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(02/04/17 10:50pm)
By Sydney Shaw
Former Editor-in-Chief
The College is a home away from home for thousands of students, staff and faculty members who live and learn within its colonial-style campus. But like all institutions, it is not without its faults.
Some students wake up to the roar of dumpsters getting emptied at 5 a.m., C-Store prices are ridiculously inflated and the din of construction seems to be an evergreen fixture of our not-so-perfect campus.
From recycling to mental health care to tuition increases, there are plenty of issues President R. Barbara Gitenstein should think about this spring semester.
1. Which resources will be missing in the wake of the TCNJ Clinic closing:
The TCNJ Clinic is set to close at the end of this academic year, taking with it the only source for students to receive on-campus, long-term counseling. Counseling and Psychological Services, located in Eickhoff Hall, follows a model of brief counseling, followed by a referral to an off-campus mental health care provider.
“Because CAPS can’t do long-term (treatment), it becomes complicated to place kids who are really struggling and need long-term help,” said Jennifer Sparks, the TCNJ Clinic director. “This is the only on-campus place for that.”
Unless the College plans to bolster the services offered by CAPS, there will be a gap in mental health care on campus when the fall semester rolls around.
2. How to prevent another tuition increase:
The cost of tuition at the College increased again this academic year, this time by 2.25 percent, or about $245. For students who live on campus, the total increase came to about $658 after housing and meal plan expenses. Believe it or not, hikes in tuition have nothing to do with the College’s many construction projects. Those are funded mostly through state grants.
Ideally, tuition would at least remain the same from year to year, but due to a variety of factors that include budget cuts and the hiring of an ever-increasing number of campus administrators, students are forced to pay more out of pocket to attend the College.
3. Why the College has so many administrators:
So, why does the College keep adding new administrative positions? Right now, there are 83 administrative offices listed on the College’s website, many of which house smaller offices. That adds up to hundreds of administrators, all of whom receive a decent salary. Gitenstein herself makes a base salary of around $355,341, plus a bonus that exceeds $71,000, according to NJ Spotlight.
“Gitenstein said that an increase in tuition might be necessary in order to fill a number of new positions,” according to a Signal article from a Board of Trustees meeting last May. Many, not all, of the positions that keep cropping up at the College are actually required by new federal and state regulations. Even so, there has to be a way to keep the cost down.
4. How to improve the College’s recycling program:
If you’ve been recycling your iced coffee cups from the Library Café, you’ve been doing it wrong. They’re made from a No. 5 plastic, and the College can only recycle No. 1 and No. 2 plastics. In fact, most packaging from on-campus eateries can’t be recycled on campus, including all paper coffee cups, Naked juice bottles and metallic wrapping from breakfast sandwiches.
If a campus recycling bin is sullied with too many non-recyclables, the whole bag gets carted off to a landfill, according to the College’s 2016 recycling brochure.
Until the College expands its recycling program — or purchases cups and packaging made with only recyclable materials — be wary of what you throw in those blue bins.
5. How to protect foreign students and employees in the wake of Trump’s immigrant ban:
On Monday, Jan. 30, Gitenstein sent an email to the campus community that addressed concerns about President Donald Trump’s executive order that restricts entry to the U.S. for nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. Gitenstein encouraged students and employees of the College who are from these countries to avoid travel and emphasized that information about a student’s national origin or immigration status is private.
Since I doubt this is the last we’ll hear from Trump on immigration policies, it’s important to continue considering how his executive orders can affect students, staff and faculty.
6. What to do about Loser Hall:
Last semester, a group of students uncovered documents that indicate Paul Loser, a former superintendent of Trenton schools and the namesake of Loser Hall, actively opposed the desegregation of the district. Since the revelation, many students, including 154 who voted in The Signal’s online poll, have called for the name of the building to change.
In the same poll, 116 individuals voted to keep the name the same, while 27 were undecided.
7. How much longer professors will be working without a contract:
Members of the College’s chapter of the American Federation of Teachers have been working without a contract for the past year and a half. That means the 600 or so professors that AFT represents haven’t received a significant raise in wages in more than five years. Now, they have to dish out money to pay for dramatically increasing health care costs.
According to John Krimmel, AFT president and a criminology professor, Gitenstein is supportive of the professors’ compensation — they’ve been negotiating with the government, not the College — but it’s worth keeping in mind that most professors make less money than they did in 2011, while campus administrators have continued to receive annual pay increases and bonuses.
8. Why the College doesn’t have menstrual products in bathrooms:
More than half of the students at the College get their period every month, yet none of the bathrooms on campus offer tampons, pads or menstrual cups.
Menstrual products are expensive — 40 states still tax these as luxury goods, which is designated for products deemed unnecessary — and many people, even those who take birth control, can’t pinpoint their period start date as accurately as they’d like.
A few hours after I began writing this article, I was rushed to the emergency room, where I spent hours in agony from a ruptured ovarian cyst. I was blown away by how many friends and professors told me they’ve experienced the same trauma, a potential side effect of which is an abnormal flow. If my period hits unexpectedly while I’m in class, it would be nice to know there are menstrual products right down the hallway.
9. Who could potentially replace her as a commencement speaker:
Students love President Gitenstein, but when Rutgers University hosted a different president — THE president, Barack Obama — at its commencement ceremony last year, students began to wonder why the Git is the most high-profile guest behind the lectern each year.
The College is often treated to special guest lectures courtesy of the College Union Board. In recent years, students have had the chance to see Ice-T, Laverne Cox and Humans of New York founder Brandon Stanton deliver inspiring speeches, but celebrities never grace the commencement stage.
10. Whether or not it’s smart to have fewer beds in the “new Towers”:
Travers and Wolfe halls might be on their last legs before the buildings are torn down and replaced by a new building for freshmen (and some older students). The newly proposed residence hall, which will cost around $95 million to construct, would have about 200 fewer beds than the current towers, which have about 1,100 beds. Sean Stallings, assistant vice president of Student Affairs, tried to assuage student concerns by pointing out that many of those beds remain vacant anyway, but students posed questions about how the College’s student body can be expected to grow in the future if there are fewer spots for them.
(12/07/16 2:54am)
By Sydney Shaw and Chelsea LoCascio
Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor
For years, only the rough outlines of Paul Loser Hall were known. In 1987, Tom Loser and his wife, Carol, donated a record-setting $1 million to the College, and in appreciation, the new building, which would house the Office of Admissions and the School of Nursing, Health and Exercise Science, was named after Tom’s father, Paul.
Fast forward nearly 20 years after the building’s dedication: This month, a team of six students unveiled their semester-long research into the history of Paul Loser, during which they uncovered documents that indicate the Trenton superintendent of schools from 1932 to 1955 actively opposed the desegregation of the region’s schools.
In the wake of the emergence of the documents, a newly formed group called the TCNJ Committee on Unity — a non-Student Government-recognized organization named after a civil rights group that formed in Trenton in the mid-1940s — has spearheaded a campaign to change the name of Paul Loser Hall.
The research
In September, six students began an archival research project on the history of Trenton education, overseen by Robert McGreevey, a history professor at the College. They scoured the Trenton Public Library’s Trentoniana archive, as well as the Trenton Evening Times archive at the New Jersey State Library, for McGreevey’s 20th century Trenton history independent research course.
That’s where Kevin Moncayo, a senior history and psychology double major, found a letter written to Paul Loser from a doctor named Leroy Morris that lead to the discovery of far more than the team expected. In the letter, Morris asked Paul Loser to stop asking for his support for segregation, since he didn’t personally believe in the institution. Moncayo shared his findings with research teammates Tim Osborn, a senior physics major, and Chris Loos, a sophomore history major.
“This prompted us to look into why Loser might be trying to label someone as a supporter of segregation,” Osborn said.
Documents indicate that Loser fought to keep children of color in New Lincoln School, the district’s all-black school, even though Junior High School No. 2 was closer to the children’s homes. After this information came to light in McGreevey’s class, Osborn, Loos and Moncayo distributed flyers and petition sheets that called for Loser Hall’s name to change.
“Changing Loser's name is the short-term goal, but in the long term, it's hoped that (the TCNJ Committee on Unity)... will be sustained and able to bring students together across organizational lines to collaborate in action around social justice issues pertinent to the campus,” said Rosie Driscoll, a member of McGreevey’s research team and a junior history and women’s, gender and sexuality studies double major.
The case
According to Hedgepeth and Williams v. Board of Education, Trenton, NJ, parents Gladys Hedgepeth and Berline Williams sued the Trenton Board of Education in 1943. Their children — Janet and Leon, respectively — lived only two blocks from Junior High School No. 2, but were, instead, forced to attend the all-black New Lincoln School.
Court documents state that New Lincoln School was significantly farther away than Junior No. 2, and the classes and resources it offered were far inferior. All of Janet and Leon’s white neighborhood peers were allowed to attend Junior No. 2 without resistance. In 1944, the case reached the New Jersey Supreme Court, where Paul Loser was called to testify. Trenton NAACP lawyer Robert Queen, who represented the parents, questioned Paul Loser on his role in assigning students to New Lincoln School.
In the context of history, Trenton’s school segregation might not seem too unscrupulous. After all, segregation was the norm across the country at the time. But in the case of Trenton and Paul Loser, segregation violated the district’s own written policy, as well as state law.
“The law states no child between the ages of 4 and 20 years shall be excluded from any public school on the grounds of his religion, nationality or color,” Queen told Loser during a hearing, according to the case files.
After Paul Loser acknowledged this fact, Queen continued his questioning.
“Aren’t both Leon Williams and Janet Hedgepeth excluded from Junior Two on the ground of color?” Queen said.
“Yes, in accordance with the policy and philosophy of education,” Paul Loser responded.
When Queen asked if separate schools should be set up “for such minority groups in the city as Italians, Poles, Jews, Hungarians, and Germans,” the elder Loser said that “he had not given this proposal any thought.”
The State Supreme Court ultimately sided with Queen, Hedgepeth and Williams, and the Court’s decision struck down segregation across the state. In 1991, the Trenton Board of Education changed the name of Junior High School No. 2 to Hedgepeth-Williams School to honor the mothers’ fight for equality.
"We think it clear that the children are unlawfully discriminated against. It is unlawful for Boards of Education to exclude children from any public school on the ground that they are of the negro race,” the New Jersey State Supreme Court wrote in its decision.
A decade later, the case was cited in a much more impactful case, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS, in which the Supreme Court struck down school segregation throughout the U.S.
Despite the legal defeat, documents show that Paul Loser continued to delay the integration of public schools in Trenton. In response to his reluctance, an organization known as the Trenton Committee for Unity (TCU) was formed in order to place additional pressure on the board. In late April 1945, upset parents began writing letters to Paul Loser and the board to decry the continued segregatory policies.
During the TCU’s administrative committee meeting that month, Paul Loser “maintain(ed) that the majority of colored parents wish their children to attend Lincoln School; that Negro Educators of the highest authority say that segregation in the junior high school period is best,” according to the meeting minutes.
The reaction
“I find it egregious that a school that markets itself as an inclusive and — in many ways — progressive public institution has a building on campus in honor of a segregationist who would not have wanted a significant portion of our community to be here,” Driscoll said. “As someone who is fairly connected on campus and trained in grassroots organizing, I feel responsible for engaging in action to raise awareness and engage others in a campaign to change the name.”
College President R. Barbara Gitenstein addressed concerns through an email sent to the campus community on Thursday, Dec. 1.
“In the last two days, aspects of Dr. Paul Loser’s past have been brought into focus on campus. The information that was shared first in posters and later in news articles is due to the diligent archival research of several of our students,” the email reads. “Our students documented that he espoused beliefs that run counter to our commitment to an inclusive campus.”
Gitenstein wrote that she hopes to hold a campus presentation for students, faculty and staff to weigh in on the matter.
“TCNJ must be thoughtful in understanding the full historical context but forthright in confronting the facts,” she wrote. “We must decide what is the most productive plan of action when we learn that our campus has honored someone whose belief system is inconsistent with our mission, including building an inclusive community of learners.”
College spokesperson Dave Muha said such a meeting probably won’t be feasible until the spring semester begins in January.
“The conversation that we're about to begin is not a debate about whether or not to change a building name,” Muha wrote in an email. “The dialog will be a sharing of what the students learned through their research, an opportunity to consider additional information, as appropriate, and a processing of what this means to us as a community.”
(11/21/16 1:47am)
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By Sydney Shaw
Editor-in-Chief
Crowd surfers bumped along atop raised palms as hundreds of voices screamed, “So I called to apologize for every night I told you I didn’t wanna live my life.” Adam Ackerman hoisted his guitar high above his head and shredded as Cameron Boucher led the second half of the chorus: “But I hung up before you could pick up ’cause I changed my mind.”
In that wild moment, one could be forgiven for forgetting they were still at the College.
Sorority Noise brought its fuzzy emo rock sounds to the Decker Social Space on Friday, Nov. 18, for the penultimate CUB Alt show of the fall semester.
The upstart Hartford, Conn.-based band played half of its latest record, which is not quite self-pitying enough to be pigeonholed as emo, not quite angsty enough to call itself pop punk. Somewhere in between, Sorority Noise channels its raw energy into mental health advocacy on “Joy, Departed.”
“If you’re dealing with any mental illness, don’t let people tell you to get over it. Tell those people to fuck themselves because they don’t really care about you,” Boucher said.
His sentiments are echoed in the song “Mononokay,” as he sings, “Call me depressed, tell me to get over it. It’s not in my head, it’s in my blood.”
Boucher, who has manic depression, often incorporates imagery of darkness into his songs: Drugs, death and feelings of worthlessness are rampant across his lyrical catalog. Powerful playing and intense vocals make the tracks more fun than sad, though. During “Blonde Hair, Black Lungs,” hearing hundreds of students scream “I’m so scared of dying alone that I’ll kill myself right here, right now” felt more like a buoyant celebration than a despairing promise.
The jovial mood was assisted by Ackerman, whose boundless playing was accentuated by impressive guitar stunts. He thrashed around the stage all night long, his shaggy blonde hair flying out in all directions.
During “Art School Wannabe,” he jump-kicked as Boucher sang, “Maybe I’m just scared to admit that I might not be as dark as I think. Maybe I’m not the person that I never wanted to be.” Much of “Joy, Departed” hinges on this idea of recovery and regaining self-worth, while 2014’s “Forgettable” was drenched in depression. Sorority Noise played some tracks from that debut, like “Mediocre at Best” and “Still Shrill.”
“Maybe I'll drink myself to sleep, ’cause that's what I'm used to,” Boucher sings on the latter, and on “Mediocre,” he meanders in his bedheaded voice: “Nobody likes me, that’s what I tell myself… I spent a lot of last year learning I don’t like me, too.”
On “Joy, Departed,” though, Sorority Noise emerges stronger, self-aware and ready to fight. The band’s continual growth is evident even within its sophomore effort. On “Art School Wannabe,” Boucher sings, “I know that I’m not worth your time.” Just two tracks later, he trashes that idea on “Using,” arguably the band’s most manic track, as he sings, “I know I’m more than worthy of your time.”
This 180-degree turn reflects Boucher’s own day-to-day life.
“Some days, I can’t get up and get out of bed, and some days, I get up at 6 in the morning,” he said. “It’s hard to predict, and it’s hard to deal with life.”
But on “Using,” Boucher faces his demons — drugs, cigarettes and other vices — head on. The band yells together, “I stopped wishing I was dead!” in a hair-raising surge of triumph. Their desire to live is overwhelming.
“I have a life worth living, and I have a lot of things to get done in my life, so I continue to get up,” Boucher told the audience. “And I just want everyone else to know you also have a life worth living.”
(11/17/16 10:16pm)
By Sydney Shaw
Editor-in-Chief
On Modern Baseball’s most recent record, Jacob Ewald talks a lot about hiding.
“Holt’s above my hideout,” he sings on “Note to Self.” As the song builds, he croons, “Wake up and we find new hiding places.”
On the next track, Ewald returns to the theme: “You need to hide, it’s in your framework.”
The final song of his half of the album is even titled “Hiding.” But at the College on Tuesday, Nov. 15, Ewald and Brendan Lukens did anything but.
Just one day after finishing a month-long tour with Brand New and The Front Bottoms, the duo bared all during an acoustic CUB Alt show that nearly pushed the Library Auditorium past its fire code limit.
“The Brand New tour was really weird because they’re a really big band, and when they play their show, it’s like a performance,” Lukens said. “But when Modern Baseball is playing the show, they’re trying not to trip over stuff.”
There was no chance of tripping on this night. Lukens and Ewald sat side-by-side and announced they would open with an extensive block from “Holy Ghost,” released in May.
“These first two songs go together,” Ewald said of the album’s namesake track and “Wedding Singer.” “They’re a combination of thinking about my grandpa dying, and also falling in love.”
His confession prompted Lukens to launch into the opening guitar riff to “Slide” by The Goo Goo Dolls — the first of many spontaneous renditions of song intros that evening, including Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” and “Possum Kingdom” by the Toadies. The audience ate it up every time.
During moments like these, Modern Baseball seemed more like a campy, two-man improv comedy troupe than a band famous for songs that tackle topics such as mental illness, romantic betrayal and death.
Their audience appreciated the comic relief, though, like when Lukens prepared them for “Your Graduation.” The track is usually reserved for encores, but instead, after a minutes-long sentimental story of what the song is about, he made up a new one on the spot.
“Your graduation is today,” Lukens sang over the crowd’s wailing laughter. “I wish I could be there with you, but it’s also my birthday, so I’m not coming.”
Ewald caught on quick. He plucked away a harmony on his guitar, his gentle “ooos” floating in the background. Lukens lost his composure before he made it to the second verse, but managed to include lyrics about resisting bedtime and his mom baking him a cake.
At the flip of a dime, though, the mood would fall somber.
“I was a super destructive person for a long period of my life,” Lukens said. “I used to drink a lot and I used to cut a lot and I used to behave very poorly to myself.
“My BFF” — he pointed to Ewald — “called my mom one day and let her know that I was under some stress, and that it had led to me almost committing suicide.”
Lukens talks about his struggles with mental illness in “Tripping in the Dark,” a 17-minute long documentary released in April that details Modern Baseball’s journey from playing basement shows in Philadelphia to headlining massive venues around the world.
“I really hunkered down on being the best person I can be and not letting my mental illness, which is bipolar disorder, contribute to me just being a shitty guy,” he said.
Lukens ended the emotional interlude by asking for song requests, which fired at the pair from all directions. After a few moments, Ewald put his hands up.
“Woah, woah, woah,” he said. “Who asked what you wanted to hear?”
They were back in comedy mode.
They settled on “Broken Cash Machine” off their second studio album, “You’re Gonna Miss It All.” Ewald said the track was originally named “Broken Couch Machine.”
“That week, I went to an ATM and my debit card got stuck in it, and I couldn’t have it back. So I changed the name to ‘Broken Cash Machine,’” Ewald said. “It makes more sense than ‘Broken Couch Machine.’ I was just trying to be edgy.”
Ewald said he wanted to slow the song down, and smiled ear-to-ear as he began strumming his guitar at half-speed.
Lukens spoke the first few lyrics in a deep voice, fitting for the severely sluggish version, and then keeled over laughing.
“What if they all, like, weren’t having fun at all?” Ewald asked Lukens as he gestured to the audience.
Judging by the smiles on everyone’s faces, though, he didn’t have anything to worry about.
(11/08/16 3:24am)
By Sydney Shaw
Editor-in-Chief
Look out, Tinder. Friendsy, a new networking app, has permeated the College’s social sphere by targeting one of the biggest communities on campus: Greek Life.
When Princeton University alumnus Vaidhy Murti (’15) created the app, which launched nationwide in March, he made it exclusive to individuals with .edu email addresses.
“I started Friendsy my sophomore year of college,” Murti told The Signal. “I felt, and still feel, that you’re surrounded by so many people while you’re in college, and a lot of those people you meet by complete random chance... Almost everyone I knew wanted to meet more people, but you kind of get stuck in your social circles and it’s hard to branch out.”
That’s where Friendsy comes into play. Rather than swiping left or right to discard or match with someone, like Tinder, Friendsy users can select whether they want to friend, date or hook up with a fellow college student. If that student selects the same option(s) when your profile pops up, you match.
Users can filter profiles by gender, school, year, major or group. The app also offers a “hint” feature. For example, a user might be notified, “A girl from your school in the class of 2017 wants to go on a date with you.”
Murti has some creative initiatives up his sleeve to promote the app and increase its user base among college students, many of which include appealing to fraternities and sororities.
Shayna, a Friendsy user from the College and a member of Greek Life, said her sorority encouraged her to download the new app.
“Sadly I had to sign up for my sorority,” she wrote in a Friendsy message to Austin Merritt, a junior interactive multimedia major. “Apparently we get money towards our philanthropy, which makes no sense at all.”
It makes sense to Murti, though. The idea is that by adding incentive for members of Greek Life to download the app, the rest of the campus will follow suit.
“At TCNJ, we've done a few tabling events, giveaways, we sponsored a (fraternity’s) Halloween party so people on the list didn't need pay a cover,” Murti said. “We’ve partnered with several organizations on campus to help them raise money for their philanthropy in exchange for helping us to promote the app.”
The Friendsy team also works to promote the app through the news media.
On Halloween night, a BuzzFeed community post — posts that have not been vetted or endorsed by BuzzFeed’s editorial staff — emerged titled “11 Signs Your Night Was Trash At TCNJ.”
http://twitter.com/cristinarod7/status/793241277340975105
No. 6 on the list reads, “All your Friendsy mutuals are going to the same party as you, so you have to play all of them.” At the bottom of the post, there is a photo of the Friendsy logo beneath the text, “Friendsy is a social network helping college students expand their circles!”
The post was penned by Betsy Studholme, Friendsy’s Social Media manager.
“We're a team of 10 people — three of us have graduated college, seven are still in college — and our skill sets cover a wide range, from being able to build products to being able to market and promote them,” Murti said. “We're a super close-knit team working day and night to bring our vision for Friendsy to life and connect as many college students as we can.”
According to Murti, Friendsy team members are compensated for their work. The company raised a seed round of venture capital last year.
“Outside investors have invested in our company — they've bought a certain percentage of our company in exchange for funding,” he said. “Venture capital firms usually invest in early-stage startups that they believe have a really high trajectory for growth.”
For the Friendsy team, though, Murti said it’s not about the money.
“Everyone on the team is compensated, but that's not the driving force behind why they work so hard,” he said. “We all really believe in and love what we do.”
(11/04/16 4:13am)
By Sydney Shaw
Editor-in-Chief
Beginning Thursday, Nov. 3, swipe access for students will be restricted to their assigned residence halls, according to an email from Residential Education and Housing sent to the campus community that evening.
This safety measure comes one week after Campus Police received multiple reports of intrusions into residence halls and dorm rooms.
According to the email, students and community members with active ID cards will still have full access to dining locations, such as the Atrium at Eickhoff and T-Dubs. Access to area offices for package pickup and spare key retrieval will be limited to the hours between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m.
The email reminded students that guests, including students who visit other residence halls, must register at the front desk after 8 p.m., and guests must be escorted by the building occupant at all times, as per the College's guest policy.
(11/02/16 11:40pm)
By Sydney Shaw
Editor-in-Chief
In the wake of recent dorm room intrusions at the College, administrators are encouraging students to sign up for emergency text alerts.
College spokesperson Dave Muha sent an email to the campus community on Wednesday, Nov. 2, with the subject line “Are you registered for emergency alerts?”
“Three times this semester, emergency alerts were sent via text message to notify you of a reported intruder in the residence halls,” Muha wrote. “If you are enrolled in TCNJ's emergency alert system and your phone number is accurate, you should have received these notifications.”
According to Muha, students who didn’t receive text alerts might not be registered for them. Those who are registered and still didn’t receive the alerts might need to update their phone number in PAWS.
To register for text alerts, students can log into their PAWS accounts and click “Student Center.”
Near the bottom of the page, in the “Contact Information” box, click on “Mobile & Other Phones.” There, you’ll be prompted to type your phone number. Select “Text Alert 1” from the dropdown menu and type your cell phone number under “Telephone.”
If you’d like to register another phone number to receive text alerts, such as the phone numbers for parents or emergency contacts, you can click “Add A Phone Number” and select “Text Alert 2” or “Text Alert 3” from the dropdown menu.
(11/01/16 6:20pm)
By Sydney Shaw
Editor-in-Chief
When College administrators announced at the beginning of September that guests would be prohibited from bringing outside alcohol into this year’s Homecoming tailgate, the campus community was outraged. Of the more than 400 people who voted in The Signal’s most recent online poll, 76 percent indicated they are against the new policy.
According to Amy Hecht, vice president for Student Affairs, and John P. Donohue, vice president for College Advancement, the changes were made in an effort to ensure that all guests could enjoy Homecoming safely on Saturday, Oct. 29.
“We can have fun without getting drunk, but…” was a common thread seen on social media over the past few weeks. Students’ arguments covered everything from the annoyance of waiting in long lines — the College hired a third-party vendor to serve alcohol at the tailgate and monitor consumption — to having to pay a hefty price for a drink — the price of beer fluctuated from $3 to $4 for a 12 oz. container, while wine was $4 per 5 oz. — to the possibility of alumni feeling less inclined to donate money to the College.
The biggest concern, though, appeared to be that students might drink in excess prior to arriving at the tailgate and put themselves at risk for alcohol poisoning. It’s true that students who are of the legal drinking age might not want to wait in vendor lines or pay for drinks, and those who are under 21 can’t sneak any alcohol if there isn’t a huge amount being brought into the tailgate in the first place.
So, how did this new policy fare in reality?
There was only one summons, one citation for underage drinking, one medical transport and five total medical incidents at this year’s tailgate, according to Campus Police.
The statistics are nearly nonexistent compared to those from the 2015 Homecoming tailgate, when Campus Police issues 16 summonses, 14 citations for underage drinking, called for two medical transports and handled 14 total medical incidents.
In previous years, there were far more alcohol-related issues. In 2013, Campus Police saw eight medical transports, 25 summonses and 24 citations for underage drinking.
In other words, the College’s new policy worked. It resulted in fewer trips to the hospital and fewer legal issues for students than in previous years.
People might argue that there were fewer medical transports because there were fewer people at the tailgate in general. But despite the announcement of the changes nearly two months prior to Homecoming, there was a tremendous turnout at the tailgate.
More than 1,500 alumni pre-registered for the event, and the tailgate itself had around 3,000 people attend at any given time, according to John Castaldo, the executive director for Alumni Affairs. Dozens of organizations from the College still showed up to rep blue and gold and mingle with friends.
However, there were many angry students who skipped the tailgate entirely to drink with friends in their dorms and off-campus homes. Those individuals argue that the new alcohol policy takes away the whole point of Homecoming: to showcase school spirit and connect with friends and alumni.
I bet it was nearly impossible, though, to connect with people at the tailgate for those students who didn’t show up to it at all. They promised they could have fun without getting drunk. They said they just desperately wanted to spend time with students, past and present. But in the end, they didn’t show up. Why was this new policy such a deterrent?
The truth is that many of these students can’t actually enjoy themselves without the aid of alcohol. Drinking is more intertwined with the concept of Homecoming than the actual purpose of the event. It’s about celebrating school spirit, forging new friendships with alumni and strengthening existing ones with students — not about getting wasted in a parking lot.
Next year, I encourage students to approach any proposed Homecoming policies with an open mind. Appreciate that College administrators spend a great deal of time considering the pros and cons of these policies and that they are implemented solely for the wellness of the guests there, not to suck the fun out of a much-anticipated event.
(10/25/16 8:17pm)
By Sydney Shaw
Editor-in-Chief
If you think the 2016 presidential race is bizarre, journalist Robert Strauss has a message for you: “You haven’t seen anything.”
Strauss has written for publications such as Sports Illustrated and The New York Times, where he has had more than 1,000 bylines. His newest book analyzes the presidency of James Buchanan, whom Strauss dubs in the title the “Worst. President. Ever.”
His Brown Bag lecture on Friday, Oct. 21, emphasized that even though this election cycle might seem bitter, history reminds us it could be a lot worse.
“People always ask me, ‘Why don’t you write about Washington or Lincoln?’” Strauss said. “Everybody writes about the best. I wanted to find somebody who wasn’t so good, someone we could learn from.”
It’s hard to hold a candle to those two presidents. After all, no other president in history can be America’s first, and Strauss said it’s unlikely we’ll be faced with another civil war anytime soon.
According to Strauss, whether Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump can live up to the standards set by Washington and Lincoln is beside the point — neither candidate will be the worst president to lead the nation since its independence. But why does Buchanan take the cake?
As a Buchanan Pez dispenser rested on the lectern in front of him — one of his greatest artifacts on his office shelf, he said — Strauss explained that his path to that realization began in a small coin shop. He was searching for a coin to gift to his wife on their 25th wedding anniversary when he noticed that some of the coins from the late 1850s were much smaller than the older ones.
“Oh, the Panic of 1857,” the shop owner told Strauss. He explained that President Buchanan couldn’t figure out a solution to the country’s economic decline, so he opted for making smaller coins to utilize less gold and silver.
Strauss criticized Buchanan’s handling of the crisis, but noted that his ineffectiveness had far greater consequences, like the fumbling of the Dred Scott case, which is widely referred to as the worst Supreme Court decision in U.S. history.
“After his master died, Scott brought the case that he should be free because he had lived in nonslave territory,” Strauss wrote in a Politico article in September.
Buchanan ultimately ignored the separation of powers and convinced jurist Robert Cooper Grier to go along with the majority opinion that African Americans were not — and were never meant to be — citizens of the U.S., and that the property rights of slaveholders were protected by the Constitution.
Buchanan’s passivity during this crucial case — and throughout his presidency — is considered by many historians to be a contributing factor to the Civil War.
“Throughout his term, when a fork appeared in the road, Buchanan managed to take the wrong turn,” Strauss wrote in the same article.
Buchanan took another wrong turn when he caused entire villages in Utah to be burned to the ground because he thought a jurisdictional dispute was actually a Mormon revolt.
He sent troops to settle the “Pig War,” in which a settler along the Canadian border shot a pig owned by the Hudson Bay Co. that wandered onto his property, instead of keeping them in Kansas, where hostilities flared over whether it would enter the union as a slave or free state.
Besides recounting Buchanan’s past, Strauss analyzed the history of hotly-contested elections in U.S. history. He recognized that this year’s election cycle has been particularly vitriolic, but hinted that if it were the early 1800s, there might be more severe consequences than criticism in the media.
“I don’t think Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are going to… duel,” he said, like Thomas Jefferson's vice president Aaron Burr did with former Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton.
Ultimately, Strauss said, the state of the union could be — and has been — a lot worse.
Before his lecture ended, Strauss left students with some food for thought: Whether you love or hate the two frontrunners, there’s one thing we can all agree on — neither of them started the Civil War.
(10/25/16 1:17am)
By Sydney Shaw and Chelsea LoCascio
Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor
The College has seen an increase in reports of intrusions into campus residence halls and dorm rooms, according to an email sent to the campus community on Friday, Oct. 21, by John Collins, Campus Police chief and director of Campus Security.
“We are taking this matter very seriously and are making every effort to apprehend the individual or individuals responsible,” Collins wrote in the email. “We are conducting interviews and examining a great deal of investigatory information and have dedicated additional resources to resolving this matter.”
A female student told The Signal that she woke up in her Decker Hall dorm room on Friday, Oct. 21, around 2:30 a.m., and noticed someone sitting on the floor. When she asked who he was, he told her that her roommate had let him in to use their bathroom.
“The next morning, I asked my roommate if she had let someone use our bathroom last night,” she said, but her roommate had no idea what she was talking about. After learning that an intruder entered an unlocked room in another residence hall that same night, she called Campus Police.
“The scary thing is that I have no idea how I woke up from my deep sleep, and how long he was in my room,” she said.
The student said the College doesn’t feel safe anymore, especially since Desk Assistants are students who only stay until 2 a.m. and there aren’t any security cameras in residence halls.
An emergency text alert from the College was sent to the campus community just before 5 a.m. on Friday. It warned students of an intruder who reportedly entered an unlocked room in New Residence Hall. The intruder, who was wearing light shorts and a dark shirt, is a white male about 5-foot-9 with a thin face.
According to the email from Collins, police presence in and around residence halls was increased over the weekend the email was sent.
The email advised students and other members of the community to lock their doors when they go to bed or leave the room, make sure no exterior residence hall doors are propped open and avoid letting strangers follow them inside after they swipe their ID cards to unlock residence halls.
Anyone with more information should contact Campus Police at 609-771-2167 at any hour, and call 911 if anything suspicious or of concern occurs.
(10/12/16 1:03am)
By Sydney Shaw
Editor-in-Chief
The number of rapes reported to Campus Police, both on campus and residentially, doubled from 2014 to 2015, according to the College’s 2015 Annual Campus Security and Fire Safety Report.
The report shows that in 2014, three rapes were reported on campus and two were reported residentially. One year later, six on-campus rapes were reported to Campus Police, as well as four off-campus rapes.
The report also indicates an increase in reports of dating violence at the College. In 2014, one instance of on-campus dating violence was reported, but in 2015, that number rose to nine. Residentially, the reported number increased from one to seven.
The number of reported stalking instances, both on campus and residentially, rose from zero to two in that same time frame, according to the report.
Two instances of fondling were also reported on campus last year, although statistics for previous years were not recorded.
In addition, the report shows that over the past two years, there was a drop in the number of arrests for violations of liquor law on campus. While 85 arrests were made in 2014, only 73 were made last year.
According to the report, there was also one report of aggravated assault, four reports of burglary, two reports of motor vehicle theft and one report of arson in the form of an intentionally ignited trash can.
“The Campus Security Act requires all institutions of higher education that are Title IV eligible to report their crime statistics to the Department of Education and the general public by October 1, 2016,” according to an email sent to the campus community by Police Chief John Collins on Thursday, Sept. 29, that contained a links to the online version of the report.
According to the email, paper copies of the report may be obtained through the Office of Campus Police Services, the Office of Admissions, the Office of Anti-Violence Initiatives, the Brower Student Center Information Desk, the Career Center, the Office of Human Resources, the Office of the Vice President for Student Affairs, the Department of Administrative and Environmental Services or from any campus police officer.
(10/10/16 9:16pm)
By Sydney Shaw
Editor-in-Chief
The menu for this year’s Homecoming tailgate has been announced and includes the prices of alcoholic beverages available for purchase on Saturday, Oct. 29.
Since no off-site alcohol will be allowed at the College’s annual Homecoming tailgate, according to a campus-wide email sent by Amy Hecht, vice president for Student Affairs, and John Donohue, vice president for College Advancement, students and guests who are of the legal drinking age can purchase alcoholic drinks from a third-party vendor that will be on-location and monitor consumption.
The price of beer fluctuates from $3 to $4 for a 12 oz. container, while wine is $4 per 5 oz.
While Fetzer cabernet and chardonnay are the only wine options on the list, attendees who are 21 or older will have a wider variety of beer choices.
Budweiser and Bud Light are $3 each. Hard ciders, like Strongbow Hard Apple Cider, and specialty lagers, like Brooklyn Oktoberfest, are $4 each.
Non-alcoholic beverages — water, sodas, coffee and tea — are $2 each.
The menu also includes prices of food items that will be sold at the tailgate, which range from $1 for a bag of chips to $8 for a jumbo Bavarian pretzel. Hot food items, like burgers, hot dogs and roasted turkey legs, will also be available.
(10/10/16 7:19pm)
By Sydney Shaw
Editor-in-Chief
When Benjamin Hopkins burst through the doors of the Decker Social Space with messy, colorful makeup plastered on their face, they left a trail of glitter in their wake — part and parcel for all of PWR BTTM’s performances.
As Hopkins adjusted the sleeves on a tight red dress and kicked off the pair of pants they were wearing underneath, Liv Bruce laughed, with dark red lipstick highlighting a huge smile.
The duo apologized for being late (they had driven nine hours to get to the College on Friday, Oct. 7) and announced that this CUB Alt show, like all of their shows, was a safe space.
That’s what PWR BTTM is all about: respecting each other, having fun and shattering societal norms in a most radical fashion.
The New York-based band made headlines this summer in major media outlets, like MTV and NPR, for requiring gender-neutral bathrooms at their shows. Both Hopkins and Bruce use gender-neutral pronouns to describe themselves.
PWR BTTM’s unapologetic queerness shines through in their lyrics, which alternate between silly and sincere.
“My girl gets scared, can’t take him anywhere,” Hopkins sings in “Ugly Cherries,” the namesake of the duo’s first album. “My girl’s so sad. Everything I do makes him mad.”
How can a “girl” be referred to as “him?” Is Hopkins singing about a girl or a boy? How do gender-neutral pronouns work? Invoking these questions is just PWR BTTM’s first step. Actually teaching their audiences about gender identities is a far loftier undertaking.
After explaining gender-neutral pronouns to their friend’s very Republican father this summer — something Hopkins said should be a feat in the Olympics — Bruce wrote a song about how fun it can be to teach people to address others in a way that makes sense.
“I’m not exactly a boy in a dress, but thank you, I know what you mean,” they sing on the track. “Do you wanna ask me something? Do you wanna look at me?”
It isn’t just PWR BTTM’s lyrics that impress. The band’s glamorous lo-fi sound and intense power chords have poised the duo to break out into the mainstream. At one point during the night, Hopkins fell onto their back and shredded on their guitar with well-manicured fingers, while Bruce bared their teeth and pounded away on their kit.
Halfway through their set, the duo switched instruments and launched into “I Wanna Boi,” the featured song in PWR BTTM’s most recent music video. The performance turned into a wild, head thrashing singalong that was only rivaled by the band’s encore.
There, Hopkins invited the crowd to scream along with them to a poem they wrote: “One man won’t ever love me like I need him to.”
Other tracks were not so raucous. Before “C U Around,” Bruce told the crowd it was OK if they started to cry, an invitation appreciated by the handful of fans in tears by the end of the song.
“I’m looking forward to the day when we can be in the same place and my heart won’t start to beat at such a frantic pace,” Bruce sang. “But today was not that day.”
The pair was their own comic relief. When Hopkins asked the sound technicians to turn up their voice in the microphone, Bruce interjected.
“More importantly, was there enough of my voice?” they asked. “More of me, please!”
The duo playfully bantered with each other all night long.
“There’s a band called the Dixie Chicks,” Hopkins said later. “They’re very good and you should listen to them instead of us. Have you ever heard ‘Goodbye Earl?’ It’s everything you wish we were.”
PWR BTTM fans ate up the joke, but from the looks of it, they didn’t wish for anything more than what was right in front of them: two individuals who aren’t afraid to be themselves, and encourage others to do the same.
Like the glitter embedded in the carpet of the Decker Social Space, PWR BTTM doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon.
(10/04/16 4:53pm)
By Sydney Shaw
Editor-in-Chief
Donald Trump called a convicted cocaine trafficker “a credit to the community” after allowing the man to manage his personal helicopter to shuttle high rollers to his casinos.
He said his net worth fluctuates based on how he feels — “even my own feelings, as to where the world is, where the world is going, and that can change rapidly from day to day.”
Trump likely hasn’t paid federal income tax since 1977, and during the first presidential debate on Monday, Sept. 26, he said his tax evasion makes him “smart.”
Whether or not you like the Republican presidential candidate is beside the point — all of those assertions are true. Acclaimed writer David Cay Johnston visited the College on Tuesday, Sept. 27, to share more facts about the real estate mogul he has known for nearly three decades.
“Journalists have a unique position in the world,” Johnston said. “We are the only occupation where we are paid to tell you the truth... Our only reason to exist is to tell you the truth — the verifiable truth, not opinions.”
Unaided by a microphone, Johnston told the crowd in the Education Building that through his work as a journalist, he’s accused people of murder, exposed corruption scandals and forced two presidents to change their tax policies.
He isn’t just confident, though. He’s correct. Despite intense scrutiny, every single one of Johnston’s stories, no matter how ambitious, has held up as true — even the stories included in his latest book, “The Making of Donald Trump,” which skyrocketed to No. 15 on The New York Times hardcover nonfiction best sellers list in August.
Johnston is the winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for beat reporting. His byline has appeared in major media outlets like The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and, most recently, New York Daily News, where a day prior to his visit to the College, he published a story titled “14 questions for Mr. Trump to answer in Monday's big debate.”
Johnston met Trump in 1988, when he took over the casino beat in Atlantic City, N.J. In those 28 years since, Johnston has learned more than a few things about the Republican presidential candidate. In fact, Johnston said he has what he believes to be the largest collection of Trump-related documents in existence, which comprises tens of thousands of pages.
“I actually used to rent two storage lockers just to keep all my files,” he said. By poring over them, Johnston found material for his book, which he uses as a platform to dispel common myths about Trump with indisputable facts.
In one chapter, Johnston details Trump’s ties to Joseph Weichselbaum, a convicted cocaine trafficker who managed Trump’s personal helicopter. Trump called Weichselbaum “conscientious, forthright, and diligent" and "a credit to the community” in a character reference letter.
Johnston wonders why Trump risked his casino license by continuing to do business with a convicted criminal — something prohibited by the N.J. Casino Control Act. Trump stuck with Weichselbaum, even as his case was transferred to Newark, N.J., to Judge Maryanne Trump Barry — Trump’s older sister — in a move that neither the U.S. Attorney's Office nor the defense lawyer has ever been able to explain, Johnston said.
The judge eventually recused herself by citing a conflict of interest: she, too, had flown in Weichselbaum’s helicopters.
“Imagine that Barack Obama had… let's say, someone who regularly drove him to the airport when he was a state senator… who was a two-bit drug dealer, made a little bit of money on the side selling drugs,” Johnston said. “You think he'd be president of the United States today?”
The unusual relationship between Trump and Weichselbaum is not the only sketchy business practice of which Trump has found himself at the center. Johnston said Trump is named in more than 4,000 lawsuits. Among them is a case brought forth by a Benjamin Moore paint dealer who claims Trump swindled him out of $34,000 after he provided the paint for the reconstruction of one of Trump’s golf courses.
When a judge asked Trump’s witness why the predetermined amount was not being paid, his response was, “Mr. Trump feels he has paid enough.”
“If you’re really a billionaire, what’s the problem?” Johnston asked.
The problem, according to Johnston, is that Trump is not a billionaire. Not even close.
“We cannot be a free people if we have someone running for president based on a fraud,” he said.
Even the announcement of Trump’s campaign was a fraud, Johnston said. Trump reportedly paid actors $50 a pop to show up to his announcement and cheer him on as he spoke.
Between all the accusations against Trump, never once did Johnston tell his audience not to vote for him in November. That’s an opinion, and his talk was based entirely around hard facts.
“When you go to the poll, you ought to know who you’re voting for,” he said. “If you read my book and you still want to vote for him, you’d better go out and vote for him.”
Johnston doesn’t think a Trump presidency will lead to the end of the world. He said a far more pressing concern is the apathy so many Americans have toward politics.
“To those of you who are young... it's your democracy,” he said. “Keep it. Work on it. Love it. Care about it. Be engaged in it.”
Otherwise, Johnston said he fears his descendants will pick up a history textbook that begins with a frightening phrase: “The United States of America was…”
(10/04/16 1:51am)
By Maria LaQuaglia and Sydney Shaw
Correspondent and Editor-in-Chief
Twenty three million Americans live in long-term recovery from addiction to drugs and alcohol, according to the College’s Collegiate Recovery Community, and many of them are students. Yet there are only 26 recovery communities in the nation that offer housing to students. The College is one of them, and as part of September’s National Recovery Month, it hosted a screening of a film that shed light on the stigmas surrounding addiction.
On Thursday, Sept. 29, the Collegiate Recovery Community screened the movie “The Anonymous People.” Guests flocked to the Library Auditorium to learn more about the journeys of those in recovery from substance abuse.
According to the documentary, many people who suffer from addiction are hesitant to reach out for help due to a lack of support and feelings of shame. But “The Anonymous People” proclaims that stigma should no longer have the ability to keep those in recovery silent. Instead, the documentary encourages viewers to support and celebrate the accomplishments of those who have reached out for help and are in recovery.
“This documentary really opened my eyes up to just how much addiction affects everyone and that we all need to start working together to provide proper treatment to those in need of it,” said freshman Krista Johnson, who attended the screening.
Following the screening of the film, guests were invited to ask questions to a panel of students, alumni and addiction professionals. Some of them shared personal stories of how their lives have benefitted from the College’s Collegiate Recovery Community. Others discussed the importance of supporting those in recovery instead of shaming them. They drove home the idea that reaching out for help is a sign of strength, not of weakness.
“After this documentary I am motivated to make an effort to put an end to the stigma that surrounds recovery,” said freshman Jared Posselt, who attended the event.
Above all, “The Anonymous People” and the discussion that followed emphasized that anyone can help put an end to the stigma that surrounds recovery.
(09/29/16 2:00pm)
By Sydney Shaw
Editor-in-Chief
Twenty-two-year-old Annie lives in a town called Slaughter Beach, where she navigates the trials of post-adolescence while juggling a blossoming relationship, self-doubt and the chagrin of still living with her parents.
Although Annie is a fictional character, her story comes to life by way of “Welcome,” the debut LP from Jacob Ewald’s band, Slaughter Beach, Dog. While the album is set to be released on Friday, Sept. 30, via Lame-O Records, it has been streaming on The A.V. Club since last week.
Ewald is best known as one of the voices of the Philadelphia pop punk group Modern Baseball. On the band’s most recent record, “Holy Ghost,” Ewald bares all as he tackles intimate topics like the death of his grandfather and missing the person he loves while he’s away on tour.
While he’s proven he has a knack for penning honest, deep-reaching lyrics, Ewald departs from that candor on “Welcome” with the creation of a constructed world and the fictitious folks who live there.
“When I wrote the Slaughter Beach, Dog songs, I had been stuck with writer's block for multiple months, but writing about fictional scenarios as opposed to personal scenarios helped me jump out of it and get my brain going again,” Ewald told The Signal.
His first fictitious scene is introduced on the opening track, “Mallrat Semi-Annual,” where Annie meets a young man at a house party.
“This ain’t so bad now, darling. It’s nice to meet you here. We’ve got a lot in common. I’d like to keep you near,” Ewald sings on the track — this time as a male character — moments after pep-talking himself to “stand up straight, walk her way and say hello.”
Their relationship’s progression is evidenced on “Toronto Mug,” where Ewald details what happens after the party dies down.
“Note that our friends have gone home,” he sings as the male narrator. “I offer to leave, and you make coffee.”
Ewald succeeds in injecting his lyrics with short sucker punches like these, while longer verses, such as one in the song “Monsters,” have already found new life as social media status updates.
“I keep trying to outline a better life, but the pen’s run dry. The lines never come out right, anyway,” Ewald sings on the track. “There are monsters everywhere I turn in disguises my young self couldn’t discern.”
Hearing Ewald sing “I am the girl that I thought I outgrew” in his low-tone voice is surprising, but only at first listen. Through poignant lyrics and emotive playing, he convincingly pulls off his role as Annie.
Flipping the narrative from his usual male perspective to a feminine vista was no easy task. This new angle required brilliant self-awareness paired with the ability to concoct a compelling narrative.
“The coolest part about writing the fictional songs is that you can create incredibly interesting characters and relationships, but the difficult part is that you have to conjure all of their intricacies and life experiences out of thin air before you can write a song about them,” Ewald said.
“A lot of the songs came together slower than Modern Baseball songs usually do for me just because I had to come up with whole life stories before writing each song. I couldn't just tap into my memory bank.”
Even so, Ewald said he pulled from his own experiences when he shaped his characters.
“I don't really like going into details about the storyline because then it doesn't let the songs speak for themselves,” Ewald said. “Of course, the Slaughter Beach, Dog songs still have a lot of influence from my own experiences, but shaping the characters was a pretty long and interesting process.”
Slaughter Beach, Dog is scheduled to play a CUB Alt show at the College on Friday, Nov. 18, alongside Sorority Noise and Weller.
(09/22/16 8:06pm)
By Sydney Shaw
Editor-in-Chief
A student at the College is accused of raping an intoxicated female student inside her dorm room last week, the county prosecutor’s office reported.
Emmanuel Castillo, a senior history and secondary education dual major at the College, was charged Monday, Sept. 19, with two counts of aggravated sexual assault and two counts of sexual assault following an investigation led by Campus Police and Mercer County’s special victims unit, prosecutor spokesperson Casey DeBlasio wrote in a statement.
“Castillo is accused of… penetrating the female victim (with his fingers) and having sexual intercourse with her while she was physically helpless due to intoxication,” DeBlasio wrote.
According to her statement, the incident allegedly occurred around 4 a.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 14, in the female student's dorm room.
Judge Robert C. Billmeier set bail at $150,000 and issued a no-contact order between Castillo and his accuser, according to officials. Castillo posted bail Tuesday after being held at the Mercer County Correction Center in Hopewell, N.J., DeBlasio wrote.
“The investigation is ongoing and the College is cooperating fully with the Mercer County Prosecutor's Office in that investigation,” spokesperson Dave Muha said on behalf of the College.
No information about the female student has been released at this time, including her age or residence hall.
Since the alleged rape occurred within the confines of the College's campus, Ewing Police Department is not involved in the investigation, according to officials.
(09/18/16 1:00pm)
By Sydney Shaw
Editor-in-Chief
For Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist James Queally, chaos is just part of the job description.
He’s been punched out at a crime scene in Newark, N.J., he’s been offered drugs in the field and he’s had at least five somewhat-polite conversations with white supremacists. This adrenaline junkie has no shortage of wild stories.
But seven years ago, a career in police reporting wasn’t even a glint in Queally’s eye. The self-proclaimed “comic book nerd” was the sports editor at The Signal and pursuing a degree in journalism at the College.
Since he graduated in 2009, he has worked at major media outlets as close to home as The Star-Ledger and as far as the Los Angeles Times, where Queally was part of the team that won a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting on the shootings in San Bernardino, Calif., last year.
He flew back to his alma mater on Friday, Sept. 16, for a Brown Bag discussion about his life covering “cops, crazies and conventioneers,” as per his lecture’s title.
Mayo Concert Hall was all but filled with eager students scribbling on notepads as Queally talked about his experiences covering Ferguson, Mo., in the wake of the fatal shooting of Michael Brown. He described his instinct to run toward the sound of gunshots — that’s probably where the story is, after all — and the importance of treating sources with compassion.
“Seem like a human being, not a parasite, when they’re in the middle of… a life-altering situation,” he said. “Treat people like people. It’s that simple.”
With that mantra in mind, Queally set out to tell a new narrative about Ferguson, one that didn’t revolve around riots and fires in the streets.
Around Thanksgiving, he found "Momma Cat," a 53-year-old woman named Cat Daniels who had been serving Sunday meals to demonstrators outside the Ferguson Police Department's headquarters nearly every week. Daniels saw herself as a mentor to the younger generation of protesters.
“This, to me, summed up the center of what I saw in the protests,” Queally said. “It’s not what you’re getting on CNN. It’s not what you’re getting on Twitter. There, you’re getting fire… riots… looting. This is happening, but everyone can tell you that story. I don’t need to be there to tell you that story.”
Besides finding innovative story angles, Queally practices a novel method of note-taking. He described the typical cliché journalist to the audience — the ones with their notepads out, furiously scribbling down detailed notes, much like many of the students in the audience. But, Queally said, that’s not always the case when covering long-term stories, like the tensions in Ferguson.
There and beyond, Queally said he uses his Twitter feed as a notepad.
“I post 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 (tweets) in a couple hour span — probably more than that,” he said as he gestured to his own Twitter feed on the projection screen. “This is your notepad. I try to set a scene later by looking at this.”
From social media to photography to videography, Queally noted that journalists are expected to be jacks of all trades.
“(It’s about) trying to… serve both needs, web and traditional print side, without compromising one or the other,” he said.
That’s not an easy task, but it’s a necessary one for journalists in the digital age. Queally impressed upon students the importance of embracing the digital side of reporting without “neutering” traditional journalism.
But above all, he encouraged them to find a career that makes them happy.
“I have not felt in seven years like getting up and going to work felt like work,” he said. “If you can find that job, you need to stay in that job.”
(09/17/16 1:53am)
By Sydney Shaw
Editor-in-Chief
Animal Control was called to rescue a skunk whose head was stuck in a yogurt container in front of Bliss Hall on Thursday, Sept. 15.
Campus Police contacted Animal Control at about 8:30 a.m. to help the animal, according to Michelle Ordini, program assistant in the English Department.
Ordini said Animal Control removed the yogurt cup from the skunk before capturing it to be tested for rabies and released.
“It was quite the entertainment, as no one wanted to get too close to help for fear of getting sprayed,” Ordini said. “It just shows the importance of not littering on campus.”
(09/16/16 12:51am)
By Sydney Shaw
Editor-in-Chief
The College remains the No. 1 public institution in its region, according to the U.S. News & World Report’s 2017 list of best colleges, and was also recognized for its commitment to teaching undergraduate students.
“To see how the teaching competition stacks up, U.S. News asked the academic experts a separate question on our spring 2016 annual ‘Best Colleges’ peer assessment survey for the 2017 U.S. News ‘Best Colleges’ rankings to also identify schools where the faculty has an unusually strong commitment to undergraduate teaching,” a press release from U.S. News reads.
The College appears on the list for the Regional Universities North category with just one other school: SUNY–Geneseo in New York.
According to the report, the schools included on the list “were cited most often by college presidents, provosts and admissions deans who were asked to identify up to 10 schools in their U.S. News ranking category with a strong commitment to undergraduate teaching.”
“That TCNJ is once again the top public college in its category speaks to our consistency in providing exceptional academic outcomes for our students,” said Tom Beaver, head media relations officer for the College.
In the Regional Universities North category, the College is ranked behind Providence College in Rhode Island and Fairfield University in Connecticut. Three schools tied for third place, including the College, Loyola University Maryland in Baltimore, Md., and Bentley University in Waltham, Mass.
“These rankings, taken together with our strong placement on other prominent lists, reaffirm that a TCNJ education is not only outstanding, but also a tremendous value,” Beaver said.