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(11/10/15 7:08pm)
By Tom Ballard
News Assistant
Love my body, love your body, love every body: that was the message that the sisters of Delta Phi Epsilon (DPhiE) had for their fourth annual Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disease (ANAD) Week. Last week from Sunday, Nov. 1, to Friday, Nov. 6, DPhiE hosted a slew of events with the underlying purpose of promoting the acceptance of beauty.
According to Vickie Zourzoukis, president of DPhiE and a senior elementary education and psychology double major, at the time this article was written, the sorority raised an estimated $700 for ANAD awareness throughout the week in events that ranged from a bake sale to a volleyball tournament.
“I think that having diverse events is important because it parallels the diversity of issues that are involved in ANAD,” said Kimberly Siehl, one of the sorority’s co-ANAD chairs and a junior clinical psychology and Spanish double major. “We had events that fostered self-confidence and also created healthy outlooks on such a prominent issue.”
On Sunday, Nov. 1, DPhiE kicked off the week by handing out free cupcakes at Eickhoff Hall in order to raise awareness and promote the week’s events.
The following day the sorority hosted “Trash Your Insecurities” in which students were able to write their insecurities on a piece of paper, crumble it up and throw it away in a trash can, symbolizing getting rid of insecurities in order to live a better life. Later that day, DPhiE also hosted “Healthy Eating on Campus” in which students were given the opportunity to learn how to eat healthy from a dietician.
“(This presentation featured) tips on eating specifically at TCNJ,” Zourzoukis said. “That was chosen as a way to help educate students on how they can eat well here without having to resort to a diet.”
DPhiE hosted a bake sale titled the “Treat Yourself Bake Sale” at Alumni Grove on Tuesday, Nov. 3, to fundraise for the event.
“We decided to do Treat Yourself Tuesday to show that there is no good or bad food,” said Nikki Felice, a sister in DPhiE and a junior math-secondary education major. Felice noted that certain foods should be enjoyed in moderation and that there should be no shame if a person wants to treat themselves every once and awhile.
On Wednesday, Nov. 4, during the evening on the steps of Green Hall, the sorority hosted a candlelight vigil. Playing songs such as Kellie Pickler’s “Don’t You Know You’re Beautiful,” sisters of the sorority made personal speeches and told anecdotes. Candles with different phrases on them to define what the word “beauty” means to people were also lit.
“(We want) to remind students on campus that it is OK to ask for help,” Zourzoukis said. “I think that this is a beneficial reminder for students, especially in a society now filled with strong ideas of superficial beauty.”
Earlier that day, DPhiE hosted a volleyball tournament in the Recreation Center in order to raise funds while supporting friendly competition.
The sisters of DPhiE were pied in the face on Thursday, Nov. 5, during their “Pie a Deepher” event in which sisters of the sorority had a pie of Cool Whip thrown at their face in order to raise money for their philanthropy.
“It was a fun and silly way to get people talking about ANAD and it helped us raise the most money of any event this week,” Siehl said, “Also, having a face full of Cool Whip was pretty cool, no pun intended.”
Friends of the sisters got a chance to pie them, which at the same time, got a lot of people involved to help raise money.
“The campus was very involved in the event,” said Samantha Hagel, one of the co-ANAD chairs and a junior elementary education and STEM math specialization double major, “Who wouldn’t want to throw a pie in someone’s face to help support their philanthropy?”
On Friday, Nov. 6, the sisters closed out ANAD week with a fitness class in the Decker Hall Lounge in order to remind students that exercise is a healthy and fun way to lose weight.
“Even though ANAD week is over, the mentality surrounding the way we look at eating disorders and body image should prevail,” Siehl said, “I want (the College) to know even a change in attitude or a small donation can go a very long way. Even by sporting a purple ribbon or telling someone they’re beautiful can save a life. I want everyone to know that this philanthropy lives on through positivity.”
The sorority believes that the week was a success in bringing both DPhiE and the campus together.
“While we all have very busy schedules, ANAD week is something that is able to bring sisters together,” Zourzoukis said. “It is a way to raise awareness and money, but also a way for sisters to catch up and enjoy spending time together.”
According to a report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the average number of hospitalizations due to eating disorders has gone up by approximately 24 percent from 1999 to 2008. Even though a large majority of these cases are women, the report also noted that the increase of hospitalizations for men from 1999 to 2008 has increased by roughly 53 percent, compared to a 21 percent increase in women. People under the age of 30 made up half of the people hospitalized for eating disorders in 2008 according to the report.
“(ANAD week) helped others get involved and feel included in such a worthy cause,” Siehl said. “By exposing the issues that surround negative body image and eating disorders, it made everybody’s vulnerability much more tangible.”
The first events for DPhiE’s ANAD week at the College began in 2012 when the sorority decided to turn their candlelight vigil and “Pie a Deepher” events into a week-long awareness campaign.
DPhiE supports two other philanthropies besides ANAD, including the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and the Delta Phi Epsilon Educational Foundation, which assists in providing scholarships for higher education, according to Zourzoukis.
The Beta Xi chapter of Delta Phi Epsilon at the College was founded in March of 1993 and currently boasts 89 members.
“(People) should know that everyone is beautiful and if anyone else needs help, they should not be afraid to ask,” Hagel said.
(11/04/15 4:00pm)
By Tom Ballard
News Assistant
What has four wheels, a suspension and is student-produced here at the College? The answer is the Mini Baja Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), the oldest ongoing senior project in the School of Engineering.
The Baja SAE is a small off-road car that is designed and assembled by senior-year mechanical engineering students. This year’s team consists of John Sperduto, Michael Rossini, Michael Sebok, Louis Press, Paul Kurimella and Tanner Muir.
“Designing, manufacturing, testing and competing a performance off-road vehicle is a tremendous task,” said Sperduto who serves as the team manager and lead designer for the front suspension and steering system. “The most rewarding aspect is completing the project. It is also rewarding to collaborate with teammates, industry and faculty to ensure the vehicle is the best it can be.”
Students working on the project work on every component of the vehicle — from the suspension, which allows the vehicle to remain stable while driving, to ergonomics, which involves putting in place comfortable features such as seating and easy to navigate interfaces. The features allow the driver to be more at ease while driving. Sperduto said that all this work consumes a lot of time.
“Work on the project is non-stop beginning in the summer,” Sperduto said. “During the semester, it is anywhere from a 10 to 30 hour per week time commitment.”
According to Sperduto, the competition that the Baja SAE takes part in has changed greatly from the previous year. The project has become more competitive and the SAE, the organization that sponsors the competitions, has “consistently increased the expectations and difficulty of the competition to ensure teams continue to innovate and remain in the forefront of design and manufacturing,” Sperduto said.
The team has a history of performing well, according to Sperduto. This year’s team plans on bringing new innovations to the project and to set a high standard for future TCNJ Baja SAE teams, according to Sperduto. This academic year marks the 25th anniversary of the College winning the Mini-Baja East National Championships.
The team members are working on the College’s Mini Baja SAE to participate in the Baja SAE Rochester competition in Rochester, N.Y., from Thursday, June 9, to Sunday, June 12. According to the SAE’s competition website, competitors will have their projects tested for acceleration, a hill climb, maneuverability and suspension.
“The team is confident, but aware of the difficulty and work associated with the project,” Sperduto said. “We are constantly evaluating designs and planning to ensure the project remains on schedule and engineering work is of the highest quality.”
Sperduto said that there are now three competitions in the United States where approximately 100 teams participate. The competitions are also global, with events taking place in India and Brazil, typically having 40 competing teams.
According to the School of Engineering’s website, the College’s team last received recognition at a national student project competition in 2011 where the team placed first in water maneuverability, seventh in endurance, eighth in cost and 10th in land maneuverability — placing eighth overall in a field of 59 entries.
“The project is a constant learning process that challenges one to cumulatively apply mechanical engineering concepts and techniques,” Sperduto said.
Other ongoing projects currently in the works in the mechanical engineering department include a solar-energy-powered boat, a human-powered vehicle, a large-scale RC plane and an autonomous ground vehicle.
(11/03/15 9:24pm)
By Tom Ballard
News Assistant
The recent release of the New Jersey results for the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) exam proved to be a failure for New Jersey students and teachers.
The PARCC is a controversial college and career readiness exam that was given to students for the first time earlier this year. The state now uses the exam in lieu of the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJ ASK) and High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) to test children from elementary school to high school on their ability to apply their knowledge to concepts instead of demonstrating their retention of knowledge, according to the New Jersey Department of Education.
Students performed poorly on the exam with only approximately 46 percent of students in grades three through 11 meeting the standard in English language arts and 34.5 percent meeting the standard in mathematics, according to nj.com.
To compare, New Jersey’s Department of Education reported that in last year’s NJ ASK assessment, 66 percent of the aggregated students in grades three through eight were proficient in English language arts literacy and 74 percent were proficient in mathematics. However, people supportive of the PARCC have used the poor results to demonstrate how essential the assessment is to the state.
“There is still much work to be done in ensuring all of our students are fully prepared for the 21st century demands of college and beyond,” David Hespe, the state’s education commissioner, said in an article on nj.com after the results were announced here in Ewing.
But one of the most interesting defenses of the exam came from former Governor Tom Kean. Kean wrote in an nj.com opinion that the PARCC is needed as a benchmark to give a more accurate answer on how close students are to what he calls the “honesty gap.” Kean said that the state used to inflate the college and career readiness test scores of their students in order to make the state’s education appear better than it was.
To this, I slightly agree with the governor. New Jersey is, thanks largely due to its already high standards and quality teachers, a high-performing state in education, and having an easy assessment in order to say that most students are proficient seems like a strong possibility.
Kean has been using the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), another test to indicate students’ proficiency in various subjects, in order to show the disproportionate number of students who were scoring proficient on the NJ ASK but not on the NAEP. It is important to note that unlike the NJ ASK, which was taken by most of New Jersey third through eighth-graders, NAEP only targets approximately 7,500 students per-state — 2,500 in the fourth, eighth and 12th grade. Although the test is seen as a good estimate for student proficiency, it is an estimate nonetheless.
The state was dragged into the PARCC exam with many parents, teachers and students kicking and screaming against the exam published by British education-mega giant, Pearson. Now, after five years since New Jersey signed up to be a PARCC state, only nine of the original 23 PARCC states remain committed to the assessment, parcconline.org said. As other states try to improve their own assessment programs at the state level, New Jersey remains threaded into the educational Hindenburg that is the PARCC assessment.
I agree that New Jersey exams needed fixing, but the quasi-solution that is PARCC is not the right foundation. We need an assessment that allows us to focus on the needs of New Jersey students. One that is easier to integrate into teachers’ curriculums so they are able to spend more time teaching what they deem essential to students’ education rather than spend time teaching them how to take the exam.
But most of all, we must be wary of these numbers all together. Education has become more about the appearance of education instead of actual education. We as a state must remain focused on providing real education to students that inspires them to foster a love for learning instead of dragging that love down with hours of complex testing.
The sad fact is that American public education has become more of a Kevin Spacey-like political drama instead of focusing on the needs of students. According to the Washington Post, in 2013, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was forced to apologize after he said it was “fascinating” that some opposition to Common Core standards, which the PARCC assessment is made to go hand-in-hand with, came from “white suburban soccer moms who — all of a sudden — their child isn’t as brilliant as they thought they were, and their school isn’t quite as good as they thought they were.”
What I find fascinating is how education, something that is meant to unify, is used by some to draw divisions between people. Simply having the courage to question what the educational system has to say can have a person marked as not caring for the children or just flat-out ignoramuses. Unless we stop giving exams like PARCC the attention that Pearson wants it to be given, and if we continue to rob teachers of the time they could be spending educating their students, the concept of providing American students a quality education, ever since the time of Horace Mann, would have all been done in vain.
Students share opinions around campus
“As for the PARCC (exam), I’ve heard it’s more difficult (than older exams). I’ve heard it’s hard and unfair.”
“I know it’s a ridiculous test... My neighbor’s a teacher and he hates (the exam). Teachers can’t teach what they want, they have to teach for the test.”
(10/27/15 4:50pm)
By Tom Ballard Staff Writer
The College was perfused with blue and gold last week during Spirit Week, which sought to raise pride for the school, leading up to its Homecoming on Saturday, Oct. 24.
The week, which began on Monday Oct. 19, and carried through until Friday Oct. 23, was the College’s 28th annual Homecoming Spirit Week and was filled with a variety of activities and contests ranging from men’s cheerleading to lip syncing battles.
The week brought the College back in time, with teams having to abide by the theme of “Decades” in their performances and painted murals.
During the week, the Homecoming Spirit Week Committee kept track of the performance of each of the 10 Spirit Week teams that were comprised of 23 of the College’s organizations. The team consisting of Delta Phi Epsilon and Co. were proclaimed as the overall victors after the week’s 12 different scorable events. Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Kappa and Sigma Lambda Beta placed second and Phi Sigma Sigma and Alpha Chi Rho took third.
The lip sync contest, according to Homecoming Spirit Week Chair Nicole DiMarco, was the largest event with an audience of approximately 1,400 students. The battle was won by the team comprised of Phi Alpha Delta, Delta Zeta and Delta Epsilon Psi, with their contemporary performance of 2015. Delta Phi Epsilon and Co. followed in second with their rendition of the Roaring 1920s and a spin-off of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.” Other performances included the Stars and Stripes Company’s performance of the 1770s with a twist of Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger,” and Delta Tau Delta and Alpha Xi Delta’s throwback to the 2000s with flip phones and MySpace. The teams had to use their assigned decade to describe the outcome of the following day’s Homecoming football game against Montclair State University through their performance. The event was held in the Recreational Center on Friday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m..
The contest also included a dance competition where teams collaborated to put on choreographed dances that corresponded with their assigned decade. Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Kappa and Sigma Lambda Beta danced away as victors with their 1960s themed dance. Phi Kappa Psi and Zeta Tau Alpha placed second, while Phi Alpha Delta, Delta Zeta and Delta Phi Epsilon tied for third.
“This year, the Lip Sync and Dance Competitions were fantastic,” DiMarco said. “Each team did a great job of telling a story throughout their performances and (were) very entertaining.”
Other contests during the week took place on the Loser Hall Lawn on Monday, Oct. 19, which included a human pyramid and three-legged race, both won by the team of Delta Phi Epsilon and Co.
Alpha Xi Delta showed its strength by winning the women’s tug-of-war contest while Phi Sigma Sigma and Alpha Chi Rho showed enough spirit for the College to win the men’s cheerleading contest and the mural painting competition.
Kappa Delta and Phi Kappa Tau volleyed up a victory in the volleyball competition while Phi Alpha Delta, Delta Zeta and Delta Epsilon Psi were focused enough to win the dizzy bat competition and the potato sack relay. Sigma Sigma Sigma, Alpha Epsilon Pi and Delta Lambda Phi showed their knowledge by conquering the inaugural Homecoming Spirit Week trivia contest.
“The events for Spirit Week are, for the most part, the same every year,” DiMarco said. “We try to make sure that there are a variety of activities that showcase all of the students’ talents, such as artistic ability, theatrical skills and athletic skills.”
Not all events during the week had a competitive edge. Student Government held its annual T-shirt swap, where students were able to swap out a T-shirt from their old high school or another college in order to receive a new long-sleeve Homecoming shirt on Wednesday, Oct. 23.
Nicole Herrmann, a junior marketing major and a senator for the School of Business who created the swap, said that the event ran out of the 1,100 shirts in 43 minutes.
“It was crazy,” Herrmann said. “I had to post in the Facebook event page to let people know that we ran out.”
Herrmann said that the swapped-out T-shirts will be donated to Goodwill. Herrmann also noted that it was the second time SG handed out smoothies from Smoothie King during their swaps and the first 500 students who came out on Wednesday received a smoothie in a College Homecoming koozy, a measure that she said contributed to getting students even more excited for Homecoming.
“At the Homecoming tailgate I saw so many students wearing the long sleeve shirt from this year’s event,” Herrmann said. “It gets students excited and allows them to show their school pride.”
Throughout the week there were free give-aways that provided students with blue and gold bead necklaces, cowbells, whistles and even the opportunity to tie-dye their own free Spirit Week T-shirt blue and gold. The Atrium at Eickhoff Hall was also decorated with blue and gold pendants and blasted collegiate fight songs during its Blue and Gold Luncheon on Friday, Oct. 23.
“The primary goal of Spirit Week is to bring together the campus community while showing our TCNJ pride,” DiMarco said. “I do believe this goal was absolutely achieved this year. Each team showed great dedication and worked extremely hard to make this week successful.”
The week’s proximity to Halloween also allowed the Spirit Week committee to put on “Haunted TCNJ” where a haunted house was displayed in Allen Hall and faculty and staff were able to bring their children to Travers and Wolfe towers to go trick-or-treating.
According to DiMarco, the theme “Decades” beat out board games and historical events to be chosen as the theme for this year.
(10/20/15 4:53pm)
By Tom Ballard
Staff Writer
The College recently released its annual Security and Fire Safety Report for the year of 2014, published on Thursday, Oct. 1. The report contains crime and fire statistics taken by Campus Police and student-reported incidents from the past three years.
Burglaries, which are considered to be the unlawful entry into any structure to commit a crime, according to the report, have dropped from 12 reported cases in 2013 to only one in 2014.
Violations of drug laws that led to disciplinary actions or conduct referrals boomed from 50 in 2013 to 115 in 2014.
“This year’s report reflects an increase in drug law violations, which were almost exclusively for marijuana,” said John Collins, chief of Campus Police and director of security at the College. “Nationwide the use of marijuana has been trending upwards since 2007.”
According to Collins, the College has partnered with the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office to provide training to residence staff about how to identify the odor of marijuana, which may have also led to an increase in calls concerning the usage of the drug.
“We have expanded our community policing initiatives to improve our services and the quality of our interaction with the public,” said Collins in the report. “Some of these changes are increased foot and bicycle patrols, improved officers’ training and partnering with… TCNJ EMS… to enhance medical response on campus.”
The College saw three instances of sex offenses reported to campus authorities in the previous year along with one case of domestic violence and dating violence, which refers to a crime committed by a person who is or has been in “a relationship of romantic or intimate nature with the victim.”
One hate crime was reported in 2014, according to the report, which was in the form of on-campus vandalism with racial bias. There were no instances of hate crimes reported in the other two years covered in the report, 2013 and 2012.
Last year there were 85 arrests due to violation of liquor laws mentioned in the report, of which 51 occurred in residence halls. These numbers are slightly down from the 110 arrests for liquor law violations in 2013.
“Overall, the Clery statistics show that we have a very safe campus,” Collins said. “My department plays a proactive role in this and when we see potential trends developing, we address them.”
Collins noted that these numbers in the report should be examined carefully. He detailed that in 2013 there was an instance where one college-owned off-campus residence was broken into. Objects were stolen from six different rooms and the College had to report it as six different burglaries to comply with the Clery Act, whereas, in uniform crime reporting, the event would have been considered one incident.
“We are gratified that our safety record is so good,” College President R. Barbara Gitenstein said in the report. “TCNJ’s goal is… to create an environment where all community members feel comfortable in reporting concerns and everyone knows that a safe community is… the result of the entire campus working together.”
Collins advises students to secure their items in their residences and to not leave them unattended in public.
“They’re crimes of opportunity,” Collins said. “If you take away the opportunity the crime doesn’t occur.”
Cromwell and Eickhoff residence halls were the only two buildings at the College last year that experienced reported fires. An unintentional smoking material/trash fire in Cromwell and an unintentional grease fire in Eickhoff were reported. Damages totaled $1,922, according to the report.
In order to increase fire safety, the College is required to have four fire drills per residence hall throughout the year, during which each room is examined by the Department of Residential Education and Housing to confirm compliance of fire safety policy.
The College released the information in the report in compliance with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act which mandates that the College collects and reports all crimes that occur on campus in an annual security report that is made available to the public.
“We remain committed to ensure that the services we provide to the community equal the quality of the education here at TCNJ,” Collins said.
For those interested, the full report can be found on the Campus Police’s website at campuspolice.tcnj.edu.
(10/20/15 4:46pm)
By Tom Ballard
Staff Writer
On Tuesday, Oct. 13, the five Democratic presidential candidates took the stage for the CNN/Facebook-hosted debate in Las Vegas. In honor of it being midterm season here at the College, I decided that it was only right for the participants to be graded on their performances, as well.
Hillary Clinton: The former Secretary of State, senator from New York and first lady performed as expected during the debate. She confidently breezed through questions concerning her controversial use of a private email account at the State Department. She even received aid from an unexpected source, her chief competitor, Bernie Sanders, who said, “the American people are sick and tired of hearing about your damn emails!”
Clinton came across strong on foreign affairs, especially in regards to Russia, in which she proclaimed that a Clinton administration would stand up against the “bully” Russian President Vladimir Putin and try to keep him from getting involved with the current violence in Syria. She lambasted Congressional Republicans for trying to defund Planned Parenthood — a line that won her the loudest applause of the night — and continued to poke at Republicans for the rest of the night, even claiming that the Republican Party was one of the proudest enemies she made during her political career. Overall, Clinton performed well during her first debate and no doubt helped bring much needed traction back to her campaign. According to pbs.org, Clinton commanded the stage, having approximately 31 minutes of speaking time, which was more than any other of the other candidates.
While she came across as a masterful politician, I feel that she lacked a personal touch and did little to annul claims that she was out-of-touch with average Americans. Despite this, her frequent attacks on Republicans and her campaign sending out emails saying that she won the debate, I can’t keep from thinking that she was indeed the true winner. Overall Grade: A-
Bernie Sanders: Let’s just get the question most of you are thinking out of the way: No, I am not “feeling the Bern.” With that being said, the Vermont senator had a fair night and gave an audience outside of the 18- to 24-year-old range a fair assessment of who he is and what he stands for. The self-proclaimed socialist’s unorthodox approach to politics has him winning the spot of being number two in the polls, but he came across as a loose cannon during the debate. The senator declared that he would make public colleges and universities free by increasing taxes on the wealthy. He also proclaimed a more lax approach on gun control — a stance that got him into a bit of a scuffle with fellow candidate Martin O’Malley.
One of the senator’s brilliant moments came on the issue of the “Black Lives Matter” movement (race relations, I’ll note, was something not given much attention to during this debate and was overlooked during the Republican debate a few weeks ago) when Sanders said that he would lead the charge to combat institutional racism and reform the criminal justice system, something that I thoroughly agree with.
Overall, the senator had a good night, perhaps one that might even reflect in the polls. The confident Sanders said, “We’re going to win because, first, we’re going to explain what democratic socialism is.” But I think the senator is putting the cart before the horse with this one. Americans have a problem with the S-word, which is why Sanders is technically an Independent in the U.S. Senate who just happens to caucus with the Democrats.
If Sanders wants to continue to close the gap between himself and Clinton, I feel that he would need to appeal more to the moderate wing of the Democratic Party and give more solid answers instead of saying the things that he would like to see happen. I would love to graduate from the College debt-free, but does it seem realistic that Wall Street would end up paying for my tuition, room and board and meal plan so I can eat at Eickhoff Hall? Hell no. Overall Grade: B
Martin O’Malley: The former governor of Maryland did better than I expected during the debate, quite frankly. Even though the former head of the Democratic Governors Association did not have any real memorable moments, he came across as being a legitimate contender and said nothing that could come back to haunt him in his campaign. O’Malley handled the question about the “Black Lives Matter” movement more carefully than in June, reflecting on his time dealing with race relations as mayor of the city of Baltimore. At an event in June, O’Malley responded to claims that black lives matter by saying that “black lives matter, white lives matter, all lives matter,” a statement that he later apologized for.
The real vibe that I got from watching O’Malley during the debate was a possible spot for a Clinton-O’Malley ticket if Clinton wins the nomination. O’Malley is known to be good friends with Clinton and did very little to go against her outside of saying that she works for the interests of Wall Street, once the debate was over. The bottom line is that O’Malley had a solid performance, one that the candidate who stands in single digits in most national polls should be content with. Overall Grade: B-
Donald Trump: No, he’s not a Democrat and no, he wasn’t anywhere near Las Vegas during the debate, but that didn’t stop the businessman and Republican frontrunner (how it pains me to say that) from live tweeting the debate and taking attention away from the five contenders. The candidate with a HUGE ego bucked up roughly 70,000 new Twitter followers during the night compared to Sanders’ 46,000 and Clinton’s 10,000 (it is also worth noting that Vice President Joe Biden garnered 3,000 followers during the debate despite also not being there), according to insider.foxnews.com. Trump continued to be the obnoxious and flamboyant candidate that the media loves and that moderate Republicans like myself can’t stand. Regardless, the 24-hour, seven days a week reality show that is Trump keeps chugging along. Overall Grade: C
Jim Webb: The most valuable thing I learned about Webb during the debate is that there is a former Virginia senator named Jim Webb who’s running for the Democratic nomination. Webb was not shy to brag about his military service, something that he should be proud about and something that I as an American commend him greatly for. Webb said he was comfortable to say that he was “the most qualified person (in the debate) to be your commander in chief,” and like Sanders, he took a more conservative approach to gun control. The problem with Webb is that Sanders already has strong support, while the former senator has next to none. The debate seemed to have been an uphill struggle for the Vietnam War vet whose knowledge of actual war and conflict vastly shadows his political wits.
Most of his debate was against CNN moderator Anderson Cooper, demanding that he should be given more speaking time. He fell under unwarranted scrutiny when he said that the proudest enemy he ever made was when he killed an enemy soldier. While it sounded cold during the debate, in actuality it was something he did so he could save a fellow Marine from a grenade, by using his own body as a shield. I have great respect for Webb as a person, but as a candidate, he leaves more to be desired. Perhaps he could get a military position if a Democrat wins the White House, but until then, he’s still just a politician. Overall Grade: D
Lincoln Chafee: So my first question is a legitimate one: Who is Lincoln Chafee? First he was the Republican senator from Rhode Island, then he was the Independent Governor of Rhode Island and now he’s a Democrat running for President. There isn’t much to say about the Democrat of two years except that his eight minutes of speaking time did little other than let the audience see his attempt to take the ethical high ground by noting the lack of scandals in his political career. Even CNN host Don Lemon seemed to get more speaking time than Chafee during the debate. So while you keep deciding what you are Chafee, please let the rest of us look at serious contenders. Overall Grade: F
The Debate: For a political debate, CNN and Facebook did an OK job. It lacked the flare and excitement of the recent GOP debate that went on like a three-hour long marathon and I would say that it did little to move the poll numbers. The debate at the Reagan Library was Carly Fiorina’s to win and this debate was Clinton’s to lose. Overall, everything went as expected. Overall Grade: C-
Students share opinions around campus
“I’d say at the moment I like Bernie Sanders. I know recently he turned down money from the guy who raised the price for AIDS medication. He’s a little more humble… and real.”
“I say, overall, the strongest (candidates) are Sanders and Clinton… I want someone truly qualified for the job. For Sanders, I like his ideas, but I haven’t seen his plans. I feel if he showed some (concrete) plans, I’d be convinced he’s most qualified.”
(10/06/15 12:50am)
By Tom Ballard
Staff Writer
Senior communications major Porsche Lee Carmichael was proclaimed the victor of INK’s Slam Down The Walls poetry competition on Friday, Oct. 2, in the Bliss Hall lounge.
The contest featured three self-written poems per each of the three competitors who were evaluated by judges selected from the audience.
“It feels good,” Carmichael said about winning the contest. “I feel like I write very differently than many people at TCNJ (so) it feels good to know that other people like your (writing).”
Carmichael’s work ranged from her poem “Waiting,” which is about a dissolving romance, to “Dissonance,” a poem she wrote about the death of her grandmother this past summer.
“Usually, I don’t perform personal poems,” Carmichael said. “‘Dissonance’ is extremely personal because it’s my grandmother’s poem. I usually write a lot of poems and I decided this year that I was just going to perform a lot more.”
Kyle Siegel, the treasurer of the College’s creative writing club, INK, was supportive about Carmichael’s performance.
“(Carmichael) has been meaning to come out and do this for a very long time,” Siegel said. “(INK is) so happy that she finally (was) able to (perform).”
The other two competitors in the poetry slam were Zach Fuentes, a fifth-year senior English major, and Katie Van Pelt, a freshman open options pre-law major.
Fuentes performed his poems “Thoughts on a Tree,” “Required” and “Thoughts on Gravity.”
“I selected the one about trees because it seemed to have done well last semester,” Fuentes said. “I think ‘Required’ just shows the solitudes that are seldomly discussed and then ‘Gravity’ because I’m really into sci-fi and the environment.”
Van Pelt reflected on her past experiences and home environment in her poems “Danger,” “Ocean Song” and “Moon and Stars.”
“(‘Danger’) was about a rough break-up I had with my first boyfriend,” Van Pelt said. “The last two (poems were about) times when I was feeling better, they’re about empowerment and how I felt when I feel strong. I live by the sea, so that’s why a lot of my things involve the water.”
Carmichael received a certificate with the signatures of the three judges and the offer from Siegel to record one of her poems into a spoken word poem.
The students in attendance weathered the damp and cold temperatures in order to pack the Bliss lounge.
“I think it was a wonderful turnout,” Siegel said. “We normally have 35-40 people, but I think this was an all-time high and the weather didn’t really impact our attendance that much.”
This event is the only poetry slam that INK will be holding this semester, however, they look forward to sponsoring a whole slew of other events, such as their Visiting Writers Series, featuring Michael Dickman on Wednesday, Oct. 7, in the Library Auditorium and a Halloween Coffeehouse later in the month.