OP-ED on Table / Education Page 6
Filmmaker Rob Santana Page 4
DEC | 2014
Kean field hockey Page 8
THE TOWER
WWW.KUTOWER.COM
THE INDEPENDENT VOICE OF KEAN UNIVERSITY
Students and administration react to Kean’s $219k purchase
Kean joins NYC to protest Garner decision By Nicole Brown
The conference table is located on the sixth f loor of the Green Lane Academic Building.
By Rebecca Panico
The Student Government Organization is publicly defending the Kean University administration in its purchase of a $219,024 conference table, even as social media led by students continues to rage against the lavish acquisition for the Green Lane Academic Building. The story of the conference table went viral internationally in both mainstream and social media almost immediately after it was published on the front page of The Record newspaper and on its website, northjersey. com. The story details the super-table’s capabilities such as its intelligent conferencing system which has the ability to conference in participants at up to 25 locations around the world. It was also reported that the table was custom-made for Kean in China without first going to public bid, which is normally required by state law for purchases over $32,100. In May and September two bid waivers allowing the University to directly purchase the conference center from China were approved by the Board of Trustees, Kean’s final governing body. The bid waivers cited two exemptions from the State
Photo: Kean University
College’s Contract Law, categorizing the conference as an “extraordinary unspecifiable service and product” and as an “artifact or other item of unique intrinsic, artistic, or historic character.” Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Union) has asked for the New Jersey Attorney General to launch an investigation into the purchasing procedures. “A fancy conference table should never be a higher priority for a university than educating students, but priorities are out-of-whack here,” stated Cryan in a press release. “I have asked the attorney general to review the bid process waivers used by Kean University.” Students have also started responding. On Nov. 26, Kean finance student, Kelly Tomas, started a petition on change.org that has been circulating on Facebook and Twitter asking for University President Dr. Dawood Farahi to be fired. The petition has 737 supporters to date. “I believe that we as a student body must be willing to demonstrate that we will no longer put up with President Dawood Farahi’s failure to work for a better education and obsession with costly vanity projects that benefit no one but himself,” declared Tomas on the petition’s webpage. continued on page 5
Death class breathing new life into students and television By Christine Moukazis
In an effort to assess the bereavement and despair of her students, Norma Bowe stands before her Death in Perspective class and flagrantly inquires, “How many of you know someone who has died?” The entire classroom becomes a sea of hands, as every single hand is raised. “How many of you know someone who has died of a terminal illness?” Fifty percent of the hands ascend high into the air, as if trying to physically reach their loved ones in the proverbial heavenly skies. “How many of you know someone who has been murdered?” Regrettably, three-quarters of the students raise their hands. This exercise undoubtedly proves that grief is ubiquitous and death is imminent. “Your generation… you guys have a lot of grief,” Bowe said. “There’s a lot of grief and our society just doesn’t talk about it. And so I wanted to create a space where people could literally face their own mortality to live a better life.” Bowe’s Death in Perspective, ranked amongst the “12 Most Unique College Norma Bowe
Courses in America” by The Huffington Post, serves as a bereavement group for her students centralized through experiential learning. She forces her students to confront their anxieties about death or the anticipatory grief of losing someone they love. Field trips for the class include visits to a hospice, cemetery, crematory and even a live autopsy. Amy Palma, a Kean alumna and former student of Bowe’s Death in Perspective course, recently experienced a tragedy when she lost her 21-year-old cousin in October. She credits Bowe’s class with helping her properly prepare for dealing with the impending grief she would experience. “Although my family is still grieving, we will never forget him or what he did with his life and I truly thank Dr. Bowe for teaching me everything about death and mental illness because it definitely made this whole process a little smoother,” Palma said. Her interactive and introspective teaching style caught the eye of the Los Angeles Times journalist Erika Hayasaki, the writer who would ultimately pen “The Death Class: A True Story About Life”—a multilayer, nonfiction work that chronicles Bowe’s Death in Perspective class. However, Hayasaki isn’t the only one who believes Bowe’s story is worth telling. Actress Jennifer Carpenter, of “Dexter” fame, is joining forces with producer Sara Photo: David Ortiz Colleton to adapt the book for an upcoming continued on page 3
Kean University’s faculty and students peacefully protested on campus December 3 mirroring protests in New York City after a grand jury failed to indict a police officer in the strangling death of Eric Garner. Garner died in Staten Island in July after a New York City Police officer put him in a chokehold for allegedly selling single cigarettes from packs without tax stamps. The incident was captured in a video of the incident that went viral. The Kean protest began around 10:45 p.m. and about 150 protesters who were mainly students circled the campus including the Dorm quad, Library and the University Center chanting “no justice, no peace” and “black lives matter.” According to one of the organizers, Charles Curtis III, the primary objective of the protest was to bring awareness to the Kean community and remind themselves that the African American spirit has not been broken. “We are still segregated,” said Curtis III. “Things are keeping us down. We are the next generation and we are conscious of the system.” Jasmine Pringle, an early childhood and Criminal Justice major said it is obvious that black people are separated and treated differently. “The laws were not written for black people,” said Pringle. “Therefore, the law cannot protect those it was not written for.” Curtis III said that the protest was organized through social media and it will remain peaceful. Another protest is scheduled for Thursday December 11 during college hour, he said. “We will continue to protest until we see results, until the police officer is indicted for murder,” said Curtis III. “We want to spread it, we have been dealing with this for too long.”
Faculty and Students Evaluate Kean Technology By Daris Mendez
Technology has rapidly become an important aspect of higher education and its use in classrooms has grown immensely. However, both students and faculty of Kean University are voicing their concern with the technology on campus. On Nov. 11, Kean’s Faculty Senate got together to discuss issues relevant to Kean students and the university as a whole. One of the issues brought up was the quality of the technology in Kean classrooms. Within this issue, members discussed the specific problems they were experiencing in classrooms such as the extended amount of time it takes for systems to start up and missing blinds which create a problem when presenting power points. On their website, the Faculty Senate describes themselves as being “the principal agency for the formulation of Kean University policy.” Their web page also states that they “communicate recommendations to the President on such matters as faculty affairs, curriculum, instruction, student affairs, finances and other matters” With this being their objective, a senate member proposed to bring the technology issue up to the Kean administration. “It is our hope that we can work together to make this place a better place,” said Dr. Pat Ippollito at the Nov. 11 meeting. Kean students have noticed the effect of faulty technology in the classrooms. Student Kelly Rebele, a junior is frustrated with her experience in a computer-based classroom. “The technology at Kean University is stressful. As a student you come prepared and ready to learn however, when projectors, mouse, or even keys are missing from keyboards it is unacceptable,” Rebele said. “Technology is improving in today’s society but it needs to be fixed in the [Kean] classrooms.” Although these types of issues exist, the university offers the help of Computer Information Services that deal with technical issues on campus. The mission on their website states: “The Office of Computer and Information Services is committed to providing high quality technology services to the students, faculty and staff of Kean University in order that the University can maintain its commitment of accessibility, both academically continued on page 6