THE DAILY TARGUM
Volume 141, Number 95
S E R V I N G
T H E
R U T G E R S
C O M M U N I T Y
S I N C E
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 26, 2010
1 8 6 9
Today: Snow
NCAA OR BUST
High: 36 • Low: 31
Head women’s basketball coach C. Vivian Stringer eliminated any questions that the Knights will play in the WNIT. The Knights travel to Providence tomorrow on the NCAA bubble.
Republicans urge Obama to scrap health care bill BY ARIEL NAGI NEWS EDITOR
For more than six hours, President Barack Obama and Congressional delegates debated yesterday at a health care summit about the health care bill, hoping to come to a bipartisan agreement but instead the results differed based on party affiliation.
The president said there were key points of agreement on bills considered, while Republican Party members said it was time to start over. “We have to start by taking the current bill and putting it on the shelf and starting from a clean sheet of paper,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. “Our view, with all respect, is that this is a car that
can’t be recalled and fixed, and that we ought to start over. But we’d like to start over.” Obama extended the debate, which was originally scheduled to last only 4 hours. The major topics discussed include health care costs, insurance reforms, deficit reduction and extending coverage. While the intention of the debate was to be completely bipartisan and
to focus on coming to an agreement, the speakers grew contentious, constantly cutting off other speakers and calling some of each other’s remarks contradicting. “Part of the goal … is to figure out what are the areas that we do agree on, what are the areas where we don’t agree, and at the end of that process then make an honest assessment as to whether we can
bridge these differences,” Obama said. “I don’t know yet whether we can. My hope is that we can.” Alexander said Obama’s proposal could potentially spend about $2.5 trillion a year. “It has more taxes, more subsidies, more spending,” he said. “It means it will cut Medicare by about half a
SEE BILL ON PAGE 4
Renowned figure rallies for government reform BY COLLEEN ROACHE CORRESPONDENT
In celebration of the 40th anniversary of the University’s Africana studies department, best-selling author, philosopher and Princeton University Professor Cornel West spoke Wednesday evening in the Multipurpose Room of the Rutgers Student Center on the College Avenue campus. University President Richard L. McCormick, Board of Governors Chairman M. William Howard, Jr. and Professor Howard McGary expressed words of welcome and admiration for West prior to the event, which the Africana Studies department sponsored and the University’s chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People hosted. But audience members in the room, along with the 400 who watched on a screen outside, seemed more interested
in his talk entitled “Race and Democracy in the Age of Obama.” West’s jokes prompted audience members’ laughter, and at one point, he even pulled out a comb and asked if his afro looked alright. But serious thoughts about black history and government in America — past and present — made up a majority of his speech. “[We need] massive voice-lifting, organizing, mobilizing … to protect [President Barack Obama] against so many of our conservative brothers and sisters engaging in attacks and assaults and misrepresentations and, sometimes, outright lies,” the bespectacled Princeton alumnus said. “He needs to be protected. He needs to be respected. … I love the brother.” West campaigned for then-candidate Obama at more than 60 events during the election season, and said he would do so again if given the chance.
SEE REFORM ON PAGE 4
JOVELLE ABBEY TAMAYO/ PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
Princeton University Professor Cornel West enagages hundreds in a discussion about race and democracy Wednesday to celebrate the Africana studies department’s 40th anniversary.
U. strives to invest in economic recovery with science research
SPIKE FOR THE CURE
INDEX UNIVERSITY Upperclassmen on Busch campus don suits and dresses at the second annual Residence Hall Association’s “Busch Ball.”
BY GREG FLYNN CORRESPONDENT
OPINIONS Conan O’Brien returns to the mainstream entertainment media, sort of.
UNIVERSITY . . . . . . . 3 OPINIONS . . . . . . . 10 DIVERSIONS . . . . . . 12 CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . 14 SPORTS . . . . . . BACK
ONLINE @ DAILYTARGUM.COM
RINAL SHAH
Students participate in the Big Pink volleyball competition Wednesday in the College Avenue Gym to help raise funds for breast cancer awareness. See PAGE 3 for full story.
In a year since the enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the University claimed more than $28 million in federal stimulus funds for research projects that government officials hope will help jumpstart the economy. A majority of the funds go to hiring graduate students, undergraduate students and technicians, which helps secure the short and long-term future of the economy, said Michael Pazzani, vice president for Research and Graduate and Professional Education. “Each of the grants have a short-term effect of hiring an extra graduate student or lab technician and a long-term effect of enhancing science which will hopefully stimulate the economy for generations to come,” Pazzani said. “One of things we’ve been pushing particularly hard is making sure our faculty is hiring undergrads particularly over the summer.” The federal funding, provided through such agencies as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health, awarded the funds, which were also used for purchasing materials and other approved purposes, he said. Pazzani said concerns that Gov. Chris Christie’s midyear higher education budget cut would place the state below benchmarks required by the act for funding are almost resolved. About $15 million of the state financial support given to the University is provided through the recovery act’s State Fiscal Stabilization Fund. “We’ve explored making sure that the governor has fulfilled the terms of that particular allocation,” Pazzani said. “We do not
SEE RESEARCH ON PAGE 8