The official newspaper of Stevens Institute of Technology, and creator of Attila the Duck.
yo why are there showers in gateway ????
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Volume CXVII Issue 5
TheStute
October 4, 2019
Established 1904
Clery report released BY LIAM MCMURTRY
Photo courtesy of Cole Yarbrough
South Building of the Gateway Academic Center Opens BY ALEX MURTAGH This past Monday marked the opening of the South Hall of the Gateway Academic Center located on the corner of 6th and Hudson Street. This project, which began construction roughly two years ago, is finally coming to an end. The partial opening of the South Hall includes “seven classrooms, ranging in capacity from 25 to 129 seats,” as well as public areas according to emails sent to the student body from Vice President for Facilities and Campus Operations Robert Maffia.
The new Gateway Academic Center will include a dedicated atrium for meetings and collaboration, and will feature a Grab and Go Café in the north gateway building. Also featured in the new buildings are 13 individual labs. While the remainder of the building, and the rest of the Gateway Academic Center, is still under construction, students have already taken advantage of both the classrooms and the various seating spaces throughout the building. One student, Elena Malova, commented, “I like it! The architecture is very modern and appealing to me. The class-
rooms feel intimidating though because of the high ceilings and the fact that all the walls are white, but the desks are great.” Many students have echoed similar sentiments. The new center includes seven computer science labs, a new cybersecurity lab, and a health and artificial intelligence lab. Computer Science student Ed Minnix said, “The Computer Science students really like the new desks in the building since they’re a lot more ergonomic than the desks in the North Building. We’re eagerly awaiting for the rest of the building to be open and
ready for use.” Some students have been exploring the now open areas of the building, including the cellar of the building. The cellar includes two classrooms, a mechanical room, an electrical room, and a room with showers. “I don’t know why the new buildings have showers, but I’m at least glad they’re gender-inclusive,” said graduate student Dakota Van Deursen. With the partial opening of the South Hall, one side of the
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The 2019 Annual Security and Fire Safety Report — known as the “Clery Report” — for Stevens was released this past Monday and describes reported crime statistics for 2018. All the reported crimes detailed in the Clery Report occurred either on the Stevens campus, in Stevens Leased Housing, public property around Stevens, certain non-campus buildings, and other forms of property belonging to Stevens. Each year, this report must be released to the general public, in compliance with federal statutes under the Clery Act. Additionally, the report includes a statement at the beginning from Chief of Police Tim Griffin. Griffin laid out the measures that Stevens provides in order to ensure campus safety, such as the installation of close to 100 new security cameras and 30 new fire sensors during the 2018-2019 academic year. According to the statistics provided in this report, the number of reported rapes has increased from two in 2016 to six in both 2017 and 2018. Excluding rape, sexual assault crimes have overall seen a decrease. For example, in the same three years, there were no reports of incest, one report of statutory rape in 2016, and six reports of fondling, all in 2016. Outside of sexual assault crimes, the number of reported burglaries has been two, six, and eleven over 2016, 2017, and 2018, respectively. Furthermore, over the same threeyear period, the number of reports of dating violence has increased from one in 2016 to five in both 2017 and 2018.
Despite all of this, the number of reported hate crimes has remained zero for those three years, as has the number of murders or negligent manslaughters, as well as reports of arson. Furthermore, the report details the number of arrests and disciplinary actions over the same time period. Notably, the number of disciplinary actions taken in residence halls as a result of liquor law violations has steadily increased from 38 in 2016, to 44 in 2017, to 57 in 2018. On the other hand, the number of arrests in residence halls as a result of liquor law violations has been at zero for 2017 and 2018 from a high of four in 2016. Some crimes have seen a consistent increase over these three years, which could be a result of better mechanisms in place for reporting such crimes. For instance, three new student affairs positions were created to handle student wellness, including a Director of Community Standards and Title IX Coordinator, who is currently Xhijola Ruci. According to Tim Griffin, “with these new staff members, Stevens offers significantly more student workshops and programs” that relate to Title IX coordination and Resident Assistant training. Moreover, other services have been upgraded to deal with these issues, such as the opening of a Student Wellness Center. The Campus Police, in collaboration with the Fire Safety Officer and the Division of Facilities, strive to continually update their security features to the latest standards toward the overarching goal of making Stevens a safer place.
Hoboken City Council tables resolution on pay to play election laws SGA rewrites BY DIVYA UNNAM The Hoboken City Council held a special meeting last Thursday to vote on a resolution to enforce current pay-to-play regulations in relation to the upcoming municipal elections in Hoboken. Present pay-to-play rules, according to a statement by City of Hoboken representative Vijay Chaudhuri, indicate that committees are “limited to $500 contributions for individual candidates for elected office” and disallows individuals with Hoboken City contracts to contribute to campaigns. These rules are
designed to maintain honesty in the election process, so that all candidates have an equal playing ground during their campaign. Councilwoman Tiffanie Fisher believed that this resolution was “a giant political stunt.” “[This is the] Mayor wanting to actually unwind our pay-toplay laws,” she added. “It started during contract negotiations with our local municipal workers union when the administration got a union leader to write letter to the council asking to rescind our pay-to-play laws so our municipal union could make bigger contributions to elected officials.
Just think about that for a second. That is what started this whole process.” Councilman James Doyle, who proposed the resolution, was disappointed by the tabling of the resolution and the statements made by other members of the council. “Councilwoman Fisher’s slanderous comments about the mayor… it was a little bit shocking,” he told the Hudson County View in an interview, “and she’s fabricating a conspiracy that the mayor put the union up to request a legal opinion is so far fetched, I’m a little speechless, frankly.”
Photo courtesy of nj.com
Councilwoman Emily Jabbour claimed that during the 2017 mayoral election, Hoboken Mayor Ravi S. Bhalla abided by the pay-to-play law for his campaign. Bhalla expressed his disappointment in the Council’s actions in a statement sent to The Stute. “It’s unfortunate, but unsurprising that once again the Hoboken City Council majority failed to protect the integrity of our elections and safeguard our city contracting and redevelopment process. This was a very simple choice for the Council: would they agree to abide by the law or ignore it for their own personal gain. The decision to purposefully avoid a vote, led by Councilmembers Giattino and Fisher, made it clear that they’d rather disregard the law and allow special interest groups and developers to unfairly influence their own elections. I’m grateful that Councilmembers Doyle, Russo, Jabbour and Falco were ready to take a stand and put a good government vote ahead of petty politics.” On the motion to table the resolution, Councilmembers Ruben Ramos, Peter Cunningham, Jen Giattino, Mike DeFusco, and Tiffanie Fisher voted yes, and Vanessa Falco, Michael Russo, James Doyle, and Emily Jabbour voted no. This failure to vote on this resolution comes several weeks in advance of the November municipal elections.
Constitution again BY DAKOTA VAN DEURSEN As with any healthy component of a thriving community, governments are constantly evolving. Lawmakers cycle in and out of positions, districts are redrawn, and politicians pass down new laws. In extreme cases, lobbyists and government officials haggle over, edit, and rewrite portions of — or entire — documents. That very conversation is currently happening in the Student Government Association (SGA). Matthew Cunningham, a former SGA Senator, was present for the most recent constitution amendment process in January 2018. His predilection for policy made him a perfect candidate to begin the new constitution rewrite process. “Conversations […] began last semester,” Cunningham said. “[The SGA] seemed to understand that the structure of the Student Government was outdated and a full rehaul was necessary.” He wasn’t wrong. The ongoing rewrite process will completely restructure the SGA from the ground up — much more comprehensive than the largely-ornamental
Learn about 6th street businesses! See page 3 Inside This Issue
News - page 2 [title of show]
Science - page - 5 Bringing AI to the NBA
Features - page 3 6th street businesses
Pulse - page 6 Crossword
Features - page 4 Breast Cancer Awareness
Opinion - page 7 Mind of a Freshman
Opinion - page 9 Black Effect Sports - page 10 Ultimate Frisbee
amendments in 2018. “Our main goal is to find a more effective structure for the SGA [to] better represent the interests of the students,” said Liam McMurtry. Currently a Senator, he took on the outline and responsibilities passed down from Cunningham. It was a rather tall order. “Current redesign efforts are based on a design I proposed to the Cabinet last semester,” said Cunningham. “It is inspired by both New Zealand’s unicameral parliament and the University of California Berkeley’s SGA.” His specific problems focused on “communication between the Senate and Cabinet. In traditional governments, […] the executive and legislative branches are supposed to work independently.” The current Stevens SGA mixes the two, muddying the waters, confusing the chain of command, and rendering meetings ineffectual. Most importantly, Cunningham and McMurtry agree on one thing: creating positive change. “I’m hopeful that
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