May 2021 by Reporter Magazine

MAY 2021 // REPORTER.RIT.EDU

‘

EDITOR IN CHIEF Marilyn Wolbert PRINT MANAGING EDITOR Karina Le ONLINE MANAGING EDITOR Jay Schading COPY EDITOR Mimi Lee NEWS EDITOR Alex Schneider TECHNOLOGY EDITOR Tommy Delp CULTURE EDITOR Tomas Mendez FEATURES EDITOR Erin Brache WELLNESS EDITOR Anjali Shiyamsaran VIEWS EDITOR Patrick McCullough WRITERS Erin Brache, Tommy Delp, Tyler English, Emi Knape, Karina Le, Kasey Mathews, Patrick McCullough, Anjali Shiyamsaran, Marilyn Wolbert, Brooke Wolfenbarger

ART ART DIRECTOR Rachel Kogut ONLINE ART MANAGER Quamae Newsome SENIOR DESIGNER Gabriella Licona DESIGNERS Nicholas Bober, Gabi Fatigua, Rachel Kogut, Gabriella Licona, Pallavi Singh, Neil Williamson ILLUSTRATORS Alice Benavides, TingYu Chang, Jess Edwards, Meya Goel, Sahana Maheswaran, Maeghan McKenzie, Quamae Newsome, Emily O’Shea, Pallavi Singh, Lisa Zhou

EDITOR’S NOTE

REPORTER

t’s the end of the academic year, and I’m sitting in my house quarantined with my roommates. It’s the perfect way to cap off a perfect year, right? Yet somehow I can’t help but to be thankful, and not in some “always look on the bright side” kind of way. This is the first time all year I’ve been able to take a break — the first time I haven’t had to drive to campus and back multiple times a day. I’m spending more time with my roommates all day, and feel happier now than I have in months. This year has been one of pure exhaustion and desperation, and I’m just glad it’s over. Yet throughout the year — throughout most of my years at RIT — I could always rely on one group to be there for me. Reporter has consistently supported me and I’m forever grateful. Even as we’ve been stretched to our thinnest, I cannot overstate how proud I am of our staff. Despite a pandemic, quarantines and being tired beyond meaningful operation, they pulled through to create amazing work. There’s always room for improvement, and topics that should have been covered more closely. But the level of work that has gone into what we’ve done has already overwhelmed much of our staff, and has even driven many staff members away from the organization due to the workload and admittedly low compensation. There will always be missed opportunities and missing coverage, but I cannot ask any more of my staff than the amazing work they have already done. We’ve covered RIT’s COVID response, the presidential election, ran an entire issue devoted to topics deserving of more awareness and launched Distorter with a release party despite the pandemic. In this issue alone we cover the history of vaccines, investigate the end destination of our tuition money, discuss citizen journalism, dive into fashion and I personally discuss the Rochester mayoral race. It’s been a tumultuous year full of surprises and disappointments. Thank you to an amazing staff who has persevered through it all, and to friends who I couldn’t imagine a life at RIT without.

PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTO EDITOR Diana Spencer PHOTOGRAPHERS Jack Connolly, Evie Linantud, Sophie Proe, Shreya Rathore, Daniel Sarch, Jay Schading

BUSINESS BUSINESS MANAGER Kamila Ali AD / PR MANAGER John Grinthal ONLINE SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR Will Nilges ONLINE SERVICES MANAGER Efe Ozturkoglu VIDEO EDITOR Trisha Pickelhaupt PODCAST PRODUCER Ben Brown ADVISOR Rudy Pugliese PRINTING Sutherland Printing CONTACT +1 (585) 475–2212

KASEY MATHEWS | OUTGOING EDITOR IN CHIEF Letters to the Editor should be sent to rpteic@rit.edu. No letters will be published unless signed. All letters received become the property of REPORTER.

Please Recycle

Reporter Magazine is published monthly during the academic year by a staff comprised of students at Rochester Institute of Technology. Business, Editorial and Design facilities are located in Room A-730, in the lower level of the Campus Center. Our phone number is +1 (585) 475–2212. The Advertising Department can be reached at +1 (585) 475–2213. “Can I just completely forego everything I’ve ever learned and become an ant scientist?” -KL” The opinions expressed in Reporter do not necessarily reflect those of the Institute. Reporter is not responsible for materials presented in advertising areas. Copyright © 2021 Reporter Magazine. All rights reserved. No portion of this magazine may be reproduced without prior written permission.

May 3

IN T HI S I S S UE

NEWS 6

T E C H

RIT TO HOST ROCHESTER INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL

The 19th annual CGI International Jazz Festival moves to RIT this year due to COVID-19

OUTSIDE PHYSICAL CURRENCY

With the rise of cryptocurrency, another opponent comes into the ring

C U LT U R E 10

With overseas spectators banned, this Olympic Games will not be the same

4 May

Fashion is a part of you, regardless of what you think

A WILD PARTY: HOSTED BY THE SENECA PARK ZOO

The Seneca Park Zoo’s family atmosphere is bathed in natural learning

THE REAL COST OF TOKYO 2020

@REPORTERMAG

BAREBONES OF FASHION

AYL: HOME OF THE BARBEQUE

Pass through Rochester’s local sights and make it to Dinosaur BBQ!

cover and TOC by Maeghan McKenzie and Pallavi Singh

F E A T U R E S 16

SPOTLIGHT: THE ROCHESTER MAYORAL ELECTION

The Rochester mayoral election largely hinges on June’s Democratic primary

CITIZEN JOURNALISM: WHAT’S THE DEAL?

Citizen journalism and its role in society

SMALL BUSINESSES, BIG HURDLES

2020 may be over, but small businesses are still riding out the storm

W E L L N E S S 22

A DEEP DIVE ON VACCINES

An inside look at vaccines and how they’ve changed over time

V I E W S 24

RIT TUITION AND WHERE THE MONEY GOES

Over $1 billion goes through RIT every year. Where does it go, and does it add up?

QUIZ: THE SUITE LIFE OF JURASSIC PARK Which Suite Life Dino duo are you?

WORD ON THE STREET

“What are your plans for summer 2021?”

RINGS

RIT’s only digital confessional. Text or call (585) 672-4840

R E P O RTER.R IT.EDU May 5

RIT to Host

Rochester International Jazz Festival by Emi Knape | photography by Daniel Sarch | illustration by Lisa Zhou | design by Rachel Kogut

azz: a genre well known for the creative freedoms, improvisation and power to express oneself through their passion and love for the dynamic art form. However, the power of jazz doesn’t live exclusively on the stage. As a matter of fact, famous jazz musician George Gershwin once said, “Life is a lot like jazz ... it’s best when you improvise.” This is exactly what Marc Iacona, co-producer and executive director of the Rochester International Jazz Festival, had to do when planning the nationally recognized event around this year’s unfortunate “COVID-19 Catastrophe.”

A-CHORD-ING TO COVID-19 For the past 18 years, the Rochester International Jazz Festival has called Rochester home, showcasing artists on various outdoor stages, leading to jam-packed streets. This year, however, cramming the jams in downtown Rochester was not an option, but neither was canceling the festival. While the festival still needs final approval from New York State, Marc Iacona and the festival board started planning a potential solution months in advance. “If we are able to gather, the only way for us to be able to do it successfully is to go

“The cultu re they cou ld be bring enhance th ing to e experien ce for stud and the com ents munity aro und us cou phenomena ld be l.”

6 News

where people can gather without any real restriction,” Iacona said. After talking to and gauging interest from various companies and businesses, Iacona and co-producer, John Nugent, ultimately decided RIT was the best choice. With the open campus, attendees would be able to spread out and feel safe, while still experiencing the heart and culture of the festival.

THE RHYTHMIC RESULT As an RIT alum, Iacona was thrilled to present the idea to President Munson and Vice-President Watters who received the idea extremely well. “They understood what [the event] meant to the community,” Iacona said. “They have a vision, and the culture they could be bringing to enhance the experience for students and the community around us could be phenomenal.” While not planning on abandoning Rochester, collaborating with RIT is an opportunity that Iacona believes will bloom into something that could be a catalyst for development of the festival in the future.

LOCAL BUSINESS BLUES While there was a lot of positive feedback received from this decision, there were many concerns expressed by the community. Many businesses and vendors who benefit substantially from the nine-day festival took the decision quite personally. With change comes adversity, but this didn’t make Iacona any less confident in his decision. “We on the festival team have to listen to those opinions [but] at the end of the day we’re the ones taking those risks,” Iacona stated. “We never asked them to invest in the festival, only for their support.” While local support is important, the fact that the festival might be held in the first place is an accomplishment in itself and the community should have an open mind when considering the current circumstances. Uncertainty is still in the air, but so is the love and passion for this festival; the spiRIT of jazz will live on regardless of what happens. To get updates on the festival, you can visit their website: https://www.rochesterjazz.com.

THE REAL COST OF TOKYO 2020

by Anjali Shiyamsaran illustration by Emily O’Shea design by Gabriella Fatigati

uly 23, 2021 officially signifies the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games following an unprecedented year of postponement as a result of COVID-19. The Japanese capital will stage most of the sporting events, marking the second time that Tokyo has hosted the Olympics since 1964. The major difference this time? COVID-19’s lingering impact.

THE MAIN EVENT This year, Tokyo’s organizers for the Summer Olympics have decided against allowing spectators from overseas to enter Japan at the time of the Games. It seems like a relatively safe choice after what the nation has suffered so far: 8,800 deaths attributed to COVID-19, despite having controlled the virus well compared to most countries. Although 80 percent of the Japanese public opposed holding the Olympics due to the pandemic, the decision to push forward with preparations isn’t exactly the option that Japanese residents are rooting for, either.

A FINANCIAL BURDEN Historically, cities that bid to host the Olympics have done so in search of prestige and a renowned way to showcase their culture and achievements. The infrastructure built in preparation for the Olympics has oftentimes brought benefits to the locals of the host city, including renovated subways, highways and internet connectivity. However, department chair of Graduate Programs and Research and professor of Economics at RIT Dubai — Dr. Sanjay Modak — pointed out that the negative toll of hosting the events outweighs the positive effects. “[The Olympic Games] are in fact a huge loss-making machine that cities, even today, that hosted the Olympics 15 or 16 years ago are still trying to repay,” Modak explained. While the Olympics tend to yield higher tourist rates within the host country, these rates typically only last as long as the events do. Not only will this year’s lack of foreign ticket holders lower tourist rates, but Japan would also endure a loss of 2.4 trillion yen ($23 billion) as a consequence. Hence, the boost that Japan expects from the Olympics will be much smaller.

“[A stadium of just one nationality] is just going to take away a lot of the pizazz that the Olympic Games have,” Modak said. “And if a Japanese competitor is not in contention, then who are they going to cheer for?” Overall, Japan is spending $15.4 billion to organize the Games, therefore staging the most expensive Summer Olympics on record. The country’s 20-year-long economic rut has made it so that this financial burden is not one that its economy can afford right now. As a result of stingy consumption spending and lagging domestic investment in the country, Japan’s Gross Domestic Product growth faces incredible difficulty. “The economy has come to a shuddering stop,” Modak said. “It doesn’t grow, it doesn’t go back, it doesn’t go forward ... Japan’s economy has been anemic.” Amidst a waning enthusiasm for the Olympics and a general decline in spectators over time, the impact of the Games this year appears to be far from rewarding.

“[The Olympic Games] are in fact a huge loss-making machine that cities, even today, that hosted the Olympics 15 or 16 years ago are still trying to repay.”

News 7

OUTSIDE OUTSIDE PHYSICAL PHYSICAL CURRENCY CURRENCY by Karina Le | illustration by Quamae Newsome | design by Rachel Kogut

n 1965, Gordon E. Moore, co-founder of Intel, predicted that every two years, the number of transistors in a given space would double. His statement rings true, as technology has been evolving much faster than the average person understands, nearly exponentially. From computers taking up entire rooms to having computers in our pockets, our way of living has become so much more than people in the ‘60s could ever have imagined. Take, for instance, the rising popularity of cryptocurrency. Currently, the spotlight is on the non-fungible token (NFT). Despite not being a physical currency like American dollars, it’s got people jumping to claim one.

NFTS: A SUMMARY Before breaking down NFTs and how they operate, we need to break down the economic concept of fungibility. Firstly, fungibility is a term in economics where an item can be exchanged for something of equivalent value. Even the American dollar, what many would consider the basic unit of economics, is a fungible item. Say you lend your friend a dollar bill to buy a snack. Your friend pays you back a week later with another dollar bill. It is not the same dollar bill that you gave them, but it acts in the same way as your dollar bill did. That’s what makes it fungible. In the same way a five-dollar bill is basically the same value as five one dollar bills, they’re mutually interchangeable.

Dan Gross, a digital content reporter for News8 and WROC, further explained fungibility through how we utilize money to also exchange goods and services of equal value. “Say you pay five bucks for five bus tokens, which then can pay for five rides,” Gross said. “Though the token is non-monetary, it has value.” Other cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are fungible, in that you can trade a Bitcoin for a Bitcoin. In contrast, what makes an item non-fungible, like NFTs, is that they are not interchangeable. A house would be an example of a non-fungible item. Your childhood home isn’t the same as the house you live in currently. Though they function the same — having bedrooms, kitchens and bathrooms — they are intrinsically different from each other in make and model. This difference is found in NFTs and how they’re non-fungible. To utilize NFTs, there are several steps. First, you have to make one. To do so, you would have to to use a software platform, such as Ethereum. Ethereum is used to create the blockchain. To utilize a blockchain as a ledger for your NFT transactions, you need a ‘smart contract’ that the NFT ‘lives’ in. A smart contract is defined as a line of code that signifies the agreement between the person selling the token and the person buying the token. Matt Costanza, an RIT alumni, offered a simple comparison.

“Say you pay five bucks for five bus tokens, which then can pay for five rides ... Though the token is non-monetary, it has value.”

8 Tech

“A better way to think about [NFTs] is an apartment complex,” Costanza explained. “The smart contract is the address, and the NFTs are the people living there.” A problem arises socially, however, when someone utilizes an image for their NFT that they may not originally own.

COPYRIGHT TROUBLE Just selling a blank NFT won’t bring in interested buyers. To make an NFT stand out, people use things such as images to promote them.

When NFTs entered the mainstream discourse, it was in reference to how individuals were attempting to use artists’ images as a means to sell their own NFTs, often without the artist’s consent. One artist who worked for AAA Games, Anna Poededworna, experienced this. However, the potential seller immediately took their NFTs down after she posted about it, presumably due to fear of legal action. For many artists, they’re concerned that by having someone use their art without their permission, it may infringe on their copyright for that art. However, it’s not as clear cut as that. Artists naturally have copyright control over the creation of their art. However, if someone were to buy a print the artist was selling, the consumer would own the specific physical copy. With NFTs, another layer is added as well. “When we’re talking about selling art as an NFT, what you’re actually buying is not the art or even the copy of the art. You’re buying something that has commercial use,” Gross explained. It’s like when you find someone’s art on a search engine, and copy and paste it to your social media. You don’t own the art, but you technically own the post that contains it. It doesn’t infringe on copyright law, but admittedly, it’s pretty rude to do it.

“A better way to think about [NFTs] is an apartment complex ... The smart contract is the address and the NFTs are the people living there.”

FUTURE INVESTMENT The big question for NFTs is if they can remain a sustainable part of our economy. “My gut says that it’s too complicated and too hard for the everyday person to get involved with,” Gross said. This complication and nuance makes it hard to weigh the pros and cons of NFTs. On one hand, it’s generally complicated to make an NFT through a contract, but NFT marketplaces like OpenSea cut out the middleman and make NFTs more accessible to a broader audience. “Once cryptocurrencies become more widespread, it would be easy to replace non-fungible items ... with an NFT,” Costanza said. However, there are more direct consequences to the creation of NFTs. To create an NFT, one has to ‘mine’ for it, which requires the solving of cryptographic equations through the use of computers, and that requires a significant amount of energy. The output for one NFT is reported to be equivalent to driving a car for 1000 kilometers.

“Mining takes a lot of energy. These things use a tremendous amount of power to render ... but because there’s relatively a small amount of people we don’t know the [future] impact of it environmentally,” Gross said. In the end, the future is unclear. The reason why cryptocurrency has value in the first place is because the people utilizing it has denoted it a value, and continued to do so. It’s hard to say whether they will be commonplace or otherwise.

Tech 9

BAREBONES OF

FASHION by Tyler English | photography by Sophie Proe illustration by TingYu Chang | design by Gabriella Licona

lothing is now an innate part of the human identity. Strictly from a functional sense, clothes aid us in temperature control and help us survive in harsh climates. However, clothing is also an art form and a method of expression. This is what we commonly refer to as fashion. Skilled designers, manufacturers and creators have been taking clothing beyond pure functionality and into an integral part of our society.

WHAT IS FASHION? FASHION Before we get into fashion, it is important to understand the differences between fashion, trend and style. Meghan Mundy, the founder of Rochester Fashion Week, said, “Fashion is an industry — it’s a form of expression and it’s an art.”

10 Culture

Mundy continued in saying that trends are the current things in style in the fashion industry. They tend to be cyclical as trends can repeat themselves over the years. “Style, to me, is the way you portray yourself and present yourself to the world,” Mundy said. “It is the way you connect with certain things and the way you put yourself together.” Style, trend and fashion cannot exist without each other as they are closely connected. Leonard Urso, a professor in the College of Art and Design, spoke about the ever-changing world of fashion. “[Fashion] continues to evolve,” Urso said. “It is a culture that is shaped by humans and it has taken on so many different meanings to different cultures.” Urso would liken culture and identity closely to fashion as the two push and pull on each other. Culture shapes fashion and fashion helps to shape culture. We then use this to create and interpret our own identify and style. Most of the times when we think about fashion, we imagine these gorgeous models walking the runway in crazy expensive and ornate garments. However, that is just one component of the fashion industry. “The runway billboards [are] the pinnacle of what a particular fashion statement is coming

“The symbolic value of [fashion] is something that continues to be reshaped.” from a designer or a design house,” Urso said. When you hit the department store level, both the comfort level and affordability of what the general population can accept comes into play. Similar to style and trends, you cannot have clothing in retail stores without runway shows. “You need to have the runway to keep the energy alive in the fashion world,” Urso said. “What inspires our eyes doesn’t necessarily inspire us once it is on our body in the same way.”

FASHION THROUGH THE AGES Ideas can come to designers from a va-

This can be seen in the fabrics and style choices

riety of sources, but it is common for a

that are coming out of designers during the pan-

designer to pull from current events

demic. With more people working from home and

and what they are experiencing in

having less occasions to dress up for, the current

the world.

shift in fashion is towards comfort and style.

“Each individual designer will

One of the aspects of fashions that makes it so

interpret what they are seeing in the

appealing is its ability to be shaped and created by

world, what they are pulling from

the individual. Everyone can choose to wear what

the past and what they are seeing

they want to wear, plain and simple. Whether you

in the future,” Mundy said. Sometimes these trends can become so iconic that they are

FUNDAMENTALS OF FASHION Now that we are on the same page as to what fashion is, how do we end up with super long jackets or puffy sleeved vests? “It starts with an idea,” Munday said. “Then it gets put into a pattern and you decide what kind of fabric will marry well with that pattern.” Similar to other art forms, it all begins with an idea. Once that idea is decided on, the process of creation starts. Fashion designers think about texture, shape, silhouette and construction. Knowing how different fabrics behave is key to creating certain looks and garments. Stiff fabrics may be able to hold a more dramatic shape while something that flows with the wind can be used to create a train effect. Urso would consider fashion as a form of language. He emphasized the importance of knowing what it is you want to express through the choice of shape, texture and color. “The symbolic value of this language is something that continues to be reshaped,” Urso said. Once the idea is solid and all the fabrics are chosen it is then time to construct and manufacture. Different art forms may call it ‘creating the ideas’ or ‘making the idea’ but in essence this is the stage when the idea is transformed from the meta-physical to the physical.

want to pull from the past to create a look or you just want to be comfortable in your own clothes, the fashion industry is a key to self-expression.

remembered for decades af-

Mundy offered some advice to those trying

ter. Think about the ‘50s. We

to find their personal style in today’s world. She

can easily imagine a time

recommended a fashion magazine deep dive. Get

where poodle skirts were all

your hands on current fashion magazines and pull

the rage in high school and boys slathered their

out the pages that make you feel happy! Pull out

hair with grease.

the images you like and then recreate the looks within your budget.

“There is fashion for everybody.”

“There is fashion for everybody,” Munday said.

It is common to see fashion trends start as a result of major events in the world. Urso and Mundy both mentioned how during times of war, you see fashion trend toward the militaristic side of things. Then once wars have ended and there is cause for celebration, colors and patterns can shift and change to reflect a lighter mood. With the COVID-19 pandemic, we are seeing a shift in the fashion industry. “Lifestyle is very important,” Urso said. “One of the conversations with COVID is comforting clothing styles.”

Culture 11

A WILD PARTY HOSTED BY THE

SENECA PARK ZOO

by Tommy Delp | photography by Shreya Rathore and Evie Linantud | design by Gabriella Licona

he Panamanian golden frog, the African black-footed penguin and the Canada lynx — what do all these animals have in common? While they come from around the globe, they can also all be found right here in Rochester at the Seneca Park Zoo! The zoo, which has been in operation since the late 1800s, is home to these three species, along with over 60 more. If you wanna go wild, this is the place to be!

SIGHTS AND SOUNDS Open year round. rain or shine, the Seneca Park Zoo is divided into multiple distinct sections. At the front of the zoo, you’ll find the ECO Center area. Here, various smaller species can be found, with a focus on those native to North America. There are still a few surprises in this section though, as slightly further back, the

Amur Tiger exhibit can be found. Go RIT! In the zoo’s next section, you can visit the multiple species that call the Earth’s waters their home. In the Rocky Coasts area, you should make sure to check out the multiple underwater viewing stations! Then, it’s off to the A Step Into Africa area. The large African lion and African elephant enclosures are favorites for many visitors. And no, the zebra carcass within the lion enclosure is not real. Finally, you’ll come to the zoo’s newest section, Animals of the Savanna. This area hosts animals both large, like the Masai giraffe, and small, like the naked mole rat. It also has a well-themed safari area! For those more COVID-19-conscious, the zoo has put multiple policies into place to protect guests and employees. Buildings are kept at limited capacities, and hand sanitizer stations are located throughout the zoo. Most importantly though, the entire zoo

“A big push in zoos right now is to create empathy for the animals and the natural world.” 12 Culture

is — for the time being — set up as one continuous path. Guests walk a certain route towards the back of the zoo, and then walk a separate and distinct path back out. Of course, there are also a variety of amenities to help scratch any tourist-y itch you may have. Various eateries and play areas scatter the zoo, and a small gift shop located at the front has things such as t-shirts and plushies, along with some more handcrafted items such as soaps and figurines, made both locally and internationally.

E D U CAT I O N A N D C O N S E R VAT I O N While it’s easy to think of zoos as nothing more than entertainment venues, for those who work there, they are much more. Zoos today puts a larger emphasis on education and conservation. Emily Coon is an adjunct instructor in the Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences and a former Seneca Park Zoo employee. She provided an insider’s perspective on the purpose of modern-day zoos. “A big push in zoos right now is to create empathy for the animals and the natural world, which may inspire guests to conserve in areas of their own life as well,” she said. Who holds zoos to these lofty goals though? For over 200 organizations, it is the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).

“We’re always improving things.” David Hamilton, the Seneca Park Zoo’s general curator and an adjunct instructor for the Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences, describes how the AZA works. “To be an AZA member, you are saying that you’re going to follow the rules and standards of the organization for lots of things such as animal care, financial records, and research,” he said. It also participates in the AZA’s Species Survival Plan (SSP), which looks to oversee and maintain animal populations, both within captivity and in the wild. “[SSPs] manage animals collectively for the good of the species, not just the good of certain individual animals or the good of an institution,” Hamilton said.

For animals that are endangered, near extinct or extinct in the wild, SSPs work to maintain a healthy and self-sustaining population within captivity. This is a critical need if humanity wants to save some of these species from total extinction. Along with being a member of the larger AZA, the Seneca Park Zoo also tries to focus on the community it serves.

While guests passively learn in their viewing of the animals, a plethora of programs also encourage more active learning. These numerous programs include things such as ZooCamps, field trips and the ZooMobile. These programs try to foster a love for animals, and in turn, a passion for conservation.

PAST AND FUTURE Throughout the Seneca Park Zoo’s history, there has been a pattern of constant change. While zoos, as entertainment centers, don’t have spotless track records, the forward thinking that comes with constant change has enabled organizations such as the Seneca Park Zoo to continue providing up-to-date care for its animals. “We’re always improving things. When we build new things, we build them stateof-the-art … and we improve what we can of our older exhibits,” Hamilton said. The Seneca Park Zoo’s original main building, built in the 1930s, was recently demolished, as the zoo believed it was no longer habitable for any of its animals. In its place, a new tropics complex is being built. Right now, it is expected to contain animals from Madagascar and Southeast Asia.

While it is easy to see the changes in infrastructure, the Seneca Park Zoo also understands the importance of nurturing people through academia, as Coon and Hamilton both teach BIOL-385. This course, the Seneca Park Zoo Internship, allows students to learn more about the zoo — both in class and hands-on. Students participate in a series of lectures along with holding multiple positions at the zoo throughout the semester. “[Students] emerge with a better understanding of what happens in a zoo and how we keep animals from going instinct,” Coon said. The Seneca Park Zoo understands that success comes with an understanding of the past, present and future. As an organization, their focus is to care for the animals of not just today but also tomorrow.

Culture 13

AYL: Home of the BarBeque by Karina Le | illustration by Lisa Zhou | design by Rachel Kogut

Central Library A large collection of print and digital material and spaces to work and play, all in the heart of the city

DI N O SA UR

A R -

B E U Q -

FUEGO COFFEE ROASTERS A hip, friendly café located on the east side with a variety of specialty coffee and other drinks

ROC CITY SKATEPARK Free and open to the public, the newly-opened park includes space for skaters and public performances 14 Culture

M O R

“Here’s the thing about being drunk.”

STORIES O N L I N E

REPORTER.RIT.EDU

By the time someone has been drinking enough that they can’t drive, well, they aren’t making good choices. Hell, they usually aren’t making choices at all - they’re on autopilot. This is where you come in. Take. Their. Keys. They might get angry. Tough. Take their keys, and throw your friend into the back of a Lyft. If you were unfortunate enough to have kept your keys and are now charged with DWI, you are going to need some help. Take a look at my website. You’ll nd excellent client reviews, a long and successful trial record, and upfront pricing information. P. Adam Militello, Esq. (585) 485-0025 https://rochesternyDWI.lawyer

SPOTLIGHT:

T H E R O C H E S T E R

M A Y O R A L E L E C T I O N

by Kasey Mathews photography by Daniel Sarch design by Neil Williamson

w t s

o st

a y we

s ha

ll-

m ake

a c c es

y pa

n hel

re th

“T

Warren was elected as the 69th mayor of Rochester during the 2013 election. She is the first woman and second African American mayor in Rochester history. Prior to her time as mayor, Warren served on the Rochester City Council. Elected to it in 2007, she would go on to assume the role of city council president 2010-2013. During this time, she represented the poorest areas of Rochester, and saw it had been traditionally

Lovely Warren

KNOW YOUR CANDIDATES

treated as the city’s “junk drawer.” As councilperson and mayor, she’s since made investment in northeast Rochester and other disadvantaged areas of the city a high priority. “When I was on city council, the investments in northeast Rochester, if they were like $3 million it was [considered] a lot,” Warren explained. “Now ... we have over $100 million being invested in northeast Rochester.” Those investments include infrastructural improvements, affordable housing and programs that support upward mobility for residents in the area. Outside of her role, she is a wife and mother. Warren enjoys walking her dog Rocco through her neighborhood on the east side of the city. A Rochester native, she enjoys local spots such as Savoia Pastry Shoppe and Donuts Delite.

Both Rocheser natives, the two agree on many issues; but on many others they tend toward differing solutions.

oag

i n g j o b.

eporter has previously covered the importance of local elections and representation. One such election is upcoming. The Rochester mayoral election will officially be held Nov. 2, 2021. However, because Rochester leans so heavily Democratic, it’s widely forecast that the Democratic candidate for mayor will safely win the general election. Therefore, many Rochester residents have their eye, instead, on the Democratic primary, to be held June 22, 2021. There are a number of candidates campaigning for the Democratic nomination, the two foremost being mayoral incumbent Lovely Warren and challenger Malik Evans.

”

Lovely Warren talks with other people as Mayor of Rochester, NY on October 14, 2016. Copyright: Communications-City of Rochester NY 16 Features

m u ni t y

o u r p oli c

m a ke

re o ut e t re a

While each candidate’s full platform can be found on their respective campaign websites, they each simplify them down into a few key categories. For Warren, those categories include jobs, safety, education and equity. Warren stated that “the best way we can help a child is to make sure their parent has access to a good, well-paying job.” Rochester has a large number of working poor, and a notable part of her efforts has been to ensure adequate pay, job training and career placement. Through the RJob program Warren helped champion, around 100 people over the last three years have been able to undergo training and achieve placement in lucrative careers, with a 100% placement rate. “You don’t give someone a fish, you teach them how to fish,” Warren said. Through this program, she aims to provide the tools necessary for the accumulation of generational wealth in otherwise struggling families. This ties together with her plans for safety and education as well. In her time as mayor, Warren emphasized infrastructural improvements, including repaving major roadways through poor-

POLICY

hand w

In his time on the Board of Education, Evans has worked to expand access to pre-K education. He also worked on a billion-dollar modernization effort for city schools. Evans’ efforts also ensured school nurses would be available in every school within the district. “We opened up the new experiential learning school, which was Walter Cooper Academy #10,” Evans further said. “And then we expanded the World of Inquiry School, which was a highly regarded experiential learning school … from K-6 [to] K-12.” Currently, Evans serves on the city council, chairing the finance committee. For this, he draws upon his career experience in banking, previously serving as a vice president at M&T Bank Corporation. He now works as the financial wellness manager at ESL Federal Credit Union. From his home in the Cobb’s Hill neighborhood, Evans mentioned it’s a short distance to Genesee Valley Park and Highland Park. He enjoys the local restaurants, as well, with his favorites including The French Quarter and Jines. “One thing about me,” Evans added, “is I’m known for knowing all the different types of restaurants in Rochester, and I love supporting local restaurants.”

and we ne h w o a Malik Evans sure tha “On Evans was first elected to the Rochester Board to of Education in 2003, and later went on to serve is kept as board president for six years. At the time of his sa first election, he was the youngest ever member of the Board.

the o

e th

m a ke su

sp e ctfu

s id e n

a th

. ts

”

Mayoral Candidate Malik Evans in front of the Frederick Douglass Susan B. Anthony Memorial Bridge in downtown Rochester, NY on March 27, 2021. er neighborhoods such as Hudson Ave. and Genesee Park Blvd. Combining this with a focus on increased home ownership, equipping recreation centers with “learning lab” spaces and the construction of new affordable housing, Warren works to ensure families have the tools they need to succeed. Evans agrees that job placement and home ownership are key to the accumulation of generational wealth, which in turn is a crucial part of bringing life and prosperity to poorer neighborhoods. His plan calls for focus on economic empowerment, trust and transparency, youth development, public safety and neighborhood development. Rochester is among the worst cities in the nation for childhood poverty, and Evans strongly believes that the best way to address this issue is through job placement and economic empowerment. Rather than focusing on larger corporations, though, Evans dedicates himself to development of small businesses. “If one in three small businesses created one job, America would be at full employment,” Evans pointed out. “That shows you the power of small businesses.” For neighborhood development, Evans looks at not just home ownership, but wants to pursue environmental justice and green energy throughout the city. Arguably the biggest focus for Evans, how-

ever, is public safety. He looks to put a higher focus on mental health and de-escalation, as well as investing more in prevention rather than intervention. “On one hand we want to make sure that our community is kept safe,” Evans said. “But on the other hand we have to make sure that our police are respectful to our residents, that we are leading with a community-center first police department where particularly people of color don’t feel singled out and brutalized by the police.” The Rochester mayoral race is hotly debated, and much of it boils down to the Democratic primary on June 22. You can find help through the voting process at rit.edu/elections, and can learn more about each candidate through both their campaign websites, as well as other online resources such as Ballotpedia and local news media.

Features 17

CITIZEN CITIZEN JOURNALISM JOURNALISM WHAT’S THE DEAL?

hether you have seen it, lived it or have contributed to it, citizen journalism has bathed us in an insurmountable amount of information. It is up to us to decipher and use it.

WHAT IS CITIZEN JOURNALISM? Citizen journalism is defined as the collection and analysis of information from the general public, especially through the internet. This definition, however, is interpreted differently from person to person, and can take on beneficial or disruptive angles. At this point, almost any adult has a smartphone with a camera and recording capabilities, so what distinguishes these people from other news sources, like trained journalists? Well, nothing really. We all are able to spread information instantly through constantly evolving digital means. Anyone can take out their phones and record during a protest, or documenting your first visit to a new restaurant. It is up to the internet and viewer to connect the dots and create stories based on the fragments they are given.

18 Features

Causing Trouble To some extent, gathering information from the public causes a bias in what’s presented, which is then channeled to observers who have consumed this bias. This, as we have come to call it, is the ‘fake news’ the community fears, yet falls victim to. With the in-

by Marilyn Wolbert illustration and design by Pallavi Singh

crease usage of social media comes an increase in both helpful and harmful information being spread through communities. Michael Kilian, executive editor of the Democrat and Chronicle, detailed an example of how this type of reporting can be harmful.

“You can report things that are true, but not put them in proper context, or sensationalize them so much that it starts to distort [people’s] perceptions of reality,” Kilian said. While working in Maryland some years ago, there was a citizen journalist who reported crime while listening to a police scanner. So much crime was being reported in one area that residents were under the impression they were living in an incredibly dangerous area. The reports drew from bias in the listeners and created the idea that the crime was heavily from minority groups, which in reality was not the case.

IS IT ALL BAD? Community-based journalism isn’t all bad though. In some cases, it can bring in a sense of community. In the case of the Daniel Prude and the Black Lives Matter protests in Rochester, citizen journalism played a huge role in spreading the word. Martin Hawk, a documentary filmmaker and photographer, documented the protests on his social media as they occurred. He spoke on the impact of having hundreds of people taking in and releasing information on the same event has had on the public. “The less filters something goes through, the closer you can get to the truth,” Hawk said. Hawk believes that this type of reporting is necessary, as it gives narrative to the events. It shows that there are so many sides to the same coin. While social media has been growing increasingly more polarizing, in the case of citizen journalism, more is better. Multiple angles from the same event can help to grow an entire picture. Multiple reviews of a new restaurant or shop can help increase traffic. Watching videos from protests can help others better understand what to expect and how to be prepared.

COVERAGE IN THE MEDIA For many, social media is how information is gathered and viewed now. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and even TikTok have cast shadows over daily news networks and established channels of information. Through these platforms, anyone can share their opinions, experiences and determine what they think is true. “We are all the sum of our experiences,” Kilian stated. Relaying those experiences and information can help keep larger corporations and organizations accountable for their actions. This example is amplified in the police brutality, seen on the front lines of the Black Lives Matter movement. The information found on newspaper headlines and television depicts a much different story than the one told on the side of the movement — where citizens filmed the injustice firsthand. There have been other examples of crimes which were dismissed by authorities and later solved by communities over the internet. “Don’t F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer” on Netflix is a documentary detailing this type of story. This changes the game of journalism in a lot of cases. Some broadcasters and journalists feel threatened by the rise of community-aided journalism, while others use it to their advantage.

THE GOAL So how do you know what’s true and what’s not? A lot of this comes down to credibility. What other work has someone outputted that creates the notion that their information is reliable? Checking sources and doing further research is always the best option for avoiding ‘fake news’. Journalism takes on many different styles, so finding the best way to back up and convey information may be difficult. For many like Kilian, the idea is that journalism should benefit the community. “The best journalism is community service,” Kilian said. We need to keep asking ourselves basic questions; are we providing information for people? Are we serving the community? Are we holding our leaders accountable? Are we focusing on small businesses, or helping people understand upheaval? Hawk stated that inner conflict is a marker of engaging information. “The best journalism, and the best art, is able to spark that inner turmoil a little bit,” Hawk said. “At the end of the day if you are asking more questions, that means you have more information than you previously did.” Just take a look at what stories are trending on social media generally. Everyday you hear about something that involves suffering of some sort; death, abuse or targeted crime. These stories, as awful as they are, draw attention from the public through shared fear and bring awareness to these issues. These stories are flooded with videos and details that come from the public and push the information to the masses. You can be a part of relaying this data which gives power to the individuals who provide it. All it takes is your phone.

Features 19

small , s e s s e busin

020 was a year to remember. Frontline medical staff and other essential workers risked their own safety to keep the country running in the midst of a worldwide pandemic. Crowds took to the streets to protest racial injustice and police brutality, turning a tragic death into a rallying call that would muster one of the largest protests in American history. By the end of it all, the turnout rate of one of the most contentious presidential elections in American history was the highest it has ever been in more than a century.

A new calendar with a new date hangs in place of the old, but the consequences of the past year are not so easily tossed aside, especially for small business owners.

BOLD AND GRITTY

Dr. David A. Paul is a senior neurosurgery resident, and the founder and CEO of Bold and Gritty. “We’re a coffee-focused lifestyle brand,” Paul explained. “We use coffee as a vehicle to tell the stories of people who have really been misrepresented in society, particularly black men.” The idea for the business came during the summer of 2020, and by fall Bold and Gritty was filling coffee orders. The goal of the project is to challenge society’s view of black men. Bold and Gritty takes members of the community and creates portraits of them, drawing inspiration from the work of artists like Kehinde Wiley and Jean-Michel Basquiat. “We’ll take everyday guys who have some kind of bold and gritty component about themselves … and if they’ve used their platforms to make a difference in the world, we like to celebrate that,” Paul said.

BIG H one of the most tumultuous years of our generation is a trial by fire. COVID-19 has been a prominent feature in our lives this past year, but it was not the only significant event. The death of George Floyd sparked nationwide protests against police brutality and institutional racism. Rochester was no exception. Daniel Prude was a black man who died of asphyxiation in March of the same year after police pinned him to the ground while restraining him. In September 2020, the incident became public knowledge, and protestors took to the streets. These tragedies spurred Dr. Paul to action. “Daniel Prude was my cousin, and that was part of the impetus for doing what we’re doing and telling the stories that we tell,” Paul explained.

LOCAL ROOTS

Businesses live and die by their interactions with the public, but smaller businesses have much closer ties to their communities than WalMart or Target. “We are very conscious about making sure that the coffee we get gives back to the communities who farm it. We’ve been able to develop a unique relationship with our roaster, where we can trace our coffee back to the farms and the washing stations that they come through,” Paul elaborated. But not all business relationships are strictly business. Dr. Paul and his team have also drawn on support from their family. “My mom is a professional writer, and she will edit some of our copywriting. We have family who’s involved in digital media and videography, and they’ll help us with some of the marketing content. We’re very much in-house,” he explained.

"[COVID-19] has definitely impacted my business in a positive way. It's what actually grew my business.” These artistic representations are a part of Bold and Gritty’s packaging, and these stories make their way into people’s homes alongside the coffee. Bold and Gritty has big plans for the future, but those plans rest on a small staff. “We’ve bootstrapped everything. We’re a three-person team: me, my wife and someone who helps us with our social media,” Paul explained. Dropping into the business world during

20 Features

SPRING CLEANING

Clean Qweens is a locally owned cleaning company that services the Rochester area. Its

G HURDLES by P a t r i c k M c C u l l o u g h p h o t o g ra p hy by J a c k C o n n o l l y i l l u s t ra t i o n a n d d e s i g n by G a b r i e l l a Fa t i g a t i founder, Dominique Bell, started the company back in February 2020, before COVID-19 hit in full force. “I was driving school buses for some time, and I wanted to do something that would be a long-lasting career. I decided to start a business around something I liked to do, which was cleaning,” Bell explained. Clean Qweens has serviced homes, daycares, restaurants, offices and countless other local businesses since the beginning of the pandemic. “We do residential and commercial cleaning, a wide variety of deep cleanings. Sanitation is really big, a lot of people want all their stuff sanitized because of [COVID-19],” Bell explained. Nearly 100,000 small businesses that temporarily shut down to weather the pandemic are now closed for good, according to Yelp’s most recent Local Economic Impact Report. Even so, Clean Qweens’s success shows that the past year hasn’t sunk everyone. There are still small businesses that have been able to adapt and ride out the storm. “[COVID-19] has definitely impacted my business in a positive way. It’s what actually grew my business,” Bell said.

SOCIALLY DISTANT MEDIA

Despite the recent shift to online shopping, the U.S. Department of Commerce estimates that e-commerce only accounted for about 14 percent of total sales in 2020. Small businesses have had to scramble to pivot online as meetings move to Zoom and consumers migrate over to the omnipresent

Amazon, whose shares have soared in response to the pandemic. Social media has become a powerful tool that small businesses can use to build and interact with their community, even if they aren’t large enough to sustain their own PR department. Bell does the marketing for Clean Qweens herself. She runs a company website where customers can book appointments, and is very active on social media. Facebook, Instagram, Yelp and other targeted advertising forums are the backbone of many small businesses, and Bell’s is no exception. She also runs her own website, where customers can schedule appointments and bus specialty cleaning products. Clean Qweens is one of many small businesses who have pivoted to online interactions in the wake of the pandemic.

This kind of digital community building is crucial for small businesses, especially at a time where face-to-face interactions can be hard to come by.

CLOSING OUT

2020 rocked the country, and nobody has escaped from it untouched. The year has been particularly difficult for smaller businesses. Some have died, some have been born and those that survived have been radically changed. The most important thing customers can do to help is to eschew large chains and shop locally. Every dollar counts, now more than ever.

"We use coffee as a vehicle to tell the stories of people who have really been misrepresented in society, particularly black men." Features 21

A DEEP DIVE ON VACCINES

by Brooke Wolfenbarger | illustration by Sahana Maheswaran | design by Nick Bober

oming up with a vaccine is not an easy process. When tests first detect a new illness, scientists must determine if the illness is viral or bacterial, what the symptoms are and how it spreads.

HISTORY OF VACCINES Vaccines go back a very long time. From immunizing people against specific pathogens to prevent infection, to limiting a virus's impact once infected. The word vaccine comes from the word vaccinia, which was discovered because of the cow pox virus, used to immunize against smallpox. David Topham, a professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Rochester, shared insight on their origins.

22 Wellness

“It’s a cow virus, it caused minimum disease in people but it was similar enough to human smallpox that it provided immunity,” Topham explained. The cow pox virus was the first vaccine developed by humans. However, it wasn't until around the time of the Spanish flu pandemic in 1918 that scientists really knew what had caused the virus in the first place. It took almost 12 more years before scientists identified the H1N1 influenza A virus. When it comes to bacterial viruses, we have a lot of resources like antibiotics to stop the spread. With viral viruses it can be more difficult — or in cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) where there is no vaccine or cure. “HIV is a virus that mutates very rapidly even within a person. A lot of other viruses — they mutate between people but not within a person,” Topham stated.

HIV can also lie dormant in a person by integrating into their DNA and becoming invisible to their immune system, thus going undetected for a long time. When it comes to HIV, all modern medicine can do now is suppress how much the virus replicates in humans. “It's been hard to come up with a vaccine that works because there's literally hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of variants of HIV in the world, and even within a person there are thousands of variants,” Topham explained. Before COVID-19, there was the Ebola outbreak, one that took years to try and control. “I know there's still ongoing efforts to create safer and safer vaccines for Ebola and other pathogens. ... We needed to move very quickly to get a vaccine to protect people,” Topham said. Even with a long history of vaccines and viruses, Topham pointed out that misinformation about vaccines still exists. If people don’t take vaccines because of misinformation, there can be long-term consequences as viruses continue to spread.

“Immunizing too close together becomes less effective... if you wait long enough you get a much stronger response.” “The false link to autism was probably one of the most damaging things to have affected the use of vaccines. It was a completely fabricated study and has been discredited many times,” Topham stated.

DIFFRENT TYPES OF VACCINES There are a lot of different ways that vaccines can be approached, and that also has to do with what type of virus is being dealt with. Technology has been a huge influence in how far we’ve come when producing vaccines. One of the early strategies used was inactivating the virus and putting it back into the person. Inactivating a virus is the act of either removing the virus completely or rendering it non-infectious. Furthermore, the attenuated vaccine is another approach to developing vaccines and is often a time consuming, expensive and labor-intensive procedure. This type of vaccine is normally thought of in regards to the flu and is looked at yearly. The attenuated vaccine takes the infectious agent and alters it to make it less harmful.

Maureen Ferran, associate professor in the Gosnell School of Life Sciences, explained that process. “You take a human virus and you put it in an egg ... Get out the little bit of virus and put it in another egg and it infects a little bit better," Ferran explained. "You transfer it from egg to egg until it gets better infecting an egg than a human and we call it attenuation.” One kind of technology that has been discussed a lot lately when it comes to vaccines is messenger RNA (mRNA). The practice of editing mRNA to make new proteins has been around for the last 20 years. “It’s been an idea that people have been fine tuning and honing ... then all of a sudden when you have this global pandemic and everyone has this need to do something they turn to all these other ideas [mRNA],” Ferran stated.

EFFICACY AND TIME When people think of vaccines, one of the first questions include how effective the vaccine will be and how many doses they will need, especially when it comes to COVID-19. Efficacy depends on what’s being measured, whether it’s death, hospitalizations, moderate disease or mild disease. The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines for COVID-19, for example, look at mild or moderate disease (fever, cough and shortness of breath) and get close to the 90 percent area for efficiency.

“Until very recently we had very few vaccines that approached anywhere close to 100 percent, like the yearly flu vaccine’s can be in the 50s, low mid 60 percent in terms of efficacy,” Ferran explained. It is important to understand that vaccines like those of Moderna and Pfizer are closer to 100 percent effective when looking at hospitalizations and death. With COVID-19 vaccines, the CDC recommends getting the second dose around 21 or 28 days apart from the first dose. But why is that time frame important? What happens when you’re a little off? The reality of it is that there is no scientific backing to time frames when it comes to primary and secondary doses. Sometimes it might be better to wait three or six months to get a booster shot. "We know that immunizing too close together [the vaccine] becomes less effective. We also know that if you wait long enough you get a much stronger response then you get at, say, 28 days,” Topham said. Nonetheless, the reason why people shouldn’t wait that long with COVID-19 vaccines is because there are still very high infection rates. People need to be vaccinated quickly in order to stop the spread.

THE FUTURE “I think we’re seeing a paradigm shift in vaccionology. I think it will never look the same,” Ferran stated. Technology has allowed us to improve vaccines throughout the years and because of this we are able to make some vaccines quicker and make them safer. Only time will tell what comes next for vaccines.

“I think we’re seeing a paradigm shift in vaccinology. I think it will never look the same.” Wellness 23

RIT TUITION

AND WHERE THE M O N E Y GOES The opinions expressed are solely those of the students and do not reflect the views of REPORTER.

by Erin Brache illustration by Meya Goel design by Gabriella Licona

ccording to RIT’s “Tuition and Fees” site, students spend around $65,000 a year on their education. Just over $50,000 of that figure is on tuition alone. Students are never offered a solid explanation as to what that money is being spent on and where that tuition goes. Some picture their money being used to take care of the facilities and technology that many students have available to them — others picture it going straight into President Munson’s pocket. With the announcement that RIT’s tuition is increasing in the 2021-22 school year. It’s important to look at how that figure is formed, what RIT spends that money on, and how it affects students.

THE NUMBERS, MUNSON. WHAT DO THEY MEAN? Finding out what RIT spends money on is difficult for students to do. RIT’s self-published Final Budget is located on the Office of Budget site. Accessing the pages requires a user to jump through three different links, all of which can’t be found on RIT’s main homepage. Finding RIT’s audited financial statements and 990 Tax Form is even harder to do. Of course, some things need to remain hidden. Even if it were possible to track every dollar that flows through RIT, there would be logistical problems with publicly posting where each dollar specifically ended up. So, while we can’t get extremely specific, like know24 Views

ing every faculty member’s paycheck or knowing how much money was spent on specific supplies, we can see generally how and where money comes and goes at RIT. Ross Koenig, assistant vice president for Budget & Financial Planning Services, gave some insight into what exactly the budget entails. “My job is to look at the Operating Budget of the institution,” he said. The first thing that jumps out to those who read these financial statements is the category labeled “Hedge Funds.” According to the final financial statements, the fair value of RIT’s hedge funds totaled $285 million in 2019, and $261 million in 2020. When most people think of hedge funds, they imagine billionaires sitting around becoming richer, not an academic institution. Koenig explained where that money came from, saying that they were all funds that have been contributed to the university by donors and that the profit from those funds support the university’s operations with things like scholarships and maintaining facilities. “The term ‘hedge fund’ seems a little squirrely, but it’s what people with a billion dollars do with their investments. If we didn’t do that, we wouldn’t be making as much money as we could,” Koenig said. The next figure that students may not be happy seeing their tuition spent on is lobbying. RIT’s 2019 Form 990 claims that RIT spent $376,850 on lobbying that year.

“That’s not really that

much money given the size of the university.”

When asked about how much RIT spends on lobbying, Koenig explained. “That’s not really that much money given the size of the university,” he said. While in terms of the total amount of money the school brings in each year that may not be a lot, in terms of how much money any one student has, that amount could be life changing. Koenig further justified the amount spent. “[It is] the cost of access to speak with our representatives,”’ he said. While Koenig did not know the exact lobbying groups that RIT is funding, Vanessa Herman, RIT’s new vice president for Government and Community Relations had some insight into the matter.

LOBBYING RIT is currently funding three lobbying groups: MWW Group LLC who is given $74,879 annually, the National Group LLP who is given $201,313 annually, and Ostroff Associates, who is given $92,283 annually, for a total of $368,475. According to Herman, the MWW Group LLC routinely meet with RIT faculty who are conducting research in order to compete for better research grants. Herman gave a vague answer as to the interests of the National Group LLP. ”Their focus is on Capitol Hill which includes the President, Vice President, U.S. Senate and U.S. House with a focus on advocacy and funding initiatives,” she said. Herman continued by saying the National Group shares information that is important to RIT and higher education as a whole. The National Group lobbied for the H.R. 748 Bill, also known as the CARES Act, with RIT as the client. You can find this information on OpenSecrets.org, an online database owned by The Center for Responsive Politics that tracks money in politics. “The National Group has had a relationship with RIT for decades,” Herman said. However, there is only one bill listed on the site. OpenSecrets could not record conversations between RIT and the National Group, so it is unknown as to what specifically RIT has been working the National Group on. The last group mentioned is Ostroff Associates, which Herman described as RIT’s connection to New York lawmakers in Albany. Ostroff’s website mentioned that they helped “gain state support of over $13 million for the development of MAGIC Spell Studios.” Other successes include helping Mike Bloomberg’s “Everytown for Gun Safety” enact legislation to combat gun violence and outlaw bump stocks, as well as push for more funding for the Clearly School for the Deaf.

THE INCREASE IN TUITION The question most students have in regards to tuition and spending is: Why does tuition keep increasing every year? On March 25, 2021, it was announced that tuition rates would increase 2.9 percent for undergraduate students and 3.9 percent for graduate students in the upcoming year, despite the next paragraph of the announcement acknowledging that the school is ‘aware that the pandemic has taken a financial and emotional toll on the families of our students.’ This change is not much different than the 4% tuition increase that has become common for students to see every year. When asked about this constant increase, Koenig explained that the percentage increase drives the gross tuition, not net tuition. The difference is that gross is the raw amount of money coming in, while net tuition is the gross minus institutionally funded aid. ”[That 4 percent increase every year] is prior to us giving any financial aid to students,” Koenig explained. “When you see a 3.5 percent increase in tuition, the net increase in tuition is always less than that because we always give a chunk of the increase back to students in the form of financial aid.” Koenig claims that while tuition has been increasing by around 3.5 percent to 4 percent every year, the aid budget has increased by about 6 percent to 9 percent to compensate for that. This means that the average student might only feel about a 1.7 percent to 2 percent increase in tuition every year. However, this only applies to incoming students and does not help current students. While a 2 percent increase isn’t as taxing on students and their families as a 4 percent increase, it is still a $1,000 tuition increase. This is a significant amount of money for some students, especially if they are independent and pay for their tuition themselves.

LOOSE ENDS Even with the three weeks of constant digging into these sources, some information still doesn’t have straightforward answers. RIT’s 2019 Form 990 says that RIT donated $11,250 to the ‘Laurent Clerc Educational Fund of Colo.’

26 Views

Nothing much is known about the facility except that it was founded in 1996, and the location listed is an office building in Lakewood, Colorado. Different sources refer to the Educational Fund as a corporation, charter school, special ed school, magnet school or a combination of these entities. The most solid piece of documentation readily available is their 2016 bylaws, which names their board of directors from 2016. However, all of the positions’ term limits expired from 2017 to 2019. These bylaws have confusing rules not common in corporate bylaws. They note that the company should not have any members or stock. Their current office is located in Jefferson County. However, they note that any other site can be designated “from time to time”. This makes it sound like their official office, which is currently inside an office building, can move at any time. Sites like causeiq.com, a non-profit databasing website, claim that RIT was the only entity that was recorded giving funds to the school. Another website, refundwhatmatters.org, claims that the Laurent Clerc Educational Fund of Colorado also goes by the name Rocky Mountain Deaf School, a public charter school in Denver. However, the Rocky Mountain Deaf School has no mention of the name “Laurent Clerc Educational Fund of Colorado” on their entire website, and has a different registered location than the one RIT donates to.

“Their focus is on Capitol Hill ... with a focus on advocacy and funding initiatives.”

So why would RIT donate $11,250 to a school that has no solid recorded history? The other loose end is also recorded in the Form 990. In 2019, RIT spent $14.5 million on “travel.” Koenig listed things like traveling to high schools for recruiting, athletics, conference travel for faculty conducting research, but most importantly fundraising. “The President travels quite a bit [for fundraising], frankly,” Koenig said. In a conversation during the Black Lives Matter rally, President Munson confirmed the statements Koenig made regarding his travel. “I travel once, maybe twice a month for fundraising,” Munson said. Koenig explained that if there is a high-profile donor that is on the fence about donating a large sum to RIT, Munson will travel to the donor in person to seal the deal.

While all of those factors make sense on their own, some students can’t make sense of all of those funds totaling $14.5 million. Renting a private jet for up to 9 people costs from $4 to $8 thousand dollars, which means that the budget can afford from 181 to 362 private jet rentals, and professors who travel to conferences can tell you, they are not getting private jets.

CONCLUSION The price of living at RIT has been constantly increasing, and students are feeling the damage caused by it. A reddit thread has been following this story, and has seen the difference in administration from Destler to Munson. One of Destler’s five pillars in his strategic plan was “Affordability, Value, and Return on Investment”. Munson’s four pillars did not mention affordability or cost at all. One of Destler’s key mottos for RIT was “Greatness Through Difference.” Destler explained what “Greatness Through Difference” meant. “We belong in the category of the world’s great universities, not because we seek to replicate the great universities of the 20th century, but because we are already practicing what the future universities must provide,” he said. This tone is strikingly different than the picture Koenig painted of how RIT makes its decisions. In the interview with Koenig, he made it a point to emphasize how important the Association of Independent Technological Universities (AITU) was to financial decision making.

The AITU is a group of universities that RIT competes with on topics like amount of funding, ranking and accreditation. This includes Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, MIT and Carnegie Mellon University. The dramatic shift from focusing on what makes RIT great to what makes RIT compared to everyone else has created an environment that is not focused on students and their success, but rather the university’s success as a whole. This type of on paper success comes at a cost, and it’s a cost students are required to pay. Look into the numbers and see what you think doesn’t add up. Ask questions. After all, it’s your money.

“[That 4 percent increase every year] is prior to us giving any financial aid to students.”

The Suite Life 1. It’s the weekend, how do you relax?

-of-

Jurassic

a. Studying! Time for improving knowledge. b. Looking for sweet babes. c. How can I relax? There’s so much to do! d. Shopping! e. Working, I gotta eat! What is your ideal profession? f. Fixing things! a. Theoretical Physicist, renowned scientist or a renowned chef. b. Is traveling and picking up ladies a job? by Marilyn Wolbert How would others describe you? c. Hospitality. illustration by Jess Edwards a. Clean d. Work? design by Neil Williamson b. Handsome and cool e. Education. c. Busy! f. Engineering. d. Fantastical? e. Reliable How would you describe yourself? f. Innovative a. Friendly! b. Carnivorous. On a perfect night, what are you eating? c. Gentle, unless provoked. a. A light salad with arugula, fresh tomatoes and d. Beautiful! pumpkin seeds for improving my zinc levels. e. A good communicator. b. I have a leftover ham sandwich in my pocket. f. ‘Unique.’ c. Shrimp Scampi. d. Whatever won’t hurt my summer body! MOSTLY C’S e. Rice, chicken and veggies! Okay, Mr. Moseby and his trusty Ankylosaurus f. Ask a special someone out to dinner tonight. … stop being such a stick in the mud. Ankylosaurus’ tend to be dinosaur wrecking balls, and you What’s your fashion sense? wreck other’s fun if it’s wrecking yours. That bea. Sweater vest, slacks and a button down. ing said, I’m not so sure you ever have fun, so try b. I think I have some clean underwear? relaxing! c. A salmon blazer. MOSTLY D’S d. Whatever’s in this week! You’re flashy, sassy and filthy rich. e. I like to call it library-chic. Tell me London, how is your Styracosaurus? f. Something casual. More like Style-osaurus! You two go so well together, you’re on top of the latest trends. It really doesn’t seem like it, but you are sweet. Can’t help it if you’re a little judgemental!

Results: MOSTLY A’S

MOSTLY E’S

You’re a total Cody Martin riding a Brachiosaurus. Studying? Vegetables? Come on, it’s obvious, go read your books, nerd. I’m messing — you’re kind, sweet but not that funny. Take your sweater vests and veganism and find a nice partner to settle down with, you deserve it!

You’re Maddie Fitzpatrick riding a Parasaurolophus. You’re incredibly reliable and a good friend. Sometimes people step all over you and you have to work way harder in life to move forward — remember you’ll end up ahead in life with so many more real world experiences.

You’re Zack riding a Raptor. You’re kind of squirrely when it comes to women and food. A three-day-old bologna sandwich slaps just as hard as a fresh one. Deep down you’re a nice guy, it’s just that sometimes when you do something nice an accident happens. 28 Views

I mean this in the best way possible, but you are an Arwin riding a Stegosaurus. It’s a more controversial mix, an obscure man doing his best, and one of the most well known dinosaurs of the Jurassic era. What does this mean? You’re indecisive at times, not really an introvert but not really an extrovert.

MOSTLY B’S

MOSTLY F’S

Park

W.O.T.S photography by Jay Schading | illustration by Alice Benavides design by Neil Williamson

What are your plans for summer

2021?

WORD ON THE STREET

The opinions expressed are solely those of the students and do not reflect the views of REPORTER.

Jonathan Leung Motion Picture Science, 2024 “I will be doing a production shoot with one of my professors, visiting friends in NYC and spending a lot of money on food. “

David Oluwagbemi Motion Picture Science, 2024

ds n

“I’m going to Jamaica to visit my family.”

Jake Morales Biomedical Sciences, 2023 “I am going to be hiking, traveling to different states, going to NYC for a second time, taking a fire department class and working a lot.”

Mrs. Duck Soon-to-be-Mom 2021 “Quack. Quack quack quack.”

RINGS

RIT’s only digital confessional Text or call (585) 672-4840

compiled by Marilyn Wolbert | illustration by Jess Edwards | design by Neil Williamson

“The communist manifesto, my pee pee, and sad horny” Fri., March 12, 2021, 10:39 p.m. “I’m sweating because I’m gay” “Look at all these twinks

Wed., March 17, 2021, 2:21 p.m.

dancing in the forest” Sat., Feb. 27, 2021, 12:30 a.m. “It would be weird having a three-way with two people named Lauren” Wed., March 10, 2021, 11:23 a.m. “My fursona’s salmonella.” Sat., March 13, 2021, 9:20 p.m. “Only NFTs I support are Nice F*ckin Titties” Sat., March 20, 2021, 8:08 p.m.

“ all

horny is sad horny these days

ALL CALLS AND TEXTS MAY BE SUBJECT TO EDITING AND TRUNCATION STATEMENTS DO NOT REFLECT THE VIEWS OF REPORTER. 30 Views

“

REPORTER IS HIRING! So much is happening every day, and we need your help ensuring awareness of these events within the RIT community. Gain great experience in a fun, professional, student-led environment at RIT’s only fully student-run journalistic magazine. Apply today to be a Writer, Photographer, Illustrator or Designer!

WRITERS

Future writers, please send your resume and a writing sample to rptonline@rit.edu.

Future photographers, please send your resume and portfolio to rptphoto@rit.edu.

ILLUSTRATORS AND DESIGNERS

PHOTOGRAPHERS

Future illustrators and designers, please send your resume and portfolio to rptart@rit.edu.

Writing samples and portfolios do not need to be any specific format and do not necessarily need to be journalistic in nature, but should reflect your ability. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Editor in Chief Marilyn Wolbert at rpteic@rit.edu.

@REPO RTERMAG