[The Stute] March 6, 2020 (Issue 17, CXVII)

The official newspaper of Stevens Institute of Technology, and creator of Attila the Duck.

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Volume CXVII No. 17

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March 6, 2020

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How Super Tuesday went

BY ALYAA ELKAHFIF

If the threat of the coronavirus becomes so severe that the health of Stevens community members is at risk, the university is prepared to cancel or postpone community events, restrict study-abroad activities and international travel, and do whatever else necessary to keep people safe, Farvardin wrote.

Farvardin added that

The modern news cycle has become a dizzying parade of minute-by-minute updates on the Democratic presidential primaries and caucuses, as well as the novel coronavirus, outpourings of praise and blame for President Trump, personal attacks on individuals and organizations alike from across both sides of the political aisle, complicated discussions on more nuanced issues in foreign and domestic affairs, and far, far more. But how are the political clubs on campus, College Democrats of Stevens (CDS) and College Republicans, acting in response to the undeniably turbulent political landscape modern America finds itself in?

At their joint, voting-themed general body meeting (GBM) on Wednesday, March 4, the two clubs focused on educating attendees about how voting works, how to register to vote, and some of the history behind the current voting system.

They gave an extensive presentation on the topic, starting by summarizing the results of Super Tuesday (the consequential day when 14 states hold primary elections) and finished with a lighthearted slide full of relevant political memes. It also included information about voter constituencies, voter fraud, the history of suffrage laws, voter registration and absentee ballots, the electoral college, gerrymandering, campaign finance, different kinds of voting systems, vary-

SEE STEVENS PAGE 3

SEE SUPER PAGE 2

SEE CLUBS PAGE 2

What’s the As worldwide fear of coronavirus grows, deal: the novel Stevens prepares for the worst coronavirus act with extreme seriousness students, faculty, staff, and

BY MATTHEW CUNNINGHAM to the now pandemic. visitors are our highest priand Hoboken Fear of the novel coro- orities,” he wrote.

After having been first The novel coronavirus continues to move quickly throughout the globe as nations on several continents continue to intensify their efforts to contain the epidemic and avoid the ongoing panic from their citizens.

As of two days ago, cases of the coronavirus have appeared in the state of New Jersey. Hoboken Mayor Ravi Bhalla sent an email to residents to make them aware of precautions that should be taken and the efforts being made by the City of Hoboken to be as efficient as possible during this time.

Leo Pellegrini, Director of the Hoboken Health Department, claimed that the City of Hoboken’s response to the coronavirus is establishing a task force with the Health Department, the Office of Emergency Management, and the fire department to make sure that everyone is on the same page with regard to monitoring the situation. Pellegrini wants to make sure that the City of Hoboken is proactively educating the public to make sure that they know what the task force is doing.

When asked about what would happen if someone contracted a case of novel coronavirus in Hoboken, Pellegrini said that the hospital would have to communicate that with the health departments; furthermore, they would ensure that those who contract the virus are quarantined.

As for Stevens students, Pellegrini emphasized the importance of getting vaccinated and keeping up good hygiene.

Make sure to continue washing your hands. If you do not have sanitiz-

identified last December as a minor epidemic in Wuhan, China, the novel coronavirus—or COVID-19, as it’s known to scientists—has since sickened more than 92,700 people and killed around 3,000. With dangerous swiftness, it has spread from China to neighboring countries, the Middle East, and the United States, and might soon infect dozens of more countries, prompting public health officials to re-

navirus, a disease that the World Health Organization said on Tuesday is deadlier than the seasonal f lu but does not transmit as easily, has in recent weeks crept into the minds of leaders at Stevens.

Nariman Farvardin, President of Stevens, said this week in a campus-wide email that the university takes the threat of the novel coronavirus very seriously.

“The health and safety of our

Campus Wellness Committee accepting applications for murals on Field House Road stairs

BY ALEKSANDAR DIMOSKI Started by the Student Government Association (SGA) in October of 2018, the Community Mural project was an initiative headed by the Campus Life Committee (CLC) to increase the amount of student artwork on campus. The proposal for the project was approved at the end of the Fall 2019 semester, and a DuckLink form is now open for student submissions.

The idea began when the SGA ran a quick response survey and received recommenda-

tions to increase the amount of student artwork on campus.

The Campus Life Committee collected the responses and began work on a proposal. Responses to the survey suggested that the artwork be a mural underneath the bleachers. Based on these recommendations, the art was slated to be painted on the stairs on Field House Road.

The project is currently supported by the Campus Wellness Committee, which has taken on the role of the CLC and the Health and Wellness Committee in the SGA. SGA Senator Elina Tuder

Political clubs prepare for 2020 election

By now, you have probably heard people either celebrating or mourning Super Tuesday results. If you are not a politics enthusiast (or are someone who stays out of the loop), you might still care to learn about the biggest night in the 2020 primaries.

Super Tuesday is part of a series of electoral contests to select approximately 3,979 delegates from across the 50 states, Washington, D.C., United States territories, and Democrats abroad to elect the Democratic nominee for the 2020 U.S. presidential election. What is special about Super Tuesday is that fourteen states and American Samoa hold primaries or caucuses simultaneously, culminating in the allocation of a third of the total delegates.

Even though the 2020 Democratic primaries started out with the most diverse candidates in the party’s history, there are only three candidates remaining, two of whom are septuagenarian white men.

Prior to Super Tuesday, Amy Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg dropped out of the race and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden.

This, among other factors, has placed Biden at the forefront of the Democratic ticket, with 627 total pledged delegates. Following Biden, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has 551 total pledged delegates. In third place, Elizabeth Warren accrued 64 total delegates. Due to her relatively poor performance, Warren has since dropped out and has yet to endorse a

As the novel coronavirus continues to be a topic of discussion, Stevens and the City of Hoboken prepare for any situation that may arise. Photo courtesy of Andrew Kinney.

BY JOANA FARDAD

Established 1904

and former Chair of CLC Jon Darlak worked on the initiative since its conception, with E.J. Hannah continuing the work during his time as Chair of CLC. The proposal was first sent to the Office of Student Life, which reviewed the proposal and sent it back with necessary revisions. The finalized proposal was written by Tuder and Hannah, and was sent back to the Office of Student Life during the Spring 2019 semester. The proposal had to be approved by several administrators, including President

Farvardin, and was formally approved at the end of the Fall 2019 semester.

According to Tuder, applications to work on the mural are open. “As of this Monday, the DuckLink application has opened for students to submit their ideas for painting the sides of the stairs. Students can apply either as an individual or a group of people and they have to include a colored rendering or sketch of what they would like to paint, the dimensions, and the supplies they would

SEE MURALS PAGE 4

After a propsal from the Student Government Association, applications to help paint the Field House Road stairs are now open.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW KINNEY.

SEE HOBOKEN PAGE 3

BY ANDREW KINNEY

Students launch 150for150

BY ALEX MURTAGH In honor of Stevens 150 anniversary, two students, Luke Langner and Joan Tubungbanua, along with their committee, have launched the 150for150 project. This project aims to host 150 STEM workshops at local schools for K-12 students between March 2020 and March 2021.

The goals of this project include serving the Hoboken community while promoting Stevens and STEM education.

Additionally, this project seeks to engage Stevens students in a service project aimed at civic engagement, which will help to promote their personal and professional development. This all ties back into the Stevens mission statement which is “to inspire, nurture and educate leaders in tomorrow’s technology-centric environment while contributing to the solution of the most challenging problems of our time.”

In total, the student committee working on this project has developed fourteen different workshops that are divided into four groups. The groups are broken down into kindergarten through second grade, third through fifth grade, middle school, and high school. Some of the activities for the two younger groups include elephant toothpaste, fake snow, and Alka-Seltzer lava lamps. For the middle and high school students, there are activities like Alka-Seltzer rockets, marshmallow towers, Arduino programming, web development, and building a helping hand.

SEE 150 PAGE 3

NEWS PAGE 2 Unified Elections

SCIENCE PAGE 5 Stevens Robotics Club

NEWS PAGE 3 Coronavirus effects study abroad students

PULSE PAGE 6 Sudoku

NEWS PAGE 4 Plastic bag and styrofoam ban

OPINION PAGE 7 Musically Inclined Passion for Fashion

NEWS PAGE 4 Academic break extension

SPORTS PAGE 10 Men’s Basketball

March 6, 2020

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News STAFF BOX Volume CXVII No. 17

BY MARK KRUPINSKI

Executive Board EDITOR-IN-CHIEF.......................................................................................AUDREY D’SOUZA BUSINESS MANAGER.................................................................................MARK KRUPINSKI MANAGING EDITOR...............................................................MATTHEW CUNNINGHAM LAYOUT EDITOR..........................................................................................NATALIE TODARO OUTREACH CHAIR.......................................................................................ANDREW KINNEY

Editorial Board COPY EDITOR.....................................................................................ANGELINA ZACCARIA ASSISTANT COPY EDITOR............................................................................MATHEW GREEN HEAD PHOTOGRAPHER............................................................................COLE YARBROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR............................................................................ELINA TUDER SCIENCE EDITOR................................................................................DYLAN JAMES MOON SPORTS EDITOR........................................................................................TREVOR DAMEIKA WEBMASTER....................................................................................................JOANA FARDAD SYSTEMS ADMINISTRATOR..................................................................CHARLES ZWICKER

Staff & Contributors ABIGAIL MEOLA ALYAA ELKHAFIF ALEKSANDAR DIMOSKI ALEX MURTAGH BRANDON SEIDMAN DANIEL KANG DIVYA UNNAM ERIC S. LONDRES ETHAN CHE FRANCES SMALLEY GRACE MIGUEL GREGORY KANE JACK BONOLI JOHN HORGAN JON BROWN JULIA WIERZBICKI

Nominations open for most student organizations next week

LISA MENGOTTO MONIKA GESLAK RACHEL STERN RAHUL SHRIVASTAVA SIMON PEPA THOMAS BLOXAM TYLER KUI YAKOV KAZINETS

Contact

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The Unified Elections Period is quickly approaching. By the end of March, almost every organization on campus will have a new executive board in charge.

Each year, Recognized Student Organizations (RSOs) hold elections for their next executive board. Nominations for most executive boards open next week and elections will be held the week after spring break. As stated in the Student Government Association (SGA) Constitution, this period is known as Unified Elections.

Each club has its own policies on who can be nominated for an executive board position, but all nominees must be undergraduate students and in good academic standing, which entails having a 2.5 GPA, passing 12 credits, and not currently on academic probation. Once elected, the new executive board takes on their roles immediately in most organizations.

“The newly elected officers and their predecessors are to use the remainder of the semester as a transition period, and the position technically still remains in the hands of the current executive board member until the semester comes to a close,” said Hailey Tanner, SGA Vice President of Student Interests (VPSI). As VPSI, Tanner oversees all RSOs at Stevens.

Not all organizations at Stevens follow unified elections. “There are three circumstances in which an organization would not hold nominations or elections in the unified periods,” said Tanner. The three circumstances are if an organization is in the New Organization Process, the organization is a non-RSO, such as Greek organizations and honor societies, or an RSO’s constitution states otherwise.

CLUBS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 ing primary and caucus systems for different states, and more. The presenting executive board members launched into discussions with the audience at multiple points, particularly when it came to the pros and cons of the electoral college and strategies for combating gerrymandering. The two organizations’ executive boards stressed that educating students about voting, and increasing awareness about political issues in general, are central to the missions of their clubs, citing low turnout among young voters as a major driving factor.

The two clubs also stressed the importance of creating a safe space to hold discussions about politics.

“For a lot of people who aren’t familiar with the issues it can be hard to get started in politics, especially if they are afraid of being ridiculed or laughed at for not knowing what’s going on, so we want to create a safe, low-pressure environment where students can comfortably learn and form their own opinions about the issues,” the two executive boards said in a joint statement.

They also stressed that the lack of political discussions in everyday life at Stevens was a major problem in their eyes, and they felt that perpetuating the current stigma that has arisen about talking about politics will only increase polarization and political division in the country and at Stevens. Holding joint GBMs and events is part of their efforts to fight against this stigma by forming relationships between the two clubs. To the same end, they are also working on holding a debate workshop to educate people about how to

SUPER

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 candidate. Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York, New York, has also terminated his campaign after he won 60 total delegates.

The third candidate remaining, Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. Representative from Hawaii, has accrued only 2 delegates from Super Tuesday and in total. Nonetheless, Gabbard has

150

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Back in May of 2019, the committee working on the 150for150 projects began their development of these ideas. Since then, they have had over 50 students show interest in being presenters, with a large number of them already trained to present workshops. Currently, there are 38 workshops scheduled across a number of different schools. There are workshops scheduled at the Hoboken Charter lower, middle, and upper schools,

“As for my advice for anyone interested in holding a leadership role within an organization at Stevens, I usually start by asking people if they are doing it for the right reason,” said Tanner. “With over 100 organizations on campus, it can become difficult to pinpoint where you want to dip your feet in and where you want to commit a large portion of your college experience to. That being said, you have to do something because you want to do it and because you are passionate

about it.”

For those new leaders elected to executive board positions, Tanner challenges them to create new traditions that will help both their own organization and the entire campus. “On a small campus like Stevens’, there is endless opportunity for growth and so much room to make an impact,” said Tanner. “I just hope all the leaders taking on new positions take that to heart and make their term their own and make it unique.”

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convey their points professionally and without triggering people with differing viewpoints. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t know anything [about politics], go to both clubs!

This is a safe space to learn and express ideas,” said Robby Russo, President of College Republicans.

Outside of GBMs, the two clubs have been hosting events and fostering discussions in their large public group chats. They held a joint debate in the fall that had an exceptional turnout, with more students showing up than could fit in the classroom; the SITTV recording of the debate has over 700 views.

College Republicans will host Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s former CEO Andrew F. Puzder on campus to speak about American business and the

economy on March 26, and CDS is in the process of bringing their own speakers to campus. For the fall semester, the clubs expressed interest in holding voter drives to increase student turnout in the general election. Both clubs also have very active group chats, where students talk frequently talk about issues facing the country; any student who would like to join these chats or get more information about anything discussed in this article can reach out to the clubs’ presidents at aelkhafi@stevens.edu (Alyaa Elkhafif) for College Democrats of Stevens or rrusso2@stevens.edu (Robby Russo) for College Republicans. For upcoming events and meetings, check out their DuckLink pages linked above.

DIGITAL DRAWING COURTESY OF NATALIE TODARO.

made no indication that she will be dropping out of the race. Whether or not the DNC revises the rules to qualify for the next Democratic Debate, which is on March 15, to effectively bar Gabbard from taking the stage due to her low delegate count and national polling remains to be seen.

Biden was able to derive momentum from his victory in South Carolina just before Super Tues-

day, as well as recent endorsements from his fellow candidates.

Although Biden is currently in the lead, Sanders still stands a chance to win if he is able to compensate for his Super Tuesday losses in the remaining states. Biden owes a significant amount of his wins to black voters. On the other hand, Sanders has expressed disappointment at low turnout among young voters on Super Tuesday.

as well as at the Elysian Charter school.

There will even be workshops hosted in Spanish for the HoLa Hoboken Dual Language Charter School.

This past week, the first session was held for TRUE Mentors at the Jubilee Center. The first- through eighth-grade students there participated in the fake snow activity. One of the Stevens students participating in the project, Teresa LaParch, said, “We demonstrated a workshop called ‘Fake Snow’ in which students learn about the weather cycle and then make fake snow out of shaving cream and baking soda. Then we

discussed the purposes of either ingredient, what jobs they performed in making fake snow and how adding or lowering ingredients impacted our fake snow ‘quality’ we even built little snowmen and snowballs it was so much fun very fulfilling.”

For more information about the 150for150 project, you can email stevens150for150@gmail.com if you are looking to be involved either as a student or to get your school involved in this project for students to learn about STEM. You can follow them on Instagram at @s150for150.

March 6, 2020

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News STEVENS

HOBOKEN

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Stevens is strictly following guidelines put in place by the Center for Disease Control and the New Jersey Department of Health. No person is allowed to travel on behalf of Stevens to countries with significant outbreaks — specifically, China, South Korea, Italy, Japan, and Iran.

Travel on behalf of Stevens to other countries with a large number of infected people—Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Hong Kong—must be first approved by administrators.

In another campus-wide email sent at the end of February, administrators said that anyone who goes to a significantly affected country for personal reasons cannot return to campus for 14 days.

Members of the Stevens Emergency Management Team have met regularly to discuss emergency plans and are updating those plans, and Stevens’ Business Continuity Planning Committee is accelerating its activities for a possible COVID-19 scenario.

Samantha Molla, President of the Student Government Association, said in an interview that she and her cabinet are “just as concerned as the university” about the threat of the novel coronavirus. “In the event that campus were to close or the school wanted to take extra precaution, it is possible that we would ask RSOs to hold what they can online and potentially cancel in-person events.”

Some student organizations have already been affected. The Chinese Student Association’s Dim Sum Night had to be canceled because of a large anticipated attendance. “That Dim Sum night will need to be canceled due to the high numbers of anticipated attendees,” Liliana Delman told the leadership of the student organization.

More updates are expected to come out from the University as more news about the novel coronavirus is released.

er, wash your hands with warm water. It is essential that you continue to wash your hands and stay clean. Keep your mouth covered when coughing or sneezing. If you are sick, do not go to campus or class where other students can get infected.

TIPS ON PROTECTING YOURSELF FROM THE CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION (CDC)

There is currently no vaccine to prevent coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The best way to prevent illness is to avoid being exposed to this virus. However, as a reminder, CDC always recommends everyday preventive actions to help prevent the spread of respiratory diseases, including: • • • • • • • On The Stute’s Instagram account, a recent poll concluded that 66% of responders are not afraid of the coronavirus and 34% are.

Wall Street braces for coronavirus outbreak

BY RAHUL SHRIVASTAVA Last week, Wall Street experienced its worst crash since the financial crisis of 2008, and was almost immediately followed by a big ‘spike’ up on Monday in hopes of central banks coming to the rescue.

U.S. stocks rebounded on Wednesday in the wake of the Federal Reserve’s surprise interest cut and support from other central banks.

European shares also recovered from losses, and most Asian indexes ended higher than last week. However, the surprise cut still failed to inspire investor confidence in the Federal Reserve’s ability to counter the novel coronavirus, dubbed COVID-19, which has led to more than 95,000 illnesses and 3,000 deaths, primarily in mainland China.

The virus spread at an alarming rate outside China, across 52 countries with confirmed cases, leading to the first 10% correction of the S&P 500 since 2018. The volatility has spiked to an elevated level, bonds have rallied, and the decline in commodities helped stabilize portfolios. 10-year U.S. Treasury note yields fell to a new low of 0.936% on Tuesday, suggesting that investors are still looking for safe havens.

Like China, governments of nations with high numbers of reported cases are acting to limit the spread of the virus by cancelling major public events and imposing

restrictions on travel. For example, in Japan, government officials have announced a month-long school closure nationwide. These efforts to contain the virus have a negative impact on both drivers of the economic activity — demand, as consumer spending is restricted, and supply, as production is slowed down.

According to the latest publication by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the volume of corporate debt hit an all-time high of $13.5 trillion towards the end of 2019, and the overall quality of corporate bonds fell below levels seen before the global financial crisis in 2008. This makes the broader economy weaker and more exposed to the risk to any negative effects of an economic downturn.

The latest news out of China has improved as the number of newly reported cases has been slowing down. The companies that were out of operation in February have started to reopen. The disruptions caused in supply by factory shutdowns are starting to come back online. Like the Federal Reserve, the Chinese government recently cut interest rates to stimulate the economy and strengthen the supply and demand channels disrupted by the population and business sectors being subjected to travel and work restrictions. Additionally, the White House has created a Coronavirus Task Force and is closely monitoring the virus. Given the high debt levels, economic fallout from the virus, and its impact on corporate profits, it is prudent to expect volatility to remain elevated.

Two days ago, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Christophe Pierre announced in a campus-wide email that the evolving situation with the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease known as COVID-19, has led Stevens to suspend all summer study abroad programs. Students who are currently studying abroad have the option to return to campus or stay in their current location. This change is the latest caused by the novel coronavirus.

Second-year student Melissa Kosar, who is studying abroad in an exchange program in Strasbourg, France, is among students who are abroad and affected by the novel

•

•

•

Avoid close contact with people who are sick.

Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.

Stay home when you are sick.

Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash.

Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces using a regular household cleaning spray or wipe.

Follow CDC’s recommendations for using a facemask.

CDC does not recommend that people who are well wear a facemask to protect themselves from respiratory diseases, including COVID-19.

Facemasks should be used by people who show symptoms of COVID-19 to help prevent the spread of the disease to others. The use of facemasks is also crucial for health workers and people who are taking care of someone in close settings (at home or in a health care facility).

Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing.

If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol. Always wash hands with soap and water if hands are visibly dirty.

For information about handwashing, see CDC’s Handwashing website.

For information specific to healthcare, see CDC’s Hand Hygiene in Healthcare Settings.

PHOTO COURTESY OF FOX29.COM.

These are everyday habits that can help prevent the spread of several viruses. CDC does have specific guidance for travelers.

The threat of coronavirus suspends all summer study abroad programs

BY MATTHEW CUNNINGHAM

Bottom line: if you are sick you should not be around people.

Currently, there have been no major changes with respect to the virus and the City of Hoboken. The people of Hoboken should not be panicking, but should continue to follow the guidance offered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the New Jersey Department of Health.

coronavirus. But despite the threat of novel coronavirus, she is “not very worried” about the disease.

“I am not very worried about the [novel] coronavirus,” she said in an interview. “It is a little frightening being in one of the worst countries in Europe right now as far as number of cases. But it hasn’t majorly affected my day to day routine. It is however concerning that I might face issues when traveling to other countries and crossing borders. It won’t stop me from traveling but it is definitely another thing I need to be very cautious of. As far as health, I’m obviously washing my hands all the time, carrying hand sanitizer, and avoiding anyone who feels ill. Otherwise, it isn’t a huge concern — just something to keep in mind.”

For more information on travel notices and tips, please visit the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website.

March 6, 2020

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News Academic break extended beginning next semester

BY NATALIE TODARO On March 5, Provost Christophe Pierre announced a future change to the academic break period. Currently, academic break is 3–5 p.m. every Wednesday, giving students two hours without classes to attend events or relax. The conversation of modifying academic break has been going on for years, as referenced in a past article from The Stute.

In past years, academic break was held on Mondays 4–6 p.m. and Wednesdays 1–6 p.m. In January of 2018, it was announced that both

breaks would be replaced by a single break — the current break on Wednesdays.

Starting in the Fall 2020 semester, academic break will be extended by one hour, resulting in a threehour break Wednesdays 3–6 p.m.

Anthony Tesori, the Student Government Association’s Vice President of Academic Affairs, explained that the extension has been on hold due to the opening of the Gateway Academic Center. The opening of the new buildings has enabled the creation of more class sections, which ultimately made extending academic

break easier than before.

The extension will prove beneficial for many students and student organizations who make use of the academic break to both go to events and host them. Tesori notes that many students complained about events frequently being held at 9 p.m. Extending academic break is a way to avoid later event times.

As Provost Christophe Pierre explained, the academic break extension aims to aid students in managing their study schedules and to participate in extracurricular activities.

MURALS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 need. Those students who apply would be the ones painting as the overarching goal of the project is to display more student artwork on campus.”

The timeline for painting the murals is unclear, as Field House Road is currently the only available route for vehicles to drive through campus,

which means that painting will have to be done outside of regular hours.

Applications to work on the murals close on March 20, and students are encouraged to apply. The mural will be a lasting change to the campus, and participation in the project is an opportunity to take part in these changes. The application can be found in the @stevens_sga bio or under the ‘Forms’ section of the SGA DuckLink page.

To apply to participate in the community murals, head to the SGA’s page on DuckLink for the form.

PHOTO COURTESY OF YAKOV KAZINETS.

Hoboken to enact full plastic bag and styrofoam ban

BY DIVYA UNNAM Starting on March 8, the City of Hoboken will be carrying out a ban on the use of all carry-out plastic bags, including “reusable” plastic bags and styrofoam products, at all food and retail establishments, according to a communication sent out by Vijay Chaudhuri, Communications Manager and Policy Advisor for Hoboken.

Under these new regulations, styrofoam (also known as expanded polystyrene or EPS) products will no longer be allowed to be distributed; this includes “cups, containers, lids, closures, trays, plates, utensils, napkins and more.” The distribution of straws is still permitted.

This ban was an ordinance that was proposed at the July 10, 2020 Hoboken City Council meeting by both Ravi S. Bhalla, Mayor of Hoboken, and the Hoboken Green Team, a group of volunteers who focus on de-

veloping plans and programs that will help promote and support a more sustainable community.

This ordinance is part of Hoboken’s Climate Action Plan — a mission by the City of Hoboken to achieve carbon neutrality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Hoboken hopes to surpass the goals in the Paris Agreement, which include reducing greenhouse gas emission to 45% below the levels they were at in 2010 by the year 2030 and eventually reducing greenhouse gas emissions to zero by the year 2050. Also part of Hoboken’s Climate Action Plan is the dual-stream recycling law that took effect in September 2019. This law was meant to reduce the landfill waste produced by Hoboken and involves specific instructions for the disposal of different recycled materials, such as placing commingled recyclables in clear plastic bags outside on the curbs on Mondays after 7:30 p.m. and placing flattened paper

PICTURED BELOW: HOBOKEN CITY COUNCIL. PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW KINNEY.

and cardboard outside on the curbs on Thursdays after 7:30 p.m.

In January 2019, Hoboken banned the use of single-use plastic bags, taking steps towards a greener city. Some establishments shifted to offering paper bags for a small charge or reusable bags for slightly more.

Other stores, such as ShopRite, shifted to offering much sturdier plastic bags labeled as “reusable” and were selling them for approximately 10 cents each. Dawn Zimmer, former Mayor of Hoboken, expressed disapproval at these actions by the stores and supported the plastic bag ban by tweeting, “Glad we got the plastic bag ban— looking forward to [the] next real step at ShopRite. These ‘reusable bags’ [are] plastic & [are] not being reused.”

Paper bags will be available at retail and food businesses at a cost of approximately 10 to 25 cents per bag.

This fee will help retailers and food establishments “offset the costs of the paper bags.” Some plastic bags will still be available for free, including “produce bags, product bags (packaging), bags for frozen foods, meat, fish, flowers, plants, or baked goods, pharmacy prescription bags, newspaper bags, laundry or dry-cleaning bags, and packages of multiple bags, which includes pet waste bags.” Residents of Hoboken are encouraged to use reusable bags as much as possible.

“This ordinance is part of Hoboken’s Climate Action Plan — a mission by the City of Hoboken to achieve carbon neutrality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Advice from Luke Langner: Try everything once.

That’s why I’m not washing my hands during this coronavirus season.

Search committee formed for the Vice Provost of Research and Innovation

BY GRACE MIGUEL Last week, Provost Christophe Pierre announced that a search committee had been formed to find a new Vice Provost for Research and Innovation (VPRI).

This position, which has been vacant since the departure of former VPRI Mo Dehghani, is responsible for “the research enterprise at Stevens through services and support that help faculty, staff, and students plan, perform and commercialize groundbreaking research.”

A candidate for the position should be picked during in the 2020-2021 academic year. However, this process may take longer because the aim of the committee is to find the best possible candidate for the position. The committee will make final recommendations then send them to Provost Christophe Pierre for review. From there, candidates will meet with key constituents and, based on a collection of feedback from the search committee as well as campus interviews, a new VPRI will be chosen.

The search committee—which is chaired by Min Song, professor and Department Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering— has nine members, all of which are faculty or staff: Cindy Chin, Paul Grogan, Eric Koskinen, Stephanie Lee, Jeff Nickerson, Hady Salloum, Dibyendu “Dibs” Sarkar, Negar Tavassolian, and Hongjun Wang.

Committee members are distinguished research faculty on campus. The School of Engineering and Science, School of Business, and School of Systems and Enterprises are represented on this committee. Cindy Chin, Associate Provost, stated, “We believe this group will do an outstanding job of ref lecting the views of all the constituencies served by the VPRI.” Chin is also serving alongside the faculty to provide an administrative perspective, which is required for the role.

While the VPRI supports faculty, staff, and students, no students serve on the search committee. “The primary focus of the position is on the support and services that help faculty plan, perform, and commercialize research. In turn these services will help increase research opportunities at the school and department levels for the students at graduate and undergraduate levels,” said

Chin. As the candidates come for final on campus interviews, representative graduate and undergraduate students will be able to participate and provide feedback.

The VPRI has oversight of all activities that support and foster the growth of research at Stevens.

This includes all Stevens research facilities, research collaboration with external partners, intellectual property, and facility security and export. A position profile of responsibilities is currently under review and will be publicly available on the search firm’s website, Perrett Laver.

While the search committee evaluates candidates, the Interim Vice Provost is Dilhan Kaylon, who succeeded Mo Dehghani in August 2019. Kaylon is a professor of chemical engineering and material science as well as the Director of the Highly Filled Materials Institute. He earned his B.E. in Chemical Engineering from the Middle East Technical University and received both his Master of Engineering and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from McGill University. His research consists of precision structuring and processing of complex f luids like polymers which can be used for the development of new scaffold fabrication methods.

‘THE PRIMARY FOCUS OF THE POSITION IS ON THE SUPPORT AND SERVICES THAT HELP FACULTY PLAN, PERFORM AND COMMERCIALIZE RESEARCH...’ SAYS CHIN.”

5

March 6, 2020

Science It’s going down in the tow tank

BY JACK BONOLI Many Stevens students wouldn’t know where to find ABS 107, and some may not even be able to locate the school’s towing tank while consulting a campus map. Despite its somewhat covert location on Stevens’ campus, ABS 107 is home to the Fürth Laboratory, where there is plenty of innovation percolating. Founded by Dr. Mirjam Fürth, the lab consists of undergraduate, graduate, and visiting researchers. The various ongoing research projects are based on aspects of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, but the issues they aim to solve extend far beyond these domains.

One lab-wide project intends to tackle the everpresent obstacle of world hunger by developing a sustainable ocean farming system. Specifically, the lab is looking to to develop a moored platform from which edible seaweed can be grown. The mass of the seaweed will increase as the plant grows, so it will take a creative design to account for the changes to the platform’s weight and stability. Powering the platform is another challenge that this project presents, as it will have to either get all of its power from a connection to land or generate its own.

The lab will continue to use the wave generating capabilities of the Davidson Laboratory towing tank to explore these challenges and their potential solutions.

With the global effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the drive to find alternative forms of energy has exploded. One of the lab’s projects is a Ph.D. project investigating the usage of Current and Tidal Foil Turbines. Foils are essentially wing-shaped flaps that are attached to lever arms mounted to the ocean floor. As the current and tide of the ocean moves the foils, the arm moves as well, generating energy that can be used for power grids. Another Ph.D project is investigating aspects of wave energy conversion. Giant buoy shaped objects are attached to a lever arm mounted to a pier. Here, the motion of the waves on the surface moves the buoy up and down, which again moves the arm and generates energy. Both projects seek to use computer simulations to optimize the performance of these alternative energy sources.

Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) ships play a massive role in the oil and liquified natural gas (LNG) industry. These enormous ships are typically anchored offshore and

PHOTO COURTESY OF PACHA.AEROCRENE.ORG

The future of sustainable air travel

BY NATALIE TODARO PHOTO COURTESY OF FÜRTH LABORATORY

The model above is used for spray deflection research. house huge amounts of hydrocarbons and LNG. This precious cargo is constantly being offloaded to smaller shuttle tankers, which transport the cargo into nearby ports. The sloshing effects of the liquid cargo inside the FPSO coupled with the motions of the ship itself make the hydrodynamics of this process very complex. As one would expect, any time there is unexpected downtime, an enormous amount of money is lost. A current Ph.D. project aims to investigate these hydrodynamic effects to carry out a comprehensive downtime analysis of this process. The project is using a model FPSO with cargo tanks to carry out experiments in the Davidson Laboratory towing tank to measure the effect of waves on FPSOs.

PHOTO COURTESY OF FÜRTH LABORATORY

An ongoing Master thesis project is investigating the concepts of spray deflection technology for the hulls of high-speed boats. Typically, the spray generated from the hulls of high-speed craft cutting through the water goes forward and out to the sides of the boat.

Spray deflectors are meant to redirect this spray to go downward and toward the back of the boat, which should theoretically give the boat additional thrust and lift, decreasing drag and increasing fuel efficiency. To this point, there has been a lack of experimental evidence to support this theory, so a combination of Masters and undergraduate students have been using the high speed towing tank to conduct experiments to explore this concept.

Every year, a large number of ships sink due to structural failure. Ship Health Monitoring is an undergraduate research project that aims to significantly reduce this number with the help of sensors on a ship’s hull. This research looks to actively monitor the health of a ship’s hull and provide early detection of issues that could potentially lead to structural failure. To do this, very large quantities of data must be interpreted so the extensive data analysis is the main challenge of this research.

Fürthlab’s diverse collection of backgrounds and skillsets has resulted in a constant flow of meaningful research projects. For those working in the Fürthlab, there is always something to be done. Whether it is a task for their own project, lending a hand to someone else’s work, or documenting the lab’s successes and failures on Instagram (@ furthlab), their unique skills and abilities are always being put to good use in ABS 107. Wherever that is…

Tomás Saraceno, an Argentinian interdisciplinary artist, is reimagining the future of air travel with his fuel-free hot air balloon. Setting six world records, “Aerocene Pacha” has enabled humans to fly free into the air.

On January 28 of this year, Saraceno led the world’s first manned sun-powered free flight. Using only solar energy and air, Saraceno and female pilot Leticia Marques lifted humans above ground, sustainably.

Aerosolar balloon technology, free of any dependency on carbon fossil fuel derivatives, has since granted the project six world records filed with the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) under the General and Female categories for Altitude, Distance, and Duration of the human solar flight.

Saraceno’s project, titled “Fly with Aerocene Pacha,” has one mission: to open up a new era of planet solidarity, and to move past manmade causes of climate change.

In most cases, traditional hot air balloons are heated by the burning of propane, which is also commonly used for barbecues and some motor vehicles. Although scientists have shown that using propane as opposed to conventional fuels is a better option, the combustion of propane still produces harmful wastes, including carbon monoxide and greenhouse gases.

Saraceno’s balloon uses Aerosolar technology, which relies on the sun instead of propane or any other type of fuel. Aerosolar, meaning “of the sun and the winds,” has the power of harnessing the energy of the sun to make moving with the air self-sustaining. Ultraviolet rays are captured by the membrane of the balloon that raise the temperature enough to lift the balloon into the atmosphere,

without any burning of fuel.

Throughout history, ballooning has been known to always rely on the use of carbon fossil fuel derivatives.

Airplanes, arguably the most common method of air travel, also rely on fuel that produces greenhouse gases.

Commercial air travel in general accounts for only 2.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions, but that percentage is growing and contributing to climate change.

According to the 2016 Environmental Report from the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAO), a rapid growth in plane emissions could have detrimental effects by 2050 — aviation could potentially take up a quarter of the world’s “carbon budget,” which is known as the maximum volume of carbon emissions that would not result in an uncontrollable rise in global temperature. Fly with Aerocene Pacha is looking at other ways society can fly without the burning of fuel.

The project also aims to stand in solidarity with Argentina’s native communities. In Salinas Grandes, lithium is mined for batteries, but mining has caused drought and water pollution that has inevitably affected surrounding communities. Written on the Aerocene Pacha is a message that reads, “Water and life are more valuable than lithium.” Representatives from 33 indigenous communities of the Salinas Grandes attended the launch of the balloon, proving the project to embody an ethical commitment to the atmosphere and to the Earth.

Without exploiting local communities or the environment, Fly with Aerocene Pacha is making history.

Floating free from lithium and fossil fuels, Aerocene Pacha is as much as a scientific breakthrough as it is a stand against climate change. As the project’s tagline states, “Change habits, not the climate.”

Stevens Robotics Club gears up for NASA competition

BY ABBY MEOLA Two years ago, Stevens Robotics Club had only five members and was struggling to survive as an organization. Now, the club is thriving, boasting a membership of nearly 40 and a record-high budget from the Student Government Association.

Their growth is the result of a team of dedicated students from several disciplines who are primed to tackle their biggest challenge yet: the NASA Robotic Mining Competition.

The competition, nicknamed Lunabotics, is NASA’s annual robotics challenge for undergraduate and graduate students across the nation.

As part of NASA’s Artemis Mission, Lunabotics is tackling the obstacle of mining on the moon. The robots have no easy task. They must be able to drill deep into the lunar surface and extract icy regolith, which can be turned into breathable air, drinking water, and other life-supporting materials. University teams are tasked with philosophizing, designing, and building the best robot for the job.

“NASA wants to send astronauts to the Moon or to Mars, and you need to have water to do that,” said Yoohan Ko, President of Stevens Robotics Club. “But it’s not that simple, because water is too heavy and expensive. So they need to have ways to

drill for the water once they get there.

This competition is to find the best way to do that.”

Sights set on the competition, Stevens Robotics Club began to build their team. Twelve ambitious seniors decided to use this challenge for their senior design projects. Ryan O’Shea, the software lead for the project, said that Senior Design is one of the major advantages that their team has. “We lucked out that we already had this time set out in our schedules that we could dedicate to the project.”

The rest of the team was built by drawing from other Stevens organizations, such as IEEE and ASME. Many students were First Robotics alumni who missed the competition-driven atmosphere that they had in high school. Their first interest meeting for the project had over 50 people in attendance. As O’Shea said, “Robotics is the middle ground between all the disciplines, so it is a great opportunity for students to test their skills.”

Trent Slutzky, one of the two project leads along with Stephen Forte, described building the team as somewhat surreal.

“Stephen and I pitched the competition to Yoohan as two overambitious sophomores. A year later, we had a $25,000 budget from the SGA. That’s unheard of. But they loved our

idea and the interest was there.”

On top of the money that the school gave to the project, the team has received outside donations from organizations like SICK AG and Hoboken’s Rocket Club.

Despite the support on campus, the team has faced challenges.

For one, the design specifications have become more specific, which has only added to the difficulty of the task. Every year, the challenge is updated to respond to the quality of the robots entered. This time around, the weight maximum decreased, so the teams have to incorporate the same functionality into a smaller, lighter frame. The final robot also has to dig deeper, all while optimizing power usage and cost efficiency — more mechanisms in less space.

As Slutzky said, “Thinking about sending things into space, we have to be practical. Every pound makes it harder to bring along, so for the project a heavy weight will deduct points.” O’Shea continued, “Even communication bandwidth is limited on the moon, so the robot must function with limited communication controls.”

To tackle such a complicated problem, the team has split up into five smaller subteams: Chassis (load-bearing framework/wheels), Software, Electrical, End-Effector,

and Dispensing teams. Every team has weekly reports on their progress so that the group at large can stay on track and report back to investors.

Another obstacle for the team is that they are new in the competition field. As first-year competitors, Stevens Robotics are the underdogs.

Some teams from other schools have viable prototypes from previous years that they can spend the time improving instead of starting from scratch. Other teams have such a legacy with Lunabotics that they have full facilities dedicated to the project itself. The University of Alabama has a to-scale replica of the competition room that they can use to test their robot in competition conditions.

“It is true that we may have less resources and experience, but the school has been really great in giving us space to work in the machine shop,” Ko remarked. “We can’t manufacture things at the same level, but we can 3D print to our exact specifications.”

The Stevens Robotics Club has another secret weapon: their dedication to the team. They have a rigorous schedule: two days a week of intensive and mandatory work, with some team members working many more days of the week.

As O’Shea said, “[The team] comes out every Saturday morning

when they could be doing literally anything else. Most of the town is still asleep, and we are hard at work.”

The dedication of every member points towards the success of the team, now and in the future. Underclassmen are given leadership positions so that they will take over as project leads in the coming years.

Ko explains that “taking over this club has opened up so many opportunities. If a student has an idea for a project, we can actually support them through it and give them a small stipend to work on it. Someone wanted to build a hydroponic farm, and I was like, go for it!”

The competition will be held at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida in May. Fifty teams from around the country will be there. It occurs the same week as senior commencement, from which the graduating team members will leave early to be at the competition on time.

All of the members of the team are excited about the future of the project and want the community at Stevens to know that new members can still join for the fabrication phase of the project or join next year.

“It is really hard to take a project like this to fruition,” Ko said. “Ideas don’t bring a project like this to life.

It requires passion from every individual.”

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6

March 6, 2020

Pulse

By Gregory Kane

7

March 6, 2020

Culture MUSICALLY INCLINED

Our public spaces could be more active in their musical decisions

BY THOMAS BLOXAM SENIOR

MUSIC AND TECHNOLOGY Sound, like furniture and light, is an inf luential element in a space, and should be treated with as much importance as other elements. A great deal of public spaces (restaurants, cafes, stores) in Hoboken play the same or very similar sounding music. It’s mostly the same set of songs, a cycling group of the 40 most popular tracks in the U.S., most of which are written by the same small assortment of largely indistinguishable artists and released by the same three major labels. Each time we enter a space occupied by this kind of music, there’s very little to be surprised about — we’ve heard these songs before, and the melodies they regurgitate from other songs we’ve probably heard next door. The whole enterprise is riddled with sameness, like a musical monopoly.

Marc Augé coined the term “non-place” to describe a place where a person exists in a state of nothingness, indistinguishable from peers, anonymous, and non-applicable to their environment. The location is not distinct enough to earn the title of “place.”

It’s worrisome to think of places we so actively move through as soni-

cally non-distinct from one another and therefore non-affecting to our perception of sound. Each time we go into a place, we see the walls, the furniture, the height of the ceilings, perhaps we see people already inf luencing the space, and hear the sound. Sound is distinct from the other components because although it is technically physical, it does not appear physical like the others, and therefore our guard is down, and it can be more impactful to our perception. As musical selection in these environments becomes more and more homogeneous, our sound-perception of places as distinct from one another fades, and our lives become more boring.

I was recently in a pizzeria where soccer was on the television. Many of the employees were demonstrating their perfected technique of watching and kneading, actually quite impressive to a passerby. Some patrons were watching intermittently during their conversations, some had focused their eyes to their personal screen, and others seemed to be there just for the game. The soccer’s presence and the eaters’ reaction to it, whether attentive or not, completely changed the environment. It was exciting, dynamic, and felt representative of the society it occupies space in. I became acutely aware of the inf luence this soccer match and its viewers had on my experience. There was a soundbed of small celebratory exclamations aimed at the television and the Spanish players featured on it, of light laughter and conversations typical of a Sunday. It felt authentic and unique, like what was happening was a ref lection of the individuality of the components of that specific environment, except for the music. They were playing Firework

by Katie Perry. I was consciously unsurprised at the song choice, but now I was paying attention, and it

made no sense. I don’t mean to be misleading, it’s a perfectly acceptable song – actually, I like it – but it was simply not effective in that environment, when so much other music absolutely would be.

Brian Eno, a music producer and theorist, was among the first to discuss furniture music, proposing sound as a component of an environment, something I have mentioned a fair bit. He composed a short album entitled ‘Music For Airports’ populated by three long ambient songs. The airport was actually one of the places Augé used to describe the non-place, as people remain anonymous to one another there. But Eno personified the place, gave this monotony an expressive identity. I don’t know whether or not Eno directly took reference from Augé’s theories, and it doesn’t really matter, because what we see from the listener’s side is a study on the nonplace, to remove our perception of it as such. Naturally, I’ve listened to ‘Music for Airports’ in an airport, it outlines the space, creates a narrative for anonymity, and it’s well suited to be a component of its environment. I’m not suggesting we all get Brian Eno to score every restaurant in Hoboken, I’m just using his attitude to music in a space as I’m using Hoboken to represent a collection of spaces. I’m suggesting that within each of our public spaces, an identity through sound and music can be achieved, and can breathe life into our experience.

I was talking about this standardization with a friend who happens to be a musician. He agreed that this monotony and sameness in music can be quite unproductive to our happiness. He shared my strong feelings that we can do better with very little work, and that the small details of music in a public space actually have a definitive impact on our experience.

My friend was slightly more dras-

tic in his criticism of complacency, claiming that as humans we are more “…susceptible to certain evils.” When surrounded by this monotony; strolling through our world with clear and fulfilled expectations of the sort of environ-

ment we are about to walk into.

I’m reminded of a rather naff but applicable phrase: variety is the spice of life. It’s romanticized and waxed poetic, but I agree, and I for one would prefer a spicier life when eating a slice of pizza.

PASSION FOR FASHION

Impact of coronavirus on fashion

BY DANIEL KANG JUNIOR

BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING COVID-19 or SARS-CoV-2, better known as the novel coronavirus, is on everyone’s mind lately. With over 3,000 deaths worldwide and confirmed cases in the five digits, this disease has become a public health emergency almost beyond control. Besides its country of origin, China, it has shown up in South Korea, Italy, Iran, and Japan. More and more cases are confirmed each day. Now it is beginning to be community spread in most nations, meaning authorities do not know how patients became infected with the disease. Worldwide, everything from agriculture to retail to the service industry has been negatively affected by coronavi-

rus. Unsurprisingly, the fashion industry has also been severely impacted.

Chinese consumers make up a large portion of global spending on luxury goods, but since many of them are currently under quarantine and restricted from traveling to other countries, many brands in the sector are feeling the brunt of the impact. In addition to this, many brands have taken the proactive step of closing the majority of their physical locations in China to prevent further spread of disease. While online shopping could make up for the lack of physical stores, brands still forecast a major decline in total sales this year. Furthermore, many products from these brands are produced in China, but factory workers are either choosing to stay home or are sent home involuntarily from their workplaces, which has led to a major disruption in the supply chain. This dependence on one geographical area has made fashion more cost effective, but the virulent illness has demonstrated fashion’s vulnerability to serious issues roiling the country. Since brands operate on a seasonal basis and sometimes rely on one factory for production, there will most likely be significant delays with the rollout of items over the next few months.

There are rumors that some brands may have to reschedule their event calendar entirely due to the unpredictability of the coronavirus. Capital-F fashion brands

are not the only ones who have a lot to lose; sportswear companies and makers of uniforms for the service industry will no longer be able to offer additional products since manufacturing has stopped in its tracks.

Luxury labels also hold seasonal fashion shows to display their latest wares, but a number of these were postponed or cancelled entirely due to the sudden outbreak. Events in Shanghai, Beijing, and Seoul were cancelled and the runways in Milan and Paris were not the same with designers pulling out or holding private, isolated events. Nonetheless, several events such as Kanye West’s Paris Sunday Service and Yeezy Season 8, Miuccia Prada’s announcement that Raf Simons was joining Prada, unveiling of Ermenegildo Zegna and Fear of God collaboration, and other runway shows (Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Miu Miu, Sacai) went ahead as planned. Seeing models and influencers in face masks, the ubiquity of hand sanitizer, and fashion insiders not exchanging hugs and kisses or shaking hands gives one the feeling that this is a rocky start to the rest of the year and something with long-lasting effects.

Some events continued business as usual, though one hopes they do not regret their decisions later on. Better safe than sorry. Always remember to wash your hands!

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PHOTO COURTESY OF DANIEL KANG

Seoul Fashion Week, Business of Fashion

8

March 6, 2020

Opinion THE STUTE EDITORIAL

Notes for the next EIC These days, I find myself reading a lot of editorials written by our former Editor-in-Chief, Maryia Spirydonava. Looking back, the rest of the executive board at the time always gave her so much trouble.

Between secret projects we wouldn’t tell her about, gatherings in the office, and little easter eggs we’d leave in the print for her to notice the morning after, her frustration towards us was so justified and something I can understand more and more as the time passes. I wonder how she had the heart to always forgive us every time we pulled the stunts that we did.

I don’t know why we were like that.

Not just back then, but even now. Distrustful towards people who exist to be on your side and help you. Maryia was the same age as us and cared about this club

more than us, but we saw her as someone who would stop us or restrict us.

None of us are good at this, and if we think we’re good enough, we aren’t.

The fact is that we aren’t professionals, we’re just amateurs. Of course, this is the student paper, so too much influence from professionals and outside sources is dangerous. But to think you know it all, about journalism and/or about the world, makes you no better than a rebellious middle schooler who thinks school is a waste of time.

I’m finally starting to understand the meaning of Maryia’s words — editorials, conversations, private messages — and how valuable her advice always was. It all came from experiences I should have realized she had to endure because of us. I

didn’t pay attention, so I had to spend my term re-learning what she already tried to warn me about.

Something people discuss a lot at Stevens is “playing the game.” In the past, because of who was around me, I was led to believe that this was just kissing up to people of higher positions to be on their good side.

I used to look down on people who I thought did that, but I’ve realized something recently. Isn’t “playing the game” just being a cooperative person who other people find pleasant to work with? Why would someone want to work with you if you’re untrustworthy, annoying, or disrespectful?

Is it trendy to put down people who want to help you? You think that they’ve

given up on you, they’re ignoring you, so just screw it. But in reality, aren’t you the one giving up on them? I feel sad to have held a defeatist mindset like this for so long, up until the point where now it’s nearly too late.

Anyway, although I have many hopes for the next EIC, I acknowledge that it’s their decision to give my thoughts a chance. They could be reading this right now and think that I’ve got it all wrong. I hope that isn’t the case. If they think that, we’ll only be digging ourselves deeper into a hole of news that no one trusts or respects.

Like I mentioned in my piece last week, change only happens if you have an open mind. You don’t have to carry the weight of the whole world by your-

self — others are there to help you. I’ll be in Hoboken after graduation, and so are many alumni who have been in all of our shoes. The only way for us to better ourselves is to seek help.

Audrey Dsouza Editor-in-Chief

MIND OF A FRESHMAN

SCIENTIFIC CURMUDGEON

My near-death experience at Stevens

Cancer, Hype, and Reality: Part II

BY JULIA WIERZBICKI FRESHMAN

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING Okay, so the title of this article might be slightly misleading. But it got you to start reading, didn’t it? Without the hyperbole, I got food poisoning last week and did not have a good time. When I tried getting out of bed the morning after I got sick, I ended up fainting twice and felt really foggy throughout the rest of the day. Honestly, it was probably the sickest I’ve felt in my entire life. I’d

never full-on fainted before, and it was pretty scary to be standing one second and on the ground the next. Luckily, it seemed to be a 24-hour thing, and I’m feeling much better now. We writers tend to use this sort of stuff as fodder for our creative genius, though, so here goes my inspiration and what I learned from spending an entire day bedridden and feeling like death.

I read some cheesy Tumblr post one time that said something along the lines of, “You can only tell if someone really cares about you if you experience death or sickness. Therefore, some fun first date ideas would be to poison your date or commit homicide.” Obviously, they were joking — but you get the point. It’s not often that you get the chance to see how people in your life would react when things go really wrong. I, however, was lucky enough to get that opportunity last Thursday. Because of it, I am more thankful now than ever for the connections I’ve made at Stevens. So many of my friends were willing to drop everything when I told them what happened to me. Whether it was chicken noodle soup or Tylenol or Rolaids or a surprise gift of chocolate from the local CVS, they

helped me in whatever way they could, and I appreciate it more than I can say.

Hopefully, I won’t have to go through something like that again anytime soon, but it’s really good to know that I have people I can rely on when things get really rough.

The more I thought about all this, the more I started realizing something about life at Stevens. First off, there are some amazing people that go here whose heroism goes unnoticed on a daily basis.

Secondly, I think that all of our hours slaving over difficult classwork and stressing ourselves to the max brings us closer together. Movies always portray characters growing close after stressful or dangerous experiences, and I think it’s not crazy to say something similar happens at Stevens. Because we’ve spent so many difficult times together, we’ve grown closer to our peers than we might think. It’s important to keep that in mind as we continue through our days and push toward spring break. You’ll have to take my word for it, though — unless you plan on getting food poisoning anytime soon. For now, though, be careful what you eat and be thankful for the community that stress at Stevens provides us.

SENIORITIS

Personal Projects

BY MARK KRUPINSKI SENIOR

COMPUTATIONAL SCIENCE Wednesday nights at 8 P.M. the only television show that I watch airs: Survivor.

I’ve watched almost every season of Survivor since the 9th season.

I love the strategy, the challenges, the personal stories. It’s a great reality TV show. I’ve had lots of favorite players of the years — and I always get excited when some of them come back for a returning players season.

I loved watching players like Jeremy

come back for a second time and win — or Tony coming back and playing a second time and firing out even after extraordinary winning. Now, Season 40 is airing and the theme is “all winners” — Winners at War. I couldn’t be more excited to see some of favorite players again, including some that I haven’t seen play since I was in Elementary School.

Every Computational Science major at Stevens has to take two semesters of senior research and complete a research project. Originally, I planned to do a project predicting voting outcomes in national elections similar to 538. Then, I found someone’s Masters Thesis on predicting the winner of Survivor based upon a variety of “arbitrary” variables. I wanted to do something a bit more defined. Survivor was their academic project, so why couldn’t it be mine?

At its core, Survivor is a social game. At the end of each episode, or “round”, each player casts a vote to eliminate another player. The player with the most votes for them is typically eliminated. At the end, the players eliminated pick one of the remaining players to win the game.

I wanted to test a theory that individuals need to have the right connections in order to win the game. Could examining the connections created by voting for the same person be an indicator of who is the most likely to win the million dollar prize?

While my project had some hiccups initially (as the senior research program is not fully fleshed out within the Math Department; the lack of focus on science departments in the school is an entirely different topic), I am happy that I was able to work on a project that integrates my personal and academic interests.

While I haven’t been able to find a definite conclusion yet, I’m much more motivated to keep chugging along on a project that combines my interests with my school work.

This isn’t the first time I’ve been able to integrate my interests into school work: for example, last year I worked on a project predicting the nationality of soccer players. While Stevens is the best for finding a career, which is the focus of many students, that does not mean you should not try to have more fun doing your academic work.

BY JOHN HORGAN

CAL PROFESSOR Last week, I posted the first half of a talk on cancer medicine I gave at Stevens on February 12. Here is the second half. You can also find the full text on my Scientific American blog “Cross-check.”

—John Horgan, Director, Center for Science Writings.

OVERDIAGNOSIS AND OVERTREATMENT The cancer industry has convinced the public that screening for cancer is beneficial. The earlier we can detect cancerous cells, the more likely it is that treatment will succeed. Right? Wrong.

One of the most significant findings of the past decade is that many people have cancerous or pre-cancerous cells that, if left untreated, would never have compromised their health. Autopsies have revealed that many people who die of unrelated causes harbor cancerous tissue.

Tests cannot reliably distinguish between harmful and harmless cancers.

As a result, widespread testing has led to widespread overdiagnosis, the flagging of non-harmful cancerous cells. Overdiagnosis leads in turn to unnecessary chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery.

Mammograms and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests have led to especially high rates of overdiagnosis and overtreatment.

A 2013 meta-analysis by the Cochrane Collaboration, an international association of experts that assesses medical procedures, estimated that if 2,000 women have mammograms over a period of 10 years, one woman’s life will be saved by a positive diagnosis. Meanwhile 10 healthy women will be treated unnecessarily, and more than 200 “will experience important psychological distress including anxiety and uncertainty for years because of false positive findings.”

Another nonprofit medical group, theNNT.com, has spelled out a disturbing implication of these data. The NNT notes that some overdiagnosed women might “die due to aggressive therapies such as chemotherapy and major surgery.” Thus any benefit from screening “is balanced out by mortal harms from overdiagnosis and false-positives.”

As for PSA tests, a federal task force of medical experts estimates that 1.3 deaths may be averted for every 1,000 men between the ages of 55 and 69 tested for 13 years. But for every man whose life is extended, many more will experience “false-positive results that require additional testing and possible prostate biopsy; overdiagnosis and overtreatment; and treatment complications, such as incontinence and erectile dysfunction.”

The discoverer of the prostate-specific antigen, pathologist Richard Ablin, has called the PSA test a “profit-driven public health disaster.”

ALL-CAUSE VERSUS SPECIFIC MORTALITY Studies of tests for a specific cancer generally look at mortality attributed to that cancer. Mammograms are thus deemed effective if women who get mammograms die less often from breast cancer than women who do not get mammograms. This method can overstate the benefits of tests, because it omits deaths resulting, directly or indirectly, from

the diagnosis. After all, surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation can have devastating iatrogenic effects, including heart disease, opportunistic infections, other forms of cancer, and suicide.

Therefore some studies measure “all-cause” mortality, death from any cause. A 2015 meta-analysis by epidemiologist John Ioannidis (renowned for bringing the scientific replication crisis to light) and others found no reductions in all-cause mortality from tests for cancer of the breast, prostate, colon, lung, cervix, mouth, or ovaries for asymptomatic patients.

In a recent editorial, Ioannidis and four co-authors argue that cancer screening (especially mammograms and PSA tests) does more harm than good and should be abandoned. They warn that this proposal will be met with “fierce opposition.” Screening, they note, “is big business: more screening means more patients, more clinical revenue to diagnostic and clinical departments, and more survivors in need of care and follow up.”

Cancer boosters commonly point to improvements in survival rates, the length of time between diagnosis and death. Survival rates for some cancers have indeed grown as a result of more widespread and higher-resolution testing, which detects cancer earlier. But as a 2015 analysis points out, in general people do not live longer as a result of early detection. They simply live longer with a diagnosis of cancer, with all its harmful emotional, economic, and physiological consequences.

The aggressive, can-do American approach to health care isn’t working when it comes to medicine in general and cancer medicine in particular. Europe, which spends much less on cancer care than the U.S., has lower cancer mortality rates, according to a 2015 study. So do countries such as Mexico, Italy, and Brazil, according to Our World in Data.

The profit motive compromises American cancer care. According to a 2019 essay in Stat News by oncologist Vinay Prasad, many cancer specialists accept payments from firms whose drugs they prescribe. This practice, Prasad agues, “leads us to celebrate marginal drugs as if they were game-changers. It leads experts to ignore or downplay flaws and deficits in cancer clinical trials. It keeps doctors silent about the crushing price of cancer medicines.”

Last year, The New York Times and ProPublica reported that top officials at Sloan Kettering Cancer Center “repeatedly violated policies on financial conflicts of interest, fostering a culture in which profits appeared to take precedence over research and patient care.”

Sloan Kettering’s chief medical officer, Jose Baselga, “failed to disclose millions of dollars in payments from drug and health care companies in dozens of articles in medical journals.”

GENTLE CANCER MEDICINE? Some health-care experts espouse “conservative medicine” as a way to reduce health-care costs and improve outcomes. Conservative cancer medicine, as I understand it, would engage in less testing, treatment, fearmongering, military-style rhetoric, and hype. It would recognize the limits of medicine, and it would honor the Hippocratic oath: First, do no harm.

Physicians cannot bring about a shift toward conservative cancer medicine on their own. We consumers must help them. We must recognize the limits of medicine and the healing capacities of our own bodies. We must resist tests and treatments that have marginal benefits, at best. We may never cure cancer, which stems from the collision of our complex biology with entropy, the tendency of all systems toward disorder. But if we can curtail our fear and greed, our cancer care will surely improve.

9

March 6, 2020

Opinion CAMPUS CONSERVATIVE

CAMPUS LIBERAL

The democratic circus

“Electability” is a sham

BY ALEX MURTAGH SENIOR

CIVIL ENGINEERING Now that Super Tuesday is officially over, we have quite a bit of information to unpack. There were some major last-minute dropouts, both expected and unexpected, as well as some surprising results from different states. To say the least, I did not think that the Democratic field was going to thin out this quickly.

Buttigieg was doing surprisingly well with his win in Iowa and his close finish in New Hampshire.

However, things quickly turned upside down when he suffered major defeats in both Nevada and South Carolina. I expected Buttigieg to stay in the race past Super Tuesday, considering that this would have been his shot to make a splash and upset Joe Biden’s campaign. After all, Biden’s performance was the antithesis to Buttigieg’s. He performed poorly in both Iowa and New Hampshire but suddenly struck back in

South Carolina. I think these votes prior to Super Tuesday made two things brutally clear — first, the Democratic Party is split into moderate and progressive factions, and second, if the moderates continue to internally fight, they will split the vote and guarantee the Democratic nomination for Bernie Sanders.

This forced the rapid consolidation that we saw over the past week.

Starting with Buttigieg and Klobuchar on March 1 and 2, the moderate wing of the party recognized the impending disaster and made quick calculations as to what needed to happen. While there is no concrete proof, it wouldn’t be surprising to learn that either the Democratic National Committee asked other candidates to drop and support Biden in order to stop Sanders or that Biden made VP and cabinet promises to his rivals. After all, Trump’s best bet at being reelected is if he runs against Sanders. Because Sanders is so far to the left, he has isolated the average American voter. Many people are afraid of his policies, particularly when he invokes socialism.

Biden, on the other hand, is seen as a walking gaffe machine, but at least he can carry the moderate voters that Trump needs to win in November.

I believe that this consolidation is what helped Biden to win in states Sanders was predicted to win on Super Tuesday. While Biden was expected to easily win in southern states, his victories in Minnesota, Maine, and Massachusetts were shocking, to say the least. These states gave Biden the edge he need-

ed to really overtake Sanders for the rest of the race for the nomination.

At this point, though, I don’t think the Democrats have a single chance at winning. If Sanders does end up with the nomination, it will be after a long and bloody fight within the Democratic Party. Many Democrats will become disenfranchised and simply stay home. If Biden wins, the progressives supporting Sanders will feel cheated by this past week’s events, especially since the nomination was literally rigged against Sanders back in 2016.

On a positive note for the Democrats, Bloomberg is out. After wasting about $18 million per delegate, he finally realized that the party that bashes billionaires on a regular basis didn’t want him. However, the Democratic Party isn’t opposed to Bloomberg’s wealth accumulation because he has committed to continuing his spending in order to defeat Donald Trump. While in total, Bloomberg spent over half a billion dollars on himself, he is nowhere near done spending. After all, what is a billion dollars to the man who has an estimated net worth of $60 billion?

To say the least, Democrats are not in a good place right now.

I would not be surprised to see a Trump victory unless a dark horse candidate appears that can grab the Democratic Party’s attention and pull Trump supporters away from him. But this is all relative. If the economy continues to sink because of the coronavirus, Trump’s winning economic message may go down with him in November.

THE FRIDAY OBSERVER

You won’t get this opportunity anywhere else

BY ERIC S. LONDRES JUNIOR

COMPUTER SCIENCE This is the final issue of The Stute before the beginning of the Unified Elections Period, when most on-campus organizations will nominate and elect new executive officers. The first piece I wrote for this column—“Passion”—focused on the central message that life at Stevens really isn’t complete unless you find a place to fit in, a place on campus that can be yours and you can call home here. I wrote of how life as an undergraduate at Stevens can empower you and uniquely offer you a chance to create amazing memories and experiences. I also wrote about how intense passion can lead to conflict, a need to fight and defend those experiences, and the ability to make those amazing memories.

Elections are where those fights

begin, and where that defense begins to take hold.

Becoming a student leader is entering the ranks of a unique class of citizen on this campus. As a student leader, you will often find yourself in the company of other student leaders — people who, while representing different organizations, subcommittees, backgrounds, and goals, nevertheless will be able to relate with you over the shared experience of being a leader at Stevens. Sometimes these will be people you know from class, have attended clubs with before, or have just seen around campus.

Sometimes they will be people you knew nothing about or have never even seen before. What I have come to realize is that almost all successful student leaders at Stevens share some basic personality traits and generally have little difficulty relating to and getting along with other on-campus leaders. Some of my favorite moments in my Stevens career have been during executive board meetings, subcommittee meetings, or larger-scale events that bring together student leaders. It’s always exciting and inspiring to watch people who really care about and have passion for a subject coming together to indulge in those passions together.

Since being appointed to my first executive board position during September of my freshman year, I’ve competed in four organizational elections and won three of those,

all of which were contested. I’ll be honest here, holding an elected office in an organization is no party.

The vast, vast majority of my free time at Stevens is dedicated to fulfilling the duties and obligations of my titles, and this has been the case for me since Spring 2018. However, I can proudly and resolutely say that it is absolutely worth the work. Being a part of creating something amazing for other people, helping new and old students at Stevens find their homes and cement their memory of life at college in a positive way, is one of the greatest privileges of my young adult life.

So while I previously called upon all of you who read this back in October to find your passion at Stevens, I call upon you now to do the next logical thing — defend it! Run for a position! If you’re nominated for something, accept the nomination!

One of my mentors as a freshman leader once told me never to deny a nomination for a position that someone else tendered because even if you lose the election it can be a great and fun experience. I now pass this advice along to you! Most organizations love to see as many people run for positions as possible, and who knows, maybe you’ll end up finding the next step of your journey placed in front of you.

For all of you who do accept nominations and go on to win your elections — congratulations, and I’ll see you at Leadership Connect.

BY ANDREW KINNEY JUNIOR

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING The concept of electability has been thrown around a lot this primary season, and for good reason — everyone on the left is anxious about beating Trump. However, I’m not convinced it really matters who the Democrats nominate at this point; the people who want Trump to stay will vote for him, and the people who don’t, won’t.

Instead, this race has now become a referendum on the soul of the Democratic Party in the wake of Joe Biden’s surprise resurgence on Super Tuesday.

Backtracking slightly, it’s just really hard for me to think that there is a large portion of the country that would vote for Joe Biden if he was the nominee, but would vote Trump if it was Sanders. The main thing every Democrat in the country wants right now is to oust Trump, so I just don’t buy it when people say that the moderate candidate is more electable than the more liberal one, or vice versa. At the end of the day, they’re both going to get about the same support as long as the Democratic Party doesn’t fracture and resort to infighting after the nominee is picked, so voters should be more focused on who they actually want to see as President. Not to mention that Trump’s central saving message, the fact that the economy has benefited under him, is currently being eroded by the novel coronavirus as he continues to trash the media’s coverage of his administration’s response to the virus instead of actually working to improve said response. If the virus continues to spread and weaken the economy, it’ll hurt Trump in a way his own actions have thus far been unable to, and the Democratic nominee will have a pretty easy time picking him apart on the debate stage.

With only Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden left as serious contenders, the race has evolved into a more-or-less binary decision about what voters want the next President to do if the Democratic nominee actually wins; fight to bring back the Democratic status quo that existed before Trump (Joe Biden), or fight for a new, more liberal future that builds on the idea that older Democratic policies didn’t go far enough in combating inequality and that capitalism is fundamentally broken (Bernie Sanders).

So what do I want? Let me explain. When I was on my way home for this most recent Thanksgiving break, my dad told me a story about how he, having just received his yearly bonus, walked out of his Hartford office building and gave a homeless man a $100 bill. He was so excited as he described the joy in the man’s eyes and the happiness it brought him to share some of his wealth. The man said he was working at a gas station, but he couldn’t af-

ford to pay rent with the salary he was making and ended up on the street, and the money would be a huge help in working towards having somewhere to live again.

Later in the night, when we had gotten home and the whole family started talking politics, he asked me, “Andrew, am I a good socialist?” Now, I love my dad to death; he’s an old school, socially liberal but fiscally conservative Republican with a heart bigger than every muscle in my body combined and a literal rags-to-riches backstory, but I had to look him in the eyes and say “no.” He was flustered, and countered that he gives money to charity causes all the time. I countered with, “Would you vote for Bernie if he gets nominated?” and he paused, unable to come to a quick answer and clearly conflicted. “I don’t know, maybe I’d vote third party, but I definitely don’t want Trump to win and—” I stopped him and said, “That story you told me earlier, as heartwarming as it was, do you think it’s a good strategy for fighting inequality in this country? Should we rely entirely on the generosity of the middle and upper classes alone to help those on the bottom of the economic ladder? Or should we work towards an America where there isn’t a homeless person on the street to give money to in the first place? Where the average corporate businessman doesn’t make hundreds of thousands of dollars more than the average gas station worker?”

That clearly got to him to some extent, but he wasn’t quite convinced yet, and starting taking about major Republican and capitalist ideas about working for your fair share and people living off of welfare not being motivated to get better jobs or move up the economic chain. So I said, “Capitalism believes that people need to work in order to have value in the world, that they need to contribute to society in order to have rights and have their basic needs met.

Socialism believes that everyone inherently has value just by being alive, and everyone deserves to have all of their basic rights and needs honored regardless of who they are or what their job (or lack of job) is.” He hasn’t come out and said it, but I don’t think he’ll be voting third party if Bernie gets nominated anymore.

I’m supporting Sanders because I honestly believe that capitalism is inherently broken and cannot save America from the myriad issues it’s currently facing, but if you support Biden that’s okay. While I would love to change your mind, I have a more important message for you; just stay open to the more progressive side of the Democratic Party, and don’t try to revert the country to what it was before Trump. That country is gone, Trump shot it in the head on 5th Avenue and no one batted an eye, and regardless of who wins the nomination, the Democrats need to listen to the wisdom of both sides of its new divide.

If you also support Sanders, this message is still just as important for you.

Sanders won’t be able to get anything done without connecting to the entirely of the Democratic Party, instead of just us bleeding hearts that have seen through the cracks of capitalism’s façade, and the moderates definitely have age and experience on their side.

Whoever wins, I just hope they, and their supporters, don’t try to erase the competing wing of the party, and instead listen to the wisdom of both factions while building an America that’s truly great (for the first time).

OFF THE PRESS

On “On the Piece”

BY SIMON PEPA Local “reporter” Mark Krupinski squandered what little respect he had last week when he came out with his newest article, “On the Piece.”

The piece in question was Mark’s previous article, “Aileen Quinn,” which was heavily controversial due to its very detailed description of suicide victim Aileen Quinn’s last few months. “Aileen Quinn” included Quinn’s falling GPA, her absences from class, and several transcripts from Quinn’s personal communications. Sources close to Krupinski have said that he wanted to also include Quinn’s blood type and Zodiac sign, but thought better of it and only published her birth certificate for maximum journalism. “I wanted to get all of the warning signs,” Krupinski stated, frantically scribbling down the fact that Quinn had eaten a BLT before her death. “You always gotta watch out for the signs!

If your friend has blue eyes and got an 85 on their last test, I’d call CAPS immediately!”

The Krupster’s reputation as a journalist had been declining ever since last semester, when he released his Presidential Candidate Power ratings during the latest SGA presidential election. In these rankings, Markinski Krupinski endorsed the Hannah-Buckman ticket with the type of clear and obvious bias that all respectable reporters jam into their work. What makes this egregious is the fact that he had failed to endorse those two beefcakes/master statesmen Brandon Seidman and Simon Pepa, who were also on a ticket that election cycle.

After people noticed that Mark-inski had failed to grant Seidman and Pepa the glowing recommendation and pledge of allegiance that they so rightfully deserved, they were shocked. “Gasp!” they said, in shock.

That day, Krupinski lost 12 Good

Boy Points, part of a reward system that the Stute uses to keep their reporters in line. Currently, the Krupmaster General is sitting at a dismal 2.5 GBP, earning him the lamentable title of “Bad Boy.” Normally when someone writes an entire article about a previous controversial article they had written, it is to apologize and offer placid excuses about why they couldn’t have done it right the first time. Not so for our Mr. Krapinski! Instead, this titan of journalism doubled down, insisting that he had been in the right the entire time and it was in fact everyone else’s fault for not immediately recognizing his brilliance and reporting prowess. He claimed to have started a conversation, which is the classic line for someone who has messed up hugely to say. What stood out in “On the Piece” was Kruplinki’s claim that 6 hours before publication, someone went into his article and fundamentally changed it, and

it was only due to Marky-Boy’s quick thinking that he was able to revert 80% of the changes back to their intended glory. While this may sound like the reporting equivalent of “My dog ate my homework and also disrespected a suicide victim,” Off the Press was able to get the inside scoop that there may be some validity to Markiplier’s claim. However, the fact that 20% of the article was written by someone else when the article is 100% bad does not do wonders for Markus Aurelius’ argument.

Markrupinski is unabashedly proud of his work, calling anyone who disagrees with it “Dumb, Stupid Little Pea-Brains” who have yet to master the art of the Oxford comma. He has relieved himself of any wrongdoings, declaring himself the master of objective journalism and a beacon of hope that the weary school so desperately needs. As he says in his article, “None of us can truly be sure about how Aileen wanted to

be remembered. We can’t say that she wanted to be remembered with an objective piece about potential warning signs. But we also can’t say that she didn’t. We can’t say whether she liked Fast and Furious 7, or whether she preferred ketchup on her hotdogs or mustard. We simply cannot know! So I feel completely justified in my article, and anyone who disagrees can shove it!”

While Off the Press is not known for its insightful commentary, we can rest assured in this case that Marco Polonski has crafted a response article 10x worse than the original.

He even came close to stealing our brand: if he had labeled it “Off the Piece” we would have had to press charges. For now, our scathing hit piece is at an end; you may rest soundly, dear readers, knowing that the eagle-eyed reporters here at Off the Press are always on the lookout for any rogue journalists who dare besmirch the good name of news.

10

March 6, 2020

Sports

ON DECK IN SPORTS FRI, MAR 6 MEN’S BASEBALL at New York University 3 PM New York City, NY

MEN’S AND WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD All- Atlantic Regional Championships Rochester, NY

SAT, MAR 7 MEN’S AND WOMEN’S FENCING PHOTO COURTESY OF JON BROWN

Men’s basketball wins MAC Freedom Championship

BY ETHAN CHE History has been made! For the first time in Stevens history, the men’s basketball team has won the conference championship. This gave them the MAC Freedom Championship title and a pass into the NCAA Division III Tournament.

The Ducks had to pass through both FDU-Florham and Eastern University to claim the title, but the Ducks persevered.

To begin their conference run, the Ducks faced the FDU-Florham Devils on Wednesday, February 26, at the Canavan Arena. Stevens has faced FDU-Florham many times prior. Even though Stevens has won the majority of their matchups against FDU-Florham, the Ducks knew that they still had to bring their best if they wanted a chance to move on to the finals.

The Ducks came running out of the gate with a layup by junior Alec DiPietrantonio to put the Ducks on the scoreboard first. After that, the Ducks and Devils traded baskets for the re-

mainder of the first half. The first half was pretty competitive, with the Devils and Ducks trading leads quite often. At the end of the first half, the Ducks were only ahead by three points (31-28), so the Ducks knew that they could not let their energy die down in the second half.

The start of the second half was very similar to the first half, with the Devils maintaining a growing lead over the Ducks during the first 10 minutes.

However, this lead was soon squashed.

The Ducks’ defense, one of the best in the country, proved to be too strong of an opponent for the Devils. For the remaining 10 minutes of the last half, the Ducks never lost their lead over the Devils. DiPietrantonio scored a game-high of 17 points and a season record of 16 rebounds, leading the Ducks to a 72-53 victory.

With their victory over FDU-Florham, Stevens’ next opponent was Eastern University for the conference title.

Eastern was not as familiar of an opponent as FDU-Florham, and having only played them twice before (and winning

once), the Ducks could not rely on their past performances to guide them; it would take pure talent and energy to get past Eastern.

Eastern was up on the board first, with a layup to give them a 2-0 lead over Stevens. Stevens responded with a three-pointer by senior Spencer Cook.

For the rest of the first half, the Ducks never gave the lead to Eastern. Stevens’ defense proved to be very strong once again, responding to everything that Eastern threw at them. Even going into the second half, the Ducks did not lose the lead. The Eastern Eagles had some good runs in the second half, but the Ducks’ offense was able to push out ahead.

Cook finished this game with a total of 32 points. With the Ducks’ win over Eastern University, they were guaranteed a spot in the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament, which takes place on Friday, March 6, at 6:30 p.m. against Nichols College at Canavan Arena. This is one that you do not want to miss.

NCAA Mid-Atlantic Championships Durham, NC

MEN’S AND WOMEN’S TENNIS at Salisbury University 10 AM Salisbury, MD

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL vs Penn State Altoona 1 PM Huntingdon, PA

MEN’S BASEBALL at No. 22/28 Johns Hopkins 2 PM Baltimore, MD

WOMEN’S LACROSSE at Rowan University 1 PM Hoboken, NJ

PHOTO COURTESY OF JON BROWN

Both men’s and women’s lacrosse begin season with winning records

BY TREVOR DAMEIKA Both the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams lost in their Empire 8 Conference Championship last spring.

Both squads look to improve in their new conference, MAC Freedom, and capture a conference title. In order to get there, both teams need to get a fast-paced start and both certainly already have in this season.

Sitting at 3-2 (wins-losses), the men’s lacrosse team has played four out of their five games at home. Stevens began the season at home against Swarthmore College as junior Shawn Coulter netted three goals for Stevens and lead them to a 9-4 win.

Traveling away from home, Stevens hoped to notch a win against No. 18 ranked Dickinson College. Junior Ryan Gebhardt finished with three goals and three assists to round off the day. At the end of regulation, the game was tied at 12-12 before Dickinson got the win off a goal with two minutes left in overtime. This handed the Ducks a tough first loss of the season.

Stevens returned back home for three straight home games. Gebhardt scored a total of 14 goals and four assists over these three games and lead Stevens to two wins before playing against No. 1 Salisbury University on Wednesday, March 4.

Salisbury was a challenge as the

Ducks fell 14-8. As the No. 1 ranked team, Salisbury proved a tough test and the Ducks even lead for the majority of the first half. In the end, Salisbury streaked away with 11 goals in the second half. These games gave the men’s lacrosse team a nice 3-2 record to start their season.

At 2-1 (wins-losses), the women’s lacrosse team only played three games and won both their home games. Their first game was an 11-10 victory at home over Montclair State University. Senior Kyra Bednarski scored six goals, dominating on the field.

In the next game, away from home, Bednarski netted another three goals in a 9-6 loss to Shenandoah Uni-

versity. Stevens out-shot Shenandoah 29-27 and looked impressive. Unfortunately, the goals just did not happen this time.

With a 9-6 win at home over Kean University, the Ducks were lead by freshman Maddie Schmidt, sophomore Maeve McGovern, and sophomore Gale Bennett. They each scored two goals. This win gave the Ducks a 2-1 record and a great start to the season.

The men’s lacrosse team play their next game away from home against Montclair State University on March 11. The women’s team will play at home against Rowan University this Saturday. Keep getting those wins, Ducks!

DUCK COUNTRY SCOREBOARD DATE FRI FEB 28 FRI FEB 28 SAT FEB 29 SAT FEB 29 SAT FEB 29 SAT FEB 29 TUE MAR 3 WED MAR 4

TEAM MEN’S WRESTLING MEN’S VOLLEYBALL MEN’S LACROSSE WOMEN’S LACROSSE MEN’S BASEBALL MEN’S TENNIS WOMEN’S LACROSSE MEN’S BASEBALL

OPPONENT NCAA SOUTHEAST REGIONAL NO. 15 LANCASTER BIBLE COLLEGE SPRINGFIELD COLLEGE SHENANDOAH UNIVERSITY NO. 14/22 UMASS BOSTON HAVERFORD COLLEGE KEAN UNIVERSITY STOCKTON UNIVERSITY

SCORE 1ST OF 20 L (0-3) W (16-8) L (6-9) L (5-6) L (3-6) W (9-6) W (8-1)

PHOTO COURTESY OF STEVENSDUCKS.COM