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january 27, 2011
T H E I N DE PE N DE N T S T U DE N T N E W SPA PE R OF S Y R ACUSE , N E W YOR K
INSIDENEWS
INSIDEOPINION
INSIDEPULP
INSIDESPORTS
Stemming out Class explores legal, religious
Here’s to you The Daily Orange Editorial Board
Refreshing documentary An SU alumnus makes a documentary for the
No offense Syracuse travels to Marquette looking
and social issues surrounding stem cell research. Page 3
says thank you for the changes brought on by baby boomers. Page 5
Pepsi Refresh Project on Huntington’s disease. Page 13
to snap a three-game losing streak this weekend. Page 28
Application fees for SU match peers
Bat captured by net in Hall of Languages By Michael Boren
By Jon Harris
As Jon Gregalis walked into the Hall of Languages, an unlikely visitor swooped in from above: a bat. “I was one step in the doorway, and this thing just flew in front of my face,” said Gregalis, a freshman public relations major who saw the bat flying around on the second-floor landing Tuesday at about 5 p.m. Responding to a call about the bat, Syracuse University Physical Plant worker Mark Monette followed the yells of students and trapped the bat inside a foot-wide net, later releasing it into a wooded area on the other side of South Campus, said Ray Kowalski, Physical Plant’s west zone manager. But bat sightings are not uncommon around campus. Monette receives 15 to 20 bat calls a year, Kowalski said.
Zach Miller has spent more than $250 on applications to five different schools. Of the five, none have cost him more than his application to Syracuse University. SU’s $70 undergraduate application fee is tied with 14 other schools for 13th-highest among national universities in the United States, according to a U.S. News and World Report released Jan. 19. The average application fee for national universities was $46.78, and only three of the schools reported having no fee. A total of 252 national universities responded to the survey. But Miller, a senior at Woburn Memorial High School in Massachusetts, said the high application fee didn’t shy him away from applying to SU. He said he has always wanted to apply to SU, one of his top-two college options. “I think it’s expensive, but the school can charge whatever they want to make money,” Miller said. And Miller isn’t the only one looking past the $70 application fee. As of Tuesday afternoon, SU’s Office of Admissions had received a record 25,309 fi rst-year applications, said Nancy Rothschild, associate dean of admissions, in an e-mail. This year’s number broke the mark set last year by more than 2,000 applications. Rothschild said the application fee at SU has been $70 since 2008 and hasn’t had an effect on the number of applicants. “Over the past two years, we have seen significant increases in the number of applications from a broad cross-section of students,” she said. “Therefore, the amount of the application fee does not appear to discourage interested students from applying for admission.” To set the application fee, SU looks at its peer institutions, said Don Saleh, vice president for enrollment management, in an e-mail. The application fee is within $5 of most of SEE APPLICATIONS PAGE 6
ASST. NEWS EDITOR
ASST. NEWS EDITOR
BOOM or BUST?
SEE BATS PAGE 9
Students retain little knowledge of course work
As more people hit retirement age, concerns grow for providing, paying for health care
By Bethany Bump STAFF WRITER
Students who have ever wondered how much their college degree is worth may have just gotten their answer: not much. A book released last week, “Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses,” found many college students are not learning much, if anything, compared to previous generations. The fi ndings show 45 percent of students demonstrated no “significant improvement in learning” during their fi rst two years of college. After four years, learning improves slightly with only 36 percent showing no significant improvement. The book, which studied 2,300
SEE LEARNING PAGE 10
By Susan Kim
T
COPY CHIEF
University who was born in 1962, is looking to begin his own business to support his
he only thing more important to
family’s needs, including health care, after
Serge Goma than having a reliable
he graduates.
health care plan is finding a job, but
With more than 10,000 people a day reach-
even that priority is related to his need for
ing retirement age, baby boomers are put-
a health insurance plan for him and his
ting pressure on the health care industry
family.
to provide people with more accessible and
“Health is important because without
affordable plans.
health, you can’t work,” said Goma, who is
“The boomers are a large bubble in the
one of an estimated 78 million baby boomers
population that is growing older,” said
who will turn 65 years old within the next
Grant Reeher, a political science professor
19 years.
at SU who specializes in health care policy.
Goma, a graduate student at Syracuse
SEE BOOMERS PAGE 9