Missing Three Credits? Expect to Stay in School Another Three Months

Students in the Communication Department at Manhattan College may be in for a rude awakening when they go to register for classes next semester, as a lack of course offerings may delay their graduation date for longer than expected.

Out of the eighteen courses that are required among the Advertising, Broadcasting, Journalism, and Public Relations concentrations in order to graduate, only seven are offered next semester.  In addition, out of the 300 required courses among students in the School of Arts, Business, Engineering and Science, and all of their concentrations, only 107 are offered.

Rich Baxter, a transfer student and Public Relations major, had been eager for the release of available courses, as he was anticipating graduating in the spring. “There are no communications courses,” he over-exaggerated that same day, clearly frustrated. “They don’t even have the classes I need to take before I graduate. As of now I’m stuck taking two electives.” Even though his eyes were hidden from behind studded shades, they were obviously being rolled.

His only hope to fulfill his requirements would be the school’s Winterim courses, which oddly enough have not been released yet.

“Students already know when they come to the school that there’s a chance their graduation may be delayed if they don’t complete all their courses in time,” says Communication department secretary Melanie. “There’s nothing the school can do, the course are what they are.”

The fact that Manhattan College does not offer each one of their courses per semester is troubling. Why make a course mandatory for graduation if a student is unable to take it?

With only 132 professors campus wide, there is simply no way to offer the staggering 1324 classes listed in their course catalog each semester, especially if their popularity is dwindling.

The school’s website claims that “while Manhattan College will make every effort to offer courses in the semester and year listed, it reserves the right to do so depending upon a sufficient enrollment in each course.” In the communications department in particular, because of a diminishing amount of students enrolling in the program, classes such as Intro to Journalism are only being offered once a year, simply because there aren’t enough students to fill it.

Besides lack of interest, technological inadequacies have made it impossible for students to register for some required classes.

Manhattan College’s ‘Self-Service’ program is hated among all undergraduates especially when the dreaded registration period rears it’s ugly head.  On the days when registration is open, student’s set their alarms for the crack of dawn, where they then scramble to log onto the server and register for their desired classes before each is filled, if they’re lucky.

Without fail, each semester the server gets “overloaded” and students are unable to log in, helpless behind their computer screen as their courses fill up. Once the classes are filled its simply ‘tough luck’ for these students, who are then forced to take courses that are unnecessary just so they can fill their schedule.

For students facing the possibility of having to stay an extra semester at Manhattan College, there are very few options. Like Baxter, students may have to rely on winter courses to fulfill their requirements, or take courses at another college and transfer the credits (if Manhattan College will accept the other school’s credits).

It is more than unfair though. Because of Manhattan College’s failure to offer a fair amount of courses and a server capable of accommodating it’s users, a student must pay for courses out of pocket just so they can graduate in time.

-Samantha Fox

Maya Little

Rapid Disturbance Interrupts MC during Midterm Week

MC’s librarians and students engage in a busy day in O’Malley due to midterm testing, but was later disturbed by a loud scream, an alarm and running.

The student walked up the steps to the fifth floor of O’Malley carrying a black duffle bag. Once the student reached the top of the stairs he shouted.

“Stop that!,” said the boy while stretching his arm toward the back of the library and pointing his finger.

The student looked to be Caucasian and a bit tall. He wore blue jeans, a black jacket and sneakers of some sort while carrying a big black duffle bag on his shoulder. His name was never identified.

“I was puzzled when he said that,” said MC freshman Malin Schaemkie

“The library was so quiet and he was so loud,” said MC sophomore Andrea Nyback

After shouting and pointing, the boy walked through the turnstile without taking one look around and continued walking.

“Excuse me?,” said Melinda Creaney, the librarian who was sitting at the circulation desk behind the computer.

The boy continued walking. Once he reached the detector the alarm sounded. Looking confused, the boy hesitated.

“Excuse me! Excuse me!,” said Creaney.

After hearing the alarm sound and the tone of the librarian voice change, the boy no longer looked confused. He ran towards the door and never looked back while gripping the black duffle bag.

The entire fifth floor stood in shock at what just happen.

“It was like something off of a movie,” said MC sophomore Tyrek Barney. “Everything just happened so fast.”

Creaney came from behind her desk and addressed the reference librarian on duty, Heather Dodge. According to Dodge, minutes before the incident she was helping him find a religion book and that he entered the library with another boy who she was “never able to identify”.

John Banta, a MC student who was walking pass Hayden Hall , stated that he saw the boy kick and take off both of his shoes. The boy ran down the steps while MC security chased him down to the subway.

“They didn’t catch him,” said Creaney. “Once he is off school property they don’t care”.

According to Creaney, the student did not take his medication for the day and consequently heard voices throughout the day.

The boy always goes into O’Malley, but this was his first time stealing a book.

“He always gets agitated,” said Creaney. “Once he was agitated about waiting in line to get help at the reference desk. I wasn’t concerned that he stole a book; I just didn’t want him to hurt himself. I wanted to calm him down”.

Assistant Director of Counseling and Health Services, Jennifer McArdle looked to be concerned and stated that she did not know who the boy was and did not hear about the incident. After asking for more detailed information on the student McArdle said, “We can’t force people to take medication, but we have to make sure everyone has good experiences here at MC. If we hear about students who need our help we try to get them in”.

Some MC students showed concern for the boy, while others fear  for their on-campus safety.

“I hope he is alright,” said MC student Alvin Porter.

“He needs help. I hope the school is giving that to him. He could not only hurt himself, but possibly other people. This is serious stuff,” said MC student Yardley Keshinover.

MC security did not bother giving information about the incident and the shoeless student who dissolved into the subway has not been seen in O’Malley since.

And Then There Was 5… Tripods

By: John Banta

When Thom Gencarelli, the head of the Communication department, called a meeting of for all the student workers in the department it made all the workers there nervous, what exactly were we being called in for?

The meeting took place on a Friday afternoon at 1:00pm exactly, It turns out that the meeting was about a missing $1,500 tripod and a $600 dollar zoom that are stored in the supplies closet and can be rented out by the various broadcasting student in the department that need them for classes. The tripod was one of 6 (one of which was supposed to be strictly for faculty use only) and the zoom was the same.

During the meeting we were reminded what the correct way to sign out the equipment is. But more shocking then that would have to be the fact that “if it were to happen again, then the student workers would have to be let go” said Gencarelli, His reasoning behind this drastic declaration was “how could I justify paying 7 student workers if simple mistakes like this were to keep happening”.

During the meeting someone asked if a student rented the Tripod and Zoom then why couldn’t we look at the check out sheets to see checked it out who had it last. Another student worker named Katherine Schnell had the answer “I spent a few hours looking through the check out/in log book, and that tripod isn’t in there, so we don’t know who checked it out.”

Sadly it still unknown who took out the Tripod and the zoom, which means that the Department has to eat that $2,100 expense, which is not a small amount of money. But even though we do not know what happened to the tripod, that does not stop us from guessing to what has happened to it, which range from Thom’s sad hypotheses that a member of the department stole it, to my own which is that a student simply left the tripod while out getting footage for a class. But even with all our guessing I feel that this will go down in history as another great unsolved mystery along with The Bermuda Triangle and Jack the Ripper. 

Standoff between Cablevision and News Corp. continues

By Matthew Rocco

Talks between Cablevision Systems Corporation and Fox’s parent company, the News Corporation, remain stagnant as the two companies have yet to reach an agreement on a new contract. News Corp. pulled its Fox programming after their latest contract with Cablevision expired at midnight the morning of October 16.

“No material progress was made and we remain far apart,” a News Corp. statement read. The company declined to comment, and deferred to a prerecorded phone message.

Cablevision, which serves over three million subscribers in the tri-state area, has stood by its claim that News Corp. wants $150 million for Fox programming. According to the cable company, it currently pays News Corp. $70 million for Fox 5, My9, Fox Business Network and NatGeo Wild. News Corp. denies that it is seeking $150 million.

News Corp. remains opposed to arbitration despite calls from legislators to come to an agreement. Cablevision made a timely announcement Tuesday that it has put arbitration on the table during talks with the DISH Network over two stations, MSG and MSG+. Cablevision and Madison Square Garden, Inc. are both owned by the Dolan family.

“By now it should be clear even to News Corp. that binding arbitration is the fastest and fairest way to return Fox programming to our customers,” Cablevision said in a statement. Cablevision did not return a phone call seeking comment.

“This is the first time MSG has ever suggested being open to binding arbitration with DISH Network or anyone else,” News Corp. said in a separate statement. “This position is totally inconsistent with their own filings to the FCC and inconsistent with their own actions in denying hundreds of thousands of viewers access to Knicks, Rangers, Nets and Devils games.”

During this standoff, both News Corp. and Cablevision have placed advertisements in newspapers. In an effort to put the cable company on the ropes, News Corp. is urging Cablevision subscribers to switch to alternative pay-television companies.

The Federal Communications Commission has maintained the perspective of a third party, as opposed to getting directing involved in the negotiation process.

“I am deeply troubled that Cablevision and Fox are spending more time attacking each other through ads and lobbyists than sitting down at the negotiating table,” FCC chairman Julius Genachowski said in a statement. “I have called the CEOs of both companies and reiterated the importance of reaching a deal, as many companies have done before. We will continue to scrutinize their actions very closely.”

The FCC did, however, become involved in a passive-aggressive way on Wednesday when the official Twitter account for the commission provided updates to the third game of baseball’s National League Championship series between the Philadelphia Phillies and the San Francisco Giants. The entire series was broadcast on Fox, which will also carry the World Series starting this week.

Manhattan Madness: A Pep Rally?

Jeanette Settembre

With exceptionally cold winds blowing, huddles of students stood standing together in anticipation. It was as if they were waiting in line for a concert of some sort. The college atmosphere however, would say otherwise. 

 Outside of Draddy Gymnasium students waited for Manhattan’s annual “Manhattan Madness” neither a concert, nor sporting event, which may leave a non-Jasper pondering what all the hype was about. 

As the MC jazz band played modern day tunes such as Lady Gaga’s “Paparazzi,” and the standard fight chant, students began shuffling inside where they collected a free camouflage T-shirt laced in Jasper pride. Some students however, waited in line merely for the free t-shirt and did a complete turn around exiting the gym after they obtained their polyester prize. 

 It is the second annual year of the “Jasper Jungle,” a crowd of students, primarily freshman, cheering on the winter men and women's basketball teams. Since there was no actual sporting event occurring in the gymnasium, the gathering served more as spirited event. 

It felt almost as if students were attending a high school football game with a perhaps too peppy DJ belting out phrases like, “Lets of Bonkers!” Aside from watching the sweat of the announcers through a superfluous amount of fog, there was no legitimate athletic event occurring. 

Manhattan Madness essentially is a pep rally to kick off the winter basketball season. The teams are now legally allowed to practice on the court according to MAAC rules. The coaches and team captains made brief speeches to welcome in the new season and announce the first home game. 

Bleachers filled, with fog machines in full throttle, the lights darkened, illuminating an excessive amount of glow sticks. Each player from the men and women's basket ball teams were announced and paraded in a rather repetitive procession through lines of  Jasper cheerleaders and dancers. There was a brief ceasing of music from a technical difficulty where the jazz band picked up the lack of sound until the music returned.

Sophomore and basket ball player Kevin Laue said, “I thought Manhattan Madness was sick. It really pumped us up and got us excited about the season. Student activities put a lot of time into the event and the whole team really enjoyed it.” 

Following the welcoming introductions of the sports teams was a very brief cheerleading routine to get fans in a more spirited mood. Proceeding the cheerleaders, the Jasper dancers preformed a more intricate hip hop number. 

“I enjoyed the music selection and the event was fun, but the performances from the cheerleaders and dance team made me leave,” said sophomore, Olivia Fernandes. 

Freshman, Nicole Bullard, states, “I felt like the school made a good attempt to hype Manhattan Madness up but towards the middle it started to die down and it was time to go.” 

The remainder of the event included contests in which students had the opportunity to win prizes such as $50 in ACDs, an iPad, and the more elite prize, a white Jeep Grand Cherokee that was displayed on the quad. A number of students were picked to compete to win the prizes by shooting half court baskets, and playing games of knockout (a game in which students line up to shoot baskets until they miss a shot, and are eliminated) against their fellow competitors. One lucky student, who was actually celebrating his birthday, won the iPad after competing in a game of knockout.   

Sophomore and contestant in the running for an iPad, Ashton Parson, stated, “The only reason I went to the event was because I wanted an iPad. When I didn’t get it I got my things and I left with the only prize being a glow stick...which has already died out.”

A raffle was drawn for lucky students to get the chance of winning a white Jeep Grand Cherokee. For the second year in a row no one won the grand prize, and the vehicle was sent back to the dealership. The method used for winning the Jeep however, is a bit farfetched. Contestants (with no basket ball talent or background) were chosen to make a half court shot in order to win the prize. A female student was chosen, but she had a medical boot on her right leg which made it nearly impossible for her to make the shot. 

A new twist was added to the madness this year. There will now be a king and queen selected at each basketball game based upon the amount of school spirit they have. At the event there were two Lazy Boy black recliner chairs revealed. Every game a lucky king and queen will have the opportunity to sit in the best seat of the house; an honor almost as good as being king and queen of a homecoming dance.

Other colleges feature similar events, but are a bit more extravagant, especially depending on the size of the college or university. October generally marks the time when the madness begins. Georgetown University in Washington, DC for example, calls their event, “Midnight Madness” they actually had the familiar rapper Wale perform at their celebration. A number of other schools also call the event “Midnight Madness” as it became a recruiting tool and celebration to kick off the start of the basketball season. Normally, at the stroke of midnight programs around the country have their very first official practice. 

When asked about why MC’s event starts a bit earlier John Bennett from student activities states, “Originally the event formed nationally as a pep rally in which teams could start practicing at 12:01 am that day...overwhelmingly, the majority of colleges don’t hold “Midnight Madness” at midnight though (surprisingly enough!), except for the pep rallies found on ESPN for instance. Fordham’s was the same night as ours for instance, and theirs started at 9pm. Iona’s is this Friday, and theirs starts at 7pm.” 

On the contrary, a few smaller universities actually do hold midnight madness at midnight.  East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania celebrates the basketball sports teams and has a dance routine all beginning at midnight. Keene State College in New Hampshire also has a midnight ceremony with an actual basketball game. They have similar prizes and giveaways, as well as dance and cheerleading performances.

Bennett stresses that the school administration has no issues with the event starting at midnight, and says that if that is what the students would like to have happen for next year it can be done, “Personally I’d love for the time to move back to the original midnight.” 

Sophomore and Jasper dancer, Jessica Poulin, states, “I think Manhattan Madness was a great experience for the freshman to start off the year. It allows them to get involved in on campus activities going on in the Jasper community.”

Although the event may be targeted to freshman as a welcoming induction into a jasper tradition, Manhattan Madness still brought together a gym full of spirited students. 

Communication’s Drama!

By Mihaela Anton

Tension in the Communications Department was palpable when Melanie assaulted Marek in front of an entire class.  What started as a minor interruption degenerated into an ugly confrontation?  Who would have thought it was over a froggy key chain?

            The Journalism class started like any other class, with articles being read or drastically analyzed by novice students.  There was something particularly strange in the professor’s attitude today; he was agitated, and rather anxious while holding on to a frog key chain.  Was that a cute present from his son?         

            As the class went by, all of a sudden we notice the door opening and Melanie Morales, the secretary of the Communications department, innocently interrupting the class.  What happened after this surprised everybody. “I need the key for the room! I know you have it!” Who would have thought that the lady with delicate kitten heels, brown pants, elegant pony tail and brave red lipstick would get so aggravated after a small exchange of words? 

            “I told you and I also told them that I don’t have it! I don’t know why we are having this conversation now” said Marek.  That was actually a reaction nobody expected from preppy professor Fuchs.  Why was he so harsh and suspicious?  His body language wasn’t on his side either, giving away his feelings without the need for words, all his agitated hand movements and his attempts to step back, while she was progressing towards him, where more than obvious.  Suddenly the froggy key chain he was playing with was nowhere to be seen because he was hiding it behind a few sheets of paper.

            When we thought that the conversation will reach a friendly agreement there was the drop that filled the cup and made everybody freeze when Melanie said “Don’t make me call security on you”.  Was this just because of a key or is there something more in between the lines we don’t know about? 

            What we all don’t know is that recently the department of communications had faced a rather strange situation when one of the tripods mysteriously disappeared.  There was no sign of forced entrance, so the only suspected cause was internal theft. While the tripod was never retrieved there are still questions concerning its suspicious disappearance.   Seeing two people within the department fighting over a key inevitably made everybody think whether Mr. Fuchs would probably be involved in it and Melanie is using the class as an excuse for free witnesses.   

                 By the end of the class the conversation was settled and the key was retrieved but there will still be the question of an actual involvement.  Is the communication department slowly breaking apart?

Marek vs. Melanie

Marek vs. Melanie

Classroom Confrontation a Sign of Dark Days at Comm Department

                                                   By Pablo Kay

Mounting tension in the Communications department recently spilled over into conflict last Thursday when Melanie assaulted Marek in front of an entire class. What started out as a minor interruption quickly degenerated into an ugly confrontation that even turned physical.  And who would have thought it was all over a Froggy key chain?

            The 11:15 Comm 209 journalism class started out normally enough: Marek, the class’s instructor, was ranting about the effects of the painkiller Oxycontin and trying to get his students to commence a 10-point takedown of an article he wrote during his glory days at The New York Times about Knicks ex-coach Dan Brown. As he was bragging about his impromptu roadside interview with the coach himself, Marek was suddenly interrupted by Dr. Gencarelli’s secretary Melanie Morales. At that point no one in the room, including the professor himself, could possibly imagine the mayhem that was about to ensue.

            The routine disruption began like any other. Melanie came to the door of Room 322 and asked Marek for the key to the office of Dr. Grabowski, the Comm department’s rookie broadcasting professor.

            “I don’t have the key, I’m sorry,” responded Marek calmly.

            “Look, I really need this key.”

            “I don’t have the key,” repeated Marek indignantly while his class of young journalists began to chuckle nervously at the bizarre scene playing out before them.

“It’s right there, in your hand! Look, I need the key to get into Grabowski’s office!” exclaimed Melanie, pointing angrily at Marek’s hands, which held a large green Froggy keychain, presumably holding the infamous key itself. 

            “Grabowski who? Tell him to come up here and get the key himself!”

            “Do I need to call security?” threatened Melanie, who by now wore a furious look on her face that betrayed her usually friendly demeanor. Before Marek could take any measures to defend himself, Melanie lunged at the former Wall Street salesman shouting “Give me the key!”

            After wresting little Froggy from Marek’s hands, Melanie concluded the encounter by planting a mean slap on Marek’s shoulder, presumably meant to exacerbate the professor’s upper back pain. Melanie then ran out of the class triumphantly with the key finally in hand.

            Amid the bewilderment caused by the incident, Marek continued the class as if nothing had happened—even giving his students a dreaded homework assignment to do over the weekend.

            Speculation has linked Thursday morning’s encounter with the recent and equally bizarre theft of a camera tripod from the Comm department’s office on the first floor of Leo Hall. What left people scratching their heads after news of the theft broke was the fact that the culprit took only the tripod, which should logically have been taken with the camera.  

            “That girl fight in journalism class was definitely a sign of the distrust among the Comm faculty. No one trusts each other anymore. It seems that even when it comes to asking someone else for a key, everyone automatically suspects the worst,” said a Comm 209 student who asked not to be named in this article for fear of receiving an F in Marek’s class.