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Happy Founder’s Day!
We write Stevens history VOLUME CXXI No. 18
HOBOKEN, NJ | FEBRUARY 23, 2024
NEW STUTE EVERY FRIDAY • EST. 1904
Career Outcomes Report trumpets stellar statistics
Take your professor out (TYPO)! TANYA AVADIA, BUSINESS MANAGER “Take Your Professor Out” (TYPO) is the newest initiative of the Student Government Association (SGA) which aims at bettering student-faculty relationships. Aligning with the university’s goals, the SGA, under the presidency of Nick Smith, is prioritizing building connections between students and faculty outside of the traditional classroom setting. The Stute had the opportunity to interview Smith, who believes that the TYPO program is one step in the right direction, as it allows students to approach their professors first and get to know them as people, rather than instructors, over a meal. When asked about the thought process behind creating TYPO, Smith shares how the current landscape of student and faculty interactions is very one-sided. Right now, faculty are encouraged to connect with students through holding office hours or inviting them to departmental lunches with other students. While this is good, Smith wants students to also have a chance to approach their professors. This is where the idea for TYPO was born.
SEE TYPO PAGE 2
EVAN PAPAGEORGE, OPINION EDITOR
and was glad he gets some time to himself, while another revealed she and her daughter were from Florida, so the snow day would be “sensational.” But, as expected, Facebook moms can never truly agree on everything, so there were some parents who expressed more concern. They were confused as to why Stevens could not just go remote and believed their children to be losing precious class time. Quite quickly, they were confronted by other parents on the page. One person wrote, “Why complain?” and another
The Undergraduate Class of 2023 Career Outcomes Report, unveiled recently, is a robust testament to Stevens’ stature as a premier research university, distinguished by its tech-centric curriculum. With an overwhelming 96.4% of graduates boasting an 81.6% knowledge rate and commanding an average annual salary of $85,200, Stevens further solidifies its reputation as a catalyst for professional success. Notably, 99% of female graduates have charted their career trajectories for the second consecutive year, underscoring Stevens’ steadfast dedication to fostering diversity within the STEM landscape. Dr. Sara Klein, Vice President for Student Affairs, articulated her profound pride in witnessing the remarkable strides made by students in their professional journeys, citing their unwavering commitment to excellence both inside and outside the classroom as instrumental to their achieve-
SEE SNOW! PAGE 2
SEE STATS PAGE 2
JOE CABORNERO FOR THE STUTE
Facebook moms rally in support of snow day! BY JIYA JAISINGHANI, ASSISTANT LAYOUT EDITOR The National Weather Service predicted that Hudson County would face up to four to six inches of snow as well as 40-mileper-hour winds on Tuesday, February 13. As a result, all Hoboken schools were closed and decided to take a snow day. However, Stevens also decided to take the weather forecast as an opportunity to cancel classes and close offices that particular day. This is highly unusual because the last time Stevens Institute of Technology announced a snow day was February
12, 2019, almost exactly five years ago, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the faculty and staff, as well as the student body, were shocked to hear of the school’s decision because other universities took a different approach. Schools like Rutgers University, Kean University, Montclair State University, Fairleigh Dickinson University, and Drew University were scheduled to have remote classes and some even remote midterms. As mentioned on nj.com, Stevens was “equipped for remote learning” but felt that the students and faculty deserved a break. It was one of the only major
institutions to do so. Vice President of Student Affairs Sara Klein was an advocate for canceling classes altogether, noting that “there’s great wisdom in taking a step back and embracing the simplicity of a good old-fashioned snow day.” Nobody was as thrilled as the Facebook moms, though! The minute Stevens announced the day off, the Parents of Stevens Facebook page flooded with commentary supporting the school’s decisions and exclaiming that this is exactly what their children needed. One mom wrote that her son “has been under a lot of pressure lately,”
NATIONAL NEWS Bill for Ukranian and Israel support passes in the U.S. Senate ARTHUR SERRA, STAFF WRITER In recent months, the United States House of Representatives has been in a state of turmoil: turmoil over the budget, turmoil over the speaker, and turmoil over the issue that is foreign aid. Out in the world, there are currently two democracies fighting wars. Ukraine continues to defend itself from Russian aggression, and Israel is fighting a war in Gaza to root out Hamas terrorists, as well as a shadow war against its Arab neighbors. Both of these countries are outgunned, outmanned, and outfinanced, and rely on American support to keep them in the fight for “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” However, sending aid overseas is an issue that many Americans feel is unnecessary. The most common argument is that it is inappropriate to send aid to other countries when there are those who are hungry or without healthcare here in the US. It was with this argument that the Republican-controlled House took out foreign aid in this
year’s budget — the budget is entirely the purview of the House. However, the US Senate, which has constitutional responsibilities including foreign aid, recently passed a $95 billion bill, by an overwhelming majority, to send aid to Ukraine, Israel, and key US allies in the Pacific. For the Ukrainians, 14 billion goes toward buying arms, a further 15 billion to intelligence services and training, 8 billion for essential services, and 1.8 billion to rebuild the Ukrainian private sector. As said above, a key objection to this kind of foreign aid is that our nation is sending money to other nations when it is already in debt and with its own problems. However, many forget that a significant portion of this budget goes towards buying new equipment for US forces. When Ukraine buys our tanks, missiles, and planes, they buy our oldest and most worn-out equipment — which, by comparison with the ex-Soviet death traps the Russians use, is very effective. Effectively,
SEE BILL PAGE 2
NEWS (2-3)
SCIENCE (6)
FEATURE (4)
PULSE (10)
Facebook moms rally in support of snow day! Read about varying persepectives on last week’s snow day and why the decision was made. Black History Month Learn about historical Black journlists and music by Black artists to add to your playlist!
New Earthquake Map? Yosemite Firefall? American Heart Month? Babies and AI? See what’s going on in the world of science. Read answers to our weekly Roving Reporter, plus solve our weekly puzzle and sudoku.
Controversial Super Bowl Exploring the corporate fallout: the surge of layoffs ads raise eyebrows MEGHANA MAMADAPUR, STAFF WRITER
Every year, millions of Americans await one of the largest televised sporting events: the Super Bowl. This year, the Kansas City Chiefs won in an intense game against the San Francisco 49ers. While football entices millions of Americans, many watch the Super Bowl for the new, generally humourous, but sometimes controversial advertisements that air during breaks. Let’s dive into the controversial ads from this year. Pfizer, a biopharmaceutical company that became a household name for developing the COVID-19 vaccine, aired a commercial showing their founders, Charles Pfizer, and Charles Erhart, singing a tune to “Don’t Stop Me Now.” The commercial also features notable scientists, including Isaac Newton, Hippocrates, and Rosalind Franklin. After singing the medicine anthem, the final scene showed a child patient with cancer leaving the hospital — the advertisement aimed to show Pfizer’s new cancer initiative, LetsOutdoCancer.com. Although Pfizer failed to confirm the
exact cost of the advertisement, CBS reported that a 30-second commercial was approximately $7 million. Pfizer’s advertisement was 60 seconds long, making it around $14 million in price. The company pledged $15 million in donations to the American Cancer Society, which is nearly the same amount spent on the commercial. While the commercial wanted to bring awareness to Pfizer’s cancer initiatives, the message backfired with viewers due to the expense of putting out a simple message. Many believe this commercial was another step to combat Pfizer shares tumbling in December. The company is now searching for new sources to grow overall sales. Another highly controversial commercial was a Christian commercial about Jesus. The advertisement especially caused anger among conservatives, who believed the commercial tried to justify certain sins. The commercial was funded by the organization “He Gets Us,” which is a movement of people who have been inspired by Jesus. Some of the images within the commercial showed a
SEE ADS PAGE 2
in major conglomerates UMANG CHULANI, STAFF WRITER Amid our current regime of high inflation and volatile prices, the technology sector has emerged as the primary driver of massive returns of capital and innovation. Not only within the technology sector but also across various industries, ranging from consumer discretionary to financial services, there has been a noticeable surge in consumer demand for products and services, leading to increased consumer spending. While conglomerates like Meta and Nike have been enjoying the benefits of heightened consumer spending, the market has also seen a prevalent theme of massive layoffs. As technology companies realign themselves for AI and consumer discretionary for lower costs and increased efficiency, recurring cycles of employee layoffs have become common for conglomerates aiming to trim expenses and uphold a “year of efficiency,” as articulated by Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. The fiscal year of 2023 was a massive year of earnings growth and advance-
ments within the technology industry, with the IT sector operating on sort of a “dual mandate” of increased AI investments and cloud computing initiatives, with evident ventures into the automotive industry. As these firms have increased their investment, this is also associated with higher costs associated with research and development, causing some of these bulge bracket firms to downsize in efforts to cut costs. With the S&P trading at benchmark highs and Meta surpassing a $3T market cap, this past month of January has accounted for about 23,670 workers being laid off among 85 IT firms. The IT hardware conglomerate Microsoft announced a 1,900-employee layoff cycle within the gaming division. Companies such as Google and Amazon have gone through various cycles of employee cuts in an effort to cut costs. Nike reported this past Friday (February 16th) that the company will be reducing its workforce by about 2% (1,600 employees), along with eBay cutting about 1,000 full-time workers, 9% of its workforce.
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