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(03/23/11 10:07pm)
Since the 2009 demise of ProfRecord, a program on the College’s website that listed professors’ grade distributions, students were left without a means to quantify statements like, “That professor’s an easy grader.”
Now, students seeking concrete proof that a professor only gives As need look no further than myedu.com.
MyEdu contains a database of grade distributions — and, according to Student Government’s Vice President of Academic Affairs Katie Cugliotta, “much more.” SG recently signed a service agreement with the website, stating that MyEdu will become SG’s official academic planning service and replacement to ProfRecord.
“This has grades. It also has commentary. It has a schedule planner,” said Cugliotta, sophomore history secondary education major. “The ProfRecord we were going to do on campus was just the grades — this is much more.”
SG representatives have been seeking an alternative to ProfRecord since it was shut down in 2009.
The service met its end due to lack of upkeep and a professor’s issue with a comment on ProfRecord’s student feedback section. According to Cugliotta, neither of these issues will crop up with MyEdu.
“They do allow commentary, but they censor the commentary so it’s (appropriate),” Cugliotta said.
The website also obtains grade distribution data itself.
“They submit an OPRA (Open Public Records Act) request … and then the commentary comes from the students,” Cugliotta said.
SG president Olaniyi Solebo, junior political science major, charged the Academic Affairs committee with finding a replacement for ProfRecord last spring.
At first, SG vice president Corey Dwyer, and former vice president of Academic Affairs Gina Lauterio, both junior political science majors, and Cugliotta searched for developers to create a program like ProfRecord that could be hosted on a different website.
SG received $800 in funding from the Student Finance Board for the project, according to Dwyer.
SG made progress on finding a developer for the new ProfRecord over the summer, but the arrangement fell through.
After Cugliotta assumed the position of vice president of Academic Affairs for the 2010-2011 academic year, Dwyer turned the project over to her committee.
SG’s pursuit of a new grade distribution site seemed to stalemate for some time, until Cugliotta received a tip that resuscitated the project.
“We were in the process of finding … a solution (when) a friend told me, ‘Have you looked at MyEdu?’” Cugliotta said.
After browsing the website, Cugliotta knew SG had its new ProfRecord.
“Instantly, as soon as I started using it, I knew it was perfect,” Cugliotta said.
She e-mailed the site’s administrators to ask if MyEdu’s services would always be free. Their response — “Yes” — came with a question: would SG like to make the website its official academic planning service?
After consulting with SG, Cugliotta decided to respond with a yes as well.
“At first, we were interested in getting the school’s backing, but then we decided to go just as the Student Government,” Cugliotta said. “(MyEdu) is separated from the school.”
Students can sign up for MyEdu at myedu.com, using their College e-mail address.
Emily Brill can be reached at brill3@tcnj.edu
(03/16/11 10:30pm)
The College lost three Master of Education (MED) degree programs and appointed an affirmative action officer during a Board of Trustees meeting held Tuesday, March 1.
The board passed resolutions to discontinue master’s degree programs in educational technology, health education and physical education. Both resolutions passed unanimously without discussion.
According to the resolutions, College officials consider a program’s “impact on tenured faculty and long-term employees, … external constituents … and the stature of the college,” before determining whether to close it.
The first resolution held that “diminished interest by faculty” led to the decision to phase out the master’s program in educational technology.
The program, which will graduate those currently enrolled, is “designed for college graduates holding one or more teaching certificates who wish to become leaders in the integration of computer technology into our schools,” according to the College’s website.
The second resolution discontinued master’s programs in health education and physical education due to “a diminished number of applications” and the department’s intention to redesign its health education program around a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) degree.
The current program serves graduate students who already hold one or more degrees in teaching, according to a School of Nursing, Health and Exercise Science bulletin. It does not administer a teacher’s certification.
A MAT degree would provide participants with a teacher’s certification. It would also be open to graduates with bachelor’s degrees in areas other than education, according to the College’s website.
Both the MED programs in health education and physical education will fulfill “obligations to current students” before being discontinued, according to the resolution.
The Board of Trustees also introduced Kerri Thompson Tillett, the College’s new Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action (EEO/AA) Officer, during Tuesday’s meeting.
Tillett will be responsible for “ensuring fair and just treatment of employees and applicants for employment at the College,” according to the resolution appointing her to the position.
Before Tillett assumed the position, general counsel Thomas Mahoney had been performing the duties of the EEO/AA officer since the position was established in 2008.
The Trustees also discussed the use of adjunct professors at the College during the meeting.
Academic Affairs committee chair Robert Altman recounted the last meeting of the New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities (NJASCU), of which the College is a member.
“Most of our focus was on (former) governor (Thomas) Kean’s task force’s report on higher education,” Altman said.
Altman reported these findings to the academic affairs committee prior to the March 1 meeting. Some members raised questions. According to President R. Barbara Gitenstein and Altman, English professor Michael Robertson questioned the report’s failure to consider the impact of certain colleges’ “reliance on adjunct professors.”
“He was not raising a concern about adjunct use at (the College), (but saying) if this was a report that covered the entire state of New Jersey, it should include something about adjuncts,” Gitenstein told The Signal. “We should learn more about how adjuncts are used at (the College).”
As a result, Altman said, the academic affairs committee will consider the impact of the College’s use of adjunct professors over the next few months.
“What we’re going to be talking about at future meetings is, ‘What from this report should we look at?’” Altman said. “If there are trends that change, this could be a sign that the College is going in the right direction or wrong direction.”
Emily Brill can be reached at brill3@tcnj.edu.
(03/16/11 10:06pm)
The lobby was silent at 9:50 a.m.
By 10 a.m., the Art and Interactive Multimedia building was a flood of colors, sound and motion, a sea of unzipping coats and enthusiastically gesturing children. Sixth-graders from Hedgepath-Williams Elementary School in Trenton poured in through the lobby’s glass doors, ready for their art lesson on Feb. 9.
Overseeing the clamor was a small contingent of junior art education majors. Shouting over the din, the members of assistant professor of art Lisa LaJevic’s Principles, Practices and Materials in Art Education class shepherded their charges into six groups and ushered them into either the gallery or Room 102. There, the real lessons began.
“It is the first opportunity that the art education students are given to plan and teach lessons to actual (kindergarten through 12th-grade students),” LaJevic said.
Approximately 30 juniors were about to find out what that opportunity entailed.
Through a partnership with the Bonner Center for Civic and Community Engagement and College Art Gallery Director Sarah Cunningham, 50 sixth-grade students from Hedgepath-Williams took part in an interactive tour of the College Art Gallery’s “Contemporary Inuit Art from Cape Dorset” exhibit led by LaJevic’s students. The sixth-graders also completed their own Inuit-inspired prints under the guidance of the art students.
Some groups hit the gallery first, hopping from sketch to print until the sixth-graders had soaked up all 26 pieces. Some visited the studio first to make their own pieces of art.
Junior art education majors Lisa Czernikowski and Cassie Stedina led one such group.
Czernikowski and Stedina created a lesson plan centered on exploring nature and symbolism in Inuit art. Inspired by the work of prolific Inuit artist Kinojuak Ashevak, whose pieces often depicted owls, and a famous British foursome, the duo dubbed their lesson “I Am The Walrus.”
The lesson required each sixth-grader to choose an animal that reflected his or her personality and create a print of that animal.
Before launching into the activity, Czernikowski explained printmaking to the students.
“Printmaking is any kind of process of art where you make a plate, and then you can make several types of art from those plates,” Czernikowski said.
She also touched on the presence of animals in Inuit artwork.
“Animals are a really common theme in their artwork, and they all represented something,” Czernikowski said, explaining that Ashevak’s owls represented wisdom.
Charged with the task of choosing their own animal symbols, the sixth-graders mulled it over. One, stumped, asked Czernikowski what she’d choose as her animal.
“I would want to be a turtle because when I’m in one of those awkward situations, I’d go into my shell,” Czernikowski said.
Bonnie P., 11, chose an eagle. Why?
“Because it represents the United States, and it’s cool,” she explained.
“Is there anything you wish you could do that it could do?” Stedina prompted.
Bonnie thought it over.
“Fly,” she said.
Bonnie and the other three members of her group created prints by sketching line drawings into a piece of paper and “inking” and “printing” them using a simplified printmaking process. Each student created at least two prints.
All across the room, students created similar projects. One group of sixth-graders sketched renderings of their daily lives that they turned into prints. Another drew Arctic animals, inspired by a piece in the gallery called “Tattooed Whales.” One boy chose a polar bear. His female classmate chose a bunny. Another girl chose a puffin.
Elsewhere in the building, troupes of sixth-graders and their college-aged teachers tramped through the gallery, speculating upon the stories behind the pieces and why their artists chose to color them so. Students darted about on scavenger hunts and lingered quietly in front of their favorite pieces, examining.
John Laughton, dean of the School of Arts and Communication, drifted through the scene, pleased.
“The art is about cultural identity,” Laughton said. “When one group sees another expressing itself (visually), it creates the impetus that they can also use visual identity to express who they are.”
Sixth-grade teacher Ava Garvey was satisfied as well. Garvey had selected students to attend the “field trip” based on behavior and work performance. She watched them enjoy their “treat” with a smile on her face.
“I think it’s fabulous. It’s great how there’s going to be this hands-on (element),” Garvey said. “They’re not exposed to much art in school, unfortunately. It’s important to show how art is important in their daily lives, and they all seem really interested.”
After the sixth-graders piled back onto the bus and returned to Hedgepath-Williams, their group leaders breathed a sigh of relief and reflected upon the experience.
“I thought (the students) really took a lot from this,” Czernikowski said. She was pleased with how engaged her group had been in the art gallery.
Students looked back on successes and failures — or “lessons for next time,” as Czernikowski called them — a few weeks later during LaJevic’s class.
Though the art students presented stories of paint mishaps and time management issues, they swelled with pride when describing their students’ enthusiasm and artwork.
LaJevic was thrilled with their work.
“I was so excited with how well the students performed,” she said in an e-mail. “They did a great job thinking through the lesson, planning and preparing the art materials, communicating and interacting with the learners in the gallery and workshop, engaging in conversations about art and art-making and teaching about printmaking and ‘Contemporary Inuit Art.’”
When asked if she’d like to pursue a collaborative project like this one again, LaJevic’s reply was simple and immediate: “Yes.”
Emily Brill can be reached at brill3@tcnj.edu.
(03/16/11 9:38pm)
Student Government granted club status to Her Campus TCNJ on Wednesday, March 2.
The College’s branch of Her Campus, an online lifestyle magazine aimed at the “collegiette,” or female college student, launched last month.
Junior journalism major Jess Corry and sophomore journalism major Alexa Rozzi spoke to SG about Her Campus TCNJ.
“Essentially, we’re a branch of a national organization that started at Harvard (University),” Corry said. “It now has 105 branches.”
Corry and Rozzi founded the College’s branch of Her Campus and launched the site on Feb. 15. According to Rozzi, the website has done well since it’s start.
“We were recognized as one of the top 10 branches (in our first) week,” Rozzi said.
She explained that the online magazine was looking for club status so that its 34-person staff could organize events.
“We’ve been talking with other colleges to see if we can do joint events, and we’re looking for publicity,” Rozzi said.
SG approved the club unanimously.
“I go on the site probably every day,” said sophomore history secondary education major Katie Cugliotta, vice president of academic affairs. “It’s awesome.”
Her Campus TCNJ can be accessed at hercampus.com/tcnj.
Also during Wednesday’s meeting, senior accounting major Anthony Czajkowski, vice president of administration and finance, mentioned he had heard complaints that many lights were out around campus.
“My committee and I went on a tour of campus and basically just wrote down all the lights that were out,” Czajkowski said. “We also noticed that a vast majority of the blue lights on campus are out … which is obviously a huge safety concern.”
Czajkowski e-mailed Campus Police Chief John Collins about the issue.
“We’ll hopefully be addressing that shortly,” Czajkowski said.
Emily Brill can be reached at brill3@tcnj.edu.
(03/02/11 10:35pm)
Student Government granted club status to Men of Distinction, a support group, at its general body meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 23.
“We’re trying to create an empowerment group, similar to WILL,” said senior mechanical engineering major Jimmy Estrada, president of the club. “We’re focusing on minority men, and we want to discuss the issues that minority men have.”
Estrada hopes the club will foster academic and social success for its members. He said the club’s members plan to establish a mentoring program, hold fundraisers and volunteer at inner-city schools.
The club will encourage its members to “stay presentable at all times,” Estrada said.
“To hold an executive position, you need to have a 2.5 GPA,” Estrada said.
The club currently has about 62 members, according to senior interdisciplinary business major Bryan Stewart, who helped give the presentation.
Many SG members liked what they heard, discussing the club’s altruistic goals when deciding whether to grant it club status. Others questioned its focus.
“One of our big problems was that it’s really focused toward men,” said Chris Morris, junior political science major and senator of Culture and Society. “But just like the College Democrats, it doesn’t mean that Republicans can’t join, but it means it’s focused on them.”
Lynette Barnes, vice president of Equity and Diversity, liked that the club presented itself as a support group.
“PRISM is a safe place for the LGBTQ community, Black Student Union is a haven for the African Diaspora in general, and this is for minority men,” Barnes, senior psychology and women’s and gender studies double major, said.
Men of Distinction was granted club status by a unanimous vote.
Emily Brill can be reached at brill3@tcnj.edu.
(03/02/11 10:15pm)
Three English majors plucked poems and short stories from their portfolios to share at last Wednesday’s Student Reading Series. The event was the first of its kind for literary organization ink this semester.
Sophomore English secondary education major Jenna Lanzaro, junior English major Corey Drake and junior English and journalism double major Katie Brenzel recited original pieces before a small audience. Students craned their necks to better hear stories about dysfunctional families, Greek mythology and the end of the world resounding across the Library Auditorium.
Lanzaro opened with stories and poems about the myth of Hades and Persephone.
“Once upon a time, she considered a fruit,” Lanzaro began, referencing the pomegranate seeds Persephone eats that leave her forever tied to the underworld.
Drake read poems about messy mornings and a story about a man coming to grips with the apocalypse.
“What does one say when there’s reasonable certainty the world will end?” Drake read.
Brenzel, Signal Managing Editor, tied up the night with a poem called either “Oatmeal” or “Benedict Arnold” — “I haven’t decided yet,” Brenzel said — and a short story called “Performance” that she hopes to incorporate into a larger set of short stories, “dealing mostly with dysfunction.”
One performance stood out to sophomore biology major Harsha Ayyala, who attended the event.
“They all had different styles. (Lanzaro’s stories) had a lot of powerful emotions,” Ayyala said. “I remember the struggle between Persephone and Hades especially, when she was on the bank between two worlds.”
Emily Brill can be reached at brill3@tcnj.edu.
(02/24/11 3:36am)
The Trentones, one of the College’s a cappella groups, competed in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) regional quarterfinals on Saturday, Feb. 19, held on the Kendall Hall Main Stage.
Though the group didn’t advance to semifinals, cheers for its renditions of Sara Bareilles’ “Gravity,” The Darkness’ “I Believe in a Thing Called Love” and mash-up of The Beatles’ “Please Please Me” and Kings of Leon’s “Sex on Fire” echoed in every corner of the packed theater after its performance.
Eight a cappella groups from five regional colleges and universities, including the College, competed. The Trentones opened the show and were followed by groups from Drexel University, Syracuse University, Binghamton University and the University of Pittsburgh.
Clad in black and white, members of the Trentones began their three-song set with “Please Please Me/Sex On Fire.” Freshman accounting major Steve Leming and senior communication studies major and Signal staff writer Krystal Spencer belted out solos, with junior music education major Craig Dickert and sophomore music education major Dylan Lloyd harmonizing.
Next came Sara Bareilles’ “Gravity,” with an emotionally charged solo by sophomore finance major Danielle Bellomo.
A somber mood fell over Kendall Hall after the poignant ballad, which the Trentones quickly shattered with a playful rendition of The Darkness’ “I Believe in a Thing Called Love,” featuring a solo by senior health and exercise science major Brittany Brown-Webster.
“It was very lively,” said junior finance major Dan Zuller of the upbeat number.
After the Trentones concluded its set, the crowd erupted in applause.
“It was great,” said junior computer science and biology double major Adam Sferlazzo. “I really enjoyed it.”
Though the Trentones didn’t place in the top three when results were called, its members are still proud of the work they did to get to ICCA.
Seven groups took the stage after the Trentones, beginning with the Binghamton Crosbys, an all-male a cappella group. Syracuse’s Orange Appeal and Drexel’s 8 to the Bar rounded out the trio of all-male a cappella groups that competed.
Two all-female a cappella groups performed, Bingham-ton’s Harpur Harpeggios and Syracuse’s The Mandarins, and two co-ed groups, Syracuse’s Groovestand and Pittsburgh’s Pitt Pendulums, provided the rest of the night’s competition.
Notable performances included Groovestand’s take on Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind” and mash-up of Destiny’s Child’s “Survivor” and Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me A River.”
During the former, two soloists, a male rapper and female singer, posed as Jay-Z and Alicia Keys to cover the powerful Big Apple anthem. The latter saw a male and female soloist musically duke it out, capitalizing upon the interplay of “Survivor” and “Cry Me A River” to create a charged back-and-forth as the rest of the group slowly circled them.
The Pitt Pendulums’ version of Usher’s “OMG” earned its place among the night’s more memorable performances as well. Three soloists rotated to alternately sing and rap the dance-club jam.
A soulful turn by the group’s Usher stand-in highlighted the song.
The Pendulums were named second runners-up in the competition. Only the first runners-up, the Binghamton Crosbys, and champions, Groovestand, will advance to the semifinals at Rutgers University on March 26.
Groovestand performed an encore after receiving the top prize. The Syracuse crooners sang “Fame” from the eponymous musical and “Paparazzi” by Lady Gaga.
Emily Brill can be reached at brill3@tcnj.edu.
(02/24/11 3:10am)
The College gained a fight song and a handbell choir at last week’s Student Government meeting.
Last semester, SG held a contest inviting students to create a fight song for the College. During last week’s meeting, the general body reviewed the top two submissions and voted junior philosophy and political science double major Matt Janansky’s entry the winner.
Janansky wrote the music to the percussion-heavy, instrumental fight song, which he says was inspired by Florida State’s song. He created the track he submitted to SG using a MIDI sequencer, a computer program that plays back written music.
“I was trying to go for not necessarily modern, but something that the crowd could listen to and enjoy, not harking on tradition,” Janansky said. “And if they can dance to it, that always helps.”
SG members agreed. After listening to the top two fight songs, the first by junior civil engineering major Will Haduch and second by Janansky, several stood up to sound off on their favorites.
“I could see cheerleaders and dancers breaking down to the second one,” said senior mathemathics elementary education major Alli Clare, senior class president.
“I’m more likely to start cheering as loud as I can for the second one. It gives you that feeling of power,” said freshman economics major Christopher Tippett, freshman class vice president.
Others advocated for the first option, which contained lyrics.
“I could see myself coming back in five years and singing this,” said senior mathemathics secondary education major Kevin Hodulik, senior class vice president.
When it came time to vote, both options received support, but Janansky’s took the top prize by a slim margin.
“I don’t think students at (the College) will care about the lyrics. I’m just being honest,” Tippett said. “I think (Janansky’s) will get the crowd going more.”
The College’s new fight song will play at football games. Janansky will receive $100 from SG’s own fundraising account, as well as commendation from SG, honoring and congratulating Janansky for winning the contest.
SG also sanctioned the Martellados Handbell Choir during last week’s meeting. Freshmen music education majors Evan Wallach, Stephani Faljean, Rebecca Erdelyi and Kevin Whitman presented the club.
“The Martellados Handbell Choir is unlike any other club at (the College) in that there are not any other handbell choirs here,” said Wallach, the organization’s president.
According to Faljean, the club’s vice president, a handbell choir is a group of 15 to 20 people, each person equipped with several handbells that he or she rings on command.
Though a handful of music majors presented the club, its founders say the organization has universal appeal.
“We’re working on bridging the gaps between music majors and non-music majors,” Faljean said.
SG members reflected upon the handbell choir’s ability to grow.
“They’re very young and they’re enthusiastic,” senior psychology and women’s and gender studies double major and SG senator of equity and diversity, Lynette Barnes, said of the handbell choir’s founders, “I think we should pass them.”
The Martellados Handbell Choir received club status by a unanimous vote.
Emily Brill can be reached at brill3@tcnj.edu.
(02/24/11 1:35am)
Representatives from Student Financial Services appeared at last week’s Student Government meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 16, asking SG members for feedback on how SFS is doing so it can gauge how to improve its services.
Robert Alston, associate director of financial aid customer service, described SFS’s components.
“(SFS) encompasses two offices. Student Financial Assistance, where me and Jane O’Brien are located, is where grants, loans and scholarships are administered. Down the hall, our sister office is the Office of Student Accounts. Dionne Hallback is the associate director of that area,” Alston said.
O’Brien and Hallback, the only members of SFS’ staff, also appeared at the meeting.
Students shared personal stories about SFS issues.
Senior management major John Wintermute, senator at large, described how $50 was deducted from his health insurance refund due to a parking ticket he didn’t receive.
He told Alston he wouldn’t have noticed this if he hadn’t read over his bill thoroughly and asked if there was a way students could be kept abreast of problems with their accounts.
“Mistakes happen,” Alston said, mentioning that students need to stay aware of activity on their account in order to catch them.
Junior psychology major Kelsey Rebelo said $12,000 in her tuition money was once deposited into another student’s account by mistake.
“I don’t think SFS realizes how often these mistakes happen,” Rebelo, senator of culture and society, said.
SG president Olaniyi Solebo, junior political science major, asked about SFS’s staff.
“All this different information you handle — two people do this?” Solebo said.
“That is correct,” O’Brien said.
Many SG members, including advisor Magda Manetas, seemed astonished by the number.
“We’re in awe of your ability to do what you do with these few people … but knowing there are thousands of students and their families who seek assistance and counseling from them.” Manetas said. “These students have a voice, and sometimes they need to stand up and say, ‘This is unacceptable.’”
Senior accounting major and vice president of Student Services Dan Frieri closed SFS’s presentation. Frieri has been working with SFS to organize a Student Financial Assistance forum.
He described his two goals for the forum.
“Student and finance are two very broad terms, so there might be a lot about (SFS) students don’t know is there,” Frieri said. “The second part goes back to the comment made earlier about having a voice. There are two questions on the SFS survey — ‘Were you treated in a professional and courteous manner?’ and ‘Were you able to transact your business in a timely matter?’ — but neither cover, ‘Did anything get done?’”
Emily Brill can be reached at brill3@tcnj.edu.
(02/17/11 12:53am)
Cold?
To see your plight exquisitely rendered, head to the Art Gallery in the Art and Interactive Multimedia building from now until March 2. The current exhibit, “Contemporary Inuit Art from Cape Dorset,” comes to the College from Kinngait Studios, located in Canada’s Nunavut Territory.
Crafted by a people intimately familiar with plunging mercury levels, “Contemporary Inuit Art from Cape Dorset” offers a glimpse into the lives of the Eskimos who created it. Their art is often playful, alternately realistic and fanciful and always respectful of its chilly inspiration — the territory by which it was inspired.
The exhibit contains 26 works by 11 artists, including Kenojuak Ashevak, a famous daughter of Cape Dorset known for her art in the “primarily hunting and fishing community,” according to Sarah Cunningham, College Art Gallery director.
“She is by far the best known artist from (Cape Dorset), partially because she’s been working so long, and partially because her work is so strong,” Cunningham said.
Other artists whose works are displayed include Mary Pudlat, Kavavaow Mannomee and Tikitu Qinnuayuak, whose stonecut and stencil print, “First Time Kayaker” shows an aerial view of a man in a long wooden kayak, set against an immense stretch of white.
While leading a sketching class through the gallery, Cunningham told students to take note of the white backdrop.
“This is something you notice in a lot of the works — this expanse,” she said. “You have to think it might have come from living in an area that’s such an expanse … This experience of vastness is part of everyday life. You see, it’s a depiction of daily life.”
Most of the pieces are prints of sketches created in Kinngait Studios. The studio is a division of the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative (WBEC). The WBEC is one of 35 government owned co-ops designed to stimulate economic activity in the Arctic territories.
“This is one of the 35 that has focused its activities on arts,” Cunningham said. “(The co-op) encouraged all people to draw.”
Draw they did — Inuit artists have produced more than 100,000 sketches since the WBEC’s inception in 1959, according to the Dorset Fine Arts website. Many of these sketches are made into prints, to be sold at Kinngait Studios’ wholesale gallery in Toronto.
Despite its commercial focus on prints, the studio still celebrates the art of sketching.
Cunningham explained, gesturing towards “Surprised Goose,” a lithograph featuring a portrait of a goose reacting to a small bird landing on its head.
“I think this is one of the pieces where you can tell how rooted the studio still is in drawing,” Cunningham said, making note of the intricate design of the birds’ wings.
She also commented on the lack of backdrop behind the disheveled creatures. Like “First Time Kayaker,” “Surprised Goose” sets its tan and gray birds against a swath of white.
“I think without the expanse of white, the image would become quite subdued,” Cunningham said. “Yet it pops against the white.”
Several of the exhibit’s works toy with color, experimenting with palettes outside the deep blues and tans that comprise most of the prints.
Mary Pudlat’s “On Spring Ice” features six bundled-up Eskimo children playing on ice. The drab tones of the ice and the youngsters’ boots and pants are offset by the brilliant hues of their jackets — orange, green, red, pink and dark blue.
The juxtaposition of bright and dull color is examined further in Shuvinai Ashoona’s “Handstand.” The piece depicts a playful young Eskimo in the titular position, his orange pants all the more jaunty against a white backdrop.
It’s junior art education major Matt Pembleton’s favorite piece.
“The colors are really nice, and the tight detail,” Pembleton said. “It’s meticulous, but very playful and fun. It kind of draws you in. That’s why I like this one.”
Ashoona’s other piece, “Quilt of Dreams,” attracts Pembleton’s interest as well. The lithograph depicts scenes of Eskimo life in small, colored squares, placed side-by-side to form a quilt-like tableau.
“It’s kind of like a story, this one — the panels are like a life. It’s autobiographical, in a lot of ways. The animals, the people, where they live. It’s very dreamlike — well, ‘Quilt of Dreams,’” Pembleton said.
Animals are featured prominently in Ashoona’s “Quilt of Dreams.” A close kinship with wildlife is a dominant motif of the exhibit.
Owls, fish, birds, whales and bears populate the exhibit, appearing in nearly every print.
Some feature more than one, including Ashevak’s 1967 engraving “Bear and Bird,” the oldest piece in the exhibit.
Several other pieces unite animal life and human life, creating harmonious portraits of life in a hunting and fishing village.
Ashevak’s “Women Speak of Spring Fishing” is one such piece. The lithograph includes renderings of humans, birds and fish, executed in the “bold graphic style” Cunningham associates with Ashevak’s work in the exhibit booklet provided by the gallery.
Ashevak’s portfolio typifies Inuit art in its respectful depiction of animals, whether she is portraying them realistically or fancifully.
“Illustrious Owl” features a grand-looking black and tan owl with colored, teardrop-shaped petals sprouting from its feathers, peacock style.
All told, of the 26 pieces in the gallery, six include owls, three include bears, 10 include birds, five include fish and four include whales.
That’s more than include Eskimos — and eight of the exhibit’s prints feature the coat-sheathed Canadians.
So the next time you’re wandering campus, shivering and cursing the last throes of winter, step out of the cold and into the Art Gallery. And remember, when it was 24 degrees on Monday night in Ewing, it was -17 degrees in Cape Dorset.
Emily Brill can be reached at brill3@tcnj.edu.
(02/17/11 12:30am)
Two weeks ago, junior political science major and Student Government president Olaniyi Solebo issued five executive orders to the SG general body.
The executive orders outline his goals for SG this semester, which Solebo says address “issues we’ve been avoiding for a while.”
The Signal spoke with Solebo about those issues and what his executive orders entail for SG and the College.
Executive Order No. 1: Establishes a presidential task force.
Signal: What are the task force’s primary objectives this semester?
Solebo: In my speech, I talked a lot about the three challenges that I thought we needed to solve sooner rather than later.
The first was we need to create a strategic plan for … two to three years and stick to that plan. The problem that we have is that because … there’s a big cabinet turnover every two years or so … there’s not very much sustainability or consistency. Every Student Government legislative year is different than the last … The strategic plan is my way of plotting, for the next two years … what we want to accomplish … The other two things the task force is going to be talking about are assessment (of the strategic plan) and apportionment — how exactly we apportion (senators). Should they be from schools or classes? Should we find a different way?
Those are three huge questions, and we’re going to need solutions to them by the end of the semester.
Executive Order No. 2: Develop a residential student census.
Signal: In your speech, you talked about why you think we need a student census — to give voice to student concerns. How will the census be structured?
Solebo: I think … there’ll be an academic portion and a student services portion. It’s not going to be terribly long. I’m not thinking more than three or four pages. But essentially, it’ll give students a chance to express their experiences, and through their experiences, their concerns.
An example would be if I were the one filling out this census, I would talk a little about academic advising, and how I feel … there should be a mentoring aspect to it as well. I feel that students should look up to their advisors and want to ask their advisors how they can reach their future goals … A lot of professors don’t think we should have a mentoring program. A lot of professors think we do advising just fine. It can’t just be me, and it can’t just be 80 other people (that feel this way) when there are 6,000 people on campus. So you put the question to a census, to ask the entire population, and I think it makes much more sense.
Signal: Will it also function like the U.S. Census, collecting information about students?
Solebo: Demographic information isn’t necessary … One of the first things you learn in (Statistics) 115 is that a census is not necessarily demographic information. The difference between a census and a survey is that a census means you get the entire population, versus a survey, where you get a sampling.
Executive Order No. 3: Meet with at least 50 New Jersey state legislators before the end of the current legislative session.
Signal: You mentioned during your speech that last semester (SG) met with almost 40 legislators. Why did you issue this executive order?
Solebo: I thought a 50 challenge would be good … When Brian (Block, vice president of Legal and Governmental Affairs) came with the ‘Tell It Like It Is’ campaign last year … I said as many people who can hear this should be able to hear it … Once you start talking to one person, they talk to another person and another person … If the message spreads, I think it will help. If not this year, then next year, because I know it’s a tough budget climate, but we’ve got to do something. I don’t ever think we’re going to get money back, but I’d at least like to stem the money that we’re losing every year.
Executive Order No. 4: Coordinate a community-wide day of service.
Signal: Why did you want to do this, and do you have any specific plans for it?
Solebo: We had originally talked about this in Legal and Governmental Affairs last year. Sean Parsons, one of our senators, brought up some of the ill will that Ewing residents have toward (College) students. I kept thinking, ‘What’s a way to get (College) students out?’ — to show the community that apart from things they already know (we do) from reading the paper or from reading our profile, that we do other things as well … I really want (the Community Relations committee’s) ‘community’ aspect to go further and further outside campus by coordinating an event that really fits those goals … Whether it’s a 5K run or a couple hours spent cleaning up, I’m interested in anything we do, and I want as many (College) students to be there as possible.
Executive Order No. 5: Draft an SG budget for the 2012 fiscal year.
Signal: Did SG have a budget last year?
Solebo: No. We had a budget last semester … We’re asking for a bigger budget from SFB, which they’ve already said that they’re more than willing to do. So, the charge was to create a budget that fits the goals we have for the next year, which is another reason we need to have a strategic plan — to know what goals we have … The base budget we get from SFB is very small … We fundraise a lot. With the economy, fundraising is harder and harder … We were at a shortfall this semester, because one of our biggest fundraisers fell through … the academic planners. We used to get about $6,000 or $7,000 from academic planners … We lost a lot of money on those planners. Too much money. (Solebo later added that “The fundraiser fell through because the company stopped doing them due to the economy.”) … We came in … cash-strapped and cut a bunch of programs we used to do … CUB has a big budget; a lot of organizations have a big budget because it’s harder and harder to fundraise. And I think we should move toward that rather than away from that, as we were doing in the past.
Signal: Before last semester, how did SG’s finances work if there was no budget?
Solebo: We funded what we could internally, and everything that we could not fund, we went for Special Apps to SFB … I wanted a budget that was concrete.
Emily Brill can be reached at brill3@tcnj.edu.
(02/17/11 12:22am)
The Student Government elected three members to the presidential task force and sanctioned the Spanish Club during its meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 9.
The task force, established two weeks ago by President Olaniyi Solebo, junior political science major, now includes senior math secondary education major Kevin Hodulik, senior class vice president, sophomore math elementary education major Karyn Unger, senator of education and sophomore business major Kyle Magliaro, senator-at-large.
The group will reevaluate SG’s goals and structure, Solebo said.
“The first (task) is creating a strategic plan for SG. The second is making an assessment for the plan we make,” he said. “The last is examining the legislative branch of SG to determine whether or not the way we apportion senators is best for this school.”
Hodulik, Unger and Magliaro were chosen by SG’s general body from a pool of 10 nominees. Also nominated were junior biology major Stephen Kornas, sophomore biology major Kalvin Foo, freshman communication studies major Alex Brown, junior communication studies major Jillian Irizarry, sophomore accounting major Amberlyn Daniels, junior economics and political science double major Robert Poss and sophomore math secondary education major Megan Coburn.
SG also approved the Spanish Club during its meeting. Senior special education and Spanish double major Michelle Pinamonti presented on behalf of the club.
“(Spanish) is the largest department in the modern languages department, and we currently don’t have a club representing us, like the French Club or Japanese club,” Pinamonti said.
According to Pinamonti, the club’s president, Spanish Club hopes to sponsor activities such as salsa dancing presentations, lunches requiring diners to speak solely in Spanish and trips to flamenco shows at Trenton’s Malaga Restaurant.
Senior psychology and women’s and gender studies double major Lynette Barnes, senator for Equity and Diversity, questioned Spanish Club’s distinction from existing outlets on campus.
“I’m just trying to understand how this would be different from a conversation hour type of thing,” Barnes said.
Sophomore marketing and Spanish double major Christina Kopka sought to explain, mentioning that conversation hours can be uncomfortable when “not everyone wants to be there.”
“It makes it awkward for those of us who want to speak Spanish,” Kopka said. “This would be a lot more comfortable, and you’d get a lot more out of it.”
Hodulik also advocated for the club.
“I think they could do a lot with this, both collaborating with cultural organizations on campus and academic departments,” Hodulik said.
SG unanimously approved the Spanish Club.
(02/16/11 11:57pm)
This Valentine’s Day, remember, “butterflies in your stomach” won’t actually feed you. Go out and get some dinner with your partner. Here are some places to try:
First Date: Cheeburger Cheeburger in Lawrenceville
Cheeburger Cheeburger is a ’50s-style diner in a small strip mall off Route 1. Inside, you can order a cheeseburger and select as many toppings as you’d like from a hefty list for no extra charge.
The best part and reason I consider this restaurant ideal for first dates? Each table comes equipped with Trivial Pursuit cards. That’ll give you and your date something to do besides stare at each other with a mixture of longing and fear.
Everything is customizable at Cheeburger, from the size of the burgers (one pound all the way down to 5.5 ounces) to toppings (choose guacamole, artichoke hearts or onion rings — or get them all) to shakes and salads. The menu emphasizes burgers but includes vegetarian options such as the delicious Grilled Portobello Mushroom Melt.
The place is cute and its staff is friendly. The food comes quickly and tastes good.
3349-70?Brunswick?Pike, 609-799-2222, cheeburger.com
Destination Date: Marrakesh in Philadelphia
The destination date – it’s like a destination wedding, but more attainable and better tasting.
Marrakesh is a Moroccan restaurant tucked into an alley off South Street. (Don’t let the connotation scare you — it’s safe.) In order to enter the restaurant, you have to knock on the front door, an ornate portal of the “Open Sesame” variety. You’ll be ushered inside and seated on cushions in one of several dimly lit rooms. Richly patterned rugs swath the walls. Belly dancers drift through the rooms. Everywhere you look, there’s color.
The ambiance is enchanting, but Marrakesh’s success hinges on the quality of its six-course meal. Go there once, and you’ll realize why the place is so successful. Courses include a three-salad platter, beef shish kebab, couscous and marinated chicken. Dessert is hot mint tea with Moroccan pastries and an entire basket of fresh fruit. You eat everything with your hands, and a waiter comes around with an urn of warm rosewater to pour over them between courses.
You might be thinking, “There’s no way I can afford this.” That’s one of the many joys of Marrakesh — you can. Meals clock in at around $25 per person.
517 S. Leithgow St., 215-925-5929, marrakesheastcoast.com
Close to College: Café Mulino in Ewing
Café Mulino is an Italian restaurant located about 10 minutes from the College. It’s a small, quaint building nestled among trees off Bear Tavern Road — far removed from the chaotic main drag of Route 1 in attitude if not distance.
Inside, choose from thoughtfully prepared Italian entrees in an attractive, roomy dining space. The pasta is delicious, and no dish is too expensive.
938 Bear Tavern Rd., 609-883-5100
Desserts: House of Cupcakes and Small World Coffee in Princeton
Princeton is a lovely place to take a date: It’s quiet, everything is within walking distance and there’s plenty to do. While you’re there, step off Nassau Street for a moment to try
the eponymous fare at House of Cupcakes and the dessert and drink choices at Small World Coffee.
House of Cupcakes was recently featured on the Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars.” Its cupcakes are top-notch and include varieties such as Boston crème, red velvet, crème brulee and German chocolate. They sell for $2.25 each.
A few storefronts away, Small World Coffee sells pastries, desserts and tons of caffeinated goodness. Drink offerings include Mexican hot cocoa, cider from Terhune Orchards, hot almond milk and a range of teas and coffees. Small World is also a vibrant hub of local art and entertainment. It sponsors an art show every month and hosts local singer/songwriters. More information is available on its website. The coffee shop has another location on Nassau Street — but why venture that far from cupcakes?
30 Witherspoon St., 609-924-0085, thehouseofcupcakes.com
14 Witherspoon St., 609-924-4377x2, smallworldcoffee.com
Emily Brill can be reached at brill3@tcnj.edu.
(02/10/11 2:17am)
Thousands of Egyptians took to the streets on Saturday, Jan. 25, to call for President Hosni Mubarak’s immediate resignation. Mubarak’s 30-year rule has been described as “long and heavy-handed” by The New York Times.
Three days after Mubarak announced he would not seek re-election in September but would not step down immediately, on Wednesday, Feb. 2, the College held a forum about events in Egypt.
Professors Miriam Lowi and Manar Darwish spoke about the protests. Both have ties to the Middle East.
“I lived in Egypt for two years, and I learned Arabic in Egypt,” said Lowi, professor of political science and international studies. “It was there that I discovered Arabic culture, which has become such a big part of my life.”
Darwish, an Egyptian native, teaches Arabic at the College. She came to the U.S. in 1986, five years after Mubarak became president.
Lowi and Darwish dedicated approximately 15 minutes each to discuss the recent uprisings. After speaking, they fielded questions from an audience of approximately 100 students, faculty and guests.
Lowi began with a confession.
“I hoped I would come here and offer a post-mortem of the Mubarak regime,” Lowi said.
She couldn’t, though, as Mubarak still reigned, “in total defiance of the will of the vast majority of his people,” she said.
“Mubarak still has power, so long as he can command the military,” Lowi said, “but he no longer has unchallenged authority.”
Protests have materialized in the Egyptian cities of Cairo, Alexandria and Suez, according to Middle Eastern news network Al Jazeera, but media coverage has centered on those in Tahrir, or Liberation, Square in Cairo.
Lowi spoke of the “celebratory mood” in Tahrir Square, where an “incipient revolutionary movement, inspired by the Tunisian example,” was growing.
“President Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, who ruled with an iron fist for 23 years, fled like a thief in the night after a few days of massive demonstrations,” Lowi said, describing Tunisia’s recent Violet Revolution.
She also spoke of Mubarak’s attempts to quash the protestors’ efforts.
Mubarak sent police into the crowd, Lowi said, and attempted to “de-legitimize the protests” by suggesting Islamist political group the Muslim Brotherhood was behind the movement.
“He insisted that his people were being manipulated by political forces that would ultimately do them harm,” Lowi said. “The Muslim Brotherhood did not play a pronounced role in these demonstrations … If you looked closely at the crowd, it was not a particularly religious crowd. But Mubarak wanted to sow fear.”
In the end, Lowi said, “Fear-mongering is nothing more than that — to deny legitimacy to the voice of the people.”
She read several tweets New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof had written that morning. Kristof has been reporting from Tahrir Square since Sunday, Jan. 30.
“I saw some people who were motionless and seemed badly injured,” Lowi read. “Hard to know casualties, but they’re adding up. In my part of Tahrir, pro-Mubarak mobs
arrived in buses, armed with machetes, straight-razors and clubs, very menacing. Mubarak seems to be trying to stage a crackdown not with police or army, but with thugs. They are armed and brutal.”
Lowi expressed concern that these “armed thugs” would perpetuate more than additional unrest.
“Mubarak is finished, but he will hurt and maim and destroy and kill as he goes down,” Lowi said.
Kristof described the mood in the city before Mubarak’s forces came in as “giddy,” a sentiment Lowi echoed. She maintained that the crowds in Egypt were peaceful, despite “ad nauseum” reports by several U.S. media services to the contrary.
Lowi also spoke of the U.S.’s tepid response to the crisis.
“There is no doubt in my mind that the hesitancy of Obama to come out in full support of the movement is partly (due to) a possible Muslim element in a post-Mubarak Egypt. I’m certain that if all political persuasions are allowed a voice, and a podium to express that voice, the Islamists will become one voice among many,” Lowi said. “We’re at a watershed in the history of the Middle East. We need to stand with the people, I believe. They’re fighting the good fight — for freedom and dignity, the very things we value.”
Darwish, an Egyptian national, introduced the audience to the country she knew through a slide show of pictures of Cairo.
“One of my first observations (upon coming to America) was the news here is very parochial,” said Darwish, who listened to BBC radio regularly in Egypt. She currently lives in Philadelphia, where she says that the news is more regionally than internationally centered.
“Now, suddenly, Egypt is all over the news, but it is a bad time. Here is Egypt when things were not so bad,” she said, before showing pictures of the Tower of Cairo and of golf clubs, opera houses, marketplaces, movie theaters and McDonald’s.
She took questions from the audience about life in Egypt.
Junior biology major Teresa Askander asked what life in Egypt was like under Mubarak’s regime.
“When Mubarak came to power, people were hopeful. That was 1981,” said Darwish, who was in sixth grade at the time. “Now that he’s an older man, he’s 81, there were rumors that when he died, his son would take power. People were very, very dismayed by that. We’re not a monarchy.”
One student asked why the U.S. hadn’t strengthened its resolve.
“There were a few things I think were weighing on the Obama administration,” Lowi said. “One was the fear of the unknown. Mubarak has been a fairly loyal ally, both to the U.S. and Israel. Obama wants to make sure there are leaders in the region who they can rely on and with whom they could do business. The Obama Administration was very torn, because Obama, in his heart, really wanted to side with the people.”
During Sunday’s Super Bowl pregame show, Obama told Bill O’Reilly he hoped Egyptian political groups would meet to discuss the country’s future.
“What we’ve said is let’s make sure you get all the groups together in Egypt. Let the Egyptian people make a determination of what’s the process for an orderly transition, one that is a meaningful transition,” Obama said in the Fox News broadcast.
Newly appointed Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman did just that on Sunday. Suleiman gathered six opposition groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, to discuss where the country should go from here.
“I hope that this ends up soon, and well, insha’Allah,” said Darwish, using a popular Arabic expression meaning “God willing.”
Emily Brill can be reached at brill3@tcnj.edu.
(02/10/11 1:31am)
Student Government President Olaniyi Solebo delivered a “State of the Government” address on Wednesday, Feb. 2. During the address, Solebo issued five executive orders that outlined SG’s goals for the semester.
Three of the executive orders charge SG members with tasks to carry out over the upcoming months. Solebo intends for SG representatives to develop a student census, meet with at least 50 state legislators and organize a campus-wide community service day.
The remaining two executive orders call for internal changes to SG.
One calls for the Administration and Finance committee to draft an SG budget for the 2012 fiscal year.
The other established a presidential task force that will look into restructuring SG’s system of student representation.
“In the past semester, we have seen a shift in the types of concerns we have heard from students. In previous years, we have mostly dealt with academic concerns,” Solebo, junior political science major, said. “This tradition is reflected in our system. A great portion of our general body is apportioned to representatives of schools and majors. The last few years, and especially this year, we have seen a major shift toward student life issues and class-specific issues.”
Over the summer, Solebo and other SG members conducted an informal study of different colleges’ student governments, in order to gauge how well the College’s system works. During the study, Solebo discovered that of the 21 schools SG surveyed, only four use a representation system based on academic school. Most use a system based on a combination of class year and school.
“Now, while those results show no conclusive trend in favor of either a class system or a different system entirely, they show that more schools are moving in favor of a system that favors class and student life equally,” Solebo said. “A primarily school-based system does not work.”
Solebo hopes to probe the issue over the next few months with the aid of his presidential task force.
During his address, Solebo also expressed interest in continuing to use direct student feedback as a catalyst for administrative action. He hopes to do so by developing a census to document students’ experiences and assess their concerns.
Solebo brought up the recently announced $190,000 Physical Enhancement Center makeover, spurred partially by an SG petition signed by 750 students, as an example of how expressing students’ concerns can lead to action.
“We learned from that situation that in responding to student issues we have to ensure that administrators understand the seriousness of these concerns,” Solebo said. “In order to ensure that our administrators understand the importance of the issues we face, they must know that these concerns have a rational basis and are a legitimate interest
of the student body … The only way to do this is to have the concerns of all students documented.”
Executive Order No. 2 charges SG’s Academic Affairs and Student Services committees with developing this census, to be implemented in the fall.
Solebo began his speech by highlighting SG’s accomplishments last semester. He concluded it by rallying SG to continue to “fight the fights worth fighting.”
“This semester we must address the largest of (the College’s) issues,” Solebo said.
To read Solebo’s full address, go to tcnjsg.org/state-of-the-government-address.
Emily Brill can be reached at brill3@tcnj.edu.
(02/03/11 5:50am)
Currently, one-third of the Physical Enhancement Center’s ellipticals are out of order. One quarter of its treadmills share the same fate.
“There were three ellipticals with arms working when I got here, and those are the ones I like to use. There were people on all of them,” said Robert Catona, sophomore interactive multimedia major. “I’ve gone everyday this semester. … It’s discouraging, because you have to fight for appointments, and people are bickering for spots.”
But that won’t be the case for much longer.
The College has set aside $190,000 to completely revamp the PEC.
“Basically, the entire PEC will be redone with brand new equipment and a new maintenance contract that allows for (speedy) repairs,” said Brian Block, senior political science major and Student Government’s vice president of legal and governmental affairs.
In addition to refurbishing or replacing faulty equipment, the College will install new machines — and a few additional improvements.
According to John Castaldo, Director of Athletics and Recreation, the College anticipates new cardio and strength training equipment being purchased, along with new padding for underneath certain machines.
“We will be installing flat-screen televisions in various locations throughout the PEC,” Castaldo said. “Similar enhancements on a smaller scale are also planned for the athletics weight room.”
Renovations will likely begin within the next two months and could be completed by the end of the semester. According to Castaldo, it is currently unknown whether the updates will require any PEC closings.
The facility will implement its new maintenance contract during that time period as well.
“The maintenance contract is an essential element of this project, as it will make it possible for the machines to be repaired on a regular basis. Currently, we do not have a maintenance contract,” Castaldo said in an e-mail. “Therefore, each time that a machine fails, we must pay service charges. As the equipment ages, this becomes a considerable cost to the College and may delay needed repairs. The maintenance contact will allow us to order repairs right away when a machine breaks down since there will be no additional charge for the repairs.”
The College earmarked funds to complete the project in its budget this year, according to Lloyd Ricketts, the College treasurer.
“The $190,000 will be funded from the College operating reserves and was approved by President Gitenstein, as part of the fiscal year 2011 institutional priority projects identified by Vice President Jim Norfleet,” Ricketts said in an e-mail.
The College made strides toward an improved PEC earlier this year.
When the number of defunct exercise machines ballooned, officials looked for the root of the problem. They found it — an overworked circuit breaker.
“The electrical problems were the result of too many machines being on the same breaker,” Castaldo said. “The College Facilities staff has made the necessary repairs, and we continue to monitor the electrical demands of the equipment to head off any further problems.”
Student dissatisfaction impelled action as well.
“I’ve been here for four years and the PEC’s been an issue for four years,” Block said. “They’ve been working on it for a while, but last year I directed the purchase of a new bench press. (SG) had seen that as a big issue and we were trying to fire a shot across the bow, bring it into the spotlight.”
After the $1,600 Olympic bench press machine, purchased with SG fundraising money, was installed, SG stepped up its effort.
After a student survey taken at the PEC encouraged SG to go forward with its purchase, the organization decided to take similar action to change the PEC’s overall condition.
Under the direction of SG’s vice president of Student Services, Dan Frieri, a student petition circulated encouraging administrators to do something about the “gradually worsening” condition of the PEC.
“The petition was put into action in mid-November. For just under one week, members of the Student Services committee went around campus explaining our stance and getting student signatures,” said Frieri, senior accounting major. “By week’s end, we had over 750 signatures, dozens of student stories and feedback that made us confident this was an initiative we needed to move forward with.”
Frieri’s committee showed copies of the petition to President R. Barbara Gitenstein, Vice President for Student Affairs Jim Norfleet and Castaldo.
SG President Olaniyi Solebo and Block championed the issue with additional administrators.
Though a PEC renovation project has been in the works for years, an action plan came together last semester.
The plan was a collaborative effort between administrators and members of SG.
The administrators included Castaldo, Ricketts, Norfleet, Director of Purchasing Mark Mehler and Director of Planning and Administration Lori Thompson. Block, Frieri and Solebo of SG joined them.
All are thrilled at the prospect of the forthcoming renovations.
“My staff and I are extremely excited about this project, which will further advance the College’s commitment to promoting health and wellness on campus,” Castaldo said. “The PEC is heavily used by our students and plays a critical role in enhancing their experience at the College.”
For SG student representatives, the project is the culmination of years of effort and a semester of sweating it out during meetings, hearings and paperwork sessions.
Now, they’ll have a new place to sweat.
“Last semester we really boosted our attention on it, and it finally came to full fruition,” Block said.
Emily Brill can be reached at brill3@tcnj.edu.
(02/03/11 4:44am)
Students piled into the Rathskeller on Thursday, Jan. 27 for an impromptu Student Soloist Night. The College Union Board-sponsored event rose from the ashes of Thursday’s canceled classes, capping off a host of Student Activity Fee-funded snow day events.
Six performers took the stage. All were allotted one half-hour to strum their acoustic guitars and croon a mix of covers and originals.
Freshman business major Dan Gibson set the night into motion. Clad in a plaid shirt and baseball cap, Gibson covered Kings of Leon’s “Use Somebody,” Bruce Springsteen’s “Dancing in the Dark” and a few stanzas of Taylor Swift’s “Fifteen.” Gibson’s husky
voice evoked Eddie Vedder and, to one student, a prominent country singer.
“He sounds kind of like Kenny Chesney,” said Kseniya Gololobova, sophomore biology major.
Gibson also peppered his set with a few originals. He gave a nod to his band, The Dundees, which is slowly rising to prominence on Facebook.
“We have 58 fans,” Gibson said.
The Dundees lists The Pixies, Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam among its influences. All are evident in Gibson’s voice.
Second up was senior graphic design major Colleen Napolitano, a seasoned Rat veteran. Napolitano’s level speaking voice offered no hint of the vocals that would explode from her on covers such as Arcade Fire’s wintry “Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)” and Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.”
Napolitano also played a number of originals, pulling from a hefty catalogue she’s employed during previous College musical events such as Jan. 20’s WTSR Battle of the Soloists. One such song was “Manifesto.”
“She has a very original voice,” said Katie Peters, sophomore psychology major.
Battle of the Soloists winner Danielle Steward came next. The junior history secondary education major’s soft, sweet voice carried her through a set of originals. She threw in one cover, a song by Miko.
Steward’s gently cascading guitar strums were a pleasing backdrop to wistful love songs such as “Sobering Lies,” “The Dancers” and “Faster Than You Go.”
Steward will open WTSR’s Rock ’n’ Raffle on Friday, Feb. 4.
Fourth on stage was junior civil engineering major Will Haduch. Haduch swilled VitaminWater and kept things light during his set.
“Does anyone know what ‘dragonfruit’ is?” Haduch asked the crowd as he brandished his flavored drink. “I’ve been drinking it for years, and I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Haduch’s originals included “Sunday Afternoon,” “Abby” and “Box of Kittens.”
“Some girl said I sound like I’m singing to a box of kittens. That made me so mad, I decided to write a song about it,” Haduch said. “It’s not a very good mood song, though — it should’ve been meaner.”
Haduch closed with a cover.
“I can’t stress enough — this one goes out to the ladies of the Rat,” Haduch said before launching into Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.”
Freshman economics major Richard Kauffeld played fifth. Kauffeld’s deft hand at the guitar powered him through covers such as Jimi Hendrix’s “All Along the Watchtower,” Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” and Dave Matthews Band’s “Jimi Thing” and “Bartender.”
Kauffeld spoke little between songs, but his melodies engaged the audience.
“Nice song!” someone shouted during Haduch’s rendition of Buffalo Springfield’s “For What it’s Worth.”
Freshman political science major Katherine Miller played last. She finished things off with a set of all covers, including Bright Eyes’ “Landlocked Blues,” Bon Iver’s “Skinny Love” and Death Cab for Cutie’s “Crooked Teeth.”
She began with a song by Mumford & Sons and intended to end with one as well.
“I’m starting with Mumford and ending with it,” Miller said before playing “Sigh No More.”
Miller finished the song at 9:57 p.m., three minutes shy of completing her half-hour set. She improvised.
“I’ll throw in one more. It’s a bonus. I’ll end on a slow one that I know I’m good at,” Miller said. “This is dedicated to my roommate, by the way.”
She then drew the night to its conclusion with Elvis Presley’s “Can’t Help Falling In Love.”
Sophomore communication studies major Jane Howell helped organize the event.
“(CUB) preemptively sent out e-mails on Wednesday,” Howell said. “These kids have all done this before. They’re eager to do it, and they’re good at it … We always try to put something together so that kids are entertained, even when there’s snow.”
Emily Brill can be reached at brill3@tcnj.edu.
(02/01/11 2:29am)
Last year, Gov. Chris Christie cut $130 million from state funds for higher education, according to The New York Times. After the cuts, Christie implemented a four-percent tuition cap. This year, a report issued by the governor’s task force suggests Christie will repeal it.
The Student Government’s Legal and Governmental Affairs committee has long been concerned with lobbying the state and will soon launch its most recent endeavor, its “Tell It Like It Is” campaign. The campaign, created by senior political science majors Brian Block and Thomas Little, is a grassroots response to state education cuts.
“(We) came up with the strategy to focus this year on personal stories,” said Block, vice president of L&G.
Block discussed the campaign at last week’s Student Government general body meeting. He described the impetus for “Tell It Like It Is.”
Block occasionally meets with New Jersey officials to lobby for budget reform. During those meetings, he decided he didn’t want to rattle off a list of statistics. He wanted to show lawmakers evidence of hardships students suffered because of the budget cuts, hoping that students’ stories would inspire them to action.
Though the campaign hasn’t officially launched yet, a Facebook page and word-of-mouth advertising brought in three student stories.
On Dec. 22, Block and Senator of Science Steve Kornas showed those stories to state officials. Assembly Budget Chair Louis Greenwald and Assembly Higher Education Chairwoman Pam Lampitt’s staff attended the hour-long meeting, Block told SG.
“They really liked the fact that we were able to present them with firsthand student accounts and photographic evidence of the damage budget cuts are causing to our college,” Block said. “Usually lobbyists get 30 minutes max with legislators, but we were able to keep them there for at least an hour … That shows something.”
SG will launch the campaign “full throttle” this semester, according to Block.
“We want students to tell it like it is without holding back,” Block said.
Block encourages students to submit their stories of leaky faucets, closed classes and broken gym equipment to the campaign.
“We need these stories so that lawmakers understand just how detrimental their cuts are to the future of New Jersey,” he said.
Students can submit personal stories to sg@tcnj.edu or visit the campaign’s Facebook page.
“(Students) can also attend L&G meetings at 8 p.m. on Tuesday nights in SSB 241 to tell us firsthand,” Block said. “We like testimony.”
Emily Brill can be reached at brill3@tcnj.edu.
(01/21/11 11:16pm)
The College’s Board of Trustees approved the Settlement of Litigation, Claims and Separation Agreement policy on Dec. 7. This policy grants President R. Barbara Gitenstein, general counsel Thomas Mahoney and the Board the authority to settle legal actions taken against the College.
According to the policy that Mahoney drafted, it concerns litigation, claims and separation agreements filed against the College. The policy defines the measures each College entity is licensed to take when faced with such legal action.
The College has settled legal action against itself before. This policy exists to regulate how it can do so.
“It is appropriate that certain authority … now be formally delegated, pursuant to a detailed College policy that concerns consultation and reporting requirements,” the resolution approving the policy states.
Implementing this policy, Mahoney hopes, will “retain proper concern for oversight, accountability and transparency.”
The College also submitted its budget request for fiscal year 2012. The total proposed budget is $222.82 million, with $41.94 million coming from the state. Under this plan, tuition would bring in $72.81 million or about one-third of the budget.
(01/21/11 10:05pm)
Short days, heaps of snow and hours examining your dreadfully pale skin may have lulled you into a midwinter’s daze. The College knows. That’s why, to welcome you back, it’s prepared a slew of activities to inject some color back into your life — if not your complexion.
Speakers, Concerts and NoonersBrought to you by College Union Board
CUB kicks off the semester with Welcome Back week. The event will feature a lecture by director Andrew Jenks, pictured below, a concert, a poetry performance and a Nooner. For more events, go to tcnjcub.com.
• Andrew Jenks Lecture
Where: Kendall Hall
When: 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20
• Welcome Back Concert featuring Say Anything, Time Will Tell and Hotspur
Where: Kendall Hall
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 22
• Welcome Back NoonerWhere: Brower Student Center
When: 11 a.m. Friday, Jan. 21
• Mayhem Poets Performance
Where: The Rat
When: 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21
Battles of the Bands and Coffeehouses
Brought to you by WTSR
The College’s radio station, WTSR, will hold monthly Decaf Coffeehouses in T-Dubs on Thursday nights. The station has two other events planned for the semester so far. For more events, go to wtsr.org.
• Battle of Campus Musicians
Where: TBA
When: Thursday, Jan. 20
• Rock ‘n’ Raffle Battle of the Bands
Where: Brower Student Center Rm. 202
When: 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 4
Reading Series and The Goods
Brought to you by ink
Ink will sponsor two student reading series and one professor reading series this semester. Its literary pursuits culminate in The Goods, its semiannual student art jamboree. For more information, go to tcnj.edu/~ink.
• Student Reading Series
Where: TBA
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 23 and Wednesday, Mar. 30
• Professor Reading Series feat. Jess Row
Where: Library Auditorium
When: 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 10
• The Goods
Where: The Rat
When: 1 p.m. Saturday, April 16
Productions
Brought to you by All College Theatre and TCNJ Musical Theatre
Let ACT and TMT entertain you this semester. You’ll have a real good time.
Go to tcnj.edu/~act and tcnj.edu/~tmt for more information.
• ACT: “Bug”
Where: Don Evans Black Box Theatre
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday Feb. 23 to Friday, Feb. 25, 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26
• ACT: “An Evening of Shorts”
Where: Don Evans Black Box Theatre
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 13 to Friday, April 15, 2 p.m. Saturday, April 16
• TMT: “Thoroughly Modern Millie”
Where and When: TBA
A Capella Concerts
Brought to you by The Trentones
Hankering for a bevy of sweet voices to croon in your direction? The Trentones — and a host of their regional counterparts — will deliver during a competition to be held at the College in February.
• International Championship of Collegiate A Capella (ICCA) Competition
Where: Kendall Hall
When: 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 19
Orchestra Performances
Brought to you by the Department of Music
The College will host several ensemble and concert band performances this semester. Tickets range in price from $5 to $10 and are available at tcnj.edu/~arts/facilities/tcnjboxoffice.html.
• TCNJ Wind Ensemble
Where: Mildred and Ernest E. Mayo Concert Hall
When: 8 p.m. Thursday, March 3
• TCNJ Jazz Ensemble
Where: Kendall Hall
When: 8 p.m. Friday, April 1
• TCNJ Concert Band
Where: Mayo Concert Hall
When: 8 p.m. Wednesday, April 27
Dance Concerts
Brought to you by Synergy
College dance company Synergy hosts its Spring Spectacular in April this year. For more information, go to tcnj.edu/~synergy.
• Synergy Spring Spectacular
Where: Kendall Hall
When: 3 p.m. Sunday, April 3
Art Galleries
Brought to you by the Art Department
The Art Department welcomes three major exhibits this semester. All exhibits will occupy the College Art Gallery. For more information, go to tcnj.edu/~tcag.
• Contemporary Inuit Art from Cape Dorset
When: Wednesday, Jan. 26 to Wednesday, March 2
• Wounding the Black Male: Photographs from the Light Work Collection
When: Wednesday, March 16 to Wednesday, April 20
• 2011 BFA Senior Thesis Exhibition
When: Wednesday, April 27 to Saturday, May 7
Emily Brill can be reached at brill3@tcnj.edu.