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(04/29/03 12:00pm)
It wasn't budget cuts that changed the College's master plan for campus construction. Rather, the College had to first settle a dispute with members of the Ewing community who did not want a parking deck built behind the houses on Pennington Road.
"Basically, the township asked us to do two things," Pete Mills, capital planning executive and president of the Trenton State Corporation (TSC), said. "They wanted us to switch the parking garage with the new residence halls and they wanted us to keep the houses on Pennington Road."
The plan initially called for the new parking deck to be built on College-owned property behind the privately owned Pennington houses. This would enable the College to build new student apartments on what is currently Lots 6, 6A and 6B.
Members of the Ewing community organized Ewing Residents Against Campus Expansion (ERACE), in order to voice their opposition to the College's construction around their properties.
The College has now reworked its plan to accommodate the request from the Ewing community and, according to Mills, construction is set to begin around June 1.
"The plan to move that facility to the inside of the campus and the redesign associated with that decision took time and there have been delays," College President R. Barbara Gitenstein said.
According to Mills, the College did not own eight properties in the disputed area when it began planning.
"We didn't own one of the properties; we had to acquire it," Mills said.
The College has now purchased one house and three other properties are under contract, which means that the homeowners have agreed to the price and the sale, but the closing has not yet taken place.
"We should be closing on all of those properties sometime in the next 30 days," Mills said.
By purchasing the properties, the College is able to build the apartments in the requested area. They were also able to move the footprint of the parking garage back so that a new soccer field can be built on what is now Lot 7 and Lot 8.
"We moved the deck back right up against the bleachers of the football field," Mills said.
Once the deck and the apartments begin to go up, the College can focus on the other major items of the master plan: the new Library, Chapel and Event Center. (See Key: Making Sense of the Master Plan for more information.)
Mills was happy with the adjustments that were made so that construction was possible.
"I'm very pleased with the new plan," Mills said. "By reworking this, we've suited all of our needs and came out with an extra field."
- Additional Reporting by Kelly Meisberger, News Assistant
(04/29/03 12:00pm)
Special thanks for all your love, knowledge and support...
to my mom and dad.
to Joseph.
to Caitlin and Marisa - hey, psychogirls, the party's in my room!
to Professor Bob Cole, Professor Kim Pearson and Professor Cathy Day.
to Pete Mills and Bob Wittik, who, unbeknownst to them, made me want to be a journalist.
to Michelle, Pete, Dana, Aaron, cookies, lolipops and reality-based television.
Most importantly, to the greatest staff in Signal history.
to Brian Hershberg (adviser), who saved us time and time again from potentially hazardous dealings with Wal-Mart, please don't ever leave us!
to the Business Office (Dana, Sean, Dave and Rich). Thank you all for putting up with the switch to digital.
to Jaybird, who kept Fun Stuff fun.
to Kelly, who redefined the position of assistant. Somebody give that girl some ketchup, please!
to Matt Fair, aka Richard Dent, aka Fair Bear, aka Your Insolent-ness, and Melissa, Fair Bear Wife #1, who both braved the digital world in order to make a sharper paper.
to Megan, our Quark Goddess, 101.5 and/or ABC is lucky to have you.
to Heather, who wouldn't be able to hear any of the nice things I could say to her; who's the next Cop of the Week? Maybe that's why Pablo was calling (either that or she wrote a nasty cutline about him) and to John Kell (or should I say 'Dear Ben"), I heart the commentary. The Sports section is a credit to you both.
to Kate, who had to endure more than any Opinions Editor should have or has had to endure. Go, Rugby and good luck with that Ari Fleischer thing (invite me to the wedding).
to Matty "what do you need reporters for?" O, whose pictures and Photoshop skills made for a pretty paper.
to Kristen, who wrote the greatest physics opus ever written, make sure that Jeff guy doesn't steal Dent's hammer, O.K.?
to Amy, who loves features, matzoh and house music.and to Kristina, who is evil (and talented, ambitious and smart) - there's some pizza in the garbage with your name on it! Derek Wan would be proud of you both!
to my JBo, how do I love thee? Let me count the smart quotes ...
to Meredith, the Greatest Student Journalist in Ze World (and perhaps, also, the craziest).
and to Amanda, my crackerjack partner in print, one half of what is perhaps the best matched ME/EIC duo ever (did we fight once this whole semester?), good luck next year. Maybe if you work hard enough, they'll let you be Managing Editor. (Hey, a girl can dream!)
If I have anything thing to say that sounds like advice it's this - just because someone says that you can't do it, doesn't mean it is impossible. All of you - your desire, your ambition, you truly uncanny ability to work together as a team - taught me that. Thank you. Now about my surprise party ...
The Signal Underground Vol. 1 was produced by Jeanine Skowronski, Editor in Chief.
It was recorded in the basement of the student center from January 27 to April 29, 2003.
This disc is dedicated to the memory of Celia Skowronski, strong and beautiful, now dancing up in heaven.. I love you and I'll miss you.
(04/29/03 12:00pm)
The College will not go forward with the Carte Blanche food program next year, according to Karen Roth, director of Auxillary Services, and Toni Pusak, assistant director of Auxillary Services.
Carte Blanche is an all-you-can-eat dining option that was tested by Sodexho, the College's meal service provider, this past February. Although Sodexho and Auxillary Services received positive feedback on the new program, they feel that they need more time to ensure successful change.
"To implement at the beginning of next year, it was just not the right time," Roth said. "There were too many specifications and too many things that we wanted to involve the students in where we would not have the time to do this the way that we wanted to do it."
According to Roth, Auxillary Services will spend this summer taking "a critical look at specifications."
"Specifications" involve, for example, what type of poultry to use and the number of items to include in a salad bar. Once they have looked at everything, Roth said "we will sit down and start writing the proposals."
"We want to develop our program not based on one institution or one company, but really everything we have learned throughout this two-year process," she said.
Chris Portera, former SGA president, which was heavily involved in getting student feedback on the program, supported the delay.
"I was under the impression that we were going forth with the system, or at least that that was the intention," Portera said. "My concern was that the process had been a little rushed, so hearing (Auxillary Services) say 'no, we want to make sure we are doing this right,' is comforting."
He added, "this is something where good things come to those who wait."
Brian Mulvihill, SGA food liason, said, "I was disappointed, actually, that they weren't following through with it for next year, but I am glad that they are planning on developing it for 2004-05."
"I suppose that it was sort of rushed," Mulvihill added. "All of this was put together in five or six weeks of this semester. Had we started working on the program earlier, it might have been ready for next year."
According to Roth, the College plans to continue to involve students in the program's development.
Pusak said that they have met with the SGA and the Residence Hall Association.
We want to give students the program that they want," Roth said. "We also want it to be high quality and we know what we have seen and we know what is out there."
(04/15/03 12:00pm)
Bill Cosby made audiences laugh - and cry - when he appeared at the College last Friday as part of the Celebration of the Arts series.
Cosby, who performed twice (at 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.), opened both shows with a tribute to Fred Rogers, a close friend of his who died in late February 2003. The Rogers tribute doubled as an opportunity for Cosby and his audiences to pay homage to the troops in Iraq.
"We pray for (the soldiers) to come home safely and vertically," Cosby said. He then asked the audience to listen to Marion Anderson's version of the "Ave Maria" and to focus their attention on an empty chair in the middle of the stage.
"This chair symbolizes all of those who are no longer with us," Cosby said. "but I don't want you look at this chair and be sad. I don't want you to think about sad things. Instead, think of the good things about the people who are not here."
His memorial impacted many people in attendance.
"I thought that the Mr. Rogers tribute was very noble of him," Dave White, senior history/secondary education major, said. "It might have seemed a little long, but I think that what he said - about thinking good things about our loved ones - really gave people a chance to do that and to realize that maybe we don't do that all too often."
"I thought it was very touching to see that he cared so much about his friend," Peter Dolcy, senior history/elementary education major, said. "It was a nice, unexpected addition to the show."
Cosby followed his tribute with close to two hours of comedy that was well-received by the large audiences of students, faculty, alumni and Ewing residents.
"I really enjoyed his style," Jessica Rotino, College alumnus who drove from Belleville, N.J. to see the show, said. "His comedy parodies day-to-day life. I could see my mother or father doing a lot of things that he was joking about."
"I thought he was very funny," Dolcy said. "I had no idea that I could laugh so hard at humor that wasn't dirty."
Cosby used different material in each performance. The 6 p.m. performance centered on marital life; the second show poked fun at college life. Both shows proved that Cosby . well, he says the darndest things. Here are some highlights:
On our generation: You have your girlfriends and your boyfriends and the people you call friends that you're kissing. When I was growing up, you really told people "this is my girlfriend. This is the person that I am sucking lips with."
On the elderly: There are no perverted old people.
On incongruity: Diamonds are a girl's best friend. Man's best friend is his dog.
On the difference between men and women: To a guy, a heel is a heel. It belongs on the back of a shoe. You don't hear a guy say "where did you get the heel from? (pauses and carries on mock conversation) Where did you get that sweat sock?! Women do things like that.
On being the head of house: I was sitting at the dinner table and my daughter was over here and my son, over here and my wife was across from me. And I thought to myself "If I wasn't working, these people would have me killed."
On the battle of the sexes: The woman is gonna win. They're gonna win. You know how they win. They say "I don't want to talk about it anymore." Then they slam about 40 doors so you can't find them.
On the Boy Scout Motto: My wife asked me "what are you thinking about?" and I wasn't prepared. Because I wasn't thinking about anything. And she will never believe that you were thinking about nothing. So you learn to be prepared. "What are you thinking about?" "Oh . just bout how to build a railroad."
On his golden rule: All you men have to understand is, after awhile, just stop fighting so hard. It's worthless. (Your wife) is not your friend. Because you can talk to your friend. You can't talk to her. And your wife will tell you that. She'll say "you can't talk to me like that!" Well, then, you're not my friend!
(04/01/03 12:00pm)
College president R. Barbara Gitenstein said that tuition and fees will increase next year as a result of the recent state budget cuts. The size of this increase, however, is unknown as the cabinet, according to Gitenstein, is currently looking at ways to limit expenditures.
"There will be an increase in tuition," Gitenstein said. "We just don't know the size of it, because we want to find out what kind of expenditure cuts we can make without damaging (the student's) health and safety and the academic core."
According to Gitenstein, current planned expenditure cuts include consolidating administrative and staff positions, reorganizing cabinet positions and re-delegating responsibilities "across the board" in order to save salary dollars.
In addition to these cuts, the College will postpone the completion of the Student Information System (SIS). SIS is the upgrade in computing software, which would have replaced The Electronic Student Services (TESS).
"We will do it," Gitenstein said. 'but we won't do it this year."
The College also plans to save money by delaying maintenance projects that are not a threat to campus safety and security.
'We are also looking at other things to try to cut as much as we can for the operating budget," College treasurer Barbara Wineberg said. "We are very carefully going through the entire budget to see if there are any programs that are nice to have, but are not necessary."
"As we move into the next steps, there are just not a lot of good choices," Gitenstein said. "It is my job to make priority decisions. I won't cut across the board, the reason being is that that guarantees mediocrity."
Gitenstein said that she will find a way to provide the scholarship money that has already been promised to the 2003 incoming freshmen class. This money was originally provided by the Outstanding Student Recruitment Program (OSRP), which is no longer state funded.
She also said that the College is expected to make up the discrepancy associated with the Tuition Assistant Grant (TAG) program, which provides grant money for the College's neediest students.
'We would have done that anyway," Gitenstein said.
Gitenstein pointed out that the budget cuts are not exclusive to the College.
"Absolutely understand that this is not happening just to TCNJ," she said. "This is happening to all higher education institutions in the state. We are not being particularly targeted."
In early February, Gov. Jim McGreevey proposed a ten percent cut in state aid to all N.J. colleges and universities. Under McGreevey's proposal, institutions of higher education in the state are expected to lose about $101 million in aid. (See sidebar for a breakdown on how the budget increases specifically affect the College).
"Despite all of this news, I am still committed to advocating for restitution," Gitenstein said. "Until June 30, I will be arguing for greater investment in higher education."
Gitenstein said that the College has delayed a lot of its discussions due to the indefinite nature of the cuts on both a statewide and a campus level. Consequently, theBoard of Trustees will hold its yearly tuition hearing in June.
"Usually we hold (the tuition hearing) in April," Gitenstein said. "We simply cannot do that this year because I wouldn't have the numbers to give you and it wouldn't be a real tuition hearing."
Instead, Gitenstein said, she and Weinberg will conduct a budget presentation at the April 24 Board of Trustees meeting, the tuition hearing will be held in the middle of June and tuition issues will be finalized at the end-of-June Board meeting.
(03/04/03 12:00pm)
I have no political affiliation. Whatsoever.
I am not a liberal. I am not a conservative. Honestly, for the most part, I try not to think about politics. Not because I don't care; not because I'm stupid. More, because it frightens me. (Ignorance is bliss. Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so - pick a clich?, I don't care. Make it work for you.)
I may not be inclined to think about politics. I am, however, a person inclined to understand things, and, to put it simply - I don't get our current situation with Iraq.
Last week, I caught the evening news. Admist the weather updates and the local crime stories, the station broadcasted a clip of George W. Bush. He was talking about his favorite person, Saddam Hussein. "He tried to kill my dad," Bush said. At this point, I was taken aback.
You hear the rumors; you see the parodies. This was real. Those words actually came out Bush's mouth. (As Matthew Fair, one of The Signal's production managers, put it: "the man makes satire obsolete.") This was when I thought, "our president is a chimpanzee. This country is being run by monkeys."
Do you know how the 1968 "Planet of the Apes" ends?
Journalism tends to make you cynical. Hell, everything these days tends to make you cynical. When Bush was elected (and I use that term loosely), a lot of people were running for the border - Alec Baldwin, Eddie Vedder. Friends of mine were in tears. Honestly, I thought it couldn't be that bad. Now I am thinking "maybe I was wrong."
Still, let's, for a moment, put cynicism aside. Reduce the argument to the bare bones minimum.
Someone, please, just tell me, why should we go to war with Iraq?
Cut out the conservatives' personal vendettas. Forget about how Saddam Hussein treats his people. Spare me the liberals' sarcastic remarks - don't tell me "this is about oil; this is about money." I don't need another speech about the politics of re-election.
Explain to me, as if I were a two-year-old, why things need to be this way. I don't want to hear the aforementioned excuses.
Give me a reason.
(02/25/03 12:00pm)
The President's Day Blizzard interrupted cable services at the College from Monday, Feb. 17 to mid-morning Wednesday, Feb. 19. Many students were angered by the amount of time it took for the cable to be repaired.
"I was pissed off," Nicole Kukawski, freshman secondary education English major, said. "I think it's absurd that the cable was out for two full days."
Brad Coburn, manager of Communication Technologies, said that the duration of the disruption was a result of the closing of administrative offices to the State-of-Emergency.
'There was no way anyone could have fixed the problem between 4 a.m. Monday and when the College re-opened on Tuesday," Coburn said.
"I, or a member of my staff, would have to had come to campus, determine that a problem existed, determine the source and possibly dispatch a call to Comcast," he added.
According to Coburn, the source of the disruption was a blown fuse in the equipment that connects the College to Comcast's service.
By 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, a Comcast repairman fixed the fuse and cable service was restored.
Coburn said that Communication Technologies is currently looking for ways to prevent long interruptions in cases such as the blizzard.
"We are considering how we can redistribute some responsibilities to staff who are available on campus for situations where administrative staff are unavailable on campus," Coburn said.
"I recognize the loss of cable service was an inconvenience to students and especially given the weather and isolating conditions," he added. "I also apologize that we were unable to address the situation more quickly."
Some students were angered by the interruption in general.
"I think the way the College handled the cable problem was simply ridiculous and unacceptable," Ryan McCabe, freshman English major, said.
"I was mad because I wanted to watch 'Joe Millionaire.' I was waiting all week for it," Lauren Ross, freshman elementary education major, said.
She added, "I also wanted to know if we were still in a State-of-Emergency and when the snow was going to stop."
"We needed to watch the finale of Joe Millionaire," Meredith Hagan, freshman open options major, said. "We offered to pay our friend $10 for his little TV. There were 10 of us crowded around a two-and-a-half inch TV. We were extremely mad."
According to Coburn, all cable problems should be reported to the Information Technology Help Desk by calling x2660.
"The staff there are very knowledgeable and many times can assist in resolving the issue over the phone," he said. "The majority of the repair work is done by TCNJ staff."
- Additional Reporting by Kelly Meisberger, News Assistant
(02/25/03 12:00pm)
The President's Day Blizzard closed down two of the College's four main dining halls last Monday.
Due to the State-of-Emergency, only Eickhoff Hall, which was closed from 3:00 p.m to 6:00 p.m., was opened to students.
"In instances, such as (the blizzard), our Number One commitment is to get Eickhoff up and running," Joe Ganci, resident district manager for Sodexho, the College's food service provider, said.
"I made the decision to close the facility from 3-6," Ganci added. "At that time, we could not make anymore food. We had to clean up. We had to restock. We only had six people, who were doing everything they could, but they couldn't do everything at once."
According to Ganci, over 90 percent of Sodexho employees rely on public transportation, meaning that, in a State-of-Emergency, the majority of employees are unable to get to work.
On the President's Day Blizzard, only six people were able to make it to the College.
"We had three managers here who never went home. They stayed here for three days straight," Ganci said.
Ganci said that Sodexho handled the lack of employees by "paring down what we offer." "We have enough food to serve everyone for a week," Ganci said. Ganci said that being unable to open the dining halls hurts everyone involved.
"We lose business, (students) are unhappy," Ganci said. "We make sure we get in here. We make sure we get the doors open and I think we did pretty well for what we had to work with."
According to Courtney Ashe, junior secondary education/history major, "it was a pain in the ass, but I live above Commons, so it could have been worse."
"I was impressed that all managers down there were cooking. The fact that we had food at all was definitely positive," she added.
(02/25/03 12:00pm)
Life is hard. Life's a bitch and then you die. Life gives you lemons. Life is wasted on the living. Don't take life seriously, because you can't get out of it alive.
Fine, good. Life sucks. I get it. I accept it. No big deal. What really infuriates me is the fact that things (people, technology, entities, etc.) designed to make our lives easier actually end up making our lives 10 times harder.
Perhaps this is best illustrated with examples. Here begineth my rant:
Snow days: You may be thinking "school's out," but then comes the catch - it is 10 times harder to accomplish something when there is three feet of snow on the ground.
It's more difficult to get anywhere. It's more difficult to eat. Plus, you still have to do the work that was due the day that class was out. And the snow looks ugly. And it ruins my pants.
ATMs: Instant money? More like instant headache. You can get your money out of these machines if they are working - and at the College, more often than not, they are not working. And, let's face it, ATMs are the banks' favorite way to rip you off. MAC it at the supermarket (heh, heh) and randomly get charged nine dollars. MAC it too much and you owe your bank crazy amounts of money.
ATMs plus three feet of snow.- think about that, people. Think about that and cry.
Automated Phone Operators: These days it's not just 1-800 numbers - every (every, every!) corporate phone line is automated. "If you want to do something that has nothing to do with the reason that you are calling, press one ..." Um, excuse me, I don't want to "press one." I want to talk to a freaking human being! Especially since "pressing one" will not in solve my problem and/or, worse yet, will take me to another automated menu that is equally as useless.
Credit cards: I don't even think that I have to write anything to explain this one.
TESS: Trite, but true. Records and Registration may try to convince you otherwise, but the fact remains - TESS doesn't like you. TESS wants you to get closed out of all of your classes. TESS wants to hide your holds from you until the last possible second that you will have to run across campus in your pajamas to pay off a $200 parking ticket that you didn't even know that you had. TESS has no intention of helping you out. I'd tell you to call ASTRO, but he doesn't care about you either.
Here endeth my rant. Come back next week. By then I will have thought of some more things that bother the hell out of me.