THE DAILY TARGUM
Volume 141, Number 29
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
MONDAY OCTOBER 12, 2009
1 8 6 9
Today: Partly cloudy
FROM BAD TO WORSE
High: 57 • Low: 46
Just two days after a 1-0 loss to No. 8 Notre Dame in the 84th minute, the Rutgers women’s soccer team’s leading scorer Ashley Jones suffered a severe injury in an overtime win against DePaul.
HOMECOMING 2009 Thousands turn out for fireworks, performances at Friday festival BY MARY DIDUCH ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
Buccleuch Park in New Brunswick was draped in scarlet Friday for the annual Homecoming Kickoff Festival — a pep rally and carnival centered around the football team’s Saturday game against Texas Southern University. The visit from the football team and performances by the cheerleaders, dance team and marching band made the festival a success for the thousands of returning alumni, students and community members present, University President Richard L. McCormick said. “I think Homecoming weekend is such an exciting thing for the University and especially its alumni,” he said. “The most wonderful
thing here are the Rutgers alumni and their families.” Alumni Relations planned much of the festival since last May, said Homecoming Director and Assistant Manager of Event Ser vices Jodi Stolow. They added a singing contest this year, “Homecoming Idol,” putting a University spin on the popular television show “American Idol.” University alumna Candice Leigh Helfand was named the first winner of the new competition with her per formance of Journey’s “Separate Ways.” Helfand was one of six finalists who performed at the festival, she said. Viewers chose the finalists from 19 other online video submissions.
SEE FESTIVAL ON PAGE 7
BRYAN ANGELES/ SENIOR STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Games, music and an appearance from the football team were just a few highlights at the annual festival and pep rally Friday in Buccleuch Park off the College Avenue campus. See PAGE 4 for more photos.
Candidates address higher education, state budget issues at tailgate parties BY CAGRI OZUTURK ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
No more than 25 feet away from one another, two gubernatorial rivals traveled between tailgate tents and
INDEX UNIVERSITY If you’ve been to a football game since the Louisville game two years ago, you’ve seen the Bon Jovi kid. Find out more about the 12-year old, who dances the night away on the jumbo screen.
parked cars to listen to the concerns and compliments of both students and fans of the Rutgers football team outside of Rutgers Stadium. As students and alumni celebrated Homecoming outside the
West Gate of the stadium, Gov. Jon S. Corzine and Republican gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie were meeting members of the community, addressing University tuition concerns and
plans, and suppor ting the Scarlet Knights. “We’ve got a lot of work to do to make sure that we can provide the opportunities, all of the opportunities, that [the University] has, it’s
difficult in a time when there are scarce resources,” said Corzine, Democratic gubernatorial candidate. “We had a recession
SEE ISSUES ON PAGE 8
ALEXANDER LIBRARY TO ACCOMMODATE STUDENTS WITH NEW SEATING, LATER HOURS About 300 new chairs and 200 carrel desks will render Alexander Library on the College Avenue campus a more comfortable place to study, said Associate University Librarian for Facilitating, Planning and Management Francoise Puniello. The library will extend hours in the Reference Room Sunday through Wednesday to 2 a.m., and Thursdays to 1 a.m., according to an e-mail sent out by University Libraries Communications Coordinator Harry Glazer. The Undergraduate Reading Room will maintain its current hours. Though the planning for these alterations is already in full swing, students will only begin seeing these
changes at the beginning of next semester, in order to avoid disrupting studying students with the noise of moving furniture, Puniello said. “We’ve been asking for furniture for a very long time,” she said. “We’ve had some of the furniture since 1956.” About 30 new armchairs will have laptop tablets, so that studying in the library will be more convenient, Puniello said. The new and modern furniture comes with several benefits. “It creates a nicer atmosphere and [will] replace graffiti,” Puniello said. “It will [also] be easier for students to use their laptops.”
Students expressed appreciation for the library’s modifications. “The point of libraries is their use. Anything to help that [the use] can only be a good thing,” said Smitha Thomas, a Rutgers Business School firstyear student. The seating additions will cost a little more than $200,000 and will only be added to the Alexander Library because it is the oldest library on campus, Puniello said. “We appreciate the University putting money into this,” she said. — Justine D’Souza
Boats float down river to kick off renewal initiative
ONLINE Thirty-six organizations race beds decked out in paint, glitter and ribbons to benefit local children. Check out the video at www.dailytargum.com.
BY GREG FLYNN CORRESPONDENT
UNIVERSITY . . . . . . . 3 OPINIONS . . . . . . . 10 DIVERSIONS . . . . . . 12 CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . 14 SPORTS . . . . . . BACK
ONLINE @ DAILYTARGUM.COM
RAMON DOMPOR/ ASSOCIATE PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR
New Brunswick Environmental Commission Chairman Scott Yaede, right, pulls out Robert Bob Wenke and Monica Orso’s kayak at yesterday’s Raritan River “Fall Float” event at Rutgers Boathouse in Boyd Park.
Canoes and kayaks of every color speckled the Raritan River Sunday during the Raritan River Collaborative’s inaugural “Fall Float.” As the official Sustainable Raritan River Initiative kick-off event to protect and restore the river, more than 60 floaters boarded their boats in Riverside/Bakelite Park and set out for a six-mile course before landing at the Rutgers Boathouse in Boyd Park, said Judy Shaw, the initiative project manager. “I think people will really get the idea that this is a place that you can have recreation,” Shaw said. “There are some underutilized entr y points, there
SEE BOATS ON PAGE 7