BY YELENA DZHANOVAOPINIONS EDITOR

Peers Advocating Wellness Services, a group of students who belong to T.E.A.M. Baruch and work in Health & Wellness, has set up de-stress events throughout the semester to help overwhelmed Baruch students.

Th e fi rst event, entitled DIY Stress Balls, was hosted by Tina Rose Ech-everria, a sophomore and member of P.A.W.S. Th e event took place dur-ing club hours on Oct. 25 in the Bearcat Den. Th e de-stress station in the Den had been plastered with balloons, fl our and funnels. As students ap-proached the table, Echeverria instructed them to take a balloon and scoop fl our into it through the funnel. She urged the students to knead the fl our into the balloon to avoid clumps.

STORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

P.A.W.S. aids overwhelmed Baruch students with de-stress events

AGATA PONIATOWSKI | THE TICKER

BY PAUL JOHBUSINESS EDITOR

Small business owners in the Flatiron District were invited to Baruch College’s William and Anita Newman Conference Center on Tuesday, Oct. 25, to attend the 2016 Business Assistance Forum. Represented at the morning’s event were locals from creative industries, educational organizations and marketing fi rms, along with representatives from several other industries.

Th e Business Assistance Forum is one of many events hosted by the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership Business Improvement District. Since 2006, the BID has focused on improving the Flatiron District community and its reputation through neighborhood events and area improvement projects. Th e organization’s main programs focus on areas such as marketing, public improvements, public safety, sanitation and social services.

STORY CONTINUED ON PAGE 3

@baruchtickerBaruchTicker

theticker.org

VOLUME 110 • ISSUE 7 OCTOBER 31, 2016BARUCH COLLEGE’S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER

Lady Gaga has released her fi fth studio album Joanne which veers from genres of dance-rock to country music. Joanne contin-ues the singer’s

stripped-down approach to mu-sic that she undertook during the time she released Artpop.

ARTS & STYLE 9Lady Gaga releases best work yet with Joanne (p. 9)

New research has revealed that people who suff er from migraines pos-sess more mi-crobes with the strength to alter nitrates. Th is

fi nding supports the theory that there is a correlation between what people eat and migraine episodes.

SCIENCE & TECH 11Microbes correlate with migraine suff erers (p. 12)

Th e Chicago Cubs return to the big game for the fi rst time since 1945, thanks to a dominant bull-pen that carried the team de-

spite many key injuries. Standing in their way is the Cleveland In-dians, as skipper Terry Francona looks to extend on his legendary coaching career.

SPORTS 14Cubs end World Series drought (p. 14)

Despite a slow year for M&A activity, AT&T announced one of the largest deals in the telecommuni-cation indus-try’s history af-ter agreeing to

acquire Time Warner Cable. Th e merger will have trouble gaining approval from Washington.

BUSINESS 7AT&T agrees to acquire TWC for $85 billion (p. 7)

Business Assistance Forum helps small businessesRolling Stone is on trial for having shame-fully published an inaccurate story about a student's rape. While it is un-derstandable

that the magazine has committed a blunder, it is part of the job to ensure accuracy and to be more cautious about false allegations.

OPINIONS 4False story leads to criticism of Rolling Stone (p. 4)

CONNOR HENCHEY | THE TICKER

The Business Assistance Forum was hosted by the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership Business Improvement District. Sabrina Kizzie, pictured above, was the keynote speaker.

The Health & Wellness Center and P.A.W.S. are working to reduce stress caused by studying for midterms and fi nals by advising students on ways to relieve stress.

BY OMER SEMANSENIOR STAFF WRITER

On a bittersweet evening across Baruch’s campus, the women’s volley-ball team held Senior Night in a packed Athletics and Recreation Center. Co-captains Akilah “Kiki” Meulens, Alessandra “Ally” Chavez and Marisa Bou were embraced by family members and teammates prior to their fi -nal home game.

Head coach Carrie Th omas began the pre-game ceremony with praise for each player’s analytical mind, devotion to the team and lovable spirit. She touched on their paths to Baruch and the precious moments shared in her offi ce. Fellow Lady Bearcats presented each senior with a signed scrapbook fi lled with memories of seasons past and a bouquet of fl owers.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

Lady Bearcats celebrate senior captains before final home game

PAGE 2 I THE TICKER NEWS OCTOBER 31, 2016

P.A.W.S. helps students de-stress through eventsCONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE

When asked how this idea came into her head, Echeverria said that one of the stress balls in the P.A.W.S. offi ce inspired her.

“I had these types of ideas be-fore but this one came about be-cause we had [a stress ball] in the offi ce already and it broke so we just thought, ‘Hey, why not make a new one?’”

In the end, the station attracted crowds of students who wanted to partake in the activity.

“Some people got really into it. One girl’s ball ended up being huge. Th e ball gives, but not too much, which is nice. It’s a great way to physically expel the stress onto an inanimate object,” Ech-everria added.

Julie Bien-Aine, a freshman at Baruch, indicated that making her own stress ball proved useful.

“I liked making the stress ball because at work, I deal with frus-trating customers. Th ey’re just up-set by the price. I work at a Dollar Tree, so everything is a dollar. Th e customers will get ten items and they’ll ask why it comes out to $10.52,” said Bien-Aine.

Bien-Aine mentioned that she feels as though the workload at school is starting to pile up and, at times, it can become too much to handle.

Stress, especially at Baruch, mostly accumulates around the middle and end of each semester, especially since midterms and fi -nals can generate or add onto ex-isting mental pressure. P.A.W.S. re-volves around alleviating stressful scenarios for students who need help and guiding students to fi nd ways to relieve stress on their own. A student may want to discuss op-tions for time management or re-ceive relationship advice.

Stress can easily lead to the de-

velopment of other physical and mental health problems. Services off ered by the Health & Wellness Center and by P.A.W.S. representa-tives can help students reduce un-necessary stress and channel it into something more soothing, such as a stress ball.

Midterms and fi nals motivate the members of P.A.W.S. to cre-ate and host events in which stu-dents can directly participate and learn about dealing with and han-dling patterns of stress. Most of the stress-relieving events occur around this time of the year.

Bien-Aine said that when it comes to combatting stress, she enjoys listening to music and read-

ing. Echeverria has a similar strate-gy that requires her to enter anoth-er world and suspend the stressful factors that await her in reality.

“I de-stress by remembering to make time for myself. I’m not a ma-chine, I can’t keep going and going without a break. I like to read as an escapism or go to events around the city. Last week I took a break from accounting and went to a Halloween dog parade which was amazing,” said Bien-Aine.

Jennifer DiRusso, a senior and P.A.W.S. representative, disclosed that her personal strategy to al-leviate stress primarily consists of scrolling through various dog pag-es on social media. Th e Facebook

page titled Old Friends Senior Dog Sanctuary is her favorite to browse.

In October, P.A.W.S. represen-tatives held two more events to ease overworked students. DiRus-so held 10 Ways to De-Stress and Teamare Gaston, another P.A.W.S. representative, hosted Tea Bar with Teamare.

Echeverria mentioned that there will be other events focused on reducing or eliminating stress.

A free yoga session will be off ered in the game room ev-ery Th ursday during club hours. P.A.W.S. also plans to hold a health fair and give free massages to students around fi nals week in December.

Lehman College recently re-ceived a $5.7 million grant for its science, technology, engineer-ing and mathematics initiative. Th e fi ve-year grant from the U.S. Department of Education was awarded to Lehman for the college’s Pathways to STEM Stu-dent Success program. Th e pro-gram seeks to increase enroll-ment, graduation rates and re-tention of STEM material across Bronx Community College, Hostos Community College and Lehman College. Students in the program will be better able to pursue a STEM degree as they partake in activities designed to build their cultural, intellectual and social skills.

_______________________

In the wake of John Jay Col-lege of Criminal Justice Presi-dent Jeremy Travis’s decision to step down next summer, CUNY Chancellor James B. Milliken issued a statement. “I am pro-foundly grateful for his exem-plary leadership and I know he will accomplish more before he departs.” said Milliken of Tra-vis, who has served as John Jay’s president for 13 years. While a search for a new president will soon be underway, Travis has promised to stay involved in the CUNY system following his resignation.

________________________

City College’s Undergradu-ate Student Government re-cently welcomed approximately 200 guests from the Harlem community to Harlemween, a safe Halloween event targeted at children. Th e event, which took place on Oct. 28, featured candy, games and music. Th e North Academic Center Ball-room served as a venue for the festivities, which were haunted carnival-themed. According to Maria Santana, a City College USG senator, Harlemween is a way “to give back and help the community because USG is al-ways trying to help create a safe environment where we can have people feel comfortable and welcome at all times.”

________________________

Kingsborough Community College was awarded a $20,000 grant by the Northfi eld Bank Foundation, an organization that has provided scholarship opportunities for students in need since 2010. Th e grant will be used to provide $500 schol-arships to 40 deserving Kings-borough students. Recipients of the grant must be residents of either Staten Island or Brook-lyn, have a good academic standing and pass a review pro-cess. Recipients are expected to use the grant money to stay in school and achieve their educa-tional goals.

________________________

Th e College of Staten Island’s Small Business Development Center has been re-accredited for its role in serving the Staten Island community, according to a letter by New York SBDC State Director James L. King. CSI’s SBDC provides assistance, one-on-one business counsel-ing, resources and training to individuals wishing to start their own businesses. Th e accredita-tion qualifi es the SBDC to apply for federal funds from the Offi ce of Small Business Development Centers. Since its creation in 1993, CSI’s SBDC has worked di-rectly with 7,850 businesses and created or saved 5,100 jobs.

COMPILED BY JONATHAN SPERLING

N e w s B r i e f sN e w s B r i e f s

LGBT History Month events close with Fright Night

BIANCA MONTEIRO| THE TICKER

Stress during midterms and fi nals can result in the development of physical and mental health problems if not treated.

BY VICTORIA MERLINOSCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

LGBT History Month came to a close on Oct. 27 with the cel-ebration of the ninth annual Fright Night dance party. Th e event was co-sponsored by Th e Gender, Love and Sexuality Spectrum of Baruch College and the Undergraduate Stu-dent Government, among others.

Th e Multipurpose Room was transformed for the occasion with Halloween themed decorations, dim lighting and fog fl ooding the room.

Students were able to enjoy each other’s company as they danced and chatted to a wide se-lection of popular songs and re-mixes. Attendees were able to pick up glow sticks, which served as easily-seen accessories throughout the darkened room.

Th ere was a spread of food out-side of the Multipurpose Room, in-cluding chicken, quesadillas, and chips with guacamole. However, the candy table was the biggest success, with a buff et of items that included gummy bears, lollipops, pepper-mint patties and rock candy. Stu-dents were able to scoop their se-lections into plastic bags left on the table. Freshly made cotton candy and popcorn were also served.

Gabe Roman, the president of G.L.A.S.S., explained why Fright Night serves as LGBT History Month’s closing ceremony.

“LGBT History Month has a lot of heavy topics. We defi nitely cover a lot of the bad that has happened to the community and why certain people aren’t accepted and coming out which is another hard time,” Ro-man said. “On Halloween you can be anyone who you want to be and you can express your true self with-out being judged and so we think

it’s the perfect closing ceremony.”Kayla Maryles, assistant direc-

tor of New Student Programs and advisor to G.L.A.S.S., agreed with Roman’s assessment of Fright Night as the perfect closing ceremony to LGBT History Month.

“Fright Night ... is a big Hal-loween party to celebrate not only the essence of Halloween but also to just [have students] express [themselves] and dress up and be whoever [they] want to be and em-brace being [themselves] in the mo-ment and that’s what LGBT History Month is about too,” Maryles said.

Students were encouraged to dress up in costumes, with the event’s theme being “Fairytale Vil-lains.” Th e student with the best costume of the night was awarded a gift card.

Th ough Fright Night signaled the

end of LGBT History Month at Ba-ruch, the month’s eff ects will con-tinue to last as the college moves into November.

“LGBT History Month has had a tremendous impact on the commu-nity at Baruch from the top down when it comes to just bringing the LGBT community to the forefront of the [Baruch] community and [rais-ing awareness] and talking about the issues [that are] going on and knowing that there are students, faculty and staff here at the college who are part of that community,” said Maryles.

Roman noted that this year’s LGBT History Month marked the most “new faces” they have seen at any LGBT History Month event that took place in the past four years.

“To me that’s really special, be-cuse that means our message is get-

ting out there and that people feel invited and welcome,” Roman said.

In the coming months, G.L.A.S.S. will continue to host activities and events surrounding LGBT issues. Th e club plans to create a quilt in the same vein of the AIDS Memo-rial Quilt. Established in 1987, the AIDS Memorial Quilt was created by a group of people who wanted to create a memorial for those who had died of AIDS.

Roman explained that in order to modernize the concept, G.L.A.S.S. will have students write “diff er-ent messages of love” on pieces of quilt and then assemble it together. Th ere will also be an event centered on the term “bury your gays,” a me-dia trope in which gay characters are consistently killed for shock val-ue. Th e event will discuss the debate surrounding its validity.

The ninth annual Fright Night included candy, costumes, food and music in celebration of Halloween and the end of LGBT History Month

AGATA PONIATOWSKI | THE TICKER

Roman stands outside the Multipurpose Room wearing a panda costume during LGBT History Month's Fright Night.

BY JONATHAN SPERLINGNEWS EDITOR

When Vlad Bahdzel and Firuz Vahobov transferred to Baruch College, the two fi nance majors sought a club that could satisfy their love for outdoor activities.

Bahdzel recalls becoming a part of Absolute Adrenaline two years ago after attending his fi rst general interest meeting and paintball event. He noted that these were the only two events the club off ered throughout the entire academic year.

Absolute Adrenaline was founded by Peter Lee in 2011 and boasted several diff erent outdoor activities. However, these events eventually became few and far between.

“I found that this happened because most of the e-board members of Absolute Adrenaline, including the founder, graduated right before I came to Baruch and new e-board didn't have a smooth transition,” said Bahdzel. “One se-mester after, Absolute Adrenaline was trying to restructure itself. However, the attempt was unsuc-cessful and there were no events organized.”

At the beginning of this year, Bahdzel took over as Absolute Adrenaline’s president and was forced to start it over from scratch. According to Bahdzel, the club’s inactivity made it so that new Ba-ruch students were not aware of the club’s existence. Bahdzel be-gan by fi nding students who were interested in joining the club’s ex-ecutive board, including Vahobov, who currently serves as treasurer.

“Absolute Adrenaline gives stu-dents a chance to socialize and adapt to school through some outdoor events and getting fresh air,” said Vahobov, who transferred from Kingsborough Community

College. “It is mostly focused on keeping students healthy and free of stress from school, and not let-ting them feel bored at school.”

Since March, the club’s new ex-ecutive board has made it its mis-sion to organize a wide array of in-door and outdoor activities, while also promoting the club to stu-dents. It has also made it its goal to organize more on-campus events during club hours.

In order to better promote the club’s focus on an active and healthy lifestyle, Absolute Adrena-line only off ers healthy food at its events, although Bahdzel admits that, “it's much more expensive for us.” Th is practice stands in contrast to food that is typically present at events during club hours.

Th e club has since hosted a multitude of outdoor and indoor events that challenge students’ stamina and level of fi tness in safe and fun ways, including ap-ple picking, dodgeball, go-karts, hiking trips, indoor rock climb-ing, kayaking, laser tag, paint-ball, skiing, soccer tournaments, snowboarding and a trampoline

park trip.According to Vahobov and Bah-

dzel, the club’s paintball trip is eas-ily one of the most popular. On Sat-urday, Oct. 29, the club travelled to Skirmish USA in Pennsylvania for its fi fth paintball trip. For that event and other similar large-scale events, more than 100 students re-quest to attend on average.

Th e club is sometimes chal-lenged when organizing events due to safety issues brought up by the Offi ce of Student Life. De-spite this and a limited club bud-get, Absolute Adrenaline manages to make nearly all its events free or covers a signifi cant amount of what students would normally have to pay if they went alone.

“We’re planning to expand and get more of a budget so we can skip the part of charging students,” said Bahdzel. “More money in our bud-get will allow us to do more than one large-scale outdoor event.”

Looking toward the Spring semester, Absolute Adrenaline hopes to host a whitewater rafting trip as well as expand in terms of members.

Club targets thrill-seeking studentsOCTOBER 31, 2016 THE TICKER NEWS I PAGE 3

PHOTO COURTESY OF ABSOLUTE ADRENALINE

Members of Absolute Adrenaline play games during one of the club's indoor events.

OpinionsOpinions

CUNY students have been invited to help facilitate the electoral process as poll workers at various poll sites across New York City. As compensation, they will receive $100 for roughly six hours of work on Election Day.

New York City residents who have been selected as regular poll workers to work the longer shifts, which last from 5 a.m. until after the last voter leaves, get a larger compensation. People selected to work as poll workers must be registered as either a democrat or a republican.

Election Day is a highly revered day, especially during this election cycle. It is regarded as a day on which citizens can exercise their con-stitutional right and directly participate in the election of their govern-ment representatives. Th e presidential election rallies the highest voter turnout due to the fact that the president is the most important fi gure in government and politics.

Despite the commotion that both the press and the public generate over the election cycle—especially every four years when the president is elected—Election Day seems to be a quiet celebration. In the United States, Election Day is not considered a national holiday, which means that it does not warrant an offi cial day off from work and school.

Public institutions need to consider the importance of establishing Election Day as a national holiday. Other countries around the world already dedicate a day on the weekend to voting for prospective rep-resentatives. Th e motive behind this strategy is to provide citizens with more opportunities to go out and vote. In the United States, however, Election Day generally falls on a Tuesday. Although poll sites remain open from before dawn until dark, many citizens become discouraged from casting their votes due to inconvenience or other obligations such as work and school.

Many New York City public schools, in particular, are designated poll zones, so grade school students do not attend classes on that day. Schools and institutions within CUNY also serve as poll sites. Although a college campus is noticeably larger in size compared to a high school or elementary school campus, it is a public institution that should en-courage voting and contribute to the increase of voter turnout.

Th ere are about 500,000 students in the CUNY system, making it the most populated university system in the United States. Most of the people attending CUNY colleges are eligible to vote and elect one of the most important government offi cials who will represent the country for four years. After holding multiple voter registration rallies, it does not make sense for CUNY to hold classes that could bar students from vot-ing. If students cannot vote, their voices cannot be represented.

FROM THE EDITORIAL BOARD

CUNY students, administration require day off on Election Day

REBECCA VICENTE | THE TICKER

Rolling Stone has been slammed for publishing “A Rape on Campus,” an article

that revealed that a freshman at the University of Virginia was raped on Sept. 28, 2012. Th e astonishing pitfall to this is that Charlottesville police could not fi nd evidence of this assault.

Sabrina Erdely wrote that the freshman—who was only referred to as Jackie throughout the article—was a victim of gang rape at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house. In the article, Erdely illustrates Jackie’s horrifi c experience by explaining that Greek life has an infl uential presence on this university’s cam-pus; one-third of undergraduate students are part of a sorority or fraternity affi liated with Greek life.

University Administrator Ni-cole Eramo, declared that the report perceived Jackie as the criminal and called for $7.85 mil-lion in damage reparations. Th e article, however, recognized that Eramo seemed apathetic toward Jackie’s traumatic event. After the article went to print, Eramo, the then-associate dean of students, received numerous accounts of in-sulting emails and letters, labeling her as a “wretched rape apologist” and a “disgusting, worthless piece of trash.”

Prior to April 2015 when Roll-ing Stone properly withdrew the article, the prestigious magazine already faced a startling three law-suits. Th e $25 million lawsuit ar-

ranged by the Phi Kappa Psi frater-nity at the University of Virginia is anticipated to go to trial next year.

A judge broadcasted that Erdely was bewildered when Jackie said two other women were gang-raped by members of the same fraternity. Eramo’s attorneys declared their intention to have Jackie as a witness at the trial, even though there is a likelihood that the jury will watch a video of her testimony instead of mandating a court appearance. Jackie was mandated to answer questions regarding the allegations and case against the magazine in April, but her testimony was not released to the public. Th e jury will be prepared to analyze count-less documents and notes, email exchanges between Erdely and her interviewers and audio recordings of Erdely questioning Jackie.

Th e most stunning aspect about this controversy is that it is challenging to defend it. Th e man whom Jackie claimed to be her date that fateful night was not a University of Virginia student, and has not visited Charlottesville for six years. According to the inaccu-rate article, Jackie was reported to be a mile away from the schools’ fraternities that night. Her friends, referred to as “Andy,” “Cindy” and “Randall” who came to Jackie’s aid, additionally revealed to Th e Wash-ington Post that the Rolling Stone article does not correspond with what Jackie said to them that night. Charlottesville police conducted

an inquiry and found no proof to uphold Jackie’s claims.

Mistakes in reporting are toler-able since they can happen fre-quently. It is unjustifi able, how-ever, that Rolling Stone did not take any action to correct the error. It seemed that neither the editor nor the writer did any fact-checking for the details of the story.

Erdely only set out to ques-tion Jackie’s friends, who were the surrounding sources, rather than question Jackie, who is the pivotal source.

Rolling Stone should have been accountable and more observant of the blunders. Th is incident tests the magazine’s credibility and reli-ability. It will further damage the magazine’s future success.

Despite the negligence and the careless errors, Rolling Stone should nevertheless receive only part of the condemnation. Th e publication should not enter the trial expecting to encounter defeat. Attorneys and jurors from the trial will need to examine the case of the rape thoroughly.

Jackie, on the other hand, is defi nitely a living source who has a primary narrative to tell. Jackie deserves a voice. Th e mysteries of that night should be unraveled, and the unexplained details of this issue should be more thoroughly scrutinized.

-Maya YegorovaJournalism '20

Rolling Stone exposes its negligence

JOSEPH ESPOSITO I EDITORINCHIEFMARIA MARKOWICZ I MANAGING EDITOREDWIN MOREL I BUSINESS MANAGERKHRYSTYNA MELNYK I ADVERTISING DIRECTORMARIANA GUREVICH I ADVERTISING DIRECTORJONATHAN SPERLING I NEWS EDITORYELENA DZHANOVA I OPINIONS EDITORPAUL JOH I BUSINESS EDITORTAFANNUM RAHMAN I ARTS & STYLE EDITORVICTORIA MERLINO I SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITORMOUSTAFA ISMAIL I SPORTS EDITORREBECCA SIMON I COPY CHIEFLYNN CHAWENGWONGSA I COPY EDITORBIANCA MONTEIRO I COPY EDITORANGEL TORRES I COPY EDITORKEVIN WONG I COPY EDITORAGATA PONIATOWSKI | PHOTOGRAPHY EDITORALEXIS LUNGU I GRAPHIC DESIGNER

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The opinions expressed in this section are those of the individual writers and do not necessarily represent those of The Ticker. Authors’ names are usually published but may be withheld for compelling reasons, at the editor’s discretion.

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After a 70-year reign, King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Th ailand passed away in

what will be a trying time period for a country that has been governed by a constitutional monarchy for decades.

Although Th ailand functioned under a monarchy where Adu-lyadej was more of a ceremonial fi gure than the head of an execu-tive branch, he held a lot of power because his popularity. He was truly considered a king who was for his kingdom. He would travel frequently during his reign, engag-ing in intimate conversation with farmers, opium growers and other denizens. An aff able ruler, Aduly-adej’s great infl uence drew largely from his popularity among royal-ists in Th ailand’s government, who supported the monarchy.

During the time of Adulyadej’s rule, he stopped a few coups ef-fortlessly, living up to the meaning of his fi rst name, “strength of the land.” Aside from the coups, Aduly-

adej was a well-educated man. Af-ter being crowned at 18, the young king continued his studies on law and political science in Switzer-land. He also had a host of other in-teresting hobbies such as yacht rac-ing and music and had extensive knowledge of Buddhist philosophy and dam construction.

Following the death of the in-spiring monarch, the country has been left holding its breath as to what will happen to its existing government. Th e heir to the throne, Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, re-fl ects none of his father’s charac-teristics and integrity.

Even though Th ailand has strong laws that limit negative talk about the royal family, Vajiralong-korn is widely regarded as a play-boy without political interests. In an alarming and capricious move, the prince gave his pet poodle the title of an air chief marshal in the Th ai military. Th is itself speaks to the kind of man who is soon ex-pected to take the throne.

Vajiralongkorn also has none of his father’s charisma, seemingly resorting to the use of fear and vio-lent intimidation to elevate his po-sition and increase power. In recent months, he spent his time purging the government of offi cials that his father set up. He is known as a dis-gusting womanizer with a taste for extravagance and self-indulgence. Vajiralongkorn has even gone as far as to strip several of his own chil-dren of their titles and names, forc-ing them to live in exile.

Th e direction Th ailand will go in is still to be decided. However, one thing is certain—Th ailand will soon fi nd itself in deep water under the rule of Vajiralongkorn. He is about to be handed a title that will only give him more power than a care-less man can handle. Hopefully, the worst he will do with the coun-try is give out more high-ranking titles to his pets.

-Angel TorresActuarial Science '18

King's death leaves Th ailand near ruin

The TickerOne Bernard Baruch WaySuite 3-290New York, NY 10010(646) 312-4710

Volume 110, Issue 7Established 1932 | © The Ticker 2016

Walmart went under fi re last week for selling a makeup kit that pro-moted suicidal scars on its online store. A photo accompanying the la-tex kit showed a model holding a bloodied razor blade over two diago-nal cuts on his or her wrist. Walmart eventually took the product down after receiving a wave of complaints on social media.

Th e insensitivity of costume and makeup creators during the Hal-loween season often extends beyond the realm of self-harm. Blackface, a form of makeup that is historically known to have contributed to the racial stereotyping of black people, is still used by some during Halloween.

Th is year the University of Massachusetts Amherst displayed post-ers around its residence hall, warning students to avoid dressing up as Native Americans. Students were also prompted to avoid wearing other costumes that are considered to be forms of cultural appropriation.

With a wide array of non-off ensive yet intricate costume choices available, there is no reason that people should be resorting to insensi-tive, racist and antiquated costumes or makeup. Before dressing up this year, people should take the time to consider whether or not their cos-tume is a misrepresentation of someone else’s identity or experience.

Costumes need to respect cultures

The publication printed a factually inaccurate rape story, a blunder that demonstrates its carelessness

PAGE 4 I THE TICKER OPINIONS OCTOBER 31, 2016

THE TICKER OPINIONS I PAGE 5OCTOBER 31, 2016

The third and fi nal presiden-tial debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton

took place on Oct. 19. Th e debate went as well as one could expect, as the main takeaway seems to be the fact that Trump called Clinton a “nasty woman,” which depicts how far U.S. citizens have fallen for allowing this absurdity to continue.

Th is behavior has established the lowest bar for acuity and pro-fessionalism within the current presidential election. Clinton is not innocent either, having inter-rupted and attempted to overtake moderator Chris Wallace's feeble attempts at creating some sem-blance of order.

Coming off of the heels of the fi rst two abysmal debates, Trump managed to be outdone by the for-mer secretary of state in terms of policy expertise.

Looking at his behavior in pre-vious debates, his conduct in this debate seemed almost like an improvement. "Almost" is the op-erative word here, seeing as every platitude that could have been covered seems to have been trod into the ground.

Nothing new was said during the debate, so it has unfortunately been left to the voters to try and fi gure out what happened up on that podium in Las Vegas.

Interestingly, the candidates’

foreign policy positions seem to have been the highlight of the night, especially with the men-tion of Russia's "so-not-a-dictator" President Vladimir Putin, whose spare time seems to be devoted to hacking servers and doing photo-ops with what one can only as-sume is a very confused horse.

Clinton publicly accused Trump on stage of being a pup-pet to the Russian oligarch, a claim which is not really that incredu-lous considering there is audio and video of him praising Putin on nu-merous occasions, especially dur-ing his campaign.

It is not unlikely that Trump is a puppet of Putin, although, con-sidering his campaign history, it seems awfully likely that if he is a potential pawn of Putin, he does not seem to have the capacity to realize it.

It is similar to when someone tells a young boy that he can take a bath he does not want to take either before or after dinner; it is an illusion of choice granted by a much more powerful entity.

Trump's response to this, how-ever, could only have been ex-pected at this point. He accused Clinton of being a puppet herself, a claim which probably made Pu-tin chuckle if he had been watch-ing. It is also a grand summation of the man's campaign, which has consisted thus far of baseless ac-cusations spoken at a volume that disrupts the migration of birds.

Whether it comes down to poor working conditions for jobless U.S. citizens, disastrous propagandistic rhetoric or even consistent accu-sations of sexual assault, the mes-sage is clear for Trump.

It is never his fault, it is always "their fault," they being whoever he decides to attack at the moment. Th e only diff erence is whether the time of day calls for his shouting

to take the form of racism, victim-shaming or outright stupidity.

Clinton, similarly, though prob-ably not the satellite of a terrible dictator, would very likely mean the continuation of problematic foreign policies that became a thunderstorm in the Obama ad-ministration.

Th is includes her poor form of interventionism that only serves to further destabilize already-fal-tering states. It also includes a very possible continuation of the drone war that kills civilians as well as preordained targets, and what may be a prolonged standstill with Rus-sia's attempts to return to its for-mer glory.

While there are aspects of Obama's foreign policy that could be expanded upon, such as his outspoken desire not to freeze "enemy" states out, but to open talks and relations, a Republican majority in Congress may put a halt to that.

Th ese are potentially tumultu-ous years ahead. While Trump's numbers have been falling faster than lemmings off of a cliff , his very entrance into the race has opened the fl oodgates for an equally radi-cal and dangerous candidate to enter the fray in four years.

Th e decision for the next presi-dent is up in the air, whether it ends up being that snake Ted Cruz or the current Republican leader Paul Ryan, but it is something to deeply consider and take serious-ly. Come November, Trump's dis-gusting excuse of a campaign will need to be shut down fast or it will lead to terrible consequences.

It is not just because his toxicity has seeped into the country’s peo-ple like an illness, nor because he is a bigot in numberless ways. It is because U.S. citizens need to prove that they are better than such a ru-inous monster.

Canadian border needs more attentionInstead of obsessively patrolling the Southern border, agents should focus on smugglers up north

Since the construction of the Newman Vertical Campus in 2001, Baruch College has

been steadily, albeit slowly, im-proving the infrastructure of the entire campus. Th ese improve-ments fall into two categories: the seen and unseen.

Of the more noticeable im-provements, the 25th Street Plaza exemplifi es projects of which stu-dents and faculty members alike are consciously aware. Other proj-ects are done in the background and rarely get the appreciation or recognition that they deserve. Th e Plaza remains one of the most eye-catching infrastructural install-ments. Th e daily maintenance of the facilities is a great example of the types of projects that are run in the background yet are imperative for the school’s functionality.

Considering that the NVC is much more modern than its coun-terpart, the 23rd Street Building, it comes as no surprise that the 23rd Street Building is the main source of grievances regarding infrastruc-ture. Th e wireless infrastructure, or lack thereof, is an area that needs major improvement. Students are constantly late to class because they believe that they can quick-ly pull up documents for class on their laptops, only to later re-alize that they need to go to the library and print it since there is hardly any wireless internet. Th is also forces students who are en-vironmentally conscious to print excess paper.

Th e elevators are notorious for breaking down and leave many wondering when this problem will fi nally be fi xed. If one took the stairs, he or she would see cracked paint and exposed building mate-rials. Another aspect that seems to need perpetual repair is the build-

ing’s water fountains. All of these infrastructural concerns fall under the concern of Campus Opera-tions, a department that appears to be underfunded.

Th is is not to say that the more modern building is perfect, as it too has issues that need to be addressed. In the NVC, a major eyesore is the never-ending graf-fi ti that exists in the stairwells and bathrooms. Campus Operations should learn from the New York City Department of Parks and Rec-reation, which mandates that all graffi ti is to be removed within 24 hours of it being reported. How many days and weeks does one need to see the same expletive or sticker before it starts to aff ect his or her quality of life or academic performance?

Lastly, the library is a wonder-ful resource for students to use to succeed in their academic pur-suits. However, there are some aspects that can be fi xed to better assist students. Implementing a station with more laptop kiosks will help students spend less time waiting in line and more time fo-cused on their work.

Perhaps one day administra-tion will create a sky bridge con-necting the NVC to the library, which will create a seamless way of traveling back and forth be-tween buildings. Ultimately, by in-vesting in infrastructural projects, students will have an environment that is much more conducive to learning. Th is in turn will lead to greater success in life, which will help future generations of stu-dents by creating alumni who are more likely to donate and support Baruch’s mission.

-Seamus KirkPolitical Science ‘18

Baruch requires repairsInfrastructure and facilities at Baruch need upgrades for students

THE POLITICKER

REUVEN GLEZER

Students should not omit local politicians

Voters will choose the next president of the United States on Nov. 8. Millions

will show up to the polls, mark their vote for commander in chief and submit their ballots. We can-not let this happen.

Th e president may seem to be the most signifi cant position to elect, but this is not actually the case, as local politicians have more of an eff ect on community development.

In New York State, you will also have the opportunity to vote for your Congress Member, State Assembly Member, State Senator and U.S. Senators. Many voters will disregard these smaller races and the total votes cast will de-crease as you move further down your ballot.

Voters cannot only cast their vote in the presidential election. It is imperative that we, as CUNY students, make it our priority to cast our votes in all of the local elections as well.

Many of the local races have such low turnouts that if all CUNY students residing in an area voted for the loser in the recent Septem-ber primary, the loser may have been the winner.

When entering the voting booth on Election Day, I urge you

all to cast your votes from the bot-tom of the page to the top. Not only does this ensure that you will vote for every position, but, in a way, it symbolizes how candidates rise in the political ranks. Many poli-ticians start at the local level and gain the experience needed to serve in a higher position.

President Barack Obama served in the Illinois State Senate for seven years before entering the race for U.S. Senate and then for the White House. In his fi rst election in 1996, he received just over 16,000 votes. In his last election in 2012, he received nearly 66 million votes.

While the voter base is a bit larger for a presidential race, he would not have been on the na-tional stage if he did not receive those initial votes in Illinois.

Although you will not see any Baruch College alumni on the na-tional stage, when you look further down your ballot you will have a chance to vote for some of your fellow Bearcats. Th ere are a total of 40 New York State legislators who are CUNY alumni, including seven Baruch graduates.

Regardless of who you vote for, I cannot stress the importance of voting enough. In the words of Su-preme Court Justice Luis Brandeis, “Th e most important political of-fi ce is that of the private citizen.” Voting is a responsibility that every citizen should cherish. Th e way we hold our politicians accountable is through the voting process. Do not give local politicians a pass.

Daniel Dornbaum is the presi-dent of USG. He can be reached at daniel.dornbaum@usgbaruch.com. His offi ce is located at 3-272 in the Newman Vertical Campus.

THE USG REPORT

DANIEL DORNBAUM

Elections reflect citizens' judgment

In recent years, plenty of at-tention has been dedicated to the southern border separat-

ing the United States and Mexico. Th e buzz surrounding the issue may be due to the problems that have emerged as a result of the border, including unskilled labor, illegal immigration and the Mexi-can drug trade.

Th ese elements have become part of popular culture. Th ey are the focus of various television shows, like Narcos, and movies, like Cartel Land. Even the Republi-can presidential nominee, Donald Trump, has proposed the idea of building a wall along the southern border as one of his major plat-form positions.

Th ere is a lot of clamor advo-cating on behalf of stricter immi-gration laws and border control, especially now that the media has turned its attention to the less-dis-cussed threat up north.

Th e Canadian border is almost three times as long as the southern border. It includes stretches of land as far and remote as Alaska and provides many more opportunities for illegal crossing than its south-ern counterpart. It is protected by a mere 2,000 Border Patrol agents, which is sparse protection when compared to the southern border’s 18,000. Th e Canadian border has much less protection in both man-power and technology.

Some may argue that this is jus-tifi ed because of the larger amount of criminals that pass between

Mexico and the United States. Last year, for example, Border Patrol agents made 300 apprehensions along the Canadian border. Along the southern border, an astonish-ing 300,000 were apprehended.

Similarly, Border Patrol seized 700 pounds of marijuana and co-caine up north, compared to 1.6 million pounds along the heavily surveilled border with Mexico.

Offi cials say that it is hard to tell how much criminal activity occurs along the Canadian border be-cause the agents lack fundamental resources.

Th e area along the Canadian border is a perfect spot for both drug smugglers and human traf-fi ckers. Th e area is sparsely popu-lated and dense with woods that serve as a cover from Border Pa-trol agents, cameras, sensors and other equipment provided by the Department of Homeland Secu-rity, which is meant to substitute for the lack of agents. Even worse, the focus on the southern border makes the Canadian border, with its much weaker protective mea-sures, more vulnerable to potential criminal or terrorist activity.

Near Detroit, Border Patrol agents said that they had arrested people in a smuggling ring oper-ated by Piotr Lisiecki, a Polish citizen who overstayed his visa. In January, Border Patrol agents arrested Cedrik Bourgault-Morin, who was pulling a 182-pound duf-fel bag at night along the border of North Troy, Vermont. Th e bag con-

tained 300 bags of Xanax, an anti-anxiety drug, which has an estimated street value of $1.6 mil-lion. In 2007, employees from the Government Accountability Of-fi ce crossed from Canada into the United States carrying a material that was meant to look radioactive as a test of U.S. border control.

Th e employees never ran into any problems with law enforce-ment. People manage to cross the border without being apprehend-ed because Border Patrol does not have enough men to stand guard.

Recently, cameras along the Canadian border showed four men dressed in camoufl age illegal-ly crossing into the United States with weapons. Th e men were nev-er caught by agents.

Th ese are just a few of the many examples of criminal activity that are blatantly present at the Canadi-an border that receive little atten-tion. Patrol agents on the northern border are simply unequipped to handle these breaches, which may put every citizen at risk.

Unfortunately, the tunnel vi-sion surrounding the southern border and its criminal activity has handicapped the ability of the United States to handle problems that arise along the Canadian border. U.S. citizens cannot con-tinue to focus on one issue as the source of all of their problems or use the southern border as a con-venient scapegoat. It is also highly problematic to simply assume that most criminal activity derives at the foot of the southern border. Citizens and authority fi gures alike have to distribute their attention and resources to this issue in a rea-sonable manner.

-Jahvon MeadowsAccounting ‘19

Even worse, the focus on the southern border makes the Canadian border, with its much weaker protective measures,

more vulnerable to potential criminal or terrorist activity.

PAGE 6 I THE TICKER OPINIONS OCTOBER 31, 2016

Food chain spotlights LGBT concerns

The National Transgender Discrimination Survey host-ed by the National Center

for Transgender Equality has ob-tained results that demonstrate the unfair diffi culties transgender people face in the professional world. Twenty-six percent of trans-gender people lose a job due to bias, 50 percent get harassed on the job, 20 percent are evicted or denied housing and 78 percent of transgender students get harassed or assaulted.

It has gotten to the point that transgender job seekers have to worry about every one of their ac-tions when applying for a job or going to an interview. Some places such as the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Offi ce of Career Ser-vices and Cooperative Education off ers guidelines to transgender people to help them fi ll out job applications. Transgender people constantly debate whether they should out themselves on a cover letter, job application or resume. Th ey wonder if they will be able to put their preferred genders on their health insurance forms or if there are career fi elds that are more welcoming than others.

Th ese are the types of ques-tions that cisgender people take for granted. For them, the questions are easy to answer because they do not have to second-guess them-selves. Transgender people, on the other hand, have to worry all the time. Luckily, many universities try to make public guidelines in order to help them out. Th ey off er tips and other sources to help job hunt-ers fi nd transgender-friendly em-ployers. Th ese sources include the Human Rights Campaign Corpo-rate Equality Index, the Transgen-der Job Bank and the Transgender Workplace Law and Diversity Blog.

Even though laws are in place to help protect the LGBT commu-nity from discrimination, the laws are not always followed. Many businesses, especially Fortune 500 companies, are intolerant of dis-crimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Th ey even send employees to the Out and Equal Workplace Sum-mit, an event hosted by the Out and Equal Workplace Advocates. Th e organization’s mission state-ment reads, “To achieve workplace equality for all regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity, ex-pression, or characteristics.”

Open-minded companies like this one are not always an option depending on where a person lives, previous work experience and schooling. Members of the LGBT community also might not know anyone who is willing to help them fi nd a job.

Michaela Mendelsohn is a busi-nesswoman, public speaker and transgender woman with over 40 years of leadership experience. She is also a member of the board for Th e Trevor Project, which gained a lot of media attention in early 2016 when a surge of donations came in after the deaths of several LGBT television show characters. It is the only national organization that provides suicide prevention services to those in crises, serving 100,000 youths every year.

So it comes as no surprise that Mendelsohn is at the forefront of a campaign to help the transgen-der community. She owns the El Pollo Loco franchise in Southern California and has been employing transgender people at the chain for years. Before she transitioned in 1988, she bought her fi rst El Pollo Loco and by the time she had transitioned in 2004, she owned

several. In 2012, she hired her fi rst trans employee, who mentioned how hard fi nding a job was. "Cur-rently, we have 8 to 10 percent of our total workforce [as] trans-gender, out of about 150 employ-ees," Mendelsohn mentioned in an interview.

At a conference of the Cali-fornia Restaurant Association, Mendelsohn and several of her colleagues talked about starting a program connecting transgender people who are looking for jobs with restaurants that are looking for workers. It has been successful, despite Mendelsohn’s initial wor-ries about customers treating her employees disrespectfully.

Hopefully this idea gains trac-tion across the country with other big cities collaborating on their own programs to help transgender people fi nd the jobs they need and deserve. It also promotes the de-velopment of strong relationships between bosses, customers and workers. With more transgender people visible in the workforce, the stigma they face may decrease as customers start seeing them as hardworking citizens rather than just transgender people.

Th is is the type of success that galvanizes a revolution. Men-delsohn and her colleagues’ small victories have helped the transgen-der community in Southern Cali-fornia, but that is just the begin-ning. Just like how Th e Trevor Proj-ect has grown since its creation in 1988, the nation’s fi rst large-scale employment program for trans-gender people in California will expand. One day, employers will not even bat an eye when a person says they are transgender.

-Jessica KrakerEnglish '18

A store manager at El Pollo Loco has employed transgender people to increase their public visibility

When a citizen steps into the voting booth on Elec-tion Day, he or she has

the same amount of power as ev-eryone else. Elections are a great equalizer in that they ensure that all citizens have a voice in deciding who gets to lead the country. Fac-tors such as ethnicity, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation and wealth fade away. Deliberately for-feiting the choice to elect govern-ing representatives is ignorant. Not voting is a direct sign of apathy.

In this pivotal presidential election, indiff erence is appall-ing. Th ere have never been two presidential candidates in history who are so diff erent. Some people may be upset that their candidate of choice did not win the primary, and voters of the two major parties have been reluctant to get behind their party’s nominee.

Yet as Election Day draws near, all citizens need to realize that this is no longer a partisan mat-ter. Members of both parties need to put their grievances aside and stand up for the candidate that best supports them and their val-ues. Th e upcoming election will determine whether the United States stays on the path it is cur-rently on or verges in a completely diff erent direction. Now is not the time for impassivity.

Th is applies tenfold to student voters, whose futures are tied to this election. Issues of college af-fordability, healthcare, the job market, social issues, social secu-rity and wars are at the forefront of both candidates’ campaigns. Th e tone of this country will be set by one of these two candidates on Inauguration Day in January and young voters are the ones who will be aff ected the most by the new

president’s decisions. By choos-ing not to vote, student voters are leaving their futures in the hands of other people, which is an ex-tremely risky move.

Yet many people feel that their vote means so little in elections. Th ey have the idea that the elec-tion is “rigged” or that their vote is insignifi cant when compared to all the other millions of voters.

Only 16 years ago, Al Gore nar-rowly lost to George W. Bush in one of the most famous elections in U.S. history. Th e results ulti-mately came down to just a few counties in Florida where every citizen’s vote proved to be critical. Imagine how diff erent this country might look today if Gore had been in offi ce in the 2000s.

When citizens decline their right to vote, they are declining to participate in deciding where their country is headed. Th ey are mak-ing a conscious choice to refuse to take responsibility for the future. All qualifi ed citizens should be strongly encouraged to take part in one of the most fundamental aspects of democracy. Even if the choice comes down to who is the lesser of two evils, it needs to be made for the sake of the genera-tions that follow, generations who do not yet have a say in the country that they will one day inherit.

Th e power will be in the citi-zens’ hands on Nov. 8, Election Day, a day during which a college student’s vote means just as much as the vote of a rich celebrity. Th e only way to ensure that this coun-try makes the right choice is if all citizens go out and make their voices heard on Election Day.

-Evan LewisPolitical Science ‘19

Student votes have major political impact

Russia deserves sanctions over Aleppo

With no end in sight for the siege of Aleppo, Syria, the United Kingdom and the

United States are now consider-ing sanctions against Russia and Syria. Th e continued bombing has left the historic city in ruins and hundreds killed. Th e West hopes this new diplomatic eff ort will help bring the war to an end.

Th e situation in Syria is com-plicated, to say the least. France, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States support the moderate rebel groups who wish to remove Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from power. However, the United States is reluctant to provide any advanced weaponry to these rebels. Th e reluctance is mainly due to their ties with ex-tremist groups.

Assad has the support of both Russia and Iran. Russian airstrikes and ground bombardments al-lowed pro-Assad forces to regain control of the western part of the city. Th e rebels, with an incredible force of 10,000 troops, hold the eastern part. However, it is impor-tant to recognize that 250,000 civil-ians are also within the city. Two of the most recent airstrikes killed at least 36 people. Staff an de Mistura, who is the United Nations special envoy to Syria, warns that the city of Aleppo will be reduced to rubble by December if nothing is done to stop the bombing.

Russia and Syria announced a temporary ceasefi re to allow hu-manitarian aid into the besieged city. Aleppo was only allowed eight hours of relief, which the United Nations estimated was not enough time to reach the rebel-held sec-tors of the city.

Th e European Union criticized Russia for vetoing a resolution that called for an end to the bomb-

ing of Aleppo. It claimed that the actions of Russia and the Assad regime have only escalated the confl ict within the region and stated that these actions amount to war crimes.

All options are on the table to stop the bloodshed, but any mili-tary action is a drastic step. Th e Obama administration has already stated that any strikes on Assad’s forces are out of the question. Sanctions are the only viable op-tion left; some have already been put in place.

According to Th e Wall Street Journal, “Th e EU has targeted more than 200 top Syrian political and military offi cials with an asset freeze and travel ban, including President Bashar al-Assad. It has also placed sanctions on sectors of the economy, including an oil em-bargo and targeted almost 70 com-panies with an asset freeze.”

Th e sanctions will create dents in people’s pockets. When, in 2014, the United States imposed sanc-tions on Russia over Russia’s ac-tions in Crimea, the Russian econ-omy shrunk by 5 percent. Th ese sanctions were not designed to push the Russians over the edge, but to give them an incentive to take a pause. An example of sanc-tions that were primarily designed to push a nation over the edge were the sanctions placed on Iran

for its nuclear program. Th e sanctions to Iran caused

enormous damage to the country’s economy. First, they caused rapid infl ation, with the Central Bank of Iran reporting an infl ation rate of 22 percent. Unemployment rates rose to 35 percent as businesses needed money to import vital raw materials and goods. Iranians saw the U.S. dollar as a safer investment than the local currency, the Iranian rial. Soon, Iranians started to de-mand dollars from banks around the country. Th e government had to place restrictions prohibiting the trade of rials for dollars.

Th is eventually led Iran to the negotiating table, which then led to the historic but controversial nuclear deal between Iran and the West. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has confi rmed that the United States has restarted com-munication with Russia and Iran, Assad’s two chief backers. Th ese talks include other major players in the Middle East, including Jor-dan and Saudi Arabia.

Th e chances that these agree-ments will end the bombings in Aleppo are slim. Sanctions take time for their eff ects to be felt and recognized. Even the sanctions that decimated Iran’s economy took time to take eff ect and push the Iranians to negotiate.

Th e situation in Aleppo is dire. Two hundred thousand civilians are caught in the crossfi re with no escape and little aid in sight. Th e United States and the Euro-pean Union need to take a more aggressive stance against Russia and Assad if any meaningful prog-ress is to be made to help the be-sieged city.

-Davon SinghDigital Marketing '18

Europe and the United States should impose an aggressive stance against Russia to stop war in Syria

The situation in Aleppo is dire. Two hundred thousand

civilians are caught in the crossfi re with no escape and

little aid in sight.

CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE

Th e program kicked off with a networking breakfast, followed by opening remarks from Presi-dent Mitchel B. Wallerstein and Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership’s Executive Director Jennifer Brown. Attendees had the opportunity to speak with representatives from government agencies such as the NYC Department of Small Business Services and U.S. Small Business Administration, as well as faculty members from the Baruch College Division of Continuing and Profes-sional Studies.

“So many small businesses see the importance of using digi-tal marketing and social media for their businesses,” said Brown. “With so many more platforms coming online, many businesses realize that it’s really critical to be using those platforms to help get customers, to advertise their prod-ucts and to advertise their services”.

Sabrina Kizzie, who is a market-ing and social media professor at Baruch College, delivered the key-note address at the event, sharing her insight in new media technolo-gies and navigational skills.

“All of your customers are not on the same social media platform,” said Kizzie. “You have to know where your target audience is and go to that social media platform.”

With more than 15 years of ex-perience in the industry, Kizzie has been recognized in numerous publications such as Crain’s New York Business and Real Estate Ex-ecutive Magazine.

In addition, she was a featured speaker at the Black Enterprise Entrepreneur Conference and the MACs Women’s Entrepreneur Summit.

Following her speech, attendees had the opportunity to participate

in one of four workshops that fo-cused on branding, digital market-ing and leadership.

“As a small business owner you have to know how to make sure that you lead people and you have to make sure you understand how to manage them. Th ey are two very diff erent things,” said Denise Patrick, who led the morning’s only leadership-focused workshop, titled “Leading and Managing People.

Patrick, who is also a communi-cation studies professor at Baruch College, focused on managers and their impact on employees. She challenged her audience to identify

the diff erence between manage-ment and leadership so that the participants could eff ectively use their infl uence not just at the work-place but in the neighborhoods outside of it.

“When you manage a social media process or you manage a strategy, you are thinking about processes,” said Patrick. “When you are leading your people to do that, you are thinking about how to in-fl uence those individuals to help you… Your managing and leader-ship doesn’t happen only in your business, it happens in your com-munities.”

In the room across from Pat-

rick’s, Jessie McGuire and Trenton Kenagy from Th oughtMatter, a de-sign and strategy studio in midtown Manhattan, held a workshop on the foundational blocks for build-ing a brand of small businesses. During the fi rst half of the session, the group discussed the history of branding and its development over the years.

Toward the end, the focus of the workshop shifted to social me-dia and the meaning of building a brand around it today.

“Don’t do social. Be social,” said McGuire, who is the executive strategy director at Th oughtMatter. McGuire and Kenagy pointed out

that “through technology the shar-ing of ideas, thoughts and messag-es has become progressively easier. But this evolution has challenged the context, relevancy and human-ity of communication.”

McGuire shared that by think-ing of social media as a conversa-tion and by understanding which platforms to use and which not to use, individuals could maintain the authentic, relevant and human art of a conversation through social media.

Concurrently, Terry Rice, a digi-tal marketing instructor at General Assembly, led his own workshop on the Fundamentals of Facebook Marketing. Facebook has estab-lished itself as one of the most powerful outlets for digital adver-tisers in the world of social media. Rice shared his experience of de-veloping profi table marketing so-lutions, as well as some of the nu-ances in Facebook marketing, so that businesses “could get passed the initial hurdle and learn how to use the platform.”

In the faculty lounge, Spider Graham, who is a professor at Ba-ruch College, discussed how busi-nesses, regardless of size and re-sources, could maximize their use of digital media channels. In his workshop, titled “Taking Down Your Marketing Goliath,” Graham, who is also the founder and CEO of Trainingcraft, engaged his audi-ence by using hands-on activities that taught business owners the power of digital marketing.

“Some of the platforms that ex-ist now that people think of more as a personal social media platform are also starting to catch on with businesses,” said Brown. “Th ey re-alize that if they want to reach that generation of people, they need to go through diff erent avenues to do it.”

BusinessBusinessBY LUIS LUCEROSTAFF WRITER

When telecommunications gi-ant AT&T Inc. acquired DirecTV last year, few could have expected that it was a sign of what was to come in the company’s future in the media.

Earlier this August, rumors sur-faced that AT&T and media con-glomerate Time Warner Cable were meeting in secret to plan out a po-tential merger. Th ese discussions fi nally came to light in mid-Octo-ber and, on Oct. 22, the two com-panies announced that they agreed to an $85.4 billion merge deal.

If approved, the merger will give AT&T signifi cant holdings in the media industry. Th is is the most re-cent attempt on Time Warner’s part to merge with another company since the failed bid from Rupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox.

“When one takes into account DirecTV and wireless customers, AT&T has grown to become one of the largest distributors of video content nationwide,” Amir Roz-wadowski, Wall Street analyst at Barclays, said.

With both DirecTV and Time Warner Cable under its belts, AT&T now stands on equal footing with competitors like Comcast, which purchased NBC Universal in 2013, and Verizon, which recently made a move to purchase Yahoo’s core assets. In the case of AT&T, the company now has direct access to some of the hottest franchises in pop culture, such as Game of Th rones and the DC Extended Universe. In many ways, this deal

could also be seen as the modern-day equivalent of the classic Hol-lywood fi lm distribution method of block booking fi lms to studio-owned movie theaters. Th is time, however, the studio is distributing its content straight to DirecTV and AT&T customers.

In the long run, both companies have a lot to gain from this merger. For Time Warner Cable, the sale will bring in more revenue. Ana-lysts believe that CEO Jeff Bewkes has been preparing the company, which comprises of Warner Bros. Pictures, HBO and CNN, among others, for a sale for quite some

time. When factoring in Time War-ner Cable’s debt, the merger will be valued at $109 billion.

On AT&T’s side, there is the aforementioned growth and in-creased media foothold. While its constant connectivity is powerful and profi table in its own right, hav-ing a major media conglomerate increases the overall value of the AT&T brand.

Another reason for the merger stems from how AT&T’s mobile customers receive media content on their phones and tablets. Even with apps like Instagram and Snap-chat being popular among smart-

phone users, people spend more time watching popular media cre-ating their own content.

Owning popular properties gives AT&T a signifi cant amount of leverage compared to other media companies. AT&T already off ers a DirecTV and Wi-Fi package and has plans to launch a streaming service called DirecTV Now. Th e merger could help bring the service running out of the gate.

Th e AT&T-Time Warner Cable merger has already been compared to both the aforementioned Com-cast-NBC merger and the recent Verizon-Yahoo merger. All three

mergers had similar goals of com-bining the operations of two com-panies into one massive communi-cation-media enterprise. Th e major diff erence is that Comcast and Ve-rizon took part in what is known as a “horizontal merger,” which hap-pens when two companies with similar businesses come together and combine operations. Th e AT&T-Time Warner Cable merger, on the other hand, is known as a “vertical merger,” which is placing two diff erent kinds of businesses under the same roof.

Nonetheless, the announce-ment and the lofty goals that both sides promise would come from it are not without its detractors. Many of the deal’s doubters look back on the infamous 2000 merger of Time Warner Cable and America Online. What was promised to be a mar-riage of two companies at the peak of the dot-com boom turned out to be a disastrous aff air that led to Time Warner Cable’s value taking a hit. AOL’s overall value was also af-fected, taking a complete nose dive and beginning the internet compa-ny’s long march to irrelevancy.

Whether or not the AT&T-Time Warner Cable merger turns out to be a repeat of the AOL Time War-ner debacle remains to be seen. Th e deal, however, is currently one of the largest in the media industry. Rumors are already fl owing that 21st Century Fox Inc. and Th e Walt Disney Company are planning to make similar deals later down the road.

Th e AT&T and Time Warner Ca-ble merger is expected to be fi nal-ized in 2017.

After holding several private meetings earlier this year, executives at AT&T and Time Warner Cable have agreed to a merger.

In conjunction with the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership, Baruch College held digital marketing workshops for business owners.

WWW.FLICKR.COM

AT&T agrees to $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner Cable

CONNOR HENCHEY | THE TICKER

Baruch invites Flatiron locals to annual Business Assistance Forum

THE TICKER BUSINESS I PAGE 7OCTOBER 31, 2016

PAGE 8 I THE TICKER BUSINESS OCTOBER 31, 2016

BY MAXIM IBADOVSENIOR STAFF WRITER

Music historians describe Ba-roque as extravagant, grandiose and over the top. Th ere is a very particular persona in the show business who embodies all of those qualities more profoundly than anyone else. Lady Gaga has been the defi nition of shocking, with both her image and music aiming to excite and provoke her audienc-es—until now.

Lady Gaga has released her fourth solo studio album Joanneon Oct. 21. Not counting her jazz collaboration with Tony Bennett in Cheek to Cheek, Joanne is Lady Gaga’s fi rst album in three years since Artpop, and the diff erence is striking.

Following her heavily overpro-duced attempt at a pseudo-artistic statement, Joanne aims for sim-plistic authenticity. Lady Gaga creates a well-focused album that uses country, folk and rock ‘n’ roll themes to dig into herself and dis-cover who she really is.

Th is is not Lady Gaga’s fi rst at-tempt to create music that is per-sonal and representative of her-self. However, prior to this album, those attempts sounded forced. Her humble lyrics about loving and accepting oneself combined with disco and poppy rhythms seemed dramatic.

Joanne is diff erent. It is named after Lady Gaga’s late aunt who the singer considers her guardian angel and biggest inspiration. Listening to the gorgeously simple and pure title cut, it feels as if Lady Gaga’s

own heartbeat is a part of the track. Lady Gaga sings, “Every part of my aching heart/ Needs you more than the angels do.” Th e singer’s love for her, the person who inspired her most, is almost palpable.

Stylistically, this is a pivotal point in Lady Gaga’s career. Th e listener realizes that with the open-ing track, “Diamond Heart,” which sets the tone for the whole album. A David Bowie-inspired unapolo-getic rock confession about being heartbroken, Lady Gaga sings, “I might not be fl awless but at least I got a diamond heart.”

Her voice in the song sounds as mature it has ever sounded. Gaga has fi nally mastered her talents and is now using them to their full potential.

Th roughout the whole album, her vocals are left unedited, which gives them an incredibly raw quali-ty, adding to the album’s authentic-ity. In “Million Reasons,” a powerful ballad about her unsteady relation-ship with actor Taylor Kinney, Lady Gaga uncovers all her pain in the most touching way. “I’ve got a hun-dred million reasons to walk away/ But baby I just need one good one to stay,” she sings.

Th e biggest surprise of the al-bum is a duet in “Hey Girl,” with Florence Welch, the vocalist of indie rock band Florence and the Machine. An epitome of female empowerment that sounds more convincing than her “Telephone” duet with Beyonce, Welch and Lady Gaga’s thrilling contraltos deliver their message with moving dignity and eff ortless sincerity. It is as if their voices were made for each

other, leaving listeners to wonder why the two have never worked to-gether before.

Despite not being a pop album, Joanne gives the impression that this is the music that Lady Gaga is most comfortable creating. A folk driven “Sinner’s Pray,” the country infused tracks “A-YO” and “Grigio Girls” and the rock ‘n’ roll sounding “Just Another Day” and “John Wayne” all provide a deep-er look into Lady Gaga’s musical background.

Nonetheless, they do not add any versatility to the album. Most tracks suff er from a lack of a dis-tinct tune. With a couple of awk-ward downbeats and unoriginal rhythms, Joanne sounds rushed and limited. A Beck-written bridge in “Dancing in Circles” is an excep-tion, as it is contagiously catchy.

Th e most distinct song on the album is the lead single titled “Perfect Illusion,” a pulsing dance break-up anthem about the dan-gers of love expectations. But even this song falls short of living up to Lady Gaga’s iconic tracks, including “Poker Face” and “Bad Romance.”

Th e most touching piece of the album is the ballad “Angel Down,” which was dedicated to Tray-von Martin. Th e lyrics are harshly critical of our society and leader-ship, but there is a light of opti-mism and hope. Lady Gaga sings, “I’m a believer it’s a trial/Mother Monster believes that it is our so-cietal responsibility to overcome this crisis.”

Th e singer’s performance is al-most a cappella. In the deluxe ver-sion of the album, there is a work

tape of “Angel Down.” Lady Gaga ends the album with nothing but her voice and her purest emotions, exposed like burned skin in the hot Florida sun.

Joanne shows Lady Gaga in a role for which she was much underappreciated—a songstress. Th is album is not the grand per-formance that is supposed to make an artistic statement. Neither is it an attempt to experiment and stray away from the sickening pop

that should have been left in the 2000s. It has been eight years since Stephani Germanotta rose to cul-tural prominence and became one of the biggest stars the world has ever seen.

As she transitions her style into a classicism-era, although far from a perfect attempt, Lady Gaga shows that she is not done just yet and that she will evolve as an artist for as long as there are genres to explore and music to write.

Arts & StyleArts & StyleOCTOBER 31, 2016 THE TICKER ARTS & STYLE I PAGE 9

Lady Gaga’s stylistic turn in Joanne is singer’s best work in years

Lady Gaga released her newest album, Joanne, on Oct. 21. The title of the album is a tribute to Gaga’s aunt who was just 19 years old when she died of lupus in 1974.

WWW.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

BY MAXIM IBADOVSENIOR STAFF WRITER

Th e nominees for the 2017 in-duction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame were announced on Oct. 18. Nineteen artists are being considered for induction, which will take place in the spring at the Barclays Center. While some per-formers are being nominated for the fi rst time, a few repeat nomi-nees have appeared on the ballot in hopes of fi nally being enshrined alongside legends like Th e Beatles, Elvis Presley and Led Zeppelin.

One of the most highly re-quested bands for induction is the San Francisco-based band Jour-ney. From 1980 to 1986, the band released some of the most iconic songs of the 1980s, including clas-sics like “Anyway You Want It,” “Separate Ways (Worlds Apart)” and one of the most downloaded songs in digital music history, “Don’t Stop Believin’.”

Journey has been eligible for induction since 2000, but the band was consistently ignored by the Hall of Fame. When it comes to the question of which members would be inducted, the Hall of Fame is primarily using the lineup that re-corded the albums Escape, Fron-

tiers and Trial By Fire.Th at lineup consists of lead

singer Steve Perry, guitarist Neal Schon, bass guitarist Ross Valory, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Jonathan Cain and drummer Steve Smith. Joining alongside them will be two of the band’s founding members, original drummer Ayn-sley Dunbar and original lead vo-calist, keyboardist and Hammond organist Gregg Rolie.

Rolie also happens to be the only member in Journey to already be in the Hall of Fame. He was inducted in 1999 for performing the same du-ties as part of Santana’s classic line-up. No members from 1998 onward will be inducted, including their current singer Arnel Pineda.

Th e biggest question of a pos-sible Journey induction involves Perry, as people are wondering whether he will perform with the band for a couple of songs or he will simply give an acceptance speech and the current lineup will perform instead, similar to Deep Purple’s induction earlier this year.

For all of Journey’s success, a group that superseded the band in terms of hits is also being nomi-nated for the fi rst time. Th e Elec-tric Light Orchestra was formed by avant-garde pop artist Roy

Wood and multi-instrumentalist and famed producer Jeff Lynne. Between 1974 and 1986, the band released 20 hit singles in the Unit-ed States, including classics like “Don’t Bring Me Down,” “Evil Woman” and “Mr. Blue Sky.”

In lieu of the band’s successful 2015 comeback album Alone In the Universe and its equally popular tour, the nomination could be seen as the apex of Lynne’s recent win-ning streak. In the grand scheme of things, especially when it comes to Lynne’s eff orts as a producer, ELO’s induction is defi nitely warranted. While the current iteration of ELO could be seen as a glorifi ed solo ef-fort, the induction will see Lynne reuniting with Wood and two of his former bandmates, keyboardist Richard Tandy and estranged origi-nal drummer Bev Bevan.

Alternative rock has dominat-ed the ballot this year; nominees for the Hall of Fame include Bad Brains, Depeche Mode and Jane’s Addiction. Pearl Jam is defi nitely the biggest nominee in this genre, with 26 years in the public eye and 60 million records sold worldwide.

If one follows the track record of nomination and induction, it is safe to say that Eddie Vedder and com-pany will defi nitely get an easy vote

into the Hall of Fame. Joining Ved-der is lead guitarist Mike McCready, rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard, bass guitarist Jeff Ament, current drummer Matt Cameron and origi-nal drummer Dave Krusen.

Tupac Shakur’s nomination is raising the most eyebrows. Th e in-clusion of rap and hip hop in the Hall of Fame has been a source of controversy, beginning with a high-ly criticized induction of Grand-master Flash in 2007. While it is daft to ignore the massive impact that Shakur has left on music and pop culture, one cannot help but feel that the Hall of Fame should hold off on inducting him for now. It needs to focus on inducting the co-pious amounts of bands and artists that have yet to even be nominated.

A few nominees from previous years have reappeared on this year’s ballot. Th eir names include the pio-neering German electronica group Kraftwerk, the American new wave band Th e Cars and the funk/disco phenomenon Chic. While some were previously nominated at least once, others have been nominated multiple times in the past decades. Of all the returning bands, one in particular has fans talking.

When it comes to progressive rock, the Hall of Fame has always turned a blind eye to the genre. As of 2016, only three progressive bands have been inducted: Gen-esis, Pink Floyd and Rush. Among the most requested bands, many of them are progressive. Names like King Crimson, Th e Moody Blues and Emerson, Lake and Palmer have popped up in discussion. One name that has been receiving a lot of fan support in the last few years was the long running progressive mainstay Yes.

Eligible for induction since 1994, the band has long been left

out of the Hall of Fame. In 2014, the band fi nally receive its fi rst nomi-nation. Unfortunately, the band lost its original bass guitarist Chris Squire to leukemia after losing its fi rst nomination. Th is year marks the band’s third nomination and, judging by the numbers in the fan poll, it looks like they might actu-ally have a strong chance of fi nally getting inducted.

As for who is getting in, the line-up in the band’s controversial 1991 album Union will be inducted. Th is includes original vocalist Jon An-derson, guitarists Steve Howe and Trevor Rabin, keyboardists Tony Kaye and Rick Wakeman, drum-mers Alan White, Bill Bruford and Squire. Similar to Journey, no band members who were part of the band after Union will be inducted.

Strangely enough, original gui-tarist Peter Banks, one time key-boardist Patrick Moraz and second lead singer and three-time band producer Trevor Horn have also been snubbed. Like Journey, there is a lot of speculation toward who will perform.

Anderson, who has lobbied long and hard for induction, has stated that he would be more than willing to put aside his frustrations with Howe to perform together on stage. Whether or not Howe will allow this remains to be seen. But Yes’ in-duction could blow the doors wide open for other progressive bands to fi nally receive the accolades they have longed deserved from the in-dustry.

Compared to previous years, this year’s nomination slate is among the most diverse and elabo-rate that the Hall of Fame has to of-fer. Fans have the ability to vote for their picks until midnight on Dec. 7. Th e inductees will be announced shortly after the poll closes.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announces nominees for induction

Tupac Shakur’s nomination is raising the most eyebrows. The inclusion of rap and hip hop in the Hall of Fame has been a source of controversy, beginning with a highly criticized induction of Grandmaster Flash in 2007. While it is daft to ignore the massive impact that Shakur has left

on music and pop culture, one cannot help but feel that the Hall of Fame should hold off on inducting him for now. It needs to focus on inducting the copious amounts of bands and artists

that have yet to even be nominated.

Hall of Fame off ers fans an opportunity to offi cially participate in the induction selection process for eligible nominees who released their fi rst recording no later than 1991

PAGE 10 I THE TICKER ARTS & STYLE OCTOBER 31, 2016

Comedic duo takes over campaign trail in new Netflix original

With such a heated political climate surrounding our current presidential race, the decision of the future commander in chief could be determined by undecided voters. At least this is what is pos-ited by the mockumentary Unde-cided: Th e Movie.

Th e fi ctional story tells of two lonely men, John and Dan, who are undecided in the election. John is disconnected from his father while Dan is disconnected from any hope of a romantic relationship. Both have a cursory understanding of politics and this is what leads the plot along.

Th e two are invited by produc-ers of a reality TV show onto an RV, where they spend a few months go-ing to various political events, try-ing to determine where to cast their votes. Th eir lack of political knowl-edge and opinions allow for hi-jinx with a wide range of political can-didates on both sides of the aisle.

Th e movie, made up of small-time actors, opened quietly to little fanfare on Netfl ix and digital release. Even so, the characters were able to make some waves. Th e movie has plenty of scenes which take place at actual political rallies and events, some of which are fol-lowed by press coverage of the two being kicked out.

John and Dan become seat-fi llers at a Jeb Bush event and com-plain to Bush himself, in the middle

of the candidate’s speech, as they had not been paid overtime. A news story shows them being kicked out for telling Donald Trump that he was boring and should start telling jokes again while at his speech.

A video was even included from the Hillary Clinton campaign’s so-cial media of the two being allowed to stay by Clinton against security guards’ wishes, their disturbance being that they had removed their shirts in support of the candidate.

Th is kind of real-life relevance gives the movie a sense of won-der, the question of “how did this actually happen?” It is the same feeling gotten from watching the “Dumb Starbucks” segment of Na-than for You and seeing the cult following the segment garnered. It is also the same refl ection of watch-ing HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver send inadequately-dressed fans to Yankees games. De-spite itself, the movie is able to be pertinent in the world.

While the movie excels at mo-ments of candidate-interrupting outbursts and real-life relevance, its dramatic narrative fails to pro-vide anything meaningful. Th e two characters are decidedly fl at, off er-ing little in the way of a persona, seeming more like members of a Saturday Night Live sketch than ac-tual human beings with any depth.

John wishes his father would accept him and his involvement in this show, but is later falsely led on to believe that his father had ap-proved. Dan likes the producer, Jen, but his social ineptitude keeps him from seeing that she does not like him. Th ese are generic motivations which are upset in the most cliche ways possible.

In the process, one of the pro-ducers decides that there needs to be more drama in the fi lm, having Jen create a divide between the two, who had started to develop a

friendship over the course of the story. Th ey split and get back to-gether in the end. Th e story has been told so many times that it feels exceedingly trite.

At some point, it is stated that they will present their opinions on TV, with the implication that their choice will be largely infl uential on viewers trying to decide for them-selves in the election.

Th e premise of these two be-ing persuasive enough to convince anyone to vote alongside them is ridiculous, but even so, the story’s use of this information goes be-yond that.

In a scene that sets the movie on its fi nal leg, one of the producers, Roger, talks on the phone with dif-ferent “investors,” telling them how he has paid off the two undecided voters which created a rift between them. Th e rift is created in order to

get the investors’ candidate an en-dorsement.

Th e idea is as ludicrous as the fact that each time he calls some-one new, he changes the baseball cap on his head from red to blue and back again, as if it were meant to be a visual indication of the party for which he was being surrepti-tiously corrupt.

Th is and the storyline that the fi lm tries to carry feel pointless and do not end up providing any satisfaction. All goes as expected and the move away from the cam-paign trail is just disappointing. Of the four characters in the fi lm, two are purely there for a been-there-done-that plot.

Th ough Roger may be an at-tempt to make a half-baked claim about dark money in presidential campaigns, Jen’s presence in the fi lm is overwhelmingly unneces-

sary. She acts as the object of Dan’s desire, providing nothing impor-tant. Th e rest of her role is seem-ingly devoted to purely looking into the camera, like Jim Halpert from Th e Offi ce.

Th e trope is an overdone main-stay of the mockumentary genre and already feels stale after so much overuse.

Undecided: Th e Movie is ulti-mately the long form of a Daily Show-style sketch surrounded by some contrived drama. While it succeeds at providing surprisingly entertaining humor in real events, the moment it enters fi ction, all en-joyment ceases.

In the fi nal weeks of the elec-tion, it provides voters a ridiculous retrospective, and an opportunity to laugh or cry when they repeated-ly hear the phrase “the next Presi-dent of the United States...”

REEL REVIEWS

BENJAMIN WALLIN

Netfl ix subscribers can now watch Undecided: The Movie, a story about two undecided voters on the campaign trail.

BIANCA MONTEIRO | THE TICKER

BY LUIS LUCEROSTAFF WRITER

Video game company Nin-tendo released their sixth home video game console, the Wii U, in 2012. While it provided some very unique gaming experiences that were not available on other platforms, the console had an incredibly diffi cult time fi nding a mainstream audience. As a re-sult, Nintendo reported several periods of fi nancial losses across the four years since the console’s debut. Rumors of a new console, codenamed NX, started to reach the surface. Th ese rumors gradu-ally intensifi ed in 2015 when Nin-tendo’s then-president Satoru Iwata confi rmed the existence of this new console in a press confer-ence. After a long period of wait-ing for a reveal, the company’s seventh console was fi nally un-veiled last week.

Dubbed the “Nintendo Switch,” the console is advertised as a hybrid console, meaning that the hardware can be used as both a portable and traditional stationary console. Th e main unit comprises of a large LCD touch screen, with a game slot on top. For the fi rst time since the Ninten-do 64’s launch in 1996, Nintendo will release a console that primar-ily uses cartridges for its games. Th e cartridges themselves are very similar to the ones used for Nintendo’s DS and 3DS handheld systems. As a result, backward compatibility with the disc-based Wii and Wii U has been rendered impossible. However, it has been confi rmed that the Switch will still support the popular line of Ami-ibo fi gurines.

Th e console will come with a dock that transfers the game im-age from the tablet to the televi-sion when it is connected. Th e controllers, known as “Joy-Cons,”

are made up of two detachable halves that either attach to the tablet in portable mode, or attach on a grip in dock mode in order to provide the feel of a gamepad controller. In keeping with the Wii and Wii U, a separate “Pro” controller will be released, giving gamers the feel of a traditional console controller. Despite all of these features, Nintendo has made it clear that they do not plan on discontinuing support for the 3DS and that the Nintendo Switch is primarily meant to be a home console. Instead, the company plans to gradually slow down sup-port for the Wii U in the months leading up to the Switch’s release.

While exact technical speci-fi cations have yet to be fully re-leased, it has been confi rmed that Nintendo has developed the sys-tem in conjunction with Nvidia. An issue that gamers have had with the Wii U’s GamePad was its unfortunately short battery life. Both Unity Technologies and Epic Games have confi rmed that they are working on bringing their graphics engines, Unity and Un-real Engine 4, to the Switch plat-

form. Th e two companies seek to entice developers to port more triple-A multi-platform games to the Switch.

Nintendo is attempting to win back publishers that seldom sup-ported the Wii U. It has announced that Activision, Bethesda, Cap-com, Electronic Arts, Sega, Square Enix and Ubisoft have all agreed to provide software for the Switch. In the case of Square Enix and Sega, both have confi rmed, respective-ly, that Dragon Quest and Sonic the Hedgehog games would be among the upcoming titles for the Switch console. Various indepen-dent developers have also either confi rmed or expressed interest in creating games for the system. Th e only major fi rst party Nintendo game that has been confi rmed for release for the Switch is the latest game in Th e Legend of Zelda se-ries, Breath of the Wild, which will also be released concurrently with the Wii U.

Th e Nintendo Switch will hit retail shelves next March. An exact date, launch price and a full list of launch titles will be announced within the coming months.

BY ANGEL TORRESCOPY EDITOR

A new Duke University re-search paper on chimpanzees sug-gests that members of both sexes achieve high-ranking social sta-tus in dramatically diff erent ways, with the payoff for high rank being better food, higher reproductive success and increased off spring survivability.

Social ranking is present among a variety of species and is main-tained diff erently depending on the species. Animals such as female elephants, female mountain goats and male rats maintain social rank by age. Meanwhile, male clownfi sh achieve rank based on body mass and female Japanese macaques, fe-male yellow baboons and both sex-es of spotted hyenas rank through social support.

Male chimpanzees, who tend to be more social than females, were found to fi ght for their social status, with aggression being the main indicator of dominance or submission. Females, who rarely interact with other females, were found to never challenge one an-other, but rather wait to move up in social rank when another member of their social group left, either by death or dispersal. Another large diff erence in the fi ght for social sta-tus was the stability of their rank-ings. While males fi ght for a higher social status that will peak in their early 20s and gradually decline, fe-males’ social statuses will continu-ously rise throughout their lives.

Male chimpanzees begin their lives at the very bottom of the so-

cial ladder, and must fi ght their way through their group’s social ranks to garner any esteem. Female members of the group, however, have built-in boosts to their status based on parentage, with female children typically inheriting their mothers’ statuses. A female who joins a group of chimpanzees as a foreigner or a female whose mother is killed has a harder time moving up through a group’s social ranks. Unlike males who can actively fi ght for their rank, female rank is pre-dominantly stagnant, only gradu-ally rising in time. Th is means that entering the social ladder at a high-er point for a female chimpanzee

brings about many more benefi ts than gradually moving up from the bottom throughout their lifespan, which often exceeds 30 years.

Th e data that the researchers used for this study was drawn from almost 40 years of study at the Kas-ekela community of chimpanzees at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. Almost 100 chimpanzees were studied at the national park over the 40-year period, during which researchers recorded chim-panzees’ pant-grunt interactions.

Pant-grunting interactions among chimpanzees are typically a way for subordinates to interact with a superior. Th ese interactions

were seen in females toward domi-nant males and in lower ranking males to appease an alpha male. Th is form of interaction was pri-marily how social ranking was cat-egorized and understood.

Th e research originally posed the problem of how to measure social rank over time. To record the data on the chimpanzees in an accurate numerical fashion, the re-searchers of the university used a method of comparing competitor versus competitor skill, called ELO Ranking. Th e system was originally developed by Arpad Elo to rank players in chess but has since been used to rank skill levels in many dif-

ferent areas. Th e ELO system starts all com-

petitors at an arbitrary number like 1,500. With each win or loss the number goes up or down, respec-tively. If the win was an easily pre-dicted one, such as a higher-ranked chimpanzee winning a fi ght with a younger one, the number changes only slightly. If the win was greatly unexpected, the ELO of both par-ties changes dramatically, such as a low-ranking chimpanzee winning against a much higher one. Th e researchers also compensated for the boost that mothers provided for their female young by increasing their base number accordingly.

Reproductive success is the most important benefi t gained from rank for chimpanzees. Even if a male only holds high rank for a short period of time, if he manages to fertilize enough females, he has achieved high reproductive suc-cess, according to Anne Pusey, an evolutionary anthropology profes-sor at Duke University and a senior author on the research paper. For females, however, high reproduc-tive success is correlated to, rather than caused by, high rank and re-productive success, since a female who has lived longer has most like-ly reproduced more successfully.

Th ese new developments shed light on why chimpanzees inter-act the way they do, and highlight the diff erences between how both sexes of the species approach rank-ing. Above all, it illustrates that chimpanzees do not diff er greatly from many other species. Th eir ul-timate goal, however, is still simply survival.

Science & TechnologyScience & TechnologyOCTOBER 31, 2016 THE TICKER SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY I PAGE 11

Male and female chimpanzees receive social rank differently

Male and female chimpanzees achieve social status in diff erent ways, gaining better food and increased chances of survivability.

WWW.WIKIPEDIA.ORG

Nintendo announces hybrid console

CONNOR HENCHEY | THE TICKER

The Nintendo Switch will be a hybrid console with controllers known as “Joy-Cons.”

Excessive televiewing causes teenage isolationBY VICTORIA MERLINOSCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR

Children who watch too much television early in their lives are more likely to fall prey to victimiza-tion and social isolation, leading to antisocial behavior by the age of 13, a recent study in published in Psy-chological Medicine reports.

Th is conclusion was reached through the study of 2-year-old children’s television-viewing hab-its and reassessing the subjects once they reached adolescence. At the outset of the study, the re-searchers asked parents questions relating to the amount of time their children spent watching tele-vision, including how many hours each child spent watching televi-sion on a weekday versus a week-end. Th is allowed researchers to gain an estimate of how many hours per day each child spent in front of a TV.

At 13 years old, the 991 girls and 1,006 boys participating in the study were asked to self-re-port their levels of social impair-ment over the course of the prior six months using a Social Behav-ior Questionnaire. Th e questions included topics like feelings of victimization, being actively ex-cluded from a social group, being physically pushed or shoved, be-ing laughed at or mocked and feel-ings of social isolation. Questions on antisocial behavior were also included, asking each child if they had lied or cheated, committed vandalism, tried to exclude some-one from a social group or if they had stolen objects.

Th rough the answers received from the questionnaire, the re-searchers discovered that there was a correlation between the amount of television each 2-year-

old child watched and the amount of social isolation he or she expe-rienced, with the amount of iso-lation increasing with each daily hour of television watched.

“Children who watched a lot of television growing up were more likely to prefer solitude, experi-ence peer victimization, and adopt aggressive and antisocial behavior toward their peers at the end of the fi rst year of middle school,” said Linda Pagani, lead author of the study and a professor at the Uni-versite de Montreal.

Th e researchers suggest that habitually watching too much television can link to a defi cit in certain executive functions, in-cluding interpersonal problem solving, emotional regulation and social competence. Watch-ing excessive amount of TV robs children of partaking in activities that “require more sustained at-tention and working memory,” the study asserts. Th e researchers also theorize that watching excessive amounts of television as a child can create patterns of looking down or away from the eyes of oth-ers—as characters on television rarely look directly at the viewer—causing a child to become ostra-cized from his or her peers.

Parents, the researchers argue, should have a better idea of how their young child spends his or her time throughout the day in order to combat this problem.

“In toddlerhood, the number of waking hours in a day is lim-ited. Th us, the more time children spend in front the TV, the less time they have for ... fundamental social cognitive experiences,” said Pagani.

Th e study concludes that the entire family has to work together so that children can receive proper social interaction and engagement.

BY MAYA YEGOROVASTAFF WRITER

A recent study has revealed that people who suff er from migraines possess more microbes with the strength to alter nitrates than people who do not. Th is analysis, conducted by scientists from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine and published by microbiology journal mSystems, upholds the theory that there is a correlation between what people eat and their migraine episodes.

A migraine is defi ned as a medi-cal condition that causes intense throbbing in one area of the head and includes symptoms of nausea, vomiting and extreme sensitiv-ity to light and sound. Th e pain is often so excruciating that it limits daily activities, negatively impact-ing suff erers’ productivity. Over 38 million Americans suff er from mi-graines, and 8 million are aff ected by chronic migraines, which can ruin 15 days or more a month.

Certain triggers, including chocolate, green vegetables, pro-cessed meat and wine, can make the situation worse. Nitrates dis-covered in these foods can be reduced to nitrites by pathogens in the mouth. When fl owing in the blood, nitrites are transformed to nitric oxide under certain circumstances.

In this state, nitrites can benefi t cardiovascular health by boosting blood fl ow and lessening blood pressure. However, patients who rely on nitrate drugs to alleviate their blood pressure experience agonizing headaches as a side ef-fect. Lead researchers in the study Antonio Gonzalez and Embriette Hyde sought out to prove the nega-tive relationship between nitrates and migraines in a revolutionary experiment.

Using data from the American

Gut Project, Gonzalez and Hyde collected bacteria in 172 oral sam-ples and 1,996 fecal samples from study participants. Th e partici-pants completed surveys prior to the study confi rming whether or not they were prone to migraines. Th e microbe chromosome was found in varying amounts between people who had migraines and people who did not. In fecal sam-ples, people who had migraines were found to have little, but still noteworthy, growth of nitrate and nitride oxide.

People who suff ered from mi-graines additionally had a monu-mental number of nitrate, nitrite and nitric oxide in oral samples. Th e researchers then conducted oligotyping, or the detection of oligonucleotides in a nucleic acid specimen. Pseudomonas oligo types 1 and 2 were uncovered in both groups, but oligo type 2 was remarkably more plentiful in peo-ple who suff ered from migraines.

When investigating the bac-teria’s makeup, the researchers did not unearth signifi cant diff er-ences in fecal or oral samples be-tween people with migraines and people without. Th ey utilized a piece of bio-informational equip-ment called PICRUSt to look over

bacterial RNA. People with mi-graines had a slightly higher vol-ume of genes that encode nitrate-related enzymes.

Gonzalez and Hyde suggest that the next course of action should be a study of a more spe-cifi c bracket of patients that are broken up into contrasting kinds of migraines. Th is can truly measure how well nitric oxide correlates to migraines.

Nevertheless, the outcome of the study shows a likely associa-tion between nitric oxide reducers and migraines. Nitric oxides are found more often in the oral cavi-ties of people with migraines than in the oral cavities of those who do not have migraines.

Migraines are frequently caused by factors such as disruptions in eating routines, sleep deprivation and stress. External components that are impossible to control in-clude changes in weather. Th e study divulged that migraines can be prevented by watching diet closely. Nitrate mixes identifi ed in food compounds are now ob-served to spark migraines as well. By being aware of the bond be-tween nitrite and migraines, peo-ple with migraines can now help curb their discomfort.

PAGE 12 I THE TICKER SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY OCTOBER 31, 2016

Microbes correspond with migraines

BY BIANCA MONTEIROCOPY EDITOR

In a study published in Nano Energy, researchers discovered that lithium-ion batteries release harmful gases after they com-bust. Lithium-ion batteries, found in digital cameras, laptops and smartphones, are often abused through overcharging and over-heating. Since smartphones are among the most frequently used handheld devices, researchers sought to shed light on how these batteries could potentially be ruin-ing public health, especially when considering their abundance and their unknown disadvantages.

First invented in the 1980s, lithium-ion batteries have earned their popularity through their low price tag, energy effi ciency and light weight. Lithium-ion batter-ies are also eff ective in using their maximum capacity and do not lose effi ciency in colder weather, as compared to similar recharge-able batteries. Th ese advantages, however, are put into perspective when considering their harmful gaseous emissions and their abil-ity to overheat.

Following battery combustion, over 100 organic compounds are released into the air, along with possibly emitted gases including carbon, carbon dioxide, ethane, ethylene, hydrogen, hydrogen fl uoride methane and propane, among others. While some of these gases are more harmful than others, nearly all of them are toxic, cause skin irritation and damage the environment. Some of the re-leased gases, such as ethylene, methane and propane, may give more insight into incidents re-garding battery explosions, like

those experienced in Samsung Galaxy Note7 phones that were prone to battery exhaustion and overheating. Other batteries emit gases, such as methane, which can be fatal when released in areas lacking ventilation.

In the experiment, researchers examined the overheating of four kinds of 18,650 lithium-ion bat-teries and two types of pouch bat-teries. Using nearly 200,000 lithi-um-ion batteries charged at 0, 50, 100 and 150 percent, researchers placed the single batteries inside of a cubic stainless steel combus-tion chamber and exposed them to a small fl ame until they com-busted. Using a chemical identi-fi cation system along with other processes, researchers were able to determine the gases that were emitted as well as their toxicity, graded based on China National Standards, and created a thorough spectrum detailing them.

Th e batteries were found to diff er in their combustion rates depending on their capacity, cath-ode, charge and material compo-sition. Researchers concluded that the denser the volume and the higher the charge of the battery, the more likely the batteries were to release these toxic gases that are especially fatal in closed spaces.

While lithium-ion batteries have become much safer, they still require a great deal of improve-ment to ensure the safety of their users. Overcharging remains one of the researchers’ biggest con-cerns as it is the main perpetrator of combustion and the subsequent gas emission. Researchers urge manufacturers to test lithium-ion batteries for the risk of combus-tion so they can formulate com-prehensive safety plans for users.

BIANCA MONTEIRO| THE TICKER

Migraines can cause nausea, vomiting and extreme sensitivity to light and sound.

Lithium-ion batteries release harmful gases

THE TICKER SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY I PAGE 13OCTOBER 31, 2016

SportsSportsOCTOBER 31, 2016

CONTINUED FROM FRONT PAGE

After they posed for a group photo, the Bearcats turned their focus onto the City College of New York Beavers, losers of four straight entering the match.

Baruch dominated from the start as they swept City College in straight sets, 25-11, 25-16, 25-16. Th e Bearcats, with a .550 hit-ting percentage, had one of their cleanest sets all season to open the match. After an early timeout by City College, standout freshman Stephanie Cornwell and Bou hand-ed a pair of assists to Kiki, who gave Baruch a 6-1 lead.

Th e two sides traded errors be-fore Yijia Cai and Kiki knocked in back-to-back winners to force City College to call another timeout. Th e Bearcats went on another 6-0 run, which included pinpoint aces by outside hitter Sophia Shahipour and kills from Ally and Cai. Kiki served consecutive aces to wrap up the fi rst set in a convincing fashion.

Although sloppy play on both ends gave City College an 11-10 lead to start the second set, the Bearcats responded with an impressive 8-0 stretch. Th ey energized the crowd through a fl urry of blocks, digs and kills. As their lead grew, so did the decibel levels in the ARC. Even when CCNY broke the streak, the combination of Ally and Shahipour suff ocated the Beavers who could not rise to the challenge.

Ally took command of the third set as she launched fi ve of her six game-high aces. Baruch neutral-ized any attempt to rally back into the match by targeting the vulnera-

ble Beavers with lethal strikes to the heart of their defense. An 8-1 ad-vantage expanded as the Bearcats coerced errors out of Tenaya Hawkins and Irishvarsha Lyyadura of City College. Th e fans reached a crescendo at 24-15, ready to cele-brate the win, but Kiki hit an errant serve to prolong the match for just a moment. Cai fi nished off the Bea-vers with an overhand smash to cap a memorable night for the Bearcats.

Baruch fl ourished on off ense as they were more eff ective at convert-ing chances into points. Th ey tallied 34 kills, 30 assists and 13 aces to just 10 kills, 10 assists and four aces for City College. A look at the CUNYAC

season stats fi nds the three co-cap-tains and Cornwell ranked top fi ve in either assists, digs, kills or service aces per set for qualifying players. Hard-fought matches against Mc-Daniel College and Haverford Col-lege did not go Baruch’s way, but Bou says the team will utilize the bye week to regroup before the CU-NYAC tournament.

“I think that the girls would much rather have a practice than play a lower team in the conference. It’s going to give us more time to prep to play for the championship,” said Bou.

Th e Bearcats’ fi nal CUNYAC match of the regular season came

on Tuesday, when the team took on the College of Staten Island at the Dolphins’ home court. Th e team picked up where they left off , re-cording yet another sweep to fi nish 7-1 overall in CUNYAC play.

Th e season will offi cially wrap up over the weekend when the Bearcats participate in the SUNY Oneonta Dig Pink Invitational against Plattsburgh State, Hartwick College and Oneonta, respectively. Essentially, these games are scrim-mages in preparation for the play-off s ahead. It is important that the Bearcats do not play complacently, so as to not carry bad play into the CUNYAC tournament.

Looking forward to the CUNYAC tournament, the Bearcats are hot on the tails of Hunter College and are primed to make a run for the championship this time around. Th e seniors would love to erase the bad memory of last season’s championship loss, with no better way than to hoist the trophy as they ride off into the sunset. However, the Bearcats are up against tough competition. Th e Hawks of Hunter College are undefeated in CUNYAC play, dominating the fi eld, includ-ing Baruch when they faced off earlier in the season. Still, a valiant team eff ort will increase the team’s chances of winning.

The seniors took the home court one last time, playing lights out in a sweep against City College as they look ahead to the playoff s. The Bearcats are second in the CUNYAC.

ATHLETICS.BARUCH.CUNY.EDU

Seniors dominate in final home game with sights set on playoffs

PAGE 14 | THE TICKER SPORTS

Cubs take on Cleveland in World Series

BY OMER SEMANSENIOR STAFF WRITER

Th e Chicago Cubs have been the lovable loser of baseball for over a century, but a generational shift in talent has vaulted them into the World Series. Th e team was led by Kris Bryant, the frontrunner for the National League Most Valuable Player award. With the deepest starting rotation in baseball, the North Siders steamrolled through the regular season with 103 wins. Th ey entered the postseason as prohibitive favorites to take it all, but their path from worst-to-fi rst was forged by a general manager who is used to breaking curses.

Th eo Epstein was hailed as the savior of a downtrodden franchise when he arrived in the 2011 off sea-son. Th e Cubs’ last playoff victory was in 2003 during the infamous Steve Bartman National League Championship Series. Since then, aging veterans cluttered the team’s roster. Epstein liberated the Bos-ton Red Sox from the Curse of the Bambino in 2004 and the Cubs hoped the baby-faced executive could repeat his magic in Chicago. He focused on the long-term suc-cess of the team, which meant the fans had to endure a nearly 100-loss seasons in his fi rst two years. Th e Cubs gradually improved, as players like Jake Arrieta, Anthony Rizzo and Addison Russell became household names.

In 2014, hiring manager Joe Maddon lightened the clubhouse atmosphere and brought the best out of the Cubs’ precocious ros-ter. Signing Dexter Fowler and Jon Lester as free agents in 2015, in ad-dition to calling up top prospect Kris Bryant, propelled the Cubs to 97 wins and their fi rst postseason berth in seven years. Th ough they

were swept in the NLCS, their deep run set the table for a better 2016.

Th is time around, Th e Cubs were active in the off season as they brought in pitcher John Lack-ey and lured star outfi elder Jason Heyward away from the St. Louis Cardinals with an eight-year, $184 million contract—the largest in Cubs’ history. Heyward was a vac-uum on the green as the 27-year-old snagged nearly every ball put in play. Kyle Hendricks followed up Arrieta’s emergent Cy Young season with an equally impressive 2016. His calm dominance on the mound paired with a deceptive pitching style has garnered com-parisons to Greg Maddux. Midsea-son acquisition of Aroldis Chap-man solidifi ed their one weakness as they cruised into postseason and the World Series.

In order to bring home the championship, the Cubs need to pull a win against the Cleve-land Indians. Head Coach Terry ‘Tito’ Francona was a regular in the postseason with the Red Sox and this feat traveled with him as he made the move to Cleveland. Francona managed the Indians with a vengeance against the Red Sox in the American League Divi-

sional Series, sweeping Beantown and sending David Ortiz into an early retirement.

Th e Indians remained domi-nant for the entire season despite having their lineup decimated due to injury at the beginning of the season. Star outfi elder Michael Brantley was an early casualty as he missed the entire season with a nagging shoulder injury. Surpris-ingly, rookie Tyler Naquin stepped up in his absence and anchored the defense. Th e Indians sailed through the regular season and barely broke a sweat come play-off s.

Game 1 of the World Series was a scary sight for the Cubs, as the Indians’ pitching staff was on their high horse, shutting Chicago out 6-0. Cleveland struggled to put to-gether any off ense after falling be-hind in the fi rst inning by 2-0.

Luckily for Chicago, they were able to mirror Cleveland’s per-formance when they faced off in Game 2. Arrieta fl irted with a no-hitter through fi ve innings, as designated hitter Kyle Schwarber recorded his fi rst hit of the season, a homerun that led the team to a 5-1 win.

Chicago returns to the big game for the fi rst time since 1945, as the Indians look to ruin their party

The World Series returns to Wrigley Field to face off against the Cleveland Indians

DEADSPIN.COM

BY MATT BUETECONTRIBUTING WRITER

Th e Islanders kicked off their 2016 season with a dismal 1-3 start, much to the dismay of Isles faith-fuls. Just four games into the sea-son, the team has already began to hear criticizm over slow starts and lack of energy on the ice.

Th e Isles lost 2-3 on Tuesday night in San Jose thanks to a lazy play that broke the tie in the Sharks’ favor with minutes left on the clock. Th ey showed fl ashes of greatness, especially in the second period when Anthony Beauvillier scored his fi rst NHL goal with a textbook strike on the puck, squeezing past Sharks goalie Aaron Dell.

Th e 19-year-old provided a spark to an otherwise dormant of-fense, as teammate Anders Lee scored shortly after to put the Is-landers ahead 2-1. Th e Isles had stolen momentum and looked to build on their lead and improve their record.

Instead, the Islanders closed out sluggishly for the rest of the game. Th ey gave up a late second period goal and the wheels fell off from there. Th e Islanders lost 3-2, the fi rst time they lost to a Western Conference team at home since moving to Brooklyn.

Th e Isles’ lack of star center John Tavares continues to refl ect nega-tively on the fi nal score. Th at is not a knock on Andrew Ladd; he and Tavares are a good pair on the top line.

However, they have not been allotted the time to build chemis-try considering it is their fi rst year together. Furthermore, the pair simply cannot match up with the League’s powerhouses without a massive restructuring of the roster. Many are hoping that Beauvillier will fi ll this void, but team chem-

istry will undoubtedly be a long-term project. Th e off ensive weapon had a great training camp, which it is translating into a stellar regular season. His hockey IQ is very high, allowing Tavares to spread the puck more frequently compared to pre-vious seasons.

Th e Islanders recalled defense-man Ryan Pulock from Bridgeport after Nick Leddy was sidelined with a fi nger infection. Being surprising-ly snubbed from the regular season following training camp, Pulock looked to secure a permanent spot by anchoring an otherwise strug-gling defense.

Th is proposition quickly fell through as the Canada native broke his foot in the fi rst period against Arizona. Th is comes as another blow to Pulock’s young career, who has battled injury throughout his time in the league.

Th e Isles’ best plays this season consistently come off of penalty kills, saving the team from many blow-out situations. On the other hand, the power-play off ense is struggling yet again thanks to low shot attempts that led to missed opportunities. In order to be suc-cessful on the power play, the team must stop looking for the perfect pass and instead focus on creating shots and taking advantage of de-fl ections.

On Sunday night, the Isles faced off against the Minnesota Wild, turning their fortunes at the hands of a nice 6-3 victory. Th is was a big win for the Islanders who desper-ately needed to avoid a loss to build overall team confi dence.

Th e Isles dominated the puck, which aff orded them better shot se-lection and, ultimately, more goals. Much to the delight of Islanders’ fans, Tavares led the way with two pucks fi nding the back of the goal net. Beauvillier was in the middle

of the action, notching two assists, simultaneously advancing to fi ve points in fi ve games.

Goalie Jaroslav Halak has played decently, at best, for the Islanders, by giving up soft goals on multiple occasions, which ultimately spelled the diff erence between win and loss.

Halak and Greiss are both good goaltenders that give the Islanders a winning chance, so fans should not panic at this point in the sea-son. It is key for the duo moving forward to not give up under-whelming goals, especially right before the period’s end.

Although it is much too early to make any concrete predictions on

their season, the Islanders run the risk of falling to the bottom of the pack if they continue to play com-placently.

Last season, the Isles barely qualifi ed for the playoff s, waiting until the fi nal week in the regular season to learn their fate. Granted, it was the team’s second consecu-tive playoff berth, further speaking to the fact that the Islanders forced themselves into tough and unnec-essary late-season predicaments.

While the Islanders are off to a slow start, they are still notorious for their late season playoff rushes. However, for the sake of fans’ inter-est, the team would be well advised to take control over their season

early, instead of forcing themselves into high-pressure situations later on.

Th e Isles have a stretch of home games, a big plus as they have al-ways played well at home. Th e team is currently middle-of-the-pack in the Metropolitan division, but they must put together quality wins early on in order to stay within dis-tance of the defending champion, the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Furthermore, the rest of the Metropolitan League has played exceptionally well to start the sea-son. If they continue to play com-placently, they will quickly fall out of reach of their competitors.

OCTOBER 31, 2016

BY MOUSTAFA ISMAILSPORTS EDITOR

Th is past weekend the New York Giants boarded a plane to London as part of the NFL’s International Series initiative. Across the pond, Big Blue was pitted against a tough Los Angeles Rams team.

Despite a rough patch that the team encountered midway through the fi rst half of the season, the Gi-ants were back on track with a tremendous defensive display to entertain their European counter-parts.

Landon Collins and the Giants erupted on Sunday with a bevy of interceptions to put an end to the Rams’ win streak.

Th e Giants came out fl at on both sides of the ball to kick off the fi rst quarter, struggling to sustain any off ensive drives and surrendering key third-down conversions on defense. Rams quarterback Case Keenum tossed the pigskin like a star, posting a 10-0 lead early on. Th e rest of the fi rst quarter had fans ready to throw in the towel, looking ahead to the upcoming bye week to prepare for the second half of the season.

Th e Giants defense came alive during the fi rst half to neutralize the Rams’ lead. Coming off of a defl ected pass, second-year safety and Alabama product, Collins, in-tercepted the ball with his sights set on the end zone. Seemingly in a trap between the sidelines and a trio of angry Rams, Collins cut on a dime and reversed fi eld while breaking tackles and advancing further into Ram’s territory.

On the other side of the fi eld, a convoy of defenders had devel-oped, awaiting Collin’s arrival and subsequently escorting him to the end zone.

By the time No. 21 hit pay dirt, he had run close to 100 yards just

to cover a 40-yard interception re-turn. With the entire Rams off ense scattered on the fi eld, Collins had recorded his fi rst interception of the year putting the Giants back in business.

Responding to Twickenham Stadium’s cry for an encore, Collins returned later in the game where he mirrored his fi rst interception with a tipped ball falling into his await-ing arms.

Th e Rams were gaining momen-tum in search of the tie-breaker that would put them ahead late in the game. However, Collins’ pick served as a dagger to the pesky Rams who tanked after the de-fl ating interception. Th e Giants’ off ense fi nally got the spark it needed, feeding off the defense’s

energy to take the 17-10 lead. From then on, the defense was on cruise control, as cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie joined in on the party with a game-sealing end zone interception, his second of the game, as well as Keenum pulling his fourth. Still, many were critical of the Giant’s off ense that played lazily overall, despite the win.

Quarterback Eli Manning strug-gled to fi nd his favorite target, Odell Beckham Jr., and the rest of the re-ceiving core had a tough time hang-ing on to his sloppy passes. While Brandon Jennings returned from injury to rush for a touchdown this week, the Giants’ running game continues to be a question mark heading into each game.

Orleans Darkwa, Bobby Rainey

and the rest of the running back committee struggled in the ab-sence of Jennings, although Jen-nings was underwhelming as well.

Despite putting together back-to-back wins, the Giants remained at the bottom of the NFC East, thanks to strong play earlier in the season by the fi rst-seed Cowboys, who were on bye week, and the Ea-gles, who toppled the last undefeat-ed team, the Minnesota Vikings. An even more disheartening idea is that the Giants may fi nd them-selves deeper in the hole coming off their Week 8 bye.

However, the Giants are still very much in the mix, as the divi-sion is still up for grabs.

Th e Giants could fi nd them-selves on top of the NFC East as ear-

ly as Week 9, as they host the Eagles at MetLife Stadium on Nov. 6. Th e perfect script for the Giants would have the Eagles atop the Cowboys in their Week 8 divisional matchup, which would bump Philly to the top spot. Th e following week when the Giants and Eagles face off , a win for the G-men would have them trad-ing places for the No. 1 seed in the division.

Of course, this is simply wish-ful thinking shared by many Giants faithfuls. Regardless of the out-come of the division, during their bye week the Giants must not look too far ahead. Th ey fi rst need to fo-cus on a week-to-week approach if they want to crawl back up into the playoff conversation.

With half of the season still re-maining, Big Blue has more than enough time to change its fate, es-pecially as only one game currently separates the fi rst and last spot in the division. Th e East is making the case as the strongest division in the NFC, and could easily see two teams in the playoff s by means of the wild card, which bodes very well for the G-men.

Elsewhere in the division, fans are eager to learn who will start at quarterback for the Cowboys when they return. Team owner Jerry Jones stood by long time Cowboys posterboy Tony Romo earlier in the season, promising that the veteran quarterback would assume the starting position once he returned from injury. However, the recent success of his backup, rookie Dak Prescott, has since blurred the situ-ation for the team’s coaching staff .

Th e Giants defeated the Cow-boys in the season opener at AT&T stadium and are awaiting their second meeting later in Decem-ber. With the recent success of the division, the Week 14 matchup will most likely have playoff implica-tions.

Giants travel to London for International Series against Rams

VISITLONDON.COM

The Giants defense sealed the win with four picks in the Week 7 matchup against the LA Rams at Twickenham Stadium.

THE TICKER SPORTS | PAGE 15

Islanders look to regroup after shaky 1-3 start to regular season

EYESONISLES.COM

The Isles’ Anthony Beauvillier and Anders Lee played lights out to begin the season, although their eff orts have not translated into wins.

PAGE 16 I THE TICKER CALENDAR OCTOBER 31, 2016

@BaruchSCDCBaruch College Starr Career Development Center

baruch.cuny.edu/careers

blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/scdc/

blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/starrlights/

9. FROSH, NEXT YEAR10. DWARF BUFFALO11. SURRENDER TERRITORY12. ____ OVER OR CAPSIZE15. BENDING OF THE TRUTH20. GIVES A TIRADE22. NOT WELL24. HEAVY HYDROGEN, E.G.25. *LEE OR WILLIS26. “BEGIN” AND “BEGAN” PARTNER27. IRISHMAN’S ANCESTOR29. *CAREY OR BARRYMORE31. A IN A = B X H32. SOURCE OF SESAME SEEDS33. EVERYONE BUT CLERGY34. *REDMAYNE OR MURPHY36. PLACE IN FRANCE38. THOR HEYERDAHL’S “KON____”42. CLINGY ONE45. EMPLOY AGAIN49. CUL DE ____51. *REDFORD OR DUVALL54. CAPITAL OF MOROCCO56. DOOMED ONE57. AUDIENCE’S REJECTION58. *STONE OR THOMPSON59. ABBREVIATED SECONDS60. LEAK THROUGH61. CHEWED STIMULANT62. TROJAN HORSE, E.G.63. SMILEY FACE64. TEXTING BUTTON67. METALBEARING MINERAL

CROSSWORD SOLUTION:ISSUE 6

*Off -campus eventFor full list, visit www.baruch.cuny.edu/calendar

THEME: FAMOUS ACTORSACROSS1. *”____ ATTRACTION” 1987 WITH MICHAEL DOUGLAS6. *TOM SELLECK’S “BLUE BLOODS” NETWORK9. QUARTERBACK’S DOWNFALL13. EVERY RESTAURANT’S NIGHTMARE?14. *TOMMY ____ JONES15. CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTION RECIPIENT16. *____ ECKHART17. “THE LONELIEST NUMBER”18. TYPE OF LYRIC POEM19. *PRYOR OR GERE21. *CAINE OR KEATON23. ___ KHAN24. ANOTHER WORD FOR ISLAND25. WORLD’S OLDEST NATIONAL BROADCASTER28. ODDS AND ____30. RESPONSIBLE BY LAW35. ROD ATTACHMENT37. TURKEY DANCE39. ____ LIGHTLY40. TANGERINE GRAPEFRUIT HYBRID41. BECOME ESTABLISHED43. BRITISH CHILDREN’S AUTHOR BLYTON44. LIKE A BUTTON, BUT MORE SO46. STOPPED SLEEPING

47. NAYSAYER’S PREFIX48. COMES NEXT50. EMBARKATION LOCATION52. #6 ACROSS ICON53. TORTOISE’S COMPETITOR55. *”____ DAY AFTERNOON” WITH AL PACINO57. *LANGE OR CHASTAIN61. THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN AND THE BIONIC WOMAN65. ARABIAN CHIEFTAIN66. “TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD” RECLUSE68. HAVE EFFECT69. MASTER OF CEREMONIES70. PENDULUM’S PATH71. PINE PRODUCT72. GRATING VOICE73. *____ LEONI74. BE POSTED AND REPOSTED

DOWN1. *”CAPE ____” 1991 WITH ROBERT DE NIRO2. BERRY HIGH IN ANTIOXIDANTS3. CLEOPATRA’S NECKLACE4. HULA DANCER’S HELLO5. NUMBER OF LINES IN PRINT6. DOOFUS7. *AFFLECK OR KINGSLEY8. *CHEVY CHASE’S “____ LIKE OLD TIMES”

NOVEMBER 2016

MON

31HISTORY TRIVIA!12:40 p.m.-2:20 p.m. | NVC 10-160 | Free

PERSONAL BRANDING WORKSHOP WITH MICHAEL BAYER12:40 p.m.-2:20 p.m. | NVC 5-165 | Free

TUES

1GIRLS WHO CODE7:30 p.m.-8:30 p.m. | NVC 3-210 | Free

RSM INTERNATIONAL6:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. | NVC 2-125 | Free

WED

2DIWALI KICKOFF12:30 p.m.-2:00 p.m. | 2nd Floor Lobby | Free

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THURS

3WIB SOCIAL: MOVIE NIGHT6:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. | NVC 4-180 | Free

EXCEL WORKSHOP | I/O PSYCHOLOGY SKILL BUILDING7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. | NVC 2-125 | Free

FRI

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Baruch WeeklyBaruch Weekly

REBECCA VICENTE | THE TICKER

Career SpotlightCareer SpotlightINTERNSHIP UPDATE

Medical Publishing Intern

THIEME MEDICAL PUBLISHERSJob Search StrategiesWednesday, November 2, 12:30-2:00 P.M., NVC 2-190Learn how to effi ciently manage your time and search for jobs at this workshop.

Finance 101Wednesday, November 2, 5:00-6:30 P.M., NVC 2-190Not sure what a career in Finance involves? Come fi nd out in this workshop, where we discuss all things Finance and the skills needed for each career path.

Writing Winning ResumesFriday, November 4, 12:30-2:00 P.M., NVC 2-190Resume not up to snuff ? This workshop gives you a rundown of the dos and don’ts of resume writing.

Consulting 101: Mastering the Case InterviewTuesday, November 8, 12:30-2:00 P.M., NVC 2-190Case interviews are important when applying for jobs in consulting. Learn the skills to master them in this workshop.

SAVE THE DATE

Did you know that the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences

off ers an Ad Hoc major? Instead of following a pre-set course,

students who choose the Ad Hoc option can create their own

majors, choosing their classes from a wide selection of options.

The courses available include Zicklin business classes and the

entire array of departments within Weissman.

FUN FACT

“As registration gets closer, you may have started to think about what classes to choose. To ensure

that you are aligning with a career path, schedule an appointment with Starr for Career Counseling. It

won’t hurt to take the time to assess your current career path or explore another option.”

ERIKA APUPALO

PEER FOR CAREER

PEER TIP OF THE WEEK

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REVERB DANCE FESTIVAL8:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m. | BPAC | $19

The Thieme Medical Publish-ers internship program in our New York offi ce off ers a unique opportunity to gain valuable experience in the fi eld of medi-cal publishing and to have direct contact with professionals in the fi eld. All interns are welcome to attend essential editorial, pro-duction and sales meetings. The ideal candidate will have strong computer, communication and organizational skills. Spanish language skills, previous book, magazine, or sales/marketing experience is a plus. Our global marketing program includes di-

rect mail, website, e-mail cam-paigns, space advertising, and book reviews. Marketing Interns will work in a forward-thinking environment with true hands-on opportunities. They will lead end user research in the Latin American market while work-ing with the Institutional Sales department. Responsibilities in-clude assisting our direct sales team with research, outreach and online duties. Get involved in compiling advance and pro-motional material, planning and organizing medical exhibits, and dealing with department heads

at hospitals and universities in the Americas while learning the tricks of the trade! This is great for someone with good organi-zational skills.

What we off er: a stipend to cover transportation expenses and lunch, fl exible offi ce hours, academic credit, hands-on pub-lishing experience, and a great offi ce location in midtown Manhattan. This is an unpaid in-ternship for Communications/English majors; for more infor-mation, visit StarrSearch with ID 88460.

REVERB DANCE FESTIVAL7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. | BPAC | $19

VOLUNTEER OR STUDY ABROAD WITH AIESEC12:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m. | 2nd Floor Lobby | Free

1ST SEMINAR IN THE 2016 TAX SERIES8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. | NVC 14-220 | Free, Registration Required