The Setonian - Volume 93, Issue 23 - 04/06/2017

In Sports, Page 15 Volume 93, Issue 23

www.thesetonian.com

April 6, 2017

The Clery Act: An Inside Look At Josoph Henry

Murderer stresses dangers of alcohol, importance of sexual violence awareness Leah Carton Managing Editor

How our Clery story came about In News, Page 3

Sacristans find community in their service In Campus Life, Page 8

Before Josoph Henry raped and murdered Jeanne Clery at Lehigh University three decades ago, he spent a brief time on the Seton Hall campus participating in an academic program as a high school student.

In an exclusive interview with The Setonian, Henry, a Newark native, said he visited the South Orange campus while he was a student at University High School in the 1980s. While no details survive of how much time Henry actually spent at Seton Hall or what he did while he was here, his actions on the campus of Lehigh University 31 years ago this week were laid out in tragic detail in a case that has had a lasting impact on every college campus in America, including Seton Hall.

It was in the early morning hours of April 5, 1986, that Henry, then 20, entered Clery’s Lehigh University dorm room and fatally assaulted the 19-year-old co-ed from Bryn Mawr, Pa. Both were students at the university.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, Clery’s parents and other advocates successfully lobbied for national legislation to make campuses safer by requiring universities to be transparent about sexual assault and other crimes on campus. Since the Clery Act was signed into law in 1990, institutions that receive Title IV federal funds, like Seton Hall, have had to file yearly reports on campus crime.

Photo courtesy of Josoph Henry On April 5, 31 years ago, Josoph Henry raped and murdered 19-year-old Jeanne Clery at Lehigh University.

In a series of phone calls and long handwritten letters from the State Correctional Institution (SCI) at Dallas in Dallas, Pa., 120 miles northwest of Newark, where he is serving a life sentence, Henry reflected on Clery’s murder. Though he did not ask for forgiveness, he said he has tried to atone for his crime by advocating, through letters, for greater awareness about the dangers of alcohol, which he said was a factor in causing his crime. He also has called

for restraints on the kind of behavior that can exacerbate problems on college campuses.

Speaking on a prison phone, Henry, now 51, was transparent about his past, and about his hopes for the future. He spoke candidly and without hesitation, even as automated messages intermittently interrupted the 15-minute calls, reminding him that the prison could be listening to and recording his every word.

With eagerness in his voice,

as well as in several letters handwritten in his scribbled script, he avowed his willingness to speak about all aspects of his life, including his actions on the day of Clery’s murder.

“I know that people will hate and be suspicious of me because of my crime,” Henry wrote. “But, I cannot change my past. I can only move forward trying to save as many lives as possible.”

A jury found Henry guilty of murder in the first degree, rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, indecent assault, burglary, theft, robbery, and aggravated assault on April 25, 1987, in the Court of Common Pleas of Northampton County. The infamous case is known as Commonwealth of Pennsylvania vs. Josoph Henry.

Henry’s argument that alcohol consumption caused his crime was rejected by the state.

Com v. Henry noted that “the law has developed in Pennsylvania that a defendant cannot, as a matter of law, be insulated from criminal liability for his actions by claiming a mental state resulting from alcohol which was voluntarily ingested. Whether or not appellant was aware that he would suffer from the mental state is irrelevant, the fact that he voluntarily ingested the alcohol being determinative in depriving him of an insanity defense.”

See Clery Act, Page 2

Class of 2017 will have a commencement speaker Brianna Bernath Asst. News Editor

WBB’s DeFalco honored In Sports, Page 14

Much to the surprise of the Class of 2017, Matthew W. Wright, Seton Hall Class of 1989, will be the Baccalaureate Commencement speaker at the 160th Commencement Ceremony on Monday, May 15 at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, N.J. “It’s an honor and I was flattered to do it,” Wright said. “It’s a great way to give back to the institution.”

According to an email from the Office of the Provost on Tuesday, April 4, Wright’s ties to Seton Hall University run deep.

He graduated from SHU with a B.S. in Business as a finance major, and while he was a student, he wore No. 4 as an outfielder on the baseball team. In 2015, he returned to his roots to serve as a member of the Board of Regents.

Wright received a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Rochester in 1991. He is the founder and

president of Disciplina Group LLC, which includes a risk consultancy firm and investment advisory firm. Prior to that, he was the vice chancellor for investments and chief investment officer of Vanderbilt University.

Kerrin O’Connor, senior psychology major, said it will be beneficial for graduates to hear from such a successful alumnus in Wright.

“I really wasn’t expecting to have a speaker, so the announcement was a pleasant surprise,” O’Connor said. “I don’t know

very much about him, but he seems like a successful alumnus so I’m sure he’ll have some good advice for the graduating seniors as we go out into the world.”

Bernadette McVey, director of Academic Events, Initiatives and Planning, said that the Office of the Provost and members of the Executive Cabinet set the goal to find “a speaker who is accomplished in his/her profession and whose life embodies the Seton Hall mission and spirit.”

See Speaker, Page 4

Page 2

Clery Act:

Continued from Page 1 Henry explained the emotions and events leading up to his crime, scene by scene. He said that in 1986, his younger brother Jason had come to visit him during prospective freshmen weekend at Lehigh University. Henry recalled that the weekend was like any other, with a busy schedule of a theatrical play, a basketball game and parties.

It was also a time for drinking alcohol, which Henry said factored into his crime (although the court rejected that argument). Henry explained that his drug of choice at the time would have been marijuana since the drug “did not cause any kind of violent reactions” that he had when consuming alcohol.

One of those violent reactions that weekend was when he broke down a door at a party. Following that outburst, Henry walked onto campus after going for a drive with his friends, an attempt to calm him down.

Henry said he entered a dormitory where a door was propped open. There, he explained, he saw a man sleeping on a couch.

“I had this thought to just hurt this person, this guy just sleeping on the couch. It was the first, really, the violent thought that got everything started, the guy sleeping on the couch,” Henry said.

Henry said he continued to wander around the dormitory and open doors.

“Found an open door. I opened one door, there was a bunch of people sleeping there. I remember that. Opened another door there was Jeanne Clery, who I didn’t know at the time, asleep,” Henry said. “Entered the room and uh” – Henry paused on the phone, processing the events leading up to the murder.

Following his crime, Henry wrote letters to 50 governors and 50 state attorneys general in 2003 addressing the dangers of alcohol consumption. Henry said that he also wrote to the Alcohol, Labeling and Formulation Division in 2005, which is actually the Advertising, Labeling and Formulation Divi-

NEWS sion. The ALFD ensures that formulas, labels, and advertisements for alcohol are in compliance with Federal laws and regulations, according to its website.

In his letter to the ALFD, Henry wrote that he was drunk, emotionally hurt and angry when he committed the “abominable crime.” He added, “If I had known drunkenness could cause me to do what I did, I would not have gotten drunk.”

Henry told The Setonian that he wrote the letters because he wants the perception of alcohol to be changed in the U.S. “The letters I write trying to sow the seeds of change for the better in individual lives, our country, and our world might be the most important thing the Lord will have done through me when I stand before Him for judgment. The future I focus on is God’s judgment,” Henry wrote.

Since 1986, Henry said he has also worked toward bettering his own life. He has grown in his non-denominational faith.

Henry said that he has been involved in a Protestant youth group and a Bible study. His writings have also been featured on the website Prison Mentoring, which started as answers to questions for The Upper Room, a daily devotional guide.

As a Catholic university with a unique, albeit distant, relationship to this incident, the Seton Hall community is challenged to deal with the issue of forgiveness. The Rev. Brian Needles, an adjunct professor of moral theology at Seton Hall, said in an email interview that the Catholic Church teaches that “no sin, no matter how heinous, is beyond God’s power to forgive.”

Needles added, “I, of course, have not met Josoph Henry and I can’t judge his level of repentance and the depth of his conversion of heart, though it seems from reports that he has striven to atone (expiate) for his sin and to change his heart. Only God knows for sure whether that is the case.”

In a letter that Henry provided to the Adult Sunday School Class (ASSC) at Town Hill United Methodist Church in Shickshinny, Pa., he explained his remorse for how he dealt with the Clery family’s grief.

“What I should’ve told my vic-

Photo via Protus3.com Clery was 19 years old when she was raped and killed in her dorm.

April 6, 2017

Photo via clerycenter.org The Clery Center was set up by Jeanne Clery’s parents to ensure compliance with the Clery Act. tim’s family is that my heart is broken due to the evil of my crime, and broken by the pain I caused them,” Henry wrote. “I should’ve pledged my continued prayers for them to experience God’s peace, God’s comfort, and the healing that only God can give.”

Marie Henry, Henry’s mother, still lives in Essex County, N.J., and still carries the weight and the impact of her son’s crime more than 30 years later.

Thinking back to her son’s childhood, Mrs. Henry said in an interview conducted on Seton Hall’s campus, “I thought we had a great family connection. You know? That we did everything together, and that we went places and we would talk to each other and we would have those family times.”

Mrs. Henry keeps in contact with Josoph, driving more than two hours from Orange, N.J. to visit him once a month. She said she travels by herself no matter the weather, even in the snow and the rain. Her daily wake up call comes in the form of a 15-minute phone conversation with her incarcerated son.

However, Mrs. Henry fears for the future as she gets older, and as her oldest remains in prison.

“I got nobody to take over the torch in case something should happen to me,” Mrs. Henry said.

“Who’s gonna go visit? Who’s gonna see? Who’s gonna care?”

Mrs. Henry said that her only other child, Jason, has not visited Henry in more than 20 years. On that last visit, the family had difficulty getting past the prison’s metal detectors.

“His brother said, ‘I just can’t come in, I just can’t do this.’ So he hasn’t been back, hasn’t been in a long time,” Mrs. Henry said.

Even though many years have passed, Mrs. Henry said the tragedy of April 1986 continues to have an impact on her and the way she lives out each day.

“I guess it’s something that’s happened since he’s been in there, I just can’t sleep the night,” Mrs. Henry said. “I just absolutely can’t sleep.”

Mrs. Henry explained that her

son grows in his faith by reading Bible passages. She said she does her part to lift his spirits when she speaks with him.

“Always try to give him some good news, not a bunch of bad news, because there’s nothing he can do about it,” Mrs. Henry said.

“Even if we’re out here, there’s nothing we can do about it, so there’s absolutely nothing that he can do on the inside except for worry.”

Mrs. Henry, midway through the interview, paused for a moment.

“This is hard for me.”

Reflecting on his crime, Henry said that there is more awareness of perceived sexual assault and harassment today than there was in the 1980s.

“It is national news today, I don’t recall it being a national theme in the 1980s,” Henry wrote. “We didn’t discuss what constitutes consent to sex, sexual assault and sexual harassment, but we also didn’t discuss the real dangers of alcohol, either.”

Since the tragedy, Clery’s parents, Connie and the late Howard Clery, have worked tirelessly to make college campuses safer nationwide with the passage of the law honoring their daughter. The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act was first signed into federal law in 1990. It requires public and private colleges and universities that participate in federal student aid programs to disclose campus safety information.

Administrators and some students may know of the Clery Act and how it requires institutions to report on-campus crimes. The Setonian reported on Oct. 5, 2016, that there were six reported rapes on campus in 2015, according to Seton Hall’s Annual Security Report.

The information was released on Oct. 1, 2016, in compliance with the Clery Act. Seton Hall’s Assistant Vice President for Public Safety and Security, Patrick Linfante, said that he has known Seton Hall to abide by the Clery Act since his arrival to campus in July 2000. He added that the

information available to him indicates that the University has always complied with the requirements of the Act. “This information enables both the student and their parents to make a more informed decision regarding which school to attend,” Linfante said in an email interview.

Because of the Clery Act, students, including prospective ones, are more inclined to be aware of the type of crimes that happen on certain campuses, including sexual assaults.

The Clery Center, set up in Wayne, Pa., by Jeanne’s parents, strives to make college campuses safer through initiatives and programs. One program is an online training course for Clery Act compliance to “prepare staff to identify compliance requirements, evaluate campus policies and procedures, and organize annual security reports,” its website stated.

Bethany Lamolinara, director of Communications and Public Affairs, said the Clery Center, works directly with campus professionals to help them comply with the Clery Act on campuses.

“It’s kind of a ‘give a man a fish, he eats for a day, teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime’ kind of philosophy that we believe that by enabling professionals to change the culture, focus on prevention, and make their own campuses safe, we’re impacting and improving the lives of a far greater number of students than if we helped them directly,” Lamolinara said in an email interview.

Lamolinara added that the Clery Center could not connect Connie Clery directly to the press.

Linfante further elaborated on how colleges nationwide can continue to keep their campuses safe for students.

“A proactive approach to public safety leads to the best results.

Planning, preparation, training and timely information are essential to providing a safe environment on college and university campuses,” he said.

Leah Carton can be reached at leah.carton@student.shu.edu.

April 6, 2017

The story behind the Clery story Leah Carton Managing Editor The subject of Josoph Henry was introduced to me in October 2016 when I started working on an article for The Setonian on the history of the Clery Act, with a focus on the people behind the crime. At that time, The Setonian published an article about the six reported rapes that occurred on Seton Hall’s campus in 2015, according to Seton Hall’s Annual Security Report. This Annual Security Report is in compliance with the Campus Security Act, also known as the Clery Act. The six reported rapes on Seton Hall’s own campus reveal that sexual assault is still a problem on college campuses today, as it was in 1986 when Josoph Henry raped and murdered fellow Lehigh University student Jeanne Clery in her dorm room.

My correspondence with Henry began through an exchange of letters in October 2016. I found his address through the Prison Mentoring website he has written for during his life sentence at the State Correctional Institution at Dallas, in Dallas, Pa. He first replied to my initial typed correspondence with two letters, dated Oct. 25, 2016 and Oct. 26, 2016. The first handwritten letter from Henry was five pages long, front and back; the second was four pages long, front and back—setting the tone for how open he would be throughout all of the interviews.

In October 2016 I also contacted the Clery Center, where I spoke with the Center’s director of Communications and Public Affairs.

This is when I was told that I would not get Jeanne’s mother Connie Clery’s direct contact information.

Upon getting that information, I found an article where Connie was interviewed in April 2016. I contacted the reporter who wrote the article, yet I still did not retrieve contact information.

After exchanging letters with Henry, my cell phone number was added to his call list. Henry and I had our first call on Jan. 11, 2017.

My first phone call with Henry’s mother Marie was also that day. I interviewed members of the Seton Hall community in February 2017.

The interview process was pushed forward as the anniversary of Henry’s crime was just four months away at the time, and is now here.

The truth is that Henry’s crime, and the Clery Act and Clery Center that resulted from the crime, continues to have an impact on college campuses, and students like myself, more than 30 years later.

Leah Carton can be reached at leah.carton@student.shu.edu.

NEWS

Page 3

SHU’s alcohol history hasn’t always been so dry Brynne Connolly Staff Writer As Alcohol Awareness Month kicks off around the nation to inform the public about the stigmas of alcoholism and recovery, the University looks back to it’s history regarding its once strict – and not so strict – alcohol regulation policies on campus.

According to Alan Delozier, the University archivist, Seton Hall was originally a dry campus. Alcohol policies in 1865 stated that students who were intoxicated, whether it be on or off campus grounds, would be asked to leave the University, Delozier said. Administration also regulated when students were permitted to leave campus and sent report cards home to parents every semester.

“As we go through the 19th century, not a lot changed,” Delozier said. “In the 20th century there were a lot of social movements happening. Prohibition came in the 1920s and 30s, so across the board people couldn’t drink.”

During this time, Seton Hall even had to get special dispensation to serve wine at communion Delozier said.

Years down the road in 1971, the University was a much different place. The college became a university in 1950 and women were allowed to matriculate three years before. The alcohol policy was radically different as well.

After years of work, the Student Government Association (SGA) finally obtained a club permit in 1971 and opened The Pub on the first floor of the University Center, where The Pirate’s Cove now resides. The Pub offered live entertainment almost every night and served alcohol. According to a notice that was sent out to students by SGA, those looking to enter The Pub were required to carry a membership card and to behave in accordance with town laws. The Pub was a popular destination for students, who were allowed to bring outside guests.

In 1973, the drinking age in New Jersey was lowered from 21 to 18. The same rules applied to all students looking to socialize at the on-campus bar. Throughout the 1970s, The Setonian ran advertisements for Pabst Blue Ribbon and other beer and liquor brands.

By 1983 the drinking age had been raised back up to 21 with the National Minimum Drinking Age Act and the University Pub lost a lot of revenue, citing a lack of attendance, according to Delozier. Seton Hall has always worked in accordance with New Jersey state law to regulate the consumption and possession of

Kiera Alexander/Staff Photographer The Cove used to be The Pub, which stopped serving alcohol in 1996. alcohol by students, he said.

A little over a decade later the bar permanently closed its doors due to The Pub no longer making money, The Setonian reported in January 1996. This followed a raid of the bar that found several underage guests and students drinking alcohol. Two bartenders were charged with serving minors.

After the raid, the administration banned the attendance of outside personnel in the bar, which was a huge contributor in its decline.

According to an article published by The Setonian in February 1996, the University was dealing with a crisis. Sixteen percent of undergraduates were on academic probation. Police officers in town had started to go undercover in the local liquor stores to catch

underaged students purchasing alcohol. This program was called “Cops in Shops” and was created in 19 cities and towns in New Jersey, many of which were college towns.

An opinion column submitted the same year by former student Jason Giampietro stated that the lack of activities for students on campus and in South Orange was the reason for the high volumes of underaged drinking and other crimes, including sexual assault, and robbery.

“With different eras, there is different expectations in terms of what the administration is looking to accomplish,” Delozier said.

Today, Seton Hall’s alcohol policy is a little different. According to a March 22 statement on

SHU’s website, students who are of legal drinking age are allowed to have a maximum of one liter of hard liquor, or wine, or one six-pack of beer for their own personal consumption. They are not allowed to offer it to minors nor are they allowed to drink in public places.

According to the statement, students who fail to comply with these orders will be subject to a variety of disciplinary actions including reassignment to other residence halls, cancellation of Housing License Agreements or civil prosecution.

Yvonne Pruitt, a sophomore theatre major, who is in the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority, said she thinks that the University’s policy on serving alcohol at Greek and other school events is too strict.

“I believe that instead of banning it they should allow alcohol at functions and events. By banning it they are not showing that alcohol can be consumed responsibly,” Pruitt said. “It’s like forbidden fruit. Students want it because they can’t have it.”

Pruitt added, “For the most part I think [the regulations] are fair. Legal drinking age is 21 and the upperclassmen dorms respect those student’s rights to drink alcohol.”

Brynne Connolly can be reached at brynne.connolly@student.shu.edu.

Reporting with Heartfelt Thanks

Catholic Charities received a check for $550 as a result of your clothing donations from Sept. 16, 2016 to Feb. 28, 2017.

In FY 2016 we were able to provide: * 214,157 Mental Health Services to 6,133 people. * 93,598 Nights of shelter to 1,226 homeless individuals and families. * 204,776 pounds of food which were collected for 30,378 household.

This is a small sampling of a virtually inexhaustible list of our services to the Archdiocese.

We need your help to continue our work.

Our bin is located behind Mooney Hall, near the Campus Mail Room, under the fire escape.

Thank you for being our partner and enabling us to bring Christ’s love to the most vulnerable in our society.

Any questions or comments, please contact Maria Biancheri at Catholic Charities, at 973.596.3985 or mbiancheri@ccannj.org.

Page 4

NEWS

Crime Log March 31 Incident: A non-student was arrested by the South Orange Police Department (SOPD) for trespassing on campus.

April 1 Incident: A student broke the arm to the Farinella Gate and ran onto campus.

April 2 Incident: An unknown person attempted to gain entry into a residence hall by crawling on the floor when the guard was distracted by a student accomplice.

Upcoming Events What: Teaching Citizenship When: Monday, April 10, 10:30 a.m.-12 p.m.

Where: Faculty Lounge The Details: The Center for Faculty Development will host this panel of professors from the School of Diplomacy and International Relations and the College of Arts and Sciences, who will discuss how they educate not only students but future citizens.

Cost: Free For more information, contact Mary Balkun at (973) 275-2916 or mary. balkun@shu.edu.

What: Sixth Annual Servant Leadership Day When: Thursday, April 20, 4:15-5:15 p.m.

Where: Chancellor’s Suite, University Center The Details: Sponsored by the Center for for Vocation and Servant Leadership, this event was made possible by Colleen and Hank D’Alessandro, Regent. Fr. Brian Kolodiejchuk will be giving a talk on “Saint Teresa of Calcutta: Model of Servant Leadership.

Cost: Free For more information, contact Laura Garofalo or Francia Peterson at csl@shu.edu or (973) 313-6042.

What: Business Boot Camp When: Tuesday, May 16, 9 a.m.-Friday, May 19, 5 p.m.

Where: Seton Hall University The Details: The College of Arts and Sciences will host its first ever Business Boot Camp for upperclassmen in the college to build their portfolios. The first three days of the conference will be workshop-style, and the program will culminate in a field experience on the fourth day. Each day will begin with a continental breakfast in the Dean’s Conference Room. Room and board will be provided to all accepted students.

Cost: Free For more information, contact Associate Dean Christopher Kaiser at (973) 761-9430 or christopher.kaiser@shu.edu, or stop by Fahy Hall, Room 130.

April 6, 2017

Speaker:

Continued from Page 1 She continued, “It was our desire to respond to the input of the Class of 2017. As a result we changed the venue to accommodate one ceremony and added a commencement speaker to the ceremony.”

Seniors like Jessica Plummer, a nursing major, were open about their disappointment about both the on-campus ceremonies and the lack of commencement speaker, so when changes started happening, so did their sentiments.

Plummer was not planning to attend her commencement ceremony until she saw the amount of effort the student body put into making these changes happen.

“I expected not to have a commencement speaker since the planning was probably late notice,” Plummer said. “I think it’s cool that SHU pulled it off to at least get somebody.”

Student Government Association (SGA) President Teagan Sebba said that her role in the process was to communicate the desire to have a commencement speaker to McVey and Interim Provost Dr. Karen Boroff. She described the search process as “relaxed.”

Sebba said that she was permit-

Photo via disciplina.com Matthew W. Wright graduated from Seton Hall University in 1989 with a B.S. in Finance. ted to invite other students to contribute to the cause, and with that permission she looped in Thomas Kraft, a senior philosophy and political science major, SGA finance chair and an employee of the Archdiocese of Newark.

Kraft said that McVey and Boroff worked with the Office of Mission and Ministry, specifically Msgr. C. Anthony Ziccardi, vice president for Mission and Ministry and the secretary designee to the Board of Regents, to conduct the “extensive search.”

“In terms of what Wright has to offer, I would imagine that the

graduating class hopes that he may impart a modicum of wisdom as to what lies ahead, as he has a plethora of experience in a vast array of disciplines,” Kraft said. “The Provost’s office has heard him speak on more than one occasion, and they firmly believe that he has a great deal to offer the out-going class.”

Wright said that while he’s given thought to the message of his speech, he’s not willing to share it just yet. However, he’s hoping that the message will be one that resonates with graduates, families and the Seton Hall community at

large.

Sebba expressed her gratitude to the administration for working diligently to improve the commencement ceremony.

“I am forever grateful to Bernadette McVey and Dr. Boroff for believing in me when I expressed the student voice and for working so hard to make even our wildest dreams come true,” Sebba said in an email. “I urge every senior to thank [them] as quickly and freely as we were to criticize them; these women are incredible.”

Brianna Bernath can be reached at brianna.bernath@student.shu.edu.

SGA Updates Isabel Soisson Asst. Digital Editor Student Government Association (SGA) Adviser Maggie Bach opened the meeting by thanking everyone for running in the elections and for their professionalism at the Student Leadership Conference held on Saturday, April 1.

Treasurer Michael Roma reported that the co-sponsorship fund is at $2,341 and the SGA spring fund is at $2,368.

The rest of the meeting was devoted to electing a new Senate Speaker, Parliamentarian, Senate Secretary and committee chairs.

Vinay Trambadia was elected the new Senate Speaker, Daniel Kontoh-Boateng was elected the new Parliamentaria and Ava Ikbal was elected the new Senate Secretary.

Michelle Pan will continue to head the Student Life Committee. Robert Serrano will now head the Academic Affairs Committee. Axel Esquivel will serve as the new Finance Chair. Jacob Abel will now be the Public Relations Chair. Asya Crump will now be the Village Relations Chair.

Isabel Soisson can be reached at isabel.soisson@student. shu.edu.

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*Items Include: Burgers, Veggie Burgers, Chicken Sandwiches, Hot Dogs, and Grilled Cheese, OR Free Regular Fries!

April 6, 2017

NEWS

Professors discuss “Constitutional Crisis”

Page 5

Throwback Thursday

What was The Setonian reporting years ago?

“Losing interest in the Hall?”

Author: Caitlin Carroll Date: April 7, 2011 The story: Seton Hall reinstated its $55 application fee, which caused a drop in the number of student applications the University received for the 2011-12 school year.

The fee was reinstated with the intention of dropping the number of applicants and increasing the number of students who would choose to attend Seton Hall upon acceptance.

“Provost candidate withdraws”

Photos courtesy of Thaha Sherwani Immigration policies of the Trump administration were discussed in a Constitutional Crisis panel on Thursday, March 30 at 5 p.m., in the Diplomacy Room in McQuaid Hall.Thaha Sherwani, vice president of the Arabic Speaking Club and a senior political science major, was the organizer of the event. On discussing the topics covered at the panel, Sherwani said via email, “The discussion gave an overview of the current (Trump) administration’s immigration plan and constitutional cases in the past.” Sherwani added, “In January I organized a vigil praying for a Welcoming America so this was a panel discussion building on the event.” Above, Dr. Frank Pallito a professor of political science and chair of the Department of Political Science and Public Affairs, and Lori Nessel, a professor of Law and director of the Center for Social Justice at SHU Law, lead the conversation.

Author: Andrew Medeiros Date: April 12, 2007 The story: One of the University’s final four candidates to fill the position of Provost, John Smarrelli Jr., withdrew from the selection process to be named interim president of LeMoyne College. Smarrelli was the provost and vice president for academic affairs at LeMoyne and, according to a source close to the provost search committee, was a leading candidate for the position of SHU’s provost.

Sacred Heart U.:

Amherst College:

U. of Tenn. at Chattanooga: Saint Mary’s College:

U. of North Texas:

Stanford University:

U. of S. Maine, Portland: Ohio State University:

Where: Fairfield, Conn.

Date: April 2 The update: A student, 20-year-old Caitlin Nelson, died after choking during a pancake-eating contest.

Nelson was from Clark, N.J., and was a junior social work major.

While two nursing students, police officers and paramedics rushed to perform lifesaving measures when Nelson began to choke, the pancake was impacted in her throat.

From: www.abc7chicago.com Where: Denton, Texas Date: April 4 The update: A disabled military veteran from Texas, Tawan Throngkumpola, claimed that the university told him his service dog, a 7-year-old Rottweiler named Cali, was no longer allowed on campus. Throngkumpola said that the problem began when the campus said that Cali had been aggressive on five occasions.

From: www.foxnews.com

Where: Amherst, Mass.

Date: April 3 The update: After a yearlong selection process, the college has announced that it will replace its current mascot, the Lord Jeff, with the Mammoth. The change comes after school trustees decided that the “Lord Jeffs” was inappropriate because the namesake, Gen. Jeffery Amherst, suggested giving smallpox-infected blankets to Native Americans.

From: www.foxsports.com Where: Stanford, Calif.

Date: April 4 The update: The University accepted 18-year-old Ziad Ahmed, who wrote #BlackLivesMatter 100 times in his admissions essay. The prompt for the essay was, “What matters to you, and why?” The screenshot that Ahmed took of his application has been liked and shared more than 1,000 times on Twitter.

From: www.tribune.com.pk

Where: Chattanooga, Tenn.

Date: April 3 The update: English professor James Arnett named the week of April 3 “Lemonade Week” at the school, during which time the university will hold daily events to discuss black womanhood as depicted in Beyonce’s visual album, Lemonade. The inspiration for this came after Arnett and a colleague hosted a lunch discussion on “Formation,” a song on the album.

From: www.huffingtonpost.com Where: Portland, Maine Date: April 5 The update: Anti-Muslim graffiti was found on campus for the second time in recent months. The phrase, “Kill the Muslim” was written on a poster describing what to do in the case of an active shooter on campus. The phrase was written around an image of someone hitting a gunman with a chair.

From: www.wgme.com

Where: Notre Dame, Ind. Date: March 31 The update: Author and activist Jean Kilbourne said that the college revoked her invitation to deliver the college’s commencement address over the fact that Planned Parenthood had given her an award 12 years ago. Kilbourne said she had no intention of talking about abortion or Planned Parenthood in her speech.

From: www.bostonglobe.com Where: Columbus, Ohio Date: April 5 The update: The University paid almost $1.6 million in legal bills to defend its decision to fire its former marching band director, Jonathan Waters, on the justification that Waters allowed a “sexualized culture” in the band. The University fired Waters in 2014 after an internal investigation.

From: www.cleveland19.com

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Page 6

April 6, 2017

ST ANNUAL

Tuesday

Wednesday

April 18, 2017 Stable Isotopic Approaches to Anthropological Questions Poster Session 9:30 – 10:45 a.m.

Jubilee Hall, JH 111

April 19, 2017 SHARE.

Health and Medical Sciences Student Oral Presentations 10 – 11:30 a.m.

Corrigan Hall, CH 62 3rd Annual Day of Play at TLTC from Coding to 3D Modeling 10:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.

Walsh Library, Space 154 Interdisciplinary & Study Abroad Poster Session 11 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Jubilee Hall Auditorium 2017 Petersheim Academic EXPOSITION KEYNOTE LECTURE:

Bonita Stanton, M.D., Dean of Seton Hall-Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine Why communities matter — A quarter century of community-based research 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Jubilee Hall Auditorium 2017 Petersheim Academic Exposition Opening Ceremony 1 – 3 p.m.

Jubilee Hall Atrium

Petersheim Interdisciplinary & Study Abroad Presentations Event 3 – 4:30 p.m.

Jubilee Hall Atrium Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry Poster Session 5 – 9 p.m.

McNulty Hall Atrium Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry Petersheim Symposium Dr. Melissa Trainer, NASA 5:45 – 7 p.m.

McNulty Hall Amphitheater

Nutrition and Fitness Exposition 9:30 – 10:45 a.m.

University Center, Pirate’s Cove Shakespeare Day English Club & Sigma Tau Delta 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.

University Center, Chancellor’s Suite ECO-FEST on the Green 12 – 4 p.m.

University Green The Catholic Faith on College Campuses and Say No to Drug and Alcohol Abuse A 2016 biochemistry graduate’s journey of spiritual reaching — featuring Kimberly Esguerra, sponsored by Institute of Neuroimmune Pharmacology 12 – 1:30 p.m.

McNulty Hall, MH 321 Humanizing Social Justice in Difficult Times 1:15 – 2 p.m.

Seton Hall Law School, Faculty Lounge One Newark Center, Newark Campus

Charter Day with KEYNOTE SPEAKER:

Dianne Traflet Associate Dean & Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology 3 – 5 p.m.

Jubilee Hall Auditorium Qualitative Methods in Sociology & Anthropology 5 – 6 p.m.

Stafford Hall, SH 210 Religious and Criminal Justice Perspectives of the School to Prison Industrial Complex 5:30 – 6:30 p.m.

Nursing Amphitheater, NH 113 Department of Physics Student Research Symposia 6 – 8 p.m.

McNulty Hall Amphitheater

HONOR.

Student Course Projects in the Digital Humanities 2 – 3:30 p.m.

Walsh Library, Beck Rooms

FOR THE MOST UP-TO-DATE SCHEDULE

www.shu.edu/petersheim/schedule-of-events.cfm

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April 6, 2017

Thursday

April 20, 2017 MULTI-CULTURE DAY EVENTS

Languages, Literatures & Cultures International Food Tastings 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Fahy Hall, Outside FH 202 Classics Lecture on the Founding of Rome 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Fahy Hall, FH 202 Japanese Digital Storytelling Student Video Screenings 11 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.

Nursing, NH 107 German Trivia 1 – 2 p.m.

Fahy Hall, FH 202

Representations of the Body in Pinterest 12:30 – 1:30 p.m.

Walsh Library, ITV Room Servant Leadership Day KEYNOTE SPEAKER:

Father Brian Kolodieychuk Mother Teresa Center Director 4:15 - 5:15 p.m.

University Center, Chancellor’s Suite

Arabic Poetry 4 – 5 p.m.

Fahy Hall, FH 202 French Poetry II 5 – 6 p.m.

Fahy Hall, FH 321 Chinese Speech Contest & Refreshments 6 – 9 p.m.

Nursing Amphitheater, NH 113 Russian Academic Olympiad & Refreshments 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

Fahy Hall, FH 236

April 21, 2017 Presenting Praxis: Exploring the Generalized Empirical Method in Advancing the University Mission with Father Brian Kolodieychuk, Mother Teresa Center Director 10 a.m. – 12 p.m.

Walsh Library, Beck Rooms

First-Year Symposium 9 – 10:30 a.m.

Walsh Library, Art Gallery Mandela-King Symposium on Global Justice 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Walsh Library, Art Gallery

Spanish Poetry 2 – 3 p.m.

Fahy Hall Unanue Office, FH 246 French Poetry I 3:30 - 4 p.m.

Fahy Hall, FH 321

Friday

Seed Planting in the Campus Garden 11 a.m. – 12 p.m.

University Center, Campus Garden

UNITE.

Department of Biological Sciences Symposium Opening Remarks and Poster Session 3:30 – 5:25 p.m.

McNulty Hall Atrium Department of Biological Sciences Symposium KEYNOTE SPEAKER : Kamel Khalili Gene Editing Strategy for the Cure of AIDS 5:25 – 6:30 p.m.

McNulty Hall Amphitheater Called to Accompany: Pope Francis on the Journey of the Family 7 – 8:30 p.m.

Jubilee Hall, JH 210

Page 7

Honors Research in History — Thesis Presentations from the Department of History 1 – 3 p.m.

Fahy Hall, FH 307 Department of Mathematics & Computer Science Lecture 1:15 – 2:15 p.m.

Arts & Sciences Hall, AS 107 Pi Mu Epsilon Induction Ceremony and Student Awards Mathematics Honor Society 2:15 – 3 p.m.

Arts & Sciences Hall, AS 105 Data Visualization & Analysis Program Poster Session 2:15 – 3 p.m.

Arts & Sciences Hall, AS 105

Connected Events Stranger at Killknock Dramatic Reading & Discussion Monday, April 24, 2017 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.

University Center, Theatre-inthe-Round Writing for Catholic Media David Mills Wednesday, April 26, 2017 4 – 6 p.m.

Walsh Library, Beck Rooms 11th Annual Fr. Cotter Memorial Lecture and Prize Presentation Thursday, April 27, 2017 4 – 5:15 p.m.

Nursing Amphitheater, NH 113 Annual Showcase Recital Thursday, April 27, 2017 6 – 7 p.m.

Jubilee Hall Auditorium SHMS & School of Medicine 28th Annual Dr. George Perez Research Colloquium Friday, April 28, 2017 7:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Regan Recreation Center, Field House & Jubilee Hall Auditorium Psychology Research Symposium Friday, April 28, 2017 12:45 – 2:45 p.m.

Jubilee Hall, JH 383 Psychology Honors Reception & Lombardi Scholarship Awards Friday, April 28, 2017 3 – 4:30 p.m.

Jubilee Hall Atrium

Campus Life Jan. 19, 2017 www.thesetonian.com

April 6, 2017 CAMPUS LIFE

Page Page 87

Sacristans grow in faith and friendship Payton Seda Staff Writer

One night after class, Nicole Floyd, then a commuting freshman, stopped at the Cove to get something to eat before her drive back home. She met another student there and struck up a conversation that would change her experience at Seton Hall University.

Floyd is now a senior sociology and Catholic Studies major finishing her second year as a sacristan for the campus ministry.

As one of six sacristans on campus, Floyd is in charge of the main chapel. She and another student ensure the space is fully stocked and ready for the three daily masses.

“The sacristan’s duty is to make sure that that ceremony, whatever it may be, goes smoothly,” said Fr. Nick Figurelli, the ninth-year associate director of Campus Ministry, and liaison to the sacristans. “The core, outside of education, here at Seton Hall is that chapel, and for things to go smoothly, you need people.”

Along with housekeeping duties for the chapel, such as cleaning linens and bookmarking Bibles, Floyd and the other sacristans interact closely with the priests and the Campus Ministry community, allowing her to get to know each member personally.

“I’ve been Catholic my whole life, but I never knew priests really well, so I thought this was a good way to get to know the priest community and be more involved within the church as well,” said Mary Molnar, a nursing major and senior sacristan completing her third year in the position.

Friends since freshman year, Molnar and Floyd are now roommates, receiving free room and board as compensation for their work as sacristans.

Floyd was the one who first told her about the program when they both decided to apply. Molnar is now the sacristan for the Xavier chapel.

“A lot of these priests I would have never met had I not had this job,” Molnar said. “[Fr. Francis and Fr. Brian] really love the Seton Hall community. They put time and effort into getting to know the students and getting to know me.”

Floyd often speaks extensively with Monsignor Richard Liddy about the connections between

Photos via Facebook/ Department of Catholic Studies at Seton Hall University The sacristans help set up the chapel for mass and have found a community of faith through their service.

Catholic studies and business.

The two have even discussed possibly creating a Catholic business course at Seton Hall, though Floyd emphasized it as only an idea.

Molnar spoke highly of her “boss,” Fr. Figurelli, joking that she only goes into his office when she has 45 minutes to

spare in order to listen to him tell story after story in his own hysterical fashion.

“The people that I work with in Campus Ministry and everyone I’ve encountered because of it have enriched my life in a way I didn’t think this job would initially,” Floyd said.

For Floyd, her job with Cam-

pus Ministry has become a home.

“I think it reinforces their faith,” Fr. Figurelli added.

Molnar said her experience as a sacristan is only one part of her spiritual education.

“My faith is something that’s really important to me and something I’ve tried to incorpo-

rate into all aspects of my life,” Molnar said.

From singing as a child in her church’s choir, to becoming a sacristan in college, Molnar explained that her involvement in the pursuit of faith will not end when she leaves Seton Hall.

Payton Seda can be reached at payton.seda@student.shu.edu.

CAMPUS LIFE

April 6, 2017

Page 9

SHU organizations celebrate African culture Margarita Williamson Staff Writer

On March 31, the African Student Association (ASA) hosted the eighth annual African Pride Fashion Show in the Jubilee Auditorium. To showcase different aspects of African culture, the show went beyond fashion. ASA welcomed musical and dance performers in addition to showing outfits from local boutiques.

Yaa Opoku-Mensah, a junior psychology major, serves as the ASA vice president and will be next year’s president.

Opoku-Mensah said that “Our overall achieving goal for this specific fashion show is to show African pride because Africa is not just a continent but it’s expansion of its people around the whole world,” Opoku-Mensah said.

“This is why we have Caribbean wear and we also have influences from the hiphop culture in America as well,” she added.

She explained that she hoped the show encouraged people to join ASA and to attend future events.

The fashion show included audience participation in-between performances and runway walks.

MC Kofi Williams had audience members participate in various on-stage activities such as walking

the runway and learning African dance moves. The audience had the opportunity to select the winners of each activity. The winners were awarded prizes for their participation.

Williams explained the importance of audience involvement at the event.

“Sometimes we go to events and we don’t really experience the event,” Williams said.

Many of the models in the fashion show were Seton Hall students. Taylor Newkirk, a freshman psychology major and Africana studies minor, walked the runway twice as a model. Newkirk said that preparing for the show since before winter break and being a part of it helped her connect with more people on campus.

“Actually getting into the clothes and working with the designers was my favorite part because that made everything real,” Newkirk said.

Assistant Director for Leadership Development Chinez Madueke attended and performed in the fashion show.

“A goal of mine is to be able to support students more in the evening,” Madueke said.

Chinez said she oversees about 130 student organizations. She is there for pre-planning but does not always get to see the final

Courtesy of Andres Linares and ASA The African Pride Fashion Show highlighted many aspects of African culture. product of the events put on by student organizations.

As the show drew to a close, members of this year’s graduating e-board were presented with

flowers. The members of the new e-board were introduced too. In his concluding remarks, ASA President Daniel Kontoh-Boateng shared his appreci-

ation for all those that have supported ASA throughout the year.

Margarita Williamson can be reached at margarita.williamson@ student.shu.edu.

Honors Program allows students to look to the future Kiah Conway Staff Writer

Students in the Honors Program go through an academic journey marked with many challenges. Despite the rigors of the program, students there form a bond through their shared experience.

The Honors Program at Seton Hall is competitive, as there is a limited amount of spots available. Students who are accepted need to have graduated high school with a grade point average of 3.5 and scored at least a 660 on Evidence Based Reading/ Writing in the SAT. Through the Honors Program, students are required to take four six-credit courses, which covers most of the University CORE subjects.

“The benefits are that I was taking six credits a semester of a combination of philosophy, theology and English (among other) topics,” Anne Szmul, a senior business major, said. “While the program counts in place of the English for CORE religion classes, I definitely learned a lot more through the more rigorous program. It was also immersive.

Abigail Deffler/Staff Photographer Honors classes are taught by two professors so that students can consider different perspectives.

My freshman year, the freshmen Honors students lived together in Neumann Hall. Living together, we grew very close and worked and stressed together about honors and our other classes. Many of these people who were in the program with me remain some of my best friends, and they are

all aspiring very high.”

Honors classes are taught by two professors, not one, so that students are able to consider various points of view and learn from diverse ideas.

“Most Honors classes have two professors, and these professors are from different depart-

ments at Seton Hall; having two professors with different areas of expertise adds to the value of the course,” Zachary Moore, a freshman history major, said.

While there are many benefits to being an Honors student, there can be some drawbacks as well.

“We miss out on a little bit of the freshman experience,” Szmul said. “We don’t live in Boland and we don’t have to take Journey of Transformation or other CORE classes where people meet more people than within our 90-100 freshman Honors Program size.”

Honors students may go on optional trips and have certain living arrangements reserved for them.

“We go on one trip per semester, an optional trip to a museum (like) the Cloisters (or) the Met, and live together freshman year,” Julia Nasiek, a freshman classical studies and philosophy major, said. “Living together helps create a close-knit community of students that read, study, and stress over honors together.”

Amanda Johnson, a sophomore occupational therapy major, explained how the Honors Program may attract students.

“The Honors Program is a rigorous program,” Johnson said. “I feel that it is primarily for students that wish to focus on academics and really want to challenge themselves.”

Kiah Conway can be reached at kiah.conway@student.shu.edu.

Page 10

CAMPUS LIFE

April 6, 2017

Busy SHU student brings stats to SOPD

Christina McDonald-Vitale Staff Writer Joshua Steier, junior and vice president of the Data Science club, independently created a self-driving car model, is a teaching assistant for courses in calculus III and statistics, and obtained a grant to work under the South Orange Police Department (SOPD) investigativing crime sprees using data analysis.

The mathematics major still finds time to minor in physics and computer science, and uses the extra curriculars to enhance his degree and employability.

“I’m a man of action, and through my actions and achievements I aim to contribute the most I can to the betterment of society and the community,” Steir said.

Joanna is one of these achievements and the name of Steier’s self-driving car model. He wanted to create something that was ‘cool’ and in the field of artificial intelligence.

Dr. Bert Wachsmuth, associate professor of mathematics and computer science, who teachs a course titled Robotics and the Mind, inspired Steier to construct the model.

Steier was not in the class, but he was given a robotics kit and

Photo courtesy of Joshua Steier Joshua Steier, a junior, majors in mathematics and minors in physics and computer sciences. completed it on his own. Joanna was born in November. She is mobile on her own, but when a red light is detected, she comes to a halt. It could have been quicker for Joanna to come to life if creating her was Steier’s first concern.

His role as a teaching assistant is Steier’s first priority.

Steier began working at the mathematics tutoring lab before he became a teaching assistant. At the lab, he was a tutor for calculus III and statistics.

Steier spent about a year at the working lab as a tutor and worked with students ranging from calculus I-III, and statistics for graduate students. Steier now works as a teaching assistant for professors in the department of mathematics and computer science, Dr. Kobi Abayomi, for statistics, and Dr. John Masterson for calculus III. Steier takes a lot of inspiration from Dr. Jose Lopez, an associate professor of physics.“Joshua is

a very enthusiastic scientific researcher with a very inquisitive and curious mind,” Lopez said.

Steier is also a member of the research team in the Laboratory of Electrophysics and Atmospheric Plasmas (LEAP), a research group investigating plasma science. “LEAP is really neat because it pushes into the frontiers of discovery, since plasma science is not a well known field,” according to Steier.

He is going to be one of the

international scientific participants sharing his discoveries at the International Conference on Plasma Science in May 2017 in Atlantic City, N.J. “I’m expecting big contributions to the world from him,” Lopez added.

Dr. Manfred Minimair is Steier’s main mentor. “Joshua is one of my top students,” Minimair said. “Sponsored by Independent College Fund of New Jersey, he has been working with me and other students on a research project analyzing data from the SOPD, which has been very successful and highly rated at the final presentation this month. I have been very impressed by his enthusiasm as a researcher and lecturer.”

Steier is also a part of the American Math Society and the Institute for Electrical Engineers. This summer, he obtained a prestigious internship with the FBI. He will be working with cyber security and apply what he has done with SOPD to a federal level.

“I firmly believe that as humans we must grow and evolve,” Steier said. “We must strive to be better than we were yesterday, so we can better society.”

Christina McDonald-Vitale can be reached at christina.mcdonaldvitale@student.shu.edu.

SHU alum gives advice to students in medical field Rhania Kamel Staff Writer Some seniors recieving a diploma in May might think that learning ends after graduation.

But what graduates may lack in professors and their office hours come fall 2017, they may gain through alumni. Professionals with pirates in their past have real world experience that could benefit students while studying at Seton Hall and after.

Moses Salami graduated from Seton Hall University in May 2014 with a Masters in Health Administration.

He has more than six years of experience in physician practice management, operations management and research administration.

He currently serves as the Manager of Marketing & Public Relations for Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, N.J. Nisha Dholakia, Salami’s former colleague at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, said. “There was never a bad day working with Moses. From the beginning, he was very amicable and thus, very approachable. He was also extremely determined

as an individual and goal-oriented. Moses was never afraid to ask questions but also had enough potential to be an independent decision maker. His motivation and patience has led him to where he is today and I’m so proud of him.”

Salami had the opportunity to go on an international public health trip to Nicaragua during his junior year at Rutgers University.

“I will never forget seeing overworked medical providers doing their best to provide the best care possible to large numbers of patients with very limited resources,” Salami said. “Healthcare should be for all and without a strong framework in place to meet the needs of patients and equipping the medical providers with tools they need, the system fails. My experience in Nicaragua refined my interest and showed me that I could make an impact and help my community.”

Dr. Anne Hewitt, an associate professor in healthcare administration at Seton Hall and Salami’s former professor, said, “Moses always had an inclusive perspective. He made sure all classmates and colleagues were involved. He

Photo courtesy of Moses Salami Moses Salami, class of ‘14, encourages students pursuing a career in the medical field to chase their passion. was extremely patient with other students and readily shared his expertise.”

Salami offered advice to students entering the medical field.

“First, I would say that all students need to take some time to self-reflect on their passions and what brings them joy in life,” he said. “Students should do research on different career paths, map out

a career plan, and have a goal.

Lastly, seeking out a great mentor can help students as they navigate the field and push them to step out of their comfort zone so they can accomplish great things.”

Salami’s inspiration comes from his parents, who both work in the medical field and are passionate about helping sick patients receive the best care possible.

“The field is constantly changing and new needs of the community always arise,” Salami said.

“I’m constantly learning daily and refining my plans to meet new challenges that arise daily. When you love what you do things aren’t a challenge but rather another goal to achieve.”

Rhania Kamel can be reached at rhania.kamel@student.shu.edu.

Opinion thesetonian.com

April 6, 2017

Page 11

The Voice Dear Seton Hall: A commencement speaker follow-up

D

ear Seton Hall, It’s been awhile.

Back in November, we, The Setonian, wrote you, the University, a letter expressing seniors’ insistence on having a commencement speaker.

Of course, now we know you had much bigger problems to deal with at the time. Boy, did May 15 look like it was going to be a mess, what, with multiple ceremonies, angry triplets and limited tickets among the many issues. But, after some outside influence, you reassessed your plans and put together a graduation day the majority of seniors could

get behind.

With a fine venue in PNC Bank Arts Center, a spacious lawn that won’t keep loved ones at home and a single ceremony that allows the Class of 2017 to walk as one, you appeased a lot of disgruntled students and families.

Considering the roller coaster ride planning this event has been, we all would’ve been happy if the placating stopped there.

But, earlier this week, you put a cherry on top, announcing that you will host a keynote speaker for the first time since 2014.

Now, we’re not going to exaggerate excitement for Matthew

W. Wright. No disrespect, but prior to Tuesday’s release, many students on campus had no idea who he was. He’s not a household name, but we don’t think students expected one. Nonetheless, we look forward to hearing whatever wisdom Wright has to share.

What we are really excited about is the fact that you stopped hiding behind the excuses used to justify not having a commencement speaker in the past: let’s focus on student speakers, shorter ceremonies are better, there are more efficient ways to spend money, it’s hard to find someone who aligns with University be-

Joey Khan Photography & Digital Editor

Over the past four years I’ve absolutely loved being part of the Seton Hall community.

Looking back, I realize that my satisfaction stems from a combination of SHU’s atmosphere, finding lifelong friends, joining a topnotch student-run newspaper, and a selection of professors that have had meaningful impacts on me. As a student of the College of Communication and the Arts, many of my professors have been adjuncts.

They are hired on a part-time, per semester basis because it is deemed uneconomic to keep them on fulltime.

Being an adjunct can be emotionally rewarding and looks good on a résumé, but there are few other benefits.

According to a 2015 article

from Village Green NJ, adjunct professors in the Seton Hall College of Arts & Sciences earn one of the lowest rates in the state at $2,100 per course. The article does not mention whether or not this amount varies based on class enrollment, meaning that a professor teaching a class of 80 students may earn the same amount as a professor teaching a class of 10. On the other hand, SHU’s dean of the College of Arts and Sciences made more than $167,000 in 2014. Meanwhile, Fordham pays adjuncts $3,800 per course and Rutgers pays unionized adjuncts $4,500.

Compensation can vary from school to school, or professor to professor. Adjuncts of Seton Hall’s School of Diplomacy earn roughly $4,500 per course. The dean of the School of Diplomacy made more than $259,000 in 2014.

Courses at Seton Hall are ap-

proximately $1,000 per credit hour. This means that in Arts & Science, less than one student per class pays for the professor to be there the whole semester in a typical three-credit course. In the School of Diplomacy the professor is covered by just two students.

The Chronicle of Higher Education is aware of adjunct professor pay inequality. It started an effort titled The Adjunct Project to collect data on how much adjunct professors from around the country are being compensated. Data showed that the overall average nationwide is $2,987. This is not just a problem limited to Seton Hall, or even New Jersey.

In spring 2014, the SHU’s Faculty Senate surveyed part-time faculty about working at SHU. The survey received 240 responses. Of the 69 general comments made, 40 were related to compensation

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liefs.

Again, no disrespect, but those explanations have always been pretty weak. Just something to keep in mind for the future.

But hey, we’re not writing you to harp on the past. Rather, we’re here to express excitement for what should be a special day.

Most of all, we are excited that you, the University, listened to the people you are supposed to look out for, not just on the issue of bringing in a speaker, but on graduation as a whole. We know you’ve heard a lot out of us, the SGA, frustrated parents and the general student body. We know

Adjuncts deserve better compensation Senior

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Column or benefits being low or lower than other local schools. The survey also asked what the most challenging part of working part-time at SHU was. Sixty-five participants answered “Compensation/benefits,” while the next most popular answer was “Staying connected/participating” with slightly more than 40 responses.

This low compensation can make for a somewhat itinerant lifestyle for adjuncts. They commute from school to school, earning money where they can.

In addition to low earnings, adjuncts receive no benefits, are not eligible to be tenured, and are not even ensured a job after their current semester.

Corrections

The Setonian willingly corrects errors in fact. For corrections, please contact Gary Phillips, Editor-in-Chief, at thesetonian2016@ gmail.com.

Many professors pour themselves into their students. As a result, students like myself are initially under the impression that these learners are being well-rewarded, especially when we pay so much to attend SHU. It is disgusting that we can be charged so much to receive our invaluable educations, yet those providing our education are struggling to make ends meet.

The nation as a whole can do better to compensate the professors educating the next leaders of the world, and we can start right here at Seton Hall.

Joey Khan is a art, design and interactive media major from Richmond, Va. He can be reached at yusuf.khan@student.hu.edu.

The Setonian

Letters Policy

The Setonian welcomes letters to the editor. All submissions must include the author’s first and last name and a phone number where the author can be reached. Submissions should be no more than 375 words. The Setonian reserves the right to edit submissions for style and space.

Deadline for submission is noon on the Tuesday preceding publication. Letters can be e-mailed to Gary Phillips, Editor-in-Chief, at thesetonian2016@gmail.com.

there were a lot of complaints.

You could’ve ignored them, but you didn’t, even if it probably would have been easier to. It took time, but your efforts have proved that the wants, needs and opinions of your community members – at least in regard to this issue – matter to you.

Those efforts have not gone unnoticed, so thank you.

Best, The Setonian The Voice is intended to best represent the collective opinion of The Setonian’s Editorial Board. It is written by The Setonian’s Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor.

Gary Phillips

Editor-in-Chief

Leah Carton

Evelyn Peregrin

Ashley Turner

Elizabeth Swinton

Brianna Bernath

Asst. News Editor

Samantha Todd

Asst. Photography Editor

Keaghlan Brady

Campus Life Copy Editor

News Editor

Greg Medina

Asst. Campus Life Editor

Managing Editor

Sports Editor

Kyle Kasharian

Asst. Sports Editor

Clara Capone

News Copy Editor

Graphics Editor

Julie Trien

Joey Khan

Volume 93 Issue 23

Isabel Soisson

Asst. Digital Editor

Nicole Peregrina

Social Media Editor

Jenna Pearsall

Social Media Editor

Campus Life Editor Photography & Digital Editor

Anthony DePalma Faculty Adviser

Page 12

SPORTS

April 6, 2017

THROUGH OUR EYES

Sports Quote of the Week “To get on this team and on this staff, that’s what leads to awards of success.”

Women’s basketball assistant coach Lauren DeFalco after her Thirty Under 30 recognition.

UConn women’s dominance Westbrook’s historic goes beyond talent season should be

admired rather than critiqued

Andrew Lombardo Staff Writer On March 31, the greatest winning streak in sports history ended when Mississippi State defeated UConn’s women’s basketball team in overtime, 66-64. For the first time in 111 games, the UConn women’s basketball team faced reality. The reality was that even the Huskies are human. The players and fans will surely dwell on the loss and the thoughts of what could have been. However, one loss should not overshadow the dominance and grip UConn and coach Geno Auriemma have had on women’s college basketball.

Many will try to discredit Auriemma and the UConn program by saying that it has all of the best players. While this is true to a certain extent, the notion that there are no other great players out there is simply wrong. Auriemma does recruit the best players and expects to get them, but that is the luxury of being Auriemma: that with the status of the program, he can recruit anyone he wants.

At the same time, other prominent programs draw top recruits, too. The notion that Auriemma wins solely because he has the best talent is blatantly false. Programs like Stanford, Tennessee and Baylor still draw All-Americans and have all the resources they could ever need. Yet, only Baylor has been able to scrape the surface of UConn’s accomplishments, when the Bears went undefeated in 2012. ESPN’s Doris Burke finds that argument ludicrous too.

“There’s a cultural bias remaining as it relates to women’s basketball,” Burke was quoted as saying in a The Hartford Courant article.

“There’s not enough good coaching, there’s not enough good players, etc. If that’s your argument, you can make that argument forever. It still doesn’t diminish what this guy [Auriemma] is doing. That part is truly frustrating to me.”

Even if one believes UConn has won solely on talent, one must not ignore the pure mathematical improbability of a triple-digit winning streak. Even the best teams have bad shooting nights or suffer a key injury. Moreover, the odds of going undefeated are tough enough, much less 111game winning streak. During the streak, the Huskies had 10

Keith Egan Staff Writer

Photos via uconnhuskies.com Geno Auriemma (top) and Gabby Williams (bottom) fell to Mississippi State in the Final Four on March 31.

60-point wins, compared to just three single-digit wins. It is that kind of dominance that makes winning feel inevitable.

At the end of the day, Auriemma deserves most of the credit. In his career thus far, he has compiled win streaks of 70, 90 and 111 games. He also won his 11th title last year, one more than the legend John Wooden. Although he is already the most accomplished women’s basketball coach ever, this may have been his best coaching job of his career. Last year, the Huskies beat ranked opponents by an average of 20 points and the three best players from that team went on to be the top three picks in the WNBA draft. With such a young roster, regression was expected. Instead, the team eclipsed its mark from last season, beating ranked opponents by 21 points this time despite having arguably the toughest schedule in the country.

Burke also believes Auriemma deserves a lot of credit for what he has done this season.

“He doesn’t get the credit in my mind that he deserves,” Burke said in The Courant. “If you ask people in basketball, someone like Jeff Van Gundy, what he thinks of Geno, he’s going to tell you that he can coach at any level, either gender and he’s going to be successful.”

Next season, the Huskies will return their entire core, as well as the No. 1 recruiting class in the country. Odds are, their first win will be the start of yet another historic streak. Whether or not they pass 111 games is yet to be determined, but it seems like they are the only ones that will ever break their records.

Andrew Lombardo is a journalism major from Middletown, Conn.

He can be reached at andrew.lombardo@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @Anlombardo8.

Russell Westbrook is on the verge of completing one of the most legendary seasons in NBA history, as he is about to finish the year averaging a triple-double in scoring, rebounds and assists. This feat has only been completed one time in the league’s history, when Oscar Robertson did it in 1964.

Clearly, this is an extraordinary task, which some of the best players in the history of the game have never achieved. In Michael Jordan’s historic career, he never averaged even a double-double.

When Robertson averaged 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists in 1964, teams were scoring 119 points per game. In the 2015-16 season, the average was 102.7 points per game. Westbrook is currently averaging more points per game than Robertson as well, with 31.9 and is just below him on rebounds and assists with more games to play.

In the 1963-64 season, Robertson’s Celtics were averaged 125 possessions per game. So far in the 2016 season, Westbrook’s Thunder have averaged 102 possessions, meaning less opportunities.

Much of the reason for Westbrook’s legendary season coming this year was the departure of Kevin Durant to the Warriors, putting Westbrook in the leading role for the first time. However, even with Durant on the roster, Westbrook came 2.2 rebounds per game short of the same feat last season.

A criticism of Westbrook’s career has been that he is a selfish

player. Many have said that he was holding Durant back from getting a championship. This season is only more of an example of his need for stats over wins.

Westbrook has been known for his aggressive play and need for putting points on the board.

But he also clearly has a hunger to win. His competitive nature makes him the explosive player he is, and suitable for the season he has had.

Westbrook has been on a mission night in and night out. His ferociousness on the court makes him one of the beasts of the NBA, and one of the top candidates for MVP. Although the Thunder are currently sitting in the sixth seed of the Western Conference, they would not be nearly where they are without Westbrook. On an average team, he has led the Thunder to being in games that they would not otherwise be competitive in, and has gotten his teammates involved with his 10.4 assists.

Basketball fans alike should all recognize the incredible degree of basketball, and unmatched enthusiasm for the game that Westbrook has brought this season. As possibly the best season in the history of the NBA, Westbrook has been must-watch TV. Whether you dislike him for his boisterous personality, or the way he handled Durant leaving the Thunder, Westbrook is putting on a show, one that everyone should admire.

Keith Egan is a visual and sound media and journalism major from Tinton Falls, N.J. He can be reached at keith.egan@student.shu. edu or on Twitter @Keith_egan10.

Photo via NBA.com Russell Westbrook has 41 triple-doubles as of April 5.

April 6, 2017

SPORTS

Page 13

Bullpen’s consistency key Setonian Stats to Pirates’ pitching success Stats among relief pitchers Nick Santoriello Staff Writer

Bullpens often get overlooked, but Seton Hall’s has been a key to the Pirates’ success.

Coming into the year, most expected the starting trio of Shane McCarthy, Zach Prendergast and Cullen Dana to carry the Pirates’ pitching staff. While they have improved as of late, it has been the bullpen that has really shined thus far.

In comparison to the 2016 season, the three starters’ combined ERA has risen from 3.00 to 4.43 while the remainder of the staff’s ERA has dropped from 3.42 to an impressive 2.14 as of Tuesday, April 4.

Much of the credit for the decrease in ERA is due to the four relief pitchers who lead the team in

innings pitched out of the bullpen.

Senior Ryan Testani (25.2 innings pitched), junior Matt Leon (12.2), senior Anthony Pacillo (11.1) and freshman Ricky DeVito (10.2) have all helped lead a strong Pirates’ bullpen.

The backbone of this group has been the man at the backend of the bullpen.

Testani has been phenomenal, posting a 0.35 ERA to go along with his team-leading two saves in 14 appearances on the season.

After only tossing 22 innings combined his sophomore and junior campaigns due to some arm troubles, the righty out of Shelton, Conn. changed his mechanics in order to become a submarine-style pitcher.

The results from that change have done wonders.

Unlike Testani, who usually

pitches to contact, Leon gets his outs via the strikeout. In the latest series against LIU-Brooklyn, Leon threw 2.1 innings of shutout ball while striking out five of the seven batters he faced.

In comparison to the 2016 season, the three starters’ combined ERA has risen from 3.00 to 4.43 while the rest of the staff’s ERA has dropped from 3.42 to an impressive 2.14.

In fact, the bullpen as a whole was especially impressive in the LIU-Brooklyn series. The bullpen did not surrender an earned run through eight innings of work, only giving up five hits in the process.

In just his second full season in relief, Pacillo has provided steady, veteran leadership out of the bullpen for the Pirates.

The lefty has held opposing batters at bay with a team-leading .128 batting average against. Pacillo is also tied for second amongst the bullpen in strikeouts this season with the aforementioned Leon at 14.

The bullpen’s leader in strikeouts is the Staten Island, N.Y. DeVito.

In just seven appearances on the season, DeVito has 15 strikeouts, all without giving up an earned run.

Other young arms, such as sophomore Matt Ponsiglione, who has a 1.93 ERA in five appearances, have contributed to the success of a Pirates bullpen that has only given up one long ball all year.

With the starting staff begin-

Strikeouts Testani 12 leon 14 pacillo 14 Devito 15

Saves 2 1 1 1

Graphic by Clara Capone

ning to settle into its own and an already impressive bullpen, the Pirates have set themselves up for some good pitching heading into Big East play.

Nick Santoriello is a journalism major from Nutley, N.J. He can be reached at nicholas.santoriello@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @NickSantoriello.

HALL ACROSS THE BOARD SCORES OF THE WEEK SOFTBALL

BASEBALL

Saturday, April 1 (1 p.m.)

Seton Hall DePaul

10 5

0 4

LIU Brooklyn Seton Hall

2 10

LIU Brooklyn Seton Hall

6 2

Sunday, April 2

Sunday, April 2

Seton Hall DePaul

Saturday, April 1 (2 p.m.)

Saturday, April 1 (6 p.m.)

Saturday, April 1 (3:30 p.m.)

Seton Hall DePaul

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

7 6

Wednesday, April 5

LIU Brooklyn Seton Hall

2 1

Wednesday, April 5

Seton Hall Rutgers

7 13

Wagner Seton Hall

2 9

WOMEN’S TENNIS Sunday, April 2

Seton Hall Fairfield

What’s 4/6 ON DECK Thursday Home

Away

Baseball Softball Women’s Tennis Golf

Stony Brook 4 p.m.

7 0

4/7

4/8

4/9

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

Butler 6 p.m.

Butler 1 p.m.

Butler 12 p.m.

4/10 Monday

4/11 Tuesday

4/12

Wednesday

Hofstra 4 p.m.

Georgetown 12 p.m. and 2:30 p.m.

Photo via Twitter/BIGEASTMBB Former Georgetown star Patrick Ewing returns to serve as head coach of the Bulldogs. Ewing joins St. John’s Chris Mullin as one of two Big East coaches to call the shots for their alma mater.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Rutgers 4 p.m.

St. John’s 12 p.m.

Princeton Invitational Two Rounds All Day

Hoya Invitational Three Rounds All Day

For complete coverage of all Seton Hall Athletics, visit thesetonian.com or follow us on Twitter @SetonianSports.

SPORTS

Page 14

April 6, 2017

DeFalco honored as a top women’s hoops coach Tyler Calvaruso Staff Writer

The 2016-17 season was a down year for the Seton Hall women’s basketball team, but it was a year of recognition for the program’s assistant coach, Lauren DeFalco.

DeFalco, 30, was named an honoree of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association Thirty Under 30 list. According to the WBCA, the program was created to recognize up-and-coming women’s basketball coaches under the age of 30 at all levels of the game.

This honor comes in DeFalco’s fourth season with Seton Hall and her second as head coach Tony Bozzella’s lead assistant. She is the Big East’s only representative on this list.

“I have to thank Coach B for giving me the opportunity to come here, first and foremost,” DeFalco said. “To get on this team and on this staff, that’s what leads to awards of success.”

Behind every great player and coach are people who have helped them to that point and DeFalco is no different. Despite being coached mostly by men in her playing career, including collegiately at Iona, she has had numerous women impact her as a person, a player and a coach.

“I had a great high school coach

In DeFalco’s first three seasons with the Hall, eight Pirate guards earned All-Conference recognition. who really prepared me for college,” DeFalco said. “She didn’t take any crap and she ran it like a college program.”

Aside from her past coaches, DeFalco credits her mother, who is just as involved in her basketball

career as she is.

“She lives and breathes when we win and we lose,” DeFalco said. “She loves watching it with me and I’ve been fortunate with her.”

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reer at Iona playing for Bozzella, DeFalco made the transition to coaching, something that she always saw herself doing after her playing days.

“In high school I used to be like, ‘I want to go to college for basketball, I want to major in that,’” DeFalco said. “Obviously it wasn’t an option, but this is definitely something that I’ve always wanted to do. I never knew the ins and outs of it and it’s a lot harder and a lot more work than people think, but I think it was what I was meant to be doing.”

DeFalco began her coaching career at Sacred Heart and spent two years there before returning to Iona to work under Bozzella.

The two have been together ever since.

The way DeFalco sees it, the two years that she spent at Sacred Heart were beneficial for both her and Bozzella.

“Coach B and I as a player and a coach went at it a lot because we’re very similar,” DeFalco said. “I needed two years away, he needed two years away just to grow, and that really helped coming back to Iona.”

Over the years, Bozzella has had the chance to see his former player grow as a coach and it is DeFalco’s work ethic that resonates with Bozzella.

“Everyone knows how to teach a dribble, everyone knows how to teach a shot, everyone knows how to teach a move, but it’s instilling the work ethic for those kids to work hard,” Bozzella said. “She has a high standard for how hard you’re supposed to work.”

Photo via SHU Athletics One player that can echo that sentiment is guard Kaela Hilaire.

The all-conference freshman performer cited DeFalco as one of the main reasons that she came to Seton Hall. The work ethic that DeFalco encourages has stuck with her.

“She has an amazing work ethic,” Hilaire said. “She makes you want to be in the gym and work.”

Along with her responsibility of coaching the guards, DeFalco serves as the team’s recruiting coordinator.

Bozzella believes that her presence on the Thirty Under 30 list could only improve her credibility on the recruiting trail.

“Any time you get positive publicity, it helps you,” Bozzella said.

“Especially in recruiting with everything being out there, it can only help.”

DeFalco’s presence on this list cements the fact that she is a rising star in her profession. Most rising stars have their eyes set on becoming a head coach at some point in the future, but DeFalco is happy with where she is right now.

“Maybe in a couple of years, but not right now,” DeFalco said.

“I’m really comfortable here. My whole family is here, so I’m not one of those people who wants to move somewhere like Missouri just to get a head coaching job.”

The longer DeFalco sticks around, the better it is for the Seton Hall women’s basketball program, as she is undoubtedly one of their keys to success.

Tyler Calvaruso can be reached at tyler.calvaruso@student.shu.edu

April 6, 2017

SPORTS

Page 15

Campus club baseball team Hot bats have Pirate close to authentication softball surging Matt Lapolla Staff Writer Seton Hall has six official club sports, but by the end of 2017, it might have a seventh. A group of 25 Seton Hall students have joined together to start a club baseball team – and they are looking to make sure that the program is here to stay.

“This is the first real season for club baseball in 160 years at the University,” the club’s president, Brendan Kane, said.

Kane, a sophomore, tried to join the university’s baseball team last year as a freshman. Even though he was cut, Kane still wanted to play baseball at Seton Hall. He found out that there wasn’t a club team, so he decided to create one.

“Last year, it was more paperwork and getting the foundation laid,” Kane said. “This year, we started up playing.”

The current roster mainly consists of underclassmen. The majority are sophomores – 13 from the class of 2019. There are six seniors and two juniors, and the remaining members of the squad are all freshmen.

“We try to get everybody in, every time we play,” Kane said.

“That way, everybody has the opportunity.”

The club team plays in the fall and spring, but it is still in the “provisional stage.” The team has to prove that it can actually function to the Athletics Department.

If it can show that it can hold its own, it will be officially recognized as a club team at the University.

Once recognized, it will be able to join a league in the National Club Baseball Association. The NCBA is not involved with any athletic conference in the NCAA – it has its own divisions. Kane said that the Seton Hall club team is looking to join Division II in the District I – South conference next year. This division houses the club teams for Adelphi, Fordham, Lafayette, Lehigh, Montclair State and Stevens Tech. Once Seton Hall is a member of that conference, it will be able to participate in the inter-conference playoffs.

For now, Kane said that the focus is to just play whenever the team gets the chance. The team played its games in the fall

at Cameron Field Park on South Orange Avenue, but it is playing the bulk of its games on the road in the spring. The club team will potentially play its first “home game” at Ivy Hill Park against Princeton’s club team, another up-and-coming organization.

“Princeton is in a similar situation to us, they’re gaining recognition as a club team,” Kane said.

“For the rest of the schedule, I went on the NCBA’s website and emailed everyone I could find in the area.”

The club team has already played a few teams from the District I – South conference, including Stevens Tech. Kane believes that if the club team can make the District I – South conference next season, it can have a legitimate competitive presence.

“It’s good competition, but I feel that if we come together as a team and if everyone thinks a little more, we can easily be a big player in this division,” Kane said.

“We can bring Seton Hall some new glory for club baseball.”

Matt Lapolla can be reached at matthew.lapolla@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @MatthewLapolla.

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Photo via SHU Athletics Alexis Walkden has smacked eight home runs so far this season.

Matt Ambrose Staff Writer Softball season is in full swing at the Hall, and for the Pirates, one thing has fueled them all season long: their bats.

Through 30 games this season entering April 5, the Pirates have hit .303 as a team, with five players batting over .300. One of those players is Alexis Walkden, who leads the team with a .402 average and has already matched her home run total from last season with eight so far this year.

“We had the Pirate Invitational and we had a lot of people hitting all the way through the lineup,” Walkden said about the team’s production offensively. “Going into Big East, everyone was really excited and I knew that excitement was going to carry into our at-bats.”

Walkden’s production has increased from last season, along with teammate Lauren Fischer.

The senior is one of the premier weapons on this Pirates squad, displaying her skills both at the plate and in the circle. Last year, Fischer hit .387 with four homers in 22 games as a junior, as well as posting a 4.13 ERA in 11 appearances in the circle. So far this season, she has made it one to remember, touting a .321 average with five home runs, one of which was of the walk-off variety against Villanova back on March 25. Her contribution in the circle has improved significantly, as she has become the ace of the staff with a 2.77 ERA in 12 games this year.

“I think we really build off of each other,” Fischer said, noting how those at the top of the lineup set the tone for the rest of the offense. “As long as we’re consistent and we’re starting off strong, that’s when we score a lot of runs… that’s when we’re most successful.”

While much of the reason for the Pirates’ offensive display is thanks to skill, a great deal of it also comes from something that doesn’t show up on the stat sheets:

believing in one another.

“I know Walkden, [Sara] Foster, Destini [Peck], everyone around me in the lineup is going to back me up if I’m struggling,” Fischer said. “It’s just a matter of being confident in my teammates around me and knowing that they’re going to support me.”

This team has been explosive all season long, scoring seven or more runs in 14 games, nearly half of the games they have played this year.

Walkden and Fischer aren’t the only two Pirates having stellar seasons offensively for this team.

Peck, a sophomore, was named Big East Player of the Week back in March, and is second on the team in batting average at .379.

Additionally, several new Pirates have come on this season and made major impacts on the offensive side.

Freshmen Darby Pandolfo and Hailey Arteaga have been slated back-to-back in the starting lineup throughout this season, and the rookie duo has not disappointed. Pandolfo is hitting .284 with three home runs and is fourth on the team in slugging percentage at .554. Arteaga is hitting .281 this season and is third on the team in runs batted in with 22.

“They’ve come in and done exactly what they’re supposed to do,” Walkden, a junior, said about the freshmen starters. “They’ve come up in big situations and they don’t try to do too much, just get a good base hit and get themselves on base any way they can.”

From the veterans in Walkden and Fischer to a freshmen tandem of Pandolfo and Arteaga, Pirates offense has been solid from top to bottom. With no everyday starter hitting below .294, this offense is one to be reckoned with as the Pirates progress further into Big East play.

Matt Ambrose is a journalism major from Exeter, N.H. He can be reached at matthew.ambrose1@ student.shu.edu or on Twitter @ mambrose97.

Sports

thesetonian.com @SetonianSports

Club baseball establishing itself on campus Page 15 April 6, 2017

Page 16

Softball falls Anicka Fajnorova takes care of business on and off the tennis court to Rutgers Tyler Calvaruso Staff Writer

James Justice Staff Writer Not many people can say they achieved one of their life goals while still a teenager; Anicka Fajnorova is one of the rare exceptions. Because every time she steps foot onto the court with her Seton Hall Pirate teammates, Fajnorova is living out a goal which she had set from a young age.

“College tennis was my goal since I was a kid,” Fajnorova said.

“College was the top for me. I had the option to choose to go pro, or continue my dream and play college sports. And I chose college sports,” Fajnorova said.

“Because I always loved studying; I loved school, I was very into it, but tennis was always a huge part of me. I spent most of my life on the tennis court.”

This dual focus which Fajnorova exhibits is something that was instilled in her from a young age.

It was her dad who motivated her to excel in athletics, but her mom who always maintained the balance with academics.

Fajnorova has applied that approach while at Seton Hall, managing to focus on her tennis commitments while also venturing into the business world to prepare herself for life after the sport, whenever that may be. It was this time last spring that Fajnorova, a business major, joined the professional business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi in the midst of her freshman season with the team.

The experience was intense, re-

Anicka Fajnorova is leading Seton Hall tennis with a 13-3 personal record. quiring a good deal of extra work on top of her crowded schedule, and going over all applicable skills from interviewing, to writing resumes, to designing a LinkedIn. “When I put so much weight on my plate at once, and I made it through; I ended up on the Dean’s List, I did fine in the season. I mean, I pledged, I played; I think that semester it was so hard that I can actually do anything,” Fajnorova said.

On the court, Fajnorova has stepped up this season from holder of the No. 3 singles spot to No. 2. This jump up on the lineup equally means an increase in the quality of opponent, something which might cause struggle for some, but hasn’t for Fajnorova.

Instead she has only answered the heightened competition by improving from her 8-7 mark last season to a team-leading 13-3 record this season.

As only a sophomore, Fajnorova has become one of the focal points of a Pirates program that is making significant strides under new head coach Riza Zalameda.

Still though, despite Fajnorova’s No. 2 slot, Zalameda hesitates to call her a veteran.

“To me she is still a young one,” Zalameda said. “We’ve been talking about her role on the team, and definitely her role is to get that point for us, push her teammates in practice. And I think she’s just embracing that, and you can see it in her results.”

Those results began in the fall with 4-2 record, but really caught fire when the calendar turned to 2017. Fajnorova opened the year with a win over Princeton’s highly-ranked No. 2 Sivan Krems, a result Zalameda called one of the shocking outcomes in the northeast. From there Fajnorova won five straight singles matches, and

Photo via SHU Athletics

has all together won nine of 10 matches in the spring season.

With still a handful of matches before Fajnorova puts a close on her sophomore campaign, Zalameda sees potential for Fajnorova to achieve great things during her time in South Orange. Still though, she also recognizes Fajnorova’s commitment to business, and emphasized a short-term approach to everything on the court.

“For her, I know her studies are important to her, and I want her to do well. So, it’s just little doses, I want her to focus on what she can control right now,” Zalameda said. “Stay in the moment, because if you worry too much about what is going to happen four years from now you’re going to paralyze yourself.”

James Justice can be reached at james.justice@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @JamesJusticeIII.

SHU baseball’s offense too much for Wagner Andrew Lombardo Staff Writer On Wednesday, the Seton Hall Pirates defeated the Wagner Seahawks by a final score of 9-2. In what was their final tune up before Big East play, the Pirates pitching staff shut down Wagner’s offense and cruised to a win.

Early on, it looked as if Pirates starter Chris Morris could throw a gem. However, his location plagued him, causing his pitch count to run up early. He was pulled in the fifth inning after 96 pitches and two earned runs.

Those turned out to be the only

runs Wagner scored all day, as the Pirates bullpen went to work and shut down the Seahawks lineup.

Billy Layne Jr. was spectacular, throwing 2.1 innings without giving up a hit. Zach Schellenger and Rick DeVito also threw an inning apiece to finish the game for the Pirates.

Pirates coach Rob Sheppard was satisfied with his pitching staff’s performance.

“The pitchers did a really nice job as a staff today, coming in to get it done,” Sheppard said. “Billy Layne came in with bases loaded to get a big strike out. It was also good to see Zach Schellenger and

Rick Devito each get a good inning under their belts.”

At the plate, the Pirates offense broke out early, scoring four in the fourth inning to give themselves a 7-1 lead early. First basemen Mikael-Ali Mogues was a force at the plate, hammering the Wagner pitching at each at bat. He finished the game 2-2 with a walk, but he was able to score two runs and drive in three more. Left fielder Ryan Ramiz also had a big day, crossing the plate for four runs.

Center fielder Tyler Shedler-McAvoy and second basemen Mike Caputo also had two hits apiece.

Sheppard was also happy to see

his lineup have another good day on offense.

“We took advantage of the freebies we got,” Sheppard said. “Five of our runs were on walks and we had some timely hitting which was good too.”

This Friday, the Pirates will open Big East play at home against Butler.

“It is just consistency,” Sheppard said. “When we have consistency in the field, on the mound, and at the plate we are going to have success that will be the key.”

Andrew Lombardo can be reached at andrew.lombardo@student.shu. edu or on Twitter @Anlombardo8.

The Seton Hall softball Pirates started off strong at the plate on Wednesday afternoon against rival Rutgers, but their bats faltered while the Scarlet Knights stayed hot and pulled away for a 13-7 victory.

Senior Lauren Fischer got the start for Seton Hall and she immediately found herself in trouble, giving up three runs in the top of the first. The Pirates quickly responded with four runs in the bottom half of the inning to put them out in front behind an RBI single from Destini Peck, an RBI double from Hailey Arteaga and an RBI single from Ragen Reddick.

Fischer was able to work her way out of trouble in the top of the second while Seton Hall continued its offensive onslaught in the bottom half of the inning, putting up three runs behind back-to-back home runs from Alexis Walkden with a teammate on base and a solo shot from Fischer to put the Pirates up 7-3.

“With our team, I’m always expecting us to erupt at any given time,” head coach Paige Smith said.

“We’ve got the bats to do it up and down the lineup and they did what they were supposed to do early on.”

Smith handed the ball over to Madison Strunk in the top of the third, and at that point things started to unravel defensively for the Pirates. It wasn’t pretty from the third inning on, as Seton Hall committed five errors, leading to four unearned runs for Rutgers, which would ultimately do the Pirates in.

“Usually seven runs is enough to win a ball game, but this one came down to us losing the free-be battle,” Smith said. “When you have 21 outs to work with and you give the other team 30 it’s a hard thing to come back from.”

The final blow came in the top of the fourth, when two consecutive Seton Hall errors on the infield allowed Rutgers to take a 9-7 lead, one they would not relinquish as Seton Hall could not capitalize on scoring chances late in the game.

The Pirates will look to bounce back Thursday when they take on Stony Brook in a game that was previously rained out before gearing up to take on Georgetown in a three game set over the weekend.

Tyler Calvaruso can be reached at tyler.calvaruso@student.shu.edu or on Twitter @tyler_calvaruso.