VOL. 96, NO. 3
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2016
RANDOLPH, N.J.
The Youngtown Edition COUNTY COLLEGE OF MORRIS AWARD-WINNING STUDENT NEWSPAPER
In This Issue
Honor Killings Documentary Opinions, page 4
Oscar Controversy
College Schedule
Opinions, page 5 Advice, page 7
Final four vie for CCM presidency Candidates meet with students, faculty
BY DEREK ALLEN Editor-in-Chief
For the third time in 47 years The County College of Morris is actively searching for a new president to take the reins from Edward Yaw, who is departing this summer after three decades at the helm of the institution. “Each of the candidates are so uniquely different from one another,” said Janique Caffie, the dean of student development and enrollment management. “Ultimately one of them will be invited to take over the leadership of the college. I believe that there is a candidate that is being vested that can be the next president of CCM.” The CCM Board of Trustees has appointed 11 people to the Presidential Search Committee. The committee is comprised of five trustee members (Stanley T. Omland, Jeffrey Advokat, Joseph Ricca, Joseph Weisberg, Barbara Hadzima), three union representatives (Stephan Kaifa, Shelley Kurland, Richard Burchfield), Director of Human Resources & Labor Relations Thomas Burk, CCM Foundation Chair William McElroy and CCM student Michael Masino. The committee has narrowed down the list of candidates to four: Mark McCormick, Margaret A. Hamilton, David Podell, and Anthony J. Iacono. All candidates have a doctorate except for McCormick, who is completing his Ph.D. this year. As a current student himself, McCormick said he believes smaller class sizes are a great benefit to students. “Even in a college this size, the same people tend to be in the same classes and the same clubs,” McCormick
PHOTO CREDIT: RICH BURCHFIELD
said. “It feels like a smaller college. Community colleges have that. Here, you guys have classes with 20 or 30 students. You don’t get that at Rutgers or Montclair, you get classes with 300 students where professors don’t know who you are. I think students benefit from that high touch two years, then you move on to Rutgers and succeed.” McCormick said it’s important for a president to be a “chief cheerleader” of the college, advocating outside of the college for grants and trying to find internships for students. “The other part of the job is being here and being visible,” McCormick said. “Coming to performances, club meetings, showing up at events. Letting you know: the president is here, he knows what you’re doing and he cares about what you’re doing.” McCormick said he would sit in on meetings to connect students and faculty to each other. “If I hear two people are working on a similar idea, and they’re not already working together, I can connect the two and maybe bring in some outside funding,” McCormick said. “Great things can happen this way.” Money at CCM has been an issue. Last year, facing a $1.9 million budget shortfall, the college administration was forced to cut positions and programs to close the gap. If chosen, McCormick said he would work with the next governor of New Jersey to get the budget especially for community colleges - back up. “A lot more of the money available goes to four year schools and not to us,” McCormick said. “They get a bigger piece of the pie than we do, yet we do more of the work. It seems like there are more students in community colleges in the state rather than four year schools … The money should be reversed. We should get more of the money. We don’t. I would certainly advocate the state legislatures for more money for the college.” Candidate Margaret A. Hamilton, said there are other ways for the college to increase revenue. “Colleges seem to think the only way to increase revenue is to increase enrollment,” said Hamilton. “Yes, indeed, but there are other ways. You can lease (CONTINUED IN ‘PRESIDENT’ ON PAGE 2)
PHOTO CREDIT: FACEBOOK
Glenn Martin, at this semester’s Legacy Project, spoke about his time in prison and his organization JLUSA.
Speaker advocates cutting prison population by half BY BETH PETER Managing Editor
Enraptured students clung to every word as criminal justice reform advocate Glenn Martin spoke on Thursday, Feb. 11, at the latest installment of the Legacy Project lecture series at the County College of Morris. Martin outlined a bold plan to cut the amount of people in prison in half by 2030. “Whether you did something wrong or not,” said Martin, president of JustLeadershipUSA (JLUSA), “The fact that you get sent to a jail where your safety is in jeopardy every moment while you’re there, and your human dignity is taken away as you cross the bridge to Rikers [Island], felt problematic to me. Even at the age of 16.” If Martin sounds like he is speaking from experience, it is because he is, having spent the balance of six years incarcerated. Martin founded JLUSA with the goal of halving the (CONTINUED IN ‘LEGACY’ ON PAGE 3)
Cyber Centurions on guard at CCM BY AMANDA ALLER Contributor
Gaming systems, banks, government offices and campus communities large and small have fallen victim to hack attacks over the last few months and here at the County College of Morris, there is a group looking to do something about it. A special body of students at CCM are well aware of the fatal outcome that cyber crime can have on the global economy and they are known as the Cyber Centurions. The goal of the Cyber Security Club is to reduce vulnerability in our national information framework by producing professionals with cyber defense expertise. First chartered as a club only one year ago, they’ve managed to make a difference through rigorous research, awareness and participation in competitions like the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (MACCDC). Last year was the first time CCM participated in the MACCDC, not to mention they were the first New Jersey college to do so. Not only did they break that record, they also became the first team to ever proceed to finals upon their first appearance. Mihir Kansagra, the public relations officer for Cyber
Security, said that many opportunities would open up if his team won the MACCDC. “There have been cases before where students were offered job with federal agencies that people only dream of,” Kansagra said. “It was without interview or application process. If we win the competition, we would definitely get hired by any company in the United States.” The Cyber Security Club started out with only ten members and has accumulated over 60 members since its humble beginnings. Oct is Cyber Safety awareness month which is easily the most important month of the year for the Cyber Security club. This year they ran various seminars on topics like cyber safety and Identity Theft prevention. On Data Privacy Day, Thursday, Jan. 28, the club held a seminar during college hour which was overflowing with faculty and students, not to mention John Tugman, the head of Information Technology (IT) for Morris County. After the presentation on Data Privacy Day, Tugman asked the Cyber Security Club to hold two more seminars in March, at Morris County Public Safety Academy in Morris Plains where staff of John Tugman, students of Public Safety Academy and other members of Morris County, as well as general public will be attending
the seminar. They plan to spread awareness by going to various high schools, middle schools, libraries and more events in Morris County. The Cyber Centurions will be competing alongside 290 other students for an opportunity to be one of ten teams to move up to the regional finals and compete in the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition. This is one of very few competitions that give insight into how Corporate Information Security works, while being backed by major corporations and institutions like Homeland Security, the NSA, and Microsoft. Andrea Doucette, a freshman at CCM, said that although she is new to the team, she is learning quickly. “Preparing for the upcoming qualifiers has expanded my knowledge tremendously,” Doucette said. “With very little Cyber Security skills, the past two months have opened my eyes to the precautions that must be taken. I’m confident that we’re ready to take on any challenges that the competition will bring.” The regional finals are open for the public to attend and will be held at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab in Laurel, Maryland, in March. The winner of the MACCDC will represent the region at Nationals in San Antonio, Texas, in April.