Volume 96 issue 18

The Fordham Ram Serving The Fordham University Community Since 1918 Volume 96, Issue 18

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October 29, 2014

Students Gather For Police Brutality Vigil

By JOE VITALE MANAGING EDITOR

After a summer marked by incidents of police brutality that ignited protests and sparked a national conversation about policing in America, students, faculty and staff gathered on McGinley Center Lawn on Tuesday to honor and remember those who have lost their lives in instances of police brutality.

The candlelight vigil, attended by more than 100 community members, comprised various interfaith groups, including the Muslim Student Association, Fordham University South Asian Entity, Satin Dolls, Campus Ministry and the African and African American Studies Department.

Organizers, in a statement before the vigil, said the purpose of the gathering was to honor and remember each life lost to police brutality, and to stand in solidarity with the communities impacted by such injustices.

A focus on racial injustice underscored many of the prayers and conversations throughout the vigil, with calls for solidarity, peace and justice reverberating

University Issues Ebola Guidelines

By JOE VITALE MANAGING EDITOR

person, it is like killing all humanity. If anyone saves a person, it is like saving humanity.”

Rev. Mark Chapman, a profes-

Fordham University Student Health Services on Monday echoed the Center for Disease Control’s effort to quell a concerned public about the dangers of the Ebola virus by barring students, faculty and staff from traveling to the West African region where outbreaks have occurred in recent months.

The university characterized the travel restriction to the three countries in the region — which includes Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea — as acting with “an abundance of caution,” according to an email sent to the Fordham community. The guidelines additionally advise students traveling to, or hosting international guests from, affected areas to immediately contact the University Health Center.

Reflective of the CDC’s most recent set of guidelines, Ford-

FROM BRUTALITY, PAGE 5

FROM EBOLA, PAGE 3

CASEY CHUN/THE RAM

More than 100 community members attended the vigil, which was held in honor of victims of police brutality.

throughout the words delivered by speakers and prayer leaders.

Rahitul Bhuiyan, FCRH ’15, of the Muslim Student Association, read an Islamic prayer from the

Quran and translated the verses into English.

“Justice is a vital part of Islam,” Bhuiyan explained after reading a verse in Arabic. “If anyone kills a

Fox News Co-Host Talks Reopened Pizzeria Delivers Peace of Mind Politics, Life Experiences By MICHAEL CHARBONEAU STAFF WRITER

By KEVIN CURRAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

“Always help someone out, even if they don’t know you’re doing it,” said Dana Perino, former press secretary for the Bush administration.

She offered this philosophy to the Fordham community Thursday, Oct. 23, at an event hosted by the College Republicans at Keating third. Students were given the opportunity to hear Perino’s ideas and stories from her time as a press secretary in the Bush administration as well as her experience as current co-host of The Five on Fox News.

Perino offered personal stories and anecdotes from the Bush administration and her own “meandering journey to where [she is] in this issue

Opinion Page 7 Can the Youth Make an Impact on the Election?

Culture Page 11 Autumn Activities On- and Off-Campus

Sports

Page 20

Fordham Earns First Ever Win at Lehigh

now.” However, she made clear that the brevity of this portion was by design. Instead, her talk stuck to the key elements of current policy.

“Policy debates are not about good versus evil, but about Americans who have different ideas on how things should get done,” Perino said. “Americanism is tempered by the frontier spirit...

America must continue to lead in the world.”

The audience begged the question of which person Perino saw leading the “frontier nation” come 2016. Perino reminded people of the 2008 election in which the front-runners at this early stage were Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Clinton.

Though acknowledging that forecasting elections is no exact science, she predicted that Hillary Clinton will likely take the Democratic ticket. With regards to her former employing party, she was a bit more cryptic. She only offered a famous William Buckley quote, saying, “We must elect the most conservative candidate that can win”.

Though the Republican party has spent the past six years struggling with a bicameral Congress under a Democratic president, Perino is hopeful about the upcoming elections in regards to the potential for conservative leadership.

SEE PERINO, PAGE 5

After the sudden closure of Bellini's in September, the pizzeria on the corner of 189th and Hughes Avenue known for its specialty slices, this September, Nike's Pizza is now open for business in the same space.

Nike Pllumbaj is the man behind Nike's Pizza, and he is also the uncle of former Bellini's owner Al Bellini.

Nike's chef George Lozano noted that around “two or three months ago,” the two men agreed to swap ownership of the pizzeria once Bellini moved to California.

For students, however, the restaurant's departure was abrupt and unexplained. When its familiar red awnings came down, many worried that Bellini's might be gone forever.

“We were freaked out,” said Alexandra Bruno, GSB ’15, “we thought they weren't ... coming back.”

Fortunately, that is not the case.

With Bellini living on the West Coast, Pllumbaj is now the restaurant's official owner, and a key dining option in Belmont appears be safe. For many students, Bellini's had been the perfect complement to the neighborhood's nightlife.

“It was always a great late night pizza place to go to, and everyone kind of hung out here,” said Mike Meehan, FCRH ’14.

However, Nike's is not a carbon copy of Bellini's. Lower prices and new menu items are two of the biggest changes awaiting hungry students at the new restaurant. The price for a pasta slice, one of the

CASEY CHUN/THE RAM

Despite the change in name, students seem content with the renamed pizzeria.

former pizzeria's best-known offerings, has been reduced from $4.50 to $4.00, for example. Drink prices have also been reduced, with a can of soda costing $1 instead of the usual $1.50. Pllumbaj has also added a new special: order one full pie, and he will throw in a free drink.

Once he took over, Pllumbaj debuted a number of new menu items at the pizzeria. These include a whole roster of never-before-seen specialty slices, such as the chicken, tomatoes and onions slice; the salad slice; and the Sicilian slice. For those

looking for something a little different, he is also branched out from pizza to include gyros.

Most students agree that Nike's has so far kept up the standard of quality food, for which Bellini's was known.

“I didn't notice much of a difference,” said Christina Errichiello, FCRH ’15.

“Thankfully the food seems the same,” noted Meehan. “The quality is still there.”

Some said that with the new SEE PIZZA, PAGE 3

NEWS

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SECURITY BRIEFS Oct. 24 Finlay Hall 7 p.m.

A student put $18 in a jar that sat on her desk in her dorm room.

She reported to Public Safety that when she checked the jar around 7 p.m., there was roughly $15 missing. Public Safety is currently investigating.

Oct. 25 Southern Boulevard 12:15 a.m.

A non-Fordham individual reported to Public Safety that he was the victim of a robbery on Southern Boulevard behind the Lombardi Center. He was approached by two males, one of whom pulled out a gun, took the individual’s phone and demanded his money. The individual removed $2 from his pocket, threw it onto the ground and fled to the Southern Boulevard guard booth.

A Public Safety supervisor waited with the individual until N.Y.P.D. responded.

Oct. 26 189th and Belmont 10 p.m.

A Fordham alumni and student reported being the victims of a robbery at gun-point. The three perpetrators, between 15 and 20 years of age, were of thin build and were wearing hoodies. They approached the two women while they were walking and one of the assailants displayed a firearm. Before fleeing the scene, the assailants took a cell phone from the alum and a purse and wallet from the student. Public Safety and N.Y.P.D. were contacted. A canvass of the scene produced negative results, but N.Y.P.D. is conducting an ongoing investigation.

—Compiled by Michael Cavanaugh, Assistant News Editor

Follow us on Twitter! @TheFordhamRam

October 29, 2014

Fordham Professor listed in “40 Under 40”

By LAURA SANICOLA ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

“Author, professor, commentator — Christina Greer does it all, and few combine all of those areas of expertise better in the world of New York City politics.”

This is how City & State magazine described Christina Greer, Ph.D, after naming her on its list of NYC’s “40 Under 40 Rising Stars.” An esteemed professor of political science at Fordham College Lincoln Center, Greer was listed as a “rising star” in New York City’s next generation of political figures.

City & State, which covers NYC government and politics, annually honors individuals under the age of 40 who work in NYC in fields such as politics, journalism, academia, technology and crisis management. According to their website, Greer was chosen from a pool of 600 nominees. Aside from her duties as a Fordham professor, Greer is heavily involved in research and commentary on African American politics. A graduate of Tufts University and Columbia University, Greer is in the process of writing her second book, which dispels the popular misconception that black political figures such as Barack Obama, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are the only African Americans that have run as candidates for elected office.

“I started putting together a list of names and found that there are roughly 60 African Americans who have run or been nominated for the presidency from 1872 to the presidency,” Greer said in an interview. “My book analyzes the significance of the fact that about 75 percent ran on third party tickets. I’m looking at what was the point of their candidacies and look at how these third party candidates strengthen two party politics.”

Her book will also explore the theory of third party candidates, moving beyond traditional third party development — which she believes largely ignores race — and investigating how race plays into a larger narrative of political development.

In 2013, Greer published an award winning book entitled Black Ethnics: Race, Immigration, and the Pursuit of the American Dream. In the book, she explored how black Americans identify themselves in American society,

University Receives Hateful Faxes

By KATIE MEYER NEWS EDITOR

COURTESY OF FLICKR

Greer has received accolades for her commentary on African American politics.

how black Americans are treated by political figures in society, and what the “American dream” looks like for the different subsets of black Americans.

“It is important to remember that black Americans are not a monolithic group,” Greer said.

“They come from many varied countries throughout several generations as both voluntary immigrants and involuntary migrants.

But in today’s society, we are seeing black Americans trying not to assimilate because they don’t just want to become black Americans, they just want to be seen as Americans. However, when incidents happen like that of Trayvon Martin, Rodney King and Mike Brown, they have no choice but to identify with this larger racial group.”

As a young African American professor, Greer finds herself approached by Fordham students who feel marginalized in any way, several of whom find these conversations as important as she does.

“There is a limited number of faculty of color who are being pulled in a thousand different directions,” Greer explained. “Conversations about race and class can’t just occur once a year or in response to an incident. It has to be a sustained effort.”

Greer uses her extensive political connections in order to bring these important discussions on campus. On Nov. 6, she will be hosting a symposium at Lincoln

Center at 4 p.m. in room 309 of the Lowenstein building, where she and five political scholars will be analyzing the results of 2014 elections.

“I’ve held panels like this in the past, and they’ve been important for students to meet the people whose jobs can bring them their information about politics and current events,” Greer said. “Another benefit from these panels is that students have gotten internships from the people I invite.

They learn to make a pitch, follow up, and professionalize.”

In her classes, Greer tries to make the point that the way Americans understand class affects people’s personal lives and political ideologies, and that current events that may seem distant have effects on everyone’s daily lives.

“Everything that is going on is linked to you,” Greer said, “whether it be a war that takes up money that could be used towards your financial aid, or another large government expense that results in less money for public schools or for you’re the businesses your parents work at. Things big and small directly affect your life.”

Greer also advocates students to comprehensively read the news every day.

“It should be like brushing your teeth: it’s the first thing you get done in the morning and at the end of the day, and if you’re really diligent, multiple times throughout the day.”

Several members of Fordham’s faculty arrived at their desks early Friday morning to find that an anonymous source had faxed them anti-Semitic messages.

Fordham’s Office of the President sent out an email later in the day, addressing the message to all Fordham students, staff, faculty and guests. It said that multiple faxes were sent, beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Friday .

Describing the message as “virulently anti-Semitic,” the email said that the Department of Public Safety had brought the matter to the NYPD, but it had been ruled “political speech and not a crime.” It also stated that Public Safety planned to continue investigating the source of the fax, and had “tentatively established that they are coming from a source outside the university.”

Mark Naison, a professor in the African American Studies department, said he only saw it briefly this morning, but remembered that it included “something about a Hasidic group in Europe murdering Christian boys and severing their private parts.”

“It was vulgar, odd and ridiculous,” Naison said in an email. “I thought the person who sent it was quite deranged.”

“Frankly, I have never seen anything like this before,” Naison said, calling the messages “very strange” and “unconnected to anything real.”

Amir Idris, chair of the department of African and African American Studies, did not see the fax, but was informed about it by faculty members.

“Of course, our department strongly condemns such vicious attacks on specific group[s],” Idris stated in an email. “I believe that the language of hate and fear is an enemy to our humanity’s highest ideals. The language of inclusion and tolerance instead advances our collective efforts toward cultivating a better society.”

The Office of the President described the fax as “the antithesis of what a Jesuit university represents,” stating that it unequivocally condemns the kind of language used.

“Fordham stands with the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the Jewish faith, with the Jewish people, and with people of good will everywhere, in utterly rejecting this vicious and degrading attack,” the email read.

This Week at Fordham Thursday Oct. 30 A Capella Teaser Concert Keating 1st Auditorium 6:30 p.m.

Fordham’s a capella groups will be giving a Halloween themed benefit concert. The b-Sides, the F#’s, the Satin Dolls, the Hot Notes and the Ramblers will be performing. Proceeds from the show will go to the charity Friends of Jacklyn.

Thursday Oct. 30 — Nov. 1 Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson Collins Auditorium 7 p.m.

Friday Oct. 31 — Nov. 1 Spooky Late Night Halloween Sketch Show Blackbox Theater 10 p.m.

Saturday Nov. 1 One-Act Play Festival Collins Auditorium 4:30 p.m.

The Theatrical Outreach Program is Fordham Experimental Theater The Fordham Experimental Theater holding its first ever one-act play fespresents Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackis performing a free late-night comtival, featuring “creepy” Halloween son, a free, student-run performance edy show on Halloween. The show plays including “Five Characters,” “In of the hit Broadway show. Perforwill be accompanied by free pizza for Search of an Exit,” “The Lottery” and mances will be preceded by costume the audience.

“The Intruder.” Admission is free. contests, with a chance to win prizes, ncluding a date with the director.

For more campus events, visit FordhamRam.com

Wednesday Nov. 5 Common Good Career and Internship Fair McGinley Ballroom 3 p.m. —5 p.m.

Career Services host its first ever common good career and internship fair, which will feature organizations from non-profit, post graduate service, health care, education, government and social enterprising industries. Dress is business professional.

NEWS

October 29, 2014

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FORDHAM IN THE BRONX From Bellini Vegetables Scarfed for Science Center Campaign to Nike’s: for Brussels sprouts, but open to Pizza in Flux all vegetables. Garlick filmed the FROM PIZZA, PAGE 1

changes in the menu, Nike's is even a step above Bellini's in terms of quality. Bruno is particularly fond of the new incarnation of one specialty slice.

“The pasta slice is a new favorite,” she remarked. “I didn't like it at all [at Bellini's], but I had it when it changed over and I liked it a lot.”

She said the old pasta slice had too much sauce, but the Nike's version leaves out the sauce and has the perfect amount of cheese.

“It kind of tastes like mac and cheese,” she said.

According to Pllumbaj, these reactions are by no means unusual. He has reported “no change” in business since he took over the restaurant, and he points out that the usual Bellini's customers have continued to patronize the pizzeria.

Looking forward, he hopes to attract even more students by offering beer and wine along with pizza.

Lozano states that Nike's has already acquired a liquor license, and that he plans to start selling beer and wine in about a month. He and Pllumbaj are hopeful that this will keep people walking through their door.

“I think with the beer, they're going to come,” said Lozano.

With its revamped menu and continued support from Fordham students, Plumbaj may just prove that the old pizza joint can still learn some new tricks.

JEFF COLTIN/THE RAM

A spin-off of the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, the Bronx Brussel Hustle aims to raise money to build a new facility at P.S. 55.

By JEFF COLTIN BRONX CORRESPONDENT

It’s Saturday afternoon in the South Bronx and eggplant is flying everywhere. Kids cheer as Stephen Ritz tears into the vegetable like a Doberman devouring a steak.

Eggplant sufficiently destroyed, he opens his mouth to speak and a big purple-yellow chunk comes out. “I couldn’t swallow it all that fast!” he defends to a chorus of third-grade “ewws!”

Those assembled — Ritz, twodozen elementary school students, parents and five Fordham students—were gathered outside P.S. 55 to film the latest version of the “Bronx Brussel Hustle.”

The Hustle is a viral initiative

similar to the ALS ice bucket challenge. People are asked to film themselves eating five vegetables as fast as possible, challenge five others to do the same and donate $5 to help build a health, wellness and biodiversity center at P.S. 55.

That center is the dream of Ritz, an enthusiastic science educator.

He has won numerous teaching awards for his work to get Bronx students involved in agriculture, and it is easy to see why.

He is a tornado of energy, engaging the young students with a voice full of excitement and getting each of them to cheer for arugula like other kids their age cheer for One Direction. Ritz even gave a TEDx Talk about his efforts in and out of the classroom.

Ross Garlick, GSB ’15, said Ritz has been on his radar since he saw that TEDx Talk two years ago. Garlick has formed a passion for the Bronx since he moved here from the U.K. to attend Fordham, even starting a campaign earlier this year to publicize good things happening in the borough. When he saw Ritz needed money to build a science center at the school, Garlick sprung into action.

“I decided I couldn’t sit back and not help,” he said. “Rather than just donating my own money, I thought, ‘how can we make this a bigger thing to raise awareness and some funds?’”

So Garlick and K.C. Schmitz, GSB ’15, dreamt up and organized the Bronx Brussel Hustle—named

first video just over a week ago and, since then, Garlick said about 20 more have followed.

They have mostly been other Fordham students, but some friends of Ritz from around the Bronx have also participated. Since the campaign began, almost $2,500 of the $10,000 goal has been raised.

[FULL DISCLOSURE: The Ram’s Bronx Correspondent has participated and made his own video.]

A lifelong Bronx resident, Ritz already grows fruits and vegetables in a classroom on the fourth floor of P.S. 55, but with the funds raised he wants to do more — more growing space, plus microscopes and a commercial kitchen.

His goal is especially important in the school’s Claremont Village neighborhood.

“If the vegetables weren’t here at school they would have little to no access to them,” Ritz said. “Thirtyseven percent of the residents in this community are food challenged. 99 percent of the kids at P.S. 55 qualify for free and reduced lunch, but right now we’re growing strawberries four stories up, lettuce, tomatoes, eggplants!”

That is enough to get Stephen Ritz’ students excited, like fourth grader Sabion Allen.

“Have you ever drinked pink lemonade with mint in it?” he asked. “I drinked that before!

Made it with him, Mr. Steve!”

Administration Attempts to Ease Ebola Panic With Email

JOHN MINCHILLO/AP IMAGES

State officials, including Bill DeBlasio, recently addressed public concerns over the ebola virus during a press conference.

FROM EBOLA, PAGE 1

vides an added layer of caution following the guidelines released in August, which instructed any students, faculty or staff members who had recently visited affected areas (which then included Nigeria) to contact the health center before returning to Fordham in the fall.

While the CDC says the number of infected areas “may change rapidly,” Fordham continues to require any member of the community who recently visited the affected regions to contact the

university health center if they believe they are at risk of exposure.

As of this week, there have been more than 10,000 confirmed cases of Ebola around the world since the outbreak began in July.

Concentrated in a handful of West African countries, the disease, which is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids, has taken the lives of close to 5,000 people, including hundreds of medical and aid workers from around the world.

The result has been a politically embroiled crisis, bringing into question international coop-

eration, emergency medical responses and ethical treatment of infected patients.

The university-wide update follows just one confirmed case in New York City, which left city residents fearful following reports that the patient, a young doctor who had recently returned from working in Guinea, traveled by subway and attended a concert in Brooklyn.

The proximity of the confirmed case has brought even louder calls for locally coordinated preventative measures.

While some maintain that there

is a surge in hysteria and a lack of composure, Fordham students welcome the travel bans given that they protect the community and minimize the risks of the disease spreading in the country.

“The Ebola Crisis, as it is being referred to, is still something that needs to be addressed and dealt with,” Lincoln Zernicke, FCRH ’16, a pre-health student and 1st Lieutenant of FUEMS, said. “Until we have an accepted and recognized treatment we should be cautious by following suit with the CDC and New York State policy by barring students from studying in these countries, effectively eliminating the small chance that they could get the virus.”

“Thus, this overreaction has made us more ready for the small possibility of an outbreak and now, more then ever, we are prepared for such an event,” Zernicke added.

Given the uncertainty of the situation, some students are in favor of preventative measures that may appear to be nearing extremes.

While the risk of contamination is low, foregoing on action can have deadly consequences.

“I think the measure is definitely necessary,” said Carolyn Allain, FCRH ’17. “This is a constantly evolving disease and everything we have tried so far has been futile. It has come to the point of necessary restrictions for the greater good.”

“The average American has chances of contracting the disease

of slim to none, considering how it’s contracted. As long as people follow the guidelines that are required to prevent the spread, we will all be okay,” Allain added.

The CDC has a set number of recommendations to university health centers. It warns universities to advise students of the signs and symptoms of Ebola in patients who have a recent travel history to countries where the outbreak has occurred or if a person has been in contact with an individual infected with Ebola.

“Ebola is a serious threat, and allowing students to visit places greatly affected by the virus is an unnecessary risk,” said Peter Vergara, FCRH ’18, a USG senator. “I see great benefit in limiting travel to and from areas already affected

by Ebola.”

In addition to Fordham’s guidelines, students are advised to consult the CDC’s guidelines for college students.

The CDC recommends that students avoid non-essential travel to Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone at this time, and postpone any education-related travel to countries where the disease has broken out.

In countries where there is an outbreak, it explains that a foreign government may enact measures such as quarantines, isolations and screening for travelers in order to protect its population, and that the American government has limited resources to intervene in their responses.

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October 29, 2014

News Briefs & Bites • Four Fordham alumni were inducted posthumously to the university’s Hall of Honor at a ceremony in the Cunniffe House on Oct. 22. This honor is reserved for individuals who the university believes have dedicated their lives according to the ideals to which Fordham is devoted. Father Vincent Capodanno, FCRH ’52, was a Vietnam War Navy chaplain and lieutenant killed in September 1967 after being gunned down while praying over wounded and dead soldiers on a Que Son Valley battlefield.

Bob Keeshan, UGE ’51, was the creator of the Captain Kangaroo television program, a children’s

television program with a 30 year on-air history, earning him five Emmy Awards, three Peabody Awards and one National Education Award. Robert C. Murray, FCRH ’68, was a squad leader with Company B in the Vietnam War. He was killed when he threw himself on a grenade accidentally set off by a fellow soldier. Long before the civil rights movement of the 1960s, Ruth Whitehead Whaley, LAW ’24, was the first female lawyer in New York, having been the first black female to graduate from Fordham Law School, eventually earning a position on the New York City Board of Estimate from 1951 to 1973.

• On Tuesday, Oct. 21, Henry Braun, Ph.D., the Boisi professor of education and public policy at Boston College, spoke about the increased economic disparity in America. This speech was the seventh installment of the Anastasi Lecture and took place at Lincoln Center. The focus of Braun’s speech was how economic inequality begets further inequality down the road — particularly in terms of educational opportunities. Poorer families, according to Braun, are understandably less capable of providing their children with opportunities than are wealthier families,

and the gap between the rich and poor is simply exacerbated as the rich continue to outspend the poor in the hopes of improving the future of their children.

For Braun, this continuance of inequality is directly contradictory to the perceived ‘American dream,’ which paints America as the land of opportunity.

• Ken Langone, billionaire cofounder of the Home Depot home improvement store chain, spoke to a crowd of nearly 400 people in the Keating 1st auditorium on Tuesday evening. Langone, whose early career humbly included digging ditches for

the Long Island Expressway, has been a big name in the financial industry for many years, holding the position of Director of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and a senior member of its remuneration committee.

He also attracted the attention of Wall Street when he attempted to purchase the NYSE. Langone spoke about his own philosophy on the topic of investments, as well as delivering some practical advice for students. In addition, Langone critiqued the harsh regulatory environment of the Obama administration, which he believes is holding back the growth of American business.

Photo of the Week

CHRISTIAN WILOEJO/THE RAM

This Saturday the Fordham Outdoors Club went hiking at the Appalachain National Scenic Trail. The club’s e-board coordinated the hike, and students were charged $15 to attend. The event was first come, first serve, and one of its main draws was the promise of experiencing the fall foliage outside of the city.

Four New Clubs Given G0-Ahead by Operations and USG

By AMINA BHATTI STAFF WRITER

Campus life at Rose Hill is welcoming several new clubs this semester, including four that have been recently approved by the Committee of Operations and United Student Government (USG): A Chapter of Model UN, a photography club called Images, the Social Enterprise Club and Active Minds at Fordham University. The diverse pursuits of these new clubs can cater to the varied interests of the students at Fordham.

Model UN is a club that simulates an actual United Nations assembly, in which students are assigned countries and then adopt resolutions and take political stances for those stances. Students of any background and experience are welcome to participate.

The photography club, Images, hopes to foster school spirit by capturing through their lenses, “what it means to be a Fordham Ram,” as stated in their mission. At the same time, it wishes to provide an environment for students to pursue their love of photography and artistic creativity. Catherine Maccaro, FCRH ’17, is one of the two presidents for Images. She expressed her

hopes for the club and discussed its upcoming events, “I am very excited for the future of Images…some events to look out for will be our Film Festival and photo walks.”

The Social Enterprise Club was founded by Oliver Hildebrandt, FCRH ’15, and he currently serves as president. The goal of this club is to “encourage students to learn how they can create positive social change in the world through the development of socially responsible business practices,” according to the club description reviewed by USG. Club activities will focus on exploring the social agendas of different kinds of enterprises — ranging from private businesses to nonprofits — through keynote speeches, seminars and active discussion among students in order to encourage the development of business skills that create a positive impact on society.

Executive Vice President of USG Operations, David Araoz, FCRH ’15, also mentioned that Hildebrandt hopes to work with “metropolitan schools [such as] NYU and Columbia [and learn] about what they do with social enterprise… he really wants to work to make Fordham part of that conversation.”

Active Minds at Fordham University was created by Gloria Siclari,

CHRISTIAN WILOEJO/THE RAM

The United Student Government (USG) recently approved four clubs with a diverse range of pursuits and interests.

FCRH ’16, in order to tackle the prevalent, but little talked about, issue of mental health and illness.

“I originally wanted to start a suicide awareness club run solely by students,” Siclari stated.

Coming to Fordham allowed Siclari to see how others, beside herself, had also been affected by suicide. The Active Minds club strives to raise awareness of mental health and the well-being of the body and mind, while reducing the stigma surrounding the discussion of such topics such as mental and psychological disorders.

“This coming year, I would like to take advantage of the resources New York City offers for mental health awareness and suicide prevention,”

said Siclari. “We will be working with the Psychological Counseling Center to provide students with the resources to get the help or guidance they need as well.”

While these clubs have finally become official on campus, the process of approval for the clubs was lengthy. The Executive Vice President of USG Operations, David Araoz, explained how the process for club approval works: A club registration packet containing the goals, rules and other stipulations of the club must be filled out and sent to him for approval. Araoz then leads the committee of operations in reviewing the club packet before reviewing it again with Alanna Nolan, assistant dean for stu-

dent leadership and community development. The club information will then be reviewed separately by Christopher Rodgers, assistant vice president and dean of students at Rose Hill, before being sent to USG for the votes to approve or deny its initiation.

President of USG Nevin Kulangara, GSB ’15, discussed how USG itself makes an effort to support the clubs. More often than not, clubs that have passed inspection by the Committee of Operations usually get approved by USG. “We [at USG] look to gain an understanding of the club and trust that [the committee] is duly diligent in evaluating the clubs before they are sent to us,” Kulungara added.

NEWS

October 29, 2014

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Police Brutality Vigil Draws Crowd Perino Confident in Rep FROM BRUTALITY, PAGE 1

sor in the African and African American Studies Department who authored Christianity on Trial: African American Religious Thought Before and After Black Power, spoke explicitly about coming together and remembering victims of police brutality whose names, stories and families are often left behind by the news cycle. Chapman also emphasized the necessity of solidarity, where our morals concern not just similar people, but people from all walks of life.

“If it is only gay and lesbians who protest the victimization of homosexuals, if it is only women who are out protesting the rape of innocent victims, if it is only people of color there to protest

police brutality,” Chapman said, “then our moral concern is limited to people who look and act like ourselves.”

Following the prayers, students were invited to light their candles while the names of police brutality victims were called aloud and followed by a moment of silence.

One student recognized Michael Brown, who was shot by a police officer this summer in Ferguson, Missouri. Another student recalled Eric Garner, who also died this summer while being arrested on a sidewalk in Staten Island. A third student recalled Sean Bell, who, in 2006, was gunned down by police officers outside of a nightclub in Queens.

Another mentioned Amadou Diallo, who was gunned down by

CASEY CHUN/THE RAM

Rev. Mark Chapman stressed the need for solidarity regarding police brutality.

By RYAN CHAND BUSINESS EDITOR

It is that time of year again — third quarter earnings season. Q3 experienced some upset earnings reports as well as some all star reports pushing the major indices higher. This week’s Business News Recap will focus on some of the major reports and how they influenced the overall market.

Apple ($AAPL) Apple experienced an all-star quarter fueled by the release of the new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Revenue came in at $42.1 billion, or $1.42 per diluted share, a 12 percent jump from Q3 2013.

Net profit surged and came in at $8.5 billion, a jump from $7.5 billon from the same period last year.

This quarter was one of Apple’s best quarters since being a public company. Sales of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus drove earnings to record highs. Sales of Mac computers increased 18 percent from

the same period last year. Sales of iPads lagged as Apple is receiving increased competiton from Microsoft and others. CEO of Apple Tim Cook stated, “With amazing innovations in our new iPhones, iPads, and Macs, as well as iOS 8 and OS X Yosemite, we are heading into the holidays with Apple’s strongest product lineup ever.”

The company predicts revenue to come in between $63.5 and $66.5 billion for Q4 2014.

Amazon ($AMZN) Amazon’s earnings report came along with investor concerns over the company’s business model and continued losses. Revenue increased from $17.09 billion to $20.58 billion. Although revenue increased, the company incurred a net loss of $437 milion, a huge jump from $41 million from the previous year. This jump in net loss creates a sense of skepticism amongst investors. Analyst have mixed opinions regarding Amazon, with some becoming

Presidential Candidates

plain-clothed N.Y.P.D. officers outside of his apartment in 2009.

One of the organizers, Kelsey Vizzard, FCRH ’15, a Social Justice leader at the Dorothy Day Center for Social Justice Teaching, said that she was pleased to see that students on their way in and out of the McGinley Center seemed to stumble upon the vigil and join the other students there without hesitation.

As for Fordham’s role in becoming a voice on issues of racial injustice, Vizzard expressed confidence in Fordham’s ability to be an effective and powerful voice on the subject. “In regards to solutions, Fordham students are invited to be a part of the ongoing conversation,” she said.

“This is something we need to keep on our minds,” said Many Caballero, PCS ’16, who said he felt moved by the vigil. “I love that it had a variety of religious groups, not just people from the Jesuit faith.”

Students were appreciative of the solemn and respectful nature of the vigil.

“The whole thing was very touching and very inspiring,” said Andrew Abbensett, FCLC ’15.

“It’s kind of scary to know there are many people who think [police brutality] is okay,” “Still,” he added, “it’s inspiring to see the Fordham community coming together to stand for people who suffer these kinds of injustices everyday in New York.”

To close the ceremony, Jennifer Delgado, FCRH ’16, sang “We Who Believe in Freedom,” while attendees held onto their lit candles.

“Until the killing of Black men, Black mothers’ sons / Is as important as the killing of White men, White mothers’ sons,” Delgago sung.

“We who believe in freedom cannot rest,” the students sung in unison, “we who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.”

“There is a lot to like about the upcoming elections if you are a Republican,” she said. “The Republicans should be able to win the house, and we have an unliked president.”

Her remarks suggest that she has confidence in whoever runs as the Republican candidate.

After the talk the College Republicans had a lot to say about her presentation. President Benjamin Shull, FCRH ’16, in particular was quite complimentary of Perino.

“We love having journalistic types give talks because they have a knack for storytelling and keeping things interesting,” Shull said.

“I think she definitely did not disappoint.”

Dana Perino was on the radar for the College Republicans for some time as well, according to Shull.

“The College Republicans have been looking to book more female speakers recently, and we think Ms. Perino, being a woman in a unique position, offered a great perspective we don’t often see,” he said.

With the general election only a week away, Perino’s remarks and predictions have added a lot to the conversation, especially for the young voters at Fordham when they enter the booths to cast their votes.

impatient with CEO Jeff Bezo’s business model of building the company up and incurring losses now for future growth. The stock experienced a dip of roughly 12 percent as the report was released; however, it did cover some lost ground closing the week at $287.14. Amazon also announced the new Kindle Voyage, the company’s thinnest Kindle reader ever.

In addition, the company unveiled the Kindle Fire HD, Kindle Fire HD Kids edition and the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9, a much more powerful tablet than its predecessors.

Yahoo ($YHOO) Yahoo experienced a solid quarter as it received the proceeds from Alibaba’s recent IPO. Revenue came in at $1.148 billion, beating last year’s revenue of $1.139 billion. Earnings per share increased slightly as well coming in at $0.52. During Q3, Yahoo completed its acquisition of mobile data analytics company Flurry, which optimizes mobile

experinces for a host of users. In addition, Yahoo launched a host of new apps including Yahoo Digest and Yahoo Finance for mobile devices. The company hopes to increase its mobile exposure and drive revenue in this area to compete with others. Lastly, as football season rolls around this quarter, Yahoo announced a partnership with Samsung Smart TV to provide users with the Yahoo Fantasy Football Experience on their TV. Investors are concerned about continued competition from the goliaths of the industry, most notable Facebook and Google. However, Yahoo and CEO Marissa Mayer are combating this by expanding more into mobile, pursuing acquisitions and further expanding their core business.

IBM ($IBM) IBM experienced yet another disappointing quarter as the business services giant announced operating earnings per share at

$3.68, much weaker than analyst expectations of $4.32. Revenue tanked an additional 4 percent to $22.4 billion. CEO of IBM Ginni Rometty said in response to the report, “We saw a marked slowdown in September in client buying behavior, and our results also point to the unprecedented pace of change in our industry. While we did not produce the results we expected to achieve, we again performed well in our strategic growth areas — cloud, data and analytics, security, social, and mobile — where we continue to shift our business." IBM shares were down 7.3 percent in premarket trading, bringing the DOW down roughly 85 points. The company agreed to pay Globalfoundries Inc. $1.5 billion to take an unprofitable chip-manufacturing unit off its hands in an attempt to shift its business operations to accommodate for a change in the business environment and become profitable once again.

SAMUEL JOSEPH/THE RAM

Perino offered commentary on the present and upcoming political climate.

FROM PERINO, PAGE 1

NEWS

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October 29, 2014

Professor Leads In Fight Against Excessive Testing

By EDDIE MIKUS STAFF WRITER

Fordham’s Mark Naison, Ph.D. professor of African-American Studies and Oklahoma parent activist Priscilla Sanstead have taken an active role fighting reforms in the K-12 New York public school system through Naison’s leadership of an organization called the Badass Teachers Association.

Naison told The Fordham Ram that he founded the group because of the detrimental effect that increased testing due to the Common Core State Standards was having on public school students and teachers.

“In the spring of 2013, there was an enormous test revolt in New York State, mostly led by parents, against Common Core-aligned tests which had suddenly been imposed into the schools without much preparation,” Naison said in describing the origins of the Badass Teachers Association.

“Parents were very upset that their children were demoralized, humiliated by these tests and were afraid that their whole school experience would be undermined. What was interesting about this revolt is that it crossed the political spectrum. It was suburban, it was urban, it had conservatives, it had liberals, it had libertarians.”

Since then, the Badass Teachers Association has reached a total of 52,000 members. The organization is active in the U.S., Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Members call themselves BATs, which is short for “BadAss Teachers.”

“For some reason, this concept

touched a chord with teachers,” Naison said. “Teachers were tired of everybody blaming them for everything wrong in the schools, for problems in society and also for people being in charge of education who had little or no teaching experience.”

Naison told The Ram about some of the ways in which increased testing was affecting public schools.

“There is far too much testing in America’s public schools,” he said. “[The 2002 No Child Left Behind Act] is the first thing. Before No Child Left Behind, the average public school in America administered six tests a year, and now it’s up to 17. I got involved as an education activist in part because I was doing history projects in the Bronx school which were pushed out because of excessive testing.”

According to Naison, this level of testing is not appropriate for elementary-age students.

“Every third grader in New York State takes six days of tests,” Naison said. “Three days of English Language Arts, three days math, 70 minutes a day. Six days. That’s more than you take for medical school or law school. In third grade.”

Marla Kilfoyle, a Long Island teacher who serves as the general manager for the Badass Teacher’s Association, offered a grim outlook on the effect that testing would have in the public schools.

“Testing will eventually corrupt and kill public education,” Kilfoyle said. “Schools will become test prep centers because districts will be afraid they will have their schools closed due to bad test scores, teachers will fear they will be fired and

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Naison founded the group because he believes that over-testing has a detrimental effect on students.

children will fear they will fail. “ Naison told The Fordham Ram that students who are subjected to an increased level of testing often do not see the results of the tests — an issue that is compounded by the fact that the tests are administered by private companies.

“Why do we have to have a forprofit company making [tests]?” he asked. “And, also, then when you have all of that information, then who gets the data? Is there a privacy issue? Who gets all the test data that you collect on every student in New York State? And here’s the interesting thing: how can you help a student when they don’t get the test back?”

Test scores are, however, used in determining whether or not schools stay open. According to Naison, 168 schools have been closed since 2007, when New York City began closing schools based on student test scores.

“The effect of that policy was to have teachers and principals so ter-

rified that their schools would be closed,” he said. “And when a school is closed, the principal is removed and 50 percent of the teachers are removed.”

The Badass Teachers Association is largely concerned with the replacement of low-performing public schools with charter schools.

“I think parents should find the best option for their child, whether it’s a charter school, a private school, a religious school or even homeschooling,” Naison said. “What I’m opposed to is taking the charter school idea and saying, ‘our public schools have failed, so let us take money from public schools and put it into charter schools.’” He instead supports the idea of test-free public schools in which teachers implement their own methods of teaching, as well as reinvestment in vocational and technical schools, which train people in high-skilled careers that don’t require college.

In order to effectively oppose school reform, the Badass Teachers Association has taken an active role in supporting political candidates who support public education. The group has also participated in several political protests. Most notably, the group conducted a “BATs March On Washington,” in which members of the nationwide organization protested outside of the Department of Education in Washington D.C. Naison believes that the fact that more parents have started to sit their students out of tests is a sign that the Badass Teachers Association is having a tangible societal impact.

“The first year in New York, we had 10,000 students resisting,” Naison said. “Last year, we had 60,000.

This year our goal is 250,000.”

Although it will take time, Naison feels that the Badass Teachers Association will ultimately be successful in reducing the required amount of testing for students.

Big Goals, Powerful Message at Relay for Life 2015 Kickoff

SAMUEL JOSEPH/THE RAM

Fordham Relay for Life hopes to increase participation and fundraising this year.

By ANTHONY PUCIK ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Cancer is a sensitive topic and chances are someone close to you knows someone that has been affected by it. This is the motivation behind Fordham’s Relay For Life, who had their 2015 kickoff last night in the McGinley Ballroom.

“I’ve always looked at [Relay] as

this community event that brings people together from all different backgrounds,” said Jenna La Magna FCRH ’15, Vice President of Colleges Against Cancer and Co-Chair of Relay for Life at Fordham. “It really is true that everyone knows someone affected by cancer . . . so I think this is a great opportunity for Fordham to give back, and to give back in a big way.”

Dr. Gordon Klatt established Relay for Life in May 1985 when he circled the Baker Stadium track at the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington for 24 hours in an effort to raise money for the fight against cancer. Klatt raised $27,000 that day, and 30 years later his efforts have spread across the country – Relay for Life has reached nearly $5 billion in fundraising.

The Fordham Relay for Life committee is one of many branches that has grown from Klatt’s walk back in 1985, and is full of students who are passionate about the cause, in large part because cancer has affected them.

“When I was in high school I found out that my uncle was diagnosed with lung cancer . . . and he passed away when I was a junior,” said Christina Giglio, FCRH ’15, President of Colleges Against Cancer and Co-Chair of Relay for Life at Fordham said. “Not long after, I found out that my aunt was diagnosed with breast cancer and luckily, with the help of our family and the American Cancer Society, she is a survivor.”

Giglio, who will enter her ninth year of participating, also added she will continue her fight to end cancer after she leaves Fordham.

“It’s something that I’m really passionate about and something I’m going to keep doing until there’s a cure.”

Brain Doty, FCRH ’16, Treasurer of Colleges Against Cancer at

Fordham, has also lost numerous family members to battles against cancer. “I have one grandparent left and the other three have been taken because of cancer,” he said.

This encouraged him to join Relay for Life and raise money for cancer.

“It’s really a great way to make a difference and to help really everyone because everyone at some point is unfortunately going to be affected by this.”

Fordham Relay for Life is entering its seventh year and is looking to take big steps in 2015. Last year, 246 people signed up for Relay, and this year the Relay committee is looking for 350 people. There were also 25 new teams last year, bringing the total on campus to 45, and Relay is looking to add another ten this year. “The more the merrier, it’s always been the case,” Doty said. “Our biggest thing is we need to raise money. That’s fundamentally what we’re here for, and the more people we can spread that out amongst and the more people we have involved, the easier that will be and the more patients and survivors we can help.”

Fordham raised $30,000 last year and is looking to raise $40,000 this year. In order to do that, the committee has issued a Fall Semester Fundraising Challenge because most of Relay’s fundraising happens in the spring. The Fundraising Challenge encourages everyone who signed up for Relay to raise $100 before the fall semester’s end, and those who do will be placed

in a raffle for gift certificates from places around Fordham and on Arthur Avenue. They also sold baked goods and held raffles at last night’s event to start the year’s donations.

Relay also announced the #EveryRamKnowsSomeone campaign in an effort to raise awareness for the cause on campus and, more importantly, to show the reason why people around the country participate in Relay for Life. Everyone at the kickoff was asked to post a picture of someone important to them who was affected with cancer and nominate three of their friends on campus to do the same in an effort to continue to spread awareness of Fordham’s Relay for Life and reach that $40,000 goal.

LaMagna thinks that the fundraising challenge and the #EveryRamKnowsSomeone campaign is going to greatly benefit this year’s fundraising. “Getting that awareness out as early as possible is really going to benefit us. It’s going to benefit the American Cancer Society and really just bring the whole community together,” she said.

The exact date for this year’s Relay for Life event at Fordham has not been set, but it will take place sometime in April on Eddie’s Parade for the second straight year.

For more information on Fordham’s Relay for Life and how you can get involved or donate, like their page on Facebook, “Fordham University Relay for Life,” and follow them on Twitter, @Fordham_ Relay.

October 29, 2014

OPINION

Page 7

The Fordham Ram

Can the Youth Rock the Vote?

By ABIGAIL HEINEMEYER STAFF WRITER

Few things are seen as more American than the act of voting. Journeying to the nearest polling place, being greeted by the friendly volunteers, filling out a ballot and even getting to don your very own “I Voted” sticker.

It is a process in which many in our country take pride. However, it is also a process in which many choose not to take part.

The youth vote was explored in a recent publication by Tufts University’s Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement, or C.I.R.C.L.E. This particular report focused on the 2010 midterm elections and sought to explain why this demographic has had such low electoral participation in the past.

One of the reasons cited is that many individuals are simply not registered. C.I.R.C.L.E. states “Youth registration rates in midterm elections have dropped in the past 12 years, from 56 percent (the highest since 1974) in the 2002 contest, to 49 percent in the 2010 midterm.”

While this percentage did increase to 58 percent in the 2012 presidential elections, there still remained a large portion of the youth population left unregistered to vote.

CIRCLE also explored reasons why young voters, age 18 to 29, who were registered did not cast their ballot in the 2010 midterm elections. A

plurality of those polled (33.5 percent) claimed that they were simply too busy to vote.

Bridget Brennan, FCRH ’16, believes that this is in large part due to the convenie nce level of voting. “If there was an app that you could vote on, you would definitely see a surge in the youth vote.”

Doug Spring, FCRH ’17, agrees that voting can be inconvenient, especially for those away at school.

“Kids our age are at college, some across the country, so they clearly cannot get home to vote,” said Spring. “You have to actually spend the time to get an absentee ballot application, send it in, wait for it to come back in the mail — it is a long process.”

The second most popular reason why young people did not vote in 2010 was that they felt that their vote would not count. Brennan states that one reason for this is that “we have seen money and politics get exponentially worse in the past couple years. People are just buying elections and it is very hard to participate in that process,” she added.

The report from CIRCLE shows that many other young people share Brennan’s assessment — that their vote simply does not make a difference in a system that tends to be slanted in one way or another.

However, in order to have— or possibly create — an effective system, partaking in civic responsibili-

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Though in some cases voting may lack convenience, it is important for today’s youth to step up and utilize their right.

ties is essential. Dr. Robert Hume, an associate professor of political science at Fordham, agrees with this sentiment, saying that, “a vibrant and healthy democracy needs the voices of all of the people to be heard and counted.”

As young people, we are the future of this country. However, our vision of the future will never come about if we do not fulfill our responsibilities as citizens. This starts, quite

simply, by filling out the ballot.

Though there may seem to be many convincing reasons to not vote, civic responsibility remains valid and essential. While the electoral process could stand some reforms, one’s objecting to it should not excuse failing to vote. Many agree that changes need to be made. However, how can these come about with voters choosing to stay home on election day?

Only when citizens voice their concerns — whatever the issue may be — will reforms be put into action. As Hume states, “When someone votes, they are participating in government; they are becoming active and engaged citizens. That is truly an end in itself.”

Abigail Heinemeyer, FCRH ’17, is a communication and media studies major from Bethel, Connecticut.

Mt. Holyoke Redefines What It Means To Be a Woman

By MOLLY SHILO CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Last month, Mount Holyoke College, a women’s college, located in South Hadley, Massachusetts, became the second women’s college in the country to officially change its admission policy to allow for transgender people. While the school has welcomed the transgender community for years, it now formally recognizes the acceptance of anyone who is biologically female or who identifies as a female. This new policy thus opens Mount Holyoke’s doors to transgender women, transgender men, genderqueer individuals who identify as other/they/ze as well as those biologically born with male or female anatomy who identify as female.

Mount Holyoke College, through the adoption of its new policy, recognizes the difficulties this community faces in determining who they are in a society that desperately wants to label them as one thing. On their admissions website, the college states, “Traditional binaries around who counts as a man or woman are being challenged by those whose gender identity does not conform to their biology… Just as early feminists argued that the reduction of women to their biological functions was a foundation for women’s oppression, we must acknowledge that gender identity is not reducible to the body.”

Students at Mount Holyoke appreciate the changes made by administration to modify the admission policy. Elizabeth Huang, a sophomore student at Mount Holyoke,

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Mount Holyoke, a New England all women’s college, changes its admission policy to allow for transgender students.

states, “When Lynn Pasquerella (the president of the college) announced the new policy, I think I and most of the Mount Holyoke community were really excited and happy about the news. I know some people are worried that this policy will make us a co-ed school or less of a women’s college, but I personally do not think that this will be the case. Though we are extending the stipulations needed to be accepted to Mount Holyoke, we are not deviating in any form from the core values of our college.”

While this is certainly a concern at all-women’s colleges, the fundamental societal issues that the school is attempting to transform are, in fact, universal. Huang hopes that Mount Holyoke inspires other schools to look at their policies. “I hope this

new policy change really sparks more trans-acceptance not only within Mount Holyoke, but to the Seven Sisters and beyond. It is important that not only do women’s colleges become more accepting but all schools and institutions as well.”

Students at Fordham applaud what Mount Holyoke has done and are reassured by the presence of schools that are so actively inclusive.

Genevieve McNamara, FCRH’17, says, “I think it’s awesome that Mount Holyoke and other colleges are examining their admissions policies and are making a formalized effort to include trans and otherwise gender nonconforming individuals. As we come to recognize gender as a spectrum, in a lot of ways women’s colleges have a more complicated relationship and,

urgent need to understand and deal with their trans students than co-ed colleges do; at the same time, they seem to be uniquely qualified to engage meaningfully with the question of gender and with those students who don’t conform.”

Though Mount Holyoke will be sure to ignite further schools into adopting a more inclusive admissions policy, their actions also speak to co-ed schools that do not currently provide resources for the transgender, genderqueer or gender-neutral communities.

“As a co-ed institution, Fordham doesn’t have the same issues with admissions that women’s colleges do, although, very often, paperwork does ignore the possibility for identities outside of ‘male’ and ‘female,’” ex-

plains McNamara.

McNamara voices the concerns that many students have about dorm policies and bathrooms that fail to reflect an understanding of the difficulties that transgender, genderqueer or gender-neutral people face. McNamara provides her own solutions to these problems by saying, “It would be awesome to see trans-sensitivity and pronoun training for those who work at Fordham, as well as options for gender-neutral housing and the designation of gender-neutral bathrooms.”

Ultimately, the transgender movement is representative of the widespread issue of gender expression, identity and inequality. As a society that places far too much emphasis on labeling, we cannot seem to accept when people deviate from what is considered as the ‘norm.’

Schools like Mount Holyoke are calling into question the very foundation of what it means to be a woman.

As Huang states, “I believe womanhood, and what it means to be a woman, takes on so many different forms and should not be regulated into a singular, heteronormative ideal.

When we define woman as solely as those born as such, we essentially shun the identities and experiences of so many people.”

We need to stop associating people with the labels we place on them, and instead get to know the person behind them.

Molly Shilo, FCRH ’18, is an English and communication and media studies double major from Norwood, Massachusetts

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Serving campus and community since 1918 The Fordham Ram is the University journal of record. The mission of The Fordham Ram is to provide a forum for the free and open exchange of ideas in service to the community and to act as a student advocate. The Fordham Ram is published and distributed free of charge every Wednesday during the academic year to the Rose Hill, Lincoln Center and Westchester campuses with a readership of over 10,000. The Fordham Ram office is located in the basement of the McGinley Center, room B-52.

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OPINION

October 29, 2014

From the Desk | Shannon Marcoux

Diet Racism: A Hard Truth to Swallow “Do you say sorta racist stuff but stop short of saying the Nword? Enjoy the refreshing taste of Diet Racism — the same sweet ignorance of regular racism but with none of the guilt or selfawareness. Because you’re afraid of blacks and Latinos but you’d never say that out loud.”

These are the opening lines of a video released by College Humor in August meant for those who think racism is a thing of the past.

The video continues: “For that busy, on-the-go professional who doesn’t have the strength to admit he’s been given at least a slight advantage by being born white…For the stay-at-home mom who hates affirmative action because she doesn’t remember that black kids had to be escorted to school by the army…Diet racism. Because you just don’t get it.”

Do you hold your purse a little closer when you pass a black man off campus at night? Do you say things like, “Oh God, they let locals in” when you see a group of Latinos at a party? Do you make comments like “If I were a minority, I would be at Georgetown?”

Have you ever started a sentence with “I don’t want to sound racist, but…?” Then Diet Racism is for you as well.

It seems Fordham students love

to drink up Diet Racism more than a pear cider at Beer Hall on trivia night. And, the problem is that we fail to see this so-called Diet Racism for what it actually is — racism. Racism, on both an institutional and personal level, is a problem at Fordham. I am not an expert on race and racism, nor would I ever claim to be. Furthermore, I am not a student of color, and I would not attempt to tell a story that is not my own.

That being said, I am going to focus on my own Fordham experience. I have never discussed racism in a Fordham classroom short of when I, or a like-minded classmate, chose to bring it up.

Out of the 31 professors I have had throughout my five semesters at Fordham, three have been persons of color. These professors assigned readings that were largely written by white men and women.

I was not asked to talk about race at new student orientation or core programming, nor will I be expected to talk about it before the day I graduate. Had I not participated in Urban Plunge as an incoming freshman or become involved in the Dorothy Day Center, I may not even have a basic understanding of what white privilege is — something that heavily impacts the demographic and so-

cioeconomic disparities between Fordham’s population and that of the surrounding neighborhood.

For some students, Fordham is the most diverse school they have attended and for many students, this is the first time they are residing in a majority-minority neighborhood. It then seems absurd that such a student could graduate from this institute of higher learning without discussing race.

So many white students, myself included, have been deprived of meaningful conversations on race because it is considered a thing of the past or too taboo to discuss openly. Because of this, we often do not even have the language to have a productive discussion on privilege or oppression.

I forget my ID all the time, yet I walk through the gates with ease.

Meanwhile, the speaker of an event I attended, who happened to be a black man, and the professor that invited him, who happened to be a black woman, were stopped and harassed while trying to get onto campus. This seems wrong, but if we were to call it what it is — racial profiling — many people would be up in arms. Also, many white students are not incentivized to do anything to change this because it tends to benefit us.

Racism exists in the world.

Most Fordham students would agree on that fact. It is harder for us to come to terms with the fact that racism exists on campus as well.

Enduring this racism is not optional for students of color, so having productive discussions on race should not be optional for white students. These conversations occur on campus (I certainly do not wish to discredit the great conversations that do occur in classes, clubs and other organizations) but every single Fordham student should be required to participate in at least one meaningful discussion on current issues surrounding race at some point before graduation.

As white students, let’s stop drinking Diet Racism and start discussing the fact that racism exists on campus, as uncomfortable as that may be to swallow.

Editorial | Student Life

Liberal Arts Degrees Are Undervalued Fordham University has initiated a liberal arts task force in order to assess the value of a liberal arts education, and the findings of this report are slated to come out later this year.

According to Inside Fordham’s article “Task Force Charged with Defining Liberal Arts Skill Set,” “Fordham has launched an effort to deeply examine liberal arts education and articulate its value for students.

At the request of Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the university, Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., provost of the university, convened the Fordham Task Force on the Future of Liberal Arts Education.”

Eva Badowska, Ph.D., is now acting dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and chairs the task force. The task force is “grappling with how to address the liberal arts, given the businesslike language that more people are applying to higher education,” according to Inside Fordham.

The task force is primarily looking at defining a liberal arts education in terms of “soft skills” such as public speaking, writing and critical thinking. It is mainly responding to questions from politicians, including President Obama, about the power of a liberal arts degree in today’s economy.

Some politicians are suggesting that universities should actually charge less for math, science and technology degrees than for humanities degrees. They see STEM degrees as more valuable and marketable. In an economic climate particularly hard on young graduates, the earning potential associated with a degree is becoming more and more important.

What does this mean for students? Sophomores are getting to the point in the year when they need to think about declaring a major; should they choose majors associated with high post-graduate salaries? The majority of this editorial board

consists of declared humanities majors. We do not know what Fordham’s task force on the subject is going to say, but we clearly see the value of our degrees. Yes, we have developed “soft skills” like critical thinking and writing, but we find the conversation the task force wants to engage in a little ridiculous.

It should be obvious that a liberal arts major develops marketable skills. By creating a task force to defend the liberal arts, Fordham is giving credence to all of these politicians (the vast majority liberal arts majors themselves) who are saying that anything but a STEM degree is self-indulgent.

Our degrees have value.

We are interested in our respective disciplines, and not everyone can be a plumber or a computer programmer.

Higher education certainly has its issues, and the price of a liberal arts degree, or any degree for that matter, is out of control.

However, that does not mean

that the world does not need philosophy majors, history majors or English majors.

After all, the study of such humanities is what the ancient societies focused on and held most dear and through which they created the ideals that contemporary society has been founded on.

As an intellectual community, let’s stop defending what we do and just do it. We know what we do has value; we do not need to label “soft skills” like reading and writing to know that we contribute to society.

To the next generation of students currently earning their liberal arts degrees: remember that the skills you are learning now do have value. Let’s end this conversation.

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

Do you disagree with our opinions?

Then write a letter!

Send letters to the editor to fordhamletters@gmail.com

OPINION

October 29, 2014

Page 9

Michael Syku

Kaitlyn Lyngaas

Fordham Hinders Free Speech

Fordham Faces Ebola Epidemic

We do not have the right to distribute condoms. We do not have the right to be educated about safe sex. We do not have a right to run The Vagina Monologues or other controversially-picked plays through student affairs that the administration decides it does not like. We do not have the right to bring certain artists to Spring Weekend. We do not have the right to post flyers without having to go through a complex bureaucracy and several miles of red tape.

We do not have the right to know exactly why we were denied these rights. We do have the right to appeal, but there are significant delays that make it functionally impossible to do anything in a timely manner. This is by no means an exhaustive list of the rights that we are denied and the things that we are not allowed to do on campus.

Are you upset yet? Want to do something about it? Well, good luck, because we also do not have the right to protest any of these ridiculous infringements.

There is no meaningful way to engage with the administration about any of our grievances, especially when the system of approval and appeals is so clearly intentionally opaque.

The almost-comically long wait times (it can sometimes take over a month to get advertisement approval) must be either a sinister way to defer things the administration does not like until they go away or are symptomatic of a radically-inefficient system rife with widespread incompetency.

We as a student body have already attempted to have an open dialogue with the administration about our problems.

In 2013, USG approved and presented a report to the university community detailing specific instances and examples in which students were censored on campus, including policy prescriptions such as an attempt to make the reasoning behind denials more transparent.

Obviously, these attempts have not paid off. We are still in the same situation we were in before the report. It is no wonder that groups like S.A.G.E.S. have taken up guerrilla activism to attempt to start a conversation about our rights as students.

They have had to operate anonymously, tactically petitioning and handing out condoms, because Fordham does not allow any other avenue of recourse. They are not being heard, so they take matters into their own hands.

They are even fighting for free speech zones on campus: an old recommendation modeled after the “Red Square” at our sister Jesuit university Georgetown.

It is ironic that Fordham fears giving students a forum in which to practice their Eloquentia Perfecta that Fordham prides itself on teaching. It is a shame that Fordham fears talking to us and instead hinders these discussions.

Members of the Fordham community awoke on Monday to an email from the Executive Director of University Health Services, Kathleen Malara, M.S.N., F.N.P. The email cites concerns about Ebola as grounds for a new policy barring Fordham affiliates from traveling on university business to three West African nations: Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.

Many students didn’t think twice upon reading this message. However, this policy presents problems for the entire university community.

When asked about the ban, Malara responded, “It would be irresponsible for the University to endorse or permit travel to a region where medical experts at the CDC have deemed dangerous.” Yet, the director of the CDC, Dr. Tom Frieden, M.D, has been quoted saying that banning travel to West Africa will cause more problems than it will solve. Is it not irresponsible to ignore those warnings?

Dr. Melissa Labonte, associate professor of political science, is one faculty member with a vested interest in the region. She has worked extensively in West Africa and plans to return to Sierra Leone next year to conduct research. When asked about the ban, Labonte said “[This response] is not proportionate to the threat and disregards human dignity. It runs the risk of furthering ignorance and misunderstanding about how the disease is spread, and will inevitably add to the stigma felt by anyone associated with West Africa.”

Dr. Alexander van Tulleken, M.D., senior fellow at Fordham’s Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs and public health expert, is also bothered by the policy.

Van Tulleken believes that, “this kind of isolationism increases fear, decreases understanding, decreases the possibility of addressing the crisis and it does all this without improving our safety in any way at all.”

There is a stark difference between Fordham’s policy and the message put forth by Peter Salovey, president of Yale University. After a public health student returned from Liberia exhibiting Ebola-like symptoms, Salovey urged the Yale community to “offer gratitude and support” to those choosing to aid in the relief efforts.

Like Yale, Fordham boasts a long tradition of service. Unlike Yale, Fordham is a Jesuit institution that professes to uphold Ignatian principles. This policy appears to be in direct conflict with at least one (homines pro aliis) if not more tenets of a Jesuit education.

Our beloved Rev. Joseph M. McShane, president of the university, urges Fordham students from day one to “go and set the world on fire.” The Jesuit principles on which Fordham was founded, and on which we pride ourselves today, should not be so easily abandoned in times of crisis. We are constantly told that we should be bothered by the injustice we see in the world, but that starts at home.

COURTESY OF FLICKR

YouTube sensation Sam Pepper’s recent video elicited an outcry from many who do not like his brand of joking.

A Definitional Problem Sexual Harassment Still Ambiguous

By DIANA FIGUEROA CONTRIBUTING WRITER

In the age of the Internet, many have found a nuanced form of celebrity, one that exists within the realm of social media and other interactive platforms. Today, YouTube gives people with an idea and the aptitude to work a camera a reputation and solid fan-base among the online community.

These “Youtube celebrities” are celebrities in the sense that their actions are examples to others.

Last month, Sam Pepper, a former U.K. “ Big Brother ” contestant and one of YouTube’s “celebrities” (whose channel has garnered 2.4 million subscribers since its launch) sparked outrage because of a prank video he released that involved using a fake hand, concealed within his sweatshirt, to grope women on the streets of California. Pepper’s channel (YouTube.com/Sam) is not new to the pranks and jokes angle. In fact, a majority of his videos are humorous. So, why has this one, labeled as another prank video, received so much backlash?

For starters, groping women on the street is not a prank. It is sexual harassment. Why Pepper chose to upload a video of this nature and disguise it as a prank is beyond any person’s understanding. Since when did sexual harassment become a prank? For those who consider YouTube to be their profession, as Pepper does, is harassment OK because it will increase notoriety and views on the web? The answer is no.

The five women Pepper touched in his video voiced their non-consent, with one outright saying, “I don’t like that,” which they repeated several times. However, many appeared too shocked to react in a much more overt way.

Nevertheless, there was outrage about the video, not only among most of Pepper’s fans and subscribers, but from fellow YouTubers as well, including YouTube personality and LGBT advocate Tyler Oakley, comedian and author Grace Helbig and “vlog” brothers Hank and John

Green (author of The Fault in Our Stars).

Although the majority of viewers are aware that sexual harassment is an infringement on and a violation of a person’s basic human rights, it is unfortunate that not everyone understands why the prank was wrong. After all, a majority of Pepper’s viewers are teenage girls, aged 13 through 17, according to his YouTube statistics.

However, since uploading the first video, which has subsequently been removed from YouTube for violating the website’s “sex and nudity” policy, Pepper released two other videos that were supposedly a part of a threepart series.

In the final video, entitled “The Reveal,” Pepper sits in front of his camera to tell viewers that the three videos (the second being of a woman who, also used a concealed fake hand, groping men on the street) were all a part of a “social experiment” to raise awareness not only on the issue of female sexual harassment, but to “shine further light on an otherwise-dark corner” of male sexual harassment. He also claimed that all the people in the videos were actors who gave him “prior consent to acting in the experiment,” according to Pepper’s Twitter.

He claims that his prank was all done in an attempt to enable his viewers to stand up for something they believed in and be an example of how one should react to such a serious issue.

Regardless of how genuine or ingenuine his campaign was, how does it make sense to raise awareness for sexual harassment by sexually harassing? How does normalizing sexual harassment as a prank raise awareness to the issue in the first place? And, how does sexually harassing women shed any sort of light on male sexual harassment?

The simple answer: does not.

Effy Donovan, FCLC ’15, witnessed the videos and Pepper’s attempt to cover up the first video’s content in real time. When he revealed the final video, she concluded it was an elaborate at-

tempt at covering up the nature of the first.

“I thought his ‘big reveal’ was absolutely bogus,” Donovan said.

“How sexually harassing women on the street in order to raise awareness about male sexual assault makes any sort of sense to anyone is beyond me. But, I’m so so happy that so many YouTubers have spoken out against the video and his horrid treatment of women across the board,” she said.

Many comments remain on Pepper’s videos (and on other YouTube channels who have posted videos and spoken out against his actions) that continue to question why what he did was wrong.

The fact that viewers, both men and women, continue to think that what he did was “all in good fun” or “not that big of a deal” proves why conversations and awareness of this serious issue need to take place.

There are women out there who have been told that it is OK for men to behave in this way. That it is OK for women not to speak out or want to fight for their rights as human beings. That it is OK to laugh about or shrug off whatever harassment comes into their lives because how else can they defend themselves or react to being in such a situation without coming across, God forbid, a “feminist?”

The fact that some fans continued supporting and defending Pepper even after the final video’s backlash further proves my point.

People need to start having these conversations and stop putting issues of sexual harassment on the back-burner.

It is important for both men and women to understand that sexual harassment is an ongoing issue that needs to be addressed and dealt with in a serious way.

And Sam Pepper’s videos — ones that send out the message that harassment is a normal way to interact with one another — is not the way to go about doing so, no matter how many fans he has.

Diana Figueroa, FCRH ’15, is a Communication and Media Studies major from New York City.

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October 29, 2014

CULTURE

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The Fordham Ram

Fall Fashion Breezes Through Rose Hill SAMUEL JOSEPH/ THE RAM

By JUNGSUH KIM STAFF WRITER

They say that fall is the quintessential weather for fashion, with good reason. When else can you show off your killer fashion sense with multilayered dimensions?

There is a reason why fashion week starts in September.

This fall, many fashion trends have graced (and re-graced) New York and, specifically, Fordham’s campus. Walking back from class, I always see some fabulous outfits.

Who knew Fordham was a fashionable school?

On campus, people are always dressing in style, whether it is to grab coffee with a group of friends or to look professional for class.

“I think most students’ styles at Fordham are preppy,” said Hunter Wildrick, FCRH ’17. “I see a lot of people wearing Vineyard Vines and J. Crew.”

Fordham students do love the classic prep style. Many students are seen wearing old-school polos and khakis during warmer months, and plaid shirts and boots dur-

ing the colder ones. Guys and girls both sport the preppy look by wearing equestrian-inspired looks.

When asked about Fordham guys’ style, Anthony Ali, FCRH ’17 and a staff writer for the Fordham Ram, said, “I’m not entirely sure about Fordham in general, but guys tend to wear vests, khakis and chucka (suede) boots.”

Leather has made yet another return to this year’s trends. Jackets, leggings and even crop tops made out of leather are looking to be a trend this fall. My personal favorite is the use of leather on the sides of leggings; it still incorporates the trend yet in a more subtle and understated way. Leather jackets are the perfect accessory to keep you warm without making your outfit look too bulky. They are awesome to layer over a cute crop top or beaded tank for a night out. In addition to jackets, guys can also sport this trend by rocking a sleek leather belt to give their pants an added edge.

Another trend making a return is the military jacket. I have seen so many versions of this all across campus. These jackets do not nec-

essarily have to be an army green color; a lot of brands have started making them in burgundy and dark grey as well. The versatility of this jacket makes it a go-to for both guys and girls. The guy’s military jacket is much more structured, while the girl’s still has the same shape with softer details, like some vintageinspired buttons. My favorite style of this type of jacket is the one with the adjustable drawstring. It helps cinch your waist so you do not get lost in the bulkiness of the jacket. A must-have staple for chilly days, the military jacket is something that will definitely stick around.

Yet another classic outwear piece is the vest. Perfect for layering over cool flannels, vests can add a touch of color to an otherwise ordinary outfit. Whether you rock the classic puffer vest, a faux fur glam one or even a menswear-inspired one — the important thing is that they are sure to keep you nice and warm.

Girls can rock this trend with some cute skinny jeans and a scarf, while guys can throw on a pair of suede Sperry’s. Looking for some vestappropriate activities? Go pick out

pumpkins in a patch, visit a haunted house or grab some coffee with friends!

One of the more common trends I see at Fordham is riding boots.

These boots can range anywhere from dark brown to black and come in many different lengths.

Boots are a great way to transition some of your more summery clothes into fall appropriate weather. Riding boots can significantly dress down a fancier dress, giving it that extra edge that we all want to emulate once autumn rolls around.

Black riding roots can turn an allblack outfit from too dark to just the right amount of grunge. Think only girls can pull off this trend?

Well, think again! Guys can also rock some shorter boots, whenever it becomes too cool to wear those beloved Sperry’s.

Ah, plaid. The pattern that defines all things fall. Whether you’re into the classic oxford shirts or love the idea of schoolgirl-inspired pleated skirts, plaid is the ultimate trendy print for the autumn months. There is just something about the pattern that makes us

instantly crave some pumpkin spice lattes or freshly picked apples. Also, who doesn’t love to steal their boyfriends’ flannels? The flannels in the men’s section are often thicker, longer and overall have a baggier fit, making them more comfortable to lounge around in.

Leggings, the thing people either love or hate. These are basic necessities people need to stay comfy and cute when the weather starts to get a bit chilly. Leggings come in so many different patterns, shapes, sizes and fabrics; the possibilities are endless!

Whether you are more of an edgy girl who rocks black liquid leggings or just someone who likes to keep warm with sweater leggings, it is obvious that we all cannot seem to get enough of this trend. Leggings have been around for decades, and do not seem like they are going anywhere anytime soon.

Many of these trends are perfect to accommodate crisp fall weather and are ways to get around the sweatshirt and sweatpants routine.

There are a ton of great fashionable outfits so using the cold as an excuse is no longer valid!

Your TV Binge Guide: “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”

By NICOLE FIORICA STAFF WRITER

At a glance: Genre: Paranormal Drama Seasons/Episodes: 7/144 Avg Episode Length: 44 min Available on: Netflix & Amazon Prime What it’s about: Created by Josh Whedon (Avengers), “Buff y the Vampire Slayer” is about high school student Buff y Summers (Sarah Michelle Geller, “The Crazy Ones”), who moves to Sunnydale, California for a fresh start. Upon her arrival, however, she learns that she is chosen to be the “Slayer,” a woman chosen once per generation to slay vampires, and that Sunnydale itself lies over the Hellmouth, a point of origin for magical monsters of all kinds. With the help of her friends and the school librarian, she accepts her destiny

and devotes herself to keeping Sunnydale — and the world — safe from evil.

Why it’s so good: Let us just say that “Buff y” is a cult classic for a reason. It is a fantasy show, but it is more about humanity than it is about vampires.

It is about high school students tasked with saving the world while also fighting their own personal battles. The show is rewarding because the audience gets to watch the students come into their own.

Buff y’s relationship with vampire Angel (David Boreanaz, “Bones”) is so much more complex than any human-vampire romance you have seen in the last decade, and indeed, the emphasis of this story is on Buff y, not with whom Buff y falls in love. Filled with Whedon’s classic snarky one-liners, it mixes fun with its intricately emotional themes, making it a show for just

COURTESY OF FLICKR/ VALENTINA ARIETE

about everyone.

Why you should binge it: This show may have ended 10 years ago, but it remains entertaining and relevant; it’s virtually impossible to not relate to “Buff y” in some respect. The themes of this show will cut straight to the heart of anyone who ever struggled

through high school. It’s seven seasons long, but well worth your time. If you are not familiar with the show, this Halloween is the perfect time to start.

“Hush,” an episode acted in complete silence. There are also deeply emotional episodes like “Innocence” (season 2) and “The Body” (season 5).

Standouts: Most of the regular cast: a lot of the enjoyment that comes from “Buff y” is the complexity of its characters and their arcs over the course of the series. Buff y’s snark and girl power are cornerstones of the show, but so is her emotional journey as she fulfills her destiny.

Right at her side is her best friend Willow (Alyson Hannigan, “How I Met Your Mother”). Willow starts out as a shy nerd but she grows up over the course of several seasons to become one of the show’s most powerful, but complicated forces. While originally a “monster of the week” show, episodes become more creative as the series progressed, such as in

Potential Pitfalls: As great as “Buff y” is, it got off to a little bit of slow start. Season 1 is short but notorious for its filler episodes, including “Teacher’s Pet” (in which a substitute teacher is actually a praying mantis), and “I Robot, You Jane” (when Willow releases a demon into the internet). The early seasons are still important, and you won’t want to miss “Angel” or the season finale “Prophecy Girl,” but you can feel free to skip around. As “Buff y” is essentially a ’90s show, the music and wardrobe choices will either make you nostalgic or slightly nauseous, but these are factors easily overlooked for the sake of the story.

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October 29, 2014

Autumn Brings an Array of Seasonal Activities to Campus and NYC

By MARGARET ADAMS STAFF WRITER

While autumn is arguably the best season in general, in New York it definitely wins for being the most beautiful time of year. The air has that special crispness, boots can finally be put into rotation and who doesn’t love everything apple and pumpkin?

Without spending any money, you can enjoy the breathtaking and vibrant leaves in Central Park, or head over to the Botanical Gardens and frolic in all the leaf piles. Even though many think autumn ends Nov. 1, winter does not start until Dec. 21, so enjoy everything that autumn has to offer while you can.

Here on Fordham’s campus, Halloweek has finally arrived! For Tuesday, Oct. 28, CAB held the “Trick or Treat Street” from 3:30-5:30 p.m. down Rose Hill Manor Drive.

Also Thursday, Oct. 30, Cinevents is showing Ghostbusters at 9 p.m. in Keating 1st.

On Oct. 29 at 8 p.m., Nicholas Sawicki, FCRH ‘16, will be getting everyone ready for Halloween with Fordham Ghost Stories at Rodrigues. Of course, Halloween weekend is also Family Weekend, including the Sibling Sleepover, Fordham vs. Colgate football game and Haunted Tours of Rose Hill on Saturday, Nov. 1, at 9:30 p.m. If you

KELLYN SIMPKINS/ THE RAM

Students paint pumpkins as Fordham kicks off Halloweek.

love costumes and singing, be sure to go to the A Capella Teaser Concert on Thursday, Oct. 30, at 6:30 p.m. in Keating 1st. And remember, the sea-

The Lowdown | Devon Sheridan

A Brief History of Fox Comedies Readers may or may not know that out in the vast ethos of space and time exists an alternate universe almost completely identical to ours.

There’s one big difference between the worlds: in the alternate universe, television shows think and act like humans. Young television shows, which inhabit this ecosystem wake up and fall asleep every day hoping for a call from a network, to hear those divine words, “You’ve been picked up for the [insert channel here].”

In this world, television shows are strong of faith. And every night, a certain conglomerate of these humanoid TV shows — television comedies to be exact — pray at the sides of their beds. They pray that they won’t end up on the Fox network. This is because Fox is the worst place in network programming for television comedy. Here is where the alternate universe and our universe collide. In this world, heck, in all worlds, Fox is where television comedies go to die.

Which is why it’s so weird that, today, Fox is the home of perhaps the best single-camera sitcom currently on television. That show is called “New Girl.” You should watch it! In fact, quite amazingly, Fox broadcasts quite a few purposefully funny television shows these days (no, so I don’t mean you, Fox News, you zany goofballs).

If you happen to be an ardent reader of The Fordham Ram — and I’m talking extremely ardent, like, Copy Chief Katie Nolan ardent — then you might remember that about a year ago the Zooey Deschanel-led sitcom first blipped on our radar. Staff writer Megan Cattel gave the show a brief shout-out in her “Netflix Guide: Winter Break Edition.” Good call, Megan.

It’s really no hyperbole to say that “New Girl” is Fox’s most successful

comedy to premiere in the last decade. Of course, Fox can boast “Bob’s Burgers” and “Family Guy,” which are both extremely successful cartoon comedies. Much longer-standing “The Simpsons” is probably the most successful show the network has ever had. But, those are cartoons and Fox’s record with those shows is not sterling either — in 2002, the network stopped “Family Guy” for a couple of years.

Oh! Speaking of killing funny, popular and creative comedies, remember when Fox unceremoniously murdered “Arrested Development” back in 2006? See, Fox truly has a horrible track record with comedy TV. Scrolling through IMDb and Wikipedia (I do really hard work), I can’t find one sitcom other than “‘Til Death,” which was the post — “Everybody Loves Raymond” Brad Garrett vehicle that lasted more than three seasons, since its 2004 premiere.

In May of this year, former Fox Chairman of Entertainment Kevin Reilly left the network. His resignation was abrupt and quizzical. Reilly was the one who oversaw the development not only of “New Girl,” but also “The Mindy Project” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” all of which objectively have been the most successful Fox sitcoms since 2000. It seemed like Reilly had the formula.

It’ll be interesting to see where Fox goes from here. With “New Girl,” the network has a bona fide hit: lovable characters played by actors who exude on-set chemistry, a star lead and an extremely consistent writing staff.

To anyone who enjoys ensemble comedies, “The Office,” “Arrested,” etc., I strongly recommend “New Girl.” I’m still coming to grips with recommending a Fox comedy. It’s a weird feeling. Welcome to my alternate universe.

son does not end with Halloween.

The Campus Ministry Thanksgiving food drive starts on Monday, Oct. 27. You can drop off your food donations at the Campus Ministry Office in the McGinley Center.

The Emmaus Retreat is Nov. 2123, and offers a great opportunity to get away from campus for a bit and appreciate all that autumn nature

has to offer at the beautiful Goshen retreat house. For more information on retreats, go to the Fordham Campus Ministry Retreat page online.

If you think Fordham has a lot of fall events, just imagine how much more you could do in the city. From haunted houses to parades, New York City has it all. The Botanical Gardens is hosting the Haunted Pumpkin Garden until Oct. 31 and also is ranked by TimeOut NY as the second best place in the city to see the foliage after Central Park.

On Halloween night from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., the College Group at the Met is hosting “Death Becomes You — A Haunted Event,” which explores the museum’s exhibit on mourning clothes through history and includes spooky crafts and events. The event is free with admission, but space is limited.

Also on Halloween night The New Museum of Contemporary Art is hosting their Annual Halloween Party at 7 p.m. The party is free, but be sure to wear a great costume. If you just want to enjoy other people’s costumes, the famous Village Halloween Parade begins at 7 p.m. on Halloween night.

Sticking with the Halloween spirit, this week also hosts many haunted houses and Halloween themed events in Manhattan. Ghost tours, led by phantom-experts take you through the city finding the paranormal presence, from now until Nov. 2 through Ghosts of New York Tours. Also, Haunted Houses pop up all around Manhattan this weekend, including the Jekyll and Hyde

Haunted House.

Delving into November, Oktoberfest continues with Brooklyn’s Smorgasurg every weekend until Nov. 23.

This food festival showcases famous specialty meals and chefs from New York City in a food stand paradise.

If you are into experimental theater, The Night Club theater group puts on interactive Drunken Shakespeare shows, where people recite Shakespearian monologues while inebriated. This event happens every day through Jan. 6 at Bar Nine in Midtown.

Since the weather is getting colder, it is more convenient to find activities to do inside. Comedy shows are a great way to hang out with friends, while keeping warm from heated studios and laughter. The Knitting Factory in Brooklyn and Kabin in the East Village are great places to look for comedy nights, as well as the Upright Citizens Brigade, which plays improv and sketch shows.

Another way to keep warm is by rushing Broadway shows. With Student Rush, tickets are more affordable and attainable the day of the show. Off-Broadway shows are just as entertaining. Look into smaller theaters in the Lower East Village and Chelsea where the shows change frequently and have amazing talent.

Even though the weather is slowly getting colder, fall is the perfect time to explore New York. With end of the season festivals and plenty of indoor activities, autumn in the city brings opportunities to try new things and get into the holiday spirit.

Editor’s Pick | College Advice

Utilizing Your College Experience

By JUAN GABRIEL GARCIA ASSISTANT BUSINESS DIRECTOR

As a senior at Fordham, I find it difficult to imagine what life will be like a year from now. No more eating appetizing breakfasts at the Marketplace, no more pulling allnighters to study for a big test, and no more living the life of a college student. Well, who am I kidding?

I’ll get over the mouthwatering pancakes and tests. As for campus life, I can say for sure that I’ll definitely miss it.

In writing this article, I wanted to do something differently; I wanted to write about the things I’ve done, which I believe have prepared me for life after college. Listed below are three tips outlining how I best utilized my time in college to get ready for what awaits me outside of 441 East Fordham Road.

1. Be active! On top of class, find something that you’re passionate about and pursue it.

Aside from being part of The Fordham Ram’s business staff, I’m also involved with different organizations on campus, including Ascend, International Community of Fordham and Fordham Career Ambassadors. My advice for underclassmen is to start early. As a freshman or sophomore, it’s important to focus on your interests and participate in club discussions and meetings. Not only will you be meeting people with the same aspirations, but you will also be im-

SAMUEL JOSEPH/ THE RAM

Have fun and visit new places in NYC, like the Highline on the Lower West Side.

proving your knowledgebase and foundation of certain subject areas.

2. Read.

This one’s self-explanatory, but I thought I’d add it in anyway. I know in college we’re all very busy and don’t have much time for anything outside of schoolwork, but I can’t help stress how important reading is. When I was a junior, I made it a point to read one book a week. I’d choose titles that interested me and read in between classes as well as before going to bed. The habit of reading really improved my comprehension of topics I was interested in and made me a more well-informed individual. Aside from books, I also read the Wall Street Journal on a day-to-day basis.

Even if I wasn’t able to read the entire paper, I’d read enough to know what is happening around the

United States and internationally.

3. Don’t forget to have fun.

My third tip is probably the easiest one to follow. Fun can be anything. From sports to exploring New York City and to trying different types of food, it really depends on what you like to do in your spare time.

For instance, my friends and I set-up annual fantasy football and basketball leagues and compete against each other in order to attain the best season record. We also make it a point to get dinner together every once in a while and try different types of food. In the end, I think it is important to leave time for things that you like to do.

When you’re happy, everything else follows and you start to find meaning and purpose in your daily life.

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Oscar de la Renta: Mourning an Icon

By ALAYNA PUTTERMAN STAFF WRITER

The world lost a fashion icon this past Monday, Oct. 20. Oscar de la Renta was confirmed dead this past Monday. He was 82. De la Renta is said to have passed due to complications that arose from cancer he had been battling since 2006. He passed away at his home in Kent, Connecticut, surrounded by family members.

According to Forbes, de la Renta’s stepdaughter Eliza, and her husband Alex, (CEO of Oscar de la Renta, the brand) produced a statement for the website’s homepage that read, “he died exactly as he lived: with tremendous grace, great dignity and very much on his own terms.”

Living with cancer, de la Renta valued life that much more. In 2013 he stated that “the only realities in life are that you are born, and that you die…We always think we are going to live forever. The dying aspect we will never accept.

The one thing about having this kind of warning is how you appreciate every single day of life.”

A legendary designer in the fashion industry, de la Renta dressed many celebrities and public figures, including Jacqueline Kennedy, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush,

Michelle Obama, Sarah Jessica Parker’s character Carrie Bradshaw in “Sex and the City” and Amal Clooney (Alamuddin). One of the best things to ever happen to fashion, specifically New York fashion, was de la Renta moving to New York in 1963 and beginning his first line.

De la Renta’s mark on the world of style and fashion will never be forgotten. His family and staff members will continue to run the business in his honor.

In 2004, very shortly before he was diagnosed with cancer, de la Renta stepped down from his position of chief executive of the company, (handing it over to Alex and Eliza Bolen) but, was still very much a part of the company.

He was integral to the design process designs and showed collections at New York Fashion Week.

Before his death, de la Renta created new plans for his successions in announcing Peter Copping as the new creative director of the company, leaving the world skeptical of what was to come.

Impacting fashion and style for more than four decades, fellow designers in the industry honored and admired his work and class. He impacted more than just the fashion world by serving as a board member of The Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall,

devoting time to children’s charities and funding schools in the Dominican Republic, his native country.

He created new standards of elegance and grace and, as an acclaimed designer, received many awards including numerous Cody Awards, a Founders Award and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the CFDA. From styling the first ladies of his time to being the first American designer to ever show at Paris Fashion week, de la Renta revolutionized fashion and took the industry to a new level. He possessed immense creativity, individuality and originality.

His career knew no bounds and he continuously blew the world away with his designs, whether they were anything from couture to bridal wear. As many may not know, de la Renta was not solely a women’s fashion designer. His creations spanned from fragrances, a home collection and furniture.

Close friend, Anna Wintour wrote an exceptional tribute to her memories with Oscar de la Renta and the beautiful friendship they had inside and outside of their shared industry, featured on vogue.com.

An inspiration to women, de la Renta supported and understood

I love key changes in pop music. While they’re positively rampant in musicals, you don’t often find them in the kind of music you hear on the radio. Elton John’s “Bitter Fingers” hasn’t played on most radio stations in 30 to 40 years, but it remains to this day my favorite key change of all time. The song begins with a lilting piano intro that goes into a light, bouncing verse. It seems like a fairly cute and fluffy track.

When the chorus hits, everything explodes.

The key changes entirely, the tempo picks up, the guitar comes in and the energy level in John’s vocal delivery goes up about 12 notches. This shift would be good regardless since it’s so sudden, but the added key change makes it even better. An incredibly cool bass line in the chorus doesn’t hurt either.

I can’t describe the shift fully—you just need to go listen to it. If you want, you can imagine the 15-year-old version of me hearing it for the first time and losing my mind completely. (Or, understandably, you can choose to skip that part.)

Lyrically, “Bitter Fingers” tells a pretty straightforward story. The narrator is deeply tired of writing songs on request and of the

industry that pats songwriters on the back for producing emotional schmaltz on demand. He declares that he’s sick of the “tra-la-la’s and la-de-da’s” of disingenuous music that he’s producing. It gets difficult when something that you love has been turned into a chore; it’s “hard to write a song with bitter fingers.”

On the one hand, that line is simply the narrator complaining about the situation he’s stuck in. He did not become a musician for this garbage. On the other hand, however, John is admonishing himself. The tone of the verses is exceedingly cynical, and from that regard the chorus can be seen as an antithesis to his bitterness.

Since it is so hard to write a song when one is so bitter, perhaps it’s the narrator’s job to move past that feeling. That line comes in during the chorus, right after the song has shifted. It’s as if the narrator has changed his mind in that moment, and the music changes along with it. Rather than let the attitude of everyone around him bring him down, he fights back by getting even more creative.

“Bitter Fingers” ends with a transition from the chorus into a guitar solo, fading out on the triumphant high of the chorus. The songwriter hasn’t let the nay-sayers stop him from doing his thing.

modern women. He explained, “I have always felt my role as a designer is to do the very best I can for a woman to make her look her best. Fashion is only fashion once a woman puts it on.”

As designer Zac Posen eloquently said, “Mr. de la Renta was one of America’s greatest designers and he was an inspira-

tion to the entire industry. His exceptional vision, outstanding integrity and warm character will be immensely missed by everyone who knew him.”

Rest in peace to an icon who transformed fashion and an industry that will be forever grateful for your wisdom, designs and ingenuity.

Review | Movie

Playlist | Rosemary Derocher

Song: “Bitter Fingers” Artist: Elton John Album: Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy Year: 1975

COURTESY OF FLICKR/NINA ROBERTS

Oscar de la Renta will be remembered worldwide for his style.

All-Star Cast Brings World War II Event To Life

By DELANEY BENISON CONTRIBUTING WRITER

With the Second World War coming to a close, new troops are still being sent to Germany to combat Hitler’s last-ditch effort of Total War. Fury depicts five men in an outdated tank called “Fury” during World War II. This movie, while at some points gory and morally repugnant on all accounts, shows the brotherhood of war: the trauma and the vengeance that linked soldiers for life.

Brad Pitt takes on the role of Don “Wardaddy” Collier, sergeant and lead command of the “Fury.” Pitt plays an apathetic killer with flickers of humanity in a cold, war-hardened exterior.

Throughout the movie “Wardaddy” takes on the challenge of adapting a young Norman Ellison, played by Logan Lerman, to the cruel reality of death in war and the consequences of a conscience.

Lerman, the youngest of all the cast members, had to work especially hard getting into character.

Director David Ayer had all five starring actors boxing each other as a way of drawing out the aggression and intensity of war. In “The Metro,” Lerman was quoted as saying, “It was pretty casual at first, and then the guys came in and we really started fighting each other.

And we really fought each other. It got intense in there.” Through this Lerman was able to find a balance of his naïve and sensitive nature

COURTESY OF FLICKR

along with an eventual unwavering commitment to the “Fury” and the men inside it. Shia LaBeouf also delivers a haunting performance as the religious gunner nicknamed “Bible.”

Lebouf’s role offers comic relief while also delivering some of the most unsettling lines of the movie.

Ayer shows his ability to portray

the gruesome glory of war. He also reveals the effects and abuse that war lays on every country involved, making for a conflicting and uncommon reaction to World War II. We are left with a feeling of appreciation for the human life and the sacrifices that were made for the sake of freedom.

CULTURE

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October 29, 2014

Who’s That Kid? | Alice Smyth

Music to Fordham’s Ears, In and Out of Class

By MICHAEL CAVANAUGH ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Every campus has that one student who everyone knows; the one that seems to be involved in every aspect of campus life. For those at Rose Hill, this student is Alice Smyth, GSB ’15.

A Yonkers, New York native and graduate of The Ursuline School in New Rochelle, NY, Smyth, a Business Administration major, spends much of her free time in the Office of Student Leadership and Community Development (O.S.L.C.D).

She works there as an Orientation Coordinator for the New Student Orientation (NSO).

Smyth, a commuter, also serves as a Commuter Assistant (CA), helping to build community among other students and working to further integrate first-year commuters, in particular, into campus life.

When she is not toiling away in O.S.L.C.D, Smyth also is an accomplished harpist. When she was seven years old, Smyth was accepted into The Gaelic Singers & Harpists of New York, an Irish singing group, under the direction of Eily O’Grady Patterson, a concert pianist and harpist.

“After acceptance into the

COURTESY OF ALICE SMYTH

Alice shows great focus while honing her harp playing skills at an event.

Review | Music

look at all the things that you are a part of or have been a part of throughout your Fordham career; what you joined or participated in, what you are still doing now and how you have evolved as a person and as a leader,” said Alice. “I have never actually thought of me ‘deciding’ to become so involved at Fordham or so involved with anything, I just think it’s natural and normal for me.”

Naturally, Alice found a home at Fordham due to the multitude of activities and opportunities offered. Alice cites the great network of people and many connections as some favorite things about Fordham.

“I like how there are a majority of good, passionate and dedicated people that I have come into contact with at Fordham, and I hope I continue to meet these people,” said Alice. “I definitely hope that another favorite thing about Fordham will be the strong networking and connections I can gain both right now and in the future. Fordham is a great place to be and it all just depends on how you take it—have a positive attitude and if you don’t like something, change it!”

Letters | Ask Emma

Fresh on the Scene, Tove Lo Blends Old and New

By KATHERINE MOBILIA STAFF WRITER

Tove Lo, born Tove Nilsson, is an up-and-coming Swedish singer who is making a new, exciting appearance in American music.

When I first discovered Tove Lo on my iTunes Radio Alternative playlist, I was automatically hooked. Her recently popular single, “Habits (Stay High),” was the first thing I heard before it hit the radio, and I was desperate to hear more of the unique sound she was offering.

Her first EP, Truth Serum, contains four songs, all with different sounds, themes and beats that are absolutely captivating. After hearing these songs, I realized that categorizing Tove Lo would be challenging to say the least.

She has an alternative, almost quirky sound to her voice and her lyrics are interesting in the most dramatic and slightly off way possible. The sound of her music can range from pop to electronic from one song to the next.

While these four songs on repeat kept me entertained for months, my personal favorites being “Out of Mind” and “Habits,” I was nothing short of ecstatic when I heard that she finally released an entire album.

To no surprise, Queen of the Clouds, complete with 16 songs and three short spoken segments,

group, I was just a little singer looking up to these ‘big kids,’” said Smyth. “When the singing rehearsals were over, the harpists would rehearse and I would watch them practice as I waited to get picked up.”

One day, while she was away with the group in Connecticut, Alice sat down at the lobby piano and began to play the songs that she was learning. Patterson approached Alice’s parents after hearing her play and asked them if they would like her to learn the harp.

Alice then began taking lessons from Patterson, and now plays for her parish and for events, both on and off campus —because, as her business cards read, “Angels aren’t the only ones who play the harp.”

Alice has certainly taken advantage of the many opportunities that being a student at Fordham offers. In the fall 2013 semester, she took part in the popular Fordham study abroad program in London. Later that spring, Alice spent some time in Tokyo, Japan, for one of her classes and will be traveling to India for another class this semester.

“It’s very interesting when you

Dear Emma, One of my friends is extremely indecisive when it comes to boys, and has about three or four that she’s interested in at one time. She likes them all a lot, so none of her other friends can really like them or else she gets upset, but that’s not always fair. There’s one boy she likes that I heard has a crush on me, and I think he’s really cute. We’ve been friendly for a while but lately we’ve been talking just us two at parties and we’ve been really getting to know each other. He knows I’m friends with her and that I wouldn’t do anything to upset her, but we’ve just been so flirty. I don’t know what to do.

Bad Friend Dear Bad Friend, You have two options: talk to your friend and tell her you like him, or stop talking to him. You need to decide whether this kid is worth it. Regardless of whether she has a right to or not, she will get upset if she hears that you like each other. If you keep getting to know each other, you’ll probably start to like him more and telling her will be harder. You should try and stop this while you aren’t in too deep. If you really think things could work out between you and him, you’re better off telling her as soon as possible. Honesty is the best choice in situations like this. You don’t want to ruin a friendship over something silly that can be easily avoided.

Emma

COURTESY OF ITUNES

COURTESY OF ITUNES

Dear Emma, I told my boyfriend a little white lie over something so pointless and stupid and he flipped out and broke up with me. We’ve had arguments about lying in the past, but he’s lied too! I admitted I had lied and I apologized but he blocked me on all social media and told me to never contact him again. I don’t understand why he’s being so crazy and I don’t know what else to do.

Confused

Tove Lo’s album Queen of the Clouds is diverse and captivating in its style and lyrics.

was nothing short of perfect. Every song took me to a different place and a different time, whether it was my worst break-up, my best relationship or my favorite night out. While some of her lyrics can be a little strange, they are undeniably relatable and seem to sing your deepest secrets and your most erratic emotions. She appeals to the part of yourself you’d rather keep under wraps, and there’s something exciting about

finding an artist that can help let those inhibitions go. I really love “Timebomb” and “Thousand Miles,” both containing beats that will get stuck in your head and lyrics that will make you want to sing along.

If you are looking for a new artist you can blast with your friends, sing along to after a huge fight with an ex or simply get addicted to, I recommend Tove Lo wholeheartedly.

Dear Confused, I can see why you’re confused. I also understand him being upset about a white lie but it sounds like he is overreacting. You shouldn’t have lied in the first place, but to end a relationship over that is dumb. It sounds like he may have other reasons for ending it, and he just used this as an excuse to blame it on you. If I were you, I would just do my best to move on.

Any person who can just throw a relationship out like that is not worth your time.

Emma Have a question for Emma?

Send them to fordhamramaskemma@gmail.com

October 29, 2014

SPORTS

Page 15

The Fordham Ram

Men’s Soccer Downed d by b UMass, 2-0

By TARA CANGIALOSI WEB EDITOR

After its tough road trip to Virginia last weekend, the Fordham men’s soccer team hoped to bounce back with a win at home against the University of Massachusetts on Sunday, Oct. 26.

However, the team’s efforts were stunted as the Minutemen, an Atlantic 10 conference rival, scored two early goals and held on to defeat the Rams 2-0 on Jack Coffey Field.

With the loss, the Rams fall to 5-82 on the season, and 2-3-1 in A-10 play.

UMass did not waste any time scoring, creating its first goal in the sixth minute. Josh Schwartz dribbled the ball down the sideline, beating Fordham’s outside defender.

He then centered the ball, and Mark Morris finished it from 10 yards out to score his third goal of the season.

Later in the half, the Minutemen extended their lead on a goal from Matt Mooney. After the Rams failed to clear a corner kick properly, UMass’ Will Ellis headed the ball toward the top of the box. On a onetimer, Mooney rocketed the ball to the upper left side of the goal. The shot connected with the inner post, sending it past a leaping Sean Brailey to give UMass the 2-0 lead.

Down by two goals in the first half, the Rams’ offense deflated. They could not generate any meaningful scoring opportunities for the remainder of the first 45 minutes.

“I think it is very important that we as a group focus on getting shots on target and scoring goals,” Ole Sandnes, a sophomore, said. “We created some good goal-scoring chances, but we were not successful [in] putting the ball in the net.”

The same story evolved in the second half, due to the Rams’ lack of offense. Their defense held UMass to two goals, but at a price.

In the 74th minute, Brailey jumped forward to snatch a ball out of the air before a UMass player could get a hold of it. However, the Minutemen’s Matt Keys also jumped vertically, misreading Brailey’s movement.

The two players collided and Brailey hit the ground hard. He ended the day with three saves, and was taken off the field to be checked out.

Keys was received a red card on the play, and will be suspended for the Minutemen’s next game against UNC Asheville.

Head Coach Jim McElderry called on freshman Jordan Black, one of the Rams’ back-up keepers, to finish out the match. He held UMass to two goals, earning his first two collegiate saves in the process.

After Brailey’s injury, the Rams desperately tried to come back from the early deficit. Despite racking up 22 shots, seven of them being on net, they could not figure out the Minutemen’s keeper, Taylor Cult.

Cult posted seven saves in the shutout, including a leaping punch of Andres Penfold’s attempt at a goal late in the game.

“To be honest, I feel that we produced enough chances to score some goals,” Sandnes said. “I think we failed to be effective in the last third of the game, and this obviously makes it harder for us to win games.”

UMass entered the game with a 1-12-1 record, good for last place in the conference. But instead of hanging back on their heels, the Minutemen brought their A-game to the Bronx.

As it stands, Fordham is right in the middle of the pack within the

NEIL TENNANT/THE RAM

Fordham’s 2-3-1 record in the Atlantic 10 Conference is good for seventh place. The Rams can gain ground this weekend.

A-10 Conference. Rhode Island currently leads the standings at 6-0, undefeated against its conference counterparts.

In their remaining two regular season games, the Rams will likely need two victories to earn a decent seed for the impending A-10 Championships, held from Nov. 13-16 at Sports Backers Stadium in Richmond, Virginia.

The Rams will travel to Ohio next weekend to take on the Dayton Flyers, who currently hold a 2-1-2 A-10 record. They are slated two spots higher than the Rams in the standings.

Though the Flyers are a tough opponent, which has played several challenging out-of-conference teams this season, the Rams must look to maintain possession and win 50-50 balls in order to overpower the Flyers from the backfield. If the Rams can work the ball through the center

and then through the midfield, their opportunities are rich up top.

Penfold and Aleksander Mastilovic, along with Jannik Loebe on the outside, are all very capable scorers who, when set up, can finish the ball.

If the Rams can create an insufferable amount of opportunities, they can rattle and frustrate Dayton as well as Duquesne, their final A-10 rival, who will visit the Bronx on Nov. 7.

If Fordham follows these chances with well-executed shots, the ball will find the back of the net and games will more than likely fall in their favor.

“I think we have to play better in the final third” Loebe said. “Most of the time, we missed the final pass and our shots didn’t get on target.”

A final key to Fordham’s success will be the healthy return of Brailey.

The senior has put together a stellar final season, earning several shutouts

and registering over 40 saves.

Brailey will see a doctor this week following the injury. Whether he will play the remainder of the season will depend on his condition later in the week.

The Rams hope that the time between games will be enough for Brailey to recover and return for the remainder of the season, and if anything, the A-10 Championships.

“We need to take one game at a time, and focus on getting results out of those games,” Sandnes said. “The only thing we can do now is to put in 110 percent every day in practice (as we have been), and get better in front of goal. I am confident that we can do this, as the group has a lot of potential. Now it is about getting it out against Dayton and Duquesne.”

The Fordham men’s soccer team will next be in action on Sunday, Nov. 2, when the team travels to Dayton for a 2:30 p.m. game.

Swimming and Diving Open Season With a Trio of Meets

By DREW CASEY STAFF WRITER

The Fordham swimming and diving team hit the ground running this past week, opening its season with three consecutive dual meets. The team hosted Marist on Thursday, Oct. 23, traveled to Fairfield on Friday and welcomed the University of Connecticut to Fordham on Saturday.

“Our team had an incredibly tough weekend with three meets back-to-back, but we rose above the difficulty and performed really well,” said junior Steve Sholdra. “All three teams were good competition, and it was fun having the opportunity to race great swimmers over and over again.”

After finishing second in the Atlantic 10 last year, the women’s team started its season off right, taking down Marist 145-93 at the Colonel Frances B. Messmore Aquatic Center.

Sophomore Megan Polaha and junior Shannon Lulley led the way for the Rams, winning two individual events each. Polaha took the 200yard individual medley and the 200yard butterfly, while Lulley touched

SAMUEL JOSEPH/THE RAM

Junior Steve Sholdra and sophomore Megan Polaha were named the A-10’s Performers of the Week.

first in both the 50-yard and 100yard freestyle. The two returning swimmers were also part of the winning 400-yard medley relay team.

The men’s team did not fare as well against the Red Foxes, falling 126-111 in its opening meet. Despite the loss, Sholdra and freshman Liam Semple turned in good performances. Sholdra won both the 500-yard and 1000-yard freestyle, and was also

quickest in the 200-yard butterfly.

In his Fordham debut, Semple was victorious in both the 100-yard and 200-yard freestyle.

Friday’s action featured a carryover performance from Thursday for the women’s team. The squad took down Fairfield 180-115. Junior Megan Gray was the top performer for the Rams, finishing first in three events. She captured the 200-short

course meter butterfly, and was part of the winning 200 SCM medley and 200 SCM freestyle relay teams. The Fordham women’s team also won nine other events in against the Stags.

On top of the women’s victory, the men’s team defeated the Stags. The team dominated, winning 11 events to take the meet 171-118. Sophomores Joe Mercurio and Thomas Shetler were each involved in three

event wins for the Rams. Mercurio touched first in the 100 SCM butterly, while Shetler was quickest in the 50 SCM freestyle. Both were also part of the winning 200 SCM medley relay and 200 SCM freestyle relay teams.

Saturday’s opponent proved to be the toughest of the opening threemeet stretch. The Connecticut Huskies downed the women’s team 165135 and defeated the men’s team 182.5-106.5.

Polaha was the Rams’ best swimmer of the afternoon, winning both the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly, and capturing the 200-yard individual medley. Sholdra was victorious in both the 1000-yard freestyle and 200-yard butterfly for the men.

“Being able to compete just as fast (or faster) in the third day of racing as we did in the first day really shows the result of our team’s work ethic over the past five weeks,” Sholdra said. “We have been training hard week after week, and this past weekend gave us a chance to prove our peak physical conditioning.”

The women’s team is 2-1, while the men’s team is 1-2. Both will next be in action on Nov. 8 against Boston University at Rose Hill at 1 p.m.

ADVERTISING

Page 16

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October 29, 2014

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October 29, 2014

Remembering Oscar Taveras

By MATTHEW MICHAELS STAFF WRITER

Cardinals’ prospect Oscar Taveras died on Sunday. The 22-year-old had a promising future before a terrible tragedy cut his life short.

While baseball fans were focused on game five of the World Series, the news of Taveras’ death started circulating. Prior to the 2014 season, he was rated the third-best prospect in baseball

by BaseballProspectus.com and Baseball America.

Taveras and his girlfriend, Edilia Arvelo, were driving in his native Dominican Republic when they got into a car crash in a red Chevrolet Camaro. Both Taveras and his 18-year-old girlfriend died in the crash when their car slid because of heavy rain.

Taveras has been in the Cardinals’ system since 2009 and had success at every minor league level. In his minor league career, he batted .320 while showing some signs of power by hitting 23 home runs in 2012.

The outfielder was called up mid-season and played 80 games for St. Louis. In his second career at-bat, he homered, one of only three in his short career.

He struggled in the big leagues and reached base at a clip of only .272.

The rookie managed to make this year’s postseason roster despite having a negative value in the regular season. His career-defining moment came in game two

of the NLCS. Taveras pinch hit in the seventh inning and blasted a home run off of Giants’ reliever Jean Machi. The blast tied the game, but the Cardinals lost the game and the series. He pinch hit in games four and five, singling in game four.

Although he was primarily a centerfielder in the minors, Taveras mostly played right field for the Cardinals.

The lefty played in two AllStar Futures Games and was elected a Minor League All-Star three times, winning the All-Star game MVP in 2012.

Bill DeWitt Jr., the Cardinals owner, expressed his sympathy.

“Oscar was an amazing talent with a bright future who was taken from us well before his time.”

“All of us throughout Major League Baseball are in mourning this evening, shocked by the heartbreaking news of the accident involving Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras,” MLB commissioner Bud Selig said. “Oscar, a young member of the baseball family, was full of promise and at the dawn of a wonderful career in our game, evident in his game-tying home run against the Giants exactly two weeks ago.”

Obviously, the death is a shock, and our thoughts are with both families involved. The entire baseball world was shaken at a time when the sport was supposed to showcase the best it had to offer. We are all less fortunate for not having Oscar Taveras longer.

SPORTS

Page 17

Varsity Scores & Stats Football Fordham 14 21 10 3 48 Lehigh 0 14 7 6 27 (FOR) C. Edmonds 5 TDs (LU) R. Sodeke 93 yds, TD Men’s Soccer Massachusetts 2 Fordham 0 GOALS: Morris (MASS) 7’, Mooney (MASS) 20’ Women’s Soccer St. Joseph’s 0 Fordham 1 GOALS: Canicatti (FOR) 91’ George Mason 1 Fordham 0 GOALS: Hodges (GMU) 92’

Men’s Swimming Marist Fordham Fordham Fairfield Connecticut Fordham

126 111 171 118 182.5 106.5

Women’s Swimming 93 Marist Fordham 145 Fordham Fairfield

180 115

Connecticut Fordham

165 135

Water Polo Fordham Princeton

Wash. & Jeff.

Fordham

11 12

Volleyball Fordham 3 Davidson 1 (FOR) M. Oshinski 20 digs (DU) K. Friers 10 kills Fordham VCU (FOR) B. Delsing 9 kills (VCU) J. Young 9 kills

0 3

Men’s Tennis Fordham Wagner

1 6

Women’s Tennis Seton Hall Fordham

2 5

3 11

Athletes of the Week Steve Sholdra

Megan Polaha

Junior

Sophomore

Swimming

Swimming

Sholdra was named Atlantic 10 Men’s Performer of the Week. He won six events over three meets, two each in the 1,000-yd freestyle and the 200yd butterfly.

Polaha was named Atlantic 10 Women’s Performer of the Week. She had eight victories last week in three meets, two each in the 200-yd individual medley and 200-yd butterfly.

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

News & Notes • Running back Chase Edmonds was named Corvias Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week and Rookie of the Week, the College Football Performance Awards National Running Back of the Week, the College Sports Madness Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week and ECAC Rookie of the Week. Edmonds had 32 carries for 197 yards and tied a Patriot League and Fordham single-game record with five rushing touchdowns in the Rams’ victory over Lehigh on Saturday.

• Kicker Michael Marando was recognized by the Fred Mitchell Award for his accomplishments on and off the field for the month of October. He is one of 29 collegiate placekickers to be recognized by the organization. Current Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ kicker Patrick Murray is the only other Ram kicker to receive the award.

• Rowing won all four races at the 2014 Fall Metropolitan Championships this weekend. The varsity 8 won in a time of 7:11.3 on the 2,000 meter course, the varsity 4 won in 7:29.1, the novice 8 in 7:14.8 and the novice 4 in 8:24.8.

Follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/theram_sports COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA

Taveras hit a game-tying home run in the NLDS just 23 days ago.

SPORTS

Page 18

October 29, 2014

Senior Profile | Noah LeBeau

Leighton Schneider

Anthony Pucik

A Major Red Flag

In Their Heads

for the Devils If you are a fan of the New Jersey Devils, you should be happy with a record of 4-2-2, good enough for second place in the Metropolitan Division and to be tied for fifth in the Eastern Conference. There is, however, one major problem that the Devils will need to fi x if they want to have any chance to make the playoffs and possibly have a deep run.

The Devils’ penalty kill is the worst in the NHL. They have a penalty kill percentage of just 68.6.

To put this number into perspective, last year the Devils were the top penalty killing team in the league with an 86.4 percent rate with just 36 power play goals allowed in 82 games. This season, however, they have already let up 11 goals on the penalty kill in eight games. If they don’t get better on the penalty kill, they will severly hamper their chances going forward.

There are still many games left in the season, but the Devils’ situation should start to worry fans.

The Devils are known as a team that prides itself on its defense and smart play. They have already taken 37 minors this season, which comes out to 4.62 per game. The Devils are averaging just over 11 minutes per game short-handed. A terrible penalty kill unit combined with that amount of penalties taken is a dangerous formula. They need to reduce the amount of penalties they take during a game if they want to succeed this year.

One reason for the Devils’ struggles could be that they have four defensemen under the age of 24. If you take out Adam Larrson, who has competed in one game this season, the three young defensemen have only played a combined 136 NHL games in their careers. This inexperience has not helped the Devils, as there have been many turnovers that have led to power play goals for the opponents.

One specific player that must do better, however, is goalie Cory Schneider.

So far this season, he has let up 10 goals on 46 shots while on the penalty kill. His save percentage is a measly .783. For goalies that have started at least four games, his percentage is the fourth worst in the NHL. The Devils have an excellent opportunity to prove to the rest of the NHL that their early season penalty kill struggles are just an early season problem. They will soon face the Pittsburgh Penguins, who lead the NHL in power play percentage at 40.0 percent with 10 power play goals in just seven games.

I know it’s early, but New Jersey needs to tighten up its penalty kill unit, and they need to do it sooner rather than later.

SAMUEL JOSEPH/THE RAM

LeBeau has the school record for saves in a game with 21 saves against Mercyhurst during his sophomore year.

By ANTHONY ALI STAFF WRITER

A native of Long Beach, California, Noah LeBeau is the goalkeeper and one of the leaders on the Fordham water polo team.

Coming off of a season in which he was named a CWPA Second Team All-Northern Division selection, LeBeau has already garnered two Defensive Player of the Week Awards this season and is looking to build on this success.

The Fordham Ram: You’re originally from California. What made you want to come to Fordham?

Noah LeBeau: I had the decision to either go to a junior college, keep playing there and get better at playing water polo, or to come to New York and do something different: play for a Division I team right out of high school instead of waiting. I came out on a recruiting trip and I loved the team. I like my coach. I just wanted something different. Not a lot of California kids ever leave.

TFR: How did you start playing water polo in the first place?

NL: I had a buddy that was on swim team with me when I was 12. I’ve swam since I was about five or six. He told me about water polo and that I should start playing. I went to my first practice when I was 13 and I’ve played ever since.

TFR: Why did you start playing goalie of all positions? Did you choose it?

NL: It was my first tournament with my club. We didn’t have a set goalie for the team yet, so I was playing the field. One of the first things I remember is this guy coming at me when I had the ball and I freaked out. I just threw the ball with two hands as far as I could. It was clear I didn’t know what I was doing in the field. In

my second game, this kid came on a one-on-nobody counter-attack, so it was only him against me.

He shot the ball and I blocked it, but it fell right in front of him, so he shot it again and I blocked it again. Then he shot it again and I blocked it one more time made it three in a row and ever since then, I’ve never not been the goalie.

TFR: They say that in order to be a goalie, it helps to be a little crazy. Do you think that’s true?

NL: You’ve got to have the mental strength to be okay with getting scored on. I’ve known a lot of goalies that will take it personally every time they get scored on, whereas I have no problem blaming the defense. I’ve been hit in the face with the ball countless times. I’m lucky I don’t have my nose shattered. I don’t think I’m crazy, but ask my roommate!

TFR: How has the team evolved since your first season?

NL: We had a bad record that season. We were disorganized and we bickered. There wasn’t a lot of leadership. Some of the older guys from my freshman season were plagued with a bad attitude, but some of the juniors had a better attitude and that attitude has moved forward through to my senior year. The mindset of the team is way more positive than it was my freshman year. We also had the addition of coach Bacharach, who made a huge difference in the organization of the team.

He has an offensive, defensive and counterattacking scheme that we run an all around game plan instead of us just going for it.

TFR: Being one of the seniors on the team, do you feel any added pressure to be more of a leader?

NL: Since freshman year, I’ve had to take some of that leadership role just with being a goalie, being communicative on defense and with setting a tone going into

offense. Now, in my senior year, I don’t feel more pressure from the team. If anything, I feel less. I know that they respect me. They know that I want to win and that I’ll do anything to help them. I feel more pressure from myself because this is my last year playing competitive water polo. I want to do the best I possibly can in my last season.

TFR: What’s your favorite memory in your career as a Ram? NL: There was one weekend my freshman year where we played MIT and Harvard at home and we won both games. We played MIT in the morning, and I was in goal. But for the Harvard game, in the first quarter, my knee started killing me. It was the worst it had ever been and I couldn’t play. The senior goalie, who’s spot I had taken that year, came in.

He and I had a great relationship.

There was a little bit of love-hate, but he played well that game and we ended up winning. It was the best overall day I think we’ve ever had. To come together as a team and make a difference probably made it the best day.

TFR: And lastly, what are your post-grad plans?

NL: Right now I have a plan to bike across the country with one of my best friends from high school. He’ll fly out here and we’ll bike across together. After that, my roommate and I have been talking about what we might do.

Our consensus is to travel abroad as soon as possible. He and I went to Argentina this past semester to study abroad. We want to take the opportunity to go work abroad as soon as possible and keep evolving as international human beings. Whether or not we’ll travel together or separate and come back together in the future is all a mystery, and I look forward to seeing it unfold.

On Friday Oct. 24, the New Jersey Devils lost to the Dallas Stars in a shootout at home. It was the Devils’ 18th straight shootout loss.

The Devils were 0-13 last season in the shootout and haven’t won since March 10, 2013 versus the Winnipeg Jets. This is starting to worry New Jersey and their fans.

This is no longer a matter of a few players struggling. Last season, the Devils’ shooters were 4-45 in the shootout, which was the worst percentage (8.9 percent) in the league. New Jersey in general had a rough time scoring last year, so it was understandable that they did not have the greatest record in shootouts, but to not win even one out of 13 is a problem.

Early on this year, the Devils have found the back of the net more often, which in theory should give them a better chance of winning in the shootout because their scoring improved.

However, newly acquired forward Mike Cammalleri, who has been great for New Jersey thus far this season, was also unable to score in the shootout against Dallas.

The blame can’t be placed on New Jersey’s goaltenders either.

Former goalie Martin Brodeur and current net minder Cory Schneider are two solid goaltenders who did fairly well in shootouts, but eventually got bested by opposing players’ great moves because the Devils were simply unable to put the puck in the net.

The talent is there, but the Devils aren’t winning. So if the shooters aren’t the problem and the goalies aren’t the problem, what is?

It isn’t a lack of talent. It’s a lack of confidence. Whether the Devils want to admit it or not, their 18 straight losses in the shootout are in the back of their mind whenever overtime ends.

Take their latest loss to the Stars, for example. When Jaromir Jagr and Cammalleri took their shots for New Jersey, they looked as if they needed to take the perfect shot otherwise they wouldn’t score, as opposed to trying to make Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen get out of position and give themselves an open net to shoot on.

They rushed and as a result, they both missed their chance to score.

On the other side, Cory Schneider was beat by two nice moves, but probably could’ve stopped Jamie Benn’s if he wasn’t so quick to make a move in order to “save” the Devils from dropping to 0-18 in the shootout.

Apparently, the Devils preseason shootout victory wasn’t enough. They need a regular season shootout win within their next two or three opportunities, because if they drop points like they did last season it could cost them a playoff spot again.

SPORTS

October 29, 2014

Page 19

Volleyball Picks Up Win in Dig Pink Match

By ANTHONY PUCIK ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

After two losses on the road to A-10 opponents, volleyball head coach Gini Ullery cited miscues as one of the main reasons for Fordham’s struggles.

“We had moments of execution and moments of too many unforced errors that do not allow us a chance to be successful,” she said.

“If we can limit our unforced errors we allow ourselves the opportunity to be in matches and execute to win.”

With two home matches against new A-10 foe Davidson and “Ram” rival VCU, Ullery said the team’s focus heading into the week was “fight to win . . . we are staying focused on our unforced errors, hoping it will correlate to game day.”

The 1-20 (1-6) Rams’ first fight of the week was Friday, Oct. 24, against the 3-14 (1-6) Davidson College Wildcats. Davidson took the lead in the first set 3-1, but Fordham scored nine of the next 11 points to make it 10-5 Rams.

The Wildcats brought themselves back to within four, but Fordham strung together two four point streaks and one three point streak on its way to their first set victory in four games, 25-13. In the second set, Fordham and Davidson were deadlocked at 17, but the Rams would finish on an 8-4 run to take the set 25-21 and go up two sets to none.

Davidson avoided the sweep in the third set, scoring the first five points in the set and taking it 2517. The fourth set was much different, with the score 12-11 Fordham midway through. The Rams then

made it 15-11, but the Wildcats’ 7-2 run gave them an 18-16 advantage. Fordham and Davidson exchanged two and three point streaks back and forth until the set was tied at 26. The Rams scored the next two points and went on to win the set 28-26 and the match 3-1, giving them their second win of the season and in conference. Junior Brianna O’Neil led Fordham with 18 kills, junior Abigail Konovodoff had 38 assists and freshman Molly Oshinki led with 20 digs in her strongest match of the season.

Fordham’s next match was on Sunday, Oct. 27 against the 12-10 (5-3) VCU Rams. This match did not go as well for the hometown Rams. VCU led the first set 13-12, but started to pull away after that, taking the set 25-21. Fordham had a 7-5 lead in the second set, but VCU’s 12-7 run put them ahead 17-14. Fordham would only score one more point in the set, losing 25-15 and going down two sets to none.

VCU continued its run into the third set, going up 12-3. Fordham brought itself back to within four, but could not pull the set back to a tie. VCU took the third set in the same score as the second, 25-15 and completed its sweep.

Junior Brennan Delsing had nine kills for Fordham and Konovodoff added another 20 assists and eight digs.

The loss dropped Fordham to 2-21 on the season and 2-7 in conference play. The Rams will go back on the road this weekend, taking on A-10 rival La Salle on Halloween night at 7 p.m. and then Duquesne on Sunday, Nov. 2, at 1 p.m.

By MATT ROSENFELD SPORTS EDITOR

“I wish you would step back from that ledge, my friend.”

These are the Third Eye Blind lyrics that come to mind when I talk to the Jets fans in my life. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no Jets lover.

They’re one of my least favorite teams in the NFL, but when it comes to the Jets and their fans, I just want them all to know it’s not that bad.

First things first, Rex Ryan needs to go. In order to get better as a franchise, the Jets need to cut ties with the man that runs the show.

No longer can Jets fans point back to 2009 and 2010 seasons when they made it to the AFC Championship game. Looking back to the past is preventing them from moving forward.

The bright side is that with one good hire, the Jets can get exponentially better. There are countless examples showing how coaching is important in the NFL. Exhibit A: the San Francisco 49ers.

In the three years before Jim Harbaugh was hired from Stanford to coach the 49ers, the storied franchise that had an unimpressive record of 21-27. Since Harbaugh took over, the Niners are 40-14 and have been one of the most consistent teams in the league. Coaching can go a long way.

If there’s one way to turn a franchise around almost overnight, it’s through coaching. All it takes is one good hire, Jets.

The other obvious problem is the quarterback position. It turned very ugly this past Sunday when Geno Smith threw an interception on three consecutive drives. Naturally, that prompted head coach Rex Ryan to pull Smith in favor of backup Michael Vick. No shocker to this football fan, but things did not get much better for the Jets with Vick at the helm. The former Falcon went 18-for-36 for a measly 151 yards, including no touchdowns and an interception on the way to a 43-23 loss for the Jets.

Unfortunately, there are no immediate answers at the quarterback position. Jets fans will have

to toil away with either Smith or Vick for the rest of the year. After 2014, however, it’s time to draft a new QB. I’m not going to suggest anybody, because it’s impossible to know who the head coach will be and what kind of quarterback they might want. But, that’s not as important as the bottom line: the Geno Smith experiment is over.

The Jets cannot be too proud to admit they made a bad choice with Smith in the 2013 NFL Draft.

I always believed the Jets should give Smith as much of a chance as possible, but with quarterbacks, the eye test is pretty reliable. It doesn’t take an expert to realize Smith just doesn’t have what it takes to win. If a new head coach wants to try Smith out, be my guest, but I just don’t see it.

The best news for the Jets is that they do have some serious talent on their roster. The Jets’ defense boasts perhaps the best front seven in the league. Muhammad Wilkerson has proven himself to be a blue-chip player. After a 10.5 sack season last year, the former first round draft pick continues to

be a force. He has 4.5 sacks halfway through 2014, and is a guy to watch as he only gets more experience in the league.

I could go on about Sheldon Richardson, Quinton Coples, Kendrick Ellis or Jason Babin. The Jets have great depth in a unit that as New Yorkers know, can lead a team to success (see the New York Giants’ defensive front in 2007).

There’s young talent in the secondary too. Even though he tore his Achilles this year, Dee Milliner should be a mainstay in the Jets defensive backfield along with their first round pick in 2014 Calvin Pryor for years to come.

What I’m trying to say is the Jets are not as far away from being a good team in the NFL as it may seem right now. They have bundles of talent, but their shortcomings happen to be in the two most important spots in the NFL: head coach and quarterback.

It won’t be easy to fix those two spots, but I’m confident that the New York Jets are only two acquisitions away from being a contender in the NFL.

COURTESY OF FLICKR

Geno Smith’s lack of success this season has contributed to the Jets’ 1-7 record.

Upcoming Varsity Schedule Home games in CAPS

Thursday Oct. 30

Friday Oct. 31

Saturday Nov. 1 COLGATE 1 p.m.

Football

at Dayton 2:30 p.m.

Men’s Soccer Women’s Soccer

SAMUEL JOSEPH/THE RAM

Fordham have two more home games before the end of its regular season.

at St. Bonaventure 6 p.m.

Cross Country

at A-10 Championship 10 a.m.

Water Polo

MIT/Conn.

College 11 a.m./3 p.m.

Volleyball Squash

Sunday Nov. 2

at La Salle 7 p.m.

HARVARD/ BROWN 11 a.m./4 p.m. at Duquesne 1 p.m.

at Hudson Valley Championship All Day

Monday Nov. 3

Tuesday Nov. 4

Wednesday Nov. 5

SPORTS

Page 20

October 29, 2014

The Fordham Ram

Edmonds’ Five-Touchdown Day Leads Rams Over Lehigh

By MAX PRINZ SPORTS EDITOR

For many freshmen, college is a major adjustment. There are many new experiences that can make life difficult.

Freshman running back Chase Edmonds, however, appears undaunted.

Edmonds and the rest of the Fordham Rams ran past Lehigh on Saturday, defeating the Mountain Hawks 48-27 for their sixth straight victory.

“I’ve said this a lot of times but it bears repeating: from the second he stepped on campus for our summer workouts he had a great singleness of purpose,” head coach Joe Moorhead said after the game.

“It’s not about him just going out there and running behind good blocks. The preparation aspect and the intangibles — when you combine those two things I think you’re going to see a player who has accomplished what he has.”

The undaunted freshman Edmonds continued his historic season, rushing for 205 yards on 32 carries and a career-high five touchdowns. His five scores on the ground tied a Patriot League single-game record.

“Everything he’s accomplished, he’s earned,” Moorhead said. “His ability as a football player is either matched or exceeded by his intangible skill.”

The Fordham offense got off to a much quicker start than in previous contests, using an opening 12-play, 65-yard drive to open the scoring and take a 7-0 lead in the first five minutes. The Rams controlled possession for 11:48 in the opening 15 minutes, taking a 14-0 lead into the second quarter via Edmonds’ first two rushing

SAMUEL JOSEPH/ THE RAM

Edmonds’ career-high five rushing touchdowns tied both the Fordham and Patriot League ‘s single-game record.

touchdowns. They also outgained Lehigh 205-19 in the opening quarter.

After Edmonds’ third touchdown run, Lehigh responded with a 10-play, 70-yard drive capped off by a 24-yard touchdown run that cut the deficit to 21-7. The Rams answered just five plays later when senior tight end Dan Light caught a pass in the right flat and rumbled 51 yards for his fifth touchdown reception of the season.

The two teams traded touchdowns in the final two minutes of the half and Fordham went into the break with a 35-14 advantage.

Edmonds’ legs allowed the Rams to control the game and demor-

alized the Lehigh defense, which struggled on third downs.

The second half featured Edmonds’ fifth score, two field goals from senior Michael Marando and a pair of Lehigh scores, giving the Rams a 48-27 win. It was the program’s first road win against the Mountain Hawks in 14 tries.

Edmonds, who was named both Patriot League Player and Rookie of the Week, was quick to share credit with his teammates after the win.

“That just goes back to the credit to my offensive line,” Edmonds said. “They do a great job every week just opening lanes and making it so much easier to run the

football.”

Senior quarterback Mike Nebrich put up strong stats of his own, completing 19 of 26 passes for 283 yards and a touchdown.

Nebrich’s efficiency combined with Edmonds’ stellar day spelled doom for the Lehigh defense. “[Last week] Nebrich threw for 566 yards, and then this week we come back and have over 300 team rushing yards,” Edmonds said. “It shows how much our offense is balanced.”

Moorhead similarly pointed out the offense’s ability to do many things well.

“One of the main things of our offense is our ability to do both

things successfully, run the ball and pass the ball,” Moorhead said.

“We have playmakers at all the skill positions to be able to take advantage of some of the things that we see.”

The Rams were particularly successful on offense in the first half, scoring touchdowns on all five of their possessions and racking up 379 yards of total offense.

“We knew coming in that controlling the run game was going to be very important,” Lehigh head coach Andy Coen said after the game. “Obviously we weren’t able to do that.”

Moorhead has emphasized the role of a good week’s practice all season, and coming off a bye week, the Rams looked even more prepared than usual.

“I think the kids had a tremendous two weeks of preparation and we utilized our bye week well,” Moorhead said. “They earned the right to come out here and try to execute the scheme across the board and for the most part I think we did that.”

The lone blemish of the day was the high number of penalties called on the Rams. The offensive line was flagged several times for false starts and holding penalties and the defense was whistled for several personal fouls that extended Lehigh drives.

“It’s the post-play penalties that are something we need to rectify,” Moorhead said. “I tell the guys you can show your emotions without being emotional.”

The win gives Fordham its sixth consecutive victory, improving the Rams to 7-1 on the season and 3-0 in the Patriot League.

Next week, the Rams take on Colgate at home on Jack Coffey Field. Kickoff is slated for 1 p.m.

Women’s Soccer Falls Short of Atlantic 10 Tournament

By DREW CASEY STAFF WRITER

The women’s soccer team entered this past weekend needing to win all three of its final matches to qualify for the A-10 tournament. The Rams started the weekend off strong, but ultimately came up just short.

On Friday night, which was also Cancer Awareness Night at Jack Coffey Field, the Rams battled the Saint Joseph’s Hawks. The first half featured a lot of open play and scoring opportunities, but neither team was able to net a goal. The second half was more of the same in the goal department, but the Rams had the better offensive chances. The match was scoreless after 90 minutes of regulation and headed to overtime.

Fordham did not waste any time in the first extra period. Just 17 seconds into the first overtime, Maria Lorena Canicatti went bar down to give Fordham the 1-0 victory. The Whitestone, New York native’s shot from 35 yards out hit the cross bar and ricocheted into the net for the goal.

“They stuck to the game plan,” coach Jessica Clinton said. “They

KELLYN SIMPKIN/ THE RAM

The Rams held a ceremony to honor this year’s seniors before a 1-0 loss to George Mason on Sunday.

played what we had asked them to, and Saint Joe’s is a good team. Right now they’re top five within the conference, so for us to get that in whatever amount of time, we’ll take it.”

Less than 48 hours later, the team closed out its home regular season schedule. Heading into the match,

coach Clinton stressed carrying over the high energy and belief from Friday night’s win.

Prior to kickoff, seniors Kelsey Dougherty Howard, Maria Swift, Jessica Melendez, Canicatti, Ally White, Jessica Widmann, Kristina Maksuti and Kate McDonnell were

honored as part of a Senior Day ceremony.

Following the ceremony, the team took on the George Mason Patriots.

Neither team scored in the first 90 minutes of a fairly tight game and overtime was necessary.

In overtime, Fordham found it-

self on the wrong end of a quick golden goal. Just 89 seconds into the extra session, Liz Hodges netted her fourth goal of the season to give George Mason the 1-0 win. White got two hands on the shot from the right side of the box, but the ball trickled through and narrowly crossed the goal line.

With the loss, the Rams can no longer advance to the A-10 tournament. However, they can still attempt to bring their high level of play at home this season to their final road game. The team is 5-3-1 at home this year, but just 2-6-0 on the road.

Throughout the season, the team has been working on improving its play away from Jack Coffey Field.

“It’s always good to be back at home and playing on our surface,” coach Clinton said following Friday’s win. “Playing at home, having our fans, having a good crowd: it’s always good to be back.”

The team wraps up its season on Friday night in Olean, New York against St. Bonaventure. The Bonnies are currently 2-4-0 in the A-10, and the Rams will attempt to spoil their final push to make the conference tournament.