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(02/11/04 12:00pm)
Although the Sesquicentennial Celebration does not officially begin until its opening ceremony next September, the College is hard at work promoting its 150th anniversary and finishing some major projects in time for the 2004-2005 school year.
The countdown to the opening ceremony began on Feb. 9 when the College unveiled a clock that will click down the time until Sep. 8. The countdown is prominently displayed outside of Brower Student Center, where the athletic trophies were once displayed. The clock is surrounded by pictures of the College at various stages of its history.
This semester, the Sesquicentennial Committee is focusing on spreading the news of the College's anniversary to students, faculty, staff, alumni and the community.
"We want everyone on campus to feel like a part of the anniversary," Sue Long, public information officer for the College, said.
According to Long, the committee is hosting several contests to raise awareness of the anniversary and the College's history. The first, which began on Monday, is a "Name the Mascot" contest, in which participants are given a choice of 10 names for the College's Lion mascot. The winning name will be announced at the opening ceremony next year.
The names Linus, Norm, Phelps, Quimby, Rodman, Roscoe, Roy, Trent, Walker and Walt were picked to honor important figures in the College's history. The entrants range from former College presidents to successful coaches to former school names. The most recent honoree is Walter Chambers, who served on the Board of Trustees from 1997 to 2003.
The most unique choice is Linus, the original name for the Lion Mascot. According to the sesquicentennial Web site, "Alumni from the 1960s may still remember the lion as Linus the Lion, but the name has not been used in recent history."
Participants may vote for their favorite mascot name at tcnj.edu/~150years. This Web site also contains the list of events for next year's celebration, and will be updated with more contests throughout the semester.
The opening ceremony of the sesquicentennial celebration will be held on Sep. 8. It will consist of a torch run between the original site of the school on North Clinton Avenue in Trenton and the College.
(02/04/04 12:00pm)
College faculty and staff members showed their holiday spirit in November and December by contributing $32,672 to the 2003 Employees Charitable Campaign.
The Campaign is a state-run program that allows its employees to contribute to charity by taking a one-time deduction from their paycheck, according to Florence Johnson, assistant director of Human Resources.
After the Employees Charitable Campaign receives the donations, it compiles them and sends the money out to the charities.
Vivian Fernandez, vice president for Human Resources, managed the campaign. The College has participated in this program for at least the past 10 years.
This year's total is a substantial increase from the $27,211 raised in 2001, although the College was able to donate $35,020 in 2002.
Participants were able to select the amount of money they wish to contribute.
They were also able to choose which charity would receive their donation.
There are approximately 1,300 charities that receive donations through this program across the state.
Some College faculty and staff members chose to donate money to national organizations such as United Way.
Others chose organizations that work closer to home such as the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK). TASK serves over 2,800 meals per week to people in need in the area.
The Campaign allows the College's Scholarship Fund to be considered a charity, and many of the contributions are sent directly back to the campus.
Faculty and staff members were not the only contributors to the Campaign.
According to Johnson, one intrepid marketing class, taught by Lisa Wolf, adjunct professor of business, raised $1,000 to donate to Womanspace, a local shelter and counseling center for women who are victims of domestic violence or sexual assault.
"It's nice to see the College work to benefit the community," David Nicotesa, early childhood education major, said. "I think it shows that people would give to charity if they knew of convenient ways to do it," he added.
Of the 1,056 full-time employees at the College, 243 contributed the fund.
For 2004, the Office of Human Resources is planning a Fund Walk as an opening ceremony for the fundraiser next October.
-Information from tcnj.edu
(11/11/03 12:00pm)
In light of recent hate incidents on campus, the Progressive Student Alliance (PSA) held a forum on hate speech last Thursday.
Matt Richman, sophomore history major, moderated the discussion, and opened by saying that PSA wants students to "come out and talk about things that have happened on campus that demean or marginalize a group of people." The most recent hate crime on campus occurred three weeks ago when a student found a swastika on her door.
Ellen Friedman, director of the women's and gender studies program, and Richard Kamber, chair of the philosophy department, were invited to speak.
Friedman, author of "Morality USA," addressed many specific examples of hate speech both on and off college campuses, including the case of Nina Wu at the University of Connecticut (UConn).
The university had evicted Wu from her dorm room and banned her from all dormitories and cafeterias because she had posted a list of people who would be shot on sight, including, "preppies, bimbos, men without chest hair, homos."
UConn had a very strong hate speech policy, which prohibits personal slurs or epithets on its campus. After this trial went to court, UConn allowed Wu back into her dorm. The courts decided that the University's policy undermined freedom of speech.
Kamber explained the American Civil Liberties Union's (ACLU) argument for total freedom of speech. Kamber said, according to ACLU, "the best remedy for hate speech is to confront it and to deny it."
Kamber, however, believes that there are some limits on speech. The freedom of speech does not give you the right to commit fraud, perjure oneself or run around naked. He also drew the distinction between public and private speech acts. If a racial slur is used at a rally to describe a large group of people, this is permitted under free speech.
However, if a student on campus uses a racial slur to describe a person they are talking to, this can be considered harassment. Controversial speech acts at the College have ranged from slightly offensive homecoming posters to Stephen White, a pentacostal preacher who caused controversy with his verbal attacks on students of the College last year.
Students agreed that the campus response to hate speech is very positive. Teach-ins and open mic rallies have been held in support of campus unity after separate events of homophobia and anti-Semitism.
Maren Cummings, sophomore philosophy major, said, "There is a really big distinction between TCNJ the institution and the students that make up TCNJ."
While the College condemns attitudes that demean a group of people, students at the College do not always have consideration for others in casual speech. "That's so gay" can frequently be heard while walking across campus, despite its anti-gay undertones.
Some students in attendance questioned Campus Life's posting policy. Currently, all posters or table tents must be approved by Campus Life. Recently, posters which read, "Don't be a sissy," or "Got balls?" were approved, even though they have connotations that could offend some students.
The prevailing sentiment of the forum was that if hate speech has to exist on campus, concerned students should be allowed to speak out against it.
(10/07/03 12:00pm)
The Board of Trustees addressed its reorganization and settled financial matters during its first Fall 2003 meeting on Oct. 2.
The board approved a pay raise for College President R. Barbara Gitenstein based on a satisfactory evaluation of her performance. A 4.5 percent merit increase and a 5.8245 percent equity adjustment, will bring her total salary to $220,000.
Chair Walter Chambers presided over his last meeting of the board.
Chambers, who resigned voluntarily, was a Trustee from 1989-1992 and 1997-2003.
Chambers said, "This has truly been a labor, but one of great love."
Annelise Catanzaro was sworn in to her position as alternate student trustee. This position is a two year term - next year, Catanzaro will become Student Trustee and have voting privileges on the board.
Pat Rado, who had served previously as Vice Chair will now preside as Chair. Robert Gladstone and Bob Kaye will serve as Vice Chair and Secretary, respectively.
The board also approved the Capital Budget Request for the 2005 fiscal year. The total is $45,626,000, with $112,256,000 projected for the seven year term from 2005-2011.
Gitenstein stressed the importance of garnering funds from private donations to cope with cuts in state funding. She hopes the upcoming Sesquicentennial
will help start "durable projects ... which will grow out of the year's success."
The College seeks federal funds, private funds and partnerships to generate revenue.
Bruce Hasbrouk said in the past three years, the College's funding from research grants has increased by 400 percent - from approximately $200,000 to over 1.2 million.
The College is pursuing a partnership with Katzenbach School for the Deaf.
It is conducting an eight-month study to determine whether this partnership is financially feasible.
The amount of money the College has received in research grants is the result of its increasingly positive public image.
Gitenstein announced U.S. News and World Report has cited the College as the No. 1 public institution in the northeastern United States.
The College rose from No. 6 to No. 5 in the northeast for both public and private schools.
The board passed resolutions to appoint new faculty members, change the status of faculty and staff members and appoint graduate assistants.
It also approved salary increases for non-unit employees.
The average salary increase for the workers was 2.08 percent. These increases were merit based.
The board honored Chambers and Patrice Coleman-Boatwright to thank them for their service to the board.
Coleman-Boatwright served as the Secretary to the Board of Trustees from January 2002 to June 2003. She recently became Director of College and Community Relations.
The board presented a resolution to Kevin McHugh, director of athletics, in honor of the achievements of the College's varsity athletic teams.
The accomplishments included national rankings of teams and individuals, exceptional scholarship of student athletes, volunteerism and award-winning coaches.