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| Hundreds of Layoffs at FSU, 25 Tenured Gone |
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Florida State University will layoff as many as 200 faculty and staff members, including 25 tenured professors.
The layoffs are part of $56.6 million that will be cut from FSU by June by the Board of Trustees and the Florida State Budget Crisis Committee.
Other schools have made similar cuts, but to a smaller extent. The University of Florida has reportedly let go 20 faculty members. The University of Central Florida has left vacant positions unfilled and drawn on savings as an alternative to cutting further programs and job positions.
The faculty union is calling these layoffs a breach of contract, and is considering legal action.
“Across the whole State University System, everyone was faced with the same budget cutbacks,” said Philip Froelich, a tenured professor of oceanography. “Yet FSU is the only one to fire more than just one or two tenured faculty, so there’s something really wrong with how it was done here.”
Froelich is one of the five faculty members in his department to receive a layoff notice. He was shocked to learn that three of the five faculty members were tenure-track professors.
“Something’s really wrong when you bring in highly recruited junior faculty on a tenure-track line and the unwritten rule is they’ve got six years to prove themselves to make tenure, but then you fire them six months later,” Froelich said.
Other departments such as the English department have lost a number of full-time teaching positions. Consequently, class sizes are expanding and faculty morale is low.
Eric Walker, president of the Faculty Senate and assistant professor of English, said he repeatedly warned the Board of Trustees that laying off so many tenured faculty members was unprecedented and would attract negative attention nationally and internationally.
Froelich added that the layoffs have “torn the fabric of the faculty,” will compromise students’ education, and breed mistrust. According to Austin Todd, a graduate research assistant in oceanography, many learned about the school's cost-cutting measures from the local newspaper before the administration.
The administration has even resorted to merging departments. Geology, oceanography, and anthropology will be combined into an Earth and Atmospheric Sciences unit. Todd said that students are now worried about the reputability of their respective departments and its effect on their degrees.
However, Assistant English Professor Ned Stuckey-French believes there is hope. He said that students, administrators, faculty, staff, and alumni must work together to pressure the Governor and Florida Legislature to do what is right, and defend higher education.
More from the FSU News at FSU
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| Issue: Higher Education Affordability |
| Census Could Turn Students Into Money |
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In an effort to count more college students in the census and boost funding for higher education, many colleges and universities are urging their students to fill out census forms.
Census data is used to help determine levels of federal funding to be distributed around the country. Census responses influence policies ranging from how many congressional representatives a state has, to the amount of federal funding states allocate for higher education.
Results of the student count could have a dramatic impact given the massive funding cuts to higher education wracking the nation’s colleges and universities and the financial aid reform bill pending in the Senate,
At some schools around the country, resident assistants in dorms have taken the lead in getting their residents to fill out the forms. Other schools have provided on-campus drop boxes for completed forms. The boxes are supposed to help students remember to fill out their forms, and make it easier for them to turn in completed ones.
A group of communications majors at the University of Maryland designed an extensive campaign to get students to fill out the forms. The group worked with the UMD student government to set up tables in the student union to raise awareness about the census. They also urged local landlords to send out mass emails to their tenants, urging them to participate.
“A lot of students don’t know, but answers from the census help allocate $400 billion of public funding to public institutions, such as hospitals and schools…based on how many people live in an area,” said Sammi Liang, a senior American studies and communication major at UMD. Liang was interviewed by the UMD student newspaper, the Diamondback.
Census officials said that college students are frequently a difficult demographic to track because many do not fill out census information. According to the officials, students often assume that their parents are supposed to handle it, or that they have to be a homeowner or permanent resident to be included in the count. Some people also have privacy concerns, although by law the Census Bureau must keep all collected information secret, even from other government agencies.
The administration at Johns Hopkins University is supporting a campus-wide push to get students to fill out the forms. The student newspaper at Johns Hopkins, the JHU Gazette, looked into how the census will work on their campus, and what the administration is doing to push it forward.
The census contains 10 questions concerning a “person’s name, sex, age, date of birth, race and origin,” according to Census officials interviewed by the student newspaper the JHU Gazette. The officials say the form should take no more than 10 minutes to complete.
“We take the census count very seriously, so we ask that when students receive these forms, they fill them out and get them returned promptly,” said Susan Boswell, dean of student life at the Homewood campus.
Robert M. Groves, the U.S. Census Bureau director, wrote on his blog that college students are responsible for filling out census information because they are considered to be residents of the towns or cities where they go to school.
Off-campus students will receive census questionnaires in the mail sometime this month, while on-campus students at Johns Hopkins will receive questionnaires in April or May, according to the JHU Gazette. Those dates will vary on different campuses around the country.
Census guidelines consider each address a household. Housemates living at the same address only fill out one census form.
More from the JHU Gazette at Johns Hopkins University
More from the Diamondback at the University of Maryland
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| Issue: Higher Education Affordability |
| Whitman Students Video-Petition for Financial Aid in Capitol |
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Students at Whitman College in Washington are using personal appeals to try to persuade state officials not to cut their financial aid.
Whitman junior Kate Pringle conducted a series of two-minute interviews with 11 students, in which they argued for their student aid funding to be restored. The interviews were part of a larger effort by the Independent Colleges of Washington to raise awareness about threats to financial aid funding.
Both the House and the Senate in Washington passed individual budgets on Feb. 23 restoring all funding to the Need Grant, Washington Scholars, and WAVE Programs. Both budgets, however, proposed to reduce funding for the State Work Study program by 30 percent, translating to an estimated $70,000 loss for Whitman students.
According to the College Data website, a year at Whitman costs $47,600, and over half of the student body applied for financial aid last year. The average student graduated from Whitman with nearly $17,000 of debt.
Pringle thinks putting students’ faces in front of lawmakers is a way to humanize the issue.
“The video project is an effort to put real people and their stories into the discussion about student aid so that the aid programs aren’t just treated as cold numbers on a spreadsheet,” said Greg Scheiderer, vice president of the Independent Colleges of Washington.
Chadd Bennett, ICW director of research and publications, said he is planning on featuring the video series on YouTube and on the ICW's Facebook and Web pages.
Earlier this year, Governor Christine Gregoire proposed to suspend a number of financial aid programs available to Washington state college students in an effort to balance the state's $2.6 billion budget.
Pringle, who works in Whitman's Office of Financial Aid, said the interviews could be more effective than students' written requests for aid.
"It's one thing for us to send a letter or for someone to quote statistics about how many students rely upon financial aid, but it's an entirely different experience to see a real student telling their story and expressing how much they need the aid," she said. "I only benefit from some of the programs that were in danger, but I know how many students really are affected by all of them due to my job, so it really made me anxious and a little outraged that the state would consider taking those programs away."
Whitman junior McKenna Milici, and her sister, sophomore Rhya, were among those interviewed on camera.
"Obviously, the idea that the state is cutting our program now will have a huge impact on my family since there are two of us trying to go here," McKenna Milici said. "I'm not quite sure if our video will be seen by legislators, but we hope...to stress not only how this is affecting students, but to provide a tangible image for how this is affecting families."
More from the Pioneer at Whitman College
More from College Data |
| Issue: Higher Education Affordability |
| March 4th Actions Showcase Range of Tactics |
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By Leah Pine
From lobbying to lying down, thousands of students across the country last week used tactics new and old to take legislators to task on funding for higher education. Organizing under the banner of an official National Day of Action, students held walk-outs, teach-ins, rallies, and demonstrations. The day marked the first hint at the power and number of angry and cash-strapped students on a national scale.
By the end of the day, hundreds of students across the country were handcuffed, the main UC Santa Cruz campus was shut down, and a major highway in Oakland had been blocked with shouting protesters.
Angus Johnston, author of the Student Activism blog, compiled a Google Map of 124 actions planned for March 4th, the largest chunk of them in the Western part of the country. Public protests made up the most visible face of the day’s events.
California was the epicenter of the protests, riding on a wave of momentum that began this past September 24th, when faculty and students organized over 7,000 people to walk out of their classrooms and gather in public quads on the different campuses of the University of California.
Johnston, who wrote his doctoral thesis about student activism, offered his analysis of why the Golden State had the biggest events.
“In part that’s a reflection of the depth of the crisis facing California higher education right now, but it’s also a reflection of the head start that California’s campus organizers have compared to the rest of the country,” he wrote. “Almost every campus reporting huge demonstrations today has seen multiple rallies and protests over the last few months.”
Indeed, the rallies and protests in California have carried momentum since September. And though at times peaceful pickets lapsed into violence or destruction of property, they did help students get something they were looking for.
In his State of the State Address in January, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger pledged to renew California’s financial commitment to higher education. One of his aids cited the size and ferocity of student protests in Schwarzenegger’s decision.
But Thursday, students went beyond civil disobedience and embarked on civic participation to voice the pain of rising tuition.
For months, disparate student governments and other student groups around the country have been running individual letter-writing campaigns or lobby days at their state capitols. Especially in the University of California system, multiple groups of students have channeled their anger towards the state capitol, showing up in suits, writing letters, making phone calls, and working with UC administrators to garner allies and political power.
And while last week’s events featured more on-campus rallies than anything else, fresh thousands set their sights anew on their state capitols, a hint that lobbying and political organizing might be the next wave of what Johnston is now calling a movement.
Thousands from Denver, to Montgomery, to Tallahassee descended on lawmakers en masse, with megaphones outside and button-up shirts inside. Some organized through their state student associations, others through their student governments, still others through local labor unions, and some just worked off the cuff.
Since last semester, there have been two distinct messages students have taken to their state capitols. The first is a profile of the struggles of studenthood—students telling legislators their personal stories about the number of loans and jobs they have to take on, and the difficulty of focusing on schoolwork while juggling nearly full time jobs.
But recently, students have been arguing their point with a focus on producing an educated workforce for their home state.
“The bigger picture is to diversify Florida's economy,'' said Nick Autiello last week to the Miami Herald. Autiello is a 19-year-old sophomore at Florida International University. “The quality of the programs are going to suffer; the best brains are going to leave.''
A student lobby day in Sacramento last Monday earned few firm commitments from legislators, and many students on March 4th reported a similar impasse. Legislators are citing multi-billion dollar deficits in their state budgets—the state of Arizona is nearly bankrupt—and many view higher education as just another one of many public services that are being reduced.
Colorado State Senator Bruce Whitehead told students that the only solution to Colorado public universities’ budget crisis is a tuition hike, a song many legislators are singing.
Many students ran their events Thursday as kick-offs for future campaigns, but few of the organized events or lobbying efforts touted student voting power as a means for getting what they want from lawmakers.
The vast majority of yesterday’s lobbying actions addressed state-level decision makers.
Lobbying or not, students acting yesterday worked under a common theme, one that UCLA protesters shouted to the rooftops of Murphy Hall.
“Education should be free—no cuts, no fees!”
More from Student Activism’s Google Map of actions |
| Issue: Higher Education Affordability |
| UCSD Students, Admin Agree on Diversity Goals |
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Racially-charged incidents at the University of California San Diego have led administrators and the Black Student Union to team up in setting new school diversity goals.
The agreement, signed by the two groups Thursday, details new initiatives designed to combat the recent hate incidents on campus and provide new avenues for tolerance.
The University will diversify the student body by increasing the number of students of color, according to a joint statement issued faculty, students, and administrators involved in the talks. The University will use targeted outreach to get more students of color.
Black students currently make up 1.6 percent of the student body.
Administrators will also re-write the student code of conduct, and provide more classes and instructors dedicated to diversity issues.
The statement said the discussion covered many topics and generated good ideas.
The progress comes in response to the tumultuous past month at UCSD, when the student body grappled with what many called a racist off-campus party, found a noose in the library and a KKK hood on a University statue.
The Black Student Union issued a list of 32 demands of the administration shortly after the party, several of which were granted on the spot, and more which were just granted in the recent conferences.
More from the San Jose Mercury News
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| Issue: Social Justice |
| Student-Run Scholarship Safe from Cuts |
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Recent protesters at the University of Washington will be happy to hear that although scholarships around the country have been stung by a bad economy, the Husky Pride Fund at UW recently hit its fundraising goal of $50,000. The fund is student-raised and student-controlled.
Students will use the money raised for need-based scholarships. The fund’s creators set the $50,000 goal during the 2006-2007 school year.
“I knew eventually that it was going to become a good source of scholarship for those who really need it and those in emergency situations,” said Mike Snowden, founder and vice chair of the fund. “I knew it would take time, but I really wanted to create a sustainable infrastructure that students need.”
The Fund, which was created by UW's student government, began the year with $22,000. Group members raise money primarily through change jars located around campus and by selling "Husky Tees," a student-designed T-shirt celebrating the University.
The students behind the Fund showed that quality long-range planning, something that often escapes student governments, can be a powerful and lucrative tool.
Although no money has been awarded yet, the Fund's members are in discussions with University administrators to determine effective models for scholarship distribution.
“We considered the scholarship allocation at the beginning of the fund’s development as an unnecessary stress and wanted to hit the mark first,” Snowden said.
Once it begins distributing money, the fund will become the only scholarship on campus not controlled by the administration. This means it will be untouched by the recent funding cuts that have recently taken a toll on colleges and universities across the country.
More from the Daily at the University of Washington
More from the Husky Pride Fund |
| Issue: Student Governance and Campus Administration |
| Tax Credit Unlikely to Keep Grads in Michigan |
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After a scholarship program for Michigan colleges was eliminated last fall, few students believe a $4,000 tax credit program proposed by Gov. Jennifer Granholm will keep students in Michigan.
For University of Michigan student Brett Teslaa, the $4,000 is not much of an incentive to stick around for graduate school.
"I'm looking to get out of Michigan anyway," Teslaa said. "I don't think $4,000 would be enough to keep me here."
The program is estimated to cost $6.9 million by 2011 and more than $161 million by 2019.
Researchers who study student financial aid say a tax credit program would not increase the number of students going to college and it wouldn’t convince students to stay in Michigan.
"If the goal is to ease the sting of college costs or reward students for good academic performance, then the tax credit is a good solution," said Susan Dynarski, a professor of education and public policy. "If the goal is to get more students into college, the evidence indicates a tax credit won't do the job."
There is also concern that money from the tax credit program would disproportionately go to wealthier students because low-income students are less likely to enroll in college.
"If a tax credit is largely going to go to students from upper-middle or upper income families, then it's probably not going to have much impact on those students and their behavior after graduating from college," said Donald Heller, director of the Center for the Study of Higher Education at Pennsylvania State University.
The tax credits also will not get to students until long after their tuition had been paid. Students who cannot meet tuition demands up front will not be able to use the tax credit as a replacement for the lost Michigan Promise Scholarship.
Some students believe the $4,000 is still enough to interest students in staying in Michigan.
“It's still something. I think there are a lot of students who are interested in staying here anyway,” said Michigan State University sophomore Laura Klinger.
More from the Lansing State Journal |
| Issue: Higher Education Affordability |
| Silent Race Rally at UC Berkeley |
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About 200 hundred students took part in a silent demonstration at UC Berkeley Monday afternoon to draw attention to racial inequalities on campus and in the UC system. Students were galvanized by protests at UCLA and UC Irvine responding to a noose in the UC San Diego library and other racially charged incidents at the UCSD campus.
According to the UC Berkeley student newspaper the Daily Californian, student protestors linked arms in front of Slather Gate at the start of the protest, wearing all black, with black masks covering their mouths.
The protestors then moved to California Hall to deliver a letter to UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau outlining how recent racist actions on campus mirrored those that had occurred on campus over the past 10 years. Birgeneau was not on campus at the time.
"We did this in silence because we have been silenced, really, too long, and this time we made silence into a statement that we're not going to be disrespected and we are not going to be ignored," said protest participant Amber Booth in an interview with the Daily Californian.
Other students echoed the fear being articulated at UCSD.
"The campus is not a safe space for all students," said senior Lajuanda Asemota, vice president of Phi Nu Xi Multicultural Sorority.
In the letter to Birgeneau, protesters criticized the administration's response to recent racial tensions on campus as "dismissive and disappointing."
The letter also criticized last year's passage of California Proposition 209, which prevents public universities from using affirmative action in the admissions process. Black students now make up 3.2 percent of Berkeley's attendance, which the letter called "frighteningly" low.
On Feb. 24, Birgeneau and other school officials sent a campus-wide email criticizing the use of racial slurs and stereotypes on campus, and saying that "inclusion and equity," are part of the core values of the University.
"I am well aware of the fact that we have a number of students who don't feel entirely comfortable and included on campus," said Gibor Basri, Vice Chancellor for equity and inclusion. He agreed to meet with the protesters Monday evening.
More from the Daily Californian at UC Berkeley
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| Issue: Social Justice |
| University Budget Cuts Threaten Student Jobs |
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As university departments scale back on job hiring and work hours, many students fear for their much-needed on-campus employment. At Yale University, a $100 million deficit is cinching down on jobs that the University can offer to students.
Those on financial aid are particularly affected by the recent job shortage. In an effort to remedy a $100 million budget deficit, Yale University now requires that students contribute an extra $400 to their financial aid packages. To avoid taking out loans, financial aid students must now increase their working hours at a time when there is pressure on employers to cut back on wages and hiring.
Freshman Tiffany Polk expressed concern about her job at the Sterling Memorial Library, in an article by the student paper the Yale Daily News.
“My job is very important to me,” Polk said. “I could not support myself without it. I know the library has stopped hiring this semester but the idea that my job might be in jeopardy is really scary.”
According to the Student Employment Office the number of working students dropped 10 percent from fall 2008 to fall 2009, and has remained stable since.
Administrators have responded to students’ concerns by considering new hiring strategies. The Provost’s Office, which currently subsidizes half of all student wages, may offer additional funds to departments which otherwise could not provide enough jobs.
“We’re making sure we can provide campus jobs with priority for students on financial aid,” Provost Peter Salovey said last week. “We’ll ensure any decrease in the number of student jobs doesn’t get below the critical point of meeting all demand.”
The Student Financial Services and the Provost’s Office have also considered reviving an old policy where the first two weeks of each semester’s hiring period would only be open to students on financial aid.
Still, many departments at Yale have limited work hours and frozen hiring. Silliman College Administrative Assistant Joanne Young says that because work hours are set in advance, students wishing to increase hours ask for other students’ shifts.
Charlotte Wang, a student receiving financial aid, has been searching for a second job since last semester. She was told in an interview with the Office of Development that 12 students were competing for three positions.
“The market is pretty rough this semester,” Wang said.
More from the Yale Daily News at Yale University
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| Issue: Higher Education Affordability |
| Five Arrested As Student Lobby Effort in Sacramento Meets Closed Doors |
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Five students were arrested in Sacramento on Monday while lobbying Assemblyman Jim Nielsen to increase funding for California’s public higher education. The students, dubbed the “Nielsen Five,” were joined by 300 other students that protested outside the state capitol building.
The “Nielsen Five” occupied the republican representative’s office and refused to leave until the Assemblyman vowed to maintain funding to higher education and increase student diversity. Nielsen refused to meet with the students.
The five were led away in handcuffs.
“My hat's off to them," said State Senator Leland Yee, who wants to increase funding for the University of California. "Those are brave students."
They were cited with disrupting state business and demonstrating without a permit, and quickly released.
UC President Mark Yudof and several other administrators and representatives from the UC Student Association also pressed for more funding.
None of them received many firm commitments.
"The future of the state is in our own institution," said Linda Katehi, the Chancellor of UC Davis.
The UC representatives railed on the education cuts in Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's most recent budget proposal. Among other things, the proposal called for an elimination of the Cal Grant, a state-funded student scholarship. The student representatives voiced concern over what they called the near-privatization of the UC system.
"We want our fees rolled back. We want to make education a right and not a privilege," said Victor Sanchez, the UC Student Association president.
Some students linked concerns about privatization to the recent surfacing of racial tensions on UC campuses, claiming the current funding situation did not allow for diverse student bodies.
"Only upper class, wealthy people can get into [California's] higher education, and that needs to change," said Sasha Muce, a senior at UC Santa Cruz.
Student representatives also spoke about the importance of the student voice, and pushed for California to spend more money on education than on prisons. Some legislators echoed those statements, urging students to support the taxing of oil and natural gas companies to fund education.
More from the Aggie at UC Davis
More from the San Francisco Chronicle
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| Issue: Higher Education Affordability |
| West Virginia to Legislate Tuition Hike? |
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Marshall University’s Student Body President Sean Hornbuckle is organizing the student body to lobby against language that could raise tuition in a bill pending in the West Virginia legislature.
Senate Bill 480 contains language implying that the power of Marshall’s Board of Governors would be limited and students could end up getting a tuition increases as high as four percent, according to Student Body President Sean Hornbuckle.
“Senate Bill 480 will take away some of the governing power of our own Board of Governors,” Hornbuckle said. “The ability of Marshall’s Board of Governors to make decisions about our university should be a major concern for students.”
Hornbuckle wants the proposal to be thought out better.
“Senate Bill 480 will attempt to fully fund classified staff which is a good thing, but without attaching a specific way to fund the increases, students could end up with a tuition hike of approximately four percent.”
The bill would require each higher education organization to fully fund their salary schedules, and encourages them to raise money by increasing future tuitions.
Hornbuckle is encouraging fellow students to call and email their senators and ask for the language to be changed.
More from the Parthenon at Marshall University |
| Issue: Higher Education Affordability |
| Are Hate Incidents Now a Trend in the UC’s? |
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The March 2nd discovery of a KKK-style hood on a public statue at UC San Diego marks the sixth incident in a recent rash of events in the UCSD community many students are referring to as hate speech.
Beginning with the “Compton Cookout” party hosted by a UCSD fraternity, and followed by a student-produced TV show that mocked the party’s protesters, racial tensions began boiling at UCSD several weeks ago. When a search of the TV stations yielded a piece of cardboard referring to the party as the “Compton Lynching,” the Black Student Union began rallying.
The BSU issued 32 demands of the University to improve racial tensions, including a safe space for black students on campus. Over 1,000 students and faculty attended a teach-in the next day.
Several days later, a noose was found hanging in the UCSD library, prompting an immediate rally on campus that culminated in students occupying Chancellor Marye Anne Fox’s office. An anonymous student left roses around the library, symbolizing solidarity and dignity. The student who hung the noose has since come forward and accepted suspension for the incident. Officials are currently saying the incident will be processed as a crime “with intent to terrorize.”
Tuesday night, a UCSD statue was found wearing a KKK-style hood fashioned out of a pillow case while holding a rose.
Police dusted the statue for fingerprints and DNA evidence, and the incident is being “aggressively investigated” as a hate crime, according to the University website.
Hate incidents have also occurred recently at UC Davis. Last week, the LGBT student center was vandalized with spray painted epithets. Earlier in the semester, a swastika was carved into the dorm room door of a Jewish student.
In the past weeks, thousands of students have rallied and held sit-ins and teach-ins at UCSD, UCLA and UC Irvine in response to the series of UCSD incidents.
More from UC San Diego
More from the National Student News Service |
| Issue: Social Justice |
| LGBT Center Vandalized at UC Davis |
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The LGBT center at the University of California-Davis was vandalized with anti-gay sentiments and homophobic slurs last week.
Black spray paint covered the building and sidewalk, threatening LGBT students with phrases like “Gays go to hell,” and “Fag!”
The graffiti has not yet been removed and some students argue its important for others to see it. Senior Amy Rothman said she wants the public to see the hate speech. Student Michelle Kaufman said the graffiti signifies the reality of a strained campus climate.
“It’s kind of like a kick in the face to all the people who think that homophobia doesn’t exist, and racism, and discrimination of all sorts,” said Kaufman to a local Fox news station.
Police Sergeant Barry Swartwood said that the graffiti qualifies as a hate crime, and is being investigated as such.
Students and community members have been going to see the vandalism, some taking pictures with their cell phones.
The incident comes shortly after a swastika was carved into the dorm room of a Jewish student.
Chancellor Linda Katehi held a meeting Monday night to discuss this rash of incidents. Though Katehi only addressed those at UC Davis, a string of over five visible incidents have upended the California academic community in the past several weeks, including a KKK hood and a noose found on campus at UC San Diego.
At the meeting, students organized to come up with a list of proposals for the administration, likely including mandatory campus-wide diversity training.
More from Fox 40
Even more from Fox 40
More from the San Jose Mercury News |
| Issue: Social Justice |
| KU LGBT Rights Student Group Protests FDA's Blood Donor Policy |
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A University of Kansas student organization is protesting the Food and Drug Administration's policy banning blood donations from men who have had sex with other men.
On Feb. 25, members of Queers and Allies gathered in the Kansas Union to collect signatures for a petition to send to the FDA. KU freshman Michael Turner helped organize the event, and said the group wanted to raise awareness about people who want to help save lives, but are institutionally prevented from doing so.
The FDA policy is leftover from 1983, when HIV-AIDS was stigmatized as a gay disease.
Prompted by students, the Red Cross has recently taken steps to distance themselves from the FDA’s policy.
In a letter to student newspaper The University Daily Kansan, Scott Caswell, the American Red Cross regional CEO, said the FDA's policy did not reflect the views of the Red Cross. He said the organization is dedicated to fairness in donor selection regardless of beliefs, race, gender or sexual orientation. Caswell also noted that in 2005, the Red Cross worked with other organizations to petition the FDA to review its policy.
In 2007, the FDA reaffirmed its ban of donations from men who have had sex with men.
FDA Consumer Safety Officer Jill Burkoff said the FDA's policy does not reflect discrimination, but is based on preventing transmission of disease. She said that men who have had sex with other men have an HIV prevalence rate 60 times higher than other people.
"Please rest assured that this policy is not discriminatory," Burkoff said. "It is risk-based."
"The FDA welcomes scientific and public input and we reevaluate our policies as new data becomes available," she added.
Some students thought Queers and Allies was protesting the blood drive itself, but the group seemed to have no animosity towards it beyond the FDA's policy. “We’re not protesting against the blood drive or the Red Cross at all,” Turner said. “We are totally in support of what they do. We think it’s great and we encourage people to donate.”
More from the Daily Kansan at UK |
| Issue: Social Justice |
| Sardine-Style Dorm Rooms in Tennessee |
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Some students will be packed like sardines into six-person dorm rooms this fall at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Though many students are assuming cost concerns prompted the change, the University says that the decision came after students complained about being placed in hotels due to a lack of on-campus housing.
"I understand the need to increase bed spaces and cut costs, but there is barely room for two beds, two desks, two dressers and adequate living space," said junior Kimberly McDonald, who currently lives in Lockermiller Apartments.
Director of Housing Steven Hood tried to ease student concerns by reassuring them that individual students will not have to spend very much time in the rooms.
"What we hope students will get out of the experience is the opportunity to meet more people, and it doesn't have to be forever and ever," Hood said. "You don't have to live with two other people in the bedroom for the rest of your life or even in your time at UTC."
While increasing the number of students in dorm rooms will help reduce the number of students placed in hotels, Hood said about 50 students will have to live in hotels for at least a few weeks next fall.
Students interviewed by student newspaper the University Echo criticized the change.
"Overcrowding an outdated complex already struggling to maintain acceptable living standards is not a decision conducive to academic growth for freshman and will drastically reduce the university's potential to recruit the top graduating students in Tennessee," Weaver said.
Nobody has commented on whether the plan accords with health codes for the region.
More from the University Echo at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
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| Issue: Student Governance and Campus Administration |
| Class of 2010 Faces 7 percent Decrease in Hiring Rates |
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According to the Wall Street Journal, the graduating class of 2010 will face the toughest labor market the country has seen in 25 years.
Experts expect 7 percent fewer new college graduates to be hired this year. The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) reports that employers plan to reduce new graduate hiring because of the economy.
Carol Schroeder, director of the North Carolina State University Career Center, encourages future graduates to remain steadfast in their job search. She notes that during an economic slowdown, graduates must be proactive and flexible.
"That means going perhaps to a part of the country that isn't as desirable as North Carolina, perhaps interviewing with a company you've never heard of before and perhaps taking a job that doesn't pay as much as you hope you would make," she said.
However, the Northeast may be a pocket of opportunity in an otherwise grim landscape. NACE reports that Northeastern employers intend on increasing their graduate hiring by 5.6 percent.
Students can also find employment opportunities through alumni associations. Sue Simonds, director of NC State's Alumni Career Services, says that the alumni directory can be a great networking tool for new graduates.
Popular alternatives to help students avoid the difficult job hunt while still being productive include graduate school, Peace Corps, Americorps, and Teach for America.
"All of those are good potential places to gain experience, to gain exposure, to give back to society, while you hope that you can find another full-time job in your field," Schroeder said.
Schroeder emphasized the importance of staying confident and optimistic. "There's no magic bullet, you just have to [be] persistent and appropriately creative," she said. "You don't lose heart. You maintain that spirit of 'can do'. You don't let it get to you."
More from the Technician Online at North Carolina State University
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| Issue: Higher Education Affordability |
| Florida Universities Mired in Uncertainty |
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Budget cuts over the past three to four years in the Florida education system are leaving schools like Florida State University in the dark about how much funding they will receive for 2010.
With a decline in the economy, billions of dollars were lost in Florida tax revenues, which left little to be allocated for higher education, according to Bill Edmonds, director of communication for the Florida Board of Governors.
The state provides 75 percent of Florida colleges' funding, while 25 percent comes from tuition.
“Last year we came out essentially flat,” said Edmonds. “Some universities saw decreases and increases in funding, but as a whole it was essentially unchanged.”
FSU has lost a quarter of state appropriations since the start of the economic recession. The lost funds have resulted in the 700 employee layoffs, as well as cuts for supporting and maintaining dorms and classrooms.
“This is a major reduction on how we can do business at the university,” said John Carnaghi, FSU's senior vice president for finance and administration. “Until legislators can make a budget decision," he said, "we are doing our best to assure that our students will be affected as least (sic) as we can possibly allow."
Many students are already having their own struggles with money. Valerie Deleon entered FSU last year with a Bright Futures scholarship, a Marine Corps scholarship, and a grant from the school. She also works in retail and plans to get a second job during the summer.
"Besides schoolwork and my job," Deleon said, "nothing else is a priority for me right now."
More from FSU News at FSU |
| Issue: Higher Education Affordability |
| Georgia Budget Cuts Prompt Dramatic Proposals |
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Students in Georgia may soon find themselves at a very different-looking campus, as state legislators voiced support recently for a variety of drastic measures to solve the University System of Georgia's budget issues.
On Feb. 24, the state legislature informed the USG that it needs to cut $300 million—on top of $265 million worth of cuts already recommended by Governor Sonny Perdue in his fiscal year 2011 budget. The required cuts are part of an attempted $1 billion reduction of the entire state of Georgia's budget.
On Monday, the USG submitted a budget that cut the swimming program at Gainesville State College, and reduced class offerings at North Georgia College and State University by 20 percent. Under the proposal, half of the University of Georgia's county extension offices would also be closed, and all Georgia 4-H programs would be eliminated. Schools are weighing the unhappy options of raising tuition, reducing enrollment, cutting course offerings, and even laying off tenured professors.
Tuition hikes were not included in the USG's proposal, though several state legislators voiced support for such measures.
Georgia Institute of Technology Chancellor Davis said that to meet the cuts proposed by the state, Georgia Tech would have to increase tuition by 77 percent. He firmly expressed to the state legislator that he is fears the repercussions of a tuition increase or a budget cut of that magnitude.
"Such a reduction would dramatically and negatively alter a University System in which the people of this state have invested so much," wrote Davis. "A reduction of this size is not in the best interest of Georgia and its future economic development."
Alina Staskevicius, the president of Georgia Tech’s undergraduate student government, talked to student newspaper the Technique about the possibility of a 77 percent tuition hike.
“I think that, as students, we understand and even anticipate a tuition hike. It’s only logical in a recession that students help sustain the quality of their education…However, it is absurd to see such an increase.”
More from the Technique at the Georgia Institute of Technology
More from the Gainesville Times
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| Issue: Higher Education Affordability |
| Student Apologizes for UC San Diego Noose Incident, Claims No Racist Intent |
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A noose that sparked protests and condemnations across the country began as innocent fun between friends, according to a written apology by the UC San Diego student.
Published Monday in the campus newspaper, the anonymous student’s letter claimed the incident “was not an act of racism,” and that at the time she did not think of it symbolizing lynching. Instead, she said she turned herself in to the police as soon as she learned of the discovery of her “stupid mistake.”
“I know what I did was offensive — regardless of my intentions,” she wrote. “As a minority student who sympathizes with the students that have been affected by the recent issues on campus, I am distraught to know that I have unintentionally added to their pain.”
An editor’s note stated the authenticity of the letter, which was signed “by Anonymous UCSD Student,” was verified using a “reliable source.”
The student claimed she found the rope Tuesday, two days before it was found in the library. She and her friends had played with it throughout that day, jumping rope with it and making a lasso, before one of her friends made the noose. She later took it with her to the library, where she said she forgot it was hanging by her desk until it was found on Thursday night.
Writing to “put a little bit of faith back into the UCSD campus by clarifying that it was not an act of racism,” she said she confessed to police after the discovery because she hoped to temper the reaction over the act by explaining it was not meant to intimidate.
The outrage that followed the incident added onto fury over previous controversies. An off-campus party with a racially offensive theme and the closing of a student television channel for defending the party just a few weeks earlier had already amped up the tensions in the student body.
The student remains suspended and may face hate crime charges pending the investigation by campus police.
More from the Guardian |
| Issue: Social Justice | 1 Comments |
| Noose Found in UCSD Library, Students Rage Across California |
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Hundreds of outraged students across California rallied Friday after security guards found a noose hanging on the seventh floor of the library at the University of California-San Diego Thursday night.
Campus officials said that a female student had come forward to take responsibility for the noose. The student said that she did not think it would be a big deal.
About 300 students protested throughout Friday at UCSD. Hundreds more staged a sit-in in a classroom building at UCLA to express solidarity, where they were addressed by their Chancellor and the Chair of the Afrikan Student Union.
Security guards discovered the noose days after the Black Student Union declared the campus in a racial state of emergency following an off-campus fraternity party on Feb. 15 that flaunted racial stereotypes and mocked Black History Month. Soon after the party, a student television show used racial epithets to demean those who were upset by the party and was shut down by the student government over the broadcast.
Beginning at 8 a.m. PST on Friday, students gathered near the Price Center on the UCSD campus, chanting “Real Pain, Real Action,” reading poetry, and making speeches.
“This is something that matters. This is something that affects all of us," said sophomore Sharon Seegers.
UCSD Chancellor Marye Fox publicly addressed students twice on Friday, assuring protesters that the administration is taking the incident very seriously.
But students were still dissatisfied with the pace of action and moved to occupy the Chancellors office around 1 p.m. A short video of the occupation shows students buzzing with conversation, but behaving calmly.
On Twitter, students posted that classes had been cancelled, and some demanded that the campus be shut down.
The party, billed as the “Compton Cookout,” in an email promised attendants “Dat purple drank,” and told women to come in “ghetto” fashion—“have gold teeth, start fights and drama, and wear cheap clothes.”
The student-produced Koala TV show mocked students angered by the party, and a search in the TV station for footage of the program yielded a piece of cardboard referring to the party as the “Compton lynching.” The president of the Associated Students has since suspended all student media outlets from production, print, or broadcasting—a move that the ACLU, the Center for Campus Free Speech, and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education argue is in violation of the First Amendment.
This past Wednesday, the Black Student Union and other minority students met with the Chancellor on Wednesday and demanded a host of things to improve the racial climate on campus, including a safe space for African American students. Chancellor Fox granted several of the requests on the spot.
Thursday, 1200 students attended a faculty teach-in, with hundreds marching out halfway through to rally across the street.
During one of today’s speeches, Fox grieved through a megaphone.
"This is truly a dark day in the history of this university," she said. "It's abhorrent and untenable."
Authorities are calling the noose a crime “with intent to terrorize.”
More from the San Diego Union Tribune
Video from the Chancellor’s office
Video from the protest
More from the UC Regent Live blog
More from the National Student News Service
More from the LA. Times |
| Issue: Social Justice |
| Riot and Flames at UC Berkeley |
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Flaming trash cans rolled down the street as rioters wreaked havoc in the street early Friday morning, surrounded by officers from five different law enforcement agencies.
About 100 people began the night with a public dance party to raise awareness for the upcoming March 4th National Day of Action to Defend Public Education. Late Thursday night, about 20 of the students dancing in Sproul Plaza moved to occupy Durant Hall. About 50 people then cut a lock to get into an empty construction site, where they broke windows and spray painted graffiti. The UCPD now believes that many of the rioters were not students.
Callie Maidhof, representative for the initial dance party, said that the occupation of Durant Hall had been planned ahead of time. She said that the group did not plan anything that happened after the building occupation. Nonetheless, at 1:41 a.m., rioters moved into the street and broke the window of a Subway sandwich shop.
In the middle of Telegraph Avenue, rioters danced around a stereo blasting from a shopping cart, surrounded by a line of UCPD officers.
Ten minutes later, members of the crowd lit a trash can on fire, shouting “Whose street? Our street!”
Police used batons to push back the crowd so that Berkeley fire personnel could extinguish the fire.
Two Berkeley students, Marika Goodrich, 28, and Zachary Miller, 26, were arrested and booked for inciting a riot and resisting arrest.
Around 2:55 a.m., the crowd moved to a different location off campus, where rioters launched two dumpsters at police officers.
Shortly after, several police cars dispersed the rioters.
About 40 officers were present throughout the night, and two suffered minor injuries.
More from the Daily Cal at the University of California-Berkeley
More from the Washington Post |
| Issue: Higher Education Affordability | 1 Comments |
| New Credit Card Fees Unite Frustrated Cal Poly Students |
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Students are “United for Change” to fight a new policy at the California Polytechnic Institute in Pomona, where students can no longer use debit cards or the Visa credit cards on campus, and are charged a 2.9 percent fee on all other credit card transactions.
The “United for Change” campaign has nine high-profile student leaders voicing concerns over the policy in emails, public statements, planned rallies, and Facebook. The campaign’s members come from diverse backgrounds on campus, including presidents and vice presidents from the Associated Students Inc. (ASI), the Students for Quality Education, the African American Student Center, Campus Crusade for Christ, and the McNair Scholar Club.
But the campaign is fighting for more than the elimination of this policy.
“We are not fighting because the University is increasing fees; in fact we understand the necessity to do so due to California’s budgetary issues,” wrote ASI Vice President Chris Chen on the campaign's Facebook page. “We are fighting because we are sick and tired of the inconsideration and abuse that the university administration has shown towards students.”
The group has asked the administration for more student representation and more transparency in the University’s decision-making process. And because the announcement of the new fees arrived on Feb. 4, weeks before spring quarter began, they also asked to be alerted more in advance when fee increases and other big changes take place.
“Drastic times call for drastic measures,” Chen said. “The [administration] is trying to run the university as a business, but they need to include the students because all they are doing is cutting and cutting.”
Some of the campaign members have been criticized because of their other involvements on campus.
One of the group’s most outspoken members, Richard Liu, is also the president of ASI. Some students and administration staff—even members of Liu’s own cabinet—have expressed their concern over his leading role in the group because of his top position. But Liu and the campaign have made clear that their work is not formally associated with ASI.
Still, Liu said he is representing the students and fighting for their interests as both a member of the campaign and as president. He does not expect to give up either position.
“When I ran for the ASI presidency last year, I promised the students I would fight for their interests,” he said. “One year later, I can proudly say I have been fighting and will continue fighting for them. No matter how much criticism comes, I will keep that promise.”
More from the Poly Post at Cal Poly |
| Issue: Student Governance and Campus Administration |
| Bill Seeks to Protect College Reporters |
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Under a new bill before the Maryland state legislature, student journalists would gain the right to protect their confidential sources’ names and information, a right currently reserved only for "employed" journalists.
The bill, proposed last week by Delegate Sandy Rosenberg (D-Baltimore City), raised few objections from legislators and will be voted on later this year, according to University of Maryland student newspaper the Diamondback.
Under Maryland's current shield law, only "employed" journalists had the right to protect the identity of their sources and can refuse to hand over notes or documents that they had gathered in their reporting. Student journalists doing reporting for journalism classes or working without pay for college newspapers were not protected under the law, according to Sarah Elfreth, a student member of the Board of Regents.
“Under current law, [students] are not afforded the same protection, though they are fulfilling the same function as they might a year later when they are hired to go to work for any of the media providers that are within the existing definition of the statute," said Rosenberg.
If the revised shield law is passed, student journalists who are enrolled at a college or university and are receiving academic credit for their reporting will be protected from revealing their sources. However, not all journalistic reporting by students will be covered by the bill. Bloggers and high school student reporting will not be protected in the legislation, according to Kevin Klose, the dean of journalism at the University of Maryland. The Diamondback Editor-in-Chief Kevin Robillard also questioned whether the new law would apply to student journalists at niche publications like La Voz Latina and Terrapin Times.
Rosenberg said that her motivation for proposing the bill came after county prosecutors in Illinois forced Northwestern University undergraduates working on the Medill Innocence Project to surrender off-the-record notes from their investigations into a murder case.
More from the Diamondback at UMD |
| Issue: Student Media Culture |
| Oregon Opportunity Grant May Get Boost |
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The Oregon legislature is currently debating whether to add more funding to the Oregon Opportunity Grant, a grant that supports students with the most financial need.
Statewide, 43,100 students were awarded grants for this cycle, exceeding the program’s $57 million budget. The state has responded by reducing the amount of each grant--$120 for full-time students and $60 for part-time students.
At Linfield College, one of the top recipients of the grants, a large number of students could see cuts if no additional funding is provided.
"Linfield has among the largest number of Oregon Opportunity Grant recipients of any private college in the state," Dan Preston, dean of enrollment services for the College said. "In several of the past years, Linfield had more grant recipients than any other private colleges."
Three hundred and four Linfield students were awarded the grant for the 2009-10 school-year, but more than $32,000 will be needed to fulfill the awards.
In 2002, Linfield donors, including trustees, alumni, faculty and staff, covered the $90,000 deficit. Last year, the school had to raise $27,000.
Linfield President Thomas Hellie encouraged students to write letters to state representatives asking for additional funding for the grant.
"Without [an] additional allocation this month, the shortfall will be dramatically worse next year, and there is a real danger that scholarships will be reduced or eliminated for some students," Hellie wrote in an e-mail to the Linfield Review, the student newspaper at Linfield.
For students like freshman Crystal Galarza, the legislature's decision could have a huge impact. “Every little bit of financial aid that I receive makes a big difference in me being here,” she said. “I have a lot riding on my education — not just for me, but also for my family.”
More from the Linfield Review at Linfield College
More from the Oregonian |
| Issue: Higher Education Affordability |
| Grad Students Clamor for a Voice at USM |
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Graduate students at the University of Southern Maine are looking to create a student government of their own.
USM’s 1,700 graduate students are not represented by the current undergraduate student government. The closest thing grads have is the Muskie School Organization, a social network and platform for community involvement.
Will Walker, a member on the Muskie School Organization, said the group has been meeting since January to decide how to proceed.
USM is currently restructuring on a large scale, and one of the Graduate Student Government’s (GSG) roles would be to voice grad students’ interests to the administration during that process. They would also fund research and issue grants.
Walker also thinks the GSG will make MSO more efficient.
"For us, having a student government body we can look to represent the grad students at USM can take that off our hands and let us be more effective at the other things that MSO does, things that really only MSO can do," Walker said.
A large majority of grad students are interested in moving forward with the GSG.
In a 2005 survey of 550 USM graduate students, 77 percent of respondents said they had “significant interest in starting a graduate student government,” and 83 percent “[wanted] representation as graduate students,” according to MBA student David Holman, a member of the Muskie School Organization.
"Currently at USM there are more than five committees which are required to have a graduate student member, but can't find one because they don't know who to ask for representatives," Holman said. "This is another area where a GSG would contribute to USM. If graduate students served on committees at USM they would bring a lot of valuable experience into the discussion.”
Students expect it to be at least another year before they draft a constitution and by-laws, get them approved by the Board of Trustees, and run a student body referendum on a new student fee.
More from the Free Press Online at the University of Southern Maine
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| Issue: Student Governance and Campus Administration |
| Alabama Will Keep PACT with Families |
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The Alabama Senate voted unanimously to pay for the 45,000 Prepaid Alabama College Tuition (PACT) contracts that had been in jeopardy amidst state budget woes.
Alabama is one of several states that use the PACT program, in which students and families pay college tuition in advance to pre-empt price inflation. Now, though the majority of their tuition will have already been paid, students with PACT contracts may still face tuition hikes.
With withering state and higher education budgets, lawmakers do not see the 20-year-old program as viable for the future. Richard Huckaby, cofounder and vice president of Save Alabama Pact, said that after this round of payments, “the program as we know it is over.”
For now, the House will have to decide between two bills to fulfill the states existing contracts with payments.
A bill proposed by Sen. Ted Little (D-Auburn) puts no limit on state universities’ ability to raise tuition on students with PACT contracts. Slightly differing legislation by Rep. Craig Ford (D-Gasden) would allow tuition increases of up to 2.5 percent for PACT students.
Universities and Alabama Education Association teachers have lined up on opposite sides of the battle, with the former against tuition restraints and the latter in favor.
Either way, the final bill will pay out at least $236 million over eight years to people who have signed and paid into PACT contracts.
“This is to serve the people who have bought a contract with the state of Alabama regarding the PACT program,” Ford said.
More from the Auburn Plainsman |
| Issue: Higher Education Affordability |
| VA Student Leaders Tell Richmond No More Cuts |
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In an effort to halt higher education budget cuts in Virginia, leaders of student governments from Virginia universities flocked to the State Capitol Thursday to meet with General Assembly members.
Last Thursday was Lobbying Day for Virginia21, a higher education “action-tank,” headquartered in Richmond, VA. Student leaders from all public Virginia universities were invited to the capitol to express their views.
Virginia Tech SGA President Brandon Carroll said state representatives would remember student leaders’ efforts to meet with them.
“They hear so many times from all these different lobbyists on a daily basis,” Carroll said. “They understand that we’re in school. They understand that we have lives, and that we’re driving down here to show them how important this is to us. I think they realize that.”
Over 30 student leaders from Virginia universities met in the halls of the General Assembly building to convince lawmakers to prevent further budget cuts in higher education.
Student leaders also protested a new tax in former Gov. Tim Kaine’s proposed budget plan that would co-opt 5 percent of student auxiliary fee money from each public university to help balance the state’s deficit. Most of the student lobbyists said they were convinced by legislators that it would not pass in the final budget.
“What students need to see, and what we think the legislators have seen, is that it is more of an issue of public trust,” said Steven Jones, executive director of Virginia21.
“The school sends you a bill that says you are paying a $30 computer fee—that is what it should actually go toward. It shouldn’t go to paying down the state deficit.”
More from the Collegiate Times at Virginia Tech University |
| Issue: Higher Education Affordability |
| Hot Dispute Over Racially Charged Art at Princeton |
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The Arab Society of Princeton (ASP) and other students are vocally objecting to a series of collages featuring brutish depictions of Arabs and Muslims. The students are claiming that the artwork reinforces detrimental images of the Middle East in popular culture and reproduces racial stereotypes.
The exhibit “As the World Turns Then & Now” has been on display at the University since Jan. 23. ASP and other students have filed complaints with the University, and expect a meeting with Wilson School Dean Christina Paxson to discuss their concerns. A public artist reception is also scheduled for March 26.
But before any discussion of removing the art, the administration appears to be making space for preliminary dialogue.
“Although the exhibits often provoke thoughtful debate and discussion, it is not certainly our intention to offend,” said Paxson.
According to the plaque in the exhibit by artist Rhonda Wall, the artwork’s goal is to “weave the chaotic destruction and visual beauty of the world into a tapestry of life and hope.” Wall did not respond to student newspaper the Daily Princetonian for comment.
But instead, Sami Yaboudi and Sarah Mousa, current and former president of the Arab Society, respectively, wrote an e-mail questioning “whether the most frequented and prominent area of our school of international affairs should promote such a stunning dehumanization of the Middle East.” They said the art equated the “region, culture and religion with barbarity and violence.”
They described the artwork as “image after image of Arab men with bloodied swords, children with rocket launchers and physically mutilated and oppressed women in full burkas,” and added that such portrayals could jeopardize the security of Muslims and Arabs living in the region.
Although some were concerned the University’s reputation could take a hit for the display, others said it is opening up a much needed space for communication.
“You can’t always seek institutional protection,” said Nour Aoude, who is Lebanese. “Some controversial subjects need to come out, and that’s how you get dialogue.”
Meanwhile, Yaboudi and Mousa are skeptical that real dialogue can take place. They claim that the issue “is not one of free speech.”
“It is easy for those who organized this exhibit from safe and plush offices to cry freedom of speech, but this ‘artwork’ has disastrous consequences for the lives of many in the region,” they said to the Daily Princetonian.
Racial tensions on campuses have often led to questions about censorship and freedom of speech. Currently at the University of California-San Diego, the student government and the student body are embroiled in controversy over the shutting down of all student media outlets following a controversial student TV show that mocked Black History Month.
More from the Daily Princetonian at Princeton University |
| Issue: Social Justice |
| Student Fees for Student Use Only? |
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Tensions are rising at Marshall University's Child Development Academy over who should be able to use the school's daycare center. Some student government members want to restrict the resource to serve only students, and recently asked the Academy to submit a statement on why it should receive student fees.
The Child Development Academy provides childcare services to students, faculty, and alumni of the Marshall University. The Academy serves children from 6 weeks to 5 years of age. It currently serves 96 children.
The Academy is funded by student fees, but Student Body President Sean Hornbuckle contends it does not adequately meet the needs of students. The children of Marshall students make up 65 percent of the Academy’s attendance; most of the other 35 percent are the children of Marshall’s faculty, staff, and alumni.
Marshall students are also charged money for putting their children on the wait list.
The President’s Advisory Committee of the Student Activity Allocations are proposing that if the Academy receives student fees, only Marshall students would be allowed to enroll their children, and that they be allowed to put their children on the waitlist for free.
Academy Director Susan Miller defended the Academy's payment scheme, saying that students pay half price to be on the waitlist, and pay significantly less than faculty, staff and alumni to have their children attend the academy. She also said that the resource is first and foremost offered to students.
“Whenever a spot opens up at the academy, I make sure to call every Marshall student on the waiting list that has a child in the age group that has opened up,” Miller said. “Legally, I can only call the students with a child in that age group because we can only have a certain number of children each age at the academy. After calling all of the students and unsuccessfully finding a replacement, I will then begin to call community members.”
The academy is funded by $156,000 in student fees annually, and also gets money from alumni, faculty, and community member clientele.
Miller noted that without student fees the Academy will have trouble staying afloat. She also asserts that the Academy is valuable to students other than the ones whose children are enrolled there.
“We have Marshall University students who come to the academy to participate in work studies, to be graduate assistants and to work on their capstone projects. Every resident going through pediatrics in the School of Medicine comes to the academy sometime during their studies,” Miller said.
Not all members of the Student Government Association want to cut funding.
"I personally defend the academy," said Matt James, chief of staff for the Student Government Association. "Their purpose is very important to the university.”
The committee is scheduled to meet on Feb. 26, and University President Stephen Kopp will decide if student fees will continue to go towards the Academy.
More from the Marshall Parthenon |
| Issue: Student Governance and Campus Administration |
| Student Senate Promotes Medical Amnesty for Students Aiding Endangered Peers |
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The Notre Dame University Student Senate passed a resolution last week proposing that the University exempt students from disciplinary action if they seek medical attention for another student while breaking a University policy. The rule would most commonly apply to scenarios of underage drinking.
The proposal to give rule-breaking students amnesty while assisting others in need has long been debated by students and administrations around the country.
At Notre Dame, Student Body President Grant Schmidt told student newspaper The Observer that the current policy has deterred students from seeking aid for fear of repercussions.
“The reality of the situation is that there are people out there who have disciplinary records because they have made the choice to help people,” he said to The Observer.
Student Body Vice President Cynthia Weber recounted a survey of the student body on the issue. Over 85 percent of students said that they always or sometimes consider disciplinary consequences they might incur from calling for help to treat a sick friend.
If the University adopts the policy, Residence Life and Housing will no longer pursue disciplinary actions against rule-breaking students assisting others who need medical attention.
The students receiving medical attention would not be covered under the amnesty policy. While student senators debated offering full medical amnesty to all students, they decided that doing so could lead to student abuse of the new policy.
The Student Senate bill does not include an educational requirement for the assisting student, though Residence Life and Housing may still opt to mandate alcohol abuse classes.
President Schmidt said he hoped that the policy would be implemented in the 2010-2011 school year.
More from the Observer at Notre Dame University
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| Issue: Student Governance and Campus Administration |
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