halloween If you’re going to dress up based on another culture, respect it
wind turbines School of Engineering members have developed a new type of wind turbine
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volleyball Rutgers falls to pair of top-5 opponents in Midwest road trip last weekend
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Instructor says local elections are critical kira herzog correspondent
With all eyes on the presidential race, many voters have disregarded the importance of localized elections. Local elections determine positions ranging from town councils and school boards to state senators, said Michael Rossi, an instructor in the Department of Political Science. They play an influential role in policies regarding infrastructure, education and taxation, yet voter turnout for these elections can easily be less than 20 percent. “Everybody knows who their president is, most people know who their state senator is, but I would not be surprised if only a handful of people knew who was on their town council, their school board or their planning board,” Rossi said. This constitutes a major paradox, Rossi said. Citizens are more likely to participate in elections for offices that are further removed from their day-to-day life. “Local politics has more of a determining factor over how high your taxes will be, how safe your neighborhoods can be, in deciding the quality of education in your
public schools and in shaping standards of environmentalism in your town,” Rossi said. In the 2014 midterm election, voter turnout across the United States was its lowest in 70 years. In this same data, New Jersey’s statewide turnout also was among the worst in the countr y, according to PBS. The complex midterm voting schedule in New Jersey could contribute to the low degree of involvement, according to 538. State office elections and school district elections take place off-schedule from the federal elections, requiring to take multiple trips to the polls. Low turnout in elections, especially from those in the age range of 18 and 21 is very concerning, said Justin Schulberg, president of the Rutgers University Student Assembly. “There are key issues that need to be addressed by the government, such as college affordability, that will not be addressed unless this younger age group makes it to the polls,” the School of Arts and Sciences senior said in an email. See elections on Page 5
Gov. Chris Christie (R.-N.J.) proposed a $2.565 million cut to the Educational Opportunity Fund when he proposed the state budget in March, but the final budget actually added $1 million to the program, bringing it to a total of about $42 million. GRAPHIC BY RAMYA CHITIBOMMA
EOF program sees funding restored with extra million added this year manuel silva-paulus contributing writer
The Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) program has reversed cuts to the program proposed by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) and has received an additional one million dollars in funding. After the increase was approved, the funds were frozen and not made
Christie tied funding for several types of social services and educational funding with his desire to cut spending on healthcare for public employees, Nolan said. “He tied the two together and said if we don’t achieve savings in healthcare of $250 million, we’re not going to get any of this money even See year on Page 4
U. sees rise in academic integrity violation count
Center for alcohol studies works to lower heroin use
Nicholas Simon contributing writer
stephen weiss contributing writer
As the heroin epidemic continues to plague New Jersey, the Rutgers Center of Alcohol Studies is initiating new and effective ways to help combat the issue. The Center is collaborating with Frank Greenagel, a nationally-recognized expert in the area of heroin and opioid addiction, to set up a training program for Rutgers and New Brunswick police, as well as any other interested departments, according to a press release. This program involves teaching officers more effective approaches to giving aid to addicts and people under the influence of heroin, as well as de-stigmatizing the connotation surrounding addiction. Greenagel said that prior to this initiative, police who encountered a person under the influence of heroin would administer an injection of Narcan — a chemical that reverses the depressive effects of opioids — and then let the person go.
available until Sept. 20 due to Executive Order 209 signed by Christie, said Michelle Shostack, assistant dean and director of the School of Arts Sciences EOF program. “He was basically holding hostage all of this funding included in the EOF money until he got healthcare savings,” said Patrick Nolan, executive director of the American Association of University Professors.
The Center of Alcohol Studies is partnering with addiction expert Frank Greenagel to try and reduce heroin dependence in the state. ANDREW DE URIARTE
This process works to prevent overdoses but does nothing to decrease the recidivism rate of addicts, which Greenagel said is a key problem they are working on. “We are not even through the 10th month of 2016 and we have already had first responders in New Jersey use Narcan 18,000 times. Sometimes they reverse people multiple times, they might Narcan someone and then two weeks later get them again,” Greenagel said. The initiative provides a support structure that police and first responders are unable to provide,
hopefully preventing continued drug use and overdoses, he said. The initiative at the University is different because outreach workers partnering with the police are often representatives of for-profit treatment programs and receive kickbacks for referrals to their facilities, he said. This may lead to the patient’s well-being taking a back seat to money in terms of the representative’s priorities. “It is something that Rutgers can be really proud of because there is See heroin on Page 4
Rutgers University reported 367 academic integrity violations over the 2015-2016 academic year, up from 234 in the 2013-2014 school year. Academic integrity is defined as students avoiding committing violations such as cheating, said Jessica Plante-Campbell, a School of Arts and Sciences junior. “You don’t plagiarize and you adhere to the parameters established by the University and your professors,” she said. “This means you avoid doing anything that might be considered academically unsavor y.” The Office of Student Conduct is the University’s organization charged with enforcing academic integrity. Students also have to be careful to avoid unintentional offenses, said Melissa Backus, the associate director of the Office of Student Conduct. “It’s possible for students to be found responsible for a plagiarism violation when there has been improper citation without
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dishonest intent,” she said. “Obviously, a sanction for an unintentional violation will be less severe than a sanction for an intentional violation, but students have to be aware of this beforehand.” The two most common types of academic integrity violations the Office of Student Conduct deal with are cheating and plagiarism, she said. These are only two of the seven violations a student can commit, according to the University’s Academic Integrity Policy. Deciding what kind of sanction is to be administered is by no means a black and white process, Backus said. “We’re not a cookie cutter system where if a student commits a particular type of violation they automatically get a certain sanction,” she said. “One of our goals is to issue sanctions we think students will learn from based on what we know about them and the offense they’ve committed.” Students should not see the Office of Student Conduct as a See count on Page 5