Volume 97 issue 11

The Fordham Ram Serving The Fordham dh University Community Since 1918 Volume 97, Issue 11

FordhamRam.com

April 29, 2015

Spring Weekend a Smash Hit On Campus

Goals Met, Missed in New Class Data

By AMINA BHATTI & LAURA SANICOLA STAFF WRITER & NEWS EDITOR

By KYLE MORTON CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Fordham’s annual Spring Weekend has come and gone, leaving students with memories of Humans of New York, a Colourist, a pair of pilots and a Girl Code star.

Fordham’s Campus Activities Board (CAB) put together a lineup consisting of a lecture from Brandon Stanton, the creator of Humans of New York, on Thursday night, a performance from DJing act Solidisco in the A-Lot on Friday night, a concert with Fordham’s own The Suits and The Colourists opening up for headlining act twenty one pilots on Saturday, and a comedic performance from “Girl Code” star Jamie Lee. On Thursday night, students lined up outside Lombardi Fieldhouse hoping to gain entrance to hear Stanton speak about his popular social media project SEE SPRING WEEKEND, PAGE 6

MATTHEW MOORE/ THE FORDHAM RAM

Josh Dun, drummer of twenty one pilots, is held up by students as he crowd surfs while performing on Satuday.

Party Shuttered Amid Admin Concern

By JOE VITALE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

With Spring Weekend approaching, a group of students living in a row of houses on Hoffman Street decided to host an end-of-the-year party.

After creating a Facebook event, the group of friends (some of whom were not students) invited a few hun-

dred people. The party, scheduled for the evening of Friday, April 24, would span four backyards. All guests would enter through one door.

Within a few days, the number of students who planned to attend on Facebook grew to 1,000, making it one of the largest off-campus parties of the year. It would certainly

be the biggest party of the weekend.

But on Friday, one of the administrators of the group and residents of the off-campus apartments, Faizi Samadani, GSB ’15, posted into the group that he had some “traumatizing news:” they had decided to cancel the party. Students were not able to comment or post in the group, but SEE PARTY, PAGE 5

In October 2003, newly-appointed Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the university, launched a strategic plan entitled Toward 2016, in which he outlined a variety of university initiatives put in place to achieve ultimate goals in 2016.

The plan’s mission is for Fordham “to regain national prominence and preeminence among Catholic institutions.”

McShane planned to have average SAT scores in the 1350-1400 range and students that perform in the top quartile of their high school class.

Furthermore, the plan intended for the acceptance rate to be driven down to 40 percent and for the university to have 25 percent of its population from the greater New York metropolitan area and 30 percent minority and international students.

It is now one year until the culmination of Toward 2016. The admissions statistics from this year’s entering class show significant progress in increasing undergraduate diversity and competitiveness from reportSEE STATS, PAGE 3

Provost Names Dean Replies First Female to Critical FCRH Dean News Article

By MICHAEL CHARBONEAU & LAURA SANICOLA

By KATIE MEYER MANAGING EDITOR

STAFF WRITER & NEWS EDITOR

containing a petition bearing the signatures of 722 members of the Fordham community.

The petition, delivered to McShane’s office on Thursday, April 23, bore a simple message: revoke the honorary degree granted to John Brennan, FCRH ’77 and current director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Maura B. Mast, Ph.D, of the University of Massachusetts Boston, is slated to be the new dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH), effective August 2015.

Dr. Mast will replace Dr. John P. Harrington, dean of Arts and Sciences faculty, who has been serving as interim dean of FCRH while the search for a permanent dean was conducted.

The announcement was made by Stephen Freedman, Ph.D., provost of Fordham University on Friday afternoon. At UMass Boston, Mast served as special assistant to the provost since 2013 and associate vice provost for undergraduate studies since 2009.

Mast is a noted mathematician and researcher with a focus of study in differential geometry.

She is currently on the executive board of the Association for Women in Mathematic and previously served as secretary. Formerly, she was cochair of the Joint Committee on Women in the Mathematical Sciences and chair and executive committee member of the Special Interest Group of the Mathematical Association of America on Quantitative Literacy.

Michael Latham, the last perma-

SEE FACULTY, PAGE 3

SEE DEANS, PAGE 2

CASEY CHUN/ THE FORDHAM RAM

Fordham Against Torture delivered their petition calling for the recovation of Brennan’s degree to Fr. McShane.

Anti-Torture Campus Group Delivers Petition to President

By ROB PALAZZOLO STAFF WRITER

The group slowly made its way through the light rainfall, proceeding around Eddie’s and past the fountain to the wide front doors of the office of Rev. Joseph M. McShane, president of the university, in Cunniffe House.

Some were linked arm-in-arm.

Some wore orange jumpsuits —

an homage to the grim photos of Guantanamo Bay detainees that have been seared into the national consciousness for years.

They arrived at the front door.

Four members of the group Fordham Against Torture looked around at the roughly thirty strong marchers for the go-ahead. Then, they walked in through the door and hand-delivered a manila envelope

Fordham administration has issued an official response to a student blog post titled “RAs Speak Out: ResLife has become a Dysfunctional Workplace.” The post appeared April 27 on The Fordham Daily, a nonuniversity-affiliated website run by Connor Ryan, FCRH ’15, a former editor-in-chief of The Fordham Ram. As of this writing, the piece has been shared 108 times on Twitter, and over 2,000 times on Facebook.

Monday night, Ryan wrote on Facebook that it had been viewed over SEE RODGERS, PAGE 7

in this issue

Opinion

Page 9

Urging Seniors to Rethink Donations

Culture

Page 15

Spring Weekend Concert and DJ

Sports

Page 19 Golf Finishes Up Strong at A10 Tournament

NEWS

Page 2

-

PUBLIC SAFETY BRIEFS

April 29, 2015

New Deans Announced

Journal From Abroad

FROM DEANS, PAGE 1

April 23 McGinley Center 1:30 p.m.

Public Safety responded to a report that the TD Bank ATM was dispensing $20 instead of $5. An unidentified student had read about the error on Facebook and contacted Public Safety. The machine was unplugged and the provider was notified. It is uncertain how long the machine was in use before it was disconnected.

April 25 189th and Arthur Avenue 3:40 a.m.

An altercation broke out outside of Mugz’s Bar between eight people. The incident started over crude comments being made to a young woman inside the bar. The NYPD and Public Safety arrived on the scene. One of the students involved in the argument filed a complaint for harassment with the NYPD. April 25 2489 Belmont Avenue 1:30 a.m.

Public Safety was notified about a party in the backyard of an offcampus residence. NYPD also responded to the report and broke up the party. There were no arrests and no one was injured.

April 26 553 East Fordham Road 3 a.m.

A Fordham student was arrested for scrawling graffiti on the wall of a building. He was charged with criminal mischief. The student was released with a desk appearance ticket and will have to appear in court at a later date.

April 26 The Blend Cafe 2:30 a.m.

A student placed her purse down and, when she returned, the purse was missing. She reported the theft to Public Safety. The purse contained cash, two debit cards, her Fordham ID, room keys and her phone charger. She was advised to cancel her credit cards, and had a new ID and keys issued.

Public Safety is investigating.

—Compiled by Cailin McKenna, Assistant News Editor

ALLISON RUSSO/ THE FORDHAM RAM

The legalization of marijuana and prostitution in the Netherlands have created many false stereotypes about residents.

In Amsterdam, An Altered Perspective

By ALLISON RUSSO CONTRIBUTING WRITER

“Oh…Amsterdam. That’s, um, interesting.” Comments like this, often accompanied with a knowing look, became expected anytime I mentioned the destination of my semester abroad. Even my parents were surprised I didn’t want to go somewhere more “mainstream,” assuming I’d want to live out my Lizzie McGuire dreams in Rome or go to English-speaking London.

Their understanding of Amsterdam was centered around one thing: marijuana.

Though becoming increasingly legalized in the states, it’s no secret that weed is a popular recreational drug among American college students. In many states, including New York, getting caught with marijuana is a criminal offense and can lead to jail time. Meanwhile in Amsterdam, anyone over 18 can go to a “coffee shop” and choose from an endless variety of weed products.

Marijuana in Amsterdam is a tourist industry, much like legalized prostitution.

The government does not restrict not these images and feels that, since people will do what they want regardless of legality, they might as well do it in the safest way possible. For this reason, controversial signs have been put up in several places throughout the city, warning

that drug dealers were selling white heroin as cocaine, resulting in the deaths of three tourists. There are places in Amsterdam where you can take the drugs you purchased, and they will test them to see what you actually bought. This possession of illegal drugs will not incriminate you, since there is a focus is on wellbeing rather than punishment.

Another source of Amsterdam’s infamy is the Red Light District, the center of legalized prostitution. In reality, this is a very small area of the city, frequented only after dark and primarily by tourists. Prostitution was legalized because it can be regulated. The working girls have buttons in their rooms, which call the police if they are in danger. Instead of working for a pimp, they are able to work for themselves in a safer environment.

Upon my arrival in Amsterdam, I was surprised to learn that most Dutch people don’t smoke weed.

Only around 20 percent of the Dutch population has ever used marijuana, and that percentage is doubled in the U.S. While it is readily available here in Amsterdam, it’s technically not legal. It is simply tolerated by the government because they are dealing with more pressing matters. For instance, keeping the city afloat. I wish the American government would worry more about lowering the interest rates on my student loans or making sure my

parents have dental insurance when they’re retired, instead of fixating on marijuana legislation.

In a broader scope, the Netherlands has bested the United States in a number of categories. For example, the homicide rate in the Netherlands is 80 percent lower than in America, perhaps due to the strict gun laws. I volunteered as an English teacher at a Dutch elementary school, and one of the first questions the kids asked me was if I owned a gun (the second was if I had ever met Bruno Mars).

The Netherlands also has fewer drug-related deaths and a lower prison population. The police are unarmed, the unemployment rate is lower and there is no national debt.

Clearly, this country is doing something right.

However, none of these factors influenced my decision to spend a semester here. I wanted to go to a city that was a less popular destination, a city where English is widely spoken and a city that would quickly feel like home. For me, Amsterdam ticked all these boxes.

A place where buying a stolen bike is more frowned upon than smoking marijuana, I have spent four months in the most beautiful city in the world. A place where the only kind of transportation you need is a bicycle, (I do not miss the D train at all) and eating chocolate for breakfast is encouraged.

This Week at Fordham Wednesday April 29

Wednesday April 29

Thursday April 30

Friday May 1

TOP Presents: MacBeth

The b-Sides Present: Summer of Love

The Hot Notes Spring Concert

Improv and Sketch Comedy Show

Keating Steps 6 p.m.

Collins Auditorium 7 p.m.

Collins Auditorium 5:30 p.m.

Blackbox Theater 8 p.m.

The Theatrical Outreach Program will be performing MacBeth on the Keating Steps. The roles of Macbeth and Lady MacBeth will be played by Michael Brown, FCRH ‘16, and Jane Skapek, FCRH ‘16. Admission is free to this outdoors event.

Fordham’s a capella group, the bsides will perform their last show of the semester in Collins Auditorium.

This show will feature “groovy” music and honor the group’s seniors.

Admission for the event is free.

Fordham’s jazz a capella group, the Hot Notes, will be holding its last concert of the semester. The title of the show is Harry Hotter and the Prisoner of Jazzkaban. The group will perform in Collins Auditorium. Admission for the event is free.

For more campus events, visit FordhamRam.com

FET groups, Free Pizza Sketch Comedy and Stranded in Pittsburgh, come together on stage for their last shows of the year. There will be a second show on Saturday at 8 p.m. Admission is free for both events.

nent dean of FCRH, announced his departure from Fordham in the fall of 2013 after serving in the position since 2009. The search for his replacement commenced early in the fall of 2014, when a committee formed to facilitate the search process. Dr. James Hennessy, dean of the Graduate School of Education, served as the committee chair. He has previously chaired two other search committees at Fordham.

The committee was comprised of Dr. Carla Romney, associate dean for STEM and Pre-Health Education, and eight FCRH faculty from a broad range of departments, including english, art history and psychology.

In consultation with the provost’s office and interim dean Harrington, the committee members worked through the fall semester of 2014 to draft a description of the vacant position and a list of criteria they were looking for in an ideal candidate. By Thanksgiving, they had completed the position description and began to post job advertisements in a variety of publications, including The Chronicle of Higher Education and The New York Times. In addition, the committee members tapped their own professional networks to spread the word.

In January of this year, the committee started to review applications.

Promising candidates were invited to an “airport interview,” which took place at a neutral location away from Fordham (often near an airport, so out-of-state candidates could fly in and return home easily).

The last stage in the committee’s review process occurred just before Easter Break, when they invited a select group of candidates to Fordham for on-campus interviews. After those interviews, the committee narrowed their applicant pool down from three to five candidates. The decision then moved to Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the university, and Dr. Freedman, who selected the new dean from the committee’s recommendations.

“We’re not making the decision,” said Hennessy. “We’re presenting a slate of people who we believe could all do the job.”

In its search, the committee first sought candidates with strong academic backgrounds and experience, especially since deans are considered for tenure upon their appointment.

“We wanted people who were demonstrated, proven,” Hennessy said. “People who understand the deanship and who were ready to take it on, and who have credible and solid academic experience that would get them tenured at the university.”

In addition, the candidates had to demonstrate a commitment to faith-based education and come into the interview process with real ideas on how to move FCRH forward as a school. These ideas ranged from finding ways to support more undergraduate research to working on how to increase diversity at FCRH. “Their voices were the determinative voices,” he said.

Hours later, the provost announced that Eva Badowska, Ph.D., would serve as the dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences effective July 1, 2015. Badowska served as acting dean of GSAS from June through December 2014 and as interim dean since January 2015. She is an associate professor of English and comparative literature.

NEWS

April 29, 2015

Page 3

Latest Class Stats Fall Short of Projected Goals FROM STATS, PAGE 1

ed figures in 2005, but indicate that several objectives appear to have been too ambitious.

In 2015, Fordham received over 42,000 freshman applications, making this the 24th consecutive year in which the university has received its most applications in history. Of the many students that applied, 47 percent were accepted compared to 50.4 percent in 2004. However, this falls seven percent short from the projected acceptance rate for the class of 2020.

The accepted students from the Class of 2019 will have an average high school GPA of 3.7, as the Class of 2018 had before them.

The middle 50 percent of the accepted Class of 2018 had combined Critical Reading and Math SAT scores of 1307, while this year’s middle 50 percent of accepted students have an average SAT score of 1315. If yearly SAT scores increase at this rate, the plan will still miss the mark of having SAT scores in the 13501400 range.

The male to female ratio of accepted students has also widened this year, with 61 percent female, and 39 percent male. Compare

that to last year’s accepted students, which included 43 percent male and 57 percent female students.

There is also more ethnic diversity among the accepted students for the Class of 2019 than there was for the Class of 2018, with about a 1 percentage point increase in the number of Asian students, 2 percent increase in Black/African American students and a 2 percent increase in students that identified with multiple races.

The geographical breakdown of the Class of 2019 is also diverse, with students coming from all over the US as well as abroad.

The majority of these students are from New York (28 percent), New Jersey (13 percent) and the New England states (13 percent), with the next biggest group representing the West Coast, including 1,800 students from California (10 percent of admitted students). International students, making up 9 percent of the admitted students group, represent nearly 100 countries outside the U.S. Compared to the Class of 2018, the geographical representation is much more more widely distributed. Last year, over a third

2005 Data

Class of 2019

Toward 2016 Goal

Average SAT Score

1209

1315

1350-1400

Acceptance Rate

50.4% *

47%

40%

Ethnic Representation

23% minority

46% minority and international

30% minority and international

High School Class Rank (in top quartile)

74%

88%

80%

*Data from 2004

of admitted students hailed from New York, while this year, more states and countries are being represented.

“We are excited to have recruited and selected a diverse and talented class,” Dr. Patricia Peek, director of Undergraduate Admissions at Fordham University, told The Fordham Ram in reference to the enrollment statistics for the Class of 2019. “Beyond the academic achievements… our admitted students are leaders, volunteers, artists and more.

They will bring various experi-

ences, perspectives, aspirations and dreams that will continue to enliven our campus communities.”

The information about the Class of 2019 has not been released on Fordham’s website as of yet, but Peek asserted that it is always available on request.

The National Response date for colleges and universities to report their data is May 1. “At Fordham, we begin to publish the new class data after May 1 when we have the most updated information on the enrolled class,”

Peek said. “Interim data has been shared with our admitted students at events throughout the spring and the official prior year data is available on our website until the new data is finalized.”

At present, Fordham has received over 1,000 deposits of accepted students, which is a significantly higher that for the Class of 2018.

According to Dr. Peek, Fordham’s goal is to have an incoming class of around 2,100 students.

Fordham Against Torture Presents Petition to McShane FROM FACULTY, PAGE 1

Of the conferral of an honorary degree to Brennan, the petition said: “In light of the recently released Senate Intelligence Committee Report on CIA Torture, it is now indefensible. Mr. Brennan is complicit with the war crimes and human rights abuses documented by the Senate.”

Brennan was the commencement speaker in 2012, and received an honorary doctorate in humane letters. However, the choice was immediately controversial because Brennan worked at the top level of the CIA during the implementation of its so-

called “Enhanced Interrogation Techniques.” The techniques were condemned by a Senate Intelligence Committee report from 2014 and are widely considered to constitute torture.

Brennan has publicly defended the CIA torture program many times in his current role as CIA director, which he has held since 2013.

Theology professor Dr. Jeannine Hill Fletcher, one of the leaders of Fordham Against Torture present at the petition delivery, said that Brennan’s public defense of torture runs counter to Fordham values.

“An honorary degree confers our highest honor on people who we think are doing the work that Fordham nurtures. And there’s the sense, among many of us, that Fordham has nurtured somebody who is condoning torture both when our Catholic tradition and the wider international community have said flat-out that torture is…unacceptable,” said Fletcher.

Phil Feibusch, FCRH ’17, was one of the orange-clad protestors in the group. He said that he was not aware of the John Brennan controversy initially, but once he learned of it, the choice seemed obvious.

CASEY CHUN/ THE FORDHAM RAM

Fordham Against Torture presented Fr. McShane with a petition to revoke CIA director John Brennan’s honorary degree.

“I personally am anti-torture. I think most people are anti-torture,” said Feibusch, “It’s really embarrassing to go to a university that’s publicly honoring someone who’s publicly pro-torture. Especially as a Jesuit university.”

Jim Robinson, a first year theology graduate student who was also among the group that delivered the petition, agreed, saying that Brennan’s support of the CIA program should be considered unacceptable to a Jesuit university.

“An honorary degree is emblematic of a blessing of ideas.

And I think that — our approach is that we would not want to bless these ideas,” argued Robinson.

However, Robinson was quick to point out that the larger goal of Fordham Against Torture is to make students think more broadly about what their university — and country — is doing in their name.

“This is not an anti-John Brennan movement. This whole issue is about human dignity. We’re not in any way trying to call into question his dignity as a human being,” said Robinson.

“This is a movement about ideas,” he added.

Likewise, the leadership of Fordham Against Torture has said that it is looking for a dialogue about the ethics of torture, and for greater discernment of whether recipients of honorary degrees are in accord with Catholic values. Theology professor Dr. Brad Hinze said that the feedback they have received has indicated that the Fordham community wants to have these discussions.

“I’ve been receiving emails from faculty members saying how gratified they were that somebody raised the issue, and that

there was this discussion going on,” said Hinze.

There have been concerns over Fordham Against Torture’s ability to rally students around their cause, as The Fordham Ram reported in March. At that point, the petition only had roughly 100 more signatures than one seeking to include commuters into Integrated Learning Communities (an effort that only took the Commuting Students Association one weekend). Hinze acknowledged that that had been a concern, a fact he attributed to today’s college culture, which is very different from the glory days of campus protest — the 1960s and ’70s.

“You’d have to say about Fordham students that they’re really quite alert to social justice issues, globally, nationally and locally. At the same time, there has just not been a practice and a culture of developing mobilization around social, political issues,” said Hinze.

However, Hinze said he was pleased to see the dialogue springing forth from Fordham Against Torture’s efforts, and that he hopes it will continue through next year.

It remains to be seen whether the petition is successful and John Brennan’s honorary degree is revoked. The president’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Fletcher said she believes their efforts will be worthwhile.

“I would hope that Fordham would find the moral courage to revoke the degree,” Fletcher said.

“I think it would make a statement about what our mission actually is. And through the movement of the past few months, I’ve been given more hope than despair that this could actually be possible.”

NEWS

Page 4

April 29, 2015

CASEY CHUN/ THE FORDHAM RAM

Each year, Respect for Life holds a memorial for the ‘innocents “ lost to abortion. This year, SAGES protested the demonstration in concern for how it may affect women who have had abortions.

As Planned, SAGES Protests Cemetery of the Innocents

By ERIN SHANAHAN ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

SAGES Coalition stood in opposition next to Fordham University Respect for Life’s demonstration, “Cemetery of the Innocents,” Tuesday, April 28.

The demonstration, set up on McGinley Lawn, consisted of 2900 small white flags representing the amount of abortions that occur in the United States each day. Fordham University Respect for Life members stood in front of their demonstration and discussed abortion with passing students.

“We’re here because we think that the number and magnitude of abortions in the United States every day is so high that we feel we need to be public,” commented John Casey, FCRH ’15, Fordham University Respect for Life president.

While the Fordham University

Respect for Life event occurred, SAGES Coalition gathered in front of McGinley with a banner stating “Birth Control Prevents Abortion. Respect Student Life.”

In addition, they handed out flyers promoting the use of contraceptives to prevent abortions as well as their new “Just a Friend Network” and engaged in conversations with students regarding the demonstration nearby.

“A lot of people thanked us because there are many on campus who feel traumatized and triggered and personally attacked through this demonstration,” commented SAGES organizer Monica Cruz, FCRH ’16.

Although SAGES found the demonstration disturbing to those who have been involved with abortions, Fordham University Respect for Life asserts that the purpose of the demonstration is not to offend.

“It is not our intention to

shame women in any way.” Casey said, “We think that this display is the best compromise between not shaming women and being public about our conviction.”

In addition, SAGES discussed contraceptives as a means to prevent abortion. The group expressed indignation with the University’s priorities.

“Fordham has obviously shown that preventing abortion is something they are willing to create space for and allow students to organize against,” Cruz acknowledged.

“If Fordham is so concerned about stopping abortion, then they should provide their students with birth control,” she said.

In regard to the topic of contraceptives, Fordham Respect for Life remains neutral.

“Our club doesn’t take a stance on contraceptives,” Casey said.

“While our members have differ-

ent views and opinions on contraceptives — some even agreeing with SAGES, that contraceptive is a way of preventing abortions — as a club, we feel that the best way to balance our members’ opinions and focus on issues in front of us is to not have an opinion [on contraceptives].”

Despite the conflict of interests present in the shared space, both parties reported little to no disrespect occurring in front of McGinley this past Tuesday.

“To be honest, when we saw so many people, we were intimidated at first,” Casey confessed, “But they’ve been respectful and that’s all that we really wanted them to be.”

Besides one incident, SAGES largely reported the same positive response.

“We’ve definitely had some people express that they didn’t agree with us,” Cruz reported, “We had someone do the sign of

the cross to someone handing out flyers with us. However, besides that, everything here has been calm and respectful.”

On the other hand, SAGES plans to launch a rebrand of the coalition called Fordham Students United (FSU) in the fall semester.

This organization will act as a student movement organization promoting broader-based issues such as free speech and engagement against sexism and racism “These issues are not gone.

We’re not gone,” SAGES founding member, Rachel Field, FCRH ’15, told The Fordham Ram earlier this semester.

“This is not something that happens in one semester because it is exciting and then disappears,” Field said.

“This is work that take a long time to develop and cultivate and it will be continuing regardless.”

Campus Briefs & Bites Biologist Receives Funds for Rat Research

Scholars Weigh in on Global Sustainability

Jason Munshi-South, an associate professor of biology, recently received a grant to study the evolution and migration of rats in New York City. His laboratory at the Louis Calder Center was award $600,000 by the National Science Foundation on Monday, April 20.

Munshi-South and his research project, titled “Cityscape Genomics of Rats, were featured in New York Times Magazine this past weekend.

The new research, funded by the National Science Foundation, will build on MunshiSouth’s research and continue to collect rat DNA from around Manhattan. The focus will shift to the differences between genomes, which will allow for the contraction of a map of how rats move around the city. The research will expand beyond New York City and analyze more than 300 rats from 25 cities. Additionally, the American Museum of Natural History has allowed Munshi-South’s team to extract DNA from 100-year-old rat skulls to contribute to the research.

Christiana Peppard, assistant professor of theology, science and ethics addresses the growing issue of sustainability and the planet in her latest book. Peppard co-edited the book “Just Sustainability: Technology, Ecology and Resource Extraction” with Andrea Vinici, a Boston College professor. The book is composed of 30 scholarly essays from 20 countries around the world. Peppard recently published another book on a similar topic titled “Just Water: Theology, Ethics, and the Global Water Crisis.” The volume is the third installment in a series produced by the Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church. The book is divided into three components including short narratives on issues such as overfishing in Micronesia and extractive mining in the Congo.

The second component is an analysis of political-economic structures and technological advancements. Finally, Peppard’s latest book concludes with a link between the scholarly essays and Catholicism.

Business Class Provides Hands-On Experience

USG Special Election Results Announced

This semester, Gabelli Students enjoyed a new class, Organizational Communication and Theater. This hands-on class for business students examines several different works of theater to facilitate discussion regarding topics related to the business world. These theatrical works included plays such as Shakespearean dramas to the “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” revival starring Daniel Radcliffe.

As a final assignment for the class, students were asked to write and perform original plays. These plays they performed this past Thursday, April 23, at Shetler Studios. The collection of performances, collectively called “Zero Sum Game,” depicted the dark side of leadership. “These are theatrical case studies,” Professor Travis Russ, said. “Which are more alive and much more vivid for the students than just reading case studies about a business situation.”

Despite the recent USG elections, many candidates ran unopposed and many spots on the board were not filled. As a result, the student political body was forced to run special elections at their weekly meeting this past Thursday. The special elections had a very good turnout, especially for the FCRH class of 2017 seats. Lexi Utech and Christopher Lynas filled the two open FCRH 2016 senators seats while Libby Wetzler and Abby Heinemeyer beat out 6 other applicants for the two FCRH 2017 senator spots. Finally, Elisha Simon is the new GSB 2017 senator. The student government body now has almost every seat filled for the coming turn. They must wait for the incoming freshman to elect the senators of the class of 2019 to reach a full board.

- Compiled by Cailin McKenna and Erin Shanahan, Assistant News Editors

Page 6

NEWS

April 9, 2014

The Fordham Ram Serving The Fordham University Community Since 1918 Volume 97, Issue 1

FordhamRam.com F dh R

JJanuary 21 21, 2015

USG Releases Mid-Year Report Details Progress on Sexual Misconduct, Sustainability, more

By MAX PRINZ ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

COURTESY OF THE CENTER FOR ETHICS EDUCATION

Past Spring Weekend performances have included artists such as Cartel, Cold War Kids, Jay Sean and White Panda.

Students Opinion Divided Rift Between Mayor and NYPD

By JOSEPH VITALE EDITOR IN CHIEF

When Daniel Krug, GSB ‘14, graduates this May, he, like many of his classmates, will not be attending graduate school. Krug, who majored in business administration with a minor in economics, is hoping to join a company that, in his words, “promotes economic welfare by providing loans to small businesses.” Several things factored into his decision not to seek further education, but Krug says that his primary reason for the choice was that it just made more sense for his career.

“My reasons for choosing a degree in business were centered on alleviating poverty through economic development post graduation,” Krug explained. “Once I leave Fordham, I hope to immediately use my degree to achieve this goal.”

Krug’s decision is not uncommon among today’s college students. According to a 2012 New York Times article, graduate enrollment surged in 2008 and 2009 as students sought to better their emSEE NYPD, PAGE 3

in this issue

Opinion, page 7 Should Profanity be Permitted in Journalism?

Culture, page 11 Spring Weekend Takes Fordham by Storm

Sports, page 16 Spring Weekend Takes Fordham by Storm

When Daniel Krug, GSB ‘14, graduates this May, he, like many of his classmates, will not be attending graduate school. Krug, who majored in business administration with a minor in economics, is hoping to join a company that, in his words, “promotes economic welfare by providing loans to small businesses.” Several things factored into his decision not to seek further education, but Krug says that his primary reason for the choice was that it just made more sense for his career.

“My reasons for choosing a degree in business were centered on alleviating poverty through economic development post graduation,” Krug explained. “Once I leave Fordham, I hope to immediately use my degree to achieve this goal.”

Krug’s decision is not uncommon among today’s college students. According to a 2012 New York Times article, graduate enrollment surged in 2008 and 2009 as students sought to better their employment opportunities in the face of recession and a poor job market, but after those years it began to drop off. From fall 2010 to 2011, the number of students enrolling in masters and doctoral graduate programs declined by 1.7 percent, a significant figure. The article cites “increasing debt burden” as one of the reasons that many have begun to view entering the workforce as a more rational option than graduate school.

Katie O’Brien, FCRH ‘14, is one of those students whose reasons for opting out of graduate school SEE GRAD, PAGE 3

Art of the Bucket List, According to Fr. Phil Ram Appoints New Editors, Expands Staff

By THE FORDHAM RAM When Daniel Krug, GSB ‘14, graduates this May, he, like many of his classmates, will not be attending graduate school. Krug, who majored in business administration with a minor in economics, is hoping to join a company that, in his words, “promotes economic welfare by providing loans to small businesses.” Several things factored into his decision not to seek further education, but Krug says that his primary reason for the choice was that it just made more sense for his career.

“My reasons for choosing a degree in business were centered on alleviating poverty through economic development post graduation,” Krug explained. “Once I leave Fordham, I hope to immediately use my degree to achieve this goal.”

Krug’s decision is not uncommon among today’s college students. According to a 2012 New

By THE FORDHAM RAM

CASEY CHUN/THE FORDHAM RAM

Fr. Phil Florio, S.J. gave a talk on his Fordham bucket list on Tuesday evening.

York Times article, graduate enrollment surged in 2008 and 2009 as students sought to better their employment opportunities in the face of recession and a poor job market, but after those years it began to drop off. From fall 2010 to 2011, the number of students enrolling

in masters and doctoral graduate programs declined by 1.7 percent, a significant figure. The article cites “increasing debt burden” as one of the reasons that many have begun to view entering the workforce as a more rational option than graduate SEE GRAD, PAGE 3

Joe Vitale, FCRH ’16 and Katherine Meyer, FCRH ’16 have been named the new top editors of The Ram. Laura Sanicola, FCRH ’15, has been named News editor, Margerita Artoglou has been named Opinion editor and Anthony Pucik, FCRH ’16, has been named Sports editor. Amanda Giglio, FCRH ’15, has been promoted from assistant editor to Culture editor, which she will co-edit with Nicole Horton, FCRH ’16.

The Ram also has expanded its photography staff to three members and added three staff members to increase its online presence. In addition, the staff has named Robert Frerich as Copy Chief and Sydney Keen as Assistant Copy Chief.

See page 11 to meet the rest of the Volume 97 staff.

Unpaid Internships: Are They Worth it?

By LAURA SANICOLA ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

When Daniel Krug, GSB ‘14, graduates this May, he, like many of his classmates, will not be attending graduate school. Krug, who majored in business administration with a minor in economics, is hoping to join a company that, in his words, “promotes economic welfare by providing loans to small

businesses.” Several things factored into his decision not to seek further education, but Krug says that his primary reason for the choice was that it just made more sense for his career.

“My reasons for choosing a degree in business were centered on alleviating poverty through economic development post graduation,” Krug explained. “Once I leave Fordham, I hope to immedi-

ately use my degree to achieve this goal.”

Krug’s decision is not uncomiewed the activities it is planning, as well as activities that are currently underway. USG has also picked its election commission for next term. The commission handles both marketing and the elections. “[The commission has to] make sure everything abides by the election code” Kulangara said. At the

When Daniel Krug, GSB ‘14, graduates this May, he, like many of his classmates, will not be attending graduate school. Krug, who majored in business administration with a minor in economics, is hoping to join a company that, in his words, “promotes economic welfare by providing loans to small businesses.” Several things factored into his decision not to seek furSEE GRAD, PAGE 3

NEWS

April 29, 2015

Page 5

Looking to Have a Party Off-Campus? Think Again, Says Admin FROM PARTY, PAGE 1

many were upset that the party was cancelled. Questions were raised regarding administration surveillance.

Some wondered whether Fordham had the ability to shut down a party on private property. Most were simply disappointed that the party, one of the most anticipated events of the weekend, was cancelled.

“The amount of kids who said something to me afterward, in the gym and in Hughes [Hall] was amazing,” said Samadani, who was one of the few students to post publicly in the group.

After all, Samadani had high hopes for the party. He said that the large party would, for a short time, dissolve some of the cliques of student life at Fordham.

“I hope kids felt stood up for and a sense of belonging that they may normally not have,” Samadani said.

“I really get sad when I see kids around school and they maybe don’t have friends and they may not know what’s going on during the weekend.”

He said with the party’s size, it would give students the opportunity to interact across friend groups and be together during one of the biggest weekends of the year.

Signaling this, with more than a thousand students watching, he even used the Facebook event to share some thoughts that he had on his mind.

In one post, for example, Samadani posted some ground rules about the party. In another, he posted about a bullying incident he saw near an off-campus bar, adding that he would not accept destructive behavior during the party. Both posts received dozens of “likes” from students.

Concern for Belmont For administrators at Fordham, including Public Safety and the dean of Students’ Office, the concern for

off-campus conduct is two-pronged: There is the concern for student safety and there is concern for the surrounding community.

The Belmont community, which generally is considered to run from either 182nd Street to Fordham Road and from Third Avenue to Beamount Road, is home to much more than Fordham students. There are families from Albania and Puerto Rico, as well as Italian families with deep roots on Arthur Avenue.

Though many students live in the community, they are the minority who cycle through the community more quickly than most residents.

So, when administrators learned of the party, they reached out to the students to inform them of the multiple risks that would come with the party, assuming there would be alcohol and loud noise well into the night.

“If someone lets us know that our students are planning a large off-campus party with alcohol — as they did in this case — we are always going to reach out to make sure the hosts know the risks they are taking on by planning such an event,” said Christopher Rodgers, dean of Students.

“Planning events like this can mean the hosts are responsible for harm that comes to attendees, even afterward.”

“In this case, it’s fair to say that the students were quite surprised at the chances they were taking by planning such a large-scale event,” he added, before calling their decision to cancel it “smart.”

Rodgers also said he emphasized the aspect of community respect with the group of students during a discussion last week.

“Members of the Fordham community should be counted on to respect the people who live in our neighborhood, and the vast majority do so,” he said. “We are proud of our off-campus students who contribute to life and commerce and perform

KELLYN SIMPKINS/ THE FORDHAM RAM

Administrators advised students who lived in an off-campus not to throw a party during Fordham Spring Weekend.

service in the community. By contrast, large and disruptive parties that keep our working family neighbors and their children awake through the night are obviously unacceptable” He continued: “This is not what we owe our neighbors and is not a good reflection on the majority of our students who respect our friends in Belmont.”

The dean’s office, as well as Public Safety were concerned that students would not be obeying New York City laws — including laws about noise.

In the 2000s, the city passed a law that stated that quiet hours run from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. The city also operates a 311 system to which residents can call with “service requests” that are not emergencies.

Any New York City resident can report noise complaints, including loud parties and music.

Under the law, residents can report “large, loud parties with the potential for danger.”

And, all of this localized data is

provided on digital maps on the city government’s website.

Beginning in April, there have been nearly 50 residential noise complaints in the Belmont Community. The city data does not reveal who the complaint was filed against, so it cannot be determined if it was against a student.

Still, more than a dozen residential noise complaints were called into 311 during the weekend of April 2426, when Spring Weekend occurred.

Some of the complaints, according to the data provided, were pursued and addressed by NYPD officers.

“The Police Department responded to the complaint and took action to fix the condition,” reads one of the notes under a complaint on Hughes Avenue on April 17.

Another noise complaint, which cited party noises and loud music, was filed on Arthur Avenue in early April. Police, upon arriving, determined “that police action was not necessary.”

Off-Campus Policy

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Fordham has a great deal of jurisdiction — even when it comes to what happens outside the campus gates.

The university, according to its off-campus conduct policy, has the ability to prevent violations of the handbook to occur, even if they are outside the campus gates. It has the right to investigate and apply university discipline, according to its policy, especially when alcohol is involved.

It continues: “Fordham University accepts the responsibility to enforce its own code of conduct and will impose sanctions on students guilty of violating any Code provision, on or off-campus.”

Much of the policy demonstrates the close relationship among the office of the dean of students, the office of Public Safety and the New York Police Department.

“Fordham University will cooperate fully with local law enforcement officials in instituting the following procedures for addressing students in the local neighborhood engaged in underage drinking, disorderly conduct or public drunkenness,” the policy states. If a student is breaking a law, officers can confiscate a student ID and submit a report about the behavior of the student to the Fordham Department of Public Safety.

A Fordham student can face a se-

ries of sanctions, depending on previous offenses.

The highest offense listed includes all of the sanctions applicable to the third offense (an official warning, a $100 fine, and up to 20 work hours and/or referral to educational programs) along with suspension or expulsion from the university.

Slippery Slope Off-campus conduct policies are common across colleges and universities in America.

Rutgers University in New Jersey has a policy similar to Fordham’s.

“The University Code of Student Conduct applies to off-campus student conduct that adversely affects the University community and/or the pursuit of its objectives,” Rutgers University’s policy states. “In addition, the University can respond to other off campus student conduct through non-disciplinary or administrative interventions.”

George Washington University in Washington D.C. has a similar policy on its website.

“The ‘Code of Student Conduct’ applies to all GW students, including undergraduate, graduate, and professional students, and the university may initiate administrative or disciplinary action against a student for violations of law or university policies whether a violation took place on or off university premises,” the policy states.

While more than 1,800 students die every year of alcohol-related causes, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and an additional 600,000 are injured while drunk, these policies that police off-campus behavior are being questioned by students.

"What we have here, unfortunately, is a proverbial 'slippery slope' of circumstance,” said Brennan Simpkins, GSB ’15, one of the residents of the houses on Hoffman Street.

“In one fatal swoop, it can be perceived that a student's experience can be minimized due to previous misconceptions or premature allegations,” Simpkins continued. “One can understand the issue of security towards the student body's general well-being; however, when options are claimed to be exercised over one's ability to choose to live in the comfort of his/her respective home, it begins to only feel like a 'Big Brother' paradigm of sorts.”

NEWS

Page 6

April 29, 2015

Fordham In The Bronx

Inside Fordham from Outside the Bronx

By JEFF COLTIN BRONX CORRESPONDENT

I have been to an underground open mic. I have learned the history of hip hop from a South Bronx scholar. I could point to hip-hop’s birthplace on a map and tell you which bus takes you there… but does that make me a Bronx insider?

I have eaten ravioli on Arthur, mofongo on 188th, chowder on City Island and a hot dog at Yankee Stadium … but does that make me a New York City insider?

When I first started going to offcampus parties my freshman year, I would get hopelessly lost in the Belmont neighborhood. Where is Hughes? What is a Cambreleng?

Does Crescent even exist? Now, after two years living off campus, I can rattle off the streets like the names of

my own children: Bathgate, Lorillard, Hoffman, etc. ... but does that make me an insider?

Everyone wants to feel like an insider. This will be my last column for “Fordham in the Bronx.” It is a column I have written from my own perspective these last three years — that of an outsider. Someone whose first trip to the Bronx happened when he was 17. Someone who moved into Fordham with a hurricane and will hopefully be leaving on a calm and sunny day this May. I fell in love with the Bronx immediately. I remember planning to get a “BX” tattoo before I even moved into Loschert Hall. Luckily, I did not get inked. I quickly learned such a tattoo is something only an insider could get, and I would need to put down another two decades in the Boogie Down before I could earn it. But,

my love has only grown over these four years. In the Jesuit tradition, just because I do not have the Bronx tattooed on my skin does not mean it has not been tattooed on my heart.

Getting this column was a fluke.

The Fordham Ram editors in 2012 asked Tom Haskin, FCRH ’13, to write a weekly article about the interplay between Fordham and its Bronx environment. He could not do it, but asked me in an email: “…I remember you saying you want to be a journalist and am wondering if this would be your sort of thing,” he wrote. “…I think this would be a swell opportunity to do some community journalism with a sort of lens of justice work, or issues facing the neighborhood.”

I leave The Fordham Ram with gratitude for giving me the opportunity to do just that. Our university

JEFF COLTIN/THE FORDHAM RAM

Coltin, FCRH ‘15, has served as the Bronx correspondent for three years.

Theatre, On Keating Steps

CHRISTIAN WILOEJO/THE FORDHAM RAM

Fordham’s Theatrical Outreach Program (TOP) performed William Shakespeare’s MacBeth on Tuesday and Wednesday outside on the Keating Steps. The title character was played by Michael Brown. Jane Skapek starred as Lady Macbeth.

seems to be in a golden age of student journalism, with hard-hitting articles from The Ram’s Frank Sivili and Canton Winer and Fordham Daily’s Connor Ryan. I am sure there will be more to come from The Fordham Ram. And while I am not a Bronx insider, I have been lucky to be a news insider, with special thanks to Laura Sanicola, Katie Meyer, Kelly Kultys and Connor Ryan.

“Fordham in the Bronx” has been a broad topic. I’ve written on everything from the graffiti culture in Belmont to whether the Botans pays for Fordham’s water (they do not).

I proudly covered students meeting secretly to talk about race and got to see Rams connecting the underprivileged with social services and housing at LIFT the Bronx. One of my earlier pieces covered graduat-

ing seniors grappling with whether or not to leave the Bronx. The general response was that people loved the borough, and were happy to have lived in it, but it was time for a change.

I now face that same choice, and I find myself agreeing with my old interviewees. I love the Bronx, despite being an outsider, but it is time to be an outsider somewhere else.

Last week after a particularly beautiful day in Little Italy, my roommate (and fellow Ram writer) Michael Charboneau, FCRH ’15, walked into our apartment with a smile. “Call me crazy,” he said, “but I would totally move back to this neighborhood when I’m older.”

I did not call him crazy.

Maybe then I could finally get that tattoo.

Performers Please Crowds on Spring Weekend FROM SPRING WEEKEND, PAGE 1

Humans of New York. The project’s Instagram account boasts a staggering 2.9 million followers.

Monica Fafaul, FCRH ’18, was one of the first to arrive to stand in the long line of students. “I got there around like 5:30, and we were in the first 10 people in line. So we had front row seats in the center, which was really cool.”

In his speech, Stanton emphasized the importance of working hard in achieving one’s goals. “Your ideas aren’t great unless you put effort into what you want to do,” Stanton said.

Amanda Reed, FCRH ’18, was impressed by how in depth Stanton goes when he approaches his subjects. “He talked a lot about getting to know people,” Reed said.

“I liked how he talked about how when he meets people, he sits down with them on the streets of New York and has a very personal talk with them. It’s cool to see insight of how it runs.”

“I thought it was interesting that he gets rejected a lot,” Fafaul said.

“He has one of those success stories about losing a job in finance or economics and still doing something significant with his life, and I thought that was really cool,” Reed added.

On Saturday, it was time for musical performances to take over

Spring Weekend. After previously winning the battle of the bands at Rodrigue’s Coffee House, The Suits won the right to open up for the then-unknown headliner. The Colourist, a southern California based group, was added as an additional

opening act. Their performances led up to that of Twenty One Pilots, the Columbus, Ohio-based duo of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun, who was announced as the headliner on Tuesday, April 14.

Tyler Bailey, FCRH ’18, and

Kevin O’Sullivan, GSB ’18, were both in attendance on Saturday and offered their thoughts on the performances.

“Their [twenty one pilots] crowd interaction was really good,” O’Sullivan said.

CASEY CHUN/ THE FORDHAM RAM

Students gathered on Martyr’s Lawn during the Spring Weekend headliner’s, twenty one pilot, performance.

“I thought they did a really good job picking fun bands,” Bailey added. “I like how they included a student band with The Suits because they’re really good. The Colourist was very enjoyable as well.”

Twenty one pilots played some of their most high-energy songs for the Fordham crowd, with hits like “Holding On To You,” “Migraine,” “Guns For Hands” and “Car Radio” included in their set.

Saturday night brought with it the highly anticipated Under the Tent dance. A massive tent on Martyrs’ Lawn played home to one of the most significant campus events of the entire school year, as students dressed up and got together in a different sort of environment that is not experienced very much in college.

Spring Weekend wrapped up on Sunday night with a comedic performance from one of the stars of MTV’s “Girl Code,” Jamie Lee. “She was so funny,” Reed said.

“She was really vulgar, but I thought it was necessary, in a sense. She gave us a lot of comedic relief. She was also very personable. Her one-liners about little things were great.”

Overall, it seems as though Spring Weekend 2015 was a hit with the student body. It will all happen again next year, as Fordham Spring Weekend 2016 will bring a whole new group of performers and entertainers to the Fordham community.

NEWS

April 29, 2015

Page 7

Admin Responds to Allegations Raised in News Blog FROM RES LIFE, PAGE 1

19,000 times.

The article featured multiple dissatisfied interviews with current and former Fordham resident assistants (RAs) and professional Residential Life (ResLife) staff. All spoke anonymously.

Some names, however, were included. Most notably, that of Kimberly Russell, dean of students and director of residential life. Ryan wrote that ResLife’s “mistrust among staff, debilitating fear and widespread mismanagement [were] fostered largely at the hands of Director Kimberly Russell.”

Russell did not respond to a request for comment.

When reached for a statement, Christopher Rodgers, dean of students, did not address any specific attacks on Russell’s character.

“We don't comment on personnel matters, but we of course follow up on all complaints that are brought to our attention,” he wrote in an email. “Complaints naturally arise from time to time. We will act on any that are substantiated.”

Those complaints include (anonymous) allegations of, among other things, “lack of accountability by top staffers,” “ever-present worry of losing employment,” and “high turnover rate.” Many of the employees quoted said these problems, and an accompanying culture of discomfort, stemmed directly from Russell’s leadership techniques.

Some of these techniques include what Ryan called “professional neglect and personal surveillance.”

Namely, allegations that Russell closely monitors staff members’ social media accounts, even reportedly making use of dating app Grindr, which is primarily used, as Ryan said, to “romantically connect gay men.”

An alleged screenshot of the app on Russell’s school-issued iPad was included in the article.

Also included was another apparent screenshot, this time of expletivefilled text message conversations between Russell and a co-worker.

Rodgers maintained that ResLife does not stringently monitor employees’ online activities.

“Student Affairs has established reasonable policies for what staff can post or share online. While we don’t monitor anyone’s social media activity, problematic language or posts are sometimes brought to our attention by members of the community,” he said. “The most common response is to coach staff to avoid mistakes in the future. Younger staff members are learning — in some cases through these mistakes — but in our experience have acted for the most part quite professionally in their online communication.”

The students Ryan quoted said that taken together, these factors add up to a “disregard for emotional and logistical support,” which students need in an “emotionally challenging” job.

FORDHAM RAM ARCHIVES

An article in campus news blog The Fordham Daily accused Residential Life of being a dysfunctional place to work.

For his part, Rodgers emphasized that RAs are specifically chosen for their abilities to cope with, and respond to, challenging circumstances.

“Residential Life staff are often called upon to handle the most difficult situations that can arise on and off campus — situations that often involve students’ safety. With these responsibilities in mind, a stringent

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He also said RAs are given what is seen as appropriate support.

“RDs are carefully interviewed

and selected, and placed in the same on-campus hall as the RA staff to assure they are present for challenging incidents,” Rodgers said. “To augment the work of direct supervisors, additional resident directors are on duty and available 24/7 throughout the year and work closely with extensively trained administrators on call from the Office of Residential Life.”

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OPINION

April 29, 2015

Page 9

The Fordham Ram

Seniors: Don’t Donate to Fordham

By CANTON WINER STAFF WRITER

We are taught the words the moment we arrive on campus.

“We are Fordham.”

Yet, somehow, this becomes all too easy to forget. We think that Fordham is the administrators sitting in their offices. We think that Fordham is the campus. We think that Fordham is 441 East Fordham Road.

In the past few weeks, this internalized powerlessness (epitomized by the phrase “that’s Fordham”) showed significant signs of cracking.

A recent string of articles — featured in this publication and others — has shown that students are frustrated with many of the current policies facing the university.

The complaints cover a good amount of ground. The Office of Student Leadership and Community Development (OSLCD) seems to impede students more than it empowers them. The Office of Residential Life instills a climate of fear and distrust in its employees. Fordham administraCanton Winer, FCRH ’15, and former Managing Editor of The Fordham Ram, is an American studies and sociology major from West Palm Beach, Florida.

tors seem more interested in controlling students than listening to them. Many students across campus organizations complain that Fordham often acts more as a road block than as a spring board.

The unifying thread of these complaints is actually quite simple: Fordham is not taking student’s complaints seriously.

Certainly, there are some exceptions, perhaps most notably the formation this academic year of the Sexual Misconduct Task Force and the (mostly ignored) gains made by SAGES. But these are exceptions, not the rule.

Formal complaints to Human Resources from Residential Life employees appear to have resulted in no change. USG’s repeated attempts to loosen Fordham’s free speech policies have failed.

Countless student initiatives have been suffocated in their cribs by an overbearing university administration.

The 2014-2015 school year may be ending, but the tide appears to be shifting in a lasting way. We need to make sure that students’ anger will not melt away over the summer.

For too long, Fordham has failed to take students’ concerns seriously. The solution is simple: we need to show them that we are serious. As the individuals who

make Fordham the institution that it is, we need to make our anger, indignation and frustration clear.

My fellow seniors are beginning to experience the beginning of Fordham’s 2015 Senior Class Gift campaign. Fordham is asking each member of the class of 2015 to donate $20.15 as we bid the campus farewell.

Personally, I will not be donating to Fordham. Not yet.

I am incredibly proud of this university, the education I have received here and the amazing people I have met in my time here. But when Fordham asks me for money in the coming weeks, I will be telling them no — and I will be telling them why.

I am not donating a penny to Fordham until administrators show significant signs that they are willing to work seriously with students to draft and enact meaningful, lasting reform. I encourage all of my fellow senior Rams to do the same, and to make sure that Fordham knows why.

Administrators may not take massive student complaints seriously at first. But they will pay attention when their actions (or lack thereof) affects their bottom line.

We must ensure that administrators never forget the people who make Fordham possible: the students. Seniors and graduates can

CANTON WINER FOR THE FORDHAM RAM

By not donating, graduating seniors can convey a message to Fordham.

do this by withholding their donations. Underclassmen can do this by returning to Fordham in the fall ready to take the school to task.

What we need to prove is simple. We are Fordham. We are angry. And we demand that Fordham do better.

Why Living Organically Does Not Justify Anti-Vaccination

By EMILY TANNER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

My cousin was only five years old when she contracted the measles, a highly contagious infection that is now rare. It started off as what my aunt and uncle thought was no more than a common cold, but when she developed a persistent fever that spiked at 104 degrees and a ghastly and painful skin rash, her parents became concerned enough to rush her to the hospital. She later developed a life-threatening bacterial pneumonia infection, directly related to the measles, which fortunately responded to antibiotics. The doctor told her parents she was quite lucky to have survived it. I am thankful every day that my cousin, Madison, was able to through this terrible illness.

What bothers me most is the knowledge that this could have been prevented quite easily when Madison was a baby. My aunt and uncle decided together that they were going to forego the standard childhood vaccinations for their children. I cannot help but believe that if they had not made that misguided decision, Madison would not have had to experience a terrifying and life-threatening experience.

The United States is experiencing a measles outbreak that apparently originated at Disneyland in California and has infected over 100 people there and in 10 other states.

It is frustrating for me (especially having a family member suffer from

CANTON WINER FOR THE FORDHAM RAM

Measles have affected more than 100 people in 10 states across the country.

what was thought to be an almostcompletely eradicated virus) to hear about more and more children being infected with a virus that would be all but eliminated if parents vaccinated their children.

Before coming to Fordham, I remember having to get multiple vaccinations, including one for meningitis. Upon arriving, I was quite surprised to find that a few of my friends were not vaccinated, obtaining either medical or religious exemptions from receiving vaccines.

I did not understand then how you could come to college without receiving the meningitis vaccine, seeing as it is incredibly contagious and can be fatal.

Since 2011, the number of families who obtain waivers for their children in order to be excused from vaccinations has increased steadily.

I remain convinced, however, that children should be vaccinated before starting school.

Take my cousin Madison, for example. At the age of five, she was en-

rolled in kindergarten and could have infected other unvaccinated children, as well as the very small percentage for whom the vaccine is ineffective.

Much of the current anti-vaccination movement is related to one primary concern — autism. A British medical researcher published a study claiming a direct link between the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps, rubella) and autism, but the study was later retracted and deemed fraudulent by the British Medical Journal.

Despite the dismissal of the evidence, many continue to have doubts.

Before entering school, children should be completely vaccinated.

What scares me is the growing movement to pass on vaccinating children, even school-age children.

Why should kids like Madison have to suffer from something preventable like the measles, and put other children at risk, when modern medicine has developed a vaccine that is known to be extremely effective in prevention?

While many people believe that it is conservative religious groups that make up the population of people refusing to be vaccinated, this isn’t exactly the case. Studies have found that the groups of people with the highest growing rates of opting out of vaccination are kids coming from upper-middle class to upper class families, both politically conservative and liberal, who are college-educated.

This is what I do not understand.

Many supporters of the anti-vaccination movement ride on the popular

wave of eating organically and keeping harmful chemicals out of the body, which I am all for. What I do not comprehend, is the point of putting your children and other children at risk for the sake of “living naturally.”

You can make the choice to eat strictly organic fruits and veggies, get plenty of exercise and fresh air, abstain from unhealthy foods and try all the homeopathic remedies that you want, but at the end of the day you have to face the facts.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has made evident that “most childhood vaccines are 90-99 percent effective in preventing disease.”

These are numbers that are factual, and children’s lives are being saved every day because of these vaccines.

So, what if (crazy idea), we ate well, treated our bodies right and vaccinated our kids? The two can coexist together harmoniously.

This cohesion is something that many people need to recognize before they opt out of vaccinating their children.

I am all for eating food that is free range and organic and keeping possibly harmful chemicals out of my body, but I do not understand the point of putting your children and other children at risk for the sake of “living naturally.”

It is unsafe, it is dangerous, and to be honest, it is unethical.

Emily Tanner, FCRH ’16, is an English major from Syracuse, New York.

OPINION

Page 10

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

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Editor-in-Chief Joe Vitale Managing Editor Katie Meyer Copy Chief Robert Frerich Assistant Copy Chief Sydney Keen Executive Copy Editors Katie Nolan Canton Winer Max Prinz Michael Cavanaugh Kelly Kultys News Editor Laura Sanicola Assistant News Editors Erin Shanahan Cailin McKenna Opinion Editor Margarita Artoglou Assistant Opinion Editor Kristen Santer Culture Editors Nicole Horton & Amanda Giglio Sports Editor Anthony Pucik Assistant Sports Editors Sam Belden & Drew Casey Photo Editor Casey Chun Assistant Photo Editors Kellyn Simpkins Christian Wiloejo Layout Editor Mae Drucker Digital Editors Blaine Kaniewski Anna Carey Amanda Maile Business Director Mike Krzysko Business Staff Ryan Chand Faculty Advisor Dr. Beth Knobel Editorial Page Policy The Fordham Ram’s editorial and ramblings topics are selected on a weekly basis and reflect the editorial board’s view on a campus issue.

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

April 29, 2015

From the Desk | Amanda Maile

Claiming Armenian Heritage Amid Remembrance Although my last name and bright red hair do not show it, I am Armenian. My father was adopted

by Italian Americans living in Philadelphia, but his biological father, Arthur Sacharian, came from Armenia.

Growing up, I never knew much about Armenia, its culture, or the people who live there. In fact, the only knowledge I had about this part of my heritage came from the elderly Armenian couple who has lived next door to me all my life.

Every Christmas, they make different Armenian desserts and share them with us. However, as I have grown older, I have hungered for more than these sweet treats and wanted to know more about where my family comes from.

This knowledge came flooding in recently, with the 100-year anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. In 1915, the Turkish government began to expel and massacre Armenians living within the Ottoman Empire. Although the exact number is unknown, it is esti-

mated that nearly one and a half million Armenians died during the genocide.

Reading about this tragic moment in Armenian history felt unsettling. I wondered why I had never learned about it in school, did not know of any monuments commemorating those who lost their lives and were exiled and had never talked about it with my father. From what I gather, this terrible moment in history has gone unacknowledged all over the world. Only 26 countries around the world recognize the events as genocide, and only 43 states of the United States recognize the genocide, excluding Texas, Wyoming, Iowa, Indiana, Mississippi, Alabama and West Virginia.

I do not know my relatives and ancestors who came from Armenia, I do not go to the Armenian church and do not know how to say more than “hello” and “goodbye” in the Armenian language.

Despite this, I still feel a strong connection to this country and

recognize its importance and value. Furthermore, I cannot wrap my head around the fact that many countries, politicians and people in general do not recognize this tragic event for what it was: genocide.

An article about the genocide from the Daily Beast says, “Genocide is not the murder of people but the murder of a people.” To me, the tragedy that occurred 100 years ago should be understood and recognized, not only to hold those accountable who carried out the crimes, but also to promote healing for the Armenian people and all those affected by the genocide.

Fortunately, the centennial of the Armenian Genocide showed a push for worldwide recognition.

Across many major cities in the United States, people took part in rallies commemorating the genocide. French President Francois Hollande and Russian President Vladimir Putin gathered at the Armenian Genocide Memorial

Complex in Yerevan to remember those who lost their lives and were exiled. Even Pope Francis recognized the genocide in early April.

In learning about the history of Armenia, the good and the bad, I feel closer to a part of my heritage that for so long had gone unnoticed. Furthermore, I think that educating others about this beautiful country and its rich history will help the world acknowledge those tragic events of 100 years ago and help the Armenian people continue to heal.

Editorial | Student Life

Talking, and Fostering Change on Campus In the past several weeks, as the semester has drawn closer to its end, Fordham Daily, USA Today, and The Fordham Ram have published articles addressing systemic problems with various Fordham departments, including the Office of Student Life (OSL), the Office of Student Leadership and Community Development (OSLCD) and the Office of Residential Life (ResLife).

Canton Winer, FCRH ’15 and a former managing editor of The Ram, wrote articles for both The Ram and USA Today, raising serious questions about OSL and Fordham’s free speech restrictions.

In the USA Today article, titled “Viewpoint: In the 'Ten Worst Colleges for Free Speech,' Where is My School?” he asserted that Fordham’s “unfriendly” speech policies encourage students to blindly accept the “status quo.”

The modified but similar version of the article that later appeared in The Ram as an op-ed, titled “Silence of the Rams: Fordham’s Free

Speech Problem,” quickly became one of the most read Ram articles of the year.

Another op-ed in The Ram by Frank Sivilli, FCRH ’15, titled “How Administrators Caused a Culture of Apathy,” also quickly rose to one of the semester’s most popular reads. Sivilli spoke of a dispirited indifference that has descended on Fordham, fostered, he argued, by OSLCD’s stringent policies on club activities that make it difficult to hold activities that appeal to a diverse student body.

And just this Monday, Connor Ryan, FCRH ’15 and former editor-in-chief of The Ram, published an investigative story titled “RA s Speak Out: ResLife has become Mismanaged Workplace” on his news blog, Fordham Daily. Ryan delved into ResLife’s reportedly dysfunctional inner workings, speaking to a number of current and former Resident Assistants and professional employees, all of whom went anonymous for fear of

reprisal by administrators. Ryan has reported that the post has garnered tens of thousands of views in just a few days.

Unsurprisingly, most of the most articulated and pointed criticism has come from graduating seniors, like Winer, Sivili and Ryan.

With commencement around the corner, members of the class of 2015 seem to feel they have nothing to lose.

But they are not the only ones speaking out.

Here at The Ram, we have had a sudden uptick in students responding to our articles; in fact, in recent years we have never seen an outpouring of voices on this scale.

We have gone from receiving just a one or two to the editor over the entire semester, to receiving three in the past two weeks. Fordham’s Respect for Life chapter, the subject of a recent editorial, also responded to The Ram online, countering some of the points made in our piece. Dozens of online comments have been debating

the content of our articles for the past semester.

As each of the articles garners more and more views and the criticisms of our campus mount, several important truths are becoming more clear.

Life on campus is good, but it can be better. Students are required to follow university policies, but it does not mean we cannot question them, either in campus publications, on social media or in conversation.

The ultimate test is whether students can translate words into action. We have always had all the tools we need to inspire change, but now, we have what students like Sivilli argued has been missing for far too long: the determination to make campus a better place for everyone.

As this semester comes to a close, we at The Ram encourage our fellow students not to lose that motivation. Stay engaged. Stay inspired. And be prepared for an even more exciting fall semester.

Letter to the Editor Re: “Leveling the Field between Gabelli and FCRH” April 22, 2015 Dear Editor, I would like to respond to an article in The Fordham Ram posted on April 22 entitled “Leveling the Field between Gabelli and FCRH,” as well as a host of other recent articles that have been written about the Gabelli School.

School spirit isn’t at the top of the list of Fordham’s attributes — that we all know. Sporting games aren’t well-attended and the student body is rarely united under any one cause or event. As I sit here reading these articles, I can’t help but feel like I’m

starting to see why.

As a student who spent her freshman year in FCRH and the two following years in GSB, I can say that I have a pretty good idea of what it is like to be a part of each. I have the utmost respect for both schools, both curriculums and both administrations. That being said, I find it perturbing to read articles that appear biased and critical towards one school in particular. The article I referenced above entirely lacks equal representation and on occasion lacks truth.

I could go into further detail regarding my own opinions on the language requirement and other things that students of both schools take issue with, but I’m going to re-

frain, as that is not the point of this letter.

I’m not going to argue that one school is easier, or that one school is harder, or better or worse. Nor am I going to argue that either school deserves praise or criticism. I believe all of these points are all irrelevant.

We are one body of students, and we all attend Fordham. While we may attend different schools within our university, that is simply because we are pursuing our different interests. When did choosing a major and future career path become something to disparage others about?

Why are we assigning stigmas to either school? Why is there this feeling of opposition among us? We

are all students. We all know what it is like to cram for an exam or stress about an interview. So why does it matter what we’re studying for or what job we’re going for?

My point is, we as students need to stop characterizing people based on which school they are enrolled in or what their major is. It does not matter if you are studying art history or accounting. We all work hard, we all have goals, and we all want to succeed. At the end of our four years, who we become as people reaches far beyond what we study in school.

—Lily Zalla To read the original article, see FordhamRam.com

OPINION

April 29, 2015

Page 11

Presidential Hopefuls Must Overcome Shortcomings

By JOE MORESKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The thunderous monsoon that is the presidentiaal election cycle kicked up dust over recent weeks with the announcements of several candidates.

Hillary Clinton, who served as Secretary of State under the Obama Administration, was undoubtedly the most consequential announcement (albeit the least expected) as she is widely considered the clear-cut frontrunner for the Democratic nomination.

However, noise was made across the aisle as notable Republican figures officially dove into the fray, eager to take their brand of politics straight to Pennsylvania Avenue.

The first to announce overall was conservative firebrand Ted Cruz. A grassroots favorite, Cruz will likely attempt to consolidate support from Republican voters of all ideological stripes who have become disillusioned with a GOP establishment that served up winning candidates like John McCain.

The persona of a credentialed conservative, with such incidents as the 2013 filibuster that caused a government shutdown spun as badges of honor, will be crafted to

distinguish Cruz from a litany of other right-wing contenders. Cruz’s theatrical resume will also act as a double-edged sword, with many establishment donors (and mainstream voters) being turned off by his style.

This is reflected in polls that place Cruz at the end of the spectrum in early primary states. An early poll conducted by Quinnipiac University showed that Cruz only garnered 5 percent support among Iowans.

Similarly, a recent poll of New Hampshire residents conducted by Reach Communications placed Cruz at only 9 percent. Although he is not dead in the water (Real Clear Politics currently places him third nationally), a strong showing in the early primaries is essential for Cruz if he has any hope of building consistent momentum and overcoming a “flavor-of-the-week” stigma. A quest for the White House may prove quixotic even if the Texan captures the Republican nomination, as he trails Hillary Clinton by 24 percentage-points according to a CNN/ORC poll.

Another candidate who fares much better in a hypothetical match-up with Clinton is Rand Paul.

The libertarian-leaning fresh-

J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/AP

Presedential candidate Senator Ted Cruz addresses his constituents.

JOHN LOCHER/AP

KEVIN GLACKMEYER/AP

Candidates like Hillary Clinton and Rand Paul will have to prove their capabilities in the 2016 presedential elections.

man senator from Kentucky, who officially declared his candidacy on April 7, trails Clinton by only four points according to a PPP poll.

Paul seeks to broaden the base of the GOP and fully embrace the “Big Tent” philosophy that often feels forgotten in the modern Republican Party and has striven to make inroads with youth and minority demographics.

His unorthodox stances on policy issues like prison sentencing reform or the role privacy ought to play in national security practices make him a genuinely different choice. The 2016 election can be a defining moment for the GOP, one that has the potential to influence its direction for the foreseeable future — and Rand Paul hopes to be its ideological standard bearer.

While Paul himself might be ready to change the nature of the GOP, the rest of the Party may not be willing to sign on just yet.

Paul’s lack of foreign policy experience is a red flag to many, especially in light of growing crises abroad like the emergence of ISIS or the devolving situation in Yemen.

His more easy-going personality also turned off deep-pocketed members of the Koch donor network back in February who have

since gravitated to Scott Walker.

While grassroots funding and access to his father’s political infrastructure should give Paul enough money in his war chest, allowing an influential class of donors to drift over to another candidate comes across as amateurish.

Finally, the most recent candidate to declare was Florida Senator Marco Rubio who launched his campaign in Miami the day after Hillary Clinton’s announcement.

Rubio seeks to define himself as a consensus candidate who can bridge the seemingly gargantuan divide between conservatives and the GOP establishment, while providing a much needed dose of youthful energy to the crowded contest.

Although a dark horse, Rubio is one of the few candidates that can truly draw stark contrasts with Hillary Clinton. He is a young, fresh-faced Cuban-American with a family history fit to invoke the fabled American Dream and a grandiose vision for how the United States ought to proceed in the 21st Century.

The fact that Rubio hails from the swing-state of Florida, with its 29 electoral votes, is also attractive to a Party that is starving for victory.

However, there are still chinks

in Rubio’s armor. For example, undeclared frontrunner Jeb Bush served as Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007 and is primed to poach many of the same donors that would otherwise back the younger, untested Rubio.

The Senator’s participation in the drafting of a comprehensive immigration reform bill unfairly damaged his standing with the very conservative base that propelled him to Washington during the 2010 Tea Party wave and his lack of concrete accomplishments causes hesitation among others.

A CNN/ORC poll also puts Rubio behind Clinton by 14 percentage points, which draws into question his ability to go the distance should he win the nomination.

The 2016 election is still in its infancy and while most of what will unfold remains a mystery it is undoubtedly certain that the contest has officially begun.

Will the GOP be able to reclaim the White House after eight years of being left out in the cold? Only time (and the American public) can tell.

Joe Moresky , FCRH ’17, is a political science major from East Meadow, New York.

Correction

Do opinions run through your veins?

Call a doctor, and then email fordhamramopinions@gmail.com to sign up as a writer.

The print edition of the column “When CAB and OSCLD Collide” misstated some facts about the Brandon Stanton lecture. While the original version stated that McGinley Ballroom can only hold a maximum of 500 people, the space would actually allow for 1,100 with the inclusion of an additional lounge space.

Also, the student quoted in the piece was said to have tried moving the lecture to the Lombardi Field House, but the student had no role in doing so, given his role as co-chair of Special Events handling the DJ event of Spring Weekend. The piece also stated that athletics would charge CAB $10,000 to move the event, though the fee would be for equipment rentals and not be paid to Fordham athletics.

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April 29, 2015

HONY and Twenty-One Pilots

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CASEY CHUN/THE FORDHAM RAM

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April 29, 2015

Help Spring Fordham to Life

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KELLYN SIMPKINS/THE FORDHAM RAM

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OPINION

Page 14

April 29, 2015

Marcelle Meyer

Ramblings Pope Francis, since he became the leader of the Catholic Church in 2013, has become one of the most influential leaders in the world. His comments on topics such as gay marriage, poverty and capital punishment have been received with welcome arms. Since his first homily, his teaching on climate change have been popular as well.

Now, Pope Francis, who selected the name of St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and the environment, is preparing a encyclical this summer in regard to environmental degradation and the effects of climate change, especially on the poor. His words will work to encourage world leaders to take a lead in enacting action on climate change by the United Nations at the end of this year. If passed, the accord has the potential to commit more countries to pass stricter environmental laws that curb emissions that scientists say are at the root of global warming.

A 12-week push to increase climate change and environmental awareness is schedule for to take place in the United State this summer, according to a report in The New York Times. While in New York, he will speak at the United Nations. While in Washington, he will speak to Congress.

The core of Pope Francis’ message was raised in a post on Inside Fordham’s website. Title “The Pope and Climate Change,” its author, Stevenson Swanson, articulate the fact that, despite the fact that world’s largest emitters of carbon dioxide are wealthy nations, “many of the countries that will be hit hardest by the effects of climate change are developing nations

where large swaths of the population live in poorly built housing and the infrastructure to resist or respond to disasters is rudimentary at best.” The consequences of decisions by China, the United States, India, and some European countries are beginning to affect poorer countries, including countries in Latin America and Africa.

“Concern for the poor and vulnerable has been a constant theme in Pope Francis’ life,” adds Swanson. The answer, in this light, becomes much clearer: Large nations cannot balk at taking action because more vulnerable countries do not have the resources to take action as well.

There is not one path for Jesuit and Catholic organizations, like Fordham University. But there are several courses of action that students should take.

The first is supporting student oganizations that deal with environmental and climate change issues. On campus, there is the Students for Environmental Action and Justice (SEAJ). The student group puts on informational programs and provides opportunities for students to learn more about environmental issues.

The second is voting for political representatives that list the destructive effects of climate change as important. Though this has become a fairly partisan issue, there are politicians on both sides of the aisle who have signaled support for legislation that cuts carbon emissions and encourages alternative energy sources.

The third thing students can do is to continue to demand more courses that focus on environmental and climate change issue. Envi-

Candidates More than Just a Face

WIKIMEDIA

Pope Francis and President Obama met at the White House in March 2014

ronmental Studies is a major and other majors, like American Studies, biology, political science and economics have courses that focus on the environment. There are also professors from other departments who focus on these issues as well.

But in order to increase the number of available courses, students need to express a demand to learn more about the environment and their role in it.

The fourth thing students can do is support United Student Government’s Sustainability Committee.

The committee has several recycling initiatives that it is looking to implement soon, which will include the placement of plastic, metal and glass recycling in a number of classrooms, expanding plastic recycling and changing the signage for trash and recycling. The group also plans to encourage campus members to conserve more water through additional signage as well as water

battle refill stations that promote the use of reusable water bottles on campus. With many long-term goals planned as well, support for the committee, interest in its work and constructive feedback can help make a difference on campus.

Lastly, students must re-open the debate about divestment from fossil fuels. This has been an issue that has come and gone on campus, with spurts of students expressing support for Fordham adjusting its portfolio such that it is not encouraging the use of fossil fuels — the same ones that Pope Francis is citing as the problem.

Students on campus can make a difference on this issue. With more public leaders, from President Barack Obama to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and now Pope Francis, students should begin to feel the burden, and be proactive about creating an influencing change on campus and beyond

Letter to the Editor Re: “When CAB and OSLCD Collide” April 22, 2015 and “How Administrators Caused a Culture of Apathy” April 15, 2015 Dear Editor, There has recently been a shift in culture at Fordham as people are finally willing to speak out about issues regarding Student Affairs. We have seen this in Fordham Daily’s “RAs SPEAK OUT: ResLife has become a dysfunctional workplace” as well as The Ram’s “When CAB and OSLCD Collide” and “How Administrators Caused a Culture of Apathy.” All of these articles address one recurring problem: the Office of Student Affairs.

Fordham Daily’s “RAs SPEAK OUT: ResLife has become a dysfunctional workplace” serves as an exposé of Dean (Kimberly) Russell, and subsequent feelings many RAs and Residential staff have about her reign as Director of Residential Life.

My biggest concern with this article is its failure to expose the overarching problem at Fordham: Administration of Student Affairs. I refuse to believe that administrators such as Dean Rodgers (Dean of Students) and VP Jeffrey Gray (VP of Student Affairs) were blindsided by this article.

I think they have long been aware of allegations regarding Dean Russell, as many Residential Life staff have re-

fused to leave quietly. Many Residential Staff members voiced detailed complaints to Fordham’s Human Resources department before leaving the university. So the real question at hand is: Why is Russell still Director of Residential Life and why has Fordham Administration allowed these behaviors to go on for so long?

Dean Rodgers and VP Gray need to be held accountable for allowing such an environment to persist. Why have neither Dean Rodgers, VP Gray nor Father McShane released any sort of statement ensuring these allegations will be investigated?

The Fordham Ram’s recent article “When CAB and OSLCD Collide” details the scheduling nightmare many clubs face with OSLCD (Office of Student Leadership and Community Development). Unfortunately, it took a very large event to finally cause students to speak out in outrage against OSLCD. OSLCD has been long known to play favorites, especially among the big four organizations on campus — Residence Halls Association (RHA), Campus Activities Board (CAB), Commuting Students Associate (CSA) and United Student Government (USG).

This article highlights yet another key player in the dysfunction of this department — Shannon Driscoll, a person whom I believe needs to approve events, programs, and logistics in a more timely manner. However,

this hints at an issue that runs deep in OSLCD and Student Affairs at large: understaffed departments. When a department is understaffed, students take the hit, slowing down even basic processes such as room reservations for programming. In addition to Dean Rogers and VP Gray, we must also hold Dean Alanna Nolan (Assistant Dean of OSLCD) accountable as a leader in a department that has largely lost touch with the needs and wants of our students.

So, why is change so difficult to achieve at Fordham? Most students at Fordham are given four years to try to accomplish something of value and merit. When many students come in as freshmen they are often clueless about the issues in Student Affairs. As a sophomore, students become more acclimated and more involved in different organizations on campus. Then, junior and senior years are spent trying to be efficient and improve student life on campus.

However, when you are only given a year or two at a university to foster change, it becomes extremely difficult. Administrators shuffle students around, having lengthy and redundant conversations to give a false sense of hope, ultimately waiting to push you out the door instead of trying to meet you in the middle. The Administration’s idea of “change” is having a conversation with students, opposed to actually changing any

procedure or policy.

We need more than the exchange of ideas; we need progress. I have been at this university for five years in various capacities: a student, leader and employee. I am absolutely terrified to publish this and I do so with the intention of drawing attention to the underlying problems that exist at Fordham. I love Fordham far too much to let these issues slide. Far too many people come and go accepting the incompetencies that exist. Let’s stop the culture of silence and apathy.

Fordham calls on its students to follow the university’s values of cura personalis, care for the Whole person, and calls us to be men and women for others. I do not believe that our Administration upholds these values, really cares for the entire person, nor serves its students. Rather, each of us is just another student who will come and who will go. Administrators serve the university, the status quo and donors, while neglecting the next generation of donors — its current student body. In RA training every year, Father McShane states that we should treat every person in front of us as if they are the most important student to ever enter Fordham. I wish his staff would follow his own advice.

— John Leto, GSB ’14, GSB ‘15 To read the original articles, see FordhamRam.com

Loretta Lynch was recently named United States Attorney General and is the first African American woman to serve in this position. This is not news to many people. The media has been buzzing with the usual headlines that are pulled out whenever a groundbreaking event for a minority group happens. The problem with this is that I have heard very little about Loretta Lynch herself. This woman who was nominated and approved by both houses of Congress must certainly have some interesting characteristics other than her gender and race. Has American culture become too focused on a candidate’s face at the expense of their policies?

“It’s time we had a woman in the White House!” an enthusiastic volunteer called to me from her “Ready for Hillary” table. Of course, statistically, there should be more women in government. More than half of the country is made up of women, and Congress and the executive branch should represent that. However, as a woman, I become somewhat offended when people tell me to “put a woman in the White House.”

One reason for this is the fact that issues still matter. When gender or race completely dominate the conversation, important issues fall out of it. All things equal, would I prefer a female president?

Yes. Is the choice ever that simple?

No. Hillary Clinton has built much of her public image around being an advocate for women’s issues.

However, there are some contradicting stories. The Clinton Foundation accepts donations from several countries, such as Saudi Arabia, with policies that systematically discriminate against women. It is also hard to wipe away the infamous “bimbo eruptions,” in which Hillary has been accused of attacking sexually-harassed women to protect her husband’s political career. Additionally, Clinton has been attacked in the past for focusing on policies that favor middleclass white women.

It cannot be denied that Hillary Clinton has a history of advocating for women’s healthcare and pro-women policies; however, many men have a similar record.

Assuming that women ought to be in favor of a female candidate by virtue of her gender alone is simply insulting. National policies and presidential elections require a much more nuanced analysis than the simple “it’s time we had a woman in the White House!”

As hard as it is to believe, we women can do lots of crazy things like read, write and form educated opinions about what kinds of policy initiatives we want the future president to prioritize. Diversity is always a good thing, but a candidate who tries to turn gender into political power neglects the diversity of opinions women have about politics. There are many reasons to be “Ready for Hillary,” and focusing on those creates better political dialogue for everyone.

April 29. 2015

CULTURE

Page 15

The Fordham Ram

Indie Pop Surprises at Spring Weekend

By ALYSSA OPDYKE STAFF WRITER

This Saturday marked Fordham’s annual Spring Weekend concert, and proved that if there is one thing that most Fordham students can agree on, it is that indie pop is here to stay.

The concert opened with Fordham’s own The Suits, winners of Rodrigue’s Battle of the Bands contest. Notably joining the band on drums was Alex DeSimine, GSB ’15, frontman of the battle’s second place band and last year’s opening band, Second Child. The Suits brought an electronic and indie sound to the concert, enhanced by smooth vocals, strong bass and guitar and a faulty yet charming drum pad. Alyssa Shannon, FCRH ’16, said she had seen The Suits during the battle, and while she hadn’t voted for them, she was glad they won, as “the guys were having fun up there, so it was easy to get into.”

The band’s vocalist, Eddie Gore, FCRH ’15, expressed equal enthusiasm, saying the experience was, “like a graduation ceremony for

our band, where all of our hard work has come to this point and now we will be sent out to do what we have been working so hard for.”

Following The Suits was The Colourist, an Orange County-based group that definitely brought some California warmth to the hot-and-cold Bronx. The set was more than enjoyable, with beachy guitar riffs, strong bass and breezy vocals by frontman Adam Castilla. However, the true standout of the band was Maya Tuttle, who brought energetic percussion and pixie-like vocals reminiscent of Ellie Goulding to the set. The group’s sound draws comparisons to fellow indie bands Bleachers and Foster the People, and was well received by Fordham students. Some members of the crowd even whispered they were a favorite on popular Sirius XM station Alt Nation.

However, the true highlight on Saturday was the headliner twenty one pilots. Though the selection of the Columbus duo was initially very negatively received by the Fordham community, vocalist and keyboardist Tyler Joseph and drummer Josh Dun wowed

MATTHEW MOORE/THE FORDHAM RAM

Drummer Josh Dunn jumped onto a platform, surprising the energetic crowd that was jumping and crowd surfing at times.

the crowd with both their unique sound and nonstop engagement with the audience. From standing on crowd-held platforms, to Josh’s backflip off of Tyler’s piano, the duo was undeniably a thrill for Fordham students and a nightmare for Fordham security. Musically, twenty one pilots brought both older hits like “Holding On

To You” and “House of Gold” off of 2013’s Vessel as well as new singles “Fairly Local” and “Tear in My Heart” off the upcoming Blurryface, to their set. Yet their pop/ rap aesthetic remained constant in their hour-long performance.

Erica Mendoza, FCRH ’16, said that while she had low expectations for the set, she was

“pleasantly surprised because their showmanship was incredible,” while Nicole Pieri, FCRH ’16, called the set “unexpectedly fun.” As an avid fan of the duo, I can honestly say that it was their best and most energizing of the four shows I have seen. I am just surprised the rest of Fordham did not see it coming.

DJ Solodisco Brings Hot Beats to Cold Night

By JESSICA MANNINO CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Students of Fordham University kicked off Spring Weekend Friday night with Solodisco at the annual DJ event in A-Lot, organized by Campus Activities Board.

Despite the regrettable reality of a forty-one-degree forecast, students assembled in the transformed parking lot, unfazed by the weather, for a night of music and dancing. The majority concurred that as long as you found yourself in the middle of the crowd, temperature did not matter much. “Despite the cold, I think the event went very well,” remarked Meghan McWaters, FCRH ’17, a member of Campus

KELLYN SIMPKINS/THE FORDHAM RAM

Students do not let the cold stop them from dancing to EDM and house music.

Activities Board (CAB). “It was a bit slow to start, but once people started coming in droves, everyone seemed to forget about the cold and have fun.”

Members of CAB on duty were consistently alert of the incoming and outgoing traffic, assuring that all things ran smoothly and all security remained intact.

On April 15, about a week prior to the event, CAB released the student DJ poll on Orgsync to the students of Fordham Rose Hill to vote for the opening act of #FSW15. The poll results revealed that student DJ Nick Monaco, GSB ’17, received the most votes, and was selected to open for Solodisco the night of April 25.

When asked of his reaction to winning, Monaco revealed, “Af-

ter winning the DJ contest, I was filled with a range of emotions from excitement, to shock, to joy.

But, that soon turned to stress as it came down to it that I only had three days to prepare.”

Despite his initial qualms, the performance was a success. Sarah Beriont, FCRH ’17, said, “I really enjoyed the set and Nick did an awesome job. He seemed very comfortable and his music choice was great to dance to.”

Solodisco, a famous name in disco house music, was met with a fond reaction as well. Sophomore Katelyn Jakubowski, GSB ’17, commented, “even though I don’t particularly love house music or electric-sounding songs, it didn’t stop me from dancing all night.

I surprisingly really enjoyed the music choice.”

Review | Art

A Virtual, Abstract Experience at the New Museum

By DIANA RIAZI CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Located on Bowery in Soho, The New Museum is devoted to presenting contemporary art from under-recognized artists around the world. The museum buys and sells their art work periodically; thus, it has no permanent collection, living up to its name. In Surround Audience Triennial, its most recent exhibition (now through May 24), 51

artists from over 25 countries explore and respond to our present’s distraction-injected society. Their visual art and poetry give insight to the many mind-numbing abstractions of today through the subjects of virtual reality, drones, avatars and advertising. In particular, New York based artist Juliana Huxtable offers the viewer four panels of her poetry and avatar-like images through fantastical colors in, “Universal Crop Tops For All The Self Canonized

Saints of Becoming.”

Moreover, one should most definitely visit the seventh floor for the Sky Room to get a 360 degree view of Soho as well as surrounding neighborhoods — an incredible, breath-taking experience that left me speechless.

Also, I highly recommend taking a tour. Not only does the tour explain works within the museum, but also, it examines the Bowery’s history, including gentrification of

the area has been occurring since the 1990s. There is also discussion of the artists in the vicinity of the museum as well. Thus, some works displayed emerge from the very surroundings of the museum itself, another unique aspect of this institution.

While many museums focus on maintaining the tradition of displaying the art of yesterday, the New Museum aims to show the work of the present’s artists in or-

der to explore the issues of now.

Thus, I found myself contemplating issues that I myself am experiencing, that is the evident reliance of technology, the dominance of social media. When experiencing any art form, you expect a thought provoking experience. This experience is here at the New Museum and it takes one’s mind to the struggles of a 21st century individual, specifically in regards to the digitized, watchful world.

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April 29, 2015

Comedy Crosses Boundaries that Borderline on Offensive

By LAURA SANICOLA NEWS EDITOR

There is no question that channel surfing cable television today looks vastly different from the 1970s. Archie Bunker would not dare grace modern audiences with his bigoted, sexist presence like he did in “All in the Family.” 21st century audiences are far too enlightened to laugh at such repulsive humor! Right?

I would not be too sure. In the early 2000s, Jason Alexander made a guest appearance in an episode of the popular sitcom “Friends” in which he played a suicidal office manager who receives a call from newly-hired telemarketer Phoebe, who inquires about his “toner needs.”

“I don’t need any toner,” Alexander begins, “because I’m going to kill myself.” A notable, pregnant silence swells uneasily before the laugh track is introduced as Phoebe flips through her telemarketer script for an appropriate response. She eventually quips, “Um, is that because you’re out of toner?”

Apparently, 14 years ago this type of humor did not raise any eyebrows among critics or audiences. The episode has an 8.5 rating on Imdb and did not receive any particular attention for its coverage of the topic.

Audiences felt the uncomfortable nature of Alexander’s lines, recognized in a moment the heaviness of the topic, but the situation is quickly diffused by the nature of its own discomfort. The triviality with which it is presented (Alexander’s whiteboard of daily tasks lists two words: “kill self”) and Phoebe’s inability to respond appropriately is shocking today. It is doubtful that a similar episode would air in a sitcom without remark from someone of a breach in political correctness for trivializing a mental health issue by laughing at

COURTESY OF IMDB

“Friends” is one of the comedies that have been seen as politically incorret.

a victim of illness. The past 10 years have seen a surge of activism aimed at breaking down stigmas and preconceived notions. If it’s sexist, racist or a mockery of some group of people, then it is subject to criticism by the community at large.

A Slate article written in January 2015 by Ruth Graham tears apart “Friends” for idolizing characters that routinely joke about objectifying women, make light of sexual assault and display hostility and resentment towards homosexual characters. I would imagine that the show’s intention was not to offend women, rape victims or the LGBT community. However, in a sense, the need to identify political incorrectness in the media stems from the notion that the writers do not realize that they are causing offense.

Traditionally, the argument over political correctness occurs when an audience feels that a particular brand of humor a) marginalizes a section of the population, particularly one that has been marginalized in the past, b) perpetuates an unhealthy stereotype about a population or c) attacks a population. It is easy to see why people hold the media responsible for committing these offenses.

Media reaches millions of people

Culture Shock | Claire Kim

R&B Tracks Show Vulnerability of Tei Shi The Brooklyn based singer-songwriter and producer Tei Shi wowed listeners in 2013 with her first EP, Saudade. Earlier this month, Tei Shi dropped her second EP, Verde, which has proven her ability to evolve musically and stylistically. Unlike the heavily acapella-based first EP, Verde uses a combination of different genres.

Through the various layerings of indie-pop, R&B and even 80’s rock, Tei Shi drops the listener into a strange but relaxing electronic dreamscape.

The delicate cooing of Tei Shi’s voice along with the thoughtful intricacies of each individual track makes for an experience like no other. Verde, the short but incredibly addicting EP, leaves the listener begging for more.

The EP begins with the quiet but emotional track, “Can’t Be Sure.”

The line, “I can’t be sure of it” is repeated and echoed as the sounds of a heartbeat and dripping water guide each repeated word. The song starts off as dark and edgy, but builds into an emotionally connecting piece as Tei Shi’s high pitched voice and incomprehensible whispers bring the listener into a calming void. “Bassically,” changes the mood drastically

with a much more upbeat and almost vengeful vibe. The best part of this song, by far, is Tei Shi’s harmonious wailing. The synthesized notes in the background crack and reform as Tei Shi’s smooth voice rolls over each break in the melody. “See Me,” is deeply embedded in Tei Shi’s indie background. The catchiest song in the EP, “See Me” combines moody and lovesick lyrics with a cascading of echoey melodies. “Go Slow” is fun, poppy and groovy. The lyrics share an invitation to “get closer,” as the electropop base envelopes the song in a light and delicate background.

The EP ends with a deep and soulful piece, “Get It.” Tei Shi shares the true scope of her vocal abilities by uncovering a sultry edge to her voice in this heavily R&B-infused track.

Tei Shi illustrates the beauty and vulnerability of love through her lyrics. Her ability to pair these lyrics to melodies and incorporate her signature vocal loops and crackling digital sonics is refreshingly impressive.

Tei Shi has truly proven her abilities as a multi-dimensional and deeply relatable artist through her latest EP, Verde.

each day, influencing audiences’ perceptions of social norms. It is arguable that the breadth of the media’s influence means that it should be held accountable for the way it represents society. The 1990s hit “Will & Grace” was progressive for its time in its premise of having a gay protagonist, but later came under scrutiny for perpetuating a stereotypical gay image on its characters. Even the modern hit, “The Big Bang Theory,”

which has been lauded by critics for empowering women by representing them as intelligent and career driven, has come under fire for stereotyping scientists.

There is an inherent conflict in attempting to depict a slightly exaggerated version of society that makes light of situations in which there are grains of truth in and trying to depict an idealized version of society devoid of all stereotyping. Audiences prefer political correctness when they come to expect it in a sitcom. For example, when “Family Guy” employs politically incorrect humor, audiences are more forgiving and even more amused because they are aware of what the writers are attempting to make fun of. However, audiences are offended when we are convinced a writer genuinely holds unhealthy beliefs, which can be deduced by the subtlety with which they are ingrained in the sitcom and when the characters are more relatable to us.

Lucille Ball’s failed attempt to switch roles with her husband in “I Love

Lucy” is not as inherently funny in 2015 as it was in the 1950s because modern audiences relate less to the notion of gender roles that ascribe women a role solely in the work place. Modern housewives feel that they should identify with the woman depicted on the screen, but can no longer find the obvious link between Betty Freidan’s worst nightmare and themselves.

Is it the media’s role to protect the image that society is attempting to build by creating sitcoms that adhere to certain standards of political correctness? That is debatable. One could argue that comedy’s role is to make light of the imperfect way in which the world operates and the often crooked lens with which we see it. When it comes to political correctness, I would venture to guess that most Americans would like to straddle the line between being able to laugh at irreverent humor and being able to avoid offending anyone. It is a thin line, but one’s gut can usually tell them when it is being crossed.

Editor’s Pick | Nebraska

Black and White, but Still Full of Life

By JOE VITALE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

When anybody asks for Netflix recommendations, I always give the same response: Nebraska. Few people, unfortunately, are intrigued. I suspect it is either the name of the film or perhaps its visual imagery on Netflix. My plot summary (“An old guy thinks he won a million dollars so he makes his son drive him to Nebraska to pick it up”) does not do much to spark the imagination either. But, it remains my go-to recommendation.

Shot in black and white, Nebraska tells the story of an elderly Woody Grant (Bruce Dern) whose alcoholism and tour in the Korean War have dulled him to reality. The movie opens with him wandering on the side of a highway, convinced that he has won a $ 1 million sweepstakes prize. He needs to travel from his hometown of Billings, Montana to Lincoln, Nebraska to collect his prize — one that will lift him out of his uneventful small town life. With the help of his son David (Will Forte), who knows that the prize is a mail scam, and despite the objections of David’s sharply funny mother Kate (Jane Squibb), he decides to take his father to Lincoln. His intentions are somewhat clear: He wants to spend time with his aging father, but he also wants to prove to him that it is a scam, so the pair sets off.

The trip takes them through Rapid City, South Dakota and into Hawthorne, the fictional town where David and Woody see Woody’s old business partner, Ed Pegram (Stacy Keach). Ed congratulates Woody on winning $ 1 million, and the news quickly spreads around Hawthorne.

Woody, once the town drunk, turns into the subject of local news and gossip. But even here, unmerited achievement attracts jealousy. Ed wants a cut of Woody’s money, on the count of an old unpaid loan given to Woody.

When David tells Ed that his father does not owe him any money, Ed employs two locals to attack Woody and David and steal the sweepstakes ticket. He quickly learns it is a scam,

COURTESY OF IMDB

Nebraska stars Bruce Dern as Woody and Will Forte as David.

prompting Ed to read it aloud in the local pub at Woody’s expense.

The movie’s dark reality serves as a source of sympathy for Nebraska’s characters. Many, including Woody’s relatives and the people of Hawthorne, seem frustratingly content with their lives. Directed by Alexander Payne, whose camerawork focuses on mostly medium shots, there is not much to be excited about for these communities. There is an outward appearance of general indifference. The high point of family bonding for Woody’s family is watching a football game and arguing about who owned what car and when. David’s brother Ross (Bob Odenkirk) is a small town local news anchor and is treated like George Clooney.

Woody’s mind is constantly wandering (the same way he was wandering in the opening scene of the film) and his default responses are “Doesn’t matter” and “Don’t know.”

But, Nebraska’s bleakness makes some of its shining moments of humor and excitement even more so.

Kate, an aging wife and mother is crass to the extent that her lowbrow contributions are so vulgar and so pointed that they leave everyone on screen stone faced.

Walking along the family graves

in Hawthorne, her honesty cuts like a knife. As they pass the resting spot of an old friend, Kate tells David: “He wanted in my pants, too. But he was so boring.” Without notice, she lifts her dress and flashes the tombstone. “See what you could have,” she shouts, “if you hadn’t talked about wheat all the time.” Later, as they pass her cousin’s tombstone, David asks how she died, to which Kate suggests, “Saw herself in the mirror one day.”

Most of the movie, though, focuses on the strains that Woody’s deteriorating mental state places on his two sons.

David’s demeanor is mostly passive, but his actions speak loudly. He wants to see his father happy, even if he has a difficult time expressing anything other than confusion and dismay. Ross is more set on putting Woody in a nursing home so they can move on. At least there, Ross essentially says, he would be out of harm’s way and he would have qualified people taking care of him.

Overall, this film’s focus on the shortcomings of small town life (pointless feuds, local gossip, undercutting dialogue and longstanding tension) bring the characters and their flaws, the setting and its dreariness, into vivid focus.

CULTURE

April 29, 2015

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Alex DeSimine: Music Artist on the Rise

By JULIANNE FERREIRA CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Alex DeSimine, GSB ‘15, gathers his fellow singers in a circle one Thursday evening for practice.

After distributing sheet music, he plays a note on the keyboard to set the key, and a second later, the group belts out a rendition of Josh Groban’s “Now or Never” — using only the power of their voices.

DeSimine is the musical director of Fordham’s all male a cappella group, the Ramblers, the oldest active club on Fordham’s campus, which began in 1893. For the last three years as musical director, he has been arranging songs, running practices and making the group sound musically cohesive. He is also the person who creates the set list for the shows — along with the input of the other members.

Almost four years ago, before DeSimine began his Fordham career, he watched YouTube videos of the Ramblers singing. It was then that he knew he wanted to be part of the group’s legacy. “For some reason I came in saying to myself, ‘I want to be in the all-guys group,’” DeSimine says. “I couldn’t tell you why, but I’m glad I said that to myself.”

DeSimine said the Ramblers are now some of his closest friends.

He says they often hang out together outside of practice and in turn, they can focus on the music during their rehearsals. “By the time we get to Ramblers,” he said, “we’re all kind of friends and it’s easier to put aside differences to make music, which is great.”

The other members of the Ramblers say they love working with DeSimine just as much as he loves working with them. “He is a fan-

COURTESY OF DAYNE CARTER

Alex DeSimine, GSB ‘15, has been widely involved in on-campus music groups as well as off-campus band scenes.

tastically energetic, very creative guy,” says Anthony Tantillo, FCRH ‘16, the president of the Ramblers.

“He’s very, very enthusiastic about everything he does and he has a way of getting everyone else to feed off of that energy he brings and makes sure we’re all just as excited about it as he is.”

Peter Hulburt, FCRH ‘16, another Rambler, praises DeSimine’s role as musical director. “Alex is a great guy,” Hulbert says. “He’s a great teacher and he’s really got a way of understanding that each of us, each person is different and they learn differently. And, so he can connect to that, which is really cool. Not a lot of people can do that.”

Though DeSimine teaches his fellow Ramblers the songs he arranges, he did not always have the same passion for music. After starting piano lessons at seven years old,

he jokes that he felt the opposite way about music than he does now. “My sister and I both hated it and we convinced my dad to let us quit when my mom was on a business trip,” DeSimine laughs.

Singing did not come naturally either for DeSimine. “I started singing in third grade choir, but I don’t think I was actually singing,” he says. “I don’t really remember, but my mom says that I was lip-synching the whole time, which I kind of believe.”

It was not until DeSimine turned 13 that he really started to enjoy music. After seeing a sixteen-year-old playing guitar while on a family trip to Malaysia and thinking he was the “coolest kid around,” DeSimine says he changed his perspective. After returning back home,

Campus Movie Fest 2015

By AMANDA GIGLIO CULTURE EDITOR

This past Wednesday, April 22, Campus Activities Board co-sponsored Campus Movie Fest, the world’s largest annual student film and music festival. For a week, students are provided with an Apple laptop with Adobe, Western Digital external storage, Panasonic HD camcorders and training to create a five minute movie. The top movies can win prize money and a chance to go to the Campus Movie Fest Awards. This year at Fordham, there were more movies made than ever before and a good variety of genres to choose from. Here are some of the highlights: Best Actress GTA Nominee Stephanie Twyford Baldwin, FCLC ‘16, who starred in V”erona,” which, filmed in Japan, was about a Japanese salary-man fleeing from a romantically obsessed ghost.

Best Actor in a Fordham Movie Kevin Fulmer, GBS ‘17, who starred in “FU Class Registration.”

GTA Nominee- Soundtrack “Expectations: A Short Film”: A girl’s adventure in Manhattan does not turn out as well as she expected.

KELLYN SIMPKINS/THE RAM

The crew of FU Class Registration shared their thanks for the praise.

GTA Nominee- Story “Detective: Cool Gun”: Jim desperately tries to get his roommate, Stephen, to be in his awesome spy movie.

Jury Award Winners “FU Class Registration”: SP Studios gives an in depth analysis of the 233rd semi-annual class registration at Fordham University.

“Mine”: Alison finds an old-looking bracelet and is plagued by a ghost in the days following. Directed by Morgan Greene, FCRH ’17, this movie gives a comedic turn to a supposed horror film.

“Browser History”: A college student believes he is being stalked by the NSA. “Detective: Cool Gun”: James Murtagh, FCRH ’15, created a hysterical short film that was mostly improv, which made the randomness of the movie even better.

All of these movies were in the Fordham campus finalist group, along with 10 other student films.

The turn out this year was huge and along with the usual comedies, there were many dramas, mysteries and the fair share of scary films.

DeSimine promptly bought a new guitar, began singing and even got back into playing piano.

That same year, DeSimine met Alex Tremitiere. The two began playing music together in School of Rock, a music education program, and now, years later, they still do. They created the indie rock band Second Child. The group released their EP, Beginners, in September 2014. Second Child even opened for the bands Cartel and Cold War Kids last year for Fordham’s Spring Weekend.

This year, Second Child competed for the coveted positions of Spring Weekend opener again in the Battle of the Bands, hosted by the Campus Activities Board

(CAB) and Rodrigues. The band came in second place, losing out to The Suits. Although Second Child did not win this year, DeSimine was still involved, as he drummed for The Suits on the steps of Martyr’s lawn.

DeSimine’s band mate Tremitiere says Second Child’s contest loss will not stop him from pursuing music. “Alex is just someone where he has to play music, and that’s just the way his brain works,” Tremitiere said.

DeSimine said being a part of the music scene on campus has strengthened his love for music.

“I guess being here, being a part of the Ramblers, working on Second Child, really kinda drove home how cool the human voice is,” he says. “I think it’s the best instrument around.”

As a senior in the Gabelli School of Business, DeSimine’s run as musical director for the Ramblers and his gigs with Second Child on campus are about to come to an end. After he graduates in May, DeSimine says he wants to pursue a music career with Second Child.

According to Tremitiere, in the immediate future, DeSimine is even planning on living with her, so the two can write even more music together for a new EP in the works.

DeSimine adds that he is going to take it day by day to pursue his passion. “My plan is just to kinda not spread too thin, but try a lot of different things and see what lands in terms of how I can make music making a feasible living,” he explains. “That’s as much of a plan as I have.”

Trending Now | Natalie Sturgeon

Procrastination Station With final exams just around the corner, many Rams take to Eddie’s to put off the inevitable task of studying for hours on end. Summer is just around the corner, and the only things standing in our way is the hustle and bustle of moving out and taking finals almost simultaneously.

Everyone could use some stress relief, and with pure elation I state that next week will be very warm. Unfortunately, with warm weather comes procrastination. With the end of semester realities in mind, I offer a few pieces of advice on how to pack your stuff to move out, study for finals and still catch some rays out on the lawn with your friends.

My first tip is on the subject of packing. Coming from a hoarder herself, when I look at my room and everything that’s in it, I get a minor heart attack about packing it all away and moving out. That’s why every single day, I pack one thing away. It could be a poster or a pair of winter boots. That way, I get some of my packing out of the way, so then when it comes time to move out and study for the last finals at the same time, I’m not running around like crazy trying to get everything done.

When students speak about finals, the dreaded word that is rarely spoken aloud is procrastination. I could write that spacing out your studying and planning ahead is the best way to get through finals, but I’m a realist.

When that all-nighter comes up and

you’re practically shotgunning Red Bull, my best advice is to eat. If you eat while studying, you’re better able to stay focused and awake. If you do need some kind of drink with caffeine in it, get some coffee. Energy drinks will give you energy for a little while, but they are very unhealthy and you will crash after a certain amount of time. With coffee, you won’t crash from all the sugar and you will be able to pull through the insane amount of information you plan to learn in one night.

Last but by no means least is the beautiful, glorious and breathtaking Edward’s Parade in 70 degree weather. No Fordham student in their right mind would rather study than sit on the lawn, play music and hangout with friends. In order to accomplish both, the only advice I can give is to spend a couple hours doing something productive and then reward yourself with an hour or two on the lawn! Of course, you can’t spend all day on the lawn, but at least you get a little bit of time with your friends to hang out and throw a football.

During finals season, the most important thing for students to do is to take some time for themselves.

If you’re pulling an all nighter, every couple of hours watch an episode of a show befoer hitting the books. After all, summer is right around the corner, so you just have to get past that finish line and fall right onto the sand surrounded by friends and relaxation.

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Instagram-Worthy, For Foodies

By JESSICA MANNINO CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Though it may seem like a trite pursuit, Instagramming food is actually providing a priceless service in promoting restaurants through shared experience.

Showing off an aesthetically-appealing meal to friends has more positive repercussions than does the discretely-revealing, well-lit selfie.

Let’s just say that my pre-consumption photo-shoot has become an established protocol of each dining experience. I know the look all too well: the confused gaze from a table adjacent to me, the embarrassed and mocking snarl from my dining partner and my headshake during a moment of self-consciousness.

And yet, despite the consensus of disapproval, I now find it to be instinctive to photograph my meal. In fact, I can’t even decide for sure if my food choices are influenced by aesthetic value. Embarrassed for me? Don’t be.

While my peers may be accustomed to this ritual, my elders question, “Why does she need to take a picture every time she eats? I remember in my day when people used to just eat the food.”

I suppose that is a fair statement. However, what my elders fail to realize is that more and more people of my generation consult Instagram as a resource, the same way that they consulted the newspaper.

Regardless, justifying my “addiction” has been quite the challenge. As an artistically-inclined person, I have always presupposed that the non-“artsy-fartsy” people don’t understand the value of a good food picture. And, while grandma may be right in saying that moments used to just happen without the prerequisite of a camera, I stand firmly by my claim that there is a level of value in Instagramming food.

The term “foodstagrammers,” coined in honor of those whose food is often eaten cold, has been a term widely used when referring to the Instagram demographic. Foodies often hashtag the restaurant, thus promoting a restaurant’s appeal and popularity. Accounts that focus on pictures of just food are resources for people to gauge the experience that they can anticipate.

It is true that Instagram lies on the shameful foundation of showing off. In most cases, people boast under the guise of “sharing.” However, photographing food is a selfless act.

I suppose that someone can offer the point that the intention of posting a food picture is to brag. But true foodies — that is, those who dedicate their accounts to showcasing new meals and restaurants — do not concern themselves with these accusations. In fact, three women attending Fordham have accepted this challenge of “chronicling the food adventures they find themselves in,” adopting the name @GluttonousGals and writing for Spoon University, an endeavor that is focused on spreading the hype on up-to-date food hacks and trends.

The thing about a picture featuring just food is that it shifts the focus solely to the subject matter. True foodie Instagrammers have no ulterior motives but to promote good dining experiences and expose hole-in-the-wall restaurants to the public. It would arguably be more selfish to withhold this information, as it would be doing a disservice to the brunch enthusiasts out there.

Articles from sources such as the Huffington Post, The New York Times, Buzzfeed and many more feature headlines such as “22 Instagram Accounts Food Lovers Should Follow in 2014,” and “Best Healthy Eating Instagrams.”

Food Instagrams are versatile, as they are not always about a restaurant. Some accounts provide information as detailed as recipes, post-work out meals and tips to eat clean. Some provide information on how to eat on a budget.

The next time you are at a restaurant and the flash disturbs your meal for .5 seconds, consider the number of people that that photo will reach and the fact that someone will soon get the luxury of receiving advice from a fellow foodstagrammer.

April 29, 2015

Who’s That Kid? | Cat Gallagher

Student Finds Fame at Fordham

By ANNA CAREY DIGITAL EDITOR

Louisville native Cat Gallagher, FCRH ’17, has a confession to make: “Even though I’m from Kentucky and the Derby is such a big deal, I’m allergic to horses.” Luckily, Cat does not let this unfortunate allergy hold her back.

An undergraduate at Rose Hill, Cat is pursuing a double major in computer science and French studies, is in the Honors Program and is additionally involved in a number of on-campus activities. She is part of the undergraduate research program in the WISDM lab for the computer science department, which, as she describes, “uses sensors in smart phones to figure out what activity you’re doing, like if you’re sitting, standing, running or walking.” Cat is an outreach ambassador for the Rose Hill Society, a position for which she writes blog posts in order to connect with prospective students about life at Fordham. She has also been part of a number of performances for Fordham Experimental Theater (FET), Mimes and Mummers and Theatrical Outreach Program (TOP).

One of Cat’s most rewarding Fordham experiences was being part of TOP’s production of The Laramie Project this past March. “I had never been part of a show with that much cultural significance before. I’m biased obviously, but I think it was an extremely well done piece of theater and I’m proud to have been a part of it.”

Next fall, Cat is taking on a new theatrical endeavor with Laramie director Jane Skapek, FCRH ’16 — together they will co-direct a production of the beloved French book The Little Prince with FET. The soon-to-be first time director said, “I’m excited to try a new experience after acting in so many shows.

It’s going to be a challenge, but I’m less nervous because Jane will be codirecting and she has so much experience and was amazing as my director in The Laramie Project. We’re hoping to get a lot of people involved in the production.”

COURTESY OF CAT GALLAGHER

Cat Gallagher makes the most out of her studies, campus life and New York City.

Deciding to pitch The Little Prince was personal for Cat. “I’ve always had an interest in French culture and read the book back in high school and have loved it ever since. Not too long ago I woke up from a nap and had the realization that it would be a fantastic show to put on in the Blackbox, and have been thinking about it ever since.”

Aside from theater, Cat has a number of other passions that range from college sports to “Degrassi” to celebrity sighting in the city. She is a die-hard University of Louisville fan and has been attending home football games with her dad since she was three years old. When it comes from her love of the Canadian teen drama, Cat says “I have a way too extensive knowledge of the ‘Degrassi’ universe and I’m not ashamed of it.” She has seen every season of the show available online and can answer nearly any question one could ever have about it.

As for run-ins with famous people, Cat has a few up her sleeve. During spring break of her senior year in high

school, she met James Franco. Even though it was not the corn-rowed, tattooed, grill-wearing Franco, she still appreciates that she can still say she met him while on spring break. In reality, Cat was in the city and met him at a performance piece he was doing at the MoMA. Last February, she is “98 percent sure” she saw Kanye West while out to brunch at the Mercer Kitchen in SoHo. This past September, Cat was pulled up onstage at an OK Go concert, but wished she had gotten more time to talk to the lead singer of her favorite band, Damian Kulash.

When asked what advice Cat would give to herself as a freshman, she thought back to first semester last year when she auditioned for show after show but was not cast in anything. “I would tell myself not to give up, even when things get difficult. Things turned around for me, and second semester I fortunately got cast in two shows at once. You never know what’s right around the corner, you just have to keep going after what you want.”

A Guide to Staying Fit on a College Campus

By EMILY TANNER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

America is no stranger to obesity, and with the college lifestyle and lots of easy access to fast and greasy food, you have the recipe for weight gain and the trading of your favorite jeans for a pair of stretchy leggings.

A study done in 2012 by researchers at Auburn University in Alabama and published by NRC Research Press showed that 70 percent of college students will gain weight by the time of graduation, the average being 12 pounds. Nevertheless, before you cut out caf cookies for good and sign up for that crazy expensive SoulCycle class, consider these tips and tricks to making your everyday life a bit healthier.

1. What you surround yourself with matters

Sounds simple enough, right?

If you do not have unhealthy food in your dorm room or apartment, you are less likely to eat it. Studies show that the longer you go without junk food, the less likely you will crave it. Keep granola bars in your room and fruit smoothies in your fridge.

Xia Madonis, GSB ’16, explained her shopping habits. “I stick to healthy foods when I’m at the grocery store on Arthur so I don’t even have [junk food] around me as an option.” You can treat yourself every once in awhile, but if you keep up with healthy eating habits, chances are you will eventually only crave the good stuff anyway.

2. Drink...in moderation Staying fit in a college environment can be hard when, for some students, alcohol consumption is a part of their weekly routine.

This is not to say you cannot live an active, healthy lifestyle while also somewhat-regularly consuming alcohol, you just need to be aware of what you’re drinking and how to make up for it in other aspects of your life.

Did you know one glass of red wine is the equivalent in calories to a large slice of sponge cake? Or a pint of hard-cider has the same amount of calories as a powdered doughnut? This one was the kicker for me: A pint of beer has the same amount of calories as a large slice of pepperoni pizza. These comparisons are not meant to scare you, but to put what you are drinking into perspective.

surrounded by friends. Instead of watching the Season 4 of “Friends” again, why not go for a run in the Botanical Gardens?

What about going to Manhattan for a quick lunch instead of spending those two hours in the caf ? It is productive if you get a something healthy for lunch and spend the day walking around Manhattan.

Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Join an intramural sports team. If you make exercise a part of your routine, eventually you will not even think about it anymore and it will be something you’ll want to do, rather than see as a chore.

3. Stay active Lazy Saturdays, movie nights, sitting on the couch chatting with friends — the college lifestyle is quite conducive to all of these things when you are constantly

4. SLEEP...MORE!!?

Believe it or not, not getting enough sleep can lead to weightgain. Getting less than six hours a night can affect your hormone levels and trick you into thinking

you are hungry when you are not.

It also affects your metabolism, causing it to slow down.

5. Make time for yourself When you are constantly trying to keep up with others, you can find yourself fitting your own schedule and needs to what your friends want to do. Next thing you know, you are going to DD with one friend and getting dinner on Arthur with another the same day. Make time for yourself.

Eat foods that will benefit your mind and body. Salmon, blueberries and avacados are known to be good for your physical and mental health. You can purchase the latter two at a nearby grocery story.

Mental health and physical health are more related than most people realize. A day filled with exercise and good food will leave you feeling much healthier and happier.

CULTURE

April 29, 2015

Page 19

A Summer Reading List for All Your Adventures

By ANNEMARIE MARCONI STAFF WRITER

Ladies and gentlemen of Fordham University, allow the stress of finals to melt away for just a moment to realize that summer 2015 is closely coming upon us! And, trust the English major when she tells you that there is no better way to spend your summer than by reading some solidly good books.

Do not believe me? Think about this: sure, you may not have plans to backpack around Europe or travel to the peak of Machu Picchu, but the magic and richness of language can transport you there through the eyes of a character. Do not think you will find a fling this season? There are plenty of no-shame cheesy romance novels you can fall in love with. Whether you want a fantastic adventure, a stunning and life-changing revelation or just a quick escape from the commute to your internship, books will let you live more than one life this summer. So, get ready to lounge in a hammock, head down to the beach or curl up in bed, Fordham. Your 2015 summer reading list is here!

“Paper Towns,” John Green Soon to be a major motion picture, “Paper Towns” is the lesserknown work of the American youths’ favorite tearjerker, John Green, famous for his mega-hit novel and movie “The Fault in Our Stars.” Simultaneously poignant and hilarious, this story is on the surface about a boy named Q who takes his friends on a treasure hunt to find his missing unrequited love

Margo Roth Spiegelman. However, on a deeper level, it is about looking at people, particularly women, as whole, complicated human beings instead of as tropes or idealizations.

Read this page-turner before the film hits theatres on July 24, that way you can roll your eyes and announce that “the book was better” with the best of them.

“Interpreter of Maladies,” Jhumpa Lahiri Jhumpa Lahiri’s debut collection of short stories won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2000, and for good reason. The nine stories in this book are short but powerful, and Lahiri uses her characters to wrestle with ideas of culture, youth, love, grief and immigration. Each of the stories stands alone, but there is an effortless flow and order to them nonetheless. Easy to put down and come back to, it is the perfect beach companion — as long as you do not mind crying in public.

Yes Please,” Amy Poehler We’ve all read “Bossypants” already, right? As an actress, mother, comedian, writer and resident goofball, Amy Poehler slips in and out of many different roles. She describes it all with her signature wit in her written tell-all, “Yes Please.”

This funny and empowering autobiography is the perfect cure for the bad case of “Parks and Recreation” withdrawal that has been going around.

“Cutting For Stone,” Abraham Verghese For anyone looking for a longer adventure, search no further than this epic about Ethiopian doctors.

The characters are dynamic and believable, and the vivid and gorgeous writing helps them to seem like they are breathing in the pages. Personally, I read the book last summer, and have since spent my days longing to return to the small Ethiopian city of Addis Ababa. Extra bonus: part of the book takes place in the Bronx!

“To Kill A Mockingbird,” Harper Lee Even though this literary classic was assigned to you in high school, you possibly didn’t actually read it.

Even if you did, pick it up again, this time for your own sake instead of your freshman English teacher’s. This timeless story about racism and growing up is regarded as one of the greatest books of all time for a reason. Plus, reading it will prepare you for the highly anticipated second novel from notorious recluse Harper Lee, “Go Set a Watchman,” set to hit bookstores on July 14.

“The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” Sherman Alexie Do not let the novel’s length fool you — this book may be quick, but it is anything but easy.

Alexie unashamedly tells the compelling story of Junior, a teenage boy living a double life between his home on a Native American reservation and his mostly-white high school. Funny, honest and punctuated with Junior’s comic strips, this book will change the way you think about poverty and challenge your ideas about what it means to be an American.

FLICKR/ANITHA

Consider rereading Harper Lee’s classic before her anticipated sequel debuts in July.

Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott The subtitle of this non-fiction piece may be “Some Instructions on Writing and Life,” but Lamott’s humor, sensibility and candor makes the book hardly feel like a lecture. Perfect for both the budding, hopeful writer and anyone going through a hard-core quarterlife crisis, “Bird by Bird” offers reasonable and helpful advice that is neither preachy nor riddled with platitudes. You will walk away from this book feeling more optimistic and wanting Anne Lamott to be

your new best friend.

“Eleanor and Park,” Rainbow Rowell Of course, there is no better time to read a cute, fluff y romance novel than summer. “Eleanor and Park fulfills your need for a fun and casual young love story while also tackling some major issues like diversity, gender identity and the meaning of family. Rowell’s young adult novel works similarly to an ’80s teen movie — it will somehow make you nostalgic for a time in which you were not even alive.

Chic Summerwear: From Sporty Mesh to Feminine Lace

By JUNGSUH KIM STAFF WRITER

Summer is a time to let loose and show a little skin. From beach days to music festivals and everything in between, summer fashion is all about freedom. When transitioning your wardrobe from spring to summer, keep the following trends in mind.

First, we have to talk about the most important piece for summer: the swimsuit.

Every year, swimwear designers come up with the next up and coming styles that make us look forward to endless pool and beach days. This year, for the first time ever, Victoria’s Secret showcased its new swim line with a special TV exclusive. The styles were ravishing, varied and were tailored to many different styles, making shopping for swimwear even more exciting than usual.

Styles ranged from sporty chic to boho babe, classic and edgy.

The sporty line features neoprene material and bright, summer-inspired colors. Many were reminiscent of scuba gear and are both practical and fun.

The bohemian style swimsuits featured tassels and beads that resembled the outfits celebrities modeled during Coachella weekend. Lace-inspired patterns gave these swimsuits a more demure look.

KRISTINA J/FLICKR

If you leave your denim jacket at home, maxi dresses are a comfortable, stylish option.

The edgy style suits have awesome side cutouts and intricate back detailing (although they would make for some crazy tan

lines) that are sure to turn heads.

Some spring trends have carried over into casual wear for summer. The top five trends for

summer are lace, hippie-inspired looks, black mesh, monochromatic patterns and menswear.

Many of these trends are holdovers from the spring, but have been revamped for summer.

Lace is a staple in the fashion world. It has always been the goto fabric for the playful, romantic look of spring and summer. This time, designers have taken it up a notch by using delicate fabrics that play on the romance of white lace. The details of the intricate fabric add a touch of demure feminine flair, giving clothing an effortless look. Designers have also combined this look with low backlines and subtle cutouts, making the lace stand out more against the look of bare skin. The use of sheer fabrics and intricate details make this season’s lace a subtle look.

Maxi dresses are still a big trend for summer. Stepping straight out of 1970s Marrakech, Morrocco, light and flowing dresses have been spotted all over the runways during spring fashion week.

The vibrant patterns and effortless way these dresses flow with the wind make these the perfect essentials for Sunday morning brunches. The prevalent bohemian trend gets a luxe makeover for the summer with pastel silhouettes and pleated layers.

Mesh is making an appearance in clothing other than sportswear.

Worn all over or as a standout piece, mesh makes a graphic statement for summer. The sheerness of mesh gives any outfit a hint of allure.

Minimalism has always been a staple New Yorker look. The black and white combo often seems too harsh to wear in the warmer months. Designers like Givenchy and Balmain, however, have made it work. By using a combination of various materials like studs, zips, matte and gloss finish, the monochromatic look can look simple and chic without being completely overbearing. The key to rocking the monochromatic look is not to think so hard.

Finally, a nod to the menswear influence, which was prevalent in fall and winter in the form of boyfriend jeans and oversize sweaters, makes a return for the summer.

Designers brought back masculine style suits for women and have amped it up with asymmetrical cuts that contrast with strong street wear edge. The boldness of the asymmetrical lines adds a bit more punch to these options.

Although this season’s summer trends rarely forecast anything we have not seen already, they are still fresh and inspiring with only minor design variations. Summertime is the best time to experiment with new trends because of endless nights, upbeat music and sunny days.

SPORTS

Page 20

April 29, 2015

The Fordham Ram

Golf Concludes Season at Atlantic 10 Tourney

By SAM BELDEN ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

With the semester winding down, Fordham golf finished its season at the Atlantic 10 Championships in Harmony, Florida, a community near the city of Orlando.

The host course, Harmony Golf Preserve, is a well-regarded par 72 designed by World Golf Hall of Famer Johnny Miller and Fredrick C. Bliss. While their team score improved on each day of play, the Rams finished in 10th out of 11 teams with a total of 904, besting only La Salle.

Senior Ben Alcorn, playing in his final tournament as a Fordham Ram, led the way for his team, shooting an opening 74 along with a pair of 73’s en route to a tie for 18th. He wound up in a tie for third in par 3 scoring on the week, playing those holes with a score of two strokes over par, and he was the only player in the field with more than one eagle, sinking a pair over the course of the three rounds.

Freshman Joseph Trim also notched a top-thirty finish. After opening with rounds of 76 and 75, he closed with the lowest round of any Fordham player all week, shooting a 72 to move five spots up the leaderboard. Like Alcorn, Trim also shot two over par on the par 3s. After all was said and done, he was satisfied with his performance on his first trip to A-10s.

“I spent a lot of time practicing my putting before the first round, and it seemed to click during the

COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA

Despite a tenth place finish at last weekend’s Atlantic 10 Championship, the golf team was pleased with its performance.

second and final round,” he said.

“I’m happy with the way I played.

I made some good swings and a couple putts. A solid finish to my freshman season.”

The rest of Fordham’s golfers found themselves further down the leaderboard.

Senior Drew Dufresne closed with a solid 74, but opening rounds of 78 and 77 landed him in a tie for 43rd. Sophomore Oscar Cabanas shot a 74 in the second round, but bookended it with rounds of 79 and 82 en route to a solo 49th. Senior Jeff Hogan tied

for 50th, one stroke behind.

VCU won the event by a margin of 13 strokes, taking their second consecutive A-10 golf title. The team’s performance earned them an automatic bid to NCAA Regionals. Adam Ball, VCU’s top performer, was the medalist, finishing seven strokes ahead of Richmond freshman Matthew Lowe, who was named A-10 Rookie of the Year. VCU coach Matt Ball was named Coach of the Year.

Although the Rams did not finish with a high spot on the leaderboard, they had an enjoyable week

and considered the end-result to be a modest success.

“The A-10 Championship is always the most impressive and well-executed tournament of the year,” said Alcorn. “We’ve had some difficulty holding our position on the leaderboard this year, often faltering back in the second round. To pass La Salle and stay ahead of them was a small accomplishment.”

For the team members, the fact that it was the final event for seniors Alcorn, Hogan and Dufresne was just as important as the tour-

nament results.

“The three [seniors] that played this weekend meant a lot to the younger guys on the team,” said Cabanas. “They inspired us to be better golfers and better men.”

Also leaving the team is senior Brian Engstrom, who was not in Florida with the team. “Brian was one of the guys on the team who always kept the team in a good mood and positive thinking,” Cabanas added.

For Alcorn, finishing his collegiate golf career was a surreal experience.

“It’s difficult to accept that I’ve played my last round as a Fordham Ram,” he said. “These last four years have been incredible and have helped me mature. I’ll always think back to my time as a Fordham Ram with very strong memories.”

Although the loss of four seniors will change the face of the team somewhat, the Rams appear to be in good hands. Trim and Cabanas will return next season, along with sophomores Hugh Lagrotteria and Fernando Morett, and freshmen James Mongey and Matt Schiller.

“Going forward, I believe we have a lot of potential,” said Trim.

“We knew that going into the last couple tournaments, there were four of us competing for two spots at the A-10 tournament, so there were two guys who just as easily could have been down in Florida.”

“Along with a couple incoming freshmen and some returning players, I think we will have our fair share of opportunities to play well,” Trim continued.

Track Competes in Well-Known Penn Relays

By BRYAN KIEL STAFF WRITER

The Fordham track team competed at the famed Penn Relays this past weekend, running in a number of relay races as well as a few individual events.

Runners from across the globe descended onto Franklin Field in Philadelphia between Thursday and Friday. Athletes from high schools, colleges and professional clubs all competed.

Fordham competed in six events overall, with the 4x800m women’s squad leading the way for the Rams. Though the season had started slow, Fordham is starting to heat up in the most important time of the year.

“Our season got off to a bit of a rough start with our first meet getting canceled and our second being in under-40 degree weather,” said senior captain Dan Green.

“But, the team has really started to run fast in recent meets.”

The first race of the day featured senior captain Kristen Stuart, who competed in the 400 hurdles. Finishing in 31st, Stuart just missed an ECAC qualification with a time of 1:03.14.

Stuart proved to be Fordham’s workhorse of the day. After her individual performance, she com-

COURTESY OF SHANNA HEANEY

After racing at the Penn Relays, the track team will head to the Atlantic 10 Championship this weekend in Fairfax, Virginia.

peted with fellow senior Elise Tigani, junior Danielle Rowe and freshman Merissa Wright in the 4x400m relay. The relay team finished 4:04.14, a strong time, but placed just 69th in a very heavy field.

The 4x800m relay team, as it has

for the past two track seasons, did better. With seniors Mara Lieberman and Melissa Higgins stepping up to join Stuart and Rowe, the team finished with a time of 8:56.39. This was good for 11th overall, and allowed the squad to qualify for the ECAC competi-

tion.

The men’s side also featured two relay races, with seven runners competing overall for the Rams.

Before the race, Green reiterated the team’s excitement ahead of two competitive events.

“We consider this one of our

more important meets of the year, so the team is real focused on putting up some good performances,” he said.

Though neither relay team sported top times in competition, racers competed well in both the distance medley relay and the 4x800m.

Seniors Lester Taylor, Ian Williams and Ryan Polo joined freshman Thomas Slattery in the distance medley with a time of 10:14.38, good for 18th overall.

The 4x800m squad, consisting of Taylor, Green, Slattery and freshman Fritz Heinrich finished 14th overall with a time of 7:43.29.

With the Atlantic 10 Championship next week, spring track and graduation for many of Fordham’s top seniors is drawing near.

Though some seniors like Jon Annelli and Brianna Tevnan will return because of red-shirted seasons in previous years, four-year runners like Stuart, Higgins, Tigani, Green, Taylor and Williams will be finishing out their track careers over the next few years.

The A-10 Championship, run this weekend in Fairfax, Virginia and hosted by George Mason University, will hopefully feature top times and memorable moments for the graduating student-athletes.

SPORTS

April 29, 2015

Pat Costello Rondo Disappoints in Dallas Ecstatic. That is the word Dallas Mavericks fans used when they heard that they got Rajon Rondo.

This was a man who could help them get back to the promised land they have been chasing after the magical 2010 run, which saw them beat the newly formed Miami Heat team and win the NBA Championship. He was the final piece of the puzzle in Dallas and in theory would afford Dirk Nowitzki one more opportunity to make a playoff run.

Rajon Rondo for a first round pick?

That’s a no brainer. Well, it seemed like it at the time anyway.

Rondo was the man in Boston.

The run he had alongside Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, which culminated in a championship in 2008, was unbelievable. He thrived off of pick-and-rolls in which he could dish it for an assist, and averaged nearly 10 a game for his entire tenure in Beantown. He was beloved for his hard-nosed, blue collar, never-back-down attitude because Bostonians could relate to that.

When he was traded earlier this year, the city mourned the loss of the last piece of that ’08 team. Now, I think I heard a collective sigh of relief from the Cask’n Flagon that the Celts did not waste money trying to extend his contract.

If I were a Dallas Mavericks fan right now, I would be furious with Rondo. He has drastically underperformed and has basically quit on his team. I’m not even a Mavs fan and that makes me mad. Rondo’s Game 2 back injury was the tip of the iceberg for his stretch in Dallas, which at one time included a profanity laced screaming match with coach Rick Carlisle after a regular season win over Toronto. Rondo has mailed it in this season, yet he still hopes to attract a max deal in the offseason. Mavericks fans, I’m very sorry for your wasted investment.

Unfortunately, you can’t rebuild in the draft because you traded your first pick. But don’t fret, because Dirk and Tyson Chandler are going to retire soon and then you’ll be relegated to the draft lottery, so you’ve got that going for you, which is nice.

Before all you Laker and Knick fans get ideas about how great it would be to get Rondo at a discounted price, stop and think for a second.

The Lakers are still Kobe’s team, which is not something that Rondo would want to deal with. They would also have to throw a very large amount of money at him, which would not be a good thing for a team that’s trying to jump on the “youth movement” bandwagon. He’s a cancer to locker rooms, and is not a guy you want mentoring younger players. The Knicks are not going to be good for at least five years, and adding an expensive point guard will not help them in the long run. Their best bet is to start cleaning house and getting younger, not get an overpriced, under-motivated guard who cannot shoot three’s or foul shots. Whether or not Phil Jackson will manage to completely screw up the draft is a story for another day.

When Rondo went to the Mavericks it seemed like they would be primed for a deep playoff run, but what they got instead was a poor first round performance by the man they were relying on the most. The ecstasy has turned to misery, and it’s all thanks to Rondo.

Page 21

Varsity Scores & Stats Softball Fordham 1 Hofstra 7 (FOR) K. Lombardo 1-2, RBI (HOF) K. Smith 2-3, 2 R

Baseball Columbia 16 Fordham 3 (COL) R. Paller 2 HR, 7 RBI (FOR) T. O’Connor HR, 2 RBI

George Washington 3 Fordham 11 (GW) V. Valos 1-2, HR, RBI (FOR) S. Canessa 3-4, 2 RBI

Saint Louis 3 Fordham 4 (SLU) A. King 2-3, 2 RBI (FOR) J. DeVito 2-4, 2 RBI

George Washington 0 Fordham 9 (GW) C. Gray 1-2 (FOR) R. Gillen 5 IP, CG, 0 ER

Saint Louis 2 Fordham 7 (SLU) M. Vigliarolo 2-4 RBI (FOR) J. Runco 2-5, RBI

George Washington Fordham

Saint Louis 0 Fordham 3 (SLU) P. Sniatynski 2-4 (FOR) C. Galiano HR, 3 RBI

Matt McCormack

Fordham 13 Manhattan 14 (FOR) J. DeVito 3-5, 4 RBI (MAN) C. Kalousdian 2 R

Men’s Tennis

1 5

(GW) M. Linn SF, RBI (FOR) A. Van Hoven 2-3, RBI

0 4

Fordham George Mason

Golf A-10 Championships 10th Men’s Track Penn Relays Distance Medley

18th

Women’s Track Penn Relays 400 m hurdles K. Stuart 31st- 1:03.14

Athletes of the Week Ben Alcorn

Rachel Gillen

Senior

Junior

Golf

Softball

Alcorn capped his Fordham career in fine fashion, tying for 18th place at the Atlantic 10 Championships. He tied for third in par 3 scoring and was the only player in the field to notch multiple eagles.

The pitcher continued her dominant run, winning her third consecutive Atlantic 10 Pitcher of the Week award. She pitched 12 scoreless innings in two games against GW, fanning nine and walking just three.

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

News & Notes • Greenberg

Named A-10 Rookie of the Week This Sunday, April 26, Fordham baseball will host its annual Alumni Day. Students and members of the public alike are welcome to enjoy a pregame barbecue at Houlihan Park at 11:30 a.m. The Rams will be honoring the 1990 and 2005 baseball teams, two of the winningest in Fordham’s history, as well as members of the Fordham Athletics Hall of Fame.

At noon, the game against the Saint Louis Billikens will begin. To register, you can go online or arrive at the field prior to 11 a.m.

• Baseball

Squares Off Against Manhattan On Tuesday, Fordham squared off against the Manhatten College Jaspers. There was relatively little scoring until the seventh inning. In the top of that frame, Fordham scored seven runs, but in the bottom, Manhattan scored nine. The last two innings were quiet ones offensively, and Manhatten took it by a score of 14 runs to 13.

• Football Hosts Third Annual “Be the Match” Registry On April 27, Fordham Football hosted its third annual “Be the Match” registry, a program designed to increase the number of potential bone marrow donors on the Be The Match Registry list. The process was quick and easy for all participants, who needed only to fill out a form and submit a swab of cheek cells. This program has been a success, with Fordham matching three people with potential donors in the first two years.

•

Ali and Wong Are AllAtlantic 10 The conference announced that senior Sarah Ali and freshman Estelle Wong were named to the All-Atlantic 10 women’s tennis team. For Ali, who had an 18-10 overall record in 2014-15, it is her second consecutive time earning this honor. Wong was the A-10 Rookie of the Week twice this season and won the B singles title at the NJIT Winter Invitational in January.

– Compiled by Sam Belden

Oilers Strike Gold Yet Again The 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs are in full swing, but a few weeks ago 14 teams were focused on something completely different: the 2015 NHL Draft Lottery. Two Saturdays ago, 14 teams were placed in a lottery to decide who would win the top prize: the prospect of a generation, Connor McDavid. The winner — perhaps unsurprisingly — was the Edmonton Oilers, who have won four of the past six draft lotteries.

Many people were upset that Edmonton won the lottery. The Oilers won three straight draft lotteries from 2010 to 2012, but none of these three top picks have helped the Oilers dig their way out of the cellar of the Western Conference. They took Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Nail Yakupov respectively in these three drafts.

Hall and Nugent-Hopkins have performed commendably while Yakupov has been disappointing, but none of them have been the franchise-changing player that other previous number-one picks have been. Many have complained that the Oilers should not be able to receive so many number one picks in such a short period of time, and others have lamented that McDavid’s career will be ruined in Edmonton.

On the other hand, one could say that the Oilers’ winning the draft lottery was good karma. They were one of the few teams that did not blatantly tank to try to land the top pick. The Oilers had the thirdbest chance to win the lottery. There were two teams with better odds: the Buffalo Sabres and Arizona Coyotes. Both the Sabres and Coyotes explicitly tanked to land the worst two spots. At the trade deadline, both teams traded most of their top players in order to lose more games.

The Oilers did not do this; in fact, they played hard until their final game. On the third-to-last game of the season, they defeated the Los Angeles Kings, effectively eliminating the Kings from the playoffs.

So, which group is right: the one that criticized the Oilers for not capitalizing on their number one picks, or the group that claims the Oilers have good karma for not blatantly tanking for a better pick?

Personally, I think that the Oilers should be rewarded for not giving up during the season. Yes, they have failed to succeed with their three current number one picks, but these players are not the same caliber as McDavid.

Touted as the next Sidney Crosby type-player, McDavid could be the franchise player to bring Edmonton back to its former greatness. Additionally, it is not necessarily the Oilers’ fault that their top players have not developed to their potential. They picked the best player available in each draft; they could not control the fact that the drafts in which they had the number one pick did not contain a franchisechanging talent.

Now, the Oilers’ draft lottery luck has occurred in one of the best draft classes in ages. McDavid can perhaps instantly turn the Oilers into contenders again. No more excuses. It is time for Edmonton to produce once and for all, or they will continue to be infamously known as the place where number one picks go to die.

SPORTS

Page 22

Anthony Pucik

April 29, 2015

Gregory Wagner

Senior Profile | Jordan Gajdos

By SAM BELDEN ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Windy City Whirlwind On Saturday April 25, the Chicago Blackhawks defeated the Nashville Predators 4-3 in Game 6 of their Western Conference Quarterfinal matchup in the Stanley Cup playoffs to win the series 4-2. Despite showing signs of dominance in the series, however, they do have a big question to answer before their next series: who is going to play in net?

Corey Crawford was the obvious choice at the start of the series because he was the starter all season long and his play got Chicago to where it was, but he was quickly pulled in Game 1 after giving up three goals on 12 shots in the first period. Enter Scott Darling, a rookie with 14 games of regular season experience, who managed to make the next 42 saves in the game, force overtime and take the first game of the series 4-3.

The Hawks decided to go back to Crawford in Game 2, which ended in a 6-2 loss.

The Hawks went with Darling for Game 3, and it proved to be the right decision, as Darling stopped 35 of 37 shots in a 4-2 victory for Chicago. Game 4 was much of the same, with Darling saving 50 of the 52 shots he faced in a 3-2 double OT victory. The first hiccup Darling suffered was in Game 5, when he gave up four goals on 28 shots in a 5-2 loss that made the series 3-2 Blackhawks.

Darling was given the nod in Game 6 at home, but he gave up three goals on 12 shots in the first, much like Crawford did in Game 1, and was pulled before the first ended. Crawford came in and stopped the 13 shots he faced and the Blackhawks made another amazing comeback in a 4-3 victory that gave them the series win, 4-2.

While Darling carried much of the load in the series, it was Crawford who started and finished it. So the question remains: who do the Blackhawks start in the Western Conference Semifinals? Crawford has won a Stanley Cup for Chicago, proving that he knows what it takes to win, but, aside from his Game 6 performance, he was severely underwhelming in the postseason.

Without Darling, there’s a good chance the Blackhawks might not be in the second round of the playoffs, but did his spectacular play finally run out?

These questions are very concerning if you are a Chicago fan.

Two things are certain in the Stanley Cup playoffs: it’s important to be hot heading in and a goalie can make or break your chances of winning the Cup. Despite defeating the Predators with this glorified goalie controversy surrounding them, it would be in the best interest of Chicago to have a concrete starter in its next series.

If they want to go with Crawford, they should go with Crawford, and if they choose to go with Darling that’s okay, too, but they cannot continue to rotate goaltenders if they want to have any hope of winning the Cup this season.

Jordan Gajos, listed at six-feetfive-inches and 210 pounds, plays first base and serves a designated hitter for Fordham baseball. The communication and media studies major from Montville, New Jersey, is a graduate of Montville Township High School, where he played varsity football and basketball as well as baseball. A converted pitcher, he is currently batting .303 with a home run and six RBIs. The Fordham Ram: How long have you been playing baseball?

Jordan Gajdos: Long time. I started playing tee-ball probably when I was five, and I guess I started really playing when I was seven or eight. So a lot of years.

TFR: Tell me a little about your recruitment process. What made you ultimately decide on Fordham?

Were there any other schools in the mix?

JG: I was a sophomore or junior in high school, playing in these pretty competitive summer leagues.

[Scouts would] just come see you play — we actually had a tournament at Fordham — and the coach that was here prior to our current coach was the one that recruited me. I played well enough for them to want me to come here. I loved the school. It was close to home, and it was an easy choice. But my brother, who’s three years older than me, played baseball at Lehigh, so he would have been a senior when I was a freshman. That was a pretty close call, but I think I kind of wanted to go my own route and come here.

TFR: What are your goals for the team as you look towards the rest of the season?

JG: Right now, we have four conference weekends left. We’re 6-6 [in conference play] right now, so we’ve got to win as many games as we can right now in conference and hopefully make the playoffs. From there, the tournament is anyone’s game, so once we get into the tournament,

Excitement in Flushing

COURTESY OF JORDAN GAJDOS

One of three seniors on the team, Gajdos has a crucial leadership role.

we can make a run for the A-10 Championship.

TFR: You’re a converted hitter, after primarily pitching for your first two years at Fordham. What was that transition like for you?

JG: It was pretty smooth. After my sophomore year, I hit in summer ball, and coming into the fall of my junior year, I felt good. I really didn’t feel too much of a difficult transition.

The coaches made it pretty easy by working with me and whatnot, so I really didn’t have too much of a problem with it.

TFR: You’re one of the few seniors on the team. Do you see yourself as having more of a leadership role?

JG: Yeah. I think anyone on any team that happens to be older kind of automatically assumes a role of leadership. I think it’s important to lead by example, so I think being one of the few seniors on the team, it’s important to step up and make sure your guys are doing the right thing and going about their business the right way.

TFR: Is there any particular moment from your Fordham career that really sticks with you, a favorite memory?

JG: I would say that last year was a lot of fun. It was the first time since I’ve been here that we were in the playoffs, so we went back to Saint Louis. We had a big playoff win, a walkoff win against Dayton, so that was a lot of fun. Competing in the playoffs was good, but hopefully, the best memories are still ahead in this year’s playoffs.

TFR: What are you going to miss the most about being at Fordham?

JG: Definitely just being around the guys. Just being on the team. You spend so much time in the locker room, in practice, at games, living with these guys. Things like the camaraderie can’t really be matched, so it’s definitely going to be weird not hanging out with them in the locker room and off the field and stuff.

TFR: What are your plans for after graduation?

JG: We’ll see. I don’t have a job lined up yet. I had an internship in the city last year, so we’ll see if something can come of that, but no plans right now. Just going to enjoy the rest of the season, enjoy the summer and take it from there.

Rowing Visits Murray-Weigel

By ALEXANDRIA SEDLAK STAFF WRITER

On April 8 and April 22, the women’s varsity crew team took a trip to Murray-Weigel to visit the Jesuit priests there. During this visit, the team had question and answer sessions with the Jesuits about Fordham rowing and Jesuit values. Pictures and footage of the team’s races and practices were also shown to the Jesuits, who were more than happy to learn about rowing and tell their own stories in return.

The reason why the team visited Murray-Weigel was to create a stronger bond between the student athletes and Jesuits living on the same campus. Senior captain Nicole Arrato believes that “The student-athletes were unaware of the wonderful individuals living in Murray-Weigel, and of the rich stories and knowledge possessed by these men.” The team enjoyed many conversations with the Jesuits, and they were able to both teach them about rowing and learn from their wisdom. The Jesuits were very curious about the sport of rowing, and asked questions regarding the structure

of a regatta, the details of a rowing stroke and the rules of rowing.

In return, the Jesuits told their own stories related to rowing and sports in general.

The Jesuits were delighted to hear from these wonderful young women about the rowing team’s experiences and their participation in the Fordham community.

Not only did the team thoroughly engage in graceful, light-hearted conversation with these men, but they also showed them pictures and videos of their races. The Jesuits, then, were able to both hear about and see the team’s hard work, dedication and success.

As the visit drew to an end, both the varsity team and the Jesuits thanked each other for listening and extending advice. The bond between the student athletes and the Jesuit community definitely grew stronger, and Father Dugan even asked to attend their next regatta.

Arrato had some touching final words on the team’s visit to Murray-Weigel:“The Jesuits expressed their gratitude for our visits, and we left Murray-Weigel with smiles on our faces. Many of us plan on returning to Murray-Weigel on an individual basis, to spend more time with the individuals there.”

COURTESY OF FODHAM ROWING

Rowing shows the importance of a bond between students and Jesuits.

Being from Philadelphia, it is somewhat taboo for me to root for or even appreciate any team from New York City. It is what it is — I will never be able to root for the New York Mets. However, I will turn my head on the trend that has arisen on the streets of the City of Brotherly Love and appreciate and admire what the Mets have done to this point in the season.

What the Mets have done to start off this 2015 season is unprecedented. They have quickly arisen from the depths of mediocrity to the cream of the crop by starting the season off with the best record in MLB. They have gotten to this point amid injury, playing without team captain David Wright, young pitching phenom Zack Wheeler and sophomore catcher Travis D’Arnaud. The efforts of lesser known players like Kevin Plaweki, Eric Campbell and Jeurys Familia have been highlighted with the starters down, a phenomenon that has never occurred for the Mets before. Through it all, they still sit atop the league with a record of 14-5 after going on a home-stand of 10 straight wins, with 11 straight wins in total.

Disbelievers continue to say that it is just April. Yes, it is just April. However, it is more than just numbers that this season’s Mets team is putting up; they are playing with an air of confidence and swagger that has been lacking in Citi Field these past few years,a stadium that has never been known to fill up has begun to crowd.

The electricity that has been lacking has begun to buzz again. The “Let’s go Harvey” chants have returned, and with it comes a new team with a swagger that has created a force to be reckoned with — the 2015 New York Mets.

The Mets yet again tied their club record of 11 straight wins at the beginning of this season. The last time they went on a streak that long was in 1990 from June 17 to June 29.

While this in itself is impressive, it is more impressive that it happened this early in the season. The last time the Mets got off to a start such as this one was in 1986. And, what happened in 1986? The Mets went on to win the World Series. While the World Series is still a long way off, the team’s future looks very promising.

Not only has the Mets’ record been atop the standings, but their team statistics have been at the top of the ranks as well. They have scored the second most runs in the National League, have the seventh best batting average, second most runs batted in and the seventh best OPS. Their pitching staff has also been strong.

Buoyed by the return of Matt Harvey, the Mets have the third lowest ERA in the league, the sixth most strikeouts and the fourth lowest batting against average in the league.

So, with all due respect to a team which I could never root for, I appreciate the competitiveness that the 2015 Mets have brought to the table.

A team that entered the season on the playoff bubble seems to be proving why they are better than that. And, let’s be honest, us Philadelphians do have some compassion. Every once in a while you have to give a round of applause to a New York City team.

SPORTS

April 29, 2015

Page 23

Men’s Tennis Falls To George Mason at A-10s

By DAVID BALICK

By DREW CASEY

STAFF WRITER

ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

On Thursday April 23, men’s tennis finished its season with a 4-0 loss to George Mason at the Atlantic-10 Championship.

With the loss, Fordham’s final record on the first season under new head coach Micahel Sowter was 3-13.

In the match, Fordham lost both of the finished doubles matches. Freshman Joey Brander and Senior J.J. Tauil fell in their matches 8-3 while Junior Pedro Alonzo and Freshman Joseph Kavaloski lost 8-1.

Doubles had been a strong area for the Rams in their fall season.

However, they struggled to find

quarterfinals, but fell to No. 2 seeded VCU in the semifinals.

For both Tauil and Peara, this match marked the end of their tenures with the Rams. They have been through a long ride at Fordham, having had three coaches in four seasons, but they both had some very bright moments as well.

While this may not have been the season the Rams were hoping to have, they still have many things to build on.

They were starting as many as four freshmen at times this season in their lineup. All of whom were gaining valuable experience.

PATRICK DOHERTY: THE FORDHAM RAM

a winning format for doubles in the spring. Coach Sowter tried mixing partners around, but they never quite found mashup they were looking for.

The Rams and the Patriots only completed two singles matches. Senior Max Peara lost his match 6-3, 6-3 and Brander fell in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0.

Mason did, however, win one other match, in which Tauil retired early in the second set.

Geroge Mason then went on to defeated No. 3 Davidson in the

Furthermore, freshman Pol Giraldez quickly emerged as Fordham’s No.1 player during the season, and will look to build on this strong first campaign in years to come.

Lastly, this was Coach Sowter’s first year as the head coach. Next year he will be able to bring in his own recruits and get a full year with the rest of the players on the team.

While this season may not have been ideal, there is plenty to come going forward from men’s tennis.

In just the first three weeks of the Major League Baseball season, Royals ace Yordano Ventura has arguably become the most hated player around the league.

Ventura, a Dominican Republic native and third year big leaguer, has started four games for last year’s American League pennant winner and has compiled a 2-1 record with a 4.09 ERA . On paper it appears that Ventura is having a fine season in Kansas City.

But that is not the case.

He has quickly become referenced as the disgrace of baseball.

In his four starts, Ventura has been in the middle of three benchclearing incidents, which does not happen by accident.

The narrative dates back to the twenty-three--year-old’s second start of the season against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. After allowing a base hit to star outfielder Mike Trout, Ventura had some words for the three-time all star as he trotted down to first base. It seemed a little unusual, but nothing came of it, and Albert Pujols stepped in to hit for the Halos.

Pujols doubled in Trout for the team’s second run of the game, and as Trout touched home, the fireworks began. Ventura shared some more greetings with Trout, who again did not take too kindly to them. The benches cleared as a result of the jawing and the incident blew over relatively peacefully.

Looking back though, it was just the beginning of something much bigger.

Ventura’s next start came six days later against Oakland at Kauffman Stadium, one day after Athletics third baseman Brett Lawrie’s controversial slide into second base injured Royals shortstop Alcides Escobar.

Trailing 5-0 in the fourth inning, Ventura plunked Lawrie with a fastball in the hip and was immediately ejected from the game. Shortly thereafter, the benches and the bullpens emptied, and a relatively calm altercation took place.

The ejection did not seem warranted, given the fact that warnings had not been issued in the game, but nonetheless occurred at the discretion of the umpires.

Even though I disagree with the decision and the subsequent fine to Ventura, this event previews what happened next.

Ventura got his next negative call on April 23 in Chicago against the White Sox. Cruising along, having only allowed two runs in the seventh inning, another bizarre event occurred.

With two outs in the seventh, White Sox outfielder Adam Eaton grounded a ball back to Ventura to end the inning. Ventura’s play was of slight difficulty and before throwing over to first to retire Eaton, the former 14-game winner taunted Eaton as he ran down the first base line.

It seemed as if Ventura took exception to the fact that Eaton hit a hard ground ball back to him or thought that he had made one of the best defensive plays of all-time. Regardless of Ventura’s mentality or the actual words that were exchanged between the two, Eaton did not take kindly to them and a brawl between the two sides ensued.

Five players were suspended as a result of the violent melee,

including a seven game ban for Ventura, but the incident brought up bigger questions than missing only a few games.

As a Royals player or supporter, how much of a liability on the field and as an image is Yordano Ventura?

As a Royals opponent, how do you now approach an at-bat against Yordano Ventura like any other plate appearance?

Can Yordano Ventura learn how to control his emotions and behave as a professional athlete on the field?

Honestly, I hope the sevengame suspension does the trick for his sake, the Royals’ sake and the league’s sake. If not, then Ventura’s career highlight tape will simply consist of bench-clearing incidents.

Out of all of this, there is only one thing that is certain. The Royals aren’t winning any new fans this season, at least not yet, thanks to Yordano Ventura.

COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA

Ventura was one player invovled in a brawl between the Royals and White Sox.

Varsity Calendar HOME

Saturday May 2

Sunday May 3

SBU 6:00 p.m.

SBU 2:00 p.m.

SBU Noon

Softball

George Mason (DH) Noon

George Mason Noon

Rowing

Atlantic 10 Championship

Baseball

RAM ARCHIVES

A first round exit in the Atlantic-10 tournament play ended the Rams’ season.

Thursday April 30

Friday May 1

AWAY

Track and Field

Tom Farrell Classic (Fri)/A-10 Champioinship

Monday May 4

Tuesday May 5

Wednesday May 6

A-10 Champs

SPORTS

Page 24

April 29, 2015

The Fordham Ram

Baseball Sweeps Saint Louis Behind Pitching

By SAM BELDEN ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Two weeks ago, Fordham baseball took two out of three games from George Washington on the strength of its pitching, which allowed just seven runs over the course of the 26 innings. Last week, the Rams continued the trend, surrendering just five runs over three games and completing a sweep of Atlantic 10 opponent Saint Louis. The three victories afforded Fordham some much-needed breathing room in the tightlybunched conference standings; it is currently tied for fifth, and only the top seven teams will qualify for the Atlantic 10 Championship.

Last Wednesday, the Rams kicked off the cycle by hosting Columbia.

While Fordham has made a habit out of beating the Lions in their yearly football matchup, the tables were turned in this year’s baseball game between the two schools.

Junior starting pitcher Cody Johnson gave up four runs in three innings, and his reliever, freshman Alex Hladik, surrendered six in less than one. In the bottom of the fourth inning, senior designated hitter Jordan Gajdos connected for a solo home run, his first of the season, but in the top of the fifth, junior pitcher Joseph Serrapica allowed Columbia to load the bases and watched Lions shortstop Randell Kanemaru hit a grand slam and extend his team’s lead to 13 runs. The next two innings were quiet ones offensively, but in the top of the eighth, freshman reliever Parker Barnell gave up two additional runs

CHRISTIAN WILOEJO/THE FORDHAM RAM

Winner of four straight A-10 series, the Rams look to make it five in a row when they host St. Bonaventure this weekend.

to Columbia’s potent offense. In the bottom of the ninth, junior infielder Tim O’Conner hit a two run shot, but those were the last runs of the game.

The final score stood at Columbia 16, Fordham 3.

With that lopsided loss in the rearview mirror, Fordham shifted its focus toward last weekend’s three game slate against Saint Louis. In the first game, the Rams got off to an early lead when shortstop Joseph DeVito doubled in the second inning, bringing home a pair of runs. While the Billikens cut Fordham’s lead in half with a run in the top of the fifth inning, the Rams responded in the bottom when junior third baseman Ian Edmiston hit a single to left center field, bringing home two more and

putting his team up by three. Sophomore starting pitcher Greg Weissert nearly lost his lead by surrendering a pair of RBI singles in the seventh and eighth innings, but junior reliever Jimmy Murphy, who has thrived since taking over closing duties for the Rams, secured the final five outs.

Fordham held on, winning the game by a score of four runs to three.

In the next game, Fordham got off to another fast start, loading up the bases in the bottom of the first inning. After junior catcher Charles Galiano made the first out of the frame, sophomore right fielder Mark Donadio reached first base on a fielder’s choice; everyone was safe, and junior second baseman Joseph Runco crossed the plate for the first

run of the game. Soon after, DeVito blasted a hit to left center. Realistically, it should have resulted in just two runs for the Rams, but a fielding error from Billikens center fielder Parker Snyatinski allowed Donadio to cross the plate and left DeVito standing at third base with two outs. While pitching to Gajdos, Saint Louis starting pitcher Josh Moore threw a wild pitch and allowed DeVito to score, resulting in his early exit from the game after just two thirds of an inning. At the end of the frame, Fordham had already taken a five run lead.

While junior starter Brett Kennedy surrendered a pair of runs to the Billikens in the third inning, those were the only ones that Saint Louis was able to score all game. Mean-

while, the Rams tacked on a pair of insurance runs. In the bottom of the third, junior left fielder Ryan McNally crossed the plate on a passed ball allowed by Saint Louis catcher James Morisano, and in the eighth, Runco slapped an RBI single, scoring O’Connor. Meanwhile, Kennedy stayed in for most of the game, lasting seven innings. Serrapica took the ball from him and finished the game, and the Rams took it by a score of seven runs to two.

The third and final game of the series was a hotly contested pitchers duel. In the third inning, Runco and sophomore first baseman Matthew Kozuch got on base and scored off of Galiano’s home run to left field, giving the Rams a three run lead.

Those were the first and last runs to cross the plate during the game. Billikens starter Matt Eckelman exited the game after that inning, but his reliever, Zach Girrens, was excellent, throwing five perfect innings the rest of the way. However, the damage was done. Fordham freshman starter Ben Greenberg threw eight scoreless innings, preventing Saint Louis from putting a dent in the relatively small lead. Serrapica pitched the ninth, picking up the save and completing the shutout as the Rams completed their sweep.

Once again, Fordham’s pitchers were the stars of the series. In 24 innings, they gave up just five runs, good for an ERA of 1.88.

“Our pitching has really turned it on,” said head coach Kevin Leighton.

“Pitching and defense gives you a chance to win every game.”

Softball Picks Up Three More Wins at Home

By ANTHONY PUCIK SPORTS EDITOR

The Fordham softball team went into this week with a 25-17 record and an 11-5 record in Atlantic 10 play. The team took a break from A-10 matchups in the middle of the week when it hit the road to battle the Hofstra University Pride on April 22.

Redshirt junior Rachel Gillen gave Fordham the early lead with an RBI single in the top of the first, but Hofstra quickly tied the game in the bottom of the inning off Rams’ senior starter Michele Daubman when they scored on an error to make it 1-1 after one inning. After that, it was all Hofstra.

The Pride scored five runs in the bottom of the third and one more in the fourth to take a 7-1 advantage. The game was called after the fifth inning due to thunderstorms, ending Fordham’s three-game winning streak. Daubman suffered the loss for the Rams, dropping her to 6-8 on the year, while Pride starter Morgan Lashley earned her 16th win (16-1).

The Rams returned home for an A-10 weekend series with the George Washington Colonials that started with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 25. In the first game, an RBI single by senior Kayla Lombardo and a sacrifice fly by redshirt junior Rachel Gillen gave Fordham an early 2-0 advantage.

The Rams tacked another run on in the bottom of the third when Gillen picked up her second sacrifice fly on the afternoon to make it 3-0. In the fifth, Fordham broke the game open with two three-run homeruns, one by senior Paige Ortiz and the other by sophomore Sydney Canessa, giving Fordham the 9-0 victory in five innings. Gillen picked up her 18th victory of the season (18-8) while Costlow earned the loss (14-17).

In the second game, the offense came alive early for the Rams again, with a 3-RBI single by Gillen in the first inning to take an early 3-0 lead. Fordham tacked on another run in the second on a fielder’s choice, but George Washington cut the lead in half in the top of the third on an RBI single and a throwing error that scored another run, making it 4-2 Rams.

Fordham responded in the bottom of the inning with a two-RBI sin-

gle by Canessa and an RBI single by sophomore Amy Van Hoven to go up 7-2. The Colonials broke through in the top off the fourth with a solo homerun off Daubman, but Daubman responded in the bottom of the inning with a homer of her own, a two run shot to give Fordham a 9-3 advantage.

The Rams were once again able to close out the game early in the bottom of the fifth with a 2-RBI double by Lombardo that made

DREW DIPANE/THE FORDHAM RAM

The softball team heads to George Mason this weekend before the Atlantic 10 Championship begins on May 6 at UMass.

it 11-3 Fordham, forcing the run rule to come into play. Daubman improved her record to 7-8 while Paige Kovalsky lost her third game of the season for George Washington (8-3).

In the final game of the series on Sunday, April 26, Canessa’s solo home run in the bottom of the first got the Rams the early lead once again. Fordham added two more runs in the second on a RBI walk for Canessa and a sacrifice fly by Van Hoven. A Mayer RBI double in the fourth made it 4-0 Rams.

Gillen pitched well once again for Fordham, surrendering only one run in the top of the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Megan Linn. Ianiro responded in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single, as Fordham took the game and completed the sweep, 5-1. Gillen grabbed her 19th victory of the season (19-8) while Kovalsky suffered another loss for the Colonials (8-4).

With their sweep the Rams find themselves a half game out of second place in the Atlantic 10, which would earn them a bye in the tournament. And with only one series remaining against George Mason this upcoming weekend, Fordham will need some help from other teams in order to take the second spot away from the St. Louis Billikens. Before, though, Fordham plays one final game at Bahoshy Field in the regular season against the St. John’s University Red Storm at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, April 29.