Category: News

Anderson Cooper

Anderson Cooper’s Man Has Another Man

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Anderson Cooper

Photo Credit: Flickr Creative Commons

Who would cheat on Anderson Cooper? If photographs published by the Daily Mail yesterday evening are to be believed, his boyfriend would.

The photos show a rather well-lit Ben Maisani, the boyfriend in question, kissing another man in a New York park. Maisani, owner of Manhattan bar Eastern Bloc, has purportedly been with the silver fox of journalism for three years. Their relationship was brought into the limelight after the newsman’s announcement of his sexuality in an interview with The Daily Beast earlier this summer. According to the Mail, a wedding date was set for this fall.

The whole thing has shades of another celebrity affair that erupted earlier this summer: Kristen Stewart’s affair with married Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert Sanders, including rather revealing photos and a relationship that’s never been publicly confirmed. Unlike Stewart and ex-beau Robert Pattinson’s split, however, it’s unlikely that either man will be making any public statements about the photos. Additionally, I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t even split up.

The modern portrait of a relationship is changing, especially in queer and metropolitan circles. Open relationships are seemingly becoming more and more popular, and frankly, no one knows exactly how Cooper and Maisani’s relationship works except for Cooper and Maisani. Perhaps their relationship is open; perhaps the photos aren’t from when the Mail is reporting; perhaps Maisani actually was cheating. There are plenty of possibilities.

It’ll be interesting to watch how this news develops, especially because it’s one of the first instances in recent memory of a gay celebrity relationship coming under major media scrutiny because of a perceived indiscretion. If theirs turns out to be an open relationship, how will the media process this? Even among straight folks, open relationships are pretty harshly judged — think about Mo’Nique and her husband’s marriage. If the photos are old, then the question becomes ‘how old?’ And if Cooper and Masani’s relationship is headed towards a breakup, then he’s about to become the gay community’s most eligible bachelor. Whichever way it breaks down, Cooper’s in for a bumpy ride. Let’s just hope he doesn’t leave the house looking like Stewart did.

Incoming seniors to live in Hannon

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Originally published in the Los Angeles Loyolan. For original, please refer to: Incoming seniors to live in Hannon – Los Angeles Loyolan.

While LMU’s housing selection procedure has left some juniors and seniors lingering on the waitlist in the past, this year’s process resulted in all applicants with non-guaranteed status finding on-campus housing for the 2012-13 academic year.

The waitlist-free process, which, according to Director of Resident Services Nan Miller, is a first for the University, came with one caveat: In order to give all the non-guaranteed applicants housing, several students had to be placed in Hannon Apartments, a community that this year housed only sophomores.

“The Class of 2014, the ones who were guaranteed last year, was a big class in general. The amount of students who applied last year took up all of Hannon Apartments,” said Miller. “This year, there’s a smaller class, the Class of 2015, so there are less students in that guaranteed population.”

Seniors who are set to live in Hannon next year have mixed feelings about the situation.

“I’m not too happy about it, just because I feel like Student Housing should have told us living in sophomore housing was a possibility,” said junior liberal studies major Katherine DePonte.

“I feel like four-person junior groups would be better suited to Hannon Apartments, but for seniors, they really should be over in the Leavey area,” said junior business management major Connie Hoang.

While the presence of juniors and seniors in the Hannon Apartments may seem unusual, according to Miller it’s actually more common than some students think.

“Hannon, historically, has always been a split community in that sense,” Miller said. “Sophomores, juniors, seniors and even graduate students have lived there [previously].”

Regardless of the historical trend, the primary fear of rising seniors assigned to Hannon is that they’ll wind up living with underclassmen, an idea that is particularly unappealing to future Hannon resident and junior sociology major Melissa Mahoney.

“There’s a possibility that I’m gonna have to live with sophomores or juniors, which I’m not excited about at all,” Mahoney said. “I’ve lived with underclassmen before. It’s not fun.”

DePonte agreed, saying, “I would not be happy [living with sophomores], just because we’re in different places. We’re finishing; they’d still have two years left. I wouldn’t mind living with juniors, but I feel like sophomores are still kind of immature.”

The process of determining which buildings are available to non-guaranteed applicants is less about the upperclassmen pool and more about the number of rising sophomores.

“It’s really, in a lot of ways, focused on the guaranteed class: How many of them apply, how many of them come in. That starts to dictate how much of, let’s say, Hannon, we give to non-guaranteed students,” Miller said. “Depending on how many spaces there are in McCarthy, Rains and McKay [Residence Halls], we focus on Tenderich [Apartments] and if there are still some left, we put them in Hannon [Apartments].”

The process is confusing for several students, including Mahoney, who doubts the veracity of the selection process’s random lottery system.

“I’ve heard theories about this, that when you go to the page with the grid with the numbers, the grid is [fake],” Mahoney said. “Juniors and seniors go into the same lottery, while sophomores have their own thing. How could it be random if priority should be going to underclassmen?”

While some students may wonder about how random the process really is, Miller steadfastly defends the fairness of the program.

“[The lottery system] is absolutely, 100 percent random,” Miller said, acknowledging that many students doubt the legitimacy of the program. “It goes back to way back before any of us were here at the University when they would pull numbers out of a fishbowl. What we have online is the same philosophy, a grid put together by an expert in Information Technology Services. I don’t even know what the numbers are.”

Though some seniors may be frustrated with their housing arrangements in Hannon Apartments, Hoang and Mahoney agreed that they’d rather have the security of knowing they have housing rather than being left on a waitlist.

“If I wasn’t guaranteed housing, I’d rather just live in Hannon [Apartments],” said Mahoney. “A waitlist is too iffy. I’m not a risk taker.”

However, DePonte would rather have been waitlisted than be assigned to Hannon Apartments. “Hannon [Apartments] has always been just for sophomores,” she said, “and the environment is just very different than upperclassmen housing.”

With juniors and seniors returning in 2012-13 after a year of only sophomores in Hannon Apartments, it isn’t hard for Mahoney to imagine that Hannon itself will be significantly changed next year.

“I think that it’s going to be completely different. The fact that there’s seniors there who can go to the Loft for a bit and it won’t be a big event will change a lot of things. Hannon [Apartments] is typically for sophomores, so I think having that mix is gonna be different.”

Miller isn’t worried, however. “I don’t think it will be affected at all. The current year is the anomaly when it comes to Hannon [Apartments] predominantly being entirely sophomore students. … I know that our staff will do a great job at building the community and providing programs that meet the needs of everyone living there, just like they have in the past.”

Students must register for emergency alerts

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Originally published in the Los Angeles Loyolan. For original, please refer to: Students must register for emergency alerts – Los Angeles Loyolan.

Registration for LMU’s Alert System (LMU Alert) will now be required for all students enrolled at the University in the Fall 2012 semester, according to a letter sent out Tuesday morning by Chief of Public Safety Hampton Cantrell.

The recently mandated system, which was first discussed late in the 2010-11 school year, will require students to sign up before registering for classes in the Fall 2012 semester. According to the message students received, the compulsory registration is designed “to promote safety and security.”

LMU Alert, according to Cantrell’s email, “is a system that allows the University to send important information and instructions during a campus or area-wide incident or emergency.” A system like LMU Alert for sending messages (through texts and emails) to students in case of emergency is required of all universities due to the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act), which was passed in 1989.

Officials behind the change consider the greater reach of the system to be imperative. “We believe students being aware of an immediate crisis to campus is helpful to them in order to protect themselves and to keep them out of harm’s way,” said Cantrell in an interview with the Loyolan. “We have about 50 percent that are signed up now. … Right now, only half are getting the message, and that’s problematic.”

According to Senior Vice President of Administration Lynne Scarboro, the new obligatory system has been part of the plan for some time.

“We’ve been talking about it for a while,” Scarboro said. “I think that we’ve always intended it to be mandatory. It was just about thinking through how we wanted to do it.”

“This is a process that has involved people from across the University … to make sure that we are taking into account everybody’s interests in terms of the departments and the students,” said Director of Emergency Management Devra Schwartz.

“I think it’s a good idea,” said sophomore Spanish and sociology double major Bianca Villasenor of the change. “Their number-one concern should be our safety, and I feel this system makes it easier for us to keep in contact with them and can only help us know what’s happening on campus.”

Of the decision to link the LMU Alert sign-up to class registration, Scarboro said, “There are a number of things that fall into the category of being a student here and what we’re going to require of you. … It’s our responsibility to warn you. We have to require it.” Linking the LMU Alert sign-up to class registration keeps students from registering for their classes until they sign up.

“[The hold] is really our most effective way to make sure every single student registers for LMU Alert,” Schwartz said.

LMU Alert experienced some technical difficulties in March of last year when a message indicating that an armed gunman had appeared on campus, as reported in the March 22, 2011 Loyolan article “Alert system prompts concern” by then-News Editor Laura Riparbelli. With compulsory registration about to become a reality, Scarboro stressed that the system for sending emergency messages should be much more reliable now.

“Public Safety really doubled down on their training to make sure anyone that touches that system is trained. They’ve got to have two eyes on the message if it’s sent out,” Scarboro said. “We’ve got to be able to rely on it, and we’ve got to know how to use it.”

Any technical glitches, though they may be “annoying,” as described by Scarboro, shouldn’t hamper the ultimate goal of LMU Alert – that is, students’ safety.

“In an emergency, no one is likely to save you. The biggest help you can be is to yourself, but you have to have information to save yourself,” Scarboro said. “Your action in an emergency, your best chance of surviving, is what you do. That’s what the emergency system does: It puts a tool in your hands.”

– Additional Reporting by Laura Riparbelli

ASLMU town hall connects candidates to community

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Originally published in the Los Angeles Loyolan. For original, please refer to: ASLMU town hall connects candidates to community – Los Angeles Loyolan.

ASLMU

Photo Credit: ASLMU

Amidst the senatorial and presentational debates that took place last week, ASLMU hosted a smaller town hall meeting with all 23 students running for office this election cycle Wednesday night in St. Robert’s Auditorium.

The town hall featured all three presidential-vice presidential tickets and the 17 senatorial candidates answering a mixture of prepared questions and questions from the audience. The recent announcement of higher parking fees was a major topic of conversation, as were the needs for more transparency and the senatorial candidates’ lack of experience and knowledge about their job requirements.

Current Speaker of the senate and senior communication studies major Mary O’Laughlin was the first to reference the latter topic, noting that several of the candidates’ plans for changes if elected were already part of the ASLMU senate’s activities. Several candidates didn’t answer the question, while others, like sophomore accounting major Michael Curran, owned up to their lack of knowledge while pledging to do their research. After a few of the candidates’ responses, junior marketing major and presidential candidate Bryan Ruiz stepped in to defend them.

Curran was also one of three senatorial candidates asked if senators should be paid for their work, something several of the senatorial candidates weren’t even aware was part of their job description. While Curran argued they should be paid, fellow senatorial candidate and sophomore entrepreneurship major Colin O’Brien gave a more conditional answer.

“I think before we get paid, we should clear up the transparency issue,” O’Brien said, echoing several other candidates who brought up the need for more direct communication between ASLMU and the LMU student body. “Once we’ve done something that merits getting paid, we can.”

The event, which was attended by approximately 30 students, half of them somehow affiliated with ASLMU, was intended to give the candidates a way to talk more directly with the community. While candidates and current ASLMU officers alike lamented the limited attendance, the event marched on with audience members asking the candidates varied and sometimes pointed questions.

“I wish there had been more people in the audience,” current ASLMU president and senior English major Art Flores said after the event. “This was a good first showing for the candidates [though].”

“I think students are busy, but I think they are interested in ASLMU,” presidential candidate and junior political science and Spanish double major Emilio Garcia said. Garcia’s running mate, junior accounting major Laura Kramer, intended to participate via Skype from Spain, but technical issues led to Garcia representing both halves of their ticket.

Ruiz and running mate junior sociology major Vince Caserio make up one of the other presidential tickets; the third includes presidential hopeful Jennifer Mercado and vice-presidential candidate Erick Bozeman, both junior political science majors. Mercado spoke about the transparency issue after the debate had ended while simultaneously defending the senatorial candidates.

“A lot of people don’t know what ASLMU really does, and that’s a problem,” Mercado said. “[The senatorial candidates] are qualified … [though] it is unfortunate that they don’t quite know what the senate does. I’m sure they’ll go home tonight and study up.”

While most of the attendees were already members of ASLMU, as noted by incumbent senatorial candidate and freshman biology major Roy Dilekoglu, there were some attendees who had no relation to the organization or any of the candidates, including sophomore political science major Ted Guerrero.

“I didn’t go to the event last year, so I wanted to show up and support, as well as be informed,” Guerrero said of his decision to attend. “I thought it went well. I thought they conveyed their passions well.”

For the senatorial candidates, the town hall was their final public event before voting next Tuesday through Thursday. The presidential candidates also appeared during Thursday’s presidential debate in Lawton Plaza.

University reacts to city’s new trash plan

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Originally published in the Los Angeles Loyolan. For original, please refer to: University reacts to city’s new trash plan – Los Angeles Loyolan.

The city of Los Angeles is currently considering a new garbage disposal plan that would see the hauling of all waste performed by a single, assigned private contractor. The plan, which is purported to be an instrumental step in reaching the “zero waste” output goal, is generating controversy due to its potential to shut down smaller contractors.

While officials supporting the plan argue that the greater L.A. area would likely see a major boost in the amount of waste recycled if the plan was implemented, LMU would likely be only minimally affected by the change due to its current emphasis on recycling. The University has already chosen to oppose the measure due to the potential dip in quality of services such a plan would provide.

“The University feels like the franchise system will limit our free market choices when it comes to solid waste hauling at the University,” said Bill Stonecypher, the manager of the Solid Waste Management and Recycling departments at LMU.

Student and faculty members, however, don’t see the plan as being quite as harmful.

“It probably won’t affect us,” said environmental science professor Dr. John Dorsey. “If anything, it’ll probably be better, because more of what we put in the waste stream will be recycled.”

Junior urban studies and Spanish double major Natalie Hernandez, who works as a sustainability outreach coordinator with Green LMU, agrees that the plan will have minimal impact on the University.

“LMU already recycles a lot of its waste, so I feel like it wouldn’t affect our recycling efforts too much,” said Hernandez. “It might just affect how much waste is hauled from here.”

The plan, according to the Feb. 12 Daily News article “L.A.’s new trash plan: better for recycling or a big mess?”, will allow for greater control of recycling and could lead to unionization of workers in the sanitation field.

“I think it has a lot of potential,” Hernandez said of the initiative. “It will hold the [garbage collection] companies more accountable in their recycling efforts.”

However, Stonecypher disagrees, stating that while the zero waste goal can be achieved under this new plan, “we think the goals of that policy can be achieved through a variety of other methods that don’t include limiting a customer’s options.”

“By taking away choices, the answers to disposal issues as we strive to become even greener can only come from a single source,” he said. “Currently, the solid waste hauling industry in the greater Los Angeles area is exploding with all these new customer options … for greener solutions, and we think this should be encouraged and flowered, not hindered.”

The additional controversy around the plan arises from the requirement of only one collection company to service each of the 11 distinct regions in L.A., meaning most smaller agencies would be put under immediate threat of being shut down, thus creating a monopoly.

“We feel like the quality of services rendered by a disposal contractor in a regional monopoly would significantly degrade the quality of service,” Stonecypher said.

“Sure, it could definitely do that,” Dorsey said of the possibility of a monopoly. “Everyone needs their fair shake. But even the smaller groups have said that they need to do a better job of recycling.”

The new plan could also potentially raise disposal prices for the University and for the greater L.A. area.

“According to the city’s own data, consumers pay almost 33 percent higher rates in exclusive franchised cities,” Stonecypher said. “And that’s really tough for us in this time of fiscal crisis because we’re doing everything possible to keep our infrastructure costs down so we can keep tuition down.”

Currently, LMU recycles 56 percent of its waste output, according to the Recycling and Waste Management information section on the University’s website. LMU has been recycling since 1990, reaching state mandates for increasing the reuse of discarded materials a full five years ahead of the deadline at the turn of the millennium.

“But LMU needs to continue working on reducing our overall waste stream by cutting down on what we throw away, what we reuse,” Dorsey said.

Debate over the new garbage transfer initiative began in City Hall this past Monday and will continue until the measure reaches a vote. If approved, the new program wouldn’t be implemented fully until 2016.