was incorporated into religion classes.

Instead of coming from the classroom, the majority of my sex ed came from reading fanfiction, and I’m sure I’m not the only one. Sites like Wattpad and fanfiction.net took characters and celebrities and wrote them into stories of compromising sexual situations. Not everything on those sites is sexual, but a lot of it is.

To outline the sex ed curriculum

at my school will take roughly three sentences. In eighth grade religion class we watched a video about pregnancy, but my teacher let us leave the room if we thought the actual birth part would be too disturbing.

Sophomore year, a different religion teacher did a unit on relationships.

She focused entirely on heterosexual relationships and abstinence.

During the exact class where she talked about love and marriage, she drew a line down the middle of the board and had girls write ideal male traits on one side and boys write ideal female traits on the other. LGBTQ friends later told me how difficult it was to express their ideas in this environment.

A close friend who went to an allgirls Catholic school tells an even more ridiculous story about her sex ed. They had an assembly where police officers talked about sexual assault before the school’s prom. The officer referenced digital penetration, and my friend and her classmates were confused.

The officer then held up a hand and said “ladies, these are your digits,” pointing to her fingers. Beyond abstinence on sex ed that equated

all men to Ted Bundy, this assembly was extent of their education.

Luckily for me, my parents were always open with us in questions surrounding sex. For example, when I was three years old and asked where my younger brother came from, they told me. Many other families are not as candid as mine, so it falls to schools to fill in these gaps.

An article from The Atlantic talks about this phenomenon. The author wrote, “In my interviews with young women, I heard too many iterations to count of ‘he did something I didn’t like that I later learned is a staple in porn,’ choking being one widely cited example.”

A study of sex ed in 48 U.S. states by the National Institute of Health (NIH) indicated that abstinence education does not cause abstinent behavior. States the emphasized abstinence-only sex ed averaged roughly 73 teenage pregnancies per 1,000 women, while states that included abstinence in comprehensive sex ed averaged only 56 pregnancies per 1,000 women.

A 2017 CDC study of high school students showed that among those who had engaged in sexual activities

in the past three months 46 percent did not use a condom.

Even Pope Francis spoke on sex ed.

“I believe that we must provide sex education in schools,” Pope Francis responded to a question on the subject from a reporter. “Sex is a gift from God, it is not a monster, it is a gift from God, in order to love.”

To reiterate, I am extremely grateful for the Catholic school education that I received and I think I turned out okay, but I wish Catholic schools would make it easier for their students to understand sex and how to do it safely and enjoyably.

Editorial | Commuting

Accommodate Commuters Amidst the polar vortex this past week, many Fordham students found themselves hesitant to leave their homes. Temperatures reached as low as 2 degrees, and a squall came and went faster than anyone could say “Wear gloves!”

The trek to Faculty Memorial Hall or Keating Hall seemed daunting in such extreme temperatures. Many commuting students and professors chose not to make the dangerous trip entirely.

A student even started an online petition late Wednesday night in hopes of convincing the administration to cancel all Thursday classes.

Fordham did not cancel classes, though the petition did garner 3,000 signatures by the end of the night.

However, the circumstances got the Editorial Board of The Ram thinking about those who suffer most from inconveniences such as the ones posed by our recent inclement weather.

Commuters are an integral part of the Fordham community. They make up almost a quarter of the undergraduate population.

Yet many face obstacles during their time at Fordham. Commuting students should not have to bend over backwards for the same opportunities to thrive that resident students are afforded.

Though surely signed by some students looking for much-needed downtime, the petition to cancel classes was created with the aim of protecting commuters’ safety.

“It’s going to be very cold tomorrow, making it difficult and unsafe for commuting students and commuting professors to make it to class,” read the opening line.

Commuting students who drive to campus faced icy roads and potential car malfunctions. Students who opt for the train or bus faced brutally cold waits at stations and potential transit delays.

Many were forced to make the diffi-

cult decision of prioritizing their safety over attendance to courses they pay a great deal of money to attend.

Bad weather is not the only issue commuters experience on a regular basis.

Those who drive to campus have difficulty finding spots in the parking garage, as they share the limited space with university employees, professors, prospective students and the like.

After students make their way to campus, there are not many spaces for commuting students to kill time before, between or after their classes.

When the weather is beautiful and mild, there are ample outdoor areas around Fordham in which to spend time and do work.

When it is frigid, snowy, windy, rainy or sweltering, commuting students looking for a place to spend time are confined to certain spaces that often prove to be insufficient.

The commuter lounge in the basement of McGinley is one such place.

Here, students can find seating, tables, a television, a pool table, some antiquated desktop computers and some printers that do not always work properly.

The commuter lounge is a great space for students to relax, hang out and meet other commuters – when it is not overly crowded or overly noisy, and if one does not mind the perpetual lack of natural light.

Other areas available for commuters to spend time in are either haphazardly dispersed or disproportionately subterranean.

Students can pass time in Starbucks, Dagger Johns or the caf, as long as these places are open and there is available seating.

Students can head to the lounge spaces in Keating Basement – again, underground – or McGinely Second, as long as they do not mind the unpredictable nature of both areas’ seating availability and noise-level.

It is extremely difficult for students

to be productive during their minimal downtime when the only available spaces are inconvenient or unconducive for productivity.

While the commuter lounge is useful for socializing, commuting students lack a relaxed but quiet study lounge that is less formal than the library and more comfortable than a wooden pew.

The commuter lounge is currently under construction until Feb. 8.

Though the inconvenience will displace many students for the time being, the renovation is a much-needed and appreciated aesthetic improvement.

The university does provide some resources for commuting students.

However, these resources just slightly miss the mark.

Commuter Student Services (CSS) sponsors a weekly breakfast in the lounge on Monday mornings meant to connect commuting students and offer them the chance to start the day with a full meal. However, food tends to run out quickly, and enthusiasm for the event goes with it.

The Commuting Students Association (CSA) hosts a yearly town-hall discussion during which the group listens to commuting students’ feedback and attempts to work out solutions.

These town halls are valuable opportunities for commuting students’ voices to be heard and real progress to be made. However, the event garners little student involvement due to its lack of momentum and inconvenient timing.

However, last year’s town hall began at 6:00 p.m. It is difficult for efficient and longstanding progress to be made with such an infrequent forum held at such an unsuitable time for students attempting to avoid rush-hour traffic or traveling after dark.

Commuting students also have difficulty participating in some clubs because of similar time conflicts. Even The Ram does not offer the most

conducive structure for commuting students.

Our production schedule requires that students work late into the night on Tuesdays. While commuters might be able to write or copy edit, it is difficult for these students to commit to the full-time responsibility of joining our staff.

However, we have been taking and will continue to take steps towards being more accessible and accommodating for commuting students.

Our staff currently consists of three commuters, of 22 students in total.

We recognize that this number is not at all high enough.

However, The Ram hopes to continue to make progress in providing an environment in which commuting students can thrive as unimpededly as their resident peers. We hope other clubs are taking these steps as well.

Fordham should make more practical lounge spaces available on campus.

The university should designate a commuter-only level of the parking garage and have Ram Van shuttle service run to the 4 train as it does for the D train.

CSS should receive more encouragement and funds from the university to better plan its programs. Fordham should allocate more resources and guidance to CSA so it can offer commuters more frequent and more aptly timed town halls.

On-campus clubs should aim to meet primarily during the activity periods that are intentionally left open for student activities.

All students deserve to make their mark on campus. All students deserve to have their presences known and voices heard.

All students deserve to feel like Fordham is their home, whether they sleep here or not.

The Fordham community should make it a priority that all commuting students truly feel a part of the community to which they add such value.

OPINION

February 6, 2019

The Sleep of Reason: The End of Hampshire College

By COLLIN BONNELL OPINION EDITOR

This past Friday the board of Hampshire College, the famous alternative college whose alumni include Ken Burns and Jon Krakauer, voted to limit their incoming freshman class to just 77 students.

The decision came amidst a time of economic hardship for the small liberal arts college, which has a meager $54 million endowment and relies on tuition for 87 percent of its funding.

Dr. Miriam Nelson, the president of Hampshire College, recently estimated that Hampshire would have to set aside $168 million in order to enroll another full freshman class, yet has an operating budget of only $42 million.

It is likely that the same experimental structure for which Hampshire is famous exacerbated its current crisis. Hampshire has long been famed for its alternative curriculum, in which there are no grades or majors, but rather one’s ability to graduate is determined by the completion of six projects throughout his or her college career.

While this experimental model has been criticized as “impractical,” it has allowed artistic and independent minds to flourish. Hampshire can boast that two-thirds of its alumni seek degrees after graduation, and a quarter become entrepreneurs. For comparison, less than 20 percent of Fordham alumni decide to enter graduate school.

Despite this high standard of student outcomes, Hampshire’s focus on the liberal arts and humanities contradicts recent trends among college students, who are increasingly majoring in what are perceived to be more profitable fields, such as business and medicine.

These trends mean that fields like teaching — a common path for Hampshire alumni — have shrunk from constituting 22 percent of college graduates in 1970, the year Hampshire was founded, to only 6 percent in 2011. Hampshire’s finan-

COURTESY OF FACEBOOK

The closure of small institutions of higher education such as Hampshire College symbolizes a shift in American education.

cial difficulties are not isolated, however, and mirror nationwide trends within higher education.

This past August, a Harvard business professor raised concerns when he predicted that half of American colleges and universities will go bankrupt in the next 10 to 15 years. His projection echoed a previous forecast by the U.S. Department of Education and Moody’s Investors Service that closure rates for small American colleges and universities will triple and mergers will double in the near future.

While these rates have been inflated by the collapse of for-profit institutions of higher education across the United States, they also reflect the collapse of small liberal arts colleges such as Hampshire.

In response to pleas from alumni that the landmark experimental college should not shut its doors, Hampshire has pledged that it will avoid a full closure by seeking a “strategic partner” with another member of the Amherst area’s “Five College Consortium,” with the most likely candidate being the University Massachusetts Amherst.

UMass Amherst has been seeking to expand across Massachusetts, and drew attention last year when it purchased the campus of Mount Ida College in Newton, MA, for $75 million after that college abruptly closed this past May.

During the process, the administrations of both schools were criticized for providing Mount Ida’s student body with inadequate warning of the closure and not providing them any reasonable path to complete their education.

This controversy escalated in November, when disgruntled former students filed a class-action lawsuit against Mount Ida and its former administration, accusing them of committing fraud, misrepresenting their student body and violating the privacy of their students by illegally providing UMass with personal information.

While these charges should raise eyebrows about the handling of Mount Ida’s closure, they also raise concerns regarding the honesty of UMass Amherst’s administration and the morality of their expansion.

One of the central questions regarding the potential merger between Hampshire College and UMass Amherst concerns whether Hampshire’s alternative model of education — which is unique to the college and has been cited as the source of the success of Hampshire’s alumni — could be continued after a merger.

While Ed Blaguszewski, a spokesman for UMass, has pitched the prospect of a closer relationship between UMass and Hampshire as a simple “deeper collaboration” in which Hampshire may remain nominally

independent, it seems unlikely that any relationship between Hampshire, which has a student body of only 1,175, and UMass Amherst, which has nearly 22,000 students, could be anything close to equitable.

Indeed, Dr. Nelson recently conceded that — in the case that Hampshire is able to find a suitable “strategic partner” to rescue it financially — it will likely abandon its selfdirected structure and possibly its alternative curriculum. It has also been predicted that about 30 to 50 percent of Hampshire’s faculty will be laid off.

Regardless of how Hampshire emerges from this crisis, the collapse of the pioneering institution is deeply troubling.

Since the Great Recession, young people have been increasingly strained by the economy and have been forced to make hard choices in regards to their future.

Economic hardships have led some to argue that obtaining a college education is no longer a financially wise decision, and some have gone so far as to argue that college is a “waste of time” and that it is wiser to go immediately into the labor force or enter trade school. Despite their brutal honesty, these arguments miss the true point and beauty of a higher education.

The error which has caused the decline of liberal arts and avant garde institutions such as Hampshire is our

Have any thoughts?

Send your ideas to fordhamramopinions@gmail.com

Page 11

assumption that a college degree is an investment.

Our belief that college students are paying tens of thousands of dollars which they do not have now in order that they may receive hundreds of thousands of dollars in the future. But the hope of future financial return is not the reason why we ought to pursue a higher education.

We ought to pursue a higher education so that we may develop an understanding of the human experience. So that we can learn to fully appreciate our world and everything in it. So that we may understand what it means to live — and not merely be alive.

To suggest that the value of a university education in the liberal arts can be reduced to an economic investment reduces knowledge to a commodity and constitutes hubris.

The value of institutions such as Hampshire is their knowledge of this truth. These institutions are important because they appreciate the fact that a university is not analogous to a job training program.

They understand that a liberal arts education does not simply improve our adult lives but rather is what makes them worth living. They embrace the sheer impracticality of a university education rather than lament it.

While politicians, demographers and economists often decry the “loss” of American economic dominance to other countries and blame this on our “impractical” education system, they miss the point. America has never been an empirically-minded nation.

We are not scientists, engineers or mathematicians. We are artists.

America’s greatest export is our ideas, and these ideas cannot be produced through the objectified education systems which education reformers so often cite. Our greatest strength is and has always been our imagination and independent thought.

Collin Bonnell, FCRH ’21, is a history and theology major from Hingham, Massachusetts.

FORDHAM LOOKS FORWARD

Page 12

February 6, 2019

OMA Collaborates on Diverse Programming

By HANNAH GONZALEZ MANAGING EDITOR

In this week’s Fordham Looks Forward, Juan Carlos Matos, assistant vice president for Student Affairs for Diversity and Inclusion, sat down to discuss his hopes for the future of diverse programming on campus. The Office of Multicultural Affairs (OMA), helmed by Matos, will be looking to collaborate with clubs and departments across the university in order to create an inclusive environment for all.

Hannah Gonzalez: So, to start, what are you looking forward to in the next couple of months?

Juan Matos: So, in the Office of Multicultural Affairs, I’m really excited for a lot of things that are very new for the office this year, and for us to continue building on our foundational programming.

In terms of this month, we’re celebrating Black History Month.

Our Racial Solidarity Network is running this month as well.

This will be the second spring semester that the program is being launched, so that program is very young. We intentionally placed it within Black History Month knowing that some of those conversations about race, ethnicity and inclusion fit very well within the month of February. Then, we have a slew of different speakers that are going to be coming to campus, a number of collaborations with the Chief Diversity Officer and all things that they’re doing on the academic side. So we’re really trying to have a number of different programs that are happening on campus. I think it’s a lot more coordinated than it had been in previous years, and I think some of that is attributed to the Office of Multicultural Affairs being the club adviser for the Black Student Alliance at Lincoln Center and for ASILI at Rose Hill. This is the first year that we’ve been advisors to the club.

I think it’s allowed us, the department, to align programming with what the clubs are doing.

Then, we’re really jumping into cultural programming throughout the rest of this semester and prepping for the fall.

For Women’s History Month in March, we have a committee of students working to put programming together. We’re going be having a Women at Fordham luncheon at Rose Hill for the second year, and then doing it at Lincoln Center for the first year.

We’re putting together a student group to help plan for AsianAmerican Pacific Islander Heritage Month in April.

In collaboration with the office of the Chief Diversity Officer, we’ll be planning a universitywide cultural heritage programming committee that’s going to involve some faculty, some staff and some students, which will help us as we tackle some largerscale university programs.

So those are some of the things that I’m excited about. Collaborating across the university: with student clubs, the Chief Diversity Officer, the Center for Community-Engaged Learning and hopefully Campus Ministry as well on a number of different things.

I’m very excited about that—

especially that an office like ours is able to collaborate across the university. Sometimes the worst thing to hear is when someone says, “I wish we would do X on campus,” even though we already do that. People aren’t saying that in a malicious way. Fordham is a very large, complex place, so if you’re not directly connected to a particular department or a particular student club it can be very difficult to know what’s happening. So I think collaboration will help bring visibility to things that the office is doing things that clubs are doing.

And I think all of those things help lead to a stronger community and a stronger culture. It’s not just about one event that happened. It’s really about creating an environment that then leads to a more inclusive and welcoming place for students, for faculty, for staff, so that you feel like you can see yourself represented in the things that are going on at the university, it will hopefully lead to other changes. My hope is

that it is in recruitment of more diverse students, the retention of more diverse students and then ultimately graduation of diverse student groups. I think that that’s what’s most important in creating an environment where people can feel included.

HG: It sounds like there’s a lot of collaboration going on, which is really exciting. In building toward the future through these collaborations, where do you see it all going? Maybe a year, five years down the road, what’s your vision for the program?

JM: One of the biggest things is that, although heritage programming is happening, we want people in the community to recognize that heritage month is not the only time programming is going to happen based off of that identity or culture. So, if we’re planning for Latinx Heritage Month between September and October, that’s not the only time we’re having conversations about Latinx identity. But I think we’ll be building upon these anchors

in such a way that when these celebrations are happening on campus, you feel it.

I want the community to feel like we’re celebrating these cultures during these months, whether that’s through the website, through e-mails that go out to the community or through Fordham News helping to cover some of these events. I know it’s kind of an abstract thing to say, but I want people to feel it. I want people to feel like their identity being recognized and celebrated through these anchors.

I’m also excited that we’re working on these programs and initiatives alongside other areas of the university. These events aren’t just one-off things that are happening. We’re building them into the fabric of the community.

I almost envision it as a t-shirt quilt. We started off with one tshirt and now different people are starting to bring their own tshirts. We’re adding to the quilt for the Fordham community. It’s not like, “Oh, well, here’s this

one thing on the side that’s for diverse students.” We want all of this to be a part of the experience for everybody. And I think that’s what I’m excited about in the next coming days.

HG: That sounds great. Is there anything else you’d like to plug that’s going to be happening in the next few weeks?

JM: The biggest thing is to look out on social media, @fordhamoma on Instagram and Twitter. There’s a number of speakers and events we’re going to be having, and those are the best places to get up-to-date information.

The other thing is that folks can reach out to us if there’s something that they would like to see happen on campus. That’s the beauty of collaboration. Yes, our office has some signature programs, but there’s a lot of room for us to pull in new programs that people want to see or do.

The department has the opportunity to really be nimble with the initiatives that we tackle for the university.

COURTESY OF OMA

Between September and October of last year, OMA facilitated programming in honor of National Latinx Heritage Month, including speakers and musicians.

COURTESY OF OMA

Student-run cultural clubs partnered with OMA to organize an Asian-Pacific Mixer in honor of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month last April.

February 6, 2019

FORDHAM LOOKS FORWARD

Page 13

COURTESY OF OMA

Members of the Office of Multicultural Affairs invited female speakers to share from their experiences at last spring’s Women at Fordham Luncheon. This year the event will come to Lincoln Center.

COURTESY OF OMA

ASILI, one of the student-run clubs which OMA advises, organized the second annual Being Black at Fordham panel to bring an awareness of their experiences as a minority in the larger Fordham community.

COURTESY OF OMA

In honor of Native American Heritage Month last semester, OMA facilitated a Native American Festival in celebration of the vibrant indigenous culture.

COURTESY OF OMA

In collaboration with OMA, members of Fordham’s PRIDE Alliance celebrated LGBTQ+ History Month last semester. Their Flags-on-the-Lawn gave students the opportunity to personalize their own flags.

OPINION

Page 14

February 6, 2019

U.S. Must Keep Its Hands Off of Venezuela

COURTESY OF FLICKR

The United States needs to realize that removing President Maduro from power will only lead to chaos in Venezuela.

By JACK McCLATCHY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The recent crisis in Venezuela ignited another frenzy of jingoism to curry favor for an intervention in deposing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and elevating National Assembly Leader Juan Guaidó to power.

The question here is not whether Maduro or Guaidó is the legitimate leader of Venezuela, it’s whether or not the Venezuelan people will be in a better situation when American interests are inevitably drawn elsewhere.

If we look to the history of the United States meddling in the affairs of other nations, especially in Latin America, the chances don’t look good.

Just in the past 50 years, the United States supported authoritar-

ians that overthrew democratically elected governments in Brazil, Chile and Bolivia, as well as intelligence sharing between dictatorships in programs of brutal political repression known as “Operation Condor.”

However, Latin America alone is not the only evidence of a damning record on regime change. Since the turn of the century, we have engaged in regime change in Iraq, Libya and Afghanistan. We have also supported the ouster of the leaders of Syria and Egypt, neither of which are functional democracies right now.

There is also the fact that the U.S. is not driven by any real sense of benevolence or wanting to “spread democracy” to Venezuela.

We need only to look at a Jan. 24 tweet from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL): “Biggest buyers of Venezuelan oil are @ValeroEnergy & @Chevron Refining heavy crude

from #Venezuela supports great jobs in Gulf Coast. For the sake of these U.S. workers I hope they will begin working with administration of President Guaido & cut off illegitimate Maduro regime.”

It would be unfair to say that Venezuelan oil reserves are a main motivator for U.S. interests in the region just because one Republican senator said so.

But that’s not what’s going on.

Trump’s National Security Advisor John Bolton — who was seen recently with a notepad suggesting a plan to send five thousand American troops to neighboring Colombia — said that there is interest in Venezuelan oil reserves.

If the end result sought by the Trump administration is having American oil companies take Venezuelan oil, then it doesn’t matter if Guaidó is any more democratically

inclined than Maduro as long as his interests coincide with America’s oil interests.

We must also remember that in his presidential campaign, Trump ran on a non-interventionist platform calling for withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan.

He has also announced a withdrawal of American troops from Syria, which in principle is the right move to make. To then let John Bolton and Marco Rubio decide foreign policy with military adventurism in Latin America, we will come to regret becoming involved in this crisis.

That doesn’t mean we should bide our time either. In the wake of Guiadó proclaiming himself interim president, Mexico and Uruguay called for an international conference to mediate negotiations between Maduro and Guaidó, which will be held in Montevideo on Feb. 7.

There needs to be a peaceful and diplomatic solution to this crisis and it needs to be led by Venezuela.

Any forced regime change with assistance from foreign powers will not be popular among Maduro’s supporters in rural areas of Venezuela, which he noted when he declared that Venezuela could become America’s “second Vietnam.”

It goes without saying that a war of Vietnam’s scale in this political climate would be incredibly toxic for the president and the country as a whole.

What is eerily concerning is just how much politicians on both sides of the aisle are seeking regime change in Venezuela, as if we haven’t learned that does not work. The only political official who has spoken out against U.S. policy in Venezuela is Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), who tweeted that sanctions on Venezuela “are nothing more than economic sabotage designed to force regime change by starving the very people we claim to be helping.”

Regime change never works out in the best interests of the people who actually experience it. We can hurl bombs and missiles, kill a few key officials and then ride off into the sunset claiming another victory for Western liberal democracy. But what we leave behind is a nation in ruins that easily falls under the control of authoritarians or collapse into civil war, as we have seen in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

One would think this nation could learn from our mistakes and shift strategy to better help the people who we claim to be helping. When I see Bush and Reagan administration officials leading the charge in policy making with regards to Venezuela, I fear that conditions in Venezuela will get a whole lot worse before there is a possibility of them getting better.

Jack McClatchy, FCRH ’21, is a political science major from Wayne, Pennsylvania.

U.S. Should Restore Venezuelan Democracy

By TIMOTHY KYLE STAFF WRITER

Human trafficking. Narco-terrorism. A refugee crisis unlike any seen in the Western Hemisphere before.

These are just some of the consequences that could ensue should the collapse of Venezuela be allowed to continue without U.S. intervention.

As the oil-rich socialist paradise rapidly begins to destabilize, all options must be on the table to prevent a humanitarian disaster of catastrophic proportions and to bar countries like Russia and China from creating a puppet state in the western hemisphere. Increased sanctions, diplomatic pressure and even military action should all be considered carefully as methods to remove President Nicolás Maduro.

Before addressing solutions, it is important to understand how what was once the wealthiest nation in

South America reached such a critical point.

The Venezuelan crisis and the immense suffering of the Venezuelan people are rooted in the disastrous socialist economic policies of Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, called “Chavismo.”

Chavismo is a particularly aggressive form of left-wing populist nationalism, calling for a completely centralized economy, price control and abolition of private ownership of business.

Venezuela’s woes started in 2005, when the government nationalized all of the country’s oil concerns. Venezuela sits atop the world’s largest proven oil reserves, and the extremely high price of oil helped pay for the social policies espoused by the socialist movement.

However, even while oil prices were high, Venezuela faced financial disaster. When the bottom dropped

out of the oil market, the Venezuelan government finally had a reckoning with the results of its policies. In an attempt to pay their enormous debt, the government printed more currency, causing Venezuela’s inflation rate to rise to over 30,000 percent.

You read that right: 30,000 percent. As supplies of basic goods like toilet paper began to run out and money became worthless, unrest increased, leading to mass protests and riots. In response, the Maduro government tightened its fist, relying on police and military support.

Most western nations and Venezuela’s neighbors have recognized Guiadó as the legitimate president.

Only a few fellow authoritarian states have continued to support Maduro: Russia, China, Iran, Turkey and a few others. It is imperative that the United States acts quickly in concert with our allies and regional partners to solve the crisis.

COURTESY OF FLICKR

The United States should intervene to ensure that Juan Guaidó, Venezuela’s legitimate leader, gains control of the country.

The first option is expanding the current sanctions on key Maduro administration officials and those accused of human rights abuses or corruption. This would involve recruitng our allies who recognize Guiado as president but haven’t yet applied sanctions to Maduro’s administration to participate would increase the effectiveness of this strategy.

Harsher sanctions should be imposed on those who have already been targeted. Sanctioning generals and other military leaders might increase pressure on the military, which remains solidly pro-Maduro, and perhaps incite defections or even a coup.

However, the U.S. should not issue an embargo on Venezuelan oil. This will only increase the suffering of the Venezuelan people and perhaps unite them against the West. Sanctions, and sanctions alone, should be the United States’ first line of attack against Maduro.

The second option is diplomatic pressure in the UN and elsewhere.

However, given the diplomatic clout of Maduro allies like Russia and China, this is the option with the highest chance of failure, at least on its own.

It is unlikely that Maduro will cave to international pressure with such strong supporters.

Negotiations are doomed to fail if Maduro feels that he has an advantage – and as of right now he does, with the loyalty of the military and the funds and troops his international allies are willing to provide.

The final option is military intervention. This is, of course, the most extreme option and should only be used if the crisis worsens significantly or if Maduro’s international allies

show more than just an indication that they will materially and militarily support his dictatorial regime.

In a region with a troubled history of U.S. intervention, any military action would require precision, a clear goal and, more importantly, international support and cooperation.

Above all, it is important the U.S. leaves quickly and cleanly, and leaves the Venezuelan people be. The U.S. cannot and should not get bogged down in peacekeeping and nationbuilding, and we don’t have to — we’ve successfully implemented this same strategy before with the toppling of the Noriega narco-state in 1989.

In the same vein, any military intervention would be for the express purpose of removing Maduro from power and allowing Venezuela to hold the elections Guiadó has promised, should he become president.

As the crisis deepens and continues to become more and more international, it is important for U.S. policymakers to keep their options open. Though purely economic action — on regime officials only — is preferable, military intervention by a coalition of allies in order to remove Maduro and restore stability to Venezuela should also remain an option.

Either way, the U.S. must take action quickly, as the collapse of Venezuela could not only trigger a humanitarian disaster, but also a power vacuum that would allow enemies of the United States to establish a foothold in the Western Hemisphere.

Timothy Kyle, FCRH ’21, is a political science major from West Hartford, Connecticut.

CULTURE

February 6, 2019

Fashion Column | Isiah Magsino

Winning in Fashion and Football

Do I like football? Can’t say I do.

However, I somehow find myself succumbing to the three-hour event that is the Super Bowl every year. I’m not so far above football to pass up on watching a game with friends, drinks and unhealthy food.

This year, while watching the Los Angeles Rams and New England Patriots chuck a piece of cowhide back and forth, I couldn't help but notice how bad the Rams’ new uniforms are.

Baby blue and yellow? I didn’t know UCLA was playing. Also, the San Diego Chargers have been sporting this color combination for much more time. With this in mind, I decided to look into other football teams' uniforms and decide which teams made a proper investment in a design team.

NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS I guess this team is supposedly really good. Tom Brady is apparently the “GOAT” (greatest of all time) for being not only incredible at football but also scoring legendary supermodel, Gisele Bundchen as his wife. I follow Gisele on Instagram (of course) and, despite being annoyed seeing posts about Tom Brady on her account, the uniform he wears in these photos isn't too bad.

The navy football leggings (is that the proper term?), white jerseys and red lining throughout the uniform come together really well as to accurately represent their team mascot.

I guess putting together red, white and blue isn’t exactly rocket science, but color placement does matter, and whoever designed the Patriots’ uniforms obviously understands that.

MIAMI DOLPHINS I’m just going to get to the point: The Dolphins’ uniform is straight up disrespectful to the actual dolphin species. Blue and orange is an unflattering color combination and I hope whoever decided to put the two to-

gether isn’t interested in designing anymore.

When I was young, I remember claiming to be a Dolphins fan just to fit in (even though they were terrible at the time), and now I regret it. Merely reminiscing on my bad taste and decision to like this team is embarrassing.

Message to the team: even if you lose, try to look good while doing it.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS Gold clothing is either really nice or really cheap-looking, and yes, I mean that. Unless it’s a Jean Paul Gaultier haute couture gold dress, odds are it doesn’t look good. However, the black and gold combination found on the Saints’ uniform might actually work.

The version of the uniform that I’m considering is the one where black is the primary color. Black is already a slimming color, and the gold works here because it is only added as detail.

It’s solely present on the collar, player number and helmet. Any more and people would start confusing football players with go-go dancers.

CLEVELAND BROWNS All I can say is Happy Halloween!

Orange is not one of my favorite colors to begin with, but putting it together with brown isn’t necessar-

ily bad. However, the combination is forever synonymous with pumpkins, witches and candy corn. How intimidating.

In general brown and orange is not bad as a combination, but brown and orange isn’t very flattering on the field. The contrast between the green field and the uniforms is too much color for the eye, making it excruciating to look at. I don’t know anyone who would wear brown and orange together in a regular ensemble, so why would a team decide that it would be good as a uniform?

In conclusion, some football teams look better than others on the field.

Whether or not you think that a team’s uniform is important, just remember: whether you win or lose, look good doing it.

Major props have to be given out to the New England Patriots. Though I am usually not one to jump onto something that so many people already are fans of, Brady and his crew have proven that you can win in both athleticism and aesthetics.

Despite the sin committed by the Miami Dolphins’ uniform designer, can we also pay attention to how cringe-worthy that halftime show was? Adam Levine’s tattoos can slide in my DMs, but bring Beyoncé back!

COURTESY OF FLICKR

Tom Brady of the Patriots wins his sixth Super Bowl title in style

Page 15

Game Delights, Halftime Disappoints

By RACHEL GOW CULTURE EDITOR

This weekend marked two distinct losses for America: finding out 21 Savage is actually British and the 2019 Super bowl being one of the most boring Bames of all time.

As a New Englander, I sat down to watch the game not questioning which team would prevail but wondering which commercials would elicit the most laughs or political controversy, how Travis Scott and Maroon 5’s music would work together and who in the world Big Boi was. To say the answers to all of these questions were disappointing would be an understatement.

Despite its later failures, Super Bowl LIII began on a positive note, quite literally, with Gladys Knight’s performance of the national anthem.

The so-called “Empress of Soul,” clad in a beautiful white dress, delivered a passionate rendition of the anthem. Knight maintained the integral tradition of the ballad, yet added a nice personal flair.

Unfortunately, her eloquent and spirited showing could not compensate for the lifeless commercials that followed. Many of the ads sought to entice the audience with a star-studded cast, yet failed to utilize these artists and musicians to their full comedic potential.

The Stella Artois commercial, for example, starred Sarah Jessica Parker from “Sex and the City” and Jeff Bridges from “The Big Lebowski.”

The two actors, infamous for their characters’ drink choices, decided to mix it up and order a Stella, to the bars’ lively surprise. The commercial, while mildly clever, failed to elicit any major laughs. Similar was Tony Romo’s Sketchers commercial. The only thing worse than the former

Cowboys quarterback wearing slipon sneakers, was his effort to make them look fashionable.

Added to the list of bad commercials was a vaguely uncomfortable Devour "food porn" ad and Amazon’s “Not Everything Makes the Cut,” which portrayed Alexa infiltrating everything from dog collars to tooth brushes. While the failed prototypes were supposed to be funny, they left me paranoid about technology recording my conversations and the future of Amazon's monopoly.

The Doritos Flamin’ Hot Nachos commercial provided some much needed relief with an original rap from Chance The Rapper and a catchy collaboration with The Backstreet Boys. While I probably won’t buy the chips, “I Want It That Way” is going to be stuck in my head for at least the next week. The best commercial was Pepsi’s, which starred Steve Carrell and Cardi B. Need I say more?

These commercials, while the most creative and entertaining of the bunch, were not successful enough to make up for the array of bad ads and the cringe-fest that was the Super Bowl half-time show. Adam Levine gyrated awkwardly on stage between voice cracks as he donated the majority of his outfit to the audience.

There was some excitement at the prospect of SpongeBob SquarePants’ “Sweet Victory” performance, but this was sadly cut short by Travis Scott’s breathless and un-autotuned rendition of “Sicko Mode.”

Big Boi made a grand entrance to the stage wearing the entire Bronx Zoo as a jacket and side-stepped next to Adam Levine for a couple of minutes. I’m still not really sure who he is.

It’s safe to say New England won the 2019 Super Bowl, and just about everybody else lost.

Dining Hacks: Surviving Plant-Based Diets at Fordham

By ASHLEY BLASI

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Every plant-based fanatic is familiar with the struggle to find food on campus that satisfies the trifecta of being nutritious, delicious and, of course, lacking animal products.

If you’ve ever considered reverting back to your carnivorous ways after taking one look at the picked-over buckets of slop in the vegan section in the caf or after one too many TBMs from Cosi, you’re not alone.

Fear not, veggie munchers, for it is indeed possible to maintain your cruelty-free diets while on campus.

First off, the caf is your playground for creative and yummy plant-based meals. I dove into the caf’s random array of ingredients to craft avocado toast, fresh chickpea scrambles, DIY Chipotle bowls and more. The key is to use all of your resources and be inspired.

For avocado toast, one of my favorite vegetarian or vegan options, simply ask the sandwich station for an avocado and arrange on multigrain bread with desired amounts of salt and pepper. You can keep your toast classic or add some additional ingredients for a heartier

meal. I like to top mine with chickpeas, flax seeds and salsa from the salad bar. If you are an egg eater, topping your avocado toast with fresh scrambled eggs from the omelet station is always a great option as well. You’ll love this low-calorie, plant-based, nutrient-dense and delicious breakfast to start to your day. It also functions as an afternoon or anytime snack.

Another great resource for vegetarians and vegans on campus is the allergen station. Here, they will scramble anything they have in front of them specially for you on request. In my stir-fry, I ask for chickpeas, onions and garlic. This yummy and delicious scramble allows me to avoid the bins of cold beans and is also super-versatile.

You can add your chickpeas to toast or mix them in with quinoa, peppers, onions, tofu or other scavenged ingredients to make a grain bowl.

Veggie burgers from “Under The Hood” are always an option as well.

These are generally not pre-heated or left out, so you will have to ask for one and wait the five to ten minutes it generally takes to grill one up. While this can be frustrating

when you are in a hurry, it does ensure you are getting a hot and freshmade burger. The veggie burgers can be ordered with or without cheese and help satisfy that inevitable fast food craving. Add some fries and you have a meal that might not be the healthiest, but one that is certainly tasty.

While the caf, at first glance, is enough to scare anyone away, plant-based or not, if you get creative and take advantage of its resources, it can potentially be one of the healthiest eateries on campus and one of the only places that offers whole foods that are relatively unprocessed.

Don’t worry, however, if your caf-hating friends want to eat at other places. Urban Kitchen, Cosi and P.O.D have some vegetarian and vegan options as well. Urban Kitchen serves up the beyond burger, a plant-based patty that looks and tastes very similar to meat.

While perhaps more on the processed side, the burger tastes great and is always available.

At Cosi, you can request the adobo chicken bowl without chicken and substitute additional veggies instead. Here, you get protein from

the beans and healthy fat from the avocado, and it’s the closest thing to Chipotle you can buy with DCB. P.O.D can be challenging in terms of plant-based options. However, hummus cups and granola bars can

tide you over in a pinch.

While nowhere on campus is an upscale vegan restaurant in Soho, hacking Fordham dining might just be enough to survive as a healthy and cruelty-free Ram.

HUNTER BENEGAS/ THE FORDHAM, RAM

Get creative in Fordham's cafeteria with options like avocado toast.

CULTURE

Page 16

February 6, 2019

Editor’s Pick | Film

"Breslin and Hamill" Evokes Nostalgia for Old Style Journalism

By AISLINN KEELY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

This week, I found myself on a friend’s couch watching the new HBO documentary “Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists.” HBO documentaries are usually a safe bet for two hours well spent, and I was particularly taken with “Deadline Artists” and the narrative of local New York City journalism it constructed.

Through interviews with seasoned reporters, screenwriters, activists, authors and other New York notables, HBO pulls the viewer down a rabbit hole to a semblance of old New York.

You will find few college degrees in the halls of the New York periodicals at this time. Instead, journalism is a boys' club of working class men with enough romance and anecdotes to fill volumes.

Long before the New York Times became the world’s journal of record and New York journalism became global coverage, HBO shows us what local reporting meant to a community that just happened to be the center of the world.

Through grainy footage of old interviews and careful oration of classic news columns, the documentary tells the story of New York journalism through two of its greats – Pete Hamill and Jimmy Breslin. Both were columnists for local city publications from the '60s through the early 2000s.

The film leans on Breslin as its star,

with Hamill as something of a foil. Breslin’s boorish genius takes the stage.

We see his temper and his wit in footage captured before his death in 2017.

In contrast, the documentary depicts Hamill as a more sensitive, brooding version of the city news man. Both came from relatively poor Irish families, but Hamill is depicted as more encumbered by his past, while Breslin chooses to leave early childhood tragedies of an absent father and troubled mother as hard facts of life not meant to be overanalyzed.

By juxtaposing these two temperaments, the documentary places the two journalistic styles in contrast: Hamill acts as the sensitive poet, while Breslin is the uncouth genius.

But these character studies seem to be tools for the documentarians to examine the greater character – New York City. Through Breslin and Hamill’s columns, we see cycles of the city. We see the assassination of a president, the crime and ensuing pack mentality of the '70s and '80s, the AIDS epidemic, political corruption and organized crime through the colorful and vibrant writing of Breslin and Hamill.

The documentary relies on their columns as much if not more than collected interviews. HBO takes the viewer through the decades of New York City through the lens of Breslin and Hamill’s columns. We hear the city in their voices.

The film also does a good job of acknowledging that there are biases with-

COURTESY OF HBO

The HBO documentry "Breslin and Hamill" tells the story of two famed New York journalists in the '70s and '80s.

in any storytelling. The filmmakers present Hamill and Breslin as men with backgrounds and opinions in order to remind us that, while their columns open a window into the city, we are looking through Breslin and Hamill’s window. It also is clear to paint them as legends in the field, but not heroes.

The film is unafraid to touch on their missteps, arrogance and scandals, from Breslin’s sexist and racist comments to Hamill’s battle with alcoholism. The storytelling allows for them to be men who were imperfect, but still worth a film’s exploration.

In the same way that Breslin and Hamill’s columns were love letters

and compassionate critiques of their city, the documentary is a love letter to the style of journalism Breslin and Hamill practiced. Its call to action is for local coverage. It highlights the steep decline in the number of local city reporters.

The movie spends its time praising this style of reporting only to lament that it is an artifact of lost era. It spins a tail of journalistic titans, writing true columns that read with the gripping hold of fiction, only to turn and declare through the mouths of multiple interview subjects that that time is gone.

We will have no more Breslins or Hamills. There is no longer a place for stories to be told in this way.

While it is true that city publications amputated their local coverage as they began to bleed funds, and beloved community papers changed hands and changed styles to keep from closing their doors, or folded altogether, the film shifts tone sharply.

For a movie so committed to praising the work of journalistic legends and their commitment to continue fighting for a higher level of reporting amidst changes to the industry, it seemed strange that it would so decidedly abandon hope at the end.

Regardless, it is certainly a treat to fall into old New York through the eyes of Breslin and Hamill, and think about how its landscape has changed through time and diligent reporting.

Dance to Health at Manhattan's Broadway Bodies

By MIA TOMMINS

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Instead of my usual routine of winding down with a cup of tea, this past Monday I decided to crank up the music and put on my best dancing shoes in the middle of Manhattan. I am not talking about just any dancing shoes, but Broadway dancing shoes.

At Broadway Bodies, a Manhattan dance class, attendees are invited to learn “high-energy choreography in an incredibly achievable way.” With this description in mind, I was more than hopeful for my 7:30 p.m class, titled “Showtunes: Hairspray, You Can’t Stop the Beat,” where I would dance my troubles away to this classic hit.

I booked the class on ClassPass, an app that provides access to yoga, strength training, barre and more at no cost with their one month trial option. As I entered the studio at 50 Lexington Avenue, I found myself jittery with nervous excitement. Those nerves were quickly forgotten as I heard “Defying Gravity” from the hit show “Wicked” playing accompained by many laughing and smiling faces.

The class was taught by performer and choreographer Justina Ercole.

Ercole could not have been more enthusiastic, kind or welcoming if she tried. Although she is little in stature, she led the class with immense power, making it a more than fun experience for all.

Justina encouraged attendees to introduce themselves to one another before class started with a quick warmup. Creating an immediate sense of community and together-

ness, dancers were ready to take on the choreography. Before teaching the first count of eight, Justina shared a phrase with the dancers which encompasses the amusing and enjoyable dynamic that spreads throughout Broadway Bodies studio. Ercole invited dancers to “FTC: F – the choreography,” which was met with bursts of laughter as well as some confusion: we were at a dance class, weren’t we?

Although Ercole was there to teach the choreography, she was also there to provide a welcoming, accepting environment which was one of the highlights of my experience there. Every attendee was truly happy to be there, not to mention the class was a blast!

Whether we were doing the choreography or making up our own steps, I felt the community vibe of Broadway Bodies that makes the class so special.

When other groups were performing,

we were singing along and cheering them on. When I performed, I felt like I was on top of the world because of the amount of love and support I received from people I had met just 30 minutes before.

The people there were definitely the highlight of my time at Broadway Bodies, and Ercole agreed.

She said one of her favorite parts about teaching at Broadway Bodies is the opportunity to share each week with such amazing, supportive, uplifting spirits.

If you’re thinking of trying out Broadway Bodies and are expecting a laid back, mellow hour, think again. The whole time, sweat dripped down my face; my heart constantly raced as we learned the steps and performed them in the mirror. Broadway Bodies serves to be not only a dance class, but

also a great workout. It was truly eye-opening to see the athletic capability Broadway performers need.

Ercole recalled her experience when she began teaching at Broadway Bodies back in 2016. The first class she taught was a “Broadway Cardio” class which was “high intensity dance cardio.” If I was dripping with sweat in this class, I cannot even imagine how great of a workout that cardio class is.

The most unique aspect of Broadway Bodies was the accepting, exciting and energetic community. After a long, chaotic Monday, Ercole and the people in the class lifted my spirits faster than you can say “Good Morning Baltimore.”

I asked Ercole what she wished dancers got out of a class, and she said “pure joy.” There is no other way I could describe my experience

MIA TOMMINS FOR THE FORDHAM RAM

The Broadway Bodies Class follows instructor Justina Ercole as she leads them in warm up exercises.

at Broadway Bodies.

“Especially being in New York City, we are expected to be so perfect all the time,” Ercole said.

At Broadway Bodies, it does not matter if you perform the choreography correctly, it does not matter if you mess up and it does not matter how you look. All that matters is that you feel the pure joy that Broadway Bodies is known for.

Ercole also said that Broadway Bodies prides itself on being a fitness studio, but unlike some others you might stumble upon in New York City, it is a particularly accepting fitness community that draws in guests who wouldn’t usually go to the typical fitness studio.

At Broadway Bodies, you can find the kindest, warmest, open people, according to Ercole.

I encourage all Fordham students who love musical theater, music in general, having fun or getting a great workout to make their way into the city and try out Broadway Bodies. Even if you have minimal dance or theater experience, Ercole advises to “get out of your head and come anyway.”

At Broadway Bodies, there are people who have been dancing since they were kids and people who have never danced a day in their life however, according to Ercole.

"Everyone can come here and have fun,” Ercole said.

On that Monday night, while dancing along to the Hairspray cast singing “You Can’t Stop the Beat,” you could not stop my joy.

February 6, 2019

CULTURE

Page 17

Federal Government Drops Diss Track on 6ix9ine

By KIERAN PRESS-REYNOLDS CULTURE EDITOR

For a while, Daniel Hernandez, better known as Tekashi 6ix9ine, truly was the “King of New York,” a title the hip-hop celebrity gave himself. When his Nicki Minaj-assisted hit “FEFE” dropped last summer, you could hear it blasting from what felt like every speaker across the five boroughs. Sadly for him and his subjects, he is no longer the king.

He has been deposed, on account of being deposed – in court! On Feb. 1, 2019, he pled guilty to nine counts in an ongoing federal court case.

Criminality was always a part of 6ix9ine’s public image. Even before achieving notoriety, all the way back in February 2015, he was charged for engaging in a sex act with a 13-year-old girl. Criminal complaints describe 6ix9ine, who was 18-years-old at the time, making physical contact with the girl, who was nude, and watching her engage in oral intercourse with a friend. 6ix9ine then posted videos of it online.

It is as horrific as it sounds – and even worse, he has spread misinformation about the incident ever since, arguing he never touched the victim.

Depravity characterized his entire career – other notable lowlights include a shooting in June 2018, when 6ix9ine ordered an affiliate to gun down rival Chief Keef and a meeting in October between 6ix9ine and his business manager, which ended in shots fired when his entourage was denied access into the restaurant. In parallel with his real-world exploits, 6ix9ine’s violent and misogynistic lyrics offer vicarious hypermasculine thrills.

In a world where it is normal for a music video to surpass 300 million views – a seriously astronomical figure – it says a lot about today’s culture that such videos feature appalling humans like 6ix9ine.

He is part of a newer rap wave commonly referred to as “ignorant rap,” which includes other stars like (the now dead) XXXTentacion and Lil Pump.

In some ways, ignorant rap is the musical equivalent of the alt-right, an Internet-based fringe ideology that champions anti-political correctness, conspiracy theories and a

general sense of mistrust towards what one perceives as “the establishment.” What separates these artists from past gangsta rappers – because criminality is nothing new in rap (Snoop Dogg was charged with murder shortly before his first album dropped, although later acquitted; Lil Wayne was jailed for gun possession; the list goes on) – is in their use of social media.

Using tools like Instagram Live, 6ix9ine aestheticized his entire life.

6ix9ine was a creature to be ridiculed. That made it easier for people who, at first glance might not engage with or even notice his music, to share and interact with it.

It felt shameless. That resulted in the mainstream acceptance of someone who is truly despicable. It’ is more dangerous, too, because not everyone can discern that 6ix9ine is terrible. For kids born post-2000, who have social media as a natural background atmosphere and con-

Perhaps 6ix9ine’s true selling point was that he was part of a gang – the Nine Trey Gangsters, a subset of the Bloods. That gave him socalled “street cred,” but ultimately proved to be his downfall. The crime he is most often scorned for, the child sex charge, actually only left him with four years of probation and 1,000 hours of community service – no jail time. Apparently, the judge thought his monstrous reputation was a front – a deflection

COURTESY OF FACEBOOK

Daniel Hernandez, better known as prolific rapper 6ix9ine, has pled guilty to nine counts in an ongoing federal case.

I remember one specific occasion last year, when he went live during school. He was taking a math test and asked his followers for the answers. It seemed hilarious to me at the time and even relatable, but now I realize the danger in it.

Essentially, he turned his entire self – Daniel Hernandez – into Tekashi 6ix9ine; that is, more so than probably any other rapper in history, he disappeared completely into a fantasy character. Treated like a meme with his rainbow hair, face tattoos and belligerent demeanor,

stantly flit between different absurdities on the internet, it is especially easy to forget that he is a real person who has done real things – really awful things.

When 6ix9ine says that the accusations against him about the underage girl are fake, amid larger political tensions like the Brett Kavanaugh allegations and Donald Trump’s history of microaggressions towards women, it influences young kids, who see him as someone who is funny and makes music they enjoy, to adopt the same mindset.

he has often spouted in the face of the law (for example, he claims that he posted the videos of the adolescent girl online for shock value, to promote his “scumbag persona”).

In the end, it was his activity with the Bloods that sealed his fate. In November, 6ix9ine and five of his associates were arrested by the Federal Government on racketeering, gun and drug charges. He pled not guilty to all of them.

No one quite knew what would happen. On one hand, it did not feel real – 6ix9ine had an album due

to come out the Friday after his arrest, and considering how often he was discussed in the news, always stirring up new drama, it felt like another drop in the pool. But this situation was worse than before; the indictment specifically listed the gang as a “criminal organization” and 6ix9ine was denied bail.

Over the past couple months, an ominous silence set in. January 2019 felt exceptionally empty in the hiphop sphere. For once, 6ix9ine’s rainbow hair (so rainbow you could play a round of Candyland on it) was not finessing the spotlight.

On Feb. 1, 6ix9ine pled guilty to nine counts, a stark reversal of his November denial. He has admitted to a multitude of criminal activities, including helping members of Nine Trey attempt to kill a rival gang member among other things.

Reports indicate that 6ix9ine will cooperate with prosecutors, a fact that has brought him a considerable amount of criticism. He has been labeled a “snitch” and publicly shamed for selling out his gang affiliates. Even more recently, 6ix9ine has been under fire from supporters of 21 Savage, whose arrest and deportation is rumored to have stemmed from information that 6ix9ine gave federal agents.

I’ve been disappointed by the public reaction. Focusing on 6ix9ine’s snitching strips him of any real responsibility towards what he has done – which is, truly, that he has not only wreaked havoc on New York City, but on the minds of millions of amenable kids. I’m not particularly fixated on the charges – because rappers will always want to use the imagery and the lore of guns and drug selling, and that’s not necessarily a barrier to making ethical art; performers like Migos and Travis Scott make wondrous, psychedelic music largely concerned with those very things.

The danger lies in 6ix9ine’s attitude towards women and the modern conception of “persona” itself.

By presenting himself as a meme, 6ix9ine normalizes a world where it is okay to identify with and even idolize true perverts.

While no one knows exactly what the outcome of this story will be, it is clear that 6ix9ine will not be coming out with any music for a while – and that is a good thing.

Godard’s “The Image Book” Challenges Viewers

By MATTHEW DILLON STAFF WRITER

“The Image Book” is the newest film from acclaimed French director Jean-Luc Godard. Like most of his body of work, it eschews nearly all of mainstream cinema’s conventions to create a more intense, aggressive sort of movie experience.

The film is composed of footage from various sources, some original and some historical. Classic movies and news segments are paired alongside Holocaust footage and ISIS executions. “The Image Book” alters the footage in a number of ways; in addition to removing its context, it changes the volume, colors and even aspect ratio to distort the original

content.

At times, Godard’s narration will offer an insight to the intended meaning, though it is often as vague as the visuals it accompanies. The film concerns itself with the role cinema serves in society, the position the Arab world inhabits in Western media, as well as the reality it purports to depict.

The end result is a fascinating, disorienting experience. The presentation of its content and at times the content itself is a constant assault on the viewer’s senses and sensibilities.

“The Image Book” is a deeply uncomfortable experience for the entirety of its hour and 24-minute runtime. Unfortunately, it is not a particularly watchable film, especially

for those with little exposure to nonmainstream films. “The Image Book” succeeds in its stated goal and in conveying the emotions it aims to, even if the exact content of its messages is at the best of times unclear. However, while working towards that end, the film becomes genuinely agonizing to watch. Nothing in Godard’s repertoire is meant for general audiences, and “The Image Book” is no exception.

While Godard is talented, he is not beyond reproach and neither is his work. Similarly, “The Image Book” may be intended to be borderline unwatchable, but that does not excuse all its faults. The meaningful portions of the film feel too stretched out, and the absence of a real sense of pacing

does not help.

Additionally, it could be argued that the film’s important messages about communism, media representation and the Middle East are done a disservice by their garbled presentation.

At times, it feels like “The Image Book” wastes a chance at being genuinely meaningful in favor of aspiring towards obscurity. Godard’s conviction is impressive, and he is worthy of the acclaim he gets, but it is worth asking if the themes “The Image Book” tackles can be examined adequately within the approach he has chosen.

“The Image Book” is thought-provoking, if nothing else. Even if much of the nuance is lost in the (at times

literal) noise, it still manages to pose some important questions. Much of it can be read as a condemnation of film and other visual media. Removing or altering a few details is enough to render it incoherent or project an entirely new meaning onto it.

Alternatively, it can be viewed as a testament to the power of images.

Even in such a warped, bizarre state, the film’s many tableaus manage to retain their fundamental message and atmosphere.

Most viewers will likely spend most of the film trying to decipher it, and that creates a uniquely engaging experience. “The Image Book” is an exhausting film and not always for the better, but it still breaks the mold where it counts.

CULTURE

Page 18

February 6, 2019

Mental Health Column | Kelly Christ

Generational Differences in Mental Health It is no secret that mental health has evolved extensively over the past several decades. With the rise of new technologies like the internet and social media, awareness of mental disorders has increased.

The youngest generations in our country are part of a new landscape of mental health, but what has affected the mental health of the youngest generations the most, as compared to previous generations?

And what do all these changes predict for coming generations?

The most obvious factor that has altered the mental health of both millennials (those born from roughly the early 1980s to late 1990s) and Generation Z (early 2000s onward) is the rise of the internet.

Many individuals in these generations, especially Generation Z, have been affected heavily by the presence of this technology since very early childhood. Psychologists have noted that considering the impact the internet, smart phones and social media have had on these children and adolescents, many refer to them as the iGeneration.

They are comfortable with technology in ways no prior generation has been. They do not remember life before it because they rely on it for so many aspects of their lives.

Unfortunately, the massive popu-

larity of and reliance on social media for this generation have contributed to an increased rate of mental illness, primarily anxiety and depressive disorders.

Social media have contributed to an increased feeling of loneliness among the adolescents of Generation Z. Studies have shown that around 45 percent of young people reported feelings of judgment because of social media, and 38 percent said it made them feel worse about themselves.

Social media are not the only culprits for the high stress and anxiety rates of our youngest generation.

Due to the tragic prevalence of gun violence, particularly with recent school shootings such as that at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., which had 17 causalities, the concern for safety at school has been a source of stress for about 75 percent of young adults surveyed.

It also has added stress to older generations, as their parents reported similar results. An important thing to remember when studying the influence of mass shootings on this generation is that almost all were born after the shooting at Columbine High School in 1999.

While the mass shooting at Columbine was not the first, it was the

deadliest school shooting at the time. It shocked parents and students alike, and it motivated schools and safety officials to take violent threats more seriously, as well as to implement stronger security measures.

Since Columbine, there has been a devastating number of similar tragedies at a higher rate than ever before. These have included the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, which targeted children between just six and seven years old as well as several adult staff members.

The terrifying realization that horrific events such as these can occur has undoubtedly contributed to higher anxiety levels among all generations, but especially the younger generations that are still in school themselves.

In a similar vein, the devastating events of Sept. 11, 2001 had an impact on the mental health of everyone in the United States. However, Generation Z is uniquely affected as many of them either were not born yet or were too young to remember that day.

They do not know a time when there was not a looming threat of terrorism, as “they never had the luxury of a threat-free perspective so they’ve been forced to view life through a more guarded lens from

the start,” according to Forbes.

While this may seem concerning, it has also led to a more mature and conscientious generation of young adults.

The shock of these tragedies has not scared them so much that they feel hopeless in the face of such realities. They often are more motivated to change things and to make a difference, allowing the succeeding generations a better state of the world.

One of the events that has directly shown this was the March for Our Lives in 2018. One month after the . mass shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School, the survivors of the shooting continued their activism efforts that began almost immediately after the shooting by holding a march to end gun violence and promote gun control legislation.

The strength and determination of the young survivors was palpable in their emotional speeches and interviews ever since Feb. 14, 2018.

They were not afraid to take on the political leaders, despite not being old enough to vote for themselves.

They argued for better gun control measures with leaders from the National Rifle Association. Even amidst such devastation, the spark of hope in their hearts motivated them and so many other young stu-

dents to take a stand and to advocate for their safety.

The statistics regarding the mental health of Generation Z may seem discouraging at first glance.

However, they are more open with discussing mental health and seeking help for mental illness than any generation prior.

Thankfully, many young adults are open to sharing their experiences with mental illness, and the subject is less taboo than it has been in the past. In response to the higher rates of mental illness, many schools have taken initiative to have more mental health resources available to their students.

These may include counseling services and mental health education requirements in their curricula.

All in all, these trends in mental health seem optimistic for future generations.

As the world changes and evolves, so too must mental health treatment. Each generation faces different challenges than the last, and these often shape the mental well-being of these individuals.

Hopefully, we can gradually improve mental health awareness and treatment as various generations learn how best to tackle the obstacles in their emotional and mental health.

The Ram Crossword: Important Weather Alert 1. Some antidepressants (Abbv.)

5. iCarly co-host 8. Item to shake 13. In style 14. Pius, if feminine 15. Cars spin-off 16. English Impressionist painter 18. “Get hot water! Get some disinfectant! Get some _____!” - Lucy 19. Onieda County seat 20. Internal military news org.

22. Screen reader, for short 23. White whales 26. One half of R & R 28. Of two parts 30. Alert 34. “___ You Gonna Be My Girl” by Jet 36. Double reed woodwind

37. Brutus or Cicero 38. Imitate 39. What doing 8- and 69-Across and 4- and 45-Down “helps” happen 41. Prefix to day or summer 42. Upcoming Will Smith role 44. Short-term receptionist 45. Formerly Subco and A Crust Above 46. Unnamed role 47. Maggie Rogers single 49. Shocked 51. Genre for BADBADNOTGOOD and St. Germain 55. Hawaiian instrument, familiarly 58. “Mother of the Gods” and wife of Cronus 60. Followers to following, on social media 61. Use a coupon 63. “Once in a ______” (rarely) 66. Places to be talked down

ANSWERS IN ISSUE 4 CREATED BY CLAIRE POLACHECK & JACK MCLOONE & GABBY GILLESPIE

Across

from 67. Feast 68. Like Hathaway or “of Green Gables” 69. Item to put under your pillow 70. Alkaline solution used for cleaning 71. British colonial tax (Alt.) Down

ANSWERS TO ISSUE 2

1. A guy who thinks he’s fly, also known as a busta 2. Young pig (Alt.) 3. Brightest star in the Centaurus constellation 4. Item to flush down the toilet 5. Coppertone letters

6. Aang’s first element 7. SNL’s Rudolph 8. Book end 9. Lass partner 10. “I’ll do it!”

11. Like a knee to royalty 12. Snakes shapes 15. Lead Clue weapon 17. Finger millet 21. Fordham Provost (20102018) 24. Many a Reddit poster 25. Beastie Boys hit single 27. A pair 29. Hitchhiker’s Guide necessity 31. Bullets 32. Activity with a warrant 33. Conclusion 34. Mountaintop 35. FOX live musical ft. Vanessa

Hudgens 38. Depreciate 39. Crayola water color 40. Altar area 43. UK militant group 45. Item to wear inside out 48. Greek statue of a young woman 50. Resistance units 52. Make up for 53. Bank headquartered in Salt Lake City 54. City planning units 55. Addresses 56. Castle innards 57. Taro 59. Cain’s brother 62. Id companion 64. Put down 65. PAC-12 player

CULTURE

February 6, 2019

Page 19

Who’s That Kid? | It’s Brett Musialowicz ’19

Senior Says Yes to Fordham’s Opportunities

By KRISTAN EGAN DIGITAL EDITOR

Brett started his day at 6 a.m., but one would never have known by his chipper attitude. Over the past four years, Brett Musialowicz, FCRH ’19, has done it all.

Ranging from his role as a research assistant, former resident assistant, member of the Fordham Club, Panhellenic Society and teaching assistant, Brett has lived his Fordham career with no room for regrets.

How does he do it? He does it by saying yes.

“When it comes to looking to be involved, you have to take a proactive approach,” he said. “For me, I decided the best way to do this is to just say yes. I started saying yes to different things, and it’s a lot easier to get involved and then later decide something isn’t for you. If something’s not for you that’s fair because at Fordham there is so much to do here, realistically you can’t do it all.”

Musialowicz believes that if you say yes and give opportunities a shot, things will surprise you. He said he never anticipated doing as many activities as he does now.

He said yes to doing research his freshman year, and since then he’s done 10 hours of research a week each year.

Calling it the greatest experience he’s done at Fordham, Musialowicz has been a part of projects involving solar cells and working to improve solar energy.

The focus of his main project right now is making glucose sensors available and long-lasting in third world countries.

Musialowicz didn’t always know that he wanted to take the pre-med path, but he put his trust into it as he entered college and never had any regrets.

He has found ways to explore his other passions, such as business and music, by doing internships and playing the piano in his room.

Musialowicz has played the piano since he was four, and started writing his own music during his sophomore year of high school.

Although he said he’s not too big on performing, he has played his own music at open mic nights at the Black Box Theater and as an accompaniment for poetry performances.

Musialowicz turns to piano as his ultimate stress reliever when life gets too hectic.

He was also a resident assistant in Martyrs’ Court Jogues.

“Without a doubt, it was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had at Fordham. When it came time to reapply, I knew that the time commitment might have stopped me from doing the other things I wanted to do with research and clubs.”

Musialowicz also said he values his experience as a teaching assistant in multiple classes. His most fascinating experience was with a continuing studies class, where he got to see the passion and dedica-

tion of the students enrolled.

Over winter break, Musialowicz spent two weeks in Cambodia on a medical outreach trip. In Siem Reap, he learned how people treat each other outside the clinics.

In a moment where a woman whom he had just met handed him her child, he saw the importance of their trust-based communal culture.

“Everyone was everyone’s parents, and everyone was everyone’s child,” said Musialowicz.

Throughout his years at Fordham, Musialowicz has learned a lot about the importance of balance. Now, as a second-semester senior, he is finally sitting back and making sure he wraps up his time here well.

His goal is absolutely memoryoriented.

As proud as he is of his academic accomplishments, he has reached the point where he can put other clubs and passions at a higher priority.

Brett’s mentor throughout his research has been Christopher Koenigsmann, Ph.D. They both embarked on their research journey at Fordham at the same time in 2015, and their relationship took off from there.

Koenigsmann has been able to provide Brett with advice regarding all of his classes, internships and the application process to medical school.

Musialowicz still has to hear back from other medical schools, nit he plans to attend Rutgers

COURTESY OF BRETT MUSIALOWICZ

Musialowicz has lived his Fordham career with no room for regrets.

Robert Wood Johnson Medical School after graduation.

Musialowicz was made for college; he is highly involved and filled with spirit.

Hopefully, if you haven’t already met him, you’ll get the plea-

sure of meeting him before he graduates.

One day Musialowicz will be an accomplished pediatric oncologist, and you will have had the honor of saying you knew him when he was just “that kid.”

The Slice Shop | Dan Ziebarth

Full Moon Pizzeria: Go Wild, Youngblood This week, we’re talking about one of the more well-known eateries: Full Moon Pizzeria.

Right off the bat, I’m gonna throw out that David Portnoy, known by many as El Pres of Barstool Sports and the Barstool Pizza Review, has already taken a crack at reviewing Full Moon.

He tossed it a soft 6.2 out of 10 rating, so do with that what you may. I hold myself to no one’s standards but my own and will not be swayed by any outside influence no matter how famous, or infamous, that opinion may be.

First off, Full Moon is in the heart of our very own Little Italy in the Bronx, located at the corner of Arthur Avenue and E. 187th Street.

I’m a sucker for that location; I think Full Moon’s corner spot gives off classic New York City pizza spot vibes.

Walking in, you’ll notice the place will probably be full and a little cramped, albeit inviting.

The building is narrow, with more tables and chairs inside than you really think could (or should) fit.

But they make it work. You should be able to squeeze your way up the counter and see what they have on display.

Full Moon has all the classic Italian fare next to its pizza lineup,

so if you’re looking to be fancy and catch a plate of chicken parm or manicotti, you can get that here. But why do that to yourself?

We’re all here for the pizza.

This is a pretty full-service pizza place, so besides a simple regular or Sicilian slice, Full Moon has a solid selection of specialty slices, as well as garlic knots.

Unlike some slice shops, you can get a full pie or two here if you want. You can also put on any additional toppings of your choice, so there’s no limit to what you can do. Go wild, youngblood.

Getting down to the important stuff, though, how good are the slices? The slices at Full Moon are pretty big, which I’m not always a fan of.

If you can’t hold the slice comfortably in one hand folded over, that slice is too big. Full Moon falls into the trap with a slightly oversized slice.

The crust on a Full Moon slice is solid with a good crunch-tochew ratio, but they regularly keep slices in the oven too long and singe the crust a little bit, putting a little too much char on the outer layer.

The sauce may be the best part of a Full Moon slice. There’s some flavor to it that many slice shops miss, where they instead put tomato water on their pizza. Full

Moon doesn’t do that, and the sauce adds flavor that sets their slices apart.

The cheese, however, tastes cheap to me, and that’s a big miss.

Sprinkling some low-quality mozz on a pizza is a detriment to the pie, and I think Full Moon does a disservice to the quality of their regular slices. That being said, the specialty slices are where Full Moon shines.

They have some delicious spe-

cialties that are topped with fresh, flavorful ingredients.

To get one of these slices you’re going to have to shell out $5.50 a slice, so make sure you’re taking out some extra student loans for the month.

All in all, Full Moon is a consistent place with good – not great – slices.

Despite the small space, the environment and employees behind the counter are welcoming. If your

family is visiting, Full Moon is a solid option.

There are cheaper options and better slices out there, but Full Moon is consistent, clean and inviting.

If you’re looking to blow some cash on a specialty slice or want to show your family and friends a neighborhood joint that’s been around for 50 years, this is the place to go. Just make sure someone else is paying.

RAM ARCHIVES

Full Moon Pizzeria is a classic neighborhood joint in the Fordham neighborhood, serving consistently good Italian food.

SPORTS

Page 20

Women’s Tennis Makes a Comeback Against Quinnipiac

February 6, 2019

Beyond the Scoreboard: Kyler Murray’s Big Risk

By GIGI SPEER

By JIMMY SULLIVAN

The Fordham women’s tennis team showed its true colors Saturday night at Life Time Athletic in Harrison, New York. The Rams beat Quinnipiac 7-0, reversing the results from the matches against Harvard and Yale last weekend.

Sophomore Arina Taluyenko and senior Tatiana Grigoryan beat Dominique Vasile and Proyfon Lohaphaisan 6-3 in first doubles.

Junior Maia Balce and senior Gianna Insogna fell to Kamilla Nella and Layla Rodriguez 6-4 in second doubles, while freshmen Nicole Li and Genevieve Quenville bested Stephanie Yanosov and Alexandra Mircea in an exciting 6-4 win at third doubles to take the point for Fordham.

Success continued in singles, with all players beating their opponents and sweeping the Quinnipiac team to finish off the night.

Starting at fourth singles, Quenville achieved a 6-3, 6-0 win over Payton Bradley, and Grigoryan followed with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Jennifer Lu in the second singles to give Fordham a 3-0 lead. Li beat Rodriguez 6-3, 6-0 and Taluyenko won 6-3, 6-4 over Vasile at first singles, while Insogna and Balce won sixth and third singles, respectively.

“In singles, it was great to watch my players dominate in all but two positions,” Coach Bette-Anne Speliotis Ligouri said. “My freshmen, Nicole Li and Genevieve Quenville, really came out fighting in singles after their doubles win, with only losing 4 games between them.”

Ligouri also said she was proud of Balce.

Throughout sports history, we have seen athletes who have played multiple sports at an exceptional level. Bo Jackson played professional football for the Oakland Raiders and professional baseball for the Kansas City Royals. Brian Jordan played three seasons for the Atlanta Falcons before hanging it up and playing for the St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves, among others. More recently, former Notre Dame tight end Jeff Samardzija chose pitching over football, and 12 years later, he’s making $18 million a year to pitch for the San Francisco Giants.

We have seen athletes forced to choose which sport to play. We’ve seen athletes choose both. But we’ve never seen a case quite like Kyler Murray.

The Oklahoma quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner netted a nearly $5 million signing bonus in June because he was drafted by the Oakland Athletics with the ninth pick in the MLB Draft. Murray is a likely first-round draft pick if he decides to enter the NFL Draft. Even though he stands at just 5’10”, he has an innate ability to play the position and make plays needed for his team to win.

So at this point, you may be saying, “That’s great! He can play both!” Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. And no, he can’t choose both.

Murray entered the NFL Draft in January but can still play baseball professionally if he so chooses. However, he made an agreement with the A’s after his selection that he would report to spring training and begin his professional baseball career this month. He is still owed just over $3 million of that signing bonus on March 1, and if he were to play football, Murray would have to pay back that massive signing bonus.

On the surface, this seems like an easy call: Murray can keep his bonus, play baseball and avoid the physical and mental health issues that NFL players have faced both during and after their careers.

SPORTS EDITOR

STAFF WRITER

COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS

Fordham Women’s Tennis dominated Quinnipiac for their first win.

“Tatiana Grigoryan was just perfection in 2nd singles while her partner, Arina Taluyenko in 1st singles absorbed the pressure of leading the team like the world-class player that she is,” she said. “But to see Maia Balce come back from losing the 1st set showed everyone what a great competitor she is.”

Ligouri was also proud of Insogna, who, despite having a sinus

infection, played her best tennis of the new year.

Look out Friday, Feb. 8 as the team travels across the Hudson to the New Jersey Institute of Technology at 5 p.m.

Coach Liguori is positive about the upcoming season: “All in all, I am very pleased by the team’s play this early in the season and hope to continue improving.”

Men’s Tennis Continues Strong Start in Queens

By DYLAN BALSAMO

ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

The Fordham Men’s Tennis squad improved to 3-0 this weekend with a victory in a road match at nearby Queens College, which is nationally ranked in Division II Tennis.

The first point came easily, as the Rams won all three double matches and secured an early lead on the night. The wins by the duos of freshman Jofre Segarra and junior Allen Thornes, junior Finn Kemper, sophomore Max Green, junior Fabian Mauritzson and sophomore Lutwin de Macar were winning combinations that put the Rams on the board first.

Queens immediately retaliated with strong singles play, quickly winning the first and sixth slots and claiming a 2-1 advantage to that point. They were pushing their way to another win before de Macar turned his 6-1 lost match against Kareem Rashad around to win the next two, both by a score of 6-1, and bring the meet back to an even score.

After de Macar’s win, Fordham did not look back, as a 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 win by Kemper over Richard Sec put the Rams back on top, and Mauritzson’s 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory over Rashad at second singles clinched a winning night for the squad. Sophomore Alex Makatsaria put the icing on Fordham’s Queens College cake by beating

However, this article wouldn’t exist if Murray’s decision were that easy.

Even though he’s receiving that signing bonus from Oakland, Murray will presumably be subject to brutal wages — possibly as low as $1,100 per month — if he starts his career in the minors. For old time’s sake, let’s say Murray is the last pick in the first round of April’s NFL Draft. Last year’s 32nd pick, Lamar Jackson, received a four-year deal worth $9.5 million, and just over $8 million of that money was guaranteed.

So Murray would get, and keep, far more cash upfront, and the NFL would actually pay him more handsomely over the course of the next four years if he cannot make it to the majors. And if a team takes him earlier in the first round, then he would get far more money than the $8 million over four years. Financially, it makes much more sense for him to go to the NFL. That is baseball’s current problem. It isn’t that the league has done anything to fix unforgivable minor league wages: it’s that the league has actively gone out of its way to prevent its up-and-comers from getting the bare minimum of what they deserve. MLB is currently trying to prevent the state of Arizona from applying minimum wage laws to minor league players.

If this were to happen, players would almost certainly receive more money than they do right now, but it still isn’t good enough for a sport that raked in over $10 billion in revenue last season, which is a record for the league.

So Kyler Murray has a choice. If he plays football, he risks various health issues, in part due to his status as a 5’10” quarterback and a moving target for much larger defensive players. If he chooses baseball, he faces years of wage discrimination and substandard living conditions, without the guarantee that he would ever make it to the livable wages of Major League Baseball.

Kyler Murray has a very difficult decision ahead of him. No matter what he decides to do, he will get robbed.

COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS

Men’s Tennis continues its hot start, winning their first three matches.

Evangelista in two sets, both in overtime, the final line being 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4).

Mauritzson praised his teammates after the victory. “The team is very pleased with the wins, and we feel we have a solid foundation moving forward,” he said.

He also cited Saturday’s wins and even the close losses as evi-

dence of the team’s strength. “We have all been extremely good competitors throughout this weekend,” he said.

With a final score of 5-2, the Rams left Queens with a win, continuing their undefeated season. Next for the Rams comes a trip to Penn that will take place on Feb. 9 at 2:30 p.m.

COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Kyler Murray, pictured above in his college years, is now faced with a choice.

Page 21

SPORTS

Track Dominates at Metropolitan Championships

February 6, 2019

Football Adds Three Assistants to Conlin’s Staff

By EMMANUEL BERBARI

By JIMMY SULLIVAN

Amidst record-low temperatures paralyzing the Northeast region, Fordham Track & Field somehow found a way to stay hot, acheiving two top-three finishes on Friday at the 2019 Metropolitan Indoor Championships at the Ocean Breeze Athletic Complex on Staten Island.

The men accomplished their best feat in recent memory, with runner-up status eclipsing thirdplace standings in 2012, 2013 and 2018. In the meantime, the women’s team cruised to a third-place finish, something they hadn’t accomplished collectively since the 2014 and 2015 campaigns.

“It was a good feeling since I knew all my other teammates were contributing to the team score,” said junior Ryan Kutch, who was at the forefront of the noteworthy Ram efforts. “I wanted to do the same.”

Three Rams came out victorious in their respective events.

Kutch in the 5,000 meter run (15:24.11), sophomore Nicholas Raefski in the 3,000 (8:35.82) and junior Andrew Byrne in the heptathlon (4,458 points).

Even freshman Brandon Hall (8:41.22) made a big mark, placing second behind his teammate Raefski in the 3,000.

Byrne did not stop with his heptathlon victory, finishing first in four of his seven possible events — long jump (20’ 5 ¾”), pole vault (12’ 1 ½”), high jump (6’ 6”) and 1000 meter run (2:55.49). He was a not-tooshabby second in the shot put (32’ 7 ¾”), and third in the 60 meter dash (7.54) and 60 meter hurdles (9.66).

The 4x400 relay team of sophomores Kyle Mack, Arthur Gooden Jr. and Jack Keegan and senior Andre Guthrie, Jr. placed second (3:21.70), lifting the Rams to the 100 point mark as a team and ensuring a secondplace finish when it was all said and done.

“We had point contributions from almost every single event, so it’s nice to see the whole team come together,” said Kutch. “Every point mattered since we only beat Manhattan by a point, so it was really satisfying for the guys who contributed.”

Gooden and Mack added to their efforts with a fifth-place showing in the 500 meter run (1:05.50) and a seventh-place finish in the 400 meter dash (50.79), respectively.

It took a collective effort across the board for Fordham. Other notable performances included sophomore Nikolas Reardon in the triple jump (2nd — 47’ ¼”) and junior Sean Sullivan in the mile run (2nd — 4:15.27). Reardon placed again in the long jump, posting a season-best clip, (5th — 23’ 2 ¾”). Sophomore Ryan McGraw followed in the same event (6th — 22’ 5 ¾), freshman Connor McKeown performed in the heptathlon (4th — 2,777 points), freshman Zalen Nelson (6th — 1:57.53) and junior Jordan Milite (7th — 2:00.02) were excellent in the 800 meter run.

The 4x800 tandem of freshman Jeremiah LaDuca, sophomore

There will be three new assistants on the sidelines when the Fordham football team takes the field in late August.

Head Coach Joe Conlin announced the new hires today, and the three coaches will combine to fill four roles.

Kevin Decker will be the team’s new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. He held the same roles at Brown University last season. He replaces Mike Burchett, who served just one year in those same roles and moved on to become an offensive analyst on Dana Holgorsen’s staff at the University of Houston this season; Burchett worked the prior three seasons for Holgorsen at West Virginia. Interestingly enough, Decker’s brother, James, is a volunteer assistant for the Fordham men’s basketball team.

Decker comes to the Bronx after spending the last three years on the coaching staff at Brown. Last year, his offense ranked last in the Ivy League in yards per game and points per game, but freshman quarterback Michael McGovern finished the season second in the Ivy League in total offense. Decker is likely hoping to do the same thing with rising sophomore QB Tim DeMorat, who set a Fordham freshman record with 11 touchdown passes last season.

He will inherit an offense that struggled in several areas last season, but particularly with blocking, as the Rams finished dead last in the Patriot League with 50 sacks allowed.

But the offense’s wide receiver group is also in a state of flux, as seniors Jonathan Lumley, Austin Longi, Corey Caddle, Isaiah Searight and Noah Nix are all done with their Fordham careers. This unit is getting a new coach, as well.

Damiere Shaw has been hired as

STAFF WRITER

SPORTS EDITOR

COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS

Both Fordham track teams had a phenomenal weekend in Staten Island.

Christopher Strzelinski and senior Patrick Dineen, Nelson (5th — 8:08.22), Dineen (5th – 2:32.17) and Strzelinski (8th – 2:33.15) was top-ten in the 1000 meters and junior Patrick Donahue also succeeded in the 3000 meters (8th – 9:03.54).

When the results came in, Rutgers University earned the team title with 219.5 points. Fordham tallied in at 100, with Manhattan College’s 99 close enough for a third-place finish.

Similar to the men’s team, the women saw three individuals ascend to champion status. Senior Aidan Moroz stole the show with two championships. She won the 800 meter run (2:13.95) in her personal fastest time, before teaming up with junior Sydney Snow, sophomore Dana Beggins and senior Kate McCormack to pace the 4x800 relay in 9:18.56.

Junior Katarzyna Krzyzanowski joined in on the fun, dominating the 3,000 meter run in her best time yet (10:00.84), good enough for the third women’s title on the big stage.

Snow and McCormack, who made their most significant impacts in the 4x800, had much more to celebrate. McCormack trailed behind champion Moroz in the 800 meter (2:17.69), and finished as the runner-up, while Snow placed fifth in the 1000 (3:04.08).

Sophomore Kathryn Kelly had herself a day to remember, placing second in the long jump with an ECAC-qualifying 18’ 7 ¼”. She followed that impressive showing with fifth-place finishes in the 60 meter dash (7.74), 200 meter dash (25.23) and 4x400 relay (alongside sophomore Sarinnagh Budris, junior Gabrielle Schreib and freshman Brielle Lewis — 4:05.04).

“[I was impressed with] how well everyone was able to step up at the meet,” said Kutch. “This gives us a lot of confidence going into meets like A-10s, where we can build on what we did.”

The second-place finishes did not stop there, as seniors Angelina Grebe and Laurel Fisher chipped in, with Grebe’s seasonbest 17:30.17 in the 5,000 meter and Fisher’s second-best 5:09.47 in the mile.

None of this is to forget the efforts of senior Neve Devine in the high jump (4th — 5’ 1”), sophomore Germaine Harbaugh in the 5,000 meters (4th — 18:33.65), Valentine in the 400 meter dash (6th — 57.95), Daniels in the mile (5th — 5:16.61), Budris in the 500 meter (7th — 1:16.78), senior Abigail Taylor (4th — 10:19.05) and freshman Bridget Alex (6th — 10:32.15) in the 3,000 meter run and senior Blake Elwood in the 1000 meter run (6th — 3:06.34).

All of their performances propelled the women’s side into a three-team push for first place.

Rutgers was able to gain the upper-hand (131 points), while St. John’s (123) and Fordham (114) took second and third, respectively.

“The team will build on this by working as hard as we have all season to get in better shape for the last few meets,” said Kutch.

“It will also be good to analyze what worked in our individual races and what didn’t so we know what we have to focus on in the future.”

The Rams still have more to attend to ahead of the more highstakes events, battling at Boston University’s Valentine Classic this weekend, but Friday served as a phenomenal stepping stone.

the wide receivers coach after spending the last six seasons as a student assistant and quality control coach at Temple and Baylor, respectively, under Matt Rhule. While at Temple, he oversaw the development of wide receivers such as Robby Anderson, who now plays professionally for the New York Jets.

Shaw will be starting from scratch with a unit that is losing a lot of talent but has added receivers Dequece Carter, Garrett Cody and M.J. Wright in recruiting. New Providence, New Jersey’s Jackson Barletta was also added as a wide receiver and a defensive back and could see time at the position, as well. Shaw will replace Chris Batti, who was hired in January as the quarterbacks coach at Eastern Illinois University.

Finally, 2018 co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach Darrell Perkins departed Rose Hill to become the defensive backs coach for Randy Edsall at the University of Connecticut. He will be replaced

by Jameson Zecharias, who held the same position with Indiana University in Pennsylvania. Zecharias also previously coached linebackers and cornerbacks for three seasons at the University of Central Michigan.

“We’re excited that Kevin, Damiere and Jameson have decided to join the staff at Fordham,” Conlin told Fordham Athletics. “Each brings a unique skill set and experience, both as a player and a coach, which will greatly benefit the student-athletes at Fordham and help us achieve our goals as we prepare for spring practice and the 2019 season.”

The 2019 season starts on Aug. 31 against Central Connecticut State University, a team that beat Fordham 24-13 last September. The Rams are looking to improve from a tough 2-9 season that saw them finish secondto-last in the Patriot League.

SPORTS

Page 22

February 6, 2019

Swimming Splits With UMass on Senior Day

By DOMINIC CAPONE STAFF WRITER

This season’s batch of seniors officially bid farewell to the Col. Francis B. Messmore Aquatic Center. The Fordham swimming and diving team celebrated Senior Day during its meet against the University of Massachusetts Minutemen. The women’s team dominated, 205-95, improving to 7-0 for the season as the men fell just short at 156-144, dropping to 3-4 for the year.

Everything was clicking for the women’s team as it won 13 events on the day. Senior Tara Brunner won two individual races and added two more wins in the relays. Brunner won the 50 and 100 freestyle events in 23.86 and 51.31 seconds, respectively. Along with sophomore Michelle Martin, fifth-year senior Milly Furneaux and junior Theresa Mullen, finished first in the 200 medley relay at 1:46.05. Brunner didn’t stop there as she then helped Mullen, Kiara Norris and Caitlin McNary to the top spot of the 200 freestyle relay, winning in 1:36.06.

“I have been swimming competitively for about 17 years, and this meet marked the beginning of the end,” Brunner said after the meet. “I don’t think it has fully hit me yet that my collegiate swim career is almost over, but this meet made me reflect on my career as a whole and I am

very thankful to be where I am today.”

McNary also had two individual wins, taking first in the 200 (1:53.10) and 500 (5:01.06) freestyle events.

Furneaux won the 100 (1:05.11) and 200 (2:24.74) breaststroke races, topping it off for the women.

Despite the loss, the Fordham men’s team still won seven events against the Minutemen. Junior Joseph Vizza shined as he won the 100 (47.39) and 200 (1:43.04) freestyle events. He was also a part of the team that won the 200 freestyle relay in 1:25.40 along with sophomore Bryce Bollesen, sophomore Auston Ramsey and senior Travis Monahan.

“The last few years have really flown by and it was a day where I was able to reflect on my accomplishments as an individual and also as a member of a team,” Monahan, a graduating senior, said. “Although at the same time it was just another meet, a stepping stone, to the main event in mid-February. After last year’s upsetting last place finish at A-10’s due to a number of injured key members, it would be interesting to see what we can do this year with a full line up.”

The women’s team looks to go undefeated in a season for the first time since the 2009-10 season when they went 12-0. The Fordham swimming and diving team will have some time off before it heads to the Atlantic 10 Championship at Spire Institute in Geneva, Ohio.

COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS

Tara Brunner was front and center for the swim and dive team this past weekend.

Sure, they want the Knicks to have as much salary cap space as possible with this year’s stacked free agent class. The problem is that fans were hoping Porzingis would remain a core piece in turning the franchise around.

Here’s why Porzingis being traded to the Dallas Mavericks is actually a good thing. The Knicks also traded away guards Tim Hardaway Jr. and Courtney Lee. Both were grossly overpaid by New York in free agency.

With their departures, the Knicks are projected to have the most salary cap space this summer with about 73 million dollars.

Facilitating a deal to get that much cap space ultimately required putting Porzingis in trade talks. Fans may have been reluctant to let him go, but let’s be honest, Porzingis had no desire to be in New York. After a meeting last Thursday, Knicks President Steve Mills said Porzingis “no longer wanted to be a part of our group.”

Coming off of an ACL injury, New York understood teams were not going to mortgage their entire futures for Porzingis.

Ultimately, the Knicks received guards Dennis Smith Jr., Wesley Matthews and center DeAndre Jordan.

The Mavericks are also giving New York two future first round picks. Initially, one could surmise the Knicks were swindled in the deal.

I beg to differ. I understand the Knicks could have drafted Smith Jr. last year but instead, chose to take Frenchman Frank Ntilikina. Now on the same team, both will be hungry to prove he is better than the other.

Best case scenario, both Smith Jr. and Ntilikina show out on the court, giving the Knicks potential key trade assets in the future.

Moving on to Matthews and Jordan, both are battle-tested veterans who undoubtedly want no part of a team in “rebuild mode.”

By ANDREW POSADAS ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

The New York Knicks have been the worst run NBA franchise for nearly 20 years. There, I said it.

Trust me, that is not a hot take. A majority of Knicks fans feel imprisoned in what has essentially been the NBA version of purgatory following the turn of the century.

Two NBA finals appearances in the 1990’s (‘94, ‘99) seem like a distant memory. Knicks supporters may not even acknowledge those two years given the Knicks lost each time.

You see, New York Knicks fans are only interested in one thing: championships.

Fortunately, the Knicks have given their fans two NBA titles to celebrate down Seventh Avenue with. However, I would be remiss if I did not mention 45 years have passed since the Knicks last brought a championship back home.

The team currently has the worst record in the league at 10-42. It also traded its best young player, Kristaps Porzingis, for basically salary cap relief. Sounds depressing, huh? No worries Knicks fans, I’ll elaborate further.

Building a title contender in the NBA requires taking major risks in hopes of astronomical rewards.

It’s safe to say Knicks owner James Dolan is not the biggest gambler around. Besides their blockbuster trade of Carmelo Anthony in 2011, Dolan has done little to nothing to build a championship caliber team.

Dolan took over as Knicks chairman in 1999. At the time, New York had made the playoffs 12 years in a row. Despite not having an NBA title to show for it, the Knicks were competitive year in and year out. Players like Patrick Ewing and John Starks kept Madison Square Garden rocking with excitement.

Now, the Knicks have made four playoff appearances in 18 years.

Knicks fans have experienced the six stages of grief through bad contract signings, horrible draft choices and questionable trade moves. They’ve been through seven team presidents and 12 head coaches. Don’t even get me started on Phil Jackson’s tenure as the team’s president.

For Knicks fans who have been trapped in the grief stage of acceptance, even the trade of Kristaps Porzingis caught them off-guard.

With the trade deadline on Thursday afternoon, teams in the playoff hunt will be flocking to pick up either Matthews or Jordan. Finding ideal trade partners for them could open up even more money for the Knicks to use in free agency this summer.

As constructed, a championship contender in New York seems eons away from becoming a reality. But if the Knicks are going to make New York relevant in basketball again, this is the only way to do so.

That’s where optimism comes in. The Knicks may end up with the first overall pick in the draft. Losing Porzingis would be ancient history if Adam Silver announces that with the first pick, the Knicks draft Zion Williamson from Duke University.

Porzingis may be the “Unicorn,” but with every SportsCenter highlight dunk he throws down, Williamson is a bonafide freak of nature.

Big picture, all of these moves by New York seem directed towards a certain player who will be the biggest free agent come this summer: Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant.

Signs and posters of Durant in a Knicks Jersey are all around Manhattan. Fans have not been silent in their attempts to woo KD to the east coast. With the projected cap space, the Knicks could literally tell Durant, “We have enough money for you and whoever you want to play with.”

Is that enough for Durant to sign with New York this summer? That is the 73 million dollar question. Regardless, the Knicks have put themselves in prime position for a big summer. A trio of Durant, possibly Kyrie Irving and Williamson is the perfect scenario for the Big Apple.

If this is what has to occur in order to attain those players, Knicks fans everywhere should take some advice from legendary New York rapper Rakim: “Don’t sweat the technique.”

COURTESY FLICKER

The Knicks traded away Kristaps Porzingis on Thursday, but is there hope for the franchise?

Varsity Calendar HOME AWAY

Thursday Feb. 7

Friday Feb. 8

2 p.m.

Men’s Tennis

Swimming Track

Penn 2:30 p.m.

Sacred Heart 6 p.m.

NYU 2 p.m.

Wesleyan TBD

NJIT 5:30 p.m.

Squash

NYU Invite TBD

Monday Feb. 11

Tuesday Feb. 12

Wednesday Feb. 13

Davidson 7 p.m.

George Mason

Women’s Basketball

Women’s Tennis

Sunday Feb. 10

Duquesne 2 p.m.

Men’s Basketball

Follow us on Twitter at @theram_sports

Saturday Feb. 9

Davidson 7 p.m.

SPORTS

February 6, 2019

Anthony Cardone Champs Once Again Well, we’ve seen this one before. Tom Brady and the Patriots have won yet another Super Bowl, adding a sixth to the franchise’s history. It just keeps getting sweeter and sweeter for the GOAT and Bill Belichick, who have now tied the Steelers for the most championships won by any team.

However, this wasn’t your average come-from-behind, Bradydoes-something-spectacular kind of win for the Patriots. Two of the top offenses in the league were held to just 16 total points in this Super Bowl. The Patriots came out on top 13-3, winning the lowest scoring Super Bowl in the game’s history.

Both teams were scoreless in the first quarter, but that was expected for Brady, who had only scored three points in first quarters during his Super Bowl career.

The Patriots were up 3-0 at halftime. You’d think Brady would have had this game locked up by now, but he wasn’t the star of this game, and he even threw an interception on his first pass of the game.

It was the defense that was the story in the first half for both teams, and no one was expecting such a low score. Julian Edelman was the only player on offense for either team who was making any plays in the first half.

At the end of the 3rd quarter, the Rams kicked a field goal to tie it at three. Entering the fourth, it was Brady’s turn to get on the scoreboard. Brady went 4-4 for 60 yards and marched down to the 2-yard line, where rookie Sony Michel ran through the Rams defensive line for the first touchdown of the game to make it 10-3.

With a big blitz play and a huge interception by Stephon Gilmore, the Patriots put the game away.

The final score was 13-3 and it was surprisingly the largest margin of victory for the Patriots in any of their Super Bowl wins. The MVP was Julian Edelman, who finished with 10 catches for 141 receiving yards. Brady finished 21-35 with 262 passing yards, and Jared Goff was just 19-38 with 229 yards.

Belichick removed the Rams’ key pieces, taking Aaron Donald out of the game and the running game for the Rams. Todd Gurley and CJ Anderson combined for just 57 yards on the ground, making it the lowest-scoring game under coach Sean Mcvay.

Brady and Belichick just keep adding to their trophy case year after year, and they completely pound all of the hate and doubt into the ground. They proved they are the best dynasty in NFL history game in and game out.

There will never be anything like this again.

Brady now has the most rings of any player in the history of the NFL, and he is without a doubt the greatest of all time. The Patriots are definitely “still here.”

Page 23

Varsity Scores & Stats Men’s Basketball Fordham 61 George Washington 79 (FOR) Bunting: 19 PTS (8-13 FG), 5 REB

Women’s Track Metropolitan Classic (Individual Results Only) (FOR) Moroz: 800m - 2:13.95 - 1st

Women’s Basketball Fordham 65 La Salle

54 (FOR) Goulding: 14 PTS, 12 REB, 7 AST, 4 STL

Men’s Tennis Fordham Fairfield (FOR) Kemper: 6-1, 6-1

Women’s Tennis Quinnipiac 0 Fordham 7 (FOR) Taluyenko: 6-3, 6-4

7 0

Fordham 5 Queens 2 (FOR) de Macar: 4-6, 6-1, 6-1

Duquesne 46 Fordham 57 (FOR) Holden: 15 PTS (6-13 FG), 4 REB, 3 AST

Women’s Tennis Quinnipiac 0 Fordham 7 (FOR) Taluyenko: 6-3, 6-4

Men’s Track Metropolitan Classic (Individual Results Only) (FOR) Kutch: 5,000m - 15:24.11 - 1st

Men’s Swimming & Diving UMass 156 Fordham 144 (FOR) Vizza: 200 - 1:43.04 - 1st 100 Freestyle - 47:39 - 1st Women’s Swimming & Diving UMass 95 Fordham 205 (FOR) Brunner: 50 Freestyle - 23.86 - 1st 100 Freestyle - 51.31 - 1st

Athletes of the Week Andrew Byrne

Tara Brunner

Junior

Senior

Track

Swimming & Diving Brunner ended her home career at Fordham in style, winning two events on her own: both the 50 (23.86) and 100 freestyle (51.31). She was also a part of both of the women’s winning relays: the 200 medley (1:46.05) and the 200 freestyle (1:36.06).

Byrne was the exclamation point on a successful weekend for Men’s Track, winning four of the seven heptathlon events and scoring 4,458 points. Byrne earned his wins in the long jump (20’ 5 3/4”), pole vault (12’ 1 1/2”), high jump (6’ 6”) and 1,000 meter run (2:55.49).

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 • Men’s Hoops Tourney in DC The Atlantic 10 announced on Tuesday that

• Football Shines on Honor Roll

On Friday, 35 Fordham football players were placed on the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll, an honor received by student-athletes who earned a grade point average of 3.20 or better for the Fall 2018 semester. 215 names made the final list, and Fordham’s 35 ranked them third among Patriot League schools behind Bucknell (45) and Holy Cross (36). Seniors Austin Longi and Bryce Petty were two of 13 players that received this distinction and earned a spot on the 2018 Academic All-Patriot League team.

the 2022 edition of their Men’s Basketball tournament will return to Washington, D.C. Capital One Arena, in the nation’s capital, hosted the tournament for the first time in 2018 before the A-10 announced it would return to the Barclays Center in Brooklyn for 2019. After D.C. hosts in 2022, the tournament will return to Brooklyn through at least 2024.

• Shocking Ranking for Softball

Thursday afternoon saw the release of the Atlantic 10’s Softball Preseason Coaches’ Poll, and the Rams are projected to tie for second place. Fordham, a six-time defending champion of the conference, was predicted by the coaches this week to tie with Dayton for second place, and Massachusetts, last year’s runner-up, received nine first-place votes to be the top projected team in the conference.

These rankings mark the first time in seven years that the Rams were not predicted by the coaches to finish at the top of the standings.

• Swimming & Diving Honor Seniors

As 12 Fordham swimmers and divers participated in their last career home meets on Saturday, the program honored these men and women at their annual Senior Day. The event at the Col. Francis B. Messmore Aquatic Center was capitalized with success for the Rams against UMass, as the women won 205-95, and the men lost a close one 156-144. The team has one last meet before tournament time, that being against NYU on the road.

– Compiled by Dylan Balsamo

Andrew Becker Isles Look to Continue Success Down the Stretch The New York Islanders resumed game action this weekend after a 10day break, which overlapped with the league’s all-star recess and the team’s warranted bye week. In a back-toback situation, the Isles, for the most part, impressed Friday and Saturday night and ended up going 1-0-1.

These two games added to the Isles point streak, which currently stands at eight games without a regulation loss. They still stand atop the Metropolitan division as of Feb. 3 with 66 points, good for fifth place leaguewide.

The Islanders’ performance proved a few points this weekend. First, the Isles are the real deal and should be considered a team to be reckoned with by opponents. Second, the team can compete against the toughest of clubs, including the league-best Tampa Bay Lightning. Third, its defense is solid, even against the highest-scoring clubs in the league. Fourth, a true goal scorer would put this team over the top. Finally, this team can win games even when it isn’t performing at its best.

The team kicked off its busy weekend by battling the Tampa Bay Lightning for its second matchup in two weeks. The game was a low-scoring affair, as both goalies were credited with a shutout to their records. The game was decided in a shootout (seemingly the Isles’ biggest weakness all year) as Tampa, and its distinctive pedigree, was finally able to break through and win 1-0. The team played stellar defense and battled hard all game long against the NHL’s best. It showed just how legitimate the Isles are under the new Barry Trotz regime, led by Lou Lamoriello.

As a fan, it’s fantastic to watch, especially at the Coliseum, where most home games will be played for the remainder of the season.

Furthermore, keeping the Lightning off the board all game showed the true turnaround of this team’s defense. According to Capfriendly.com, $18,750,000 is being set aside to pay its back end. The Islanders have one of the lowest amounts allocated to defense league-wide (8th smallest to be exact), which is shocking for a team that is first in the goals against category. The only missing piece that might have helped it turn the tide against the Lightning would’ve been a solidified goal scorer. This leads to the trade deadline, which is right around the corner, and every Isles fan should know that Lou is always looking for the right deal to upgrade the team. Whether that enhancement comes via trade or free agency, Lamoriello will pull the trigger when best fit to do so.

The Islanders played the next day against the LA Kings in a much slower game. They went down late in the third, but scored three goals in under three minutes to take the game 4-2 against the West’s last-place team. It was a much-needed win to get back on track. The team was able to expand its lead in the Metro while doing away with the league’s worst. Although the Kings controlled chunks of play, the Isles found a way to win.

As any fan knows, the best teams find a way to steal games even when they aren’t playing their best brand of hockey. The Isles will look to continue their momentum towards the rush for playoffs, as they start a road trip in Boston Tuesday night.

Page 24

SPORTS

February 6, 2019

The Fordham Ram Women’s Basketball Wins Second Straight Against Duquesne

By JACK MCLOONE

SPORTS EDITOR EMERITUS

The Rams seem to have righted the ship. After a rough slide where it lost three out of four games, the team bounced back with a win on the road against La Salle before a surprisingly dominant 57-46 win over Duquesne.

While things got off to a rocky start — the Rams trailed 17-13 at the end of the first quarter — a flurry of threes lifted them up and over the top. With 4:01 left in the first half, freshman forward Kaitlyn Downey found senior forward Mary Goulding near the top of the arc, where she hit a three to give Fordham a 23-22 lead. The Rams did not trail again.

That three came in the midst of a 10-point run for the Rams. With three seconds remaining in the half, sophomore guard Kendell Heremaia drifted into the corner before hitting a three to put Fordham up 32-27 heading into the half.

The Rams were on fire in the second quarter, making over 41 percent of their shots, and included going five of 11 from three in the quarter. They have hit five or fewer threes in nine complete games this season, including each of their past three losses.

In the second half, the Rams’ took the air out of the ball, often waiting until the final moments of the shot clock before shooting, though head coach Stephanie Gaitley said this was unintentional.

“We put a focus on playing 40 minutes of defense so that

Women’s Basketball improves to 15-8 after beating Duquesne University on Sunday afternoon at home. the offensive end is a bonus, and I think that helped,” she said.

Neither team scored for the first two minutes of the third quarter until guard Julijana Vojinovic scored on a fastbreak for the Dukes.

The Rams came right down the court and responded with a three from senior guard Lauren Holden.

After another minute and a half break, the teams traded threes on back-to-back possessions.

A Holden bucket with 5:02 left was the only field goal scored until 2:25 remained in the third, when the teams once again traded threes. There was a brief flurry of scoring to close the quarter, with a buzzer-beater from Downey giving the Rams a 12-point lead heading into the final quarter.

That lead was pushed as high

as 17 points in the fourth quarter, where Duquesne out-scored Fordham 9-8, but the game was already well out of hand, allowing Gaitley to sub in her bench with one minute remaining.

Duquesne came into the game among the tops of the Atlantic 10 conference, a group Fordham has struggled against so far this season, but the Rams were able to notch their best conference win of the season so far. They did so on the back of one of their best shooting performances of the season, making almost 37 percent of their field goals and a robust 40 percent of their threes (making 10 of 25).

“Shooting is a funny thing — it’s about confidence and repetition,” said Gaitley. “Look at the NC State Men’s team that set a re-

cord for lowest amount of points during the shot clock era [Editor’s Note: NC State scored 24 points in a loss to Virginia Tech on Saturday]. They are a nationally ranked team. Sometimes you just can’t pinpoint an answer.”

Perhaps the most shocking part of the Rams’ fairly dominant victory was that they achieved it with a negligible offensive contribution from sophomore guard Bre Cavanaugh. She had a season-low four points on 1-11 shooting, missing all four of her three-point attempts. She did chip in elsewhere, pulling down six rebounds and handing out five assists, the latter a game-high. Overall, Fordham had 15 assists to 13 turnovers.

“I think beating a very good Duquesne team with Bre not scor-

MACKENZIE CRANNA/THE FORDHAM RAM

ing her average says a lot about the team as a whole,” said Gaitley.

“Once we are all shooting well at the same time, we will be really tough!”

Lauren Holden was the Rams’ leading scorer with 15 points, tying her season high from last game. After a slow start, she hasbeen picking it up, scoring double-digit points in each of the last four games and five of her last six.

Heremaia led the team in made threes, hitting four of nine. She had 14 points, her best since scoring 17 against Texas on Nov. 25.

The win over Duquesne was the start of a three-game homestand for the Rams. Their next game is against Saint Louis at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 6, and then they welcome George Mason at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 10.

Men’s Basketball Still Looking for First Conference Win This Season

By ANDREW POSADAS ASST SPORTS EDITOR

Fordham Men’s Basketball continues to have bad luck in the nation’s capital. Heading into last Wednesday’s game at George Washington University, the Rams had lost eight straight games to the Colonials. Fordham came in 0-14 all-time against GW on the road.

The Rams got off to an 11-6 lead five minutes into play behind two three-pointers from freshman guard Nick Honor. Fordham built a five-point lead at the nine-minute mark, when junior forward Jesse Bunting’s dunk put the Rams up 25-20. However, the last nine minutes of the first half belonged to George Washington.

The Colonials went on a 19-7 run to end the half. Redshirt guard D.J. Williams did the most damage, leading all scorers in the first half with 15 points. Fordham saw its 5-point lead transform into a 7-point deficit at halftime, 39-32.

Fordham’s offensive struggles continued on offense into the second half. The Rams shot under 40 percent from the field in the second half, hindering their attempts at a possible comeback.

The Colonials kept their foot on the pedal, earning 40 points in the second half alone. Williams matched his 15 first points in the

MACKENZIE CRANNA/THE FORDHAM RAM

Men’s Basketball continues its struggles in the Atlantic 10 as they’ve lost their first eight conference games. first half with 15 more in the second.

George Washington did not relinquish its lead and cruised to its ninth straight win over Fordham, 79-61. For the Rams, Jesse Bunting scored a careerhigh 19 points while adding five rebounds. Nick Honor finished

with 15 points while junior guard Antwon Portley added 12 points of his own.

Aside from their ninth straight loss to GW, the Rams have now lost nine straight games this season and their first eight in the Atlantic 10. However, their overall record now stands at 9-12, but

an 0-8 conference record leaves Fordham in the cellar by itself.

However, there may be hope, starting this evening when the Rams travel to the University of Massachusetts.

UMass is currently the second worst team in the Atlantic 10 ahead of Fordham. Its only con-

ference win came against the University of Rhode Island on Jan. 27. The Minutemen are coming off two straight road losses. While it may seem that a home game is just what UMass needs, they are only 6-6 at home this season, which bodes well for the Rams.

Head coach Jeff Neubauer has stayed consistent in his message to the team during this losing streak, saying, “We need to continue staying competitive and playing hard.”

Neubauer feels optimistic that his team is not going to give up on its season, despite the losing streak. Neubauer believes the young team can learn from these losses and use them as a growing experience moving forward.

The reality is, tonight’s matchup against the Minutemen may be the Rams’ best shot at getting a conference win. They will almost certainly be underdogs in their remaining nine games after the UMass game tonight. Is there a possibility that Fordham goes winless in conference should they lose to UMass? That is yet to be determined.

Certainly, the lack of experience and influx of freshmen have caught up to Fordham in conference play. A win would go a long way.

Fordham is back in action this evening at the University of Massachusetts. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.