The Daily Barometer OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY • CORVALLIS, OREGON 97331
DAILYBAROMETER.COM • 541-737-2231
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17, 2014 • VOLUME CXVI, NUMBER 85
DAILYBAROMETER
@BARONEWS, @BAROSPORTS, @BAROFORUM
A need for VA support n
Veterans say Oregon State, region lack medical, spacial resources for student veterans By Tori Hittner THE DAILY BAROMETER
Roughly 1,100 Oregon State University students desperately require aid they are not receiving. The estimated number represents all identified student veterans receiving benefits from the U.S. government enrolled in the Corvallis, Bend and online campuses. Students who qualify for aid from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs include veterans, active military members and dependents of veterans. “When you’re dealing with something that’s like 4 or 5 percent of the entire student population, it would make sense to have provisions for these people who need them,” said
Brian Benavidez, a senior studying electrical engineering and a veteran. Currently enrolled in Oregon State’s Air Force ROTC program after having served four years in the U.S. Air Force, Benavidez knows firsthand the difficulties student veterans face. The provisions Benavidez believes need to be provided for veterans include better medical aid and a place veterans can call their own on campus. “I just recently turned 26, so I’m not on my parents’ health care anymore, so that leaves me health care (provided through the VA),” Benavidez said. “Since I’m in the inactive reserves, I don’t get the normal military healthcare anymore.” U.S. veterans may apply for health coverage online via TRICARE, a health care program sponsored by Tori Hittner | THE DAILY BAROMETER the Defense Health Agency, according to the organization’s website. Not Despite its central location on campus, the Veteran’s Lounge in the Memorial Union is seldom used due to its failure to meet the needs of the population it serves. See VETERANS | page 4
Mucking around for answers to climate change SIFC approves all budgets, not without controversy Digging under the roots of mangroves in Indonesia, Oregon State researchers strike gold with climate change cause
Boone Kauffman, professor of ecosystems ecology in the department of fisheries and wildlife at Oregon State University, partners with the Center for International Forestry Research to examine the dynamics of land use and land cover change in tropical wetlands of the world. By Dacotah-Victoria Splichalova This global collaboration focuses on the potential impacts of deforTHE DAILY BAROMETER estation of the tropical wetland mangrove and freshwater peat swamp Entering beautiful forests cast of brilliant greens in contrast to the forests of Indonesia. dark-colored mud, which permeates the sultry air with the distinct “When measuring and sampling the soils for carbon there, you have pungent smell of rotten eggs, researchers wade in thick soils up to to be like a child playing on a playground,” Kaufman said. “It’s very their thighs to get to the bottom of climate change. difficult to move through the root systems — it can be so dense that it takes us an hour to walk 100 meters.” We have to think Kaufman’s research group maintains additional data collection sites about all of our in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Researchers have recently discov- futures if we cut down ered that huge carbon stocks exist all of our forests — within the mangrove trees. what will happen? “When disturbed, the mangroves become significant sources of greenVirni Budi Arifanti house gases to the environment, Graduate student similar to, but to a much greater extent than the removal of the tropical rain forests of the world,” Kauffman said. Researchers are looking at what occurs when the mangroves are deforested and, most commonly in Indonesia, converted to shrimp ponds or when the fresh water peat forests are converted to oil ponds. The goal of the research is to access how much of the greenhouse gases are going into the earth’s atmosphere. “By way of deforestation, not only do we lose all of these ecosystem services diversity and the aesthetic values and timber values — all of this carbon goes into the atmosphere, which is something tragic that we need to be aware of,” Kauffman said. COURTESY OF BOONE KAUFFMAN Kauffman’s partnership with CIFOR began seven years ago while Orangutans are losing their homes in Indonesia as tropical rain
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forests are being cut down.
See CLIMATE | page 3
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Rec sports, Student Diversity Budgeting Board proposals receive approval with changes at Thursday’s open hearing By Tori Hittner THE DAILY BAROMETER
All 11 student organization budgets funded by student fees received approval from the Student & Incidental Fees Committee during Thursday evening’s open hearing, despite some minor changes and debate. The largest controversy of the night surrounded recreational sports’ budget, which asked for the funneling of additional funds into their working capital. Despite seeing a decrease in funding requests from $66.08 per person last year to $64.86 this year, SIFC further reduced the recreational sports fee allotment to $64.53 per 2015 winter, spring and fall terms. The additional working capital request stemmed from worries surrounding unplanned expenses and possible facility costs. Rec sports director Tom Kirch said funds have been tight in recent years and having extra cushion in the working capital would allow See SIFC | page 4