End of the Semester In the final week of classes, RSOs hold their closing events in anticipation of the holidays and campus leaders discuss sexual assault.
STUTE THE
The Stute The official campus newspaper of Stevens Institute of Technology since 1904, and creator of the Stevens mascot, Atilla the Duck.
We write Stevens history.
Volume CXIII • Issue 15
Friday, December 11, 2015
TheStute.com
Greeks key in water main break
by KHAYYAM SALEEM Staff Writer
Due to the water main break in Hoboken on Sunday, November 22, much of the city was left without potable water for some time, including the campus of Stevens. The
Stevens Police Department Chief of Police Tim Griffin and Captain Tom Maggi met to assess the needs of campus that Sunday and arranged for an emergency supply of water bottles to be delivered to Stevens. Captain Maggi reached out to the Greek life representatives to aid in the delivery of drinking water to students and faculty on campus. Among the groups he contacted were Sigma Nu, Theta Xi, Sigma Delta Tau, Phi Sigma Kappa, and Delta Phi Epsilon. Maggie reached out to the fraternities and sororities a few years ago to help out during Hurricane Sandy. The organizations were happy to help then, so Maggi he did not hesitate to contact them about this issue. Those who came to help did not disappoint. Over 30 fraternity members came out to help unload the bottled water deliveries from trucks that
day and carry them up to the Howe Center for distribution. The members of the sororities oversaw the tables in the Howe Center all day in shifts, distributing water bottles to whomever needed it as they entered and exited the Howe Center. The next day, another one hundred packages of water arrived and members of Greek Life helped out once again, making the whole ordeal a lot easier to deal with for those who remained on campus. Captain Maggi extends a special thanks to Stevens Greek Life. “These are good, responsible, contributing members of the community. I could ask them at [4 p.m.] for 50 volunteers and there would be 100 of them outside by [5 p.m.]. They do great work for Stevens and the Hoboken community and I can always depend on them.”
‘Hunting Ground’ spurs conversation among campus leaders about sexual assault by OLIVIA SCHREIBER Outreach Chair
Dr. Kristie Damell and Steven Couras jointly hosted a screening and discussion on The Hunting Ground for all Stevens Resident Assistants, Sorority Fraternity executive boards, varsity sport captains and other campus leaders this past Wednesday. “This documentary has been shown across the country at over 700 universities for and by students already,” said Couras, who serves as a Title IX Investigator at Stevens. After welcoming students to the event, he opened with a presentation on Title IX, which is federal legislature that prohibits sex-based discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. The Hunting Ground was first premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah, which functions to showcase independent films and other works of theater. Kirby Dick wrote and directed The Hunting Ground, following his critically-acclaimed feature, The Invisible War which illustrates the rape epidemic within the U.S. military. The documentary opens with young women discovering that they have been accepted to college. The laughter and joy that comes with matriculation into college is soon quelled as Andrea Pino, a young woman who graduated from University of North Carolina, recounts a violent sexual assault that took place before classes even began. The film examines many college and universities’ failure to re-
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Dr. Kevin Ryan works to create more interactive web courses by CHRISTIAN CHIU Layout Editor
Dr. Kevin Ryan teaches his graduate-level classes a bit differently than the norm. In his Business Information Networks course (TM-610), Ryan employs the use of a portable projector, a pen-tracking device called eBeam Edge, and screen sharing software from Blackboard Collaborate. The class is taught in-person, but students have the option to viewing it online by signing up for the W0 section. Web attendees do not have to worry about missing important context for complex concepts that can only be explained in-person. By turning a regular Babbio Center whiteboard into an improvised smartboard, Ryan can still illustrate concepts by hand, while capturing the drawings for a web audience. His laptop screen is shared with his students and shows the exact marks he makes on the board, with little input lag. “This approach allows our fulltime graduate students, who are on-campus and mostly international students, to be in the same lecture with and interact with our part-time graduate students who work full time in the Communications & Networking and Services industry.” The built-in projector installed in each Babbio Center classroom projects an image that is too big for the pen-tracking tool to function optimally, so for each lecture Ryan requests a loaner projector from
IT. A near-flawless system is important, because most of his 30 TM-610 students are professionals from Verizon Wireless. While teaching his lectures, Ryan uses a wireless headset in order to communicate with his students. Web conferences on Canvas work as usual, with students being able to click a button to “raise hand.” The professor can then hear their question (provided the student’s microphone is turned on). Enthusiasm for the material, attention to detail, and a deep care for the students are qualities of a typical Kevin Ryan lecture, and this setup doesn’t compromise any of those principles. Sitting in on one of his lectures, it was clear that Ryan had a desire to create an experience out of his lectures. Ryan’s only complaint is that only the lecturer can hear one student at a time. When a student raises their hand online, the system is set up so that their classmates cannot hear their question. This makes the professor have to restate the question in order to ensure everyone is on the same page. “That’s the only thing I don’t like,” said Ryan. He is the first professor at Stevens to have this setup and would love to share his knowledge with other professors who look to teach a more interactive web class experience. “I’d also like to use different headphones,” said Ryan. “I want a rock and roll headset. I want to rock like Madonna!” All lectures are recorded and available for download from the Canvas course website.
Off Center presents ‘Grandma Ran Over a Reindeer’ by RAMI KAMMOURH Staff Writer
msmagazine.com
On Friday and Saturday nights, Off Center hosted “Grandma Ran Over a Reindeer,” their final sketch comedy show of the semester. The show featured 17 unique sketches and 19 individual performers, nearly filling BC 122 on both nights. “I think we had really good, top quality sketches,” said Chris Fitzgerald, the newly elected “Captain Hook” (President) of Off Center. “I think it was a great show and that our writing is getting better and better.” The humorous acts included “Friday Night Fever,” “Oscar the Grinch,” and “Getting Away with Stuff in Col-
lege.” This was Off Center’s first time performing three sketch shows in a single semester rather than two. The reason they performed three this semester is because they wanted to hold “Post Orientation,” a sketch show for freshmen to enjoy, early on in the semester. While having three sketch shows in a semester was a first for Off Center, it was the last show under the fall 2015 executive board. The members of the new Off Center executive board are Captain Hook (President) Chris Fitzgerald, Improv Stool (Improv Head) Matt Colozzo, Mr. Smee (Vice President) Bill Cusik, Uncle Pennybags (Treasurer) Kevin Birk, and Keeper of the Scrolls (Secretary) Phil Donaus.
spond to rape and sexual assault victims’ reports. One male student who was interviewed stated that an administrator at his university suggested that he “drop out until it blows over.” According to the statistics in the film, between 2002 and 2013, there were 155 sexual assault cases reported at Dartmouth, with only three expulsions; 136 cases with zero expulsions at UNC; and ten expulsions out of 135 cases from Harvard. On
the other hand, the University of Virginia had over 100 expulsions due to cheating and honor code violations with zero expulsions from reported sexual assault cases. The Hunting Ground also examines the roles that both Greek Life and athletics have in rape culture on campuses. Erica Kinsman, who claims to have been violently assaulted by Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Roving Reporter What’s your favorite song for the holidays?
PACS celebrates Polish culture at Stevens
“Girl Talk” in review
Women’s basketball wins fourth straight
Civil engineering constructs gingerbread houses
Star Wars-themed shopping
Women’s soccer NSCAAranked Amy Reagan named E8 Track Athlete of the Week
SPORTS 10
see HUNTING • Page 7
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: What’s next for The Stute? Apology to my professors Swift: Apple makes language open-source Review: Union Square
Polling Pierce What are your plans for the break?
Off Center Christmas sketch
Letter: Washington Street Wednesdays
OPINION 2-3
PULSE 4-5
NEWS 7
OPINION CONT’D 9