Issue 4, Fall 2015

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ncfcatalyst.com | @ncfcatalyst

CATALYST

WALL PREVIEWS KRUCZEK RESIGNS pg.

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SEPTEMBER 30, 2015 VOLUME XXXIII ISSUE IV

WHAT’S INSIDE

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A student newspaper of New College of Florida

Family weekend successful despite price increase

JAPAN ENDS PACIFISM

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Sydey Kruljac/Catalyst

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12 SPEARFISHING CHALLENGE

BY SYDNEY KRULJAC More than 200 registered students and their family members flooded New College for an array of activities lined up for Family Weekend. This year, the Center for Engagement and Opportunity (CEO) hosted the event, which took place Sept. 25-27. Due to an increase in activities, students witnessed a sharp increase in price for Family Weekend. What used to be a $32.00 fee for both a cruise and brunch turned into a $75.00 fee. “When we looked at the options of what people were doing over Family Weekend, we kind of thought, ‘We aren’t showing off campus to the best of

our ability,’” Director of Career Services Kimberly Franklin said. “So we looked at an option creating an all-in-one price for everything Friday, Saturday and Sunday.” The initial price tag for Family Weekend included all of the meals and event management. “For every parent, we included the cost of feeding their student so there wouldn’t be a separate price for students,” Franklin said. “When the second parent registered, we were using that money to offset the price of those students whose parents couldn’t come.” Because of the change in price in

comparison to last year, students began to voice their grievances stating it was too steep of a price. “We worked really quickly and responded by offering all kinds of other options,” Franklin said. “So now there’s a one-day option or a two-day option. [Family weekend] is really meant to celebrate New College, celebrate with your family or with your family here.” Despite price complaints, the events kicked off on Friday, Sept. 25 with a bash on the bay including live music from the New Catz and local artist Lisa Silvermore, bounce-houses and dinner provided by Metz and local

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Water shortage brings students’ residential rights issue to forefront BY GIULIA HEYWARD Second-year Stetson Cooper has taken 10 showers across six different residential buildings in less than two weeks. “People ask if I need showers a lot still,” Cooper said. “I’m comfortable being known as the person who asks for showers, it’s just a strange thing to be known as.” Cooper is a resident of the Intensive Quiet or “Y” Dorm which has been experiencing extensive periods without hot water since Orientation Week in August. Despite multiple work requests by residents, the hot water in Y has been sporadic for weeks. Behind the good-natured humor of some residents, there is a sense of frustration. An email sent to the student Forum by Y resident, second-year Eli Barrett, brought attention to the rights – or lack thereof – of on-campus students. “Once again my dorm is without hot water,” Barrett wrote. “It goes

without saying that is unacceptable. At this point, I’m beginning to suspect that the problem here lies not with the water heater, but with the administration’s inability to adequately address basic problems. A landlord cannot reasonably expect to maintain tenants while failing to provide rudimentary services.” Other students have also described their relationship with the school as a tenant-landlord situation, a label that administration does not agree with. “We were told by our old General Counsel that the relationship in the residence halls is not a landlordtenant relationship,” Dean of Student Affairs Tracy Murry said. “It’s more like a hotel, it’s more of a management.” Last year, Student Affairs had to remove an individual living in a residential hall who was no longer a student. “If you’re a student and you sign a housing agreement and then you are no longer a student, the housing contract becomes invalid,” Murry said.

“It doesn’t matter if you’ve signed a 12year lease or whatever because, in the contract, you’re not listed as a person, you are listed as a student.” Murry does not believe that this discrepancy should detract from the responsibility of the institution to provide students with adequate living conditions. “If you went to a hotel, and you paid for a room, and you went up to your room and there was something in the room that you thought made it unlivable, then the hotel should provide you with another room,” Murry said. The shortage of hot running water in Y is not the first instance of a housing issue. Other residential buildings are known to have a largely unchecked and improperly treated mold problem. A 2012 article in the Catalyst reported that the school failed to hire a special mold expert to examine the appearance of mold on campus. The article noted that maintenance staff were instructed to use Kiltz – a chemical

that only masks the growth of mold as opposed to removing it – and that the school failed to adequately address the excessive moisture problem in dorm rooms. Under the Terms, Conditions, Responsibilities section of the housing contract, it states: “New College of Florida may initiate a transfer of the Student’s assigned space or may initiate cancellation of this contract if it is deemed necessary in the best interests in order, health, safety, security, maximum residential utilization of facilities, disaster, or failure to make payment.” In section 83.201 of “The Florida Law Residential Landlord Tenant Act,” failure of the landlord to address functional issues of the residence “rendering the leased premises wholly untenable, the tenant may withhold rent after notice to the landlord.” Both regulations imply that there

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