THE DAILY TARGUM
Volume 141, Number 42
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
THURSDAY OCTOBER 29, 2009
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Today: Partly cloudy
THE RESOLUTION OF ANDREW MCMAHON
High: 60 • Low: 44
Jack's Mannequin's frontman took the stage last week at the College Avenue Gym. Inside Beat took this chance to sit down with him and talk about the band and “Dear Jack.”
Hundreds counter Westboro Baptist Church protest BY JOHN S. CLYDE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Hundreds of students and community members stood together outside Rutgers Hillel yesterday and drowned out the voices of the Westboro Baptist Church protesting on the opposite side of College Avenue. “[Rutgers Hillel] was so happy with the turnout,” Hillel Student Board President Hilary Neher said. “We’re so happy that all of these people came out to stand with us against hate. [The counterprotest] was peaceful and it was tasteful, and that’s exactly what we wanted.” Six members of the Topeka, Kan., based group, known for protesting outside funerals of fallen American servicemen, protested at the corner of Mine Street and College Avenue with signs saying “God Hates You” and “Fag University.” The group arrived and left earlier than scheduled, and protested from about 8:15 until about 8:35 a.m. The protest had been
scheduled to take place between 8:45 and 9:15 a.m. yesterday. Despite the early arrival and a rainy morning, students lined both sides of College Avenue surrounding Rutgers Hillel, forcing the Westboro Baptist Church, which had planned to protest in front of the Hillel, to move across the street. Neher said the counterprotest was successful and united the community. “Everything that we did was completely on our terms,” said Neher, a School of Arts and Sciences senior. “Nobody was looking at them, nobody was acknowledging them, everyone was focused [on Rutgers Hillel] and that’s exactly what we wanted.” Lt. J.T. Miller of the New Brunswick Police Department confirmed that the protest remained peaceful and there were no arrests. University officials estimated that more than 650 people attended the “Rutgers United
SEE HUNDREDS ON PAGE 7
DAN BRACAGLIA/ MULTIMEDIA EDITOR
Sam Weiner, a School of Arts and Sciences sophomore, thanks hundreds of University affiliates peacefully rallying against yesterday’s Westboro Baptist Church protest outside Rutgers Hillel.
Campus Identity
Women find support, success in unique campus program BY ARIEL NAGI ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
More commonly known for its strong women and dedication to women’s leadership, Douglass is a campus composed of many identities and is one of the most unique college communities in the country. Douglass College, founded in 1918, is distinctive in many ways, campus Dean
INDEX
Harriet Davidson said. It attracts many women to the campus because of the Douglass Residential College tight-knit community, one of the only all-women communities in the nation. “Douglass is not only unique at Rutgers because it has retained its unique identity as a women’s campus, but it’s the only public research university that has a women’s community like this,” Davidson said.
DRC is open to all women on campus, whether they are first-year students or upperclassman, and traditional, nontraditional or transfer students, she said. DRC offers hands-on guaranteed internships with alumnae, scholarships to study abroad, specialized advising and portfolio building for career opportunities, Davidson said. A lot of students are attracted to these different aspects of the campus.
“We seem to have a lot of women that come to Rutgers that want to stay here, not because they don’t want to be around men, but they have a sense of the advantages here,” Davidson said. “There are women who are impressed by our statistics. We have really high-achieving women here.”
SEE WOMEN ON PAGE 8
Students endure burden of rising tuition rates at U.S. universities
LAUGH OUT LOUD
UNIVERSITY The Eagleton Institute of Politics held a day-long workshop for local high school students to encourage them to demonstrate leadership.
BY GREG FLYNN CORRESPONDENT
SPORTS The Rutgers men’s soccer team was shut out 3-0 by Villanova last night at Yurcak Field. Despite the loss, the Scarlet Knights still qualified for the Big East Tournament.
UNIVERSITY . . . . . . . 3 OPINIONS . . . . . . . 10 DIVERSIONS . . . . . . 12 CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . 14 SPORTS . . . . . . BACK
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MAYA NACHI/ STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
School of Arts and Sciences juniors Georges Garcon, above, and Dina Hashem, and senior Nick Marinelli are the winners of last night's New Jersey Comedy Festival. All three will advance to the January finals against other students.
The steepest climb in published tuition and fees at public four-year colleges in the last 30 years occurred in the past decade, Rutgers University included. After being hit hard with state budget cuts, four-year public colleges hoisted tuition and fees by an average of 6.5 percent last year, according to a repor t titled “Trends in College Pricing” released by College Board last week. Tuition and fees rose at an annual rate of 4.9 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars. In July, the University Board of Governors approved a resolution limiting tuition, fees and room and board raises to 3 percent, which came after tuition rose 8.5 percent last year and 7.8 the year before. “The goal of the University as a public institution is to keep tuition as low as possible in order to attract students from a variety of backgrounds,” said Vice President for University Budgeting Nancy Winterbauer. She said the cap is only in place for one year, but the University is always looking for new ways to keep tuition low while promoting quality. The State Assembly implemented the cap into Gov. Jon S. Corzine’s recommended New Jersey budget bill.
SEE STUDENTS ON PAGE 7