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John Jay Votes Electronically

February 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment
English: Ballot Box showing preferential voting

Image via Wikipedia

As John Jay leaps into the future, a new method of voting for student representation is being introduced this semester. Instead of traditional voting booths, the voting process will now be done online.
“It takes less than 5 minutes,” said John Leebens, student life coordinator, with the snap of his fingers.
Before, the voting process was not able to accommodate all students. Voting could only be done during the office hours of 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Students taking night classes or students with limited schedules most likely did not vote.
Now, according to Leebens, “You don’t have to be on campus.”
Everything concerning student elections will be located on the Jay Stop website. It can be accessed through the John Jay website. The voting link was created by the Department of Information Technology, DoIT.
After the candidates have been certified, on Friday March 2, their platforms and photographs will be up on the site. If students are not on campus for the debates, on Wednesday March 14 at 6 p.m. and Thursday March 15 during community hour, they can view the platforms and make a decision from there. To avoid any confusion, prior to the beginning of the election dates there will be no option to vote.
On Thursday March 15 at 5 p.m. the polls will be open on the website and will stay open until Thursday March 22 at 5 p.m.
There will be a large banner on the top of the site that will allow students to access the ballot. Once there, students will be able to vote for all the positions that they are qualified to vote in, meaning if a student is a senior they will not be given the option to vote for junior representatives, something that could not be prevented before.
After Jay Stop redirects students to the ballots they will not be able to leave the page until they vote for at least one position. Once a student votes, access to the ballots will be denied.
The online process creates an easier method of tallying the votes. After the polls close, the program will produce a single printout with all the elected officials’ names. This is in conjunction with John Jay’s going green project. Instead of having numerous paper ballots, there is one single sheet of paper being used. The results will then be announced on Thursday March 22 at 7 p.m.
The change stems from several factors, one being cost. The total cost of the voting booths and the employees who run them, according to the Office of Student Life’s budget, was $3650.50.
Now, the entire process is free.
Students were involved in the change. A survey was sent to the student body via their John Jay email accounts. According to Jerrell Robinson, director of student life, “less than 500 students” answered the survey but the overall consensus was for the change, with “93 percent,” according to Leebens.
However, according to Rafael Diaz, forensic psychology major, the method of voting isn’t the problem; it is the lack of information about the student representatives.
“No, I have never voted for student representatives because I was never informed of who was running or what each representative would offer the school and the student body,” Diaz said.
William Ritchey, 22, also a forensic psychology major would agree with Diaz.
He said, “I’ve never voted for student representation before because I never really knew what they actually accomplished.”
Last year, 1,455 students out of a student body consisting of 15,000, came out to vote for student representatives. Diaz and Ritchey were a part of the students who did not vote.
Diaz on why he never voted, “I don’t think online [voting] has much of an effect, in my opinion. It would make the process a lot more accessible [to students] but I still wouldn’t vote unless I know who is running and what they represent.”
Upon learning that the representatives’ platforms will be available online as well, his skepticism slightly decreased. He said, “If I am given enough information as to being able to formulate an opinion and get a sense of what the person running is trying to achieve, [then] I will vote.”
From traditional booths to the web, the change seems to be for the better if only student representatives can get their message across to the whole student body.
“The change obviously makes it much easier for people who care about student representatives to vote, which is a good thing,” said Ritchey.
If you would like to be a member of student government, petitions are now available at the Office of Student Life. They are due on Feb. 17. in room L2.71.

Filed Under: Featured, General, School News

Korean Pop Invades America

February 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

By Marisol Rueda

Visuals Editor

South Korean K-Pop singer and actress Lee Hyor...

Image via Wikipedia

Korean pop is becoming a fast growing industry for an American audience.

“Korea is different, you train to entertain your viewers,” Sc Chung said. Chung is a representative of an organization that was created to cater to America’s new taste. Hallyu Idol Training Services New York (HITSNY) is a new organization funded through partnerships, with the desire of reaching out to talented people with a strong passion and dedication for Korean pop music.

HITSNY is the city’s first ever-Korean pop (K-pop) training academy that was launched in October 2011. This academy offers the basic training to those who are interested in this music industry.

K-pop culture has been spreading all over the world. And thanks to the younger generation, it has established a strong footing in New York City.

“Surprisingly it is not the Korean population in New York who have been joining this movement but people from all other cultures,” Chung said.

Jonathan Saquisili attends Baruch College and is currently studying Marketing. Saquisili, who works at HITSNY as well, has noticed the public’s call for this new phenomenon.

“It wasn’t fair that the West Coast was getting all the attention from K-pop artists,” Saquisili said. He explained that due to travel distances, it was easier for K pop artists to travel just to that side of the country.

Through media gatherings and general public chatter, HITSNY were able to turn the industry’s attention to visit the East Coast, too.

HITSNY is trying to get more sponsorship from the Asian market, so that the academy may spread and provide their services to all audiences.

Chung “never thought that media would help so much.” But it was through social networking that HITSNY started to spread. Facebook and YouTube have served as mediums to propagate and unite K-pop fans along the East Coast.

Since HITSNY is just starting, they are offering their first semester for free. After the first intense semester, tuition would have an approximate cost of $6700. The program is designed so that anyone can “start from scratch.”

“American pop draws on a person’s talent,” Chung explained. While K-pop focuses more on the image and the marketability of a person.

Chung assures that in one semester students will have real training. In Korea, K-pop is a matter of fashion impact, too.

Students will be structured so well that as artists they will put on an act on stage, much like an actor. As Chung said, “it’s all about stage presence.”

HITSNY is currently trying to shoot a live show. According to Chung, it is through this process that students and their instructors can tell how their talent could be harnessed.

“Are you a fan or are you a star?” Chung said.

Students will be given Korean classes, transportation services and housing. HITSNY foments education and is interested in keeping students (those who have not finished High School) in track.

Their first class did not take place until February 4. HITSNY announced that there will be a summer session starting in July 2012.

Filed Under: Entertainment, General, Local News

The Boys Of Yesterday Are Still The Boys Of Today

February 14, 2012 By Leave a Comment

By Eric Jankiewicz and Charley Perez

Illustration by Diana Sun

We, as males, have the sturdy surface of being twenty-something. Our age denotes that we are men but it seems that most college guys are still in a limbo between adulthood and adolescence.

Higher education was once an institution where men excelled and were the majority. Now, women are becoming the majority. In John Jay women bolster a 56 percent in undergrad and the disparity widens in the graduate program with 65 percent. These declining numbers may be explained by one factor.  The thing that men pride themselves in being is just that, being a man. A combination of gritty characters like John Wayne and a twisted interpretation of American independence.

Professor Abby Stein is the faculty adviser for the Vera Fellows Program, a year-long internship that accepts students with a GPA of at least 3.3. In 2008, when they first started the program in John Jay,there were no male applicants.

In the four years since, the program has slowly become more equal but Stein has noticed that the program poses a special challenge for men to complete.

“It has been more difficult to keep them” in the program, she said. “They tend to not ask for help.” This often leads to them academically suffering for trying to “handle the issues themselves.

And that, my fellow man-children, is the twisted interpretation of American independence.

When I asked John Jay male students who they went to for emotional support, most of them said something about independence.

Freshman Andrew Turner said, “I deal with it myself.”

His response was almost mechanical, as if he had read off some script typed up by the

president of the He Man Women Haters Club (Little Rascals ).

This kind of social isolation attitude, Stein believes, has some serious repercussions. “I could see how in a big program (like college) they would totally fall through the cracks,” she said. And that is exactly what is happening.

Their plans for the future are uncertain, too.Justin Schiavone is in his last year of Graduate school and he still has“nothing solid yet” by way of a job and what he wants to do in the future.
This begs the question, what happens to men when they leave the comfort of college and go out into the world.

Siena Shundi is a therapist in Manhattan will hold therapy sessions for a group of men in their early 30s. It seems that the problem we college boys have will just become worse as we get older, like a festering wound that never gets cleaned.

In a society where men are pressured into assuming that dominant, bread winner role, things get confusing when they are no longer the sole breadwinner of a family.

“They have this confusion about what it means to be a man,” Shundi said. Shundi has also “seen more men get fired than women” in the past four years. Afterwards, she thought about this a little more and realized that she couldn’t recall seeing any women get fired; it was just men dropping out of the work force.

It is too early to look at workforce numbers to see any kind of decline of males in the workforce but if men are having a harder time then women in college, what will happen, if they make it, after graduation.

The inability of “men” to emotionally relieve themselves,coupled with dark prospects of work is leading to an early mid life crisis for men in their early 30s. According to Shundi, they are stuck in a kind of “arrested development” that seems to be ailing most of the men of New York City.

Katie Gentile, a faculty member in the counseling department and previous director of the Women’s Center, cautions against panicking over these numbers. Although she admits that our patriarchal society is getting shaken up, she believes that what our society is currently undergoing is merely an equalization of the sexes.

Shundi also prescribes to this belief. “As Americans become more comfortable with their sexuality there will be some kind of re balancing,” she said.

So how about it, brave college man? Do you feel comfortable enough to express your feelings without being afraid of someone accusing you of being unmanly?

 

Filed Under: Featured, General