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(02/21/07 12:00pm)
Here's a story that I wish had received as much coverage as Anna Nicole Smith's death: The FDA approved a vaccine for women ages 9 to 26 that attacks the leading cause of cervical cancer - HPV.
Gardasil, the human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine, debuted in June and is 100 percent effective in preventing HPV strains 16 and 18, which cause 70 percent of cervical cancers.
The cozy truth is that even though most sexually active people have been infected with some type of genital HPV, most strains of the virus won't cause symptoms or problems.
Still, we need a reality check. HPV causes nearly all cases of cervical cancer. The American Cancer Society predicts 11,150 cases of invasive cervical cancer will be diagnosed in the United States in 2007, leading to 3,670 deaths. Globally, HPV is the second most common cause of cancer death in women.
Considering undergrads easily make the 26-year cutoff, it is surprising that none have asked Health Services about the vaccine. Yet at least seven parents have e-mailed Janice Vermeychuk, associate director of Health Services, asking about its availability, she tells me. One inquiring mother has twin daughters who weren't accepted to the College yet (heads up, ambassadors).
The good news: Health Services will order Gardasil for any student on a pre-paid basis. The bad news: At the College, it costs $145 a dose . and you need three doses.
The retail value of each dose is $120. Even that raw figure, before the fees, is steep, and not all insurance companies will cover it. Fortunately, Merck, the New Jersey-based company that makes the vaccine, reports that 90 percent of insurance companies plan to do so.
With a $435 price tag, it is easy to find excuses not to get vaccinated. "I'm already sexually active and it's proven most effective on those not yet exposed to HPV," some say. Yes, but it can still save your life if you haven't been exposed to strains 16 and 18.
On the flip side, "I'm not sexually active, so I don't need to worry about getting the virus." Well, that's short-sighted; see excuse number one. And, "I'll still have to get annual pap smears, so I'll just protect myself that way." True - you still need your annual pap, but that doesn't nip those deadly HPV strains. "No one's missed the boat on this," Vermeychuk said.
There are a few steps you can take in five minutes or less to help spread the vaccine. E-mail Assemblyman Neil Cohen at njleg.state.nj.us, urging him to support A3659, a New Jersey bill that would require insurers and state health care programs to cover Gardasil.
The bill, cosponsored by Assemblyman Bill Baroni and Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck, both Republicans who represent parts of Mercer County, awaits a hearing in the Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee that Cohen chairs. Opponents say the bill would dump $2.2 million in health insurance costs on the government.
But let's think long term: a couple million to protect a whole state is a lot cheaper than cancer treatment.
If money is a deal breaker, look into receiving coverage under the Merck Vaccine Patient Assistant Program, which provides free vaccinations in private physician's offices to uninsured, lower-income women. If you are younger than 18 and uninsured or Medicaid-eligible, you can qualify for coverage under the federal Vaccines for Children program.
Since we live on facebook.com, join the group "HPV Awareness." Lauren Sabia, a UCLA student, started it in August after her doctor found precancerous cells on her cervix due to HPV. If the cells weren't detected and treated, she could have developed cervical cancer.
"Awareness is the cure; one of the main reasons HPV is so dangerous is because it has little or no symptoms and women don't know that it's there," she said.
Finally and most importantly, schedule an appointment with your gynecologist or Health Services (e-mail hlthserv@tcnj.edu) to ask if you can get the vaccine. One student told me she went for her annual checkup in January and her doctor didn't even mention the vaccine. Clearly, we have to take our health into our own hands. And Health Services shouldn't get mommy notes like our high school gym teachers. We need to be the ones asking the questions.
Merck's television commercials for Gardasil reiterate the slogan "tell someone." Tell someone that HPV causes cervical cancer. I just did. Who's next?
Information from - njleg.state.nj.us, healthywomen.org, cancer.org
(09/13/06 12:00pm)
From Sept. 18 to 24, students who feel overcharged for their tuition, textbooks and C-store goods can appreciate at least one bargain their student status brings - free transportation via NJ TRANSIT.
Next week, students can ride NJ TRANSIT buses, trains and light rail for free with a valid student ID and a free ride coupon, which can be printed out from njtransit.com.
It's the ideal time to take advantage of the fact that one of the world's greatest metropolises is only an hour-and-a-half away.
"This is an annual promotion to encourage students not using mass transit currently to give it a try," the NJ TRANSIT customer service team said in an e-mail.
Normally, students would pay $23 for a round-trip ticket between New York's Penn Station and Trenton on a weekend.
"It's a great incentive," Emma Reuter, senior history major, said. "I'll possibly visit the (Metropolitan Museum of Art) because (it has) a special exhibit, 'Brush and Ink: The Chinese Art of Writing.' I really began to appreciate Asian art after taking an art history course."
She'll top the culturally rich day off with dinner and drinks at a club.
Students at the College have three nearby stations from which they can take a train into Penn Station via the Northeast Corridor Line: Trenton, Hamilton and Princeton Junction.
Trenton is often the preferred station because it can be reached by taking the 601 NJ TRANSIT bus that stops outside Brower Student Center.
This works for students without cars or who don't want to worry about parking. But be safe and travel in groups: it can be a shady area (take it from the girl who was stranded on a Trenton street corner waiting for a no-show bus).
The Hamilton station, located on Sloan Avenue just off Interstate 295 at Exit 65B, and the Princeton Junction station, located on Wallace Road, are more aesthetically pleasing, if not safer.
While parking spots are hard to come by on a weekday with commuters, the lots are emptier on weekends. Both lots charge $3 for the day.
Once you download your free ride coupon, there is no limit to how often you can use it, but you will have to show it to the driver or conductor each time you ride.
For bus and train schedules, visit njtransit.com or pick up a copy at the Brower Student Center information desk.
Not New York City savvy yet?
Here are five picks to get you started.
(When you arrive, get an unlimited use MetroCard for $7, so you can explore without paying $2 for each subway ride.)
1. For your next Facebook pic: Madame Tussauds
234 W. 42nd St. between 7th and 8th avenues, subway to Times Square
Pose with uncanny doubles of your favorite celebrities at this famous wax museum. The Taper Room offers guests a personalized experience where they can work with a creative team to formulate a unique feel and atmosphere while they mingle with a wide range of wax figurines.
2. For relaxation: Central Park
Get away from the hustle and bustle by taking a stroll in Central Park. You can visit the zoo, play Frisbee on the Great Lawn or climb Belvedere Castle, which looks like the mini-version of a European landmark. The park is also home to several historic sites, including a statue of William Shakespeare and a war memorial dedicated to the 107th Infantry.
3. For theater: Broadway show lotteries
You're testing your luck on this one, but if you win a lottery for Broadway show tickets, you'll be sitting front row for $25. Three hours before show time, box offices usually raffle off tickets or sell them on a first-come, first-serve basis. Call the office ahead of time to find out their policy (aim for something other than "Jersey Boys" or "Wicked," possibly the two hottest shows right now).
For those of you who would rather not chance your Broadway fate, there are two TKTS locations, one at Times Square and one at South Street Seaport, which offer tickets at discounts ranging from 25 to 50 percent off on the day of the show.
4. For dinner with friends: Carmine's
200 W. 44th St., subway to Times Square
This family-style restaurant in the theater district offers delicious and plentiful Southern Italian cuisine. Order from the giant menus hanging on the wall, which is otherwise decorated with classy memorabilia.
5. For shopping: Beacon's Closet
88 N. 11th St., Brooklyn, subway to Bedford Avenue
Ladies, this secondhand store in Williamsburg, Brooklyn could be a blow to your wallet. Brand-name clothing is often priced below $20 and there are plenty of designer labels to choose from: Betsey Johnson, Miss Sixty, Michael Kors and DKNY, to name a few. Treat yourself to a new outfit with the 20 bucks you're saving on transportation.
- Information provided by Tammy Tibbetts, Staff Writer, and James Queally, Arts & Entertainment Assistant
(09/06/06 12:00pm)
Incoming students will no longer receive scholarships covering tuition, and room and board until the state budget restores funding to the Outstanding Scholar Recruitment Program (OSRP), which offered full scholarships to students who had near-perfect SAT scores and were in the top fifth percentile of their high school class.
Merit scholarships for 2007-2008 will range in value from a one-time $1,000 award to $8,000 renewed annually, according to Christina Puglia, senior admissions counselor and coordinator of the Merit Scholarship Program. Awards will be determined based on academic performance and achievements.
Students will have to apply for scholarships through a separate application in addition to the regular admissions paperwork. The scholarship application will be due Jan. 15, a month earlier than the freshman application deadline. This policy is a sharp contrast from the current one, in which students are automatically awarded scholarships based solely on their SAT scores and class rank.
"If you want to look for the silver lining, (the College will) take a more holistic approach in awarding scholarships," Matt Golden, director of Communications and Media Relations, said.
Puglia agreed that there would be more flexibility regarding who earns scholarships.
Golden said merit scholarships are an important tool for retaining New Jersey's highest achieving high school students, preventing a "brain drain" that would hurt the state economy in the long run.
Full-ride scholarships also help keep the College's average SAT score competitive with that of the nation's top schools. A student who scores a 1550 on the SAT, for example, might choose the College over an Ivy League school just to avoid the financial blow.
Christy Hartigan, junior English and interactive multimedia major, said she immediately liked the College's campus upon visiting, but since she was at the top of her class, she also considered enrolling at Vassar College and Yale University.
"I didn't see the point of spending $40,000 a year on an undergraduate degree when I could go somewhere for free, so I decided to come to (the College) and save money to spend on graduate school in the future," Hartigan said.
Golden said he believes the College will still attract top-notch students like Hartigan even without enticing them with full rides. "We still offer an attractive package as a public institution, and our tuition is far below most of the (schools ranked 'Most Competitive' by Barron's Profiles of American Colleges)," he said.
(08/24/06 12:00pm)
Before the 1,294 students enrolled in the Class of 2010 even set foot on campus, they already established themselves as the largest freshman class in nine years at the College. Their size is a side effect of the $150 million state budget cut in July.
President R. Barbara Gitenstein said in a campus-wide e-mail in June that the College would increase enrollment to bring more revenue into the school. The decision did not reduce the school's selectivity, however.
According to Matt Middleton, assistant director of Admissions, the acceptance rate was 43 percent, two percentage points lower than last year.
It was possible to admit more students and still be more selective, Middleton said, because 900 more applications were received for this academic year.
To bulk up numbers without overcrowding the campus, the Office of Admissions made another record-breaking decision: "We tried to get more transfer students into the class than ever before," Middleton said. "With freshmen, there's a cap," he said, noting the limitations of housing. For the Fall, 295 transfer students are enrolled, compared to 233 in 2004.
Middleton, a member of the class of 2000, remembers the last large class the College admitted in 1997. He was a sophomore at the time, giving tours as a student ambassador.
"It was a flukey statistical situation," he said.
For the 1997 class, the College extended its usual excess of offers, knowing that not all students accepted would decide to enroll. For example, for Fall 2006, the College accepted 3,400 students. But in 1997 more students than expected, about 1,450 in Middleton's estimates, sent in their deposits.
"It was a complicated year," he said. "They had to turn Bliss (Hall) back into a dorm (to accommodate the extra students)."
Large classes were common in the 1970s and 80s, when the College was more of a commuters' school and not as selective.
That has since changed, with the College's recent ranking as the Top Public Institution in the U.S. Northern Region, according to U.S. News & World Report.
Executive president of the Student Government Association and junior criminology and justice studies major, Christine Cullen, encourages freshmen to find strength in their numbers.
"The freshmen who join (the College's student government next year have a much larger constituency whose interests must be represented," Cullen said. "I encourage as many incoming freshmen as possible to get involved so that the Class of 2010's voice can be heard."
(04/12/06 12:00pm)
For decades, feminist Gloria Steinem spoke to students at universities across the country, championing women's rights and promoting female leadership. Her effect on one college woman in the 1970s rippled all the way to the New Library auditorium last Wednesday.
At the time, this young woman had no idea what her future held. Becoming a successful lawyer, mother of two and New Jersey secretary of state was not on her radar.
But these are the achievements Nina Mitchell Wells, secretary of state to Gov. Jon S. Corzine, now claims, thanks to her feminist role model.
"Listening to Gloria Steinem, she just stirred something in me that I've never, ever forgotten," Wells said, standing before a full house - nearly 100 students and professors, mostly female but with a scattering of men.
Proving the lifelong impact Steinem had on her, Wells was making her third and final stop on a statewide tour meant to inspire young women concerned about "having it all." She and her office worked with Women in Learning and Leadership (WILL) to bring a panel of six New Jersey female executives to the College.
The goal was to show women that deciding between a career and family doesn't have to be an either-or choice, Wells said. She stood behind the podium in a lime green outfit, splashing the room with a brightness that characterizes her outlook on the potential for boosting female leadership.
"Today really is about opportunities and options and choices, of which there are many," she said.
Wells had a powerhouse of a panel alongside her: College President R. Barbara Gitenstein; State Sen. Ellen Karcher; executive producer of an NJN show called "Another View," Linda Coles; executive director of the Monmouth County Arts Council, Mary Eileen Fouratt; and vice president and counsel at Merrill Lynch, Michele Meyer-Shipp.
Although these women are at the top of their fields, they are exceptions to the norm. Contrary to the rising number of female undergraduates - who make up more than 56 percent of the student body nationwide - the growth in the percentage of adult women working outside the home is slipping, according to The New York Times.
Since 2000, women's labor participation has declined somewhat, leaving it below the 90 percent rate for men in the same age range, The New York Times reported.
Moderator of the panel, Ellen Friedman, director of women's and gender studies, asked the professionals to describe the status of women in their fields.
Suggesting slight progress, Wells mentioned Corzine has appointed more women than any other governor. He has seven women in his 18-member cabinet.
Karcher said there are also seven female senators in the state, yet they take up less than 20 percent of the 40 available seats. New Jersey ranks 31st among the 50 states in terms of female representation in state legislature, the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University found.
Citing the American College President Study, Gitenstein said only 21 percent of college presidents and 23 percent of full-time professors are women.
In television, Coles said, "there are not a lot of women in decision-making capacities."
For the numbers to increase, the panelists spoke of a greater need for what has made all the difference in their lives: supportive husbands, flexible work hours and mentoring.
"I have the most extraordinary partner, my husband of 35 years," Gitenstein said. "He does 50 percent of the housework, at least, and all the cooking."
Four of the six panelists described their give-and-take relationships, which made a forum about empowering women relevant to the men in the audience.
"I just don't want to forget the young men that are here, that they're an important part of this as well," Fouratt said. "We haven't moved far enough in that direction (of sharing childcare and household responsibilities)."
For Meyer-Shipp, the opportunity to work on the go from her Blackberry has helped her manage her law career with raising three sons. She also learned to let go of perfectionism - to accept the floor won't always be spotless and the laundry won't always be folded.
Attesting to the purpose behind the panel, Wells added, "Mentors can be absolutely critical."
Ashley Reichelmann, senior English and women's and gender studies major and WILL vice president, embraced the message.
"We cannot change this world on our own, but with the help of those in support of us and standing beside us, we can make great strides for women," she said after the event.
Reichelmann commented on how Wells not only brought the power and demand associated with a high-ranking government official to the floor, but also grace and compassion.
Wells sparked a connection with the audience. As she said in her opening remarks, "Thirty five years ago, I was sitting right where you're all sitting today."
If the domino effect is to continue, women in the crowd may one day say the same thing to a new generation of college coeds, them too recalling a speaker who showed them the potential for personal and professional success.
(02/22/06 12:00pm)
The numbers are impressive: 700 universities and colleges are involved in it; 37 women from the College performed in it this year; it has raised more than $30 million for women and girls worldwide; and it is empowered by one word. Vagina.
"The Vagina Monologues," created by award-winning author Eve Ensler, is an international production that supports V-Day, the movement to end rape, female genital mutilation, battery, sexual slavery, incest - all violence against women and girls.
The monologues transform a taboo subject into a conversational one, retelling the stories of more than 200 women who spoke to Ensler about their vaginas.
"Women talking about vaginas makes them more confident," Maya Eilam, senior English and women's and gender studies major and a director, said.
Fellow director Honor Friberg, senior women's and gender studies major, added, "It's saying that the vagina is more than just an organ, it's a concept."
The monologues explore a range of emotions, from the comical responses to what does your vagina smell like and what would it wear, to the heart-wrenching story of a Bosnian woman's rape.
The College has hosted "The Vagina Monologues" for five years, and while the script does not change much, it still attracts a full house annually. Jessica Deringer, junior psychology major, attributes this to the personality each actress brings to her monologue.
"Each person interprets it differently, so you fall in love with new monologues each year," she said.
Among the standout performers this year were Leslie Stickler, junior psychology and women's and gender studies major, who threw an on-stage tantrum for "My Angry Vagina." Eliana Reyes, sophomore communication studies major, had the audience and her fellow actresses on stage bursting out in laughter with her orgasmic moans in "The Woman Who Liked to Make Vaginas Happy."
Marne Clune, senior business administration major, invited the audience to shout out "cunt" for her monologue that reclaimed the obscene word through its phonetic beauty.
Saturday night's performance was special for Mary Lynn Hopps, director of Women in Learning and Leadership (WILL), the organization that presents the monologues at the College. College alumnae who performed "The Vagina Monologues" over the past five years returned to be honored on stage with the 2006 cast.
"One of the things ('The Vagina Monologues') has taught me is how words and what's underneath them can create powerful bonds," Hopps said. "It's what I have seen every year with young women, many of whom don't know each other, then come together and do this show and become so close in a brief period of time."
Aida Figueroa, junior psychology and women's and gender studies major, said she felt this connection with the other women in her menstruation-themed monologue, "I Was 12, My Mother Slapped Me."
During practices, she said she and the other four students in the monologue would spend most of their time talking and sharing stories about their own first periods. "It's funny because most people wouldn't be that open otherwise," she said. "It's nice to see people unafraid to express themselves."
The cast slowly gathered on stage as each woman delivered her monologue, and their unity ultimately extended to the audience. At the end of the show, Hopps asked every woman who has ever been or known a victim of violence to stand and break the silence. Then, she asked everyone committed to ending violence against women to stand - which brought the entire applauding audience to its feet.
This year, V-Day focused the impetus to end violence specifically on "comfort women," the young women of various ethnic and national backgrounds who the Japanese government forced into sexual slavery during World War II.
The V-Day campaign estimates the number of "comfort women" lies between 50,000 and 200,000 and reports that those surviving into their 70s, 80s and 90s have not received an apology from the government.
The chilling performance of Hopps and faculty members Kay Potucek and Anita Anantharam, who conveyed the comfort women's pain, reminded the audience of the power of one word that is not taboo but has yet to be spoken: "Sorry."
(01/25/06 12:00pm)
It's a known fact that students study abroad to experience a new culture - what most of us don't realize are all the quirks that are a part of it. For that, we can rely on the stories of the 82 students who have just returned to the College after spending the Fall semester abroad.
Whether they cruised the Caribbean, flew Down Under or hopped around Europe, these students don't re-enter the campus the same as they left it. Along with a slew of digital pictures and suitcases of souvenirs, they bring back to America observations that you won't always find in a guide book. After all, who knew Costa Rican men carried around fanny packs, or that the mullet is slowly conquering the world?
Studying abroad is hardly limited to the classroom. More than verb conjugations and new vocabulary, these students will remember the fashion faux pas, living conditions and social customs that marked their lives for three months. Here's the lowdown on what first creates culture shock, but later unforgettable memories, in three of the world's best travel spots.
Costa Rica
San Jos?, the capital and cultural center of Costa Rica, lures Spanish majors and minors at the College with its beaches, nightlife, excellent language programs and affordability.
But for students accustomed to living among the world's wealthiest, settling down in a developing country for three months is a huge adjustment. In Costa Rica, look no further than the bathrooms for proof.
Jenna Lerro, junior secondary education/English major, said there was no running hot water in the homes. "The shower head looked like the most dangerous contraption ever," she said. She described the shower head as having a red electrical wire wrapped around it to heat the water as it came out.
The plumbing system presents its own challenge to American habits. "You can't flush toilet paper," Heather McBride, junior Spanish and deaf education major, said. "We kept forgetting," she added, recalling some toilet-clogging incidents in a hotel.
The Ticos, as Costa Ricans are called, also have a distinctive sense of style that turned some American heads.
"The thing I found hilarious was guys in their mid-20s wearing fanny packs around their shoulders," Lerro said. These man purses were just one sign of emerging '80s trends.
McBride noticed that Ticos tend to dress nicer than Americans, but among the younger crowd, this is interpreted as dressing as if going out to a club. "Girls wear really tight shirts, a few sizes too small for them, and their pants really low," McBride said.
Australia
For students who travel to Australia, often one of the biggest surprises is that it is similar to America. "Even though I was on the other side of the world, I could still go to McDonald's, shop at Target and watch Hollywood movies," Matt Egan, junior journalism major who studied on the Gold Coast, said.
Jenna Scisco, junior psychology major, had the same reaction initially, but then she said she began to see how the culture differed. "It felt more laid-back and very friendly," she said. In fact, life is so relaxed that it's not unusual for professionals, even professors, to go have a beer on lunch break with colleagues.
Perhaps a sign of the large drinking culture is the popularity of Vegemite, a spread made from leftover brewer's yeast extract (a by-product of the beer manufacture process). Aussies are raised on Vegemite, since it is rich in vitamin B, and use it on sandwiches and toast - to a foreigner like Scisco, however, "it smells bad and tastes bad."
And, like her College peers in Costa Rica, Scisco was eye-witness to the slow resurgence of the '80s. "Girls wore '80s-style tapered jeans, long shirts, flat shoes and their hair pouffed out in front."
Spain
Of course, having spent the semester abroad myself in Salamanca, Spain, I do have to throw in my two cents (for which a coin does exist in Euro currency).
One of the things most unnatural for Americans in Spain is throwing their trash on the floor.
When you go to a bar, you are expected to brush any napkins, papers or cigarettes off the counter - the floor will later be cleaned in one full sweep.
Although Salamanca isn't quite Paris or Milan, it has its own trendsetters.
Red footwear is extremely popular, whether casually worn as sneakers, comfortably as loafers or stylishly as pumps. And even in chilly 40 degree weather, young women would wear short skirts, paired with stockings (there are whole stores devoted to them) and chic boots.
But, alas, even Spain has fallen into the mullet frenzy.
Whether or not this and other trends around the world will soon cross the Atlantic is impossible to predict.
The only guarantee is that if you go on your own study abroad adventure, you'll be sure to come back with stories that totally redefine your idea of culture.
For more information on the College's global programs, go to tcnj.edu/%7&egoglobal or visit Green Hall, Room 111.
(11/30/05 12:00pm)
For travelers, 80 days have much potential. You can follow the example of Jules Verne's classic book and go around the world. Or, like me, you can choose to spend a semester abroad and immerse yourself in what might as well be a whole new world.
This fall, I'm studying in Salamanca, Spain, a postcard-perfect city two-and-a-half hours northwest of Madrid, where I've learned more than is possible in any classroom.
The culture contrasts are endless, but somehow my life as a journalism major at the College and a foreign student at the University of Salamanca complement one another. Each offers something the other doesn't - at best, an outside look at America and a more intimate one of Spain.
Sure, in Spain I've had to sacrifice my Starbucks Frappuccinos, 24/7 Internet access, long, hot showers and the latest celebrity gossip, but that is all a small price to pay for what I've gained. Below, the abridged version of Spain through the eyes of an extranjera.
La Vida
Life in Spain operates on a schedule distinct from the rest of the world. Morning lasts until 2 p.m., when many stores and schools shut down for the mid-day break, which lasts until 5 p.m. Spaniards traditionally return home to eat the heaviest meal of the day with their families. By this time, Americans accustomed to lunching at 12:30 p.m., and eating more than a small muffin and fruit for breakfast, feel just about famished.
Each day on my 15-minute walk home from class at 2:15 p.m., I see passersby with a loaf of bread tucked under their arm or sticking out of their shopping bags - pan is the staple to every meal. Here, carbs are not evil. You won't find products boasting the Atkins seal or a Weight Watchers point value. Nor will you find many obese Spaniards in spite of this. The extensive walking they do and their healthier cooking habits keep them in shape.
After the meal, Spaniards may doze off in their chairs for 10 to 20 minutes before heading back to work, though foreign students often turn this siesta into an hour or two.
The afternoon lasts until around 9 p.m., when the Spaniards eat dinner, a smaller meal, considering they've often whet their appetites earlier with a snack or tapas - small appetizers enjoyed over conversation at bars.
If night seems to begin late in Spain, that's because it lasts much longer. Salamanca, as a university town, is especially known for a vibrant nightlife. Supposedly, there is a bar for every 11 people in this city of 160,000. American students are notorious for dancing and drinking the night away at Jacko's, a Michael Jackson-themed bar, until 4 or 5 a.m. on a school night. An alternative to the smokey and inebriated environment of a bar is a classy caf?, of which there are also plenty, where you can chat with friends over a caf? or chocolate con churros.
New Family and Friends
The heart of the studying abroad experience - literally and figuratively - is living with a host family, at least if you're as lucky as I've been. My host family consists of my se?ora, her husband, their 30-year-old son and 20-year-old daughter. Since renting a piso, or an apartment flat, is expensive, it is not uncommon for young adults to live with their parents longer than we would in the States.
As independent as we American twentysomethings try to be, we inevitably miss our parents when we're thousands of miles away from them for three months. My host mom, a lively redhead who turns life into a musical when she belts out the theme song to her favorite soap opera, is always there to offer the comfort and laughs that ward off homesickness. Her job is to cook and clean for my roommate and me, but beyond that, she chats with us and confides in us, showing me the undervalued strength of the Spanish housewife.
Friendships among the foreign students are equally important. Even when we Americans stick together and talk in English, we're still experiencing diversity. For the first time ever, I'm the lone Jersey girl amidst a bunch of Westerners and Southerners, which makes for some fun accent comparisons as well as clashing world views.
I have also met Spaniards through an intercambio, which is when an English-speaking student converses in Spanish with a Spanish student, and vice versa. It's eye-opening to discuss our perceptions of one another's country. My intercambio, Sof?a, for example, has the impression that the United States is deeply religious, since she often hears President Bush speak of God. And
when I told her I was from New Jersey, she exclaimed, "Oh, Bon Jovi!," the same reaction a Japanese student I met had. So much for thinking it was Bruce Springsteen who put us on the map.
When meeting Spaniards, it can be awkward for Americans, since custom is to greet one another with a kiss on each cheek (the exception being between two men). With familiars, Spaniards also stand close together and are touchy, though with strangers they are stereotypically more guarded than Americans. If they know English, they shy away from it, which forces us foreigners to practice our Spanish. Luckily, our endless capacity for inventing words and butchering grammar doesn't stand in our way.
"Studying" Abroad
Though in our eyes the College is a venerable institution, having just turned 150 this year, it is merely a baby compared to the University of Salamanca, which was founded in 1218 and is Spain's oldest university. If it's hard to put the university's 787 years in perspective, consider the fact that Christopher Columbus passed through its doors before America was even "discovered."
Classes for "extranjeros" are much more relaxed than courses at the College, as we rarely receive substantial homework assignments. The resulting disadvantages that our grades are based almost entirely on two exams. The advantage is that we are not glued to a computer screen or stuck researching in the library. For us, a visit to the doctor, when we have to explain our symptoms in Spanish, or listening to the news on TV, is exerting and a test in itself.
Now, as Christmas lights are strung above the streets and Nativity sets decorate store windows, I realize my 80-day adventure is just about over. Sometimes it feels bitter to have reached the end, but then again, "home for the holidays" never sounded sweeter.
(04/27/05 12:00pm)
Like graduating seniors, Edith Hahn, who brews Starbucks coffee in Brower Student Center, will be leaving the College to begin a new phase of her life in May. At 89-years-old, she is retiring, but not before joining the students she loves at Commencement.
To honor her 15 years of service-with-a-smile at the College, the Class of 2005 will present Edith with the Sesquicentennial Distinguished Service Award.
"I don't think I'm worth all this," Edith said. Yet the students and faculty who frequent her coffee bar, Edith's Place, would beg to differ.
Edith will even don her own petite cap and gown when she accepts her award. However, just last week, a health scare left her wearing a hospital gown, after she was rushed to the Helene Fuld Medical Center when her heart started racing on Tuesday.
"The doctors said I'm lucky I didn't have a heart attack," Edith said.
In the ambulance, the paramedics told her she was "over 200," she said, referring to her systolic blood pressure, which should normally be less than 120.
After she was released from the hospital on Thursday, Edith recovered in her niece's home. She said she was feeling better but still weak.
Over the telephone, she spoke slowly but smoothly, her affectionate voice rising gently as she emphasized how much she missed the students.
"I love the students, I really do," Edith said. "They're so nice to me."
The appreciation is mutual. Michelle Dunlap, sophomore history major, said Hahn always makes sure to greet her customers, even if she's busy.
"She takes the time to talk to everyone," Dunlap said. "You could tell that she really liked the fact that her job let her interact with people."
The Sesquicentennial Distinguished Service Award recognizes Edith for consistent excellence, exceptional performance, dedication, compassion and service to the College community.
According to Janis Blayne Paul, major events director and chief Sesquicentennial officer, the choice was a natural one.
"She's very sincere and compassionate and doesn't put on airs," Blayne Paul said.
Seeing Edith accept the award will be meaningful for students, she said. After all, Edith's espressos perked them up for all the early morning classes that led to their diplomas.
Considering her sweet personality, it is fitting that Edith previously worked at a children's clothing store and as a candy maker. She was once self-employed at Russell Hahn Confections, the Trenton candy store she and her late husband owned. Fifteen years ago, she joined the College community.
In her retirement, Edith said she will not have a problem keeping busy.
"I'm always busy doing something," she said. "I take care of my pets, a dog and cat, and I love my home. I like to clean and fix it up all the time."
Shopping, walking and visiting relatives are among Edith's other interests.
Edith's longevity may run in the family - she had an uncle who lived to be 104 and her sister is 94 -but it is also the result of her healthy lifestyle. Before she was prescribed a pill for her heart last week, she said she never took any medication. She credits that to eating the right foods and staying away from drinking and smoking.
"I just say lead a good, straight life," she said. "That's all I can tell you."
(04/20/05 12:00pm)
Laura Forti, senior English major, stepped down the aisle, filed into one of the back rows and folded down a cushiony seat next to her boyfriend last Thursday night. On the large screen before them, a new film called "The End" started to play, creating flickers of light in the darkness.
This wasn't the typical date at the movies though. Forti was actually in the Science Complex lecture hall, Room P101, at the premiere of the independent film she co-produced. Her boyfriend, John Mirabella, is the director and writer, and both were anxious to gauge the reactions of the first audience to whom they've shown "The End."
To their relief, the 20 or so viewers in attendance laughed at the right moments and showed approval with a round of applause.
"The End" is a two-hour feature film that was made on an $18,000 budget by a group of friends who were on a mission to prove they could create a film that meets Hollywood standards.
"The End" is the story of a couple who feel their love is fated to survive, despite all the signs that suggest otherwise. It was told backwards, beginning where most movies usually end - with the hero falling in love with the girl.
Forti became involved in the film through her friendships with three men who created Seventh Art Productions to realize their dream of movie making.
Writer/director Mirabella, co-producer Max Gettinger and first assistant director Barry Rosenberg graduated from the University of Maryland in May 2002. They began shooting the film in August 2003, relying on a cast and crew who worked for free.
On average, there were at least 10 to 12 people on the set at a time. They worked 12 to 18 hours Saturdays and Sundays, so as not to interfere with anyone's work and class schedules.
"Everyone was invested in it personally," Forti said, explaining that having a feature film on one's resume pays off in the long run.
Camaraderie from already existing friendships made the arduous days more bearable as well. "But we tried to be all professional on the set," Forti said.
As co-producer, Forti was responsible for breaking down the script into segments that could be filmed in a day and coordinating where they would be shooting. She made sure the team stayed on schedule and budget, which was no easy task.
Originally, the team had laid out a six-weekend filming schedule, but that turned into eight consecutive weekends, followed by a few scattered weekend days, for a total of 27 days of shooting.
Forti said on the most frazzled days, the production team cast people right on the spot, just before starting to film. Sometimes, to deal with the shortage of actors, they would have to give the behind-the-scenes crew small on-screen roles. Forti was no exception, having taken a small part as a last resort, much to her dismay. Since filming was often done in the early morning hours, as early as 3 a.m. when the locations they rented out were vacant, there was literally no one else around.
Forti was cast as a woman sipping a cosmopolitan in one scene at a bar. She sat next to a man who tells Jude, the male lead played by Jason Markarian, "Everyone's got stories," which is one of the underlying themes of the film.
The true actors on the set were Markarian and Dalilah Freedman, who played Jude's girlfriend, Emma. Both are from Worcester, Massachusetts and made the commute from Boston to Jersey every weekend.
Markarian, 26, has modeled in Europe and the United States, for companies such as Nautica and Hugo Boss, and he has appeared in GQ and Rolling Stone. Freedman, 25, has acted in over 20 plays in the New England area and aspires to a career in film.
For Forti, producing "The End" was also a way to jumpstart her professional career. She now works for "Court TV." Back in 2003, however, "The End" was her first real field experience.
"It was my first time in such a stressful professional environment," she said. "I liked the fast pace and waking up at 4 a.m. to film."
After she graduates, Forti sets her sights on producing films for an independent production company.
"I would love to organize that from bottom to top - hiring actors, working with actors, eventually trying to sell (the film) to a big studio," she said.
Speaking for her colleagues at Seventh Art Productions, Forti said, "I don't think we all want to end up as sellouts to the mass media. I think at this point, the best way to be successful is to take up independent films."
Forti said the success of a low-budget film like "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," which was made with approximately $5 million and grossed $241,250,669 at the box office, shows hit films don't require Hollywood backing.
While Seventh Art Productions doesn't expect "The End" to have a theatrical release, Forti and her friends hope that it will be a "spring board" for getting major studios to finance future films. To draw attention to "The End," they are entering it into film festivals. Forti likened the process to applying for college admission, since they are waiting to receive acceptance or rejection letters.
"There are always things we could do better," she said, looking back on her debut as a producer. "But we have a real good start."
(04/13/05 12:00pm)
As the night chill set in last Wednesday, students sat on the cool brick ground in front of Green Hall, their eyes fixed on the emptiness behind the podium on the top step.
There was an eerie silence, as attendees mustered the courage to voluntarily go up and talk into the microphone about sexual violence - to break the silence and stigma placed on victims.
But then, a soft round of applause broke out as one young woman or man stood up and ascended the steps, whether to tell the story of her own rape less than a year ago, the abuse his mother suffered or her own mission to "take back the night."
The open mic was part of the 12th annual Take Back the Night, which is an international rally against sexual violence. At the College, the Women's Center co-sponsors it with several other campus organizations.
"I think it's really good to bring something that people don't know is all around them to the forefront," Blakeley Decktor, sophomore women's and gender studies and international studies major, said. "When you know the speakers it becomes personal."
The need for Take Back the Night is rooted in the fact that every two-and-a-half minutes, someone in America is sexually assaulted, the majority by someone he or she knows, according to statistics from a 2003 survey by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Members from various organizations, including sororities, Bod Squad, VOX and White Ribbon Campaign, opened the rally by reading statistics such as these to expose a harrowing reality.
Approximately 125 students attended the event. Susan Switlik, director of the crisis center Womanspace, said she attended the first Take Back the Night at the College 12 years ago. Back then, she said only about 15 women came.
Looking out upon the flickering flames from the candles held by women and men of various ethnicities, she said, "I'm just astonished at the change I've seen in the last 12 years. You're making the face of Take Back the Night a united face."
Participants demonstrated their unity when walking past the residence halls on campus, after the opening speeches and before the open mic part of the program, as they chanted: "Women unite, take back the night; men unite, join the fight."
The cheers of women reclaiming the night turned heads - from those sitting outside Travers and Wolfe Halls to those peeking out their dormitory windows, raising their blinds to get a better view.
If participants did not suffer from sexual violence themselves or know someone who did, they could have found motivation to march in listening to Alice Kupetz, a middle-aged woman who had been domestically abused.
Before the walk, Kupetz openly talked about her two abusive relationships, one of which was her 15-year marriage to her high school sweetheart. She said that no matter how hard she tried, she could never please him, and when she started to stand up for herself, his emotional abuse turned physical.
"I lost myself," she said about the relationship. "I lost who I was."
Kupetz turned to drinking at the age of 31 to deal with her misery, not having the strength to leave her husband until he bruised their son's arm. That day, she said, "I left with nothing," having escaped the house with her son under the pretenses of bringing him to a birthday party.
However, she later found herself in another abusive relationship, dating a man whom she first thought was her "dream come true."
In reality, "he was my biggest nightmare," she said. "He was 10 times more abusive." She said he would hit her to the point that her face blackened and her eyes swelled.
When she left the second man and had no one to support her, Kupetz ended up living in the inner city.
The experience turned her life around. She said all the injustice
and poverty inspired her to pursue social work.
She earned her bachelor's at Kean University and a master's at Fordham University, degrees which now enable her to help those with psychiatric problems.
"I wanted to share my story so you know when you're going through situations, go with your gut," she said. "I always went against mine."
Kupetz urged victims to take advantage of anti-violence agencies like Womanspace. She advised abused women to use its hotline and counseling services.
"You are not alone in this," Switlik said, stressing the need for women to report rapes and not feel ashamed, since they are not at fault.
Though most victims of rape and sexual assault are female, Take Back the Night at the College challenged the notion that fighting violence is a "women's issue," stressing the need for the entire community's collaboration.
Tom Sales, sophomore political science major and incoming president of Catholic Campus Ministries, explained why he feels it is important for men to participate in this event.
"I don't want to be associated with rapists because I'm a guy," he said. "I never have been (one) and never will be (one), no matter how much I drink or who I'm with. It's a shame every guy in this country can't say the same. Why in the name of God don't they say the same? I can think of anything and I'm a pretty smart guy."
(04/06/05 12:00pm)
At some point in your life, there's a good chance you've donated blood to the Red Cross, extra change to a charity you care about, or your old clothes to the needy. If you're female, would you ever consider donating your eggs?
Twelve years ago, one young woman, who will forever be unknown, did just that. Thanks to her, Dr. Helane Rosenberg, who once could not get pregnant, is now the proud mother of a twin boy and girl, who were one of New Jersey's first donor-egg babies. Rosenberg is the Ovum Donor Coordinator at IVF New Jersey, an infertility practice with an office in Lawrenceville. At a seminar to interest prospective donors on March 21, she shared her personal experiences as the recipient of donated eggs that were fertilized by her husband's sperm and then implanted into her uterus.
"As soon as I felt the babies kicking, it was such a miraculous, glorious feeling," she said on one of the several clips she showed from her interviews on television news programs like "Today" and "Eyewitness News." Back in 1993, the twins' birth was a breakthrough in infertility treatment.
Rosenberg now works to educate young women about egg donation and guide them through the process to help other infertile couples realize their dreams of childbearing.
Thirteen potential egg donors attended the seminar in Lawrenceville, perhaps attracted by an advertisement like the one that ran in The Signal: "Earn $7,000," it read in bold, black type, just above the large picture of a stork delivering a basket of eggs.
When it comes to egg donation and enabling infertile women to bear children, infertility centers nationwide target college females, as they are intelligent and physically at their prime.
The decision to donate is ultimately an emotional and ethical one. A woman must be comfortable passing on her genes to a child she'll never know and with having a role in an alternative form of conception.
Kelly Wood, sophomore English and secondary education major, is not one of those women. She doesn't consider egg donation consistent with God's Word.
"I think it's kind of like trying to play God and messes with God's plan for human life, the way he created sex and childrearing," she said.
She feels children are a gift that should come from God, not from a woman who makes money off of egg donation.
Rosenberg disagrees, choosing to hold those who donate eggs in high regard. "Donors are gutsy and strong-minded," she said. "They're people you would admire."
The Medical Aspects
Controversy aside, egg donation is a time-consuming process. At the IVF seminar, Dr. Melissa Yih, an infertility specialist, reviewed what she called the "nitty-gritty" details.
After women fill out a questionnaire, they are matched with an unknown recipient who has similar physical features and ethnic background. From there, the donor undergoes a psychological interview and extensive medical screening to make sure she carries no genetic or infectious diseases. The ovaries are then screened, and once determined to be healthy, the donor is put on birth control to regulate her menstrual cycle. For 14 to 20 days, she will also go on medication to prevent her from ovulating prematurely and to increase the number of eggs she releases.
Normally, the ovaries release only one egg per menstrual cycle, but the medications increase that count to around 12 or 14.
Donors will have to inject the medication with a small needle, similar to diabetics with insulin."We teach you how to do it and even though it may seem overwhelming, pretty much all donors can do it without any difficulty," Yih said. "It is important we keep an eye on you," Yih said. "We don't want you to make too many eggs."
Retrieval of the eggs is done under IV sedation via transvaginal ultrasound, so abdominal incisions are not necessary.
Rosenberg said that with sedation, the donor will not feel any pain, though without it she'd feel only a sharp pinch.
The donation process has its drawbacks. Lih said the medication can make a woman feel bloated, pelvic pressure or cramping, which are common side effects of the ovaries expanding to accommodate more eggs. Donors also run the risk of bleeding and infection.
"That's true of any surgical procedure," Lih said. "But only less than one percent have complications."
The long-term risks of the fertility drugs that stimulate the ovaries and of the egg donation process in general are still unknown, as it is a relatively new procedure.
Qualities of a Donor
Infertility clinics seek egg donors with a wide variety of physical traits and ethnic backgrounds so a recipient can be matched with the woman who best resembles her.
"People in the world look different and we need donors who are a good cross section of what the world represents," Jane Tervooren, marketing director of IVF, said.
Though it depends on the infertility practice, most egg donation programs operate on total anonymity between donor and recipient. At IVF, the recipient will only receive a baby picture of the donor, to give her an idea of what genetic features she can expect to see in her child.
Besides being healthy young women, donors need a certain mentality. They cannot have an attachment to their eggs or think of them as anything more than biological material.
For this reason, Carly Cohen, sophomore nursing major, said she personally could not donate her eggs.
"I can't wait to have kids and be pregnant and I think I have too much of an emotional attachment to my own eggs," she said.
Cohen, however, does not have an ethical problem with egg donation.
"It's a good option for couples who are having fertility problems but really want a child," she said. Ethical issues are something with which a donor must also come to terms. Recipients of her eggs could possibly be single women, women over 40 or lesbians, creating untraditional family structures.
According to msn.com, it is most frequent for older women above the age of 39 to turn to egg donors. In 2001, 76 percent of women over 45 who relied on assisted reproductive procedures used donor eggs.
Donors who do not have emotional or ethical problems with the procedure might be attracted by the hefty paycheck, which can amount to $42,000 at IVF if the donor goes through the process for the maximum six cycles.
"I really believe at first they're attracted by money, but once they get in (the program), they understand and learn the value of the gift they're giving to infertile couples," Tervooren said. "It comes from the heart."
Another quality egg donors have in common is their age -the majority is college students. Rosenberg said that 75 percent of donors at IVF are college females.
Rosenberg described the typical college female donor as "a physical risk taker," someone who "feels confident that their body works right, likes their family and likes to help people."
In meeting with the college student donors at IVF, Rosenberg said they are confident about their looks and want to pass them on.
"They say, 'I want my eggs to be out there, I'm 21, don't have a boyfriend and I think my genes are terrific,'" Rosenberg said, paraphrasing conversations she's had with donors.
Nicole Kukawaski, president of the pro-life organization TCNJ Lifesavers and junior English major, offers a different perspective. She believes women selling their eggs may be exploited.
Relating egg donation to a lecture TCNJ Lifesavers recently held on stem cell research, Kukawaski said, "Women can sell eggs for high amounts of money, and if embryonic stem cell research goes on, the prettier, more athletic women could be solicited or used for eggs in order to get the 'good' genes, so to speak."
Impact on Infertile Couples
Rosenberg has used her personal success story as an egg recipient to not only inspire donors, but also to give infertile couples hope.
Msn.com reports that approximately 15 percent of American couples struggle with infertility. When fertility drugs and other technologies don't work, as happened in Rosenberg's case, donated eggs just might.
The pregnancy rate from egg donation can be over 60 percent, depending on the reputation of the practice. According to a Centers for Disease Control study of 384 infertility clinics nationwide, there were 3,629 pregnancies resulting from donated eggs in 2001. The cost of fertilization via egg donation is steep, usually in the low-to-mid $20,000 range per cycle, at least through IVF. Women who dream of a fetus growing inside them and giving birth to a baby, or babies, don't put a price on the pregnancy experience though.
While the option to adopt a child who desperately needs a family always remains, Tervooren doesn't feel infertile couples should be limited to it.
"Infertility is a disease," she said. "People (with it) deserve the right to have children if they want, and fortunately, medical science is at a point of sophistication where it can help most people."
Science and technology aside, egg donation's potential rests upon the personal choices of young women, particularly college students. But even among those who recognize its merits, the experience may still be hard to imagine.
Debbie Lingel, sophomore music major, tried to put the process into perspective.
"It reminds me of donating blood, even though I know donating eggs is going to make another human being," she said. "But it's kind of similar. When you give blood, you think to yourself, 'I'm actually saving another life.' When you're an egg donor, you think, 'I'm helping to make people happy with a new life.'"
(04/06/05 12:00pm)
The College's Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) showed why it is one of the strongest in the state when the New Jersey EOF Program Professional Association (NJEOFPA) honored it with the annual Innovative Program Initiative Award last month.
NJEOFPA also recognized Robert Anderson, director of Liberal Learning, as an EOF Champion for his support of EOF, a program that provides financial and academic support to highly motivated students from disadvantaged families.
The College was chosen from the state's 53 EOF programs for the Innovative Program Initiative Award, which recognized the creation of its EOF Promise Award, in March 2004.
The EOF Promise Award meets the full cost for EOF students to attend the College for their first two years.
With state and federal aid struggling to keep up with rising tuition costs, the College contributes the balance so deserving students still have access to the program.
James Boatwright, director of EOF, said the EOF Promise Award is the only initiative of its kind in the state and was made possible by team efforts at the College.
He gives R. Barbara Gitenstein, College president, the most credit though, saying she justified its importance toward diversifying the campus.
The collaborative efforts behind earning the Innovative Program Initiative Award makes it more than just another shiny plaque to hang on the wall of the EOF office.
"It's more about the honor that goes with it, and the recognition," Boatwright said. "Because the work of a lot of people can often go unappreciated."
Race, Class and Gender is a course EOF students are required to take during the EOF Summer Program, which precedes a potential EOF student's freshman year and, based on his or her academic performance there, determines whether he or she will officially be accepted to the College.
Anderson said he became involved with EOF in the 1990s because "it's constant with my own sense of mission in the world. Softening the lines of privilege is constant with making the world a better place."
Though Anderson's contributions to the College's EOF program have given those born with less privilege a chance to succeed, he still said he was surprised to receive the honor of EOF Champion.
His office attests to his modesty. Shelves are packed end to end with books, with no award or certificate in sight.
This isn't because he hasn't earned them, but rather because he feels awkward displaying them. Asked whether he would consider himself humble, Anderson said, "A humble man doesn't say he's humble."
"I'm honored of course," he said. "I felt like I had won a boxing match (when I heard I was named EOF Champion)," he joked.
Marcus White, sophomore business major, directly benefited from Anderson's dedication to EOF, as he took the Race, Class and Gender course prior to his enrollment as an EOF student.
He said the course studied controversial issues faced both in the present and throughout American history.
"Race, Class and Gender was a course in which much knowledge was given and much knowledge received," he said.
White is confident the EOF program will gear him toward success.
"Something I know I will take with me in my future is the realization of how significant it is to support others in their positive pursuits in life," he said.
This value of support is exactly what drives Boatwright's passion for the program.
He cleared away the papers on his desk and proudly displayed the photographs of former EOF students beneath. They've sent him pictures from their weddings and of their children.
"These young people (who graduated) are getting into various positions around the state and doing great things," he said, mentioning that he had talked on the phone earlier with a 1992 alumnus who is now a school principal.
The alumnus told him that he'd recently interviewed another graduate of the College's EOF program for a teaching position.
"That's a tremendous feeling, an outstanding feeling," Boatwright said.
(03/16/05 12:00pm)
At first glance, it may have looked like an arts and craft project: nearly 20 College females gathered in a circle, sitting cross-legged in their chairs, stitching the fabric they held in one hand with the needle and thread in the other. They're working productively in a conference room at Brower Student Center, but something else in front of them fixes their attention: a presentation on tampons.
And what they're sewing is actually a cloth pad, which they can use instead of the disposable kind when they have their period. At a workshop on March 2, these women, along with two men, learned about the health, social and environmental issues associated with menstruation.
The program, which the Women's Center brought to the College, featured Emily Douglass and Kate Zaidan, coordinators of the national youth-led Tampaction Campaign, founded by the Philadelphia-based Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) in 1999.
The campaign aims to dismantle the patriarchal taboos surrounding menstruation, eradicate the use of unhealthy feminine hygiene products and institutionalize sustainable alternatives. Through menstrual activism, it challenges the notion that women should feel ashamed or self-conscious when their bodies bleed.
"We're taught that (periods) are dirty and disgusting, that you should hide it," Zaidan said. "All these messages are coming from the white men who own the (feminine hygiene) companies." She passed around glossy magazine pages advertising Kotex, Tampax and o.b. to illustrate.
Douglass said that she's inspired by how students who attend the workshop become more comfortable talking about menstruation. "They take charge of their lives," she said.
According to SEAC, menstruators use 16,800 sanitary pads or tampons in a lifetime. Zaidan and Douglass emphasized the importance of the term menstruators, as not all women menstruate and not all people who do identify as women - some are transgender.
The average menstruator's lifetime supply of disposable pads, tampons and applicators contributes 250 to 300 pounds of waste to the earth, which students learned as they passed around a page of statistics and each read one aloud.
However, the disposal of feminine hygiene products is only part of the problem. The cotton used to produce tampons is a heavy pesticide crop, as the campaign teaches that 25 percent of all insecticides are used on cotton. Even worse, five of the top nine pesticides used in the United States are known cancer-causing chemicals.
As a result, environmental issues coincide with health concerns. Tampaction reports that the vaginal walls are the most absorbent part of the menstruator's body, raising questions about the effects of pesticide use. Tampons are extremely absorbent as well, soaking up not only blood, but also vaginal mucous, which is needed to maintain a healthy pH balance in the vagina. Disrupting this balance has been linked to yeast infections.
Toxic shock syndrome (TSS) is another health complication linked to tampon use and their high absorbency level. As tampon boxes warn, it is a rare but fatal bacterial illness that has become increasingly uncommon with the improvement in tampon regulations over the last decade.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates tampons as medical devices and, as chief of FDA's obstetrics and gynecology devices branch, Colin Pollard, said, ensures that "tampon design and materials are safe through a solid, scientifically valid premarket review process."
Tampons must have FDA approval before they can be marketed.
Douglass also pointed out concerns over dioxin, a chemical that was once produced in small amounts by the chlorine gas formerly used to bleach tampons. Now, tampon companies ensure that they use a bleaching process that eliminates dioxin altogether or just produces a negligible amount. Nevertheless, Douglass said she is skeptical of the tests done to ensure the safety of the product.
"The tampon companies choose the companies who test their products themselves," she said, suggesting the results could be distorted to protect their business interests.
Mediha Kosovrasti, president of the Women's Center and senior political science major, said the information presented at the workshop changed the way she thinks about pads and tampons. "I'm very surprised to see the amount of dangers and the environmental effects," she said.
She said she definitely wants to buy a Diva Cup, one of the alternative menstrual products the SEAC coordinators presented. Similar to the Keeper, which is made of rubber, the Diva Cup is a silicone cup worn internally to hold, rather than absorb, the menstrual flow.
Other options include organic tampons, which are made of 100 percent non-chlorine bleached cotton, and cloth pads, like those the women made during the presentation from scraps of towel and material. Douglass said cloth pads can be purchased or students can make them by hand, a task Zaidan added could be turned into a social event. For example, she said Temple University throws pad-making parties.
Some of the women questioned the comfort, convenience and absorbency of these alternatives, and both coordinators, including a couple students who already use the products, responded with rave reviews.
The last alternative stunned the audience most - the option of wearing no protection at all during menstruation. Zaidan said she has friends who "don't feel they have to pay anyone to menstruate." They wear long johns, a few layers of pants and, as she said, just "let it flow." "It's not for everyone," Zaidan said, "but it can be very empowering."
During the workshop, Douglass and Zaidan opened the floor, asking the attendees to share stories about menstruating, sparking some laughter. One female couldn't keep a straight face as she told of getting her period in the sixth grade. Expecting that she'd have to change her pad frequently, she filled her backpack up halfway with pads and warned all her teachers about it. When she ran the mile in gym, she even wore a belly bag stuffed with pads, thinking she wouldn't make it through class without needing to change.
"One of the reasons I like these workshops is there's space to talk about these stories," Zaidan said.
At the conclusion of the program, Douglass and Zaidan urged their audience to read more about the campaign online at tampaction.org and to pressure the campus bookstore and local stores to carry organic feminine hygiene products.
Andrew Morgante, senior interactive multimedia major and one of the two males present, said he found the Tampaction presentation fascinating, from both an environmental and feminist perspective. "These are things people don't talk about," he said. "It's about being more open-minded."
(03/02/05 12:00pm)
It's Wednesday afternoon in Brower Student Center and Al Berry, sophomore mechanical engineering major, is sitting on a couch, tapping away at the keyboard of his laptop and tracing his finger on its touch pad to move the cursor. His AOL Instant Messenger Buddy List fills the far right side of his screen and he's just about to tackle a lab report or possibly check his e-mail.
As typical as his actions seem, Berry is actually doing something brand-new: accessing the Internet wirelessly from Brower Student Center.
As of January, Information Technology (IT) at the College completed wireless coverage of the student center, making it the third building on campus to have wireless Internet access, joining Holman Hall and the Science Complex.
Installing the data cables to access-point locations in the student center occurred within the last two months at the cost of about $1,500, according to Shawn Sivy, associate director of networking.
He said that so far this year, around 100 distinct users have taken advantage of the Wireless-at-TCNJ network at any of its three locations.
"Wireless Internet provides more mobility to create ad hoc work groups with faculty and other students," Sivy said about the advantages of the network. "We hope that eventually there will be wireless coverage at all the popular congregation spots."
The new library and Metzger Apartments will have wireless Internet access upon completion. Coverage of the lounges and main dining area of Eickhoff Dining Hall is now in progress.
In the meantime though, students like Christine Nystrom, sophomore English and special education major, will find it convenient to take their Internet-dependent work to a quiet cornerin Brower Student Center.
"I'd like to come here to write papers because there are less distractions than in the dorm," she said. Nystrom said she hasn't yet configured the wireless card for her laptop, but soon plans to access the Wireless-at-TCNJ Web site to learn how.
The Web site, tcnj.edu/~wireless, provides the steps for getting started.
According to vendor instructions, upon installing a wireless card, users need to configure it so that it associates with a nearby wireless access point in the building.
When users launch a Web browser, it should direct them to a login screen, where they can enter their College e-mail login and password. Internet applications can then be accessed within the range of the wireless network.
With both his laptop and marketing textbook opened on a table in Brower Student Center, John Jaskula, junior marketing major, was in the process of configuring his wireless card.
He had just retrieved the WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) security key, an encrypted number that he needed for configuration.
"I wanted to get out of the room and work on my marketing paper," he said.
He said that if he succeeded in accessing the wireless network, he might come to the student center to work more often.
Sivy recommended that students who experience complications in setting up their computers contact the IT helpdesk at extension 2660.
The Wireless-at-TCNJ Web site is another resource for finding advice on what kind of wireless adaptors to purchase, wireless coverage maps and updates on the growth of the College's wireless network.
"We get a lot of questions from parents and prospective students, and even students here, (about wireless access) so we keep people up to date," Sivy said.
Don't expect wired technology to become a thing of the past quite yet though.
Sivy said that it remains a faster and more reliable way to access the Internet.
"Wireless is just supplemental technology," he said. Fortunately, for many students at the College, that translates to added convenience.
(02/23/05 12:00pm)
From convocation to commencement, students come and go through the College with a flourish. When it comes to ceremony, the College doesn't fall short, especially this year, when celebrating its 150th anniversary.
What most don't realize is that behind the scenes, there's one woman who is the ultimate party planner, the mastermind behind the memories that the College community will enjoy long after the events end.
Recognized by her ever-present cup of coffee, contagious school spirit and often by her sidekick, Roscoe the Lion, she's Janis Blayne-Paul, major events director and chief Sesquicentennial officer.
Ten years ago, however, Blayne-Paul was designing buildings, not putting together the events that would take place inside them.
As a registered architect, she was living her dream of designing buildings, including schools and libraries. She had attended architectural school at Penn State because all she wanted to do was draw and see her blueprints come to life.
But in 1995, Blayne-Paul's life turned upside down. On her way to a meeting at Waterfront Park, the stadium for the Trenton Thunder baseball team that her architectural firm designed, she was in a car accident that left her with permanent nerve damage in her neck and a slipped disk.
Looking at her now, full of energy and always on the go, it's hard to tell she once suffered so much physical pain - or that she still does.
Reflecting on the aftermath of the accident, she said, "I couldn't draw anymore." She temporarily lost the ability to pick up or hold things in her right hand. While out on disability, Blayne-Paul was bored by all her free time at home. As she waited around to heal so she could be an architect again, she decided to put her time to better use as a volunteer for Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS), a mentoring organization for children and youth.
Blayne-Paul credits the treatise "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu with giving her the comfort she needed when unable to fulfill her passion for architecture. "(Tzu) explains 'the Way,' which I have come to believe in and it is my guiding strength," she said, showing a serious side to her usually lighthearted personality.
"'The Way' is the term used in Taoist tradition to mean 'life's process,' or the natural flow of life," she said. "A follower of 'the Way' flows naturally with the current of life's river. Swimming against the tide makes life more difficult. We must allow life to carry us along."
On that note, Blayne-Paul allowed her volunteer work at BBBS to guide her toward the opportunity to serve as events director for the organization. Then, while working for BBBS, a friend alerted her to a job opening in the alumni and development office at the College, a job she took in Nov. 1999.
Until June 2001, Blayne-Paul served as major gifts/planning giving officer and put together galas, an annual tennis and golf outing and other events to raise money for scholarships. When the position of major events director was created in 2001, she was the person who filled it.
When plans for celebrating the College's 150th anniversary started forming three years ago, Blayne-Paul was the natural choice for chief Sesquicentennial officer.
"It's a huge undertaking but just an amazing opportunity to be able to create new traditions," she said. "I feel really honored to have been given the opportunity to do it."
Blayne-Paul works with the Sesquicentennial committee, which consists of faculty, students in the class of 2005 and alumni, as well as with other organizations on campus that want to play a part in the festivities.
Although planning for the Sesquicentennial bash started a few years in advance, Blayne-Paul said the countdown to Founders' Day, which was Feb. 9, was nonetheless frenetic since returning from Winter Break.
The day before Founders' Day, a Tuesday, Blayne-Paul arrived on campus at 8 a.m. and stayed straight through Midnight Madness. She then boarded the bus to the "Today" show at 4 a.m. From New York City, it was back to the College for the party in the Brower Student Center and the Leadership Convocation in the evening. Blayne-Paul didn't return home until 10:30 p.m on Wednesday.
After her hectic days on campus, Blayne-Paul said that home is her place to relax. "I just crash and sleep," she said. "I'm either at full speed or zero."
Part of what makes Blayne-Paul's job so demanding is that she must strike the interest of a student body that can be apathetic when it comes to school spirit. "I figure if I'm excited and passionate, someone's going to get on my bandwagon," she said. "A hundred people are going to get on my bus (at 4 a.m.)," she said, alluding to the "Today" show trip.
"People want to have something to rally around and they want to feel good about where they go to school and where they work," she said, explaining the importance of the Sesquicentennial celebration. She believes the College "accomplished so much and has come so far" as an institution over the past century and a half. "I think the celebration gave us a platform to share this story," she said.
And while the College's official birthday has passed, events to commemorate the Sesquicentennial aren't over yet. April 20 is Campus Colors Day, when students wearing blue and gold will be rewarded with gift certificates and giveaways, thanks to a partnership with Ewing businesses. The big finale comes during homecoming weekend in October.
"The opportunity to be a part of and the chance to help shape the history of this institution is one whose profound impact won't be fully realized (for many years)," Blayne-Paul said, thinking ahead to the next 50 years. By then, her hope is that her successor, the chief Bicentennial officer, will look back on 2005 and wonder, "how can I top what they did?"
(02/23/05 12:00pm)
The Celebration of the Arts, a committee that in the past brought such widely renowned performers to campus as Bill Cosby, Savion Glover and the "Whose Line is it Anyway" comedians, had a more difficult time booking an act this year due to a new state mandate.
Effective since Oct. 15, the mandate prohibits state departments, agencies and authorities, including the College, from entering contracts in excess of $17,500 with an individual or entity that has made political contributions to candidates or their parties.
The committee - which usually brings two acts to campus per year, one in the fall and one in the spring - was successful in securing a spring act, blues legend B.B. King, for a performance on April 9, but was unable to also secure a performer for an event in the fall due to the state legislation.
As a result, Student Finance Board (SFB) Chairperson Craig Gross estimates that there will be at least $3,000 left over from the money reserved for Celebration of the Arts that can be used for other student funding.
He said SFB will be left with more than $3,000 in unused Student Activities Fee (SAF) funds from the Celebration of the Arts, but the exact amount has yet to be determined.
He decided to reallocate $3,000 to the conference request line, which often helps send organizations and athletic teams to national conferences. When he finds out how much more money is left, he will then decide where best to reallocate that money as well, he said.
This academic year, SFB reserved $50,350 to fund what it assumed would be two shows. The College also allotted money for the Celebration of the Arts. However, since B.B. King was the only performer contracted, not all the money was used.
The $3,000 surplus is not indicative of the cost of B.B. King's performance, Gross said. He was unable to disclose the total cost of King's performance due to terms of the contract.
"At no time did the College transfer money to SFB," Gross said. "Rather, SFB has more money to spend on special appropriations requests simply because we are contributing less to the Celebration of the Arts budget."
Despite the difficulty it has brought in securing big-name acts for performances at the College, Gross said the legislation was not meant to punish colleges but rather to curb government corruption.
However, the policy directly affects the College and obstructed the Celebration of the Arts' efforts to plan a performance in the fall.
"We were not comfortable with the timetable we had to work with," Jared Breunig, senior finance major and an SFB-appointed student on the Celebration of the Arts committee, said. "We more or less found out about this new mandate while trying to plan for a fall show. It made better sense from all angles to do just the spring show this year." SFB and the College will use money earned from ticket revenue to help cover the cost of the B.B. King concert, not to make a profit off of it, Gross said.
He said he anticipates tickets to sell out, so breaking even should not be a problem.
The committee for the Celebration of the Arts consists of three students, two faculty members and Tim Asher, associate director for Campus Activities, as chair. Breunig said the decision to pursue B.B. King for a spring performance was unanimous.
Justifying their choice, Breunig said, "Equally important to his catalog of work is the inspiration he has give to many of the greatest guitarists of all time. He is a hero to just about everyone who has ever picked up a guitar."
In-person sales of tickets begin today at the box office in Brower Student Center. "There were kids who were planning to camp out for tickets," Breunig said, "which kind of lets me know we picked the correct person."
(02/09/05 12:00pm)
Here on the College's campus, the well-manicured lawns and stately brick buildings with white columns project the ultimate image of academia. The College is more than an institution of higher education though. For thousands of students across the years, it's been a temporary home away from home, one where they've created memories and learned lessons lasting a lifetime.
From the 1950s, when female students abided by a strict 9 p.m. curfew to the 1970s, when the first coeducational dorms were built, the College's residence life has been a sign of the times, changing as social values loosened. Whereas men and women were once separated by building, they now live on the same floors-in some cases, tight-knit couples even unofficially share a room.
Construction over the years changed the residence halls physically as well. The first three dormitories, Allen, Brewster and Ely, which were built in 1931, still stand but have since been modernized inside. A former men's dormitory, Bliss Hall, now houses the English and Modern Language departments and military barracks that once accommodated male students no longer exists.
Alumni who lived on campus throughout the 20th century carry their own unique stories, which vary from ghost sightings to pranks on roommates and a chaotic move-in experience. Connecting them all is the same Ewing campus, which since 1932 has given many students their first taste of independence.
1950s: The Golden Years
The dorm life of a student at the College in the 1950s depended entirely on his or her sex. The women, like Aggie (Hoehn) Schwartz, who graduated in 1956 and once lived in Brewster Hall, were accustomed to abiding by a strictly enforced 9 p.m. curfew.
"Most of us obeyed the rules, but there were a handful of rebels," she said. "Their friends would let them in through the windows."
The men, on the other hand, lived in Bliss Hall and could pretty much come and go as they pleased, according to Leonard Tharney, who lived there for three years before graduating in 1954.
Tharney attributes the double standard to World War II. "Those days, society used the College in loco parentis, acting on behalf of parents' right to set rules and obligations," he said. "They didn't do that with men because some of those guys had already fought their way across World War II."
Although men and women were treated differently, they both faced the same rules when it came to visitors of the opposite sex. Men could only entertain lady friends in the social room of Bliss Hall, even in the daytime, Tharney said. Schwartz said it was the same for females with their male visitors.
"It was a suitcase college because girls had boyfriends at home and went home to see them," she said. At home, couples could avoid the watchful eyes of Vernetta Decker, who Schwartz called the primary housemother.
Decker, remembered for her strictness, did all she could to instill etiquette in her female residents. She insisted they always wear skirts and dresses and learn how to serve tea. As Dean of Women, it was her job to "promote the ideals of right living," which was how the position was described when created in 1924.
The women were restricted in their social activities. Schwartz said there weren't many events on campus and she and her friends couldn't go out to the movie theatre with the men because they'd miss curfew. To entertain themselves, they'd "sit and gab," play board games or watch a movie shown in the lounge. "Basically, your life was within the dorm," she said.
Tharney said men also passed their free time with conversation. In stark contrast to frat houses today, the hot spot back then was none other than the vending machine. This new invention was located in the social room, where the men would throw holiday parties around Christmastime or just sit around and relax the rest of the year. "Once in a while there was hard cider, which was the poor man's way of having a drink," he said, explaining how apple cider was allowed to sit on a dorm windowsill for a month so the sugar could turn to alcohol. The men who owned cars might occasionally venture off to the local burger joint with friends or go out to play darts.
Despite the fact that only males lived in Bliss Hall, Tharney said there was a female presence thanks to the cleaning woman, Ms. Asay, who was in her early '70s and developed a grandmotherly relationship with the residents.
"We really got to know her," he said. "She was charming. She had this amazing capacity for using word substitution. For example, her husband died of celebrated hemorrhage (as opposed to cerebral) and she had to sit down because she had very close veins in her legs (meaning varicose)."
In 1955, the College celebrated its 100th anniversary with the opening of Centennial Hall, a women's dormitory, which was completed just in time for Schwartz to move in her senior year. "We thought we were in heaven," she said, mentioning how her peers marveled at the large windows in the rooms. The fact that students today see Centennial Hall as the worst housing on campus shows just how much times have changed.
After Schultz graduated in 1956, Tharney returned to the College as an alum to serve as assistant Dean of Men, a position that would now be like a mix between Residence Director and Community Advisor.
"There was a certain camaraderie among faculty advisors and male students," he said. As an advisor, he said that he'd receive reports of his residents' academic progress and have conferences with them at certain points during the semester. "It was a great time to get to know people," he said.
Instead of Bliss Hall, Tharney was now living in New House, named for the fact that it was new to the campus. The dormitory was actually a one-story barrack from World War II. He said that through government agencies, the College bought it for one dollar, using it to house 50 men.
Though Tharney said the men more or less respected the rules of the residence living, he admitted there was "a lot of behind the scenes horseplay." A favorite prank was wiring up a bedspring with an automobile battery to shock an unsuspecting friend when he went to bed. Noise could also be an occasional problem due to the thinness of the barrack walls.
Tharney had to leave his position in January of 1960 when he was called back to serve in the Army National Guard. Soon after, he said New House burned to the ground, presumably due to an overloaded electric system, but fortunately all students safely escaped the blaze.
1970s: Going Coed
It was 1971, the United States was knee-deep in the Vietnam War and college campuses across the country were staging anti-war protests. At the College specifically, this year was also a turning point in residence life, as women and men were now living together in Travers and Wolfe Halls, albeit on same-sex floors.
Barbara (Dietz) Yesalavich, class of 1975, moved into the dorms when they were brand-new her freshman year. She lived on the 10th floor of Travers her first year and on the 10th floor of Wolfe her other three.
"Decker and Cromwell were all girls and they still had a curfew," she said. However, it was different situation in the Towers. "The rules were relaxed. They didn't know how to make the rules because they couldn't tell the difference between the men who belonged and those who didn't," she said.
She vividly recalls her first move-in day. After lugging all her dorm essentials up nine flights of stairs, Yesalavich found a room furnished with much the same furniture as now.
The buildings' fire drills and the tendency of its elevators to break down is another aspect of life in the Towers that hasn't changed, as Yesalavich experienced these inconveniences just as the freshmen do today. What students may have a hard time relating to though is the fact that Yesalavich had to attend classes on Saturdays, since classes met three times a week for 50 minutes on an alternating day schedule.
The 1980s: A Haunted Dorm
Ann DeGennaro, who graduated in 1983 and is now director of Campus Wellness, lived on the second floor of Norsworthy Hall, then an all-female dormitory, in a room she swears was haunted by the ghost of Naomi Norsworthy.
Naomi Norsworthy had graduated from the College in 1895, when it was the New Jersey State Normal School in Trenton. She died from cancer at the age of 39, cutting short an academic career that had been going strong.
When DeGennaro moved into room 216, she had heard urban legends about the building's long-dead namesake but never really believed them. It wasn't until an eerie occurrence one day when she was cleaning the room that she changed her mind.
DeGennaro described how she used to have a stereo on top of her dresser that she would protect from the dust with a plastic cover. She had taken the cover off the stereo speaker and laid albums on top. When she was concentrated with her work on the floor, the cover fell off and hit her in the head-but the albums hadn't moved.
The second inexplicable experience came when she was visiting a friend on the third floor. Her friend was typing at her desk, which she had decorated with pictures of family, as many college students do. The lights suddenly went off in the hallway, but the young woman shrugged it off. It was only after she noticed that a picture of her family was turned upside down that she started to panic.
DeGennaro said her third encounter with Naomi Norsworthy was the most terrifying. Although she admits to drinking a couple cocktails at the Rathskellar the night it happened, she assures that she was still in the right frame of mind. She had gone into the bathroom to brush her teeth, when she heard the door mysteriously open. She then noticed the screws on the lighting fixture above begin to unscrew and fall to the ground, but the fixture itself remained attached to the ceiling.
Her terrified reaction woke the whole floor up. She and her roommate then stood in the middle of their room and said, "Naomi, we believe in you. Now please leave us alone!" From then on, there were no more sightings. However, DeGennaro will never forget Naomi, whose haunting visits she'll "spiritedly" relate when reminiscing about her days in the dorm, which she calls some of the best of her life.
2005: Here and Now
While students today may have some bones to pick with Residence Life, many would not trade living within footsteps of their friends for anything. There's no telling what memories students from the new millennium will recount when the College's 200th anniversary rolls around. Maybe all we really need to know now is, as the saying goes, that these are the good old days we'll miss in the years ahead.
(02/02/05 12:00pm)
He never expected to die Jan. 13 of a sudden heart attack at the age of 73. Maybe because after he retired as chair of the Department of Law and Justice in June 2003, the late Robert McCormack did not settle for the typical retired lifestyle.
Up unto his final days, McCormack was hard at work, helping to organize a panel for the United Nations' 11th Crime Congress in Bangkok this April. The United Nations considers the congress, which is held every five years, a major global event.
McCormack developed a panel to address the challenge of restoring justice systems to conflict-torn nations, which was his way of fulfilling a passion for criminal justice around the world.
"He cared a lot about international matters," James Finckenauer, national president of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS) and Rutgers University professor, said. "He spent a lot of time trying to bring these things forward when he was retired because he believed in (the importance of) this."
After serving 20 years in the Department of Law and Justice at the College, McCormack worked as a liaison between the United Nations and ACJS, a non-governmental organization (NGO) that fosters professional and scholarly activities in the field of criminal justice.
"He thought the academy should be reaching out more broadly beyond the U.S. to look at the global scene," Finckenauer, who met McCormack when he also used to teach at the College, said.
With McCormack's encouragement, the academy ultimately created an International Section to promote information exchange, criminal justice research, curriculum development and networking among nations.
"What a loss (his death) will be to this critical linking of the organization with the UN," Finckenauer said. McCormack used to travel to United Nations meetings in New York City and even Italy to develop these international alliances. No one before him had taken that extra step, Finckenauer said.
With a doctorate in sociology from Fordham University and a master of criminology from the University of California-Berkeley, McCormack had the education to drive his success. Nonetheless, it might have been his personality that made all the difference.
"He made friends fast and knew people's personalities," John Krimmel, chair of the department of Law and Justice, said. "He made people feel as if they were part of his family," he said of the man who mentored him after hiring him as a professor to the department.
Krimmel and McCormack easily related to one another because both were former police officers. McCormack had joined the New York City Police Department after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Korean War.
Some of Krimmel's favorite memories of their friendship take him back to the buzz of jovial conversations and the savory taste of sour bread and Irish pot roast, all of which he'd enjoy at McCormack's well-planned dinner parties.
"He'd invite just the right mix of people who got along well," Krimmel said. "He had a knack for it. We wouldn't want to go home."
Finckenauer fondly remembers good times shared over dinner as well. When traveling to Italy with McCormack for a meeting, he recalls going to the kind of high-end restaurant that serves courses of meals without taking orders.
"We were wondering what we'd be eating next as the waiters and waitresses kept coming in," he said, his voice filling with nostalgic excitement. "We laughed and laughed until my stomach was hurting."
One of the last students to sit in McCormack's classroom, Keith Jeronimus, junior criminal justice major, also attests to his late professor's endearing personality and approachability.
"He was a really nice guy who was teaching here because he wanted to, not because he had to," Jeronimus said. "He had a New York accent and he definitely knew his stuff."
The students with whom McCormack shared his knowledge-such as Jeronimus, who aspires to be a CIA or FBI agent-are not the only ones who will carry on his legacy.
Two representatives from other NGOs that are involved in the UN Crime Congress plan to complete one of McCormack's unfinished works: a journal featuring papers that will be presented at the panel he organized.
Fittingly, the journal will be dedicated to McCormack as a tribute to his career in criminal justice, which, even as it neared its twilight, shed light critical world issues.
(01/26/05 12:00pm)
Who knew downing a six-pound hamburger in just under three hours could be someone's claim to fame? Kate Stelnick, freshman early education major, certainly never dreamed it would be hers.
Weighing in at only 115 pounds, Stelnick showed just how deceiving appearances can be when she was the first person to ever win a Pennsylvania pub's long-standing challenge to eat a six-pound burger topped with five pounds of fixings. If that's too much food for thought, imagine 24 Burger King Whoppers.
After seeing the colossal burger advertised on the Food Network, Stelnick, a Princeton native, was so convinced she could eat it that she urged three friends from the College to join her for the five-hour drive to Denny's Beer Barrel Pub in Clearfield, Pa.
"I told my friends to not let me give up," she said. True to their word, fellow freshmen Catherine Flannery and Randy Reali, along with junior Erik Cheng, cheered her on through the end, which was just six minutes before time was up. "They joke that there's a fat kid living inside me," she said.
Stelnick's feat earned her guest spots on "Good Morning America," "The Tony Danza Show" and radio shows across the country, not to mention a slew of other enticing offers, and made her the subject of many Internet blog postings. A Google search of her name turns up over 10,000 Web sites touting her achievement - a few even have marriage proposals.
"It's unbelievable," Stelnick said. "I like all the attention, but honestly, enough is enough. All I did was eat a hamburger."
Kate Stelnick is the kind of 18-year-old not afraid to take on a challenge as daring as skydiving or as crazy as a burger-eating competition. And once she sets her mind to it, there's no turning back. That's why she wouldn't let hundreds of miles, her parents' disapproval (she didn't tell them about the trip) or doubtful onlookers in the pub stand between her and her goal.
Fourteen hours before her stunt, Stelnick fasted to ensure a big appetite when she reached Denny's. She also napped on the drive there, but other than that, no training went into her preparation. Upon arrival, she walked into the pub wearing her baggiest clothes, a pair of sweatpants and an oversized navy T-shirt, but not even this outfit could disguise her slender frame. So when the Denny's crew took Stelnick's order for the six-pounder, they figured this blonde would be yet another to overestimate her appetite and pay $23.95 for a burger she couldn't finish.
"She came in and ordered it and we thought there was no way she could do it because she's a small girl," Kristy Turner, a Denny's waitress, said. "We were shocked when she did."
Turner said that about two or three of the giant burgers are ordered per week, and the owner of Denny's, Dennis Liegey, estimates serving 750 of them since he started the challenge in 1998.
The burger takes 45 minutes to cook and is topped with what adds up to a large onion, two whole tomatoes, a half-head of lettuce, 1 _ pounds of cheese and a cup each of mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, relish and banana peppers, with some pickles on top.
To understand just how difficult it is to down a burger of this size in three hours, realize that the fourth-ranked competitive eater in the world, Eric "Badlands" Booker, failed to do it in all his three tries. Booker, a 36-year-old New Yorker, weighs 420 pounds and has devoured 49 glazed donuts and 15 burritos each in eight minutes as well as two pounds of chocolate candy bars in six. On his official website, he refers to Stelnick as "Jersey's own 100-pound burger specialist."
When her burger was served, the Denny's staff set the three hour timer and Stelnick dug right in, alternating between eating the burger meat and toppings without ever taking so much as a bathroom break.
"The last 20 minutes, I wanted to give up," Stelnick said. Her friends, however, kept her motivated just as they'd promised. Flannery, her floor mate, said, "We talked to her the whole time. She didn't look sick, but after three hours, I can't even imagine how cold and nasty the meat was."
After stuffing the last bite into her mouth at the two-hour-and-54-minute mark, she no doubt enjoyed the sweet taste of victory as the pub erupted into cheers. At last, she had disproved all the passersby who said she'd never make it. As a reward, Denny's picked up the bill for Stelnick and her friends and gave her a free T-shirt. She headed home thinking it was a done deal. Little did she know, it was just the beginning.
***
Last week, the first back from winter break, Stelnick was caught in a whirlwind of unexpected media attention that culminated in her appearances on "Good Morning America" and "The Tony Danza Show" Friday morning.
Dressed in jeans and a black sweater that, in revealing some midriff, showed her figure was still intact, Stelnick laughed alongside Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson, who challenged petite weathergirl Marisol Castro to eat the same six-pound burger in the studio. Castro took the easy way out, as the show's "burger cam" revealed her giving away pieces of the burger to the live audience when she was off the air.
Later, Stelnick headed over to Tony Danza's studio and was the opening guest on his show. "Well, listen, don't make this a habit because you look great," Danza told her after he'd pulled her from the audience. "It's probably not the best thing for you," he said. "I'm having a hard time saying congratulations."
"GMA was fun, but Tony Danza was awesome," Stelnick said. "I absolutely love him."
Obviously, Stelnick knew that appearing on TV and the cover of The Trenton Times and being mentioned all over the Internet meant there was no keeping her feat a secret from her parents as she'd originally intended.
"They were mad at first, but now they're excited," she said.
And who wouldn't be when even Guinness World Records and Ripley's Believe It or Not! have contacted Stelnick, wanting to add her burger binge to their list of the greatest oddities known to man.
As Stelnick weighs the offers pouring in though, her parents need not worry about her. Stelnick is heeding Danza's advice: she doesn't plan on doing any more competitive eating, unless she ever needs to defend her record. She already turned down an all-expenses paid trip to Las Vegas to compete in a nine-pound burger eating contest last Saturday that gave away $9,000 in prize money. Who won? None other than Sonya Thomas, another woman weighing just over 100 pounds, who gulped it down in 48 minutes and 10 seconds.
Stelnick's planning to satisfy her need for excitement by obtaining her skydiving certification. "And I'm sure more crazy things will come up," she said. "I'm spontaneous beyond belief."
Nevertheless, Stelnick hasn't lost her appetite for hamburgers. And although she calls the past week both "fun and frustrating," mentioning how some people made her accomplishment "too big of a burden," she has no regrets. "If I did it again, I would not give out my number so easily and also turn down more interviews and requests."
"I had fun though...and am a better person for it, I guess," she said. Not to mention a legend in the competitive eating world.