Volume 94 Issue 21

Opinions PAGE 5

Culture PAGE 13

Sports PAGE 19

Would the Bronx become safer with increased NYPD presence?

Tony Hawk and Stacy Peralta discuss the ‘Bones Brigade.’

Men’s basketball drops 4 out of 5 to open the season.

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SERVING THE FORDHAM UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY FOR OVER 90 YEARS

1918-2012

NOVEMBER 28, 2012

VOLUME 94, ISSUE 21

While Most Go Out, Some Stay Behind ... And Wait Sodexo Introduces Rewards Program

By CONNOR RYAN NEWS EDITOR

It was right before midnight on a brisk Friday. The crew had just gotten back to campus after a quick trip to the nearby 7-Eleven for chips and soda. The three students on duty simultaneously received a call from the dispatcher, located in the Office of Safety and Security, as they walked through the door of the Fordham University Emergency Medical Service (FUEMS) office.

It was the third call of the night, but it was the first “intox” (intoxicated person) call.

Snacks were tossed on a table and the crew was back out the door. The conversation hushed as everyone assumed their respective duties and got into “Rig One,” the newer of the two ambulances that FUEMS uses.

As Rob Raffaele, FCRH ’15 and first lieutenant, quickly rounded the corner to bring the ambulance onto the narrow road behind SaliceConley Hall, he subtly turned up the radio. A pop song was playing, and he quietly hummed along.

PHOTO BY CONNOR RYAN/THE RAM

Jim Benischeck, FCRH ’14 and second lieutenant, prepares to sterilze a stretcher.

Jim Benischeck, FCRH ’14 and second lieutenant, and Bryan Galligan, FCRH ’15 and administrative officer, were in the back of the ambulance taking final inventory and preparing the Patient Care Report (PCR) for easy access.

The nature of the call was unknown — as it often is — but the atmosphere inside the ambulance remained composed and focused.

Like starting basketball players before a big playoff game, the crew was getting into the zone.

A male freshman, clearly intoxicated and whose identity has been withheld to maintain confidentiality, was sitting in the bushes near a residnce hall. A security guard and a girl in a tight, white skirt were standing over him.

She said that the two of them

had been drinking earlier that night at Barstool Blackout, a nationwide college concert tour, in Manhattan.

He apparently had 14 or 15 drinks, mostly vodka, before returning back to campus and collapsing. She said that he might have fallen, but confirmed later that he did not hit his head.

After the student vomited in front of the crew, they loaded him into the ambulance and prepared to transport him to St. Barnabas Hospital — one of the hospitals to which FUEMS transports patients.

(FUEMS also transports to Montefiore Hospital and the Jacobi Medical Center, depending on the call.)

Before moving out, Galligan asked the patient to provide some basic information (such as his home address and telephone number) for the PCR, which must be filled out with every FUEMS call.

The student spoke mostly incoherently as he floated in and out of consciousness, vomiting every few minutes into a plastic red bag fastened around his neck. When he did speak, he pleaded that the crew not call his parents and later apoloSEE FUEMS, PAGE 4

Peter Singer Leads Panel on Animal Rights, Christianity Four Panelists Discuss Controversial Issues Related to Animal Rights Including Factory Farming, Medicial Research

By KELLY KULTYS ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

On Friday, Nov. 16, well-known modern-day philosopher Dr. Peter Singer headlined the panel of “Christians and Other Animals: Moving the Conversation Forward.” The event was co-sponsored by the department of theology, the Center for Religion and Culture, the Office of the Provost, the dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill and the dean of Fordham University Faculty.

This panel also featured Dr. David Clough from the University of Chester, Dr. R.R. Reno from Creighton University and Fordham Ph.D candidate Eric Meyer.

The four speakers offered different perspectives on the controversial issue of animal rights, while tying it into Christian beliefs. The main topic of the panel included how nonhuman animals should be treated according to Christian doctrine.

“I thought it was really cool that we [as students] were able to attend,” Victoria Cipollone, FCRH ’14, said. “It was also really cool to have someone renowned, like Peter Singer, speak to us at Fordham.”

The panel discussion began with opening remarks as the four introduced their own personal beliefs.

Singer started by discussing how the Western world views animals.

According to Singer, in the Western world animals are viewed in human eyes as a “means to an end.”

They are seen to have no moral status, which is suited to the interests of the society. Singer touched on the issue of “speciesim” which is defined by Merriam-Webster as a “prejudice or discrimination based on species.” Singer mentioned that there is no reason to discount animals or discriminate against them because humans and animals share many of the same emotions, such as pain and suffering.

Clough followed Singer, connecting his idea of nondiscrimination between humans and animals to his Christianity. Clough called for a “faith-based” vegetarianism, since, for Christians, there are religious reasons to abstain from eating animals. Meyer then built on Clough’s ideas, by stating that we need to see ourselves as animals because then the distinctions fall and we are able to treat them the way we would like to be treated.

Opposing these pro-animal views was Reno, titled the “sympathetic skeptic.” Reno said that nature depends upon humans and humans alone, since they can take charge of nature through their morals. He stated that humans control the fates of animals.

The panel then moved into an open forum between the four speakers, facilitated by Reno. The discussion covered a wide variety of topics in the realm of Christianity-related animal rights, including how animals feel pain and suffering and factory farming. Clough reiterated that humans, specifically

COURTESY OF JOEL TRAVIS/WIKIMEDIA

Singer, author of Animal Liberation, discusses the quality of life of animals.

Christians, have a natural duty not to inflict pain on animals. Reno responded that morally justified human concerns should be valued over animal concerns because humans and animals are different beings.

Singer then brought up the issue of factory farming, which is a method used to mass produce meat products by raising animals from a young age in farm-like conditions where they do not have the ability to see the “outside world.” Clough mentioned the specific instance of chickens that

are genetically-enhanced to create better meat, but their legs cannot support the additional weight, so the animals will eventually die of hunger and thirst. Reno brought up the common rebuttal that although these techniques may be horrible, for many poor human beings it is one of their main options for food. Singer responded by reinforcing the idea of vegetarianism.

“I’m glad that it was a panel,” Cipollone said. “We were not lectured at and we got to listen to opinions interacting.”

SEE PANEL, PAGE 2

By KELLY KULTYS ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Sodexo Inc, the food service provider for Fordham University, recently released a QBOT app at the start of the 2012-2013 academic year. QBOT is “the first app of its type that allows consumers and businesses to directly connect in a social environment, allows students, staff and community members at pilot campuses to find information and deals for campus dining and retail locations, according to as Rebecca Moore, the District Marketing Specialist for Sodexo.

Students with smartphone accessibility can download the app and then use it when they visit any of the Sodexo-sponsored places on campus. Students who have downloaded the app will receive offers and discounts through it. They can show these offers via the app at the cash register and then scan the QBOT app code at the register.

Students will then begin accumulating points and purchases to gain access to exclusive deals. If they use the app frequently enough, students can become VIP members, which will give them even more exclusive access and notifications.

Right now, the QBOT app is in its pilot stages at 12 universities across the nation, including George Washington University in Washington, D.C.; Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles; Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY; Seattle Pacific University in Seattle; University of Denver in Denver and; of course, Fordham.

Sodexo decided to join with QBOT because of how much college students interact with their smartphones.

“Sodexo realized that this presented an opportunity to reach students and offer them campus dining rewards and special offers in an entirely new and more convenient way, so we partnered with QBOT,” Moore said via email.

Currently at Fordham, the QBOT app is available at SubConnection.

“Students [can expect the following] QBOT Rewards at SubConnection — VIP reward: 50 percent off any foot-long sub; two point reward: free fountain beverage; four point reward: 50 percent off check and a six point reward: free six-inch sub,” Moore said. “An additional benefit to the QBOT program is that loyalty rewards SEE QBOT, PAGE 3

PAGE 2• THE RAM • NOVEMBER 28, 2012

SECURITY

BRIEFS

NEWS

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USG Hosts Bi-Annual Budget Day Committee Spends Over 13 Hours Allocating Funds to Over 65 Student-Run Clubs

By KELLY KULTYS ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Nov. 13, McGinley Fitness Center Security identified and apprehended a student for thefts in the McGinley Fitness Center. The University is taking action to deal with this incident.

Nov. 17, Walsh Hall 1:20 p.m.

An occupied elevator was stuck between the eighth and ninth floors of Walsh Hall. The elevator mechanic responded and freed the students without injury or damage. The elevator car was put out of service until it was repaired.

Nov. 21, Lombardi Center 3:45 a.m.

An unknown male and female attempted to enter the Lombardi Center through the rear door. A security officer responded to the two culprits, who fled the scene across Murphy field to exit campus. The security guard prevented them from entering the Lombardi Center. There were neither property damage nor theft. Security is investigating the event.

Nov. 22, Fordham Road, between Bathgate Avenue and Washington Park 12:30 p.m.

A transformer box on Fordham Road caused a partial blackout in the Murray-Weigel building.

FDNY and ConEd responded along with Fordham security to restore power.

Nov. 26, Walsh Training Center 2 -3:45 p.m.

Two athletes walked out of the Walsh Training Center and left their wallets inside the football locker room. They returned to find that money was missing from their wallets. While in training, $150 was stolen from one wallet and $140 from the other. Security is now investigating the event.

Nov. 27, Keating Hall 6:45 p.m.

Two students reported placing their personal items on the Keating Hall steps while going for a run around campus. When the student returned 45 minutes later, they discovered their property was missing. Their two backpacks were taken, one of which contained a cell phone. Security has investigated the event and met negative results.

—Compiled by Karen Hill, Assistant News Editor

On Saturday, Nov. 17, the Budget Committee, which falls under the discretion of both the United Student Government (USG) and the Student Life Council (SLC), hosted its bi-annual Budget Day. The purpose of this day is to allocate funds from the Student Activities Fee to the clubs who submitted requests.

The committee, chaired by Muhammad Sarwar, GSB ’14, USG vice president of finance and chair of the budget committee on SLC, spent over 13 hours figuring out how to divvy up the $155,000 the committee had at the start of the day.

“We want to give everyone a fair and equal chance,” Sarwar said.

“Right now, according to my math, we’ve funded about 46 percent or so.

We did much better than last time.

Last spring we funded about 28 percent.”

The Budget Committee is made up of both USG and non-USG members and has two faculty advisors, Natalia Fernandez, the assistant director for leadership and commuter student services and Jenn Lackie, the assistant director for student organizations. This year, the committee has 11 students, with representatives from all four grade levels and the two schools, Fordham College Rose Hill and the Gabelli School of Business.

“I like to think that I provide a little bit of a different perspective, because if you look at the composition of the committee, there are 11 of us and seven of us are from GSB,” Matt Freeze, FCRH ’13, said. “That’s great because they’re number people, and on Budget Committee you need some of that. I kind of provide a different perspective. You need to think in terms of the value of what the events are going to bring.”

Over 65 clubs applied for some type of funding for various purposes, including hosting events, running programs, leading trips and bringing in guest speakers.

FROM PANEL, PAGE 1

COURTESY OF BRENDAN FRANCOLINI

Sarwar officially puts an end to the Budget Day for the Spring 2013 semester.

The way the budget process works is that club treasurers fill out their “budget packets.” These packets consist of what the club hopes to fund for the upcoming semester. They have to prioritize these events based on their level of importance.

“One of the things we’re really careful about is we hate being programmers,” Sarwar said. “It’s not our job.”

Clubs are also required to show proof and evidence of where they are planning to spend the money, what they estimate the cost to be and why they think their event is a good idea.

“Lack of documentation is the biggest reason [clubs don’t get money],” Sarwar said. “It makes our job easier, but it’s bittersweet because we want to fund them.”

With over 100 clubs on campus and over 65 of them petitioning for money, the Budget Committee sometimes has to make difficult decisions due to the limited funds.

“We had about a hole of $67,000,” Sarwar said. “In a perfect world, if we had the money, we would fund that amount.”

The easiest way for a club not to receive funding is to have an improperly-completed budget packet. Once the committee removes those packets that are not completed properly,

they allocate money for each correctly-documented event, without factoring in how much money they have at first. After they complete that, if the committee has over-allocated, they have to step back and make cuts.

“We have to go back and look at them holistically and see what makes the most sense to fund,” Sarwar said.

The committee takes into account how the program or event will benefit the community, how much different aspects cost and how important the event is to the club.

“One of the new things we did this year was ask the clubs to prioritize,” Sarwar said. “So if you are asking for 10 different events, go through one through 10 and tell us which is least important and which is most important, which makes it easier for us.”

If a club does not get funding, it can still attend the Budget Committee’s weekly meetings to appeal for the money. If there is money from kickbacks from clubs or leftover funds, the committee can then allocate the money to the club.

As for this Budget Day, the committee finalized its preordained budget for next semester. The budget will be presented at the SLC meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 5, where they will vote to approve the Budget Committee’s allocations.

Fordham in the Bronx

By JEFFREY COLTIN STAFF WRITER

Students Connect With the Bronx at LIFT The Bronx can be an uplifting place. Sometimes those break-dancers on the D train are the perfect entertainment. One can spend hours enjoying a cappuccino and a cannoli on the sidewalks of Arthur Avenue.

And nothing brightens a day like a walk in the Botanical Garden. But life is tough for many in the Bronx.

Knowing that, some Fordham students choose to pay it forward and raise up the borough they love by volunteering at LIFT-The Bronx.

LIFT-The Bronx gives one-onone help to clients across New York City, connecting those in need with resources in employment, housing, legal services and public benefits.

It’s primarily a resource center, but Kelsey Reeder, FCRH ’14, says it is not like other social service organizations. “[LIFT] really promotes empowerment,” she said. “We’re really careful to make people feel like they are valuable and cared for instead of your average social services, which give you a bunch of forms and push you

Panel Includes Specieism, Vegetarianism

on to the next person.”

Reeder says LIFT-The Bronx combats this by creating close relationships between advocate and client and working until the client’s problems are resolved, no matter how long it takes. Reeder is LIFT’s resource development director, as well as being an advocate — LIFT’s term for its volunteers. Advocates serve clients and provide them with resources and guidance. She joined LIFT at the beginning of her freshman year after visiting the offices with Fordham’s Urban Plunge program. She had already heard of LIFT from a family friend who worked at the offices in Washington, D.C. LIFT is a national organization with offices in six big cities across the country. Founded in 1998 in New Haven, Conn., the Bronx office was opened by Fordham students in 1999 and continues to have a close relationship with the University’s students. LIFT-The Bronx recently moved into a new office only minutes away from Rose Hill on Bel-

mont Avenue between 186th and 187th. Reeder says it put her right in the community.

“It’s important getting to know the community that you’re living in, the people that you’re sharing a grocery store and a park and the sidewalk with — getting to know the people that you’re sharing everything with,” she said.

Advocate Maya Deykerhoff, FCRH ’15, joined LIFT last year after learning about the organization through the Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice weekly email.

She says volunteering at LIFT has been a great opportunity.

“I’ve gotten to meet a lot of amazing people who live in the Bronx, work in the Bronx, and it’s cool to support them, learn from them and celebrate them,” she said.

Reeder urges Fordham students to apply at LIFT. “It pulls you out of your zone, out of the world of Fordham, and shows you what real life in the Bronx is like,” she said.

The panel then answered questions that the audience members submitted. The main questions included what constitutes a good life, or quality of life, for animals and the issue of using animals for scientific research.

Singer said that if an animal had lived a good life, enjoying all the benefits of freedom on a real farm, had good food to eat and clean water to drink, he could understand why a person could argue for eating the animal after it passed.

Meyer somewhat rebutted the statement, bringing into consideration the bond that forms between humans and animals, such as between a farmer and his yearlings.

Meyer said that when a farmer puts down one of his yearlings, the others somehow know something is wrong and immediately run away from him. According to him, the quality of life for an animal is not relevant to the topic of eating the animal as meat.

The last topic the panel touched on was the issue of animal research in regards to medical testing.

Singer mentioned that he believes a lot of scientific testing is useless or pointless, although he did mention a few cases may be necessary if there are no other viable alternatives. \Clough built on that by stating that it is wrong that humans are always inclined to ignore nonhuman interest for their own benefit.

“I don’t think there was enough time for questions from the audience,” Cipollone said. “They also skirted around some of the more controversial topics.”

The panel finished with closing statements from each of the speakers.

THIS

week at

FORDHAM Thursday, Nov. 29, “The Bohuns and Their Books”, Center for Medieval Studies, McGinley Center Faculty Lounge 12:45 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 30, HelloGoodbye Winterfest Concert, Lincoln Center Campus, Campus Activities Board 6 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 30, Girsa at the Blend!, Fordham Gaelic Society, The Blend Cafe, 8 p.m.

Sunday, Dec. 2, Lessons and Carols, University Church, 3 p.m.

Monday, Dec. 3, Showing of Electoral Dysfunction, Keating 1st, 7 p.m.

Tuesday, Dec. 4, Dodgeball for Hurricane Sandy Rose Hill Gym 7 p.m.

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NOVEMBER 28, 2012 • THE RAM • PAGE 3

Orthodox Christian Fellowship Hosts Philokalia Lecture

Very Reverend John Anthony McGuckin Speaks to Students, Faculty About Different Versions of the Orthodox Text, the Philokalia

By EDDIE MIKUS STAFF WRITER

The Orthodox Christian Fellowship hosted its annual Orthodoxy in America lecture on Nov. 14. The talk served as a general educational opportunity for all students, even those who do not adhere to one of the Orthodox Christian denominations.

“The point of the Orthodoxy in America lecture series, as I understand it, is a way for not only Orthodox students who attend Fordham University to learn more about their religion, but for others to be introduced to Orthodoxy as well and see how it relates to them,” James Florakis, FCRH ’15, a member of the Orthodox Christian Fellowship board, said.

This year’s event featured the Very Reverend John Anthony McGuckin, a Romanian Orthodox priest, who spoke about the Orthodox text known as the Philokalia. It is a text that a member of the Fordham University faculty described as one of the most important in that faith tradition.

“It’s one of the great texts of Orthodox spirituality,” Zach Smith, a doctoral candidate who teaches an Eloquentia Perfecta Faith and Critical Reason course, said. “It might be the great text of Orthodox spirituality. It helps Eastern Orthodox spirituality throughout the centuries, how there’s been similarity, how there’s been change. And it starts with guys who are some of the very formative people in Christian thought and some of the very formative people in Christian expression.”

Smith said that he studied the Philokalia while doing Masters work at Emory University.

McGuckin’s explanation of the Philokalia in his lecture was comparatively an understatement, though he did not dispute the importance of the text to the Orthodox churches.

“The Philokalia is no more than a portable library of thought,” McGuckin, a reputed Orthodox scholar who holds chairs in Byzantine Christian history at Union Theological Seminary and Columbia University, said in describing the text. “But since this

one was compiled by monastics in post-classical ages, it has patristically swung away from dogmatics towards the fathers’ words on ascetical living, mastery of the soul’s inner peace and doctrine of prayer.”

McGuckin went on to describe how the Philokalia was able to address some complicated theological questions as a result of this shift in philosophy.

“The collection of those texts follows a more or less generic master theme, which is the search for inner stability, what we might call tonight the anthropological aporia, with the quest for the transcendental vision of God,” McGuckin said.

A major topic of McGuckin’s talk focused on the development of the Philokalia. McGuckin dedicated entire segments of the lecture to its two major versions: a Slavonic version known as the Dobrotolubye by Saint Paisius Velichkovsky and a Greek version

by Saints Makarios and Nicodemus. He explicitly said, however, that the modern English translation has omitted the material which was included by Nicodemus.

Another topic that McGuckin addressed was the fact that the Philokalia was responsible for several innovations in how similar works are compiled today.

“Nicodemus organized all this material chronologically,” McGukin said, speaking of how the Athenian Philokalia was arranged differently from other works of the period. “It seems obvious to us moderns that anybody ought to do it in that way, but this was a radical change in trajectory. In earlier Christian times, such matter had usually been arranged alphabetically. Who can say to the Desert Fathers [a group of early Christian ascetics] it comes from A to omega? It’s not arranged chronologically, but if isn’t arranged alphabetically, it can also be arranged topically.”

McGuckin also talked about how the philokalic tradition impacted America in the 1960s.

This specifically occurred as the result of new Asian religious movements and the incorporation of philokalic elements into

COURTESY OF CHRIS TAFFERT/FORDHAM.EDU

Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the university, welcomes the guest speaker, Rev. John Anthony McGuckin

J.D. Salinger’s book Frannie and Zooey.

“From the sixties onwards, Asian religion taught Americans that interiority was mystical, pacific, desirable and cool,” McGuckin said about the increased influence of new religious traditions during that period in American history. “But when they then turned to look at their Christian structures, they found things that were decidedly not that.”

McGuckin continued, adding a reference to a Buddhist school of thought.

“Enter the novelist J.D. Salinger,” McGuckin said. “Not only a famously popular writer on the wave of the beat generation, but also a serious student of Advaita metaphysics. It was Advaita consciousness from an outside observer that brought forward to the late sixties, that brought forward that shy, retiring maven of Orthodoxy as a viable advocate of mystic consciousness.”

Smith agreed with this assessment on Salinger’s work increasing the profile of the Orthodox

churches in the United States.

“Especially after Frannie and Zooey, Eastern Orthodoxy became a topic of fringe interest in the United States and people started seeing these intersections not only between Eastern and Western Christianity, but also between Christianity and the Far East through this newfound Eastern Christian spirituality,” Smith said.

Reaction to the lecture was generally positive.

“It was, I think for all of us, a great and surprising presentation, because I would imagine that more than a few of the students came saying, ‘Aw gee, this is going to be dry,’” Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of Fordham University, said in remarks delivered to the audience after the address. “It was captivating, it was compelling, it was very dynamic, but accessible.”

Florakis also had a similar reaction to the lecture.

“I thought the lecture was great,” Florakis said. “I came in expecting to hear a lot about

Orthodoxy itself and only Orthodoxy itself in America, but it was great to hear not only about Orthodoxy, but how different aspects of our lives, whether it be literature, whether it be traveling or whether it be the lives of saints and how they affect us and Orthdoxy.”

Additionally, Florakis explained the personal significance that the Philokalia has in his own life “For me, the significance of the Philokalia is basically to learn to how to be religious, not only within a community, but also within ourselves,” Florakis said.

Some students at Fordham may have the chance to learn from the teachings of the Philokalia.

Smith said that he was considering using some elements of the text in an Early Christian Writings Sacred Texts and Traditions course he will be teaching in the spring. However, at press time, he had not completed the process of finalizing the syllabus for that course, which means that the course’s content is not yet official.

Sodexo’s QBOT App Increasing Connections with Customers FROM QBOT, PAGE 1

have become much more userfriendly. Gone are the days when people had to carry punch cards or other tools to keep track of repeated purchases – now students can do it all on their phones.”

So far, during its early stages, students have been very excited about the app. It gives them an incentive to purchase more food on campus as well as allowing them to optimally use every dollar of their DCB. Sodexo and QBOT also are benefitting from the launch of the QBOT app onto college campuses.

“As Wendi Gretz, Sodexo’s senior director of field marketing, said, ‘College students live their lives through their smartphones, so QBOT makes reaching and rewarding our loyal customers more

convenient and effective. This is a real game changer in improving the overall student experience,’” Moore said.

This app also allows students an easier way to interact with their food service provider and let them know what their preferences are.

“The QBOT app allows Sodexo to connect with our valued Fordham customers in a new and easy way,” Moore said. “We are also able to thank students and other customers who visit us frequently by offering them rewards and special offers.”

As previously mentioned, the app is currently in its pilot stage.

When the app begins to expand and grow, it will be launched in other places and other Sodexo locations on campus.

PHOTO BY DREW DIPANE/THE RAM

A student scans his app to accumulate points that will eventually turn into free rewards, such as discounted subs.

PAGE 4 • THE RAM • NOVEMBER 28, 2012

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From Joking Around to Complete Focus at the Sound of the Radio FROM FUEMS, PAGE 1

gized to them. He pledged that he would never drink that much again.

Galligan assured him that the crew would not call his parents.

Benischeck took the student’s blood pressure, pulse, blood oxygen saturation and pupil response.

Then, Raffaele was given the green light to go.

Just as the ambulance began moving, Benischeck asked the student about his night and whether he thought the concert had been worth it.

“No…it wasn’t worth it,” the student said quietly. He was convinced he was still sitting at the bar.

6:18 p.m.

The Friday night crew has already assembled in the FUEMS office, located beneath Queen’s Court. Maeve Bassett, FCRH ’14 and Director of Fordham EMS, is in the office ready to check supply levels. The crew will also do a “Rig Check” on every shift, during which they check the supplies in the ambulance, as well as the exterior emergency lights.

The back of the ambulance is tight, but well organized. Each bandage, roll of medical tape and tool has a designated nook or cabinet.

The crew prides itself on maintaining a full inventory and knowing exactly where everything is.

The biggest items of note are two bags. One, called the “Jump Bag,” contains bandages and first-aid materials. The second contains an oxygen canister and tools related to oxygen administration, including albuterol, which is often used on asthmatic patients.

The ambulance also carries a suction system, to be used in the event of profuse vomiting or any compromised airway, a defibrillator and a backboard.

The ambulance stops in front of Best Deli (another dinner option).

While Bassett runs inside, the others stay in the ambulance and the conversation ranges from a particularly difficult Organic Chemistry quiz to some funny moments on past calls.

7:30 p.m.

After eating as a group at a long table in the main room of the office, Raffaele escapes to a smaller office to review previous PCRs. For every call that FUEMS responds to, a PCR has to be filled out. The nature of the call, a short assessment of the patient, patient information (including his or her vital signs) and the treatment received are all included in the form. Raffaele says part of his job is to review past calls to see how FUEMS could be improved and ensure that they maintain a high quality of care.

After every call, FUEMS contacts Kathleen Malara, executive director of University Health Services, or Deborah Mosko, assistant director of Health Services, to report the incident. Malara and Mosko use that information to followup with the patient the next day.

Despite the fear many students have about FUEMS calling their parents, Bassett said that because FUEMS is bound by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), they cannot tell anyone about the specifics of any call. Employees at the Student Health Center are also bound by that confidentiality agreement.

scary enough, but being in a prestigious school where a lot of it depends on your record, anything that could put a bad mark on your record is scary to a lot of people,” Bassett said later in an interview.

“During the CARE programming, I focus on our medical amnesty policy.”

Raffaele says he is well aware that many students do not want to call FUEMS, for themselves or for friends, in fear of getting into trouble. His response is direct.

“If you are afraid to call for your friend because you think you’re going to get into trouble and your friend doesn’t wake up in the morning, then it really doesn’t matter whether you got documented or not,” Raffaele said later in an interview.

As it turns out, Fordham’s medical amnesty policy states that if a student calls FUEMS for another student, the student who called cannot get into trouble. Also, the first time that a student is taken to the hospital because of substance abuse, they do not get into disciplinary trouble. They do, however, have to meet with an administrator from Fordham’s Office of Substance Abuse Prevention and Student Support.

“The best way anybody can help us is if they see someone who needs help to call us,” Raffaele said. Contact FUEMS at (718) 817-2222.

8:09 p.m.

Light conversation continues in the office. Then, a switch is flipped

the hospital is not needed.

After getting the last bit of information from the 21-year-old athlete, the crew waits 15 minutes before leaving the field, per protocol.

8:39 p.m.

Men in Black is on the TV in the office. Bassett is curled up on one of the three couches in the office.

The more-experienced Raffaele talks to Galligan about the call, and what could be done to improve the process going forward. Benischeck contributes to the conversation briefly and then sits down to watch the movie.

9:16 p.m.

A security dispatcher pipes through the radio once again. Another rugby player is hurt.

The crew returns to Murphy Field, this time to help a player who has a laceration just above his left eyebrow. He sustained the injury after colliding heads with another player on the field. The same structural protocol from the last call is followed again. Galligan cleans and dresses the wound.

11:15 p.m.

After going to the nearby 7-Eleven for some snacks, the crew drives by various local bars to take a look at the traffic as they try to gauge how busy the night will be. Raffaele later said that those kinds of trips are fairly regular.

There are 11 officers, roughly 25 crew chief drivers, nearly 50 EMTs and drivers and more than 60 at-

6:35 p.m.

Raffaele is in the driver’s seat of the ambulance. He does a radio check with the Mutual Aide Response System (MARS), which FUEMS calls if additional resources are needed. FUEMS is a Basic Life Support service (as are most FDNY units). FUEMS may radio MARS if a higher medical authority is required on a call.

Bassett, Galligan and Benischeck sit in the back of the ambulance.

“Good to go?” Raffaele asks the three in the back. They give him the all-clear and the ambulance begins to move. Its next destination is Wendy’s.

7:00 p.m.

The ambulance smells like French fires. The conversation flows easily and laughter is almost constant in the back of the ambulance as it pulls out of the Wendy’s parking lot.

It soon becomes apparent that the ambulance is about as bumpy a ride as the typical Ram Van and that preventing a large soda from spilling is undoubtedly a respected skill.

“Rig Two,” the older ambulance that FUEMS brought into Manhattan on September 11, will soon be replaced. (The crew is very excited about that.)

7:15 p.m.

PHOTOS BY CONNOR RYAN/THE RAM

Aside from going on calls, FUEMS crew members spend a lot of time together either talking in the office or getting dinner at Wendy’s.

HIPAA prohibits medical personnel from revealing details about a call. That does not apply, however, when medical professionals contact other professionals to discuss a case. Details from cases may be used in training environments, but the identities of patients are never discussed.

Bassett says that she has tried to dispel rumors and common misconceptions at the mandatory Campus Assault and Relationship Education (CARE) programming.

All students are required to go through the program their freshman year.

“Just going to the hospital is

as the first call of the night comes through the radio. A rugby player has injured his knee in a game on Murphy Field.

“It’s a very harsh switch from joking around to ‘OK, we’re on a job now,” Raffaele said of the adrenaline-inducing transformation.

The three crew members (Bassett was not on duty at the time) are next to the injured player in a matter of minutes. Galligan asks for basic information while Benischeck takes the player’s vitals. It is quickly determined that a simple dressing will be the best course of action. The crew, with the patient’s consent, determines that a trip to

tendants (new members) currently working at FUEMS. Despite the long hours and the difficult circumstances students are often thrown into, the organization is completely student-run and volunteer-based.

Malara, however, feels as though the students who work should be compensated in some way.

“I would like to see the student volunteers compensated somehow, either early registration, food vouchers, books, room and board or just a stipend,” Malara said in an email. “Students should know and understand that these student volunteers are first and foremost students themselves, that they deserve

respect and that they are bound by confidentiality regarding transports.”

12:30 p.m.

The crew waits in the emergency room of Barnabas. The patient from the first “intox” call of the night is sitting up, but dozing, on a stretcher pushed off to the side.

Benischeck and the student’s friend stay next to the stretcher. Galligan and Raffaele brief the receiving nurse. Just about every bed in sight is occupied.

The student stays on the stretcher, waiting in line to be triaged. Finally, a nurse comes to the student and takes his vitals. Raffaele provides the nurse with more information about the student’s condition.

The student is eventually moved into the pediatric unit. His friend’s high heels click down one of the hospital’s many glossy hallways as she closely follows the stretcher.

As the crew leaves the hospital, a police officer sitting in the emergency room is speaking with a hospital worker. He quietly comments about Fordham’s cost of tuition and the amount of intoxicated students he sees come through the hospital.

4:20 a.m.

The second “intox” call of the night comes through the radio – this time, it is at an off-campus residence.

The crew walks up three flights of stairs to the apartment where the intoxicated student is located. The small apartment smells of smoke and there are more than 15 beer cans on the kitchen table.

In order to get the student into the ambulance, the crew uses a stair chair (a small wheelchair used to transport patients on stairs). Taking it one step at a time, the crew gets the student out of the building, onto the stretcher and into the ambulance.

As the crew is putting the student into the ambulance, a friend of the intoxicated student slowly wanders over. She says she was with him earlier in the night, but then left him. She says she didn’t want him to go to the hospital alone, but said she was concerned about calling for help in fear of losing her scholarship.

“I’m so sorry … Oh, my God …

Thank you God,” the intoxicated student says in the ambulance en route to Barnabas.

“It’s OK,” Benischeck replies.

“We’re just making sure you’re safe.”

5:15 a.m.

The intoxicated student has been triaged at Barnabas and is waiting to be moved to a bed. He is not vomiting, but he is clearly disoriented.

His friend, clutching a trendy bag, stands nervously by the stretcher.

A young woman is lying on a stretcher next to the Fordham student, coming in and out of what appears to be a painful sleep. She has been taken in by Barnabas EMS and is seriously intoxicated.

She is wearing heels, jeans and a stylish shirt. Her bright red lipstick is fading fast as a creamy-white substance slowly falls out of her open mouth. Her eyes are closed and her body is still, but her jewelry glistens in the fluorescent light of the ER.

NOVEMBER 28, 2012

PAGE 5

Bronx Crime Rate Could Drop With NYPD Surveillance

By DECLAN MURPHY STAFF WRITER

The New York Police Department has dramatically enhanced its security infrastructure and surveillance methods since the 9/11 attacks. The horror of Sept. 11 prompted the NYPD to improve its surveillance and investigation methods in order to deal with looming terror threats effectively. The danger that terrorism posed led to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, which forced the military, NYPD and intelligence agencies such as the CIA, NSA and FBI to adapt their operations to a changing world. This new global threat also affected other Western countries such as Spain and England when al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist cells carried out suicide bombings on commuter trains and buses. These attacks in Europe, as well as the threats in America, created a national security environment where the hatred of America by extremists and jihadists could not be ignored.

Part of the result has been a substantial effort by the NYPD to monitor suspicious activity and infiltrate terrorist cells in Muslim neighborhoods in order to thwart attacks before they occur. According to a series of Associated Press reports issued last year, the NYPD was working with the CIA to gather intelligence on Muslim businesses, mosques, marketplaces and student groups in the New York region through spying, eavesdropping and gathering information concerning where Muslims live and work. The NYPD also closely monitors jihadist websites promoting hateful antiAmerican propaganda and violence.

The department within the NYPD performing these functions is called the Demographics Unit, and some have questioned the legality of its

KURT STRAZDINS/MCT

The NYPD has 43 cameras covering the entire Bronx; Central Park alone has 33.

tactics, claiming the tactics enforce racial profiling.

In the years following 9/11, the federal government and the police departments of major cities have adopted counterterrorism strategies that many feel are invasive. The ‘privacy vs. protection’ argument, or the idea of citizens giving up some freedom in the interest of stronger national security, has become a controversial issue for the American public.

“The use of new surveillance tactics after 9/11 opened up a public debate about the role of government in our daily lives,” Dr. Monika McDermott, professor of political science at Fordham, said. “The question of how agencies such as the FBI were conducting their intelligence operations led to the fear of a ‘Big Brother’ government that was overstepping their legal boundaries.”

Many citizens around the country feel that security measures introduced after 9/11 under the Patriot Act, such as roving wire taps on suspected terrorists’ phones and other communication devices, were

a breach of privacy. Exposure of the surveillance methods by major newspapers brought a lot of public concern and distrust of agencies such as the FBI, NSA and CIA. Despite this criticism, however, the NYPD and security agencies have successfully foiled numerous terrorist plots in recent years. In 2010, the NYPD was able to stop a terrorist plot involving a van parked in Times Square packed with explosives. On Oct. 17, an FBI-NYPD task force prevented a bombing outside the Federal Reserve building in Manhattan. The police arrested a 21-year old man who claimed to have ties to al-Qaeda. The Bangladeshi suspect was trying to recruit people to his jihadist cause but ended up interacting with an FBI source. The source met with the suspect several times and eventually supplied him with a fake bomb to catch him in the act.

In addition to keeping a close watch on possible terrorist suspects, NYPD also has an extremely complex system of security cameras placed throughout Manhattan and high crime areas to help deter street

crime and protect potential targets such as government buildings and national landmarks. Improved surveillance around certain parts of the city was also a measure implemented after 9/11. There are thousands of cameras across the city that can all be monitored simultaneously from an NYPD command center. In August 2012, the NYPD launched the Domain Awareness System, a $30 to $40 million joint venture with Microsoft that includes a system of 3,000 cameras and 2,600 radiation detectors. According to the NYPD, the system is designed to suppress terrorist activity and speed up response times. It can give the NYPD early warning of suspicious packages and vehicles and also help personnel search for suspects through its smart cameras and license plate-reading ability.

This revolutionary surveillance system was a great investment for the NYPD. Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Commissioner Ray Kelly hailed it as a cutting-edge innovation for police departments.

“I think the NYPD’s new surveillance system is a great way to strategically fight crime and also increase the city’s budget,” Christian Caccavo, GSB ’13, said. “The new system will bring in money for the city by selling it to other police departments.”

Despite some public concern regarding privacy issues, the system of cameras is a groundbreaking method of combating terrorism and has proven to be successful in fighting crime. During a shooting in Jamaica, Queens last March, two suspects were caught on a camera operated by the NYPD and officers were able to instantly respond and arrest the two men. Although cameras cannot catch every crime, they are also meant to act as a deterrent, preventing criminals from engaging in illegal

activity due to the presence of police surveillance.

The vast majority of police cameras being placed in Manhattan rather than high-crime areas located in the Bronx is a little puzzling.

According to the New York Daily News, there are 177 camera boxes located in Manhattan but only 43 in the Bronx, which has the highest number of crimes per person of all the boroughs. Although the NYPD camera boxes are meant for counterterrorism concerns which are largely located in midtown Manhattan, there should be more cameras in the crime-ridden areas of the Bronx.

An increase in cameras in these areas could help reduce crime.

The NYPD also devotes significant resources and personnel to the Bronx, however. Officers patrol high-crime areas and keep residents safe by combating crime more directly, in a way cameras cannot. In the Bronx, apartment buildings dealing with excessive crime often seek the help of the NYPD through the Clean Halls Program, which allows officers to search and arrest people they think are carrying guns or dealing drugs in residences. This allows the NYPD to work more effectively by approaching street crime headon instead of waiting for cameras to spot suspicious activity.

The NYPD’s new strategies to fight crime and terrorism have helped keep the city and its residents safe, but an improvement of surveillance in the Bronx could help reduce the crime rate and make criminals think twice before committing a crime. Because officers cannot be everywhere at once, cameras offer an extra layer of policing that can cover more ground and improve response times.

Declan Murphy, FCRH ’13, is a political science major from Parkland, Fla.

On Thanksgiving, Turkey Gives Way to Social Media

By CONNOR RYAN NEWS EDITOR

It’s official: The iPhone has scored a seat at the dining room table.

Instagram, the photo-sharing app that makes quick snapshots look vintage, set a new record on Thanksgiving as millions of Americans picked up their phones before digging into the turkey. “#Thanksgiving” (and such themed words) trended on Twitter during Thanksgiving break.

Meanwhile, Facebook news feeds lit up with family photos of far-flung relatives and status updates about botched pumpkin pie recipes.

“Not long ago, pulling out a phone to send a photograph of Thanksgiving dinner or a text about the proceedings was considered rude, a violation of the ‘eat it, don’t tweet it’ rule,” Kim Severson wrote in a recent article for The New York Times.

But it would seem as though we have sped way past that rule — perhaps making the opposite the new expectation. More than 10 million photos tagged with Thanksgivingthemed captions were uploaded to Instagram on Thanksgiving. During several hours, photos were being up-

loaded at a rate of 200 per second.

Amid the new high for Instagram, employees quickly claimed that the increased traffic of shared photos must have undoubtedly unified us all.

“Whether celebrating with friends and family or sharing photos with them halfway across the globe, we’re excited to see the intimacy and immediacy of the Instagram experience bring us all closer together over this holiday season,” the company’s blog said.

It sounds like quite the idyllic unification, but did any of those millions of photos actually bring any of us closer together? Will we feel just as connected on Christmas next month?

Perhaps Instagram really did allow that uncle in Utah to feel connected to the rest of his family in Florida in some way. Or maybe a few pictures provided some solace to fathers working overseas who could not be home this year to carve the bird with his kids. That, I get.

But these cluttered Twitter feeds and photo-sharing apps — used to the point of eerie transparency — have become commonplace. Given the role social media plays in society,

KIRK MCKOY/MCT

Social media, such as Twitter and Instagram, can take focus away from family and friends during the holiday season.

soon every day will be Thanksgiving, and we will not be talking about the fact that photos are being shared with the world so rapidly. You best strap in.

Almost 40 percent of the 234 million Americans over the age of 13 with a mobile phone are connected to at least one social network, according to comScore (as reported

by The Times). Instagram doubled

its number of users this year to more than 100 million, according to Facebook. In addition, compared to 2010, the word “thankful” was used 263 percent more on Twitter in 2011, according to The Times.

The Thanksgiving avalanche of social media has caught many offguard, but soon the high will subside. As we continue to snap, type and tweet — in an innocent effort to

bring others closer — we are slowly becoming disconnected pixels.

In between the updates, let us not forget to join the discussion happening at the dining room table. Let us not forget the people who count.

Can we not go a day without the megaphone on full blast? Impossible.

Connor Ryan, FCRH ’15, is a political science major from Darien, Conn.

PAGE 6• THE RAM • NOVEMBER 28, 2012

The Ram Serving campus and community since 1918.

The Ram is the University journal of record. The mission of The 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 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 12,000. The Ram office is located in the basement of the McGinley Center, room B-52.

www.theramonline.com Advertising: (718) 817-4379 Executive: (718) 817-4380 Publishing: (718) 817-4381 Editorial: (718) 817-4382 Newsroom: (718) 817-4394 Fax: (718) 817-4319 theram@fordham.edu Fordham University - Station 37 Box B Bronx, NY 10458 Editor-in-Chief Olivia Monaco Managing Editor Victoria Rau Executive Editor Sarah Ramirez Business Editor Lindsay Lersner News Editor Connor Ryan Assistant News Editors Karen Hill Kelly Kultys Opinions Editor Rory Masterson Assistant Opinions Editors Ricky Bordelon Canton Winer Culture Editor Scharon Harding Assistant Culture Editor Devon Sheridan Sports Editors Chester Baker Dan Gartland Assistant Sports Editor Matt Rosenfeld Copy Chief Taylor Engdahl Copy Team Anne Marie Bogar John Bonazzo • Talia Boyer PJ Brogan Nikos Buse • Megan Connor Rosemary Derocher Tom Haskin Deirdre Hynes Stephanie Kawalski • Leona Lam Tyler Lancaster Francesca Leite • Lauren Manzino Shannon Marcoux Meghan Mulvehill Daniel Murphy Katie Nolan • Anthony Pucik Sara Powers • Andrew Santis Kirsten Simons • Marlessa Stivala Photo Editor Michael Rezin Assistant Photo Editor Elizabeth Zanghi Design Editor Elizabeth Mallozzi Web Editor Anne Couture Assistant Web Editor Daley Quinn Faculty Advisor Dr. Beth Knobel Opinions Policy The Ram appreciates submissions that are typed and saved on a disk in *.rtf, *.txt or *.doc formats, or sent to the staff via e-mail at fordhamramletters@gmail.com. Commentaries are printed on a space available basis. The Ram reserves the right to reject any submission for any reason, without notice. Submissions become the exclusive property of The Ram and will not be returned. The Ram reserves the right to edit any submissions. The opinions in The 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 Ram may be reproduced without written consent.

OPINIONS

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From the Desk of Olivia Monaco, Editor-in-Chief The Ram and I met by accident.

Now, that’s not to say that it was necessarily an unpleasant accident, but it certainly was unexpected. The first day that I stepped into the office as a (embarrassingly nervous) second-semester freshman, I never would have predicted that I would still be here four years later.

But chance encounters and unanticipated opportunities are the fabric of everyday life and thus cannot be seen as too unerving.

If I have learned one thing definitively while in college, it is that life does not follow a set plan. Making all the lists in the world — and believe me, I’ve tried — will only prepare us marginally, at best, for the journey ahead. As I enter my final semester at Fordham, this idea rings truer than ever: Life is about being open to opportunity and adapting to whatever circumstances are thrown at you.

Arriving here fresh out of an all-girls Catholic high school, I adopted this mantra wholeheartedly.

There was hardly a list at the club fair that did not have my name on it. Though I probably attended meetings for about a tenth of the organizations for which I zealously

signed up, a number of those signups ended up greatly shaping my Fordham experience. The majority of what I am involved with today is a result of one of these seemingly random occurrences; even my devoted Fordham basketball fandom followed from a chance conversation during my freshman year. And all those who know me (and some people who don’t) know how much I love Fordham athletics.

I like to think that everything happens for a reason. Maybe it’s my training as a scientist, but I find it hard to believe that arbitrary events occur with no impetus and no reaction. Added together, all of the chance encounters and seemingly random occurrences create the experiences of our daily lives. In order to fully appreciate and get the most out of life, it is necessary to embrace life’s uncertainties, rather than fearing them.

Of course, this is easier said than done, but it can start simply with the right outlook.

Embracing change and opportunity is not easy. On the contrary, it is one of the most difficult things we do in life. It is much more comfortable to settle into a regular rou-

tine than to continue to try new things. Taking chances, however, is what enables us to grow. We are able to learn specifically by trying those new things — experiences that are challenging or scary force us to think differently and confront accepted ideas. That extra step out of your comfort zone provides an invaluable opportunity to gain insight and attempt things that seem impossible.

My Jesuit education has encouraged me to question everything and challenge the norm. In a similar way, we must challenge the status quo in life and be unafraid to do what is different or out of the ordinary. Like they say in Global Outreach, it is important to “live in the moment.” Fear of change only limits what we do, making it impossible for us to do all that we are capable of doing.

Back in September, I encouraged the incoming freshmen to embrace their Fordham experience by being fearless in trying new things. This advice came after three years of personally following that ideal less than I would have liked. Now, at a new crossroads in life, I have the opportunity to

change my own outlook.

It is too easy to become complacent and to fall into a monotonous cycle. On the threshold of graduation, I need to challenge my own fears and be willing to adapt to what life presents to me.

Channeling that freshman year experience of novelty and daring to do the unexpected, I must not only accept but look for change and challenges. The only certainty about the road ahead is that it is not certain at all. Though this is a scary thought, it is also a chance to embrace the opportunities I have (or will encounter) and go wherever life leads me.

Who knows where I will be in a year? Wherever it is, though, I hope that it will be a result of a full immersion in life’s vibrant and varied possibilities.

EDITORIAL: Fordham Should Lead in AIDS Fight World AIDS Day, which was first conceived in 1987 by James W. Bunn and Thomas Netter, two officers of the World Health Organization, and first celebrated on December 1, 1988, has become a platform for discussion on HIV and AIDS among governments and citizens around the globe. As the disease has spread from a niche place in medical culture to a pandemic that affects people of all ages and backgrounds, efforts to reduce the spread of the virus have readily increased in developed countries. People donate resources to shelters and to organizations such as the American Red Cross in an attempt to prevent

AIDS from becoming even more prevalent.

Given that New York City is a sprawling, populous area with millions of people, the opportunity to assist at an AIDS clinic is often just around the corner. Such is the case here at Fordham, with the Bronx AIDS Services (BAS) clinic directly outside the campus gates. Students should utilize this opportunity more, as the need for assistance among AIDS patients grows.

We at The Ram believe that it is paramount for students to offer any kind of help that they can. Our location in the heart of the Bronx, however, affords us with the unique op-

portunity to volunteer on the front lines of fighting the AIDS epidemic.

Such an opportunity certainly runs parallel to the mission of our University as a Jesuit institution, and it keeps with the “men and women for others” mindset that Fordham attempts to instill in all of us.

According to an article published in The New York Times in June 2008, the Bronx has a much higher death rate among AIDS patients than in any other borough. Fordham’s location presents students with a unique ability to combat an overwhelming issue in our surrounding community directly.

Fordham students have proven

that they have the capacity to lead the country in community service efforts, reaffirmed by a Washington Monthly ranking which placed Fordham sixth nationally in community service in 2011. We strongly encourage the Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice, Campus Ministry, the Student Global AIDS Campaign and other organizations to lead Fordham’s efforts in fighting AIDS in the Bronx and beyond.

Editorial Policy The Ram’s editorials are selected on a weekly basis, and are meant to reflect the editorial board’s view on a particular issue.

Letters to the Editor Dear Editor: As I and so many other vocal students were entangled in the Ann Coulter controversy last week, I thought to myself, regardless of our political opinions, whatever happened to freedom of speech?

A college campus is a place for higher learning and often a haven for free thinking, fresh ideas and intellectual discovery. I recall back to a past high school instructor of mine who insisted to his recent graduates that in college, they would “sit around and question” things from life to politics to religion. Nonetheless, lately it seems that the mere ability to “question” is being suppressed.

The upheaval over Ms. Coulter’s visit has directly denied students, many of who may not even be familiar with her work, the chance to decide for themselves an opinion on her opinions.

In recent years, I have had the unique opportunity to experience three different colleges, and it was not until my third (Fordham) that I witnessed such disapproval from both the administration and opposing political clubs over an invitation to a well-known conservative.

Let me be clear, I am not denying that Ms. Coulter has made controversial statements in her lifetime,

as do many life-long political commentators. But this alone should not hinder an individual an invitation to speak when her company is desired.

Furthermore, consistent with Jesuit values, Ms. Coulter is also entitled to her dignity. An email from our university’s president stretching the entire tri-state area (and alumni) that incensed Ms. Coulter’s rescindment was highly irregular and uncalled for. It was also grotesquely unjust to witness the College Republicans be a victim of convenient censorship.

I cannot recall a single speaker the College Democrats hosted that drew criticism from university administrators and, furthermore, an instance when College Republicans invaded their social media territory.

This incident has not been freedom of speech at its finest. Rather, freedom of speech has been censored. During matters like this, it is best for freedom of speech to govern. Let interested parties attend Ms. Coulter’s event and those disinterested not attend. Moreover, for those who feel so strongly of their dislike towards Ms. Coulter, they are free to protest peacefully. Where would this great nation be without the First Amendment? Surely, the answer is not free at all.

Matt Genovese, GSB ’14

To the Editor: I read with great personal interest the story of how Fordham University’s College Republican club invited conservative columnist Ann Coulter to speak at Fordham, then rescinded that invitation following criticism from a number of people, including Fordham’s president, the Rev. Joseph McShane. During my four years at Fordham University, I served as chairman of Fordham’s College Republicans and later as chairman of American Age, the Fordham University lecture series.

During my time on campus in the late 1970s, Fordham invited many controversial speakers who addressed provocative topics with Fordham’s students. Speakers included: Alger Hiss, who was accused in 1948 of being a Soviet spy and was convicted of perjury in connection with this accusation in 1950; Jane Fonda, who was photographed sitting at a North Vietnamese anti-aircraft battery in 1972 during the Vietnam War; Mark Lane and Dick Gregory, who spoke for several hours on the topic “Who Killed Kennedy and King?”; former National Organization for Women President Karen DeCrow and conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly (possibly the Ann Coulter of her time), who debated whether the Equal Rights Amend-

ment should become part of the U.S. Constitution; and Fereydoun Hoveyda, Iran’s United Nations Ambassador from 1971 to 1979, who spoke at Rose Hill during the height of the Iranian hostage crisis.

As lecture series chairman, the only time I ever heard from Fordham’s president, the late Rev. James C. Finlay, about our speakers was on the day of the Jane Fonda appearance.

I called Father Finlay that morning to ask him to intervene with the Fordham Athletic Department to obtain more seating for Ms. Fonda’s appearance in the Rose Hill Gymnasium.

Father Finlay made one phone call to the Athletic Department, and another 500 chairs were available for Ms. Fonda’s appearance. The question of whether Father Finlay approved of our guest never came up.

If Fordham University could play the gracious host to Ms. Fonda and many more provocative speakers over its illustrious history, Fordham should have extended the same courtesy to Ms. Coulter. Maybe next time, instead of rudely revoking an invitation to a contentious conservative, Fordham will follow Father Finlay’s example and order up some more chairs.

Sincerely, J.D. Piro, FCRH ’80

OPINIONS

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NOVEMBER 28, 2012 • THE RAM • PAGE 7

The Left “Freshmen” Term Change Unnecessary Lane Conor Fucci

Righter’s Block

John P. Castonguay

Mideast Full of Subtleties

Obama Must Live Up to Hype

Israel is the construct of the countries of Europe and a product of their attempts to create a state for the heavily-persecuted Jewish people. While the concept seemed to work in theory, the Jews have been placed in a hotbed of conflict and turmoil, for which they are partially responsible. Since its inception, Israel has seen only conflict with its neighbors over issues from land disputes to religious persecution.

Recently, these issues have come to a head, as demonstrated by the volleys of rockets launched by Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist organization and the militaristic actions taken by Israel in retaliation.

This conflict started when Israel was founded; the land used to create Israel was taken from the protonation of Palestine, which remains unrecognized as a sovereign nation.

These disenfranchised people have been petitioning the international community for land that they can call their own. While this is an admirable move, radical factions are using violence in an attempt to get what they want.

Another nation that is necessary to mention is Iran: This ex-progressive Islamic nation has garnered international attention with its controversial nuclear program, which it promises will not be weaponized.

Now, I don’t want to make it seem like I believe that the only purpose of Iran’s nuclear program is to create a nuclear weapon, but it is hard to think otherwise when the nation’s leader is a Holocaust denier.

Relating Iran to Israel is extremely simple; Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s current president and Holocaust denier, is notorious for stating that Israel is an enemy of all nations and should be destroyed.

Iran is dangerous, but its weakened economy due to international sanctions has limited its ability to fully develop its nuclear program.

Finally, Israel is tied closely to the United States. This relationship stems mainly from the large representation of the Jewish population in the government and the fact that having a strong ally in the Middle East is always useful to the United States. This relationship ranges from financial aid to a military partnership. This is where it gets tricky: If anything were to happen to Israel, there is an extremely high chance that the U.S. would hop into the conflict no matter the opponent.

Lately, though, Israel has been very aggressive; the government has been ignoring the U.S.’s pleas to abandon the Gaza strip and mobilize its military forces on that border. Also, the talks to attack Iran preemptively should be completely forgotten. This area is moving closer and closer to a military conflict, and I believe that negotiations should be taken more seriously, with a more heavy-handed United States behind the wheel. Having another conflict in the Middle East would be completely unacceptable; however, losing one of our strongest allies in the area would be just as bad. Overall, it is a delicate situation that the U.S. is going to have to handle with finesse and tact.

In his recent actions regarding his fiscal proposals, President Obama seems to be doing his best to prove his critics right: He is acting like a celebrity rather than the President.

Instead of working with Republican members of Congress, who will be responsible for editing, debating and possibly passing his plan, President Obama is engaging in a campaign-style strategy to advertise his plan to the public and a few handselected small business owners.

These include Nikhil Arora, the cofounder of Back to the Roots, David Bolotsky, the chief executive officer of Uncommon Goods and Mandy Cabot, the co-founder of Dansko.

In a speech in September, Obama remarked, “Most important is you can’t change Washington from inside, only from the outside.

That’s how some of our biggest accomplishments like health care got done — mobilizing the American people.” This statement seems innocuous on the surface, but as an approach to governing, it is ineffective and irresponsible. As president of the United States, President Obama is constitutionally obligated to respect the powers of the other branches and the authority they have to pass legislation. Instead of engaging with Congress as it returns to Washington this week, however, he is holding rallies in areas such as Montgomery County, Penn, that were battleground territories during the election. One event in Hatfield, PA is going to be held at a toymaker, where Obama will reportedly argue that if Republicans do not pass his tax plan, Christmas sales will drop and the economy will go off a “fiscal cliff.” This type of melodramatic stunt would have been somewhat understandable on the campaign trail, but for a president who claims to be attempting to seek bipartisan support, it is simply inappropriate.

For those of us who had hoped that the end of the election would bring an end to the empty but aggressive rhetoric and allow our politicians to return to the job of actually running the country, the foreseeable future will be extremely disappointing. For President Obama, the campaigning does not stop, as former campaign volunteers are being encouraged to refocus their efforts on gaining support for Obama’s fiscal plan.

Republicans, while criticizing Obama for his failure to focus on active governance, are no better.

The Speaker of the House, John Boehner, announced that the Republicans will also be traveling to visit small businesses and host rallies to proclaim “the threat to jobs posed by congressional Democrats’ small business tax hike.”

Both President Obama and the Republican House display a lack of understanding of the republican aspect of our government. While the public votes to select representatives, it is the responsibility of the representatives, not the people directly, to determine policies. The Republicans and President Obama are ignoring their obligations and failing the public who elected them to govern, not to campaign endlessly.

COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA

Citing sexism, UNC recently announced that it would replace the term “freshmen” with “first year students.”

By DALEY QUINN ASSISTANT WEB EDITOR

There have been some noteworthy sexist incidences that I have encountered in the last couple of years, all fairly small but still bothersome. My firm handshake is contrary to the stereotypical flimsy female grasp, eliciting comments about it from almost every grown man I greet.

Classic jokes about a woman’s place being in either the kitchen or the bedroom have grown to new heights of agitation.

Just like university students in North Carolina, though, one supposedly “sexist” issue that I have experienced has not fazed me in the slightest.

At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the majority of the 28,000 students did not seem vexed by the term “freshman,” either. However, university officials felt that in order to embrace more “gender-inclusive language,” they must change “freshmen” to “first-year students” on all official documents. While the change actually occurred in 2009, it recently sparked media frenzy when TV reporter John Stossel discovered the modification while taping part of his Fox Business Network show at UNC. In a statement made to CampusReform.org, the university administrators said, “we are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all members of our community” and that to be “consistent with that commitment, gender inclusive terms (chair; first-year student; upper-level student, etc.) should be used on University Documents, websites and policies.”

Unlike UNC, Fordham University has not implemented the term “first-year student” into its policy changes and multiple students hope it stays this way.

“It’s a waste of time. If their reasoning behind the decision is that the original phrase is sexist, then they should be spending more time working to right the wrongs of actual sexism instead of making inconsequential name changes and acting like that’s actually going to make a difference,” Celia Aniskovich, FCRH

’14, said.

Other students said they agreed with Aniskovich’s take on the issue, including Megan Donovan, FCRH ’14.

“Unless a lot of women come forward and complain that calling people “freshmen” is sexist, it wouldn’t make sense to change something as simple as a name,” Donovan said. “It would make more sense to make a school more gender equal as a whole, not just change a word.”

While these Fordham students disagree with the switch, some Fordham professors would beg to differ.

“How much effort and time does it take to start using the terms ‘first-year, second-year, etc.’ instead of ‘freshman, sophomore, etc.’?” Dr. Jeanne Flavin, professor of sociology and women’s studies at Rose Hill, said. “To me, it’s an easy switch. I don’t see why reasonable people would object to using more inclusive language.”

UNC is not the first U.S. college to begin using “gender-inclusive language.” Julie Gerstein, the style editor for TheFrisky. com, shared her experience with the term “first years” at her own college.

“I went to two colleges as an undergraduate — the first was Mount Holyoke College, an allgirls school, and there everybody referred to the freshman class as ‘first years,’ which I think is totally great and fine,” Gerstein said.

“I think it’s worth challenging the term ‘freshman,’ because it’s another example of an antiquated term, referring to a time when only men attended college. And just like the term ‘chairman,’ it assumes that only males can be in such positions. So I’m all for it.”

Jessica Wakeman, blogger on feminist issues for TheFrisky. com, is attuned to various sexist matters within the media.

“It wasn’t so hard to adapt to saying ‘spokesperson’ (instead of spokesman) and ‘mail carrier’ (instead of mail man), was it?”

Wakeman said. “Anyway, other countries like Britain don’t even use the words ‘freshman,’ ‘sophomore,’ etc., and they seem to be doing just fine.”

While the Brits have been us-

ing the terms “first-year” and “second-year” for a while, most American colleges are still stuck on “freshman,” with little interest in budging. Thousands of U.S. universities have been using “freshman” for years, and few students, including myself, have actually been offended by the daily use of the term. In fact, I have not ever really thought of the “sexism” of the term before UNC changed its policy.

With 25 percent fewer men than women graduating from college, universities have begun to be dominated by women, but few of these female students have actually complained about being referred to as “freshmen.” “Man” is found in the term “freshman,” and in the term “woman.” Should we females be offended by being deemed “women,” too?

Flavin asked whether it would really take much time to change the word “freshman” to “first-year student,” and my answer to that is absolutely. I remember my first days as a freshman with a crazy amount of flyers, letters, handbooks and more shoved into my new NSO drawstring bag. With so much information for new students during orientation, I cannot even imagine how much time it would take to go through each handout to change one word, a name that offends so few women.

Rape pamphlets and precautions are frequently handed out during freshman orientation in every college, and according to CollegiateStandard.com, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been ranked No. 1 for the most instances of forcible rape among North Carolina’s universities. Instead of spending time confronting these more serious women’s issues, the UNC administration chose to edit the multitude of handouts they give to their own “first-year students” for fear of offending the incoming female UNC Tar Heels. Unlike the Fordham Rams, it seems like UNC’s Tar Heels have bigger issues to lock their horns into, and an inoffensive word is not one of them.

Daley Quinn, FCRH ’14, is communication and media studies and women’s studies double major from San Antonio, Tex.

PAGE 8• THE RAM • NOVEMBER 28, 2012

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NOVEMBER 28, 2012 • THE RAM • PAGE 9

Study Abroad Offers Unique Experience to Students

By JINGYUAN ZHOU CONTRIBUTING WRITER

I know the value of studying abroad because I am studying abroad. As a Chinese student at Fordham College at Rose Hill, I have learned a lot about the cultural background, customs and traditions of the United States, which are different from my hometown, Shanghai.

Many other Fordham students are thinking about studying abroad to add some flavor to their college life. Being away from their families for a period of time and getting involved in a different environment presents a strong allure for many students. Making the decision to go abroad, however, often comes down to finances.

Staying away from home, students do not have their parents’ financial help. They learn how to manage where their money goes.

Learning to be independent becomes the first lesson for many of them.

Emily Zhong, GSB’ 13, studied at Fordham’s London Center during the fall semester of her junior year.

“Since I studied in London, I needed a place to stay,” Zhong said. “I had to learn how to cover myself. It is really expensive. London has [a] high standard of living.”

Some people want to discover the world, make their eyes open to a new way of living and face a country and reality that is often far different from their own and exceeds expectations.

Jorge Glavis, FCRH’ 13, was

one student who did not study abroad with a Fordham program; he participated in a program organized by another university in the Philippines. He said the program gave him more than selfgrowth. He wished he could have the chance to study abroad again.

“I spent a lot of time living with marginal communities, which are very, very poor communities,” Glavis said. “We studied, lived and prayed as a group.”

Fordham is currently offering different types of study abroad programs, which can run for a few weeks or a full term. Chloe Cao, GSB ’13, went to Switzerland for a week with G.L.O.B.E. program, the Gabelli School of Business’s study abroad program.

Cao said she got to know a lot of great people and expanded her social connections. “We tagged each other on Facebook all the time,” she said, “and ended up becoming good friends.”

Different people gain different things from their abroad experiences. They grow by putting themselves out of their comfort zones and pushing themselves to become mature at a faster speed than they might have in a more familiar environment.

Some people, however, raise the question of whether the gain is worth the cost of the program, since the cost of studying abroad is considerably higher from year to year. According to Fordham’s Office of International and Study Abroad Programs (ISAP), the costs to study abroad for the 2013-2014 academic year will be 5 to 7 percent higher than the

costs for the 2012-2013 academic year.

In addition, financial aid for study abroad programs is different from that for the normal academic term. If students want to go on a study abroad program that is not sponsored by Fordham, they can only get a partial amount of their original financial aid package applied to the program.

All three students I interviewed agree that their study abroad experiences were worth the money and they would strongly recommend that everyone go on this kind of unforgettable adventure.

Galvis, however, expressed concerns about the different financial aid policies of study abroad programs. He said it is unfair that financial aid has become a barrier

for people who want to experience the outside world.

“I ended up having paid more to study abroad, [because] I have scholarship that allows me to attend university at a very low cost,” he said. “I know it is a personal decision that I decided to [take] the hit to [get this] experience.

But it prevents a lot of people to take this once in a lifetime experience. I think that is unfair.”

I picked up a brochure named “Estimated Study Abroad Costs” from Fordham’s Office of ISAP and found most of the costs of study abroad programs are lower than Fordham’s regular tuition, which should be an explanation for the partial financial aid. However, study abroad still requires many students receiving financial

aid to pay a large amount of money, however.

Only when the costs equal the value do the study abroad programs become meaningful. The students each found that the cost of these trips equaled their value.

I would say that studying abroad is like an investment, and students have to decide what they truly want to get from the investment.

This is my senior year at Fordham, and without a doubt, I am still experiencing the excitement of the Western culture, and I appreciate every day here pursuing my dream.

Jingyuan Zhou, FCRH ’13, is a communication and media studies and economics double major from Shanghai.

PHOTO BY VICTORIA RAU//THE RAM

Many students who study abroad will gain unique experiences from their adventures, such as climbing Table Mountain.

The Catholic Church Must Endorse Marriage Equality

By DOMINIC CARLUCCI CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The recent presidential election left Americans either glowing from President Barack Obama’s successful re-election campaign or hanging their heads in political dissatisfaction. Besides the election’s main event, Maine, Maryland and Washington passed referendums to legalize same-sex marriage. To date, nine U.S. states have adopted marriage policies that allow same-sex couples to obtain legal marriage licenses. The

state referendum results are generating tremendous political buzz not only in the United States, but also in the Vatican.

Despite the strong trend towards universal marriage equality, the Vatican has continued its fight against same-sex marriage, calling it “an ideology founded on political correctness which is invading every culture of the world.” Father Phil Florio, S.J., director of campus ministry and resident priest of Martyr’s Court Jogues Hall, affirmed that the Society of Jesus’s position on same-sex marriage is

identical to the Vatican’s.

As a registered voter in the state of Maryland and as a confirmed Catholic, I voted in favor of Question Six. Fifty-two percent of Maryland voters cast their ballots to make Maryland among the first states to legalize same sex marriage by popular vote. While I am proud to say that I voted for what I believe to be a just cause, I am worried. I fear that as America progresses, it will combat unjust legislation with unnecessary legislation rather than honesty and liberty. I believe that marriage is

COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA

The Catholic Church has repeatedly condemned same-sex marriage despite strong public support for marriage equality.

a lifelong commitment, a promise of monogamy and a title of true love. Religious and non-religious couples marry for those reasons.

In states where same-sex marriage is legalized, a gay or lesbian couple can be married in the eyes of the state and in the eyes of any church that accepts homosexual couples. A same-sex couple cannot be married by the Catholic Church anywhere, however.

So what does state legalization of gay marriage change for the Catholic Church? The explicit answer is nothing, but implicitly, the Church believes that allowing same-sex couples to receive marriage rights degrades the institution of marriage.

My answer to the Church is this: the sacrament of marriage is an institution completely separate and totally sovereign from any nation or government, but the title of marriage is merely legal. I believe this solves many of the problems that the Church and the state are facing.

Same-sex couples in states without gay marriage are denied a legal union required for tax exemptions and other legal matters such as inheritance. The truth about government-sanctioned marriage is that it in itself is not marriage. A legal document does not constitute love and commitment “till death do us part.” Lifelong monogamy is a mutual agreement between two consenting adults that is only made official through legal mar-

riage to the government for legal reasons. Likewise, Catholic marriage is another agreement, but with God for moral and religious reasons.

Couples do not need to prove their love through a title, and the government is not an institution that should be regulating this title. Regardless, access to this title should be fair. What I propose is a withdrawal of the American government from the institution of marriage, equal legal rights for all couples and the protection of religious sacraments. Let same-sex couples participate in their own religious or non-religious ceremonies to declare their lifelong love, let opposite sex couples do the same. Since the Catholic Church denies the sacrament of marriage to same-sex couples, however, homosexual Catholics would not be able to marry in the Church.

The Catholic Church and the American people should recognize the differences between a life-long loving commitment, a legal union and a religious union.

Social progression of our country will continue, and as it does, more states will allow for same-sex marriage in the eyes of the state.

If the Catholic Church qualifies the distinction between personal, religious and legal union, then it will hold a stronger position as it moves into the modern era and beyond.

Dominic Carlucci, GSB ’16, is a finance major from Chester, Md.

PAGE 10 • THE RAM • NOVEMBER 28, 2012

OPINIONS

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Proposal to Base Tuition on College Major Is Harmful

By PATRICK MULLEN STAFF WRITER

How would you feel if your major made your tuition cheaper?

Or more expensive? While this sounds somewhat like a dream (or perhaps a nightmare), it has been the subject of a proposal in the state of Florida, which may allow science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) students to pay less for tuition than students in the humanities.

While this proposal would allow a university to lower the tuition for some degrees, there is reasonable fear that political science and liberal arts degrees would be more expensive. Florida resident David Emami, GSB ’15, brought to my attention the fact that Florida Governor Rick Scott, a Republican, ran on a platform of education reform, with increased STEM funding. Indeed, Scott has publicly questioned the value of a liberal arts degree in the workforce.

Sociology and psychology double major Michael Menconi, FCRH ’15, said he does not understand the motivation behind this proposal and thinks that if anything were to change, the majors that “project better career options” should be more expensive.

Liberal arts student Gerry Libretti, FCRH ’15, notes that this could be a good thing. The United States is now ranked 25th in the world in math and science,

JOE BURBANK/MCT

A recent proposal backed by Gov. Rick Scott of Florida calls for the amount students pay for tuition to vary by degree.

and Libretti argues that this program would make math and science more appealing to the average student, which could only be a good thing. Both students recognized that this program could make college more affordable, but only for certain people.

The questions of this proposition go beyond just field of study, however. One cannot help but think of what a mess financial aid would be if majors determined

tuitions. Someone may be denied financial aid at a school they badly want to attend just because another otherwise unappealing state school has a cheaper tuition for the student’s prospective major. This could very well be a deal-breaker for a lot of prospective students. Like just about everyone else here, I did not go to Fordham because it was cheap and affordable, but because of its reputation, campus, etc. If an

English degree was to be more expensive here than a STEM degree, however, I may very well have gone somewhere else. Of course, this is all hypothetical, since it would apply only to public schools, but it is worth thinking about.

The job market also needs to be looked at in this situation.

With STEM degrees being less expensive, more people would attempt to obtain them, in theory.

Future engineering students may end up having as much trouble getting jobs as certain liberal arts students after a few years. While Libretti stated he would be in favor of this proposal, he also expressed concerns about the potential job market.

Dr. Heather Dubrow, the John D. Boyd, S.J., chair in the poetic imagination, said she was distraught over how Scott viewed liberal arts education. She argued that liberal arts “teach the very skills — reading, thinking, writing — that are essential for every job.” She also argued that future employment is not the sole purpose of an education; staying true to the Jesuit ideals that educating the mind, body and spirit of a student is equally important. She viewed the proposal as unnecessarily and unjustly “demeaning of the liberal arts.”

I happen to agree with Dubrow. For a number of reasons, this proposal could be harmful. It is harmful to liberal arts students and programs and unreasonably discriminates against them. In addition, it could negatively impact the job market, the financial aid process and anyone who is undecided or who wants to switch majors. While I understand the desire to improve our country’s math and science scores, I see no reason to disadvantage liberal arts students in the process.

Patrick Mullen, FCRH ‘15, is an English major from Delafield, Wisc.

Constituents Should Vote by Ideals, Not by Party

By PATRICK MAROUN STAFF WRITER

After more than 200 years, George Washington’s premonition has come to fruition. Our country is divided nearly in half, and the political polarization and partisan power politics that dominate the American political landscape make it nearly impossible for any substantive legislation to survive the congressional civil war. The fact that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) managed to make it to President Obama’s desk, whether you agree with the law or not, is an indisputable miracle.

Patrick Doherty, FCRH ’15 said he disagrees.

“While I think the two-party system is limited in terms of viewpoints and differing opinion […] he system does create a certain efficiency […] that our government strives off of,” he said.

There is some truth to this sentiment in that it makes it easy to determine a majority power in congressional bodies without the added step of coalition forming, but the unfortunate side effect of this is intensified partisanship and the ineffective governing it creates.

In 1796, President Washington issued what has come to be known as his “Farewell Address,” wherein he warned the American people of the dangers of “mak[ing] the public administration the mirror of the illconcerted and incongruous projects of faction.”

In recent years, these “projects of faction” have eroded the unity of our country and instigated an

ideological battle between renewed nativism and the perceived “outsiders” and their “sympathizers.” Mitt Romney aptly illustrated this battle just the other day, when he attributed the defeat handed to him by President Obama to the “gifts” the Obama Administration made to “the African-American community, the Hispanic community and young people” during his first term in office.

This counterproductive polarization in American politics is a product of our two-party system.

It is nearly impossible to return to the party-less system that President Washington would advocate, but it would be equally difficult to establish a viable three- or multi-party system considering how ingrained our current system is in the minds of Americans. In the words of Macbeth, we are “in blood stepped so far that should [we] wade no more,/ Returning were as tedious as go o’er.”

According to Fordham political science professor José Aleman, “Our political system is currently not well served by two parties that do not substantively differ on many issues, yet fail to represent the wishes of a majority of the people. “[We] end up with a political system where many citizens correctly perceive their vote matters little,” he said. “If we had more parties, or even just a viable third party, the level of representation our fellow citizens enjoy and even the quality of the policies they receive would probably improve.”

When I first took Professor Aleman’s class on Comparative Politics last spring, I saw little issue

HECTOR CASANOVA/MCT

As the Democrats and Republicans become more polarized, many Americans in the middle feel underrepresented.

with a two-party system, but after the many studies and topics we discussed, I realized some of the unfortunate ramifications of our split system. We cannot continue to comply with a system that leaves us ill-represented. The problem is, at this point, most Americans are either ill-informed about the realities of our political system or too disenchanted with it to continue caring.

“It is often shocking to me that we, as citizens of a nation with a proud heritage of great thinkers and public servants, are presented each year with a choice between what many feel to be simply the ‘lesser of two evils,’” Dan Carter, FCRH ’14,

said. Americans, instead of having the agency to vote for whom they most closely align with politically, are forced to vote against whom they most disagree. This unfortunate political reality has been the death of American democracy.

Americans must go to work if we are to save our political souls. This

means that we must renew our interest and improve our knowledge.

We must reject party politics and instead vote based on our ideals. We must get involved and spearhead the political revolution of our day.

Patrick Maroun, FCRH ’15, is a theology and political science major from Norwood, Mass.

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NOVEMBER 28, 2012 • THE RAM • PAGE 11

Bloomberg Serves as Model for Bold Leadership

By JOSEPH VITALE STAFF WRITER

In the final weeks of October, Mayor Michael Bloomberg was one of the busiest men in New York.

He was the face of a city that was under water, out of power and, in some places, destroyed. He was the voice of a people in need of vital resources and relocation. He was the man who had to assure New Yorkers the subway would soon resume service and he was at the center of a controversial decision to host the New York City Marathon, which he ultimately cancelled.

And yet, with the national spotlight shining brightly upon him, Mr. Bloomberg went forward with two huge political moves: the registration of his own super PAC and his endorsement of President Barack Obama for reelection. Both gestures sent ripples through the national political scene, causing skeptics to call him out as a wealthy elitist using money and power to sway votes.

His supporters fought back, arguing that if anyone could unite a polarized nation, it would be a respected and fair-minded independent like Bloomberg. His history shows the latter is far more plausible.

While Bloomberg’s success as a businessman and generosity as a philanthropist have not necessarily earned him influence in the national political sphere, his determination and effectiveness as a three-term mayor of New York City have. Since his first inauguration 10 years ago, he has helped New York re-examine issues plaguing American cities such as pollution, spending and crime. The mayor has also enacted

numerous health, environmental, educational and economic measures to better the city, its residents and the millions of tourists who visit each year. He is eager to voice his opinion on issues most politicians would gloss over. But, to him, it is not daring: It is practical, and it is progress.

“Being mayor of the largest city makes him a major political figure in his own right,” Daniel Soyer, professor of history at Fordham, said.

“It is to be expected that he will get involved in broader policy debates.”

As Bloomberg has stressed in his work and his politics, the key to creating a prosperous future is to ignore electoral politics and seek bipartisan solutions. Furthermore, his model of arriving at these solutions, centers around championing politicians who share his vision for America. Like him, they understand how to best shape their vision: through compromise and transparent conversation.

In an editorial posted within a week of Election Day, Bloomberg affirmed his positions on abortion, gay marriage, gun control and climate change, all of which were traditionally liberal. While he compared both candidates’ stances on these specific issues, he did not endorse a candidate just for sharing a position on an issue. Instead, Bloomberg cited former presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan, praising their ability to unite divided Congresses and gain the faith of America’s moderates. As if this symbol of leadership mattered more than a platform, he concluded that President Obama would be best-suited to carry out the role of president.

The late endorsement gained media attention, but most argued it had little effect on the outcome of the election.

“Bloomberg’s endorsement of Obama did not sway national public opinion,” Brennan Delsing, FCRH ’16, said. “Though [his] comments may have heightened Democratic pride and confidence in New York, they didn’t create a big enough impact on voters’ minds to be the difference maker in this year’s election.”

President Obama was leading almost every poll and hardly any voters cited the mayor of New York City as a deciding factor in their choice, but what ensued suggests it was just one development in a more robust plan.

The super PAC he created (In-

dependence USA PAC) allowed Bloomberg to funnel around $15 million of his own money into various campaigns around the country, many of which were highly-competitive congressional, state and local races. His donations went to various Republicans, Democrats and independents who have a long standing history of bipartisanship. All were in support of same-sex marriage, gun control and educational reform, which are the issues Bloomberg is most convinced require re-thinking.

The super PAC’s additional spending on ballot initiatives related to same-sex marriage may or may not have altered their outcomes, but all four passed in favor of same-sex marriage anyway.

There is something to be said for Bloomberg and his approach.

He may not be the biggest crowd pleaser, as he often brings the government into the lives of Americans when many feel it is unnecessary and unwelcome, but he understands what will benefit New Yorkers and Americans alike. He makes it his goal to work, to reform and, if necessary, to compromise for the sake of the people.

He may have been unable to bring power to the thousands of New Yorkers who lost it during Hurricane Sandy, but he did not come up short when doling out money to those who would rise above playful politics and bring about bold changes. It was practical, it was progress and it is what America needs.

Joseph Vitale, FCRH ’16, is a communication and media studies major from New York, NY.

OLIVIER DOULIERY/MCT

Michael Bloomberg has served as mayor of New York City for three terms. His current term will end on Jan. 1, 2014.

Do opinions run through your veins?

Call a doctor, and then apply to be a columnist for The Ram’s Opinions section.

Email fordhamramopinions@gmail.com for more information.

The Ram is looking for four opinions columnists to write on a biweekly basis on a variety of topics, including politics, religion and national and international news.

PAGE 12• THE RAM • NOVEMBER 28, 2012

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NOVEMBER 28, 2012

PAGE 13

Tony Hawk and Stacy Peralta Discuss Bones Brigade Documentary

COURTESY OF STACEY PERALTA

This photo of Hawk was taken in‘85, the same year of Future Primitive, a Peralta video.

By ALEXANDRA GLEMBOCKI CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Look up at Rob Dyrdek on your television. Look down at your Vans sneakers. In fact, look out the window at Fordham University’s campus. You are likely to see someone skateboarding. Skating is inarguably an integral part of our culture, but it was not always that way. A rad new world was created by a group of skaters who made their reason for living into a living. That group of skaters is the Bones Brigade, and this is their story in their own words.

Selected for the Sundance Film

Festival against 12,000 other films, Bones Brigade: An Autobiography traces the history of modern skateboarding through the eyes of the men that shaped it, including Tony Hawk, Stacy Peralta, Steve Caballero, Lance Mountain and Rodney Mullen. Out of its six screenings at Sundance, it received five standing ovations.

Director Stacy Peralta (Lords of Dogtown, Dogtown and Z-Boys) never planned on The Bones Brigade: An Autobiography becoming such an important film. In fact, he never planned on making the documentary at all.

“I never wanted to make it […]

I just wasn’t comfortable doing another skateboarding film, and I wasn’t comfortable doing a film where I’m one of the characters in it,” Peralta said.

Time proved to be a heavy factor in pushing Peralta to create the film.

“About two years ago Lance Mountain called and said, ‘Look, we really want to do this. Would you reconsider?’ And I still didn’t want to do it, and he said, ‘Look, we are now older than you were when you made [Dogtown and Z-Boys].’ And that’s when I just realized, ‘Okay.’ So I decided to just live with my fears and attack it,” Peralta said.

Along with Lance Mountain, Bones Brigade member Tony Hawk felt that there was an urgent story that needed be told. “[There is an] unknown that surrounds the origins of modern skating, and then definitely the Dogtown era was well documented, but between that and now — how did we get to what skateboarding is now?” Hawk said. “I think that evolution has not been told.”

Peralta’s documentary Dogtown and Z-Boys, a 2001 Sundance selection narrated by Sean Penn, covered the origins of skateboarding and the rise of Peralta’s legendary skateboarding team, the Zephyr Team, during the 1970s.

In the 1980s, Peralta formed a skating team of his own called the Bones Brigade. Peralta handpicked each skater, most of which were young and unknown at the time.

“Well, with each guy I saw something different, but there was always something unusual,” Peraltsa said.

“Like I said in the film with Tony [Hawk], I just saw a kid who was going to stop at nothing, and was never going to be satisfied with anything he was doing. And that told me a lot about what his future was going to be like, that there was a kid would never rest.”

Peralta’s film career began out of the necessity to promote the Bones Brigade team. The first installment of the “Bones Brigade Video Show,” a series of films displaying the team’s skating talents and sense of humor, premiered in Tony Hawk’s parents’ living room in 1984.

According to Peralta, skating and filmmaking have a lot in common.

“They’re both art forms, and they both require skills, and they both require development,” he said.

“And they both hurt when you fail.

Skateboarding hurts because you slam into concrete. Failing with film hurts because you fail in front of a lot of people.”

Despite his great success in filmmaking, including a Sundance Film Festival Best Director, Peralta is conscious of the fact that there is constant room for improvement.

“Both [skating and filmmaking] require a lot of attention, a lot of practice, and a lot of discipline, if you will,” Perala said. “Filmmaking — every time I think I know what I’m doing, I discover I don’t know what I’m doing. It’s a really difficult thing to become good at, how when I think I’m good at it, I discover that I’m not good at it.”

For the Bones Brigade documentary, Peralta used two cameras — one for wide shots and one for close ups — in order to capture the intimate moments that unfolded

during the interviews. For the skaters involved, having Peralta as the interviewer eased the process.

“I think that for this project, it was much easier because we all spoke from the heart, and we were talking to the person who was right there with us all along,” Hawk said.

“It’s always fun, you know, [Stacy Peralta is] always very complimentary and respectful of you as an individual. And who would be better to tell the story than the person who created the team?”

For Peralta, Bones Brigade: An Autobiography is not just a skateboarding documentary — it is the story of all of us.

“Whenever I set out to make a film I try to always not make it about what it’s about,” Peralta said.

“That’s the goal. I don’t just want to make films that please the people that like that subject matter. I try my best to make films that are inclusive, that tell a universal story, hopefully, people that may not be interested in that subject matter at least feel welcome to step inside this world for a moment, and see something that they might not normally see and experience.”

While the success of the documentary was unexpected, it is much deserved.

“It wasn’t till we started doing the interviews,” Peralta said, “and I saw what the guys were bringing to the picture, that I realized, ‘Wow, we’ve got a much more important film here than I realized.’

The Bones Brigade: An Autobiography DVD can be purchased on BonesBrigade.com. See the list of worldwide screenings on the same site.

Student Concert Guide Synthesizes NYC Music Scene

By DEVON SHERIDAN ASSISTANT CULTURE EDITOR

Any ardent live music fan understands the frustrating dichotomy of the show-going process, and nowhere is it more apparent than in New York City, where the constant stream of quality shows and concerts can be both a blessing and a curse. Throughout the five boroughs on any given night, venues host lineups filled with talented acts of every genre. Shows are in such abundance, however, that staying informed on the city’s best live musical offerings can be an almost impossible task. When it comes to real world problems, facing an overload of concert entertainment is a fantastic one to have, but nevertheless, few things are more frustrating than missing out, or worse, not even knowing about a great show.

But those days may be coming to an end for students in the general vicinity, as a group of Fordham students have recently banded together to fight against live-music ignorance.

The project, NYC Show Guide, is the brain-child of Tom Greco, GSB ’13.

Greco is all too aware of the showgoers’ plight and had it in mind when he began NYC Show Guide early this semester. He cites personal experience as inspiration for the start-up.

“My first two years at Fordham,

I missed a lot of good shows that I didn’t know about, and I don’t want that to have to be the case for people,” Greco said. “I think that young adults, especially in college, [will] find the site extremely beneficial.”

Since the idea first formed in the beginning of the summer, Greco has bought a URL, www.nycshowguide. com, and hired a graphic designer to help with the website’s layout. The result is a pristine, easy-to-use guide.

“It was my frustration when I would miss shows or not be able to get a ticket because I wasn’t informed,” Greco said. “I try to keep it updated as soon as I know the show’s tickets will be going on sale so people have the chance to get to see really cool artists.”

NYC Show Guide bypasses the process of rooting through weeks of venue schedules or band tour dates.

The process is simple: Greco and his small team weed through numerous ticketing websites, local music blogs and even band Twitter accounts, then they consolidate all the information into simplified concert announcements. Each post comes complete with links to ticket sales websites. The site also announces when shows are about to sell out, and at times when shows do sell out, the Show Guide staff have frequently posted links to last-minute raffles for free tickets. In

this way, NYC Show Guide aims to serve both those in need of the quick concert fix and those hoping to pencil in some important concert dates down the road.

Keeping with recent trends, Greco has turned to social media outlets as a means to disseminate both the NYC Show Guide name and the product it has to offer. NYC Show Guide’s Facebook page is in essence a less-pretty version of the actual website, and mirrors the site in terms of content and is also contantly updated. The site’s main focus, posting upcoming concert dates, comprises much of the content, but the team occasionally couples those posts with related songs or recent album releases.

It does not take long to notice that NYC Show Guide is impressively helpful and informative (and often entertaining). The site also reflects the invested enthusiasm of everyone involved in the project, including Molly Jordan, GSB ’15, whom Greco enlisted as help to stay on top of the endless barrage of NYC-centric shows.

“I’m a huge fan of music and I’ve always loved going to as many shows as I could in the city,” Jordan said.

“There’s nothing better than experiencing your favorite music live and seeing the personality of the artists. I was happy to get involved when Tom

asked me for some help, it’s a great way to let others know of the amazing opportunities New York City has to offer and, at the same time, I get to listen and chat about nifty bands.”

If one is looking for even quicker and simpler up-to-date concert news, NYC Show Guide also employs an active Twitter account, which is linked to NYC Show Guide’s website.

Greco and Jordan are both in charge of running NYC Show Guide’s Twitter and use it to announce any updates to the site. This is especially helpful when impromptu shows are announced: One simply sets his or her Twitter account to send a notification when the Show Guide tweets an announcement, and boom, igno-

rance (and possible subsequent stress and regret) relieved.

While the website has been under construction for a week now, both the Facebook page and the Twitter account are fully operational and Greco hopes to have the website, revamped to handle more content, up and running by the time this article prints.

For now, Greco and Jordan are busy balancing content maintenance and actively spreading the NYC Show Guide name.

“We’re still working towards building it up today, so, hopefully, it can turn into something big,” Greco said.

Like NYC Show Guide’s Facebook page and follow NYC Show Guide: @NYCShow Guide

COURTESY OF MCT

Follow NYC Show Guide for a chance to find yourself caught in Ezra Koenig’s gaze.

PAGE 14 • THE RAM • NOVEMBER 28, 2012

The Seersucker KEVIN ZEBROWSKI

The Seersucker provides a wealth of knowledge on sartorial fundamentals, contemporary male fashion and the mastery of personal style.

Sportswear isn’t a terribly complicated affair. The goal is to mix wearable classics with the functionality of modern conveniences.

Too much modern gear may invite jokes about corporate sponsorship, and forgoing modernity completely may leave you weighed down in a sweat-saturated mess.

Dressing for the gym is simple enough if you remember to pair the modern, technological marvels of Nike and Adidas with some classic, natural fabrics.

An example of such an outfit might be a pair of synthetic track pants, a cotton T-shirt and a cottonand-fleece-blend hoodie. Hooded sweatshirts, or hoodies as everyone prefers to call them nowadays, often come in pullover or zippered forms. I like the zippered hoodies because I tend to remove my sweatshirt (naturally), and the zipper makes for an easy-on, easy-off scenario. I like the standard cotton T-shirt because it’s lightweight and doesn’t cause strange body odor like a synthetic moisture-wicking shirt might. Cotton T-shirts are also easy enough to wash. I throw mine in with the towels.

Synthetic track pants or a shell jacket with nylon elements break up the natural fabrics in a way that prevents the 1970s throwback look. I personally like the ’70s sportswear look, but opt to avoid accessories like sweat-wicking headbands to avoid drawing comparisons to Jackie Moon. When it comes to workout accessories, I tend to avoid them entirely. Those armband phone cases make it easy enough to listen to music during a run, but I find them counterintuitive when engaging in lifts that involve bicep or tricep contractions, or any upper body lifts for that matter. I normally leave my phone in the locker when I go to the gym.

I do not wish to give an impression of disdain regarding traditional athletic clothing. Some innovation certainly went into the classic pieces as well. For example, those “V” shaped patches of cloth on most crewneck sweaters were invented to redirect the pattern of sweat that typically forms around that area during strenuous activities. On older crewneck sweaters, the “V” shaped patch was sewn in with practical intention, and the fabric of the patch is often thicker cotton than the rest of the garment.

The most important aspect of any individual piece of athletic clothing is that it should not be a physical hindrance in any conceivable manner. Leave the decorative pieces for a separate occasion. The way to look your best at the gym is to display comfort and ease of movement.

Oh, and keep the colors simple if you can. You would not wish to distract someone holding a heavy iron bar over his or her chest with your multi-colored parachute pants. Safety first.

CULTURE

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Hungry Students Sample Culinary Arts

By HANNAH O’DONNELL CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Though the Gabelli School of Business has a reputation for producing accountants, financiers, analysts and business consultants, a different part of the private sector is experiencing an influx of Fordham talent.

“I love to cook,” Dan Kane-West, GSB ’13, said. “So as of now, my goal is to have a career as a cook under a talented or legendary chef.”

Over the summer, Kane-West worked in a fine dining restaurant in his hometown of Charlottesville, Va. under a reputable chef who specialized in French cuisine.

“I worked for free just to learn, and I learned a lot very quickly,” he said.

Though he was only there for a month, Kane-West left the restaurant with a new appreciation for the industry and a brand-new skill set.

“Mostly I learned how to use a knife, and I cut myself a lot in the beginning,” Kane-West said. “There is a lot more to it than most people understand. I also learned how to work in an organized and clean manner, which is crucial to any cook.”

Kane-West is not the only Fordham student to study the subtle nuances of the culinary arts. Before coming to Fordham, Madison Snider, FCRH ’15, took a gap year and enrolled in a 12-week course at the Ballymaloe Cookery School, an award-winning French technique cooking school located in County Cork, Ireland. “[Ballymaloe] was on a massive organic farm and focused strongly on cooking and preparing food in timehonored ways, using top-quality in-

gredients,” Snider said. “The school itself was very formal, with real exams and a strict curriculum.”

In addition to studying food, farming and cooking, Snider also studied wine.

“I was able to study wine there because I was of legal drinking age,” she said. “I lived in a courtyard of cottages with other students my age and had such a good time.”

Though earning a college degree is not the typical prerequisite for becoming a chef or enrolling at a culinary school, by pursuing their interest in fine food, Kane-West and Snider might be on to something.

The food industry is the nation’s second largest private sector employer, and according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2012-2013 Occupational Outlook Handbook, the number of food preparation jobs is expected to increase by nine percent from now through 2020.

As the need for chefs increases in years to come, food industry sales are expected to increase as well. From January 2011 to January 2012, restaurants saw a 3.5 percent sales increase, netting $632 billion in that year alone.

In addition to being one of the only industries to expand during the nationwide economic recession, a Forbes Magazine study ranked executive chef as one of the 20 “happiest” jobs in America, tied for second with property manager. According to Forbes, chefs cite the work they do and the people they work with as the main drivers of their happiness.

Alexander Casella, GSB ’13, already holds one of these “happy”

jobs, working as a cheese monger at Murray’s Cheese, a high-end cheese shop in New York City’s East Village.

“I love working in the food industry, and I plan to pursue a career in food after college,” Casella said. “Food is an incredibly interesting thing. It’s an emerging industry that holds a lot of potential for career development, and my co-workers are great to work with and smart.”

Through the education program at Murray’s, Casella was able to spend a weekend with fellow food lovers tasting cheeses and learning the science behind pairings.

“I also spent four months working in the cheese caves located below Bleecker Street,” Casella said.

“There I learned how to care and age cheese in a traditional style as well as experiment with possible aging tech-

niques.”

Though being able to name and describe 300 types of cheeses may seem like an atypical skill for someone majoring in business administration, according to Casella, his degree is being put to good use. “[My job] allows me to implement either past work experience in a point-of-sales situation, or in the meetings where I can suggest something I learned in class,” Casella said.

“My friends and family seem happy for me that I’m picking a discipline that I truly enjoy,” Kane-West said regarding his future career. “My advice [to other students] would be to always keep your happiness in mind, and pursue whichever industry inspires you the most.”

Casella, too, had a piece of advice.

“Be ready to eat a lot,” he said.

COURTESY OF ALEX WILLIAMS

Kane-West slices with precise skill to craft omelettes, seared steak and pasta.

Dining Out: The Park

COURTESY OF THEPARKNYC.COM

Only “park” at this Chelsea restaurant for the atmosphere, not for the food.

By COURTNEY HO STAFF WRITER

Last Friday night, I stumbled out of an art gallery in the heart of Chelsea. And by “stumbled,” I mean physically and mentally. I still do not understand that piece of canvas that was just blue. Anyway, I was hungry, and I knew the Chelsea Market was closed. Suddenly, I walked by a beautiful stream of lights that illuminated the otherwise-dark 10th Avenue.

They were coming from The Park.

Originally a taxi garage, The Park is a 7,800-square-foot “ingredientbased Mediterranean” restaurant that has five different sections: the atrium, main room, garden, red room and penthouse. The Park was designed by Eric Goode and Sean

MacPherson, who are the faces behind The Bowery and The Maritime, to name a few. Each section has its own personality and atmosphere, yet it all feels fresh, open and sophisticated. Although the interior design is outstanding, I do not understand the seemingly-random Asian touches throughout the restaurant.

I chose to eat in the garden, which is where most people seemed to be dining. The garden is one of the most visually stunning dining spaces I have ever seen. Japanese maple trees covered in lights were strategically placed throughout the garden, vines elegantly draped the walls and the moonlight shone through high glass ceilings. To put it simply, sitting in the garden felt like a dream.

All dreams have to come to an

end, however. I will start with some good news and end with the bad.

It is important to note that the executive chef at The Park is David Coleman, who is the former chef de cuisine at Tocqueville. I am a big fan of Coleman’s exquisitely-crafted French dishes from Tocqueville.

I am not a fan of Coleman’s uninspired work at The Park.

The dinner menu is an odd conglomerate of Italian, American and Mediterranean-influenced dishes.

There are, unnecessarily so, two sections of appetizers, labeled “to share” and “to start.” When I ordered the appetizer, I had to request for it to be served before the entrée, because the waiter would not have done so otherwise (what is this, a parallel universe?).

From the “to share” section, I ordered the risotto croquettes ($9) and the crispy shrimp with lemon and oregano ($13). The risotto croquettes had the perfect consistency.

The wonderfully fried breadcrumb shell held together the cheesy, al dente risotto hidden inside. Eating the risotto croquettes was equivalent to eating a perfectly fried piece of Italy, I presume. After those, however, it all went downhill. The crispy shrimp were under-seasoned, slightly burnt and came with unexceptional, Guy Fieri-grade dipping sauces.

Since I was so unimpressed by their burger selection (I would rather not eat a burger on an English

muffin), and underwhelmed by their pizza options, I opted for the steak frites ($25) and the grilled daurade with fregola sarda, fennel and olives ($19). I am not sure when steak frites were declared a Mediterranean dish. In addition, the medium (I ordered medium-rare) NY strip was ordinary at best and was served with diner-quality fries.

For those of you who do not know, daurade is more commonly spelled as “dorade,” and is a type of bas, and fregola sarda is a nutty Sardinian pasta that is similar to Israeli couscous. The grilled daurade was overcooked and unevenly seasoned.

The fregola sarda, for which I was excited, was more of an afterthought than an accompaniment. It was an overall disappointment.

I am assuming that the owner of this restaurant hopes that his customers will be so inebriated by the dim ceiling lights and alcoholic drinks, and so confused by the amount of nature around them, that they will forget how mediocre the food tastes. I think The Park is a great place to rent out for parties and for late-night drinks. This is not a place to eat.

Overall Location Food Quality Atmosphere Hospitality Price $$$ (Out of 4

’s)

CULTURE

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Editor’s Pick: The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

By TAYLOR ENGDAHL COPY CHIEF

For the past 15 years, J. K. Rowling’s world-famous Harry Potter books have served as the go-to works for readers hoping to enter into and explore a world of magic.

Unfortunately, the final book of the series was published almost four years ago, and I know many Potter fanatics have been desperately searching for another fantasy novel to fill this void.

My search ended last Christmas when I received a thick, hardcover book called The Night Circus from my godmother. I did not begin reading it right away; to be honest, I was a bit put off by the unusually ornate dust jacket, which was colored a deep, inky black and sprinkled with white stars. In its center was a white, red and black circus tent, cupped by an elegant snowwhite hand.

As the excitement of Christmas passed, my siblings’ vacation ended and I found myself at home with little to do. Bored, I dug the 400-page book out of the pile of presents in the corner of my room and began to read: “The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it…It is simply there, when yesterday it was not.”

I was instantly hooked. Two days later, I finished the book.

Erin Morgenstern’s debut novel brought me back to the days of Harry Potter, when I used to count the minutes until the release of the next book in the series. When it finally arrived in the mail, I would devour it, sometimes in under 24 hours. Later, I would reread it much more slowly, relishing every detail, avidly wishing I could be a part of that wizarding world. I had

NOVEMBER 28, 2012 • THE RAM • PAGE 15

!

Take a look at the latest events and hotspots in NYC!

Check

This

Send tips, event listings, or comments to fordhamramculture@gmail.com

Titus Andronicus Where: Webster Hall When: Sunday, December 2 Doors: 7:00 p.m. Show: 8:00 p.m.

Price: $20

COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COURTESY OF ERINMORGENSTERN.COM

In 2012, The Night Circus won an Alex Award from the American Library Association.

not loved a book in the same way until I discovered The Night Circus.

This book is intended for a slightly more mature audience than Rowling’s series, but its refreshing plotline and remarkable eloquence make for an entirely unique experience. Morgenstern is a better writer than Rowling; I was especially captivated by her attention to detail — she describes the circus’s smells, the foods sold by venders and the feeling of excitement in the air with such grace and clarity that the reader really can imagine what it would be like to attend.

The Night Circus offers its readers a world of magic that is more sophisticated than that of Harry Potter. There are no wizards; instead, the story follows two magicians who have been training since they were children, preparing for a competition of sorts. Celia and Marco must use their talents to create astonishing circus exhibitions, both attempting to outdo the other with every move. Their spells do not include “Wingardium leviosa” or any

of the other beloved Harry Potter spells, but Celia and Marco’s magic is much more impressive — for example, one of Marco’s creations is an “ice garden,” where there are “trellises covered in pale roses and a softly bubbling, elaborately carved fountain,” all made of ice.

What they do not realize, however, is that the competition is a duel to the death, a binding contract they entered into as children.

The book is billed as a romance, although the relationship in question does not become obvious until well over halfway into the book.

The true love story, however, is found with the rêveurs (French for dreamers). The rêveurs are patrons who are infatuated with the circus, and follow it from location to location, transfixed with its power.

Simply put, The Night Circus is a must-read. Morgenstern has transformed me into a rêveur, in a way — I have fallen in love with this masterful book, and I will always carry the experience of reading it with me.

The nature of Titus Andronicus’ stapled punk rock label screams undeserved simplicity. With only three EPs to date but already playing foreseeably sold-out shows at Webster Hall, clearly the band’s dynamic sound transcends a single diminutive genre, finding critical and popular appeal across multiple categorical spectrums. Sure, punk rock fans will draw comfort from their sonic similarities to popular punk acts like the Japandroids or The Menzingers, but Titus Andronicus is also a great place to start for those attempting to dip their feet in the harder, louder side of rock. Grab that $20 bill you snagged from your parents over Turkey Break, act like a rebel and attend a good ol’ fashioned rock show this Sunday night. Opening acts are Ceremony and Lemuria. There’s a sweet Cambodian sandwich shop called Num Pang located on 21st St. and 12th St. about eight blocks away from Webster Hall, cheap and perfect for pre or post show eats.

La La Lush Where: Sullivan Hall 214 Sullivan Street, Manhattan When: Saturday, November 1 Doors: 7:00 p.m. Show: 10:00 p.m.

Price: $10 Taking its talents south of 187th St., Fordham’s very own La La Lush will perform at Sullivan Hall in Manhattan on Saturday night. Popular in the FU music scene, La La Lush is known for bringing energized and party-starting music to offcampus shindigs. Although widespread student sentiment may despair, one can’t party in off-campus basements every night and bands must find other venues to play. Luckily, the band has garnered the headlining spot and is scheduled to go on around midnight. Support Fordham’s music scene and check out their show, or at least give them a good listen on the Internet machine.

- COMPILED BY DEVON SHERIDAN ASSISTANT CULTURE EDITOR

Ram Reviews MUSIC ONE DIRECTION: TAKE ME HOME

MUSIC THE WEEKND: TRILOGY

MOVIE LINCOLN

+++

MUSIC

MUSIC

ACTION BRONSON: RARE CHANDELIERS

HONOR SOCIETY: SERENDIPITY

By ALYSSA CARMUSCIANO

By PATRICK DOHERTY

By PATRICK MULLEN

By DAN GARTLAND

By CASEY RYAN

STAFF WRITER

STAFF WRITER

STAFF WRITER

SPORTS EDITOR

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Calling all Directioners! Last week, UK pop sensation One Direction released its brand new album Take Me Home only eight months after their first album, Up All Night, came out and went multiplatinum. Upon coming to the United States a year after finishing third on “The X Factor: UK,” One Direction has quickly stolen the hearts of teens and young women across the country.

Many of their songs show a more mature side, especially “Change My Mind” and “Little Things,” two stripped-down acoustic tracks which fully showcase the band members’ smooth vocals. This new album also has a much more diverse collection of songs than the first album did. However, the lead single, “Live While We’re Young,” has a very similar melody to One Direction’s smash hits “What Makes You Beautiful” and “One Thing.” Thankfully, “Little Things” will be the second single from the album. This will give radio-listeners who might not have purchased the whole album a chance to hear a different side of the band.

Take Me Home clearly shows that One Direction is here to stay.

The Weeknd created music that wowed critics and fans on every corner, and now all the mix tapes are being released together for under $10 through online retailers. The entire collection has been officially remastered in studio, providing superior audio quality and diversity. In addition, Tesfaye has created some brand-new tunes as an extra, which are worthy incentives.

Tesfaye musical style is defined by low, punchy percussion, smooth, lurking basses, and when it is appropriate, glittering and bright synths that play at perfect juxtaposition to the ambient elements that hang out in the lower timbres. His lyricism flawlessly switches from roof-raising party build-ups to cynical critiques of culture, people and himself. Perhaps the most cutting is the brooding “Wicked Games,” where Tesfaye croons, “Bring your love baby I can bring my shame/ Bring the drugs baby I can bring my pain/I got my heart right here, I got my scars right here.”

While these mixtapes are all free online, the re-release is a great starting point for new fans to get familiar with The Weeknd.

Lincoln is not the movie most were expecting. It is not a large-scale, fastpaced Spielberg film, but rather a slow, talky, very political film unlike anything the director has ever done. The narrative focuses not on Abraham Lincoln’s life as a whole, but a span of about a month in early 1865 when the 13th Amendment, which would put an end to slavery, was being debated in the House of Representatives.

We see Lincoln as a president torn between ending the war and ending slavery, for he is told he cannot do both. We see the sacrifices and the decisions he faces. Daniel Day-Lewis does a great job as a very fatherly and funny version of the 16th president, nearly a polar opposite to his great performances in There Will Be Blood and Gangs of New York.

This is not a perfect movie — I thought Spielberg and Kushner could have done a little more with a few of the characters and ideas — but it is a very good one. It may be Spielberg’s best since Saving Private Ryan, but I would still consider it a solid notch below his absolute classics. It is still a must-see for anyone into history or politics.

Rare Chandeliers is the latest release from Action Bronson, the Queensborn Albanian-American chef/rapper. Produced by The Alchemist, it is Bronson’s first release since signing with the Warner Bros. offshoot VICE Media.

Two things defined Bronson’s early releases: his being from Queens and his love of cooking. On Rare Chandeliers, Bronson will not let you forget he’s from Flushing, but gone are those food-centric tracks (like “Brunch” and “Shiraz” from 2011’s Dr. Lecter) that made him so unique. Culinary wordplay is abundant, just sparser than we have become accustomed to.

Rare Chandeliers is not really better or worse than anything Bronson has produced before — it is just different. Lyrically, he may have taken a small step forward.

If nothing else, Rare Chandeliers serves to create some hype ahead of Saab Stories, Bronson’s muchanticipated collaboration with producer Harry Fraud, expected to be released some time in 2013.

You can download Rare Chandeliers free of charge at ActionBronson.com.

The band Honor Society, a group of four young rockers, has just released their EP Serendipity. Serendipity is the band’s third extended play, along with their two full albums. This extended play CD contains five songs.

True to their roots as the Jonas Brothers’ opening act, the songs in this set revolve around love.

Because Honor Society is not playing on radio stations like KC 101 or Z100, they have a little more artistic license when it comes to creating their music. Most of the songs include metaphors about love, but they are not the used-up and cliché ones.

My favorite song on their EP Kaleidoscope relates love to, you guessed it, a kaleidoscope! Although people may argue that this is not the most accurate depiction of love, at least it is more inventive than the generic love metaphors being churned out on Top-40 radio stations.

At $4.99 on iTunes, I would suggest this album for anyone who would like to buy a One Direction CD but is too embarrassed to admit it. Serendipity is a fun and eclectic collection of pop-rock songs that appeals to the boy-band fan in all of us.

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PAGE 16• THE RAM • NOVEMBER 28, 2012

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WHO’S THAT KID? Chris Cepeda A MEMBER OF FCRH ’13 SOCIOLOGY MAJOR FROM BRONX, NY

Describe yourself in a couple sentences for the readers.

I am a very driven and hardworking individual who strives to make an impact in many communities. I am also very ambitious, work well with others and try to achieve many goals.

What activities, clubs, projects or organizations are you involved with at school?

I am the Executive Vice President of the Commuting Students Association, and holding this position makes me the chair of the Commuter Life Committee and a member of the Student Life Council. I am also a student coordinator for the Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice.

What is your favorite aspect of Fordham and why?

My favorite aspect about Fordham is how there is an immense amount of diverse clubs on campus. I have found that I have been able to find a club for just about anything I am interested in.

The best are the cultural clubs, like El Grito De Lares’ and how they bring different ideas, music and foods to the Fordham campus.

If there was one thing about Fordham you could change, what would it be?

If there was one thing about Fordham I could change it would be how there is a lack of commitment to each other as students on campus. Clubs put on great events for students to attend, but most times get a poor turnout. Yet, there are students who complain about there not being events on campus. In actuality, they just choose not to go to anything. The same can be said to students volunteering and how students are afraid to sacrifice a few hours of their weekend to give back. In all, students should just support each other in every way possible.

What is your favorite thing to do in New York City?

While there are many different things to do in New York City, one of my favorites things to do is going out and exploring different places to eat.

New York is full of diverse cultures and food and it is always fun to explore different cuisines.

What is something about you that not many people know?

One thing that many people do not know about me is that I have played chess for six years and have gone on to play in Chess Nationals. Chess Nationals is like a massive championship tournament held for chess players from all states to come, play and

compete.

What is your favorite class at Fordham?

There are a bunch of great classes that I have taken at Fordham. A professor that I have found to be great at Fordham is professor Richard Wormser from the sociology department.

He provides great insight on filmmaking in the ’70s to what it has become in modern times.

What is a personal goal you would like to accomplish over your four years here?

A personal goal of mine would be to get more Fordham students to give back to the community. While Fordham uses its gates to keep the surrounding community away from its students, it does not mean that students cannot go out and volunteer.

What show, food, artist or movie would you consider your “guilty pleasure”?

I normally have little to no time to watch television, but I have found a favorite show named “Suits” that airs on USA. The show is clever, full of drama and intense, but so much fun to watch.

What is the biggest misconcep-

PHOTO BY MICHAEL REZIN/THE RAM

Cepeda is often viewed as a playboy by his peers. In actuality, he is a dog lover.

tion people have about you?

The biggest misconception that people have about me is that they see me as a “playboy” because I have a naturally flirty and outgoing personality.

for local Bronx junior high and high school students. Thus, my plan would be to continue working and helping youth realize their potential and inspire them to strive for more.

Any insight on the presidential election?

I am not big on politics, but this year’s presidential election was pretty intense. Both Romney and Obama faced many ups and downs while they were campaigning, but ultimately, I think that the lesser of two evils won.

If you were stranded on a desert island, what would you bring with you?

Well, assuming there was food on the island, I would bring my dog. I am a big dog person and I think having him around would just make for great company until I get saved (hopefully).

Do you have plans, career or otherwise, for post-college life?

My biggest passion is working with youths of all ages, but particularly high school students. While attending Fordham, I have been fortunate enough to organize and partake in various college enrichment programs

If you could go back to your first day at Fordham, what advice would you give yourself?

I think things happen for a reason, so I would not change anything from my time at Fordham , but I would tell myself to be more organized, if anything.

New Comedy Web Series “Gentrified” Stars Fordham Alumae

By SCHARON HARDING CULTURE EDITOR

What do you need when you are searching for your first apartment?

A pair of clicking heels, your finest pearls, a white cable-knit sweater to rest upon your shoulders and your best friend, of course. The stars of “Gentrified,” a comedy web series by Fordham alumnae, have this formula down as they move out of their parents’ pool houses into a city of bold characters.

“Gentrified” follows two best friends with shopping, dolls and indepence on their mind as they search for the perfect apartment. Rachel, played by Emily Tarpey, FCRH ’09, and Brittany, played by Leea Borst, FCRH ’12, take on Brooklyn the way only fast-talking, good-natured ditzes could.

The web series started shooting in June of this year. A show about gentrification, or as Merriam-Webster defines it, the process of “companying the influx of middle-class or affluent people into deteriorating areas that often displaces poorer residents,” came from the mind of director, Allison Taylor, Marymount College ’09.

The idea formed after Taylor watched an obvious outsider walk carelessly down the street.

“One night I was watching a girl walking deep into Crown Heights

by Nostrand Avenue; rappers shout it out still,” Taylor said. “Emily and I bounced ideas back and forth, and we thought, ‘Gosh, we should just write something about a bimbo trying to move into a new neighborhood.’”

By the next night, Tarpey had written the first episode and cast herself as Rachel. Tarpey, who was once secretary of the Mimes and Mummers and

starred in plays such as Footloose, had known Taylor since her pre-Fordham days at Marymount. Still, they needed another actress to slip into the short dress of Brittany, Rachel’s best friend.

Borst, also a former Mimes member, had previously created a YouTube link for her segment on “Fordham Nightly News,” called “Leea Defender of the Downtrodden,” where she mimicked stupid criminals.

“I made my own criminal video of stealing my roommate’s chocolate milk,” Borst said. “Emily was the one person in the world who watched it on YouTube.”

Tarpey was a fan of the video, and immediately contacted Borst through the Internet to offer her the role.

Thus the epic journey of creating “Gentrified” began. The team held auditions for the rest of the cast, eventually choosing Samuel Traylor and Ryan Barker from a couple hundred auditions due to their diverse, sketchstyle acting skills. Then, the girls accumulated funds with a Kickstarter campaign. After that, it was a journey of laughs as the team wrote, filmed

and edited the episodes.

“When we were shooting, it was kind of like being on the set of ‘SNL,” Taylor said. “Everyone was laughing.”

Brit and Rach hit up different neighborhoods each episode to try to find the “right fit.” They meet hipsters, children and Orthodox Jews along the way, but struggle to find a neighborhood that is “them.”

“Gentrified” would be nothing without the dynamic chemistry between Tarpey and Borst.

“When someone [like Tarpey] stalks you, they tend to learn all your habits,” Borst said. “So when we came together it was like we were friends forever…from her perspective.”

With the stalking and laughs, however, also come yawns. Shooting for “Gentrified” began at 6 a.m. on weekends and continued until 11 p.m.

“It’s misery traveling there, but once you’re there it’s like, ‘Okay. Let’s stay longer,” Borst said.

Hard work continued off the set.

Tarpey and Taylor took their shots at editing for the first time. Using Final Cut Pro, the two challenged them-

selves while juggling their other jobs.

“When we were shooting, I’m all in, balls-to-wall,” Taylor said. “Monday, I’m back to work, tired as hell, wishing I was back on the set of ‘Gentrified.’”

“I had never produced or written anything, and I ended up doing all of that plus editing,” Tarpey said. “I’ve never edited anything in my life. I’m not that much of a nerd. Now I’m an awesome nerd.”

The YouTube series gave the cast and crew a chance to create and enhance friendships.

“We just drink a lot more,” Tarpey said. “I learned a lot about producing.

I also learned a lot about drinking, and I’m very good at it.”

“We kind of created a network of people that would never be together unless this series happened,” Taylor said.

“Gentrified” also taught everyone involved that they can continue to pursue their dreams after graduation.

“It’s a really tough time when you graduate,” Borst said. “My passion is acting. Do I pursue acting? But how

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Borst (left) is lead singer of La La Lush, a featured band on the series. Tarpey (right) founded Oooo Yeah Productions with Taylor.

will I financially support myself? This made me realize you can do both. Doing a web series is something you can do on a weekend, and never say never, even though that sounds really cheesy like Justin Bieber.”

Although the show’s soundtrack does not include Biebs, there is some catchy music from various local bands. One band, La La Lush, of which Borst is the lead singer, also features current Fordham students Cashel Barnett, FCRH ’13, Stephen Federowicz, FCRH’13, and Steve Scarola, GSB ’13.

The team still has a few more episodes to shoot, and they are also working on some “extra tidbits.” Season 2 is in the works, and the cast already has big plans for it.

“I would like to wear pants in Season 2 or a longer dress,” Borst said.

“There was a lot of butt and hoochie showing before.”

Until then, the goal is to get “Gentrified” out to the public so they can enjoy Brit and Rach’s antics.

“We’re hoping someone will look in our direction one day, and we’ll get some notice that is obviously well deserved with all the hard work that’s been put into it,” Borst said.

For now Tarpey, Taylor and Borst and the rest of the “Gentrified” crew will continue working hard and making their best out of a post-college world.

“What I’ve learned from graduating, going to job interviews and hearing ‘No, no, no,’ over and over again is the answer is yes, and you’re the only person who’s going to tell yourself that,” Taylor said. “That’s what we’ve done […] We’re not on network, but this is our starting ground and, as everyone on ‘American Idol’ says, you will see my name again.”

CULTURE

theramonline.com

NOVEMBER 28, 2012• THE RAM •PAGE 17

Top 5 Dramatic Performances by Comedians in Film

By DANIEL FINNEGAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Over the years, many comedic actors have made successful forays into the dramatic acting field, displaying depths that audiences never suspected they possessed. While there have been many effective performances like this, the following five actors were particularly triumphant in their ability to reveal the darker side to their typically comic natures.

5. Marlon Wayans in Requiem for a Dream Coming from a family of many celebrities and actors, Wayans first gained notoriety on the television show “In Living Color,” which was created by his brothers Keenen and Damon, and the WB series “The Wayans Bros.” In 2000, however, writer-director Darren Aronofsky cast Wayans in his first dramatic turn in Requiem for a Dream.

A harrowing tale of drug abuse, Wayans, along with the rest of the cast, beautifully portrays the depths and depravity that comes with being a drug addict. In perhaps the best film to ever depict the despair of addiction, Wayans embraced his character wholeheartedly and shamelessly, managing to create a lovable and yet deeply depressed man battling serious illness.

4. Jerry Lewis in The King of Comedy In a film that lacks the necessary humor to be labeled a dark comedy, and yet is too creepy and disturbing to be singularized as a drama, Martin Scorsese managed to create one of the most pained and disori-

ented characters he has ever put on the screen. This character, played by Robert De Niro, idolizes a late-night television host played by Jerry Lewis in a role as different from his earlier works as you will ever see.

Lewis, known for his slapstick humor in films like The Nutty Professor, portrays the late-night host as a frustrated and self-centered comedian, who suffers at the hands of the De Niro character’s disillusionment and insanity. Lewis gives a fantastic performance that accompanies and matches De Niro’s so perfectly that Scorsese once described it as vastly under-appreciated and deserving of more acclaim.

3. Adam Sandler in PunchDrunk Love Have you ever wondered where that infamous manic rage stems from in Sandler classics such as Happy Gilmore and Mr. Deeds? Why did Sonny Koufax from Big Daddy find such glee in tripping rollerbladers? In Punch-Drunk Love, Paul Thomas Anderson’s camera poignantly follows Sandler as Barry Egan, a dejected and lonely man, while his seven sisters torment and frustrate him until he erupts in violent rage.

The film follows Sandler’s character as he falls in love with a woman named Lena, played by the always beautiful Emily Watson (War Horse).

Companions in their loneliness, the two create a sweet and innocent romance, even as Barry’s rage continues to make itself evident.

The film is an elegant study of a unique individual and would later inspire Judd Apatow and Sandler to make the wonderful film Funny People, another fantastic dramatic turn in

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These movies featured popular comedians in non-farcical roles which received subsequent positive critical acclaim.

Sandler’s career.

2. Jim Carrey in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Best known for his remarkably quirky physical comedies, Jim Carrey first whet audiences and critics’ appetites with his performance in comedy-dramas such as The Truman Show and Man on the Moon. However, it was in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind where he committed himself to a dramatic role, and his immense talent shone through.

Ingeniously written by Charlie Kauffman (Being John Malkovich), and directed by Kauffman’s frequent collaborator Michael Gondry (The Science of Sleep), Eternal Sunshine takes a unique and bizarre concept, and adds in an existential and offbeat screenplay, along with a magnificent star studded cast, to create one of the best films of the past decade. At the core of this emotional and peculiar rom-com is Carrey’s character Joel Barish, and while Kate Winslet’s (Titanic)portrayal of a wild and un-

bridled beauty, aptly named Clementine, garnered a majority of the praise, it is Carrey’s deeply saddened puppy-dog brown eyes, yearning to be loved, that tie the whole story together.

1. Bill Murray in Lost in Translation Bill Murray, everyone’s favorite and most beloved funny man, has had one of the most unique film careers in recent memory. Known for his dry and unorthodox characters, Murray became immensely popular in critical and financially successful comedies like Caddyshack, Stripes and Ghostbusters.

Following the success of these films, Murray worked diligently to get a remake of a film called Razor’s Edge, written by and starring Murray.

His first attempt at drama, though not a huge success, displayed stunning dramatic acting abilities and an everyman quality that was amazingly relatable.

Throughout the ’90s Murray continued his string of box office hits, starring in What About Bob?, Groundhog Day and The Royal Tenenbaums, which, while they were marketed as comedies, contained Murray’s distinct characters that had surprising emotional power. However, it was in 2004 that Murray created one of the most lovably frustrating characters in movie history, the washed up movie star Bob Harris.

As delightful and hilarious as it is, Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation is one of the most honest and realistic portraits of two terribly sad and lonely people and the friendship and love they find in one another. The simplicity and subtleties in Murray’s acting, exuding such sadness and confusion, formed a palpable sense of anguish and a noticeable craving to be understood.

No. 1 on this list, Murray’s dramatic performance transcends the comedy-drama, and belongs on a list of great performances in film history.

Do you eat every day?

If so, do you enjoy the sensations of delectable food upon your tongue?

How about going to restaurants and critiquing their every move?

Do you want to be a part of the phenomenon that is The Ram’s Culture section?

Become a food critic and write for our Dining Out feature.

Email fordhamramculture@gmail.com for details.

PAGE 18• THE RAM • NOVEMBER 28, 2012

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PAGE 19

Gaston Out With Knee Injury as Rams Pick Up First Win Fordham Uses Long Ball to Overpower Penn, 70-68, Before Falling to Fairfield in Preseason NIT

By CHESTER BAKER SPORTS EDITOR

The Fordham men’s basketball team picked up its first win of the season, but the Rams lost one of their most important players this past week. After opening up 0-2, Fordham upended Penn 70-68 at Lehigh University in a consolation game of the Preseason NIT. In the days prior to the victory, however, senior forward Chris Gaston underwent surgery on his knee to repair swelling.

“It’s never good, but it’s better now than January,” Head Coach Tom Pecora told the New York Post.

Gaston, who has been seen using a cane on campus, underwent the procedure on Nov. 16. Pecora remains optimistic about Gaston not missing too much action.

“We’re anticipating him to be back in a month,” Pecora said on WFUV’s One on One. “We should probably get him back for the game at the Barclay’s Center against Princeton.”

Fordham went 1-1 in its first two games without its star senior, as the Rams fell to Fairfield 74-71 in the game following their victory.

In the win over the Quakers, the Rams received a major boost from junior guard Branden Frazier, who scored 19 points to go along with seven assists. Frazier leads Fordham and is fifth in the Atlantic 10 in points per game, averaging 16.8 per contest.

Gaston’s presence on the boards was replaced by freshmen Travion Leonard and Ryan Rhoomes, who combined to pull down nine rebounds.

RAM ARCHIVES

Fordham will be relying on big men Leonard, Canty and Rhoomes to fill the void down low during Gaston’s absence.

In a game that was tight throughout, the Rams pulled ahead for good when redshirt freshman guard Jeff Short hit a layup with just 21 seconds left to put the Rams up 6766. Fordham was able to hit its free throws to secure the win, overcoming what had been a problem for the Rams in the first two games of the season. Fordham has been steadily improving from the line, now ranking ninth in the Atlantic 10 with a 66.7 free throw percentage. Frazier led the way from the charity stripe, hitting on nine of 10 attempts.

Sophomore guard Bryan Smith understands the importance of knocking down free throws.

“Every day in practice we work on our free throws,” Smith said. “The only way for us to get better is to

keep practicing. I definitely think we’re improving, and I think we’re much better at the line than we were last season.”

The win also showcased eight three-point field goals from the Rams, one of their best qualities as a team. Shooting the long ball looks to be a major asset for Fordham, and when hot, the team’s three-point game can allow the Rams to hang with any team in the conference.

Fordham ranks fourth in the A-10 in shooting from distance, drilling 37 percent of their three-point shots, a stark contradiction to the team’s 12th-place standing in field goal percentage.

The team leader in three-point shots made per game is Smith, who average just under three 3-point-

ers per game and went four-for-five from beyond the arc in the win.

The sophomore sees that aspect of the team’s offense as one of the most important parts of the team’s success.

“It opens it up for the bigs down low if [the other team] knows we have shooters all over the court,” Smith said. “They can have more chances down low if everyone’s guarding against the three.

[Rhoomes] and Travion [Leornadrd] and Chris [Gaston], when he gets back, have more opportunities, and they can score some points.”

Fordham was once again lights out from three-point land in the Fairfield game, knocking down eight threes, but the Stags were just too much for the Rams. Frazier

again led the way in scoring, tallying 22 points in the loss.

Frazier’s three-point attempt at the buzzer clanged off the iron, dropping the team’s record to 1-3.

The Fairfield game featured a stellar performance from Short, who has been a spark plug for the Rams this season when coming off the bench. The Bronx native scored 17 points, including a perfect 3-for-3 from downtown.

“He scores the basketball,” Pecora said. “We’re working on getting him to guard and rebound every once in a while. But he’s working hard and getting better at those things. He’s an X-factor for us.”

Gaston’s absence down low was felt in the loss, as the team was outrebounded 33-27, while giving up 11 offensive boards to Fairfield. As the team looks to survive without the senior, the Rams will need underclassmen to provide some depth inside.

Fairfield’s senior guard Desmond Wade was a thorn in the side of the Rams the entire night, as he dominated from start to finish, totaling 26 points.

Although Fordham was unable to win the tight game, Smith sees some things to build on.

“We played much harder in those games then we did against Texas State, Pitt and Robert Morris,” Smith said. “We started to play harder on defense and work better as a team. At the end [Wade] just made a big shot. That’s all it came down to.”

The Rams play their home opener tomorrow, Nov. 29, as they face the Manhattan Jaspers in the annual Battle of the Bronx.

Moorhead “Pleased but Not Satisfied” Following Winning Season

By CHESTER BAKER SPORTS EDITOR

After finishing the season with a 6-5 record, Fordham football fans should be more than happy, especially coming off a 1-10 season. But Head Coach Joe Moorhead wanted more out of his first season back at his alma mater, saying he is “pleased but not satisfied.”

“I think there are still definitely some things we can improve on,” Moorhead said.

It is hard to imagine that a fivegame improvement, one of the best in the Football Championship Subdivision, would not be able to satisfy Moorhead. But by looking back at the team’s Patriot League losses, a few more plays could have made this season even more special.

“I think we had the pieces in place to do more,” Moorhead said. “Ultimately we fell short of our goal, which was to win a National Championship.”

In their losses to Patriot League opponents, the Rams fell by a combined total of just eight points in three games.

“We need to find a way to close the gap in those games,” Moorhead said. “At this time next season we want to be talking about our first playoff game, rather than talking

about some of the things that resulted in us being out.”

In order to make it into the playoffs next season, Moorhead will have his team focusing on every detail.

“We’re going to work on the intangibles things and the little things to make us better,” Moorhead said.

“If we can do some of those things, some of those one-possession losses will turn into Patriot League wins.”

Fordham will look to improve upon eliminating negative plays, which, at times, hurt the Rams by giving them long third downs.

Moorhead will be looking to the defense to cut down on giving up explosive plays, a problem which plagued Fordham and skewed some scores so that they did not reflect the solid defensive effort put on by the Rams, aside from the lapses on big plays.

Although the team fell short of its ultimate goal of winning the first FCS Championship in team history, there is plenty that should keep Moorhead and the Rams smiling through the offseason, including leading the Patriot League in a host of offensive categories, led by senior running back Carlton Koonce, who broke the school’s record for rushing yards in a season. It was a win late in the season which will stick with Moorhead.

“Getting that sixth win over Lafayette is something that I will always remember,” Moorhead said. “Just to have the chance to send our seniors out with a winning record was something special.”

Moorhead also holds high praise for his offensive line, which will lose four seniors next season.

“The offensive line allowed a 3,000 yard passer plenty of time and opened up the holes for a single season rushing leader,” Moorhead said.

The offense will need to adapt to a new quarterback next season, as senior Ryan Higgins graduates after taking down Moorhead, a former quarterback at Fordham, in a number of school passing records. Although the Rams have other viable candidates for the job, all signs point to sophomore Mike Nebrich taking over under center next season.

Nebrich split time with Higgins this season, rushing for four touchdowns before going down for the year with a torn ACL against Cornell.

Fordham will also welcome back some of its most skilled position players, including Koonce, who was recently granted an extra year of eligibility. Nebrich will get to throw to sophomore wide receiver Brian Wetzel, who had a breakout campaign by hauling in over 1,000 yards and seven touchdowns. Junior tight end

PHOTO BY MICHAEL REZIN/THE RAM

Moorhead introduced a new no-huddle offense to the team this year, which helped Fordham become one of the top offense in the Patriot League.

Dan Light will also be returning next year, following his stellar 388 yard performance in 2012.

Moorhead will have more than just the Lafayette memory to hang his hat on, as the Rams tied Lehigh for the most First-Team All-Patriot League selections, with both schools boasting seven First-Team selections, 11 total.

Selections for the Rams were: Koonce, Weztel (who was also named to the Second Team as a returner), Light, senior offensive linesman Llyod Morrision, senior Patrick Murray (selected as kicker and

punter) and senior linebacker Mike Martin. Wetzel was joined on the Second Team by senior center Chris Watkins and senior linebacker Nick Womack.

Moorhead was also up for some postseason accolades, as he was nominated for the Eddie Robinson Award, which honors the top head coach in the FCS, before losing out to Colgate’s Dick Biddle.

If Fordham is able to make a run at a National Championship in the near future, the 2012 season should be looked at as the year when the wheels were put in motion for a title.

PAGE 20• THE RAM • NOVEMBER 28, 2012

SPORTS

theramonline.com

Women’s Basketball Impoves to 4-1 After West Coast Trip

By MATT ROSENFELD ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

The Fordham women’s basketball team spent its Thanksgiving break on the West Coast this year, facing off against the University of San Francisco Dons and Pacific University Tigers. The Rams entered the trip an undefeated 3-0, but came back to Rose Hill with a 4-1 record, beating San Francisco 55-48 and falling to Pacific 62-40.

Fordham hit the ground running in California on Nov. 21 when the team faced the San Francisco Dons. Although the team did not shoot well to start, the defense, a newfound strength for Fordham this year, held tight and kept the Rams in the game.

It was a three-pointer from graduate student Marah Strickland that got Fordham going. After the Strickland basket, Fordham went on an 18-4 run and found itself up 24-10 with just over seven minutes left in the half.

San Francisco answered with its own run before halftime; a 10-4 run closed the gap to eight points going into halftime.

The Dons continued their success to open the second half, this time putting together a 10-0 run that got them the lead for the first time since the game’s early minutes.

Fordham would respond. Red-

shirt junior Erin Rooney answered the run with a layup of her own to tie the game at 30, and then answered a San Francisco layup with a three-pointer to give Fordham back the lead 33-32 with 14:30 left in the game.

Efforts from freshman forward Samantha Clark, who had nine points and eight rebounds on the night, and senior guard Arielle Collins, extended the Rams’ lead to six. Collins and Strickland were then able to close the game out at the free-throw line.

The 4-0 start was the first time Fordham women’s basketball had been 4-0 since the 1995-96 season.

Newcomers Strickland and Rooney were the leading scorers, with 15 and 14 points respectively. The two experienced players have provided a big boost to the team in its historic start.

“It’s a combination of their addition, but also that we have three seniors and two juniors in the lineup,” Head Coach Stephanie Gaitley said, speaking about the team’s ability to remain calm when facing adversity, like it did when San Francisco took back the lead in the second half. “Experience comes into play, especially when you hit the road, or you hit tough times during games.”

Fordham looked to improve its record to 5-0 on Nov. 23 when

they traveled to Stockton, Calif to play the undefeated Pacific Tigers.

Pacific played in the Women’s NIT last year, and currently have an experienced team that looks to make another postseason run in 2012-13.

Fordham played tight to Pacific early, but after a technical foul on Pacific’s junior guard Gena Johnson, the Tigers took over. They went on an eight-point run immediately after the technical, able to extend their lead to 21-13 with eight-and-a-half minutes left in the first half. They were able to up that lead to 10 heading into the half, 32-22.

“Pacific put us on our heels right from the beginning,” Gaitley said. “They came at us from all cylinders. They were very deep, we didn’t shoot well and our defense was not sharp.”

The teams traded baskets for the first six minutes of the second half, and Fordham brought the lead down to nine points after a jumper by sophomore Emily Tapio found the hoop.

It was all Tigers from then on, as Fordham only mustered seven points in the final 14 minutes of play, suffering an 18-point defeat to Pacific.

Strickland and Rooney were again the high scorers. This time, Strickland had a game-high 13 and Rooney had 10.

The team still flew home with a historic start under its belt, but also with an “L” in the loss column for the first time all year.

“If we had to drop one, I would rather have us drop one getting our [butts] kicked,” Gaitley said.

“Because when you get your

[butt] kicked, your ears open. So now we are humbled, and we have to get back to the basics.”

Fordham looks to get its fifth win when it takes on rival Manhattan in the “Battle of the Bronx” in Rose Hill Gym on Wednesday, Nov. 28.

PHOTO BY MICHAEL REZIN/THE RAM

Rooney’s defense has been an important part of Fordham’s great start.

Fordham Sailing Among Nation’s Best; Finishes Fall Ranked 17th

By NICK CILIBERTO CONTRIBUTING WRITER

On a campus with so many sports, it can be easy for a team to fly under the radar. The Fordham sailing team has managed to do this while achieving unprecedented success on the national scale.

For the first time in its history, Fordham sailing is ranked in the top 20 in the nation. It is No. 17 out of 218 schools in the Intercollegiate Sailing Association of North America (ICSA). The coed team’s season concluded at the War Memorial Regatta at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, where the team finished eighth out of 50 teams in the Middle Atlantic Conference.

“We made a lot of freshman mis-

takes,” Head Coach Reed Johnson said. Johnson was hired to be the team’s first professional coach in September of last year.

The team’s fall season lasts from the beginning of September until mid-November, while the spring season starts in mid-February and can last through Memorial Day. The team practices at least three days a week for over three hours on Long Island Sound and Eastchester Bay off City Island, a short, 15-minute drive from Fordham’s Rose Hill campus. The team also hosts three or four regattas a year.

After qualifying for the men’s single-handed championships in the fall, the team has high hopes for the future.

“I anticipate that as we continue, recruiting will be like a domino ef-

fect,” Joe Sullivan, FCRH ’58, said.

Sullivan helped resurrect the program in 2000 after it had dissolved in 1975 and served as volunteer head coach until last year. “Top high school sailors will see how well Fordham is doing and will become more interested in coming to Fordham.”

Johnson, too, is excited for what the future may hold.

“Within the next four years, depending on what kind of work we do, we can become one of the best teams in college sailing,” Johnson said. “But it’s going to take an immense amount of effort.”

Johnson recognizes that the team has a lot of potential but needs to remain focused through the offseason.

“The biggest strides we’re going

PHOTO COURTESY OF FORDHAM SAILING

The sailing team helped clean up its practice facility at City Island, which was devastated by Hurricane Sandy.

to make are going to be off the water this season,” he said. “They’re going to be improving our conditioning strength, our teamwork, our togetherness, our mental game.”

Sullivan attributes much of the team’s success to Johnson’s ability to draw some of the nation’s top recruits to the program. Twelve out of the 27 sailors are freshmen, and one of them, Olin Paine, finished seventh in the nation at the Men’s Single-handed National Championship in Long Beach, Calif., Nov. 9 and 10. The champion, Juan Maegli, a senior from the College of Charleston, competed for Guatemala in the London Olympics over the summer, while the runnerup won the Sailor of the Year award and the third finisher was national champion last year.

Johnson and Sullivan share the same vision for the team: Both want to establish Fordham as a consistent national powerhouse that continues to draw strong recruiting classes year after year.

“The biggest challenge in recruiting has been getting kids to come visit Fordham because in the past we have not been known as a sailing powerhouse. Kids are interested in the schools that are known as good sailing schools,” Johnson said. “Once you get them here, the school sells itself.”

In addition to its on-the-water success, the team is very proud of the work it does off-the-water to help its community. Since Hurricane Sandy devastated the area, the team has been helping the owners of Sailmaker Marine on City Island, Paul Laddamada and Maura Mandrano, clean up the debris from their marina, 90 percent of which was destroyed.

“Mora and Paul have been big

supporters of the team and are really kind, generous people,” senior captain Emma Pfohman said.

“When we saw how hard they were hit by the hurricane, we knew we had to give back.”

“It would’ve taken us 17 weekends to do what your kids did in two hours,” a teary-eyed Mandrano told Sullivan after the student athletes made their first trip to the marina.

The team has a lot to celebrate and a lot to look forward to.

“The team is really motivated because we have seen that we can break into the top 20,” Pfohman said. “In the spring, we can use the momentum we’ve gotten from the fall season to qualify for women’s and co-ed nationals. I’m really excited to see what we can do.”

Coming off the heels of the team’s best season to date, it will enter the spring season focused upon qualifying for the ICSA Coed National Championship for the very first time. Team members love working together and are dedicated to making a name for themselves.

“Our team is made up of very hardworking individuals. All of our student athletes dedicate a significant amount of time to sailing, and they all focus on getting better every day,” Johnson said. “Our team’s biggest goal is to improve on a daily basis. It would be great to qualify for a few more national championships, but none of that will come if we don’t practice hard and push each other.”

Despite not being the most wellknown story to come out of the fall athletic season, the sailing team is making a run for the most exciting. It is certainly a team to watch; maybe Fordham’s best-kept secret will become its biggest success.

SPORTS

theramonline.com

NHL Cancels Games Through December 14

By ANTHONY PUCIK STAFF WRITER

The NHL has done it again.

Another slew of talks between the NHL and NHLPA have occurred, more rumors of a deal being close and concessions being made were spread, but at the end of the day there is still no hockey, and after this weekend, it doesn’t appear that there will be much anytime soon. I happened to be outside of the NHL offices on Tuesday and was able to hear NHLPA Executive Director Donald Fehr after negotiations were done for the day. He appeared optimistic, but once again that optimism did not amount to much.

On Friday, the NHL canceled all games through Dec. 14, as well as the 2013 NHL All-Star Weekend that was scheduled for Jan. 26-27 in Columbus, Ohio (home of the Columbus Blue Jackets).

NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said, “The reality of losing more regular season games as well as the All-Star Weekend in Columbus is extremely disappointing.”

At this point, to describe the current lockout as extremely disappointing is a laughable understatement. With two extra weeks of canceled games tacked onto the ones already canceled, the NHL has lost a total of 422 regular season games from Oct. 11 to Dec. 14. This adds up to 34.3 percent of the NHL season, not to mention the fact that festivities which are loved by both the fans and players, like the Winter Classic and the All-Star Weekend, have also been canceled.

Daly also went on to say that the members on the NHL side of the bargaining table, mainly the owners and Commissioner Gary Bettman, “feel badly for NHL fans.”

If Daly and the NHL truly felt bad for the fans they would have gotten a deal done with the NHLPA this summer without having to cancel any games. Not to say that the players association is not also to blame, but it is utterly ridiculous for Daly to say that the NHL feels bad for the fans when it seems that every “offer” that comes from negotiations are nowhere close to either side’s demands and making the possibility of a deal that could salvage some of the season slimmer and slimmer with every passing day.

Daly also said the NHL “intend[s] to work closely with the Blue Jackets organization to return the NHL All-Star events to Columbus and their fans as quickly as possible.”

As soon as possible is not soon enough, especially for a team like the Columbus Blue Jackets, a struggling up-and-coming franchise with a small fan base. An event like All-Star weekend would

have brought thousands of fans to the Blue Jackets’ arena and generated the city and the team a great deal of revenue. Now, that is not happening this year, and the Blue Jackets, one of the teams that are at the crux of the major issues regarding revenue sharing, have had a great event stolen from their city due to the NHL’s and players’ greed and pride.

The latest proposal offered by the NHL a few weeks ago called for a 50-50 split in hockey-related revenue throughout the entire agreement, along with a “makewhole” provision that would compensate players for the loss of contract money as a result of the new deal. The NHLPA rejected this deal, but Bettman said that the deal is still on the table.

The NHLPA’s latest offer this week was said to be “a dramatic move” in the owner’s direction according to Fehr.

Fehr said, “the sides are $182 million apart in the division of hockey-related revenue in their respective proposals,” this being based off of the same deal that was described by Commissioner Bettman above.

Commissioner Bettman, and the rest of the NHL, was not at all impressed with the latest deal by the NHLPA. “Quite frankly, we have proposed a long-term agreement that we think is fair and balanced,” he said. It does not appear that the NHL is going to move in their stance at all.

Bettman is unable to understand why a deal cannot be reached, especially because “the players are losing, as a group, between $8 and $10 million a day,” but to me the answer is very simple.

There is no NHL right now because there is no deal. There is no deal because the NHLPA does not want to lose their current contracts and the money they are owed. The NHL wants more money which has to come from the players somehow, and that would be through their contracts. The NHLPA doesn’t want to lose their current contracts and the money they are owed, but the NHL wants more money so . . .

Get the picture? This entire lockout is a cycling of two sides wanting two things and them believing the only way they can get what they want is by not giving the other side what they want.

It is clear that this tactic is not working because now more than a quarter of the season and two major events during the middle of the season have been canceled and there is no hope in sight. If the NHL and NHLPA continue to bicker and argue over the same things with no movement, there will be no NHL season this year, and the time for that is coming very soon.

Want to write for us? Email fordhamramsports@gmail.com

NOVEMBER 28, 2012• THE RAM • PAGE 21

Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/theram_sports Varsity Scores & Stats Women’s basketball Delaware State 20 18 38 Fordham 37 32 69 Strickland (FOR) - 16 pts, 5 rebs Hawkins (DSU) -16 pts, 5 rebs

Swimming - men Bucknell Invitational Top performers: Sholdra- 2nd place in 400IM Noguchi - 3rd place in 100 Butterfly

Fordham 28 27 55 San Francisco 20 28 48 Cross country - men Strickland (FOR) - 15 pts, 4 rebs IC4A/ECAC Championship Dikes (USF) - 11 pts, 5 rebs 2nd/16 teams Top performer: Fordham 22 18 40 Ryan Polo - 3rd (26:13.3) Pacific 32 30 62 Strickland (FOR) - 13 pts, 2 rebs Cross country - women Kenyon (PU) - 13 pts, 13 rebs IC4A/ECAC Championship 3rd/19 teams Swimming - women Top performer: Bucknell Invitational Anisa Arsenault - 4th Top performer: (18:24.6) Ryan- 1st place 100 Backstroke

Men’s basketball Fordham 36 34 70 Penn 35 33 68 Frazier (FOR) - 19 pts, 7 asts Dougherty(PENN) - 20 pts, 8 rebs Fordham 37 34 71 Fairfield 40 34 74 Frazier(FOR) - 22 pts, 7 asts Wade(FU) - 26 pts, 3 rebs Football Colgate 7 7 7 20 41 Fordham 13 3 3 20 39 Koonce (FOR) - 234 yds rushing McCord (COLG) - 3 rushing TDs

Athletes of the Week Carlton Koonce

Marah Strickland

RS Junior

Graduate Student

Football, running back

Basketball, forward

Koonce tallied 232 yards in the Rams’ loss to Colgate. His 1,596 yards this season broke Kerwin Watson’s single-season school record.

Strickland had 28 total points on the Rams’ West Coast road trip over the holiday weekend. Fordham beat San Francisco but lost to Pacific.

News & Notes • •

• • •

Carlton Koonce’s 145 rushing yards per game are fourth in the FCS. The Fordham softball schedule is now available on FordhamSports.com. The Rams open the season on Feb. 8 at the Dot Richardson Collegiate Invitational in Clermont, Fla. The home opener is a doubleheader against La Salle on March 28.

Sophomore goalie Noah LeBeau of the water polo team was named CWPA Second Team All-Northern Division.

The Fordham softball team assisted with Hurricane Sandy relief last week, helping to sort donations at the Kingsbridge Armory.

The YES Network will broadcast six Fordham men’s basketball games this season, starting with the Rams’ game on Thursday against Manhattan.

Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/theram_sports

PAGE 22• THE RAM • NOVEMBER 28, 2012

SMITH SAYS ALEX SMITH

Let me start out by stating the obvious: I am a huge Alex Smith fan. I bought his jersey as soon as he was drafted No. 1 overall by San Francisco. I love him for his winning ways and his winning name. In fact, as I write this article, my (and his) name is trending on Twitter for reasons that have nothing to do with me.

The reason that Smith is trending on Twitter is due to the fact that he was benched in favor of Colin Kaepernick. Smith lost his starting job two weeks ago during the 49ers’ 2424 tie against the St. Louis Rams.

So what happened? Did he pull a Mark Sanchez and blow the game with costly turnovers? No. He suffered a concussion at the end of the first quarter. Interestingly enough, Smith convinced his coach, Jim Harbaugh, to let him stay in the game and then completed his next five passes, including a touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree. After being evaluated further at halftime, Smith was ruled out.

Enter Colin Kaepernick. Before he was drafted in the second round

by San Fran in the 2011 draft, not many people knew about him. Out of high school, he was heavily recruited as a baseball player. He was a stud pitcher, throwing two no-hitters in his senior year. But Kaepernick wanted to play college football, and the University of Nevada was the only school to offer him a football scholarship. He took advantage of the opportunity. He put together some incredible numbers for the Wolf Pack.

I vividly remember watching him play one game in college. In his Senior Night game in 2010, Kaepernick led Nevada to a classic 34-31 overtime victory over conference rival Boise State. The Broncos had been on a 24-game winning streak.

In his final collegiate home game, Kaepernick beat the big bad Broncos and became the first player in NCAA history to have 2,000 yards passing and 1,000 yards rushing in three straight seasons.

When the Niners drafted the scrambling quarterback, many expected him to sit a few years and learn under Smith. He would be the future. Because of Smith’s concussion, the future came a little bit earlier than most expected. So far, Kaepernick has shone, leading the 49ers to convincing wins over Chicago and New Orleans. He has added a new dimension to the offense.

While Alex Smith can scramble when he needs to, Kaepernick has introduced option-style plays that are designed to have him run with the ball. Coach Harbaugh has decided that, for now, he will remain the starting signal-caller.

People around the NFL are complaining that the quarterback

switch is unfair. They’re asking how a starting quarterback can lose his job based not on his performance, but on an injury. Here’s my take: As I said before, I am a big Alex Smith fan, and his play of late has warranted a lot of fan support. In the last 26 games that Smith has started for the Niners, the team has gone 20-5-1.

He doesn’t turn the ball over, and he has thrived in Harbaugh’s system. With all that said, I still think Kaepernick is the right guy.

Harbaugh has stated that he is going to continue playing the hot hand, and I can’t blame him for that. Every team’s ultimate goal every season is to win a Super Bowl.

I honestly believe that Kaepernick gives the 49ers their best shot at winning games right now. He’s a dynamic player who forces opposing defenses to make their game plan around him, which can be hard to do when the Niners also have one of the best running backs in the league in Frank Gore coming out of the backfield. He basically dismantled the Chicago Bears defense, which many consider to be is the best in the NFL, and he did so in the national spotlight in a Monday Night game.

Do I feel bad for Smith? Maybe a little. He didn’t do anything to lose his job, but that’s just the way professional sports work. Coaches are always going to play the best cards that they have, and Kaepernick is much better than just a wildcat QB who comes in for two plays a game.

He is a legitimate starting NFL quarterback. He is what Tim Tebow wishes he was. I don’t think Smith will sit around and mope. If the time comes when Smith is put back out there, I’m sure he’ll be ready to go. I know he’s unhappy with the move, and he’s going to say all the right things to the media about the coaches needing to do what’s best for the team. Give Smith some credit for not making a big fuss about all of this.

This is not the first time a player has lost his job because of injury.

In the 2010 season opener, Philadelphia Eagles starting quarterback Kevin Kolb left the game because of, you guessed it, a concussion. Michael Vick stepped in and has been the starting quarterback in Philly ever since, disregarding games he has missed due to injury. How did that move work out? In the 2010 season, Vick was the most exciting player in football. He put his name back on the map; he led the Eagles to the playoffs, and if it weren’t for Tom Brady being Tom Brady, he probably would have won MVP. Vick has struggled recently and Kolb has faded into oblivion, but it’s fair to say that it was the right move at the time.

The San Francisco 49ers are a championship-caliber team. Aside from a Week 15 matchup with New England, they have a soft schedule the rest of the way. With their stingy defense and the spark of energy that Colin Kaepernick has brought, I’d be very surprised if the Niners aren’t in New Orleans this February playing for the Lombardi Trophy.

SPORTS

theramonline.com

Senior Profile: Arielle Collins

PHOTO BY MIKE REZIN/THE RAM

Collins started each of the Rams’ 30 games last year, leading the team in points, assists, steals and minutes per game.

By MATT ROSENFELD

change that hopefully this year.

ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Arielle “Ace” Collins is a senior guard for the women’s basketball team. Originally from Hamilton, N.J., Collins attended Steinart High School. She is the all-time leading scorer in Steinart history, with over 1,700 points. She averaged over 20 points a game in her senior season. After high school, Collins attended the Hun School in Princeton, N.J. for a preparatory year. She continued her success there and was named First Team All Mid-Atlantic Prep League and First Team All-Prep. In her first three years as a Ram, Collins saw significant playing time. She appeared in over 20 games in each of her first two years and started all 30 of the team’s games last year.

She led the team in scoring (11.1 points per game), assists (99), steals (57) and minutes (38.3 minutes per game). This year, Collins looks to be a major contributor to a team that is already 4-1.

The Ram: What made you decide to come to Fordham?

Collins: I think it is a great school overall. Academically it’s great and athletically, I know we’ve had a little trouble in women’s basketball, but we are looking to

TR: In your career, you have played a lot off of the bench, as well as starting a good amount. Is there any difference in your mentality when you take on those two roles?

AC: Absolutely. Coming off of the bench my freshman and sophomore year, it was definitely difficult mentally. I had to come off of the bench really cold and get right into the flow of things, and that was tough. But I think it’s even harder to walk out there as a starter. The nerves are running, and you have to set the pace for the whole game.

That being said, I definitely like the position I’m in now compared to freshman and sophomore year.

TR: Given the addition of Erin Rooney, Marah Strickland and Samantha Rose, how are you guys adjusting to having three new, big time contributors to the team?

AC: It’s great. We have so many looks that it’s hard to tell who’s going to get it. Erin is definitely a threat on defense as well as on offensive and that helps me in the backcourt. Also, Marah, you don’t want to leave her open, she’ll knock it down every time and Sam is definitely a presence in the post.

TR: Coach Gaitley described you as one of the leaders of the team when I spoke to her. Is that a role you expected to take on, or something that just developed through the course of your career?

AC: I think it developed. In high school I was in that role a lot, but when I came to college at first I was more of a follower, just trying to see how things worked. I followed the leaders I had when I was a freshman and now I’ve taken on the role myself.

TR: What has been your favorite moment while at Fordham?

AC: Probably coming off the bench in one game freshman or sophomore year, I hit a buzzer beater to win the game against George Washington. I’ll never forget it. The gym was packed, we were at home; it was great. But also trying to make history this year, I want to make a memory out of this season.

TR: Do you have any plans for after you graduate?

AC: Not yet. I’m throwing my resume around. Hopefully, I’ll get a job in the city working for a fashion company, but I’m not really sure yet.

Got a story idea? Email fordhamramsports@gmail.com and let us know!

PHOTO BY MIKE REZIN/THE RAM

Collins appeared in at least 21 games in each of her first three seasons with Fordham.

SPORTS

theramonline.com

Fordham Swimming and Diving Competes at Princeton and Bucknell

PHOTO BY MICHAEL REZIN/THE RAM

Fordham swimmers won three events at the Bucknell Invitational.

By TIM DEROCHER STAFF WRITER

The Fordham swimming and diving teams started off their week well even before stepping into the pool.

Three swimmers were recognized at the weekly Atlantic 10 awards this past week as the Rams took three of the four weekly awards. Senior Brienne Ryan took her fourth consecutive A-10 Performer of the Week award of this season.

This was complemented by a sweep of the A-10 Rookie of the Week awards by freshmen Steve Sholdra and Theresa Goehring, which were announced on Nov. 13. This is Sholdra’s third Rookie of the Week award of the season and Goehring’s first. The three Rams were awarded the accolades for their performances at the Princeton Invitational.

The teams then tried to take their momentum from the previous week and bring it with them to the Bucknell Invitational this past weekend, Nov. 16-18. It was a competitive field comprised of Georgetown, Yale, Binghamton, LaSalle, Delaware, Bucknell and Fordham.

The women finished fifth, while the men came in seventh in the team scoring.

Both teams accumulated seven top-five finishes, with an additional two wins on the women’s side and one win on the men’s side. Top performers at the meet, Ryan and Sholdra, came off of their A-10 award-winning weeks to pull in those three wins. Ryan won both of the backstroke events taking the 100-m in 55.13 and the 200-m in 2:00.84. Sholdra took home his individual win in the 500-m freestyle. Not only did he win the event in a time of 4:29.82, but he broke the Fordham school record for the event. Set two years before he was even born, Sholdra broke the 1992 record by more than a second and a half. Ryan and Sholdra also added individual top fives of their own, with Ryan placing fourth in the 100-m butterfly in 56.41 and Sholdra placing second in both the 400-m individual medley and 200m butterfly with times of 3:59.81 and 1:50.67, respectively.

Junior Shintaro Noguchi had a good performance in the meet as well with three individual top five swims. Enjoying the shorter distances, Noguchi placed second in the 50-m freestyle in 20.92, third in the 100-m butterfly in 49.85 and fifth in the 100-m freestyle in 46.60.

The men also had a top five performance in the 400-freestyle relay.

Sophomores Pat Militti and Nick Burbidge, along with senior Thomas Yi, joined with Noguchi to finish fifth in a time of 3:07.51.

Underclassmen rounded out the individual top-five performances for the women, as sophomores Frances Warren and Jordan Tomimatsu, along with freshman Megan Gehrich, all had one each. Gehrich finished fifth in the 400-m individual medley in 4:32.86, Tomimatsu was fourth in 200-m backstroke in 2:04.77 and Warren finished fifth in the 200-m butterfly in 2:07.05.

The women also added three relays, which all placed in the top five. Freshmen Shannon and Chandler Lulley teamed up with seniors Ryan and Alana Biagioli to finish the 200-m freestyle relay in 1:36.48 to take third. Ryan, Biagioli, Shannon Lulley and sophomore Kelly Carroll then took fifth in the 200-m medley relay in a time of 1:48.31.

The final relay to clock in was the 800-m freestyle team of Biagioli, Ryan, junior Kara Field and sophomore Megan Zarriello, who took third in 7:42.89.

Freshman Steve Sholdra was once again recognized as the A-10 Rookie of the Week for his performance at the Bucknell Invitational, announced on Nov. 20. His schoolrecord-time win in the 500-m freestyle combined with the two second place finishes in the 400-m individual medley and 200-m butterfly were enough to award him with his fourth Rookie of the Week accolade of this season.

Everyone at Fordham has a chance to see the team compete this week, as its next meet is Saturday, Dec. 1 in the Lombardi Center.

The Rams will pick up the dual meet action again, this time competing against Jesuit rivals Boston College and Williams College of Massachusetts at 1 p.m.

By CHESTER BAKER SPORTS EDITOR

This past weekend, I had a sublime time by any sports fan’s standards. On Saturday, my girlfriend and I went to “Operation Hockey,” a Sandy-relief benefit game pitting members of the New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers and other players from the NHL against each other to raise money for those affected by the storm. On Sunday, we went to the New York GiantsGreen Bay Packers game, which was especially sweet since I got to see my beloved G-Men break out of their November swoon.

The great two-day span of action made me wonder: What would my perfect sports week be?

Now, there is really no logic to how this week would come together. Games can be from any season, between any teams and it doesn’t matter if the dates don’t exactly match up. There is no need to worry about how far apart things are because I own the only teleportation device in the world and have an unlimited credit card. Don’t ask me how I got them.

The only rule for this experiment is that I can only pick one event per day. Can’t be too greedy.

Without further ado, let’s get this fantasy week underway.

Day 1: Duke vs. North Carolina I have wanted to watch this game in person since becoming a Blue Devils fan after donning the Duke uniform in my second grade pee-wee basketball league.

This is the ultimate college basketball game: rivalry, atmosphere and two great teams. I’m slotting this game at the beginning of my week because it might take me a day to get over a Duke loss, but it wouldn’t be severe enough to ruin my whole week. Just look for me in body paint and a Speedo with the rest of the Cameron Crazies.

Day 2: Final Day of the Iditarod Assuming the teleportation device can reach Alaska, I think this would be a great time. You get to watch dogs run and sample some concessions like deer legs. Besides, how many people do you know who have actually ever been to the most famous dog race in the world? Also, I think this would be a great time to hold up a “Make Some Noise!” sign just to get the dogs barking.

Day 3: Nebraska Cornhuskers football game I really don’t care who Nebraska is playing, I need to go to a college football contest out there. While there are plenty of more famous,

NOVEMBER 28, 2012• THE RAM • PAGE 23

alluring rivalry matchups most sports fans want to attend, the idea of watching the Cornhuskers in the middle of nowhere is incredibly alluring. People in the fly-over states are absolutely insane about their football, as Memorial Stadium becomes the third most-populated city in Nebraska on game days. I can already see myself wearing that gigantic ear of corn hat.

Day 4: Random Minor League Baseball game Watching a baseball game on a warm summer night with a hot dog in your hand is one of the best things in the world. The only thing to make it better is if you have 10 hot dogs. Minor League games are everything perfect about baseball.

No million-dollar contracts. No gigantic scoreboards. No overcrowded stadiums. A baseball game in a small stadium with just a few hundred people in the stands is one of the purest experiences in America.

Day 5: Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals at night Most baseball purists will say the only way to enjoy a game at Wrigley is sitting on the bleachers for an afternoon game, but I’ve already experienced that. This time around, I want to watch these two rivals battle under the lights, while cheering along with my fellow Cubbies fans. With all of the success the Cardinals have had

over the past few seasons, much to my dismay, it would be extremely satisfying to watch my lovable losers down St. Louis. I’m really not sure if there is a way to make one of these lists without including a stop at Wrigley, which is by far the most beautiful stadium in all of organized sports.

Day 6: Final Round of The Masters Tournament If you have an unlimited credit card, Master tickets are a smart purchase because they are wickedly expensive. I’m not the biggest golf fan in the world, but I can not imagine how cool it would be to watch someone put on the green jacket. My only requirement would be that I have Jim Nantz stand next to me the entire day to announce things.

Day 7: New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles I want to go into the danger zone and cheer on Big Blue in my final day. Anyone who knows me is well aware that I am a psychotic Giants fan and I would love to head into Philadelphia and watch the Giants take down the Eagles. And if I get into a fistfight, oh well, the week is over anyway.

Some may chastise me for not having the Indy 500, Wimbledon or a soccer game on here, but those just aren’t up there for me.

What would your ideal sports week be?

AL GRILLO/AP

Off the beaten path a bit, the Iditarod is probably the most obscure event listed in my ideal sports week. But come on, look how excited that guy is.

Upcoming Varsity Schedule CAPS=HOME lowercase=away Men’s BBall

Thursday Nov. 29

Friday Nov. 30

MANHATTAN 7:30 p.m.

Women’s BBall

Swimming Squash

.

Saturday Dec. 1

Sunday Dec. 2

Monday Dec. 3

Tuesday Dec. 4

at Harvard 1 p.m.

at Lehigh 1 p.m.

at Marquette 8 p.m.

at Yale 7 p.m.

BC/WILLIAMS 1 p.m./4 p.m.

UVA/NYU 9 a.m./ Noon

Wednesday Dec. 5

NOVEMBER 28, 2012

PAGE 24

Rams Come Up Short in Senior Day Shootout with Colgate Koonce Gains 232 Yards On the Ground, Breaks Fordham Single-Season Rushing Record

By DAN GARTLAND SPORTS EDITOR

Everyone really should have expected it. With two of the nation’s top 20 offenses meeting in the Bronx on Saturday, the six fourth quarter touchdowns that Fordham and Colgate combined for should not have been much of a surprise. Still, it was a thing to behold, though Fordham fell short, losing 41-39.

After taking a 16-7 lead early in the second quarter, Fordham slowly began to lose its grip on the game. A Colgate touchdown, with one minute remaining in the half, cut the Fordham lead to 16-14.

Fordham senior Patrick Murray missed a 49-yard field goal with four seconds left and the Rams limped into halftime. One Fordham assistant, frustrated with his team’s effort, slammed the door to the coaches’ box so hard it broke.

Colgate took the lead early in the third quarter when the Rams defense bit on a play-action fake, leaving junior receiver Ryne Morrison wide open for a 62-yard catch and run. Fordham was able to answer with a field goal on its next possession, and the Rams trailed 21-19.

Fordham then stopped the Raiders offense near midfield, forcing a punt, but on the second play of the ensuing drive, senior quarterback Ryan Higgins fumbled and gave the ball back to the Raiders. Colgate turned the ball right back over, though, and it appeared as though Fordham dodged a major bullet.

The Rams took advantage of their good fortune, embarking on one of their more impressive drives of the season. Fordham looked rhythmic and deliberate, gaining large chunks of yardage with relative ease.

Redshirt junior running back Carlton Koonce led the way, gaining a total of 65 yards on the drive.

PHOTO BY ALLY WHITE/THE RAM

Carlton Koonce had 232 rushing yards in the loss. He broke the Fordham single-season rushing record with 1,596 yards.

His 7-yard run on third down gave him the Fordham record for single-season rushing yards. Koonce then appeared to give Fordham the lead with a 14-yard touchdown run, but it was called back for holding. Three plays later, Higgins threw to the end zone, looking for sophomore receiver Brian Wetzel, but Wetzel was well covered and the pass was intercepted.

“I was down for a little bit [after the interception],” Higgins said.

“But I had everyone come over and kind of pick me up, which I think what this team is about.

If one person’s down, there’s 96 other guys coming around saying, ‘Come on, let’s go, we need you.’

That kind of brought me up and I got into a rhythm in the fourth quarter and we started scoring points.”

After the Higgins interception, the two teams put on a tremen-

dous display of offense, scoring six consecutive touchdowns. The first was by Colgate senior running back Jordan McCord, whose 8-yard run stretched the Colgate lead to 28-19.

Fordham answered with a touchdown from Koonce, but the Raiders responded with a touchdown of their own, as junior quarterback Gavin McCarney ran it in from 14 yards out.

On the next Fordham possession, Koonce evaded a tackler in the backfield and ran 37 yards for touchdown, making the score 3533 in favor of Colgate with 2:58 left to play.

Fordham sent out the hands team for the ensuing kickoff, hoping to recover the onside kick.

Colgate lined up as if the Rams were prepared to kick it deep, but quickly realized the mistake and called a timeout. Fordham was

nearly able to recover the onside kick attempt, but the ball spurted out of bounds before it could be recovered.

After the kick, Colgate took possession at the Fordham 44yard line. With 2:53 on the clock and all three timeouts remaining, Fordham could have gotten the ball back with plenty of time left if it was able to force Colgate to go three-and-out. The Rams defense stopped McCord for no gain on first down, but allowed him to pick up 8 yards on second down.

Fordham called timeout after each play to stop the clock. Then, on third-and-2, McCord found a hole on the right side of the line and ran for 30 yards, all the way to the 6-yard line. Fordham decided the best strategy would be to allow Colgate to score, attempt to block the extra point, and then count on the offense to score a touchdown

PHOTO BY MICHAEL HAYES/THE RAM

Brian Wetzel’s touchdown late in the fourth quarter gave the Rams a chance to tie the game on a two-point conversion.

and get a two-point conversion.

“The defense didn’t like it,” Fordham head coach Joe Moorhead said. “They never want to let anybody score, but our only chance was to let that happen and to block the extra point. Even if we had tried to play ball there and held them, there wouldn’t have been enough time to go 99 yards with no timeouts.”

Far-fetched as it may seem, the plan nearly worked.

Fordham let McCord score and proceeded to block the point-after attempt. The 4,000-plus fans on hand at Jack Coffey field erupted, realizing Fordham still had a chance to tie.

Higgins and the offense took the field with just under two minutes remaining and no timeouts.

Aided by two long completions from Higgins to Wetzel, Fordham quickly moved into Colgate territory. Then, on fourth-and-six, with the game on the line, Higgins again found Wetzel, who ran into the end zone for a touchdown with 44 seconds remaining.

Fordham needed to go for two in order to tie.

“After the play with Brian, I just walked into the huddle and told everyone I loved them, and that this was it — do or die right here,” Higgins said.

As has been its custom, Fordham called a trick play on the twopoint conversion attempt. The Rams broke the huddle late in the play clock and quickly lined up for the play. The formation was a full house backfield with senior receiver Blake Wayne hiding behind Higgins in a crouching position.

Higgins took the snap and rolled to his left, with Wayne trailing behind, ready to take the pitch. Higgins tossed to Wayne but he had nowhere to go and was stopped short of the goal line.

“I think I called the two-point play that we actually ran,” Higgins said, laughing nervously. “I think Coach Moorhead wanted to run something else.”

“I called the play, guys,” Moorhead interjected. “I called the play.”

“The play worked in practice all week,” Higgins said. “I was comfortable running it. I think we got the look that we wanted, but it just didn’t go our way.”

With the loss, Fordham dropped to 6-5 on the season.

Still, this season, the positives far outweighed the negatives. It was the program’s first winning season since 2007, and the Rams’ fivewin improvement over last season was second-best in the FCS this year.

For the players who will be back next season, this year is something to build on. For the graduating senior class, leaving after a winning season can be bittersweet.

“It kind of stinks that I’m leaving, because we had such a great turnaround, and I know that this program is headed in the right direction,” Higgins said.