Observer Issue 14 Fall 2022

A Gala of Garments and Garbage

By ELENA KOSTAKIS Contributing Writer

Fashion for Philanthropy (FFP) and the Environmental Club at Lincoln Center collaborated on Friday, Dec. 2, to put on the re nowned Garbage Gala. First held in 2019, the annual gala focused on sustainability, with everyone encouraged to show up in outfits made out of recycled garbage.

The event was open to every one and anyone who stumbled upon it. Over 60 people attended the creative event. The gala was held in the glass atrium for all to see and was decorated with silver balloons and snowflakes made out of newspaper. Along with the dec orations, there were strobe lights of many colors to set the tone for

the night that was about to begin.

As I walked into the garbage soiree, I was greeted with a giant red carpet that led to a backdrop meant for students to take pic tures to remember this sustain able event. Throughout the night the backdrop remained a popular installation.

Ernie Perez, Fordham College at Lincoln Center ’24 and trea surer of FFP, said that prior to the event there was a lot of stress and that the e-board put in a lot of work cutting out the snowflakes. He emphasized that the work paid off as they saw students dancing, eating food and having fun.

“The moment we switched the light switch on and saw all the snowflakes, we knew the work we put in was worth it,” Perez said.

Once the event began, the president of FFP, Meilin More field, Gabelli School of Business Lincoln Center (GSBLC) ’24, walked in with her own take on garbage couture. Her outfit con sisted of a plain garbage bag and a colorful recycled belt that made the outfit entirely sustainable. She shined a joyous smile as she saw the glass atrium covered in balloons and snowflakes. She im mediately joined the crowd on the dance floor.

“We wanted to give students a chance to show off their own cre ativity and making their own outfit, while also promoting sustainability in a fun way,” Morefield said.

Students Dissatisfied With Course Offerings

By AKEILA CHAN Contributing Writer

Following the registration period for the spring 2023 se mester, which began on Oct. 31 and continued through Nov. 18, many students began to express disappointment and frustration with the course offerings at Fordham Lincoln Center (FLC).

Priority registration for un dergraduate students is afforded to students pursuing bachelors of fine arts at the beginning of the registration period on Oct. 31. Starting Nov. 7, students who have 83 credits are allowed to register first, and the credit re quirement to register decreases in increments through Nov. 18.

Undergraduate Fordham stu dents have access to the list of classes offered through Degree Works and Banner and can see the specific sections offered prior to the commencement of the reg istration period. For recent reg istration periods, including this one, students reported feeling as though they did not have a wide variety of course options when creating their schedules.

Rynola Fraser, Fordham Col lege at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’26, said that there were particu lar courses she was interested in when browsing the course cata log, but they were only offered at the Rose Hill campus. She noted that the lack of available cours es was “very upsetting” and that she had difficulty securing the classes that she wanted because they were not available at FLC.

“I’m very dissatisfied with the amount of courses offered as of right now,” she said.

Fraser added that as a com muter student, traveling to Ford

ham Rose Hill (FRH) for class would cause her to sacrifice time. She explained that commuting is something she would be will ing to consider but is unsure as to whether or not it would be worthwhile.

“In general, I just don’t think I can manage that,” she said. “I would try to make that sac rifice for a class I’m interested in. However, it would be a very big sacrifice which I’m not sure I can handle.”

If a class fills up, students who register for it are put on a waitlist, which remains open until close to the beginning of the semester. For some, being waitlisted in multiple classes was indicative of the limited availability of courses.

Claire Hong, FCLC ’25, noted that of the six classes for which she registered, she was enrolled in four and waitlisted for two. She expressed being discouraged by having to join the waitlist for the two classes to which she was most looking forward for the spring semester.

“If I chose to attend Lincoln Center, I feel like I should be able to take classes at Lincoln Cen ter,” she said.

In addition to offering more courses, some students also be lieve it would be helpful to have more offered sections for cours es. Kayla Joyner, FCLC ’23, said that she felt as though more sec tions per class were offered at FRH than at FLC. She noted that, in comparison to core require ment classes, there was a small pool of options for classes that contribute to the completion of major requirements.

Tulane Takedown

The STudenT Voice of fordham LincoLn cenTer

ANDREW DRESSNER/

ALICE MORENO/THE OBSERVER

Over 60 people attended the Garbage Gala dressed in cardboard, newspapers and plastic bags, among other materials.

ABA Removes LSAT Requirement for Law Schools

Fordham School of Law’s Office of Admissions will assess whether or not to maintain the test requirement following the decision

By ALFRED GREIG Contributing Writer

The American Bar Association (ABA) voted to eliminate the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) as an admissions requirement for law schools across the country on Nov. 18. If the ABA’s House of Delegates approves this motion, law schools will be able to go test-optional as soon as fall 2025.

The recent decision comes af ter a longstanding debate on how the LSAT requirement affects the admittance of a diverse body of students into law schools and legal professions. Critics of the LSAT requirement claim that it serves as a barrier of entry for underprivileged students, while supporters of the exam argue that it acts as an equalizing factor for students of all socioeconomic backgrounds to distinguish them selves in law school admissions.

In a letter written to the ABA against the decision, deans of various law schools, such as No tre Dame, the University of Mich igan and the University of Penn sylvania, argued that removal of the test requirement would cause law school admissions to place a heavier emphasis on other fac tors, such as GPA and reputation of undergraduate institutions, that would be “infused with bias.”

Stephen Brown, assistant dean of enrollment at Fordham School of Law, said that, in addition to the LSAT, Fordham Law current ly looks at a variety of factors in determining if an applicant will be admitted into its program, including a personal statement, undergraduate GPA, resume and work experience, school and community involvement, and let ters of recommendation, among other criteria.

Brown highlighted the im portance of looking beyond only LSAT scores and GPA.

“ That is why we ask for information that is more than just numbers — our students and alumni are more than just numbers. ”

Stephen Brown, assistant dean of enrollment at Fordham School of Law

“We look to academic success, engagement and leadership, curi osity, perseverance, experiences and many other factors,” Brown said. “That is why we ask for in formation that is more than just numbers - our students and alum ni are more than just numbers.”

Following the ABA’s vote, Brown clarified that the Office of Admissions at Fordham Law will assess whether or not to main tain the test requirement. He ex plained that the postponement of the implementation for more than two admission cycles will allow the office to examine any changes they might make.

“We will be evaluating wheth er to retain an LSAT requirement and, if not, how we will set our application review to assure that we continue to admit students who will be successful and con tribute to both the community at Fordham Law and the legal pro fession,” Brown said.

Patrick Cucurullo, Fordham School of Law ’23, took the LSAT

in the summer of 2019 and views the exam as an expected compo nent of the admissions process.

“Like most law students, I hat ed taking the LSAT,” Cucurullo said. “I think it’s fair to say most of us view it as something we just had to endure, like one more hoop to jump through.”

As a first-generation college and law student in his family Cu

er acceptance rates,” she said. “This may have a positive effect on the legal field, but a negative effect on the applicant.”

Another student, Annette Salas, FCLC ’26, commented on the accessibility issues associat ed with the LSAT. She expressed that limited diversity in law schools and legal professions had less to do with the LSAT it self and more to do with the lack of resources given to minority undergraduate students.

and other resources were more accessible, then perhaps the LSAT wouldn't be such an issue regarding the diversity gap in admissions. ”

Anette Salas, FCLC '26

curullo appreciated the opportu nity the LSAT provided in testing his ability equally.

“I think I tend to be a lit tle more willing to defend the LSAT than the average law stu dent because I don’t come from a background that would give me any advantages going into law school,” he said.

Cucurullo expressed that he believes the test works as intend ed in accurately measuring what is required of students in law school. He also theorized that LSAT scores and GPA correlate as he scored around the median on the LSAT for his incoming class and now similarly ranks on GPA.

Additionally, Cucurullo com mented on the privatized nature of the LSAT ecosystem as being inequitable.

Cucurullo expressed that the elimination of the LSAT require ment is a positive, if not predict able, change, with law schools following the actions of under graduate colleges.

“Undergraduate schools are already treating the SAT and ACT as optional, and the ‘big’ law schools have been ignoring the LSAT for a while now. I would favor a whole student approach to admissions, so deemphasizing the LSAT is a step in that direc tion,” he said. “I also think that during the review, schools have to seriously account for the un even playing field among appli cants.”

Pre-law undergraduate stu dents at Fordham also weighed in with their opinions on the re cent vote.

Kennedi Hutchins, Ford ham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’25, expressed her ap proval for the vote and stated that the LSAT acts as a road block to building diverse legal professions for several reasons, including the lack of access to costly tutors and platforms to prepare for the exam.

She explained that the LSAT is “one of the hardest standard ized tests that require time, money, and dedication that some people might not have the privilege to give.”

Hutchins added that this test-optional change might have a side effect similar to that of when the SAT was waived for some undergraduate schools due to COVID-19.

“The number of applications would increase resulting in low

“If more LSAT prep courses and other resources were more accessible, then perhaps the LSAT wouldn’t be such an issue regarding the diversity gap in admissions,” she said.

Salas also noted that she had mixed feelings about the vote and was unsure as to wheth er or not the elimination of the LSAT was a positive or negative change.

“Personally, I liked the idea of the LSAT because it didn’t put all this pressure only on your grades and resume,” she said. “However, I also see the perspective of taking away the LSAT so admissions can focus on other factors that may offer a more holistic perspective of a student’s qualifications.”

Yvette Panaiotov, FCLC ’24 and head of the Pre-Law Soci ety at Fordham Lincoln Center, discussed the intricacies of the LSAT in comparison to other standardized tests, commend ing it as a valuable equalizing tool for assessing reasoning and thinking styles over memoriza tion skills. She also expressed concern about law schools plac

its emphasis on overlooking education disparities, it struggles to account for differences in access. ”

Yvette Panaiotov, FCLC ’24 and head of the Pre-Law Society at Fordham Lincoln Center

ing too much emphasis on GPA as an alternative should the test be eliminated as a requirement.

“Despite its emphasis on over looking education disparities, it struggles to account for differ ences in access,” Panaiotov said. “As such, I feel that the LSAT would be most valuable as a sup plement rather than a determi nant in law school applications.”

Panaiotov finds that a more ho listic review of applicants would benefit the admissions process.

In the past, the Pre-Law Soci ety has dedicated most of their events to test prep for the LSAT. Panaiotov commented on how plans for the club will proceed following the vote.

“This decision will certainly create space for us to focus on more areas of law school appli cations,” she said. “However, we will continue to provide LSAT guidance and instruction for stu dents who wish to supplement their law school applications with their LSAT scores, both be fore and after the implementa tion of this decision in 2025.”

Following the ABA council’s approval, the final decision re garding the removal of the LSAT requirement rests upon the judgement of the House of Dele gates, which will be determined in February 2023.

Confusion Regarding University’s

By INSIYA GANDHI News Editor

Fordham mandated the biva lent booster on Sept. 26, requir ing all students, staff, faculty and guests to have received the booster dose in order to gain access to the university’s campuses. Although the policy is outlined in the uni versity’s COVID-19 guidelines, the enforcement of the bivalent booster mandate on outside guests visiting the university remains in consistent as some students have reported their guest needing to show proof of vaccination while others were not checked for their vaccination status.

According to Robert Dineen, assistant vice president for Pub lic Safety, all visitors for both the Lincoln Center and Rose Hill cam puses, including those attending campus events and sports games, are required to provide proof of vaccination status, including the bivalent booster dose, in order to be admitted onto campus. Only students, faculty and staff with university-approved religious or medical exemptions will be grant ed access to campus without the bivalent booster.

Although Dineen noted Pub lic Safety officers at security desks should be checking the vaccination status of guests visiting the university prior to permitting them on campus for events and sports games, resi dents on campus have reported varied experiences with signing in guests following the universi

ty-wide deadline to receive the bivalent booster on Nov. 1.

In line with university guide lines, some students have been unable to sign in nonuniversity guests who have not received the bivalent booster. Livia Sarnelli, Fordham College at Lincoln Cen ter (FCLC) ’25 and a resident in McMahon Hall, shared that one of her friends who had yet to re ceive their bivalent booster was not allowed on campus when she attempted to sign two guests in on a Saturday afternoon. She said she thought that the university’s requirement that guests also be fully vaccinated was unsuccess fully explained to students.

“I felt like maybe it was embed ded in some email somewhere, but I felt like it wasn’t effectively communicated,” she said.

Sarnelli noted that outside guests may be unlikely to already have their booster shot adminis tered due to a lack of access or low incentive if their workplace or university hasn’t mandated it.

“If you’re not living on a col lege campus, there is not a su per high incentive to get it right away,” she said.

Kaylin Barnes, FCLC ’24 and another resident in McMahon Hall, shared that when signing in guests, the security guard some times requested proof of vaccina tion. She noted that other times, the guests she signs in are not prompted to share their vaccina tion status.

“During the day, they always check,” she said. “But it’s just a

matter of day or night and whether the guard on duty cares enough.”

MaryGrace Petti, FCLC ’23 and another McMahon Hall resident, shared that contrary to what she anticipated, her parents did not have to show proof of vaccination when she signed them in during Thanksgiving break.

“I expected that my parents would have to show a form of identification and proof of vac cination, but when I asked the security guard if I could sign my parents in, he just allowed them to come right up without present ing an ID or proof of vaccination status,” she said.

Petti noted that the ease with which she was able to sign in her parents without any pushback was surprising and, similarly to Barnes, believes that “it comes down to arbitrary sign-in require ments based on who is working at the security desk.”

Dineen shared that he was un aware of reports concerning the access of guests on campus with out proof of vaccination and de clined to comment on these stu dent experiences since he had not heard of the specific details sur rounding them. He said that he would like to find out more about each instance by speaking with students and potentially retrain ing the guards that are reported.

The bivalent booster has been the subject of significant debate from Fordham community mem bers, spawning petitions both in opposition to and in support of the mandate, protests at the pres

Public Safety officers are instructed to check proof of vaccination for all visitors, but students have disclosed that this does not always happen.

idential inauguration, and a po tential lawsuit from a Long Island law firm. The university, however, has maintained that the booster requirement remains effective in combating COVID-19 and pre venting its spread, according to Bob Howe, assistant vice presi dent for communications.

Dineen shared that although he is aware that some members of the university community are not pleased with the bivalent boost er mandate, he has not received

complaints about it at the Lincoln Center campus. He noted that the university is still determining the compliance of its community members who have neither up loaded their up-to-date vaccina tion status nor requested a med ical or religious exemption from the university.

“At this time the University is not restricting access or turning people away from campus,” he said.

Maryam Beshara contributed additional reporting to this story.

GABRIEL GARCIA/THE OBSERVER

By QUINCY REYES Asst. Copy Editor

Since the beginning of the fall semester, ongoing renovations for the new RamFit Center on the sec ond floor of McMahon Hall have resulted in numerous fire alarms and announcements from the building’s fire safety director at varying hours. There has also been an uptick in calls for water shutoffs and the unavailability of hot water to residents which has resulted in reported frustrations.

Joseph Scaltro, director of en gineering services and the main architect behind the new reno vations, said that the construc tion crew for the McMahon gym has installed quiet hours until 9 a.m. and has planned its work to be cognizant in limiting the amount of noise created for res idents living on the second floor of McMahon. He added that con struction workers have scheduled louder forms of construction such as drilling holes in the wall to be completed the afternoon prior to installing wires to avoid quiet hours hindering their work.

a.m., which Scaltro explained was due to the construction work, caus ing dust to be blown into the smoke detectors.

Luke Schlag, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’24, said he was waking up when the 8:20 a.m. alarm was activated and be gan to sound.

“Having lived in McMahon for a year and a half, I’ve grown ac customed to its recurrent mainte nance issues, but the initial shock of hearing the alarms is always the same,” he said. “You can practical ly feel the entire building jolt as one, everyone asking themselves something along the lines of, ‘What now?’”

Sharon Fitzpatrick, FCLC ’25, feels that the perpetual mainte nance in McMahon is inconvenient and frustrating. She also noted that communication prior to the fire drills and water shutoffs were in sufficient.

“It seems like they’ve been do ing a lot more in terms of testing our fire alarms and general main tenance,” she said. “I’m not exactly a morning person so being woken up by beeping every few weeks has been pretty annoying as well — and then I can’t go back to sleep because the alarm continues for upwards of 20 minutes some days.”

Nandhana Nair, GSBLC ‘22, also found the water shutoffs in convenient.

“While there isn’t a perfect time to do maintenance, as students with impromptu schedules, it can be difficult to work around mainte nance, especially if the water hap pens to be turned off around the time you go to sleep,” she said.

vember. It included a water shut down on Nov. 4 from 12 a.m. to 3 a.m., fire alarm testing on Nov. 23 beginning at 9 a.m. with an undetermined end time and other repairs taking place from Nov. 7 through Nov. 18.

“We just had to plan ahead a bit, but for the most part, we were fine,” Pinna said.

Not all residents have expressed feeling inconvenienced with the scheduled water interruptions.

Braulio Mourao Pacheco, Ga belli School of Business at Lincoln Center ’24 and a resident assistant in McMahon Hall, noted that res idents on his floor would ask him about the duration of the water interruption. He mentioned that his residents expressed that the suspensions did not interfere with their daily routines.

Robert Dineen, assistant vice president of Public Safety, said there have been five fire alarm acti vations in McMahon Hall since the start of the semester due to the con struction work for the gym on the second floor.

“When new fire protection de vices are installed at a construction site, and the construction work at the site continues, fire protection devices will activate from time to time,” he said.

Maintenance in McMahon Hall has caused disturbances

offs and alarms.

The construction for the new fitness center has touched every single system in the building, ac cording to Scaltro. This has caused many fire alarms throughout the building, occuring at all times throughout the day. On Nov. 30, an early-morning alarm sounded to residents at approximately 8:20

Xavi Pinna, FCLC ’26, had the water in his suite interrupted but said that receiving notice from the Office of Residential Life (ResLife) helped his suite plan accordingly during the scheduled disruption.

On Nov. 1, ResLife sent an email to all McMahon residents outlin ing the maintenance scheduled in McMahon for the rest of No

Dineen added that the fire alarms could go off for different reasons, such as dust from work being performed activating a smoke detector or a worker inad vertently activating a device. He also mentioned that on Nov. 23, the Fire Department of New York was on site to test the new fire protection devices on the second floor. Residents were informed of the inspection in an email prior to the date of scheduled testing. The alarms in the building rang for one hour while the test was being conducted.

Although residents were told to expect the testing on Nov. 23, the alarm began ringing the day prior, at around 10 a.m. An an

nouncement was then made that testing was taking place, which ended up lasting for about four hours.

When a maintenance order such as the fire alarm detectors going off happens, facilities oper ations inform ResLife and Public Safety of the schedule of the work to be done. ResLife then noti fies residents of the dates of the planned work.

Dineen noted that he has not fielded complaints from residents regarding early morning alarms and water shutoffs in letter-lined apart ments, which are apartments that share the same water pipes because they are vertically stacked and are identified by the same letter. He stressed that emergencies make it

difficult for facilities and operations to alert ResLife in time to inform residents of required maintenance work as soon as possible.

“When facilities operations discover a need to perform emer gency work, i.e. water leak re quiring valve replacement that requires immediate repair, it does not allow for advance notice to the residents, though the facilities team working with the office of residential life will alert residents by email and the posting of sig nage throughout the building as soon as possible,” he said.

Renovations in McMahon are expected to continue over win ter break and will conclude prior to the RamFit Center’s unveiling on Jan. 12.

Joyner added that the limited number of course sections avail able also makes completing her re quired courses more difficult since she is a senior.

“I was shocked when I was planning my spring semester only to find that there were about a range of seven to nine courses of fered at Lincoln Center for political science electives,” she said.

According to DegreeWorks, only 10 political science electives will be offered at Lincoln Center compared to the 25 that will be offered at Rose Hill, which can be attributed to the larger under graduate population at Rose Hill in comparison to Lincoln Center.

The university’s academic ad vising system requires students to contact their advisers prior to their registration period so that their advising hold on their account is lifted. Undergraduate students are encouraged to communicate with their adviser on their planned course schedule for the following semester and ensure that they are able to attain the necessary cours es needed to satisfy the require ment for graduation.

Maura Mast, dean of Fordham College at Rose Hill, explained the process of helping students navigate any difficulties they face with course offerings. She noted that her office reviews course en rollments after the registration

period closes to determine how to proceed with the demand, or lack thereof, for certain classes.

“If we see long waiting lists or high demand for certain cours es, we may ask the department to open another section,” she said. “On the other hand, if we see under enrolled courses, we may ask the department to cancel that section.”

According to Mast, these ac

tions are undertaken to ensure class availability for all students. She added that her office would communicate with the dean’s of fice at FCLC to guide students on the process of taking classes at the other campus “in some cases.”

Robert Moniot, associate dean of FCLC, echoed Mast’s explana tion regarding how the number of courses is determined.

“After registration occurs, if we find that some core or major class es are entirely filled (meaning our projections underestimated de mand), we may add one or more sections,” he said. “We also may cancel low-enrolled sections of core or major classes.”

Monoit, who oversees the of fering of core courses for under graduate students at FLC, clarified

the process that is implemented to determine what courses will be available each semester.

According to Moniot, statistics via a report from DegreeWorks are used to determine which courses students will need, and in commu nication with different academic departments, those courses will then be requested for the upcom ing semester. He added that al though he oversees the process, individual academic departments ultimately determine which class es will be available to students.

Moniot noted that each de partment considers what their students need and offers “suitable courses for them to progress to ward completion of their majors.” He specified that the process for determining the availability of language core classes is handled differently since incoming firstyear students take a survey which determines their placement as well as the amount of sections needed to satisfy the number of registered students.

The process for finalizing the courses that will be offered for the upcoming spring 2023 se mester is still ongoing. For future semesters, students hope that the quantity of course offerings at FLC will increase.

“There are so many good class es, and it’s such a pain seeing ‘RH’ beside them when I really wanted to take them,” Fraser said.

QUINCY REYES/THE OBSERVER

such as water shut

“ I'm not exactly a morning person so being woken up by beeping every few weeks has been pretty annoying as well. ”

Sharon Fitzpatrick, FCLC ’25

By DAEL KI Staff Writer

The RamFit Center, located on the second floor of McMahon Hall, is slated to reopen for use by all Fordham students on Jan. 12, ac cording to Joseph Scaltro, director of engineering services. After a one-year closure due to COVID-19, the gym reopened on Sept. 13, 2021, and remained accessible un til renovations began on May 19, 2022, the day after most residents moved out for the summer break. Now, nine months later, the gym will once again be available for use, with expanded space and new equipment brought into the reno vated facility.

The updated facility will feature three spaces added alongside the main fitness center which has been converted to a cardio room — two of the spaces being multipurpose studio rooms for dance and yoga which will have mirrors and televi sion screens and one space being a designated room for weights.

According to Scaltro, the ren ovations also included the re modeling of the locker rooms and bathrooms, the installation of new flooring and upgraded air conditioning units throughout the facility, and an assortment of new equipment for the weight and car dio rooms.

In collaboration with the Offic es of Residential Life (ResLife) and Student Affairs, Scaltro noted in order to accommodate for the ad ditional rooms, a decision had to be made to remove Health Services and the testing center. Health Ser vices and the testing center, which were previously located in McMa hon 205 and 206, respectively, are currently operating in room G-16 of the 140 West Building and Lowenstein South Lounge respec tively.

Although the facility was meant to be complete by Dec. 8, Scaltro noted that renovations will contin ue until Dec. 27 and will include remodeling the stairwell behind the mailroom that leads to McMa hon Hall’s Outdoor Plaza entrance as well as construction work to ren ovate McMahon 109.

“Everything was beat up,” he said when speaking on the McMa hon gym’s previous state.

Scaltro added that “construc tion was raging” after residents left the residence hall for the summer and that work on the facility be gan immediately to keep up with the pace of the McMahon RamFit’s scheduled reopening. He added that he was initially struggling to make the Jan. 12 reopening due to the amount of construction work that needed to be done but now the facility is back on track to reopen in the spring. ResLife and Student Affairs are currently in conversa tion with Scaltro about how the gym will be unveiled.

Some students have expressed their excitement regarding the unveiling of the upgraded Ram Fit Center, but they have also ex pressed their frustrations at the absence of a facility and the gym’s closure this semester, leading some to feel the need to purchase a gym membership.

Cesar Franco, Fordham Col lege at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’26, shared that he is both enthusias tic about the RamFit Center and disappointed that the facility has been unavailable to members of the Fordham community for the entirety of the fall semester.

“I think that the gym’s proxim ity to everything on campus will make it much more convenient for me to go, and I wish it was open sooner than this spring,” he said. “However, I am very excited to see

Students Seek Alternative Fitness Facilities

the renovations and look forward to using the new equipment.”

Similarly, Tommy Crnjac, Ga belli School of Business at Lincoln Center (GSBLC) ’25, said that the gym’s closure this semester created a few obstacles for him this year.

“I stopped working out as fre quently as I used to,” he said.

Since there was no gym avail able on campus for Crnjac to uti lize, he purchased a gym member ship to exercise. Crnjac mentioned his frustration in having invested in a paid gym subscription since there was already a facility on campus that was supposed to have been available to him. Despite this dissatisfaction, he noted that he is excited about the renovations and hopes that they will improve gym goers’ experiences.

“It is frustrating because I feel like I’m going the extra mile to use a facility that should already be accessible to me, especially on a college campus,” he said. “But I am glad that they are expanding and remodeling the gym; last year it felt really claustrophobic and the machines were just not the best, if I recall correctly.”

Yodahe Samson and Paula Pre uss, both GSBLC ’25, also obtained gym memberships due to the gym’s closure and expressed similar frus trations to Crnjac.

“Even though the Fordham gym is going to open soon, I never see myself going,” Samson said. “I got a membership at Crunch; it’s not the best, but I had to.”

Samson noted that although the equipment at the Crunch gym is dated, he felt it was his only option since the McMahon gym was not available for community members to use. He added that because he had already purchased this mem bership, he feels that it is “point less” to start using Fordham’s new facility even though he had used it frequently prior to its closure.

Preuss echoed similar senti ments to Samson and noted that she has already adjusted to the fa cility to which she bought a mem bership following the closure of the McMahon gym and feels that it would be hard to transition to a new facility so late in the year

“I spend hundreds every month for a gym because it is worth the investment,” she said. “It is an ex pensive option, but I didn’t have any other choice really.”

On Nov. 9, Jenifer Campbell, dean of students at Lincoln Cen ter, sent an email to students an nouncing that free Ram Van passes would be provided to students who wished to utilize the fitness facili ties at the Rose Hill campus. Inter ested students are required to go to the Office of Student Involvement from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday or 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Wednesday and Friday to sign up for passes.

“We heard from students, and in response to student requests, we put it into existence,” she said.

Scaltro acknowledged students’ struggles throughout the gym’s clo sure while also emphasizing that the renovations were more than a “paint job.”

“We simply needed time,” Scal tro said. “To get it done and miss one semester was all we could do.”

He added that the scale of reno vations lengthened the time frame of the remodeling but acknowl edged students’ frustrations with the lack of access to a gym at their campus. Scaltro noted that it was unfortunate to see that students who loved utilizing the gym did not have one on campus but that the timeline from May 2022 to January 2023 was the best option.

“I can feel their pain; it’s hard when you lose something like that. That would’ve killed me as a col lege student to not have gym,”

Scaltro said. “We were all aware of it; there was just no way to keep it open to do this renovation.”

Scaltro added that the payoff of the renovations and the physical la bor that went into the construction work to remodel the facility would be worth the monthslong wait.

“I feel bad that students who love the gym very much didn’t have one, but the return on investment is all the amenities we have. There was no fluff time here,” Scaltro said.

Since the RamFit gym at Rose Hill has a larger space and more equipment, Scaltro noted that his team had to accommodate for the existing conditions in place, which entails constructing around col umns and other supportive infra structure.

“RamFit has a totally different set,” he said. “Here we are running

under different conditions.”

In regard to the budget for the gym, Scaltro emphasized that the university allocated sufficient funds to proceed with the planned renovations for the facility but that the university had limited deci sions for capital improvements.

“The university did budget the amount of money I needed,” he said. “This project has been out there for a while, and we planned to do a budget which we had to go to the board of trustees for.”

In an email sent from the Of fice of Student Involvement on Dec. 6, an update about the oper ational hours of the RamFit Center was announced as well as a “soft launch” of the cardio and weight rooms, which will be available for use from Dec. 12 to Dec. 20, on Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to

10 p.m., and on the weekends from 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. The complete fitness center will still be unveiled and “fully operational” beginning Jan. 12 and will be open from 7 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. on the weekends.

Scaltro noted that even though the renovations and work to re model the new McMahon RamFit Center took longer than anticipat ed to finish, he is excited for what is to come and to see students use the facilities which his team has worked on for nearly nine months.

“I’ve been here for 30 years. I’ve done a lot of things here, and I enjoy them all because I get to see everyone use them,” he said. “It gives me so much joy, so much in stant gratification, and makes it all worthwhile.”

MCMAHON

After a one-year closure and multiple rounds of renovations, the gym’s unveiling elicits mixed reactions from students

DIAGRAM BY JACK L. GORDON ARCHITECTS; COURTESY OF JOSEPH SCALTRO Health Services and the testing center, which were previously located on the second floor of McMahon, have been relocated to accommodate for a weight room, two studios and a meeting room.

ANDREW DRESSNER/THE OBSERVER

Construction on the RamFit Center is set to be completed by Dec. 27, with the cardio and weight rooms opening for use on Dec. 12.

RENDERING BY JACK L. GORDON ARCHITECTS; COURTESY OF JOE SCALTRO

The original McMahon gym has been converted to a cardio room outfitted with brand new equipment.

Men’s Basketball Takes Down Tulane 95-90

The Rams’ offense powers them to a seven-game win streak, their longest since the 1990-91 season

By CHARLES BINNS Asst. Sports and Health Editor

With a 7-1 record, the Fordham Rams headed to New Orleans on Dec. 3 to face the Tulane Universi ty (TU) Green Wave, a team with a perfect home record, in what would prove to be a both mental and phys ical battle. The Rams eventually tri umphed, 95-90.

Fordham has been the surprise of the Atlantic 10 (A10) this season. Under Head Coach Keith Urgo’s stewardship, the team has climbed to a level that few saw coming. The veteran leadership of Darius Quisenberry, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) ’23, has also seen a rise with the graduate guard averaging 17.0 points per game along with 3.4 assists and 3.6 rebounds.

Tulane’s stars Kevin Cross, TU ’24, and Jaylen Forbes, TU ’24, pre pared to stop Quisenberry’s elite play. The Rams’ first possession of the game started with a missed shot that was then recovered and put back by Khalid Moore, Graduate School of Arts and Science (GSAS) ’23. Fordham’s big man, Abdou Tsimbila, Fordham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) ’24, followed Moore’s effort with a powerful post move to lay the ball in. Tulane failed to get going early in the game as they missed their first three attempts.

Kyle Rose, FCRH ’24, described as Fordham’s “heart and soul” by Urgo, began his contribution to the game with 18:12 left in the first half; when he sank a 3-point buck et so pure it barely touched the net. Rose is vital to the Fordham roster on both ends of the floor. His 3-point shot is elite, but his defensive ability is his main attribute. Rose getting on the board early was key for the rest of the game.

Tulane started slow but not for a lack of effort. The Green Wave got on the board with a nice jumper in the paint from Cross. The Tulane forward put in a lot of work this game, ending with a total of 25 points.

The Rams went on a sixminute scoring drought which gave Tulane the reins to control the game. Tulane took advantage and went on an 11-0 run.

clunked off the backboard. Tsimbila is a dominant defensive player for Urgo’s team but is not as gifted on the offensive end.

Jalen Cook, TU ’25, was then fouled by Quisenberry on a three point attempt. Quisenberry, seem ingly unhappy with the decision, complained to the refs while Tulane tacked on three more points at the line. After another successful pos session culminating in Collin Hollo way, TU ’24, scoring in the paint the team from New Orleans was now winning 18-13.

The Rams went on a six-minute scoring drought which gave Tu lane the reins to control the game.

to Charlton, who darted a ball to Tsimbila under the basket, ending in a powerful dunk. Moore capped off the sequence with another bucket. The Rams went on a 9-0 run in 72 seconds.

The bench rotation played an integral role in Fordham’s success. Novitskyi, the Ukrainian center, was snatching rebounds and diving on the floor to retain possession. His play off the bench earned him nine rebounds and 14 points.

The next play, Charlton stole the ball and fired a pass into the paint. The double team came over to ac commodate for the mismatch, and the extra pass was made to Moore at the 3-point line. Although the at tempt was missed, Urgo’s influence is clearly having an effect on the team. His intensity is not confined to the sidelines.

With nearly 15 minutes left in the first period, Cross drove with ferocity to the rim and converted the basket. The forward then came down the floor again, this time looking to put on a highlight dunk that was fouled by Rostyslav No vitskyi, FCRH ’23. Cross — shoot ing 85% from the charity stripe — easily converted his shots, leaving the score at 13-11.

Tulane started to ramp up their physicality. With 13:33 left in the first half, Tylan Pope, TU ’25, snatched an offensive rebound and wrestled the ball to the ground along with three Rams players. With 12:43, Tulane played a good and strong defense on Tsimbi la, who threw up a poor shot that

Tulane took advantage and went on an 11-0 run, ended by a skillful bucket from Rose. From here the game turned into a back and forth. The first half ended with the home team up, 45-37. Tulane was defend ing a perfect home record, and it seemed that the Green Wave was on course to be 5-0 at home. However, the Rams didn’t let up.

The key to success for the Rams entering the second half was three fold. Fordham could not let Tulane go on another big run; they had to use their size to get the rebound advantage; and they had to stick to their defensive game plan.

On the first possession by Ford ham, Moore took it strong to his spot in the mid-range and swished a jumper. Cross returned with a soft jump hook that put the lead back to 8. Quisenberry, who ended the first with 15 points, hit a three to put his tally to 18.

In the next play, Forbes, who led Tulane to their previous win, turned the ball over, setting a nega tive tone for his squad’s second-half effort. Tsimbila intelligently drew the foul. Fordham’s score then sat at 44, to Tulane’s 47.

The Rams showed chemistry and collective effort, as on the next play Quisenberry came down the floor and threw a pin-perfect pass

With only 5:21 left in the game, Moore ignited. He stepped through and put the Rams up 75-68. No vitskyi then drew a foul to convert one of two and followed that up with a contested layup. However, this skillful stint was overshadowed by an unstoppable posterizer that James delivered on the Ukrainian forward.

The game had all a college basketball fan could ask for: highlight dunks, scrappy defensive plays and clutch baskets.

The game’s intensity rose yet again after that. Tulane came down the floor and drew a foul that left Charlton on the floor. As the whis tle blew, Cook went for a layup that Rose emphatically blocked. Al though it didn’t count, Rose’s pow erful play made a statement of its own. The two had to be separated, and Cook could be seen saying what appeared to be “you suck” to Ford ham’s lethal guard.

Novitskyi wasn’t disheartened by the detonation James delivered upon him and provided a putback dunk of his own to put the Rams up 82-72 with 3:40 left in the game.

With around two minutes left, Will Richardson, FCRH ’26, was

able to come up huge with a defen sive play, but Rose was unable to convert the following possession. Tulane came back down the floor, and Cook hit a crowd-pleasing three to bring the Ford ham lead down to four. Quisenber ry sped right back down the court and drew a hard foul. He fell down but got right back up and went one-fortwo at the line.

through the defense and put up a floater that swished through the net. He turned after the score and taunted the Rams with a clap of the hands. Cross’ team was only down 85-82 with 1:55 left.

On the next play, Moore found Quisenberry, who finished in traffic to give himself 23 points. On the other end, Cook drew a foul on a long-range attempt and went to the line con verting three-for-three.

only two points. Tulane had flipped a switch and hit five of their last six attempts. Moore responded and drove on Forbes, converting the jump hook. Quisen berry followed, putting his body on the line and

drew a charge to regain possession.

Rose turned the ball over on his next drive with less than a minute left. Down by four with 35.2 sec onds left in the game, Tulane re covered possession. Cook patient ly dribbled the ball up and shot a three, but Rose redeemed himself by soaring in for the block.

Following a foul, Tsimbila went to the line with the opportunity to make it a two-possession game. The Rams defense fell following Tsimbi la’s successful free-throw attempts, allowing Cross to drive, dunk and draw a foul with 17.7 seconds left in the game. Cross converted the 3-point play and brought the game back to one possession.

As teams in desperation often do, Tulane intentionally fouled, transitioning the game into one de cided at the free-throw line. Rich ardson found himself at the charity stripe with 7.4 seconds left and the Rams up by two. He had an oppor tunity to kill the game.

Showing composure, Richard son converted both. The game was done but not over. Moore was inex plicably fouled at the final buzzer. He strolled to the free throw line and buried one final shot. Although the intensity escalated from start to finish, the Green Wave resigned as the final whistle blew and the Rams triumphed, 95-90.

The game featured multiple storylines. Quisenberry battled through an injury; Novitskyi played well despite being on the wrong end of a dunk; and Richardson proved his clutch gene at the late-game free throw line. It was not a clean victory by any means for Urgo’s team, yet they deployed the coach’s passion and competitive fervor. The value of the performance was proven in the stat sheet, with the Rams dominat ing the boards on the offensive end 15-9. Tulane was also formidable, a

PHOTOS COURTESY OF CRAIG BOUDREAUX FOR FORDHAM ATHLETICS

Khalid Moore, GSAS ’23, lays the ball up through contact. Moore scored 23 points and brought down 10 rebounds.

Kyle Rose, FCRH ’24, climbs over a defender to score. Rose has been described as Fordham’s “heart and soul” by Head Coach Keith Urgo.

Looking Back at Football’s 2022 Campaign

By GABRIELLA BERMUDEZ Sports and Health Editor

The Fordham football team’s season ended in a dramatic fash ion in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) playoffs, de spite entering with a strong 9-2 record. Head Coach Joe Conlin turned his team into a powerhouse during the off-season. Graduat ing players such as Tim DeMorat and Fotis Kokosioulis, both Ford ham College at Rose Hill (FCRH) ’23; Ryan Greenhagen, Gradu ate School of Arts and Sciences (GSAS) ’23; and MJ Wright and Trey Sneed, both Gabelli School of Business at Rose Hill (GSBRH) ’23, commanded the Rams’ play style. The Fordham football team had a strong rotation of athletes on the field this year, leading to an overall successful season re gardless the final outcome.

Fordham wielded unstoppable defenders such as Greenhagen and Conway, these two alone were not enough to hold back offensive torrents.

The Rams’ offense ran at peak efficiency, dominating opponents throughout the season. The team, on average, scored 50 points per game, ran the ball 183 yards, and had 419 passing yards.

This year, a true testament to Fordham’s offensive growth was their 52-49 win in a rematch against the Monmouth Universi ty (MU) Hawks. When the Rams faced the Hawks last season, they suffered an avoidable defeat, 2423. The 2022 contest showed re markable poise on offense, but it also highlighted the failures on Fordham’s defensive end. Green hagen and James Conway, FCRH ’25, combined for a total of 12 tack les, whereas Monmouth’s defense outperformed significantly. The Hawk’s defensive line members, Mike Reid and Thomas Joe-Ka mara, both MU ’24, and Tyrese Wright, MU ’23, had nine, eight and six tackles, respectively.

The defensive strength of Mon mouth was unable to contain the Fordham offense. DeMorat hit a new career high during the game, earning 452 passing yards and six touchdowns, while Kokosioulis broke a school record for 130 re ceiving yards with 15 receptions and two touchdowns.

The starters performed so well against Monmouth, that many rotation players saw the field. This included Dan Byrnes, FCRH ’23, and Julius Loughridge,

FCRH ’25, to score their first ca reer touchdowns each.

The Fordham offensive line was often left to cover for the lacking defensive effort. On average, Ford ham’s defense allowed opponents to score 34 points per game. Even though Fordham wielded unstop pable defenders such as Greenha gen and Conway, these two alone were not enough to hold back of fensive torrents.

As Greenhagen graduates, Con way is set to follow in his footsteps. This season, Conway concluded his efforts with appearances in all 10 games and 101 tackles in total, ex ceeding Greenhagen’s 94. No one else on the Fordham defensive line recorded more than 50 tackles.

Greenhagen and Conway car ried themselves off the field well, as they were named Patriot League Football Scholar-Athletes of the Year, joining the Academic All-Pa triot League Team.

Greenhagen is also a 2022 Campbell Trophy Finalist, the first in Fordham football history. The trophy is given to college football players with stellar habits off and on the field. Such as high academic scores and community service.

DeMorat closed out his career at Fordham by breaking sever al records, going down in Ford ham history as one of the most high-achieving quarterbacks the team has ever had. He is rivaled only by John Skelton, GSBRH ’09, who went on to play professionally in the National Football League.

The 2022 season marked the third consecutive year that De Morat was named Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year and selected to First Team All-Patriot League. DeMorat and Kokosioulis were both named Stats Perform Walter Payton Award Finalists, and DeMorat was invited to the announcement of the 2022 award. This award is given out to the Di vision 1 college offensive player of the year. DeMorat is one of three finalists for the award; the winner will be announced on Dec. 7.

straight weeks in the 2022 season, DeMorat earned Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week.

Fordham’s strongest running back, Sneed, concluded his 2022 season with a career-high of 1,141 rushing yards. In the game against Colgate University, he totaled 230 rushing yards and ran in a touch down. In total, Sneed scored seven touchdowns on the season.

The Rams never disappoint ed fans who attended their home games. Their two losses were far from Rose Hill, with the first against the Ohio University Bob cats. The Rams were only eight points away from winning out right, but the Bobcats were able to run out the clock after recovering a Fordham fumble. The game ended

with the Bobcats up, 59-52.

The second and final regu lar season loss for Fordham was against the College of the Holy Cross Crusaders. The game had enormous playoff implications, the winner being the indisputable leader of the Patriot League. This game extended into overtime, where the Crusaders had to make strategic decisions in order to put themselves ahead of the Rams.

Holy Cross went ahead in the fi nal moments with a two-point conversion, 53-52.

The 9-2 regular season placed Fordham in the NCAA FCS Cham pionship bracket for the first time since 2015. The Rams’ first and only match was against the Uni versity of New Hampshire Wild

cats, where Fordham faced a heart-crushing defeat, 52-42. In similar fashion to previous games, the offense was left to make up for defensive letdowns. The Wildcats profited off Fordham’s predictably weak defense and put up their highest point total of the year.

Head Coach Joe Conlin had a rocky start to his Fordham career but has transformed the football team into a reputable program, turning high school graduates into star college football players. The successes from last season fore shadowed the historic 2022-23 season. With another season on the horizon, the departure of key players beckons the question: Are past squads’ shoes too big for a new herd of Rams to fill?

DeMorat set the school sin gle-season record with 4,561 passing yards and 56 passing touchdowns. This record is also a Patriot League record held by DeMorat. Additionally, he set a record for career passing touch downs, with 123 across all four years of eligibility. For nine

PHOTOS COURTESY OF FORDHAM ATHLETICS

Tim DeMorat, FCRH ’23, threw 4,891 yards this season for 56 touchdowns.

Rams capitalized with one of their strongest years in recent memory with star players set to graduate

Ryan Greenhagen, GSAS ’23, is a William V. Campbell Trophy finalist.

Trey Sneed, GSBRH ’23, recorded 1,141 rushing yards and five touchdowns on the season.

2022 was a transformative season for the Rams. The Fordham Rams have not had a 9-3 season since 2015.

The Rams never disappointed fans who attended their home games Their two losses were far from Rose Hill.

Opinions

I’ll Miss You, Twitter

Elon Musk’s recent acquisition of Twitter has ruined the app forever

AVA PEABODY Opinions Editor

Twitter is dead. Sure, you can still visit the website, and the tweets still show up, but it’s not the same as it was before Elon Musk, and I don’t think it ever will be again.

Musk has already tangibly worsened the site since he bought it in October. Many users have left. He unceremoni ously fired over half of the staff, in cluding much of the safety and content moderation teams, causing many other employees to quit in disgust. Previously banned users have been indiscriminate ly welcomed back, including Donald Trump. The stock value of the company has plummeted, and it’s quickly losing its credibility as a reliable platform. If there’s any technical issue with the site, there is no guarantee that there are any engineers left who know how to fix it.

Hate speech and misinformation have skyrocketed, advertisers have left, and user access to the platform is often restricted for the gentlest criticisms of Musk. Erratic changes to the verifi cation system, including the ability to buy verification checkmarks and the fluctuating appearance of an “Official” banner on truly verified accounts, make for a confusing user experience. Even if the site doesn’t stop functioning, it might easily become just like 4chan — the alt-right extremist boards are already happy about Musk.

This week, journalist Matt Taibbi wrote a thread (at Musk’s behest) about Twitter’s handling of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal which gave a glimpse into the bleak future of Twitter: The thread is shoddily researched, hard to follow, doxxes a congressman, and is designed to cause problems where there are none. Musk is now using this project to justify “looking into” other elec tions that he alleges Twitter influenced toward the left, such as Brazil’s recent presidential election.

There are many things I’ll miss about Twitter if (when) it becomes unrecogniz able. I’ve never had a truer sense of the enormity of the human experience than on this platform. So often these days I feel at a loss in response to the news, but finding advice and solidarity on this silly little website makes me feel better in the face of increasingly baffling events. It’s like “The Dangerous Book for Boys” on how to navigate the crushing onslaught of modern life.

I’ve complained extensively about Twitter, and it no doubt has problems: fostering conspiracy theories, producing inane discourse and being a time-suck, to name a few. But my criticisms of Twit ter have come from a place of belief in the platform’s importance and its ability to be better. The notion that Twitter as we know it is over has led me to realize just how much of my conception of “the internet” was truly only Twitter.

Being on Twitter has affected the rest of my life. Its contribution to the discipline of meme formats has changed my sense of humor forever. I’ve found some of my favorite bands, writers and podcasts on the site, through both self-promotion and others gushing about their work. I’ve been able to tell the creators I love what their work means to me, and I’ve found like-minded people for any interest I’ve ever had. (There are few places in the world where I could immerse myself in an entire nation of people talking about My Chemical Ro mance at all hours of the day.)

Twitter is a public utility, and a lone billionaire on a power trip shouldn’t be able to take it away.

I credit Twitter as the catalyst for my political education, and it’s where I found I wanted to major in political science. I found (mostly) nuanced, thoughtful explanations from a variety of voices talking about minimum wage, police budgets and alt-right extremism, things in which I might never have taken interest otherwise. Twitter’s certainly not the only place with information, but it allows you to assemble specific people who come to you every day, place things in your lap, and say “I think this is cool. What do you think?”

Where many other social media plat forms throw content at me like uncooked spaghetti at a wall, Twitter lets me in tentionally choose to start learning more about a person, event or broad topic.

It’s also a great starting point to find what issues in a field other people think are important. It saves me from sifting through tons of material about a subject that I may not have even known I was interested in on my own.

By giving me access to people with experiences far removed from my own life, Twitter has taught me not only how to care about people on an individual and community level, but also how to care about them in a way that actually helps. Obvi ously, people learned about the world before Twitter. But it scares me to think that I might never have known what I was missing.

During the pandemic, Twitter was a main source for reliable news about the virus, vaccinations and the government’s approach. I’m a little dismayed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s decision to abdi cate their respon sibility at a crucial moment by cow ering to political pressure and relaxing nearly all guide lines despite continuing COVID-19 cases and deaths. So, I’ve turned to Twitter to learn

about risks and strategies from medi cal research and personal experienc es. I remember learning about long COVID-19 nearly a year ago on Twit ter, frightened about the implications of people unmasking without know ing all the risks and stunned when few people I brought it up to offline knew what I was talking about.

I also use the platform like a diary. I’ve tweeted over 13,000 times since July 2015, usually about incredibly mundane things, to a small audience of about a dozen of my friends and around 50 bots. Mostly, I expect no reply. I recognize that I should just take up journaling, but journaling doesn’t come with the off chance that I might persuade John Green to read one of my articles.

As someone considering a jour nalism career, I’m daunted by the prospect of pitching to editors, finding opportunities and sharing work with out Twitter. The media industry is not what it once was, and Twitter was beginning to feel like a last resort for employment. Not only that, I’ve been able to follow and talk to industry professionals who provide a window into their lives, which has helped me imagine how I might want mine to look. Now, I’m left with only my Squarespace website and a dream.

The brutal deterioration of the American media landscape has also meant that government officials have, in recent years, resorted to using Twitter as a mass communication platform. The loss of the platform as a reliable, well-regulated space for this communication will undoubtedly have significant political consequences.

Twitter has been one of the last so cial media platforms to still serve the same function and provide the same benefits as it did when I joined seven years ago. Over the past few years, it has been a refuge from TikTok, for which I somehow feel too old already. Instagram becomes more dismal by the day, overtaken by attempts to clone TikTok. I love Tumblr, but there aren’t enough people to serve the same “town square” function as Twit ter. Mastodon instills me with a pro found sense of dread. For my purpos es, Twitter was the best of what social media was ever going to have to offer. One new promising social media plat form is BeReal, but you’re never going to learn about urban destruction on BeReal. That’s not its purpose.

We can’t afford to lose this re source, particularly as the country hunkers down for a renewed on slaught of book-banning, “anti-woke” curriculum and fascism. Twitter is a public utility, and a lone billionaire on a power trip shouldn’t be able to take it away. The platform has kept people informed during crises like storms, wildfires and mass shoot ings. It has also inspired collective action and community organizing in a year with the most labor strikes in centuries. As so many organizers say, we keep each other safe, and within the increasingly fractured, individ ualized nature of American society, there are so few places left to do that anymore. People across the world gather on Twitter, hunched closely to their screens, connected by the bird app in a world alone.

Musk is not a genius, and he’s not going to usher in some enchanting new era of free speech to Twitter. He’s just a poster — a selfish poster who needs so badly for everyone to laugh at his “I can haz cheese burger”-adjacent memes that he’ll go into inconceivable debt to buy the entire platform.

I’ll stay until the bots and the Na zis take over. Where else would I go to watch the world burn? Of course, I might well be overreacting — I lived years without Twitter, and I can do so again. The world will still turn. But I’ll still remember what we had and what we lost.

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Out With the Old Officials

Electing

AVERY GRAFELD Staff Writer

With a democracy that moves at a leisurely pace, it’s no surprise that most of the current leaders of our country emerged from a generation cautious of change.

Born between 1946 and 64 into the sweeping wave of McCarthyism, the baby boomers were indoctrinated with a sense of self-reliance that only increased with age. While their work ethic is inspiring, for younger genera tions eagerly waiting to take their place, it’s also selfish.

Many young people are concerned that older representatives cannot adequately advocate for their needs.

At 80 years old, U.S. President Joe Biden is the oldest person to ever serve in the role. Although many question the sharpness and rigor an 80-year-old man can muster, it’s often argued that wisdom comes with age, and that seems to be a necessary qualifi cation to serve in office. Biden’s predecessor, former U.S. President Donald Trump, was the second oldest president at their inaugu ration at the age of 70, and ever

since, there has been a growing speculation that America is a gerontocracy.

The 2022 midterm elections saw high participation rates from Gen Z, with many voting in consider ation of issues such as gun violence, climate change and reproductive rights. It seems like Gen Z is moti vated by candidates tackling certain issues. Nearly one in eight voters in this midterm election were under 30, and more than half supported Democratic candidates.

Baby boomers make up 53% of the House and 68% of the Senate. The median age of senators in the current session is 64.8 years old, a slight increase from the previous session which was 63.6 years old.

The age of our elected represen tatives is rising, and many young people are concerned that older representatives cannot adequately advocate for their needs. While age does not automatically determine a person’s political affiliation, younger people tend to be more liberal while older people are often more conservative.

One notable exception is the current Supreme Court, which is younger and more right-leaning than previous years. Although the Supreme Court is not as old on average as it has been in the past, the life terms served by justices allow them to stay on the bench for longer than they should.

When liberal justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was on the court, she chose not to step down under the Obama administration. She passed away at the end of the Trump administration, which led

to the appointment of Justice Amy Coney Barrett. Barrett eventually voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, which Ginsburg likely would not have supported.

Older representatives won’t live to see the outcome of the laws they pass, but younger generations will.

Ginsburg’s refusal to step down dented her pristine legacy, as many thought her choice was selfish. However, it doesn’t invalidate the milestones she crossed while in of fice and exemplifies the work ethic her generation is renowned for demonstrating. Many older Amer icans grew up valuing themselves based on their work performance, and it’s impossible not to carry that mindset throughout life, which is why many of them postpone retirement as long as possible.

While the average age of our government is skewed high, change might be just on the hori zon. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 82, recently announced her plan to step down from her position, ending her two-decade streak as one of the top Democrats in Con gress. Eager to fill big shoes, Dem ocrats put forward Reps. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and Pete Aguilar of California to take her place, all three of whom range

within the Gen X demographic. Fresh, young faces will hopefully be better equipped to represent younger Americans.

Boomers were once considered radical youth who led the Civil Rights Movement and protested against the Vietnam War. They swarmed the stages of Woodstock and ditched class to see the Beat les. They were reckless, unyield ing, and fought tooth and nail to protect democratic freedoms that were once at stake. So for a generation once revered as great, why are they now being ridiculed by younger generations?

Is it a rite of passage to have a rival between generations that occurs every other decade? Or could it be that boomers grew up with access to opportunities that are scarcely available now? Back then, housing was cheaper, college was more affordable, and working hours were more flexible.

OBSERVER

Boomers took advantage of those benefits, and now, many of them fail to realize how unattainable they’ve become.

The problem with boom ers dominating public office is that many won’t live to see the outcome of the laws they pass, but younger generations will. So when they vote against things that young people demand, such as protecting reproductive rights, climate action and expanding civil rights, many are frustrated with their lack of representation in office.

Boomers serve with wisdom which has enabled them to make decisions based on past experi ences. However, we’re living in a time period very different from the ones they’ve lived through. We must support young people in their efforts to gain substantive representation so that our govern ment actually answers to us.

With Enough Votes, You Too Can Do Insider Trading!

Members of Congress, despite conflicts of interest, are allowed to buy and sell stocks, profiting from their power

JOHN SCHNEIDER Contributing Writer

Imagine that you are putting together a massive economic package as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Out of all of the money, $17 billion of it is going to a loan fund aimed at helping companies “critical to national security” such as Boeing (who just happened to donate $3,000 to your campaign). Knowing where this money may go, you decide to purchase stock in Boeing. Now you know how bad that stock purchase looks (in fact, it is March 2020, and the stock market and econo my are looking really grim for the average American), so let’s also imagine you decide not to disclose it (which, believe it or not, is illegal). If you happen to

be Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a Texas Republican, you do not need to imagine it because that is exactly what you did.

Congress tried to curb ob viously corrupt situations such as this one in 2012 with the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act. The law bans stock trading with the use of non-public knowledge and requires the disclosure of members’ stock trades. Although well-intentioned, the law has been essentially laughed off, with several members of Congress missing disclosure deadlines and making trades with companies explicitly related to their commit tee assignments.

There are many problems with members of Congress trading stocks. First, it is simply unfair.

Members of Congress, due to either their committee assign ments or the normal business of

Congress, have knowledge of leg islation that will impact business es and industries — information that the general public will not know until much later.

Take, for example, the infrastructure bill passed by Congress earlier in the year.

Members of the House Trans portation Committee knew the specifics of the bill long before the public, therefore having knowledge of which sectors of the economy would benefit (if not the specific companies themselves) before the general public did. In July 2022, House

Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, sold thousands of shares of American multination al technology company Nvidia. In August, the U.S. government limited the company’s ability to conduct foreign sales. Paul Pelosi’s advance sale saved him from huge financial losses.

There is also the clear issue of good old-fashioned corruption. If a member of Congress holds stock in a company, any reason able person would assume that the investment would weigh on all related decisions they may make. Take Republican Rep. Tom Cole of Oklahoma, for instance. According to The New York Times, when he was the ranking member of the House Appropria tions Committee’s labor, health, and education subcommittee in 2019, Cole bought over $1,000 worth of stock in Becton, Dick inson and Company, a medical technology company.

the system as a whole. No matter who is doing the actual trading, members of Congress “conve niently” benefiting from their investments makes the American public lose faith in the govern ment as a whole.

Some may also argue that restricting congressional stock trades will lead to only the very wealthy running for office, as more middle class members couldn’t afford to give up their stocks. However, the congressio nal salary is $174,000, compared to the median U.S. household income of $67,521. If elected, the high congressional salary ensures that members do not have to wor ry about having enough money to retire.

There are possible solutions on the horizon. Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia introduced the Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act in January 2022, which would require all members of Congress to divest from their stocks or place them into a blind trust. Any violator of this act would incur a fine equal to a month’s pay.

The company later received a $24 million contract from the Department of Health and Human Services for COVID-19 testing. This obviously would have been of great financial benefit to the congressman, and he was likely influenced by the information he had as the second most powerful member of the subcommittee.

Members of Congress often claim they do not directly control their portfolios and have brokers that do it for them. This defense has some truth to it, as it is often unclear who is actually making the trades. What is clear, howev er, is the appearance of impro priety which calls into question members’ decision-making process and shakes confidence in

This would still allow members of Congress to invest in indexes and have retirement accounts. They would still have money to use after their time in office, but it would be more difficult to trade using non-public information or make decisions swayed by the opportunity to make more money.

While this is a good start, the bill is still not enough. Even without the ability to buy or sell stocks while in office, owning stocks creates the incentive for members of Congress to make decisions in their own best inter ests over those of their constit uents. In order to eliminate this form of corruption, there must be a complete ban on members of Congress (and their spouses) owning individual stocks.

GABRIEL GARCIA/THE OBSERVER

GRAPHIC BY MARIA TERZULLI/THE

Members of Congress “conveniently” benefiting from their investments makes the American public lose faith in the government as a whole.

Taylor Swift Is Not at Fault for Ticketmaster’s Failures

Ticketmaster and Live Nation have a monopoly over the live event industry at the expense of artists and fans

KATHERINE VARRELL Contributing Writer

The U.S. Department of Jus tice opened an investigation into the owner of Ticketmaster after the great war for tickets to Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. During the sale, many fans had a treacher ous experience when trying to purchase tickets via Ticketmaster for the artist’s next tour. Even af ter signing up for Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan list and receiving a presale code, getting tickets for one of the 52 stadium shows seemed nearly impossible.

Ticketmaster has touted its Verified Fan system as a way to get more tickets into the hands of fans at a reasonable price. The program allows some people to purchase tickets before the gen eral sale. Fans are alerted as to whether or not they were selected to participate in the presale the night before it begins and are sent a link and code which become valid once the sale has begun.

Those who sign up can be invited to the sale, waitlisted or denied. If a fan is placed on the waitlist, they could be invited by

Ticketmaster at any point during the sale to participate if avail ability allows. Those who are denied cannot purchase tickets at all during the presale and must wait for the general sale. When the presale begins, those who received a code are put into a queue depending on when they entered the site.

For the Eras Tour, fans who had previously purchased tickets to Swift’s Lover Fest or merchan dise from Swift’s store were given a boost which was meant to give them a better spot in the queue, but it’s unclear whether or not the boosts were really effective.

According to Ticketmaster, 3.5 million people registered for the TaylorSwiftTix Presale, and 1.5 million fans received presale codes. On the actual day, however, Ticketmaster received 3.5 billion total system requests on their website. This unprece dented site traffic for Ticketmas ter includes fans attempting to purchase tickets, bots attacking the site and other resellers.

Despite Swift’s team confirm ing with Ticketmaster multiple times that they would be capable of managing the site’s traffic, the website crashed repeatedly. Fans

were kicked out of the queue, given invalid code errors and pre vented from purchasing once they had selected tickets. The process left most fans waiting hours just for the chance to buy tickets. The disastrous first day of the presale was followed by the Capital One Presale, which was meant to happen a few hours later but was postponed to the next day.

The Capital One Presale presented the same issues as the Verified Fan Presale. By the end of the second day, nearly every ticket was sold. On Nov. 17, Ticketmas ter announced that the general public sale (for any fan who wanted to buy tickets but was un able to get them previously) had been canceled due to “insufficient remaining ticket inventory.”

As one of the 1.5 million fans who received a code, I was still unable to purchase tickets. After logging onto the site and enter ing the waiting room at 9:30 a.m. prepared for the 10 a.m. sale to begin, I proceeded to sit staring at my phone for nearly five hours. By the time I was finally allowed to enter the site to purchase tickets for the shows at Gillette Stadium, nothing was left.

The next day, I attempted the Capital One Presale, but I was still unable to get tickets for any of the three shows at Gillette Stadium. While I didn’t sit in a queue for five hours this time, I was met with error messages and still not allowed to continue to checkout once I had tickets selected.

Along with many other fans, I felt let down and frustrated by my experience from those two days and turned into a mad woman. That frustration wasn’t with Swift but with Ticketmaster, which es sentially told fans to just tolerate it.

Ticketmaster should have been able to handle the traffic on their site and been prepared for bots to attack. Bots are programmed to go onto ticketing sites, quickly pur chase any tickets they can, then

resell them on third-party sites. On StubHub, tickets for the Eras Tour are currently going for upwards of $20,000.

Ticketmaster prioritizes profit over the fans. Even before the Swift ticketing fiasco, many con certgoers had noticed extreme ly high fees when purchasing tickets. A single ticket that might cost $100 would suddenly cost $120 when they reached the checkout phase.

U.S. President Joe Biden has promised to combat these “junk” fees along with similar fees from banks, flights and hotels. Only 12 days before the Swift Ticketmas ter sale, he tweeted that the fees were “unfair, deceptive, and add up. That’s why, last week, I called on my Administration to crack down on these fees and put that money back in your pocket.”

The problem did not originate with the Swift Ticketmaster sale but has been an ongoing issue for many artists. In 2017, Ed Sheeran canceled over 10,000 tickets that were being resold and banned tickets from being resold above face value. Other artists have required attendees to show the credit card used to purchase tick ets, attached names to the tickets, and even waited 24 hours before the show to send out tickets. Art ists have had to take these mea sures into their own hands to stop scalpers because Ticketmaster has failed them, just as it did Swift.

Many fans are calling for Swift to begin again with the presale and cancel tickets being resold. While that may solve the problem for this tour, a more permanent solution is needed.

The system set in place for the Reputation Tour was nearly perfect. It set a reward system in place, giving fans points when they completed various defined tasks, such as using filters, post ing to social media, purchasing the album or merchandise, and watching music videos. Those

who had the most points were placed higher in line on the day of the sale.

This system worked all too well. Bots and scalpers had a hard time getting their hands on tickets, which led to Ticket master effectively banning the practice, so it was not around for Lover Fest or the Eras Tour.

Ticketmaster is now being investigated by the U.S. Depart ment of Justice for violating antitrust laws. It and its parent company Live Nation have a monopoly on the music industry. Without any competition, artists are forced to only use Ticket master, rather than a platform that best suits their needs. In addition, Live Nation also owns or has equity in many concert venues, forcing artists to use Ticketmaster when performing at a Live Nation venue.

In the ’90s, Pearl Jam took on this issue with Ticketmaster. When they didn’t want their fans to be charged fees by Ticketmas ter, they postponed their tour to find an alternative. However, they were unable to find venues that would support them as those venues had preexisting deals to only use Ticketmaster. Pearl Jam and Ticketmaster were able to come to a compro mise years later after placing more blockers to stop third-par ty resellers and ensuring that tickets would end up with fans. While Pearl Jam was able to settle their issues with Ticket master, Swift hasn’t yet.

If there is anything we know about Swift, it’s that she is a mastermind. If you mess with her, she will come right back at you. She created her own man agement and is rerecording her discography. Who knows, maybe she will create her own ticketing platform. Ticketmaster better be prepared because if there’s one thing that Swift has taught us, it’s that karma is real.

OBSERVER

The Human Cost of the World Cup

The 2022 Qatar World Cup has brought controversy, causing fans and teams to feel wary of the games

VALERIA CARBALLO Contributing Writer

The most anticipated tour nament in men’s soccer is upon us, but the joy of the World Cup has been stripped away due to abuse and neglect. The tourna ment which has often brought fans together all over the world has been stained with the failure to protect migrant workers and their rights.

Migrant workers are the heart of Qatar’s entire economy — they build, clean, serve and staff all of its industries. However, Qatar’s kafala system, which is a sponsor ship program for migrant work ers, permits those workers to be abused by their employers. Each worker is tied to their employer, who controls their freedom of movement through power over their salaries, passports, renewal of visas and labor. Migrants can not renew permits or visas with out permission from their sponsor. If workers break the rules, they may face terrible consequences: For example, a Ugandan security guard took a couple of days off to get his COVID-19 vaccine and then noticed a reduction in pay with no explanation.

Migrant workers have also experienced wage theft from em ployers. It is important to note that a lot of these migrant workers have actually put themselves in debt in

order to work in Qatar under the promise that they would have a comfortable salary. However, they do not see their work paying off and end up digging themselves deeper into debt.

The abuse of power from employers has led workers to put themselves in dangerous situations, such as extreme heat. Qatar reaches temperatures as high as 118 degrees Fahrenheit. Workers do not drink water during their 12-hour shifts in the sun in order to avoid bathroom breaks. Imagine working in the blazing heat with little pay, little to no bathroom breaks and only five-minute standing lunches. No one should have to work in conditions like these. However, South Asian and African migrant workers did so in order to con struct Qatar’s high-tech stadiums and lavish hotels.

Qatar built seven new stadi ums in order to accommodate the 1.3 million visitors expected to attend the World Cup, but they originally planned to build eight. The country invested approxi mately $6.5 billion into these new stadiums. This does not include the hotels, fan camps and vehicle infrastructure needed to run the World Cup smoothly.

The construction of these stadiums has been going on since the announcement in 2010 that Qatar would be host ing this year’s games. Migrant workers have suffered under

these dangerous, negligent working conditions for 10 years, which led to many injuries and even deaths. The exact number of migrant worker deaths is unclear due to a lack of trans parency from the Qatar govern ment. However, it is estimated that thousands have died due to negligent work conditions.

The continued pressure from various human rights organiza tions and the International Labour Organization pushed Qatar to commit to aligning themselves with international labor standards. In 2020, Qatar implemented a minimum wage for their workers as well as the right to terminate their employment contract. However, the loss of freedom of movement, wage theft and death toll make these reforms feel almost meaningless and far too late. More needs to be done in order to fully repair the damage.

Denmark’s effort to stand in solidarity with migrant workers was shut down by FIFA. The national soccer team of Denmark wanted their training jerseys to say “Human rights for all,” but FIFA said it was “too political.”

Soccer fans in Germany have utilized German soccer stadiums as a way to display their disap proval of World Cup 2022 and its practices. Fans have unveiled banners that say, “Boycott Qatar” and have also been calling FIFA a “mafia.” The biggest concern for fans is the loss of morals among

soccer enthusiasts as they turn a blind eye to human rights injus tices occurring in Qatar.

Major cities in Europe have also suspended fan zones in order to bring more light to the human rights abuses in Qatar and their disagreement with this treatment. In France, the defend ing world champion, major cities will not be hosting fan zones to watch the games.

The boycotts and criticism from western countries have been fol lowed with accusations of hypoc risy. Europe and the United States have histories of infringing on the human rights of many minority groups. For example, France’s very own Paris Saint Germain soccer team is owned by a Qatari com

pany. It starts to feel performative when countries judge others when they have yet to work on injustices in their own countries. The West is not innocent either.

However, there is nothing political about human rights. Ev eryone is entitled to human rights because they are universal. Teams have spoken against Qatar’s prac tices, but as soon as FIFA threat ens to suspend them, they back off immediately. I understand that this tournament only comes around every four years — and for many, it is a once in a lifetime opportunity to host, participate in or view it — but how will things change for the better if teams do not commit to the values for which they swear to stand?

GRAPHIC BY ALEXA STEGMULLER/THE

Arts & Culture

Skip the Swiping, Download Sparkmate: A Student’s Contribution to Reinventing Communication

Sidharth Sood paves the way for authentic online communication through the launch of his new app, Sparkmate

B y GABRIELLA GUTIERREZ Contributing Writer

According to tech entrepre neur, TEDx speaker and comput er science major Sidharth Sood, Fordham College at Lincoln Cen ter (FCLC) ’25, artificial intelli gence (AI) will soon influence everything around us, including the places we visit, the interests we share and, especially, the people we meet. With this mind set, Sood is turning to advanced AI in January 2023, when his upcoming dating app, Spark mate, is set to launch.

Introducing Sparkmate, the Future of Online Dating

According to Sood, Sparkmate will play an integral role in restor ing authentic human connection in an online format, as the use of technology’s AI will pair individu als with similar interests through candid video conversations.

The app will use a question naire, where similar responses will allow people sharing relat ed likes and dislikes to connect. If two people match, they un lock the opportunity for a brief video conversation.

“ The more of a digital footprint you and I leave, the more metadata there is for social programs to train artificial intelli gence algorithms to learn more and more about each other. ”

Sidharth Sood, FCLC ‘25 and Sparkmate creator

Sood’s vision for Sparkmate began during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he was at home with little social contact out side of with the people he knew. While Sood wanted to venture into the online world to meet new people at this time, he felt

there were very few opportuni ties for people to connect easily with one another. He used on line platforms such as Reddit, Twitter and Instagram to meet new people but had no luck. This helped to inspire his vision of creating Sparkmate.

Say Goodbye to Swipes

Unlike other social plat forms such as Tinder, Bumble or Hinge, Sparkmate isn’t de signed to rely on the swiping of other profiles where little infor mation about the other person is given. Sparkmate will also not make people reach out to their matches to begin awkward and meaningless conversations.

sional relationships as well.

Sood believes that his vision of growing Sparkmate into a larger social platform will allow the app to cater to bigger audiences.

“We do not want to limit the application of it to just relation ships because I think there is a need to professionally network with people in meeting face to face online,” he said. “If you see a connection, you really get to talk to them, which is not some thing you can do on LinkedIn.”

The Sparkmate Team

Ironically, Sood met Spark mate’s Chief Technological Offi cer, Roshun Sunder, via LinkedIn. Sunder, a second-year computer science and economics student at Columbia University, has had previous experience with tech nology startups involving app development. Sunder is primari ly responsible for the technologi cal aspect of the app and holds a great set of technical skills.

The dynamic between Sood and Sunder is nothing short of inspiring; they are two ambitious students seeking to make a change in the way that people rely on technology to build relationships.

Saenz de Vitari, FCLC ’25

“Social networking platforms rely on a whole network of users building profiles and having to do heavy-lifting ourselves in terms of finding people,” Sood said.

Sood added that he feels that Sparkmate’s unique use of AI will transform the way individuals interact — by asking for more in formation, better consideration can be given to pairing people together at the right time.

“The more of a digital footprint you and I leave, the more meta data there is for social programs to train artificial intelligence al gorithms to learn more and more about each other,” he said.

With the launch of Sparkmate in January, Sood aspires to scale the app into a larger platform, not only for dating purposes, but for forging platonic and profes

“We are very understanding of each other because we are of the same age demographics, so there is no mismatch there and that is something I really value,” Sood said.

They also work alongside Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Colton Noll, who has over ten years of experience in oper ational business. As CFO of Sparkmate, Noll is responsible for the company’s financial as pects concerning business mod els, marketing strategies, fund ing and other related activities.

A Light in and out of the Business

Miranda Saenz de Vitari, FCLC ’25 and a close friend of Sood, recalled one of her ear liest memories of him and the impactful impression he gave in their science class. As part of a science project, Sood present ed his startup, Curiosity, and his vision to make inhabiting

Mars a reality. His devotion to and execution of the classroom project was enough to convince his peers, including Saenz de Vi tari, of his unbridled passion for sparking large-scale change.

everything by being organized and planning ahead.

Organization is the key to Sood’s success, and he described himself as a frequent user of Notion, a note-taking platform used to optimize an individual’s productivity and efficiency, with Saenz de Vitari going as far as to call the app his “baby.”

Sood believes that his vision for the future of online dat ing will fill voids left behind by many dating platforms. He added that his use of AI and ties to the Fordham communi ty will allow many to connect with new people in ways they would not have previously had the chance to.

“Download Sparkmate if you are interested in authentic com munication and you prioritize efficiency. If you are not afraid to talk to new people or even if you are and want to build that as a skill, download it,” he said.

“You can tell he is very pas sionate about the things he works on, and he definitely works hard,” Saenz de Vitari said. “You can always tell that he is quick to pick up on things, so I admire him for that.”

Saenz de Vitari added that Sood is someone that all people can look up to, not just young entrepreneurs. He is someone invested in his work, making a greater change in society, and reaching new means of success.

Sood has also utilized the university’s resources, such as the Fordham Foundry and its alumni network, in order to reach where he is today.

“It is easier to network with someone when you share a pre existing connection, and going to Fordham is a big one,” Sood said.

Within Fordham, Sood can be seen all around campus, taking advantage of its public spaces. While balancing his academics with his budding career brings its share of challenges, Sood finds the ability to stay on top of

Sood is passionate about im plementing technical solutions in today’s society and believes technology will eliminate differ ences affecting human interac tion and mental well-being.

“Technology presents us with ways not only to tackle socie tal issues, but to do it at a scale where we can eradicate these is sues rather than throwing on a Band-Aid,” Sood said.

He is set to deliver a TEDx speech titled “Unanswered” on technology solving pres ent issues in society at Rutgers University next year. He will discuss his philosophy on the reinvention of a utopian society revolving around technology and startup thinking. It will not be Sood’s first time as a TEDx speaker, as he recorded a speech in July 2020 called “Charli D’Amelio and a New Generation of Tech-Savvy Entrepreneurs,” in which he spoke about the vast importance of technology and passion being key to increasing income in a budding business.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF SIDHARTH SOOD Sidharth Sood, FCLC ‘25, is reinventing communication technology with his new dating app, Sparkmate.

“ Technology presents us with ways not only to tackle societal issues but to do it at a scale where we can eradicate these issues rather than throwing on a Band-Aid. ”

Sidharth

Sood, FCLC ‘25 and Sparkmate creator

“ You can tell he is very passionate about the things he works on, and he definitely works hard. You can always tell that he is quick to pick up on things, so I admire him for that. ”

Miranda

Sparkmate, a new startup designed to change the model of traditional dating apps, will utilize recent AI technology to help people create meaningful relationships.

Splinter Group Presents ‘Carrie’

By MOLLY HIGGINS Asst. Photo Editor

Splinter Group, Fordham Lin coln Center’s musical theater club, wrapped up the semester with a chilling portrayal of “Car rie.” Adapted from the Stephen King novel of the same name, the musical tells the story of Carrie White, a mild-mannered teenage girl who is relentlessly bullied by her classmates and her aggressively religious moth er.

Eventually, Carrie realizes that she has telekinetic powers and unleashes her revenge at her senior prom after her classmates douse her in pig’s blood (or in this production, red streamers) as a humiliating prank. “Carrie” was directed by Savannah Mis cik, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’23 and produced by Asa Nestlehutt and musically directed by Nate Dallimore, both FCLC ’24. Paige Finley, FCLC ’25, choreographed the show.

After Carrie (Caroline Tanzer, FCLC ’24) is crowned prom queen, Billy (Gus Kellerman, FCLC ’23) dumps a bucket of pig’s blood on her in a humiliating prank.

The group performed a theatrical take on Stephen King’s bloody high school horror story

Margaret (Ivy Austin, FCLC ’23), Carrie’s mother, comforts her in the prom’s aftermath. Students express their excitement for the senior prom in the song “A Night We’ll Never Forget.”

The ensemble of “Carrie” performs the show’s opening number, “In.”

Chris Hargensen (Arielle Schmid, FCLC ’25) and Billy Nolan (Augustus Kell erman, FCLC ’23), Carrie’s two main tormentors, share their perspectives in “The World According to Chris.”

PHOTOS BY MOLLY HIGGINS/THE OBSERVER

Student Sue Snell (Natalia Liccese, FCLC ’23) is interrogated about her relationship with Carrie.

Students Celebrate Fashion and Sustainability

Fashion for Philanthropy and the Environmental Club came together to cohost a night of creativity

Perez emphasized the import ant role that Morefield played in the creation of the event, saying that she is a “great leader and without her, none of it would have been possible.”

I walked around the glass atri um that was completely covered with snowflakes and witnessed a tube top covered in receipts. This caught the eyes of many guests because of the creativity behind it. The tube top in ques tion was created and worn by An nie O’Malley, GSBLC ’24, the vice president of FFP.

“I was kind of struggling with what to wear. And I asked my mom for advice, and she had a whole bag of old receipts from last year’s Christmas,” O’Malley said. “So I took those back with me to school, and I took an old tube top that I had shoved away because I wanted to get rid of it.”

After dancing for a while to early-2000s hits, the Environmen tal Club president, Kenneth Tang, GSBLC ’24, walked in amazed at the level of sustainability and par tying within the atrium. He joined the dancing and took videos of the event for the social media page for the Environmental Club.

“We wanted to find a way to upcycle old clothing and throw a dance that can be a formal gala off of it with food and a photo backdrop,” Tang said. “This is a collab between Environmental Club and FFP because it relates to both of our clubs’ missions.”

the back. And then I put a little sticker, a little heart on it,” Aten dido said.

Atendido emphasized that she thought both clubs did a wonder ful job with the event and was very happy with the turnout. She added that she was very happy with how people followed the dress code.

“I loved what everyone did to diy something for the gala,” Atendido said. “All our members are so creative.”

As I mingled around the gala, I witnessed a very creative and sustainable clothing piece. I moved closer and realized it was a corset made out of recycled packaging and yarn. The cher ry on top was the heart shaped sticker in the middle of the cor set. The brains behind the corset was none other than Marie Aten dido, FCLC ’24 and vice president of the Environmental Club.

“I just took a package that I got from the mail — like Ama zon or something — and this is the inside of it, and I kind of just cut it into a rectangle, put holes in it and put a piece of yarn in

An hour into the gala, seniors from the senior toast noticed the lights and began flocking to the gala to partake in the festivities. As the night went on, the gala grew, and many took to the dance floor. Several students started mosh pits and encouraged more students to join. Seniors began to conduct photoshoots with the backdrop to commemorate the night.

The night ended with hits from Miley Cyrus and many took the silver balloons–meant as dec oration–home with them. This gala is not the only event that FFP has in store. There are more events to come for Fordham Lin coln Center students, such as a drag ball for next semester.

As the night went on, the gala grew, and many took to the dance floor.

PHOTOS BY ALICE MORENO/THE OBSERVER

Marie Atendido, FCLC ’24 and vice president of Environmental Club, took some mail packaging and yarn to craft a corset, topped with a heart-shaped sticker in the middle.

Snowflakes made out of newspapers decorated the glass atrium with silver balloons filling the room.

Annie O’Malley, GSBLC ’24 and vice president of FFP, created her tube top made from her mother’s old receipts.

GARBAGE

Method to evaluate and collect data on a material or system (Abbr.)

What you might do to a friend you really love (2 wds)

Exclamation of frustration

Strong wind

A remarked person, one-ofa-kind per se

Rhyme pattern in Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Birthplace of Peter Parker*

What tier lists do

What one might say to a cheater: “Why did you ___ ___ me?” (2 wds)

“Decisive battle” in Japanese; a video game series

Gazing

Alicia Keys: “This ___ is on fire”

Put out a fire

Gunpowder explosives

Like a ___ to the slaughter

___, ___, pants on fire

Soft cheese that pairs well with fruit

AI Automobile?

Greek roots for “God”

Scurried into hiding

Clumsy and uncoordinated

Article or object

“Hate the sin, love the ___”

Twilight Princess in the Legend of Zelda

Alongside or accompanying (2 wds)

Non-profits independent of government support (Abbr.)

Senior citizen resident building (Abbr.)

Expression of laughter, often in taunts (2 wds)