www.sbstatesman.org
Volume 53, Issue 40 • Monday, March 22, 2010
UNIVERSITY OFFERS FEWER CLASSES Budget Cuts to Blame
By Mary Reiland Contributing Writer
KENNETH HO / THE STATESMAN
Students expressed dissatisfaction with the proposed tuition increase due to the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act.
Rise in Tuition Expected Next Semester If PHEEIA Passes By Joe Arico
Contributing Writer
IN THIS ISSUE
The Undergraduate Student Government has formed a new committee to inspect the potential tuition increases if the Public Higher Education Empowerment and Innovation Act, or PHEEIA passes through the state legislature this spring. The formation of the committee, Students
First, comes after the USG determined that students have not been given a proper education on the bill. USG announced the news via a press release on Feb. 16. Now, after a review of PHEEIA, the committee has come forward with a preliminary report of its findings. According to USG Senator Deborah Machalow, a member of the newly formed committee, one of the most
striking things is the power that it would give President Samuel L. Stanley Jr. The bill would allow the president, with consultation of USG and the university council, to propose tuition increases of any amount directly to the board of trustees. This also includes the power to recommend differential tuition, where the amount of money a student pays would differ based on the classes and
programs they register for. “In a way it makes sense, but in a way it gets very iffy because certain requirements like the D.E.C. system requires you to take a certain number of sciences,” said Machalow. “How then do you take science classes, do you pay extra? Or do you not pay extra?” Stanley defended PHEEIA in his press conference to the See PHEEIA on 3
On December 16, 2009, bleary-eyed and tired, sophomore Caitlin Corbett, a business major, reached over and shut her alarm clock off. It was 8 a.m. –time to register for classes. As she sat at her desk in front of her laptop, she scrolled through class options. Happy that she had a few sections to choose from, she began to fill her shopping cart, only to be stopped by big red X’s as she tried to complete the transaction—spots that seemed open were instead held for transfer students. Classes held for transfer students are just one representation of the larger issue of class shortages at the school. This year, the undergraduate student body increased by 695 students, yet the number of seats available per section of classes went down. Less seats means less options, tighter schedules, and left out, unhappy students. Rick Gatteau, the director of the Academic and PreProfessional Advising Center at Stony Brook University said the advising center is working to fix the problem. “In my eight years that I’ve been at Stony Brook, this spring enrollment has been the tightest,” he said. Gatteau also said the total number of credits students took from spring 2009 to spring 2010, has dropped slightly. Corbett can attest to that. “I only took four courses this semester instead of five,” she said. “My ideal schedule would have been going to school Monday through Thursday between 9 a.m. and
5 p.m. Instead, I have to take night classes because of my major.” Corbett also added that because of her night classes and a three-hour break on Monday and Wednesday, she was unable to sign up for day classes on Tuesday or Thursday. “I’m a commuter, I need to work,” she said. “I can’t make a schedule that doesn’t allow me to work at all.” Gatteau said that students who register for classes on time shouldn’t have an issue finding classes. In order to combat registration problems, the university has bumped up fall semester scheduling by a week. It will start right after spring break. This will help the advising center see what classes need additional sections added or removed. Last semester the advising center implemented a credit limit when registering for classes. Students were originally only allowed to sign up for 16 credits, then 17, and then finally 19 and 23 when the semester started. Gatteau added, “students may need to include summer and winter classes in plans to graduate on time.” Overall, Gatteau doesn’t believe that the cutting of class sections and seat availability will affect a student’s plans to graduate on time. Students must take the initiative to register for classes on time, take courses in the correct sequence and check in with the advisement office. “We have an obligation as an administration to provide classes to get students to graduate in a timely manner but it is a mutual responsibility in that students need to do their part as well,” Gatteau said.
NYC show, Fuerza Bruta, trimphs
Stony Brook's Best Dance Crew flops
INDEX
Suddenly all went dark during a theater class last week and the ventilators exploded with light and torrents of rushing smoke. The ceiling came crashing down on a audience member.
Stony Brook’s Best Dance Crew was a failed attempt at imitating the popular MTV television show. The function, held at the Stony Brook Union auditorium on Friday March 12, ended
News....................3 Arts.....................4 Opinion................7 Sports...............8
She and others stood still in the debris, and then began to dance. Then shots fired from somewhere in the darkness... See FUERZA on 4
up feeling more like a low budget high school production than an intense battle of experienced and entertaining dance crews. See DANCE on 7