Concordiensis - April 14, 2022

Concordiensis T H E S T U D E N T N E W S PA P E R O F U N I O N C O L L E G E S I N C E 1 8 7 7 Volume. CXLIV, Issue XIX

concordiensis.com

Thursday, April 14, 2022

Amelia Nagoski talks burnout stress es Herbert Freudenberger’s sisted of three parts: “emo-

Daniel Greenman News Editor

relaxation and sleep. “If you -

she said. Nagoski also toutOn 5PM-7PM, Wednesday, April 6, the O’Brien Cenof Title IX, the Eppler-Wolff Counseling Center and the President’s Commission on the Status of Women, hosted a live Zoom talk with author Amelia Nagoski, D.M.A.. Nagoski, with her twin sister Emily Nagoski, Ph.D., authored

and “feeling that nothing you

sion that massage helps some people to release. “For those it

In her talk, moderated by Title IX Coordinator Mary Simness Center.

-

from one’s body dealing with

tain strategies, she raised the

members to “learn more about

information about tools and re-

age of time someone is supposed to spend in a state of

Courtesy of Title IX

body from feelings of danger

-

See BOOK on page 2

Slow Birding with the Bird Diva Daniel Greenman News Editor

with less pursuit, and “more time spent in the moment with whatever it is in front of

with bird language expert Dan also pointed to ornithology’s male-dominated history, and spoke on the history of women

spread out and left alone for etly journal and observe birds.

attention to how those birds and other wildlife use the land

Butler said, her whole body

beyond only noting their spe-

birding that she had “permis-

while mentoring a student in

Merriam Bailey, Harriet Mann in Reamer Auditorium on the ing, in an event sponsored

by Ornithology Club and The -

ground in birding and work for

Olive Thorne Miller) and Mabel Osgood Wright. time that she “didn’t really

as well as her disillusionment with established professionals during her work in Cape Cod.

“do nothing but observe and began to reassess what she

there as gatekeeping in a -

Opinions. page 3 year”

World, page 4 Prof. Clifford Brown on Ukraine

Butler then presented key tips for slow birding: birding -

She pointed See BIRD on page 2

Sci/Tech. page 5

ire, page 8

conference since 2019

News

Thursday, April 14, 2022 | Concordiensis

BOOK Continued from page 1

to count the time, but it’s too long to be just a polite, ‘hey, how are you doing?’ kind of hug”, she said. She also discussed the stress-reclarifying that instead of the “polite social cocktail party” type of laughter, the type that can result in “abdominal muscles aching” can help someone nearing or experiencing burnout, as well as provide stress-relieving memories in the future.

Nagoski also spoke on the positive effects of creative self-expression for someone feeling stressed or near burnout. She described the process as “starting with nothing or a skeleton [of an idea] and taking thoughts, feelings, and intuition and putting it pointed to forms of expression such as sand art, journaling, or coloring. Herself a musician, Nagoski also said that she knows “hundreds of

BIRD Continued from page 1

out that if she and the student were only concerned with identifying species, they would have missed the display. In making the best use of a sit spot for one’s birding, Butler recommended getting close to birds, waiting for them at least 20 minutes, taking notes, and going often; the most common birds around her home in Queens currently are the Song Sparrow, European Starling, Northern Cardinal and Black-Capped Chickadee.

In identifying birds, Butler pointed out for prospective birders that the plumage of some birds changes depending on the season, and that one should learn to identifying birds by their shapes independent of color. Butler added that identifying birds by sound is a key skill as

people who got into music beause they had fun doing it as kids.” Music, she said, can help “with connection to a loving, divine presence of an inner child”, promoting feelings of catharsis. Regarding her recommendations for creative self-expression, Nagoski said “it means you don’t have to wait for the semester to be over before you start to feel better” and that it lets “other people in your life[...] experience you at your best.”

Nagoski then elaborated expression by performing a song for the audience with her guitar. The song, written stressful experiences with online meetings. It opened with the following lyrics, which in an earlier version did not substitute its expletives: ““Is it plugged in, did I turn it on? / Why won’t it forking work? / Are the cables old, is the connection loose? / Why won’t it ping work?”

The Q-&-A segment afterwards began with a question on how one can know wheth-

well, and that birders should become acquainted with the soundscape around their sit spot, and learn to isolate and describe sounds. Butler also mentioned technological aids in birding, referencing eBird, the app from The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, which can identify birds by their calls, providing spectrograms, and histograms of sighting frequencies in different areas.

Butler herself then demonstrated an accurate impression of a barn owl’s hoot.

In the following Q-&-A segment, Butler encouraged local birding trips, and was asked multiple questions regarding conservation. She answered that one can create a better environment for birds by encouraging foods native to the area, citing the importance of caterpillars in providing protein for chicks and that birdfeeders generally make up a small amound of a bird’s diet.

She added that availability of water is important. For con-

er they are at or near burnout.

Nagoski said that “if you think you are you are. It has no clingenerally related to work but could be anything that gives you unmeetable goals and infeasible demands.” She stated that a state of burnout can come from a wide variety of sources, commonly including work, school, family relationpressures, or arbitrary and socially-constructed beauty standards. She recommended that someone experiencing burnout not simply try to “do more” of the same type of effort, as “dealing with stressors is a different issue than the stressors themselves.” She pointed to using kindness, compassion and curiosity as well as considering what might ease the cycle of stress and burnout. Once the feelings of burnout start to ease, said Nagoski, one can plan what to do next. Citing chapters in her book, Nagoski added that an

and pressures as sources of stress and burnout, citing ty and competition” in many workplaces and similar environments. She continued that lots of individual experiences of burnout result in part or whole from larger causes such as “white supremacist patriarchy or microagressions in media”. She also pointed to corporations or businesses failing to account for underlying pressures on people or e ployees, regarding adequate wages, parental leave, and health care issues. In general, she said, men, and white men in particular, have easiest access to helpful institutions related to these stressors. She also pointed to unionization

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in the workplace as a way to counter stress, referencing her personal experience working at a private university that prevented faculty from unionizing. She also recalled and her positive experiences with unionization in her time as a public school teacher.

After the talk concluded, the Combating Burnout Wellbelow, and featured massage therapists, therapy dogs, arts and crafts and refreshments.

For further reading, Nagoski recommended Bessel van der Kolk’s “The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma” and Kate Manne’s “Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny”.

Past Concordiensis editions can be viewed at concordiensis.com/virtual-newspapers or by scanning:

particular methods work best for themselves.

Nagoski also spoke on overarching societal issues

Courtesy of Kelly Adirondack Center Bridget Butler and reconnection with birds

servation in urban areas, such as Schenectady, Butler stated the importance of cultivating the landscape “in a friendly way” to birds. She ended with

an anecdote about her recent discovery of ravens nesting in the eaves of her local historical society, and said she would be calling the society to

ensure the birds’ protection.

Opinions Bianca Ring

Bianca Ring Opinions Editor

Words matter. As an editor in a college newspaper, that phrase. Communication is one of the most important human survival tools, and it is the foundation of so much of human culture and history.

How we communicate can show a lot about us, depending on our accents, speech patterns, and word choice.

The way we phrase something can hint to the reader what our own beliefs are without directly stating them, which can sometimes be used as a convenient way to harass or threaten someone without overtly stating your intent. The immense gravity of this concept is the backdrop under which we must discuss this seemingly trivial question: does it matter if we refer

Craig Efrati Staff Writer

Since the start of this turbulent school year, many changes have been made on Union’s campus regarding COVID-19.

One of those changes at the end of Winter term was to change mask requirements in most indoor spaces from mandatory to optional. This change, in addition to testing no longer being required starting week 3 of Spring term, has prompted the AAUP or the American Association of University Professors at Union to release a statement calling for Union to adopt a mask supportive policy like our peer school Skidmore. This it was argued would allow for individuals to make the best choices for them in a more supportive environment and

Thursday, April 14, 2022 | Concordiensis

Many colleges and universities across the United States have shifted their terthe past few decades, for a variety of reasons. In 2017, Yale announced that formal documents would no longer use the term freshman due to its gendered nature.

The Yale Daily News rewanted their language to feel more inclusive towards all students, as their former dean John Hathaway had received various complaints over the years from students and parents who felt ostracized. Other colleges such as Bates and Colby have made the change for similar reasons.

University of South Carolina’s Whitney Watts cites a second reason for colleges to abandon freshman: the term was originally invented as a word for an inexperienced

would allow faculty members to require masks in indoor settings for long periods of time.

I spoke to the two professors who released the AAUP statement to the administration through a zoom interview.

The two professors highlighted that there has not been a statement from the administration regarding how many cases would be needed for Union to go back to required masking. They also felt that although they haven’t discussed testing among themselves, they believe that testing should be required in an effort “to have a clear sense of where the pandemic is. We don’t know how the administration will react to this,” in the words of also stressed that “for me it is clear that masking is scientifically proven to help with the transmission of the disease.”

Without testing, we simply do not know what is going on

person, or a novice. Although the word by no means is meant to be used derogatorily, Watts argues that since not tering college as a “traditional, fresh-out-of-high-school be accurately described by a synonym for “inexperienced.”

When my mother went back to college for her third year student at SUNY Orange, but she certainly wasn’t fresh out of high school. Students in situations similar to my mother’s could reasonably be alienated by the term.

Union College has made the change from freshman to Zuckerman expressed to me was for the purposes of making our terminology more gender neutral. In an email correspondence, he explained to me that “While the term man is sometimes used to describe the experience of all

and have no knowledge of what is transmitted on campus. The interview stressed over and over again that students and professors should be able to enforce masking in private spaces if they wish to. The other, Professor Claire Bracken, hinted that, “if we had a mask supportive policy, I think that it would encourage a particular attitude around masking.” The issue highwas that of “social pressure” that prevented students from exercising their true beliefs around masks. She asks, “how can we ensure that those people who do not feel safe when they are not wearing a mask can wear a mask without feeling marginalized?” masks would not need to be required everywhere on campus, but that people should respect others’ decisions around masks. This would

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ringb@union.edu

human beings, it could ignore the impact that women have as equal members of the human race. Given this concern, there has been a change to always use gender neutral language that is inclusive…

We want to do all that we can to make sure that all students know that they are valued by the language we use.”

As Concordy’s Opinions editor, I’d like to be perfectly honest: when I started writing this article, I thought that making such a big deal about subtle terminology might be a performative distraction from the larger, more direct issues that women and nonbinary people face. I’ve never personally felt uncomfortable with being called a freshman, and I have never heard a student complain about the use of the term.

I continue to believe that symbolic gestures such as this are not an acceptable replacement for more direct feminist policy, such as pro-

viding resources for female and nonbinary students and taking action against staff and students who continuously disrespect women.

However, after hearing Dean Zuckerman’s response, and the arguments of other universities’ spokespeople, I have to agree that changing

entail respecting someone’s choice to enforce mask wearing in certain spaces as well as not ridiculing those who wear masks elsewhere. This will also help to ensure that those who are elderly, immunocompromised, or in contact with immunocompromised

people in our community are given the options they need to lead safe lives. It is crucial to let people make their own decisions about masking, and this is why a mask supportive policy would be best for Union so everyone can make choices that are best for them.

meaningless. Even though most people don’t hold any negative feelings towards the term, making a small change in our language to accommodate the few people who are affected by it is worth the effort.

These smaller gestures are appreciated as long as they are coupled with a sincere effort to make women and nonbinary people feel safe on campus, because words matter, but more importantly, the people who are affected by the words we use matter.

Concordiensis Vol. CXLIV, Issue XIX, April 14, 2022 Jing Chen & Michael Rosenbaum Editor-in-Chief Daniel Greenman, News Editor Bianca Ring, Opinions Editor Avanti Khare, Sci/Tech Editor Zahra Khan, World/Business Michael Rosenbaum, 807 Editor Editor Trey Everett, Photo Editor concordiensis.com Email: concordy@gmail.com Office: 406 Reamer Campus Center

Mail: Concordiensis Box 2577 807 Union Street

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Zahra Khan

World / Business

Thursday, April 14, 2022 | Concordiensis

khanz4@union.edu

Political science Prof. Brown comments on Russia-Ukraine Zahra Khan World/Business Editor

Russia withdrew its troops from Kyiv and northern Ukraine to Belarus and Russia and has now turned its attention to eastern Ukraine. According to a CNN report, Russia wants to completely “liberate” Donbas “which broadly refers to Ukraine’s eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, where Russian-backed separatists fore the invasion.” While troop numbers are currently expanding in the Donbas, Russia is simultaneously launching air and artillery attacks on Kharkiv and other cities.

The constant devastation in Ukraine is neverending. The missile attack on Kramatorsk

train station, for instance, left 50 people killed and many injured. Sergei, a volunteer with the Ukrainian army claimed “you just don’t understand the motivation of the people who did this. What was this for?”

As this tragedy continues on, Union’s community has actively been spreading awareness about the happenings of Ukraine. Staff members have taken time to discuss not only the current happenings regarding the invasions by Russia, but the motives behind the attacks.

Professor Clifford Brown, who teaches Political Science courses here at Union, kindly agreed to provide his insight on Putin’s motivation, the impact this war may have upon other countries, and a possible end to this war.

While it has been high-

lighted amongst news sources that the purpose of Putin’s attacks upon Ukraine is imperialism, Professor Brown highlights another motive—a land bridge. Professor Brown explained that Putin wants to create a land bridge between the Donbas region and Crimea.

This bridge will provide a secure way for Putin to keep access to Crimea. If he does not succeed there, he has nothing to show for the invasion.

Outside of Russia and Ukraine, major European stance, and condemned Russia’s actions. Germany for instance, who on the one hand is a part of NATO but on the other depends upon Russia’s oil, has planned to cut off dependence on Russia’s energy massively. Professor Brown elaborated when

it comes to European countries’ willingness to take an economic hit in exchange of policy to sanctioning Russia, they have been proactive.

Professor Brown gave the example of the United Kingdom being proactive in providing weapons to Ukraine, and how the UK has done more to provide for the Ukrainian army over any other country beside the United States.

Professor Brown notes that through the increase of these sanctions, a lot of pressure could be put on Putin, providing a possible end to this war. As previously mentioned

by Professor Brown, the land bridge is crucial. If the land bridge is maintained, Russia immediately holds the upper hand. A Russian victory may also have something to do with May 9th, known as Vic-

tory Day in Russia. Professor Brown explained that may mean Putin will try to intensify the war in the very near future, which is why the troops have been removed from the Kiev area and sent to the east to escalate the war to give proof of victory. Regardless, there is a long road ahead.

Imran Khan removed as Pakistan’s Prime Minister Zahra Khan World/Business Editor

In the morning of April 10, Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan was removed an international cricket star— became a prominent politician. Khan was said to have introduced a new era of leadership and policy within the country and secured the support of many.

As stated from BBC news, “He emerged as a fresh force, with vibrant rallies full of

catchy songs, along with his huge social media presence, ruption message.” Although Imran Khan rose to power with the help of Pakistan’s army, the army eventually removed Khan’s primary goals included improving governance, expanding the social welfare system, and introducing a health insurance scheme. However, he was met with major criticism when he appointed an inexperienced individual as Chief Minister of Punjab.

People were also angered at the extremely high cost of

living. Khan’s vision and policies introduced major political enemies to him. According to the Washington Post, to try to maintain his popularity, Khan held many campaigns that included “nationalist and religious themes.”

Despite this attempt, opposers managed to gather enough votes to get rid of Khan’s political power. As the Washington Post reports, Khan in turn dissolved the legislature and wanted the vote to be canceled, claiming it was based upon “an illegal foreign conspiracy.”

Opposers claimed Khan’s actions were illegal. The court

also ruled Khan’s actions as illegal. According to the Washington Post, Imran Khan displayed a “private diplomatic message” saying “a U.S. government during a meeting in early March.” A vote took place and Imran Khan was This historic event, including having no parliament for a week, shifted the political spectrum within the country.

60-Second News

941. 34 square kilometers of forest was cleared between January and March of this year, resulting in the highest record of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.

In Jakarta, Indonesia, hundreds of students protesting high cooking oil prices

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and

gas and water cannons as an effort to disperse the crowds.

by police for attending lockdown-breaking parties.

Sci/Tech Avanti Khare

Emma Vu Contributing Writer

This past weekend, the Union College Computer Science Department sponsored a group of six students to attend the annual ACM New York Celebration of Women in Computing hosted in Fort Williams Henry Hotel & Conference Center in Lake George.

The New York Celebration of Women in Computing, or NYCWiC, has held the conference remotely for the past two son conference the ACM-W Union College Chapter has attended since the outbreak of COVID-19. Throughout the two-day conference, students gained the opportunity to attend a series of workshops and talks ranging from technical topics like Cloud Native

Avanti Khare Sci/Tech Editor

This week’s Steinmetz Spotlight is Fletcher Fineman ‘22, a Psychology major with a double minor in History and Law & Humanities. His research focuses on the effects of internal and external motivations for confronting racial prejudice on self and collective esteem.

He writes about his project, “The verbal confrontation of expressed prejudice can lead to a decrease in these negative effects (Richards &

Thursday, April 14, 2022 | Concordiensis

Development and Quantum Algorithms to personal development like Public Speaking and How to Avoid Burnout.

Students grew their network by attending the career fair with potential employers and graduate schools and had thought-provoking dinner discussions with a mixed group of students, faculty, and people in the industry. After the conference, students responded positively to having the opportunity to meet like-minded individuals and learning about the supporting community for women in technology.

In particular, Amarachi Ivoko ‘23 says that “NYCWiC was a really great opportunity to network. I also really appreciated the keynote speaker Melissa Lee. Her story really inspired me to not give up.

Everyone’s path is different and I shouldn’t compare myself to another person.” Leah

Piscitelli ‘23 follows the sentiment, commenting that “NYCWiC reminded me that there are so many women in STEM. It was an amazing opportunity to meet students like me who are so passionate about

Gross, 2000). While Chaney

ation in which they viewed another White individual expressing prejudice toward a Black person. This person was either not confronted, confronted by an “out-group” member, confronted by an “ingroup” member, or the participant imagined that they did the confrontation themselves.

We hypothesized that participants internally motivated were going to get a boost in both personal and collective esteem when reading about any situation in which the holder of the prejudice is confronted due to the strong anti-prejudiced attitudes they hold.

how people carry out these verbal confrontations, there is limited research on why people confront prejudice. This limited research has revealed that people confront prejudice because they are either internally motivated to do so, externally motivated to not “look bad”, or externally motivated to “look good” (O’Dea, Plant, & Garcia, in Preparation). We investigated whether people’s motivations to confront prejudice affect personal esteem and collective esteem. We showed participants a situ-

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kharea@union.edu

an experience I will remember. Side note: who thought it was a good decision to bring a bunch of CS majors together and try to convince them ghosts are real?” CoEditor-in-Chief Jing Chen ‘23 also attended the conference, thanking the Union College Computer Science department for “funding this event and making it possible. It was and it was absolutely inspiring.”

In the future, ACM-W Union College Chapter will be encouraging students from all backgrounds who are interested in computing to attend

Emma Vu | Concordiensis

more of these events, such as the Grace Hopper Celebration, the biggest women in

computing conference in the US.

However, those externally motivated were predicted not to get a boost in esteem unless it was they, themselves, confronting the perpetrator of the prejudice.”

Courtesy of Union Athletics

60-Second Sci/Tech

NASA prepares launch of SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket

Quantum technologies will reduce charging electric cars to three minutes

Scientists discover microplastics in human blood

UK scientists publish in eLife that they have found ways to postpone aging of cells

Researchers in UMass Amherst discover new material that can absorb and of energy

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Avanti Khare

Sci/Tech

Thursday, April 14, 2022 | Concordiensis

kharea@union.edu

Steinmetz Research Spotlight: Molly Rusgrove ‘24 Avanti Khare Sci/Tech Editor

This week’s Steinmetz Spotlight is Molly Rusgrove ‘24, a Neuroscience major with a minor in Science, Medicine, Technology, and Culture. Her research focuses on the effects of masculine honor beliefs and mortality salience on risk-taking behaviors.

She writes about her project, “Masculine Honor Beliefs comprise an ideology whereby men prove their masculinity through risk-taking and avoiding “weak” behaviors especially when threatened.

One thing that can threaten their feelings of self control is

the thought of dying. Mortality Salience research focuses on the behaviors exhibited after their awareness of mortality is made salient. Our study aimed examine how masculine honor beliefs and mortality salience interact to predict behaviors such as risk taking. We hypothesized that men higher in masculine honor beliefs would report more risky and less healthy behaviors. We predicted that these effects would be especially pronounced when men are primed with mortality salience due to lost control.

accompanying risk-taking behaviors because it would exaggerate the threat of losing control in the pandemic. Ultimately, we found that mortality salience actually decreased masculine honor beliefs, likely because the men lost control they could not gain back. men’s behaviors, such as risk taking, are related to traditional masculine values and how control is possibly a dominating factor of masculine honor beliefs.”

when men are primed to think of their own death, they would

Courtesy of Molly Rusgrove ‘24 -

masculine honor beliefs and

Steinmetz Research Spotlight: Adenike Hickson ‘22 Avanti Khare Sci/Tech Editor

This week’s Steinmetz Spotlight is Adenike Hickson ‘22, a Psychology and Chinese ID major. Her research focuses on the effects of increased harassment and violence towards Asian-Americans under the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and their sense of belonging. This research is extremely relevant to the current day political climate, as March 16, 2022 marked the one year anniversary of the tragic Atlanta Spa Shootings that targeted several Asianowned massage parlors and

spas.

She writes about her project, “Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a lot of discrimination toward Asian Americans in the United States. For example, reports of physical attacks, verbal harassment, vandalism, and discrimination directed toward Asians and Asian Americans, have increased across the country since the start of the pandemic. The purpose of my study is to extend research related to the COVID-19 pandemic and Asian Americans, and to gain a better understanding how the discrimination experienced during this pandemic affects Asian Americans’ sense of belong-

ing. We will present participants with fabricated statistics (e.g. 80% vs 20%) about how much White Americans blame Asians and Asian Americans for the virus. We predict that participants who are presented with a high level of blame (80%) that Asians and Asian Americans are responsible for the virus (compared to a low level of blame; 20%) will report greater perceptions of prejudice/discrimination, greater discomfort when interacting with White Americans, greater fear, lower self-esteem/selfworth, and lower sense of belonging.”

Courtesy of Adenike Hickson ‘22

Concordiensis

PICTURES OF THE WEEK

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Trey Everett and Jing Chen | Concordiensis West College at dawn (U-L), Union College banner and Memorial (U-R), A view of Nott and West College (L-L), and Rose Mallow outside of Ms. Perkin’s Garden (L-R)

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CRIME & FIRE LOG 04/01/22 - 04/10/22

4/1/22 2:58 p.m. Fondling reported - occured during Winter term. Closed, referred to Title IX. 4/2/22 3:00 a.m. Underage consumption of alcohol. Closed, referred to Campus Judicial. Richmond House.

4/9/22 11:15 p.m. and 11:20 p.m. Underage possessions fo alcohol. Closed, referred to Campus Judicial. Fox House.

4/10/22 7:36 a.m. Theft of college property - time of occurance unknown. Open investigation. Whipple Bridge.

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Daniel Greenman

807 Union St.

Thursday, April 14, 2022 | Concordiensis

greenmad@union.edu

Union College’s Woman of the Week: Michaela Wood Jackson Giamattei Staff Writer

Nominated By: Sarah Wright Nomination: Michaela is an all-around good person. She’s the kind of person you can talk to about emergency situations at any hour of the day.

She has really stepped up in Res Life this year to take on the challenge of maintaining Davi-Web as well as working on her thesis and maintaining friendships. I don’t know of anyone more deserving of Woman of the Week than Michaela. I will be sad to see her graduate this spring but I know she will go off to do great and important things in her life, no question.

What are you passionate about?

I am most passionate about promoting empathy and interacting with others. I pride myself on being a passionate person who deeply cares about others and continues to help foster opportunities for honest conversation. I love supporting others and helping those that I love, and even strangers, work towards becoming their best selves—which is why I am pursuing a career in Speech-Language Pathology. I am incredibly passionate about human interaction and studying language and culture. I’m also very passionate about binging tv shows and reading new books :) Who do you look up to?

My mom is my role model. As a single mother and a teacher for Boston Public Schools, I have seen such resiliency, empathy, and cunning that I have never seen from another person. She has taught me the importance of perspective and the importance of family.

What does being a woman at Union mean to you?

Being a woman at Union is being an empathetic leader and being a member of the world’s future leaders. For me, this includes uplifting all people, offering my love and support to others, learning and unlearning to be a better woman (and human), and continuing to educate myself on how to be a better ally. Overall being a woman at Union means acknowledging our imperfec-

Courtesy of Women’s Union Michaela Wood ‘22 tions but persisting in breaking glass ceilings everywhere.

Disclaimer: the following article is satirical, and meant to be a humorous and exaggerated expression of perspectives of campus culture for entertainment purposes. This article is not intended to offend readers or stoke controversy.

Potential merge between CS and MLL? Jing Chen Co-Editor-in-Chief

The chair of the Computer Science Department has made a groundbreaking decision marked historic in the advancement of computer science education beginning in April. Chair John Rieffel has sent out an email announcing the exciting potential merge between the Computer Science (CS) and Modern Language and Literature (MLL) department. As Prof. Rieffel explains, this is in recognition of computer science as a liberal arts discipline. The new department would bestow the name of “Modern and Computer Languages and Literadegrees in Bachelor of Arts in including B.A. in Python, Java, and C, ARM Assembly, Fortran, COBOL, and LaTeX

studies.

In support of interdisciplinary studies beyond MLL, each of these majors would collaborate with various departments on campus. For instance, ARM Assembly with the Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering department, Fortran with Classics and Physics, COBOL with Economics, and LaTeX with Math. Undoubtedly, these new degrees present breathtaking opportunities for not just students in CS, but the entire Union College community. To our knowledge, no other educational institutions have ever initiated such a compelling and promising program, and the Union College CS department would certainly impact computer science education forever.

Many students studying CS cheer for this decision.

Jordan An ‘23 cried in overjoy because he “cannot wait to

found a way to accelerate my LaTeX knowledge for it is my favorite language. I’m glad the CS department is hearing all the Math and CS double majors out there,” he compliments. Jason D’Amico ‘24 joined the happy sentiment forms to major in a B.A. in C because C is just so much fun” and he “cannot wait to build his degree around it.”

Five days later, Prof. Rieffel followed up with an email, which devastated many students. He explained that the newly born MCLL major was an “April Fools joke.” Many students were heartbroken and refused to believe the harsh reality. Angry students mobilized and stormed to to bring back the MCLL major, to which Prof. Rieffel only shrugged his shoulders. Out-

Jing Chen | Concordiensis despair. air as students grieved over the lost opportunities to major in fascinating languages like COBOL. Emma Vu ‘24 was among one of the students, who weeped that “I literally dropped my phone after reading the email. As an Economics-CS ID major I was so ready

to major in COBOL.” Few students denied the truth of the email because Prof. Rieffel changed his email signature to “Co-Chair, Modern and Computer Languages and Literature,” only to realize that it has been switched it back to “Chair only of the actual Computer Science Department.”