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(04/30/08 12:00pm)
At the April 23 meeting, the Student Government Association (SGA) discussed problems with Trayless Tuesdays.
SGA members said the student body has been expressing concerns about Trayless Tuesdays and the inconvenience it causes.
"The average student cares if they have to carry extra things," Mike Peters, senator of Culture and Society, said. "It's just a hassle. They don't care that we're saving money."
In response, Joanna Hower from Sodexo/Dining Services sent an e-mail to the SGA subcommittee on student services, which was read aloud. In it, Hower said, "(Trayless Tuesdays) is not a big bad Sodexo trying to save money."
Hower explained that Sodexo does not save any money on Trayless Tuesdays since the company does not pay the water bill. She said only the College and the students benefit since the water bill would decrease. She also said students would have a heightened awareness of what they put on their plate, so food waste would be reduced.
According to Hower, in a two-hour period, workers scrape about 221 pounds of wasted food. On the last Trayless Tuesday, this amount was decreased by about 40 percent. Also, since R. Barbara Gitenstein, president of the College, asked for a "greener campus," this is something that has been requested by the College.
In response to the e-mail, SGA members gave feedback on how to improve Trayless Tuesdays and offered alternatives to it. Some suggestions included using biodegradable trays, being "trayless" only during lunch or breakfast or composting wasted food.
Other SGA members expressed issues they have with Sodexo. One member said it is unfair students have to use points at night when less food is available. Others were concerned with workers not using gloves when cooking the food and their impoliteness.
During the meeting, SGA announced it will be sponsoring a luau on May 5 on the Travers/Wolfe beach. There will be T-shirt tie-dying, hamburgers, hot dogs and free music. Eight other organizations will sponsor different activities.
(04/23/08 12:00pm)
The Student Government Association (SGA) approved club status for two new organizations at its April 16 meeting.
Supporting our Troops Reaching Those Overseas Now and Going (STRONG), is a club dedicated to showing appreciation of the troops serving abroad. They will send letters and care packages to show troops that they are grateful for their service.
Melissa Hoydis, freshman elementary education/English major, said that in the past week, STRONG sent out 50 letters to soldiers abroad. With the new club status, they will be able to expand the support network to other clubs and publicize their cause.
"We need to voice that (the College) does remember our troops that support us," she said.
The other approved club, the international business association (IBA), will provide an outlet for international business majors to talk about business issues.
It plans to have speakers, interest sessions for prospective students, a trip to the United Nations and social events for members so international business majors can reach out to each other.
"For international business majors, there isn't a set job. This club will help them learn about what options they have after graduation," Katie McShane, freshman international business major, said.
Some SGA members expressed concern that there are already several clubs for business majors and another one is just unnecessary.
However, others said international business is very different from general business and since IBA is a club the dean of the School of Business has endorsed, it should be approved.
SGA also approved the Student Financial Board's proposed budget for the next school year.
(04/16/08 12:00pm)
The Student Government Association (SGA) passed a resolution calling for an increase in the Student Activities Fee (SAF) for the 2008-2009 school year. After the resolution was tabled for further discussion and a vote at the previous week's meeting, it passed with only four votes against it at the April 9 meeting.
Leo Acevedo, Student Finance Board executive director, provided clarification on the outline for the allocation of the SAF funds. The latest draft of the plan called for an $80 increase in SAF, not $60, which is what he presented at last week's meeting. According to this plan, students would pay $223 a year for the SAF portion of their bill, instead of the current fee of $143.
The $80 increase would be used to fund a Sovereign Bank Arena concert, two large concerts at the College, comedy shows, a Saturday "loop," movie nights, insurance for club sports teams, carnivals and weekly bus trips.
The resolution again met with division among SGA members.
Many agreed that more programs were needed on campus to attract potential students to the College and to make the school more enjoyable for current students. Adding concerts, comedy shows, and various events on weekends would also challenge the College's reputation as a "suitcase school."
"It's actually one of the lowest fees we pay. This increase is not that big in terms of what we pay for what we are going to get out of it," Sheil Naik, senator of Business, said.
Others felt that increasing the SAF by 50 percent in one year was too much of a burden on students, especially in the face of already increasing tuition, and that it was unfair to those who do not attend events on campus.
"Why can't we ask people to pay more for a ticket? Why charge 5,000 students for a concert that only 300 people go to? It doesn't make sense," Mike Peters, senator of Culture and Society, said.
After receiving SGA support, the draft for the increase in SAF will now be debated and voted on by the Board of Trustees.
SGA also gave the Foundation for the International Medical Relief of Children (FIMRC) club status. FIMRC is a national non-profit organization that recruits college students from all majors to work in clinics around the world. The College chapter will raise donations to send supplies to these clinics and send students overseas during breaks.
The club was approved with a unanimous vote.
(04/09/08 12:00pm)
The Student Government Association (SGA) tabled a resolution to increase the Student Activity Fee (SAF) at its April 2 meeting after heated debate.
Student Finance Board (SFB) executive director Leonardo Acevedo presented the reasons behind the increase and an outline of where the money would be spent.
Currently, every student pays $71.50 each semester for a total of $143 a year toward SAF. This amount has increased about $7-$10 every year for the past three years except for this year, when it did not increase at all. According to the new plan as outlined by Acevedo, SAF would increase about $60 for the following school year.
"This fee is controlled by the student and will go back to the student," Acevedo said.
With the increase in SAF, next year's major events would include two large concerts, four comedy shows, weekly bus trips, adding a Saturday "loop," movie nights and carnivals.
Due to inflation, Acevedo said it would be impossible to maintain these events with the funding currently in place. SFB would have to change food policies at events, limit funding to sports and eliminate conferences.
The plan to increase SAF met with a divided response. Many SGA members wanted to know how SFB could ensure the money would actually go to these events. Jenna Klubnick, student trustee, had questions about where the funds that were generated by the last increase in SAF were used.
"At the end of last year, the SAF went up $10 in order to fund the UV Latenighters in TW. But come this year, we never saw them," she said.
However, Matthew Daley, freshman class vice president, said this increase in the fee affects his class the most because the freshman class will have to pay it for the next three years.
"I would be willing to face a $60 increase if it means getting so much more done and better events," he said.
At one point during the discussion, Michael Peters, senator of Culture and Society, made a motion to have a closed debate. This motion would have forced all non-SGA members to leave the room, including the SFB members who were sitting in the audience.
There were not enough votes for the motion to pass but SFB members still walked out of the room in spite of executive president Christine Cullen's emphasis on the debate not being a personal issue.
After Acevedo reentered the room, the resolution on increasing SAF was tabled until today so that further debate and a more specific list on the allocation of SAF funds could be presented.
SGA also passed a bill to amend the election bylaws for a student wishing to run for an SGA position.
According to the new procedure, if a potential candidate was previously convicted and impeached, the candidate must appeal to the elections committee before becoming a candidate again.
Adding this extra step to the election process initially caused some division among SGA members.
Jasen Sood, senator at-Large, said the decision to elect student leaders was up to the student body.
"Regardless of what they've done in the past, we need to let voters decide," he said.
Both Trish Krug, senator at-Large, and Sami Carrick, senator of education, said it was important for SGA to stand by decisions it had made. Since the public was not as informed and did not know all of the facts on why a former member was impeached, SGA needed to place a safeguard in order to protect the student body, they said.
Most SGA members agreed with Krug and Carrick and the bill passed with a majority of votes.
(04/02/08 12:00pm)
For students who were searching for an outlet to get involved in international issues, a recent speaker who came to the College provided them with an opportunity to on March 25.
Cheryl Noble, director of Student Ministries for the International Justice Mission (IJM), presented a talk about this human rights agency and how to get involved in it. The Protestant Bible Fellowship, the New Jersey Christian Fellowship, the Progressive Student Alliance and the Presbyterian Reform Campus Ministries sponsored the talk, which was followed by a Q-and-A session.
IJM, headquartered in Washington, D.C., has 14 offices around the world. It started up 10 years ago thanks to Gary Haugen, a lawyer in the Department of Justice who was put in charge of the investigation into genocide in Rwanda.
Haugen became distraught because of the situation in Rwanda and founded IJM to respond to the growing need for people to stand up against slavery, genocide, sexual abuse and other forms of oppression.
The agency has since become a helping hand for exploited people around the world, fighting injustice by rescuing victims, providing aftercare to them, prosecuting perpetrators and bringing change to communities in which injustices occurred.
"Students have power," Noble said.
In her talk, Noble showed several videos of various cases IJM has worked on. The videos showed footage shot with an undercover camera by an IJM official who was gathering evidence to prosecute the perpetrators of crimes. The videos illustrated the stories of a slave in India, young girls forced to work in brothels in Cambodia and a Kenyan citizen who experienced severe police brutality. All of these victims were aided by IJM.
IJM's casework mainly relates to slavery, police abuse, illegal detention, forced child prostitution and sexual violence. Noble said there are about 27 million slaves and 1 million new victims of child prostitution each year. In the developing world, about 40 percent of girls are raped or sexually assaulted and 50 to 85 percent of prisoners are in jail with no charges brought against them or trials, she said.
"When she said that there are 27 million slaves around the world, I was so shocked. I thought slavery had been mostly done with a long time ago. But it makes me realize how much oppression there is out there and how much I need to be educated about it," Maria Florida, sophomore nursing major, said.
During her senior year of college, Noble interned with IJM for one semester and then, as a graduate, proceeded to travel around the world as an advocate for the oppressed. She urged students to become passionate about bettering other people's lives and seeking justice for victims of oppression around the world.
"Students have passion and take risks," Noble said. "Think about the power you have now. At the least, you can get the word out."
Emphasizing the importance of educating and inspiring young people, Noble provided information on internships students can complete with IJM for either a semester or summer. For more information, visit ijm.org.
(03/26/08 12:00pm)
For members of the Progressive Student Alliance (PSA), March 19 was a day for black armbands and anti-war chants as they took to the campus with pickets in hand to mark the fifth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq.
A "speak-out" was just one of the events PSA and the department of History sponsored on the fifth anniversary of the Iraq War. The day began with PSA members handing out hundreds of black armbands with the number "5" painted on them. Protesters on college campuses across the nation wore them to remind the public that it has been five years since the war began.
"The armbands provoke conversation. People ask why we are wearing an armband with a five on it. They don't realize how long it (the war) has been going on. A lot of people are against the war, but they just don't know how to show it," Chris Hohmuth, PSA president, said.
Equipped with anti-war signs and the armbands, approximately 20 protesters marched around campus chanting "One, two, three, four, end this unjust war."
The demonstration reached the residence halls and concluded at the student center, where the speak-out began. PSA members and other students shared personal stories and opinions about why they oppose the war.
They were joined by a faculty member. Richard Kamber, professor of philosophy, took the stage, presenting what he called "the outline of the answer" to the question of how to pull out of Iraq while leaving it a stable nation.
"The outline of the answer is to have ... the widest possible international cooperation," Kamber said. "This needs to be a worldwide project."
But not all was peaceful during the demonstration. While a PSA member was speaking on stage about his opposition to the war in Iraq,an alumnus circled around the stage while eating a sandwich and shouting pro-war remarks like "This war will not end," and "You made up those statistics."
He then proceeded to have a heated argument about the war with several PSA members, which escalated into insults and name-calling. The alumnus then threw his sandwich and chips at Matt Hoke, sophomore history major, and pushed Hohmuth, who pushed back.
While several students tried to ease tensions and calm both parties, a verbal altercation over opposing positions on the war continued between the alumnus and Hoke, Hohmuth and Randy Reali, senior biomedical and mechanical engineering major.
Campus Police was called and PSA members told one officer they were being verbally assaulted and had to defend themselves. They also said the alumnus was looking to fight someone and that they just wanted him to be removed from the student center.
The police officers then led the almunus and those involved in the altercation to Campus Police headquarters.
After the confrontation, the remaining PSA members took to the stage to apologize for the incident but also warned that what had just happened was a prime example of what is wrong with the country today and that fighting about the war in this manner does not resolve anything.
"We need to go back to kindergarten," Reali said.
"Even 5-year-olds know that you don't need to kick down other people's blocks to make your own block tower," he said.
Hoke performed an anti-war rap he had written while another student shared a story about his brother who was sent to Iraq after he had joined the Army to pay off college loans.
Kate Whitman, sophomore English major, said it is the bureaucrats in Washington who are at war with the Iraqi people, not the American public.
"While we are pouring our money into Iraq, there are a million other better places the money can go," she said.
Others agreed that the money going to Iraq is financially burdening for American citizens.
Greg Marino, junior history major, warned, "Our children and grandchildren will be paying for this war."
"We will be in debt for a long time because of it," he said.
(03/05/08 12:00pm)
Christopher M. Finan, president of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression, presented his talk, "Free Speech in America: How Long Can We Keep It?" on Feb. 7.
The lecture, which was sponsored by the College American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the New Library and the offce of Academic Affairs, was held in the library auditorium and was followed by a short Q-and-A session.
Finan, who received his doctorate in history from Columbia University, has been a long-time advocate of free speech and a strong voice in battling censorship in the United States. He presented the history of censorship from the time of the Founding Fathers to post-Sept. 11 America.
"In the 21st century, we have seen a free speech revolution," Finan said. "Free speech has come from a point where it had no protections to a time where there are considerable safeguards placed on it."
Finan said the Founding Fathers wrote the First Amendment into the Constitution, but the right to free speech was never upheld. It did not become a main issue for the American public until World War I, when the government suppressed criticism of the war by banning magazines and publications, imprisoning people who petitioned the war and even prosecuting people who protested. In 1919, not long after the war ended, the fight for free speech began with the formation of the national ACLU.
This fight has continued into the present day, a time when the country is deeply fearful of the threat of terrorism from abroad, which is reminiscent of the atmosphere during the first and second Red Scares. Finan warned that civil liberties are overlooked when the security of the country is threatened. For this reason, the fight for free speech is one he fears is endless.
Finan predicted that "the fight for free speech will continue."
It has not been a long and progressive line, but rather a series of peaks and dips, he said.
He cautioned that freedom can be taken away and it is the responsibility of the public to continue the fight against censorship.
He ended with his favorite quote by federal Judge Learned Hand: "Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women. When it dies there, no Constitution, no law, no court can save it."
He also presented students with insight into new issues in censorship that Finan and others have been fighting, like the U.S.A. PATRIOT Act. Many people do not realize that free speech is still being limited by government legislation.
"Christopher Finan coming to the College has made me rethink what it means to have free speech and how easily we can lose it," sophomore Spanish and communication studies major Gabi Saraceno said. "Yes, we have made a lot of progress in achieving free speech in America, but we, as the public, still have work to do."
(02/27/08 12:00pm)
A presentation given by two executive board members of the Biology Teachers Association of New Jersey (BTANJ) on Feb. 21 provided students with insight into how to stay connected in teaching.
The biology department sponsored the talk on networking by Bunny Jaskot and Sharon Weiss of BTANJ that offered resources for students interested in studying education.
The lecture emphasized the importance of joining national organizations and attending conferences for students who are getting prepared to go into the education field.
"Get connected," Jaskot said. "Once you get connected, the excitement of interacting with people like you hooks you. You can exchange ideas and gain new perspectives."
"Especially in the sciences where research and knowledge is always changing, you need to stay connected to remain updated," Weiss said. "You need to excite your students. You need to be role models for them."
The program was arranged by a College alumnus, Rich Durso, who is now on the executive board of BTANJ and teaches biology at Hackensack High School. Durso wanted to come back to his alma mater to help students by utilizing the connections he had made.
He told students that getting an education from the College has been highly beneficial for him.
"I learned at the College what science is supposed to be. Now, I portray that to my students," Durso said.
"The cooperating teacher at the fourth grade class that I teach in said that the way to get a job in a good district is through knowing people," Kristina Avisado, early childhood education major, said.
"Ms. Jaskot and Ms. Weiss definitely enforced that and actually showed me how to do it," she added.
"I didn't think about networking before in education. It really depends on who you know. And where the presenters came from was helpful and the people they know is helpful," Irene Ning, junior physics/secondary education major, said.
For further information on resources for education students, visit btanj.org.