THE DAILY TARGUM
Volume 141, Number 16
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
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 23, 2009
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Today: T-storms
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High: 79 • Low: 64
Rutgers senior quarterback Dom Natale is ready and willing to help lead the team against Maryland this weekend if freshman starter Tom Savage has not returned from injury.
Class of 2011 to debut first SAS convocation BY MARY DIDUCH ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
With the recent merger of the University’s undergraduate schools into the School of Arts and Sciences, the Class of 2011 will be the first to have one official graduation ceremony for the new, consolidated program. While the University will hold its traditional University-wide commencement ceremony, individual
schools, such as the new School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering and several others, will also still hold separate convocations for their students. Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs Philip J. Furmanski said a University-wide ceremony keeps students united to the institution as a whole. “This will be a grand event and it will combine both that sense of
community and place as well as something that connects people with the larger enterprise of the University,” he said. Furmanski said there should not be confusion about the loss of individual schools’ ceremonies. “When we talk about an allUniversity, an all-New Brunswick convocation — a ceremony for the entire University — we’re not at all eliminating or precluding each of
the individual schools from holding their school-specific graduation ceremony or commencement ceremony,” he said. The University-wide ceremony is the official conference of degrees — the separate convocations are only ceremonial, Vice President of Student Affairs Barry Qualls said. “There’s only one official conference at Rutgers, and that’s true even now,” he said.
Furmanski said the smaller ceremonies allow students to feel a sense of belonging to their academic unit. “We also want to break it up into manageable components so that students’ names can be called, so that their parents can take pictures, all the kinds of things that are part of that great celebration,” he said. Rutgers College senior Yan
SEE CONVOCATION ON PAGE 6
Dining Services clear up student misconceptions BY CAGRI OZUTURK ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
JOVELLE TAMAYO
While students are frustrated with meals left over each year because of large, required plans, Dining Services said students pay for what they eat on average, a cost-effective approach.
INDEX UNIVERSITY On-campus diners will find a Southwest surprise at the Busch Campus Center this fall.
OPINIONS The country is too quick to hand out the race card when dealing with those who disagree with President Obama.
UNIVERSITY . . . . . . . 3 NATION . . . . . . . . . . 8 OPINIONS . . . . . . . 12 DIVERSIONS . . . . . . 14 CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . 16 SPORTS . . . . . . BACK
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Health care costs, instability plague young Americans BY ARIEL NAGI CORRESPONDENT
With the health care reform debate streaming throughout the country, students and young adults may be wondering how health care reform will affect them. United States Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius released a report, “Young Americans and Health Insurance Reform: Giving Young Americans the Security and Stability They Need.” The report, in conjunction with President Barack Obama’s health care reform plan, highlights vulnerabilities young adults face in health care whether they are insured or not, and how health care reform can help. “College students wonder how they will stay insured when they graduate,” Health and Human Ser vices Spokesman Nicholas Papas said. “Health insurance will bring stability and security and peace of mind to students who have insurance today.” According to the report, young adults are the most uninsured people than any other demographic. Although 17 percent of adults aged 30 to 64 are uninsured, 30 percent of young adults — including college students — remain uninsured. Sebelius said most students are on their parents’ health care plans, but once they reach a certain age, they are no longer qualified to remain on those plans — a rule most insurance companies follow. “More and more young adults wake up the day after their 19th birthday or on graduation day and find themselves uninsured,” Sebelius said. “I’ve seen this problem firsthand … health insurance reform will help ensure young Americans have access to the affordable health care they need and deserve.”
SEE HEALTH ON PAGE 4
The policies of $60 million University Dining Services have been the cause of criticism of many students, but Executive Director Charles Sams Jr. said some of those concerns are based on misconceptions. While some students are concerned with not using all the meals in their plans, Sams said students do not pay for all the meals that appear as face value of their plan. He said they pay for the average number of meals used by all students within the plan they hold, and no student pays for all the available meals. “Students actually pay for what they eat on average. Any student with a 285 [plan] that eats more than 170 meals is being subsidized by the
student who ate fewer,” Sams said. “Across the averages within each plan, this is the most costeffective approach.” The average student with a 285-meal plan eats roughly 170 meals, missing more than 100 a semester, which is close to the price charged, he said. Each plan is pre-discounted based upon the average of meals left unused. An example of this would be the 285-meal plan, which is 19 swipes per week for 15 weeks; this is designed to include 105 dinners, 105 lunches and 75 breakfasts, Sams said. At today’s retail costs, which Dining Services estimated to be $16.25 for dinner, $11 for lunch and $7 for breakfast, this would cost $3,442.50 — but Dining Services only charged $2,075 this fall.
SEE SERVICES ON PAGE 6
FURMANSKI TO INTRODUCE NEW THEME FOR U. Highlighting key global issues and topics for the Univerisity community, Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs Philip J. Furmanski will announce the two-year ecology initiative and theme for the University tonight at 4:30 p.m. on the fourth floor of the Alexander Library on the College Avenue campus. Organized by Dean Joanna Regulska, chair of the International Advisory Committee for the School of Arts and Sciences and Rutgers-New Brunswick, the “Ecologies in the Balance? An Interdisciplinary Conversation,” series will include an introductory panel discussion with participants from several of the different schools at the University. “It is important [for students] to interact with policy makers and scholars in order to see the connection between different issues,” Regulska said. “Our goal is to open up the minds of students and show them the interrelationship between these physical, social, political and economic processes, so that they may see where the opportunities are.” The challenge here is to soften up the boundaries of the subject matter, she said. “We function in a very complex environment and our studies must reflect that complexity,” Regulska said.
The ecology-based initiative is focused on exploring the complexity of these global processes, as well as giving them local context, she said. Events will focus not only on social forces, but also on economic and political interactions, as well as changes in material culture, Regulska said. A goal of the initiative is to incorporate the unique experiences each speaker, filmmaker, scholar, policy maker or student brings to the conversation, thereby revealing the challenges we face, as well as possibilities for intervention. Throughout the last three years, the University has focused its attention around a certain theme, drawing from the combined knowledge of students, scholars and policy makers, in order to explore and generate interest in issues that have global as well as local implications. The International Advisor y Committee for the School of Arts and Sciences, as well as the International Advisory Committee for Rutgers-New Brunswick chose to continue for the next two years with the theme of ecology. More information on the “Ecologies in the Balance?” series, as well as a complete listing of events, can be found at ecologies.rutgers.edu. — Matthew Reed
Republican Christie leads poll by 7 percent against governor BY MARY DIDUCH ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
With only six weeks left until the Nov. 3 gubernatorial election, Republican candidate Chris Christie has the lead with New Jersey voters.
Christie, challenging Democrat Gov. Jon S. Corzine, holds a seven-point lead over the incumbent, according to a poll conducted Monday by Rasmussen Reports — one of the nation’s top polling services.
SEE POLL
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