GOOD LUCK ON FINALS! + HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
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We write Stevens history HOBOKEN, NJ | DECEMBER 12, 2025
VOLUME CXXIII No. 13
NEW STUTE EVERY FRIDAY • EST. 1904
Response to Stevens Sanctuary Policies letter
Interfait Summit BY KEVIN MATIAS, CONTRIBUTOR
es in that spot from the President’s Ensemble, Stevens A Cappella, and other singers and bands before the lighting of the tree and raffle. The President’s Ensemble sang “Carol of the Bells,” a medley of “Deck the Halls,” “Here We Come A-wassailing,” and “Jingle Bells,” and Stevens A Capella sang “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,”
The incredible diversity of the Stevens community was illuminated in this year’s Winter Interfaith Summit. Held in Gateway North on December 10, the Summit wasn’t just another meeting; it was a showcase of the diverse beliefs on campus. Spiritual organizations such as Newman Catholic, the Stevens Christian Fellowship, the Sikh Student Association, and more united to share their faith with all attendees. The Summit drew those who were devoted to their faith and those who were simply curious, uniting the Stevens community as one. This year’s outcome stems from the passion of its student leadership. Charles Smith, President of Newman Catholic, has shared that he hopes “this Interfaith Summit strengthens the bonds between religious organizations and allows us to see past our differences, particularly when it comes to serving the community.” His perspective perfectly fits with the Summit’s theme of Community Care and Collective Well-Being, as Newman Catholic aims to assist those in need. Similarly, Sikh Student Association’s President Jasraj Baweja has also shared, “to us, the theme connects directly to Seva, which is a cen-
SEE WINTER PAGE 2
SEE SUMMIT PAGE 2
BY SERENA PANUCCI, NEWS EDITOR In October, the Sanctuary Policy Letter from the Student Body (LSB) was passed by the student body. This letter, which urges Stevens to adopt Sanctuary University protections for undocumented, international, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), and other legally vulnerable students, was formally reviewed by the Office of the President and the President’s Cabinet. A written response has since been issued to the student body on behalf of the administration on December 1. To qualify as a successful LSB, at least 10% of undergraduates must vote, and twothirds must support the proposal. The Sanctuary Policy letter surpassed both requirements by a significant margin — 778 students participated in the vote (19.1% of undergraduates), with 712 voting in favor (91.5%), 58 opposed (7.5%), and 8 abstaining (1.0%). Because voting thresholds were met, the Student Government Association (SGA) transmitted the proposal to University leadership for review, as outlined in the LSB procedure.
SEE SANCTUARY PAGE 2
PHOTO COURTESY OF JEFFERY VOCK AND ISABELLA VILLANUEVA FOR THE STUTE
11th annual EC Winter Wonderland at Stevens BY SOFIA STOECKEL, STAFF WRITER The Winter Wonderland has been a recurring event at Stevens for over a decade, with this year’s being its 11th anniversary, whose exciting events took place on December 3 on Walker Lawn and directly outside of Babbio. It went from 4 to 7 p.m. and featured a multitude of fun and jubilant events for students to watch and partake in.
DuckAI 2025: Stevens pushes for computing without boundaries BY DISHA RANA, OPINION COLUMNIST On Wednesday, December 10, the Center for Innovation Computing and Networked Systems (iCNS) and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) hosted DuckAI 2025 Fall, the 2nd annual symposium of its AI research series. The fall symposium showcased how Stevens is working to make “computing without boundaries” real on campus, turning iCNS from a new research center into a community where students, faculty, and industry partners build AI-driven systems together. iCNS and computing without boundaries The symposium is anchored in the launch of the iCNS, which Dr. Min Song, ECE professor and Director of the iCNS, helped create around the idea that computing now permeates every discipline and every system we touch. iCNS brings together research in areas such as mobile and quantum computing, power and energy systems, robotics and smart systems, cyber-physical systems and IoT, 5G/6G networks, and embedded and trustworthy AI, giving students a place to work at the intersections rather than within narrow silos.
DuckAI 2025 Fall featured a lineup designed to connect Stevens students directly with leaders working on real-world AI systems. Invited speakers included Dr. Tianhao Wu, founder and CEO of opAIda Inc., Dr. Yingchao “YZ” Zhang, a technology executive and co-leader at opAIda, Dr. Mingyu Derek Ma, a senior machine learning scientist at Prescient Design (Genentech/ Roche), and Dr. Yulong Cao, a research scientist at NVIDIA working on safe, human-centered autonomous driving. The symposium itself was organized and supported by a team including Hao Wang, Joseph Helsing, Min Song, Jessica Gruich, and Kevin Lu, with student research volunteers Rui Wei, Qingyang Yu, Hao (Lucas) Wang, and Xuan Li helping bring the day together. Song’s “computing without boundaries” philosophy is visible in how DuckAI mixes hardware, software, communications, and data-driven projects in one space instead of separating them into different events. By tying DuckAI to iCNS, Stevens signals that this is not a one-off showcase but part of a longer-term effort to build an interdisciplinary ecosystem around computing
SEE DUCKAI PAGE 3
NEWS (2-3)
SCIENCE (4)
FEATURE (6-7)
PULSE (12)
EC 11th Annual Winter Wonderland Discover the new additions to this years Entertainment Committee Winter Wonderland! Wrapping Paper! Look at this year’s specialized wrapping paper! Use our newspaper to wrap your gifts this year!
Holiday talk? 2D Carbon? Self-hypnosis? Read about what’s going on in the world of science. Read answers from the Stevens community to our weekly Roving Reporter, plus solve our weekly puzzle and sudoku.
This year’s events included giveaways like decorated ducks, shirts, and mugs, as well as a raffle with different prizes. There were more events like ice skating in front of Babbio, as well as a Santa competition that multiple frats and clubs took part in. Some of the prizes in the raffle included items such as an ice cream machine and a hot chocolate kit, amongst many other things. The foods offered were different varieties of festive desserts and warm
drinks, from sprinkled sugar cookies and gingerbread men to hot apple cider and hot chocolate. Next to the food were multiple vendors selling custom items, including press-on nails and special hand-crafted creations. There was also a photo booth in Babbio with fun props and signs to take pictures with. The evening culminated with the final event — the lighting of the Christmas tree in front of Walker Gym at 7 p.m. There were performanc-
LOCAL NEWS Hoboken and Jersey City elect new mayors BY JOSEPHINE CHOONG, SECRETARY Because Hoboken’s recent nonpartisan general election ended without any candidate receiving a majority of votes (typically 51%), the city held a runoff election. The two candidates with the most votes, Emily Jabbour and Michael Russo, faced off on December 2. The election ended with Jabbour elected as Hoboken’s new mayor. For the previous two may-
oral terms, Hoboken’s current mayor, Ravi Bhalla, ran unopposed, which was seen as unusual. In comparison, this year, six candidates ran for the mayoral elections, similar to the 1993 and 2005 elections, which had at least five candidates with runoffs happening. A runoff election is a second election and serves as a tiebreaker to determine the clear majority. During Hoboken’s nonpartisan general election, Jabbour had 27% of the votes while Russo had 24%. When
the runoff votes were counted at 11:13 p.m., Jabbour won by 853 votes, with 6,407 compared to Russo’s 5,554 (53.6% to 46.4%). In a Facebook post, Jabbour noted that she was grateful and she will “continue building a Hoboken that is stronger, fairer, and ready for the future.” Meanwhile, Russo congratulated Jabbour on her win and stated that “Team Russo’s vision remains strong.” Bhalla, who opted out of seeking a third term and instead won a seat in the state Assembly, also
congratulated Jabbour and looked forward to supporting a smooth transition. Jabbour was a Hoboken resident for 17 years and served as a Councilwoman for eight years in the City Council. In an interview with the Hoboken Girl, she said her top three priorities were public safety, quality of life issues, and the responsiveness of City Hall. Jabbour and her administration will be sworn
SEE MAYOR PAGE 3
NATIONAL NEWS Fatal national guard shooting: Trump’s asylum pause and halts visas for Afghans BY ARACELY CANDELARIA, STAFF WRITER Because Hoboken’s recent nonpartisan general election ended without any candidate receiving a majority of votes (typically 51%), the city held a runoff election. The two candidates with the most votes, Emily Jabbour and Michael Russo, faced off on December 2. The election ended with Jabbour elected as Hoboken’s new mayor. For the previous two mayoral terms, Hoboken’s
current mayor, Ravi Bhalla, ran unopposed, which was seen as unusual. In comparison, this year, six candidates ran for the mayoral elections, similar to the 1993 and 2005 elections, which had at least five candidates with runoffs happening. A runoff election is a second election and serves as a tiebreaker to determine the clear majority. During Hoboken’s nonpartisan general election, Jabbour had 27% of the votes while Russo had 24%. When the runoff votes were counted at 11:13 p.m., Jab-
bour won by 853 votes, with 6,407 compared to Russo’s 5,554 (53.6% to 46.4%). In a Facebook post, Jabbour noted that she was grateful and she will “continue building a Hoboken that is stronger, fairer, and ready for the future.” Meanwhile, Russo congratulated Jabbour on her win and stated that “Team Russo’s vision remains strong.” Bhalla, who opted out of seeking a third term and instead won a seat in the state Assembly, also congratulated Jabbour and looked forward to supporting
a smooth transition. Jabbour was a Hoboken resident for 17 years and served as a Councilwoman for eight years in the City Council. In an interview with the Hoboken Girl, she said her top three priorities were public safety, quality of life issues, and the responsiveness of City Hall. Jabbour and her administration will be sworn in on January 15. As for Hoboken’s neighbor city, Jersey City’s runoff
SEE GUARD PAGE 3