Concern grows over increase in campus thefts

By Ava Mandel, Staff Writer

Sophomore Lizzie Perlas had her bike stolen in late August outside her residence hall. The music education and speech-language-hearing sciences major said the cord had been cut, and her bike was taken along with the lock, totaling over a $100 value in stolen property in her estimation.

Since January of 2017, there have been five reported bicycle thefts in various locations on campus. Surveillance footage shows local youths coming onto campus and riding off with these bicycles, according to Public Safety. The Department of Public Safety will soon be implementing a new bicycle ID program in an attempt to decrease bike thefts.

“I think Public Safety already does a lot for us on campus, especially behind closed doors,” Perlas said. “But I wouldn’t be upset if Hofstra installed a few more bike racks and didn’t use such flimsy wire in the residential racks.”

The majority of bike disappearances are happening by the residence halls with occasional incidents occurring on the academic side of campus. On Friday, Aug. 25, a bike that was left unattended for five days was taken from the Vander Poel Hall bike rack. The day before, a bike that was secured to the Alliance Hall bike rack was stolen. Last spring, on March 1, there was a bike taken from the Axinn Library bike rack. One month prior, on Feb. 12, a bike that was left unattended for two months during the winter break was stolen from the bike rack in front of the Netherlands Complex. The first reported incident in 2017 was on Saturday, Jan. 21, when a bike that was parked in the Nassau Hall bike rack was taken some time over the winter break.

“As soon as we can, we’re going to roll out a bicycle registration program, which will be open to all students. It will be free of charge [and voluntary],” said Robert McDonald, the associate director for Operations for the Department of Public Safety. “We’ll either have [students] come into Public Safety or we will make up a schedule and visit residence halls. We’ll engrave their bike with some type of identifying mark, identifying it as a Hofstra student’s bicycle. And while we’re there, we’ll also take the name and the make of the bike. All bikes have serial numbers, we’ll take that down. And then we’ll keep a log of all our students’ bikes registered.”

Kalysia Bell, a sophomore biology major, said of the upcoming bike-ID program, “I’m not really sure what that’s supposed to do. The problem is not people identifying their bike, the problem is that bikes keep getting stolen on campus. If you think about it on a larger scale, the parking passes don’t prevent cars from getting stolen, they just identify your car on campus. It’s the same idea – you’re identifying these bikes, but they still might get stolen at the end of the day. And if they do, then what’s the point of this program?”

McDonald recommends students use some type of H-bar lock in order to properly and securely attach bicycles to bike racks to reduce risk of theft.

 

Hofstra students ‘check in’ for a healthy semester

By Taylor Clarke, Special to The Chronicle

As part of an initiative to spread suicide awareness and promote healthy ways of living, Hofstra University hosted a Fresh Check Day on Thursday, Sept. 14 in the Sondra and David S. Mack Student Center Atrium. The goal of the day was to introduce new and returning students to the variety of resources available on and off campus.

Fresh Check Day is a program attributed to the Jordan Porco Foundation. This foundation is committed to preventing suicide in high school and college-aged students. The Jordan Porco Foundation promotes awareness and education, with hopes to save lives and offer guidance to students struggling with mental illness.

“It makes you feel like you’re a part of a community,” said Zach Klebaner, a junior film studies and production major.

The free event contained dozens of interactive booths, food, prizes and live music for students to enjoy.

Haley Kulesza, a junior psychology major, feels that it is important for Hofstra to host events like this.

“College is a really stressful time. It’s also a really transitional time. I think a lot of times students deal with stress, anxiety, depression and a lot of other disorders start to occur at this age,” Kulesza said. “I think it’s important that Hofstra shows that there are a lot of resources here for them if they need any help. Also, just to show that there is support out there and that they’re not alone.”

Fresh Check Day was sponsored by the Office of Student Advocacy and Prevention Awareness, Student Counseling Services and Campus Recreation. Many student organizations, as well as off-campus resources, volunteered their time to promote healthy lifestyles and stress-free living.

The booths included student representatives from organizations in Greek life, the Career Center, Hofstra’s Coloring Club, It’s On Us and many more groups. Over the course of the day, students particularly enjoyed having the opportunity to spend time with the visiting therapy dogs.

“I think it was successful. There were a lot of informative tables with some fun and educational things to do. I think that it was beneficial for Hofstra students to see all the resources available to them while simultaneously having fun,” said Jillian Yuni, a junior psychology major.

Kristi Riecker, a graduate assistant in the Career Center, emphasized how important it is for students to focus on their physical health as well as their mental health. “They definitely interact. For example, eating correctly. There is a nutritionist here. Getting enough sleep, getting moderate exercise throughout the week will definitely help you stay healthy inside and out. One thing to focus on with your mind is to be mindful. It’s this new practice that a lot of therapies are taking into account.”

Aside from the plethora of resources on Hofstra’s campus, the university aids students in utilizing alternative institutions to meet their specific needs. Freshman Gaetana D’Auria said, “I learned that there are outside sources that are incorporated into Hofstra. I didn’t know that.”

The event attracted many students and faculty members. Throughout the day, students had the opportunity to learn how to get involved on campus in ways that aim to reduce stress, anxiety and depression. Tori Staniewicz, a sophomore marketing major and a volunteer at the Delta Phi Epsilon booth, hopes that the attending students were able to gain some insight. “I hope that students realize that they can overcome their insecurities or at least believe in themselves more,” she said.

Students can access counseling services by visiting the Student Health and Counseling Center and the Wellness and Campus Living Center located on the north side of Hempstead Turnpike at the Hofstra Boulevard entrance.

If you or someone you know is thinking about suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

Potential DACA reform may affect students

By Maria Zaldivar, Staff writer

Hofstra University is one of over 700 institutions that have signed a statement in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) immigration policy.

President Stuart Rabinowitz emailed a letter to students expressing Hofstra’s commitment to protecting students who are here under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals executive order; no action against these invididuals has been taken by most of the universities that signed, including Hofstra.

Students and members of the community have attended several rallies and protests on Long Island and in New York City in support of DACA, and many students have opinions on the statements the White House has released.

“It’s wrong to take something like that away when it’s helped so many people get a start and form a life in this country. America was built on the idea of immigration and taking that away is wrong,” said McKenzie Smith, a senior journalism and French major.

Former President Barack Obama initiated DACA as an executive order in 2012. DACA benefits, such as the work permit, are provided for two years. DACA recipients are also known as “Dreamers” due to the influence from the Dream Act, a legislative fix that has been going through Congress since the Obama Administration.

President Rabinowitz offered several resources in order to help the students that might be affected by the decision, in his Sept. 5 email.

Hofstra offers resources such as the Deportation Defense Clinic (DDC). “We are doing intakes every Friday for people who have DACA who have final orders of removal in absentia, which means they did not show up to their court hearing and are being removed in their absence. During those intakes we see if there is any other form of relief that that individual might be eligible to apply for,” said Professor Emily Torstveit Ngara, the attorney-in-charge at the DDC.

University administrators have made statements of reassurance to students that feel nervous under the circumstances.

Dean of Students Sofia Pertuz said, “… anything we legally have to ask for admission we do, but we don’t ask our students for immigration papers; we just ask for the school ID. That is the only document we ask for.”

There is currently a six-month margin for Congress to reach a decision regarding this issue. DACA renewal requests will be accepted before Oct. 5 for people whose permits expire before March 5. New York has the third largest population of DACA recipients totaling 42,000.

“There are 10,000 people who have DACA in Long Island. We have clients who have been told by Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) that they are subject to mandatory detention, so we are trying to challenge that,” Torstveit Ngara said. “We have some cases when we are saying that ICE have violated Fourth Amendment rights so we are trying to terminate removal proceedings based on that.”

The university is urging people that are currently DACA recipients to look for an immigration attorney, and to make sure that the attorney is in fact licensed to practice in immigration cases.

“As somebody who was born in America, I recognize that a certain privilege and opportunity comes with that,” said Tommy O’Connor, a junior radio production and studies major. “Now more than ever I accept that people come from different backgrounds, and rather than taking a passive ‘this is what is happening’ approach, I actively use that privilege of being an American citizen, and being an ally.”

Torstveit Ngara urges people to help in any way they can. “The filing fee for DACA is $495, and there is no fee waiver and I know there are a lot of places that are raising money to pay for people that can’t afford it,” Torstveit Ngara said. “People should be calling your representatives and senators telling them that you want them to pass the Dream Act.”

Fresh apps aim to make student life convenient

By Daniel Nguyen, Staff Writer

Two new technologies have been incorporated into the student portal to increase the efficiency of student life on campus: a laundry application that displays the status of washers and dryers, and a second application that allows students to set up appointments with counselors, advisors and other departments.

“The laundry application allows students to track the status of machines in their building, set alerts and report broken machines,” said Assistant Director of Residential Operations Michael Perlmutter. “Students can also track to see when machines are most used so they can prepare accordingly.”

Multiple departments worked with an external company, The CONNECT Platform, in implementing the app for campus use.

“This summer, the university started using the company CSC ServiceWorks as the laundry vendor on campus,” Perlmutter said. “The implementation of this application was done through working with the technicians at the company, myself, the Director of Operations in the Office of Residence Life Novia Ramsay, and Helen Latimer, the director of Networks, Telecommunications and Client Services.”

The laundry app, located in the same area as Blackboard on the student portal, monitors every laundry room on campus, allowing students to view available washers and dryers.

Alternatively, Perlmutter said, “students can go to laundryview.com/Hofstra or m.laundryview.com/hofstra on their mobile devices.”

Student response to the campus laundry system has ranged from tepid to explicit disapproval. Some noted the prior laundry app available for students that had many flaws in its system.

Emily Hart, a sophomore history major, said, “Even though they would advertise about how helpful it was and what not, it didn’t actually work when I lived in Alliance. It would say they’re all open and I’d go down to find all of them filled.”

Although Hofstra aimed to fix these problems by switching to a new vendor over the summer, similar problems are persisting among users of the mobile app and online machine reporting system.

“It’s not good. It said all the machines were open when they weren’t,” said Lee Graham, a sophomore management major. “It literally just doesn’t work.”

This experience isn’t uniform however; members of the student body have additionally praised the laundry app for its effectiveness.

“The laundry app has been a time-saver for me,” said Manni Doan, a freshman political science major. “I remember the first weekend that I was here, people were constantly doing laundry and I ended up having to go back and forth three times until there was a laundry machine or dryer open. When I complained about this to a resident assistant, she told me about this new app, and now I don’t have to waste time rushing from the 12th floor.”

Another new addition to the student portal this year hopes to provide unprecedented ease of access between the student body and Hofstra administration.

“We have now launched the Student Success CONNECT Platform,” said Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Jean Peden Christodoulou. “CONNECT allows students to access information about their classes, contact advisors and faculty, easily make appointments with DSA offices and more.”

Several centers are available for contact through the CONNECT Platform, with more to join throughout the fall semester. Now, students can access the Center for Academic Excellence, Center for University Advising, Student Access Services, the Hofstra Career Center and the Undergraduate Tutorial Program through the CONNECT Platform. The platform is located under the My Courses section of the student portal in the Student Success Center.

The CONNECT Platform and the new laundry app join Blackboard and Degreeworks, among other applications in the student portal, in an effort to improve life on campus.

 

Cuba opens its door to Hofstra students

By Nailah Andre, Staff Writer

Hofstra students had the opportunity to travel to Cuba in January to immerse themselves in its culture while learning about a society different than their own. This week the students and professors who stayed in Cuba for three weeks held a panel discussing their experiences.

The panel was comprised of students with a wide range of majors from health sciences to radio production. During the trip, the group mainly stayed in the city of Havana where they attended lectures every morning on topics like economics, music and history. In the afternoons – based on the classes they were taking – students would split off to visit places that corresponded with their classes.

The Hofstra in Cuba study abroad program originally came out of the Latin American and Caribbean Studies (LACS) program. With the weight of the culture, music, economy and political history of the country, a Cuba program was a no brainer, according to Professor Mario A. Murillo, who teaches in the LACS and Radio, Television and Film Departments. “One of the most fascinating countries in the hemisphere when you look at Latin America is Cuba because of its relationship with the United States, its incredible history over the last 60 years and many different aspects that we were looking at,” he said.

The students who were on the trip taking the health, culture and elder care class in Cuba visited multiple nursing homes in Havana to learn how elder care in Cuba differs from the United States. “Cuba has one of the fastest growing populations if not the fastest growing population of all the Caribbean islands,” said Professor Kirby Veevers, who went on the trip and is part of the Department of Health Professions at Hofstra. She explained that Cuba is a particularly interesting country to study elder care, not only because of Cubans’ concept of family but also because “Cuba does not have the financial resources we have in this country, but they have an amazing healthcare system.”

Benjamin Abrams, a junior radio production major, went on the study abroad trip after a research project on Cuba peaked his interest in the island nation. “I’ve always been really interested in Latin America and politics in the western hemisphere,” he said. His group had a media studies course through the LACS department. While in Cuba, Abrams conducted interviews of Cubans with experience in different fields for a long-form podcast that he is now editing. During his presentation he played a portion of his podcast where he had a conversation with an entrepreneur who sold goods as a street vendor.

The LACS group also visited Unión de Periodistas, an association of journalists in Cuba as well as Radio Havana Cuba, the official international broadcast station of the country. “The trip contributed a lot of perspective of how differently journalistic integrity can be approached. In Cuba there is both a different legal structure and cultural structure as well for how free journalists are,” Abrams said.

At the end of the panel discussion when Murillo asked if anyone in attendance was thinking about going on the upcoming Cuba trip – every single student on the panel raised their hands and broke out into laughter. The next Hofstra in Cuba study abroad trip takes place Jan. 5-23.

Community instructed on CPR basics

By Andrea Bilton, Staff Writer

Through lively performances complete with brightly colored outfits and upbeat music, Mary Rachel Gardner and Henry Kelly spent four and a half hours outside the Sondra and David S. Mack Student Center instructing members of the Hofstra community on how to perform hands-only CPR.

For their last New York stop on the CPR Mobile Tour, the American Heart Association in conjunction with Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield transformed Hofstra’s East Circle Parking Lot into a CPR training headquarters. During nine half-hour sessions from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Gardner and Kelly shared inspirational cardiac arrest survivor stories, demonstrated hands-only CPR and facilitated a question-and-answer session with the audience.

“Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield is one of our insurance providers, and they approached us and told about this mobile tour unit that travels across the country. They were going to be in New York for four days, and we immediately called them up.” said Elizabeth Lorentzen, Hofstra’s Human Resources training and development coordinator. “We brought it here because we’re a large enough community, we’re close-knit and it’s important that we all know how to do this so we can keep ourselves safe and keep other people safe.”

With various stations that included a social media tent and an AED learning lab, the mobile tour provided not only a useful lesson in saving lives, but a memorable and unique experience for all who stopped by. Each participant also received a free tote containing a CPR practice kit complete with a Mini Anne inflatable CPR practice doll and an instructional DVD. Each session concluded with a challenge to teach five other people what was taught at the event and to spread the knowledge of hands-only CPR as far as it can go.

“CPR certification used to always include the respiratory breathing, but studies have shown that the hands-only portion is much more effective. It’s immediately helping increase their chance of survival,” Gardner said. “We highly encourage those who aren’t certified that they can still save a life. It’s two simple steps: call 911 and push hands hard and fast.”

Hofstra is the first school in the state of New York to bring the CPR mobile tour to campus, and it has left quite a positive impact on participants.

“It was very fast and easy,” said Tammy Karikal, a junior health science major. “Especially with an event like this, it’s a really good opportunity for us Hofstra students.”

Some participants stumbled upon the training class; its convenience drew attention from passers-by and students.

“It’s nice how Hofstra brought this to us, and we don’t have to leave campus for CPR training,” said Emma Conroy, a sophomore biochemistry major who participated in the program. “You never know what could happen – especially living in such a big area. It’s nice to be prepared.”

“Knowledge is power. I’d like to know that if something happened to me, there are people out there that know how to help and wouldn’t just stand there,” Gardner said. “I know that the fear factor is huge – people are scared they’re going to make a mistake, but it’s better to do something than nothing. A lot of people are scared to crack a rib. Frankly, bones are mendable. They can be fixed. A heart that’s stopped? That’s death.”

Annual festival celebrates Italian heritage

By Samantha Storms, Assistant Arts & Entertainment Editor

Hofstra’s Italian Festival celebrated its 25th anniversary on Sunday, honoring the culture and its people with a variety of food, dance, poetry and entertainment.

Families from across Long Island and beyond spent the day exploring tents and displays scattered across South Campus. Some stations showcased vendors’ artwork, cooking and Italian organizations. Poets, musicians and folk dancers also had the chance to take to the stage and perform for the crowd.

Several cultural organizations attended the event to recruit members interested in learning more about Italian heritage and history.

The Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA) Grand Lodge New York showcased a presentation involving several regions throughout Italy. Men and women posed on stage as models, wearing duplicate versions of the traditional dress of their region. The regions’ histories were read out to the audience as the smells of Italian cuisine wafted through the air.

“This is our mission at the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America: to preserve our Italian heritage and to present wonderful things like this,” said Roberto Ferrito, the president of New York State OSIA.

New to the festival this year were Moreno Fruzzetti and Tony De Nonno. Having earned the prestigious title of “Ambassador of Italian Music to America,” Fruzzetti performed a series of songs before an eager crowd. De Nonno, an award-winning Sicilian marionette storyteller, offered to the crowd a taste of the tradition that dates back to the Middle Ages.

Many Hofstra students came out to enjoy the festivities and celebrate their Italian-American identity. Joe Tighte, a sophomore radio, television and film major, looks forward to the festival every year – for him, the event offers a chance to honor his family for all they had done in constructing his Italian background.

“Being at the festival means so much to me because my ancestors came over here from the southern part of Italy to work in the mines and to help build my home town,” he said. “So after they worked for a while, they decided to go back home and live the rest of their lives happily in Italy.

Tiffany Martino, a junior Italian and pre-law major, has attended the festival for the past three years.

“I think having the Italian Festival at Hofstra here on Long Island brings a lot of Italian families. We don’t really have a lot of them on Long Island, especially in this area, so I think that having it here has really brought those families together and keeps the culture alive.

Martino is also the president of the Cultural Italian American Organization at Hofstra, and she is proud of how the Italian Festival has served her and her fellow students in representing their cultural identity.

Martino said, “This means so much to me, because I grew up in this huge Italian family. I go to Italy, I speak Italian and I really love it – it just means so much to me to have the festival here at Hofstra.”

New policy lets students use preferred name

By Nailah Andre

Staff writer

Hofstra University is preparing to introduce a new Preferred Name Policy which will allow students to formally change their name in university records and systems. The policy was approved by President Stuart Rabinowitz and the cabinet, and is expected to be rolled out by the end of this semester.

A preferred name is a name that is commonly used that differs from a person’s legal name. In May of 2016, the Office of Intercultural Engagement and Inclusion (IEI) started getting requests from students for preferred names on school ID cards, Blackboard and Hofstra email accounts. According to IEI, which facilitates programs that focus on LGBTQ+ inclusion and advocacy on campus, many of the requests for preferred names were coming from transgender students who go by a different name than that given to them at birth.

“The Preferred Name Policy here at Hofstra is extremely important to the trans community. For me especially, because I cannot be out at home, being recongnized for who I am by the name that I am comfortable with means the world to me,” said Danny Stafford, a nonbinary transmasculine student. “My Hofstra ID is the first [ID] I have ever had to have my correct name on it.”

Hofstra’s department of Information Technology (IT) also started receiving many requests regarding this issue, so much so that IEI started to brainstorm, “how we [could] streamline some of these processes without it being a case-by-case basis every single time,” said Chad Freeman, the former assistant director at IEI.

A task force was created to find the best solution for this problem. Hofstra researched their options by seeing how other schools are handling the issue. For example, schools like Columbia University and Stony Brook University started implementing preferred name policies at their schools last year. Hofstra did not have anything about preferred names in written policy, but over the years there have been some exceptions.

While Hofstra was creating the new policy, the Department of Education issued a “Dear Colleague” letter to universities regarding Title IX concerns. This is an initiative that administers a department of the federal government to distribute a “Dear Colleague” letter to specific parties offering strongly suggested guidance on certain topical issues.

This “Dear Colleague” letter included information about how to correctly refer to transgender students and to better understand identities and terminology. The letter specifically addresses the issue of preferred names reading, “Under Title IX, a school must treat students consistent with their gender identity even if their education records or identification documents indicate a different sex. The Departments have resolved Title IX investigations with agreements committing that school staff and contractors will use pronouns and names consistent with a transgender student’s gender identity.”

While it will be of importance to transgender students, this policy has the potential to impact a variety of students for many different reasons.

“It doesn’t just affect transgender students, but it also can affect international students who may prefer to go by an American name over their actual given name,” said Gillian Atkinson, the associate director at IEI.

“… As a club leader who needs proper roster information, I want to make sure I’m calling people by their correct names,” said junior radio production major Benjamin Abrams. “We’re all adults and are starting to discover ourselves and make our own choices.”

Offices and departments throughout the university had a hand in implementing this policy, such as the Title IX Office for Student Issues – in crafting the language for the policy – as well as International Student Affairs, the Office of the Registrar, Card Services and the Office of Residence Life.

Once the policy is up and running, students will be able to pick up the necessary paperwork at the Office of the Registrar or online on the office’s website. The policy itself is linked electronically through students’ 700 number. So not only will all the information roll over for everything connected to the ID number, but Registrar will also be able to track whether or not a student is abusing the policy.

Allison Vernace, the Title IX Officer for Student Issues, said, “If this is used for the use of misrepresentation or fraud, then that is prohibited.”

In the event that the registrar notices a student changing their name multiple times within a short time period, IEI will pull said student in for a meeting to determine whether or not it is a case of system abuse.

While IEI is finding much success with this new policy, they are working on other institutional changes to secure the comfort of all students on campus.

Moving forward, Hofstra is also looking to pursue a plan to implement gender neutral housing on campus. IEI has been coordinating with Residence Life to start a pilot program for the effort that includes gender neutral housing on a floor of one of the towers and one residence hall with gender neutral housing as a whole.

They hope to launch this pilot program during the fall semester of 2018 and get feedback from students to see if there can be a procedural change on campus when it comes to gender inclusive housing.

Doctor teaches international communication skills

By Jill Leavey, Assistant News Editor

The Honor’s College held its first “Friday Forum” of the year on Friday, Sept. 8. Most Fridays, the college hosts lectures open to all students presented by faculty members on the 13th floor of Vander Poel Hall. Dr. Kara Alaimo, an associate professor of public relations, discussed her recently published book, “Pitch, Tweet, or Engage on the Street: How to Practice Global Public Relations and Strategic Communication.”

Prior to joining the Hofstra faculty, she worked as a head of communications for the United Nations Secretary-General’s High Level Panel on the Post-2015 Development Agenda and as the Spokesperson for International Affairs in the U.S. Treasury Department – a position in which she was appointed by President Obama. “It was the guide I wished I had when I was working in the Obama administration in the United Nations…” Alaimo said.

In the world of communications, deadlines are everything; Alaimo learned this quickly while at the U.N. She would request material from her international colleagues, stressing due dates. However, the promised materials were often not delivered or late. Befuddled, Alaimo sought advice from her boss. “[He] had to explain to me that in many cultures it’s rude to say no and so my colleagues would say yes to anything I’d ever ask of them, regardless of if they had any intention of ever delivering,” she said.

Unfamiliar with all the nuanced cultural practices the world has to offer, she began to research how to best effectively communicate with other employees from the melting pot that is the U.N. Her findings left her unsatisfied and yearning for a more comprehensive approach to this dilemma. “…I found that there wasn’t a resource out there to help me while I was working in different countries to tell me ‘here’s what works in China,’ and ‘here’s what you should never do in Nigeria,’” Alaimo said.

Her solution: write the resource herself.

Students learned that the world can be divided into 10 communicational groups: Confucian Asia, South Asia, Middle East and North Africa, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Anglo Europe, Latin Europe, Germanic Europe, Nordic Europe and Eastern Europe. Furthermore, every region has its own sub pockets. Each area is categorized based on its systems of politics and economy, type of culture, extent of activism, level of development and prevalent media systems. Additionally, social expectations and local influences are considered.

In Confucian Asia, one must avoid “risky communication” in order to productively convey messages. For example, a junior staff should never publicly criticize nor praise a more senior person in the organization. The reason behind this mindset relates to it being a collectivist culture that relies on the wellbeing of the group as opposed to the individual. Contrastingly, Middle Eastern and North African cultures publicly and emotionally praise others.

“It is good to know how to act accordingly. If I go to Asia, it’s completely different,” said Madison Fitzpatrick, a freshman psychology major.

The audience, comprised of international students hailing from England, Portugal Singapore and beyond, confirmed Dr. Alaimo’s research by sharing their own personal anecdotes. Several students reaffirmed Latin America’s emphasis on family and its infatuation with telenovelas – programs that are often used as a platform for more effective business-to-consumer communication.

Attendees walked away with a better understanding and appreciation for communicating across borders. “I didn’t know the world is divided into these different communicating cultures,” said Christopher Helig, a freshman American history major.

For students who did not attend, there are still opportunities to communicate more effectively and defy seemingly rigid cultural borders. Alaimo said, “I think it’s really important to take classes to read about how business and communication strategies differ in different countries and cultures around the world.”

WRHU receives second Marconi

By Katie Krahulik, News Editor

WRHU 88.7 FM Radio Hofstra University won the Marconi Award for best non-commercial radio station of the year at a ceremony in Texas on Sept. 7. The student-run station that broadcasts from studios in the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication won for the second time in four years.

“Marconi for radio is very much like an Academy Award. It is as prestigious an award as you can possibly get,” said John Mullen, director of operations at WRHU. The award is presented by the National Association of Broadcasters, a group of professionals in the radio and television industries that represents commercial and noncommercial stations in the United States.

Aside from WRHU, there are almost 4,000 other noncommercial radio stations in the country. Unlike the other stations however, WRHU is home to multiple programs with diverse range of topics. “We have 43 different program formats here. We do [a little bit of everything], and unlike a station that traditionally has one format and that is pursuing to do that one format to the best of their ability, our goal is to do all of those formats to the best of our ability,” said Bruce Avery, the general manager of WRHU.

But perhaps what sets the station apart from other stations is the fact that it is entirely student-run. Comprised of nearly 280 student-staff members, WRHU has been on air since 1959. “We’ve been providing entertainment and information to a widely diverse audience in the number one media market in the world for nearly six decades with a commitment to excellence,” Avery said.

In addition to its standout musical and news programming, Hofstra was the first and only college station to exclusively broadcast a major-league sports team – the New York Islanders and Long Island Nets. “As a person who has always thought about venturing into media and the various aspects of media to be at this stage of the game this early and to be at a national rank at a national recognized station is unbelievable,” said Bradley Clarke, a junior video and television production major.

“Our student broadcasters work incredibly hard to produce a wide variety of programming. We are incredibly honored to earn a Marconi from the National Association of Broadcasters. They are the people we look up to,” said Maria Santana, a junior video and television production major and the station manager for WRHU. In recent years, Hofstra has also earned honors from other prestigious media organizations, including: New York State Associated Press Association, Alliance for Women in Media, Press Club of Long Island, the Society of Professional Journalists and New York Women in Communications.