The Stony Brook Press - Volume 32, Issue 1

8/8/2019 The Stony Brook Press - Volume 32, Issue 1

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While Stony Brook officials claimthat the university council was involvedin the decision to largely closeSouthampton, a judge has ruled that itwasnt, and some council membersagree they were left in the dark. Onemember said she found out about theclosure when she saw it in the papers.

The judges decision speaks for it-self: the council had no input in it be-fore the announcement was made, saidcouncil member Jeanne Garant, for-merly the mayor of Port Jefferson Vil-lage. Its a big mistake we wish thepresident hadnt made, because this ispublicity the university doesnt need.

The councils involvement, or itslack thereof, in the decision to scrapSouthampton programs and funding isat the center of NY Supreme Court Jus-tice Paul Baisleys Aug. 30 decision toreverse the closure. In the lawsuit filedby six former Southampton students,Baisley ruled that the cuts to Southamp-ton were fatally flawed because thedecision-making process required thedirect involvement of the Stony BrookCouncil, an independent oversightboard of nine governor-appointedmembers plus one student seat, whichalternates annually between the under-graduate and graduate student govern-ment. University officials point to a May11 council meeting as having filled thatmandate, but the meeting came weeksafter President Samuel Stanley an-nounced his decision and said it was adone deal.

Garant said the council could haveexplored alternatives if Stanley had involved its members earlier. He neg-lected to talk to the council first and wemight have been able to say, lets do thisinstead, or lets take a look at this op-tion.

She suggested that Stanley and evenfellow council members were unawareof responsibilities that they held. Weveall learned a good lesson from it, shesaid. I know hes very sorry, and werevery sorry, and of course this is nevergoing to happen again.

The Meeting

At the May 11 meeting that the uni-versity references, the councils chair-

man, Kevin Law, made a subtle state-ment that sheds some light on how thecouncil interprets its responsibilities.

I know our role as a council is lim-ited in many ways, said Law, a lawyer

who at the time was chief executive ofthe Long Island Power Authority. Butfeel free to bounce some decisions off ofus in the future to get our input, ourthoughts. Always feel free to use us asadvisors as youve got to make some ofthese tougher decisions, going forward.

Thank you, I appreciate that,President Samuel Stanley replied.

Laws implication that the council islittle more than a soundboard is amarked departure from New York statelaw, which requires the councils in-volvement in all major plans relating tofaculty, staff, students, admissions, aca-

demic programs, student housing,lands, grounds and buildingsin short,all of the areas affected by StanleysSouthampton scale-back. Indeed, thecouncils role is so clear and far-reach-ing that its stamp of approval was key tothe acquisition of the Southamptoncampus in 2005.

Law declined to comment, citingthe ongoing litigation.

Another council member who re-quested anonymity echoed Laws notionthat council has limited powers. We arenot a policy-making board, said themember. Our main responsibility is to

hire new university presidents and thatsbasically the extent of it.

The member said the council hadno official involvement in the decisionto scrap programs and shutter buildingsat Southampton prior to Stanleys Aprilannouncement. Yes, he should have

come to us sooner, the member said.But the fact is were not the financialexperts, we leave that to the people fromthe budget office. Were an eclecticbunch... and we dont all have the timeor the training to sit down and go overevery single thing.

Video of all council meetings areavailable on the university website, andthe May 11 footage shows that Lawcalled an unscheduled executive sessionto discuss some things with potentiallitigation matters involving the univer-sity. The camera stops rolling and all at-tendees besides Stanley and council

members are asked to leave the roomfor 15 minutes.

When the tape picks back up, Stan-ley briefly speaks about the universitysdire financial situation before broach-ing the cuts to the Southampton cam-pus hed announced a month earlier. Hestresses repeatedly that he does not in-tend to sell the property and that he andother SUNY administrators are com-mitted to moving the campus forward.Stanley says there were three pillars be-hind his decision: budget cuts from thestate, enrollment numbers that nevermatched projections, and anticipation

of philanthropy that failed to material-ize.

Law asks Stanley if Southamptonwould remain open if someone steppedforward to donate $6 million, and Stan-ley replies that if someone were to offerhim millions, he would not spend it at

Southampton; hed use it on main cam-pus to offset the budget cuts the schoolis coping with.

After Stanleys oratory on his deci-

sion, a handful of council members aska few quick questions. Garant demon-strates how uninformed members areon the matter by asking how the stu-dents are acclimating to the main cam-pus; Stanley quickly replies that thestudents wouldnt be making the switchfor several months. The council thenmoves on to view a presentation on thebudget.

The councils only other meetinglast semester, on Feb. 9, was pepperedwith positive references to Southamp-ton and included no mention of thepossibility of cuts there. Law even an-

nounced that the May 11 meetingwould be held at the South Fork cam-

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newsVol. XXXII, Issue 1 | Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Blind Oversight: Southampton Shuered WithoutCouncil Invovlement

By Colleen Harrington

Illustration of President Stanley and Kevin Law discussing Southampton at a May 11 University Council meeting

...we might havebeen able to say,

lets do thisinstead,...


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The Stony Brook Press 3News

pus so council members could take apeek at that.

We were all looking forward to vis-iting the campusI think there wasnew construction that was beingplanned there, said Garant in an inter-

view. And then of course, we read inthe paper they were closing it down. Wewere certainly surprised by it and wedidnt know what had caused it.

Garant said that after being in-formed of the universitys fiscal crisis atthe May 11 meeting, she could bettercomprehend Stanleys decision.

After his explanation and after wegot to review the budget, I can easilyunderstand why he did what he did,she said. Its really too bad, its just oneof those things that happens when youhave to tighten a budget.

Seeking a better understanding of

the universitys decision-makingprocess, The Press has filed a number ofFreedom of Information Law requestsand appeals for records relating to theSouthampton campus, which SUNYhas repeatedly denied or ignored. ThePress has initiated the legal process togain access to Southampton-relatedrecords.

The Lawsuit

In the students case versus Stanley,Stony Brook and the council, JudgeBaisley has asked the university council

to review the decision and asked theSouthampton students to file a pro-posed judgment, which he will considerbefore making his final decision on thefuture of Southampton.

When asked how the universityplans to respond, Spokeswoman LaurenSheprow pointed to the May 11 meet-ing as sufficient for the mandated coun-cil involvement.

Although not yet part of the legalrecord, in fact the university has alreadycomplied with the courts directive,University Spokeswoman Lauren Shep-row wrote in an email. On May 11,

2010, at a regularly convened meetingof the Stony Brook council, PresidentStanley apprised the council and mem-bers of the public then in attendance,about both the budgetary impact of res-idential operations at Southampton,and his intention to relocate a numberof academic programs from Southamp-ton to the Stony Brook campus.

Sheprow declined to address whythe meeting hadnt been brought to lightin court yet, or why the council wasbriefed on the Southampton decision amonth after it had been announced.

Lawyers for the Southampton stu-

dents have filed their proposed judg-ment seeking the restoration of the

Southampton campus to its fully opera-tional status in time for the spring 2011semester.

In an ideal situation, the peoplewho were in charge of making this de-cision, who bypassed the procedures

and obviously broke the lawtheyd bepunished, maybe lose their position,said Tara Linton, an environmental hu-manities major and plaintiff in the law-suit, who transferred to main campusthis year. Wed be able to get back toSouthampton and pick up right wherewe left off.

The Aftermath

But turning back time may not beso simple, as the Southampton campushas become a dreary outpost thats lostmuch of its luster. The cuts at

Southampton officially took effect Aug.31. Cyclists and skateboarders headingto and from class no longer travel thepaths that wind over the sprawling cam-pus. The residence halls are locked andsome unfinished dorm buildings havebeen shuttered with plywood. The cam-pus newly completed buildings, includ-ing the state-of-the-art LEED certifiedlibrary, now sit sealed, silent and vacant.The books that were stocked in the li-brary just a few months ago have beenpacked up and shipped out.

Main campus sent out very strictguidelines about removing stuff, said

Peggy Gregonis, a staff assistant forSouthamptons School of Marine andAtmospheric Sciences. She said crewscame out to Southampton to inventory,tag and truck away computers, booksand equipment.

Some of the funding for Southamp-ton has already been curtailed, accord-ing to Daniel Melucci, Stony BrooksVice President for Strategy and Plan-ning. We currently have a total of $7.7

million budgeted for Southampton forthe 2010-11 fiscal year. Last year thetotal state budget was approximately$12.5 million, he said.

Also absent from Southampton is alarge portion of its former faculty andstaff. Former Stony Brook SouthamptonDean of Students Mary Pearl, who saidin May that she would head a sustain-

ability program on the main campus,quietly resigned over the summer. Shes

now the CEO of the Garrison Institute,a social and environmental think tank

in the Hudson Valley. Other staffers fol-lowed suit in leaving Southampton.

They offered an excellent packagefor people to retire and many of themdid, said Gregonis, who said she nowhandles many more responsibilities as aresult. It was a one-shot deal.

University officials declined to pro-vide an exact figure of how much of theSouthampton workforce had left orbeen let go.

Despite significant cuts, Southamp-ton still has a faint pulse. Seven marinescience courses are being held there thissemester, along with a handful of grad-

uate writing courses.Were trying to let people know

that were still here and we still exist,Gregonis said, although she said stu-dents who take one of the thrice-dailyshuttles from main campus for classesare coping with limitations.

Theres no computer access, theresno library, theres nothing for them toeat, she said. We had to put somechairs out so they could have some-where to sit between classes. I feel itsunfair because these students, they paidtheir student activity fee, they paid justas much as everyone else.

Looking Forward

There is one development that Gre-gonis is hopeful about: the freshly fin-ished buildings that tower in disusearound the campus will soon be joinedby another brand new LEED-certifiedbuilding. Early next year, the Center forMarine Sciences will be demolished andreplaced with a two-story, 10,000-square foot marine science center withclassrooms, wet labs and a conferenceroom, according to university officials.

The new building is scheduled toopen in 2013 and the price tag will bepicked up by the universitys capitalfund, Melucci said, although he de-clined to provide an estimate of howmuch the new center would cost.Records indicate that SLAM Collabora-tive architectural firm, which hasworked extensively with other SUNYcampuses, was awarded a $750,000 con-tract in September 2009 to design thebuilding.

Gregonis keeps a poster board withthe architects rendering of the new cen-ter next to her desk. She said shes cau-tiously optimistic about the project.This is like everything else aroundhere, she said. We dont know yet andwere hoping that it will come through.

Colleen HarringtonSign of Southampton students objection to the closure

Its really too bad, it s just

one of those things thathappens when you have to

tighten a budget.


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The Stony Brook Press is published fortnightly duringthe academic year and twice during summer sessionby The Stony Brook Press, a student run non-profit or-ganization funded by the Student Activity Fee. The opin-ions expressed in letters, articles and viewpoints do notnecessarily reflect those of The Stony Brook Press as awhole. Advertising policy does not necessarily reflecteditorial policy. For more information on advertising anddeadlines call (631)632-6451. Staff meetings are heldWednesdays at 1:00 pm. First copy free. For additionalcopies contact the Business Manager.

The Stony Brook PressSuites 060 & 061

Student UnionSUNY at Stony Brook

Stony Brook, NY 11794-3200(631) 632-6451 Voice(631) 632-4137 Fax

Email: [email protected]

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editorials

Vol. XXXII,Issue 1 | Wednesday, September15, 2010

Editorial Board

Executive EditorNajib Aminy

Managing EditorsRoss Barkan

Natalie Crnosija

Associate EditorKelly Yu

Business ManagerRoman Sheydvasser

Production ManagerNick Statt

News EditorsMatt Calamia

Bobby Holt

Features EditorJosh Ginsberg

Arts EditorLiz Kaempf

Photo EditorsCarolina HidalgoEvan Goldaper

Copy EditorsZach Knowlton

WebmasterInquire Within

AudiomasterKenny Mahoney

OmbudsmanTia Mansouri

Layout Design byJowy Romano

Staff

Vincent BaroneRaina Bedford

Michelle BylickyAlex Cardozo

Lionel ChanMike CusanelliEric DiGiovanniBrett Donnelly

Lauren DubinskyAndrew Fraley

David GinnColleen Harrington

Samuel KatzIris Lin

Chris MellidesCarol MoranFrank Myles

Alex H. NaglerHowie Newsberkman

Tim Paules

Kelly PivarnikMatt Willemain

A judges recent decisionthat Stony Brook administratorsillegally bypassed its legislativeoversight board has startling im-plications. Whether PresidentSamuel Stanley and the univer-sity council were truly ignorantof the role the oversight councilis supposed to have, or whetherthe council just quietly acceptedhis brazen bypass is difficult todetermine. The fact is that the

universitys administration is agovernment agency with theability to spend hundreds ofmillions of taxpayer and tuitiondollars, and this council was in-stituted as an independentboard to act as a check on bigchanges and developments atStony Brook. In this instance, ithas failed miserably.

Facing a financial crisis, cutsto academics should be madeabsolutely last, but its one of the very first Stanley and his ad-ministration pursued. Months

before hiring a consulting firmto explore where money couldbe saved, the administration went forthwith slashing programs, cutting staffand virtually closed an entire campusfull of classrooms. This last act left hun-dreds of students turned away in disap-pointment upon learning of the abruptclosure.

The mere fact that the universitypoints to a council meeting that camemonths after the decision came down isflat out deplorable; both far too little,and too late. The judge ruled that Stan-ley made a hasty move and if the uni-

versitys checkbook was bleeding sobadly, the council should have beenmade fully aware earlier. Having con-

ducted interviews with a few coun-cilmembers, it appears that the councilis so out of the loop that it casts doubtover their ability to make informed de-cisions.

Back in May, council members satin quiet acceptance as Stanley glossedover his decision, yet not a single objec-tion was raised. It appears either thecouncil is uninformed and wholly re-moved from university operations orthat they simply have failed to weigh theoutcome of shutting down Southamp-ton. Stanley said at the time that while it

was too early tell, he thought theywould grow to embrace the vast aca-demic opportunities at main campus.

But its a campus they didnt apply to,and many of the students who made theswitch have expressed thick resentmentto the forced adjustment.

These developments have seriousimplications for the future of the university: without oversight, universityadministrators can slash and spend asthey see f it. Imagine tomorrow Stanleyannouncesyourmajor will be scrapped,and if you want to get your degree youcan move 50 miles west to New YorkCity to graduate, and many of your fa-vorite professors wont be around any-

more. It may seem farfetched butapparently, it could happen to you.

With No Check,

ere Is No Balance

About Us

Write fo e P!Meetings Every Wednesday at 1PM, Union Building 060


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5The Stony Brook Press

Hate what you see? E-mail your letters to [email protected]

Patch Adams Was RightComedy is the best remedyto the Student Activity Boards(SAB) problem of appealing tolarge undergraduate studentbody. It was during the Open-ing Weekend that hundreds ofstudents packed the SAC audi-torium, to what looked likenear capacity, to see stand-upcomic and TV personalityChristian Finnegan performthat is, see him for free. Asidefrom the the terrible approach

to advertising for the eventitwas virtually absentthe eventwas one that the Undergradu-ate Student Government(USG) and SAB should striveto emulate.

In the past couple months,the SAB has gone through aUSG-instituted reformation,replacing an independent lead-ership that catered to a small

niche of campus with a more central-ized approach that has put emphasis onmore USG oversight. The biggest chal-lenge for SAB, apart from the lack of ex-perience in the new leadership, will beto continue to appeal to the larger mass.

What made Christian Finnegansperformance at SBU work was that itwas enjoyable, and more importantly,for everybody. SBU is a very diversecampus with differing interests; it is alsoa campus of undergraduate studentswho would hope to have as enjoyable a

time here as possible.SABs responsibility to the students

increases tenfold with the increase inmoney the organization has been given.When compared to last years budget,the current SABs budget has increasedmore than 25 percent, to $270,000. Andwith the USG Senate voting to repealALIRRT, a service where students couldpurchase discounted LIRR tickets, thereis even less room for excuses when SAB

events are poorly attended because ofthe Senates agreement to transfer the$20,000 in the ALIRRT budget to theSABs Weekend Life program.

While it is still uncertain as to howSABs leadership will operate, themoney is more abundant than ever.SAB should be able to get higher-brassed comedians, have more concertsand host more events that will keep thestudents on this campus and make themhappy.

Just as important as it was for SAB

to host a successful inaugural event, theproceding events and concerts will needto be just as, if not even more, pertinent,appealing to this campus of college stu-dents. If hosting Christian Finnegan isany indication of the future of SAB,were headed in the right direction.Sure, he is no Aziz Ansari, but it surebeats a mentalist or whatever elsetheyve hosted in years prior.

We can never forget 9/11 and wecan never seem to forget our base, jin-goistic urges. What is it about mourn-ing and loss that leads to suchignorance?

Nine years have past since the col-lapse of the World Trade Center on Sep-tember 11, 2001, and if the currentnational dialogue and wars abroad areany indication, we as a nation havelearned very little. Obviously, the anti-Islamic fervor over a proposed Islamiccenter near ground zero is absurd. Sev-eral sick individuals knocked those tow-ers down and not an entire faith.Anyone who cant see the differenceneeds to re-examine their fundamentalvalues and intelligence.

Beyond the Islamophobiawhichis sadly reminding Americans oldenough to remember the anti-Semitismthat pervaded the United Statesthroughout the first half of the 20thcenturyis the disturbing us vs. themmentality that surges at this time eachyear. Rather than simply remember thevictims, 9/11 memorials have becomeoveraggressive and chest-thumping

paeans to American freedom. Re-membering 9/11 has become an op-portunity to slather cars and lawns withAmerican flags and justify deaths inAfghanistan and Iraq that have little jus-tification. Rather than be a time for uni-fication, remembering 9/11 has becomea time for dividing individuals.

We should all be human beings. In-stead, we are Americans and terrorists.Nationalism can be a positive force, ashistory has shown, but it can also bemanipulated for oppression and de-struction. The highly-important andsadly forgotten 20th century Indianphilosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti oncesaid, To love anything beautiful in acountry is normal and natural, butwhen that love is used by exploiters intheir own interest it is called national-ism. Nationalism is fanned into imperi-alism, and then the stronger peopledivide and exploit the weakerTheworld is dominated by the spirit of cun-ning, ruthless exploitation, from whichwar must ensue. This spirit of national-ism is the greatest stupidity.

We can be proud as Americans and

we can celebrate who weare. But to imply that therandom event of beingborn within a fairly arbi-trary geographicalboundary somehowmakes a person morallysuperior to another is, asthe great Krishnamurtisaid, the greatest stu-pidity. AmericanProtestants are no betterthan American Muslims who are nobetter than Italian Catholics who are nobetter than Austrian Jews. We are hu-mans and we are individuals. Our pass-ports are not beacons of our character.

And this is the tragedy of most 9/11memorials. They subtly communicatethe message that barriers must exist andthat there is simply one evil (the Islamicfaith) that exists to oppose the good(America and, as a certain pastor fromFlorida has shown, Christianity). In anage of supposed enlightenment, theypromote a terribly simplistic and dan-gerous view of the world. The messageis corrupt: love one group and despise

another, despite stereotyping being oneof the most insidious weapons wieldedagainst minorities throughout history.

Death is always tragic. The boygunned down in an impoverishedneighborhood, a victim of gang vio-lence, is of no less value than the manwho perished on the 90th floor of thenorth tower. The same applies for thefirefighters who die in blazes that arenot caused by terrorist attacks. They allmatter.

When September 11 becomes a daythat is divorced from jingoism and ha-tred, it will truly be the sacred day weall want it to be.

e Real Tradegy of 9/11


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newsVol. XXXII, Issue 1 | Wednesday, September 15, 2010

While thousands of studentsbuzzed in the hallways during the firstdays of classes, an unauthorized, off-campus organization was busy convinc-ing scores of students to hand overpersonal Facebook login information.

A temporary station of unsecurelaptops was set up at the informationdesk in the Frank Melville Jr. MemorialLibrary, just feet from the entrance. Thepersonal data collectors, who claimed tobe representatives of Beth Gavriel, aBukharian Jewish center in Queens,

N.Y., were hard at work persuadingpassers-by to sign into personal Face-book accounts and vote for ShaareiZion Ohel Brancha, a private elemen-tary school in Forest Hills, N.Y., in acontest sponsored by Kohls departmentstores.

When pressed about security issuesinvolved with signing into unknowncomputers, the representatives insistedthe personal computers were safe, andthat no keystroke-loggers or spywarehad been installed.

Multiple attempts to contact BethGavriel and the school for comment

have been unsuccessful.A recent study by Trusteer, a lead-

ing technology security company, foundthat 73% of users use the same pass-word for social media and private e-mail. Even more alarming is the 47% ofusers who share bank and financialpasswords with their non-financiallogin sites.

Trusteer cites Facebook as the pri-mary target of criminals and hackers

because of the personal informationmany users share. Names of pets, a par-ents maiden name and birth dates en-able hackers to completely assume avictims identity with little effort.

Representatives from the Univer-sitys General Information Office, Li-brary Management Office, MainCirculation Desk and Campus Securityhad no information on the group orwho may have authorized them to col-lect personal data from Stony Brookstudents.

James LaPiano, Operations Man-ager at the Library, said that the Divi-

sion of Information Technology, DoIT,were getting overwhelmedand setup a sub-station, but mentioned henever spoke to the DoIT about thegroup collecting personal data fromstudents in the lobby.

Client Support and DoIT wouldnot have allowed anything like that,said Keith Bradley, a professional staffmember of Client Support Services, adivision of DoIT.

Bradley and other DoIT employeesconfirmed that the group collectingFacebook login names for contest voteswere not affiliated with the department

in any way. When Bradley deals withstudents he educates them about thedangers of being careless with personalinformation, especially passwords andlogin information.

Personally, I would not sign ontoany type of unknown device with mypersonal login information, saidBradley.

Andrew White, director of the li-brary, said there is no policy in thebuilding that would require students toregister for those areas and it is com-mon to see groups of students congre-gating there especially during the firstweek of classes. He remembers seeingthe group at the entrance during open-ing week, but didnt think it was un-usual and he received no complaintsfrom administration, faculty or stu-

dents.According to White, the horseshoe-

shaped-booths have traditionally beenused as information desks for studentsduring the opening week of classes. Hesaid the library is one of the highesttrafficked sites on campus, with multi-ple entrances to the building and libraryresources, creating security problems

for campus officials.This type of activity, if unscrupu-

lous, is certainly something we willwatch out for in the future, said White.

University policy, P109 Use of In-formation Technology, states, underthe heading Access/Usage that unau-thorized access to electronic data andusing anothers password for any pur-pose is inappropriate.

Throughout most of the school year

the information desks remain empty,sometimes attracting informal study-groups or impromptu get-togethers,rarely used for official university pur-poses. Without administration moni-toring the information booths, and apolicy to enforce specific use, officialswere left wondering who authorized theoff-campus group to solicit ads.

Fishy Facebook Charity Comes to SBU

By Peter Smith


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The Stony Brook Press 7News

President Samuel L. Stanley, Jr. an-nounced Project 50 Forwardan ini-tiative to better not only the schoolitself, but its students, faculty and na-tional reputationvia video messageon the universitys website.

The project, which simultaneouslycelebrates Stony Brook Universitys 50th

anniversary and looks forward to theschools next 50 years, is dedicated tooperational excellence, academic great-ness. The message goes on to say thatthe Project 50 Forward is designed to

enhance the fundamental teaching, re-search, and service mission of StonyBrook University, while building a plat-form to support the future growth of theUniversity and strengthen Stony Brooksrole in the economic renewal of NewYork State.

The multi-faceted plan is directedat operational excellence, academic ex-cellence and developing a FacilitiesMaster Plan.

Achieving operational excellence isbeing aided by the schools use of man-agement consulting firm Bain & Com-

pany to analyze and streamline opera-tions. Stanley said, during a September

10 press conference, that the amount ofmoney that could be saved throughBain & Companys advising remains

unclear at this time. The administra-tion is looking to save between 7 to 10percent of its addressable budget

through implementing Bain & Com-panys recommendations, said Stanley.

In a rough estimate, Stanley said, Wewould love at some point in time to beable to save somewhere around $30 mil-

lion dollars a year but well see whetherwe can reach that goal.

The Strategic Plan, developed with

input from faculty, student and univer-sity leadership, focuses resources on

fields where Stony Brook can set thebenchmark for excellence. Apart froma committee including students to ad-dress student life, each of the univer-sitys schools is developing its ownstrategic plan within this framework.Theyre being driven by the schools soeach of the schools is developing its ownacademic strategic plan that deals withresearch and their academic mission,said Stanley.

A best use model for existing facil-ities will also be developed, accordingto Stanley. This Facilities Master Planwill be developed by many campus-

represented groups designated as partof an advisory committee.These plans arent just focused on

the Main Campus, as the message alsomentions the Medical Center, Researchand Development Park, Manhattan, andSouthampton.

Collectively, these elements of Proj-ect 50 Forward are intended to pushStony Brook into the ranks of theUnited States top 20 public researchuniversities.

Prez. Stan Is the Man With a PlanBy Matt Calamia


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Silence spreads throughout the Stu-dent Union Ballroomall focus shiftsto front of the room as stragglers walkin, dropping off their book bags andslipping their shoes off against the walllooking for a place to sit. Chatter fromthe bustling Union cafeteria next doorand raindrops from a detoured Hurri-cane Earl pelting the skylight windowsdisturb the quiet. But it is the adhan, theMuslim call to prayer, which resonates.

Come to Prayer! Come to Prayer!recites SBU sophomore Zain Ali in amelody, strictly in Arabic. Come to the

Success! Come to the Success! Ali con-tinues the adhan in a Saudi Arabian ver-sion, mixed with his own style, acquiredfrom watching videos on YouTube. It isa call that the Chemistry and Spanishdouble major gives often at SBU, andone that many Stony Brook Muslimswill hear during Jummah prayerthemandatory congregational prayer heldevery Friday afternoon.

This prayer, which precedes theLabor Day weekend, holds an addedspiritual and physical significance as theImam, cloaked in a white long pristinegarb and a red-and-white patterned kef-

fiyeh, reminds the congregation of morethan 200. Ramadan, the leader of this

given prayer says in his hoarse voice, islike a vault, when opened, full of reli-gious opportunity and increased re-wards. But once this Muslim holymonth comes to a close, no less than aweek from this given prayer, so doesthat vault.

The Fast

During these 30 days Muslims mustfast from sunrise to sunsetno bread,water or medicine is permitted. But formost Muslims, thats not the hardest, letalone most meaningful, part. Its not

just about the food, says Nabiha Zakir,President of the Muslim Student Asso-ciation at SBU. For us everything re- volves around spirituality, [and inRamadan] we want to strengthen ourgrasp over our soul and control our de-sires.

It is a fast of the five senses, for ex-ample, where acts of backbiting, lustfulgaze and listening to music are prohib-ited. It is a training program of self-re-straining to better our relationship withgod, says Ali, who is half-Italian andPakistani.

Bigger than the challenges of fast-

ing that SBU Muslims face during Ra-madan is the management of

schoolwork while practicing their faith.For example, many Muslims have con-flicting schedules between class andiftar, the time designated to break thefast. Its a dilemma political sciencemajor Moiz Siddiqui is faced with as heembarks on the final few days of thisyears Ramadan.

Its obviously tough with everyoneeating around you, but what is reallydifficult is how we budget school workwith going to tarawih [special nightprayer], reading Quran and aiming

ourselves as Muslims, says Siddiqui,who leaves his evening classes to breakhis fast. But that balance becomes easier

to handle during the last 10 days, a holyperiod when Muslims believe the

Quran was revealed to the ProphetMuhammad. School comes second.

The Dawn of Dusk

As sundown approaches, food isprepared and heated, straw prayer matsare unrolled and members of the com-munity come in, waiting for the desig-nated time that marks sundown. As pertradition of the Prophet Muhammad, itis customary for Muslims to break theirfast with a date palm, a fruit that has aunique sweetness to it. The adhan isthen called to gather people for one of

the five mandatory daily prayers.Following prayer, a long-winding

line forms, where conversations are heldin multiple languages and discussionstouch on topics ranging from classes,the days events to hunger. As the linebottlenecks towards the tables wherefood is served, Siddiqui is running thelettuce station, where he will stand forthe next half-hour as others sit backdown to eat food and quench theirthirst after a long days fast. The linesare always long. What are you going todo? asks the Hicksville native. In theend its just about helping everybody

out.The iftars are also open to non-

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featuresVol. XXXII,Issue 1 | Wednesday, September15, 2010

A Call Beyond PrayerBy Najib Aminy

For us everything re-volves around spiritual-

ity, [and in Ramadan]we want to strengthen

our grasp over our souland control our desires.

Members of the Muslim Student Association

line up for evening prayer after

breaking their fast.


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Muslims, including freshman TrevorNorth, who volunteered to carry foodto the ballroom after seeing one MSAmember struggle with the task. He wasinvited to sit in and grab food. In highschool, you learn about Islam but you

dont learn about their holidays and very little about their belief systems,said North, a chemical engineeringmajor. You dont really learn muchabout Islam but to see it first handitsa great way to learn about different cul-tures.

A Spiritual Fraternity

One of the few benefits, MSAmembers say, of having Ramadan takeplace during the school semester is thesense of fraternity that comes with it.

I was honestly awe inspired, saysAli, a Queens native who started a Mus-

lim club in his high school and wasblown away by the comparison. Ithought it was extremely beautiful tosee all these different people coming to-gether for a sole purpose.

But it wasnt always this way. Whatonce started in the mail room in theHumanities building, before it was re-furbished, has now grown to what MSAChaplain Sanaa Nadim considers an ac-complishment 18 years in the making.Before, the iftars would be held occa-sionally with only a few pans of food tofeed the few students that attended.Now, every weeknight there are heaping

trays of heated food that feed hundreds.Establishing a strong community

presence was a dream Sister Sanaa sayswas without a dollar, and through thecourse of her time here, that presencehas expanded dramatically to where itis today. I prayed; I wanted so much formy students to have the same privilegethat other groups on campus had, saidSister Sanaa. The growth has beentremendous and amazing over theyears.

Perceptions

But that growth comes at a time

when Islam in America has been placedunder a magnifying glass. Islam hasbeen the subject of a summer-longmedia spotlight, with stories rangingfrom the Muslim community centerproposition in lower Manhattan to aradical and extremist Florida Pastorpledging to go forth and burn Quranson the ninth anniversary of September11.

And as public opinion towardsIslam continues to decrease, with a re-cent Pew Center Research poll pointingto 40 percent of Americans interviewedhaving an unfavorable view towards

Islamup 11 percent from the surveyconducted in 2005being a Muslim

American now includes fighting off thestereotypes.

For Zakir, her decision to wear aheadscarf was a voluntary one. Her de-cision to cover her head, although notkindly welcomed by her large immedi-

ate family in the initial days post-9/11,has now become a means for her to fur-ther practice her religion.

What we see as modest, other peo-ple in America see as oppression, Zakirsays. The reason why I cover up is notbecause I am forced to, but it is to get intouch with my spirituality and to getcloser to god and continue that rela-tionship.

And yet while there is a clear gen-der divide between where female Mus-lims stand in prayerin the backit isan issue that is deeply rooted in religionand modesty rather than limitation of

rights. If we felt we were being op-pressed, obviously we wouldnt be here,asserts Zakir.

As for the notion that all Muslimsare terrorists, well, thats what Zakirwould compare to calling all Americanslike those portrayed on theJersey Shore.

The Social Jihad

For those practicing Muslims, de-vout life means many restrictions on be-havior that most students wouldperceive as normal condoned activity;from drinking to dating.

What is really hard for a Muslim

living in America, I definitely would

have to say, is the promiscuity [in]American pop culture, Ali says. Its theculture that glorifies the degradation ofthe status of women, the pursuit of pri-mordial desires like money, food, sexand material success. That kind of stuff

is a problem for me.Ali had a first-hand encounter with

these issues during his freshman yeardorming with his non-Muslim room-mate. He engaged in activities out of

the norm for me, says Ali. My hatredtowards that kind of stuff is not trans-lated into hatred towards the people butthe actions they are committing, be-cause I hate what they are doing.

When asked by her students aboutaddressing these issues, Sister Sanaa of-fers one piece of adviceall of these is-sues, conflicts and dilemmas are part of

ones path of life. Age, time and journey

are part of your destiny, she says. somewill falter and will need help, while oth-ers will find their way and move on.

The idea to me is, if God can for-give you, then who are we to judge eachother, she adds.

Saying Goodbye to a Friend

What makes this years Ramadanentirely special for the MSA students isthat this will be the last spiritual monththat will take place during the schoolyear for the next ten years. Ramadanappears a little earlier each year due toconflicts between its lunar based calen-dar and the Gregorian calendar. And forSister Sanaa, it could be her very lastRamadan shared with students asChaplain of SBU.

What a journey it has been. I prayI am still here; I made it 18 years, she

says, reflecting over the last iftarheldfor this years Ramadan. I am gratefuland I will never look back except withsmiles and tears.

Holding similar sentiment, manyMSA members find the end of Ra-madan to be bittersweet.

Its a really sad time, says Zakir,its our Christmas and, once it leaves,you cant wait for the next one. I praythat I can live that long.

It is a relief, human beings like toeat, Ali says, but it is also sad becauseit is as if a friend is leaving you.

The Stony Brook Press 9Features

The idea to me is,if God can forgiveyou, then who are

we to judge eachother?

Najib AminyJunior Moiz Siddiqui (second from right) running the salad station.


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10 Vol. XXXII, Issue 1 | Wednesday, September 15, 2010Feature Photos

Jacqueline Flareau, a member of Stony Brooks Young Americans for Freedom chapter, helps place 2,977 American flags in front of the

library as part of a memorial honoring the victims of the 9/11 attacks. Chapter members and volunteers installed the memorial on Sept.8, 2010. Photos by Carolina Hidalgo.


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The Stony Brook Press 11Feature Photos

Stony Brooks football team defeated the American International Yellow Jackets, 31-14, in its season home opener on Sept. 11, 2010.

Photos by Carolina Hidalgo.


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12 Vol. XXXII, Issue 1 | Wednesday, September 15, 2010Features

Lauterbur Hall towers over WestDrive like a Manhattan skyscraper in acity of shacks. Its seamless design, sleekblue-white color scheme, and intricatewalkways surrounding the base give itthe look of hotel. Its eco-friendly, withnatural lighting and energy-efficientfeatures, and provides a remarkably lav-ish interior. But to some of theSouthampton students who were relo-cated onto the campus this year, noth-ing here at Stony Brooks main campusis worthy of being called a home.

Were not the kind of people thatneed to live in the Marriott, says Ju-liann Navarra, now in her junior year.She stands on the edge of the benchfixed outside the front door of Lauter-bur in a navy blue Southampton sweat-shirt. Every time I say, Im in the newKelly building, people get angry anddont want to speak to me anymore, sheadds. But I didnt choose thisI didnttake your spot.

Navarras close friend, Chelsea

Holmes, is quick to add that the disre-spectful attitudes run surprisingly deep,even dropping to the level of name-call-

ing. Dirty backpacking hippies was ac-tually the term, says Holmes, asophomore sustainability major. Shepoints out to the road and says cars pullup alongside the building and peoplestick their heads out to yell insults. Afew nights earlier, Holmes says shewoke up to three bags of garbage out-side her suites door.

To SBUs mainstays, living inLauterbur and Yang is apparently thesame as having a permanent target onyour back. The Southampton studentswere given first priority for housing andnaturally, a majority of them chose thebrand new buildings to help ease thepain of losing their entire campus andstay close to one another. Housing wasone of the few points of condolence of-fered by President Stanley when the an-nouncement to close most of the majorsand residential living at Southamptonwas made last April. However, manymain campus students felt betrayedafter having to suffer through the noiseand sight of constant two-year con-struction with no benefit.

But when looked at in perspective,it becomes easy to see that while dormchoice may be a large concern to themain campus student body, it is farfrom the top of the Southampton trans-fers list of priorities. If youre going tosit there and talk about how you have

been inconvenienced, then thats justthe biggest joke Ive ever heard, saysHolmes with an energy verging on ex-plosive. This is the leastthey could do.

Holmes and Navarra stand at theedge of Lauterbur with a handful oftheir friends, almost all Southamptontransfers. The scene is far from light the constant hum of construction, thedozens upon dozens of orange fences allup and down the road, and the grey andempty landscape of a typical StonyBrook weekend blanketing everythingin sight. They find it hard to believe thattheir environmentally-focused educa-tion has to continue here instead of inthe lush, secluded campus 40 miles tothe East.

How am I suppose to be a sustain-ability major in a concrete jungle? asksHolmes. No one offers an answer.

Believe it or not, the fact thatHolmes even had a major to return tothis fall can be considered lucky. Mymajor, sustainable business, didnt even

How am Isupposed to be asustainability

major in a concretejungle?

By Nick StattBy Nick Statt

TheThe

SouthamptonSouthampton

ExodusExodus

Stony Brook buys

Southampton campusfrom LIU for $35 million

LIU announces that it will

close its Southampton cam-pus due to massive debt

Long Island University

opens Southamptoncampus

SB Southampton holds

first fall semester for its200 registered students

September, 2007March, 2005June, 20041963


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transfer over. I just wasted money, a lotof us did, says Navarra. Right now,shes technically undeclared.

To the Southampton students, theirenvironment was their world. The cam-pus wasnt just their home. It was the

embodiment of their education, theirnew life and their goals and aspirations.

That campus was sustainability,says Holmes. Off to the side of thegroup, Amanda Sylvester, 20, a juniorenvironmental studies major who donsthe same Southampton sweatshirt asNavarra, breaks her spell of silence, Wewere living what we were being taught.

Sylvester and the group start listingoff the countless measures the schooltook to set a strong example for envi-ronmental sustainability and reinforcetheir flagship curriculum. Clara Perez,a sophomore marine science major,

worked in the dining hall and recites anumber of ways the campus cut back,from holding off on dish washing toconserve water to the use of fullybiodegradable, and edible, silverware.

I knew the second I walked ontothat campus that this is it...the most se-cure thing in my lifemy college edu-cation, says Navarra. It is somethingthat Im really and honestly passionateabout and it was ripped out from underme without even a forewarning.

The major is a different way of life.The only way that things can get betteris if people change the way they live,

comments Holmes on the whole ideol-ogy behind environmental sustainabil-ity. Thats how it was out there. Wewere living the new lifestyle that every-one should be living. Each and everyperson standing in the group, which isnow growing into a bursting semi-cir-cle of Lauterbur residents, expresses thesame solitary factthey choseSouthampton over Stony Brooks maincampus for a deliberate reason.

Here was the last place I wanted tobe, says Navarra. Her outlook, markeddistinctly by the fact that she is the onlyone in the group to have had her major

completely eliminated upon shiftingcampuses, is a complex mix of cyni-cism, sarcasm and passionate resilience.I came anyway; there is still my educa-tion.

Two weeks into the first semestercan feel like an eternity to even the mostable of seniors. To the Southamptonstudents, its not just a shift from a sum-

mer lifestyle to a schoolone, with classes, early-mornings and the addedresponsibilities of livingon your own. To them,all the negativity sur-

rounding a whole newenvironment is doubledand magnified to an ex-treme.

With an inescapablelabel and the feeling ofbetrayal under theirbelts, its as if StonyBrook waged a civil war,forcing the prisoners toassimilate into and beconsumed by the enemy.The Southampton stu-dents fought for theircampus, for their

lifestyle, and they lost.There was apparentlynever time, nor money,for a battle.

Do you know howmuch it sucks to befighting so hard forsomething you careabout so much and yourenemy is the president ofyour university? asksHolmes. Her questionsare razor sharp, honed from countlesshours spent protesting and fighting thedecision that was set in stone only days

after it was publicly released to the stu-dent body. And then you are forcedto come here.

Sylvester somberly nods her head,Ive lost all respect for the administra-tion, and any kind of trust.

The August 27 ruling from judgePaul J. Baisley Jr., which deemed theAdministrations closing of theSouthampton campus illegal, is the first

victory in favor of those abandoned onSBUs doorstep, but the future of thecampus is still up in the air. That leaves

Southampton students who are un-happy with their current situationpinned between accepting an environ-

ment and lifestyle they deliberately re- jected and starting anew somewhereelse. Theres always the chance thatSouthampton will reopen, but thatmeans pouring time and money intounhappiness.

Liz Monahan, a sophomore marine vertebrate major, wants to return toSouthampton just as much as any of herfriends, but understands the reality. Ifthey reopen the campus, its not goingto be the same because they ripped itout from under us, she says. Lookingahead, optimism is almost non-existent.Everyone is going to start to leave ei-

ther next semester or next year andeverything we built is going to be fornothing.

With two weeks of experience,Holmes, a resident of the town of StonyBrook whose home is a mere fiveminute drive from campus, has beenthoroughly weighing her options. Iknow for a fact that Im not comingback next year, she says. So if

Southampton doesnt open after thisyear, Im out. There is nothing here forme.

As evening approaches, more andmore people begin to file in and out ofLauterburs front entrance. Each andevery time someone passes, Holmes,Navarra, and the rest of the group givewelcoming greetings and waves, some-thing they say is commonplace back atSouthampton, even if you dont knowthe persons name.

So, despite being outnumbered by astudent body of over 20,000, with somany of them being transient, ghost-like commuters, the Southampton stu-dents are infusing the culture they havedeveloped with their environment. It

was how theyve been taught; it is sim-ply a way to learn, live and grow withbalance.

Its not a bad place. Theyre a lot ofreally smart kids here says Holmes.But long story short, it is not for us. Wehave established that we are not happyhere.

The Stony Brook Press 13Features

...if Southamptondoesnt open after thisyear, Im out. Tere isnothing here for me.

Judge annuls clo-

sure of Southasmp-ton campus

Council is briefedon SBS closure

University Coun-cil meets

SBS celebrates the opening

of its multi-million dollar,LEED certified library

August 31, 2010May, 2010April, 2010

Cuts officially take

effect

August 30, 2010October, 2009

Najib AminySouthampton students protesting the decision to close their campus last April


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14

arts&entertainmentVol. XXXII, Issue 1 | Wednesday, September 15, 2010

It doesnt take much to grasp thesurface of the Screaming Females. Shestill screams. She also shreds on gui-tarand I mean really melts faces.Marissa Paternoster, the female third ofthe group, is the she in question andalongside bassist King Mike anddrummer Jarrett Dougherty, this three-piece New Brunswick, NJ band trav-erses punk, pop and downrightavant-garde rock with a disarming in-tensity.

In the past, the once ever-present

catch was that they were far from acces-sible; the screaming, the guitar solosand Paternosters normal, but stillweird-as-hell, vocal style crafted a loveor hate relationship with almost everylistener. It gave them one of the mostunique sounds out there, but con-strained them to the underground NewJersey punk scene. Since then, theyvemade steps simply by opening for guyslike Ted Leo and playing big festivals inand around the Northeast.

But their latest release, Castle Talk,due out September 14, sees the bandreaching unimaginable heights. Gone

are almost all of the screaming chorusesand punchy punk instrumentals. In-stead, you get some of the most melodicarrangements Ive ever heard, decoratedwith a surprisingly mainstream ap-proach to songwriting. Theyre arguablynot the same band, and that may be apretty big betrayal to the die-hard fans.But its also their best album to date andvery well may push them into a wholenew realm of popularity.

Paternoster, the most significant

and mystifying component of theScreaming Females, is mind-blowing

on Castle Talk. Her guitar work retainsits famous strangeness, but is now re-fined to an unbelievable level. She shiftsfrom melodic clean riffs to effect-heavysolos with virtuosic ease, and still man-

ages to stamp her trademark obsessionwith vibrato on every note. Vocally, sheno longer rips out those huge scream-ing highs, but replaces them with a mostimpressive range of styles throughoutevery single track.

Laura and Marty couldnt be abetter opening song. It delivers every-thing you could want from a textbookScreaming Females song, but adds in

subtle clues, like the slow and soothingbridge right before the big fireworks

display at the end, to indicate how therest of the album will pan out.Castle Talk takes off from there

with the follow up track, the alarminglypoppy I Dont Mind It. They go com-

pletely soft and serene on the thirdtrack, Boss, and master the perfectmiddle-ground of their sound with thenext track, Normal, which also hap-pens to feature one of the most satisfy-ing guitar breaks Paternoster has evercomposed.

The album hits a real sweet spot forthe entire middle portion because it dis-plays a good mixture of the tamer, new

direction and the old infamous inten-sity over the course of four to five

tracks. But it ends with Ghost Solo,easily one of the poppiest songs in theirentire catalogue, which neatly ties upthe tone of the whole album neatly andexpresses quite plainly that this is whattheyre aiming for now.

Castle Talk is clearly a departurefrom their previous sound, but in anundeniably positive direction. You canlament at the loss of their roots all youwant and at the end of the day, you mayvery well win an argument that the trueScreaming Females sound is marked bythe previous three albums. But thisalbum is not just accessible, its a ma-

tured and amazing product of threeNew Jersey punk-influenced musiciansthat have finally become comfortablewith the versatility of their sound.Whether or not they will still be theScreaming Females a year from nowisnt really the point.

Buy the Album

Illegally Download it

Listen to Nckelback!!!!!

The Screaming Females

By Nick Statt


15/20

The Stony Brook Press 15Arts & Entertainment

What do you get when you blendthe horrifying monsters ofLeft 4 Dead,the acclaimed leveling-up system fromthe recent Call of Duty multiplayermodes and the winners of Epic Gamesoriginal Make Something Unreal con-test? You get Tripwire InteractivesKilling Floor, a PC co-op survival hor-ror shooter that has successfully rolledeverything that has been awesomeabout multiplayer first-person-shooters from recent years into abudget-priced package.

Killing Floors premise is simple andstraightforward; wave after wave of mu-tated specimens, genetic experimentsthat have gone horribly awry, are ter-rorizing the English countryside whileyou and five of your mates are fightingfor survival. Blended into this simplemechanic is a deep class structure thatallows players to utilize weaponry andattributes that, when played correctlyand cooperatively, offer one of the mostsatisfying multiplayer experiencesaround.

Players can choose to either playonline, or solo in an offline single-player mode. Playing solo is like throw-ing your own birthday party and havingnobody show up. Its sad, depressingand theres nobody around to hear youcry when the monsters come to dragyou into the abyss. Also, the later wavesbecome so impossible to manage onyour lonesome that it is nigh un-playable. I imagine that this mode wasincluded merely for the sake of having asingle-player option, but this game wasclearly meant to be played online.

Before you begin, the player isasked to choose a specific class with

special weapon proficiencies, damageboosters, and other abilities that makethem unique from all the other classes.These perks begin at level zero, and canbe leveled up to five by completing cer-tain objectives, such as causing a spe-cific amount of damage with a

particular weapon. Getting through thefirst level or two of each class wont taketoo long, but the amount of time re-quired to hit the later levels can seem al-most unreachable. This is especiallytrue when the qualifications for levelingbecome so specific, like scoring a cer-tain amount of headshots, that it be-comes more of a grind than somethingyou would reach naturally.

Each class also lends itself to a par-ticular play style. For example, theSharpshooter is better suited for playerswho want to pick off bad guys from adistance with well-placed shots. If

youre a player that delights in gettingtheir hands dirty, then the Berserkerclass, which gives you bonuses to yourskill with melee weapons, is your bestbet. There are six classes in total: the

ones mentioned above as well as Dem-olitions, Medic, Support Specialist andFirebug. The differences between eachdelivers a unique play experience, andmakes each important to the team andworth playing.

As stated earlier, the game is set up

in a serious of rounds or waves inwhich ever-growing groups of speci-mens are thrown at you until you facedown the final boss in the last wave.Much like Left 4 Dead, you wont justencounter the same monster; KillingFloorhas a cadre of special monsters,each with their own abilities and weak-nesses that creates an advantage for theclass-based game play. Some monstersare more susceptible to fire or explo-sions, as opposed to regular gunfire,making them better suited to be takenout by someone who can deliver dam-age easily. This can be great when you

have the class structure to deal withthem, but can be a complete game-killerif youre hit with a ton of monsters youcant handle, and can easily bring yourgame to an abrupt and infuriating end.

Between each wave, the mysteriousTrader opens her doors for you to comeand buy new weapons. As you play,youll earn money for killing monstersand healing teammates, and you canupgrade your arsenal to better battle theimpending horde. But move quickly,the Trader always appears at a differentpoint on the map, so make sure youhave enough time to reach her beforeyour brief window of time closes. Myonly complaint here is that I would have

liked to see a greater variety in my Ar-mageddon-arsenal, as after a while thesmall weapons selection will start to feelold and boring.

Tripwire has included a set of pro-fessionally made maps for you to playwith, but the game is completely openfor would-be game designers to makeand upload their own maps to mowdown specimens in. The default mapsare well-made, with a good mix of loca-tions to choose from, including a farm,laboratory and the abandoned streets ofWest London. While this mixture oflandscapes adds variety, the mechanics

of the game usually prevent you fromseeing all of it. Players will eventuallystart to hole up in the same spot overand over again, turning what should bea frantic kill-fest into a shootinggallerysitting in the same spot waitingfor monsters to come to the door andpulling the trigger.

Overall, Killing Flooroffers some-thing new yet familiar. It contains manyelements already seen in games today,but combines them in a way never seenbefore. It may leave much to be desiredin the graphics department, as it is abudget title that was originally devel-oped as a mod for a game from six yearsago, but that alone shouldnt keep youaway.

You can find Killing Floorin storesand for download via Steam for $19.99.

By Kenny Mahoney

Killing Floor


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16 Vol. XXXII, Issue 1 | Wednesday, September 15, 2010Arts and Entertainment

Dozens of new indie, art, foreignfeature and short films were screenedon campus during the Fifteenth AnnualStony Brook Film Festival at the StallerCenter for the Arts, over the course often days at the end of July.

A summer tradition, the film festi-val brings a little cosmopolitan culturedeep into the suburban Long Islandlandscapethe films complement the

centers live production of music, dance,theatre and other performances. Pro-viding both early looks at movies whichwill be available to broad American au-diences, as well as more esoteric offer-ings that filmgoers might otherwisemiss entirely, the film festival regularlystands out against a backdrop of limitedactivity on campus over the summer.

This year, the festival again provided a varied group of interestingmovies, several of which are reviewedbelow.

The Staller Center does a fairlygood job of walking a tightropeserv-

ing two masters in the form of the un-dergraduate-predominated universitycommunity as well as a very differentoff-campus local community. Servingas a location for world class cultural of-ferings a performing arts enthusiastmight expect to find in New York City,the center is supported by patrons fromacross Long Island. At the same time, itis integrated into the Stony Brook cam-pus.

One of the conflicts this tensioncreates is the potential for students to bepriced out of Staller Center offerings.Director Alan Inkles remains passion-

ate about finding ways to enable somestudent access, however. The StallerCenter is currently promoting effortssuch as the First on Us program (in-coming freshman were provided a passfor any one program in the Stallerslineup) and discounted last minute rushtickets.

The Film Festival wont return untilnext July, but the Staller Centers Falllineup includes prominent string quar-tet-in-residence the Emerson StringQuartet, jazz performances, AmericanIdol Katherine McPhee, a family acro-batics show and a live reproduction of

song and dance from Bollywood cin-ema. These live shows are joined by a

dozen films and simultaneous broad-

casts of the Metropolitan Opera. Fulllistings are available atstallercenter.com.

Bride Flight

Bride Flightopens on the familiar,weather-beaten face of Rutger Haur(Batman Begins, Blade Runner) as eld-erly Dutch vineyardist Frank. Makingthe rounds of his gorgeous, expansiveNew Zealand operation, Frank is al-lowed the satisfaction of tasting a per-fect vintage before he is dispatched bynatural causes. With his death and fu-

neral a narrative framingdevice, Bride Flights soarsbackwards in time to tell thestory of a younger Frankand the three women in hislife.

The principles meet oneanother on the last greatair-race from London toNew Zealand in 1953. Forthe most part, they are flee-ing the destructive forcesatremendous flood in the Netherlands(naf Ada, as played by Karina Smuldersand Pleuni Touw), World War II (the

charming Frank, played by Haur andWaldemar Torenstra, the Dutch JamesFranco) and the Holocaust (flippant Es-ther, played by Anna Drivjer andWilleke van Ammelrooy). Only theprivileged Marjorie (Elise Schaap andPetra Laseur) has avoided the troublesof the times.

The air-race serves simply as a ro-manticized introduction, as the filmquickly delves into the maximally melo-dramatic lives the characters livethrough as young immigrants in NewZealand. Set against a backdrop ofspectacular New Zealand landscapes,

our four central figures struggle withthe pasts they have fled and with theeveryday dissatisfactions and startlingturns of fortune of their present lives.Reunited years later on the occasion ofFranks death, the women of the film aregiven a stark opportunity to reflect.

Bon Appetit

Daniel (Unax Ugalde) has what ittakes to become a master chef; passion,dedication, diligence and ingenuity.Bon

Appetit, directed by David Pinillos, fol-lows Daniels experiences as he begins

working at a high-class restaurant inZurich, Switzerland. However, this

movie is not so much about cooking

and food as it is about friendships andthe drama of romantic entanglements.Although, there is a neat scene whereDaniel is put on the spot and has to cre-ate and cook a dish using only noodles,eggs, oranges, and some mint.

At the restaurant Daniel meets fel-low co-workers Hanna (NoraTschirner) and Hugo (Giulio Berruti)and they quickly become best pals inand out of the kitchen, going clubbingand making short road trips. However,the relationship between Daniel andHanna is the main focus of the film.Daniel is drawn to Hanna from the mo-

ment he first sees her.During their initial con- versation, they seem tohave fundamentally dif-ferent views on love, butdespite that, both Danieland Hanna instantly clickand the attraction be-tween the two is very ap-parent.

Unfortunately thingsare not clean and simple,

Daniel has a girlfriend back home inSpain and Hanna is involved with theowner of the restaurant, Thomas (Her-

bert Knaup), who is already married.Bon Appetitis not your typical romanticmovie, however, it is also about peoplelearning more about themselves andtheir desires in life. In some ways it ismore representative of what would hap-pen in real life, especially in regards tothe ending of the film. Usually in ro-mantic movies when one person de-clares their love for another, the otherperson responds in kind with, I loveyou too.

It was an enjoyable movie, althoughwe did not think it presented anythingparticularly new or exciting in the ro-

mance genre. We did like how the filmended though, it showed how eventhough things dont happen as youimagined and anticipated with the per-son you love, that doesnt mean its a badending. Life can be acrazy mess, but still turnout alright.

Howl

I saw the bestminds of my generationdestroyed by madness,starving hysterical

naked, / dragging them-selves through the negro

streets at dawn looking for an angry fix,

/ angelheaded hipsters burning for theancient heavenly connection to thestarry dynamo in the machinery ofnight those are the first couple linesof the poem Howl written by AlanGinsberg.

Howl, the film directed by Rob Ep-stein, is about said poem and the 1957obscenity trial regarding its publication.A majority of the film feels like a docu-mentary due to the recreation of court-room scenes from the trial andinterview scenes with Ginsberg (JamesFranco). The interview segments wereone of our favorite aspects of the film.

Franco does an amazing job. He incor-porates little nuances in gesticulation,posture, and pausing that makes youthink it really is Ginsberg answering thequestions, instead of an actor recitinglines. The courtroom scenes serve tomove the plot forward and comment onthe battle between appropriate societysanctioned behavior and the freedom toexpress oneself and expand humanityshorizons.

The film also includes scenes whereFranco reads aloud excerpts from thepoem in front of crowded room full ofartsy-looking beatniksalthough

sometimes the audience sees animationcorresponding to the verses being readinstead. At first, we did not like the an-imation, it did not seem to fit and in away it narrows the creativity of thepoem because it is only able to offer onevisual representation. However, it is un-derstandable that the screen wouldntjust be left blank and it allows the audi-ence to contemplate the relation be-tween the visual art and the ideaspresent in the poem.

Francos reading of Howl is an es-sential part of the film. There is a sig-nificant difference between reading a

poem to yourself silently and hearing apoem read out loud. You are able to feelthe rhythm of syllables flowing one afteranother, you can hear the dynamics ascertain phrases and words are empha-

sized in contrast topauses and breathstaken. We often under-appreciate poetry, butafter watching this film,we have a greater respectfor all forms of poetryand realize poems aremeant to be expressed vocally. Just hearin

Howl made watchingthis film worth it.

Staller Film Festival...Theyre Greatttt!

By Iris Lin and

Matt Willemain


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18/20

resident BarackObamas recent an-nouncement that hewould ask Congress toapprove a wide-reachingplan to drastically im-

prove and modernize our nations net-work of railways, roads and airportrunways seemed like a cause for cele-bration in one chamber of my discor-dant mind. After lackluster andnebulous stimulus bills that reallywerent ambitious enough, President

Obama had finally decided to formulatea bill that would not only create jobs likethe fabled public works projects of theGreat Depression era, but would alsobolster our nations failing public trans-port systems which terribly lag behindour international allies. Any StonyBrook student marooned at one of Suf-folk Countys pathetic bus stops can at-test to this desperate need for betterpublic transportation in the UnitedStates to make our lives more conven-ient and also lessen our dependence onautomobiles which pollute our skiesand consume finite fossil fuels (as well

as keep us tethered to those chipper,magnanimous middle Eastern oilsheiks).

Ah, a jobs bill, agoodjobs bill, justwhat this country needs, right? Morejobs. The pragmatist in me nods. Theleftist in me nods. Whats most impor-tantthis Press essay begins its life onLabor Dayis to put the millions ofsuffering and unemployed Americansback to work. We need, need, need tofix the economy, return our nation to itspreeminent perch, and continue to in-novate and evolve, maintaining ourhigh (and materialistic) standard of liv-

ing.Discordant, mentioned in the open-

ing sentence, provides a nice segue intothe other chamber of my mind that cantsavor almost anything written in anewspaper these days. This chamberholds all those observations and beliefsthat will from time to time be labeledquixotic, Romantic, ignorant, bullshit,or anarchist. This is the chamber for thetwin Henrys, my two favorite writers,Henry David Thoreau and HenryMiller.

You might remember Thoreaufrom those English classes you dozed

off in. If you havent read Walden or any

of his other essays you seriously should.

They are required reading for all Amer-icans. Thoreau, whose impassionedwritings about non-violent resistance toinjustice and his holy (and fairly scien-tific) appreciation for the natural worldhave made him a hero in many circles,is not quite remembered as the radicalwho would despise the very idea ofeconomy that the United States andother industrialized nations championtoday. A hero of leftists and libertariansalike, Thoreau nevertheless would bedismayed by the course of history afterhis death. Industrialization won, regi-mentation and the modern work week

reigned, and generations of men and

women (with few exceptions) were con-

demned to the life of quiet desperationhe wrote about so eloquently in Walden.

And Miller? He wont be found inany high school curriculums and prob-ably eludes most college syllabi as well.The writer ofTropic of Cancer, immor-talized in many best-of-the-20th cen-tury novel lists and Seinfeld, was aspiritual and intellectual disciple ofThoreau (Miller, born in 1891, was sig-nificantly younger than Thoreau, whodied in 1862) who dropped a few moref-bombs and c-words along the way. Athis best, Miller is our greatest writer,soaring, beautiful and profound, a real-

ist and mystic who, like Thoreau, ex-

posed the empty and oppressive nature

of modern civilization while celebratingthe artists quest for independence.

This all comes back to the next jobs

P

18

EssayVol. XXXII, Issue 1 | Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Life Without Principles (And Paychecks)

By Ross Barkan

On one level, the gov-ernment should have amoral obligation to en-syre uts citizens have a

good standard ofliving.


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bill and subsequent acts passed down bythe government to get people back towork. On one level, the governmentshould have a moral obligation to en-

sure its citizens have a good standard ofliving. And to ensure this standard ofliving in the way society is currentlyconstructed, this means working. Butshould things be the way they are?Thoreau and Miller would say no.

The millions are awake enough forphysical labor; but only one in a millionis awake enough for effective intellec-tual exertion, and only 1 in a 100 mil-lion for a poetic or divine life. To beawake is to be alive. I have never met aman who was quite awake, Thoreauwrote in Walden as he observed theback-breaking and wretched existence

of farmers, textile workers and child la-

borers who were coerced into work theynever wanted any part of. He saw thegenius of man squandered in menialwork, drudgery, losing this gift of life

granted to them at birth.It is tragic, says one part of my

mind, that so many people are out ofwork. However, lets see this from an-other angle. Why must this be atragedy? Why must not working full-time be a death sentence in this societyunless one is not independentlywealthy? Imagine if the work cycle as weknow it were eliminated, or scaled back,or revolutionized in some way to giveindividuals more time to pursue theirown interests, spend more time withtheir family and appreciate the simplefact that they are alive. I am reminded

of Millers words in Tropic of Capricorn,

the companion novel to Tropic of Can-cer,

I felt sorry for the human race, forthe stupidity of man and his lack of

imaginationIf you tell a guy in thestreet youre hungry you scare the shit

out of him, he runs like hell. Thats

something I never understoodThats

what I think about, more than aboutwhose trap its going down or howmuch it costs. Why should I give a fuckabout what anything costs? Im here tolive, not to calculate. And thats justwhat the bastards dont want you to

doto live!They want to spend yourwhole life adding up figures.

And he goes on to fantasize about adisorganized world without authority,borders, jobs and limitations. Of course,we cant have society founded purely onanarchy. Yet we can begin to thinkabout the nature of organization andwhy such an enlightened and advancedrace of beings has built a socioeconomichierarchy that exploits the mass of menand women to not only serve the inter-ests of a terrifyingly small minority butalso teaches them that its perfectly rea-sonable to sacrifice their natural free-

dom to wage slavery and a lifetime ofoccupying themselves with activitiesthey disdain.

This world is a place of business,

Thoreau wrote in another brilliantessay, Life Without Principle. Whatan infinite bustle! I am awaked almostevery night by the panting of the loco-motive. It interrupts my dreams. Thereis no Sabbath. It would be glorious tosee mankind at leisure for once. It isnothing but work, work, workTohave done anything by which youearned moneymerely is to have beentruly idle or worse. Ah, if only a presi-dent could come along who would becapable of actual change. If only a

leader could end the Americans slavishdependence on a paycheck to stay alive.Surely, at some point in time, we can de-vise a more humane system.

On a superficial level, a jobs bill isnice but we need a leader to transcendsuch ideas and realize that living is morethan the exchange of currency and theconstruction of a new glittering officebuilding. As Thoreau teaches us fromthe grave, we must not do things merely.We must have a higher end. We mustliberate ourselves from the yokes wehave laid upon our backs.

Welp, in the mean time, lets enjoy

the possibility of quicker trains.

The Stony Brook Press 19Essay

...living is more thanthe exchange of cur-

rency and the construc-tion of a new glittering

office building.

It is tragic, says onepart of my mind,

that so many peopleare out of work.


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The Stony Brook Press - Volume 32, Issue 1

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