TECHNICIAN
tuesday november
19 2013
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
SGA plans vote to join fight against Hofmann sale IN THE FACE OF CONFUSION AND CONFLICTING INFORMATION, SOME MEMBERS OF STUDENT GOVERNMENT ARE PREPARING TO FIGHT THE SALE OF THE HOFMANN FOREST
Staff Report
Several representatives in Student Government are joining the fight against the sale of Hofmann Forest. SGA will vote on a resolution Wednesday requesting that the administration abandon the sale of the Forest. Alex Grindstaff, a senior in biological sciences, is sponsoring the resolution and said he wants to address the administration’s lack of transparency during the sale.
“The University went ahead to sell the forest without asking anyone,” Grindstaff said. “As a public institution, this isn’t how we should conduct business.” Grindstaff said he only learned about the details of the sale two weeks ago, largely due to the lack of communication from university officials. “I felt like I found out about it too late,” Grindstaff said. “This is similar to what I’ve heard from several College of
Natural Resource employees. North Carolina species that If the University sells the for- reside in the Hofmann Forest, students will need more est, he said. informaJosh Teder, a tion.” student senaGrindstaff tor and junior said students i n bu s i ne s s should know administraa b ou t t h e tion, said he full impact is planning to of developsuppor t t he ment or of Josh Teder, student senator resolution the creation and he doesn’t of farmlands on the proper- think the administration has ty, through an environmen- handled the situation well tal study. There are several from the start.
“I’m just unhappy with the handling of the situation.”
“I just think the whole way the University handled it is a disaster,” Teder said. “It doesn’t make us look good. It doesn’t make us look like we knew what we were doing, and it looks like we’re talking out both sides of our mouths.” Teder said he has followed the sale of the Hofmann Forest since the University its announced plans to sell the 78,000-acre forest, said he was frustrated with the back-and-forth statements
between N.C. State and Hofmann Forest LLC. Last week, it was revealed the buyer circulated a prospectus that proposed clearing a large portion of the forest for development and farmland. Brad Bohlander, associate vice chancellor for University Communications and chief communications officer at N.C. State, said in a statement on Wednesday that it had not previously seen the
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Raleigh City Council enacts law to protect cyclists from motorists Joseph Havey Deputy News Editor
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Assistant professor of adult communication at community college Chad Hoggan and fellow professors enjoy a lecture by Robert J. Witchger and Pamela Gibson Senegal.
Education Week at NCSU starts with teacher-appreciation events Katherine Kehoe Staff Writer
Education Week at N.C. State, which seeks to start conversations about education among students as well as to show support for the education system and those working to improve, began Monday. To celebrate, faculty members and staff from the College of Education ate brown-bag lunches while dis-
cussing a common reading book, and the Education Council wrote thank-you letters to future student teachers.. “It’s nice to have an opportunity to have focused conversations and celebrations that support and elevate education as a focus,” said Jayne Fleener, dean of the College of Education. “It’s important to remind people that education is a fundamental social structure for our society.”
American Education Week, which was first observed in 1921, began as a call from the National Education Association for an increased spotlight on education. The goal of the annual event is to inform communities nationwide about the needs and accomplishments of public schools in their areas. American Education Week is always celebrated the week before Thanksgiving.
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Raleigh made a big step toward becoming more bike friendly this month. The city council passed an ordinance, making it illegal for drivers to open their doors without looking behind them for cyclists. This ordinance, effective as of Nov. 5, helps prevent “dooring” accidents, which occur when a cyclist crashes into a driver’s open door on streets that allow parallel parking, such as Hillsborough Street. Jennifer Baldwin, the bicycle and pedestrian coordinator for the city’s Office of Transportation Planning, said this law is part of several changes to cycling-related laws in Raleigh. “We were tasked with updating the city code for all things cycle related,” Baldwin said. “We reviewed all bike references and made updates to make sure that nothing contradicts and that all definitions are the same.” City Council also made it illegal to park in bike lanes, with the exception of certain areas in downtown. Baldwin said the “dooring” law is mostly to clarify responsibility. “‘Dooring’ won’t necessarily be an enforced ordinance,” Baldwin said. “It’s for legality purposes. Previously, if a driver opened a door
Humanities interest wavers among NCSU students Estefania Castro-Vazquez Correspondent
The number of applicants in liberal arts programs is f luctuating at N.C. State, while the number of people enrolling in liberal arts is decreasing at universities across the nation. A recent article in The New York Times reported that the number of people majoring in humanities has declined steadily since the end of the 20th century. However, Jeff Braden, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, said he isn’t concerned about the decrease interest because CHASS has experienced steady and continued interest in the past few years. Undergraduate enrollment in CHASS peaked in the fall of 2010. It has since declined each year from 4,311 in 2010 to 3,586 in 2013. Dara Leeder, the director of
Student Recruitment and Retention for CHASS, said the decreasing numbers of recent years are partially due to the University’s cap on enrollment. The number of faculty members, advisors and classrooms have to be taken into consideration when deciding how many applicants can be admitted, Leeder said. “CHASS has been seeking to increase its number of graduate students,” Leeder said. “At this time, a rise in graduate students necessitates a slight decrease in the number of undergraduates so that the overall college enrollment stays stable.” However, graduate school enrollment numbers don’t look much different from undergraduate numbers. In fall 2010, 929 graduate students enrolled. That number has declined each year to 815 in 2013. The number of people ap-
plying to CHASS follows a similar trajectory to that of enrollment. In fall of 2010, 3,348 freshman applied to CHASS, which is the largest number of applicants in the past 10 years. That number has declined each year until 2012, when 3,074 freshmen applied. In 2013, 3,277 applied. In contrast to applicant and enrollment numbers, selectivity has increased each year, according to Leeder. Selectivity is determined by dividing the number of admissions by the number of applicants. In 2010, 42.7 percent of students were admitted. In 2013, The University admitted 35.5 percent of applicants. Leeder said there has been an increase in applicants’ standardized test scores, GPA, high school class rank, extracurricular activities, leadership activities and volunteer activities.
First year students: Apply to be a Caldwell Fellow! For over 40 years the Caldwell Fellows program has impacted the NC State and global community by investing in students who accept the challenge to develop themselves for lives of creative leadership for social change. Deadline to apply is January 15. To learn more visit www.ncsu.edu/caldwell
CHASS also receives the largest number of internal transfer students, Leeder said. About 30 percent of First Year College students transfer into CHASS each year. CHASS currently graduates the most baccalaureate students at the University, according to Leeder. “You need to look not only at where students begin their college careers but where they end up to see the full picture,” Leeder said. Braden said students’ interests are changing. Traditional humanities degrees, such as English, philosophy and religious studies, may be attracting fewer students, but there is greater interest in others, including international and ethnic studies, according to Braden. Some CHASS students have expressed fears that their ma-
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and caused an accident, there was no penalty put on the driver. Now, it’s clearly written that if a driver causes an accident, an officer can penalize that driver.” Baldwin said she’s not sure if other cities in North Carolina have implemented similar ordinances. However, she and her department used language from a city law in Portland, Ore. “This law doesn’t just protect cyclists,” Baldwin said. “We are just writing down what should be obvious. Another car could also hit a car door.” Mike Williams, assistant director of the public affairs department in Raleigh, said City Council members feel very strongly about safety issues affecting bicyclists and pedestrians. Williams said several other initiatives were also launched that he feels will make Raleigh safer, such as “Lighten up Raleigh,” a campaign which seeks to encourage cyclists to use lights when riding after dark. “We’ve partnered with all local bike shops,” Baldwin said. “From now through the end of the year, anyone can get 15 percent of bike lights.” Last month, Ivin Scurlock and Alexandra Simou, both residents
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