T
PURCHASE H E INDEPENDENT
ISSUE 269 SEPTEMBER 13, 2012
y o u r. i n d y @ g m a i l . c o m editor-in-chief:
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR
layout editor:
writers:
Greetings, fellow Purchase students! I hope everyone had a fantastic summer, and I hope everyone’s semester is even better than their summer. We have a few tricks up our sleeve that you guys will get to see in the upcoming months. For now, I would like to introduce our new layout editor, Melissa Foster. She’s a wonderful human being, and I am incredibly excited to work with her, and have all of you see her design. Remember, it’s never too late to get involved on campus! Join the club you’ve been meaning to join, check out a meeting for a service, submit an article to one of the publications. Lastly, remember to register to vote! Stay Classy.
Ró i sí n McCarty M el i ssa Fos ter Ja k e Mu r p hy D yl a n G reen A l yc e Pelleg rin o M i k e Relu zco N o el l e Moore Ste ph a n ie Sp en cer La u r a Meltzer A l ex Wojcik print manager: Tommy Roach cover photo by: Jake Mur phy web design by: Tommy Roach Cindy Mack
The Purchase Independent is a non-profit news magazine, paid for by the Mandatory Student Activity fee. We welcome and encourage submissions from readers. The Independent is a forum for campus issues and events, to give students the voice they deserve. Letters, articles, event photography and event listings are welcomed. The deadline for submissions is every Friday before midnight, and accepted pieces will be published the following Thursday. Publication of submissions is not guaranteed, but subject to the discretion of the editors. No anonymous submissions will be considered, but we will accept use of pseudonyms on a case-by-case basis. Send all submissions and inquiries to your. indy@gmail.com. Send questions to Madame Query at formspring.me/madamequery. Back page quotes can be submitted to formspring. me/indybackpage or put in the Back Page Box that hangs on the office door. Our office is located on the first floor of Campus Center North, room 1011. Staff meetings are held in the office every Monday night at 9:30; anyone is welcome.
2
y o u r. i n d y @ g m a i l . c o m
Calling all students!
wants you!
Make The Indy YOUR paper! Write, pitch ideas, illustrate, submit backpage quotes. Meetings are on Monday nights at 9:30 in CCN 1011. For more information, email your.indy@gmail.com Submit Backpage quotes: formspring.me/indybackpage Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/purchaseindy Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/purchaseindy
3
SUMMER RECAP BY LAURA MELTZER The summer of 2012 has been filled with an array of events. From the summer Olympics to national conventions, here is a brief wrap up of the summer’s most important events:
8/25:
Commander of Apollo 11, and first man on the moon, Neil Armstrong, 82, dies from cardiovascular surgery complications. He took “one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.”
7/27-8/12:
London hosts the 2012 Summer Olympics. Team USA comes in first place with a total of 46 gold medals. USA swim team member Michael Phelps ends his record-breaking Olympic career with an 18th gold medal during the butterfly leg race.
6/26:
Screenwriter Nora Ephron dies of pneumonia from acute myeloid leukemia at the age of 71. She was most known for writing romantic comedies “When Harry Met Sally” and “Sleepless in Seattle.”
7/20:
University of Colorado grad student James E. Holmes, 24, kills 12 movie theater patrons in a midnight showing of “The Dark Night Rises” in Aurora, Co. 8/24:
On the first-year anniversary of losing his job at Hazan Imports Corp., Jeffrey Johnson, 58, targets and kills former boss Steven Ercolinoa outside of the Empire State Building. Police injure nine bystanders while trying to subdue Johnson. 8/27-8/30:
Republicans gather together in Tampa, Fl to endorse Republican nominee Mitt Romney for the 2012 candidacy. Speakers included Mike Huckabee, Ann Romney, Chris Christie, Clint Eastwood and Condoleezza Rice.
4
9/3-9/6:
North Carolina hosts the Democratic National Convention. Former President Bill Clinton, First Lady Michelle Obama, Caroline Kennedy and Vice President Joe Biden speak in support of a second-term for President Barrack Obama.
news
INTERNSHIP PROBATION BY ALYCE PELLEGRINO There have been a number of problems regarding the internship program which has resulted in the probation that is in effect this semester. Student Activities Coordinator, Stephanie Blum, sat down with me to provide some insight. “We [PSGA officers] had a meeting with the Career Development Center and The Office of Student Life to discuss the internship probation. The reason for this is people weren’t taking the internships seriously enough, it was being said that, ‘Oh you can get a PSGA internship and it’ll be an easy A,’ but that’s not supposed to be the case.” The state now feels the need to strictly enforce internship guidelines as a result of less than satifactory progress in the past. One of these stricter policies takes effect right beginning; when it comes to getting paperwork in for the internship itself. The deadline for the paperwork has always been the last day of the add/drop period. In the past there has been a certain amount of breathing room given for certain internships considering the time restraint; but no longer. “It was determined that there was an Academic Integrity problem, a Department of Labor issue, and they had to make sure that the internship was legitimate, that it was a good learning experience, and people get enough out of them,” Blum continues, “So the Career Development Center added elements to their learning contract that state that you have to do the different components and The Office of Student Life will now be meeting with all the students who are site-supervisors for the on campus PSGA internships. But the site supervisors aren’t the ones making the grades,
it’s the student’s faculty sponsors.” There are no exceptions when it comes to getting a faculty sponsor for an internship, but now it is strongly reccommended that a sponsor be from the board of study relevant to the internship. (For example, a photography intern would need a photography sponsor and so on.) Both the faculty sponsor and on site-supervisor will observe an intern’s progress for the grading at the end of the semester, however, it will be far more strict now. The number of credits an intern receives depends on how many hours of work are put in a week, as long as those hours are spent accomplishing a reasonable amount of work. If interns and on campus sites do not cooperate with the new rules, interns run the risk of failing their internships and the program runs the risk of being terminated permanently.
5
AFRO-PUNK FESTIVAL BY DYLAN GREEN Saturday, August 25th:
John Barry Park welcomed the Brooklyn community with open arms (and food trucks) to the 8th Annual Afro-Punk Festival. After an entrancing trip to the graffiti walls to see such artists as Rob Fokused, Coby Kennedy, and See One turn concrete into art; I headed over to the Red Stage and caught Brooklyn based classic punk group Cerebral Ballzy, who proceeded to thrash their bodies and melt our faces with their fast-paced, scream-o lyrics and anarchic attitude. Of all of the acts that I caught at the festival, Ballzy was certainly the closest to punk in it’s purest form; think along the lines of The Sex Pistols or Misfits and you’ll get the idea. My brains thoroughly rattled, I set out for some pizza, realizing all too late that I had to wait on line to get back into the festival. After the pizza and waiting (grumble), it was finally time for Saturday’s headliner: the afro-centric and just plains weird Erykah Badu, the “First Lady of Neo-Soul.” A blend of hiphop, pop, rock, and soul that caught on in the late 1990s and, in some cases, may have been responsible for the mixing of hip-hop, R&B, and punk that created Afro-Punk. Regardless of titles and nature, Badu put on a fine performance. Utilizing a band made up of keys, drums, and a DJ, while singing such songs as Appletree and Love of My Life, for which very special guest Yasiin Bey aka Mos Defand spit a verse to much support and screaming from the crowd. I told you. Saturday was short for me.
Sunday, August 26th:
The next day is where the full rounding of my Afro-Punk experience happened. Shoving a breakfast of whiting fish and shrimp into my mouth, I proceeded to the Green Stage to see Tess, a faux pop-rock group that reminded me of a music-for-music’s-sake version of Twisted Sister: pop-rock ballads, tight instrumentation, and fashion and hairstyles as big as lead singer Tess‘ voice. Tess served as a nice preamble for the next, and one of my favorite groups, Phony Ppl, an up and coming Brooklyn based (yes, there were a lot of these) group of guys with a sound that fuses hip-hop, rock, pop, blues, R&B, and even neo-soul into a unique sound that isn’t anywhere else on the market right now. And boy, do they know how to put on a show! Almost big-band like in nature, Ppl’s set included such songs as “If This Is How Love Feels” and “I Wish I Was A Chair”, while also paying tribute to sister group A Tribe Called Quest with a cover of their classic “Bonita Applebum.” Even the smoothly innovative grooves of Phony Ppl couldn’t prepare me for the R&B/ punk rock mix of Bad Rabbits back over at the Red Stage. A Boston based band with a penchant for coordinated stage jumps and almost seamless group coordination (beyond the fact that their music drove through hard and melodic) caught my music library completely by surprise, almost daring me not to like their polished and powerful (continued on page 15)
8
info
Purchase Late Night Coming soon on The Late Night Network
7
The ChairMAN BY Mike Reluzco Even if you haven’t been following politics, surely most of you have heard about the highlight of the Republican National Convention. Yes, it is true, Clint Eastwood seems to have gone off his rocker and mistook a chair for President Obama. The pundits were all over it, and it made Clint Eastwood seem, in the eyes of many, to be losing his mind. Clearly, the President of the United States, Barack Obama, was not in that chair. The truth, however, may surprise you. Some think Clint Eastwood’s empty chair was a metaphor for the absence of a true president, but the honest truth is, all of this arose from an error in planning. Many will tell you that it’s nearly impossible to get one’s hands on The President for an event. An even more impossible event would be to have him stand by to be roasted by conservatives. This is the reason that Clint Eastwood was so surprised that Barack Obama actually agreed to make an appearance. Only on the eve of the convention did Eastwood realize that he did not, in fact, make an appointment with The President of the United States of America, but instead made an appointment with the President, or more accurately Chairman, of the United Chairs of America, who happens to share a name with our own president. I took the liberty of speaking to the Mallory Sitz, the Secretary of Seating and liaison to other governing furniture bodies. “The Chairman was delighted to hear about Mister Eastwood’s invitation,” Seat said.
8
“As a matter of fact, it was all he would talk about for weeks.” As a staunchly conservative leader of the United Chairs, Chairman Obama was ready to throw the support of the chairs behind candidate Willard M. Romney, being the first Chairman to attend a National Convention. The nation of chairs, however, were not terribly excited about the invitation. “I have to say,” my Ikea rolling chair told me. “Chairman Obama’s ratings are at an all time low. As the extreme left-wing population of ergonomic seating grows his decisions are met with more and more disapproval.” Upon further investigation, polls show that Chairman Obama may not be taking a second term come election day, especially with the rise of the dark horse candidate Congress-stool Molly Armchair, who would be only the second female Chairman in United Chairs history. To get a final sense of Chairman Obama’s past, I was able to track down his quality inspector, who has chosen to be referred to as “Inspector 16” to maintain anonymity. “When Barack Obama came down the assembly line, I did find that he was a bit wobbly,” the Inspector said, “I was under quota that day, so I decided to let him go. I mean, it’s not like you can’t sit on him or anything.” As of now, The Chairman has refused to release his manufacturing records. So, when the day came and Chairman Obama came to the RNC, there was suddenly a
info panic-- especially on the part of Clint Eastwood. Faced with a difficult decision, Eastwood decided to pretend that President Obama was seated in the Chairman, and that he was talking to an invisible Obama-- a decision that he may have come to regret. As for the Chairman, he was absolutely mortified at the gross neglect Mr. Eastwood had for his opinion. His microphone, positioned on one of his legs, was intentionally turned off-- and even if he could be heard, the series of squeaks and groans in Seatese, the natural language of the chairs, would probably not be understood. Shortly after the disaster at the RNC, Chairman Obama released a statement, denouncing Clint Eastwood. “I don’t think there will be many chairs willing to work in Mr. Eastwood’s films from now on,” the Chairman said, “his ignorance will not be taken lightly.” Shortly after, the Chairman declared war on the United States, including the breaking of chairs in use, tipping people over in their seats, and creaking incessantly.
Message From NYPIRG BY Alex Wojcik Hello and welcome back to campus! For those of you may be unfamiliar with us, NYPIRG, the New York Public Interest Research Group, is the state’s largest and most effective student-directed organization on 20 college campuses across the state. For the past 38 years. NYPIRG builds student power through grassroots organizing and advocacy, public education, and offering students opportunities to become civically engaged to develop the skills needed to become effective student activists. As the Project Coordinator of Purchase College’s chapter of NYPIRG, I urge every member of the campus community to help build student power by registering (or re-registering) to vote before the October 12th deadline. Registering to vote is the first step to making each and every one of our voices heard on the issues that matter to us, including keeping higher education affordable and accessible, advocating for clean air and energy, promoting recycling, protecting millions of New Yorkers’ drinking water from the dangerous effects of hydraulic fracturing, educating students on consumer issues, reaching out to the hungry and homeless, and of course, getting out the student vote and creating a student voting block for change. By registering to vote, we are holding policy makers accountable to the interests of our campus community. To hear more about all of these campaigns or get involved with NYPIRG, stop our General Interest Meeting: Wednesday, September 26th at 7pm in the Stood Cinema.
9
ON TODD AKIN BY Noelle moore TRIGGER WARNING: RAPE, SEXUAL ASSAULT
As Election Day draws closer, Americans really have to start asking themselves: “Am I comfortable with the idea of this man being President?” In these remaining weeks, every political statement, opinion, and proposed policy, whether misspoken or not, becomes critical. In late August, Todd Akin, a Republican Congressman and potential senator linked to Paul Ryan, caused a great stir when he brought up the, previously unknown phenomenon of legitimate rape. “First of all, from what I understand from doctors, [pregnancy from rape] is really rare,” Akin said. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try and shut that whole thing down.” There are no “safeguards” against rapistsperm hidden within the female anatomy. Thirty one thousand American women become pregnant after being raped every year. Our bodies have evolved to make conception easier, not harder. For how incredibly evolved our physiology is, the human body cannot differentiate between what is rape and what is consensual intercourse, or what is an “illegitimate rape” or a “legitimate rape.” If a sperm comes in contact with an egg, it doesn’t matter that the sperm came from a stranger, a family member or an abusive partner. It is sperm, necessary material in order for procreation, which, in the end, is our evolutionary purpose and ultimate goal. The frightening part about Akin’s seemingly nonsensical rant is how it ties into the Republican candidates, particularly Romney’s running mate. Although Paul Ryan has rejected and tried
10
to distance himself and the campaign from Akin’s outburst of “legitimate rape,” the controversy has brought many of Ryan’s votes on subjects concerning rape and his tendency for uncomfortably similar terminology to center stage. Not only did he refer to rape as “a method of conception,” but he was an advocate for the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act, which sought to restrict government funding for abortions to instances of “an act of forcible rape.” The terms “forcible rape” and “legitimate rape” are contradictory. Rape is defined as “the unlawful compelling of a person through physical force or duress to have sexual intercourse” or “any act of sexual intercourse that is forced upon a person.” It is forcible by definition. You don’t have to be a woman to be raped. As President Obama declared in response to the controversy surrounding Akin’s statements, “Rape is rape. And the idea that we should be parsing and qualifying and slicing what types of rape we are talking about doesn’t make sense to the American people.” Obama went on to state his own personal discomfort with the whole issue with, “So what I think these comments do underscore is why we shouldn’t have a bunch of politicians, a majority of whom are men, making health care decisions on behalf of women.” Statements like these broadcasted by Akin and Ryan can prove to be the turning point in elections that otherwise would have been very close. This is a very important election year, not just for Republicans or Democrats, men or women, but for Americans.
news
LUKE 24 VS. 47 BY MIKE RELUZCO “If I had a serum, it wouldn’t mean anything to you unless you admitted to yourself that you have a disease.” That’s what the men outside of student services told me this Monday, and I suppose he’s right—but apparently we’re all diseased. When asked, the men preaching to the student body told me they did not represent any particular denomination of Christianity, and upon further investigation, they are right. They are affiliated with an organization called Luke 24 vs. 47. I stepped up to the preachers with the utmost of sincerity that day, and asked them a few questions. Clearly, I have been misinformed as to the nature of Christianity throughout the entirety of my life. I was told we are all sinners, a ‘truth’ put forth by the Bible, but as I have been told, there is no such thing as a righteous man. “To be a friend of the world is to be a friend of the devil.” All it takes is one sin. Just one. Then, when the day of Judgment comes, those who know Christ will be brought to salvation, and the rest to gnashing teeth and eternal destruction in Hell. Up until now, I had all my hopes up. I am a good man. I spend my time in happiness, but as it would seem, I live a life of vice and evil—I cannot be admitted to Heaven, as I am, indeed a friend of the world. So, what do I do? According to the man I spoke to, all I need is to accept Christ as The Lord. So then, the question arises—who are these
people to tell me who I am. At the bottom of each sign these people held, I saw one thing: youaresinners.com. According to a young man I spoke to outside of the little rally in the lawn the M.O. of the group in question is this: preach until somebody hits them. Suddenly, it all made sense. These men truly are not friends of the world, but instead enemies of all that they stand for. They want your attention, they want your anger, and they want to show the world that everybody on this college campus who they preach against are, in fact, sinners. Luke 24 vs. 47 will come back again. They always do. So as an atheist, a drinker, a smoker, and a sinner, this is my request to you: Don’t yell. Don’t instigate. Let them wallow in their own selfrighteousness. Their Bible has something to say about them, as a matter of fact. “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.” (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)
11
Shootings AND THE MEDIA BY Stephanie Spencer This summer has been truly strange in regards to the cluster of shootings that have taken place in such a short amount of time, not only that, but the media coverage and varying public reactions to these murderers. What is our country’s fascination with sick men who take it upon themselves to destroy and scar the lives of dozens of people? Whether we like it or not, we have glorified the actions of these men. Plastering their faces across CNN and The New York Times instead of the faces of the victims makes a distinct point that we’re more interested in the twisted story of this man than the unfortunate death of your loved one. Let’s face it, it’s really pathetic when the only way to find out about a victim is when you see chain posts on Facebook talking about the boyfriend who died as a result of shielding his girlfriend from the gunfire on Colorado. Where are our priorities as moral human beings? Unfortunately they’re in the quick click of a “Like” button. That’s how we show our support. In many ways, we have been programmed this way. America as a country thrives on rage, and have for our entire history. Our ancestors came from Europe and slyly stripped the newfound land from its previous occupants by murdering the men and raping their women, and then we had the gall to call them the savages. We continue to fight for unregulated gun laws that in actuality were merely a product of its time. Plain and simple, no one needs a semiautomatic weapon to protect their land from intruders anymore. No one will ever have to go all
12
Scarface and murder a large number of people at once. Whether it’s the subject of gun violence, or the political violence that is being fought against women for the right over their own bodies, we inflict violence on each other constantly. However, our country’s history is founded on this type of senseless violence and in many ways support it as “tradition,” hence our fascination with people who exercise that hostility. We are also fascinated by the seemingly normal lives many of these murderers had prior to their shooting sprees. These murderers weren’t designed in an evil laboratory; they were born in your neighborhood and went to school with your children. They shared the same school bus, and worked in the same office as your wife. Knowingly or not, the media leaches off of that fear, so much so that eventually you’re sitting in class wondering if the white kid with the shaved head and Doc Martens is going to bring an AK-47 one-day. Is it counterproductive judging? Absolutely. Have we been programmed to do it? Yes. Whether you want to believe it in yourself or not, there is a small thrill in knowing that these shooters were just like everyone else. Not to say that this means you condone what they did, but the slightest ability to relate to someone who did something so vile is dangerously seductive, therefore we want to learn more about them. It’s not necessarily “sick,” it’s just your mind submitting to its more basic animalistic curiosity. Isn’t it a great way for America to show
news off the ruthlessness of its legal system? Of course our country wants to broadcast that we are always willing to fight fire with fire. You murdered someone? We’ll show you that what you did was wrong by giving you a lethal injection, a system that looks painless, although the injected poison is wreaking havoc on the person’s insides. We don’t see the pain, which makes it okay. A lot of the time our system fails to rehabilitate these killers before they cause harm. Many of these shooters had an extensive history of mental illness and simply fell through the cracks until they did something awful, and only then did the system swiftly scoop them up and deal with them. We’re more interested in fighting the disease as apposed to searching for the medicine to prevent it. This is not in anyway supporting or making excuses for these shooters. Senseless crimes were committed that robbed innocent people of their loved ones. What I am saying, however, is that in order to put these incidents in perspective, we have to look at our societal values and morals. We have to turn the mirror on ourselves and accept the fact that we can’t tell someone to not kill, but then give them all the necessary tools to do it.
RABBIS RESIST NEW LAW BY JAKE MURPHY Many religions around the world have certain traditions, laws, and guidelines for followers to abide by. All religions have their weird traditions, but maybe not as weird as this one. Earlier this week in New York City, Orthodox rabbis publicly said that if a new law proposing the requirement of parental consent for a religious circumcision is enacted, they will ignore it. A circumcision is part of a Jewish tradition called “metzitzah b’peh” or a “bris.” During this ritual, the foreskin is cut off the infant’s penis, and Orthodox rabbis use their mouths to stop the bleeding. The law was proposed when the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene stated that 11 infants have contracted the Herpes Simplex Virus. Two infants have died and two have irreversible brain damage. Rabbis say they will still not abide by the law and continue to practice the way they have. The United Jewish Organization of Williamsburg in Brooklyn stated that the research was conducted poorly, and isn’t well supported. They claim that the tradition is safe and is performed thousands of times a year around the world. Most reformed rabbis today do not use their mouths to remove the blood, yet many Orthodox rabbis in the Hassidic communities still practice the “old fashioned way.” The law now requires that the parents of an infant awaiting a bris be notified whether or not the rabbi will remove the blood by mouth. This will be called for a vote on September 13th by the city’s Health Department with most Orthodox rabbis opposing it.
13
O . A. P. I .A. ME E T I NG
A PERTU RE MEETING
CCN 1016 at 10pm
Stood Cinema at 10pm
Thursday, September 13th
TRANSACTION MEETING Thursday, September 13th Student Center Cinema at 10pm
Tuesday, September 18th
PUSH
Tuesday, September 18th CCN 0016 at 8pm
C omple x uality
S.O.C.A. Presents The Red Carpet Affair Friday, September 14th Main Stage 9pm
Hillel Shabbat Dinner Friday, September 14th CCN 1002 from 6 to 9pm
Dog Leather / Runny
Saturday, September 15th Whitson’s at 8pm
History Club Meeting
Monday, September 17th CCN 1002 at 7pm
PURCHASE COMICS UNITED
Tuesday, September 18th CCN 1002 at 7pm
Latinos Unidos
Tuesday, September 18th CCN 0016 at 10pm
14
Tuesday, September 18th Stood Cinema at 10pm
PHILOSOPHY SOCIETY
Wednesday, September 19th ADM Building 1001 at 5pm
Anime Club
Wednesday, September 19th CCN 1002 at 8pm
LGBTQU
Wednesday, September 19th Stood Cinema at 10pm
ANDY POP “No Choice” RELEASE
Wednesday, September 20th Stood Main stage at 9pm
T ransaction
Thursday, September 20th Stood Cinema
events
(continued from page 15)
O.A.P.I.A.’s
LITTLE BLACK BOOK Thursday, September 20th Stood Mainstage at 10pm
P urchase C ollege B rouhaha Saturday, September 15th W2 Parking Lot Music, Competition and Go Karts
MORRISON BROOK RELEASE SHOW
Saturday, September 22nd Student Center Whitson’s
Hip Hop Club Party
S aturday, S eptember 2 2 nd Stood Main Stage
sound. The closer of Sunday night was the eccentric and soulful Janelle Monae, whose set was electric. Getting the crowd involved in rowdy call and response segments and tributes to the Jackson 5 before serenading the crowd with her singles like “Tightrope” and “Sincerely Jane” before ending with a mammoth impromptu scat session peppered with audience participation. Monae commanded us to make a human wave. We complied. It was awesome. At the end of it all, not only was I turned on to new music in the form of Bad Rabbits and Janelle Monae, among others, but I was informed of a collaboration of music and lifestyles that I didn’t even realize existed. Punk and hip-hop symbolize more of the same things than we give them credit for: defiance of authority, creative individuality, freedom, etc. But the Afro-Punk Festival was a very public way to introduce the afro-centric sub-genre to all races, genders, cultures, creeds, colors, and even languages in the Brooklyn community and beyond. If only I had remembered to bring my studded vest and fedora.
15
SUBMIT BACK PAGE QUOTES VIA THE BOX OUTSIDE CCN 1011 OR ON THE WEB AT: HTTP://FORMSPRING.ME/INDYBACKPAGE
*some quotes have been rewritten for legibility or to preserve the anonymity of the submitter