THE VOLUME 90 | ISSUE IV
ANCHOR © The Anchor 2016
RHODE ISLAND COLLEGE, MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2016
Campaign 2016: the first debate TAYLOR DAME
News Editor
DERRIK TROMBLEY
Anchor Staff
T
he next presidential election is coming up fast, and we have hit a key milestone in the campaign: the first debate. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump squared off last Monday night, contesting each other in a challenge to swing voters into their respective camps, but also to motivate their own supporters to get out and vote.
Remarkably, in this time of massive dissatisfaction with the two candidates, this debate was the highest watched television debate in the history of presidential elections. Nielsen’s has said that 84 million people watched the debate on the 13 channels that were broadcasting it. That number does not include those watching it in a group or those who tuned in to C-Span.
Rhode Island College can be said to have contributed to that total by hosting a great event promoting civic engagement. The RIC Café hosted the American Democracy Project’s Debate Watch that night, offering the politically engaged an opportunity to share the historic event with others. The Debate Café was done in conjunction with NBC10. Reporters Brian Crandall and Bill Rappleye were on the scene interviewing participants for the evening’s news broadcast.
and uninterested. To those who attended the Debate Watch, nothing could be further from the truth. There were, perhaps, nearly 50 engaged young citizens, most of them RIC students, who cheered, booed and hung on every turn of phrase used that night.
The general public’s assumption of college students nationwide is that, after Bernie Sanders conceded the Democratic Primary to Clinton, they have become disengaged
Some students from Professor Endress’s Political Communication class moderated focus groups that gauged what people thought about the candidate’s performance and the format of the debate. The information gathered by the students will be used in a study that has been ongoing since 2004.
Photo courtesy of NBC 10
Governor highlights new textbook initiative TAYLOR DAME
News Editor
PATRICK HURD
Anchor Editor
C
ollege students pay an average $1,200 a year on textbooks, and Rhode Island is leading the charge to cut down on those costs. Governor Gina Raimondo visited Rhode Island College again last week to discuss a new program that is designed to reduce the expense of textbooks for the state’s college student population.
governor and the state’s innovation officer, Richard Culatta. All of these colleges have pledged to support the new program. The initiative will raise awareness on how much textbooks cost and will encourage faculty to meet with librarians to choose open texts. Culatta says that he wants the
initiative to be “an example to the rest of the country” and that “we are going to be watched on this one.” The roundtable discussion of faculty, students, and administration from the various colleges brought forth many complaints about the current state of affairs when it comes to textbooks. One participant
One of the student participants, Justin Sularz, noted how one of his professors decided not to use a textbook and instead “embrace technology” by encouraging the use of youtube videos and the free Khan Academy website. He also noted that it costs schools money to order textbooks and that this money can be used elsewhere.
When asked if the knowledge that a class was using open textbook might have an influence in course selection, Sularz answered that he would give it “a good amount of credence.”
The Rhode Island Open Textbook Initiative started this year at RIC with an open licensed biology textbook. According to College President Frank Sánchez, the students each saved $150, and altogether saved $100,000 by using the open textbook rather than purchasing a traditional one,
Administration and faculty members from RIC, URI, CCRI, Bryant, New England Tech, Roger Williams University, and Brown were all on hand to listen to the
noted that “they change three sentences per version,” while others lamented copyright issues and how they affect student learning.
Middle: Richard Culata | Photo courtesy of Patrick Hurd
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