Washington Square News | September 21, 2020

3 SPORTS

5 ARTS

The Bitterness of Leaving Unfinished Business Unfinished

‘Mulan’ Fails To Break Barriers Amidst Clouds of Controversy

4 CULTURE

6 OPINION

Where Did the GLS Juniors Go?

NYU Still Needs to Take Action for LGBTQ+ Rights

VOLUME LV | ISSUE 4

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

NYU Langone Develops Telemedicine Blueprint

LEO SHEINGATE | WSN

NYU Langone continues to combat COVID-19 infections in the city. Recently, specialists at Langone proposed a telemedicine platform to better assess COVID infections and additional factors.

Telemedicine, which allows for remote healthcare, could fundamentally alter the way medicine is practiced.

By ROSHNI RAJ Deputy News Editor A group of NYU Langone Health doctors and researchers published a telemedicine “blueprint” in Medicina — an open-access, peer-reviewed medical journal — on Sept. 9. The paper serves as a template for how to best utilize telemedicine and deliver remote healthcare, helping doctors and patients better adjust to telemedicine and deliver or receive remote healthcare.

Most current literature about telemedicine is geared toward business, economics and statistical evaluations,

said Dr. Allison Reiss, an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Long Island School of Medicine. But this paper, which Reiss co-wrote and published with her team, is for doctors and patients.

“We wrote it deliberately in an accessible way because I think that not just the doctors but also the patients are really trying to adjust to telemedicine and might have anticipation or anxiety about what to expect with the telemedicine visits,” Reiss said. “There was nothing [in the literature] that said what actually happens, how does the call go, how do you consumpt it [sic], [and] what information can you glean

from it. We set out to write a guide. We were fulf illing a gap and a need.”

Telemedicine is the virtual delivery of medical care via video or audio platforms. The technology was developed in the late 1960s, but has gained traction during the COVID-19 pandemic due to quarantine and isolation. Due to telemedicine’s increased accessibility, analysts expect routine healthcare visits for 2020 to top 200 million — a sharp contrast to an expected 36 million prior to the pandemic.

The new report presents a decision-tree diagram — as well as background risk factors — for assessing suspected COVID-19 infections and

details all aspects of a telemedicine visit for potential COVID-19 patients.

Reiss said doctors are well-equipped to identify telltale signs of COVID-19 during telemedicine appointments.

“You can hear when someone is really in distress, and you can see it as well, because when you work very hard to breathe, you use every muscle at your disposal to try to suck in air,” Reiss said. “I’m not saying anything can replace the in-person visit and the uniqueness of that, but now we can’t risk it a lot of times. We don’t want patients to come into an off ice and get COVID or give COVID.” CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

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NEWS

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NYU Langone Develops Telemedicine Blueprint CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Dr. Eric R. Goldberg, Senior Medical Director and Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at NYU Langone Health, said that telemedicine visits are as expensive as, or cheaper than, in-person visits, since patients save money on transportation, parking, and time.

“Even though it’s still online, you’re still getting an evaluation by a physician,” Goldberg said.

“Your appointment isn’t necessarily a shorter appointment because it’s online. I still may be ordering blood tests, x-rays and all the work that goes into a visit other than seeing you face to face … If [college students] have 30 minutes before classes, you could schedule a telemedicine visit in a way that you could not with an in-person visit.

Their time is saved.”

Darshana Rawal, a second-year at the College of Global Public Health, thinks telemedicine could potentially greatly shape future public health. She has personal experience with telemedicine, having sat in with her aunt for visits over FaceTime.

“It does save you from making that trip to the hospital or the clinic,” Rawal said. “It reduces waiting times … Before, I used to accompany my aunt to an appointment and we’d be at the waiting room for 30

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

minutes or so or maybe longer.”

While Reiss believes nothing can replace the uniqueness of an in-person visit, where doctors can touch and listen with stethoscopes, she thinks telemedicine can provide assessment and triage.

“Is that person okay to be at home and not have to be hospitalized or does that person need to go to the hospital?” Reiss said, explicating the principal benef it of telemedicine. “If we can bypass that in-person off ice visit, we save that person a trip, we save everybody from exposures and maybe we avoid hospitalizations from people catching this disease.”

Goldberg said NYU Langone uses a platform integrated into their electronic medical records to maintain patient conf identiality, as per the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Currently, however, any platform could be used: under emergency executive orders, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has relaxed certain HIPAA rules and privacy responsibilities to better connect patients with healthcare during the pandemic.

Nowadays, according to Goldberg, one can use Facetime.

Those without an internet connection are constrained, Reiss admitted, as are those unfamiliar with technology. “But so many

older people are really good with those things, they’re seeing their grandchildren that way, they’re doing virtual visits,” she said. “They might have neighbors that can help them out.”

Goldberg stated telemedicine is already changing the course of how future doctors are training, to keep up with new technologies.

“We’ve already started to build curriculum into our medical schools to teach simulated telemedicine visits,” Goldberg said.

“We also have the ability to have medical students shadow through the technology, almost like a 3-way call with the patient’s consent and full transparency.”

Although Reiss thinks telemedicine will never replace in-person visits, she believes it will expand and supplement healthcare visits for years to come in the future. She also believes telemedicine to be the answer to areas where people can’t get to clinics or where healthcare workers can’t get to patients.

“We’re going to use it in areas that are just deserts of medical care,” Reiss said. “If you have an expert somewhere and you have a patient somewhere on the other side of the planet, that won’t be a barrier to getting that expert opinion based on real-time information.”

Email Roshni Raj at rraj@nyunews.com.

Edited by MATTHEW FISCHETTI and TRACE MILLER

CRIME LOG

Three Missing Bicycles, One Attempted Bike Theft

By CRIME BOT Robot Reporter From Aug. 26 to Sept. 16, the NYU Department of Public Safety received one report of Burglary, three reports of Criminal Mischief, one report of Fondling, one report of Fraud, three reports of Harassment, nine reports of Larceny, one report of Public Lewdness and one report of Robbery.

Burglary On Sept. 15 at 10:52 a.m., a member of Public Safety reported a burglary in Othmer Hall. The case is open and under investigation.

Criminal Mischief On Sept. 4 at 7:23 p.m., several windows were shattered by unknown people in 45 West 4th Street. A police report was filed and the case is open and under investigation.

On Sept. 12 at 1:35 p.m., a Public Safety Officer reported graffiti outside of the Silver Center.

A police report was file and the case is open and under investigation.

On Sept. 16 at 10:10 p.m., the Public Safety Office reported a trespass in Washington Square Village. NYPD was notified and the case is open and under investigation.

Fondling On Sept. 11 at 12:39 a.m., a student reported a fondling in Washington Square Park. Police notification was declined and the case is open and under investigation.

Fraud

We are telling big stories — the Bling Ring, Venmo fraud, drug donkeys — ones that expanded past our print-standard 500 words, ones that paint pictures with words. This magazine aims to be a platform where undergraduate and graduate students alike can mutter on about their love of the blue-seated MTA trains or put into words the flavor of their love of grandma’s dumplings.

nyunews.com/underthearch underthearch@nyunews.com

On Sept. 8 at 10:39 a.m., a student reported fraud in Founders Hall. The case is open and under investigation.

Harassment On Aug. 26 at 11:41 a.m., a student reported harassment in 3 Washington Square Village. The case is closed.

On Sept. 8 at 6:45 p.m., a staff member reported harassment in 721 Broadway. The case is open and under investigation.

On Sept. 11 at 7:06 p.m., a student reported harassment in Washington Square Park. NYPD was informed and the case is open and under investigation.

Larceny On Sept. 4 at 4:15 p.m., a student reported a missing bike in Vanderbilt Hall. The case is open and under investigation.

On Sept. 4 at 7:30 p.m., a student reported a missing bike in

RACHEL BUIGAS-LOPEZ & CHARLIE DODGE | WSN

Bobst Library. A police report was filed and the case is open and under investigation.

On Sept. 8 at 1:10 p.m., a faculty member reported a missing computer in the Education Building. The case is open and under investigation.

On Sept. 11 at 4:17 p.m., a staff member reported missing equipment in 370 Jay Street. A police report was filed and the case is open and under investigation.

On Sept. 12 at 10:00 a.m., a student reported missing bike parts from a bike parked across Founders Hall. The case is open and under investigation.

On Sept. 12 at 3:51 a.m., a cab driver reported a theft in Lafayette Hall. A police report was filed and the case is closed and has been referred to NYPD. On Sept. 15 at 10:53 a.m., a student reported various missing items in Othmer Hall. The case is open and under investigation.

On Sept. 16 at 4:03 p.m., a student reported an attempted bike theft in 383 Lafayette St - Bike Rack. Police notification was declined and the case is open and under investigation.

On Sept. 16 at 7:21 p.m., a staff member reported a missing bicycle in 6 Metrotech Center.

Police notification was declined and the case is open and under investigation.

Public Lewdness On Sept. 12 at 4:30 p.m., a student reported public lewdness in Washington Square Park. Police notification was declined and the case is open and under investigation.

Robbery On Sept. 5 at 12 a.m., NYPD reported a robbery in Washington Square Park. The case is closed and referred to NYPD. Email Crime Bot at news@nyunews.com.

Washington Square News

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

3

SPORTS

SPORTS@NYUNEWS.COM

The Bitterness of Leaving Unfinished Business Unfinished

Edited by KEVIN RYU

NYU Predicts: NFL Edition

By KEVIN RYU Sports Editor

DEBORAH ALALADE | WSN

By KEVIN RYU Sports Editor When CAS senior Dillan Spector learned that fall sports were canceled, he had little time to rue the lost season. He had a decision to make, one he had been delaying making until he knew for sure sports could not resume in the fall. Aware that becoming a doctor is a lengthy process — four years of medical school, a minimum three-year stint in a residency program — Spector was originally not interested in taking a gap year after graduating NYU. However, there was a lingering annoyance with how he and the men’s cross country team ended the prior season. He decided he will put his post-college plans on hold and use the extra year of eligibility the National Collegiate Athletic Association granted fall athletes in light of the coronavirus.

“Last year, I made it to Nationals, but f irst we did not make it as a team and second I did really bad at Nationals,” Spector said. “I didn’t want to leave it at that.”

Stern senior Richie Rambarran has also faced this question of whether he should use his extra year of eligibility or accept an unsatisfying conclusion to his collegiate career. Unlike Spector, he remains undecided. Rambarran was vying for a redemptive season this fall, having missed all but two games his junior year with a concussion.

“My senior year, I really just wanted one more chance to put on the NYU jersey,” Rambarran said. “I looked forward to having the Senior day with my parents, teammates and coaching staff and having that moment of closure. Now, not having that is a tough pill to swallow.”

Rambarran’s frustration is shared across all senior athletes in fall sports, regardless of whether their prior season ended on a high or a low. The inability to have a say in how their senior seasons will end has left them feeling as if they are leaving their careers unf inished.

If they thought they could have

achieved more, they have lost their f inal opportunity to end their four years at NYU on their terms. If their last season was successful, they have lost an opportunity to build upon that momentum.

Following a season in which the men’s golf team placed f irst in four out of the f ive tournaments they attended, Tisch School of the Arts

“

I looked forward to having the Senior day with my parents, teammates and coaching staff and having that moment of closure. Now, not having that is a tough pill to swallow.

RICHIE RAMBARRAN Stern Senior

”

senior Robbie Keyes was looking forward to a hardware-f illed season.

“It def initely sucks, especially because our team this year is probably the best that it’s been in history,” Keyes said.

Keyes, who plans to use his extra year of eligibility, still has hope that the team can play during the spring season. Attending classes remotely from his home in Kentucky, he has done his best to replicate the team’s normal practice schedule, going out to the local golf course Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays to stay sharp.

Staying prepared, even with the uncertainties surrounding a potential spring season, has also helped reintroduce a sense of routine in the lives of senior athletes.

“I just kept running because it kept me sane,” said CAS senior Anna Kaufman, a member of both women’s cross country and track. “I know a lot of my other teammates are doing the same, running regularly just to stay in shape and to be ready in case something happens.”

Kaufman and the other seniors on the cross country team have also made a concerted effort to integrate the incoming freshmen into the team — at least virtually — via Zoom workouts.

“We have a lot of incoming freshmen that were going to be on the cross country team,” Kaufman said.

“NYU is such a hard place to meet people in general that we really wanted them to feel welcome.”

The importance of providing a community for the new recruits has also not been lost on the seniors of the women’s soccer team.

“We have these things called color war groups,” said CAS senior Julia Raith. “We get paired with different people from different classes. So we have a couple freshmen in our group and we’ll reach out to them to see how they are doing.”

Raith says whether she plays for another season is contingent upon which law school she attends. As seniors can maintain their year of eligibility if they attend graduate school at NYU, she will look to use that extra year if she goes to NYU School of Law. Meanwhile, she has been trying to stay active, practicing with her Women’s Premier Soccer League team, joining the executive board for the CAS senior class, and attending team-wide Zoom meetings on Fridays. Nothing has yet fully replicated the feeling of camaraderie she experienced with the team day in, day out.

“I really just miss my team and playing soccer,” Raith said. “There’s a physical aspect of life I think is lacking right now. So going out to dinner or doing homework with the team, it’s just the basic way of life that I miss.”

Email Kevin Ryu at kryu@nyunews.com.

The Kansas City Chiefs’ 34-20 victory against the Houston Texans opened the 2020 NFL season on Sept. 10. After opting out of having a bubble, the games have started with plenty of questions both on and off the field. Will the coronavirus force the NFL to adjust its schedule like the MLB did? How will the players’ commitment to social justice be received? Will the Baltimore Ravens and their MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson avenge their early playoff exit?

We asked NYU students to answer some of the questions surrounding the NFL season 101, from how they project their favorite team will do to who they think will be in the Super Bowl.

“My favorite team is the Colts, and I predict them to win the AFC South but lose in the first round of the playoffs,” CAS junior Manning Synder said. “My Super Bowl pick would probably be the Chiefs over the Saints. In my opinion, the Chiefs have the most explosive offensive and a formidable defense. I think the Saints are destined for a playoff run after years of early exits.”

CAS sophomore Archit Reddy also predicted a ChiefsSaints Super Bowl. “[The Chiefs] only got better in my opinion,” Reddy said. “I think

their run game has improved. I think the defense also just looks very good at the moment. As for the Saints, I think with maybe a couple years left of Drew Brees’ career, they finally put it together.”

Both Snyder and Reddy predicted that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers will disappoint their early season projections.

For Stern junior Max Gordon, the results of the games in Week 1 led him to eye a different team entirely.

“After watching week one, I am going to go out on a limb and say that the Washington Football Team is going to win the NFC East,” Gordon said. “They have a new coach, a new system [and] the defense looks fantastic. I think they are just going to shut teams down this year.”

In regard to the MVP, Gordon picked Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Despite picking Mahomes to win the MVP, Gordon has the Baltimore Ravens coming out of the American Football Conference victorious. From the National Football Conference, he could not help but let his home loyalty show a little, picking the Green Bay Packers to go to the Super Bowl.

Regardless of which teams do end up making it to the Super Bowl this season, Super Bowl LV is sure to be a unique entry in the history of the NFL. Email Kevin Ryu at kryu@nyunews.com.

DEBORAH ALALADE | WSN

NYU does not have a football team. NYU students discuss their predictions for the 2020 NFL season.

Washington Square News @nyunews @nyunews

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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

CULTURE

Edited by BELLA GIL

Where Did the GLS Juniors Go?

By DANA SUN Deputy Culture Editor Global Liberal Studies junior Madison Trpisovsky should be spending her school year in Paris. It’s a year that she should have spent living out her life as a true local Parisian.

Instead, she is spending her junior year back on the New York campus, attending the classes she would have had in Paris remotely through Zoom.

One aspect of studying in Paris that Trpisovsky anticipated was taking classes at a French university. Trpisovsky was accepted into the exchange program between NYU and Sciences Po, a university of the social sciences in Paris. Although she was given the option to take a remote class, the difficulties that were attached to participating in the program remotely were too overwhelming for her.

“Zoom classes are hard enough, and also the language barrier would have been even harder on its own,” Trpisovsky said. “But the fact that it would be a Zoom class and

SOFIA BATES

NYU has a global study site in Florence, Italy. GLS students traditionally spend their junior year abroad at one of NYU’s global study sites but are unable to do so this semester.

language and cultural barrier, I decided that it would have been too much.”

This is a disappointing reality many GLS juniors face. While it is a popular choice for non-GLS students to choose to study abroad for one semester, GLS requires its students to study abroad for a full academic year; it is the only program at NYU to demand it.

This year is usually a chance for juniors to fully reap the benefits of their international immersion, whether it be through field trips, internships or even by simply enjoying the local culture of their respective study sites.

However, the program has turned remote for many students, forced on by the ongoing pandemic and travel bans from different countries. It has dulled the quality of education and limited the experiences that juniors had looked forward to enjoying.

GLS junior Bianca Peña Ruiz, who decided to take a gap semester, also shared the same sentiment as Trpisovsky and felt that attending abroad classes remotely provided too many difficulties. However, the main culprit for her decision to stay at home in Puerto Rico was her financial constraint.

“I have a brother and a sister, but they study here in Puerto Rico,” Ruiz said. “I mostly just depend on my mom’s income for tuition (well, us three), so it was very difficult for me to say like, ‘You have to pay $30,000 mid-pandemic,’ you know?”

However, because Ruiz has decided to take the semester off, she is no longer on track for her senior year thesis. She now faces a unique situation of having to either transfer to the Gallatin School of Individualized Study or to a different university altogether.

The exposure to a foreign culture that the program provides is crucial to helping juniors shape their senior year thesis, which

will explore the global issues related to students’ concentrations. This is the case for GLS junior Jordan Newton-House, who is attending her Berlin classes remotely from New York. Because she plans to have her thesis research the way World War II was memorialized and seen as a global event, physically being in Berlin was crucial to her.

“When you talk about post-World War II monument buildings, Berlin is like the place to be,” Newton-House said. “I have to Zoom into two classes in Berlin, so I’m still getting the education. I just don’t get that firsthand experience that I would normally get or would have gotten if I was there.”

Some of Newton-House’s previous plans to take advantage of her presence in Berlin in order to support her thesis included interviewing one of the Afro-Germans who were sterilized during the Holocaust and getting an internship based in museums or memorial buildings. Newton-House must now change her plans according to what she can do from New York.

“I’d like to say that I’d be able to do remote work and do a lot of independent research, but I genuinely don’t know if that will be possible,” Newton-House said. “Maybe I’ll be able to go for the summer or fall semester of senior year, but at this point in time, I really don’t know.”

While students understand that being unable to study abroad is an unprecedented situation that is out of even the GLS administration’s hands, they remain disappointed with this outcome. Because studying abroad is a highly emphasized requirement to GLS students, many students anticipate their junior year.

“I feel like there’s nothing that compares to being in a [new] city, and the experience of

being in and around the people,” Tripsovsky said. “Even walking around, like you don’t get to do the normal student things. Like going to a coffee shop like in Paris is different than going to a coffee shop here. I think not having that immersion, it’s like a really big loss.”

The year abroad was a big influence toward Newton-House’s decision to enroll in the GLS program, and thus was something she looked forward to since her first year at college. This was a reality that she has had to come to terms with.

“I’m not going to sugar coat it, it sucks.

Like it f-cking sucks,” Newton-House said.

“I knew from the beginning that I wanted to study abroad in Berlin. I’ve been prepping for this, I’ve been getting ready, I was super excited. When they sent the email that was like, ‘Don’t get your visa, we don’t know what’s going on,’ I was like, okay. This isn’t happening.”

Even Ruiz, who had studied in Argentina in the fall of 2019, feels disappointed with having to miss out on a defining educational experience.

“I still feel like for everyone else and for myself that this is what they [GLS] promised, but of course it’s not their fault. But it’s just very disappointing,” Ruiz said. “The main point of GLS was to go that year abroad, and the thesis is based on what you learned and explored during that year abroad, and it’s not the same when you’re doing remote.”

GLS juniors still have no foresight on what the next semester will look like, as students have yet to receive updates from administrators.

“They haven’t given us any updates on anything in a while,” Trpisovsky said. “I don’t think it’s going to happen, because

the visa process would have had to start now, and LS [Liberal Studies] hasn’t said anything to us about it.”

Although there is a very real chance that studying abroad may not be a possibility for the remainder of their college careers, both Newton-House and Trpisovsky plan to find their own ways to immerse themselves in the cultures of Berlin and Paris respectively once they graduate.

“I plan on going to grad school, so I think the year in between undergrad and grad school, I would probably move to Germany and live there for a year,” Newton-House said.

Trpisovsky briefly considered participating in NYU’s five-year BA/MA program but decided to opt for a different way to achieve her masters. She saw this as a chance for her to be able to compensate for her missing study abroad experience in the future.

“I might try to do my masters in Europe instead because I’m not getting this study abroad experience now,” Trpisovsky said.

“Originally, I was planning on coming back to NYU for grad school, but I don’t think I want to do that anymore.”

While students may no longer be able to experience the junior year abroad they’ve been looking forward to their entire college careers, they still hold a deep love and respect for their program.

“Because of GLS, I get to study politics, but I also get to study arts and culture,” Trpisovsky said. “I don’t know what else I would be doing if I wasn’t in GLS, so I’m okay with it ultimately. Like it sucks that I can’t go abroad, but it’s not the fault of the administrators, and I feel like they’ve done what they could.”

Email Dana Sun at dsun@nyunews.com.

Moving in Together During a Pandemic: Why Now?

By ADDISON ALOIAN Deputy Culture Editor Attending college brings about new responsibilities for some, such as officially moving out of childhood homes, no longer living with parents and maybe even cooking for ourselves for the first time. Most of us begin to live independently, some with roommates, some alone and some with their significant others.

In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, several NYU couples decided to move in together at the start of the fall semester.

Steinhardt junior Ellie Condello lives with her boyfriend, Tisch junior Aaron Attoma-Matthews, in Gramercy Green Residential Hall with another couple. Condello and Attoma-Matthews started dating in January, but decided to take a jump in their relationship due to NYU’s COVID-related building restrictions, fearing they wouldn’t be able to spend much time together during the semester.

“One of our roommates suggested that we share the space with them as two couples,” Condello told WSN through email. “We have the smaller room of our dorm which has been a fun challenge of trying to fit everything we need in the space. In order to create space in the room, we pushed the beds together in the corner. There still isn’t even room for two desks, so one of us does school from a desk in our common area.”

Similarly, Tisch junior Grace Sessinghaus moved into an apartment with her boyfriend, CAS junior Benji Piaścik, and two friends after experiencing last-minute housing changes

in the summer. Because Piaścik had already been quarantining with Sessinghaus for five months at her house in Los Angeles, they figured it would be a smooth transition.

“We do not share a bedroom, we have bedrooms right next to each other because we figured it would be important since we’re only 20 years old moving in together, again, because like the pandemic, that it would be wise to have our own separate spaces but then option of spending time together whenever we want to,” Sessinghaus said.

Additionally, Steinhardt senior Sam Sherman decided to move in with her boyfriend, Steinhardt junior Reese Diaz, when he needed a roommate to split his rent. Upon the abrupt move out of New York in March, they had only been dating for two months, but found that their relationship solidified when Sherman quarantined with Diaz and his family in Pennsylvania instead of returning to her hometown in the virus hotspot of California.

“California was looking pretty bad and my family was having some health problems,” she told WSN through email. “I think the only reason we ended up deciding to live together is because we were able to get along so well and were just so comfortable with each other after living with his family.”

When asked what their parents thought of moving in together at this age, each couple had a different story.

“Our parents aren’t completely thrilled with us living together,” Condello said. “But they understood that with the regulations of the buildings right now for COVID-19 and along with our super busy schedules that we wouldn’t really be able to see each other if

we didn’t live together. They said that if we weren’t in a pandemic and things were normal, we would not have moved in with each other this early.”

On the contrary, Sessinghaus’s parents were on board.

“My parents really support it, they saw how well we lived together in California,” Sessinghaus said. “They like the safety of me being with him and two other boys a lot. My friends were really supportive too.

Regardless, each couple said living together has been great so far. For Condello, living together has allowed her to create a strong support system with Attoma-Matthews.

“We’re like a team,” she said. “We collaborate on meals, laundry, and creating a living space we can both coexist in. We talk about our work from our respective acting programs and support one another in our endeavors.”

A challenge Sessinghaus and Piaścik face now is having two separate bedrooms after sharing one in Los Angeles for five months.

“Living together has been pretty good so far, of course there were the challenges with getting adjusted to life in two separate bedrooms,” she said. “We like to have as much space as possible to feel like a normal couple in our twenties, y’know, like, not fully married-off or anything like that.”

As for Sherman, she also admitted that living together has been comforting, especially amongst the chaos in the world today.

“We’re both super busy with work, so it’s also just an added bonus to like come home to each other at the end of the day,” she said.

The students admitted that they never

expected to live with a significant other in college, but are glad they decided to.

“Neither of us imagined we would be living with a significant other at this age,” Condello said. “But we also never thought there would be a pandemic while we were in college and that we would have to try and live around that.”

Sessinghaus agreed that it is a sign of the times. “I did not think I’d be living with a significant other at this age at all, but it’s just the circumstances of the coronavirus and it works out with him,” Sessinghaus said.

When asked about the possibility of breaking up, each couple answered that they have plans in case the unthinkable were to happen.

“We’re enjoying what we have right now and we see it as counterproductive to look too far forward into the future,” Condello said.

Sessinghaus isn’t concerned either since they each have their own space apart from the bedroom they shared in LA. “We wouldn’t have made this decision together had we not been strong enough to handle this, especially because we lived together for five months together in LA,” she said.

“This is actually taking a step back for us.”

Sherman is also confident. “It’s something we talked about a lot before moving in together,” she said.

According to Sessinghaus, it’s been an adjustment to get back to life in the city, but they are happy to have each other during the pandemic.

“I’d say overall, it’s been way better than I could have anticipated with anybody else and I’m very grateful to be going through COVID with him right now and to have his

support,” she said.

For Sherman, the COVID-19 pandemic made her trust Diaz more.

“I really don’t think we’d have gotten so close or would be at the point we’re at now without going through COVID-19 together, and I’m honestly really thankful for having him in my life and for being so close to him now,” she said.

Condello said that the virus helped their relationship a lot in the long run.

“COVID-19 has defined our relationship,” she said. “Being separated by COVID taught us about communication, how strong our relationship can be, how to get creative with our dates, and that Zoom screen sharing is better than Netflix Party in some cases.”

Email Addison Aloian at aaloian@nyunews.com.

CHARLIE DODGE | WSN

Several NYU couples choose to live together during the COVID-19 pandemic. Couples have had to make adjustments to their living situations, such as rearranging furniture and making lifestyle changes.

Washington Square News

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

ARTS

ARTS@NYUNEWS.COM

5

Edited by SASHA COHEN and KAYLEE DEFREITAS

‘Mulan’ Fails To Break Barriers Amidst Clouds of Controversy

By QUAN ZHANG Contributing Writer Several of the top eight reviews on “Mulan’s” Letterboxd are related to money, rather than the film itself, but the $30 Disney+ demands on-top of their pricey subscription isn’t the only reason that this remake of “Mulan” has been condemned by so many. “Mulan” was originally set for release on March 27, of this year, but with the onset of the pandemic and cineplexes everywhere closing their doors on March 17, Disney was forced to change their release strategy. Following a graceful stroll in limbo that gnawed at both the audience and the studio’s patience, Disney finally decided to release this over $200 million budget project on their streaming platform, which is usually reserved for new films with low- to mid-tier budgets.

The intention behind releasing “Mulan” on Disney+ was that it would increase subscriptions to the streaming ser-

vice and recoup revenue that would have been lost with a limited run in theaters.

That being said, it will take 6.6 million purchases for “Mulan” to break even.

That might explain why “Mulan” is now appearing on the homepage of every Apple TV and every billboard around the world, seeing as Disney is desperately trying to get a return on their investment.

The film’s political stance has made the situation worse for the film’s global market. After Liu Yifei, the film’s main star, posted a photo in support of the Hong Kong police on Weibo, activists began organizing a campaign to boycott the film upon release. The fact that Yifei’s comments are attached to “Mulan” as an internationally registered property distinguishes it from similar comments made by other celebrities in Mainland China. At this point, posting “I support the Hong Kong Police” has become a sort of unwritten law for public figures based in Mainland China, but Liu’s comments have been hurled into the

CHELSEA LI | WSN

“Mulan,” recently released on Disney+, is the company’s newest live-action remake in 2020. Attracting worldwide controversy with the crew’s political stance as well as poor ratings, the movie remains a disappointing watch.

global spotlight because of the film’s international fame.

Social media users also noticed that “Mulan’s” filmmakers thanked Chinese government entities in Xinjiang that were suspected of being involved in the current human rights problem in the region. The problem entails the presence of a mass detention camp that was thrust into the global news spotlight following a series of riots that happened in Xinjiang from early 2009 through 2014. The controversy lies in the different interpretations people have of the re-education camps. Although the Chinese government stated they provided compulsory education, several scholars hypothesized they were intended as imprisonment.

The creation of the camp can be traced back to China’s Laogai Policy, which sought reform through labor. The policy was abolished at the end of 2013, four years after the July 2009 Ürümqi riots during which many participants perished in a series of riots. With reports on the internet providing limited and vague information about what the goal of the re-education center is, it’s difficult to pin down exactly what’s happening in Xinjiang. The fact that only certain people are granted access to the center casts the Chinese government’s comments in a dubious light as the sole informational authority on the subject.

“Mulan” debuted in theaters in China on Sept. 11. With a release that consisted of low pre-sale orders and an onslaught of negative ratings in Douban, China’s biggest movie review website, “Mulan” did not fare all that well at the box office.

Noting the princess holds a tremendous fan base in China due to the epic poem’s place in Chinese culture and the animated film’s successful run in theaters back in 1998, Disney was banking on the release of “Mulan” in China buffing its box-office numbers. Disney even sought out a superstar cast of Jet Li, Donny Yen

and Liu Yifei to boost their chances with the Chinese audience. Instead, “Mulan” only generated $23.2 million during its opening weekend.

Currently, “Mulan” holds a 4.9/10 on Douban, making it the lowest-rated live-action film Disney has ever made.

“Mulan’s” reliability on action set-pieces over character development points to the algorithmic design behind Disney’s current productions, as each and every one of their films adopts the same schema as their popular Marvel flicks. Disney’s penchant for superhero-stories shines in “Mulan,” as they suffocate the elements of folklore with the trappings of a superhero story.

In this version of “Mulan,” the titular character naturally holds a unique “chi” that sets her aside from the rest of the soldiers, bestowing her a certain deification that belittles the rigor and devotion she’s typically portrayed to engage in upon joining the military. Additionally, the use of a character shield to make Mulan impervious to any attacks on her character makes her all the less relatable as a role model. Throughout the entire film, Mulan is never wounded or put in a difficult situation, a decision that renders the character entirely alien to audiences.

The original “Mulan” from 1998 acted as a beacon of encouragement for young girls to act bravely and independently by accentuating Mulan’s courageous demeanor. While the film makes attempts to deliver a feminist message, said attempts only end up belittling every female character in the film that isn’t Mulan. “Mulan’s” decision to compare Mulan against other female characters like her mother or her sister seem to make the argument that there’s only one ideal way of expressing womanhood as opposed to celebrating the many ways in which women in China have always had a great effect on the culture by virtue of their multi-hyphenate existences. In a

scene that forces Mulan to untie her bun in order to show off her beautiful wavy hair and present herself as traditionally female in order to access the full power of her “chi,” the subversion of Mulan’s story is lost to a notion of women only being able to command power so long as they fit the aesthetic mold of traditional womanhood.

In “The Lord of the Rings,” a similar moment plays out when Eowyn kills the Witch-king of Angmar. But, the difference is, Eowyn never lies about her identity and she doesn’t have to resort to super powers in order to achieve this feat.

Where Eowyn shows off the battle-proficiency that she’s built over the course of the trilogy and demonstrates how she holds the same command over the battlefield as the rest of the entirely male Fellowship of the Ring, Mulan is forced to resort to magic that strips her of the human quality of evolution-through-training young viewers typically look to in their Disney role models.

With a faltering story, message, production and distribution, Disney’s “Mulan” has proven to be quite the mess.

That said, the “BoycottMulan” hashtag that surged in response to the situation has accrued a certain topicality that seems to favor the studio, as people from around the world have grown intrigued by the film’s overall controversy. But even putting the controversy surrounding the film aside, “Mulan” remains a disappointing watch. If Disney doesn’t change its model for adapting animated classics into live-action features, which can only be described as “old wine in new bottles,” the future of Disney’s cinema shall continue to look dry and formulaic.

Maybe they’ll survive this time, but carelessly gambling with such powerful narratives and socio-political factors can’t be healthy for business in the long term.

Email Quan Zhang at film@nyunews.com.

Travis Scott’s McDonald’s Collaboration Caters to His Fans

By ANASTASIA D. S. JOHNSON Staff Writer For the first time in almost 30 years, a celebrity can say that their name is on the McDonald’s menu. On Sept. 8, 2020, 28-year-old hip-hop artist and music producer Travis Scott began a collaboration with the fast food franchise, launching McDonald’s x Travis employee uniforms, clothing merchandise and a “Travis Scott Meal.” The menu item consists of a quarter pounder with onions, pickles, bacon, lettuce, melted cheese, mustard and ketchup, which will be available until Oct. 4, 2020. This is Scott’s first partnership that is inexpensive enough for all his fans to access, and proves that he is the king of collaborations.

McDonald’s’ last celebrity partnership entailed a deal that was far smaller in scope, albeit it was inspired by none other than NBA legend, Michael Jordan. The 1992 “McJordan” combo was available at select McDonald’s establishments in Chicago for only a short period of time.

Twenty-eight years later, the same exact sandwich has reappeared with the name “Travis Scott” and is priced at $6 selling nation-wide. The hip-hop singer has conveyed the message that his brand is acces-

sible in price and that he’s big enough to have a meal named after him.

Scott’s fans, though, have always been as ardent as Jordan’s. Scott’s shows were known for causing a frenzy even before he had established himself as a heavy-hitter on the scene. His set at 2015’s Lollapalooza and 2017’s Arkansas shows were classified by security as literal riots. Is rioting what brands want in their stores? Probably not, but companies aspire to have a dedicated customer base and Travis’ fan loyalty makes him an ideal brand partner.

McDonald’s employees have now been trained on Travis Scott lingo and music, especially those that have been associated with TikTok trends of customers playing “Sicko Mode” or asking for Cactus Jack, his nickname. It is also Travis Scott’s connection to streetwear culture and the resale market that draws a completely separate — although sometimes overlapping — market to McDonald’s.

The music world is no stranger to marketing an artist through large-scale collaborations. Pharrell Williams partnered with Adidas, Drake worked with Nike for the Air Jordan 12 OVO, and, maybe most famously, Kanye West worked with Adidas for Yeezy. While these collaborations are almost a sign of “making it,” of

being large enough to work with established brands, many prices rise as certain items are limited-edition and later resold.

The average fan cannot afford shoes worth $1,000, or even a t-shirt for $150.

When an artist’s collaboration becomes inaccessible to their own fans, they lose sight of who their listeners even are.

Yet, few have succeeded in capitalizing on their pop culture appeal like Travis Scott and his fans have remained devoted. The artist has pumped out clothing collaborations with exclusive designers and agents consistently since 2014. This includes work with Hot Wheels, Nerf, Fortnite and more. Scott’s Nike Air Jordans and limited edition Yves Saint Laurent vinyl records are best representative of how high-end and high-priced his products typically are. Even his first food partnership with Reese’s Puffs entailed cereal boxes at a price point of $50 that were sold out in under a minute. Now, Scott is finding that, arguably, his largest collaboration yet, is his most accessible.

There is no denying that the teaming up of McDonald’s with Travis Scott will benefit both parties. The chain will build its cool factor by tapping into the hiphop market, while the artist himself will reap the benefits of an affordable brand.

CHELSEA LI | WSN

Travis Scott’s McDonald’s latest collaboration is set to be released on Oct. 4. The menu item consists of the singer’s favorite order: a quarter pounder with onions, pickles, bacon, lettuce, melted cheese, mustard and ketchup.

Travis Scott may not need more fans, but if he was looking for a cheat sheet, a $6 meal is a good way to go. While the resale market has reaped its benefits on McDonald’s posters and attempting to ship the meal itself, the product itself is one made for the 10-year-old fan, as much as it is for the 70-year-old grandfather who does not know what he’s ordering. Once

an artist is as big as Scott, the music is not what is being promoted: it is his image.

One can hope that Scott’s recent venture will bring artists to make their partnerships more accessible, because their fans deserve it.

Email Anastasia D. S. Johnson at music@nyunews.com.

Washington Square News

6

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

OPINION

OPINION@NYUNEWS.COM

Edited by EMILY DAI and HELEN WAJDA

EDUCATION

Homeless Students Deserve More From NYC’s Education Department

By HELEN WAJDA Opinion Editor At a homeless shelter in Manhattan, Christlie Jean-Baptiste struggles to get her children online for remote learning due to the shelter’s lack of Wi-Fi and cell service. While children across the city log on for remote learning, Jean-Baptiste often stands outside the shelter at a public Wi-Fi kiosk, trying desperately to get her 9-year-old daughter’s city-issued iPad to connect to the internet so she can participate in class. When bad weather strikes, Jean-Baptiste — who is enrolled in community college classes — and her children are usually forced to miss their classes entirely as the already-spotty internet connection is rendered nonexistent.

The New York City Department of Education has taken steps to support homeless students after classes were shifted online in March to slow the spread of COVID-19. In April, the DOE distributed 250,000 iPads with unlimited data to students to ensure they could attend online classes. Earlier this month, the DOE announced that homeless students would be given priority access to city-funded childcare so they can participate in remote learning while their parents return to work.

However, the approximately 11,000 homeless students enrolled in charter schools — including Jean-Baptiste’s children — are not eligible for the free childcare program, leaving parents of charter school students who need to work out of financial necessity with few options. Many charter schools in the city have been waiting for more state guidance to move from an all-remote model to a hybrid model. In the interim, families that cannot afford childcare have had to jeopardize their financial situations even more by staying home from work to care for their children during remote learning. The DOE’s narrow policy has left thousands of families with almost no options.

Internet connectivity issues also pose a huge roadblock for homeless students trying to participate in remote learning.

While the DOE’s decision to supply homeless students with iPads is certain-

Submitting to

ly a step in the right direction, the New York City Bar Association through City Bar Justice Center reported earlier this year that most city shelters not only lack Wi-Fi, but also have spotty cell service — making it difficult for residents to use hotspots or the unlimited data the city-issued iPads come with. Rather than address all aspects of the issue by providing homeless students with safe places where they can connect to the internet for remote learning, the DOE has opted to supply students with devices that can’t be used in many shelters.

Homeless students need and deserve spaces with reliable internet access in order to participate in remote learning, not just iPads that are often unusable in homeless shelters. This is undoubtedly a complex issue and I don’t doubt that the DOE is working hard to address students’ needs during the pandemic, but the bottom line is that it’s unacceptable and inhumane for thousands of students to fall behind in school due to issues beyond their control like internet accessibility and their families’ financial situations.

While the DOE can’t realistically equip all shelters with internet access, they do have several options for supporting students better than they are now. For one, the DOE can make Regional Enrichment Centers — community centers created in March to provide childcare to children of essential workers during the pandemic — accessible to homeless students. This would allow students living in shelters to have a reliable space to complete online classes.

These centers safely provided childcare to thousands of children of essential workers for five months before shuttering last week, and they can be used again to provide childcare to homeless children during remote learning. The DOE can also expand the free childcare program already in place to include homeless students in charter schools so that children like Jean-Baptiste’s who are not enrolled in public schools do not have to rely on unreliable public internet to attend classes.

However the next few weeks unfold with remote learning, the DOE needs to do more to ensure that homeless children are able to participate in online classes regardless of their internet or living situation. Anything less showcases the DOE’s blatant disregard for the needs of the city’s most vulnerable students.

Email Helen Wajda at hwajda@nyunews.com.

STAFF EDITORIAL

NYU Still Needs to Take Action for LGBTQ+ Rights One year after the Stonewall riots, LGBTQ+ rights activists Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera organized an occupation of Weinstein Residence Hall in response to NYU’s abrupt cancellation of a dance-a-thon to benefit the LGBTQ+ community. Although NYU had allowed two dance-a-thons to take place on campus during the summer, once students returned to campus, parents and donors expressed concern about students being influenced by a gay presence on campus. As a result, the university banned gay social events from taking place at NYU. After employing a variety of harsh tactics to drive protestors away — including cranking the air conditioning up all the way to freeze them out and then overheating the room occupied by protestors –– NYU called the riot police, who ended the five day protest by forcibly removing protesters from the building.

Judging from NYU’s website, it’s hard to tell that the university was an active participant in violence against the LGBTQ+ community 50 years ago. Rather than apologize for it’s violent response to the Weinstein occupation, NYU published two sentences on the protest that omitted the university’s decision to deploy riot police against protestors. Now that steps have been taken to establish LGBTQ+ rights around the country, NYU would face backlash if it didn’t champion LGBTQ+ rights. While NYU’s proclaimed dedication to championing LGBTQ+ rights is a step in the right direction, the whitewashing of NYU’s past relationship with the LGBTQ+ community shows that the university is only willing to take a stand when it positively impacts their image.

While NYU has taken a more progressive stance on LGBTQ+ rights since the Weinstein occupation, it still maintains a relationship with the NYPD despite the NYPD’s continued violence towards protestors and BIPOC. On Friday night, the NYPD employed excessive force against protestors at an abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protest outside of Bobst Library. Despite the NYPD beating protestors on NYU’s campus, the university did nothing to address the issue except send a mass text advising students to avoid the Washington Square Park area. Whether NYU calls the police itself — as it did in 1970 — or refuses to condemn the NYPD when protestors are beaten on campus, NYU remains complicit in a system of police brutality that endangers the lives of the BIPOC and LGBTQ+ communities NYU now claims to protect and embrace.

NYU has also continually fallen short in protecting LGBTQ+ students since the Weinstein occupation, including those abroad. Over the years, many have expressed

concerns about discrimination against gay students at NYU Abu Dhabi. Although previous NYU President John Sexton refuted these concerns, stating, “I would say to any student here that wants to go to the Abu Dhabi campus, ‘Go.’ Gay students, Israeli students, I refuse to think in those categories,” it is clear that the wellbeing of LGBTQ+ students were seldom considered. Homosexual activity is illegal in the United Arab Emirates, and can even be punishable by death. Mubarak Al Shamesi, director-general of the Abu Dhabi Education Council, pushed back on Sexton’s statement, saying, “NYU was aware of our local culture and rules and guidelines, and our policies on Israelis or homosexuality were clearly not a concern for them.” It isn’t as if higher-education institutions must accept homophobic policies and human-rights violations — in 2004, Harvard returned a $2.5 million donation when it realized that the country’s laws would violate the school’s nondiscrimination clause. From a university that has repeatedly been named as one of the most gay-friendly in the United States, this type of disregard for LGBTQ+ students is inappropriate and dangerous.

On the New York campus, students have had difficulty receiving appropriate student-housing accommodations as recently as last year. When CAS sophomore Evelyn Zhang, who is transgender and uses she/her pronouns, indicated her gender identity on her application, she was assigned to a room in University Residence Hall with three cis male suitemates. The following year, after applying for gender neutral housing and expecting to be assigned roommates who identified as women, Zhang received three cis male suitemates again. The previous Vice President of T-Party, a club for transgender, non-binary and gender-nonconforming members of the NYU community, reported that many students have had their safety and comfort compromised within their own dorms due to their identity. These experiences underscore the failure of NYU housing to live up to its own expectations as an institution that currently “support[s] the LGBTQ+ community.”

NYU can continue to present itself as an inclusive institution, but its refusal to own up to the part it’s played in the oppression of LGBTQ+ rights prevents the university from truly being an ally to the LGBTQ+ community.

Looking back on the Weinstein occupation 50 years later reminds us that even though NYU has become more progressive on the surface, the university only stands up for LGBTQ+ rights when it is beneficial for the university while taking actions that actively harm the LGBTQ+ community itself.

Email the Editorial Board at editboard@nyunews.com.

CHAIR Emily Dai, Helen Wajda CO-CHAIR Kevin Kurian, Asha Ramachandran, Bianca Sproul CHAIR EX OFFICIO Cole Stallone, Abby Hofstetter,

Alexandria Johnson, Jun Sung, Ethan Zack

SEND MAIL TO: 75 THIRD AVE. #SB07, NEW YORK, N.Y. 10003 OR EMAIL: OPINION@NYUNEWS.COM WSN welcomes letters to the editor, opinion pieces and articles relevant to the NYU community, or in response to articles. Letters should be less than 450 words. All submissions must be typed or emailed and must include the author’s name, address and phone number. Members of the NYU community must include a year and school or job title. WSN does not print unsigned letters or editorials. WSN reserves the right to reject any submission and edit accepted submissions in any and all ways. With the exception of the staff editorial, opinions expressed on the editorial pages are not necessarily those of WSN, and our publication of opinions is not an endorsement of them.

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

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Washington Square News

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UNDER THE ARCH

Edited by MANDIE MONTES and ANNA-DMITRY MURATOVA

Turning Zoom Into My Artistic Tool

Learning to photograph through a computer screen involved lots of errors, but once I learned to deal with them, I fell in love with the results.

Words and Photos by

ALEJANDRA AREVALO

Contributing Writer

NYU Tisch senior Lorena Guillen holding a bouquet of flowers at home in the Atlanta area.

Guillen spent her quarantine shooting videos about fashion, beauty and college life for her Youtube channel.

When I was told that NYU would be fully online for the remainder of the spring 2020 semester, something didn’t sit right with me.

I had said goodbye to some friends but didn’t have the chance to see others before leaving. Now I am miles apart from them without a date to meet again. I moved back to L.A., realizing I wouldn’t be able to have anymore NYC photoshoots with my friends anytime soon.

Quarantine turned from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, and the list of things to do at home was getting shorter every day.

It wasn’t until I saw the FaceTime photoshoot of Bella Hadid for Vogue Italia that something clicked. Rather than give up my passion for photography, I thought this was the chance to transform my practice and adapt to the new reality. This is how I ended up holding Zoom photoshoots with my college and high school friends for this project. I’m not going to lie, the shoots weren’t easy. We had to deal with bad WiFi and terrible lighting. At first, those mishaps annoyed me, but as I became more comfortable with the application as an artistic tool, I felt that I didn’t have to fix those things. The blurs, the dots, the lines — all those elements added to the uniqueness of this creative medium.

This is a selection of black and white photographs that came to be from over a dozen Zoom photo sessions that I held over the summer.

Nothing was premeditated. I let my subjects play a major role in the creation process and come up with poses and props as we shot. In between poses and after the shoots, we would talk about anything and everything. How’s quarantine in [insert place here] going? Are you still in touch with [insert name here]? Oh my god, remember when [insert anecdote here] happened? In a way, the photoshoots became an excuse for me to connect with people that I had meant to stay in touch with but couldn’t due to the circumstances. From New York to Chicago and Zambia to Peru, my subjects were everywhere and shared a little piece of their lives in these photos.

Email Alejandra Arevalo at aarevalo@nyunews.com.

Singer Micaela Minaya playing her acoustic guitar at home in Lima, Peru. Although the pandemic hit the music scene and halted her plans of attending Berklee College of Music, Minaya kept making and sharing music with her followers on social media.

Nicol Rebata outside her house in Zambia. Before the pandemic, she was studying in England but then decided to take some time off and live with her parents.

University of Colorado Colorado Springs senior Arantxa Chavez in her apartment’s balcony in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Chavez had recently moved in with her partner when the stay-at-home order began so they spent their quarantine unpacking and decorating their new place.

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We are telling big stories — the Bling Ring, Venmo fraud, drug donkeys — ones that expanded past our printstandard 500 words, ones that paint pictures with words.

This magazine aims to be a platform where undergraduate and graduate students alike can mutter on about their love of the blue-seated MTA trains or put into words the flavor of their love of grandma’s dumplings.

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