CRIMSONISSUE 11 NOV. 17

THE FLORIDA TECH InsideVeteran’s Affairs

Football

Opinion: Yik Yak

Latest crime statistics display increase in alcohol, drug, sexual assault incidentsat Florida Tech

The Department of Security released the 2014 crime statistics, which show a significant increase in alcohol, drug and sexual assault incidents from 2013.

The statistics that Security collects are based off the require-ments of the Jeanne Clery Act of 1990. Security is required to pub-lish their findings in accordance with the Student Right to Know and Campus Right to Know Acts of 1990.

The report-writing program that Security uses recognizes Clery requirements and automatically adds the information to the file.

Clery requires all colleges and universities that receive fed-eral funding to share informa-tion about criminal activities on campus, their efforts to improve campus safety and inform the sur-rounding public about the crime around campus, according to the Clery Center.

Security must document sexual assault cases, drug and alcohol incidents, burglaries and robberies, murder, theft of motor vehicle, arson, weapons incidents, hate crimes, stalking and domestic and dating violence.

Many factors go into making the crime statistic report.

There are four location cat-egories for incidents: residence halls, on campus, non-campus and public property.

On-campus locations in-clude places such as Clemente, classrooms and Panther Dining Hall.

Panther Bay, Southgate and apartment complexes inhabited by students are considered non-campus locations.

Residence halls are included in the on-campus statistics, direc-tor of Security Kevin Graham said. Therefore, the statistics do not accurately reflect all the details of what happens on campus.

For example, if five students are caught with alcohol in Roberts Hall, the incident happened in a residence hall and on campus. Those students are reflected in both columns and may inflate the on-campus statistic.

Since 2012, there has been a 1.5 percent increase in alcohol incidents and a 5 percent increase in drug incidents on campus.

Sexual assault and dating violence have also seen an in-crease. The number of forced sexual assault has increased by 2.6 percent since 2012 and there were no documented cases of forced sexual assault in 2013.

In 2014, there were eight re-ported forced sexual assault cases on-campus, but only one incident occurred in the residence halls. Where could these be taking place?

Although dating violence only had one incident, it is the only one reported since 2012.

However, statistics show that burglary has completely van-ished on and off campus: burglar-ies went from 15 to zero in one year in the “on-campus” category.

Graham said the department gets their tips from a multitude of sources.

“RAs report things to us, students go to psychology, CAPS, whenever they report to them and we get involved sometimes. They go to the police and the police contact us,” Graham said. “Some come directly to us and talk to us. They could come to a professor

or an instructor or a coach. Any of these people can be mandated reporters.”

In cases of Title IX, all pro-fessors, instructors, and coaches on campus serve as mandated reporters, meaning that once a victim confides in them, they are obligated to report the crime to security.

However, all information reported to CAPS is kept confi-dential.

Security is in contact with the surrounding police depart-ments, including Melbourne and Palm Bay police departments, Melbourne Village, the Brevard County Sheriff’s department, and Highway Patrol.

The Act also states that survivors of sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence and stalking must be provided options by the institution. These options include changes in living or aca-demic environment, assistance in notifying the police, and the steps for disciplinary action.

Joni Ogelsby, vice president for Support Services and Title IX coordinator, said the Services lets the victim make the decisions about what they want to do. They hand out documents that recom-mend options, such as CAPS, the health center for medical care, the police and the clergy.

“And they’re also told they have the right to go to the police. We also talk about the clergy if you want to,” Ogelsby said.

According to Clery, col-leges and universities must include policies and procedures within their annual security reports. This includes warnings and emergency

notifications, the campus crime reporting process, and options for survivors of sexual assault and violence.

Oglesby said that doing the investigations is not her job as a Title IX coordinator.

Security performs the in-vestigations and there are two of-ficers who are trained in Title IX investigations. Oglesby makes sure they’re doing everything according to the book.

“Once a year we get to-gether, all the parties, including the dean of the students. The student code of conduct has to be reviewed as well, as the HR department,” Oglesby said. “We wanted them all to match.”

Oglesby said that a lot of awareness education about sexual harassment prevention and Title IX comes out of her office. She works with the Rodney Bowers, dean of students, and Reslife to promote awareness.

The goal is to share the information with every student in the way that reaches them best, Oglesby said.

“We have posters in the resi-dence halls. We’ve got posters in the bathroom stalls. We even had posters downtown for homecom-ing in the bars where our students kind of frequent.”

Students have also been promoting sexual harassment awareness around campus. Reslife created a video promoting aware-ness and senior design projects have been created around creating awareness.

Students can find the 2015 emergency plan, policies and pro-cedures on Security’s website.v

Allie Wood Staff Writer

CRIME STATS

since 2012THERE’S BEEN A

1.5% INCREASE in

ALCOHOL INCIDENTS

5% INCREASE in

DRUG INCIDENTS

2.6% INCREASE

SEXUAL ASSULTSin

*(reflecting on-campus stats)

THERE WERE

8FORCED SEXUAL ASSAULTSREPORTED,

BUT ONLY oneOCCURED IN THE DORMS.

Florida Tech concludes season with loss to Valdosta State

Andrew ShipotofskySports Editor

It’s been said that all good things come to an end.

Last weekend, Florida Tech was put on ice when they faced off against a Valdosta State team that was ready to dance. The Panthers had been riding a six-game win-ning streak and were one of the hottest teams in the Gulf South Conference when they came time to play for a piece of the confer-ence title.

“It just wasn’t our night. Obviously, Valdosta State did a great job,” head football Coach Steve Englehart said. “It seemed we could never get in a rhythm. I credit Valdosta State, I credit their staff.”

During the game, the Pan-thers were called for a season-high 13 penalties for 106 yards, compared to Valdosta’s four for 45 yards.

In combination with the Blazers also going 12 for 17 on third down conversions, the Pan-thers just couldn’t keep up.

“Our lack of having any suc-cess was because of the penalties,” Englehart said. “Every time we got the ball moving a little bit, we would have a penalty to move us back, and every time our defense would make a stop, there was a penalty.”

The Blazers and Panthers traded equal blows throughout the first half, and into the early part of the third quarter.

The Blazers struck first on the opening drive with a 29-yard catch by receiver Chris Anderson

for a touchdown but missed the extra point. Quarterback Mark Cato responded by taking a keeper into the endzone and grabbing an early lead.

The Panthers fell to another Blazer touchdown but freshman running back, Antwuan Haynes, gained the advantage right back. Haynes, always able to find a hole, was able to take the ball to the house on a 38-yard touchdown run, making it a 14-13 game.

Valdosta State went on to score one more touchdown in the second, giving the Blazers a 20-14 advantage.

The Panthers came out strong on the opening drive of the second half with Cato hitting tight end Kenny Johnston for a 76-yard bomb.

Photo by Nathaniel Asthon

Continues on backpage

OPINIONS2 -November 17, 2015 the Florida tech crimson

It all started when a friend texted me on Thursday.

“You’re Yak famous again!”Yik Yak lives in the social

media folder on my phone, which is probably my most-frequented folder. I’m a total media nerd.

With two quick taps, I was out of my messages app and into Yik Yak’s minty teal feed, scrolling down to see which post she had texted me about.

I love Yik Yak. The anony-mous, location-based conversation app seems like it’s become a staple in our campus experience, and I get a big kick out of reading what my peers post daily.

Some posts are hilarious. Like drop-my-phone-from-laugh-ing-too-hard hilarious.

But I also find myself get-ting annoyed, frustrated, and even downright angry at the hatred, big-otry and disregard for personhood that the app can represent.

Anyway, I found the post.“Alexandra I <3 you,” OP

wrote, followed by the clarifica-tions “From rowing team” and “You’re seriously cute and sexy.”

I was blushing. How cute, I had a secret admirer. Or whatever.

This isn’t the first time I’d been the subject of this kind of post. But I don’t engage with them. I sit back and read the comments, if any.

I like thinking about how we portray ourselves on different media platforms. To me, a lot of the value in social media comes from the power it gives us to control how we are seen and how we make our voices heard.

My relationship with Yik Yak seems to be a continuously developing one. I’ve had the app for about a year, and it’s fun to participate in campus talk. I’ve used it (embarrassingly) to chase down fake leads, thinking the posts’ content might make a good story for the Crimson. And they would have, had the information been true.

Some of the campus might know that The Crimson found out the facts behind a troll-y Gleason-is-dead hoax started on the app and subsequently published an article about what happened.

They don’t know that my Editor-In-Chief and I spent an 88 degree Friday afternoon trekking around campus from Facilities to Security, and through the Botani-cal Gardens, hoping to do our part easing students’ minds about the beloved cat.

I’ve had good experiences on Yik Yak, too. For every an-noying, troll-y, racist, sexist, or just downright rude post, there’s usually a positive one, too. I like looking for the kindness.

Noah Keaton, OP of our campus #BikeGroup agreed to meet with me for an interview after we communicated on Yak about

his regular posts encouraging oth-ers to join him on a sunrise ride to the beach.

I truly enjoyed connecting with such a positive person “in real life” and sharing his story in the Crimson. Good things can happen on Yak.

A while later, I refreshed the feed and scrolled back down. New comments had appeared. One user asked if OP was referring to a stripper.

The next user, aided by an emoji, claimed to be me. “The plot thickens,” I texted my friend.

I didn’t think much of it. Sure, it was annoying, but — whatever. Where was the harm? I didn’t like that someone was impersonating me, but no one was hurting anyone so far. My previ-ous experiences with the app had taught me not to take Yik Yak too seriously.

I couldn’t resist checking the Yak one more time before bed.

Another user had joined the conversation. You can read the full conversation in the images included to the side.

I can’t describe how weird it felt to look at a 4.7 inch screen and see a false representation of myself being played with by strangers whose true identities I will prob-ably never know.

“How dare they treat me this way,” I found myself thinking. Was I being self-absorbed?

It was a re-formatted echo of the question I’d posed countless times before upon reading cruel and unusual posts online.

How dare they treat minori-ties this way? How dare they treat athletes this way? How dare they treat LGBTQ+ people this way? How dare they, how dare they, how dare they.

But it’s out of my control.My experience is a minor

one, insignificant even, in com-parison to cruelty that the internet’s magic makes possible for users worldwide to produce daily.

People get bullied, threat-ened, slandered and impersonated online every hour of every day.

I don’t need to go over the social theories surrounding mod-ern, digital communication for us to understand what makes us treat strangers invisible to us on the other side of a screen the way we do. We just stop caring. Is that person on the other side even real?

Before I sat down and start-ed typing, I wondered if I even ‘de-served’ to write this piece. Right now, at 6:54 p.m. on a Sunday, I find myself second-guessing the value of sharing my experience. Will anyone even care?

My Editor looked me in the eye and reminded me that unless someone says something, nothing gets changed. She has a point.

A quick Google search brings up what seem like endless examples of the internet’s worst doing what they do best.

In March, Jonathan Mahler at The New York Times reported

on how Margaret Crouch, philoso-phy professor at Eastern Michigan University, was the victim of sexual harassment via Yik Yak.

“I have been defamed, my reputation besmirched,” she said after learning about the dozens of sexually explicit Yaks posted about her. “I have been sexually harassed and verbally abused. I am about ready to hire a lawyer.”

Along with many of my peers, I believe in each per-son’s right to individual liberty. Shouldn’t all of us have the right to do and say what we want?

Judicial scholar and free speech advocate Zechariah Chafee wrote, “Your right to swing your arms ends just where the other man’s nose begins” in his 1919 publication “Freedom of Speech in Wartime.”

This is how I believe our so-cial actions ought to be tempered: with consideration for the rights of others.

Yes, let’s fully realize and make use of our rights and abili-ties to communicate the way we want. Let’s express ourselves honestly and sincerely. Let’s stand up for what we truly want to com-municate.

But let’s not take away that same ability from one another.

On our social profiles and throughout the internet at large, we have the power to present ourselves to the world in the way we prefer.

On Facebook, Twitter, Ins-tagram, Snapchat and almost any other platform, I am in complete control of what people see me do, what people hear me say.

To have that autonomy taken from me by a handful of careless strangers was not a pleasant expe-rience. Maybe my peers believed the narrative that these users created surrounding my identity. Hopefully they saw through it.

But that’s not really what matters.

What matters is that three anonymous users, with disregard for another student’s right to be her own voice, created a false narrative surrounding my identity.

We’re millennials, and it sometimes feel like living with the technology we have is like living in some sort of fast-paced, surreal dreamscape.

But we don’t have to be victims, and we especially don’t have to create victims of the people around us.

We’re the generation with the greatest ability to tell our own stories that has ever lived.

I have two personal rules for my internet use. They’re not difficult to follow, but they force us to reevaluate what we find funny.

Be honest. Be kind. Please join me in doing the

same. v

Author’s note: I welcome your feedback. Please tweet me at @AlexDeeC

Alex CoultrupManaging Editor

Opinion: Yik Yak’s effect on possession of our own narratives

THE YAK EFFECT

CAMPUS LIFE3 -November 17, 2015 the Florida tech crimson

Florida Tech offers opportunities for veteran studentsShantel Hanna

Staff Writer

Florida Tech has many re-sources available for military and veteran students who transfer in from active duty, reserve service, or a two-year college.

One of those resources is the Florida Tech Veteran’s Club. The organization supports military and veteran students morally, academi-cally and socially to succeed.

President of the club, Brian Ewanyk, is a veteran himself. Ewanyk served eight years in the United States Army, four in active duty and four in the U.S. Army Reserve.

Ewanyk said that becoming president of the Veteran’s Club is

a way to revamp and maintain the welcoming community of fellow student-veterans on campus, with the aim of helping them to excel as students.

He pointed out that vet-eran and military service members ‘think about things differently, deal with things differently and relate to things differently,’ compared to civilian students.

Ewanyk states, “Our pri-mary focus is the veterans.”

Ewanyk shared about his last year’s experience attending Florida Tech’s Transfer Orienta-tion.

“I realized I am not just graduating high school. I live off-campus, I have my own car. I have been in the world. There is

a big separation between me and those who are transfer students [consecutive from two-year col-leges to FIT].”

Ewanyk is currently work-ing with the local Department of Veteran Affairs to get the VA Pa-tient’s Advocate from the VA Viera Medical Clinic to visit Florida Tech’s main campus next semester.

The advocate would serve as a liaison for the clinic in providing information and answering ques-tions from transitioning student-veterans on VA health coverage.

The Veteran’s Club also has the support of the local Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4206, where the Veteran’s Club conducts their bi-weekly general meetings. VFW Post 4206 has a promotional

program which will cover a one year membership for any eligible student veterans who meet the requirements.

At last week’s Homecom-ing football game, the Veteran’s Club and the American Legion 403 joined forces to spearhead the Flag Retirement Ceremony prior to kickoff.

Florida Tech’s Military Af-fair Office serves as the Certifying Official for transferring veterans, active members and dependents seeking to receive the Post 9/11 GI Bill or other VA financial benefits.

The Military Affairs Office serves as a liaison between the student-veteran and the VA Re-gional Processing Office.

GI Jobs, a veteran-owned

business, has consistently named Florida Tech a ‘military friendly’ school in reference to its efforts to recruit, support and retain Ameri-can veterans, active or reserve service members as students.

US News and World Report ranked Florida Tech #39 out of 234 schools among the Best Colleges for Veterans in 2013.

Last week, Florida Tech was deemed one of the top Militarized Universities in the U.S. by Vice News.

Vice News highlighted Flor-ida Tech’s Criminal Justice Pro-gram and focus on Homeland Se-curity as being a excellent choice for students interested in learning about the demand for technology in the intelligence industry. v

AN INTERVIEW WITH ENGLISH PROFESSOR NATALIE DORFELD:CHEESE, SYNESTHESIA, HITLER, AND A BIT OF EXAM ADVICE

Natalie Dorfeld is anything but conventional. The Pennsylvania native, who has been teaching at Florida Tech since 2012, never expected to become an English professor.

Lindsay IsaacStaff Writer

When asked to share a brief blurb to sum-marize herself, Dorfeld offered up the following description.

“Natalie M. Dorfeld was born and raised in Greenville, Pennsylvania, home of the parachute. In her free time, she enjoys anything and everything involving a blatant disregard for personal safety, such as skydiving, petting sharks and training for marathons and Ironman competitions. She resides in Palm Bay with her wonderful husband, a plethora of cats and a Heinz 57 mutt.”

Dorfeld first caught my eye when she was inter-viewed by a fellow English professor, Debbie Lelekis for her “Three on Thursday” segment on the eCurrent. The interview revealed Dorfeld’s unconventional note-taking style, as shown in the image above.

“I also draw. I’m sure it doesn’t make sense to the world, but it’s how I take notes. I am a highly visual learner, and most of my college notebooks look something like this,” Dorfeld explained in the interview with Lelekis. “People worry. And whisper.”

I had a chance to meet up with Dorfeld to ask a few questions. Here is what she had to say.

List three quirky things about yourself.• Some of my grade school teachers thought I had a mild form of

synesthesia. I still see yellows and pinks when I read to this day. Also, the number eight sounds like a drum.

• I haven’t eaten meat in 25 years. I could be a vegan, but cheese is so darn delectable.

• I am German and Native American. My real last name is Dorffeldt. (Look up Isle Dorffeldt in the 1936 Olympics on You-Tube. She dropped the baton in front of Hitler.)

What’s something you’ve always wanted to try?I want to obtain my pilot’s license one day. In fact, my mother and

I are doing a discovery flight this afternoon. (It’s her birthday present.)

Do you have a favorite quote?“When you go in for a job interview, I think a good thing to ask

is if they ever press charges.” — Jack Handy

What question has made the biggest difference in your life?I think that question would be — why not? There will always be

someone smarter, faster and better than you. That’s just a fact. However, I will try anything once. If you crash and burn, a great story usually comes out of it.

If you could offer one piece of advice to your teenage self, what would it be?

Three things. • Be nice to your body, especially your skin and joints. I will be 40

next year. My body bounced back a lot quicker when I was 16. • Don’t worry so much; 99 percent of the things we fret over never

happen. • Surround yourself with positive and slightly warped people. They

make life more enjoyable.

What is the best compliment you have received?That is a tough one. Many people say my heart is bigger than

my brain. I think a lot of that has to do with my involvement in animal rescue. I have a soft spot for animals that might not be chosen first due to behavioral issues or physical difficulties.

I think my dog, Botoximous, would have been returned to a shelter numerous times, as he requires 10 miles of exercise a day to be tolerable.

I ask stupid questions all the time. It’s a gift, for tact has never

been a strong point.

What’s a question you’re afraid to ask? To whom?

I could live on toasted cheese sandwiches, tomato soup and ginger ale. I am a wild cat like that.

If you could only have one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

What do you constantly think about?I don’t know if that can be printed, so I will go with option two.

If I won the lottery, I would quit teaching and open an animal sanctu-ary for abused or neglected animals. For those not adopted, they could live the rest of their lives out in peace. It would be cage free, too. Like humans, I think they need to roam.

What is your favorite word?That also cannot be printed.

Do you have any pointers for students regarding upcoming exams? Study tips? Words of wisdom?

I would tell all my students to meet with their professors before any exam or essay. (I always have gum and fancy paper clips.) Ask what they can do to improve their grade. Making that extra effort goes a long way.

Also, read Multiple Intelligences: New Horizons in Theory and Practice by Howard Gardner. We all interpret information differently, which is why I always reject “one-size-fits-all” pedagogies. Find what learning style works for you, and run with it. v

Photo of Dorfeld’s notes

CAMPUS LIFE4 - November 17, 2015 the Florida tech crimson

Starbucks holiday cups devoid of design this season#CUPGATE

After Halloween, consum-ers brace themselves for the deco-rations and food that indicate the start of the holiday season. Many coffee drinkers recognize this onset with the Starbucks holiday menu and festive cups.

However, Starbucks’ cus-tomers were met with a surprise on Nov. 1 when they received a plain red coffee cup with their peppermint mochas.

Since 1997, Starbucks’ winter holiday cups have been decorated with holiday designs such as snowmen, ornaments and reindeer.

This season, the holiday cup is a two-toned ombré design,

with a bright poppy color on top that blends into a darker cranberry, devoid of any embellishments, ac-cording to Starbucks.

“In the past, we have told stories with our holiday cups designs,” said Jeffrey Fields, vice president of Design and Content at Starbucks. “This year we wanted to usher in the holidays with a purity of design that welcomes all of our stories.”

Starbucks wants customers to continue drawing on their cups, and the new red cup will give the drawings a holiday vibe.

But to some, the blank red cup is a sign of treason to the Christmas season.

On Nov. 5, Joshua Feuer-stein, a former television and radio evangelist, according to his Facebook page, posted a video on

Facebook captioned, “Starbucks REMOVED CHRISTMAS from their cups because they hate Jesus.”

Feuerstein said that Star-bucks took ‘Christ and Christmas’ off of their cups. He encouraged customers to say that their name is “Merry Christmas” in order to put “Christmas” back onto the cups.

Feuerstein ended the video asking people to take a selfie with the their now Christmassy cup, hashtag it as “#merrychristmas-starbucks” and post it to social media.

Elaine Choy, a senior in fo-rensic psychology, said she thinks the whole matter is ridiculous.

Members of the Christian community have spoken out on social media on whether they sup-port, disagree or do not care about

Starbucks’ decision. Celebrities and comedians

have also spoken out about the cup. Comedian Ellen DeGeneres joked about the cup on her show, calling it a “Satan-sipper” and mentioning that elves and snowflakes are not in the Bible.

Since the release of the video, there have been multiple hashtags affiliated with the cup. #itsjustacup, #merrychristmas and #cupgate are a few of them.

To add to the fire, competitor Dunkin Donuts released their holi-day cup Nov. 12. The company’s Styrofoam cups are designed with the word Joy surrounded by holly leaves to make a wreath.

On Nov. 8, Starbucks pub-lished a press release explaining the reason for their 2015 holiday design.

The release stated that Star-bucks welcomes customers from all backgrounds and religions and that their core values of creating a culture of belonging, inclusion and diversity embody their mission.

“It’s a company using a cup just to celebrate the holidays,” Elaine Choy said, “It’s not like ‘Hey, this is our Christmas cup, were going to make sure it’s just about Christmas,’ so, you know, it’s almost like a middle finger to people who aren’t religious.”

There’s no news if Starbucks will add a new cup later into the holiday season. v

Allie Wood Staff Writer

CAMPUS LIFE5 -November 17, 2015 the Florida tech crimson

Fraternity helps build playground for special needs childrenAllie WoodStaff Writer

From Nov. 11 to 15, vol-unteers worked to build Brevard County’s Field of Dreams, an all-accessible sporting complex and park designed especially for special needs children in West Melbourne.

Florida Tech fraternity Tau Kappa Epsilon spent their Vet-eran’s Day volunteering at the 13,000 square foot all-accessible playground. Volunteers and local companies lent power tools and supplies to be used during con-struction.

Field of Dreams treasurer and 1995 Florida Tech graduate Milo Zonka reached out to the fraternity about the build.

He estimated that the play-ground should cost about $300,000 and that volunteers would provide about $60,000 to $75,000 in free labor.

TKE’s job was to dig 3-foot holes to set large composite wood pillars into, making sure that they were level and straight.

Joey Heffer, a sophomore in Mechanical Engineering, said that he dug holes for the support pylons for the space shuttle jungle gym.

The Tekes also shoveled and wheel-barreled dirt, broke up clay, measured where the pillars would go and created framework to sup-port the pillars. They also built incline ramps so all children can partake in playground fun.

Joe Halisky, a junior in Avia-tion Management, said, “It was a fun day of volunteering to build a playground for special needs chil-dren with my brothers. Knowing that what TKE helped to build will be there for generations, is a great milestone for this fraternity.”

President Nick Sinclair said, “Field of Dreams was a great ex-perience to help within our com-munity. To do this project to help special needs children throughout the Space Coast Area was a great experience for all the guys in TKE.”

The fraternity started build-ing at 12 p.m. and concluded at 9 p.m. Together, they accumulated

175 service hours.According to Florida Today,

the playground will have two themes.

Younger children will be able to play on space themed equipment while kids over 5 will enjoy fish and camp-themed sta-tions. A zip line, monkey bars, swings, slides and more will be part of the playground.

“The Tekes did an outstand-ing job. They came out on our first, most difficult day and gave a great team effort,” Zonka said. “This is the type of project--building a large, universal access playground in just five days, using only vol-unteer labor--that needs a large number of people to care, step up and get dirty.”

Zonka is very appreciative of the Teke’s work on the play-ground.

He said, “Every time they come back for Homecoming, I hope they stop by and check out the results of their effort, and one day bring their kids!” v Photo by Allie Wood

Women in Aviation intent on spreading their wingsAlex CoultrupManaging Editor

If you’re an aviation geek with purpose — you may consider joining the Women in Aviation.

Gathering networking av-enues is a no-brainer for any aviation student with a sense of purpose. Florida Tech’s Women in Aviation are fully aware of this and are stopping at nothing to make their voices heard.

The Women in Aviation Space Coast Florida Tech Chapter is an organization committed to giving female students in aero-nautical science the same oppor-tunities that every male student has, according to Organization President Manuela Cortes.

Cortes, now a junior, joined the organization when she was a freshman, back when it was a smaller, struggling group. Today, they have about 16 active mem-bers.

Although the title says ‘women in aviation,’ WIA is dedicated to fostering any edu-cational programs or networking opportunities for both male and female students in aviation at Florida Tech, Cortes said.

WIA at Florida Tech is the Space Coast chapter under the

International organization of the same name, and hosts bi-weekly meetings in Skurla 102 every other Tuesday at 7 p.m.

“Our parent organization was primarily established to sup-port the advancement of women in male dominated fields,” member Shahieda Ramajan explained, “but we don’t discriminate. We are all about equality, and men get the same treatment we give the women.”

“Essentially we are aviation geeks with purpose,” Ramajan said.

Ramajan first joined WIA when an acquaintance suggested she come hear a guest speaker talk at an organization event about ca-reer-building and plane-building.

Last year, the organization’s faculty adviser, Victoria Dunbar, urged students to take more control over the club’s functions. So an Executive Board was born, and Cortes served as treasurer.

She said that being part of the re-birth of WIA and reaching out to new members has been a good experience for her.

Though the club hosts stu-dents of all genders, they specifi-cally exist to create opportunities

for women.“To create opportunities that

women want to see, opportunities that every male student has,” she said, is the goal.

Thanks to events and other opportunities the chapter offers, member students of the organiza-tion can gain more exposure to the world of aviation.

From campus outreach op-portunities, to airport tours in various cities, to the annual In-ternational Women in Aviation conference, WIA members can stay and learn about opportunities in aviation.

For example, this semester, members hosted the chapter’s first-ever Girls in Aviation Day, an event aimed at girls in the local community.

‘We reached out to girls ages 8 to 15, and exposed them to the different types of aviation career options that they could pursue in the future,” Cortes said. “I’m very happy with how it turned out.”

Over 60 girls attended the event, which featured several aviation companies including Em-brayer and many Florida Tech professors from the College of Aeronautics were involved, she

said. Cortes said the organization

received positive feedback about the event. [The professors] “were really excited that we did go and plan this event, and the parents were also really happy.”

The group’s goal is to visit and tour at least three airports per semester, Cortes said. They recent-ly traveled to the Saint Petersburg airport, and their next stop is the Key West International Airport.

“We try and make our tours oriented toward what the students want,” Cortes explained. This means expanding the variety of venues the organization visits.

She said they hope to tour an Air Force base soon, and the chap-ter will visit Embraer in December.

Ramajan spoke highly of her experience attending the 2015 WIA International annual confer-ence, saying it was an excellent opportunity to interact with profes-sionals in the careers she aspires to.

She was able to meet avia-tion pioneers like Priscilla Bloom, and Amelia Earhart’s namesake who flew around the world.

“I’ve only ever seen her on Twitter, and actually got to speak to her, she’s great and very down to earth,” Ramajan said.

Many women in the club feel accepted by their male peers, and that they are an integral part of the aviation program at Florida Tech.

Being a woman in aviation at Florida Tech is a welcoming, in-clusive experience, Ramajan said.

“There’s no real pressure on gender as times are generally changing and our male counter-parts are very supportive on all fronts.”

“We’re trying to get more involved with more COA orga-nizations this semester,” Cortes said. Some of these organizations participated in Women in Aviation Day, and WIA shows support for their events as well.

The club has been able to participate in fundraising projects that support the Corporate Angels Network, an organization that helps set up free corporate flights for cancer patients so they can get the medical treatment they need.

Information about the or-ganization is available online on Facebook (Women in Aviation Space Coast Florida Tech Chap-ter), Twitter (@FloridaTechWAI), and Instagram (@FloridaTech-WAI). v

On Nov. 13, the world was shocked within the passing minutes of a rock concert at the Bataclan concert hall as several planned attacks of terror hit the surrounding streets of Paris.

The attacks are highlighting global issues, as the French government was forced to secure its borders within min-utes of the attacks to find the attackers, which have been found to be involved with ISIS.

Prompting massive media cover-age, and even more conversation in per-son and online, the world has stood with France, using the hashtag #JeSuisFrance and others.

But closer to home, at Florida Tech, French students that have family and friends have also received support and comfort.

Thomas Verheyde, a senior in avia-tion meteorology from Southern France, said his friends and family are all okay.

“I was just shocked when I heard the news,” Verheyde said. “I received a lot of messages from lots of people on campus, wishing me well, just saying how sorry they were about what hap-pened, consoling messages from people.”

On an international level, thou-sands of people were also posting the trending Paris Eiffel Tower picture on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #PrayForParis over the weekend to show support.

“I was watching the news yester-day all day long, just trying to understand what happened there and how it’s pos-sible that something this big could hap-pen in 2015 in France,” he said.

Verheyde plans to go home in a month after graduating, and he said he doesn’t think the French people will change much: life will go on.

“The only difference that it’ll make for me is in traveling by air,” he said. “I think it’s going to be really hard. But afterward, the life in France, it won’t change. We are not fearing terrorism.” v

Rebekah Duntz Editor-in-Chief

Students stand in solidariy with France

The photo that was circulating around social media. The artwork was created by Jean Jullien, and it has spread across the world overnight.

CAMPUS LIFE6 -November 17, 2015 the Florida tech crimson

Sasithorn Hannarong is only a freshman in computer science, but she’s been programming for five years now.

Hannarong built an Android game, “Be Rich Man,” during 2014-2015 as part of a Thailand digital programming contest called the Thailand Digi Challenge, and she took home 1st place for the topic: traveling.

The objective for her game is to inspire growth and tourism, since Thailand is a developing country.

The topic for Hannarong’s game is traveling through Thai-land. It’s like Bejeweled meets Monopoly meets Fable, all in an

Android app. The player travels across the

board by rolling die, but the player only has so many chances to do so.

The player can purchase more rolls with coins she’s earned, as well as special extras like 15 extra seconds on the clock, a glove that lets you wreak havoc across the jewels, and other special items.

Hannarong had only the help of her boyfriend during the tedious six-month period of programming and graphic development for the app.

Hannarong was then able to earn the budget and licensing rights to the app, which was sup-ported by the Software Industry Promotion Agency and Thai Digi-tal Content Center, and also by a

Thai traveling agency.A cross between a board and

puzzle game, it has more than 100 challenges for players to conquer.

Hannarong came to Florida Tech on a scholarship from her country, and she said she already has a new project started for this year: a Thai boxing app.

She said she thinks there should typically be more than two people to a project, between artwork and coding. Her favorite program to use for artwork is a Japanese drawing tool called “clip studio paint,” as well as Adobe Il-lustrator and Photoshop.

Her development fanpage can be found at www.facebook.com/BRabbit.dev/ v

Rebekah Duntz Editor-in-Chief

Link to Hannarong’s fan art. She’s currently running a promo-tion through FIT’s Fitforum for graphic art. Hannarong said she likes clip studio paint, a Japanese manga-style drawing tool for graphics.

Student develops Android game to spur tourism in her countryFEATURE‘BE RICH MAN’

SCI/TECH7 - november 17, 2015 the Florida tech crimson

Google’s Nexus phones, although highly anticipated every year, rarely fully deliver on all counts without making some form of significant sacrifice to maintain their relatively low price range and high accessibility.

Not this year though. Everything’s changed.This year’s iteration of the popular device seems to have ticked all the

boxes, and is arguably the easiest Nexus phone to recommend in the history of Nexus phones. It lives up to the hype, despite the tight competition, which not many smartphones are doing these days.

Here’s why you definitely should not be ignoring this device:

It’s big — while managing to be flat and thin.The Nexus 6P has got a 5.7” AMOLED display with a less bulky body

than that of its predecessor, Nexus 6. This sizeable screen is bright, has great viewing angles, and is flanked by a pair of amazing front-facing stereo speakers. Also, its sides are flat — a feature that makes the phone easier not just to hold, but to maintain grip on.

It comes in three beautiful colors:graphite, aluminium and frost: no gold, bronze or earthy tones, and nothing

too shiny. Not that these are bad by any means; it’s just nice to see a deviation from the recent trend that’s been driven by the major competition. Yeah I’m looking at you, Apple and Samsung. You too, HTC.

It’s made of metal and glass.I can promise you that this is exactly what you want from a device’s exter-

nal hardware in this day and age, especially if it’s one that that you’re going to spend a bucket of money on. The Nexus 6P is metallic all around, and features beautifully chamfered edges, as well as buttons that are actually clicky and tactile — you don’t have to worry about bruising your fingertips using them — quality buttons are things we all take for granted until they’re gone. As a bonus, the phone still manages to sit on a table without rocking, even with its camera visor.

It has a fingerprint reader:We should all be glad that these are becoming the norm. Authentication

should be seamless and unobtrusive, and Google’s awareness of this fact shows in the 6P. They even gave it a cool name: Nexus Imprint — take that, Touch ID. The only weird thing about it is that it’s on the back of the device, but this might not be all that weird after all; it could just take some getting used to. It fits naturally where your hand falls.

It has front-facing speakers!Yes, these are the speakers I mentioned earlier, and yes, they are as awe-

some as I’m making them out to be. I’d like to thank Google, Huawei and God himself for this goodness. Most people may not be aware of this, since most phones do not feature front facing drivers such as the ones on the 6P, but it truly makes all the difference when you can be fixated on a smartphone screen with stereo speakers that actually face you.

It’s fast. I’m not going to explain how the Nexus 6P’s impressive hardware makes

this possible; just take my word for it. The phone hardly stutters through anything, except maybe once in a while in the camera app, and this isn’t even nearly serious enough to be an issue. Its RAM does a good job of keeping the device snappy, and its storage capacity configurations make sense as well: 32GB. 64GB and 128GB. DOWN WITH 16GB PHONES!

It’s running the latest software.The 6P and its brother, the Nexus 5X — also a stellar device — are the first

devices to ship with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, the 2015 iteration of the popular mobile operating system, and they’re packed with an army of features that users will absolutely love.

It has less pre-installed apps than ever before.You can install as much as you want without accounting for bloatware. And

of course, it runs stock Android which alongside iOS, offers the cleanest and most clutter-free overall design and aesthetic available.

Its battery is huge. It’s 3450 mAh and it fits into such a thin form factor. It does a pretty good

job of optimizing power usage while supporting a huge Quad HD display. Also, with the band new “Doze” feature that comes with Marshmallow, the 6P can clock impressive standby times. What do I mean? Glad you asked. I’m saying that if you lie in bed with your Nexus 6P battery at 60% and fall asleep without plugging it in, you’ll wake up with 58% and absolutely no reason to cry. The phone also supports fast charging through its USB type-C port. I’m talking six or seven hours of use out of a ten minute charge; that kind of fast.

It’s got the best Nexus Camera ever.The Nexus 6P sports a unique camera with a 12MP Sony sensor, an f/2.0

aperture, laser autofocus and a very large pixel size. It also shoots 4K video — there is absolutely no reason why it shouldn’t. The new and improved Google Camera’s interface is responsive and extremely user friendly. It even comes with shortcuts: the power button for example — tap it twice anywhere including the lock screen to access the camera app. Admittedly, the dynamic range on this camera is not all that impressive, but it performs well overall and does a good job in low light. I just wish it had optical image stabilization.

reasons the Nexus 6P is worth your timeEbube UbochiSci/Tech Editor

Photo by Marques Brownlee

10

Nexus 6P is currently priced at $499 for 32GB, $549 for 64GB, and $649 for 128GB. v

Ransomware threatens to make your files inaccessibleChris Pangalos

Staff Writer

You have probably heard the terms malware, adware and spyware before, in which case you know that they refer to different types of unwanted software de-signed to damage your computer, bombard you with annoying pop-ups, or steal your information.

A recent form of malware growing in popularity is ransom-ware which, as the name implies, attempts to profit by requesting a ransom for access to your files or computer.

One of the older forms of ransomware locks a victim’s com-puter on startup, providing a mes-sage claiming that their computer has been locked by the FBI due to illegal activities, and requesting they pay a fine to unlock it.

There are several signs this is a scam, ranging from typos to a request for payment in bitcoin, which is typically a preferred pay-ment method for scammers.

In addition, the FBI does not utilize such methods in cases of actual illegal activity and would likely seize the computer itself to investigate its contents.

The software works by add-ing itself to the system registry. Once it is activated, it then sets itself up to run on start up.

In some cases the user may be able to use Ctrl+Alt+Delete to kill the process, but most well-cod-ed versions will lock the keyboard and desktop completely, requiring

the user to boot into safe mode or use the command line to remove it from the registry and delete the start-up files.

The more dangerous forms of ransomware don’t lock your computer but instead, encrypt your files upon activation and request a fee to decrypt them.

According to WIRED, one of the earlier versions was created in 2013 and is known as Cryp-toLocker. Within 6 months, half a million users had been infected and the FBI estimated the hackers had made about $27 million from about 1.3 percent of victims who paid the ransom.

Since it uses real encryp-tion, there is no practical way to recover your files without the key. While it’s often not clear whether or not you will actually be provided the key upon pay-ment, some versions will allow you to decrypt a file as evidence that it’s possible.

According to PC Magazine, a group of police departments in Maine gave in and decided to pay a $300 ransom after the data on their shared computer system had been encrypted by ransomware.

According to the FBI web-site, ransomware has been on the rise this year and there has been an increasing number of drive-by infections, in which users become infected simply from visiting a compromised website.

A recent variant of ransom-ware threatens to release your

files publicly if you don’t pay rather than keeping them encrypted.

According to Trend Micro, the variant currently utilizing this approach is known as Chimera and has been spreading around Germany since September. The software typically comes in the form of an email with a business offer or application which links to a dropbox.

Once it is opened, the software begins encrypting files on both local and network drives, giving them the .crypt extension. It then requests a fee of 2.45 bitcoins (roughly $649) to get your data back.

Furthermore, they threaten to release the data publicly if the fee is not paid, but there’s no evidence that this has ever oc-curred. v

Wiki Commons

the Florida tech crimson

November 17, 2015SPORTS

The Florida Tech fans went wild, but that would be it for the Panther offense.

The Blazers went on to score 19 unanswered points. The disappointed Panther fans were quiet as the clock ticked down and the team walked off the field with a 39-21 loss.

Despite the heartbreak, the Panthers finished with their best record in the program’s short three year existence, 7-4 overall and 5-2 in conference.

“This one stings,” said linebacker Chris Stapleton, who led the team with nine tackles. “I really feel like we didn’t play to the best of our ability tonight. I definitely feel we let this one get away.”

With the win, the Blazers appeared to be locked in for a spot in the NCAA playoff. For the Pan-thers, it became a waiting game.

“I think that it is up to the people voting, we are pray-

ing – fingers crossed – that it was enough,” Cato said. “If we are lucky enough to be in we will take full advantage of it.”

Englehart was not optimistic about his team’s chances, but he said that miracles happen and with strength of schedule you never know.

The announcement for play-off bids was at 5 p.m. on Sunday, less than 24 hours after what was potentially the Panther’s last game of the season.

Unfortunately, Englehart was right not to be optimistic. The Panthers fell just short of an NCAA bid, the last spot going to Newberry College, who they lost to earlier in the season.

“I think it will motivate our guys in the offseason. I think that our guys will be a little more battle tested,” Englehart said. “You have to go through these types of situa-tions, these types of experiences in order to really be successful.” v

Football, continued from frontpage

Photos by Nathaniel Ashton

Men’s basketball claims victories in season openerAndrew Shipotofsky

Sports Editor

There’s an equation for winning the Sunshine State Con-ference and getting a bid into the NCAA tournament.

Head Men’s Basketball Coach Billy Mims said he likes that Florida Tech is a math school and his players already under-stand the formula.

“If you’re 8-0 at home, 4-4 on the road, you’ve got a chance to win this league,” said Mims.

There are three variables within the equation for this season — playing aggressively, making the free throws and driving home the win in the final minutes.

That aggressive play all starts with ‘Billy Ball.’

Mims said it’s all about attacking the basket and forcing the officials to blow the whistle.

“Our goal night in and night out is to shoot more free throws

than our opponent and make more free throws than our opponent,” Mims said. “We want 25 percent of our offense every night at the free throw line.”

For that goal to become a reality, the team has to be able to execute. Last year Florida Tech struggled at the line, despite being among the top teams in free throw attempts.

“Some guys are never going to be great free throw shooters,” Mims said. “Look at the NBA and Shaquille O’Neal: the guy made millions playing the game and he was an important factor, but he was a 40 percent free throw shooter.”

This season, Mims said he plans on making sure that the ball is in the hands of the guy who can make the shot at the end of the game.

When the right guy is on the line, the team is in a much better

position to win the game. “We have to finish a little

better,” Mims said. “Last year, we played really well for 38 minutes and then found a way to shoot ourselves in the foot, maybe in the last two, and sometimes beat ourselves.”

For just that reason, the Panthers fell short in a number of pivotal conference games last season.

For example, the Panthers were up by 19 going into halftime against the National Champion Florida Southern, and ended up losing in overtime with Kevin Capers ‘hitting a prayer’ to win the game.

“We were one play,” Mims said. “Jermaine Jackson, if he catches the ball, there was one pos-session that it just, and what did we do wrong with it, nothing, the ball didn’t bounce our way.”

Those losses landed Florida Tech at No. 5, just outside the top four in the conference.

“I want us to be a top four team. Because if you’re in the top four, you have a shot,” Mims said. “You have a chance to win the league and you certainly have a chance at an NCAA tournament bid.”

Four out of the past six years the Panthers have been in that top

four. This year, Mims is pushing his young team to do the same.

“If we can get over that youth and that youth can mature very quickly, then this season could be an exciting season,” said Mims.

Florida Tech started solving their equation with two tight wins against Clark Atlanta and Paine College this past weekend, 94-88 and 94-92, respectively.

Both games came down to the wire, and despite the youth, Florida Tech began to display the finesse that was lacking last season, starting the season in victory. v

8 AT HOME X 50% ON THE ROAD

BILLY BALL = CONFERENCE TITLE

RELENTLESS PANTHERS FIGHT FOR WIN IN OPENER

Photo: Tiesha Flagler against Claflin

Photo by Audrey Gangloff

Audrey Gangloff Staff Writer

The Panthers were smiling on their six-hour bus ride home from North Carolina after coming away with a win in their season opener against the Claflin Bobcats.

But it was a win they had to fight for. The Panthers were only able to put

up 19 points before halftime, 10 of which were scored by sophomore guard, Delise Williams.

Despite her efforts, Florida Tech was still trailing the Bobcats by more than 20 points.

This was a change in pace for the Panthers after two strong pre-season wins earlier in the week. The women beat both Warner and St. Thomas with more than 20 points of wiggle room.

Returning senior guard, Tiesha Fla-gler, said the exhibition wins were exciting for her team, but she knew they still had

some practicing to do. The Bobcats forced Florida Tech to

battle, but the Panthers weren’t phased. They came out for the second half of the game with a fire, almost outscoring the Bobcats two to one.

With eight minutes left in the fourth, the Panthers made it a one-point game. Given four more minutes of play, they were lead-ing by three.

As the clock ran down from 40 sec-onds, the Panthers stayed relentless, scoring three more points to reach a final score of 56-51.

“We just needed to get back to our game plan,” said Head Coach John Reyn-olds. “If you have someone down and you don’t finish them off, they can come back in the game, and that’s what we did.”

The Panthers will return to Clemente Center for a matchup against Sunshine State Conference newcomer, Embry Riddle, on Nov. 21. v