WSN020915

NYU’s Daily Student Newspaper

WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS Vol. 43, No. 7

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015

nyunews.com UNIVERSITY LIFE

Activists discuss MLK, Black Lives Matter

By MAGGIE O’NEILL Staff Writer

STAFF PHOTO BY SHAWN PAIK

Members of the NYU community gathered at Coles Sports Center on Friday during the annual Shabbat for 2,000. The event, hosted by the Bronfman Center for Student Life, is the largest student-run event at NYU.

PREVIEW

NYU hosts warm-up invitational

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

opportunity to momentarily celebrate their victories before focusing on the upcoming championships. After months of early morning practices and rigorous workouts, the swimmers’ training will need to adjust for the added rest in between competitions. Freshman Avery Soong elaborated on tapering, just one aspect of the hard work the team has put forth all season.

“Taper is a time of rest and to prepare oneself to compete at their highest potential,” Soong said. “All of us can take confidence that we are in the best possible position to achieve our end goals.”

Soong also expressed the team’s aspirations to win a national championship, and how the high stakes for the upcoming meets translated into this

Abu Dhabi cracks down on Skype Students studying away in NYU Abu Dhabi will now have a harder time calling home.

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SWIMMING continued on PG. 5

VIA FACEBOOK.COM

NYU men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams hosted an invitational meet this weekend at the Palladium Athletic Facility and Coles Sports Center. NYU hosted 10 teams from all three divisions of the NCAA as well as one junior college, including Drexel University, SUNY Delhi and United States Merchant Marine Academy.

The invitational, while not team scored, marked the beginning of the championship season. This invitational will lead into the University Athletic Association championships in Atlanta, Georgia starting this Wednesday. The championships will culminate with the NCAA Division III Championships in March for those who qualify.

During the two day invitational, both the men’s team and women’s team had successful races. The freshmen on the men’s team performed especially well, earning a few first place finishes. Freshman Austin Palmer won the 1650-yard freestyle, 400-yard individual medley and 500-yard freestyle.

In addition, the women’s team placed in several events. Sophomores Maia Brearton and Emily Sanders both placed second in their races: 200-yard backstroke and 200 yard breaststroke, respectively. Freshman Annie Driscoll won the 200-yard butterfly and the 200-yard freestyle.

NYU is currently ranked eighth for men and fifth for women in the Collegiate Swimming Coaches Association of America poll and is undefeated this season. This home invitational gave the team an

VIA THEGAZELLE.ORG

By ANNE CRUZ Contributing Writer

MLK continued on PG. 3

Ancient objects become modern in new exhibit

By NIKITA METHARAMANI Contributing Writer

“From Ancient to Modern: Archaeology and Aesthetics” examines how archaeological objects transform from artifacts into artwork. The exhibit opens this thursday at NYU’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World.

ISAW is a center that focuses on scholarly research and graduate education at NYU. Its primary focus is to create connections and comparisons to the ancient world. With “From Ancient to Modern: Archaeology and Aesthetics,” ISAW will present 50 Mesopotamian objects and over 100 documents, drawings and photographs from present-day Iraq.

Jennifer Chi, ISAW director of exhibitions and chief curator, and Pedro Azara, profes-

NYU secrets, helpful or harmful?

Opinon writers argue over the impact of the page on the NYU community.

STORY on PG. 7

sor of aesthetics and theory of art at Polytechnic University of Catalonia, curated this avant-garde exhibition with assistance from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology.

Apart from the other exhibitions at ISAW, this project gives us a different outlook on archaeology by presenting 10 modern works of art to go along with the ancient artifacts. This inclusion is a first for ISAW and shows the ongoing influence and impact of archaeological artifacts in our present-day lives.

“All ISAW exhibitions stand at the intersection of archaeology, art and ideas, and this is no different,” Chi said. “What distinguishes this show is the fact that

ANCIENT continued on PG. 4

VIA GONYUATHLETICS.COM

GAME COVERAGE

As part of their 10th Annual MLK Week, NYU awarded faculty members Patricia Morris Carey and Allen M. McFarlane the Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award during an event at the Kimmel Center on Thursday.

The program, “Beyond a Dream”, included rapper Talib Kweli, activist writer Nikki Giovanni and vice chair of voter registration and participation for the Democratic National Committee Donna Brazile. The event was held to promote discussion about King’s vision.

The discussions centered on the deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin and the protests that erupted after the recent grand jury decision. Brazile discussed the injustices that still plague America decades after Dr. King made his famous speech.

“We’re not there yet,” Brazile said. “We’re not post-racial. We can draw a straight line from

Trayvon Martin to Ferguson to here.”

A video of NYU President John Sexton was presented at the discussion, during which he spoke about Dr. King’s dream.

CAS junior and president of NYU Black Student Union Arielle Andrews introduced Brazile and said she hoped the event would promote conversations about diversity on campus.

“Our main initiative when we held the die-in was to push diversity,” Andrews said. “We think it should be at the forefront of NYU’s agenda, especially since we are a global university, and we think it hasn’t been so far. So we just hope that it furthers the conversation of putting diversity first and making everybody feel included here on campus.”

Tisch alumna Callie Nichole Lyons said she attended the event because she is still interested in what happens in the NYU community even though

Library helps Team helps bring a silent film about Houdini back to life.

STORY on PG. 8

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ON THE SIDE

COMPILED BY THE

WSN STAFF

WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS Editor-in-Chief

VALENTINA DUQUE BOJANINI

EXPOSURE

Managing Editor

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JOHN AMBROSIO Digital Director

HANNAH TREASURE

In New York City, better known as the city that never sleeps, light is everywhere. While the hours of natural daylight may be limited, the vast sources of artificial lighting throughout the city provide infinite creative opportunities.

Creative Director, Special Editions

OLIVIA MARTIN Creative Director

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SHAWN PAIK photo SAM BEARZI video CALVIN FALK deputy photo SANG BAE, MATHILDE VAN TULDER deputy video CHRISTIAN FORTE

Through adventures such as waking up at 5 a.m. to catch the break of dawn on the Brooklyn Bridge, to braving the dark winter streets around Union Square, I have learned to see light not only as an aesthetic necessity, but also as an artistic tool with endless potential.

SENIOR STAFF

news ALANNA BAYARIN, MARITA VLACHOU features MARINA ZHENG arts ALEXA SPIELER sports BOBBY WAGNER senior editors LARSON BINZER, CHRISTINA

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CHRISTINE PARK features NINA JANG beauty & style SOPHIE LEWIS dining REBECCA RIDDLE film ISABEL JONES entertainment AUDREY DENG music E.R. PULGAR theater/books CAROLINE CUNFER sports KYLE LUTHER

OPINION PAGE opinion editor

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editor EMILY BELL violet vision GABRIELLA BOWER the highlighter MARISSA ELLIOT LITTLE under the arch EMMA SCOBLE global DANA RESZUTEK

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A Man of No Importance Come see the last showing of “A Man of No Importance,” based on a movie of the same title. The show ends its five-day run today at 8 p.m. at the Frederick Loewe Theater.

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Shaping Puerto Rico’s Future The NYU Journal of Law and Business and the NYU Latino Law Students Association will meet to discuss the political and economic future of Puerto Rico with Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico’s resident commissioner in Washington, D.C. The conversation will take place on the ninth floor of Furman Hall from 6:30 to 8 p.m.

Leaders in Public Interest

East Village, New York, NY

In a lecture hosted from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in Lipton Hall, Alec Karakatsanis will discuss incarceration and civil rights during a talk titled “Using Civil Rights Law to Attack the Normalization of Incarceration.”

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TATIANA BAEZ, NICOLE BROWN, ALEX GREENBERGER, CLIO MCCONNELL, JORDAN MELENDREZ About WSN: Washington Square News (ISSN 15499389) is the student newspaper of New York University. WSN is published Monday through Thursday during NYU’s academic year, except for university holidays, vacations and exam periods.

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If you believe we have erred, contact the managing editors at managing@nyunews. com or at 212.998.4302.

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THE GAZELLE: SKYPE BAN TIGHTENS IN THE UAE Published on TheGazelle.org on Feb. 7, 2015

BY JOEY BUI, Editor-in-Chief Although Voice Over Internet Protocol services such as Skype, Viber and FaceTime have never been licensed in the UAE, the blocking of these applications has slowly been coming into effect for over a year. An official clarification on the illegality of Viber and similar apps was announced in Sept. 2014, but the implementation has been uneven. Skype calls to landlines are currently not working, while computer-to-computer calls continue to work even though both services are illegal.

Until recently, NYU Abu Dhabi students were able to use proxies, including the NYU proxy and VPN proxies, to make Skype computer-to-landline calls.

Skype’s website now confirms that the app is blocked in the UAE, while encouraging users to “speak to your [internet service provider] and ask why they are blocking Skype and request that they unblock our site and services.”

VoIP services are blocked in the UAE because only two operators, Etisalat and du, are licensed to provide telecommunication services in the UAE. According to Daniel Hanratty, Support Site Lead at NYUAD’s Campus Technology Center, both Etisalat and the UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority seemed unclear about the policy until Sept. 2014.

“There’s no definitive time for how long [Skype] has been blocked, because for a while, Etisalat was saying it was the TRA that was blocking it and the TRA was saying that it was Etisalat blocking it,” said Hanratty.

“They’ve been blaming each other for it.”

In response to past media attention about blocked Viber services last year, the TRA released a statement in Sept. 2014 to confirm the illegality of Viber and other VoIP services: “We have recently seen local newspapers and social networks publishing news with regards to the Viber service being blocked in the UAE. We would like to clarify

that the service was never licensed in the UAE. Moreover, the VoIP regulatory policy has only licensed Etisalat and du, The Licensees, to provide telecommunication services in the UAE, including VoIP services.

This policy still exists and has not been amended.”

“The clarification [on Skype’s ban] came out end of last year, but [blocking has] been happening on and off for a year or so now,” said Hanratty. “It would work, then it would stop working, then it would work.”

Senior Laura Evans said that computer-to-landline calls on Skype stopped working during her junior year at NYUAD. “In my freshman year and probably my sophomore year as well, you could use Skype to call landlines very easily,” said Evans. “It was only in my junior year that I realized I couldn’t [call] anymore. In the end I found some workarounds using a couple of VPNs because it’s one of the only ways I have to call home.”

Now, however, she is unable

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STAFF ILLUSTRATION BY SANG BAE

The UAE has tighten the ban on Skype and apps like Viber.

to use computer-to-landline calls on Skype at all. Evans was surprised that NYUAD did not release any information on navigating the sudden implementation of Skype’s block in the UAE. The uneven functionality of other VoIP services that Evans explored, such as Google Voice and FaceTime, was also unaddressed by the university. Evans commented that the ban on these low-cost VoIP apps seems unnecessary, especially given large demand from expatriates and migrant workers in the UAE. NYUAD Professor of Biol-

ogy Claude Desplan noted that Skype is useful for academic work as well as personal calls.

Since the block, he has been using Google Hangouts.

“We use extensively Skype for classes, especially when the video system of NYU does not function properly, which is quite often, and for lab [meetings] between people in NYC and people in [Abu Dhabi], at least once weekly,” wrote Deplan in an email to The Gazelle.

For the rest of the story, go online to TheGazelle.org.

CRIME LOG feb. 2 to 3

By CHRISTINE PARK Deputy News Editor

VIA NYU.EDU

NYU celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr. with a week of panel discussions.

Faculty honored with MLK award she graduated.

“In situations like this when we have conversations and the main goal is to get people to make change outside of the walls of the university I hope

it opens up dialogue because I think that’s the first thing that has to happen in order to make change,” Lyons said. “I hope that people that were present tonight are able to take this to people

who may not have come, may not have an interest, or may not have known about it.”

Email Maggie O’Neill at news@nyunews.com.

The NYU Department of Public Safety has received reports of four incidents of larceny, one incident of controlled substance possession and one incident of physical assault in the past week.

under investigation.

On Feb. 3, at 2 p.m. a faculty member reported her purse missing from her desk after having left it at the Duke House on Dec. 24, 2014 and returning to it on Jan. 24.

All but the incident in NYU Florence are still under investigation.

Larceny

Controlled Substance

On Feb. 2, at 11:30 a.m. Public Safety received reports that a faculty member was missing their cell phone after having left it unattended at 9:45 a.m. at 627 Broadway.

On Feb. 2, at 11:59 a.m. a student reported 20 euros missing from her wallet after leaving it unattended at 8:30 p.m. and returning at 11:50 a.m. the next day in her dormitory room in NYU Florence.

On Feb. 2, at 3:03 p.m. a faculty member filed a report to Public Safety that an unidentified person in a laboratory at the Silver Center stole two laptops, a backpack and a wallet between 12:15 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. The New York Police Department filed a report and the incident is still

On Feb. 2, at 3:20 a.m. student life staff said they confiscated a small amount of marijuana from a dormitory room of the Osadni Apartments at NYU Florence. The incident is closed.

Physical Assault On Feb. 3, at 10:30 p.m. a student at Gramercy Green Residence Hall reported that her roommate hit her on the face at 10 p.m. The NYPD came to the scene but the victim did not file charges against her roommate. This incident is still under investigation.

Email Christine Park at news@nyunews.com.

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WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS | MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015 | NYUNEWS.COM

FEATURES

EDITED BY MARINA ZHENG FEATURES@NYUNEWS.COM

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ANCIENT continued from PG. 1

P TO

Apps to improve NYU experience

By TIFFANIE HWANG Contributing Writer

COURTESY OF NIKITA METHARAMANI

The new exhibition opens at Institute for the Study of the Ancient on Feb. 12 and features modern art pieces and the artifacts that inspire them.

Archaeology exhibit connects past, present

it is as much about the endeavor of archaeology as it is about the objects that archaeologists have unearthed.”

Chi hopes that the exhibit will put archeology into a more animated perspective.

“We want visitors to the show to leave with an understanding of archaeology as a living, everchanging endeavor,” Chi said.

“We hope that the exhibition will demonstrate that the way we look at archaeological artifacts is not static, but that ‘biographies’ for such artifacts continue to be written and rewritten.”

The exhibit emphasizes that archaeology is more than just an-

tiquity. Sebastian Heath, a Clinical Assistant Professor of Ancient Studies at NYU, agrees that the in the field of archeology has extended from the likes of ancient Mesopotamia to encompass cities like New York City.

“The power of this exhibit is that it reminds both experts and the public that archaeology can create active connections to the past and inspire us to think about the modern world,” Heath said.

“Any approach that makes the past more relevant to our current lives is very welcome.”

Email Nikita Metharamani at features@nyunews.com.

From navigating the city to documenting every moment of the experience, living and studying in New York City can get a little hectic. Here are five apps that are guaranteed to help a student survive this concrete jungle, juggle workloads and make the best of the college experience.

Citymapper From subways and bicycles to buses and your own two feet, there are many ways to get around the city but it is hard to navigate them all. Citymapper helps you stay on top of your game by providing everything from bike share availability to time estimates for public transportation arrivals. This app will tell you the best form of transportation to get to and from your destination. It also includes travel time, fare calculations and even the amount of calories you might burn on your trip. Free in the App Store.

Argus It is easy to let yourself indulge a little too often or get carried away with midnight dollar pizza. That is why we love Argus, a health app that helps you

stay on track in an enjoyable way. It has a built in pedometer that will track your steps, check your heart rate and calculate how many calories you burned from that walk to class - or that sprint to the doughnut shop. “It records your water intake and your sleep cycle for you, leaving you free to take care of more important things. And you can even keep a food diary by posting pictures of your meals and displaying them in a colorful, hexagonal grid. Free in the App Store.

1 Second Everyday Every day, record one second of your day for a year and watch your memories and moments compile into a 365-second video that captures everything from the simple to significant bites of your life. This app provides the perfect way to capture, reminisce about, and treasure your journey and reminds you not let the days just pass by. $0.99 in the App Store.

GrubHub With the days becoming busier and colder by the minute, GrubHub saves you time so you can spend fewer minutes outside in the outside world.

Just enter your location and the app will provide you with

VIA GOOGLE PLAY

These handy apps make navigating the city a breeze.

menus, reviews and “the option to pick up or get delivery from hundreds of nearby restaurants.

Orders can be paid in cash, credit or PayPal. There is also an option to save your past favorite orders so the next time you want to dine-in, you’re only a tap away. Free in the App Store.

Evernote Never lose your recorded thoughts or fumble with which file, drive or notebook you put your lecture notes in. Evernote syncs all the notes recorded from your laptop, whether it is class notes or to-do lists. The app syncs the documents into both your phone and computer with no hassle. Free in the App Store.

Email Tiffanie Hwang at features@nyunews.com.

NYU helps recover Houdini film

By TEJAS SAWANT Contributing writer

“The Grim Game,” a 1919 silent film starring the famous illusionist Harry Houdini, was believed to be lost for about four decades. But thanks to a collaborative effort involving Turner Classic Movies and NYU’s Barbara Goldsmith Preservation and Conservation Department, the film has now been made available to the world again.

The recovered 71-minute feature film is expected to make its comeback during the 2015 TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood this upcoming March. Tisch professor Brane Živković composed an accompanying soundtrack.

The film follows the story of a young man named Harvey Hanford, or Harry Houdini, who is framed for murder but escapes from the police and goes after the true culprits. The film is a reflection of Houdini’s skill as an escape artist.

The film’s preservation journey began when Rick Schmidlin, a film preservationist and silent-film scholar, learned about the film from his friends at the Houdini

Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He decided to bring Professor Živković on board.

“I first met Brane at his NYU lecture. Since we became good friends, I reached out to him after learning about the film,” Schmidlin said.

After several weeks, Schmidlin located the owner of the only extant copy of the film. It belonged to Brooklyn resident Larry Weeks, a 95-year-old ardent fan of Houdini who had refused to sell the film to many prospective buyers in the past.

“After a long conversation, Larry finally agreed to sell the film. We were really lucky to reach out to [him] in time because he passed away soon after in October,” said Schmidlin. “And had the film not been procured, it would have been lost to the world forever.”

Schmidlin and Živković approached the Bobst Library’s Preservation and Conservation Department, where they received active cooperation from Head of the Preservation Department Paula De Stefano. The film finally arrived in two old metallic cans at NYU’s onsite vault at Bobst.

“For several months, the restored

film was guarded like a secret inside NYU,” Schmidlin said.

Kimberly Tarr and Benjamin Moskovitz, who are part of the media preservation team, undertook the job of transferring the film to vented cans to protect it from further degradation.

“The only surviving part of the film known to the world was a five minute footage of an actual planecrash that had occurred while filming,” said Tarr, who was excited about the breakthrough of this project. “It was an honor to work with such a great team. It was a great collaboration and we’re delighted to get to play a role in that.” Živkovi ć, a lauded composer who undertook the challenge of taking the audience back to 1919 through the score, felt the goal of the project was realized.

“I wanted to recreate the ambiance of a silent film theater of the early ‘20s, where local musicians played the score to enhance scenes, especially those involving action, emotion and heroic deeds.”

He is eager to watch his very first attempt at scoring a full-length

COURTESY OF KIMBERLY TARR

NYU helped in the conservation of Houdini’s “The Grim Game.”

film from scratch come to life at the upcoming premiere.

Schmidlin, who has actively been involved in the recovering of “The Grim Game” since the project’s beginning, felt pleased about the results of this project.

“[This was] a rare and entertaining experience,” he said. “It was the dream team that everyone wanted to have.”

Email Tejas Sawant at features@nyunews.com.

NYUNEWS.COM | MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS

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SPORTS

EDITED BY BOBBY WAGNER SPORTS@NYUNEWS.COM

Weekend basketball faces wins, losses

By KYLE LUTHER Deputy Editor

The men’s and women’s basketball teams came out of their matchups this weekend with mixed results. Both teams dropped their first game on Friday night to the University of Rochester, but won close matches against Emory University on Sunday.

The men’s team was unable to get over the hump in their second match against Rochester this season, losing 85-75. The Violets fell behind in the first half, shooting just 44 percent while the yellow jackets shot 56 percent. NYU allowed Rochester to shoot 60 percent from beyond the arc. By the end of the first half, the Violets had fallen behind by 10 points after a 19-7 run by the Yellow Jackets.

In the second half, the Yellow Jackets were able to match the Violets point for point and maintain a solid lead until the final buzzer rang.

Junior forward Evan Kupferberg continued his stellar sea-

son by posting 15 points and 7 rebounds. Junior guard Hakeem Harris led the Violets with 20 points while shooting a perfect 9-9 from the charity stripe.

The NYU men’s game against Emory was a more exciting, hotly contested affair. Each team’s lead was never more than razor thin for the entire game, but the Violets’ first-half shooting was enough to outlast the Eagles as both teams struggled in the second half. With just 1.5 seconds left on the clock, Kupferberg hauled in a full court pass and banked in a short jumper to give the Violets the win.

Junior guard Max Ralby was proud of the way his teammates stuck together.

“It was an incredible game to be a part of,” Ralby said. “It was a game of runs. We made ours, they made theirs. But ultimately we stuck together as a team and whatever they threw at us we stuck together.

These are the games we live for and these are the games we want, and wouldn’t want to do it with any other groups of guys and coaches.”

VIA GONYUATHLETICS.COM

Men’s and women’s basketball each lost and won a game this weekend.

Not surprisingly, the Violets were led by Kupferberg and Harris, with 24 and 18 points, respectively.

The women’s team fared no better than the men did against Rochester, and lost their second game of the season 72-63 to Rochester.

The Violets were in control early in the first half, going into the break 41-32. They ended the first half on a 14-2 run and looked primed to carry that momentum into the second half. Things turned quickly, however, as the Yellow Jackets went on runs of 7-0, 12-2 and 17-6 in the second period.

The Violets were out-rebounded

Volleyball disappoints in city rivalry

Violets held the Eagles to only two points in the first seven minutes of the second half and out-rebounded them 59-31. The game got back to within four points, but it was Kaitlyn Read’s free throw shooting down the stretch that sealed the deal. After that win, the Violets improved their record to 18-2.

The men and women will hit the court again on Friday at Coles Sports Center against Case Western Reserve University in a back-to-back during Violet Nation Giveaway Day. Email Kyle Luther at kluther@nyunews.com.

SWIMMING continued from PG. 1

Violets prepare for post season matches

By BRADLEY ALSOP Contributing Writer The NYU men’s volleyball team suffered a tough loss to SUNY New Paltz in three straight sets at Coles Sports Center on Thursday. The loss dropped the No. 11 ranked Violets to 3-2, while the Hawks improved their record to an undefeated 3-0.

The first set was relatively close, as the Hawks and Violets split the first 20 points at 10 apiece. The Hawks and the Violets traded points until the score reached 23-18 in favor of the Hawks. The Violets then scored three straight to come within two points of the lead. Ultimately a service error by the Violets and a service ace from the Hawks led to New Paltz taking the set, 25-21.

NYU did not fare as well in the second set, falling by an overwhelming margin of 10-1. The Hawks rolled from there, and eventually went on to end the set 25-12.

In the third and ultimately final set, things almost seemed to turn around for the Violets.

They came out fighting, taking the Hawks to the wire at 13-11.

There were multiple times in

by 16 and their field goal percentage only got worse as the game continued. The Violets shot a dismal 36 percent from the field and went 0-5 from beyond the arc in the second half.

Sophomore guard Kaitlyn Read led the team with 18 points, one of only two players that scored in double digits for NYU. Sophomore Emily Rowe also finished with a team high 10 rebounds along with 8 points.

In their game against Emory, the women rebounded in much the same way as the men, winning 67-60. After a close first half, the

VIA GONYUATHLETICS.COM

NYU Volleyball stuggled aggainst SUNY at Coles Sports Center.

the match in which the Hawks took the lead by as many as seven points. NYU could only come within five towards the end, dropping the final set by a score of 25-20.

In spite of the loss, there were some impressive individual performances. Sophomore setter Patrick Merrick had a match-high 21 assists, while junior opposite Colin LaPorte tied a match high with eight kills, and also added two digs.

Middle hitter sophomore Sean Leahy had three kills, while junior Nick Benson had five kills, along with a team-hightying four digs. Sophomore Chase Klein had a positive outlook on the Violets’ early season stumble.

“We are ready to learn from our mistakes and move on into conference play,” Klein said.

Though LaPorte was disap-

pointed in the Violets’ effort against city rival New Paltz, he mentioned some positives after the game.

“It was a really tough match for us, but I am glad it happened early on in the season,” LaPorte said. “New Paltz is a great team, and we now know what it is going to take for us as a team to compete with the best teams in our division.”

The Violets return to the court Sunday, as they open up United Volleyball Conference play with a tri-match in Elmira, New York. They will play the host Elmira at 11 a.m. before going up against Vassar College at 2 p.m. Despite their setback, the Violets are moving forward, hoping to fare better in conference play next Sunday.

Email Bradley Alsop at news@nyunews.com.

last competition before UAAs. “Coach Miele says, ‘We are here to win a national championship,’” Soong said. “I believe each year we come closer to that. I am confident we will have an impressive showing.”

Soong and the rest of the Violets will enter the pool next at Emory University in Atlanta

for the UAA Championships on Feb. 11-14. Their performance there will determine how many Violets will qualify for the NCAA championships, thus determining their chance at a national championship.

Email Anne Cruz at sports@nyunews.com.

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The New York Times Syndication Sales Corporation 620NEW Eighth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10018 THE YORK TIMES CROSSWORD & DAILY SUDOKU For Information Call: 1-800-972-3550 For Release Monday, February 9, 2015

Crossword ACROSS

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achy 6 Item in a pod 9 Helpful website feature, for short 13 First month of el año 14 Panorama 15 Cousins of ostriches 16 Skillful lawyer 18 Not fatty 19 Result of a failed Breathalyzer test, for short 20 90° turn 21 “Sorry, that ___ happenin’!”

22 Dullards 24 Cantankerous fellow 29 Folklore stories 31 “___ my case” 32 Crash sound 33 Clerk on “The Simpsons” 35 “That suits me to ___”

37 41 42 43 44

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54 55 56 58 59

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___ Lemon, “30 Rock” character Relative youngster “Now I see!”

Pronoun before “shalt not” Light brown Chaney who starred in “The Phantom of the Opera” Duke or duchess “Just do it” shoes Hard-liner on government spending Michelin product Care for, as a garden Urging from a dinner host Bonkers N.Y.C. home of Magrittes and Matisses Goofball French yeses

ANSWER TO PREVIOUS PUZZLE B R A I N G A M E

O H I F O R G O T

T O N Y D A N Z A

B O T H A

O R O U T

G L Y P H

C H D A T I K O U Y E S Z A P S O A R Y S T M O E I

E B B R I F T

S A F E T Y B E L T

E L U L T O L E T

G H O R E B I L S T I

V E N I R A N A D A L L T I M S O B B A C O H E B Y O T Y L L A S T I D S A V O P R E N E M E R A N A A S R E D E T R A C S E R

O L E I N

N E R T S

E C O L O G I S T

S K Y Y V O D K A

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National gem of Australia Word before planet or peace Hankering Curse Whole ___ (grocery chain)

Edited by Will Shortz 1

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1 Not often 2 Traffic sign

with an arrow along, as a past present 4 Reagan ___ (most of the 1980s) 5 What an actor plays 6 Bacon source 7 Coral dweller 8 Amazement 9 “___ Navidad” 10 Open to suggestions 11 “Roses are red …,” e.g.

12 Nine-digit ID 14 Frankie of the Four Seasons 17 “Evil Woman” grp.

21 Like many Mexicans’ forebears 23 ___-Pei (dog breed) 25 One trying to grab a bite at the theater?

26 Girl’s name that’s a Hebrew letter 27 “Can you ___ in a sentence?” (spelling bee request) 28 Area between the two Koreas, for short 30 Ready for the rotisserie

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33

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32 35

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27

31

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12

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3 Pass

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DOWN

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No. 0105

46

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PUZZLE BY JOHN GUZZETTA

34 37 38 39 40 41 46

Not touched, as a boxer Public mention Nightmare for the C.D.C. Invader of old Rome Work with yarn Priest’s robe Tom ___, onetime Marilyn Monroe co-star

48 49

50 52 53

Robe tied with an obi Like 18 1/2 minutes of the Watergate tapes Passover meals Grind, as the teeth Nickname for Catherine

57 59 60 61 62

63

“Woo-hoo!

The weekend’s almost here!”

“Après ___ le déluge” Soak up Big event at the N.Y.S.E. Airport with the Tom Bradley Intl. Terminal Singer Yoko

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NYUNEWS.COM | MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS

OPINION

EDITED BY TESS WOOSLEY OPINION@NYUNEWS.COM

POINT

COUNTERPOINT

NYU Secrets creates community

NYU Secrets creates disharmony

By MATTHEW TESSLER Deputy Opinion Editor

NYU does not have a tight-knit community, and is not particularly designed for one. The sense of a campus is sacrificed for location, which offers boundless entertainment as well as internship and job opportunities. Students go about their lives without wondering about the other 40,000 people, emitting blank stares as they pass from class to class. Many college students worry about missing out on typical experiences, but this fear is particularly prominent at NYU, where Greek Life is small and the student body overwhelmingly large. The only sense of community at NYU is a unanimous agreement that there is none.

This is where NYU Secrets comes in.

The popular Facebook page aims to fight the sense of isolation that so many NYU students feel throughout their time at the New York campus. Personal barriers are dissipated online in exchange for anonymity. People spill their thoughts and secrets, things they would never say aloud under normal circumstances.

This forum, stripped of the political correctness, personal judgement and repercussions of the real world, allows people to be open in a way they never would be in public.

This page has become a perfect storm of anonymity, creating a platform for opinions in a community looking to voice their feelings without worrying

about the consequences. The ubiquity of NYU Secrets means that tens of thousands of people see any secret posted on the page.

NYU Secrets is not perfect, but that’s what makes it genuine. It lacks the fluff of Welcome Week’s forced, easily mockable spirit or any of the political correctness that comes with liberal leanings. It has trolls and instigators that know just what buttons to push, as most websites do. It also has real, heartfelt confessions.

Whether they are stories of unrequited love, suicidal thoughts or tales of bad days, these confessions can make people feel like they are not alone in their troubles. Accompanying the rants about NYU 2031 and John Sexton are shoutouts to people who did good deeds. The page posts a wide range of political opinions, and through Ferguson, Eric Garner, the Bobst die-in, ISIS and Charlie Hebdo, it offered a set of reactions just as diverse as the student body.

NYU Secrets gives a voice to the 40,000 students who would otherwise go unheard due to NYU’s fragmented nature.

Comments on the page can be hurtful, but the imperfections on the page are preferable to a complete lack of NYU community. The page certainly does not offer the perfect community, but if it appeared to do so then it would be offering a false representation. Founder Aristo Orginos may be ready to retire, but he has made the right choice to pass the torch by endorsing a new page and continue fostering an NYU community.

Email Matthew Tessler at mtessler@nyunews.com.

By HANNAH WEVERKA Contributing Writer

“Share your secrets,” says the description of the Facebook page NYU Secrets, “Let’s build a community — once and for all.” This goal strikes a chord with many students who feel that community is lacking at NYU. With over 40,000 students, no official campus and a student body scattered around the city and the world, it is easy to understand why many NYU students feel isolated. NYU Secrets has often claimed to be the antidote to this problem. But now that founder Aristo Orginos, a Steinhardt senior, has announced that he plans to end the page once it hits 9,000 secrets, it is time for NYU to consider whether the page was a solution to this problem — or something that made it worse.

Communities are built around trust, intimacy and common values. Despite its admirable goals, NYU Secrets often promotes toxicity. It regularly features mean comments and petty arguments: “Ur wasting our secrets with stupid shit like this,” says one commenter, and “Someone is temperamental today.

No need to be so snotty,” says another.

If this is what the NYU community looks like, perhaps we are better off without one.

NYU Secrets, like many Internet forums, tends to breed hate, viciousness and cruelty because it provides a relative degree anonymity. It creates an

opportunity to express every type of offensive thought and opinion. While Facebook comments are associated with real names, people are far more likely to be cruel online than they are in person.

It normalizes the callous nastiness that the Internet can bring out in people and allows it to grow without consequences for the commentor.

A common defense of NYU Secrets is that it allows people to vent about problems they would never otherwise be able to express. Students talk about their struggles with mental illness, their difficulties at home and even share suicidal thoughts. These problems need to be addressed, and people struggling with these issues should be encouraged to seek help through the proper channels— not through a Facebook page. The commenters on NYU Secrets aren’t therapists or doctors; their advice tends to be well-intentioned misinformation at best and outright dangerous at worst. Relying on an unsupervised crowd of strangers for emotional support is rarely healthy behavior. Far from allowing students to deal with their problems, it can easily trigger even worse progressions of mental illness.

Orginos has said that he plans to choose a successor to the position of NYU Secrets administrator. But this isn’t what NYU students need. Instead, it is time for NYU students to go out and create a community themselves — one free from hurtful comments.

Email Hannah Weverka at opinion@nyunews.com.

STAFF EDITORIAL

UAE Skype censorship poses threat to intellectual freedom Over the past year, NYU Abu Dhabi students have slowly been blocked from being able to use Skype to make computer-to-landline calls. This is due to the United Arab Emirates’ increasing intolerance for Voice Over Internet Protocol services. Though none of these services have ever been licensed in the UAE, NYUAD students were previously capable of using NYU and VPN proxies. While computerto-computer calls still work despite illegality, this mildly inconvenient ban is representative of a larger issue. It shows that in spite of the “cultural free zone” NYUAD granted in the UAE, the government is still able to restrict campus life.

Two telecommunication companies, Etisalat and du, operate in UAE. Both have shifted the blame

SUBMITTING TO

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for the Skype block to each other and to the government for the several years. Daniel Hanratty, the support site lead at the NYUAD Campus Technology Center, said, “There’s no definite time for how long [Skype] has been blocked” and “blocking has been happening on and off for a year or so now.” There are concerns that the ban could eventually impact computer-tocomputer calls on campus as well.

Skype has recently confirmed that their website and services have been blocked in the country, and encouraged users to appeal to their internet service providers.

Skype and similar services are often utilized by students and faculty for communication and educational purposes. NYUAD professor Claude Desplan told NYUAD’s stu-

dent newspaper, The Gazelle, “We use extensively Skype for classes … and for lab [meetings] between people in NYC and people in [Abu Dhabi], at least once weekly.” Although other services can be used for the time being, each new restriction on VoIP services creates further inconveniences. WhatsApp messaging service may also be blocked in the country right now, as users have reported uneven service. Interestingly, WhatsApp plans to launch international VoIP services soon.

Regardless of location, no NYU student should be prevented from utilizing technology because of government censorship. Students were previously able to rely on proxies provided by NYU, but this latest block has rendered even that difficult. NYUAD has yet to officially

comment on the situation.

All of these concerns speak to the larger problem of NYU’s presence in Abu Dhabi, which has been heavily criticized for labor law violations. Given that the UAE frequently censors media and imprisons citizens over online comments, the limitations placed on VoIP services are not especially surprising — NYU’s complacence, however, is. NYUAD maintains academic autonomy, but its funding depends entirely on the government of Abu Dhabi. Continued cooperation with the UAE needs to at least include an agreement to allow all forms of open communication on campus. But given the UAE government’s repressive positions, this cooperation should be seriously reconsidered.

Email the WSN Editorial Board at editboard@nyunews.com.

EDITORIAL BOARD: Tess Woosley (Chair), Annie Cohen (Co-chair), Tommy Collison (Co-chair), Matthew Tessler (Co-chair) ILLUSTRATION BY JOURDAN ENRIQUEZ

Send mail to: 838 Broadway, Fifth Floor 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.

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