HEMPSTEAD, NY VOL. 81 Issue 10
The Hofstra
Chronicle
Tuesday February 9, 2016
KEEPING THE HOFSTRA COMMUNITY INFORMED SINCE 1935
Hofstra to transition to secular calendar in fall Academic schedule will no longer favor Judeo-Christian holidays
By Danny Nikander ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
A secular calendar will be implemented at the beginning of the 2016 fall semester as a university attempt to accommodate diversity amongst Hofstra students. A secular calendar essentially eliminates all religious holidays that students were previously given off from classes for. “Up until recently, we’ve always cancelled classes for Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Good Friday and usually for the first two days for Passover. We even gave a day for traveling back to school after Easter Sunday,” Stuart Bass, a professor of accounting, taxation
and legal studies in business, said. Bass is also the chairperson of the Planning and Budget Committee of the University Senate, which is made up of faculty, administration, staff and students who provide equal representation in making university decisions, such as the switch to the new calendar. According to Bass, the decision to convert to a secular calendar has been in question for the past 10 years. Bass was against the transition in its early stages of discussion; however, he knew they had to at least give it a try because of the reoccurring push to implement it.
“It was a governance decision,” Bass continued. “The president said he would adopt any recommendations of the government. In considering the new dynamics—the new demographics—we decided to go neutral.” Despite not having religious holidays off, Bass says professors will be asked to abstain from issuing any exams or assignments on these days. The decision was made in regard to respecting all faiths, rather than a select few. “The essence of ‘why change’ has to do with a sense that we shouldn’t be favoring one religion over another. If we can accomplish
an adequate calendar and not have that perception that is the better thing to do,” Eugene Maccarrone, associate professor of accounting, taxation and legal studies chair, said. Maccarrone is also a part of the Senate Executive Committee. “Governance brings together administration, faculty and staff. Everybody gets a say. We have a lot of input and it’s important to recognize that,” Maccarrone said. The new calendar will administer a schedule that Hofstra has not seen before. Many students and professors question how this will affect their classes in the future. “I have never knowingly not
accommodated a student’s legitimate need,” Maccaronne continued. “It is not by my judgement, but by the judgement of the student. We’re used to accommodating student’s many needs. To me, it’s just an extension to respect one’s desire to observe a religious holiday, even one I’ve never heard of. If it’s important to the student, it’s important.” Some students have been in favor of the drastic change. Alexis Carfagno, freshman journalism major, supports the new calendar. “I think it embraces Hofstra’s emphasis on diversity. It shows an appreciation of all holidays.”
Prohibition on hoverboards put into effect
By Laurel O’Keefe
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
A campus wide prohibition on hoverboards and their chargers was issued at the start of the spring semester in response to “concerns raised by the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the NY State Fire Marshal,” according to a memo released by Assistant Vice President and Dean of Students Sofia Pertuz. The memo, released on Jan. 24, restricts the use of “hoverboards, self-balancing scooters, battery-operated scooters, handsfree Segways, electric-powered skateboards and similar devices and their chargers” on Hofstra’s campus. “We kept seeing a lot of hoverboard accidents and all of these issues with hoverboards all over different campuses. We discussed [the issues] with our Public Safety Director and the Director of Resident Life, Beth McGuire … who drafted a message and helped us pull together the resources to point students
to where the safety issues are,” Pertuz said. Shelby Sandstrom, a freshman accounting major, accepted the ban with open arms. “I got the email and was very excited to hear that they decided to take action against hoverboards,” she said. “I’ve been run over by one before on campus because people are always on their phones when they use them. They’re not watching where they’re going.” Along with the memo of the ban was a link to the Consumer Products Safety Commission’s website meant to explain where the safety issues and concerns with hoverboards stem from. “I sent that website from the Consumer Products Safety Commission which is saying that they’re not well regulated and they’re definitely not safe,” Pertuz said. The lack of regulation of the motorized devices has caused
multiple models and their chargers to catch fire, a defect that has largely been blamed on the lithium-ion batteries that power the devices. Multiple cases of injuries to users and pedes-
trians have been reported as a result. Sandstrom, who has sold the machines as a retail associate at GameStop, has witnessed
the lack of knowledge about the composition of hoverboards. “I don’t think people understand how unrestricted they are. I think that if you’re going to have a hoverboard you should have to take a course on how to use them. I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder every time I walk somewhere looking out for some idiot on a toy.” As for enforcing the ban, hoverboards will be treated like any other prohibited item. “[The ban] will be enforced by Public Safety, just like anything else. Any student can call any issue to Public Safety,” Pertuz said. Chargers and hoverboards will also be confiscated during regular resident hall health and safety searches, and students can be fined for being in possession of the item. Ava Pietruszewski, a senior television production major, disagrees with the conditions of the restriction on hoverboards.
“In terms of convenience for students and fining students for having them, I think it’s a little bit ridiculous,” she said. “I don’t think that they’re so dangerous that students shouldn’t be allowed to use them.” The ban came just in time to prevent students, who may have been gifted the popular item for the holidays, from bringing them to campus. “We saw more of the hoverboards during the end of the fall semester,” Pertuz said. “We figured during the holiday break many people might have gotten them as gifts and considered bringing them to campus, so we thought sending the message out before the spring semester came was a good idea.” According to Pertuz, the ban has seemed effective so far as no issues regarding hoverboards have been reported. She said, “We haven’t confiscated any that I know of, and I haven’t seen one myself. I haven’t seen a report from Public Safety that said anything about confronting the issue.”