47 items found for your search. If no results were found please broaden your search.
(04/08/03 12:00pm)
Since Cathy Day, chair of the College's creative writing program, joined the English department faculty, she has hoped to offer students a more comprehensive creative writing program. This goal has now been realized, and the new creative writing minor goes into effect next fall.
In the past student writers have only had a single Creative Writing course, a requirement for English majors offered by the English department.
"We wanted to, rather than make everyone take one class, offer writers the opportunity to go through an entire program," Day said.
The minor was approved by the English department and the Culture and Society Curriculum Committee last month. While final approval from the Provost is still pending, Susan Albertine, dean of the school of Culture and Society, has given the go-ahead for students to begin registering for new courses in the minor, according to Day.
Courses being offered in the fall include the 206 Creative Writing, which will be taught by Day and Frank Hannold, English professor.
Catie Rosemurgy, professor of English, will teach the 304 Poetry Workshop.
In addition to these, two new classes will be offered: a 288 Contemporary Literature class taught by Day, and Rosemurgy's 301 Writing Communities class.
"One hallmark of any good writing program is visiting writers," Day said. "In Catie's class, students will help pick the writers who come to the College. It will give them great art administration skills."
However, some confusion has been created surrounding these classes, as the classes on The Electronic Student Server (TESS) have differing prefixes.
"Records and Registration wanted new prefixes for English courses, because we were running out of prefixes," Day said. "We came up with Writing (WRI), which is what some of the 206 Creative Writing courses are listed under."
In addition to two sections of Creative Writing, Writing Communities and Poetry Workshop will be listed under the WRI prefix.
Since Creative Writing is a requirement for English students, and generally difficult for non-English majors to get in to, one section, 206-02, is being set aside exclusively for people interested in the minor. Admission into this section is by permission of the instructor only.
"We want to make sure everyone knows about this program," Day said. "We want to find interested students wherever we can. This minor might be perfect for someone, but as a biology major, they wouldn't necessarily know about it."
(04/01/03 12:00pm)
The beginning of 2002 was a dark time. My then favorite Internet comedy site, the Brunching Shuttlecocks, was stagnating. It would be weeks between updates, and there was a growing dearth of humor in my life. My friends and I, alike, become moody and dissatisfied with life. One fateful afternoon, however, all of this changed.
Brunching put a link up on its Web site that took us to a strange cartoon of a bizarre shirtless wrestler named Strong Bad who was answering fan mail. And so our love affair with Homestar Runner began.
The entirely Flash animated site revolves around the misadventures of Homestar Runner and friends, a group of vaguely anthropomorphic characters.
First of all, there's Homestar Runner, who is a terrific athlete, despite being a "no-armed whitey," in the words of Strong Bad.
There's his girlfriend, Marzipan, a gentle, guitar-toting, tree-loving hippie. She can often be found singing songs about birds and not liking Strong Bad.
There's Homestar's best friend, Pom-Pom. Pom-Pom is a giant orange bubble who speaks in a similarly bubbly manner.
We also have the brothers Strong, Strong Bad, Strong Mad and Strong Sad. Strong Bad is a self-promoting wrestler who delights in plotting capers against Homestar and his "dorky kid brother" Strong Sad. The Cheat, an adorable yellow something-or-another, usually hangs around with Strong Bad and even has his own theme song.
The characters, who also include the Poopsmith, Homsar, Bubs and Coach Z, exist in a childish, middle school-esque cartoon mini-universe populated exclusively by themselves without the intrusion of any elements of the outside world.
This is part of the site's appeal. It has no political agenda and doesn't try to tie itself to any real-life issues, save for the occasional Nintendo references. The cartoons do not have to resort to the typical lowest common denominator that pervades much Internet humor.
It's this clean humor that originally started the site's burgeoning fan-base at Christian colleges across the country before it caught on in the mainstream. It's the type of cartoon that you wouldn't care about showing your parents, and its lack of vulgarity doesn't compromise the humor in the least.
If you go to this site for any reason whatsoever, do it for Strong Bad. Although we may scratch our heads as to how he can type with those boxing gloves on, his weekly answering of e-mails is one of the few joys left to me in this miserable world.
Homestar Runner, originally conceived as a children's book, self-published by Matt and Mike Chapman in 1996, has exploded into a self-contained Internet kingdom (lorded over by the stick-of-butter-eating King of Town) since its move to the Internet in 2000. The site is written and maintained by the brothers, now in their late 20s, who currently live in Atlanta.
Some of the true joys of the site, however, are the cookies the Chapman brothers program into the animations. Always be on the lookout for the cartoons within cartoons, little goodies that spring out from the digital Web work with the correct click of a mouse button - they never fail to disappoint in added an additional comedic twist to an already humorous situation.
Hats off to the Chapman brothers, not only have they succeeded in creating a cartoon that stands out from the background of mostly disposable Internet humor. They had given a serious modicum of joy to my otherwise bland and passionless life. In the words of Strong Bad, Total Journalist, "Well, it can only go downhill from here, so . get outta my face."
(04/01/03 12:00pm)
In a campus-wide e-mail last week, College President R. Barbara Gitenstein announced the reorganization of her cabinet. The changes come in response to the recently proposed state budget cuts and the retirement of two key officials, Robert Drake and Jesse Rosenblum.
While the retirements were announced last year, they will not go into effect until this June, as "institutional needs" required their attention, Gitenstein said. "I needed them to get through the reorganization process," she added.
On July 1, when the changes go into effect, the office of College Relations, which originally fell under Rosenblum's jurisdiction, will become the Office of College and Community Relations, merging with the current Office of Community Relations, which currently oversees community affairs activities and major events.
Drake's position, vice president for Administration and Organizational Development, will remain unfilled. Administration and Environmental Services, Human Resources and Organization Development will, under the reorganizations, report to Barbara Wineberg, treasurer. Auxiliary Services will report to Mary-Elaine Perry, dean of Student Life. Facilities will report to Stephen Briggs, provost/vice president of Academic Affairs and Legal Affairs will report to Gitenstein.
With the restructuring also came the announcement that the position of associate vice president for Information Technology and Student Services, currently held by Nadine Stern, will, effective as of the e-mail, change to Chief Information Officer.
"The changes do not reflect a change in status, rather, it more precisely reflects her role at the College," Gitenstein said in the e-mail.
Payroll will not be affected by the changes. All employees transferred as a result of the restructuring will receive the same amount of money as in previous years.
"Unfortunately, everyone's having to work harder now with no extra money," Gitenstein said.
Drake and Rosenblum left the College under the Early Retirement Incentive program. The program, which was sponsored last year by the state and by the public colleges in N.J., was designed to help cut back the amount of money spent per year on personnel costs.
In exchange for early retirement, extra money is put into the retirees pension funds. While some of this money comes from the state, the College also contributes to the payment.
According to Gitenstein, many officials were encouraged to retire under the program, to help reduce costs and to make the College run more efficiently.
The program was in effect for last year only, and has not been renewed for coming years.
"When I found out about the huge cuts, I did as I did last year - look first at personnel costs," Gitenstein said. "Those are our two biggest expenditures, scholarships and personnel."
While the College looks for ways to reduce costs and to run more efficiently, Gitenstein said that she will do everything in her power to keep current jobs.
Ultimately, however, she said personnel reorganizations were the best way to reduce costs without directly affecting academics and the health and safety of students.
"Personnel we can modify.," she said. "We can have cuts and reorganizations in staff and administration," she said. "That's what this is about. It's a response to the budget crisis," Gitenstein added.
This isn't the end, either, Gitenstein added.
"There will be more reorganizations coming, as we deal with this budget crisis. Everyone has been wonderful about it, however," she said. "Everyone has been so willing to take on extra responsibility to help maintain the quality of our services."
(03/25/03 12:00pm)
When John Stafford, director of Residence Life, came to the College several years ago, the office began a review of all its policies and procedures, including guaranteed housing, a process that is still ongoing. Stafford described the changes as "philosophical" in nature.
Four groups applied for guaranteed housing spots this year, and all four are being denied after a review by the Residence Hall Association (RHA) and the Residence Life office. Stafford would not release the names of the organizations, citing "ethical concerns," but left it up to the groups to contact the press, none of which opted to do so.
Organizations seeking guaranteed housing must submit an application to Residence Life and RHA for review, but it is Stafford who, ultimately, makes the final decision, according to Lisa McCarthy, assistant director of Residence Life.
A set of guidelines for groups applying for guaranteed housing were created by RHA. These guidelines examine whether or not a group provides a service that would be affected by students living off-campus.
"As for now, we've made no fundamental changes,"Stafford said. However, it remains unclear what changes could potentially be coming in the future.
"This is a service we do for the students," Stafford added. "We want their feedback of how this process should take place. Professionally speaking, though, all students should have an equal chance to get housing."
In total, there are 2,120 spots available for upperclassmen, including sophomores, who are all guaranteed housing. According to numbers provided by Stafford, in a typical year, a little over 1,100 of those spaces will go to sophomores.
The number of spots allocated to groups hovers around 500, leaving approximately 960 open spots for juniors and seniors in any given year for an estimated 1,250 applicants.
"It's important to remember though," Stafford said, "not all the groups use all their guaranteed spots."
Jennifer Boutros, president of the Society of Honor Students, feels that members in such organizations should be guaranteed housing.
"I think we are a very important part of the school," she said.
"In my experience working with other schools, guaranteed housing is something that only happens, usually, for medical reasons," Stafford said.
"Before we move to make any changes, I want to know how the students feel," Stafford added. "But so far, there's no formal process for review happening currently."
(03/04/03 12:00pm)
Tensions were high during last week's SGA meeting regarding The New Design for the Liberal Learning bill, SGA's contribution to the proposals for academic transformation, which was passed 25-13-4.
The bill was drafted in response to a Committee on Academic Programming (CAP) document on liberal learning.
The vote could not be delayed until a later meeting or SGA would lose its say in the upcoming academic restructuring.
The bill recommends removing foreign language from the core curriculum at the College, which was met with mixed feelings.
Almost immediately there was a motion to strike the provision.
"The College has declared new diversity goals, which we don't believe have to necessarily be accomplished through language classes," Jamie Gusrang, vice president of academic affairs, said. "They can more effectively be achieved through other classes."
"I can't believe how egocentric we can be sometimes. We are not the only people in the world," Rohit Thawani, student trustee, said.
"I hate most of the classes I take, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to be a better student or a more well-rounded person because I take them." He added, "In a globalized society, we need to know how to speak other languages." However, other senators cited the largely negative public sentiment toward foreign language classes.
"I represent a group of students at this school," John Kell, senator-at-large, said, "and out of all the people I have talked to, no one wants to keep foreign language. I'm just voting on behalf of them."
After these exchanges, the motion to strike the foreign language provision was put to a vote, which failed 20-22-0.
In response to Gov. Jim McGreevy's budget cuts, an e-mail was sent to all students urging them to write letters.
SGA set a goal of 3,000 letters from the College.
SGA will also sponsor a march against the budget cuts on Thursday, March 6, at the College, which will rally with a group of Rutgers at the State House in Trenton.
"It's important to have the students moblized," Dan Crofts, president of the Faculty Senate , said. "The faculty wants to help you, but, politically, this is your fight."
(02/25/03 12:00pm)
As last weekend's blizzard paralyzed much of the mid-Atlantic region of the country, the College experienced difficulties with cars being left in designated snow emergency lots.
Approximately 40 vehicles parked in Lots 3, 4, 5 and 8 were not moved, according to Campus Police.
The College's snow removal plan is enacted when three inches of snow or more have accumulated on the roads and parking surfaces on campus.
During the winter months, the commuter parking lots by the student center are considered snow emergency lots. As such, from Dec. 1 until March 31, overnight parking is prohibited in case of snow.
The hours when parking is prohibited are midnight to 6 a.m.
"These lots are designated snow emergency lots because they are primarily commuter parking lots," Ray Nesci, professional services specialist for Campus Police, said.
"As such, they must be clear in the event of overnight snow so that commuters have a place to park in the morning."
Cars in these lots could potentially block the progress of plows working to clear snow. If Grounds and Landscape Maintenance Services finds vehicles blocking the plows, Campus Police will attempt to notify the owners "if practicable," according to the Snow Emergency Plan.
"We have information about this posted on the motor vehicle regulation webpage," Nesci said. In addition, signs are placed at the entrances of these lots notifying drivers of the policy.
Regardless, many students either disregarded or weren't aware of the policy and had to be contacted by Campus Police. Residence Life staff members were contacted, and signs were placed in dormitories across campus telling students to move their cars to lots 6a or 6b.
"The cars remaining in the lot were spaced out enough so that most of the plowing could be accomplished," Nesci said. Campus responds to offending vehicles in a number of ways, according to the snow emergency plan.
A first offense results in a warning. The second brings a $50 fine. The third time, the vehicle is booted and the driver loses his or her driving privileges for the remainder or the semester, as well as the following semester.
(02/18/03 12:00pm)
The position of engineer at WTSR, left vacant by the retirement of Robert Maarberg, is in danger of remaining vacant under the hiring freeze enacted by the College under Gov. James McGreevey's proposed budget cuts.
Maarberg, who left the position at the end of last year, is now a consultant with the communication studies department and is on campus only two days a week.
"There are very few people who could do this job by themselves," Peter Fontana, station manager for WTSR, the College's radio station, said. Fontana spoke highly of Maarberg's work, but stressed the importance of having someone in the position.
As engineer, Maarberg was responsible for maintaining all the equipment both for WTSR and the communication studies department, work now left unattended to.
"If something breaks, we have to take it upon ourselves to fix it," Fontana said. "The point is, the administration doesn't see the radio station as important, which just isn't the case."
Fontana has been in close contact with both Gary Woodward, professor of communication studies and Susan Albertine, dean of the School of Culture and Society, who are both petitioning the administration for an exception to the hiring freeze for this situation.
Albertine suggested that the College would find a replacement for Maarberg.
"The administration understands the importance of Mr. Maarberg's position," Albertine said. "I expect that we will find a way to provide technical support because TV/Radio facilities are essential to our academic programs in communication studies."
Albertine said that an interim plan was already in place to cope with the situation and support the studios, but provided no details. "Not only did Maarberg fix equipment for TSR, but for the entire communication studies department," Fontana said. "If something goes wrong, it shuts down the major for a day."
"I see this as a wise investment for the College," Fontana added. "The students that come out of the department and especially out of TSR are known and recruited in the professional field."
He cited the comments of Washington and Lee University graduate Benjamin Losi, a Ewing resident, who, in hoping to revamp the radio station at his school, worked closely with a number of college radio stations, including WTSR.
"By far, he said, TSR was the greatest station he'd seen, and that's including WPRB from Princeton University," Fontana said. "We want to keep it that way."
Students who have worked for WTSR have, in the past, gone on to news jobs with local radio stations, including three people at WPST in Trenton.
"Students get a feel for what radio work is like. This experience helps them significantly in the job market," Fontana said.
While Fontana said he and the rest of the staff at WTSR are aware that many students at the College do not find the time to listen to the station, he is confident that this was a trend that was going to change.
"We try to cover every campus life event, we're there," Fontana said. "If you go to a volleyball tournament without music, I hate to admit it, but it'd probably be pretty boring." Fontana also cited a "misconception" that WTSR is mostly an "underground music venue."
"We were playing John Mayer last year, before anybody knew who the hell he was," Fontana added.