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We write Stevens history VOLUME CXIX No. 22

HOBOKEN, NJ | APRIL 15, 2022

Techfest headliner announced: A R I Z O N A BY SANJANA MADHU, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF After over two years of the pandemic, the Entertainment Committee (EC) has been planning an in-person Techfest, an annual concert event at Stevens. Last year, Techfest EC hosted a virtual Techfest with guests Pete Davidson, COIN, Cody Ko, Rico Nasty, and Jeremy Zucker. On April 5, 2022, EC took ownership of the petting zoo on campus and announced that the theme for Techfest 2022 was State Fair. The following day, EC disclosed that this year’s headliner is A R I Z O N A, a rock and electropop band. A R I Z O N A is a band based in New Jersey and is currently signed to Atlantic Records. The band consists of three band members: vocalist Zachary Charles, guitarist Nathan Esquite, and keyboardist David Labuguen. Presently, the band has several released singles and EPs and two released albums: Asylum (2019) and Gallery (2017). According to an interview with Riff Magazine, A R I Z O N A has been working on a third album, which is scheduled to release in Fall 2022. When asked why A R I Z O N A was chosen as this year’s Techfest headliner, EC cited three reasons: (1) “their music aligns well with the general student body’s

As Stevens’ reputation grows, additional space is needed to house its students and equipment in order to improve the staff and student experience. The Howe Center, particularly the third level, will be renovated to accommodate staff, students, and visitors when the University Center Complex (UCC) is open and ready to provide additional room for the class of 2025. The project will begin on Monday, April 11, 2022, and finish Friday, July 29, 2022. “Renovation to the 3rd Floor of the Wesley J. Howe Center to create new private office spaces, reception area, and pantry for the University Events Department,” Matthew Cunningham, Editor Emeritus of The Stute, wrote in an email to The Stute, “in

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addition to a new Mother’s Room, a more enhanced, modernized Fielding Classroom, and new restrooms and storage areas. It is anticipated that “the construction activities required for this project will create moderate noise disruptions throughout the construction period.” In addition, during the process of the construction, the surrounding area will be “closed off to the public,” although the staff and students will still be able to access the STEP Department. “Work hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.– 4 p.m. but may occasionally occur outside those hours as required,” [someone] added. “All construction work will be under the supervision of the Department of Design & Construction of the Facilities and Campus Operations Division.”

ELLE MAGGIO FOR THE STUTE

NEWS (2-5)

SCIENCE (6)

Read more about musicians at Stevens Learn about student artists Chloe Croisner, 622chaos, and AJ Kasper

All you need to know about the human genome and Fentanyl test strips

Student organizations at Stevens celebrate Photos from the Unity Showcase, Pride After Dark, and the Hindu YUVA New Year’s celebration

UNITY SHOWCASE

musical interests.” After collecting data about students’ favorite artists, A R I Z O N A seemed to be a clear pick because their music blends a variety of genres like pop, alternative, rock, and electronic. “They have also collaborated with several different EDM artists such as Louis The Child, Matoma, and the late Avicii (Tim Bergling) which is another genre of interest at Stevens;” (2) A R I Z O N A is from New Jersey, just like a majority of the student body. And since this year’s theme is State Fair, “how fitting is it that A R I Z O N A is from Jersey (Glen Rock);” (3) many of their singles have charted on Spotify, Tik Tok, and the radio, so “students are bound to have a fun time singing and dancing along.” Booking a headliner this year was no easy task. With the increase in live performances, “many artists increased their prices and/or were booked for gigs way before we were able to start our process since we’re confined to an academic year,” EC expressed. However, they were able to work with Student Life and an agent who “helped [them] secure A R I Z O N A and turn around one of the faster headliner contracts [they]’ve ever had.” EC had also looked into booking other artists before ultimately booking A R I Z

Howe Center 3rd floor renovation BY DIEM TRINH, STAFF WRITER

NEW STUTE EVERY FRIDAY • EST. 1904

OPINION (7-9)

Editorial Mind of a Freshman Senioritis Scientific Curmudgeon Not Financial Times (NFT) Off The Press The Conversation

SGA holds vigil for Ukraine

APIDA Heritage Month

BY DANIEL YU, CONTRIBUTING REPORTER

BY DIEM TRINH, STAFF WRITER

Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi American (APIDA) Heritage Month honors and embraces Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi American “cultures, contributions, and traditions.” Normally, APIDA is held in May; however, many universities and colleges observe it in April. According to Liliana Delman, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, “The month of May was chosen due to the beginning of Japanese immigration to the US in May 1843 and the completion of the transcontinental railroad (built primarily by Chinese workers) in May 1869.” There are a total of 6 events scheduled from April 6 to April 30. On April 6, SASE (Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers) Science Day took place, and it was held by SASE. “SASE Nationals has a Science Week where every chapter has a science-themed event,” Serena Lee, President of SASE, wrote in an email interview with The Stute. “We went with a water tasting event

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SEE APIDA PAGE 2

Men’s volleyball road to winning MACs BY CHRISTA RUIZ, STAFF WRITER On April 9, No. 4 Stevens Men’s volleyball won the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) over No. 13 Messiah University. They swept the match 3-0, with each individual set attaining a score of 2523, 25-15, 25-20. One of the important games that brought the Ducks to the championship match was their final game of the regular season. On April 2, Stevens continued their winning streak to 15 games when they beat Messiah to secure the MAC regular-season title. The team’s victory also gave them the top seed in the league’s postseason tournament. Across five sets, Stevens won 3-2, with scores of 20-25, 29-27, 27-29, 25-20, and 1511. First-year Koby Sherman and junior Connor Feulner contributed to the team’s performance, with 17 and 13 kills respectively. In their opening game of that tournament, Stevens swept Arcadia with scores of 25-23, 25-16, and 25-11. The team finished the regular season with a record of 26-3 and 13-0 within the league. In the semi-final match in Canavan Arena on April 6, Stevens defeated Arcadia 3-1 with scores of 25-22, 16-25, 25-18, 25-20. Stevens ended the third set on a 9-4 run and the fourth set on a 12-5 run.

Sherman had a career high of 26 kills, and junior Percy Bickford followed with 14 kills. Their semi-final win brought them to the final game of the tournament against Messiah, played at home. In the first set, the teams battled through an intense game and shared 11 ties and six lead changes, and ended with a close score of 25-23. In the second match, Stevens started with a 5-0 lead and kept the lead the whole way through, winning at a margin of 25-15. In the third and final match, Messiah scored the first point, where after that Stevens took the lead and kept it through the match and won 25-20, securing their championship title. Throughout their 3-0 win, Sherman led the team with 17 kills and was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. Graduate student Jack Fyda had six kills, and Bickford finished with five kills. The team overall across the three sets hit for .319, and had 35 kills, 34 assists, five aces, and eight blocks. The victory gave Stevens their first-ever MAC Championship and first conference title since 2018. The team’s season record improved to 283, and they earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament. On April 15, Stevens will take on Endicott College at home in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament.

Friday, April 15

News Masthead Volume CXIX No. 22 Executive Board EDITOR-IN-CHIEF..............................SANJANA MADHU ‘23 BUSINESS MANAGER.......................JORDYN RAMELLI ‘23 MANAGING EDITOR............................. KEENAN YATES ‘24 LAYOUT EDITOR.........................................ISABELLA ZIV ‘24 OUTREACH CHAIR...............................KATIE BLOOMER ‘25 DIGITAL MANAGER...............................BEMIN SHAKER ‘23 SECRETARY......................................ZANE THUMMBORST ‘23

Editorial Board NEWS EDITOR................................STEPHANIE SEARING ‘24 FEATURE EDITOR..................................TASHA KHOSLA ‘25 SCIENCE EDITOR............................RAYNA INDELICATO ‘22 OPINION EDITOR............................ROSHNI REVANKAR ‘22 HEAD COPY EDITOR.....................GIANNA CALLEGARI ‘24

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 O N A. They prioritized booking Fetty Wap this year because he was booked as the 2020 headliner, but “you can just Google ‘Rolling Loud’ and ‘Fetty Wap’ to see how that went.” Additionally, there were talks of bringing COIN or Jeremy Zucker, artists from virtual Techfest 2021, back to campus to perform in-person this year. However, EC ultimately “agreed that it might be better to try and bring in some new talent.” Techfest is scheduled for Saturday, April 30, and will include entertainment like student performances, food trucks, giveaways for attendees, carnival games, and opportunities for student involvement.

PHOTO COURTESY OF RIFF MAGAZINE

Operations Board

VIGIL

HEAD PHOTOGRAPHER...........CAROLINE MONTANA ‘22 SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER............VANESSA HUERTA ‘23

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 ruptions throughout the construction period.” In addition, during the process of the construction, the surrounding area will be “closed off to the public,” although the staff and students will still be able to access the STEP Department. “Work hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.– 4 p.m. but may occasionally occur outside those hours as required,” [someone] added. “All construction work will be under the supervision of the Department of Design & Construction of the Facilities and Campus Operations Division.”

Staff & Contributors Aleksander Dimoski Benjamin Knobloch Christa Ruiz Daniel Yu Diem Trinh Emma Tong Joseph Ames Kayden Cannilla

Leigha Tierney Marisa Powers Matthew Brantl Nicole Giardino Olof Persson Oz Aguinaga Pooja Rajadurai Rafael Lee Li

Contact Us GENERAL.........................................EBOARD@THESTUTE.COM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.........................EDITOR@THESTUTE.COM ADVERTISING.............................BUSINESS@THESTUTE.COM OFFICE......................................STUDENT CENTER ROOM #303

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Disclaimer All opinions and editorials reflect the views of their respective author(s). No Part of The Stute may be reproduced in any form, in whole or in part, without the written consent of the Editor-in-Chief. Cited references of The Stute are permitted.

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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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DANIEL YU FOR THE STUTE

APIDA

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 where we have people taste different brands of water and determine the brand based on taste alone, and a small activity on the side, making slime.” According to Lee, the event grew out of an inside joke about her liking a certain brand of water. “We threw in some slime making because we thought some people might not enjoy just water tasting,” she continued. In preparation for the event, SASE experienced a significant shift in the planning process. Since the pandemic, the organization had to find new approaches to preparing food that was not prepackaged. The e-board members, however, decided to plan on finding an area where the events would be held “because [they] need designated eating areas and just make sure that [they] are following all the safety measures.” Despite this, they only had one event that included food, which was Asian Cultural Night. SASE, like many other organizations, saw Zoom as a significant challenge. “We made the best of the situation by using Zoom as most other clubs did, but the way we interacted with general body members was definitely different,” Lee stated. Along with Science Day, SASE also hosted the event Earth Day with SASE on April 14. “We wanted to have a fun and chill event and Earth Day was coming, so we thought ‘what better way to celebrate than to have a planting event?’ Lee said. “We’re going to have attendees decorate a pot and plant a seed to take with them.” Because Earth Day is easily associated with planting events, SASE’s e-board members

decided to have a twist on their planning process. “Instead of doing succulents, we went with seeds instead for people to see their plants grow,” Lee continued. Because the e-board members wanted everyone to have fun and de-stress from the end-of-semester cram, painting the pots became a component of the celebration. The goal of SASE’s two events was for everyone to have a wonderful time and “be creative with their pots.” “Another thing is turnout; as a club, we do hope to have a good turnout from our general board, and we’re hoping these two events get a pretty good turnout,” Lee added. On April 13, the Filipino Association of Stevens Tech (FAST) presented Panagbenga, an event where people could “enjoy Filipino food and performances.” In an email interview with The Stute, Peter Om, President of FAST, said, “For our upcoming event, Panagbenga, we are bringing back a lot of what we did pre-pandemic. We are inviting other [organizations] to participate with performances and food as well.” According to Om, Edmund Yuen, Social Chair of FAST, “is [their] main event planner who outlines all the logistics involved.” He collaborates with their cultural chairs and performance directors to bring Filipino culture into meals, presentations, dances, and other activities. In addition to Filipino culture, other organizations that co-hosted the event with FAST had the opportunity to showcase their cultures. “I have high hopes for the success of the event and am really excited to see its return after 2 years!” Om said. On April 19, APIDA Dance Workshop will take place at 9:15 p.m. at Babbio Center (BC) 104. The workshop is planned by Sigma Psi Zeta Sorority, Inc. (ΣΨΖ),

and they will co-host it with the Chinese Student Association (CSA), Filipino Association of Stevens Tech (FAST), and Nu Alpha Phi Fraternity, Inc. (NAΦ). This event will have dance instructors from these organizations to teach students different genres of dance. Sabrina Vuong, Recruitment Chair for Sigma Psi Zeta, wrote in an email interview with The Stute, “We want to show people that culture isn’t scary or weird and that it transcends language barriers, just like music does.” This workshop, according to Vuong, was never held prior to the pandemic, but a similar one was held during the pandemic. However, due to technical difficulties when done via Zoom (lagging music and videos, as well as insufficient connections), the event was not as exciting and enjoyable as it would have been if it had been held in person. Sigma Psi Zeta has also contacted various organizations to co-host the workshop, and the ones with which they are co-hosting were the ones to reply, and they will be in charge of the respective dances. The Recruitment Committee of Sigma Psi Zeta had planned for this workshop to be taught in multiple rooms, but due to a lack of cohosts, they thought that it would be preferable if the dances were taught one after the other so that everyone could learn everything. “I’m excited! We haven’t done anything like this in-person yet and I already had a pretty good time when I had done it online,” Vuong stated. “I think the cool thing about dance is how many different styles and interpretations there are, even if you aren’t a dancer (because I wasn’t either) you just need to have fun with it and you’re already halfway there.”

Friday, April 15

News

MUSIC AT STEVENS Musician Spotlight: Chloe Croisner, 622chaos, and AJ Kasper BY KAYDEN CANNILLA, STAFF WRITER As the end of the semester approaches, upperclassmen Music and Technology majors focus on their portfolios. The Stute asked three musicians about their work and plans for the future. Chloe Crosnier is a junior who writes and produces original music, playing bass, guitar, and drums. She has dabbled in many areas of music throughout her life, from piano to choir to musical theatre, but didn’t originally consider it as a potential career. She found herself unhappy in her first path, so she transferred to Stevens for her sophomore year. “In just my first semester at Stevens, my confidence and ability skyrocketed,” she expressed. She specifically notes her classes in Electronic Music as key to helping her gain confidence as a producer. Crosnier says that Stevens’ environment helped foster her creativity and develop her musical career. She’s most influenced by the music of Billie Eilish, saying “I’m so inspired by her musical journey and success, as well as her style of performing. I think most of the music I make

is pretty similar to her style, with my own twist.” She also appreciates the work of Tyler the Creator, Kali Uchis, and Charlie XCX. She has produced several songs in her time at Stevens, working towards a debut album as a senior thesis project. In the future, she hopes to be able to perform live and tour. Make sure to catch her at the end of semester celebration, “The Power of Stevens!” Zack Berkowitz is a junior Music and Technology major and music producer. He started music by “playing around on Garageband” and progressed to Logic Pro making songs and beats under the name 622chaos. He explains the name by saying “622 because my birthday is June 22nd, and I like the word chaos because I feel that it suits my music well. It’s full of surprises and unpredictable.” He’s influenced by non-traditional genres such as hyperpop and experimental hip hop, citing artists SOPHIE, Charli XCX, A.G. Cook, Brockhampton, Death Grips, and JPEGMAFIA. 622chaos, however, is Berkowitz’s original sound, and he says that if he had to describe an artist that might sound similar to him, Kero Kero Bonito would

be a good place to start. Berkowitz says the Audio Engineering Club and the other creative minds at Stevens help him in his musical career. He enjoys the open mic nights and music production classes, which expose him to “different genres, styles, and practices that I would have not been able to experience.” He also names his Davis Hall dorm room as his recording studio for his EP 622danger, which “was about some boy that didn’t want me but I was obsessed with. It was really depressing honestly.” In the future, he hopes to be employed. He describes his frustration in his pursuit of job opportunities, saying it’s likely he may need to explore fields outside of his major to pay for school. Music and Technology majors have the lowest career outcome rate according to the 2021 Career Outcome Report, with 35% of graduates seeking employment. Supporting Stevens artists by streaming their music and attending events can help them get a leg up when searching for jobs. Alexander (AJ) Kasper is a graduating senior, President of the Audio Engineering Club, a guitarist, a bassist, an engineer, and

a music producer. Starting guitar as a hobby at five years old, music across genres has always been a part of Kasper’s life. Now, he lends his talents to many NJ artists and other Music and Tech majors, playing for “Flourish,” “Behind the Curtain,” “Exit 114,” “Cool and Good,” “Beekeeper,” “Porchlight,” “Chris Nitti and the Dream Blunt Rotation,” and multiple senior thesis projects. Kasper draws inspiration from classic rock artists like The Who, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, and Jimi Hendrix. He admires each of them for different reasons “whether it was Pete Townshend’s songwriting ability, Jimmy Page’s mystique, the cosmic energy of Eddie Van Halen, or the pure definition of cool that was Hendrix.” Kasper has recorded three full-length projects at Stevens, Cool and Good’s 2020 record We Used to Talk About Pizza, Porchlight’s 2022 debut EP The Goods are Odd, and his thesis, a 16-song album. Kasper says his biggest takeaway from recording at Stevens is “how to deal with things that don’t go according to plan…I have learned how to think outside the box and quickly adapt my plans to

work around these things.” Kasper claims he has simple aspirations, “similar to any field: find a job, make money at it, and hopefully enjoy doing it.” He says he’d like to play Madison Square Garden and join the ranks of music legends like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Kurt Cobain. He and his many bands have several upcoming events: Chris Nitti and The Dream Blunt Rotation on April 23 at Ithaca College, Beekeeper on April 24 for Sigma Delta Tau’s buffet event, and April 30 at Techfest. He’d also like to encourage all interested to sign up for the May 6 closing jam hosted by the Audio Engineering Club. Finally, as an update to a previous article on musicians at Stevens, Jack Piccirillo, Sam Sherwood, and Matt Vera will be touring with up-and-coming artist Mei Nine this summer. Their first show will be on May 8, and they express their excitement about this new opportunity. “All three of us are excited to showcase what we’ve learned,” Piccirillo says. “It’s exciting to be a part of this newly formed group and we can’t wait to be there as the artist grows and gains more of a following.”

Stevens orchestra’s “Mostly Baroque” concert BY NICOLE GIARDINO, STAFF WRITER On Saturday, April 9, 2022, the Stevens Orchestra performed their spring concert, “Mostly Baroque,” in DeBaun Auditorium. With their winter concert having no audience and being recorded instead, this is the Stevens Orchestra’s first in-person, live concert since preCOVID-19. Freshman Violin two player Erin McGee said, “I loved getting to play with a group in person again, for a real audience. It was something I didn’t realize I took for granted until we lost it to COVID. Music was one of the many things that many of us underclassmen lost in high school. It’s been such a privilege to be able to continue playing in college with such a great group of people.” Conducted by Orchestra Director Steven Rochen, this concert presented a mix of different styles to the audience. As the title suggests, the concert mostly consisted of Baroque music, along with

pieces from other historical music types and styles. With a large mix of players, this orchestra was able to have choirs of different instruments, including a four-person Trombone Choir, a nine-person Viola Choir, and a seven-person Cello Choir. The other instruments included violin (one and two), bass, flute, clarinet, and oboe. It is evident that these 39 students put in much time and effort to make this night a success. This spring concert marked the end of many member’s journeys, as the Stevens Orchestra is saying goodbye to the following seniors: Violin two – Matthew De La Paz, Trombone – Mac Collins and Joey Rupert, Cello – Garrett Horwath, Bass – Grant Simmons and Arik Odre, Flute – Jennifer Searing, Milena Sudarikov, and Twinkle Gupta, and Clarinet – Brittany Seelman. From the strong introduction piece, Prelude from Te Deum, performed by the full orchestra, the concert moved into a violin duo, Allegro, from Sonata VI in D for

two violins, performed by Carter Rosen and Amélie Ratliff. Then, the Trombone Choir performed a piece written by the more contemporary composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, leading into the sounds of a more early style of music. The full orchestra then proceeded to play a piece by Ottorino Respighi, followed by the Viola Choir playing a haunting sarabande, which featured string sounds from a famous piece known as the Bach. The longest piece of the night came from Concerto for Two Violins in D minor, featuring the violin duo, Carter Rosen and Amélie Ratliff once again. This piece was in three movements, which Rochen described during the show as “one fast, one slow, and one zippy”. This was followed by the Cello Choir playing a beautiful pavane piece. The final song of the night was a jazz piece known as Take Five, which encaptivated the energy of the entire show. You can follow the Stevens Orchestra on Instagram, @sitorchestra.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF NICOLE GIARDINO AND STEVENS ORCHESTRA

Friday, April 15

News UNITY SHOWCASE LIGHTS UP THE STAGE

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE ETHNIC STUDENT COUNCIL

Friday, April 15

News

STUDENT ORGS CELEBRATE Stevens first Hindu new year by Hindu YUVA BY CAROLINE MONTANA, HEAD PHOTOGRAPHER On Sunday, April 3, the Stevens Hindu YUVA Chapter celebrated its first celebration of Hindu New Year. The festivities began with Jallosh, a New Jersey-based music troupe that keeps the playing of traditional Indian drums alive. The band performed music that originated from Maharashtra, India. They combined drums (Dhol) and cymbals (Taasha) to create an incredible and authentic atmosphere. In Marathi, the language of Maharashtra, the name for such a troupe is Dhol Taasha Pathak, which translates to Drum Cymbal Squad. This form of music, Dhol-Tasha, was originally used in war to motivate soldiers before battle. However, over time, Dhol-Tasha became a custom for joyous occasions, such as marriages, New Year celebrations, and Ganesh Chaturthi. At this

particular New Year celebration, over a hundred students danced and rejoiced together to the beat of the drums. Along with the captivating music, student performers Yasha Manjunatha and Venkat Gouranga sang for the crowd. Two speakers, Shri Shivam Gosai and Dr. Shekhar Patel joined them as well in order to provide more insight into the meaning behind the Hindu New Year. Shivam is a mental health counselor who spoke on the spirituality surrounding the new year. For three years, Shivam studied Hindu spirituality, which is called Advaita Vedanta, at Arsha Vidya Gurukulam in South India. Meanwhile, Dr. Patel is the President of the International Center for Cultural Studies and a Board of Trustee of the Hindu University of America. He informed the audience about the meaning behind the New Year. After the speakers presented, dinner was served. The food was

prepared in Maharashtrian style. There were spiced potatoes with herbs (Batata Bhaji), fried wheat bread (Puri), spiced rice (Masala Bhaat), and saffron milk sweet balls (Kesar Pedha). The food was delicious and filled the room with a beautiful aroma. While the attendees ate, Jallosh began to beat their drums, and the dance floor filled up again. The Stevens Hindu YUVA Chapter was established in November 2021 by founding members Abhishek Paradkar (President), Sumedh Habbu (Secretary), and Nishanth Sura (Treasurer). The other executive committee members are Samradnyi Deshmukh (Vice President), Ayushi Gupta (Social Media Chair), and Sanhita Bhagwat (Public Relations Chair). Their doors are open to students of all religious, national, and backgrounds. Additionally, the Chapter invites all and any Hindu undergraduate students to attend their meetings and events.

CAROLINE MONTANA FOR THE STUTE

PRIDE AFTER DARK

OLOF PERSSON FOR THE STUTE

Friday, April 15

Science First gapless human genome mapped BY BENJAMIN KNOBLOCH, STAFF WRITER Signaling a landmark milestone in health science, geneticists have unveiled the first complete human genome map. Over 3,500 new human genes have been identified, some of which likely encode information critical to a greater understanding of human development. The entirely-filled human DNA sequence may set the stage for new discoveries and life-improving innovations in human health, including in cancer and birth defect treatment. The announcement was made on March 31, 2022, in a series of six papers in Science magazine by scientists who are members of the Telomere-to-Telomere Consortium (T2T). T2T, which describes itself as an “open, community-based effort to generate the first complete assembly of a

human genome,” consists of scientists from all over the world who dedicated their work to the goal reached last month. Its name references the caps found at the ends of chromosomes, the molecules that carry genetic material. The existing authoritative genome used by scientists is the product of the Human Genome Project, completed in 2003. Despite decades of effort, that largescale research project was only able to map 92% of the human genome. The new announcement means that the previously missing 8% has been found using more recent advancements in DNA-sequencing technology. In particular, scientists now have a far better picture of the content of centromeres, the portions of chromosomes at the centers of the “X”-shaped molecules. The new research has also corrected thousands of errors in the original Human Genome map. Much has changed in the re-

search process since the end of the Human Genome Project almost twenty years ago. Costs have fallen sharply; Human Genome was three billion dollars in scope, but the new map only required a few million dollars to complete. The success is also the result of a pair of breakthroughs, one procedural and one technological. Each human cell really contains two genomes, one from the mother and one from the father. A major difficulty with genome mapping efforts is the struggle to distinguish whether any given sequence is paternal or maternal. One T2T researcher named Karen Miga described it as “like having two identical puzzles that only vary slightly in the same box.” A clever solution took advantage of a rare kind of tumor - called a hydatidiform mole - that contains only two copies of the paternal genome. By sequencing from these cells, geneticists were able to greatly simplify the map-

ping process and bring a 100% mapped genome within reach. Previous efforts were also hampered by limits in the capability of older sequencing machines. It wasn’t until new machines were developed at Oxford Nanopore Technologies and Pacific Biosciences of California that geneticists had the computational power necessary for the task. Nevertheless, there are certain aspects of the map that remain imperfect. Like the sequence produced by the Human Genome Project, this genome is really an amalgamation of DNA from dozens of different humans rather than a single individual’s genetic code. That means that it can be regarded as falling short of being a true human genome, said geneticist Ting Wang of Washington University in St. Louis. Yet he’s still optimistic about what this achievement means for human health. “Having a complete genome reference definite-

ly improves biomedical studies.… It’s an extremely useful resource,” he said. Among the genes newly mapped are ones that have been linked to brain evolution and development, autism, immune responses, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Even with its founding goal completed, the Telomere-to-Telomere Consortium said that it would be moving on to a new initiative: the “pangenome project.” T2T said it will aim to construct complete genomes of 350 people from different ethnic and geographic backgrounds, addressing perceived homogeneity in existing genome maps. As for using the full map to improve human health treatment and expand medical knowledge, the race is now on. Doing that will likely take years, but the full map is an exciting milestone, said Wendy Chung, a Columbia University geneticist, commenting that “It gets us to the starting line.”

The Cost of the Internet: Personalized Advertising BY OZ AGUINAGA, CONTRIBUTOR Whether we like it or not, algorithmic targeted marketing has become a part of the online experience for most users, and it doesn’t look like it’s leaving anytime soon. In an effort to retain users’ time online and increase profits, advertisers create personalized feeds with recommended content, customized advertising, and sponsored stories. In a case study published by MIT Case Studies in Social and Ethical Responsibilities of Computing (SERC), Tanya Kant explores the history, analyzes the current landscape, and considers the ethical consequences of personalized marketing. Advertisers use computer algorithms to profile users. These algorithms collect the user’s behavior by analyzing clicks, likes, minutes watched, etc. The data is then aggregated and categorized against groups of users to establish what is of personal relevance. These categories are extensive, perhaps even intrusive: gender, age, ethnicity, dietary preferences, facial recognition, political leanings, income, credit

status, employment status, relationships — the list goes on. User data is an invaluable resource for advertisers who not only drive the online economy but also keep the web free. Meta (previously Facebook), the world’s largest data tracker, made $31.43 billion in ad revenue in 2020. However, online platforms possessing user data have led to widespread concern about the ethical responsibility these online platforms have to their users. Beverley Skeggs, a sociologist at Lancaster University, found that advertisers bid for access to Meta’s data fifty million times per day. This data is then exploited by corporations and institutions such as credit lenders who then target the economically disadvantaged. It was also found that Google had racist categorization inherent in their search engine. Is privacy simply the cost of free access to the internet and these online platforms? Personalized advertising aims to predict and anticipate users’ wants and needs; however, it is not a perfect matching system in which advertisers provide the best product to the right person. Yet, not everyone sees person-

alized advertising as a negative. The United Kingdom’s Office of Communications found that 54 percent of online users would prefer to see relevant ads as opposed to non-relevant ads. Yet, most users, especially those who are not as tech-savvy, do not understand the extent that they are tracked. Today, it is near impossible to surf the web without being tracked. Users are tracked from many sources—whether its app location or website cookies—data is always being collected and used. Since the Facebook-Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2019, there has been a rise in public awareness and scrutiny over user data and personalized advertising. There has been a push to change the discriminatory practices inherent in algorithmic profiling, and how user data is collected and shared. Yet, personalized advertising by its very nature aims to exclude. Tanya Kant recommends a rise in technical literacy so that the public learns about personalized advertising, user data, cookies, etc. All of this raises a question, if an algorithm can learn everything about us, are we nothing more than categories and data?

Fentanyl test strips: a harm reduction approach to the opioid crisis BY LEIGHA TIERNEY, STAFF WRITER The opioid epidemic began in the late 1990s, with the prescription of opioids beginning to lead to addiction and rising overdose deaths. Opioid overdose deaths have only continued to increase through the 2000s, due to illicit opioids such as heroin and synthetically produced opioids. The compound fentanyl has had particularly deadly consequences, as opioid-related deaths increased by 6% from 2018 to 2019, while synthetic opioid-related deaths have increased by over 15%. This is especially significant as heroin-involved deaths and prescription opioid-related deaths have decreased in the same timespan. Fentanyl is a compound prescribed in hospitals as a pain reliever and anesthetic. Being 50

times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, fentanyl is a powerful compound. In the early 2010s, opioid overdose deaths began to rise as fentanyl production increased in addition to the illicit opioids already illegally distributed. The growing presence of fentanyl has been especially concerning as the compound is often incorporated into other illicit drugs without the user’s knowledge. Fentanyl typically appears as a white powder, which makes it easy to be incorporated into other substances, such as heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine. With fentanyl being such a potent compound, it can take as little as 2 milligrams for a dose to potentially be deadly. From 1999 to 2019, nearly 500,000 people have died from overdoses involving opioids. Opioid drugs are depressants, meaning that they slow down the body’s

normal functions. When opioids are taken in excess, the brain’s signals to the lungs and heart can slow to the point where one cannot breathe enough to support the body. With too little oxygen reaching the brain, permanent neurological damage and death can occur as a result of an overdose. With the current widespread abuse of opioids and the elusive nature of fentanyl, a harm reduction approach has recently become more popularized, which opts to limit the harm created by opioid use as opposed to criminalizing users. One method is the widespread availability of the medication naloxone, which can reverse opioid overdose when administered. However, naloxone is not a preventative measure but rather a reactive solution once someone displays signs and symptoms of opioid overdose. Therefore, many professionals

were searching for a way to prevent people from overdosing due to the presence of fentanyl in their synthetic opioid substances. One approach that has the potential to prevent opioid overdose is the ability to test substances for the presence of fentanyl. Fentanyl test strips were created by Canadian biotech company BTNX in 2011 for clinicians to detect the presence of fentanyl in urine. The company has since begun producing fentanyl test strips for commercial use, reporting 96 to 100% accuracy. According to the company, mixing a small amount of a substance (20 ng/mL) with water and dipping it in a test strip for 15 seconds will indicate whether or not fentanyl is present in the sample. Despite the usefulness of preventing opioid overdoses related to fentanyl, fentanyl test strips are still not widely used. In many

states such as Colorado, Maryland, and Rhode Island, drug-testing materials are categorized as illegal drug paraphernalia. Despite this, many states such as Alabama and Tennessee are moving toward including fentanyl test strips in their harm reduction approach to opioid overdose. In April 2021, the Biden-Harris administration even moved to allow recipients of federal funding such as local and state health departments to purchase fentanyl test strips. While fentanyl test strips can aim at reducing opioid-related overdoses, there are still risks to taking illicit drugs. Fentanyl test strips may not be completely accurate, and it is still possible to overdose on opioids or other substances that do not contain fentanyl. However, fentanyl test strips can be an important factor in reducing the deadly outcomes of fentanyl-related opioid overdoses.

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Friday, April 15

Opinion THE STUTE EDITORIAL

April, a month of firsts After coming back to school last semester, the months of living through lockdowns and quarantining at home seems like a fever dream. While the pandemic only started two years ago, in my mind, it seems like a lifetime ago. But the seemingly far away and long ago events of the pandemic swallowed two and a half semesters from the student experience at Stevens. With so much time lost to quarantine, this past academic year has been a homecoming for students to finally experience a (mostly) genuine college experience and make up for the time we missed out on. The entire fall semester was a semester of firsts: the first day back to in-person classes, the first publication of The Stute since March 2020, the first sporting event since being back on campus, the first student performance in the DeBaun Performing Arts Center since the pandemic, and the list goes on. This semester has also facilitated many firsts of student showcases and events

on campus. This past week was a week filled with firsts for the Ethnic Student Council (ESC), which was able to present its Unity Showcase for the first time in three years. The event was jam-packed with performances from different affinity groups, such as Greek organizations from the Cultural Greek Council and other performing groups on campus. And while the performances were electrifying and entertaining, they also had powerful messages behind them, commenting on the experience of certain affinity groups and also their journey through the pandemic. Whatever the message, each performance group brought an important message to the table that commented on their experiences, some of which I truly resonated with. The theme of the event, “Our Resilience,” was both a strong and fitting message to set the tone of the event. It was also a week of firsts for Greek Life, as many fraternities partnered with Delta Phi

Epsilon sorority for Castle Point King. As many would expect, the performances were hilarious and showcased some of the fraternity brothers’ talents in acting and dancing. Aside from the laughs, Delta Phi Epsilon was able to raise over $21,000 for their philanthropy after weeks of practicing and planning for the event. Castle Point King brought students of Greek Life together in an enjoyable evening for a great cause. Attending these events this past week showed how much was truly lost from the pandemic. During the initial months of the pandemic, I was disappointed that I wouldn’t be able to attend events. But, after experiencing these events in person for the first time, I realized just how much I was missing. These events aren’t just entertainment for the student body, but they show a sliver of student experiences in life and at Stevens. The combination of performances from different student groups combines these slivers into a closer embodiment

of the “Stevens experience.” And however funny the skits/performances/dances might be, the hard work that the students put into the performance is undeniably evident. Better yet, many firsts for this semester are still to come. Later this month is TechFest, an event that I am personally very excited about. Upperclassmen have raved about TechFest since my freshman year, and since most of the student body will be experiencing it for the first time, TechFest will be another huge “first” for this campus. It’s easy to dismiss the pandemic as a time of our lives that we want to forget and move on from. But let’s not forget all that was taken away from us by the pandemic, especially the experiences we would’ve been able to have on campus. So, as we approach the end of this academic year, I hope students will attend the events they missed out on due to the pandemic; they will certainly be worth it!

Sanjana Madhu ‘23

Editor-in-Chief

MIND OF A FRESHMAN

SENIORITIS

(Barely) coherent thoughts

Routines, habits, and organizing

BY KATIE BLOOMER ‘25 I’m not going to lie, but I completely forgot I had an article due this week. So, here we are, Sunday night scrambling to put together enough coherent thoughts to fill the 550 word count of this column. My friends often ask if it’s hard to come up with new article ideas biweekly. My truthful answer is that coming up with the ideas is not difficult, but it can be hard to keep a constant theme throughout the entire article. The sporadic thoughts rushing through my head mimic the unpredictable nature of being a college student. One minute I am in class learning about random sciencey things, and the next I am throwing on a cute outfit to go into New York with my friends. I don’t really have a routine or schedule besides going to class. The rest of my time is filled with pro-

crastinating homework and enacting spontaneous plans with friends. My current favorite forms of procrastination include scrolling through LinkedIn trying to add to my connections, cleaning out my email which never seems to be empty, and deleting old, useless files from my laptop. These might sound like incredibly strange ways to spend my free time, but they make me feel accomplished while also using little to no brain power. Of course, when there is absolutely no way I can even find the energy to read a sentence or two, I resort to the classic forms of procrastination like binge-watching shows on Netflix or mindlessly scrolling through TikTok. The other thing about writing this column is that there is always something to talk about. This weekend was admitted student weekend. I could talk about my experience volunteering and basically becoming a statue who stood at the gate near Castle Point and pretended to be useful. Then, there were the never-ending tours that took place right outside of my door, aka Davis dorm room tours. Although these things might have altered normal life as a student, it

was enjoyable interacting with potential future students. Plus, there was free ice cream at Babbio, which was one of the highlights of my week. On another note, I can’t write this article without addressing the approaching end of freshman year. I have truly enjoyed my Stevens experience and can’t imagine spending an entire summer away from this place that is like my second home. Even though I only live a few states away, it’s far enough that I won’t be able to see my New Jersey friends throughout the summer. And despite knowing each other for less than a year, I can’t imagine life without them, even if it is only a few months over the summer. To end on a happy (and less sappy) note, let’s talk about the fact that the end of the school year means summer, spending time at the beach, and catching up on hobbies that were abandoned to make time for schoolwork. I plan on spending my free time knitting scarves (the only thing I can make), reading books (or a singular book, let’s not set too high of expectations), and sharing college stories with high school friends.

BY ALEKSANDAR DIMOSKI ‘22 This semester, I’ve had a lot less work than I ever have in the past. In my first year, I took a total of 29 credits; every semester since then, I’ve taken 19 or more credits, occasionally overloading if it was only by one credit. Now that I’m a part of the Accelerated Master’s Program, and since I took so many credits earlier on in my Stevens career, I’m taking only 12 credits this semester. This, combined with phasing out of a lot of my major E-Board positions, has left me feeling like a retired old man. The great thing about being retired is that I have a lot more time to relax. A lot of graduate classes have a small number of big homework assignments, as opposed to many small homework assignments, which makes doing work for these classes far more

enjoyable and rewarding, and it also means that I can pick any time of the week to work. What this translates to is that for the most part, my schedule is entirely under my control. I can pick when I want to work, what kind of work I want to do, and I can take breaks whenever I want. Obviously, I still have obligations with clubs, and I still need to get my work done, but it’s been a nice change of pace since taking only undergraduate classes. So the biggest problem that I’m faced with now is, what do I want to do? I could spend my time in plenty of ways, so how do I pick? In order to decide what to do each day, I’ve started developing a routine for myself. Now that I have extra time, I’m spending more of it trying to organize the rest of my day. Every morning, I start the day by exercising, either by going to the gym or working out in my room. Afterward, I take a shower and then check my schedule for the rest of the day. Depending on when my classes are, I’ll do some homework or work on a personal project for a few hours. Since I’m taking graduate classes, most of them are in the afternoon

or night, so I’m usually able to make significant progress on whatever I’m working on before I have to go to my first class. As I work, I keep track of how much time I spend working on each task so that I can see what kind of work I do the most over the course of the week. During the day, I take a few breaks by hanging out with friends or watching TV. One of my friends takes ‘Archero breaks’ every half hour, and while I don’t take breaks that often, I understand the importance of giving yourself some time to relax and catch your breath. I’ll usually spend an hour or two over the course of the day taking these kinds of mental breaks. By the time that I’m finished with all my classes, it’s usually late in the afternoon or night, at which point I either rest for a while or do more work. Most of the time, I like to hang out with the Brothers at my fraternity before going to bed, but I also enjoy occasionally spending a few additional hours working on a project that I’m really close to finishing. In either case, I’ve enjoyed being able to control my own schedule, and I’m excited for next semester!

to appeasing the algorithm. So the likes of Telepurte or kekeflipnote, which produces high quality short animation, is becoming the new frontier of animation. While these three sectors have been the biggest influences of YouTube animation on my life, it’s not to say that they are the only type of animation out there. Jacknjellify a YouTube channel that makes a full series that has

been running for 10 years, is also a great example of different type of animation. What is amazing about YouTube is the creativity to create whatever you want. This along with traditional animation in a studio has given people options. It inspired me to continue my love for animation even though I may be a full-time student since I can still have a place to share my work with millions.

SPOILER ALERT

A Rundown of Youtube Animation

BY EMMA TONG ‘25 To be honest, I had a hard time writing this article. College is tough, and I haven’t been watching too much anime, nor have I been inspired at all. But when I write these articles, I try to write something that inspires me. Since I haven’t been watching too much anime, I want to talk about and open the world of YouTube Animation or at least my experience and love for it.

Now first for some clarification, when I refer to the Youtube Animation community, one may expect what they see in movies or TV shows. But no, I am more so referring to independent creators who like to draw and post a video involving that whether that be someone showing their short film or progress on an personal project or maybe even an animatic (rough sketch of an animation). Now I first got introduced to the animation community through the likes of Storytime animators —rough or even moving pictures animation but usually tells a story or has a fun gag—I got shown a video of the Odd1stOut by my brother. I started there and then moved on to other creators like Brodyanimates, Gingerpale, and SultanSketches. I love this commu-

nity and this subsection since you really get to know and relate to each of these creators since they often talked about their own lives. In addition, the fact that they are able to create such an expressive media was inspiring to me. I felt personally impacted by some of the advice and life experiences they went through; for example, I love Kelsey Animated’s review of high school. I have so much love for the Youtube Animation community and hope one day to even meet some of them. Another great community is song/musical animatics (basically the off shoots of all the Hamiltonian animatics that came out back in the day). These are usually animatics to a song, sometimes from musicals. I love the vibrant movements and since many watchers are not able to watch the musicals them-

selves, these types of animated videos allow viewers to envision the scenes unfolding in front of them. Sometimes it is fun to see how the creators take certain lines and create their own interpretations through their videos. Personally, it made me learn and become invested in many musicals. The final frontier of animation is what inspired me currently to write this article which is short animations. Animation and even art itself is very tedious and for many of these creators when they work by themselves it takes months to create one animated piece since there has to be a lot of planning and frames of drawings to make the video happen. So short quick movement animation helps these creators produce content and even practice their animation in addition

PHOTO COURTESY OF YOUTUBE.COM

Friday, April 15

Opinion NOT FINANCIAL TIMES (NFT)

Inflation, recession, and the delicate dance of the Hawks

BY JOSEPH AMES ‘24 CPI Day, a beautiful time, said (almost) no one ever. Now, it seems that the middle of every month is packed with fears of rising prices as well as the risk of an economic recession. So, how did we get to this eventful day with a stunning 8.5% Traditional CPI and 6.5% core inflation? For this, we need to revisit the economic and sociopolitical landscape of 2020. Freshly into a pandemic and with employers slashing

22 million jobs, economic output crashed at a 31% annual rate in 2020’s AprilJune quarter. In response, the government and the Fed went to work, pumping economic aid and slashing rates. The economy, in turn, enjoyed a quick turnaround, with an inflated 33.8% annualized growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Q3 of 2020. Still, rhetoric was that the economy needed to improve for the middle-class, which led both the Biden Administration and the Fed to employ quantitative easing far too long, thus “overcooking” the economy. Partnered with a huge return in demand following the returns from COVID-19 and ongoing supply chain issues, the supply and demand were failing to meet at reasonable levels. As a result, it drastically increased pricing levels.

One of the main ways consumers are feeling the heat from inflation is at the gas pump, although the Biden Administration is hoping that their lifting of a summer ban on higher ethanol gasoline, known as E15, will increase the supply available to consumers, thus decreasing prices in turn. Officials estimate that this could save families up to 10 cents per gallon. On the other side of the equation, in hopes to address soaring inflation, the Fed will have to certainly be aggressive with their rate hikes, 7 of which are planned for the year. According to The Hill, Economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal put the probability of recession in the next 12 months at 28%, up from 18% in January. Estimates back this up, as Morgan Stanley is expecting

real GDP growth in the U.S. will fall to just 3% this year, down from the number that it had predicted at the start of 2021, which was 4.1%. The Conference Board now sees U.S. real GDP growth slowing to just 1.7% in the first quarter of 2022, down from 7% in the final quarter of last year. As for stagflation—the worst enemy of all to economists—predictions remain mixed. For reference, the last major case of stagflation in the US was during 19781979 with the Oil Shock. Overall, we certainly are in a precarious time for rates and macro markets. While some sectors, namely energy and financials, tend to perform better with inflation, the markets as a whole certainly could stand to bear (no pun intended) the brunt of our prolonged inaction.

without the interruption of your peers Ft. Lauderdale dump from Spring Break, as lovely as they look double fisting Tequila Sunrises on their hotel balcony. Another option that I have recently taken up is journaling. There is much less commitment to beautiful, flawless pictures in a notebook meant to serve as a creative diary. There is also more inspiration to be found in the world when you yourself are trying to find the beauty in it. Having a notebook reflect that beauty, both around you and within yourself, is a motivating way to take up new perspectives, explore the crevices of our minds, or store the dandelion you impulsively picked up on the way home from class on that first warm, sunny day that signified summer may be coming soon around the corner (though I don’t recommend doing this if you have allergies). On that note, one very easy way to escape the depths of existentialism is to go outside when it is nice out. Many of us or our friends have friendly roofs thanks to the abundance of 3-4 story apartments in Hoboken that provide plenty of relief from the grass and pollen triggering all of the season’s misgivings.

It does get a little windy at higher altitudes, but a few paperweights are all you need to bring with you to enjoy a snot-less sunshine to remind yourself that all is not wrong in the world. Perhaps you can also find more beauty to write about or illustrate in your notebook, or perhaps it will inspire your next Pinterest search: “Sunset skies.” There are plenty more creative outlets to let your inner Dora the Explorer run wild, be it visiting an art museum with your friends, finger painting with abandon, reading your local newspaper to find the beauty around your campus (*cough cough like the Stute), and even just drawing smiley faces on your food with ketchup (when applicable). Although burnout can be plenty unavoidable with the current schedules and anxieties characteristic of the Gen Z college experience, and although I have wished for a Marxist society far more than I should admit given my pending Quantitative Finance degree, I find that my disposition changes dramatically based on how much I try to include these elements in my life, no matter how small or insignificant they might seem when I’m trying to catch up to the tortoise.

THE DOODLING DUCK

Burnout

BY POOJA RAJADURAI ‘23 All too frequently, the college grind weighs down on our mental health, and prioritizing self-care, investigating new and necessary creative outlets, or just taking a moment to meditate, become cumbersome tasks that are difficult to squeeze in between academics, extracurriculars, social obligations, and of course, eating/sleeping/ taking showers. I won’t lie, but sometimes I even skip out on that very last one. I’m kidding… Recently, however, I’ve come to the inevitable understanding that we are obliged to treat mental health with the same definiteness we give advice to our girlfriends: “if he wanted to, he would,” we lament for our deserving friends who have been sidelined by their partners’ “schedules.” The same goes for our mental health. If you want to take better care of yourself,

you should, regardless of anything else. With the same determination, we find ourselves searching for the Zeno-esque distance between the time and the deadline when procrastinating (the time being Achilles and the deadline being the tortoise), we should also search for all the outlets that would allow us to venture outside our cluttered, overworked minds. It can be anything, but these are some very easy ideas to help alleviate the effects of burnout. Some virtual options available at our disposal that I quite enjoy are anonymous accounts on large media platforms and Pinterest. There is no curating our clout to be chased in an account meant to highlight only which that we are truly passionate about. The only interactable element of Pinterest is between yourself and the pictures you choose to find intrigue in. To search for more (for example, interacting with friends and family) would be a futile attempt because then your saved boards would look exactly the same and wouldn’t reflect your true interests at all. Creating anonymous Instagram accounts can also be largely gratifying since you can follow all the hashtags and art accounts

TECHNICALLY SPEAKING

Seeing an increase in text spam? It’s not just you

BY SANJANA MADHU ‘23 Picture this: you’re on your phone and you receive a seemingly exciting text. Congratulations! You’ve won a $1000 Walmart gift card. Click on this link to claim now! How lucky of you to be chosen for this prestigious Walmart gift card. Think of all the possibilities of things you could buy with $1000 at Walmart! And the

only barrier between you and the $1000 gift card is a simple click of a link. It’s so tempting, but something tells you that you probably shouldn’t click the link. Yet, the temptation and anticipation are far too high. So, you do what any sensible person would do and you click the link. To your (slight) surprise, you, unfortunately, have not won $1000 from Walmart, but rather the link may prompt you to enter your personal information. A classic example of phishing, but you may have only noticed it until you filled out the form… Most of us experienced technology users and cynics would immediately delete the message and move on with our days. But some people would unknowing-

ly click on the link, provide their personal information, and face the multitude of consequences that come with giving your information online to hackers. Spam calls have been on the rise in the past few years. According to CNBC, “the average number of spam texts a person receives per month is 16.9, up from 14.7 in 2020, 10.6 in 2019 and 8.5 in 2018.” And with the increase in these spam calls, “nearly 60 million Americans (23%), a record-high, lost money to phone scams. Each scam resulted in an average loss of $500, totaling about $30 billion overall.” Of course, with the increased sophistication of technology and the improved creativity of hackers, people are more sus-

ceptible to hacking. Gone are the days that the “Nigerian prince” will ask for your bank account details because they’re in trouble. These days, hackers resort to more seemingly-normal scenarios, posing to be “customer service personnel, department stores, bigname enterprises like Apple or Amazon or major phone carriers like T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T.” If not spam texts, hackers also employ spam calls from car insurance companies, banks, the IRS, and other accredited organizations. Although hackers are smart, you can always be smarter. Here are some ways to protect yourself from phishing scams and prevent you from losing personal information.

Don’t pick up sketchy phone calls. If you receive a suspicious phone call from an unknown number, let the call go to voicemail. If the caller leaves a voicemail that seems legitimate, call them back! Do not click on suspicious links If you receive a strange text from a customer service hotline, a large company, a bank, or other consumer facing businesses, report it to the Federal Trade Commission. Sign up for the FTC’s “Do not call” list Signing up for this list should allow you to not receive service/telemarketing calls and allows you to report any unwanted calls. Download a spam

blocking app Today, there are many apps available for download on the App Store and Google Play. Some examples of apps are Truecaller or Whoscall, which help you identify spam calls. Contact your phone carrier Often, mobile carriers will have an implementation of a framework called STIR/ SHAKEN. This will monitor calls and try to mitigate the number of spam calls you receive. If you’ve already fallen victim to a scam, don’t worry. Immediately contact your state’s Consumer Protection Office. Make sure to keep evidence of the text, voicemail, or call, as this will be the evidence that will support your case.

Friday, April 15

Opinion OFF THE PRESS

The whole campus is getting paved BY OFF CENTER —SATIRE— As part of a repaving process, the City of Hoboken began absolutely obliterating Hudson Street last week. It was truly a symphony of destruction, featuring machines like excavators, motor graders, and a Komatsu Superdozer D575A. In its current demolished state, Hudson Street is wildly incapable of performing its designed duties, leading our editors to think that it might be more practicaaazal to simply keep layering new

asphalt on top of the old road. Never one to be outdone by the city, Stevens announced they too will be repaving all the roads on campus, and to one-up the city, they’ll also be redoing all the floors and fields. In short, “We are going to replace every surface that people walk, ride, or drive on with asphalt,” according to the construction email that everyone deleted without reading. We at Off the Press also initially deleted that email without reading it but realized that it might contain

the critical information that our readers demand we present, so we went into our deleted folder and got it back. Under What work is being done?, they wrote, “turning the campus into a giant sheet of road.” Under Why is this work happening?, they wrote, “We have to show Hoboken construction who’s boss,” and under To whom should I direct questions, they wrote, “anyone with a steamroller.” The email then concluded with the cordial sign off, “This message has been approved by the leadership of the send-

er’s division.” We were unable to confirm if these results were typical of these construction emails or not because we didn’t save any of the other ones from the past. One of our editors visited the library, where the construction was plainly in violation of the noise rules, but no one seemed to care. We weren’t quite sure how they got a giant dump truck through the front doors, but it was cool to see it at work anyway. Right after the field was replaced with asphalt, a PE soccer class came on and had quite

an experience with slide tackles resulting in several trips to the hospital and questions regarding who slide tackles in PE soccer. Paving the first floor of the Howe Center resulted in yet another closure of the bowling alley, disappointing the many students who had signed up for it as a PE and would now have to do online bowling. Things got a little trickier when they started pulling up the grass on Schafer and Palmer lawns. Due to the amount of water stored inside that dirt after recent rainfall, it un-

leashed a small flood that carried away a few cars down the hill and temporarily paused construction. Once it was determined that semi-solid petroleum could be poured directly onto the ground though, the work surged ahead. At Off the Press, while we lament the lack of greenery and look forward to the few trees that will be planted down in River lot, we do appreciate Stevens’ commitment to showing that it really can find new and evermore creative ways to do long-term construction on campus.

that physics provides ample room for free will. George Ellis argues for “downward causation,” which means that physical processes can lead to “emergent” phenomena, notably human desires and intentions, that can in turn exert influence our physical selves. Mathematicians John Conway and Simon Kochen go even further in their 2009 paper “The Strong Free Will Theorem.” They present a mathematical argument, which resembles John Bell’s theorem on quantum nonlocality, that we have free will because particles have free will. To my mind, the debate over whether physics rules out or enables free will is moot, and inappropriate. It’s like citing quantum theory in a debate over whether the Beatles are the best rock band ever (which they clearly are). Physics, which tracks changes in matter and energy, has nothing to say about love, desire, fear,

hatred, justice, beauty, morality, meaning. All these things, viewed in the light of physics, could be described as “logically incoherent nonsense,” as Hossenfelder puts it. But they have consequences, they alter the world. Bell, the inventor of superdeterminism, apparently didn’t like it. He seems to have viewed superdeterminism as a reductio ad absurdum proposition, which highlights the strangeness of quantum mechanics. He wasn’t crazy about any interpretations of quantum mechanics, describing them as “literary fictions.” Why does the debate over free will and superdeterminism matter? Because ideas matter. At this time in human history, many of us already feel helpless, at the mercy of forces beyond our control. The last thing we need is a theory that reinforces our fatalism. This piece was published online on April 8, 2022.

SCIENTIFIC CURMUDGEON

Does quantum mechanics rule out free will?

BY JOHN HORGAN CAL PROFESSOR I admire Sabine Hossenfelder, the iconoclastic physicist. In her writings and videos, she is blunt, clear, courageous, funny. So her advocacy for superdeterminism distresses me. In a recent video, Hossenfelder touts superdeterminism as “a way to make sense of quantum mechanics.” She disparages free will, which superdeterminism rules out, as “logically incoherent nonsense.” Some background. Superdeterminism is a response to several peculiari-

ties of quantum mechanics: the apparentrandomness of quantum events; their apparent dependence on human observation, or measurement; and the apparent ability of a measurement in this place to determine, instantly, the outcome of a measurement elsewhere, an effect called nonlocality. Einstein, who derided nonlocality as “spooky action at a distance,” insisted that quantum mechanics must be incomplete; there must be hidden variables that the theory overlooks. Superdeterminism is a radical hidden-variables theory proposed by physicist John Bell. He is renowned for a 1964 theorem, now named after him, that dramatically exposes the nonlocality of quantum mechanics. Bell said in a BBC interview in 1985 that the puzzle of nonlocality vanishes if you assume that “the world is superdeterministic, with not just inanimate nature running on behind-the-

scenes clockwork, but with our behavior, including our belief that we are free to choose to do one experiment rather than another, absolutely predetermined.” In her recent video, Hossenfelder notes that superdeterminism eliminates the apparent randomness of quantum mechanics, as well as the measurement problem and nonlocality. Hidden variables determine in advance how physicists carry out experiments; physicists might think they are choosing one option over another, but they aren’t. I’m baffled by superdeterminism, whether explicated by Hossenfelder or another prominent proponent, Nobel laureate Gerard t’Hooft. Their arguments seem circular: the world is deterministic, hence quantum mechanics must be deterministic. Superdeterminism doesn’t specify what the hidden variables of quantum mechanics are;

it just decrees that they exist, and that they determine everything that happens, including my decision to write these words and your decision to read them. Hossenfelder and I argued about free will in a conversation last summer. I pointed out that we both made the choice to speak to each other; our choices stem from “higher-level” psychological factors, such as our values and desires, which are underpinned by but not reducible to physics. Physics can’t account for choices and hence free will. So I said. Invoking psychological causes “doesn’t make the laws of physics go away,” Hossenfelder sternly informed me. “Everything is physics. You’re made of particles.” I felt like we were talking past each other. To her, a non-deterministic world makes no sense. To me, a world without choice makes no sense. Other physicists insist

THE CONVERSATION

The Biden Administration to repeal Title 42

BY MARISA POWERS ‘23 Introduction Title 42, a public health order, “allows Customs and Border Protection to turn migrants away without allowing them to file for asylum.” This order was put in place by Former President Trump in March 2020 to protect public health. The Biden Administration is now planning to repeal Title 42 by May 23 but is facing backlash from both Democrats and Republicans. Campus Conservative, Marisa Powers More than 1.7 million migrants have been turned away at the border in the past two years under Title 42, enacted at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Former Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf states, “as bad as the crisis has been for the past 14 months, I think Title 42 in many ways has masked the real crisis.” The number of migrants who have crossed the United States border in the past year is unprecedented, and there are no signs of a cease to the crisis. In my view, repealing Title 42 would be a mistake considering the

AND

TASHA KHOSLA ‘25

state of the border presently. 62% of Americans disapprove of Biden’s handling of immigration, as there have been more than 2.5 million illegal Southern border crossings in the year that he has been in office. And with the repeal of Title 42, the Department of Homeland Security is “bracing for a surge of more than 170,000 migrants after May 23.” If the administration had stronger measures in place to control the extensive amount of migrants crossing the border, then the repeal of Title 42 would not be so dire. The plans they do have to prepare for the influx of migrants after May 23 are nowhere near sufficient to combat the issue since they stopped construction on the border wall. With the repeal of Title 42, there is no longer even a pretense of protecting public health. Campus Liberal, Tasha Khosla As aforementioned, Title 42 is a health measure meant to protect the nation from illnesses, but many conflate it with immigration control. The policy itself left behind many issues that the Biden Admin-

istration needs to address. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy counsel at the American Immigration Council, stated, “One statistic most obviously demonstrates Title 42’s failure. Since Title 42 went into effect, the Border Patrol expelled a staggering 94 percent of single adult migrants it encountered who were from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador. If Title 42 were a successful deterrent, we would expect such a near total shutdown of the border to lead to declining apprehension numbers.” From my perspective, Title 42 should have been repealed long ago. Across the nation, Covid restrictions are constantly being lifted as the pandemic is monitored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As other restrictions are being lifted, it makes sense that Title 42 would also be repealed. Moreover, the policy actually led to an increased amount of repeat attempts by expelled migrants to cross the border. So, Title 42 was not an effective policy, and while apprehension towards its repeal is understandable, the fact remains that Title 42 was never meant to be a form of immigration control. Title 42 is not the issue the Biden Administration should be focusing on — humanely handling the anticipated surge of migrants is. Conclusion While both sides do disagree on Title 42’s repeal, both agree that the Biden Administration needs to be better prepared for the consequences of the repeal as immigration is projected to surge in the coming weeks.

Friday, April 15

Campus Pulse

Bridget Harte ‘22

Nicole Certisimo ‘25

Kayleigh Bowler ‘24

“It’s so vague, so vague. I don’t like how vague it is.”

“I thought it was kinda confusing and convoluted.”

“It’s not really a big difference to be honest.”

ROVING REPORTER Tim Griffin ‘25 “A step back towards ‘noramalcy’.”

“How do you feel about the masking policy update?”

Eduardo Terlaje ‘25

Jeongmin Song ‘25

Emily Franco ‘23

Aiden Boyce ‘25 “Honestly I don’t care. I don’t mind wearing my mask. I don’t wanna show my face bro.”

ACROSS 1. Programming language primarily used for web pages (abbr.) 5. "___ on the Shelf" 8. Lug 12. Pottery brand with a catchy jingle: "___ Pet" 13. Creature with edited DNA (abbr.) 14. Prefix meaning automatic 15. Opposite of more 16. Enemy of the Smurfs 18. Eminem song that includes a notable lyric about "mom's spaghetti" 20. Do it alone (2 wds.) 21. Where you might wipe your feet 22. "___ / ace spectrum" 23. Format used for research papers (abbr.) 25. "Lord of the Rings" character Baggins 29. Tight, as in rope 31. Soviet Union security agency (abbr.) 33. Open to all genders (Hyph.) 34. Suspend 36. Consume 38. Half a dance move? 39. Where a cat might sit on you 41. Passengers 43. "Lovely" singer 47. Moves forward 48. Freeze 50. Astronaut Armstrong 51. Computer key 52. Where you might find a pet bird 53. Part of a boat made from cloth 54. US intelligence organization (abbr.) 55. Approximately (2 wds.)

Stephen Pachucki

Sudoku

Medium Puzzle: 0.48 difficulty

8 3

SRSGA SNTGLHUI

1 9

GLBDYAU

ORELWF

4 9

Generated by http://www.opensky.ca/sudoku on Thu Apr 14 04:47:52 2022 GMT. Enjoy!

DOWN 1. Chemical formula for hydrochloric acid 2. He speaks for the trees 3. Traditional Japanese dish served in a bowl 4. Wrangler's rope 5. Crème brûlée ingredient 6. Texting exclamation 7. Town hall meeting 8. Over the top 9. Capital of Italy 10. Cain's brother in the Bible 11. Word following mini or disc 17. Snatch 19. Horror movie: "Nightmare on ___ Street" 20. Fence entrance 24. Get older 26. Texas' state nickname: "The ___ State" 27. Embraces from Teddy? 28. Poetic tributes 30. Memoir that reveals scandalous information (Hyph.) 32. Starbucks employee 35. Gone into a resting position 37. "___ death do us part" 40. Type of tree nut 42. "Panic! at the ___" 43. Prohibits 44. Thought 45. 2023 NFL championship: "Super Bowl ___" 46. Snake-like fish 49. Prefix meaning modern

LAST WEEK’S WORDSEARCH ANSWERS:

Puzzle 1 (Medium, difficulty rating 0.48)

FEUTERBTLT

OMLOB

“I don’t care. Oh, actually I do care slightly because I don’t have to wear it in the gym anymore.”

“I can’t wait to take my mask off.”

April 2022 Themeless by Off Center

Springtime Word Unscramble

“I’m cool with it.”