[The Stute] February 8, 2019 (Issue 14, Volume CXVI)

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Volume CXVI Issue 14

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Schaefer Gym Hosts “Pink & Push Ups”

charged for privately-owned fraternities

by ANDREW KINNEY Staff Writer

by MARK KRUPINSKI Business Manager

As a result of a recent audit, the Office of Residential and Dining Services will issue an administrative fee of 5% for handling the money charged by organizations for privately-owned Greek national fraternity housing.

The affected fraternities include Alpha Sigma Phi, Beta Theta Pi, Chi Phi, Kappa Sigma, Lodge, Phi Sigma Kappa, and Sigma Phi Epsilon. The fee will go into effect for the Fall 2019 semester.

“The Office of Audit and Advisory Services perform periodic internal audits of University departments on a rotating basis,” said Malcom McDaniel, Assistant Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life. “This year, The Office of Residence Life was selected for audit.” As a result, the audit recommended that Stevens should charge a fee to privately-owned Greek fraternities for billing support.

The administrative fee would go towards offsetting the expense taken on

by Stevens. “Staff members from at least six University departments are involved in the assignment, billing, collection, and payment remittance process for housing and dining charges,” said McDaniel. “It is not Stevens’ intention to profit from this fee.”

McDaniel sees a slight bill increase for members of prisee FEE · Page 2

Early on Tuesday morning, a series of phishing emails were received by members of the Stevens community. These emails intended to deceive Stevens community members in order to collect usernames and passwords of the people who fell for the trick.

As the Federal Trade Commission explains, “phishing is when a scammer uses fraudulent emails or texts, or copycat websites to get you to share valuable personal information – such as account numbers, Social Security numbers, or your login IDs and passwords. Scammers use your information to steal your money or your identity or both.”

long been a mecca for Stevens-related discourse and memes. Overheard Stevens, which goes by @overheardstevens on Instagram, features eavesdropped conversations that are submitted anonymously by students.

Some of the eavesdroppings are related directly to Stevens, but most are simple and somewhat funny things that people hear around campus.

Last year, a small Facebook page called “high tech memes for SIT teens” was formed. Although the stream

The Schaefer Gym hosted its first female-only gym session on Wednesday, February 6 from 9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. The entirety of the upper weight room was restricted to allow only women to exercise there for the duration of the hour and a half time slot, while the lower weight room was kept open as normal. Additionally, a personal trainer, Julie Ang, was hired to lead a more focused fitness regiment during the event, though attendees were welcome to use the space as they pleased.

Leading up to 9:30, the student working the front desk of the fitness center informed the roughly 10 men who tried to swipe in that the gym would be closing in 10 minutes. Schaefer was largely empty prior to the event, with only about five men in the gym when John Maurizi, the Director of Campus Recreation, began making preparations for the event to begin. He walked around the gym inspecting equipment for a few minutes as he talked to the trainer and the student employees crewing the entrance. At almost exactly 9:30 the scene changed quickly, Maurizi asked the remaining male lifters to clear out, and women very quickly began to arrive. Within the first 10 minutes, about 20 women had eagerly signed in and began to change. There

see MEMES · Page 3

see SCHAEFER · Page 3

@Stevens_Memes on Instagram has accumulated a following of 1,321 followers since the page made its first post on October 31, 2018 Photo by Matthew Cunningham

MEMES CAPTURE THE ATTENTION OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT STEVENS

by MATTHEW CUNNINGHAM Web Master

Frequently dismissed as infantile art, memes are a widely popular way for young people to share, discuss, and comment on cultural topics relevant to them. Students at Stevens, too, spread memes not only to laugh at nonsensical jokes but also, recently, to jab at and laugh about their university — it reveals a new medium in which students both appreciate and critique Stevens.

A “meme” tends to repurpose existing media, often

Phishing emails pervade email inboxes this week

by MATTHEW CUNNINGHAM Webmaster

Established 1904

In one email sent out by a student who had her email hacked — with the subject line as “Re: RE: Meet the Candidates for the Wellness Educator and Asst Dean/ Director of Student Life positions!!!” — only one button is included in the email, which asks the recipient to “Display trusted message.”

If someone clicks the button, then the login credentials for that person would potentially be compromised.

Alexander Wiederock, one such student who received a phishing email, saw that he had received an email from a fellow student, a student who he knew and trusted.

“In this email, it had this blue button. I clicked it, it opened up my web browser, and it immediately said web see EMAILS· Page 2

Information Technology had to work with phishing emails being sent to Stevens Students and Administrators last Tuesday Photo by Mark Krupinski

culturally-relevant media — a picture of a crying Kim Kardashian, say — and either accompanies or overlays it with a humorous caption. The images used in memes often become standardized. Many people might use the same picture of a crying Kim Kardashian to represent almost anything. Did your mom say something irritating? Did your professor unfairly give you a nasty grade on an assignment? Are you just sad?

If yes, perhaps post the picture of crying Kim K on your Instagram with the caption, “my professor screwed me over.”

In an article in The New York Times Magazine, writer Willie Nellie compared memes to bumper stickers, “in that any one concept can be endlessly remixed to convey just about any sort of sentiment.” Like political cartoons, memes are punchy and easily shareable, except that producing memes requires less time and artistry than creating classic political cartoons. If you have access to a digital device, you, too, can create a meme.

Memes as a mode of digital expression have existed at Stevens for a few years now.

The Stevens reddit page has

SPRAY CAN SUNSCREEN BANNED IN FLORIDA

by SARAH HOOGENBOOM Staff Writer

As a global attraction for scuba divers and thousands of marine species, the third largest barrier reef ecosystem in the world sits off the coast of the Florida Keys. Located at the most southern portion of the Florida Keys and the continental United States, Key West is a hot spot for sun, sand, surf, and most recently, a ban on sunscreens containing certain chemicals. Passed this past week, the city of Key West will be banning sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate starting January 1, 2021. Although this ban is specifically for sunscreens with these elements in Key West, other local governments, like the state of Hawaii, have taken a stance in the fight to remove excess chemicals in the oceans to protect offshore reefs.

Hawaii has restricted sunscreen sales of the same elements and will put in place the same sunscreen ban as Key West in 2021. Parts of Mexico have banned nonbiodegradable sunscreen, and the nation of Palau has banned the use of sunscreen or cream containing 10 different chemicals.

The chemicals in the sunscreen, which wash off the skin into the ocean by beach goers, have been found to see SUNSCREEN · Page 2

The Stevens Gatehouse, the last remaining of the Stevens Castle, is deconstructed to make room for construction vehicles for the new University Center to pass through Photo by Charles Zwicker

Stevens Gatehouse deconstructed

by CHARLES ZWICKER Staff Writer

The Stevens Gatehouse, one of the few remaining parts of the original Stevens Family estate, is currently in the process of being deconstructed. Built in the 1850s, the Gatehouse served as the entrance to Stevens Castle, which was later demolished in 1959 to make way for the Wesley J. Howe Center. Unlike the castle, the Gatehouse will eventually be reconstructed back in its original location in 2021.

The Gatehouse is being deconstructed because it was struck by a deliv-

News

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Feature

Collection of Dank Stevens Memes

page 5

opinion page 7

News

page 3

Honor Board Policy

Opinion page 6

Mind of a Freshmen

opinion page 8

Pulse

page 4

Opinion

opinion page 9

Water Shutoff

Reasons to @Channel Crossword

page 6

Senioritis

Spoiler Alert Girl Talk

Stars of Stevens

ery truck during the summer, causing it to become a safety risk to people in the area. Immediately after the Gatehouse was struck, a consulting team was called to Stevens, and shores and scaffolding were established “to protect pedestrians in the event of falling debris,” according to Frank LoCastro, the Assistant Vice President for Facilities and Campus Operations, who is managing this project. Following this structural reinforcement, a more thorough evaluation was conducted, recommending a dismantling of the structure. The contract of work was created and bid on by contractors, and was later

awarded to Aegis Restauro, LLC, which began work “immediately afterward,” alongside the restoration architect, The Architectural Preservation Studio, which is documenting the structure of the Gatehouse in order to later rebuild it correctly.

In addition to the Gatehouse being deconstructed, the two stone monuments alongside Wittpenn Walk next to Davis Hall are being removed, in order to “permit construction vehicles to enter the student residence/university center project site,” which will be constructed in the location where Hayden see GATEHOUSE · Page 2

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News FEE

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vately-owned Greek organizations; however, individual students will not be billed for the fee. “The administrative fee will be charged to the Greek organizations and it will be up to each organization to assess the fee to members as it sees fit,” said McDaniel.

Leaders of affected Greek organizations are working through solutions to the administrative fee. “We have discussed this fee with our Alumni board who own our property and they have discussed a couple different options on how to handle it,” said Jacob Schozer, President of Sigma Phi Epsilon.

Sigma Phi Epsilon is one of the seven fraternities affected by the administrative fee.

As for how the audit was performed, each year, an audit plan is created and approved by the Audit Committee of the Board of Trustees.

The Office of Audit and Advisory Services then carries out the planned audit. This year, the Office of Residential and Dining Services was

Friday, February 8, 2019 • Page 2

audited. The audit aimed to determine how effective and efficient the Office of Residential and Dining Services is operating. “This particular audit focused on health and safety procedures, billing and collections, and internal financial reporting,” according to Dorothy Pearlman, Director of Audit and Advisory Services.

According to Pearlman, the results of the audit recommended that the Office of Residential Life and Dining Services “works with the private Greek national fraternities to implement an administrative fee [that] reflect[s] the cost of time and effort and system support [for] the billing and collection.” The amount handled by the Office of Residential and Dining Services for privately-owned Greek fraternity houses totaled $1.7 million for Stevens’ 2018 Fiscal Year.

The audit recommended that an administrative fee of 5-10%, approximately $85,000 to $170,000 would be reasonable. According to Pearlman, the 5% rate was determined based upon the rate credit card companies charge for billing and collection services. “The bill-

Sigma Phi Epsilon, located at 530 Hudson Street, is one of the seven fraternity houses not owned by Stevens that will be affected by the new administrative fee.

Photo by Mark Krupinski

ing and collection service provided to the National fraternities represents work that is not reimbursed by a vendor,” said Pearlman.

From this report, two options were recommended for the fee: $500 per person or 5% of the total cost. “I

brought these recommendations to the impacted chapters, and the members felt that the 5% option seemed more reasonable,” said McDaniel. This administrative fee is currently the proposed amount that will take effect for the Fall 2019 semester.

GATEHOUSE Continued from front page

Hall and Jacobus Hall are currently. The demolition of Jacobus Hall will begin this semester, while Hayden Hall is slated for demolition during the summer.

The deconstruction is scheduled to end this month, and the reconstruction of the Gatehouse and the two monuments are, according to LoCastro, “envisioned to be reconstructed in its present location at the conclusion of the student residence/university center project,” in Fall 2021.

As of Friday, February 8, a portion of the Stevens Gatehouse has been removed. Photo by Mark Krupinski

Hayden and Davis Water Shutdown

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manently shut off water service for Jacobus hall prior to its demolition, as it would be rather impractical to still have water flowing through the building when it is destroyed.

There was no water for drinking, showers or toilet use, but all other campus buildings will have normal water service for use during this time. Facilities did not specify as to whether this was a one time operation or if water service would need to be suspended multiple times of the course of the construction project.

The work was done by Tomco Construction, Inc. under the supervision of Facilities Management.

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Hayden Hall was affected by the water shutdown. Photo by Jason Buckman

by ANDREW KINNEY Staff Writer

SUNSCREEN Continued from front page

be toxic to coral reefs and damaging to marine life. Furthermore, these ingredients are also harmful to humans as well. The chemical compound of oxybenzone is utilized in sunscreen to absorb the UVA ultraviolet rays but the compound is also known to mimic estrogen, a female reproductive hormone. One applied layer of sunscreen which contains oxybenzone is essentially “the equivalent to a dose of hormonal replacement therapy for women.”

This past week, the water in Davis and Hayden Residence halls was completely Although sunscreens and creams with medical prescriptions will be exempt from the ban, the reasoning behind the sunscreen ban can be viewed as more than just protecting the reefs. Many everyday items that contain compounds that are damaging to the environment are also damaging to human consumers. These compounds can end up in rivers and lakes, which all lead to the ocean and the overall water cycle that maintains the Earth’s ecosystem. Regardless, the ban raises awareness of the chemicals that are being washed into the oceans.

shutdown from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Thursday This is being done to per-

EMAILS

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page blocked.” When he tried to access Wifi on campus the next day, he couldn’t.

“It happened to a bunch of people, that’s what IT people told me when I went. I just had to run a virus scan, and then they enabled my account.”

Darren Yezo, Director of Information Security and Operational Resiliency, sent an email to the entire Stevens community late on Tuesday.

“We wanted to alert you to a series of phishing emails that

were received today by members of the Stevens community,” he wrote. “These emails contained malicious links and, once clicked, would attempt to harvest the user name and password of the person who clicked the link.”

Yezo advised members of the Stevens community to not click the buttons. “If you have received and already clicked the button or web link, you must change your password immediately,” he wrote.

Members of the Stevens community who receive phishing emails should report them to phishing@stevens. edu.

News

Friday, February 8, 2019 • Page 3

SCHAEFER Continued from front page

were 29 women who had registered prior to the event, but at least five additional women showed up, and Maurizi allowed them to sign in regardless, showing how much interest the event had sparked.

The SGA initiative which created the event was spearheaded by first-year student E.J. Hannah, who said, “This wasn’t my idea. It came to me as a suggestion (meant for the SGA) from a student who felt uncomfortable at the athletic center.” Hannah elaborated by saying that since Engineering and Computer Science are such male-dominated fields, he was not surprised that the gender ratio at the gym and at Stevens as a whole is so extreme. Most of the students The Stute spoke to at the event echoed this feeling, such as Kate Rath, who said “I’m glad they’re doing it because there’s only ever guys in the gym.” Lastly, Hannah said that in a broader sense, this initiative could help make women feel more comfortable at Stevens in

MEMES

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of posts slowed down after a few weeks and is now entirely inactive, the page had several memes about Stevens. One meme asked readers to tag themselves as a personified version of notable Stevens buildings. Are you artsy, well-connected, and often called by your first, middle, and last name?

You’re the Morton-PeirceKiddie Complex. Do you like to be the center of attention, and are you dramatic? You’re the Edwin A. Stevens Building. Each building is not just a building; it’s also a social identity that you can adopt for yourself.

But what began as an innocuous way to joke about trivial aspects of Stevens has evolved into a fertile form of social activism and cultural commentary. Midway through the Fall 2018 semester, an Instagram account @stevens__memes sur-

The Fitness Center at the Schaefer Gym has historically been filled with males. Photo by Mark Krupinski

general. “I believe this is a start to hopefully something that goes beyond just making women more comfortable at the fitness center, and

becomes more about fostering a community where all groups of people feel invited.”

The Stute briefly spoke with Maurizi at the event itself,

who echoed concerns about women working out alone in a gym full of men, and felt it was good to offer women a time to have the space to themselves.

He also said that he wanted to expand the event, first by instating a morning session in addition to the evening time block (which will likely con-

tinue to be either Wednesday or Thursday nights from 9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.), and second by expanding into other parts of athletics at Stevens.

faced, with posts that focus on specific topics and events in the Stevens community.

“Waiting for Helen to make eye contact to start my omelette,” reads one of the first posts, accompanied by an image of a bug-eyed Miley Cyrus. (Helen is a notable worker in Pierce Dining Hall, who often makes omelettes in the mornings.) “I said pledge your f***ING HONOR,” reads another meme, using a photoshopped picture of pop artist Lady Gaga holding a gun, cheekily mocking the seriousness of the Honor System.

Formed as a way to “bring up some events, issues, and playful stereotypes everyone at Stevens may come across at some point,” the @stevens__memes page has accumulated over 1,300 followers and made 36 posts, according to the page creator, who agreed to speak on the promise of anonymity.

“Joking about Stevens is honestly how the students cope with the stress, and the page aims to let the students

laugh about it,” said the page creator.

The jokes, sometimes targeting specific administrative offices or academic practices, often integrate videos into the memes as a way to convey messages. These videos typically have a comedic aspect to them. For example, halfway through 2017, a video of man, whom internet users called “the worst security guard ever,” circulated the internet. This security guard frisked people by waving his hands over them — not patting them down, not checking for metal with a detector, not sniffing them out for drugs — but merely hovering his hands over the people’s bodies to provide the illusion of security. Each security screening, in this video, lasted less than three seconds and were almost certainly useless. “This security guard just doesn’t care,” one internet user wrote in the YouTube comment section of the original video. “Is he using the force,” another person

asked, referencing the metaphysical superpower in the mega-franchise Star Wars.

As with most memes, this particular video was repurposed by the @stevens__ memes page, in this case, to comment on the inadequacy of Stevens’ Counseling and Psychological Services, known to students as CAPS. On December 26, 2018, @ stevens__memes posted a meme with the caption: “Me: I gotta go to CAPS I need some help. CAPS: we’ll check you out.” Underneath the caption was the video of the security guard who was performing poorly at his job.

The facetious suggestion: Just as the security officer was useless, so, too, is CAPS. (This post was viewed over 1,800 times and has been “liked” by 335 accounts.)

Other posts of university criticism and commentary exist on the page as well. A few days after a polar vortex devastated major regions of the country, which also caused some of Stevens’ water pipes

to freeze and burst due to cold temperatures creeping in buildings through ajar windows, Stevens administrators sent several emails to the Stevens community and instructed that everyone must close all windows while the weather remains freezing, lest more water pipes break. The @stevens__memes response to this: a video of a man — who, in this meme, represents Stevens administrators — screaming “y’all make me sick” with the caption, “window: *is open*.”

Recently, other Stevens memes have proliferated social media.

The Stevens reddit page continues to see posts that comment on decisions of Stevens. Three days ago, user “gumonashoe” posted a meme that featured Ronald Reagan delivering his June 12, 1987, speech that called for the collapse of the Berlin wall, which separated West and East Germany. In this meme, the top image shows a shouting Reagan with the

caption, “Mr. Farvardin, Tear Down This Wall!” The bottom image shows the Gatehouse, an iconic archway on the Stevens property, being torn down. @favardin_in_da_garden. mpeg was created late in January, replete with critical posts of Stevens. In one meme, the account implicitly criticizes Stevens for declaring itself a “Stigma Free Campus” while not servicing the diverse needs of marginalized identities on campus. In another, the account mockingly presents a tough decision: either “fix leaking campus buildings” or “give six figure salaries to administration.”

A variety of other meme pages have emerged rapidly as well. As more meme pages arise, and as current pages grow and change, the way in which students use memes as a mode of talking about their university will only progress.

SEE PAGE FIVE FOR A COLLECTION OF DANK STEVENS MEMES

n the Stute!!!Changes and Clarifications to Honor Board Policy

by JAKE MILLBURN Staff Writer

Stephen Cornwell, the Honor Board Chairman, sent out an email informing the student body that the Faculty Adjudication process had been changed on January 18, 2019. On issues of academic integrity, the old policy allowed faculty and students to handle all of the investigatory and disciplinary procedures themselves, with a final inspection and approval by the Honor Board, for assignments that were worth less than 13% of the final course grade. The new policy expands this process to allow for an adjudication on any assignment, though the final Honor Board approval remains.

Another aspect of the policy

that has not changed is the ability of Honor Board to amend or alter disciplinary measures meted out by the faculty member.

Penalties are “often modified to include a learning component, such as an ethics course,” according to a joint response from Cornwell and Jack Kraszewski, the Honor Board Vice Chair.

“There were several factors [that] inspired this change: quicker case resolution for both students and faculty and the ability for professors to have more autonomy in their own classrooms. No one outside the Board requested this from us; we are implementing this because we think it will improve the Honor System overall.”

A note that Cornwell and Kraszewski reiterated was that “the change does not allow for

independent resolution of incidents — all Faculty Adjudications are to be submitted to the Honor Board for approval and final case resolution.”

In an era of rapidly evolving channels of communication through digital means (Google Drive, GroupMe, Slack, etc…), the Honor Board is attempting to evolve in kind. “I think the evolution of intercommunication and information sharing will continue. The Board is discussing how best to address these situations and improve the effectiveness of the Honor Board and the Honor System overall. As we are constantly saying, feedback is more than welcome, and if any students have comments or ideas for improvement, we are more than glad to hear them.”

The Honor Board, which recently moved to the 7th floor of Howe, implemented new policies at the beginning of the semester.

Photo by Mark Krupinski

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Campus Pulse

Friday, February 8, 2019 • Page 4

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Memes of Stevens

Friday, February 8, 2019 • Page 5

All external memes were taken from the instagram pages stevens_memes and favardin_in_da_garden.mpeg or generated by Stute Staff.

Opinion

Friday, February 8, 2019 • Page 6

The Stute Editorial

Student-Centricity Student-centricity. It is a term that we have heard many times from administrators. Stevens values student-centricity and wants to increase it.

Yet, whenever something happens, students aren’t usually involved.

Imagine you are moving to a new apartment. Usually, you tell the movers what time to show up and what stuff they should be careful with, etc.

When student organizations moved out of Jacobus, they had a very different treatment. They were told when to show up, and after a long confusing day, the students were told the move would get pushed back a day due to a low quantity of movers.

Of course, this is a totally reasonable outcome. After all, who could have predicted the extremely low temperatures or that a club like WCPR had a lot of stuff to move, which would take up most of the day.

Well, the problem is that WCPR could have notified the people in charge that they had a large amount of boxes that needed to be moved. This is a

small, yet perfect example of how despite boasting “studentcentricity” there isn’t a lot that is done to show this.

A lot of student organizations were affected by the move out of Jacobus. Most organizations got moved to various storage spaces and there were some that transitioned to Howe. Yet none of these clubs participated in the discussion of the details of the move.

I understand that admins have different priorities, like making sure that Jacobus is empty and not how smoothly the move went. In that case, don’t boast “student-centricity.”

I also understand that sometimes things that students want aren’t practical. However, it would be nice to have students included in the discussion about even something as minor as moving.

For example, The Stute had a deadline on Saturday night, which had to be pushed from the normal Thursday night layout.

Yes, we ended up meeting our deadline, but there were a number of circumstances that came

up (which I’m not going to get into) that could have hindered us due to the move. If students were involved, we could have voiced concerns such as “Stute has a deadline” or “WCPR has x amount of boxes which could take a lot of movers to transport.” I’m sure there are variables that were more important, but perhaps students could have helped solve problems and run things more smoothly. There is a reason why there is public outreach done by city and state governments whenever an infrastructure project will affect the residents.

If Stevens doesn’t include students in these small decisions, which in the grand scheme of things is understandable, I hope they at least take comments and turn them into lessons learned for the future.

Let’s talk about the new student center, for which construction will soon begin. This is supposed to be a space for students, but it sounds like a lot of administrative offices will be also located there. My only hope is that if this is meant to be a space

Jacobus Hall was the former location of student organizations. for students, the committee involved in the planning takes the needs of the students into consideration as well. Hopefully they ask, What have students been missing that we could give them in this new building? Study spaces? Lounge spaces?

I don’t know what the student body would like, but neither do

the admins. I think that if we all worked together, whether it was a survey or a town hall or certain members of the student body speaking to a committee, the new building could be great.

Student-centricity is a great thing, but it is time we actually started practicing it and worked together.

Maryia Spirydonava Editor-in-Chief

Mind of a Freshman

What am I doing here?

by NATALIE TODARO Freshman Music and Technology Major

For a while during my first semester, I felt as though I didn’t fit here at Stevens.

I had spent so much time dreaming about Stevens during my senior year of high school, knowing that it was the perfect school for me, only to be thrown into a pool filled with people I couldn’t relate to outside of my major, Music and Technology.

If you’re not an engineering major or majoring in something with a title that implies science, you’re probably used to the oh-so-familiar ques-

tion: Why are you at Stevens?

And it’s a valid question; the majority of Stevens students are not studying something to do with the fine arts.

It first started to irk me when people would talk to me about certain classes that a lot of other freshmen had to take first semester, assuming that I was also taking them (e.g. math, chem). A look of utter confusion crossed their faces when I explained that I wasn’t taking those classes.

And when I explained the classes I was taking, most of

Senioritis

Fashion, Fear, and Fantasy

by NAMANKITA RANA Senior Engineering Management Major

I really love fashion. Not in a I-love-looking-pretty-all-the-time kind of way. It’s a I-will-reviewfashion-week-shows-and-runcommentary-on-new-collectionsto-anyone-who-will-listen-to-me kind of way. I view fashion as an art form as much as a commercial endeavor, and I’ve never made a secret of it.

Anyone who follows me on Instagram knows I’m a fiend for weird clothes and wildly impractical shoes. (The only thing stopping me right now is my own budgetary constraints.

That’s probably for the best.)

I love sparkles, glitter, glitz, all the over-the-top glamour that fashion can provide. My friends have joked that if someone wanted to kidnap me, all they would need to do is put something sparkly inside an obvious trap, and I’d walk in with no hesitation. (It’s funny precisely because it’s true)

Fashion is, without a doubt, an extension of oneself — one’s likes, dislikes, preferences and fantasies. And yet, it also covers another aspect, one far less frequently talked about — our fears. What we fear dictates our fashion to a truly ridiculous extent.

For all my love of weird clothes and shoes, there are some things that I simply won’t wear. Odd little quirks that I can’t really explain for any reason, and a few that I can, but don’t always want to.

For example, I had a friend tell me that a mutual connection of ours was curious as why I pretty much always wear tights with skirts. It was a perfectly innocent question, but the answer was a little complicated.

How would I say that I grew up in a household where I pretty wasn’t allowed wear shorts or skirts until high school? (And I got major stinkeye once I did.)

How, because of a deep-rooted cultural aversion to bare legs and revealing clothing in general, I’ve made fashion choices that influence me to this day?

Not exactly small talk.

Cultural influences are one thing, but it goes beyond that.

Fears also dictate how we’re scared of being perceived. Does that influence one’s fashion choices? 100%. I have backed away from wearing certain things because I was afraid of how I’d be perceived, and I know countless friends who’ve

done the same. We all want to be taken seriously — strong, independent, career-driven, what-have-you. What one wears can, unfortunately, add or detract from that.

Yet, as I’ve gotten older, I think I’ve come to realize that fashion is not fully deserving of the frivolous title it gets, and fear shouldn’t be the operating characteristic at all. Obviously, context needs to be taken into account, but for the most part, one’s fears are usually unwarranted. Fashion should be fun, and an interest in it never minimizes one’s intellect.

More importantly — if recognizing ourselves in fashion is vital, and navigating our fears is also a must, shouldn’t recognizing and indulging in our fantasies be equally important?

If fashion is an extension of oneself — it should be an extension of all of oneself. Everything you’ve always wanted to wear, and even a few things you’d never thought you’d be allowed to try, but want to wear, anyways.

So I’d challenge any of my more fashion-conscious readers: wear something wildly, wholly impractical this week.

Challenge yourself to move away from what you fear and into something you think is worth trying. Or don’t. But have fun with it, no matter what. Life’s too short to think otherwise.

them didn’t understand what the classes entailed.

I’ve also been clumped together with the majority and assumed to be studying engineering for the mere sake of

to assume is that everybody is the same.

Stevens is not just a school for people interested in engineering. CAL 103 and 105 might be annoying classes,

“Why am I at Stevens? The same reasons you are.” - Natalie Todaro convenience. It’s not something I take offense to, but it is frustrating and slightly disheartening. Everybody wants to be heard and acknowledged, and the worst thing is

but they exist within the College of Arts and Letters (CAL), where other majors are too. Music and Technology isn’t an easy major; we all have to learn an instru-

ment of our choice as well as piano, and music theory isn’t exactly self-explanatory. It can get really frustrating because music is like a different language, and it’s no different from an engineering major getting frustrated over their classes.

If you love your major, you don’t easily quit on the difficult classes. That’s why you chose your major — to succeed within the field and satisfy your passions. So why am I at Stevens? The same reasons you are.

Off the Press

Farvardin Accidentally Signs the School Away to Ukrainian Hacker

by OFF CENTER A recent cyber attack has left the school defenseless, as a malicious phishing scam inexplicably infected hundreds of student e-mail accounts despite the fact that the school literally teaches classes to prevent this sort of thing from happening. Many students, upon opening e-mails from supposed friends and contacts, instead unleashed a devastating computer virus that has brought nearly all electronic devices on campus to a sudden and grinding halt. Smart phones, laptops, and particularly expensive microwaves are among the victims of this attack, leading to a sharp decline in fire alarms on campus as popcorn production approaches zero. The full extent of the damage is unknown, but the administration has assured students that everything is fine. “At this time, we can neither confirm nor deny the existence of an unregulated nuclear power plant located directly under campus,” one official said in a press conference. “And, supposing

that this hypothetical power plant does exist, whether or not the recent cyber attack has affected its core temperature is useless gossip and further questions are a waste of time.” For seemingly unrelated reasons, Stevens has started issuing hazmat suits, which students can pick up at the bookstore for $15.99.

The most devastating result of this computer virus is that it managed to find its way into President Farvardin’s personal computer, tempting the president with an e-mail that allowed him to win a free iPhone X. Like any sane human, he clicked the link, accidentally transferring the deed to the school to the hacker, a 25-yearold man living in Ukraine named Dimitri Kolba. Legally, these papers cannot be returned, and President Kolba has yet to make a public statement regarding the future of the school. ExPresident Farvardin is understandably peeved about the whole situation, saying in a public statement “Just to be clear: am I still getting an iPhone X? I already sold my old phone, and I’m out a few hundred dollars if he doesn’t deliver.”

The Cybersecurity Department is scrambling to explain how this breach occurred, though the entire affair has really reduced their morale.

“That was, like, the one thing we were responsible for,” one member said in a private interview. “This has been the worst week ever: on top of the whole virus thing, I was supposed to get a free iPhone X in the mail three days ago, but it never came. So, I’m feeling pretty bad right now.” Investigations into the attack are still ongoing, though Cybersecurity is feeling increasingly unsure if they can find the weakness in the system.

As always, Off the Press strives to use its platform for the betterment of the school. If any student receives a suspicious e-mail, even from a known contact, DO NOT OPEN IT. To be entirely safe, carefully place your device onto the street before smashing it with a sledgehammer to ensure the safety of your documents. Everyone should constantly be aware of the dangers computer viruses pose, and must prepare accord64feuorbv3butg4=f2 r 24g24g [ERROR]

Opinion

Friday, February 8, 2019 • Page 7

Spoiler Alert

A Star is Born

by KOBY GARCIA Senior Visual Arts and Technology Major

With the plethora of positive reviews, an abundance of media coverage, as well as eight Oscar nominations, Bradley Cooper and all others involved must be pretty satisfied with the success of A Star is Born (2018), Cooper’s directorial debut.

A Star is Born tells the story of an already well-known guitarist/singer Jackson Maine (played by Bradley Cooper) who encounters an immensely talented waitress (played

by Lady Gaga) and brings her

along on a few concerts to perform together which propels Ally’s singing career into stardom. Once Ally reaches a point in her career in which she starts working with a music producer, Rez Gavron (played by Rafi Gavron), her relationship with Jack takes an unpleasant turn. Although they begin living together, Ally becomes significantly busier with tours and recording music while Jack continues to abuse alcohol and pills. After passing out in his friend’s front yard (played

by Dave Chappelle), Ally visits Jack and the two reconnect and have an impromptu wedding. Later in the film, the pair attend the Grammy Awards; Jack plays in a Roy Orbison tribute and Ally wins Best New Artist. While Ally is accepting her award, Jack joins her on stage but urinates himself as a result of being drunk and high. This unfortunate incident motivates Jack to go to rehab for a while and once he returns home, he is met by Rez who berates Jack

by explaining that he is only detrimental to Ally’s success despite their deeply romantic and supportive relationship.

Later, Ally happily explains to Jack that she will cancel her upcoming tour in order to spend the summer with him to which Jack replies that he will perform with her on stage for her final concert that night. Once at the concert, Ally awaits Jack’s arrival but Jack is still at home; drinking and taking pills one last time as he isolates himself in the garage with a belt tied to the ceiling. The film closes with Ally singing “I’ll Never Love Again,” a song Jack wrote but never performed.

The cinematography of the film speaks volumes to the narrative; Bradley Cooper’s character is regularly shown from the back, hiding his face and only revealing it as a profile shot which plays nicely into his character’s substance abuse problem while Gaga’s character is usually shot straight on, highlighting her character’s

impressive talent and the exposure of fame. There is an interesting visual and narrative comparison to be bring attention to in the different points of Gaga’s character’s story; her humble origin and her rise to fame by playing instruments and allowing her voice to be the highlight of the performance and the flashy nature of mainstream fame once she begins working with a music producer. While the relationship did seem rushed, with Gaga’s character dropping everything to be with Cooper’s character, Cooper and Gaga’s performances and chemistry (both on and off stage) are captivating and help immerse the audience in their character’s relationship and helps set up the tragic ending of the film.

The soundtrack, foreshadowing, and Cooper’s character’s relationship with Sam Elliot’s character are just some of the other aspects that kept me hooked for the extent of the two-plus hours of this entertaining and charming film.

The Movie Poster for A Star is Born| Utah Public Radio

Passion for Fashion

The Best NYC Streetwear Brands

by DANIEL KANG Sophomore Biomedical Engineering Major

Whenever you start a conversation about streetwear, Supreme is the obvious attention grabber. It would not be an understatement to say that Supreme is the originator of streetwear and started the hype that is so prevalent today. In recent years, streetwear has been dominating fashion, thanks to Supreme being second-to-none in churning out season after season of sold out quality products.

However, Supreme’s true roots lie in skateboarding and NYC and has never been shy of professing its love for both. Unsurprisingly, there are other more low-key brands with their own unique identities that also hail from the Big Apple.

Here are some of my favorite streetwear brands from NYC.

1. Noah Ushering in a new age of politically-active, conscious branding, Noah is at the forefront of infusing stylish clothing with social commentary.

Noah’s founder, Brendon Babenzien, was previously the creative director of Supreme until 2015 when he left and established the brand. Noah is most known for its signature core logo hoodies but it also sells trench coats that cost $1,200. This disparity can be explained by Noah’s commitment to quality, refreshing transparency, and individuality to the point of losing money.

In the past, Noah has released clothing supporting Black Lives Matter, Robert Mueller, Smokey the Bear, relief efforts for Hurricane Harvey and Irma, Middle Eastern refugees, the Anti-Nazi League, the ACLU, and more, donating all the money raised to charities devoted to those causes in some cases. Noah even closed its physical and online store last year on Black Friday to protest excessive consumerism. Unlike other brands, Noah dares to take a stand and speak out.

2. Kith Quickly establishing itself as one of the dominant brands on the list, Ronnie Fieg might be the king of collaborators.

Ranging from surprising to elegant, Kith has pulled off the art

of mastering collaborations. In 2018 alone, Kith teamed up with Nike, Coca-Cola, Levi’s, Bergdorf Goodman, Columbia, Mitchell & Ness. Kith Park demonstrated Kith’s flexibility in collaborating with luxury brands Versace, Tommy Hilfiger, and Greg Lauren. In just seven years, Kith has gone from a back alley shop to an international empire that commands respect. There’s no end in sight for Kith.

3. Awake NY Angelo Baque leverages his background and the diversity of New York City to offer timelessly “woke” products. Since its launch in 2012, the former brand director for Supreme has consistently managed to capture the cultural vibrancy of the city and express his political sensibilities too. In addition to its logo tees, standouts include the Michelle Obama tee emblazoned with her slogan, “When they go low, we go high,” a Halloween tee designed with NY store Procell, and the recent Dover Street Market LA capsule hoodie.

4. Bianca Chandon Bianca Jagger the singer.

Olivier Chandon the racecar driver. Two figures who inspired founder Alex Olson’s love for the ’70s. Skateboarding is in Olson’s blood since he is the son of famous skateboarder Steve Olson. Bi-

anca Chandon’s inception in 2013 has led to homages to underground skateboarding and campy imagery associated with the counterculture.

The colorful streetwear and bold graphics really cannot be found elsewhere. Olson’s other brand, Call Me 917, is a more mainstream skateboarding brand that has its own skate shop merchandise and team of riders to give back to the community that gave him his start.

5. Aimé Leon Dore It might be better to say ALD, founded in 2014, is a brand inspired by streetwear rather than being an actual streetwear brand itself due to its high price points and luxury items. Nonetheless, founder Teddy Santis keeps pulling off collections that embrace the sophisticated and gritty sides of the city. Santis recently announced that Aimé Leon Dore would finally be moving from its Mott Street location to a permanent flagship location.

Even better, ALD showed off a sample Nike Air Force 1 Bespoke using polar fleece material made for its FW18 concept shop, a continuation of the custom Air Force 1 Bespoke with a different color scheme from the preceding year. Hopefully, this becomes an official collaboration.

6. Alltimers Founded in 2013, this skate-

Dan’s Photo

boarding brand has firmly entrenched itself in streetwear culture and likes to have a little fun, judging by its skateboard decks shaped like Ryan Gosling, Rihanna, Marisa Tomei, McNuggets, and Jenga blocks.

Hit collaborations with adidas and Vans have helped the brand rise to fame. Founders Rob Harris and Pryce Holmes are clearly ready to take their brand to the next level.

7. Bronze 56K Probably familiar to you for its collaborations with Palace and HUF, Bronze 56K

has a devoted following due to its heavy emphasis on lo-fi ’90s graphics. What began as an inside joke between Peter Sidlauskas and Pat Murray in 2011 is now a full-fledged hardware company with its own skate team. Its fashion forward, retro designs are not only rocked by skaters anymore, so feel free to add something to your wardrobe.

Honorable Mentions: 10.Deep, Acapulco Gold, Alife, Only NY, Opening Ceremony, Paradis3, Saturdays NYC, SSUR, and Staple

session offered by the library about how to utilize Stevens research databases. Not only would it encourage more people, especially women, to frequent the Stevens gym, but it would guarantee that everyone is maximizing their use of the space.

Notably, the turn-out was rather successful and many participants expressed that they intend to continue attending future sessions. Erin Harrison, a freshman who attended the 90-minute-long session, stated, “I am glad Stevens is taking into account the female-to-male ratio and

designating time exclusively for women to exercise. However, the trainer’s approach was somewhat condescending.” Another freshman, Amanda Schmitt, stated, “I found her [the trainer] to be extremely knowledgeable and helpful, though misinformed about the nature of the event.” E.J. Hannah has confirmed that Campus Recreation will make necessary adjustments with the trainer for future sessions to remedy this false notion that the participants are completely clueless about the machines in the weight room.

Letter to the Editor

by ALYAA ELKHAFIF

As it poured outside, nearly 30 women gathered in the upstairs gym for the first-ever women’s-only gym time, also advertised as Pink and Push-ups Fitness Initiative.

Despite the colorful name, this initiative is intended to provide female students with the opportunity to work out without having to worry about guys inappropriately gazing at them. In the process of getting this initiative on the ground, freshman senator E.J. Hannah stated,

“The Campus Recreation was very helpful and receptive to this idea. They are aware that for some women exercising in a male-dominated space may be uncomfortable.”

As much as I see the necessity of creating a safe space for women to work out without fear of being judged or catcalled, the trainer, hired by Campus Recreation, appeared to be operating under the assumption that the majority of the participants were there to learn how to use the machines rather than workout in a more comfort-

Do better, sis

able setting. She said, and I quote, “I am guessing most of you have never been inside a weight room and those of you who have been are only familiar with the treadmill.” Rather than inquiring about the skill levels of the people in the room, the trainer conjectured that the participants were mostly amateurs.

Oftentimes, people do misuse the machines, which, in turn, compromises the desired results or leads to broken equipment. This phenomenon is not specific to women, however. By provid-

ing guidance solely to one sex regarding the technicalities of using the machines, men are ultimately deprived of that information. In fact, it would be judicious to mandate a required training session (for those wishing to use the gym) at the beginning of each semester to ensure that all students have a comprehensive understanding of how the machines work. This would be both feasible and cost-effective as students would be less likely to damage machinery. This training session would not be dissimilar to the information

Opinion

Friday, February 8, 2019 • Page 8

Scientific Curmudgeon

The Deep Roots of Fake News

by JOHN HORGAN CAL Professor

Jill Lepore, like all historians, faces a challenge. Readers of her magnificent new book, These Truths: A History of the United States, know how her story ends, so how can she keep us in suspense? She makes our foreknowledge work to her advantage, because she keeps implicitly and explicitly addressing the question, How the hell did we get here? How could a vulgar, mendacious bully who emboldens racists and sexists, who denounces “fake news” and is a fount of it, possibly become President?

Trump’s ascent isn’t surprising, in the light of Lepore’s narrative. She traces our battles over race, gender, immigration and economic inequality—and over truth, whatever that is– back to their roots. Her title alludes to the ideal enshrined in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” That line has

always been terribly ironic, because from the start this country’s commitment to equality excluded women, Native Americans, slaves and white men too poor to own land.

I can’t do justice to the scope of Lepore’s 933-page epic, so I’ll dwell on one strand of it, which traces the effects, pro and con, of mass media. The Bill of Rights, drafted in 1791, protects freedom of the press, which Benjamin Franklin and others saw as vital to the health of the newborn democracy. At its best, the press informed readers and hence made them better citizens, but it also deceived, inflamed and divided.

Optimists kept hoping advances in mass media would help us overcome our differences. “The newspaper would hold the Republic together; the telegraph would hold the Republic together; the radio would hold the Republic together; the Internet would hold the Republic together,” Lepore notes. “Each time, this assertion would be both right and terribly wrong.”

Samuel Morse, inventor of the Morse code, predicted in 1855, six years before the Civil War, that the telegraph would “bind man to his fellow man in such bonds of amity as to put an end to war.”

Early on “cyberutopians” promised that the Internet would unify the nation.

WIREDdeclared in 2000 that “religion, geography, race, gender and other traditional

Photo Courtesy of John Horgan political divisions are giving way to a new standard—wiredness.” The Internet, Lepore says, has indeed “accelerated scholarship, science, medicine, and education” and “aided commerce.” But it has also exacerbated economic inequality and political instability and undermined traditional media and their quaint commitment to “facts.”

“New sources of news tended to be unedited,” Lepore notes, “their facts unverified, their politics unhinged.” Social

media “provided a breeding ground for fanaticism, authoritarianism and nihilism. It had also proved to be easily manipulated, not least by foreign agents.”

This situation was ripe for exploitation by Trump, whom Lepore calls “a huckster chronically in and out of bankruptcy court but a reliable ratings booster on the talk show circuit.” Trump had a knack for preying on the public’s fears and the media’s desperation for drama. Trump’s election,

Lepore laments, has “sown doubts about American leadership in the world, and about the future of democracy itself.”

Lepore cannot offer assurances that all will end well. “A nation born in revolution,” she writes, “will forever struggle against chaos.”

If you are worried about fake news—and you should be— consider checking out Lepore’s book. And come to a lecture this Wednesday, February 13, 4-5 pm, in Babbio Auditorium.

Philosophers Cailin O’Connor

and James Weatherall (a Stevens alumnus!) will discuss their fascinating and important new book The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread, which examines how fake news proliferates and what we can do to stop it. I hope to see you there.

John Horgan directs the Center for Science Writings, which is part of the College of Arts & Letters. This column is adapted from one post on his Scientific American blog “Cross-check.”

Girl Talk

Bullying isn’t Just For Boys

by LEIGHA TIERNEY Freshman Biology Major

Throughout our educational careers, we have probably attended more anti-bullying presentations than we can count. It has been made clear to us both as students and as people that bullying is not a tolerated behavior. However, the definition of bullying that has become the standard is in reality more typical of bullying committed by

males. The openly verbal and physical aggression, the “playground bully” type behavior that we have been taught from early on to detect and prevent is only characteristic of bullies of one sex. However, female bullies have different sex-specific characteristics than those we think of as typical of bullying.

Because male bullies are often directly aggressive towards their victims through behaviors such as physical intimidation or verbal insults, these behaviors are often easier for organizations to deal with as they are more obvious. However, bullying methods characteristic of females include behaviors such as spreading rumors, gossiping negatively behind the back of the victim to tarnish their reputation, or alienating and excluding the victim, known as “relational bullying.” These harmful behaviors often fly under the radar of authorities because it

is more difficult to give consequences for starting a widely spread rumor or gossiping in private about someone than it is to punish someone for attacking or openly insulting someone.

Making the difference between female and male bullying tactics more well-known is important for a variety of reasons. First, female bullying needs to be recognized as bullying as much as male bullying because to suggest that female bullying is somehow lesser or weaker undermines the suffering of victims of female bullies.

In addition, many victims of female bullying do not even realize they are being bullied simply because they have never been taught that what is happening to them is bullying.

I even remember being bullied in middle school and high school and feeling like I had nowhere to go because anyone I told would just tell me that my bullies were just “drama queens” or that “girls are just catty.” It took me years after my bullying occurred to even realize that what had been done to me qualified as bullying. Even when I was told seemingly positive pieces of advice such as “they’re only trying to tear you down because they’re jealous of you!”, I still felt like there was something wrong with me as a person that resulted in being treated so badly. However, it is vital to realize that these behaviors are not necessarily natural to women or somehow ingrained in their nature. By openly labelling behaviors like spreading rumors or singling out people to isolate them as bullying behaviors, we are reminding society that women are not inherently spiteful or mean and that these behaviors simply make someone a bully.

VISIT THE STUTE AT HOWE 717

Opinion

Friday, February 8, 2019 • Page 9

Stars of Stevens

Making Waves

by MIA HILDEBRANDT Senior Civil Engineering Major

As a junior, Sarah Chan is already leaving her mark at Stevens Institute of Technology. In addition to being an Environmental Engineering major with a minor in Coastal Engineering, she is also a varsity swimmer, a sister in Alpha Phi, a violinist in the Orchestra, a Peer Leader, and a member of the Student Faculty Alliance and the Stevens Environmental Engineering Professional Society (SEEPS).

In her free time, she enjoys hanging out with friends, reading, gaming, and baking.

Music and swimming have been big parts of Sarah’s life in college. She started playing the violin in third grade. Sarah recalls that violin was the

first instrument she learned at school. She says, “I wanted to try it [violin] and loved it, so I stuck with it. [During] my senior year of high school, I was a little bored and learned a little bit of the viola, cello, and bass, but I can’t play them nearly as well as I can play the violin.” As a violinist, it is no surprise that her favorite classical composers include Mozart, Dvorak, and Vivaldi.

Moreover, her favorite pieces include Lacrimosa from Mozart’s Requiem and Dvorak’s Slavonic Dances. In terms of modern-day music, she enjoys listening to alternative rock, modern rock, and indie pop!

Sarah continues to play violin and swim because she enjoys it. She has been swimming since she was 8 years old. She recalls, “My parents wanted me to learn how to swim so I started off at safety swim. My neighbor was on the competitive swim team and suggested I try it out.” After trying swimming out and enjoying the sport, Sarah decided to continue with it because she loved the sport. She adds, “For sprints, I love swimming butterfly. It feels amazing when you get into the rhythm

and propel yourself forward.”

The butterfly stroke, however, is extremely tiring. For longer distances Sarah’s preferred stroke is freestyle because it is easier to swim. Additionally, she loves the technique aspect of it. She explains, “There’re so many small technical details in freestyle to focus on during practice.” Though the sport is challenging, especially when balancing it with academics, Sarah loves to swim.

She exclaims, “To stop now would just be weird for me.

It’s just a part of who I am.

Even after college I’d like to continue doing what I love!

Not to mention both activities [swimming and violin] are great ways to get away from the stress of schoolwork.”

Balancing academics and extracurriculars is no easy feat. From previous experience, Sarah has pinpointed time management as being the key to juggling many commitments. She explains that whether it is on your phone or an agenda book, it is paramount to keep track of practice times and meetings so you can plan out your week. She emphasizes the importance of self-care as well. “When

A Photo of Sarah Chan Photo Courtesy of Mia Hildebrant you’re making your schedule, be sure to make time for yourself too!”

Right now, Sarah’s dream job is to get a job near her hometown, Port Jefferson Station on Long Island, where she can help keep beaches and other natural parts of the island healthy. She hopes to travel more in the future and perhaps even be a National Geographic photographer and capture moments for others to

see.

“My ultimate life goal right now is to move to Norway,” she says. “I don’t see myself doing it anytime soon but maybe in 10 or so years.

One of my easier life goals is to get PADI certified and dive around the world. My first stop will be the Great Barrier Reef!”

Two of her favorite quotes are from Oscar Wilde and Jack Kerouac, respectively:

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people just exist,” and the other is, “Be in love with your life. Every minute of it.” Sarah loves these quotes because they serve as a reminder that life is too short not to do what you love. Too many people go about their daily lives without having fun or taking chances. Regardless of the situation, always remember to look on the brighter side of things!

was being discussed, and a general sense of disarray that was shared with those I was sitting near. I was so disturbed by the contrast between the final meeting of 2018 and the first meeting of 2019 that shortly after the latter I resigned as producer of the senate meetings and no longer intend to attend any of them. This decision came after a year of walking back and forth between Humphreys and Babbio just to get the chance to witness the student body in action.

I have seen no reassurances and have no reason to believe that the Chlus senate will retain even a fraction of the efficiency and effect of the Gallo senate.

I am not writing these words out of hatred, malice, or intent to slander. I believe that the cabinet and the senate can be mighty tools for change and positive growth on the Stevens campus, because I have witnessed both bodies excel in their duties. But I am worried. I, as an active member of this campus, am worried. I, as someone involved with several clubs and a fraternity on campus, am worried. I, as someone who watched good people last year get their reputations dragged through the mud for even being affiliated with the same organization that tried to pass S-17S-006, am

worried.

So while I retire from active participation in Senate affairs, I offer those I am leaving behind a warning and a call to action.

Do not let the mighty body you guide fall into decadence and disarray. Do not drag down the many bodies who sit before you every Sunday by inaction, incompetence, or malcontent. Do not carry with you the torch of electoral success only to use it to burn at the stake the velocity of achievement that precedes you.

I, as an optimist, fully believe that 2019 can be as good as or even a better year than 2018 for the SGA. However, I am worried that Chlus and some members of his administration do not fully understand how much they have to lose, and how hard they have to work to keep what they have. I do not wish to return to the days of general hatred for the SGA. I don’t wish to see tears in budget meetings again, and I definitely don’t want to feel compelled to return to the senate meetings with a camera in hand out of fear, rather than out of hope, as SITTV did in the Spring of 2017. Chlus, Tom, and the 2019 cabinet: Be prudent, be productive, be honest, be righteous, be self-sacrificing, and, most importantly, don’t be Tommy Daly.

Letter to the Editor

Childhood’s End

by ERIC LONDRES

This is an open letter to the 2019 SGA cabinet, from an active (and concerned) member of the Stevens campus.

Almost every Sunday evening last semester, and many the semester prior, anyone attending a meeting of the Stevens SGA senate could look towards the back of the room and see a dim yet constant red light staring at them from the top of a video camera. By the end of 2018, it would often be pointed directly at a high-fidelity microphone hoisted on a tripod placed right in front of the table the cabinet usually sat behind. Almost every week, I (and those who helped me) trucked all this equipment from the television studio in Humphreys down to Babbio to record the senate meetings for later viewing. These meetings were far from the most viewed or most cared about videos published by SITTV during the semester. I often was asked why I bothered sacrificing my Sunday nights doing something on my own accord that almost everyone else in the room dreaded.

It took me a long time to come to a conclusive answer to that question, but I have it now.

When I was a freshman, I heard many stories about how the SGA did nothing and how senators just talk about how great they are during every meeting. I first saw the faces behind the names I’d heard during the 2017 Presidential Debate (which I assisted in filming as a member of SITTV), and during that debate there was obviously a lot of animosity in the student body towards the cabinet and senate. Events such as the proposed Resolution S-17S-006 in Spring of 2017 — which would have authorized senators to receive financial compensation for being senators, in addition to the other perks they get — and President Daly’s handling of the Gianforte Academic Center scandal led to near-universal distrust and dislike of the SGA

in the minds of those undergraduate students who were paying attention.

A lot of that changed in 2018, however. President Lucas Gallo, whose election was by no means uncontested, assembled an allstar cabinet and a rush of new senators in the Spring of 2018 began to significantly change the nature of the SGA. When I started to regularly visit senate meetings in the Spring of 2018, I didn’t see a group of people who were conceited and inactive. Sure there were those who didn’t speak much (if at all), but week after week Gallo and the cabinet would mention a slew of real initiatives they were pursuing and many senators brought the same level of enthusiasm and drive.

That is why I sacrificed my Sunday nights to watch and record the meetings. I felt that every week I was watching the senate change before my eyes.

The Budget Committee, formerly slandered for being an opaque tribunal within which the fates of student organizations were decided with little public awareness of how or why, began adding non-senators, and slowly became a more deliberative body where actual dialogue would occur and healthy disagreements would be argued out during committee meetings.

Several new committees were formed to provide the senate with greater scope and authority to address real issues, including the Government and Community Relations Committee, the Ad Hoc Audit Committee, and the Ad Hoc Housing Committee. Although there were definitely times where the meetings were dry or lacked focus, at the end of every month I truly believed I was witnessing the school improve based on what I was seeing in the SGA. The Public Relations Committee, headed

by Elina Tuder, worked tirelessly to overturn the perception of the SGA as a decadent body and I am happy to say that my records of each meeting contributed to that. This focus on actually

doing something reached a peak late in the Fall 2018 semester when the Oversight Committee impeached five senators (one of which was later overturned) for dereliction of their senatorial duties. The 2018 SGA, led by the cabinet and many vocal, busy senators, finished as a well-oiled machine whose many mechanisms were (perhaps for the first time in recent memory) operating at full capacity and accomplishing many of the goals they set out to accomplish.

At some point, however, the machine began to show signs of stress. During the appointment sessions for the 2019 cabinet, many senators expressed clear frustration with the choices that then-President-elect Jason Chlus and then-Vice President of Operations-elect Ryan Tom had made. These senators had no clear alternative, however, and a minor debate erupted over whether there was even a point in bringing up individual misgivings. At one point, Tom even downplayed the role of senators in the appointment process.

This feeling of discontent yet powerlessness inevitably leads to bitterness. Many senators resigned between the appointment sessions and now, and I would not be at all surprised if a primary reason for this was pessimism for the new cabinet and senatorial functions.

I am not a pessimist myself, though, and with no vested interest in the nuances of senatorial duties I was more than willing to give 2019’s SGA the benefit of the doubt. From my point of view, at least, as long as SITTV and The Stute get their needed budgets and the school moves in a vaguely positive direction I don’t really care about keeping up the perceived glamour of 2018. After all, while I certainly hold the 2018 cabinet and senate in high regard, they were by no means perfect.

Unfortunately, I am finding it increasingly difficult to remain optimistic. Every transition has its rough moments,

and of course I would never expect the newcomers to be as on top of things as the outgoing cabinet was after a year on the job. However, I remember the initiation of the Gallo era as a time of collaborative excitement shared by a group of people who were looking forward to getting things done. With a few exceptions, I have not noticed the same level of cohesion and clarity of purpose from the Chlus age. The slate of senators who resigned is, I believe, the final epitaph of the canary in the SGA’s mine. It’s a warning for all those still within to get out while there’s still time, for there’s something invisible yet rotten in the mine.

My question is, what exactly are they mining for?

Since the beginning of 2019, my optimism in the continued velocity of the SGA has mostly vanished. 2019 is not going to be a repeat of 2018, and that has been made more and more apparent to me with every passing week. The inauguration was scheduled at a time inconsistent with the SGA’s governing documents, and even then was heavily delayed. The first senate meeting of the semester was plagued by indirection, large periods of time where no one was speaking and no business

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Sports

Friday, February 8, 2019 • Page 10

Alumnus Robbins Signs Professional Contract with the Chicago Cubs

ON DECK IN SPORTS

Friday WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

VS Alfred University 5:30 p.m.

Alfred, NY SSI - Stevens Institute of Technology baseball alumnus Robert Robbins has signed a minor league free agent contract with the Chicago Cubs, it was announced today.

It will be the fourth straight year as a professional for the Tallahassee, Florida native, but the first with an affiliated team.

Robbins previously spent parts of three seasons in the Frontier League and was most recently with Windy City last June. Over his three-year minor league career, Robbins is 0-1, with a 5.61 ERA, but the 24-year old righthanded pitcher has struck out 21 over 25 2-3 innings. Robbins has also spent time at the Driveline Baseball Training Facility in Kent, Washington working on his craft.

“It’s been an extremely long

journey,” Robbins said. “I’m incredibly happy at the improvement I’ve made [over] the last three years.”

“I’ve learned a lot about myself,” he continued. “I’m excited to prove myself at this next level.

In addition, I’m proud to represent my alma mater and Division III players around the country.”

Robbins appeared in 43 games during his four seasons on Castle Point, drawing 35 starts. He totaled 18 victories with 198 strikeouts over 188 2-3 innings and ranks among the program’s alltime top-10 in innings pitched, wins, strikeouts and earned-run average. Robbins was named Third Team All-New York Region by d3baseball.com in 2015 and was a two-time New Jersey Collegiate Baseball Association

(NJCBA) All-Star. A two-time Honorable Mention All-Empire 8 Conference performer, Robbins was selected to the league’s First Team in his senior season.

“This is a great story,” offered head baseball coach Kristaps Aldins. “Robert is a fantastic person and we couldn’t be happier for him. His relentless pursuit of realizing this goal is something truly inspiring. He has certainly had his ups and downs over the past few years, just like all of us do in our various careers. But Robert’s unwillingness to give up is a great lesson and motivator for anyone out there chasing their dreams. This accomplishment is something that all of our baseball student-athletes, alumni, fans and the entire Stevens community can celebrate.”

Stevens Sports Information

Robbins is believed to be one of seven Ducks to play professional baseball and he will become the fourth to spend time with an affiliated team. Stevens Athletics Hall of Famer David Garcia spent seven seasons in the minors, reaching as high as Double-A with both the Detroit Tigers and Kansas City Royals organizations.

Robbins’ teammate Jayson Yano also spent one season in the Frontier League, appearing in four games with Windy City in 2016.

Additionally, Andrew Matthews played four seasons of minor league baseball with the organizational affiliates of both the New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers organizations.

Then-junior Charles Ruegger became the second player in program history to be selected in the

Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft after the New York Yankees made the Morris Plains, New Jersey native their 33rd round selection. Ruegger reported to New York’s team in the Gulf Coast League and fanned seven over 9 2-3 innings with a pair of saves.

Finally, Quinn DiPasquale turned professional after graduation last summer and spent time in both the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball and the Frontier League.

Alumnus Tom Phillips is the lone Duck to play internationally, signing with the Fussen Royal Bavarians in Germany after exhausting his collegiate eligibility. Robbins is expected to report to the Cubs’ Spring Training in Mesa, Arizona.

Carrone Named Head Strength and Conditioning Coach

Stevens Sports Information

Poidomani Named #10 DIII MLB Draft Prospect SSI – Stevens Institute of Technology senior Danny Poidomani has been ranked the number 10 Division III Major League Baseball Draft Prospect by Perfect Game.

Poidomani was just one of three prospects from the state of New Jersey and one of two from the New York region named to the Top 25 list re-

leased by the organization the first week of February.

The Rochelle Park, New Jersey native spent the past summer with the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL). Poidomani appeared in seven games, drawing three starts, and finished the summer with a 3.91 ERA over 23 innings pitched. He

had the fifth lowest batting average against in the CCBL with .171 (minimum of 20 innings pitched).

Poidomani ended the 2018 season at Stevens with a 3.58 ERA after facing 244 batters in 65.1 innings pitched. The left-handed pitcher registered 77 strikeouts, one save and one complete game.

SSI – Stevens Institute of Technology Director of Athletics Russell Rogers has announced the hiring of Michelle Carrone as Head Strength and Conditioning Coach.

“We are thrilled to bring someone with Michelle’s background and experience to Stevens and our strength and conditioning program,” Rogers said. “There is a tremendous level of excitement about the impact Michelle’s training programs and strategies are going to have on the performance of our teams and, most importantly, her commitment to the student-athletes and their overall well-being is very clear.

Stevens Athletics welcomes Michelle to Castle Point and we look forward to supporting her efforts in any way possible.”

Carrone arrives in Hoboken after spending more than five years at Manhattanville College, where the Haverstraw, New York native was charged with planning, developing and implementing a speed, strength and conditioning training program for 18 varsity sports and one club team.

Under Carrone’s direction, the strength facility was completely redesigned and the Louisiana native worked with the Valiants’ 19 varsity sports to develop and im-

plement each team’s yearly training program. She also oversaw a staff of a graduate assistant and two interns.

Prior to Manhattanville, Carrone spent three-and-a-half years at the United States Military Academy as an Assistant Strength and Conditioning Coach, where she worked with the Black Knights’ women’s basketball, volleyball, men’s and women’s tennis programs. While at Army, Carrone assisted with the strength and conditioning training for five Patriot League-winning teams, along with the 2010 bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl championship-winning football team.

Additionally, Carrone was the Head Strength Coach for the United States National Rugby Team from 2005-10, helping the team achieve fifth-place finishes in both the 2006 and 2010 World Cups.

A 1996 graduate of the University of New Orleans with a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Performance and Health Promotion, Carrone has a Master of Arts degree in Kinesiology and Health Studies from Southeastern Louisiana University and a Master of Arts degree in Physical Education from the University of South Florida.

Duck Country Scoreboard Date

Stevens

Opponent/Event

Score

Result

2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3

Men's Track & Field Men's Fencing Men's Fencing Men's Fencing Women's Fencing Women's Fencing Women's Fencing Women's Fencing Women's Fencing Men's Fencing Men's Fencing

VS Day Two VS Massachusetts Institute of Tech VS Yeshiva University VS Brown University VS Massachusetts Institute of Tech VS Yeshiva University VS Brown University VS Brandeis University VS Boston College VS Brandeis University

Complete 15-12 27-0 66 17-10 26-1 15-12

N/A W W 2nd W W W W

VS Boston College

16-11 11-16 15-12 14-13

L W W

Stevens Sports Information

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

VS Elmira College 7 p.m.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

VS Alfred University 7 p.m.

Alfred, NY

MEN’S TRACK AND FIELD VS Day One TBA Boston, MA

WOMEN’S TRACK AND FIELD VS Day One TBA Boston, MA

Saturday WRESTLING

@ Centennial Conference Championship 9 a.m.

Kings Point, NY

WOMEN’S FENCING

VS Temple University 9 a.m.

Newark, NJ

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

VS Massachusettes Institute of Technology 12 p.m.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

VS Houghton College 2 p.m.

Houghton, NY

MEN’S BASKETBALL

VS Houghton College 4 p.m.

Houghton, NY

FOR MORE INFORMATION, HEAD TO: STEVENSDUCKS.COM STEVENSREC.COM