The Communitarian - Delaware County Community College

Volume 28, No.3 • Apr. 12, 2016
Serving Delaware and Chester Counties • www.thecommunitarian.org
@Communitarian12
The Communitarian
@Communitarian12
National ‘It’s on Us’ campaign comes to DCCC
By Alicia Stearn
Tyrus Bluford, number 18 of the Phantoms basketball team, takes the “It’s on Us” pledge with his team in the Student Center.
Photo courtesy of Bridget Panza
Picture yourself at a party with more
than 100 other students from your college.
As you’re walking around the room
you notice a girl screaming at a man who is
grabbing her arm and pulling her closer to
him, “Stop! Get off of me!”
As the other people at the party just
walk by you ask yourself, “Why isn’t anyone
helping her?” and say to your friend, “Is
that girl okay?”
Your friend replies, “Yeah, they dated
last semester. She’s probably just flirting
with him.”
Days go by and then you hear all over
campus that he’s being charged with sexual
assault from that night.
What would have happened if you had
spoken up?
According to the National Sexual
Violence Resource Center, eight out of 10
rape victims know the person who sexually
assaulted them.
On college campuses, more than 90
percent of victims of sexual assault don’t
report it, the center adds.
continued on page 4
Students give back to homeless veterans
By Megan Milligan
Nearly 48,000 veterans are homeless
on any given night, estimates the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban
Development (HUD). That’s 11 percent of
the homeless population.
The 2013 Annual Homeless Assessment
Report indicates that approximately 1500
homeless veterans live in Philadelphia
alone.
This is why the Philadelphia Veterans
House hosted a week-long event serving
breakfast to veterans. The event, which
took place between March 14 and 18, was
sponsored by DCCC and hosted by the
Student Government Association.
About 15 students came out during
spring break to help prepare meals. All the
food was bought by Sgt. Tyshon Bullock,
an army veteran, student, and president of
both the DCCC Military Club and SGA.
Dressed in full military uniform,
Bullock and secretary of SGA Anyssa
Medley, began at 6:30 a.m. beating eggs
for hash brown casserole. They were soon
joined by several other DCCC students.
“I love [helping],” said Chidi Pelham,
a nursing major and volunteer who also
served different varieties of sausage, eggs,
and English muffins with other students.
After the food was done cooking, a bell
rang at 8:00 a.m. sharp. Five residents, both
former and current, came down to a freshly
set table to eat their meals. They thanked
the students for cooking as they ate.
Army Pvt. Randolph Shaird, spoke of
how city shelters can be dangerous, and
he was “on pins and needles” staying in
them, but the Philadelphia Veteran House
provides safety for its residents.
After breakfast, the residents and
volunteers took a group photo on the front
porch, right above the house’s banner.
continued on page 13
CAMPUS LIFE 3
Online, interactive
program helps
students focus on
career path
Tyshon Bullock and the veterans of past wars after the recent SGA veterans
breakfast.
Photo by Megan Milligan
COMMENTARY 7
CAMPUS LIFE 2
LIFESTYLE 5
A&E 8
Publishers should
be color blind
Students bulk
up for their
swolemates
Think
before you
ink
Guess “Who”
was in Philly?
2 CAMPUS LIFE
Pennocks Bridge students enjoy new gym
By Alicia Stearn
New Year’s resolutions may be difficult
to keep, yet Pennocks Bridge, one of
DCCC’s branch campuses, seems to be
keeping theirs by letting students have
access to a fitness center while they attend
classes.
In Oct. 2015, 75 students from
Pennocks Bridge were granted access to
the fitness center, previously reserved for
technical college high school students only.
The decision came about after students
were asked to take a survey, giving feedback
on their experience at the campus, at the
end of 2015 spring semester.
“Students expressed desire for access
to the gym and they pay an activities fee
for it,” said Kevin Ballisty, DCCC director
at the PB campus.
The Chester County Intermediate
Unit owns the building, yet originally the
space that DCCC reserved for the college
didn’t include the fitness center. However,
when the eight-year contract was renewed,
DCCC officials were able to add the fitness
center into the “space reserved.”
“It works out for when [the students]
get done classes and have something to do,”
said Jenna Morris, a work study student at
the fitness center. “They don’t have to buy
a gym member-ship elsewhere. It’s right
here.”
Because the fitness center is shared
with high schoolers, college students have
to sign a waiver before they can start using
the equipment. Currently, 59 students have
signed the waiver and use the gym.
“When you start something in the
middle of the semester, it’s hard for people
to change their routines,” Ballisty said in
reference to the number of relatively low
students using the gym.
Since the gym needs to be staffed, this
also opens up opportunity for work study
on the campus; therefore, this is the first
time that Pennocks Bridge campus has
been able to have work study students. Ten
students applied to take advantage of this
opportunity, and three students were hired
for the job: Joann Taylor, Jenna Morris, and
Matt Callaghan.
Adam Miner, a faculty member from
the Learning Commons, explained that
the work study student on duty, Matt
Callaghan, helped him with using the
machines.
“There was an awesome personal
trainer to help out and everything we
needed was available.” Miner said.
The gym is open four days a week,
Monday-Thursday from 2:30 p.m. to 8:30
p.m. Dawn Lagunas, a DCCC counselor
hosts a meditation class at 2:45 p.m. on
Thursdays.
DCCC student, Cameron Cooper said,
“Hours are a bit limited but you definitely
get a good workout in the time frame. It’s
not bad for a free gym.”
Ballisty explained he wanted to make
the gym open for five days, possibly six for
the upcoming fall semester.
Along with the gym opening up,
another resource the students also asked
for was a hot foods service. The college
Pennocks Bridge campus gym includes 29 pieces of equipment and is open from
Monday through Thursday 2:30-8:30 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Kevin Ballisty
was able to make that work as well, by
arranging for the County Cup to build an
area in the office to sell breakfast, Wawa
coffee, and lunch.
The culinary high school students help
by making and selling soups.
“My friend and I were talking about
using the gym in the future.” said Zachary
Lloyd, a liberal arts major at DCCC. “If I
were to go, it would work perfectly after
class.”
Contact Alicia Stearn at
communitarian@mail.dccc.edu
Finish your degree at Chestnut hill college.
Transfer students make up one third of the undergraduate class at chc.
Open House Date:
Saturday, April 9, 2016 at 10 AM
• Learn about our day and evening programs
• Discuss scholarship opportunities
• Talk to an admissions counselor about your transfer
credit evaluation
• Bring your transcripts for an on the spot admissions
decision
• Speak with a financial aid counselor
• Tour the campus
To register for an event: Call - 215:248:7001,
E-mail: admissions@chc.edu, or Visit: www.chc.edu/susvisit
* Or register for a personal visit with a transfer admissions counselor - Monday through
Friday at 10 Am, 11 AM, or 1 pm - call 215:248:7001
CAMPUS LIFE
3
Help plan your career
with Focus 2
By Shanaya Day
WE MAKE THE TRANSFER
PROCESS EASY
Schedule your Campus Visit
> TRANSFER TUESDAY
April 19
delval.edu/transfer
DCCC counselors Bonnie Yake and
Susan Alexander hosted the “Career
Decision Making 101: Using Focus 2”
workshop on March 24. About 15 students
attended.
Focus 2 is an online interactive, selfguided career and educational planning
system. The counselors explained that
Focus 2 can be used in different ways
throughout all stages of students’ career
planning, according to their own personal
needs.
The system allows first-time users to
understand the career planning process
while bringing self-awareness at the same
time.
There are five different exercises in the
Focus 2 system. Yake and Alexander took
turns explaining each exercise.
Career Readiness
According to Yake, users will be able to
self-reflect on their career and educational
goals. They will also be able to identify their
academic strengths, work experiences and
accomplishments, plan their careers, and
map their personal development needs.
“Focus 2 will ask you simple questions
about your plans and goals,” Yake said. “If
you come across a question you don’t know
how to answer, don’t agonize over it.”
Self-Assessment
Alexander said this exercise is
important because this is where users will
learn about themselves.
“After taking the self-assessments,
users will be directed to a career path,”
Alexander said. “Students will be able
to choose an occupation based on skills,
interests, personality types, and most
importantly, values.”
The five self-assessments are on work
interests, personalities, skills, values,
and leisure interests. This is one of Yake’s
favorite features about the system, she said.
Explore the Possibilities
This exercise allows users to research
different careers by major, industry, and
occupation. It also allows student to
compare occupations side by side, another
feature Yake said was essential.
Create an Action Plan
In this exercise, users will build a
plan to achieve their objectives from
the previous exercises. When the plan is
complete, Alexander urges students to print
it and take it to the Career & Counseling
Center to discuss it with counselors who
can assist students in searching for jobs
and internships, writing resumes, and
more.
Tying it All Together
Here, a portfolio is created from the
users’ saved occupations and assessments.
This feature is Alexander’s favorite because
of the convenience of having all of the
results in one place, she said.
While some attended solely for extra
credit points, other students, such as
Daphne Brooks and Katie Lickfied, wanted
to learn more about Focus 2 and how they
could benefit from it.
Brooks, a general studies major, has
a bachelor’s degree in behavioral health
but is switching her career to nursing. She
plans on using Focus 2 as a resource to help
her find an occupation in that field and
accomplish her career goals. Lickfield, a
graphic design major, said she hopes Focus
2 will assist her in obtaining an associate’s
degree so she can eventually work towards
a bachelor’s degree.
“I expect Focus 2 to help me realize my
skills and where I need to improve so I can
progress,” Lickfield said.
Both counselors admitted that the
process can be a bit time consuming. They
advise students not to think too deeply
into the assessment questions and to just
answer them the best they can.
Focus 2 can be accessed from the
delaGATE Portal. First-time users can log
on, go to the Student Services tab, look for
the “College Survival” section on the right
side of the page, and click on Focus 2. The
access code for DCCC students is Pegasus.
Contact Shanaya Day at
communitarian@mail.dccc.edu
to apply, plan a visit or request information
• Transfer scholarships available
• Articulation agreement offers
guaranteed admission and core-to-core
• More than 25 academic degrees
• 100% of our students receive real-world
experience before graduation
700 E. Butler Ave. | Doylestown, PA 18901
DCCC transfer ad.indd 2
(From left) Jaren Canty, Bonnie Yake, Idriss Fofana, Susan Alexander, Daphne
Brooks, and Katie Lickfield gather for a picture after the FOCUS 2 workshop on
March 24 at Marple Campus.
1/26/16 5:14 PM
Photo by Shanaya Day
4
CAMPUS LIFE
National ‘It’s on Us’ campaign comes to DCCC
continued from page 1
To combat this problem, the “It’s On
Us” pledge came to DCCC to make students
more aware of what consent is and to make
a promise to not just be a bystander.
The idea began in April 2011 but took
hold in September 2014 when President
Obama and Vice President Biden created
the “White House Task Force to Protect
Students from Sexual Assault.”
Colleges and universities were strongly
encouraged to educate the students about
sexual assault and notify them of where to
go if they were a victim. The task force also
encourages students to intervene if they see
something that isn’t right.
“Sexual violence is the most prevalent
and underreported crime at colleges and
universities, affecting an estimated one in
five women and one in 16 men during their
lifetime on campus,” the Pennsylvania
Department of Education (PDE) states.
According to the organizations
website, the “It’s On Us” pledge identifies
four rules for those who decide to sign the
pledge, which they can practice on and off
campus:
1) To recognize that non-consensual
sex is sexual assault.
2) To identify situations in which
sexual assault may occur.
3) To intervene in situations where
consent has not or cannot be given.
4) To create an environment in
which sexual assault is unacceptable and
survivors are supported.
“It’s about raising awareness of what
‘no’ really means,” Exton campus counselor
Bridget Panza explained. “It’s students first
time away from home and they have much
more freedom.”
Ralph Marano, a full-time counselor
at DCCC’s Marple campus, explained that
the pledge is to educate students about not
only sexual violence and statistics, but of
other resources in the community that can
help victims.
“It’s an immediate concern in
residential campuses where students are
living together,” Marano said. “We’re not
pressuring, we’re just educating.”
The pledge has 93 supporters, including
Snapchat, EA Sports, CustomInk, and
Bing, and after it’s 2014 launch, 215,000
signers.
“Pennsylvania is the first state to
launch a statewide “It’s On Us” campaign,”
the PDE stated.
Victims of sexual assault are also
statistically proven to have a higher drop
out rate, and lower GPA, resulting in
an income loss over the course of their
lifetime.
The DCCC Phantom’s basketball team
decided to pledge as a whole.
One of the players, Ammonia
Holloman, said, “I took a criminology
class and we looked at statistics, and sexual
violence was at the top.”
Gina DiLuzio, a psychology major at
DCCC, explained that the pledge will bring
awareness to people who are too afraid to
speak up and bring people at this college
closer together.
The pledge’s website gives a list of 17
tips about sexual assault and consent, along
with the supporters and signers names,
videos of victims speaking out, and more
information about donations.
Robin Brandberg(left), a DCCC
Counselor, Tigidankay Kargbo(middle),
a DCCC student, and Kimberly
Jester(right) educator helped recruit
students at the Southeast Center
campus take the pledge.
Photo courtesy of Ralph Marano
The first tip on the pledge’s website is,
“Consent is voluntary and mutual and can
be withdrawn at any time.”
These tips help students better
understand what consent is by explaining
that “past consent does not mean current
or future consent.”
Contact Alicia Stearn at
communitarian@mail.dccc.edu
Student recomendations for Gould Award spike after email
By Carlo Alacaraz
Jaime Treadwell, professor of art
foundations and last year’s recipient of the
Gould Award for Excellence in Teaching,
decided to encourage student nominations
by sending a mass email to the entire
student body, which resulted in hundreds
of nominations. Prior to his email, fewer
than 20 nominations had been sent.
“It’s a big to-do and nobody knows
about it,” said Treadwell. “It’s completely
student driven with no politics involved
whatsoever.”
Treadwell won the award in 2015,
an honor that took him completely by
surprise. “It was amazing,” Treadwell said.
“I had no clue. I couldn’t even tell my staff.
It is not the same as being honored by your
peers, and it makes you feel like you’ve
been doing the right thing all along.”
While the deadline for nominations
was midnight, April 1, Treadwell hopes
to raise awareness about the award in the
future. The Gould Award for Excellence in
Teaching was established by the late Mrs.
Jerry Gould, a member of the DCCC Board
of Trustees. Her endowment to the college
was intended to award faculty members
that, in her own words, “embody the spirit
and philosophy of the college.”
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5
6
EDITORIAL
The Communitarian is produced
by both current and former students
of Fundamentals of Journalism II
in collaboration with Campus Life
and published at Delaware County
Community College.
Students who would like to write
for the campus newspaper and have
already completed Fundamentals
of Journalism I (ENG 130) should
register for Fundamentals of
Journalism II (ENG 131).
Students who have completed
both classes are welcome back
to join the senior staff. For more
information, send an e-mail to
communitarian@mail.dccc.edu.
Executive Editor
Erica Setnick
Managing Editor
Maryleigh Sharp
Defending free speech on college campuses
Chicago Tribune
(TNS)
University protested messages in support of
Donald Trump chalked on campus sidewalks
as an attempt to intimidate minority groups,
the school president heard them out but took
no action.
A female undergraduate at Harvard
wrote an article that assailed the prevailing
atmosphere there, recalling a class in which
one student said "she would be unable to sit
across from a student who declared that he was
strongly against abortion" and a discussion in
which she was rebuked for citing a Bible verse
because it violated a "safe space."
Last month, the American Association of
University Professors released a report arguing
that the federal law known as Title IX, which
bans discrimination on the basis of sex, has
been stretched to punish language and ideas
that should be allowed.
It cited examples such as Patty Adler,
a professor at the University of Colorado
at Boulder who had long taught a popular
sociology course called "Deviance in U.S.
Society." She was threatened by her dean
with forced retirement after some students
complained about role-playing exercises. The
threat was rescinded but a disillusioned Adler
chose to retire. Louisiana State University
associate professor Teresa Buchanan was fired,
over the objections of a faculty committee,
because some students complained about her
use of profanity.
Free expression is not faring well on
American college campuses these days. In
some places, the problem is students taking
grave offense at opinions that merit only
minor umbrage or none at all. In others, it's
official speech codes that chill discussion. In
still others, it's administrators so intent on
preventing sexual harassment that they avoid
open discussion of gender-related matters.
There is a lot to be said for making people
aware of the ways in which their words and
deeds can do harm. No one wants to go back
to the days when casual expressions of racial
prejudice were common, or when women were
mocked for taking places that should have gone
to men, or when some professors made passes
at students.
But it's important not to go so far in
protecting undergraduates that they lose the
spontaneous and open interactions they need
to understand the world and the society in
which they live. An education that spares
students from unwanted challenges to their
thinking is not much of an education.
Luckily, there's pushback against this
trend. University of California regents issued
a report deploring anti-Semitism but rejected
demands to include all forms of anti-Zionism
in the condemnation. When students at Emory
Students deserve to be shielded from
sexual harassment by other students or faculty
members, and sexual harassment can include
the creation of a climate so hostile (to women,
gays and so on) that they feel threatened. But
the AAUP panelists contend that the federal
government defines the term so broadly, and
makes it so hard to defend against such charges,
that innocent people are wrongly tarred and
education suffers.
"Overly broad definitions of hostile
environment harassment work at crosspurposes with the academic freedom and free
speech rights necessary to promote learning in
an educational setting," they said. "Learning
can be best advanced by more free speech that
encourages discussion of controversial issues
rather than by using punitive administrative
and legal fiat to prevent such discussions from
happening at all."
The University of Chicago has taken the
lead in defending free speech on campus. Last
year, a special committee issued a statement
noting the importance of civility but upholding
"the principle that debate or deliberation may
not be suppressed because the ideas put forth
are thought by some or even by most members
of the University community to be offensive,
unwise, immoral, or wrong-headed."
We hope the administrators, faculty and
students of other universities are listening.
Social Media Editor
Maryleigh Sharp
Photography Editor
Carlo Alcaraz
Junior Editors
Michael Blanche
Megan Milligan
Shannon Reardon
Reporters
Shannon Adams
Shanaya Day
Joshua Smith
Alicia Stearn
Nicole Marie Wieland
Senior Graphic
Designer
Christina Deravedisian
Web Master
Demi Deravedisian
Faculty Advisor
Bonnie McMeans
Letter to the editor
Dear Erica Setnick,
I read your piece in the last edition of The
Communitarian and can’t begin to express to
you how refreshing it is to finally hear from
someone who feels the same way I do about
exercising rights that our forefathers felt it of
the utmost importance that we take advantage
of. 
Although I agree with pretty much every
paragraph and your points made, I think what
is very important for dissenters to realize is
that, just like you said, these events transpire in
mere seconds and without warning or reason. 
A gun in the hand is always going to be
better than a cop on the phone. This is just
simple common sense that many fail to want
to believe.  
Giving students who are legally carrying
pursuant to state law the ability to protect
themselves and their fellow students is at the
very heart of what this nation was founded on:
loving thy neighbor (and protecting if need be). 
Let me tell you a quick story. I live in
Montgomery county, but go to school at
DCCC.  There is a store owner not too far from
where I live who has a sign in his window that
says, “Store owner is armed three days a week.
Guess which three?” 
He has never been robbed in his 60 years
of business. 
The same logic can be carried over the
students having a right to protect themselves
from serious bodily injury and/or death. 
I have had a county issued carry permit for
just under 10 years now and what that says to
me is that since I have passed all of the required
checks and been screened according to what
“the government” says is sufficient, why does
my constitutional right to carry stop as soon as
the tires of my car drive onto college property? 
Perhaps you feel as well that it can be
classified as a “constitution free zone.” 
DCCC is funded by tax dollars and as
well as federal and local grants and yet my
rights are restricted unnecessarily along with
the other students who are in my shoes who are
responsible, upstanding citizens. 
Passive effective-gun control policies in a
nation brimming with over 300 million guns
is difficult. Don’t believe anyone who tells you
otherwise. 
We need to accept that a certain amount
of gun violence is inevitable in our country. 
The hard truth is, just like we have deaths
from automobiles, swimming pool drowning’s
and drug overdoses, we are going to have some
from people with evil intentions in their hearts
who think squeezing a trigger will make it all
better from them and the world.
Those are people who we need to keep
guns away from, but lets stop pretending that
ending mass shootings and things of similar
nature are a matter of “common sense” gun
control. 
If the only thing that is keeping us from
being mass-shooter free is failure to heed
suggestions of Obama and other champions of
“common sense,” then I invite them to try—
and then to take personal responsibility for
everyone that they miss.
Thanks for your editorial. Very well done.
Maybe I will have to write one next!
Sincerely,
Michael M.
The Communitarian
Opinion Policy
The opinions expressed on
the editorial and commentary
pages do not necessarily reflect
those of The Communitarian
staff or College. We welcome
your comments on any
matter relating to Delaware
County Community College,
and responsible rebuttal
is encouraged. Write to
communitarian@mail.dccc.
edu. Please write "Letter to the
editor" in the subject box.
COMMENTARY
7
The lost women of literature want to be found
By Shannon Adams
In 1994, Publishers Weekly ran a story
titled “Houses with No Doors,” which listed
minorities’ lack of interest in the literary
field as one of the reasons for the industry’s
“overwhelming whiteness.”
Eighteen years later, of the 742 books
reviewed by the New York Times in that year,
only 28 of them were written by women of color,
according to Haitian-American author Roxane
Gay’s graduate assistant Phillip Gallagher.
This March, in an article titled “Why is
Publishing so White?”, Publishers Weekly
explained that the industry remains nearly as
white now as it was in 1994.
Although the public may recognize J. K
Rowling, Nora Roberts and Stephenie Meyer,
they fail to recognize J.California Cooper,
Esmeralda Santiago, and Bharati Mukherjee,
just to name a few.
“As women of color we are
underrepresented,” says Oya Bisi, who runs
The Women of Color Writers Workshop in
Brooklyn New York- “It is as simple as that.”
Bisi adds that the problem is not an
insufficient number of minority female writers,
but that their work is not always considered for
publication by editors, who are predominately
white, because of classism: a prejudice against,
or in favor of one party, and other related
phobias coming from the public.
Furthermore, people who are not of color
fear that in describing someone who is, they will
offend or “put off” other readers and because
of that mindset, minority characters lack
dimension and often are misrepresentations of
the real thing.
In other words, a white female character
may be described as having olive skin, wide
green eyes and cascading brunette hair,
whereas a African-American woman may be
described as only being “black.”
English professor Liz Gray, who has had
two poetry collections published, is no stranger
to some of the issues faced by minority women
writers.
“One of the hindrances that women of
color in literature do face is this feeling of
imposter syndrome,” Gray says. “Is my success
because of things I can’t control, or is it my
talent?”
It is a sad truth that there are people who
judge others solely by ethnicity, gender or a
combination of the two.
“In a lot of ways when people look at
me, they may not necessarily think I’m an
American [citizen],” Gray shares. “They
definitely don’t associate me with so-called
‘white America.’ Before, people could at least
associate me with an area of the world, my
last name being Chang. Now, they don’t know
what to do.”
All the while, publishers avoid publishing
authors they fear won’t make any money;
unfortunately, many of those authors are
Unlike Pulitzer Prize winner Alice Walker,
many female minority authors are overlooked
in a white publishing world.
Photo courtesy of Alice Walkers Garden website
women of color: the people who know
exactly how to describe themselves and their
characters.
“Some of my writers who look to get
published or get into MFA programs are
rejected because they don’t fit the status quo,”
Bisi explains. “Who’s going to buy this? Who
is going to want your little stories? Do they fit
the model?”
Questions like these are not only a result
of discrimination, but they also leave the
person on the receiving end asking questions,
such as does my story not matter?
Bisi insists that is not the case.
“We are telling the story that is female,”
she shared. “Women's voices are important to
the world. If we are stifled that point of view
will be lost. ”
As a young African-American woman
who considers writing necessary to my own
survival, and who aspires to make a living on
it, these findings are extremely discouraging.
As much as I read in school, I can only
recall two novels written by a woman of color,
nor a story that featured an minority character,
and I attended a predominately AfricanAmerican school.
The realization of this raised many red
flags for me, as it should for anyone who
considers herself a lover of the literary.
Consider the following: Bisi’s workshop is
the only one for women of color that exists in
the United States and has been for 17 years.
This suggests there is a lack of assistance
for minority women who want to pursue
writing or receive recognition for their work
and therefore they are not being persuaded to
continue.
Vendors of their publications are also
vulnerable.
Between 2002 and 2012 two-thirds of
black-owned bookstores closed.
According to Publishers Weekly’s
“A Glimmer of Hope for Black-Owned
Bookstores,” of the 400 that remained
afterward, only 67 of those bookstores remain
open as of January.
These stores close because there is a lack
of advertisement or recognition regarding the
work.
Publishers assume people won’t care
about minority stories because they can’t relate
and the cycle goes on; despite the fact that
literature, no matter what it may be about, is
always relatable and useful to someone.
People like Ariell Johnson, who opened
her own comic store on the East Coast, and
Evelyn Burdette, 19, who in 2010 self-published
seven books, know this and they are the type of
women literature needs.
Still, the problem persists.
An executive from one of the Big Five
publishing houses HR explained she felt her
company did not have a diversity problem;
still, the company refused to provide proof to
back up said claim.
It is this blind avoidance that compounds
the problem. We ignore it and it continues to
grow.
“Literary is a very dangerous word,” Bisi
explains. “It is a very limiting word because
who is to say what is literary and what is not?”
In short, it is just an easier way to
discriminate against people of color, especially
the women, who are already discriminated
against.
Moreover, considering that authors tend
to write from different points of view, their
stories may not always reflect their own beliefs,
so why work so hard to market to specific
ethnicities?
That is the source of this issue entirely, our
need to classify.
The argument may be made, that women
of color don’t write as often as Caucasian
women do or that the writing isn’t as “good,”
but that isn’t true.
You’ve probably heard of Belinda Mckeon,
and her novel “Tender,” but more than likely
there hasn’t been a whisper about Sareeta
Domingo, Anjali Joseph or Han Kang, who all
have books scheduled to be released this year.
This is because studies show 79 percent
of the literary industry is Caucasian and
unconscious bias is an issue.
The simple fact is this: non-Caucasian
perspective does matter and, ultimately,
women need to be supportive of other women.
We need to start the change.
We need to encourage more programs,
such as We Need Diverse books, a grass roots
campaign dedicated to honoring the lives of all
young people through literature.
Companies, such as the Barbara J. Zitwer
Agency, who publish international bestsellers
and the newest American foreign authors, are
helping to do this and you can help too: Log
onto your nearest bookstore’s website and find
yourself a book written by a woman of color.
Read it and promote it just as you would any
other book.
“Women of color have as much a right to
be a part of the mainstream as everybody else,”
Bisi said. “It is important that people know
what we felt, what we thought.”
Contact Shannon Adams at
communitarian@mail.dccc.edu
Corporate greed wins over clean air in Chester
By Michael Blanche
“It is health that is real wealth and not
pieces of gold and silver,” said Mahatma
Gandhi, who recognized the cost of
industrialization and human consumption.
As a county and society, we turn a blind
eye to the destruction and desolation created
in our collective pursuit of profits and waste
provision.
Economists have a word to describe this
phenomenon: externalities, which basically
means, it’s someone else’s problem, let them
deal with it.
Unfortunately, the city of Chester and
our neighbors that live there have been the
recipients of our externalities for far too long.
The once proud and prosperous city
has become the public toilet where Delaware
County, Philadelphia and even New York City
flush tons of waste, literally.
For the people of Chester to bear the
burden of 3,500 tons of trash being burned
into their air every day is unacceptable and
deplorable. Especially considering the city
covers an area of less than 5 square miles and
has a population of around 42,000.
John Linder, former Mayor of Chester
and councilman, lifelong resident of the city
and current DCCC professor, says that the
tax revenue brought in by these industries is
vital to pay the city’s expansive police force,
volunteer fire station, and administrative
officials. Linder cited the city’s budget as being
“50 million dollars per year.”
In the past, members of the
Environmental Justice Network have fought
against companies, like Koach Industries and
Covanta, who signed a contract with New
York City in 2014 to accept thousands of tons
of solid waste that is burned for energy at their
Chester incinerator.
Exposing corporate greed and holding
polluters accountable for the destruction of
the environment has been the hallmark of the
grass roots organization.
“In 2008 we were able to stop the world’s
largest tire incinerator from being built in
Chester,” said Mike Ewall, the founder and
director of the EJN.
Among other victories, Ewall and the EJN
have been on the front lines fighting fracking,
pipeline, and incinerator construction across
the state and country.
But the EJN has not been active in Chester
lately.
Ewall said that Chester’s poor reputation
of high crime hasn’t helped, which could be
why more environmental organizations have
not been on the front lines with the citizens
fighting for clean air and water.
Unfortunately, according to the EJN,
Chester residents are three times more likely to
have asthma than other residents in Delaware
County.
The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost
Containment Report of 2010 said the number
of people with asthma nationally was more
than 23 million Americans. In Pennsylvania,
the rate is higher than the national average,
with Chester and Delaware County leading the
way.
Perhaps this is because industries like
Covanta and specifically their waste-toenergy incinerator create the second most
air pollutants in the county, just behind
Philadelphia International airport.
Waste-to-energy is touted by Covanta as a
“green energy,” but it is not sustainable to burn
trash.
In fact, the EJN reports that waste-toenergy is worse for the environment than
burning coal, releasing large amounts of CO2,
dioxins, mercury and lead into the air. In
addition, it is more expensive to manage waste
this way and produce energy.
“There is a stench that
hangs in the air of the
Industrial Highway, and
it smells like money.”
Worsening the situation is the fact that
these industrial companies don’t seem to
provide jobs for the people of Chester. The
Bureau of Labor Statistics has Chester’s
unemployment rate at 7.8 percent as of April
2015, which is much higher than the county
averages of 4.4 percent.
“These companies are not big enough to
employ the entire city,” said Linder. “But they
can do a much better job reinvesting into the
community.”
According to Ewall, the celebrated
and publicized PPL Park, which hosts the
Philadelphia Union, is built on a site that is
contaminated with toxic waste. Even worse,
Ewall added, “the stadium isn’t even named
after the city it is built in.”
Chester has a storied past. Throughout
the Civil War era until World War II,
manufacturing jobs were abundant and people
moved to the city with hopes of a better future.
When those wars ended, jobs became scarce
and overseas competition crippled Chester’s
economy.
Kaya Benton, an 18 year-old Chester
resident, hopes to attend DCCC in the fall of
2016.
“We didn’t have any legal way to stop the
trash train from New York, so the company
was allowed to bring in tons of trash to burn,”
Benton said.
Linder attests that the rail delivery system
is better for the city because they pollute more
and waste constantly falls out of the trucks.
What Benton says is how many people
feel: helpless.
People that are in positions of corporate
power often choose profit over living, breathing
people, ignoring the impact of externalities.
Even when the people of Chester took lawful
measures to prevent their air from being
further polluted, they couldn’t stop further
expansion of the Covanta incinerator facility
in 2014.
There is a stench that hangs in the air
of the Industrial Highway, and it smells
like money.
The EJN is made up of caring citizens
much like yourself.
The organization is counting victories for
people and communities across the country.
The time has come to help our neighbors clean
up our mess.
To get involved and informed visit ejnet.
org or energyjustice.net.
Contact Michael Blanche at
communitarian@mail.dccc.edu
8
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Fans wait for the finale of the concert.
taking into account how many
fans were watching the screens
instead of the action on stage.
Later, while the concert was
This is the backdrop while The Who played 'Who Are You' at the Wells Fargo Center March 14.
Photo by David Mattera wrapping up, Daltry introduced
the band and vocalists to the
crowd.
The show ended with hits like
“Pinball Wizard,” “Baba O’Riley,”
and “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”
“This
show
absolutely
rocked,” said Maria Repousis, a
The Who rocks the
Wells Fargo Center
By David Mattera
Special to The Communitarian
The Who electrified the
crowd at their March 14 rock
concert in Philadelphia’s Wells
Fargo Center, where more than
18,000 fans sandwiched into the
seats to celebrate the band’s 50th
anniversary tour.
The band, in their 70s, filled
the arena with guitar strums and
vocals like they never stopped
touring. Roger Daltry belted out
lyrics while Peter Townshend
beat his guitar up.
Songs like “Who Are You”
and “Baba O’Riley” opened and
closed the show, during which
fans’ voices became hoarse after
joining in.
“I’ve got the keys to the
[expletive] city,” said Townshend
to get the crowd excited. “I’m the
only one in The Who, who has a
key to the city.”
The Who played more than
20 songs, including their greatest
hits. The concert lasted two hours
ending right before 11 p.m.
Earlier in the evening,
fans from all generations stood
on their feet, anticipating the
concert’s cue. The lights went
blind around 8:45 p.m. while
“Who Are You” pumped out of
the speakers as fans barely heard
their own screams.
“Make sure you watch the
show closely because this is the
last time you will ever see them
perform,” said Steve Molineux,
53, a Garnet Valley resident and
long time Who fan. “I have seen
them eight times in concert and I
can’t believe they are touring after
all these years.”
The first set of songs included
hits like “The Kids Are Alright,”
and “I Can See for Miles,”
followed by “Eminence Front.”
When an overly excited fan
screamed in elation during a
pause, Townshend reminded the
crowd that some of the band’s
biggest fans are police officers and
Photo by David Mattera
longtime fan and an Upper Darby
resident. “If I had the time off
from work, I would love to be a
groupie and travel all over the
U.S. to see them play.”
The Who will continue their
50th anniversary tour throughout
the United States, Canada, and
Spain.
Contact The Communitarian at
communitarian@mail.dccc.edu
firemen, joking with the fan about
his behavior.
The second set list included
songs “Magic Bus” and “I Can’t
Explain,” while the background
projector flashed images of
historical figures and moments
like Columbine, Marilyn Monroe,
and Sept. 11.
“You know, Townshend used
to play 10 guitars and it seems like
he only can handle one now,” said
John DellaRocca, 51, an audience
member from Long Island. “But
what can you expect? They’re not
young anymore.”
Midway through the show,
the arena started smelling like
a grandparent’s liquor cabinet.
Fans flailed their arms while
dancing up and down the aisles.
“I feel like a young girl
again,” said Sandy Minford, 50, of
Garnet Valley. “I’m so glad I got
to experience it one last time. It
was well worth the money.”
Minford reflected on how the
generations of fans are different,
Roger Daltrey gets the crowd involved at The Who concert, part of their 50th anniversary tour.
Photo by David Mattera
Peter Townshend plucks away at his guitar.
Photo by David Mattera
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Underground venue impacts Philly music scene
SWARM members experiment with sounds from glass bottles and bowls of water.
Photo courtesy of Dreu Adjoa-Oko
By Melissa Simpson
Special to The Communitarian
An Untitled avant-garde music
showcase took place in an undisclosed West
Philly warehouse at 8 p.m. on March 19.
The event was organized by an individual
who wished to be identified only as “Le.”
Le decided to create the event in
response to the lack of diversity in the
Philly Punk scene. “As a cis[gender] white
woman, it is my responsibility to make
sure that all people are represented in the
scene,” Le said.
The evening was highlighted by a
performance by the dance/music collective
SWARM. Out of the six members who
attended, only the bass player had a
static role. Everyone else rotated between
instrumentation,
vocalization,
and
interpretive dance.
The audience crowded into a dusty
basement to witness the rest of the sets,
arranged by producer Kilamanzengo and
pop punk pair King Azaz.
Beaumont Warehouse is a barn-like
building nestled between 50th and 51st
Street, where the block comes to a dead
end.
The block was quiet and unassuming.
That is, until one took notice of the
bright colored fixed gear bikes and the
aesthetically eccentric individuals parked
outside the venue. The booming sounds
escaping the venue were also a dead
giveaway.
Upon entering the space, there was a
sensory overload. The high ceilings were
accented by a cardboard arch-like structure
that depicted demons, thunderbolts, and
mountains. This object spanned the entire
width of the warehouse and separated the
stage from the viewing area.
At the start of the event, local sci-fi
writer/Afrofuturist writer and DJ Alex
Smith spun experimental club and house
jams. Meanwhile, punks, femmes, queers,
gender non-conforming individuals, and
general alt-culture folks trickled in.
At around 9 p.m. the performances
kicked off with a politically charged
performance by SWARM. The piece
blended live beats, drumming, and bass
guitar with interpretive dance.
The collective’s fifth song, in a set of
seven, referenced Igbo Landing through
the use of water and glass bottles that
created an eerie echo sound.
According to Althea Baird, a SWARM
musician/dancer/vocalist, Igbo Landing
is an area off the coast of Georgia, where
slaves willingly walked into the ocean to
their death. To them, it was more important
to sacrifice their mortality in exchange for
their freedom.
“They said our ancestors live at
the bottom of the ocean,” chanted the
members of SWARM. “Ancestors died in
the backseat of a car.”
During the SWARM performance,
Kilamanzengo was preparing for their
beat set in the basement of Beaumont
Warehouse. After SWARM wrapped up,
attendees filtered into the dank cellar. Their
colorful Ableton Push buttons illuminated
the workstation that was obscured by
darkness.
In between playing purposefully
distorted and glitchy 808 heavy beats,
Kilamanzengo playfully bopped around
the crowd, draped in a full size Ghaneian
Flag.
“It is so weird how when I am just
talking with people I am all up in your
face, but when I am up here I am not shy,”
said Kilamanzengo, referring to her stage
presence.
After Kilamanzengo wrapped up, the
audience traveled upstairs to hear more
tunes spun by DJ Alex. About 20 minutes
later, the punk two piece, King Azaz, began
their set in basement.
Although small in numbers, the band
played hard, fast and noisy. The audience
did not seem to be phased by the high
decibels and bobbed along as if the music
was being played at a lower volume.
According to Le, these types of
underground events occur in the West
Philly area at least two or three times a
month.
“They plan to continue organizing
events like this that highlight all
underrepresented peoples,” Le said.
Contact The Communitarian at
communitarian@mail.dccc.edu
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LIFESTYLE
11
Will your tattoos impact your career?
looking for what they call “The Disney
Look.”
This particular look, as listed on
Disney’s website, focuses on employees
looking “clean, natural, and professional,”
and avoids the extreme and cutting edge
trends, “[which] include, but are not limited
to: visible tattoos, brands, body piercings
(other than the traditional ear piercing for
women), tongue piercing or splitting, tooth
filling, earlobe expansion and disfiguring
skin implants. Tattoos must be discreetly
and completely covered at all times.”
Tattoo artist Fred Patterson, of Tiny
Tim’s Boulevard Tattoos in Glenholden,
said that work can be a factor for a tattoos
placement, but, overall, it depends on the
person.
“I had a guy fly in from Tennessee so
I could tattoo him, and at first glance you
wouldn’t be able to tell he had tattoos,” said
Patterson. “He’s an IT guy, he’s very proper
looking, but underneath he is covered in
tattoos… You can’t always judge a book by
its cover.”
Still, Patterson admits that some
business people are not accepting of
tattoos.
“People in sales, or those who work for a
conglomerate, might not get visible tattoos
because of how the people they’re working
with may react,” he said. “Sometimes you
have to look like money to make money.”
Though there are workplaces, such
as Disney, that are striving for the “clean
and natural look,” there are companies
who have begun to rewrite their policies to
include those with tattoos.
By Shannon Reardon
Conventional wisdom once dictated
that if people had tattoos they were either a
soldier, a sailor, a biker or some other form
of social outcast. In more recent years, this
notion has changed: tattoos are now for
anyone.
A national survey conducted in 1990
found that 3 percent of respondents had
at least one tattoo. In 2012, the Harris poll
reported 38 percent of respondents aged
30-39 have one or more tattoos, as well as
30 percent of those who are 25-29, and 22
percent of people 18-24.
“Women often seek tattoos for personal
decoration and to feel independent, and
men more often get tattoos as a symbol
of group identity,” stated Lynda Dickson,
Richard L. Dukes, Hilary Smith, and Noel
Strapko in their study on the meaning of
tattoos for college students.
That same study reports that
individuals with tattoos say that the
reasons they get their tattoos is to feel more
sexy (30 percent), rebellious (25 percent),
attractive (21 percent), strong (21 percent),
and spiritual (16 percent).
“Tattoos also can be an important
feature of affect management through
which individuals attempt to overcome
emotions of pain, stress, sorrow and losssuch as the death of a loved one-in an
active, normative and controlled way,”
said Dickson, Dukes, Smith, and Strapko.
“Not only can the tattoo serve as a tangible
memorial, but also the physical pain of
getting the tattoo can help symbolically to
exorcise the emotional pain of the loss.”
With the number of tattoos on the
rise, experts say that employers may have
to consider being more lenient with their
policies towards body modifications.
“It can be argued that employers will
need to change their hiring practices as
the pool of otherwise qualified applicants
displays
previously
unacceptable
modifications,” wrote Brian Elzaweig
and Donna Peeples in the Society for
Advanced Management Journal. “It should
also be recognized that society in general
is becoming more accepting of these
alterations, so the employer’s argument
against hiring or retaining persons with
modifications is becoming weak in many
cases possibly adverse to the interests of
the organizations.”
But if the policies do not change, what
happens to the younger generation who
have decided to adorn their bodies with
colorful imagery?
The U.S. military took a stance
against tattoos, for the Marines, as early
as 2007, stating that the branches would
grandfather in the service members who
already had full tattoo sleeves on their
arms or legs.
Today, most armed services recruits
are to have no more than four tattoos on
their arms and legs, and no bigger than
their extended hands, though larger
tattoos on the torso are acceptable.
The Navy, however, recently updated
their policy allowing recruits to have fully
sleeved arms and legs, stating that the
change was made so that the Navy was able
to retain and recruit talented sailors.
Tattoos on the torso are unacceptable
if they show through the white Navy
uniforms; all branches of military prohibit
tattoos on the neck, face, or head, as well as
hand tattoos.
Krissy Dimattia, 29, a liberal arts
major at DCCC, said she has faced backlash
for her body modifications at her job.
Dimattia has roughly 19 tattoos and
piercings, and is a part-time supervisor
at UPS, which has a policy against visible
tattoos and piercings.
“They told me I couldn’t be a
lead supervisor because I didn’t look
professional, but I’m just as good as
everybody else,” she said. “The times are
changing. [Tattoos and piercings] will be
accepted one day.”
Another company strongly against
body modifications is Disney, which is
Wawa, for instance, just recently
changed their policy on appearance.
“We want our associates to reflect the
communities they’re in, which nowadays,
are filled with people who have tattoos
and piercings,” said human resources
representative, Donna Vageil. “It shows
their personalities and diversity.”
Under the new policy, Wawa is
allowing their employees to have visible
tattoos that are non-offensive; they
removed sections dictating gender-specific
uniform guidelines created a genderneutral uniform policy; and regulated
all piercing to follow the Food and Drug
Administration’s policy for piercings,
which prohibits dangling earrings or
jewelry with stones, such as diamonds.
According to Vageil, since Wawa has
allowed employees to show their tattoos at
work, customers were polled about their
thoughts, and the company has received
no negative feedback.
Whether a company allows tattoos
or not, Patterson emphasized the real
life implications that come with getting
tattoos.
“Tattoos come with a lot of
responsibilities,” he said. “You have to be
a strong person to get them, because once
you cover yourself in tattoos, people will
stereotype you for the rest of your life.”
Contact Shannon Reardon at
communitarian@mail.dccc.edu
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Students give back to homeless veterans
continued from page 1
Bullock has been organizing the event
for the past three years, and was happy to
report that this year they received more
care packages donated by students for
homeless veterans than the previous years.
The Philadelphia Veterans House
is located on Baltimore Avenue in the
University City area of Philadelphia. It is
a home to anywhere between 10 and 17
veterans who would otherwise be homeless.
Their website describes it as transitional
housing, a place where veterans can get on
their feet and have access to resources.
According to a 2013 study, 90 percent
of honorably discharged homeless veterans
end up on the street because of no family
support and a lack of job training.
Petty Officer 2nd class Tim Szerlik was
“scared to death” when he first came to the
Philadelphia Veteran’s house. “I was facing
homelessness and I had never faced that
before,” Szerlik said.
Now he is living in his own apartment
and holding down a full time job.
According to Szerlik, it was the program
that saved him.
Supporters have said the house has
many success stories coming out of it,
such as Lance Cpl. Erast Willoughby, who
entered the program in 2013 as a homeless
man looking for help. Now he holds a
position working in the administration of
the house.
Brigid Gallagher, the director of
the Philadelphia Veterans House, is a
behavioral mental health specialist and
is trained to help deal with the various
mental illnesses that can plague veterans.
“This place takes people who are
responsible and gives back so freely to that
which gave so freely to you,” said Szerlik.
Anyone can volunteer anytime at the
Philadelphia Veterans House. Cooking
breakfast is always needed, according
to Bullock, as well as care packages
containing toiletries such as toothpaste
and deodorant, and warm clothes. For
more information on how to volunteer,
visit http://philadelphiaveteranshouse.org.
Contact Megan Milligan at
communitarian@mail.dccc.edu
LOCAL NEWS
13
Veterans enjoy the breakfast cooked by DCCC students at the Philadelphia
Veterans House during spring break.
Photo by Megan Milligan
U.S. Army veteran continues to lead at home
By Joshua Smith
Delaware County Community College
is the educational home to many U.S.
military veterans and current U.S. military
reservists from all branches: Army,
Navy, Air force, Marines, and National
Guardsmen.
Tyshon Bullock, 25, is a U.S.
Army combat veteran of the Iraq and
Afghanistan wars, sociology student,
Student Government Association officer,
and president of DCCC’s Military Club.
Tyshon is also one of the one percent
of the population that stood up, put his
hand over his heart, and swore an oath “to
protect the citizens of the United States
from all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
I spoke with Bullock about his career
and experiences in the Army, his life since
arriving home from war, and the Military
Club’s involvement with veterans in
immediate area
What was your position and
involvement with the U.S. Army?
I enlisted in the Army in May of 2008,
when I was a junior in high school. The
Army has an enlistment option called the
“split-ops” program.
The split-ops program allows for high
school students to enlist in the Army
with the permission of their parents, and
complete basic training during the summer
between their junior and senior year.
After senior year you then go to
Advanced Individual Training (AIT)
School to train for your military
occupational specialty. My occupational
specialty was a cavalry scout. The job of a
cavalry scout involves being the eyes and
ears of the battlefield.
Our primary mission was to perform
recognizance for the Army. We would be
ahead of the front lines, in enemy territory,
making a safe path for the rest of the army
follow.
I was deployed on a tour of duty to
Kuwait from December 2012 to August
2013. During my tour, I became a combat
veteran and reached the rank of E-5
Sergeant. Currently, I still serve in the
National Guard as a cavalry scout.
Towards the end of my tour, while still
overseas, I registered for courses at DCCC.
I picked my courses based entirely on how
interesting the last names of the professors
were. That ended up being a great idea.
I picked a professor just because he
had a hyphenated last name, Dr. WilseyCleveland. This professor became my
mentor. He changed my life, and gave me a
different view on school altogether.
What are your thoughts on your
deployment and the conflict you were
involved with?
My unit was in Kuwait mainly to work
with the Kuwaiti military and assist them
in training and peacekeeping missions;
violence was always our last resort. We
worked with all other branches of the
U.S. military, including Navy, Air Force,
Marines, and National Guardsmen.
The main thing that civilians back
in the states misunderstand is that the
military is a slow moving machine. Back
home they don’t understand why things
are not done right away.
Civilians also think we are always
looking for violence or a fight. Violence
was definitely our last resort. We are far
more of a peacekeeping force than we are
an assault- based element.
How is your civilian and college life
versus your military life?
Military and civilian life is completely
different. In military life, everything is
very structured. There are people telling
you what to do, where to be, what to bring,
and so on. In this aspect, civilian life is
actually more difficult.
There is no one telling you to be up, no
one telling you what to bring, and where to
go; you have to figure it all out for yourself.
I have three daughters; I’m a part-time
student, a full-time employee, and I serve
in the National Guard. Figuring out how
to balance my hectic schedule all by myself
has been the biggest challenge to far.
What is the most significant thing you
have taken away from military life?
Definitely discipline.
I have learned to adapt and overcome
to difficult situations. I may encounter a
situation that is less than desirable, but I
have the ability now to assess the stressful
situation and formulate a plan instead of
panicking.
What is the Military Club at DCCC?
I’m currently club president of the
Military Club. We are open to anyone who
wants to join. However, we require that
you support the military and its endeavors.
Our main objective is to help veterans in
our community.
How did the recent SGA homeless
veteran breakfast go?
It was very successful! It started slowly
in the beginning of the week, with myself
and one other member assisting the food
drive. However, as the week went on we
gained more members and received more
aid.
The veterans were very happy. We had
about 10-12 veterans every day that we
were able to give breakfast to. There were
veterans from every war: Korean War,
Vietnam War, Desert Storm, and the most
recent Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
What are your thoughts on the treatment of today’s veterans upon exiting
the service and returning home?
Besides the Veterans Hospital being
a nightmare, Delaware County and the
country as whole has a lot of love for its
veterans. It is not at all like the deranged
treatment that Vietnam Veterans received
upon returning home.
Delaware County has a program that
enables veterans to register as a veteran
in the county and receive discounts from
countless stores.
These business owners have no
obligation to sign up and become part of
this program. This generosity really makes
me step back and realized how blessed I
am.
How do you feel the public treats you
personally after they know you are a
veteran?
The treatment is absolutely beautiful.
For example, my unit provided security in
Philadelphia during the Pope’s visit.
We had a brief break in the late
morning, so my unit and I decided to stop
over at the local IHOP. At the end of our
breakfast, a woman came up to us and said
she paid for the meal for all of us.
These things are quite frequent when
I’m in uniform. It makes me proud to serve
this wonderful country and its people.
Do you have any advice for anyone interesting in enlisting into the military?
Yes. First and foremost, know what
you are signing up for. Before you sign
your name to the enlistment papers, make
sure you are happy with the job you sign
up for. In hindsight, I would have signed up
for a different job. Don’t’ get me wrong; I
enjoy my time as a cavalry scout. But I wish
now that I would have enlisted in military
intelligence or something where I can be
in air conditioning and at a desk [laughs].
Of course, if you plan to finish a four- year
degree, and you think you have what it
takes to be a leader, become an officer in
the military.
Is there anything else you would like
to add?
Yes. I would personally like to thank
the professor I was telling you about earlier
that changed my life, Dr. Wilsey-Cleveland.
He was my English composition
teacher during my first semester back in
DCCC student, Tyshon Bullock, during
a cavalry scout training mission for the
U.S. Army.
Photo courtesy Tyshon Bullock
school after my tour.
I originally had the mindset of just
merely going to school and coming home.
I had no intention of making friends
or getting in involved with the school’s
clubs and extra-curricular activities. I
can never forget Dr. Wilsey- Cleveland’s
cool Australian accent telling me to get
involved.
He gave me the courage and incentive
to join the Environmental Club. This was
only the beginning of my transformation
into being highly involved in many
things here at DCCC. However, without
Dr.Wilsey-Cleveland, I would have never
been the student I am today.
Contact Joshua Smith at
communitarian@mail.dccc.edu
14
The winning's only beginning for Villanova
By Susan Snyder
The Philadelphia Inquirer
(TNS)
At Villanova University, Joseph A.
Borillo was taking the congratulatory calls in
succession on Tuesday, the day after the men’s
basketball team had been crowned national
champion. Wells Fargo. Coca-Cola. Bimbo
Bakeries.
They’re all corporate partners of
Villanova, and they couldn’t be happier with
the Wildcats’ win, a thriller that came at the
buzzer as Kris Jenkins sank that now famous
three-pointer.
“It’s amazing the difference one shot
makes,” said Borillo, Villanova’s senior
director of corporate and foundation relations.
“I expect that in the coming months we’ll see
increased activity with our current sponsors
as well as interest from new corporations that
want to be associated with Villanova.”
Corporate sponsors do everything from
providing 5,000 muffins to students during a
day of community service to making donations.
Coca-Cola, Borillo said, plans to unveil a
commemorative can emblazoned with the
Wildcats’ logo in honor of the championship
season.
The winning’s just beginning for
Villanova, a Catholic university on the Main
Line that enrolls about 10,000 students, 6,300
of them undergraduates.
A national basketball championship can
bring in more applications, higher-quality
students, more donations, and boost corporate
sponsorships, licensing, and athletic ticket
sales, studies have shown.
“It acts as a de facto advertising campaign
that lasts for about two years,” said Kristi
Dosh, a sports business analyst based in
Florida, who has studied the effects of national
championships. “The university and the
athletic department have about two years to
make the most out of this.”
Villanova estimated it received at least
$6 million -- and perhaps far more -- worth
of free publicity when the team made it to
the Final Four in 2009. Now, with a win,
“it’s exponential,” said Ann Diebold, its vice
president of university communications.
“Every time, there’s more.”
One of the most immediate measures of
the impact for Villanova could come May 1,
the deadline for admitted students to declare
whether they will enroll. In 1985, when
Villanova last won the national championship,
119 more admitted students enrolled than the
previous year.
And that was before social media.
This time, the university has been
inundating the Facebook page for its admitted
students with news about the basketball team’s
success.
“We have been sharing this journey with
those students while they are in this decisionmaking process . . . so they can feel a part of
it,” said Liz Kennedy Walsh, associate vice
president for university communications.
Only problem is that if many more
admitted students than expected choose
Villanova, university officials are unsure where
they will put them.
But Michael Gaynor, director of university
admission, said Villanova will accommodate
all who accept, though it may mean taking
fewer students from the wait list.
The university, where tuition, fees, and
room and board topped $62,000 this year,
admitted 42 percent of applicants this spring.
Villanova is largely white and Catholic. Threefourths of undergraduates are white, and
72 percent of those who reported a religious
preference said they were Catholic.
The impact on Villanova’s applications
next year could be even greater. It could be
harder to get in.
A 2009 study by economists Devin and
Jaren Pope found that success on the court
increases applications from 2 to 8 percent for
the top 16 basketball schools, and that increases
are two to four times greater for private schools
than public ones.
“Schools appear to exploit these increases
in applications by improving both the number
and the quality of incoming students,” the
study said.
Villanova already draws strong students.
Most freshmen from fall 2015 had GPAs that
exceeded 3.76, and the average SAT (verbal
and math) score was 1316, the highest in the
university’s history.
And there is no predicting the influence of
that final Jenkins shot.
Consider what happened to Boston
College in 1984. After Doug Flutie’s lastsecond Hail Mary pass led the college football
team to victory over the University of Miami,
the school surged in popularity. Over the next
two years, applications increased about 30
percent. It became known as “the Flutie Effect,”
though some remain skeptical of the gridiron
connection.
Even without a basketball crown,
applications to Villanova had been rising, , up
16 percent for fall 2016.
Fund-raising at universities with
successful teams also tends to improve,
according to a 2012 study by Michael L.
Anderson, assistant professor of agriculture
and resource economics at the University of
California at Berkeley.
Game revenue and ticket sales can jump,
too.
That’s what Dosh found at the University
of Florida after the men’s basketball team won
the national title in 2006 and again in 2007.
Mark Jackson, Villanova’s athletic
director, said he expects “a more than moderate
increase” in licensing revenue, considering
swift bookstore sales of Villanova merchandise.
He also cited widespread exposure through
social media. The basketball team’s followers
on Twitter rose from 14,000 before the Big East
conference tournament to more than 83,000 on
Wednesday.
“We’re hoping to get to 100,000 by the
parade on Friday,” he said.
Villanova administrators are planning
to capitalize on the team’s success. They are
putting together a publication to share with
alumni and will update their admissions
materials, Walsh said.
But the biggest advantage came naturally.
“A lot of people know our name now,”
Walsh said.
They connect that name with a team of
dedicated, selfless players, even down to the last
shot, when senior Ryan Arcidiacono shared the
ball with Jenkins for the win, she said.
“This team tells our story,” she said. “The
coverage is priceless.”
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