Vol. 40, No. 13 MoNday, february 13, 2012 nyunews.com

washiNgtoN square NewsNYU’s Daily Student Newspaper

Cuomo approval ratingsrise

Starlight, Silver host Valentine’s Day Party

Tisch grad captures economic trials of Bangladeshi women

Children with chronic illnesses and their families gathered in Kimmel Center yesterday afternoon to celebrate Valentine’s Day with students from the Silver School of Social work.

Emily yang/WSn

By Kristine itliong

New York state may welcome a new year under Governor Cuomo.

According to a recent poll of New York state by Marist Poll, a majority of registered voters say they believe the state is going in the right direction this year.

“One of the key findings of this poll was that for the first time in more than a decade, regis-tered voters are a little bit more optimistic,” said Mary Azzoli, a representative from Marist who also worked on the study.

The study, which surveyed 681 New York state adults by tele-phone in proportion to each county’s population, found that 52 percent voted in favor of the state’s direction. This is a signifi-cant increase in comparison to the 18 percent of voters who felt the same way in Oct. 2010.

Much of this approval has been attributed to New York’s

r DireCtion continued on Pg. 3

By emily yang

With Starlight Children’s Foun-dation, the Undergraduate Stu-dent Government Association at the NYU Silver School of Social Work hosted a Valentine’s Day party yesterday. Children with chronic illnesses and their families gathered to enjoy live entertainment, food and arts and crafts.

Lauren Berninger, program manager of Starlight Chil-dren’s Foundation, said the as-sociation and USGA have been annually organizing this event together for four years.

Starlight, a non-profit orga-nization that helps seriously ill children and families ad-dress social and emotional aspects of illness, provides sporting events, amusement park outings and trips to the zoo. The Valentine’s Day party

r starligHt continued on Pg. 3

NYU wrestling wins fifth UAA title

By Brittany VanBiBBer

Holly Mosher sat down to read her daily dose of news in 2006 and encountered what became her inspiration for a documenta-ry — a project that would intro-duce her to countless obstacles and lifelong friendships.

Mosher, who received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Tisch School of the Arts in 1994, first heard about Mo-hammad Yunus when he re-ceived the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in Bangladesh involving microlending and social business.

Her latest documentary film, “Bonsai People: The Vision of Muhammad Yunus,” premiered this weekend at Quad Cinema

in Greenwich Village. The film follows the lives of

Bangladeshi women who re-ceived loans from one of Yunus’s Grameen Banks.

Yunus’s first loan of $27 was made out to 42 women. Now, his loans have reached over 6.5 mil-lion women. This led to a global initiative to fight poverty with social business and microlending. Since 2006, Yunus has opened multiple Grameen Banks through-out Bangladesh.

A career in documentary film-making was not always a defi-nite for Mosher. Only after a high school guidance counselor gave her a personality quiz did she de-cide to apply to Tisch.

“I didn’t even realize film was a career,” Mosher said.

Following a stint unhappily producing commercials, she made a decision.

“I was either going to change careers or I promised myself that I would do something that

r Bonsai continued on Pg. 5

By Cole riley

The NYU wrestling squad cap-tured their fifth University Ath-letic Association Championship title in school history as they beat both the University of Chicago and Case Western Reserve Univer-sity in Cleveland on Saturday.

All five of NYU’s UAA titles (’99, ’00, ’06, ’08 and ’12) were won under current head coach Bruce Haberli.

The Violet grapplers fought a tough battle against the Univer-sity of Chicago Maroons in the first of the day’s two matches.

After falling 6-0 in the first two bouts, freshman Matt DiGiovan-ni swung momentum NYU’s way with a gritty 7-6 victory in the 141-pound division.

“Matt had a close match against Chicago,” assistant coach Cory Luce said. “He gutted it out and wrestled tough for every minute of that match.”

Following DiGiovanni’s win, the Violets won four of the next six divisions. Juniors Dan Gor-man (149-pound) and Jake Paw-lowski (184-pound) and seniors David Rice (165-pound) and Greg Martino (174-pound) defeated their respective opponents.

With a crushing defeat in the 197-pound division to Chicago’s Mario Palmisano, the match came down to the last bout. In a risky decision made by the coach-ing staff, senior Jamie Myers was inserted into the heavyweight

Grameen Banks loans have reached 6.5 million women.

via BonSaimoviE.com

r Wrestling continued on Pg. 4

best of web

oN the side compilEd By thE Wsn staff

2 WaShington SquarE nEWS | monday, fEBruary 13, 2012

A woman poses for a sketch artist who promises a finished portrait in seven minutes.

PHOTO BY KelseY ledgerwOOd

oN the wire

Pizza Hut ProposalThanks to a local Pizza Hut, marriage hopefuls in Plano, Texas have a unique opportunity

this Valentine’s Day. The restaurant is offering a $10,010 engagement package, which includes a red ruby ring, limo service, flowers, a fireworks show, a photographer and a

videographer. The extra $10 is for an evening meal of a medium one-topping rectangular pan pizza, five breadsticks with marinara sauce and 10 cinnamon sticks with a cup of icing. The corporation is only offering this package to the first ten requests. In the 24 hours after

the announcement last week, Pizza Hut received 800 serious inquiries.— The huffingTon PosT

got aN eVeNt? eMaiL us at ageNda@NyuNews.CoM or tweet us @NyuNews got soMethiNg to share? eMaiL us at tiPs@NyuNews.CoM

HArVArD UnIVersITyHistory and literature boasts highest satisfaction rating— The harvard Crimson

BosTon College

BC compelled to offer contraceptive services — The heighTs

today10 a.m. to 12 p.m. | Kimmel Center | lobby 1 to 3 p.m. | student Health Center | lobby

HealTH PrOmOTiOn OffiCe ValenTine’s daY TaBling

Discuss emotional and physical issues brought up by Valentine’s Day with the

Health Promotion office.

7 p.m. | 16 Washington MewsTrOPes Of Blindness in THe

wOrK Of alBerT memmi

UClA assistant professor lia Brozgal will speak about her new book on Jewish writers from

Maghreb and Albert Memmi.

8 a.m. | Madison square gardenwesTminsTer Kennel CluB

dOg sHOw

Come to the 136th annual show at Msg, featuring two days of dogs competing to be “Best in show.”

1 2 3

sNaPshot

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Managing EditorJAeWON KANG

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dePuty staffuniversity eRIC BeNSON, eLIzA-BeTH MAGUIRecity/state TONY CHAU, KRISTINe ITLIONG, JeSSICA SCHULTzinvestigative FeIYe WANGmusic JOSH JOHNSONfilm STeFAN MeLNYKentertainment JeReMY GROSSMANbooks/theater CLIO MCCONNeLLdining HANNAH BOReNSTeINbeauty & style SHANNON LOUGHRANsports JOHN AxeLROD, COLe RILeYspecial issues KRISTINA BOGOSmultimedia JAMeS KeLLeHeRcopy JORDAN MeLeNDRezsocial media agent NICOLe GARTSIDe

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About WSN: Washington Square News (ISSN 15499389) is the student news-paper of New York University. WSN is published Monday through Thursday during NYU’s academic year, except for university holidays, vacations and exam periods.

Corrections: WSN is committed to ac-curate reporting. When we make errors, we do our best to correct them as quickly as possible. If you believe we have erred, contact managing editor Jaewon Kang at managing@nyunews.com or at 212.998.4302.

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DireCtion continued from Pg. 1

LSP presents Islamic and Byzantine Art

year-old governor, Andrew Cuomo, as these numbers started increasing con-siderably since he was sworn in last Jan-uary. According to the Marist Poll, three in four registered voters in New York, 76 percent, think Cuomo is a good leader.

CAS professor Steven Brams, who teach-es politics with a focus on social choice theory, agreed with this notion.

“[In politics] we would call this the hon-eymoon period, when a new person is elected, and he seems to be quite effective and therefore receives a high approval rating,” Brams said. “People see a little more hope on the horizon. I would tend to agree.”

In regard to Cuomo’s ideology, almost 6 in 10 voters consider Cuomo a moderate though he is a registered Democrat.

“He’s brought the two parties to a consen-sus, unlike what’s happening in Washing-ton,” Brams said.

While politicians are often called out for not keeping promises made during their campaign, 65 percent of voters felt Cuomo has kept his.

“Cuomo’s been able to accomplish most of his agenda that he set out in his

election campaign during his first year in office,” said LSP freshman and New York state resident Alexander Hasapid-is. “He has everything under control, [and] things have turned around pretty quickly since he came into office.”

But Cuomo’s most cited success has been how he has handled the state’s budget.

New York state resident Alton Wilson, 38, said Cuomo has been great handling the economy well.

“He hasn’t cut as many social pro-grams as other governors have in the past,” he said.

Cuomo has also proposed to link tougher standards for evaluating teachers, increase monitoring of future public employees’ pen-sions and raise the retirement age from 62 to 65.

“From [a] New York citizens’ perspec-tive, there has been economic develop-ment — an important indicator that the government is doing something right,” New York state resident xavier Chavez, 56, said.

Kristine Itliong is a deputy city/state editor. Email her at kitliong@nyunews.com.

Dog parade protests NYU expansion

Poll ratings rise for Cuomo

nyunEWS.com | monday, fEBruary 13, 2012 | WaShington SquarE nEWS 3

Silver, Starlight brighten Valentine’s Dayis a part of Starlight’s Great escapes program, which aims to provide recreational opportunities throughout the year to bring families together.

About 100 people from around New York state attended the event, said Ann Perepezko, program-ming chair of the USGA and a senior at Silver.

“It’s really great to see the looks on the kids’ faces when they’re hav-ing so much fun,” Pere-pezko said. “The families are all together, and it’s a time when they can have fun and do arts and crafts and everything and be with people they can play with. It’s a really nice environment.”

NYU and Starlight host a similar program in the fall when they plan a Halloween party in Coles Sports Center

with games and crafts.“The Great escapes

program ... brings fami-lies together who are in similar situations, so it’s a way for them to network and be support-ive,” Berninger said. “I’ve found that they almost all become friends and after a while, they estab-lish networks with each other that help them feel less isolated.”

Liz Fritz, a Silver senior and a student govern-ment officer, said the event was relaxing to participants. At the party, Fritz volunteered to help children and their par-ents with arts and crafts.

“It’s really laid back, and [families] do things they might not usually do,” Fritz said. “It’s just a nice break and it’s fun.”

Melissa Crespo, a Bronx

resident, came to the par-ty with her 14-year-old son, Marc-Anthony. Marc-Anthony has Shprintzen-Goldberg craniosynostosis syndrome, a rare genetic disorder affecting con-nective tissues which causes craniofacial and skeletal abnormalities.

Crespo said she enjoys these events because they are perfect for her son, who has auditory problems and is non-verbal.

“I like that it’s low-key, and does not have so much stimulation,” Cre-spo said. “I like it — it’s not too bright, not too loud, there are not too many colors and not too many smells.”

Emily Yang is city/state editor. Email her at eyang@nyunews.com.

starligHt continued from Pg. 1

By JorDan melenDrez

Islamic and Byzantine art attracted NYU students and faculty last Friday night to the Kimmel Center of Uni-versity Life.

As the first of a three-part Liberal Studies Art History lecture series, the lecture Byzantium and Islam: Art in Translation featured Mary C. evans, a curator from the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Provided to the university on a grant from the Lehman Foundation and the Liberal Studies Program, the event will present art experts who will discuss their research, specialization or exhibitions.

evans previewed the mu-seum exhibit on Byzantine art, which is expected to open on March 14. She displayed a slideshow and spoke of the bowl with inhabited vine scrolls of 700 C.e. to Qur’ans and gospels in the Mosques with woodcarvings in 900 C.e.

“What we hope you will see as you go through the exhibi-tion, and through the catalog, is that many of the ideas and motifs, both intellectual and decorative, that are in the re-gion in 600 [C.e.] are, in vary-ing ways, made use of the new polity to define their visual voice both in a secular world and, to a lesser extent, in a re-ligious world,” evans said.

Joseph Portanova, an LSP professor and an organizer of the series, said he hopes to provide an opportunity for students and faculty to inter-

change ideas at lectures. “Our other goal is to raise

awareness of the connections and interrelations between areas of the globe, as well as of art forms and styles of par-ticular regions and cultures,” he said.

LSP freshman Julia Musto said she thinks the lecture was illu-minating.

“I studied AP Art history in high school and I actually learned a lit-tle bit about Byzantium art and the Hagia Sophia, so it was won-derful to bring that up again,” Musto said.

Portanova said he was very pleased to see many members of the NYU community attend the event.

“We hope this talk raised awareness concerning the survival, interaction and de-velopments of artistic styles and contacts in the Byzantine borderlands of Syria and egypt before and after the Muslim conquest,” Portanova said. “And most importantly, how political change did not involve the im-mediate and complete replace-ment of one population and culture by another.”

The second part of the se-ries, Maya Painting Minor and Major: Murals, Vessels and World Comparisons, will be presented by dean of Yale College Mary Miller Feb. 17 at 10 a.m. in the auditorium at 19 University Pl.

Jordan Melendrez is a contributing writer. Email her at university@nyunews.com.

By rita solomon

Dog owners and their cape-clad canines gathered at the Mercer Houston Dog Run on Saturday to protest against NYU’s 2031 expan-sion plan. The resident-organized rally was held at Judson Memorial Church from 12:00 to 2:00 p.m.

Dog owners and residents said during the construction of NYU 2031’s new superblocks, the dog run would be moved west. The proposal would expose the dogs to construction dust until the buildings are completed.

“The expansion plan will af-fect the playground where we take our children, the dog park

where we take our dogs, our su-permarket, gym, our park, our light,” Greenwich Village resi-dent Anna Marti said. “If this proposal passes, a lot of residents will move away. The community feel, the vibe will go away.”

Speakers at the Pawrade included New York state assembly woman Deborah Glick and state senator Thomas Duane.

“We are a neighborhood, a community, and we’d like to stay that way,” Glick said. “We are go-ing to marshal a village army to protect our future generations.”

Brad Hoylman, chair of Commu-nity Board No. 2, also spoke to the chanting crowd gathered inside the church.

“About 35 years ago, a woman stood not far from here, fighting a similar thing,” he said. “She was told they were too power-ful, but she won. That is what we should do. We should fight like [activist Jane Jacobs] did, and we will win.”

But residents with their dogs were not the only attendees. Members of the NYU community were present as well in the protests.

“A lot of faculty are quietly wor-ried that NYU is going to over-reach its budget, reducing its over-all quality as an institution,” said Mark Crispin Miller, Steinhardt professor of Media, Culture and Communication. “This will drive away top faculty, inflate tuition and destroy the school. We’re go-ing to save NYU the community from NYU the corporation.”

Lawrence B. Goldberg, president of Friends of LaGuardia Place, said he used to take his daughter to the dog run when she was little.

“This community’s open space gave us the calm, the peace to be a neighborhood,” he said. “We have an obligation to protect this light, air and space for future generations. We need other little girls looking at the sky and saying ‘light.’”

Village resident and NYU alum-na Sandra Goldberg expressed her dissatisfaction with the changes NYU has made since she attended the university.

“Today, the dorms cost too much, and there are fewer schol-arships for students as a result of expansion. I live a few blocks from here,” she said. “This is my neighborhood. As an alum, I don’t contribute to NYU because it’s like paying Wall Street.”

Rita Solomon is a staff writer. Email her at university@nyunews.com.

Dog owners and residents protested plans that would expose dogs to dust over the next four years.

rachEl Kaplan/WSn

By laUra BUCCieri

With losses to emory University and the University of Rochester on the road this weekend, the NYU women’s basketball team dropped to a 10-12 overall record and a 2-9 conference record.

The Violets lost 82-73 in over-time to the emory eagles in Atlanta on Friday. While NYU trailed the eagles 36-20 at the half, the Violets got hot in the second half, hitting 22 of their 35 shots (62.9 percent), including 5-7 from three-point territory. Senior guard Bianca Storts led the way with 24 points — 20 of

which came in the second half. The Violets outscored the eagles 46-30 to force overtime.

“The second half of tonight’s game was the best half of basket-ball we played all season,” head coach Stefano Trompeo said. “If we play close to that way for the remainder of the season, we will be tough to play.”

Unfortunately, a lackluster over-time quarter killed any chance of escaping Atlanta with a road win. Junior center Makenzie Hirz con-tributed to the comeback effort with 12 boards. Senior co-captain Cara Bonito pitched in 15 points as well.

On Sunday, the Violets played the University of Rochester on the road, falling 64-50.

In their second University Ath-letic Association match of the weekend, the Violets once again had a slow start and entered half-time trailing by 12 points. In an-other second-half shooting spree, NYU fought back, but the early deficit was too much of a battle.

“Falling behind to a quality oppo-nent is extremely hard to overcome,” Trompeo said. “We tried hard but not enough shots fell today.”

even though NYU took more shots from the field than Rochester (60 to 56), the Yellowjackets notched an impressive 48.2 shooting percentage from the field, compared to NYU’s dismal 31.7 percent.

“We played them even in the second half but came out flat and could never recover the lead,” said Bonito, who notched eight points in 37 minutes of play. “They are a good team, and we played them well.”

Sophomore forward Alexis Doherty was a standout in the game, grabbing 10 points in just 11 minutes of play. Senior Shelby Coon also recorded 10 points.

NYU will host the University of Chi-cago on Friday, Feb. 17 at Coles Sports Center.

Laura Buccieri is a staff writer. Email her at sports@nyunews.com.

match despite missing prac-tice last week because of injuries. Myers went on to beat Chicago’s Jeff Tyburski 5-4 and claimed the match a victory for NYU.

“I felt we had the best chance of beating Chicago by bumping Jamie up to heavyweight,” Luce said. “We gambled a little and came out on top.”

With the title in sight, NYU finished off their sec-ond opponent, host Case Western Reserve Univer-sity, 43-7.

David Rice recorded his second victory of the day and was named UAA’s Most Outstanding Wrestler.

“Rice wrestled two tough opponents and was relent-less in his attacks,” Luce said. “I think he’s peaking at the right time, and we’re excited to see what he does in the postseason.”

Gorman and Martino record-ed pins in the 149-pound and 174-pound divisions, respec-tively, while Myers notched another victory. All three of them earned UAA All-Associa-tion honors in their respective

weight classes.“We know the most impor-

tant weeks are upon us, and there’s a lot more work to be done,” Luce said. “We’re taking this momentum into Scranton next week.”

NYU will travel to Scran-ton, Pa., to face Centennial Conference opponent Johns Hopkins University, as well as the University of Scran-ton on Saturday, Feb. 18.

Cole Riley is a deputy sports editor. Email him at criley@nyunews.com.

4 WaShington SquarE nEWS | monday, fEBruary 13, 2012 | nyunEWS.com

sPorts

Junior Makenzie Hirz contributed to the comeback effort. filE photo By david lin

Wrestling wins UAA championship

Wrestling continued from Pg. 1

Senior Jamie Myers filE photo By david lin

By sara leVy

NYU’s men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to Massachusetts to compete in the Boston University Valentine Invitational this past weekend.

In her return from injury, se-nior captain Maeve evans per-formed the team’s strongest of the day with a time of 5:06.31 in the one mile, a season-best. Junior Georgina Norton also notched a finish time of 3:01.10 in the 1,000-meter race, mark-ing a personal record.

“I went out a little hard, but was slightly faster than last week,” Norton said.

Seniors Laura Santoski and Paige zelinsky participated in the 5K-race, logging times of 18:11.12 and 17:41.12, respectively.

“I felt good for the first half of the race and was a little too aggressive,” Santoski said. “I couldn’t close as well as I had hoped, and my time was slower than I wanted.”

In the 800-meter run, freshman Alyssa Binczyk finished with a time of 2:20.13. She also joined Norton in the distance medley.

“I love running relays because track usually is such an individ-ualistic sport,” Binczyk said. “A relay gives you the opportunity to have more of a team feel.”

“It was a mixed day, but there were a lot of good performanc-es” head coach Nick McDonough said. “The women’s squad had a bunch of solid performances.”

For the men’s team, freshman Jon Simon (22.71) and sopho-more Gilson Cortes (22.72) fin-ished with back-to-back times in the 200-meter dash. Cortes, juniors James Patterson and Daniel McKinney and freshman Dharen Kadiyala joined togeth-er for the 4x400-meter relay. The quartet finished with an impressive time of 3:24.21.

“[McDonough] told us before the race that he wanted us to run the relay in 3:25,” Cortes said. “We were all determined to do so and ended running even faster with a 3:24.”

Patterson competed in the 800-meter run and finished with a time of 1:53.71. Patterson is now first among University Ath-letic Association runners. McK-inney, who had a 49.67 finish-ing time in the 400-meter dash, is also first in the conference.

“We need to keep working and training hard, being con-sistent and progressing as the season goes on,” McDonough said. “Getting some experience is the biggest thing, and getting in better shape.”

Both the men’s and women’s

teams will be competing Feb. 18 in the NYU Division III Chal-lenge at the New Balance Track and Field Center in Manhattan.

Sara Levy is a staff writer. Email her at sports@nyunews.com.

Success for Evans in return from injury

Senior Maeve evansfilE photo By david lin

First half woes haunt Violets

Men’s volleyball sweeps crossover

By sara leVy

The No. 7 NYU men’s volley-ball swept their competition at the United Volleyball Conference Crossover on Saturday and Sun-day in Hoboken, N.J.

The Violets defeated Medai-lle College, the first of three opponents NYU faced over the weekend, in three sets (26-24, 25-23, 25-20).

Sophomore Connor Mortland had 30 assists and seven digs as the Violets’ setter. Senior libero Jay Hayes notched seven digs, and sophomore middle blocker Nick Capriccio and freshman opposite and setter Matthew MacDonald had nine kills each.

Yesterday, the Violets competed against defending Division III Champion, No. 6 Nazareth Col-lege. In five sets, the Violets pulled out a much-needed victory (25-20, 21-25, 25-20, 20-25, 15-13).

“The game against Nazareth was a big win,” head coach Jose Pina said. “It was a very important match because we are two of the teams able to win the UVC.”

Mortland dominated again with 54 assists and 12 digs, both season highs, and junior outside

hitter Taylor Fauntleroy recorded 17 kills as the Violets pulled out the nail-biter. Senior opposite and middle blocker Luke Hamlet led the team with six total blocks and nine kills. Senior captain Pat Dodd tallied 16 kills and 12 digs.

“Dodd had an excellent, excel-lent match,” Pina said.

Later in the day, NYU faced off against Hilbert College, looking to sweep the UVC. In three dominant sets, the Violets cruised to victory (25-11, 25-18, 25-19).

Pina was able to give every mem-ber of the squad some playing time. Junior setter Karl Johnson recorded a career-high of 33 as-sists, and Hamlet led the way with 10 kills as NYU improved to 4-0 in UVC play on the season.

“We did well, and performed when we needed to,” Pina said. “Overall, it was a very good weekend for us and it was a good gauge for where we are in our new conference.”

The Violets’ next match is Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 7:00 p.m. against Bard College in Annadale-on-Hudson, NY.

Sara Levy is a staff writer. Email her at sports@nyunews.com.

By JoHn axelroD The NYU men’s basketball

squad lost two conference games on the road to emory University and University of Rochester on Friday and Sun-day, respectively.

The No. 16 Violets traveled down to Atlanta to face off against the em-erson eagles on Friday. In a thrilling back-and-forth affair that featured 10 lead changes, NYU lost 73-70.

With just two minutes left in the game and trailing 66-62, junior forward Max Wein and senior co-captain and center Andy Stein hit back-to-back three-pointers to pull ahead two points. emory turned over their next possession to NYU, forcing the eagles to intentionally foul junior guard and co-captain Kyle Stockmal. Stockmal hit both foul shouts, giving the Violets a four-point lead with just 37.3 sec-onds left in the game.

However, the eagles respond-ed with some miraculous plays in the final seconds to claim the victory. emory junior Alex Greven hit a three-pointer, and then junior forward Michael Friedberg stole the inbounds pass which lead to a go-ahead layup by senior guard Austin

Claunch with 18 seconds left. The Violets then turned the ball over on their next possession and were forced to foul.

With only a few seconds remaining, Stockmal had a chance to force overtime with a game-tying three-pointer, but the shot rimmed out.

Stein led NYU in scoring against the eagles with 17 points, 12 of which came in the second half. Stockmal and junior forward Carl Yaffe registered 15 points apiece, while Yaffe added 10 rebounds, five blocks, four assists and three steals to his impressive double-double stat line. Wein chipped in 10 points of his own, too.

On Sunday the Violets traveled up to Rochester, N.Y. The team almost pulled off an impressive comeback win against the Rochester Yellow-jackets but fell short 62-53.

NYU trailed by as much as 18 points in the second half. In an impressive 20-6 scoring run, the Violets brought their deficit to just four points.

“We were able to force turn-overs, make stops and hit shots that we missed earlier in the game,” head coach Joe Nesci said.

The Violets, however, were un-able to get the stops they needed

in the final minute of the game to bounce pass the Yellowjackets.

“Our overall offensive rhythm was just off today,” Nesci said. “We hit a bump in the road, but we‘ll work on what’s going wrong in practice this week.”

Stein and Stockmal were the only NYU players to score in dou-ble figures on Sunday with 17 and 10, respectively. Stein has now re-corded 1,195 over his tenure at NYU, pushing him ahead of Nai-smith Hall of Famer Tom “Satch” Sanders for 15th place on the school’s all-time scoring list.

Coming into the game, NYU led the nation in three-point shoot-ing, but against Rochester the Vio-lets hit only 7 of their 23 attempts (30.4 percent) behind the arc.

Despite these two losses, NYU is 18-4 on the season and 7-4 in the University Athletic Asso-ciation. They now sit in second place in the UAA and are two games behind first-place Wash-ington University.

The Violets will host the Uni-versity of Chicago on Feb. 17 at 8 p.m. at Coles Sports Center.

John Axelrod is a deputy sports editor. Email him at jaxelrod@nyunews.com.

nyunEWS.com | monday, fEBruary 13, 2012 | WaShington SquarE nEWS 5

features EditEd By JessiCa littmanfEaturES@nyunEWS.com

EditEd By Daniel Hinton sPorts@nyUneWs.Com

Vision of Mosher, Yunis Bonsai continued from Pg. 1

mattered, because I gave at least two years of my life to a project,” Mosher said. “So, I had to really care.”

While filming “Bonsai People,” Mosher dealt with various obstacles. During the five years she worked on the film, Bangladesh ex-perienced one of its worst cyclones in history, which halted filming on more than one occasion. Mosher also had to learn the language in order to gain the trust of those she interviewed.

Mosher partially attri-butes this adaptability to her experiences at NYU.

“I was very grateful that I had freedom and a really in-depth, hands-on experience,” she said. Mosher also credits her skills as a one-woman crew to NYU’s broad range of classes in sound and camera work.

Mosher says her be-lief in positive social businesses grew as she spent time following the Bangladeshi women. She highlights many people’s inability to see the over-lap between non-profit

and business.“Volunteer work and

your work can be the same,” she said.

elisa Hertz, Mosher’s classmate who graduated from NYU in 1994, attend-ed the premiere this week-end to show support.

“It has a global mes-sage of making people aware of circumstances outside of your comfort zone and outside of be-ing in a first world coun-try,” Hertz said.

Mosher still plans to stay in touch with the women she met during filming. The most rewarding part of the experience, she said, was going back and seeing the progress these women had made in their own lives.

“I hope that [audiences] feel empowered to try to follow their own dreams,” Mosher said. “We all have our own gifts to give back to the world and our own tal-ent, and we often stop our-selves from even trying,”

Brittany VanBibber isa staff writer. Email her at features@nyunews.com.

Good vibrations at NYU Percussion Weekend By miCHelle lim

The Frederick Loewe Theatre shook with drum beats as the percussion studies program at the Steinhardt School of Culture, education and Human Development hosted a Week-end of Percussion. The Percussive Arts Society and KoSA, an interna-tional music collective, helped orga-nize the event where percussionists in the New York area congregated at the theater to showcase their talents last weekend.

Saturday was filled with perfor-mances by several ensembles in-cluding Steinhardt music instructor Michael eagle and Ian Gibson, who presented an exhibition of Scottish pipe band drumming. There was also an Afro-Caribbean performance and clinic led by Co-Tim-Bo.

Additionally, solo marimba compe-titions were held for two divisions, and the winners performed that night at the Showcase Concert.

The judging panel was comprised of renowned artists who also held master classes and performed at the showcase: Among them was Ji Hye Jung, an assistant professor of per-cussion at the University of Kansas.

“I feel really honored that NYU is having me for this great festival,” Jung said. “As a musician, it’s a privi-lege to be here and playing at this hall. Being in New York, I’ve met so

many musicians who are doing some-thing totally different from me, and yet we are all still percussionists.”

The Showcase Concert featured a variety of genres within percussion. Synchronicity, a duet of brothers, in-troduced their arrangement of Stra-vinsky on the piano and percussion instruments. Award-wining marim-bist eriko Daimo also had a charm-ing performance.

Nacho Arimany and his partner Manu de Lago played a unique in-strument called the Hang, producing earthy and natural sounds with fla-menco rhythms. NYU’s own percus-sion ensemble directed by Jonathan Haas was the concert’s grand finale, concluding with an energetic finish that the entire audience enjoyed.

Steinhardt senior Aaron Silberstein, a member of the performing NYU percussion ensemble, was excited not only to perform onstage but also to

help set up the weekend’s events.“It really is fantastic to have all

these famous people here because we get to interact with them one-on-one,” Silberstein said. “As an NYU student I’m helping out with the lo-gistics of the whole festival and it al-lows me the time to talk with every artist as well as watch their perfor-mances and clinics. It’s like getting two master classes instead of one.”

Sunday’s events featured other master classes including one by Duncan Patton, a principal timpa-nist from the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and another by Shawn Pelton, the drummer for Saturday Night Live. The event ended with another Showcase Concert featuring NYU’s steel band and Despers USA.

Michelle Lim is a contributing writer. Email her at features@nyunews.com.

The event featured the showcase of an NYU steel drum band.Emma pliSKin/WSn

Men’s basketball drops second straight UAA matchup

Senior co-captain Stein’s new record pushed him ahead of Nasmith Hall of Famer Sanders for 15th on NYU’s all-time scoring list.

filE photo By rachEl Kaplan

the New york tiMes Crossword & daiLy sudoku

Across1 Misfortunes5 A surfboard rides

it9 “… lived happily

ever ___”14 Oil ministers’

grp.15 Lighted sign

near a stairway16 Swap17 Actress Turner18 Too19 Dutch bloom20 Soar23 They’re worth 1

or 11 inblackjack

24 ___-la-la25 “On the Origin of

Species” author28 “Quiet!”30 Science class

sessions34 Nearly sacrificed

son of Abraham35 Barcelona’s land

37 Tierra ___Fuego

38 Tell everything tothe coppers

41 Lynx or puma42 Rockers Clapton

and Burdon43 Turn away44 Better-than-you

type46 Tattoo fluid47 Gnarled, as a

tree trunk48 Navy vessel

initials50 Faux pas51 Carefully guard58 Doha is its

capital59 Lone Star State

sch.60 Number after a

© symbol61 Money-saving

brand prefix62 Politico Gingrich

63 Doughnutshapes,mathematicallyspeaking

64 Slept lightly65 “Are not!”

playground retort66 Finishes

Down1 “The Three Little

Pigs” antagonist2 October

birthstone3 “___, meeny,

miney, mo”4 Rapscallion5 Undermine6 Car rods7 MasterCard rival8 James Bond’s

school9 Fragrance of

roses10 Penny-pinching11 Like Dubai’s Burj

Khalifa12 Emmy winner

Falco13 Member of the

House: Abbr.21 One with a

freezing point?22 Moral standard25 The chocolate

parts of Oreos,e.g.

26 Like about 60%of the world’spopulation

27 Totaled, as a bill28 Particle29 Actor Lukas of

“Witness”31 Evolve (per 25-

Across)

32 French cap33 With cunning35 Dermatologist’s

study36 Fantasy realm of

C. S. Lewis39 Dubliners, e.g.40 Beginner45 Gas in lighters

47 Thief, in brief

49 Catch of the day,say, in NewEngland

50 Distorts, as data

51 BaylorUniversity’shome

52 The gamut

53 Goddess of themoon

54 Thingy55 Very long time56 Fend (off)57 Kringle or

Kristofferson58 Math proof

ending

Puzzle by Michael Dewey

For answers, call 1-900-285-5656, $1.49 a minute; or, with a creditcard, 1-800-814-5554.Annual subscriptions are available for the best of Sundaycrosswords from the last 50 years: 1-888-7-ACROSS.AT&T users: Text NYTX to 386 to download puzzles, or visitnytimes.com/mobilexword for more information.Online subscriptions: Today’s puzzle and more than 2,000 pastpuzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords ($39.95 a year).Share tips: nytimes.com/wordplay. Crosswords for young solvers: nytimes.com/learning/xwords.

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R E S C U E D C A T B O A TE X T E N S I O N C O U R S ED E A D A S A D O O R N A I LT R Y A S L E T O N L A EI C E R B E T E L S E T SD I D S E C T S C C X I IE S T I M A T E S E R A C S

E H L E R S B I R E M ES M E L L S W E N T W I L DT A C I T V A N E S N E WE C O N D E S E X C A P AP H U O U T O F M O T H YD I R T Y P O L I T I C I A NA N S W E R E D T O N O O N ED E E P R E D S O N A N T S

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For Information Call: 1-800-972-3550For Release Monday, February 13, 2012

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oPiNioNEditEd By oliVia gonzalezopinion@nyunEWS.com

Cuomo’s popularity shrinks in context

staff eDitorial

New Terahertz NYPD scanners invasiveBy ryan griggs

“They pushed me up against a fence. They went through my pockets in my jacket and pants. One of them took out my wallet, and started going through it. I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I was walking down the street. I have no idea why those cops stopped me,” CAS soph-omore George Georgiadis said.

The Fourth Amendment says, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and effects, against unreasonable searches and sei-zures, shall not be violated...”

But this doesn’t stop the New York Police Department. The boys in blue employ a despotic tactic called the stop-and-frisk method wherein if of-ficers have reasonable suspicion that an individual is involved in a crime but not probable cause for arrest, they may temporarily detain such an individual and frisk him or her for weapons. No warrant is required. However, not only are these tactics unconstitutional, they are ineffec-tive. According to figures released by the NYPD last May, “Of the over 180,000 stop-and-frisk encounters re-ported by the police department, 88 percent of them ended in neither an arrest nor a summons.”

Armed with a stunning track record of unlawful, unsuccessful searches of its victims, the NYPD is pressing for-ward. A couple of months ago, police commissioner Ray Kelly announced a partnership with the U.S. Department of Defense. The fruit of that partner-ship is the Terahertz Imaging Detection scanner. The scanner has the ability to detect radiation emitted by individu-als in a 16-foot radius as well as any object that may block that radiation. The scanners will be used to detect con-cealed weapons carried by those walk-ing down any New York City street. Or will they?

When the NYPD officers went through George’s wallet, surely they weren’t looking for a gun or a knife. And while these scanners may detect the presence of weapons, they do not and cannot detect the permits for the lawful carrying of those weapons. Should we subject every New Yorker to a TSA-style pat down for not breaking the law? And what of possible anoma-lies? Remember senator Rand Paul. He was stopped, detained and searched by TSA officials after one of the De-partment of Defense’s new body scan-ners produced an error message — a false positive — as the senator passed through a Kentucky security check-

point. If one new-fangled government contraption is so faulty, what’s to say the next one won’t be?

evidence from Cornell University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technol-ogy suggests the Terahertz rays that the machines use have a unique ability to unzip double-stranded DNA, causing obvious problems in DNA expression and replication. Not only might the use of these street scanners further diminish the ravaged Fourth Amend-ment, but they promise to scramble the very genetic makeup of New York-ers. Of course, the NYPD won’t take to the streets with consent forms, seeking the voluntary approval of the public to be radiated with DNA unraveling Tera-hertz waves. If they did, the technology would never reach the streets of TriBe-Ca, Harlem or Chelsea.

Morality and health aside, the Tera-hertz Imaging Detection scanner is one of many slashes at America’s founding document. Sooner rather than later, New Yorkers will get sick of picking up the pieces. Begin with populist Occupy protests, mix in a violent police force and pepper the product in Constitution confetti. Look out.

Ryan Griggs is a contributing columnist. Email him at opinion@nyunews.com.

PriVaCy

nyunEWS.com | monday, fEBruary 13, 2012 | WaShington SquarE nEWS 7

Email the WSN Editorial Board at editboard@nyunews.com.

Editorial Board: olivia gonzalez (chair), atticus Brigham (co-chair), chris dinardo, Emily franklin, Sanchay Jain,

matt Kao, Ben miller and peter murphy.

Army whistleblower deserves Nobel Peace PrizeBy CHris DinarDo

Last week, an Icelandic parliamen-tary group nominated Private First Class Bradley Manning for the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. Manning gained notoriety for his alleged role in leak-ing thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan war documents and 250,000 State De-partment diplomatic cables to whistle-blower non-profit website WikiLeaks. Currently awaiting a court martial, Manning’s court charges include aiding the enemy, a capital offense.

A substantial majority of the pub-lic says they hope Manning, if found guilty, rots in a prison cell until the day he dies. Some political commentators have urged for his execution. But if Manning happens to be guilty of these allegations, not only does he deserve commendation from the public at large, but the Nobel Prize as well.

If he did what the government has alleged, he is a hero. The courage it took — despite strict military rules against dissemination of secret infor-mation — to release information he felt was critical for the American peo-ple to know is colossal. And Manning has bravely faced the consequences, however unjust. He has been impris-oned for almost two years in deplor-able conditions without charges. The perfunctory watchdog media has de-fended the government and allowed him to be hung in the court of public opinion, calling him a traitor before he has even had the chance to stand trial. In breaking the law, he exposed the law-breaking of an entire govern-

ment establishment. Not only is this justified, it’s patriotic.

The information unveiled by these leaks is momentous. The diplomatic ca-bles got the most attention, mainly be-cause of the embarrassment of what was revealed. The American people learned of an escalating secret drone campaign in Yemen, Pakistan and Somalia. We learned about American hypocrisy as we aided a Pakistani military fueling the Taliban’s insurgency in Afghani-stan. We learned of American support for illegitimate despots throughout the region. Newfound knowledge in the international community about cor-ruption by these despots helped spark the Arab Spring, especially in Tunisia, egypt, Bahrain and Libya. So which promoted more democracy? Manning’s leaks or Operation Iraqi Freedom?

Both the Afghanistan documents and Iraq War logs showed us how bleak the outlook is for American troops in the region, even after a de-cade of fighting. They taught us how military officials had lied about ris-ing sectarian violence in Iraq, which led to the surge in troops and deaths. Those military officials also turned a blind eye to reports of rape, torture and murder by Iraqi soldiers. Most importantly, the documents detailed the actual amount of innocent civil-ians killed since the war’s inception — an average of 31 civilian deaths per day in Iraq, thousands less than the U.S. previously reported. This slaughter of civilians is one of the chief sources of terrorism against America by the Muslim world.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Barack Obama has been initiating and over-seeing this offensive foreign policy. But members of his cabinet have declared that Manning is the one with blood on his hands. Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black?

As president, Obama has publicly lauded transparency, stating, “Open-ness will strengthen our democracy.” In actuality, his administration has engaged in an unprecedented war on whistleblowers, pursuing more espionage Act prosecutions than all other administrations combined. These attacks on transparency would then lead to the continuation of systemic and profitable abuse and fraud in our military, financial and political sectors. Obama’s statement is correct. Having the government operate in secret does subvert our democracy as it disables us from adequately judging it on the proper merits. If we knew more about what government officials were doing be-hind a veil of secrecy, term limits would be unnecessary and the per-petrators would simply be voted out of office.

By bringing to light abuses that the American people have a right to know about, Manning is a hero. Whistleblowers like him are to be lauded, not damned; protected rather than hunted. We should give the man a medal to hang around his neck. Not a noose.

Chris DiNardo is a columnist. Email him at opinion@nyunews.com.

goVernment

Less than two years ago, only 18 percent of New Yorkers thought the state was head-ed in the right direction. Now, 52 percent of those surveyed approve of the direction the state is headed. This approval rating, while unseen in over a decade, is not nec-essarily the result of a job well done.

Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has a fa-vorable reputation among 76 percent of voters, has shown hints of decisiveness by fulfilling his campaign promises. He has been effective in balancing the bud-get, restructuring the tax code and legal-izing same-sex marriage in the state. In light of Congress’ lackluster approval rat-ing and inability to handle key economic issues, Cuomo’s performance is especial-ly impressive. New Yorkers, a group not typically known for their optimism, are hopeful for the state’s future.

But Cuomo’s popularity may be more a result of the context in which he came to power than any exceptional legislation he has supported. Disgraced former governor eliot Spitzer provided more benefits to tabloids than to voters. His replacement, David Paterson, never provided a comfort-ing presence to New Yorkers. The recent memory of Weinergate and the resulting humiliation brought upon the state re-mains fresh in the minds of New Yorkers.

In contrast, Cuomo has drawn posi-tive press nationwide. Such enthusiasm should be tempered with the acknowl-edgment that Cuomo is still in what CAS politics professor Steven Brams terms the honeymoon period. While Cuomo has not had the opportunity to succeed in many exceptional ways, his short time in office has not provided the opportuni-ty to sabotage his political career either. Let us not confuse competence with ex-cellence. Cuomo is representative of what government should be. Nothing less and nothing more.

8 WaShington SquarE nEWS | monday, fEBruary 13, 2012 | nyunEWS.com

Classified adfashion Brand reps Wanted! Promote a leading fashion retailer by hosting events on campus!

email sofial@mryouth.com

features EditEd By JessiCa littmanfEaturES@nyunEWS.com

Maximilíano Durón is a staff writer. Email him at mduron@nyunews.com.

By maximilíano DUrón

1. Sunset walkTake a walk through the West Village down Christopher Street toward West Avenue with that special someone. The walk is relaxing, quiet and enjoyable, especially while hold-ing hands with your valentine. This path takes you a block south of the Hudson River Park. Stay to watch the sunset over the water — a romantic way to start the evening.

2. An off-the-beaten-track restaurant Instead of going to a busy restaurant, offering a sweet deal for Valentine’s Day and requiring a reservation months in advance, go to a unique res-taurant in the city offering good food and a special atmosphere. As restau-rants with special deals may be crowded and noisy with slow service, try something adventurous like Ippudo in the east Village.

3. Bake together If you don’t feel like braving the cold weather on Feb. 14, stay in and make a meal together. Follow that meal with a delectable dessert. Try baking cookies from scratch. Starting a playful fight with the flour is also a cute way to flirt.

4. Watch the stars While the night sky in the woods can be one of the most beautiful things to see, spotting the stars in the city might be one of the most difficult things to do. Instead, go to the Hayden Planetarium in Central Park and watch a show before dinner. Try going around 5 p.m. At $19, stargazing can be a fun alternative to the traditional Valentine’s Day events.

5. Live music Go to a club or coffee house and listen to good live mu-

sic. An indie music vibe will put you in a mood that will let you concentrate on your date and enjoy the night. Lis-tening to jazz music is romantic and casual, which can make the date all the more special.

Valentine’s day ventures

If you have a valentine: Valentine’s Day is right around the corner. Before your plans are set in stone for the big night, here are some tips to spend a perfect night of romance with your valentine.

If you don’t: Valentine’s Day is no longer just for lovers. It may be one of the most romantic days of the year, but you don’t need to be in a couple to have fun.

all photoS via flicKr

1. DanceThis may sound overrated, but it really is the best way to forget about a past relationship or your re-lationship status. Go out with a few close friends and dress up, spend the entire night dancing, ne-glect any negativity and make a night out of it.

2. Cleanse Have a relationship cleanse with friends. Throw away things from past rela-tionships that cause clutter. Try to do it safely, without burning them. It can be a fun way to remove any lingering attachments to your previous partner. If it worked for the girls on “Friends,” it should work for you, too.

3. Fashion Week As New York Fashion Week rages on, try to be around some of the country’s best designers by taking the subway up to Lincoln Center. While shows are invite only, the atmosphere is still amazing. Spot some celebrity fashionistas and ob-serve what’s new in fashion to help plan your fall wardrobe and make your spring clothes exciting. A new look may help snag a date for next year.

4. Slumber partyMake it a fun friends’ night by hanging out in your pajamas. Play a game like Taboo is entertaining and even a little silly. Share your darkest secrets and indulge in yummy treats. experience the pres-ence of the people you know best and who care about you.

5. Movie nightWith the Academy Awards at the end of Febru-ary, catch up on these nominated movies. Make popcorn and watch a top film like “The Tree of Life” or “The Artist.” Be productive this Valen-tine’s Day by being informed about the nominees for Hollywood’s biggest night. This is also a great way to get the edge on an Oscars pool.