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Independent Collegian IC The
Monday, May 23, 2011
Serving the University of Toledo since 1919
www.IndependentCollegian.com 92nd year Summer Issue 1
Tuition increase among budget solutions Board of Trustees extend UT President Lloyd Jacobs’ contract while negotiating administrator payraises By IC Staff
Photo Illustration by Kevin Sohnly/ IC
UT President Lloyd Jacobs’ budget includes a 3.5 percent tuition increase for undergrduates, a 6.5 percent for medical and pharmacy graduate students and a 5 percent tuition increase for law students. The budget still awaits a vote by the full Board of Trustees. The BOT will vote on the proposed budget June 20. The Fiscal Year 2012 budget must be approved by July 1. The university is supposed to lose $20.2 million in state funding for FY12.
The University of Toledo will lose $20.2 million in state funding for the 2012 fiscal year if Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s proposed budget is approved. In-state tuition will increase close to the state’s 3.5 percent cap, from around $8,500 to around $8,800 next school year, while the surcharge on out-ofstate tuition will remain the same if the proposed budget is approved by the UT Board of Trustees. Graduate, medical school, and pharmacy tuition is to increase by 6.5 percent and law school students’ tuition by five percent. UT’s budget for the fiscal year was $812 million, including the UT Medical Center and the university has 10,000 employees on both campuses. The revenue of the university’s budget is expected to rise 1.2 percent from $790 million to $800.5 million. This value is a result of an almost $226 million in projected tuition, $120 million in state support, and $262 million in patient revenue, as well as grants, contracts, sales, and services. “We are committed to holding
tuition down. We believe this is a reasonable increase,” UT President Lloyd Jacobs told the Toledo Blade. The proposed budget also includes an increase in the cost of some dormitories and meal plan fees. Jacobs said students with financial needs will continue to qualify for scholarships. To help balance the budget the university is considering eliminating close to 100 positions and distributing a larger workload on the remaining faculty. A resolution to raise the minimum faculty workload from 24 credit hours per academic year to 27 credit hours has also been adopted by the board of trustees. Select professors conducting research and other services will be eligible to teach less credit hours. According to Executive Director of UTMC Scott Scarborough, the university will contract with about half as many retired, parttime and visiting professors, and rely on larger class sizes and fulltime professors to absorb the additional teaching workload. Jacobs said in a UT News — Tuition, Page A4
Students develop alt. energy plans $5000 Grants allows student group to address alternative energy concerns in NW Ohio By Sura Khuder IC Features Editor
The state of Ohio is investing more than $1 million dollars to help fund the research of several University of Toledo students in the sustainable energy field. The Choose Ohio First initiative was developed through a five-year $1.56 million grant awarded to the University of Toledo and other colleges in the region. Building Ohio’s Sustainable Energy Future, or BOSEF, aims to invest in renewable energy sources in Northwest Ohio and to recruit students into
science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields through nearly $5,000 dollars in individual grants. Now approaching its third year, students in BOSEF have developed ideas to solve problems in wind energy, solar power, and biomass areas in the region, and are currently looking toward putting those plans into action. Biomass In 2004 alone, it was estimated that the more than 300 miles of the Lake Erie shoreline in Ohio contributed $1.5 billion in sales
and 50,000 jobs, according to an Ohio Environmental report. However, Nathan Reaver, a member of BOSEF, said sewage overflows and toxic waste threaten the region and its economic prosperity. The recent UT graduate in bioengineering and physics pointed to phosphorus runoff as a contributor to these problems as well. He said the biomass group has turned to planting harvestable wetlands in the region to soak up excess phosphorus, preventing — Energy, Page A4
Life After Judgment Day
Vincent D. Scebbi/ IC
A judgment day billboard on display on Bancroft St. Despite the prediction of judgement day being on May 21, people still read the Independent Collegian on May 23.
Service learning in Nicaragua By Megan Gross IC Staff Writer
Courtesy of Page Armstrong.
Twelve UT Honors students went to Nicaragua to fix schools last month. The students painted a mural at one school that included their handprints and UT’s shield inside the state of Ohio.
A group of Honors College students and a UT Honors professor came together to give back to those less fortunate, passing up pizza parties and trips to amusement parks. Twelve students in the Honors Living Learning Community, traveled to Nicaragua to experience community service at the core of a poverty-stricken country. Last fall, Page Armstrong of the UT Honors College was named the HLLC director. Once Armstrong got all the students together that were willing to participate in the HLLC, she asked them a simple question, “What is it that you guys really want to do?” Expecting answers such as pizza parties or trips to Cedar Point, she was shocked to hear her students say they were
interested in service learning trips and community service projects. Inspired by her students’ positivity and spirit, Armstrong managed to get in touch with an organization called International Samaritan. The Ann Arbor, Michiganbased community service organization was established to improve international poverty and raise awareness about the poor in developing countries. International Samaritan has sent students on mission trips to Central America, Egypt and the Philippines. Student Government Vice President Jordan Maddocks was among the students who attended the trip. “The reason I wanted to go to Nicaragua was to expand my horizons,” Maddocks said. “College is the time to go outside of your comfort zone and see your society and the global impact on
the world.” The UT Honors students were told the trip would not be completely paid for, but that did not stop them from pursuing this opportunity. According to Armstrong, the students raised money on their own and with help from the Office of Academic Engagement, each student received a grant reserved for student international work. Some additional donations from a local charity also helped the students meet their goal and start planning their community service trip to Nicaragua. According to Sydni Coleman, a UT student who attended the Honors service learning trip, this was the first time International Samaritan organized something in Nicaragua. “Going into the trip, I was really excited but a bit nervous — Nicaragua, Page A4