Washington Square News October 2, 2017

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ISSUE DESIGNED BY RACHEL BUIGAS-LOPEZ AND LAURA SHKOURATOFF

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WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS | MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2017 | NYUNEWS.COM

$300K Entrepreneurs Challenge

By ALEX DOMB Contributing Writer

The W.R. Berkley Innovation Lab, located within Stern, is in the process of kicking off its annual “$300k Entrepreneurs Challenge,” though the initiative only awards $275,000 in cash.

The goal of the challenge is to foster new business ventures within the NYU community by awarding winning teams with substantial financial grants to help the teams kickstart their ideas.

Founded nearly 20 years ago with an initial reward of $5,000, the challenge is now the largest entrepreneurship initiative at NYU, according to Associate Director of Entrepreneurship Phoebe Punzalan. The challenge advertises itself as one of the world’s largest and most innovative accelerator programs and startup competitions on the website.

The eight-month program, which consists of various workshops, boot camps and individualized coaching sessions, involves over 750 members of the NYU community across all of its campuses. Over the course of the program, teams attempt to stay in the competition throughout increasingly competitive rounds, with the top team in each field receiving financial rewards in late spring.

The challenge consists of

three primary tracks: the New Venture Competition which targets aspiring business leaders; the Technology Venture Competition, which seeks teams with business-related concepts within the information technology, life science and energy sectors; and the Social Venture Competition, which challenges community members “to create innovative approaches to tackling social problems, here and abroad,” according to the website.

While the first two competitions have cash prizes of $100,000, the Social Venture Competition offers a smaller prize of $75,000. Winners of each track receive an additional $50,000 in pro bono services.

While anyone currently or formerly affiliated with NYU is welcome to compete in the challenge, there are a number of criteria that entrants must meet to be eligible for the competition — the applicant’s ventures cannot have made more than $250,000 in revenue or in funding from external institutions and investors, for example.

Nationally renowned businesses and startups have gotten boosted through the help of the challenge, according to Punzalan. Punzalan said that in 2009, Pinterest competed under the name “Tote” and received second place in the New Venture Competition and

STAFF PHOTO BY RYAN QUAN

Stern’s W.R. Berkley Innovation Lab is kicking off its advertised $300k Entrepreneurs challenge,.

that “Keen Home,” a startup allowing individuals to control their home’s ventilation with their smartphones, went on to become one of the most highly valued startups to ever be pitched on the popular show “Shark Tank.” Punzalan also said that other past entrants have gone on to be acquired by Amazon, Twitter and Airbnb.

Berkley Innovation Labs’s Director of Innovation Cynthia Franklin said the challenge not only encourages students to dream big, but it also provides students with the tools, training, funding and networks to make their dreams into plans.

“We don’t simply share a list of steps needed to start a single business,” Franklin said. “We help students develop entrepreneurial skills that will last a lifetime by first teaching them how to generate ideas that will disrupt stagnant industries and then showing them how to see those ideas through to launch.”

Christopher Mitchell, last year’s winner and co-founder and CEO of Geopipe, said the challenge had a positive impact on his team’s venture — and they have not even spent the financial reward yet.

“We had a positive experience with the challenge, both in terms of what we learned about our customer discovery process and startup plan, and in the pitch-completion components,” Mitchell said. “Winning the challenge helped push us forward with Geopipe’s development and extended our runway to build a successful beta before raising our seed round.”

While the challenge itself is focused on business and entrepreneurship, Punzalan said she believes that the competition is additionally reflective of NYU’s global values.

“I see NYU as a global university that, more than any other school in the country, brings together students and lifelong learners from around the globe,” Punzalan said. “The challenge similarly believes that the most innovative ventures are a product of diverse and collaborative founding teams.”

Despite the generous prizes that the challenge gives out, Punzalan said that she hopes to give away as much as $1million in future years — particularly to provide ongoing assistance to teams after the competition cycle ends.

She also said she hopes to expand the role of the competition in areas of social impact.

“There are so many big, gnarly issues facing our world, and there’s a huge role for social entrepreneurs to play in solving them,” Punzalan said.

The deadline to enter the $300K Entrepreneurship Challenge is Thursday, Oct. 5 at noon.

Email Alex Domb at news@nyunews.com.

CRIME LOG Sept. 23 to Sept. 28

By MIRANDA LEVINGSTON News Editor The NYU Department of Public Safety received 12 reports of larceny, two reports of attempted larceny, one report of harassment and one report of criminal mischief between Sept.

23 and Sept. 28.

Larceny On Sept. 23 at 9:05 a.m., Public Safety received a report from an NYU staff member that a visitor was behaving in a disorderly manner toward him in the NYU Dental Center. Police notification was declined, and the report is open and under investigation.

On Sept. 24 at 10:10 p.m., Public Safety received a report from an NYU student that her bike was missing from the front of Elmer Holmes Bobst Library. Police notification was declined, and the report is open and under investigation.

On Sept. 25 at 4:35 p.m., Public Safety received a report from an NYU student that her bike was missing from the Meyer Hall bike racks. A police report was filed, and the report is open and under investigation.

On Sept. 25 at 4:35 p.m., Public Safety received a report from an NYU student that his headphones were missing from his desk at Meyer Hall. Police notification was declined, and the report is open and under investigation.

On Sept. 25 at 7:25 p.m., Public Safety received a report from an NYU student that his bike was missing from the Tisch Hall bike rack.

Police notification was declined, and the report is open and under investigation.

On Sept. 25 at 8:55 p.m., Public Safety received a report from an NYU student that her bike seat was missing from her bike left on the corner of Waverly Place and Mercer Street. Police notification was declined, and the report is open and under investigation.

On Sept. 25 at 10:30 p.m., Public Safety received a report from an NYU student that his bike was missing from the Tisch Hall bike rack.

Police notification was declined, and the report is open and under investigation.

On Sept. 26 at 8:45 p.m., Public Safety received a report from an NYU student that his bike was missing

from the Rogers Hall bike rack. A police report was filed, and the case is open and under investigation.

On Sept. 26 at 9:55 p.m., Public Safety received a report from an NYU student that his bike was missing from the scaffolding outside of 404 Lafayette. Police notification was declined, and the report is open and under investigation.

On Sept. 28 at 5:56 p.m., Public Safety received a report from an NYU student that his bike was missing from outside the Silver Center. A police report was filed, and the report is open and under investigation.

On Sept. 28 at 6:00 p.m., Public Safety received a report from an NYU affiliate that his phone was missing from the sixth floor bathroom of the Bobst Library.

The report is open and under investigation.

On Sept. 28 at 7:35 p.m., Public Safety received a report from an NYU student that his bike was missing from the Shimkin Hall bike rack. Police notification was declined, and the report is open and under investigation.

Attempted Larceny On Sept. 26 at 9:35 a.m., a member of Public Safety was able to thwart an attempted bike theft at the Broadway bike rack. The owner of the bike filed a police report, and the case was closed.

On Sept. 28 at 6:30 a.m., a member of Public Safety was able to thwart an attempted bike theft at the 721 Broadway bike rack. A police report was filed, and an arrest was made.

Harassment On Sept. 27 at 9:30 p.m., Public Safety received a report from an NYU student that he was harassed by an unidentified man in Washington Square Park. Police notification was declined, and the report is open and under investigation.

Criminal Mischief On Sept. 27 at 11:15 p.m., Public Safety received a report from a non-NYU affiliate that her car was damaged while parked on LaGuardia Place between Third Street. and Fourth Street. A police report was filed, and the case is open and under investigation.

Email the News Team at news@nyunews.com.

NYUNEWS.COM | MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2017 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS

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Lack of Academic Freedom Plagues NYU Abu Dhabi govern, he says comparing the UAE and the U.S. as equals is misleading.

“On the face of it that sounds like a reasonable argument,” Bazzi said in an interview with WSN. “But there is a major difference. And the major difference is that the U.S. government is not partners with NYU in building and operating a huge campus in Abu Dhabi.”

“NYU’s response has been basically hoping that this will all go away,” Bazzi said.

NYU and Abu Dhabi Tied at Birth

VIA INSTAGRAM.COM

Mohammad Bazzi, a journalist and NYU professor, has been denied entry to the UAE, creating complications regarding his teaching position at NYU Adu Dhabi.

By MACK DEGEURIN AND AMY RHEE Deputy News Editor and Contributing Writer

When NYU professor and journalist Mohammad Bazzi mapped out his fall schedule earlier this year, he imagined he would be teaching halfway across the world in an Emirati classroom at NYU’s Abu Dhabi campus. That all changed this summer when Bazzi was notified by NYU administrators that the United Arab Emirates Ministry of Interior had denied his visa application.

Bazzi believes he was denied entry to the Sunni majority country because of his Lebanese Shiite background.

This is not the first time Bazzi faced resistance from the UAE government. During the 2011-2012 January term, the professor taught a journalism course at the NYU Abu Dhabi campus with his then-wife.The issue of his religious identity arose then, as it has now. NYU administrators advised Bazzi to work around this issue by co-teaching the course with his wife under the title “consultant.” By doing this Bazzi did not need to disclose his religious affiliation. Bazzi’s wife, who is of European descent, ob-

tained her visa without incident. This time, however, Bazzi was required to pass a security clearance that included the disclosure of his religion.

Bazzi spoke out publicly about his case in a New York Times op-ed last week. The professor, however, is just one of a growing number of NYU faculty and students who have faced discrimination and been barred entry by the UAE government in recent years.

While Bazzi’s case involved what he claims to be religious discrimination, others, like professor Andrew Ross and NYU alumna Kristina Bogos, were denied entry because of their academic pursuits deemed critical of the UAE government. Members of the NYUAD community have also recently experienced restrictions to internet access.

When asked about Bazzi’s case, NYU Public Relations echoed the same sentiment that Bazzi said he was told in 2012.

“In the UAE, as in the U.S. and everywhere else, it is the government that controls visa and immigration policy, and not the university,” NYU Spokesperson John Beckman said.

While Bazzi said he agrees at face value with NYU’s reluctance to intervene in the UAE’s sovereign right to

NYUAD’s campus hosted its first students in 2010, three years after an agreement made by under NYU’s then-President John Sexton and representatives from the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The agreement included a reported $50 million donation from the Abu Dhabi government.

In a community-wide email sent by Sexton in 2007, the then-president assured the NYU community that all future foreign projects would be held to American standards of academic freedom.

“NYU Abu Dhabi will be a residential research university overseen by New York-based faculty and senior administrators and built with academic quality and practices conforming to the same standards as those at NYU’s Washington Square campus, including adherence [to] our standards of academic freedom,” Sexton said in the email.

NYU Abu Dhabi’s website says it maintains its commitment to academic freedom.

In the seven years since its inception, however, NYU Abu Dhabi has faced wide criticism from individuals, such as Bazzi and Ross, who say the university has reneged on its original promise of academic freedom.

A separate controversy came to light in 2014 when a New York Times investigation found illegal labor conditions and human rights violations present during the construction of NYUAD’s campus. Among the violations reported was the seizure of passports from some foreign workers. Board of Trustees member Khaldoon Al Mubarak is the CEO of

Mubadala, one of the main companies contracted by NYU to build NYU Abu Dhabi’s campus.

Restricted Research Despite its close ties to the UAE government, NYU has done little to publicly address claims of religious and academic discrimination by faculty member Andrew Ross and alumna Kristina Bogos.

One such faculty member is Ross, a professor of social and cultural analysis, who was denied entry in midMarch of 2015 while attempting to research labor conditions in the region.

“It’s a violation of all our academic freedoms and principles,” Ross said.

“And if they can’t guarantee the principles then they shouldn’t be operating in those locations.”

CAS alumna Bogos faced a situation similar to Ross and was barred entry to Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Bogos penned her own op-ed in the New York Times last year documenting her experiences.

While pursuing her master’s degree, Bogos decided to travel to Qatar on a tourist visa. There, Bogos believes she was initially barred entry because of her previous research on labor conditions in Abu Dhabi.

Bogos believes the The Gulf Cooperation Council placed her on a blacklist because of her earlier studies. A state department official confirmed Bogos’s claim in an email forwarded to WSN by Bogos.

Bogos fears that the UAE government targets students like her.

“If [students] are doing research for school that is remotely critical of the government, or say something on Facebook that the state doesn’t like, that’s how the state will target you, and the question is whether NYU or NYU Abu Dhabi will have your back, and I think the answer is no,” Bogos said.

This absence of public responses

by NYU to issues surrounding NYUAD reflects what Bazzi sees as a lack of transparency on the side of the university. While Bazzi does not doubt that the NYU administration is actively taking steps to address his case, and the cases of others, it is impossible to know exactly

what is being done.

“We need more transparency in this process and we need to know more about what tools NYU is deploying to pursue these kinds of cases with the Abu Dhabi officials,” Bazzi said.

Beckman told WSN they are indeed taking steps to ensure academic freedom, but did not clarify what specifically these steps entailed.

“When these denials come through we pursue them through the relevant channels,” Beckman said.

While Bazzi said the NYU response to his visa denial points to a lack of its prior commitment to academic freedom, he does not fundamentally disagree with the mission behind the campus. Bazzi said he enjoyed the two January term semesters he taught there. The journalism professor was quick to praise the Abu Dhabi students, calling them excellent.

Not all of those who have been affected share Bazzi’s sentiment.

Ross said he was against NYU’s deal with the UAE government from the beginning.

“This keeps on happening and it’s going to keep on happening,” Ross said. “Although the university is supposed to observe basic [American Association of University Professors] rights regarding academic freedom they can’t guarantee that.”

Multiple sources who wish to remain anonymous have also told WSN that another faculty member may be preparing to publicly announce that he too had his visa denied due to his Shiite Muslim faith.

When asked what steps he would like to see NYU make to address these issues, Bazzi said a public statement would help. Bazzi said that he found it ironic that while NYU President Andrew Hamilton has publicly denounced the President Donald Trump’s travel bans and reversal of DACA, he has remained silent on issues regarding the UAE. Read the full version online at nyunews.com.

Email Mack DeGeurin and Amy Rhee at news@nyunews.com

Student Gov’t Addresses President Hamilton, Supports Union

By MARK SHEFFER Contributing Writer

The Executive Committee of Student Government released a statement over Facebook on Thursday, Sept. 28 expressing its support for the Union of Clerical, Administrative and Technical Staff in the ongoing contract negotiations between the union and NYU. The letter was addressed to NYU President Andrew Hamilton, Vice President of Human Resources Sabrina Ellis and Associate General Counsel and Director of Labor Relations Sandi Dubin.

“While the cost of living in New York City skyrockets and NYU asks for more employee benefit contributions, wages have simply not kept up,” the

committee’s letter said. “This is unacceptable.”

UCATS Local 3882 represents 1,350 clerical, administrative and technical staff at the university, 40 percent of whom are either currently enrolled at NYU or are alumni, and the current six-year contract between UCATS and NYU will expire on Oct. 31, according to the statement.

CAS junior and Senator-at-Large Rose Asaf said she thinks students and workers should support each other.

“I want the message to be clear that students and workers stand together,” Asaf said. “NYU is going to fail if they try to turn students against workers.”

Asaf also said that the ethos of the student government is not to speak on behalf of people, but instead to let people speak

for themselves.

Asaf, who initially reached out to the union, said an increase in pay and benefits for UCATS members would not mean an increase in tuition costs for students.

“I think it’s important that we remind our university that it’s supposed to be providing us an affordable education and it’s supposed to be treating its workers correctly,” Asaf said.

Asaf also said she plans to continue to support UCATS through the Student Labor Action Movement and the NYU chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Dubin did not reply to a request for comment.

Email Mark Sheffer at news@nyunews.com.

STAFF PHOTO BY ANNA LETSON

The Executive Committee of Student Government publicized a letter addressed to Andrew Hamilton on Facebook on Thursday, Sept. 28 in support of the Union of Clerical, Administrative and Technical Staff in the midst of their contract negotiations.

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WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS | MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2017 | NYUNEWS.COM

ARTS

By JESSICA XING Contributing Writer

EDITED BY JORDAN REYNOLDS ARTS@NYUNEWS.COM

Tisch Seniors Spill the ‘Tea’

Tisch seniors Angie Jones and Ton Do-Nguyen describe their podcast “Chamomile Tea” as “a podcast about culture, life, love and Beyoncé.” The podcast, which launched in July and is available on iTunes and Soundcloud, thrives off of the banter between the two hosts as they weave together two different cultural backgrounds — a Vietnamese man from the suburbs of Philadelphia and a black woman from Atlanta — into the dynamic conversations that fill up the podcast’s 60-minute runtime.

The two discuss race in media, venting frustrations on cultural misrepresentations and engag-

ing in measured, back-and-forth debates on different social issues.

A prominent topic in the first episode is Nguyen’s criticism of the depiction of Asian issues in the media, with the dismissal of the cruelty of the North Korean regime as an example.

The podcast acts as a vessel for both change and understanding.

The two bring up topics obscured to the public, educating the listener while learning something new along the way.

“I am not the most educated in [my] field, so it upsets me when even I am not taught things in school about my own culture,” DoNguyen said. “Japanese internment camps are not even a full page in the textbook.”

Their quick wit and snappy di-

alogue allow the co-hosts to carry articulate discussions on difficult topics and give their conversations a fast paced liveliness. Their friendship and similarities bring them together, while their different backgrounds allow them to challenge each other.

“Chamomile Tea” begins and ends with Beyoncé. According to Jones, if Beyoncé hadn’t released her album “Four,” she and Do-Nguyen wouldn’t have been friends — the album sparked a four-hour long conversation at a party. The two don’t just admire Beyoncé, superficially, as the “queen” or “goddess,” but rather for her hard work ethic. “[Beyoncé] is the blueprint for work ethic for me,” Nguyen said.

“Why I particularly like talking to Angie is because she understands

that Beyoncé’s work is nuanced and ties back to many aspects of culture and history, and I can’t have that conversation with just anybody.”

Nguyen looks to Beyoncé for her statements on black culture and history that are interspersed in her music and videos.

Looking ahead, the two hope to turn “Chamomile Tea” into a multimedia production company. For now, you can follow their Youtube channel, “Chamomile Tea,” — which boasts almost 24,000 subscribers — and eponymous podcast on iTunes and Soundcloud.

“At the end of the day, we do it for our mamas,” Do-Nguyen said. “... And Beyoncé.”

Email Jessica Xing at entertainment@nyunews.com.

VIA FACEBOOK.COM

Tisch seniors Ton Do-Nguyen (left) and Angie Jones (right) launched their podcast “Chamomile Tea” in July and discuss culture, race, media, life and love.

Three NYU Artists Redefine Childhood

PHOTO BY JULIA FIELDS

“Tuck Me In” is running until Oct. 9 at NYU Steinhardt Department of Art and Art Professions at 34 Stuyvesant St.

By JULIA FIELDS Contributing Writer In a brand new art exhibit “Tuck Me In,” three artists redefine childhood in modern society. Nathan Freeman, Monilola Olayemi Ilupeju and Aley Saparoff use paintings,

photographs, videos and essays to showcase the innocence of youth and contrast it with larger themes of sexuality and gender.

When you first walk into the Commons Gallery of Steinhardt’s Barney Building where the collection is showcased, one of the first things you cannot miss is a wall of Ziploc bags nailed to an all white wall. This piece is entitled “Hiding Spots Performance.” Objects that range from crayons to pornographic images and underwear are pulled from paper bags on the floor and nailed in clear plastic to the wall, demonstrating the revelation of inner thoughts.

Freeman also decorated a stage with planks of wood emerging from cinder blocks with a video playing in one corner and various essays lining the back wall. The somewhat phallic props mirror the gender-centered essays, which he wrote over the span of one summer.

The written wavy words on black

paper demand to be read and taken into serious consideration. Freeman explores these themes further through silk screen prints of the naked body. Whether challenging societal expectations of the perfect body or representations of the different genders, his work makes you do a double take and consider your own sexuality and gender in a way never thought of before.

Next up is Saparoff’s work. She created two zines showcasing major themes not typically discussed during childhood. They include text on sex, drugs, fetishes and medication. A major theme of her work is the effect of technology on our lives. In one video she created, the screen yells at the viewer to “Stop looking at your phone; look at me.” It tells the story of how today’s society has made mental illness a trending topic rather than a serious issue.

On another screen, Saparoff showcases sevral scenes with water,

including bathtubs and swimming pools. Typically, water represents cleansing. Maybe this is what she is hoping will happen to society today. Maybe she is trying to warn today’s children not to grow up like adults of modern times, who are glued to their phones and care too much about societal norms. Every couple minutes, one video lets out a terrifying laugh and the sound of a baby crying. This showcases the dangerous effects of childhood, if not raised the correct way. She highlights the importance of childhood on who we end up becoming later on in our lives.

Lastly, we have Ilupeju’s work.

First is a video entitled “Views from the Futon 2007.” As the camera pans around an apartment, a voice reads text on the screen about God being missing in action, mental illness, hair and honesty. Next comes a series of letters written throughout a life. They mainly focus on death or porn and internet

content. These letters show how we grow farther and farther from innocence every moment and become absorbed in useless things.

Then, Ilupeju created a beautiful nude painting of a woman of color.

She has body hair, her breasts sag and there is a strip of white marks her face. She is unconventionally beautiful, which may be what Monilola was trying to convey. Despite her not looking like a typical supermodel, she captures your attention immediately and still does prove to be beautiful.

Words cannot capture the various meaning these artists worked so hard to convey through their beautiful art.

“Tuck Me In” is publically accessible through Oct. 9 and is located at the NYU Steinhardt Department of Art and Art Professions, 34 Stuyvesant St. Email Julia Fields at entertainment@nyunews.com.

Psychedelia Meets Hip-Hop on Akari’s Lazyboy EP

By CONNOR GATESMAN Music Editor

NYU Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music sophomore Jordan Taylor (known as Akari) isn’t in any particular rush on his new EP, “Lazyboy,” which dropped on streaming services Aug. 24.

On “Lazyboy,” the enigmatic producer jumps from Soundcloud to Spotify. No longer just a beatmaker, Akari is spitting rhymes with a characteristic deep croon that pierces through his sunny production with a sinister undertone.

The first track, “Island Boy,” has Akari mixing smooth flows with a catchy chorus, resulting in a blunted haze of psychedelia.

The subdued and introspective tone sets the pace for the whole EP. “It’s just me and myself,” he

affirms on “Breeze” — alone, perhaps, but far from uninspired.

“Gatsby” showcases Akari’s more confident demeanor, as he boasts “It’s the Black Gatsby, n----s can’t pass me.” Early in the song, the beat switches up, turning into a slower, chopped and screwed bootleg of its previous self. Guest rapper Am brings a welcome and seething sharpness to the track, which juxtaposes nicely with the drifting ease of the instrumental.

Track after track, Akari proves to be at his most comfortable on this project. “2D” is less rap and more lo-fi hip hop, with a wandering low pass beat that lets the almost indiscernible vocals fly high and carefree throughout the song. The glimmering guitar on “Breeze” is reminiscent of a Frank Ocean summer jam mixed with lo-fi funk flare. As he “[hugs]

the beat like [he] missed it,” he alludes to a certain connection with his own music that many musicians fail to grasp. The last track on the EP, “Deux,” is a kind of triumphant capstone to the project. Akari’s rhyme patterns are at their most diverse here. He varies his flows throughout the song, and the soaring background horn stabs and interwoven instrumentation aptly decorate the track as Akari raps confidently throughout. As the song ends, the listener is left with the satisfying aftertaste of a chilled-out project that’s equal parts tranquil and eerily trippy.

If there’s anything left to be desired from this project, it is that Akari never fully reveals his true self to the listener. Instead, he sits a level removed from the audience, in a kind of psychedelic

plane of existence far away from worldly woes. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as it allows Akari to maintain a level of mystique that would have been difficult to achieve with a rawer sound.

COURTESY OF AKARI

NYU Clive Davis sophomore Jordan Taylor, also known as Akari, released his new EP “Lazyboy” on Aug. 24.

“Lazyboy” isn’t just Akari’s debut EP on streaming services, it is his debut style, likely setting the pace for what’s to come. His previous work on Soundcloud largely featured a smattering of well-thought-out remixes and one off singles, without much in the way of unifying themes.

However, Akari really comes into his own on this EP. Not only is it stylistically clear and consistent, it’s paced incredibly well. The tracks flow effortlessly into one another. Akari gives the listener just enough to grab their attention, but not too much to reveal his hand. In an age of instant gratification, “Lazyboy” is proof that sometimes it’s better to just sit back and reflect on it all.

Email Connor Gatesman at cgatesman@nyunews.com.

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ARTS

EDITED BY JORDAN REYNOLDS ARTS@NYUNEWS.COM

‘Spielberg’ Documentary Captures Spirit of Filmmaker

By JILLIAN HARRINGTON Contributing Writer

COURTESY OF MAGNOLIA PICTURES

The new Rube Östlund movie, “The Square,” is a comedy-drama that follows a museum curator and the obstacles he faces when hiring a public relations team for his new installation. The movie hits the cinemas on Oct. 27 in the U.S.

NYFF 2017: ‘The Square’ is Magnificently Enigmatic

By DANIELLA NICHINSON Film Editor

“The Square is a sanctuary of trust and caring. Within it, we all share equal rights and obligations.” This is the mantra of a new exhibit opening at an avant-garde museum in Sweden and is the basis for Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or (the most prestigious honor at Cannes Film Festival) award winner, “The Square.” The film is as enigmatic and strange as one would hope for a piece of art meant to satirize art itself.

Claes Bang plays Christian, the chief curator of a prominent Swedish museum called the X-Royal. One morning on his way to work, in a surreal sequence of events, he is robbed of his phone and wallet. To retrieve his belongings, he uses an unorthodox method that has unusual and unexpected consequences.

“

Can we trust one another in this public space?

”

While dealing with the morality of his peculiar situation, Christian must also find a way to market the museum’s revolutionary exhibit, “The Square.” The museum hires a team that creates a polarizing and bluntly offensive ad, infuriating the media and the public. As Christian spreads himself thin between these two consuming tasks, he also has a puzzling — and amusing — one-nightstand with an American reporter (Elizabeth Moss) and is responsible for his two pugnacious daughters.

The goal for “The Square” exhibit and Christian’s own aspiration, is to promote the idea of an inherent good in society. It

asks the question: can we trust one another in this public space? However, when Christian has his wallet and phone stolen ironically in a large public square in Stockholm, the whole concept of trust is turned on its head.

In an excruciatingly long casting process, Bang was chosen to portray the film’s protagonist. The Danish actor is primarily a stage actor, unknown to mainstream audiences, but at age 50 he has soared into the international spotlight. His performance is simultaneously comedic and paranoid, as he grows overwhelmed by his crashing reality. Opposite him is the talented Moss, who plays an amateur journalist. Her role is equally as funny and raises the idea that power is the driving force behind lust. Bang and Moss’s interplay is an entertaining and skillfully choreographed feature of the film.

The film’s seminal scene involves an interactive and thought-provoking art piece with an ape-like, primitive man (Terry Notary) who terrorizes the prestigious attendees of the gala. The guests are told to ignore him and not display fear, but when the situation escalates and becomes intensely violent, the guests must decide whether to heed the instructions or to help. It is by far the most engrossing sequence in “The Square,” purely due to its sheer spectacle and provocative nature.

It may be premature to hail “The Square” as the greatest film of the year, but if anything, it is undoubtedly the most rousing and intriguing. An atypical victor of the Palme d’Or, “The Square” combines social satire and outrageously bizarre scenes like something out of a dream. The film already has and will continue to outrage some and immensely please others. No matter what the effect on the audience, “The Square” captures the essential requirement of unconventional and innovative filmmaking: the evocation of compelling and potent feelings from the viewer. It is precisely this that has already cemented “The Square” as a strikingly influential film of our time.

Email Daniella Nichinson at dnichinson@nyunews.com.

The new HBO documentary “Spielberg” repeatedly makes the claim that Steven Spielberg is the most famous director of all time — and it’s not wrong. For more than 50 years, Spielberg has not only added to cultural zeitgeist throughout many eras, but created it. His films, love or hate them, have been hit after hit, and in many ways he carved a direction for a new generation of filmmakers.

The documentary weaves its way chronologically through Spielberg’s life. Beginning with his childhood, it details how he fell in love with film at a young age. From there, he embarked on the journey that became his career.

Finding a mentor who believed in him and honing his craft through television, Spielberg caught the gaze of many Hollywood executives.

Though barely in his twenties, Spielberg was part of the group of young, creative directors that replaced the directors of yesteryear in the 1960s. The group members were friends and competitors at the same time, challenging one another to make the best films they possibly could.

Spielberg’s circle was composed of legendary directors such as Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola and George Lucas.

All of these directors and more — friends, family, critics and actors — speak highly of Spielberg in the film. John Williams, a frequent collaborator, compose the music for the documentary.

The documentary offers a behind-thescenes view of films that shaped many childhoods and adult perceptions alike

and presents a rare look into Spielberg’s brain and creative process. Many interviewees emphasize that Spielberg’s eye for his movies is intuitive and makes every film of his both personal and uniquely him.

“E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” “Jurassic Park,” “Hook,” “Indiana Jones,” “Saving Private Ryan.” Looking at a list of Spielberg’s movies, it is easy to be shocked to discover that, yes, he directed that one too. He is the most commercial director, because they were so mainstream, many of his early films were accused of using sap and happy endings as a crutch. However, he himself recognized that early reviews claiming his films were superficial were not wrong, and he believes he grew with his work. Certainly, it’s hard to argue that 1993 Academy Awards Best Picture “Schindler’s List” is immature and one-dimensional. Though by this logic his early works (“Jaws,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” etc.) perhaps were younger, they themselves were still ground-breaking in a number of ways.

Steven Spielberg, still producing and directing like mad, is a legendary filmmaker whose name will be remembered for his huge blockbusters, but also the spirit he injected into everything he did. Even this documentary bleeds with the same kind of heart that makes a Spielberg movie what it is, and who’s to say that just because something connects with a global, mainstream audience, it isn’t art?

“Spielberg” premieres Saturday, Oct. 7 on HBO. Email Jillian Harrington at entertainment@nyunews.com.

VIA WIKIPEDIA.ORG

The new HBO documentary “Spielberg” directed by Susan Lacy, chronicles the life and greatest achievements of the famous filmmaker Steven Spielberg. The film premieres Saturday, Oct. 7 on HBO.

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WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS | MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2017 | NYUNEWS.COM

FEATURES

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Petey Greene: Education as Rehabilitation

By CHELSEY SANCHEZ Digital Director

Nearly every week last year, CAS sophomore Charlotte Kahan boarded a bus that took her to Rikers Island, the slab of land on the East River that’s home to 10 different jail facilities.

As a Petey Greene volunteer at the women’s Rose M. Singer Center, also known as Rosie’s, she once

STAFF PHOTO BY COREY ROME

The Petey Greene program offers educational programs to prisoners who have been deprived of it in correctional facilities.

taught a girl to multiply nine times seven in her head with a trick. The student told Kahan something she would never forget.

“She said, ‘I can’t wait to call my mom and tell her about this,’” Kahan recalled.

The Petey Greene Program is a nonprofit organization that trains volunteers to provide meaningful tutoring, like Kahan’s, to students in correctional facilities. Its work spans seven northeastern states, where tutors work with city jails, state prisons, federal prisons and juvenile detention centers. Currently, 46 NYU students volunteer with the program.

“There’s a lot of setbacks that come with tutoring in a prison or jail,” Allan Broslawsky, the New York regional manager, said. “A successful volunteer is someone who’s committed to their students and doesn’t get frustrated by setbacks.”

As a regional manager, Broslawsky, who used to teach middle school

English and social studies, recruits and prepares volunteers for their tutoring responsibilities. Their first training session covers everything from the basics, such as teaching methods, to more complex issues such as discussions of race. Additionally, the program provides supplemental training events for volunteers each month.

The program views education as a type of rehabilitation for the incarcerated. CAS junior Shiva Darshan, who tutors math and science at the George R. Vierno Center and Rosie’s, wants the United States to prioritize rehabilitation over punishment.

“We [as a country] see punishment as the primary goal and rehabilitation as a tertiary, quadriary goal — something well behind,” Darshan said.

The United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, with over two million people in custody at state or federal prisons, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

&pizza Makes Its Mark

By AMELIA MCBAIN Contributing Writer

Beloved Washington D.C. fast-casual chain &pizza opens the doors of its new location on Astor Place just across from NYU classrooms on Washington Square on Oct. 3. The brand is known for its focus on sustainable and local ingredients, collaborations with artists, premium on individuality and ever-growing tribe of followers.

Though the idea for &pizza was conceived in New York City, the restaurant got its start in Washington D.C. five years ago and has moved northward through locations in Northern Virginia, Maryland and Philadelphia. This is the 23rd store in total and the second in New York.

Founder and CEO Michael Lastoria shared his thoughts behind opening a pizza shop in New York in an exclusive interview with WSN. “To open up a second location in New York City is really powerful and emotional because bringing pizza to New York that’s not New York pizza is a little crazy to begin with, and even harder to do it in a way that’s different — and our product is different,” Lastoria said.

“It looks different, the ingredients are different, the way it’s packaged is different, the way we design our shops, the way we think about our employees, or ‘tribe members,’ just everything is different.”

One thing that is definitely different about &pizza is the way it is made and priced. Customers can pick from a list of unique signature pizzas that include American Honey, a spicy pepperoni, mozzarella, goat cheese and hot honey pie; and Farmer’s Daughter, a breakfast pizza featuring spinach, egg and Italian sausage. They can also create their own pizza with unlimited toppings for the same

price. After ingredients are picked, the pizza goes through a conveyor belt and then right into the hands of the consumers.

As for the ingredients and the store design, &pizza works with local artists and artisanal food producers to make each store as unique to the area as possible. At this store, which is named “The Mark,” &pizza’s local food partners include Momofuku’s Milk Bar, Mike’s Hot Honey and Luke’s Lobster.

“We always try to design every shop to pay homage to or reflect the neighborhoods that we open up shop in,” Lastoria said. “This shop is called ‘The Mark,’ and our ampersand has always stood for inclusion, unity and connectedness, so it’s this really cool symbol for us that was something larger than life. It’s really just about bringing people together while still celebrating their individuality. We’re trying to remind people of the importance of making their own mark and celebrating that with the opening of this shop.”

This message of inclusion, locality and corporate sustainability has formed into a larger-than-life vision that is part of why &pizza has garnered such a large following. It is also why many seek em-

STAFF PHOTO BY POLINA BUCHAK

&pizza just opened on Broadway and Astor Place and offers a number of personal pizzas, as well as a create your own option at an affordable price.

ployment there.

CAS freshman Ava Mclaughlin only had positive things to say about her experience working at &pizza.

“I love working here,” Mclaughlin said. “It’s super fun, and there’s a lot of great energy. I think the [vision] is really interesting. I’ve never worked at a place that has a such a cool culture.”

Lastoria said he credits the growth of his business and the success of the stores to the enthusiasm of workers.

“That’s our tribe, and at the end of the day their embrace of the symbol, their ownership in this company and [their] really giving a damn allows us to have the type of service we do, which allows us to get guests really excited about the product,” Lastoria said. “That really has been the foundation of our growth.”

Lastoria plans on getting his first ampersand tattoo on Tuesday at the shop when it opens. He said he had walked into a few different parlors at different times to get it done, but that he felt he needed to establish the brand in New York, where he thought of the idea, before he could get one. The first few people that arrive at the shop are also welcome to get the logo tattooed — free of charge. Lastoria said he hopes the stores will be just as permanent as the tattoo he is getting.

“Every time we open up our doors, we are thinking about how we can be a long-term, sustainable restaurant in this neighborhood, and that’s really baked into our DNA,” Lastoria said. “We want to be here for decades. We want to be the pizza shop that anchors Astor Place. If [students] go to school, graduate, and they come back for their 10-year anniversary and remember their first &pizza experience, that would be incredible.”

Email Amelia McBain at dining@nyunews.com.

A University of California, Los Angeles study cited on Petey Greene’s website reveals that funding education in correctional facilities is more cost effective and more successful at preventing crime than investing in incarceration. And in a study done

by RAND Corporation, a nonprofit think tank that focuses on global policy, researchers found that correctional education contributes to reduced recidivism and post-release employment rate for incarcerated individuals. Despite this, funding in correctional education has reduced over the years, according to a report done by Urban Institute.

“It’s hard to ignore the fact that many of the people on Rikers Island are there pre-trial because they can’t afford to pay their bail,” Kahan said.

“Which raises a whole host of larger questions about the current criminal justice system, the process of bail, incarcerating people who are poor because they’re poor and the

morality of all of those questions.

And that’s been something I’ve been thinking about as a result of this organization.”

Gallatin senior Brandon Crispin has volunteered with Petey Greene for about a year, tutoring in SAT prep and GED courses. For him, Petey Greene also provides a way to educate those outside of the prison system.

“The best utility of Petey Greene is that it educates people on the outside and gives them a reason to care and to change their views about things,” Crispin said. “If you want to reform the system, you have to do it at all levels, really.”

Read the full version online at nyunews.com.

Disclaimer: Shiva Darshan is a staff writer at WSN. Email Chelsey Sanchez at csanchez@nyunews.com.

Knockoffs Get Knocked Off

By ALICE LAMMERS Contributing Writer

No longer must you go to Canal Street for a good designer knockoff — just head to your local boutique or department store for a quality copy of the runway style. Designer fakes have plagued the luxury fashion industry for years, but with the popularity of fast fashion, stitch-bystitch reproductions are available everywhere from Zara to Forever 21, with looks openly copied from one corporation by another.

The Italian luxury brand Aquazzura, a high-end footwear collection founded by Edgardo Osorio in 2011, has had enough of this practice. The company’s expensive and versatile shoes, worn by celebrities like Jennifer Lawrence and Rihanna, have garnered lots of attention from fashion bloggers and style icons for their striking design — especially their now-iconic Wild Thing sandal.

The heels have a suede fringe-covered strap across the toes and a thin wrap-around tie at the ankle. Ivanka Trump’s footwear company sold an incredibly similar style, the Hettie, at a significantly lower price point than the original $785, as did brands like Marc Fisher and Steve Madden.

In early 2016, Aquazzura sent cease-and-desist letters to Ivanka Trump, as well as to several of the other larger brands selling heels similar to Wild Thing. This type of legal action is nothing new in the world of fashion infringement, and normally, the situations are resolved out of court. However, Ivanka Trump’s company has not complied or been willing to settle, and Osorio refuses to back down, so Aquazzura has taken further legal action, and a court date may be set for next spring.

VIA INSTAGRAM.COM

Aquazurra, a high end shoe company by Edgardo Osorio, is in the midst of a lawsuit against Ivanka Trump for copying the design of their Wild Thing Sandal.

In the fashion industry, affordable brands take cues from celebrities and aspirational brands and recreate them — it is nothing new.

In “The Devil Wears Prada,” Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly claims that even a trend as simple as a shade of cerulean blue originates on the runway and then is copied over and over again until it can be found everywhere, and that it how it has always been. But knockoffs are a tricky thing: it is hard to feel sympathetic when a high-end brand like Aquazzura is made more affordable, yet there is outrage when smaller indie designers like Los Angeles-based artist Tuesday Bassen are copied by mass retailers like Zara. If Aquazzura is successful in its cases against Trump’s company and others (thanks in no small part to the First Daughter’s notoriety), the legal precedent may help answer the question: When does inspiration become imitation?

Email Alice Lammers at bstyle@nyunews.com.

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FEATURES

EDITED BY KAITLYN WANG FEATURES@NYUNEWS.COM

Explore With Me: Koreatown

By NATALIE CHINN Contributing Writer

VIA FACEBOOK.COM

Thumbprint eyeliner, a large round smudge of liner at the corner of the eye, is making an appearance on runways and celebrities.

A Thumbs Up For New Eyeliner

By LIV CHAI Staff Writer

With a tentative breath, hands shaking and palms sweating, the thin brush is delicately pressed onto the eyelid and with a lucky swoo, and the deed is done. The liner is complete. Creating a perfect cat eye is a daunting process, but the allure and magic of having a line extend out to create the most mesmerizing eye is undeniable and addicting enough for liner-fiends to go through the process again and again. But perhaps, with the appearance of the thumbprint liner trend on the runway, eyeliner addicts will trade their signature flick with a purposeful smudge.

Cat eyes have history behind them, though. The style goes all the way back to ancient Egypt, when Cleopatra used kohl to create a dramatic flick.

The line was supposed to protect individuals from evil and the sun. Today, everyone from celebrities to middle schoolers polishes off a look with his/ her version of the perfect liner.

Angled in various positions, using a wide array of hues and even through the magic of tape and eyeshadow, the cat eye process has been through years of refinement.

This New York Fashion Week, however, there was a new liner style in town — behold thumbprint eyeliner. Thumbprint liner has a rounded corner, literally looking like a thumbprint mark next to the outer corner of the eye created by dark eyeshadow rather than the typical pointed line. A softer version of the usual jarringly strong line, it even seems to have a smoky eyeshadow effect along with

the extension of the eye that a liner would provide. Without sacrificing the bold look, it appears to be a chic and effortless take. Seen on the likes of Bella Hadid and Selena Gomez, the look was even showcased on models in Tom Ford’s show.

Tom Ford added subtle glitter, giving entrancing dimension with each blink and resulting in a seemingly cooler version of the already unique shape.

NYU students appreciate the revamped liner — either rocking the look or appreciating the style from afar.

“This new shape seems to make the eye look bigger,” CAS sophomore Jack Liu said. “It is a modern take that I appreciate compared to the typical line.”

Another student pointed out that although it is an easy way to do liner, it may not work for everyone.

“To be completely honest, I think I may have accidentally created this eyeliner look while trying to clean up my liner,” Stern sophomore Heena Kothari said. “Regardless, I think it works with certain eye shapes but not for everyone.”

Looks seen during Fashion Week instantly create a stir and begin a style storm of different variations. To redefine liquid liner, something that was seen as a classic, and create innovative negative space liner and now thumbprint liner is a testament to the fact that fashion is truly boundless. The endless creativity individuals constantly showcase is history in the making and ultimately challenges the mold of what conventional beauty must be.

Email Liv Chai at bstyle@nyunews.com.

Nestled in the shadow of the Empire State Building, Koreatown can be easy to miss among the busy streets and crowded sidewalks of Midtown. However, the one-streetwonder, located between Fifth and Sixth Avenues on a segment of West 32 Street called Korea Way, makes New York City seem a thousand miles away.

Korean immigrants started settling in this pocket of Midtown in the ‘80s, transforming the small street into a community of businesses. Together, they created an exciting atmosphere filled with karaoke joints, beauty stores and the best selection of Korean cuisine.

Walking along Korea Way, you will instantly notice the neon signs in Korean, pieced together along the faces of every building. The signs will draw you into stores with amusing names, such as The Face Shop.

Here, you will find an abundance of Korean makeup and beauty essentials. Facemasks line a whole wall, with deals such as buy 10, get five free. From pomegranate jelly to bee venom, the options are unlimited.

Korean beauty products are so popular that you’ll even find them in the bookstore called Koryo. After adding a few masks to your shopping basket, wander over to the books, where you can find handheld guides to mastering your K-pop lingo. The

store also carries adorable phone cases and fancy pens. However, you can’t miss the K-pop idol shrine.

Posters, picture books, journals, postcards and stickers of all your favorite K-pop bands cover an entire section of the bookstore. There is no need to hide your obsession for BTS here — welcome home.

Buying everything in Koryo might leave you hungry. There’s a variety of take-out food in Koreatown, from kimbap at E-MO or bubble tea at Gong Cha. Besfren offers teas and lattes in flavors such as taro and grapefruit, as well as funky pastries and soft serve ice cream. Their teappucinos are sweet and creamy, and they do not contain any dairy products. For a chilly day, a matcha teappucino is the perfect drink. Or, if you want to weigh out your options, stop by Food Gallery 32, a small food court where you can get a meal and dessert from two different places.

For a sit-down meal, try bibimbap from the famous chain BCD Tofu House or half-and-half fried chicken from Bonchon. While these are classic go-to restaurants, Koreatown is full of hidden gems. Try Turntable Chicken Jazz, a classy but casual restaurant with records and turntables up and down the walls. Their soy-garlic chicken is flavorful and perfectly crisp.

At night, Koreatown lights up.

Come for a crazy night of karaoke or sip soju with your friends — you are guaranteed to have a memorable

night. And if you and your friends go a little too hard, you can always come back to Korea Way the following day to revive yourself at one of the many spas.

For NYU students, the trek uptown may be unappealing, but the food and countless shops will make the journey worth it.

Email Natalie Chinn at features@nyunews.com.

STAFF PHOTO BY KEVIN JIANG

Located in Midtown, Koreatown is only one block on West 32nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue called Korea Way. You can find anything ranging from half-and-half fried chicken to Korean beauty products.

Five Quintessential NYC Rooftops

By CHELSEY SANCHEZ Digital Director

New York City’s skyline induces the most romanticized prose, revered soliloquies and Instagram posts out of probably any other skyline in the nation. It is easy to figure out why. Even if living and studying in the city might sometimes lead us to take these sights for granted, to be lost among this superhuman feat of nature-defying towers can lead even the blandest of people to sigh in admiration.

Rekindle your initial awe for the city by visiting these five roof-

top bars/restaurants, where you can get the best vantage point for the gleaming, concrete behemoth we call home.

ing fairy lights. The rooftop is rich with green foliage; bright wildflowers and the feeling of local intimacy that is so rare to find in the city.

Kimoto offers a fusion of American and Asian-inspired cuisine, like the Kimoto Kobe Burger and the Sriracha Buffalo Chicken Wings. Its contemporary menu mixes well with its urban atmosphere, where diners can easily catch a view of the Hudson River, the Statue of Liberty and the Barclays Center.

Paris is another romanticized and cliched city, and Hotel Chantelle’s rooftop combines the best of these two worlds. Designed to mimic a Parisian cafe, customers dine among classic street lamp posts and wrought iron benches while sipping on specialty cocktails or glasses of rosé. The restaurant also has a retractable roof, making it the perfect place for either a rainy Sunday brunch or a dinner under the stars.

Kimoto Rooftop Garden Lounge | Brooklyn

Northern Territory | Brooklyn

This Australian bar is the perfect place to watch the sun descend over the Manhattan skyline. The edges of this bar’s rooftop are decorated with fairy lights, providing the perfect backdrop for your next Instagram profile picture. Also, they serve brunch every Saturday and Sunday until 4 p.m. — and if that does not sell you, what else will?

Gallow Green | Manhattan

VIA FACEBOOK.COM

The Kimoto Rooftop Garden Lounge offers Asian-American fusion cuisine with a stunning view of Brooklyn and southern Manhattan.

Gallow Green is one of those gems that can take you out of the city despite being in the heart of it. This rooftop bar and restaurant sits atop the McKittrick Hotel in Manhattan, but do not expect to find those typical hallmarks of an urban metropolis here. If anything, Gallow Green heavily channels autumn vibes, with its rustic wooden furniture and glow-

Hotel Chantelle | Manhattan

Refinery Rooftop | Manhattan

The Refinery Rooftop bar, appropriately called the crowning jewel of Refinery Hotel on its website, provides affordable menu options and a priceless view of the city.

The bar’s decor features an indoor and outdoor terrace, arched brick walls and an unparalleled view of the Empire State Building. During the day, you can feast on a fried chicken sandwich from their lunch menu and at night share a New York cheesecake from their dinner/dessert menu. Either way, you are sure to leave with both your stomach and your phone photo memory full.

Email Chelsey Sanchez at csanchez@nyunews.com.

LGBTQ

COLLEGE COMMUNITY

BY THE NUMBERS

43% 13% 39% 13% of LGBTQ college students, faculty and staff in the U.S. hide their sexual identity.

of LGB college students in the U.S. seriously considered leaving their institution due to lack of campus support.

of LGBTQ college students in the U.S. have experienced harrassment based on their gender identity or expression.

of LGB college students in the U.S. fear for their physical safety on campus.

STATISTICS VIA CAMPUS PRIDE

THE FUTURE FOR LGBTQ PEOPLE While it is great that society has embraced gay men after all these years, there is still so much work to do for the rest of the queer community.

BY ANDREW HEYING Opinion Editor This semester, I am interning at a political organization. On my first day, I quickly realized that almost every single intern is either a straight woman or a gay man.

At first I was overjoyed; it was amazing to see that the United States is finally in a place where an influx of women and gay men feel comfortable pursuing a career in politics — a field where success literally depends on how much people like you. However, I quickly wondered why the staff of gay men was where the queer representation stopped.

A few days later, I was talking about this with two queer friends — one who is female and the other who is a trans man — and they quickly looked at each other.

While I have always been interested in politics, they both expressed disinterest in politics. This was not because they felt as though their voices did not matter, but because even in 2017, they feel as though their opinions are unwanted and disre-

garded. After hearing them out, I understood exactly how they felt.

These days, everyone loves to hear some young gay boy talk about how he has been oppressed but found security in the last few years. This has gone to the point that sometimes it seems like people are even eager to find their token gay best friend — GBF. Just think about how many television shows feature gay male characters, versus how many feature lesbian characters or trans characters or bisexual characters. And while it is great that society has embraced gay men after all these years, there is still so much work to do for the rest of the queer community. Don’t get me wrong — I love looking around the office at my internship to see all these gay guys who see their future in the world, especially in politics. But I long for the day when all LGBTQ people see a future for themselves in politics and in the world.

Email Andrew Heying at aheying@nyunews.com.

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

By LAURA SHKOURATOFF Creative Director Last year in November, feeling disheartened about the election’s results and looking to find solace in a community that would understand my struggles, I went to one of the NYU LGBTQ center’s meetings, “CampGrrl.”

It’s a student club “for self-identified lesbian, bisexual, queer and transgender women and their allies,” according to NYU’s website.

There were about 15 students there. I didn’t speak at all the whole time. One of the freshmen took center stage, speaking loudly and frequently, while others sat uncomfortably.

I was not the only newcomer, but there wasn’t much of a formal welcome. I left with no intention of coming back, almost embarrassed that I had gone. I wondered why, in a school of 26,000 undergraduate students,

there were only 15 people at the meeting.

Where was everyone else?

As a gay woman, I haven’t been able to find a strong queer community at NYU at all.

While I am fortunate enough to have come from an accepting hometown with a loving family and wonderful girlfriend at home, I know not many others experienced the world similarly to myself.

SafeZone trainings, personally, don’t seem to be much help either. SafeZone trainings are an extensive three-hour course on how to be an ally, which feels more like the fulfillment of a liberal college check mark than anything else. I have never used someone who is SafeZone trained as a resource, partly because the resources themselves don’t feel very useful. It looks great on paper, sure — and LGBTQ students looking to find an open and supportive school are likely to put NYU on their shortlist.

The problem runs much deeper than a lack of effective resources for students. There is a lack of diversity in the voices that are heard from the LGBTQ community overall, something I realized when recruiting writers for this issue. I jokingly said last night that we should have called this issue the “LG” issue.

No B, no T, no Q. I struggled to find a wide representation of LGBTQ writers who could truly encapsulate the reality of being queer at NYU. I wound up with three white males and myself — the sole “L” of the equation — as WSN’s representation of the LGBTQ community. My hopes for this issue were to encapsulate a wide range of experiences within the community, but I think that even just the representation in this spread says a lot.

I write this not to discredit or invalidate the narratives of the writers of this themed issue, but to recognize that they were the

The truth is that people do not seem gay, look gay, dress gay or sound gay.

ones I could find to write for me, the ones open and ready to share their stories — to recognize that, while their stories are as valid as anyone else’s in the LGBTQ community, theirs are often the loudest and the most listened to. Nonetheless, I had an amazing time working with these three individuals and am excited to share with you all what they had to say. However, I hope that whoever takes on the challenge of heading the LGBTQ issue next year has a wider selection of stories to choose from and that other members of the community feel that they have a platform on which they can safely and comfortably speak and share. There are so many stories that we need to hear.

THE RAINBOW ARCH

By RYAN MIKEL Entertainment Editor

In my experience, these comments have rarely been malicious, but rather the result of ignorance. Many straight people do not understand why assuming someone’s sexuality is problematic. To have in one’s mind, even subconsciously, a set of traits or a checklist oppresses queer people who have those traits and invalidates queer people who do not. Even if benignly mentioned, straight people who impose their own ideas of what the standard gay person is like are engaging in morally reprehensible behavior. People who do this, but who see themselves as LGBTQ allies, are dropping the ball. The truth is that people do not seem gay, look gay, dress gay or sound gay. We are gay, and our identities are not determined by your speculation.

Coming to NYU was a daunting move. We’re talking 6,000 plus incoming freshman in the class of 2020 — the largest to date in NYU history. Living in New York City was even more intimidating, with 1.6 million neighbors at my Third Avenue North Residence Hall doorstep. With such a populous landscape as my stomping grounds, I worried about my safety as a wide-eyed 18-year-old transplant. However, walking these age-old streets as a gay man was something I never lost sleep over. A broken iPhone and devastated confidence later, my sense of safety was defeated as I was verbally and physically assaulted on an everyday walk home from work in Chelsea.

Having grown up in rural Mississippi, homophobic slurs were nothing shocking. Having worked in the highly LGBTQ-populated neighborhood of Chelsea, the word was, indeed, shocking and then some.

I felt betrayed by my city — the same city NY Daily News claimed as being “a mecca for gay and gender-variant youth.” It was NYU and a rainbow arch that conversely amended this sense of safety, and, eventually, sense of self.

The rainbow arch, otherwise known as NYU’s Safe Zone, is “a campus-wide program designed to visibly identify students, staff and faculty peers who support the LGBTQ population, understand some of the issues facing LGBTQ and are aware of the various LGBTQ resources.”

Marked by a rainbow arch printed on cardstock and a reaffirming “this identifies so-and-so as someone with understanding towards LGBTQ issues and concerns,” Safe Zone markers are placed around campus to offer havens for victims similar to myself, among a multitude of other resources. I soon noticed these arches all around me, specifically, in three of my professor’s offices and even my adviser’s.

Surrounded by a support system of hundreds of students and professors, I never lose sleep over having to deal with blatant intolerance alone again. In the country’s most populous city, NYU Safe Zones makes NYC feel like the aforementioned mecca, where I cannot only exist peacefully, but thrive triumphantly.

Email Riley Lopez at editor@nyunews.com.

Email Ryan Mikel at rmikel@nyunews.com.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GAY-DAR AND STEREOTYPING

By RILEY LOPEZ Contributing Writer Many straight people seem to think that they have good gay-dar. These assumptions, however, are often rooted in stereotypes. A man who acts effeminately is labeled as gay. A woman who does not fit into the parameters of society’s definition of femininity elicits assumptions that she is a lesbian. Some straight people assume a man’s sexuality because of the way he talks. They classify women as lesbians due to how they dress or cut their hair. These assumptions are rarely based on words or actions from the allegedly queer person but rather on a straight person’s speculative stereotyping. Regrettably, even in Greenwich Village, the queer capital of the country, NYU students still reinforce gender and sexuality stereotypes.

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WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS | MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2017 | NYUNEWS.COM

OPINION

EDITED BY ANDREW HEYING OPINION@NYUNEWS.COM

UNIVERSITY LIFE

President Hamilton, Take the Mayor’s Word

By NYU STUDENT LABOR ACTION MOVEMENT, USAS #44 Guest Editorial

A little more than 34 years ago, an article by former WSN writer Shaun Assael reported that in 1983, the New York University Board of Trustees raised undergraduate tuition by 8.5 percent. An increase from $6,634 to $7,200, this inflation sickened the students of the time, while the school administration celebrated “the lowest increase of tuition in the last five years.”

Today, in an affordability crisis ignored even more repulsively by the administration, NYU President Andrew Hamilton essentially maintains this same malignant rhetoric: celebrating that tuition is still increasing, but at a decreased rate. Hamilton himself seemingly has no concept of what affordability entails, for at his tenure at the University of Oxford, he

decried that the state prevents universities from relying on students to fund their education rather than the endowment or the state itself.

Backtrack to the 1980s, where we meet a student activist by the name of Bill Wilhelm. Towering at six-feetfive-inches and heavily bearded, Wilhelm, like Student Labor Action Movement, had been on campus fighting to enact student representation on the university Board of Trustees. “Students should be able to have more knowledge about the Board of Trustee’s meetings,” regarded Wilhelm to a WSN reporter. “They should be able to express their ideas and hear the proceedings.” Later changing his name, Bill Wilhelm became one of, if not America’s most well-known, mayors, Bill de Blasio.

Due to mere coincidence, on the day of our first action of the year, SLAM ran into de Blasio at Wein-

stein. While planning the delivery of a letter to Hamilton reiterating our demands for the student trustees campaign, we learned of de Blasio’s return to his alma mater only hours before. Our organizers greeted him at his entrance to Weinstein Residence Hall and asked if he still supports our cause — his response was a resounding yes.

Our organizers always find it interesting when meeting with Hamilton and other members of the university administration, since their case against students on the board has always been what they call a “conflict

of interest” in terms of governance.

They believe the board does not serve an “advocacy role,” to quote Lynne Brown, the Senior Vice President for University Relations and Public Affairs, in our meeting with her, Hamilton and Senior Vice President for Student Affairs Marc Wais last March.

We at SLAM have been tirelessly lectured by the administration about how governing bodies work.

Interestingly, a fossil fuel magnate on the board does not seem to be a conflict of interest to Hamilton, even when voting on fossil fuel divestment. By this logic, a predatory student lender is not advocating for higher tuition, he’s just doing his job.

These holes in their rhetoric leave us increasingly confused. How are these questionable actors not conflicts of interest? We are sure de Blasio would love to hear their argument, as well.

Additionally, we understand how

some may wonder what effect de Blasio’s endorsement for our campaign will have on a private university’s decision making. Looking onward, we are in communications with the mayor’s youth liaison office, setting up meetings and working on tangible ways to pressure the school’s administration into achieving our goals.

From the highest public office in the city — the community of which NYU claims to be a part — we hope further urging and demands will lead Hamilton to change his mind on this issue.

Our fight will gain more support as it is made known, and our escalation will only increase. It rests on Hamilton and his administration to decide when he’s willing to approach the table, viewing our demands with respect and deep consideration.

Email NYU SLAM at opinion@nyunews.com.

TECHNOLOGY

Elon Musk’s Global Spaceship Is Impressive, But Unrealistic

By ADRYAN BARLIA Deputy Opinion Editor

From electric cars and underground roadway systems to the colonization of Mars, Elon Musk has set his mind to the most ambitious and exciting ideas of the modern age.

His newest venture may be the most daring yet — international travel space ships. Last Friday, the SpaceX CEO announced new plans for a smaller, more practical modeled spaceship that would be used for global travel. Using this new form of transportation, trips from city to city would take less than 30 minutes and traveling around the world would

be possible in less than an hour. The news came as Musk gave a more detailed report at this year’s International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Austria. At the conference, Musk elaborated on his improved Falcon 9 spaceship, which would be suitable for Mars travel, and his idea for a smaller model created for commuters. Although this idea would introduce a revolutionary mode of transportation, it would make an already small world feel smaller and will realistically never come to be.

A video for the spaceship, dubbed Big F-cking Rocket, has already been released, demonstrating its capabilities. The rocket, similar to Falcon 9

models, will be a reusable vehicle that would launch passengers into orbit, with the launching part of the rocket safely returning to a dock on Earth. This would ultimately cut costs for a project already appearing unfundable, which Musk used to appeal to investors. Yet, like many of Musk’s other projects, we have to doubt whether this spaceship will

actually come to fruition. Is Musk’s vision for the future too ambitious?

Musk makes promises for the future that we would all wish to be true, but looking at his track record, his arsenal of ideas often remain just that — ideas. To date, the most notable successes of his have been Paypal and Tesla. He regularly announces big projects such as underground traveling tunnels and newer lithium car models without fully having the means of finishing the projects. Despite Musk’s wealth as a result of his numerous companies, it would take a ridiculous amount of money to fund his futuristic projects. That being said, the mere idea of an interna-

tional spaceship that would be able to take anyone who can afford to ride is in itself an idea that probably will not materialize in our lifetimes.

Of all the things that have been released by Musk, the possibility of having spaceship travel become a mainstream transportation option comes fairly close to his idea of putting man on Mars. If Musk can execute this idea, it could really change the world. However, for now, we should just assume that Musk is shooting for the stars and will land on Earth.

Email Adryan Barlia at abarlia@nyunews.com.

TECHNOLOGY

By THEO WAYT Contributing Writer

Amazon’s Convenient Authoritarianism

As I visit the Amazon homepage, I am introduced to the “all-new members of the Alexa family,” devices in an expanding line of in-home “personal assistants.” This “family” of cylindrical speakers, addressed as the friendly, feminine Alexa, provides a myriad of services for my “smart home.” They are voice-activated, listening at all times and responding only when called. Alexa can play music, adjust the temperature of my home, search for nearby restaurants and more. “She” is far from Amazon’s first incursion into the home space, but is perhaps the most well-known.

Another of Amazon’s devices, the Dash Button, provides me with additional in-home convenience. Sometimes, when I want a certain product, I go to the Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market, where I recently spotted members of the Alexa family on-sale as the “Farm Fresh Pick of the Season.”

But I don’t want to leave my house, and I don’t even want to log onto the Amazon website. Instead, I use one of my Dash Buttons. When pressed, my Dash Button automatically charges my credit-card and orders the respective preprogrammed item. Out of cereal? I don’t have to consider my options or comparison-shop. If I press the button next to the empty box, Amazon takes care of everything else.

Franco Berardi writes that the origin of power is “the insertion of automated selections into the social vibration.” Is this not what Amazon seeks with products like these? Both in the form of the Dash Button which will, of course, purchase its preprogrammed product exclusively from Amazon, and in Alexa, whose amicable “personality” obscures a technical series of preprogrammed responses and carefully-limited search parameters. Amazon devices, seamlessly integrated into the home, strictly limit consumer choice in the friendly guise of convenience. In the words of

writer Adam Greenfield, “the aim of devices like the Dash Button is to permit the user to accomplish commercial transactions as nearly as possible without the intercession of conscious thought; even the few moments of thought involved in tapping out commands on the touchscreen of a phone.”

This 21st century form of centralized control is coming not from governments, but from private companies like Amazon, which aims in its mission statement to be “earth’s most consumer-centric company.” Consumer convenience, it seems, is the most effective form of control. Amazon is aiming for an unconventional type of internet-age monopoly — it does not aspire to be

the exclusive controller of a certain industry, but the lens through which the consumer sees all industries.

But perhaps governments will provide the necessary oversight. This seems increasingly unlikely. The federal government uses Amazon’s cloud computing services for sensitive defense and intelligence information, and Amazon’s plans for a second headquarters have led dozens of cities to bend over backwards for the possibility of 50,000 new jobs. In a recently-released video, the mayor of Frisco, Texas, after brandishing an Amazon box in front of city hall, asks his Alexa unit where Amazon should build its new headquarters. She answers, “Hm, in Frisco, Texas.” Business leaders in Tuscon, Arizona have tried to mail CEO Jeff Bezos a 21-foot cactus. “God Bless Amazon,” unabashedly declares New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio, even though he once fought Walmart’s expansion into the five boroughs based on a vicious union-busting history strangely similar

to that of Amazon. Power has shifted — Amazon is no longer begging governments for less regulation and fewer taxes. Governments are now, almost pitifully, begging Amazon for jobs.

Though our government has many problems, at least elected officials bear some sort of formal responsibility to their constituents if they want to be reelected. Amazon, however, has no stake in the greater good.

They court us in a variety of ways — friendly personal assistants, unrivaled convenience, promises of job growth — but they owe us nothing.

We cannot sacrifice our autonomy in the name of comfort. Instead, we must patronize locally-owned businesses, support unionized job growth and, above all, think before we buy.

Read the full version online at nyunews.com.

Email Theo Wayt at opinion@nyunews.com.

NYUNEWS.COM | MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2017 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS

OPINION

EDITED BY ANDREW HEYING OPINION@NYUNEWS.COM

EDUCATION

STAFF EDITORIAL

Bad Writing Is No Excuse for Bigotry

By HAILEY NUTHALS Editor-at-Large (Content warning: sexual violence.)

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, by the age of 18 — roughly the average age of college freshmen — one in four women and one in six men will experience sexual harassment. By the age of 19, those college students will almost certainly have taken a freshman writing seminar. At the very least, they will have taken a writing course at some point in their lives.

There are not yet statistics to back up this next point, but it’s safe to say based on anecdotal evidence and personal experience that several women in those courses will have been forced to read their male peers’ sexist inner thoughts masked as a research paper, short fiction or creative nonfiction.

Worse yet, their teachers and professors will undoubtedly defend them in the name of creative freedom.

I recently spoke with a friend, not named for her safety, about her latest experience being made to read a male classmate’s grotesquely offensive writ-

ing. The piece in question featured rants against “b-tches” who didn’t understand the narrator’s jokes and graphic, explicit details about his cocaine-addled genitalia. To top it all off, the author named the narrator after himself and apparently professes to only write creative nonfiction.

When my friend brought up her discomfort both in class and with her professor privately, she was told that the author had every right to write whatever he wanted, as it was a fiction seminar.

Flawed characters make for good writing. Perfectly moral characters are the most unrealistic of all, and boring to boot. But encouraging — or at the most passive level, allowing — sexist or otherwise bigoted characters to be written uncritically is to say that those

characters are uncritically relatable.

Let’s reiterate that NSVRC statistic: one in four women will experience sexual harassment by the age of 18.

Let’s add on: one in five women (and one in 71 men) will be raped in his or her lifetime. One in five women is sexually assaulted while in college. In eight out of 10 of those cases, the rapist is known to the victim.

Obviously, not every sexist is a rapist. Not every misguided dude in your writing seminar will hurt you. But there is violence in being made to read sexist rants and descriptions of your classmates’ genitalia that you never asked for and that make you uncomfortable. Professors allowing this are allowing hateful thoughts and actions to proliferate and normalize.

If rape culture is to end, it must be acknowledged for what it is. Moreover, it has to be stopped. Impetus can’t be put on women to call it out — we are doing so, and being told that creative writing makes it okay. So step up, and stop writing sexism and sexual violence.

Email Hailey Nuthals at hnuthals@nyunews.com.

CULTURE

Fashion Photographers Deserve Fair Pay

By CARINE ZAMBRANO Deputy Opinion Editor

Street style has always been controversial in the fashion industry. The outfits seen at the doors of Fashion Week shows are almost, if not entirely, as influential as the clothes models wear on the catwalk. However, the legitimacy of the photos has always been questioned: were people paid to wear those clothes? And were the photographers paid for those photos?

Last weekend, a well-known anonymous group of street style photographers, who go by “The Photographers,” answered the latter question, starting the #NoFreePhotos movement. According to the photographers, digital influencers often post their copyright-protected photos on social media without paying any revenue. If they continue this practice, the photographers will begin to send cease and desist letters; and, if the influencers fail to address the copyright infringement, photographers will comment the hashtag on the pictures as a form of social shaming. However, the movement’s ultimate goal is to address fashion’s underlying issue: the frequent dismissal of both influencers’ and the photographers’ jobs

SUBMITTING TO

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through unfair or absent payments.

According to The Fashion Law, to fulfill their contract to brands and retailers, influencers must post pictures to persuade their followers to buy sponsored clothes. The brands, however, do not allocate “funds for influencers’ usages of street style photographers’ photos in furtherance of partnership endorsement deals.”

This imposes financial difficulties on the influencers which, in turn, hurts the photographers.

BryanBoy, an influencer who came forward after #NoFreePhotos, stated that as photographers do not get their fair share from brand deals, influencers do not receive anything either. He claimed he and his colleagues do not even get paid to wear their striking street style outfits and only maintain a relationship with brands for the sake of remaining relevant in the industry. Back in 2014, BryanBoy told

Fashionista about the enormous economic burden Fashion Month put on influencers, reinforcing that fashion’s negligence toward both influencers and photographers is a well-established practice in the industry.

The fashion world is often accused of not recognizing the labor of employees in the lower ranks of its hierarchy. In 2011, many unpaid interns sued Condé Nast, Burberry, Gucci and other world-renowned brands, claiming they were doing work worthy of an entry-level position without receiving remuneration. #NoFreePhotos is a step in the right direction, but it is not enough. Photographers must be recognized and paid for their photos.

However, the light should not be so heavy on the influencers, but on their sponsoring brands instead. The top of the fashion world must recognize that it cannot function without the pivotal work of all the employees involved in the industry. The internet already brought the mighty magazine industry down because of similar instances; if the fashion world fails to look back on its practices and customs, the industry may not be so relevant in the future.

Email Carine Zambrano at czambrano@nyunews.com.

NYUAD’s Continual Issues Are Troubling

For years, NYU Abu Dhabi has been associated with controversy due to the inhumane means by which the campus was built.

Eventually, NYU apologized for looking the other way while people who built the campus were underpaid and underfed. If this was not bad enough, this publication is now reporting that multiple teachers and a student have been discriminated against in the country due to religious beliefs and academic work. In light of these new revelations, NYU must decide whether it wants to be the university of diversity, equity and inclusion that it claims to be. The days of turning a blind eye are over.

In 2007, John Sexton, NYU president at the time, announced the opening of the Abu Dhabi campus. Sexton claimed the new campus would be the product of “a shared understanding of the essential roles and challenges of higher education in the 21st century” between the university and the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Furthermore, he vowed the new campus would adhere to NYU’s values of equality and inclusion, even issuing labor protections. However, in 2014, The New York Times revealed Abu Dhabi’s construction workers were not only working 11 to 12 hours a day, they were being underpaid as well. Some workers were even arrested, beaten and deported after protesting these conditions. Three years later, it has been revealed that multiple professors and a student have been denied visas and permits due to either their religion or their academic work.

This is a blatant violation of freedom of religion, freedom of speech and everything this university stands for.

Amid all this, it is time that NYU more explicitly addresses the issues that are present in its Abu Dhabi campus. Not forcefully vocalizing opposition to the academic restriction of students and professors is simply unacceptable, even if the issue is out of the university’s jurisdiction. As an exceptionally large university with more than 50,000 students, NYU should more actively support its community members. This includes students and staff of Abu Dhabi, where its $1 billion campus brought in the first wave of development to the largely deserted Saadiyat Island. This has been going on for years, and NYU seems satisfied in accepting that this is a government issue, entirely out of its control. What NYU neglects to mention is that a member of the Board of Trustees, Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak, is also Abu Dhabi’s chairman of the Executive Affairs Authority. Al Mubarak was essential in obtaining the funding for NYUAD, so obviously he holds power.

If NYU truly is a global campus, then the values that this university lives by do not get to change depending on the regions in which its campuses are located. This university advertises itself as a place deeply committed to diversity, equity and inclusion.

Therefore, the administration must speak out against the blatant discrimination of the NYU family by the United Arab Emirates government. If this is truly entirely out of NYU’s hands, then one can only wonder why NYU is continuing to reside in and contribute to Abu Dhabi in the first place.

Email the WSN Editorial Board at opinion@nyunews.com.

EDITORIAL BOARD: Andrew Heying (Chair), Adryan Barlia (Co-chair), Carine Zambrano (Co-chair) STAFF PHOTO BY POLINA BUCHAK

Send mail to: 75 Third Ave. #SB07, New York, N.Y. 10003 or email: opinion@nyunews.com WSN welcomes letters to the editor, opinion pieces and articles relevant to the NYU community, or in response to articles. Letters should be less than 450 words. All submissions must be typed or emailed and must include the author’s name, address and phone number. Members of the NYU community must include a year and school or job title.

WSN does not print unsigned letters or editorials. WSN reserves the right to reject any submission and edit accepted submissions in any and all ways. With the exception of the staff editorial, opinions expressed on the editorial pages are not necessarily those of WSN, and our publication of opinions is not an endorsement of them.

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WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS | MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2017 | NYUNEWS.COM

SPORTS

EDITED BY MADDIE HOWARD SPORTS@NYUNEWS.COM

Rookie of the Week: Men’s Soccer Standout Maxi Rodriguez

By NALANI OGAWA Contributing Writer

Standout freshman and LS student Maxi Rodriguez has had no problem transitioning from the beach, relaxed West Coast to New York’s bustling concrete jungle. Rodriguez grew up in both Tijuana and San Diego, subsequently learning to interact with people from all walks of life. Rodriguez was drawn to NYU by the diverse and lively environment that he feels parallels his experiences growing up.

“Being in New York has been everything I dreamed of and more,” Rodriguez said. “Although the city is huge, you can still feel NYU’s tightknit community, which has helped tremendously in adjusting to this new place. Everyday I am reminded that this school is unlike any other — NYU has so much more to offer

besides great academics.”

However, academics are something that Rodriguez takes very seriously. As a student in the LS program, Rodriguez plans to attend law school post graduation. So far, Rodriguez has been juggling soccer and his studies with limited stress.

“Being disciplined about managing your time is crucial for any student athlete,” Rodriguez said.

“When I play soccer, I want to focus on my game and the team, not on an impending homework load.”

His tenacious drive to always work hard translates onto the field.

Rodriguez has always had an offensive mindset, and although he is normally found in the center midfield, Rodriguez is comfortable in any attacking position. Confident in his footwork, he favors one-versusone scenarios, especially when put on the outside.

It is no surprise that Rodriguez already has three goals under his belt, having finished these opportunities by tracking his teammates’ shots and committing everything to getting his foot on the ball. Rodriguez’s

PHOTO BY NALANI OGAWA

NYU standout freshman soccer player and LS student Maxi Rodriguez has earned a respectable position on the team playing center midfield.

Wrestling Season Preview

By ALICE LI Contributing Writer

Collegiate wrestling is no easy grapple, but NYU Wrestling is jumping into the hustle and kicking into high gear in preparation for the upcoming season’s dual meets and tournaments. Last season marked the send-off of great assets in wrestlers, but the team is looking forward to building yet another great year on the mat.

Stern sophomore Sean Lyons looks back at last season’s victories and still feels the thrill of the season’s highlights, and rejoices in NYU wrestling history being made. From cheering on his teammates to getting riled up for anticipated matches, Lyons’ experiences from last season carry over as excitement for this season.

“I am very excited for this upcoming season that is just around the corner,” he said.

“We had a great year as a team overall last year. We had a good showing at our

regional tournament and qualified four guys for nationals: John Messinger and Nathan Pike, now graduated, and Jacob Donato and Blaise Benderoth, both returning.

The most exciting part was definitely getting to see Nathan Pike win a national title.

I think almost every person who has been attached to this program before was following that match. It was great to see Nathan and Blaise be named All-Americans.”

Lyons is confident in the influx of freshmen and transfers who are joining the team this year, and hopes to bask in the team spirit that is synonymous with NYU wrestling’s close-knit team.

“I’m looking forward mostly to being back with the squad of teammates again,” Lyons said.

“We have a lot of great talent coming in with our freshman and transfers that will be interesting to see how it all plays out. I really just can’t wait for the sense of camaraderie that builds through the long days

of wrestling season.”

SPS senior Raymond Jazikoff is returning as a captain this semester, and wants to make the most of his last season wrestling with his NYU teammates. He is optimistic regard-

“

I really just can’t wait for the sense of camaraderie that builds through the long days of wrestling season SEAN LYONS

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ing this season, and plans on holding onto these fleeting memories after taking it all in one last time. “[I have] been working hard during the summer and it’s my senior year so it’s going to be the last time wrestling for NYU,” Jazikoff said. “I am ready to go out there and give it my all. [A highlight] from last year was the team performance at UAAs. We did an awesome job and we will win it again this year. This season I’m looking forward to enjoying everything about wrestling, even the little things.

We have high goals this year and we are all ready to win.”

The team will begin their season on Saturday, Nov. 4 at the Monarch Tournament hosted by King’s College.

COURTESY OF NYU ATHLETICS

NYU’s wrestling season will kick off its season on Nov. 4 at the Monarch Tournament hosted by King’s College.

Email Alice Li at sports@nyunews.com.

exceptional performances has undoubtedly contributed to the men’s undefeated record.

Stern junior Ricardo Mitrano and CAS senior Tristan Medios-Simon, team captains, have nothing but praise for the young player.

“His ability to find the net and combine with his teammates has been a great asset during games,” Mitrano said.

“Maxi is a passionate player who loves to attack with the ball,” Medios-Simon said. “I know his future at NYU will be bright.”

One of Rodriguez’s most distinguishable skills as a player is his ability to make an impact the second he is subbed into a match. Rodriguez admits that he was worried about his size compared to his older collegiate competitors, but his spatial awareness and composure on the ball allows him to easily

match the game’s fast paced tempo. Rodriguez is, however, incredibly humble and praises the upperclassmen on the team for his success.

“I look up to the guys on the team who are physically dominant,” Rodriguez said. “Not because of their size, but because they push me in practice, so that I can hold my own against players twice my size in games.”

Rodriguez believes the team’s close bond has been the foundation of their success.

“We are always together,” Rodriguez said. “We eat together, we walk to class together, we are like one happy family. It is rather cute. I am excited to see what the future has in store for us.”

Email Nalani Ogawa at sports@nyunews.com.

Trump Fights With Pros

By TORI BIANCO Contributing Writer

In September 2016, the national anthem rang out across the Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. While the entire stadium stood, Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers kneeled with teammate Eric Reid in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. This subtle act of defiance caused national uproar. When asked why he took a knee with Colin Kaepernick, Reed justified his actions by declaring, “I refuse to be one of those people who watches injustices [of the systematic oppression against people of color] yet does nothing.” This was in 2016. A year later, the movement has grown tremendously in response to the lack of punishment for police brutality. National Football League players, collegiate athletes, cheerleaders and more have joined the protest movement by taking a knee, standing with their arms locked or not even coming out onto the field while the national anthem is playing before sporting events. They are using their privilege as a platform.

United States President Donald Trump was quick to voice his negative opinions about the athletes kneeling.

During a speech in Alabama, he proceeded to call Kaepernick and other protestors “sons of bitches.” Via Twitter, Trump insulted the NFL and accused them of losing popularity. He also implied that discrimination based on political views is okay after claiming that players taking a knee should be fired. However, the opposite occurred, and some owners even joining their players in the resistance.

Kneeling during the national anthem was never about Trump and his presidency until Trump made it so.

Protests and gestures against systematic oppression and racism in America have been going on since the U.S. began and are rights guaranteed by the First Amendment. During the 1968 Olympics, sprinters John Carlos

VIA TWITTER.COM

Thirty players from Kaepernick’s former team, the San Francisco 49ers, kneel during the national anthem before their game on Oct. 1. and Tommie Smith stood together on the podium at the awards ceremony as the national anthem played, and held their fists in the air to show support of the black power movement.

These gold and bronze medal winners were not protesting the Olympics — through their gesture, they were drawing attention to racism in America on a global stage. Just like these Olympians, athletes now are taking a knee not to protest the flag or the armed forces that fought for it, but rather, to protest the institutional racism that continues to exist in the country it stands for.

National Basketball Association player Steph Curry recently expressed his disinterest in visiting the White House, a tradition for championship winning teams, and thus Trump revoked his invite. Other athletes spoke out in support of Curry and the Golden State Warriors. LeBron James responded in a tweet stating that Trump is a bum and how a visit to the White House is no longer an honor with him in it. Kobe Bryant responded as well, criticizing Trump for creating division and hatred that will never Make America Great Again. Although the Golden State Warriors will now not be visiting the White House, they will still visit Washington D.C. to celebrate equality, diversity and inclusion.

Email Tori Bianco at sports@nyunews.com.

NYUNEWS.COM | MONDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2017 | WASHINGTON SQUARE NEWS

SPORTS

EDITED BY MADDIE HOWARD SPORTS@NYUNEWS.COM

WEEKLY SPORTS UPDATE Sept. 23 to Sept. 30

By TYLER CREWS Contributing Writer

Men’s Cross Country

Women’s Soccer NYU women’s soccer played two games away this week, bringing home a win from the College of Staten Island and falling short in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania against Carnegie Mellon University.

On Wednesday, Sept. 27, the women beat College of Staten Island with a score of 3-0.

The Violets earned an early victory, scoring all three goals in the first half. NYU’s strong defense only allowed one shot on goal the entire game, contributing to its fourth consecutive shutout.

On Saturday, Sept. 30, the team lost its shutout streak in a match against Carnegie Mellon, walking away with a 0-1 defeat. Carnegie Mellon scored within the first five minutes of the match, and NYU fought back for the rest of the game, but unfortunately could not deliver.

This moved the Violets’ record to 5-3-1.

Women’s soccer plays away again against Rutgers-Newark on Monday, Oct. 2 at 7:30 p.m.

The women’s team also made its return at the Paul Short Invitational and posted a top 10 finish in the College Women Brown 6K race. The competition consisted of 20 teams, with a combination of Division II and Division III runners. The Violets left with a score of 257, six points behind Oberlin College, which came in ninth place.

SPS junior Sabrina Herrmann finished in 10th place out of 167 runners with a time of 22:14.

Men’s Soccer The Violets experienced a rough week, killing their winning streak with two losses at Drew University and Carnegie Mellon University.

On Tuesday, Sept. 26, the men traveled to Madison, New Jersey to play Drew, a team that was also undefeated. Drew scored three goals in the first half, and NYU rallied for a goal in the second half. Ultimately, the Violets were not playing their best game and left with a 1-3 defeat.

On Saturday, Sept. 30, the team returned to action and faced another challenging team at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. While the Violets lost with a score of 1-3, they became the third team to score on Carnegie Mellon this season.

The men will be back home at Gaelic Park on Tuesday, Oct. 3,

Last Week’s Good, Bad and Ugly

playing New Jersey City University at 7:30 p.m.

The men’s cross country team returned after about 20 days without competing on Friday, Sept. 29 at Lehigh University’s Paul Short Invitational. The Violets finished sixth out of 24 teams with a total of 230 points, coming close to fifth place winner St. Lawrence University.

Individually, there were 206 runners competing, and NYU’s very own CAS senior Neil Saddler finished in the top 10, taking ninth place with a time of 25:12 in the 8K race.

Men’s cross country competes next at the Highlander Invitational at Houghton College on Oct. 7.

Women’s Cross Country

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Women’s Volleyball On Saturday, Sept. 30, the women’s volleyball team participated in the first UAA Round Robin tournament, hosted at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio.

NYU lost both of its matches on Saturday against Washington University in St. Louis and Carnegie Mellon University. The Violets lost in three sets against Washington University in St. Louis, with final scores of 25-17, 25-16 and 25-13.

The women played a four set match against Carnegie Mellon, which was extremely close, but a loss as well. With multiple ties throughout the sets, NYU was defeated with scores of 25-18, 23-25, 25-19 and 25-23.

NYU plays its third match of the Round Robin on Sunday, Oct. 1 against host team Case Western Reserve University.

Email Tyler Crews at sports@nyunews.com..

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COURTESY OF NYU ATHLETICS

This week’s The Good, The Bad and The Ugly includes Tony Romo, Rick Pitino and money laundering from coaches.

By AUSTIN DAY Contributing Writer The Good: Romo is back, this time from the top rope.

Tony Romo has found a way back into America’s good graces.

He finally gets to predict when Jay Cutler and Co. will throw an interception instead of having all of America do it for him.

Oh, how the tables have turned.

I seem to be in the minority on this case because I can’t jump on the bandwagon and say I’m a fan.

He’s just a little too nerdy, and his constant urging for certain quarterbacks to make certain decisions annoys me.

He’s not your bro’s bro in the booth, and he delivers his comments like he has to go to the bathroom but wants to squeeze out one last sentence before he bolts. Nonetheless, I have to acknowledge that it is way more fun having him call out route trees and blitz schemes before they unfold. That insight brings a whole new side to the fan’s viewing experience. All I need now is for him to team up with Jon Gruden for an epic booth breakdown.

I guarantee those two can argue over every variation of “Spider 2 Y Banana” that exists, and THAT is what we need.

The Bad: Unlucky scandal number Three for Rick Pitino.

Morty voice: “Oh geez, Rick.”

As of last week, former Louisville Men’s Basketball Head Coach Rick Pitino lost his job amid one of the bigger, and more obvious, college basketball scandals in recent years.

You probably heard about it — the trail from shoe company, to college, to Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) team, to player’s parents.

Simple right? Anyway, The Ugly

will explain that one.

But the past has been a rocky road for Pitino and Louisville that includes an extortion attempt against himself in 2010 and a spree of stripper parties in 2015 for his players and recruits. While seemingly applying the “Water Boy”-esque “what momma don’t know don’t hurt” tactic, he was able to skirt by

ago, it was to follow the brand.

Adidas has been singled out as the company that sits as the middleman in the scandal. They pay certain schools, like Louisville, to be the sole gear producer for all sports. Every athlete is decked out in Adidas from head to toe. Then, they start their own feeder-league, like an AAU league, except you

“

There are four things in this world we have not fully explored: the deep sea, the expansive universe, the complex mind and the paper trail from big brands to college athletes.

”

on only institution-imposed sanctions with no loss of wins or fines from the NCAA. And in college basketball, this is all that matters.

The Ugly: The secret money trail in basketball is not so secret.

There are four things in this world we have not fully explored: the deep sea, the expansive universe, the complex mind and the paper trail from big brands to college athletes.

Well, that was before the Federal Bureau of Investigation came out with a slew of federal bribery and fraud charges last week. Multiple coaches from some of college basketball’s biggest schools were highlighted as having funneled money to players, families and summer league coaches in return for recruits.

If I learned anything from watching “He Got Game” as a kid or reading “The Last Shot” a few years

have to be invited. Yup, you guessed it: the players are decked out in Adidas gear, coaches are decked out in Adidas gear, travel is paid for and kids become Adidas athletes. Follow me now — then the players are persuaded, typically in a monetary manner, to continue going to Adidas schools, finalizing the deal.

A nice quid pro quo for all parties involved, I must say. Best teams, best players, best visibility.

I can’t believe Adidas would get muddy in such a sacrosanct process though. I just can’t. Although it should be noted that both Nike and Under Armour both have individual feeder-leagues and so called all-sport deals with Power Five schools. If 1+1=3, well, you can follow my drift.

Email Austin Day at sports@nyunews.com.

Jaheem

By JEMIMA MCEVOY

UNDER THE ARCH WSN’S CREATIVE WRITING BLOG

COME TO OUR SUNDAY PITCH MEETINGS 75 3RD AVE, #SB07 | 3:30 P.M.

“You haven’t missed much.

It’s been raining non-stop for the last two weeks.”

I squirmed a little in the cold metal chair, wondering whether it had been an appropriate thing to say.

Jaheem, the boy sitting opposite me, took in the statement with a cool disregard. It seemed as though he barely even registered what I said; the corners of his lips turning up slightly as he leaned backwards in his chair on the other side of the glass. The gentle, orange glow reflected a halo onto the separation between us, and I couldn’t help but think about how he was beautiful.

Big, beautiful, black eyes, beautiful dark, dark skin. A beautiful smile that made me sad. His skin was cutting against the “danger” colour of his clothes, but he didn’t seem dangerous.

He was so small.

“I don’t like wearing this,” he put his thin fingers onto his temples and rubbed in a delicate, circular movement.

I watched in uncomfortable silence for a moment, thinking of the right thing to say.

Knowing I couldn’t promise release and I couldn’t truthfully say that he’d be wearing sweatpants or a sports shirt any time soon. I don’t like to lie to my clients, but I hate to incite false hope.

He raised his eyes so they were directly in line with my own—it was unsettling.

Not because I was afraid of him, but because the way he looked at me without faltering made me think that he knew more about myself than I did. Another thing that scared me was knowing that he did it and not knowing why. I didn’t know what to say so I shook my head and flitted attention back down to my notepad which sat undisturbed on the grey plastic table below my damp palms.

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