[The Stute] September 16, 2022 (Issue 2, Volume CXX)

Queen Elizabeth II passes away at 96

However, Martha Ba yard Stevens is perhaps best known as a civic leader and philanthropist who worked to improve the quality of life in Hoboken, being particu larly dedicated to education and the expansion of public knowledge. She established the Industrial Education

In an email interview with The Stute, Riskin dis cussed her role and the am bitions she has in her new position at Stevens.

Stevens campus police strongly encourage every one to download the guard ian app, especially following the recent string of crimes reported by Campus Po lice in a recent Stevens an nouncement. In regards to the recent events during Freshman Orientation, Chief of Police, Timothy Grifn, stated in a mass email that the “situation was peacefully resolved,” but he would like to “remind everyone to take this opportunity and sign-up for the Rave Guardian app which allows members of our community to communicate directly with Campus Police during times of emergency.”

On the other hand, many are upset with the passing of Her Majesty. People around the world are taking their time mourning the loss. Af ter the queen’s death, Oper ation London Bridge went into efect, which is the plan of how the United Kingdom would handle the death of Queen Elizabeth. This plan includes the beginning of the swapping of currency in the UK to the bills with the new king’s face. The plan also includes the details for the queen’s funeral, held at Westminster Abbey on September 19. Now that her reign is over, a new era has begun in British history led by King Charles III.

HOBOKEN, NJ | SEPTEMBER 16, 2022VOLUME CXX No. 2 NEW STUTE EVERY FRIDAY • EST. 1904 The student newspaper of Stevens Institute of Technology, and creator of Attila the facebook.com/stevensthestuteInstagramwww.thestute.comDuck.@thestuteNewest threat on campus: lantern fies NEWS (2-4) Learn more about the history of Martha Bayard Stevens Alexander House to be renamed to Martha Bayard Stevens Hall. Read more about Greek life at Stevens excelling FEATURE (6-7) See photos from the Stevens 9/11 memorial service SCIENCE (5) Wondering about the future of food? See how climate change is impacting the food we eat. OPINION (8-11) The Stute Editorial Mind of a Freshman Senioritis Of the Press The Conversation And more...

BY CONTRIBUTINGDABROWSKI,ANNAREPORTER

BY ERIN MCGEE AND TANYA AVADIA

EST.Queen Elizabeth’s reign was seventy years long, and the only one most Britons have witnessed in their life time. On February 6, 1952, at age 25, Elizabeth became Queen of the United King dom following her father, King George VI’s death, and would go on to reign for seven decades. Along with the United Kingdom, the Queen’s reign reached across the commonwealth, which is a set of countries including Australia, Cana da, New Zealand, and many others that were former ter ritories of the British Em pire.Following Queen Eliz abeth’s passing, Prince Charles, the eldest son of the Queen, immediately began his reign as the new monarch. His wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, became Queen Consort. Fol lowing them in the line of succession are King Charles’ oldest son Prince William followed in order by Price William’s children, Prince George of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Wales, and

Association, which trained young women in fnancial literacy (“home economics neatness and the princi ples of saving”), as well as the Martha Institute, which taught industrial skills to youngMuchmen.of her work im pacts the citizens of Hobo ken today. For instance, she funded the Hoboken Public Library, which opened in 1896. She was also a pa

Dr. Riskin replied, “I’m leading the undergraduate academic program. I’m ex cited about the focus on the student experience in the new Stevens Strategic Plan.

campus police will not be notifed about your location when the timer expires.

A. Stevens passed away when his wife, Martha Bayard Stevens, was just 37, providing in his will for the creation of an institution of higher learning in Hoboken. As an executor of his will, Martha saw that the univer

OF STEVENS.EDU

The Alexander House on the Stevens campus, which served as the old Student Center as well as a variety of other uses in earlier years, will be renamed Martha Bayard Stevens Hall, Presi dent Nariman Farvardin an nounced. The change brings to greater prominence the name of a woman infuen tial in Hoboken history and

New Alexander House name honors Stevens family pioneer: Martha Bayard Stevens

of time. When you leave the unsafe situation, disable the timer, or you will be prompt ed to disable the timer. If you do not disable the timer, campus police will presume you are stuck in an unsafe situation and track your lo cation.

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COURTESY

Queen Elizabeth’s pass ing has sparked worldwide controversy as people look back on her life. Although loved by many, some did not take kindly to the monarch during her reign. Disdain for the royal family is mostly the result of centuries of British imperialism and coloniza tion. At the beginning of the Queen’s reign, the British Empire brutally controlled 70 territories, causing peo ple of the countries once controlled by the British Empire to not mourn the queen’s death. Some peo ple of Kenya did not mourn the Queen because of the 1.5 million people forced into concentration camps and tortured during her reign. Along with many African countries, some Irish people were very vocal about their joy as a result of the queen’s passing, joining in chants at

Prince Louis of Wales.

Stevens Institute of Tech nology’s School of Business would not be where it is to day without hard work and dedication from all fronts. However, at the center of its accomplishments is the contribution of the dean of the School of Business, Dr. Gregory Prastacos. It is be cause of all that has been achieved during his tenure at Stevens that the School of Business is reputed in such high regard. Under Dean Prastacos’ guidance, the School of Business ex perienced much reform: an increase in enrollment, inte gration of business and tech nology, positive placement outcomes, and much more. The School of Business Pra stacos inherited 10 years ago was a very diferent one than it is now and its suc cess cannot go unnoticed. It is for this reason and many

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All staf and students can make a “Detailed Caller Profle.” In this profle, you are prompted to provide in formation about any medi cal conditions, your course schedule, and other relevant information. By disclosing this information on the se cure RAVE network, you enable campus police to fnd you more efciently in an emergency situation. Finally, the fastest way to get critical campus alerts is to download the Guardian app. Notifca tions about campus and sur rounding area police activity will be sent directly to your phone.Your information and lo cation are protected, infor mation about you or your location is only sent to cam pus police when your safety timer expires or you place a panic call to the police. Addi tionally, guardians who are not campus police (friends, family, etc.) can be linked to your profle. You have the ability to set a safety timer linked only to your non-po lice guardians, in which case

ExtendedBusinessSchoolDeanTermPrastacos’GregoryDr.asoftheof

OLOF PERSSON FOR THE STUTE

sity would open as a school focused on science and engi neering—it was the frst col lege dedicated to mechanical engineering in the U.S.—just two years later in 1870.

UndergradEveInterviewwithDr.Riskin,DeanofuateEducation

Buckingham Palace has announced that Queen Elizabeth II passed away at Balmoral Castle in Aber deenshire, Scotland on Sep tember 8, 2022, at 1:30 p.m.

BY CONTRIBUTINGMCDONALD,SANDYREPORTER

COURTESY

Stevens introduces Guardian app in efort to promote campus safety

instrumental in founding Stevens. The building was rededicated by President Farvardin and a new sign outside of the building bear ing Martha Bayard Stevens’ name was installed on Tues day.Edwin

Dr. Eve Riskin, Professor of Electrical & Computer En gineering (ECE), has been newly promoted to the Dean of Undergraduate Educa tion. Riskin is a very accom plished woman in her feld, honored as the National Science Foundation Young Investigator and awarded the 2006 Hewlett-Packard Harriett B. Rigas Award.

What are you excit ed about in your role as Dean of Undergraduate Student Life here at Ste vens?

OF BBC.COM

You may have noticed that the campus blue light system is no longer in efect. Have no fear! Stevens has partnered with RAVE Safety to implement a mobile re placement to the previous system. RAVE Safety, found ed in 2004, was designed to safely share critical emer gency notifcations and data. Now, you can download the Rave Guardian app in the appAppstore. features include many widgets, most notably a direct line to campus police. Gone are the days of typing in 3-911, as emergency services are accessible with the click of a button. Other features include the ability to submit a campus care report, which covers everything from bias incidents to mental health concerns. Additionally, a cat alog of various emergency numbers (including suicide hotlines, the Trevor Project, etc.) are all listed via the call directory, acting as a digital backpack for any health-re lated needs. The Guardian App boasts a unique safety timer feature; if you believe you will be entering an un safe situation, this timer can be set to an allotted period

soccer matches like “Lizzy’s in a box.” The Irish’s dis like of the royal family dates back to the Middle Ages when Ireland was overtaken and controlled by the British monarchy and government.

We write Stevens history

BY STAFFKNOBLOCH,BENJAMINWRITER

BY OPINIONKLESCHINSKY,ETHANCOLUMNIST

Download the Campus Guardian app today to pro mote campus and individual safety!

COURTESY OF PEOPLE.ECE.UW.EDU

CONTINUED FROM

Any overall comments/ thoughts on how the position is going?

2 Friday, September 16 News 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 NEWS EDITOR.......................................CLAIRE HANNAN ‘24 FEATURE EDITOR..................................TASHA KHOSLA ‘25 SCIENCE EDITOR............................RAYNA INDELICATO ‘23 OPINION EDITOR..............................LAUREN GARRETT ‘25 SPORTS EDITOR........................................CHRISTA RUIZ ‘25 HEAD COPY EDITOR.....................GIANNA CALLEGARI ‘24 HEAD PHOTOGRAPHER......................OLOF PERSSON ‘25 SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGER............VANESSA HUERTA ‘23 Masthead Volume CXX No. 2 Executive Board Editorial StaffOperationsBoardBoard&Contributors Contact PolicyDisclaimerCorrectionsUsonLetters to the Editor Policy on Op-Eds FULL LIST ON thestute.com/policies Kayden Cannilla Marisa Powers Matt TrevorTanyaStephSandyRafaelPoojaOzNicoleMohinBrantlPatelGiardinoAguinagaRajaduraiLeeLiMcDonaldSearingAvadiaDameika Anaïs Bouchatta Anna KateJuliaEvanEthanErinEmilyDanicaCharlesBenAriannaDabrowskiGehanKnoblochBeallLacuestaRetinoMcGeeKleschinskyPapageorgeWierzbickiWilcox GENERAL.........................................EBOARD@THESTUTE.COM EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.........................EDITOR@THESTUTE.COM ADVERTISING.............................BUSINESS@THESTUTE.COM OFFICE.................................UNIVERSITY CENTER ROOM 216B

In addition, Dean Prastacos’ term as Dean saw the launch of two major projects and centers as sociated with the Stevens School of Business. The frst of which was the MaCuDE Project, a Stevens-led initiative that stands for Manage ment Curriculum for the Digital Era. The project, which includes more than 50 business schools in

workers’ housing project.

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“I’ve been here under two weeks. People are being very wel coming. I have been so impressed already to see the commitment of Stevens faculty and staf to ensure that every student has the support they need to graduate. I’m spend ing time trying to learn about Ste vens and its people. There is a huge diference between a small private university and an enormous public university. Finally I’m from Law rence Township and it’s so nice to be back home.”

The house was the ofcial pres idential residence, housing Presi dent Humphreys and his wife Eva, from 1916 to 1929. After the newly restored Hoxie House took over that role, the building served frst as faculty housing and then the student center until the opening of the University Center Complex earlier this year.

COURTESY OF STEVENS.EDU

Email us at eboard@thestute.com.

HOUSE

NOTICE A MISTAKE?

DEAN

What is your experience in this feld or similar past jobs?

The building formerly known as Alexander House served a number of purposes since it opened with the university in 1870. Originally the residence of Samuel Bayard Dod, the brother of Martha Bayard Stevens and former president of the Board of Trustees, the building became the home of Martha’s sonin-law Archibald Alexander and his wife Caroline Bayard Stevens after they married. It began to be referred to informally as the “Alex ander House.” The original house was destroyed by fre in 1909, but

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“I was an ECE professor at the University of Washington (UW) for over 30 years. I spent 15 years as Associate Dean in the UW Col lege of Engineering where I fo cused on undergraduates. I spent my last nine years there working on our STARS program, which is a ‘redshirt’ program for students from underserved and diverse backgrounds who want to study engineering or Computer Science (CS). The students worked real ly hard and often outperformed more privileged students! I hope that some of what we learned at UW might apply at Stevens. “

For her lifelong service and charitable patronage of the Uni versity and Hoboken, this week’s dedication honors a deserving fg ure of Stevens’ heritage.

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 be tween 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.

it was rebuilt the following year.

tron of Hoboken’s ecclesiastic life, funding a number of area church es of multiple denominations, in cluding endowing the Episcopal Church of the Holy Innocents. Her concern for the general welfare of the city was refected in her fund ing of parks, hospitals, homes, a recreational pier for the poor known as the River Walk, and the construction of the Willow Terrace

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All opinions and editorials refect the views of their respective au thor(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 refer ences of The Stute are permitted.

All members of the Stevens community are able to submit a stand alone opinion piece (otherwise known as an Op-Ed) to be published in The Stute. Op-Eds must be between 400 – 800 words, but longer sub missions 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 onTheanonymity.Editorial Board reserves the right to choose whether or not to pub lish 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 fnal version, The Stute reserves the right to edit Op-Eds according to our copy editing procedures, de fned in our policies.

The Editorial Board reserves the right to choose whether or not to pub lish 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 fnal version, The Stute reserves the right to edit letters according to our copy editing procedures, defned in our policies.

I also am so impressed with how student-focused Stevens is. So I look forward to working with Ste vens faculty to provide more aca demic opportunities to our under graduates.”

more that it is proper to extend a heartfelt congratulations to Dean Prastacos for the extension of his term here at Stevens and to note what constructive changes will oc cur during the continuation of his term.Dean Prastacos’ career in ac ademia started at Columbia Uni versity and from then on, he has gone on to be part of facilities at other top institutions such as Athens University of Economics and Business in Greece and the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Dean Prastacos has also been highly recognized for his work on operations research which has led him to win many awards and distinctions. Starting in 2012, he was ofcially instated as the Dean of Stevens School of Business.Fromthe beginning, Dean Pra stacos was determined to imple ment Stevens’ strategic plan that included bettering the quality of education. During his time as the

Stevens updates branding guidelines: Article incorrectly printed in 09/09/2022 issue. Accompanying photo by Evan Papageorge

dean, undergraduate and gradu ate enrollment saw unprecedented growth as the school’s undergrad uate amount rose 200% from 2012 to 2021 and the graduate enroll ment experienced a 94% increase. Additionally, new faculty were hired and the launching of sever al new majors and programs, both on graduate and undergraduate levels, contributed to the success of the Business School. It is due to his diligence that Stevens Institute of Technology is now accredited by Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB). This accreditation is the longest-stand ing and highly recognized form of accreditation that business schools and programs can receive. This, in turn, places Stevens among the top 5% of business schools to receive such a distinction.

the United States and Europe, aims to update education in the felds of fnance, leadership, ethics, and business to provide students with the necessary tools to succeed, particularly in the intersection of business and technology. The sec ond major development is the Ste vens-led Center for Research and Financial Technologies (CRAFT), which is the frst ever National Sci ence Foundation backed fnancial technology research center. The industry, academia, and govern ment partners in the center plan to work towards generating research and student projects that will bet ter develop the workforce and help build a fnance curriculum for a changingMovingworld.forward, Dean Prasta cos plans to continue with the new Stevens Strategic Plan of focusing on technology-driven research and education. This includes attracting top students and faculty, increas ing national rankings, maintaining alumni engagement, and continu ing to place students in high-im pact jobs. He also plans to keep evolving and growing the business school to adapt to an ever-chang ingDeaneconomy.Prastacos will contin ue to serve as the Dean until Au gust 2024, and looks forward to more achievements for the school in those years, saying: “After 10 years, I am equally if not more enthusiastic about the role and the potential of Stevens and the Stevens Business School. It has helped me develop my skills of addressing difcult situations […] and fast changing environments. It has helped me improve my com munication skills in communicat ing this vision and energizing our community of faculty, students, and staf. It has helped me under stand better the international en vironment and contribute more as a leader to Stevens and the broader academic community.”

The Lodge wins founders trophy at national convention

BY KAYDEN CANNILLA, OPINION COLUMNIST

OneConference.suchaward, perhaps the most prestigious, is the Founders’ Award of Chap ter Excellence (FACE). Kap pa Sigma chapters receiving FACE exemplify outstanding chapter management, commu nity, achievements, and devel opment. At Stevens, the Kap pa Sigma Rho Omega chapter asks its members to maintain particular academic require ments and volunteer work

As one of only three awards that The Lodge presents at their Annual National Convention, this award is extremely presti gious and represents “the hard work and dedication we’ve put into improving all aspects of the Lodge this past year,” said Stevens Lodge President The odore Sherman. He contin ued, “Receiving this award is an immense honor and source of pride for our active broth ers and hundreds of alumni who see the Alpha continue to thrive after nearly one hun dred and forty years.” When asked about the accomplish ments of The Lodge, Sherman responded, “I’m most proud of the absolute dedication and pride my brothers have shown

The fraternities and sorori ties of Stevens hold a remark able role in the development and experience of the students at Stevens. From network ing opportunities and giving back to Stevens and Hoboken through numerous volunteer and civil service activities and projects, Greek life here con tinues to shine amongst fel low organizations around the nation. In particular, our very own chapter of the Kappa Sig ma fraternity received some of the highest accolades for the national Kappa Sigma Leader ship

COURTESY OF THE LODGE

Stevens Kappa Sigma chapter wins prestigious national award

Sherman notes that this was a factor in this year’s recog nition as well, in addition to improvements “in all facets of our operation; recruitment, philanthropy, alumni rela tions, campus involvement and brotherhood unity all showed signifcant growth over the last year.” The Lodge will continue to exemplify Chi Psi’s values of Brotherhood, and the brothers are grateful for the recognition of their hard work this year.

Beyond the respectable recognition of being a FACE chapter of Kappa Sigma, the Stevens chapter also was rec ognized as a Champion Chap ter. Champion Chapters are chapters of Sigma Kappa with at least 35 members with a sig nifcant number of recruits.

News

while the group organizes a fundraiser and other commu nity-building events.

“The Founders’ Trophy rep resents the continued success of an organization that has persevered through two World Wars, a Great Depression, and now two global pandemics,” Sherman said.

This is not the frst time that Stevens’ chapter has received this honor, as it was one of the frst Alphas to receive this award in 1975, and most re cently in 2013 when the trophy was awarded for their signif cant increase in membership.

BY EVANCONTRIBUTINGPAPAGEORGE,REPORTER

The Stevens chapter of Sigma Kappa gained 94 members to receive this award. It is a great honor of Kappa Sigma to rec ognize Stevens as an outstand ing chapter, but one growing and spreading its exemplary work to more students.

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The Stevens chapter of Chi Psi received national recogni tion when they were award ed the Founders Trophy this summer, which goes to the chapter, otherwise known as Alpha, that most exemplifes “Emerging Excellence.” Chi Psi is more commonly known as The Lodge, originating from Chi Psi being the frst fraterni ty in the nation to establish a fraternity house, which resem bled a hunting lodge.

for the Lodge, especially our newest guys. Nationally, Al pha Xi has always been known as a very tight-knit, United Brotherhood, and I think one of the most important factors in us receiving the award is how we’ve been able to main tain those close bonds through such an adverse time.”

Furthering the outstanding attributes of the Stevens’ Kap pa Sigma chapter is their re cent achievement of the 100% Ritually Profcient Award. A member of Kappa Sigma re ceives ritual profciency when they master the Kappa Sigma ritual — including commit ting it to memory. This award displays Stevens members of Kappa Sigma’s dedication to upholding their academic, civ il, and moral duties. Addition ally, Stevens received a similar

yet more exclusive honor of 100% Ritually Profcient for Two Certifcates: one of four institutions in the country. Continuing the outstanding awards collected by the Ste vens chapter of Sigma Kappa is the recognition of being a Silver Bowl chapter. The Kap pa Sigma Silver Bowl Award represents a chapter’s academ ic excellence, maintaining a minimum grade point average (GPA) and the brothers’ aver age above that of the school. The Stevens chapter of Kappa Sigma won this distinction for its scholarly qualities and for working on improving the Ste vensStevenscommunity.isan innovative university with a reputation spanning over a century of exemplary education. At the national Kappa Sigma leader ship conference, the Stevens Kappa Sigma chapter upheld these ideals and promoted the excellence of the Stevens com munity and students. Congrat ulations to the Stevens chapter of Kappa Sigma and their work in receiving these distinctions, and they will continue in the upcoming semesters.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF @KAPPASIGRHOOMEGA ON INSTAGRAM

Student Government As sociation (SGA) President, Gab Poska, discussed how seeing diversity and inclu sion initiatives grow on campus is amazing. Stevens has become a much more in clusive and welcoming cam pus, and because of this, last week the frst drag brunch was able to take place. In 2018, the drive and push from the Stevens students allowed for the opening of the space, and through their continuous support, the In tercultural Space was able to be completely remodeled within the UCC. The Inter cultural Space sparked a lot of change on the Stevens campus when it started in 2018, and continues to serve as a safe space for all stu dents.

Each of the events during this week was sponsored and/or hosted by the Inter cultural Space Student Advi sory Committee, the Diver sity & Inclusion Committee of the SGA, and the Ofce of DEI. The Students and Staf alike are excited for new op portunities to be opened by the UCC’s improved Inter cultural Space. The Inter cultural Space is currently open and is welcome to all Stevens students: be it any background, gender iden tity, expression, ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, re ligion, national origin, citi zenship status, and physical or mental disability.

provided with drink tickets. The attire is semi-formal, and the decorations will re fect a rustic-barn theme.

The night will feature a wide variety of entertain ment, including a string quartet, Stevens’ student Matthew Kirby as the DJ, and a dancefoor. Stevens will be catering the event with fall-themed foods, and three local Hoboken cofee shops will provide some hot drinks. Although dinner is not provided, a full spread of appetizers and a selection of desserts will be served.

Entertainment Committee prepares for inaugural Fall Fling

4 Friday, September 16 News

On par with past Entertain ment Committee events, there will be free giveaways at the end of the night, in cluding rafe baskets. A free photo booth will also be in place to capture the night.

On Thursday, September 22, The Entertainment Com mittee (EC) will be hosting their frst annual Fall Fling in the Walker Gym, with outdoor seating on Schaefer Lawn from 7 to 10 p.m. The event is free for all under graduate and graduate stu dents, the only requirement is to bring a Stevens ID for check-in, and a photo ID to get a drink ticket. Check-in begins at 6:30 pm.

In previous years, The Entertainment Committee hosted a Fall Festival around this time of year. This pre vious event featured more outdoor activities and in fatables. This year, the EC has reimagined this event into more of a dance, with a greater focus on food and music.

The Fall Fling is part of Steven’s weekend-long Fall Festival event, but unlike some of the later plans that

Students can hop on a hayride that will be traveling from Palmer Hall past De Baun Field to Walker Gym. The hayride will feature a special guest—Attila the Duck—who will be giving out candy to the passengers.

BY ARIANNA GEHAN, STAFF WRITER

The chair of the Diversity & Inclusion Committee, Viv ian Touch, discussed how she worked on the Intercul tural Space from the ground up. The space was proposed back in 2018, since Stevens did not have any spaces for diverse students to gather together and be proud of their heritages, identities, and/or disabilities. She dis cussed going to the original opening of the Intercultur al Space in the Alexander House, and how it is surreal seeing the ideals of the orig inal space being transferred

Committee about the prob lem of ableism and how to become better advocates for people with disabilities.

countries in East and SouthEast Asia. According to Chi nese Tradition, the lanterns that are made for this holi day symbolize fertility and longevity, and also serve as guides for spirits. Students were able to celebrate this holiday on campus with the Stevens-wide event that the Intercultural Space held.

BY NICOLE GIARDINO, STAFF WRITER

ty & Inclusion (DEI) Lend ing Library, resources, and student art. Not only is this area used to work towards more inclusivity on campus, but it also serves as a stu dent lounge where students can be free to express them selves in a safe space that is full of their allies.

SANJANA MADHU FOR THE STUTE

are open to parents and alumni, Fall Fling is a stu dent-only event Special Events Coordina tor Jenna Wynd, who has been planning this event since late June, stated she is “really excited for everyone to experience this event. The Entertainment Committee has been working hard to plan Fall Fling to make it as fun as possible for all of the students!”Entertainment Commit tee Festivities Director Co rey Batchelder shared a sim ilar sentiment: “I wanted the event to feel like a class ier take on your typical high school fall Homecoming Dance while still kindling that warm and cozy campus feeling as we welcome back our family, friends, and alumni to Stevens. With this in mind, Jenna and I agreed to give the event a rustic fall barn theme to set an elegant yet familiar tone. I’m truly looking forward to a festive evening with the entire stu dent body!”

On Thursday, Out of the Shadows Trivia Night took place, where students test ed their knowledge of the history of social change. On Friday there was a Cultural Arts Night, where students celebrated their identities through art. They were able to either take their art home with them or hand in their pieces to be added to the In tercultural Space’s Student Art Wall.

For attendees who are 21 and older, there will even be a bar where they will be

to a new and improved space. In the UCC, every thing about the space seems more vivid and real.

Last week, Stevens Cele brated the Grand Re-Open ing of the Intercultural Space. Previously located in the Alexander House, the Intercultural Space has been relocated to the second foor of the University Cen ter Complex (UCC). The In tercultural Space serves as a hub for their core ideals: identity development, social justice education, communi ty-building, empowerment, and campus-wide allyship. Alongside serving as a safe place for students, this new space has a library with over 200 books and DVDs that students can borrow at no cost, to learn new informa tion about diferent cultures and identities, and how to be a more inclusive ally. The Intercultural Space was created as “a space for dialogue on the topics of diversity, inclusion, and in tersectionality on campus” (Proclamation P-19S-001 of the 106th Senate of the Student Government Asso ciation). This space includes the Ofce of Diversity, Equi

Following the grand opening, there were four more events for students to attend throughout the week. On Wednesday there was an Accessibility Ally Workshop, where students heard from the Diversity and Inclusion

Finally, on Saturday the Mid-Autumn Festival took place. The director of DEI, Liliana Delman, states, “The Mid-Autumn Festival is hosted by the Ofces of Un dergraduate and Graduate Student Life and the Ofce of Diversity, Equity & In clusion. It is a tanking event with DIY lantern-making and moon cakes (a tradition al food for the Mid-Autumn Festival).” This holiday is celebrated in China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan, with variants of the holi day being celebrated in Ja pan, Korea, and many other

You can follow them for any future updates and/or events on their @interculturalspace.Instagram:

Stevens Intercultural Space Re-Opening Week

The Re-Opening Cel ebration Reception took place on Tuesday, Septem ber 6, where the community welcomed the Intercultural Space to its new location, and heard from a multitude of campus leaders who made this new space possible.

knowledge of space. The James Webb telescope is a huge advance from the Hubble Space Telescope, with greater detail, a defnition in shape, and color. Although the Webb telescope images have given researchers a wealth of new infor mation, there’s a catch! The tele scope has an infrared detector, the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam), using light collected from the sky. This detector allows astronomers to look at the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum; the telescope sees heat radiation, and engineers take this radiation to create an image in color for us to see.

James Webb Space and the future of space imaging

the mid-1800s, Ireland grew only one type of potato, so when a dis ease that destroyed the leaves and edible roots of the vegetable spread throughout the country, the Irish were left to starve. This was because monoculture farming leaves crops vulnerable to climate disturbances. In this example, cli mate change as we know it today did not impact that disaster, but it is an example of what many com munities will go through since, “certain insect pests, diseases, and weeds may survive or even repro duce more often each year if cold winters no longer keep them in check.” While looking at how cli mate change will impact our food, scientists suggest not only diver sifying the food products that we put on our shelves but to change how that food is grown. By look ing into more diverse ways to pro duce food, scientists believe that ecosystems have a better chance of being resilient to changes in the climate.

Climate change will make a sig nifcant amount of crops harder to grow which will not only make food more expensive but will also increase food scarcity.

There are several ways that climate change can impact the agricultural industry; wildfres, drought, and pests are just some of the environmental efects that crops are vulnerable to. Rising temperatures can have positive or

warmer air holds more moisture, meteorologists warned that there would be above-average rainfall during the monsoon season. However, there’s another cul prit to the fooding: melting gla ciers. Pakistan is home to 7,200 glaciers. Pakistan has the largest number of glaciers outside the polar regions. This means that Pakistan, already one of the most vulnerable countries, will become increasingly susceptible to food ing in the years to come as the planet warms. In a 2021 study, a group of researchers found that the Himalayas — one of the main mountain ranges in the country — is melting at an unprecedented rate. “Our fndings clearly show that ice is now being lost from Himalayan glaciers at a rate that

where residents already face high infation, a depreciating currency, and exorbitant food prices.

Early estimates put the damage of the recent deadly foods at more than $10 billion. Pakistan has ap pealed for international help with some countries having already re sponded by sending supplies and aid such as China and the United States.

Since Webb’s telescope can only target a specifc area at a given time, the target areas were predetermined and meticulous ly planned in advance to create images that would help further our current understanding and

BY OZ AGUINAGA , CONTRIBUTINGREPORTER

NASA is committed to establish ing a stronger observatory named the Nancy Grace Roman Space, where people will collaborate on machine building, analyzing data, and developing software. With the rise of interest in space, the Space Systems Engineering program at Stevens can captivate many aspir ing space engineers, and ultimate ly the images captured from the James Webb Telescope can help us foresee a bright future for the world.

July 12, 2022, was a historic day because the James Webb Tele scope released the frst full-col ored images of space. The James Webb Telescope was built under the Webb Program, which is an international program under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), European Space Agency (ESA), and Cana dian Space Agency (CSA). At the moment, the telescope is the larg est optical telescope in space and claims to see approximately 13.6 billion light years away from Earth. It is essential for society to educate themselves on this telescope and the images they produce.

Friday, September 16 5

is at least ten times higher than the average rate over past centu ries,” said Jonathan Carrivick, the study’s lead author.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has agreed to release $1.1 billion in Pakistan bailout funds from an agreement entered in 2019. This is, of course, short of the actual need in Pakistan. The fooding in Pakistan is but only the frst telltale signs of what’s in store in the future. And though the cri sis in Pakistan seems far removed from our daily lives, we can expect the hurt to echo across the world. Many of the impacts of global warming are now simply irrevers ible. We are continuing to face forest fres, droughts, foods, and death at inconceivable rates. The looming question is: was this inev itable…can we change anything?

The deadly monsoon rains have destroyed road and communica tions infrastructure leaving mil lions of Pakistanis homeless and looking for higher ground. More than 1.2 million houses, 5,000 ki lometers of road, and 240 bridges have been destroyed. Some have gone so far as sheltering in make shift tents alongside damaged roads. Residents in southern Paki stan have taken it upon themselves to form new dikes with sandbags to prevent further inundation. Pa kistan’s agriculture has also taken a massive hit. Two million acres of agricultural land have been food ed including cotton, sugarcane,

Pakistan’s fnance ministry has warned of the impact. The loss of certain crops, like cotton, which is key for Pakistan’s textile sector that makes up more than 60% of the country’s exports, could dev astate the country. This only ex acerbates the situation in Pakistan

Why you shouldn’t ignore the foods in Pakistan

The future of food

Science

Anna Gibbs writes in her article, These six foods may become more popular as the planet warms, about six diferent foods that are full of carbohydrates, protein, and

With climate change becoming an ever-growing issue, scientists around the world have been fght ing to fnd solutions to help miti gate the efects that it will have on our food and researching the roles that food practices might play as a solution. Various parts of the world will be impacted by climate change extremely distinctly from one another, resulting in agricul tural systems that have been in place for decades to be vulnerable. This impending disaster will not only afect those local communi ties but will have drastic conse quences when it comes to food scarcity and the global economy.

not the only change that needs to be made; we also need to change how our food is produced as well. As Altieri et al. stated, “The trans formation and democratization of the world’s food system is the best way to adapt to climate change, while simultaneously eradicating hunger and poverty […]”

and vegetable felds. And nearly 700,000 livestock have died. Food prices have already shot up due to the fooded crops and impassable roads which only exacerbates the situation.

negative efects on certain crops, but overall, it leads to weeds and pests becoming widespread due to shorter winters and a drastic increase in evapotranspiration: the process of water being evapo rated from the soil or by a plant’s transpiration. According to an article titled “Agronomy for Sus tainable Development,” by Mi guel A. Altieri et al., this “is likely to intensify drought stress” which would intensify the lack of growth.

BY KATE CONTRIBUTORWILCOX,

BY EMILY RETINO AND DANICA LACUESTA

Pakistan, a country that emits less than one percent of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions, now faces the consequences of a global warming crisis. One third of the country is underwater follow ing an intense heat wave and a long monsoon season that has dumped a record amount of rain, leaving 33 million people displaced and kill ing more than 1,200 people.

er technicians in NASA and other space agencies. Students who are passionate about space and explo ration will be more inspired to pur sue scientifc research. Dr. James Rabinovitch, Assistant Professor at Stevens under the Schaefer School of Engineering and Science, leads a research group dedicated to space exploration. After seeing the images, he stated, “the clarity, the detail, and just the beauty that we saw was absolutely amazing.”

(Above) This observation reveals the amount of water present in the atmosphere of the gas giant exoplanet, WASP-96b, surrounding a distant star based on the gas molecules present based on the brightness of colors of light. Although WASP-96 b is unlikely to be inhabit ed by any forms of life, this technique could be used in the future to determine whether other planets can support life. The frst clear detection of water in exoplanet atmospheres was captured by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2013, but Webb’s observation was more detailed, “marking a giant leap in characterizing potentially habitable planets beyond Earth.”, PHOTO COURTESY OF WIKIPEDIA.

Although having crops that grow in tough conditions is highly benefcial while the climate con tinues to change, it, unfortunate ly, will not decrease food scarcity and the environmental impact of climate change in the long term. In order to more efectively slow down climate change, or even mitigate the efects that humans have had on climate change, di versifying our food selection is

Scientists believe there are sev eral factors that have contribut ed to the fooding. Temperatures reached over 104 degrees Fahren heit in Pakistan during the months of April and May. Considering that

In order to combat the inevita ble rise of food prices due to climate change, some scientists suggest that investing in a diverse range of food could help in the short term.

Webb has the goal of “pushing the boundaries of human knowl edge,” which can inspire bright, ambitious students to further cur rent knowledge. The scientifc dis coveries found under the images captured by the James Webb Space Telescope can potentially build bridges between Stevens students, astronomers, physicists, and oth

minerals that could be used in many dishes and are climate resis tant. These include popular foods such as muscles and kelp, which live symbiotically to help reduce the acidity in the ocean as well as act as a flter. Gibbs also mentions crops like millet and enset, which although lesser known, have the possibility of becoming a house hold staple. Food that can adapt to climate change can be more ef fciently mass-produced in order to reduce food expenses and food scarcity around the world in the short term.

Currently, the most popular way of farming is by using mono culture practices; a western farm ing technique that was popular ized by Europe in order to mass produce and specialize in one crop. Although it is currently seen as the most efective way to farm, it also plays a huge part in speed ing up climate change. Monocul ture practices, along with the help of pesticides and modern technol ogy, have signifcantly increased crop yields at the cost of our eco systems.Afamous example of how mono culture practices have resulted in a dramatic increase in food scarcity is the Irish Potato Famine. During

6 Friday, September 16

Student Sara Deuidicibus shared the poem, “A Litany of Remembrance—We Re member Them,” by Rabbi Syl van Kamens and Rabbi Jack Riemer. The poem is one to keep in mind on days like these, days where stories are shared

tirelessly in the pile, on tug boats, and doing everything they could to help the com munity they so dearly loved.

BY SANDYCONTRIBUTORMCDONALD,

At the time, Grifn was working as a Lieutenant at the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Ofce. His frst day back from training with the FBI was 9/11. He and his colleagues worked

“For those of you who were not born yet, or were too young to remember it, thank you for being here and listening to the stories of those who were. I am glad you did not have to expe rience it, but I hope you never forget the thing you never ex perienced.”Asthepoem states, “So long as we live, they too shall live, for they are now a part of us, as we remember them.”

while campus Chief of Police Timothy Grifn prepared to give his welcome speech. While the events of that day are well known to most, hearing Chief Grifn’s stories will always strike a chord with those who witnessed the tragedy and those who did not.

“We Remember the Past, Embrace the Present, and Hope for the Future”

On September 12, the Ste vens community came together to remember the victims of the 9/11 attacks. The Point, known to students as “The Cannon,” looks across where the Twin Towers used to be. The event began with the Presentation of Colors by the Hoboken Po lice Department Honor Guard. The drums and pipes played

wrote for the 10th anniversary, “We Remember the Past, Em brace the Present, and Hope for the Future.” In this text, he illustrated the turmoils of the staf working on that day. Seventy-fve co-op students were working in the city, and employees stayed until 10 p.m., fnding all of the students un scathed.

AS THE BERASATHEYSHALLLIVE,SOSTATES,POEMLONGASWETHEYTOOLIVE,FORARENOWPARTOFUS,WEREMEMTHEM.

EVAN PAPAGEORGE FOR THE STUTE

Feature

Stevens commemorates 21st anniversary of September

and tears are shed. Cindy Chin ‘05 was one of those who shared her story. Her husband, boyfriend at the time, lived in Davis. All the couple did for the next couple of days was a blur — going to and from friends’ dorms, making sure her dad was alright, and checking the television for any updates. Stu dents at the time described that fear and isolation, stating “we were pretty much trapped there.”Dean of Students Kenneth Nilsen shared his perspective next, which was an essay he

11

Friday, September 16 7 Feature

As one can assume, the show also follows the many scandals that arise from with

After sneaking in lat er in the week to the building where they were stored, we got to get an up close look at the ani mals that will be joining us in class. “I’m looking forward to living in Al torfer 501,” said Alvin the talking alligator, causing our reporter to jump out of his shoes and into ga loshes that were next to

age. In that sense, at times, it’s nice to have less responsi bility and have no impact on the markets. It’s important to sometimes take a step back and understand the interest ing privileges we have as stu dent reporters.

SENIORITIS Let’s consider ourselves lucky

Alvin’s habitat. This made Alvin chuckle a bit, which we didn’t know alligators could do.

Waystar Royco vs. The Stute: how the news operates from fctitious media conglomerates to college newspapers

At Off the Press though, we knew the ani mals wouldn’t be happiest in classrooms, listening to heat transfer coefficients, missing semicolons, and surface integrals, so in stead we made a rash de cision and began opening cages. First, an ostrich was let loose, but to our surprise, did not fly away into the night after it got outside. Research later revealed that ostriches do not, in fact, fly. We lost the porcupines pretty quickly because they ran and hid in some corners so if you ever end up with a quill in your sock after a class in Burchard, that was prob ably our fault. Alvin was the last one to go as in the brief time they spent to gether, our reporters had

—SATIRE—

Simultaneously, the en tire frst year for the class of 2024 was a time of not get ting to experience what col lege was really like, but at least they had hopeful years ahead of them. At the same time, I was sitting at home in my pajamas listening to lectures about materials while also watching any thing from any streaming

in Waystar Royco. With the intent of not spoiling any thing about the show, it got me thinking about how me dia companies today navigate scandals, and whether or not their upholding of the “facts” exempts them from the scruti ny of the public eye. More im portantly, it got me thinking about the difference between the priorities of large news or ganizations versus the priori ties of smaller, not-for-profit organizations, and everything in between.Working for a news organi zation, it’s important to us as members of The Stute to know the impact our news stories have on our readers and how our stories are being received. Outside the bubble of college newspapers, it’s vital for large media companies to under

Three years ago, Fall 2019, was my glimpse at normal college life. From little fear about health is sues to always talking to new people, my frst semes ter at Stevens was blissful, and I got to experience re lationships without masks. March 2020 was the month everyone at Stevens got sent home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I came out of an MA-123 exam with 500 GroupMe messages, 25 text messages, and 10 emails, each wondering what the future would hold as Ste vens transitioned all class es online for the next two weeks.

PHOTO COURTESY OF TVINSIDER.COM

Following the plot of two brothers lost in a forest try ing to get home, as someone who has frequently become lost in the forest with my brother this touches a spot that not much media has treaded before. The young boys come across strangers ranging from a talking blue bird to a woodsman, trying to stay one step ahead of the malicious sentient dark ness dubbed the Beast. It’s a unique pastiche of my favor ite TV shows growing up like Adventure Time and Gravi ty Falls, masterfully story telling using hand-drawn animation and nostalgia. It becomes timeless as its roots are embedded in folklore, which is as old as storytell ing itself.

Farms throwing their doors open for many antic ipating visitors such as my

out of that by now.

PRESS

Excitement grips me as I await fall at Stevens, eager to begin my days wandering around Hoboken for little cofee shops and their new holiday favors. The cozy at mosphere of the great out doors just adds to the charm of the best time of the year.

grown quite attached to him, but we knew Altor fer was not the place for him. After many pets, a handshake, and hugs, Al vin was released into the night and did the classic alligator waddle down to the river where we can only assume he remains today.As for the administra tion, after they found out all the animals had been released they denied their existence in all of our in terviews with them but did mention they weren’t sure how they would han dle the extra work study students whose positions had mysteriously disap peared into the night. If someone knows if they did send out information about the animals, please send it to us because as a matter of policy, we do not read official Stevens emails. THE

BY MOHIN PATEL ‘26 BY DAMEIKATREVOR‘22

BY OFF CENTER

ROCKET APPLICATIONVENTURESFUELOPENNOW: Scan the QR code above to apply for Stevens’ Venture Capital Club, RFV. No prior experience necessary.

THE STUTE EDITORIAL

Despite all this, the high light of my fall every year becomes rewatching the an imated masterpiece of Over the Garden Wall. Few works have ever fully encapsulated autumn’s charm as this 10 episode show has. Growing up in a suburban neighbor hood bordering your aver age North American forest, the fall wonder trapped in the woods has been an elu sive mark that flmmakers and artists worldwide have never quite been able to cap ture. Deservedly winning it self two Emmy Awards, this show is my guilty pleasure

It was at frst two weeks, then, the rest of the semes ter, then, the 2020-2021 ac ademic year. Did I know we were going to be gone THAT long from Stevens? No. On

The worst was know ing how the class of 2020 and the class of 2021 would graduate. With more than half of the Stevens popu lation missing from their fnal months, they did not get a worthy farewell for the wealth of time and efort put into their Stevens careers. There is no changing how they left Stevens, but we can hope that our eventual fnal months will be a celebratory time with our close ones.

MIND OF A FRESHMAN

My yearly fall tradition

8 Friday, September 16

I spent the latter half of my summer getting back into the habit of watching television. As someone who notoriously watches light-hearted TV (i.e. sitcoms, reality TV, or what you might call “background noise for while I’m doing my homework TV”), I decided it was time to watch a more se rious show. Flipping through HBOmax, I came across Suc cession, a dark-humored dra ma following a power-hungry family that oversees a multi billion-dollar media conglom erate, Waystar Royco. While the show is meant to be a seri ous critique, it also satirically comments on the actions of the 1% and the ups and downs of the media industry.

stand the impact that their ac tions will have on their stock price, shareholders, and their brand. Of course, there also is great emphasis on the stories these news outlets produce, but their main focus is on how those stories impact their im

My lactose intolerance becomes a wisp in the wind as I shovel that farm-made pumpkin ice cream into my mouth without regret. Seeing the horror enter my mother’s face as my brother runs over toddlers in the tricycle race is another priceless treat that drags us all back to the notso-pearly gates of Alstede Farms year after year.

that not enough people have the slightest clue about.

While this was a difcult time for many, I did feel I was the lucky one. I got to experience what college was really like before COVID-19. Additionally, I felt I would eventually get back to Ste vens and have a senior year that would be a deserved farewell. For all students, it has been a journey. My mes sage from this piece is to enjoy your time with others while you have it. This world can be a chaotic place, and we are slowly coming out of this pandemic. Let’s enjoy the fact that we can have in-person relationships and make the most of our time.

Building off the known success of therapy dogs and the general presence of four-legged friends on campus, Stevens has an nounced that all class rooms will now feature a class pet for students to interact with before, during, and after classes. Similarly to the respon sibility many students may have had in elemen tary school of taking care of the science lab pets at resource, work study po sitions will be available for those who wish to feed and maintain the animals’ living spaces. This writer would like to note that like in elementary school, it will be possible to be fired for going to recess instead of feeding the fire-bellied toads too many times, but we all should have grown

Class pets

Autumn. The epitome of all good things the world has to ofer. Every year the same joyous smile sneaks its way onto my face upon seeing the frst bright yellow leaves, indicating the change yet to come. Halloween, arguably the greatest holiday, takes its time claiming every home across the nation with the humble pumpkin stationed outside the door. My daily routine develops into throw ing on any old hoodie and my favorite pair of work pants, just to run outside and enjoy the perfect goldilocks tem perature for as long as I can. Seeing the forest turn every color of the setting sun day by day becomes my person al treat, drinking milk with pumpkin spice while watch ing in quiet disposition.

The various festivals and the smell of freshly fallen leaves will not just remind me of home, but will fnally establish Stevens as my sec ond one.

Sanjana Madhu ‘23 Editor-in-Chief

As some of the ani mals were being brought in, a few of our reporters had a peekmomentToo-See-The-DragonsThe-Woods-With-Hagrid-Harry-Potter-In-andgotasneakatsomeofournew

furry friends. Except none of them were furry. From feathers to scales, an assortment of ostrich es, alligators, porcupines, and more were backed into loading docks by Physical Plant trucks.

own family become the one event no one can opt out of, an inevitable monthly family trip that never becomes te dious. With the corn maze’s layout changing every year, without fail, my dad gets yet another opportunity to get us as lost as possible in spite of him having a map.

OFF

service.School clashed with stu dents’ personal lives every day online. Communicat ing with fellow students was difcult because no one knew what was going on in the student’s personal en vironment. Teachers could not have much control over their classroom other than seeing students’ black zoom screens. Students around the world along with those now employed in remote jobs found the comfortabil ity to wear a dress shirt at the same time as pajama pants.

line teaching was almost unimaginable when I frst arrived, but it evolved into my only source of learning for a year and a half. This online learning created an immense, uncomfortable social anxiety within many students including myself. The fear of raising your voice when you do not know what the other person’s body language is like or what they are going through.

Opinion

On August 24, President Joe Biden announced his three-part plan to reduce student debt for low-mid dle class working families to “provide more breathing room” as they recover from the pandemic. Biden’s goals are to make the loan sys tem more manageable for borrowers and confront the growing cost of a college ed ucation.

One other place that not necessarily the Fibonacci sequence, but the golden ra tio, shows up, is much more man-made: this fnal exam ple is credit cards. These cards are designed so that the ratio of the longer side to the shorter side is the golden ratio. If credit cards have an aesthetically-pleasing size to you, this may be why!

Introduction

Ultimately, this plan is a temporary solution to a larger issue. Going for ward, the Biden Adminis tration needs to examine why student loan debt is so immense in order to prop erly ease the burden higher education inficts upon stu dents and graduates.

Campus Liberal, Tasha Khosla

FOR MATH’S SAKE No Thefb:Fibonacci Sequence

Numbers, on the other hand, may be slightly less appealing to some of us — or at least, they don’t seem to hold the same beauty as pat terns in nature. But in fact, it is because of numbers that such patterns arise. These numbers follow their own pattern — mathematically, one would call this set of numbers a “sequence”— and there is one sequence, in particular, that shows up all over the world, across many felds and species. This is the famed Fibonacci sequence.

The frst application of this sequence is not all that beautiful, but it is fairly practical, especially if you are traveling! If you pick a number in the sequence and jump to the next one, that is a good approximation for the conversion from miles to kilometers. Runners may recognize that 5 kilometers is about 3 miles, but this goes for all the higher num bers in the sequence too! If you don’t believe me, you can Google “convert miles to km” and plug in some other numbers.Thisperhaps may be a little easier than multiply ing miles by the conversion rate, which is about 1.609 km/mi. But why does this work? The answer is that the ratio between a number in the Fibonacci sequence and its next-lowest neigh bor approaches “the golden ratio” as we continue writ ing terms in the sequence. The golden ratio is about 1.618, so we’re very close to approximating kilometers from miles this way!

I keep rotten fruit in my cabinet

Fibonacci numbers also show up in fauna, specif cally for bees. Honeybees generally follow the pattern that eggs laid by unmated females are male, while eggs fertilized by a male bee are female. With this informa tion, one can trace the ped igree of male bees – they have 1 parent, 2 grandpar ents, 3 great-grandparents, 5 great-great-grandparents, and so on. So, we again have a Fibonacci sequence!

Friday, September 16 9

I defnitely get some pretty weird looks with my mini neon green com post can, but that is half of the fun. I have considered putting the can in a bag to conceal it on my walk, but I have found that be ing bold with sustainable actions also helps spread awareness. Of course, the educational component only works if people actu ally know what I am doing, which they most defnitely do not.

Campus Conservative Marisa Powers

direction, the reasons for this mountainous debt are the real issues that need to be addressed.WhileBiden’s plan does focus on the working class and low-income students, it still does not decrease the actual cost of attending col lege. Institutions of higher education are businesses; they seek to earn money in order to fund the programs and needs of the institution.

are all very supportive of my, sometimes wacky, sus tainability things and were totally ready to start com posting.Ibrought a mini trash can to use as the compost bin and stored it under the kitchen sink so guests wouldn’t accidentally put trash in it. Every few days the compost needs to be emptied to prevent mold. This means I need to carry my neon green compost can through the South Tower, across campus, and down Washington Street to City Hall. The walk takes about 40 minutes which is kind of long to be doing multiple times per week, but I try to use the time to catch up on podcasts or music. Some times my friends walk with me which makes it way more entertaining.

SUSTAINABILITY

THE CONVERSATION Biden’s loan forgiveness

BY POWERSMARISA‘23

the sequence. The Fibonacci pattern is that each number in the sequence is the sum of the previous two num bers. This means we need to set the frst two values of the sequence — these are typi cally chosen to be 0 and 1 — but after that, the sequence makes itself. Following 0, and 1, the next several val ues in the sequence are: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, ... ...and so on.

What people don’t tell you is that it takes an in sanely long time to get the soil to build up to a de cent-sized pile of dirt. After two years, I have only got ten a few cups of dirt from the pile and those went into my mom’s houseplants. Ap

parently, she buys heartier plants than I do and they have survived our family’s natural tendency to both over and under water.

Let’s begin by defning

When I started getting ready for college, I was dev astated to leave behind my prized compost pile, even though it was worth little more than sentimental val ue. There was seemingly no way to compost as a fresh man living on campus, so I reluctantly threw perfectly good organic materials into the trash can where they would be sent to the land fll and turned into meth ane. My friends had to hear me complain about the lack of a compost system every single time I had a banana peel or apple core. Lucki ly, they are understanding and knew this was an issue that really bothered me.

The main point of going through all these examples is that numbers can show up in very unexpected and dis parate situations — but, nev ertheless, they help us un derstand patterns in those situations, and further more, how such patterns can extend across several areas of nature. Perhaps the most miraculous part of this story is that nature seems to be able to understand math as much as we can, and can utilize math to make life more orderly, and, yes, more beautiful.

So, you are defnitely wondering what the heck I am talking about. I am re ferring to my compost bin which only occasionally contains mold and rotten fruit.Let me start from the beginning. Almost two years ago I decided to start a compost pile in my back yard to reduce the amount of waste I was sending to landflls. I had grand plans to use the soil in my house plants, but my plants did not live long enough to see that dream come true.

It is worth noting that Biden does not have the power to cancel student

There is no doubt that college debt is an issue in America due to the dispro portionate rise in cost of attendance and job pay for young Americans. While Biden’s plan to erase exist ing debt is a step in the right

Over the summer, I had a sustainability intern ship for Stevens and spent seven hours per day re searching environmental stuf. One of my frst mis sions was getting a com post program started at Stevens so nobody would have the same frustrations I did. Although I hit some barriers trying to start a compost program on cam pus, I found that Hoboken ofers free composting to all residents, including those living in Stevens res idence halls. So, I imme diately started planning how to best implement a composting system in my college suite with suitem ates and a constant fow of guests. Luckily my friends

As a result, college costs of attendance are high, with the average cost of a fouryear U.S. college education being $35,551 per student, per year. These costs include “books, supplies, and daily living expenses.” However, these costs vary across state lines depending on whether a student is paying in-state or out-of-state tuition and if the institution is private or public. Arguably, erasing up to $20,000 in student debt is not enough to make the fnancial hardships of at tending college disappear. Especially since it is possi ble that colleges will raise rates to combat the infation that will inevitably occur, although the extent of in fation’s impact is yet to be agreed upon by economists.

apples, to name a few, are patterned. We see this by observing the frst several values of the Fibonacci se quence showing up in such patterns. An example is giv en below, here with a cham omile fower.

Conclusion

WRITE beLettersLETTERATOTHEEDITORshouldaddressingapublishedpieceinTheStuteortoTheStuteingeneralthestute.com/policiesforthefullrequirements

Anyway, I basically started throwing com postable materials in a pile at the edge of my yard and called it a compost pile. It only required an occasion al turn with a shovel and minimal monitoring to make sure nothing funky was going on.

debt. In 2021, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi stated, “He can postpone, he can delay, but he does not have that power. That has to be an act of Congress.”

Anyway, if you are inter ested in composting, please check out the Hoboken compost page. It is com pletely free. You drop of compostable materials and they handle it from there. I would recommend storing

cool

BYBEALLCHARLES‘22 plan is

your compost in the freez er, especially if you don’t want to empty it frequent ly. This will prevent any chance of mold or odors.

around campus or Hobo ken with my mini neon green compost bin, please say hi! I would love to stop and talk to you about com posting!

Both sides agree that the Biden administration should take other steps to solve the issue of student loan debt.

Opinion Professional Topics

In my view, Biden’s Loan Forgiveness Plan cre ates more problems than it solves. It will without ques tion raise the national debt. And with the infation rate already being at a forty-year high, 59% of Americans are worried this will only make it worse according to a sur vey from CNBC. His admin istration has also declined to address how they plan to cover all the debt because it is clear that it will be on the shoulders of taxpayers, costing upwards of $500 billion. Also, student loan forgiveness is an incentive for universities to raise their tuition, as students can take out large loans that will later be forgiven.

BY KHOLSATASHA‘25

|

Most of you have likely heard about this sequence and may have even come across it in a course or two (for me, I remember a math ematics course sophomore year where we proved a special property of the se quence that I will describe a bit later). But I hope I can convince you of its ubiquity in nature and, as a result, its beauty.

If you see me walking

BY BLOOMERKATIE‘25

The Justice Department said that the HEROES Act of 2003 gives the adminis tration “sweeping author ity” to reduce or eliminate student debt during a war or national emergency, the pandemic being the emer gency they’re using to jus tify his plan. It became law while US troops were fght ing in Iraq and Afghanistan to relieve soldiers from the burden of loans. However, using this act to justify the loan forgiveness is seen as an overreach by some, even members of Biden’s own party.Biden and his admin istration should be taking action to decrease infa tion and lower taxes for the American people, not creat ing ostensible solutions that add to these problems.

Where else does the golden ratio show up? Well, pretty much everywhere. It is how many types of fora, including sunfowers, dai sies, pinecones, and pine

Patterns pop up all the time in nature, and they are typically very appealing to us. From appreciating the look of a fower to en joying the tidiness of one’s room, order and structure are pleasing to the eye and soothing to the brain.

more down-to-earth. In addition, every time a new character was in troduced, they showed a title card. This helped the audience keep track of the large cast of char acters with increasingly strange names including my personal favorites, Lemon and Tangerine.

BY WIERZBICKIJULIA ‘23

into account the hundreds of thousands of small art ists who can’t get noticed enough to even make it into consideration.Maybemusic used to be good back when the world was smaller but now that music is such a large in dustry and the market is so saturated, new, good music is hard to fnd. Maybe peo ple are resistant to fnding new music because they’re comfortable with what they already know. This is cer tainly true of genres, where people make sweeping judg ments and call all country

BY SEARINGSTEPH‘24

My favorite part about music is its subjectivity. The most popular artists that get millions or billions of streams have some of the

Rather than framing the question as “good” or “bad”, I think it’s more helpful to consider it as music I like or didn’t like. In a music col umn, I think the semantics are important because, to me, the idea of reviewing music does not necessitate judgment on the music. A critic isn’t there to tell people

OF AMAZON.CA

Historical fiction is one of my favor ite genres, especially WWII-based novels. I somehow always end

Vianne’s younger sister, Isabelle, is a rebellious 18-year-old searching for her passion. After fleeing Paris and en tering the unknowns of war, she falls in love with a man she meets.

Overall, is Bullet Train a groundbreaking film? No. Is it going to win an Oscar? Probably not. Did it need the in sane amount of promo tion? I don’t think so. But was it fun to watch? Absolutely. If you’re looking for a fun, fastpaced, and engaging film, this is a pretty per fect choice. It has quite a few unexpected twists and turns and kept me wondering what was go ing to happen next. If nothing else, I promise you’ll gain a new per spective on Thomas the Tank Engine.

most vicious slanderers. Part of this is counter-cul turalism since it’s seen as very cool and intelligent to be against the mainstream, but of course, not all music is for everyone. We have systems to measure how “good” music is, like big winners at award shows, top of the Billboard charts, or record-breaking Spoti fy streams, but none of this can convince someone to listen to BTS or Beyoncé or whoever it may be. Some people may argue that these metrics have no value at all because they don’t take

ly bad movie we could all get a laugh out of. We were very surprised to find ourselves genu inely laughing out loud and enjoying ourselves through the entire two hour film that is Bullet Train

I have my own biases but I try to keep myself open to new music constantly. From Bad Bunny to Beach Bunny, I try to practice fnding new music because it can be difcult to know where to start in the age of streaming. Keep an ear out wherever you go; you never know if you might connect

My coworkers and I have been huge fans of Bullet Train ever since we saw the first trailer a few months ago. Since then, we must’ve seen at least 15 others, as well as an WeformoviesoofspentitersionshopgiveawayAMC-sponsoredandasunglassthathadateleviplayingthetrail24/7.Atthatpoint,wasclearthismovieaninsaneamountmoneyonmarketing,wedecidedtoseetheoutofpurepitythemillionsspent.expectedahilarious

10 Friday, September 16

PHOTO COURTESY OF IMDB.COM

In 1939 France, Vi anne Mauriac says goodbye to her husband, Antoine, as he is sent to the front lines of the Eu ropean theater as Ger many begins its advance on France. She, along with much of France, doesn’t believe the Na zis will invade, but they do. As the Nazis con tinue to occupy and de stroy France and reach the height of their pow er over Europe, Vianne must live with a German captain or lose every thing. Without food or

its many whacky se quences. Even the gore seemed comical, such as Brad Pitt sarcastically asking a woman painful ly dying of snake venom if she wanted to hold his hand or needed a glass of water. There were so many scenes that in dif ferent contexts would’ve been extremely dark and disturbing, but Bul let Train ’s style made it seem almost cartoon — in a good way.

The other character istic I really enjoyed about the film was the style. Nearly every scene was colorful and vi brant, harkening to the bright lights of Tokyo. In contrast, the scenes where they toned down the saturation really stood out and brought a more serious tone into the film. I feel like this was balanced really well and helped define when the story needed to get

Is there still “good” music?

BOOK OF THE WEEK The book you read when you want to be inspired by women in war

PHOTO COURTESY

PHOTOS COURTESY OF AMAZON.COM

She is constantly told that she is too young to know better or to help France defeat the Nazis, but she joins the French Resistance anyway. The Nightingale , by Kristin Hannah, tells the story of two sisters separat ed by age, experience, ideals, and passion, and how they overcome the hardships of Ger man-occupied, war-torn France in their own way.

BY CANNILLAKAYDEN‘24

The first thing I thought after the cred its started rolling was, “This felt like an Agatha Christie story.” In case you’re not aware, Chris tie is a mystery author best known for overly complex murder novels including Murder on the Orient Express and And Then There Were None Although I’m usually not a fan of her (in my opin ion) overly dramatized style, I feel like this movie had just the right mix of insane twists and stark humor to make it work. It very clearly knew what kind of mov ie it was and stayed very self-aware throughout

Opinion | Arts and Culture

with movie soundtracks, the barista’s playlist at your local cofee shop, or the bus driver’s favorite radio sta tion. You certainly won’t know what you like if you have your own library play ing in your earbuds.

money, and in constant danger, she is forced to make impossible choices to keep her family alive.

up reading about wom en during WWII, and I love it. Although the stories are fiction, they are always based on actual events and peo ple; reading about the struggles and hardships that women had to go through and how they prevailed is one of the most inspiring things to me. The events and the overarching themes of love, strength, hope, and courage that occur throughout The Night ingale are truly breath taking, heartbreaking, and inspiring. It gen uinely amazes me how so many women lost their husbands, their friends, their children, and themselves, only to continue to try to pro tect their families and fight back. The Night ingale , specifically, is based on the heroism of a young Belgian woman who created an escape

what’s “good” and “bad”; art is inherently subjective and a person needs to experi ence that art for themselves to decide whether or not they like it. The job of a mu sic critic is to sort through their own subjectivity, con sider other people’s tastes, and give an informed opin ion. My goal for this column is to focus less on reviewing music and more on making people aware that certain new music exists and they might like it. I’m always tak ing recommendations, so be sure to submit any requests to The Stute.

SPOILER ALERT The movie from those trailers: Bullet Train

route out of Nazi-oc cupied France, as well as other women who saved Jewish children and many other people from being executed by the Nazis. It is so crazy to me that people actu ally had to endure these things, and the fact that they had the courage to stand up strikes me every time. This book is written much like a movie script; so much happens throughout the course of the novel and the timeline moves very fast. I liked that aspect of Hannah’s writing be cause, although the book was long, it remained engaging and there was always one thing hap pening after the other. Overall, this book re minded me of how pow erful and strong women can be; I highly recom mend it.

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

music “bad” because they really dislike Luke Bryan. I think it’s very narrow mind ed to think that not listening to country music makes you better than the hundreds of millions of people who do enjoy it.

not you have an art history degree, you will have some reaction to it. Your reaction is proof of their art. Your re action is your own art, like meta

A difcult summer for women in the United States

Unfortunately, after a few hours of googling, I still didn’t understand. Banksy rose to prominence between 2013 and 2017 and solidifed his household prevalence through his painting shred ding stunt in 2018 (during which one of Banksy’s art pieces was auctioned and its fnal sale prompted a self shredder).Asoftoday, the discourse surrounding Banksy largely refects controversial opin ions regarding Banksy’s ap proachability and authen ticity. Many artists believe that Banksy has become a “sellout” for pursuing copy right legislation while crit icizing authoritarianism. Some disagree, citing the direct relationship between fame and dissenters. You wouldn’t call Lebron a sell out just because you play well at your neighborhood basketball court, would you, one Reddit user had com mented. Others believe that Banksy’s art is too crude and lacks depth while oth ers believe that just because it doesn’t take an art histo ry major to understand his work, doesn’t mean that his work lacks meaning. Hek tad is another street artist who has gained prominence from a less precise method of graftiing (Banksy uses stencils, which is why the edges of his installations are cleaner).

BY KLESCHINSKYETHAN ‘24

The response to this de cision was something un like I’ve ever seen before.

Lauren Pierce, an attorney from Dallas, traveled to the east coast to take part. She states, “There’s nothing, to me, more worth fghting for than this cause - our funda

essential part of keeping abortion a federal right in this country for half a centu ry. Roe v. Wade occurred in 1973, in which the Supreme Court decided that repro ductive decision-making lies with other fundamen tal rights, such as freedom of speech. The overturning of Roe v. Wade marks the frst time in history that the Supreme Court has taken away a fundamental right.

DEAR CLAIRE AND ETHAN...

This past weekend, I joined my friend on a walk across Manhattan. It was an amazing experience, even if my feet would tell you oth erwise at the end of our sev en-hour trek. It was incredi ble to see over the span of 15 miles how many times the fashion, architecture, and vibes could change so rap idly. Of our many observa tions, one detail that stuck out to me was the graftied words “Banksy vs Hektad” across the side of a building. Having been familiar with the name Banksy, a mysteri ous street artist whose iden tity has been kept secret to this day, and who has been largely responsible for shap ing the art/media scene for the past ten years, I wanted to look into Hektad, whose name I had less familiarity with. Why was there a com petition between the two? Who was watching? I want ed to know.

WRITE A LETTER TO THE EDITOR Letters should be addressing a published piece in The Stute or to The Stute in general policiesthestute.com/forthefullrequirements

GIRL TALK

Banksy vs Hektad?

Q: How do I navigate the UCC?

To get back to the point, Banksy is no longer an artist talked about for his work. His work might be the basis of conversation, but the center of the conversa tion relates almost entirely to his philosophy, reception, and symbolism. My next question would be wheth er including Hektad in the conversation is meant to change Hektad’s relevance from his work to his meta work, or meant to change the entire conversation from meta to work or work to meta. Maybe we can call the answer to that question art too.

mental right to have bodily autonomy. If that means taking up space and getting arrested then I think it’s worth it.” I wholeheartedly agree with her.

On July 9 in Washington, D.C about 10,000 individ uals marched through the pouring rain and risked arrest to protest the over turning of Roe v. Wade.

You simply do not, with no access to the stairs in the residential towers and the elevators taking hours to arrive, navigating the UCC is a challenge even the greatest explorers would struggle with. If you are a resident of the UCC Towers, you will be able to explore the 3rd and 4th floor bridge connect ing the two towers which includes space to hang out with friends, study rooms, a ping pong table, and a bunch of TVs. However, if you are not a resident you won’t be able to access any of it. Instead, you could go to the student center lo cated on the second floor of the South Tower or the game room and gym on the ground floor of the same building. Another place that you can go as a non-residential student is the UCC Marketplace, housing many different food options that will all manage to make you wait an hour for your meal. I would compare the dif ficulty of navigating the UCC as a non-residential student to that of putting a man on the moon, but we can only have such high expectations for the first few weeks of the new buildings being open. Hopefully in the com ing weeks and months Residential and Dining Services will make im provements to make the process of navigating the UCC simpler and more efficient. But until then, I look forward to looking down on you from my ivo ry tower located on the 3rd floor bridge.

As a New Jersey citizen, I feel very lucky that Gov ernor Murphy has made a public statement that abor tion will be permitted in our state. But, this is not the case across the coun try—States such as Tennes see, Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri have criminalized and banned abortion en tirely.Now, women are forced to travel to other states and locations to receive an abor tion if needed, which is not feasible for many individ uals. Multiple companies have announced they will now ofer travel benefts for employees in need, includ ing but not limited to Ama zon, Starbucks, Target, Mi crosoft, JPMorgan Chase, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Buzzfeed, and more.

THE DOODLING DUCK

BY RAJADURAIPOOJA‘23

For example, in my research, I remember googling, “Is Banksy a sell out?” The very act of my doing so is proof of the im pact of the art. Grafti is an expression meant to take up room. To confuse people, enrage others, prompt con versation, and mark territo ry. The art that overwrites, replaces, adds to, or modi fes is art that has been cre ated anew. And whether or

Thousands of protests oc curred across the country, fghting for women to gain full access to their bodies.

Friday, September 16 11

My assumption regard ing the statement I saw on Saturday is that the writer was making a commentary on authenticity, reputa tion, and style. But who can know for sure other than those that have either fol lowed the Banksy discourse continuously or the writer themselves? That’s when I realized, that is the art of grafti: ambiguity. You can either be privy to the con versation, sentiments, and impact of artists in the ur ban scene, or you can watch the drama unfold from a third-party perspective, happy to piece together years of a conversation that can still be traced back to the paint cans evident on the sides of NYC buildings. Either way, there is a ques tion to be asked and an an swer to be supposed, blur ring lines between impact and purpose until we can call the whole process art in and of itself.

For women across the coun try, this Friday at the end of June marks an extremely difcult day in history.

ty. Stevens Student Health Services “provides free pregnancy testing, assis tance in fnding local OB/ GYNs, assistance in fnd ing resources for pregnancy termination and adoption, and ofers prescription birth control options.” The post also includes infor mation on adoption, repro ductive health, and family planning.Well,that was certainly a lot of information for my frst column of the school year. I got pretty frustrat ed writing this, but this in formation must be shared and publicized so we can do our best to change the course. Sharing resources, information, and support is a great start to helping women across the coun try, or even just to help the women in your community. Other ways to help include: voting, donating, sharing your story, and educating yourself.Ifyou or someone you know is in need of assis tance, please visit org/.www.plannedparenthood.https://

BY RAMELLIJORDYN‘23 Lifestyle

I’m sitting at my desk on September 8, 2022, trying to fgure out a good opening topic for my frst column of the school year. It’s been about three months since I’ve written, and I want to start with a bang — some thing exciting, fun, inter esting, and engaging. But to be completely honest, I don’t think that’s possible right now. While refecting on my time of from school, I only have one sentence that continues to come to my mind: it has defnitely been a difcult summer to be a Onwoman.Friday, June 24, 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which has been an

For the Stevens com munity, Instagram page @ StevensStudents shared various resources that can assist students and facul

BY HANNANCLAIRE‘24

Opinion |

Anyoneart. who knows me knows my obsession with meta (not the corporation, the english word that de notes an entity’s reference to itself). Metaphysics is the physics of physics. Metadata is the data of data. Metaphi losophy is the philosophy of philosophy. Meta defnes exactly what it means to be human: the obsession with the intangible. Even Meta the corporation refers to its own reference to the world. We’re already living in a vir tual copy of the world. Might as well own it in branding…

The new UCC is a huge campus space that most stu dents haven’t gotten a chance to explore yet. Once you spend some time in the diferent spaces it will get easier to nav igate throughout the semester and fgure out which spaces areTheuseful.layouts of the build ings are pretty simple as there are two towers that make up the complex: Harries Resi dential Tower and South Tow er. On the frst foor of Harries is the new Cannon Café. The second foor of the tower is currently under construction but will soon house the Of fce of Residential Education (ResEd). The frst foor of the South Tower is comprised of the UCC Marketplace where you can order food from a va riety of stations. Across from the dining area on the frst foor is The Gallery, where SITTV hosts movie nights. One foor down, on the ground foor of South Tower, is the TechFlex Auditorium where large campus events may be held. There is also a new gym, called the UCC Fitness Cen ter, with increased capacity and new equipment. For stu dents looking to unwind, you can also fnd a game room on the ground foor. On the sec ond foor of the South Tower are many ofces and campus spaces for students. The frst space you enter when you get to the second foor is a large student lounge adjacent to the Intercultural Space. On this foor, you can also fnd club meeting spaces, the Ofce for Diversity and Inclusion, and muchButmore.ifyou take away any thing from this, remember that if you ever need help, don’t be afraid to ask. There are plenty of students and fac ulty willing to point you in the right direction.

12 Friday, September 16 Campus REPORTERROVINGPulse “Describe your frst week of classes in three words.” Sudoku LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS Simeon Davis ‘25 “Challenging, exciting, and promising.” Grant Brickner ‘23 “Crash-course, frazzled, introductory.” Catherine Sabol ‘26 “Fast, sociable, fun.” Cameron McIntyre ‘25 “Not enough time.” Kamila Nowakowski ‘26 “Lost, late, bumpy.” Aidan Williams-Healy ‘25 “Not very fun.” Michael Burgos ‘23 “Back in action.” Aisha Hussain ‘24 “I was on campus for 3 hours.”