CHARGED-UP RESULTS

Michaela Savastra Nov.28 2024 Mom,   all she can see   is her little girl   still dressed in her   Cinderella dress up   costume.     This costume that she   would never take off  as it brought her   happiness.     The little girl   who has her favorite   blue eyes.     The little girl   who decided to   hide her wedding   ring in her Elmo couch.    Dad,   all he can see   is his little girl   in her soccer uniform  running up and down   the field making sure he  is watching her.     The little girl   who looks exactly like   him.     The little girl   who also has the   same attitude and fire  as him.     Matt,   all he can see   is his little annoying sister   begging him to play   picnic with her.     Everyone always seeing me  as a forever little girl,   no matter how old   I get.     The most critical   person toward this   little girl,   is the little girl   herself.     She no longer sees   herself dressed in   princess outfits, running   up and down the soccer field,   or begging her brother   to play with her.     She is now a 20 year old adult.   only living through her schoolwork.   The only thing that keeps her  happy is school.     Her family likes to remember   and see her as a bright little   girl full of laughter.     When she looks in the mirror,   she doesn’t even recognize herself.   What happened to the happy little  girl?   Too much. Too much for her   to handle in which she   lost the most important   thing to her.     Her Cinderella dress.

Valentina Ortiz Elian Apr. 25 2024 Freedom of speech has taken center stage on many college campuses, including the University of New Haven. The university has faced the challenge of balancing the preservation of free expression with the maintenance of campus order and safety. Issues from facilities and Sodexo workers demanding union benefits, to political and social conflicts occurring domestically and abroad, have granted young student leaders and community members the opportunity to speak out.  At the heart of academic discourse in private universities, the principles of academic freedom and freedom of speech support the pursuit of knowledge and societal progress.  At the university, the classroom is the first location that trains us to yearn for knowledge and gives us a taste for debate about traditional principles and cherished convictions.  The classroom should not be a place of comfort. Students should regularly engage in critical discourse and dissenting opinions so professors can help prepare students for life outside the confines of this private institution. Central to the university’s need for balance is the recognition that academic freedom also extends beyond the classroom walls.The significance of safeguarding this constitutional right is paramount as the campus community seeks to exercise its voice and advocate for change.  Mason Smith, a political science student and president of the Young Democratic Socialists of America, (YDSA) and former Sergeant at Arms of the Undergraduate Student Government Association, (USGA)  has participated in campus-wide initiatives to protect the rights of Sodexo and facilities workers , and has drafted letters to United States Congress members and university administrators to advocate for a cease fire resolution in the Israel-Palestine conflict. “If you have an issue that you are really passionate about – just follow that with your entire heart and try to find some people that can get behind you with that,” Smith said. “It can be a little daunting doing things by yourself. So just to know that there will be people in your corner that will be supporting you throughout all of it – is sometimes enough inspiration.” But navigating the intersection of peaceful protest, academic freedom, and student handbooks require a nuanced approach that prioritizes dialogue, collaboration, and mutual understanding.  This approach can feel out of reach without leadership and coordination.  “I feel, ironically, that joining the [USGA] e-board has actually stifled my voice,” Smith said. “Granted, I do get to sit in conversations with people in the higher administration more than I normally would, but you still have that avenue if you are a student leader, and you are not on the USGA e-board to begin with.” His sentiment extends from having to remain a neutral party for the populations of recognized student organizations and undergraduate students.  “For instance, I tried bringing [a petition] to the USGA e-board when we were writing our mental health petition to get mental health days on campus,” Smith said. "We had written that as a YDSA e-board, and I brought it to them by saying this is a petition that was brought to us. I was told this was inappropriate – that I was the one presenting it because I helped write it. That’s pretty much the attitude of anything that I bring. Like if I have an opinion, it is automatically assumed that it is my YDSA opinion, but at the end of the day, I am a student that also has opinions. And this does not necessarily need to be tied to by YDSA role, it is just Mason Smith – as a student.”  Campus speech rules exist to make sure all students feel safe.  However, the freedom for students to grow into distinct thinking individuals should be encouraged as well.  “I also said that we should release a statement about Palestine and staying in solidarity and I was told that we couldn’t do that,” Smith said. “That’s why I decided to go the route of doing it through USGA.”  When he was not allowed to release a statement, Smith took matters into his own hands. Peacefully opposing the verbal “no” he was given about standing in solidarity with Palestine, Smith,alongside YDSA was able to write and pass a bill through USGA to proclaim a cease-fire resolution to be sent to the campus community. “We were originally going to do a petition to issue support or solidarity with Palestinians, but then ultimately, I changed it from petition to bill,” he said. “One thing that we can do is write a bill that expresses the feeling of the assembly.” “So that’s what we did with the Palestinian bill,” Smith said. “We felt that the university isn’t providing enough support to Palestinians or not even acknowledging the conflict whatsoever. This University has a voice. And they pick and choose when they want to raise their voice about certain conflicts or certain humanitarian issues”  Students play a pivotal role in shaping the discourse on social and political issues. As incubators of critical thinking and societal engagement, this university relies on diverse perspectives to foster intellectual growth. By understanding the parameters in the student handbook policies, students can articulate their viewpoints effectively while maintaining a respectful environment for all community members.  “Everyone on the [YDSA] e-board but me wrote the bill,” Smith said. “Everything that you see in the bill was written by either a YDSA e-board member or a general member. We’ve also been talking with MSA [Muslim Student Association] a lot, because realistically their members are the members most impacted by this crisis in Gaza. So, we’ve been making sure that they are completely involved and making sure that we are taking steps to include them in all of this.”  Students can leverage existing platforms and channels of expression and utilize student organizations, campus forums, and peaceful demonstrations to voice their opinions constructively. Engaging in open dialogue with faculty, administrators and peers can facilitate discussions on policy changes that promote inclusivity and free expression.  “This university has a lot of red tape when it comes to doing things on campus specifically for demonstrations; you need to make sure that you are not disrupting class flow, them conducting business or a class trying to teach,” Smith said. “Which I understand but if you can do a protest usually for just an hour max on just one weekday – I feel like that in the grand scheme of things – is not enough evidence to shut down entirely.” The commitment to freedom of speech in private universities reaffirms the understanding of academic freedom and freedom of expression that equips college students with the tools necessary to navigate complex societal issues and pushes students to contribute meaningfully to public dialogue.  Embracing the responsibility that comes with the right to free speech fosters a culture of critical thinking and respectful engagement, essential for addressing the multi-faceted challenges of the modern world.

Anne Lee Nov.28 2024 Categorizing colleges makes it easier to judge them. People care about their safety, and college size influences on crime rates. While overall crime rates at educational institutions   are decreasing,  larger schools, which contain over 1,000 students report   higher incidence rates . Grade point average (GPA), success of matriculants, and community impact are other categories used to analyze and compare schools.  Colleges may find it enticing to split their colleges into separable parts for better understanding of each solitary unit, because higher metrics in certain categories link to better ranking and reputation. Is judging a school by its separate parts, such as enrollment size, effective? How about us? How separable is the University of New Haven (UNH)? College rankings use limited data   Life is not fair. Neither are college ranking systems.   Dropout rates, incomes, achievement, and debt are   some of the indicators  used to assess colleges. Due to inequalities within the United States,   socioeconomic class , race, and   gender  play a role in these indicators. College rankings assess several factors of a school acquired from surveys, media and other data. Rankings treat an institution of higher education like a standardized product. Ranking websites even   sell their data back  to colleges to tell institutions what to improve on.  One ranking does not define an individual’s college experience. While it is impressive that the university has the   best forensic science program , this standard works with other aspects of the school to create our student experience. College ranking systems use discrete pieces of data, leaving much to be desired.  UNH and interdisciplinary studies   The University of New Haven does have categories that separate people of different areas of studies and interests. The university has five distinct colleges: the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), the Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences, the Pompea College of Business, the Tagliatela College of Engineering and the School of Health Sciences. There are  over 100 undergraduate and graduate programs, and most degrees fit nicely into one of the five colleges.  Three degrees at the University of New Haven are   interdisciplinary : Bachelors of Science (B.S.) in  Biochemistry, Bachelors of Arts (B.A.) in Game Design and Interactive Media and Masters of Science (M.S.) in Information Science. The M.S. Information Science program, for example, involves coursework in the CAS, the Pompea College of Business and the Tagliatela College of Engineering. Interdisciplinary minors include the Race and Ethnic Studies, Ukraine, Russia, and Eurasia Studies and Gender and Sexuality.  Dr. Margaret F. Savilonis, PhD, is the coordinator of the   B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies  at the University of New Haven. In this program, students choose any two minors for their core coursework, alongside interdisciplinary courses. The program has 42 elective credits, leaving students space to explore and fulfill prerequisites for their minors of choice. Moreover, the elective space gives students the option to switch between minors during their educational journey. By tailoring their own degree, Dr. Savilonis said students could become more adaptable to change and predict future problems. “It’s a good way for students to be flexible thinkers. The more they learn about different disciplines and concepts and theories and are able to bring those things together, hopefully they'll be able to anticipate some of the problems that we can't even imagine yet,” said Dr. Savilonis. Interdisciplinary studies combine two or more aspects of academia. As a theater historian herself, Dr. Savilonis has great faith in the success of the program. One of her responsibilities as coordinator of the program is communicating between departments and making sure that interdisciplinary courses are on the roster each semester.  “As a coordinator, one of the biggest challenges I have with the interdisciplinary program, particularly with those minors, is to make sure that the courses are being offered,” said Dr. Savilonis. “We're still trying to work out those systems to have good communication and also advertising and marketing, because students don't necessarily know the courses exist, or that the programs even exist.”  Although the classes and bachelor's program in Interdisciplinary Studies are just getting started, Dr. Savilonis is hopeful that it would allow students to gain a broader perspective.   “My dream [...] would be to have instructors from two disciplines coming together to teach the course. So, students are always seeing a particular issue or topic explored through both of those disciplines, you know?” said Savilonis.  Currently, the B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies is a program that has existed at UNH for three years. Thirty seven students currently are majoring in Interdisciplinary Studies, combining minors such as public healthcare, marketing, creative writing, and math. The Interdisciplinary Studies program also works with the Yale Prison Education Initiative to provide the incarcerated with a meaningful education despite constraints.  Recognizing our institutional voice   An especially idealistic mindset is expressed in   UNH’s statement of institutional voice:  “the University of New Haven is committed to a core notion of the human good. [...] This commitment is neither partisan nor restrictive of academic freedom. Instead, it marks an acknowledgement of an essential set of values – such as respect for others and a spirit of openness and embedded generosity that welcomes and encourages different opinions, perspectives, and criticisms. These values condition the University’s mission of preparing students to lead purposeful and fulfilling lives in a global society.”  Rankings give a college a good look. Using separate parts of student life and academic outcomes to quantify how “good” a school is misses a key point of college: to advocate for the betterment of society. There is no scholarship or certificate involved with going out of your way to drive a group of freshmen to a party and making sure they stay safe. What we do in kindness for others does not always have a tangible reward, which also means it often goes unnoticed by the “almighty” college ranking systems. A student’s life, therefore, cannot be simply defined by numbers, categories or rankings—there is something more at play.