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CATALYST
BRIEFS COLLEGE SCANDAL pg.
April 3, 2019 VOLUME XXXVIII ISSUE 7
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NCPD enforce dog leashing at Bayfront BY NOAH BASLAW The only thing two-year-old Basil, an Australian Shepherd and acquaintance to thesis student Alba Abrams, loves more than her ball is running full speed after it. She has been playing at the New College Bayfront at sunset almost every day of the week for two years. About a week ago, however, Abrams was approached by the New College Police Department (NCPD) and they asked her to put a leash on her dog. “It was chill,” Abrams said about the police interaction. “But the thing is, Basil is the kind of dog that doesn’t like to be on a leash because she loves “ball,” and having people throw the ball for her. So putting her on a leash is kind of tough.” The Catalyst sat down with Sgt. Marc Mayoral of the NCPD to find the impetus for the recent enforcement of long standing rules. “It’s becoming an issue lately,” Mayoral said. “We have been receiving complaints from students who come up to us
and say, ‘Hey, there’s a lot of dogs running around,’ and then we have to go there.” Residence Hall Director (RHD) and multi-dog owner Adriana Diaz said in an email interview that she has experienced a number of stressful moments walking her dogs on leashes when unleashed dogs run up to them. “One time, in the agitation of having a small dog running towards me and my dogs, I fell and got tangled up,” Diaz said. “I was okay, and I quickly got up but my dogs could have gotten away from me in that instant. If this were to happen to a student walking their Emotional Support Animal (ESA), the student could get seriously hurt. Moreover, if there is an incident between an ESA and another dog or person, the ESA could be removed from campus, causing considerable distress to the student losing the ESA. The on-leash policy is difficult to enforce with neighborhood residents, since they cannot be contacted or given prior notice, so I avoid taking my dogs to the Bay altogether, unfortunately.” She mentioned that she
used to take her dogs to the 17th Street dog park on a daily basis instead. According to Mayoral, students typically don’t like to disclose specific dogs or dog owners in a complaint, but feel uncomfortable enough to come up to the campus officers in their cars in an unofficial manner. “We have been trying to show more of a presence down there,” Mayoral said. “For the most part we usually drive by folks and ask them to put a leash on their dog.” He mentioned that the NCPD haven’t had to write up any students for continuously leaving their dogs unleashed. “They usually comply and are respectful,” Mayoral said. The campus police have received less agreeable behavior from some folks outside the New College community who like going to the Bay with their unleashed dog for sunset. “Lately, what’s been a problem are some non-affiliates to New College,” Mayoral said. “Some have been trespassed from campus for being argumentative about the leashing rules on the Bayfront.”
Noah Baslaw/Catalyst
Thesis student Alba Abrams and her dog Basil pose in front of the glorious bay front sunset.
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New College students lobby in Washington D.C. BY EILEEN CALUB
https://doc-0k-18-docs. googleusercontent.com/ docs/securesc/s7jurnmk912se8sp3mgg3hd8llrh0uos/obdpo7fpcdn719co01n4qb7
As congressional representatives debate appropriations bills, the humanitarian crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border remains a budget dilemma. Last year, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained a record number of undocumented immigrants, holding an average of more than 42,000 people in custody per day. According to NPR, in March 2018, Congress granted $1.6 billion to the Trump administration for border funding. During Spring Lobby Weekend in Washington D.C., the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), a nonpartisan Quaker lobby group, trained over 500 young adults on how to effectively push for immigration reform. On Tues., Mar. 26, a New College of Florida delegation led by thesis student Katie Thurson braved Capitol Hill to urge Florida representatives to decrease funding for ICE detention centers and instead invest in community-based alternatives that keep families together. Founded in 1943 by the Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, FCNL has operated for over 75 years
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Eileen Calub/Catalyst
Lobbyists lined up outside of Rayburn House Office Building. to advance peace and justice. FCNL facilitates various young adult programs, including an Advocacy Corps, a Young Fellows program and summer internships. Moreover, every year, FCNL hosts Spring Lobby Weekend, a four-day conference that provides youth the opportunity to meet with their representatives and discuss pressing national issues. This year, the conference focused on helping attendees learn how to lobby for legislation that protects the rights of immi-
grants, refugees and their families. A delegation of four New College students made the trip north to attend Spring Lobby Weekend. Thurson, an FCNL Advocacy Corps member, promoted the conference on campus and coordinated meetings. On why she felt it was important for young adults to lobby their representatives, Thurson emphasized the need to advocate for those without a voice. “There are families being torn apart,” Thurson
said. “There’s a moral imperative that’s asking you: when this was happening, what did you do?” Further, Thurson believes that regardless of one’s academic or personal interests, one can find a connection to the American immigration dilemma. “Immigration is a multifaceted issue,” Thurson said. “If you care about kids, there’s something for you to do. If you care about healthcare, there’s something for you to do. If you care about civil liberties at all, there’s a piece of the immigration discussion that you can connect with on a personal level.” Another New College lobbyist, thesis student Rozana Jaber, expressed her concern for migrants subjected to inhumane treatment and long periods of detention. “We want to make sure migrants get their rights,” Jaber said. “Even if they don’t have papers or overstayed their time, it doesn’t mean they should be treated in such a way.” The conference included several events to prepare attendees for their meetings on Capitol Hill, including
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CATALYST
Wednesday, April 3, 2019 www.ncfcatalyst.com | @ncfcatalyst
BRIEFS
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briefs by haley bryan
Students engage in boatbuilding project at Caples waterfront
Students are currently building a boat at the Caple’s waterfront as part of a tutorial entitled “Maritime Construction Independent Reading Project (IRP).” In this class, three students are constructing a Glen L 14 sailboat from scratch and are documenting the construction process through a photo journal. Along with taking advantage of the beautiful waterfront campus, this hands-on class is giving students the skills required for watercraft construction from understanding the terminology to principles of design. The wooden sailboat will be 14 feet long, relatively lightweight and flat-bottomed, making it easy to take the boat up to the beach and in and out of the water. Sailing Team Captain and thesis student Ren Chock helped coordinate the boatbuilding project this semester. He was inspired to organize the tutorial due to his experience handling boats and the accessibility to create classes at the school. “For me, this is the second boat that I’ve built,” Chock said. “I made my first one, a Mixer II, with my dad when I was 13. I’m remembering a lot of things that I forgot that I learned. [This] is the type of project that makes New College worthwhile. It’s the type of project that people envision when they first show up here and someone tells them that there’s this thing we have where you can suggest anything and get a professor to sponsor it.”
Haley Bryan/Catalyst
The wooden sailboat will be 14 feet long, relatively lightweight and flat-bottomed. Emeritus Professor of Neurobiology Alfred Beulig is sponsoring the tutorial. Beulig has previously built boats with students at the waterfront, and has experience building not only sailboats, but also aeroplanes and housing infrastructures. After working out the logistics for funding and selecting the boat’s design, students in the tutorial have been working on cutting plywood, painting on epoxy and preparing to implement other parts of the boat’s plans. “Right now we’re at the really exciting part where it’s actually starting to take shape and look like something,” Chock said. “There’s a strongback that holds the whole thing up while we put it
together and we’ve mounted a bunch of frames that give the angles and the hull dimensions on it. The next step will be to take sheets of thin plywood and start bending them around the frame to create the hull of the boat.” The student-made sailboat will stay at the waterfront after the project is complete so that other students have the option to take it out on the bay themselves and possibly be inspired to undertake a similar type of project. “I also want it to serve as a reminder to the administration,” Chock said. “Students do really care about this college and the waterfront in particular. As long as the boat is around, we won’t let them forget that.”
Mandatory evacuation plan in place to help campus prepare for hurricanes The benefits of going to a school in Florida include year-long warm weather, beautiful beaches and a relaxing tropical atmosphere—one of the cons: the oh-sothrilling hurricane seasons. Many students may remember Hurricane Irma’s disruptive influence on campus during the beginning of the fall 2017 semester when it hit Sarasota as a Category 4 storm on Sept. 10 and caused weeks of delayed classes. The storm caused severe damage to two office buildings and created the realization that the school needs better protocols to help ensure the protection of students in case of a similar emergency. After the stress and confusion for maintaining safety on campus during Irma, students are now required to fill out a mandatory evacuation plan (MEP) form to help prepare administration for dealing with another hurricane.
The MEP form documents what students plan to do during a hurricane and notes what students might require assistance in evacuating. Responsible for handling the results of the MEP form is the new Director of Emergency Management, Luis Suarez, who handled similar responsibilities for Manatee County during Hurricane Irma and has conducted research assessing the risk and liability of different plans resulting in the form. “Last year during Hurricane Irma we all realized how important it is to prepare far in advance, before storms are even brewing, to know what our procedures will look like should we be faced with a storm again,” Residence Hall Director (RHD) Adriana Diaz (‘16) said in an email interview. After Hurricane Irma reached campus, the power was out in many res-
idence halls without any clue as to when it would return. Students were encouraged to stay off-campus in safe locations with friends or family throughout the duration that the school prepared for the storm. While Irma was approaching the Florida coastline after hitting northeastern Cuba, staff members including Diaz worked around the clock with little training and information for how to deal with the situation and were continuously faced with problems thrown at them from all sides. Staff members even went door-to-door a couple of days before the storm hit, though the effectiveness and efficiency of that method was questionable—and they knew it. “Many things were outside of our control,” Diaz said. “We were ill-prepared even though we all, as individuals,
© 2019 the Catalyst. All rights reserved. “Every time a bell rings, an angel gets their wings.” The Catalyst is available online at www.ncfcatalyst.com, facebook.com/NCFcatalyst instagram.com/NCFcatalyst twitter.com/ncfcatalyst The Catalyst is an academic tutorial sponsored by Professor Maria D. Vesperi. It is developed in the New College Publications Lab using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe InDesign and printed at Sun Coast Press with funds provided by the New College Student Alliance.
Editor in Chief Audrey Warne Managing Editor Jacob Wentz Copy Editor Cassie Manz Assistant Copy Editor Eileen Calub Online Editor Bailey Tietsworth Advertising Manager Michala Head Social Media Editor Katrina Carlin Staff Writers Noah Baslaw, Haley Bryan, Izaya Garrett Miles, Adriana Gavilanes, & Anna Lynn Winfrey Layout + Design Team Harrison Angsten & Cait Matthews
Fulbright info sessions held in ACE The school is hosting an information session for students interested in applying to the Fulbright U.S. Student Program on Apr. 9, 10 and 11, 2019. The session will be led by Nicole Gelfert, fellowships coordinator, who will inform students about the application process for the award. The Fulbright U.S. Student Program is an international education exchange program sponsored by the United States government. The Fulbright program awards grants for individually designed study, research and teaching opportunities in over 140 countries to recent graduates and graduate students with the goals of promoting understanding between people in the United States and people in other countries. New College is a major source of Fulbright awards with the largest amount of Fulbright scholars per capita, beating top colleges like Harvard and Yale. Since its founding in 1960, more than 70 New College students have received the award, traveling to over 33 countries including Germany, Sweden, South Africa and Taiwan. The Fulbright information sessions will be held in the Academic Center (ACE) in room 329, from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. tried our very best. It was personally a time of extremely high anxiety for me. This is where pre-planning comes in.” Along with allowing the campus to identify the plans of students during the event of a hurricane, the MEP will help the school establish necessary contracts with transportation services to help evacuate students who are otherwise unable to find a way to safety. “It will help us secure spots for students at other institutions or in real shelters, and ensure that they are accompanied by staff members such as myself who will remain dedicated in the event of any future storms,” Diaz said. “Without estimate numbers, we can’t plan ahead in these areas. The MEP is important because as an institution and as individual staff members we want to ensure that no one is left behind.” Direct submissions, letters, announcements and inquiries to: The Catalyst 5800 Bay Shore Road Sarasota, Florida 34243 ncfcatalyst@gmail.com The Catalyst reserves the right to edit all submissions for grammar, space and style. No anonymous submissions will be accepted. Submissions must be received by 12:00 p.m. Friday for consideration in the next issue.
CATALYST
Wednesday, April 3, 2019 www.ncfcatalyst.com | @ncfcatalyst
features
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Hedge fund manager says the consequences of Quantitative Easing are already here BY NOAH BASLAW Henry Smyth has a career in banking and investment management that goes back to 1983, two years after he graduated from New College in the class of ‘81 with a degree in International Relations. He later went on to get a graduate degree in International Political Economy at the Patterson School of the University of Kentucky. Smyth has been coming to New College since his undergraduate education to talk to students about financial literacy and the perpetual woes of the financial system. “The first part of my career was in Latin American financial markets,” Smyth said. He began his investment management during what would become the Latin American debt crisis. Since 2003, he has been running a hedge fund focused on precious metals markets. There are fundamental differences in the thinking behind investing in traditional equities and bonds and precious metals. Investors of precious metals are wary of the risks of systemic failure in bond and equities markets, regulators and central banks. “The center of gravity in financial markets is the actions of the Federal Reserve (Fed),” Smyth said. “That is because the U.S. Dollar (USD) is the center of the global financial system and takes its cues from the Fed.” Since the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008, the Federal Reserve has embarked on an unprecedented expansion of its balance sheet via its monetary policy named Quantitative Easing (QE) to inject capital into markets, and since 2015, it has attempted to reverse that ex-
periment (selling off assets to shrink its market decline since the Great Depresbalance sheet). Smyth sees this roughly sion, of almost 15 percent, occurred, 10-year-old massive creation of liquid- according to CNBC. For Smyth, the ity as a foundation that will only make market sell-off shows that the monetary the next downturn and spat of illiquidity and banking authorities are beginning more powerful. to realize that they are going to have a Markets have already responded hard time ripping the tablecloth out from negatively toward tightunder the fine China. ening monetary policy, During the December suggesting that credit sell-off of in equities, on markets are less liquid Christmas Eve of 2018, than anticipated by the Treasury Secretary SteFederal Reserve. ve Mnuchin called in Federal Open the “plunge protection Market Committee team,” a group created (FOMC) minutes from in 1988 under the Reathe latest March meetgan administration that ing disclose an adjustaimed at quelling finanment to their forecasts, cial panic, acknowledgfrom a rising interest ing how aware Federal rate policy to no interregulators were of fraHenry Smyth manages a hedge est rate hikes in 2019, gility in the system to fund focusing in precious metals. one in 2020 and none the investing commuin 2021, according to nity. J.P Morgan Asset Management. “I think the experience in De“I think there is a general lack of cember changed the Federal Reserve’s appreciation of the public and financial outlook on its experimentation,” Smyth professionals how unprecedented this ex- said. “Until that point, they had been, as periment is and how much uncertainty it they put it, on ‘autopilot,’ and were not creates in the market,” Smyth said. “Not only tightening their balance sheet but just for U.S. Treasury bonds or Mort- also increasing short term interest rates. gage Backed Securities (MBS), but also I think that both of these measures have for non investment grade bonds, equities now [since the December scare] been efand global markets too.” fectively suspended, given the uncertainSmyth is pointing out that for more ty shown in markets over rising interest than 10 years, global financial markets rates and a tightening Federal Reserve have been propped up by the largest buy- balance sheet.” ing spree in Central Bank history, makThe development of the Federal ing the use of such extraordinary meas- Reserve’s policies is considered for asset ures obligatory for an indefinite period of allocation that any finance professional is time (a risky, unknown frontier). making in U.S. dollars or other currenIn December 2018, the worst stock cies as well, according to Smyth.
“One way or another,” Smyth said, “you have to weigh what the long term effects of the experiment have been, and will continue to be.” There are a number of consequences that Smyth thinks QE has brought. “The most important issue is the absence of price discovery,” Smyth said. “In the absence of the Federal Reserve greatly adding to their balance sheet at that time of crisis, we are not sure where the market would have priced Treasury bonds or Bills or where the Dollar would have been. But we know that the pursuit of this balance sheet expansion was directly responsible for supporting asset prices, both fixed income (bonds) and equities.” What QE did, then, was break down the lack of positive correlation between equities and bonds that had traditionally existed, so that both were in fact going up. “I think when we look back years from now, this disruption of price discovery will be the strongest felt and longest lasting,” Smyth said. The paradox of it all is that monetary and banking authorities, the banking community themselves and the general investing public depended upon QE to be in the financial condition they are in now. “There was a fear in 2008 that if the Federal Reserve and the Treasury did not do something, markets and economies would shut down,” Smyth said. “Rather than allowing markets to clear bad decisions that took place prior to the crisis, there was this mad scramble to ame-
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Top universities implicated in pay-to-play college admissions scandal BY KATRINA CARLIN A wave of national attention turned its focus on higher education on Tues., Mar. 12, with the indictment of 50 individuals associated with a scheme to admit students to elite colleges. William “Rick” Singer, who owned and operated a for-profit college counseling business, allegedly conspired with parents, coaches and higher education administrators to secure admission of students to schools such as Yale University, Georgetown University, the University of Southern California (USC) and more. Singer allegedly used bribes and other forms of fraud to secure said admissions. He and approximately 33 parents and 13 coaches were among those arrested for involvement in the scandal on Mar. 12. Some high profile arrests were made following the indictment, including Felicity Huffman, of Desperate Housewives, and Lori Loughlin, known for her role as “Aunt Becky” on the 90s sitcom Full House. Loughlin’s daughter, Olivia Jade, received attention online following the indictment due to a video she posted in August 2018, where she stated that she was only interested in attending college for the “game days” and “party-
photo courtesy of Bobak Ha’Eri
The admissions scandal, centered at California universities, has caused state legislators to introduce new anti-corruption legislation, including a bill aimed at ending legacy donations. ing.” Loughlin allegedly paid $500,000 in bribes for her daughters’ admission to USC, including for them to be recruited for USC’s crew team, despite not rowing crew. Also included in the indictment was Mark Riddell, the former director of college entrance exam preparation at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida. On Mar. 26, it was reported that Riddell would plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud and one count of con-
spiracy to commit money laundering. In a statement released through his attorney, Riddell assumed responsibility for his actions, while also emphasizing that he helped many students throughout his career. “I do, however, want to clarify an assertion that has arisen in the media coverage,” Riddell’s statement read. “I absolutely, unequivocally never bribed anyone, nor has the information filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office charged me with any form of bribery.”
IMG Academy issued an official statement on Mar. 13 after the allegations were made public. “With the current information at hand, we have no reason to believe this alleged misconduct extends beyond Mr. Riddell, nor do we believe that these actions have any direct relation to [IMG] Academy students, parents or staff,” the statement read. Yale University became the first to rescind an admission offer on Mar. 24. In an interview with the Yale Daily News, a spokesperson for the university confirmed that they had begun an internal review with assistance from outside counsel that culminated in this offer being rescinded. “It’s not surprising, but it’s definitely frustrating,” thesis student Eli Weiss said. “Especially considering education is an industry in this country and not a right to all. Maybe it’s time we start following a new education model, like in other countries where it is free to everyone.” Information for this article was gathered from justice.gov, insidehighered.com, edsource.org, yaledailynews.com and fortune. com.
all photos courtesy of New College of Florida Archives
The Ringling Estate Before NCF BY ADRIANA GAVILANES
New College of Florida was established as a private liberal arts college in 1960 but only joined the State University System as a public institution—as part of the University of South Florida—in 1975. Professor of Anthropology and Heritage Studies Uzi Baram has a good understanding of the campus history and even created a brochure with a focus on the heritage of the Charles Ringling Mansion. He emphasized that “the more that student, staff and faculty know about the history of this campus, the more connected they are going to feel to this campus.” Baram explained that there are three tiers of history to New College. The three tiers start with the history of the natives which inhabited this area, then jump to the early development of Sarasota with the Ringling family and lastly transition to the history of the established institution that we all know
as New College of Florida. Baram explained that the New College campus is “a part of a historic district which is from the early 20th century.” Charles Edward Ringling was the living embodiment of the American Dream. The parents of the Ringling brothers immigrated to the United States from Germany. In 1884, the brothers banded together to establish the Ringling Bros. Circus. They started their small touring company of performers, transforming their vision into one of the biggest names in the circus industry. By the 1930s, the Ringling brothers were among the top American entrepreneurs of the time. In 1912, Charles Ringling found himself in Sarasota, a small, simple town with a subtropical terrain that had agricultural potential and commercial opportunity. One of Charles’ brothers, John Ringling, and friends, Ralph Caples and Charles Thompson, encouraged Charles to start a home in Sarasota, along with
In the living room, there are original metal workings, a fireplace and marble flooring.
The Pompeii Room’s original pool table is now displayed at the Ringling Museum.
developing winter grounds for the circus. Baram explained that the driving force for the remaining members of the Ringling family to relocate was the status that the Ringling name held among elite social circles. Although the Ringling brothers were well-established entrepreneurs, they were not respected by Midwestern society. Labeled as “circus folk,” the social elites did not approve of the manner in which the Ringling family accumulated their wealth. Sarasota was a place of opportunity, a place where the Ringling brothers could reinvent themselves as the social elite. In an attempt to relabel the Ringling family to elite status, Charles Ringling invested in a more permanent home—what we now refer to as College Hall. Unfortunately, Charles Ringling passed only a few months after the final project was completed in 1926, and the home was left to Charles’ wife, Edith Ringling. During the time the Ringlings
were the inhabitants of the estate, the south wing—now actively used by students and faculty on campus—was divided into separate master bedrooms, bathrooms, dressing rooms and a shared reading room for the couple. Downstairs, there was the Music room, the Dining room and the Pompeii room. The Music room had various purposes throughout its existence, but for the Ringlings it was used as a dance hall and a performance area. The Dining room was used for Edith Ringling’s infamous dinner parties, while the Pompeii room served as the billiards room. After Charles’ passing, Edith lived alone in the otherwise empty Ringling mansion until her death in 1953. The property was handed down to a series of private owners until finally, it fell into the hands of New College. C Information for this article was gathered from ncf.edu, biography.com and Baram’s College Hall Brochure.
The entrance view from the first steps outside of the Ringling mansion.
The Ringling swimming pool once overlooked the Bay.
photo courtesy of Ellen Golden
The History of the Barracks
BY JACOB WENTZ
In the years shortly after the establishment of New College, the various army barracks that scattered the land where the Dort and Goldstein dormitories stand today housed Physical Plant, painting and sculpture studios and, briefly, the original Catalyst publication’s office. These barracks were products of World War II, when, in 1942, the newly constructed Bradenton Sarasota Airport became the Sarasota Army Airfield. The process of the airport’s establishment dates back to 1939, when government and business leaders from Sarasota and Manatee counties came together to serve the aviation needs of the area. The idea of a shared airport came to light after two earlier Sarasota airports had failed. In May 1941, a successful resolution created the Sarasota Manatee Joint Airport Authority. The committee was made up of one representative from Sarasota County, Manatee County, the City of Bradenton and the City of Sarasota. They selected a 620-acre site on the Sarasota-Manatee County line to construct the airport and used a Federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) Grant to purchase the land. A second resolution agreed to establish the name of the new facility as the Bradenton Sarasota Airport. The construction of new aviation facilities was completed by 1942 at a cost of nearly $1 million. Immediately after the airport’s
completion—in February 1942, during the height of World War II—the Joint Airport Authority leased the land to the United States Army Air Corps. The facility was used as a training base for the combat training of new pilots. With the Army adding 250 acres of land to the site, the Bradenton Sarasota Airport became the Sarasota Army Airfield (AAF). The Sarasota AAF was also in control of the Fort Myers AAF, Lake Wales AAF, Pinellas AAF, Punta Gorda AAF and Immokalee AAF. The Sarasota AAF was initially assigned as a sub-base of MacDill Air Force Base under the Third Air Force, III Bomber Command. On Mar. 29, 1942, the 97th Bombardment Group transferred from MacDill to Sarasota to begin training on the B-17 Flying Fortress, a four-engine heavy bomber plane. The men lived in tents while they constructed tarpaper barracks. In May, the 97th Bomb Group left Sarasota and became the first U.S. Bomb Group to fly American planes in high-altitude bombing raids from England. Captain Paul Tibbets, Jr., one of the Sarasota commanders, became renowned for dropping the first atomic bomb over Hiroshima while flying the Enola Gay, a plane he named after his mother. The 97th Bomb Group was quickly replaced by the 92nd Bombardment Group. During the short training period, the 92nd Bomb Group continued construction of more permanent buildings. The 92nd Bomb Group was deployed to photo courtesy of Tim Snyder
Carlye Lay with a halo preparing to throw a pot in the barracks.
England in early July. Both of the Bomb Groups were involved in the initiation of the American strategic daylight bombing campaign over Occupied Europe. The bombers, however, damaged the base’s runways because they were significantly heavier than other planes. The Third Air Force thus reassigned Sarasota AAF to III Fighter Command in July 1942. This shift meant that the facility became a fighter pilot training base instead of a bomber training base. It continued its training operations until 1945. During this time, the Army Air Corps graduated an average of 70 pilots every 30 days and added more permanent buildings. With the end of the European War in May 1945 and the Japanese surrender in early August, orders were received from III Fighter Command to end training of replacement pilots. Orders were sent to Sarasota AAF that the base would be inactivated as of Dec. 31, 1945 and that it would be transferred to Air Technical Service Command in a standby status, pending disposition as excess property. In late 1947, the General Services Administration (GSA) turned control of the facility back to civilian use as the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport. GSA stipulated that the airport must continue to be used as an airport for aviation purposes; if not, it would be returned to the U.S. government. Though many of the buildings and equipment were sold and transferred to
other bases, various barracks remained in the land that New College purchased from the airport in 1961. By the late 1960s, the barracks had been transformed into art studios—specifically painting and sculpture studios. Alumni describe the barracks as “grungy” and disorganized, but also as some of the most welcoming and interesting spaces at New College. “[They were] my home at New College,” Shelli Pruett (‘72) said. “You didn’t have to worry if you spilled something or kept your tools in a heap.” Professor of Art Jack Cartlidge, known for his Band of Angels sculpture located in the center of the Palmer complex, spent much of his time in and around the barracks. “I remember how the building shook when Jack walked through,” Steve Jacobson (‘71), Cartlidge’s Teaching Assistant (TA) said. “He was a big man, but it was also a very weak, soft and somewhat rotten floor,” Jacobson said. “It was never intended to last as long as we made it last, and it was never intended to be used in the ways we did. Storing 2,000 pounds of clay powder in 100-pound bags off to one side was a challenge to the structure.”
Information for this article was gathered from ipfs.io, museumoffloridahistory.com, sarasotahistoryalive.com and heraldtribune. com. photo courtesy of Tim Snyder
A page from the 1969 yearbook with Bill Nunez inside one of the barracks.
CATALYST
Wednesday, April 3, 2019 www.ncfcatalyst.com | @ncfcatalyst Azia Keever/Catalyst
The Activist Newsletter Throughout this week (4/3 - 4/10), activists have the opportunity to participate in public meetings, lectures and community performances. Read on if you want to get involved in the community regarding environmental protection, education reform and LGBTQ+ rights.
BY EILEEN CALUB
Fri., Apr. 5, Project 180: Local Problem-Solving Courts @ 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m. Michael’s on East – 1212 S. East Ave., Sarasota. Problem-solving courts, also known as treatment or specialty courts, exist to address underlying issues in a person’s life, like addiction or mental health disorders, that contribute to their involvement in the criminal justice system. Learn about the successes and challenges of four of Sarasota’s specialty courts with David Denkin of the DUI Court, Andy Owens of the Drug Court and Veterans Court and Erika Quartermaine of the Mental Health Court. Special guest Sheriff Tom Knight will join the panel to discuss the programs and specialty pods he has instituted at the Sarasota County Jail. Lecture tickets cost $35 and include the cost of lunch. Registration is available at https://bit. ly/2S29mOT. Sat., Apr. 6, Coalition of City Neighborhood Associations Monthly Meeting @ 9 - 11 a.m. Waldemere Fire Station – 2070 Waldemere St., Sarasota. The Coalition of City Neighborhood Associations was formed in 1990 to preserve and enhance city neighborhoods, address the needs of neighborhoods and stand in support of those needs. This meeting is free and open to the public. Sat., Apr. 6, Save Our Bugs Eco/Art Event @ 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. Village of the Arts – 1111 14th Ave. W., Bradenton. The public will be introduced to a grassroots project for making the Village of the Arts a “Pollinator Sanctuary” by creating a positive sustainable environment in an urban area for native bees, butterflies, birds and beneficial “bugs.” Without the bees and other pollinators, food supplies would dwindle to just a few items. A grassroots group of artists, businesses and residents are creating pollinator gardens using native Florida plants and have erected 12 cedar Native Bee Nesting Boxes that will create an environment for bees to lay eggs and hatch offspring. Environmental groups and experts will be on hand to answer questions and educate. Also, Florida native pollinator plants, orchids, artwork and Native Bee Nesting Boxes will be available for sale. This event is
free and open to the public. Mon., Apr. 8, Sierra Club Manatee Conservation Committee @ 1:30 - 2:30 p.m. Manatee Public Library – 1301 Barcarrota Ave., Bradenton. Help contribute to sound environmental policy in Manatee County. The meeting will focus on understanding the history behind Manatee County’s environmental issues, like the Mulberry Phosphate stacks at Port Manatee, the history of phosphate mining and permitting in the county, stormwater management and red tide. Bills filed in the 2019 Florida legislature will be discussed. The Manatee Sarasota Sierra Club seeks to protect the natural places in our community, teach others to understand and respect the fragile environment in which we live and promote the responsible use of Florida’s ecosystems and resources. This meeting is free and open to the public. Tues., Apr. 9, Manatee County School Board Meeting @ 3 p.m. School Board Administration Building – 215 Manatee Ave. W., Bradenton. Join the Manatee County School Board to discuss issues affecting students, teachers and members of the community. Workshops will be held at 3 p.m. with the regular meeting beginning at 5:45 p.m. All meetings are open to the public and broadcast live on MSTV and METV. Tues., Apr. 9, Faces of Change @ 7 p.m. Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center – 525 Kumquat Ct., Sarasota. “Faces of Change,” Asolo Repertory Theatre’s seventh annual communitybased documentary theater project, is created from the real-life experiences of local residents and community members and is inspired by this season’s production of Bekah Brunstetter’s The Cake. Stories will not only showcase LGBTQ+ unions, but other “non-traditional” modern marriages, including those with racial and religious differences and blended families. Through the collection of stories (by way of story circles and interviews), Asolo Rep aims to provide an opportunity for local communitybuilding: this process allows for an ongoing discussion and collaboration, and uses theater to create connections and to explore connections that already exist. “Faces of Change” is part of Asolo Rep’s IllumiNation Series. This event is free and open to the public.
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Heroes of Ham: adventures from oncampus TRPGs BY IZAYA GARRETT MILES Hear ye, hear ye! Great tales are in the making, with new legends forged every week here on campus: the plundering of dungeons, the slaying of dragons and acts far more strange and epic are recorded. This is the life lived by those who come together to craft stories through pen, paper and little plastic miniatures. In other words, they play tabletop roleplaying games (TRPGs). TRPGs are nothing new. The first edition of Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), the most popular TRPG on campus, was produced in 1977. The game, now in its fifth edition, operates on the same basic premise. One player, known as the Dungeon Master (DM), crafts an adventure for the others, known as player characters (PCs), to play out. The DM controls the world around the PCs, and the PCs are able to interact with the world through the abilities on their sheet. These abilities are derived from their base ability scores (in D&D, these are strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom and charisma) and various bonuses they selected throughout the character creation process. Chief amongst these bonuses are the ones associated with their class, a kind of adventuring profession, which grant them martial prowess or spellcasting. These classes are based on various fantasy tropes like the wizard, the fighter, the ranger or the rouge. While many play groups form organically, many groups have come out of the Tabletop Club. Austin Gray, thirdyear and president of Tabletop Club, got his start with TRPGs when he joined the Tabletop Club back in his first year, while it was still known as D&D Club. “The first character I ever played was a dragonborn ranger,” Gray said. “I didn’t know anything about the game, so I picked the guy that was a dragon. Ranger also sounded awesome, because he had a bow and arrow. I went down the path of the ranger where you got to have a pet. I found out later those were the weakest options.” Gray, laughing, described another quirk in his character: he had chosen mountaineering for his ranger’s specialty, in a campaign that took place almost entirely inside a city. Regardless of his less-than-optimal stats, Gray enjoyed
the experience enough to continue with the hobby. “After that, I played a second character and that was the first time I made a backstory,” Gray said. “I made the classic ‘guy whose entire family was killed.’ It’s such a thing in D&D: ‘I’m gallivanting across the country, I must have no connections. I can’t be writing letters to my mom all the time. I guess they died, and that’s why I’m a badass now.’” D&D characters, while often the heroes of the story, are not always noble bastions of virtue. First-year Isabel Hardigan demonstrated that with a story from the first session of her group’s campaign. The story starts with one character, a hunchback halfling wizard, purchasing a bundle of rope from a local shopkeeper. The shopkeeper charged a gold piece for the rope, which the halfling found egregious. He tried to argue, but rolled a one on his check to barter, so the shopkeeper was not swayed. With diplomacy untenable, the halfling was forced to be more creative. So, he cast Tasha’s Hideous Laughter on the shopkeeper, which sent the man into compulsive, constant laughter. The halfling quickly followed it up with a quick casting of Prestidigitation to cause a loud cracking boom, before falling down to the floor. Soon enough, a crowd gathered around what seemed to be the shopkeeper laughing hysterically at the sight of a deformed, writhing halfling. From the crowd, a six-foot half-orc shoved his way out of the mass. “Fear not!” the half-orc called out, before rushing to assist the halfling. The halfling convinced the would-be do-gooder to go rough up the shopkeeper. But before the half-orc could get too far along, the guards arrived. TRPGs often venture from standard fantasy into realms wonderful and absurd. First-year Sean Dickey recalls a time when his party arrived at the city of Interstis. This story occurred in a Pathfinder campaign, which is a game very much like D&D, save for a few details in its mechanics and its use of a different term for the DM (in Pathfinder, it is ‘Gamemaster’). The first thing Dickey asked the Gamemaster for when his party arrived
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TRPGs are often played using miniatures, which help visualize combat situations.
CATALYST K9 policy CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Once folks become antagonistic toward the NCPD’s policy, officers have to enforce the rules. Most of the time, the NCPD give warnings to dog owners. “What is happening is that non-affiliates are coming down here,” Mayoral said, “and they will get away with leaving their dog off the leash a few times, and then it becomes a free for all. They know they can’t go to a city park, so now they are coming to the Bayfront.” The only place where there unleashed dogs are al-
Lobbying CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 panel discussions with experts on immigration policy and congressional staff. Featured speakers included Mary Small, policy director of the Detention Watch Network, and Lilian Serrano, chair of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium. Workshops were also held throughout the weekend to provide additional support for first-time lobbyists and inspire attendees looking for more ways to advocate for immigration reform. “A Case Study on #Free21Savage: Pop Culture and Advocacy,” a workshop facilitated by Define American, challenged the audience to consider the impact of social media on immigrant narratives in the
QE effects CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 liorate these conditions of illiquidity to save the system. A bottom was placed for equities and fixed income, and once that was established in the minds of the investing public and professionals, then they were basically front running the Fed as they were buying Treasuries and Mortgage Backed Securities. So the excesses that were already there and that were never worked out in the GFC, only became worse, and that is where we sit today.” The consequences of QE are not just a dissolution of price discovery and negative correlation between stocks and bonds, but a continuation of malinvestment within the economy that is manageable because of low rates of interest from the Fed. “This permanent condition of growth at the expense of fundamentals has given rise to the significance of passive investment like retirement funds, pensions and market index funds,” Smyth said. “It will not end well, and these things can continue for a while. But what we saw in December was a foretaste of what happens when the markets perceive that these liquidity provisions [QE] won’t always be there.” Smyth also sees the looming Brexit as an entirely uncertain situation, and that brinkmanship between the United Kingdom and the European Union is a significant variable in global markets. He additionally sees the Chinese massive mobilization of investment throughout
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lowed is in fenced-in parks. Many families like taking professional photos at the Bay around sunset too. “We can’t just let a bunch of dogs run around,” Mayoral said, “because it’s only a matter of time until someone gets bit. We have kids down there too. Families come down to the Bayfront to enjoy the sunset.” Mayoral said the enforcement is not only for the safety of all people, especially students and staff, but it’s also for the safety of animals. “We got small dogs and we got big dogs running around,” Mayoral said. People say, “Look how small my dog is,” but, according to Mayoral, the police cannot differentiate between dog sizes.
“We have to keep it fair for all dogs,” Mayoral said.”What if your small dog goes up to a big dog on a leash and [it] bites your dog?” Mayoral mentioned that making the campus police presence known during times of peak dog activity has helped with the problem. “It’s irritating that when we go down to the Bayfront to get a break from writing our theses and spend time with our friends, we are being watched by police under the auspices of keeping dogs leashed,” Abrams said. “Recently because of this leashing policy, we have been alone at the Bay, Basil and I. It’s sad to see that community get lost in the midst of this recent enforcement.”
Sometimes, when enforcing the rule, folks have accused Mayoral of hating dogs, despite having two dogs himself. “I am at the Bay often and am familiar with the rest of the regular dogs,” Abrams said. “Never once in my time there have I seen dogs get in a fight or anyone get hurt by a dog. Usually people that bring their dogs to the Bay don’t bring aggressive dogs.” What’s more, Abrams said that many of the dogs that come to the Bayfront for sunset have known each other and their respective owners for a while. “Everyone has gotten to know each other,” Abrams said.
U.S.
“Learning how to tell your story is important,” thesis student Carolyn Beer said. “It’s intimidating to go in when you don’t know what to say. It’s helpful that FCNL trains you to think about why the issue is important to you, know where your representatives stand and get your message across well.” On Lobby Day, after breakfast and a brief meeting at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation, the New College students walked to the House of Representatives and Senate office buildings for their appointments with the staffers of Rep. Vern Buchanan and Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott. “It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t meet with the representatives,” Jaber said. “However, the staffers were all nice. They listened to our opinions, they took them into consideration and they weren’t
aggressive in their speech at all. I’m happy that we made our voices heard.” During the discussions, the lobbyists shared personal stories, cited statistics and urged their representatives to allocate funding toward Spanish and indigenous language translators, healthcare services and expanded oversight. Further, the students noted that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) budget cuts to support ICE would be especially detrimental for Florida during hurricane season. “I’ve been surprised,” Beer said. “When we met with them, they took notes and that shows me that they might not have heard that [information] before, which also shows me that this trip was worth it. It’s important to build a relationship with your public offices.” Although most of this year’s Spring Lobby Weekend attendees will be grad-
uating in May, the thesis students hope that New College students will continue engaging in lobbying efforts with FCNL. “Lobbying is so important,” Thurson said. “Being able to talk to people and be an advocate gives you good life skills. There are also many professional development opportunities.” To make attending the conference accessible for young adults nationwide, FCNL offers financial assistance to cover flight costs and accommodation. “I think that more people should go,” Beer said. “This is a great opportunity for comprehensive lobby training. If you are reading this now, you should apply for financial aid to attend next year.”
the Eurasian landmass and beyond as another large development that will be looked back upon in future decades as both a monumental shift in the center of gravity in global markets, and ironically, little acknowledged during the initial moments of its unfolding. Smyth’s last point added to what has just been discussed. He sees the Trump administration’s “America First” policy as a reversal from conditions of liberalizing global trade that has lasted since the end of World War II, and he noted that when global trade contracts so will global finance. In January 2019, the World Gold Council’s (WGC) annual report disclosed the largest gold buying by Central Banks since 1967, a period wracked with large financial uncertainty. The large gold purchases from predominantly Eastern nations suggest the current global financial condition, with the Dollar at the center, is also fragile. “You have seen this now for a while,” Smyth said. “The Chinese, for example, have been huge buyers of gold since the Shanghai Gold Exchange opened in 2004. The Russians have been buying and keeping gold off the market from their own domestic production for some time now, in response to sanctions from the U.S. and the EU and efforts to reduce their Dollar exposure.” Smyth thinks that these reasons are the main ones for why the central banks have began buying gold at new highs. All this gold buying is continuing and growing while the Bank of International Settlements’ (BIS) Basel III Accords, an updated international financial regulation program formed in the aftermath of the GFC, has begun transition-
ing gold into a tier one asset. “This is the reintroduction of gold’s role as a monetary asset,” Smyth said. He thinks that we will see this moment as a definitive reversal of a trend since the 1970s to demonetize gold (as a competitor to the USD), with far reaching consequences. He sees gold returning not just as a reserve asset (used between banks and counties) but as collateral to preserve the value of bonds, something popular before the 1930s state crackdown on gold. Smyth also wanted to address younger generations directly, by noting that national student debt, by category, is one of the largest in absolute terms and in rate of growth. “It is my opinion that we have gone beyond the ability for the debtors to service this debt,” Smyth said, “and it is only going to be a matter of time before either the default levels become so large they impede the servicing of this debt or the willingness of your generation to service that debt creates a debt crisis.” Smyth thinks that low interest rates have delayed these options for American student debtors by making credit cheap. He predicts that sooner or later a debt crisis will be catalyzed by some kind of political movement in the U.S. by student debtors to repudiate and call for a moratorium and reduction of the principal. Smyth is a member of the New College Foundation and is confident the Foundation keeps, and will continue to keep, students from taking on more debt than necessary. Information for this article was gathered from J.P. Morgan Asset Management, CNBC and The World Gold Council.
TRPGs
Information for this article was gathered from cnn.com, npr.org and www.fcnl.org.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6 to the extra-physical metropolis was the cost of property. The Gamemaster explained that Interstis only partially existed, that land phases in and out of existence based on whether the characters are conceptualizing it. Dickey demanded to know how much it cost. The Gamemaster finally relented and gave Dickey a rate on which to buy land. With this knowledge, Dickey’s character and the rest of the party decided to buy enough land to open a store, Glorious Leader’s Emporium. Despite the store’s communist ideology, Dickey’s character was a rugged capitalist and bought up all the land around the shop. Such began his campaign of business management and economic development, despite the Gamemaster’s repeated attempts to get them back on a more traditional adventure. “[The Gamemaster] is like ‘the world is ending over there, there’s dragons, the gods are coming back and they’re stomping on shit,’” Dickey said. “And we’re just asking how much it would cost to get a ye olde equivalent of a Starbucks on the corner.” Any one of the interviews for this article could have filled up its entire length. Once a player begins to share their tabletop experiences, they have no short supply of stories. Great victories, humiliating defeats and befuddling sidetracks alike make for engaging chronicles. The only unifying line among them all is that they took place on the table.
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beautiful student balconies BY EMILIANO ESPINOSA Walking around the I. M. Pei courts, there are some balconies that are plain grey but others have all sorts of decorations ranging from plants, posters, lighting and even bird feeders. For example, first-year Tom Smith’s balcony is full of lights and ornaments on the walls, attracting the attention of people that walk underneath. Each balcony has its own flavor and a unique story from its owners. “We’ve got chairs, a couch, lights, plants,” Smith said. “Pretty much everything to make it comfortable. I meditate on the balcony in the mornings. I grow my lettuce and different stuff out here. I invite friends over and enjoy the evening. It’s a nice, peaceful spot where I can get away from the noise.” According to Smith, he finds the balcony conducive to studying. “I work better out here,” Smith said. “It’s outside, I get to hear the birds and get to enjoy the air and focus on my school work.” Smith uses whatever he has on hand to decorate his balcony. However, he has also found items at Goodwill. On the first floor in first court, there is a balcony that is fully painted with chalk. “It was pretty plain for a while,” first-year Akiva Packouz said. “One day, me and my former roommate just got fed up with it and bought chalk, a chair and lights with the goal of adding vibe.” It’s not just both roommates’ art on the walls. The balcony wall is the collaborative effort of many people. “Every time people hang out in the balcony, people add more stuff to it,” Packouz said. Although the balcony does not have a direct impact on Packouz’s studies, it does make a difference from a social standpoint. “Since we decorated it’s been more of a hangout place and it feels a lot nicer
to be out here,” Packouz said. Another interesting balcony in first court belongs to second-year Simon Bustetter. “I have a lot of plants that other people have thrown out,” Bustetter said. “Mainly from Physical Plant, so I tend to take all their orphans. If it has roots and I think that they can survive, I tend to bring them back.” Finding a balcony that was right for Bustetter was important to him. “Last year I scooped around for a month or two because I wanted to have a balcony that faced the sun at the right time for my plants, so I picked this one,” Bustetter said. Bustetter also enjoys doing school work on the balcony. “I’m a lot more productive when I’m sitting outside with fresh air around all the plants, and it’s a good place for friends to hang out,” Bustetter said. He also has a bird feeder, to create another little ecosystem. “We have a family of rock doves that come every day now,” Bustetter said. One of Bustetter’s roommates named one of the birds Bertha. According to Resident Hall Director (RHD) Adriana Diaz, Pei rooms are the only rooms on campus with big balconies. Other dorm buildings, like the letter dorms, have smaller balconies. Diaz pointed out that the balconies cannot support hanging items, like hammocks, because of the age of the building. In addition, Diaz mentioned that students must wash any drawings off the balcony before move-out or face a cleaning fee of up to $50. Room selection begins Apr. 1. If students are looking to experience living in a Pei room with a balcony, they can start scouting the area and have a few choices in mind so when it’s time to choose, they can quickly reserve their best room picks. C
A first court, second floor balcony with an abundance of different plant and lights.
Busletter and his roommate seated on their balcony. all photos Emiliano Espinosa/Catalyst
Second-year Simon Bustetter, the designer of the balcony, taking care of his plants.