VOLUME 94, ISSUE 14 SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

SERVING THE FORDHAM UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY

FOR OVER 90 YEARS1918-2012

STAY UPDATEDtheramonline.com

facebook.com/thefordhamramtwitt er.com/theramonline

Cardinal Dolan thanks stu-dents for their enthusiam.

Opinions PAGE 8 Culture PAGE 13

Fordham’s hidden gem: St. Rose’s Garden.

Sports PAGE 20

Volleyball wins Bucknell Invitational.

Rams Come From Behind for Homecoming Win

By MONICA CRUZCONTRIBUTING WRITER

Building up excitement and school spirit for the Homecom-ing Game, Festivus Fordhamensis is a Fordham tradition that entails a week full of exciting events for stu-dents to enjoy. Th is year, the events included the 9/11 Interfaith Me-morial Service on Tuesday, hosted by Campus Ministry, and the Club Performance Showcase on Wednes-day night, a Fordham tradition in which performing arts clubs sing and dance on the steps of Keating Hall. Th e Ballroom Dance club pre-formed an exciting and unique set in the showcase.

Emily Rochott e, GSB ’13, United Student Government vice president of student life, expressed her excite-ment for the showcase in an email, stating, “I have att ended [the show-case] since I was a freshman, and it was really cool to be able to organize it this year. I love watching all of the clubs perform because they are all so talented.”

On Th ursday, Sept. 13, El Grito de Lares and Academia Hispana hosted a Hispanic Heritage Month kick-off dinner, featuring guest speaker Columbia University gradu-ate Abran Maldonado. Maldonado spoke about his struggles as a His-panic-American. He achieved an Ivy League education and went on to found Positive Entertainment and Creative Education, or PEACE, to help inner-city students get a well-rounded education.

Diana Figueroa, FCRH ’15 de-scribed the speech as “inspiring.”

“What Mr. Maldonado said mir-rored my own experiences,” she said. “Because we’re both from the same culture, his advice and inspiring words felt especially motivating.”

Friday, Sept. 14 brought two of Fordham Fest’s biggest events. Th e fi rst event, “Th e Cardinal and Col-bert,” was a panel discussion on the relationship between humor and faith featuring Emmy-winning Com-edy Central talk show host and Th e New York Times best-selling author, Stephen Colbert and the Archbish-op of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan. Th e discussion was moderat-ed by writer and Jesuit priest Father James Martin, S.J. Th e three spoke at length about the importance of joy in one’s spiritual life and the neces-sity of laughter and humor in leading a fulfi lling existence.

Later that night, the fi rst annual #ClubLib dance party was held on the Walsh Library lawn. Th e unique event, costing students $5 per ticket, featured several DJs that spun fan-tastic electronic music for students

Fordham Fest, Full of Tradition

Dolan, Colbert Discuss Faith’s Interaction With Joy

Carlton Koonce and Ryan Higgins Starred with Two Touchdowns Each as Fordham Outscored Cornell 34-27 on Saturday

SEE FESTIVUS, PAGE 11

Week Included Memorials,

Club Showcase and Comedy

Over 3,000 Fordham Students, Faculty and Guests Gathered to Explore the Intersection of Faith and Joy

SEE COLBERT, PAGE 3

Stephen Colbert, Father James Martin and Timothy Cardinal Dolan, pictured above, answer the audience’s questions.

Quarterback Michael Nebrich pictured above, drops back to pass a few plays before he suff ered a massive hit that injured his knee. SEE BACK PAGEPHOTO BY ALLY WHITE/THE RAM

By CONNOR RYANNEWS EDITOR

Timothy Cardinal Dolan and Stephen Colbert of Comedy Cen-tral’s “Th e Colbert Report” greeted an electrifi ed crowd of nearly 3,000 on Friday night in the Rose Hill Gymnasium as the celebrity pair sat down to discuss the intersection of humor and faith.

Colbert spoke bluntly about how he wanted to be sincere while dis-cussing the interaction of his faith life and his passion for comedy, de-spite the pressure he felt to be funny. He said that his comedic tendencies do not hinder his faith life, but in-stead, lead him to look at religion through a satirical lens.

“Jim [Martin] sent me a litt le card, which I keep taped on my computer at work and it says, ‘Joy is the most infallible sign of the pres-ence of God, and that’s for me how I can mix my faith and what I do for a living,” Colbert said. “If we can do joy, well then, it’s kind of like wor-ship in our own insignifi cant way.”

Rev. James Martin, S.J., author of Between Heaven and Mirth: Why Joy, Humor and Laughter Are at the Heart of the Spiritual Life and contributing editor at America magazine, mod-erated the program, advertised as “Th e Cardinal and Colbert: Humor, Joy and the Spiritual Life.”

Despite plenty of jabs and zingers, the unscripted discussion among the guests proved to be personal and focused. Colbert poked fun at the new English translation of the Mass, while saying he likes to pick on the misuse of religion among politi-

cians. Meanwhile, Dolan showed his lighter side, as he impersonated Clint Eastwood and spoke about the importance of living, loving and laughing.

During his opening remarks, Dolan recalled an anecdotal story il-lustrating the power of laughter and faith amidst great sadness and grief.

“A young man in college once ap-proached me as a parish priest to say he wanted to become a Catholic,” Dolan said. “When I asked him why, he replied, ‘Last week I was at the wake of a Catholic man I admired very much, who died suddenly, still young. And his family, while mourn-ing him deeply, could still laugh, as if they knew it would all be OK.’”

Earlier this week, Th e New York

Times equated the program to “what might have been the most success-ful Roman Catholic youth evange-lization event since Blessed Pope John Paul II last appeared at World Youth Day.”

Because of space limitations, only students with a valid student ID and an event bracelet were able to get into the gym. Approximately 2,300 bracelets were distributed to students Th ursday morning. Th e remaining bracelets were given to faculty members.

To ensure a seat, hundreds of stu-dents lined up from the entrance of the McGinley Center down to near Fordham Prep on Th ursday morn-ing long before event offi cials began distributing bracelets just before 8

a.m.Deanna Toff ales, FCRH ’16, was

one of the fi rst in line, aft er camping out since 11 p.m. on Wednesday.

“Sleeping was absolutely horren-dous,” Toff ales said. “I’m prett y sure I broke a couple bones. I got bruises; it wasn’t fun.”

Despite never having seen Col-bert’s show, Toff ales said the experi-ence was worth it.

“I’m most excited to meet this guy that everybody thought it was necessary to camp out for,” Toff ales said. “I’ve never seen him before, so this is an exciting experience.”

Th e event bracelets were com-pletely sold out by 12:30 p.m. on Th ursday. A simulcast in Keating

BRUCE GILBERT/FORDHAM.EDU

NEWSPAGE 2 • THE RA M • SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

SECURITY

BRIEFSSept. 11, Loschert Hall,

12 a.m.–11a.m.A student’s Xbox, valued at $350,

was reported missing. A student left his XBox in the fourth fl oor com-munity lounge, when he returned the following morning, the game console was missing. Games, “Batt le-fi eld”, “Call of Duty” and “Gears of War,” were also stolen.

Sept. 12, Finlay Hall,2 p.m.

A fi re alarm was going off as a re-sult of burning food being cooked on the stove in the basement. A student haphazardly att empted to cook ba-con in a large pot. FDNY responded. No damage nor any injuries were re-ported.

Sept. 12, Salice Hall,6 p.m.

A fi re alarm was activated on the fourth fl oor of Salice Hall caused by a plastic strainer placed on top of the stove. Th e melting caused smoke. Th e FDNY was called, and the build-ing was evacuated. No injury or per-manent damage were reported.

Sept. 12, Between Walsh Li-brary and Larkin Hall,

8:45 p.m.Security apprehended two males

who jumped over the fence. Th e males proceeded to accost two fe-male students, but they were taken into custody by security. Th e perpe-trators initially tried to enter campus at the Campbell security post, but the security guard would not allow them. Th e NYPD was notifi ed and the two were arrested for trespassing.

Sept. 13, Martyrs’ Court,9:40 p.m.

Th e fi re alarm went off , caused by burnt popcorn in the fi rst fl oor microwave. Th e building was evacu-ated and the FDNY responded. Th e alarm was reset. Th ere were no dam-age nor injuries.

Sept. 13, O’Hare Hall,10 p.m.

An RA reported an unknown per-petrator for vandalizing the bulletin board in the lobby of O’Hare. Secu-rity is investigating the vandalism.

Sept. 14, E. Fordham Rd and Washington Ave,

11 p.m.A student was walking on the side-

walk, when two men came from be-hind and snatched her blue Marc Ja-cobs wallet valued at $500. Th e wallet was hanging from a lanyard wrapped around her neck. In the wallet was her ID, keys and $160 cash. Th e per-petrators fl ed down Washington Ave. Th e student was not injured.

Sept. 16, Th e Jolly Tinker,12:15 a.m.

A student at the bar, “Tinkers,” bumped into a patron. Th e patron became irate and started a fi ght with the student. Th e student was escort-ed from the bar. He received cuts on his face during the altercation.

Sept. 16, 3:30 p.m.

An off -campus student received a call from an unknown person mak-ing inappropriate remarks. She noti-fi ed security. Security is investigating the incident.

Sept. 17, Walsh Hall,4 p.m.

Th e fi re alarm in Walsh Hall was accidentally set off in the roof me-chanical room.

-Compiled by Karen Hill, AssistantNews Editor

theramonline.com

While GSB Allows Students to Use MacBooks, Students Are Highly Recommended to Purchase PCs to Use Microsoft Offi ce

GSB Urges Students Toward PC ComputersBy KELLY KULTYS

ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

Th is August, the Gabelli School of Business freshmen and sopho-mores received an email informing them that for the upcoming school year, they were going to use the full array of programs off ered by Micro-soft Offi ce 2010 for their classes. In accordance with the Gabelli tech-nology policy, students must own a laptop that is compatible with the 2010 Windows soft ware, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint and spe-cifi cally, Access, which is a database tool used to compile information.

“Th is program is really centered around our sophomore year cur-riculum,” Nicole Gesualdo, director of strategic communications, said. “What we needed to do was to have every student in the sophomore core be able to run the full Micro-soft Offi ce Suite while they were in class because there are going to be times when they are using every single program in that Suite.”

As of now, however, there is no version of Access that comes in the Microsoft Windows package for MacBooks. If the students att empt-ed to use that version, it would mean that they would be missing a vital component of the Suite.

Th is means that students who had already purchased Macs had one of two options. Th ey could at-tempt to run their MacBooks in PC mode or purchase a new, Windows-compatible laptop or netbook.

“Th ere is a work-around, where if you have a Mac that can run on a PC platform, you can open your Mac in PC mode and then access the right version of Microsoft Of-fi ce with Access on it,” Gesualdo said.

Gabelli School of Business’ tech-nology policy that was sent to stu-dents this summer, however, does state that “a workaround exists to enable Microsoft Access 2010 on a Mac laptop, but [the workaround] can be tedious and is not recom-mended for non-expert users.”

Also, if students choose to run their MacBooks through the Win-dows 7 platform, they could face some issues during classes.

“Th e problem we ran into was that the professors who teach in the program can’t support the Macs that run like that in class,” Gesual-

do said. “Th e University help desk supports it; Jeff [Haynes, Informa-tion Systems Engineer] supports it. Th ere are many ways to get support. However, when you’re actually in the physical classroom, you’d be stuck until aft er, because the profes-sor wouldn’t be able to get you back on track.”

Th e Gabelli technology policy off ers a slightly diff erent answer from Gesualdo’s. Th e policy states “students with Mac computers run-ning the native Mac operating sys-tem cannot run Microsoft Offi ce Professional 2010 with proper ex-ecution speed and peripheral con-trol. Th e only way to make a Mac laptop work within our technol-ogy guidelines is to toggle between the Windows and Mac operating systems. Th is confi guration is not supported by the Gabelli School of Business, and most students do not have the technical background and skills needed to manage it on their own.”

Because of this, Gesualdo, in conjunction with the Gabelli tech-nology policy, recommended that students choose PC laptops.

“It’s not that students can’t have a Mac, it’s just that they needed to be aware if they run into a problem in class, the professor isn’t going to be able to necessarily help that person out,” Gesualdo said.

Th e Gabelli technology policy also states that “they understand that a Windows laptop is not ev-ery student’s personal preference, and [they] realize our policy may require some families to make a purchase.”

Some students agree that using a PC may in fact be easier than a Mac.

“Using Excel in Windows is a lot easier than using Excel in Macs,” Elizabeth Hughes, GSB ’15, said.

Others were upset, since they had already purchased a MacBook before reading the part of the policy that states “please remember that the Mac version of Microsoft Of-fi ce is not equivalent to Microsoft Offi ce Professional 2010. It does not meet the Gabelli School re-quirements.”

“I just don’t understand why they didn’t tell us earlier on,” sopho-more GSB student, who spoke on

the condition of anonymity, said. “Why didn’t we get this email be-fore, advising us to not buy Macs, before we went out and purchased them?”

Students with Macs were also unhappy with the part of the policy that states “students who want to use a Mac for general purposes at Fordham and still be properly set up for their Gabelli courses may consider purchasing an inexpensive netbook computer (about $300; look for models with a dual-core CPU and 4GB main memory) as a secondary machine.”

“I didn’t want to run my Mac in PC mode, because I’ve heard it eventually hurts the computers, but now I had to go out and purchase a new computer and the Microsoft Offi ce 2010 Suite,” another sopho-more GSB student , who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said. “Th at’s money I didn’t need to spend.”

Since the email was sent out this past summer, many students as-sume this is a new program GSB added. Th is soft ware, however, has been used in prior years, in tandem with the new core curriculum.

“Th e diff erence is, this year, ev-ery single sophomore is taking the integrated core,” Gesualdo said. “Last year, it was just a portion of the class. Th is is the fi rst time we’ve ever had to confront every student in the class needing to have this soft ware.”

As of now, the Gabelli staff has not had to face any major problems with the large-scale roll-out of this program, but Haynes is cautious about the upcoming months.

“Th ere haven’t been any issues so far because the class that requires it, Information Systems, hasn’t run yet,” Haynes said. “Th at’s in the second half of the fall semester, so we’re anticipating, probably aft er Columbus Day, we’ll start seeing more requests.”

Th e Gabelli School is very glad to make this soft ware available to the entire class for the fi rst time because it believes that these pro-grams will benefi t students in their future careers.

“It’s bett er that students learn how to use this [soft ware], because it will be a part of their job no mat-ter what business fi eld they fi nd themselves in,” Gesualdo said.

Homecoming Draws Large Crowd to Campus

Students, alumni and faculty celebrated homecoming together on Saturday, Sept. 16. Alumni and seniors over the age of 21 were in-vited to eat, drink and enjoy in the famed “Homecoming Tent” that is pitched in the center of Eddie’s every year.

Along with the tent for alumni, other activities were available for young children. Children were able to take advantage of infl atable bouncy castles and face painting.

Alumni, current students, par-ents and Fordham administrators were decked out in school colors which added to the day’s feeling of school spirit.

Th eir enthusiasm carried over into the stands of Jack Coff ey Field, where the maroon-and-white clad crowd cheered their Rams to a 34-27 win over Cor-nell.

Senior running back Carlton Koonce and senior quarterback Ryan Higgins led the team to vic-tory with two scores apiece.

Everyone in att endance enjoyed the beautiful weather, great com-pany and, most importantly, an impressive victory for the Rams.

For more homecoming action, see the photo spread on page 4.

-Kelly Kultys, Assistant News EditorHundreds of alumni returned to Rose Hill’s campus Saturday for Homecoming.

Peter Baldino, GSB ’13, uses a Windows computer to access Microsoft Excel.PHOTO BY ELIZABETH ZANGHI/THE RAM

PHOTO BY MICHAEL REZIN/THE RAM

NEWS SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 • THE RA M • PAGE 3theramonline.com

Th ursday, Sept. 20Cinevents!: Jeff , Who Lives at HomeCampus Activities BoardKeating 1st9 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 21Fordham AIS Club(Business IT Club)McGinley 2nd Floor Lounge

Sunday, Sept. 23Brazil World Youth Day InfoSessionSt. Ignatius Room7-8 p.m.Monday, Sept. 24GO! Domestic ApplicationsDueMcGinley 2055 p.m.Monday, Sept. 24Spring Weekend ConcertCommitt ee Open MeetingKeating 1st5:30 p.m.-6:15 p.m.

Monday, Sept. 24Holy Hour of AdorationKeating Blue Chapel7:30 p.m.Tuesday, Sept. 25 Cinevents!: Th e Amazing SpidermanCampus Activities Board,Keating 1st

“Everybody look to your left ; this is your armory!”

Th e sett ing sun had just dropped below the old castle’s turrets. Th e crowd turned toward the Kings-bridge Armory. Many had lived in the neighborhood for years and worked in the community. It was their armory. But among them were Fordham students. Was it their ar-mory too?

Built in the Northwest Bronx around 1910, the Kingsbridge Ar-mory hosted a National Guard regi-ment. At a massive 575,000 square feet, the armory, one mile from Rose Hill, on Kingsbridge and Jerome, is reportedly the largest of its kind in the world. It served its purpose for years, but in 1996, the military moved out, and it has stood empty for 16 years.

Th e current vacancy may change soon, as two developers have sub-mitt ed plans to the City to revitalize the armory: one, an international ice center with nine rinks; the other, a multi-use market with a gym and event space.

Last week’s rally was organized by KA RA , the Kingsbridge Armory Redevelopment Alliance. KA RA is a small group made up of residents of Kingsbridge who want a community voice in the redevelopment of the armory.

“Th at’s what this rally is about,” Alice McIntosh of KA RA , said. “Th e Kingsbridge Armory belongs to the Northwest Bronx, and we must be at the table for every aspect of how this project is ultimately shaped.”

KA RA has developed a list of de-mands for the development project, including “wall-to-wall living wage jobs” and “dedicated community space.”

Dillon Gurciullo, FCRH ’15, att ended the rally, representing Fordham’s Dorothy Day Center for Service and Justice (DDCSJ). She supports KA RA ’s cause.

“Th ey’re not asking for things that are way out of reach; they’re ask-ing for very reasonable things and they’re willing to compromise,” Gur-ciullo said.

Gurciullo said she felt a bit awk-ward standing around when she fi rst arrived, but as they started calling roll, she noticed, “Fordham was a big part and there were more people from Fordham than I realized at fi rst.”

Th e University got a big cheer at roll call and approximately 12 cur-rent students att ended the rally.

Rachel Field, FCRH ’15, was one such student. Field has been involved with other community organizing eff orts in the Bronx, and said she felt very welcome, mingling with groups she knew before and making new connections.

Field hopes to get many more Fordham students at KA RA ’s next rally on Oct. 17.

“Student protests are historically so moving for people, and they’ve always made a lot of change. You do live here. What happens outside [the gates] dramatically aff ects what hap-pens here [on campus],” Field said.

Sign the petition to put living-wage jobs in the armory at change.org.

Fordham in the Bronx

Jeff rey Coltin

Students Join Armory Rally

Dolan, Colbert Talk Humor and Faith

By KELLY KULTYSASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

If any students att empted to ac-cess the United Student Govern-ment (USG) website aft er last May, they would have been in for a puzzling surprise. Th e USG do-main from last year, usgrh.com, was changed to a fi nancial website writ-ten entirely in Chinese.

Th e question is, what exactly happened over the summer? Ac-cording to Stephen Erdman, FCRH ’13, USG executive president, USG’s subscription to the hosting service of usgrh.com expired last May. Erdman and the outgoing vice president of IT for USG at the time, Michael DiTanna, FCRH ’13, att empted to renew it before it was terminated.

In May, Erdman contacted the Offi ce of Student Leadership and Community Development (OSL&CD) to access the appropri-ate funds from the USG budget to pay for usage of the domain name. OSL&CD, however, had some trepidations about hosting the Fordham-based website on an ex-ternal server.

In order to preserve USG website access, Erdman and his executive vice president, Aileen Reynolds, FCRH ’14, tried to rectify the situ-ation.

“Aileen and I communicated with OSL&CD throughout the summer to bring about this budget transfer,” Erdman said via email. “We also

suggested that we use our personal money to cover the expense for the time being.”

OSL&CD, however, remained fi rm that it wanted the USG club website to be hosted through Org-Sync, the online portal that allows diff erent clubs and organizations to interact through the school’s online community.

“We wanted to keep our domain original, since if we used OrgSync, it would have to be orgsync.com/usg,” DiTanna said.

In late August, OSL&CD al-lowed Erdman and Reynolds to ac-cess their funds for the website.

“We received access to the USG budget account via the OSL&CD credit card to temporarily renew the website subscription,” Erdman said.

By that time, however, it was too late to renew their subscription to their prior domain at usgrh.com.

“When we sought to complete the transaction, we discovered the website had been auctioned off to a Chinese bank,” Erdman said.

Th is was a major disappointment for USG, who had spent a long time putt ing together the new website design.

“In 2010, we created usgrh.com as a really fl ashy new website that students actually accessed, instead of all the previous att empts, such as the USG blog, which barely had any readers,” DiTanna said.

Erdman and Reynolds had to move quickly to rectify the situa-

tion, since it was gett ing close to the start of the semester and students needed to access the USG website.

“We actually got a call from St. Joseph’s University [in Philadel-phia], asking what happened to our website,” DiTanna said.

In addition, USG wanted to make sure that none of its information on usgrh.com was compromised in the auction.

“We had to start from scratch since we lost the domain, so the host wouldn’t keep our fi les,” Di-Tanna said.

“We purchased the usgrh.org do-main and quickly migrated our fi les to that site,” Erdman said.

Th e USG website, however, lost a lot of its online traffi c that it had just begun to accumulate.

“We had 500 visitors, cross-country and internationally, to the site each day,” DiTanna said. “Dur-ing busier times, such as Fordham Week, we had over 1,000 visitors.”

Th e new website is currently up and running, although the new vice president of IT, Bridget Fox, FCRH ’14, is in the process of adding more information. As of the last USG meeting, Fox was gathering senate members’ pictures and bios to up-load to the website.

Currently, the website contains information about upcoming USG events, such as the freshmen elec-tions, as well as biographies of each of the members, policy informa-tion, committ ee descriptions and records of USG meetings.

USG Ex-Domain Claimed By Chinese BankDue to a Budgeting Mishap, USG’s Website Domain Was Purchased at an Auction in August

Hall gave those who were not able to get an event bracelet the chance to watch the event via live video feed.

Aft er Fordham offi cials an-nounced the event in July, an email was sent to various media organiza-tions saying that journalists would not be allowed into the event and that the program would not be broadcast in any capacity.

In a seemingly contradictory move, however, Fordham offi cials invited an estimated three journal-ists to att end the event as “guests.”

“Th ere was a press embargo on the event, but some journalists who att ended as guests broke the embar-go,” Bob Howe, Fordham’s senior director of communications, said in an email. “Th e rules were the same for everyone, student and outside media, and no one was given per-mission to tweet or post about the event from the venue, nor to photo-graph nor record it.”

According to Th e New York Times, the embargo was broken when students and an editor from Com-monweal, a Catholic magazine, be-gan forwarding the best one-liners through Twitt er and into the blogo-sphere for all to see.

“Th is was a surprise: Normally embargoes are automatically broken once a reporter fi les a story; I guess Twitt er now counts as fi ling,” Father Martin wrote on his blog.

Students and other att endees were encouraged to email or tweet questions they wanted the guests to answer during the 15-minute Q&A session at the end of the program.

When one student asked how anyone can still remain joyous de-spite the “hatred” that Christian leaders oft en spread toward homo-sexuals, Colbert answered directly: “If someone spreads hate, then they’re not your religious leader.”

Tim Luecke, FCRH ’13, was recognized at the end of the event amidst thunderous applause for a

brief video animation he made of the guests arriving at Fordham. Lu-ecke also craft ed life-sized posters of the guests, which they all signed. Th e posters now sit in the Campus Ministry offi ce.

In the end, many students said they enjoyed the jabs of the discus-sion, but more importantly the in-timacy and the sincerity all parties

brought to the subject of faith and joy.

“I had a great time,” Matt hew Gombos, FCRH ’15 said. “I think they talked about a lot of things that I didn’t expect them to talk about. I liked the fact that Colbert wasn’t in his character.”

Additional reporting by Ricky Bor-delon.

COLBERT, FROM PAGE 1

THIS

week atFORDHAM

Rev. James Martin, S.J., Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, Stephen Colbert and Rev. Joseph M. McShane gather for a photo.BRUCE GILBERT/FORDHAM.EDU

NEWSPAGE 4• THE RA M • SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 theramonline.com

A VICTORIOUS

Photos By: Michael Rezin, Victoria Rau, Michael Hayes and Ally White

Spread Compiled By: Elizabeth Mallozzi and Elaina Weber

NEWS SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 • THE RA M • PAGE 5theramonline.com

ADVERTISINGPAGE 6 • THE RA M • SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 theramonline.com

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PAGE 7SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

Emory Scandal Exhibits Flaws in College Rankings

Catholic Candidates Diff er in Interpretation of Faith

JASON GETZ/MCT

By JOSEPH VITALECONTRIBUTING WRITER

Our nation’s supreme document of law, the Constitution, creates a clear separation between church and state. Th is founding principle dates back to the Separatists, the fi rst Eu-ropean sett lers, who sought to escape a government that mixed religious doctrines and public policy into one, in order to create one devoid of a re-lationship between government and church.

If the Separatists were to see what American politics looks like today, they would not be pleased: a media that blames religion and praises gov-ernment, a society that is divided by Church doctrines and politicians that impose their religious beliefs on the American people solely for the sake of loyalty. In 2012, church and state are anything but separate.

Because of this overlap, it only seems fi tt ing that the religious back-grounds of our political leaders have become a critical aspect in the forma-tion of their images, their decisions and their agendas, with the race for vice president as no exception.

For the fi rst time in U.S. history, both the Democratic and Republi-can parties will have Catholics run-ning for the offi ce of vice president: Obama’s choice, Joe Biden, and Romney’s choice, Paul Ryan. Th e result is a question concerning who will carry the Catholic banner. Th is November, it will be answered by the public’s reception of each of the can-

didate’s stances on three key issues: abortion, same-sex marriage and economic ideology.

As for abortion, Ryan, a lifelong Republican from Wisconsin, stands fi rmly in his pro-life position. While Ryan has remained steadfast in his belief, even in the case of rape and incest, he recently conceded that, as vice president, he will adopt the same views as Romney, who would make exceptions for these circumstances. On the other hand, having supported the platform his whole career, Biden is a pro-choice advocate. In a speech at the Democratic National Conven-tion, he professed his hopes for “a fu-ture where women control their own choices, health and destiny.”

An overwhelming majority of Catholics support Ryan on this par-ticularly disputed issue. Biden, a lifelong Democrat from Delaware, has been the target of some criticism for his stance, in that it diff ers from a crucial Catholic position. For this reason, Ryan’s ability to remain true to the teachings of the Church has been well received by many Catholic voters.

On the issue of gay marriage, Biden gives his full support, which he made clear in an interview in May of this year. Biden told reporters that he is “absolutely comfortable” with same-sex marriages. While the remarks were favored by many Democratic supporters, there was not much ex-citement in the White House. (At the time, President Obama had yet to establish his position on the issue.)

By ELIZABETH ZANGHICONTRIBUTING WRITER

When searching for the right col-lege, many high school students turn to rankings. Choosing to apply and go to a school that is highly-ranked in several categories should lead to a re-warding college experience, in theory. Well, what if the rankings are fl awed?

Last year, Emory University was ranked No. 20 by U.S. News & World Report out of over 200 national uni-versities. Th is rank was based on many factors, including SAT scores of incoming students and high school class rank.

According to Bloomberg News, Emory was found guilty of infl ating both of these categories. Th e school reported that the average SAT scores ranged from 1310 to 1500 out of 1600 points, but the actual average was found to be between 1270 and 1460, a 40-point disparity. Emory also claimed that 87 percent of stu-dents were in the top 10 percent of their high school graduating class. Th e real percentage was only 75.

Th ese discrepancies pose ques-tions about Emory’s high standing as a top-25 school, but the newfound information can be disconcerting to high school students who plan on us-ing ranking systems such as U.S. News & World Report when deciding where they will spend four years and exorbi-tant amounts of money.

Drew Rapp, GSB ’14, did not rely heavily on rankings when looking for colleges.

“Rankings are useful as a reference

point, but my decision was based on other factors, such as the University’s mission, location and campus atmo-sphere,” Rapp said.

Th ese kinds of considerations are helpful, especially because many uni-versities believe that the U.S. News & World Report’s system of ranking is fl awed.

On the U.S. News & World Report website, the methodology of calcu-lating rank is broken up into a few steps. First, schools are put into dif-ferent categories based on the institu-tions’ missions. Th en, the logarithm “gather[s] data from each college on up to 16 indicators of academic excel-lence.” Th e questionable part of this process is the fact that the data is self-reported by each individual college.

U.S. News & World Report claims that it att empts to catch falsifi ed in-

BRANDON KRUSE & OLIVIER DOILIERY/MCT

Ryan, however, has never strayed from his support of “traditional mar-riages.” As a senator, he voted for a number of policies that were anti-gay marriage, hesitant to clash with Cath-olic teaching.

At the end of the day, Biden’s stance is favored by socially liberal Catholics, but this demographic is a minority. Many see Biden’s position as inconsistent with the Church’s teaching. It is important to note that the Church is entering a more pro-gressive era, so whether or not the majority of Catholics will be in sup-port of same-sex marriage is up in the air. For now, the issue gives Ryan an-other edge on Biden with Catholics.

Just as these two candidates have taken separate paths on social issues,

they have promoted each of their party’s opposing economic ideolo-gies. Biden, for one, has been labeled a “social justice Catholic” due to his appeal to blue collar Democrat-Catholics. He endorses government spending on the poor and disabled, supports unions and pushes for the redistribution of wealth through higher taxes and increased spend-ing on social programs. Ryan has diverged from these Catholic social teachings through his budget plans and his monetary policy. His fi scally conservative budgets have caused those in the Church to see his policies as lacking in certain moral criteria in their failure to emphasize programs that serve the poorest and most vul-nerable Americans.

Th is particular issue, more than any other, splits voters evenly. Neither Biden nor Ryan have a strong enough voice to dominate the debate.

In a muddle of politics and religion, Ryan will carry the vote for the more conservative Catholics. He is pro-life, anti-gay marriage and understands the preferential option for the poor in a way that does not keep them relying on government. Rather, he suggests a way that helps them gain access to jobs and education so that they are not stuck in poverty, allow-ing them to achieve today’s version of “the American dream:” a reality not too far from his own.

Joseph Vitale, FCRH ’16, is a com-munication and media studies major fr om New York, NY.

Joe Biden and Paul Ryan are both Catholic, meaning that for the fi rst time in history, both tickets will feature a Catholic.

Emory University recently admitted to infl ating self-reported SAT scores and class ranks of incoming students.

formation through a series of checks. Namely, it compares the self-reported information with “other offi cial sourc-es.” It also checks to see if the school has had any large jumps in each cat-egory. It is now obvious, however, that this analysis does not always fi nd dishonest information.

“Emory’s confession that school offi cials gave inaccurate information to U.S. News & World Report is further evidence that the higher education ranking game is a case of garbage-in, garbage-out,” Bob Schaeff er, who works for FairTest, an organization dedicated to ending possibly fl awed standardized testing throughout the country, said in a Bloomberg News interview. “Th e reliance on self-re-ported data from colleges, which ob-viously want to burnish their profi les, guarantees that the results will be ma-

nipulated.”Emory is not the only college

found to have falsifi ed scores. Ac-cording to USA Today, the SAT scores of students at Claremont McKenna College in California “were generally infl ated by an average of 10-20 points each.” Today, Claremont McKenna has the same ranking, No. 9 in Na-tional Liberal Arts Colleges, as it did when it gave the false information.

Th e self-reporting of the data is only one problem with the U.S. News & World Report rankings. Th e rankings are also based on peer as-sessments, in which students fi ll out surveys about other schools. At least two schools, Clemson University in South Carolina and the University of Wisconsin, have admitt ed to giving their competitor schools lower rank-ings in order to help themselves climb

the ranks. Because of the seemingly low quality of ranking, more than 60 top colleges have even opted to re-frain from giving information to U.S. News & World Report. Twelve univer-sity presidents sent a lett er to each in-dividual university that participates in the U.S. News & World Report survey, urging them to join the boycott . One of these presidents, Maryland San-ford Ungar from Goucher College in Baltimore, discredits the survey by acknowledging that he “would bett er be able to fi ll out a survey on refrig-erators than on colleges I’ve never visited, never interacted with.”

Gerhard Casper, president of Stan-ford University, is unconvinced that rankings in general hold any clout.

“I am extremely skeptical that the quality of a university[...]can be mea-sured statistically,” he said in a 1996 lett er writt en to James Fallows, the editor of U.S. News & World Report.

Th is trend of mistrust is not new. Reed College in Oregon has declined surveys from U.S. News & World Re-port since 1995. Th e competitive liberal arts college has even requested to be unnamed in the rankings, a re-quest that U.S. News has denied.

If presidents from some of the na-tion’s top universities refuse to give information to U.S. News, should stu-dents trust and utilize, rankings?

Students like Rapp have found an ideal balance in college searching.

“A number on a list meant litt le to me. Th e reputation is more impor-tant,” Rapp said.

Elizabeth Zanghi, FCRH ’15, is an art history major fr om Lancaster, Pa.

OPINIONSPAGE 8• THE RA M • SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

From the Desk of Canton Winer, Assistant Opinions EditorTh e RamServing campus and

community since 1918.Th e Ram is the University journal of

record. Th e mission of Th e Ram is to provide a forum for the free and open exchange of ideas in service to the com-munity and to act as a student advocate. Th e Ram is published and distributed free of charge every Wednesday during the academic year to the Rose Hill, Lin-coln Center and Westchester campuses with a readership of 12,000. Th e Ram offi ce is located in the basement of the

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Editor-in-Chief Olivia Monaco

Managing EditorVictoria Rau

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on a weekly basis, and are meant to refl ect the editorial board’s view on a particular issue.

I oft en wish that people would be more like Key West.

No, I don’t mean that I want to see more sunburned, overweight cruise ship-goers lounging under coconut palms while sipping on tequila sunrises from a mermaid-shaped souvenir bott le. Mostly, I just want people to embrace the weird.

If you’re wondering how I jumped from Key West to loving your inner freak, then you obvi-ously have not been to Key West. Th e city of 25,000 has survived and thrived, not in spite of how outright bizarre it can be, but in large part because of it. Over 2 million tourists are estimated to visit Key West every year, not just to bask in the sun, but also to bask in the city’s strangeness.

Th e city, which claims to be the southernmost point in the con-tinental United States, certainly has plenty of peculiarity to spare. To begin with, Key West has an unrivaled obsession with cats — I’m talking 70 year-old unmar-ried aunt-level here. Polydactyl cats (cats with extra toes), roam the city from their home base, the Hemmingway House. Th e 40 or so

polydactyl cats that reside in the home, which used to house Ernest Hemmingway, are descendants of his cat, Snowball.

A cat even ran for mayor of Key West. Willoughby II, a 22-pound feline, ran in the 1989 Key West mayoral race and received 37 write-in votes. Th e fat cat’s 37 votes have been blamed for skew-ing the results of the tight race.

Every night, tourists gather in Mallory Square for the Sunset Cel-ebration, yet another Key West tra-dition featuring the city’s favorite house pet. “Cat Man” wows tour-ists with his famous “Cat Circus” every night. Th e small Frenchman — yes, Cat Man is French — has trained a dozen or so stray cats to jump through hoops on com-mand, walk across a tightrope and more.

My favorite part of the Sunset Celebration, however, is the night-ly bagpipe show. Th e lone bagpiper (or as I like to call him, that-crazy-man-with-the-bagpipes) marches around Mallory Square in his Scott ish garb, kilt and all, droning on his pipes until the sun sets.

Th e people of Key West have not lived without their fair share of

struggles. On April 23, 1982, the people of Key West seceded from the United States and declared their independence as the Conch Republic. While the secession was a joke, the Conch Republic was founded over legitimate concerns. In 1982, the United States Bor-der Patrol set up a roadblock and inspection point on U.S. 1 just as it exits the Florida Keys. Vehicles passing through the checkpoint were stopped and searched for narcotics and undocumented im-migrants. Th e mayor of Key West and the city council protested, saying that the roadblock would disrupt tourism. When the U.S. Border Patrol did not yield to their concerns, Mayor Dennis Wardlow and the city council declared the Conch Republic’s independence, saying that if the federal govern-ment was going to establish the equivalent of a border station, as if Key West were a foreign nation, they might as well become one.

Mayor Wardlow was proclaimed prime minister of the Conch Republic, and he immediately declared war against the United States. Th e war was short-lived. Prime Minister Wardlow broke a

stale loaf of Cuban bread over the head of a man dressed in a U.S. naval uniform, and hastily surren-dered one minute later. He then applied for $1 billion in foreign aid. Despite the Conch Republic’s brief struggle for independence, the massive publicity stunt proved successful, and the roadblock and inspection point were removed shortly thereaft er.

If Key West was just any old Florida town, you would prob-ably not be reading about it right now. Key West’s weirdness is what has empowered it to fl ourish. We should all follow Key West’s lead and embrace our inner oddball. Our eccentricities should be capi-talized upon, not hidden away. We may not all be as peculiar as Key West, but we all have our own polydactyl cats.

EDITORIAL: Media Embargo Was Handled Improperly

theramonline.com

Lett er to the EditorDear Editor,In the end, Father McShane got

it right when he asked the crowd of students packed into the Rose Hill Gymnasium, “Who got the Cardi-nal and Colbert?” and the answer came thundering back: “FORD-HAM!” Last Friday night was a very special night, and I don’t think it could have happened anywhere but at Fordham.

I will admit to a litt le nervous-ness as I drove to the Bronx for the session that was formally entitled “Humor, Joy, and the Spiritual Life,” but referred to everywhere and by everyone as simply, “Th e Cardinal and Colbert.” I knew that I would have been right at home in University Church, and that I could probably hold my own if I had to pinch-hit sometime for Pro-fessor Camosy in his Christian Eth-ics course. And, I had just recently met Clint Eastwood at one of the national conventions, who told me in that distinctive gravelly voice, “You know, I played a preacher

once, so I know that neck thing you wear is mighty uncomfortable.” But going toe-to-toe with Stephen Col-bert, with Father Jim Martin acting as moderator? In front of one of the most demanding audiences any-where — college students? More than once I wondered, “Dolan, what did you get yourself into this time?”

While we were waiting in the green room, Father McShane told Stephen and me about the stu-dents who had waited in line over-night for a bracelet to get in, and I thought, “Wow! College students who are that eager to give up their Friday night to hear a talk about faith and joy. Who would have guessed?” By the time we got back-stage (back gym?) waiting to go on, and I heard the cheers for Tim Luecke’s wonderful animation, I could feel the anticipation from an obviously-enthusiastic crowd, and my butt erfl ies disappeared.

What impressed me most about Friday night was not anything that

Stephen Colbert, Father Martin or I said, as engaging and enlightening as I found our conversation to be. It wasn’t the gift bag that Father Mc-Shane presented to us aft erwards, as kind as that was (but a medium t-shirt for me, Father McShane? Really?). And it wasn’t even the opportunity to meet Stephen Col-bert, one of the premier satirists anywhere and a man of obvious deep faith, or his charming wife Ev-elyn. No, what really touched me was you, the Fordham students. I don’t think I’ve ever been with a group of young people more eager to celebrate their faith — not at World Youth Day, not at Th eology on Tap, maybe not even with the seminarians at the North American College when I was rector!

It would be great to keep that level of enthusiasm going forward, and I hope for many more opportu-nities to be with Fordham students. You know, I celebrate the 10:15 a.m. Mass at Saint Patrick’s Cathe-dral most Sundays from September

through June, and I would love to welcome a group from Fordham. Feel free to check out my blog at blog.archny.org (where I’ve posted my opening remarks from Friday night, if you’re interested in read-ing them) or my Twitt er @cardi-naldolan if you’d like to keep up on some of the things that are going on with me.

I’m very grateful to everyone in-volved with “Th e Cardinal and Col-bert,” and feel very fortunate to have been invited to the Jesuit Universi-ty of the capital of the world (as our late Holy Father, Blessed John Paul II referred to New York) to partici-pate. More than once I heard the evening referred to as “this Ford-ham generation’s U2” and I guess I’m fl att ered, but it does leave me with a question — am I Bono, and is Stephen Colbert Th e Edge, or is it the other way around?

— Timothy Cardinal Dolan Archbishop of New York President, United States Confer-

ence of Catholic Bishops

“Th e Cardinal and Colbert: Hu-mor, Joy, and the Spiritual Life,” a special panel discussion held this past Friday, was one of the most popular events held on campus in the past few years. Around Fordham, the event was highly advertised by Campus Ministry and the Offi ce of Mission and Ministry. Student ex-citement was running high, and the media also started to buzz with an-ticipation.

According to Th e Washington Post, however, on Aug. 9, the newspaper and other media outlets received an email from the University announc-ing a media embargo for the event: “Aft er extended conversations with the program participants, the Uni-versity will be closing the event to the media. […] We will not be vid-eotaping the event for distribution, nor streaming it on the web or else-where.”

Neither Th e Ram nor Th e Observ-

er, the student newspaper at Ford-ham Lincoln Center, was informed of this decision in early August. Only through later conversations with the University’s communications offi ce were editors of both publications told that they would not receive spe-cial access to the event.

Th e offi ce also stated that student media would be treated the same as external media in this situation, meaning that neither publication would be allowed to act as press at the event. By informing external news organizations of the blackout before informing the staff s of its own newspapers, however, the University was not treating Th e Ram and Th e Observer as equal members of the media.

Although we accept that the Uni-versity had justifi able reasons for closing the Dolan-Colbert event to the media, the parameters for the embargo were left unclear. A small

number of journalists were admitt ed to the event as guests, just as student journalists were admitt ed as student att endees. Furthermore, in the event program, Fordham promoted the use of a Twitt er hashtag (#Dolan-Colbert) to facilitate student ques-tions for the panelists. By formally establishing this tool, the University encouraged students (as well as Th e Ram and the paper) to live-tweet dur-ing the event, opening the discussion to the “Twitt ersphere” and making it less-than-private.

Perhaps this was a situation in which the power of social media tools such as Facebook and Twitt er were underestimated. We believe it is un-reasonable for the University to pro-mote the use of social media without expecting members of the media to use the technology. Th e Ram was one of a handful of student organizations that live-tweeted the event, as did an editor from the Catholic magazine

Commonweal. Th e New York Times cites this professional use of Twitt er in its article about the event as an incident that eff ectively ended the media embargo.

Fordham cannot expect a media blackout while encouraging the use of social media during the event and inviting outside reporters. Th e University should have been more careful and explicit as to how att end-ees used social media if it wanted to retain the integrity of the blackout. While journalists and consumers of media work out the role Twitt er will play in journalism, we must be wary of its power to undo an embargo, even as we harness its power to stir up positive hype.

OPINIONS SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 • THE RA M • PAGE 9

Campaign Cash Is WastedAlthough the unemployment fi g-

ures remain high, the presidential campaigns are not feeling an im-pact on their wallets. Th is month, President Obama out-fundraised Governor Romney for the fi rst time in months. In August, Rom-ney raised approximately $111 million, as opposed to the $114 million that President Obama’s re-election campaign raised.

Obama’s campaign gathered 1.1 million donors, who gave an average donation of $58. During the previous month, Romney out-fundraised the president, $101 million to $75 million. Overall, the Democrats have won the race for cash $740 million to $630 mil-lion. President Obama, however, is using his resources at a much faster rate than his Republican counter-part, and Romney is estimated to have a $60 million on-hand cash advantage.

Political analysts can use this recently revealed data to claim an advantage for one side or the other in the election. Romney’s larger amounts of available capital give him a clear advantage down the stretch, but Obama procured 317,000 fi rst-time donors, mean-ing that he will be able to raise more money as we get closer to November.

Unfortunately for political junk-ies, nobody will really know who will win this presidential election until Nov. 6. Th e way the funds are being used serves as clear evi-dence of the need for serious cam-paign reform. In the month of July, Obama spent two-thirds of the $53 million he raised on campaign ad-vertisements. Romney’s campaign claims Obama has spent over $100 million on att ack ads alone. Th is problem is not unique to this pres-idential campaign. According to a report from the Campaign Media Analysis Group, “More than half of all commercials have been att ack ads, and almost 70 percent of all commercials for the Senate have been negative” in 2010.

Politicians waste millions of dol-lars forcing the public to listen to mudslinging. It is entirely legal for them to do so, but it would be ben-efi cial for voters and politicians if legislation were passed requiring the dedication of a certain per-centage of all campaign funds to a philanthropic project. Th e public would learn about the true mo-tives and abilities of the candidates based on where and how the can-didates use these funds. How can-didates allocate these funds would reveal their priorities. Th e degree to which the candidates are active-ly involved in the projects would serve as evidence of their dedica-tion to the public welfare. Th eir eff ectiveness in overseeing the use of funds would affi rm their ability or lack thereof in preventing waste and actually accomplishing goals.

A philanthropic approach would soft en politicians’ images and actu-ally aid their communities rather than line the pockets of media mo-guls. Honest att ack ads have a role and will remain a part of political campaigns, but philanthropy needs to be more actively incorporated.

Righter’sBlock

Corporate Donors Do Harm

John P. CastonguayCastonguay

In 2008, one of the major cam-paign feats for which President Obama was known was his un-precedented ability to fundraise. Most of the donations for his 2008 campaign came from a grassroots movement of donors, all of whom donated between $5 and $100. Th e 2012 campaigns have produced far less impressive contribution re-cords for both candidates. Not only has President Obama been out-funded by Mitt Romney, but unlike last election cycle, the majority of Obama’s contributions came from wealthier Americans. Romney, however, is not without fault. Al-though he has outshone Obama in his fundraising, the vast majority of his contributions have come from the wealthiest Americans and the trending super PACs.

Fewer than three years ago, one would have been hard-pressed to fi nd a corporation that would do-nate directly to a campaign. In the aft ermath of the infamous 2010 Supreme Court case Citizens Unit-ed v. Federal Election Commission, everything has changed. Th e ruling granted corporations and unions the ability to donate to political campaigns with free reign, over-turning the 2002 McCain-Feingold Act. Th is is when super PACs be-came extremely important. Unlike when one donates directly to a campaign, there is no limit to the amount of money that a person can donate to any particular super PAC.

Th ese super PACs have created a rather disturbing trend of high-profi le supporters donating to a particular campaign without need-ing to disclose their names. Th e lack of name disclosure is excep-tionally nice for corporations, since it allows them to avoid publicity similar to what Chic-fi l-A received this summer. Protecting corpora-tions, under the First Amendment essentially opens Pandora’s Box of opportunity for corporate exploita-tion.

Corporate personhood has be-come a hot-butt on issue through-out the political realm due to one simple fact: If corporations are people, they deserve the same rights as people. To me, this prem-ise is completely ridiculous. Corpo-rations are on a plane that requires a diff erent set of rules from those that apply to average people. Th ere is no way that a person working a job which earns the median U.S. income could infl uence a political campaign to the extent that a multi-billion dollar corporation could.

Also, there is no sense of morality instilled in a corporation that gives it a conscience that would keep most people in check. Corpora-tions are all about the bott om line, and their political support will be thrown behind the candidate that will give them the greatest profi t. Th e American system of politics is already hanging on by a thread; the idea of corporations being able to hold so much infl uence is frighten-ing. America should be about the individual, not the corporations. We need to move back to what Obama did in 2008 and rely on in-dividuals to fuel campaigns.

The Left Lane

Conor

Fucci

theramonline.com

GLEN STUBBE/MCT

Many Republican politicians publicly espouse their belief in God as the guiding principle of their political ideologies.

Th e GOP Is Missing G-O-D

By MATT SCHLESINGERCONTRIBUTING WRITER

Vice presidential candidate and Roman Catholic Paul Ryan has recently come under fi re for his proposed budget plan. Th e plan would cut back on social pro-grams that provide health care, food assistance and other forms of public aid to the poor and elderly. While the plan enacts tax breaks for the wealthy and increases de-fense spending, three-fi ft hs of the proposed cuts come from programs for low-income Ameri-cans. Feeling the need to speak out, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) reminded Ryan that “a central moral measure of any budget pro-posal is how it aff ects ‘the least of these’ Matt hew 25. Th e needs of those who are hungry and home-less, without work or in poverty should come fi rst,” according to the USCCB. Perhaps they needed to tell Rep. Ryan that he seems to have forgott en the words of Jesus, “to love thy neighbor as thyself.”

For all that the GOP likes to talk about God, He seems to be missing from many parts of its platform. Th e Republicans’ ir-responsible denial of the gravity of global warming does not coin-cide with the idea that we should respect all of God’s creation. Anybody who has heard the Be-atitudes — especially “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” — should fully un-derstand what Jesus would have thought of the death penalty.

If Jesus teaches us to clothe the naked and invite in the stranger, how can Republican rhetoric on illegal immigration be so cruel? Can Mitt Romney actually read the story of the Good Samaritan

and still oppose off ering edu-cation benefi ts to illegal immi-grants? Would Jesus really choose to build a new batt leship over a new classroom? Th at just does not square with Jesus’ words, “blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.”

At this point, the thoughtful conservative jumps in, proclaim-ing that he or she wants to help the disadvantaged, but that he or she disagrees about how it should be done and who should do it. Republicans are not opposed to the Beatitudes; they are opposed to the idea that it is the govern-ment’s responsibility to address social problems in the fi rst place. Yet Jesus’ charge to “love thy neighbor as thyself ” indicates that our only obligation as Christians is a radical devotion to the poor. Even if an individual conservative practices this in his or her private life, it is both naïve and selfi sh to hope that others will voluntarily contribute their time or money to the poor.

It is clear that society’s prob-lems are too big for individuals, too big even for many state gov-ernments to eff ectively address, and as Christians, it is our duty to ensure that social problems are dealt with eff ectively.

In the absence of any market-based mechanism, governments must provide the solution. Ac-cording to the USCCB, “Govern-ment and other institutions have a shared responsibility to promote the common good of all.” If the choice is between the conserva-tive ideals of self-reliance and Darwinian survival of the fi tt est and the liberal ideal of social re-sponsibility, it seems clear which camp Christians must join.

Of course, no discussion of this

sort would be complete without touching on the hot-butt on issues of abortion and same-sex mar-riage. As for gay marriage, I turn to Fordham’s new friend Stephen Colbert.

“I would like to read to you what Jesus said about homosexu-ality,” Colbert said, “but he never said anything about it.” And that should be that.

On the trickier issue of abor-tion, I turned to Fordham theol-ogy professor Dr. Larry Welborn. He argued that too much energy is focused on the question, “When does life begin?” Th e questions we should be asking are, “What purpose does God intend for a human life? Does He want us to be hungry or abused?” Welborn said. He made a fascinating point when he asked me to consider what would happen if those who devote so much energy to helping the unborn worked instead to im-prove the lives of those who have already been born.

So how should a Christian en-gage in politics? Welborn said that our main concern must be how to carry out God’s kingdom, and that “ought to take the form of advo-cacy for the poor.” It is clear that we “must be on the side of eff orts on behalf of all of God’s children — especially the poor and sick.” Th e heart of Jesus’s message is to care for the “least of my people,” and it is clear the GOP does litt le to help them. Ryan’s budget plan has brought the intersection of faith and politics into the public eye, and many people sense hy-pocrisy. Republicans love to talk about faith, but Jesus would take issue with most of their platform.

Matt Schlesinger, FCRH ’16, is an undeclared major fr om La Crosse, Wisc.

If you have an opinion about something you saw in this week’s issue of

Th e Ram, send us a Lett er to the Editor at:

fordhamramlett ers@gmail.com

Are your friends really tired of hearing you complain?Write for Th e Ram’s opinions section.

E-mail us at:fordhamramopinions@gmail.com

ADVERTISINGPAGE 10 • THE RA M • SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 theramonline.com

PAGE 11SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

Festivus Fordhamensis Excites Campus Members

St. Rose’s Garden: Fordham’s New Hidden GemBy MARGARET DESMOND

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

On the edge of Fordham’s cam-pus, past Faculty Memorial Hall, toward the parking lot behind O’Hare Hall, you can make out the tops of cars and buses fl ying

by at that familiar Bronx speed. Th e ever-present cacophony of horns and sirens grows louder and louder. If you take one right turn, however, you may think you have been transported to a country farm. Th ere lies St. Rose’s Garden, a small vegetable oasis amidst the

urban backdrop of the Bronx. Alex Williams, FCRH ’13 and

an environmental policy major at Fordham, is currently in charge of St. Rose’s as its garden manager.

“I was someone who was in-terested in gardening as an en-vironmental policy major,” Wil-

liams said. “I was disillusioned by the lack of focus around campus and wanted to do something that would make a diff erence.”

Th is determination to make a positive contribution led Williams to read Th e Ram and learn more about his campus. Aft er reading an article about the soon-to-be-cre-ated organic garden last semester, Williams joined Jason Aloisio, a Fordham graduate student study-ing biology and working as the coordinator of the City Zoo and Fordham University Urban Ecol-ogy Partnership, and Elizabeth Anderson, FCRH ’13, who are co-creators of the organic garden.

Williams volunteered to help Aloisio, Anderson and other vol-unteers in the creation of St. Rose’s Garden.

Both Williams and Aloisio put in many hours of hard work to create the garden. Neat, litt le boxes fi lled with leafy, green vegetables packed together in the small lot are a testa-ment to their eff orts. Th e garden is fi lled with a variety of vegetables including eggplant, green beans, peppers, cucumbers, lett uce, to-matoes and several herbs.

“Th e goal is to develop a con-nection with local food banks,” Williams said when asked about the future of the produce. “Student volunteers also have the opportu-nity to bring vegetables home.”

Vegetable-loving students can also fi nd fresh produce through the Community Supported Agri-culture (CSA) Aloisio organized through the help of Environmen-

tal Policy classes. From the last week of Septem-

ber until mid-November, students can receive between six and eight pounds of vegetables weekly for $16 per week. In its fi rst year, the program has already had 30 people sign up aft er only one week of ad-vertising.

“Th e semester is young but kicking off on the right foot,” Wil-liams said.

Th e garden is having weekly volunteer events, the fi rst of which occurred last week. Th ese take place every Wednesday at 4 p.m., and anyone who is interested can att end.

Th e volunteer opportunities are not limited to those with a green thumb. While plans for this year include harvesting vegetables and composting, they will also involve adding art to the garden and im-proving the garden’s offi cial re-cords.

Williams and Aloisio said they-have high hopes for the future of St. Rose’s.

“Th e garden will be a tool to teach students who are interested, whether environmental policy majors or just other Fordham stu-dents in general,” Williams said.

Th e garden also has another contribution to the Fordham com-munity, in that it could bring stu-dents together.

“I also see St. Rose’s as be-coming a place where people can come to hang out,” Williams said. “We always encourage students to come visit.”The organic garden produces a myriad of plants including mint, roses and sunfl owers. It was built in an unused backyard.

PHOTO BY ELIZABETH ZANGHI/THE RAM

PHOTO BY MICHAEL REZIN/THE RAM

FESTIVUS, FROM PAGE 1

to rave all night long.“#ClubLib was a lot of fun,” Ali

Glembocki, FCRH ’16, said. “It was filled with tons of dancing and great music. I’d definitely like to go to an event like it again.”

This year’s Fordham Fest fea-tured the thrilling Clash of the Classes theme, in which atten-dance was taken at every event and scores were tallied based upon the number of students from each class that attended. The Class of 2013 trailed the pack with the fewest attendees,

with the Class of 2014 just ahead of the seniors. In second place, the Class of 2016 fared well, only to be beat by the Class of 2015.

The exciting Fordham Fest ac-tivities were only made possible through the hard work of orga-nizations including the United Student Government, Campus Ministry, Sodexo, Resident Hall Association, CAB, Cinevents, CSA, Flipside, Peer Educators and the Student Culinary Coun-cil. Students and faculty mem-bers alike put in many hours of preparation.

Students were awash in light and fog as they got in touch with their groovy side with Walsh looming in the background.

The underutilized Walsh Library lawn provided a safe, but nevertheless enjoyable, dance fl oor for students to kick off their Homecoming Weekend. Here, a Fordham DJ spins records to a dancing crowd. PHOTO BY STASHA O’CALLAGHAN/THE RAM

CULTURE theramonline.comPAGE 12 • THE RA M • SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 theramonline.com

colleges and even received an of-fer to play professionally in South America. On a whim, he tried out as a kicker for the football team during his senior year, and his life changed.

While in college at Florida State, Sebastian att racted att ention from many NFL scouts, prompting him to forego his senior year and be-come only the fi ft h kicker in NFL history to be draft ed in the fi rst round. He chose to go to the NFL a year early so that he could aff ord to bring his mother over from Poland. Talented and devoted to his moth-er, what more could you ask for?

“Sea Bass” has perennially been the most consistent player on an oft en-lackluster team. He is the reason that I continue to watch the Raiders lose week aft er week. He and punter Shane Lechler are the only two remaining members of the team that went to the Super Bowl in 2002 (in case it was unclear as to how poorly the team generally performs).

Even in this young season, Sebas-tian has already given me hope for a bett er year, with a 51-yard gem in the Raiders’ opening game. As long as he is on the team – which should be a while, given that he is the NFL’s highest-paid kicker – I will faithfully wear my silver and black each Sunday to watch Sebastian re-write history with his left foot.

Behind the Spotlight

By OLIVIA MONACOEDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Although I am from New York, I have unfortunately endured be-ing raised as an Oakland Raiders fan. My father, growing up dur-ing the dark ages of the Giants and Jets in the ’60s and ’70s, was unable to watch his hometown teams — which were blacked-out unless there was a sellout – and so

he turned to the West Coast to get his football fi x. Consequently, I was recruited to the Raider Nation and have since suff ered through nine years without a winning record or playoff appearance. It has not been all bad, however, because of one shining aspect of the Raiders’ ros-ter: Sebastian Janikowski.

At fi rst glance, it is obvious that Sebastian Janikowski is not your average kicker. At six-foot-two and

The Polish Cannon shares a record with Tom Dempsey, Jason Elam and David Akers.

over 250 pounds, he is clearly one of the largest kickers in football. Th at strength is exhibited when-ever he approaches the ball; every fourth down is exciting because there is always the chance that his-tory will be made. Janikowski is currently tied for the NFL record for the longest fi eld goal at 63 yards. (I remain convinced that he shat-tered the record with a 72-yarder that was uncounted because of an expertly called opposition timeout, but I cannot fi nd any evidence to prove it.)

Even on kickoff s, Sebastian shows his strength by routinely kicking for touchbacks, and also occasion-ally propelling the ball through the uprights. He holds numerous other NFL records, including one for kicking eight touchbacks and eight points-aft er-touchdown in a single game, and he tied another record by kicking three fi eld goals over 50 yards in one game.

Janikowski did not have a con-ventional path to the NFL. Born in Poland, Sebastian was raised play-ing soccer, like his father, who was a professional soccer player. He was good enough that he made the Pol-ish U-17 team as a 15-year old, be-fore emigrating to America to join his father, who had relocated here.

In high school in Florida, Se-bastian was a standout soccer star who was recruited aggressively by

Like any good artsy kid, I spend a fair amount of time trying to keep track of what’s hip and new in the mu-sical (read: indie) world. When cooler friends mention “that new group” to me, I want to be able to say I’ve, at least, heard of them. But when it comes to contemporary jazz, I’m clueless. Th e only associations jazz conjures in my head are Dave Brubeck and my grandpa’s band, which plays standards for groups at nursing homes. I have no excuse, however, because Fordham has a club that makes it easy for jazz-illiterate students like me to hear and appreciate jazz music on campus.

Mark Dumond and Nick Gatt o, both FCRH ’14, are co-presidents of Fordham’s Jazz Collective, which brings in world-class jazz artists once a semester and hosts weekly Tues-day night jam sessions. Members range from people who, in Dumond’s words, think “jazz is elevator music” to students with considerable musical talent and ambition.

I have previously seen Dumond, a music major from Maine, listen to jazz. Th e way he closed his eyes and nodded his head in time made it clear that he had a deep relationship with the music. He believes good listening “takes work,” and pointed out that, while we tend to think of classical mu-sic as refi ned and sedate, audiences were oft en rowdy and responsive at the premieres of works that are now part of the classical canon.

Dumond played drums, his prima-ry instrument, and piano during high school and knew he wanted to make music a priority in college.

“New York City is the jazz capital of the world,” he said, which, in addition to Fordham’s liberal arts curriculum, made Fordham att ractive.

Dumond and Gatt o agree the en-ergy of jazz lies in improvising. To me, the idea of composing something on-the-spot, in front of an audience would be a nightmare. I spent years taking classical piano lessons and months practicing particular pieces only to go on YouTube and fi nd bett er versions by Chinese seven-year-olds. Gatt o noted, however, that improvisa-tion is both high-stakes and emotion-ally intimate.

“A musician gives [...] the sum total of his musical knowledge and experi-ence,” he said.

“[A jazz show is] an opportunity to go on an in-the-moment, pure jour-ney of creation with that improvisor,” Dumond said.

Both emphasized that the reputa-tion jazz has for being unaccessible is misleading. Before Dumond began playing jazz, he watched musicians talking and laughing during their set, which piqued his curiosity. Gatt o agreed that watching the facial and bodily expressions of musicians while they play and following the soloist are the fi rst two steps to good listening. Th ings like rhythm and energy do not need translation.

“Swing feels really good, and it is a true reward in itself just to be able to play,” Gatt o said.

Dumond considers Collective’s Jazzitup! Concert Series “one of “Fordham’s greatest and least-known gems.” Th e fall concert is this Monday Sept. 24 in the McGinley 2nd music room with pianist Jonny King.

Dumond had a word about “the stuff they play” at dances.

“Funk and Latin, those are two of the best genres to move to that exist,” he said. “I know I’ve heard enough of ‘We Found Love’ to last me a while.

For more information, email mtdu-mond@gmail.com.

JOSE CARLOS FAJARDO/MCT

Dining Out: Yakitori Taisho

PHOTO BY JOHN LEE/THE RAM

By JOHN LEECONTRIBUTING WRITER

New York City restaurants are ex-pensive. Forget about atmosphere, decor, lighting or mood. It is hard enough to fi nd food that college stu-dents can aff ord. For students, good food at cheap prices is what matt ers.

Within the bowels of Lower Man-hatt an, in St. Marks Place, however, there is a Japanese grill restaurant called Yakitori Taisho, which caters to a college student’s fi nancial situation and needs.

Upon entering, you will notice that

The restaurant is at 5 Marks Place, right next to its sister restaurant, OH Taisho.

Yakitori is a restaurant that does things diff erently from a typical restaurant. In a normal restaurant, the chefs are in the kitchen, which is all the way in the back and away from public view. In Yakitori Taisho, however, the kitchen is in the front room, in plain sight. Ev-erything that goes on, from the cook-ing and preparation of the food to the sudden blaze of fi re on the grill, is vis-ible. Th ere is more appeal to this than just the visual aspect. Diners hear the chop of the knives on boards and the clang of soup ladles while smelling the meat sizzling on the grill and the aroma of the sauces and spices.

Th e bar is also in the front room. It is a small platform that encircles and surrounds the kitchen area, with a very simple design and small wooden stools. In fact, simplicity almost de-fi nes the restaurant’s aesthetic. Th ere are no expressive lights, decorative plants, classic Japanese paintings or anything of the sort. Instead, the res-taurant has an urban coolness to it that is more street than posh. Th e place is not completely grimy or dirty, nor is it overly clean and sparkling.

Th e chefs, who everyone can see, also add something to the look of the restaurant. Th ey wear bandanas on their heads, dark tatt oos on their arms, casual yet fashionable tees and aprons around their waists. Com-bined, they look like an Asian version of the E Street Band. Th ey are all very friendly and say hello when patrons enter, which helps add to the casual aura of the restaurant.

Th e restaurant has a variety of ap-petizers and entrees, typically Japa-nese food, such as Taisho don (three meat skewers and egg over rice), or edamame. Th e main star of the restau-rant, however, is the grilled meat. Th e meat is usually on skewers. Th ere are various kinds of meats you can order, such as chicken meatballs, chicken gizzard, beef, pork, bacon with scal-lop or asparagus, shrimp or shitake mushrooms. Th e distinctive trait of the meat is its tenderness and juici-ness. Th e meat is not tough, and every gentle bite results in a rush of fl avor and juices.

Th e meat’s sauce is both tangy and sweet, which enhances the fl a-vor and prevents the food from being just texture without taste. Th e beef is extremely tender and juicy, like a long, thin piece of perfectly-cooked medium-rare steak that you cannot help but savor. Th e chicken meatballs

Overall

Location

Food Quality

Atmosphere

Hospitality

Price

(Out of 4 ’s)

$

Although open from 6 p.m.- 12 a.m., it is best to arrive early to avoid long lines. PHOTO BY JOHN LEE/ THE RAM

Editor’s Pick: Sebastian Janikowski

are the most fl avorful and enjoyable to eat, simply because they are sweet, not spicy, salty or bitt er — just pleas-ant.

What makes the food taste even bett er is its aff ordability. Each appe-tizer costs between $3 and $5. Entrees cost between $7 and $10. Each grilled meat, which is usually three skewers, costs between $2 and $3. You can also order various sets of grilled meats, which consist of 10 skewers of a vari-ety of meats, and cost $13.50. Because of the cheapness of some of these items, if you are not careful, you can accidentally spend more money than intended. Just one of the sets, howev-er, is enough to satisfy one person.

Th e service is fast and effi cient, but you can only get this quality service if you arrive early. Th e place can get very crowded, and there are, at most, two to three waiters dealing with custom-ers, so if you come at a later time, you can expect slower service and a longer waiting time.

Yakitori Taisho features nothing that can be considered fancy. It does not appeal to people looking for a qui-et evening in a well-designed, calm or atmospheric sett ing. Th e place is of-ten noisy, crowded and fi lled with the scent of grilling food. Yakitori Taisho is more of a hangout place, where you can get great, aff ordable food and chat with friends. Th ere is something nice about going to a restaurant that makes you feel as if you were in a friend’s kitchen, and this has an appeal all of its own.

RACHAEL PRENSNER

CULTURE SEPTEMBER 19, 2012 • THE RA M • PAGE 13theramonline.com

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Ram Reviews

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MOVIEMOVIE TELEVISIONTELEVISIONTELEVISIONTHE MASTER THE WORDS“AWKWARD.”“GLEE” “THE NEWSROOM”

- COMPILED BY DEVON SHERIDAN

By HELENA MEYERCONTRIBUTING WRITER

Th is past Th ursday, Fox kicked off the fourth season of its award-win-ning, musical comedy-drama “Glee.”

Th e show is now split between what’s going on at McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio and Rachel Ber-ry’s (Lea Michele, New Year’s Eve) new adventures at the New York Academy for the Dramatic Arts.

A slew of new characters have been introduced in order to replace the original cast members who are no longer on contract, and, as is usual with “Glee,” there are as many hits as there are misses.

Based on the fi rst episode, this sea-son is a vast improvement from last season’s train wreck. Th e show has become more about character devel-opment and meaningful song choices than overdone plotlines and Top 40 pandering. Let’s see if they can keep it up.

By COURTNEY SMITHCONTRIBUTING WRITER

As the show “awkward.” closes its second season on Th ursday, Sept. 20, Jenna will fi nally make her choice be-tween the fl awless Matt y McKibben (Beau Mirchoff , “Desperate House-wives”) and the adorable Jake Rosati (Brett Davern, Th e Pool Boys). Th e love triangle has been building for the past two seasons, and Jenna has developed signifi cant relationships with both. In the past few episodes, however, the love triangle has taken a stagnant turn: Jenna knows who she wants to be with, but does not do any-thing about it, even though it’s time for her to make a choice and for the storyline to move forward.

Regardless of a few small fl aws here and there, at the heart of the show is a girl that makes us all feel a litt le less awkward. Jenna shows us that we are all fumbling through life. I promise you’ll be thankful.

By PJ BROGANCONTRIBUTING WRITER

Much buzz surrounding Th e Master rose from the purported role that Sci-entology plays in the movie’s plotline. Th e religion, preached by Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoff man, Moneyball), a ruddy faced L. Ron Hubbard stand-in, does indeed play a signifi cant role in the fi lm. Enigmatic fi lmmaker Paul Th omas Anderson (Th ere Will Be Blood), however, only uses Scientology as a backdrop for the story of two men; a wild, angry man named Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix, Walk the Line) and Dodd’s att empt to use spiritual domination as a means to force Quell into society.

Th e Master is not a mocking dia-tribe on Scientology, but is instead an odd, complex movie about two men trying to give themselves to some-thing greater. Th e Master benefi ts from the sympathy and melancholy of Phoenix’s Quell.

By JAKE KRING-SCHREIFELSSTAFF WRITER

Sometimes it is easy to spot a fi lm wherein ambition exceeds execution. Th e Words, which hovers over heavy thematics and ethical implications, is such a fi lm. With such an ambiguous title, it is disappointing how easy the story reads.

Unfortunately, Bradley Cooper (Th e Hangover) cannot resurrect its lackluster appeal. Beyond his inane antics and machismo in Th e Hang-over, his more cerebral side, like his presence in Limitless, can produce a pleasant dichotomy. Cooper, whose Dr. Jekyll-half appears in this fi lm, enlisted friends Brian Klugman (Clo-verfi eld) and Lee Sternthal (Tron: Legacy) to write and direct. Th e script lacks intended depth and pull, but the imagery succeeds aesthetically and emotionally. In this case, visuals sub-stitute for= substance, a daunting task for a fi lm about the writt en word.

By KRISTOFER VENEZIACONTRIBUTING WRITER

Starting off a new television series by telling a largely-American audience that the United States is not the best country in the world certainly takes balls. Th at is exactly what HBO’s dra-ma, “Th e Newsroom” does.

Th e show spends most of its time on the set of a nightly news broad-cast called “News Night” on the fi c-tional Atlantis Cable News channel. Th e main characters in the show are Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels, Dumb &Dumber), who is the anchor of the broadcast, and McKenzie MacHale (Emily Mortimer, Hugo) who serves as the executive producer of “News Night.” Aaron Sorkin, best known as the creator of “Th e West Wing,” is the brains behind “Th e Newsroom.”

Aaron Sorkin should be pleased with putt ing a show together that re-ally gets audiences thinking about world issues.

Bon IverWhere: Radio City Music Hall

When: Sept. 19 – 22, 8 p.m.Price: $40 - $50

Beginning Wednesday, Bon Iver takes the stage for four nights in a row this week at Radio City Music Hall. Made famous by frontman Justin Vernon’s melancholy vocals and indie-folk song arrangements, as well as his personal story (former schoolteacher, heartbreak, self-exile to a Wisconsin cabin), Bon Iver has released two albums in fi ve years; both have been, in this editor’s opinion, quite fantastic and have garnered critical acclaim. Vernon and Co.’s work receives unique validation with the opportunity to play four straight nights at legendary Radio City Music Hall (take the D train to 47-50 Rock-efellar Center; the trip takes less than 50 minutes) and a $40 ticket to see a Grammy–winning artist in his prime at arguably the world’s greatest theater seems like a steal. Hungry? Grab dinner before the show at Tenpenny, a fantastic (and fantastically priced) restaurant located in the Gotham Hotel, located on 16 E. 46th Street.

Uptown ShowdownWhere: Symphony Space; 2537 Broadway

When: Sept. 24, 8 p.m.Price: $15

Voted “Best Comedy Show” of 2012 by New York Magazine, Up-town Showdown pits two teams of comedians and comedy writers together as they debate their views on the hott est topics and ques-tions facing Americans today. Which decade was coolest, the eight-ies or ’90s? Which are bett er, cats or dogs? Cake or pie? Th is month features Janeane Garofolo (Ratatouille) and Dave Hill of the Upright Citizens Brigade. Check out this comedy show and shake off the Monday blues with an end-of-the-night laugh.

COURTESY OF PRETTYMUCHAMZING.COM

Is Hollywood Out of Original Ideas?

By MARLESSA STIVALACONTRIBUTING WRITER

Film has always had the uncanny

ability to infl uence as strongly as it can entertain. In 1977, Star Wars did more than transport viewers to a galaxy far, far away. It was also instru-mental in improving special eff ects technology and inspiring the science fi ction genre. In recent years, Inception not only awed audiences with its spe-cial eff ects, but also inspired deeper questions, such as the signifi cance of dreams and the power of a simple idea. Everyone has a story to tell, and fi lm is an ideal medium to do just that. Why then does it seem like there are so few original stories being told?

A quick visit to a movie theater can prove that the recent trend is far from compelling, new dramas or quirky, original comedies. Instead, remakes of classic fi lms and adaptations of al-ready-existing works currently domi-nate movie screens. Th e latt er of the two inevitably leads to another com-mon trend: franchises.

From Harry Pott er to Pirates of the Caribbean, there seems to be an end-less series of fi lms based on already-popular characters. Are such trends due to a lack of creativity or from a fear of taking risks? Are these fi lms created so consistently because the studios see them as safe or because audiences will surely pay to watch them?

When all is said and done, Hol-lywood is a business that works on a basic formula. Studios give money to fi lmmakers so they can, in turn, gain a surplus of money back. While backing a director with an innovative, “never-been-done-before” plot is obviously the more creative investment, it is also a fi nancial risk. An original screenplay off ers litt le to no proof to a studio that it will prove successful at the box of-fi ce. When money is on the line, it is no surprise to see creativity pushed aside. If a director steps back from the “never-been-done-before” mind-set and instead proposes something like, “I want to reboot Superman” (not that Superman Returns should be looked to as a shining example of re-boots, but hopefully Man of Steel can change that), he or she is more likely to receive the green light.

Hollywood may generally see ad-aptations and remakes as safer bets than original screenplays, but such fi lms obviously would not be released as oft en if audiences were not so eager to see them. Original fi lms such as (500) Days of Summer and Juno have certainly been well-received by audi-ences and critics alike. At the same time, however, such fi lms are not go-ing to inspire the same high-grossing box offi ce weekends like Th e Avengers or Th e Hunger Games. Th ere is a cer-tain excitement that comes from anx-iously waiting in line for the midnight

premiere of the latest blockbuster or superhero fi lm. Filmmakers recog-nize this and do their best to deliver, as an almost unspoken understanding between those behind the camera and those sitt ing in the theater.

Th e real question is whether or not this “business arrangement” is a good one. Just because fi lm remakes and adaptations seem to be made in great quantity, does this necessarily equal great quality? Most people tend to agree with the idea that “nothing beats the original,” whether the original is J.K. Rowling’s novels or the color-ful pages of an actual Batman comic. While that is true in most cases, it can also be said that one can simply ap-preciate a fi lm adaptation for what it is, independent of its source. At the same time, it is important to remem-ber that it is nearly impossible to do a completely faithful adaptation. Even an arguably “good” one, such as Th e Hunger Games, still had a number of scenes removed, added or changed completely.

Th e quality of a remake is almost a completely diff erent story and oft en riskier. Even the slightest rumor of re-making such fi lms as East of Eden can inspire emotional reactions about how uncreative Hollywood has become (and more importantly how dare they think anyone could play Cal Trask bett er than James Dean?). Th is is be-cause such fi lms are classics in every sense of the word. Th ey starred classic actors, who in turn, became synony-mous with now-classic characters in scenes that can never be remade in quite the same fashion. Certain fi lms such as Casablanca or Star Wars (not that George Lucas would approve of it for even a second) should simply be off limits to future remakes.

Moviegoers can only hope that any future remakes and adaptations will maintain respect for the original source material. Maybe if a greater sense of mutual trust between fi lm-makers and moviegoers can be achieved, fi lmmakers can feel confi -dent that audiences will want to see something new and innovative.

Maybe fi lm creativity can reign again.

COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA

Man of Steel is Hollywood’s seventh Superman fi lm since the one in 1951.

CULTUREPAGE 14• THE RA M • SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

WHO’S THAT KID?Christopher John Osowiecki

A MEMBER OF FCRH ’13HISTORY MAJOR

FROM FRANKLIN SQUARE, NYDescribe yourself in a couple

sentences for the readers. I’m 5’10”, Polish and from

Frankin Square, Long Island. In the American classic Die

Hard, Hans Gruber said, “When Alexander the Great looked at his empire, he wept, for there were no more worlds to be conquered [sic].”

I am surrounded by worlds yet to be conquered.

What is your favorite aspect of Fordham and why?

When I walked into Keating for

the first time, I felt like a templar of old. It’s a medieval building on campus!

No other campus had ever impressed me like this. At that moment, I knew I was going to Fordham.

What is your favorite thing to do in New York City?

I love to go to shows, see bands

live and rage. I also work at a moving company, Box Butler, and I got to see the nicest apartments I have ever seen in my life.

I like seeing the upper strato-sphere of the city.

What is something about you that not many people know?

I have a tattoo on my chest. It’s a symbol of the Polish resistance from WWII. After a horrible Ger-man slaughter of Polish people, the Polish rebels spray painted it on areas or tanks they sabotaged.

What is your favorite class at Fordham? Why?

World Cinema Masterpieces. I had zero interest in black and white movies going into the class, but I watched the movies and I loved them. Some movies were the saddest things I ever saw, but I was excited to write the papers about them. I came out of that class a much more cultured indi-vidual. It has helped me appreci-ate modern movies as well.

What is one thing you would like to do before you graduate?

I want to go to Senior Nights. I

used to hang out with a lot of se-niors through my job at the Ram Van, and they always talked about Senior Nights, so I look forward to attending them a lot.

What is one of your favor-Osowiecki enjoys raging shirtless in order to proudly display his Polish tattoo.

theramonline.com

COURTESY OF CHRISTIAN MURPHY

ite memories at Fordham thus far?

Hanging out with the people I

live with at my house.

If there was one thing about Fordham you could change, what would it be?

The food.

What show, food, artist, mov-ie, activity would you consider your “guilty pleasure”?

I really love video games, and

I’ve played them all my life. I used to play them too much, but now it’s just under control.

If you were stranded on a desert island, what would you bring with you?

Lots of sci-fi books. My dad turned me onto bad sci-fi books, and now I eat them up.

Anything else you’d like to

share with the readers?

In reality, I’m a big nerd that loves sci-fi and playing hours of Mario Tennis with my room-mates.

A STUDENT BODY THIRSTS FOR CULTURE

YOU ALONE CAN QUENCH THEIR THIRST

WRITE FOR THE RAM CULTURE,AND SAVE THE FORDHAM

COMMUNITY FROMCULTURAL IGNORANCE

Contact us at:

fordhamramculture@gmail.com

or come to room B52 in McGinley, Tuesdays @ 6 p.m.

PAGE 15SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

PHOTO BY PATRICK DOHERTY/THE RAM

Fordham Struggles Against Ivy League Opponents Dartmouth and Columbia Shut Out Women’s Soccer as Rams Start Homestand

Rams conceded three goals in the fi rst 30 minutes, and trudged into the locker room down 3-0.

Head Coach Ness Selmani re-placed Suther with sophomore keeper Ally White to start the second half, and the move paid immediate dividends. In the 58th minute, White made an impres-sive save on an Brush breakaway shot. Th e Big Green put the Rams defense under immense pres-sure and easily could have scored another two goals. Brush nearly curled home a 20-yard shot in the 67th minute, but her eff ort hit the post. Th e rebound went to a team-mate, who was cruelly denied a goal by the stellar White. Fordham had one brilliant opportunity in the 74th minute, but freshman Ivana Lahcanski fi red a sitt er over the crossbar from 10 yards out. White made another big save on Libby Hamlin in the 76th minute before sophomore Kate McDon-nell narrowly missed the target for Fordham in the 77th. In the last 10 minutes, Dartmouth exhibited its superior passing game and came close to adding a fourth tally sev-eral times. In the end, another slow start cost Fordham in its 3-0 home defeat.

“It was a tough loss,” McDonnell said. “We were trying to recover from the loss on Friday, but we are having a tough time scoring. When the A-10 season comes, we’ll be ready.”

Th e Rams are in the midst of a fi ve-game homestand, hosting two games this week. Fairfi eld will visit for a 7 p.m. match on Sept. 21, and Loyola (Md.) will travel to the Bronx for a 1 p.m. kickoff on Sept. 23.

Saad Will Redshirt for XCBy RYAN SCANLON

STAFF WRITER

Th e face of Fordham cross country made a big decision over the summer. Senior Julian Saad has chosen to redshirt his entire senior season in an eff ort to bett er himself and the team for the fol-lowing campaign. Th e senior from Trumbull, Conn. was named Ford-ham’s cross country MVP last year and is the school record holder in the 3,000-m run with a career-best time of 8:10.66. He proved to be one of the Atlantic 10’s fi nest with a breakout season last year, but it is clear he is looking for more from himself and his team next year.

“I’d like to make a jump to the national stage and get this school some national recognition for dis-tance running,” Saad said. “Th ey have the talent to be a good team. I’m excited to see how this season progresses for them. In many re-spects, they are a very young team, but to make jumps to get the team to a national stage next year, we need everyone to gain experience now.”

Th e decision was easy, accord-ing to Saad, once he was admitt ed into Fordham’s competitive mas-

ters program for a Ph. D. in psy-chology.

“Th at was the other half of it,” Saad said. His work ethic also fl ourishes in the classroom, earn-ing multiple Atlantic 10 Commis-sioner’s Honor Roll mentions and a spot on the Atlantic 10’s All-Aca-demic list last fall.

Th is past weekend, Saad watched as his teammates captured fi rst place at the C.W. Post Invitational in Brookville, NY. Th is 8-km race is typically used to solidify the back end of the pack for Fordham, and to determine any fi nal spots for the traveling roster. No Ram fi nished in the top fi ve, but the men packed extremely well (scoring 7-9-10-16-23) to seal the victory. Junior Pat Burke led in seventh place with a time of 26:55.

Th e women’s team also raced well, taking third place out of 20 teams in the 5-km course. Leading them was sophomore Melissa Hig-gins in sixth place at 19:42. Hig-gins was known for her hurdling success during indoor and outdoor track a year ago.

Next weekend, on Sept. 22 the Rams will be in action at Williams College taking part in the competi-tive Purple Valley Classic.

By DOMINIC KEARNSCONTRIBUTING WRITER

In its fi rst six matches, the Ford-ham women’s soccer team had scored just three goals, and had never scored multiple times in a game. Th e Rams’ only goal scorers were sophomore Kristina Mak-suti and junior Kaitlyn Carballiera. Th e recent win at Maryland looked like a potential turning point for Fordham, but the Rams’ off ensive struggles continued last weekend in losses to Columbia and Dart-mouth.

Th e Rams traveled fi ve miles to Baker Sports Complex to play the Columbia Lions on Friday, Sept. 14, and returned to the Bronx ru-ing a 2-0 defeat. Senior goalie Rachel Suther earned her second consecutive start for the Rams, but she could not stop a 13th-minute header from Coleen Rizzo. Erin Falk delivered a corner kick for the Lions, and Rizzo fi nished nicely. Fordham neutralized the Colum-bia att ack aft er that, but the Rams trailed 1-0 at halft ime. Freshman Victoria Camaj tested Columbia sophomore goalkeeper Grace Red-mon in the 30th minute, but Red-mond held her ground.

Th e game opened up in the second half, with the teams com-bining for 25 shots in the fi nal 45 minutes. Both goalkeepers made several huge saves to keep the score at 1-0, and both teams were content with the frenetic tempo that developed. In the 76th min-ute, Rizzo found Beverly Leon for an all-important second goal. Th e Rams tried to clear a corner kick, but the ball found Rizzo, who fed Leon for the insurance tally.

Fordham mustered eight shots and three corner kicks in the last 15 minutes, but the Rams could not fi nd the net. Junior Kelley Al-paugh shot twice in less than 60 seconds, but Lions keeper Grace Redmond would not be beaten in Columbia’s 2-0 win.

“We started slow aft er the win against Maryland, and we weren’t taking a lot of shots,” Suther said. “We had opportunities, but they

just are not falling for us. Th e box has been crowded, so we need to slot the ball wide in our att acks.”

On Sunday, Sept. 16, the Rams hosted the Dartmouth Big Green, but the change of scenery did not lead to a diff erent result. Dart-mouth’s defense was tested early on, as Fordham att empted three shots in the fi rst two minutes of action. Th e Big Green, however, scored fi rst with a 12th-minute

goal by Corey Delaney. Emma Brush passed to Delaney, who made no mistake in crushing home a shot from 18 yards. Dart-mouth doubled its lead two min-utes later when Maria Moschitt o half-volleyed into the net off an-other Brush assist. Just 10 minutes later, the Big Green won a penalty, thanks to a Fordham handball, and Chrissy Lozier scored Dartmouth’s third goal in the 26th minute. Th e

Fordham turned to sophomore goalie Ally White in the second half of the Rams’ 3-0 loss to Dartmouth on Sunday.

By DYLAN BISSONETTECONTRIBUTING WRITER

Women’s tennis began its season at the Columbia Invitational this past weekend. Fordham, St. John’s, Columbia, UPenn, UMass, Bing-hamton, Fairfi eld and Harvard all participated in the tournament. Fordham women’s tennis was 17-6 last year, and lost in the fi rst round of the Atlantic-10 tournament.

Th e Rams only lost two players from last year and have some tal-ented young players for the future. Th ey did not win their fl ights in singles, only gett ing as far as the semifi nals. Senior Amy Simidian won her back draw at fi rst singles, while others did not do as well in their back draw.

Simdian wants to have a great se-nior year aft er a strong junior sea-son. She had a 22-8 record and was the team MVP. She was in fl ight A of the tournament, but lost her fi rst match to Stephanie Do of Univer-sity of Pennsylvania 6-1 6-3. Sim-idian then went to the back draw and dominated. She beat Sharissa Ryan of Fairfi eld 6-3 4-6 10-8, and St. John’s Nevena Selkovic 3-6 6-1 10-8.

Sophomore Bella Genkina, sec-

ond singles, was in the fl ight B of the tournament. She has been con-tributing to women’s tennis since she was a freshman. She was 20-10, last year, playing from second singles to fi ft h singles. She lost to Monica Yajima of Fairfi eld 6-3, 7-5 and to Sara Yhotz of Binghamton 6-2, 7-5.

Sophomore Sarah Ali, third singles, was 15-11 last year. She played second singles but had a bett er doubles record, 25-7, play-ing with Bella Genkina. She was in the C fl ight of the tournament and beat Agatha Ambrozy of Bing-

hamton 6-4, 4-6, 11-9. She lost to Amy He of Harvard in the quarter-fi nals.

Th e fi rst doubles team, Simdian and junior Angelika Dabu, strug-gled and lost 8-2 to UMass.

Th e second doubles team, soph-omores Anika Novacek and Julie Leong, reached the semifi nals. Th ey beat St. John’s 9-7 and UM-ass 8-6, but lost to Columbia 8-3.

Th e Rams play again from Sept. 21-23 at the Army Invitational. Th ey are looking to have a bet-ter tournament and win in their fl ights.

Women’s Tennis Competes at Columbia

PHOTO BY MICHAEL REZIN/THE RAM

Julie Leong reached the doubles semifi nal with Anika Novacek.

SPORTSPAGE 16 • THE RA M • SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

Two-Minute

DrillDAN

GARTLAND

theramonline.com

PHOTO BY MICHAEL REZIN/THE RAM

Senior Profi le: Patrick Murray

By CHESTER BAKERSPORTS EDITOR

Put all of the kicker stereotypes and jokes in your back pocket, be-cause there is really no place for those at Fordham.

“I hear them sometimes but I just laugh along,” senior kicker Patrick Murray said following the team’s Homecoming Day victory.

Murray is not only one of the best kickers in the Football Champion-ship Subdivision, but in all of college football.

Murray, who is also the punter for the Rams, got his start in football late in life, following years of playing soccer and Gaelic football.

“When I got to high school, there was an opportunity presented to-wards me from Coach [Greg] Toal asking me to kick for the team, say-ing that I could do really well and have an opportunity to go to college,” Murray said. “So I talked it over with my dad, who never thought about me playing football. But, it’s really worked out for my benefi t and my family’s benefi t, and it was one of the best decisions that my dad and I have ever made.”

Th e decision to play football is not the only infl uence Murray’s father (who hails from Ireland) has had on him, as the two have a very strong relationship. So strong, in fact, that Murray opted to change his number from 93 to 7 prior to this season in order to pay respects to his dad.

“My dad was born on April 7 and he’s been the biggest inspiration in my entire life, and I just wanted to do him that honor of wearing the number of the day he was born,” Murray said. “Also his favorite soccer player Jimmy Johnstone, who played for Celtic, wore No. 7.”

Th e Don Bosco Prep graduate has played on the football team in all four years at Fordham, sett ing records and collecting awards along the way. Murray almost did not come to Fordham, however, origi-nally committ ing to the University of Delaware out of high school.

“Delaware really wasn’t for me. It might be for some people, but I was just looking for something diff erent,” Murray said. “My mom graduated from Fordham, so she had suggested to just look here as a place to go to school. Th e football team happened to be practicing, so I went up, intro-duced myself to the coach, and the next day I was practicing.”

While Murray is now considered a premier college kicker, consistent-ly racking up College Placekicker of the Week awards from multiple magazines and websites, it has not

always been easy for the New Jersey native.

“I went to a lot of I-A programs, and I was told that I was too small,” Murray said. “So that kind of gave me a litt le edge, put a chip on my shoulder.”

Th ere was certainly no doubt-ing that Murray belonged in college football following Fordham’s opener against Lock Haven, the game in which Murray set a school record for the longest fi eld goal by drilling a 52-yarder.

Still, Murray thinks he could have done bett er.

“I actually didn’t hit it as well as I would have liked to,” Murray said. “I was a litt le disappointed with that. Luckily, it went over, and it counts the same if it goes over by 50 yards or an inch.”

While the record-sett ing kick may have had some added signifi cance, the kicker remains calm, even when being iced. Instead, Murray simply relies on the skills that he’s been working on ever since high school.

“I don’t really feel pressure dur-ing the games,” Murray said. “I’ve hit tens of thousands of footballs, it’s just repetition and doing the same thing over and over again. It’s trusting my holder Joe Sullivan, it’s trusting my snapper Brian Wetzel, who are the two best guys I could ever ask have to snap and hold for me.”

Despite not having as much suc-cess on the team as he would have liked, Murray said he believes that

the friendships he has with his team-mates has been a major infl uence in gett ing through some of the tougher times.

“We know that even when we’re down, one of us is going to pick the other guy up,” Murray said. “I think that’s what makes us a great team.”

Murray, who has made a 65-yard fi eld goal in practice, has heard some talk about gett ing a shot in the NFL, especially from his teammates.

“Th e guys will joke around with me, especially whenever a game is on, saying ‘Murray, you can do that too, you’re bett er than that guy,’” Murray said.

Fordham’s kicker tries not to lis-ten to the speculation, however, instead concentrating on the job he currently holds.

“We’re focused on winning games right now,” Murray said. “If I’m blessed enough to go to the next lev-el, I’ll deal with that aft er the season, aft er we make the playoff s, and aft er we win a national championship.”

If the NFL never happens for Murray, he already has a fallback plan about which he is very passion-ate.

“I would love to go to law school,” Murray said. “Th at has been a dream of mine since I was a litt le kid, to study corporate law. My dad would also like me to go to law school. He’s always been interested in it so it, res-onated throughout my life. Some-times you will fi nd me watching a court case on TV instead of ESPN.”

Patrick Murray kicked the longest fi eld goal in school history, 52 yards, during Fordham’s home opener. Murray has not

missed on any of his kicks this season, while also consistently pinning teams inside the 20 yard line on kickoff .

Th e baseball season is entering its fi nal weeks, and for the fi rst time in a long time, the Boston Red Sox aren’t in playoff contention. Th e Red Sox, one of baseball’s model franchises ever since their 2004 World Series title, have simply im-ploded this year. For some people, it might be strange to see the team with the league’s third-highest payroll, a team which averaged 93 wins per year in the past fi ve sea-sons, fl oundering at the bott om of the standings, next to teams like the Mets and Royals. But if you think about it, it really isn’t that surprising.

Th e 2004 team had a rare com-bination of talent and chemistry. Johnny Damon hit .304 and re-corded the second-most home runs of his career. Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz both hit more than 40 homers. Jason Varitek hit a career-high .296. Curt Schilling won 21 games at the age of 37. Pe-dro Martinez had 227 strikeouts.

Th e leader in the clubhouse was Kevin Millar, the veteran fi rst base-man whose carefree personality came to typify the Red Sox men-tality. It was Millar who came up with the “Cowboy Up” rallying cry during the 2003 playoff s and who dubbed his team “Th e Idiots” dur-ing the 2004 championship run.

Th ose “Idiots” were the exact opposite of the rival Yankees. Th e Yankees are the epitome of profes-sionalism. Th ey have rules against long hair and beards; they keep their iconic pinstriped uniforms in pristine condition. Th e Red Sox took great pleasure in being the anti-Yankees. Johnny Damon’s long-haired, bushy-bearded pseu-do-Jesus look and Doug Mient-kiewicz’s pine tar-coated batt ing helmet are perfect examples. Th e Yankees were also perceived to be too tightly wound — their clean-cut look is oft en confused with a lack of emotion. Th e 2004 Red Sox were having a lot of fun, and they wanted everyone to know it. Th ey were everything the Yankees weren’t.

Terry Francona was the perfect manager for this sort of environ-ment. Francona’s laissez-faire att i-tude allowed the players to do as they pleased.

Th at approach worked for a while. Th e 2004 championship ended the franchise’s 86-year World Series drought. Aft er an-other championship in 2007, the Sox had a legitimate claim at a title of Team of the Decade.

Last year, though, it all came crumbling down. Th e Red Sox went 7-20 in the month of Sep-tember, allowing the Tampa Bay Rays to come back from a nine game defi cit and take the wild card. Francona was let go. General manager Th eo Epstein jumped ship to join the Chicago Cubs. Closer Jonathan Papelbon left to join the Philadelphia Phillies. It was a long winter in Boston.

It gave the media plenty of time to talk about the reasons behind the team’s collapse. Soon it was

revealed that Red Sox pitchers were eating fried chicken, drink-ing beer and playing video games in the clubhouse on their days off . Th e “Cowboy Up” culture was the team’s undoing.

When the Sox were winning, clubhouse antics like that made them quirky; when they started losing, it made them dysfunc-tional.

Francona took most of the blame for being unable to control his players.

“I was disappointed and [Fran-cona] was disappointed, but the reality is somebody else might do a bett er job of reaching the play-ers and improving that clubhouse culture,” then-GM Epstein said of Francona’s departure.

Bobby Valentine was brought in to replace Francona. Valentine and Francona’s managerial styles couldn’t be more diff erent. While Francona was known for his hands off approach, Valentine is a strict disciplinarian. Aft er eight sea-sons under the relaxed Francona, Valentine’s stern approach was supposed to bring much needed structure to a fractured clubhouse. Instead, the players turned on Val-entine — almost immediately.

In mid-April, Valentine called out veteran third baseman Kevin Youkilis, questioning his off sea-son commitment. Criticizing a team leader like Youkilis, one of the few holdovers from the 2004 team, did not go over well in the Boston clubhouse. “Bobby Val-entine, Red Sox Try To Mend Clubhouse Relations” read one USA Today headline on April 18. Th at’s not something you want to see fewer than two weeks into the season. Ever since then, Valentine has been sleeping with one eye open, knowing he could be fi red at any point. GM Ben Cherington has given Valentine a vote of con-fi dence on multiple occasions, but it has not stopped the speculation that he’ll be axed.

Th is year was supposed to be dif-ferent than 2011. It wasn’t. While the Yankees and Orioles jockey for position atop the AL East, the Red Sox duke it out with the Blue Jays, trying to avoid their fi rst last-place fi nish since 1992.

Th e low point of the season came on August 25, when the Red Sox traded Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Th ree of the team’s best players were suddenly headed out of town. Th e collapse was complete. Th e Red Sox were starting from scratch and rebuild-ing.

Th is off season will mark an important crossroads for the Red Sox organization. Cherington and team president Larry Lucchino will have to decide in which direc-tion they want to take the team. Over the past decade, Red Sox baseball has come to be defi ned by its countercultural clubhouse en-vironment, and Boston fans have come to embrace the misfi t att i-tude. But aft er that mindset result-ed in the demise of the 2011 team, is it time to take a new approach? Trading Gonzalez, Crawford and Beckett (as well as Youkilis in an earlier deal) freed up more than $100 million for the Sox to retool their roster this off season.

With the team looking to start fresh in 2013, what will be the phi-losophy of the new look Red Sox?

Murray leads the Patriot League in all major kicking categories, including

points scored , made fi eld goals, fi eld goal percentage and yards per punt.

PHOTO BY MICHAEL REZIN/THE RAM

COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA

Volleyball

Fordham 28 25 25 3

Bucknell 26 22 9 2

Delsing (FOR)- 15 kills

Serrato (BUCK)- 10 kills

Fordham 25 25 19 25 3

Qunnipiac13 14 25 8 1

Rodenberg (FOR)- 13 digs

Robinson (QUIN)- 19 assists

Fordham 25 27 25 3

Providence 16 25 16 0

Konkel (FOR)- 42 assists

Muzzonigro(PROV)- 10 digs

Fordham 25 26 15 25 13 3

Hofstra 22 28 25 18 15 2

Hipp (FOR)- 18 kills

Kinnier (HOF)- 17 kills

Golf- Adams Cup

12th out of 12 teams

Men’s Soccer

Fordham 1

Stony Brook 2

Goals: Fitz (SBU), 26’

Sotka (FOR), 54’

Fernandes (SBU), 63’

Water Polo

Fordham 9

Navy 16

Wash. & Jeff erson 13

Fordham 10

Univ. of Toronto 12

Fordham 11

Johns Hopkins 3

Fordham 13

Varsity Scores & StatsFootball

Fordham 3 3 14 14 34

Villanova 0 7 7 13 27

Koonce (FOR)- 176 yds

rushing

Matthews (COR)- 489 yds

passing

Women’s soccer

Fordham 0

Columbia 2

Goals: Rizzo (COL)- 13’

Leon (COL)- 76’

Fordham 0

Dartmouth 3

Goals: Delaney (DART), 12’

Moschitto (DART), 14’

Lozier (DART), 26’; PK

Cross Country

CW Post Invitational

Men: 1st

Women: 3rd

Athletes of the WeekCarlton Koonce

Senior

Football, running back

Koonce was named Patriot League Of-

fensive Player of the Week after rushing

for a career-high 176 yards on 31 carries in

Saturday’s win over Cornell.

Sara Konkel

Junior

Volleyball, setter

Konkel and the Rams beat Bucknell,

Providence and Quinnipiac to win the

Bucknell Invitational. Konkel averaged 34

assists in the three matches.

News & NotesSources say Fordham quarterback Michael Nebrich suff ered a torn ACL in Saturday’s •

win against Cornell. Nebrich will likely miss the remainder of the season.

The Fordham women’s basketball schedule is now available on FordhamSports.com. •

The Rams will face three teams which played in last season’s NCAA Tourament, and

eight which played in the NIT.

Fordham has hired former Virginia Tech player Charisse Mariconda as an assistant •

softball coach.

Clemens’ ComebackBy TARA SLEDJESKICONTRIBUTING WRITER

September is always the most ex-citing time of the year in baseball, due to the eff orts of teams com-peting for playoff spots. Th is year, however, it is interesting and excit-ing for another reason as well. Th is month, 50-year-old Roger Clem-ens is currently att empting to make a comeback to the sport.

Clemens spent 24 years in the major leagues, pitching for the Bos-ton Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Yankees and Houston Astros. During his career, he won 354 games and compiled a 3.12 earned run average, while striking out 4,672 batt ers. Recently, how-ever, Clemens is best known for his alleged use of performance enhanc-ing drugs. Th is past year he also made the news when he appeared in front of a jury aft er charges of perjury were brought against him.

Clemens left the sport aft er 2007, but at this moment he is back to pitching, this time for the Sugar Land Skeeters in Sugar Land, Tex-as. Th e Skeeters play in the Atlantic League of professional baseball, which is an independent league. Clemens has started two games for the Skeeters so far, throwing eight scoreless innings. Th e Atlan-tic League is not a very competi-tive league, however, so Clemens is most likely not as good as his num-bers would suggest.

Th ere are a few possible reasons why Clemens could be coming back now aft er taking a fi ve-year break. One possibility is that he wants to play baseball with his son Koby, who also plays for the Skee-ters. He may believe that he could help his son’s career by being on the same team.

I believe that the biggest reason why he came back is because he does not want to be on the ballot for the National Baseball Hall of Fame this winter. As of right now, his name will appear on the bal-lot with Barry Bonds and Sammy

Sosa. Both of these men have also come under fi re for allegedly using performance-enhancing drugs dur-ing their great careers. Most likely, Clemens does not want to go up against other great players who al-legedly used performance enhanc-ing drugs.

I also believe that Clemens thinks that if he waits fi ve more years to go on the ballot, his court scandal and the accusations of us-ing performance enhancing drugs will leave the national spotlight. In time, people may be more likely to just look at his career numbers and not at the controversy that sur-rounds him.

Even though Clemens is at-tempting this comeback to the majors, it appears as though he will not get the chance to pitch for a major league team this year. Th e owner of the Houston Astros has said that he would put Clemens on his pitching staff , but only to pitch against teams not contending for a playoff spot. Clemens, however, wants to pitch against teams who are contending. Unless one of the two men is willing to give in to the other’s wishes, I do not see Cle-mens pitching for the Astros this season.

I do not think anyone can blame Clemens for doing all of this. Any player would want to improve his Hall of Fame chances. Also, any player would want to participate in a game that could mean something. At the same time, though, there has to come a time when players fi nally give up. Clemens is 50 years old and has had his past tarnished by accusations; the time has come for him to move on from the sport.

As the season dwindles down, it looks less and less likely that Cle-mens will actually pitch in the ma-jors. If Clemens does not pitch in a game this year, then a new question arises. Will Clemens try to make a comeback next season too, or was this a one-time thing? Well, like a lot of things in sports, only time will tell.

Clemens, pictured here with the Yankees, is trying to get back in the game.

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SEPTEMBER 19, 2012• THE RA M • PAGE 19SPORTS

Upcoming Varsity ScheduleFriday

Sept. 21Th ursdaySept. 20

SaturdaySept. 22

SundaySept. 23

TuesdaySept. 25

MondaySept. 24

WednesdaySept. 26

CAPS=HOMElowercase=away

Football

Volleyball

Women’s Soccer

Men’s Soccer

Water Polo

Cross Country

at Yale7 p.m.

at Columbia12:30 p.m.

FAIRFIELD7 p.m.

at La Salle7 p.m.

Navy Invitational Annapolis, MD

Leeber Invita-tional

Fairfi eld, CT

Men’s Tennis National Tennis Center Collegiate

InvitationalFlushing, NY

LOYOLA (MD) 1 p.m.

ST. FRA NCIS7 p.m.

By MATT ROSENFELD ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

Football is widely considered a game played by brutes. Many simpletons describe it as big men pushing each other around. Words oft en associated with the game include strength, toughness and heart. Th ese things certainly are important in football, but one thing has been slowly taking over college football for awhile, and now, fi nally, it may just be king: speed.

Speed has been an essential part of the game for as long as it has been played, certainly for as long as any of us here on campus have been alive to watch it. But there is a diff erence between the type of speed I am talking about, and a receiver who runs a 4.3 40-yard dash.

I am talking about team speed — the ability for all 11 players on the off ensive side of the ball to play and execute as fast as possible.

Nowhere is this philosophy more present than at the Universi-ty of Oregon, all the way up in the Pacifi c Northwest, where Head Coach Chip Kelly has his Ducks playing football faster than any-body on the planet. Th e off ense run at Oregon is a no-huddle of-fense to the 10th degree.

Th e reason behind Oregon’s frantic off ense, and now many other off enses throughout the na-tion, is to beat teams down until they can’t keep up. Th e Ducks run plays faster than any team in the nation, running a play about every 20 seconds during a game.

What does this mean?Faster plays mean more plays.

More plays mean a tired defense, and a tired defense is an easy de-fense to beat. Kelly and his players never worry if they get off to a bad (never slow) start.

Th ey trust their system. Th e Ducks know that they are

only gett ing faster, so in the sec-ond half when the opposition begins to tire, they are just gett ing

started. A good story that helps explain

just how fast Oregon is comes from a September 2010 matchup against the University of Tennes-see. In the middle of another diz-zyingly quick Oregon drive in the third quarter, a Tennessee defen-sive lineman approached the Or-egon center with a plea.

“If you guys run two more plays at this speed,” the Tennessee player said, “I’m going to fall over dead.”

How does Oregon maintain such a pace? Th eir speed hinges on two things: its ability to com-municate and its practices.

Since the Ducks forego the tra-ditional huddle, they must get the plays to their players on the fi eld somehow.

Th e solution is a series of hand signals and cardboard signs, all with meanings that only the Or-egon players understand. Th ere are six people on the sidelines on a given day, all giving signals. Some of them are the ones the players are looking at, some of them are simply decoys to prevent oppo-nents from cracking the code.

A lot of team use signals, but Oregon has simply mastered the system to a scary degree. Going fast is so important to the team that if, for example, a pass play has a receiver ending his route across the fi eld from where he started, the next play called has that player lined up on the side of the fi eld he ended up on. All in the name of speed. Going fast is a lifestyle for Oregon football.

Just look at their practice. A blur of yellow and green, which are the school’s colors, the practice is a never-ending sprint, faster than the games. Th ey have the scheme so down-pat now, that oft en they run 30 or more plays in 10 minute periods.

With two-hour practices that get the players more reps in less time than anybody in the nation, it is no wonder the Ducks have been in the top eight in the nation

in scoring off ense every year Kelly has been a head coach.

Th e peak year for the program came in 2010, when Oregon reached the National Champion-ship game. Th ey lost to the Au-burn Tigers 22-19, only the sec-ond time in that season the team failed to score 20 points.

Th ere lies the crux in the of-fense, most people say. Can the up-tempo off ense win a cham-pionship? Before 2010, people thought there was no chance. Th e off ense was writt en off as a gim-mick, but now, the question is, can speed, speed and more speed, win over southern powerhouses like Alabama and LSU?

Don’t get me wrong, off enses that predicate themselves on go-ing so fast the other team taps out are certainly not gimmicks. As Oregon has become more and more successful, off enses like it have been popping up all over the place, in high schools and lower-level college football.

Our very own Fordham Rams run an off ense that relies on tem-po, much like the Ducks.

Chip Kelly’s vision of off ense seemed silly initially. How could a football team win in such an un-traditional way? Kelly’s teams then averaged over 200 yards rushing a game, gashing exhausted defenses with blazing-fast running backs.

But what about champion-ships?

Oregon knocked on the door of greatness in 2010, defeated Wis-consin in the 2011 Rose Bowl, and is currently ranked fourth in the nation this season.

People will argue that, until the Ducks win a National Title, tradi-tional football sets will reign su-preme, but people are taking no-tice. Just ask Jon Gruden, former NFL football coach and current expert on ESPN.

“It’s a philosophy that is the damndest thing I’ve ever seen.” Gruden said. “I love it and can’t get enough of it.”

Neither can anybody else.

Sotka Scores Lone Goal in Men’s Soccer 2-1 Loss to Stony Brook Seawolves

Sotka’s second half goal was not enough for the Rams against Stony Brook.

The midfi elder now leads the Rams with two goals on the season.

PHOTO BY MICHAEL REZIN/THE RAM

theramonline.com

Women’s Tennis Army Invitational West Point, NY

at Temple

7 p.m.

Golf Cornell InvitationalIthaca, NY

By MATT ROSENFELDASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR

The Fordham men’s soccer team traveled to Stony Brook last Friday, Sept. 14, having won two games in a row, including a shut-out victory over No. 22 Brown.

None of that mattered, howev-er, as the Rams fell short against the Seawolves, losing by a score of 2-1.

The first 25 minutes of the game were even, as neither team could create a serious chance to score. That changed in the 26th minute though, when Stony Brook’s senior midfielder Leon-ardo Fernandes gave a pass to freshman midfielder Alejandro Fritz inside the box, and Fritz was able to get the ball past Fordham sophomore goalie Sean Brailey to put the Seawolves up 1-0.

Stony Brook remained on top 1-0 until the end of the first half.

“The first 20 or so minutes were fine, but then we kind of lost our shape a little bit,” Ford-ham Head Coach Jim McElderry said. “They scored a good goal, and then we just sort of survived until halftime.”

Despite the Seawolves’ early lead, the Rams proved to be re-silient. Just 10 minutes into the second half, Fordham connected on a scoring opportunity. Fresh-man Kyle Bitterman worked a cross into the box that found the foot of sophomore Kalle Sotka, who then shot the ball into the net, beating Stony Brook’s senior goalie Stefan Manz and knotting the game at 1-1.

“We came out after halftime and our guys really responded well,” McElderry said. “After a bad first half, being down a goal, we scored a goal 10 minutes in

and had a lot of momentum.”Fordham continued to push

the offense, securing a free kick deep in the Seawolves’ zone. That free kick, however, would prove disastrous.

Off of the unsuccessful free kick, Stony Brook quickly coun-tered and, just seven minutes after the Rams’ equalizer, in the 63rd minute, Stony Brook’s se-nior defenseman Antonio Crespi crossed the ball in to Fernandes, who was able to beat Brailey and put the Seawolves back on top 2-1.

Fordham scrambled to tie the game, but Stony Brook’s defense held firm as the Seawolves cap-tured the victory to remain un-beaten at home, with a perfect 3-0.

“Unfortunately, we had an at-tacking free kick and got caught on the counter,” McElderry said. “The players pushed in the sec-ond half. They really competed. We just couldn’t get that tying goal. There is stuff to build on. We have to make sure we start games better, we can’t play just a half a game, and hopefully in our next game, we’ll start better and hopefully not be down a goal chasing the game.”

The Rams’ record is now an even 3-3. Their next game comes on Friday, Sept. 21 in New Ha-ven, CT against Yale.

The Bulldogs currently sit at 2-3-1, but have won their past two games.

Their home record is 1-1-1, while Fordham’s away record is at 1-2.

The game at Yale will conclude Fordham’s recent four-game road trip, on which they are 2-1 thus far.

PAGE 20SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

Rams Hold On for 34-27 Homecoming Day Win Over CornellTrio of Higgins, Koonce, Wetzel Leads 28-Point Second-Half Off ense; Nebrich Injured

By CHESTER BAKERSPORTS EDITOR

A packed house at Jack Coff ey Field was treated to a Fordham win on Homecoming Day, as the Rams defeated the Cornell Big Red 34-27. Fordham came back from a 7-6 halft ime defi cit, using a powerful second-half off ense to rack up four touchdowns.

With the win, the Rams improve to 2-1 on the season, giving Ford-ham a winning record for the fi rst time since Sept. 18, 2010.

Th e victory was especially sweet for Head Coach Joe Moorhead, who returned to the Fordham sideline on Homecoming Day for the fi rst time since his time as a player.

“Th is whole experience being back here is just something special for me. I’m very humbled and hon-ored to be back,” Moorhead said. “[It was great] to see so many faces com-ing off the fi eld and in the stands and the crowd support.”

Moorhead was not the only mem-ber of the team to notice the crowd. Aft er all; over 6,000 people showed up to the game to create one of the best atmospheres in recent memory.

“I was feeding off [the atmo-sphere] in the second half,” senior quarterback Ryan Higgins said. “When you make those big plays you can hear the crowd erupt. Aft er that, you just feed off their energy.”

Th e win came at a price, however, as sophomore quarterback Michael Nebrich was taken off the fi eld fol-lowing a hit on a failed jet sweep run, which led to a knee injury. Th e injury, which has still not been giv-en a diagnosis by Moorhead or the team, will most likely keep Nebrich out for an extended period of time. Sources have said the injury is most likely a torn ligament. Nebrich, who

Volleyball Captures Bucknell Tournament Championship

PHOTO BY MICHAEL HAYES/THE RAM

Fordham fell to the Hofstra Pride in fi ve sets, 3-2, on Tuesday night in an out-of-conference match in the Bronx. PHOTO BY DREW DIPANE/THE RAM

Cornell. Th e ensuing Fordham drive would sputt er out at the Cornell 13-yard line, however, only managing a fi eld goal from senior kicker Patrick Murray, giving the Rams an early 3-0 lead.

Moorhead had no problem set-ting for the early fi eld goal.

“I just wanted to take the momen-tum of the recovered fumble and moving the ball a litt le bit and get some points on the board,” Moor-head said. “When you’re a quarter-back like that and an off ense like that, you’re going to need points.”

Th e quarterback in question was Cornell junior quarterback Jeff Mathews, who threw for a game-high 489 yards. Th e gunslinger found three receivers for touch-

was helped off the fi eld by the Ford-ham staff aft er laying on the ground for a few moments, returned to the sidelines on crutches for the rest of the game.

“When you take that kind of ath-letic ability and that kind of playmak-ing ability out of the gameplan, it’s incumbent upon the other guys to step up,” Moorhead said. “It doesn’t look good.”

Th e coach could not help but be pleased with Higgins’ performance, as the quarterback had no problem stepping up in the increased role.

“It’s something I’ve prepared for,” Higgins said. “Whenever you run a two quarterback system, like we do, you always have to be ready if that guy goes down with an injury.”

Fordham was led by Higgins, who torched the Cornell off ense for 281 yards and two scores. Higgins had no problem fi nding his favorite re-ceiver of the day, connecting with sophomore Brian Wetzel eight times for a career-best 153 yards. Wetzel used some scouting reports to help him get the edge on his career day.

“We knew that there were two freshmen cornerbacks, so they were new,” Wetzel said. “So we just had to show them how the big boys play.

Th e Rams also had no trouble rushing the ball, as senior running back Carlton Koonce ran for a ca-reer-high 178 yards and two touch-downs on 31 att empts.

“Th e coaches challenged the backs, they challenged the o-line to pick it up and go out there and get it done,” Koonce said. “I think just from a mentality standpoint it was full steam ahead.”

Th e Rams got off to as good of a start as anyone could ask for, as redshirt sophomore Ian Williams forced a fumble on the fi rst play from scrimmage aft er a completed pass by

downs, while also rushing for a score of his own.

Big Red senior wide receiver Luke Tasker consistently found open space in the fi rst quarter, torching the Rams for 84 yards before fi nish-ing with over 100 yards in the game. Still, the Rams defense held strong in its own territory, keeping Cornell shutout throughout the quarter.

Mathews and the Big Red looked to fi nally get on the board, but a 28-yard fi eld goal att empt from junior kicker Johnny Wells was no good. Fordham would take advantage of the special teams gaff e, marching down the fi eld for another Murray fi eld goal.

Cornell extended the lead on its second drive of the game, stretching

the lead to 14-6 on a quarterback sneak from Mathews.

Th e Rams responded, however, scoring their fi rst touchdown of the game on a 15-yard scamper into the end zone by Koonce. Fordham used a 63-yard connection from Hig-gins to Wetzel to facilitate the drive, which took just three plays and 1:04 off the clock.

Fordham capitalized on its new-found momentum, as Higgins led the Rams down the fi eld for a touch-down, giving the Rams the lead again. Th e senior quarterback allud-ed pressure on a big third down play, fi nding Wetzel for the fi rst down. Higgins then found sophomore wide receiver Sam Ajala streaking down the fi eld for the touchdown.

Th e Rams again went for two, converting this time on a gadget play in which senior wide receiver Blake Wayne threw to Higgins for the score, giving the home team a 20-14 lead.

Th e off ense continued to roll for the Rams, scoring on its next drive to grab a 27-14 lead.

Cornell would not go down qui-etly, however, as Mathews found Tasker for a 40-yard touchdown, cutt ing the lead to 27-21.

Fordham looked to secure an insurance touchdown and take up some game clock on the ensuing possession. Th at plan failed when Higgins threw his second intercep-tion of the game to junior safety Kevin Laird.

Cornell was unable to move the ball, however, as the Fordham de-fense responded once again to pre-serve the lead.

Th e two teams traded touch-downs in the fi nal four minutes.

Th e Rams will look to win their third straight Liberty Cup this week-end at Columbia.

Koonce’s Player of the Week Perfromance was seen by 6,087 fans.

By KENNY DEJOHNSTAFF WRITER

It has been a rough start to the season for Fordham volleyball, as the Rams opened the season with a disappointing 5-9 record aft er a win against Lafayett e on Sept. 11.

Th e Rams then entered the week-end as an underdog in the Bucknell Invitational, but ended up surprising most of the competition with their strong play.

On Sept. 14, the tournament’s fi rst day, the Rams took on the Bucknell Bison in the opening match for both teams. Th e fi rst two sets were closely contested. In the fi rst set, a kill and a block from junior Lisa Hipp made the diff erence for Fordham, as the Rams pulled out a close two-point victory. Hipp continued her strong play in the second set. Tied at 21, both teams were searching for a spark. Hipp provided it, scoring three of Fordham’s next four points on kills.

Th e third set was not nearly as close as the fi rst two. It was com-pletely owned by the Rams, who went on runs of 8-0 and 10-1. Th ey

also recorded an impressive .462 hit-ting percentage.

Freshman Brennan Delsing was the team’s biggest contributor on of-fense. She tallied 15 kills and an ab-surd .636 hitt ing percentage. Hipp, probably the team’s most clutch player of the day, had 13 kills, seven digs and four blocks. Starting for the fi rst time this season at sett er, junior Sara Konkel tallied 34 assists and seven digs. Senior Randi Ewing and junior Carina Th ompson each con-tributed six kills of their own.

Defense was a big part of the game

as well. Junior Maria Rodenberg tal-lied a match-high 13 digs along with seven assists and two aces.

With two more matches coming in the tournament’s fi nal day, the Rams were looking to continue their strong play.

In the opening match against Providence, the Rams dominated yet again. Th ey won the fi rst set by a healthy margin (25-16), but had to come from behind to win set No. 2.

Aft er trailing 23-19, the Rams scored fi ve of the next six points to tie the score at 24 apiece. Fordham

was able to get kills from Hipp and Delsing aft er consecutive sideouts to come away with a 27-25 set win. Set three was a repeat of set one for the Rams, who won 25-16.

In the three-set sweep, Ewing led the way with a hitt ing percentage of .688 and 12 kills. Hipp recorded a double-double with 11 kills and 12 digs. Th ompson contributed nine kills. Konkel tallied 42 assists and three blocks. Rodenberg continued her strong defensive play, tallying nine digs.

Quinnipiac presented the Rams

with their biggest challenge of the tournament. It took four sets for Fordham to dispose of Quinnipiac, with set scores of 25-13, 25-14, 19-25 and 25-8.

Th e Rams held the Bobcats to a terrible hitt ing percentage of -.078.

Delsing led the match with 12 kills, while also adding four digs and fi ve blocks. Th ompson continued her strong tournament play with nine kills and fi ve blocks. Freshman Brianna O’Neill got into the action in the third match, adding seven kills and seven digs. Konkel continued helping the off ense, registering 27 assists to go along with seven digs.

Both Ewing and Delsing were named to the Bucknell Invitational All-Tournament team.

“We really stepped it up this weekend and took control of our game,” Th ompson said. “We all came together and worked our hard-est for each other. We went into this tournament with the mindset that we were going to win and dominate. Everyone gave it their all and pushed themselves to succeed.”

Th e Rams have won fi ve of their last seven matches.