4 CULTURE 9 OPINION From Student to Gucci Runway Incompetence and Disaster in the Model in Just a Few Months Democratic Party 6 ARTS 10 SPORTS Clive First-Year Crushes Musical Men’s Volleyball Bump, Set and Conventionality with Charisma Spike Its Way to an Undefeated Start VOLUME LIV | ISSUE 3 MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2020 Stigma Dominates Coronavirus Conversation in NYC Media coverage, social media postings and institutional responses to coronavirus have inflamed anti-Asian sentiment in NYC and beyond. By EMILY MASON News Editor The coronavirus has con- sumed social media platforms recently, and the conversation and containment efforts sur- rounding the virus have inflamed years-old stigmas against Asians in New York City. Coronavirus, a pneumo- nia-like virus which originated in Central China’s Hubei province, has killed 811 people in China and infected 37,198, accord- ing to China’s National Health Commission. The concern in the United States surrounding the spread of the disease has domi- nated news cycles and tensions have built in New York City as the total number of people tested for the deadly disease in the city has risen to five. CHARLIE DODGE | WSN CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Masks are worn to prevent against the spread of airborne diseases. In light of the recent coronavirus outbreak, many have taken heightened health measures. Exploring the Empty Met Words and Photos by of Art of New York City is the larg- informed me of a three-hour win- CELIA TEWEY est art museum in the United States, dow of private guided walkthroughs Exposures Editor with its roots dating back to 1860s before the museum opens at 10 a.m. Paris. Thousands of people visit the on Saturdays and Sundays. The tours Anyone who has ever been to the Met every day to see masterpieces allow for photographers, art geeks, Metropolitan Museum of Art on a by artists such as Edgar Degas, Van historians and everyone in between to weekend will know it’s a brag-worthy Gogh, O’Keeffe, Monet, Warhol and access a completely private, open and achievement to even get a glimpse at countless others. With 7.35 million spacious Met for a few quiet hours. As something without getting shoved, visitors to its three locations in 2018 a photographer, having the opportu- pushed and rushed out of the way. For alone, it was the third most visited art nity to photograph these empty halls, a photographer, it is next to impossi- museum in the world. the lonely statues and the soaring ceil- CELIA TEWEY | WSN ble to get a single picture without 10 I had the privilege of visiting the ings all by myself was a wonder. Even The American Sculpture Wing presents the museum’s unsurpassed collection of American curious tourists in the background, museum on an early Saturday morn- the Grand Steps out front on 82nd monumental sculpture, architectural elements and stained glass. The north end of the open trying (and failing) to duck out of ing at 7 a.m. this past January. A Street were empty. hall is anchored by the Neoclassical facade of the Branch Bank of the United States, which was the way. The Metropolitan Museum hashtag on Instagram, #EmptyMet, CONTINUED ON PAGE 11 originally located on Wall Street. 2 Washington Square News MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2020 [email protected] NEWS Edited by LISA COCHRAN and EMILY MASON Stigma Dominates Coronavirus Conversation in NYC CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 “The association of disease with actly like the number, it’s more like “In Asia, it’s actually quite com- son next to you.” Tisch sophomore Sarah Peng was Chinese and Asians is a long historical the common flu isn’t racialized in a mon for people who have a cough or Tchen said that it is institutions’ visiting family in China and was plan- one in this country, and also to some way that the coronavirus and other cold to wear a mask as a way to not to responsibility to help bridge cultur- ning to study abroad at NYU Shang- degree in Europe,” Tchen said. “So the diseases like Ebola or Zika,” Peng said. spread it and for them to be actually al divides, especially at a university hai this semester. After classes were de- idea of being associated with some- “These kinds of things become meta- very aware of germ theory,” Tchen as global as NYU. layed once again, she decided to return thing dirty is not necessarily based phors for ‘the other’ or people of col- said. “I think masking, in general, is “The city is responsible for creat- to the NYC campus. on any understanding of the culture. or, and it’s unfair. It’s like we’re under seen as hiding something, so someone ing a different atmosphere, but so are “I go through the coronavirus What’s considered dirty, what’s con- constant scrutiny.” who’s actually trying to be considerate universities like NYU,” Tchen said. hashtag on Twitter, which is terrible,” sidered clean, then automatically gets Johnnie Yu, a CAS sophomore and in their community and cultural con- “Which have far more resources to re- Peng said. “I think because of that, I projected onto race.” an E-board member of NYU’s Chi- text is perceived de facto as somehow ally grapple with these questions, but am very cautious when I’m outside — The beginnings of anti-Chinese nese Students Society, emphasized the dangerous or a disease spreader.” actually don’t take them as seriously as I’m very afraid of coughing or sneez- sentiment in the United States date harm that can be caused by tactless ref- Tchen says media irresponsibility they should, other than simply having ing or sniffling even a little bit because back to the 19th century when Chi- erences to the virus. lies in misdirected focus, citing cover- public alerts that some PR person or it does feel like someone might look at nese people began migrating to the “I’ve heard some people call the age of a shortage of masks rather than some vice president is responsible for me and think I’m diseased.” country to join American workforce, coronavirus ‘the China virus,’” Yu a focus on how diseases are spread, getting out there.” Misinformation surrounding the instead of trying to find employment said. “I think it’s just labeling the bad strains of the flu or overuse of an- Moderating conversations and virus has infected social media plat- in what was a declining Chinese econ- virus and then blaming it on Chi- tibiotics, which present more pressing keeping them based in fact is import- forms. For example, there is the idea omy. Frustrations regarding job com- na, especially when so many people public health concerns. Press coverage ant to controlling panic surrounding that coronavirus originated with peo- petition took the form of resentment are at risk with the coronavirus, and and institutional leaders, Tchen said, the virus, according to Yu. ple eating bat soup spurred by a You- towards growing Chinatowns, which everyone’s really trying to mitigate are responsible for properly contextu- “It’s unlikely that the coronavi- Tube video of a Chinese woman hold- were imagined to be unclean areas the issue. I think it’s been a bit dis- alizing coronavirus. rus will affect a majority of students ing a bat with chopsticks, which went filled with opium dens, and eventually heartening for Chinese students and “The headlines, certainly, and the in NYU,” Yu said, “judging by how viral near the time of the outbreak. the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first the community.” announcements that higher-ups write many cases there are in the Western This video only assisted in fueling the and only federal law banning a sin- The history of perceiving Chinese to assuage fear, but oftentimes in some world and the mitigation practices fire, contributing to the trope that gle nationality. people as unclean conflates with cul- ways contribute to it, about coronavi- we’re taking to ensure that it doesn’t Chinese food is unsanitary and con- This history rears its head in the tural miscommunication to create a rus in particular,” Tchen said. “With- affect us. [The paranoia] mostly sists of exotic animals. virality of the coronavirus, Peng said. stigma-ridden conversation surround- out the context that’s more informed comes from how we talk about issues Founder of the Asian/Pacific/ Though the common flu has caused ing the coronavirus, Tchen said. An and less panicky, people are just kind like this, and how people perceive American Institute at NYU and Rut- 10,000 deaths this season alone, pan- example of one of these miscommu- of responding to the fear. Then all of Chinese students.” gers professor John Kuo Wei Tchen ic remains centered around the for- nications is the perception of medical a sudden something like coronavirus commented on the stereotypical view eign-born disease. masks, which have become prevalent feels like it’s lurking on our block, or Email Emily Mason of Chinese people as unclean. “I think the point of that isn’t ex- on the streets of New York. lurking with the Asian-looking per- at [email protected]. Stern MBA Program is Designated STEM By EMILY MASON U.S. for more time after graduation. two year program is the second Stern program as opposed to a select track “If someone got into an Ivy League News Editor STEM groups science, technology, MBA program to be dubbed STEM as or concentration in the program,” JP school versus NYU, they may well go engineering and mathematics disci- of January 2nd.