Washington Square News | NYU Welcome Special Issue 2021

WSN STAFF Editor-in-Chief Ashley Wu Managing Editor Alexandra Chan Deputy Alex Tey, Trace Miller Creative Director Susan Behrends Valenzuela, Charitssa Stone Copy Chiefs Max Tiefer, Lorraine Olaya Multimedia Manasa Gudavalli Photo Jake Capriotti Video Ryan Kawahara Deputy Photo Sirui Wu Deputy Video Shaina Ahmed Senior Staff News Arnav Binaykia Culture Dana Sun Arts Sasha Cohen, Ana Cubas Abroad Arts Nico Pedrero-Setzer Abroad News Roshni Raj Sports Mitesh Shrestha

Deputy Staff News Rachel Cohen, Rachel Fadem, Suhail Gharaibeh Arts Isabella Armus Film & TV JP Pak Music Yas Akdag Performing Arts Jennifer Ren Culture Alex Tran Dining Gabby Lozano Beauty & Style Joey Hung Identity & Equity Sabrina Choudhary Social Media Ryan Walker Opinion Page Editor Kevin Kurian, Asha Ramachandran Deputy Srishti Bungle, Michelle Han Under the Arch Managing Editor Caitlin Hsu, Vaishnavi Naidu Senior Editor Ivy Zhu Deputy Sydney Barragan Multimedia Brooklyn Nguyen Voices Mariam Khan, Stacia Datskovska Exposures Julian Hammond Santander

Advertising Business Manager Mel Bautista Director of Sales Yejin Chang Customer Specialist Catherine Chen Advising Director of Operations Nanci Healy Editorial Advisers Alvin Chang, Amanda Sakuma About WSN: Washington Square News (ISSN 15499389) is the student newspaper of New York University. WSN is published in e-print on Mondays and throughout the week online during NYU’s academic year, except for university holidays, vacations and exam periods.

Corrections: WSN is committed to accurate reporting. When we make errors, we do our best to correct them as quickly as possible. If you believe we have erred, contact the managing editors at managing@nyunews.com.

TABLE OF CONTENTS pg.

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NEWS

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SPORTS ARTS

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UNDER THE ARCH

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CULTURE

22–23 OPINION

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

SUSAN BEHRENDS VALENZUELA | WSN

WSN is undergoing a regeneration. We are more committed than ever to providing the truth to the students of New York University.

By Ashley Wu Editor-in-Chief Dear Readers,

A few weeks ago, I lost my notebook.

It was a wire bound notebook from Muji that I wrote in almost every day. Powered by thoughts, drawings and bad jokes, the notebook became an organism that breathed life out of its gills.

When I realized it was gone, I trekked across Manhattan revisiting all the places I might have left it. After checking every corner of my shoebox apartment and turning up empty handed, I began to experience all five stages of grief.

Defeated, I sought out knowledge on regeneration. I learned that certain species of starfish can regrow legs that were gnawed off by predators. Some lizards shed their tails as a distraction when they feel threatened. I bought a new notebook. As I write in it, the topic of regeneration sticks in my mind. From cave art to op-eds, the nature of storytelling is always in flux. When new forms of media usurp old ones, there is always the pang of loss and eventual rebirth.

Washington Square News is a publication that knows regeneration. Through a pandemic, budget cuts and a resignation, the paper has been through a lot of reshuffling, remodeling and restarting. It has been scrutinized and loved fiercely not only by NYU students but the larger Greenwich and East Village communities. Our staff and alumni devoted countless hours to get us back on our feet because we believed it was worth it.

Now, we are left with a clean slate. With this start, we aim to be louder and bolder than ever before. We will not shy away from investigating topics that are taboo or difficult to cover. We write. Not because we want acknowledgement. But because writing is a force that exposes corruption, explores how we relate to

one another and binds us together. Because it is something we know how to do, and we want to do it well.

Our team of undergraduates serve NYU students with rigor and dedication. Last semester, we were on the frontlines nearly every day covering the graduate student strike. I’ve seen firsthand the impact that WSN can have. After I wrote an opinion piece on the six Asian women who were killed in my hometown, Atlanta, the Asian community breathed light into my piece, using it to mourn and hope together.

With the idea of connection in mind, we begin to rebuild. We globalize our publication and expand our abroad section, where students at study away sites can contribute their unique perspectives. A new column “The Soapbox” by Suhail Gharaibeh explores trends in international news written with concise wit. On culture, Sabrina Choudhary spearheads a new mini-desk that tells illuminating stories about intersectional identity. As our in-person newsroom reopens, we pledge to delve deeper into issues that are important to an ever-evolving student body.

As journalism adapts, we must adapt with it. However, the path to innovative reporting is uncertain. Large journalistic organizations are shifting away from print and instituting paywalls to keep their papers running. Local newspapers are absorbed by conglomerates or sentenced to death by a thousand budget cuts. Journalism is an industry on the brink of becoming extinct; the consequences of which would uproot the foundations of democracy.

Washington Square News educates the journalists of the future, but we are not immune to the threats that face newsrooms across the country. We are in imminent danger of losing

our print issues for good. Our hardworking staff members churn out hours and hours of exemplary work every day for little to no compensation.

These financial shortfalls set a hazardous precedent. One of the biggest critiques of modern journalism is a lack of diversity in newsrooms. However, if the publication becomes a place where students facing financial pressures are unable to work without sacrificing their livelihoods, our diversity takes a massive hit. An investment in WSN is an investment in a future where unsung voices are amplified and empowered to tell their own stories.

Maintaining this legacy is an uphill battle. But it’s one that I will choose again and again to fight. For those of us who work multiple jobs to continue on at WSN, because they believe in the transformative power of words and free-flowing information. For our management, our board, our writers, photographers and copy editors who create and shape our paper with love and care and pour it forth into the hands of our readers.

Regeneration is never easy. As I fill the pages of this notebook, the aforementioned dilemmas weigh heavy on me. Despite the pressures and risks, I took the position of Editor-in-Chief because I believe that passion is a driving force that begets inspiration. There is so much good work to do and we will continue to do it with spirit, humility and conscience. However, all of it is impossible without your support.

With our community and readers rallying behind us, we can emerge from these challenges fully-formed and even stronger.

Sincerely, Ashley Wu

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AS NYU RETURNS TO IN-PERSON LEARNING, STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES URGE THE UNIVERSITY TO CONTINUE OFFERING REMOTE CLASSES

By Rachel Fadem Deputy News Editor

NEWS

my health status or because of my immunocompromised state.

And I think that’s completely unacceptable — at any time — but especially during a pandemic that isn’t over.”

Brinzan requested for her fall classes to have a remote option and was told by the Moses Center that it was unable to offer accommodations to her without speaking to CAS administration.

She has not heard back from the Moses Center, but has been ALESSIA GARCIA | WSN During the pandemic, the Moses Center provided students with disabilities with helpful advised to change her in-person accommodations. Students with disabilities appreciated the option of remote learning, but classes to online ones, which are disappointed that this policy is being phased out as the school returns to in-person inwould push back her graduation struction. date and require her to pay for

CAS fourth-year Lucia Brinzan took three classes unrelated to her career semesters of medical leave after being diagnosed and personal interests. Currently, she is still enrolled with Crohn’s disease in February 2020. Now, she in two in-person classes and has contacted NYU wants to return to NYU so that she can graduate in administration and the Moses Center asking for her the spring, but remains concerned about the return requests to be fulfilled since she will not return to to in-person classes due to her suppressed immune in-person classes. system — even though she is fully vaccinated.

“I think it’s absolutely a reasonable request,”

“I am concerned about the risk of exposure Brinzan said. “I believe that NYU does have both the to COVID-19 on transportation to campus and even technological and planning capabilities to provide on campus,” Brinzan said. this accommodation during the pandemic to the

The pandemic demonstrated that NYU students that need it.” could offer accommodations for students, such as When incoming Steinhardt first-year Mariremote classes and recorded lectures. But some ah Mendoza — who is also immunocompromised students with disabilities now feel that the university — requested to take their classes online, they were is neglecting their needs. Many who have contact- told that if they did not return to campus, they would ed the Moses Center for Student Accessibility to re- lose their scholarship — something that they find quest these same accommodations for the fall 2021 unreasonable since the pandemic is not over and semester have been turned down — and others NYU has proven that they are able to accommodate only received them after a long and difficult negoti- blended classes. ation with the center.

“They told me I was gonna have to return to campus

On Feb. 23, NYU Provost Katherine Fleming no matter what to keep my scholarship,” Mendoza announced that students and faculty should expect told WSN. “Which was fine, but I was hoping I can a return to fully in-person learning in the fall. Since do online class in my dorm, and they told me no, that then, the administration has sent numerous emails they weren’t gonna offer that at all this year.” and updates detailing the return to in-person class- In May, Mendoza was approved for houses. Many of these emails emphasize the importance ing accommodations, including access to a kitchen, of health and safety, but have failed to offer guidance grab bars in the bathroom and close proximity to for students with disabilities. campus. However, when housing selections were

“For Academic Year 2021-22, beginning announced the second week of July, they were givwith the fall semester, NYU will resume in-person en the incorrect dorm placement. teaching and learning for all courses other than After multiple exchanges with Kami Velez, those originally and specifically designed to be re- the senior manager of NYU housing services, the mote,” an NYU Returns page reads.

Moses Center — where they were told their accom After fighting to stay safe from COVID-19 for modations were never approved — and three dorm the past year and a half, immunocompromised and changes, Mendoza received placement in a dorm at-risk students are upset with the university for not with accommodations, but is hurt by interactions offering the same accommodations they did during with the senior manager that felt rude and ableist. the 2020-21 school year — especially with the rise in “If you do not accept or do not reply to this breakthrough cases from the delta variant. Accord- offer your eligibility for reasonable accommodations ing to CDC guidance, immunocompromised people can no longer be considered,” Velez said in an email need to be cautious to protect themselves from the regarding Mendoza’s final dorm offer. variant, and on Aug. 12, the FDA authorized a third Since the dorm they were initially placed vaccine dose for certain immunocompromised indi- in did not have accommodations, Mendoza finds it viduals, noting that they are “especially vulnerable to unfair that reasonable accommodations would no infections, including COVID-19.” longer be offered by the Moses Center.

“There’s this very clear guidance from the “The Moses Center was kind of just like, CDC, but there’s nothing coming from NYU,” Brinzan ‘This is what we’re going to give you,’” Mendoza told WSN. “I’ve even specifically asked for it multiple said. “Instead of the Moses Center giving me the retimes and I still haven’t got anything. It makes me sources I need, they kind of just gave me a flat rate feel like I don’t belong here, they’re not interested of what they were going to help with. And then they in keeping me safe and that I don’t deserve to take were like, ‘everything else is on your own’, which is the classes everyone else gets to take because of extremely frustrating because I shouldn’t have to

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[fight for accommodations and accessible learning] on my own. Especially because we saw how accommodating they were before.”

Gallatin junior Chad Evans, who has housing accommodations for chronic OCD, shares Brinzan and Mendoza’s frustration with the Moses Center from his experience in NYU quarantine during spring 2021 and his overall dorming experience. While in quarantine, he contacted the Moses Center and NYU housing to find out why he did not have accommodations. He was told by members of each office that he would have to contact the other office to receive them, leading him to believe that there is a disconnect between the Moses Center and NYU housing.

Evans noted that the Moses Center has resources and faculty to help students with disabilities, but he is not confident that they can accommodate his needs. Although he does not feel supported by the Moses Center, Evans feels supported by his professors who — for the most part — have been extremely accommodating, especially during the pandemic.

“I know professors understand accommodations,” he told WSN. “They understand disabilities, and not so much like, oh give them excuses if you need an extension or something like that, but they understand the needs of their students. I feel like it’s much easier working directly with your professors, than dealing with the bureaucracy of the Moses Center at this point.”

As a new student, Mendoza does not have experience with professors and is concerned that their lack of academic accommodations, such as a remote option for their classes, will stunt their learning since they are unsure of how accommodating their professors will be. If they have a flare — a periodic worsening of chronic illness symptoms — Mendoza will likely be unable to attend classes for days at a time, causing them to miss large portions of their education.

“I applied to NYU for the education,” Mendoza said. “The fact that they aren’t going to give me the education is really upsetting. So it does put a lot of obstacles that I’m going to have to figure out and I might not figure [them] out.”

Mendoza — who helped a graduate student get accommodations at NYU — finds it absurd that disabled students have to now figure out accommodations on their own.

“I find it really disheartening that students have to go to Reddit to figure out how they can make their college experience the most successful and the best for them,” they said. “Especially at a school like NYU that prides itself on being this progressive school.”

After his experience with the Moses Center, Evans now views the center as a formality rather than a helpful resource for students.

“The whole experience made me question if the disability accommodations are almost like about reducing liability rather than protecting the students,” Evans said. “And just about a minimal compliance with ADA rather than actually seeing the registered students get the support they need.”

Representatives for NYU and the Moses Center administration did not immediately respond to WSN’s request for comment.

Contact Rachel Fadem at news@nyunews.com.

‘A POLITICAL FOOTBALL’: NYU FACULTY GRAPPLE WITH NATIONWIDE VILIFICATION OF CRITICAL RACE THEORY

By Rachel Cohen Deputy News Editor According to David E. Kirkland — a Steinhardt associate professor and the executived director of NYU’s Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools — critical race theory is the new boogeyman in a larger conservative narrative.

“What they want to do is create local hysteria — they’ve done it before — creating this argument that we have structures and mechanisms in society that are biased against them,” Kirkland said. “We have the people who are the most privileged in society — the people who have enjoyed altering MANASA GUDAVALLI | WSN As the idea of critical race theory enters the political mainstream, state legislatures history — now manufacturing a are clashing over what should be taught in K-12 classrooms. While some states have problem when there isn’t one to banned such curriculum, NYU students and faculty have encouraged similar discusgin up votes. It’s stirring up the sions in university classrooms. darkest demons and anxieties

Amid a period of racial reckoning, within white people in order to critical race theory — a legal framework de- get them to the polls.” veloped 40 years ago that analyzes how rac- Kirkland noted that the states imposism is not just the product of individual bias ing bans in public schools are the same ones or prejudice, but instead embedded in legal in which Republican lawmakers passed votsystems and policies — has become a light- er suppression legislation following the 2020 ning rod for right-wing politicians and media presidential election — which he sees as an personalities. But Sally Kohn — a progressive attempt to retain power. Kohn also conjecactivist, columnist, television commentator tured that swing states like Georgia turning and Columbia University adjunct professor — blue in the election happened sooner than believes the opposition from conservatives is expected. more about advancing an agenda than chal- As a response to those recent adlenging the concept itself. vancements, Kohn said the right has direct “It’s not that those attacking critical ed its attention to critical race theory. Since race theory don’t understand what it is — conservative politicians first made critical they don’t care what it is,” said Kohn, who was race theory a campaign issue, conservative taught by former law professor Derrick Bell, a media outlets have ramped up their coverage lawyer, civil rights activist and one of the cre- against the framework and fueled the current ators of critical race theory at the NYU School panic. In 2021, Fox News mentioned critical of Law. “It’s a political football for them. It’s a race theory over 1,900 times compared to just thing that they can attack and manipulate and 132 times in 2020. turn into what they need it to be.”

“Alongside the realities of the elec Critical race theory stands at the fore- tions, we are having conversations as a nafront of the debate about what students should tion that have reached into the mainstream — and should not — be taught in K-12 public because of movements over the last several schools. The term was coined at Harvard Law years, especially Black Lives Matter,” Kohn School by Kimberlé W. Crenshaw, a law pro- said. “There’s now an energy and attention fessor at Columbia University and UCLA. to racial justice in a way we haven’t seen in

In recent months, legislation seeking this country in several decades. We’re talking to ban critical race theory in the classroom, about inches of progress and miles of history backed by Republican officials and parents, of injustice — we can see the shift.” has been introduced in 26 states — and Michael Rectenwald, an author and 12 states have enacted the restrictions in former NYU professor, voiced sentiments simsome capacity. But the bans, Kohn said, are ilar to those of conservative media hosts and over something that does not exist in public anchors. Rectenwald previously drew controschools: the Associated Press found little to versy within the university community due to no evidence of critical race theory itself be- his tweets criticizing affirmative action, social ing taught to public school students, and NBC justice and perceived “wokeism.” He says he News reported that teachers have not been supports the teaching of critical race theory, required or pushed to teach it. but thinks it is racially divisive.

“What’s the point of the ban? Is this “I have nothing against teaching critifearmongering?” Kohn said. “I do think kids in cal race theory,” Rectenwald said. “But people schools should be taught a more complicat- of color can’t escape that racial categorizaed and nuanced understanding of American tion, and therefore, whatever they do, they’re history. If we do education right, we are em- effectively victims of racism — and this is very powering kids of color to cut against the grain deceitest and fatalistic. On the other hand, it’s of our society, historically and in the present. essentialist when it considers white people, And we are informing and emboldening white deeming them to be such a way irredeemably, kids to be better stewards of those ideals of regardless of any behavioral traits or anything equality and justice.” that they’ve done. It holds white people to be

inherently racist.”

Another popular opposing argument, according to Kirkland, is that critical race theory indoctrinates children to hate white people and teaches them to be anti-American.

“There’s nothing in critical race theory that says we should hate white people,” Kirkland said. “It is not about indoctrinating people with a particular view of history — it is about interrupting the indoctrination of the narrative of what history could be with the possibility to question it through a perspective that sees, understands and seeks to resolve questions of race.”

CAS associate professor Aisha Khan will be teaching a critical race theory seminar during the Fall 2021 semester.

“I don’t see NYU ever banning critical race theory, nor do I think they should, because quite frankly, I can’t think of a good reason why,” Khan said. “The whole point of academia and higher education is to have freedom of expression and freedom to inquire. It is very important to be able to explore and learn for oneself, and then come to one’s conclusions that are educated and informed.

Critical theory courses would be empowering for all of us as we learn to understand our world better — and then learn how to fix it.”

Previously, some members of the NYU community expressed their support of anti-racist education and critical race theory following former President Trump’s executive order on “Combating Race and Sex Stereotyping” in September 2020. Dr. Lisa Coleman, the senior vice president of Global Inclusion & Strategic Innovation at NYU, wrote to the university administration saying that “NYU is not pulling back on diversity, equity, inclusion, anti-racism, anti-sexism, and related efforts.” Steinhardt leadership and student government organizations also wrote a similar joint statement.

Kirkland agreed with Khan, saying that it would be shortsighted for faculty and students not to have conversations about critical race theory, especially given the university’s academic mission of equity, diversity and inclusion.

“NYU should not only continue [to teach critical race theory], but we should be more enforceable and advocate for it,” he said.

“Students and individuals should have the option of questioning whatever exists within our society that might lead us to a better truth.”

As the critical race theory controversy continues on cable television and across the country, Liberal Studies rising sophomore Kyle Foster said there is not much NYU can do to put a stop to the bans.

“They’d just be yelling into an echo chamber,” Foster said. “Such large parts of United States’ history is conveniently omitted from the average school textbook, and I think that’s so ridiculous. Not even knowing about huge events like the Tulsa Race Massacre goes to show how little the average public school goer is taught about racism in America, contributing to this ignorance that blinds people to how racism has for quite some time been embedded into society in so many ways.”

Contact Rachel Cohen at news@nyunews.com.

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‘A PROPAGANDIST’: NYU TRUSTEE MARIA BARTIROMO PEDDLES PRO-TRUMP LIES ON FOX SHOWS

By Arnav Binaykia and Suhail Gharaibeh

IMAGE VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, STAFF ILLUSTRATION BY MANASA GUDAVALLI

Maria Bartiromo is the host of “Sunday Morning Futures” on Fox News and a member of NYU’s Board of Trustees. She has recently voiced empty rightwing claims about the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. capitol.

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“This is disgusting! And we cannot allow America’s election to be corrupted.

We cannot.”

These were the words of Maria Bartiromo — a Fox News personality and voting member of NYU’s Board of Trustees — on Nov. 29, 2020, during then-President Donald Trump’s first televised interview since the election of Joseph Biden.

There was no evidence of the 2020 presidential election being corrupted. The segment was not the first Fox interview with Trump to be panned as uncritical and unserious. But it turned out to be an early sign that Bartiromo’s weekly show, “Sunday Morning Futures” — which consistently rates among the most watched in weekend cable news — would serve as a fire hose of misinformation as Trump sought to overturn the election results.

Bartiromo’s most recent “Sunday Morning Futures” broadcast to feature a lengthy interview with Trump — on July 11, 2021 — was panned by journalists, researchers and NYU faculty, drawing renewed scrutiny to the anchor’s reporting on COVID-19 treatments, the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Trump falsely claimed on the July 11 episode of “Sunday Morning Futures” that social media companies “rigged” the 2020 election. Bartiromo repeatedly said “yes” as the former president falsely said he “won this election in a landslide” and that the election was “fraudulent,” “corrupt,” and “rigged.” The show also included a number of unfounded claims and conspiracy

theories about the Jan. 6 insurrection, which Trump mischaracterized as “peaceful” and a “love-fest.”

Bartiromo and Trump implied — without providing any evidence — that a security guard contracted by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) may have shot the insurrectionist Ashli Babbitt, whom Bartiromo called a “wonderful woman.”

Since Jan. 6, Trump has sought to sow speculation among his supporters about who killed Babbitt, since the officer’s identity has not been released by authorities.

“WE’RE AT A PARTICULARLY DANGEROUS CROSSROADS IN DONALD TRUMP AND HIS SUPPORTERS’ ATTEMPTS TO UNDERMINE THE VERY INSTITUTIONS OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY ITSELF,”

Rick Perlstein, a journalist and historian whose work has often focused on the

American right’s relationship to the media, told WSN. “The Republican Party has been evolving into an authoritarian formation … and it was really striking to me to discover that a member of NYU’s Board of Trustees seems to be a propagandist for that shift.”

A success story in broadcast journalism

Bartiromo earned her stripes as a financial reporter for CNBC, where she made history as the first person to broadcast from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and was dubbed the “Money Honey.”

In recent years, however, she has turned to amplifying misinformation on Fox television programs. The waning of her reputation as a respected journalist has led media columnists at Institutional Investor and the Washington Post to ask, “What happened to Maria Bartiromo?”

In the late 1980s, Bartiromo was a student at NYU’s Washington Square campus. In a recent episode of the podcast Your Hometown, Bartiromo explained that she was initially an economics student, but began taking journalism classes as well after her mother encouraged her to try reporting. She double majored in journalism and economics.

In 1988, Bartiromo interned at the WMCA radio station in Manhattan, where she worked closely with the conservative talk host Barry Farber.

“[Farber] is a pretty important figure in the rise of right-wing hate radio,” Perlstein, who researched Farber for his book “Reaganland,” said. “Long before Rush Limbaugh was a national figure, there were all these right-wing radio hosts in local markets around the country. Farber was one of the pioneers.”

Then, in 1989, Bartiromo landed an internship at CNN, where she covered business news under broadcast host Lou Dobbs. Dobbs — who became Bartiromo’s colleague at Fox and has amplified rightwing conspiracy theories himself — would later be named a co-defendant along with Bartiromo in a $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit over their inaccurate coverage of the 2020 election.

In 1993, before leaving to create Fox News, then-CNBC executive Roger Ailes hired Bartiromo as a business anchor.

Bartiromo’s star rose during her time at the growing network. In the late 1990s, she appeared on late-night talk shows and won the admiration of punk icon Joey Ramone, who wrote a song named for her. She broadcasted live from the floor of the NYSE on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

In 2007, while working at CNBC, Bartiromo was the subject of a New York Times feature that questioned her close personal and financial ties to the corporate sources she interviewed on air.

Yet, her credibility as a familiar face in broadcast news remained largely intact, even after she joined Fox as a business host in 2013. The 2016 presidential election, though, changed everything for the conservative media conglomerate. Following a broader trend at Fox, Bartiromo’s coverage

became more favorable towards Trump.

NYU, Bartiromo and Trump

NYU’s Board of Trustees, largely composed of ultra-wealthy finance executives, has maintained a few connections with former president Trump. One trustee — billionaire hedge fund manager John Paulson — has long counted himself among Trump’s Wall Street allies, holding a fundraising event in August 2020 that offered tickets of up to $500,000 for dinner at Paulson’s Southampton mansion. Another — BlackRock CEO Laurence Fink — reportedly advised Trump on financial policy on multiple occasions and saw a return on his investments in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities and border wall construction during the Trump administration.

No trustee, however, has demonstrated their support for the former president — both before and after the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol — as publicly as Maria Bartiromo.

Like many of her peers at Fox, Bartiromo had long been criticized for “softball questions” in interviews that gave extensive airtime to Trump with little context or challenge. It was on a Fox Business program anchored by Bartiromo in 2017 that the president infamously described eating “the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake” while U.S. armed forces carried out airstrikes in Syria. Trump told Bartiromo he was telling her the story “only because you’ve treated me so good for so long.”

But as time went on, the stakes of this pro-Trump coverage were heightened.

Trump began to show alarming signs that he would not accept the results of the 2020 election. On Jan. 6, 2021, the nation witnessed the outcome of Trump’s desire to remain in office when a far-right mob, incited

by Trump, violently stormed the U.S. Capitol, temporarily stopping the certification of the presidential election.

Trump has continued to falsely declare that “the 2020 presidential election, that election, the 2020 presidential election, was by far the most corrupt election in the history of our country,” saying Democrats “used COVID” to turn the results in Biden’s favor. Bartiromo and her show have been instrumental in amplifying those false claims.

“Maria Bartiromo is a disgrace to journalism and Fox is not a news organization,” MSNBC journalist Mehdi Hasan wrote on Twitter in response to the July 11 episode of “Sunday Morning Futures,” on which Trump claimed the election had been stolen. “This is reckless, dishonest, inflammatory stuff.”

In a statement to WSN, a spokesperson for Fox News defended Bartiromo’s reputation as a news broadcaster and her membership on the Board, which they requested be published in full.

“Maria Bartiromo’s prolific career fully personifies the ethos of New York University,” the statement reads. “As the first person to report from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Bartiromo instantly shattered glass ceilings empowering women in business, the boardroom and in finance.

Her courage to seek truth and democratize information has transformed communities, including providing a global audience access to top-level research from the financial institutions, which led to the investor revolution.”

“As her coverage has expanded, her

mission has remained the same and in March of 2020, she was the first to warn the nation on the severity of COVID-19, notably on the same day anchors from CNN were dismissing the then-emerging virus as relative to the flu during an upfront presentation,” the statement continues. “All the while, she’s been a proud supporter of the communities that have helped her achieve success, including New York University. Her contributions to equality and transparency are unrivaled and FOX News Media is incredibly proud of her unparalleled accomplishments.”

A report by the Center for Media Engagement at the University of Texas Austin found that across six major national television news networks — including CNN — Fox News discussed COVID-19 less often than any other network. The researchers also found that “Fox News was, proportionally, the least likely to present correct information after the CDC released its mask-wearing guidelines.”

It’s true that, beyond serving on the Board of Trustees for at least a decade, Bartiromo has maintained engagement with NYU over the years through the Stern School of Business. In 2010 and 2011, she served as an adjunct professor, teaching a Stern course called “Global Markets & Normative Frameworks.” In 2012, she delivered the keynote address at Stern’s graduate convocation. As recently as August 2020, Baritromo participated in a virtual speaking event with Stern dean Raghu Sundaram.

Bartiromo’s official role at NYU has not gone unnoticed by members of the community who are opposed to her support for Trump and his efforts to overturn the election. In June, Steinhardt professor Salvatore J. Fallica tweeted, “Why is Maria Bartiromo on the Board of Trustees at New York University? [...] She actively works [against] democracy.

How is this part of NYU’s mission?”

Rebecca Karl, a professor of history and president of NYU’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, noted that “Bartiromo is only one of many really questionable trustees.”

“We have Trump supporters, people who supported and funded the Big Lie,” Karl said, referring to Trump’s campaign to overturn the 2020 election based on a false pretext of electoral fraud

“WE HAVE A CAST OF TRULY PROMINENT BUT EXTRAORDINARILY PROBLEMATIC HUMAN BEINGS ON OUR BOARD OF TRUSTEES, AND I THINK IT’S TIME THAT THE FACULTY, THE STAFF AND THE STUDENTS ARE ABLE TO PARTICIPATE IN THE TRUSTEE SELECTIONS.”

The aftermath of a controversial election

Following the 2020 presidential election, Bartiromo was accused of defamation after broadcasting unfounded claims about the voting technology companies Smartmatic and Dominion Voting in segments with Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell on several Fox shows.

Guided by lines of questioning from Bartiromo, Giuliani and Powell falsely portrayed the companies as Venezuelanowned, communist-aligned entities that conspired to switch votes from Trump to Biden.

As a result, Bartiromo, Giuliani, Powell and two other Fox personalities were personally named as defendants in a February 2021 lawsuit filed by Smartmatic, which claims the group “engaged in a widespread disinformation campaign against Smartmatic and its election technology and software” in order to “solidify their position with viewers and readers who supported President Trump.”

“Ms. Bartiromo presents herself to readers and viewers as a provider of factual information – not opinion, rhetoric, or spin,” Smartmatic wrote in its complaint.

“However, contrary to her public persona, she was one of the primary proponents and speakers for the disinformation campaign against Smartmatic.”

Bartiromo and the other co-defendants secured a New York State Supreme Court hearing on Aug. 17, where they argued for the dismissal of Smartmatic’s lawsuit. Reuters reported Aug. 17 that Judge David Cohen “appeared skeptical” of Fox’s dismissal bid — regarding unfounded assertions on Fox that Smartmatic had been banned in Texas, Judge Cohen asked attorneys, “How is that not defamatory?”

Dobbs, Bartiromo and fellow Fox host Jeanine Pirro all aired the same correction video in December 2020 featuring an election technology expert who debunked the baseless conspiracy theories about Smartmatic that the hosts had broadcasted on their shows.

Bartiromo was also named dozens of times in a lawsuit filed against Fox News

by Dominion Voting, which operated voting machines in 28 states, including battleground states where vote counts were being scrutinized from both sides of the political aisle.

“Casting Dominion as the perpetrator of the fraud provided a way to explain why President Trump lost in so many States,” the company wrote in its complaint. “Bartiromo knew at the time these claims were false, or recklessly disregarded the truth.”

NYU spokespersons John Beckman and Shonna Keogan did not respond to multiple emails and calls asking when and how Maria Bartiromo joined the Board of Trustees and whether the university has any opinion on her Fox programming.

“You can’t maintain the idea of being a top-quality center of scholarship when one of your governing officers is contradicting the major professional value of scholarship — telling the truth,” Perlstein said. “As long as this person is officially associated with the governance of NYU, NYU is officially associated with Big Lie fascist propaganda.”

Contact Arnav Binaykia and Suhail Gharaibeh at news@nyunews.com.

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by Andrew Califf and Kayla Hardersen

PHOTOS BY JULIA MCNEILL AND SAM KLEIN, STAFF ILLUSTRATION BY MANASA GUDAVALLI

Most study away programs at NYU will resume this fall. But students in the NYU Tel Aviv and Abu Dhabi programs face difficulties due to new immigration policies and COVID-19 restrictions.

TEL AVIV, Israel — NYU students across the globe are seeking a return to normalcy as they head back to campus this fall. Students studying away, however, are encountering additional hurdles due to strengthened immigration requirements aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19.

Before boarding their flights, students at NYU Tel Aviv will need to provide a letter issued by Israel’s Ministry of Interior Affairs and approved by the Ministry of Health stating they are eligible to enter the country. The letter, which supersedes the traditional visa process, asserts students will comply with Israel’s COVID-19 policies.

Individuals and those associated with higher education institutions need these letters.

“We have excellent connections with the Ministry of Interior Affairs and we are fairly confident that we will be able to have you enter the country ready for the Fall semester,” NYUTA Director Benjamin Hary wrote in an email to accepted study away students in May.

Over 67% of the Israeli population is vaccinated with at least one dose, but the country is experiencing an uptick in COVID-19 cases due to the delta variant.

Israel has implemented guidance measures for curbing the spread — including serological tests that check for antibodies — and for mass hospitalizations. Moreover, individuals wanting to enter restaurants as well as many other indoor venues are now required to show their Green Pass, a digital permit serving as proof of vaccination or proof that one has recovered from the virus.

“The idea was you would come in, demonstrate the serological test and you can leave because you are vaccinated,” NYUTA’s Manager of Student Life and Housing Eran Rotshenker said. “Now, it doesn’t really matter if you are vaccinated or not, you still need to be in quarantine. [The serological tests] are only going to be relevant for people to get the Green Pass.”

Current COVID-19 requirements dictate that students must quarantine for at least seven days. To meet these requirements, students must arrive no later than Aug. 28, but no earlier than Aug. 26.

Pre-pandemic arrival instructions merely requested students arrive by orientation.

“I hope that this is just a precaution and not seriously the calm before another wave potentially,” GLS junior Asher Moskowitz said regarding the COVID-19 safety measures. “But if this is what it’s going to take to study in Tel Aviv, then I’m willing to do it.”

The new immigration guidelines and logistics of obtaining a Green Pass make for a more complicated arrival to NYUTA than in years past — but this campus is not alone.

Josh Taylor, the associate vice chancellor for global programs and mobility service, says many countries have been constantly changing their immigration policies due to COVID-19.

“What’s happening in Israel is just a microcosm of what’s happening everywhere, including the U.S.,” Taylor said.

CAS junior Tyrianne Harris is still trying to understand the immigration pro-

cess that lies in store for her when she flies to NYU Abu Dhabi. Along with receiving a United Arab Emirates entry permit and travel support letter from NYUAD, she learned by email on Aug. 8 — less than two weeks before her departure — that she would be required to quarantine upon arrival.

“I’m still a little bit confused, especially since I’m supposed to be there on Tuesday and I have no idea what’s going on,” Harris said.

Harris has been struggling with NYU’s communication regarding the immigration process since May.

“​​I’ve tried to email them and all I get is a vague response that they’re working on it,” Harris said. “They said they had to hear back from the government, which I guess I understand, but I feel like it took a bit long for them to give us a complete answer that they still haven’t given us.”

Taylor believes that despite these difficulties, the return of study away will give students a first-hand glimpse into how the pandemic has affected different countries.

“There are going to be different nuances from site to site, and I think it’ll be really interesting to watch, engage the dynamics between local populations and their governments, local populations and their doctors,” Taylor said. “There’s no other time in our lives that this would have been possible.”

Contact Andrew Califf and Kayla Hardersen at news@nyunews.com.

ABROAD NEWS

NEW IMMIGRATION POLICIES AND COVID-19 SAFETY MEASURES COMPLICATE STUDY AWAY AT NYU TEL AVIV AND ABU DHABI

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INTRO TO FANTASY FOOTBALL

By Mitesh Shrestha Sports Editor Technical Scoring Breakdown: How the real-world statistics translate into fantasy points.

Note: Different leagues and fantasy football sites may have some variations in how they determine this.

MANASA GUDAVALLI | WSN

The upcoming Fall season brings with it a new Fantasy Football season as well. The classic football fan hobby is full of strategy and jargon.

To most, late August represents the start of school or the changing of the seasons. For some, it also marks the start of a new fantasy football season: an opportunity to defend their throne or avenge last year’s shortcomings. Fantasy football offers fans a definitive means to prove how much more dedicated they are to the sport than the rest of the community.

From the outside it can seem to be a foreign, unintelligible world. Metaphorical walls deter those who don’t dedicate their Sundays to watching the National Football League or opt to not spend every second refreshing their fantasy football app. Whether you’re aiming to seem competent in the league you just joined or are driven by spite to outshine experienced league competition, this guide should serve as a crash course to the confusing world of fantasy football.

Five Minutes Before the Draft: The league draft is about to start, and you’re panicking about what to do. This is the foolproof draft strategy; take the highest-ranked player in each respective category.

SPORTS

Round 1: RB. Just do it.

Round 2: RB is the priority. MAYBE consider taking a WR Round 3: WR Round 4: TE Round 5: RB or WR is the priority. QB is now a real option.

Round 6: RB Round 7-11: Prioritize WR then QB then RB. Round 12-15: Earliest time to consider drafting D/ST or K. Fill any missing positions or the rest of the bench.

Or just zone out and let the auto-draft feature do its job.

Deeper Dive: Your Ultimate Goal: Score the most points. More specifically, assemble a team of real-world NFL players to score the most fantasy points each week based on their weekly statistical performance. Typically, you can expect a league comprising 12 different teams although this number can vary. Each team starts one quarterback, two running backs, two receivers, one tight end, one wildcard spot, one kicker and one defense or special teams. *Term: PPR* PPR stands for points per reception. Each time a player on the offense (the team that is trying to score) catches a pass, they earn zero points in a standard league format, half a point in a 0.5 PPR format, or one point in a 1 PPR format.

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Passing yards: +0.04 per yard (25 yards = +1) Passing TDs: +4 2-pt conversion: +2 Pass intercepted: -1 Rushing yards: +0.1 per yard (10 yards = +1) Rushing TDs: +6 Fumble: -1 Fumble lost: -2 Receptions: +0.5 Receiving yards: +0.1 per yard (10 yards = +1) Receiving TDs: +6

Field goal made (0-39 yards): +3 Field goal made (40-49 yards): +4 Field goal made (50+ yards): +5 Point after try made: +1 FG missed: -1 PAT missed: -1 Defensive TD: +6 Points allowed (0): +10 Points allowed (1-6): +7 Points allowed (7-13): +4 Points allowed (14-20): +1 Points allowed (28-34): -1 Points allowed (35+): -4 Sack: +1 Interception: +2 Forced fumble: +1 Fumble recovery: +2 Safety: +2 Blocked kick: +2 Special teams TD: +6 Special teams fumble recovery: +1 The Basics of Each Position: QB: Quarterback The most important position on the field for any NFL team, but not from a fantasy football perspective. Avoid drafting a quarterback with your first pick to prevent season-long ridicule. Certain QBs are more valuable than others due to their proficiency in running with the football, which nets them more fantasy points through rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. *Term: Stream/streaming* Many players opt to “stream” QB, meaning they don’t prioritize drafting a QB in the early rounds and start QBs based on how favorable their weekly matchup is. A QB playing a team with the lowest ranked defense in the NFL is more likely to perform well and thereby score more fantasy points. This strategy can be applied to the later mentioned positions as well, particularly the kicker and defense positions.

RB: Running back Despite QBs leading all positions in fantasy points scored, RB remains the single most important position in fantasy football. There is a drastic dropoff in the number of fantasy points scored by one RB to the next highest scoring RB; The difference in total fantasy points scored by the top ranked scoring RB and the tenth ranked scoring RB was 137.8 points. In comparison, the difference in the same scenario for the QB position was only 59.8 points. Additionally, each team needs to start at least two RBs (compared to only one QB), which results in fewer possible available options.

Target RBs early and often for the greatest chance of

success. *Term: Workhorse* Typically used to describe a RB that receives an extraordinarily high volume of opportunities to score fantasy points. They face little competition from other RBs on their real-world team. *Term: By committee* Running back “by committee” signifies the inverse situation of a workhorse player: the running backs of that specific NFL team share the opportunities evenly.

This makes it difficult for fantasy players to determine which RB to target for their fantasy team. Fantasy players avoid starting running backs that are part of a committee.

WR: Wide receiver While a fantasy team is also required to start two WRs, this doesn’t lead to as great of a scarcity of viable fantasy options as with RBs. An NFL team can support multiple high fantasy scoring WRs; the presence of one great WR doesn’t threaten the fantasy scoring potential of another WR on that same NFL team. For example, the Minnesota Vikings had the fifth ranked and eighth ranked fantasy scoring WRs in Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen. In certain cases, a fantasy player may emphasize adding the other WRs on an NFL team with a top ranked WR. The top ranked WR diverts more attention from the opposing defense, creating more opportunities for the rest of the WRs on that team. However, WRs are more volatile than RBs, as their fantasy points are highly dependent on the ability of their real-world QB. *Term: Stacking* Stacking players signifies starting players from the same NFL team in fantasy football. Doubling down like this is a risky but potentially rewarding strategy. Scoring fantasy points and thereby winning that week’s fantasy matchup becomes significantly more dependent on the outcome of a single game. *Term: Break out* Used to describe players that are currently underrated and/or have moderate success thus far in their NFL career, that individual fantasy players believe will drastically improve their statistics from last season.

TE: Tight end Tight ends are a hybrid of a player that blocks the opposing defensive players from disrupting the offense’s success (offensive linemen) and a wide receiver that catches passes from the quarterback. This position is often considered the most difficult to predict, making it a source of much frustration from fantasy football players. Some players opt to draft a top five ranked tight end early in the draft, which provides stability at that position. After the top five, there’s a drastic gap in reliability from the rest of the options at that position. Be prepared for disappointment.

Flex: Wildcard slot The flex position is an opportunity to start another RB, WR or TE on your team outside of their designated position. Typically, the flex is used to start another RB or WR. Avoid starting a player in the flex spot whose team plays earlier during the weekly NFL schedule as it limits your options later in the week.

K: Kicker Kickers score points based on their accuracy on different kicks, with successful kicks from greater distances awarding more points. Typically, the kicker is the last position drafted and presents the greatest risk of volatility amongst all the different fantasy football positions.

*Term: Set and forget* Used to describe a player that’s started each week with confidence due to their reliability. Set and forget players provide a semblance of mental stability amidst the unpredictability of fantasy football.

D/ST: Defense and special teams D/ST is likely the most confusing fantasy football position for beginners to comprehend. It’s not necessary to understand, as it’s typically drafted in the final rounds. However, learning how D/ST works can increase your odds of succeeding in your first season.

Each D/ST represents the corresponding NFL team’s defensive and special teams performances.

Special teams: The group of players that are on the field during kickoffs, field goal attempts and PATs. A kickoff is a play in which one team kicks the ball to the opposing team and the opposing team is allowed to return the ball as far as possible to determine where their team’s offense starts with the football on the field. The team returning the ball has the opportunity to score a TD on this play, which results in fantasy points. During field goal attempts, the aforementioned kicker attempts to kick the ball through the goalposts that stand at the end of each side of a football field. The PAT, or the point after try, is a play that follows anytime a TD is scored in which the kicker attempts to kick the ball through the goalposts from a set distance. A D/ST can earn fantasy points if they’re able to block a field goal or PAT attempt.

Defense: The more an NFL defense can stop the opposition from scoring, the more likely they are to score fantasy points. The defense can stop the offense by different means. A defensive player sacks a QB when they tackle the QB as the QB is attempting to throw the football. An interception occurs when a defensive player catches a pass that the QB intended to throw to a receiver. The defense forces a fumble by knocking the football out of the hands of the ball carrier. A turnover, the term for an interception or fumble, can result in a touchdown for the defense if they’re able to take it into the endzone.

AFTER THE DRAFT: *Term: Waiver wire* Before the start of each fantasy week, a team is free to instantaneously add any player not rostered by any other team in the fantasy league. Adding players after the start of the fantasy week is done on the basis of the waiver wire system in order to decide which fantasy team a player with multiple claims will go. Similarly to the draft, each team receives a different numbered priority for selecting players. The highest priority team gets to add that player. However, once a team uses their waiver priority, they move to the bottom of the priority order. FAAB, or

free agent acquisition budget is another system that determines claims. At the start of the season, each fantasy team receives a set amount of money to spend on adding players. Whichever team bids the highest amount on a player adds that player. The FAAB is a more strategic but more balanced system than the typical waiver wire.

The outcome of a fantasy football season is still completely unknown after the draft. The unpredictability is a driving force behind what makes fantasy football so appealing. A seemingly perfect draft can fail to materialize success. Injuries are frequent in the NFL. Roster changes like the firing of a coach or trading players can drastically change the fantasy outlook of an NFL player.

League winning moves are often made after the draft when fantasy players can swap out their team. Nothing is set in stone: A fantasy team that loses their first four games can run the table to win the championship. After a typically 13 game regular season, the path to the league championship is determined by a single elimination tournament of the top teams. Being the best team during the season is insignificant — all that’s needed is a little bit of luck. Remarkably, this is just a small insight into the chaotic nature of fantasy football, which draws both endearment and contempt. Regardless of how you finish, your first fantasy football league is sure to be an emotional rollercoaster.

Contact Mitesh Shrestha at sports@nyunews.com.

NEW FACES IN NYU ATHLETICS

By Ethan Hourizadeh Staff Writer

DEBORAH ALALADE | WSN

As sports resume following the pandemic suspension, NYU’s athletics programs have brought on new coaches and leadership. Teams with new coaches include women’s soccer, men’s basketball, cross country, and track and field.

Since the University Athletic Association decided to suspend the Spring 2021 season, there have been multiple hirings within the NYU athletic department, with new coaches for different teams.

Back in mid-July, NYU Athletics announced that Nikki Driesse would be joining the women’s soccer program as an assistant coach.

She joined a program that has developed a tradition of continued success, sporting a winning record in every season played since 2013. This success included an appearance in the 2018 NCAA Division III tournament. Driesse’s background in the sport is similarly marked with success. Most notably, winning an NCAA Division I National Championship on two separate occasions as an integral player for the women’s soccer teams at Florida State University and Penn State University. She also has experience playing for the United States Under-17 and Under-20 national teams, which represent a collective of the best players the United States has to offer at those respective

age groups. Driesse’s decorated playing and coaching experience could make an impact on a program seeking to take the next step in building on its established success.

The NYU men’s basketball team added Adam Ginsburg as an assistant coach over the summer. Ginsburg last served as the head coach of the Hopkins Academy High School boy’s basketball team. His tenure culminated in a league championship on route to the Division 4 Western Massachusetts Coach of the Year honors. Ginsburg’s coaching resume includes stints at several different Division I programs. As a graduate student assistant for the University of Florida men’s basketball team in 1999, Ginsburg’s coaching career began by learning from future NCAA Championship-winning and NBA bound coach Billy Donovan. Ginsburg’s adaptability should be beneficial for the men’s basketball team at NYU looking to restart after a prolonged absence due to the pandemic.

Tyler Deck Shipley was recently named

the new head coach for the men’s and women’s cross country teams at NYU. Additionally, he will assume a role with the track and field program as an assistant coach. Shipley is coming from La Salle University, where he was the assistant coach for both the cross country and track and field program. At Temple University, Shipley managed multiple roles successfully, contributing to program-best performances during his tenure as Director of Operations for the women’s track and field team while working with the cross country program. As a former Division III All-American at the University of Puget Sound, Shipley understands what it takes for the program at this level to succeed.

Shipley will be working with newly hired men’s and women’s cross country head coach David Thompson. Thompson will also work with Shipley as an assistant coach for the cross country program. Approaching two decades of coaching, Thompson’s track record has shown an understanding of how to tap into his athletes’ potential success on and off the field. He spent the past six years as the head coach of women’s cross country and track and field at Augustana College. During this time, his teams earned the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association All-Academic Team honors five consecutive seasons while also producing nine NCAA Division III All-Americans. He coached at the University of Dubuque, SUNY Oswego and Williams College before his time at Augustana. His own athletic career included a Division III Outdoor Track and Field Championship.

Contact Ethan Hourizadeh at sports@nyunews.com.

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“ZOLA” REVIEW: A MODERN FLORIDIAN FAIRYTALE

By JP Pak Film & TV Editor

IMAGE COURTESY OF A24

ARTS

“Zola,” directed by NYU alumna Janicza Bravo, is a 2021 comedy-drama film based on a twitter thread. “Zola” is now in theaters and available to rent on demand.

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If you were on Twitter in 2015, before it was ruled by toxic sanctimony and political scorn, you might remember it as a sort of Wild West — uncharted territory with outlaws, lack of government and fantastical tales. Among the most legendary of these stories was penned on Oct. 27, when A’Ziah King recounted the vulgar, outrageous details of a star-crossed journey through a ring of Florida strip clubs in a fabled series of 148 tweets. After the tale was widely circulated on the internet, it didn’t take long for Hollywood to knock on her door.

Six years later, “Zola” has materialized as the first narrative feature film based on a Twitter thread. Directed by NYU alumna Janicza Bravo (“Lemon”) from a screenplay she wrote with Jeremy O. Harris (Tony-nominated “Slave Play”), the film is a dazzling and faithful adaptation of the original tweets — vignettes of Odyssean proportion which stand together at one hour and 30 minutes. Usually, I would describe the opening scene at this point in the review, but King’s original summary is enough: “So I met this white bitch at Hooters.”

Like the original Tweets, the plot of the movie is simple enough: “Zola” is the story of its titular character, who befriends Stefani (Riley Keough), the aforementioned “white bitch” in an all too Floridian meet-cute at a restaurant booth. Captivated by Stefani’s hoop earrings, braided hair extensions, janky charm and classy pickup line — “Damn, bitch! You got perfect titties!” — Zola (Taylour Paige), consents to a spontaneous weekend excursion to Tampa.

An important part of their bond, both Zola and Stefani are strippers. They’ve come to Florida in pursuit of a few lucrative dancing gigs arranged for them by X (Colman Domingo), a mysterious man whose identity — amid random switches of his accent and name — is vaguely delineated by Stefani as her roommate.

Also accompanying them is Derrek (Nicholas Braun), Stefani’s lovable halfwitted boyfriend whose goofy mantra — “We Makin’ Shmoney” — doubles as Zola’s plan for the weekend. This intention, of course, does not work out like she envisioned— after all, it’s sex work in Florida.

Zola soon finds out that X is Stefani’s pimp and, before Zola has the chance to escape, the trip itinerary substitutes dancing with prostitution.

She soon finds herself trapped in a cautionary tale of sex trafficking, greed and betrayal — something that, in a Q&A session hosted by NYU’s Program Board last spring, Bravo referred to as a modern-day fairytale.

Akin to how filmmakers in recent memory have treated comparatively authoritative works of literature — the Coen Brothers and Cormac McCarthy’s “No Country For Old Men” and Paul Thomas Anderson and Upton Sinclair’s “Oil!,” for example — it’s clear that Bravo treats her source material like a sacred text. She applies her stylish directorial sensibilities to the script and camera with a great deal of care, elevating King’s authorial voice without overshadowing it with her own. Bravo balances the raw darkness of King’s story with a plot structure and moral im-

plication that carry the purity of a storybook. A prominent feature of the film’s mood is Mica Levi’s fantastical, celestial score — its enchanting bells and harps have an immersive, almost hallucinatory effect, coaxing us through the fever dream that is “Zola.”

Equally important is Bravo’s inclusion of a grainy film texture, which gives a certain haze to the movie’s neon colors. Shot by Ari Wegner, the film’s sparkly cinematography is simultaneously peculiar and brilliant — all the grit of a stripper’s odyssey, all the glitz of a fairytale. For a story that feels so synonymous with the digital world, “Zola’’ rarely looks like it is shot on a digital camera, but rather, its cinematography has all the cinematic merit of works shot on film stock. The result is a visual experience similar to those crafted by David Lynch, whom Bravo cites as an important influence on the movie.

Beyond its spellbinding visual style, “Zola” finds its greatest success in its unique tone, seemingly a product of Bravo and co-writer Harris’ worldbuilding choices within the script. The task of combining the stakes of a sinister drama about sex work with the quaint feel of a fable is one they handle with great tact, despite its difficulty. They write Zola and her shady companions as The Brothers Grimm wrote Hansel and Gretel, giving them no backstory or family and refraining from showing us what their normal lives look like. All we know about Zola is that she is a dancer and waitress — and, depending on how far along we are in the film, that she is in grave danger.

While some viewers might take issue with Bravo and Harris’ characters seeming incomplete in this way — even unable to drive the story forward — the absorbing effect of setting the story in a vacuum is undeniable. We watch with a feeling that “Zola” occurs in a realm without a past or a future — a surreal version of reality that drastically heightens the stakes of whatever threatens Zola in the present moment. Bravo’s world is thrilling and spontaneous in a way that ours cannot be. It is free to operate with a bizarre tone that mixes distinct, conflicting emotions: second-hand embarrassment (notably present in Stefani, a masterfully authentic character study in cultural appropriation), crippling dread, and winking humor laced with cultural commentary.

“Zola” is a unique joy to watch.

Even in its most daunting scenes — namely a harrowing montage of penises which assumes a bold position in the independent film canon — Bravo leaves me unsure of what to do: fear for characters’ lives, dissect its cultural commentary or laugh in an embrace of discomfort.

Contact JP Pak at arts@nyunews.com.

WE ARE BOTH ASIAN, BUT WE LOOK NOTHING ALIKE

By Jennifer Ren Performing Arts Editor

It’s almost the year-and-a-half anniversary of the last time I performed for a live audience, and let me tell you: this has been the most maddening, daunting and self-doubting time to be an Asian actress.

When NYU Albert released grades at the beginning of this summer, I nervously checked my transcript and immediately felt relieved. I told my Asian American friend and fellow Meisner Studio sophomore Kelly Wong that my grade seemed fair, yet I couldn’t help but think about what was making me anxious. Before clicking the “Grades & Transcript” button, I was afraid that I would get someone else’s grade because of my race.

Rather than examining to what degree racism exists in theatre nowadays, I’m here instead with the fear of being judged and criticized for being too sensitive, vulnerable and fragile. After years of anti-racism protests, some may say that there are fewer loathsome stereotypes in the industry now — as in the slanty-eye yellowface makeup of Fu Manchu, the Western fantasy of Asian women in “Miss Saigon,” or the “can you be more Black” question my white director asked my best friend who played Richie in “A Chorus Line.” However, racism doesn’t only include stereotypes. It manifests in different ways — indirectly, subtly and even unintentionally.

At the end of Spring 2021, one of my studio professors called Wong by my name during rehearsal. This was no isolated incident. Wong and I were misidentified repeatedly. Aside from being in Meisner, we have very little in common. Wong has longer hair, an oval face and wears lighter makeup while I have higher cheekbones and a wider face.

She is more lovable and humorous whereas I’m more whimsical and energetic.

But most prominently, we are both Asian.

I was willing to ignore the first mix-up, convincing myself that maybe we had been dressed alike that day on Zoom, yet it continued to happen throughout the semester. While we both knew how anti-racist this professor was and felt that she was one of the kindest professors we’ve had, this mixup felt like a manifestation of racial microaggression. Due to her well meaning nature, it could be easily explained as an accident that nobody should take it to heart.

Then why do we feel offended? The impression that this professor subconsciously thinks that people of a race other than her own, (in this scenario, Asian) all look alike. I wonder if there is nothing else that stands out except my Asian identity. I’m not saying that I’m not proud of my identity, I am, but I’m more than a race and ethnicity. Is there nothing else that can help people remember me?

Why can’t I be remembered by that monologue I performed or the sonnet or poem I practiced for so long? I used to tell myself it was no big deal, but as it happened in class, student evaluation and rehearsal, the buildup became demoralizing.

Some studies and news articles, including one published by Forbes, however, have viewed it from a more optimistic and benevolent angle.

“We humans are notoriously poor at distinguishing between the members of races different from our own,” journalist Steven Ross Pomeroy said. Sure, some of us Asians do actually look alike, but the writer takes it one step further.

“The Other-Race effect is not necessarily fueled by racist thinking,” Pomeroy said. Instead, he summarizes two hypotheses that explain the effect: people tend to tune out characteristics of members of other races and spend more time with

people of their own race.

If you’ve only seen me or taught me a couple of times and barely spent time with Asians, of course it would be understandable. But, if these mixups kept happening for a whole semester — after about four months of two classes per week, two hours per class — should we still blame it on the “spend more time” and categorical thinking hypotheses?

White people can also be on the receiving end of the cross-race effect when they are the minority in the workplace.

An article published by the Washington Post interviewed a white English MANASA GUDAVALLI | WSN teacher who was misiden- Despite not looking or behaving similarly, Asian actress students are constantly mixed up by their NYU professors. tified by a stranger in Chi- U.S. media perpetuates racial microaggressions by either having stereotypical Asian characters or having whitena. Given the Han ethnic washed characters played by white women. group makes up over 92% in my department has mistaken me for any othof China’s population, white people become the er Asian actresses besides Wong. I don’t know minority. if I have received compliments or feedback that

However, the U.S. media differentiates be- are not meant for me. I don’t know if they can aptween white people much more than people of oth- preciate and differentiate our work. I don’t know er races. The overrepresentation of white people if my work really matters if I simply fall into the in U.S. media is an obvious but understated point. category of Asian actress. It creates this sense of Asian characters have been whitewashed in past uncertainty in what I do as a performer moving films. In the adaptation of the anime “Ghost in the forward.

Shell,” Scarlett Johansson — who is not Japanese I’m still having a hard time defining this — was cast as the protagonist to play the lead role name-miscalling situation. That’s why I never of a Japanese woman. In “Aloha,” Emma Stone was reached out to have a conversation with this procast as Allison Ng, who is one quarter-Hawaiian fessor — whose work I truly respect and admire. and one quarter-Chinese. Although I love these I was afraid of accidentally feeding into the stetalented actresses, I am disgusted by Hollywood’s reotype: all Asian women are sensitive. However, marketing choice of casting white actors as film I will choose to address microaggressions if they leads just to make Asian characters more tempting happen again. for its white audiences.

Sure, you may be wondering if the pro “Films with leads who were people of fessor should be censored or canceled, but that color or women were more likely to have smaller question itself distracts people from my point: budgets in 2020 than those with White and male people should be aware of their biases and imleads,” Dr. Darnell Hunt and Dr. Ana-Christina pact regardless of punishment. We’re all human Ramón said in UCLA’s latest Hollywood Diversity beings, prone to mistakes, and we all might comReport. The report also shows that Latinx, Asian, mit microaggressions subconsciously. It doesn’t Native and MENA persons were all underrepre- mean that we are horrible people but we need sented among film leads, and only 5.4% of leads to be more aware of our biases and their correwere played by Asian actors. sponding impacts on others.

So the third hypothesis of the Oth- We all need to make the effort in order to er-Race effect, as I see it, would be the lack of create a more harmonious working environment. representation of minorities in different societies. As students, if we encounter this unpleasant cirWhen I was in high school, I fantasized about cumstance, we shouldn’t be afraid to reach out being a white girl, having blue eyes and blond to stage managers, advisors or studio adminishair, so I could be cast as the lead in a Hollywood trators, and let them bring this issue up in staff film. But in imagining so, I realized the issue of meetings more often, specifically and seriously. underrepresentation more candidly. We need to At the university level, NYU should host more lecbe more conscious of whose stories are being tures on the topic of diversity and inclusion not marginalized in mainstream media and how it only for students but also for professors and staff. impacts marginalized groups. In that case, we At the industry level, influencers should speak up could avoid the issue of misidentification by in support of diversity, equity and inclusion. If we demanding more visibility of underrepresented put actors on screen and on stage regardless of groups in the media, film and theatre. race and ethnicity, people will learn that skin col The mix-up itself is prejudice and igno- or is just skin color. Then, hopefully, the “spend rance not based on how similar Wong’s acting more time with people of our own race” hypotheskills and mine are, but our ethnicity, which in- sis will not continue to be an excuse for misidenstills doubts and anxiety in our sense of self and tifying and marginalizing minority groups. talent over time. I don’t know how much this has impacted me because I don’t know if anyone else Contact Jennifer Ren at arts@nyunews.com.

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‘ALL THINGS MUST PASS (50TH ANNIVERSARY)’ PROVIDES A THRILLING INSIGHT INTO GEORGE HARRISON’S ARTISTIC PROCESS

By Ana Cubas Arts Editor

mery joy of the original. The early version of the album’s title track is a more naked take on the song, detailing a more arduous journey of accepting that things will pass.

Yet some tracks, like “Behind That Locked Door,” changed very little from its initial recording. In the latter half of the song, Harrison improvises with vocables and signals band members to improvise.

The joy of a re-released album, with all the new, indulgent gifts, is a broader understanding of the artist and their artistic process.

“All Things Must Pass (50th Anniversary)” does what IMAGE VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, STAFF PHOTO BY JAKE CAPRIOTTI 50 years after its original release, artist George Harrison has re-released his album “All Things Must Pass.” “All Things Must Pass (50th Anniversary)” Taylor Swift is doing now with her re-releases or what

“All Things Must Pass” finally cleansed, revived and amplified, where Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young did with the achieves the emotional impact it initially each pick of a string on Harrison’s signa“Déjà Vu Alternates.” No first take and origset out to create. The remastered album ture slide guitar playing is heard. Harrison’s inal album track from “50th Anniversary” is gracefully dense, with oozing, pulsating vocals are crisp, emotions spewing out of sound the same. Some don’t even sound bass and divine serenades throughout. 50 him with each note more clearly than ever, like Harrison had the same idea throughyears ago it asked for the listener’s atten- each crack in voice or change in pitch ob- out the recording process. The unreleased tion; now, it demands it. vious, no longer overshadowed by the in- or unchosen tracks now included in the

George Harrison’s gloriously suc- struments around him. The instruments album share more about Harrison, his cessful post-Beatles solo debut “All Things and vocals stand alone, rather than melt- process and his influence more than ever Must Pass” is a wistful blend of Hindu in- ing into each other. Appreciation for each before. fluence and Western music, religion and sound was sacrificed in the original ver- While blues and country inromance, meditation and thrill. The sheer sion in favor of one holistic sound — here, fluences were trickled throughout “All talent on the album alone — Ringo Starr, though, you can have both.

Things Must Pass,” tracks like “Sour Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, Billy Preston, If “My Sweet Lord” could have Milk Sea,” “Down To The River (Rocking Gary Wright, Klaus Voormann and more — sounded any more like a celebration, with Chair Jam)” and “Almost 12 Bar Honky could not produce bad work. the remixing it does. Harrison’s height- Tonk” all show the extent to which they

The original album, released ened vocals are beaming, the rounded influenced his work. “Get Back” is alin November 1970, is heavily layered in bass making the song more resonant and most satirical, poking fun at Harrison’s producer Phil Spector’s signature Wall of danceable. Even the background vocals past while still reminiscing. “Cosmic Sound style. This results in a reverb-heavy, are intensified and lack the fuzz of the orig- Empire (Day 2 Demo / Take 1)” would compressed-sounding album where each inal. It now has the force of gospel music. have been the most fitting of the unsecomponent vies to be heard while simul- “Apple Scruffs” sounds more playful, with lected tracks for the original album — taneously blending effortlessly into the the polished instruments and separation an acoustic, mystic track that had the whole. of each sound adding a bounciness to the potential to be a calmer “Awaiting On

A remixing is a reminder of the tal- track. These remixes and remasters bring You All.” ent necessary to create an album pivotal to mind the complexities of molding all of So much of the beauty in “All enough to be reviewed and restored years a track’s layers into one concrete, compre- Things Must Pass (50th Anniversary)” later, while also showcasing the intricacies hensive sound. That is the beauty of suc- lies in sharing this artistic process and of the work itself. This 50th-anniversary ver- cessful remixing. further understanding Harrison’s mind sion was engineered by Dhani Harrison, While the original album tracks through music. The songs linger with George Harrison’s son, and Paul Hicks, are so substantial, the outtakes and ad- the listener longer than the originals, who worked on remixing and remaster- ditional tracks on “50th Anniversary” are each emotion extracted to its full potening the Beatles’ catalog and the expand- quite the opposite. Now, the album in- tial. It’s difficult to see a downside to the ed edition of The Rolling Stones’ “Goats cludes demos and early takes of the origi- increasing prominence of extended reHead Soup.” “All Things Must Pass” has nal songs. Listening to those is like peering leases in the music world — regardless been given a pleasing facelift, along with into an alternate universe, where “Awaiting of era, they provide an even stronger 47 fresh goodies for Harrison fans to fawn On You All” is soft and dainty, almost a foil connection between artists and fans. over. of the original album track. The jubilant

In “All Things Must Pass (50th track takes on a lower register, emulating a Contact Ana Cubas Anniversary),” vocals and instruments are light rockabilly sound rather than the shim- at arts@nyunews.com.

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ASIAN FUSION DANCE

by Jennifer Ren Performing Arts Editor

With incoming president Sophie Perez at the helm, the club is looking forward to another exciting year. You can keep up with the organization on Instagram at @womxninmusicnyu or on their website nyuwomxninmusic.wixsite.com/wimusic.

STERN-TISCH

By mixing traditional Asian dance with ballet, hip-hop and other Western forms, Asian Fusion Dance explores the possibilities of cultural awareness and appreciation. The club meets on Fridays from 6-8 p.m. to learn choreography that will be performed in various events, including the AHM Fall Festival and IMAGE COURTESY OF ASIAN FUSION DANCE Members of NYU’s Asian Fusion Dance club appreciate and showcase their culture and artistic tal- NYU’s Grand Bazaar. Along ent through choreography and performances. With over 300 clubs and organizations on campus, with the opportunities to NYU has many arts organizations on campus that are seeking new members. participate in alumni work NYU can be an intimidating place for shops and collaborate with anyone. Between the New York City skyscrapers, other dance clubs, the end-of-semester showcase choosing classes, making friends, and, of course, offers a valuable chance for students to demonstrate navigating the subway, there are moments that can their talents. Although last year’s meetings were refeel overwhelming and maybe even a little lonely — mote, club staff are hoping to return in-person or imespecially if you’re new on campus. plement a blended format this fall.

However, the Arts Desk wants to help you find your community! With over 300 clubs “After being cooped up inside for a whole and organizations on campus, NYU has a year, don’t be afraid to try something new and get variety of arts programs filled with passion- moving,” President Nicole Shiao said, adding that the ate people looking to collaborate and make AFD family holds socials and welcomes dancers of friends. We’ve decided to give you a snap- all levels from all backgrounds. “AFD is a great way to shot of five different organizations on campus meet new people and make new friends, which can ranging from film to the entertainment busi- seem like a daunting task as a first year on campus. ness to help you find what excites you.

We can’t wait to welcome new members into our AFD family!”

ENTERTAINMENT

FUSION FILM

THEATRE

FESTIVAL

by Isabella Armus Deputy Arts Editor

Since its inception in 2003, Fusion Film Festival has been the premier organization at NYU for celebrating women and nonbinary people in the film industry. Fusion hosts events throughout the school year, culminating in an annual three-day festival that features industry masterclasses, guest speakers, and screenings of films competing in fourteen categories.

They’ve had a range of notable guest speakers and mentors from the industry — most recently, they hosted writer and actress Issa Rae at their 2020 festival. The organization’s plethora of departments give students opportunities to get involved in ways ranging from submissions and social media to podcasts and editorial, all of which are integral to the festival. This club isn’t just limited to film students, though — it’s open to anyone at NYU who’s interested in diversifying the future of storytelling. The co-heads of Fusion this year will be students Juliet Adelman, Kitty Bailey and associate director Sequoia Sheriff. The organization is excited to finally be able to run the festival in person again, and will host a recruitment event in September. Interested students can also follow @fusionfilmfest on Instagram for updates.

Look out for them at NYU Club Fest, email nyu.asianfusiondance@gmail.com or send them a DM on Instagram at @nyu.afd.

WOMXN IN MUSIC

by Yas Akdag Music Editor

It can be challenging for women in the music industry to find the space and resources to thrive.

NYU club Womxn in Music seeks to change that.

“We strongly believe in building an inclusive community that will help musicians build their confidence and be able to contribute to the larger musical culture after they graduate,” founder and former president Senaida Ng said.

The organization, which also supports nonbinary musicians, has certainly wasted no time in doing so — since its inception in Fall 2020, the club has hosted numerous exciting events, including a production workshop with dolltr!ck, a virtual performance and Q&A with pop duo Aly & AJ and a student open mic night. It’s evident that supporting student musicians is at the forefront of the club’s mission: last year, they organized a songwriter and producer matching event. Having accounted for everyone’s styles, goals, and strengths, student songwriters and producers were paired with one another, facilitating collaboration in the midst of a pandemic.

ARTS

NYU ARTS CLUBS THAT WILL LET YOU DIVE INTO YOUR PASSION

BUSINESS ASSOCIATION

by Ana Cubas Arts Editor

Whether you adore film, photography, music, video games or any other form of art and media, the Stern-Tisch Entertainment Business Association could be the club for you. Don’t be scared off by the term “business association,” or “Stern-Tisch” — STEBA members come from all NYU schools and span various disciplines. It’s a great place to meet passionate, like-minded people, explore ways to apply your passions to a career, and, of course, network.

Throughout the year, STEBA hosts events like panels, networking opportunities, game nights, resume workshops and more. The organization also facilitates mentorship programs with executive board members who share similar passions to the mentee, and often have experience in mentees’ desired fields. Meetings are often held on Thursdays from 6:30-7:45 p.m.

STEBA also sends weekly emails with entertainment news, internship opportunities and information on future events. To receive updates and get involved with STEBA, follow them on Instagram at @nyusteba.

TISCH NEW

by Sasha Cohen Arts Editor

How would you like to be a catalyst for change in the theater industry? If that sounds exciting to you, you should check out Tisch New Theatre. A student theater organization designed to empower aspiring theater professionals, TNT dedicates itself to creating theatrical and educational experiences representative of the NYU student body. While TNT traditionally produces large-scale Broadway musicals and cabarets, that does not mean it is afraid to dabble in original content. In fact, this past spring, the organization created a production called “Offstage” that prioritized shining a spotlight on narratives traditionally left off the stage. Pairing 13 performers with 13 composers, each partnership wrote an original song about their identities while a team of over 100 students worked to curate a concert. Though the club has “Tisch” in the name, don’t let that fool you — the organization works with students from all NYU schools and majors in addition to a variety of experience levels. Whether you are a veteran or amateur actor, stage manager, lighting designer, producer, or some other kind of creative, TNT is an innovative space to grow and refine your talents. To learn more about the organization’s upcoming productions, casting calls and positions, visit @tischnewtheatre on Instagram and Twitter.

For more information about other NYU clubs and organizations, visit engage.nyu.edu.

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HOW COVID-19 AFFECTED MY VISA STATUS

By Polina Tyurikova Contributing Writer

MANASA GUDAVALLI | WSN

CULTURE

A screenshot from the US State Department’s Visa Appointment Wait Times page reveals the difficulty of obtaining visas of all kinds for individuals from Russia. Russian international students have to go through unusually extreme measures to study in the United States this year.

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International students at NYU are familiar with the hardships of the visa process, but most don’t have to worry about renewing their visas until they’re already out of college. American students can just book a flight to New York City. Over the past year, though, my struggle to get a visa as a Russian international student has bordered on extreme.

It is difficult for Russians to study in the United States. As a Russian citizen, I am only able to get a U.S. visa for one year of university study at a time. This means that I am obligated to renew my visa every year in any country it is available. When countries around the world responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with travel and visa restrictions, I and many others were displaced.

On May 12, the U.S. embassy in Moscow announced that, with few exceptions, it would no longer issue visas. This news was unsurprising, as it followed the Russian government’s April 23 declaration that foreign nationals would be prohibited from working in the U.S. embassy. For international students like myself, though, the news set off a quest for the visa that would let them continue their studies.

I faced the beginning of the pandemic two years ago in Switzerland as a student at an international high school. After graduating, I was able to apply for a student visa in the Moscow embassy, but I was not able to go home — the European Union and Russia had suspended all travel, leaving me practically homeless for the summer of 2020.

With the help of my high school friends, I went to Poland and got a visa at the beginning of August, just a month before I started at NYU.

As my first year in college drew to a close, I had to renew my U.S. visa for the upcoming year. To

my surprise, I had met students here whose visas lasted for five years. These students, who sat right next to me in class, didn’t have to worry every 12 months about how they were going to get back to NYU. Moreover, not only were these students able to study in the United States for four years on one visa, they also had the opportunity to stay another year after finishing their studies. It seemed to me that it was just politics that was putting me and my fellow Russian international students through this annual ordeal.

By this time, Russian airlines had resumed some flights to EU countries, allowing me to finally go home. I fully believed that this was where my journey would end, but the pandemic made sure that it wouldn’t be that easy.

In order to renew my visa, I had to apply outside of the United States, and the embassy back home in Russia was no longer an option. I began looking for appointments all across the globe. Before the pandemic, you could go to any country with a U.S. embassy to get a visa.

But with continuing travel restrictions, it was all but impossible for me to enter the EU.

In late May, I found out that one of our nannies at home had contracted COVID-19. My family needed my help to look after my 4and 7-year-old siblings. Meanwhile, the situation in my home country — and my own home — was worsening. Cases were rising fast, yet there was no social pressure to get vaccinated. I had been lucky enough to get vaccinated in New York City, but COVID had reached my home and my family — within a week, both of my parents had contracted COVID-19. I had to get back home.

Though my family’s situation began to improve, I still didn’t know how I was going to get to NYU that

fall. I started by getting a Greek visa, as Greece was the only country at the time issuing the Schengen visas that allow unrestricted travel across the European Union. For that reason, my family traveled to Greece for the summer holidays. I tried applying at the embassy in Athens, but the wait was months long. I checked U.S. embassies in cities across Europe — Madrid, Milan, Rome, Bern — but none would give me an appointment. These countries did not even have any obligation to provide an emergency appointment for someone like me without EU permanent residency or an EU passport.

After hours of research, I found that there were only a handful of cities where I could get a U.S. visa in time. I chose Paris, and planned a stop in Switzerland to visit my best friend after a year apart. My excitement to reunite with her grew as my flight landed in Bern, only to be immediately quelled: I hadn’t thought that I would be stopped by police as soon as I stepped off the plane.

With many foreign tourists circumventing the travel restrictions of other EU countries by getting Schengen visas in Greece, countries like Switzerland had started checking for EU passports or residency at the airport. The police in Bern took my Russian passport with the Greek Schengen visa. The 30 minutes that followed were the most stressful of my life — not knowing what would happen next, I called my parents and prepared to fly back to Greece or Russia.

After I explained myself to the authorities, telling them that I was coming to Bern in order to get a U.S. study visa, they let me pass.

I walked to the baggage claim with tears in my eyes and a pounding heart.

I was all but ready to go get my visa in Paris when I found out that I would need to quarantine there for 10 days before my visa would even begin to be processed.

I didn’t have that kind of time, so I had to devise a new plan: I got an appointment at the U.S. embassy in Warsaw, just as I had the year before, and successfully got my visa there. My journey to get back to school in the United States had taken me through Russia, Greece, Switzerland and Poland, but I was finally on my way.

No one trying to get an education should have to go through the process I went through. Hopefully, the governments of these countries can recognize the struggle international students face and this situation can improve in the future.

FOOD HOT SPOTS TO KNOW AS A FIRST-YEAR MATTO ESPRESSO 293 MERCER ST. “Do you know that ‘everything for $2’ sign you pass by on the way to the Cantor Film Center? You know that little store with a line that always wraps around Mercer Street? This is it. Matto sells literally everything — iced chai lattes, egg sandwiches, alfajores, zucchini bread — for just $2. It’s such a good deal for quality food and beverages that braving the constant long line doesn’t seem so bad. I’ve heard their omelet multigrain croissant and hot chocolate, in particular, are life-changing.”

–Ria Mittal

ALEX TRAN | WSN

PELICANA CHICKEN 52 E. EIGHTH ST. “Pelicana is a Korean fried chicken chain that recently opened a new location next to the Cantor Film Center. The most affordable combo on the menu is the chicken for one, which includes a large portion of boneless chicken drizzled in a sauce of your choice, a generous scoop of rice and a side salad. Pelicana has another location in Koreatown’s famous Food Gallery 32, but this one comes more highly recommended due to its proximity and cheaper prices.”

–Marva Shi

MARVA SHI | WSN

CAVA 143 4TH AVE. “I found Cava’s Mediterranean ingredients to be far more flavorful and interesting than those of a basic salad bar. I also appreciated the unlimited number of toppings as opposed to the maximum of three or four at other salad places. Though the finished bowl was a bit too saucy for me (with three dips and a dressing), the flavors and service made this the best salad experience I’ve had so far.”

–Chelsea Li

CHELSEA LI | WSN

NY DOSAS WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK “If you haven’t had a dosa, it’s time you try one. My advice is to eat slowly to maximize the experience — you’re never going to taste your first dosa again.

Tangy, crispy, yet surprisingly chewy all in one. Flavors of the coconut chutney, potatoes and fresh vegetables danced on my tongue. It was a symphony of flavors that brought me (ode to) joy, as each bite presented a new layer of texture, flavor, spice and crunch.”

–Gabby Lozano

MANASA GUDAVALLI | WSN

CAFFÈ REGGIO 119 MACDOUGAL ST. “Home of the first cappuccino served in the United States, open till 3 a.m. and a five-minute walk from Bobst Library and Washington Square Park, Caffe Reggio is and has everything an NYU student needs. Go for the espresso and cannolis and stay for the patio, where regulars smoke cigarettes and drink coffee or cocktails for hours on end. The cafe also has Wi-Fi, meaning it’s the perfect place to pretend to study while socializing with friends or people watching.”

–Trace Miller

ALEX TEY | WSN

17

SLICES OF HOME

UNDER THE ARCH

CHINA CHALET

By Ashley Wu Editor in Chief

The first thing I remember about China Chalet is the sidewalk. Cigarette butts and loose sequins scattered the pavement outside of the Financial District dim sum restaurant. The week of Halloween 2019, New Yorkers clad in angel wings and harnesses stood on the sidewalk together, their laughter bouncing across the scaffolding. It seemed they were all hurling towards the same bright, silver future: a future with darker rooms than the ones we were in, with more laughter, more costumes, more extravagance. We were frozen in time.

Then, during the pandemic summer, China Chalet shut its doors permanently. The news sent shockwaves through the local community. China Chalet was a spot that encompassed the city’s duality. By day, it was a restaurant frequented by office workers and friends who inhabited the glowing pink booths, poring over the traditional Cantonese dishes on the menu. At night, the back room was stripped of tables and chairs; the dingy restaurant became a spot populated by drag queens, NYU students, celebrities and miscreants.

The dance floor was borderless. Under the pulse of warm strobes, people of all genders, sexualities and races coagulated into one shifting mass. As a transfer student who sought out the confines of a nonjudgmental community, I found China Chalet to be utopian.

Growing up in the suburbs of Georgia, I did not have the terminology for the things I felt. I was a person inhab-

18

iting the space between spaces, an amalgamation of femininity and masculinity and nothing at all. In China Chalet, I saw there were still spaces for me to inhabit. The people there were beautiful and defied categorization. They placed more emphasis on their humanity and less emphasis on trying to define it.

I will always have a soft spot for the people I met at China Chalet, even the ones I never saw again. Collaged in my mind, they are characterized by small things: a gesture in a gloved hand or a coat brimming with feathers. I will always remember the old Chinese man who twanged at the erhu in the back of the dining room. He looked like my grandfather, and when we talked, he gave me words of advice.

The dance floor hollowed out eventually.

Near the end of the night, when everyone started heading home, there was a reverence that hung in the air. And then the artefacts were all that was left.

Lost jackets and bottle caps strewed the floor like bastions of a lost century. I wonder if they’re still there now.

ASHLEY WU | WSN

YI FANG FRUIT TEA AND A BAD GPS

By Caitlin Hsu Under the Arch Managing Editor

I don’t know how to explain how an appointment at the Fifth Avenue Microsoft store led me and my friend Danny to a boba tea shop in Flushing, except perhaps through a combination of kismet, free will and bad GPS signal on the E train.

The glass panels of Yi Fang Fruit Tea’s kitchen backsplash have a design identical to that of the windows in my grandmother’s home in Taipei. I remember noticing this similarity for the first time on my last trip to my parents’ home country.

I excitedly pointed it out to my mom as we stood in line for boba in the sweltering summer sun. The franchise had a location only a

couple blocks away from wai poa’s apartment.

I often caught the faint scent of citrus and honey lingering in the air as we passed by on our way to Taipei 101, Ximending, Shilin Night Market, or whatever destination we chose for that day.

I stood in line at Yi Fang’s Flushing location a couple of months later, excitedly telling my friend Danny about the glass panels. The sight of a stranger on the subway holding a beverage from Yi Fang, paired with Danny’s flair for spontaneity and my constant craving for boba tea, had led us to take a detour from our way back to campus. I didn’t know Yi Fang has locations in the United States, much less a location only 20 minutes away from my dorm. What’s more, on our journey there we had passed by Tiger Sugar, another Taiwanese boba tea chain that I also didn’t know existed in the United States.

We passed by Chinese supermarkets, JAKE CAPRIOTTI | WSN Chinese restaurants, street vendors and unexpected Taiwanese boba tea chains on that late September afternoon in Flushing. But it was the lingering smell of citrus and honey that instantly brought me back to my family’s home country on the other side of the world.

(Author’s note: When I looked up Yi Fang on my GPS that day, at a subway station on Fifth Ave, the closest one that popped up was in Flushing. In fact, Yi Fang has a location on St. Mark’s Place, five blocks away from campus. I choose to believe that fate led us to Flushing that day because the alternate explanation is that my phone GPS simply sucks.)

COLUMBUS PARK

By Alexandra Chan Managing Editor

I am a diaspora kid and I found a bit of home in Chinatown, but not because I wanted to reconnect with my roots.

Home is a concept I can’t hold onto. Home falls out of my fingers like sand, leaving minuscule cuts when I try to clench my fists.

I’ve moved more than 15 times and I’ve made and lost connections everywhere. New York was the only move that I chose; as a child, I had no agency in family decisions. I grew up in Hong Kong, lived in Shanghai and Los Angeles, and yearned to experience the biggest city for college. The winding transfers of the subway and the crush of narrow sidewalks are almost comforting.

Last November during my sophomore year, I walked half an hour from The Battery — where my dance team had wrapped up filming for a cover — to Chinatown, where we decided to get food.

My boots started to pinch and it was still early in the day, earlier than I would have liked to be physically active, but I barely noticed. My ears tried to listen to everything at once. I was distracted by pockets of eager conversation as I cautiously floated from person to person, from group to group of my teammates whom I wanted to call my friends.

We reached Chinatown and melted off in pairs and trios to get food before reconvening in Columbus Park. I stabbed my Yaya Tea boba and relaxed in the urban pocket of artificial green. We laid jackets down on the turf between the battered soccer goals and the sprawling criss-cross fences that reached up to the blue sky. We ate and wheezelaughed and talked for hours on that gentle Saturday afternoon.

Sambal and peanuts in a plastic takeout box caught my eye. I gasped and asked my friend where she got the nasi lemak. She lit up and all our nostalgia and feelings about Southeast Asian food came tumbling out. Some time later, at a dance practice, she brought me a cold, sweet milo drink lightly dusted with milo powder from the cafe where she worked.

MANASA GUDAVALLI | WSN

That day felt like a stolen moment of peace in the city that refuses to allow me any peace, but it’s a fight where I’m a willing participant. I loved that our laughter was real; it bubbled up from our insides and hung in the air long after the joke was over. I felt comfortable as cars, bicycles and pedestrians sped past outside the gates. This feeling didn’t need to happen at Columbus Park, it could have happened anywhere else in the city.

I don’t know what home means to me, and maybe I never will. I find home because I want it, but maybe home is not found. Home can be created. Home can be chosen. I want — and choose — to make my home out of organic joy and deliberate kindness.

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JAKE AND ALEX CAPTURE TIMES SQUARE IN 2020

by Alexandra Chan and Jake Capriotti Managing Editor and Photo Editor

On Sept. 5, 2020, we went to Times Square, then walked to Radio City Music Hall with our DSLRs and tripods to get some long-exposure shots of the city lights. We’re revisiting this shoot almost a year later to review what we captured in the hub of the city during the midst of the pandemic. Join us as we compare the shots we each ended up with after editing.

Equipment (camera, lens, tripod):

Alex: Canon 500D 8-200mm Compact Aluminum Manfrotto Tripod Jake: Nikon D7500 18-55mm Joilcan 65” Aluminium Tripod Contact Alexandra Chan and Jake Capriotti at underthearch@nyunews.com.

Alex: There were so many people that we had to set up next to two trash cans. My main focus was the light trails from cars on the street, so I decided to set the shutter speed to eight seconds after trying 10 seconds and five seconds.

Jake: Due to the number of people in the area — an unusual sight considering the status of the pandemic at the time — we set up shop close to the street. I kept my shutter speed relatively low, between one and four seconds. I accidentally bumped into the tripod with my hand, creating this shot.

Alex: I raised the contrast on this shot to emphasize the overwhelming feeling of the constant movement and glaring advertisements. A guard was supervising the line for the red stairs where we originally wanted to shoot, so we had to change plans.

Jake: I wanted to get an extreme wide shot of the area from atop the red stairs, but that ended up not being an option due to the security there. I shot this from near the trash cans where we took our first shot.

Alex: I can’t remember what made the tallest white light trail in this shot, but I think the end product with the three clear-cut lines turned out really cool. I kept the lighting warm because I think it feels more alive that way.

Jake: I intentionally kept my shutter open for 30 seconds to capture as many lines of light as possible. When I saw all the cars passing by this area, I knew I wanted to shoot here.

EXPOSURES 20

Though we set out with the same prompt and location, our differing equipment, framing and editing styles show how two photographers on the same assignment can produce different images.

We describe our thought processes below.

Jake: In front of Rockefeller Center was a parked car with a man inside watching TV on his phone. At the same time, speeding cars were passing by, so I wanted to capture the contrast between the two.

Jake: I wanted to take another shot of Radio City Music Hall as I had done before in one of my previous shoots. I shot vertically to capture the building’s full height.

Jake: For this shot, I lowered my tripod as low as I could to capture the buildings as well as the fountain. I created a shot similar to this last year without a tripod and wanted to attempt it again to capture smooth water.

Alex: The shutter speed for this shot was 10 seconds and the broken light trails were created by a large group of protesters on bicycles. I know there’s a way to change the wide-angle perspective and straighten the shot, but I like that it shows curved movement.

Alex: I shortened my tripod so much that my camera was practically directly on the marble. I didn’t want to see a sheet of water, so I put the shutter speed at two seconds, bringing out the lines in the water’s flow.

Alex: This is my favorite shot of the entire shoot because I can show what my astigmatism looks like. I love how every light looks like a star against the darker background and how the glowing Radio City Music Hall letters look like they’re popping right off the signs.

Alex: I love the framing of this shot even though I’m not excited about the two poles on the left. The car hood reflecting lights, the different lengths of the light trails reaching across and the angled perspective produced a surprisingly cohesive shot that I was initially nervous to try.

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MANDATORY ATTENDANCE POLICIES ARE IRRATIONAL AND ABLEIST

By Srishti Bungle Deputy Opinion Editor

MANASA GUDAVALLI | WSN

OPINION

NYU announced its plans to return to an in-person semester for the fall of 2021 however, there has been no broad action on addressing class attendance policies. With strict attendance policies along with the increasingly contagious new COVID variants like the delta variant, students worry that they will once again have to prioritize class attendance over their physical health.

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In spring 2021, NYU announced its plans to return to an in-person semester in the fall. Along with the announcement, the university released a number of requirements to keep students safe from the virus during the upcoming semester, including a mandatory vaccination policy. Although the university is taking many precautions, there has been no broad action on addressing class attendance policies.

Prior to the pandemic, many professors were known to give only one or two excused absences per semester. Exceptions were only made in extenuating circumstances like family emergencies, serious illness or personal injury. However, even during those circumstances, students were obligated to provide proof like doctor’s notes or familial confirmation.

These policies continued into the virtual classroom, only allowing at best for a few Zoom sessions to be missed. Still, the flexibility of online classes allowed disabled students, students who were feeling unwell and others to attend class without compromising their health or that of others.

A return to in-person education

compels us to reconsider attendance policies. If only allotted a few absences, students worry that they will once again have to prioritize class attendance over their physical health. How many times have students ignored a runny nose, a sore throat or a slight fever to attend classes so as to not waste their absences? How many students have had no option but to go to class ill so as to not compromise their grades?

COVID variants like the delta variant have proven to be increasingly contagious, affecting even vaccinated individuals. Coldlike symptoms that a student could have previously ignored could now mean a vulnerable peer contracting COVID-19. Though masking is effective at reducing transmission, the risk of spreading the virus remains very real.

Additionally, the past year and a half of Zoom classes have significantly increased the accessibility of a college education to disabled students. Virtual classes allowed these students to circumvent the barriers to class attendance presented by in-person learning.

With the return of in-person classes, professors replicating pre-pandemic attendance policies without providing virtual classes as an accommodation perpetuate ableism in higher education. Disabled students face two options: jeopardize their health or jeopardize their education. Students who cannot attend class may fall behind and their grades may suffer, but students who prioritize attendance may also face serious health-related consequences.

Many are eager to come back to in-person classes this fall.

It marks the significant progress we’ve made over the course of the pandemic, and it reminds us that there is hope for a post-COVID future. However, the pandemic highlighted the many failures of higher education — mandatory attendance policies are one of them.

As we approach the fall semester, professors and NYU administration alike need to address this glaring issue. The public health and safety of this university and its students depend on it.

Contact Srishti Bungle at opinion@nyunews.com.

CUOMO MUST NEVER HOLD OFFICE AGAIN

By Kevin Kurian Opinion Editor Note: This article contains mentions of sexual assault which may be triggering to some readers. Please proceed with caution.

A notorious sexual predator left New York’s highest office on Aug. 24.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) resigned in disgrace on Aug. 10, effective two weeks later, after an official investigation confirmed he had sexually harassed at least 11 women. New York Attorney General Letitia James found that the “Love Gov” had inappropriately touched and forcibly kissed a state trooper assigned to protect him, groped his aide, and, according to the Associated Press, asked a member of his staff if she was “open to sex with an older man” after she divulged that she was a survivor of sexual assault.

It was reassuring to see public pressure compel Cuomo to resign; but mere resignation is not sufficient to properly hold him accountable. The tone of Cuomo’s resignation speech was defiant and far from contrite, insisting that there was some great “generational and cultural” misunderstanding between his victims and him. Cuomo’s allies are already telegraphing a potential comeback; New York state Democratic chairman Jay Jacobs was quoted by The New York Times as saying that “American politics is rife with stories of redemption and people coming back.”

A public servant who cannot follow the sexual harassment laws that he personally signed has no place in political leadership. To hold the governor accountable, we must do everything in our power to prevent him from ever holding office again. Cuomo is a threat to his staffers and constituents and New York cannot afford to leave his potential return to office up to chance.

It’s worth noting that the grounds for Cuomo’s impeachment were met well before James’ investigation began. In February, the New York Post revealed that Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa and Cuomo intentionally withheld the true COVID-19 death toll counts within New York state nursing homes, fearing federal prosecution. To hide the death tolls — by as much as 50%, no less — to avoid being held accountable is obstruction of justice and a moral crime to the New Yorkers who lost family members because of Cuomo’s foolish decision to admit COVID-19 patients into nursing homes. Despite the coverage that praised Cuomo’s COVID-19 response, there has been a real human cost to the city and state because of his leadership decisions.

After his failure to protect New York’s most vulnerable, Governor Cuomo signed a book deal worth $5.1 million, titled “American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Even worse, in a case of textbook corruption, DeRosa and other leadership aides instructed official government employees

IMAGE VIA WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, STAFF PHOTO AND ILLUSTRATION BY MANASA GUDAVALLI

N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned in disgrace on Aug. 10 after an official investigation confirmed he had sexually harassed at least 11 women. Although public pressure compelled Cuomo to resign, a mere resignation is not sufficient to properly hold him accountable.

to work on the manuscript of the book, essentially using taxpayer money to generate millions of dollars in personal profit.

One controversy that has not been given nearly enough notice was Cuomo’s 2014 attempt to bully the White House in order to shut down former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara’s investigation into his administration. The director of Loyola Law School’s Public Service Institute, Jessica Levinson, believes that Cuomo’s move against the investigation could amount to an additional impeachable offense. It is extremely concerning to think that other controversies may have gone unreported over the course of Cuomo’s three terms in the Governor’s office and one term as the Attorney General, as well as his time in former President Bill Clinton’s cabinet.

Unfortunately, State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie announced that the impeachment investigation would be dropped, citing Cuomo’s resignation as governor and exit from the office. He believes the state constitution does not allow for the impeachment for a former elected official.

The speaker made the wrong decision. Just as former President Donald Trump was impeached shortly before the end of his term with the vote on his conviction happening after, Cuomo should have been impeached before his term in

office came to an end and convicted afterwards, assuming that such an action would be constitutional. Impeachment is not merely a means to remove Cuomo from office, but is also a way of communicating to current and future citizens that Cuomo failed to act in their best interests and mismanaged the COVID-19 pandemic.

Moreover, although Cuomo has left office, impeachment may remain a possibility. As impeaching a former officeholder is unprecedented within New York, constitutional experts are undecided about whether impeachment and conviction are even constitutional. If constitutional experts or some deliberative body within state government determine that impeaching a former officeholder is constitutional, the New York state Legislature must immediately move to impeach and convict Cuomo. Doing so would prevent him from holding statewide office ever again.

Outside of formal investigations and impeachments, voters have significant power, too. If Cuomo mounts a comeback bid one day, do not vote for him. Do not donate to him. Cuomo is a man who was a danger to his constituents every second he held office, and he should never hold office again.

Contact Kevin Kurian at opinion@nyunews.com.

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