November 2017

REPORTER NOVEMBER 2017 reporter.rit.edu

Please Recycle

REPORTER EDITOR IN CHIEF Rozie Yeghiazarian PRINT MANAGING EDITOR Bryanne McDonough ONLINE MANAGING EDITOR Taylor Derrisaw COPY EDITOR Ramya Shankar NEWS EDITOR Frankie Albin TECHNOLOGY EDITOR Ryan Black LEISURE EDITOR Kevin Zampieron FEATURES EDITOR Kristin Grant SPORTS EDITOR Bella Taylor VIEWS EDITOR Taylor Synclair-Goethe WRITERS Kendra Murphy, Ryan Black, Kevin Zampieron, Kristin Grant, Taylor Synclair-Goethe, Bella Taylor, Red Smith-Sweeter

ART ART DIRECTOR Alyssa Minko ONLINE ART DIRECTOR Madeleigh Place DESIGNERS Kevin Zampieron, Karley Allis, Lily Garnaat, Cassy Smithies, Alexis Scott, Kendra Murphy, Elin Smith Kathy Liu ILLUSTRATORS Juho Choi, Stephanie Chan, Henry Trettenbach, Monica Nguyen-Vo, Aria Dines, Angela Krieg, Cynthia Muniz

PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTO EDITOR Joseph Ressler PHOTOGRAPHERS Joseph Ressler,

EDITOR’S NOTE The pace is different here.

That’s the first thing I noticed when I moved to RIT. While I would have felt totally fine moseying on by, folks here would sprint from sunrise to sunset. Cultural differences, when combined with the vibrant energy of a college campus, collectively harbored this infectious sense of urgency.

I had never really spent a significant enough period of time on the East coast prior to attending RIT. Growing up in Los Angeles, this whole side of the country just seemed to me to be an amalgamation of state borders stitched together into one big historically charged quilt. The mellow, Westcoast culture I considered home was vastly different than that embroidered onto this campus by my new peers and class colleagues coming from skyline scraping homes in New York City and lobster dinner tables in Maine.

Yet, as different as we are, somehow together we all fall into a rhythm.

These patterns in our past have taught us our daily choreography. Every morning, we pick up one foot, place it in front of the other and march on in symphony. Pitter patter, we go from here to there in perfect harmony with every other somebody, taking up space and adding to the noise of a given day.

Though the beat we step to may change depending on where we are or who we are around, we have learned to speed up or slow down to the sound of the group. Playing to our unique perspectives, we’ll even know the right time to step up for a solo.

The culture at RIT is fast-paced. The offerings are vast, the programs exciting. This campus is riddled with a curious eagerness and the wealth of opportunity to mesh these diverse perspectives. We toss ourselves into tall ambitions, know when to take it easy and recognize that success tastes as rich as that lobster dinner. Students come here to pick up momentum.

And so, our mannerisms are molded. Our lives are so different, our being even more so.

Krit Upra, Pawan Khake, Catie Rafferty, Rebekah Hange

BUSINESS BUSINESS MANAGER Zachary Grzelka AD / PR MANAGER Miguel Moran PRODUCTION MANAGER Mitchell Morgan ONLINE SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR Michael Canning WEB MANAGER Efe Ozturkoglu VIDEO EDITOR James Abrams ADVISOR Rudy Pugliese PRINTING EPi Printing CONTACT 585.475.2212

Rozie Yeghiazarian Editor in Chief

Letters to the Editor should be sent to rpteic@rit.edu. No letters will be printed unless signed. All letters received become the property of REPORTER.

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. “[Somthing, somthing horse p***s] she was a weird horse girl already” -M.P. The opinions expressed in Reporter do not necessarily reflect those of the Institute.

Reporter is not responsible for materials presented in advertising areas. Reporter takes pride in its membership in the Associated Collegiate Press and American Civil Liberties Union. Copyright © 2016 Reporter Magazine. All rights reserved. No portion of this Magazine may be reproduced without prior written permission.

October 3

TA B L E O F cover and TOC by Juho Choi

NE WS 6

THE DACA DEBACLE What DACA is and what it means for students

TECH 8

HOW TO MONETIZE ON YOUTUBE WHILE ACTUALLY TRYING (NO SERIOUSLY, HOW?)

LEISURE 10

Youtube’s been changing all year and its creators are still confused as to how

14

@reportermag 4 October

COMING OUT WITH IMAGEOUT A profile on New York’s longestrunning LBGTQIA+ festival

AT YOUR LEISURE For everyone who has to break the bad news to their parents

CONTENTS F E AT U R E S 16

100 YEARS OF WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE IN NEW YORK STATE The Women’s Rights movement is more relevant than ever

18

22

RIT PERFORMING ARTS TAKE CENTER STAGE Learn more about President Munson’s plans to grow the performing arts

RIT PR: SHAPING THE NARRATIVE How RIT has handled this semester’s string of scandals

Online Podcast Component Online Video Component

SPORTS 24

JOIN IN ON THE RIT PEP BAND AND CORNER CREW HYPE

VIEWS 26

Joining the RIT ice hockey corner crew

28

30

BATTLE OF THE CLASSES The pros and cons of RIT’s new semester calender

WORD ON THE STREET In what ridiculous way will the world end?

RINGS Text or call (585) 672-4840

reporter.rit.edu October 5

by Taylor Synclair Goethe | illustrations by Juho Choi | design by Kevin Zampieron

THE

DACA

DEBACLE E

by Kendra Murphy | photography by James Porras | design by Kevin Zampieron Online Podcast Component

6 News

arlier in the semester, President Munson, along with 700 other university presidents, signed a petition by Pomona College in Claremont, Calif. to call for President Trump to uphold the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA. The program granted work permits to undocumented immigrants that were brought to the U.S. illegally as children. Munson sent out a brief statement relaying RIT’s intention to stand by students now faced with deportation. “These students are striving to achieve the American dream by pursuing an education so that they can continue to be productive and contributing members of our society. As

We support as much as we can and will help as much as we can if students come to us ... We don’t know who is affected by DACA ... unless people self-disclose. We don’t ask and we don’t tell. a university, we are committed to providing DACA students with the education they seek and developing talents that will add measurably to our nation,” Munson wrote.

In response to concerns from students and members of the RIT community, RIT’s International Student Services (ISS) hosted an informative presentation on DACA. The department invited Frank Novak, a partner at Hartner Secrest and Emery, a local law firm here in Rochester. Novak has long supported RIT students by partnering with ISS to advise students on legal matters and give his yearly “Life After The Student Visa” presentation.

In order to qualify for DACA, recipients must have completed secondary education and have a clean criminal record. DACA recipients are not complete foreigners. They are not terrible criminals. They are not U.S. citizens either.

Clearly, we need some kind of solution.

Crafting that solution is impossible without understanding the roots of the problem.

“The circumstance that we are presented with in DACA is a symptom of the failure of employment-based immigration and law,” Novak explained. In 1952, the Immigration and Nationality Act was enacted to provide a framework for a variety of types of immigration — refugees seeking asylum, family reunification, international students — creating an unbelievably complicated system.

The system failed to provide an accessible visa type for migrational or blue collar workers. When this law was created in the ’50s, America’s economy looked very different. Postwar factories were booming, production hadn’t moved overseas yet and skilled labor born from the college dream was still far off in the future.

Most likely, lawmakers at the time thought they were protecting American jobs by making these visa types few and difficult to use. Now, however, we find ourselves in a pickle.

“The employer cannot find anybody in the United States that wants the job. The employer is not able to mechanize the process,” Novak explained. “The employers look to find people to do the work and, lo and behold, there’s some people in the country who have come across the border … because they know that those employers are desperate to hire them.”

Novak estimated that there are about 10 to 12 million of these undocumented workers.

These kids, not their parents, are DACA recipients, referred to as Dreamers.

How DACA came to be enacted is controversial. Since watching Congress try to reach an agreement was like watching moss grow, President Obama decided to enact the DACA program as an executive order. DACA was never intended as a permanent fix — simply a temporary band-aid. Many feel that this was a severe overstepping of presidential power.

“The president wasn’t saying that they are here legally,” Novak summarized. “He simply said, ‘Look, I’m the cop and I’m not going to go after you and I’ll let you work.’ When another president comes into office and says, ‘Hey, look, I am the cop’ things change … The new president simply said, ‘Well, I’m the cop and I’m sort of interested in going after you. I don’t think I’m going to let you work anymore’ … and so that’s what’s going on right now.”

The right to work is easily taken for granted.

Franscisco Peralta, a 22 year old student at Concordia University Chicago, is one Dreamer who knows this frustration first-hand. Peralta was brought to the U.S. when he was three. His family overstayed their tourist visa and settled in Chicago, where relatives were already living.

“Identity-wise, I would consider myself more American,” Peralta said. “ I know more about the culture I’m not accepted in and I don’t know enough about the culture where I’m labeled as.”

Peraltas’ siblings were all born here — he is the only Dreamer.

“I kinda realized what it meant [to be a Dreamer] when I tried applying for a summer job at my high school,” Peralta said. “But I was denied because I don’t have a social security number … That really kind of frightened me cause, you know, I’m studying but I can’t really study to be something … because I won’t be able to work in that position.”

Because these students are unskilled until they get an education, there is no visa they can apply for. Their only option is a solution from Congress.

The education requirement is another debacle with DACA. “We look at the A students cause we kind of need poster-children,” Peralta said. “But in doing so we also leave out the students who maybe in their high school time they weren’t in the best place and that’s why their grades say they’re not a good student but in reality they are ... In a way, it’s really all about timing.”

Dreamers can only apply for private

scholarships, so many forms of aid are closed to them. This makes funding tuition a big problem. Since having status as a student is one way to qualify for DACA, difficulty accessing scholarships and state institutions can be great financial burdens for Dreamers.

Dreamers and other immigrants can benefit communities as well. International students are a large and vital part of the RIT community. Jeff Cox, the director of ISS, is keenly aware of this.

“The percentage of international students coming to RIT and studying here this year makes up five percent of our undergraduate enrollment but just over half of our graduate enrollment,” Cox said. “Our current international student enrollment is at 2,639 — this represents a 95 percent increase over 10 years ago.”

The economic impact of international students is significant. Approximately 33 billion dollars are spent by international students each year in the U.S. on tuition and living expenses.

“It also creates or supports over 400,000 jobs,” Cox said. “When you dial that down just to the Greater Rochester area, the economic impact here on the Rochester economy is 3,613 jobs that are created or supported.”

“I think there’s a lot of solidarity and understanding for people affected by the current situation,” said Lilli Jensen, assistant director at ISS, in regards to the current political environment. “We support as much as we can and will help as much as we can if students come to us ... We don’t know who is affected by DACA ... unless people self-disclose.

We don’t ask and we don’t tell.”

Jenson first came to the U.S. as an international student and has been at RIT since 1994. Only time will tell whether Dreamers will be able to stay and add to the communities of international students and workers around the nation they call home.

Congress is currently debating a proposed piece of legislature known as the DREAM Act. Novak encourages us to take action and call our congresspeople. Our political voices are powerful.

ISS’ office is always open to any international students with questions about anything from the foreign Rochester weather to trouble with the law. Their office is located on the second floor of the SAU and can be reached at (585) 475-6943.

News 7

e z i t e n o M How to e b u T u o Y on ) ? w o H , ly s u io r e (No S g in y r T y ll a u t c A e il h W

by Ryan Black | illustration by Stephanie Chan | design by Karley Allis

S

crutiny when it comes to the delivery and consumption of media feels like it has become the new norm.

Phenomenon like fake news and imperfect algorithms (like Facebook’s) clearly has many feeling reflective. And seeing how both spread misinformation and inflamed public discourse, such introspection feels very appropriate. However, even extremely deliberate attempts at this sort of examination can produce unintended consequences for a platform’s users.

& Advertising Anxiety ainty Paralyzing Uncert One might recall YouTube waking up to the controversy the Wall Street Journal had reported in March of this year. Big brands

(such as Amazon and Microsoft) had their promotions unintentionally placed in front of videos that literally had racial slurs or anti-Semitic language in their titles and descriptions. Videos peddling overtly racist and extremist rhetoric were making money from some of the platform’s biggest advertisers.

“Well, [advertisers] definitely don’t want their brand to be anywhere associated with that so they pulled their stuff,” recalled Noah Chrylser, a fourth year New Media Marketing student and an avid creator on YouTube who wishes to pursue content creation as a career. “That spawned this whole kind of fear in YouTube.”

Big brands pulled their ads in protest, pressuring YouTube to get on the issue. They sought more control over what content their promotions would appear in front of. As a result, over the course of this year YouTube

has taken several steps to that effect. Their intent has quite apparently been to better vet videos seeking advertising monetization.

It is notable how advertising revenue is what prompted YouTube to address — although not necessarily remove — such content.

Yet, as reported by Bloomberg this past August, over 400 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube every minute. Trying to properly assess all that media (both for their own and their advertisers’ sake) is a tremendous endeavor. YouTube has even admitted that their new tools aren’t perfectly accurate.

According to Chrysler, their new automated review process has mistakenly demonetized more than just the targeted inflammatory videos, but innocuous content as well; quite often with little to no explanation why.

“YouTube’s algorithm is now flagging content that used to be not considered

March 2017 According to the Wall Street Journal, Google promised to give advertisers more ways to keep their promotions from appearing in front of controversial content and prevent ad revenue from going to purveyors of racist and antiSemitic hate speech. Even so, big brands like Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Amazon and Microsoft suspended a lot of their Googlerelated advertising until it could be demonstrated that the issue was under control (yet some returned as early as April).

8 Technology

April 2017 YouTube made it so a channel must have 10,000 lifetime views before being eligible for applying for ad monetization. A new, supposedly more scrutinous​ review process was established to become a part of this updated partner program, supposedly in part to ensure brands’ ads weren’t placed in front of offensive videos.

May 2017 Patreon reported to TechCrunch that in the span of a year its monthly actively paying patrons had doubled to 1 million, as did its number of active creators to 50,000. As Waypoint (Vice’s Gaming site) would later note in September, increasingly more creators have been sidestepping the confusion of making money off of video advertisements on YouTube by raising funds on platforms like Patreon.

inappropriate, but now with these crazy new guidelines that they have, they’re all inappropriate,” argued Chrysler. “It’s really scary, because ad revenue [has] basically become so inconsistent that people cannot rely on it to grow at all, which is pretty awful.”

This type of financial uncertainty underlines the realities that are often unavoidable when needing to use third party platforms for one’s creative work, as pointed out by Professor Mark Reisch of RIT’s Film and Animation program.

It’s the type of relationship that any sort of media creator needs to be careful within.

“Companies also change their User Agreements all the time,” Reisch pointed out. “It could be a matter of one sentence in there that changes how much money you’re going to be making.”

He recalled how sites like CafePress, where users can sell user-customized products, have made decisions in the past which dramatically impacted creators’ revenue streams, very often with little warning.

“If you’re working with a third-party site you definitely have to make sure and find out what your rights are,” Reisch said.

In the case of YouTube, Chrysler argued that there hasn’t been enough communication on YouTube’s part about what the new standards for monetization are. Particularly when it comes to what constitutes inappropriate content, or even if this is all just because the algorithms aren’t perfected yet. From his perspective, it has made creators feel as if only very vanilla or bland content is safe.

“I just wish that there was more communication between YouTube execs and the people who literally make the platform what it is, the creators who like spend their

entire lives and livelihoods growing these networks and growing these channels,” Chrysler said.

ess

Knowing the Busin

While monetization wasn’t always this inconsistent (or gated by higher barriers like the “10,000 views for a channel” requirement), Chrysler claimed that getting enough views to sustain oneself was still a difficult prospect.

Reisch felt similarly. “It’s a lot of work and it’s not something that you can really casually do and make money off of it,” he said. Resich also stressed that whether it be YouTube or another platform, it’s important to know the exact ratio(s) of what a piece of content — or amount of effort — will yield in actual revenue.

“A good way (I think) to judge YouTube revenue is to subtract the last three zeroes [of the view count] and then double it typically,” Chrylser explained. Doubling it is in reference to a possible CPM (Cost Per Thousand [advertising impressions]). “Basically it’s like how valuable is your audience when they watch an ad, and if they’re really valuable then you’ll get a lot of money from that advertiser when they put an ad on your video.”

However, what’s important to note is that the CPM metric is designed for advertisers, not creators. Hank Green, cofounder of YouTube channels like Crash Course and SciShow as well as the conference Vidcon, wrote about this in 2015.

Interestingly, in the same piece he anticipated how many content creators would actually seek ways to monetize their content outside of advertisers.

Essentially describing Patreon, he

argued that targeting a smaller audience of those willing to pay for content could effectively result in a higher CPM and more lucrative business model overall.

“It used to be the idea that if you get more eyes, then you get more money. That’s still kind of the idea, but now it’s like you can get less eyes and if those eyes pay you then you can still sustain yourself,” noted Chrysler. “The Patreon model is scary to me, because you run the risk of having an audience that is possibly going to feel that you owe them something.”

For Chrysler, having to produce content because he already took people’s money would dilute what drew him to creating content on YouTube in the first place.

“When I feel that sense of obligation, like I owe this to another entity, then it’s like ‘I don’t want to do that,’” Chrysler said. “I want to make these for me. If people like them, then enough attention will make it so that I can support myself doing this.”

. 1 2017 g u A – 8 1 e n u J YouTube began rolling out tougher human and machine learning measures to prevent the monetization of inflammatory content; explicitly pointing to videos which support terrorism.

Aug. 2017 Google began policing YouTube as it never had before, reported Bloomberg. This entailed adding warnings, disabling ads and new restrictions on making money off of videos flagged for having offensive content.

17

Sept. 28 20

YouTube made it so creators choosing to use Patreon instead of ad monetization would need to sign up (and go through the review process) for its partner program.

Again, the intention was to ensure all content meets community and advertising guidelines. After becoming partners, creators can choose to keep monetization off.

Technology 9

COMING OUT WITH

IMAGEOUT

by Kendra Murphy | photography by Joseph Ressler | design by Lily Garnaat

L

ook around the city and you will see them everywhere — rainbows draped from home fronts and hanging in businesses. Rochester has many Pride flags on display, boldly proclaiming an open community.

This city has witnessed victories for many groups that have lacked a voice for themselves.

The civil rights movements for women and African Americans have both transpired here.

Rochester is also unique in its integration of the Deaf community, and Rochester’s LGBTQIA+ community is no exception.

This past month, Rochester’s annual LGBTQIA+ film festival ImageOut celebrated its 25th year. ImageOut is the oldest LGBTQIA+ film festival in New York state, even among the many festivals in New York City. ImageOut brought artists and films from all over the world to Rochester to bring an unparalleled movie-watching experience to the community.

THE FESTIVAL, PAST AND PRESENT ImageOut — originally the Rochester Lesbian & Gay Film & Video Festival – began as an annual film event. However, ImageOut is much more than just 10 days of fabulous films every year. Powered by volunteers from the community, ImageOut also has an ongoing art committee known as ImageArt. ImageArt curates and puts on several shows every year in collaboration with Gallery Q and

10 Leisure

Visual Studies Workshop. All art is welcome, including student work, and resident artists occasionally come in as well. Encompassing all forms of art, ImageOut also publishes a catalogue of LGBTQIA+ prose and poetry known as ImageOutWrite.

RIT actually hosted ImageOut screenings on campus in 2009. Additionally, several of RIT’s own faculty are involved in ImageOut. “We really try to have a presence of community so we do collaborations,” said Photographic Arts and Sciences Professor Dan Larkin, who serves on ImageOut’s art committee. “I went to their first festival in 1993 so I’ve been going every year. I started working theater operations, taking tickets, organizing and picking up the theater, things like that.”

The art committee’s most recent show “We Are Family” was shown at Visual Studies Workshop. Larkin personally curated the show.

“It’s interesting because you think of the idea of family as happy and bright but not always for LGBTQIA+ people. The show represents all sides of that,” Larkin said. “The work is really all over the place. It’s really every kind of situation you can think of.”

Larkin completed his own undergraduate degree at RIT and has taught photography at the school for 26 years. Rochester born and bred, Larkin witnessed the changes and developments in Rochester’s LGBTQIA+ community over the years.

“When I was a student there was a certain

area in the city … where the majority of gay people lived,” Larkan recalls. “It was a big joke. We used to always call the East Avenue Wegmans ‘the Gay Wegmans.’ Every time we would go there we would see other gay people because they all lived in the city.”

The size and enthusiasm of Rochester’s LGBTQIA+ community helped rapidly propel the ImageOut festival, which grew from a two venue event to a five-venue one in just eight years.

Attitudes have changed dramatically since then, and audiences are more open to LGBTQIA+ presence in film. Unfortunately though, this audience seems to be waning — or rather, aging. The average audience member to an ImageOut screening is quite wrinkly. ImageOut tried promoting itself at local colleges and high schools. They even have a series of films that are free to anyone under age 21. The Q Center put ImageOut pamphlets out, but students still weren’t coming out. This is in stark contrast to the festival’s earlier years, where the theaters were often filled to capacity.

Larkin believes that new methods of consuming media are largely to blame; most young people today didn’t grow up only going to theaters to see movies; Blockbuster could supply your every need — until it was replaced by easily streaming anything you desire straight to your comfy dorm room.

What your dorm room can’t stream, however, is your fellow audience members.

“The difference in ImageOut is that you’re going to a theater and you’re with your community that you don’t even know is your community so it’s a really great feeling,” Larkin said. He explained how cinema helped bring the Rochester LGBTQIA+ community together as his generation was not so fortunate to see themselves represented on the screen.

“It’s a forum for LGBTQIA+ filmmakers to get their work out there that is never going to be shown in mainstream theaters or streamed. It’s a really great unique opportunity to see things you’d never see any place else,” he said.

The festival’s films present a wide variety of stories. The 2017 ImageOut festival featured 39 programs, all exploring different facets of the LGBTQIA+ experience. Documentary features, narratives, shorts ­— ImageOut had it all.

The festival’s opening night featured the film “Princess Cyd,” a humanist coming-of-age drama about a high school girl discovering her identity and sexuality while staying with her aunt. The film’s director Stephen Cone — who is gay himself — spoke at a panel directly after the movie, where he discussed his creative process and took questions from the audience. This level of access to the filmmakers inspires a level of connection that

can’t be matched by streaming or a typical theater experience.

REPRESENTATION, ON SCREEN AND OFF ImageOut’s curators thoughtfully select a variety of films that represent different aspects of the LGBTQIA+ community. For example, this years’ festival featured a series of shorts that focused on trans women.

Contemporary celebrities have sparked discussion of the trans community across Hollywood tabloids. Larkin is critical of what this publicity does for the LGBTQIA+ community.

“I always get angry when the spokesperson for trans-people is Caitlin Jenner,” Larkin said.

“Someone who’s had all this privilege her entire life and I think of all the other people that are poor or people of color. They should be the poster people for that.”

Like well-buttered toast, representation should be spread to all members of a community. For example, 2016’s Academy award-winning film “Moonlight” was revolutionary in its portrayal of gay black men from low-income neighborhoods.

But even with films like “Moonlight,”

representation for the LGBTQIA+ community still has a very long way to go yet.

“We have to often time struggle for it,” said Jess Empey, a fourth year Animation major.

“You really don’t see it too much and if you do it’s like ‘we freak out over they hugged!

They held hands! They were really close!’”

Many mainstream TV networks and film studios censor queer relationships out of their content because it is seen as an aggressive political agenda by some viewers. And if shows do have queer characters, it’s often not to give the queer community their own voice. The majority of showrunners and media executives are not LGBTQIA+, and this disconnect shows.

“Even when it’s gay, it’s straight,” Empey said.

Many queer students feel boxed in and pressured to watch what little pieces of media do represent them.

“Gay’s not a genre,” said Empey.

“Even within the LGBTA community there’s this big issue of ‘Ooh it’s gay. If you’re queer you should really be watching this’ when it might not be the type of thing you’re into and it also might not actually be good representation,” said Rose Flynn, an undeclared fourth year student.

How to actually represent the queer

“[IMAGEOUT] IS A FORUM FOR LGBTQ+ FILMMAKERS TO GET THEIR WORK OUT THERE.”

Programming director Michael Gamilla introduces the movie “Beats Per Minute” at the Little Theatre in Rochester, N.Y. on Oct. 12, 2017.

Leisure 11

“YOU GO THROUGH A PHASE WHERE YOU WANT TO SCREAM IT FROM THE MOUNTAINTOP AT SOME POINT.”

The Little Theatre opens for the ImageOut film festival’s showing of comedy shorts in Rochester, N.Y. on Oct. 12, 2017.

12 Leisure

“GAY’S NOT A GENRE.”

community well is a complex question that needs to answered. Many feel the next biggest step for their community would be simply making queer people in the media commonplace; seeing them should be natural and normal — not a huge trendy twist that inspires controversy. While ImageOut and other queer community-centric festivals may flourish, they have yet to really break the barrier into the mainstream.

COMING (IMAGE) OUT One of the most common devices of ImageOut's films is the act of coming out. Larkin himself came out in one of his undergraduate classes here at RIT through a photography assignment.

“It wasn’t the time that everybody did that and I remember what a momentous thing it was,” he recalled. “My teacher really said ‘Well, let’s talk about this’ and it was really healthy for me, and I think it was healthy for the class too and everyone in the class was great about it, very open.”

Now, Larkin has seen around ten students come out similarly through their photo work in his class. As terrifying and brave as coming

out in a classroom full of your peers most certainly is, it may not be the most difficult place to claim your identity; college is a freeing time of personal exploration. Your home environment is very often not.

“You go through a phase where you want to scream it from the mountaintop at some point,” Larkan said. “I always have a couple students like that and usually the reason they want to do it is because their parents are really against it.”

Most people have known their parents their entire life, and spent a significant amount of time with them. It is a unique human bond — and can be just as uniquely complicated.

Our parents carry with them their parents’ parenting. It’s difficult to see past what you grew up with — even if it’s for your own child.

“You think that like you failed as a parent. I could understand that,” Larkin said. “You want your kid to turn out perfect or just like you."

Coming out to his own parents, however, was a different story, at least at first.

“Oh my god, I had the hardest time! I didn't come out to my mother until after my father had died,” Larkin said. ”I just thought I would never gain acceptance from my father. Although now I think about it, I think he probably knew. But it was something that was never said.”

Larkin encourages students to talk to their family members about their identity if they are comfortable. A life of secrecy with those closest to you is a hard and lonely one.

“I think, of all people, your parents specifically will make an effort because love is love, you know, as cliche as that sounds,” Larkin said.

Maybe some parents have found themselves in an ImageOut film screening.

Maybe afterwards they went home and asked questions, listened and tried to understand their child. The films selected by ImageOut for their festival are beautifully crafted and extremely human. The filmmakers of these pieces have striven to tell their stories. Their own personal stories, yes, and stories of being LGBTQIA+. But most importantly they tell stories of being human. Those stories are the films we need to see. No matter how you identify or what your orientation may be, there is something for anyone and everyone at ImageOut.

Leisure 13

Dear Mom and Dad,

by Kevin Zampieron design by Cassy Smithies Telling your parents that you’re not coming home for Thanksgiving can be a tough conversation. Luckily, Reporter has devised a custom letter to send during this potentially difficult time. For each numbered space above, there is a corresponding question. Just write in the word or words that match your answer.

01

Which Rice Krispies character do you most strongly connect with?

Snap = Sad Crackle = Furious Pop = Overjoyed

01 02 I’m __________ to say that I won’t be __________ home for 03 Thanksgiving this year. I know it’s been __________ since I’ve been home, but it’s just too hard this year. I’m very busy with 04 05 my __________ and I can’t just leave my __________.

06 It was a __________ decision for me to make. I’ll definitely miss 07 08 09 __________ Martha’s Famous __________ __________.

10 11 Maybe you could __________ leftovers to me? __________.

Anyway, I __________ you all and I’ll visit during the holidays.

12 13

__________, 14 __________ 15 P.S __________

_ 06 10 02 _ _ _ 07 11 03 _ _ 08 _ 04 12 _ 13 _ _ _ 14_ 05 09 15 What’s your favorite season?

Spring = Driving Summer = Flying Fall = Rowing Winter = Powerwalking

How do you like your peanut butter?

Smooth = Hard Crunchy = Easy Both = Ludicrously Easy

How do you feel about the new intersession length?

For = Deliver Against = Mail Undecided = Catapult

Were you born in the A.M. or P.M.?

How tall are you?

Below 5’5” = Weeks 5’5”-5’10” = Months Above 5’10” = Decades

Most attractive Beatle?

John Lennon = Ringo Starr =

School Work Competitive Body Building

George Harrison =

Salmon Farming Business

Paul McCartney =

Consumption of Illicit Drugs

Pete Best =

Consumption of Legally Prescribed Drugs

What color are your eyes?

A.M. = Aunt P.M. = Uncle

What’s the first letter of your mother’s maiden name?

A = Pumpkin B = Potato C = Meat D = Kale E = Egg F = Bone G = Blood H = Cactus I = Milk J = Poison K = Secret L = Fear M = Sugar

N = Night O = Oil P = Rock Q = Shame R = Surprise S = Tear T = Mystery U = Gelatin V = Ice W = Doom X = Cheese Y = Bush Z = Slime

Blue = Haha Green = LOL Brown = Hee-hee Hazel = Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk

How many siblings do you have?

None = Miss One to Three = Am Apathetic Towards More than Three = Loathe Have you seen the new Blade Runner movie?

Yeah = Love you all Not Yet = See you in hell Insert your name here

When were you born?

Before 1994 = Dog 1995 = Fish 1996 = Son I haven’t told you about 1997 = Cactus After 1997 = Cactus who I pretend is

my significant other

14 Leisure

What’s your zodiac sign?

Capricorn = Lasagna Aquarius = Tacos Taurus = Casserole Gemini = Stew Scorpio = Paella Sagittarius = Noodles

Aries = Pie Leo = Soup Virgo = Roast Libra = Chips Pisces = Chili Cancer = Loaf

Do you believe that people should be able to legally marry horses?

No = Tell Grandpa to go easy on the stuffing this year!

Deeply = People should be able to legally marry horses.

reporter.rit.edu

REPORTER REPORTER /reportermag

@reportermag @reportermag @reportermag @reportermag

follow us on social media

100 YEARS OF WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE IN NEW YORK STATE

by Ryan Black photograph by Krit Upra illustration by Henry Trettenbach design by Alexis Scott

T

his year marks the historic 100th anniversary for New York State women winning universal suffrage.

The 19th amendment’s ratification was still three years away, and no other state east of the Mississippi had at that point passed such a referendum. Although it was a precursor for what was to come, the moment was the culmination of nearly 70 years in the making.

“New York had a history of progressive activism,” noted Dr. Tamar Carroll, an associate professor in RIT’s department of History. “There was religious reform movements in New York, there was the underground railroad and strong abolitionist movements and there were strong Quakers — and often those communities overlapped.”

Forming a Movement The state was home to activists like Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Antoinette Brown Blackwell and Susan B. Anthony, just to name a few. However, many of them got their start campaigning for other causes besides women’s suffrage. Anthony, for example, started off as an activist for temperance and abolition.

Tina Lent, the director of Museum Studies at RIT, noted that taking part in movements like those gave leaders like Anthony an idea of how to shape all the disparate grievances and ideas of betterment into an actual program for women’s rights.

“They were women who had gone to London to an international abolition

16 Features

conference and were told, because they were women, they couldn’t speak in public,” Lent explained. “So they had become aware of the limitations of their power due to the mere fact of being women.”

According to Lent, the Women’s Right’s movement began in earnest after the Civil War. Yet, after the 15th amendment included race but not gender, Anthony and Stanton splintered from the abolition movement whereas individuals like Blackwell and Lucy Stone did not wish to push for both right then.

“The world was changing and the people who used to be in power find themselves slipping out of power.”

“They felt that if we tried to do two things at once with the 15th amendment we’d lose everything,” Lent said. “What that ended up doing is splitting the women’s rights movement from the abolition movement; half of the women’s movement decided that they would stick with abolition, because that’s where they started from — they would do one thing at a time.”

It was not until 1890 that both movements came together again to form one organization, the National American Women’s Suffrage Association, which was key in deciding the strategies used in the next 20 years.

Fighting a Toxic Tide During the 1910s and the decades leading up to victories such as New York’s referendum, the worst sort of reactionary responses to women’s suffrage manifested. Carroll said that speakers like Anthony were met with rotten tomatoes and threats, activists’ offices were burned and societal fears were stirred.

“Editorial cartoons, for example, showed men wearing aprons and men taking care of babies,” Carroll said. “The implication was if women have the right to vote then they’re

going to shirk their responsibilities and their jobs as mothers and it’s going to upset the gender balance.”

Like many calls for social change, the women’s suffrage movement was met with a pervasive toxicity stemming from a fear of being replaced.

“The world was changing and the people who used to be in power find themselves slipping out of power and they see other people who are recognizably different from them suddenly having a better life,” Lent said.

“We see the same return to nativism, racism, sexism and it’s really scary to think we’re fighting those same battles all over again.”

Lasting Impact For Lent, the outcome of the November 2016 election and ensuing events like the 2017 Women’s March re-contextualized several aspects of the Centennial celebration.

While working on an exhibit for the Rochester Public Library titled “Because of Women Like Her” these past few months, Lent and her colleague Dr. Juilee Decker were constantly reminded of the women’s rights movement’s lasting impact.

“The purpose of that exhibit ... is to frame the centennial in light of Rochester,” Decker explained. “And to have people in Rochester, the region and visitors from all over really come to understand the women’s suffrage movement and the broader women’s rights [movement] through the lens of Rochester.”

Lent recalled that the project began in the first two months of 2016. At the time, while it wasn’t explicit, they began almost assuming this celebration of women’s suffrage would occur during the administration of our nation’s first female president.

“The original idea [was] that we would take it up to 1920, but with the events of last year two more cases were added,” Lent said, referring to the “I Voted” stickers left at Susan B. Anthony’s grave in Rochester and the Women’s March. “Part of the exhibit, rather than being more celebratory, ended up being more cautionary.”

In addition to being a direct cautionary tale, the movement that led up to New York

passing universal suffrage in 1917 provides several valuable lessons about pushing for societal change. Both Carroll and Lent stressed that the successes and failings of the suffrage movement embody the need to build a diverse and inclusive coalition.

“There were times when they were not inclusive, where they were racially exclusive,” Carroll said about compromises made in the 1890s to appeal to southern white women.

“That hinders groups of women coming together now, because they hear about that history and they’re turned off by it — rightly so.” It’s a lesson that seems just as relevant today while avoiding the pitfalls of the likes of white feminism, for instance.

What’s transpired in recent months has been a reminder to Lent that there’s always going to be more work to do. Similarly, both Decker and Carroll expressed that the story of the women’s suffrage movement carries extra weight in 2017, as it encapsulates how sought-after, fought-for and valued civic representation was.

Decker emphasized that individuals, including students, need be aware of the agency they have. “[For students] something matters, that one action does matter and I think we lose sight of that in the slacktivist age of going online,” Decker said. “And I think students are aware of that.”

“Part of the exhibit, rather than being more celebratory, ended up being more cautionary.”

Features 17

RIT Performing Arts Take Center Stage

by Kristin Grant | illustration by Monica Nguyen-Vo | photography by Pawan Khake | design by Kendra Murphy Online Podcast Component

F

or President David Munson, the performing arts have always been an essential part of life.

“As a youngster, I grew up in a musical family. Everyone sang, and a lot of people played instruments. My grandmother was a church organist until she was 95 years old,” Munson recalled. “So I grew up crawling through the pipe chambers of pipe organs, if you will.”

Now, he’s looking to bring that lifelong passion to RIT. “RIT is already well known for visual arts and design,” Munson said. “We do have some excellent student performing groups, but it’s an area we’re not as well-known for. I like what I see our students doing, but I think our programs could be better; that we can offer

18 Features

more to our students in the performing arts.”

This won’t be Munson’s first time bringing the arts into a technical environment. At both of his past positions, he was a strident supporter for integrating the performing arts. While teaching at the University of Illinois, Munson helped start a yearly Electrical Engineering faculty variety show. At the University of Michigan, he fostered ArtsEngine, a program geared at fostering collaboration between students in the arts and in the sciences.

After several years, Munson and his colleagues decided to expand their efforts outside of the University of Michigan. The Alliance of the Arts in Research Universities was formed shortly thereafter.

“The theme was to be more fully engaged in the arts throughout research universities,

and the notion that the arts shouldn’t just be a standalone conservatory-style enclave within a university,” Munson said. “The arts have different ways of understanding the world, different ways of knowing, being and seeing the way. And we believed that they should be integrated throughout the university.”

Over 40 universities across the country are now part of this collective, including some of the nation’s top research institutions — Stanford, Berkley and MIT, to name a few. RIT has just joined the ranks as one of its newest members.

However, Munson’s decision to build up the performing arts is not without its critics. Back in August, the Democrat & Chronicle published an article voicing concerns that an RIT program would be redundant given a certain local powerhouse: The Eastman School of Music.

“We certainly don’t have any intention of competing head-to-head with Eastman,” Munson responded. “I think it’s safe to say that we won’t emphasize classic music to the extent that Eastman does. That’s not to say we won’t do classical music and opera, but there are a lot of things we can do that you just don’t see at other universities.”

Munson suggested that some possible alternatives might include anything from standup comedy, to magic, to a resident rock band, to bagpipes, to steel drums. He also believes the school is uniquely poised to take on artistically and technologically challenging musical theater productions.

That being said, it’s hard not to wonder how the performing arts might fit within RIT’s broader technical focus. Munson would argue the two go hand in hand.

“When it comes to engineering and the arts, it’s hard to be successful without creativity.

With engineering, it’s all about coming up with things that never before existed,” he said. “I think this even stronger emphasis on the arts is a good fit given our focus on creativity.”

While this project is still in its early stages, Munson did mention that preliminary steps are being taken.

“The next steps are to have some faculty and administrators planning out the future of performing arts. So we’re just getting started on that. The current music and theater programs are located in the College of Liberal Arts, so we expect that they will play a strong role in determining the program’s future,” Munson said. “We’re starting to have those conversations.”

“I think this even stronger emphasis on the arts is a good fit given our focus on creativity.”

Financial Feasibility Budget Director Kerry Phillips was able to provide some additional insight into how a project of this scale might go from a prospect to financial reality.

“In midwinter we have budget hearings and then the requests are prioritized,” Phillips explained. “The voting members are the president, the provost and the vice president of finance and administration.”

Phillips, who has been with the budget office for 20 years and has been its director for six, has seen similar projects go through this very same process.

“Golisano College was at one time a part of CAST, and that was broken off to be its own college. And that was growing, four, five, six hundred students a year,” Phillips recalled.

Growing a program can create financia l strain, however. As funds are allocated to the development of one program, sometimes other departments can get left behind.

“As we were growing Golisano college, and giving them all the money, Liberal Arts wasn’t getting anything,” explained Phillips. “All these new students had to take liberal arts, but the college wasn’t getting any new resources.”

Luckily, the university recognized their mistake and moved to mitigate it the next time around.

“When we put in the Chemical Engineering and Bio Engineering programs, we’d learned our lesson and gave Liberal Arts additional resources,” Phillips said.

Current Programs Like the other programs Phillips mentioned, the performing arts department will not have to be built from scratch. There are several robust programs already in place that should help buoy its success.

“I should probably emphasize that although Dr. Munson is bringing this new excitement, the arts are already very much a part of RIT,” said NTID Performing Arts Director Dr. Aaron Kelstone. “The program at NTID has been here for 50 years.”

Kelstone’s colleague Thomas Warfield,

NTID’s director of Dance, believes that the NTID program has grown to such a degree that now is the perfect time to expand the department.

“We have 32 students in all our dance classes, with a waiting list. There’s this growth that we really need to harness before we lose it,” Warfield said. “So the idea of creating a performing arts center really speaks to the interests of so many students on campus.”

Warfield’s co-choreographer Nicole Hood Cruz was able to provide another unique perspective as an alum of NTID theater. It was her belief that the performing arts can provide valuable teamwork skills that are rarely found elsewhere. She referenced NTID double-casted shows as a particularly strong example.

“We’re brought together by our passion for theater. It becomes a question of ‘how well do we want this to get this across?’” she said.

According to NTID drama professor and Director Luane Davis-Haggerty, stories like Hood Cruz’s aren’t uncommon in the RIT theater world.

“It’s funny — theater has the reputation for big egos, people who don’t get along, there’s drama ... when in fact, theater is a team, it’s home,” Davis-Haggerty said.

Hood Cruz was in agreement. “For some students especially, who don’t have a good support system at home because their parents are hearing and they’re deaf — this becomes their second family,” she said.

Another department that strives for inclusion is the new Diversity Theater program. Directed by former Golisano professor Tina Chapman, the office conducts a range of workshops, from improv sessions to staged readings — all to promote the value of diversity. One of their most recent efforts took place just a couple months ago during orientation.

“Diversity Theater did training for the orientation leaders so we could give them the tools to do post discussions after diversity and inclusion workshops,” said Chapman. “The workshops I give use theater-based methods.

So it’s a workshop about how to use theater methods for facilitation. I always try to integrate theater not only in the performance aspect, but also into building a sense of community.”

Features 19

College of Liberal Arts faculty were also contacted for a comment.

“The president has charged me with forming a task force to address this subject and report back to him in December,” Performing Arts Chair Jonathan Kruger wrote in response. They refused to comment further at this time and recommended reconnecting once more of the details have be developed.

The performing arts at RIT extend beyond department programs, however. Kelstone in particular lauded the efforts of student organizations and clubs.

“I go to some of these events and the students get up and say, ‘Hi, I’m so-and-so and I’m majoring in engineering, or physics or business management.’ It’s all over the place,” Kelstone said. “People here are pursuing technical degrees and the performing arts are still an integral part of their life.”

Students Weigh In Kelstone’s observation was correct — the students involved in the performing arts at RIT have a range of academic backgrounds.

Their opinions on where the program should go were just as varied.

“I think RIT is really unique — we have a lot of interdisciplinary work, and we have a ton of interdisciplinary challenges ... I don’t think that has to be limited to the academic world,” suggested Jeselle Clark, a fourth year Bioinformatics major and vice president of

the Brick City Boppers, RIT’s swing club.

Derek Gieraltowski, a third year Film and Animation major and active member of RIT Players and 8 Beat Measure, was also interested in cross-disciplinary options.

“The performative aspect of animation really interests me,” Gieraltowski said. “And if

“People here are pursuing technical degrees and the performing arts are still an integral part of their life.”

20 Features

you have more people interested in performing at a school, that becomes a resource for film makers. That in turn produces better actors, better films ... the quality of everyone’s film is going to increase if you put time and effort into building those programs.”

As to the extent of improvements needed, students were divided. Fourth year Chemistry major Megan Detwiler, who conducts the Pep Band, didn’t believe that the program needs a complete overhaul.

“I actually don’t, and let me tell you why,” she said. “I do think we can expand some of the existing programs. But with one of the best music schools in the country literally right across the street, we shouldn’t try to compete. Instead, we should work more with Eastman to improve.”

“I would like to see more options for students at RIT,” Detwiler elaborated. “If that comes through Eastman or through expanding

our program here, then I would like to see it.”

Myers Weidner, a third year Physics major and president of the improv group Fowl Play, thinks the school could be doing more when it comes to promotion.

“RIT has a lot of people who don’t yet know that they want to be part of the performing arts. The best possible way to let people know they have something to offer creatively, is to show them everything we have to offer,” Weidner said. “So having improv shows, having a cappella shows, having dance performances — really making all those

available to people is the best thing possible.”

Needless to say, there are multiple avenues RIT can pursue going forward. Munson is optimistic, however, for what the next couple years could have in store.

“One of the things that attracted me to RIT is that it wasn’t just a technical school, and it’s very important to me that RIT should not just be a technical school,” Munson said. “We have very notable strengths in the arts and design. So let’s get this all blended together in a more integrated way.”

“It’s funny — theater has the reputation for big egos, people who don’t get along, there’s drama ... when in fact, theater is a team, it’s home?”

Features 21

RIT PR CONTROLLING THE

NARRATIVE

by Taylor Synclair-Goethe | illustrations by Juho Choi | design by Kevin Zampieron

22 Features

W

hen you Google “RIT,” you’re likely to find positive stories on its research projects, athletics and inclusive initiatives. Schools with positive reviews get higher quality student applicants and better funding.

Since becoming a research university, RIT’s reputation and publicity have grown exponentially. Recently, U.S. News and World Report ranked RIT 97th among top schools in the country, a gain of 10 spots from last year.

As chief communications officer at RIT, Bob Finnerty runs the public relations department and oversees all communication from RIT including media outlets and social media sites.

One of his main responsibilities is shaping how the outside world perceives RIT. That being said, Finnerty sees himself in more of an advocacy role, and strongly believes in conducting himself in the truthful manner outlined by the Public Relations Society of America.

“A lot of us staff [in the PR department] went up with journalism background and keep ethics to our hearts,” Finnerty said.

In a self-graded study, the PR department monitored how much media attention RIT gets worldwide. They found that the university is cited approximately 25,000 times a year. In their final grading, the PR department found that 65 percent of citations were positive, 34.5 percent were neutral and 0.05 percent were negative press.

What’s Happened?

In previous years, RIT has been off the hook for bad publicity. This semester, however, multiple fumbles with RIT’s student relations have caused a PR nightmare. Here’s a quick summary: ROO: During a freshman orientation presentation on consent, the acronym “ROO” — tastefully named after the baby kangaroo from Winnie the Pooh — that stood for “Rub One Out,” suggested that self gratification could prevent assault. The slide became an internet sensation, going viral and even making it to the Associated Press. A Letter to the Editor on the incident was published at Reporter as well as an article covering student reactions.

“13 Reasons Why”: A widely criticized series on Netflix, “13 Reasons Why,” has been charged by the National Association for School Psychologists for “romanticizing suicide.” The premiere episode was going to be screened for Suicide Prevention Week, but after student outcry voiced in a Pawprints petition was aimed at the event, it was adjusted to just showing the trailer. A statement clarifying the intent of the event was released on Pawprints as well as resources for students struggling with suicide.

Abbey Nurse, a second year Film and Animation student and author of the Pawprints petition “Stop 13 reasons why from being shown for suicide prevention,” had some thoughts on how the school handled the situation.

“I made it in class (to the dismay of my professor) shared it with everyone in the class, posted it on Facebook, in every group chat I was in and told them to sign it,” Nurse said.

Unfortunately, 15 minutes after posting the petition the Pawprints site temporarily crashed, but it didn’t keep her from getting the word out.

Nurse, who suffers from clinical depression herself, understands the dangers of bad messaging for students struggling with suicide.

“Suicide sells,” as Nurse put it. “[13 Reasons Why] turns suicide into a revenge game.”

Trans Healthcare: Reporter published a story over the summer about the abrupt firing of Dr. Annamaria Kontor, the only staff physician trained to fill prescriptions for transgender students seeking hormone therapy. The legal battle over this is still ongoing, and has recently been picked up by The Democrat & Chronicle as well.

Does RIT have a Communication Problem?

While there’s no changing what’s been done, RIT’s response to these scandals speaks volumes on their ability to listen and adapt to student concerns.

“I feel RIT does not have a transparency problem,” Finnerty said. “If there’s a statement that has to be had, we would write it, then run it by the appropriate team such as the VP or legal.”

Second year Game Design major John Blau would argue otherwise. As an RA and therefore a student employee, he has a unique perspective on the inner workings of RIT’s administrative departments.

“In terms of telling the general population what’s going on, we have a bit of a transparency problem, but internally we handle it well,” Blau said.

Blau explained that the announcement of Suicide Prevention Week was co-sponsored by the Center for Residence Life. He was sent out to promote the “13 Reasons Why” event to his floor. Blau, along with other staff, explained the issues of the series with management and worked together internally to change the event.

Externally, however, the diligent efforts of the staff goes unnoticed.

“The transparency and honesty of just saying, ‘Hey, we messed up,’ didn’t come across well,” Blau said.

The consequences of controlling the narrative to protect RIT’s reputation publicly can be damaging to current relations with students.

Blau says that after the ROO incident, it became difficult to send his floor members to the Center for Women and Gender because they no longer saw it as a place for counseling or support.

“When these things happen it makes it difficult to tell people to get help. I need to have confidence in the places I send them,” Blau said.

“It de-legitimizes the work I’m trying to do and the work they do.”

Good PR can lessen mass media fallout, but student fallout may not be so easily repaired.

Transparency can’t fall completely on the PR department though. Student advocacy groups such as Student Government and Gray Matters are all part of a movement to mitigate transparency problems. It is also the responsibility of students to speak up and push for corrective measures on campus. In fact, Finnerty wants the PR office to be a place where students feel comfortable voicing complaints.

“Send emails to appropriate departments and divisions, come in face-to-face and make an appointment,” Finnerty said. “It’s important to have face-to-face meetings from the folks you feel you’re not being heard from.”

This is important because at the end of the day, the power to control the narrative also lies with the students.

Features 23

by Bella Taylor photography by Catie Rafferty design by Elin Smith Online Video Component

I

f you’re one of those new students who wants to “fit in” and attend the spectacularly beautiful experience that is RIT ice hockey, but don’t know the corner crew chants and how to play along with the Pep band, or even what they are, this is the article for you!

The RIT Corner Crew is a dedicated group of students, alumni, faculty/staff and passionate locals who support RIT Men’s and Women’s Hockey.

RIT Pep Band is a group of student musicians from all academic fields. The band plays for both Men and Women Division I hockey events during the regular and post season events, as well as Men’s Division III lacrosse events. The band also performs during campus activities such as Imagine RIT, Springfest, Brick City Homecoming and Tiger Den events. Recently, the band has started branching out into Rochester community events.

24 Sports

Not to confuse you or make you nervous, but there are a number of chants and a number of Pep Band songs, Pep Band songs that go along with chants and chants that go along with Pep Band songs. If you get them wrong expect the Corner Crew — in full chant — to refer to you by the potentially uncomfortable monikers such as “freshman” or “virgin.”

Sarah Messner, the secretary of Pep band and a second year U​ltrasound major, noted how their organization very much tries to not echo that.

“We hold ourselves to a higher standard,” she noted. “Than to say/do any of the slightly offensive actions that the Corner Crew, a group less specifically representative of RIT, sometimes partake in.”

To avoid embarrassment, listen to the chants before joining in and read on to learn the basics.

On Oct. 6 the Orange vs. White game took place. This is a game in which half of the men’s team (orange) plays the other half

(white). The game was a fundraiser benefiting the Red Cross Relief Funds through the RIT’s United Way Campaign, and practice for the exhibition on Oct. 7 against Brock University.

While the audience at the Orange vs.

White game wasn’t as large as most regular matches, the Pep Band was still there to keep everyone excited.

Pep Band often plays Freebird, because of its instantly recognizable electric guitar solo; upon hearing it the Corner Crew instantly waves around flashlights. Similarly, after every goal, one can expect to hear Eye of the Tiger being played, according to Meghan Detwiler, the conductor of the Pep Band and a fourth year in a BS/MS program for Chemical and Material Science and Engineering.

“Being in Pep band raises RIT school spirit to a whole new level,” said Andrew Zgoda, a fifth year Mechanical Engineer.

The Pep Band and the Corner Crew are two groups of RIT students that really know how to elevate the hype at games. Both exist to raise school spirit, but their cheers are also meant to keep those on the ice motivated. Above all else, their rallying of the crowd is meant to cheer on each hockey team to victory. Although, to be a part of it, you must support the team and have a basic understanding of the game. Both can be learned with a few games and Google searches.

During games, members of the Corner Crew skillfully use signs, pom poms and megaphones to communicate with spectators what cheers to yell and when to yell them (something very helpful to new students).

However, Jeff DiVeronica, the sports striker writer of the Democrat & Chronicle had one critique of the Corner Crew and Pep band.

“The only issue with the great facility that is the Gene Polisseni Center, the Corner Crew and the Pep Band is that teams love coming to our rink as much as they love having home games,” he said. “RIT motivates the other teams almost as much as they motivate their own.”

Yet, for Detwiler this didn’t seem like a cause for concern.

“Yeah, both teams get elevated but overall we help to create a better game for the players and for the people in the stands,” she explained “That’s what we’re there for.”

If you need to learn some songs, there is a Reddit page (r/rit) with all of the lyrics you could possibly need; just Google search “RIT corner crew lyrics.” That said, there are some easy-to-pick-up rules and fundamentals for singing and cheering.

• When the Tiger’s starting lineup is being announced the Corner Crew will chant the person’s name while cheering.

• What’s also important to know, is that while the scratches (players that won’t be on the ice) are announced for the opposing team, the Corner Crew puts their hands up like there is a keyboard just above them and chants “Delete” while motioning as if they are pressing the delete key for each scratch. For RIT scratches, they say “awww” when each one is announced.

• If the opposing goalie pulls up their mask, they repeatedly chant “Ugly Goalie” until the goalie puts his mask back down and then the Corner Crew gives a celebratory cheer. If the RIT goalie pulls up their mask, repeatedly chant “Sexy Goalie” until the goalie puts his mask back down, which is when the corner crew follows up with an “awwww” cheer.

• After scoring everyone starts pointing at the opposing goalie chanting “It’s all your fault!” When Rocky, RIT’s announcer, calls out who scored and assisted with a Tiger goal, the Corner Crew chants the time mark announced and follows it by the ringing of the bell; the number of tolls determined by the score — they will also chant the number of rings.

• If RIT is in the lead we chant “we want [our current number of goals]+1,” or if we are currently behind it is “we want [score needed to gain the lead]” followed by pointing and chanting at the opposing goalie, “It’s all your fault” the same amount of times as the score mentioned in the previous chant. This is the most common part to get wrong. It’s usually safe to chant ,“it’s all your fault” twice, if you’re not surew.

If you don’t feel comfortable standing the whole game with the Corner Crew, sit next to them in section 119.

The above guidelines for being a member of the RIT Pep band or Corner Crew are just a few of the important aspects. Being a member of either of these organizations is a great way to show your school spirit and adds to the RIT hockey experience overall.

Most importantly, have fun.

Sports 25

Battle Classes

of the

illustration by Aria Dines | design by Alexis Scott

_

by Red Smith-Sweeter

cons

A

re you regularly five minutes late to class? What about that god-awful 10 minute passing period from one side of campus to the other? Do you remember when your class times actually made sense and, you know, didn’t contradict the rest of the scheduled world? Yeah, it pisses me off too — and we’re not alone in that. Fellow students have expressed their frustration, such as first year 3D Digital Design major Dustin Correll, who has midday classes that alternate between starting at 12:20 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. This subtle difference in starting times has made him late to his 12:30 class on multiple occasions. Sound familiar?

Even students who aren’t necessarily against the new time system — like second year Animation student Kate Quesada — find the schedule to be “weird,” and although Quesada has said that while getting an extra 15 minutes in the morning doesn’t bother her, “it’s bizarre.” We all know RIT has had a long history of daring to be different, but this is a change that’s just a little too much.

Not only that, but service providers for

26 Views

deaf and hard-of-hearing students have been put under an additional amount of strain, even for those with years of experience like Wendy Wheeler, a real-time closed captionist, and Gina Coyne, once a captionist and now an interpreter, who have been providing service for 14 and 23 years, respectively.

“Professors are constantly asking me, ‘What time does this class go until?’”

Wheeler said, proving everyone’s inability to keep track of the seemingly random start and end times for classes.

She continued to voice her frustration with the short transition times as well. She often has to rush to put away her equipment while the next interpreter is setting up for the incoming class, hindering the flow of class transitions. Wheeler also expressed concern with NTID students having difficulty in making it across campus from the main NTID building to academic side in between their courses — something that has already been a problem, even before the months of horrible winter weather sure to come.

“Not starting on the hour, the 10-minute

transition and five-minute longer classes have caused an uncomfortable pace this semester,” Coyne added.

Both Wheeler and Coyne have found that the availability of service providers has been limited as well, with meetings and special events starting and ending just off of class times. While Wheeler stresses that she, along with the rest of her department, have been rolling with the punches, a class schedule that matched with the rest of the campus’ timing would be much appreciated.

Across the board, there is a wide consensus that although the current time system is not intolerable, it sure is adding a level of stress and discontinuity between classes and, well, everything else in our lives that runs on a schedule. While we appreciate the fact that this is RIT’s first foray into this new schedule and New York state laws dictate how much time must be spent in the classroom — which is what began this fresh hell — I feel confident in saying that we’re all looking forward to a class schedule that’s a little more sensible again.

+ I

by Taylor Synclair-Goethe

pros

get why you’re pissed. The class schedules end at awkward times, your finals got pushed up a week and no one never really knows what that “October break” was.

This semester’s scheduling is pretty different, so many of us upperclassmen are feeling disoriented by this unexpected change. Trust me though, the new format for the semester may take time to adjust to but it’s all for the best.

President of Student Government, Farid Barquet will tell you that the decision to change from a 15-week to a 14-week calendar may seem sudden but it was debated for over three years. You know what’s worse than having a class that starts five minutes past the hour? Not being to able to go on summer internships or co-ops because our semesters end too late. That’s right! This is all about career opportunity.

“This was all done in hopes that ending classes earlier in the spring will facilitate students getting co-ops more easily. Other colleges would get out before us so our students really couldn’t get jobs because they were still in school,” Barquet said.

RIT’s summer courses are unusually

compacted and our spring semester ends later than other schools. Consequently, some students miss internship opportunities just because their schedules were inconvenient for employers. The new calendar got rid of winter intersession and created a 12-week summer break, thus allowing for more class options in the summer and a more competitive atmosphere for RIT students.

Now for the weird class times: federal law mandates a certain amount of semester credit hours be met. To receive credit for classes there needs to be a minimum amount of minutes that professors are in direct contact with their students. The usual three-credit classes require 2,250 minutes of contact. This is all fine and dandy with the 15-week model, but not in the new schedule that provides students with opportunities for co-ops.

“This is why class times had to be adjusted for the 14-week semester. Adding five minutes to each class is to meet the minimum number of contact minutes required by the federal government,” Barquet said. “If we didn’t extend credit hours we wouldn’t have met federal regulations.”

The decision for the October break wasn’t random either. We actually voted on it. SG calculated that students often feel burned out between week six and seven but we didn’t receive our first breather until Thanksgiving break in week 11. A survey was released asking students what they’d prefer: a break in the middle of October or an extended Thanksgiving. For the students who filled out the survey there was a clear winner. Go figure, those surveys SG keeps emailing us actually make a difference.

This was all done in hopes that ending classes earlier in the spring will facilitate students getting co-ops more easily.

Views 27

W.O.T.S.

In what ridiculous way will the world end? photography by Rebekah Hange | illustration by Angie Krieg | design by Lily Garnaat

“An alien’s going to build a missile that shoots out of the sun to destroy earth.”

Blake Juszkiewicz 2nd year Software Engineering

“Mutant bunnies will overpopulate the earth.”

Jennifer Williams 4th year Interpreting

“I think right now there’s a society of mole people. They’ll run out of space, and they’ll be more advanced than us because they needed to protect themselves from the heat down there, and they’re going to wipe us out.”

Wilford Burke 1st year Biochemistry 28 Views

“It’s going to end because some rich old crybaby knows he only has a few years left and will say “why the hell not.”

Drew Tetz Captionist NTID

“A giant meteor’s going to hit the earth.”

“A giant unicorn from space is going to come and eat the planet.”

Rebecca Wengert 3rd year New Media Design

Victoria Adams 1st year Chemical Engineering

“Someone’s going to bring a child with smallpox to Disney World.”

Michael Deichmann 2nd year Electrical Engineering

Views 29

RINGS

HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY? TEXT OR CALL 585.672.4840

compiled by Taylor Goethe | illustration by Cynthia Muniz | design by Kathy Liu

You’re not really living the RIT-Dorm Life until you walk in on your roommate watching furry porn.

I hope this is the real rings number this time, because I’ve been texting the wrong number for almost 8 months now.

OCT 3, 2017 9:51 P.M.

OCT 3, 2017 5:20 P.M.

(It was of course Sonic, in case you were wondering.)

OCT 3, 2017 9:53 P.M.

Overheard at RIT: You know what’s fun?

Lying to children.

SEP 26, 2017 2:00 P.M.

Maybe if I kill myself I’ll be reincarnated as Kylie Jenner’s baby.

SEP 22, 2017 10:43 P.M.

One time I took a shit in golisano so bad it closed a bathroom for 2 days.

SEP 29, 2017 4:48 P.M.

Munsy Muns and the Skunky Bunch are here to get LIT!!’ hollered Munson, blunt in mouth, as he threw down his skateboard & did a 180 ollie off the Inauguration stage.”

SEP 28, 2017 7:47 P.M.

30 Views

Winterim DECEMBER 11, 2017 - JANUARY 10, 2018

3 COLLEGE CREDITS IN 4 WEEKS ONLINE!

üMaintain your Excelsior Scholarship üLighten your Spring course load üCredits transfer easily

866-CALL-GCC

www.genesee.edu/winter

GENESEE COMMUNITY COLLEGE IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION INSTITUTION

the cure for awkward silence 585.672.4840

Casino Night NOVEMBER 9TH | 6:30PM - 9:30 PM | AT THE PROVINCE Enter to win

$1000 gift card, large screen HDTV & PlayStation 4 Pro!

+ DOOR PRIZES!

APPLY @ AMERICANCAMPUS.COM/ROCHESTER PARK POINT W Jefferson Rd k Par r

d rR ive ER

tD

ntha l Rd

Poin

Low e

John

Andrews Memorial Dr

ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY

Charles Perkins Rd

St

Andrews Memorial Dr

Wiltsie Dr

THE PROVINCE

Prizes & date subject to change. Actual prizes may vary. Limited time only. See office for details.