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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF MANHATTAN COLLEGE | SINCE 1924
Volume CIII, Issue 5
FREE
NEW YORK, MARCH 2, 2021
Manhattan College Student Engagement Announces Virtual Spring Fest Victor Franco & Nicole Fitzsimmons
Staff Writer & News Editor
Peace Week 2021 This year’s Peace Week ended with the dedication of the newly installed Peace Pole on campus. BRIAN ASARE / THE QUADRANGLE
Manhattan College Budget Deficit Decreases to $3.8 Million, Still Higher Than Administrators Anticipated Gabriella DePinho & Kyla Guilfoil Senior Writer & Asst. News Editor
While Manhattan College administrators originally projected a $10 million budget deficit, administrators say that due to measures taken in the fall semester, the college is now only facing a projected $3.8 million budget deficit. This new projection, which is higher than administrators had hoped for, was communicated to community members at a college senate-sponsored open forum hosted on Feb. 22. Vice President for finance and Chief Financial Officer, Matthew McManness, explained during the forum how and where the budget deficit has come down from the original projection of $10 million
IN NEWS:
Senate Meeting Details Plans for Fall Semester on p. 5
and offered a portion of the hour for questions. Though communication has improved, faculty members are still concerned about their involvement in the college’s future planning. At the forum, McManness explained that the initial $10 million deficit largely resulted from decreased revenue in room and board. The college was able to identify $6.4 million in adjustments in salaries and benefits since the beginning of the academic year, helping to bring the projected deficit from $10 million to $3.8 million. These adjustments refer to salary reduction, suspension or retirement contribution reductions, and possible furloughs. Additionally, McManness reported that $3.6 million was identified in general operating cuts, which includes utilities costs cuts, travel conference expenses cuts, general oper-
IN FEATURES: Peace Week at MC on p. 8
ating fund cuts, catering cuts, and cut backs on operating capital spending. McManness added that there was a $400,000 expense budget determined in regards to COVID-related items. These items include PPE across campus, testing sites and physical changes in classrooms such as installed plexiglass. There was also an increase in financial aid needs for both undergraduate and graduate students since the outbreak of the pandemic. Both of these expenses have contributed to the budget deficit. In utilities spending alone, McManness reported an overall savings of $700,000, $300,000 more than was anticipated before the beginning __________________________ CONTINUED ON PAGE 4
Manhattan College’s annual Spring Fest will be held this year after it’s cancellation during the spring of 2020 – the only difference from previous years is that it will be a virtual event. “We are definitely planning to have Spring Fest this year,” John Bennett, executive director of the Office of Student Engagement, said. “The idea is that the concert aspect would probably be virtual, just like we’ve been having virtual events.” Within the COVID-19 guidelines, the college plans to make this year’s event as lively as it can, while being remote. The college, the Office of Student Engagement and the Student Government Association executive board is doing all that it can to make this experience enjoyable for students. “As with everything this year, the pandemic has been a huge deciding factor for many of the events this year. Speaking on behalf of Student Engagement, we will keep our minds open to all possible plans so long as it’s a positive and safe experience for students,” Sharon Jimenez-Ortega, the Office of Student Engagement coordinator, wrote in an email to The Quadrangle. Anthony Bradley, executive vice president of the student government, states that a comedian will even be at the event in April. “There’s going to be somebody to talk to, and there’s going to be a live show. Just because, you know, it’s tradition. We always have a show. But, the main event will be the comedian that we all speak to, kind of like the Cody Ko event,” Bradley said. Choosing the performers for the event was more difficult this year than in the
IN A&E:
Meet the Artist Miguel Luciano on p. 12
past because of the pandemic. The availability of artists has changed due to COVID-19, leading student government to carefully select who will be attending, which will be announced soon. “The artist needs to be secured ahead of time, and that plays a part in deciding on a virtual concert because there is a huge difference in terms of an artist’s availability for a virtual concert versus an in-person one,” Jimenez-Ortega wrote. Spring Fest has become part of Manhattan College tradition. Despite the cancellation last year, the event has held memorable concerts such as the All-American Rejects and T-Pain. Even though Isaac Slade from The Fray still virtually played music for the college, the event was not held like years before. The tradition was a major factor in deciding to hold the event virtually this year. “We felt that it would be weird to not have two Spring Fests in a row, because last year obviously got cancelled. You know, just to kind of keep some kind of normalcy, and keeping the tradition going,” Bradley said. Due to the stressful environment surrounding this semester, the college plans to hold an event that will be stress free and uplifting for students to attend to safely get their mind off of things for a few hours. “Hopefully it’ll be something good and fun to look forward to. That’s always really the point of it, exactly. So, it’s always something that we hope students look forward to, also during a stressful time in the semester, so that they could really enjoy themselves as they have to kind of hunker down with classes as they’re winding down,” Bennett said.
IN SPORTS: Lady Jaspers Surprise on p. 15
Opinions & Editorials
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the Quadrangle Volume CIII, Issue 4 February 23, 2021
The Editorial Board Anna Woods Editor-in-Chief
Maria Thomas Managing Editor
Jilleen Barrett Managing Editor
Nicole Fitzsimmons News Editor
Kyla Guilfoil Asst. News Editor
Jilleen Barrett Arts & Entertainment Editor
Kelly Cwik Asst. Arts & Entertainment Editor
Christine Nappi Features Editor
Caroline McCarthy Asst. Features Editor
Pete Janny Sports Editor
Colleen McNamara Asst. Sports Editor
Lauren Raziano Social Media Editor
Kelly Kennedy Asst. Social Media Editor
Brian Asare Photography Editor
Emily Hollar Production Editor Asst. Photography Editor
Nicole Rodriguez Production Editor
Adrianne Hutto Jocelyn Visnov Asst. Production Editors
Madalyn Johnson Katherine Heneghan Web Editors Nicholas Gilewicz Faculty Advisor About The Quadrangle A tradition since 1924, The Quadrangle is a news or ganization run by the students of Manhattan College. We strive to cover news around campus and the greater community, publishing weekly in print and daily online. Our goal is always accuracy, relevancy and professionalism. The opinions expressed in The Quadrangle are those of the individual writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editorial Board, the College or the student body.
Join The Quadrangle The Quadrangle’s staff holds weekly open meetings on Tuesdays at 4 p.m. in Kelly Commons Room 412. All are welcome to come and join the club. Connect with The Quadrangle
mcquad.org @mcquad @mcquad mcquad
THE QUADRANGLE
LETTER to The Editor Dear Anna Woods, I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing this in hope to raise some awareness on some students who need the help of the entire school. I’ve been the VP of Finances for Student Government all of this time, but it’s become true now, more than ever, that the strength of the people will surpass the likes of individuals like me any day. To tell my story, I must begin at the beginning of last semester. Some people might remember a Quadrangle article posted in October of 2020, detailing what quarantine at Manhattan was like. People were getting wrong food orders, and dietary restrictions were not being respected. I wish that the situation had improved since seeing that article. On Thursday, February 25, I began developing symptoms for COVID 19, so I gave myself a Red Pass and was asked to quarantine. This is my second full day in quarantine. We now have microwaves and fridges, which I wish I could say is an improvement, because I unfortunately cannot use them for the reasons below. Yesterday, I was not fed until 3:00 PM. As I am currently writing this on the next day at 3:30 PM, I have not been fed today. Because I only got lunch and dinner, I have only been given 2 water bottles to drink over 48 hours. While I wish this was an isolated incident, this is happening to God knows how many other students, seeing as how not everyone knows who to even talk to about this. I was worried yesterday that this might happen again, so I’ve saved 2 oranges that I’ve been rationing for the day, by the end of this hour I’m afraid I will have nothing left to eat. Besides the fact that I, along with several others, are hungry, this poses an incredibly dangerous risk for those who are sick. Having a great deal of water is one of the best ways to help your body kick diseases, as well as beat a fever. With a fever, your body can develop several other issues if left untreated. Having a good routine of food is the only way the body can power itself to fight infectious diseases, as well. On top of all of this, the school is still delivering incorrect orders to residents in quarantine, which makes me especially concerned for those with dietary restrictions. I believe that my situation is a luckier one than others. Due to my connections, I was able to have myself and a few of my peers email the correct people to get me food for the day. But when I had received my first meal at 3:00 PM, the name on the bag was not my own and did not have my room number on it. I worry that someone has taken food from another room and given it to me. Delivering food may not be an exciting job, nor may it be an easy job, but it is an essential one. It is something that is vital to be done correctly. This lack of attention to the welfare of students pushes me to believe that the school truly does not hold our health as a priority. This also leads me to believe that any mentions of the school “trying to improve” are simply performative, aimed to calm the masses. To whomever reads this, I ask you to consider putting some form of warning to the readers of this incredible publication– a warning that if anyone is experiencing symptoms to quarantine anywhere but Manhattan College. I wish that I could ask primarily for support and emails to Residence Life and One Manhattan for effective change, but I worry that students will suffer before said change becomes more than a dream. To those who are in quarantine as well, I’m sorry to hear that the school has wronged you. I have loved the past three years I have spent here at Manhattan College and it breaks my heart to think of the other students who sit in an empty quiet room, afraid to drink out of the sink and desperately waiting for a meal, contemplating if they will choose to break their dietary restrictions or eat. Update: 4:18 PM, February 27. No food yet. Me and others on my board have been emailing people trying to get a fix for today. Nobody is working, so nobody is helping. We’ve had one response, but I’ve yet to see any food yet. Since we’ve identified that quarantine residents need to have access to water, we have purchased 180 gallons of water to be delivered directly to Horan Hall, where most quarantine students sit. The school has responded in saying that they will not deliver this water as their policy states that they will only deliver what Aramark purchases. Student governement was able distribute 3 jugs of water to every quarantined student within an hour. This goes to show that if administration wanted to, they could. It feels like a prison here. We aren’t being fed. We aren’t being given water. We tried to help, but the school would rather enact policy changes over helping those in here. Common decency and humanity are only second to that of administrative ruling. As I sit here, I wonder why we are being treated like this, and how the school will make this better. I have to remind myself that this is not the fault of the people living in quarantine, though it becomes easy to blame yourself when you sit here. It’s difficult to distract yourself here - I can’t focus on my work because this injustice clouds my mind. If you are reading this, please continue to do your civil duty and truthfully enter that symptom tracker. It’s better to give yourself a red pass and leave campus. I apologize if some of my words are disjointed, or scrambled, I haven’t felt like myself in the past 48 hours. Maybe a drink of water or a bite to eat would help. Oh well, maybe tomorrow. Best, Alex Nieves, Class of 2021
MARCH 2, 2021
Opinions & Editorials
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LETTER from The Editor Dear Alex Nieves, Thank you for reaching out to us and sharing your experience. Here at The Quad, we are committed to making sure that students’ voices are being heard loud and clear. We have been working on a story about the quarantine conditions that students are facing for several weeks, ensuring that everyone involved has a chance to be heard. Nonetheless, the conditions in Horan’s quarantine, as shared with us by several students, are abhorrent. It is unacceptable and frankly unbelievable that this is happening. Manhattan College and its administration should be ashamed and embarrassed that their students, who are in their care, are going more than 24 hours without food. We have even heard reports that students with allergies are receiving food with their allergens. This does not reflect the community that I am a part of. How can students and their families feel safe with these quarantine conditions? How does this reflect our Lasallian Values that the college so willingly advertises? Thank you to Student Government for stepping up and picking up the slack by providing jugs of water to students. Your hard work is not going unnoticed and we all appreciate it especially considering all of the roadblocks that you are facing. This issue includes an Op-Ed from our very own A&E Editor, Jilleen Barrett, who shares her own experience of what life is like in quarantine. Keep an eye out for our report on the matter in the next coming weeks. For those in quarantine, The Quad has been told to reach out to Jacquie Martin jmartin02@manhattan.edu with any issues. Manhattan College: do better.
Sincerely,
Anna Woods
Editor-in-Chief
Hangry in Horan: My Experience in Quarantine Jilleen Barrett A&E Editor
In case you needed another reason to wear a mask– or even two– around campus, here’s one: the on-campus quarantine experience is absolutely dreadful. I recently found out that one of my friends, an avid double masker and a believer in science, tested positive for COVID-19. All of her suitmates got it, as well. I had seen them all for several hours inside their dorm in Lee Hall about a week and a half before her test results came back positive and they all reported to Horan to quarantine. Naturally, I was nervous. Two days went by and I slowly started to develop coldlike symptoms, so I reported them and was sent to quarantine in Horan Hall. The issues started from the moment I got to my designated isolation room. The passcode to the room on the sixth floor of Horan did
not work, so I was locked out. I called Health Services and Residence Life, emailed the area coordinator for the building and direct messaged the floor’s resident assistant on Instagram. I was either met with out-of-office messages, because it was after five, or replies that made me feel as though my safety was not cared for. Finally, I called Public Safety. Other than Carolyn McKay from Health Services, the security guards and employees of Public Safety were some of the only helpful people throughout the entire quarantine process– they immediately contacted the resident assistant on duty and sent her to help me. Residence Life sent me a new code the following morning, but once again it did not unlock the door when I punched it in after leaving to get an antigen test on the second floor. Public safety came back to let me in and while I was grateful they came to help me, I could not help but be irked that Residence Life had not made a legitimate attempt to fix the situ-
ation. What made me more angry, though, was that after less than 24 hours in that room I was told by Residence Life that I would need to relocate due to the passcodes not working. Luckily, I did not have any classes for the rest of the day, but it would not have mattered because Residence Life told me to move out immediately with no regard to what my schedule looked like. As I was leaving the room, two locksmiths came in to fix the problem, despite Residence Life already relocating me. The locksmiths told me the code I was given was wrong and there was no issue with the door itself. I’m not sure why they weren’t sent to look at the lock before I packed my belongings— it would have been much easier if they had been able to tell me earlier about this so that Residence Life knew there was no reason for me to move. I moved into my new room on the fifth floor afterwards. There was nothing wrong with the room and they gave me the basic necessities– a fridge, a
microwave, enough toilet paper– so I was able to finish up my day. But that wasn’t the end of my troubles. Like many other students, I was not delivered breakfast or lunch on Feb 27. Because it was the weekend I was not able to call Residence Life or Dining Services to inform them of this, so I tried emailing them and direct messaging @mc_dining on Instagram. If these offices are going to refuse to respond on the weekends, they should create a better system for delivering food and fixing other quarantine-related issues for students in quarantine so that they don’t have to go hungry or feel unsafe. I did not get a response until I emailed Jacqueline Martin, the coordinator of campus health and safety. Martin was helpful and told me I would receive dinner, however the way communication at the school needs to be changed. When she responded, she said “We are having dining make some extra meals now and we will make sure one is sent over to
you.” While I was appreciative for her quick response, it made me feel as though I was an afterthought to Martin and dining services. Additionally, I told her that I heard there were other students who had not gotten meals all day, and she told me to have them email her. Again, there is a clear problem with how the school is treating students in quarantine– they should not have to contact anyone to get food. Once they fill out the order form, food should be delivered to them, and it should be the food they ordered unless they run out. This school is built on community and the idea of making everyone feel heard. When I called or emailed multiple offices and people who were supposed to take care of any issues I had during my first two days in quarantine, and I got no response, I did not feel heard. I’m sure I’m not the only student who feels this way, and I hope the school makes changes to the way they communicate with those in isolation.
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THE QUADRANGLE
Manhattan College Budget Deficit Decreases to $3.8 Million, Still Higher Than Administrators Anticipated __________________________ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 of the academic year. These savings are a result of closing campus from Thanksgiving until the end of January, as well as collaboration with new energy managers. McManness adds that there may be additional savings, due to negotiating contracts for both fuel oil and electricity. According to McManness, a new negotiation regarding electricity has been finalized, which will enhance utilities savings in the coming year. In December and January, the projected budget deficit, after the cuts and adjustments were made, was approximately $2.5 million. That projected deficit increased by approximately $1.2 million due to a drop in anticipated on-campus residents. McManness reported that the registration for spring 2021 room and board had risen to 1200 students during registration last semester, but that number dropped significantly to 1074 students in January 2021. Along with utilities savings, McManness told the forum that administrators are meeting with others to find further savings. “We are currently working with all the deans and directors, campus leadership, supervisors, budget managers, to evaluate the general operating fund further,” said McManness. “We’ve had some really positive conversations with all the teams and I think that we’ll get close to another $1-1.5 million cut in those budgets based on early work that we’ve done, and that should be wrapped up soon. We are also going to be, at that time while we’re discussing these adjustments, we’ll be also working on next year, and refining the general operating fund for this year and then, of course next year also.” Administration also looks towards President Biden’s proposed COVID relief plan, which is a $1.9 trillion plan, $40 million of which McManness believes will be designated for higher education. “While we don’t know the formulas at this point, or any specific guidelines on how [the plan] would be managed, we do understand that whatever we would receive from the stimulus plan, if it’s approved, half
would go to our students, and half of it would be to helping offset the COVID costs and the shortfalls in revenue that we’ve experienced,” McManness said at the forum. The college’s administration is also relying on a larger incoming class to provide additional financial support. Since the 2021 graduating class is a smaller class compared to average Manhattan College classes, a larger incoming class would increase the college’s revenue. “Administration has said very consistently that they are highly optimistic about the class that we are in the midst of recruiting,” Jeff Horn, a history professor and co-chair of the Faculty Welfare Committee, said. “They are highly optimistic about our possibilities of attracting a significant number of transfers and graduate students. I see no reason not to be optimistic about those things. I think we’re going to get a great class, and hopefully a large class, that would be wonderful. The notion that a large class will go a long way towards enabling the institution to recover its financial footing are entirely possible.” While the college hopes to recruit that large class — aiming for 800 freshman students and 125 transfer students, according to McManness at the forum — the influx of tuition payments will not be seen until August. Yet, McManness hopes to reevaluate held positions, pay cuts and benefit cuts prior to that. “We’re very carefully evaluating the current furloughs that exist, and [will] make determinations about what will happen either prior to or on July 1,” McManness said. “Our plan right now is through just compensation and retirement contribution to this current year level that we started with July 1. We’re still holding 70 to 80 positions in the budget, so we’ll be evaluating those held positions. Some of those positions we may eliminate, some of these positions we might need to fill.” McManness also hopes to be able to restore some of the general operating fund cuts, as well as the operating capital funding support. These restorations are also dependent on the effects of the pandemic, as well as the results of the college’s enrollment strategies.
In an email to The Quadrangle, McManness said it is “too soon” to determine if there will need to be further pay and benefit cuts, but that college leadership “will focus carefully on these decisions as we move through the spring and make recommendations to the President in late May.” Kathy Weld, a math professor and co-chair of the Faculty Welfare Committee, said, “My sense is that they want to put [benefits and full pay] back as fast as they can and they’re just trying to be prudent.” However, there is concern that restoring cuts by July may come too early. “With the new class, you don’t really start to see the influx of the money until August, that July is as early as could be dreamed of [for restoring pay and benefit cuts], unless the Biden stimulus provides so much greater funds than anybody could ever dream,” Horn said. During the forum, it was made clear by McManness and Provost Steven Schreiner that the current goal is to have a full return of students to on-campus learning next year. “We may continue with [social distancing] but I think that we would be edging towards the 100% [capacity] as opposed to the lower end of the spectrum, unless something significant happens to change that viewpoint,” McManness said during the forum. Schreiner confirmed this goal via email to The Quadrangle. “We are planning for a safe, full return in the fall based on the quickly increasing availability of vaccines, and decreasing number of cases and hospitalizations nationwide,” Schreiner wrote. “We are, however, ready to change plans if needed.” Ira Gerhardt, a math professor and the chair for the Council for Faculty Affairs, is concerned about this plan for a full return, especially if faculty are not able to be part of that planning process. “For me, the biggest conversation continues to be how the administration is stating very clearly that we are going to be back in full force in August, back on campus 100 percent, all of our classes,” Gerhardt said. “And the question is how much are faculty going to be allowed to be or invited to be included in that conversation? And that’s
my concern … There are too many actual logistic issues with being back on campus that need to be addressed well in advance of registration. We have to know if we’re all going to be back but we somehow need to be social distanced. How does the math actually work on that? So there’s a lot of these really important questions that the administration should take the opportunity to bring faculty expertise into these conversations because it’s just going to benefit everybody.” If all students were to return next fall, McManness projects that there will be 15001600 on-campus residents next year. The college had originally budgeted down to 1450 students for the 2020-21 academic year due to the pandemic, but that number was a bit high of a reach, as there are currently only 1074 students on campus. Reevaluations of financial aid and of the current furloughs will align with the revenue made available by room and board, class sizes and savings from previously mentioned cuts. Concerns of improving dialogue and collaboration in planning for the future of the college are still high, seeing that one of the questions asked during the forum was about why not all of the senate members were invited to be in the Google Meet that was live streamed to other viewers. President Brennan O’Donnell apologized for “the oversight” and said that Schreiner put the invitee list together. Schreiner also apologized and said that he was under the impression it was “senate-sponsored” but not a regular senate meeting. Senate members — and other faculty members — who were not in that Google Meet were not able to ask questions themselves, but rather had to send questions to Amy Handfield, the assistant director of the library and speaker off the senate, who asked as many of them and synthesized as many of them as she possibly could. “I think it’s fair to say that faculty would really prefer a forum in which, in real time, they can ask questions and have them answered,” Weld said. Horn said this concern of asking questions extends to the Faculty Welfare Committee being “informed” rather than consulted in the conversation. “There have been additional
efforts to provide information,” Horn said. “There has been not enough effort for there to be genuine engagement about what’s going on in real time. I think that they have provided more information and that’s been great. They have fulfilled their commitment to do that. Where administration could continue to improve is to make those opportunities open for true engagement over not just decisions that have been made but before decisions have been made.” Despite the feeling that some members of the senate and faculty were excluded, Schreiner maintains that hosting the forum alone was one step in keeping the community informed. “Our financial professionals met with each budget manager earlier in the academic year to discuss and evaluate budget cuts, with additional meetings occurring as needed throughout the year,” Schreiner wrote to The Quadrangle. “The faculty governance committee members, the College-wide Senate, and the general community have been kept abreast of the budget situations through meetings and Q&A sessions throughout the year.” Gerhardt recognized and appreciated that Schriener regularly makes himself available for live question and answer sessions regarding academic affairs, which is one way for “true engagement” to occur. Even with this Gerahardt is concerned, from a faculty advocacy standpoint, that “when our concern in our bigger role at the college or the consequences of financial activity goes beyond academic affairs” the faculty does not have the opportunity to ask questions and engage in similar dialogue. Gerhardt feels that planning for a fall return needs to happen sooner rather than later and he believes, like Horn and Weld, that including faculty and departmental expertise is necessary to pull off that return. “We have this wonderful opportunity with looking into this second summer of the pandemic and the plans for next year to increase and improve the dialogue and the collaboration for making decisions for the fall and forward and I think we can’t let this opportunity go to waste,” he said.
News
MARCH 2, 2021
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Senate Meeting Details Plans for Fall Semester Caroline McCarthy & Jilleen Barrett
Asst. Features Editor & A&E Editor The Manhattan College Senate held their second virtual meeting of the calendar year on Feb. 16. This session largely consisted of discussions about COVID-19 and the outlook for hyflex classes during the 20212022 school year. Provost Steven Schreiner, also a member of the senate, announced during the meeting that there will no longer be hyflex classes– classes that are held both remotely and in-person– during the upcoming school year. “We are still planning to return to normal and in-person mode for next fall,” Schreiner said. “We had to make some decisions about the block class schedule and things for registrar so we went ahead and if you look as it comes online, you’ll see that the times have changed for classes… the plan right now is that there should be no hyflex classes.” Concerns about this decision were raised by Ira Gerhardt, chair of the council of faculty affairs, who pointed out that many students and faculty alike may not be able to make a full return to campus if
COVID-19 persists. Schreiner said that he believes an in-person plan will be best for the school at this point, although there are no policies enacted stating that one cannot continue to work and learn remotely. When questioned on students who are unable to return to in-person learning due to health risks, Schreiner revealed there was no definite plan to accommodate this situation. “For planning purposes it seems very prudent to assume that there is going to be wide vaccine distribution and people will be much more comfortable coming back and we’re going to go back towards more fully back in-person,” Schreiner said. Senate member and VP of Student Life Emmanuel Ago II addressed the COVID fatigue phenomenon experienced by the Manhattan College community. “Public safety has noticed a significant uptick in students wanting to congregate both on-campus and off-campus,” Ago said. “They attribute that to General COVID fatigue which is happening all across the globe.” The administration plans to orchestrate opportunities for students to congregate in mon-
itored, COVID compliant activities in an attempt to relinquish the fatigue while continuing to abide by One Manhattan guidelines. He added that the Office of Student Engagement is planning to create online activities for students in quarantine as well. “The student engagement office… is [also] hosting these virtual, remote activities, specifically for students a quarantine,” he said. “...These activities include online recreation competitions, social media campaigns and free master classes offered by not only Manhattan College staff and faculty, but off-campus facilitators.” In addition to COVID-related news, Ago discussed a few of the current programs running on campus, including the midyear orientation. He said that about 50 first year and transfer students went through the orientation process preceding this semester. He also discussed other areas of student life, such as the JasperFit mentoring program, as well as a new plan to enforce social distancing on campus and support groups for students who are in quarantine. “...The counseling center is actually conducting remote quarantine support groups, so students can actually log in and
really have a discussion around these concerns in terms of their well being with licensed professionals as well as share opportunities with others who are in quarantine as well,” Ago said. Residence Life director Charles Clency was in attendance at the meeting as well and updated the senate on the bridges leading to Horan and Lee Halls. On weeknights, he said, the bridges are open between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. However, to ensure students were not bringing guests from outside of the college, the bridges will be inaccessible for entrance or exit on the weekends. Secretary Isabel Frazza questioned Clency’s judgement by pointing out that Jasper and Chrysostom Halls have no security at the entrance of the building and therefore non-students or guests without green passes can come and go as they please. Clency said that there have been actions to implement security measures in those buildings, though there has not been any COVID issues related to guests. “I do know this conversation, being had currently about upgrading the security of Jasper in particular, but there’s no action plan in place that I can speak of, or duress right now,”
Clency said. Margaret Toth, Ph.D., an English professor at Manhattan College, shared a concern for the college’s recently established expression policy, which allegedly works to censor whom students may elect to speak at gatherings. “This is a policy that actually nearly every campus that I know of has,” said Schreiner. “This is not something that’s in reaction to any particular thing happening on campus, this is something that we just recognize that it’s probably a policy to have. I’ve been through this kind of policy development in a previous institution and I don’t think it’s quite as far-reaching as you might have been suggesting.” Finally, the topic of furloughs was raised, given the many faculty members who faced furloughs during the fall semester. Richard Satterlee, the Vice President of Student Life and a member of the senate, spoke on this topic. “Furloughs are still in discussion, so I wanted to make sure everyone is aware of that,” he said. “...the last analysis, the president has said, we’re going to not be doing any additional furloughs.” The next Senate meeting will be held on Feb. 22 at 1 p.m.
percent women and a 3.2 average GPA. But according to Sloan, the success of the veteran success program is about more than statistics. For instance, Fordham enrolls over 400 student veterans in comparison to the little over 100 at Manhattan. However, the perceived benefits that come with being a smaller community is something Manhattan prides itself on. “I didn’t want to be a number and I wanted to take the opportunity to go to a small school,” said Andrea Toral Merchan, current president of the Veterans Success Program and senior electrical engineering major. “It’s about giving back because the military is all about other people and working as a team, and I feel like here is the same.” Student leadership is a big part of what the program is about and why it has reached the gold designation. The challenges posed by COVID-19 have not stopped the student-veterans from staying connected, with Sloan and the student leadership team continuing to organize virtual events during this time. Although their annual trip to the Bahamas was cancelled, the program has done other activities such as neighborhood cleanups, the most no-
table of which took place at Van Cortlandt Memorial Grove on a Saturday morning last October. “I’ve always been big on the cleanups and seeing it happen for our student veterans organization was huge,” said Brandon Alvarez, vice president of Veterans Success Program and senior environmental engineering major . The next cleanup is currently scheduled for March 20 and Alvarez hopes to involve more of the Manhattan College community alongside members of the student veteran population. “That one I plan to make not just for student veterans, but we’ll have you know, other members of our student population, and hopefully some faculty,” Alvarez said. It’s never too late to go back to school for veterans considering the average age of the veteran population at the college is 31 years old, ranging from a 22-year-old to someone in their fifties. The transition from active duty to being a full-time student entails no shortage of challenges, making it all the more important for them to find the right situation. To help integrate the influx of first-year veteran students, there are sections of the introductory religion course entitled The Nature and Experience
of Religion solely reserved for them. This is meant to give student veterans the opportunity to develop relationships with one another at the beginning of their college careers. “You actually get to know who’s in the same position as you are as a veteran,” Toral Merchan said. “After that, I felt so comfortable with everybody.” After receiving the gold designation, the veteran success program will look to double down in their efforts for serving student veterans on campus. According to Sloan, preparations are underway for dealing with the potential short and long-term challenges related to recruiting and retention as a result of the pandemic. “We have definitely seen a little bit of a downturn, but I am confident that we’re getting back on track and doing everything in our power to keep getting the word out,” Sloan said. “Certainly having the gold recognition is another storyline to help us get the word out.” The office for the Veterans Success Programs is located on the second floor of Thomas Hall. Those interested in learning more about the program should contact Tiana Sloan.
MC Receives Gold Status Military Friendly Designation
Pete Janny & Kelly Kennedy
Sports Editor & Asst. Social Media Editor Manhattan College has been recognized as a military friendly school for the seventh consecutive year. The designation comes as a result of the college meeting specific criteria determined by Victory, a military marketing company that ranks schools and companies based on the opportunities they provide veterans. The difference between this year’s recognition and the previous six is that this year the school has earned gold designation, a tier higher than the silver status the college had received in the past. The college’s Veteran Success Program on campus is the catalyst for the annual military based honors. This program serves to help veterans navigate the challenges of being a student and preparing for future careers. As the program’s director, Tiana Sloan has been at the forefront of helping develop the reputation of being a military friendly school. Sloan believes the importance of giving back to veterans is fundamental to the Lasallian mission.
She cites the college’s history of supporting veterans, including the first student veteran at the school who served during the Civil War. “I think it’s important to note that Manhattan College has been supporting military and veterans for over 150 years,” Sloan said. “If you look back to why the school was founded, it was founded to support underserved populations.” Receiving the gold designation was the culmination of decades worth of hard work to support veterans. It puts Manhattan in exclusive company with 51 other four-year colleges or universities leading the way in assisting veterans. “I think that this gold designation is long overdue, because we’ve been doing this for a really long time,” Sloan said. A large component of the evaluation process is based on how well an institution meets certain statistical thresholds, including rates for student retention, graduation, job placement, loan repayment and loan-default for all students, but specifically student veterans. Among the factors that make Manhattan stand out are the demographics and academic success of their student veteran population. This includes a 66 percent people of color, 20
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Classes Continue Virtually as Campus Closes: Are Snow Days Really a Thing of the Past? Kaylin Flam & Nicole Fitzsimmons
Contributor & News Editor Manhattan College students faced two snow days in a row during the week of Feb. 1, and two others during the week of Feb. 15. This prompts the question: Will snow days become more common at MC due to the option of remote learning? The process of calling a snow day begins the night before the anticipation of a storm. Campus Safety and Provost Steven Schreiner keep a close look on the conditions of the roads and the ice levels to see if students, especially commuters and faculty, can make it safely to class. “There’s no desire on my part to close the campus for any reason, right, the physical campus. [My desire] is to keep it open and keep people coming in,” Provost Schreiner said. “We have a large commuter population as well, and they utilize the facilities on campus. You know, that’s one of the reasons the library stays up, it’s not just for residents.” Yet, the option to teach virtually does offer professors an opportunity to keep their
classes on track during days that leave students snowed in. Emmett Ryan, Ph.D., assistant professor of English, states that this helps students stay ahead, even on days that the classes would usually have been cancelled. “The online earning has made it less disruptive to stay on track with the schedule,” Ryan said. “I feel like it keeps everybody safe, and that they can stay at home and kind of not miss a beat when it comes to keeping up with the course.” Especially for classes that are half in person and half virtual, Ryan emphasizes that a sense of consistency is established on days where the whole class can be remote on snow days. “It makes the experience more consistent when it’s not hybrid. So if we’re all online, then we’re all learning in the same way, as opposed to being in the classroom where half of the students are online, and half are in the classroom. So there’s a shift, I guess, in the dynamic of the class a little bit, and, I’m not sure if it makes it better or worse, it just makes it different for that particular thing” Ryan said. Although Ryan feels that teaching virtually on snow days
helps classes stay on track, he does miss the traditional snow day. “Sometimes that time away from work is important to, you know, regenerating ideas and to refresh yourself and kind of think and have some space to reflect on what you’re doing,” he said. Increasing remote classes for on-campus and commuter students may have made it harder for them to stay focused and present in their learning. The switch in learning modes during these snow days can also be hard for students, especially ones that utilize campus spaces such as the Kelly Commons and the O’Malley Library, since it could be harder to make it to campus. International studies and political science major Mary Camaj is a commuter student who feels that the nostalgic traditional snow day might be necessary for students who utilize these spaces to take classes. “Even while it’s snowing, it can sometimes be hard to focus on remote classes, especially if you have other duties because of the snow or if you have your house filled with family members,” Camaj said. “I do feel that at times it is a bit more difficult to focus on class
remotely, especially if the class is hybrid and there are also in-person students. So, I make the conscious effort not to get distracted.” Provost Schreiner states that when things begin to return to normalcy, he is not against the idea of considering allowing traditional snow days to return. “Next fall, if we’re fully in-person, I don’t know that there’s a need to start saying we’re going to be remote or how much of a hardship it would be on faculty and students to suggest we’re going to,” he said, “Because right now, faculty have planned to be remote if they’re remote. So, you know, the plan and everything is set up for that. Next fall, it might not be that way. So I want to be careful about not tripping up the system.” Despite COVID-19 making things mostly unpredictable, administration believes that the best way for the college to function is in-person, where students can interactively learn with each other, the campus resources and faculty. The ability to do this, however, is unknown. With the COVID-19 vaccines beginning to roll out, the status is still unpredictable. “Our goal is to make sure
students make progress towards the degree. Remember, there’s a pandemic going on. This is a really serious thing, people are really compromised by not just being sick but the risk of it, and they can’t come in here. And so, we have to help them through this.” With classes possibly being in-person next semester, the virtual snow day might not be as accessible. Yet, contacting professors and keeping up with work will still be available, since remote learning has become so normal to us. “That’s sort of the COVID training I’m under, it’s hard to plan ahead with COVID, so we try to keep our options open,” Provost Schreiner said. “But if we’re fully in person, I don’t know that we would be calling and saying that everyone’s gonna be remote that day. It may be again, I think naturally, Some of that stuff is gonna be happening because it’s ubiquitous now. Even under snowy conditions, we’ll be doing more remote in my prediction, just with the day to day things.” The question of snow days being a thing of the past is still in question, yet the conditions of next fall can give us a better look into what learning might look like on these days.
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MARCH 2, 2021
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Facing the Ethical Dilemmas of Our Time: Manhattan College’s Ethics Bowl Team Places High in Northeast Regional Competition Kiersten Thompson Contributor
Manhattan College’s Ethics Bowl team ranked high in the Northeast Regional competition last semester, earning 10th place out of 20 teams and beating schools like Penn State and Yale University. The Intercollegiate Ethics Bowl is an annual competition during which teams representing their respective colleges and universities debate on various contemporary ethical issues. Teams are given 15 cases to prepare for and do research on, often with student members being in charge of specific cases. On the day of the competition, each team has three matches. The first team has seven to 12 minutes to present their position on one of the cases picked by the judges. The opposing team responds for five to eight minutes and then the first team responds back. Afterward, judges would ask questions pertaining to the team’s position on the ethical issue. Due to the pandemic, the competition last December was held virtually through Zoom which affected the way students communicated. Instead of passing notes in person, members would converse via a private Zoom chat. For MC students Aubrey Lefkowitz, a senior philosophy major, Roberto Velez, a junior marketing major and Peter Janny, a junior business analytics major, it was their first competition. The new virtual environment posed difficulties, particularly for Lefkowitz, who was put at a disadvantage due to problems with the app. “There was a problem that I was having, where when I was placed into a breakout room, it would take me like 45 seconds to get there and then 45 seconds to get back,” Lefkowitz said. “So there would be these periods where we’d be allowed to confer with the team and the judges would say, all right, you have 30 seconds to talk and, and I wouldn’t be able to be a part of that conversation.” Through Zoom, teams presented their positions on ethical issues that they prepared ahead of time, like the ethics of Civil War reenactments, affirmative action, protests and property destruction, concealing medication for dementia patients, the opt-in versus the opt-out system for organ donors, and do-not-resuscitate (DNR) orders in regards to COVID-19 patients. One topic in particular, the DNR case, was difficult for members of
the team, especially due to its current relevance. Titled “The Good of the One vs the Good of the Many,” it explores the ethics of withholding resuscitation of COVID-19 patients. “Approaching that case was really, really tough just because, you know, there’s the cold hard facts side of it right, let’s see, let’s assess the damages one way or the other,” Lefkowitz said. “But you really have to detach emotion from something like that because…what you’re talking about is obviously, it’s really delicate and it’s, it’s hard to come at it, you know, without maybe sounding insensitive or without being misconstrued a certain way.” Harrison Fluss, an assistant professor in the philosophy department, served as supervisor for the team. Fluss utilized his experience competing and being a judge in Ethics Bowl competitions, and his background in philosophy to prepare students by laying out ethical theories and playing devil’s advocate. He echoed the same sentiments as Lefkowitz regarding the DNR case. “I think that just dealing with what’s happening in the world today, that really struck me … these are really life and death issues and we need to be sensitive and careful and I think that Aubrey, who was doing the primary research for that case, did a lot of work on the Hippocratic Oath and how do we interpret the Hippocratic Oath with this,” Fluss said.
“That was really important, theoretically and I think, practically too.” While the team felt sufficiently prepared for this case, facing the judges’ and moderators’ questions was another story. Marshall Strawbridge, a senior philosophy and political science major, was one of the captains of the team. He expressed that although he and the team believed they were well prepared for the DNR case, they weren’t prepared for when the moderator asked a question they had not anticipated. “We felt very well prepared for the case and thought it would be a slam dunk, but the moderator framed the case with a question that we weren’t prepared for,” Strawbridge wrote in an email. “We still won that round and I think we adapted well, but that’s the challenge of the ethics bowl. You never know what a thoughtful judge or moderator will ask and you have to be able to think on the fly. That’s why it’s important to have a solid understanding of the facts of the case and the ethical framework your team is using.” The topics explored required extensive research and reevaluation of one’s positions. One such topic, regarding the ethics and meaning behind Civil War reenactments made Lefkowitz and Velez rethink their initial positions. “When we started out I was against [the topic] because I just thought if it’s a hot topic, if it’s making people uncom-
fortable, [then] let’s just not [do it], but then I did a lot of research into it and once I applied the framework in particular, I started to see kind of all these holes in my reasoning, and I was learning things that I didn’t know before,” Lefkowitz said. “I was really apathetic towards the case when I first got it. I was like, we got more important things to be talking about, but by the time I was done with it, it was like my baby. I put all this work into it and then I felt really strongly by the end. So that was a transformation that happened through the course of preparation and competing.” Preparing for and debating difficult topics like the DNR and Civil War reenactment cases have helped these student members individually in gaining a valuable skill set. It has helped members improve their public speaking, think critically, practice presenting their viewpoints in a civil manner and educate themselves on important issues to name a few. For Velez, he was able to improve his public speaking skills which he initially had difficulty with. “I’m not great at public speaking,” Velez said. “So this has helped me tremendously in that manner. Not only that, it’s helped me gain a new perspective on certain things, on ethics…as this being my first time being in a debate team, the team was very welcoming, and the experience was very… easy.”
The Ethics Bowl team is currently looking to recruit more members and prepare for the next competition in December. The new cases have not been released, but student members still have meetings open to everyone once every two weeks to go over cases and thought experiments. The team will have faculty talks and they are currently planning a showcase debate on some of the topics they prepared for in the past such as the opt-in optout case for organ donors, and the covert medication case for patients with dementia. The Ethics Bowl competition is not simply about beating the opposite team, but also about sincerely exploring the ethical issues presented. Teams can even agree with each other, and add to each other’s arguments. “What makes [the] Ethics Bowl different from say Lincoln-Douglas style debate is that we aren’t assigned a position, nor do the cases come with ethical questions attached to them,” Strawbridge wrote in an email. “That to me is closer to how ethical dilemmas are presented to us in the real world. Rarely are the questions we’re faced with easily reduced to for and against a certain proposition. Ethics Bowl teaches you to identify the many different ethical questions relating to contemporary issues and rewards students and teams who are able to appreciate and articulate the nuances in them.” Editor’s Note: Peter Janny is the Sports Editor of The Quadrangle
Manhattan College's Ethics Bowl team earned 10th place out of 20 teams in the Northeast Regional competition last December. HARRISON FLUSS / COURTESY
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Peace Week Sparks Social Justice Awareness at MC Kelly Cwik & Adrianne Hutto
Arts & Entertainment Editor and Asst. Production Editor Peace and Justice week is a time to show how Manhattan College is dedicated to maintaining a diverse, informative environment on campus. For over 35 years this event has been held, in an effort to raise awareness and educate members of the college community. This year, Peace and Justice week took place Feb. 21-26 and began with a justice-themed mass on Sunday and concluded with the dedication of the Peace Pole, located on the quadrangle. The theme for this year was: “Remembering What Really Happened: Peace and Justice of the New Millennium.” The Quadrangle spoke with Dr. Nuwan Jayawickreme, the Program Director of Peace and Justice Society Program, who explained that the theme was chosen to shed light on the past and current injustices in America. “[The theme is] the idea being that if you don’t know what the problem is, if you can’t look at the problem right in the eyes and understand it, you really aren’t going to come up with any good solutions,” Jayawickreme said. This year’s Peace Week consisted of eight events of
various different types. Events included two lectures, “Making Sense of Historical Monuments,” and “American Indian Historical Trauma: A Conceptual Overview,” from visiting professors. Additionally, there was a Brown Bag Discussion, “What Does it Mean to Decolonize Psychological Research,” a Slice of Social Justice event, “What History Can Teach Us About the Struggle for Racial Justice,” a student-led conversation on advancing racial justice, an art and civic practice event and lastly, the dedication of the Peace Pole. “The goal of Peace Week is to grab the attention of the college community by… saturating the college calendar with a series of events,” Jayawickreme said. “So in a sense, you know if you can’t make one event you can make another event.” He saw this as a fitting response to the recent injustices we’ve seen across the country. Jayawickreme said he and the rest of the Peace and Justice Advisory Committee viewed it as an opportunity to shed light on these injustices and to also cement the school’s stance on certain objective historical facts. “My hope is that one of the many events they’ve attended kind of plants a seed in their mind where they become more curious about an issue and they learn more about a particular injustice,” Jayawickreme said. “None of these
events are going to answer every single person’s questions about any of these injustices. None of these events is going to give you a full understanding about any of these topics, but these topics are complex, they’re long-lasting.” Jayawickreme hopes that these events will further students’ interest in social justice and equity. He encourages them to join the Peace and Justice major or minor as a way to continue learning about these kinds of topics. Naouras Mousa Almatar, Campus Ministry and Social Action Suite graduate assistant, worked with Jayawickreme to put Peace Week together. In an email to The Quadrangle, Almatar explained the importance of Peace Week and the effectiveness of the events and speakers. “Peace Week is an important reminder to our community of the efforts that we take to fight for racial, social, and gender justice,” Almatar wrote. “Every event teaches us more and shows us what we can do differently to make things right. The events also bring outside speakers that are not part of our community, and in my opinion, it’s always good to have a new, different, and refreshing opinion about different topics.” Rachel Roca, a senior and co-president of Just Peace, was a moderator for the event “A Student-Led Conversation
The Dedication of the Peace Poll outside Smith Auditorium on Friday, February 26th was the final event of Peace and Justice Week 2021 BRIAN ASARE / THE QUADRANGLE
Peace and Justice Week 2021 offered a series of social justice-themed events to students remote and virtual, ending with the dedication of the Peace Poll. BRIAN ASARE / THE QUADRANGLE on Advancing Racial Justice at Manhattan College” and gave a speech at the Dedication of the Peace Pole. At “A Student-Led Conversation on Advancing Racial Justice at Manhattan College” students were able to discuss their experiences on campus regarding racial justice. “I’m hoping that ‘A Student-Led Conversation on Advancing Racial Justice at Manhattan College’ can lead to actionable steps to make MC a more just and inclusive environment,” Roca wrote in an email. “This is a great way to get in touch with the community, but it is not enough to hear their thoughts, experiences, and concerns. Work needs to be done to implement solutions that address the issues raised.” Similar to Jayawickreme and Almatar, Roca believes Peace Week is important to have on campus to bring awareness and inspire students to take action. “It really forces MC to critically see the issues our society faces,” Roca wrote. “The goal is to both educate during these events, but also encourage people to want to become active in the community. Peace Week fits so well into our Lasallian Values, and it is important to realize these aren’t values we should follow just when it is convenient for us.”
Despite the pandemic, Peace and Justice Week still ran properly, even in a remote format. Without having to pay for travel and stay for the guest, the Peace and Justice Advisory Committee was able to get a more diverse range of speakers. However, there is the loss of peer-to-peer interactions and limitations to the kind of dialogue being shared. “I do think something is lost when you don’t meet people in person though. You can’t talk to the speaker in person, people going to the event can’t just have a conversation with one another after they are leaving the event and after the event people just click out of the meeting and that’s it,” Jayawickreme said. Despite this, Almatar believes Peace Week served as a way for students to learn and be reminded of the issues grappling with many members of society. “The students get to learn about new racial and social justice and also learn about what efforts they can take for justice and peace that they haven’t explored in the past,” he wrote. “It also reminds our community of our commitment to our mission, which is, in simple terms, making the world a better place for those who need help.”
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MARCH 2, 2021
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Moon Thai Kitchen Delivers Mouth Watering Cuisine To the MC Community Zoe DeFazio Staff Writer
Moon Thai Kitchen opened on Oct. 6, 2020, in Riverdale, just two doors down from Manhattan College’s treasured Jasper Deli on West 238th Street. The new Thai restaurant is the place to go to feed your boba addiction and curb your hunger. According to Moon Thai Kitchen’s website, the restaurant is owned by two couples from Queens, who are committed to providing quality food. “The best of the best, presented under a roof of a Thai restaurant in the center of the Bronx. With twenty years of experience cooking in the finest restaurants, our chef is excited to present their vision to you and all our guests,” the website says. Moon Thai Kitchen is open from Monday through Satur-
day between 11:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. They offer a variety of delicious cuisine from boba bubble tea to rice galore and spicy curry. On top of that, Moon Thai Kitchen offers delivery from Grubhub, UberEats and Seamless. Resmon Ewald, one of the partners of Moon Thai Kitchen describes that the Riverdale community has made opening a restaurant during the pandemic less challenging. “Since opening, the response has been very positive,” Ewald said. “The local community has been very supportive of small businesses like ours. We are very grateful because even in the middle of a pandemic, where many businesses have to close their doors for good, we still can survive.” My Initial Reaction As I approached the establishment I was pleased to see a sign that states “no mask, no
Moon Thai is not currently avaliable for indoor dinning, however, customers can opt for take-out. ZOE DEFAZIO/ THE QUADRANGLE
entry.” The scene was clean and the staff was wearing personal protective equipment giving me a sense of security and reassurance. It was nice to know that the people preparing my food comply with safety precautions regarding COVID-19. Upon entering, I was greeted by the friendly staff members, the sweet smell of coconut and a wide range of spices. The big windows at the front of the restaurant gave the place great lighting but make no mistake when the sun goes down the low, dim hanging lights create a sensual romantic ambiance making it the perfect place for date night. Moon Thai Kitchen is great for those nights you want to stay in with friends and enjoy take out from the comfort of your dorm. The Menu Moon Thai Kitchen’s menu is filled with delicious dishes packed with flavor. They offer classic Thai cuisine in a modern twist. The ingredients used in each dish are high quality that is noticeable in each bite you take. Not only are the ingredients excellent, but they are also sourced fresh every day from local farmer’s markets. “Our menu is Thai cuisine, combining fish, vegetables, and other meat cooked with many kinds of spices such as lemongrass, tamarind, ginger, basil, peanut, garlic, chili, coriander and coconut milk,” Ewald said. “The most famous dishes are Pad Thai and curry dishes. While the seasoning can be spicy for a foreign palate, our Chef ensures that a balance of salty, sweet, sour, bitter and spicy is present.” Although the food was already so enticing, what immediately caught my eye was their drink selection. Bubble
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Moon Thai on West 238th opened its door nearly 6 months ago and is already providing MC students with Thai food that is worth the walk. MOON THAI/ COURTESY tea has become increasingly popular these past few years and I too have taken part in the trend, so when I noticed that they provide the fun drink I knew I had come to the right place. Freshman Jessica DeFeo also took note of the popular drink and commends its quality. “I haven’t ordered food from Moon Thai Kitchen but their bubble tea is great,” DeFeo said. “I’ve tried both mango and taro and the taro was better. As for location, I haven’t eaten there in person, but the few minutes I was in there to pick up the bubble tea the place seemed nice.” My Meal I realized it was going to be hard just choosing just one entree when I first looked at the menu– everything was so enticing. I ended up ordering the
Tom Kha with a side of white rice, mango bubble tea and mango sticky rice as a dessert. I enjoyed every bit of my meal. I was overjoyed by the bursts of flavor from the impeccable taste of the citrus in the Tom Kha and the sweetness of the mango sticky rice. The mango bubble tea was my personal favorite. The sweet and silky bubble tea and the chewy boba was the highlight of my day. As a broke college student, I was relieved of the price. My total came out to $21.70 and every penny was well spent. Overall Even though I wasn’t able to dine in, I really enjoyed my experience at Moon Thai Kitchen. The clean atmosphere, friendly staff and great food make it incredibly difficult for me not to return. I will definitely be coming back.
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Peace Week Presentation Inspires Candid Conversation on American Indian History Lauren Raziano & Kelly Kennedy
Social Media Editor & Asst. Social Media Editor To celebrate Peace Week, Manhattan College has held two events in order to discuss psychological trauma and its effects on society. The first presentation was on historic American Indian trauma and the second was a follow-up discussion about decolonizing psychological research. Both events were held online via google meet. The first event, ‘American Indian Historical Trauma: A Conceptual Overview,’ was held on Tuesday, Feb. 23 and featured a presentation by Harvard professor Joseph P. Gone, PhD., focused on generational American Indian trauma. Gone is an expert in the psychology and mental health of American Indians and other indigenous peoples. The presentation began with Gone speaking on behalf of himself and the indigenous people about the mental effects of generational trauma. By outlining the historical trauma of the American Indian population he was able to give insights into the experiences of indigenous people to those who have not experienced it. “There has always been and remains terrific diversity among tribal peoples,” Gone said. “We’ve really experienced a remarkable demographic rebound prior to the arrival of Europeans that were maybe fiveplus million people and what is now the continental United States who were indigenous peoples.” Gone continued by speaking about the historical oppression of the American Indian population. He then transitioned into discussing the aftermath of historical oppression and how
it affects the mental health of Indigenous people still today. “When it comes to individual psychology, it means a loss of identity, a loss of purpose, a sense of belonging, and who you are, what you’re supposed to do what you’re supposed to be about,” Gone said. ”In the context of colonial disruptions, a lot of Native people have experienced this sort of disorientation. And that gives rise to the importance of trying to reclaim a robust and proud cultural identity as an indigenous person.” The presentation ended with Gone opening up a discussion based on questions from students and faculty who attended the meeting. The presentation was well received by the Manhattan College community. Elena Willoughby is a freshman art history major who attended Gone’s presentation on Tuesday. “I specifically chose [to attend] the ‘American Indian Historical Trauma: A Conceptual Overview’ session because of how personally connected I feel to the issue itself,” Willoughby said.“At this stage in my life, I have become more wary of the deep-rooted effects of systemic racism in this society. It is quite literally everywhere if you look deep enough.” The second event was held on Wednesday, Feb. 24 where staff and students attended a follow-up discussion to Dr. Gone’s presentation. The discussion, led by Roksana Badruddoja, Ph.D., and Danielle Young, Ph.D., was entitled “What Does It Mean to Decolonize Psychological Research? Identifying Methods and Practices.” Badruddoja is a faculty member of the department of sociology and affiliated faculty with the Women and Gender Studies program, and the Critical Race and Ethnicity Studies
program. The other co-host, Young, is a faculty member for the department of psychology. The conversation further explored psychology within racial relationships and whether psychology as a discipline adequately addresses issues faced by colonized groups like American Indians. Badruddoja opened the talk by describing her definition of trauma. “I craft trauma to mean an internal response to overwhelming pain, brief hurt, scare irreparable heartbreak, a horrific experience that can’t be processed at the moment, and or overtime, right across a single lifespan and or across generations,” Badruddoja said. The importance of trauma and the response to it can affect how people form appropriate relationships. Badruddoja describes how communication is the key to healing trauma. “My response then is connectivity and communication are salient facets of trauma healing work,” Badruddoja said. “It’s not about saving people, and it’s definitely not about implementing theories and techniques as an expert…. Rather, it’s about listening with all of our senses and our entire body to the story that is unfolding. And particularly how the person is making sense of their
experience.” The discussion continued with Young’s psychological perspective on Gone’s talk about how historical trauma is linked to suffering. “Dr. Gone noted that there were some really strong outcomes of thinking about historical trauma. As a more or less, I would say a literal thing to serve as a tool to legitimize suffering, and to minimize the need for repair,” Young said. Young and Badruddoja agree that to decolonize psychological research the identifying methods and practices are to focus on the trauma and reconnect within our own community to start the healing process. “I think our communities need to engage in healing and reconnect with our ancestral ways within our own communities,” Badruddoja said. As a way to connect with others amid COVID-19 restrictions, the event was online. Due to the panel discussion being held via Google Meet, participants such as Willoughby were able to share their thoughts on the format of the event and the topics discussed. “Personally, I found the online format to be a great quality of the event, as it allowed for an even flow of conversation between the speakers and the
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audience,” Willoughby said. The online format allowed for more students to have the ability to be more candid and honest during the discourse. “Functions such as the chat mechanic allow for the audience to not feel like they are interrupting the conversation. Even the ability to speak with your camera off is huge to me, especially since I asked a question at the end of the event with my camera off. In those moments after, I felt so much less judgment to express my words than I would have in most public events.” Willoughby said. This Peace Week discussion panel also sparked deeper psychological questions as to how to craft American Indian responses to historical oppression and ongoing disadvantages in society. “Dr. Young posed a thought-provoking question that still resonates with me every time I think about it: “Is decolonization possible when the settlers are still here?” Willoughby said. “That is a question that I think every American citizen should have in the back of their heads within this discourse. I will end by saying this: gatekeeping indigenous-based psychological research does nothing but further suppress their generational traumas.”
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Dr. Badruddoja and Dr.Young lead an informal discussion of the ideas presented in Dr. Joseph P. Gone’s presentation via Google Meet on Feb. 24th. LAUREN RAZIANO/ THE QUADRANGLE
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MARCH 2, 2021
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Finding Your Voice: The Story Behind Civil Rights Activist Ever Lee Hairston Adrianne Hutto
Asst. Production Editor The blind Civil Rights and Disability Rights activist Ever Lee Hairston hosted the “Finding Your Voice Event” on Feb. 11 and spoke to students all over the country, Jaspers included. As Black History Month draws to a close and Women’s History month begins, the event left an educational and insightful impact. Hairston gave a powerful recount of her journey, from growing up in the segregated South to her adulthood, where she struggled with her sight and eventually gave up her dream of being a nurse. Despite all the struggles she’s faced, Hairston was determined to “find her voice” and strive to live a happy life among the challenges. “Find your voice, but it’s finding my voice tonight,” Hairston said. “Being your authentic self and finding opportunities. From the slave fields to the Hollywood Hills of California. We don’t have the power to make life famous, but we do have the power to make life joyful. I learned that life was tough. But apparently, I am tougher and resilient.” Hairston recounted her experience living on a plantation. She explained that her siblings and her would be forced to miss school to pick and chop cotton.
She explains how one fall day, her father dropped her siblings and her off at the cotton fields before he left for work. After picking twenty or so yards, she looked down and saw a snake. Despite her fear, Hairston was encouraged by her brother to continue. “When he returned for us, I’m sure he was going to be disappointed because we had not picked very much cotton,” Hairston said. “But I began to cry and I placed my head in my hands and I prayed ‘oh God there must be a better way for life for me.” Soon after, she responded to an ad in the paper looking for a live-in maid. She then moved to New York where she was charged with the care of a three-year-old with a terminal illness. At the end of the summer, the young girl, unfortunately, passed away. Hairston then applied for Duke University’s Nursing School; however, she failed the eye exam and was not admitted to the nursing program. Despite this setback, Hairston refused to give up. She applied to North Carolina Central University and lived off-campus with her aunt and uncle. Using the money she had earned caring for the young girl, she was able to afford the first year of tuition. One day, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. came to Hairston’s campus to conduct a seminar
and she had the chance to meet him and hear him speal. Having this opportunity opened her eyes to the discrimination that she had faced her entire life. It encouraged her to get involved with the Civil Rights Movement and Dr. King’s message. She detailed a march of two thousand students, who went from campus to a nearby Sears Roebuck and Company. The protesters had rocks and debris thrown at them, but Dr. King had taught them not to react, to just keep marching. “Dr. King continued to talk to us as we were sitting on that parking lot,” Hairston said. “He said, ‘Sears Roebuck and Company is refusing to hire blacks. We are here to protest.’ As we sat on that parking lot the police moved in and ordered us to move, refusing the order we remain[ed] steadfast in our sitting position,” Hairston said. Despite peacefully sitting down, the police arrived quickly, taking Hairston and the other protesters to jail. “They put us so close in those jail cells, that if necessary we could have performed mouth to mouth resuscitation,” Hairston said. While there, Hairston and the other protesters who were detained watched as the jail keeper had a heart attack and died. The protesters were in fear, not only for what they had seen but that they might be blamed for what happened. De-
spite her family’s disapproval of her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, Hairston marched in Washington, D.C. with Dr. King in August of 1963. After graduation, she moved to New Jersey, where she received an invitation to attend the National Federation of the Blind Convention in Phoenix, Arizona. When Hairston arrived at the convention, she was given literature and asked if she preferred it written or in braille. “Well I can no longer read print and I had not been taught braille. A light bulb went off for me. Tears began to roll down my cheeks. I thought, ‘here I am a college graduate and illiterate,’” Hairston said. While at the convention Hairston learned about the National Federation of the Blind Trade Centers. One in particular that interested her was in Louisiana. It took her almost two years before she was able to get to the center. While she was there, they taught her technology and independent living skills. One day, Hairston went with a group of other students to New Orleans where she was tasked with finding a bus stop on her own and riding it to the Monroe Mall. Despite people on the street trying to assist her, Hariston was able to use her understanding of her surroundings and what she could hear to make her way to the bus stop. When she arrived at
the Mall, the other students and staff cheered for her. Once Hairston received this education, she was able to use her skills to improve her personal and professional life. She worked her way up the ladder and was put in a supervisory role. Despite this, she was still paid less than white people in the same position as her. Some of the people beneath her would confront her with their racist or prejudiced beliefs that they should not have to work under a blind black woman. “Others gave me some challenges, but I had no problem writing them up for insubordination because I wasn’t going anywhere,” Hairston said. Since then Hairston has been the President of the state chapter of the National Federation of the Blind in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. She was the co-founder of the Business of Professional Women’s Club Incorporated, where she was able to award scholarships to Black students. Additionally, she was the co-founder and coordinator for the LEAD Program, where she was responsible for teaching blind teenagers leadership, advocacy, and education skills. She was also named employee of the year at the New Jersey Department of Health and Human Services. She became a full member of the National Federation for the Blind and was elected as the first Vice-President.
Ever Lee Hairston is a motivational speaker for disability and civil rights who grew up in the segregated South. ADRIANNE HUTTO/ THE QUADRANGLE
Arts & Entertainment
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THE QUADRANGLE
Miguel Luciano: An Artist Alexa Schmidt Senior Writer
To wrap up this year’s Peace and Justice Week, the Art History and Digital Media Art department sponsored a lecture from Miguel Luciano, an Artist in Residence in The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Civic Practice Partnership Residency program. Typically, public art and art institutions have played a critical role in highlighting past and current injustices, as well as our understanding of history. Artists, like Luciano, have been challenging institutions to confront their colonial legacies through themes of history, popular culture, social justice and migration through sculpture, painting and socially engaged public art projects. Luciano’s residency allows him to work with an extraordinary group of artists across different disciplines, all of whom are connected to and work on social justice issues in their work. This residency in particular happens through The MET’s Education department. “It opened the door to artists who have these practices that connect to communities,” Luciano said. “To think about how we connect to the museum, leverage the resources of the museum in service of the work we do in our communities.” Luciano, as a sculptor, painter, and educator, specifically confronts paradoxes that happen in art institutions and history. “I’m interested in terms of sort of looking at our colonial history, and how to sort of confront and engage this, this paradox of our colonial status in a way that allows us to sort of move through it and but also think about histories of resistance that have been part of that history and continue to be
part of our experience today,” Luciano said. Luciano presented a series of images that allow him to interrogate how history is presented to us, and how we can change that narrative. “This became a way for me to sort of think about how we deconstruct this imagery that we’ve just kind of accepted, so readily,” Luciano said. “And actually confront it to create more challenging text and narrative about it in the wall text that’s on the wall and even online descriptions, but not necessarily with a critical tone but in very matter-of-fact ways, and how it’s described kind of skirting away to politically interrogate these images.” One of Luciano’s favorite projects involved the use of ordinary objects: kites. In 2012, he created the Amani Kites, and a year later, the DREAMer Kites. The Armani Kites project was created through the smARTpower Program, an initiative of the Bronx Museum of the Arts and the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the U.S. Department of State. Luciano traveled to Nairobi, Kenya and worked with artists of all ages in local communities. The large-scale kites had participants’ self-portraits displayed, as a symbol of flying, and generated conversation about freedom. This same concept applied to the DREAMer kites, where images of undocumented youth were flown along the National Mall in Washington, D.C., to draw attention and support for the DREAM Act and immigration reform. Each participant gets to keep their kite, and according to Luciano, the most special part about it is “seeing joy in the act of flying.” “Here’s the thing for me about the kites,” Luciano said. “I love that joy is a big part of it. And the joy and play in a return to that space as art, as a kind of resistance, as a kind of
the embodiment of connection and collaboration. You can’t fly a kite by yourself like that. You need somebody to launch your image for you while you hold onto the strings. So it entails collaboration no matter what. I love them because of how beautiful and how careful everybody is with their own images and with each other’s images, there’s something really special just about that. And it’s a slow process, you know these workshops take place over the process of a week or two. And then when they’re done, they’re these really dramatic portraits that hopefully in the end will fly.” In addition to offering oth-
ers artistic experiences, Luciano creates work based on his personal experiences. Luciano is from Puerto Rico, and much of his works off his identity. Leah Krouse, a sophomore, attended the lecture and connected with Luciano’s work. “I’m from LA so I grew up in a Spanish-speaking community, and I’ve been taught Spanish literally since preschool,” Krouse said. “And, you know, it’s huge, it’s almost like everyone in LA is part of that community, especially when you go into the city. It was incredible. And the emphasis on art from the community is very big. And I love it. It’s something I treasure.” Cristina Pérez Jiménez, pro-
fessor of English is a big fan of Luciano’s work, and attended the lecture. Not only does Luciano’s work affect her, but it also carries over into her classroom and encourages students to reflect on what they’ve been taught. “We actually just at Manhattan College, I just finished teaching a unit on the Young Lords and we finished analyzing your mapping resistance works and the students just had beautiful responses,” Dr. Pérez Jiménez said. “It’s wonderful to get to hear you speak.” Editor’s Note: Jilleen Barrett contributed to reporting.
Miguel Luciano, an Artist in Residence in The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Civic Practice Partnership Residency program. MIGUEL LUCIANO / COURTESY
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MARCH 2, 2021
Arts & Entertainment
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The “Folk of the Air” Trilogy BOOK NOOK Lauren Driscoll Contributor
The year 2020 seems to have blurred itself into 2021 as the pandemic is still here and the world of remote classes remains. However, if you’re anything like me you’ve found yourself looking for ways to escape this new reality. Some may turn to movies and television shows, but in my case, I turn to books. As of late, I found myself escaping into the world of Elfhame in the Folk of the Air trilogy by Holly Black. The Cruel Prince (2018) “The Cruel Prince” opens the story of faerie by setting the scene with a girl named Jude Duarte and her twin sister, Taryn. Although the twins grew up among the fae in the enchanting world of Elfhame, they are not one of them because of one blaring difference– their mortality. They have tried their best to fit in, but are constantly reminded of how they will never truly be a part of the fae’s society, especially by the youngest prince of Elfhame, Carden, and his following. Jude once wanted a path of nobility as a knight of the kingdom, but as things got harder and her enemies increased while her friends dwindled, she turned to the darkness to help achieve her ends. The main characters in this novel felt over-saturated in the sense that there wasn’t one character that had a good balance of personality; Jude and Carden were angry all the time, but the author didn’t seem to
elaborate on the why or any other emotion besides anger. The rest of the characters were completely underdeveloped, which was very frustrating because certain characters, especially Taryn, were brought up multiple times throughout the storyline and yet the reader knew so little about them. Black’s redeeming quality for “The Cruel Prince” was that the storyline did keep the reader engaged and had many twists that left the reader constantly on edge. A perfect example of this is when Jude and Carden put their differences aside and became allies in the larger scheme within the novel. The way Black described their relationship, fight scenes, conversations, etc. -- even the smallest details that would normally be overlooked -- completely enabled the reader to become immersed in the plot. The New York Times bestseller has the perfect combination of edge, light and romance that allows the reader to be swept away into a land filled with magic without losing the reader’s attention. Despite its lack of character development, it is a gripping opening to the series and will leave the reader eager to return to Elfhame. Rating: 8/10 The Wicked King (2019) The cruel prince, Carden, emerges as the wicked king of Elfhame in the second installment of the trilogy, just in time for a traitor to emerge from the shadows to challenge the throne. Jude must uncover who the traitor is to save the
kingdom and Carden, but first, she must save herself from the grasps of Queen Orlagh of the Undersea. Similar to “The Cruel Prince,” Black’s lack of character development is very frustrating, particularly when it comes to Taryn because she betrays Jude. Betrayal is not unknown to this trilogy, but normally the readers are satisfied with knowing the reasons behind them; in this instance, Black offers no sense of reason. This is especially frustrating because the reader does not know Taryn because of her lack of development in the first book, so the betrayal comes from nowhere and seemingly without any motive. With lots of original gusto without any spice, the plot seemed to fall flat as there was tension building throughout between the Undersea and Elfhame but with no satisfactory end. In the closure of “The Wicked King”, Carden betrayed Jude to resolve any tensions with the Undersea, but again, there was no reason, which made this cliffhanger particularly frustrating. Had the plotline not been closed by a cliffhanger, or if the tension had reached a climax instead of gradually growing only to reach an abrupt halt that fastly simmers out, “The Wicked King” would have been an epic novel. I also found myself no longer rooting for Jude, who is supposed to be the hero of the story, or any character for that matter, which I believe has to do with the lack of character development that has
been experienced throughout the previous novel and this one. Furthermore, the character development issue would not have been as frustrating had the storyline been as gripping as “The Cruel Prince” and probably would have kept me more engaged had there been the redeeming qualities of a gripping storyline. “The Wicked King” had the makings of a promising book, but it does not meet the expectations its predecessor had left behind. More than anything, it created immense amounts of frustration, especially because up until the final ten chapters of the book it had the makings of an incredible second installment. Rating: 5/10 The Queen of Nothing (2019) Black’s conclusion to the world of faerie, “The Queen of Nothing”, offers a sense of closure for avid readers of the series. As a final attempt to dethrone Carden erupts, a curse plagues the kingdom of Elfame leaving Jude to return from exile to once again save the kingdom from destruction. Although “The Wicked King” was lacking in spice, “The Queen of Nothing’’ had a whole lot of it. The plot was anything but flat, however, it got strange very quickly when Carden turned into a giant black serpent that was plaguing Elfhame’s land. I found this to be strange and very out of place, but it was definitely a plot twist that the second novel was begging for.
“The Queen of Nothing” does have a sense of finality to the series, it leaves the reader wanting more in terms of the relationship between Carden and Jude; Black has Jude forgive Carden for his betrayal, but I feel it is done too easily and fast so that there isn’t much satisfaction in it, nor does it make Jude’s forgiveness feel warranted. Although the plotline is strange, it does keep the reader engaged and makes for an interesting and imaginative story. The ending was also very satisfying for fans of the series as Black leaves the implication that there will be peace within Elfhame under the rule of Jude and Carden -- essentially neatly tying the storyline to a close with a bow. The final installment is lacking in some areas, but it is an improvement from “The Wicked King” and saves the series. The Folk of the Air series remains the perfect amalgamation between daring adventures and magic without seeming overdone or flashy. Rating: 7/10 Holly Black forged a bridge between reality and the magic world of Elfhame, allowing the reader to fully escape and emerge themself into the story. The Folk of the Air trilogy was once highly recommended to me, and now I recommend it to you so that you too might allow your imagination to run wild into the woods of Elfhame.
Catching up with Scatterbomb, Manhattan’s Improv Comedy Group Jocelyn Visnov
Asst. Production Editor Manhattan College’s improv comedy group has returned for spring semester to tickle our funny bones. After flying under the radar for quite some time, members of Scatterbomb are ecstatic to be collaborating together once again. Improv is a style of performance in which actors create an entertaining show for their audience with no plans prior to stepping on stage. This means no scripts, no memorizing lines, just pure wit and creativity. Aedan Roney, a co-president of the group, explained what exactly improv comedy is all about. “It’s a collaborative experience in which all of the performers build a narrative in the moment,” Roney said. “Typically for live shows, nothing is scripted and it’s just about working off of each other and building off one another.” Thinking on your feet in
front of a live audience is no easy task. Jenn Bueti, a co-president of Scatterbomb, spoke about how the magic happens. “It’s completely made up on the spot,” she said. “We do practices for it just to get the creative juices flowing, but usually when we come into a show we would ask for a word suggestion. We use that word to generate ideas in our heads and do sketches and skits off of that. And yeah, it’s just instantaneous comedy.” Pre-COVID, Scatterbomb would perform on campus about twice per month. They have started past shows based on seasonal words or phrases to encourage audience participation and foster comedy relevant to the time. Past examples include shows based on Halloween or other holidays and even a denim-themed show. Scatterbomb recently held socially distanced auditions, bringing in a few fresh faces to the group. Caroline Voigt, a junior, is among their newest members. She told us a little bit
about what it was like to audition for the group. “We all started doing exercises just to warm up,” she said. “It would be like, name five things and then it would be a theme for the five things… you have to think on your feet.” Caroline received an invitation to callbacks and was soon asked to join the group. “I really have no idea what I’m walking into,” she said. “But they’re all very nice and welcoming and very funny.” With their new group fully intact, Scatterbomb plans to start meeting weekly. With masks and social distancing in place, this group is still able to work together in practicing and refining their improvisational skills. The team gets by with a little help from a Manhattan and Scatterbomb alum. “Our intention is to meet every week but with our improv coach every other week,” Roney said. “Our improv coach is actually a Manhattan alum who was on the team when she was attend-
ing here.” Bueti expressed to us that part of what makes the group so successful is the camaraderie they experience offstage. “It’s just like a very tight knit family,” Bueti said. “I really am thankful for them and I tell them all the time. This experience being in Scatterbomb has been very crucial to my college
experience.” While they’re unsure exactly when, this group hopes to have at least one COVID-safe show before the semester ends. Until then, you can stay up to date with Scatterbomb and find out when they’re performing by following their Instagram @scatterbombmc.
Manhattan College’s improv comedy group, Scatterbomb, has returned for spring semester to tickle our funny bones. JENN BUETI / COURTESY
Arts & Entertainment
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THE QUADRANGLE
Manhattan Hosts Wake Forest University Professor for Peace Week Jilleen Barrett & Alexa Schmidt
A&E Editor & Senior Writer Peace and Justice week took place at Manhattan College during the last week of February and included many events which honored the theme of “Remembering What Really Happened: Peace and Justice for a New Millenium.” One of the first events was “Making Sense of Historical Monuments” with Lisa Blee, Ph.D. Blee is a professor at Wake Forest University and teaches many courses surrounding American history. Her research includes American Indian and settler politics, historical memory and commemorations. Blee’s lecture focused on the controversies that surround monuments built for famous historical figures who were once considered heroes, and how protests are affecting American lives. “Memorials and historical monuments are ubiquitous across the country, and they become flashpoints for pro-
tests and confrontations,” Blee said. “The 2017 Unite the Right gathered in Charlottesville and rallied around the city’s Confederate monuments. And then the violent confrontation with antiracism protesters resulted in the murder of Heather Heyer this past summer of 2020. In direct response to the murder of George Floyd, we saw research and activism in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement around monuments to slavery and white supremacy.” She also explained how protestors are often met with a reaction from the government. “Alongside the clashes over the removal of monuments, we see movement to protect monuments and to create new ones,” she said. “Several states passed laws against the removal and President Trump signed an executive order in 2020, calling for stiff penalties for altering federally owned monuments.” Despite the law protecting existing monuments, it does not prevent new ones from being erected or institutions to evaluate their history. “In 2018, the first memorial to the victims of lynching
opened in Montgomery, Alabama, and a new monument to those murdered in the 1950s civil rights struggle was added a year later,” Blee said. “Several universities have recently empowered conditions to investigate their institutions’ role and slavery, and contemplate building memorials on campus, most notably, I think, a memorial to enslaved laborers at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.” Rosy Moody, a junior history major at Manhattan College, attended the event and had the opportunity to ask Blee a question. She explained that she believes reviewing the nation’s history is important, even if it is uncomfortable to do so. “I sked, ‘to what extent is it historically important to keep monuments that might be problematic?’” she wrote in a message to The Quadrangle. “As a history major I know a lot of history is upsetting but it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t remember it and learn.” Others in the MC community have considered the idea of discussing the history behind monuments, including
Marisa Lerer, Ph.D. Lerer, an associate professor of art history, explained how she plans to integrate what she learned from Blee into her curriculum. “I teach a course specifically on monuments and memorials, but in all of my courses we discuss monument and memorial construction as well as the controversies that surround them,” Lerer said. “We also examine how some artists in the 19th and early 20th century depict Native Americans as if they’ve vanished so discussing the Cyrus Dallin’s statue Massasoit that Dr. Blee focused on and the impact that it has on revisiting history and commemorative practices will most certainly enrich my classes. It provides another critical example of the way that monuments impact historical dialogues.” Lerer believes that monuments are certainly works of art, but also views them as a representation of all aspects of a culture, which reiterates the question of if certain monuments should be removed altogether. “I think what’s most important to remember is that a
monument is always a reflection of the people’s beliefs who commissioned it at the time that a monument was created,” she said. “What they represent can change over time.” Blee ended the lecture with the notion that tropes often get repeated. While history can be altered to fit a certain narrative, historians and regular people alike have the power to change it for a better future. “Where memory denies the deep histories of people and their continuing presence in urban and modern spaces, it’s quite deliberately being discussed. When it comes to the pursuit of peace and justice nationally or in your own neighborhood, you might ask yourselves whether we want to continue to tell such narratives about our history. So we return to my main question: what do the particular monuments do for our society in terms of peace and justice? They demand that we reflect and engage monuments, open conversations on whether we might value other perspectives as we define our collective identity. They are never the last word.”
NYC Will Sing and Dance Again Colleen E. McNamara Asst. Sports Editor
New York City is known for bright lights, live entertainment, and unforgettable performances. This is all the more reason for the NYC community to look forward to in-person theatre, which might be coming soon. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is hopeful that New York City theatre will begin opening its doors to live performances with restrictions in place. The limited number of audience members allowed to watch live performances might need proof of negative COVID test results along with other precautions. The New York City Ballet plans to look past their digital season ending in June 2021 and look forward to an Opening Night celebration and four-week fall program full of contemporary, comedic and favored performances, according to their website. Matthew Blackwood, a theatre minor and house manager for Manhattan College Players is currently directing Manhattan College’s production of Marcus is Walking, a virtual show being performed this semester. He understands how theatre can be more difficult for those performing when it is
entirely virtual. “It is difficult as actors not being in the same room as the audience to feed off of, so I can’t imagine how exciting it might be to have a live audience and being with castmates,” Blackwood said. Blackwood empathizes with professional actors and dancers after working with Manhattan College students to put on a production. “I am excited and wary about the re-opening of productions, but if it is safe I am excited,” he said. Jennifer Bueti, senior president of Manhattan College Singers and co-president of Scatterbomb, Manhattan College’s improv club, is thrilled that live theatre plans are underway. “There’s nothing else like [a live performance] and it might be even better than it was before,” Bueti said. Actors and ballerinas have trained their entire lives to showcase their craft in front of a live audience. Bueti spoke about how difficult it is to have to perform online after years of hard work. “I feel horrible for them, they’ve been in the dark for so long, I can’t imagine the pain waiting to go back to perform,” Bueti said. Bueti has attended the Met Opera and Who’s Afraid of Regina Wolf on Broadway in-per-
son before all NYC theatres were shut down in mid-March. “I would like to be one of the first to see a live performance again, but also might sit back and see the procedure and what happens, [and] will be in the second group of people watching the live performance,” Bueti said. After the Superbowl hosted 22,000 fans, the theatre community is hopeful that they might also have live entertainment after months of uncertainty as to if NYC was ever going to have a live theater in the near future. “I’m excited and I’m happy that New York City is waking up again,” Bueti said. Joseph Bonaventura, a Junior mechanical engineer hopes to build sets for Broadway theatre in the future and is optimistic with the possible reopening. Bonaventura has seen Jersey Shore and Wicked on Broadway and plans on seeing more shows soon. “I’m all for it, [Manhattan College students involved with theatre] all feel the same way, not having that in-person experience is so difficult,” Bonaventura said. Manhattan College theatre group had their first rehearsal for the Greek tragedy Oedipus Rex, which will be performed this spring. The cast will be performing in person and the play will be streamed to an online audience at the end of the
The New York City Ballet plans to look past their digital season ending in June 2021 NEW YORK CITY BALLET/ COURTESY semester. “Just to have a rehearsal in-person with all the actors made me think, ‘Wow, I really missed all of you’. The staff and crew even stayed after rehearsal to catch up since we all have not been together in such a long time” Bonaventura said. New York City has had plenty of time to develop creative alternatives in the meantime, such as Restart Stages, an initiative to create ten COVID-safe performance spaces in Lincoln Center. The Restart Stages web-
site says, “Fostering a dynamic environment for artists, community organizations, and audiences, Restart Stages is a welcoming and safe place for live performances, family activities, and civic engagement.” Restart Stages, as an attempt to offer any type of NYC live entertainment, offers a variety of low-cost, outdoor events beginning on April 7, World Health Day. There is plenty to look forward to for professional performers, Manhattan College students, and the entire theater community.
Sports
MARCH 2, 2021
15
Lady Jaspers Starting Lineup Gets Surprise Introduction Video Gabriella DePinho & Colleen E. McNamara
with the team’s starters to hear about their reactions to the video and about how one player may have known it was coming.
Prior to the start of every basketball game in Draddy Gymnasium this season, both teams’ starting lineups are announced to empty stands sparsely decorated with cardboard cutouts of fans. While family and friends are able to watch games at home on ESPN+ or ESPN3, the women’s basketball team, like every other team, has had to adjust to playing games without their loudest and most loyal supporters—their family or friends— in attendance. However, head coach Heather Vulin and the leadership of the women’s team found a way to bring the starting lineup’s family to them for a sweet, virtual surprise. As the women’s team prepared to face the Quinnipiac Bobcats in December, the five starters — Emily LaPointe, Pam Miceus, Dee Dee Davis, Gabby Cajou and Courtney Warley — were expecting to hear their names called the same way they always are. Instead, a different video started playing on the screens in Draddy that had never publicly been shown before. In that video, the family, friends and loved ones of each player, announced their names and incorporated special messages to their favorite player while the song Outro by M83 played in the background. The sweet video only aired at the one game, but the video is up on the women’s basketball team’s Twitter account for fans, Jaspers and the players to rewatch. Since the team is currently on pause due to COVID-19, the program will not have a chance to air it before a regular season home game again, with their next game coming at the MAAC tournament in Atlantic City which runs from March 8 to March 13. The Quadrangle sat down
Pam Miceus Miceus is a 6’1’’ master’s student who walked on to the team as a sophomore and now serves as team captain. In the video, her oldest brother comes into the frame, takes a few jabs at a punching bag and then announces Miceus’ name and shares his support saying, “You go little sister. Get those blocks.” While the video came as a surprise to the rest of her teammates, one of Miceus’ other brothers accidentally spoiled the surprise. “My brother called me the day before asking who he was supposed to send the video to, and I thought ‘Oh they must be doing something,’” Miceus said. “I had to go to warm ups knowing something was going on but I did not tell my teammates since I wanted them to be surprised.” Even with that, she was still surprised. “Honestly I was still surprised by the video,” she said. “He is honestly the funniest person I know. He got me so pumped up for the game, like Muhammad Ali. It was super special and a super sweet moment.” Unlike her teammates, Miceus’ family usually cannot attend games but she knows they are always supporting her. Misceus even joked that she sees her family at the games more now than ever before — as cutouts in the stands. “My motivation for playing is my family, them not being there physically isn’t really a factor for me, I know they are always there with me,” Miceus said. “I know where my support is, but the video was an extra indicator that they are there.” While the team waits out their pause due to COVID-19, Miceus is grateful for any and all time on the court, knowing that wherever her family is they are cheering her on. “It is a blessing to be out
Senior Writer & Asst. Sports Editor
on the court,” Miceus said. “I am going to love every shot I take, whether it goes in or not. Whether we have to run sprints or not, I will run with a smile on my face. I am excited to go everyday to the absolute max.” Courtny Warley 6’3’’ senior center Courtney Warley was surprised by her mom and sister who each took a line from the script they used to announce Warley in the video. Living in Westchester, Pennsylvania, Warley’s family usually does what they can to make it to her games, so this season has been different for her. “For a team that values family first, not having them physically there to hug, or go out to eat after a game has been extremely tough since they’re a constant source of support and encouragement and energy,” Warley said. Warley, like most of the lineup, was caught off guard by the creation of the video. “Our coaches are very good at surprising us, and making special moments for us, so I’m not surprised that it happened but I was surprised by the video,” Warley said. “Seeing our family support us in a different way was extremely special this year.” Warley has been able to stay in touch with family through more frequent calls and FaceTimes, but has found that even without the external support present in the stands, the team is “hanging out more, using this time to bond even more then we have.” Emily LaPointe 5’10’’ sophomore guard Emily LaPointe considers herself to be extremely close to her family. Considering that she hails from Staten Island, they came to most of her games last season and “would nearly cover an entire fan section last year.” Her family was able to recreate some of that section by rounding up nine family members wearing Jaspers apparel to introduce her.
“My dad’s and mom’s side [of her family] was in it,” LaPointe said. “I was so thankful to see everyone in the video because that fit me perfectly because there is no one person that is important to me, it is my entire family.” The video also revealed just how strong the women’s basketball program’s commitment to the players is. “I was extremely humbled and taken aback by the video because it shows the support of our program to take the time to set something up like that,” LaPointe said. When games were open to fans and regularly scheduled every Thursday and Saturday during the season, LaPointe could spend time with family. Playing amidst COVID-19 restrictions and pauses has made her even more grateful for the bond her team has. “It is challenging because we just see each other all the time, so adjusting to a different support system,” LaPointe said. “I think there is a blessing in disguise with everything, I am extremely grateful because I think my family and teammates are closer than ever. Gabby Cajou One of the team’s starting point guards, 5’4’’ Gabby Cajou, was introduced by her sister who, after introducing her, hooted and hollered the same way she might have had she been in the stands. To Cajou, that clip of her sister was priceless. “If you know me, you know my sister, my best friend, my number one supporter,” Cajou said. “She has made me be the person I am today and am so grateful for that.” Cajou was grateful that the program put the video together, but also that her family — and her teammate’s families — were willing to take the time to make that happen. “Just seeing the video shed light that our families are thinking about us,” Cajou said. Though Cajou’s family cannot physically be with her, she
knows she can lean on them and her whole support system in other ways. “I know they’re here with me,” she said. “I know they got me. God’s got me. My teammates got me.” Dee Dee Davis 5’8’’ junior guard Dee Dee Davis was shocked when she was introduced in the video by a very special trio in her life. “Anybody who knows me, knows my dog, my girlfriend, and her mom are my world, they are absolute studs,” Davis said. “They are fantastic and support me in any way, so I am still taken aback by the intro video.” While Davis misses out on having her support system in the stands, she is grateful for the athletic department’s support and decision to involve the team’s loved ones during this season. “Completely fantastic, the fact that our coaches care enough to give us additional support and show our family’s love even if they can’t be there in Draddy gymnasium,” Davis said. “It was really a good feeling and we’re thankful for that opportunity.” Davis is leaning on her team as a support system as they navigate this unprecedented season, but is also grateful for FaceTime, text, and “all that good stuff” that keeps her tapped into her external support system. Results aside, when looking back at the 2020-2021 season, the special introduction video featuring family and friends will be a lasting memory from this season. Even better, the MAAC recently announced that a limited number of family members of the competing student-athletes and coaches will be allowed to attend the upcoming conference tournament in AC. That means players and their families will be reunited together for the biggest games of the season.
As the women’s team prepared to face the Quinnipiac Bobcats in December, the five starters — Pam Miceus, Courtney Warley, Emily LaPointe, Gabby Cajou and Dee Dee Davis— were expecting to hear their names called the same way they always are. Instead, a different video started playing on the screens in Draddy that had never publicly been shown before.
GOJASPERS / COURTESY
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THE QUADRANGLE
Ready or Not, Lady Jaspers Will be Thrown into Fray of MAAC Tournament Pete Janny Sports Editor
As it stands, the next time the Lady Jaspers will be playing games this season will be at the 2021 Hercules Tires MAAC Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships to be played in Atlantic City from March 8 to March 13. Manhattan’s uber successful regular season, in which they posted a 9-3 conference record, ended earlier than expected after a member of the Tier One group—consisting of student-athletes, coaches and support staff—tested positive for COVID-19. Rather than preparing for their last few games of the season, the team had to undergo their second season quarantine of the season after being sidelined earlier in the season for what ended up being a “false positive.” The timing of the second quarantine is cryptic for many reasons, including how last season ended when the Lady Jaspers were on a five-game winning streak just as they are. Manhattan is hoping this second trip to Atlantic City is far more enjoyable than last time as they have their eyes set on a MAAC Championship. “Last year’s winning streak made us feel good and ready to go and now we’re in the same position this year,” sophomore
guard Emily LaPointe said about the parallels between this season and last season. “Every team is competitive and I think that especially this season has shown with the back-to-back games that one game can be a blow out and the next game the other team wins.” Since last March, the team has been through so much from roster changes to the uncertainty of whether there would even be a season. But all along, the players have been fully invested, while also knowing the importance of supporting each other during this unprecedented season that has separated players from their loved ones “This team has a unique vibe to it so no matter what’s going on in the world we’re all going to hold each other closer,” said red-shirt sophomore guard Dee Dee Davis, who leads the team in scoring at 12.9 points-per-game. “The current situation with the world is really fluid, however our team chemistry is forever no matter what’s going on elsewhere.” Despite all the distractions off the court, the team has taken care of business on the court while having to play with the expectations of being the preseason number one team in the MAAC. Manhattan has notched series sweeps over Rider, Iona, Monmouth and Saint Peter’s, as well as a series split against perennial MAAC contender Quinnipiac.
Even more impressively, the Jaspers have built their spectacular record despite losing LaPointe for more than a month due to injury. In her recent return against Iona, LaPointe, who was last season’s MAAC Rookie of the Year, continued to show her ability to impact the game in different ways even without the high-volume scoring she’s capable of. If Manhattan can get LaPointe back to her regular scoring ways, it adds another dangerous dimension to a Manhattan that is already pretty well-rounded relative to their MAAC opponents. “What’s key for me right now is to just do what I can to help this team win a championship whether that means getting rebounds, scoring some points or just making the right plays,” LaPointe said. “I’m coming back at a crucial time so I think I just need to lock in and just do what I can to get it done.” Beyond the big names like LaPointe and Davis, the Lady Jaspers’ depth is hard to ignore, too. The team has received boosts from role players like Lizayha Morgan, Christina Katsamouri and Sydney Watkins, and are hoping that continues into the MAAC Tournament. “Our style of play is very fast and up and down so it helps us a lot that we have players who can come in and contrib-
ute,” Warley said of her team’s depth. “This season has been so weird but it has also been normal with injuries so it’s been good to have players who step up when roles are given to them.” Those who have watched Pam Miceus this season know how important she is for the Lady Jaspers, even after she almost chose not to use her final year of eligibility due to having already earned her undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering. Her play and leadership have been indispensable, illustrating how much she’s developed since joining the team as a walk-on her sophomore year. In many ways, the pairing of Miceus and Warley in the frontcourt will determine how far Manhattan advances in the tournament. “Last year I was so excited when Pam told me she was coming back and she’s probably one of my favorite teammates ever,” Warley said. “I think we have a good connection offensively and defensively because we are very similar in the way we play and the way we move.” The old cliché of how the best teams want to play the best teams is always true in competitive circumstances, even amidst a pandemic. Due to the quarantine, Manhattan’s two-game series with Fairfield was cancelled, depriving fans of what could’ve been a preview
of the MAAC Championship game. However, the Lady Jaspers are just focusing on what they can control, as potential match-ups in the tournament with top teams like Fairfield and Marist loom large. “The best practice for basketball is playing in games and our preseason was mostly just practicing,” Warley said. “I think we will miss out on playing in a game against them [Fairfield] and knowing what they can do come game time. But we’re going to take this time to prepare for Fairfield and other teams in the MAAC.” In the lead-up to the tournament, Manhattan is hoping to get back into a consistent practice routine once they clear all the quarantine protocols. Instead of ranking teams by winning percentage, the MAAC standings are determined by the number of wins, regardless of how many games a team has played due to complications with COVID-19. As it stands, Manhattan can be anywhere from the third to fifth seed in the tournament depending on results from Fairfield and Saint Peter’s. Although tickets won’t be sold to the public due to COVID-19 restrictions, the MAAC announced last week that a limited number of family and friends of the players and coaches will be allowed into Boardwalk Hall for tournament games.
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