[The Stute] October 6, 2023 (Issue 5, Volume CXXI)

Enjoy the long weekend!

We write Stevens history VOLUME CXXI No. 5

HOBOKEN, NJ | OCTOBER 6, 2023

The student newspaper of Stevens Institute of Technology, and creator of Attila the Duck. www.thestute.com TikTok @thestute Instagram @thestute facebook.com/stevensthestute NEW STUTE EVERY FRIDAY • EST. 1904

Local elections are two months away; here’s how to get involved

Stevens joins the Coalition for College to increase access to higher education RAYNELIS VILLA, CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

Stevens’ visit days have started and prospective students are on their way to experience a new application process. The Division of Enrollment Management at Stevens has taken a new approach to make the process more accessible to students. As a new member of the Coalition for College new member of the Coa-

lition for College, Stevens has joined over 140+ colleges in looking to use new strategies to reach a diverse group of students and bring higher education to a wider audience. Among many questions accompanying this change are whether the test-optional policy will continue to take effect as the COVID-19 pandemic recedes and if race will be considered for the applica-

SHANE MITCHELL, STAFF WRITER

In less than two months, votes will be cast for the New Jersey General Assembly, the New Jersey Senate, and the Hoboken City Council.

While all three of these legislative bodies play an essential role in the lives of Stevens students, the Hoboken City Council election might be of particular interest to students this year. Stevens will be hosting many of the events leading up to this election, and Stevens students are encouraged to participate in the civic process by casting their votes this November.

The Hoboken City Council consists of nine seats, with three at-large seats and six seats allocated to representatives from each of the six City wards. These elections are staggered, meaning only the six ward-based seats will be on the ballot this election cycle. Since Stevens is located within Ward 6, on-campus students are limited to voting in the election for this specific ward.

The candidates for this elec-

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Study plan modifications allow enhanced academic flexibility EVAN PAPAGEORGE, OPINION EDITOR Stevens announced that it is initiating a program that will allow students to transfer to a more recent revision of their curriculum. The Stute spoke with the Schaefer School of Engineering and Sciences (SES) Director of Undergraduate Studies Sandra Clavijo to learn more.

This modification accommodates students who take a break from schooling for one or more semesters. Whether from a leave

of absence, COVID-19, or a combination of factors, these students may be returning years after starting. As such, their required study plan classes might no longer be offered when they return. To accommodate this, individuals would work with their academic advisors to ask the Academic Operations and Affairs Committee (AOAC) to allow the student to transfer their required courses to a later enrollment year so that the classes they need to take are

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ANJALI JOY FOR THE STUTE

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Congress funds Stevens What computing resources campus private sources. More fundARTUHR SERRA, ing could unlock additional safety STAFF WRITER computing power for the sysStevens, as a prominent tem. Muhammad Hajj, direc- changes American research institute, tor of Steven’s Davidson Lab, does quite a bit of work both which runs the SFAS, says were made for and with the government. that increased computing EVAN PAPAGEORGE, This work involves the De- power could result in “imvendor was seen walking AVA WANG, partment of Defense, New proved community safety and this Fall?

OPINION EDITOR MANAGING EDITOR into academic buildings on

SES’s new The first Mystery Women’s “ticket man” integration Makerspace on campus space: to ANDERSON, learn, play, workshop of SEAN CONTRIBUTOR On September 21, an and build Fall 2023 unfamiliar “special events” the south side of campus.

He approached multiple students as classes were occurring in these buildings to sell tickets for a comedy club located in New York. While some students may have believed that he was associated with Stevens, he was advertising and selling on campus without permission from the university.

Around midday on the 21st, the man was reported by some students to be seen in Kidde Room 228 before the beginning of a Circuits and System Lecture. Student Itai Geller observed that “the guy announced that he was selling tickets and explained what they were for before being stopped by the professor since it was cutting into class time.” Additional reports said that the same man was entering lecture halls, including Kidde 228 and Babbio Center Room 122 before and after lectures to sell tickets to the New York Comedy Club, with many students making purchases. At least one

The Schaefer School of Engineering and Sciences (SES) has announced the continual soft launch of a new lab called the Integration Space. Offering unique tools, software, and access to experts in their field, this new lab promises to be an asset to Stevens engineering students.

One of the quintessential elements of a Stevens education for engineers is the design spine: a rigorous multidisciplinary engineering course that molds young Stevens students into distinguished engineers. While the capstone of this path is Senior Design, it all begins with Design I and Design II. However, over the past few years, the curriculum for these classes has changed rapidly to keep up with the world’s ever-changing technology. To help keep Stevens at the forefront of engineering, SES created this brandnew laboratory in the Edwin A. Stevens (EAS) building.

The Integration Space is in EAS on the second floor

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The Women’s Makerspace workshop series is making its return debut tonight, October 6, from 6 to 8 p.m in the MakerSpace (ABS-104). Inspired by the notion that each student deserves access to and knowledge of the resources available to them on campus, students Alicia Kearney and Nataly Jimenez, along with Director of the MakerCenter Paul McClelland, have worked to coordinate a women’s/non-binary students’ workshop series.

This primary workshop will cover an introduction to facility fundamentals and the automated tools cabinet system.

The workshop will cover shop safety, and an indepth tour of the MakerSpace, including the 3D printers, laser printers, stock cabinet, soldering station, the Silhouette Cameo 4 Pro, bandsaw, and drill press. Students will gain ID access to the

NEWS (2-3)

SPORTS (6)

SCIENCE (5)

PULSE (12)

Local elections are two months away!

Stevens will be hosting the city council debates and students are encouraged to vote.

New Richard Gilder Center?

Record heat? Placozoans?

Learn more about what’s going on in the world of science.

Memory loss? Medical diagnosis algorithms?

Climate Week NYC? Learn more about what’s going on in the world of science.

Read answers from the Stevens community to our weekly Roving Reporter, plus solve our weekly puzzle and sudoku.

York and New Jersey flood services, disaster management entities, and of course, the U.S. Navy. All this cooperation between Stevens and the government not only generates a lot of new interesting ideas and opportunities, but also brings in a large amount of money for the university. Just this year, Stevens received $960,000 in federal funding to advance our cutting-edge efforts in flood prediction, disaster management, financial technology, and artificial intelligence.

The first and perhaps most currently impactful research that is receiving funding is the Stevens Flood Advisory System (SFAS). This system provides four-day predictions of flood levels and possible surge storms all over the states of New York and New Jersey. Moreover, the system can forecast energy demands during periods of extreme hot or cold weather, manage traffic, and anticipate beach erosion levels along our coasts.

This system has been in place since 2015 and currently has over 1400 subscribers from both government and

resiliency for our local and regional communities,” something that will help on storm days like Hoboken saw just last week.

The second and more long-term research that this money will go toward is Steven’s Center for Research toward Advancing Financial Technology (CRAFT). As the name suggests, CRAFT is focused on creating new financial technologies, particularly in the area of predicting market crashes and leveraging quantum sciences to that effect. Resources that will be procured for CRAFT will also have secondary usages in other Stevens research involving AI, big-data tools, public health, engineering, and environmental sciences.

This money came out of the work of former representative Albio Sires, as well as U.S. Senators Cory Booker and Robert Menendez. The funding was included in the 2023 Fiscal Year Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill, which was put in order

Stevens removed the 24/7 security desk that served as a base for the response of police and emergency services to campus before the start of Fall 2023. To replace this resource, Stevens Campus Police Station (also known as the Police Headquarters) was remodeled to adapt to the university’s new needs.

Should you be in any dangerous situation or in need of help, this new resource can be accessed adjacent to the Morton-Peirce-Kidde (MPK) lawn, or by calling the main (non-emergency) number at (201)-216-5105 or the emergency number at (201)-216-3911.

Stevens previously had a secondary police desk in the lobby to the right after walking into Howe. This desk served as a 24/7 station that was a resource to respond to emergencies on campus after the Police Headquarters had closed for the night.

However, the Howe Center

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MATTHEW KEARNEY, CONTRIBUTOR

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News Masthead Volume CXXI No. 5 Executive Board EDITOR-IN-CHIEF......................................ISABELLA ZIV ‘25 BUSINESS MANAGER............................TANYA AVADIA ‘26 MANAGING EDITOR.......................................AVA WANG ‘25 LAYOUT EDITOR................................NICOLE GIARDINO ‘25 OUTREACH CHAIR..........................KAYDEN CANNILLA ‘24 DIGITAL MANAGER................................RAFAEL LEE LI ‘24 SECRETARY.............................................CLAIRE HANNAN ‘24 HEAD COPY EDITOR..............................KEENAN YATES ‘24

Editorial Board

NEWS EDITOR.........................................BEN KNOBLOCH ‘25 SCIENCE EDITOR.........................................ERIN MCGEE ‘25 OPINION EDITOR............................EVAN PAPAGEORGE ‘26 SPORTS EDITOR........................................CHRISTA RUIZ ‘25 FEATURES EDITOR................................TASHA KHOSLA ‘25 PULSE EDITOR........................................MIA PETROLINO ‘25

Operations Board HEAD PHOTOGRAPHER......................OLOF PERSSON ‘25 ARCHIVES LIAISON.......................KEVIN CASTNER JR. ‘24

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Coalition for College works with community-based organizations to encourage underrepresented students to engage with colleges. Additionally, the organization provides these students with resources about the admissions process, including how to navigate financial aid and preparing for applications. Now, students who are looking toward applying to Stevens can apply through the Coalition App with Scoir, in addition to the Common Application.

While many students are still transitioning to in-person classes, much of their academic process has been affected. Especially in Black and Latino communities, there has been a decline in academic achievement compared to pre-pandemic reports. However, the aim of many schools is to bring back the confidence of students to improve their academic

Staff & Contributors Sean Anderson Chloe Brenna Shane Mitchell Arthur Serra Raynelis Villa Matthew Kearny Meghana Mamadapur Emily Johannan Riyana Phadke Ruthie Mullisky Justin Lema Victoria Yashchuk

Zoe Hack Charles Beall Itai Geller Anna Dabrowski Advait Dantuluri Josie Strano Stephen Pachucki Anjali Joy­­

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Policy on Letters to the Editor

All members of the Stevens community are able to submit a Letter to the Editor to be published in The Stute. Letters must refer either to a piece published in The Stute or to The Stute in general and must be between 400 – 800 words in length. Submit letters to editor@thestute.com with your name and title (when applicable) or using our Google form. For writers who wish to write a Letter to the Editor anonymously, please see our policy on anonymity.

The Editorial Board reserves the right to choose whether or not to publish a submitted Letter to the Editor based on a majority rule vote, and additionally reserves the right to edit letters for clarity or request authors to revise. Provided that the author approves the final version, The Stute reserves the right to edit letters according to our copy editing procedures, defined in our policies.

Policy on Op-Eds

All members of the Stevens community are able to submit a standalone opinion piece (otherwise known as an Op-Ed) to be published in The Stute. Op-Eds must be between 400 – 800 words, but longer submissions will be considered on a case-by-case basis. To submit an OpEd please email eboard@thestute.com with your name and title (when applicable) or using our Google form (tinyurl.com/submit-t0-stute). For writers who wish to write an Op-Ed anonymously, please see our policy on anonymity.

The Editorial Board reserves the right to choose whether or not to publish a submitted Op-Ed based on a majority rule vote, and additionally reserves the right to edit Op-Eds for clarity or request authors to revise.

Provided that the author approves the final version, The Stute reserves the right to edit Op-Eds according to our copy editing procedures, defined in our policies.

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Recently, within SES, the Biomedical Engineering and Biology majors significantly changed their curriculum over the past few years. Because of this new curriculum, many classes offered for these two programs underwent extensive modifications. In addition, with students taking more leaves of absence because of the COVID-19 pandemic, SES looked into a potential process to make changing their academic curriculum more standard. This change, Clavijo explained, began within SES undergraduate academics and then sent to the different curriculum committees within SES.

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 tion include Marla Decker, Patricia Waiters, and Tiffanie Fisher, who is the incumbent councilor for this ward. In total, there are 14 candidates running for the six ward seats, and of these districts, only the 4th Ward election will be uncontested. While students can only vote in one of these ward elections, they still have many opportunities to engage in the civic process and learn more about each of the candidates.

To learn more about how Stevens students can participate in this upcoming election, The Stute spoke to Gregory Townsend, Senior Director of Corporate, Government, and Community Relations on campus. Townsend shared that the Hoboken Quality of Life Coalition has organized two candidate forums to be held in the UCC Tech Flex Auditorium on October 6 and October 9 from 6:30 p.m. to

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 student notified Campus Police of the presence of this person. Timothy Griffin, Chief of Police of Stevens Campus Police, reported that “Campus Police quickly located the individual and identified him” as a male resident of Hoboken in his mid-30s. Following this, the person was “issued a Defiant Trespass Warning and told that he could be arrested if he attempts to enter any campus buildings in the future without first seeking permission,” as stated by Chief Griffin.

One of the main issues with all of this is that outside advertising without permission is not allowed on the Stevens campus. Typically, one may see student-run clubs and organizations fundraising or setting up stands on campus. However, according to the Stevens’ Guidelines for Assemblies on Stevens Institute of Technology Campus, “Members of the Public Plan-

progress. Although some students do not have the support to obtain strong test results, Stevens can “still gauge their potential for success through a comprehensive and holistic review of their high school coursework, extracurricular activities, and internships,” as Cindy Chin, Vice President for Enrollment Management, emphasizes.

Not only is Stevens keeping their test-optional policy until the Fall 2026 Admission cycle, but an early action application option has been added. The early action option allows students to demonstrate their enthusiasm to join the Stevens community while making a non-binding agreement. This gives a chance for applicants to stand out and bring about their best qualities as a student through their personal admissions essay. The university looks for students who can represent themselves in a non-quantitative way.

Since the Supreme Court ruled that race cannot be considered for college admissions, the changes to the admissions

process were made to reflect the need for a diverse body of students. Many of Stevens’ students pursue careers in STEM-related industries, which are known to have small numbers of underrepresented employees. Therefore, Stevens’ new methods look to create a large network of students from different backgrounds, yet have the same goal of excelling in their interests.

Every change that brings together more people is a great step towards empowerment. Along with the Office of Culture and Belonging, Undergraduate Admissions is giving a louder voice to students to create a socially conscious community. Inclusivity is an important aspect of the Stevens community, which is found through programs, events, and workshops. Diverse Duck Days and Understanding Financial Aid Visit Days are available for students who want to learn more about how Stevens advocates for inclusivity. More information can be found on the website of the Office of Student Culture and Belonging.

From there, other schools asked for this to be a university-wide initiative, so SES worked with all of the Associate Deans of the different schools at Stevens. After solidifying their plan, the potential process was sent to AOAC for approval.

Another part of this process was to create a system for use by the university administration.

Each school’s academic advisors and undergraduate administrators can track which students would benefit from this process.

Using Workday, all of the information for the administrators is in one place, making it easier and more efficient to assess who this process benefits. Additionally, the process was made available on Workday for students to apply for.

This allows for a much smoother student application process that

is more easily tracked and approved.

Clavijo explained that although this process is much simpler and easier to facilitate than before, everyone can still go to Workday and switch their required curriculum. For a student to go down this path, they would be approached by their academic advisor and told that this process might be beneficial to them to graduate in the least time necessary, without having to stay for extra semesters, take a lot of transfer credits, or maneuver a complex system of transferring old courses to current ones. While this new system can be helpful, there are better decisions for some students. If this may be a possible solution, academic advisors will be in touch.

However, only a tiny amount of students will be affected.

9:30 p.m. Candidates from wards 1, 3, and 5 will debate on the first night, and candidates from wards 2, 4, and 6 will debate on the second night. These forums will be moderated by John Heinis, Chief News Correspondent of the Hudson County View.

Townsend encouraged students to do more than just attend debates as he emphasized the importance of student involvement in these elections. He shared that “Local elections – even in a City the size of Hoboken – can often be decided by hundreds of votes rather than thousands.” For students to participate in this election, they must ensure they qualify to vote, and that they have registered properly.

Students must register to vote

by Tuesday, October 17 at the latest to ensure they can cast their ballots at the November 7 election.

To qualify for voter registration, students must be United States citizens, be 18 or older by the day of the election, and have lived in the county for at least 30 days prior to the election day. The NJ state web-

site contains information on how to register to vote, and voter registration is free.

In addition to voting in the election, students can get involved in the electoral process by becoming poll workers. Hudson County poll workers are paid $300 for a full shift, and more information can be found on the NJ state website.

To encourage student voting, Stevens has organized a “Ducks to the Polls” event at 3:00 p.m. on November 1, where students who have registered to vote can walk with their peers from the UCC lobby to City Hall to cast mail-in ballots and celebrate democracy. Students do not need to be casting a mail-in ballot to participate in this event, and the event will conclude with Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. Regardless of how strongly you may (or may not) feel about politics, your vote can have a profound impact on the future of both Stevens and the greater Hoboken community. Consider registering to vote, and ensure your voice is heard this election cycle. Happy voting!

ning such an assembly” is to be considered a “‘Requesting Party’” and can only engage in such activities “with the express consent of the Division of Student Affairs and Stevens Campus Police.”

In regards to the access to buildings, there will be no changes. Currently, each dorm requires ID access in order to enter, and for the UCC towers, all visitors must be signed in. While academic buildings are open to access during the day while classes or open events occur, issues similar to this are uncommon, so altering the current open campus policy is not necessary, according to Campus Police.

If you are someone who bought one or more of these tickets, rest assured, these tickets are legitimate. After tracking down one of these tickets that were sold, the phone number on the ticket was matched to the New York Comedy Club phone number on their website. When the number was called, the receiver of the call, a worker for the New York Comedy Club,

stated that “the Monetary Marketing tickets would be accepted” and “would work for any show except for some surprise headliners and prime-time comedy.”

For the future, it is recommended that students be wary of possible scams and unpermitted intruders on campus. The Campus Police monitors for intruders on campus using CCTV Camera systems and physical patrols, but also rely on all members of the Stevens community to help keep the campus safe and secure. Chief Griffin and the Campus Police ask that “students, faculty and staff report anyone that looks suspicious or appears to be engaging in prohibited activities” to the Campus Police Desk at 201216-3911 or to a patrolling officer in the area. In addition, they ask members of the Stevens community to “not confront someone who looks as though they do not belong in a building, or if they are acting suspiciously” but to report them to campus police with “a physical and clothing description as well as where they were last seen.”

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 extensive automated tool cabinet system, as well as get the opportunity to view demonstrations and practice at the veneers and micrometers station, wrenches, drill press, hand drill, and bandsaw stations. Snacks and refreshments will be offered!

This workshop is an excellent opportunity for you to get your

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 was not built with the intention of maintaining policing and security systems on campus.

Students and faculty should also note that Stevens offers a personalized protection network mobile app called ‘Stevens Guardian’.

It provides lines of communication between any cell phone and the campus police in emergencies and provides the campus police with your location (if you enable location services when asked before

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hands on the tools and resources available, and will set you up for success in engineering design, senior design or personal projects. This powerful workshop aims to encourage women/ nonbinary participation in and usage of on campus resources, ultimately bringing us one step closer to the finish line: closing the gender disparity in STEM. If you can’t make this workshop, be sure to keep your eye out for the soldering and 3D printing specific workshops coming up!

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in December 2022. A government shutdown will not have an effect on this funding. On the subject, President Favardin had this to say: “These technical upgrades and additions will bolster the university’s ability to produce real-time, actionable research that addresses critical national and global challenges and makes a meaningful difference in people’s lives.”

the call), has a phone directory to access over a dozen emergency numbers, and shares campus updates and emergency notifications with students and faculty. It also only takes about one minute to set up.

Jane Leopard and Ridhan Patel, Stevens staff at the UCC Welcome Desk, spoke with The Stute about the changes. The Welcome Desk in the UCC atrium is open from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. daily, where staff members greet visitors and residents alike to answer questions, manage a lost-and-found for the whole campus, and assist you with any other service at Stevens.

They are also equipped to respond to emergency or non-emergency situations when necessary.

In general, the welcome desk is a great place to integrate into the flow of campus life effectively. If you are looking for a place to get campus information and ask questions, the UCC Welcome Desk can help you out! The new UCC Welcome Desk certainly cultivates a great sense of comfort on campus in an area that was previously lacking.

For information on campus safety protocols and tips, access the Stevens Red Folder on the Stevens website.

next to the west stairwell. The purpose of the Integration Space is to be a space for students to learn and practice the skills taught in Design I and II, Senior Design, and potentially other engineering courses.

The area, run by Stevens professor Louis Oh, consists of workbenches, computers, space for computer networking devices, robotic testing, and tables for plants used by Design I and II. The area features opportunities for students to focus on integrating their hardware and designs into the software and programming that make up their projects.

The Stute spoke with Dakota Van Deursen, Assistant Director for Core Engineering and Science Education at SES, who explained that the Integration Space fills a hole in the design spine by allowing students to “learn, play, and build” their projects—the integration space acts in partnership with MakerSpace and machine shop. While the MakerSpace and

Writers Guild of America strike ends ARTHUR SERRA, STAFF WRITER

OLOF PERSSON FOR THE STUTE

Apple caves to EU on iPhone charger ARTHUR SERRA, STAFF WRITER It seems that in the modern day, we don’t have things that keep for very long, especially when it comes to electronics.

Our computers and phones are built to be obsolete and broken within the first three years that we buy them. We’re supposed to throw away last year’s model to buy this year’s. In 2010 global E-waste generation was 33.8 million metric tons, in 2019 it was 53.6 million, and this upward trend hasn’t stopped. Last year the European Parliament passed a new law requiring that new electronics of certain types sold in the EU must use USB-C chargers. The real target of this legislation was Apple and its iPhone’s proprietary Lighting charger.

Apple’s smartphone irrevocably changed the world. The first four iPhones used the old 30-Pin Dock Connector, but later iPhones used Apple’s proprietary Lightning connector.

Today, except for the iPhone, nearly all of Apple’s current catalog uses USB-C to charge, the sole exceptions being the Apple Watch and desktop Macs. This allowed Apple to have a near monopoly on chargers for the

iPhone. Other lightning charger producers exist, but the quality pales in comparison, and the majority of iPhone users stick to Apple’s.

However, with this new requirement in the European market to have a USB-C charging port, Apple has designed the recently revealed iPhone 15 to no longer use the lightning charger. Proponents say this will likely reduce E-waste in the long term, as this measure minimizes the number of cables that EU citizens will need to buy and throw away substantially.

However, in the short term, it is predicted that there will be a significant spike in E-waste as Europeans throw away all their old Lightning chargers. Just the same, these chargers will be thrown away at some point, doing it now just means that the spike will be smaller then it would be in five, 10, or 15 years.

Moreover, the fact that Apple caved to this legislation does set a precedent for the future of EU environmental legislation. If lawmakers can have an impact on megacompanies like Apple they’ll probably be more willing to pass tougher environmental regulations on products.

This law’s passage may also signal the increasing willing-

ness of the EU to pass legal measures against the largest American technology corporations. The technology market is often described as an oligopoly, since several massive companies like Apple, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft, and Google control an overwhelming share of the market. During the early parts of the 20th century, many trusts and monopolies were busted down to size. However, these companies haven’t seen any serious antitrust lawsuits, certainly none that would break them up the way that companies like Standard Oil were. This EU environmental law had really one target: Apple, and it could be a sign that more is on the way. Forcing these companies to give up market share to make way for smaller companies, and with them greater innovation, could be the goal of many lawmakers.

Regardless of whether future legislation is focused on the environment, trust-busting, or the combination of both, this initial law and Apple’s reaction does show that governments still have teeth and the willingness to take actions they perceive as yielding gains for the environment and for the average citizen.

the machine shop serve as places of fabrication and physical design, the Integration Space serves as a place to bridge the software and hardware of these projects.

The new lab is experimenting with innovative ways to combine the different engineering disciplines, with Professor Oh leading the charge. That could include open-source software accessible to students, robotic arms, varying types of sensors, and graduate students and professors to mentor students looking to learn more about engineering. In addition, Design I and II, and potentially other courses, will be offering TA hours, some class sessions, and staging for projects throughout the year.

SES has been conducting a soft opening for the Integration Space as its role on campus becomes more solidified. The goal for the area is that it will be available to all students for classes, clubs, research, and those interested in learning more about integration, open-source software, and other tools and techniques used during the integration process of engineering design.

Hollywood was frozen in its tracks starting in May when the Writers Guild of America (WGA) went on strike. The WGA had a host of issues with which they were significantly concerned, and after a failure to find a solid compromise, the WGA started striking in May. They were later joined by other workers in the industry including makeup artists, camera operators, other behind the scene workers, and even SAG-AFTRA, the actors’ union. The strike technically came to a close on Wednesday, September 27 after an initial deal was made between WGA leadership and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).

The origins of the strike date back several years. Mounting concerns over lack of pay, long hours, residuals, and lack of credit have contributed to discontent among writers. However, when the issue of ChatGPT, and the possibility that it would replace writers, was added to this list, the WGA felt it had no choice but to go on strike.

The central financial issue at stake here is the concept of residuals. Residuals are effectively royalties for TV shows and movies. Writers get an initial paycheck when working on a show, but each time these shows and movies are rerun they receive an additional check. When the era of on-demand streaming began, residuals dried up as audiences moved from watching on cable to watching on Netflix, HBO, or Disney+ where reruns didn’t weren’t counted as highly when it came to residual payout.

On top of the residual issue, and lack of pay raises, writers consistently considered themselves overworked. It has become more common practice in recent years to attempt to cut costs by reducing the number of writers for each show, meaning that each writer has to pick up the slack to ensure quality TV is

still being produced.

A full list of what the WGA won can be found on its website. The biggest points are increased pay, increased residuals for streaming and airing in foreign countries, the banning of AI-writing software to replace writers, and increased minimum writing staffs. All this together will be an estimated 223 million dollar per year increase in value for writers. The value does fall short of the estimated 429 million dollars that initial demands would have covered, but when compared to what the AMPTP was willing to offer before the strike—a total of some 86 million dollars—five months of striking did make a major difference.

However impressive this deal is, it is not finalized. Between October 2 and 9, the entirety of the WGA votes on whether the deal is enough, and if the vote doesn’t go in the agreement’s favor, then writers will return to the picket line. Most analysts agree that this isn’t likely, as most writers got much of what they wanted and wouldn’t risk a worse deal down the road.

Although the WGA may be back at work, Hollywood troubles still aren’t over as the SAG-AFTRA is still on strike.

SAG-AFTRA joined the WGA strike in mid-July, and is looking to receive similar compensation from the producers guild.

Nevertheless it is believed that the SAG-AFTRA strike will end sooner rather than later. Consistently throughout the history of Hollywood labor, the biggest union wins have been when the WGA and actors union strike together. In those cases, the WGA tends to be the first to come to a settlement and that agreement is the basis for the deal between the producers and the rest of the industry. This means that although we might not see blockbuster movies like Dune: Part Two be brought back to their original release dates, it is very unlikely that they’ll be pushed even further back.

for several hours as well. From here, the heavy rains continued to impact New Jersey and New York.

Similar to North Carolina, New Jersey was also deeply affected by Ophelia. Many parts of the state saw coastal flooding, especially the Manasquan Inlet and the Jersey Shore. Waves from the Jersey Shore spilled water into Ocean Drive in Avalon, rendering cars unable to move. Mayor Ravi S. Bhalla of Hoboken reported a total of 2.15 inches of rain falling in Hoboken, with the North Hudson

Sewerage Authority’s stations pumping 17 million gallons of stormwater out of the city.

The main threats posed by Ophelia were dangerous ocean conditions, heavy rains, and flooding. The ocean conditions had potential to cause rip currents, posing a grave danger to human life. The National Weather Service issued multiple flood warnings, impacting nearly nine million people between the affected states. As tropical storm Ophelia subsided, many continued to rebuild and resume their lives throughout the East Coast.

Tropical Storm Ophelia ravages the East Coast MEGHANA MAMADAPUR, STAFF WRITER Post-tropical cyclone Ophelia drenched the Northeast on Friday, resulting in a state of emergency in New York. The New York City subway system, airport terminals, and roads were shut down due to the downpour.

In the first 24 hours, Ophelia had dumped approximately six inches of rain in Central Park, with more rain falling in other parts of the state.

This was not the height of Ophelia’s strength, as strong

winds at 40+ mph were seen over the warm Gulf Stream current on September 21. The tropical storm was officially declared on Friday, September 22 at 4 p.m. It was first seen around 150 miles southeast of Cape Fear, North Carolina. North Carolina was severely impacted, with a storm surge of four feet being recorded in the lower Chesapeake Bay area. Significant flooding also occurred close to East Carolina University, as well as the city of Greenville. North Carolina also encountered many damages: trees falling on homes and

roads, vehicles that got caught on flooded roads, and citizens who sustained injuries while outdoors.

From North Carolina, Ophelia moved to Virginia, where 2.5 feet of flooding occurred in Alexandria. Ophelia continued to travel up the East coast, hitting Delaware. Many homes near Bowers Beach were reported to have been surrounded by water with large amounts of beach erosion. In Maryland, a roof was torn off a condo due to strong winds. A reported 70,000 homeowners did not have power

4

Friday, October 6

Science AMNH opens the Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation

BY RIYANA PHADKE, STAFF WRITER The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) has recently opened up what many believe is “New York’s most exciting building.” The Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation makes over 30 connections across 10 of the Museum’s buildings in order to make a more seamless experience for visitors.

The Gilder Center was designed by Studio Gang, an international and urban practice firm led by Jeanne Gang. The building would not have been possible without Richard Gilder and the Gilder Foundation, as they supported the construction from the beginning. Additionally, the GIlder Center is welcomed with support from the City of New York.

Probably the most amazing part of the Richard Gilder Center is its architecture. The design was inspired by nature’s beauty, with leadership and innovation in mind. The natural paths wind around landscapes that visitors are excited to explore, and there are many forms of water, including carved blocks of ice. Visitors can enter through the Kenneth C. Griffin Exploration Atrium; a stunning, naturally lit space with arching walls, bridges, and caverns for

people to delve into. The Atrium also offers exhibitions, collection spaces, and classrooms and is four levels.

The Richard Gilder Center and The Griffin Atrium were both constructed using a spray technique known as “shotcrete.”

Shotcrete is construction done by spraying structural concrete directly into the metal without pre-emptive formwork. This idea was invented by a Museum naturalist Carl Akeley.

The Gilder Center’s architectural beauty is complete with teh addition of Milforn pink granite; the same stone that is used for the Museum’s entrances. To keep the building in touch with nature—as that was the goal from the beginning—rounded windows made from bird-safe glass accentuate the building.

Some of the main attractions that visitors can look forward to when at the AMNH’s Richard Gilder Center are the Invisible Worlds, Alcove Library, and the Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium.

The Invisible Worlds exhibit offers a twelve minute long immersive experience that allows the human eye to discover moments otherwise impossible to capture. People can learn why their hand resembles a bat’s wing or how organisms interact with ecosystems. As visitors walk through the experience,

they can travel through the Brazilian rainforest, follow a jellyfish migration, or delve into the human brain.

The Alcove Library explores the history, significance, and challenges that have accompanied science. The library focuses specifically on insects and houses rare books and other holdings such as a screen print by Andy Warhol illustrating endangered butterfly species. The Alcove Library also offers comfortable seating, public computer terminals, and a wall-to-wall bookcase displaying collections that highlight the history of the Museum.

As the Gilder Center aims to connect and unify the many exhibits the AMNH has to offer, the center offers visitors the Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium where they can be amongst over 80 species of butterflies after learning about them at the Alcove Library. The vivarium also offers to see a pupae incubator, and some visitors may be able to see a chrysalis split and an adult butterfly emerge and expand its wings.

New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut residents may purchase general admission tickets that will allow them access to any of the exhibits in the Richard Gilder Center. Members of the American Museum of Natural History may visit for free.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF AMNH.ORG

Placozoans might be to thank for your nervous system

BY TANYA AVADIA , BUSINESS MANAGER Placozoans might just have the blueprint for our nervous system. A team of researchers have made this riveting discovery in which they found that neuron-like cells exist within these creatures and those cells could be the basis for the neuron cells that make up the nervous systems of more complex beings such as humans today.

Having been around for hundreds of millions of years, placozoans are extremely small animals that enjoy floating about in the oceans and consuming algae and microbes. They are closely related to cnidarians (a group that relates to sea anemones and corals) and bilaterians (a group that includes vertebrates).

Studying placozoans is always of interest to scientists as they have existed for a very long time and

are very simple creatures—only having three cell layers. Taking a closer look at these animals could reveal many answers and, in this case, could help us learn more about our programming and how our body’s nervous system came to be.

While studying placozoans, scientists were not expecting these creatures to have neurons, despite many of the placozoans’ related groups having neurons.

Many of the organism’s behaviors are controlled by peptidergic cells, which are cells that release short streams of amino acids that alert nearby cells. However, because this activity of the peptidergic cells is also found in more complex systems such as the human nervous system. Dr. Xavier Grau-Bové and his colleagues at the Center for Genomic Regulation (CGR) in Barcelona, Spain, felt compelled to explore further.

The research team started by

analyzing gene expression in over 65,000 cells across four different placozoan species. Gene expression is the process by which bits of DNA are transformed into the RNA used to make proteins. In doing this, the researchers found that placozoans have 14 different types of peptidergic cells and that these cells also exist in cnidarians and bilaterians, groups that utilize these cells to create neurons. Additionally, the scientists were also able to determine that peptidergic cells were still quite different from neurons as neurons also have the ability to receive messages and possess electrical pulses.

Using their data and findings, the group of scientists mapped out the potential interactions between peptidergic cells and other cells within placozoans. The cellular relationships they were able to identify supported the chemical brain hypothesis. The hypoth-

esis presents the notion that early nervous systems evolved cells connected by certain chemical signals would diffuse and bind to specific protein receptors. This allowed the group of researchers to essentially theorize that the early versions of the nervous system is similar to what currently exists within placozoans.

The early versions of the nervous system then evolved into much more complicated structures that have the ability to relay messages and electrical signals.

Dr. Jacob Musser, a molecular evolutionary biologist at Yale University and not affiliated with this study, stated “It suggests that some of the neuronal machinery was being packaged into cells and used for some form of communication prior to the advent of a nervous system.” Dr. Musser also reflected how he hopes that these findings could be used to determine the status

of nervous systems in ancient animal lineages. This would present a much more clear timeline of the evolution of the nervous system.

Michael Paulin, a computational evolutionary neuroscientist at the University of Otago in New Zealand and not involved in this study, explained that by studying placozoans we are one step closer to understanding what neurons are doing in our brains and how they got there.

All in all, placozoans, although very different from us humans, might just have the building blocks for what is our nervous system now. This study is very valuable as it brings up one step closer to learning more about our evolution. However, as stated by Arnau Sebé-Pedrós, an author of this study at the CGR, “evolutionary biology is a historical science,” and there is still a lot left to be explored.

age of hurricanes will reach category three or higher, like recent storm Hurricane Idalia did.

“We can expect for the heat to continue for the rest of 2023,” NOAA climatologist Karin Gleason explains. So far, this year is only a fraction behind 2016 as the hottest overall year on record, a trend that could continue into 2024. Although El Niño is expected to begin dissipating

by December, the effects typically take time to make their way around the globe. Depending on how long the effects of El Niño persist worldwide, its lagged effects combined with the growing effects of global warming related climate change could cause 2024 to be even hotter than 2023, estimated to surpass 2.7 degrees above pre industrial levels for the first time in humanity’s history.

Reaching the 2.7 degree mark is likely to result in tipping points, a phenomenon where

small temperature alterations could begin having drastic effects on our global life support system, meaning there could be changes to our quality of air, food, water and more. The most daunting issue is not only that we are experiencing these extremes, but that these “record breaking conditions” are likely to continue, with a clear trend of extreme weather increasing in frequency and severity, according to Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecast.

As fall begins, we can expect a much warmer start to the season than ever before, with temperatures reaching a high of 82 degrees this Tuesday (10/4) in Hoboken. It’s likely October will see the effects of this august continue as we prepare for an unprecedented next few months.

This Past August Was the Hottest on Record

BY EMILY JOHANNAN, CONTRIBUTOR With the first signs of fall starting to appear as we move into October, we leave behind the remnants of one of the hottest summers on record. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), this past August was the planet’s hottest to date in the 174 years the administration has recorded, with global surface temperatures 2.25 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average. August temperatures followed a record high June and July as well, making 2023 the hottest summer in the Northern hemisphere, and the hottest winter for the Southern hemisphere, according to NOAA. “[It] was the warmest August on record by quite a lot, it was also the globe’s 45th consecutive August and the 534th consecu-

tive month with temperatures above the 20th century average,” says NOAA chief scientist Dr. Sarah Kapnick. According to Kapnick, El Niño, a naturally occurring phenomenon where the U.S. and Canada experience drier and warmer conditions than usual, while the Gulf Coast and South East see wetter conditions, is a driving factor in higher temperatures, in addition to current global emission levels.

El Niño’s effects can cause more heat to be released into the atmosphere than usual and is associated with warmer yearly temperatures.

A hotter summer can have increasingly pressing effects, as these temperature changes can be associated with climate related disasters with catastrophic results. The month of August saw 19 named storms across the globe, with six of these storms hitting the Atlantic ocean, much higher than the usual rate for the

area. In addition, eight of these named storms reached tropical cyclone strength. In the United States alone, there have been 23 climate disasters thus far, which have cost more than 1 billion dollars in damage, the highest cost ever in one year, even with numbers adjusted for inflation.

Many areas are experiencing never before seen weather disasters, such as Southern California, which was hit with its first ever tropical storm watch amidst Hurricane Hillary in August. In addition, several parts of Southern California received more rain in 48 hours during Hillary than they typically see all year.

Warmer oceans associated with the global temperature increase can also cause storms to gather more energy from the warmer water and become stronger when they form, in as little as a few hours. In addition, it is likely that a higher percent-

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Reach out to Erin McGee, Science Editor (emcgee@stevens.edu) for more information – No experience necessary to write • thestute.com/category/science –

5

Friday, October 6

PHOTO COURTESY OF STEVENSDUCKS.COM (SHOT BY DAVE JANOSZ)

Sports

The Stevens women’s volleyball team had a great start to the season, with a 2-0 start in conference play and a 7-6 record overall as of October 2. Of the team’s most recent games, they have posted a conference win over FDU-Florham and two unfortunate non-conference losses at the Salisbury Tri-Match.

On September 26, the Ducks faced FDU-Florham at Canavan Arena and won the match 3-0, or in individual set scores of 25-12, 25-7, and 25-16. This continued their perfect conference record streak to 2-0 and improved their overall record to 7-4. Furthermore, since joining

the MAC Freedom conference, the women’s volleyball program has not lost to FDU-Florham, and this game has added to this streak. Overall, the Ducks had a 0.437 hitting percentage against FDU-Florham’s -.069 hitting percentage, allowing them to easily take the win.

In addition, this game proved to have some very strong performances. Throughout the game, senior Elle Maggio had nine kills, five digs, and two blocks. Additionally, in the first set, senior Liz Patterson had three kills, but throughout the whole game, she totalled seven kills, two aces, and three digs. In the second set, senior Madison Sappia had three aces, which contributed to her match-total of 16 digs and five

aces. In addition to these standouts, sophomore Gabbi Roberts added 13 assists and junior Parker Adkins added five kills, three aces, and three digs.

On September 30, the team traveled to Salisbury, Maryland to compete in the Salisbury TriMatch against No.19 ranked University of Mary Washington (UMW) and Salisbury University. Unfortunately, the Ducks lost to both teams, first to UMW in five sets with scores of 21-25, 25-19, 16-25, 25-22, and 10-15 and then to Salisbury in three sets with scores of 11-25, 17-25, and 16-25. In the game against UMW, Mary Washington secured the win because of their stronger offense, as they had 15 more kills than the Ducks did. Neverthe-

SAT, OCT 7 MEN’S GOLF Mason-Dixon Collegiate Classic–Day 1 Waynesboro, PA Time TBA WOMEN’S AND MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY Dickinson Pre-National Meet Carlisle, PA 12 p.m./11 a.m.

Women’s volleyball starts season off strong

BY RUTHIE MULLISKY, SPORTS WRITER

ON DECK IN SPORTS

less, senior Liz Patterson totaled an impressive team-high 11 kills and 20 digs during this match.

Furthering these stats, Roberts and first-year Molly Harris each added 18 assists to help pace the match. Additionally, Sappia set a new career high in digs with 23 digs during this match.

In the match against Salisbury University, although the game ultimately ended in a loss for the team, there proved to be some very impressive performances. Senior Cleo Shannon posted a team-high nine kills.

Sappia kept her momentum from the match against Mary Washington going and added 15 digs during this match as well. Additionally, throughout the game the Ducks totaled seven aces.

Over the past week, Stevens’ Field Hockey has beaten and even shut out its opponents in impressive wins over Drew University, Eastern University, Montclair State University, and Albright College. With scores of 4-0, 8-0, 3-2 (OT), and 2-0 respectively, the women’s team dominated the offensive field.

On September 20 against Drew University, four different players scored goals, making this the most the team has scored this season.

Prior to this game, the women had scored three goals across the last couple of games.

From start to finish, Stevens dominated the field, taking eight shots in the first eight minutes. Stevens’ first goal came from graduate Lynda Farinella after an assist from first year Lauren Flynn. After that, the Ducks scored three more goals to mark the largest margin of victory since October of last year. Third-years Alisyn Fink and Emily Smart added two more goals, and in the 48th minute, first-year Sophia Cozza scored with the help of a brilliant pass from thirdyear Makenna Quigley.

Coming off of the victory on Wednesday, the field hockey team

played Eastern University in a non-conference match while the rain poured over the Stevens campus on September 30. The team made a lasting impression with fourth-year Dani Hessels scoring in the second minute of the game, followed by third-year Sarah Korczukowski and first-year Jess Kopernick each scoring twice.

All three of Stevens’ goalies saw time on the field, with first-year Maria Dante making the only save in the game during the third quarter. From Eastern University, their goalkeeper made 14 saves against the Ducks. The final score of 8-0 was a near record and the most goals scored since Oc-

tober 2021, when the Ducks scored nine goals to shut out Delaware Valley.

On September 27, the Women’s Field Hockey team continued their winning streak with a 3-2 overtime win against Montclair State University. This was the Ducks first win over Montclair since 2009. Korczukowski scored the game’s winning goal in overtime bringing the game to a close. The Ducks are now 2-0 for games that went into overtime this season. This victory comes with impressive feats from many of the players; Korczukowski and Quigley each locked in their third goal of the

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL Montclair State University Hoboken, NJ 1 p.m.

WOMEN’S AND MEN’S SOCCER Misericordia University Dallas, PA 6:30 p.m./1 p.m.

SUN, OCT 8

Field Hockey jumps to a four game win streak

BY RIYANA PHADKE, STAFF WRITER

FIELD HOCKEY Kings College (PA) Hoboken, NJ 12 p.m.

season, Dante made six saves while in goal, and the team had a season high of 12 shots on goal with six shots on target.

Field Hockey continued to power through this season with a win against Albright College. The team won at a margin of 2-0, making it the team’s third shutout in the last two weeks. Farinella and Hessel scored the goals for the team, making it their fourth and second goals of the season, respectively.

The team will continue their campaign with matches against Keystone College on October 4 and King’s College on October 7.

MEN’S GOLF Mason-Dixon Collegiate Classic–Day 2 Waynesboro, PA Time TBA

TUES, OCT 10 WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL Lebanon Valley College Annville, PA 7 p.m.

WED, OCT 11 WOMEN’S SOCCER Mount Saint Vincent Riverdale, NY 7 p.m.

FIELD HOCKEY Misericordia University Hoboken, NJ 7 p.m.

PHOTO COURTESY OF STEVENSDUCKS.COM (SHOT BY SID ROCHLANI)

STEVENS SCOREBOARD DATE

TEAM

WED, SEP 27 FIELD HOCKEY FRI, SEP 29 MEN'S TENNIS SAT, SEP 30

FIELD HOCKEY MEN'S SOCCER MEN'S TENNIS

SUN, OCT 1

WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL WOMEN'S VOLLEYBALL WOMEN'S SOCCER MEN'S TENNIS

MON, OCT 2 TUE, OCT 3

MEN'S GOLF MEN'S GOLF

OPPONENT

MONTCLAIR STATE UNIVERSITY ITA ATLANTIC SOUTH REGION CHAMPIONSHIP– DAY 1 ALBRIGHT COLLEGE FDU–FLORHAM ITA ATLANTIC SOUTH REGION CHAMPIONSHIP– DAY 2 UNIVERSITY OF MARY WASHINGTON SALISBURY UNIVERSITY FDU–FLORHAM ITA ATLANTIC SOUTH REGION CHAMPIONSHIP– DAY 3 ROYAL LAKES FALL INVITATIONAL–DAY 1 ROYAL LAKES FALL INVITATIONAL–DAY 2

LOCATION

SCORE

HOME AWAY

W (3-2) COMPLETED

AWAY AWAY AWAY

W (2-0) W (2-1) COMPLETED

AWAY AWAY AWAY AWAY

L (2-3) L (0-3) W (1-0) COMPLETED

AWAY AWAY

14TH OF 18 13TH OF 18

6

Friday, October 6

Opinion THE STUTE EDITORIAL

The drenched chronicles: a tale of soggy news and sunny spirits It was a dark and stormy morning on Friday, September 29, at 7 a.m. when Isy and Ava set out to do the impossible: deliver the fourth issue of The Stute across campus — a seemingly ordinary day transformed into an unforgettable tall tale of two girls braving the Stevens deluge.

The daunting feasibility of the task, coupled with questionable commitment to the cause, created a rift, “should we just let the papers wash out adrift?”

The courier missed the inlet, and with a quarter of the papers already wet, they sorted through what was left, upset.

“We’re already soaked,” Ava reasoned, “we can totally do it if you grab your keys and —” BOOOOM. Thunder and lightning????? Are you kidding me?

Isy cried, and Ava sighed, “It’s the storm of the year, how can we possibly steer?

Off of Wittpenn Walk we are going to veer!”

“The cart will make it down the stairs, if you grab that side.

Don’t worry, Ava! This inconceiv-

able wind will act as our guide.”

And so the two friends set off.

The rain poured down with a ferocity that seemed unrelenting and with each step they took, their sweatpants got more soaked, making the journey feel like an uphill battle against the elements. As they trudged along the deserted paths, the clock seemed to mock Isy and Ava, ticking away the minutes, and transforming them into hours. What was supposed to be a quick delivery turned into a soggy operation that lasted over an hour and a half.

By the time they completed the deliveries around 9 a.m., Isy and Ava were soaked to the bone. Their clothes clung uncomfortably, and their hair was plastered to their faces. Despite the discomfort, a sense of accomplishment washed over them. They had faced the storm head-on and emerged victorious, with determination and teamwork prevailing over the dismal weather.

Upon finishing the deliveries, Isy and Ava got swiped into the dining hall (thanks, Jiya) and took refuge from the cold, wet world they had just left behind and filled their tum-

mies with grill line (Isy did not put egg in her sandwich).

At 9:23 a.m., The National Weather Service issued a flash flood warning demanding that no attempts at travel were made unless you are fleeing a flooding area. At the same time, Isy and Ava were sitting in the dining hall with shaken thoughts. Was that really a good idea? Did we really just risk our safety so that we wouldn’t miss a week of Friday deliveries? Are we being delusional?

The feeling they were experiencing was in fact delusion. Or, as one might say, deluge-ion. They knew they messed up and yet found it enjoyable to laugh at themselves.

This resulted in them posting on The Stute’s Instagram story, where they did a combination of sulking, laughing, and throwing a pity party for two. Just because they were completely soaked, cold, and tired doesn’t mean they had to be miserable.

After retreating to their respective apartments, At 11:01 a.m., Stevens announced that the university would shift to remote operations

MIND OF A FRESHMAN

for the remainder of the day due to dangerous flooding conditions. It was a bitter irony: Isy and Ava had braved the storm to deliver newspapers, only for the campus to shut down shortly after completing their mission.

In hindsight, the experience, though unpleasant, served as a bonding opportunity, with Isy and Ava finding solace in their shared struggle. In those moments of hardship, they forged a connection that transcended physical discomfort.

While the rain may have drenched them, it also washed away their doubts, leaving behind a sense of achievement and the knowledge that they can overcome even the most torrential storms. While marinating in a blend of regret and amusement, they recognized their escapade as a lesson in balancing commitment with common sense.

They recognized that the decision to bear the weather and still deliver the papers was not the smartest decision, but amidst the soaked papers and dripping clothes, they unearthed the power of laughter in adversity, embracing the absurdi-

ty of their situation and finding joy in shared misfortune. Their experience underscored life’s inherent unpredictability and nonsensical nature, teaching them that there’s a certain freedom in accepting that some things simply don’t add up, and the best response might just be a hearty laugh. There is no point in being terminally serious because, in reality, life isn’t terminally serious. They learned the liberating art of not taking oneself too seriously, finding resilience in humor and laughter, even when faced with life’s bewildering challenges. Their mantra, “Always remember to water your newspaper,” became a symbolic reminder of their shared resilience, friendship, and the unexpected wisdom that sprouted amidst the raindrops, inspiring them to approach life’s storms with a spirit of resilience, humor and, of course, a well-watered newspaper.

Isabella Ziv ‘25 Editor-in-Chief and Ava Wang ‘25 Managing Editor

SENIORITIS

Wait, is there an exam this week? The birthday dilemma

BY JUSTIN LEMA ‘27 Do you happen to have essays, presentations, and quizzes all due this or next week?

As freshmen, we are starting to get into the intensive part of our semesters, where we may have two or more exams in one week, followed by multiple assignments to complete. It is at this time that we should organize our assignments, so we do not fall behind. I personally use Calendar from Outlook to organize any due dates of major assignments. I also stumbled upon the calendar from Canvas student, which helps to organize all the assignments that your instructors post to the classroom. Now that we have our assignments organized, the next step is to study for that one exam and one of the best ways to practice is through practice problems.

Take advantage of the study sessions offered on campus, as they can help you review the topics that will be

on the exam. These are typically offered just a few days prior to the exam date and span for two hours. I went to the MA 125 exam review session and the instructor covered eight sample questions with all the topics. Information for these study sessions is sent to your email, so make sure to check your emails frequently.

When I arrived at my study session, I was surprised that the lecture room had fewer students than my own lecture section. I did notice that sometimes the instructor would move quickly through questions with multiple parts, but luckily those questions were not on the exam. I think that having this study session helped me to prepare for the exam as it helped me to review what I knew and learn new equations that I did not account for.

For many of us, these first exams of our college career are completely different from the format we had in high school. My class exams in high school were held in our own classrooms with no more than 30 students, while our Stevens exams take place in large lecture halls with more students than I can count. On top of the dedicated space to our exams, we also have that one hour reserved in the late afternoon. Usually, these exams are weighed more on

our grade so having the extra time before helps to fit in any last 15-minute studying. For those of you that enjoy studying right before the exam (including me), I know the stress that builds up but studying in the library will help you focus.

Focus is important to have when you are studying but also in the exam itself.

If you have experienced an exam inside a lecture room with the foldable seats, then you know the feeling as many people start submitting their exams. I have been to multiple PEP 111 quizzes and the MA 125 exam to witness the sound of the chairs as they fold up. This part of the exam is kind of like a wake-up call to everyone else who has not finished their test yet. I think that such actions just add to the stress of me rereading the question making sure to understand what it is asking.

Sure, we have one hour to complete the test, but it gets nerve wracking when you hear half the room get up and submit their tests. It seems to be done almost purposefully just like how students would aggressively flip to the back side of the test back in grade school. These are just my own insights of my experience with the exams after all, but I hope that we all have a smooth ride with exams from this point on.

BY KAYDEN CANNILLA ‘24 The last time I wrote, I danced around the question of happiness. That was a discussion of fulfillment and the idea that frustrating tasks are worth it for an overarching goal. In the short term, the existential question is: if I had a day to myself, what would I do? Who are the people I want to surround myself with that will make me happy? I struggle with this question at least once a year, as I plan my birthday.

There’s so much pressure to a perfect birthday that it feels doomed to fall short. I can spend months in planning and anticipation, or approach it guardedly and still be disappointed. I’ve had large parties with everyone I know, and intimate gatherings, and I can always find a way to be let down. You’re guaranteed the question, Did you have a good birthday? It’s a function of politeness, I have to answer affirmatively. It’s a formality,

COMIC CORNER

BY JOSIE STRANO

because what am I supposed to do if it wasn’t good? I can’t tell people that; they were just making small talk. Birthdays are the most important yet arbitrary aspect of human life.

What’s stopping me from putting this value somewhere else, unburdening myself from the responsibility of having a good time on this specific day?

Is it really any different from any other day? No one else’s life revolves around my birthday, to them it’s another Tuesday. I can’t get extensions on my assignments, delay studying for a test the next day, or not show up to work. I have to shift most celebration plans to the weekend, so then what remains on the day of? How can I make a regular day special?

It has to be in the mindset, at least in part. If I wake up sluggish and unwilling to participate in the day, I will be disappointed when nothing feels extraordinary. Last year, I didn’t sleep until 5 a.m. the night before and was dragging myself through the whole day, which in hindsight could never have made me happy. This year, even though I have a 13-hour day of commitments, I need to have a better approach. I filled my day because I like busyness, because of that long-term fulfillment. On the upside, I’ll be maximizing my opportunities to interact with people, and there’s definitely

something to receiving well wishes from the people around you, regardless of how close you are to them. What else are you supposed to say to someone when they tell you it’s their birthday if not well wishes? It’s the default response, oh it’s your birthday? Happy birthday! In the past, I might have written them off as insincere, but I’m trying to take birthday blessings as they come to me.

In high school, when I was torturing my mom by playing Weezer in the car, she had something to say about “The World Has Turned and Left Me Here.” She said if a year goes by and I still have everything I had a year ago, I’m doing pretty good for myself. As any Weezer enjoyer would say, I think she misunderstood the song, but there’s still something there. One year has gone by, and at this point in my life, I have gained so much. I have a full life here, plans for the future, and a clear path to get there. I can get caught up in feeling overworked, but anyone in my position would feel grateful.

So, maybe it doesn’t have to be this day, but it does have to be a day dedicated to me. An act of self-care to remind me of the people who care, and of all the good things that have happened to me. It’s a reason to celebrate when on other days I might not be able to come up with one.

7

Friday, October 6

Opinion BOOK OF THE WEEK

UNMASKING: AN AUTISM STORY

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho: Dangerous assumptions: a story about life’s treasure stereotypes about autism

BY VICTORIA YASHCHUK ‘26 The bright, entrancing cover of The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho will never be enough to capture the beauty lying within its pages. Not only is the story of Santiago adventurous and captivating, but his adventure can be applied to the lives of every single reader indulging in the pages, as we learn alongside Santiago about life being an interwoven phenomenon of nature and experience.

Before looking into the story, there is a quote on the back of the book: “To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only obligation.”

Destiny seems to describe the events that are meant to happen in your life — what you are meant to achieve. With so many opportunities present in our world today, we want to throw ourselves at any opportunity we possibly can and achieve as many goals as possible. Of course, achieving personal goals is an incredible and satisfying thing, but it can be safely said that the lessons learned in your journey to achieving a goal are much more important. The lessons learned in achieving your goal are the key to being successful and grateful after the goal is reached. Destiny, more importantly, are the lessons that need to be

learned in order for a goal sonal legend. Following to manifest itself into re- these omens contributes ality. to success, and reminds Santiago ponders Santiago, as well as his about a dream he had readers, that the world of someone telling him can be made a better to find treasure by the place. Everyone can make Egyptian pyramids. Du- the life of their dreams bious, Santiago wonders by having the courage to if he should follow the overcome any obstacle. dream. His entire life, he The third and most imhad wanted to travel and portant individual Santialearn new things, but his go meets is The Alchemist dream of finding the trea- himself. The Alchemist sure makes him question teaches Santiago that nawhether he is meant for ture and experience are something greater in life. interconnected. AccordWith this in mind, Santi- ing to the Alchemist, it ago goes on to meet three is important to listen to people who fuel his beliefs one’s heart, as the heart and persistence in find- contains the dreams of the ing the treasure. Firstly, individual. People tend to Santiago meets a Gypsy not listen to their hearts woman who ensures him due to fear and uncertainthat his dream is in fact, ty that the heart wants a sign that he is meant for something that will lead something great. Solidi- the person to leave their fying his dreams Santia- comfort zone. Therefore, go goes on to meet a man it is the responsibility that claims he is a king. that one has to oneself to This king, who was once listen to their heart and to a stranger to Santiago, distinguish the desires of tells Santiago different the heart and the omens facts about his life that no that life gives. Because it one ever knew. He gives is intimidating to leave Santiago two stones that one’s comfort zone, it is guide him throughout his also important for one to journey. With this, Santi- listen to fears and tricks ago learns about personal that the heart may feel. legends. Personal legends Connecting the self to refer to the things one is the powers of the world meant to achieve in life. is the key to a successful Santiago’s personal leg- union with life. end is to find the treasure that he is sure is at the Egyptian pyramids. While he ventures in search of his treasure, Santiago learns that everyone has a personal legend, and that personal legend is the exigence of every action and belief a person has. We live for our personal legends and to achieve them.

Santiago learns that life is an entity that depends on people and that life gifts people with omens to reach their per- PHOTO COURTESY OF AMAZON.COM

GIRL(ISH) TALK

Why I hated working in construction, and why I’m not leaving

BY CLAIRE HANNAN ‘24 Recently I was talking to a friend and we ended up discussing our internships. We had both worked in construction, her this past summer and me in the Spring of 2023. My experience working in construction hadn’t been great, but everyone knows that there’s a massive amount of sexism in the industry, so I wasn’t shocked when I discovered that it was true.

What was strange though, was the effect that the environment had on me. It wasn’t until my friend and I talked about it though that we realized our experiences were eerily similar. Both of us are smart and neither of us are particularly quiet people, but working in construction turned us into “stupid little girls.”

Do you remember be-

ing younger and trying to ask an adult a question, how small and wrong it made you feel? Nothing has ever been more demoralizing than being a little kid in a place that wasn’t meant for kids. All you could do was play with the toys and games your parents brought to occupy you while people talked over your head. That’s also what being a female intern in construction feels like.

Men refuse to curse in front of you but then say slurs in the hallway minutes later. If you ask for help with a task, some guy will just take it over, leaving you with nothing to do. You’re just seen as this quiet, innocent, idiot, and none of the men really know what to do or how to interact with you.

That internship was the only time I felt that I didn’t do my best work at a job. Usually I am actively involved with everything I do; I love to dive into a job and get as involved as possible, but I found myself just counting the minutes until I could go home everyday, doing the bare minimum to get through.

In my last meeting with my supervisor on my last day,

he asked me what I thought went wrong. I didn’t know how to tell him that I hated coming into work everyday, that I loved the work I was doing, but loathed everything else about it. So instead, I just told my boss that construction was more of a “boy’s club” than I expected and left it at that.

Going into engineering as a girl means going into uncomfortable spaces. It takes a really special kind of person to be able to thrive in those conditions, and I am not that kind of person… yet. As much as I disliked my first dip into the culture of the construction world, I’m graduating this upcoming spring which means applying for full time jobs, and I’m including construction jobs in that search. I’ve been able to find my footing at Stevens despite initially struggling with the gender ratio, and I think construction will be the same. It took a while for me to decide if it was worth it or not, but my friend and I also discovered something else we have in common, we loved working in construction. So, I think that I’ll try to push through the culture, who knows, maybe I’ll try to change it.

BY EVAN PAPAGEORGE ‘26 Autism, as we are discovering in this column, is shrouded in mystery — enhanced by the problematic nature of defining what autism is and the vast diversity of individuals who identify on the autism spectrum. However, since there is such variety and vagueness to what exactly autism is, there is often a stereotype of autism that is created and known. Sadly, the stereotype of autism that the general population knows is often incorrect, harmful to individuals with autism, and creates an unfavorable environment for those with autism to speak about their experiences. Today, we delve into unmasking the stereotypes of autism.

One stereotype of autism is that individuals with autism are aggressive. While individuals with autism can be aggressive, it is not because they have autism but simply because they are human. Everyone is aggressive sometimes, and as a person, everyone is allowed to get mad. The stereotype of aggressive individuals with autism

stems from sensory overload (where their environment is too stimulating for them), or they do not understand a social situation to the point where they are being silenced and feel like they are not being treated fairly.

Another stereotype of autism is that individuals with autism are obsessive. While this is not true, it stems from autism’s trait of hyperfocus.

Hyperfocus is a trait of autism where individuals can focus entirely on one person, place, thing, or idea for a long time without looking away or doing anything else. While this may seem obsessive, it is more of being interested in something, but to the extreme.

One trait of autism is more of a combination of two but extremes of the same scale: intelligence.

Individuals with autism are often considered extremely smart or lack the necessary intelligence to function, which is invalid. Individuals with autism have the same range of intelligence as individuals without autism. While some individuals with autism have exceptional intelligence or a lack thereof, there are just as many with the same levels of intelligence as those without autism.

Other stereotypes of autism stem from individuals with autism’s difficulties in social situations. Some people believe those on the au-

tism spectrum cannot converse, have relationships, or feel emotions.

Again, this is all anything but genuine. While some traits of autism do inhibit some social skills and make social situations more difficult to navigate, that is by no means that individuals with autism are unable to feel emotions, make relationships, or survive a conversation.

One more stereotype of autism is that individuals with autism “look” like they have autism. There is no reason an individual with autism needs to appear to have it. By assuming those with autism look like it, we are allowing for an environment of discrimination without giving individuals with autism the opportunity to integrate into society.

Stereotypes have many negative impacts. They force individuals with autism to feel like they cannot express themselves, seek the aid and help they may need, come out of their comfort zone, and even attempt to venture into the social realm. By learning what the stereotypes of autism are and why they are invalid, we can help educate the world about autism, not spread stereotypes. It is essential to know what sources are trustworthy to learn about autism to prevent stereotyping, a topic we will explore in the next edition of this column as we continue to unmask the mysteries of autism.

OFF THE PRESS

Breaking news: alternative fairy tales

BY OFF CENTER -SatireRecently, in the far southwest part of northeastern Hoboken, there has been a series of various strange events that have been occurring, featuring talking animals, sorcery, and the occult.

People from all over the world have been commenting on these strange events, seeing similarities to stories from long ago, with various implications and messages that were discovered as a result of this strange phenomenon.

It is important to note down this strange occurrence to help us reevaluate our lives and realize how shocking they can end up being. Here were three of the strange events that occurred.

The first strange event involved three anthropomorphic swines who, after seeing how expensive buying a house was in this economy, decided to set out to build their own houses. The first swine made their house the same way a politician makes an argument, the second swine made their house the same way a person makes a stick figure, and the third swine built their house out of bricks. A large, anthropomorphic canine from Wall Street was targeting the three swines, and since the third swine couldn’t finish their home due to taking

so long, and couldn’t run away due to using all their energy to build the house, the canine went and devoured them viciously. The canine went to target the other two houses, but the second swine tricked the canine into entering the stick home, which they immediately lit on fire to kill it. The moral most people seem to take from this, is that while hard work is important, it is smart work and mostly luck that helps you out in the end.

The second strange event involved barn animals living on a nearby farm. An anthropomorphic hen decided to bake a heavily processed carbohydrate substance, but the other anthropomorphic animals living there refused to help to uphold a lazy, sedentary lifestyle.

To punish the other animals for not helping bake the heavily processed carbohydrate substance, the hen decided to eat it up all herself. However, the other animals, unwilling to learn from their behavior, decided to not uphold their basic duties on the farm: the cow refused to give milk, the dog refused to guard the hen house, and the cat refused to chase away vermin. To prevent the farm from losing business, the hen decided to share her heavily processed carbohydrate substance. The moral most people seem to take from this is that people will take

advantage of hard-working, marginalized people to uphold their lifestyle.

The third strange event involved a young child wearing a cape who was delivering food to her recently divorced grandmother. The reason she chose to deliver it herself rather than ship the food was because her mother suggested that it would be good to see her grandmother again. The mother warned the child to not take a shortcut in the woods, due to a large apex predator living inside it, which the child heeded.

The child walked away from the woods. However, as a consequence, the apex predator started starving due to a food shortage from the woods, and taking from Darwin’s studies, decided to look for other ways to gain food. He decided to go away from the woods to look for potential meals, and saw the young child talking to her friend about where she was going. Though the girl whispered it into her friend’s ear, the apex predator listened carefully due to having a heightened sense of hearing. So the apex predator made his way to the grandmother’s house, and a fatal end came for both the child and her grandmother. The moral most people seem to take from this is that precautions can limit, but never prevent danger.

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Friday, October 6

Opinion FOR MATH’S SAKE

Playing with House money: thoughts on the shutdown drama

BY CHARLES BEALL B.S. ‘23 & PHD STUDENT While political intrigue may not excite the general readership as much as prison breaks, I found myself equally on the edge of my seat reading about how the US government narrowly avoided a shutdown as I was following the story behind my last column. There is

a very disconcerting element to this, as I’ll explain later in the piece, but for now, let’s stick to the juicy drama.

The line that struck me the most from this past weekend occurred right before House Speaker Kevin McCarthy put the bill that ended up passing both chambers just in time to keep its doors open and money flowing for another two months up to a vote. “We’ll find out [if it passes],” he said, adding, “I like to gamble.”

At first, I saw this as a moment of uncharacteristic candor from a politician (we don’t get much of that from them these days!). The move was, indeed, a gamble — something the speaker resorted to after a vote on a previous bill failed.

The new bill was 71 pages of law no other representative

had read, and because of that, it required a two-thirds majority to pass, with much of the support needing to come from Democrats, as the new law had been stripped of many conservative demands. This all was occurring as the Senate was considering a vote on its own stopgap measure to avert shutdown.

And moreover, it was a high-stakes gamble. This was no playing with house money, but rather paying with US House (and Senate) money, which, if lost, would result in funds for a key food and medical assistance program that helps almost seven million mothers and children running out; farmers missing out on important loans during harvest-time; two-thirds of the IRS being furloughed in a

month where the service receives 46,000 calls per day; and work orders to air traffic controllers and TSA officials being issued despite no pay available.

If that isn’t shocking enough, consider how much of the research being conducted at universities is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), which would have lost much of its ability to provide funding for labs and researchers. Stevens sent out an email earlier this week about potential effects of a shutdown, and they may have to send another one in November if the issues surrounding last week’s drama remain unresolved by then.

This all got me thinking: would mathematicians, or mathematically-minded people, take this gamble? Proba-

bility theory provides a powerful framework for quantifying instances of chance, but even the shift from probability to statistics involves the introduction of yet more uncertainty when trying to predict the likelihood of certain outcomes. A simple example of this involves the concept of a null hypothesis, which, for those unfamiliar with the term, can be thought of as a baseline guess for what answers a given data set will have to a certain question of interest, like “what is the correlation between politicians who like to gamble and the passage of bills in Congress?”

We have tests that can either “reject” or “fail to reject” the null hypothesis, but we can never truly “accept” this hypothesis. Data collection is always incomplete, so there may

be some pieces of data we haven’t observed yet that change the picture entirely. This is what’s so scary about making predictions, and why gambling can be met with both utter joy and crippling disappointment.

Nonetheless, decisions have to be made at some point, or else nothing would get done.

Speaker McCarthy decided with the data he had available to go through with the final House vote, and it paid off — at least when it came to averting the shutdown. But these questions are ones where mathematics doesn’t have as solid a framework to answer, and it may never find one. So for now, predicting what a mathematician would do in this instance is probably as easy as predicting what a politician would do.

just making a “master list” of all of the things that you like to eat, know how to cook, or can buy frozen. From there, you can pick and choose each week what you will cook and it can make putting together a shopping list really simple. I usually also like to rotate out which fruits and vegetables I am buying each week to have either as sides to meals or just for snacking. The planned variety helps me reduce food fatigue and maintain my motivation for cooking.

Depending on where you live in Hoboken, it can seem almost impossible to go grocery shopping since most of them are very far from campus. On a budget, I recommend going to ShopRite over Acme since

it is much larger, has a nicer selection, and prices are consistently much lower. Typically what I do is grocery shop once a week, with two large Ikea bags each slung around one of my shoulders. While it is quite a trek, and definitely not an easy one, I am able to purchase a lot of food at a time even if I have to take frequent breaks on my walk home.

Now if you fall into the last category of living off takeout, I also have some useful tips for you as well. Utilize different offers and cash back incentives to make sure you are rarely paying full price for takeout!

Along with this, make sure that you are logged into your Stevens account on GrubHub and are getting the free GrubHub+

membership with no delivery fees and also its own cash back bank! Other than perks on the GrubHub account, my favorite takeout hack is using my cash back rewards on my Discover credit card to purchase GrubHub gift cards at a discounted price. For example, with $190 in cash back (all just from my regular everyday purchases, not any money coming out of my pocket), I can purchase a $200 gift card to go towards takeout.

No matter how you get your meals, hopefully you were able to learn a thing or two about how I have gone through my Stevens career trying to make the most out of my dining, grocery shopping, and takeout experiences.

LIFESTYLE HACKS

Optimizing your meals

BY ZOE HACK ‘24 Whether you are on a meal plan, cook for yourself, or order takeout every night, I’m sure there’s been a time when you wondered if you were getting the most bang for your buck. As a self-proclaimed sale-shopping enthusiast, hopefully I can share some helpful tips for eating meals

that are both yummy and won’t break the bank.

While I haven’t been on the meal plan for quite some while, I definitely remember enough to share a few tips. One of my biggest issues my first year was getting food fatigued — basically I would get into a cycle of eating the same things everyday, and would just get so tired of them and not feel like eating much at all anymore.

This was usually either chicken nuggets, pizza, or a cheeseburger for me since I was typically skeptical of any meat that came from the Comfort Station. To combat food fatigue, I would start to mix things up.

For example, instead of always going to Pierce, grabbing a few meals a week from another

campus dining location. And for whatever reason, I always seemed to forget about America’s Cup, which in my opinion, is severely underrated. During my first year, I also had a plan on how to use the GrubHub dining dollars of the meal plan which I was quite proud of. Since there were limited dining options on the weekends my first year, I would opt to use the dining dollars on weekends and get to try out some new fun meals.

If you’re not on the meal plan and instead cooking for yourself (this is the situation that I am and have been in for the past three years, wow I’m old), I also have some possibly useful tips for you! My biggest tip would be sitting down and

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

Jeffrey Smart: painting industrial landscapes of the modern age

BY ITAI GELLER ‘26 In this week’s Artist Spotlight, I will be covering the Australian Precisionist and contemporary realist landscape painter Jeffrey Smart, one of Australia’s most celebrated artists for his unique perspective on the industrial landscapes of the modern age. Although

I have previously covered contemporary artists, precisionism is an artistic genre which I have not previously explored nor heard of. Precisionism is unusual in that it promotes a lack of perspective. Rather than adhering to the landscape style applied in more traditional artistic genres such as the Romantic and Impressionist movements which utilize panoramic perspectives, Precisionism is characterized by a sharper focus. While the angles in Precisionist paintings typically convey far less objects in a scene than a traditional landscape, they contain a lot more depth. This is also a result of the lack of satu-

ration in the painting; more emphasis is placed on shadows and the objects are portrayed in a monotone color scheme. The objects feel like they have more volume because they are sharper and more defined.

Like most artists, Smart has remained relatively secretive about the underlying message of his paintings.

However, there are certain ideas which we can certainly derive from his vast collection of paintings. The curiosity of Smart’s work is that Precisionism’s primary focus is conflicted between two differing ideals, one which argues that technology would enhance the human experience, while the

other posits that technology would dehumanize society.

When observing Smart’s work, it is fully unclear if he is arguing in favor of either of these positions. Take for example his piece “Motor Dump - Pisa II”, in which the leaning tower of Pisa is surrounded by a never ending sea of automobiles.

The leaning tower of Pisa, in itself, is a defunct object.

This makes it difficult to derive Smart’s position; Is he ultimately suggesting that the clutter caused by modern technology will render traditional values obsolete (i.e. the leaning tower of Pisa is an Italian national treasure) or is he suggesting that it doesn’t matter any-

way because both objects are imperfect. My ultimate contention is that Smart is suggesting that regardless of the circumstances, the development of the modern world will far outpace the evolution of humanity itself.

An excellent example of my conclusion is illustrated in Smart’s “Container at Pisa Airport”, a landscape piece produced in a much more traditional style. The scene is expansive and maintains the depth and darkness of any Precisionist painting. Although the painting contains far less scenery elements, it better conveys what I believe to be Smart’s conviction.

The five cargo containers,

neatly stacked in the empty airfield, tower over the human subjects. Similarly to many of Smart’s works, the land is completely devoid of any other human life.

The subjects are there for scale, rather than for realism. They stand in the dark shadow of the storage containers; an anomaly in the remnants of industry. Yet another artistic conundrum for the reader to consider…

ing.

Packaging also plays a big role in fast fashion. Have you ever ordered one small thing from amazon and it comes in a box four-times the size of it? Brands that sustainably package their clothing are more ethical, because they are reducing their impact on the earth. You can research how brands package their clothes, or just shop in person and bring your own reusable bag.

Since clothes do eventually wear out, you should be conscious about what types of materials your clothes are made out of. The materials are usually written on the sizing label, so you can quickly check whether something is made out of polyester, which

is a non-biodegradable plastic, or linen, a material that can break down easily. This quick check can have a great impact on the Earth.

You can also look up the working conditions of the workers for the clothing brand. Even if the company doesn’t directly state them, a quick google search can reveal a lot. You can find articles about popular clothing brands and their treatment of workers. Generally speaking, if there is a negative article about the working conditions for a specific brand, that’s enough of a red flag. For example, SHEIN has countless negative articles about how they may be utilizing child labor in third world countries.

Sustainable brands can be

more expensive, because fair labor and quality materials cost more. If you are a broke college student who typically defaults to shein because of how cheap it is, I would recommend trying to thrift your clothing first. There are plenty of thrift stores throughout Hoboken, like St. Mary Advocates, that have basic clothing staples. You can also organize clothing swaps with your friends where you all bring clothes you don’t wear anymore and pick out clothing from each other’s old wardrobes.

So next time you need something new to wear, remember how to detect clothing store red flags, so you can contribute to a healthier, more ethical Earth.

PAINTING BY JEFFREY SMART

THAT’S A RED FLAG!

Sustainable fashion and red flags

BY ANNA DABROWSKI ‘26 Sometimes it can be difficult to tell if you are contributing to fast fashion. There are so many different online influencers saying different things regarding what qualifies as fast fashion, and what popular brands may be exploiting labor. College stu-

dents are busy, and broke, so it can be very difficult to sit down and research what makes a brand ethical or sustainable. However, there are some red flags to know regarding clothing brands that can easily be applied in practice.

Fast fashion refers to garments that are produced in correlation with fast-changing trends. Buying fast fashion can be harmful because when you buy trendy clothes, you may be less inclined to wear them two months later when the trend is over. This can result in clothes ending up in landfills. You can tell if a store is on the fast fashion track by observing how quickly their stock changes.

Stores that change their stock

every two weeks are probably basing their stock on fast fashion trends. Stores who’s stock stays relatively the same for a whole season may not be contributing to fast fashion.

Another good place to start is a company’s mission statement. A lot of times this can be found on an easily accessible part of their website. Sometimes their mission statement will say something about corporate social responsibility (CSR).

Companies will talk about what they are doing to reduce environmental impacts, and other contributions to social causes. It is a good indicator if a company has this type of mission statement, but you still need to do more research because they could just be ly-

9

Friday, October 6

Feature SUMAC, AEC, AND WCPR PRESENT: HYPERPOP NIGHT

BY CHLOE BRENNA, STAFF WRITER On Saturday, September 23, Stevens Underground Music Awareness Committee hosted their first show of the year in collaboration with the Audio Engineering Club and Castle Point Radio. “Hyperpop Night” featured producer 622chaos (Zach Berkowitz, Stevens alum), Coleman.X, the New York-based electronic artist, and Sophie Shredz, the Nash-

PHOTOS COURTESY OF STEVE HUASHUAYO

ville-based, guitar-heavy hyperpop artist. SUMAC President Jan Slezka (‘25) welcomes everyone back to the semester-“We were so happy with how many new and familiar faces came by to check us out, even with the terrible luck we had with the weather”. Additionally, SUMAC has “a lot of exciting things planned for this semester” with another event planned for Halloween in collaboration with WCPR, as well another on-campus concert slated for December.

10

Friday, October 6

Campus Pulse

Evan Pravato ‘25

Cameron McEwan ‘27

Kate DiGilio ‘27

“One Thing At a Time by Morgan Wallen.”

“Forgiveless by SZA.”

“You’re Gonna Go Far by Noah Kahan.”

ROVING REPORTER

By Rafael Lee Li and Mia Petrolino

“Creep by Radiohead.”

“What’s your favorite song right now?”

“What a horrible question, I don’t listen to music.”

Payton Pietraszek ‘27

Isabella Shanley ‘27

William Dory ‘25

“Ms. Poli Sci by Paul Russell, Khary.”

“Am I a man or am I a Muppet.”

“I lost my phone I haven’t listened to music all week.”

Janet Hamrani ‘24

Sudoku Hard Puzzle: 0.69 difficulty

DJ Gereski ‘25