NEWS • 02
LIVING • 05
ENTERTAINMENT • 13
SIGNAL
SPORTS • 09
the
TSA under fire for privacy issues. RAs heroes of University Housing. Mint Gallery moving down the street. A look back at football’s first season.
VOL. 78 • ISSUE 14 • NOVEMBER 30, 2010 REGISTER ONLINE FOR BREAKING NEWS AT
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USG enrollment numbers continue to increase By MIRANDA SAIN Associate News Editor
EMILY CARLSON | GEORGIA MAGAZINE
A student harvests squash at the UGArden, the community garden at the University of Georgia.
Committee members say no to sustainability fees By JAEMIN HWANG Staff Writer Despite efforts to increase environmental awareness, the proposal for student sustainability fees was recently voted down by the Georgia State University Mandatory Fee Committee. Georgia State juniors Gabrielle Arrington and Allie Jones alongside Georgia State Law alumnus and Environmental Law Society representative Paul Black presented the proposition for a sustainability fee to the Mandatory Fee Committee. Their proposal was to institute “green” fees, adding an additional $3 to the mandatory fees, which would be used as funding toward sustainability programs aimed to help students and members of the university community. The Mandatory Fee Committee is compromised of students, staff and faculty. Proposals for mandatory fee increases are presented to the committee during a weeklong session. In a second session, committee members can ask questions to help finalize their decision. This year, there were a total of 16 members on the committee. The finalized vote for the sustain-
ability proposal was six yeas and 10 nays. “It was just a no vote with no discussion or explanation and no one came up to the sustainability fee presenters afterwards to explain why they voted the way they did,” said Michael Black, visiting lecturer in the biology department. “Our water and sewer rates in Atlanta are among the highest in the nation and continue to go up. Electric rates are also likely increase in the near future. Both of these will cut into what the university can spend on things like better programs and initiatives for student education. So, at a time when it would be a really good and wise investment in conservation and energy efficiency to save future money, the university may have fewer funds to be able to do this.” Further addressing sustainability issues was Kevin Kirsche, University of Georgia’s director of sustainability, who visited Georgia State to discuss how the establishment of student green fees helps coordinate, communicate and advance sustainability at UGA. Since the initiation of student “green” fees at the university, “we regularly receive great input from
passionate and engaged students, faculty and staff. Ideas range from waste reduction and recycling to alternative transportation, local foods and renewable energy projects,” Kirsche said. “Several new and ongoing programs have been established since the initiation of student green fees. The UGArden campus community garden provides physical and metaphorical growth through handson opportunities for students and has resulted in over 700 pounds of fresh, local, sustainably-grown produce donated to the Food Bank of Northeast Georgia,” Kirsche said. If the proposal for the sustainability fee was to be approved, Kirsche said “I believe there are many at GSU who will work hard to advance the sustainability of your great institution. There are opportunities to reduce generation of waste and consumption of energy, water and other valuable material resources in an economically responsible manner.” “I think Sustainable Energy Tribe is going to try for a sustainability fee again next year,” Black said.
The University System of Georgia reached a new enrollment record during the fall 2010 semester. The Board of Regents reported an increase of 9,550 students, or 3.2 percent, in enrollment over last fall. There are approximately 311,442 students attending 35 USG colleges. “Individuals continue to seek out the opportunity that higher education uniquely offers,” said USG Chancellor Erroll Davis. “We must bear this in mind as we continue to be challenged by budgets and shrinking state resources.” The increase is not as impressive as the 6.7 percent increase USG saw from fall 2008 to fall 2009. However, it continues the steady increases in enrollment the Board of Regents has seen in the past few years, Davis said. “We continue to grow in good times and bad times. We are growing where we want to grow,” Davis said. According to the official report re-
leased by the Board of Regents, Georgia State saw a 3.6 percent increase. Student enrollment is now 31,533. The University of Georgia, which currently holds the record for highest student enrollment in the state, saw a decline in its enrollment by 0.6 percent and now enrolls 34,677. If Georgia State continues to report gains in student enrollment, it may soon surpass the University of Georgia as the largest institution in the state. The report also showed that minority students continue to enroll at a higher rate than the overall student population in fall 2010. Hispanic enrollment jumped 14.5 percent from fall 2009 to fall 2010. Hispanic students now make up 4.7 percent of total enrollment. Enrollment by Asian students increased 6.5 percent from fall 2009. African-American enrollment numbers increased 5.1 percent. Female students now make up 57.5 percent of the USG’s total enrollment.
ANA POPENKO
Georgia State’s Office of Emergency Management, Atlanta Fire, Grady Emergency Medical Services and other agencies practice dealing with a full-scale emergency situation
Emergency simulation tracks mass casualties on campus By DANIEL B. RINALDI Staff Writer When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and the Mississippi coast in 2005, the U.S. was challenged to respond. “It was challenging to watch the city go down like that,” New Orleans native and Georgia State’s Emergency Operations Manager Keith Sumas said. “There is a lot more behind the scenes that needs to take place. It is not just taking water out of the city.” To be better prepared if a natu-
ral or man-made disaster strikes the Georgia State campus, on Nov. 19, Georgia State’s Office of Emergency Management and other agencies simulated a building collapse about two blocks from Greek housing to learn how to track mass casualties. OEM, Grady Memorial Hospital, Atlanta Department of Fire Rescue, Georgia and Fulton County Emergency Management Agencies, Georgia State Police and local law enforcement plotted this simulation, Georgia State’s SEE SIMULATION, PAGE 4