The DA 05-13-2011

The Daily Athenaeum - May 13, 2011

GRADUATION EDITION

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WHAT’S INSIDE Graduating seniors participate in ‘The Final Assignment’ students collect WVU memories via social media.

Check out this weekend’s schedule of events and commencement locations.

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Forty-two WVU seniors were named Outstanding Senior Scholars. Eight seniors were awarded the Order of Augusta.

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THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

2 | Graduation edition

Friday May 13, 2011

2011 commencement schedule West Virginia University’s 142st Commencement is scheduled from Friday through Sunday to honor the 2011 graduating class.

The events of the weekend are listed below.

Friday, May 13 5:30 p.m. - Honors Convocation (Creative Arts Center) West Virginia State Sen. John Unger will speak.

Saturday, May 14 8:30 a.m. - School of Medicine (MD, Ph.D.) (Creative Arts Center) Dr. Arthur Ross, dean of the WVU School of Medicine, will speak.

9:30 a.m. - School of Dentistry (Morgantown Event Center) WVU alumnus Dr. Dallas Nibert will speak.

9:30 a.m. - College of Human Resources & Education (Coliseum) West Virginia State Superintendent of Schools Jorea M. Marple will speak.

12:30 p.m. - School of Nursing (Morgantown Event Center) School of Nursing Professor and Clinical Investigator at WVU Hospitals June H. Larrabee will speak.

1 p.m. - College of Law (Creative Arts Center)

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West Virginia University Athletic Director Oliver Luck speaks to the graduating seniors during the 2009 ceremony of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences. At that time, Luck was still a member of the WVU Board of Governors.

WVU College of Law Professor of the Year and WVU alumnus Greg Bowman will speak.

2 p.m. - College of Engineering and Mineral Resources (Coliseum) WVU alumni George B. Bennett and Henry T. Yang will speak.

4 p.m. - School of Pharmacy

(Morgantown Event Center) Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Pharmacists Association Thomas E. Menighan will speak.

5 p.m. - College of Creative Arts (Creative Arts Center) Dean Bernie Schultz will speak.

6 p.m. - College of Business

& Economics (Coliseum) Chairman of 1607 Capital Partners and WVU alumnus Fred Tattersall.

Sunday, May 15 9:30 a.m. - Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources & Design (Coliseum) Assistant Director of the Institute of Bioenergy, Climate

and Environment with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Franklin E. Boteler will speak.

10 a.m. - Eberly College of Arts & Sciences hooding ceremony. (Creative Arts Center) Master’s and Doctoral candidates from the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences will be hooded at this special ceremony.

University of Cincinnati Assistant Professor and Masters of Public Health Program Director Dr. William Mase will speak.

10 a.m. - School of Medicine (professional programs: exercise physiology, medical technology, community medicine, physical therapy, occupational therapy) (Morgantown Event Center) Three-time Olympian and gold medalist Dominique Dawes will speak.

2 p.m. - Eberly College of Arts & Sciences (Coliseum) Dean Robert Jones will speak.

2:30 p.m. - Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism (Morgantown Event Center) Co-host and Managing Editor of National Public Radio’s “On the Media” Brooke Gladstone will speak.

2:30 p.m. College of Physical Activity and Sports Sciences (Creative Arts Center) WVU men’s basketball Coach Bob Huggins will speak.

Students and their families can visit the Commencement website http://commencement.wvu.edu/ for event updates, as well as information about photography, lodging and traditions.

All ceremonies will be webcast online at http://webcast. wvu.edu.

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Friday May 13, 2011

Eight seniors named to Order of Augusta

By Nick Ashley Staff Writer

West Virginia University recognized its top eight seniors with the Order of Augusta award.

The senior scholars who will be receiving the award are Laurel Beatty, Kayla Carter, Kristine Finley, Meghan Flinn, Stanley Strawbridge, Andreina Varady, Justin West and Laura Wilson.

Forty-seven outstanding students were selected this year, said David Stewart, the associate advocate vice president for International and Global Outreach at WVU. The list was later narrowed down to 12 before the final eight were selected.

Students who have a 3.8 GPA or higher are eligible to be nominated for the award, said Hillar Klandorf, a professor of animal and nutritional sciences and a committee member for the Order of Augusta.

An invitation is sent to students eligible, encouraging them to apply for the award.

Klandorf said the award allows students to stand out academically for the work they are doing for the University.

“This award truly recognizes some of the remarkable things in the life of some students and what they have achieved.

Everyone has their own life story that makes them unique in their own way,” Klandorf

Graduation edition | 3

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said. “The decision we have to make to choose which students should be accepted is very hard.”

Various colleges, departments and divisions at the University were encouraged to nominate outstanding students within the programs to be recognized for the work they are doing, he said.

“Anyone accepted for this should realize that they are in the top 1 percent of the University,” Stewart said. “It’s a privilege to be apart of something that looks great on resumes and a wonderful thing to be proud of.”

In 1995, the WVU Foundation created the Order of Augusta to create a way to recognize outstanding seniors.

The award is based on students who demonstrate outstanding leadership skills on campus, public service throughout the community, study abroad involvement, work done as a student and academic performance.

The names of the students who receive the award are inscribed on a plaque on the second floor of the Mountainlair to recognize their achievement.

All of the seniors will be recognized for their achievements during commencement weekend at the WVU Honors Convocation May 13 at 5:30 p.m. at the WVU Creative Arts Center. nicolas.ashley@mail.wvu.edu

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4 | Graduation Edition

Friday May 13, 2011

THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

Friday May 13, 2011

Four honored with the Order of Vandalia

By John Terry Sports Writer

Charles Erickson accepted the Order of Vandalia for his late father, C.O. Erickson, in 1993.

The award, which has been given out since 1961, is the highest honor awarded to those with extraordinary service to West Virginia University.

Eighteen years later, Charles, along with three others, will accept the award honoring his own achievements and dedication to the University.

He said he never thought he would become a recipient of the award.

“It was awing to me that

my father would receive this award,” Charles said. “I’m very familiar about the Order of Vandalia. For me to come along here years later to receive the Order, I was awestruck when President (James P.) Clements called to tell me.”

Charles, a Logan, W.Va., native who started college at WVU in 1951, brought cable television to West Virginia. The company turned into the largest cable operation in the state and was eventually sold to TeleCommunications, Inc. He built cable systems in three other states and become president of different broadcast associations.

After the death of his father, Charles started the Erickson Foundation, which has helped him create 13 alumni centers across the state with one of the most recent being the Erickson Alumni Center in Morgantown.

“I’m proud of everyone of them. We call them alumni centers, but they’re basically, to me, development centers,” he said. “Without development, we can’t raise funds. Without funds, colleges will dry up. We always need help.”

Charles received the University’s Most Loyal Alumni Mountaineer award in 2005.

Douglas Leech, CEO of Centra Bank; Verl Purdy, an infor-

mation systems founder, and United States Senator Jay Rockefeller are the three other recipients of the Order.

Purdy, a 1964 graduate from WVU, also didn’t think he would be named to the Order of Vandalia.

“I just didn’t dream that this would ever happen to me,” Purdy said. “It’s a fulfillment of one of my dreams. I’m just very fortunate that my dreams have come true. I feel blessed and fortunate to say that.”

Purdy helped establish the Verl O. Purdy Faculty Chemical Engineering Fellowship, among other things. He’s in the West Virginia Businesses Hall of Fame, has been named the Most Loyal Alumni Mountaineer and has received an honorary doctorate in science.

“Years ago West Virginia gave me a great education and enabled me to go into the world and compete with the best and the brightest,” Purdy said. “I had a great life, a great career, and I owe a lot to the University. To be able to go back and volunteer time, efforts and your money is an extremely rewarding experience.”

He is also the current chairman of the board for the WVU Foundation.

He has been involved with information technology in health care since he started his career.

He founded a company, which became the leading provider of agricultural information in the U.S. and Canada.

Purdy said the University hasn’t reached its limit yet and will continue to grow and gain more national recognition.

“For the 40 something years, when I look at the quality of the administration, never in the history in that four-decade period have I seen such dynamic leadership,” he said. “Great people have come together in a great time in history, and I think we’ll see many of our schools will benefit.”

Sen. Rockefeller is the third recipient of this year’s award.

“I am joining a distinguished group of men and women, and I appreciate each Vandalian for their dedication to WVU and to the state we call our home,” Rockefeller said. “We share a passionate commitment to West Virginia and to West Virginia University. As a newer member of the Order of Vandalia, I am honored to be a continued friend of West Virginia University.”

He has been involved with the University since 1966, when he was first elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates.

He was later elected the West Virginia Secretary of State, and

see vandalia on PAGE 5

U.S. Senator Jay Rockefeller for West Virginia.

vandalia

Continued from page 4 later the governor of the state.

A United States senator since 1984, Rockefeller created the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute at the University in 1999 with a $15 million gift.

The Institute is named after his mother, who died from Alzheimer’s disease.

Leech, the fourth recipient of the award this year, founded Centra Bank in 1999 and now is the Chairman and CEO. He has also served on the West Virginia Board of Governors.

Leech facilitated the largest single gift the University has ever received – a $20 million donation from Milan Puskar –

graduation edition | 5

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but has also contributed more than $1 million from his own companies.

“He has been recognized at the local, state and national level for his selfless dedication to the betterment of the community and its citizens,” said Fred Butcher, vice president for planning and operations for WVU’s Health Science Center, who nominated Leech.

In 2007, he was inducted to the College of Business & Economics Hall of Fame.

The first Order of Vandalia award was given out in 1961.

Since then, 155 individuals have been recognized.

All four of the recipients will be honored at a reception on Saturday.

Students at West Virginia University listen to commencement speeches during a graduation ceremony.

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6 | GRADUATION EDITION

THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

FRIDAY MAY 13, 2011

THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

Friday May 13, 2011

graduation edition | 7

WVU to recognize top graduating seniors 42 students honored as ‘outstanding’ during ceremony

By Steven Young correspondent

West Virginia University will recognize the top 42 seniors during commencement weekend at the Honors Convocation today at the Creative Arts Center.

Of the 42 Outstanding Seniors, eight are receiving the Order of Augusta, an award given to the top WVU scholars.

“You first have to be a good student,” said WVU Foundation Vice President for Development Lyn Dotson.

The award showcases the top one percent of graduating seniors; however, it is not solely based on academic achievement, though it does play a large part, Dotson said.

The award was created on the 40th anniversary of the WVU Foundation in 1995 as a way to distinguish students for

their achievement.

“We had a way to recognize students who did well in high school, but we didn’t have any way of recognizing student achievement at the college level,” Dotson said.

To be considered for this award, a student must be a senior graduating in May or at the end of the summer term with a cumulative 3.8 GPA. Then, the students submit an application to be evaluated by the WVU Foundation and are selected based on their well-roundedness, leadership abilities and experience with internships in their fields.

“The program is an excellent program, because West Virginia is really acknowledging and making known our very best students,” said WVU Dean of Students and Associate Vice President for International and Global Outreach David Stewart.

“Our very best students at West Virginia University are just as good as the other institutions,” he said.

The students who will be named to the Order of

Augusta include: Laurel Beatty, Upper Tract, W.Va.; Kayla Carter, Branchland, W.Va.; Kristine Finley, Hurricane, W.Va. ; Meghann Flinn, Oakland, Md.; Stanley Strawbridge, Forest Hill, Md.; Andreina Varady, Venezuela; Justin West, Wheeling, W.Va.; and Laura Wilson, Bridgeport, W.Va. Obtaining this award is among the highest honors at WVU and will help distinguish its recipients in their job searches, Stewart added.

He said the honor shows employers these former students are well-rounded and possess leadership skills that are important in today’s work force.

After receiving the award, the students’ names will be put into a permanent registrar where they can be referenced at a later date. Any student can access the database to see previous winners of the award, starting at its foundation in 1995. danewsroom@mail.wvu.edu

Outstanding seniors Delaware Kristine Finley, Hurricane Derrick Banerjee, Wilmington M a t t h e w Gryskevich, Morgantown Maryland Laura Har per, S outh Charleston Meghann Flinn, Oakland Stanley Strawbridge, Forest Katelyn Hlusko, Fairmont Hill Zain Jafri, Bridgeport Brannan Lahoda, Saint Keith Teltser, Frederick Albans New Jersey Paige Lavender, Charleston Walter Rockhill, III, Belle Hayley Leight, Bridgeport Mead Evan Moore, Morgantown Candace Nelson, Wellsburg Pennsylvania Tommy Nester, Keyser Ryan Coder, Graysville Elizabeth Parnicza, Weirton Marci Smeltz, Harrisburg Steven Rhodes, Parkersburg Christine Schussler, Milton West Virginia Payal Shah, Charleston Lauren Ayers, Kirby Sardar Shah-Khan, Beckley Laurel Beatty, Upper Tract Molly Simis, Fairmont Kelly Bryant, Morgantown Spencer Teufel, Wheeling Matthew Thompson, Franklin Kayla Carter, Branchland Lindsay Thornhill, Whitmer Holly Casto, Ripley Brendan Cline, Morgantown Justin West, Wheeling Wiegand, Alexandra Coffman, Grafton J e n n i f e r Morgantown Renee Conneway, Augusta Laura Wilson, Bridgeport Claire Dolan, Wheeling Maryam Fa m o u r i , Morgantown Venezuela Brittany Fink, Charleston Andreina Varady

THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

8 | GRADUATION EDITION

FRIDAY MAY 13, 2011

the DIVISION

OF SOCIOLOGY & ANTHROPOLOGY wishes to congratulate the Class of 2011

Sociology & Anthropology

Dave Anderson† Frank Annie* Sonya Arnold Kasey Baumgartner Joseph Bianco† Amanda Bowers† Katherine Burns** Shannon Clayton Ashley Clontz Ryan Cole† Sara Cucchi Jessica Dersin* Abby Dickinson** Ghaydaa Elkasaabany† Sarah Fedak Julie Goldberg Kimberlee Greer† Ashley Hagood† Ashley Hart† Danielle Herlache*** Douglas Hohlfelder† Zachary Lambertson† Kevin Mather Jacob Matz Laura Maynard Chelsea Morphis** Jonathan Nampha Christopher Newsom Matthew Nichols† Meghann Ostrom† Travis Patterson Christopher Ramezan Chelsea Reed Noel Roman Kayleigh Saye Brittney Scully Clara Simmons*** Thomas Sutherland*† Megan Tarr Conor Washington Courtney Welty Courtney Wilford

Staci Wood Criminology & Investigations

Madina Ali Kasey Allamong Dustin Allen** Alexandra Ball Christopher Batelli Shavonne Baynes† Caitlin Bennett Brittany Bhatia Alex Bidwell† Amber Bishop Jack Boothe Brent Boyd* Taylor Bromley Ryan Buck Ashley Butler Curtis Cameron† Kendra Campbell Dean Cantis* Joseph Cappelli* Kayla Carter*** Matthew Childers Cheri Conrad Victoria Cox* Jason Cummings† Allison Cupach Paige DeLucca Josh DePasquale† Kari Deremer Bryan Derryberry Justin Dixon Jordan Downey Ashley Dunlap*** Francis Etro* Jessica Eward Joseph Farrell† Johnathan Flowers Ashley Freeman Reed Gardner Lauren Garrity Joseph Goodfellow† 5\DQ *ULIÀQ Michael Hammond

Eberly College of Arts & Sciences

Division of Sociology & Anthropology

Cory Hardman Joel Hodinko Samantha Hodges† Alicia Holman Tanya Holmes Joshua Hospodar† Aaron Huyett* Jeremy Hylton*** Ronald Irick Yoon Ho Jang Courtney Kesecker** Tyler Kirk Kristin Kleinschmidt Jase Kollar Joseph Kopetsky† Paul Kulesza Shana Lane Ashtin Larkin** Ian Lechliter* Jonnie Lipscomb Kevin MacLachlan** Suzanne Malin† Jaclyn Marsh Catricia Martin† Megan McCole*** Caitlyn Meade* Alexandra Mecouch Amy Meluzio*** Ashley Miller Terina Miller* Tyler Mohrman* Jacklyn Murray* Matthew Murtagh Christopher Neilan Jared Newman Colleen O’Neill Dianna Pearce Ryan Pershing† Jessica Poe*** Ryan Raines† John Reynolds* Justin Riggs Joseph Rizzo* Amy Rohr

Jaimie Russell Michael Ryan† Jason Santmyer* Jessica Sawina† Samantha SconishThomason Cara Seggie Thomas Shafer Jeffrey Ryan Shaw† Michael Shoukry Keith Silva William Simmons Jill Sinclair Zachary Sinclair Brandon Smock Ryan Sommerkorn* Danielle Steel*† Denzil Stocklask Anthony Stoddard† Kerry Stotz* Angela Sycafoose Alyssa Tagliaferro Juan Torres* Lindsey Turner* Zachariah Walker† Jessica Wilson* Natalie Wynne*** Diana Yildirim Ashley Zultanky** Masters of Sociology

Sheena Bowman Chad Morrison Randy Stump

Outstanding Senior Sociology & Anthropolgy

Zachary Lambertson Criminology & Investigations

Megan McCole

Outstanding Graduate Teaching Assistant

Dawn Lozzi

Order of the Augusta

Kayla Carter

* Cum Laude **Magna Cum Laude ***Summa Cum Laude † Candidate for August graduation

Be sure to join the SOCA Alumni group on Facebook!

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Friday May 13, 2011

Graduation edition | 9

Graduates face familiar challenges with new perspective

By Rebeccah Griffith correspondent

As always, this year’s graduating seniors should expect an exciting but challenging new path in their lives.

After several years of academic work, post-college life can seem daunting, but a little perspective and preparation for what lies ahead can go a long way.

The world they’re being thrust into is one which still retains many of the same challenges as ever, with plenty of opportunities for progress.

“While West Virginia University students graduating this May are entering into a much more favorable job market than those who’ve graduated over the past couple of years, they still need to put forth considerable efforts to find a job,” said Sarah Glenn, assistant director of Employer Relations.

While attending college during the threat of a failing economy, a better job market is relieving.

It is crucial graduates do not let their dreams get away from them and stay on a realistic path toward success.

While the job market may be more promising than in past years, the slow process of infiltrating it still requires perseverance and patience.

“One of the main things folks

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Students at West Virginia University hear commencement speeches. need to realize is that you must pay your dues,” said John Bolt, director of News and Information Services.

While graduates might feel like they are being treated unfairly, it’s important to remember the new field they are entering and prove they can handle the new job.

The advice most resonant is a piece that has been repeated throughout our academic years: stick with it, and don’t give up.

Even when it seems as though you’ll never get the position you’re aiming for, gradu-

ates must keep the big picture in mind and recognize their progress toward it.

Bolt said students should not get discouraged if everything doesn’t pan out exactly as planned, but they should embrace any progress regardless of what direction it’s in.

Students today have plenty of

advantages at their fingertips in the form of technology and social networking.

“Social media is a valuable networking tool, and many companies are starting to use Facebook and LinkedIn to advertise their opportunities,” Glenn said.

“Students need to learn how to effectively market themselves

through social media.”

Gone are the days of Facebook being simply a method for marketing your social persona, as the social networking site has become an avenue for business as well.

The use of social media to connect with employers and coworkers ups the ante for graduates to put themselves in contact with their colleagues and employers – the Facebook page has become a virtual background check and reference page.

All of this open communication allows for instantaneous exchanges that need to be carefully thought out and taken advantage of – don’t just use your Twitter to post what you had for breakfast this morning, mention that tough task you took on at work or some co-worker or supervisor who impacted your day.

When it comes down to it, the most important tool in a graduate’s hands is persistence and acceptance of the obstacles that lie ahead. Without a balanced perspective, no tips and tricks can move anyone forward. danewsroom@mail.wvu.edu

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10 | graduation edition

Friday May 13, 2011

Seniors take ‘The Final,’ Tweet WVU memories

By RebeccaH Griffith correspondent

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While West Virginia University graduates will be celebrating this weekend, a few students have one last request for those seniors leaving.

Oliver Napier, a graduate student in integrated marketing communications, is using social networking to preserve memories of the 2011 graduating seniors.

The Final Assignment is asking graduating seniors to use social media to answer questions about their experience at WVU. Napier said he is inviting students to share their memories at WVU through Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare.

Questions related to the University are prompts for the memories. Be it a favorite professor or a lesson learned outside the classroom, each graduate’s experience is important in building the WVU legacy, he said.

After commencement weekend, all contributions will be compiled into a multimedia video and distributed to participating graduates.

“It’s like a big scrapbook, except it includes all of your classmates too, which is really cool,” said Mel Moraes, a graduating senior in journalism, who is also working on the project.

Moraes said she frequently tweets funny or memorable thoughts related to her time at WVU. The collection of student memories will leave a lasting impression of the class is experience at WVU, and this is just the beginning, she said.

The project hopes to be the start of a lasting correspondence between graduating classmates, according to the

website.

The use of social media to connect people makes it easier, since it can be accessed through cell phones.

Moraes said the use of Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare for sending in these memories makes the project really accessible for any student.

“I don’t think they could think of an easier way to do it,” she said.

University Relations will be presenting the submitted information in a variety of ways before and during commencement as well, highlighting the impact WVU and the graduates have made on each other.

Diana Mazzella, communications specialist at University Relations News, said the Final Assignment is meant to start something new for students as they become alumni and have a lifelong relationship with their class and the University.

By approaching students through their social media just as they enter the world of a graduate, the Final Assignment will immediately create a new connection, Mazzella said.

The project jump-starts the change in a student’s bond with the University from current scholar to alumnus, an important and lasting relationship, she said.

Coupled with events like the Zero Year Reunion, an event bringing students together one last time as they learn about the life of an alumnus, the Final Assignment is the first step in creating this communication. Those behind the project hope to continue it in future years and to see it develop and change with WVU future graduates, she said. danewsroom@mail.wvu.edu

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FRIDAY MAY 13, 2011

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12 | GRADUATION EDITION

Friday May 13, 2011

Clements agrees to new 5-year contract by joel morales staff writer

West Virginia University President James P. Clements has agreed to a new five-year contract which will increase his salary $200,000 by next summer.

The new contract, which was approved by the Higher Education Policy Commission last Friday, gives Clements a pay raise from $450,000 to $550,000 starting June 30. Starting in June 30, 2012, Clements will make $650,000 per year through the remaining four years of his contract.

He will also be eligible for a percentage increase received by non-classified employees and additional increases based on a yearly review, the contract states.

“I’m very honored and thankful to the board for their belief

in me and the direction of the University,” Clements said.

“I didn’t negotiate. I took what they offered.”

Clements WVU President James P. Clements could also make additional incentives if parts of the University’s 2020 Strategic Plan are completed. Those specific incentives will be in the finalized contract within the next 180 days, and that money will come from private funds.

“His performance over the last two years has been exemplary,” said WVU Board of Governors Chair Carolyn Long.

“Stability is very important to the University, especially when

he has that kind of leadership, so it was important to us to get him a contract that we thought was fair.”

In addition, Clements’ new agreement states that he can serve as a paid member of a board of directors or consultant to a public or private corporate or associational body. His contract in 2009 stated that he could not do so.

Clements can also become a professor at the University during or after the contract is up.

If Clements is fired without cause by the WVU Board of Governors, he would be entitled to reassignment within the University.

Long said an effort was made to increase Clements’ salary to compete with WVU’s peer institutions, most land-grant universities with similarly sized health

facilities, athletic departments and research components.

One of those peers, University of Kentucky, pays its President Lee Todd $400,000 per year. Ohio State University President E. Gordon Gee, a former WVU president, earns the most of WVU’s peers at $1.5 million.

“People that I’ve talked with are absolutely thrilled that he was staying and that he would be here another five years at least,” Long said. “It felt like it was really the right thing to do for the University.”

In the last two years, the University has made a lot of progress, Clements said. Those changes include a $23 million investment in recreational field construction and the plans for a new student health and wellness center.

“Enrollment rate is at an all-

time high, research is at an alltime high, fund-raising budgets jumped last year. We hired a couple of new leaders at the University and launched the strategic plan,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of good things.”

The University has been able to accomplish these changes while keeping tuition low, Clements said. He said the University’s peer institutions pay more than $3,100 per student more in average tuition.

Clements said the University plans to increase faculty and staff salaries this year, as well. “(Clements) has found that money within the University by doing some adjustments and being very proactive and watching how we spend our money,” Long said. joel.morales@mail.wvu.edu

THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

GRADUATION EDITION | 13

College graduates face hard work, tough choices

WVU proposes tuition hike

Friday May 13, 2011

Tomas engle columnist

As the class of 2011 graduates from college and joins the ranks of millions of other Americans desperate for work, there are several things to keep in mind for these latest members of the “austerity generation.”

The term, which implies a severe reduction in the standards of living affecting a generation of people, was last widely used during the Great Depression. The often bare and meager existence many young Americans suffered during the 1930s shaped them and the “stability-at-all-costs” society they would later build in the 1950s.

While the situation currently is nowhere near as dire as it was in the 1930s, the collapse of the job sector, home foreclosures and creeping inflation of basic necessities are throwing many in their 20s for a loop. Promised freedom, prosperity and security as children by presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton, many of us have now grown jaded and cynical as young adults when these false promises unraveled under presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama.

The post-9/11 easy credit bubble fueled our fantasies of bigger homes, newer cars and stable middle-class careers, while simultaneously popping them as the scheme came undone in 2008.

We have stability now, but in the guise of the same non-improving numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics in unemployment and inflation we have had for over a year now.

With several more bubbles – college tuition, government bonds and even the American dollar itself – to come down the pike, the time to wait for change has passed us. To borrow a phrase from Mahatma Gandhi, “We must be the change we wish to see in the

world.”

Many current and former West Virginia University students are adapting to the changing situation instead of letting it change them. Chris Liddle was formerly one of the Class of 2011 at WVU, but in a situation becoming more and more common, has had to delay graduation and transfer back home to a local college because of financial difficulties.

A former journalism student at WVU, Liddle transferred last year to Delaware County Community College near his home of Downingtown, Pa., when faced with mounting student debt. A year into the change, with his sights now set on transferring to Temple University as a political science major, Liddle’s demeanor is upbeat and positive. Despite having to work three part-time jobs while going to community college in the year he was originally supposed to graduate from WVU, Liddle claims to have hit upon “the new American dream.”

Liddle declared the new code for the “austerity generation” would be both simple and hard to follow. “First off, find a job that pays enough so that you can save at least a little, if not more. Doesn’t have to be a job you necessarily want.

Just has to pay the bills and, preferably, pay off your college loans quickly. Secondly, live as cheaply as possible. Don’t do anything stupid like have kids early or get sucked into BS status purchases,” he said.

Liddle maintained that al-

though times would be tough for many in our generation, others had found ways before, and opportunities will be everywhere.

“Always remember it’s a jungle out there, but there’s a ton of cash floating around for the person that’s willing to work the hardest. Get that money, but don’t buy into the BS. You’re not a company man, and anybody who is is a fool,” Liddle said.

A lot of status symbols may not be as flashy as you imagine. Liddle considers buying a home “for suckers unless it is your goal to live in it for the next 30 years.” As housing numbers continue to slump, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, many homeowners are defaulting on their homes. Liddle’s cautious advice rings true.

As an extension of this, many people of our generation – college graduates or not – will have to face the possibility of moving back in with their parents. While not mentioned directly by Liddle, living on your own is the archetypal status symbol many will have to forgo in order to attain financial freedom in the future.

Mocked within our own culture as a bastion for nerds and recluses, but embraced by previous and current immigrants, living with family will be the first of many necessary bitter pills to swallow.

Accepting the unknown and unfamiliar and enduring a lot of hard work will be the path to success for all graduates in this brave new world.

By Emily Spickler Staff Writer

The proposed budget for West Virginia University’s 2012 fiscal year includes an increase in tuition for all students.

Narvel Weese, vice president for Administration and Finance, presented the proposal during the last Board of Governors meeting.

The pending budget plans an increase of student tuition by approximately 4.9 percent.

Tuition for West Virginia residents will increase by $268 and $844 for nonresidents.

“We wanted it out there so students would have an idea and so they would know about the possible tuition increase,” said Carolyn Long, BOG chair.

WVU is trying to increase next year’s tuition in order to fund the new School of Public Health and support increases in salaries considered to be “critical to retention and recruitment of high quality faculty and staff,” Weese said.

The proposed budget includes $4.2 million in new state funds, with $3 million designated to fund salary increases and $1 million to the new school.

“Faculty and non-classified staff increases are needed to compete for talent and expertise on the national level and

to reward employees who continue to demonstrate outstanding performance,” Weese said.

“Staff increases will be focused on fully funding the classified staff schedule and providing increases for those employees whose salaries are currently capped because of their placement on that schedule.”

The proposed budget includes an increase in salaries for faculty and staff by approximately 3 percent.

Pennsylvania State University’s undergraduate in-state tuition is $15,250, and University of Pittsburgh’s is $14,936.

WVU’s current undergraduate in-state tuition is $5,406.

“Compared to our peers, we’re a good value,” said Becky Lofstead, assistant vice president of University Communications.

“Last year, we did not raise tuition for in-state tuition,” she said. “The university has stayed fairly modest in their increases.”

According to Lofstead, scholarship support for students will also be increased to balance the weight of the increase.

“The University is always trying to keep costs down for students and parents,” she said.

The budget will be finalized in June.

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14 | GRADUATION EDITION

Friday May 13, 2011

Good news grads: Businesses are hiring Workplaces hiring at fastest pace since ’06 WASHINGTON (AP) — American companies are on a hiring spree. Businesses delivered a jolt of strength to the economy by creating 268,000 jobs in April, the biggest monthly total in more than five years. The gains were solid across an array of industries, even beleaguered construction.

It was the third month in a row of at least 200,000 new jobs. The private sector has added jobs for 14 consecutive months. Even a slight rise in the unemployment rate to 9 percent appears to be a quirk.

The job growth was better than economists expected

and perhaps the strongest sign yet that what they call a “virtuous cycle” has taken hold: When people spend more, corporate earnings rise, leading to more hiring and then more spending.

Companies have added more than 200,000 jobs for three months in a row.

“This was really a good report because ultimately it is all about jobs,” said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors. “More and more, it is looking as if the recovery is on track despite the headwinds it is facing.”

Those include higher prices for crude oil and gas. But energy prices fell sharply earlier this week, apparently reflecting lower consumption in the United States and a stron-

ger dollar. Analysts think the price of gas may have peaked for the summer at about $4 a gallon.

The rise in the unemployment rate, to 9 percent in April from 8.8 percent the month, was the first increase since November. But it appeared to be because of a temporary disparity in two surveys the government uses to track jobs.

Wall Street was pleased by Friday’s report from the Labor Department. The Dow Jones industrials rose more than 150 points shortly after the opening bell. The Dow closed up 55 points, or 0.4 percent.

Businesses added jobs in April across the economy. Retailers, factories, financial companies, education, health care and the construction in-

dustry all reported gains.

And the government said the job gains it reported for March and February turned out to be even stronger than previously thought. Private employers have now added jobs for 14 straight months.

Economists say companies are paying for new hires by starting to spend some of the almost $2 trillion in cash that businesses stockpiled after the recession ended in June 2009. Analysts have said the use of corporate cash reserves is the most effective way to strengthen the job market.

Once again, governments at the federal, state and local levels all cut jobs – 24,000 in April. Counting those cuts, the economy as a whole added 244,000 jobs last month. The private-sector job gains were

the most since February 2006.

“It is a sigh of relief: Economic momentum has not been lost,” said Sung Won Sohn, economist at California State University. He said he was surprised that energy prices hadn’t scared businesses away from hiring more.

President Barack Obama, refocusing on the economy after a week in which the killing of Osama bin Laden had dominated his agenda, said the figures were a sign that “we are regaining our footing.”

“We’ve made this progress at a time when our economy’s been facing some serious headwinds,” the president told workers at a transmission plant in Indiana. He cited

see hiring on PAGE 16

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THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

hiring

You deserve a factual look at . . .

Apartheid in the Arab Middle East How can the U.N. turn a blind eye to hateful, discrimination against people because of their race, ethnicity, religion and gender?

While apartheid—the legally-sanctioned practice of segregation, denial of civil rights and persecution because of race, ethnicity, religion or gender—has been eliminated in South Africa, where the term originated, it continues to be practiced in many parts of the world, particularly in the Arab Middle East and Iran. Why does the United Nations Human Rights Council continue to attack free, democratic Israel, yet refuse to condemn these true crimes against humanity?

What are the facts?

many Middle Eastern countries, including Kuwait, Jordan, Libya and Iraq. In Lebanon, Palestinians must Apartheid has been practiced in Middle East nations live in designated areas, cannot own homes and are for decades, yet it has managed to escape the scrutiny barred from 70 occupations. and condemnation of most of the world, including the By contrast, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza United Nations Human Rights Council. It’s time to are self-governing. They have their own government— denounce these discriminatory laws and customs and the Palestinian Authority—hold elections (albeit declare them illegal. Can moral people ignore such irregularly) and run all aspects of civil society. blatant, heinous examples of apartheid in the Middle Religious Apartheid against Christians and Jews.

East?

Persecution, discrimination and Racial Apartheid against against religious Black Africans. One of the “Isn’t it time for the U.N. Human attacks minorities, especially Christians world’s most deadly examples of racism is in Sudan, where Rights Council to stop persecuting and Jews, are rampant in the native black Sudanese have Israel and protest apartheid where Middle East. Pressure by radical Islamists has become so great been enslaved, persecuted and slaughtered by Muslim Arabs. it really lives—in Arab nations? ” that in the last 20 years some two million Christians have According to the Christian been driven out of their Middle East homelands.

Science Monitor, the “Darfur pogrom is part of a Christians in the Palestinian territories have dropped historic continuum in which successive Arab from 15 percent of the population in 1950 to just two governments have sought to entirely destroy black percent today. In Egypt, two Coptic Christian churches Africans in this biracial nation . . . The raison d’etre of were burned down over the past year, and according to the atrocities committed by government-supported a recent NPR report, Egyptian police commonly stand Arab militias is the racist, fundamentalist, and by and watch as Copts are physically attacked by undemocratic Sudanese state.” Since 1983, more than Islamist vigilantes. In Saudi Arabia, Christians and two million black Sudanese have been killed, displaced Jews may not be citizens at all. Some 700,000 Jews or exiled. have been forced out of Arab nations, effectively Ethnic Apartheid against the Kurds. Few ethnic extinguishing the Jewish population in the region, minorities in the Middle East have suffered as much except in Israel, the world’s only Jewish state. In the repression as the Kurds. In Syria in 1962, hundreds of disputed Palestinian territories, Jews are the victims of thousands of Kurds had their citizenship taken away or hate-motivated murders and, according to Palestinian were denied citizenship. In 2008, the Syrian president Mahmoud Abbas, Jews will be banned from government issued Decree 49, which expelled Kurds any future Palestinian state. from the country’s so-called “Arab Belt” and Gender Apartheid against Women. A 2002 United dispossessed them of rights to own land. The Kurdish Nations report states that “women in Arab League Union Party called this an “ethnic cleansing decree . . . countries suffer from unequal citizenship and legal aimed at ending national Kurdish existence.” In Iran, entitlements often evident . . . in voting rights and legal following the Islamic revolution, the Shiite majority codes [and] from inequality of opportunity, evident in denied the Kurds a role in defining the new employment status, wages and gender-based constitution, and in 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini declared occupational segregation.” In Saudi Arabia, women must a holy war against Kurdish political organizations: walk on separate sidewalks, must be covered from head Entire Kurdish villages and towns were destroyed, and to toe, and are not allowed to drive or vote in municipal thousands of Kurds executed without due process. elections. Women in many Middle Eastern countries are Ethnic Apartheid against Palestinian Arabs. For commonly forced into marriages, the law usually some 40 years Palestinians have been denied requires absolute obedience to husbands, and millions of citizenship in Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi girls must undergo genital mutilation.

Arabia and Iraq. Palestinians have been expelled from Only Israel, among all Middle Eastern nations, guarantees equal civil rights for all its citizens, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual preference. Israel is the only country in the Middle East in which the Christian population is growing. Some 1.4 million Israeli Arabs enjoy more rights than citizens in any Arab country. Isn’t it time for the U.N. Human Rights Council to stop persecuting Israel and condemn apartheid where it really lives—in Arab nations—and demand immediate reform and sanctions against all countries that commit such crimes against humanity?

This message has been published and paid for by

Facts and Logic About the Middle East P.O. Box 590359 San Francisco, CA 94159

Gerardo Joffe, President

Friday May 13, 2011

FLAME is a tax-exempt, non-profit educational 501 (c)(3) organization. Its purpose is the research and publication of the facts regarding developments in the Middle East and exposing false propaganda that might harm the interests of the United States and its allies in that area of the world. Your taxdeductible contributions are welcome. They enable us to pursue these goals and to publish these messages in national newspapers and magazines. We have virtually no overhead. Almost all of our revenue pays for our educational work, for these clarifying messages, and for related direct mail.

126

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added or subtracted each month, the government surContinued from page 14 veys about 140,000 businesses and government agenhigh gas prices and the earth- cies. That survey covers about quake in Japan. a third of all workers in the “There will undoubtedly be United States. some more challenges ahead, For the unemployment but the fact is that we are still rate, it calls about 60,000 making progress,” he said. households and asks people if “And that proves how resilient they’re working or looking for the American economy is, a job. This includes the selfand how resilient the Ameriemployed, farm workers and can worker is, and that we can domestic help – people not take a hit and we can keep on counted in the first survey. going forward.”

In April, the number of farm Average hourly earnings workers who said they had a rose to $22.95 in April, up 2 job fell sharply. Economists cents from March. Pay gains suspect that may have been are trailing inflation. Over the because of bad weather that past year, wages have grown delayed planting.

1.9 percent, while inflation It’s typical in economic rehas come in at 2.7 percent. coveries for the unemployThere was no evidence that ment rate to bounce around the disaster in Japan, which sometimes rather than falldisrupted supplies of some ing month after month. In car parts, led the U.S. auto in- fact, economists think the dustry to cut jobs last month. rate will probably rise further All three Detroit car compathis summer because more nies have been hiring at facpeople start looking for work tories and in engineering and are counted as unemdepartments. ployed. By the end of the year, Among the companies usthough, economists say the ing more of their cash to rate should be back under 9 hire is Amazon.com. It’s also percent. spending more on new faciliMost analysts say the facties, including plans to add 10 tors that held back overall distribution centers this year. economic growth at the start A warehouse in Washington of the year, including higher state will create several hungas prices and lower condred jobs, and a customer ser- sumer spending, were probvice center in West Virginia ably temporary. They prewill add 200 jobs. dict the economy, which has “We’re just seeing tremenbeen expanding for almost dous growth, and because of two years now, will grow ever that we’re having to invest in faster for the rest of the year. a lot of capacity,” Thomas SzRetailers reported strong kutak, Amazon’s chief finanApril sales, partly because cial officer, said last week.

Easter fell later than usual Even with last month’s but also because people apburst of hiring, 13.7 million pear to be more willing to people remained unemployed spend. Auto companies say in April. That’s double the sales are brisk. And factories number when the recession have expanded production began in December 2007. this year at the fastest pace in Including part-time worka quarter-century. ers who would rather be Nigel Gault, an economist working full-time and people at IHS Global Insight, cauwho have given up looking al- tioned that hiring could slow together, roughly 25 million in the coming months, as sugare “underemployed.” They gested by a big increase in represent 15.9 percent of the first-time applications for unwork force, the highest proemployment benefits over the portion since February. past month.

The two surveys the govBut the job gains of the past ernment uses to gauge the job three months, which average market can diverge sharply 233,000 for the government from time to time. That apand private sector combined, peared to account for the inshow “good momentum that crease in the jobless rate in should allow the economy to April. The surveys tend to absorb the twin shocks from even out. the Middle East and Japan To calculate the number without too much damage,” of jobs that companies have Gault said.

THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

Friday May 13, 2011

Memphis school wins grad address from Pres. Obama MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — An academic turnaround at an urban high school with a rich tradition of educating African-Americans has earned graduating seniors a commencement address next week from President Barack Obama.

Booker T. Washington High School found out it was the winner of a national competition in a phone call Tuesday from Vice President Joe Biden.

Officials said the speech will be Monday, but the location has not been released.

The school’s accomplishment was announced as the city of Memphis is enduring the second-worst flood of its history. The flooding didn’t threaten the school building, and none of its students were directly affected by the high water.

Principal Alisha Kiner said she jumped up and down so much when she heard the news that she was shoeless by the time she was done. Kiner said Biden spoke with each of six seniors who were in her office when she received the call.

“Out of body experience.

Not real. Reeling. Those are words that come to mind right now,” said Kiner, who said she wept in private after telling her students.

Tarvaris Shegog, a 19-yearold senior football and baseball player, said he and his fellow students also had tears of joy in their eyes when their principal broke the news.

“We’re ready for graduation, we’re ready to meet Barack Obama,” said Shegog, who is choosing between two colleges, with plans to enter sports broadcasting. “Our motto describes us: We lead and others follow.”

A professionally produced video outlined the hurdles the school’s 500 students have overcome to win the competition.

The school is in a gritty south Memphis community where the median annual in-

come is less than $11,000, and the crime rate is the 14th highest in the nation. During the last school year, 20 percent of the students lost their homes when their public housing project was closed and demolished.

Many of its students live in tough neighborhoods beset by crime, drug addiction, teenage pregnancy and untreated mental illness. A majority of the students are economically disadvantaged, and some are homeless.

Nevertheless, the school improved its graduation rate from 55 percent in 2007 to more than 80 percent in 2010. That improvement was cited as key to winning the administration’s Race to the Top High School Commencement Challenge, which honors schools for preparing students for college and careers.

“I don’t think our story is unique,” Kiner said. “People struggle, period. That’s just a part of life. Our school is representative of a whole lot of schools.”

Kiner says the turnaround can be attributed to a family atmosphere that she has tried to instill since taking over in 2005.

She said many students who previously had dropped out did so in the ninth grade.

She established a ninth grade “academy” where classes were split up by gender, with boys taught by male teachers and girls getting instruction from female teachers, to reduce classroom distractions.

Administrators keep close track of students, making sure they have their correct addresses and phone numbers.

The principal meets with a graduation team to discuss each student and what troubles or obstacles, if any, they face in their lives outside of school. Kiner also built a strong relationship with the principal of the area feeder school.

Shegog admits thinking

see obama on PAGE 19

GRADUATION EDITION | 15

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THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

You deserve a factual look at . . .

Apartheid in the Arab Middle East How can the U.N. turn a blind eye to hateful, discrimination against people because of their race, ethnicity, religion and gender?

While apartheid—the legally-sanctioned practice of segregation, denial of civil rights and persecution because of race, ethnicity, religion or gender—has been eliminated in South Africa, where the term originated, it continues to be practiced in many parts of the world, particularly in the Arab Middle East and Iran. Why does the United Nations Human Rights Council continue to attack free, democratic Israel, yet refuse to condemn these true crimes against humanity?

What are the facts?

many Middle Eastern countries, including Kuwait, Jordan, Libya and Iraq. In Lebanon, Palestinians must Apartheid has been practiced in Middle East nations live in designated areas, cannot own homes and are for decades, yet it has managed to escape the scrutiny barred from 70 occupations. and condemnation of most of the world, including the By contrast, Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza United Nations Human Rights Council. It’s time to are self-governing. They have their own government— denounce these discriminatory laws and customs and the Palestinian Authority—hold elections (albeit declare them illegal. Can moral people ignore such irregularly) and run all aspects of civil society. blatant, heinous examples of apartheid in the Middle Religious Apartheid against Christians and Jews.

East?

Persecution, discrimination and Racial Apartheid against against religious Black Africans. One of the “Isn’t it time for the U.N. Human attacks minorities, especially Christians world’s most deadly examples of racism is in Sudan, where Rights Council to stop persecuting and Jews, are rampant in the native black Sudanese have Israel and protest apartheid where Middle East. Pressure by radical Islamists has become so great been enslaved, persecuted and slaughtered by Muslim Arabs. it really lives—in Arab nations? ” that in the last 20 years some two million Christians have According to the Christian been driven out of their Middle East homelands.

Science Monitor, the “Darfur pogrom is part of a Christians in the Palestinian territories have dropped historic continuum in which successive Arab from 15 percent of the population in 1950 to just two governments have sought to entirely destroy black percent today. In Egypt, two Coptic Christian churches Africans in this biracial nation . . . The raison d’etre of were burned down over the past year, and according to the atrocities committed by government-supported a recent NPR report, Egyptian police commonly stand Arab militias is the racist, fundamentalist, and by and watch as Copts are physically attacked by undemocratic Sudanese state.” Since 1983, more than Islamist vigilantes. In Saudi Arabia, Christians and two million black Sudanese have been killed, displaced Jews may not be citizens at all. Some 700,000 Jews or exiled. have been forced out of Arab nations, effectively Ethnic Apartheid against the Kurds. Few ethnic extinguishing the Jewish population in the region, minorities in the Middle East have suffered as much except in Israel, the world’s only Jewish state. In the repression as the Kurds. In Syria in 1962, hundreds of disputed Palestinian territories, Jews are the victims of thousands of Kurds had their citizenship taken away or hate-motivated murders and, according to Palestinian were denied citizenship. In 2008, the Syrian president Mahmoud Abbas, Jews will be banned from government issued Decree 49, which expelled Kurds any future Palestinian state. from the country’s so-called “Arab Belt” and Gender Apartheid against Women. A 2002 United dispossessed them of rights to own land. The Kurdish Nations report states that “women in Arab League Union Party called this an “ethnic cleansing decree . . . countries suffer from unequal citizenship and legal aimed at ending national Kurdish existence.” In Iran, entitlements often evident . . . in voting rights and legal following the Islamic revolution, the Shiite majority codes [and] from inequality of opportunity, evident in denied the Kurds a role in defining the new employment status, wages and gender-based constitution, and in 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini declared occupational segregation.” In Saudi Arabia, women must a holy war against Kurdish political organizations: walk on separate sidewalks, must be covered from head Entire Kurdish villages and towns were destroyed, and to toe, and are not allowed to drive or vote in municipal thousands of Kurds executed without due process. elections. Women in many Middle Eastern countries are Ethnic Apartheid against Palestinian Arabs. For commonly forced into marriages, the law usually some 40 years Palestinians have been denied requires absolute obedience to husbands, and millions of citizenship in Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Kuwait, Saudi girls must undergo genital mutilation.

Arabia and Iraq. Palestinians have been expelled from Only Israel, among all Middle Eastern nations, guarantees equal civil rights for all its citizens, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender or sexual preference. Israel is the only country in the Middle East in which the Christian population is growing. Some 1.4 million Israeli Arabs enjoy more rights than citizens in any Arab country. Isn’t it time for the U.N. Human Rights Council to stop persecuting Israel and condemn apartheid where it really lives—in Arab nations—and demand immediate reform and sanctions against all countries that commit such crimes against humanity?

This message has been published and paid for by

Facts and Logic About the Middle East P.O. Box 590359 San Francisco, CA 94159

Gerardo Joffe, President

FLAME is a tax-exempt, non-profit educational 501 (c)(3) organization. Its purpose is the research and publication of the facts regarding developments in the Middle East and exposing false propaganda that might harm the interests of the United States and its allies in that area of the world. Your taxdeductible contributions are welcome. They enable us to pursue these goals and to publish these messages in national newspapers and magazines. We have virtually no overhead. Almost all of our revenue pays for our educational work, for these clarifying messages, and for related direct mail.

126

To receive free FLAME updates, visit our website: www.factsandlogic.org

FRIDAY MAY 13, 2011

FRIDAY MAY 13, 2011

THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

GRADUATION EDITION | 17

THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

18 | GRADUATION EDITION

Friday May 13, 2011

Friday May 13, 2011

THE DAILY ATHENAEUM

Poll says Americans more upbeat about economy WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are growing more optimistic about the U.S. economy, a sentiment that is benefiting President Barack Obama despite public disenchantment with his handling of rising gasoline prices and swollen government budget deficits.

An Associated Press-GfK poll shows that more than 2 out of 5 people believe the U.S. economy will get better, while a third think it will stay the same and nearly a fourth think it will get worse, a rebound from last month’s more pessimistic attitude. And, for the first time since the 100-day mark of his presidency, slightly more than half approve of Obama’s stewardship of the economy.

Both findings represent a boost for Obama, though he still must overcome ill will over government red ink and the price of gas at the pump, now hovering around $4 a gallon.

But the public’s brighter economic outlook also could signal a boost to the current recovery, which relies to a

great degree on consumer behavior. A public that is confident about economic performance is more likely to spend more and accelerate the economy’s resurgence.

The poll was conducted May 5-9 in the aftermath of the U.S. commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaida leader behind the Sept. 11, terrorist attacks. The spike in public esteem for Obama as a result of that successful clandestine mission may have helped Obama’s standing on issues other than national security.

The poll coincides with renewed attention in Washington to the nation’s growing debt and the federal government’s long-term budget deficits, so any positive signs from the public could help Obama push his policy proposals. A bipartisan team of lawmakers is working with Vice President Joe Biden to identify spending cuts. Meanwhile, lawmakers also are discussing major structural changes to the tax system and to the govern-

ment’s mammoth benefits programs of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

The results of the AP-GfK poll stood out because other surveys taken after bin Laden’s death, while showing a spike in support for the president, continued to indicate dissatisfaction by a majority for his handling of the economy. Still, like the AP-GfK poll, other surveys also found American attitudes about the state of the nation improving.

Forty-five percent of those polled in the AP-GfK survey said the country was now moving in the right direction, an increase of 10 percentage points from five weeks ago. And attitudes about life in general remained positive, with 4 out of 5 respondents saying they were happy or somewhat happy with their circumstances. “Once you hit bottom the only one way to go is up,� said John Bair, 23, a photographer and filmmaker from Pittsburgh. “Everybody that I come in contact with seems to be on

the upswing. I consider that a pretty good thing.�

But Bair, who describes himself as a moderate to conservative independent, doesn’t believe Obama deserves reelection. He strongly disapproves of the president’s handling of gasoline prices and says Obama should do more to increase domestic production of oil. “When I’m paying $4 for a gallon of gas, it gets me wondering what’s going on,� he said.

Obama has tried to appear engaged on gas prices even though there is little presidents can do to alter market fluctuations. He has called for new renewable energy policies and for eliminating tax breaks for oil and gas companies, while conceding those steps will not address the current price increases. The efforts have not given the public much to cheer about, however.

A total of 61 percent disapprove of Obama’s approach to the rising cost of gasoline.

Indeed, for all the long-term

confidence that the economy will recover, the public is hardly upbeat about the current state of things. Only 21 percent describe the economy as good, and 73 percent describe it as poor. About 1 in 5 thought the economy got better during the past month; an equal number thought it got worse.

A favorable jobs report last Friday showed that private companies had exceeded expectations by creating 268,000 jobs last month, the third month of at least 200,000 new jobs. And while unemployment has dropped from a high of 10.1 percent nationally in October 2009, it is now 9 percent, the same as in January. “We haven’t done anything to create the jobs that (Obama) promised – that all of them promised,� said John Grezaffi, 60, a rancher from Pointe Coupee Parish, La. Grezaffi, taking a short break from working to shore up his land against a rising Mississippi River on Wednesday, said he somewhat supports Obama but does not support his handling of the economy and believes the country is moving in the wrong direction.

Approaching retirement age, he said he wasn’t eager to see his upcoming benefits shortchanged. “I’m willing to give up a little, but not everything when you see the waste that occurs

see economy on PAGE 19

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Scream 4 [R] Hoodwinked Too! Hood 1:55-4:40-7:25-10:05 vs. Evil 3D [PG] 3:45-6:30-9:15 Hanna [PG-13] 1:45-4:30-7:10-10:00 Prom [PG] 1:20-4:15-7:00-9:30 Soul Surfer [PG] 1:15-4:00-6:40-9:25 Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family Hop [PG] [PG-13] 1:25-4:05-6:50-9:35 1:35-4:10-6:55-9:50 Source Code [PG-13] Your Highness [R] 1:50-7:20 4:35-10:10

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GRADUATION EDITION | 19

economy

Continued from page 18 in so many other areas,� he said.

Deana Floss, 39, a Springfield, Ohio, restaurant cook and owner of a cleaning business, voiced lukewarm approval for Obama even though she doesn’t care for the state of the economy or Obama’s handling of the nation’s budget deficits.

First lady Michelle Obama gives the commencement address at the University of Northern Iowa on April 7.

obama

Continued from page 15 about giving up on school when he was going through some “ups and downs,� but advice from coaches, teachers and principals helped him decide to stay in school. “We are one big family,�

Shegog said. “We’re not a perfect family, but we all made an agreement to create a situation we are all comfortable with.�

A team from the White House is set to visit the school to make arrangements for graduation. “It’s going to feel like my wedding day, without getting married,� said senior Audre Johnson, who said she will be studying nursing at Lane College.

Booker T. Washington High was named Clay Street School when it opened in 1873 as the first public high school for blacks in Memphis. Its alumni include Benjamin Hooks, who was executive director of the NAACP, and Willie Herenton, the city’s first black mayor.

The other finalists in the competition were High Tech High International in San Diego and Bridgeport High School in Bridgeport, Wash.

The final three were chosen after an Internet vote cut the field from six semi-finalists.

“I don’t think he has done a very bad job with the economy,� she said. “It was already going downhill when he took the reins.�

The Associated Press-GfK Poll was conducted by GfK Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications.

It involved landline and cell phone interviews with 1,001 adults nationwide and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

ap

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You have to start somewhere.

With more than 60 graduate programs to choose from, we think it should be here.

www.iup.edu/GoToGradSchool graduate-admissions@iup.edu â&#x20AC;˘ 724-357-2222

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