The conference lasted five days, and during this time students had to discuss pressing 21st century is-sues such as refugee crises, sustainable development, equality, green economic growth, and nuclear disar-mament. On the last day of the conference, students met at the United Nations Headquarters and voted using the style of a real United Nations session on solutions to the previously discussed issues. During the NMUN closing ceremony, the U.N. Deputy Secre-tary-General, Ms. Amina J. Mohammed, encouraged students to continue engaging in conferences such as NMUN because of the practical experience it provides.

Volume III, No.3, Spring 2017 Semester Review The Student Voice of Caldwell University

Caldwell University Heads to the UnitedNationsBy Katherine LlangaríEvery year the United Nations holds its National Mod-el U.N. (NMUN), a conference hosted in New York and sponsored by the National Collegiate Confer-ence Association. NMUN is held each spring where students from colleges and universities all over the world come to discuss current global issues. NMUN simulates a regular United Nations session while stu-dents are assigned countries and divided into dif-ferent committee sessions to debate these issues. This year, Pradiptee Lama, Patrick Rotondo, Daniele Roca, and Katherine Llangarí attended the conference representing Caldwell University. These students repre-sented the nation of Azerbaijan in two General Assembly Committees, GA1 and GA2. All four students are mem-bers of the Political Science Club. It was through the club and active class participation that Dr. Domenic Maffei, Chair of the History and Political Science Department, chose them to represent Caldwell University at NMUN.

Timothy Kessler-Cleary

MANAGING EDITORColleen Brennan

Published by the students of Caldwell University120 Bloomfield Avenue Caldwell, NJ 07006

973-618-3000 www.caldwell.eduVolume III, No.3, Spring 2017 Semester Review

PRESIDENT/ EDITOR IN CHIEFMegan Ilievski

TYPESETTING

Megan Ilievski

STAFF WRITERS

Colleen Brennan

FACULTY/ STAFF ADVISORSSteven G. Cameron, D. Litt.

MANAGING EDITOR

Stephen Van Cauwenberge Heather HirtzelKatherine Llangarí Olivia LewisMegan Ilievski

On the morning of April 6th Pres-ident Donald Trump ordered the launch of 59 tomahawk cruise mis-siles from American ships stationed in the Mediterranean Sea targeting the Syrian Shayrat Airbase. The strike was done in direct response to the Khan Shaykahn chemical attack launched from the airbase on April 4th in which nearly 100 civilians, including dozens of children, were killed through the use of sarin gas by the Syrian Air Force. This is the first time the United States has used any military force in targeting the Basher Al-Assad led regime during the Syrian Civil War. In the news conference announcing his order of the strike, President Trump said, “Tonight I ordered a targeted mil-itary strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched. It is in this vital, national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons.” The missile strike resulted in the death of eight Syrian soldiers and reportedly damaged or destroyed

Trump’s Syrian Missile StrikeBy Stephen Van Cauwenberge

twenty planes, defensive radars, and ammunition supply buildings. Thismissile strike puts the Trump Admin-istration in a position that most didnot picture when the president took his oath of office at noon on January 20th. Throughout the campaign, and even as far back as 2013, private cit-izen, candidate, and now President Donald Trump has constantly ex-pressed a desire for a foreign policy strategy based primarily on a vari-ation of isolationism, especially in terms of further military action in the Middle East. This recent strike, how-ever, seems to be a stray far from this original signature battle cry. While a slim majority of Americans (51% according to a recent Washington Post poll) reportedly are in favor of the missile strike, it has surprising-ly done virtually nothing to help the staggering low job approval ratings that have plagued Trump’s young presidency. The next military move that Trump makes in Syria will be-come a defining moment in both his presidency and the Syrian Civil War.

Continued on p. 3

Sprint Football Comes toCaldwell UniversitySprint football is now the latest addition to Caldwell University’s athletic depart-ment. However, most people are un-aware of what sprint football exactly is.

P.2 Research Day 2017 at Caldwell UniversityThe event’s main focus was to give a plat-form to undergraduate, graduate, and fac-ulty members to present their private re-search findings or honors project findings.

P.4

Stephen Van Cauwenberge

(in order from left to right): Patrick Rotondo, Pradiptee Lama, Daniele Roca, Katherine Llangarí

On Friday, November 4th 2016, three Cald-well homes were completely destroyed by a fire in the early afternoon. Due to issues of live wires on the street and a lack of access to wa-ter, local fire fighters could not bring the blaze under control until roughly 5 p.m. There were thankfully no injuries in the fire, though the families suffered the devastating loss of their homes, possessions, and sense of security. However, the township of Caldwell contributed a large amount of support to the homeowners and their families in the days, and months, following the incident. Through combined efforts, the Red Cross and the Caldwell Welfare Office have pro-vided the victims with temporary housing, cloth-ing, and food. In addition to these endeavors, both local businesses and citizens of Caldwell were able to host two events in December and January to benefit the displaced residents.On December 17th 2016, the James Caldwell American Legion Post #185 on Bloomfield Avenue held a luncheon event for members of the community. Equipment from the Caldwell Volunteer Fire Department was displayed in the parking lot throughout the day.

A $10 donation fee was suggested to those in attendance at the event and a cash bar was also offered to raise funds for the families affected by the fire on Orchard Square. Food and beverage donations were made to the event by Calan-dra’s Italian Village, Jack’s Super Foodtown, Fortes Restaurant, and Shoprite of Caldwell. Members of local organizations including, the retired police force, the American Legion, and local councilmen as well as Mayor Ann Dass-ing were all in attendance. To comment on the event, Mayor Dassing stated, “We hope people stop in, have a meal and make a small contri-bution to ease the burden of these families, our neighbors.” Caldwell resident and friend of the fire victims, Debbie Bisciotti, helped organize a second charitable affair, a dinner benefit held at St. Aloysius Parish on January 13th. With per-

Caldwell UniversitySupports Orchard Square Fire VictimsBy Colleen Brennan

mission from Monsignor Desmond, Bisciotti, Patty Beirne, and Sister Justine Pinto O.P. wrote letters and made visits to local vendors in or-der to secure food, beverages, and supplies for the event. The businesses and organizationsthat made this night possi-ble were Jack’s Super Foodtown, Stop and Shop, the Shoprite of West Caldwell, the Caldwell Fire Department, and several restaurants, including Divina Ristorante, Gennaro Cucina, Sandwich Barn, and Cedar Grill. Approximately 175 tickets were sold to the event, though over 200 were in attendance. The displaced families of this tragic fire also came to the benefit, greeting and thanking those who came to support them. Sister Justine Pinto described the event as a “true community experience.” The St. Aloysius Par-ish fundraiser alone collected more than $7,100 for the three families of the Orchard Square fire.

would not be able to play football at the collegiate level, and this program gives them the chance to continue their career. All the athletes I have recruited are excit-ed to be part of a brand new and positive program”. Caldwell University will now be a part of the Collegiate Sprint Foot-ball League, or the CSFL. This league has nine other schools in it, with many of them having played for several seasons already. However, this does not seem to concern Coach Weiss. When asked about how he plans on being successful against seemingly more experienced he said, “It is not about how long you’ve played, but how well you play. The support from the Caldwell community will also be a huge factor in our success”. A new team can mean big changes for a university and Coach Daryle Weiss hopes that his sprint football team will create a stronger, and more dedicated, sense of community and school spirit, and help the Cald-well community to grow and flourish.

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Sprint Football Comes to Caldwell UniversityBy Heather HirtzelSprint football is now the latest addi-tion to Caldwell University’s athletic department. However, most people are unaware of what sprint football exactly is. Sprint football has the same rules as regular football except, there is a weight limit, every player must be under 178 lbs. Daryle Weiss, a Caldwell native, has been given the task of building this new program. Weiss has twenty-years of coaching experience on both the colle-giate and high school levels. Most recent-ly, for two seasons he was the Offensive Coordinator, and Offensive Line coach, for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. I had the opportunity to sit down with Coach Weiss and talk to him about his upcoming season. “I’m fired up, I’m ex-cited to be a part of this brand new pro-gram right here in my hometown,” stated a passionate Weiss. The coach expressed that he has nothing but high expectations for his players, team, and program as a whole. He expects his players to achieve greatness, and give their all, in every as-pect of their collegiate careers, including inside the classroom. Senior, Mike Botte, who will be a player during the first sea-son, has also expressed positive emotions towards this new program, “It’s a great feeling to be a part of the new football pro-gram. The coach is great and some of the people who I have spoken to are excited to put on the pads and get out on the field.”Even with the program in its infancy Coach Weiss had no issues in recruiting athletes. “There are a lot of athletes who

If interested, please contact

Margaret Searle at

msearle@caldwell.edu

businessman into our nation’s highest office last November. Fur-ther escalation of the United States’ involvement in Syria, and its presumed fight against the Russian backed Bashar Al-Assad con-trolled government, also gives the president the chance to show a lack of closeness to Russian affairs and distance the allegations of his presidential campaign’s collusion with the Russians during the 2016 presidential race. The issue of whether or not to use military force in foreign intervention has plagued all 44 of Donald Trump’s predecessors, and whatever course of action the inexperienced president choses will echo in an overreaching arch to every inch of the globe. When we eventually look back on President Don-ald Trump’s first 100 days in office, the military action he took, or the lack therefore of, may come to play a momentous role in what events unfold over the next three years and seven months.

Trump’s Syrian Missile Strike (cont.)If Trump is to levy further missile and airstrike style attacks against the Assad regime, serious issues could arise between the United States and Russia, the most powerful backer of the Assad led Syrian government and a nation the president has repeatedly said he would like to work with in the fight against ISIS. Although given warning ahead of time, the fact that Trump launched this attack on the Russian allied Syrian government signals a disregard for Russian interests in the region, something that is also seem-ingly off color for Donald Trump, who since the election has come under fire from his critics for possible ties with Russian hackers in his defeat of Hillary Clinton last fall. But if the strike of April 6th is not part of a larger strategy and remains simply a lone symbol-ic gesture of the president’s disgust with, and disapproval of, the horrors of the use of chemical warfare, it then becomes unclear of exactly what the objective of the strike was. This is especial-ly apparent in the lack of extreme punitive damage done to the Shayrat Airbase. Within hours of the missile strike, the base was reportedly operational again, with an attack on the same town hit earlier in the week by chemical weapons being launched, resulting in the death of one person. The strike now allows Donald Trump to stand at the center of a set of defining cross roads in his pres-idency. In the months to come the president must make the de-cision over the struggle to either continue, what he has called in a recent interview with the New York Post, “an act of humanity” in the form of American military intervention in the bloody, and devastating, Syrian Civil War, or to return to the calls of worldly disengagement that played such a vital role in helping to place the

New Marching Band Program at Caldwell UniversityBy Olivia LewisFor the first time in school history, the Cald-well University Music Department is adding a marching band program to its long list of suc-cessful ensembles. The addition of the marching band will be in conjunction with the new Sprint Football team that will be joining Caldwell in the fall of 2017. Caldwell will now be the 4th New Jersey college/university to include a marching band in their repertoire of performing groups. The new ensemble will be utilized for football games, home coming, open-houses, accept-ed students days, and so much more.“Having a marching band will bring even more oppor-tunities to campus and increase enrollment for prospective students,” says Admissions Coun-selor Mason Traino, who has played a vital role in recruiting potential new students to join the program. Traino will also serve as a mem- ber of the marching band staff this fall. There is no competition aspect of this marching band, the main goal will be to build school spirit and liven crowds during football games. “Students have the opportunity to develop new leadership skills and set new standards. Often musicians are

ambassadors for the school and this mov-ing ensemble will only keep moving fur-ther,” says Vega. The band will initially be-gin small, averaging around 20-25 students. Despite the small size, students will still be able to enjoy playing. Caldwell junior, Mi-caela Andrews, is ecstatic about the addi-tion of marching band and has high hopes for the program. “It may be difficult at first, since it is a new program, but I hope that we can all play together and play great music with students who share a love for march-ing band. We can definitely make this ex-perience our own,” mentions Andrews. However, with a new program comes a lot of hard work. There is so much that students need to learn and pay very close attention to learn along the way. A major-ity of the students entering the new pro gram will have had march ing band expe-rience from high school. “There is a fine line between hard work and play. If you work hard enough, then you can have fun. Students should be able to maintain their hard work across the board,” says Traino. Despite all the hard work and disci-pline that these students have to go through during their time in march-ing band, the satisfaction of making the

crowd excited to support the new football team will resonate along with the notes being played. The creation of a marching band will help bring together the Caldwell community in support of all our teams. Music is a universal language in all as-pects of life, and Caldwell’s new march-ing band program will hopefully not only grow in size, but also in their abil-ity toget the crowd excited for the uni-versity.The future looks very bright for the new program, and as long as the program grows, so will the sup-port from the Caldwell community..If students are interested in joining the Cougar Marching Band should contact Professor Vega at RVega@caldwell.edu.

C: Daily Star

Caldwell University’s music department held its annual Solo and Chamber Con-cert in the Alumni Theater on Wednesday March 29th, showcasing fifteen musical per-formances by Caldwell students. Musicians played a variety of instruments, including clarinets, flutes and a violin, with addition-al performances by several vocalists, while a triad of trombone players concluded the evening’s show. The concert was aided by music professor Dr. Laura Greenwald, who supplied ample introductions, as well as Nan Childress Orchard, who provided sev-eral students with a piano accompaniment. One of the most noteworthy performanc-es appeared to be mezzo-soprano sing-er Stephanie Neumaier’s performance of “Over the Rainbow,” originally written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg. Perhaps due to both Neumaier’s exceptional vocal range, as well as the relevance of the song as a rather classic and well-known piece, the audience contributed an immense applause preceding her final note. Akira Harris’ per-formance of Bach’s “Prelude in C” was also well received by Caldwell’s listeners. Her piano performance was illuminated prior to the beginning of this piece as Dr. Green-wald lifted the piano lid to reveal the great intricacy of the inner chords. The lifting of the piano lid also allowed the sound of each note to resonate throughout the theater, al-lowing listeners to truly hear the melody. Akira Harris surprised viewers when she closed her sheet music booklet and chose to play the piece entirely from memory. Overall, the members of Caldwell’s mu-sic department achieved a very success-ful night of intricate music and enabled several students to present their immense talents. Friends and family of the perform-ers, dean of students Dr. Blattner, as well as current faculty and students of Caldwell University thoroughly enjoyed the Solo and Chamber Concert, evidenced through their applause, general support and positivity.

Caldwell University’s Solo and Chamber ConcertBy Colleen Brennan

Caldwell University held its first annual Research and Creative Arts Day (CRa-CAD) on April 26th. The event’s main focus was to give a platform to under-graduate, graduate, and faculty mem-bers to present their private research findings or honors project findings. The Research day was a long- awaited culmination of all the hard work and long hours these students have put into their presentations. The process for many of these ambitious students be-gan last fall with an initial proposal of their research thesis to their advisors, then followed by a rigorous process of defending, and finally attempting to prove it through months of research. The event was organized by Dr. Agnes Berki, Associate Professor of Biology, with the help of the Task Force. Direc-tor of Graduate Studies at Caldwell, Dr. Ellina Chernobilsky, is a member of the Task Force and had some of her doctor-al students participating in the event. Junior at Caldwell, Steven Han, is a Biology major who presented his re-search findings on the level of micro-organisms living on cell phones, “This event is a great new way for students and faculty to come together to share what they have been working on and yes, phones are very dirty places.” Ste-ven, along with many of the other un-dergraduate presenters, compiled their research as part of a year-long four credit research based class. This event has now given a more publicsphere for these dedicated students to explain, and hope fully educate, fellow peers on the varying topics they have chosen to focus on. The Research Day allowed both students and faculty to share The graduate program also had an ex-tensive collection of research based presentations, the main theme being on behavioural analysis and work with children with autism. Casey L. Notting-ham, a Graduate student at Caldwell, had nothing but praise for the her great dedication to accomplish her research. The laminated, and creatively styled, presentation boards on display in the Student Center Gym did not simply appear with ease or without dedication. This new tradition speaks to the new em-phasis put on Caldwell’s nearly 80 year tradition of academ- ic progress and pride. The annual Honors Convocation event was held the same night, and those who participated in Research Day were

Research Day 2017awarded at the event for outstand-ing research and presentations. Be-low is the list of Ungraduate winners:Stephanie Ortiz: Winner, First Prize in the ABA and Psychology Category.Daniel Otuo-Acheampong, Jessica Binkiewicz, Yara Abdelnabi and Mi-chael James: Winners, First Prizes in the Biological Science and Chemistry categories.Daniela Sirio and Christina O. Birch: Winners, First Prizes in the two Hu-manities categories.Alyssa Mol, Eva Suchar, Randall Staf-ford and Siuwerd Blankentsien: Win-ners,Honors Project Kacper Polus and Melissa Pena: Win-ners, Public Health Education Categories Alexa Lubrano, Casandra Venditti, Christen Ardito, Gabriella Rosko, Jaimie Peter, Karissa DeGennaro, Meagan Corcio, Rebecca Welch, and Stephanie Silva: Winners, Nursing Cat-egoriesBipin Koirala, Winner, Caldwell Re-search and Creative Arts Pin competi-tion CAT 507: Art Therapy Class lead by Professor Bonnie Berkowitz: Winners, The Art Class Project category. Their exhibition is still on display on the 3rd floor of the Werner Building.Graduate participants are listed as fol-lows: The Award for Excellence in Graduate Business Studies - Stephen Shaw (Ac-counting)The Sister Mary John Kearney, O.P. Award for Outstanding Action Research Project - Samantha Ann Bremer (Cur-riculum and Instruction), Tammy L. Underwood-Daniel (Education Ad-ministration), Erin Sullivan Goldstein (Literacy Instruction), Gabrielle Ma-rie Tino (Special Education)The Sister Mary Amelia, O.P. Award for outstanding dissertation in Education - Lauren Langer Banker (Educational Leadership) and Matthew Jared Block (Educational Leadership), Sister Cath-erine Waters, O.P. Award for Excellence in Counselling - Kaitlin Theresa Voris (Art Therapy), Rene Connolly (Mental Health Counselling), Kelsey Ann Hall (School Counselling)Departmental Award for a Thesis in Ap-plied Behavior Analysis - Brielle Mary SheridanDepartmental Award for a Dissertation in Applied Behavior Analysis - Amanda Sawma Freeman

Interested in Visiting U.S. Government Buildings in Washington D.C.?

Please contact Katherine Llangari at KLlangari@caldwell.edu for details!

By Stephen Van Cauwenberge