VOL. 99, NO. 7
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6, 2017
RANDOLPH, N.J.
THE YOUNGTOWN EDITION COUNTY COLLEGE OF MORRIS’ AWARD-WINNING STUDENT NEWSPAPER
Professor joins race for Congressional seat in midterm elections BY JANNAT SHEIKH Managing Editor
Mark Washburne, a history and political science professor at County College of Morris, announced early November that he seeks to challenge for the House of Representatives seat currently held by Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen, whom he considers unfit for office for failing to stand up to President Donald Trump. Washburne, who is campaigning as a Democrat for New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District which includes eastern Morris County, is the second CCM professor to announce a run for the midterm elections of 2018. Alexander J. Kucsma, an English professor, announced his campaign to run for a New Jersey Senate seat in the Wednesday, Oct. 11 issue of Youngtown. Although Washburne has been interested in running for office since the 1970s, his most recent enthusiasm in running developed after the election of Donald Trump. In 2016, Washburne said he did not vote for the winner and was shocked by the results. “As much as I love teaching, I also love my country and have felt shame and embarrassment over the last year due to the actions of our President,” Washburne said. “Our current Congressman from the 11th Congressional District is not willing to fulfill his Constitutional duties
Mark Washburne teaches his U.S. History II class. by holding this rogue president in check … So I want to step up and offer my services to do the job our Founding Fathers wanted Congress to fulfill when they drafted the United States Constitution in 1787 in being a check on an unfit president.” Washburne said his interest in running for office dates as far back as 1972 when he was a junior at Bayley-Ellard High School in Madison, New Jersey, where he was chosen to represent
Senator George McGovern, the Democratic presidential candidate, in a mock debate before the entire student body. On his 18th birthday, Washburne went to the town hall in Chatham Township to register to vote. Washburne earned a bachelor's degree in 1978 and then a master's degree 1979 in political science from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After graduation, Washburne’s appeal toward politics was put on
PHOTO BY BRETT FRIEDENSOHN
hold as he decided to go into business starting with a job in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to work for a construction company involved with building a new international airport in that city. He then ventured into various jobs in the marketing sector and worked as a stockbroker for more than a dozen years. During Washburne’s time in business, he went back to college and earned a master’s degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison.
“I didn't become a teacher until I was 36 year-old in 1992,” Washburne said. “After trying out various jobs in the business world, I thought I would try teaching as I had always taken an interest in education from my various college degrees. It was the best decision I ever made. I love teaching and have felt very blessed to have taught history, political science, business, and economic courses over the last 25 years.” In 1992, Washburne was hired as an adjunct professor to teach world geography at Berkeley College of Business in Woodbridge, New Jersey. From that part-time position at Berkeley, he was able to secure other college teaching positions. For the next few years, Washburne taught at five different colleges as an adjunct professor. He taught no fewer than thirty courses a year. In 2001, Washburne was promoted to a full-time position at County College of Morris as an associate professor of history and political science. Washburne wrote a statement to his CCM colleagues a week after Trump's election that he said best explains his frustration with Trump being elected as our 45th President. The statement from Washburne to his colleagues stated that some of the racist, sexist, CONTINUED ON PAGE 8
Women’s basketball team wins first game in two seasons BY BRETT FRIEDENSOHN & CONNOR IAPOCE Editor-in-Chief, Sports Editor
The women’s basketball team at County College of Morris won its first game since February 2016 by defeating Essex County College 54-52 Wednesday, Nov. 28. The Titans returned to division play when its opening game Thursday, Nov. 9 after last season when the Titans finished 0-12 and were demoted to club status, meaning that the results of their games did not count toward playoff contention as they were ineligible for it. Their last win came when they beat Mercer County Community College 46-32 Feb. 9, 2016. The win against ECC brought the Titans to 1-2 in the region and 1-3 overall. They returned to National Junior College Athletic Association Region XIX came when they lost to Union County College 84-36 Thursday, Nov. 9. Their 92-32 loss to Lackawanna College Tuesday, Nov. 21 marked their largest deficit of the season, compared to last season’s
PHOTO BY ALEXA WYSZKOWSKI
Guard Sophie Fischer dribbles the ball against Union County College.
largest deficit, a 98-9 loss to UCC in the second game of the year. Athletic Director Jack Sullivan said that the Titans will find
success under new head coach Alexandra Katz, a former student athlete at CCM. “We have a young lady as the
head coach who played basketball and soccer here at CCM and went on to continue her career at Fairleigh Dickinson University,” Sullivan said. “Now she’s the head coach, and we have someone at the helm of the program that really believes in CCM and what it can do for student athletes. We have a hard working, quality coach, and I think that’s going to make all the difference.” Sullivan said the Titans are destined for good things in the season if they continue to work hard. “All I know is that this team works extremely hard and they have quality players and kids,” Sullivan said. “Good things are going to happen to them. They work hard, they play well, they are well coached, and they know what they are doing. I think with Alex Katz at the helm, this program is destined for success.” Christina Miltiadous, a firstyear guard, said before the game against Lackawanna that she and her teammates need to develop better communication to continue improving the organization. “We’re trying to build it back
up,” said Miltiadous, an exercise science major at CCM. “We just talked about it in the first practice. We’re like, ‘We should get the game back. We should gain the respect that we deserve.’ We work hard for it, so I think we try to put it behind us, not even thinking about what happened last season.” Miltiadous said that one of her team’s goals include to start winning and to refine gameplay in general. “We want to win; our goal is to win, and not just to win, we need to play smart basketball,” Miltiadous said. “If we work hard, we win. That’s just the mentality we have to have.” Forward Marianne Enriquez said that she wants her team to improve its reputation. “We just have to get up there again and not be known as a club team anymore, so we want to get our name back in there,” said Enriquez, a nursing major at CCM. The Titans’ next home game is set for 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 9 in the Health and Physical Education building.