Volume 97 Issue 6

The Fordham Ram Serving The Fordham dh University Community Since 1918 Volume 97, Issue 6

FordhamRam.com

March 4, 2015

New Budget Rules Passed at SLC Meeting

Apology Issued After ‘Loaded’ Term in Alert

By LAURA SANICOLA NEWS EDITOR

By JOE VITALE

United Student Government’s Budget Committee is in the midst of several “major changes” concerning the budgeting process for Fall 2015, according to an email sent to club leaders on Monday, March 4.

The revisions, which were approved on Wednesday, Feb. 25 by the Student Life Council, include new guidelines for determining the reliability of new contracts and new funding for prizes for specific organization events. Also, for the current semester, an additional $67,000 in funds will become available to clubs starting next budget day, according to another email sent to club leaders.

The changes come after a series of articles by The Fordham Ram regarding budget allocations and their effects on student life, which was discussed during the latest SLC meeting.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

CASEY CHUN/ THE FORDHAM RAM

After UNC Shooting, Mourning As One Fordham students across faiths gathered to commemorate the lives of three Muslim students who were killed at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in February. Page 3

SEE BUDGET, PAGE 6

CSA Aims to Link Up with SILC

By ERIN SHANAHAN ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

enhance curricular and programmatic initiatives across the A&S schools and colleges,” the email stated. “His focus will include interdisciplinary ventures at the undergraduate level that capture the dynamism of such collaborations among the graduate schools.”

There also will be additional emphasis on strengthening science education to address the growing undergraduate interest in STEM fields, according to the announcement.

Along with Harrington’s appointment, Freedman briefed the community on two ongoing searches for administrators in the school of arts and sciences.

The search for the dean of the graduate school of arts and science (which is currently occupied by in-

After a promising meeting with Dean Rodgers and the collection of student signatures last week, the Commuter Life Committee’s (CLC) initiative for more commuter participation in Integrated Learning Communities on campus has been formally supported by the Student Life Council (SLC). The campaign focused specifically on the Jogues Science Integrated Learning Community (SILC). CLC, in cooperation with the Commuting Students Association (CSA), began to collect information regarding student interest in the program last Wednesday, Feb. 18 through a petition. In addition, SLC voted to support the initiative that day. The petition had 240 signatures as of Sunday — “which isn’t bad for two days of work,” said Alex Frank, FCRH ’16, executive vice president of CSA. The petition comes in response to widespread discontent among commuters, who have reported difficulty in attempting to participate in ILC activities. The only ILC that currently allows commuter integration is the Manresa Program, based in Loyola Hall. In Manresa, commuters can utilize and participate in the the ILC’s resources, such as tutoring and programs, but commuter-specific problems — including attending tutoring and events after hours — have yet to be addressed. In addition, although the Manresa program is all encompassing, many commuters wish that

SEE ADMIN, PAGE 3

SEE CSA, PAGE 2

MICHAEL REZIN/ THE FORDHAM RAM

The Office of the Provost announced several changes, including the appointment of Dean Rapaccioli as Dean of Gabelli.

With New Deans and Gabelli Unified, Fordham Charts Its Future

By JOE VITALE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

During the first full week of the spring semester, the university disclosed a flurry of changes and updates regarding the university’s scheduling, administration and future plans.

The announcements — which arrived in a series of emails — were signed by Fordham’s Provost, Stephen Freedman, who expounded on crucial modifications to the university hierarchy, praised the work of the newly appointed deans and urged community members to anticipate a more vibrant future for Fordham.

Some changes — like the scheduling modifications — were expected by students and faculty, though others were presented as critical to the university’s success.

Still, the handful of reports were emblematic of an ongoing redesign of the university structure amid what Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the university, in November called “financial and demographic challenges” for the university.

In an indication of efforts to unify the schools of arts and sciences, Freedman announced that Dr. John P. Harrington, the current dean of arts and sciences faculty, will assume the additional title of associate vice president for arts and sciences education in July 2015.

With the new title, Harrington is said to create a “unified voice” for the schools of arts and science and increase integration within the various schools.

“Dr. Harrington will continue to chair the Council of Deans of Arts and Sciences and work collaboratively to

A Public Safety alert sent on Thursday regarding an assault in an off-campus housing location drew criticism from many students, who, in response to a particular word choice, raised questions about insensitivity and issues of cultural and racial identity on both sides of Fordham’s gates.

The email in question described a reported incident inside a Fordham housing location at 2486 Arthur Avenue, where a student was assaulted by two individuals described as “two male blacks, one wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and black pants and the other wearing a red coat and red sweat pants.”

The two assailants reportedly fled in a black minivan following the incident.

After reading the alert, which was sent around 4 p.m., some students opted to directly email Fordham’s senior director of communications, Bob Howe, about the emails wording.

Students contested that dubbing the individuals as “blacks” was disparaging, if archaic.

Tochi Mgbenwelu, FCRH ’15, president of the Black Student Alliance at Rose Hill, was one of several students to email Howe.

“I find your choice of words, ‘male blacks,’ quite offensive,” she wrote to Howe. “The term ‘blacks’ has been used to degrade, vilify and dehumanize black people for centuries. Whilst I understand and completely agree that one’s race, amongst other details, should be a means of identifying them in such situations, choosing to define them as ‘blacks’ is archaic and distasteful.”

“You need to be aware of your privilege as a white male with authority on this campus,” Mgbenwelu continued, before suggesting, should there be a next time, that he “refer to them as either black or African American and not ‘blacks.’”

Anna Holt, FCRH ’17, a repSEE SECURITY, PAGE 7

in this issue

Opinion

Page 9

Why Depression Rates Increase Among Freshmen

Culture

Page 15

Protrayal of LGBTQ Celebrities in Media

Sports

Page 20 Softball Tops Ranked Opponents

NEWS

Page 2

PUBLIC SAFETY BRIEFS

March 4, 2015

Journal From Abroad

After Apartheid, Inequality Persists

Feb. 24 Lombardi Center 7 p.m.

A student placed her belongings under a wooden bench in the locker room and went to the pool.

When she returned, she found her belongings thrown across the locker room and cash taken from her wallet. Public Safety is investigating.

Feb. 25 2486 Arthur Ave. 2 p.m.

A Fordham student was assaulted by an individual known to him in his off-campus apartment.

Both Fordham Public Safety and the NYPD responded. The student suffered from facial injuries and was taken to Saint Barnabas Hospital where he was treated and released. NYPD is investigating.

Feb. 27 Loyola Hall 12 p.m.

A student reported missing clothing from the laundry room.

When he returned after several days, his sweatshirt and socks were missing. An unknown individual had removed his items from the dryer. Public Safety is investigating.

March 1 Champs Bar 3 a.m.

Public Safety received information that a student had taken a jacket belonging to another student that contained their room key. The jacket was retrieved. The matter was referred to the dean of students.

March 3 Southern Boulevard Gate 2:25 a.m.

An intoxicated individual who was not a member of the Fordham community entered campus through the main campus entrance and was stopped by Public Safety. NYPD was notified, but prior to their arrival, the man was identified and directed to leave campus.

—Compiled by Cailin McKenna, Assistant News Editor

CSA Pushes To Fuse With SILC FROM CSA, PAGE 1

SHANNON MARCOUX/ THE FORDHAM RAM

Student abroad in Fordham’s Pretoria program take note of the beauty and extreme poverty in the area.

By SHANNON MARCOUX STAFF WRITER

SOUTH AFRICA — When we first arrived in South Africa, I was not sure at all what to expect.

Driving from the airport in Johannesburg to our house in Pretoria, we saw zebras along the side of the highway in a nature preserve where we would later go hiking.

Maybe this would really be like The Lion King? Although we did get to spend time petting lions and giraffes, I quickly found out that, with 11 official languages and at least a dozen distinct cultures, there was far more to South Africa than the amazing animals and beautiful landscape.

Countless people have told us that there are two South Africas: a wealthy, urban and suburban South Africa and a more rural, incredibly impoverished South Africa.

We live in Hatfield, a section of Pretoria comprising of the University of Pretoria and the surrounding area. We stay at a bed and breakfast with beautiful gardens and a pool, and we work out at the facility where the Argentinian soccer team trained and stayed during the World Cup. Our neighborhood is notably safe and is home to dozens of shops, bars and restaurants.

In our free time, we have gone to a blues festival at a world heritage site, joined a drum circle, visited a Buddhist temple for Chinese New Year and enjoyed many of the other fun things that Pre-

toria and “Joburg,” an expression for Johannesburg, have to offer. As part of our itinerary in the coming months, we will go on a safari, whitewater raft in Swaziland, hike Table Mountain, explore Cape Town, hang on the beach in Durban, camp in the Drakensberg Mountains in Lesotho and road trip through several countries in southern Africa to cap off our semester.

Our program has all the makings of a traditional study abroad experience: traveling, great food, nightlife and cultural experiences.

However, every country has good parts and bad parts. The touristfriendly areas and areas where the gritty realities of everyday life are far more apparent. The Ubuntu program has given me the unique opportunity of fully engaging with both.

Twice a week, I travel about 40 minutes outside the city to Sjambok primary school in the semirural village of Erasmus, a place where these gritty realities are ever-present.

Erasmus’ location leaves it outside of any city’s jurisdiction, which means the village does not benefit from public services such as waste management or a police department. All matters go through the village’s leader, who makes the ultimate decision for the community. Many of the people who live in the village rely on job opportunities provided by the federal government and on government welfare income.

The students at the primary

school receive a small meal in the mid-morning, which for some is the only meal they will eat that day. Due to a shortage of teachers, the students are often left completely unsupervised and instructed to complete a worksheet or read silently.

Studies have shown that despite higher education funding and better trained teachers, South African students perform significantly worse than students in many of their neighboring countries due to this lack of teacher presence in the classroom. The issues of poverty, unemployment and inadequate education visibly manifest themselves in the Erasmus community.

It is often incredibly difficult to reconcile these two starkly different worlds. The inequality is obvious, both visually, as you drive from the city and suburbs to the townships to the rural areas, and statistically, given that South Africa has the highest Gini coefficient (a standardized international measure of inequality) of any nation.

Though observing such inequality and segregation is uncomfortable — one of our professors told us a story of one time it made her physically sick — it can conjure thoughts of the United States’ own issues with division, inequality and segregation.

People have said that being in South Africa is like looking at the U.S. in a mirror. It is easy to note the differences while studying abroad, but noticing the similarities can be just as eye-opening and rewarding.

they were able to be a part of something more. “We felt that the ILC request was necessary,” Frank added, “because commuters did not previously have access to such a strong program and community in the hard sciences, like SILC.” Initially, CLC brainstormed ideas to allow commuters to fully experience the ILC at Fordham. “At first, we thought about starting an allcommuter ILC,” said Frank. “However, the goal of CSA is not only to support commuters, but integrate them among the on campus residents — which an ILC just for commuters wouldn’t do.” As a result, the committee found it more feasible to expand on the already existing program, SILC. “A few of our members who used to be on the pre-med prehealth track,” Frank added, “wished they had the opportunity themse lves, [to be a part of SILC] because they felt it would have helped their understanding and success in the sciences overall.”

Last week, members of the group met with Rodgers to present their written proposal, which proposal consisted of three main requests.

The first was that a preliminary group of commuting students will be allowed to participate in SILC in the Fall 2015 semester. No commuter quota would be implemented, but acceptance of 15-20 students was suggested. Secondly, the same academic standards and programming fees would be applied to commuting students as their resident counterparts. Lastly, additional tutoring would be offered at more commuter-friendly hours, such as from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. CLC also suggested that Fordham consider commuting students for on-campus employment as tutors in order to accommodate these extra tutoring hours.

CLC believes that these requests are not impractical, especially when considering that the Jogues building itself is already commuter-friendly.

The building has a door that grants access to the SILC classroom but not the living quarters of the building.

Frank and Joseph Guarnaccia, FCRH ’16, the CLC co-chairs, and CSA Executive President Jessica Giglio will be meeting on March 4 to discuss their proposal further at the next CLC meeting. They also hope to hear back from Rodgers regarding the proposal soon.

This Week at Fordham Friday March 6

Saturday March 7

Disney Ball

Verbal Essences Show

McGinley Ballroom 7 p.m.

The Cinderella Ball will be held this Friday night at 7 p.m. This formal winter event hosted by the The Ballroom Dance Club will feature the music of Walt Disney’s films. Dancers interested in attending the event should come in formal attire.

Blackbox Theater 8 p.m.

Fordham’s spoken word group, Verbal Essences, is hosting its second show of the semester. The group, which is a part of Fordham Experimental Theatre, writes and performs original poems for it’s shows.

Saturday March 7

Sunday March 8

Feminist Playwright’s Festival

Fordham Neighborhood Tree Survey

Collins’ Auditorium 9 p.m.

Dealy 101 1 p.m.

USG is hosting an event that consists of individuals surveying the neighborhood for areas lacking trees and greenery. The information gathered will be sent to MillionTreesNYC. Participants will be provided with specific routes to survey as well as light refreshments.

Women’s Empowerment is hosting a playwright’s festival with original works by Fordham students. The shows will also be performed Sunday at 2 p.m. and 9 p.m. The event is free.

For more campus events, visit FordhamRam.com

Sunday March 8 WAC Bingo Keating 1st 9 p.m.

Monthly bingo at 9 p.m. in Keating 1st will be hosted by The Weekend Activities Committee. Although all additional boards cost $1, the first is free. Three rounds of bingo will be played and there will be multiple winners.

NEWS

March 4, 2015

Page 3

Interfaith Prayer Vigil Held to Honor UNC Students

By EDDIE MIKUS STAFF WRITER

Fordham University’s Muslim Student Association conducted an interfaith prayer vigil in the McGinley Center on Feb. 25 to memorialize the shooting deaths of three Muslim students at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.

The incident occurred on Feb. 10, 2015, when Deah Shaddy Barakat, 23, Yusor Mohamad Abu-Salha, 21, and Razan Mohamad AbuSalha, 19, were shot at the Finley Forest Condominium Complex, a location near the University of North Carolina that serves as a popular residence for the university’s students.

While the shooting was originally labeled as a dispute over a parking space, the alleged killer, Craig Stephen Hicks, had made anti-religious posts on a social media page.

As a result, a federal inquiry has begun in order to identify whether the matter should be classified as a hate crime.

During the vigil, student body representatives from the Muslim, Hindu and Christian faiths offered prayers from their respective traditions for the victims. Additionally, the vigil also featured a segment in which students recited memorial poems for the deceased, and those in attendance were requested to

sign a peace banner.

Conor O’Kane, Fordham’s director of interfaith programs, attended the service and discussed his reactions with the Fordham Ram. “I thought it was a very positive gathering, and it was very prayerful, and very reverent, and very meaningful,” O’Kane said. “And it was a powerful response of remembrance and love in the face of a terrible tragedy. It was an opportunity for folks to gather together to share their thoughts, their prayers at a time when their hearts were heavy and to come together under the banner of peace.”

Bushra Mian, FCRH ’15, copresident of the Muslim Student Association, said that the incident had special poignance to her due to the age of the victims.

“I was taken aback by the tragedy,” Mian said in an interview with The Fordham Ram. “It’s always hard to take, no matter who dies, Muslim or non-Muslim. But, I think just knowing that they were students close to our age, like I can relate to them. It was really hard to take it.”

Mian further told The Fordham Ram that she felt the vigil would help bring the university community closer.

“I feel like it brings us together, and it definitely helps us realize that we need to stand up for each other and have each other’s back

CASEY CHUN/ THE FORDHAM RAM

The Muslim Student Association held a vigil to honor the lives of three victims of a UNC shooting in early February.

and support each other,” Mian said. “I think it’s really important to have these vigils and prayers to grieve together, mourn together, because at the end of the day, we need to be there for each other.”

Mian’s co-president, Rahitul Bhuyian, FCRH ’15, said that he believed the vigil would benefit the members of Fordham’s Muslim community.

“Other people will see that, just like the three victims, we are just regular people living our life here and it may make them more comfortable in a sense,” said Bhuyian.

“But, until the community builds and sort of reaches out to other communities and sort of builds connections there, there’s always going to be some tension between them.”

Investment Banking Society Nears Club Approval

KELLYN SIMPKINS/ THE FORDHAM RAM

The proposed Investment Banking Society is a mentorship program for students interested in the banking industry.

By ANDREW MORSE STAFF WRITER

The Investment Banking Society, a club proposed by Craig Barone, GSB ’15, has been approved

by USG. The club will now move on in the approval process to the Dean’s office.

The goal of the Investment Banking Society is to help Fordham students who are interested in the banking industry to network, learn technical skills and give back to the Fordham community.

Barone got the idea for the club from his work experience.

“I got a job at UBS with their leveraged finance and financial sponsor’s team,” said Barone. “I was mentoring three students at Fordham. I figured why not make this on a larger scale? I wanted to create a club.”

The structure of the club is designed so that upperclassmen and students with more work experience can help mentor and teach

younger students. “It is more geared to younger students, and we have weekly meetings,” said Barone. “We have a panel of mentors including me and five other students, and we assigned mentors to each club member.”

The Investment Banking Society focuses on giving students the skills and experience they will need to work in the banking industry.

“We really promote interaction, and a lot of the work we do happens outside of the meetings,” said Barone. “We want to make them be active in terms of learning, participating and giving presentations.”

Barone continued, mentioning some of the activities in which the club partakes, “we do mock interviews, we give them material to read, help them learn how to network, help with classes and with the technical and math knowledge like modeling. We really prep people for interviews.

We want to get them 200 percent

ready.”

The club is also in the middle of a competition in which participants must create a financial model for the New York-based fashion designer Michael Kors.

Barone hopes that former club members and alumni will be able to give back to the Investment Banking Society when they are out in the work force.

“We had a managing director from CitiGroup who is a Fordham alumnus come to me and say he wants to recruit directly from Fordham, and it turned into one student getting an offer,” said Barone. “It is hard to break into the industry without a mentor, and I know that when I was a freshman I would have loved to have had that.”

A key problem facing the Investment Banking Society moving forward is that the club’s founders are seniors this year.

“Right now I am the president, and Jackson Mills is the vice president,” said Barone. “Levi Glick

will be our president next year, and Alex Liebert will be our vice president. We are in a phase-out period for the seniors. We will be handing it down to Alex and Levi.

We have a lot of turnover with seniors this year.”

James McCann, a professor of finance and business economics, serves as the club’s faculty advisor. He has served as a valuable resource for the club.

“Professor James McCann is the faculty advisor, and he helps to get us a lot of guest speakers including the chief risk officer from UBS,” said Barone. “We use professor McCann a lot to market ourselves.”

The club started out running informally for the past year, and the founders are looking forward to achieving approved club status.

“When we first started, it was not that many people, but now in a given meeting it is usually around 40 people or so, but some events we get up to about 70 people,” said Barone. “When we first started, we would send email blasts to finance related classes and tell them what we are all about. We haven’t marketed anything in the past year, because we haven’t had to. The amount of members has increased exponentially.”

Barone is excited for the potential of the Investment Banking Society to help Fordham students within the industry. He hopes the club’s structure will lead to underclassmen learning from upperclassmen and upperclassmen having access to opportunities from alumni and former members.

“The key thing is the mentorship aspect. That sets us apart; we are very interactive,” said Barone.

O’Kane offered a positive perspective on the results of the prayer vigil.

“I’m glad that we were able to come together as a community to mourn the loss of the three students at Chapel Hill and then pray for the future that they sought and that we seek,” O’Kane said. “A world that is defined by mercy and love.”

Changes to Admin Announced FROM ADMIN, PAGE 1

-terim dean Dr. Eva Badowska) is expected to be completed in spring 2015. The school’s chief research officer (currently occupied by interim dean Dr. Amy Tuininga) is expected to be completed near Jan. 2016.

The roles were once under one single position, but a separation of the roles was announced in Oct. 2014.

In addition to changes in arts and sciences, the university announced last week that Fordham’s Gabelli School of Business is now unified and will be housed in Hughes Hall, and at two Lincoln Center locations.

The unification was announced in The New York Times, on Feb. 25, through a full-page Gabelli School of Business ad featuring a photo of Mario Gabelli with a group of undergrads. The bottom of the ad displays a Dean Donna Rappaccioli, the newly appointed dean for the combined undergraduate and graduate programs The announcements follow two previous appointments this year: Virginia Roach, Ed.D. was announced as dean of the Graduate School of Education, and Matthew Diller was announced as the dean of Fordham School of Law in January.

Updates on the administration were accompanied by two revisions to the spring calendar.

To make up for three Monday cancellations, Wednesday, April 1 and Thursday, April 30 (originally a reading day) both will follow a Monday schedule of undergraduate classes.

Friday, May 1—the second of what was scheduled to be two reading days—will remain a reading day.

ADS

Page 4

March 4, 2015

SWANSTROM-BAERWALD AWARD 2015 To be Awarded to Sarah J. Weber, IPED ’05 for Excellence in the Service of Faith through the Promotion of International Peace and Development

Wednesday, March 4, 2015 • 5:30 PM

IPED

Open to the Public

Keating Hall, First Floor Auditorium • Fordham University, Bronx, NY

CATHOLIC RELIEF SERVICES: THE FIGHT AGAINST AIDS, TB AND MALARIA WELCOME:

Joseph M. McShane, S.J., President of Fordham University

AWARD CONFERRAL:

His Eminence Timothy Cardinal Dolan Past Chair of the Board of Catholic Relief Services

PRESENTATION:

Ms. Sarah Weber, IPED ’05 CRS Senior Advisor: Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria

RECEPTION:

To follow in the Keating Hall Rotunda Sarah Weber

Niger Burkina Faso

BENIN

Togo

USAID photo; background landscape: Wikimedia Creative Commons

Nigeria

Health workers instruct villagers on the use of bednets to prevent malaria.

FORDHAM IPED | FORDHAM’S GRADUATE PROGRAM IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL ECONOMY AND DEVELOPMENT Dealy Hall E-517 • 441 East Fordham Road • Bronx, New York 10458 Tel. 718.817.4064 • Email: iped@fordham.edu • iped.fordham.edu

NEWS

March 4, 2015

Page 5

Fordham In The Bronx

BX12: The Quickest Way to the Top

By JEFF COLTIN BRONX CORRESPONDENT

Fordham Road has a particular way of being altered by the weather, turning even the most pleasant phenomenon into something much worse. A sunny day turns it into the Sahara, and a trek to the subway becomes an arduous and sweaty journey. A gentle snow makes the road a ski jump, and a slippery trip down the hill on your behind is only one misplaced step away. Rain turns the road into Sea World, where every taxi becomes a whale, trained to spray the innocent guests watching on the sidelines.

There is only one fix for Fordham students getting back and forth from the subway lines — the BX12. But to many students, New York City’s bus system is a mystery.

"I found about it this year, and I'm a junior. I've been here three years!” said Rebecca Morrison, GSB ’16. “So, it would've been nice to know before."

Now, Morrison takes the bus to and from the subway six times a week when traveling to her internship at a makeup startup in Manhattan. After years of not knowing about the BX12, she has become quite passionate about the way it saves time on her commute.

“The bus changed my life because I got an extra five minutes of sleep,” Morrison said. “I can actually go and get a bagel. The bus really changed my life. It's made me lazy!"

COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA

Many students are unaware of free transfers from the Bx12 bus that make the trip from Fordham to the subway easier.

There are actually two different busses. The standard, or regular bus, makes multiple stops along Fordham Road immediately south of campus and continues making stops every few blocks as it continues west, including stops near the D train station at Grand Concourse and the 4 train station on Jerome Ave. The alternate option is the BX12 Select Bus Service, or SBS. This bus — usually a newer model with special blue decals — makes many fewer stops, serving as an express option to get riders long distances more quickly.

The SBS makes only one stop near Rose Hill: along Fordham

Road, immediately south of Walsh Library a quick walk from the Third Avenue gate. That bus goes straight to the D train, and then the 4, with no other stops in between.

Payment differs between the busses too. The BX12 regular requires the rider to dip their Metro Card on the bus, while the SBS, in order to save time, has riders swipe in at the bus stop and asks only for straphangers to carry a proof-ofpayment receipt.

Those payment systems hide the BX12’s best-kept secret among Fordham students: it is a free transfer from the bus to the subway. The Metro Card stores information, “remembering” that a rider took

the bus, so when it is swiped again at the subway turnstile, no more money is charged — $2.50 for the whole trip.

Crystal Gonzalez, GSB ’17, had just learned about the free transfer from her friend Alex Laird, FCRH ’17. The pair was interviewed waiting for the D train on a particularly cold February morning, but they had elected to walk the whole way rather than take the bus.

“I convinced her not to take the bus today because I wanted to walk," said Gonzalez. "I like [the walk] up[hill] better. I feel like it goes so much faster. You look around, see what's going on.”

That walk up the hill is not short.

A charitable estimate puts the distance from Rose Hill’s freshman residences halls to the D train at a little over a half mile. If you are walking from O’Hare Hall, or one of the off-campus residences, the walk is closer to a mile — and it can feel like even more.

“I never realize how hard I’m working until I get to that last block [Valentine Ave.] when it starts to level out and all of a sudden it hits me at once,” said Alex DeSimine, GSB ’15, in a phone interview. “I realize that I’ve been walking pretty fast uphill… kind of sneaks up on you.”

DeSimine has been taking the BX12 since his freshman year, and bears a warning for any less-experienced bus-riders: Always pay, even if it is a free transfer.

“I was in a rush headed to work and I hopped on the BX12 [SBS] because it happened to be perfect timing — it arrived just as I got to the stop,” he said. “Turns out the timing wasn’t so perfect because when I got off the stop, there were police officers at every exit. I was the first one to get off — I was right in front of the door — so there was no escaping it. I tried to play the ‘dumb college freshman”’card, but it didn’t work.”

The weather is not the only thing that seems to change on Fordham Road. Sometimes, it turns a short bus ride into a trip to the bank.

DeSimine continued: “I got charged 100 bucks because I didn’t pay $2.50.”

Campus Briefs & Bites New Dean of Gabelli School of Business

Campus Ministry Hosts Hunger Banquet

Gabelli Installs Chair In Global Security Analysis

The Office of the Provost announced the appointment of Donna M. Rapaccioli as dean of Fordham’s unified undergraduate and graduate business programs. Previously, Rapaccioli, a Gabelli graduate, has served as the dean of the undergraduate school and as the interim dean of the Graduate School of Business. Rapaccioli received her masters and doctorate in accounting from New York University’s Stern School of Business. She has been a member of the Fordham faculty since 1987 and was appointed a university professor in 2010. Over the past year, she has been in charge of the unification process and overseen the development of a new business curriculum, including a new Ph.D. program. Through her new position, she will unify Gabelli, which will be housed across the two campuses as well as the graduate business program.

Campus Ministry hosted a hunger banquet on Monday, March 2 in the McGinley Center. The event was designed to provide a hands-on experience for students to learn about food and wealth distribution in the world.

Students brought donations of canned or nonperishable foods. The event was co-sponsored by Global Outreach and the Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice. All proceeds from the event were donated to Part of the Solution (POTS), a community organization. POTS’ one-stop shop located in the Bronx provides food to low-income families and promotes stability and self-sufficiency. The event is part of a series of social justice programs being held in March.

Sris Chatterjee, Ph.D., had his formal installation and inaugural lecture as the Gabelli Chair in Global Security Analysis this past Thursday Feb. 26. The event took place at Duane Library in the Tognino Hall. The event consisted of a lecture dealing with “The Evolution of Value Investing” as well as a reception afterwards. Chatterjee was named the inaugural Gabelli Chair in Global Security Analysis as of Sep. 1, 2014. Chatterjee had been a professor in the finance and business economics area at Fordham. Chatterjee taught not only at the undergraduate level, but also graduate and executive MBA levels. At the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagour, he received his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering. His postgraduate work in management was done at Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.

CSA Career Carnival Career Services hosted an event for students looking to improve first impressions in the job market. The event, which took place this past Wednesday, Feb. 25th. was run by Fordham Career ambassadors, of students who work with Fordham’s office of Career Services to help facilitate information between the office and the undergraduate student body. At the event, students perfected many skills necessary to succeed in the competitive employment. These skills included mail etiquette and elevator pitch tips. In addition, at the event pictures were taken for students LinkedIn profiles and a lesson was given teaching students to access the alumni database.

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

Obituary

Robert Hinkle, 67, Beloved Library Employee

By JEFF COLTIN BRONX CORRESPONDENT

Just two weeks ago, Robert Hinkle was there to support me.

I was facing down a deadline — a reflection on Intelligent Design was due in an hour and I had not started writing. I sat down in the copy room on the first floor of the library for close access to the printers, and Bob was there, like always.

He had first helped me three years ago when, as a fresh-faced freshman, I was staring at the library printer in utter confusion. He

walked me through it, explaining the deceptively simple process of clicking, typing, swiping and tapping that results in a printed paper.

Since then, he was always good for a smile, a quick hello and sometimes a question about what you were working on.

This last time was no different.

When my furious typing paused for a moment, Bob asked what I was working on. It was a simple question, but it meant a lot to a student under the gun. It helped clarify my thoughts, and planted the idea that I was not totally alone

in this struggle. People were on my side and cared about what I had to write.

And, it was not just me. In my 60 minutes in the copy room, he talked to everyone that passed though.

Some just exchanged a quick ‘hello’ and ‘how are you’ and others got into conversations. One talked about how her semester was going; another, a football player, confided in Bob that he was sad to see the season — and his career — end. It may have been small talk, but you got the impression that Bob was truly interested in what was going

on in your life.

Despite all this, I barely knew the man. I never knew his name until I saw his desk in the copy room last week, empty except for a message announcing his death.

Bob who was born on June 18, 1947 passed away at home on Feb. 21. He had worked at the Fordham Library, both Duane and Walsh, since 1986.

He had an appetite for learning, attending St. Peter's College undergrad and receiving a Masters from Queens College while pursuing further graduate studies at SUNY

Binghamton. He loved to paint, speak French, talk politics and fish for striped bass.

He may best be remembered in his own words, quoted in a March 10, 2004 Fordham Ram article profiling the unsung heroes of Fordham.

When asked his favorite part of working in the library, Mr. Hinkle remarked: "The best part is interacting with the students, faculty and staff.

“It keeps me awake and alive, holds body and soul together,” he said.

NEWS

Page 6

March 4, 2015

Rose Hill in Retrospect

In 1967, Students Petition for Info on Contraceptives

By JOE VITALE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The Fordham student who inquired about contraception was not surprised when, within a moment’s time, she was given a hailstorm of reasons why the matter could not be discussed.

The staff doctor at Rose Hill’s infirmary told the student she was too young to begin taking birth control. Plus, to be unmarried and taking the pill, the doctor told her, would be against Catholic Church teachings. Providing her any information, he said, would be placing himself at the center of illicit extramarital relations.

The student would have to seek advice beyond the campus gates.

This, at least, was according to an unnamed student who spoke with a reporter from The Fordham Ram in 1967.

She was relaying an interaction with which many female students were familiar while attending Thomas More College, Fordham’s women’s college, which had opened only three years earlier.

With around 700 women on campus, the matter was taking a toll on the growing population of female students at Rose Hill, though it would not be long before students took action.

Either out of frustration or necessity — though likely both — a group of sophomore students circulated a petition requesting that a qualified doctor be available for information regarding contraceptives.

During the first week, the petition made the front page of The Ram in an article written by student Leo M. J. Mangalviti.

Along with general concerns about health, The Ram cited “a recent rash of pregnancies on the campus as motivation behind the student project,” though no numbers could be confirmed.

Still, this newspaper reported that there had been 175 signatures within just a few days. Many of the signees — all women — sympathized with the account of the student who was denied information by Fordham’s staff doctor.

Additionally perplexing for the students, The Ram reported there was “much confusion and ignorance about conception which can result in unwanted pregnancies.”

Students in support of the petition suggested that it would be wiser and safer to help female students seek contraception, rather than “to try to solve the problem after it happened.”

Many students, including this

newspaper’s editorial board, felt that proper information about contraceptives was vital for female students.

“Those who need help in this realm should be able to turn to the university community, for it is in this community that they have immersed themselves — a community which seeks to foster their development as a whole educated person,” the editorial stated. “We are not advocating promiscuity. We are not making a value judgement on the act itself. But to refuse information, or the channels to it is to only compound an existing problem.”

The petition appeared to be met with questions — though not outright denial — from both Dr. Martin Meade, the thenacting dean of Fordham College, as well as Dr. Patricia Plante, the then-acting dean of Thomas More College.

Just before students broke for summer recess, however, the university complied and the story landed on the front page of the May 11, 1967 edition of The New York Times, under the headline “Fordham to Give Seminars on Sex.” “Fordham University will begin a program of ‘full and candid’ sex education in the fall, including lectures on contraceptive devices,” the article stated.

The announcement was made during a meeting in Keating Hall between a group of students and Dean Meade.

All discussions and talks, the university said, would follow the theme “The Permanent Relation Between Mature Man and Mature Woman” and speakers would include psychiatrists, sociologists, physiologists and theologians.

The New York Times reiterated that the program did not mean a departure from the Church’s teachings. Still, Fordham’s program would include “information on contraceptive devices as part of the whole series of sex education.”

Fordham would go on to be the first major Roman Catholic school to undertake what it called a “frank discussion of sex.”

Citing the story explained in The Ram, one student who helped organize the petition told The New York Times: “That’s why there’s a need for a birth-control educational program.”

“We shouldn’t be uninformed,” the student said. “We should know.”

A column about the people and events that shaped Fordham’s history.

Email: jvitale9@fordham.edu

Don’t Forget to Recycle the Ram

CASEY CHUN/ THE FORDHAM RAM

Getting a Head Start The Entrepreneurship Society hosted a conference last weekend at Fordham’s Law School. The all-day event featured speakers and panels, and was tailored for students interested in starting their own businesses. The keynote speaker was Benjamin Joffe-Walt, the chief of staff at Change.org. The conference also focused on technology and media.

$67k in Funds Added to Budget FROM BUDGET, PAGE 1

In the email announcing the additional funding, Kara Norton, FCRH ’15, who chairs Budget Committee, stated that the committee would begin accepting appeals for new funding on OrgSync starting on Friday, Feb. 27. Norton said the committee learned of the new funds once it “received final enrollment numbers for the spring semester” The availability of the $67,000 follows initial budget allocations made on Budget Day in December, which left some clubs virtually without funding for the Spring 2015 semester. Such clubs include Slainte: Fordham Irish Dance, which received no money for the

semester, and the College Republicans and College Democrats, which each received $100.

Alanna Nolan, assistant dean for community leadership and development, told The Fordham Ram last month that the amount of money collected for club funding is often different than the estimates used on budget day. “Once the enrollment number is finalized in the semester, the remaining funds are provided to the Budget Committee during the semester,” Nolan said. This discrepancy between estimated and finalized funding affects the amounts initially allocated.

For the Spring 2015 semester, 77 clubs requested close to $760,000, or about $300,000 more than the

amount of funding available.

In addition to the bi-annual budget day, the Budget Committee hosts open meetings each week to consider appeals for funds.

Leaders of non-referendum clubs must outline the amount of money they wish to appeal for and specify the way the additional resources will be used.

So far, clubs such as Fordham Flava, the Satin Dolls and El Grito de Lares have been successful in obtaining funds through the appeals process in January.

The Budget Committee will be holding training sessions for the new handbook section beginning March 10, as well as holding drop-in office hours the week of March 23.

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NEWS

March 4, 2015

Page 7

Students Campaign to Bring 2016 Debate to Rose Hill

COURTESY OF FLICKR

Fordham students have signed a petition to place a bid in order to host the 2016 Presidential Debate.

By KATIE MEYER MANAGING EDITOR

The governor may not have debated at Fordham this fall, but students may still be able to hold out hope for some political action to come to Rose Hill.

A small group of students is spearheading an initiative to have Fordham considered as a site for the 2016 presidential debate. The students, United Student Government (USG) senators Thomas Samuelson, FCRH ’16, Evan Swager, GSB ’16, and Thomas Roemer, GSB ’16, are the same people behind September’s Change.org petition to bring the gubernatorial debate to Fordham.

In late January, Fordham’s Young Alumni Committee reached out to USG president

Nevin Kulangara, GSB ’15, to discuss the idea of hosting the debate, and Kulangara said he immediately thought of Samuelson, Swager and Roemer, as they had “analyzed the situation more closely” than he had. He referred the committee to them, and they quickly took over the initiative.

The group, as well as the Young Alumni Committee, did some research into the requirements for hosting the debate, and decided the endeavor seemed “feasible.”

As it turns out, Fordham’s New York location, coupled with its relatively extensive property (for a city school) is a selling point.

“There are a lot of parking and space requirements,” Swager said.

“Because we actually have a campus, [they] would be able to have it here in New York City.”

In addition, the Rose Hill Gym

and McGinley Center facility would be large and well-equipped enough to accommodate the debate, Swager said.

That combination of desirable qualities is rare, and eliminates many schools.

“The qualifications are things like, you have to have X number of hotel rooms within, like, 12 miles, which disqualifies somewhere like LSU [Louisiana State University],” Swager said. “LSU would be a great place, obviously because it’s huge. But, there are not enough places for people to stay. And then Columbia would be great; they have plenty of hotels, but you have to have, like, 1000 parking spots within 10 miles.”

Having ascertained that Fordham could meet the standards, the group took the idea to the ad-

ministration. They were met with cautious approval, but there was one big obstacle: cost.

Just sending the application, according to Swager and Samuelson, will cost somewhere around $10,000. But as for the cost of the entire affair?

“They want a couple million,” Samuelson said.

Though it may be a hard number to stomach, the students are confident that there is still a shot at being able to move forward with the plan.

“Although McShane [Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., president of the university] hasn’t technically said yes and given us the go-ahead for it, he also hasn’t said no,” Swager said. “He’s just waiting to see where things go.”

Specifically, he is waiting to see if a debate would be worthwhile.

Swager explained that this will be determined by gauging student interest.

“Ultimately, no one wants to spend $2 million on an event that no one’s going to care about,” he said.

So now Swager, Samuelson and Roemer are on a mission to prove that students will indeed care about having a presidential debate at Fordham. They are currently circulating a petition, and aim to collect 3,000 signatures from students; 2,000 from Rose Hill, and 1,000 from Lincoln Center. They are also putting together a cost benefit analysis based on past host universities that concretely shows how Fordham could benefit.

Kulangara, for one, thinks the benefits are clear.

“Hosting a would put Fordham

in a national spotlight,” he said in an email. “Universities such as Hofstra [which hosted debates in 2008 and 2012] have seen increases in their applicant pools after hosting.”

The Young Alumni Committee feels similarly. In a letter they sent to McShane about the possibility of a debate, the comittee said that despite the “significant cost,” the debate’s aftermath at Hofstra “illustrated the power of the high-profile publicity and positive exposure that such an undertaking inevitably brings to an institution, along with the great privilege of playing a part in determining the next president of the United States.”

Swager and Samuelson said they plan to spend the next two to three weeks gathering signatures, and will then present their arguments to the administration.

They do not have much more time than that, as the applications are due on March 31. Before anything can happen, they said an administrative committee will likely be put together to deal with the extensive application process.

After that, Swager said, it is all a matter of waiting. If Fordham’s application is indeed sent, he, for one, will be waiting with high hopes.

“They picked Belmont [University in Nashville, Tennessee]…Lynn [University in Boca Raton, Florida]…there’s no real formula behind why they pick places,” he said. “It just kind of depends on how their application comes in; how much they’re willing to spend. That’s why I think we have a good chance.”

Apology Issued After Backlash to Public Safety Alert FROM SECURITY, PAGE 1

resentative of United Student Government, was another student who raised an eyebrow at the use of the term. Before posting in a popular Facebook group for students, she wrote an email to Howe in which she called the wording “problematic.”

“Being a USG representative, I am familiar with your policy on when and when not to include race in a security alert,” Holt wrote.

“That being said, I find the wording here problematic. I urge you to be more racially sensitive in your alerts moving forward.”

“I decided to reach out because, clearly, the security office does not understand the gravity of their words or the role they play in perpetuating racism within our community and beyond it,” Holt told The Fordham Ram. “It is astounding to me that any sort of authority figure would need to be reminded twice [about racial sensitivity].”

A handful of other students, in the comment below Holt’s post and on Twitter, also said they had responded to the email’s sender expressing discontent with the email’s vocabulary.

To address the complaints, Howe sent an email regarding the remark made in the email.

“Please accept my heartfelt apologies for the loaded description (“male blacks”) of the assailants I used in the Feb. 26 Public Safety alert,” Howe wrote.

Though it was signed by John Carroll, associate vice president and director of Public Safety, Howe was the one who drafted the alert (which students may have learned when he sent it as a Google Document to the university a few minutes prior, presumably by accident).

Noting that students expressed concerns through private messages to him, Howe said he understood the “historical weight that certain phrases carry.” He apologized for causing any members of the community “distress” due to his “poor choice of words.”

Gwenyth Jackaway, a communication and media studies professor who teaches classes on the intersection of the media and society, said she, too, was startled by the language in the email, but added that she was particularly impressed that some students were quick to respond.

“It sounds like it was organic, and a symptom of a growing sensitivity in our society,” Jackaway said, adding that, in light of recent events in Ferguson, Mo. and Staten Island, the public is keener than ever to hold the authority organizations accountable for their choice of language.

Race, as Howe said in the email and as the university has said in the past, plays a significant role in identifying victims and perpetrators in crime reporting. It is required by the Clery Act — a federal statute regarding campus security and cam-

GOOGLE MAPS

The Security Alert regarding an assault outside of Arthur House was met with student concern over word choice.

pus crime statistics — that race, if provided by the person who reported the incident, must be included in security alerts in order to inform community members if a perpetrator is still at large.

A Public Safety alert on Feb. 7, for example, identified a suspect as “a male assailant on Fordham Road,” because other descriptions, such as race, presumably were not given to Public Safety in the incident report.

An alert around the same time iden-

tified assailants as “a group of teenage males.”

One of the last emails to identify race was sent in August 2014, which identified one of several perpetrators as a “dark-skinned male, 6’ 1” with a medium build, wearing a dark blue hooded sweatshirt and sunglasses.”

Echoing the sentiments of many student reactions, Jackaway suggested that administrators have significant influence over how Fordham

students use language to identify other members of the community.

“Language can often re-enforce stereotypes,” Jackaway said, “but the Security Offices have an opportunity to make a difference in the way they use language to create a more culturally inclusive environment.”

She suggested, as a solution, that Public Safety disclose that race was not provided by the student who reported the incident.

NEWS

Page 8

March 4, 2015

Employment Stats Reveal Post-Grad Pay Gaps

By AKASH BHATIA STAFF WRITER

Data on Fordham students’ employment after graduation reveals pay gaps not only among recent Fordham grads from Gabelli and Rose Hill, but between genders as well. The information is available online at fordham.12twenty.com, which has a database of information including average salary, employers most heavily invested in Fordham’s student body and more.

The website has data from 98.7 percent of students of the Class of 2014, according to Stefany Fattor, the Fordham director of Career Services.

Based on data from 2009-2014, the statistics are incredibly accurate because they are not projections: they are real numbers.

Not surprisingly, almost all jobs offered were in the tri-state area, which is defined on the website as the New York-Newark-Bridgeport metro area. However, it was interesting to discover that, after New York City, the city of Stamford employed the most Fordham students.

The average base salary varied depending on the Fordham college. For students in the Gabelli School of Business, the starting

salary was $51,602. For Fordham College at Rose Hill, the beginning income was $35,671. Finally, the starting salary was $32,631 for students enrolled in Fordham College at Lincoln Center.

The gender pay gap was prevalent in the starting salaries of Fordham graduates. The average base salary for males was approximately $8,000 higher than it was for females. This wage gap exists despite the absence of any significant difference in the industries and companies in which males and females work.

There were a few corporations that set the bar extremely high interms of starting compansation.

Bank of America led in that category with a $71,667 average base salary per year. Goldman Sachs had the highest total compensation of $97,500. The compensation, according to the website, includes any bonus, stock option, or form of income provided to the employee in addition to the base salary.

One would expect that inflationary pressures caused incomes to rise in the past few years. However, average base salary has declined each year from 2009 to 2011, although income finally recovered when it reached $49,985 in 2014. The average signing bo-

MARK LENNIHAN/AP

JP Morgan & Chase is one of the biggest employers of Fordham alumni from the Gabelli School of Business.

nus peaked in 2014 with an average of $9,091.

There was an interesting pattern that stood out from the rest of the data. “After the top four or five companies, there is a cluster of companies hiring just a few Fordham students. I think this is great because this shows how many different companies and opportunities New York City has to offer,” Fattor said.

Fordham students were highly diversified across a wide range of industries. Financial services and

the media were the two biggest fields which Fordham students worked.

Education, accounting and healthcare also constituted a large portion of the industries that employed Fordham students.

For Gabelli, the biggest employers were no surprise: JP Morgan Chase, KPMG, Deloitte and PwC. The most interesting thing about the statistics is yet to come, however. “Most people won’t be surprised to learn that JP Morgan Chase is the biggest employer of

Gabelli graduates. They may not know, however, that JP Morgan Chase actually employed the most liberal arts students as well,” Fattor said.

Computer Systems and Management Applications was the major with the highest starting income. Students with that major earned on average $100,000, albeit with a small sample size.

Legal and policy studies, applied accounting and finance, public accounting, and finance round out the top five highest-paying majors.

Dear Readers, The Fordham Ram will soon be sending out a weekly newsletter.

Want to get in on the action?

Email us: fordhamramonline@gmail.com It’ll be a blast.

March 4, 2015

OPINION

Page 9

The Fordham Ram

Added Anxiety Incites Hike in Freshman Depression

By DIANA RIAZI CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The New York Times has recently reported that college freshmen have disclosed increased feelings of depression over the last five years. Fordham students are likely to be susceptible to the rise in depression among freshmen as well.

These feelings can be attributed to several variables, especially the stresses that arise from the structure of society. Stresses can range from financial, parental, peer and self-induced pressures.

Depression can arise from a unique blend of stressors. However, these stresses can continue throughout and beyond one’s freshman year. So, what makes the depression that arises during freshman year so distinctive?

For me, the first year of college was a huge adjustment on many different levels, most notably a significant psychological adjustment. Challenges specific to the first year of college include a new lifestyle, new friends and a new environment. It is a transition in multiple dimensions.

However, this reported increase suggests that something more than typical freshman-year difficulties is the culprit. It seems to me that this recent increase in depression that is present among students arises from the cultural shift in the way a college education is viewed.

Beginning in one’s senior year of high school, students feel the need to differentiate themselves, so they may appeal to prestigious universities to which they plan to apply. Thus, it is no surprise that students feel more anxious and

CASEY CHUN/THE FORDHAM RAM

An increased workload could contribute to increased feelings of anxiety and depression among students.

prone to depression.

Indeed, Fordham is consistent with this trend of an increase in reported depression. “I think that all college students today struggle more with depression due to in the increased financial and academic pressure,” said Caroline Kirk, FCRH ’18.

“I’m not surprised,” said Dr. Jefferey Ng, clinical psychiatrist and director of Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS) here at Fordham University. “We have seen a moderate rise in reported depression here at Fordham as well as at other colleges and universities.”

Times truly used to be simpler.

This generation’s students, myself included, feel the need to spend every spare moment they have on schoolwork and spend less time interacting with friends and doing things they enjoy. Students have reported studying more and socializing less in comparison with generations of students before.

These feelings and actions are rooted in the apparent fact that the competition to get into prestigious colleges and get good jobs is growing fiercer, which contributes to a shift in our society. The emergence of this structure allows for anxiety to be the norm for the

youth today.

This rise in depression has been reported as “a public health issue,” by Dr. Anthony L. Postain, a psychiatrist at the University of Pennsylvania task force in students’ emotional health.

“We’re expecting more of students: There’s a sense of having to compete in a global economy, and they think they have to be on top of their game all the time.

It’s no wonder why they feel overwhelmed,” as the New York Times reported.

It is also crucial to account for the role social media plays in the rise of feelings of depression. Pro-

files and posts show a misleading portrayal of the enjoyment of life, contributing to a false sense of happiness. Students are more likely to post in times of happiness rather than in times of anxiety, thus masking the anxiety and perhaps depression present in students’ lives by operating under the illusion of stability. This relationship with social media can exacerbate the constant pressure for the youth to be consistently “perfect.”

I suggest that the best way to alleviate these feelings of depression is simply to take time for self-care.

Dr. Ng advises, “sleeping well, eating well, exercising, playing and spending time with friends are all important for our mental and emotional health and wellness. In fact, taking care of ourselves actually facilitates our performance and success in the long run.”

If a student is experiencing any overwhelming amount of anxiety, depression or any other emotional or psychological distress, it is very much worth noting that CPS provides free and confidential counseling services. CPS also offers a newsletter each semester that holds useful information regarding how to deal with the anxiety that college life may bring about.

The anxiety that college students experience seems to be intensifying.

By accounting for this cultural shift, students can avoid being swallowed by depression that may arise as a result of competing on a global scale for success.

Diana Riazi, FCRH ’18, is an economics and math major from Summit, New Jersey.

On-Campus Smoking Leaves Lingering Health Concerns

CHRISTIAN WILOEJO/THE FORDHAM RAM

Smoking on Fordham’s campus poses a serious health risk for smokers and non-smokers alike.

By DREW CASEY ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Smoking at Fordham’s Rose Hill campus is very prevalent, and it is disgusting. It needs to go, and the sooner it leaves the confines of Fordham University, the better.

“When I was in high school, it [smoking] wasn’t a thing,” said Noelle Lindemann, FCRH ’17. “And I was actually really surprised coming here to see how many cigarette smokers there were. It’s definitely strange, as well, now that they’ve actually installed ash trays outside.”

Why is Fordham encouraging a practice that has been linked to numerous deadly diseases? Why are students allowed to smoke on campus? These questions might seem extreme, but they deserve careful consideration.

According to no-smoke.org, there are now over 1,500 colleges in the United States that are completely smoke-free, including a ban on electronic cigarettes. Such a ban is no stranger to the New York area, either, as both New York University and the City University of New York cur-

rently prohibit smoking on campus.

This makes the decision even easier. The university’s local counterparts in higher education have set a precedent. Fordham should follow suit and ban smoking.

“It would definitely help the health,” biology professor John Wehr said of such a ban. “And I think maybe some students, who may do it recreationally, that is just occasionally, they probably would cease that.”

Wehr also acknowledged that more frequent smokers would probably not be affected by a ban. They

would simply find a place off campus to smoke.

“Clearly, Fordham has no influence over what they may do outside of campus,” Wehr said. “But if it [a ban] is legally permitted, I think it would make for a much more pleasant environment here.”

I could not agree more with Wehr, who has his own lab at the Calder Center. However, many students, both smokers and non-smokers, tend to disagree with both of us.

When asked if Fordham should become a smoke-free campus, Mia Ciravolo, FCRH ’17, who smokes, disagreed.

“I really don’t think it should,” Ciravolo said. “We go here, and this is our time to be free young adults and everything, so I feel like we should be able to make our own choices, and if that choice is to smoke, then we should be allowed to do so.”

Lindemann, who does not smoke, echoed Ciravolo’s comments, but did offer an interesting alternative to limit people’s ability to smoke.

“I think there should be actual zoned-in areas where you’re allowed to smoke,” Lindemann said.

Such a solution would identify certain areas where smoking was permitted. The practice would be

prohibited in other areas. This tactic could perhaps act as a bridge from the current situation to an eventual ban, for which I am hopeful.

Despite these viewpoints, it comes down to health and well-being. Smoking is a terrible habit and is detrimental to personal health.

It is also very harmful to others who do not smoke. According to the Center for Disease Control, over 2.5 million people have died from health problems caused by exposure to second-hand smoke in the past 50 years. That is approximately one person every 10 minutes.

I do not know about you, but I do not want to become part of that statistic. Furthermore, I would rather not find out later in life that breathing in excessive second-hand smoke during my late teenage and early adult years has led to a health problem, even if it is not a life-threatening one.

We all know this, but it is time to take action. Perhaps the next time you walk out of a building on a cold night, you will not have to take in a cloud of smoke.

Drew Casey, FCRH ’17, is a communication and media studies major from Union, New Jersey.

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.

FordhamRam.com Advertising: (718) 817-4379 Executive: (718) 817-4380 Fax: (718) 817-4319 theram@fordham.edu Fordham University - Station 37 Box B Bronx, NY 10458

Editor-in-Chief Joe Vitale Managing Editor Katie Meyer Copy Chief Robert Frerich Assistant Copy Chief Sydney Keen Executive Copy Editors Katie Nolan Max Prinz Michael Cavanaugh Canton Winer 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.

March 4, 2015

From the Desk | Kellyn Simpkins

YouTube’s Unique Approach to Online Interaction According to its Facebook page, YouTube defines itself as “a forum for people to connect, inform and inspire others across the globe and act as a distribution platform for original content creators and advertisers large and small.” Videos change the dynamics of online interaction because of the increased personal interaction experienced by viewers and video creators alike.

While there are tons of subcommunities of videos in the realm of YouTube, one thing remains the same across the board: the opportunity to listen to a real person and be involved in a seemingly intimate exchange.

YouTube varies greatly from regular forums because, like most current social networking sites, users can create profiles which give more details about themselves and where others can find out about the user. Members can also “subscribe” to other members which is a very different concept from other forums. Instead of sifting through recently posted content, you can easily see updates from people you subscribe to.

“About” sections can also include visuals giving more clues to identity.

Identity is also created on YouTube based on the number of views, comments and likes a video gets. Some members of the YouTube community have even become celebrities because of how popular their videos are.

Because it is easy to see how many people have viewed a video and compare it to how many people “like” a video, video makers constantly strive to increase their numbers by commenting on other videos and interacting with others.

While people look for attention on many other forums by commenting and trolling, many users on YouTube have become famous in the online world which takes “attention-seeking” to another level since fame is an attainable goal.

Because YouTube has become so popular, businesses have also started forming their identities on YouTube which is a very different aspect of internet forums. Here, companies can interact with the YouTube audience.

This, however, makes many interactions seem artificial since it is evident that the companies are trying to get publicity and not trying to state their honest opinions.

This brings with it a problem for YouTube users when it comes to looking for someone’s genuine point of view. How does one sift through and determine the difference between advertisements and product placements versus real recommendations from real people?

However, I feel that anonymity and deception are less prevalent in YouTube communities than other communities because of the way members share ideas and interact through videos. Members can even make videos to respond to other videos instead of just posting comments. The sharing of ideas and opinions feels much more intimate when you can put a face and a voice to the username.

Although it is still possible for people to create completely fake profiles, it seems to me that YouTube leans more toward realitybecause many people on YouTube now are trying to gain fame since

it seems fairly simple.

If all you have to do is post a video of yourself doing the “Cinnamon Challenge” or post a picture of a simple dress in order to gain recognition from thousands of viewers watching, then why wouldn’t you? You might even make some money off of it. The problem is that this kind of fameseeking tends to dumb down the content of videos. Senseless things will gain viewers and shortlived recognition, but are a terrible replacements for real artistic videos that should receive more recognition.

Editorial | Student Life

Students Realize the Power of Language Recently, members of the Fordham community took action when a Public Safety alert contained language found to be insulting and insensitive. The alert, which was sent out on Feb. 26, referred to two assailants as “male blacks,” a word choice that did not sit well with several students. They emailed Senior Director of Communications Bob Howe with their concerns that his choice of language carried a certain weight and should not have been used.

Howe rectified the situation on Feb. 27 by issuing a follow up email in order to apologize for the language, which he acknowledged as “clearly offensive and hurtful.”

He also noted that he is required to inform the community of any and all descriptions of an assailant,

including race, if the assailant is still at-large. However, the indentification of the assailants’ race was not the main issue of concern. Rather, the description of the assailants as “blacks” posed the problem. Using the phrase “male blacks” makes it sound as if being black is not just a descriptor, but rather defines who a person is.

While race is certainly a major part of someone’s description, it should not be used to define a person. In previous security alerts, no white suspects were referred to as “male whites,” simply because it is not a colloquially used term in the past or present.

In addition, the term “blacks” usually carries a negative connotation. Howe himself realized “the historical weight that certain phras-

es carry.” The term elicits memories of twentieth century racism during which black people were referred to as “blacks,” seemingly removing the humanity from their race.

We commend the Fordham student body for voicing their concerns about this issue. It is all too easy to ignore the improper use of such language or not notice it at all. In a diverse community, it is important for such issues to come to everyone’s attention so that the misuse of certain words does not become a habit, which is exactly what happened with the public safety alert apology. Several students may not have noticed the damaging language used in the original statement, but Howe’s apology has brought not only this particular instance of bad word choice to light,

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but has also raised awareness to the fact that a seemingly simple use of language can have an effect on the public perception of race.

This could not have been possible had those students who spoke out stayed quiet. Some may have viewed the phrase as just a couple of words in a Public Safety announcement without seeing the problem with the way the assailants were described.

Fortunately, students did take notice, and an apology was issued as a result. Although Howe was “genuinely sorry to have caused anyone distress with my poor choice of words,” his mistake brought light to the issue of how labeling can be harmful to the attention of the entire Fordham community, thanks to the people who spoke up.

Corrections February 18, 2015 An article about a sexual health network started by SAGES incorrectly spelled the name of a student. The student’s name is Rachel Field, not Rachel Fields.

An article about Fordham Student Holdings incorrectly spelled the name of the student mentioned in the article. The student’s name is Nevin Kulangara, not Nevin Kulungara.

Your opinion matters.

Let’s hear it.

Feb. 11th, 2015 An article about a study on germs on the New York City subway incorrectly stated that Kevin Ortiz, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, told the New York Times that the study was “’deeply flawed’ and misleading.” It was a member of the New York City Health Department who called the study “‘deeply flawed’ and misleading,” not Ortiz.

OPINION

March 4, 2015

Page 11

Proceed with Caution: It’s ‘Cuffing Season’

KELLYN SIMPKINS/THE FORDHAM RAM

The cold weather could be a major factor in to why so many people want to be in relationships in the winter.

By ELIZABETH FONGER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Last Tuesday, I was strolling the halls of Keating and saw through one of the classroom doors a guy who, this past September, exchanged numbers with me on a night out. After the initial meeting, he texted me a few times over the semester looking to get together, but my schedule and workload led me to decline each time. However, that Tuesday evening, while my friends were deliberating what they would wear out into the frigid February air, I picked up my phone and asked the last semester guy if he wanted to hang out.

I attribute my sudden renewal of interest to the influence of “cuffing season.” Urban Dictionary defines this fifth season as a time “during the fall and winter months” when “people who would normally rather be single or promiscuous find themselves along with the rest of the world desiring to be ‘cuffed’ or tied down by a serious relationship.”

The idea that climatic conditions are a powerful determinant could discredit winter relationships. Are

you and your partner dating because of your genuine desire for each other, or because of the seven-day forecast?

I interviewed four female and four male sophomores to confirm this phenomenon’s existence. Although some of the interviewees were unaware of the term “cuffing season,” all agreed that they were more inclined to settle down during winter months than in summer ones.

“In the beginning of the year I didn’t want anything,” Gabby McGovern, FCRH ‘17 admitted. “But, now that it’s winter, the cold definitely does something where you just want to stay in with that special somebody.”

Evin Daniels, FCRH ’17, agreed, “When the cold hits, people start to get lonely.” However, not all interviewees readily ascribed their inclination to settle down to dropping temperatures. Some attributed it to their maturation over the course of college.

“After three semesters of college,” Eric Strazza, FCRH ’17, said, “people are tired of going out all the time and hooking up with random people.”

“They have gotten it all out of their system,” he explained.

While there are many reasons to want a relationship, anthropological evidence indicates that eagerness to settle down can be connected to colder temperatures.

Dr. Wendy Walsh, a clinical psychologist who specializes in the love, sex and gender roles, credited the desire to be “cuffed” during the colder months to human nature. In the past, when resources were scarce in colder temperatures, survival was more likely in the winter if “you were in a pack” or “if you were coupled up.” Hence, “cuffing” was a mode of survival.

This historical behavior has shaped our present dating strategies. Zoosk, an online dating site, found that there is a 56 percent increase in messages and a 31 percent increase in profiles viewed on snowy days in NYC. Furthermore, babycenter.com determined that the most births occur in September, nine months after January’s notoriously brutal temperatures keep couples locked indoors.

Thus, “cuffing season” existed before the present day hook-up culture and continues to exist everywhere, not just within the university setting.

But, the weather’s influential

power on whether or not two people enter into a relationship undermines the traditional idea that the decision to enter into a relationship is based on desire between two people. If a relationship wants to remain healthy and last longer than the average fling, there needs to be a real connection between the two partners, instead of the desire to “cuff ” someone. There needs to be sincerity; would the guy who asked you out in January have asked you out in August?

While monogamous traditions in society see desire as persistent and stagnant, there is mobility. Rene Girard, a French post-structuralist critic, contended that we learn to desire through imitation so that our desire is “produced in response to the desire of another.” Thus, human desire is a product of what society shows us about desire. Contrary to the traditional, personal definition of desire, Bennett and Royle show that social constructions and human habits influence who and what we desire.

Given this, it is possible that your special someone only initiated contact under the spell of “cuffing season.” But, in order to continue any relationship beyond the initial meeting requires a connection that could weather any season. An initial desire is needed to spark a connection between two people, but there must be a strong personal connection that transcends the powers of “cuffing season” to maintain that relationship.

So, although a chance of snow is not the most romantic catalyst, any winter relationship has the chance to blossom like spring flowers when the snow begins to thaw. As for the last semester guy, time will tell if it can survive the first April shower.

Elizabeth Fonger, FCRH ’17, is an economics and English major from Atlanta, Georgia.

Pointing Out the Problems with Powerpoint

By KRISTEN SANTER ASSISTANT OPINION EDITOR

The rise of technology has led teachers to lecture through the use of PowerPoint in classrooms, especially for courses that need to cover a lot of detail-orientated information. PowerPoint is most helpful in colleges with large class sizes, especially for remedial courses. However, in universities like Fordham with small professor-to-student ratios, PowerPoint can be superfluous.

There are many positive aspects to PowerPoint including its portability, ability to incorporate different kinds of media and its universal accessibility.

Although PowerPoint has advantages, its increased use often discourages interaction between students and professors, while causing students to lose focus during the class.

Information-heavy courses can cause professors to overload slides and move too quickly through the information without allowing students to fully engage in the classroom.

Most professors also share the PowerPoint slides with students after the class. While this is valuable to those who have missed class, it often causes students to stop paying attention to the class altogether. Note taking no longer serves as a motivation to pay

LEFTERIS PITARAKIS/AP

Powerpoints have become more important than class participation.

attention. Notes written and organized by the professor are available to students, diminishing attentiveness.

Many times, I find myself drifting away from the lectures since I know all the information for the test will be available on Blackboard. Sometimes, I learn new information nights before the test as I go through the PowerPoints that are usually crammed with details. This teaching technique questions the role of professors and the necessity of classroom attendance. Going to class seems like a hassle and an inconvenience if I could simply learn the information at

home. In addition, the money spent on textbooks for the classes are a waste as well, for all of the information needed is on the PowerPoints.

From several of my classes, the textbook is used only sporadically or never at all, if the class focuses on PowerPoints.

I find that classes I enjoy the most are those that involve more student engagement. Fordham necessitates through Eloquentia Perfecta (EP) courses. EP classes are designed to engage students’ verbal and written skills and to foster debate and conversation. These courses rarely use

PowerPoint and focus more on the importance of inter-student and professor communication. I am not suggesting that the use of PowerPoints should be completely eliminated, but professors need to find a balance between PowerPoints and classroom engagement.

There are several ideas that are circulating through colleges that seem like they could encourage student involvement again. One suggested technique that has merit suggests that professors gather anonymous responses from the students by giving them access to PowerPoints during class with their own clickers. Professors can take attendance and give students questionnaires in order to foster class participation.

PowerPoint is only a tool that will improve student learning; professors should not rely on it and make it the focus of their class. Professors need to strategically employ it in ways that will encourage learning and involvement instead of hindering it. An increase in creativity and a change in structure can make an improvement in classroom dynamics. Professors should be the first source of information in courses, not the PowerPoints.

Kristen Santer, FCRH ’17, is a communciations and media studies major from Stamford, Connecticut.

Kathryn Wolper Dress Debate Serves as a Social Media Business Model Last week, a dress demonstrated the power of a single photo to “break the Internet”. The blue/black or white/gold controversy went viral, setting a new standard for how quickly and strongly one image can inundate social media platforms.

Ever aware of social media trends, countless companies rode the controversy’s coattails and made themselves visible in the ongoing debate.

Adweek compiled a comprehensive list of tweets by companies seeking to capitalize on the dress debate.

Each of these directs some premise of the controversy toward its own brand, either by color association or targeted marketing. Many of these tweets read the same: “#TheDress is obviously (insert brand colors here).” Downy and Tide were responsible for the most topically appropriate tweets, and they published tweets that drew the connection between clothing colors and laundry products.

This example of advertising opportunism shows that companies are paying attention to their social media presences and working quickly to join the conversations before they fade. Social media platforms give companies the advantage of supplementing large-scale, paid advertising campaigns with nearly free advertising on social media. Users are highly selective about the pieces of media to which they choose to pay attention, so companies with strong presences and positive track records for interactions with consumers reap the rewards of their efforts.

However, there is one caveat to the business of meme opportunism in advertising. Companies should only exploit the advertising opportunity if their product has some connection to the meme at hand.

In the case of the dress controversy, Tide and Downy are in the clear, because they sell products that deal with clothing. But for Charmin and IHOP, relating dresses to toilet paper and pancakes proved too much of a stretch. A very fine line exists between clever associations and nonsensical attempts at humor for the sake of advertising.

Companies must prove to consumers that they are worthy of social media attention, and that they understand that attention is a privilege. Luckily, platforms like Twitter allow companies to track the visibility, reception and consumer interaction with the advertisements they produce. The number of retweets a tweet earns can help a company improve its advertisements and tailor them to the audiences who are most likely to interact with them.

Companies could easily issue boring tweets and posts that would be ignored, but instead, their social media experts found a niche market and flourished.

The dress debate can teach companies using social media to advertise an important lesson: Just because one can participate in a conversation does not mean one should. However, with enough creativity and awareness of one’s audience, meme opportunism in advertising can be successful, clever and well received.

OPINION

Page 12

March 4, 2015

Gender Neutral Facilities Overlooked at Fordham

By MADELINE KIMBALL CONTRIBUTING WRITER

For an institution that likes its students to use phrases like “men and women for others” and “cura personalis,” Fordham is disappointingly silent on issues of health and happiness for members of its community who do not neatly fit into the categories of “men” and “women.”

In response to growing dialogue about sex and gender, many universities are changing their admissions, housing and other policies to reflect the needs of students whose gender identities and expressions are more complex than the traditional binary admits.

Just this month, Princeton announced the conversion of its single-stall restrooms to genderneutral facilities, and women’s college Bryn Mawr decided to begin accepting transwomen and intersex individuals who do not identify as male for enrollment. Scroll through your online news sources and you will find many examples of institutions of higher education rising to meet today’s standards of diversity. Fordham will not feature among them.

If Fordham is sincere about wanting to teach its students compassion for all people and concern for the whole person, it needs to start catching up on gender dialogue.

I understand that Fordham is hesitant to become involved in politcally and religiously controversial issues, but the university is in danger of becoming hypocritical by not upholding the values it claims to maintain. Let us look at just two areas where there is ample room for improvement: public restrooms and housing.

I have found only two genderneutral (single-stall) public restrooms at Rose Hill so far — one each in O’Hare and Salice Conley.

Some of the other residence halls have them, but not all. If there are any in the academic buildings or McGinley, they are too wellhidden to count as accessible. The rest are gendered, multi-stalled facilities, which pose two problems for people whose sex, gender or appearance is not easily identifiable as male or female, or whose gender is not the one they were assigned at birth.

The first is choosing a restroom, which especially affects people who are gender non-binary or

Cate Carrejo Taking Time to Appreciate Times Square

MATTHEW MOORE FOR THE FORDHAM RAM

The anxiety brought on by having to choose a bathroom could harm the psyche of gender non-binary students.

intersex. Having to pick between two inadequate choices can be distressing; it feels like being forced to be or to pretend to be something one is not.

Before you ask why this is such a big deal — why just picking one elicits such emotion — imagine being forced to use the bathroom opposite of the one you usually do. Not just when your bathroom is busy, not just when the other is empty: always. When people see you, they will wonder why you are there and judge you.

This brings us to the second issue: facing the consequences of one’s choice. Gendered restrooms encourage gender policing, wherein someone tries to enforce a particular understanding of what gender should be onto someone else. This enforcement has often involved calling authorities, verbal or physical assault or other forms of harassment.

The unjust treatment that transgender people face in public restrooms is finally getting attention in the news. Other groups who are targets of harassment include people who are androgynous, women who look “too masculine” and men who look “too feminine,” even if they identify as cisgender.

Even in places that do not have a history of this kind of violence in their facilities, these groups of people may feel at risk when they make choices about which facilities to use.

Fordham has not taken the smallest step to address this issue. At a minimum, it should create a policy and teach community members that gender policing is not tolerated.

A better effort would be to install gender-neutral restrooms across the campus, including in the buildings with communal showers.

Housing is an extension of the restroom issue for people who do not conform to the sex and gender binary, with application for transgender people as well. Fordham has a strict same-gender rooming policy and does not offer a housing option for people of marginalized gender identities. This can lead to deeply unhealthy living situations for people who are randomly placed with intolerant roommates.

There is very little privacy on campus; one’s bedroom is the closest thing one has to personal space. When that space is tainted by bigotry, it becomes unsafe, and the experience of having no secure space to return to is extremely detrimental to one’s mental and emotional health.

The best option currently available for people of minority sex and gender identities is living in a single, but availability is limited.

Furthermore, having no choice but to live alone exacerbates isolation from the rest of the community. Fordham should instead organize an integrated learning community, like Wellness, specifically for people who want to express their gender safely. Wellness housing options are havens for people who do not want to be pressured into consuming alcohol or drugs. Fordham should take a stance by implementing gender neutral housing, similar to Wellness housing.

Although this still separates

gender non-binary and intersex students from the rest of campus, it provides safety, intra-community support and opportunities for funded co-programming that helps connect and educate the rest of campus.

Rooms within this community should not have to be samegender, and everyone who applies should have to verify whether or not they are comfortable living with and would be supportive of a roommate who does not conform to the gender binary.

If Fordham worries that this would interfere with its futile attempt to curb heterosexual activity, it could institute a policy whereby students who take this housing option agree to be randomly assigned roommates within the community every year, rather than choosing to live with acquaintances.

You can learn about these issues from the Fordham Que(e)ry report that was released in April 2013, which has been posted online. It includes statistics and recommendations which I unfortunately have not heard discussed by Fordham administration.

Although Fordham claims to be a welcoming community for all types of students, they have not shown support for the small gender neutral student body. Until the university makes real effort to accommodate its gender minorities, “men and women for others” will continue to ring hollow.

Madeline Kimball, FCRH ’15, is an English and philosophy major from Woodland, California.

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The first time I ever went to Times Square, I was 16 and it was my first time in New York City. As a huge theater geek, I was about as close to paradise as I could be while still alive. My mom and I saw Anything Goes, learned what it meant to “stage door” a show and took my picture in front of the Coca-Cola sign. I was the epitome of a cheesy tourist, but living out a dream is pretty exciting.

The wonder and excitement of Midtown faded just about the instant I moved here. Most Fordham students have been to Times Square a dozen times or more throughout their lives, and I learned the jaded New Yorker attitude pretty quickly. It is easier to see the negative things about Times Square than the positive.

It’s probably the most disgusting place in the city, it’s almost impossible not to be touching a stranger at any point, and the sensory overload is bordering on dangerous. I put up with the crowds to go to musicals and complained about it like the rest of my friends.

This weekend, I went to Times Square for the first time in a while with one of my friends. She’s from Westchester, so I assumed her suggestion to go there was mostly ironic and that the primary objective of our outing would be people watching. But as soon as we got there, it became clear that Olivia was not like most of the Fordham students with whom I had been to Times Square.

She pointed out all the things that I had forgotten to see: the happiness of the families, the excitement of all the stores, the pace that keeps your mind off of anything serious. And really, the excitement of the tourist attitude combined with my expertise on the square made it an even better experience than when I was an actual tourist. My default attitude in Times Square had been “Jaded New Yorker” for the past year and a half, and I never had a bad time, but allowing myself to be excited and doe-eyed like a tourist was refreshing.

Part of living in New York is being over the tourist culture. It differentiates you as part of the in-group, as opposed to someone who does not belong here. Not to mention, the things that make the city exciting can get really old really fast. Once you’ve lived here for a little while, the city becomes your home, and everything feels a little more mundane. It’s okay to become comfortable with the city and to take some of its attractions for granted. But every once in a while, we need to make sure that we remember the things that make this city magical. A lot of the energy of New York City is driven by the tourist culture, and without all the sights of the city, it wouldn’t be the same place we all love. So the next time you go to Times Square, try to look on the bright side. It shouldn’t be hard with all the lights.

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March 4, 2015

CULTURE

Page 15

The Fordham Ram

A Rocky Start for LGBTQ Celeb Coverage

By MEGHAN CAMPBELL STAFF WRITER

The world has made tremendous strides in recognizing members of the LGBTQ community both within society and among Hollywood icons. Popular television shows like “The Fosters” and “Modern Family” have portrayed main characters who are members of the LGBTQ community and, throughout their seasons, address many of the issues LGBTQ people face in the real world.

Many celebrities who identify as part of the LGBTQ community have made their sexual orientation public, serving as role models to others. Comedian and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres has been married to her partner Portia de Rossi for seven years and commonly speaks about their relationship on her show. Similarly, actor Neil Patrick Harris married his long-time boyfriend David Burtka in 2014, and the two are now the proud fathers of four-yearold twins, Harper and Gideon, of whom Harris often posts adorable Instagram photos of.

DeGeneres and Harris are two of America’s most beloved TV stars; practically no one has anything bad to say about them. But, when they both first came out to the public, they were faced with some backlash. After having her character openly claim to be gay on her show “Ellen,” and after coming out on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” in 1997, DeGeneres was faced with some extremely

harsh criticism, which ultimately resulted in her show ending a year later. Harris officially came out to the public in 2006, receiving a large amount of criticism, and was placed on MBC’s ‘Gay List of Shame.’ Harris addressed the critics by stating: “I am happy to dispel any rumors or misconceptions and am quite proud to say that I am a very content gay man living my life to the fullest…” But, times have changed since DeGeneres and Harris made their sexual orientations public. Can the press really justify their current behavior during a time of greater LGBTQ acceptance?

Paparazzi have recently been keeping an eye on actress Kristen Stewart and Alicia Cargill, Stewart’s recent girlfriend, after the two were seen together in Hawaii in early January. But, while photos have been taken of the couple shopping together, holding hands and kissing, many magazines still refer to the two as “close friends,” “BFFs” and “gal pals.” Stewart is currently taking a small break from acting after the release of her movie Still Alice and has yet to comment on her relationship. Last year, paparazzi also focused on Cara Delevingne and her girlfriend Michelle Rodriguez. Throughout their relationship, the media and fans constantly questioned Delevingne’s sexual orientation. While Rodriguez publicly recognizes herself as bisexual, Delevingne chose to address the questions by posting online, “I am who I am, your approval is not needed.” The

AP/CASEY RODGERS

Jenner’s transition has generated a great deal of press, prompting a discussion of how LGBTQ celebrities are viewed.

couple has since broken up and moved on to respective heterosexual relationships.

Olympic gold-medalist and reality TV star Bruce Jenner has been the source of extreme criticism recently after a source close to the family confirmed to People her decision to transition to a woman.

While the news came as a shock to family and fans alike, the general response was one of support.

The media appears to be taking the news in a totally different direction. Many articles seem to be treating Jenner’s decision as a joke.

InTouch magazine went as far as to

Photoshop Jenner with makeup and women’s clothing on the cover of one of its recent magazines. The public blew up in rage at the picture, bashing the magazine for its ignorant take on Jenner’s decision.

However, People and other news outlets, such as Perez Hilton’s website, have used the news of Jenner’s transformation as an opportunity to educate people about the mental and physical evolution for transgender individuals.

Jenner has been undergoing this procedure for about a year but only recently made his decision public. Back in January, Jenner un-

derwent a laryngeal shave, a procedure that shaves down the size of the Adam’s apple. He has also been seen with longer hair, manicured nails and makeup. Overall, insiders claim he is going about his transition in a very smart fashion, choosing to make subtle changes over a long period of time.

Jenner is said to be filming his transition and plans on releasing the docu-series when he sees fit.

Until then, supporters can only hope that the media will change their portrayal of Jenner’s transformation and while respecting her decision and privacy.

Review | Television

‘The Bachelor’ Brings Emotional Drama (and Laughs)

COURTESY OF FLICKR

Contestants will never look at a rose the same way again, as the bachelor doles out roses each week to show his affection.

By NICOLE HORTON CULTURE EDITOR

Chris Soules, a farmer from the secluded town of Arlington, Iowa, is searching for love following an exit from Andi Dorfman’s season of “The Bachelorette.” Season 19 of “The Bachelor” features elements to which the show’s fans have grown accus-

tomed to: heartfelt displays of affection, cringe-worthy moments, questions about whether specific women are truly on the show to find love and melodramatic breakdowns (cue the mascara streaming tears).

After last season’s bachelor Juan Pablo, who many openly criticized for his insensitivity, fans will be happy to jump onto this tractor. Soules even

admits that his biggest fear in being on the show is proposing to a woman he is in love with, only to find cannot adjust to life in Arlington. However, many have said that Soules was too quick to kiss many of the women, especially when he kissed front-runner Britt Nilsson on the first night.

Jimmy Kimmel (whose ABC show often features “Bachelor” cast mem-

bers) appeared on the show earlier in the season and certainly contributed to a memorable episode — whether it was bringing an “amazing” jar for everyone to donate a dollar each time they said the overused adjective, or tagging along on a date and eating chicken wings during a hot tub make-out session.

As far as other contestants go, the women definitely brought some drama to the show as a number of them formed deeper connections to Soules during the season. One of the most talked about was Ashley Salter, who the other contestants deemed the “crazy one” — not to be confused with the “drunk one,” Tara. Salter left viewers wondering if the producers picked her for that very reason or if she pulled off one of the greatest cons in “Bachelor” history.

Watching Soules interact with the group will show the audience that he still has a lot to learn about women.

For example, when Ashley Iaconetti told Soules that the other women found Kelsey Poe condescending, he addressed the issue with Poe by mentioning that Iaconetti had told him. In another episode, he kissed Nilsson multiple times in front of the other women on a group date, caus-

ing two of them to cry.

Viewers wondered if Britt Nilsson was genuine in her feelings for Chris and sabotaged by the other contestants, or merely telling him what he wanted to hear. After all, can a woman from Los Angeles who sleeps in make-up live on a desolate farm? In the end, Soules questioned her sincerity and sent her home.

Going into the finale, the two remaining contestants are Becca Tilley and Whitney Bischoff. Soules admits that he is falling in love with both women, but he definitely has some questions before proposing. Tilley’s family revealed that she has never been affectionate with a boyfriend in front of them. Also, she has not said that she would move to Arlington.

Then there is Bischoff, who is the traditional southern belle. Soules questioned whether she could give up her career as a pediatric nurse to live in Arlington, since there is not a major hospital nearby, but she says that she would put her career aside to have a family.

Viewers will wonder if Soules will go with Bischoff, who seems more sure of what she wants, or take a chance on Tilley if he feels a deeper connection to her.

CULTURE

Page 16

Who’s That Kid? | Erin Biggins

March 4, 2015

Advice Column | Catherine Kastberg

Keeping Busy With a Focus on Social Justice

Roommate Issues? Try Talking (Or Earplugs)

By DREW CASEY ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

The definition of “involved” in the dictionary should read “Erin Biggins, FCRH ’17.”

The Elizabeth, New Jersey native is one of the most active students on Fordham’s Rose Hill campus and is currently pursuing her undergraduate degree, majoring in communication and media studies.

She is a member of Global Outreach’s (GO!) executive board, coordinates GO!’s Midnight Run program, is on the Pedro Arrupe Leadership Council and even holds a general board position on Campus Activities Board (CAB). Erin has also laid the groundwork for a Special Olympics club at Fordham and was recently named a finalist in Fordham’s Social Innovation Challenge.

When asked about her level of involvement, Erin said that getting involved is something that she learned to do in high school to get the most out of her education.

“Part of the reason why I do what I do is because I absolutely love Fordham,” Erin said. “This is my happy place. This is my home. This is where I can truly be myself and really take initiative and do things that I really enjoy doing.”

While Erin admitted that she overextends herself, she also mentioned that her work always brings out her smile.

“I’ve always found a great connection with the people I’m working with,” Erin said. “I’ve found that I’m happy doing what I’m doing.”

GO! Coordinator at Rose Hill Emily Wilant recognized the same quality when asked about Biggins.

“Within a minute of talking to Erin, you would automatically notice how happy she is,” Wilant said.

“She’s a very positive person, and I really think that is very altruistic and it does, I think, drive what she does and why she gets involved.”

Of all that she does, GO! is dearest

Q: My roommate and I are on completely different schedules. She sleeps all day long and stays up all night. I have also found that she does not respect my space. I thought if I gave it enough time, eventually we would both come around and things would work out, but that has yet to happen. What do I do?

COURTESY OF ERIN BIGGINS

Erin looks to make the most out of opportunities at Fordham and make a difference.

to the marketing minor’s heart. She attributes her involvement with the organization as one of the biggest things that has ever happened to her.

“It’s one of the most cherished aspects of my Fordham life that I absolutely love,” Erin said. “It’s never a chore. It’s always something that I really love. It’s probably what really got me into loving Fordham.”

Aside from serving on the GO! board and as a Midnight Run coordinator, the sophomore has gone on GO! Ecuador and will travel to South Africa this summer as part of GO! Cape Town.

Judging from all the activities that she participates in, one might wonder if Erin finds time to sleep. Her close friends, Amanda Maile and Gabrielle McGovern, both FCRH ’17, do not believe that she ever snoozes, but Erin promises that she does.

“I get just enough sleep to get me going,” she said. “My logic is that if

I’m awake, there’s always something I could do to keep myself busy.”

Fellow GO! board member Danny Finnegan, FCRH ’15, praised this quality and Biggins’ high level of commitment to all that she does.

“On the surface, she appears as a bubbly person, but she’s incredibly driven, incredibly involved,” Danny said. “She really gives a lot of herself to things that she participates in.”

While her future is not set, she believes that her current involvement will continue to set the framework for success.

“What I do here is an inclination of what I envision myself doing for a career,” Erin said. “It [my career] has to have some underlying meaning of the motive of helping people, and me being a positive force to do that.”

Biggins is considering joining the Jesuit Volunteer Corps (JVC) or a similar organization after graduating and also plans to start her own foundation.

A: Believe it or not, this is a very common issue that arises with roommates. It is extremely hard when you are living in such close quarters, considering one light illuminates the entire room and even the slightest noise can disturb the other person. The first step you should take when trying to resolve a problem is communication. Just because you are friends with the person you are living with does not mean that you will necessarily live well together.

Different schedules and habits are constantly forming tiffs in friendships. Voice your concerns in a firm, not nasty, way. Make sure that your roommate does not take what you are saying as a joke. Even though it is a given that the space equally belongs to both of you, just give her a little reminder.

If you and your roommate belong to different friend groups and you find that your room is the late night hangout spot, but you have early classes the next day, pull your roommate aside and suggest that she hangs out with her friends in one of their rooms. You would be surprised how easy problems can be solved simply by asking. It is important to remember to be realistic. You cannot expect her friends to never come over, so make sure your request is reasonable.

If you are an early bird and like to go to bed at a reasonable time, but your roommate stays out until the early morning hours, I suggest trying earplugs. You would be surprised how much noise they can block out.

Another issue that is common among roommates is snoring and talking in one’s sleep. I have tried noise machines before and trust me, it is a waste of money. Try falling asleep listening to music, or once again ear plugs; they are a life savers. If yor family lives close by, then try to go home on the weekends every once in a while.

COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Review | Television

Dark Humor Aside, ‘Better Call Saul’ Creates A World of Its Own

By DEVON SHERIDAN STAFF WRITER

The recent track record of television spinoffs provided a healthy dose of skepticism for “Better Call Saul,” the new “Breaking Bad” spinoff that follows everyone’s favorite and seediest lawyer in New Mexico.

Surpisingly, the first five episodes of the first season have quelled viewers’ concerns. In fact, the reason behind “Saul’s” success is that it is very different from “Breaking Bad.” The fifth episode of the season, called “Alpine Shepherd Boy,” marks the beginning of the season’s rising action. By now, the characters have been introduced, fleshed out enough for the audience to begin to care about relationships and motives. At the center of the story is James McGill (He does not even have his same “Breaking Bad” character’s name!)

URSULA COYOTE/AP

Both “Breaking Bad” fans and general audiences can appreciate “Saul’s” dark humor.

still played brilliantly by Bob Odenkirk (Fargo). Just as fast-talking as his Saul Goodman future-alter ego, McGill is much less successful at this point. He is in constant contact with his brother Chuck, who suffers from a yet to be specified but very debilitating ailment. That ailment has forced Chuck from his position at Howard, Howard and McGill, a high-powered law firm in town whose polished chairman is trying to buy Chuck out.

By episode five, it is clear that Chuck’s illness and his former position at the law firm will play a huge role in James’ future earnings. But that is not the only hint towards the future to which “Breaking Bad” fans are privy. At the end of the episode, an extended scene with Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks, Airplane!) reveals that the beloved anti-anti-hero from “Breaking Bad”

may soon need to call James for legal services. Better for the audience and perhaps worse for the characters, the intertwinement of the future duo’s sketchy paths is inevitable.

Although it boasts the same nuanced dark humor and exemplary aesthetics we came to expect from Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould, who are writing and sometimes directing “Saul,” the same way they did for “Breaking Bad,” “Better Call Saul” stands completely alone from its predecessor, so much so that the title character, Saul Goodman, does not yet go by the name that gave him — in fiction and the real world — his fame. Clearly, resting on past laurels is not on the agenda for Gilligan and Gould. “Saul” is not only an entertaining legal drama-comedy, but it is barely identifiable from its predecessor’s style and genre, making it a very good show unto itself.

CULTURE

March 4, 2015

Review | Film

Binge Guide | Nicole Fiorica

Arrested Development At a glance: Genre: Comedy/Sitcom Seasons/Episodes: 4/68 Average Episode Length: 22 min utes Available on: Netflix What it’s about: The once-esteemed and wealthy Bluth family has gotten itself into a spot of trouble. After his father is arrested for fraud and dipping into company funds, well-adjusted do-gooder Michael Bluth (Jason Bateman, Horrible Bosses) is left with no choice but to keep his family together. A single parent with a teenage son, GeorgeMichael (Michael Cera, Scott Pilgrim v the World), Michael allows his sister Lindsay (Portia de Rossi), brother-inlaw Tobias and niece Maeby, to move in with them into their model home.

At the same time, he must keep an eye on his mother Lucille and two brothers — Buster, who never leaves his mother’s side, and Gob, a blacklisted part-time magician — as well as take over the company, despite the family’s habit of spending its money.

Why it’s so good: The dysfunctional nature of the Bluth family is a large part of what makes this show so worth watching and earned it a number of accolades from critics. The relatives are consis-

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tently ridiculous, as well as distinctly well-developed and lovable despite their materialism and often manipulative natures. The writers of the show succeed in making each episode extremely clever, and despite the show’s status as a sitcom, the narrative is continuous and compelling enough to make you care about what happens to each character. Tying each episode together is the show’s narrator, voiced by executive producer Ron Howard.

Howard makes several guest appearances on the show as well, adding to the meta-narrative that develops as the show progresses. Aware that they were going to be cancelled in the middle of their third season, the writers carried a strong narrative to the end so that the show never declined in quality.

re-watching as much fun — if not more entertaining — as watching the first time around, because viewers can spot the setup to many upcoming jokes in their early stages.

Why you should binge it: While, like most comedies, you could casually turn on any episode of “Arrested Development” and have a good laugh, this is a show enjoyed so much more when watched as a whole.

To a large degree, this is because “Arrested Development” is notorious for its running gags, jokes that build on each other as the series progresses and get funnier every time they come back up. These include incest jokes, the struggles of a never-nude, hop-ons and the realization “I’ve made a huge mistake.” This plot structure also makes

Potential Pitfalls: “Arrested Development” was cancelled after a shortened season three, and while show quality didn’t decline, it was another six years before Netflix released an entire fourth season. This means a few changes. Additionally, because of scheduling conflicts between the actors, the format of the show changed to allow for longer, character-centric episodes that eventually wove together into one unified narrative. It’s still hilarious, but it takes some getting used to.

Standouts: See: aforementioned running gags, for starters. Episodes that, out of their sheer hilarity, will leave viewers gasping for breath include season one’s “Pier Pressure” and the season two and three finales, “The Righteous Brothers” and “Development Arrested,” respectively. Additionally, “Arrested Development” features a host of famous guest stars and cameos, including Liza Minnelli, Ben Stiller, Amy Poehler and Seth Rogen.

Smith and Robbie Soar in ‘Focus’

By EILEEN MCCLEAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Focus, a film that blends the crime, comedy and romance genres, was written and directed

by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa and stars Will Smith (Men in Black) and Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street). The story involves Nick (Smith), a criminal who meets Jess (Robbie) and makes her a part of his team of con artists.

Smith and Robbie are both very likeable actors and have good chemistry together; their romance feels natural and believable.

After a few less-than-successful movies (i.e., After Earth), it is nice to see Smith’s career back on track with this crowd pleaser that is projected to make a lot more box office money than many of his latest efforts.

In her first starring role since her breakout role in The Wolf of Wall Street, Robbie shows the potential to become a very popular Hollywood actress.

The film itself seems oddly old fashioned, reminding me a little bit of witty movies from the 1940s or classic film noir films.

The shot of Robbie’s character on the staircase about half way through the film is a not so subtle reference to the 1944 classic Double Indemnity.

Focus’s use of music is very effective and is, in my opinion, one of the film’s best qualities. \ The overall tone of the film is light-hearted, but not silly, and the actors make the audience really care about the characters.

As for the plot, Focus kept me guessing the whole time and, while the pay-off is occasionally a little too far-fetched, it did not take away from my enjoyment of the film.

Two scenes in particular are especially well crafted: the scene at the Super Bowl and the scene (minor spoiler here) with the car crash. Focus is definitely worth seeing.

From Boston to B’way, With a Stop at Fordham

By RICHARD BORDELON COLUMNIST

When Moritz von Stuelpnagel first described the play Hand to God to his wife, she said, “I know this is going to Broadway.” In March, his wife’s prediction will be confirmed, as Hand to God begins previews on Broadway at the Booth Theatre, marking von Stuelpnagel’s Broadway directorial debut.

Von Stuelpnagel came to the performing arts through the visual arts (his mother designs museum exhibits) and has had a theatrical journey from Boston to New York, including teaching at Fordham along the way.

Von Stuelpnagel first became interested in directing after studying visual arts and graphic design at Carnegie Mellon for a year. He had done shows in high schools and realized that he preferred the performing arts, which are more collaborative, to the visual arts, which he admitted were often “lonely.”

The collaborative experience of the performing arts drew him into the theatrical world because he enjoyed “letting an event unfold in a certain way and having [the work] be a collaborative enterprise between artists.”

He realized that theater also offered a wider range of what kinds of senses, emotions and vehicles artists can use to construct their craft.

“Because you’re employing the audience’s imagination, you actually have a much wider palate of ideas or tools to pull on or draw from to create an experiential interaction,” he said.

After a few years in Boston, von Stuelpnagel moved to New York through the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts. He began as an assistant director, work-

RICHARD BORDELON/THE FORDHAM RAM

Mortiz von Stuelpnagel’s Broadway debut show starts this week.

ing with such prolific New York stage directors as Mark Brokaw, Nicholas Martin, Darko Tresnjak and Anna D. Shapiro.

While assistant directing around the city, he directed any chance he got. Jason Pizzarello, an alumnus of Fordham’s playwriting program, recommended von Stuelpnagel to Matthew Maguire, head of Fordham’s theater program. Von Stuelpnagel began directing plays as part

of the playwriting program, which allows professional directors to work with aspiring playwrights to hone their crafts.

In the fall of 2010, Maguire invited von Stuelpnagel to direct The Way of the World by William Congreve as part of the theater department’s mainstage season, an experience that von Stuelpnagel enjoyed immensely.

“I discovered how much I re-

ally liked working with the students there,” he said “The student body at Fordham is full of ambition and full of creativity, and not afraid to challenge each other with the discussion of what they find to be important to them artistically.

That was really a wonderful environment to find myself in, and I wanted to be part of that conversation.”

His experience directing a mainstage show encouraged von Stuelpnagel to pursue teaching, and he began teaching both Invitation to Theater and Senior Audition 2, a career transition type of class for acting majors.

Although his other commitments have precluded his teaching the past couple of semesters, he admitted, “I’ve loved the time that I’ve had there.”

Von Stuelpnagel serves as the artistic director of Studio 42, which is dedicated to producing plays that are “unproducible,” which means those “that are too big or too nontraditional in structure or too complicated or fantastical that other people seem to get nervous about.”

He admitted that Studio 42 “has given me a great little corner of the market” and encouraged him to work on shows like Verité (opened at LCT3 Feb. 18) and Hand to God (opening at the Booth Theatre April 7), which are being performed this spring.

These shows have something in common, though.

“I think the kind of plays that I am drawn to are the ones where we can laugh about our own suffering,” he said. “To really be alive as a human being means to acknowledge how difficult it is to be fully in ourselves or to face our own limitations in whatever way.”

Verité, which deals with a stayat-home mom and struggling author who has to make her memoir riveting enough for her publisher to consider publishing it, and Hand to God, which concerns a boy who joins a Christian puppet ministry only to have his puppet become possessed, each have this kind of outlook on life.

Hand to God, which begins previews on March 14 before an April 7 opening night, has been a journey for von Stuelpnagel, from directing its off-off-Broadway premier, to its off-Broadway transfer, to Broadway itself. He claimed that this has been a surreal experience.

“Our billboard went up last week, and it was just unbelievable,” he said. “It’s just getting more and more real.”

His Broadway debut was not a short journey, though.

“A career moves in fits and starts; that’s what they mean by ‘right place, right time,’” he said.

“You can slog through your career forever and then suddenly, very suddenly something can explode.”

Working in the New York theater community for a number of years has taught von Stuelpnagel always to look for new things in the performing arts.

“Sometimes the most exciting projects are not always the most widely publicized,” he said. “The more you seek out, the more there is to find. There’s a lot to discover and discovery is part of the experience.”

This attitude of discovery has drawn producers to plays directed by von Stuelpnagel. In 2011, a discovery led producers to find Hand to God, and almost four years later, it has found the bright lights of Broadway.

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CULTURE

March 4, 2015

Page 19

‘Rent’ Ends Mimes and Mummers’ Season of Love

By NICOLE HORTON CULTURE EDITOR

The newest Mimes and Mummers production, an emotional adaptation of Rent, graced the Collins Auditorium stage from Feb. 26 to March 1.

This Tony Award winning musical, described by members as “everyone’s dream show,” depicts the lives of young artists in New York City during the HIV/AIDS crisis.

The stage was sparse in regards to set, featuring mainly a fire escape and an outline of city buildings, where ensemble members mingled for most of the play. This meant that the actors, especially narrator and filmmaker Mark Cohen, would have to bring the audience into the characters’ world.

The play got off to a rocky start. The show opens in Mark and Roger’s apartment, played by Luke Witherell, FCRH ’16 and Christian Eble, FCRH ’18, respectively. As they sit talking in their apartment, the rest of the cast stands behind them as a group in the dark, which I found a bit distracting and out of place. I was glad that they later moved back towards the buildings, blending in as city dwellers. Also, Witherell was noticeably off-tune in the opening song “Tune Up #1.” As a narrator and main character, his acting chops were his strength is this production.

However, the number “Tango: Maureen” better suited him, as Mark relates to his ex-girlfriend Maureen’s

COURTESY OF MIMES AND MUMMERS

The cast of Rent consisted of Rose Hill and Lincoln Center students who are passionate about theater.

new girlfriend, Joanne, played by Vanessa Agovida, FCRH ’16. As they take turns leading in the dance, he and Agovida created a perfectly awkward dynamic.

Agovida gave a memorable performance as Maureen’s (Laura Hetherington, FCLC ’17) more serious counterpart. The Ivy League-educated Joanne grows tired of performance artist Maureen’s flirtatious cheating ways, and Maureen looks to win her back in “Take Me or Leave Me.” It’s a great vocal moment for both performers. Hetherington also gave a very dramatic, sultry reading in her protest entitled “Over

Behind the Ghostlight | Richard Bordelon

Pushing the Boundaries on Stage This weekend, I sat in the audience of two Tony Award-winning musicals: the grandiose operetta Les Miserables and the rock-concert-turnedextended-monologue Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Les Mis is your traditional Broadway fare, a heart-wrenching story with a sweeping, lush score that appeals to even the most discriminating tastes.

Hedwig is something else.

This rock musical by John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask, which premiered off-Broadway at the Jane Street Theatre in 1998, opened on Broadway for the first time last season. The production, which starred Neil Patrick Harris (“How I Met Your Mother”), who won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical, also won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, defeating the aforementioned production of Les Mis and a critically-acclaimed production of Violet, starring Sutton Foster.

The show itself makes the avid theatregoer question what is and what isn’t “Broadway” material. It is, essentially, a rock concert, in which Hedwig, the “internationally ignored” transgender East German rock star, performs her hits, while sharing her life story with the audience. She is accompanied by her band, The Angry Inch (a reference to her botched sex-change operation), and her husband Yitzhak, a Croatian drag queen from Zagreb. This production, currently playing at the Belasco Theatre, features copious amounts of strobe lighting, deafening guitar solos and catchy punk/glam rock songs belted

by Hedwig, all of which makes for an incredibly entertaining evening of theatre.

Many assumed that more productions of this nature couldn’t make it on Broadway, that they were too avant-garde for the typical Broadway audience of tourists and families from the suburbs. But, productions like Hedwig give fans of experimental theatre hope. These kinds of shows, done in a certain way, can find commercial success.

This is not to suggest that any offBroadway type show can make it on Broadway — it took Hedwig 16 years. Small theatres in downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn will always be the hub of the odd, off-the-wall, experimental theatre community in New York.

But, it is very exciting to see a show like this finally find mainstream commercial acceptance and success. This season, off-Broadway hits Hand to God and Fun Home will try to find success on the Great White Way (although it didn’t take 16 years for these to get to Broadway—both played off-Broadway last year). Although it is still an uphill battle for most offBroadway shows to find success on Broadway, opening in Midtown is an accomplishment in it of itself.

Hedwig, however, is still going strong and stars co-creator John Cameron Mitchell, who originated the role, until April 26 when “Glee” star Darren Criss takes over. One thing’s for sure, now that she’s rocking Broadway seven shows a week, you can’t “tear her down.”

the Moon.” When she asked “Still thirsty?” I overheard the guy behind me respond, “Oh yeah,” which really says it all.

Eble shines in his portrayal of Roger and was a true highlight in the show.

Two particularly strong vocal mo-

ments for him include “One Song Glory,” as he expresses his desire to write a hit song but fears he will not have enough time because of the virus, and when he later writes and sings this “one song” to his love interest Mimi, played by Meghan Bailey,

FCLC ’18. Along with complementing one another vocally, Eble and Bailey have great chemistry, urging the audience to root for their romance as they face their own demons.

Chris Boland, FCRH ’16, gave an emotional portrayal of anarchist professor Tom Collins, Mark and Roger’s friend. He falls in love with Angel (Nick Lopresto, FCRH ’16), a drag queen and street percussionist who fits right in with the group.

When Angel dies in Tom’s arms, it is a poignant moment for the group as they memorialize their close friend.

Lopresto also brings lightheartedness to “Today 4 U” when he dances and jumps around in high heels while creating rhythm with drumsticks.

The entire cast harmonizes beautifully in one of the show’s most iconic songs, “Seasons of Love.” Another company number, “La Vie Bohème,” is a playful moment as they share their bohemian culture. Rent was certainly an ideal selection for the cast.

It gave the members an opportunity to showcase their vocals and portray characters with emotional depth in a thought-provoking play.

Editor’s Pick | The Voyager Golden Records

Shouting to the Void

By KATIE MEYER MANAGING EDITOR

The year was 1977. NASA, betterfunded than it is today, launched two probes: Voyager 1 and Voyager 2.

They set out, nearly 40 years ago, to explore Jupiter and Saturn and send data back to Earth. By today’s standards, they were relatively simple machines, but even so, those two space crafts were, and are, just about the coolest darn things we humans ever did. And, that’s because they carried a message.

Attached to the front of both crafts were identical 12-inch gold-plated records. Encoded in those records was, and still is, the best representation of earth and the human experience that a little group of researchers, led by renowned, all-around science guy Carl Sagan, could muster.

There are sounds from nature — waves, thunder, whale song. And there are human sounds too: greetings in 55 different languages from all regions and eras of the world, as well as music, from Peruvian pan pipes to a Beethoven symphony to Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode.”

There also are images encoded into the record, with instructions on how to decipher them. They depict the human form, different facial expressions and a diverse array of people. There are chemical formulas, cities and wild places on Earth and printed messages from the UN Secretary General and the US President at the time, were included as well.

Finally, there are human stories encoded in the record, in a way, in the form of brain waves. During the making of the record, in a fit of really, really great planning, Sagan and the project’s creative director, Ann Druyan, fell in love, and Druyan had the idea to try to translate her love into sound for the record. She measured her brain’s electrical impulses and recorded them, and now, somewhere in the universe, there is a record of a human mind thinking about, as Druyan said, “the wonder of love, of being in

COURTESY OF FLICKR

The records contains nature sounds, different languages, and music from Earth.

love.”

And, it really is out in the universe now. After the Voyager crafts reached Jupiter and Saturn, their mission was extended, and they went on to explore and send data from the outer planets as well. Now, they’re farther from the Earth than any man-made object has ever been; in August 2012, Voyager 1 left our solar system for interstellar space, traveling at 38,610 miles per hour. Voyager 2 is currently in the farthest reaches of the solar system. It will be 40,000 years before either craft comes close to another star.

Both crafts are still sending back data, as well as emitting electromagnetic radiation intended to alert other intelligent life of their presence, should they ever get close enough.

In a way, I feel that electromagnetic radiation, reaching (as far as we know) no one, and slowly dwindling, points at what it really means to have blasted these records out into space.

It’s a desperate attempt to connect with something, anything that might be out in the universe. We don’t know who we are aiming for, or where, or if

they are there at all. It’s a painstaking, loving, possibly naive shout into a void that, as far as we logically know, does not care.

I think Sagan himself said it better than I ever could. “The spacecraft,” he said, “will be encountered and the record played only if there are advanced space-faring civilizations in interstellar space. But the launching of this ‘bottle’ into the cosmic ‘ocean’ says something very hopeful about life on this planet.”

The fact that humans would go to great pains and expense to send a message that has an infinitesimally small chance of ever being received means that if nothing else, humans are optimistic creatures. We try.

We are limited; in the context of the entire universe, maybe irredeemably so. But, we use our bodies and brains and limited resources to stretch the boundaries and find out more. Maybe it doesn’t mean anything; maybe there’s really nothing to find. But, we do it anyway.

Meanwhile, the Voyagers are still going.

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The Ram

March 4, 2015

SPORTS

Page 21

The Fordham Ram

Fordham Downs Ranked Minnesota in Tampa

By ANTHONY PUCIK SPORTS EDITOR

The Fordham softball team improved its record to 8-5 on the season two weekends ago down in Greenville, South Carolina at the Paladin Classic. The team swept a double header with the Furman University Paladins on Feb. 20, winning the first game 3-2 in eight innings and taking the second 8-1.

The following day, the Rams fell to the Gardner-Webb University Runnin’ Bulldogs 7-5. The team then traveled down to Orlando, Florida this past weekend to take part in the Diamond 9 Citrus Classic II. Fordham’s first game was against the University of Maryland Terrapins on Feb. 27. The Rams struck first in the top of the second when sophomore third baseman Lindsay Mayer scored on an error to make it 1-0. Maryland answered in the bottom of the fourth on a solo homerun by Erin Pronobis off Rams junior starter Rachel Gillen to tie the score. The Rams retook the lead in the top of the seventh on an RBI single by senior first baseman Michele Daubman to make it 2-1, but Maryland scored on an error in the bottom of the inning to send the game to extra innings.

The teams each exchanged runs in the eighth inning to make it 3-3, but Maryland walked off on a RBI sacrifice fly, taking the game 4-3.

DREW DIPANE/THE FORDHAM RAM

After a 9-7 start to the season, the Fordham softball team will now enjoy an 11 day game hiatus.

Gillen suffered the loss and fell to 4-2 on the season, while reliever Hannah Dewey picked up the win, improving to 8-4.

Fordham’s next game came against the Penn State University Nittany Lions. Fordham struck first in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Mayer, but that was all it would get. Penn State scored three runs in the second off Daubman and added three more in the last five innings to take the game 6-1. Daubman suffered the loss, falling to 2-3, and starter Marlania Laubach earned the win, going to

3-2.

The Rams’ next two games on Feb. 28 versus Georgetown University and eight ranked Georgia were cancelled, so they finished up the Classic on Sunday, March 1, against the thirteenth-ranked Minnesota University Golden Gophers. The Rams got off to a hot start, scoring nine runs in the first inning. It started with a two-RBI double by Daubman, followed by RBI singles by senior right fielder Cora Ianiro and senior catcher Kayla Lombardo. Fordham scored two more runs on RBI walks by

Gillen and senior left fielder Brianna Turgeon and capped off the inning with a three-RBI triple by sophomore second baseman Amy Van Hoven.

The Gophers scored a run each in the second and third innings off Gillen to bring themselves within seven, but Fordham would tack on another run in the fifth inning on an RBI groundout by Gillen to go up 10-2. Minnesota added two runs in the bottom of the inning and one more in the sixth, but the relief efforts of Daubman and junior Patti Maloney shut down the

ranked Golden Gophers, giving Fordham its only win in the Diamond 9 Citrus Classic, 10-5.

Gillen picked up her fifth victory of the season to improve to 5-2 while Minnesota’s Nikki Anderson suffered her first loss of the season, falling to 3-1. “Rachel as well as our entire pitching staff have done a great job,” head coach Bridget Orchard said. “Rachel has worked extremely hard to get to where she is after her injury a few years ago. I am very happy and proud of her.”

This is the Rams’ sixth-highest victory over a ranked team in program history, the last coming in 2013 against fifth ranked Texas.

“It meant a lot to us beating Minnesota,” Orchard said. “We play an aggressive schedule for those opportunities and I was happy that we made the most of it and came away with a win.”

The Rams have this upcoming weekend off, but will travel down to Raleigh, North Carolina from March 13-15 to participate in the N.C. State Hyatt Place Invitational.

Their first contest is against Missouri University on March 13 at 11:15 a.m., another ranked opponent.

Despite not looking forward to the week off, coach Orchard is looking forward to playing down in North Carolina. “We play a top 10 team in Missouri and they will make us work hard,” she said. “We have to mentally get up, show up and play our best to win.”

The Youngest, Most Courageous Fordham Ram

By DREW CASEY ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Imani Simon, standing less than four feet tall, may be the smallest member of Fordham’s women’s basketball team, but she is still a Fordham Ram. “She is truly a member of the team,” head coach Stephanie Gaitley said.

Simon, a six-year-old girl who is battling sickle cell anemia, has been a member of the squad since early last season, when a bond was formed between her, her family and the Rams through Team Impact, an organization that works to improve the lives of children facing life-threatening diseases by pairing them with local college athletic teams.

Given the basketball team’s commitment to service, assistant coach Jenna Cosgrove says she jumped at the opportunity to partner with Team Impact after hearing about the organization from the Fordham softball program in 2013.

“It was something that we really wanted to get involved with,” Cosgrove said. “Our kids are great, and they want to do anything they can to be involved, and I thought really involving someone to be a part of our program would be something special.”

The relationship began just prior to the start of the 2013-2014 season, when Cosgrove and a few players visited Simon and her family at their Yonkers home. Although Si-

COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS

Imani Simon (left) pictured with freshman Aaliyah Jones (right) has been a Fordham Ram since Nov. 3, 2013

mon was shy at first, Cosgrove said that she gradually became more and more comfortable.

The bond continued to take shape when Simon officially signed a letter of intent to become part of the team at a press conference held at Rose Hill on Nov. 3, 2013.

Soon thereafter, Simon started to become close with members of a special leadership team, according to Cosgrove. She developed an especially close relationship with now-junior guard Khadijah Gibson and now-senior guard Taryn Durant.

“Every child wants to go out and play everyday, but it’s hard for her to do things like that all the time,” Durant said. “But we also know that Imani doesn’t show it at all, like whatsoever. You would never tell.

She’s a happy, energetic and talkative child.”

Simon is actively engaged and enthusiastic when she is able to attend games at the Rose Hill Gym, and according to Gibson, the team tends to perform well when she is in attendance at the ninety-year-old basketball cathedral.

“Coming to every game, I’d

definitely say she’s our good luck charm,” Gibson said. “She definitely brightens our day and lifts our spirit on the bench.”

While Simon brings joy to the team, the team also brings joy to Simon. According to her mother, Elenor Bristol, Simon truly loves the players and spending time with them.

“They treat her like family here,” Bristol said. “That means a lot to her. It’s just a good thing she’s here, because it allows her to forget what’s happening to her. And she enjoys it.”

The relationship has also been very beneficial to Simon’s entire family.

“It’s been a great help for me and my family, because without Fordham, there was nothing for her,” Bristol said. “Now that she’s on the team, it means a lot to us. It really does.”

The bond has benefited both sides, and the overall experience has been filled with many memorable moments thus far.

“I think my favorite thing about Imani is just seeing her eyes light up when she’s with the players and knowing that she’s part of the team,” Gaitley said.

Durant, on the other hand, loves watching Simon play basketball with her brothers, especially older and taller Tyreke.

“He just steals the ball from her, and she gets pissed and steals the ball back and throws it at his head,” Durant said. “It’s all laughs and jokes, and it’s really adorable. It’s great to see such a happy family.”

Recently, Simon and Bristol traveled north with the team for their matchup with the University of Rhode Island. While the team did not pull out a win, Simon still seemed to enjoy her time in the “Ocean State.”

Win or lose, Simon can often be found on the Fordham bench, sitting with her teammates and cheering her Rams on.

SPORTS

Page 22

March 4, 2015

Men Finish 9th, Women 10th at A-10 Champs

By BRYAN KIEL STAFF WRITER

It has been a busy couple of weeks for the Fordham track team as it rounds out its indoor season.

Although Fordham did not place highly in team competition at the Atlantic 10 Championship last week, individual performances highlighted some of the team’s best features. With competition at the Last Chance Invitational completed, Fordham has just one more meet, the ECAC/IC4A championship, before the start of a new season.

The Atlantic 10 Championship, which ran Feb. 21-22 at the University of Rhode Island’s Mackal Fieldhouse, featured over a dozen scoring times among the men and women, as well as multiple All-Conference honors. The first day’s events featured a multitude of qualifying races for both teams.

Senior Brianna Tevnan not only qualified for the A-10 finals, but also an ECAC qualification in the 5000m with a time of 17:22.88.

The first day also featured scoring performances from junior Mike Turi and freshman Ryan Riviere. Riviere passed the 4.35m mark in the pole vault, finishing fifth overall, while Turi got sixth in the 5000m run with a time of 14:52.44. The top finish of the day came from the distance relay team, which finished second, tak-

JOSHUA KIM/THE FORDHAM RAM

The men and women look to shine at the ECAC/IC4A championship this upcoming weekend to end indoor season.

ing home All-Atlantic 10 honors.

The team, clocking in at 10:03.13, consisted of seniors Jonathan Annelli, Dan Green and Lester Taylor and freshman Thomas Slattery.

Competition completed on Sunday, Feb. 22, with the conclusion of men’s and women’s finals events. The men’s squad’s top performances came in field and relay events. Senior Austin Ruiz posted a personal-best mark of 15.28m, finishing fifth overall.

The 4x800 team also finished fifth

overall. That team, consisting of Green, Annelli, Taylor and freshman Louis Santelli, combined to come in at 7:52.11, about 10 seconds behind the top team from St. Joseph’s University.

The women’s 4x800 team, however, was the top performer at A-10’s this year, gaining First Team All-Atlantic 10 honors.

The team, consisting of seniors Titi Fagade, Kristen Stuart and Melissa Higgins and junior Danielle Rowe led 11 other teams from the conference to place first with

a time of 9:02.58. In doing so, it beat both the Mackal Fieldhouse facility record as well as the A-10 record in the 4x800. “This is a really, really big deal for us,” Fagade said to an A-10 reporter after their event. “We should have always, on paper, been able to get gold, and we’ve always come up just a bit short. We’ve wanted to win for the past three years, so it’s a big deal.”

Fagade also got the silver in the 800m with a time of 2:14.81.

Other top performances of the

day by members of the 4x800 team included Rowe and Stuart, who took fourth and fifth in the 500m with times of 1:15.15 and 1:15.64, respectively. Senior Mara Lieberman also ran well in the 1000m run with a time of 3:01.09. The overall finishes by both teams were not as noteworthy. The men’s team, with no event wins, finished ninth out of 10 teams, while the women’s team finished 10th out of 13 teams.

The Last Chance Invitational at Boston University featured a number of Fordham runners vying for qualification into this weekend’s ECAC/IC4A Championship. Fagade continued her strong performances, breaking her personal record in the 800m with a time of 2:05.76, although she narrowly missed a nationals qualification time. Meanwhile, Rowe qualified for ECAC competition with a personal-best time of 2:11.56. Stuart qualified for ECAC’s in the 400m with a time of 56.84. Annelli led the men with a career-best mark of 4:06.92 in the mile run.

The Rams have high hopes going into their last meet of the indoor season. “After our win at A-10’s, the 4x800 is feeling great going into ECACs,” said Higgins. “[We are] hoping to run even faster than the last two years.”

The ECAC/IC4A championship takes place this weekend at Boston University.

Baseball Warming Up in Florida and California

By SAM BELDEN ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Two weekends ago, Fordham baseball headed down to Fort Myers for a stretch of three games. In the first, the Rams were shutout by Florida Gulf Coast; in the second, they lost by a single run to nationally-ranked Illinois.

In the final contest of the weekend, they lost to Florida Gulf Coast again, this time by a margin of seven. In all, Fordham’s performance caused the team to drop to a record of one win and five losses through the road trip.

Last weekend, the Rams traveled to Los Angeles for a threegame slate against the nationally-ranked and undefeated USC Trojans. They were swept once again, bringing their record to 1-8 and extending their losing streak to seven games. The weekend was not totally devoid of bright spots for Fordham, however, as the team lost by just one run in both of the first two games.

“I thought we played well out at USC, just not well enough,” said head coach Kevin Leighton.

“We did some things right, and we did some things wrong, and unfortunately, in one run games, the things that you do wrong can really hurt you.”

Friday’s contest was marked by a pair of strong pitching performances. Fordham junior Brett Kennedy held the USC lineup scoreless through seven and struck out a man per inning, while USC’s Brent Wheatley blanked the Rams over the same stretch.

Both teams were able to put a runner on third base within the first four innings, but their efforts were thwarted by the opposition’s

dialed-in pitching.

In the bottom of the eighth, however, Kennedy surrendered a three-run homer to USC’s Reggie Southall and exited the game.

In the top of the next inning, the Rams attempted to battle back.

A pair of RBI singles from senior pinch hitter Jordan Gajdos and sophomore centerfielder Jason Lundy nearly got them, but after that, the Rams’ lineup quieted down. Fordham lost by a score of 3-2.

The next day, the Rams and Trojans squared off again. Fordham starter Jimmy Murphy gave up a run in the first before settling in and holding USC’s lead to one through four innings. However, a fifth inning rally brought three more runs to the Trojans and forced Murphy’s early exit.

Once again, the Rams attempted to play spoiler during the game’s later stages, and once again, they nearly succeeded.

In the top of the seventh, junior catcher Charlie Galiano scored on a fielder’s choice. Lundy, the next batter, singled to left field, scoring junior third baseman Ian Edmiston.

An inning later, sophomore first baseman Matthew Kozuch connected for a single up the middle to knock in a third run, but once again, Fordham fell just short as USC reliever Kyle Davis blanked them for the rest of the game. The final score was 4-3.

Lundy, who batted .429 in addition to his two RBIs, was the team’s top performer over the first two games. “Whatever I could do to put the team in a good position to win was all I was really trying to do, whether it be moving the runner over or knocking in an

RBI,” he said. “Being relaxed and confident put me in a good position for success at the plate [last] weekend.”

The third and final game was not as hotly contested. Fordham sophomore Kirk Haynes never got comfortable on the mound, surrendering six runs in fewer than four innings and four in the fourth inning alone. His replacement, freshman David Manasek, also struggled, giving up three runs while retiring just one batter. Finally, sophomore Greg Weissert got the Rams out of the fourth. Although the relief corps was strong from there, the damage was done; the Trojans already had a nine-run lead. Fordham’s only run came off of a single from sophomore rightfielder Mark Donadio in the top of the sixth, and they lost by a score of 10-1.

Although the end result was undesirable, fans can take comfort in knowing that Fordham was defeated by a quality team. The Trojans entered the series as the No. 29 team in the nation.

“They’re a very well-coached, disciplined team that’s definitely going to make a post-season run this year,” said Lundy. “They had some quality arms on the mound and were able to put together good at-bats at the plate all weekend.”

After stops in Georgia, Florida and California over the past three weekends, the Rams will return to the Bronx. Eight of their next nine games will be at home, and the only exception is a trip to nearby Stony Brook. The team now has less than a month before they square off against Richmond, its first A-10 opponent of the season.

“Being home will help,” said Leighton. “I don’t think we need to do too much different. Most of our games have been against some of the top teams in the country.”

“Despite our record, we’ve played well for the most part,” said Donadio. “We played tough teams, and we’ve battled with them but just couldn’t pull out a win. I think if we just stick together and work on the little things such as baserunning, fielding and two strike hitting, we will be fine.

We have the talent and we’re looking forward to make a run to an A-10 championship.”

Fordham’s home opener against Wagner College has been postponed due to weather. The team will open the season at home against Stony Brook University in a doubleheader on Saturday, March 7, starting at 12 p.m.

DREW DIPANE/THE FORDHAM RAM

The Rams get their first chance to play in front of their home fans this weekend against Stony Brook in a doubleheader .

SPORTS

March 4, 2015

Varsity Scores & Stats

Matt McCormack

Falls from Glory in the NHL There have been many feel-good stories in the NHL this year: the Islanders, Predators and Jets have all rebounded from losing seasons and find themselves in playoff positions as the season reaches its final month of regular season games. For every team that has risen from the ashes, however, there have been teams that have experienced harsh falls from prosperity. Two of those unlucky squads have been the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Colorado Avalanche.

Last season, the Blue Jackets finished with a record of 43-32-7, placing fourth in the Metropolitan Division and putting up a hard-fought first round battle against the Penguins before ultimately being eliminated from the playoffs. The future seemed bright for Columbus. Last season was their first after being moved to the Eastern Conference — they finally get to play teams in their own time zone — and their young talent combined with the goaltending of Vezina winner Sergei Bobrovsky made the Blue Jackets seem like they would be playoff contenders for years to come.

However, Columbus has taken a step backwards this year. They sit second-to-last in the Metropolitan with a record of 26-30-4. Their lack of success can almost solely be attributed to the unusually large number of injuries they have experienced this season. They rank first in “Man Games Lost” — which totals the amount of games players have missed due to injury, illness and suspension — with 378 total games lost. The injury bug has not just devastated fourth-line journeymen but many of Columbus’ top players, such as Bobrovsky, Boone Jenner, Brandon Dubinsky and Nathan Horton.

The Colorado Avalanche was perhaps the most surprising team of the 2013-2014 season. It was Patrick Roy’s first year as head coach and many did not have high expectations for this squad made up of mostly young players. However, they ended up finishing atop the Central Division with a record of 52-22-8 before being ousted in the first round by the Minnesota Wild in seven games.

Led mostly by youngsters such as Matt Duchene and Nathan MacKinnon, the Avalanche overachieved last season, according to NHL experts.

Before the start of this season, many predicted a regression to the mean for this inexperienced group.

Those who predicted this fall were right on the mark. As of last Friday, the Avalanche find themselves at the very bottom of the Central Division with a record of 26-24-11.

They are second only to Columbus in “Man Games Lost” with 333, but their problems extend beyond injury woes. The elder statesman of the team, Jarome Iginla, leads the way with 41 points. They have received very little production from their youngsters compared to their performances from the previous season.

Matt Duchene (39 points), Gabriel Landeskog (38 points) and Nathan MacKinnon (37 points) all had great seasons last year, but have failed to live up to their potentials this season.

Can these bad seasons from the Blue Jackets and Avalanche simply be written off due to injuries? It remains to be seen. In any event, both teams will have a lot to prove next season if they want show that their success from last season was not just a flash in the pan.

Page 23

Men’s Basketball La Salle 23 25 48 Fordham 32 31 63 (LS) J. Price 16 pts (FOR) C. Sengfelder 14 pts Fordham 37 37 74 Massachusetts 33 49 82 (FOR) M. Thomas 29 pts (MASS) D. Gordon 20 pts Women’s Basketball Fordham 37 42 79 George Mason 28 27 55 (FOR) S. Clark 20 pts (GM) T. Brown 22 pts Davidson 21 25 Fordham 31 23 (DAV) A. Long 13 pts (FOR) E. Tapio 12 pts

46 54

Baseball Fordham Southern California

2 3

Fordham Southern California

3 4

Women’s Track Last Chance Invitational

Fordham Southern California

1 10

800m T. Fagade

Softball Fordham Maryland

3 4

Fordham Penn State

1 6

Fordham Minnesota

10 5

Men’s Track Last Chance Invitational Mile J. Annelli

4:06.92

2:05.76

Women’s Tennis Fordham Army

4 3

Fordham Massachusetts

2 5

Athletes of the Week Mandell Thomas

Samantha Clark

Junior

Junior

Basketball

Basketball

Thomas was on fire during Saturday’s game against Massachusetts.

The guard was seven for 10 from beyond the three-point arc and scored 29 points in all, good for more than a third of Fordham’s production. Days before, he contributed eight points and 10 assists against La Salle.

Clark was a force on both sides of the ball last week. She had a banner game against George Mason, scoring 20 points en route to a 24 point victory. Days later, she grabbed 12 rebounds and contributed seven points in a win over Davidson.

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 •

Wolyniec Appointed Coach of Red Bulls II Former Fordham soccer player John Wolyniec, FCRH ’99, was recently announced as the head coach of the Red Bulls II, which is the New York Red Bulls’ USL affiliate. Although it is his first head coaching position, Wolyniec has long been a part of New York’s soccer scene, leading the nation in goals as a Ram in 1997 and ’98, and playing in the MLS for more than 10 years, many of which were spent with the Red Bulls. He is Fordham’s career leader in goals, assists, points and games played. He was inducted to the Fordham Athletics Hall of Fame in 2005.

•

Matthew Michaels

Tapio on Third Team AllAtlantic 10 On Tuesday, women’s basketball senior Emily Tapio was named Third Team All-Atlantic 10. The AllConference honors are reserved for the best players in the A-10. Tapio’s rate of 12 points per game leads all Fordham players and is the 17th best average in the conference. She is also a part of the thirdwinningest team in Fordham women’s basketball history. The Class of 2014 has notched 82 victories during its time with the team.

•

Sengfelder Takes Rookie of the Week Honors On Monday, basketball’s Christian Sengfelder was named the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week. It was Sengfelder’s fifth time winning the award and the seventh time this season that it has gone to a Ram. Against La Salle, he scored 14 points and 14 rebounds in a 15 point victory, while against Massachusetts, he contributed 17 points and six rebounds to the losing effort.

•

139 Rams Named to Atlantic 10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll 139 of Fordham’s student athletes were recently named to the Atlantic 10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll. To earn a place on the list, athletes must attain a GPA of 3.5 during the semester. Fordham had the second-most honorees of all schools; only Massachusetts, with 163 student-athletes, had more.

— Compiled by Sam Belden

A World Series in San Diego? Not in 2015 After a 77–85 season, the Padres’ new general manager A.J. Preller wanted to revamp his team. He made some major acquisitions this offseason, but despite the influx of big names, San Diego is only marginally better and is set up to disappoint for the foreseeable future.

Preller began by revamping the outfield. In 2014, Seth Smith, Cameron Maybin and Will Venable patrolled the grass of Petco Park. If those names strike fear in any pitcher, that pitcher should be no higher than AA ball. This woeful collection of outfielders played a key role in the 2014 Padres, becoming the worst offensive team in recent memory.

It did not help that San Diego had a relatively poor defensive outfield in a pitchers’ ballpark.

To fix the problem, Preller traded for Matt Kemp, Justin Upton and Wil Myers in three of many transactions for the Padres. Kemp, the 2011 MVP runner-up, left one log-jammed outfield in California to join another.

Kemp is an extremely talented player, but recent injuries have plagued him and the Padres’ medical team found his hips to be arthritic. He has slowed down plenty, compiling only 26 stolen bases in the three seasons after swiping 40 in 2011. The 30 year-old Kemp is owed more than 108 million dollars over the next five years. Even though the Dodgers sent over a huge check with Kemp, he is overpaid, and the Padres will feel the burden.

Even though Upton strikes out more often than the sun rises, it is a good pickup for the Friars. Last year, he hit 29 home runs and knocked in 102 runs. He is entering the season at 27 years old and, although he will earn a big paycheck this year, he will be a free agent next offseason.

Myers won the 2013 AL Rookie of the Year award with Tampa Bay but saw a major decline in production last season. He is only 24, so he is a great candidate for a bounce-back year.

However, there have been accounts of attitude problems with the young slugger and he may be a detriment to the clubhouse atmosphere.

Last season, the Padres had two of the best pitch framers calling the games. They traded away Yasmani Grandal as part of the Kemp trade and Rene Rivera in the Myers deal.

They managed to add Ryan Hanigan, but immediately flipped him to the Red Sox for Will Middlebrooks.

Through trades, they acquired Derek Norris and Tim Frederowicz, but neither is certain to compensate for the loss of the incumbents.

They followed up by signing one of the best pitchers on the open market, James Shields. He has thrown over 200 innings every season since 2007 and will provide veteran quality at the top of a young rotation. With latebloomer Andrew Cashner, stalwart Tyson Ross and Ian Kennedy, the Padres lack a true ace but have seven or eight starters they should feel comfortable throwing out there.

The Padres decided to go into “win now” mode when they should have been developing. The roster is full of holes, and the pieces do not fit. San Diego is more like an 85 win team than a contender, and they dug themselves a hole for the future. This winter, they traded away five of their ten best prospects. The Padres are definitely improved, but don’t expect them to make the playoffs this year or any time soon.

SPORTS

Page 24

March 4, 2015

Out-touched at A-10’s

By DREW CASEY ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

The Fordham swimming and diving team concluded its season on Saturday, Feb. 21, at the Atlantic 10 championship with the women placing fifth and the men finishing in eighth place.

The women’s squad concluded competition with 425 points, 161 short of Richmond’s first place performance, while the men’s team amassed only 272.5 points. Massachusetts took the crown on the men’s side, narrowly beating out St. Bonaventure.

The highlights of the four-day event in Geneva, Ohio included three event wins and six times that qualified Ram swimmers for the NCAA “B” cut. In addition, seven school records were broken and seven Rams were named as All-Atlantic 10 performers.

Junior Steve Sholdra amassed a majority of these distinctions on the men’s side, crediting his accomplishments to both the coaching staff and his teammates.

“Doing well at [the] conference [championship] was the result of many things, namely the good coaching and the good team atmosphere that we have on Fordham swimming,” Sholdra said. “Having an entire team cheering and supporting each other throughout every single day of the meet really boosts our team spirits and ability to do well.”

The Renton, Washington native placed first in the 400yd individual medley in 3:52.72, took second in the 200yd butterfly in 1:47.93 and finished third in the 1650yd freestyle in 15:27.55. Each of these performances qualified as an NCAA “B” cut, and Sholdra will now wait to see if he is invited to the NCAA

men’s championship, which begins on March 26.

The international political economy major’s times in the 400yd individual medley and 200yd butterfly also set new school records.

He earned First Team All-Atlantic 10 honors in the 400yd individual medley and second team honors in the 200yd butterfly.

The women’s team featured a more balanced attack at the Spire Institute. The crew started off strong, placing second in Wednesday’s 200yd medley relay. Sophomore Morgan Fairclough, juniors Chandler Lulley and Shannon Lulley and senior Kelly Carroll earned Second Team All-Atlantic 10 honors for their performance in the event.

After a brief first day of competition, the women’s side turned it into gear in the individual events, according to senior captain Savannah Coe. “I think our team did well,” Coe said. “We had some real stand out performances by Meg[an] Polaha and Shannon Lulley, but the rest of the team performed well too.”

Polaha, who won the 200yd butterfly at last year’s conference meet, out-swam the entire field and touched first in the 200yd individual medley. Her 2:01.31 set a school record, qualified as a “B” cut, and earned her first team all-Atlantic 10 honors. Polaha also took third in the 200yd butterfly at this year’s competition.

Shannon Lulley followed up her day one performance later by finishing second in the 100yd butterfly in a school record and “B” cut time of 53.82. Lulley was also second quickest in the 50yd freestyle, posting 23.06, another new school record.

“Going into the meet, I kept reminding myself that I had put in all the work that was necessary to

succeed,” Lulley said. “I really try to have fun and enjoy myself in all my races and I think that sort of lighthearted attitude translated into a good performance.”

The Smithtown, New York native earned second team all-conference honors in these two events as well.

The Rams were also victorious in the 400yd medley relay, beating Richmond to the wall by .07 seconds. Fariclough, the Lulley sisters and senior Victoria McGovern earned first team All-Atlantic 10 honors after winning the event.

Aside from her two impressive relay performances, Fairclough also turned in top finishes in both backstroke events. She placed third in both the 100yd and 200yd backstroke, and her time of 55.03 in the 100yd distance qualified as a “B” cut.

The final two school records came in the men’s 500yd freestyle and the women’s 200yd freestyle relay. Freshman Liam Semple set the new mark at 4:28.24 in the 500yd freestyle, while freshman Erin McBride, junior Megan Gray and the Lulley sisters changed the record books in the 200yd freestyle relay, posting 1:33.96 While the women’s team was disappointed with their overall finish, according to Coe and fellow senior captain Frances Warren, the team is proud of their season as a whole.

“I think that overall we had an amazing season,” Coe said. “I watched so many girls have amazing performances and best times, even in-season, so I’m proud of what our team accomplished this year, even though we didn’t place as high as we wished to at A-10’s.”

The four Fordham swimmers with NCAA “B” cuts continue to wait patiently to see if they will be invited to the NCAA championship.

CHRISTIAN WILOEJO/THE FORDHAM RAM

The Fordham swim team concluded its 2014-2015 campaign at the Atlantic 10 Championship, held Feb. 18-21.

COURTESY OF JOE SULLIVAN

The Fordham sailing team looks to continue where it left off in the fall.

Sailing Preps for Spring

By JONAH HASKELL STAFF WRITER

The imminent approach of spring has the sports world in a frenzy as baseball is once again in the news, but A-Rod is not the only Bronx-based athlete gearing up for a long season. The ice on the East River has melted and the Fordham Club Sailing team can now begin preparing for a spring 2015 season that its hopes will equal, or even rival, its fall 2014 campaign. That is easier said than done, though, as the Rams are coming off their most successful season in their history.

The team welcomed six freshmen to their ranks in September, and rookie coach Johnny Norfleet, along with team captains Adam Keally, JJ Monro and Elaina Mansley, wasted no time whipping their team into shape. After a successful September, the Rams hit their stride in mid-October, placing fourth overall in the Navy Fall Interconference Regatta on Oct. 19 and then winning the Hoyt Trophy at Brown on Oct. 26. They maintained their hot streak until the end of the season, when they posted their best-ever finish in the Atlantic Coast Championship, a well-earned fifth place.

Sophomore Will Holz qualified for and flew to Seattle to participate in the singlehanded sailing national championship in November, where he finished 15th. Fordham’s strong performance was recognized by the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association, as the Rams ranking rose from 18th on Sept. 25, to 6th at the

end of the season. Fordham’s No. 6 ranking is the highest of all college club sailing teams, with only varsity programs ranked above them.

All of that will be on team members’ minds as they put their boats on the water for the first time in 2015 later this week. They will look to continue their fall success over the rest of the semester and into the early summer. The Rams will begin their season practicing at SUNY Maritime on the frigid East River, and six sailors will travel to Georgetown on March 6 to compete in Fordham’s first regatta of the season. The Rams will take advantage of spring break to return to Washington D.C., where they will spend the week training with the Georgetown and Dartmouth sailing teams.

In late April, Fordham will host the Greater New York Dinghy Open, with teams from all over the Northeast coming to participate. The overall goal of the season will be to continue their climb in the ICSA rankings and to qualify for the National Championship Finals. Last year, the Rams were bounced from the competition in the semi-final round, missing the cut to advance by one spot. This year, they aim to push themselves over the hump and into the 18-team final round for the first time. If they succeed, the Rams will be sailing until early June — but the time invested is worth it for Fordham’s dedicated sailors.

Women’s Tennis Battles Through Weather

By JAKE GROGAN STAFF WRITER

Consistency is the name of the game for the Fordham women’s tennis team this season, as the squad looks to establish a winning precedent after a shaky 2014.

The team ended its campaign last spring with a loss to the top seeded VCU Rams in the second round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament. Though filled with inconsistencies, the season did produce some accomplishments worth building on in 2015.

The team won three of four games to close out the regular season, scored an Atlantic 10 tournament win over the University of Rhode Island and celebrated Destiny Grunin being named “Atlantic 10 Women’s Tennis

Rookie of the Week.”

Unfortunately, capitalizing on any momentum generated last year has been hampered by recent weather.

The same conditions that have forced the university to shut down five times in the last two months have forced the cancellation of practices and the rescheduling of matches, taking time away from what could have resulted in better early season cohesiveness. Luckily for the Rams, their senior-ladened roster should prevent any issues regarding chemistry from becoming too serious.

The squad features five seniors, giving the team a serious early season advantage when it comes to doubles matches. The consistency developed over the past three seasons also allows the girls to pick up right where

they left off in terms of practicing.

“We are working hard at playing practice matches and running drills with each other,” said Bella Genkina, a senior who won 13 singles matches during her junior year. “Most of the days we practice at the same time as the men’s team, so sometimes we mix it up and play with them. We’re definitely looking for ways to make our practice seem as close as possible to matches to be mentally and physically prepared when we compete.”

That tenacity in practice has resulted in a .500 record since the new year, as the team defeated Duquesne to start the spring season and knocked off Army near the end of February after falling to St. John’s two weeks earlier. The Rams’ most recent contest ended in a loss at the

hands of UMass. That said, the team knows its best play is yet to come.

“We are taking every win and loss as preparation for conference play and are working on improving our game after each match,” Genkina said. “Our goal is to be as prepared as we possibly can for the conference so that we can perform at our best.”

While the work put in by the team’s upperclassmen will have a lot of say in whether or not the Rams’ experience any success this year, freshman Estelle Wong has the potential to be a major contributing factor in her first year on campus. A five-star recruit out of high school, she ranked seventh in the state of California and 64th nationally.

She has already won two “Atlantic 10 Women’s Tennis Rookie of the

Week” honors and placed first in the B Singles group at the NJIT Winter Invitational this past January.

“Every match that we have coming up is winnable,” said Julie Leong, a senior and a captain of the team.

“Our two freshman being in the starting lineup is a huge help.”

Leong’s expectations for the season are equally as high.

“As a captain, I expect the team to make it to at least the semi-finals round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament,” she said. “It would be a great feeling to end my last semester of tennis with a strong fight from all of us.”

The strong senior class, coupled with talented underclassmen should spell success for the Rams come April.

SPORTS

March 4, 2015

Anthony Pucik Too Much of A Good Thing I will be the first one to tell you that the NHL playoffs are arguably the best playoff games to watch in any of the major sports. The intensity of every game is hardly matched by any other playoff series across the board. However, there is such thing as having too many playoff games.

The system the NHL has now is working pretty well: three rounds of seven-game series among eight teams in each conference that lead up to the Stanley Cup Final, also a seven-game series. But, all this talk of potentially adding two more teams in each conference, bringing the number of teams in the playoffs to 20, is just too much. That would mean that two-thirds of the teams in the NHL would be in the playoffs.

Even teams with a losing record would have a chance of making it.

Teams like the Buffalo Sabres and Edmonton Oilers would not be feeling the need to tank right now for a top draft pick, because a good run would put them in striking distance of a playoff spot within the new system.

I also think the way these playoffs would run is a bit absurd. The wild card teams would play in singleelimination games (the seven seed plays the 10 seed and the eight plays the nine), and then the playoffs would be back down to eight teams in each conference. One of the main reasons I like the NHL playoffs as opposed to the other sports is that they have long series that create mini rivalries and keep you on the edge of your seat. Not that a singleelimination game wouldn’t do that, but if it was a blowout it wouldn’t have the feel that a regular NHL playoff series would.

And, even though the idea of seeing single-elimination games in the NHL playoffs sounds extremely intense, placing two extra teams in the playoffs to create these games is not the way to do it.

It will make the NHL money, and fans of middle-of-the-road teams will be glad to see their teams in playoff games, but the NHL is not realistically adding much to the playoffs. People might be more inclined to like the twenty-team playoff if there was another system that would involve a playoff series of even three games, but the NHL should not think about this idea until it increases the amount of teams in the league.

Even then, with four extra teams in the league, a majority would still end up in the playoffs. I think there are enough playoff teams with 16, regardless of how many teams are in the league.

The NHL playoffs are extremely exciting to watch as they are right now, and there is no need to change them. Much like the Stadium Series has taken away the uniqueness of the Winter Classic, nine and 10 seeds in the playoffs with single-elimination games would alter the feeling of the start of the playoffs and might turn more people away from watching them. Who would want to see the Philadelphia Flyers potentially face off against the Montreal Canadiens if they win their play-in game? Lopsided series would be more likely and take away from the overall intensity of the race to the Cup — and no fan wants that.

Page 25

Senior Profile | Megan Zarriello

By DREW CASEY ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

After transferring from the University of Maryland following her freshman year because the Terrapins cut their swimming program, senior Megan Zarriello has embraced her time as a Fordham Ram. She specialized in the distance freestyle events and recently completed her Fordham swimming career at the Atlantic 10 Championship, placing sixth in the 500yd freestyle in 4:53.56 and eighth in the 1650yd freestyle in 17:07.57. She is a native of Garden City, New York and is pursuing her undergraduate degree in psychology.

The Fordham Ram: How did you get started with swimming?

Megan Zarriello: My mom swam in college, so she definitely wanted her kids to get involved at least in a summer league. I started doing summer leagues in Garden City and I really enjoyed it. I decided to pursue it further and it was pretty easy for me.

TFR: What led you to decide to attend the University of Maryland after high school?

MZ: I took a recruiting trip there [University of Maryland] and just fell in love with the team, the school and the big sports school. The coaches were really nice, too, and I felt if I went there, I’d really help my swimming career and better myself.

TFR: What influenced you to come to Fordham after one year at Maryland?

MZ: Being close to home was really nice. Also, I knew a lot of the girls on the team already, because a lot of people from the Metropolitan area come to Fordham to swim. I got Kelly [Carroll] to come here after I decided. It was really nice to have her here for the whole process and everything. Then, I knew [Coach] Steve [Potsklan]. He recruited me out of high school. I felt comfortable.

I felt like it wouldn’t have been such a big transition to come to Fordham, which it hasn’t been.

TFR: Was Fordham ever in mind originally?

MZ: I think Fordham was in my [consideration] at the beginning, and then I think I just wanted to be farther from home. My brother went to Fordham for a year and a half. When I came here at first, I said ‘I really want to go here.’

Then, I started looking at other schools farther away. But, maybe I knew I would end up eventually coming to Fordham.

TFR: What was it like adjusting to Fordham and Fordham swimming?

MZ: I think the difference was bigger school versus smaller school. Smaller class sizes — I think classes were a bit more of an adjustment, because the professors pay more attention to you than at Maryland, because you’re one of thousands at Maryland.

Swimming-wise, it was just really nice to have people that I knew already. [coach] Steve [Potsklan], [coach] Aimee [Alt] and [coach] Ed [Cammon] were so nice to us when we came in, helping us out with anything we needed, especially living. They got us a really nice place in O’Hare to live. Everyone was really welcoming, so it was really nice. I think that if outside the pool they’re welcoming, then it helps inside the pool with

Drew Casey Raising the White Flag

COURTESY OF MEGAN ZARRIELLO

Megan ended her Fordham career placing top 10 in the 500yd freestyle.

swimming.

TFR: Why the distance freestyle stroke?

MZ: Because I couldn’t sprint.

No, I’m just kidding. I’m smaller so it helps distance-wise. Some of the girls are so much taller than me, and they are usually pretty good at sprints. I’m smaller so I was able to use my work ethic to take me farther than my size. It was hard, but it felt better for me that I could do events that some people couldn’t do. I know that every team has to have a distance swimmer and I guess I’m one of them.

TFR: Is freestyle your favorite stroke? What’s your favorite distance?

MZ: Yes. Freestyle. My favorite distance is probably the 500, which is the second shortest one that I do. It’s the perfect amount for me. Towards the end of my career, the longer distances were definitely rougher. I just really like the 500 and did really well during it over the years.

TFR: Do you have a favorite memory or favorite part from your Fordham swimming career?

MZ: I would definitely say the training trips. They are really fun and a team bonding [experience].

We all were focused on working hard and having fun together. The coaches were really nice about making sure that we got the work done in the pool, but also we got to do some really fun things, like go on catamaran trips, go to rainforests and hike up a volcano in Hawaii.

TFR: What was it like coming into the A-10 championship as one of the favorites after beating Richmond in the regular season?

What was your overall A-10 experience like?

MZ: Going in, we were definitely excited about how we did in the dual meet season. It definitely

gave us a lot of confidence. I was really excited, because I wanted to see my other teammates do well, and I also felt that with the confidence that I had on how I did during dual meet season, that I would take it into A-10s. A lot of things could have went better, but unfortunately didn’t go as well with our end result. I don’t think the way we placed shows how we did as a team, because it’s hard with the addition of George Mason and Davidson. They’re two really good teams. I think we had some really, really good swims. I personally think I did really well.

I was glad that I was able to end on that note.

TFR: Looking back at your college swimming career, is there anything you would’ve tried to do differently?

MZ: Tried to sprint! No! I think everything happens for a reason.

Maybe getting cut (University of Maryland’s swimming program) was a blessing in disguise. I met amazing people at this school.

The coaches were awesome to me. Ed says, ‘Why didn’t you just come here from the beginning?’ I say, ‘Honestly, I don’t really know why I didn’t come.’ I don’t think I would’ve done anything differently. I say I want to sprint, but I know that distance events are where I gave the team the most points. I’m just glad I did it. I’m glad I kept swimming at all. There was a chance I was going to quit.

I’m so glad I didn’t do that.

TFR: What are your plans after graduation?

MZ: Hopefully, [I’ll] get a job and go to graduate school eventually. I’m definitely going to stay around the New York City area.

Fordham’s really nice with having people who want to stay in the city after graduation. It’s also been nice to go to a school where I can stay with my friends afterwards.

The New Jersey Devils are seven points out of a playoff spot with 18 regular season games remaining.

While teams in this situation have made the playoffs in the past, the Devils season is over. They have raised the white flag.

The team cashed it in last Thursday when they traded veteran forward Jaromir Jagr to the Florida Panthers. Some have praised the move, stating that the Devils have stolen a second and third round draft pick from Florida while giving them in return a forty three-yearold with an expiring contract. But, for others, it’s about the principle.

If you’re in the midst of turning your season around, like the Devils were, having won four in a row prior to the Feb. 25 loss to Calgary, you do not suddenly decide to deal the most recognizable player on your team.

He’s clearly not the best offensive player on the Devils, but aside from goaltender Cory Schneider, the Czech Republic native has emerged as the face of the Devils franchise, with the now-retirement of Martin Brodeur.

According to Devils General Manager Lou Lamoriello, Jagr never approached him to discuss a trade, amidst multiple reports that the forward wanted out of Newark.

The same was also true when Lamoriello and the Devils front office decided to send Jagr down south.

Jagr was not involved in the process that led to the final deal that made him a Panther.

While I agree with Lamoriello that players should not be involved in the trade process, this is a special situation. A ninteen-year NHL veteran does not come into your organization willingly every day, like Jagr did in July of 2013. The Devils blindsided the sure Hall of Famer with the trade.

I doubt Jagr cares about how the situation played out, because he is now playing for a team that is only two points out of a playoff spot, but as a Devils fan, I thought the Devils organization would have a little more class.

The writing was clearly on the wall as Jagr’s ice time had steadily decreased from 20 minutes per contest to about 15 minutes a game under the new coaching staff. So, why not bring Jagr into the mix a little bit more? Why send a shocking jolt through your organization and fan base?

I never thought I would say this, but maybe it is time Lamoriello retires before he soils his Hall of Fame career, like Martin Brodeur nearly did earlier this season in Saint Louis. If the Devils miss the playoffs this year, it will mark the fourth time in the past five years that there will be no playoff hockey at the corners of Lafayette and Mulberry. Prior to this stretch, the Devils, under the tutelage of Lamoriello, qualified for the postseason 19 times in 20 seasons, winning three Stanley Cups.

In the end, I enjoyed having Jagr on the Devils for just under two seasons, although it was pretty pathetic that a forty-two-year-old led the team in scoring last season. At this point, I just wonder how much longer he can go.

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Page 26

March 4, 2015

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SPORTS

March 4, 2015

Squash Finishes 7th at CSA Team Champs

By ALEXANDRIA SEDLAK STAFF WRITER

Last weekend, Fordham’s squash team competed in the 2015 CSA Team Championship at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut. Going into the competition, Fordham was ranked No. 39 in the country, placing it in the Chaffee Cup Division. Its opening match on Friday, Feb. 20, was against Johns Hopkins, followed

by Northeastern on Saturday and Lehigh on Sunday. By the end of the weekend, Fordham ended its season with an 11-7 record.

The Rams put up a good fight in their first match against Johns Hopkins. Unfortunately, they fell 8-1. All the matches were intense, with many going to a tight four or five sets. The sole win went to Will Wardrop at the no. 3 slot, who put in great effort to win in four games against Johns Hopkins’ Noel Swanson. The team’s loss put it in the consolation bracket for the next day.

Fordham’s second match was against Northeastern. Although the result was the same as the day before, with the Rams falling by a score of 2-7, these matches proved to be rather competitive for both teams. Northeastern won four matches in a close four games and three matches in three games.

Fordham came out with wins in their first and third slots. Kincade Webster, playing at the top spot, defeated Northeastern’s T.J. Dyer in three games.

Fordham’s Will Wardrop won his third slot match against Northeastern’s Kadeem Murrell in a grueling five-game match. Having lost the first two games, Wardrop came back to win the next three, securing a point for the Rams.

This was not the end of the line for the team, which would compete again on Sunday.

The Fordham Rams played

their final match against Lehigh, coming out victorious with a score of 6-3 for the seventh-place match.

Fordham was alredy up on point because Lehigh was down a player, and added to its lead by sweeping the first, third and fifth slots in three game matches.

The next win came at the second slot, with Peter Yuen defeating Lehigh’s Max Liu in four games. John Lennon scored the final point for Fordham, coming back to win a five-game match against Lehigh’s Jack Littlefield after being down two games to one.

Ending on this good note, Fordham came home with a finale win and a seventh-place finish.

With the squash season officially over, Fordham is proud of its accomplishments. The team started the season ranked No. 55 in college squash and made a huge jump to finish at No. 39 in the nation.

Throughout all the matches, the players remained competitive and determined, while also displaying great sportsmanship. The Rams constantly showed their Fordham spirit by supporting their teammates through every last point.

One particular player to note is Kincade Webster, who will be a senior next season; he has been on the team for three years, maturing and raising his squash game every year.

He and the rest of the team will be coming back next season hoping to perfect their squash game even more. “All the team had played well over the season and were ably captained by Paul Monaghan and Jimmy Shinnick,” head coach Bryan Patterson said.

“We are looking forward to next season and hoping that the team will be strengthened with some good incoming freshmen.”

Page 27

By SAM BELDEN ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Josh Hamilton was supposed to have learned his lesson and redeemed himself, both in the eyes of the commissioner’s office and the fans.

Until recently, he was one of baseball’s bona fide redemption stories, battling his way into the game’s upper echelon after a lengthy struggle with alcoholism and drug abuse, but after last week’s revelations, it appears that the chances of him ever returning to an All-Star level are growing slimmer by the day.

Last week, Hamilton, 33, informed MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred and other league officials that he had recently suffered a relapse, using both alcohol and cocaine. Apparently, he was wracked with guilt and took it upon himself to admit the transgressions. This is just the latest installment in what has been a well-documented struggle with substance abuse.

After being sidelined by a car accident in 2001, Hamilton, then a minor leaguer with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays franchise, began hanging around a Florida tattoo parlor. Soon, he was deep within the throes of addiction.

In 2005, empowered by his Christian faith and buoyed by the support of a number of family members, mentors and teammates, Hamilton kicked his addiction, but not before failing three tests and earning himself multiple suspensions of varying lengths.

Finally, in 2008, he caught on with the Texas Rangers, where he was an immediate sensation. Dallasarea fans, most of whom were conservative, admired his dedication to God and his conquest of addiction, while everyone admired his breathtaking power. I remember being 12 years old and watching him clobber a record-breaking 35 total homers at the 2008 Home Run Derby. From that night on, everyone knew that he was the real deal. Over the next few seasons, he won an MVP award and was a key member of the Rangers squads that brought back-to-back pennants to the franchise in 2010 and 2011. In the winter of 2012, he signed a five-year, 125-milliondollar contract with the Angels.

It’s certainly been a great ride for Hamilton since he rejuvenated his career in Texas, but it hasn’t been without struggle. In early 2009, he was photographed drinking at a bar and was accused of attempting to acquire cocaine. He claimed to have a poor memory of the night’s events, but he apologized and passed a subsequent drug test. In early 2012, he had two or three drinks at a local bar, and, once again, he apologized a few days later.

What’s different about this case is the fact that it is his first confirmed cocaine relapse. Cocaine is classified by the MLB as a drug of abuse, so the standard suspension for a first-time offender is 25 games.

But, Hamilton is not a first-time offender, and in deciding how to deal with this complicated situation, Manfred, who has sole discretion in deciding Hamilton’s penance, will undergo his first real test as the newly minted commissioner. While it is admirable that Hamilton turned himself in, reports indicate that he did so only when he realized that punishment would be inevitable (the league subjects him to multiple drug tests per week due to his history).

Manfred has an obligation to be punitive, as cocaine use is an un-

deniable violation of the league’s drug policy. Yet, he must also be compassionate. Hamilton is not a hardened criminal; he is a wellmeaning man who is remorseful and wants to improve, and he should be treated as such.

All three of Hamilton’s relapses have occurred in the early part of the calendar year, a time when the offseason is winding down and the players have been relatively idle for months. During the season, though, he hasn’t had a drug problem in almost 10 years. You do the math. Hamilton is a man with a very serious problem, and the MLB owes him its help and support. Baseball, the sport that helped to bring him out of his addiction and keeps him on the relative straight-and-narrow during the season, is a hugely positive influence in his life. To take it away from him, even for a relatively brief period, would do more harm than good. They’ve tried that. It didn’t work.

On top of having to deal with declining numbers and durability, Hamilton will now have to face the fallout of his actions. He deserves to have to make up for his actions, but this is a special case. Here’s hoping that he won’t be kept from the game that helped save him for too long.

COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA

Josh Hamilton has once again faced discipline from the Commissioner’s office.

Varsity Calendar HOME AWAY

Thursday March 5

Friday March 6

Squash improved from being ranked 55th to 39th by the end of the season.

Women’s Tennis

Tuesday March 10

ECAC/ IC4A Championships 9 a.m.

Stony Brook DH 12/3 p.m.

Manhattan 3:30 p.m.

Stony Brook 1:00 p.m.

St. Louis 2 p.m.

Men’s Tennis ALLY WHITE/THE FORDHAM RAM

Monday March 9

Richmond/ SBU/U Mass 2 p.m.

Indoor Track Baseball

Sunday March 8

St. Bonaventure 4:00 p.m.

Men’s Basketball Women’s Basketball

Saturday March 7

Drexel 3:00 p.m.

Wednesday March 11

SPORTS

Page 28

March 4, 2015

The Fordham Ram

Rams Ready to Defend A-10 Championship

By MATT ROSENFELD STAFF WRITER

It is March, which means that along with warmer weather comes college basketball madness. Fordham’s women’s basketball team is no different. The Rams celebrated Senior Day and finished up their regular season on Sunday with a 54-46 win over Davidson. Fordham has clinched the four seed in the upcoming Atlantic 10 tournament as it looks to get back to the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season.

Sunday afternoon was the final regular season game for four Fordham seniors as the Rams took on Davidson College at the Rose Hill Gym. The seniors, who included Emily Tapio, Tiffany Ruffin, Taryn Durant and Liz Milner, are the second most-winningest senior class in Fordham history, having accumulated 81 wins in their four years in the Bronx.

Following a pregame ceremony, Fordham took the court against the Wildcats, which it had defeated 66-45 on Jan. 28 in North Carolina. Fordham held a solid lead for the entire first half. The Rams started the game three-forthree from beyond the arc to help get out to an early 11-4 lead. Fordham extended its lead to 13 points twice in the first half, the latter of which came on a Tapio free throw to make the score 28-15 with 3:48 remaining in the first half.

Davidson would cut the lead to 31-21 at halftime, but Fordham looked in control. The Wildcats shot just 26 percent from the field

CHRISTIAN WILOEJO/THE FORDHAM RAM

The Rams enter this week’s Atlantic 10 tournament as the fourth seed and begin play on Friday at 2p.m.

in the first half and were dominated on the boards by the Rams, but mostly junior Samantha Clark, who had eight rebounds in the first half alone.

The second half saw Fordham get the lead back up to 13, 38-25, just five minutes into the second stanza. But, that is when the tide turned towards Davidson.

In an eight minute span, Davidson went on a 17-2 run, stifling Fordham’s offense and hitting shot after shot, giving the Wildcats a 42-40 lead with just over seven minutes remaining.

Fordham would respond, how-

ever, ripping off a 9-2 run of its own to grab the lead back at 49-44, now with the game clock down to two minutes.

The two teams traded a pair of free throws, but a steal by Ruffin with 33 seconds remaining sealed the closer-than-expected win on Senior Day. Two pregame honorees led Fordham in its win. Tapio finished with a double-double on the day, scoring 12 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Ruffin provided 11 points, four rebounds and four assists of her own.

“This game gave us a chance to

look at what we really need to work on,” Tapio said. “And it helped us work on staying together through other teams’ runs.”

The team now turns its focus to the aforementioned A-10 Tournament in Richmond, Virginia. The defending champion Rams locked up the four seed, behind (in order) George Washington, Dayton and Duquesne. A top-four seed gives Fordham a bye all the way into the quarterfinals of the tournament, meaning it will not begin its title defense until Friday at 2 p.m.

“I think this was actually good for us,” Gaitley said after the game.

“It helped us realize that conference play, the conference tournament is going to be exactly what we just faced. It’s going to be a grind. So we have to learn to deal with being up on runs, being down on runs and being able to fight back.”

Fordham’s likely opponent, if seeding holds, would be the host team Richmond. The Spiders, who hold the five seed, would need to win a second round game on Thursday in order to advance to face Fordham. The Rams faced Richmond once this season, in their conference home opener.

The result was a dramatic 65-64 overtime victory in which freshman Danielle Padovano hit a game-winning three pointer with seconds remaining.

Other opponents could be St. Bonaventure and UMass, who are the 12 and 13 seeds respectively.

Those two teams will play Wednesday for the right to play Richmond the following day. Fordham defeated both teams in its regular season matchups.

“There’s an extreme amount of parity [in the Atlantic 10],” Tapio said. “We have no idea who we’re going to play, but for us it doesn’t matter the team or the jersey, we’re going to work on ourselves and play our style of basketball. We’re going to focus on being the number one defensive team in the conference and owning that.”

“For us, it is what it is,” Gaitley said. “We play at two o’clock on Friday, and we’re going to be the best team we can be at two o’clock on Friday.”

Men’s Basketball Peaking at the Right Time

By MAX PRINZ STAFF WRITER

The Fordham men’s basketball team is very near the end of another tough season. Despite facing numerous challenges this year, the Rams appear to be peaking at the right time. Fordham has won four of its last seven games since Feb. 7 and has climbed out of the basement of the Atlantic 10.

Perhaps most impressive is the Rams’ three-game home winning streak. Fordham has shown how much of a weapon the Rose Hill Gym can be, posting an 8-7 record there this season, and has convincing conference wins over Saint Louis, Saint Joseph’s and La Salle.

“I’m obviously very pleased,” head coach Tom Pecora said. “I think we send a message when people see these scores and they us winning, not only at home, but by double digits.”

The Rams’ most recent victory came over the Explorers was their most recent one. It was senior Bryan Smith who led the charge for Fordham in that game, scoring 15 points and dishing out four assists.

“The way they’re playing now and the way that they’re maturing – a lot of that has to do with Bryan,” Pecora said.

Smith tied his season-high against La Salle and is averaging over 11 points per game in the Rams’ last five contests.

“My teammates and my coaches always have confidence in me,” Smith said. “They always tell me ‘keep working on your shot and stay confident.’”

The Rams also got big contri-

butions from freshman Christian Sengfelder and sophomore Jon Severe. Severe matched Smith’s scoring output with 15 points of his own, and Sengfelder earned his third double-double of the year, with 14 points and 14 rebounds.

Even more impressive was the Fordham defense, which had its

best outing of the year against La Salle. The Explorers shot just 29 percent from the floor on Wednesday, the lowest percentage by a Fordham opponent this season. Fordham also surrendered a season-low 48 points to La Salle.

Despite having so much success against La Salle, the Rams

CHRISTIAN WILOEJO/THE FORDHAM RAM

The Rams will battle Duquesne on Wednesday before traveling to St. Bonaventure to close out the regular season.

struggled on the road against UMass. Fordham returned to the script that has doomed it all season, taking a lead into halftime and then failing to execute down the stretch in a losing effort.

The Rams held a four-point advantage over the Minutemen at halftime, but struggled to make plays in the second half. The Minutemen had the hot hand out of the break, going on a 13-0 run to flip the score and take a lead they would not relinquish. UMass defeated Fordham 82-74 to give the Rams their 18th loss of the season.

At 9-18 on the year, Pecora enters the final weekend of the regular season with an excellent chance to reach his highest season win total at Fordham. The Rams are guaranteed at least one game in the A-10 Tournament, in addition to their games Wednesday and Saturday, and Pecora needs two wins to set a new high.

“They haven’t quit a bit,” Pecora said of his team. “The grit and toughness that they have and their willingness to believe in themselves and each other, that’s what this is all about.”

Fordham’s final home game of the year is this Wednesday against Duquesne. Seniors Bryan Smith, Nihad Musovic, DC Gaitley and Erando Halilaj will be honored prior to a 7 p.m. tip.