ALWAYS FREE
ISSUE NO. 1
EL INDEPENDIENTE
IE UNIVERSITY STUDENT GOVERNMENT/NOVEMBER 2013/
FROM THE EDITOR •••
Tudor Etchells Welcome to the first ever issue of El Independiente, the official student newspaper of IE University here in ‘sunny’ Segovia. We, the student government, believed there was an element of communication that was missing from the atmosphere on campus; ideas needed to be expressed, opinions voiced and a communal platform for our passions to be shared, created. We hope to bring something that will bring a smile to your face, but equally, to strike a chord somewhere inside. There will be some wit provided by Valls, Beate challenging the norms of our lives, Sai sharing the more interesting ideas around us, Vegard looking at IE itself, and Maria Emilia exploring some adventurous avenues. The six of us creating this paper hope you enjoy the first issue and would treasure any feedback you could lend.
STUDENT CLUBS ANNOUNCEMENTS ••• NEON PARTY - 15TH NOVEMBER LATIN AMERICAN CLUB DANCING CLASSES (MERENGUE) - WEDNESDAY 6TH NOVEMBER • FINANCE AND INVESTMENT CLUB RUI TEIXEIRA SPEECH - 11TH NOVEMBER 19.00, MADRID, MARIA DE MOLINA. LATIN AMERICAN CLUB MONTHLY DINNER • (DOMINICAN) - 21ST NOVEMBER. •
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WHAT HAPPENED WHILST YOU WERE PROCRASTINATING •••
Maria Emilia Mancero
JP Morgan to pay $5.1 billion to settle
Will LinkedIn’s new ‘Intro’ feature attract
mortgage claims
hackers?
Charities agree to give $10M in relief funds to Hurricane Sandy victims Angry over Syrian Wars,
Top German spy chiefs to go to Washington for
Saudis Fault U.S. Policy
talks Orlando Bloom, Miranda Kerr separate
“2.0 COUPLES” •••
Maria Valls 2.0 Couples are specimens that are becoming increasingly common in our society. The advancement of technology has led to its development. The new social networks have made it possible for these species to expand rapidly, multiplying by each photo and comment they post in any social network. They are born in Facebook, grown by Twitter, reproduced in Instagram, and die in real life. These couples are composed of a nauseating male, also known as the Homobows, and a female with a cellphone and corny phrase ready for use. The main feature that defines this genre is that they adore showing their love to society. They tend to upload a picture of themselves posing affectionately with a philosophical phrase, expressing their undying love (only after they’ve been going out for a month). They make us sigh and smile like we are lovestruck ourselves. At first glance they are the perfect couple, eventually they become a
nuisance, not interesting us at all. We couldn’t care less if they went for dinner together, we couldn’t care less if he has given her chocolate, we couldn’t care less if they went to the gym together, and of course, we couldn’t care less if they went to Paris. They have that eagerness to prove something; that if they don’t shout it from the rooftops it is not real. They are social and technologic creatures: if they don’t share, it’s not happening. I have never believed in showing all my love in public. By public I mean all those who can freely see my profile that I do not necessarily know (or want to know). I don’t need it. One must have a bit of privacy, a little respect so as to make what is common, such as a relationship, something special. Yet, we must not be deceived by these 2.0 couples. Although they may make us look like we don’t have feelings or an understanding of what love really is, and that our relationships are tragedies alongside their fairytales, we all know there is something dark behind each picture. Paraphrasing my wise grandmother “It’s the same the world over.”
WHAT IS THE SPIRIT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP? •••
Sai Agnihotram
Entrepreneurship has little more than a mystical semblance for those at IE. Be it the desire to become the next Steve Jobs or the stupendous efforts of personages in procuring creative or monetary value through the provision of red Solo cups. Entrepreneurship i s a l w ay s u p t o t h e paragons, the innovators and sometimes the wallflowers at action, making one too many fortunate mistakes in f a v o u r o f p r o fi t maximising or endorsing value. It is uncanny; to observe the overly simplified, sometimes unintended and otherwise, virtuous efforts the developments of our generation – Generation Z – has on the entrepreneurial scene. The failures and successes may teach us a few things about the true spirit of entrepreneurship – the exploitation of opportunities to ultimately create value. I will, however, stick to one question: what is paramount to the spirit of entrepreneurship, profit or value? Consider that most entities in the financial sector operate for the
purpose of monetar y gain – for this is the culture and visions of said business. Could you meddle with welfare and equity if you are seeking p r o fi t s ? L o o k i n g a t endearing abstractions (e.g. happiness) as the purpose of our actions would be the next rational alternative, for under such presumptions, we are morally sound whilst procuring ‘value’. If this were tr ue, we would reduce ourselves to no more but a bunch of inebriated hippies. Doesn’t this define value to the state of ‘reductio ad absurdum’ at the opportunity cost of innovation/socioeconomic development? Judgments on what you believe to be correct are resolved by you entirely, however a rational interpretation of both extremes of profit and value, come from the efforts of entrepreneurs. The idea of this article is not a persuasive commentary on social responsibility in business; rather this is a call to independent reflation. Ask yourself once in a while, why are you doing what you are doing. Why are you studying architecture or psychology over business? Forget about the idea that business students are better than architects in entrepreneurship. continued on page 3>
STUDY WEEK •••
Vegard Haveland
W h i l e acknowledging the young nature of our University, IE has done astonishingly well and is continuing to do so. Changes for the better can always be made and we, the students, are the driving force of that change. I am therefore pleased that we now have a forum to drive such change, a s t u d e n t newspaper; an independent student voice. It is paramount for such a forum to exist to fuel s t u d e n t involvement at an early stage in the evolution of our University. E n a b l i n g students to contribute and shape it in a period of establishment where IE University is finding the path to take. In the midst of planning our annual club agenda, I realised that small changes to how academics are structured and o rga n i s e d h ave
the potential to make student life much easier. Our exam and midterm periods go on for weeks, if not months and these periods are at different intervals across the degrees. These long exam periods do justice to n o b o d y. S t u d e n t s obviously don´t like it as it significantly stuns social life. Extracurricular events suffer as it is not possible to predict an apt timing for an event due to the extreme variance of exam periods. As IE desperately desires a fl o u r i s h i n g extracur ricular s t u d e n t community, the long study periods should be neither desirable for the University. Thus, I propose that in future, midterms and exams will be allocated to certain weeks, announced well in advance. These exam periods could, as in many other Universities come after a socalled reading week. Universities in the U.K. and U. S . u s e t h e s e week s to allow students to round up course work, prepare for exams
and generally to give them a break from their hectic lives. It has often been claimed that readings week s notably improve student´s mental health. “Changes for the better
can
always be made” One could argue that the introduction of such weeks would shorten the academic ter m, forcing professors to provide more content in a shorter time. H o w e v e r, t h i s academic year is extended by approximately three weeks from the last academic year so that should not prove problematic. Furthermore, this idea is not at all a new concept and is adopted by prestigious institutions such as Oxford and Cambridge as well as numerous Ivy Leagues. I hope this could instigate some discussion and perhaps a consideration of introducing something of this nature in the years to come.
WHAT IS THE SPIRIT OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP? ….Conintued For entrepreneurship is only a vehicle to manifest your interests, desires and values. It can’t be taught, and the only means of learning it, is application. Why not focus on personal agendas of greater magnitudes (values): profits will follow. That’s how Branson, Jobs and Quadir did it. You are in one of the most beautiful of places, in one of the most stimulating of environments and have unimaginable resources. If you wish to, you will find your coterie and be able to create, should you make the decision to do so, as Tyba or Mindlikes did.
A HUMAN TECHNOLOGY •••
Beate Ancevska
At the moment of writing this article I have been here for forty days. I have had good conversations, I have had awkward silences, boring conversations, and some that I never want to end. I have So, will you foster a new entrepreneurial also had the times spirit? when no research projects. c o n v e r s a t i o n i s MOVEMBER ••• Last year more than needed; it is just Victor Beckers- Peter 300,000 people good as it is. I Sayn-Wittgenstein joined this movement believe that those in the UK! are the moments we Guest Writers l i v e f o r. T h e Just as last year, we Remember, it is not moments that you hope many of students will join the about how big or don’t need to talk, y o u r the moments of IE Movember small moustache is, it is p u r i t y . T h o s e m o v e m e n t about the intention moments are easy to throughout the month of November. behind it, to raise lose. I have often By letting our awareness by found myself the moustaches grow we becoming a walking e n j o y i n g r e m i n d e r o f t h i s moment, but upon hope to raise more looking around than the €3,000 we important issues. gathered last year. Please do join the IE e v e r y o n e h a s somehow managed This is all for the Movember team! to take out their cause of bringing attention t o D o n a t e w h a t y o u phones. There are many important issues of can! good things that men’s health, Follow us for more come hand-in-hand particularly prostate cancer. Movember info and updates on w i t h t e c h n o l o g y. (www.movember.com the IE MOVEMBER Let’s admit – texting is the convenient ) i s a g l o b a l Facebook Page. o p t i o n t o i n fo r m movement based in the UK and was able Join or donate to us: someone about little to raise more than h t t p : / / things that are not $126 million last es.movember.com/ worth calling for. The things we read year, which was then team/1068817 online can often invested in different
spark up our interactions with others in ‘real life’. It makes it easy to find people with similar interests using social networks. It allows shy and i n t r o v e r t individuals to find a space to express themselves with greater confidence. Most importantly, it helps us to keep in touch with the loved ones we have left in a n o t h e r c i t y, country or continent. “The aim is to encourage you to observe”
On the other hand, there is so much to lose. With being online we often lose things that happen in real life. The land of perfect conversation doesn’t exist, but it could be a better place if we had more face-toface interaction. The u n av o i d a b l e awkward silence can be an encouragement to raise a new argument instead of getting out our smartphones. I believe that technology is affecting our social and, sometimes, when it is possible to find every piece of
information online, even our reasoning skills are deprived. On a personal level, it affects how we deal with solitude. If you have got this far through this article, I would like to tell you that the point of this is not to judge or try to change the society at IE. The aim is to encourage you to observe – how many times you observe a situation where more than half of the people are busy with technology? How often everyone in the group is? It is interesting to see, but very hard to avoid. Trust me, I have tried. One very last thing – imagine going to a music concert, and watching the same concert live on your laptop. The feeling is not the same, there is no technology that fully captures what it is to be human. The goal of using of technology is not to m o ve aw ay f r o m society – we can ship out sometimes, because we all need to, as long as we come back. Technology is useful to facilitate social processes, but not a reason to move away from them.
If you are a student, member of staff, or a professor and would like to write for the El Independiente please send us your article or idea to tetchells@student.ie.edu