NYU’s Daily Student Newspaper
washington square news Vol. 40, No. 27
Monday, March 5, 2012
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Festival celebrates female directors
Nation’s suicide rate higher than NYC’s
This year, only 5 percent of Academy Awards nominated films were directed by women. This statistic begs the question: Why is filmmaking such a boys club, and how can young filmmakers change it? This weekend’s Fusion Film Festival sought to address those questions and inspire female filmmakers to change that percentage. The Kanbar Institute of Film and Television at the Tisch School of the Arts put on its 9th annual Fusion Film Festival, which promotes the works of female filmmakers within NYU. The festival is a combination of screenings, panels with industry members and other film workshops. Tisch alumnae Gina Abatemarco and Emma Heald joined forces with alumnae from Kanbar while they were still undergraduates to create the festival.
A study done by the New York City Department of Health reported that New York City’s suicide rate is 50 percent lower than the national average. After analyzing New York City death records, hospitalization data and survey answers, researchers also revealed a 67 percent increase in suicides among Asian-American women while suicide rates were lowest among young adults, AfricanAmericans and Hispanics. According to the NYC Health Department, a potential cause for the decreasing suicide rates could be the harsher gun laws passed in the city during the mid-’90s. “We need and aim to do all we can to prevent these tragic events, including continuing our efforts to limit access to guns, create safer environments
By Keerthi Harishankar
By Sarah Skirmont
David Lin/WSN
Men’s basketball ended its NCAA Tournament run with a loss to Amherst College on Saturday night. Senior center Andy Stein played his final game as an NYU Violet.
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Tisch senior reaches final stages of global competition
Courtesy of Adam Butterfield
Adam Butterfield had the opportunity to interview Anderson Cooper in Your Big Year competition. By Brittany VanBibber NYU students gathered in Washington Square Park last Nov. 11 as part of Global Entrepreneurship Week. Of the 60,000 contestants competing in the week’s Your Big Year Competition, which promotes world travel and supports worldwide enterprise, 16 contestants have now been selected. Adam Butterfield, Tisch senior and intern at CNN Heroes, made it into the top 16 and
will be traveling to Liverpool, England for the Global Entrepreneruship Conference on March 5, when the winner will be announced. The grand prize includes a yearlong trip to five continents and meetings with multiple world leaders. Chris Arnold, founder and CEO of Smaller Earth, designed the Your Big Year contest and said he believes firmly in its mission. “If you think you can make a positive impact in business or media or culture or politics
or anything without having an appreciation for the other parts of the world, then you’re absolutely wrong,” Arnold said. “You need to travel. You need to go live and work and volunteer in other countries.” Butterfield shares this interest in world affairs. “On my 18th birthday I had never left the country, but I told myself that by the time I turned 30, I will have traveled
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Volleyball goes 2-1 in weekend matches By Sara Levy
NYU men’s volleyball won two out of three matches in non-conference play during the weekend. The Violets defeated Endicott College on Friday and Mount Ida College on Saturday, but suffered their first loss since Jan. 25 against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The Violets began the weekend with a victory over the Endicott Gulls in four sets. The first two sets were close, but NYU closed out the last two 25-14 and 2515. Junior outside hitter Taylor Fauntleroy recorded a matchhigh 19 kills on 40 attacks, and freshman opposite/setter Matthew MacDonald made 14 kills and 9 digs. While Endicott setters senior Jeremy Schlosser and sophomore Carter Roche combined for 31 of the Gulls’ 35 total assists, Violets sophomore Connor Mortland recorded a match high of 49 assists. On Saturday the Violets traveled to nearby Cambridge, Mass., to compete in the MIT TriMeet. In the first match of the
day, NYU faced the Mount Ida Mustangs. The Violets earned their 10th consecutive victory by sweeping all three sets 2518, 25-9 and 25-8. Freshman outside hitter Arya Amirhekmat led the team with a careerhigh 11 kills. Sophomores Parker Kolodka and Nick Capriccio recorded six kills each. “Arya really played great and was efficient,” Capriccio said. “He is always a guy that works hard in practice and its great to see him have a good game.” NYU, ranked sixth nationally by the American Volleyball Coaches Association in Division III, knew their most daunting task of the weekend would be their match against the fifthranked MIT Engineers. Unfortunately, they lost in five tight sets by scores of 24-26, 26-24, 25-20, 23-25 and 10-15. Fauntleroy totaled 18 kills for the entire match. “Whenever you play against ranked opponents there is always an extra desire to beat
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Teacher’s pet James Hooker of Modesto, Calif., resigned from his high school teaching job and moved in with his girlfriend and former student, Jordan Powers. Powers has left the school to pursue independent study. Hooker, 41, met Powers, 18, when he taught her during her freshman year. However, he retains that nothing romantic developed until she turned of age last September. Powers’ mother, Tammie, remains unconvinced and has pointed to a plethora of text messages, emails and late night phone calls between the two. The Modesto Police Department is still investigating Hooker who rejects any notion of inappropriate behavior.
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Summer school to increase course offerings — The Daily Tar Heel
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. Corrections: WSN is committed to accurate reporting. When we make errors, we do our best to correct them as quickly as possible. If you believe we have erred, contact managing editor Jaewon Kang at managing@nyunews.com or at 212.998.4302.
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Facebook users more careful with privacy By Eric Benson Gallatin freshman Cariel Klein increased her privacy settings after Timeline came out on Facebook. “I do not want people to have easy access to what I have posted in the past,” Klein said. “I blocked certain Facebook groups from my information and a handful of people who I did not want to have any access to what is on my profile.” Klein is among users who are becoming more careful about their privacy settings, according to a study conducted by researchers at the Polytechnic Institute of NYU. NYU-Poly professor Keith Ross and co-researchers Zubin Jelveh and Ratan Dey examined privacy settings of 1.4 million New York City-based Facebook pages in March 2010 and June 2011. The results showed that in March 2010 approximately 17 percent of users included in the sample hid their friends list while almost 53 percent of users in the sample did so in June 2011. The study also found that 75 percent of users who publicly displayed their relationship status in March 2010 chose to hide this information by June 2011.
In addition, the study concluded that young and middle-aged users tend to maintain more private profiles than older users, and that women tend to be more private on Facebook than men. “Due to media attention about privacy in social networks, users have become more careful about choosing what information to reveal about themselves in their public profiles,” Ross said. “Also, during the period of our study, Facebook made it easier for its users to configure their privacy settings.” The study also showed that New York residents from wealthier boroughs tend to pay more attention to their privacy settings. Facebook users from Manhattan – where the average income is the highest and the percentage of foreignborn residents is relatively low – are the most conscious of privacy. Those residing in Queens are the least conscious of privacy. NYU journalism professor Maria Sliwa, who maintains two Facebook accounts, said she pays little attention to the privacy settings on either one. “I have two Facebook accounts, one that I use once in a while for personal matters and another that I use frequently for public relations contact and other profes-
sional matters,” Sliwa said. “I do not change my privacy settings; essentially everything is public. My feeling on the matter is that whatever you write on your account should be ready for public consumption. I would not write anything that I wouldn’t want seen in a résumé.” “It’s a good idea to share your personality and opinions on Facebook, keeping in mind that whatever you write today may be looked at five years from now, or may even go viral tomorrow,” she added. CAS freshman Torrence Browne also made adjustments to his Facebook profile. “Although I did increase my privacy settings recently by hiding some of the personal information displayed to users who are not my friends, I feel that keeping your profile entirely hidden goes a little over board,” Browne said. “For example, I feel as though listing school information makes no difference, yet I don’t think random users really need to know my hometown. There is definitely a balance in what you can display.” Eric Benson is a deputy university editor. Email him at ebenson@nyunews.com.
NYU named one of the most disability friendly colleges By Julie DeVito According to the new book “College Success for Students with Physical Disabilities” published in February, author Chris Tiedemann named NYU as one of the most disability friendly universities in the nation. He looked at accommodations beyond those required by the American with Disabilities Act and ranked NYU as one of the most accommodating. Lacy Compton, editor and promotions coordinator for the book, said NYU was chosen because of its special housing accommodations, free housing for personal care attendants, shared ride paratransit system and university transit system, assistance with scholarships and study abroad programs through the Moses Center for Students with Disabilities, programs for wheelchair sports and activities at the Coles Sports Center and snow clearing for wheelchair passage on campus. “NYU has been very good to me as a student providing me with the few accommodations that I do need,” said Shafeka Hashash, an LSP freshman and a blind student at NYU. “However, this also has to do with great professors ... who work very well with me thus allowing us to resolve any minor issues in the classroom rather than in a disability office.”
The Moses Center’s mission is to facilitate equal access to programs and services for students with disabilities throughout the schools and divisions within the university. To register for services with the Moses Center, students must provide documentation of their disability including a specific diagnosis by a licensed professional. The center offers a variety of accommodations including hired student note-takers and special testing accommodations, such as extended time and assistance. Tiedemann began the book after she and her son, Tommy, who has cerebral palsy, were looking into colleges that would fit his unique needs. “We were especially glad to be able to share the word about what universities like NYU are doing to help bright students who have physical disabilities achieve a college education,” Compton said. Hashash said though NYU is very accommodating, any university can be made disability friendly if a student is proactive. “It is a long-standing myth that students with disabilities should attend disability friendly schools, but in fact any student can change a disability office to be more suitable and students should not feel limited by schools known to have great disability services,” Hashash said. Julie DeVito is university editor. Email her at jdevito@nyunews.com.
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NYC suicide rate lower than national average
and reach out to the socially isolated,” the NYC Health Department said. “Furthermore, suicide risk is closely linked to an individual’s mental well-being.” Steinhardt professor of public health Sally Guttmacher said while she believes the data is accurate, she doesn’t believe there is enough data to support the links to firearms. “I think that the statistics look sound, and I also think that part of the decline might be attributed to the strict gun-related laws in New York City, but we really don’t have the data to support that hypothesis from the study.” Guttmacher said. She added, “It would be helpful to compare the suicide rate in New York City with other large urban centers in the U.S., like Chicago or L.A., to see if the decline is specific to New York City or whether it might be a U.S. urban phenomena in other cities with strict gun control laws.” Another element of the report was the statistic on young adults and self-inflicted injuries. According to the report, “Young adults have the highest hospital-
ization rate for self-inflicted injuries, driven largely by the rate among women aged 15 to 24.” Senior director of Health Promotion, Wellness Services and Counseling Zoe Ragouzeos acknowledged that a portion of NYU students may be included in the statistics of this study. “Students can call about any issue they are experiencing including if they ever consider hurting themselves,” Ragouzeous said. “There are clinical interventions that can alleviate symptoms in people having suicidal thoughts.” NYU provides the Wellness Exchange Hotline as a service for students with thoughts of suicide or harming themselves. “NYU makes every effort to prevent suicide,” Ragouzeous said. “Any student in distress or anyone else concerned about an NYU student is encouraged to call the Wellnesss Exchange 24/7 hotline at 212-443-9999 to speak to one of our licensed counselors any time of the day or night.” Sarah Skirmont is a staff writer. Email her at cstate@nyunews.com.
Wilf Hall receives LEED certification By Emily Yang and Hanqing Chen
NYU School of Law’s Wilf Hall was recently awarded a Platinum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, the highest of LEED certification. The building was evaluated for LEED certification based on five categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources and indoor environmental quality. Though NYU has been lauded as a environmentally friendly university with many green initiatives in the past, Wilf Hall is the university’s first Platinum LEED certified building. “I think it’s pretty exciting,” said Jeremy Friedman, manager of sustainability initiatives at NYU. “There are about 200,000 buildings in New York City, and this is in the top 1 percent of 1 percent, it’s just really a special building.” Located at 139 MacDougal St., the building was originally an apartment building with office space and now houses the Provincetown Playhouse and various NYU Law research centers. NYU began construction of Wilf Hall in the fall of 2008, and opened the building in 2010 after two years of construction. Lillian Zalta, assistant dean of administrative services at NYU Law, said the environmental friendliness of the building was always an integral part of the
planning throughout the longplanning process. “It takes a lot of planning to get to this point and much of it was decided as we were designing and building the project,” she said. “The environmental friendliness of the building was in every conversation.” Zalta added that Wilf Hall’s green design saves the university 42 percent of energy and 33 percent of water normally used in a non-green building. The building also features environmental designs, including large, open terraces on the second and sixth floors, as well as greenery on the rooftop. “Green roofs help to reduce the amount of water which is directed into a building’s or city’s storm sewers,” Wayne Benson, a LEED certified architect, said. “This water would
otherwise need to be collected and treated before being returned to the environment.” Benson pointed to the bike storage area of the building: “Bike storage is one of the most popular LEED credits because of this, and although it has really no impact on the energy efficiency of the individual building it can be very beneficial to the riders and the larger city environment by reducing air pollution.” A total of six NYU buildings have received LEED certification. Last August, an NYU Law building on 22 Washington Sq. N. was awarded a silver LEED certification, which is two levels below Platinum. Emily Yang is city/state editor. Hanqing Chen is investigative editor. Email them at cstate@nyunews.com.
via nyu.edu
Wilf Hall received a Platinum LEED certification in February.
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Washington Square news | monday, march 5, 2012 | nyunews.com
features FUSION continued from PG. 1
Tisch Fusion Festival honors women in filmmaking
Wendi Liu for WSN
Both males and females attended the Fusion Festival about females in the filmmaking industry.
“I am so proud of the commitment and creativity with which Fusion teams continue to present this festival of women filmmakers and their collaborators,” Heald said in a press release. Tisch senior Diana Snyder and Tisch junior Tessa Spycher helped direct this year’s festival. “We pride ourselves on being a venue that supports, encourages and promotes the work of female filmmakers,” the directors said in an email. Though Fusion is represented as a festival of female productions, the group also supports collaboration between male and female filmmakers, both of whom attended the festival. CAS freshman Margarita Zulueta was inspired by the festival’s themes. “Sometimes I think it doesn’t matter whether it’s made by a male or female, as long as the movie’s good, then gender should be irrelevant,” Zulueta said. “But at the same time, I’m excited for
female filmmaking to grow and for a new perspective to be a part of the movies.” Fusion shares her viewpoint. The festival said its goal is to showcase female talent, not to put on a feminist film series. At the discussion panel Getting it Made: Women Entertainment Executives, Celine Rattray, Oscar nominated producer of “The Kids Are Alright,” addressed why women in the world of film are scarce. “Girls grew up being taught to be ‘good girls,’ but in filmmaking everything can’t be so controlled,” Rattray said. Producer Anne Carey agreed. “The worst assistant I had went on to have a very successful career because she wasn’t worried about getting a gold star,” Carey said. The festival’s competition screenings took place on Friday. The finalists included students from Tisch’s graduate and undergraduate film departments, and the films ranged from emotional dramas to light-hearted comedies.
The entries demonstrate that female filmmaking is not a lost art and prove that plenty of talented up-andcoming female filmmakers are willing to challenge themselves to succeed in a male-dominated field. At the end of the night, Joe Felong and Sara Eklund took home the award for Best Undergraduate Cinematography for their film “Obscure Night” while Karen Odynic and Kit Pennebaker won for Best Graduate Cinematography with “So Over You.” Eliza McNitt won Best Undergraduate Film for “The Ninth Train,” and Lamia Alami won Best Graduate Film for “Salam Ghourba (Farewell Exile).” “This year there are clear signs that Fusion’s mission is making headway,” Tisch dean Mary Schmidt Campbell said. “The festival’s ninth year marks its growth from an organization to a movement.” Keerthi Harishankar is a contributing writer. Email her at features@nyunews.com.
Activities for students stuck in the city By Jessica Littman
See Spring Blooms In this living art installation at the New York Botanical Garden’s 10th Annual Orchid Show, blossoms emerge from all kinds of surfaces. Patrick Blanc is famous for his vertical gardens, and this colorful show promises to impress. The exhibition runs through April 22. The garden is open Tuesday to Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Being stuck in the city this spring break should not mean hiding in your dorm. While spring break is a great time to relax, there are also plenty of fun activities to take advantage of in the city. Here are some options to prevent monotony during the break.
New York International Children’s Film Festival This festival will display films for children of all ages at the IFC Center near campus and other venues around New York. This is the 15th anniversary of the Children’s Film Festival, which is quickly gaining popularity. The festival aims to show international children’s films as well as American ones. Ticket prices range between $10 and $20.
Enjoy the circus Head just a half an hour outside the city to see the world famous Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J. This dragon-themed show will bring together myth, magic and beautiful performances. Tickets are available for as low as $20.
via Facebook
via Flickr
via nybg.org
Chinatown Restaurant Week The city-wide restaurant week is over, but Chinatown Restaurant Week runs March 9 to 18. The $18.88 meals are cheaper than regular restaurant week, and the food will be delicious.
Diego Rivera: Murals for the Museum of Modern Art With some time to kill over break, wait in line for the four-hour window of MoMA free Fridays to see this exhibit of iconic murals by Diego Rivera. The exhibition will run through May 14. via moma.org
File photo by Stuart Wong
Jessica Littman is features editor. Email her at jlittman@nyunews.com.
nyunews.com | monday, march 5, 2012 | Washington Square news
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edited by jessIca littman features@nyunews.com
New website fuses organization and social interaction
via collegesaurus.com
By Keerthi Harishankar Your inbox is flooded with emails from different clubs. On the way to class, flyers are passed out left and right. The process is overwhelming and at times confusing, especially at a large school like NYU. Here to help is collegesaurus.org, a new website that aims to be the 21st century campus corkboard. Collegesaurus is not just another social networking site. Its goal is to help users navigate campus events and other aspects of the college experience, using outside information gathered from social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Upon entering the site, students can search for their university’s page from the 57 registered institutions and begin their involvement in a variety of activities.
One of the main features of Collegesaurus is the opportunity to buy, sell and swap textbooks, which is easier than selling books on Amazon because the clientele will be right in front of you. Campus Resources is a tool outside of the university-specific pages. It contains links to articles that pertain to any college student. There are entertaining links like “19 Funniest College Freshman Memes” as well as articles on more serious topics like “The 10 Most Employable Majors.” Other features include local student discounts, roommate searches, off-campus housing options and forums for discussing other campus issues. The website also offers a Postings and Links sidebar that directs users to articles about their specific schools.
Brandon Snyder, director of marketing at Collegesaurus, describes the site as Craigslist meets Facebook. “As campus site interaction grows, it will serve as a free promotional tool for high school prospects and as an information resource for alumni,” Snyder said. That possibility seems very enticing, but to be most effective, the site needs to have users updating their college’s page frequently, which, in the case of NYU, does not seem to be happening yet. Gallatin freshman Meredith Korda said the site is useful, but lacks growth. “Collegesaurus.com seems cool, but it would be a lot better if it were bigger,” Korda said. “There isn’t much information on it. When it gets bigger, I could see it being really useful.”
BUTTERFIELD continued from PG. 1
NYU student reaches top 16 of international competition to every country in the world,” Butterfield said. Since he turned 18, Butterfield has traveled to 26 countries and may be headed to many more. Smaller Earth, the company hosting Your Big Year, has big plans. By 2020, it wishes to have positively impacted 20 million people. This goal coincides with projects like Your Big Year. “We think we can change the world a little bit, or that we should at least try,” Arnold said. “We hope that [the contestants] inspired to work hard, to use their merit to move mountains.”
Contestants in the top 111 were asked to interview three people about their own big years. Butterfield had the chance to interview Anderson Cooper about which year of his life was the most influential or inspiring. Butterfield said he considers this interview to be his most rewarding moment throughout the competition. “Never did I think I was going to be able to interview him,” Butterfield said. Butterfield’s tasks also included raising money for flood victims in Thailand by selling cookies in the Kimmel Center for University Life and plan-
ning other community events. Butterfield’s passion for community service stems from his experiences as a child when his mother was diagnosed with cancer. His interest in giving back has led him to help plan NYU’s Relay for Life and become the fundraising officer for the Childhood Cancer Society. Though Butterfield has made it into the top 16, he said he knows that the competition is rough. Within the top contestants, 14 different countries are represented, and all have an inspirational message. Brittany VanBibber is a staff writer. Email her at features@nyunews.com.
Korda said she herself probably wouldn’t post to the site. This is Collegesaurus’ main problem — students have to be willing to participate and report campus occurrences. In NYU’s upcoming events section, there are no club meetings listed, only four poetry events.
With more user input, Collegesaurus has the potential to create a more informed student body and a larger sense of community. Keerthi Harishankar is a contributing writer. Email her at features@nyunews.com.
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OPINION
edited by olivia gonzalez opinion@nyunews.com
education
For-profit schools with sub-standard educations By Liz Beras All colleges in America are not created equal. This comes as no surprise considering the vast disparities in ranking that exists between American schools, as reported by publications such as U.S. News & World Report and Forbes Magazine. However, the disparity in American colleges lies not in the schools ranked but in those we do not see on the traditional college list. For-profit institutions for higher education are increasingly educating students in America. But it has become evident that the students at for-profits are granted a level of education far from the caliber of education offered at leading non profit institutions. Over the last 30 years, the number of for-profit institutions has grown on average by 9 percent each year, with about 400 schools established in the last decade alone. The government cannot continue to allow mediocre organizations to educate an increasing portion of our country without setting standards for the education that must be delivered. Although one may not be familiar with the difference between forprofit and non profit institutions, chances are one has come across a for-profit institution because of its ubiquitous marketing efforts. Non profit schools include the likes of NYU and Harvard University; schools
that fund their programs through tuition, federal student aid and endowment funds. For-profit institutions, on the other hand, such as the famed University of Phoenix and DeVry University, are profit-driven and owned by corporations that generate money by means of tuition, federal student aid and stock revenues — as forprofit schools are more likely to be owned by public companies traded on a stock exchange. For-profits are an indignity to the principle of education. A school’s purpose should be to educate its students, yet at for-profits more money is spent on marketing than on instruction for students. Students who attend these schools are promised an exceptional education but usually end up with an unaccredited degree and student loan debt or a degree with inadequate training and student loan debt. Clearly, the common theme here is a student loan debt. Despite only accounting for 12 percent of degrees, for-profits account for 50 percent of defaulted student loans in the country. The main reason for this is that students are paying more than they can afford for a lacking education and are subsequently unable to attain employment or find other means to pay off their loans. Only 28 percent of the American population holds a college degree. The U.S. government has an-
nounced the Graduation Initiative, which hopes to increase the percentage of college graduates by the year 2020. Given the need for higher education, a potential solution to the problem of ineffective for-profit schools is not to abolish them, but rather to reform them. With an increasing demand for higher education in America, our country needs successful for-profit schools. In order to make for-profit schools successful, the government must step in and stop treating for-profit schools solely as corporations. It is not enough for the government to be critical on the economics of these schools; educational standards must also be a priority. A for-profit should not be accredited if it is not able to educate students adequately for a given career. By regulating the accreditation agencies, for-profits will be forced to be more critical of the education they are providing. The government must step in to prevent the corruption of education. Simply having access to education through for-profit schools does not mean Americans will grow to be more educated. If the quality of education in America does not become a priority, what will the quality of America become? Liz Beras is a staff columnist. Email her at opinion@nyunews.com
LGBTQ rights
Students Senator Council must ban Chick-fil-A By Christian Clampitt Imagine if Chick-fil-A had given nearly $2 million to an organization that espoused and fought for the superiority of whites over non-whites or the separate equality of the races. Is there any doubt that the Student Senators Council would have banned the restaurant? So why is Chick-fil-A, which gave $1.7 million in 2009 alone to homophobic organizations, still on campus? The message is obvious: The SSC does not value NYU’s gay and lesbian students as much as non-white students. Why else would discrimination against gays and lesbians be given free pass while the same discrimination against nonwhites would, presumably, have resulted in a swift ban? The March 1 email, in which the SSC chair reiterated the decision not to ban Chick-fil-A, is aggressively ambiguous. There are references on the one hand to freedom of expression, ideology and the weight of evidence and on the other to alleged homophobia, further investigations and inconclusive evidence. But the connection between the two ideas and the ultimate justification for the SSC’s decision are left for the reader to decide.
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What’s really going on? Would banning Chick-fil-A be ideological? Or is there just insufficient evidence to ban Chick-fil-A? If it’s the first, then that’s simple homophobia, as is shown by the comparison to how the SSC would react to a racist organization. I could be wrong — perhaps the SSC wouldn’t actually ban a restaurant that donated to skinheads. If it’s the second, then the SSC should explain the findings of its investigation in order to combat the overwhelming impression of homophobia. Prima facie, Chick-fil-A seems homophobic in a way that would get it banned if the issue were race. If the SSC discovered that Chick-fil-A had never — or no longer — financially supported homophobic organizations and if this discovery is the reason why Chick-fil-A was not banned, then the SSC must clearly communicate this to the student body the council supposedly represents. It’s hard to believe that the SSC even had a further investigation. The March 1 email reads “There have been no reported acts of discrimination on the part of [Chickfil-A].” Did the investigation involve a computer connected to the Internet? Five minutes on equalitymatters.com would have been enough.
What does the SSC want — Aramark employees to refuse service to girls with boyish haircuts, Chick-fil-A to hang up a “No Gays” sign? Chick-filA’s WinShape Foundation has effectively already done that. Don’t be naive. The debate about Chick-fil-A is decidedly not about freedom of expression nor about what a private company can legally do nor about whether NYU is directly giving money to Chick-fil-A. It is not even about a personal boycott versus a student government ban — another smoke bomb from the March 1 email. We would never accept these as excuses for not banning a racist organization from our campus. The debate is about the idea that gays and lesbians are not worth protecting — that being hated for your race is totally anathema but being loathed because of the gender you love is somehow acceptable or less serious. As someone who worked at Chick-fil-A for three years during high school and who transferred in from a homophobic evangelical university, I love Chick-fil-A but refuse to be told I am not worth protecting. The SSC must ban Chick-fil-A now. Christian Clampitt is a contributing columnist. Email him at opinion@nyunews.com.
STAFF EDITORIAL
Anti-religious billboards should be freely received Today, a national organization called the American Atheists will release antireligious billboards in Brooklyn and Paterson, N.J. These billboards will be in either English, Arabic or Hebrew depending on the billboard’s location. They will appear in areas that are home to many Muslims and Hasidic Jews. In reference to God, the billboards read, “You know it’s a myth ... and you have a choice.” While the American Atheists said the purpose of their campaign is not to inflame anything, some devout members of the community have raised objections to the billboard campaign. Mohamed Elfilali, executive director of the Islamic Center of Passaic County, said the billboards polarize society. The atheist advertisement campaign is as much a form of religious expression as any Jewish or Muslim evangelizing campaign would be. We should not muzzle the atheists’ equally legitimate right to free speech in the name of religious tolerance. To do so would itself be intolerant. One can sell such ad space without selling one’s soul. Since the days of Deuteronomy, religion has been continually questioned and has still survived. If religious belief were unable to overcome the relatively insignificant presence of a couple billboards, then the beliefs surely would have toppled long ago. Atheism, while inherently opposed to deistic belief systems, is itself but another — though less expansive — system of beliefs. So long as ye of little faith adhere to non-invasive tactics, their efforts only enrich public discourse on religion’s place in American society. As such, atheists’ beliefs cannot be summarily dismissed as disrespectful devil’s advocate. Indeed, it is inappropriate to forcibly inculcate a sense of scepticism in state-sponsored institutions. But these billboards negate, but nowhere nullify, sacrosanct beliefs. Atheist efforts, made in good faith, reinforce people’s beliefs through deliberation instead of the dogma of a fool’s paradise. Courtesy around the cross is a reasonable expectation for our civilized society. So long as speech, atheist or otherwise can criticize piety without degrading it. It should be freely received by everyone regardless of belief. Email the WSN Editorial Board at editboard@nyunews.com.
Editorial Board: Olivia Gonzalez (Chair), Atticus Brigham (Co-Chair), Sanchay Jain (Co-Chair), Chris DiNardo, Emily Franklin, Matt Kao, Ben Miller and Peter Murphy.
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Washington Square news | monday, march 5, 2012 | nyunews.com
SPORTs
edited by daniel hinton sports@nyunews.com
Men’s tennis loses 7-2 upstate
MVBALL continued from PG. 1
NYU falls to MIT, snaps win streak
By Sebastien Van Heyningen
NYU men’s tennis team traveled to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., to take on Skidmore College on Saturday. The Violets were unable to keep up their momentum from an opening day win against Drew University on March 1 and fell 7-2 to the Skidmore Thoroughbreds. Sophomore Steven Wu and freshman C.J. Leong were able to deliver in their highly contested singles matches. Wu won 6-4, 7-6 (5), 10-5, and Leong claimed victory in three sets, 6-2, 6-4, 10-5. Junior co-captain Connor Witty fell in the opening singles match to Thoroughbred sophomore Oliver Loutsenko, 7-5, 6-4. “Today’s match was certainly a setback for us,” Witty said. “Overall, though, we fought hard and they are a strong team.” The Violets were shut out in their three doubles matches as well. Witty and Wu fell 8-3 to Skidmore’s duo of sophomore Jimmy Sherpa and freshman Alec Hoblitzell. Sophomore Bowen Xu and freshman Billy Smithline fell
them,” Capriccio said. “When you play with a lot of emotion, losing one long rally or one missed call by a ref can really affect you mentally.” Following the Engineers’ snapping of the Violets’ ten-match win streak, NYU is 12-3 overall but remains undefeated within the
United Volleyball Conference. The Violets will return to Massachusetts on Wednesday, March 7, to play against Springfield College. The match will begin at 7 p.m. Sara Levy is a staff writer. Email her at sports@nyunews.com.
Courtesy of NYU Athletics
Steven Wu was one of two Violets to record a singles match win. 8-1 in their match, and sophomore Tim Wu and Leong lost 8-2. “They came out strong and were aggressive, taking a 3-0 lead after the doubles,” NYU head coach Horace Choy said. “Ultimately, they were too deep and beat us.” The Violets are 1-1 on the young season. “We showed a lot of spirit out there,” Witty said. “I think we can turn it around, it’s still early in the season.” “We need to really start
working more as a team,” he added. “Tennis is often a solo sport, but we need to start working together more.” The Violets won’t have an official home game until March 25 against The College of New Jersey. In the meantime, they will look to bounce back when they travel to Vermont for the Middlebury Invitational on March 9. Sebastien Van Heyningen is a staff writer. Email him at sports@nyunews.com.
Track and Field teams compete at ECAC Championships
File photo by David Lin
Sophomore middle blocker Nick Capriccio started all three games.
Men’s basketball season ends in Amherst By John Axelrod and Russell Steinberg
By Amy Rose Ramapuram For the third consecutive week, NYU men’s and women’s track and field returned to the New Balance Track and Field Center to compete in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Division III Indoor Championships. From March 2 to 3, the men’s team finished 13th and the women’s team placed 26th out of 66 teams. “After competing in as big of a meet as the UAAs last weekend, it’s hard to focus on such a meet as the ECAC,” head coach Nick McDough said, adding that the ECAC was “definitely much more low-key.” Junior distance runner Dave Knowles came through for the team during the 5,000-meter run, coming in second place in his heat. He finished with a career-best time of 15:02.70. Freshman sprinter Jon Simon placed second in the 60-meter race with a time of 6.95 seconds. The best performance for the women’s team happened on the field. Senior Vanessa Ortiz had a solid performance in the shot-put event, forcing a throw of 11.08 meters. Day two of the ECAC provided a venue for another great performance from the men’s distance team, and several runners earned season-best times, including two of the team’s most dependable runners. Senior Matt Turlip and sophomore Ryan Gilmore were able to finish the 1,000-meter event with season-highs. Turlip completed the run in 2:27.69 for second place, and Gilmore placed 13th with a time of 2:33.05.
Courtesy of NYU Athletics
Senior Paige Zelinsky defended her ECAC title in the 3,000-meter event. After running the 3,000-meter event in 8:42.42, senior Ryan Boyd finished fifth in his heat. Junior captain Daniel McKinney ran the 400-meter race in 49.35 seconds, earning sixth place. “Ryan Boyd, Andrew Zitek and Kevin Bonilla all had great races to finish up their season,” freshman distance runner Sebastian Oja said. “They all showed a lot of strength and set a good model for the younger guys to follow and learn by.” McDonough said the men’s team had a solid performance. “Boyd and Turlip really pulled through during the meet and had great performances,” he added. On the women’s team, senior Paige Zelinsky’s performance in the 3,000-meter run was the highlight of Saturday. Zelinsky defended her ECAC title in the event, finishing the race with an impressive time of 10:10.91. Members of NYU track and field will compete in the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships from March 9 to 10. The meet will be hosted by Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa. Amy Rose Ramapuram is a contributing writer. Email her at sports@nyunews.com.
For a while in the regular season finale at Brandeis University, it seemed as if all the accolades had been for nothing. Starting the year with nine consecutive wins, knocking off No. 4 Emory University and sweeping the University Athletic Association Midwest road trip for the first time in school history would all be for naught. When the Violets trailed the Judges by eight with just under six minutes left, it was clear that NYU would again miss out on the Division III NCAA Tournament. Then something happened. The layups started coming in bunches. The defense was tighter. Brandeis missed a huge free throw in the waning seconds. And suddenly, NYU was back in the tournament discussion. A week ago, on Selection Monday, the Violets’ dreams were confirmed: They would dance for the first time since 1998. “I’m proud of the entire season and what the team accomplished on and off the court,” NYU head coach Joe Nesci said. When they took the court against Misericordia University last Thursday night, it was the culmination of four
years of hard work for seniors like Ben Dorman. “It’s been the greatest experience of my life, the special part is doing it with my closest friends,” Dorman said. Though the run came to an end Saturday night at Amherst College with an 80-56 loss, what this season has meant for the NYU basketball program cannot be ignored. Over the past 14 years, there have been lost seasons and narrow misses. Two years ago, the Violets flirted with the NCAA bubble, but a late season loss kept them out of the Big Dance. NYU settled for another Eastern College Athletic Conference Metro Tournament berth instead — the local Division III equivalent of Division I’s National Invitational Tournament. Many of the players from that team were back last year in 2011. However, a close loss to Brandeis to open UAA play began a downward spiral from which they could not recover. This year, when they lost a close one to Brandeis again to open conference play, things were different. They began rattling off wins, and though they stumbled down the stretch, the Violets won when it mattered most: with their backs against the wall. On Saturday though, Amherst guard Aaron Toomey had 34 points to shoot down
NYU’s hopes to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. The dejected look on senior Andy Stein’s face as he hugged his teammates and coaches when he checked out of the game for the final time said it all. Stein received a standing ovation from the NYU faithful as he took his seat on the bench while juniors Devin Karch and Max Wein looked on beside him. Karch and Wein will be two key role players for NYU next year. Fellow juniors Kyle Stockmal and Carl Yaffe will be the stars. In fact, they can both make arguments for preseason all-UAA first team honors. Knowing that such talent is returning, the Violets cannot mourn their loss for long. Nesci needs to get out on the recruiting trail, and the players who will return next year need to get to work. After such a successful season, the target will be on their backs while expectations will stay the same: another trip to the NCAA Tournament. “Hopefully this success will carry over in next years, that’s what I’ll be most proud of,” senior captain Jude Dworaczyk said. Russell Steinberg is an editor-at-large and John Axelrod is a deputy sports editor. Email them at sports@nyunews.com.