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COFFEE HOUSE
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RAMAPO NEWS
POETRY NIGHT
A Publication by the Students for the Ramapo College Community
Anisfield School Named New Home of Eastern Economics Association
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XLI No. 3
Mercer Toughens Overnight Policy, Bans Four Loko By S TEPHANIE NODA Staff Writer
President Mercer gave his State of the College Address Wednesday to address issues concerning the drinking and overnight guest policies. He labeled his address “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” of Ramapo College, which students and faculty gathered in the Sharp Theater to hear. "The Good" is Ramapo has excelled in its national rank; "The Bad" is the funding deficits the college faces, and "The Ugly" is students have been abusing the alcoholic beverage Four Loko, prompting a discussion about policy revisions.
Higher National Rank
Nobel Prize Winner Delivers Economic Analysis
photo by Stefanie Mauro
Prior to his lecture, Paul Krugman joined Ramapo faculty for the new EEA homeʼs ribbon cutting ceremony.
By MEGAN ANDERLE Editor-in-Chief
Nobel Prize-winning economics expert Paul Krugman provided members of the Ramapo community with insight into how the economic downturn occurred, the current state and the future. The sold out event drew students, faculty, Board members and friends of Ramapo. At the heart of Krugman’s lecture was how frugal spending hurt the economy, the liquidity trap that keeps the United States’ economy in its position and how Americans can help – with more spending – to solve the issue. “We’re in a world that is characterized by paradox thrift,” Krugman said. “If everyone tries to save more, that means they spend less, and if they spend less, actually the unemployment’s going to rise. The economy’s going to shrink, and with a weaker economy, we’re building less incentive for businesses to invest. If everyone tries to save more, the end result is we’ll do less investment for the future.”
Krugman delved into the issue by analogizing citizens’ spending habits to a “babysitting coop” in which parents received “babysitting coupons” every time they watched another family’s children. Parents who babysat could then redeem these coupons for their own babysitter. “What turned out was that the number of coupons that they were issuing to people was less than the reserve that people, on average, wanted to hold,” Krugman said. “People wanted to keep some in their dresser drawer, so it was actually hard to earn coupons by babysitting, which made people even more reluctant to go out because they didn’t want to use their coupons.” This analogy helped senior Daniel Reimel to understand the economy’s complex problems. “He used a lot of good analogies to translate the material for the average person,” Reimel said. “The babysitting analogy completely
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photo by Stefanie Mauro
Paul Krugman urged spending to stimulate the economy on Wednesday.
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Among the “good” that President Mercer discussed in his address were the people of Ramapo College as a whole. With top notch faculty, as well as the second most academically highly qualified incoming freshmen class in Ramapo’s 41 years of history. “Only the 2005 freshmen class was more highly qualified on average,” President Mercer said. “We have increased the size of the freshmen complement by almost 20% without compromising quality.” Mercer talked about Ramapo College’s rank as an institute of higher education increasing steadily this year as well. The U.S. News & World Report ranks Ramapo fourth out of 49 schools within the Best Regional Universities Northern category. In regards to the budget, Mercer announced that Ramapo has received a NFF grant of over $1.5 million in order to renovate the microbiology research suite in the third floor of the G-building. The G-Building will also be receiving additional renovations in the near future, as well as consulting the see MERCER on page 6
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