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Changes to Title IX Enact a Strict Burden of Proof
Realities of Hybrid Learning
September 16, 2020 VOLUME XL, ISSUE 15 Online-Only Edition
Fordham Offers New Chosen Name Policy
By THE NEWS DESK
By KAT EHRING Contributing Writer
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) released changes to the regulations under Title IX, the civil rights statute that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex at federally funded institutions. The changes were made on May 6, 2020 — the first major change ever on the issue of sexual harassment under Title IX. Orientation leaders and orientation captains were informed of the Title IX changes during orientation training. Campus Assault and Relationship Education (CARE) is always a session included at orientation training that discusses Title IX. Keith Eldredge, dean of students at Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC), held a Q&A-style information session to inform students of the changes. “The changes are cowardly,” Orientation Captain Robert Sundstrom, FCLC ’22, said. “I think it’s another excuse for the Trump administration to roll back Obama protections put in place.” The major change to Title IX is the repeal of the “Dear Colleague Letter,” which required colleges to use a “preponderance of evidence” standard in proceedings to determine whether the offender is guilty of sexual assault. The “Dear Colleague Letter” was added in 2011 under former U.S. President Barack Obama. The standard equalizes the “quality” of evidence to the “amount” of evidence provided on behalf of the victim and offender. This standard strengthes the effectivity of the college’s response to sexual assault cases, which encourages students to report their incidents of sexual assault. see TITLE IX page 7
see EXPECTATIONS page 12 GABE SAMANDI (ABOVE) AND MAGGIE MCNAMARA (BELOW)/THE OBSERVER
Fordham will now offer a Chosen Name Policy, which states that Fordham students can have their preferred name on Fordham documents, transcripts, ID cards and Blackboard without having to legally change their name. According to an email from Chief Diversity Officer Rafael Zapata on Aug. 31, students may now submit a request via their MyFordham account to use a name different from their legal one in places “where it is legally and operationally permissible.” Zapata wrote: “The passage of this policy originated with students, and was made possible through the thoughtful and active engagement of students, faculty and staff throughout the University.” Kiernan Westrick, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’21, talked about his first years at Fordham as a transgender student. He said he experienced discomfort to the point of not completing assignments when dealing with professors using Blackboard discussion boards because he did not want other students to know his deadname. With the creation of a policy where transgender and gender-nonconforming (TGNC) students are able to choose what name appears on sites like Blackboard, future conflicts like Westrick’s can be avoided. Especially now that almost all of Fordham’s education is virtual, situations such as Westrick’s are likely to become even more pronounced. Manon McCollum, FCLC ’24, said that all of his experiences with Zapata and other Fordham staff have been very positive and reassuring, but he said he wished there was more latitude for transgender students to be with roommates of the same gender identity, regardless of assigned sex.
Students expressed difficulties with online classes due to new technologies and at-home distractions.
see CHOSEN NAME page 6
Students of Color Demand More From Theatre Program In response to equity issues within the theatre department and online allegations against Head of Acting Matthew Maguire, 27 Fordham Theatre students of color drafted a list of 10 demands for the betterment of the program. The statement was sent
to the Fordham Theatre department on Aug. 28. “Our experiences as students of color have been significantly different than our white counterparts,” the students wrote in their list of demands. “We feel mocked, judged, minimized, and patronized in and out of the classroom. We attribute this to the lack of support and education within the Fordham Theatre curriculum and the overemphasis on perpetuating age-old injustices.”
The students who organized the demands were Amara McNeil, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’23; Will Adams, FCLC ’22; and Claire Talbott, FCLC ’21. The three students also serve as the chairs of the Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) Theatre Alliance of Fordham, a group of over 30 students. The document details 10 key demands for the theatre program to fulfill while also acknowledging
demands that have already been met — including equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) training for the faculty, implementation of equitable hiring practices and commitment to invest in outreach to communities of color for applicants. The first demand asks for the appointment of a new head of the program to be a priority. After allegations of sexual misconduct and racial exclusion, the former head, Maguire, was re-
placed by Interim Head Stefanie Bubnis. “She can’t make any lasting change because she is not the permanent head,” McNeil said. “We cannot change the culture of the theatre program without having someone dedicated to that change in charge of it.” In July, a call for Maguire’s resignation gained over 100 signatures
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Multiple students report mouse sightings in their apartments
Athletic Director Kull considers a way forward through the pandemic
NYC's regulations are ineffective and unrealistic
Support these Black-owned eateries in the Fordham area
The importance of outdoor spaces when working online
By JOE KOTTKE and VICKY CARMENATE News Editor and Asst. Arts & Culture Editor
Rodents in McMahon Page 3
State of Sports Page 10
Stuck in Quarantine Page 18
Dining Out Page 19
The Student Voice of Fordham Lincoln Center
see THEATRE DEMANDS page 5
NYC Parks Guide Page 22
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THE OBSERVER September 16, 2020
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New York City Delays the Start of Public Schools By CHLOE ZELCH Contributing Writer
New York City is the only major school district in the U.S. to move forward with in-person classes. However, a New York City teachers’ union is criticizing Mayor Bill de Blasio about his reopening plans. On Sept. 1, the once carefully selected Sept. 10 start date was pushed back to Sept. 21 to allow more time for teachers and principals to better plan for an unprecedented start to the school year. “It’s frustrating that this announcement was so last minute,” Frankie Rutherford, a senior at LaGuardia High School, just around the corner from Fordham College at Lincoln Center, said. “They had all summer ... to plan the best way to do online learning and in-person learning ... there are thousands, if not millions, of people affected by schools starting (for food, child care, mental health, etc.) and this last minute pushback feels like poor planning.”
“ I just miss being in a classroom, working hands-on with students. ”
Kristen Morris, 11th and 12th grade teacher in District 75
The delay was intended to provide teachers and principals with more time to adjust policies and solidify safety protocols. After threatening to strike, Michael Mulgrew, the head of the United Federation of Teachers in New York City, came to an agreement with de Blasio on the night of Sept. 1 that more safety protocols were needed before schools opened. As part of the agreement reached between the union and the city, random testing will begin in October. According to de Blasio, between 10 and 20% of the student and staff population will
be tested each month. Children whose parents do not consent to testing will not be allowed to attend classes in person. With the 10-day delay in place, Mulgrew declared that “the New York City public schools system has the most aggressive policies and safeguards of any school system in America.” Rutherford, who will be taking online classes four days a week and going to school just one day a week, said she is eager to return to her friends and learn in person, but understands that the delay may “decrease the risk of transmission,” providing a better chance of having in-person classes continue throughout the year. Nurses have been hired for every public school, ventilation systems have been upgraded in classrooms and personal protective equipment will be distributed. Classrooms will be at onethird of their regular capacity, and windows will be open yearround, no matter the weather, to increase airflow. While public health experts generally agree that schools can safely reopen with adequate testing and strict safety regulations, concerns still exist regarding staffing for online and in-person teaching. Teachers have expressed confusion about the testing policy, how ventilation systems will function in aging schools and how many students will actually be attending classes in person. Teachers will report to school as scheduled to begin online teaching on Sept. 16 and will review protocols with their students virtually. “I feel that the push back was warranted given the overall atmosphere of uncertainty,” Kristen Morris, an 11th and 12th grade teacher in District 75, said. “The Department of Education has no busing in place - I don’t know how they would get the students in by the tenth.” Morris has elected to teach in person despite personal health issues. “I just miss being in a classroom, working hands-on with students,” she elaborated. “I make sure
to read the classics with my students ... This would be largely impossible to do remotely. I love to teach Macbeth - the students feed off of a teacher’s enthusiasm. Remote learning hampers this process.” Despite the many unanswered questions, de Blasio has emphasized that the district’s mostly low-income Black and Latino students need in-person classes, a claim which is widely supported by education experts, due to on-average lower participation rates by Black and Latino students in online classes from a lack of access to virtual class resources. De Blasio promised that “there’s a lot we’re going to do right now but the big question is going forward: how do you create a city where these disparities don’t exist?” Of the 1.1 million students in the school district, about 750,000 are low-income, 200,000 have disabilities and 114,000 are homeless. These demographics are not well-served by remote learning as they may not have access to computers, Wi-Fi and specialized programming.
“ We’re all teenagers and
often think we’re invincible ... but I think that most of my classmates understand the danger that going back to school poses and will demonstrate that knowledge in their behavior. ”
Frankie Rutherford, senior at LaGuardia High School,
Data strongly suggests that low-income neighborhoods in New York City have been hit especially hard by the coronavirus. Furthermore, in 2020, roughly 300,000 New York City students did not have sufficient access to the internet or computers. When
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AJAY_SURESH VIA FLICKR
The opening of LaGuardia High School, like all other New York City schools, will be delayed by 10 days to give teachers and principals sufficient time to fine-tune safety protocols.
schools first closed in March, some students did not receive the devices they requested through the Department of Education. Another obstacle for households with multiple students is finding the space, time and sufficient devices for all to engage in online classes. In July, de Blasio announced a plan to spend $157 million to expand broadband access across the city, hoping to aid in closing the “digital divide.” “My current prediction is that schools will close soon after opening due to (an outbreak), so if this pushback prevents that and allows me to be inside my high school during my senior year safely, then I support it,” Rutherford said. Morris holds a similar sentiment, saying, “I think the pushback is necessary. I think we need to figure out the landscape first ... I cannot wait for things to ap-
proach normal again ... I would love to be back in front of a full classroom again, exploring literature with my students.” Rutherford said that she has faith in her classmates’ ability to understand the risk that going back to school poses and take precautions seriously because of this. However, she added that she “can’t imagine a situation where everyone follows the rules.” Part of her fear going back is knowing that some kids won’t be able to control themselves from breaking the protectionary protocols. “We’re all teenagers and often think we’re invincible ... but I think that most of my classmates understand the danger that going back to school poses and will demonstrate that knowledge in their behavior — especially because we were living in the epicenter of the virus for so long,” Rutherford said.
Aramark Adjusts to COVID-19 Restrictions New policies implemented to protect Aramark employees and promote social distancing at Fordham Dining By ALLIE STOFER Asst. News Editor
When students were first sent home in March, university Aramark employees did not know what to expect for the summer or the fall semester. Now that students have returned to campus, Aramark and Fordham have had to create a safe community that protects both students and employees.
The Dining Working Group, one of the task forces created for Fordham Forward, has implemented new policies to protect students employees. Fordham University Dining Contract Liaison Deming Yaun, who led the task force, said that “all actions fall under the heading of promoting social distancing, implementing new levels of food safety, and special attention to revising all locations to
provide safe service to customers from healthy staff members.” Yaun explained that the first two changes being made added additional training and updated food service. The training is required by both Fordham and Aramark, focusing on coronavirus safety measures. Additionally, Fordham is working to update food receiving, storage, preparation and serving protocols. One change will involve
GABE SAMANDI/THE OBSERVER
All aspects of food handling and preparation have been updated to mitigate coronavirus risk. One thing that has not changed, however, is that Fordham still retains all 300 Aramark employees from before the initial shut down.
placing “grab-and-go” food in “allyou-care-to-eat” locations to avoid unnecessary contact between guests and employees. “All Dining locations have scheduled FDA approved sanitizing at least 2 weeks prior to their re-opening,” Yaun said. “All employee hand wash stations are being outfitted with touchless faucets, soap, hand sanitizing and hand drying equipment.” Fordham has also installed protective barriers to help promote social distancing between employees and guests. To further support social distancing, seating capacity has been reduced, and floor markings have been installed to help maintain distance. Yaun also said that spaces for potential tenting for outdoor dining have been identified if necessary. Additionally, all point-of-sale equipment, such as where students swipe their ID cards, is being converted for touchless contact. “Dining has added shifts and redefined work stations so staff can stay socially distant and food can be prepared as freshly as possible and in quantities necessary to serve the campus community,” Yaun said. Fordham has adjusted the use of self-serve stations and utensils. According to Yaun, all self-serve stations have been eliminated except for beverage stations. Utensils are all individual, single-use and wrapped.
As of Sept. 5, Fordham is employing 300 Aramark workers, the same number as before the initial closure in March. Yaun explained that even though fewer students are located on campus, there has not been a large layoff of employees. “Services and the cost of them will have to be adjusted based on income the department has to work with for the semester,” Yaun said. Aramark employees are complying with Fordham’s requirements for COVID-19 testing and handling of positive cases. According to Yaun, there were no positive cases in the first round of testing. If employees were to test positive, their sick leave would depend on Aramark. Aramark has altered its sick leave policy to allow for up to 21 additional days once all sick leave has been used. Yaun stated that “Fordham is satisfied with Aramark's treatment of staff throughout the Pandemic.” Aramark and Fordham have both made adjustments to keep employees and students safe during the fall semester. The need for social distancing has required Fordham to change how food is handled and the number of people allowed in dining areas. Alongside that, Aramark has had to change its policies to support staff if they become ill and to comply with Fordham’s requirements.
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September 16, 2020 THE OBSERVER
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Nationwide #ScholarStrike Against Racial Injustice
Fordham students, faculty and staff join colleges across the US in discussions on race and police brutality in America By ANDREW BEECHER Online Editor
A casual tweet sent two weeks ago by Anthea Butler, associate professor of Religious Studies and Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, has sparked a nationwide protest for racial justice. Later dubbed the #ScholarStrike, Fordham faculty have joined the movement by organizing online events on Tuesday, Sept. 8, and Wednesday, Sept. 9. While college students, including many at Fordham, have been speaking up about racism in education, that is not the primary focus of #ScholarStrike. In a CNN op-ed Butler co-wrote, the authors said: “While we do not have a set of demands, our first and foremost goal is to call for a halt to the escalation of police violence and shootings of African Americans, and a call for racial justice and equity.”
“ All of the ways that
the systems of violence impact people of color in our nation is at the heart of what Fordham says it’s doing in the research that alleviates suffering.”
Jeannine Hill Fletcher, professor of theology
The event will be a mix of teach-ins and discussions on race, racism, policing and mass incarceration in America. On Tuesday, there were 165 participants between the two events, with only a small amount of estimated overlap. Jeannine Hill Fletcher, professor of theology, hopes that across the two days, there will be at least 400 members of the Fordham community who have participated. Tuesday’s events included a talk on “Perspectives on Religion and Racism” and “The University in the Work of Racial Justice.” Wednesday’s events include the topics “Justice Systems and Anti-Black Racism,” “The Role of Scholars in the Work of Racial Justice” and “Re-imagining Schooling in the Wake of COVID-19: How Can We Make our Online Schools Anti-racist?”
Beyond the events organized at Fordham, there will also be 10-minute video lessons posted on the Scholar Strike YouTube channel. Hill Fletcher has been a leading coordinator for Fordham’s participation in #ScholarStrike. Over the past week, she has sent emails to members of the Fordham community with information about the events being held by Fordham faculty and staff. Hill Fletcher explained that she decided to work on organizing the strike at Fordham because it directly corresponds with Fordham’s mission statement. She said, “All of the ways that the systems of violence impact people of color in our nation is at the heart of what Fordham says it's doing in the research that alleviates suffering.” She noted that the word strike was somewhat “ironic,” as “we think that's the work we're doing really quite regularly, if not all the time.” This point was separately echoed by Sarah Lockhart, associate professor of political science, who said that she “view(s) strikes as a useful collective action tool for people that don't have other sources of power. But tenured faculty DO have a significant degree of power and voice, on campus and in the public arena.” She further explained that “this strike seems only to serve to put more pressure on adjunct faculty, whose decision to participate or not is much more fraught.” As an alternative to canceling classes, Hill Fletcher also said she suggested that professors could instead integrate the material into their class discussions. Kathryn Kueny, professor of theology, chose to make her Classic Islamic Texts class attendance-optional on Wednesday and asked her students to read two articles relating Islamic studies to Jacob Blake and George Floyd. Lockhart also chose not to cancel classes for the event, though she does support her students who participated, and instead explained that many of the classes she teaches “are really centered around issues of institutional and structural racism, not just for the two days of the strike, but the entire semester.” Not every student was aware of #ScholarStrike. Zack Clark, Fordham College at Lincoln Cen-
MADDIE SANDHOLM/THE OBSERVER
An estimated 400 members of the Fordham community joined the online protest over the course of two days. Fordham faculty hosted lectures and discussions on racial inequality, policing and mass incarceration over Zoom.
ter ’21, said, “I think this would have been a nice supplement that a lot of the liberal arts departments should have acknowledged. They could have provided and given resources about it even if professors didn’t want to cancel class.”
“ It would have been
nice to see Fordham’s administration communicate with faculty and students to bring awareness.”
Kasey Gelsomino, GSBLC ’21
Hill Fletcher attributed this lack of promotion largely to the inability of professors to distribute information to the entire university. She and other organizers were instead reliant on emailing community members in their networks and posting on social media with the hope that it would spread fast enough to reach a large audience in time for the event. Only mem-
bers of the administration have the ability to send emails to the whole community. The president and the provost of Saint Louis University, a Jesuit institution in Missouri, posted a public message offering their support for faculty who chose to participate in the strike. In a statement to The Observer, Bob Howe, assistant vice president for communications and special adviser to the president, said, “The University fully supports the goals of the Scholar Strike, and believes it will be a valuable and educational experience for everyone involved.” Fordham University did not send out a community-wide email recognizing the strike or sharing information about how to access it. As protests against racial injustices continue nationwide, Fordham students have been vocal in their expectations that the university does more to address issues on campus and in the Bronx community. In June, the Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., sent out an email to the university community including an action plan on “addressing racism and educating for justice.” However, many students at the time
found it to be lacking in “concrete actions.” As of June 2020, only three of the 11 demands made by ASILI, Rose Hill’s Black Student Alliance, had been met by the university. Some students expressed disappointment that the administration did not aid professors in the promotion of the #ScholarStrike. Kasey Gelsomino, Gabelli School of Business at Lincoln Center (GSBLC) ’21, was unaware of the event prior to being contacted by The Observer. She said, “It would have been nice to see Fordham’s administration communicate with faculty and students to bring awareness.” The Fordham professors who support #ScholarStrike, whether by canceling class or including the topic in their teaching, are looking forward to further change at the university. Kueny would like to see Fordham become more involved in the communities surrounding both campuses, and Lockhart hopes that the event will be a catalyst for change within academia. “I see this moment as our next chapter at Fordham in anti-racism organizing,” Hill Fletcher said.
Students Report Mouse Sightings in McMahon Hall By JOE KOTTKE News Editor
OLIVIA STERN/THE OBSERVER
Rodent roommates are an unwelcome addition to McMahon Hall apartments. After two reports of mouse sightings in one weekend, an exterminator set traps to catch them.
Over the Labor Day weekend, Public Safety received two student reports of mice in McMahon Hall, according to Director of Public Safety Robert Dineen. Maria Acosta, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’23, came home late Saturday, Sept. 5. When she turned on the lights in her McMahon apartment, she said she saw a mouse run out of the kitchen. After contacting Public Safety and the Resident Director (RD), she was told that an exterminator wouldn’t be able to come until Tuesday due to the Labor Day long weekend. “We just felt that they did not provide us with any immediate solutions or make us feel a little more comfortable,” Acosta said. The following day, Acosta and her roommate were offered housing in another apartment until the exterminator could come, but they declined. “At this point, we had already slept
in our dorm with our mouse friend lurking so we were like, we can suck it up another day,” she said. “We set some traps in the meanwhile but no sign of the mouse so we are still kinda disgusted/scared.” Cam Dasher, FCLC ’22, saw two mice in her apartment. After reporting the sightings to the Residential Assistant on duty on the night of Sunday, Sept. 6, she and her roommate chose to move into a temporary space. “The students were moved to a temporary apartment so our exterminator could conduct a thorough inspection of the apartment and take necessary action to remediate any issues,” Dineen said. “Considering the health crisis right now, I definitely feel like Fordham should be paying more attention to this and preventing their residents from any risk possible,” Dasher said. Recent studies show that specific breeds of mice — such as deer mice — can catch and spread the coronavirus.
They said that they were not supplied with mouse traps and that they “heard about a couple of other people” with rodent problems. “I really feel like because Fordham has dealt with this before IN McMahon, they should have the facilities for students to put in their apartments (rat traps, rat boxes, etc.) but they didn’t and gave us little support besides temporarily relocating us and having an exterminator come in in two days,” Dasher said. According to Dineen, the university has a contract with an exterminator service that conducts regular inspections of all the buildings on the Lincoln Center campus. When the exterminator came on Tuesday, Acosta said, “They really worked fast and attended us really well.” Dasher said that maintenance has been coming in and out of her room since Tuesday, Sept. 8, cleaning out the AC units and installing traps.
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THE OBSERVER September 16, 2020
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New ASILI Demands Target Public Safety and RAs By STEPHEN BRAGALE Contributing Writer
ASILI, the Black Student Alliance at Rose Hill, is calling for anti-racist reforms at Fordham’s Public Safety Department and Office of Residential Life, according to an updated list of demands in an Aug. 31 Instagram post. The first demand on the list covers the Public Safety Department’s ties with the New York Police Department (NYPD), petitioning Fordham to “acknowledge and unpack Public Safety's ties to police, as the University of Minnesota has done with the MPD (Minneapolis Police Department).”
ASILI is demanding that all RAs participate in mandatory anti-racist bias training and attend a mandatory seminar on the Bronx and its history. On May 27, University of Minnesota (UMN) President Joan Gabel announced that the school would limit its involvement with the MPD in response to the killing of George Floyd by MPD officers. Fordham’s Public Safety webpage touts a “close working relationship with the New York City and Westchester police departments.” Fordham’s Public Safety Department was recognized as one of the top 10 campus security departments in the nation in 2017 at the National Campus Safety Summit. Gerald De La Cruz, Gabelli School of Business at Rose Hill ’22 and ASILI social media director, said that ASILI wants Public Safety to be more transparent about their relationship with the NYPD. When asked whether this demand would make Fordham campuses vulnerable to crime or active shooter inci-
dents, De La Cruz stressed that ASILI is not calling for an abolishment of Public Safety. “One of the things we’re hoping for, in having conversations with the university, is having Public Safety officers, who are usually exNYPD, take deescalation and racial sensitivity training so they can better deal with those types of situations on campus,” De La Cruz said. This demand was 10th on the first list of 11 demands published on Instagram on June 22. De La Cruz said the demand was prioritized due to concerns that Fordham is working with the NYPD to police off-campus parties in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Universities across New York City are scrambling to ensure that students comply with social distancing rules on and off-campus. “The Fordham University area, which is Belmont, is already heavily policed as it is, and it’s a majority Black and Brown community, so we just think that, given the times that we are in now, overly policing the Bronx because Fordham students want to party just seems unnecessary,” De La Cruz said. ASILI added four new demands regarding Resident Assistants (RAs). ASILI is demanding that all RAs participate in mandatory anti-racist bias training and attend a mandatory seminar on the Bronx and its history. De La Cruz, who is from the Bronx, emphasized the need for a course about the Bronx: “your RA is your first mentor at Fordham if you’re dorming, so we thought it’s very important for them to know Bronx history, that way they can represent the Bronx well.” They also demanded the recruitment of “more Black and Brown Resident Assistants (RAs) and Resident Directors (RDs), especially students from the Bronx,” and for RAs to be restricted from serving in halls in which they have resided. De La Cruz said that these demands were inspired by a need for diversity among RAs in light of racist and insensitive incidents
COURTESY OF @ASILI_FU VIA INSTAGRAM
The updated list of demands from ASILI was announced in an Instagram post. The total list now includes 16 demands for the Fordham administration and board of trustees.
reported on the @blackatfordham Instagram page, many of which occurred in on-campus residences. ASILI is also calling for Chief Diversity Officer Rafael Zapata to be promoted to Senior Vice President from his current level as an Associate Vice President. “If Fordham really wants to say that they care about their students of color, then why shouldn’t Mr. Zapata, whose job is to work on initiatives to improve diversity, equity, and inclusion on campus, be in that position?” De La Cruz said. Another new demand from ASILI calls for Fordham to “recognize Advocates for a Palestinian Perspective as a club on campus and apologize for the racist terrorization of Students for Justice for Palestine (SJP) at LC.” SJP has been engaged in a long legal battle with Fordham after Dean of Students Keith Eldredge vetoed SJP’s club status.
“ These restrictions on
student demonstrations take away from the college experience. ”
Gerald De La Cruz, GSBRH ‘22 and ASILI social media director
“Even though we are the Black Student Alliance, and most of what we’re doing is to benefit Black students, it doesn’t mean that we are not going to advocate for other student groups that are primarily students of color,” De La Cruz said. Black and Palestinian activist groups have formed partnerships inside the U.S. and abroad. ASILI is also calling for Fordham to reform its policies on demonstrations on campus. Fordham currently requires demonstrations to occur within two days
of meeting with the Dean of Students. ASILI wants demonstrations to be allowed as long as they don’t interfere with access to buildings and school activities. “We felt as a club that a college campus is meant to be the perfect place to have civil discourse,” De La Cruz said. “These restrictions on student demonstrations take away from the college experience.” ASILI’s new demands came in the same week as the Trump administration moved to end all training on critical race theory and white privilege within federal agencies, describing them as “divisive, anti-American propaganda” in a Sept. 4 memo from Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought. When asked how ASILI can reach out to people who don’t believe in white privilege or critical race theory, De La Cruz pointed to racial diversity in the United States as a justification for continued conversations about race. “It doesn’t cost anyone anything to talk about these things. We need to talk more, not less, and I feel like this ban by the Trump administration is something that hinders much needed conversations in this country.” ASILI recognized Fordham’s administration for completing three of the original 11 demands, according to a June 29 Instagram post. “One of the things that we were really surprised about was the multicultural center; we thought that that was going to be a long shot,” De La Cruz said. “It did feel really good to be heard by the university and that’s why we’re continuing to do what we’re doing.” When asked if another wave of emails would be effective, De La Cruz emphasized the importance of alumni involvement. He highlighted the Fordham Anti-Racist Alumni Collective as a group who is leveraging their alumni status to push ASILI’s demands forward. “The most powerful members of the Fordham community are the alumni; they’re in the university’s ear.”
BIPOC Theatre Students Release List of Demands
Calling for a new program head, a ‘radically inclusive’ application and the removal of bias from curriculum few options, such as the Denzel Chair Scholarship. Reformations to casting and programming for the mainstage show is another demand. “There are a lot of students with more complex racial identities than being ‘just Asian’ or ‘just Black,’” Adams said. He explained that in the past, the theatre department asked a mixed-race student to play a role intended for a Black actor. The eighth demand asked to officialize the Diversity Committee and to pay or compensate students who are completing their EDI work. “We, as students who pay $80,000 a year, should not be telling the faculty what to do. I don’t want to know more than my faculty does,” Talbott said. BRIELLE CAYER/THE OBSERVER
Students rehearse "Twelfth Night" in October 2019. The show was mentioned in the student demands for Fordham Theatre as a positive example of diverse casting. THEATRE DEMANDS from page 1
from students, alumni and parents. The open letter attributed accusations of Maguire on the Instagram accounts @blackatfordham and @letstalkaboutitfordham as a reason for his dismissal from teaching: “They (the Instagram accounts) present detailed accounts of racist, misogynistic, predatory, rude, and otherwise bigoted behavior committed by Maguire over the course of his decades-long tenure.” In a Loom video response to the call for resignation, Professor
Chad McArver called the students’ letter a “violent challenge.” “Our silence may well have been taken as inaction and we apologize for not making an official public statement sooner. It was certainly not our intention to perpetuate and further hurt,” he said. According to Talbott, the fourth demand is to dismantle oppression and bias within the department’s curriculum, including the two-semester required course for firstyears called Collaboration. She said there is a distinction between an emotionally charged
and an emotionally unsafe atmosphere when it comes to acting classes. “Having anti-racist and anti-bias training involved in the collaboration process will create a safer space for theatre students, especially given the nature of theatre work, which can often be very triggering. Knowing where people are hurting will create a safer space for everyone,” Talbott said. Demands five and six cover the creation of a “radically inclusive” application and dedication of scholarships to BIPOC individuals, which now include
“ An intimacy
coordinator would make sure that no one gets real sexually harassed in their scene. ”
Will Adams, FCLC ’22 and a chair of the BIPOC Theatre Alliance of Fordham
The final demand requests a theatre-specific counselor and an intimacy counselor. According to Talbott, Fordham’s Counseling and Psychological Services does not have the “bandwidth” to meet theatre students’ needs.
Adams compared the need for an intimacy counselor to the need for a member of the faculty to be present for fight choreography “to make sure that no one gets real-stabbed with a fake sword. “An intimacy coordinator would make sure that no one gets real sexually harassed in their scene,” Adams added. The Fordham Theatre faculty sent out a formal acknowledgment of the demands to the students, faculty and staff on Sept. 3. “We look forward to addressing these demands in a cohesive and continued partnership with our BIPOC students, faculty and administration,” wrote the theatre faculty. Christian Caro, FCLC ’23, is a theatre student but did not take part in compiling the demands. “(M)y experience of being a POC in the program has been very different from everyone else in that community. I have never felt tokenized or disrespected very much at all. Regardless, I think that this is an extremely important statement,” Caro said. Caro said the plethora of requests “could be difficult to meet all at once, but change doesn’t happen overnight.” “I want Fordham Theatre and Fordham University to know from this point on that any harm that happens to students is 150% their fault,” McNeil said. “They can no longer say that ‘we didn’t know’ or that ‘this is new information...’ We are doing nothing but telling them.”
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September 16, 2020 THE OBSERVER
www.fordhamobserver.com
Addressing Absentee Ballot Concerns: The ABCs of Mail-in Voting ceived on or by Election Day. Some states will accept absentee ballots as many as three days or more after Election Day, as long as the ballots were postmarked by Nov. 3. In some states, these policies have been contested. In Illinois, the Cook County Republican Party referenced fear of “fraudulent votes being counted, thus diluting lawful votes for candidates of the Republic Party,” as reason for them suing the current Democratic administration. On the other hand, Navajo Nation in Arizona is suing the secretary of state for mandating that ballots must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day at the latest, citing remote distances and difficulty reaching Navajo residents as reasons for extending the deadline.
By ALYSSA MACALUSO Copy Editor
As the first hints of autumn begin to appear around the city, the chilly breezes remind us that change is swiftly approaching. Among the soon-to-be fiery colors of Central Park tree leaves and the autumnal decorations overflowing from store shelves, one of the biggest changes occurring this fall is the result of the upcoming presidential election on Election Day, Nov. 3. Many of us, students and citizens alike, are grappling with questions of how to vote in the upcoming election, but, hopefully, this guide can clear up some questions and help you get as excited to vote as you are for the return of pumpkin spice lattes. Though many states have implemented changes to ensure the safety of voting populations this fall, many still have lingering concerns about officials’ ability to enforce proper social distancing and disinfecting protocols for in-person voting, especially since voter turnout is expected to be high this year. As an alternative to traditional voting, conducted at polling places or vote centers, many states have expanded citizens’ access to mail-in voting. Mail-in voting, or absentee voting, is a contactless form of voting in which residents of a state submit their candidate picks via a physical ballot (usually over mail) instead of voting in-person on Election Day.
Like applications, ballots can be submitted either through the mail or dropped off at the local election office. Usually, they must be received on or by Election Day. Voting Absentee Absentee voting, generally, is a two-step process. In step one, residents must first mail or drop off an application for an absentee ballot, complete with their home address, current address, and (usually) reason for requesting, to their local election offices. Applications for absentee ballots are due about three weeks in advance of the election, so make sure you check your state’s website for the specific due date. To vote in New York, you must be registered by Oct. 9 if you register in-person at your local DMV office or online, or your registration materials must be postmarked by Oct. 9 and received by Oct. 14. After registering, you can request an absentee ballot by
Pros and Cons to Absentee Voting
ANDREW DRESSNER/THE OBSERVER
The pandemic has made voting in person more difficult than ever, leading to an increased need for mail-in voting.
printing out a form and mailing it to your local election office or online, both of which must be submitted by Oct. 27. If the application is approved, then step two can occur: The office sends applicants the ballot through the mail, and the voters fill it out and return it to the office to be counted. Voters can send in their ballots after they receive them anytime before the election date, and because of slower mail times, earlier — the United States Postal Service recommends at least a week — is better. Voters can also drop off their absentee ballots in-person at their local election office. For New York, absentee ballots must be dropped off in-person by Nov. 3 or postmarked by Nov. 3 and received by Nov. 10. Due to the coronavirus, New York is also accepting absentee ballots that arrive before Nov. 4 without a postmark, or the stamp that contains the date and local office that the piece of mail was dropped off at. Depending on the state, mail-in voting is not always available to all residents. States like Louisiana and Indiana require that voters have a “valid excuse,” such as being a college student, or having travel plans on Election Day; Wisconsin, on the other hand, does not require an excuse to request an absentee ballot. However, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many states
have relaxed their absentee ballot requirements. Some, like New York and West Virginia, allow voters to cite “illness” or “fear of becoming infected” as reasons for applying for a mail-in ballot. Washington and Colorado, among others, already automatically mail ballots to voters every election and forgo the application altogether; Colorado has had a universal mail-in ballot system in place since 2013 and Ohio since 2012. In light of the pandemic, other states like Vermont, California and Wisconsin are mailing absentee ballots to registered voters, regardless of whether they request them or not. To submit the absentee ballot — and sometimes even the application for the absentee ballot — many states require it to be notarized or signed by one or more witnesses. Due to the pandemic, a few states have decreased the number of witness signatures needed, while others have gotten rid of the requirement altogether. Other states have maintained their witness or notary requirements. In Alabama, which mandates that voters must have two witness signatures or a notary stamp and a valid photo ID, voting-rights groups have sued the state for restricting access to voting. Like applications, ballots can be submitted either through the mail or dropped off at the local election office. Usually, they must be re-
In addition to fears about fraudulent voting with more relaxed, COVID-19-inspired measures, there are concerns about privacy and potential coercion. Some have pointed out that those living with others, such as family members, may not give the voter proper privacy to fill out the ballot and, at the extreme, may even coerce or explicitly influence the voter’s picks. Similarly, there are more chances for paper absentee ballots to be discarded due to simple errors. Usually, the voter is not informed if their ballot contains errors, so it is discounted without their knowledge. However, North Carolina has recently required that voters be informed if their ballots are not counted due to errors and given the chance to remedy them. The postal service, which has been the recipient of much attention lately due to slow delivery times, has been subjected to concerns about its ability to deliver ballots on time, especially after COVID-19-related setbacks in staffing and proposed (but currently postponed) budget cuts by the Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. Both Americans living overseas and in-country voters are anxious about lengthy delays in mailing times and disenfranchisement — in particular, of people of color and younger voters — due to ballot mistakes, fears that aren’t alleviated by learning that over 550,000 absentee ballots were rejected in the 2020 primaries. The postal service itself warned of possible disenfranchisement due to the expected drastic increase in mail-in ballots this upcoming election and its potential difficulties in handling the higher volume of mail for Election Day. However, the disenfranchisement of rural populations due to lack of access to the postal service is another concern
raised recently; the case of the Navajo Nation in Arizona is just one example of an extremely rural population in danger of disenfranchisement. Floating populations and the homeless are other groups potentially excluded from mail-in voting because they don’t have a permanent address at which to receive mail. More generally, there are also fears about ballots being lost or damaged while in route.
While it is always important to consider the how-to’s of voting, in these chaotic times, it’s more important than ever to plan out your voting strategy. Though these may seem like intimidating reasons not to vote by mail, many improvements have been made (and are currently in progress) to alleviate some of these concerns. Many states have revised policies about only accepting mail-in ballots on or by Election Day, instead extending deadlines as many as 20 days post-election (Washington). Other states, like Virginia and Illinois, have tackled worries about ballots getting damaged and rejected by declaring that “ballots with a missing or illegible postmark will also be counted if they arrive by then.” There are also many advantages to mail-in voting, such as increased convenience; potential for higher voter turnout, with more people preferring the option of voting on their own time; if you are a student or otherwise located outside of your home region, you can still vote without traveling back home; and filling out the ballots at home protects public health. While it is always important to consider the how-to’s of voting, in these chaotic times, it’s more important than ever to plan out your voting strategy. Though this article covered absentee voting, there is still plenty of information to be learned about in-person voting options. For more specific information on requesting and submitting an absentee ballot, among other voting-related topics, check your state’s website, the National Conference of State Legislatures’ page on absentee voting for the 2020 election or the user-friendly state-by-state guide via FiveThirtyEight. Vote.org is another indispensable source for staying updated on your state’s policies and making sure that you’re ready to vote.
New Chosen Name Policy Supports Gender Pluralism CHOSEN NAME from page 1
McCollum said he believes that Fordham wants to create an inclusive and accommodating environment that would respect any student’s gender identity, but he feels that being placed in a single takes away from the “college experience” and would not be his first choice, especially as a first-year.
“ I go home and my
living situation doesn’t reflect my identity. ”
Kiernan Westrick, FCLC ’21
Earlier this year, the Office of Residential Life announced that it would offer housing options for students based on their gender identi-
ty rather than biological sex, another policy which the aforementioned student groups have advocated for. Before the housing policy change, Westrick roomed with women who were comfortable rooming with a man during his sophomore and junior years. He said this affected his college life because he often found himself lying to people about the gender of his roommates for fear it would be too hard to explain. “There’s this odd dissonance that creates a daily stress where it’s like, consciously people are supporting me but the rules don’t seem to support me,” Westrick said. “I go home and my living situation doesn’t reflect my identity.” As a senior, Westrick said he has seen the administration evolve and fluctuate in its policies and treatment of their TGNC students. He said he is relieved that no other student would have to go through this again because of the Chosen Name Policy.
ZOEY LIU/THE OBSERVER
Prior to the Aug. 31 announcement, student groups have advocated for a chosen name policy in the past few years, such as this October 2018 trans rights rally held on campus.
www.fordhamobserver.com
THE OBSERVER September 16, 2020
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Students Fear the Implications of New Title IX Regulations TITLE IX from page 1
Critics of this rule argue that it allows colleges to overly impose sexual misconduct and potentially leads to students being found guilty for false accusations, or creates a “presumption of male guilt” in sexual assault cases. Arguments such as these overlook the nature of sexual assault issues as civil rights issues. Under federal case law, student-perpetrated sexual assault and rape are recognized as civil rights issues because they may prevent the victim from participating in education programs on the basis of sex. The new guidelines place a more strict observance of the evidence in misconduct cases. It states that colleges can choose to use either the “preponderance of evidence” or the “clear and convincing” standard when adjudicating. In a previous Title IX case at Fordham, former student Made-
line Fabricant spoke to The Observer about her experience trying to secure sanctions against an abusive ex-boyfriend. Following the first set of decisions issued by Fordham to protect Fabricant, Eldredge cited a lack of evidence to support Fabricant’s “harsher allegations” that would have resulted in more serious consequences for her alleged abuser.
“ There was no type of support and no reassurance of my safety. ”
Anonymous
According to a 2016 campus climate survey Fordham conducted regarding sexual misconduct and the university’s Title IX pro-
cesses, 8.33%, or 161 out of the 1,933 respondents, reported their incidents using the university’s procedures. Half of these students did not believe the process helped them at all, while the other half believed it helped in some way. At this time, there is no knowledge of cases at Fordham in which the offender was initially apprehended and later found innocent. In an email to the Fordham community on Aug. 28, Title IX Coordinator Kareem J. Peat stated that, regardless of the modifications, the university “will continue to prohibit all conduct that is no longer covered under Title IX, and the University will continue to address all reports of sex- and gender-based discrimination in a thoughtful, respectful manner.” Beginning in June, more than 40 stories of sexual assault at Fordham were revealed on the Instagram account @letstalkaboutitfordham.
COLIN SHEELEY/THE OBSERVER
Following the recent changes to Title IX, Kareem Peat, Fordham's Title IX Coordinator, has assured that the university “will continue to prohibit all conduct that is no longer covered under Title IX." All reports of sex- and gender-based discrimination will be reviewed by the university in a considerate manner.
The account began as a safe space for Fordham students to share stories of racial and sexual misconduct. The submissions from survivors of sexual assault come from both students and alumni.
However, sexual assault during a personal video call between students or employees is not grounds for an obligatory response from the university. In one anonymous story shared in late July, a student filed a report to Public Safety but said that “there was no type of support and no reassurance of my safety.” The student also said that Public Safety allegedly leaked their confidential information. An anonymous senior said they felt supported through the process of reporting sexual harassment until they dealt with Public Safety and Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS). Public Safety allegedly discouraged an investigation and CPS neglected to follow up with the student. “When I needed CPS and Public Safety, neither of them could help me,” the student said. The law also amended its regulations over the amount of responsibility colleges have in responding to misconduct complaints. Colleges are now required to respond to all complaints of sexual misconduct when they happen within “education programs” or events sponsored by the university. “Program” is defined broadly and includes “locations, events or circumstances over which the school exercised substantial control over both the respondent and the context in which the sexual ha-
rassment occured.” It also includes any building owned or controlled by a student organization. Harassment affecting students or employees that fall outside of these boundaries, colleges are not obligated to respond to. For example, as most classes are functioning in a digital context now, assault that happens over an online platform during a class or club meeting would be covered under these guidelines. However, sexual assault during a personal video call between students or employees is not grounds for an obligatory response from the university. Universities may choose to respond to these incidents, but they will not be punished by the OCR if they decline the case. Students were mainly concerned with how Fordham was going to react to the changes, according to Sundstrom. He explained that once Fordham revealed in the email from Peat that Fordham would continue to cover all misconduct that is no longer covered under the statute, students were not as concerned. “People were generally pretty interested to know if we were going to maintain the level of safety in the past and once it became clear that we were, nobody really seemed to have any concerns,” Sundstrom said. Orientation Captain Kaitlin Cunanan, Gabelli School of Business at Lincoln Center ’22, said she is also concerned about safety, as she is worried that students will be less protected by their institution. “we had to ask repeatedly and explicitly for reassurance that students will be protected and get due process. Fordham speaks of the ‘cura personalis,’ but in the time of a pandemic and rising racial tensions and these changes, it's hard to feel reassured that the university is caring for our fullest selves.”
On-Campus Testing Confirms Four Total Positive Cases By KATRINA LAMBERT News Editor
On Sept. 2, Fordham University released the 14-day rolling average of total coronavirus tests conducted by the university at both Lincoln Center and Rose Hill. The tests found two positive cases at the Lincoln Center campus and three positive cases at the Rose Hill campus. Since the initial report, those cases have recovered and only one current case remains at the Lincoln Center campus. This information appears on Fordham’s COVID-19 Testing Dashboard, which was created to “illustrate and track the impact” of the pandemic for students and faculty. The dashboard will be continually updated with a 14day rolling average of test results, according to the webpage. The current positive case resulted from tests administered between Aug. 28 and Sept. 10. Testing began at both campuses on Aug. 15, and the university plans to administer around 300 tests per day until classes switch to online for Thanksgiving break, according to Keith Eldredge, assistant vice president and dean of students at Lincoln Center. Students will be randomly chosen to be tested. In total, the university has conducted 4,252 tests and calculates the average infection rate to be 0.02%, which is a decrease from the earlier infection rate, 0.28%, which was calculated based on the first two weeks of the semester.
When students were tested at the start of the semester upon arrival to the campus, they were asked to “limit their activities and avoid gatherings until they received (the results),” Eldredge said. This was to limit any potential unknown spread of the virus. Students living on campus who tested positive for COVID-19 were sent to a designated area on campus to isolate, Eldredge said. These students are provided with three meals a day and a virtual, daily health assessment by a clinical staff member. For students who tested positive and live near campus, they were directed to quarantine at their off-campus residence, if possible. They will also be provided with the daily health assessment by a staff member. Throughout the past week, students criticized Fordham on social media for its lack of transparency regarding this data. Videos of large student gatherings, both university-sanctioned and not, as well as reports of other schools closing due to outbreaks have prompted concerns about whether COVID-19 will spread on Fordham’s campuses. Recently, a student-run Instagram account, @fordhamaccountability, was created for students to send photos, text or videos of Fordham students or staff behaving inappropriately under COVID-19 standards. The account stated: “If there is something that Fordham is doing that is making you or others feel unsafe don’t be afraid to speak up!”
There are currently four posts on the account’s page which show groups of Fordham students gathered without masks in the city near Clinton Hall, Belmont and 189th Street, and on the Rose Hill campus lawn, Edwards Parade. “What motivated us to start this account was seeing fordham students come back to the bronx and act irresponsibly and ignorantly during this pandemic,” the creator of the account said. As COVID-19 cases continue to surge at college campuses across the country, counties where college students make up at least 10% of the population have seen the largest surge. Fearing the infection of the greater Bronx area and Manhattan, Fordham students have routinely expressed concerns about the campus reopening affecting longtime NYC residents. The creator felt that students might be hesitant to hold their peers accountable when they saw behavior that made them uncomfortable. The platform of the account and anonymity makes it less intimidating to hold other students accountable. Fordham cases have so far remained relatively low compared to other New York state universities. The average total number of cases colleges have had since opening in New York is 18; Fordham has had a total of four. The number of cases will continue to be monitored periodically and updated every two weeks on Fordham’s COVID-19 Testing Dashboard.
ANDREW DRESSNER/THE OBSERVER
The university’s COVID-19 testing centers at the Lincoln Center and Rose Hill campuses plan to test around 300 students per day.
COURTESY OF @FORDHAMACCOUNTABILITY VIA INSTAGRAM
An anonymous submission on the new Fordham student-run Instagram account shows students gathered on Edwards Parade in a large group without masks.
Sports & Health Editors Aiza Bhuiyan - ebhuiyan@fordham.edu Patrick Moquin - pmoquin@fordham.edu
Sports & Health
September 16, 2020
THE OBSERVER
COVID-19 Exacerbates Achievement Gap Among Students
By AIZA BHUIYAN Sports & Health Editor
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the education of 94% of all students across the globe, according to a recent United Nations policy brief. This disruption exacerbated preexisting inequities in the education system as students struggled to access to their online education and endure the economic hardships of the pandemic. Fordham suspended all faceto-face classes on March 9 due to growing concerns regarding the coronavirus outbreak. Since then, students in the Fordham community have continued their classes virtually. This change shifted students and educators into new territory.
“ The pandemic has
contributed to increased social disconnection, traditional and anticipatory grief, uncertainty about the immediate and long term future, and disruptions to plans, routines and expectations.” Jeffrey Ng, Director of Counseling and Psychological Services
While teachers struggled to educate their students effectively through a screen, students struggled to acclimate to online learn-
ing for reasons including worsening mental health issues, lack of access to reliable technology and internet, learning disabilities that were not accounted for in an online setting and a disruptive home environment. These educational disruptions have been a huge factor in the widening achievement gap. Some professors did not know how to best facilitate online and struggled to cater to the needs of all students. Some students were not able to cope with the new reality they were exposed to. Distanced learning took a huge toll on the mental health of students who were unable to quickly adapt to this new mode of education. “The pandemic has contributed to increased social disconnection, traditional and anticipatory grief, uncertainty about the immediate and long term future, and disruptions to plans, routines and expectations,” said Jeffrey Ng, Psy.D., director of Counseling and Psychological Services. “All of these experiences can increase our vulnerability to mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety, and compromise our holistic health and well-being.” In a survey of 2,111 students under the age of 25, 83% of the participants said the pandemic has worsened their preexisting mental health illnesses. The digital divide that is perpetuated in this country also continues to segregate students educationally. According to a Pew Research Center survey, students of color, particularly those who are Black or Hispanic are less likely to have high-speed internet at home or access to a computer than their white peers. Nearly
The Percentage of Students With Access to a Desktop Computer or Laptop
100 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
80%
White
57%
Hispanic
58%
Black
Race of Students GRAPH BY PAMELA PAJARES/THE OBSERVER
80% of white students have access to a desktop computer or laptop while only 57% of Hispanic students and 58% of Black students report owning one of these technological devices. Without access to Wi-Fi or computers, continuing with education became virtually impossible for some students. Although the Pew Research Center survey shows that students of different backgrounds seem to own smartphones at similar rates, a study conducted by
Michigan State University suggests that “students who depend on a cell phone alone for Internet access from home and for access to learning materials do as poorly or worse than students with no Internet.” The United Nations also reports that students with disabilities have been hit the hardest with the implementation of distance learning practices. These students do not have access to the equipment and accessible materials that they would if they
were physically in school. There are some programs that integrate a more inclusive curriculum with certain accessibility features with assistive technology; however, these practices are not widespread. As the coronavirus pandemic continues to impact students, the onus falls on administrators and educators to take potential disruptive factors affecting learners into account when creating inclusive virtual learning environments.
A Look Into Fordham’s On-Campus Testing Facilities
By GUS DUPREE Asst. Sports & Health Editor
One of the various contingencies and precautions against COVID-19 Fordham is taking this semester is consistent on-campus testing for all community members. Both campuses have their own testing facility staffed by a combination of paid nurses and unpaid volunteers from Fordham University Emergency Medical Services (FUEMS), a student-led EMS program. Both facilities are capable of testing upwards of 400 students and employees for free. But how does Fordham administer and process these tests, and who’s working to administer them? Fordham’s two testing sites are located in a tent outside of O’Hare Hall at Rose Hill and in McMahon rooms 205 and 206 at Lincoln Center. They are staffed by three to four health services workers every day who are outfitted with full personal protective equipment N95 mask, gloves, gowns and shields. Maureen Keown, director of University Health Services at Fordham, stated the university has hired several registered nurses to assist with testing, but the majority of workers are student volunteers from FUEMS. “We reached out to our members to see if any were interested and if it was something they wanted to do, and surprisingly, many many people responded back,” Usemma Khan, Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) ’21
and director of FUEMS, said. Forty members volunteered to help, ranging from registered EMTs who can administer tests to nonEMTs who help with registration and patient information. Testing on campus started on Aug. 15, according to Dylan Garvey, FCRH ’21 and head of day staff at FUEMS. Garvey has been scheduling volunteers’ working hours to complement their school schedules.
The university requires that all students returning to campus test negative with a nasal swab test before their return. Student volunteers continue to work into the semester, with Garvey assigning volunteers’ work schedules to balance with their school commitments. Testing facilities are planned to continue operating indefinitely to provide community members with free testing. Random testing is also being rolled out, with the objective of screening the university community for asymptomatic individuals. Random testing would also be conducted in instances where an outbreak may occur on campus. Fordham’s testing facilities
ANDREW DRESSNER/THE OBSERVER
Fordham’s testing sites are located outside of O’Hare Hall at the Rose Hill campus and in McMahon rooms 205 and 206 at the Lincoln Center campus, and they are staffed by three to four test administrators each day.
currently offer molecular diagnostic tests, in which a nasal swab is brushed through one’s nostrils to detect signs of infection from COVID-19. The university requires that all students returning to campus test negative with a nasal swab test before their return. Community members who have gotten tested on campus felt unburdened by the process. Crea Dow, Fordham College at Lincoln Center ’22, said she “was in and out in five minutes.”
The testing facilities are also designed to quickly test a large portion of the university should the need arise. “Suppose that there’s an outbreak, in, say, one of the residence halls, they will do testing for everybody who lives in that building,” Khan said. Fordham is additionally working on contact tracing through Public Safety, according to Khan. “So suppose that they find through contact tracing that there’s other people that were potentially
exposed, they’ll call them in for that as well, and help prevent further spread, basically,” Khan explained. Contact tracing is highly recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as one of the most effective ways to map and contain an outbreak. Garvey encouraged community members to sign up online via Fordham’s website to get tested, although walk-ins are accepted on some days “if there’s not any spot available for you.”
www.fordhamobserver.com
By AIZA BHUIYAN Sports & Health Editor
On May 25, the unjustified and brutal killing of George Floyd and countless other innocent civilians at the hands of police catapulted the Black Lives Matter movement into the national conversation. The topic of racism and its impacts, in particular, was elevated in this discourse. Racism is a socio-historical category that is used to separate groups based on their physical attributes. It is perpetuated when individuals in the “ingroup” hold and act on certain beliefs and attitudes towards people in the “out-group.” Racism can occur on individual and institutional levels, but it can also be internalized. Shellae Versey, assistant professor of psychology, describes racism as “a set of structural privileges and advantages based on racial group designations, maintained through media, ideology, policies, norms and practices that preserve systems of inequity and racial dominance.” As a “system of dominance,” racism gives the dominant group of society certain privileges and power over the non-dominant
THE OBSERVER September 16, 2020
The Psychological Toll of Racism group. When these power dynamics are fleshed out in the public and private sphere, the out-group can experience immense psychological distress. “The experience of racism, whether it occurs on an interpersonal, institutional or structural level, can definitely compromise our individual and collective mental, psychological and physical health and well-being in a variety of ways,” Jeffrey Ng, Psy.D., director of Counseling and Psychological Services (CPS), said. “Since the mind and body are inextricably linked, these mental and behavioral health concerns can negatively impact one’s physical health.” Stress is just one symptom of racism that is widespread among people of color. This chronic condition can also be associated with other chronic diseases including heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease, gastrointestinal diseases, depression and anxiety. “The stress associated with racism has many different dimensions,” Elizabeth Raposa, assistant professor of psychology, said. “Just to name a few examples, on a daily basis, racism can be experienced as micro-aggressions, or subtle (often un-
intentional) insults or discrimination. But structural racism is also woven into the fabric of our society in ways that create systematic, contextual stressors. Poverty, housing and job discrimination, police brutality, and a racially biased legal system are all ways that structural racism contributes to chronically stressful life circumstances for people of color.” Trans-generational trauma can act as another implicit stressor caused by racism. Generational trauma can be transmitted through epigenetics and is described as the inheritance of beliefs, behaviors and patterns from older generations. Children are socialized from an early age to acknowledge they are different from others through stories told by their grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and older siblings. Raposa said, “racial trauma can also be transmitted across generations within a particular culture, with younger generations inheriting the stories and legacy of past oppressive experiences (such as slavery), creating another dimension of stress associated with racism.” “My parents and family are from Ecuador and faced an immense amount of discrimination when they immigrated to the U.S.,” Nyckole Lopez, Fordham College at Lincoln Center ’22, said. “I have seen customers yell at my father for not knowing a lot of English and it has physically made me cry for days and my chest aches as all you want to do is protect the ones you love from moments like these.” Additionally, structural racism impacts access to education, healthcare, criminal justice, employment, community and housing, all of which can affect one’s mental health. Structural racism can “contribute to internalized racism, diminished self-esteem/worth, decreased authenticity, impos-
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GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS BY ESMÉ BLEECKER-ADAMS /THE OBSERVER
terism, hypervigilance and/ or heightened nervous system arousal,” Ng said. “All of these experiences increase our vulnerability to various mental health issues, including anxiety, depression, social isolation, selfharm, suicidality, and various externalizing behaviors, such as substance abuse and aggression.” Frequent exposure to the consequences of structural racism results in racial trauma. “I have faced countless times where I feel immense anxiety throughout class because I realize I did not have the resources as other students who were accepted,” Lopez said. “When I have been called on and looked at weird because I don’t know the answer whether it be a word I never heard before or a book I never got to read in my high school because of lack of funding, I felt like an imposter in Fordham, I felt like I did not belong at all.” There is an inequitable distribution of resources across racial lines which undeniably has
affected the achievement gap among students of color. “It is a difficult thing to sit down with yourself and push that you do deserve it because it may always feel like you don’t,” Lopez said. “But when it comes to the effects of internalized racism, it is extremely vital to keep yourself grounded in the reality that you worked hard and have faced a lot.” To address the impact of racial trauma on students, CPS has launched weekly support group meetings to discuss racial justice and to give students a platform to share their own experiences. Racism itself is a social construct; however, because of its widespread implications on each institutional level, it can gravely affect the mental health of marginalized individuals. Professor of sociology Clara E. Rodriguez, Ph.D., said that racism is “like other ‘isms, which convey the idea that you are not as equal, worthy, or trustworthy. And, we all lose when not everyone can contribute to the best of their ability.”
PPE in the Bedroom: Is It Safe to Have Sex in a Pandemic?
By LUKE OSBORN Sports & Health Editor Emeritus
Many things were postponed due to COVID-19, but it’s likely that your sex drive has persisted through this pandemic better than sporting events or indoor dining. The question is, however, is it safe to act on it during a pandemic? Both Planned Parenthood and the New York City Department of Health (NYC Health) advise against having sex with people you do not already live with. It’s unclear as to how well COVID-19 spreads through sexual contact. The virus that causes COVID-19 has been detected in feces and semen, which may pose additional risk for sexual partners. Nevertheless, COVID-19 can readily spread through kissing or close contact with a sexual partner. “You are your safest sex partner,” said NYC Health. That’s right, there are no recorded cases of masturbation furthering the spread of COVID-19. If going solo hasn’t been cutting it lately, NYC Health identified those that live within your quarantine bubble as the next safest prospective sexual partner. The number of people you choose to see outside of your household should remain limited, and this small circle includes individuals you have sex with who don’t live you. Before engaging in sexual activity with members outside of your house-
hold, make sure you will be able to have an honest conversation with this person about their COVID-19 status. NYC Health recommends asking the following questions. First, ask the person you might have sex with: “Do you have symptoms or have had symptoms of COVID-19 in the past 14 days?” Even though it’s possible to spread COVID-19 while not showing symptoms, it’s still important to ask them whether they’ve experienced shortness of breath, fever, cough or a sore throat recently. The second question to ask would be: “Have you been diagnosed with COVID-19 using a nasal swab or saliva test?” Even if they have tested positive, it’s unlikely that they will be able to spread the coronavirus 10 days after the onset of symptoms and at least three days after their last fever. If they, however, are still within this window of time, plan to meet in person later in the future. An important thing to note is that an individual might not be immune after this 10-day-window. Rather, they are merely unable to further spread the virus. You or your partner may have gotten an antibody test, and it’s important to know what these results really mean. An antibody test can determine whether you have had a past infection of COVID-19; these tests, however, do not ensure that you have immunity against the virus and
cannot become reinfected. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it’s possible to acquire immunity against COVID-19 following an infection, but it’s unclear as to how long and how strong this immunity is. According to NYC Health, “If two is company then three (or more) is definitely a crowd.” Group sex is also not advisable during a pandemic, especially if the other participants aren’t members of your household. More partners might be more fun, but it comes with a higher risk of contracting COVID-19. There are alternatives to meeting up in person. Seize the moment to get creative with sex. Have a sexy Zoom chat, FaceTime or revive the lost art of sexting. Whatever happened to mutual masturbation? Any type of sexual activity that minimizes contact between you and your partner will always be the safest option, given the circumstances. Lastly, but most importantly, always ensure that there’s enthusiastic consent between both parties. If these options don’t float your boat, then take special precautions during sex. NYC Health recommends using a condom or dental dams during oral, vaginal or anal intercourse. Avoid kissing at all costs — contact with another person’s saliva is the surest way to catch COVID-19. Wash your hands before and after sex with soap and water for
a minimum of 20 seconds. Lastly, sex is hard work and heavy breathing is bound to happen, so masks are recommended. Even though COVID-19 is the only communicable disease on your mind these days, it’s still possible to contract sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). If you choose to hook up during the pandemic, make sure to get a
COVID-19 nasal swab test as well as a comprehensive STD screening. Again, sex with people outside your household during a pandemic is not recommended by Planned Parenthood or NYC Health, but the key is to be as safe as possible in every encounter with individuals outside of your household.
SOPHIE PARTRIDGE-HICKS/THE OBSERVER
Planned Parenthood and the NYC Department of Health advise against having sex with anyone you do not already live with. The health department also recommends extra precautions for anyone who is having sex, including wearing masks.
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Sports & Health
By NIKO KONSTANTELLIS and PATRICK MOQUIN Staff Writer and Sports & Health Editor
September 16, 2020 THE OBSERVER
Pandemic Passes and COVID-19 Catches: Fordham Sports During the Fall
The pandemic has rendered the world of sports as vulnerable as the sale of toilet paper. In recent years, NCAA programs have already had to grapple with the tough ethical question of profiting off of unpaid students, but now the health and safety of these students are being put in jeopardy. While some schools resumed action this fall, Fordham University, in connection with the NCAA and Atlantic 10 (A10) conference, made the health-conscious choice, cutting off one of its most important revenue streams in order to ensure the safety of student-athletes. Before the fall season, the pandemic had already caused several postponements, as last year’s men’s A10 basketball tournament was cut short, while the women’s National Invitational Tournament (NIT) was canceled completely. The cancellations continued into the spring and now the fall, with this year’s Patriot League football season being tentatively postponed without a set return date. Despite not being a university currently known for its sports, Fordham still prides itself on its long history of athletic success and the well-roundedness of its student-athletes. In an interview with The Observer, Interim Athletic Director Ed Kull discussed the success of the school’s athletes, saying, “I’ve been really blown away by that in terms of what the department represents, and the type of student-athlete that is being recruited throughout the country and even internationally by our coaches.” However, the pandemic has impacted student-athletes tremendously and Kull said that he felt “horrible” to see seniors from the 2019-20 academic year graduate without completing their final season. More importantly, he said that he’s been tirelessly exploring options so that such a disappointing experience doesn’t befall this year’s graduating class as well.
www.fordhamobserver.com
As the NBA and NHL have done, Kull mentioned that the NCAA has discussed forming a potential “bubble” in an attempt to protect the health and safety of the athletes while still proceeding with the sporting seasons. These bubbles have typically been set up at hotels or resorts, and would contain the athletes, coaches, referees and other necessary personnel while preventing any outside contact. However, the struggle with forming a bubble for collegiate athletes in any sport is the necessity for hundreds of universities and thousands of athletes across different conferences to be accommodated and accounted for as opposed to the 30 or so teams in leagues like the NBA and NHL. With a sport like college football, it would simply be impossible to achieve.
“ But as you know, with
COVID, it’s been a wild ride for six months. We’re just trying to monitor that and go slowly in terms of what it means in terms of winter sports, which are still currently in play. ” Ed Kull, Interim Athletic Director
However, Kull is looking toward the unique opportunity that colleges have as opposed to the pros: a winter break from classes. The director sees this as a potential way for a basketball season to go on as planned, asking, “Is there an opportunity in the month of December where there are also no classes to try to have some college basketball games be played, whether in a bubble or in the safe way?” Not only will these changes impact the student-athletes on
GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY PAMELA PAJARES/THE OBSERVER
campus, but the university may also have to spend more money if the A10 chooses to resume play. If the idea of a bubble does come to fruition, it won’t come with a cheap price tag. While the professional leagues currently enacting a bubble have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into their pandemic plans, the NCAA will have to face similar expenses. The money required for that effort would come from the NCAA and A10 in part, but it’s hard to imagine a scenario where the university would be able to play without contributing money to the massive effort. Despite the temptation of an idea as grandiose as a bubble, the current plan is still to reschedule fall sports for the spring while winter and spring sports return as normal, assuming the force of the pandemic diminishes. Regarding the plan, Kull stressed that the administration was remaining cautious, saying, “But as you know, with COVID, it’s been a wild ride for six months. We’re just trying to monitor that and go slowly in terms of what it means in terms
of winter sports, which are still currently in play.” If it goes on as planned, the college basketball season is only two months away, a very tight deadline considering current health guidelines. The NCAA plans to release official guidelines later this week, but Kull said that rumors are already swirling that the winter season will be delayed by a few weeks. In terms of revenue, the loss of basketball could be particularly damaging for Fordham. One might assume that football would be the most significant revenue earner for Fordham, since college football is often a school’s lifeblood. By canceling their football season, Sports Illustrated reported that Pennsylvania State University could lose up to $100 million this year. However, while Fordham still stands to lose money, the gridiron losses aren’t quite as severe. For Fordham in the Patriot League, Kull said, “There is not the TV deal or the TV network … and even at Coffey Field in terms of football, you know, it probably could hold comfortably 6,000
COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS
The NCAA is set to release plans and procedures later this week for the upcoming college basketball season, which is rumored to be delayed by a few weeks.
seats when it’s sold out. It’s not 126,000 like Ohio State or Michigan or an SEC.” Instead, Kull pointed out that Fordham’s financial losses would actually be more significant if the basketball season was postponed. Unlike the football team in the Patriot League, the basketball teams play in the A10 and have a TV deal through the conference with ESPN+. The women’s team has even made it to the national stage on several occasions in recent seasons. Last year, the men’s A10 Tournament was cut short, while the women were invited to the NIT before it was canceled. Kull described a trickle down effect when these cancellations occurred. The conferences and hosting organizations lost money by canceling, and this led to the loss of significant NCAA revenue distribution for all the teams involved, including Fordham. Kull described that loss of money earlier this year as “significant,” and there were effectively only a few games remaining on both basketball teams’ schedules. If the seasons were canceled completely, the school would miss out on revenue from several months’ worth of basketball games. With so many potential forms of income being cut off, fundraising is becoming an increasingly important area for Kull and his department. The director expressed concern that donors would not be as enthusiastic without sports on the schedule, but described a “creative” and “engaging” approach to bring in money for the school at a time in which options are limited. In the world of college sports, current events are uncertain, the potential ramifications will be damaging and plans to move forward are still up in the air. This isn’t the best time to be the interim athletic director, but Kull has managed to keep a steady hand by keeping the student-athletes’ experiences in mind. The fairly new athletic director has been inspired by those around him at Fordham, saying, “Our coaches have done a great job in terms of developing our student athletes. And I’ll be honest with you … we really have an incredible, incredibly well rounded student athlete.” It’s this student-driven mindset that the director intends to maintain as he continues to venture forward through this challenging landscape.
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THE OBSERVER September 16, 2020
Fordham Linebacker Jaden Vazquez Seeks LGBTQ+ Inclusivity in Athletics
By MAGGIE MCNAMARA Asst. Sports & Health Editor
Jaden Vazquez, Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) ’22, has always known that he was bisexual. He’s also played football his entire childhood. A year ago, he uploaded an Instagram post where he physically stepped out of the closet to his followers. Now, as a linebacker on Fordham’s football team, his experience as an LGBTQ+ student-athlete is attracting national media attention. “It’s obviously a part of me, but it’s not all of me,” Vazquez said in reference to his sexuality. “I didn’t want to be known as the bisexual athlete.” However, Vazquez’s story is uncommon: While visibility for the LGBTQ+ community has increased in recent years, LGBTQ+ athletes are still incredibly underrepresented across all sports. Human Rights Campaign reported in 2018 that 80% of LGBQ teenage athletes have not come out to their coaches. This is likely due to the fact that, on top of normal stressors associated with being LGBTQ+ in a heteronormative society, LGBTQ+ athletes face a number of challenges unique to the sports world. The NCAA Sport Science Institute reports that, within college athletics, “coaches, administrators and student-athletes often exhibit heterosexist and homophobic attitudes.” Vazquez noted that he had heard numerous microaggressions from members of the football team that contributed stress to the already intensely anxious experience of coming out.
“I don’t think anyone on my team is homophobic, but hearing gay jokes or hearing homophobic tendencies in conversation would just eat at me. I wanted to say something but I didn’t want to out myself,” Vazquez said. Gay jokes and traditional ideas of masculinity were also noted in the Human Rights Campaign report as factors that add to difficulties LGBQ athletes face. In terms of the broader culture within Fordham Athletics, Vazquez described conversations surrounding the LGBTQ+ community as a “taboo subject.” “It’s something that’s not brought up, and even when I say ‘LGBTQ’ in front of some people, I can feel them tense up like it’s a subject that (they think) maybe we shouldn’t talk about it in the locker room or on the field. I think it should be normalized and I think the only way to normalize it is to continue talking about it.” Coming out via Instagram was a deliberate move. Vazquez explained that coming out online felt almost less public, and it made him more comfortable to come out to everyone at the same time. “That’s a lot of conversations I would have been having (otherwise),” Vazquez said. “I found it easier within myself to make the post than to sit people down because that’s a more formal way to do it. I wanted to come across as casual.” The timing of this post was significant as well. He considered coming out his freshman year or even earlier but wanted people to get to know him first, saying, “If I would’ve come out before I came to college, I would’ve been
known as bisexual instead of as Jaden first.” Vazquez also recalled that, when he began thinking about coming out, there weren’t many people within athletics to look up to in terms of his sexuality. He remembered seeing a handful of athletes coming out in the past, and said that “even just reading about them helped. I wish there were more.” He plans to provide support and resources for other LGBTQ+ athletes with his new position in the student-athlete organization Fordham Connect. According to its Twitter, Fordham Connect’s mission is to “erase the stigma around vulnerability in sport.” In addition to its larger focus on student-athletes’ mental health, the organization is broken down into three subgroups: female; Black, Indigenous and people of color; and LGBTQ+ athletes. Vazquez serves as the executive of the LGBTQ+ athlete subgroup. Fordham Connect is currently in developmental stages and is undergoing group training in order to best provide a safe and welcoming space for athletes to receive support. Vazquez has a vision for his subgroup: “I want to focus a lot on self-identity and realizing that you are more than an athlete, that it’s okay to be yourself.” He also wants people who don’t identify as LGBTQ+ to come to meetings to discover more about themselves. He believes they should be able to “find out who they are as people and how they don’t have to play into the roles of society.” Vazquez explained, “Even cis males go through needing to feel like they’re more of a
Sports & Health
11
GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY ESMÉ BLEECKER-ADAMS /THE OBSERVER
‘manly man’ because they’re in the sport of football or basketball or soccer.” His group aims to alleviate these pressures. Discussion will play a large role in these early steps. “Hearing other people’s stories definitely helps a lot. There’s obviously these societal roles on you, but you can be yourself through whatever identity you choose.” Vazquez said that Fordham Connect has received support from the Fordham administration and athletes on several different sports teams. The subgroup he runs has already started to open up conversations about LGBTQ+ inclusivity in sports, and conditions have improved since his freshman year. “Everyone’s open, and if they’re not open, they don’t share.” With the football season suspended for the fall, Vazquez has
spent a lot of time preparing for the organization’s first meeting, which is scheduled for Sept. 16. In addition to speaking with several news outlets, he has been in contact with the NCAA about how best to provide support and resources for his community. Vazquez will also be on a College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) panel about LGBTQ+ inclusion in sports on Sept. 29. He’s made connections with Outsports and coaches throughout the NCAA and plans to reach out to other LGBTQ+ college athletes. “This time last year, I was in the closet. Now, I’m just trying to help people in my same situation. If I don’t, I feel like it’s just selfish. There’s not a lot of us, so we definitely have to look out for each other. This doesn’t just stop at Fordham.”
World of eSports Arrives at Fordham
In times of social distancing, physical games give way to online competitions By PATRICK MOQUIN Sports & Health Editor
As life without Fordham athletics continues, students and the athletic department are slowly developing a new alternative to intramural sports. Over the summer, Assistant Athletic Director Michael Roberts announced that Fordham will now support eSports, or competitive gaming, for students looking for
casual competition that also conforms to strict social distancing guidelines. In a message to students on Aug. 7, Roberts said that he was inexperienced with gaming but sought help to discover “the ins and outs of platforms, crossover games ... and pro sports games versus some of the insane titles out there today.” Through IMLeagues, the website that Fordham Athletics typ-
ically uses to post listings for intramural sports, students can now sign up for a variety of gaming leagues featuring individual and team competition. Some of the games available include Fortnite, League of Legends and Madden NFL 21, and players can access these games and many more through the PlayStation 4, XBox One, Nintendo Switch or PC. With time and further research, Roberts and the athletic depart-
ANDREW DRESSNER/THE OBSERVER
Fordham’s intramural program is offering eSports as a virtual alternative to the regular season. “When the traditional methods for getting together were taken away because of COVID, I think eSports is the best you can get to a replacement of team competition,” participant Jack Kichula, FCRH ’21, said.
ment created a varied competitive gaming environment supported by Fordham so that students can partake in recreational campus activities without violating public health guidelines. It isn’t a perfect substitution, but for students like Jack Kichula, Fordham College at Rose Hill ’21, it’s an even more exciting opportunity. For eight years, Kichula has competed in eSports across several different games and naturally approved of Fordham Athletics’ new initiative. The senior student said, “When the traditional methods for getting together were taken away because of COVID, I think eSports is the best you can get to a replacement of team competition.” The advantages of eSports in this new health-conscious environment are fairly obvious. Unlike sports contested in-person, an eSports team can collaborate and compete remotely. In addition, when sports simply aren’t feasible, eSports give students a new opportunity to interact with fellow students in a casually competitive environment. According to Kichula, Fordham has never attempted anything like this, and its recent development has given it a looser structure than formal intramural sports. Instead of a set schedule for competition, “the format is a regular season as long as the school year where teams challenge each other whenever they are available to play.” These gaming leagues benefit very few people beyond the players themselves, but the usual intramural sports serve a very similar purpose. The competition isn’t intense or heavily regulated, and the
results are largely inconsequential. It’s a way for people to pass time, and the university has provided another form of entertainment for students to take advantage of on their own schedule. Unfortunately, the news of eSports at Fordham hasn’t yet attracted the same attention that other intramural efforts have enjoyed previously. Kichula said, “I think it’s gone under the radar for most students, which is unfortunate ... I’m aware that eSports caters to a smaller audience than traditional sports, but I don’t think a lot of students are aware of its existence.” On the IMLeagues page, there are currently multiple gaming leagues that have not yet received a single signup. For those XBox One owners looking to test their skills in Madden NFL 21, there’s no one available to challenge. Fordham gamers playing Call of Duty on the PlayStation 4 are missing in action. On the League of Legends page, Kichula’s five-person squad only has two other teams with which to compete. The future of Fordham’s newest intramural program depends on the interest of its most passionate gamers. The effort has been made by the administration, and they’ve now left it for students to take advantage. A world of casual online competition awaits Fordham students looking for a way to interact with their friends in a safe environment. They can be football players, soldiers or heroes from imaginary worlds, competing alongside their fellow Fordham escapists. All they have to do is log on.
September 16, 2020
Expectations Versus Reality: The Fall Semester By KATRINA LAMBERT News Editor
“ I’m more grateful
for going completely virtual because I save money with the subway fares and on-campus dorming, but I also miss the experiences with being with my friends in person ” Michelle Yoon, FCLC ’22
“These first weeks have made me feel incapable and not ‘good’ at school,” Matthew Kozakowski, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’21, said. Kozakowski chose to return to campus for the fall semester because, as someone who struggled with the transition to remote classes during the 2020 spring semester, he believed that in-person classes would be the most “healthy option” for him. “I’m a very academically driven person and I like being in school,” he said, which is why being back in a school environment for hybrid learning was important for him. This year, Fordham students had to decide their mode of learning for the fall semester by August 13. Students were given the choice of taking fully in-person, hybrid or fully online classes. Regardless of the preferred learning mode students chose, it evidently was up to the faculty to decide the format in which they would teach their classes. Because of this, several students who returned to campus for the hope of in-person classes have more online courses than they anticipated. As a part of the hybrid learning style, classes have mixed elements of in-person and online meetings, as well as both synchronous and asynchronous materials. Two of Kozakowski’s three classes are hybrid and the other fully online, which he said was what he expected. Since experiencing his hybrid courses, Kozakowski said he is overwhelmed by the amount of asynchronous work expected for this type of class, and he is not alone in his experience. Many students have reported that they feel teachers tend to pile on more
work when there are asynchronous and online elements involved in learning. “It’s endless,” he said. “No matter how much and how well I do what is assigned, it’s inconsequential because there’s just another thing waiting to be done.” On some days, Kozakowski said he has to have friends remind him to eat and to breathe. Sheridan Tyson, FCLC ’23, found herself on campus with only online classes despite signing up for hybrid format. Tyson knew before choosing to come back to New York that her classes were already declared all online, however. She decided to come back anyway, “in order to stay close with my friends/roommates and to take advantage of opportunities in the city,” Tyson said. The desire to further relationships with friends was not a sentiment unique to just Tyson. Michelle Yoon, FCLC ’22, also wanted to come back to campus originally to develop her friendships in the city. Initially, she was going to come back to Fordham’s Lincoln Center campus for hybrid learning, but when her classes were all declared online, she made the choice to attend classes remotely from her home in California. “‘Campus life’ is both convenient and still takes time getting used to,” Yoon said. “I can pack my schedule with back-to-back classes and meetings because the commute time is out of the question, but I'm also paying a lot more attention to how much I'm looking at the screen and doing activities away from my laptop.” According to Kozakowski, most professors have designed their hybrid learning courses to function with a lecture online, followed by class discussion for the scheduled in-person meeting.
He wishes that the lecture could also take place in-person though. Because his professors record the lectures in lieu of a synchronous meeting, there is a liberty for the professor to lecture longer than the traditional 75 minutes of allotted class time. Fordham upper-level classes operate under the expectation of 150 minutes per week for formal instruction, plus an additional 3 hours of preparation work. The reality, Kozakowski said, is that his classes have between 80-90 minutes of pre-recorded video lecture, followed by a 75 minute in-person discussion for each class, totalling to about 165 minutes per week. He then has to complete more additional outside work, which often takes place in front of a screen. “There is too much ‘outside’ work that has to be completed before any in person stuff,” he said. With classes conducted solely online, both Yoon and Tyson said that their professors have been trying to take advantage of the several different platforms available for conducting classes. The most common virtual meeting platform professors are using is Zoom, but professors have been also known to try out Blackboard Collaborate, Discord, Voicethread and Webex. One issue that Tyson expressed in regard to the different platforms is that it has been confusing to figure out how to navigate each of these services. Fordham provided training to the faculty before the semester started on how to navigate these platforms. Students weren’t provided with any introductions to these platforms before the school year started; however, the university posted a website with “Tips for Online Learning,” which includes the number for Fordham Tech Support.
GABE SAMANDI/THE OBSERVER Students are required by the Ram Pledge to wear masks in the common spaces on campus.
COURTESY OF MICHELLE YOON Yoon said she likes to keep her workspace as far away from her bed as possible to limit the likelihood of taking naps between classes.
September 16, 2020
ANDREW DRESSNER/THE OBSERVER Kozakowski and Tyson both said they pass by very few people on campus each day. Hallways and common spaces have been extremely de-densified.
MAGGIE MCNAMARA/THE OBSERVER Pets and parents have been known to pop into the background of students' online classes. COURTESY OF MATTHEW KOZAKOWSKI Kozakowski's hybrid class, Trauma and Family Violence, meets for in-person discussions. He described his class as feeling "so small and so safe."
While Yoon also noted that these many services can be difficult at times, she said she enjoys the chances to communicate with her classmates when possible. “One professor based the class on Discord which is exciting!” Yoon said. “I can react to my classmates’ comments in the chat with emojis and it’s a creative outlet to show agreement other than the Zoom featured clap and thumbs up.” Another way that Yoon has been trying to continue building her community of peers remotely is by coming to class early to chat with her classmates as they would in person. According to Yoon, some professors open the Zoom classroom links up to 30 minutes early to help students make connections. However, remote learning still is a hindrance to her ability to participate in class as fully as she would like, she said. Accidentally speaking while on mute, having family or pets in the background, and her raised hand sometimes being overlooked were a few of the difficulties that come with virtual learning, she mentioned. Yoon expressed that she is also struggling with the feeling of connectedness to campus and her peers. “I have mixed feelings now that class has started; I’m more grateful for going completely virtual because I save money with the subway fares and on-campus dorming, but I also miss the expe-
riences with being with my friends in person,” she said. Playing games, cooking dinner and exploring New York City with her friends are a few of the things she listed that she misses about being on campus. Campus life, according to Kozakowski and Tyson, who are both on campus, is very mundane compared to the usual busyness of club activities and events happening during a normal school year. “Campus honestly feels a bit like a ghost town,” Kozakowski said. He said that he passes by roughly four to seven people a day and has yet to share an elevator with anyone. Tyson echoed these experiences and also said that in general there is “a serious lack of opportunities to make new friends.” She added that she understands the reasoning for this — to prevent a mass COVID-19 outbreak on campus — however, for first-year students she sympathizes with the struggle to form crucial relationships with peers. A few students have reported generally feeling safe on the Lincoln Center campus, which was one of the main concerns for students like Yoon who chose to remain remote. Both Tyson and Kozakowski cited seeing people on campus wearing masks at all times. Kozakowski mentioned that his biggest fear at the moment, in regard to COVID-19, is getting sent home early because of the videos he has seen of students at Rose Hill.
MADDIE
On Aug. 20, a video of a large group of Rose Hill orientation leaders dancing on the steps circulated on the Instagram account @lc_sinners. Even though the event shown in the video has since been clarified as a university-sponsored event, it has still alarmed students about the safety of the Rose Hill campus. Despite the many different experiences students are having this fall taking classes in a multitude of formats and locations, so far students have reported the same sentiments of optimism for the school year. Even Kozakowski said that he is “super excited for the semester.” He said he hopes that going forward professors and academic deans listen to the feedback students provide about the first few weeks and amend their curricula to match the expectations students have for themselves about their learning this semester. He also encouraged all students to speak up to their professors if they also have felt overloaded this semester. “There needs to be a checks-and-balances system in place to make sure teachers aren’t overstepping into their student’s lives,” he said. “And I think it is the school’s responsibility to figure out that checks-and-balances system.”
SA
RVER
E OBSE
M/TH NDHOL
“ Campus honestly
feels a bit like a ghost town. ”
Matthew Kozakowski, FCLC ’21
Opinions Editors Emily Ellis - eellis14@fordham.edu Haley Smullen - hsmullen@fordham.edu
Opinions
T
KEEPING THE CAMPUS SAFE SHOULD BE A COLLECTIVE EFFORT that even if everyone was masked at that one on-campus event, some students ultimately have not sacrificed aspects of their social life in the name of public health. If students behave like this at Lincoln Center, a much smaller and more densely packed campus, a COVID-19 outbreak seems inevitable. While both the students and the administration alike would have a share in the blame, the administration can only regulate so much beyond campus borders. Thus far, no footage similar to that of Rose Hill has emerged from Lincoln Center. It is our responsibility as students to account for both our actions and the actions of others, whether that is through discouraging unsafe activities or reporting them should they happen, or else sharing in the consequences.
The administration should use its influence and resources to ensure that social distancing and mask-wearing are enforced and to develop competent and well-rounded protocols. Everyone on campus — from the person who cleans the Garden Lounge to any Lincoln Center or Rose Hill student to the Rev. Joseph M. McShane, S.J., himself — needs to follow the New York state laws and Fordham’s own guidelines. The administration should use its influence and resources to ensure that social distancing and mask-wearing are enforced and to develop competent and well-rounded protocols. Not only should administrators give directives, as they have in the Fordham Forward plan and the Ram Pledge, but they should also hold people responsible for their actions with real consequences for
Observer the
STAFF EDITORIAL
o return, or not to return?” This was the question all Fordham students asked themselves when making the difficult decision about whether to come back to campus for the fall 2020 semester. With the coronavirus pandemic still sweeping the nation, heading to a college campus in the center of New York City certainly poses risks. The students who have chosen to reside on campus this fall have a duty to follow social distancing guidelines to keep themselves and their peers safe. The Fordham administration, through its policies and enforcement, has an obligation to ensure safety as well. On June 30, Fordham announced its “Fordham Forward” plan detailing its goals and regulations for fall 2020. This plan, among other requirements, asks students to wear masks on campus, limit their contact with off-campus individuals and complete a daily COVID-19 symptom screening via VitalCheck. While these initiatives are all crucial forms of protection, they come nowhere near fully protecting students from the dangers of the pandemic, especially when students don’t follow safety guidelines. Students on social media — admittedly, ourselves included — were quick to condemn the Aug. 21 video of Rose Hill orientation leaders dancing to the “Cupid Shuffle.” The Observer later reported that the event was not only allowed but also mandated by Fordham. This event occurred only three days after a university-wide email informed students that failure to abide by New York City rules could result in their suspension. What at first appeared to be evidence of socially starved students flouting COVID-19 safety precautions became an indication of a university playing fast and loose with its own distancing guidelines. Moreover, photos of crowded bars and large gatherings of students off-campus have since surfaced, suggesting
September 16, 2020 THE OBSERVER
not following them, including restricting their access to social gatherings or asking them to leave campus altogether. Although Lincoln Center administrators enforce the rules of wearing masks and staying 6 feet apart, they should also not permit large gatherings over 50 people as their counterparts have done at Rose Hill. We as students have the right to a safe campus environment and should hold the people in charge to the same standards they impose on us. If we see members of the community gathering in large groups or consistently not wearing masks, we must reach out to ensure the administration is being held accountable for carrying out its own policies. We also must hold each other accountable, whether it’s something as simple as reminding a friend to wear a mask, speaking up when a policy is breached or offering hand sanitizer. The administration makes the rules, but we are the people who are attending classes and interacting with our peers. The greatest responsibility lies with us to protect ourselves and others so that everyone can return to New York City once again. The prospect of an experimental fall semester was bound to present challenges to all of us as we attempted to return to campus life while maintaining appropriate social distancing boundaries and guidelines. The university’s current approach represents a respectable effort at keeping Fordham residents safe amid a pandemic. However, it will not suffice to curb the spread of the coronavirus when put into practice on an urban college campus eager to congregate and reunite after months of quarantining around the globe. As students, it is our responsibility to call into question the policies that fall short of providing adequate protection to the college body and to hold each other accountable for our own behavior.
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A Blueprint for Equitable Vaccine Distribution Without equal distribution plans that prioritize the world’s poor, vaccines alone will not solve the coronavirus pandemic PATRICK RIZZI Staff Writer
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to destabilize political systems and wreak havoc on the global economy, more and more countries are looking to the rapid but efficient development of a vaccine to confront the deadly virus. However, the way that the vaccine will be distributed both within and outside of a country’s borders will be one of the most important factors, assuming the drug is successful. Several vaccines are already in stage three of trials, including one co-produced by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, one by Pfizer and one by Moderna. Based on the promising data from early-stage trials, it seems that we can be cautiously optimistic that these vaccines will be safe and effective by the end of 2020, and more vaccines will likely be created in the first half of next year. Over 5 billion doses of the vaccine have been ordered by a conglomerate of countries in the hope that they will be delivered soon after approval in order to immunize their populations. There have been unprecedented investments by nonprofits, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, that focus on global health concerns to quickly produce and distribute vaccines worldwide. First and foremost, any COVID-19 vaccine should be
free and available to the public, regardless of ability to pay, insurance status or immigration status. Vaccination plans should also prioritize medically vulnerable people and those who have historically been marginalized in health care. This is especially important since the COVID-19 pandemic
has disproportionately affected minority communities, such as Black and Hispanic/Latinx communities in the United States. This can largely be tied to the extent of systemic racism in the U.S. today, as racial and ethnic minorities are less likely to be insured and have equitable access to health care.
Lower-income individuals are also more likely to serve as essential workers than those with the privilege of living in higher-income areas, which gives them a heightened risk of being exposed to the virus in day-to-day work. Even though these groups of people are among the most
RETHA FERGUSON VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
With trials underway around the world, the distribution and availability of the COVID-19 vaccine will determine whether it is effective.
at risk, they may not be able to afford a potentially costly vaccine. Additionally, countries that are wealthier have a moral and political obligation to help provide and/or pay for vaccine doses for countries that cannot afford or are otherwise unable to acquire them. The COVID-19 pandemic is truly global in scope, affecting nearly every country. Just as the pandemic has exposed disturbing and deep-seated stratification between wealthier and poorer communities within a country, it has also exposed such concerns between wealthier and poorer countries. The virus has ravaged highly populated and dense swaths of poorer countries that tend to have inadequate access to health care and coronavirus testing. It will take a truly global effort to end the pandemic, and not all countries will be able to participate as fully as others in such an effort. After all, the pandemic has clearly shown the interconnectedness of the world today as well as the ongoing effects of globalization on international events. By prioritizing equality and social justice based on social ills and vulnerabilities highlighted by the pandemic, we can be hopeful that humanity will eventually begin to chart a better path forward and hopefully continue to do so after the novel coronavirus is put in the past.
Fordham Needs to Keep Online Summer Classes Available Next Year CLARA GERLACH Contributing Writer
Fordham had a clear policy before the pandemic switched students to an online format: Summer classes from another accredited 4-year university could only be transferred if the class was taken in-person. This policy was changed exclusively for the 2020 summer sessions: Classes could be transferred even if taken online. Dean Laura Auricchio of Fordham College at Lincoln Center explained that the university hasn’t “yet determined policies for summer 2021” and that they plan on reviewing how it went this summer first. Fordham should keep this policy in perpetuity as it would help with scheduling, create a broader selection of classes and potentially save students money. Allowing online classes to be transferred will make it possible for the student body to take classes they previously wouldn’t have been able to. They will no longer be bound by their location or Fordham’s online selection. The resulting broader range of classes would increase their choices over the summer and allow them to fulfill requirements earlier. For example, the magic of online learning allows for a student from Hartford, Connecticut, to take a class in Houston, Texas, in the comfort of their home. Moreover, not all students can juggle an in-person class or Fordham’s online classes with summer jobs because of scheduling conflicts or the inability to afford to live in dorms over the summer.
A wider selection of summer courses also opens up the possibility of a diverse range of asynchronous classes. These would allow students to advance their education without their job or good grades being mutually exclusive. The participation grade in synchronous classes is often vital, and having classes
that the student may take on their own allows them to juggle both classes and a job without having to sacrifice the grade. Many students also work during the year, and the ability to have the flexibility to take a class over the summer may allow for students to keep days open for work or internships.
By allowing students to have easier access to college credits, students could learn and work as they would be able to take classes outside of a normal schedule. Fordham students would become more competitive upon graduation as taking online classes over the summer may allow them to pick up another minor, fulfill
GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY OLIVIA STERN/THE OBSERVER
their pre-med requirements or make sure they graduate on time while still participating in a study abroad program. It would also open up the opportunity for an early graduation. Cost, in addition to scheduling, can keep students from expanding their minds over the summer. Online classes from other colleges may cost less than the courses offered at Fordham, which are $945 per credit. An instate school may offer an almost identical class for half the price. There are no opportunities for scholarships over the summer session, so a student who needs to take an online class at Fordham may not be able to afford it, leaving them at a disadvantage simply because of a lack of funds. By allowing online classes to be transferred, Fordham will be doing its part in leveling the playing field a little more. Allowing online classes from other institutions to be transferred will benefit not only the student body, but Fordham as well. Students will have more class choice, more diversity and a more attractive university experience. In a competitive environment where Fordham aims to go up the university rankings, this would definitely contribute to student satisfaction. There is no logical reason for Fordham to hold a monopoly on online classes, as we are able to transfer in-person classes from other institutions, and there is no difference in submitting a request for an online class and an in-person class. Fordham needs to sustain this policy in order to help students be successful in their college endeavors.
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Trump Creates a Schism in the Catholic Church At risk of American church, Trump rallies white Catholics with reactionaries and conspiracy theorists NICHOLAS SCOTCHIE
Contributing Writer
When people discuss Christian Trump voters, the focus is often on his die-hard Evangelical adherents. While Evangelicals are an important part of the Republican coalition, they should not cause onlookers to discount the importance of white Catholics to the GOP. Looking deeper into the Trump campaign’s outreach to this coveted demographic reveals an ongoing schism within the American Catholic Church. According to exit polls from 2016, Donald Trump won 60% of white Catholics’ votes, a demographic that has a powerful influence in crucial swing states like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Recent polling has been less kind, with one poll in June 2020 showing only 37% of white Catholics approve of Trump after the coronavirus pandemic and recent protests. Even if a majority plan to vote for Trump, as a July Pew Research poll showed, any decrease in support could have massive ramifications. In order to try and shore up support, Trump has started to increasingly embrace the fringe of American Catholicism. Trump has used this tactic before; in 2016 he enlisted the help of longtime pro-life activist Frank Pavone as a campaign adviser. Pavone has been a stalwart supporter of the president and his policies, even defending the administration’s family separation policy while many U.S. bishops denounced it. While Pavone has vacated his position in the Trump
campaign under the order of church authorities, Trump has continued elevating divisive figures to positions of power within the American government. One of the most well-known of these personalities is former Apostolic Nuncio to the U.S. Carlo Viganó, a papal ambassador, who called on Pope Francis to resign in 2018 after leveling unfounded allegations of coverups and deceit. Viganó continued on this trajectory in a letter sent to President Trump this May. In the letter, Viganó pitted Trump against what he called the “children of darkness.” This force of darkness, through control of the media and
the “deep state,” was using the pandemic and protests to elect a candidate more favorable to their interests. The former Nuncio went on to rant against globalism, the new world order and a false church that was subservient to the “Invisible Enemy.” Taylor Marshall, a writer with a Ph.D. in philosophy who recently joined the Catholics for Trump coalition, has also joined Viganó in his pro-Trump crusade. Marshall was an uncontroversial author for several years before becoming associated with the anti-Pope Francis animus that has swept the ranks of conservative American Catholics. Through his YouTube
video series and bestselling books like “Infiltration,” Marshall advanced the idea of a centuries-old plot aimed at destroying the church, with Pope Francis as the most recent assailant. You may be asking why these alliances are so unusual. After all, this is not the first time that a Republican candidate has embraced conservative Christians, a demographic the right has courted since Ronald Reagan. What makes this different is that Trump has stepped right into the middle of the fault line in the American church. In this widening gap, traditionalists like Viganó and Marshall are disagreeing with
PRIESTS FOR LIFE VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Frank Pavone was formerly a campaign adviser to Donald Trump and was ordered by the Church to vacate the position. Trump has made efforts to “embrace the fringe of American Catholicism,” dividing Catholics.
the Vatican on issues not only related to church doctrine but on politics as well. While issues like marriage and abortion rights were at the forefront for conservative Catholics for decades, that no longer seems to be the case. The Supreme Court has failed to make a dent in Roe v. Wade, no major pro-life legislation has become law and funding for Planned Parenthood has increased in the past four years. What attracts these reactionary fringe Catholics is not life or liberty, but something far more insidious. Comb through Marshall’s online history and you’ll find warnings against creeping socialism, calls for Muslims to be forcefully converted and white nationalist Faith Goldy raving about immigration. Viganó has spent the last few months criticizing COVID-19 restrictions and Black Lives Matter as attacks against “the children of light.” This is the great irony of the traditionalist identity. While they portray themselves as the true keepers of the faith, they contradict Catholic social teaching at every opportunity. The church under Pope Francis and his predecessors, warts and all, has taught that addressing inequality and racism is necessary for a just society. Proclaiming a libertine business mogul to be the new Constantine is not part of the program. This election has and will continue to deepen fissures across American society, and Catholics will not be left unscathed. Trump has shown his willingness to sow division, so creating a schism in the Catholic Church should be right in his wheelhouse.
Mail-In Voting Isn’t the Solution You Hope It Is JILL RICE
Copy Editor
In the era of the coronavirus pandemic — a clause that begins every article these days — one of many things weighing heavily on Americans’ minds is the upcoming election in November. Many states have turned to mail-in voting, whether that’s mailing all eligible voters their ballots, having them request ballots or allowing them to use an illness excuse relating to the coronavirus. As great as this sounds — not having to go to your polling place, not having to take the day off work, not having to see other people — mail-in voting isn’t the solution you hope it to be. There are far too many problems for it to work efficiently and effectively, and voting by mail invites a higher risk of voter disenfranchisement than it purports to prevent. First, let’s look at mail-in voting’s very recent past: the primaries. In California, 100,000 mail-in ballots were “rejected because of mistakes.” In New York, absentee voters did not receive their ballots until after the election. As far back as July 16, the Washington Post reported that absentee ballots in Wisconsin, Ohio and Texas, among others, were lost or not received by the postal service. We all know that government service is slow — haven’t you been stuck waiting at the DMV to renew a license? The postal service is the same way; they need you to send in your ballot by Oct. 20 (two weeks before the election) in order to process it
in time, but even that does not guarantee that your vote will be counted: The ballot could be lost, marked up or damaged. If the state is mailing ballots to voters, there’s also no guarantee of them reaching voters in time for the election. Even if you have lofty plans to return your ballot long before the deadline, the state (and postal service) may not support that goal. It could be stolen (by mistake or on purpose, for any party affiliation); it could be tossed as if it were junk mail; anything could happen to it, because even first-class mail is not all that secure or reliable. I don’t want to get into the postal service debate, but it hasn’t been efficient for years, ever since the amount of mail sent has decreased starting in 2006. Let’s say that, best case scenario, you send in your ballot on time, it’s received by the election office early, and you think everything is hunky-dory. You have no way of knowing that your vote has been invalidated for any number of reasons, and little do you know that your vote can’t be counted. Maybe it’s sitting in a forgotten bin. But more likely, maybe there’s a stray mark on the ballot — from your pen, your younger sibling, the postal system — and the entire ballot is invalid. Perhaps when voting for county councilmembers, you checked off two or four of the requisite three candidates. If you were voting in-person, the machine would register a missing or extra mark and have you fill it out again, but if you mail your ballot, you don’t have that luxury. Your vote for president may be invalid because
you accidentally voted for an extra person for County Council. Sure, people can make sure to read all the instructions and do it as carefully as possible. Hasn’t that been the goal for voting no matter what the year? But mistakes still happen. As much as we’d hate to admit it, mail-in voting is very risky. The number of ballots invalidated or lost today is greater than the difference in votes separating the candidates in both the 2000 and 2016 elections — in a close race, these ballots could change an election’s outcome. The idea that the same could occur in the upcoming election makes it even more contentious than it currently is. By voting early or in-person, you minimize the risk of your vote being lost, silenced or deleted. Your voice matters, and any virus or any government worker should not have the power to silence you. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said in an interview with National Geographic that voting in-person would be safe with the precautions we currently have in grocery stores and other public places. If you are comfortable in a grocery store (or, as New Yorkers, on the subway), you should be able to feel comfortable waiting around in a school cafeteria to vote. According to the Harvard Data Science Review, the increased risk of having your ballot not counted via mail-in voting ranges from 3.5 to 4.9% depending on the state. New York’s positivity rate for the coronavirus is at 0.69%, my home state Maryland’s rate is 3.26% — in these and many other states,
you are more likely to have your vote invalidated than catching the virus while voting in-person. Mail-in voting may seem like a solution for all, but it should only be used by some — for example, people who live out-of-state, who live abroad, or who are otherwise unable to go out and vote for severe health reasons. That’s called absentee voting, not mailin voting, and there’s a lot fewer
people who partake in it, so the numbers are more manageable. But my parents and neighbors have no true reason to vote by mail if our polling place is less than a mile away and the room is large enough to social distance. Voting by mail is not worth the risk of unwilling disenfranchisement due to errors from the voter, the postal service or the election office.
GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY ESMÉ BLEECKER-ADAMS/THE OBSERVER
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THE OBSERVER September 16, 2020
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Gold Is the New Pink Why September is so important for childhood cancer awareness OLIVIA STERN Asst. Layout Editor
It’s September, and you know what that means, right? If you have no idea what I’m implying, you are not alone. Unlike the popular pink ribbons and corporate displays touted throughout the month of October, the gold ribbons for childhood cancer awareness month are still working their way up the totem pole to garner attention in September. Under normal circumstances, I would have been oblivious to the issue that is childhood cancer. However, I didn’t really have a choice. When I was 12 years old, my doctors at the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin diagnosed me with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a type of blood cancer. My treatment plan consisted of two and a half years of chemotherapy. Doctors pumped me with 15 different chemotherapy drugs and prescribed me 31 different medications. I went to the emergency room 16 times for various reasons: three kidney stones, two different blood clots, a skin infection in my cheek and a case of appendicitis. I spent 50 nights in 14 different hospital rooms, not counting the night I spent in the ICU after the anaphylactic reaction I had to a chemo drug. I had a peripherally inserted central catheter in each of my arms so the doctors didn’t have to poke me for an IV every time I came in, but once those got infected, I had a port surgically placed underneath my skin on top of my sternum instead. I had nine red blood cell transfusions, three platelet transfusions and 112 blood draws. I had four ultrasounds, nine X-rays, two CT scans and three EKGs. My doctors poked me in the back 25 times to inject chemo into my spinal cord (leukemia cells like to hide there), and they also drilled into my hip twice to draw out bone marrow for biopsies. I would never wish my experience on anyone, which is why I feel so passionate about funding for a cure and sup-
porting patients after they finish treatment. You’d think that childhood cancer would receive an ample amount of government funding. Nothing empties the pockets like cute little bald kids asking for money so that they don’t die. However, according to the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation, only 4% of the billions of dollars the government spends annually on cancer research is allocated toward treating childhood cancer. There is a key difference here: Childhood cancer and adulthood cancer are not the same beast, but they need equal funding. Most people might assume cancer is cancer, and kids should be treated with the same chemo that adults get. Unfortunately, the treatment is not as simple as that. Kids are not just tiny adults. Since 1980, the medical community has developed four new drugs for childhood cancer treatment. There is almost no funding for kids’ drug development because it is not as profitable as the field for adult drugs. Childhood cancer is the No. 1 cause of death by disease for children in America, and breast cancer is No. 6 on that list for adult women. So why in 2007 did the National Cancer Institute (NCI) fund breast cancer research with three times the amount of money than that of childhood cancer? The answer comes down to some numbers that don’t add up. Right now, the NCI rationalizes their allocation of funds based on the fact that adults are diagnosed with cancer in larger numbers than children. At first glance, this seems like some logical reasoning, but it fails to look at the bigger picture. Yes, more adults get cancer than kids. Adults are also exposed their entire lives to lifestyle decisions that impact their likelihood of diagnosis, such as drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes. Only a small portion of childhood cancers have known or preventable causes. According to St. Baldrick’s, a non-profit organization that fundraises to find a cure for childhood cancer, adult cancers can be
GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATIONS BY OLIVIA STERN/THE OBSERVER
diagnosed in the early stages. For 80% of kids, their cancer has already spread to other areas of the body by the time of diagnosis. Just like adults, children can have different types of cancer, and every type of cancer has to be treated differently. The problem with this is that 4% of NCI funding has to be spread across the dozens of childhood cancers for research, while individual adult cancers are often distinguished from one another and receive separate funding. A more productive and logical way to look at the numbers is to evaluate the years of life saved for each cancer patient. Dr. Eugenie Kleinerman, the head of the division of pediatrics at the Children’s Cancer Hospital at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, said, “Curing childhood cancer is the equivalent of curing breast cancer in terms of productive life years saved.” Every adult survivor lives on for an average 15 years after the end of treatment. For child survivors, the number jumps to 71 years. That is a significant difference, but because we solely focus on the number of diagnoses rather than the sum of years saved, child survivors are often left by the wayside after their treatment is finished. Childhood cancer does not end on the last day of surgery, radiation or chemotherapy. Survivors like me are left with long-term psychological and emotional ef-
fects for those estimated 71 years. By the age of 45, more than 95% of survivors will have some sort of chronic health problem; 80% will have severe life-threatening conditions due to their cancer or their treatment. I’m one of the lucky ones. I came out of treatment with more anxiety than I had before, and I’ve been seeing a therapist for three years for problems like survivor’s guilt and relapse anxiety. My brain gets a little foggy when I have to take long tests or write essays on the spot. Due to the chemo drugs that were pumped through me, I may have fertility problems down the line. My bones are more brittle than the average person, and I have to get my heart scanned every five years to make sure nothing fishy is going on. And again, I’m one of the lucky ones. I didn’t have to have an extremity amputated, I have no severe loss of brain function, and my parents didn’t divorce or go bankrupt because of the stress this put on my family.
My point is not to get you to throw a pity party for all the cancer kids, though what we go through sucks. Support comprehensive health care (childhood cancer is deemed a preexisting condition), vote for legislators who want to fund long-term research for survivors, write to your senators or representatives about why cancer kids are worth more than 4% of money allocated to cancer research or donate to foundations that are subsidizing research because the government doesn’t do enough. The first step in any type of action is awareness. Read stories of childhood cancer survivors and what they go through during and post-treatment. Sport a ribbon, wear gold and tell people why you’re doing so.
OLIVIA STERN/THE OBSERVER
Despite the fact that childhood cancers and adult cancers require different treatments and cures, adult cancers receive most of the cancer research funding in the United States.
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Time to Nix New York’s Quarantine LEO BERNABEI Staff Writer
FIVE GUYS New York City Politics Imagine arriving in New York, receiving a negative COVID-19 test result but still being forced to quarantine alone in a dorm room for 14 days. Many out-of-state New York college students who returned for their fall semester in on-campus housing were forced to deal with the absurdities of New York state’s quarantine requirement. A negative COVID-19 test result cannot act in lieu of a quarantine. This is but one of the absurdities of this new hurdle with which many out-of-state students are forced to contend. For background, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued Executive Order 205 on June 25 which set two criteria for determining whether travelers from certain states would have to quarantine upon arrival or return to New York. Those criteria are based on a seven-day rolling average of positive tests in excess of 10% or number of positive cases exceeding 10 per 100,000 residents. Only one of these metrics needs to be triggered to initiate a mandatory quarantine. As of Sept. 15, residents and travelers entering New York from 35 U.S. states and territories are subject to quarantine for 14 days. Over the course of this initiative, Mayor Bill de Blasio upped the ante. He established various checkpoints patrolled by the sheriff’s office at the city’s bridges and tunnels from New Jersey as well as Penn Station and, just recently, the Port Authority Bus Terminal to inform travelers of the rules.
The details of the quarantine rules are highly specific and unrealistic in implementation. The guidelines state that individuals must have access to their own private bedroom and bathroom. The average size of a New York City apartment is 866 sq. ft. Most people here probably don’t even have their own bedroom, let alone a private quarters. Likewise, food must be delivered. For many people, food delivery for 14 days is just too expensive. The New York Department of Health is supposed to reach out to see if those quarantining require food, yet from multiple discussions I’ve had, the Health Department did not inquire about anyone’s food supply. Looking past the sheer and admitted (not to mention taxpayer draining) impracticality of enforcing such an order, it is astonishing to see the almost perfect 180 pulled by New York politicians since their staunch opposition to a national quarantine order applying to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut travelers back in late March. When President Trump floated that idea, Cuomo warned that it would amount to an apocalyptic “federal declaration of war,” causing “chaos and mayhem.” The real chef’s kiss was that he didn’t think it would be legal, either. When Rhode Island began stopping cars with New York license plates in the early days of the pandemic as a tactic to force New Yorkers to self-quarantine for 14 days, Cuomo threatened to sue the governor of that state, referring to the order as not “neighborly.” Under threat of a lawsuit, Rhode Island subsequently forced all out-of-state visitors to self-quarantine. New York is now shooting itself in the foot over this move. At the checkpoints going into the city, cars are pulled over incre-
mentally, not according to any specific license plates. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that someone carrying the license plate of a restricted state is more likely to be coming from a restricted state than is, well, someone from a non-restricted state. Since March, no one has been a bigger hypocrite than Cuomo over this quarantine. In July, he visited Savannah, Georgia, pledging aid to the people of that city and state. Not only did he refuse to quarantine upon return to New York despite the fact that Georgia is on the state’s travel advisory list, he was also caught in several videos not wearing a mask while hugging the mayor of Savannah. Ironically, he had just finished a press conference with that mayor in which he implored the American people themselves to wear a mask. “I wear the mask because I respect you,” he said. “You wear the mask because you respect me.” This is the same guy
who tweets almost daily diatribes about the federal government not having sufficient coronavirus plans and urges Americans to practice social distancing. Rules for thee, but not for me. This isn’t the first time the quarantine rules have been selectively enforced. The Yankees and Mets players were all exempt from the order after arriving in the state from some of the nation’s worst hotspots at the time. Recently, stars like Miley Cyrus and Ariana Grande attending the Video Music Awards (VMA) in the city were similarly waived from the quarantine mandate. The reasoning, according to the Department of Health, was that “Similar to professional athletes, the VMA cast and crew are required to adhere to strict procedures which include quarantining when not working, wearing masks and appropriate social distancing, and rigorous testing during their stay.” So celebrities can test negative for
COVID-19 and be exempt from quarantining, but the general public cannot be. Does anyone actually believe that these stars were as careful as the state made them out to be? Cyrus wrote on Instagram in July that she gives people who don’t wear face masks “that shady side eye,” but what’s Hannah Montana doing two weeks later unmasked and not social distanced next to Dua Lipa and the latter’s producer? So for New Yorkers looking for the best quarantine-related advice, I would defer to none other than the state’s own health commissioner, Howard Zucker. In response to the suggestion that New York travelers should self-quarantine for 14 days, he responded, “I would not follow that. I believe you should follow the guidance in general that you should social distance.” As they say, listen to the experts.
COURTESY OF MATTHEW KOZAKOWSKI
In New York City, it is difficult to access a private bedroom and bathroom for the two weeks out-of-state travelers are required to quarantine. Some people have been forced to book a hotel room for 14 days.
Life Lessons I Learned From Not Discussing Sex With My Indian Parents RASHMI SINGH Contributing Writer
My mother cannot say the word sex. How is it that the culture that brought us the Kama Sutra has evolved into one that stigmatizes sex to the point where people don’t even want to say the word? Growing up as a first generation Indian American woman, my parents did the most to keep me sheltered from knowing anything about sex, whether that was fast-forwarding or covering my eyes through sex scenes in movies or just avoiding the topic altogether. While that may not seem like extreme parenting, the real issue is that even to this day, as a 21-yearold, my parents still can’t talk to me about sex and still cover my eyes during movies. My mom didn’t attempt to give me the sex talk until I was about to leave for college. Once she mustered up the courage to bring it up, our “talk” didn’t include the word sex and was just a lecture about being careful and not doing anything stupid. I’m very close with my mom, but I’ve never been able to talk to her about relationships and dating. I even hid a yearlong relationship from my parents when I was in high school. In hindsight, I think they would’ve accepted it eventually, but I was so afraid of the conversation that I just chose to keep it a secret. I think not having these conversations about relationships and sex can be harmful, as kids can feel the need to rebel against strict rules and possibly find themselves in unsafe situations with nowhere
to turn. In my own experience, I found myself clueless as to how I should be treated and ashamed of my own sexual desires. I felt like I was constantly fighting and training my parents to adopt more progressive ideals about sex and relationships, usually just by giving them no choice. Although the general rule was “no talking to, looking at or being around boys,” when my guy friends started coming over and interacting with my parents, it forced them to be open to the idea that boys and girls can be friends without any expectation of sex. My next battle was birth control. I knew being on birth control was the safest and most responsible decision for myself, but I was terrified to ask my mom about it until I was finally prescribed it by a dermatologist. This, of course, didn’t happen without a fight by my mother, who, even though I was 17, felt I was way too young to be around anything that had to do with sex. Now, every time I visit home, I like to bring up topics about sex and culture that push their boundaries and make them slightly uncomfortable. Looking back, I understand that it’s important to recognize why my parents thought that way. They both grew up in India in the ’70s and ’80s, and while the U.S. was getting progressively more open about sex, India was not advancing at the same pace. Even today, in India, there is so much shame and guilt surrounding the topic of sexuality. It’s something to be ashamed of; it’s dirty, private and largely taboo, especially for women. I didn’t realize how ingrained these feelings were, even
in the younger generations. When I visited India last in 2018, I was spending time and talking to my cousin’s friends, all of whom were around the ages of 20-24. In typical young adult fashion, the conversation shifted to dating. I was asked about my body count, which they defined as “anyone that you have held hands with or kissed.” As the youngest in the group, I was a little shocked by how even just with friends in a normal situation, talking about or even saying the word sex was uncomfortable for them. But India was not always like this. In many ancient texts and art, erotic scupltures and iconography highlight how people at the time believed sex was a central and natural component of life. It wasn’t until the end of the Medieval period in India and Europe, when the British era of direct rule over India began, that views on sexuality became more conservative. The harsh Victorian values stigmatized Hinduism’s fluid concept of sexuality and used sexuality as a way to deem Indians as barbaric and prove the East’s inferiority. Sexual repression was a tool of colonizers. In their view, Eastern values about sex needed to be tamed, and this therefore justified the spreading of Christianity. This is why many developing or previously colonized countries feel the need to fit into Anglo-Saxon ideas of chastity in order to gain respect. The post-colonial attitudes about sexual repression have caused many issues in Indian culture today. As of 2016, there have been over 130,000 sexual violence cases awaiting trial with very few
convictions. Even though there are over 100 reported cases in a day, these numbers are extremely low; one government survey found that 99.9% of cases go unreported. Rape culture in India is also heavily perpetuated by the notion that a family or community’s honor is tied to a woman’s sexual “purity.” This view condemns the victim and not the rapist, resulting in many women not seeking justice out of shame or fear of bringing dishonor to their family or community. Once I had a better understanding of the history of sexuality and the conversations surrounding it, I wanted to try to make my mom think more critically and go deeper into why sex makes her so uncomfortable. But, at the end of the day, it’s embedded so strongly through
generations of ideals that I simply would not understand. Coming from a first-generation Indian American point of view, I grew up with a completely different set of ideals. I feel being open about sex is crucial to reducing the harmful stigma surrounding it for women. Having these discussions can empower women to accept and speak up about their sexuality, and creates a healthy environment in which more people become knowledgeable about sexual health and therefore safer from sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies. While we can’t change Indian culture, I do believe that as first-generation kids in America, we can work together to change the conversation around sex within our own circles.
ESMÉ BLEECKER-ADAMS/THE OBSERVER
In India, there is still shame and guilt surrounding sexuality, but many first-generation Indian Americans find themselves caught between those ideas and a more open, American view.
Arts & Culture Editor Ethan Coughlin - ecoughlin7@fordham.edu
Arts & Culture
September 16, 2020
THE OBSERVER
Cakes, Takeout and Bakes: Grab Your Next Meal From a Black-Owned Restaurant
Reflections on being a Black business during the COVID-19 crisis and the Black Lives Matter movement Darden went on to write a one-woman off-Broadway play, “Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine,” in the late 1990s. She told stories of her family history as she prepared food, which the audience later ate. At intermission she would invite the audience to get up and tell their own stories. Miss Mamie’s Spoonbread Too is currently offering takeout and delivery services. When they shuttered their doors due to the pandemic, they never stopped providing the comfort people needed. In an interview with ilovetheupperwestside.com, Darden stated that she had a small staff putting out between 200-300 meals each night. “While we have been closed, we decided to make good use of our time. We are feeding the poor, the hungry, and the people who are out of work.” Darden also revealed that the people she is feeding are getting “the best food imaginable because we put our whole hearts into it, they’re not getting any come down food, they’re getting the real deal.”
By SAMANTHA MATTHEWS Features Editor
“I feel like we couldn’t control the coronavirus, but we can control how to treat another human being,” Aliyyah Baylor, owner of Make My Cake, said. Make My Cake, a bakery open for takeout and delivery at 775 Columbus Ave. guaranteed to fulfill your post-class sweet tooth, is one of many Black-owned restaurants on the Upper West Side, Fordham Lincoln Center’s neighborhood. Following the death of multiple unarmed Black Americans at the hands of police officers in numerous cities, protests erupted across the nation and donations began to flood into organizations that are actively combating racial inequities. Inside Fordham’s community, students are advocating for more concrete action to be taken to address anti-Blackness on campus. Outside Fordham’s doors, there are a vast number of local Blackowned businesses that students can look to support, too.
A Family-Owned Staple
Staying Sweetly Resilient Josephine Smith, affectionately called “Ma Smith,” cooked up the idea for Make My Cake inside her home kitchen over 22 years ago. According to the shop’s website, “her recipes combined the southern baking traditions of Mississippi and Alabama with Harlem soul.” Now the small business bakery has evolved into a local New York City staple with two locations. Make My Cake is now run by their “family team,” which includes Baylor. Baylor spoke with ilovetheupperwestside.com about the troubles of keeping the business operating during the pandemic. Make My Cake is the only small business located on a block with corporate chains like Michaels and HomeGoods, so the loss of foot traffic during the pandemic proved to be a large struggle. They had to modify their menu and cut back on staff and hours, but Baylor says they made it work in order to service their community. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, most local New York City businesses, especially restaurants, have been struggling to make ends meet. Restaurants were prohibited from dine-in seating in mid-March, offering only take-out options until June 22 when New York entered Phase 2. All restaurants in NYC are currently allowed to offer outdoor dining, but Mayor Bill de Blasio confirmed on July 6 that indoor dining has been postponed indefinitely in the interest of keeping New Yorkers safe. Baylor revealed that during the Black Lives Matter protests in NYC she noticed that the big businesses around her were boarding up their windows, and she wondered if she should do the same, but instead she just put up a sign that the store was Black- and woman-owned. “The way I’ve always looked at our situation is that it’s important to focus on being part of the community,” Baylor said. “We have to remain resilient, and have to remain open minded and considerate. We also have to be able to receive. And when I say receive, I mean receive information. Receive understanding, receive emotions, because everyone has a story.”
MAP BY LARA FOLEY/THE OBSERVER
“ While we have been closed, we
decided to make good use of our time. We are feeding the poor, the hungry, and the people who are out of work. ” Norma Jean Darden, Owner of Miss Mamie’s Spoonbread Too
Another family-run and -oriented restaurant is the city’s oldest African restaurant, Massawa, which can be found at 1239 Amsterdam Ave. The restaurant serves vegan-friendly Eritrean and Ethiopian food. Manager Yohanes Tekeste said the restaurant was founded by his parents, Almaz Ghebrezgabher and Amanuel Tekeste, in 1988. His mother, an Eritrean immigrant, was working as a cab driver and drove past an empty restaurant for rent, and the two turned it into the restaurant named after Eritrea’s historic coastal city Massawa. Tekeste’s family made the difficult decision to close Massawa for two months after the onset of the pandemic; however, now they’re currently operating with takeout, delivery and outdoor dining options available. “We’ve been around for over 30 years ... I think it’s amazing to build the relationship with the community and New York City,” Teskeste said. Find Your Next Favorite Spot
PHOTOS BY ESMÉ BLEECKER-ADAMS/THE OBSERVER
There are numerous Black-owned businesses right within the Upper West Side community and supporting them is a great way to advocate for local people of color.
A Bodega Reinvented At 573 Columbus Ave., there used to be another small business similar to Baylor’s, a bodega called New Day Market. Owner David Arias decided to close it down and reinvent the space into a tapas bar in 2016 after gentrification threatened his business. The drugstores “were swallowing us up,” Arias told the New York Post. “I was drowning slowly — the Upper West Side has changed so much. I have to stay with the times ... I was born and raised on this block.” Today, Bodega 88 — named for the cross street it’s located on — stands in place of the market. Though it may no longer stock the
same goods as in the past, it is still inspired by Arias’s Dominican heritage. In June, Bodega 88 and its partner Calle Ocho posted on Instagram, pledging to donate $1 for every order of the month to Children’s Aid NYC as a way to “support the calls for justice and reform and stand with those doing this work to dismantle systemic racism.” They also noted, “to our Black and Afro-latinx staff, friends, guests, family, and neighbors, your lives matter and we are with you.” They are currently operating on takeout and outdoor seating. Community Comfort Food Served by a Renaissance Woman Just a few blocks north is Miss
Mamie’s Spoonbread Too, located at 366 W. 110th St., where you can find the home-cooked comfort food missing from a college campus. Founded in 1997, they serve comfort food based on family recipes. The dining room is modeled after owner Norma Jean Darden’s mother’s kitchen in Alabama. Darden, a former Wilhelmina model, began her cooking career after illness halted her modeling career. She did so alongside her sister, Carole, after making a quiche for a Black fashion designer she was working for. The two founded Spoonbread Catering together and used their recipes to create the cookbook “Spoonbread and Strawberry Wine: Recipes and Reminiscences of a Black Family” in 1978.
Aside from the above Blackowned restaurants, there are dozens of other Black-owned restaurants in the Fordham neighborhood ready to satisfy any craving you have. Blossom on Columbus and Ashford and Simpson’s Sugar Bar are open for outdoor dining, takeout and delivery. Awash, Patisserie Des Ambassades, Uptown Poke and Freda’s Caribbean & Soul Cuisine are open for delivery and takeout. Even though there is an undeniable convenience in restaurants in close proximity to campus, it is inevitable that you will wander to another area of the city one day. When this happens, the EatOkra app, founded by Anthony Edwards Jr., School of Professional and Continuing Studies ’14, is a great resource to have. “It provides a database of Blackowned restaurants and even connects you to your favorite delivery app if the option is available,” according to thrillist.com. To connect with more Black-owned businesses, visit Shoppe Black, a platform that highlights Black-owned businesses around the world, and Black-Owned Brooklyn, which the organizers describe as “a community-rooted publication documenting Black Brooklyn’s people, places and products.”
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Arts & Culture
September 16, 2020 THE OBSERVER
www.fordhamobserver.com
Fordham Visual Arts: From Classroom to ‘Class-Zoom’
With the fall semester in full swing, the Fordham visual arts community adapts to a ‘pandemic way of life’ By KEVIN STOLL Staff Writer
Fordham’s visual arts program, whose major concentrations include graphic design, film/video, photography, architecture and painting/drawing, has always served to enlighten its students and push their creative boundaries beyond what an ordinary syllabus requires of them. Last spring, however, visual arts students were forced to leave the Lincoln Center campus behind for the remainder of the semester, and while the faculty tried their best to transition from one mode of learning to another, needless to say, things weren’t going to be exactly the same. Nevertheless, throughout the summer, the administration began working toward managing the safety of the student body by deploying on-campus health protocols and offering students the option to continue their studies either at home or in the classroom. Because many visual arts students opted to go fully remote for this semester, the faculty had no other choice but to thoroughly modify the hands-on nature of their courses. “The members of the Department of Theatre & Visual Arts department are practicing professionals, so they are very familiar with creative problem solving and improvisation,” said Stephan Apicella-Hitchcock, a professor of photography and artist-in-residence at the department. “The pivot to online teaching was seamless.” But in spite of the benefits of virtual communication, Apicella-Hitchcock confidently believes that there is simply no substitute for in-person communication. “We have several classes that are in-person, both at Lincoln Center and on the Rose Hill campus,” Apicella-Hitchcock said. “It is my personal
ESMÉ BLEECKER-ADAMS/THE OBSERVER
Zoom has proven to be a valuable tool in helping visual arts students adapt to working on their assignments at home. It cannot, however, replace in-person collaboration and instruction, a major component of visual arts classes.
belief that the best teaching happens with both the teacher and the student in the same space. Zoom has been an excellent temporary fix for our social distancing problem. The possibility of sharing images live and talking with students that are residing in different parts of the world feels incredibly modern and efficient; however, genuinely unique and memorable things happen when humans are in proximity to one another (six feet apart, of course).” For seniors Elizabeth McLaughlin and Jesse Russell, both Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’21, this semester arguably represents the beginning of the end to their college careers, and chances are, this isn’t how they would have wished to experience it. Russell, a digital technology and emerging media (DTEM) major who just recently decided to explore the pro-
gram’s opportunities, believes that the shift from Fordham University to “Zoom University” came with a few limitations, the likes of which didn’t necessarily lessen his enjoyment of the program. “I never really planned on joining the (Visual Arts) program in the first place, but after taking Photo I, Graphic Design & Digital Tools, and Visual Thinking, I realized how absolutely critical it is to ‘think visually’ or otherwise think outside the confines of traditional academics. And I was so impressed with how my Spring 2020 Visual Arts classes transitioned over to virtual learning, there wasn’t much lost in the transition at all,” Russell said. “However, this semester I focused on taking most courses for my other major so that Spring 2021 I can hopefully return to all in-person Visual Arts classes. Virtual will never come close to being a substi-
tute for in-person learning. That’s not to say the department isn’t doing a good job compensating for these circumstances, because we are all in the same boat here; we are all facing unprecedented difficulties, both staff and students.” McLaughlin, meanwhile, is more than willing to admit that the shift wasn’t nearly as streamlined as Russell made it out to be. “I think the shift was jarring for everyone,” McLaughlin said. “It’s pretty difficult to have a critique over Zoom. One of the best things about art classes is getting to see everyone’s work and being able to discuss it. The closest you can get with that virtually is photographs of each other’s work. And you often lose things by viewing paintings virtually - whether its size, color, surface texture, etc. It’s not the same experience.” But even dealing with the unfortunate drawbacks of a virtual edu-
cation, the least students can do is acknowledge and appreciate the faculty’s efforts to bring the classroom environment into a digital space. “I’m currently taking Abstraction with Professor Kalina and Graphic Design & Digital Tools with Professor Lown,” Kaila Cordova, FCLC ’22, said. “I really do feel like professors in the department are trying their best. Professor Lown in particular is always asking us if we are comfortable with the workload and is always asking when we need breaks. Professor Kalina has also been super helpful when it comes to us getting access to our supplies. Even though classes are definitely different, both of my professors are really trying their best to make sure that we are all comfortable and not stressed during a very stressful and uncertain time of our lives.” Virtual learning, as if it wasn’t obvious already, has both advantages and disadvantages. Because of how difficult it is for a professor to engage with their students through an online application such as Zoom or Google Classroom, students aren’t receiving the same educational value when compared to face-toface instruction. Still, as both Russell and Apicella-Hitchcock have already mentioned, this mode of learning is only a temporary arrangement. With time, every Fordham student and faculty member will be able to return to the classroom without having to wear a face mask or having to abide by the maximum number of occupants a single classroom can hold. As of now, though, these restrictions are being imposed for a reason, and until the day arrives when we no longer have to remain overly cautious of our general surroundings and the people we come in contact with, we have to remember that.
Broadway Star Anthony Ramos’ Quarantine Reflections
Anthony Ramos, a Broadway and film actor, met with Fordham students in a Q&A hosted by CAB. He offered valuable insights into his career and his perspective on the challenges he has overcome. By ISABELLA GONZALEZ Contributing Writer
Look around, look around at how lucky we are to be alive right now! On Wednesday, Sept. 2, Fordham’s Campus Activities Board (CAB) hosted a Q&A session with Broadway and film actor Anthony Ramos as part of its Speaker Series through Zoom. Despite the restless and unpredictable world, Ramos took the time to reflect with CAB and Fordham student attendees on his career journey, including his breakout role as the original John Laurens/Philip in “Hamilton,” Lady Gaga, and being a TikTok meme. Feeling “blessed and overwhelmed,” Ramos had been quarantining in Brooklyn with his fiancee, Jasmine Cephas Jones, and his dog prior to joining CAB for the Q&A session. Ramos didn’t start out as a theater kid. Inaccessible to plenty of communities, musical theater is historically known to be a classist endeavor, often costing hundreds of dollars for tickets and professional
training. Growing up in the projects, he never saw musicals and said that he “didn’t like them, to be honest.” However, he did like singing; when his brother caught Ramos singing in the shower, he told him, “You might be aight at that s---!” Ramos was originally focused on baseball in school; however, he began competing in programs like Sing, a two-night competition in which students write musicals, when he was in high school. After having all his college applications withdrawn for not turning in the financial aid forms on time, Ramos found himself lost and considered joining the Navy until a teacher brought up the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA). He was upfront about his financial situation and was awarded a full-ride scholarship. “I thought, ‘If this isn’t a sign, I don’t know what is,’” he recalled aloud. He could have never predicted the kind of opportunities the career change would lead to. According to Ramos, the experience of working on “Hamilton” was
just as magical as the final product. He started “Hamilton” at 23, “mad scared, didn’t even feel like (he) belonged,” but after doing a show eight times a week for over two years, it’s easy to form a family. “The work itself was different,” he emphasized. “It was the language I speak.” For him, performing in “Hamilton” felt like the cast was truly “walkin’ in (their) purpose,” akin to a gut feeling or an alignment with destiny. There were plenty of difficulties, such as learning the choreography for “Satisfied,” dancing in heavy wool jackets off-Broadway, and keeping his relationship with Cephas Jones on the down-low, but the relationships formed were priceless. “Five or six years removed, we’ve seen each other grow together. Leslie (Odom Jr.) had a baby. Lin (-Manuel Miranda) was having his first baby at the start. Pippa (Soo) and I were walking our dogs together a few weeks ago. I just watched the filmed show with Oak (Onaodowan) at my apartment,” Ramos shared. “We’re one big family.”
ZOOM
“ Encourage yourself
to be kind to yourself. We don’t give ourselves a chance to stand up, which stops us from growing. The world already beats you down.”
Anthony Ramos
Ramos has definitely found mentors through his projects, both Broadway and film. Outside of “Hamilton,” Lin-Manuel Miranda proved to be a long-lasting mentor, especially concerning “In the Heights,” Miranda’s 2008 Broadway hit whose movie adaptation is scheduled for 2021. Before being cast as the lead in the feature film, Ramos actually auditioned for the
national tour of the show and was told later on by Miranda during “Hamilton,” “You weren’t ready then.” Flash forward to the filming of “In the Heights” last year, Miranda was on set much more than Ramos had expected. And yet, Miranda had “barely any notes ever” on the role he originated. “Lin didn’t give any advice. He just said, ‘You got this,’” Ramos remembered fondly. While working on Bradley Cooper’s “A Star is Born,” he grew close to Lady Gaga and made sure to highlight how hard she works. While doing press for the film, Ramos was about to get signed to a record deal. When seeking wisdom from the award-winning pop star, Lady Gaga advised, “You’re swimming with the sharks now, kid,” and said to cherish the small bar gigs while they last. Ramos has been so busy on his next album, insisting that he’s “got some heat coming,” that he only discovered during the Q&A that a soundbite of Ramos’ from “21 Chump Street” became a TikTok meme. When asked to comment, he was cracking up: “I ain’t got no thoughts! That’s mad funny.” But what he certainly had thoughts on was advice for students. “Learn new s---; learn as much as you can. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Create multiple streams of income that fulfill you,” Ramos said. “Encourage yourself to be kind to yourself. We don’t give ourselves a chance to stand up, which stops us from growing. The world already beats you down. Practice humility; it’s OK to be vulnerable. It’s alright to be sad.”
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By SAFET BEKTESEVIC Staff Writer
THE OBSERVER September 16, 2020
Arts & Culture
From Theatre Program to National TV: Fordham Alumna in Fox’s New Show
Olivia Macklin, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’16, who graduated from the Fordham Theatre program, is part of the cast of Fox’s new show “Filthy Rich,” premiering Sept. 21. A juicy, caustic series, “Filthy Rich” promises to entice audiences with depictions of wealth and excess. Macklin talked about her role in the show, her time withat Fordham Theatre and what life after Fordham looks like on set. The Observer (O): When did you know that you wanted to be an actor? Olivia Macklin (OM): I have wanted to be an actor since before I can remember. There wasn’t one moment where it clicked; it was just sort of woven into the fabric of my being as time went on through seeing plays and movies. O: In what ways did Fordham help reaffirm that goal? OM: Being accepted to Fordham was a big turning point for me as an actor. Before that, while I had a lot of determination to be an actor, I was still just a teenager working on my self-esteem. I deeply admired many alumni who had come out of the program, so knowing I was in their company by being accepted was a big boost for me. O: In “Filthy Rich,” you are playing Becky Monreaux. How do you prepare to play a character in general and Becky in particular? OM: Sometimes I start on the
outside, understanding how that person presents themselves to the world, and work my way into how they think and who they are when they are alone, but sometimes I do the exact opposite. In the case of Becky, the exterior is so clear. She is very coiffed and has a very specific way of dressing. That, and she is a classic Southern lady from the way she talks to the way she sits in a chair.
“ It is definitely a
cautionary tale of what happens when we get everything we want — it always comes with a price. ”
Olivia Macklin, FCLC ’16
O: “Filthy Rich” depicts the conflictive lives of the extremely rich in American society. What, in your opinion, is the purpose of depicting a life of wealth and success through the lens of excess? OM: What I love about the show is that it is not solely about a wealthy family living in excess and experiencing the conflicts that exist in that realm on its own. The show happens because these three outsiders of very different means and backgrounds come and challenge that exact way of being. It is definitely a cautionary tale of what happens when we get everything
COURTESY OF OLIVIA MACKLIN
“The show happens because these three outsiders of very different means and backgrounds come and challenge that exact way of being,” Macklin said of “Filthy Rich.”
we want — it always comes with a price. O: Could you tell us one of your favorite memories from your time at Fordham, a memory that resonates with you now that you are a successful actor? OM: First semester of freshman year, I was working on a scene in my acting class and I was having a lot of trouble. My professor, Tina Benko, was trying her best
to help me break through, and at one point she very passionately exclaimed something like, “Dammit, Olivia, if you could just get out of your own way, you would be unstoppable.” The moment really hung in the air for me. I think a lot of actors need to get out of their own way — that’s where the magic happens. O: What advice do you have for aspiring young actors?
OM: Oh gosh, there’s so much I could say that I wish someone had told me! I guess that old Dolly Parton quote always comes to mind, “Find out who you are and do it on purpose.” Be flexible and open to notes, of course, but know who you are. Take those unique qualities and try to weave a little bit of that gold into the fabric of every character you play. Give ’em something they just got to have because they can’t get it anywhere else!
Exploring Fordham’s Movie Streaming Platforms By VANESSA SCACALOSSI Contributing Writer
Many students in the Fordham community often overlook hidden gems in our library database. Swank and Kanopy are movie streaming services with a wide range of films utilized by academics of many disciplines. Although their target audience is mainly students studying film, sociology and foreign language, the platforms are also a great resource for Fordham students to watch some of their favorite films and discover new ones. I was introduced to Swank by history professor Christoper Dietrich in his Film, Fiction, and Power course, where we watched “The Deer Hunter” (1987, dir. Michael Cimino). Three friends from Clairton, Pennsylvania, gamble their lives going off to war in Vietnam. Cimino uses repeated sequences of Russian roulette in the film as an allegory for how Americans viewed the Vietnam War as unnecessary and wasteful violence. Robert De Niro, John Savage and Christopher Walken’s award-winning performances are suspenseful and heart-wrenching. This movie is for those who seek the emotional and mental tolls war has on these soldiers. The director’s cut of Giuseppe Tornatore’s film “Cinema Paradiso” is also available on Swank. It won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1990. The film follows a boy, Toto, who befriends the projectionist at the cinema in his home village in post-war Italy. The masterpiece is a reminder of the community that is formed when watching a film. It is reminiscent of the innocence of childhood, friendship, first love and the
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everlasting magic of movies, and the soundtrack by the late Ennio Morricone echoes these themes. I highly recommend this film for those who love movie-making and who are interested in going through a couple of boxes of Kleenex in one sitting. Tornatore brings the viewer through a whirlwind of emotions in this film, and it has an exhilarating, unforgettable ending.
The platforms are also a great resource for Fordham students to watch some of their favorite films and discover new ones. Another favorite film of mine available on Swank is “Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006, dir. Guillermo del Toro). The political divide of post-Civil War Spain is mirrored through young Ofelia’s relationship with her stepfather, an army officer. She is introduced to a fantasy world by an old faun, allowing her to cope with the atrocities of fascist Spain. The Pale Man and Captain Vidal, Ofelia’s stepfather, function as fascism personified, with both characters gravitating toward violence to destroy free will. This film is an exciting combination of fantasy, horror and war. My last recommendation from Swank is “Do the Right Thing” (1989, Spike Lee). The film revolves around a community living on a street in Bedford-Stuyvesant during the year’s hottest day. Spike Lee connects the lives of the people
SAMANTHA MATTHEWS/THE OBSERVER
The streaming services Kanopy and Swank are offered to students through the Fordham Library database and are used as educational resources by some classes.
living in the racially diverse neighborhood through their stories. Tensions rise as the day progresses until the frustration and ferocity bring out the worst in everyone. Lee’s comedic approach to stereotypes and social issues is an ideal film for a movie night. My honorable mentions for Swank are “BlacKkKlansman” (2018, Spike Lee), “Silver Linings Playbook” (2012, David O. Russell), “Her” (2013, Spike Jonze), “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991, Jonathan Demme), “Trainspotting” (1996, Danny Boyle) and “Sorry to Bother You” (2018, Boots Riley). There is a broader selection of films to choose from on Kanopy. My first recommendation is “Hereditary” (2018, Ari Aster). Aster explores grief, trauma and a dysfunctional family through themes of horror. The ideal screening for
this movie would be with friends so that you can cover your eyes together. If you are brave enough to keep your eyes open, you can catch smaller details that tie into the theme of the film and discuss as you go. Another great film available on Kanopy is Raoul Peck’s documentary “I Am Not Your Negro” (2016). It is based on James Baldwin’s incomplete manuscript for “Remember This House.” Samuel L. Jackson narrates the documentary. It is a must-see for those who wish to have insight into Baldwin’s writing on racial politics over the decades. Akira Kurosawa’s film “Rashomon” (1951) should not be overlooked when deciding what to stream on Kanopy. The film revolves around four people who describe their own version of the story of a man’s murder and the rape of his wife. It highlights the
complexities of human nature and the philosophy of peace and justice. This format of this film has influenced many filmmakers over the years. I recommend this to anyone who is looking for a suspenseful classic. Other films available on Kanopy that are on my watchlist are “The Farewell” (2019, Lulu Wang), “20th Century Women” (2016, Mike Mills) and “The Lobster” (2015, Yorgos Lanthimos). Clara Gerlach and Christian Madlansacay, both Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’23, use the platforms casually. Madlansacay said, “For Kanopy, my favorite films on the platform are ‘The Disaster Artist’ (2017, James Franco) and ‘Ex Machina’ (2015, Alex Garland). For Swank, my favorite films are ‘Inception’ (2010, Christopher Nolan) and ‘Interstellar’ (2014, Christopher Nolan).” Gerlach’s favorite films on the platforms are “Pride and Prejudice” (2005, Joe Wright) and “The Intouchables” (2012, Olivier Nakache, Éric Toledano). She describes “Pride and Prejudice” “as if cottage core and light academia had a baby—a soft, delightful two-hour romance.” As for “The Intouchables,” she said, “It will leave you crying one minute and laughing the next—a wonderful movie that leaves your heart full, but your tear ducts empty.” Swank and Kanopy provide endless options for movies that are life-changing. Whether that be because Aster’s “Hereditary” will forever scar you, or because you have a new perspective on love and loss because of Tornatore’s “Cinema Paradiso,” the decision is now in your hands.
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September 16, 2020 THE OBSERVER
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LARA FOLEY/THE OBSERVER
For many New Yorkers, parks have taken the place of backyards and offer retreats from the man-made nature of the city. Central Park is great for going on jogs or birdwatching, to name a few.
Parks With Possibilities Discovering natural remedies for COVID-19 in the midst of a concrete jungle By KRISTEN SKINNER Staff Writer
The halls of McMahon and McKeon at Fordham Lincoln Center are unusually quiet and empty these days. Students are cooped up in the dorms taking online classes and looking for safe ways to connect with friends and unplug from the virtual world for a few hours. College life looks a lot different this semester, and outdoor spaces are more important than ever. Fortunately, there are many parks both by the Fordham Lincoln Center campus and in other boroughs of the city that are full of activities and places to hang out. Central Park is popular among many students, professors and tourists alike for its easy accessibility, expansiveness and picturesque locations. The statues hidden throughout the park, water fountains and numerous trees and aspects of wildlife that change with the seasons are just some of the attractions. Central Park is iconic for its cherry blossom trees in the spring and its range of colorful foliage on trees in the fall. People may also go to the park to revisit scenes of their favorite movies like “When Harry Met Sally,” “Ghostbusters” and “Elf.” Students and families come to Central Park for picnics in Sheep Meadow, a wide expanse of open lawn; outdoor exercise classes like yoga and Tai Chi offered by different gyms; and scenic walks that can lead to museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art. All these activities can be done easily following proper social distancing guidelines with friends. Monica Rivera-Mindt, professor of psychology at Fordham University, has lived at the northwestern end of Central Park since 2002. She loves Central Park and is the board president of the Central Park Conservancy for her home building. She loves to jog, bike and birdwatch in the park with her family. She described the park as her children’s backyard while growing up. “I have kind of purposely built
my life around Central Park,” she said. “We also have a pool in the summer and a skating rink in the winter and we have the Harlem Meer.” The Harlem Meer is a manmade lake surrounded by trees and nearby playgrounds and Laser Rink and Pool. People come to the Harlem Meer for fishing as well. For those who, like Rivera-Mindt, live in condos, the parks serve as a backyard and playground for families. Central Park has always been meaningful for Rivera-Mindt, but it became even more special to her and her family this past spring when her whole family was sick with COVID-19. When the family became sick, they were not able to leave the house for at least a month. The day that Rivera-Mindt could finally go out on a walk in the park was a memorable one. “When I was able to go into the park and connect with nature, it was very moving,” Rivera-Mindt said. “And I just felt so grateful that we have Central Park Conservancy and that we have these beautiful parks that can really help us get through such a terrible time.” Rivera-Mindt also mentioned that her family likes to spend time at Riverside Park, Van Cortlandt Park and Mosholu Parkway. Riverside Park is on the Upper West Side, starting about 12 blocks north of Fordham Lincoln Center. The park runs along the Hudson River and has both biking and walking paths. There are many seating and picnic areas there as well, for students interested in finding more hanging-out spots. Like Central Park, Riverside Park also has many sections of gardens, courts and fields to play sports. If you are interested in going on a picnic, be sure to bring a blanket or towel to avoid sitting in goose poop or on wet grass. Another park with a view of the Hudson River is Battery Park, which is located in lower Manhattan. It boasts areas for picnics, paths by the water and monuments and gardens to look at.
Though Ellis and Liberty Island are not open for normal hours right now due to COVID-19 regulations, it is at Battery Park where people gather to take the ferry to these popular tourist attractions.
If you are not in the mood to take a walk through a traditional park, the High Line might be the best option for you. ANDREW DRESSNER/THE OBSERVER
Van Cortlandt Park, located in the Bronx, is NYC’s third-largest park. This park has a golf course, ball courts, fields, horseback riding trails, hiking trails, running tracks, playgrounds and nature centers. Rivera-Mindt’s oldest child used to run cross-country on the trails here. Again, there is plenty to do here and much of it is COVID-19 guideline-friendly. Rivera-Mindt recommends Mosholu Parkway for those interested in golfing. This landscaped highway connects the Bronx Park to Van Cortlandt Park and features golf courses, playgrounds, baseball fields and basketball courts. Rivera-Mindt says she also gives the Bronx a lot of credit for “having the most green space of any part of the city.” For students who are heading to Brooklyn, Prospect Park is its flagship park. This park has many picnic areas, spaces for sports, places for birdwatching, boating areas, trails for running, biking and walking, and places to let dogs roam free. If you are not in the mood to take a walk through a traditional park, the High Line might be the best option for you. Located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, the High Line is a 1.45-mile-long elevated platform park featuring many trees, flowers and spectacular views of New York City.
Riverside Park, running between the Hudson River and Upper West Side, is home to many open fields perfect for picnics and paths for walking and biking.
ESMÉ BLEECKER-ADAMS/THE OBSERVER
A sign in Van Cortlandt Park reminds visitors of the social distancing requirement.
During these difficult times, it can be very healing to be able to connect with nature and those around us. If you find yourself feeling bored, lonely or stressed,
take a safe and social distanced walk outside, wherever you may be, and notice how much it means to be able to breathe in fresh air and feel the ground beneath you.
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ESMÉ BLEECKER-ADAMS/THE OBSERVER
Van Cortlandt Park is the third largest in the city and a frequent host of track and field events. The park is also home to a golf course, playgrounds, nature centers and more.
LARA FOLEY/THE OBSERVER
Boating in Central Park offers another way to experience nature and see the park from a different perspective.
LARA FOLEY/THE OBSERVER
MAP BY LARA FOLEY/THE OBSERVER
Brooklyn is home to Prospect Park, a large area with meadows, trails and the Boathouse, pictured above.
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September 16, 2020 THE OBSERVER
Returning to the Movies for ‘Tenet’
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Director Christopher Nolan’s latest blockbuster finally arrives in theaters, whether we’re ready for it or not By KEVIN STOLL Staff Writer
After months of remaining closed to the general public, nationwide theater chains have finally opted to open their doors and embrace the long-awaited revival of the moviegoing experience. And since studios are complementing “the return of cinema” with new releases that can only be seen on the big screen, one might say that we’re now, in a cultural sense, one step closer to achieving normalcy again. Having said that, not every theater is participating in this “welcome back party,” as cities such as New York and Los Angeles, both of which are home to two of the largest domestic film markets, have yet to lift their restrictions. The theaters that are participating, however, are doing so with several caveats: Individual theater capacity is now limited to 40% or less, masks are required to be worn at all times (unless you’ve purchased food from concessions) and sanitization/disinfectant stations are practically everywhere you turn. At least, that was my experience at the AMC Danbury 16 in Connecticut, merely an hour-anda-half drive from my residence in Wyckoff, New Jersey. Sarcasm aside, for a cinephile such as myself, it was a small price to pay for seeing “Tenet,” the highly anticipated blockbuster from “Inception” director Christopher Nolan, on a screen that isn’t directly at my fingertips. Nolan tells the story of “the Protagonist” (John David Washington), a CIA agent who, after passing “the test,” becomes inducted into a supranational organization known as “Tenet.” There, he’s introduced to an assemblage of various objects and weapons that possess inverted entropy, or “time inversion.” Through inversion, dropping an object becomes picking it up without the subject even touching it. Firing a bullet becomes catching a bullet, reversing the bullet-hole as a result. And a vehicle that’s been flipped upside down on a freeway can miraculously roll over and, from our perspective, begin to drive in reverse. Working alongside intelligence agent Neil (Robert Pattinson), the Protagonist finds himself in
GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY BECKETT SCHIAPARELLI/THE OBSERVER
pursuit of Andrei Sator (Kenneth Branagh), a sociopathic Russian arms dealer with the intent to use the technology to threaten mankind’s existence. Aided by Sator’s estranged wife Kat (Elizabeth Debicki), the Protagonist must (quite literally) race against time to prevent Sator from going through with his doomsday plan. For a contemporary blockbuster that’s been described as “James Bond on acid,” “Tenet” encompasses Nolan’s own inclination to explore an unconventional concept within the framework of a conventional genre, that being the espionage thriller. Make no mistake: Inversion is the name of the game, and it’s the reason why “Tenet” stands out among even the most recent spectacle-driven Bond or “Mission Impossible” films. As time moves both forward and backward, Nolan and editor Jennifer Lame manipulate our temporal awareness through the interrelation between two divergent timelines. At one moment, both the Protagonist and Neil
could be infiltrating an art storage facility, only to then be confronted by a masked soldier whose entropy is inverted, and therefore, has an advantage during combat. Within these sequences, we’re left to distinguish normal from inverted, “good” from “evil,” and especially as the film goes on, present from future. Director of photography Hoyte van Hoytema, in his third collaboration with Nolan, further cements the filmmaker’s love for the IMAX camera; most of the film’s inversion sequences are shot with a noticeably wider aspect ratio, consequently expanding the scale of each action set piece. It’s all really ambitious, to say the least. At the same time, it’s also the kind of ambition that outweighs Nolan’s ability to tell a compelling story with equally compelling characters. Washington is reduced to an almost “blank slate” hero with little to no development or personality, and his occasional attempts at charisma come across as leftover “table scraps” from his performance
in Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman.” Empathy with Debicki’s character can primarily be found in her desire to be with her son, whose lack of character agency (and screen time) results in a mother-son relationship that never evolves beyond superficial emotion. Yes, Kat’s motivation is to receive custody of her son (whom Sator won’t let her see), but we never actually witness that relationship, nor do we really know enough about it to invest ourselves in her plight. Nolan’s cinematic scope and attention to detail is indisputably front and center, but often at the expense of an engaging screenplay. Because the film has such an intricate concept, he relies heavily on exposition to keep us on the same page as the central characters. Of course, that’s even assuming we can hear most of it, as the film’s overpowering sound mixing can render certain lines of dialogue virtually incomprehensible. Under these unusual circumstances, it’s honestly hard to determine if the wait for the film’s
theatrical release was truly worth it in the end. Granted, Nolan has always been persistent in his advocacy for cinema’s immersive power, to the extent that Warner Bros. Pictures, without his involvement, arguably would have released the film to digital platforms rather than holding out for a theatrical release. Pandemic or not, “Tenet” was made with the big screen in mind, and while I obviously can’t speak on behalf of everyone else, most viewers and cinephiles would choose to experience a tentpole film the way it was intended to be seen. Its flaws are evident, but I wouldn’t say that they’re enough to discourage a first viewing. For me personally, being able to go back to the movies after several months of hiatus was all I could have asked for. The safety regulations being imposed by each theater are meant to ensure the safety of both patrons and employees, and when all was said and done, I was still able to sit back and enjoy myself, knowing that the theater was as “COVID-free” as it could be.
Ram Reads: ‘Assata’
A vulnerable autobiography that reveals the hard truths of being a Black revolutionary By VICKY CARMENATE Asst. Arts & Culture Editor
After writing a Ram Reads on “The Autobiography of Malcolm X,” I promised myself that the next Ram Reads I wrote would be of a different genre. Then I saw “Assata.” Many abolitionists and book reviewers on my social media timelines have raved about this book, saying it changed their lives. At first, I had no idea who Assata Shakur was, but, after reading, she, too, changed mine. Shakur is the embodiment of a revolutionary, paving the way for generations to come. She was heavily involved in the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army, focusing her efforts on community-building and education. She worked alongside many famous revolutionaries like Huey P. Newton and Angela Davis. Her life has been dedicated to the communal struggle for liberation. The autobiography starts off describing the moment of one of
her major arrests. She was originally arrested on the New Jersey Turnpike for shooting a police officer. With no concrete evidence to prove it was she who committed the crime, Shakur found herself being manipulated time and time again by the police department and the Department of Justice.
Shakur isn’t different from you or me. Her activism is accessible with a huge emphasis on community.
Often, especially during the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, we hear stories about police brutality, about the manipulation of the law and about sentences that far surpass the punishment of the crime.
When we hear about these injustices, they can seem so far away from our immediate lives. This was the first time that I had ever read a story straight from the manipulated person’s perspective. In her time in prison, Shakur lived in horrid conditions. From her first day, May 2, 1977, to the day that she escaped prison in 1979, she endured extreme violence from police guards and other prison staff all while she was pregnant. When the prison first found out she was pregnant, a doctor not only lied about her diagnosis multiple times, but he also refused to provide Shakur with any support besides an abortion. “I can’t force you to do anything, but my advice is to have an abortion. It will be better for you and everyone else,” he said. After she expressed that abortion was not the route she wanted to take, he said there is “nothing [he] can do right now” to help her. Moments like this in the book show, in Shakur’s experience, that peo-
ple take great lengths to make the lives of Black folks so much harder. Each chapter of the book is different, jumping from her sitting in her prison cell to her childhood memories of New York City. The duality of this structure enables us to go through the same emotions as Shakur as she reflects on her life experiences while sitting in solitary confinement. What is so monumental about this book is the lessons she teaches us along the way. While working with the Black Panther Party, she learned a lot about communism and anti-capitalism. She puts great emphasis on the fact that in the U.S. early education systems, we are taught that having a governmental structure besides capitalism is evil. She tells readers that “only a fool lets somebody else tell him who his enemy is ... always decide who your enemies are for yourself, and never let your enemies choose enemies for you.” This is the main message that
readers receive throughout the book, and it is quite inspiring. In every system that Shakur takes part in, she questions and does not succumb to the life that is given to her. This is what makes this book so revolutionary: Shakur isn’t different from you or me. Her activism is accessible with a huge emphasis on community, and she explains how she took action to get there. There is a lot to be learned from this book, and I see it as a guide to life that I will come back to many times in my own lifetime. This book is life-changing because of her story — because of her dedication to the people and the betterment of our communities. This book is life-changing because her life is ever-changing — and there is a lot to be learned from a revolutionary like her. The book is available to download for free or to buy at Black-owned bookstores in the city including The Lit Bar, Cafe Con Libros and Sisters Uptown Bookstore.
THE OBSERVER September 16, 2020
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GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION BY LARA FOLEY/THE OBSERVER
By ETHAN COUGHLIN, MADISON SOEYADI, ANNIKA SUDERBURG, and ISABELLA GONZALEZ Arts & Culture Editor and Contributing Writers
ETHAN’S PICKS 1. “Level Up (Twice as Tall)” by Burna Boy 2. “Pressure in my Palms” by Aminé 3. “Untitled 06 | 06.30.2014.” by Kendrick Lamar 4. “Amphetamine” by Smino 5. “Don’t Cry” by Octavian 6. “TWIST & TURN” by Popcaan 7. “seven” by Taylor Swift 8. “Diane Young” by Vampire Weekend
The first, and arguably most effective, song on the playlist is Burna Boy’s “Level Up (Twice as Tall)” featuring Youssou N’Dour. The opening song of his new album is the best song to listen to during your morning shower before those pesky early classes. The track begins with a playful sample from 1956’s “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” then slowly leads into the actual beat. The buildup throughout the song is so effective that in just three minutes I go from crawling out of bed to belting out the lyrics to the dismay of my roommate. At eight minutes long, Smino’s “Amphetamine” is a journey of a song. The first part of the song, “Amphetamine,” is slow and hypnotic as Smino drops one verse and sings the bridge and chorus. For the second part of the song, “Krash Kourse,” the energy picks up with the help of Bari, Jean Deaux and Noname. The transition from the first to the second part of the song is absolutely infectious and guaranteed to give you a kick before classes. Wrapping up my playlist is the 2013 indie hit “Diane Young.” If the rest of the playlist hasn’t gotten you up yet, Vampire Weekend will. “Diane Young” opens up with high
energy immediately and only toys more with the listener from there. The tone and tempo of the track change throughout the song to keep the listener engaged and on their toes the entire time.
MADISON’S PICKS 9. “We Stayed Up All Night” by Tourist 10. “Fuzzybrain” by Dayglow 11. “Politics & Violence” by Dominic Fike 12. “Lovers Rock” by TV Girl 13. “Myth” by Beach House 14. “Beach Baby” by Bon Iver 15. “Marcel” by Her’s 16. “White Teeth Teens” by Lorde “We Stayed Up All Night” (feat. Ardyn) by Tourist is a song that reminds me of what it means to be alive and to feel everything. With school, clubs and other extracurriculars, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that we’re alive. When we can all get back on campus, it’s important to realize how lucky we are to be getting this incredible education in New York City. It’s a dream that we’re all living. I don’t think this song will ever get old because no matter when, how or where you’re listening to it, it brings the absolute best energy to everything. I’ll be listening to this song during strenuous hours of homework, reminding me that I’m one assignment closer to living a beautiful life in the city and meeting so many new people. This is the song that gives me something to look forward to these next few months. When my mind is completely scattered and overloaded with stress from studying and homework, the song “Fuzzybrain” by Dayglow seems to be the only thing to bring me back to normal. The name of the song itself explains how I feel after hours upon hours of staring at my computer screen. When I can finally shut my
computer, I’ll put this song on and enjoy every minute of it. The voice of Dayglow, Sloan Struble’s soothing voice doesn’t exactly sing about school but the lyrics “The sun has been set for hours and she’s rising again / scattered mind, I call it a friend,” are something that every college student can relate to. The song is a nice reminder to take breaks every once in a while and clean out that “fuzz” in your brain. “Politics & Violence” is a powerful song off of Dominic Fike’s album “What Could Possibly Go Wrong.” He had delayed the release of this album after witnessing protests against racism and police brutality. Just the sound of the song is incredible. It’s smooth and groovy in a way that makes it so good for studying, focusing and also for winding down at the end of a long night or study session. Yet, the actual lyrics hold a deeper meaning that it isn’t exactly about politics or violence. The chorus repeats, “Mileage, politics and violence, at least somebody’s driving, all you need to fall in love.” It’s a very serene song that could make us think a little more.
ANNIKA’S PICKS 17. “Labyrinthine” by Julianna Barwick 18. “Därför jag vill inte” by Solen 19. “Like I Loved You” by Caribou 20. “Teenage Birdsong” by Four Tet 21. “The Great Gig in the Sky” by Pink Floyd 22. “Jig of Life” by Kate Bush 23. “The Lovecats” by The Cure 24. “Same” by Oneohtrix Point Never This playlist begins with the almost-ambient sounds of Julianna Barwick’s “Labyrinthine” and eventually builds into the crashing sound of Oneohtrix Point Never’s “Same.” I find that while an aggressive alarm may be effective, I prefer a slow, calm awakening.
The soft whispering vocals of “Labyrinthine” provide exactly that. These vocals evoke a sense of mystery, subtly raising expectations about what the day holds for the listener. The careful blend of sounds in “Labyrinthine” soothes the listener out of sleep as gently as possible. “Teenage Birdsong” by Four Tet is the perfect step from darkness to dawn. The flute sounds off of this electronic track echo sounds of morning bird calls. The acute sense of “morning” these sounds create surrounds the listener with a sense of readiness for the day. It is not aggressive, but it keeps listeners up and motivated. Simultaneously soft and upbeat, “Teenage Birdsong” is the perfect morning song. After the initial wake-up process, Kate Bush’s “Jig of Life” arrives on the scene. I have always loved this song for its stirring energy. As the folk-inspired vocals absorb the listener, there is no choice but to dance. The melody is upbeat, but the lyrics are what keep listeners engaged. These lyrics recount a conversation, but leave the identities of the participants uncertain. This uncertainty gives a seemingly happy, upbeat track an ambiguous edge. The intriguing quality to “Jig of Life” keeps even morning-haters awake and engaged.
ISABELLA’S PICKS 25. “Mr. Blue Sky” by Electric Light Orchestra 26. “Elevate” by DJ Khalil feat. Denzel Curry & YBN Cordae & SwaVay & Trevor Rich 27. “Dance, Baby!” by boy pablo 28. “Perfectly Marvelous” by Sutton Foster 29. “Mr. Fear” by SIAMES 30. “Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy” by Queen 31. “Never Enough” by Rex Orange County 32. “Queen Of Peace” by Florence + The Machine
If anyone knows anything about me, I consider “Mr. Blue Sky” by Electric Light Orchestra to be my personal superhero anthem and theme song. From start to finish, “Mr. Blue Sky” is an epic that you can’t get bored listening to. It tells a story about the start of a brand new day, so how could it not be on a wake up playlist? The beat is infectious and immediately fills you with energy and pep. The track almost feels like 8D audio before it became a YouTube trend. The song is unpredictable and keeps you guessing with different melodic turns and modified voices. The choir blending into the powering instrumental finish never fails to make me feel like I just completed a grand quest by getting myself presentable for online classes. Speaking of superheroes, “Elevate” by DJ Khalil feat. Denzel Curry & YBN Cordae & SwaVay & Trevor Rich from the “Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse’’ album transitions listeners from 1978 to 2018. Featured in the credits of the aforementioned Oscar-winning film, “Elevate” makes me relive my favorite movie in a single song that’s less than four minutes long. The different collaborators all bring their own rap style that blends together in an energetic and fun track that captures the fantastic elements of comic books and NYC. No matter where I am, listening to “Elevate” takes me back to the NYC streets. Anyone can wear the mask, no matter how far they may be. Did summer just end? I know I’m listening to this playlist to wake up for classes, but listening to “Dance, Baby!” by boy pablo keeps the summer alive with added quarantine vibes, especially with lyrics concerning loneliness and the desperation for human connection. Like the title suggests, the harmonies encourage you to get up and daydream about dancing with that college crush you never had the courage to ask out. The added effects like the air horn help make the tune fresh and light. This song has been praised for transporting listeners into their personal indie film where they can flaunt their main character energy. What more can you want?
un &
Fun & Games Editor Esmé Bleecker-Adams - ebleeckeradams@fordham.edu
ames
September 16, 2020 THE OBSERVER
Crossword: Off to See Wizardconsin
ESMÉ BLEECKER-ADAMS
ACROSS
1. brain activity evaluations: Abbr. 5. Insta post, often 8. in on or aware of (2 Wds.) 14. fog or gloom 15. mayor of Barcelona Colau 16. mythical lover of Aphrodite who was killed by a wild boar
17. ___, MO; city where the Scarecrow might go? 19. anxiety, or conductors of impulses in the body 20. a lot (of), informally 21. thus far (2 Wds.) 23. grain also known as hulled wheat
24. waxy layer at the top of a bird’s beak 25. margarine 28. I will be, en Español 29. ___, CT; city where the Tin Man might go? 31. meal you’d eat with a tube? 34. eight slices of pizza 35. initial stage of a plan 38. Baroque artist Peter Paul 40. “Here Comes the ___” 41. one being evaluated, especially for tax purposes 45. ___, AK; city where the Cowardly Lion might go? 47. moan 51. “let it stand” mark 52. Kellogg’s frozen waffle brand 53. silent ___; group activity with headphones 54. one who makes a big production? 56. annoy 57. actress Jenna of “Stuck in the Middle” 59. ___ City, OK; city where Dorothy might go (aside from Kansas)? 61. having fewer resources 62. what you might do through your teeth 63. country of Tehran
64. well ___; knowledgeable 65. type of company that keeps shareholders’ liability to a minimum, in the U.K. 66. Hamilton bills
DOWN
1. carve or stamp a design onto 2. Asia’s neighbor continent 3. one (such as a professor) who assigns a judgment 4. frying pans 5. opposite of fail 6. affirmative answer (2 Wds.) 7. small water container or a cafeteria 8. those who may or may not be lost 9. product of thought 10. relatively (2 Wds.) 11. vessel for a mail-in ballot 12. outcome without a winner 13. WWII predecessor of the CIA 18. volleyball barrier 22. cultural center and port in northwest Algeria 24. ___-squared distribution in statistics
26. actress Sanders of “Zoey 101” 27. devotional poems 30. faithful 32. baby cow meat, en Français 33. decline to pay attention to 35. helpful reminders: Abbr. 36. search 37. family tree member 39. know all the trends (3 Wds.) 42. wise 43. cylindrical fried appetizer 44. process of improving website traffic: Abbr. 46. water mammals who play a sneaky role in Japanese mythologies 48. not at sea 49. member of the X-Men who can freeze things 50. singers Allred and Gray 53. unresponsive to first responders: Abbr. 55. blues and R&B singer Ray 56. ___ chips; did poorly at poker 57. coastal defense boat: Abbr. 58. ___ v. Wade, 1973 60. set of equipment
Sudoku
2 7 3
6 3 8 5 1 4 2 8 5 3 2 6 9 3 6 5 1 7 4 9 5 1 7 3 7 2 8 1 6 7 9
9 2 8 5 4 JILL RICE
3 4 5 4 3 1 2
3 2 1 4 1 2
3 1 2 3
1 5 5 4 ESMÉ BLEECKER-ADAMS
Want to create cartoons, coloring pages, quizzes, horoscopes, recipes, games or puzzles of any kind? If you’re interested in contributing to the Fun & Games section, email: ebleeckeradams@fordham.edu
No experience necessary!