WSN032612

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NYU’s Daily Student Newspaper

washington square news Vol. 40, No. 35

Monday, March 26, 2012

nyunews.com

Sotomayor selected as graduation speaker

Shooting discussed at prof ’s Shabbat

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor will speak at the 180th NYU Commencement ceremony on May 16 in Yankee Stadium. The first Latina Supreme Court justice, Sotomayor grew up in a Puerto Rican family in a housing project in the South Bronx. She graduated as valedictorian in high school and went to Princeton on a scholarship, graduating summa cum laude. At Yale Law School, Sotomayor served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal and as managing editor of the Yale Studies in World Public Order. Today, she lives in Greenwich Village. “Justice Sotomayor, like all our honorary degree recipients, was chosen for her record of achievement and because her accomplishments exemplify the impact we hope all our graduates will have on the world,” NYU spokesman John Beckman said.

Students from the Jewish community gathered this weekend to discuss the recent shooting of Jewish schoolchildren in Toulouse, France. Each week, Rabbi Yehuda Sarna, university chaplain at the Bronfman Center, hosts a Shabbat lunch at his Gramercy Green apartment featuring a speaker from outside NYU to address student attendees. Saturday’s honorary guest was Marie-Laure Charrier, deputy consul and head of press and politics of the Consulat Général de France in New York. “Mme. Charrier’s personal account brought home to the Jewish community in New York all the sadness which has permeated France this past week,” Sarna said. “Her message was clear: This was a tragedy for all of France, an attack on the principles which define it.” Sarna said the purpose of the

By Julie DeVito

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By Julie DeVito

James Kelleher/WSN

Student director raises fast money for short film ‘HandGun’

Tisch junior Max Ash (left) raised almost $3,000 in less than 24 hours for his eight-minute action comedy “HandGun,” starring Jack Quaid (right) as one of the main characters, Rob.

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STORY ON PAGE 4

Violets earn all-American honors at NCAAs By Cole Riley

City residents remember Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire By Mary Jane Dumankaya

When freshman Austen Blease and senior Molly Rippe represented NYU at the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships in Indianapolis this past week, it was from two separate perspectives. Blease, a diver, was set to debut in his first ever National Championships while Rippe, a swimmer, was ready to cap off her impressive four-year career. Heading into Indianapolis, Blease was regarded as one of the best divers in the country. He won 13 of 20 events in his rookie season and garnered six University Athletic Association Athlete of the Week awards. This week, he competed in the three-meter and onemeter events. On Wednesday, Blease finished 21st out of 22 in the three-meter preliminaries. He recorded a total score of 400.15 in 11 dives with his highest score coming on the inward dive (42.00). The top eight finishers advanced to the Finals and attained All-American status, while those ranked ninth through 16th advanced to

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Courtesy of NYU Athletics

Austen Blease debuted in his first national competition.

Community members gathered on Friday at NYU to honor the victims of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire on its 101st anniversary. In 1911, the fire broke out on the eighth floor of what is now NYU’s Brown Building, located on the corner of Green Street and Washington Place. A fire marshall at the time said the fire was probably caused by an unextinguished cigarette in a seamstress’s bin of scrap fabric. Of the 146 workers, 126 were young immigrant women, mainly of Italian and Jewish descent. Because the fire escapes collapsed and the ladder brought by the Fire Department was too short, over 50 men and women jumped to their death from the ninth floor. The women on the ninth floor also discovered they had been locked in the burning room. The fire claimed over 100 lives and began a nationwide movement for labor reform. This year, dozens of people gathered to march from Union Square to the building and held up handmade blouses, each adorned with a sash that has the name of a fire victim.

An eighth-grade class from the World Journalism Preparatory School in Queens participated in the march after learning about the fire. “I think it’s a very devastating tragedy, but if it wasn’t for what happened, our working conditions wouldn’t be the same,” eighth grader Marcella Arcabascio said. Victims’ families also attended the event. Robert Del Castillo came to honor his great-aunt Josie Del Castillo, who was only 21 when she died. An uncle and nephew, Lou Miano and Dylan Christou, came to honor their ancestors, Rosina Cirrito and Santina Salemi, who perished in the fire. “Santina’s sister Frances did survive, and she became a nun after that because she always felt her survival was a miracle,” Miano said. During the ceremony, union leaders and city council members spoke about the historical importance of the fire and its relevance to current labor laws. Afterwards, the names of the victims were read aloud as flowers were placed in their honor under a wreath in front of Brown Building.

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