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Volume CXVI Issue 4
S
THE
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Friday, September 28, 2018
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The Stute The official newspaper of Stevens Institute of Technology, and creator of the Stevens mascot, Atilla the Duck. The Stute Online Subscriptions You can get a PDF of The Stute sent to your email every Friday, free. Never miss a bit of news. Visit thestute.com/subscribe TheStute.com
Established 1904
FARVARDIN MAKES $1.6 MILLION OTHER TOP ADMINS MAKE MORE THAN $500,000 tax documents reveal more information by ERIC LONDRES Staff Writer
Each year, more young people try to e-cigarette devices like the Juul. Students at Stevens have been using these devices and becoming addicted to nicotine. | Photo by Matthew Cunningham
The Rise of Juuling at Stevens by MATTHEW CUNNINGHAM Webmaster
On the corner of Fifth Street and Washington Street, a group of three young people entered a convenience store. They remained quiet and stiff, moving quickly around the room, keeping their shopping trip short. The cashier said very little as the students handed cash to him. Once he gave them a plastic bag containing their single purchase, he wished them a good night. The students left the store and giggled. Luckily for them, they hadn’t been carded. While walking back to Stevens cam-
pus, they began to unbox the sole item they sought: a pack of Juul pods. Juul, a popular e-cigarette device marketed as a rehabilitation tool for cigarette users, has been a major concern for public health experts. For the last several years, electronicobsessed teenagers and young adults have been targeted by social media campaigns and shown imagery intended to demonstrate the coolness of Juul, according to an ongoing Food and Drug Administration (FDA) investigation. @doit4juul, one unofficial Instagram account with over 100,000 followers which has now been banned by the plat-
Students use their Juul everywhere: Wittpen Walk, academic buildings, and even Pierce Dining Hall. form, showed a variety of different videos to its followers: two cute guys in the back of a classroom blowing smoke rings, a teenager sharing his Juul with a police officer, and a young woman exhaling and immediately re-inhaling the vapor through her nose (a technique known as the “French inhale”). The message: if you’re young and cool, you use Juul. To Juul — the brand has
become a verb — is to inhale vaporized nicotine without the fear of tar, carbon monoxide, smelliness, or stigma that comes with smoking a cigarette. The device itself is sleek and admittedly futuristic. A small, green light in the center of the device appears when someone is using the Juul (“taking a hit” is the correct slang). If someone shakes the Juul while it’s on, the light flickers through different colors — white, blue, purple, pink, green — in what is described as “party mode.” People who are unfamiliar with the Juul often mistake it for a flash drive (either see JUUL · Page 3
Stevens President Nariman Farvardin earned a total of $1,608,992 in compensation from the school during fiscal year 2016, according to tax documents submitted to the IRS and obtained by The Stute. This amount includes $734,013 in base pay as well as several other forms of compensation, such as an $827,800 bonus. It is unknown at this time whether or not President Farvardin continues to earn as much today. The tax documents also shed light on how Stevens makes and spends the bulk of its funds. The school’s expenses totaled $291,405,699 in the fiscal year, which spanned from July 2016 to June 2017. Of that total, $132,817,213 was spent on salaries and other employee benefits, making President Farvardin’s compensation equal to 1.21% of all salaries paid by Stevens. Other top earners at the school include then-Provost George Korfiatis, who was paid a total of $604,435, and Vice President of Finance Luis Mayer, who earned
Mechanical Engineering department chair steps down by ANDREW KINNEY Staff Writer
The Interim Chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department, Professor Frank Fisher, has decided to step down after serving for five years. In spring 2018, Dean Jean Zu, Dean of the Schaefer School of Engineering & Science, opened a search to find a permanent chair for the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Professor Frank Fisher, a prominent member of the department, had served as interim chair for the past five years. Fisher was also a candidate for the position and was heavily supported by many of the department’s student leaders and faculty. The first round of the search process started near the end of the spring 2018 semester, and it resulted in multiple internal and external candidates under consideration. During this process, candidates submitted resumes, completed online interviews, met with people in the department, and finalists, which included Fisher, were invited to give presentations on campus. At the end of this process, no candidate was chosen to become the permanent department chair. Dean Zu said that support was somewhat split between the various candidates; however, her decision was primarily motivated by a belief that an even better candidate could be found through expanding the search process further. She said that she did not want to continue with the “same old same old,” and that it was time to bring in a new chair with new ideas who could raise the campus news
department to a higher level of excellence. After the search came to a close, with a mutual decision from Dean Zu and Professor Fisher, Fisher stepped down as Interim Chair for the Mechanical Engineering Department after he was not chosen for the position of permanent department chair. Professor Soran Manoochehri was appointed in his place. Professor Fisher said that he was surprised by Dean Zu’s decision to continue the search. However, he recognized that department chairs usually only last about five years, and that new ideas entering the department will ensure a bright future. He also stated that there is a silver lining in the decision as he will now have a chance to focus on teaching and research, which are the reasons he came to Stevens in the first place. Many students had positive reviews about Frank Fisher. “Frank Fisher always keeps his door open in Carnegie welcoming any student in. Every time I’ve had a question about anything Mechanical Engineering-related, he answered quickly with great thought and consideration,” said an undergraduate in the Mechanical Engineering Department. Professor Manoochehri is one of the most senior members of the Mechanical Engineering Department. When he was asked to serve as interim chair, he saw it as his responsibility to accept. He was also a member of the original search committee, and agreed with Dean Zu that “throughout that search, it came to the point that really no single candidate see CHAIR · Page 2
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Stevens Students Win Novartis Scholarship Seniors Stephanie Funcasta and Penelope Halkiadakis win awards.
Crossword
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Stevens Word Search
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$424,546 throughout the year. Of all Stevens’ expenses, salaries and other employee compensation represented the single largest. Scholarships and grants totaled only $72,218,961 during the fiscal year, or 24.8% of all expenses. This amount is smaller than the next-largest line item, “Other Expenses,” which represented a total cost of $85,698,428 and includes a wide variety of costs. Some of these expenses have obscure intents according to the documents. For example, $19,045,317 was spent on “Alternative Investments” with no supplementary explanation. Also, $27,618,136 was spent on investments in Central America and/or the Caribbean, the only such geographic investment present in Stevens’ tax return. The documents also reveal much information about how Stevens makes its money. A total of $332,039,245 worth of revenue was reported for the fiscal year — leading to a net surplus of $40,633,546 at the end of the year. $240,340,542, or 72.4%, of this revenue derives from tuition and fees paid by stusee FARVARDIN · Page 3
Hazing Prevention Week at Stevens by MARYIA SPIRYDONAVA Editor-In-Chief
Photo by Olivia Scott for The Link
Active Minds brings travelling exhibit ‘Send Silence Packing’ to campus by MARK KRUPINSKI Business Manager
Active Minds hosted Send Silence Packing last Friday on Palmer Lawn. The event was a traveling exhibit that illustrated the number of college students committing suicide using backpacks. Backpacks were scattered across Palmer Lawn, with each backpack representing one of the college students that commit suicide each year. Some backpacks featured a story about a student who committed suicide. Among the backpacks stood inspirational signs proclaiming that “you are important.” Stevens Institute of Technology has one of the highest suicide rates of college campuses across the country. Courtney Birch, an Active
Minds tour staff member, was present at the event to provide context about the event. The national organization of Active Minds brings the display to college campuses across the country. At every event, Active Minds has counselors on site and passes out resources on coping skills. Birch noted that the event was brought to campus because mental health is not talked about enough. She also noted that there is a huge stigma on campus regarding mental health, and wanted to remind survivors that they are not alone. “Keep asking and keep searching till something helps — something will,” said Birch to those struggling with mental health. Active Minds received funding through multiple means to host the event. Active Minds is a probationary Recognized
opinion
Mind of a Freshman
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opinion
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opinion
Girl Talk: Stop Giving Jobs Genders
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opinion
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opinion
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opinion
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Scientific Curmudgeon
Student Organization (RSO) and is limited to a budget of $1,000 per semester. However, the Student Government Association (SGA) decided to approve a request of $2,500, half of the event’s cost, for the event despite Active Minds’ status as a probationary RSO. In order to get around this limitation, the SGA decided to “co-sponsor” the event with Active Minds, which allowed them to fund the event. The SGA Cabinet believed that they should co-sponsor the event due to the current campus climate. Despite the event being cohosted on DuckLink, posters shared by Active Minds eboard members on Facebook did not feature the SGA logo. Active Minds meets every other Wednesday at 9 p.m. Their next meeting will be on Oct. 10 in Morton 205.
The Stute Editorial: My Snakes Spolier Alert
A Bathing Ape Celebrates 25 Years
A student at the University of Connecticut decides to join a well-known campus fraternity. His first pledging event began with being told to sit in the back seat of a car with a tie wrapped around his eyes. The brothers then blasted loud music and slammed on the gas pedal. The new recruit was just left to feeling like he was on a roller coaster ride; to him, it felt like the brother was driving ninety miles an hour while shaking the wheel back and forth. When the car finally stopped, the recruit was brought to an unknown location. Brothers then got directly in his face and shouted, “Take your pants off now, pledge!” Stories like this one can be found on hazingprevention. org where students share their hazing experiences and speak out against hazing, with hopes to incite change. Hundreds of schools across the country participated in National Hazing Prevention Week, including Stevens Institute of Technology. Nationally, schools hold different events throughout the week to raise awareness including speakers, contests, and pledging to not haze. Currently, Stevens only has a social media campaign. Fraternities and sororities participated in social media campaigns by either posting on their chapter social media see HAZING · Page 2
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