THE HOFSTRA
HEMPSTEAD, NY VOLUME 88 ISSUE 4
CHRONICLE
TUESDAY October 11, 2022
KEEPING THE HOFSTRA COMMUNITY INFORMED SINCE 1935
Sen. Gillibrand holds town hall
Photo courtesy of Congress Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has served in Congress for 13 years.
By Ahjané Forbes NEW S E D I TO R
Hofstra University opened its doors to the Long Island community on Thursday, Oct. 6, hosting the first town hall this year with U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). Gillibrand, a New York native, was appointed to the Senate in Aug. 2009 after the seat was vacated when former
first lady Hillary Clinton was appointed to be secretary of state. Hofstra President Susan Poser introduced the senator and shared what it was like meeting her. “Several months ago, I had the opportunity to meet and talk with Sen. Gillibrand at her office in Washington, D.C.,” Poser said. “She was very generous with her time and impressed upon me her dedication to our state and to our country and doing the right thing.” Poser highlighted issues that Gillibrand continuously advocates for and that students can relate to. “Sen. Gillibrand is leading the fight to reform the justice system for sexual assault survivors in the military and on
NEWS
college campuses,” Poser said. Jeremyah Jones, a first-year law student, was born in New York but moved to Tennessee for 15 years. After coming back for law school, Jones decided to learn more about government officials in the state. “I just wanted to see how she would answer questions,” Jones said. Jones compared this town hall to the ones in the South. “It was pretty rare in Tennessee to see that kind of fervor in town halls,” Jones said. “They’re usually a lot drier.” Although Jones did not have a question for Gillibrand, he said it was beneficial to have the opportunity to listen to community members’ concerns
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OPINION
Media bias: Just another business rooted in profits
spins on real-life issues with the intention of increasing profits, only to leave their viewers with distorted outlooks on issues that are not inherently political. In the early 1900s, Photo courtesy of Jorge Maya before the invention In order to increase sales, prominent news of the radio, paperoutlets broadcast stories that align with boys would stand in the political parties of their viewers and sponsors. the street yelling provocative news titles to By Makenzie Hurt increase sales. SPEC IA L TO T H E C H R O N I CL E In 2022, much of the same Media bias is alive and is being done by big media well, and it’s being fueled by companies – bigger stories MSNBC and Fox News. Two that align with political parties of the biggest broadcasting gather more streams, clicks stations are putting obvious and traffic. As a result, the
companies profit from advertisements and funding from organizations aligned with particular parties. News stations have a specific way of delivering stories that do not make it blatantly obvious that they are presenting them with bias. The stations’ viewers alone show the direct impact that this essentially subliminal bias has on us. According to researchers from Florida Atlantic University, Fox’s recurring viewers are around 93% Republicanaffiliated, while MSNBC’s are 95% Democrat-affiliated.
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Hofstra’s iAM program collaborates with Nassau Community College
Photo courtesy of Desolora-Lanre Ologun Hofstra’s iAM program will be partnering with Nassau Community College to offer more opportunities to STEM students.
By Madeline Armstrong N EWS ED ITO R
Since 2018, Hofstra has been offering a mentoring and scholarship program for STEM students who may be struggling academically or financially. The Integrated Achievement and Mentoring Program (iAM) is funded by the National Science Foundation and is run by a group of Hofstra professors. This year, the iAM program will be collaborating with Nassau Community College. “[This is] for Pell-eligible students who have been accepted into one of five STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) AS degrees at Nassau Community College and plan to transfer to one of 25 STEM majors at Hofstra University,” said Jaqueline Lee, a biology professor at Nassau Community College and coprincipal investigator of the program. “The program provides scholarship support, participation in a summer undergraduate research project, support to accelerate math placement [and] membership in the iAM NCC-HU student club, as well as individualized course and program advisement, career and transfer mentoring and student support services.” This process will begin with
recruitment from local high schools to target high-achieving students from low-income communities. “Students will be closely mentored, participate in a summer undergraduate research project, have access to an online tutoring and assessment program in mathematics, attend academic and career workshops and, if financially eligible, receive NSF-funded scholarships,” Lee said. Nassau Community College will welcome its first cohort of 12 students in summer 2023 and will continue accepting 12 additional students each year for five years. The other co-principal investigator, Jessica Santangelo, a biology professor at Hofstra University, founded the original program that, up until now, focused solely on current Hofstra students. According to Santangelo, the program has been very successful, with an 83% 4-year graduation rate. “I am passionate about supporting students who want STEM careers,” Santangelo said. “This is an excellent opportunity to do that.” Rachel Lande, a sophomore political science major with a
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