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(02/23/16 10:02pm)
“Yeah, I loved ‘Harry Potter’ growing up... I’m not crazy about another book coming out, but I’ll (give it a shot).”
No, (I’m) not really interested in ‘Harry Potter.’”
“Maybe, (it) depends if I have time... I read the original seven books growing up.”
“Honestly, no. I feel like the whole phase of ‘Harry Potter’ was over when the last book and movie came out.”
(02/23/16 8:54pm)
By Tom Ballard
Opinions Editor
How can the College increase inclusion and diversity on campus? That was the question students, faculty and College administrators tackled in the first inclusion and diversity forum held this semester by Student Government (SG) on Tuesday, Feb. 16.
“The goal (of the forum) is to get a greater sense of experiences, thoughts, suggestions and concerns students, faculty and staff have,” said sophomore deaf education and history double major Priscilla Nuñez, the SG vice president for Equity and Diversity. “Some students may feel very safe and included at (the College) while others do not, and these series of fora help me and the Chief Diversity Officer of the College (Kerri Thompson Tillett) get a better insight as to short-term and long-term goals that the College as a whole can work toward.”
Issues at the forum ranged from discussing race-relations on campus to how to better incorporate professors into campus life at the College.
Students praised the College Union Board (CUB) for what they considered to be a more diverse collection of events that appeals to a wider variety of students.
“I’m really happy with CUB’s programing as of late,” said sophomore marketing major Baldween Casseus, president of Haitian Student Association. “I feel that they have (gotten) a little more diverse.”
At the forum, some students expressed concerns that students, particularly those who are racial minorities, are sometimes only one of the few minority-status students in a class that discusses topics relevant to diversity. Students said that they often feel that other students in their classes look to them as the sole representative of their minority group.
“A lot of people think diversity is just a matter of black versus white,” Nuñez said. “But it extends to more than just that — diversity encompasses religion, academics, beliefs, lifestyles, sexual orientation, disabilities and even abilities. There’s no specific focus. It’s a matter of talking, sharing, disagreeing, seeking to understand, questioning and listening to each other and challenging ourselves with how we can move forward with it all.”
Students and faculty also expressed the importance of having clear communication between students and professors in order to make sure that everybody is comfortable in the classroom.
“It would be extremely valuable… for (the College) to create a space where faculty and staff and students can hear those perspectives because I think that it’s probably the most informative thing people can know to say,” Professor and English Department Chair Glenn Steinberg said. “We should speak more directly to it. I think we need to become more sensitive to the little aspects of our interactions that we don’t realize (may cause discomfort).”
Steinberg also said that he is working with faculty to schedule luncheons so that they too can discuss issues of diversity at the College.
“We are getting faculty to talk amongst themselves to address the issue outside of the regular school in a more informal manner where people might feel more comfortable talking about things,” Steinberg said.
Staff members also addressed the concern that some students may have a hard time discussing issues of diversity in the classroom.
“It’s important for (students) to know... that where you may feel uncomfortable and a little afraid about talking about certain things, your teachers will have that same feeling,” Dean of the School of Arts and Communications John Laughton said. “That’s a very important thing to remember… they’re people, too.”
Steinberg said that professors are not necessarily trained to discuss topics of inclusion and diversity in the classroom and it is something that they try to improve upon as time goes on.
“Let’s face it: if you’re trained as a Ph.D in English literature, you spend your whole life to be the very best English literature person that you can… so you get that job at the university and all of a sudden it’s like ‘I know a lot about this… Oh no, I have to know about this, too?’ So we’re working on (dealing with inclusion and diversity),” Steinberg said.
Steinberg also went on to say that it is often difficult for a professor to know how their students are feeling, which makes their students’ feedback essential.
“The professor can have the best of intentions and try really hard to know what is going on in a classroom among the students or in the student’s mind and totally miss it, and that’s really easy to do, even for an experienced teacher,” Steinberg said. “I think that it’s important… to give your professor feedback because we try to read your body language, face and participation in class, and that’s really not always the best indication of what’s going on inside of your head.”
Participants also discussed the importance of leading a conversation about inclusion and diversity on campus in order to educate the campus community.
“We have to change the culture of the institution, and it happens at all levels,” journalism Professor Kim Pearson said.
Pearson said that the best way to facilitate change would be to not just talk about diversity, but to also avoid automatically assigning certain ideas of people based off stereotypes.
Until then, SG hopes to gather a diverse collection of opinions from students about the inclusionary climate of the College.
According to Nuñez, SG decided to begin what will be a monthly series of fora on inclusion and diversity on campus in order to let members of the College community express any concerns they have regarding those topics.
“There has been a large demand for this type of conversation from both ends of the spectrum — students all the way to administration,” Nuñez said. “The College is undergoing several changes, one in which is diversity and fostering a more inclusive campus. Since SG is an organization for the student body, it’s only reasonable for SG to host these forums. It is currently on the Equity and Diversity agenda and will continue to be for future vice presidents to come.”
Although the forum focused mainly on racial and student-faculty relations, participants recognized that there are more issues of diversity that still need to be addressed.
“A lot of students would come to me to talk about concerns that they had and a lot of times — and this is something that is not specific to when we talk about race and ethnicity in the classroom — this is something that comes up when you’re the only woman in the engineering class or when you’re a Muslim and you wear the hijab,” Pearson said. “There (are) all sorts of dimensions that I saw… also in terms of inclusion.”
Participants felt that the topics of inclusion and diversity were important topics to talk about, especially in a close-knit community like the College.
“Every forum is so different and it is truly eye-opening to see how everything is interrelated,” Nuñez said. “Campus activities, classes and class requirements, professors and so on — it all makes an impact to the environment. Moreover, today’s conversation truly gave administrators, faculty and staff something to ponder on just as much as it gave students something to think and dwell on after the forum finished.”
Nuñez said that while she was very satisfied with the outcome of the first forum, she would like to see an increase in interest for the future fora. The forum was attended by approximately 15 people.
“One thing I would like to see is a higher attendance record. Today’s forum was an amazing start,” Nuñez said. “Everyone’s opinion is important when talking about this topic. Each person gets affected by inclusion and diversity in their own way. The greater the attendance, the greater the insight and the closer we get to seeing change.”
According to College spokesperson Dave Muha, the College takes the issues of inclusion and diversity very seriously and it is continuing to make progress.
“(The College) takes very seriously its commitment to diversity and inclusion,” Muha said in an email to The Signal. “We strive to create an environment that supports the campus community. This commitment is embedded in the personal philosophies of (President R. Barbara Gitenstein) and her cabinet, as well as being an intricate part of the College’s strategic plan.”
Muha points to various events, such as the forum hosted by SG and events for Black History Month — along with famed feminist Gloria Steinem speaking at the College to kick off Woman’s History Month next month — as some of the examples of the College trying to create inclusive environments.
The next forum will be held in March and SG will host a monthly forum on inclusion and diversity for every month for the rest of the semester, according to Nuñez.
(02/16/16 8:41pm)
By Tom Ballard
Opinions Editor
On Saturday, Feb. 13, the country was rocked with the news of the death of conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. After a few moments of shock and the words “breaking news” being painted across the screen of most major news networks, the coverage began to get political — really political. Anchors and commentators quickly gelled over who Scalia was as a judge and a man to ponder who his replacement will be on the nation’s highest court. The fact that this year is an election year has led some, mainly Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to say that President Barack Obama should leave the seat vacant for the next president to nominate a potential replacement, according to a Washington Times article from Saturday, Feb. 13. However, it is the obligation of the current president to fill the vacant seat, and President Obama should do all in his abilities to fill the seat as soon as possible.
Article II, section two of the U.S. Constitution affords the president the right to name justices to the Supreme Court. “(The President) shall have power…,” the section reads, “(to) nominate, and by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, shall appoint… judges of the Supreme Court.”
It is the president’s constitutional right and duty to fill the vacant Supreme Court seat regardless of how much time is left on their term. It is also, as the section shows, the constitutional right and duty of the U.S. Senate, the body in which McConnell serves, to vet and approve or reject any nominee that the president sets forth. Regardless, according to the same Washington Times article, McConnell said in a statement that “the American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president,” and, as McConnell hopes, a Republican one.
The fact of the matter is that it will be no easy task for the Democratic president to get a Supreme Court nominee through a Senate that is firmly under Republican control. According to Congressional records, the last time a president had to nominate a member for the Supreme Court while the Senate was controlled by the opposite political party was President George H. W. Bush, a Republican, who nominated Clarence Thomas while the Senate was under a firm Democratic majority of 56-44. Thomas’s nomination barely squeaked by in the Senate, passing with a 52-48 vote to succeed Thurgood Marshall as a justice on the Court.
McConnell is hoping, as many Republicans are, for the 45th President of the United States to be a Republican. This would clearly make the nomination and approval process more painless while also most likely assuring that a conservative justice, one whose views are aligned with the common views of the Republican party, gets to serve on the Court until their death or retirement.
As an American and a registered Republican, I find the view that we can “delay, delay, delay (nomination of a Supreme Court justice),” as Donald Trump said in a recent debate, according to a Washington Post article from Saturday, Feb. 13, to be repulsive, and quite frankly, un-American. The courts were not established to be a political entity, but one that can keep the legislative and executive branches of government in balance. According to a USA Today article from Sunday, Feb. 14, the Supreme Court currently faces a heavy course load, including cases that deal with issues such as abortion, affirmative action and voting rights. The vacant seat should be filled with another justice — a person who can offer insight and reasoning into these cases — as soon as possible to ensure that the Court is making the right decisions for the American people.
Perhaps being a person who was born and raised in New Jersey, one of only 12 states that, according to the American Bar Association, does not have any form of popular elections to choose State Supreme Court Justices, the idea of having people play a role in selecting judges, especially the most powerful judges, seems foreign. Regardless, the pressure of having the potential party nominees for president use one of the most important jobs that a president has, the nominations of Supreme Court justices, seems to undermine the significance of that role while turning the situation into a political-sideshow in which candidates might be expected to parade-around who their nominee would be if they became president.
The Supreme Court is not supposed to be a body mucked-down in political meddling, but one that is meant to use logic and reasoning in interpreting the Constitution so that the rights of Americans, and their government, can be protected. If President Obama plans on replacing Justice Scalia in his term, as an article from CNN from Sunday, Feb. 14, reports that he does, he should nominate a person who is seen as impartial or moderate on political issues and who will act as an enlightened jurist that would place the well-being of our country above politics.
(02/16/16 8:37pm)
“(A) circus.”
“Bizarre.”
“Chaotic.”
“Stalemate.”
(02/09/16 8:50pm)
By Tom Ballard
Opinions Editor
Let’s face it: the Garden State has a gambling problem. Last month, the New Jersey Senate Budget Committee approved a proposal by a 9-2 vote that will lead to a referendum question being placed on the ballot in November’s general election, allowing New Jersey state citizens to determine whether or not to change the state constitution and expand the construction of casinos to the northern part of the state. While a powerhouse of elite Trenton politicians has come out in support of the expansion, the referendum, if passed, would be a disaster for the state and for Atlantic City in particular.
In 1976, New Jersey voters did two things: they gave Gerald Ford the state’s 17 electoral votes for president and passed a referendum permitting gambling in Atlantic City, according to an article from the Red Bank Register from Nov. 3, 1976. The state then amended Article III, Section VII, of its constitution to read, “it shall be lawful for the Legislature to authorize by law the establishment and operation… of gambling houses or casinos within the boundaries, as heretofore established, of the city of Atlantic City.”
In 1978, the Resorts International Hotel and Casino became the first casino to open its doors, according to a New York Daily News article from May 27, 1978. According to the same article, when the president of Resorts International saw the number of people waiting in line to gamble he turned to the chairman of the board and whispered, “we’re winners.”
Forty years later, there aren’t a lot of winners left in Atlantic City. According to an nj.com article from June 3, 2015, four of the city’s 12 casinos closed down in 2014, taking 8,000 jobs with them. The city currently finds itself struggling with state politicians such as Gov. Chris Christie and state Senate President Stephen Sweeney, both of whom support the expansion of casinos in North Jersey. According to another nj.com article from Wednesday, Jan. 20, Christie rejected a trio of rescue bills which would have given aid to the crumbling gambling mecca.
Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian is pushing for the city to declare bankruptcy, but the move seems impossible considering that the state would have to approve of the city filing bankruptcy. Instead, Sweeney has, according to an nj.com article from Monday, Jan. 11, pushed for a state take-over of the city, which would give the state control over most of the city’s finances.
Despite the current drama going on in the once crowned-jewel of East Coast gambling, many lawmakers in Trenton who are just a stone’s throw away from the College continue to endorse the reckless and irresponsible idea of opening up casinos in North Jersey.
The truth is that it is no longer 1978. Casino gambling is no longer a specialty of the Garden State. With casinos in New York, Pennsylvania and Delaware, New Jersey is surrounded by states that attract tourists, and even Jersey residents, to their casinos.
Sweeney has argued that building casinos in the northern part of the state will keep people in-state.
“The people that won’t drive two-and-a-half hours to Atlantic City, and more, will drive to a casino in northern New Jersey,” Sweeney said in an nj.com article from Dec. 17, 2015.
The Senate president went on to say, “if you gamble in the Meadowlands, you earn comps that you can use in Atlantic City… it creates that linkage.”
But the point Sweeney seems to miss is that North Jersey residents are already patronizing casinos in Yonkers, N.Y., or casinos in northern Pennsylvania, and if casinos are built in the northern part of the state, they will be entering into an already competitive and risky market. Furthermore, three years ago, Christie signed into law legislation that allowed online gambling, making it no longer necessary to go to a casino in order to gamble, according to the New York Times. Now, state residents, or anybody who happens to be in the state, for that matter, have no need to support the communities that surround the casinos. Moreover, if the two planned casinos in North Jersey are approved and the state’s constitution gets amended, it will only take away more traffic, profits and jobs from Atlantic City, a place that can not afford to lose any of the three.
According to an nj.com article from Wednesday, Jan. 13. Moody’s Investor Services, a bond credit rating business that determines the stability of investments, released a report that echoed concern for expanding casinos in the northern part of the state.
“In our view, the additional competition will likely cause more casinos to close, which would be credit negative for Atlantic City,” the report read, adding that the idea of expanding casinos to North Jersey arrives at a time when there are eight new casinos expected to open in the northeast by 2018, including in Philadelphia, according to the same nj.com article.
It is time for state lawmakers to stop throwing the financial soundness of the state away on a gamble. We are in no place to bet on red when the state is already in the red. If this referendum passes, it will only increase congestion in an already competitive casino marketplace while we turn our backs to Atlantic City and the surrounding communities in the southern part of the state.
Forty years ago, Trenton politicians promised that casinos would help make the economy of the state stronger, and 40 years later, Atlantic City serves as the ultimate testimony to how wrong they were. Despite this, Trenton politicians continue to push for more and more gambling outlets in the state. If and when the referendum to approve expanding casinos to North Jersey appears on the ballot, we should be careful not to repeat history, we should be careful not to continue to inflict damage to Atlantic City and we should vote “no.”
(02/09/16 8:49pm)
“Yes I did... I watched it for the food.”
“(I did watch it) less for the game and more for the commercials, since I’m a marketing major.”
“Yes... because a lot of my friends were watching it.”
“I did not... I was actually working that night.”
(02/09/16 8:41pm)
By Tom Ballard
Opinions Editor
On Friday, Feb. 5, the United Nation’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention released its report from December 2015, which claimed that Julian Assange, founder of the Wikileaks website, was “arbitrarily detained by the governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom,” according to a press release from the organization. In addition, the working committee ordered that the governments compensate Assange after his subjection to “different forms of deprivation of liberty.”
According to the press release, pursuant to a European arrest warrant issued by Sweden, Assange was placed in 10 days of solitary confinement in Wandsworth Prison in Sweden on Dec. 7, 2010, following a Swedish prosecutor’s investigation against Assange for a reported rape claim. Following his stay in solitary confinement, Assange was sentenced to house arrest for 550 days in his United Kingdom residency. Assange escaped his house arrest and received asylum — the act of a country allowing an outside resident to safely reside in its territory — from the Ecuadorian embassy in London in 2012. Assange has remained in the embassy, its boundaries which are constantly patrolled by British police officers.
According to BBC, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond dismissed the ruling by the U.N. panel as “ridiculous.”
Hammond also went on to say that Assange is a “fugitive from justice” who can still come out of the embassy “at any time he chooses,” adding that he would still have to face justice in Sweden, according to the same BBC article.
BBC reported that the Swedish government had dropped two claims of sexual assault, but Assange still faces the more serious accusation of rape.
“The (Swedish) government does not agree with the assessment made by the majority of the working group,” a statement from the Swedish foreign ministry reads, according the Guardian. “Assange has chosen, voluntarily, to stay at the Ecuadorian embassy and Swedish authorities have no control over his decision to stay there… Assange is free to leave the embassy at any point. Thus, he is not being deprived of his liberty.”
A video posted on the U.N. Human Rights Facebook page the day before the decision was released states that the governments of the U.K. and Sweden are “legally bind(ed)” to follow the orders of the working committee.
According to the U.N. Human Rights committee’s website, working groups are comprised of “prominent, independent experts working on a voluntary basis, appointed by the Human Rights Council.”
The press release stated that the five-member group ruled, 3-1, in its decision, with one member recusing herself since she shared the same nationality as Assange: Australian.
According to BBC, the U.K. government reported that it had spent $18.8 million so far on policing the boundaries of the Ecuadorian embassy since Assange took asylum.
(02/09/16 8:40pm)
By Tom Ballard
Opinions Editor
Freshmen are stranded here at the College. The sad truth is that the vast majority of residential freshman students, like myself, are barred from being allowed to park a car on campus. This not only causes an entire quarter of the student body to be independently immobile, but also keeps freshman students from connecting with the surrounding non-College community.
As a person, I wanted to go away to college in order to get a new experience. I wanted to be challenged academically with college-level courses and I wanted to grow as a more independent person while being away from Mom and Dad. Unfortunately, the College’s policy keeping freshman students from being allowed to have a car on campus keeps me away from gaining some of that independence. I am confined to the College’s campus, and while it is an absolutely lovely campus, my lack of having my car on campus keeps me from visiting local community attractions or going to stores to pick up needed supplies and groceries. As a result, I end up ordering any needed items on my Amazon Prime account and waiting for the two days delivery to avoid the arguably costly items in the College’s bookstore or the C-Store.
Furthermore, the lack of freshmen having cars exile us from the surrounding Ewing community. Most freshmen, who are not originally from the Ewing area, stay on campus simply because it becomes too difficult to haggle an upperclassman to continue giving rides and because of the irregular schedule of the Loop Bus, which aims to help students get away from campus. By not truly being able to see the surrounding community, freshman students are left to feel ignorant about the area in which they live, keeping them from cementing bonds with their community. A Signal article from Feb. 11, 2014 shows the struggle that members of the Ewing community have when College students move into houses in the suburban community surrounding the College. Perhaps by allowing freshman students to have cars on campus, it might allow them to become better connected with the Ewing community, enhancing the ties that College students have with the community.
Some may make the argument that a lack of parking and a fear that freshman students might always leave the campus without becoming better connected with the College community are good reasons to prevent freshman students from being allowed to park cars on campus. I would make the argument, however, that neither concern should keep the College from expanding parking rights to freshman students. The College can always expand parking space. By increasing the space for parking to grant freshmen the ability to park on campus, the College will surely make back any cost in construction by collecting the additional semesterly parking permit fees. Moreover, students who came to the College in order to have the “college experience” would still be on campus enough in order to be engaged members of the student body and the College should not be afraid of first-year students constantly going home in order to avoid the transition in becoming a college student.
Freshman students at the College should be afforded the opportunity to have a car on campus if they so choose. The small number of weekly parking permits for which the College is willing to allow students to pay is not enough to have us be engaged with the surrounding community, nor does it allow us to have the means the pick up supplies from local stores when we as residential students need to pick up supplies in order to survive the harmonic chaos that is college life. It is time that the College considers allowing residential freshmen the chance to take back their freedom and learn to become independent adults while away at college.
Students share opinions around campus
Let freshmen have cars?
“Yeah... I think that sometimes students need to get off campus and its hard to rely on the Loop Bus.”
“Yeah definitely... some people have part-time jobs they have to get to.”
(02/02/16 9:41pm)
By Tom Ballard
Opinions Editor
Between the stress of starting a new semester and the havoc caused by Winter Storm Jonas, it was easy to forget that it was also the anniversary of one of the saddest days in U.S. aeronautical history: the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.
On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger exploded 10 miles up in the air, killing all seven crew members on board. According to a New York Times article from Thursday, Jan. 28, that marked the 30th anniversary of the disaster, there was evidence of erosion on the O-ring seals on one of the rocket boosters. The O-ring seals served as seals that connected joints in the rocket boosters that were meant to prevent leaks between the compartments. The failed seal allowed a stream of hot gas to be released and ignited an external fuel tank. The unusually cold temperatures of the day is said to have possibly contributed to worsening the condition of the seals.
Engineers from the company that produced the rockets actually gave a warning about the cold weather to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) the night before the space shuttle was set to lift off.
“The recommendation was that we wait until it’s 54 degrees before we launch,” Larry Mulloy, then-NASA project manager, said in a 2014 video from Retro Report, a video producer that makes short documentaries for the New York Times. According to a New York Times article that was published a day after the explosion, the temperature at the time of the launch “hovered in the low 20s.”
Recently, National Public Radio (NPR) caught up with Bob Ebeling, one of the five engineers who warned NASA a night before the scheduled lift-off to stop the launch. Three weeks after the disaster, Ebeling was one of two engineers to anonymously give NPR a detailed account of the hours leading up to the launch.
“I was one of the few that was really close to the situation… had (NASA) listened to me and wait(ed) for a weather change, it might have been a completely different outcome,” Ebeling said in an interview with NPR, allowing the media organization to release his identity 30 years after the disaster.
It is important that we remember the seven crew members of the Challenger: Lt. Col. Ellison S. Onizuka, Cmdr. Michael J. Smith, Christa McAuliffe, Francis R. Scobee, Gregory B. Jarvis, Ronald E. McNair and Judith A. Resnik. They were our fellow Americans — McAuliffe, in particular, was an ordinary citizen. She was a high school social studies teacher from Concord, N.H., who won a nationwide competition to become the first ordinary American citizen to be sent into space. They reached for the stars, and now, as the result of preventable tragedy, as the saying goes, they belong to the ages.
I do not believe there is any better line to sum up the sacrifices of the crew members than when President Ronald Reagan addressed the nation from the Oval Office about the Challenger explosion. He used lines from American pilot John Gillespie MaGee’s poem, “High Flight.”
“I have slipped the surly bonds of the earth,’” Reagan quoted, “and touched the face of God.”
As for Ebeling, he still blames himself for playing a role in the disaster.
“I think that was one of the mistakes that God made,” Ebeling said in the same NPR report. “He shouldn’t have picked me for the job. But next time I talk to him, I’m gonna ask him, ‘Why me? You picked a loser.’”
Ebeling, you tried your best to prevent a preventable disaster. You are no loser. You are, like the seven crew members who lost their lives that day, a hero.
(02/02/16 9:40pm)
“With the amount of snow, it was probably the right choice, especially for commuters.”
“Yeah... my driveway wasn’t even plowed yet.”
“Definitely. I’m from northern Jersey and we had three feet of snow... My town’s school district was cancelled until Wednesday.”
“I think so. It was a movie-in day.There were a lot of people coming from far away places.”
(02/02/16 9:33pm)
By Tom Ballard
Opinions Editor
Jennifer Liang, a senior early childhood education and psychology double major at the College, recently presented a poster at the 17th annual Committee on Teaching About the United Nations (CTAUN) conference held at the U.N. Headquarters in New York on Friday, Jan. 22.
“I presented a poster based on the research project I worked on during (the Mentored Undergraduate Summer Experience [MUSE] program) 2015 with my professor,” Liang said.
Her professor, Assistant Professor of elementary and early childhood education Lauren Madden, focuses on environmental and sustainability education, according to Liang.
This year’s conference was titled “Stewardship for a Sustainable World: Education in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” and focused around the U.N.’s SDGs, which range from tackling poverty to bettering the environment, according to the conference’s website.
“(The) project was focused on better describing young children’s understandings and perceptions of environmental sustainability education,” Liang said. “We worked with preschool-aged children from three different early childhood settings in focus group interviews before a brief lesson about the environment (a week later).”
According to Liang, the three different settings served a variety of demographics in regards to race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status and student ability. Of the three preschools in the study, two were private and one was public. Of the two private schools, one was a traditional all-day childcare center with children ranging from infancy to pre-kindergarten and the other was a part-time, Christian-based private school that typically accommodated wealthier, more affluent families. The public school was a full-day program based on a lottery system that placed students with special needs and low income at a priority.
Liang said that their findings show that more research in early childhood environmental sustainability education might prove beneficial for the field.
“In the end, we found that the children (in the study) were able to describe nature in more sophisticated ways after the intervention than before, suggesting that research in early childhood environmental sustainability education is possible and fruitful,” Liang said.
This was the first CTAUN conference that Liang has attended and she said that she found it to be an informative opportunity.
“Needless to say, (the conference) was a fantastic experience,” Liang said. “I was able to hear really great keynote speakers discuss controversial yet moving and incredibly important topics. I had the opportunity to interact with professors and students from different schools around the country and even different parts of the world. The only other conference I attended before CTAUN was a strictly education conference, but this conference included research and topics not just related to education. I spoke with different people about a variety of environmental issues all around the world.”
According to Liang, Madden and she worked on the project for eight weeks during this past summer and each put in approximately 35 hours of work per week into the project.
“When I initially approached Dr. Madden to do MUSE with her, we sat down and had a conversation about our different research interests. Dr. Madden’s main research focus is in environmental and sustainability education, and as an early childhood education and psychology double major, I am very interested in young children and their development,” Liang said. “So we just combined both our interests and came up with this awesome project.”
In addition to working with Madden on the project, Liang received encouragement from Blythe Hinitz, distinguished professor of elementary and early childhood education, to apply for the chance to present at the U.N.
“Dr. Hinitz… is involved with CTAUN and has attended the conference numerous times,” Liang said. “Dr. Hinitz noticed that the research Dr. Madden and I had done was very closely related to this year’s CTAUN Conference theme, so she encouraged me to apply for the poster presentation.”
According to the conference’s website, the conference was attended by more than 500 educators and student participants at the daylong event.
“Dr. Madden just finished putting together our research in a journal article,” Liang said, noting that they also recently submitted the manuscript of their project to Environmental Education Research, an academic journal that focuses primarily on how environmental issues are taught in classrooms.
“Through my experience, I really fell in love with the process of research and the idea of continuously learning. When I first came to (the) College, I was confident that I wanted to be a teacher, but after doing all this research, I am definitely considering going to graduate school and pursuing a career in education research.”
Liang said that she hopes her research and presentation at CTAUN will help encourage students in the School of Education to pursue research opportunities.
“I think in general, most people associate research with the sciences and social sciences,” Liang said. “Students rarely think about the kind of research that comes (out) of our education department. Even most education majors do not realize that it is possible to do research with a professor in the education department… There are so many questions and concerns in the field of education and I believe that research really helps us understand more about the development of children and learning.”
Last year, CTAUN also held three other conferences, one at the U.N. Headquarters in New York, and one each in Atlanta and Houston. The conferences ranged from celebrating the U.N.’s 70th anniversary with a reflection of the progress the body has made to exploring a global view of how using technology in the classroom is helping students better their skills and connecting classrooms to a larger global viewpoint with cultural awareness.
(02/02/16 9:18pm)
By Tom Ballard
Opinions Editor
Forcina Hall: Yes, it feels old and grimy, its hallways resemble those of a typical Catholic high school and the water from the water fountains on the second floor tastes like there are microorganisms floating around in it. That being said, Forcina should stay. The building has played a fundamental role in the history of the College and still hosts many important programs that the College offers today. With a little care, some building maintenance and renovations, Forcina Hall can continue to stand as a valuable structure for the College in the future.
As a freshman who is not a computer science major, I haven’t spent a significant amount of time in Forcina. As a newly-minted editor at The Signal, I look forward to spending more time in the building. Despite my lack of time in Forcina, there are still some things that I know about the building.
First, the building used to house the College’s School of Education until it moved to the new Education Building in 2012. This is evident to anyone who walks through the building, from the posters advertising alumni testimonies about how the College prepared them to be teachers to the outdated key on the third floor that directs visitors to the school’s old department offices.
Second, the building is not held in high-regard. Even my freshman friends from a wide-variety of majors, including computer science, express a certain tone of disappointment whenever Forcina is brought up in a conversation. They typically say that it is outdated and is an eyesore to the campus.
Third, the building serves an important purpose to the campus community. From housing offices for the TCNJ Clinic to technical support to the Bonner Center to, arguably most importantly, The Signal (although I may be a bit biased), Forcina hosts a wide variety of services for the students at the College that allow us to live comfortable and healthy lives while away from home.
Yet, despite its usefulness, some will argue that Forcina is a worthless eyesore, an outsider among newer, more modern buildings and that the building should be torn down.
The argument can, of course, be made that these services can be hosted in other buildings — the computer science department is set to move into the new STEM building once construction is complete — but for many of the programs currently housed in Forcina, the question is: Where would they go? Many of the buildings are already packed with a substantial amount of offices. Roscoe West Hall, home to services such as the Career and Tutoring centers, has an almost entirely empty basement that is not fit to house the services that Forcina currently provides.
To add, hypothetically, if the College does eventually decide to tear down Forcina Hall, what will take its place? A new building? Providing that Forcina is still safe to occupy, it would seem counterproductive of students’ time and tuition dollars to tear down a building, only to replace it with another one. Perhaps the land could be used for a green-lawn for students to study or play outdoor activities on when the weather is nice. Although I have no objection to there being another nice, environmentally-friendly place for students to enjoy on campus, the cost would be losing a four-story building filled with services in exchange for a plain of grassy-green land.
The College has already taken steps to improve the building. Last semester, the College renovated several of the windows in the staircases of Forcina. Furthermore, the College is currently utilizing space to build a nursing simulation lab fit-out, investing more money and time to keep Forcina in the future of the College.
Forcina needs a facelift — that much is certain. Chipped tiles in the halls should be replaced with new tiles of a uniformed color on each floor, so that each floor doesn’t have a variation of green or yellow tiles. The elevator should be replaced with a newer, less terrifying one that does not have lights that flicker like it is being possessed by a demon from the College’s past while shaking like it is being rocked by a sonic boom. We should remember our past as a college, the old education classrooms should be outfitted with better desks and seats, providing students with an alternative place to study in lieu of the library or residence hall lounges.
Forcina Hall has been, and should still be, a vital place for the College community. The College should consider investing more into its existence and not, as some may want, in its termination. In the meantime, when I get the urge to walk during production night at The Signal, perhaps I might wander around the classrooms with their seas of desks that come in a rainbow of colors, pass the cluster (the system of devices that provide internet service to the College) on my way to see the closet-like room on the fourth floor that only has a couch in it or maybe I might just relax in the old lecture hall on the second floor with its red stadium-like seating. One thing is certain about Forcina Hall: the adventures are limitless, and every time you walk around it, you are bound to find something you’ve never seen before.
Students share opinions around campus
What should happen to Forcina?
“(The College should) make it look nicer... the elevator is shady... (Forcina) is not bad, it’s just an old building.”
“Honestly... I haven’t been here long enough to formulate an opinion.”
(01/26/16 10:40pm)
By Tom Ballard
Opinions Editor
For 544 days, the Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian was detained by Iranian authorities since his arrest in July 2014. Rezaian was one of four Americans released by the government of Iran on Saturday, Jan. 16, according to the Washington Post.
In exchange for the release of the four Americans, the U.S. released seven prisoners — one Iranian and six with dual citizenship with the U.S. and Iran, CNN reported. In the move, which President Barack Obama called a “one-time gesture,” the seven men were allegedly involved in exporting products and services to Iran that were in violation of the economic sanctions in place against the Middle East country. The goods exported included electronic components and satellite services to Marine navigation and military equipment.
According to NBC News, in addition to Rezaian, the other U.S. prisoners being held and then released by the Islamic republic included Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine who had been imprisoned since 2011 while visiting the country to see his grandmother, and Saeed Abedini, an American-Iranian Christian pastor who was born in Iran and lived in Idaho before he was convicted in an Iranian court in 2013 for “undermining national security.” Hekmati’s crime was establishing Christian churches in Iran.
The fourth American released was Nosratollah Khosravi-Roodsari, ABC News reported. Khosravi-Roodsari, whose imprisonment was not publicly reported until after his release, chose to stay in the Islamic republic after his release. According to an email ABC News received from a senior administrative official, “When it comes to Roodsari, privacy considerations preclude (the administration) from offering any more details.”
The Washington Post reported that the exchange came after Iran and the six world powers — the U.S., China, Germany, France, Russia and the U.K.— led by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, implemented an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.
“This evening, we are really reminded once again of diplomacy’s power to tackle significant challenges,” Kerry said, according to the Washington Post. “We have approached this challenge with the firm belief that exhausting diplomacy before choosing war is an imperative. And we believe that today marks the benefits of that choice.”
The deal implemented on Saturday, Jan. 16, between the six world powers and Iran ended years of economic sanctions that were crippling the Iranian economy in return for the verified dismantlement of much of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.
The prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Iran, which was not official in the agreement, came days after Iran released 10 U.S. sailors that were captured as a result of “poor navigation, failed communications equipment and a stalled engine” according to the Wall Street Journal.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif expressed support for the day’s events and posted on Twitter that “it’s now time for all — especially Muslim nations — to join hands and rid the world of violent extremism. Iran is ready.”
(01/26/16 10:13pm)
By Tom Ballard
Opinions Editor
One of the College’s professors was recently named an “Exceptional Master Leader” by Exchange magazine, receiving one of the 49 awards that the publication gives out on an international level.
Blythe Hinitz, professor of elementary early childhood education, was honored with the title in the November/December issue of the magazine. In total, 49 early childhood education professionals from around the world were named as Exceptional Master Leaders and 38 as Master Leaders.
Exchange, a bimonthly publication with the intention to “continue the search and support for leadership in (early childhood education),” gave Hinitz the title, according to the magazine’s website.
The review team selected the Master Leaders based on leadership, roles played in an impactful early childhood care career, possession of a deep knowledge base of early childhood research and the spirit they have to work collaboratively and tackle difficult objectives. Exceptional Master Leaders were selected from 10 countries, including the United States, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom, Nigeria and Israel.
Hinitz, who has been at the College since the 1970s, said that she consistently reflects on her foundational experiences in order to move ahead, according to a TCNJ Today article from Wednesday, Dec. 9.
“One of the things I am most proud of, that I am sure contributed to my receiving this honor, is that in the 1970s, I headed the TCNJ day care management minor,” Hinitz said in the same article. “This was an innovative program open to all majors on the campus that included seven required courses in the schools of education, nursing and business.”
Hinitz is noted as a strong supporter of the Head Start Program, a federal program that aids low-income areas and families with early childhood education, as well as nutrition and health services. She even played a role in bringing together the College and the Head Start Program.
“One of my initial responsibilities was supervising the Head Start Program and representing the College on the local (Community Action Partnership) Board,” Hinitz told TCNJ Today. “I am proud that the symbiotic relationship between the College and the Head Start programs was maintained for 40 years.”
As a professor, Hinitz said she tries to maintain communications with students both past and present.
“When my students graduate I still look for opportunities for them,” Hinitz said. “I try (to stay in touch).”
In addition to being a professor of education, Hinitz is also an education historian who has worked with the Kidsbridge Tolerance Museum, OMEP (the World Organization for Early Childhood Education), the Expert Advisory Group to the New Jersey Coalition for Bullying Awareness and Prevention, the International Standing Conference on the History of Education and other professional organizations, according to her profile on Exchange’s website.
Despite her expansive résumé, Hinitz said that most of her writings and works focus on diversity and equity in education.
“I have encouraged many adult learners to return to academia,” Hinitz said in her Exchange profile. “In my courses and writing, I focus on diversity and equity issues, integrating culture, bilingualism and gender into content and pedagogy. I will continue this work.”
According to Exchange’s website, the magazine introduced the Exchange Leadership Initiative (ELI) in 2014 with “the intention to explore strategies for making leadership more visible in the field of early care and education.” After establishing ELI, the magazine began reviewing applications and letters of recommendations submitted for each candidate.
Hinitz said she was encouraged to apply for the award by one of her publishers after a career in early childhood education that expands back into the 1960s.
“I’ve always feel that I’ve done my part in teaching… (and I believe) that education can hold it’s own… early childhood education in particular,” Hinitz said.
In 2012, Hinitz received the title of Distinguished Professor from the secretary of Higher Education of the State of New Jersey and the New Jersey Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. She also currently serves as the president of Phi Kappa Phi, the College’s honor society for distinguished scholarly achievement, a post that she has held since July 2014.
(01/26/16 6:17pm)
"I think it should have been longer."
"Yes, I think it was too long."
"It’s fine how it is."
"Yeah, I don’t like long breaks because then I get out of the groove of things."
(01/26/16 5:53pm)
By Tom Ballard
Opinions Editor
Iowa: When one enters the name of the 29th U.S. state into a search engine, the results will most likely be made up of the state government’s official website, maps showing the Midwestern state’s geographical location, some pretty pictures of the state’s cities and universities, something corn-related and, most predominantly, news articles about the recent polls and speeches coming out right before the Iowa caucuses. Despite the massive press attention that the caucuses garner, one thing about the event should be clear: It’s an irrelevant political side-show that bears little importance on the outcome of the presidential election.
The Hawkeye State has the esteemed position of being the first state in the country to hold elections for both the Democratic and Republican parties’ nominations for president of the United States. A caucus, unlike traditional primaries like the ones that take place here in New Jersey, do not occur throughout the entire day, but usually at an established meeting time in the evening at public places such as churches and school gymnasiums. Although the procedures and layout of the caucuses vary between the two parties, caucuses like Iowa’s are less formal voting events that allows the supporters of a certain candidate to convince undecided party voters to support their candidate. Besides for making C-Span incredibly more watchable, the caucuses lack any real relevance, in retrospect, to whom each respective party will nominate.
According to Republican National Committee’s (RNC) website, the GOP allocates 30 delegates to represent Iowa, and its choices for the presidential nomination, at the party’s national convention being held in Cleveland, Ohio, in July. That’s a mere 1.2 percent of the 2,472 delegates that will be attending the convention. The number of delegates awarded in the Monday, Feb. 1, Caucus pales in comparison to the one on Tuesday, March 1, referred to as “Super Tuesday.” On that day, according to the RNC’s website, 12 states hold their primaries or caucuses, distributing a total of 632 delegates. That’s roughly 25.5 percent of the delegates voting in the convention that are distributed in a single day.
In the past two election cycles, Iowa has proven to be unreliable in predicting who would move on to accept the GOP’s nomination. The evangelical-supported candidates, Rick Santorum, former senator from Pennsylvania, and Mike Huckabee, former governor of Arkansas, won the state in 2012 and 2008, respectively, while the more moderate candidates, Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, and John McCain, senator from Arizona, won the GOP nomination in 2012 and 2008, respectively.
Iowa has, however, been more successful in picking the Democratic presidential candidate. According to the Des Moines Register, then-Illinois Senator Barack Obama won the state in 2008 and current Secretary of State John Kerry won in 2004. Both moved on to win the Democratic nomination in the respective years. Despite history, the year is now 2016 and the 52 Iowa Democrats are an even more insufficient delegation compared to their GOP counterparts. The 52 Democrats make up only 1.1 percent of the 4,768 total delegates voting in the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in July, according to the Democratic National Committee. Also, a more competitive national race between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders means that earlier voting states, like Iowa and New Hampshire, may have less sway on influencing who becomes the next Democratic presidential nominee.
This competition comes from recent polling, according to Real Clear Politics, a Chicago-based polling data aggregator that collects data from several prominent polling institutions in the country, shows the margins between Clinton and Sanders closing in, even at the national level. If these margins continue to tighten-up, later voting states, which usually draw little attention due to the fact that the party’s apparent nominee has typically secured a majority of the total delegates before the states casts their ballots, may be in the position to decide who becomes the Democratic nominee.
On Monday, Feb. 1, the country will witness the first elections for the 2016 presidential nominations of both parties. Even with the media hype surrounding the event, I can’t help but remember what former U.S. Ambassador Jon Huntsman told CBS News in 2012: “They pick corn in Iowa… and (they) pick presidents… in New Hampshire.” In terms of the past couple of Republican presidential primaries, it’s a pretty accurate statement.
Students share opinions around campus
Do you plan on voting in the primaries?
“Yes... I haven’t really been keeping up with the debates... I don’t think (some of the candidates are) taking it as serious as they should.”
“I do... I think most of (the candidates) are not too good but there are some that are all right.”
(12/06/15 1:25am)
By Tom Ballard
News Assistant
Future historians, criminologists, philosophers and political scientists here at the College now have a new dean.
In an email from Thursday, Dec. 3, Jacqueline Taylor, provost and vice president for Academic Affairs, informed the campus community that Jane Wong will serve as the new dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS).
“We are delighted to welcome Dr. Wong to (the College),” the email reads. “She brings a distinguished level of administrative experience, a rich knowledge of the challenges facing higher education in general and the humanities and social sciences in particular.”
Wong is currently the interim dean of the College of Science and Technology, as well as head of the psychology department at Armstrong State University (ASU) in Savannah, Ga., according to the email.
“I have served as Interim Dean (at ASU) twice,” Wong told The Signal. “The two experiences were quite different in terms of the salient demands and issues.”
Wong said that her time at ASU is marked by multiple successes by developing and growing new programs.
“I have facilitated successfully the development and implementation of interdisciplinary programs across the humanities, social sciences and sciences. I have experience with strategic planning, curriculum development and modification, faculty recruitment and retention, student recruitment and success, conflict resolution, facilitating faculty and staff in developing and working toward their aspirations, growing programs (and friendraising),” Wong said.
Wong, who received her Ph.D in clinical psychology from Northern Illinois University, according to her ASU biography, was interested in the position of dean of the School of HSS after learning about the College’s reputation.
“After learning that I had been nominated for the position, I reviewed (the College’s) website and found amazing stories of student success,” Wong said. “The faculty and the institution truly are committed to engaging their students through transformative educational experiences like undergraduate research, study abroad (and) community engagement… The quality of the faculty and the success of the students really attracted me to (the College).”
Once dean, Wong said that she would be interested in creating new opportunities to inform more college-seeking students about the programs that the College offers.
“I would like to create new opportunities for the regional, national (or) international community to interact with, or at least learn about, (the College). More people outside of (New Jersey) should know about how great an institution (the College) is. Similarly, I would also like to create more opportunities to recognize student achievement and success throughout their years at (the College),” Wong said, noting that she would also like to have students feel that they are highly-connected to the programs that the College offers.
“Overall, (I view the current programs in the School of HSS as) excellent in terms of student retention and success and unique educational experiences offered,” Wong said. “I am eager to learn more about the faculty’s, students’ and staff’s assessments of their programs and to work toward their continued development and success.”
According to an article that appeared on TCNJ Today on Thursday, Dec. 3, Wong currently oversees a program at ASU that includes 1,600 students, 90 full-time faculty members, 20 staff members, six academic programs and one interdisciplinary center. She will now oversee the School of HSS, which is home to 2,000 students, 100 faculty members and 14 majors in 10 departments, according to the school’s website.
Wong said that she will work with members of the HSS community in order to accomplish goals and solve problems.
“Effective leadership entails the flexibility to play different roles, depending on the context, people and issues at hand, and the wisdom to know what might be needed in a given situation,” Wong said. “In general, I like to be as collaborative as possible so that all parties assume ownership as appropriate. I see myself as a servant leader. I am willing to work hard to make things happen, to facilitate the success of the team or the group.”
However, Wong said that in certain situations, the dean must make unpopular decisions and promise to be upfront and honest when those decisions have to be made.
“I also appreciate that sometimes leaders must make decisions, and some unpleasant ones,” Wong said. “When that happens, I like to be as forthright as possible about the reasons for my decision and to be seen as someone with whom those who dissent could have an honest conversation.”
Carole Keener, dean of the School of Nursing, Health and Exercise Science and the chair of the search committee that reviewed the candidates for the position, said that Wong impressed the committee with her skill as a caring communicator.
“Dr. Wong is very bright and articulate,” Keener said. “She is a strategic thinker (who is) very knowledgeable about higher education issues. She is very interested in the opinions of students, faculty and staff (and is) committed to inclusivity.”
According to Keener, the committee was looking for a dean who possessed strong leadership, the ability to work in the strong shared governance model structure of the College and someone committed to student engagement.
“Dr. Wong is very aware of the needs of HSS and will be a good advocate for the many departments within HSS. She has experience as a dean and brings a breadth of experiences in higher education to (the College),” Keener said. “Her ability to listen and to articulate in her visit to campus that she had already thought of how she fit within the institution demonstrates how she will seek to integrate and learn about the vast array of programs offered through HSS.”
Prior to her service at ASU, Wong served as a member of the psychology department at the University of Northern Iowa, where she ran graduate studies in psychology. She has authored or co-authored more than 25 articles in peer reviewed journals about clinical psychology, according to the same TCNJ Today article.
Last month, The Signal reported on Wong’s visit to the College where she held an open forum attended by members of the campus community. During that visit, she was also interviewed by Provost Taylor and President R. Barbara Gitenstein.
Wong will officially begin her position as dean of HSS on July 1, 2016, taking it over from the current interim dean, John Sisko.
(12/01/15 9:24pm)
“I wish they would stop building. I think all the buildings are fine. They just need Wi-Fi. They could knock down Forcina (Hall), I guess.”
“I love campus construction. I think that the College is investing heavily into its students by providing more resources for students to live and learn in.”
“(Campus construction is) very annoying because you can hear it at night and it’s not pretty, either… I’m sure that it will look pretty when it’s done, but not now.”
“I don’t think (the construction) looks attractive right now, but I think the College did a good job planning it out… I think it’s a necessary evil.”
(12/01/15 9:14pm)
By Tom Ballard
News Assistant
Undocumented immigrants do not pay taxes. They take away jobs from documented Americans. An overwhelming majority of immigrants are Latino. Immigrants only have children in America in order to secure residency or citizenship. It is easy to become a U.S. citizen.
Those were the stereotypes that the sisters of Lambda Theta Alpha (LTA) and the El Centro team at the Bonner Institute seeked to dispel in their inaugural Immigration Panel Discussion held in the Education Building on Wednesday, Nov. 18.
The discussion featured a diverse group of panelists, including Roberto Hernandez, the director of El Centro, a division of Catholic Charities that aides mostly Latino immigrants into adjusting to life in the U.S.; Alberto Carbonilla, a cross-cultural management professor in the School of Business at the College; Sandra Sepulveda-Kozakowski, a psychology professor at the College who teaches a course about power and oppression; Talia Martinez, a senior business management major and Bonner scholar who works at the El Centro site teaching English classes and senior mathematics major Aracely Vivanco, a sister of LTA.
Throughout the event, LTA posed a number of polls that asked the audience whether or not they agreed with the stereotypes. Mayra Aburto, a senior business management major and president of LTA, notes that while the polls only allowed for 25 of the over 75 member audience to respond, they still provided a great way to see what the audience actually felt.
“Immigrants pay approximately $11.7 billion in taxes,” Hernandez, a graduate of the College, said to the audience. “I want you to look at the value of it… along with the value to this country.”
The El Centro director later revealed that 24 percent of poll respondents agreed with the statement, “Undocumented workers do not pay taxes,” whereas 76 percent of respondents disagreed.
The audience was more spilt when asked if “the overwhelming majority of immigrants are Latino,” with 32 percent of the respondents agreeing and 68 percent disagreeing. Aburto noted how much of what people see about immigration comes from the media.
“There were people who agreed to it where someone in the audience responded that her perspective was based on what she saw on T.V.,” Aburto said.
Hernandez said that immigration in the U.S. is not just a Latino issue.
“The biggest increase of immigration is from Asia,” Hernandez said. “This is about human rights. It is not a Latino issue, it is not an Asian issue.”
When asked whether or not undocumented immigrants take away jobs from documented Americans, 4 percent of the respondents agreed, while 96 percent disagreed. Members on the panel quickly dispelled the stereotype by saying that the statement lacked substantial validity.
“People come here and make their own business, they don’t take (away jobs),” Vivanco said.
Hernandez noted how the general influx in the population leads to the increase in available jobs.
“When you have an increase in the population… then obviously you have a better chance at getting a job,” Hernandez said.
The term “anchor baby” sparked an intense discussion by panelists and audience members when they were asked if immigrants only had children in the country to secure a path to citizenship. Twelve percent of the poll’s respondents said that they agreed with the statement, while 88 percent disagreed.
The term “anchor baby” is used to describe the children of undocumented immigrants who are born on U.S. soil and can get their parents residential rights in the United States due to their child’s status as an American citizen.
“It’s not fair to simplify the life decision to have children in one sentence,” said Carbonilla, who immigrated to the U.S. as an adult 20 years ago. “It’s simplifying something that shouldn’t be simplified.”
Hernandez said that parents, particularly mothers, have good reason to come to the U.S.
“Moms are special,” Hernandez said. “You know what they come here for?... They come here to make a better life for them and their children.”
Martinez, the child of Hispanic immigrants, said that the term “anchor baby” has no validation and should not be used.
“You hear people with very conservative views that say, ‘This only happens in the United States,’” Hernandez said. “That’s not true. There are 30 or 35 other countries that give automatic citizenship.”
The panel concurred that becoming a U.S. citizen is not an easy process, something that 100 percent of the poll’s respondents sided with when they disagreed with the stereotype that gaining U.S. citizenship is an easy process.
“I urge all of you to look into the immigration processes of different countries,” Carbonilla said to the audience. “(The U.S. immigration process is) a torturous, difficult path where even getting to the next step doesn’t guarantee (citizenship).”
Carbonilla then explained what it feels like to go through the immigration process.
“It’s like having somebody borrow your limb, an arm (or) a leg, without the promise of having it returned... and hope that one day you are going to have that limb returned to you,” Carbonilla said. “It’s like pawning part of yourself… and you don’t have to ability to buy it back.”
Students in the audience were highly receptive of the message that the panelists were trying to convey, some are even immigrants to the U.S. themselves.
“I think it’s unfortunate (that people believe the stereotypes) because I think a lot of Americans don’t (understand) why immigrants come to America,” said Gayle Manayi, a freshman international studies major who immigrated to the U.S. from Kenya at the age of five. “It’s is not just a free ticket. People leave behind their families and their lives… to obtain citizenship.”
Sepulveda-Kozakowski encouraged students to be proactive if they hear the stereotypes used in public.
“When you hear a comment like (immigrants don’t pay taxes), one of the things you can do is interrupt it,” Sepulveda-Kozakowski said. “Be thoughtful about the tone you use… you can have a respectful, thoughtful and controlled tone… to combat the stereotypes that already exists.”
Members of the panel emphasized the important role that college students play in bringing about change in society.
“(Immigration) is not necessarily a big issue everywhere,” Hernandez said. “Any kind of movements that have gathered fire has started at the college level.”
Hernandez noted several social movements, including the civil rights movement, in order to show the impact that young people have had on shaping social change.
Aburto said that LTA and the El Centro Bonner team decided to host the event in response to the current media attention surrounding the topic of immigration.
“(With) the presidential elections (being) right around the corner, and the constant media attention to Donald Trump, I think (the media’s attention on immigration) definitely triggered something on my team where we knew we had to do something and make our voices heard,” Aburto said. “Our passion to serve our students, our passion to educate and our passion on immigration where each of our members has a story to share made this possible.”
According to Aburto, LTA and the El Centro Bonner team plan on hosting a similar event in the spring, as well as building upon this event for next fall.
(11/17/15 8:51pm)
By Tom Ballard
News Assistant
The College hosted a session of open fora last week that allowed the campus community to meet the four candidates for dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS). The position became available after former Dean Benjamin Rifkin left after last semester to become provost and vice president for Educational Affairs at Ithaca College in Ithaca, N.Y. Since then, John Sisko has been serving as interim dean.
On Monday, Nov. 9, Kate Mehuron, professor and associate dean of Programing at Eastern Michigan University (EMU) in Ypsilanti, Mich., visited the College. Mehuron, whose interests include feminist philosophy and social ethics, according to her EMU biography, said that she wants to “give voice” to the liberal arts and that she was attracted to come to the College because of its emphasis on engaged learning.
“Everyone should have an international experience,” Mehuron said, supporting studying abroad. “You never forget the places that you visited… you become a citizen of the world.”
Mehuron placed an emphasis on the role of a dean when she said that it is the dean’s responsibility to be an advocate for the quality of the program. She also called herself a transparent communicator and said that she would like to collaborate closely with faculty chairs.
“The dean has to be an advocate for the school,” Mehuron said. “Every department has to be heard.”
Mehuron said that she was greatly impacted by the movements for social justice during the 1960s and ’70s, such as Vietnam War protests, the Civil Rights movement and the rise of feminism.
On Tuesday, Nov. 10, Jane Wong, a professor of psychology and interim dean at Armstrong State University (ASU) in Savannah, Ga., introduced herself to the College. According to Wong, she helped grow the university’s psychology department from graduating an average of 14 students to graduating 51 students in 2014.
According to her ASU biography, Wong’s areas of academic interests include cognitive behavioral theory and research and clinical neuropsychology.
“You folks are truly dedicated to engaging students,” Wong said. “What you do is what I always wanted to do in higher education.”
As dean, Wong said that she would understand the dynamic roles that the dean plays in a school.
“I think that a good leader has to have the flexibility to play many different roles,” Wong said. Among those roles, Wong noted that the dean has to have the wisdom to know how to approach certain individuals in certain situations.
Wong praised the aspects of general education for being “very important things into becoming well-rounded individuals” and hopes to prepare students to not just become workers, but also job creators and to make the best of their degree from the humanities and social sciences.
On Thursday, Nov. 12, Scott Barclay, professor and department chair of politics at Drexel University in Philadelphia, visited the College. Barclay worked as the program director of the Law and Social Science Program at the National Science Foundation prior to arriving at Drexel, according to his Drexel biography. Barclay said that as dean, he would put emphasis on the importance of adjusting the programs so that they would be able carry graduates into careers and keep them there long after they graduate.
“To me, this is a different time for the humanities and social sciences,” Barclay said. “This is our world… the other disciplines are starting to realize… (a need) to engage with (the humanities).”
Barclay noted how the social sciences are “unique” since they are able to be applied and connected to many different fields such as science and engineering. He praised the College for its current programs in place.
“It seems to me that TCNJ has a real advantage,” Barclay said. “You have a lot of the mechanisms already built in.”
On Friday, Nov. 13, Pamela Barnett, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Trinity College in Washington, D.C., met the College community. Barnett said that she was drawn to the College because of its low student-to-faculty ratio and called the College an “excellent hybrid” of being a research and student-based institution.
“You really have this teacher-scholar model,” Barnett said. “I’m very interested in the kind of school that you are.”
As dean of HSS, Barnett said she would be “a passionate advocate” for the humanities and social sciences. Barnett noted that graduates of HSS should not only be concerned about the amount they make in their careers, but also how the humanities helps in the wellbeing of their lives.
“There’s a large TCNJ family and there’s not just people serving four or five years here,” Barnett said.
According to her Trinity biography, prior to working at Trinity College, Barnett was a professor of English and African American studies. Barnett called the College’s Community Engaged Learning program, “essential” in benefiting students’ educations.
“You can’t learn everything from reading a book or talking about it in class,” Barnett said. “I have supported (community engaged learning in) the past… it’s something that I really believe in and it’s something I would like to support.”
Carole Kenner, dean of the School of Nursing, Health and Exercise Science and the chair of the HSS Dean Search Committee, said that the search for a new dean of HSS has been going on since this summer.
According to Kenner, the College received nearly 80 applications for the open position. The search committee, which is composed of several faculty members and a student representative from the School of HSS, eventually narrowed the pool down to six candidates, all of whom were invited to the College to have face-to-face interviews with the committee and provost. The eventual four finalists were then invited to visit the College to have all-day interviews with faculty, staff, students, Provost Jacqueline Taylor and President Barbara Gitenstein.
“These finalists were selected based on their interviews… and experience in higher education,” Kenner said. “We also talked to their references to get a sense of the leadership style and interactions with students, faculty and staff. This is a very difficult and painstaking process to ensure that the best candidates are brought to campus for onsite interviews.”
According to Kenner, the committee might reach a decision to fill the role of dean of HSS as soon as December or January.