THE DAILY TARGUM
Volume 141, Number 118
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
APRIL 7, 2010
1 8 6 9
Today: Sunny
THINGS FALL APART
High: 87 • Low: 59
Head men’s basketball coach Fred Hill Jr. is under investigation following an incident at Thursday’s baseball game, while star guard Mike Rosario mulls leaving the program.
Senator praises passage of new SAFRA law
WEDNESDAY
Budget plan slashes $3.6M in EOF funds
BY REENA DIAMANTE
BY DEVIN SIKORSKI
STAFF WRITER
ACTING ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
As the first person in his family to go to college and then law school, the challenge many University students face of affording higher education hits home for New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez. Menendez, D-New Jersey, said the two factors that contributed to this achievement were his mother, who knew that an education was important to become successful, and student financial aid, including federal Pell Grants and Perkins loans. With this personal experience on his belt, Menendez and Congressman Frank Pallone, DN.J, joined supporters on the steps of Brower Commons on the College Avenue campus yesterday in celebration of the new Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act. “I certainly wouldn’t be standing here as a United States senator without that education,” Menendez said. “We want that to be a birthright for all our citizens in the days ahead. What we see in each and every one you is the possibility of being the next inventor of the next great idea that will change the world.”
Despite President Barack Obama signing the largest college financial aid legislation ever into law two weeks ago, one University program is feeling the effects of the statewide budget crunch in New Jersey. Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed budget cuts will reduce the amount of funding statewide for the Educational Opportunity Fund by 8.7 percent, which equates to more than $3.6 million dollars, according to statistics provided by the University Office of Budget and Resource Studies. This would reduce the amount of funding for EOF statewide to $37.6 million from $41.2 million. Vice President of University Budgeting Nancy S. Winterbauer said the University understands the tough fiscal situation the governor is dealing with, but is still concerned about the cuts to EOF. “[EOF is] a program that is so critical in providing access to students who might otherwise not be able to attend college,” she said, via email correspondence. “We hope that as the budget season progresses, Trenton policymakers will realize that EOF funding is a wise investment in access to higher education.” EOF provides low-income residents who are capable of obtaining a college degree with the opportunity to receive a high-quality college education through financial, personal and academic assistance, according to the program’s Web site. There are close to 2,600 students involved in the EOF program, according to Office of Budget and Resource Studies statistics. Edward Manning, the associate dean of EOF in the School of Arts and Sciences, said although it is unclear what part of EOF will be cut, many students who are enrolled at the University are more vulnerable than prospective students. “If there is a cut in direct aid to students, then it means students will have to borrow more, assuming they can,” he said. “This means students who
MARIELLE BALISALISA
Sen. Robert Menendez celebrates the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act yesterday in front of Brower Commons on the College Avenue campus.
SEE LAW ON PAGE 4
REPORT PROJECTS NJ REVENUE SHORTFALL AT $250M Gov. Chris Christie’s budget proposal might have left some without hope for New Jersey’s economic forecast, but it does not end there. New Jersey revenue collections are likely to come up $250 million short through June 2011, according to a nonpartisan report prepared by the Office of Legislative Services to be released today, The Star-Ledger reports. “Years of revenue growth have evaporated,” according the report cited in The Star-Ledger article. “The period of economic recovery required to produce earlier collection levels is uncertain.”
INDEX UNIVERSITY Student founders of University Storage are spreading their services throughout New Jersey.
OPINIONS The U.S. Supreme Court rules the FCC cannot regulate the Internet. UNIVERSITY . . . . . . . 3 METRO . . . . . . . . . 6 OPINIONS . . . . . . . . 8 DIVERSIONS . . . . . . 10 CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . 12 SPORTS . . . . . . BACK
ONLINE @ DAILYTARGUM.COM
The OLS estimated that starting July 1, revenue would be $167.7 million lower than the $28.3 billion Christie proposed in his budget address last month, according to the article. The report projects revenue for the fiscal year ending this June at $27.6 billion, $81.7 million less than Christie projected. Some Democrats think this forecast can make the proposed budget results worse. “I know that the governor’s dealing with a very difficult budget, but accurate information is ver y important,” New
Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney said in the article. “We don’t want to live in wonderland.” New Jersey State Treasurer Andrew Sidamon-Eristoff said the administration would not update its estimates nor adjust its proposal. “It’s real money, it’s significant, but it is a relatively small differential,” SidamonEristoff said in the article. The Assembly Budget Committee, yesterday, kicked off nearly two months of hearings. Christie and the Legislature must agree on a budget by June 30.
Activists plan camp out for more state funding BY NEIL P. KYPERS EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Tent State University hopes to increase civic activism in the community and kicks off its first day, in hopes of increasing student involvement, on Rutgers Day. Tent State, which intentionally begins on Rutgers Day, April 24, and ends on April 30, began in 2003 with a group of students who wanted to respond to the major funding cuts at the University. “They chose to create a state where people could come together and create a democratically run, free University,” said Jordan Bucey, a former out-of-state University student who now attends Middlesex County College due to tuition cost. “The reason why it’s called Tent State is to model after tent cities where homeless people live.” The tents are a representation of how much debt students accumulate over the course of going to college. They symbolize how college debt puts students
into poor financial situations after obtaining a degree. In its inception, the event caused some issues with the University, said Bucey, who intends to return to the University next semester. Now the University provides electricity and trashcans, and keeps Scott Hall on the College Avenue campus open so people can use the bathrooms. “If we want this to really be effective, both sides need to work together,” she said. “You need to realize that if we all care about education, we are all on the same side.” The event hosts an array of activities from a legislative tent to free art and live band performances outside Scott Hall every night, Bucey said. John Aspray, an organizer and a student running the legislative tent, said the legislative tent would offer students a chance to call their legislators about the budget cuts as well as register to vote.
SEE ACTIVISTS ON PAGE 4
SEE FUNDS ON PAGE 5
JAM FOR A CAUSE
MARIELLE BALISALISA
Local band “Chocolate Bread” performs at the “Oxfest Rock for Haiti” benefit concert Monday in the Busch Campus Center. All proceeds will benefit the Oxfam America Haiti Earthquake Response Fund.
Undergraduate students with 60 or greater degree credits can register for Fall 2010 classes tonight from 10:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.