The Daily Targum 2011-10-27

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THE DAILY TARGUM Vo l u m e 1 4 3 , N u m b e r 4 0

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Today: Rain

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High: 56 • Low: 34

Looking for exciting local theater? Inside Beat takes a look at George Street Playhouse's newest hit musical.

THURSDAY OCTOBER 27, 2011

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President launches plan to help post-graduate debt BY KRISTINE ROSETTE ENERIO NEWS EDITOR

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President Barack Obama visits the University of Colorado Denver yesterday to announce his administration’s plan to cap student loan payments and allow borrowers to consolidate their federal loans.

Young alumna runs for state Assembly seat BY ALEKSI TZATZEV ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

Sara Rosengar ten was working toward her law degree at the Rutgers-Newark School of Law and as a fellow at the Eagleton Institute of Politics last year. Now she is vying for an of fice in Trenton. Alongside John Genovesi, another Republican candidate, she is running for an Assembly seat in District 36, challenging incumbent Gary Schaer, D-36, and SARA Marlene Caride. Rosengar ten, 25, is the ROSENGARTEN youngest candidate in New Jersey and will face stif f competition in a district which has traditionally been blue with Schaer and Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-36, as incumbents. For her undergraduate education, Rosengarten graduated magna cum laude in 2008 from the University with a double major in political science and women’s studies. She graduated in 2011 from Rutgers-Newark School of Law. “At Rutgers, I was given a very strong academic background,” she said. “From the political science perspective, I was able to explore academically the various levels of government.” In addition to academics, Rosengarten worked in the Office of Legislative Services, the nonpartisan research office of N.J. government. John Weingart, associate director at the Eagleton Institute of Politics, said he remembered Rosengarten from last fall semester. “She was a law student, and as an Eagleton fellow, she took a course here on state

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President Barack Obama announced a series of plans yesterday at the University of Colorado Denver geared toward easing the load of student loan debt. “I know you’re hearing stories from friends and classmates and siblings who are struggling to find work, and you’re wondering what’s in store for your future. And I know that can be scary,” he said to the crowd of college students. “This is something Michelle and I know about firsthand. I’ve been in your shoes.” To spread knowledge about the administration’s efforts, Melody Barnes, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, and two other federal leaders outlined plans in a White House phone conference. The initiative accelerates plans for the “Pay As You Earn” program, which will allow borrowers to cap their monthly payments starting next year to 10 percent of their annual discretionar y income — funds left after subtracting taxes and normal expenses, Barnes said.

Congress passed the original plan in 2010 and the president signed it into law in March, she said. Its benefits were not to take effect until 2014, but through an executive order Obama plans to implement it two years earlier. “[President Obama] realizes that many students need relief much sooner than that,” Barnes said. “That’s why we’ve initiated the new ‘Pay As You Earn’ proposal that will give about 1.6 million students the ability to cap their loan payments.” The move could reduce a borrower’s monthly payment by hundreds of dollars per month every month, she said. Of the 36 million borrowers, 450,000 take advantage of the current program that caps payments at 15 percent, Barnes said. “We’re really, really hoping … that people will sign up for this program, investigate this program and take advantage of it because it could have a significant effect on those who are trying to pay back their loans right now,” she said.

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PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE DECIDES NOT TO APPEAL SUPERIOR COURT RULING In the State v. Dharun Ravi trial, Middlesex County Prosecutor Bruce Kaplan announced yesterday that the state would not appeal a court ruling releasing the identity of M.B. to the defense. The Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office provided the defense counsel with M.B.’s full name and date of birth. M.B. refers to the man with whom Tyler Clementi had an intimate affair. Ravi, Clementi’s roommate, recorded the encounter on a webcam without their knowledge and broadcasted it on

the Internet. Clementi committed suicide in the days following the incident. Until now, M.B.’s name has been kept private. M.B. was notified of the ruling through his attorney, according to a news release from the prosecutor’s office. The state decided not to seek an appellate court review of this aspect of the order issued by Superior Court Judge Glenn Berman after consulting with M.B. and his attorney. — Amy Rowe

STICKS AND STONES

INDEX PENDULUM Students react to President Barack Obama’s decision to withdraw troops from Iraq.

OPINIONS An amendment up for vote in Mississippi would grant legal personhood to fertilized human eggs.

UNIVERSITY . . . . . . . 3 PENDULUM . . . . . . . . 7 OPINIONS . . . . . . . . 8 DIVERSIONS . . . . . . 12 CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . 14 ALEX VAN DRIESEN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Jonathan Winter, a School of Arts and Sciences first-year student, goes head to head with the Scarlet Knight last night during the annual “Rock Paper Scissors” tournament held by Rutgers Recreation inside the College Avenue Gym. The finalists won a prize.

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