04.26.2013

04.26.13 reportermag.com Giving Back After Graduation Volunteering with Americorps.

Teach for America and Peace Corps.

Graduation from the Global Perspective Visas, Graduation, and Green Cards.

‘REAL BEAUTY’ ISN’T PHYSICAL EDITOR IN CHIEF Amber Wilson-Daeschlein | eic@reportermag.com MANAGING EDITOR Michelle Spoto | managing.editor@reportermag.com COPY EDITOR Nathaniel Mathews | copy.editor@reportermag.com NEWS EDITOR Alyssa Jackson | news@reportermag.com LEISURE EDITOR William Hirsh | leisure@reportermag.com FEATURES EDITOR Nicole Howley | features@reportermag.com SPORTS EDITOR Kayla Emerson | sports@reportermag.com VIEWS EDITOR Joan McDonough | views@reportermag.com WRITERS Nick Bovee, Danielle Delp, William Hirsh, Nicole Howley, Alyssa Jackson, Juan Lachapelle, Nadia Pierre-Louis, Amy Sanderson, Michelle Spoto

ART ART DIRECTOR Kathryn Eble | art.director@reportermag.com SENIOR STAFF DESIGNERS Jon Lavalley, Autumn Wadsworth, Nick Silvertson STAFF DESIGNER Sarah Bono PHOTO EDITOR Carol Klino | photo@reportermag.com CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Juan Madrid, Tom Brenner, Nick DiPietro STAFF ILLUSTRATOR Stevie Thompson CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORS Emily DeVault, Ethan Thornton, James Lecarpentier CARTOONIST Corinne Newbigin

“You are more beautiful than you think” was the message presented by Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches campaign. For those who haven’t seen it, the video shows female participants describing themselves to a sketch artist from behind a curtain. The artist draws a portrait of them from the descriptions and sends the women on their way. The same participants are also described by strangers that they had met that day. The resulting sketches are placed side by side, showing that all of the participants described themselves as less attractive than the strangers had perceived.

With over 16 million YouTube views and thousands of Facebook likes, the Real Beauty video has gotten quite a bit of attention. “First commercial I ever saw that made me cry,” read one of the comments, “every woman should watch this and help their daughters see their ‘real selves’,” stated another.

While the video’s message is important, the focus on society’s very narrow perception of beauty is hidden by sentimental music and emotive testimonials. In fact, until I read a blog post by selfproclaimed writer, blogger and sassy-pants Jazz Brice, I didn’t see anything wrong with Dove’s advertisement. ”Out of 6:36 minutes of footage, people of color are onscreen for less than ten seconds,” she pointed out. In addition, most of the positive descriptions by strangers include phrases such as “thin face,” “nice thin chin,” “short and cute nose” and “nice blue eyes” and many of the participants were under 40 years old. These attributes coincide with the widely accepted standard for beauty: young and skinny.

The video also fails to mention anything about inner beauty and the many other qualities — intelligence, personality and the like — that should be valued above physical appearance. It instead reinforces the unfortunate belief that our natural beauty “impacts the choices and the friends we make, the jobs we go out for, they way we treat our children, it impacts everything,” and goes so far as to say “it couldn’t be more critical to your happiness.”

The message about realizing one’s natural beauty is worthwhile; however, the subtle indication that this beauty is measured in terms of size and age contradicts the campaign’s positivity. The hidden subliminal messages in this video are a strong indication of the apparent importance placed on a specific type of physical beauty, deeply rooted in society today. Even as someone who tries to think critically about the media, I missed what Brice pointed out: the video is really only saying that “you’re actually not quite as far off from the narrow definition [of beauty] as you might think that you are.”

Though spoken in the context of physical beauty, one of the quotes from the video seemed to make a lot more sense than the overall message. “We spend a lot of time … trying to fix the things that aren’t quite right and we should spend more time trying to appreciate the things we do like.”

It is unfortunate that we have to wade through stereotypes and over-looked discrimination to find such insight. While I can appreciate what the Dove campaign is trying to accomplish, I only hope that the message of self empowerment is not accompanied by that of society’s fixation on purely physical beauty.

BUSINESS PUBLICITY MANAGER Nicholas Gawreluk AD MANAGER Le Nguyen | ads@reportermag.com BUSINESS MANAGER Christina Harawa | business.manager@reportermag.com PRODUCTION MANAGER Nicholas Gawreluk | production.manager@reportermag.com

Amber Wilson-Daeschlein EDITOR IN CHIEF

ONLINE PRODUCTION MANAGER Jake DeBoer | webmaster@reportermag.com ADVISOR Rudy Pugliese PRINTING Printing Applications Lab CONTACT 585.475.2212

Please Recycle

4 News | 04.19.13

Reporter Magazine is published weekly during the academic year by a staff comprised of students at Rochester Institute of Technology. Business, Editorial and Design facilities are located in Room A-730, in the lower level of the Campus Center. Our phone number is 1.585.475.2212. The Advertising Department can be reached at 1.585.475.2213. So long and thanks for all the fish. J.L. Welcome to the freakshow. K.E. The opinions expressed in Reporter do not necessarily reflect those of the Institute. Letters to the Editor may also be sent to reporter@rit.edu. Reporter is not responsible for materials presented in advertising areas. No letters will be printed unless signed. All letters received become the property of Reporter.

Reporter takes pride in its membership in the Associated Collegiate Press and American Civil Liberties Union. Copyright © 2013 Reporter Magazine.

All rights reserved. No portion of this Magazine may be reproduced without prior written permission.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 04.26.13 | VOLUME 62 | ISSUE 28

“I lived and worked in rural Jamaica from July 2008-August 2010, with the United States Peace Corps.” Quote and Photograph by Alicia Stern, RIT Alumnus

NEWS 5. SG Update New ways to grade your professors.

7. Tall Paul & Nick: Meet the President and Vice President The newly elected representatives talk of their plans.

LEISURE 9. At Your Leisure Productivity to the max!

10. The Gourmet Experience RIT Students learn culinary finess.

FEATURES 11. Giving Back After Graduation Volunteering with AmeriCorps; Teach for America and Peace Corps.

VIEWS 19. Word on the Street If you were to set a record at RIT, what would it be?

14. Graduation from the Global Perspective Visas, Graduation, and Green Cards.

20. Extending the Aid LGBTQ identifiers should be considered to qualify for affirmative action aid.

SPORTS 16. Longest-Held Spring Sports Records at RIT The best of the best.

21. An Ineffective System Affirmative action needs some work before it’ll help.

23. Rings Free soup? What do you think, Nathan’s?

Cover illustration by Stevie Thompson

5

BEYOND THE BRICKS

BY ALYSSA JACKSON | ILLUSTRATION BY EMILY DEVAULT

POISONED LETTER FOUND ADDRESSED TO SENATOR WICKER

On April 16, a mail facility with the purpose of testing letters addressed to Capitol Hill found a letter laced with the poison Ricin. The letter was on its way to the Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker, according to the New York Times. The letter arrived with no return address but was postmarked out of Memphis, Tennessee.

It was tested twice in the facility and then sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for further testing because Ricin tests can be unreliable. Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill stated that the letter was from someone who writes senators and other lawmakers frequently, but this person remained unnamed. Senator Angus King from Maine said, “I don’t have any information that it’s in any way connected with what happened in Boston. It may just be an unfortunate coincidence.”

The Washington Post reported that the facility that screens the mail will be closed for several days for further testing. No other letters appear to be dangerous. The Washington Post reported,“Ricin, a toxin found in castor beans, is poisonous if inhaled, injected or ingested, according to the National Counterterrorism Center.

Treatment is available, but long-term organ damage is the likely result of exposure.”

NEW ZEALAND LEGALIZES GAY MARRIAGE

On April 17, New Zealand was the first Asia-Pacific country to legalize gay marriage. According to Politico, the vote ended with 77-44 in favor of the gay marriage bill. Lawmakers in charge of this case were encouraged to vote based on their conscious rather than their political affiliation. This law gives gay individuals the right to jointly adopt children and their marriages will be recognized in other countries.

According to New York Times, New Zealand expects an increase in people that travel to their country from Australia, a country that has made little to no advances toward implementing a gay marriage law. Same-sex marriage is currently legal in the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Port ugal, Iceland, Argentina and Denmark.

“In our society, the meaning of marriage is universal — it’s a declaration of love and commitment to a special person,” Louisa Wall, one of the bill’s sponsors said in a speech according to the New York Times. There is still widespread resistance to the idea of same sex marriage in New Zealand, but the bill is a major step in equality.

4 News | 04.26.13

IRAN HIT BY 7.8 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE

The earthquake that occurred in Iran on April 16 was the strongest one in the area in the past fifty years, according to BBC. The earthquake’s epicenter was near the Pakistani border close to the city of Khash. The area of the epicenter is in a remote region of the desert, thus decreasing the amount of harm that the earthquake could have caused. However, there are many cities near the site of the natural disaster that contain large populations, including Zahedan, a city of more than half a million people, according to the Guardian. The Iranian state TV reported 40 deaths, but experts in Iran expect the casualty numbers to be low because of the depth of the earthquake, which may have decreased the power of it to a magnitude of four, according to the Fars news agency in Iran.

BBC reported: “Scientists say earthquakes in south-eastern Iran are triggered by the clash between the Arabia and Eurasia tectonic plates, the former of which is pushing north at a rate of several centimeters each year.”

SG UPDATE

BY NICOLE HOWLEY

At the April 19 Student Government (SG), there were two major topics of discussion: the new student evaluation system for rating professors and funding for the Tiger East End Express (TE3).

EVALUATING PROFESSORS Currently, RIT has a rating system for students to evaluate their professors at the end of each quarter called Online Course Evaluations (OCE). However, Academic Affairs Committee (AAC) chair Michael Laver explained that the current OCE was originally intended for the evaluation of online courses before it was adopted by the majority of the academic departments.

AAC plans to replace OCE with another, potentially more effective rating system called SmartEvals, where students will be asked to rate their professor and course through seven core questions, two open ended questions and other questions the department chooses to add.

For example, AAC hopes to measure the student’s motivation in the class by asking if they attend class regularly.

Some of the SG representatives raised concerns that this might not be an effective question since the professor’s teaching could be the reason for students’ lack of attendance, rather than a lack of motivation.

The main goal for the change is to standardize how professors are rated and to provide “a common measure of teaching effectiveness,” said Laver. The new rating system will be implemented with the switch to semesters.

TE3 COST One of the last items on SG’s agenda for the day was to discuss the future of the TE3. Currently, it runs from Saturday at 10:30 p.m. until 2 a.m. Sunday. The two main concerns addressed were whether to extend the hours of the TE3 and how it will be funded in the future.

Currently, RIT is footing the bill for the TE3 which in the coming year will be about $21,000 per semester. However, SG advisor Karey Pine mentioned that alternate funding needs to be found. SG bounced around ideas, such as asking local businesses for support or forming a partnership with the University of Rochester bus route.

Vice President Sarah Thomas then asked the representatives to focus on whether there should be a charge for students hoping to ride the bus. There was a vote with 16 representatives in favor of charging students and 11 against. From there, the group held another vote determining that the cost should be $20 per semester or $1 per ride.

After determining a price, SG decided to not expand the TE3’s hours until they had a solid source of funding for the expenditure.

FORECAST

BY JUAN LACHAPELLE

FRIDAY 26 Dance in the Dark, Frisina/SDC Quad 10 p.m. - 1 a.m.

Nothing starts a weekend better than dancing! Experience some great music with food and giveaways throughout the night. The first 300 people get a free t-shirt and glow in the dark gifts.

Cost: Free

SATURDAY 27 RIT Players Presents: The Rimers of Eldritch, Ingle Auditorium 8 - 10 p.m.

Join the RIT Players in their spring production. Set in the mid-20th century in Missouri, a small town experiences a strange mystery.

Cost: $5 students, $8 everyone else

SUNDAY 28 ROC the Runway, Hyatt Regency Rochester 7 - 9 p.m.

Rochester’s Official Connection (R.O.C), Rochester Woman Magazine and FIERCE Boutique come together to bring you a night of extravagant fashion from Rochester and surrounding area designers with a diverse set of music. A portion of the proceeds will be going to “Women Helping Girls,” a mentoring service for girls grades 6-12 in the Rochester City School District. Tickets will only be available presale. Cost: $40 general admission, $50 intermediate level seating

MONDAY 29 MANIC MONDAYS RETRO DANCE NIGHT: Miss Z. + TBA, Bug Jar 9 p.m.

Join the Bug Jar with special guest Miss Z and other to be announced acts for a great way to start the week. Get back into the spirit with great retro music and free pizza at 11 p.m. 21+ only. Cost: Free

TUESDAY 30 All Time Low and Pierce the Veil, with Mayday Parade and You Me at Six Main Street Armory Doors open at 5:30p.m.

Four bands, one great night. The Armory brings you a blend of poprock and hardcore tunes for a wonderful night of music.

Cost: Tickets starting at $25

WEDNESDAY 1 Eastman Wind Ensemble, Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre 8 p.m.

Experience the beauty classical music has to offer at one of the top music schools in the country. Ensemble selections include the Vienna Philharmonic Fanfare by Richard Strauss, Carnival by Sierra (arr. Scatterday) and Ceremonial by Rands. Cost: Free

THURSDAY 2 Mr. RIT, Ingle Auditorium 7 - 9 p.m.

Join the sisters of Delta Phi Epsilon for their annual spring philanthropy event! Vote for your favorite contestant as they compete against each other in dance, talent, Q&A and more. Proceeds will go to the Cystic Fibrosis foundation. Cost: $5

&W_RochMagHalf_Group Ad.indd 1

9/24/07 2:54:20 PM

Paul

P

TALL PAUL & NICK MEET THE PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESIDENT

by Alyssa Jackson

Nick

VP

Second year Software Engineering students Paul Darragh and Nickolas Cifranic have been involved with Student Government (SG) this past year as the freshman senator for the 2011-12 academic year and the current Golisano senator, respectively.

But now that the 2013 student government elections are in they will be serving as the new student government president and vice president in the upcoming year. The two candidates received 872 votes, or 39.2 percent of the popular vote.

The Darragh and Cifranic campaign was based largely on three major changes the duo wishes to make at RIT during their time in office. The first change dealt with videotaping classes at RIT. This service will help students who miss a class catch up; it will assist students who are thinking about changing their major and allow them to experience the material before changing; and will allow for students to review for tests. “We’re going to be in semesters, and that’s 15 weeks’ worth

of information,” Darragh explained. “I don’t know about you, but personally I don’t remember everything from week one now.”

The second change in the president and vice president’s plan looks at creating a way for students to rent bikes on campus. Ideally, this would decrease bike theft at RIT and also allow students who don’t have the money for a bike or who live too far away from campus a way to quickly travel to classes.

Finally, Cifranic mentioned requiring teachers to use myCourses. Cifranic and Darragh cited student complaints of teachers who don’t put up lecture material or grades on the site as the reason for this bullet point in their platform.

The two students hope to continue work on some of the issues that current President Taylor Deer and Vice President Sarah Thomas have started addressing this past academic year. Some of these issues include the debit problems that have surfaced and more work with the bus system. Darragh talked of extending bussing for breaks so that the bus would not only transport students to the airport at the beginning of the vacation but also bring them back to campus when the break was finished.

One of the main goals stressed by Darragh and Cifranic was staying connected with the students, clubs and organizations on campus, an element of their campaign that they believed helped them win. They hope to do this by advertising a day each week where they will be eating lunch at a different place on campus and encouraging students to eat

or talk with them. Another way of increasing student voice will involve utilizing a new technology known as “Ask SG.” “It’s an SMS application, so it’s text messaging,” said Cifranic, explaining it as being similar to ChaCha. “An RIT student, if they have a question about Student Government, would text their message to a number and they would get a response.”

Cifranic stated that this system will possibly be in place by the fall semester.

And the changes don’t end there. Darragh said that they have a long list of things that they would like to implement to make student life easier, including a reduced price dry cleaning service for students when the career fair approaches, more water bottle stations (as plastic water bottles will soon no longer be available by vending machine) and a taxi service with reduced rates for students.

After planning for the election for nine months, the incoming president and vice president claimed that they were relieved to hear that they had won and said that they hope that changes that are made will assist students on campus.

Darragh and Cifranic encouraged students to begin reaching out to them through Paul Darragh’s email (pmd6624@g.rit.edu) or through their personal Facebook pages.

6 News | 04.26.13

REVIEWS 04.26.13 tubalr

by Nadia Pierre-Louis Website

First, we had Pandora and Spotify among many others and now there’s Tubalr. The latter is set apart from these other internet radios and music search engines because not only does it allow you to enjoy music, but music videos as well.

Well, it tries to.

The videos on this site are taken directly from YouTube. This has its ups and downs sides. In the “about” of the website, the founder, Cody Stewart, mentions that he built tubalr because he kept coming across high quality videos and wanted a place to watch them continuously. But this is one of the major problems with tubalr. Half of the videos you come across are either lyric videos made by fans that are not exactly high definition or videos of live recordings.

Some live recordings shown are pretty good stripped down versions of recorded tracks, but searching artists that have hundreds of YouTube videos of live recordings made by fans is a big issue. You could be listening to one track that sounds amazing and it turns into a terrible phone recording. But again, it all depends on what type of artists you’re looking for.

When searching for artists with recent albums, at times the videos that show up are outdated and lack anything new. Bigger artist have a lot of fan made videos and when that’s not what you’re looking for it can get annoying.

A plus side to this website is that you don’t need to make an account. Tubalr allows you to make your own playlist, stop disliked videos from playing repeatedly and to skip over videos an unlimited amount of times. This skipping feature is necessary for anyone who wants to listen to recorded tracks, not low quality live recordings.

Overall, tubalr is a good idea. But the site definitely needs to fix some of its kinks before it can truly spread.

For Fans of : Last.fm, Spotify and 8tracks

Zamora Time Review

by William Hirsh App/Windows 8 Windows Phone/Free

A procrastinator extraordinaire, I’ve long struggled with focusing on the tasks at hand, often wasting what little of my 24 hour day I can feasibly use. Stumbling upon Zamora Time, a productivity app for my Windows 8 machine, I decided to give it a spin in the hopes of joining society as a competent task master.

Zamora Time —for the most part— does its job pretty well. The app is a combination of a checklist and a Pomodoro timer, a time management system that has you working in 25 minute intervals followed by a five minute break.

Having used separate apps, websites or even paper to keep track of my never ending to-do lists in the past, it was nice to have something that rolled all of this functionality into one place. You begin using the app by adding items to your checklist for that day and providing descriptions of the task. Once you’ve settled on what needs to get done, you click on an item, start the timer and hit the grindstone. For anyone who hasn’t used a Pomodoro timer before, this mechanism really does help focus users on getting a great deal of work done in such a short time. Or at the very least, it compels you to get off your butt and get started.

If you’re still getting distracted, the app allows you to document the number of times you find yourself whisked away to your social media, YouTube, or other siren sites. Or, so I thought anyway.

One of the more glaring flaws about Zamora Time is its unwillingness to dispense any information about its other features. Testing the interruption feature, I thought it would have cataloged the times I wandered from my ever expanding workload; it instead created new checklist items with the timer and everything. This kind of brings to question whether the interruption feature is a misnomer, instead being a useful tool for breaking your tasks down into sizeable chunks. Another weak point of the app is the inability to transfer leftover tasks from the previous day into the current one. This leaves users to re-enter the tasks they – still – need to complete.

While great for its standard features, Zamora Time is kind of obtuse to users and fettered by a minor annoyance here and there. If you need a tool to prioritize, Zamora Time is an alright, albeit not well rounded, app for the job.

For Fans of : Pomodoro Timer, Timer Apps and Note Apps

AYL At Your Leisure

by William Hirsh

Quote of the Week

“Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It’s not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it’s when you’ve had everything to do, and you’ve done it.”

-Margaret Thatcher

Reporter Recommends: Setting Aside Time As the last quarter at RIT is coming to a close, tensions are at an all-time high as the compounded stress of the upcoming semester conversion, finals, projects and more have been plopped onto people’s plates. The result: We begin to cut corners in order to compensate for the time we’ve lost lollygagging or from just being completely lost in the curriculum. Sleeping, eating and other human needs are slowly becoming the lowest thing on our ever growing to-do lists.

However, this is where we need to draw the line. What we aren’t realizing is that we’re limiting our own potential by cutting these corners. How we perform in these next few weeks will potentially nosedive unless we do one simple thing: set aside time for ourselves. It doesn’t mean you should take the day off (you’ll end up undercutting your bottom line if you do). Just take 15 minutes, an hour or as much time as you can spare to regroup. Only slept three hours last night?

Take a power nap. Stuck on that packet due the next class? Take a short break to do something fun like playing a game or surfing the Internet. It’s doing these little things that will keep you sane, despite being overworked and maybe a little demoralized.

Keep your sanity. Take a break, you overburdened, coffee powered, sleep deprived college student.

Comic by Corinne Newbegin

Haiku My free time has fled, Absconded into the void, That is my homework.

Word of the Week Algid (adj): Cold, frigid.

When one is in Rochester, one does not mention the algid days of yore unless one wishes for their return.

Stream of Facts According to “A Games of Thrones” author George R. R. Martin, the warring houses of Stark and Lannister were

inspired by the turtles he kept as a child. Martin kept his pet turtles in a toy tin castle and imagined them to be knights and kings who would betray one another.

The theme for the TV show Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was generated by composer Chuck Lorre, creator of popular shows The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men. American composer and big band leader Duke Ellington has recorded over 1,000 compositions in various genres, from classical to jazz to film scores and more.

Famous film director Steven Spielberg did not hold a college degree despite his success at the box office. It wasn’t until 2001 that Spielberg fulfilled his general education requirement for a Bachelors of Arts from California State University, Long Beach and graduated the following year.

In the Ethiopian calendar, a year consists of 12 months of 30 days each, along with an additional 13th month of five days. Ethiopia is currently in the year 2005.

9

From left to right: Alex Lemenz, fourth year Biotechnology; Kelly Hurley, third year Graphic Design; Jake Snider, fifth year Industrial Engineering; Eliset Rodríguez, graduate student participated in the CAB cooking trip.

article and photographs by Amy Sanderson

As I walked into the New York Wine and Culinary Center (NYWCC), it was easy to feel ten times classier than usual. Dim lighting and dark wood finishes created a sophisticated mood and employees in suits warmly welcomed our group into the facility. We looked a little out of place; our casually dressed entourage consisted of students who signed up through CAB for a day trip to the NYWCC. After we finished up coat check, Merchandising Manager and Cellar Master Ryan Baldick toured us through the fancy rooms that made up the facility.

The NYWCC is a non-profit organization, and its main goal is to be an educational facility. The center also aims to support local agriculture; over 90 percent of the ingredients are from New York State. This was one of the reasons why Carol Pan, a first year Packaging Science major, decided to come on the trip.

“I want to learn about local ingredients,” Pan said. “I enjoy cooking. If there’s any good recipe, I’ll try it.” Predictably, an interest in cooking was common among students who came on the trip.

“I love cooking,” replied second year Computer Science major Vinny Patrone.

“And I love eating,” added Joy Yamasaki, a fifth year Computer Science major. The two came together on the trip since the excursion appealed to both interests.

After the quick tour, Baldick took us to a small, auditorium-style theater, where they surprised us with a wine tasting. We were seated in front of five glasses, each filled with a different type of wine. Here, Baldick introduced us to Thomas Belelieu, a sommelier (wine steward) and director of the NYWCC. As he clicked through a slideshow, Belelieu amicably explained the many characteristics of wine, its history and how to identify the type of grape or where a wine came from. Though previously I had no knowledge in this area, after the thorough explanations of each glass, I felt enlightened in the ways of wine.

Once the wine tasting was concluded, we were led to the educational kitchen, the main portion of the trip. The kitchen was a brightly lit, open space with three islands. As we gathered around the islands and took up aprons, we were introduced to the head chef, Jeffory McLean. McLean was a chef for 28 years, and is passionate about teaching, which was what brought him to the NYWCC two years ago. He cooks primarily New American Cuisine, which uses indigenous ingredients in simple recipes.

10 Leisure | 04.26.13

“Don’t worry about the recipe.” McLean told us, and this was one of the most important tips. He had prepared the menu and already measured and provided ingredients for us, all we had to do was cook. There was even a bonus: We didn’t have to wash the dishes.

We broke apart into small teams, and within these teams we cooked these recipes: Caesar Salad, Roasted Root Vegetable Baton, Barley Risotto with Artisan Cheese, a Fish Filet and Chicken Thighs with Rosemary and Mushroom and Cranberry Crème Brule. We cooked fast, and with great teamwork everything was finished in about 45 minutes.

“Even if you’re struggling with the college student budget, buy as much fresh produce as possible, and try not to use much salt.

Try to get to farmer’s markets,” McLean imparted upon us as we ate our delicious creations. Overall, everyone left the culinary center with a full stomach and in a good mood.

“I thought it was just fantastic,” said Kyle Kearns, a third year Hospitality major. “I want to open my own restaurant someday.”

Kearns represented the Hospitality Association eBoard, as they helped to fund transportation for the trip.

“It was a good way to spend a Sunday. I’m not much of a wine person-” said Alex Lemenz, a fourth year Biotechnology major, as we left the NYWCC. “I told you it was good!” interjected third year Graphic Design major Kelly Hurley.

“-but I’m becoming one!”

G I V I N G

B A C K

A F T E R

GR A DU AT ION

by Danielle Delp and Alyssa Jackson photographs provided by Alicia Stern

“I had a lot of great opportunities throughout my life,” said RIT alumnus David Kraines over the phone. “I got to go to RIT, get a great education, and receive a lot of opportunities that not everyone gets. I grew to love Rochester and the people and I wanted to help and serve the community.”

Many RIT alumni, like Kraines, have chosen to give back to the community after graduation whether it was a community nearby or in another country. There are many organizations that help people find these short term or long term opportunities to give back including AmeriCorps, Teach for America and Peace Corps, each of which provides opportunities to help the community grow while growing, yourself.

AMERICORPS

A

ccording to the AmeriCorps website, the program is “a network of national service programs that engage Americans in intensive service to meet the nation’s critical needs in education, public safety, health and the environment.” The program’s main goal is to promote community service projects, and according Kraines, it does so in a way that is very appealing to students who are exiting college.

After graduating from RIT with a degree in New Media Publishing in 2010, Kraines worked for AmeriCorps from August 2010 until 2011 in the Rochester Youth Year program, a mission run out of the University of Rochester. This program specifically looks at capacity building in organizations so that the group can expand its ability and sustain itself after the volunteers have gone. The program appealed to him because of his Christian faith and the other benefits that come along with participating in the program. For example, AmeriCorps will freeze student loans for a year, including the

interest on the loans, and at the end of the year that you spend with them they will pay $5,000 toward the loans. The downside: AmeriCorps pays you $10,000 for the year that you spend with them. Kraines explained that this wasn’t a difficult monetary situation for him because he was allowed to apply for foodstamps and other government aid.

“When you really think about what you need to buy in a year, in comparison to what we spend money on, that amount is more than enough,” Kraines said. “They encourage it because it brings you closer to people you’re serving.”

Kraines explained that there are a multitude of opportunities within AmeriCorps, and that not all of them are a full year long, like the program he participated in. He said that there are summer programs as well and that some of the volunteer opportunities include cleaning National Parks.

Another program he talked about, RiseGo, looks for individuals to teach kids about business and other important subjects so that they can better their communities. AmeriCorps programs are offered nationwide.

Because many of the programs are summeror year-long, Kraines stated that AmeriCorps doesn’t require a career commitment. Basically, you can test it out for a few months and decide if it is something you want to continue to be a part of. He also said that the experience allows you to meet a plethora of people to add to your connections and network. And after living a year with such little funds, one really knows how to manage a budget.

“You don’t get many opportunities to take your life and invest it into something positive like this,” Kraines said.

Kraines encouraged other students to consider becoming involved in the program in some way, citing his own positive experiences as reason.

Students that are interested can find more information on their website, http://americorps.gov.

11

TEACH FOR AMERICA Christian Kowalski-Re is a third year Civil Engineering Technology student and the head of service for the fraternity Phi Sigma Pi, a position that has allowed him to become closely involved with the program Teach for America.

This program is the national philanthropy of the fraternity, which helps with supply drives, tutoring and local webinars with information for other interested Greek Life.

“People who have participated in the program or are in charge of the program speak to other chapters to let them know what it’s all about and talk about their experiences,” said Kowalski-Re. He became involved with the program at the beginning of this academic year when he became the head of service for Phi Sigma Pi. Although his involvement is currently limited to what he does through his fraternity, he hopes to continue his involvement with the Teach for America after he graduates by tutoring students from underprivileged communities in Rochester. He explained that these schools could suffer from a lack of funding or ineffective teachers who are there based on tenure.

“I’ve spoken with people who are directly in the program and it’s not like math based, English based or history based,” explained Kowalski-Re. “They take people such as engineering majors, like me, to teach technology classes and to help students get the perspective of hands on critical thinking skills.

They have people with all types of majors participating in these programs.”

According to Kowalski-Re, Teach for America’s number one goal is educational equality. To achieve this goal the program provides school supplies for underprivileged families and attempts to get students excited about learning through tutoring and mentoring programs. Kowalski-Re stated that his fraternity has also written letters to students about higher education and its importance in an attempt to increase students’ desire to continue their education after high school.

“It’s really unfair, especially in these underprivileged schools, for the children as well as the communities,” said Kowalski-Re. “They try to target schools with really high dropout rates and schools that don’t have the highest grades; they’re not necessarily the best schools.”

Kowalski-Re explained that his experience with Teach for America has been very positive and fulfilling thus far and that others he has spoken with agree: “Everyone who has been a participant of it has said that it has been a life changing experience. It feels amazing for them to make an impact and change children’s lives.”

The fraternity member said that Phi Sigma Pi will be hosting a school supply drive from April 30 to May 1 in the infinity quad, and the school items that are donated will go to Teach for America to be distributed in the schools that are a part of the program. Another program the fraternity takes part in is backpack drives, where back packs are stuffed with items that may help students in school and are given to students in need.

Students who are interested in becoming more involved with Teach for America, whether it be through tutoring, writing letters or donating supplies, are encouraged to go to the website at http://teachforamerica.org.

PEACE CORPS

“Me using a hoe to plant fruit trees in the mountains. This was a school field trip I arranged.”

During her final years at RIT, Alicia Stern, a long-time and enthusiastic participant in community service programs, was considering committing herself to the Peace Corps immediately after graduation. After extensive research and reaching out to the organization, she was able to sign up for a 27-month assignment that began immediately after her graduation in 2008. Stern’s choice is another example of alternative paths open to students after graduation.

Stern found herself drawn to the program not just for its value as a community service, but also for the opportunity it presented to her personally: “I knew what AmeriCorps was, and then I heard about Peace Corps and I was kind of fixated on joining the Peace Corps after college because I transferred I didn’t have the opportunity to travel abroad for

“I was visiting another volunteer on island and I taught a brief photography class to the 6th graders at their school. I let the students use my NIKON D300s professional camera to practice taking pictures.”

study abroad.” It’s impossible to know which country you will go to before you apply since you cannot select which country you will be sent to. Once you are there, however, you can be assigned to any task from educational work to assisting with agricultural development and public health improvement.

Stern’s assignment led her to Jamaica, where she worked for nearly three years. Volunteers like Stern are assigned to multiple tasks while abroad, but each task is designed to ultimately support the three goals of the Peace Corps.

These boil down to providing trained men and women to assist with development efforts, promote understanding of American culture, and promote the understanding of foreign cultures by the volunteers. This can be extremely difficult at times, especially in countries that hold Americans in low regard.

Stern herself encountered some extremely negative views of Americans during her tour.

In order to promote understanding, however, volunteers are expected to help provide insight into positive aspects of American culture that locals might not otherwise encounter. As Stern explained over the phone, “Peace Corps is, you know, a development organization, but it’s also … a cultural exchange.”

At the time Stern applied for the Peace Corps, RIT did not associate with the organization very much and recruiters rarely visited the campus.

But now it’s much easier to get involved with the Peace Corps through RIT, with information

sessions occasionally hosted on campus for interested students. If you can’t make a session, you can also get in touch with your regional recruiting office directly or online and ask for more information. Stern cautions that the Peace Corps is a serious commitment that not everyone should take on. “I think people have high expectations and I think a lot of people, they join the Peace Corps to find who they are as a person, and you have to actually already know who you are as a person,” she explained. “You’ll grow as a person, as a volunteer, you’ll definitely grow. And you’ll face things you might never have faced before, like you might face death, disease, poverty.” She went on reveal that, in the face of these challenges, many people don’t manage to last the entire 27 months of their assignment.

After she returned from Jamaica, Stern continued working for the Peace Corps as a recruiter for some time. Since then, she has stepped back from the Peace Corps to focus on her career as a photographer. She still visits Jamaica regularly - roughly once every six months - to take photos of the people and to visit the friends she made there. Even now, five years after she first left on her assignment, she continues to recommend the service to graduates and everyday citizens alike: “It’s not for everybody, but if you’re a person who wants to experience something completely different, there’s no other organization that’s like the Peace Corps.”

According to an article published in University News in 2011, 78 RIT students have volunteered for the Peace Corps alone. With the growing presence of the organization on campus and the growing number of students attending RIT, that number will surely increase in the years to come.

Whether it is through AmeriCorps, Teach for America or the Peace Corps, there are many opportunities for students to give back to their local communities or the world community after graduation. While these programs may not be for everyone, they are options for students to consider if they have a passion for service and helping others. Information for any of these programs can be found on their websites. Students can also get more information by talking with their academic advisors, who can point them in the right direction, or by attending informational sessions held throughout the year.

13

GRADUATION FROM THE GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

by Nicole Howley | illustration by Ethan Thornton

When figuring out what to do after graduation, fourth year Marketing major Trisha Khanna was a bit stressed: “Major freak out: That was my thought process.” Many students seem to go through this as they get closer to graduation, but Khanna had more factors to consider than some of her fellow classmates.

Khanna is from New Delhi, India and, as an international student, she has to take visas and citizenship into consideration. Although international students are able to stay in the United States during their degree program with little hassle due to their student visas, the paperwork becomes a bit more complicated after graduation.

Not all students plan to stay in the United States after graduating but those who do have to make sure that it is truly a possibility.

This is a concern to many students on campus considering that over 10 percent are international students. As of fall 2012, 1,949 students from 101 countries were enrolled for either their graduate or undergraduate degree here.

“Undergraduate is very

expensive. There’s a huge difference in the currency because a dollar is 50 Indian rupees … Graduate tends to be about five times cheaper than that.”

14 Features | 04.19.13

UNDERGRADUATE VS. GRADUATE DEGREES Jeffery Cox, the director of International Student Services, estimates that about two thirds of international students at RIT are here for their graduate degree, some of them pursuing their PhD. Fewer students come to RIT for their undergraduate degrees, partially due to the cost of obtaining an undergraduate degree.

Mechanical Engineering graduate student Arnab Chanda is from India and from his experience, he understands why not as many students are willing to come to the United States for their undergraduate degree: “Undergraduate is very expensive. There’s a huge difference in the currency because a dollar is like 50 Indian rupees … Graduate tends to be about five times cheaper than that.”

Even with a cheaper tuition and a scholarship that covers about half of his schooling costs, Chanda is paying much more for his education here than he had to pay for the undergraduate degree he got in India. “I spend like $2,000 for a course,” says Chanda, “[With] $2,000, I was done with my undergrad back in India.”

However, Khanna still came to the United States for her undergraduate degree and so did fourth year International Business and Marketing Major Andre Joly from Brazil. Joly knew from a very young age that he wanted to come to the United States for his college education.

“If you compare a University in Brazil, they aren’t as good as the colleges here in the [United States]. That’s why I decided I wanted to come here for my education,” says Joly. “I wanted to get the best education that I could.”

“If you compare a

University in Brazil, they aren’t as good as the colleges here in the U.S. That’s why I decided to come here ... I wanted to get the best education I could.

”

come across because of the paperwork and costs that can be involved “The work visa is very difficult to get, unless of course you are an engineer or a doctor or like a crazy financier guru or something,” explains Khanna. “In that case, it becomes a lot easier.”

For students who wish to stay, there are still other options. After their OPT expires, if a student is working for a company that is willing to sponsor the cost and fill out the paperwork, the company can help them change the status of their visa to an H-1B meaning that, as long as they work for that employer, they can stay in the United States for three more STAYING IN THE US AFTER GRADUATION years. They can then renew this status for another three years. If they want to change employers, they must re-file and there are additional Joly hopes that he can find a job here after graduation and stay in fees involved. the United States for the duration of his career. So far, he’s on the right After getting the H-1B and staying in the country for five or six years, track, having completed a six-month marketing internship with Disney, it is much easier to apply for a green card which employers sometimes focused on their Latin American audience. Joly believes that he has a are willing to sponsor as well. lot to contribute due to his experience at RIT as well as his knowledge Chanda hopes to stay in the United States and pursue a career as a of the region and he hopes that he can get similar job opportunities in professor at a university, following his passion for research: “I always the future. “After I graduate, that’s kind of what I want to do; I want to wanted to come to [the United States] and do a lot of research.” However, work for an American company but focusing on the Latin American he doubts that he can get a University to sponsor his citizenship due to market,” says Joly. the high costs. Instead, he plans on extending his time in the United But for many international students, it can be difficult to get a States by taking advantage of his OPT and then obtaining another long-term job in the United States. After a student graduates and student visa for his PhD. By the end of his degree, he believes that he their student visa is no longer in effect, they can obtain an Optional will have spent enough time in the United States to apply for citizenship Practical Training (OPT) authorization, which extends their visa for on his own. up to 12 months. Students generally use this time to take advantage of For other international students, there is hope of remaining in internship opportunities, to find a job that might be willing to sponsor the United States as well if they are interested. “What we are seeing their citizenship in the future or to apply for additional schooling. in our office this year is a turn and an increase in the number of job If a student does not decide to move on to another degree within the opportunities that students get,” says Cox. “We don’t have hard statistics United States or they don’t find a company to sponsor them, staying here on those but we have definitely processed more co-ops and practical more than a year after graduation is near impossible. However, science, training work papers over the last year. So that’s good. It’s a good sign technology, engineering and mathematics students can get a 17 month that the economy is picking back up in a lot of sectors.” extension on their OPT period.

Overall, it appears that the slowly improving economy and employers “They have to be working for a company that’s enrolled in this system increasing open-mindedness is leading to growing opportunities for called E-Verify but more and more companies these days are and, international students as well. For the students graduating in the near certainly at RIT, there are a lot of students who studied in those particular future, it still might be a bit of a struggle, but the possibility and the majors that are authorized,” says Cox, the director of International resources to help are still here. “I think it’s going to be hard,” says Joly.

Student Services. “If they file on time, they pretty much get it.”

“But at the same time, I think I’m ready; I think I’m prepared.”

Although getting an OPT and even an extended OPT is not too difficult, Cox admits, “Beyond that it is hard. It depends on the economy.” If the economy is in a slump, jobs for international students are difficult to

15

LONGEST-HELD

SPRING SPORTS RECORDS AT RIT

by Danielle Delp | photographs courtesy of the RIT archive collections Listed here are the athletes at RIT who, in each of their respective spring sports, have achieved standing records that have remained unbroken longer than any other. These records are so outstanding that decades have passed, but no one has surpassed them.

10 Leisure | 04.19.13

KOSOWSKI DOEHLER

T O N Y

L E E

SPIECKER WIRSCHAM

Baseball Attended RIT: 1952-1957 Highest Batting Average, Season: 0.500 (1953) 2nd Highest Batting Average, Career: 0.408 (1953-1956) 2nd Most Triples, Season: 6 (1955)

T O M

SILKMAN

It has been 60 years since Frank Silkman broke the record for highest season batting average for RIT Baseball with an untouchable 0.500 in 1953. Just two years later, he nearly broke his own record with a second-place record of 0.472. The latter was narrowly broken in 2009, but at no point in the past 50 years has anyone been able to unseat Silkman from his first-place seat. Also in 1955, Silkman managed to set a record for highest number of triples that, while broken in the current time, managed to remain for over forty years before being toppled in 2006. Silkman is now 83 years old, and his days in college are but a distant memory. Even so, in an email interview he spoke of his triples record humorously; “As I recall I believe I set a record for the most ‘triples’ during that period. The guys used to joke, it wasn’t that I hit the ball that far but that I could run fast.”

D A V E

F R A N K

Men’s Outdoor Track & Field Distance Medley 10:19.8 (1971)

A M B E R

MESCHER

(now Amber Strevey)

Women’s Lacrosse Attended RIT: 1999-2004 Most Ground Ball, Season: 105 (2000) Most Ground Ball, Career: 274 (2000-2003)

If you’ve ever watched a lacrosse game, you’ve probably noticed that the ball will occasionally be dropped on the ground. These ground balls might not seem like anything important, but being able to retrieve them quickly can help change the direction of play by forcing the offensive team back on the defense. At RIT, the longest-held Women’s Lacrosse title belongs to Amber Mescher, who retrieved the most ground balls in a game, season and a career during her years on the team from 1999-2003. After her record-breaking career, she went on to become the assistant coach for the team while attending graduate school for her remaining year at RIT. In an email comment, Mescher expressed how little she actually remembers from the event.

She said, “I believe you can only set records when you work together and everyone is playing their best.” She added, “I’m honored that the record still stands but hope that that soon one of the new team members will break it.”

C H E R Y L

L Y N D A

WETMORE

GORSKY

Softball Slugging Percentage, Season: .909 (1986) Triples, Season: 10 (1986) Sacrifice Flies, Career: 9 (1984-1986) Sacrifice Flies, Career: 10 (1983-1986) Base on Balls (Walks), Career: 43 (1983-86)

Women’s Tennis Most Dual Wins, Season: 13 (1982) Most Dual Wins, Career: 39 (1980-83) Most Overall Wins, Career: 55 (1980-83) Most Consecutive Dual Singles Wins: 24 (1980-83)

M I C H E L E

JONES

B O B

(photo not found)

Women’s Outdoor Track & Field 200-meter Dash: 25.1 seconds (1984) 100-meter Dash: 12.12 seconds (1985)

S T E V E

VAN GORDEN

Men’s Lacrosse Attended RIT: 1970-1975 4th Highest Save Percentage, Season: 0.653 (1975) 4th Highest Save Percentage, Career: 0.613 (1971-1975) 8th Most Saves, Season: 192 (1975) 8th Most Saves, Career: 406 (1971-1975)

In lacrosse, a “save” is quite simply the deflection of a ball from the defender’s goal. RIT’s Lacrosse team was still in its infancy when Steve Van Gorden left his mark on the record books by setting records for highest career save percentage, highest save percentage in a season, most career saves and most saves in a season. Though each of these records have been broken several times since Van Gorden’s years on the team, his name and achievements as a goalie

COSTANZA Men’s Tennis Most Consecutive Wins: 30 (1965-1967)

remain in the top-ten goaltending records recorded by Men’s Lacrosse. As a result, he is undeniably one of the all-stars of RIT’s lacrosse history. Van Gorden himself was pleasantly surprised to learn that the records he set years ago are still on the list after more than thirty years. In an email interview, he said, “Three of my children are RIT grads so I guess my greatest pleasure has been when they discovered dad was still listed in the record book.” (photo not found)

PULP FICTION THURSDAY MAY 2ND, 2013 10PM (DOORS AT 9:30PM) INGLE AUDITORIUM IMAGE BY BANKSY

SU L MME O R SCHO Take one summer class, get the second 50% OFF!* Live on Long Island? Then get ahead on your studies this summer at Dowling College while staying close to home, friends, family and fun. We have many courses available and the credits are transferable.

We take your future personally.

To learn more and for course offerings visit www.dowling.edu/summer or call 1-800-DOWLING

(369-5464)

Oakdale • BrOOkhaven

* Discounted course must be of equal or lesser credits than the first course. Discount will be applied at the completion of the second course and cannot be combined with any other tuition incentives offered by Dowling College or toward cohort programs with pre-set tuition rates.

Word on the Street

If you were to set a record at RIT, what would it be?

photographs by Tom Brenner

“Most zombies killed in Humans vs. Zombies.”

Alex Nagel, 4th year Interior Design

“Fastest time running down the quarter mile in this costume” Jared Rothwell, 3rd year University Studies.

“Most Easy-Mac eaten in one night”.

Steven Garabini, 1st year game design and development

“Host biggest party ever thrown at R.I.T.” Mackencia Pearless, 1st year Business Management major

19

Extending the Aid

by Nick Bovee | illustration by James Lecarpentier

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of REPORTER.

Affirmative action is a well-known — and often criticized and misinterpreted — policy to provide minority groups with help in underrepresented areas. What usually qualifies people for consideration under affirmative action is matters of birth; “race, color, religion, sex or national origin.” These are all basic, unchangeable human traits. Affirmative action is designed to help minorities who encounter hardship in their lives because of these unchangeable facts. So why limit the assistance from those who identify with LGBTQ groups?

The reasoning behind the current form of affirmative action is obvious. It acts as a counterbalance to the persisting socioeconomic impact from past exploitation of minorities.

Discrimination and racism against blacks has been rampant in the United States from the start and hardly began diminishing until the 1960s and the forced dissolution of segregation. Mistreating minorities for so long forced poor circumstance onto families and the effects still persist to this day.

Similar circumstances were forced on women in the past. Women’s property rights were only just protected by the end of the 19th century and the 19th amendment, giving women the right to vote, was only passed in 1920. Even today, reproductive rights are still highly debated. The traditional role of housewife raises girls to be nothing more than caretakers and the destruction of that stereotype is still incomplete. For both women and blacks, it’s a slow process to equal representation.

So why doesn’t this yet apply to LGBTQ identifiers? The discrimination involved is similar, restricting the rights that people require. Destructive stereotypes still persist and hate crimes, harassment and bullying are constantly occurring. Same-sex relations were considered illegal until 2003 and many states still have not removed associated laws. The only real difference that could be nitpicked upon is that sexual orientation is not a physical difference. In no way does that make the hardships of discrimination any less affecting.

Unfortunately, affirmative action draws plenty of criticism and complaints. A common fear is that it promotes under-qualified applicants ahead of non-minority students.

Framed as another form of discrimination, it’s claimed that this can increase the tension

between minority and majority groups.

Recently, some college applicants have taken to claiming they were discriminated against because others got preferential treatment.

Opponents also often claim that affirmative action creates hidden quotas in school and job admission procedures.

“Sexual orientation is

not a physical difference.

In no way does that make the hardships of discrimination any less affecting.”

First, affirmative action cannot be about accepting unqualified minorities to jobs and schools over other applicants. Race can be considered as a small positive factor in prospective students but a Supreme Court ruling forbids schools from using actual scoring systems. Neither is affirmative action intended to be completely permanent. If society ever reaches a point that minority and majority groups do stand on equal footing

in colleges and workplaces, the method has done its job. When there’s no lasting effect of injustice, there should be no need to have corrective policies.

The last decade has been excellent to the progression of LGBTQ rights, and the 2013 Supreme Court hearing may be another key step needed to fix injustices. The support so far has been tremendous, but even after the Supreme Court returns a verdict, there’s still more work to be done. The Supreme Court is also reviewing Fisher v. University of Texas, a case looking to restrict race based affirmative action. If this is crippled, it’s unlikely that support for wronged LGBTQ students can be similarly helped. The Supreme Court has proven to be receptive to public opinion. Our role should be to give these cases attention and keep them as high profile as possible through social media and any other forum we have.

Changing your social media profile pictures may be a minor show of support, but it’s one of the few ways ‘slacktivism’ may actually do some good.

An Ineffective System

by Danielle Delp | illustration by James Lecarpentier

The opinions expressed are solely those of the author and do not reflect the views of REPORTER.

“We are an equal-opportunity affirmative action employer.” This is a message many job-hunting college students and graduates have encountered during the course of their applications. Though it is known by different names in different countries, “affirmative action” is a blanket term for policies designed to help alleviate discrimination based on ethnicity and sex. The affirmative action system in the United States originated via Executive Orders in the 1960s during efforts to make jobs equally available to African Americans, who would historically be denied jobs or wages afforded to their Caucasian coworkers solely on the grounds of their race.

To comply, federal organizations were forced to find ways to make the demographics of their employees reflect the current proportion of each underrepresented group in the workforce of the country as a whole. If a company did not comply, it could lose its funding. Several years later, this protection would be extended to women as well. In theory, affirmative action would finally make every job equally available to every citizen of the United States. The

American Civil Liberties Union goes so far as to claim that, “Affirmative action is one of the most effective tools for redressing the injustices caused by our nation’s historic discrimination based on color and gender, and for leveling what has long been an uneven playing field.”

Over 50 years later, however, there remains no absolute equality in this country. Large proportions of ethnic minorities remain underemployed and undereducated compared to white counterparts. Women still make less money, on average, than men who do the same jobs. The initial problem with the current affirmative action system in the United States is that it only prevents discrimination in employment, higher education and government positions – basically anything you have to apply for. By its nature, this is not the true equality that civil rights advocates crave. Though it prevents employers and educational institutions from discriminating against minorities, it does not actually make those opportunities more available to everyone within the target groups. Even within minorities, differences in

resource and education availability can result in domination of the job market by a few of the more privileged members of the minority.

For example, a poor Latino woman raised in a bad area with poor education by the nature of her circumstances, is at a disadvantage when placed against a Latino woman with a better education. Thus, by focusing solely on gender or ethnicity, present affirmative action policy barely scrapes the surface of the discrimination problem.

To make matters worse, affirmative action is both poorly represented and poorly implemented. Misconceptions and rumors about the system are so wild throughout this country that I would put money on a bet that you’ve heard at least one person complaining about it. The reality of affirmative action is that it does not, in its purest form, advocate for reverse racism. It is designed to create a fair chance for everyone to compete, not for any one group to have an advantage over another.

Due to poor implementation of the policy, however, an illusion of a better opportunity for minorities or women has been created. Racial quotas in particular have caused a large outcry due to the potential for reverse racism. The result may leave the majority bitter towards the program and, by extension, the minorities that the system is meant to protect.

In its time, affirmative action was a necessary response to the rampant racism in the United States. As a reactionary response, however, it has left plenty of room for improvement.

Rather than strictly complying with the set-instone policy from the 60s, it would be far better to modify the policy to work in a world that has experienced and understands the flaws in the system. Perhaps a policy that made better educational resources available to minorities or made higher education more accessible to the poor would be more effective. Making race and gender neutral factors during consideration for employment or admission is also a plausible action, since it makes it impossible for anyone to make claims of reverse racism. Suggestions like these might not be the best solutions, but they are certainly a step in the right direction.

As it stands, affirmative action is not a wellimplemented system in the United States and needs to be modified if it is to truly accomplish its goal.

21

SPRING FEST APRIL 26 | 1-5PM

join us for free hamburgers, hotdogs & snow cones

+ boxing ring & log rolling bounce houses SAVE $300 WITH REDUCED FEES ONE WEEKEND ONLY–APRIL 26-28 THEPROVINCEROCHESTER.COM

Great location to campus. On shuttle bus route. Fitness center. Game room with billiards & foosball. Theater room.

Private bedrooms & bathrooms. Leather-style furniture. Fully furnished. Individual leases,

220 John Street | 585 . 4 27.7 7 7 7 while supplies last.rates, fees, deadlines & utilities subject to change. limited time only.

RINGS All calls subject to editing and truncation. Not all calls will be run.

REPORTER reserves the right to publish all calls in any format.

compiled by Michelle Spoto illustration by Katherine Dayton

Monday, 11:45 p.m. (from text)

So I love that the weather is getting warm and all, but I do fear for the eyesight of my fellow students as I’m pretty sure my legs are so pale that the light that bounces from them could cause blindness. #ReallyReallyWhiteGirlProblems

?

Tuesday, 4:12 p.m.

Wednesday, 1:20 p.m.

Thursday, 7:25 p.m.

Hey Nathan’s, when are you gonna jump on the bandwagon and have a free soup day? Seriously, I’d wait in line all day for that [soupy goodness].

That awkward moment when you accept a Skype contact request thinking it’s your high school buddy and his profile pic is his penis.

I’m a fifth year student and I still can’t tell which building is 7b or 7a.

(from text)

(from text)

(from text)

23

Don’t Settle For Less Than the Best

Apartments available for up to groups of 4 • All utilities included • Fully furnished • Individual leases • Guaranteed housing 585-272-2525 • www.ParkPointRochester.com