[The Stute] September 20, 2019 (Issue 3, CXVII)

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Volume CXVII Issue 3

September 20, 2019

Established 1904

Preparing for the next new building: the Academic Wraparound Building

Sustainability Coalition plans for sustainable Stevens By ALEKSANDAR DIMOSKI

is one of the major limits or “nono’s” for hosting a social event on Bid Night; however, do not be discouraged in thinking that any social after Bid Night is completely banned. When asked if this rule would be changed in the upcoming semester, Malcolm simply stated that “no social events with alcohol on Bid Night is a policy that will be carried into future semesters.” Joey Kuhn, president of Kappa Sigma fraternity, said that their fraternity’s Bid Night event was denied, despite it being held in previous semesters. “It was a very short notice decision that has caused us to change our plans for Friday night.”

A university on the rise, Stevens is growing rapidly to handle its housing shortage and to create physical space for more classes. But with any institution, there is always something else that can be improved. For a group of three aspiring graduate students, the Stevens Sustainability Coalition is taking on another challenge: sustainability on our campus. The Stevens Sustainability Coalition (SSC) is a student-led initiative whose vision is to create a culture of sustainability on-campus. Both an organization and a movement, it was started by Alex Dubro, Frack Accurso and Angelo Falabella with the three students consulting Dr. Dibyendu Sarkar as their faculty advisor. While Falabella graduated last spring with his MS in Sustainability Management, Dubro and Accurso, also in the Sustainability Management program, continue to lead the initiative. The SSC plans to hold forums that promote open, transparent and collaborative discussion among students, staff, faculty and administration alike on sustainability issues on-campus. While these forums will focus on topics pertinent to the Stevens campus, Dubro and Accurso hope that they will motivate individuals to bring innovative thoughts, attitudes, and perspectives to their communities and continue bringing about positive impact. Other events include panels on environmental and social-environmental issues, held by on and off campus experts, as well as

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By BEN SINGLETON Within the next year, administrators will consider moving forward with plans to construct a new building called the Academic Wraparound Building. Construction on this building, which has been planned since 2009, might begin as soon as May 2020 or as late as May 2022. This building — which is estimated to cost approximately $31,488,000, compared to the estimated cost of the University Towers at $190,000,000, according to a 2017 Appleseed report on Stevens — will quite literally wrap around Babbio Garage, according to Robert Maffia, Vice President for Facilities and Campus Operations. “Back [when the project was approved], there were objections to having a Garage face the waterfront,” Maffia said in an email interview. “This narrow building was envisioned as a way to ‘wrap around’ the garage so that a garage would not face the waterfront.” Plans for the Wraparound building were conceived a decade ago. Initial plans for the Babbio garage faced criticism over the construction of a garage on the Hoboken waterfront, the original proposal being four stories tall and stretching all the way pasted McLean to fifth street. Stevens rolled back these plans to the current 436 space garage, which now sits on Frank Sinatra Drive. The Wraparound building was “a compromise,” Maffia said. The plan for the Academic Wraparound building was more clearly laid out in the 2015 plan for the Babbio garage, which split construction into two phases. Phase one

Bid Night Goes Dry By JOANA FARDAD No fraternity can hold an event with alcohol for tonight’s Bid Night festivities, changing a years long tradition for the Greek community. This change, which was decided by neither the Interfraternity Council nor Undergraduate Student Life, appeared sudden to fraternities and effectively limits the number of social events happening today. Bid Night, a semesterly event that ceremoniously launches the start of the new member process for Stevens fraternities, occurs near the start of each Fall and Spring semester. The night is when students accept their bid — a fraternity’s offer of admission into their organization — and celebrate with

a social event, which usually has alcohol. Malcolm McDaniel, Assistant Director for Fraternity and Sorority Life, confirmed in an email interview that if a chapter intends on having a new member class for a particular semester, “the chapter is not permitted to host any events with alcohol on the scheduled Bid Night.” McDaniel also added that this policy was “stated in the FIPG Risk Management Guidelines, and most recently in the NIC alcohol and other drug guidelines.” While some fraternities said that this change was not properly communicated to them and that no input was solicited for this change, McDaniel said that the policy has always been stated in the FIPG Guidelines and in the NIC alcohol and other guide-

“This policy is not new.” lines. “This policy is not new,” McDaniel said, “and the decision is made at the national level.” There was a President’s Retreat on September 8th that held all chapter and council president. This meeting is where “I introduced the new NIC alcohol and drug guidelines” Malcolm further includes, “[I] gave a physical copy of the guidelines to all attendees, and gave them time to review it as well as ask any questions.” Malcolm made sure to state that if a chapter wanted to have a dry social event on Bid Night, that would be approved. Alcohol

By LIAM MCMURTRY

Relaxation garden on its way to campus By PETER WHITE

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Inside This Issue....

Photo by Dakota Van Deursen

New projects redefining campus life

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A proposed relaxation garden has been approved for landscaping and construction to be completed this fall. The project was initially brought up by former Student Government President, Lucas Gallo, in May of last year. Since then, current SGA President, Jason Chlus has taken it up and will see it through its completion. Behind the Wellness Center in North Campus, this calm space will act as an aroma therapy garden for hardworking Stevens scholars. Chlus has pitched the space as an alternative to the ever-present construction on campus. Imagine, leaving class in Babbio, walking through the plastic obstacle course, then entering a hidden space protect by high reaching evergreens. Within, you find beautiful flowers in a surprisingly spacious backyard. There is a tasteful yet majestic statue of an influential character

TheStute

Jennifer Giattino, Council President, overseeing a Council meeting. Photo by Matthew Cunningham

Stevens sues Hoboken over parking on Sinatra Drive

By ANDREW KINNEY All over Hoboken are seemingly innocuous red-lettered paper signs reading “TEMPORARY POLICE ORDINANCE NO PARKING.” The majority of passersby likely don’t even notice the signs, let alone think anything of them. However, those little signs led to over $4 million worth of controversy and Stevens filing a lawsuit against the City of Hoboken. Businesses in Hoboken can purchase no parking signs in order to reserve parking spaces for set amounts of time. In March, the City passed Ordinance No. B-119, which established that nonprofit organizations could automatically get approved to

use the signs without paying fees. The Stute spoke with City Council President Jennifer Giattino, who explained that prior to this, nonprofits had to request to have the fees waived on a caseby-case basis. These requests were usually relatively small, and always got approved, so automating their approval made a lot of sense. Shortly after this change, Stevens used the ordinance to block off 62 parking spots along Sinatra Drive for three years, the projected duration of the University Towers Project. Since Stevens is a registered nonprofit, it had the fees for doing so automatically waived. Despite this, in May, the Hoboken Director of Transportation and Park-

ing, Ryan Sharp, sent Stevens a memorandum demanding over $110,000 per month for use of the parking spots. Stevens then contacted the City Corporation Council to defend its position that, as a nonprofit organization, it is exempt from paying for the signs. At an impasse, Stevens and Hoboken officials met numerous times to try and come to a resolution. Together, they devised the “Griffith Parking Lot License Agreement,” which stated that Stevens would trade the use of 62 spots in Griffith Lot to the city for the duration of the project, and continue to let the continued on page 3

News — Page 2

Science — Page 5

News — Page 3

Opinion — Page 8

Alumni Association On The Rise ACES to pass through NJ Assembly Science — Page 4

Stevens goes to Panama

Only a quick glance around our campus right now would allow anyone to observe the plethora of construction that is characterizing this landmark year in Stevens history. Those who have lived on campus or traversed it for years now will also remark at the clear absence of past buildings and the addition of new ones. Over the summer, the aging Jacobus Hall was torn down along with its close neighbor, Hayden Hall. For decades, these two buildings served not only as focal points for student life, but also as fixtures of our campus culture. Their replacement, the upcoming University Towers, will have to fill the shoes left behind by these buildings. According to Vice President of Facilities, Bob Maffia, the new 70,000 square foot University Center will be a “marked improvement for the functions previously located in Jacobus Hall”, and a “central point for

students, faculty, and staff to connect.” As part of the plan to “enhance the sense of community on campus,” the new towers will provide beds for undergraduate students. Effects of this construction have been felt by virtually everyone in the school community, with the impact on students being particularly heavy. Luckily, the damage to student convenience was anticipated by our facilities department, who sought to minimize it as much as possible. Maffia emphasized that they have “focused greatly on reducing the effect of construction any way we can,” adding that they “[tried] to schedule as much work as [they] can during the summer months” while most students are away. Moreover, pedestrian safety is labeled as a prime focus during our bout of construction. Not only have appropriate roadcontinued on page 3

Photo by Audrey Dsouza

“I care about the Environment” Editorial

Opinion — Page 9

Girl Talk

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September 20, 2019

2

News RELAX

continued from page 1 in our history, paths weaving through towards a community garden space, which will be maintained by interested students. You can stop at one of the private benches without worrying about being distracted. The garden was designed in coordination between CAPS and the SGA Campus Life

DRY

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SUSTAIN

continued from page 1 innovation (“incubation”) expos that challenge people to arrive at solutions to sustainability problems, in a format similar to business school’s case competitions. According to Lead Co-facilitator Dubro, the goal of the SSC is not to become an established student organization. “The SSC is not a club, nor it is an administrative body. It is a student-led initiative and nontraditional networking organization. We generate and develop innovative ideas at our forums, provide a space for stakeholders to give input to the administration, create a directory of subject matter experts (SMEs) and hold panel discussions on relevant topics. Our vision is to make sustainability a fabric of Stevens’ culture. Sustainability is a lifestyle, not a choice.” Since they are not bound by the standards that clubs or administrative offices usually follow, the SSC has greater po-

Committee. This idea will be made into a reality, hopefully, in the next month, according to Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs, Sara Klein. Physical Plant, Stevens’ contracting organization has been very cooperative throughout the process, and this relaxing space has been as easy and calm as a construction proposal can get. From conception to completion should be just under five months. In that short

time frame numerous groups worked together to improve our community. E.J. Hannah, chairperson of the Campus Life Committee, stated that he has been very proactive about this idea that he believed would help all students at this prestigious institution. The garden will be just outside of CAPS, the Counseling And Psychological Services office, so it should act as a one-stop-shop for de-stressing after a long day of classes.

When the landscaping does commence, towards the end of this month, the school will be looking for interested students to help with landscaping and planting. Keep an eye out for more information if you or a friend would be interested in helping, and when the project is complete go check it out. The relaxation garden is almost here so let this be a reminder to focus on your mental health and take care of yourself.

Kuhn said. “We expected the event to be approved as it was last semester.” Kappa Sigma is not happy with the lack of communication,

nor the short notice. “There was not even so much as a discussion about it, despite every Greek president being together for the President’s Retreat on Septem-

ber 8th,” Kuhn claims. The fraternity has been shook by the recent events, and confirms that they “were not included in the decision whatsoever.”

tential to connect people from different groups on and off campus. The movement already has both administrative and student support and seeks to continue gathering support by connecting the two. According to Accurso, “I think it’s an exciting time at Stevens…we can be a support structure for communication between students and the administration.” The movement helps to aid and promote efforts made by the administration and the student body in order to help Stevens attain an AASHE STARS rating. STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System) is a self-reporting framework that measures sustainability performance. This rating is given to involved campuses that fulfill certain sustainability benchmarks, and to earn one would demonstrate increased progress in this regard. The SSC hopes to bring Stevens closer to this goal by continuing to promote the Sustainability Management Plan (SMP), a recommended framework and organized collection of guidelines for sustainability

landmarks. Made by Falabella as his capstone project along with Cole Liguori, Ziren Qi, and Wesley Cheung, the plan focuses on four different aspects of sustainability management on Stevens, namely Campus Energy Usage; Waste, Water, and Land Management; Social Engagement; and Financial Responsibility. The SMP includes an addendum by Falabella proposing the founding of an Office of Sustainability, which would aid and direct efforts on campus. Dr. Sarkar served as Advisor, and, as with the SMP, students should feel free to consult Dr. Sarkar regarding similar projects on-campus. At their kickoff event this previous Wednesday, the SSC stayed true to their word: Dubro led a breakout session, inviting attendees to tackle a common sustainability challenge. The session developed into an open dialogue on what could be done to improve conditions at Stevens. Attendees included members from the SSC, as well as students, faculty, and staff. The meeting started with Dubro presenting the foundational goals

of the SSC and ended with a discussion by attendees on how the movement could grow and improve. Unique to the SSC is its approach to change. Rather than generate ideas and implement them via a top-down approach, the organization gives everyone involved an open ended sense of autonomy to tackling various problems on-campus. Dubro argues that this is yet another element that will foster a culture of sustainability. The kickoff meeting was a promising start to a new organization, and it already seems to be fulfilling its mission statement of bringing people together. Despite not being an official campus organization, the group has the support of the administration and is hoping to gain the support of other organizations on-campus, in Hoboken, and in surrounding localities. The organization seems to have a bright future, and we look forward to seeing how it will assist students, staff, faculty and the administration in accomplishing increased sustainability on and off campus.

Alumni Association On The Rise By JONAH KRAMER RICHARDS Being a Duck lasts a lot longer than the four (or five or six) years that you might study here. The Stevens Alumni Association (SAA) works year-round to keep alumni connected to the university, as well as to keep current students connected to alumni. This task recently became a lot easier. The 1906 Stevens Alumni Association Constitution was completely updated in 2018. While the 1906 Constitution and its technological limitations made it hard to engage with alumni outside the New Jersey/ New York area, the updates allow for the utilization of evolving communication methods in order to connect alumni world wide. 1906 rules dictated how votes were cast and requiring meetings to be held mainly on campus. Loosening the restraint of paper ballots and allowing individuals to call in for a meeting allows SAA President Victoria Velasco ’04, Assistant Vice President for Annual Giving and Alumni Engagement Matthew Gwin, and the entire SAA Board of Directors to grow the alumni community. Velasco is excited they can now “build on the participatory nature of the new structure, and be more intentional in how [they] connect with the Stevens community. Using virtual meetings and a more robust social media plan, there will be more content for alumni, who will be able to speak on anything from the Power of Stevens campaign, to the upcoming 100th anniversary of Alumni Weekend.” The SAA has been working to realign with Stevens’ brand: “On the Rise.” The constitution

amendments were part of “a five year process to improve our governance structure in order to increase alumni engagement. We recognized that it was a change that needed to be made. [The process] involved dozens of alumni working across multiple subcommittees and much research,” shared Velasco. “How [alumni can] participate had to move to become more global. Alumni leave the area, but we still need to engage them. With the new framework, anyone can participate no matter where they live or work. Now there is a possibility of virtual participation, among other updates, and that changes everything.” Beyond simply changing their rules on paper, the SAA has also been focusing on how to best engage alumni. Gwin reflected upon the changes being made: “Looking at Stevens and the type of institution we are, we are trying to be thoughtful at how we look at alumni information and statistics to inform programming ideas and marketing approaches. We can reach out to different generations in different ways-for example, more recent graduates are going through different experiences than those who graduated a few decades ago and may appreciate different kinds of events than older alumni. We can capture the interest of alumni at a younger age to create lifelong engagement.” The SAA is working to engage future alumni (“current students”) as well. With ideas such as welcome gifts for freshmen, a more noticeable on-campus presence for SAA, and more, students can look forward to being supported by the alumni network from the moment they step on campus, and to see them as a vital resource.

September 20, 2019

3

News LAWSUIT

continued from page 1 city use 50 of those spots for the 20 years following the completion of the project. On July 10, the City Council voted 8-0 to adopt the “Stevens Resolution,” which approved the terms of the Griffith Agreement. Also on July 10, the Council adopted the Amended TNP Ordinance (AO), which removed the exemption for nonprofit organizations. The Resolution and the AO then needed to be signed by Mayor Ravi Bhalla. On July 11, he signed the Amended Ordinance. On August 8, however, he told Stevens that he would not sign the Resolution as he did not think it was in the best interest of Hoboken residents, according to Council President Giattino. Instead, he would be applying the AO and requiring Stevens to pay about $4,037,400 in fees

CONSTRUCT

continued from page 1 blocks been placed around Babbio Center, but an entire new sidewalk was built to connect Castle Point Hall with the rest of campus. The Student Government Association requested this project to allow students to safely travel around the north side of campus, as the alternative was walking through the street. While the new University Center is underway, which will

(62 spots*$60 a day*365 days in a year*3 years). Finally, after all of this, Stevens filed the lawsuit. The school’s main argument is that “The City introduced and passed the Amended TNP Ordinance as a direct result of the City’s realization that Stevens qualified for the Fee Exemption.” Stevens is hoping to have the AO rescinded and declared “improper, invalid, unlawful, arbitrary, capricious, null and void, unconstitutional, and of no force and effect,” and have the Griffith Agreement approved in its place. As a secondary argument, Stevens is also claiming that since it owns the section of Sinatra Drive in question, seeking fees from the school would violate the terms of its ownership (or more specifically, a 1975 easement between Hoboken and Stevens which granted Stevens the land). Giattino and Stevens Administration both expressed hopes that the issue could be house many of the student-facing administrative office, the daily workings of our student life will be relocated to the refurbished Alexander House. (The Alexander House is located between Humphreys Hall and Castle Point Hall.) Modern amenities like an elevator, gaming room, lounge, club storage space, meeting rooms, and office space for select student organizations are being incorporated into Alexander House. There will also be provisional space for new Intercultural Center! The anticipation for all

resolved calmly. Giatinno said, “If you can find a solution that works well for everyone, why not go that route?” Stevens Director of Public Relations Thania Benios said on behalf of the school, “Stevens has worked hard to be a positive force in Hoboken and to build strong working relationships with the Mayor and his administration, with all members of City Council, and with the neighboring community. In an effort to develop a mutually satisfactory resolution to this issue and before filing the lawsuit, Stevens met several times with representatives of the administration and Council with the goal of finding a ‘win-win’ solution […] we remain hopeful that Stevens and the City can resolve this dispute in a manner that is fair and equitable so that both parties can put this matter behind us and continue to focus on the many joint initiatives that benefit both Stevens and the Hoboken community.” these new buildings is palpable, but that does not stop delays from popping up. Stevens encountered a vicious malware attack recently which prompted a system-wide IT shutdown. The effects rippled into every facet of the university and continue to this day. The construction projects were no exception. Vice President Maffia noted “communication challenges” as a result of the attack. Looking forward, dozens of projects, small and large, line the road ahead. Each poses its own set of unique conditions and challenges.

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ACES Program to pass through NJ Assembly in upcoming months By JOANA FARDAD New Jersey Accessing Careers in Engineering and Science (ACES) program passed through the New Jersey Senate, and is expected to pass through the New Jersey Assembly within the upcoming months. ACES is a scale-up of a program that is designed to increase the participation of underserved and underrepresented minority students in both degrees and careers that are aligned with New Jersey’s innovation economy. After the kick-off on Stevens’ campus in the Fall of 2018, impressive data has been gathered and put into a document about the ACES program that was published by the Office of the President. The university has been able to engage 10 schools and a number of corporations and foundations as partners in the program. ACES has resulted in a 60% increase in both underserved and underrepresented minority (URM) students participating in Pre-College STEM summer programs and a 46% increase in the freshman cohort. Currently, the core elements of the Stevens ACES program are being pushed to be adopted at New Jersey institutions of higher education, so “that it can be funded equally by higher education partners, New Jersey corporations, and the State of New Jersey.” With hopes of achieving this goal, the program is planned to produce “200 high school students and 100 college graduates” per year of underserved and underrepresented minorities that are in the

STEM fields. This goal is currently set to be accomplished in four years. But who is behind the big push for ACES here on Stevens’ campus? One main name is Beth McGrath, Vice President for Government and Community Relations. Alongside her are colleagues Thania Benios, the Director of Public Relations, and others in the Division of Communications and Marketing. When asked what gave the idea to implement ACES on campus, McGrath gave credit to alumnus Nate Davis. “Mr. Davis is passionate about Stevens expanding its efforts and programming to make a Stevens education accessible to underserved but academically talented youth,” McGrath said, “In May 2017, Mr. Davis facilitated a discussion on this topic, then helped to engage other alumni and some of his corporate contact in supporting the effort.” Currently, the legislation for ACES has completed the process of being passed by the Senate Higher Education Committee, the Senate Budget Committee, and then the full New Jersey State Senate with an impressive and “positive bi-partisan vote of 37-0,” commented McGrath. The next step is to get the program’s goals cleared with the “Assembly Appropriations Committee, be put to a vote before the full Assembly, and then finally be signed by the Governor,” McGrath explained. It might seem like a long process, but the final results will be worth the wait. Alongside this lengthy list, a

budget resolution will also need to get passed by both houses and then, finally, signed by the Governor. When McGrath was asked about the future she views for ACES and where she saw it going in ten years, she simply replied “over time, we hope to increase the number of scholarships that are offered to the pre-college program for academically talented URM and underserved youth to 20% of all pre-college students.” The team would also love to see a double in the number of scholarships that ACES could offer to its students. Finally, throughout this process, the feelings of advocating for these goals can be a mixture of overwhelming, frustrating, and exciting. The team is “working aggressively” McGrath ensures, to include both corporate and foundation partners, as well as individual alumni to continue to expand this push. Currently organizations such as ADP, Altice USA, American Council on Education, AT&T, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Carnegie Corporation of NY, The A. James Clark & Alice C. Clark Foundation, Community Foundation of NJ, Mukilteo Investment Management, LLC., PSEG, and the Ruesterholz Family Foundation have supported the ACES program. McGrath concluded the interview by saying “we are immensely grateful for their support. There are lots of people throughout the university who are working hard to make ACES successful, thank you.”

Perspectives

Jake Schozer By MARK KRUPINSKI “That was nothing short of a life-changing experience,” said Jake Schozer on his recent Tragos Quest to Greece experience. Tragos Quest to Greece is a Sigma Phi Epsilon program that helps undergraduates change the way they view, the world, their fraternity, and themselves. “It’s baffling like how much of a full perspective shifts happen in 12 hours but when I say, it literally changed my perspective on life. that is an understatement.” Schozer was selected as one of twenty Sigma Phi Epsilon brothers to participate in this experience last semester – and Jake Schozer can point to the exact moment on his experience that changed his perspective. Schozer had an internal transformative experience over the summer, and throughout his time at Stevens, Schozer has played a transformative role in multiple roles on campus including the Pinnacle Scholars Program, and Greek Life – specifically within the Interfraternity Council Schozer initially took on the role as Vice President of Recruitment for the Interfraternity Council (IFC) during his sophomore year, and then took the role of Vice President of Programming during his junior year. Schozer held roles in the IFC during the transition period from Thea Zunick, previous Associate Director of Student Life, to Malcolm McDaniel, current [Malcolm title]. “We definitely grew a lot in 2 years, where when I first started, we weren’t even having eboard meeting. We would just meet at our General Body Meetings, now its weekly eboard meetings, biweekly general body meeting. We tried to make ourselves a more established organization. We still have a long way to go, but they’ve done, we’ve did a lot, and we’ve continued to do a lot now,” said Schozer. In the first year, IFC laid a lot of the groundwork including clarifying the attendance policy, and bylaws changes. In his second year on the e-board, the IFC worked to get their name out there by hosting new events such as the Greek Leadership Awards Dinner (GLAD) and the IFC Chili-Cookoff. “I was very proud,” said Schozer on the cook-off, “We were able to

raise money for homes for our troops, and it was just a great bonding event and a fun lighthearted competition.” Aside from internal growth, the IFC gained a stronger perception from the school’s administration. The IFC legitimized themselves with the creation of the IFC Standards Board – an internal body within the IFC which carries out investigations of infractions by fraternities. “We did things that showed that we could function as an organization which allowed people in the Office of Student Life to give us more things that we could take on,” said Schozer. For example, anytime a Greek Organization registers a social event, the IFC President, Vice President of Standards, and Vice President of Risk all receive notifications and can provide feedback on needed criteria. Even with the growth, Schozer was not able to accomplish everything he desired within the IFC. “I mean there was a lot that I wanted to do, but I’m also very optimistic and idealistic,” he said, “I personally I wanted to host a big community service event.” While he coordinated smaller community service events under his role as Vice President of Programming, he envisioned a large-scale Greek community service event similar to the events for freshman that occur during orientation. On a larger vision, Schozer hopes for Greek life to be as independent as possible from the Office of Student Life. At other schools, such as the University of Louisville, the IFC President oversees enforcing sanctions – not the Office of Student Life. However, he acknowledges this would be difficult to reach at Stevens. “[The University of Louisville] probably ha[s] 30-something IFC chapters and a Greek full-time staff [of] 10 to 12 Employees. It’s very different dynamic from what we have here with one full-time and one part-time employee,” said Schozer, “the ideal vision where like IFC and student life work more horizontal, than vertical, where they’re partners playing off each other as opposed to IFC reporting to student [life].” But in a more realistic term, Schozer sees Greek Life growing at Stevens within the next five years. “It’s gonna be

Jake Schozer, above and left, is the president of his fraternity and an active member of the Stevens community. Photos courtesy of Schozer.

a lot bigger, just maybe not percentage-wise but just pure quantity of students because if you continue on the trend of having 37% of students and you increase the number of students – we’re all good at Math,” he said, “I’m seeing it in my own chapter I know some other chapters that tend to be smaller have taken in some large classes recently.” He said this might prompt more chapter forming in the future. Going forward, Schozer hopes to share his experiences on leadership after college. For one year after graduation, he will be working as a regional director for Sigma Phi

Epsilon. “I’ll be assigned one of one region that will have about twenty chapters in it. I’ll spend ten weeks in June and July and August at our headquarters training and then spend the following nine months traveling between those chapters advising their executive committees helping them set goals and helping those chapters improve a little bit,” said Schozer. Afterwards, Schozer said that he is unsure if he will continue to work at his fraternity’s national headquarters full-time, but he will give back regardless. “I can’t see myself not at least make myself an available resource to anybody at Stevens who

might be able to utilize that,” said Schozer, “after I have that year of leadership and training experience from that position, if I could come back and just give talks and leadership trainings seminars or what not about my experience specifically on the Stevens campus and then also other outside trainings that I’ve had. I would love the opportunity to do that.” Still as a current undergraduate, he does provide a few pieces of advice on leadership. “When you’re young, cast a wide net,” said Schozer, “find your passion and then narrow down on that. … If you’re trying to do something

you’re trying to make change that you don’t care about that you don’t have a purpose behind you’re not gonna have fun doing it” Oh – and his Math’s reviews? It’s the same focus. Giving back. “Teaching has always been something that I enjoy doing because it’s my way of giving thanks that I understand things well. I grab the concepts especially math well and I almost feel an obligation to give that back,” said Schozer. He’s a “role model” for a cohort of students as they take MA123/MA124 followed by Differential Equations – and he recognized off the streets for it – whether on campus or in Hoboken. “I’m not gonna lie – it’s kind of cool, but at the same time it’s it makes me feel so happy that I’ve been able to help so many people by doing something that I just love doing,” he said. Schozer isn’t paid for his reviews. He does it so he can give back and help guide students through the beginning of their college career.

September 20, 2019

4

Science

Photos taken by Nancy Nowacek

Stevens faculty want to bring the Panamanian rainforest to you Left: Gamboa Rainforest; Top-right: Corrugated metal-roofed bus stop; Bottom-right: Container ship in the Panama Canal.

BY CAMILLE SIMON-AL-ARAJI This past August, in the dense rainforest of Gamboa, Panama, assistant professors Christopher Manzione and Nancy Nowacek set out on a trip to attend a unique conference involving science, research, technology, and art. In the Visual Arts & Technology program at Stevens, Manzione runs the Moving Image concentration, which includes video, animation, virtual and augmented reality, motion graphics, 3D modeling, and 3D animation. He has a background in sculpture, virtual environments, and mobile augmented reality. Nowacek, also in Visual Arts & Technology, runs the Design concentration curriculum, and has a background in design, conceptual art, and interdisciplinary art. Manzione and Nowacek received notice of a convention taking place in Panama called the Digital Naturalism Conference (otherwise known as Dinacon), an experimental conference that explores new ways of interacting with nature, a key goal being to share knowledge. This year, groups of field biologists, interaction designers, engineers, and art-

ists were invited to convene in Gamboa, “one of the world’s major hubs for biological field research.” Groups and individuals were able to experience the Gamboa Rainforest while talking about the intersectional space between their respective domains. In order to attend the conference, groups and individuals had to apply with a project, whether it be a sculpture, a biological experiment, a movie, a journal article, etc. Manzione and Nowacek decided to apply together with a project: how to use digital technologies to begin to understand Panama as a place and a space. They focused particularly on the rainforest, an emblem of the nation of Panama and an important factor in climate change. During their one-week stay in the rainforest, the two collected several different kinds of content, including audio captures, videos, and still images. Manzione collected a series of 3D scans that he plans to process through the use of photogrammetry, the “art and science of extracting 3D information from photographs.” The output of photogrammetry is typically “a map, a drawing, a measurement, or a 3D mod-

el of some real-world object or scene.” Nowacek, for her part, used a motion capture system, placing sensors on her joints while using Notch (an iOS and Android app) that collects movement data from various sensors. With this, she captured the motion of a walk through the rainforest. The equipment they used to capture content included their personal phones, a digital camera, a Zoom audio recorder, and a GoPro Fusion that captures 360° video. While in Panama, the two also found time to visit the Panama Canal. They thought of it as a place of transience, with consumer products constantly coming and going. They noticed the slowness of the transportation of materials and the slowness of the place in general, a huge contrast to our daily lives in New York. “There’s only one family-run bodega. There’s no grocery store. It’s a really remote place,” said Nowacek. Despite the remote location, Nowacek and Manzione met several other Dinacon attendees, or fellow “Dinasaurs.” One woman from Australia was taking audio recordings of the canal with a waterproof

microphone. Another man was taking material out of different mushrooms from the rainforest and identifying the mushrooms by their genetic sequence, a process called barcoding. In the humid rainforest, Nowacek described a feeling of familiarity. “A lot of the house plants that get sold to us are plants that like dark, low-light environments like the rainforest. It was like we were staring at layers and layers of giant house plants.” “It’s an alive, intense place,” she added. “If you just hold your eyes still for just a moment, you realize that there is life and activity at the tiniest levels.” Expanding on one project idea, the two recalled the corrugated metal-roofed bus stops near where they were staying in Gamboa. “We want to recreate one of these as a place of transition, departure, and waiting and use it as a structure to install some audio and video components,” said Manzione. Manzione and Nowacek expect their final projects to be completed by January, when they will share their work with fellow Dinasaurs, the Stevens community, and the world.

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Science I care about the environment BY DYLAN JAMES MOON It was clear in 2015 that the Paris Agreement on climate change needed a rulebook to help countries meet their obligations under the accord. When diplomats crowded Katowice, Poland, last December to draft this rulebook, they ate like kings. The menu sported beef with smoked bacon, pork and beef dumplings, pork tenderloin, codfish in butter-wine sauce with mussels, barbecue chicken, burgers, and assorted cheeses. Amnesty International’s yearly conference is the same story. Aspiring defenders of humanity celebrate with ornate meat dishes on silver platters. I attended a workshop at this year’s conference titled “Humanity at Risk.” To Amnesty, climate change is a human rights issue since it creates food and water shortages and threatens vulnerable communities. One expert spoke about the importance of clean energy and transportation. But when asked about the impact of animal agriculture, she deflected the question, calling diet a “personal choice” and therefore not a focus of her work. At Stevens, too, I have listened to one climate change presentation after another. All manage to ignore that 14.5% of all greenhouse gas emissions come from animal agriculture. That includes direct emissions from livestock, feed production and processing, and manure processing and disposal. This quantity

exceeds all combined emissions from transport. They also ignore that about a third of all our freshwater consumption is through animal agriculture, and that plant-based foods are dozens of times more water-efficient. They ignore that beef is the single largest driver of deforestation worldwide, followed by soy, half of which we feed to livestock. They ignore the toxic runoff from these farms, its creation of vast ocean dead zones, and the desertification of once-fertile land. They offer recommendations for daily activities: take shorter showers, use alternate forms of transport, eat local foods to avoid shipping. They ignore that a 10-minute shower takes about 20 gallons of water, whereas a single egg takes over 50 gallons to produce. A pound of chicken takes about 500 gallons. A gallon of milk 900. A pound of beef 1,800. You could shower for seven hours straight and use less water than it takes to make a single eight-ounce burger—without cheese. They lament humanity’s progress on climate goals, America’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, and the destructive power of corporations and their cargo ships. They do not mention, though, that the average American eats 200 pounds of meat per year, four times the world average, and that 97% of Americans consume animal products regularly. They ignore the worldwide

consequences of feeding, raising and slaughtering 56 billion animals per year, not counting fish. And they ignore the fact that the global demand for meat and milk will keep rising, increasing 73% and 58%, respectively, by 2050. I want to ask the diplomats who drafted the Paris Agreement rulebook if they understood the irony. Over that 12day conference, the food court had a carbon footprint of 4,500 metric tons, roughly that of burning half a million gallons of gasoline. I wanted to ask Amnesty’s climate expert, too, what battle are you fighting? If food scarcity is a human rights issue, why ignore that we lose 97% of the protein we feed cows, and that milk and eggs are hardly better at 70% of protein wasted? Food waste and emissions aside, high-protein plants like legumes improve soil health for sustained food production and are adaptable to varying climates. Models show that if the U.S. transitioned to a legume-based diet, it could healthily feed 190 million more people using the same land area. And if Amnesty fights for quality of life improvements elsewhere, why not also mention the fecal miasma that envelopes towns near pork and beef farms, as farmers dispose of animal waste in mist? For a climate activist, ignoring livestock is like trying to contain a fire without permitting yourself the use of water.

The same goes for environment lovers. If you say you care for the environment, one should expect to find you among the 3% of Americans that have boycotted animal agriculture, right? No? Why not? I want to say it’s the ag-gag laws, which in several states intend to hide livestock farm operations from the public. I want to say it’s the government subsidies that mask the true cost of animal products. I want to say it’s the corporations that have crafted the image of healthful beef and chicken-heavy diets. I want to regurgitate every fact I heard in the film Cowspiracy about the armor-plated empire forged by Tyson Foods, JBS, Cargill, and other corporations. I want to say that if people just knew better, they would eat more plants. But when 15,364 scientists advocated for plant-based diets by signing the 2017 “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice,” vegetarianism in the U.S. didn’t budge. Despite movies like Food, Inc. and Cowspiracy, and despite countless academic papers on the harmful impact of animal agriculture, and despite ever more meat substitutes, veganism has risen only a few percent since 2012. In fact, when I mention the climate impact of meat, I often hear a sharp response. “I’ve heard all the vegan facts,” as if I were beating a dead horse. Shortly thereafter, as every vegan has probably heard, come the

words, “I could never be vegan.” Or even worse, “I just don’t care.” Ask many of these people their thoughts on transport, coal, and gas-belching factories and you would get a different impression. You would see them as environmentally-conscious and genuinely concerned. “We are the ones who will bear the brunt of climate change,” I often hear students my age say. Even regarding the treatment of animals: ask their opinions on SeaWorld, animal testing, and poaching, and you’d think they wouldn’t hurt a fly. Somewhere in our reasoning about climate change, logic ends. Sure, it is deeply cultural. We are taught from youth that meat makes the dish. But at a certain point, it just becomes ironic. It is ironic that world leaders, questing to save humanity from climate disaster, indulge in beef tenderloin. It is ironic that a climate expert would refuse to acknowledge a leading cause of climate change. It is ironic that when thousands of experts do expose the destruction caused by livestock, no one cares. It is ironic that environmental engineers at Stevens recoil from vegan baked goods. It is ironic that our dining hall is armed with an infographic on sustainability and food waste yet serves meat six days a week. This is the part of the article where I should offer a solution, a way out of our predicament, or words of hope. But having been

vegan for a few years, I am too jaded for that. The best I can say is that you don’t have to be vegan to make a difference. Any reduced meat intake helps. In terms of emissions, if Americans ate even a hundred pounds of meat per year, it would be the equivalent of 26 million people switching exclusively to bicycle transportation. How hard is that? I could direct you to videos of the rape and slaughter of animals, of feces mist covering communities, and of arid, trampled land that used to host abundant life. I could also mention that, in affluent countries like the U.S., we consume far more protein than is necessary for good health. You can even be a vegan bodybuilder. But until climate change no longer seems abstract to us, and maybe even then, the odds of you going vegan from reading this article are next to none. You might, though, as a classmate said after hearing what you just read, go for chicken lo mein tonight instead of beef. If you do decide to avoid meat, you will have made progress in logical consistency. You will be able to back your claims of environmental awareness with a level of action. You might even understand that people don’t go vegan to feign moral superiority. Just remember to get enough protein and vitamins. Missing those can really get you down.

The secret ingredient of the human diet: phosphorus BY ABBY MEOLA

Photo from Stevens.edu

Stevens researchers grow a greener future BY SAMANTHA WINTER In case you didn’t know, green is the new black. Oil-rich green microalgae could power cars, factories, buildings, and other technologies in the not-so-distant future, and Stevens researchers are finding out how. Yanxia Lin, an Environmental Engineering doctoral candidate at Stevens, is using algae plants to generate renewable biofuel. With the support of a student committee, Dr. Agamemnon Koutsospyros from the University of New Haven, and Christos Christodoulatos, Director of the Center for Environmental Systems, Lin specifically studies how varying amounts of light shone upon algae can maximize fuel production. Why algae? It turns out that the microscopic, photosynthetic plant can grow in recycled wastewater and produce algal oil, which can be extracted using green solvents. It can then be converted into a liquid biofuel which could someday replace petroleum. Algae also produces most of the oxygen we breathe. It’s pretty important. Lin’s research focuses heavily on testing for variables. The team has expanded its design to include two different algal growth environments, including both a liquid setup

(called suspension growth) and a surface setup (called attached growth). The team accounts for the growth of the algal biomass, cost efficiency, and energy efficiency when comparing the two systems. “Once we have the system for culturing the microalgae,” says Lin, “the next step is to find out the best conditions for culture. Then we can apply the real wastewater to assess the treatment effect.” It is a meticulous process that has been somewhat downsized to accommodate low costs and the smaller lab environment. “If you do this in the field, you have a pond. But this is our system,” said Professor Christodoulatos as he showed me the team’s newest installment: a suspension growth research area in the busy Nicoll Laboratory. The setup contains algae samples in two bioreactor tubs full of water. Paddles that resemble watermills stir the algae in the nutrient-enriched water. According to Christodoulatos, the group has tried both freshwater and marine algae to determine which is better suited for cultivation in industrial wastewater. The marine algae are “more tolerant” because they are accustomed to a sodium-rich environment. The researchers have also varied light exposure and water samples.

After the most ideal conditions have been found, the team plans to “scale up” the system. Scaling up is synonymous with making the project applicable in the real world as the global thirst for renewable biofuel increases. According to BP’s prediction on World Energy Day in 2014, “the Earth has enough oil left for about 53 more years at current production levels.” If this prediction is correct, we have mere decades left to continue our petroleum-guzzling. The clock is ticking. Biofuel is needed, but its use has taken a while to catch on. According to a 2018 Forbes article by Robert Rapier, this slowness is partly due to a lack of credible research on algal biofuel production. Many companies “received both private investments and taxpayer dollars based on claims for algal biofuels that just weren’t credible,” wrote Rapier. Without substantial results, the field cannot be taken as seriously as it should be. However, when talented teams like Lin’s produce fruitful results, perspectives can shift. According to algal biology expert Kris Niyogi, “the good news is that algae are starting to get a lot more attention these days, even from big oil compa-

nies that are now putting tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars into algal biofuel research.” This investment could prove invaluable as funding for sustainable energy is costly. One big investor is the Department of Defense (DOD), a Stevens research partner on this particular project. Professor Christodoulatos calls Stevens’ association with the DOD a “friendly twenty-five-year relationship.” How cool is that? The DoD aims to increase sustainability efforts to achieve a “net zero” impact in energy, water, and waste at U.S. defense facilities. Eventually, the idea of a “net zero” could be one of our country’s environmental values. The idea especially excites Lin and Christodoulatos because it encourages valorization, or the conversion of waste into a valuable product. In other words, our waste could become our main energy source. Although the cost of sustainable energy is high, Lin is hopeful about its potential role in our future. “What we can do,” she says, “is produce energy in a sustainable way. That is our only option for the future.” Who knows? Maybe Lin’s biofuel will inspire a more eco-friendly world. Maybe it will power our cars one day. In fact, don’t be surprised if it does.

Glancing over the periodic table that hangs in the chemistry laboratory, it is hard to see any one element as more or less important than the others. But zoom in on the chart’s individual boxes, and some elements jump out: Oxygen, the reason we can breathe. Gold, the metal in your earrings and chains. Carbon, the element that both differentiates life and is rapidly changing the world as we know it. For Stevens Environmental Engineering professor Dr. David Vaccari, phosphorus keeps him up at night. Simply put, we need phosphorus to grow food. And as the population grows, that demand will only increase. Historically, the use of phosphorus was cyclical. When humans grew their own food, phosphorus was taken from the soil and returned to the same soil in the form of manure. Now, phosphorus is lost to the environment by transporting food long distances, funneling waste into sewers, and consuming large quantities of animal products. For this reason, phosphorus is in high demand. Yet the finite resource is mined and utilized in an unsustainable way. Dr. Vaccari first inquired into phosphorus pollution 10 years ago. He has since become aware, in his words, of the “resource sustainability side of the problem.” His team, comprised of himself and researchers Stephen Powers and Xin Liu, has conducted extensive research on the use of phosphorus and recently published the findings in Environmental Science and Technology. The team developed a model to describe how phosphorus flows through the global food system. “The model allows us to answer specific ‘what if’ questions to see how certain changes in human behavior could significantly improve the conservation of this resource and, by extension, help sustain the world’s food production,” said Vaccari. The team’s research focuses on variables that lead to unsustainable phosphorus use: certain animal products in the diet, the management of food and human waste, and the efficiency of manure use. They then manipulate these parameters to predict the outcome of controlling each piece in society. The outcomes corre-

spond to a proposed intervention and its potential efficacy. The research suggests some surprising results. Dietary changes could reduce the demand for phosphorus substantially but not completely. As people consume less meat, the increased need for plant-based food would again require phosphorus to be mined. Recycling was another piece of the inquiry. Although recycling is a helpful step, reducing waste in consumption is 80% more effective. Among the hypotheticals addressed in the model, perhaps the most striking is the impact on global diet resulting from a total halt in phosphorus mining. Using only non-mined phosphorus, agriculture could support only onethird of the world’s current population. If Vaccari had to choose one of his “possible sustainability pathways” to put into action, he would choose to increase manure recycling in animal feeding. This would decrease phosphorus loss and also reduce water pollution. According to Vaccari, unsustainable manure use causes huge algae blooms in local areas and beyond, from Lake Hopatcong to Lake Erie and the coast of Florida. Dr. Vaccari notes that there is another “master variable” at play: population. “I think we need to talk more about controlling population growth. This is driving so many of our environmental and sustainability problems,” said Dr. Vaccari. Phosphorus sustainability is a large-scale issue, but Dr. Vaccari assures that individuals, even Stevens students, can contribute to positive change. “The best thing that individuals could do is to reduce their consumption of meat, especially beef,” Vaccari said. “That doesn’t mean to stop eating meat entirely, but consider cutting your consumption or switching to more sustainable meat products such as chicken.” Vaccari and his colleagues hope to expand their phosphorus research to include economic implications and local recommendations so that their ideas are more specific. “Phosphorus is essential for life,” said Vaccari. “So the plan is to keep it around for a long time by mining phosphate sustainably and responsibly.”

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Campus Pulse

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September 20, 2019

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Opinion Passion for Fashion

Black Effect

Sustainability in fashion

“The N-Word” w/ Zharee Richards

Daniel Kang Junior Biomedical Engineering Sustainability has become a major buzzword for fashion brands that are seeking to highlight their efforts to reduce their sizable carbon footprints that are raising temperatures worldwide. Many people, such as myself, have even become susceptible to the well-known (and baseless) saying that fashion is the second most wasteful industry. While not exactly true, there is clear evidence that the fashion industry is indeed responsible for a lot of the pollution generated every year. Electricity powers the production factories, cotton requires water and pesticides, polyester is made from petroleum and

chemical dyes, leather comes from livestock, and transportation involves countless planes and trucks. However, even as thousand-year glaciers break apart and the raging natural disasters wreak havoc upon the land, the incremental changes that the fashion industry enacts do not seem to be enough. The bigger problem is that designers have deluded themselves into thinking that whatever improvements on the status quo are good enough for the rest of us. Worse still, the companies that do not have any sustainability goals whatsoever are given greater attention and visibility than those that do. Obviously, designers themselves are not personally burning down rainforests or melting the ice caps, but they do have a responsibility to safeguard the planet for future generations. Of course, the reality remains that too many clothes are produced and thrown away. The fashion industry must lead by example, because the trends it sets, whether for clothing or society, trickle down to the rest of us. It needs to start by making its manufacturing and business practices more transparent. To address the elephant in

the room, the fashion industry thrives by persuading consumers to spend money on clothes that are not necessary for their wardrobes. I understand it is a business model, but at the rate we are going, it does not make any sense to ignore the problem any longer. Not only are brands making clothes in a way that is harmful to the environment, but they are also producing too much. It is no surprise that when these overproduced clothes are sitting in warehouses and prices are slashed, consumers scoop them up and inherently see them as worthless and disposable. That is no way to treat something that has used up so many valuable resources. Therefore, both suppliers and buyers have to change the status quo of having a lot of clothes to something more sustainable. According to the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, a garment is worn an average of seven times before being sent to the landfill. To put this into perspective, 2.1 billion tons of clothing are disposed of each year. Only 1% of clothing is recycled. It does not stop at just the landfills. Clothing there decomposes into microfibers, which then threaten marine life. Even before disposal, the

actual process of producing clothing is so globalized that something is rarely produced and sold in one place. Instead, massive amounts of emissions escape into the atmosphere as a result of transportation and energy costs. In part, I blame social media for the accelerated lifetime of a piece of clothing because no one wants to be seen in the same T-shirt or hoodie over and over again, right? We need to switch it up so that people engage with our new content. Instagram, Tumblr, and Pinterest peeps will have no problem understanding that. Instant gratification and consumerism revolve around the capitalistic society we live in. However, there’s no reason we have to buy a new piece of clothing every time for a new picture. Let’s be honest, buying new clothes is a luxury most people around the world cannot afford. As long as we are conscious of our privilege and responsibility, we can begin to make a genuine effort to drastically reduce our consumption. We are past the

CONTINUED ON thestute.com

Put Your Records On

On Charli, Charli XCX’s drafts her version of the future of pop

Christian Bonavita Junior Chemical Engineering Charli XCX has come a long way since featuring on her and Iggy Azalea’s breakout hit, “Fancy.” While neither artist has had a song reach the level of ubiquity and success found by their 2014 hit, Charli XCX has remained a constant fixture in music discussion, evolving into an acclaimed artist for her boundary-pushing pop. She has enlisted producers like SOPHIE and A.G. Cook of PC Music, who, with their uncommercial and noisy synth production are drawing attention to and changing opinions towards the PC-Music style of aggressive synthetic textures. This change of opinions has happened right before our eyes in the span of less than a decade; just 3 years ago, Pitchfork called Charli XCX’s SOPHIE-produced Vroom Vroom EP “pointedly uncommercial and abrasive,” assigning a brutal rating of 4.5/10 – then in late

2017 and 2018, assigned Charli’s mixtape Pop 2 and SOPHIE’s debut album, both of which contained similar experimentation and musical textures, the title of “best new music.” Through much perseverance, Charli XCX seems to finally be setting her sights on dominating the conversation of a wider fanbase and showing the world that this type of music is the future. As expected, the component of Charli most deserving of the highest praise and the most time is the production, this time directed primarily by A.G. Cook. Brash and loud like her previous works, the production complements Charli’s vocals and the overall tone, and produces some jaw-dropping moments. The switch-up in last thirty seconds of “Click” suddenly transform a song about showing off into a futuristic battleground of cutting, staccato synths, and the intro to Cupcakke’s verse in “Shake It” is so chaotic that it almost makes sense when Cupcakke enters her verse at a whisper. While wildly entertaining in these moments, the all-out and louder textures on Charli are best when used sparingly and can sometimes lead to a messy feel. The production shines best, though, when used to elevate a more structured pop song. A highlight of the album’s songwriting, “Cross You Out” is a duet with the elusive Sky Ferreira which features production that seems to update Sky’s own

essential Night Time, My Time from 2013. The trading of imagery-filled verses about finding self-love after a breakup are given extra weight and drama by the explosive synths of the chorus. In addition, “Warm” takes from the softer side of PC Music, implementing a light vocoder and atmospheric instrumentals to create an ethereal feel in an already catchy pop track. And “Blame It On Your Love” enlists Lizzo and a bouncy beat to create an irresistible party. Another element due for some praise is Charli XCX’s voice throughout the album. Not known for her mastery of pitch, Charli has always used the help of autotune and heavy vocal filtering, but she is able to change her tone like a chameleon, a quality that pairs well with her rapid-fire style and evolution throughout her career. Her voice can be quick and playful, like on the verses of “Blame It On Your Love,” or strong and clear like on “1999,” and her accent is also malleable. Through these many versions of her voice, though, Charli remains distinctly at the forefront of each track, even when several features are present. As previously mentioned, though, Charli is not without missteps or fault. The fun is dampened by oversaturation or lack of restraint just a few times. The album’s producers are insanely talented, but sometimes the tricks seem too flashy

or just unnecessary, coming off as messy. In addition, the track “White Mercedes” sticks out like a sore thumb stylistically, and placed at the center of the album, raises some question marks. At 15 tracks, very few artists can stay consistent in quality, and Charli is still better than most in this department. To conclude, I’d like to apologize for writing yet another review of a new album by a female pop-adjacent artist. The truth is, as much as the mainstream radio presents pop as extremely stagnant, with few exciting new releases (I’m so sick of “Bad Guy,” “Talk,” and “Sucker,” which are still among the top 10 played tracks on radio), just-off-mainstream genres have been completely dominated, critically and publicly, by female voices in the last two years. With a drought of major releases from the Kendricks and Drakes, artists like Janelle Monae, Kacey Musgraves, Weyes Blood, Rosalía, and Lana Del Rey have released their best works, and deservedly taken a greater share of music conversations. And although none of these artists are sales or streaming behemoths yet, as they are all just outside of the mainstream style and image (but watch out for Rosalía), I wouldn’t be doing my job if I wasn’t urging you all to try something new. And if you’re not a PC Music fan, Charli will surely be something vastly different than what you’re used to.

Advice You May Not Need

What is your drug test?

David Bellah Junior Business and Technology Today I talked to a friend applying for internships for the 2020 summer. Let’s call him Donald. Donald and I met freshman year at orientation. We hit it off sharing interests like going to the gym, watching movies, playing video games, etc. Donald is a smart guy; he keeps his GPA above 3.5. We talk a lot about our hopes for our careers — what companies we’d want to work at, what positions we’d love to find

ourselves in. Donald strives for success. So when he told me he started applying to places for next summer, I thought, “Great, he’s getting an early start.” There was one thing, however, I wondered about. I asked Donald if any of the places he wants drug test. He said he didn’t know in almost a clueless and fearful fashion. I then said he could check reviews on sites like Glassdoor to see if anyone who used to work there knew. He told me he hadn’t really thought about it and just hoped they didn’t. Donald is a chronic weed smoker. He smokes every day, several times. I always think it’s hilarious when he comes into class a little frazzled. It’s part of his personality. For as long as I’ve known him, he’s always been a stoner. And yet, he’s always managed to keep his academics in check. There’s just one problem — there’s no way to get around a drug test. (Now, one could bring up the issue that maybe companies shouldn’t test for marijuana and maybe marijuana should be allowed and legalized and every-

thing potheads love to present to the system. But that’s for a different article. This is about Donald.) I asked him if he thought smoking was worth losing a dream job, and all he could say was how bad he would feel if that happened. He talked about how everything he worked so hard for would be for nothing. His applications, his GPA, his time, his parents’ money. He knew he needed to stop. He kept telling himself he needed to stop, but it was so tough for him to quit immediately. He’s been a smoker for so long. He didn’t know what he would do without it. If he didn’t stop, he could settle for a place that doesn’t test, but he also wants to work somewhere cool and prestigious. He was unsure of what to do. Donald found himself between a rock and a hard place. Smoking was his favorite thing, over anything else in the world. He loved doing it, but getting a job meant he was going to have to lose it. I told him the obvious but tough solution: just don’t smoke. But like all people with habits, Donald knew it was going to be

really hard to change. At this point, I asked him what’s more important to him five years down the road. He said his career was more important, and I immediately said, “Cool, then I guess you have your solution.” Donald found an answer. He knows it will be tough, but he knows what he wants most: to pass his drug test and work where he wants. And if that means he has to give up the thing he’s loved for all his teenage years, then so be it. Is there something in your life you want? Is there something else keeping you from getting there? Look closely at the things you love now and look at what you want to be in the future. Do they match up? Weigh out what you have to lose now to get where you really want later, because the thing you need to lose just might be the thing you’ve loved most for the past five or ten years. FINAL MESSAGE: Sometimes you have to give something you love up, to get somewhere you really want. Set your priorities, pull the plug, start fresh, and go.

Nasir Montalvo Junior Business and Technology I have been toying with the idea of writing an article on this for a while now. It is a subject that, although “touchy,” should be spoken about on campus. The “N-word,” as we’ll get into later, is a slur and will continue to be a slur until the end of time. Thus, the history of the word and the way its usage has morphed today must be addressed, discussed, and understood. This is for one reason only: to protect the Black community. For those that shy away from this issue (and article), I leave you with this quote from Talking Back, a novel by author and activist bell hooks, “there is much we — Black people — must speak about, much that is private that must be openly shared, if we are to heal our wounds (hurts caused by domination and exploitation and oppression), if we are to recover and realize ourselves.” Now this is not to say that the N-word is a private matter, but it is to say that we, as Black people, must be loud in our beliefs and struggles so that not only listeners bear witness, but also so that we may heal as a collective. To help me tell speak these, I asked Zharee Richards to interview with me. Richards is a sophomore Chemical Engineering major, and is involved with a variety of organizations on campus including the Stevens Dramatic Society, the Diversity & Inclusion Committee, and Black Student Union. In terms of identity, Richards comes from a Jamaican family and is a first-generation college student. Nasir Anthony Montalvo: Tell me, what’s your favorite part in being a Black woman? Zharee Richards: I would say that my favorite part of being Black is the community. The shared culture is something I find really special, especially since my parents are Jamaican. I was born in America, which technically makes me African-American, but I never grew up with that culture. But to still be able to find myself within the Black community is something I find important. NAM: Getting into the topic, what’s your view of the N-word in general? ZR: I think that context is important with the word, always. We can’t ignore how it started, and how it has been used to dehumanize and oppress Black people. However, it is a very common thing in human nature to have certain ownership and reclamation of terms that have been used to oppress you. We have seen it in the LGBTQ+ community, for example. However, you don’t see policing of the word in other groups as much. Within the Black community, the use of the word is a prerogative of each person. You can choose to say it, you can choose not to, if you are Black. But if you are not, you simply don’t have that option. NAM: Period. ZR: Period. NAM: So I want to get into what you said about “policing of the word” and how usually it’s only seen with the Black community. Can you tell me more about that? ZR: Speaking from experience, I have gone to private schools my whole life and so all the schools I have attended have been predominantly white. I have seen White people feel entitled or reason to say that, “Oh, you shouldn’t say it. Well, no one should say it,” but you don’t get to make that decision because you are not a member of the community. And that is not meant to be exclusive or to divide people, but, to me, it is a boundary. Boundaries are a part of respect. You wouldn’t go up to someone that you don’t know and ask them a really personal question because there’s a boundary there, and that would be considered disrespect-

ful. The same logic applies here. NAM: Going off of that, what is your take of people feeling entitled to say the word based on their community or upbringing? The lines being “blurred,” perhaps? ZR: I don’t think the lines are blurry at all. You know if you’re Black and if you’re not. I think that this whole idea of certain other groups trying to mimic or caricature Black culture based on what they think it is, or from what they’ve seen in mainstream media, know that they’re not supposed to. I think they really don’t care either, and that is extremely harmful. NAM: Do you think there’s any growth from people who have used the N-word? Is it possible to unlearn that? ZR: I do think that people have the capacity to learn and grow from their mistakes. However, I think that very often they do not. In my opinion, a typed out apology in your Notes app is not a sign of growth. That’s just period. But often, people in the Black community are shamed for holding those accountable. We’re told we’re not letting them grow or learn from their mistakes, but we’re sitting here like “Where is the growth? Where is the unlearning of the behaviors? It’s not being seen.” NAM: Agreed. Something we do see amongst Black community members is that some like to give out “passes” to their friends for the word. Is this okay? Should people only use the word around those members? ZR: The foolery. My view is that absolutely NOT. You cannot give out an N-word pass. It’s something that is so insanely common, but no Black community member has the right to tell someone they can use it. It’s not up to one person to be a gatekeeper for the Black community, because we are all different within our own community. It’s also very performative to do that. To be the cool Black friend. It is not productive to anything. NAM: At Stevens, what is the prevalence of this issue on campus? ZR: I think it is extremely prevalent on campus. A lot of people will say it isn’t or would not like to acknowledge that. But it is prevalent. It is problematic. Especially when we consider the racial breakdown of Stevens undergraduate students. NAM: Speaking of the racial breakdown of Stevens, I feel a lot of the time the people of color on campus all get lumped into this one group. In this lump, I feel there’s this idea that people feel the right to say the word. What’s your take on that? ZR: I think this goes back to that same logic around upbringing and status. And it fails in the same way. At the end of the day, you do not experience Blackness on a day to day basis. Take Greek life — we are just now introducing a Black fraternity to the Cultural Greek Council. I think that shows that there is a difference in being a minority and being Black. That’s not to say minorities cannot be discriminated against or oppressed. But it is to say that our experiences are different. NAM: Do you have any advice for Stevens community members who continue to use the N-word or choose not to address the issue? ZR: I think my advice to people who exhibit behaviors mentioned before is to examine and interrogate their own beliefs. And when they think certain things about Black people or what Blackness is, question why they believe that and where those ideas came from. Do your research, and realize this is not something that is just now becoming an issue. Identify with yourself and things you love about your own culture instead of trying to perform Blackness. Because it’s not funny to us. It’s not a joke to us. Or at least it’s not to me. It takes actual legitimate work on you to learn, advance, and actually grow. Grow all 2019. All 2020. And after that. This interview has been edited and condensed. Keep in mind that these viewpoints/experiences are my and the interviewee’s and are not necessarily representative of those of the Black or Brown persons at Stevens and beyond.

September 20, 2019

8

Opinion The Stute Editorial

What is a “leader”? The other day after Leadership Connect, I found myself standing on the corner of Hudson street with a friend for over an hour. There was more than enough content for us to talk for hours, so knowing that, we decided to call it quits early. For those of you who aren’t club presidents or treasurers, Leadership Connect is essentially a Saturday retreat mandated for club presidents and treasurers to attend, organized by the SGA and Office of Student Life. They go over basic stuff like who works in Student Life, provide some updates on new initiatives they have, how to request money and hold an event, etcetera. When I first arrived, B118 was crowded. Not too loud, because who has that kind of energy on a Saturday morning, but there was some conversation. While I did know many faces in the room, there were just

as many faces that I didn’t know. I killed some time looking around the room trying to guess which clubs people were a part of, and I couldn’t help but wonder, where did all these people come from? My hunch was that many people there were underclassmen who were forced by someone older to attend the event on their behalf. To me, this not only makes sense, but is really smart. The topics covered in this event are actually perfect for new e-board members who haven’t done any of this stuff before, and really lays down the foundation for students to succeed at running a club. Stuff I wish I knew when I was a sophomore, serving on my first e-board. My friend and I, in typical senior fashion, were ranting for a bit and questioning why we even had to be there. That conversation quickly spiraled into questioning the “leadership” of

all these supposed “leaders”. Where are all these people when it comes to standing up for important campus issues? Why is the SGA struggling to get senators who will advocate for students, when there’s a room of 200 “leaders” attending their event? The truth lies in the broken definition of a student “leader” at Stevens. Anyone who is on a club e-board, regardless of the club’s state or activities, is considered a “leader”. It doesn’t matter why they’re holding a position, or which position it is; by doing something on campus, you’re celebrated as someone on campus. It certainly doesn’t help that there are hundreds of students who do nothing on campus except hit the books. Most people, even those I consider student leaders, are too afraid to speak out and get the things they want done. We see it all the time at The Stute,

they’re the best source for an article but they’re too afraid to have their name in a comment. They want to stand out, but not that much. They don’t want trouble with administrators, they just want the e-board title and experience for their resume. These people will say things like, “spread love, not anger” and “if you don’t like Stevens, transfer.” They’ll even call us mean for pointing out and publicizing problems on campus. Sorry, but ignoring and denying problems doesn’t make them go away. Campus is still a construction zone, and is probably going to stay that way for the next 10 years with all the ambitious, debt-creating, projects Stevens is committing to. Students still have no access to printers on campus and senior design classes are still homeless. Kids in cultural orgs don’t have on-campus closets and have been storing their club’s in-

Mind of a Freshman

ventory in their own apartments for almost a year now. I once wrote in a column, “I guess that, as a freshman, I don’t know much. Upperclassmen always have a lot to say about school politics and administration, knowing all the secrets of the past or whatever.” It’s so funny to think in three years, indeed, that came true. It doesn’t mean I don’t love being a student here. I have a lot to say and I’m passionate about student issues, because some part of me still thinks theres hope to make the school even better than it is. I’ll wrap this up with one of my favorite analogies about leadership. I came across it my freshman year and have held it close to my heart while working for The Stute: “A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” I don’t know if I’m a good leader,

or if I’ll ever be one. But one thing I know for sure, is that good leaders aren’t complacent. Just like good captains, they don’t sleep when the ship is going through a storm and they take responsibility if the ship sinks. They take risks to reach treasurer, and they teach their crew everything they know. When they finally reach their destination, sure the treasure is good. But the safety and happiness of their crew relishing in success hits even better.

Audrey Dsouza Editor-in-Chief

Senioritis

If you say you do this enough, you’re lying

It’s been three days-ish

is waking them up in the morning, and the VLE keeps crashing on their computer. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with complaining (it’s part of what keeps us human) but I do think there’s an issue with complaining too much and not taking the time to counteract it by purposefully taking a positive mindset. That’s what leads us down the path of consistent unhappiness. When all we do is complain about how bad things are, we start to miss the good moments happening around us; or if we do, they’re so fleeting that they don’t stick with us. You’d be surprised at how much having a different mindset affects your mood. But it seems that a lot of us have gotten stuck in this rut of comparison and complacency. So how do we fix it? I actually picked this tip up from a TED Talk I was watching online. Whenever you have a moment where you can sense yourself being ungrateful or just feeling down in general, try thinking of five things you’re grateful for. In fact, how about you — yeah you, the one reading my column — try it right now. Was it harder than you expected? It was for me the first time I tried it. We’re so used to pointing out the things that are difficult in our lives that we’ve nearly forgotten how to take in the good things. That fact is leading to a poisonous mindset among virtually everyone. I truly don’t think anyone can say with

time, especially when all the classes are on one day of the week. While I appreciate the free time, frankly, I don’t know what to do with it. Yeah, I’m in a few organizations on campus, but that only takes up so much time. Typically, I resort to absorbing myself in video games, or hanging out with friends. However, I’m looking for something more, something “bigger.” I’ve applied to a few internships over the past few weeks, but I’ve gotten nothing. I’m just trekking through the job search of finding work during the semester, and after graduation. It has consumed a lot of my free time. However, this isn’t “impactful” — blindly filling out application after application, making small edits in between. Most of the time, I hear nothing, let alone get a “rejection” back in the mail. With having only three days of classes so far this semester, it’s hardly fair to say I’ve been making progress through my senior year. Extracurricular wise? Yes, I have. I’ve “progressed” through my financial roles in all of my organizations.

Julia Wierzbicki Freshman Mechanical Engineering It’s no secret that happiness is in short supply. On the news, across social media, and virtually all around us, we’re bombarded with sadness and negativity. Sometimes, it feels impossible to stay sane when it seems like the rest of the world is falling apart. But that’s exactly why we need to stay strong and keep pushing forward — because that’s the only way we’re going to get out of this. The other day, I was sitting on Babbio Patio and looking out toward the city, taking in the beautiful view. And I thought to myself, “Wow, we are so lucky to be here.” People pay millions for a view of Manhattan like the one we have, and we get it as part of our tuition. But around campus, I feel like not everyone feels that way. All I hear is people complaining about the Pierce food, how they don’t like their professors, how the construction

complete honesty that they are thankful and appreciate everything they have often enough. I sure don’t. Now, I would like to point out that I’m no therapist. If you’re struggling with something serious, then saying “thank you” a few times is probably not enough to get you out of your slump. But if you woke up on the wrong side of the bed or you just need a pickme-up, than I would give it a try. If you’re really stuck, let me give you one of the five right off the bat: You’re at Stevens. Take a moment, no matter what year you are, to think about all the hard work it took you to get here. All of that studying, early mornings, cramming for SATs and APs. No matter if Stevens was your reach or your second choice, we all worked hard to get here. And all that hard work is paying off in the beautiful view of New York City, spontaneous trips to Broadway shows and football games, and in the friends that we’ve found in the countless opportunities Stevens offers. Sure, there are a few things to cause a hitch in our happiness, but are we really going to let that drag us away from how thankful we are? Let’s make a pact to go against the grain. An agreement not to fall into the ease of negativity and a toxic mindset but instead to focus on the positive and happy. It’s not going to fix all the world’s problems, but it’ll start us on the right track.

Mark Krupinski Senior Computational Science Every Monday, I wake up at around 11 a.m. and groggily get out bed. I get dressed, and then head to my 12 p.m. international politics class. Then, I sit in class for nine hours and end my day after my last class ends at 9 p.m. And that’s my week, everyone. Yes, that’s correct. I have one day of class. And — yes, it’s ok to be shocked — or annoyed — or confused. I’m taking 12 credits this semester — and three of those credits are for senior research, which doesn’t have a set meeting time. Needless to say, nine credits of actual classes gives you a lot of free

Socially? Yes, I’ve hung out with friends and began basking in the fact that it’s my senior year. But academically? I haven’t done anything intense in any of my classes. I can’t make a judgement yet. Additionally, with my academic workload, I haven’t hit any major checkmarks of senior year yet. I haven’t had any exams or major homework assignments due. I haven’t even been told the guidelines for my senior research project, let alone started it. I haven’t even started figuring out my application for candidacy yet. With my one day of class a week, it still feels surreal that my second-to-last semester has started. Clubs, specifically The Stute, are the one thing that draws me back to the grind of school going by week by week. At least, until my laptop charger broke, combined with our computers, the ethernet, and the storage drive being down, making paper production impossible for me. But, hey, it’s been 42 days! What’s another 42 more to get back to normal, and actually feeling like I’m progressing through senior year.

Scientific Curmudgeon

The delusion of scientific omniscience

John Horgan Professor CAL Does anyone still believe that science can explain, well, everything? This belief was ascendant in the 1980s, when my career began. Big shot scientists proclaimed that they were solving the riddle of existence. They would soon explain why our universe exists and takes the form it does, and why we exist and are what we are. For

years I believed this claim, out of deference to scientists propagating it and desire to believe. The vision of a revelation to end all revelations thrilled me. Eventually I had doubts, which I spelled out in The End of Science and other writings. Lately, I’ve begun to look at the vision of total knowledge as a laughable delusion, a pathological fantasy that should never have been taken seriously, even though brilliant scientists propagated it. Stephen Hawking was the most influential know-it-all. In his 1988 mega-bestseller A Brief History of Time, Hawking predicted that physicists would soon find an “ultimate theory” that would explain how our cosmos came into being. He compared this achievement to knowing “the mind of God.” This statement was ironic. Hawking, an atheist, wanted science to eliminate the need for a divine creator. Similarly, No-

bel laureate Steven Weinberg argued in Dreams of a Final Theory (1992) that physicists might soon “bring to an end a certain kind of science, the ancient search for those principles that cannot be explained in terms of deeper principles.” Physicists were not the only scientists bewitched by the dream of omniscience. Biologist Richard Dawkins declared in his 1986 bestseller The Blind Watchmaker that the mystery of life had already been solved. Our existence “once presented the greatest of mysteries,” Dawkins wrote, but “it is a mystery no longer, because it is solved. Darwin and Wallace solved it, though we shall continue to add footnotes to their solution for a while yet.” One of those “footnotes” concerns the problem of consciousness. In the late 1980s, Francis Crick, co-discoverer of the double helix, proposed that consciousness,

the subject of interminable philosophical speculation, might be scientifically tractable. Science could “solve” consciousness by finding its “neural correlates,” processes in the brain that correspond to conscious states. In his 1994 book The Astonishing Hypothesis, Crick declared that “’you,’ your joys and your sorrows, your memories and your ambitions, your sense of personal identity and free will, are no more than the behavior of a vast assembly of neurons.” That statement might have been the high-water mark of scientism and corollaries, materialism and reductionism. To be charitable, all this confidence in science’s power wasn’t entirely unjustified. After all, in the 1960s physicists confirmed the big bang theory and took steps toward a unified theory of all of nature’s forces, while biologists deciphered the genetic code. But the concept of scientific

omniscience always suffered from fatal flaws. Read Brief History and other books carefully and you realize that the quest for an ultimate theory had taken physicists beyond the realm of experiment. String theory and other major candidates for an ultimate theory of physics can be neither experimentally confirmed nor falsified. They are untestable and hence not really scientific. As for life, Dawkins’s claim that it is no longer a mystery is absurd. In spite of all the advances in biology since Darwin, we still don’t have a clue how life began, or whether it exists elsewhere in the cosmos. We don’t know whether our emergence was highly likely or a once-in-eternity fluke. Brain scientists still have no idea how our brains make us conscious, and even if they did, that knowledge would apply only to human consciousness. It would not yield a gen-

eral theory of consciousness, which determines what sort of physical systems generate conscious states. There may still be a few true believers in scientific omniscience out there. But over the last decade or two, science has lost its mojo. The replication crisis has undermined the public’s confidence in scientists, and scientists’ confidence in themselves. It has made them humble — and that is a good thing. Because what if scientists had somehow convinced themselves, and the rest of us, that they had figured everything out? What a tragedy that would be. We’re better off in our current state of befuddlement, trying to comprehend this weird, weird world even though we know we’ll always fall short. John Horgan directs the Center for Science Writings. This column is adapted from one originally published on his Scientific American blog, “Cross-check.”

September 20, 2019

9

Opinion Girl Talk

Stop setting yourself up for failure As an underclassman science major, it is fairly typical of me to begin to seek out internships and research opportunities to get some real world experience to slap on my resume. I toss my subpar resume into the LinkedIn abyss time after time and wait for the great unknown to echo back a response. It usually doesn’t, but I can at least tell my mom and dad I tried. With each uncertainty, I can’t help but feel like there is something fundamentally wrong with me as a person that prevents me from achieving my goals. In my labs, some of my most important classes because they teach

Leigha Tierney Sophomore Biology

my the essential lab techniques I will need for my future career, I suddenly become clumsy and panicked. The built up significance in my head makes me terrified to mess up, and I overcorrect my mistakes before they happen. I’ve come to realize that in my ambition to be perfect, I’ve already sabotaged myself. The incident in question that made me come to this realization was in my cell biology lab, which is basically “How to Use a Microscope 101”. We were using a specific staining technique to stain cells to observe the lipid content in their cell membranes. I started out the

lab confident, until one mistake after another started building up and I became more and more agitated. With every slip, I began to overcorrect, causing even more mistakes. The truth is, with every harmless tip and pointer about my blunders from my TA’s and lab partners, all it felt like I was hearing was “you’re not good enough”. If I want to succeed in my industry, I have to accept the fact that I am not perfect. I can’t get every lab procedure right the first time, I can’t not make mistakes, and I especially need to ask for help from those around me. The feeling of

needing to be perfect at everything at all times is a feeling many women can relate to. The apprehension that if you can’t do everything right the first time then you don’t belong at all. The fear that one mistake will make you an outsider in your own area of expertise that you’ve staked for yourself with your sheer effort and determination. Over time, I’ve allowed myself to let go of some of my fears. I do badly on a hard test or show up a minute late to class here or there, not because I don’t care, but because I’m an inherently flawed human and that’s okay. I’ve recog-

nized my perfectionism as another form of insecurity that has been holding me back. It has prevented me from trying new things, asking questions, and being a naturally curious person wanting to learn about the world around them. I predict my own failures before I even try, and then get upset when my preventative measures are the very things that cause my downfall. But in order to move forward, we have to realize that making mistakes is part of the process of becoming the true expert we are trying to portray ourselves as through our fears of imperfection.

Off The Press

Gateway construction delayed due to rain/mafia/other reasons OFF THE PRESS Off Center Much to literally everybody’s disappointment, the construction of campus’ newest building, the Gateway Academic Center, has been delayed for several weeks despite the school’s promise that it would be completed by the beginning of this semester. Dreams of finally being able to access 6th Street have been temporarily crushed as workers continue to politely yet firmly deny students trying to stealthily sneak through the construction area.

Between Senior Design projects being rescheduled and students wanting to see what the cool new TED stairs are about, many people are wondering about the reason for the delays. The Gateway Academic Center, previously known as the Gianforte Family Academic Center, previously known as the Gianforte Academic Center, has been under construction on campus for quite some time; even its name has been involved in numerous revisions and delays. The entire project has been plagued by issues, ever since the beginning. “Ini-

tially, we had a two-week debate on what color the outside of the building should be,” said the lead designer of the Academic Center. “I said it should be brick, but Mike’s daughter went to UConn and apparently they have a really nice lightblue building there, and we should do that. And I was like, ‘Mikey, you know I love you, but brick just has such a classic look that you just can’t replace with simple paint!’ It’s pretty convincing, right? But he would just not budge! And don’t get me started on the benches!” The actual construction of

the building has also incurred delays: it took over a month of construction for the workers to realize that they had been holding the building plans upside-down the entire time, a realization that would have been comical had it not led to the deaths of three workers, twelve hospitalizations, and two missing limbs. (As of yet it is unclear whether or not the limbs came from the same person). Once the problem was discovered, the workers mistakenly only turned the plans 90 degrees, leading to the Center being constructed sideways for another

two weeks until a strong breeze blew the plans out of someone’s hands and they picked them back up the right way. One large reason for the delay given by the administration is the recent hack that ravaged Stevens this summer. “It was crazy,” said an official. “The hacker took control of the water system and made the pipes burst everywhere. They even managed to hack an entire load of bricks so that they wouldn’t stick together when we mortared them in! This morning, the hacker hacked my feet so that I tripped and spilled coffee

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all over my good cardigan! My good cardigan, guys!” The official then burst into tears and ran off, covering a coffee stain on their shirt with their hands. Rain also played a major part in the delay of Gateway’s construction, said Vice President of Facilities and Campus Operations Robert Maffia, who we can say with 95% accuracy is not a thinly-veiled prop by the actual Mafia to slowly take control of campus and rule it with an iron fist, as our reporting staff was disappointed to find out. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or “NASA, but for water instead of space,” Hoboken has received 16 more inches of rain than usual over the past year. “We sent our intern out to test the rainfall,” said a NOAA spokesperson. “He stood in front of our building with a ruler all year, measuring each raindrop. When he finally came back inside, we were really impressed with his findings!” The abnormal rainfall led to an increase in cost for the Gateway Center, as every construction worker had to be given a cute little umbrella that resembled a frog, in accordance with OSHA regulations. “And they gave us these cool plastic boots for jumping in puddles!” said one happy construction worker. “Look, mine’s got Elmo on it!” The worker then showed us his Elmo boots, and they were pretty cool. Despite these setbacks, construction on the Gateway Center is finishing up, and is set to be completed within the next three months, according to officials. “We’ll definitely finish it before then. Maybe four months. I don’t want to say five months, but it might be five. Let’s say five.” With all of campus waiting with bated breath for the grand opening, Off the Press really wants to express how much we’re looking forward to checking out those TED stairs.

JOIN THE STUTE :) 7th floor Howe

GBMs every Tuesday at 9:15 p.m.

we do cool stuff

September 20, 2019

10

Sports

ON DECK IN SPORTS FRI, SEPT 20 WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL VS Stockton University 4 PM Hoboken, NJ

WOMEN’S TENNIS

Photos from stevensducks.com

The Women’s Tennis team’s season starts off with a bang By TREVOR DAMEIKA The Stevens Women’s tennis team got their season underway in a wonderful fashion. In their annual Stevens Invitational in West Windsor Township, the women’s team faced off against Wilkes University, Ithaca College, and Bryn Mawr College. Six different individuals grabbed their first victories of the season Saturday. Sophomore Agatha Malinowski got the Stevens team its first win as she defeated a Wilkes player in straight sets. Another sophomore, Alexis Fuda, got the team’s second victory of the year in a 7-6, 6-2 match against another Wilkes player.

Two freshman, Audrey Heaberlin and Juliette Marchisio, secured their first collegiate wins. Heaberlin had a thrilling three set win against an Ithaca player (6-1, 4-6, 10-6). Similarly, Marchisio impressed in her debut as she had two come-from-behind victories over her Ithaca opponents. She won her debut match 3-6, 6-0, 10-8, and picked up her second win, 5-7, 6-1, 10-1. Marchisio commented on her wins saying, “I was definitely nervous heading into my first college matches, but I dug deep and never gave up. It is all about staying positive and chasing down every ball.” Three seniors also grabbed singles victories. Isabella Calandra post-

ed a straight set win against an Ithaca player, 6-2, 6-3, to earn her first victory of the season. Also, seniors Nicole Badalyan and Joilin Gomez defeated their respective Ithaca opponents to end day one of the Fall Kickoff Tournament. In day two on Sunday, Stevens took on Wilkes University in the first round of Sunday’s doubles competition. Senior Nicole Badalyan partnered with junior Makenna Sargis to pick up the first doubles victory of the year winning, 8-5, and were the only duo to achieve a win against Wilkes. Against Bryn Mawr, the Ducks were ready. Sweeping three matches to close out the tournament on a

positive note, the Ducks did not want to lose. First, Malinowski partnered with Heaberlin to post an 8-7 win. Secondly, Calandra and Fuda kept the momentum rolling with an 8-5 win. Finally, Badalyan and Sargis secured their second doubles win of the day, 8-5, to close out the tournament. In all, it was a wonderful opening weekend for the women’s tennis team. Juliette Marchisio also commented on her team’s play this weekend: “Despite only having a week to practice due to the delay in resurfacing the Stevens courts, everyone played well. It was a great start to the season as the team moves on to bigger challenges and tournaments.”

vs ITA Atlantic South Regional Championship Day One Intercollegiate Tennis Association Tournament TBA Fredericksburg, Va.

SAT, SEP 21 MEN’S CROSS COUNTRY VS Osprey Open 10:30 AM Galloway, NJ

WOMEN’S SOCCER VS University of Scranton 1 P.M. Scranton, PA

WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL VS New Paltz 1 P.M. Hoboken, NJ

MEN’S SOCCER

Men’s Tennis opens 2019/2020 campaign By TREVOR DAMEIKA

Photos from stevensducks.com

In the annual Stevens Invitational from September 14 to September 15, the Stevens men’s tennis team started their fall season. This was a two day event taking place in West Windsor Township. Competing in singles and doubles, the Ducks faced a tournament field that included New York University, The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), Wilkes University, and Ithaca College. To start, sophomore Marc Feliu won his opening match in straight sets 6-2, 6-3. Last year, Feliu was the Empire 8 Rookie of the Year and Conference Player of the Year. This was a wonderful start for him as he aims to continue with his dominance. Similarly, junior Mark Kanevsky won in straight sets and started on his season well. The third Duck to win in the opening round was junior Gabriel Sifuentes, who went on to finish the opening day with a perfect 2-0 record. His first match was a smooth straight set victory, but his second match was a three set thriller that proved his resilience. Junior Keegan Morris and freshman Philip Szkudlarski battled in their season openers, but both came

up short in three-set thrillers. This was Szkudlarski’s collegiate debut for the Ducks. However, in Keegan Morris’ second match of the day, Morris won in straight sets against a Wilkes’ player. Joining Morris in getting his first win, Sophomore Mark Pabalan picked up his first win of the season 6-2, 7-5 against an Ithaca player. After singles play on Saturday, the Ducks participated in the doubles competition Sunday against TCNJ. Feliu and Morris got off to a strong start with an 8-4 set win. Then, junior Arjun Krishnan and sophomore Garrett Kincaid picked up the second win for the Ducks with a gritty 8-7 win. With the Stevens winning 2 matches and TCNJ winning the other two, The Ducks’ won the tiebreaking point and solidified Stevens’ doubles victory over TCNJ. In the final matches of the weekend, Stevens and New York Univerity matched up. The pairing of Feliu and Morris picked up their second win of the day 8-4. Stevens lost to New York University in doubles overall, but had a really productive weekend. Conclusively, the men’s tennis team can regain their energy as they do not play until October 3.

VS Stevenson University 7 PM Stevenson, MD

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DUCK COUNTRY SCOREBOARD DATE FRI SEPTEMBER 13th SAT SEPTEMBER 14th SAT SEPTEMBER 14th SAT SEPTEMBER 14th SAT SEPTEMBER 14th

TEAM WOMEN’S SOCCER FIELD HOCKEY WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL WOMEN’S VOLLEYBALL MEN’S SOCCER

OPPONENT SWARTHMORE COLLEGE UNION COLLEGE JOHNSON & WALES UNIVERSITY SPRINGFIELD COLLEGE RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

SCORE L (0-1) W (3-1) L (1-3) L (0-3) W (2-1)

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