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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF MANHATTAN UNIVERSITY | SINCE 1924
Volume CXIV, Issue 6
FREE
NEW YORK, FEBUARY 24, 2026
Manhattan University Senate Talks Curriculum, Microsoft Switch and Faculty Dining Rooms Brooke Della Rocco Senior Writer
Heather Vulin Sets a New Program Win Record with 139 Wins. @MANHATTANEDU / INSTAGRAM
MU Anticipates “Brother Leo Cup” as National Engineers Week Kicks Off Zendrah Bonnick Asst. News Editor
This past December, M On Feb. 23, Manhattan University’s (MU) School of Engineering kicked off its celebration of National Engineers Week (E-Week) with a movie in Leo Hall. Throughout the week, students were able to participate in a variety of events and competitions for a chance to win the the “Brother Leo Cup.” According to the National
IN NEWS:
MU Anticipates “Brother Leo Cup” as National Engineers Week Kicks Off pg. 3
Society of Professional Engineers, E-Week was originally founded in 1951 to recognize the contributions of engineers while promoting the discipline of a STEM education. At MU, the week includes events and activities that help build creativity, teamwork and community. The Quadrangle spoke with Rich Carbonaro ‘97, Ph.D., associate dean of the School of Engineering, who shared what students can expect from this year’s E-Week events. “From Monday to Friday…We have some games and competitions that are problem-solving events,”
IN FEATURES:
Jasper Dancers Hold Annual Garage Sale pg. 7
Carbonaro said. “The week culminates with what we call the ‘Battle of the Brains.’ It’s a final build competition where teams are given a challenge, a time limit and an objective… The winning team, accumulating points throughout the week, is going to win the Brother Leo Cup. This is the first time we’re doing that.” Brandon Hilligoss, a junior chemical engineering major and president of MU’s American Institute of Chemical Engineers __________________________ CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
The first Manhattan University (MU) senate meeting of the spring semester took place on Tuesday, Feb. 17, where senators spoke about current issues students and faculty face, as well as the future of campus life. The Educational Affairs Committee (EAC) opened the meeting, with an introduction discussing several upcoming academic changes. The University-Wide Curriculum Committee (UWCC) has recently approved the reinstatement of the film minor and completed stage one of a revision to the university’s core curriculum. A new attendance policy was voted on as well, which will be present in the student code of conduct and university catalog. “The way it was before, there were conflicting attendance policies,” Bridget Chalk, associate provost and senator said. “So we proposed one new attendance policy… There is a general expectation in this attendance policy, a student responsibility section, standard absence limits, faculty responsibility and record keeping … Guidelines around excused absences and there’s language around chronic absence and university standing.” The EAC closed their briefing by mentioning the switch in length of summer courses from seven weeks to six weeks. Mel Lasky, chief information officer of Information Technology (IT) Services, spoke about the
IN A&E:
Hispanic Classics for a peaceful febuary evening pg. 10
challenges accompanying the switch to Microsoft. Associate professor of management and marketing, and speaker for the senate, Amir Masoumi, presented the topic by mentioning the response he has received from the campus community regarding the switch. “People from the administration, faculty, students, they’re complaining,” Masoumi said. “I’m sure there were a lot of issues that have been addressed already, but some of us are still struggling with different issues. The agenda committee of the senate thought having Mel here would be helpful by addressing those issues.” Lasky spoke about the switch in programs and acknowledged the numerous problems that have risen. “We felt that in the best interest of MU, that moving to Microsoft was the way to mitigate risk and improve our cybersecurity posture as an added benefit… As well as most companies when you go out into the industry, they use Microsoft and not Google,” Lasky said. “We are working through issues, as you can imagine, with a community as large as we have [and] when you make a platform switch as big as this.” Lasky addressed the transfer of Google Drive documents to Microsoft, and estimated the switch to take place around August 2026. The senate went on to discuss residence life and dining service updates, including the development of new lounge rooms on the __________________________ CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
IN SPORTS:
Games of the week pg. 12