MORAINE VALLEY COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENT NEWSPAPER WWW.MVCCGLACIER.COM MARCH 7, 2014 VOLUME 47, ISSUE 12
Durbin talks education By Ashley Meitz News Editor
“I was pleased to meet with representatives of the fine community colleges across Illinois,” Senator Dick Durbin stated. “Community colleges make up the largest and most affordable sector of the nation’s higher education system. They are positioned to give students a quality education, prepare them for the jobs of the future, and help address the growing problem of student loan debt.” When addressing the issue of growing debt throughout the country, Senator Durbin explained, “I don’t think this is another issue, I think this is a defining value.” Higher education, a pillar of American life, should be approached cautiously with a financially sound mindset. While a college education is certainly valued and held in high esteem, students are stressed to consider each
aspect and viewpoint before committing themselves to the financial burden. For the first time, people are wondering whether a college education is worth the debt. Loans prove themselves a risk toward personal credit, mobility and futures of students, leading to the unexpected questioning of higher education in the U.S. “Millions of Americans pursue college education hoping they’ll realize the American Dream.” Senator Durbin further explained, “68 percent of the class of 2012 graduated with some debt and average at about 27,850 dollars a year.” This means that Americans hold more than 1.2 trillion dollars in student debt, amounting to more than the total credit card debt throughout the country. While laws dictate what needs to be told when pursuing mortgage loans, unfortuSENATOR | page 7
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin met with Illinois representatives in order to discuss issues in higher education including student loan debt and the Community College to Career Fund Act. [Durbin Press]
MVCC awarded $58,500 grant By Ashley Meitz News Editor The Illinois Green Economy Network (IGEN), an organization of which Moraine Valley is a member, has awarded the college a $58,500 grant. This generous sum of money is a sub-award of a grant IGEN received from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity. With it, Moraine valley is expected to create curriculum for other member colleges that will secure systems within the Smart Grid. The Illinois Green Economy Network (IGEN) was incorporated in October 2012 and serves as a consortium of Illinois community colleges working to grow the green
economy of Illinois. 39 community college districts and 48 campuses in Illinois are members of the IGEN. IGEN’s sole mission is “to provide a platform for collaboration among all Illinois community colleges and their partners to drive growth of the green economy”. Freshwater resources, community food systems, energy innovation, building energy efficiency, advanced manufacturing and electric vehicles are among some of the main focuses. The community college president-led initiative, overseen by the Presidents’ Steering Committee, approves strategic direction of the network and provides leadership and insight for all participating
members. Among IGEN’s core values are to: curate information, connect Illinois community colleges, catalyze action among and between colleges and colleagues, disseminate promising practice and aggregate efforts across community colleges to create greater collective impact. The Smart Grid is an electrical grid that uses digital information and two-way communication between a certain utility and its customers to gather consumer usage data to help manage electricity needs. The Smart Grid integrates Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) in order to allow utility companies remote monitoring and controlling of network devices and
grant access to the controlling of electricity flows. With the heightening popularity of Smart Grid across the country, the emphasis on security being well maintained and kept is strengthened. Moraine Valley boasts a solid background and experience with cybersecurity, especially in terms of its Center for Systems Security and Information Assurance (CSSIA), which houses the Virtualization Data Center. This center is a unique cyber lab with 192 servers that students can virtually log into. Information obtained will be desseminated through CSSIA to inside the classrooms of IGEN college partners. “It’s expected that the Smart Grid will expand in the future. We can offer components of
the curriculum that students log into to test devices remotely. We can have the expertise in virtualization and can teach skills to those colleges that have this full curriculum on how to maintain and secure these devices,” stated Dr. John Sands, professor of Information Technology and co-principle investigator of CSSIA, NSF Regional Center. With the $58,500 grant, Moraine Valley plans to create eight labs to remotely teach skills about securing the SCADA systems from potential external attacks or internal errors that occur. The project is scheduled for completion in June 2014. Ashley Meitz can be contacted at news@mvccglacier.com.
IN THIS ISSUE Entertainment A new adaptation of ‘The Diary of Anne Frank’ graces the Oremus stage. SOCIAL PAGE 1
Sports Women’s basketball advances to Region IV Finals. PAGE 12
Features Student Life hosts Student Olympics in the U building. SOCIAL PAGE 1