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WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 7, 2011
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The Rutgers men’s basketball team’s five active freshmen face the famed Princeton offense for the first time tonight at the Louis Brown Athletic Center.
Website answers questions about on-campus life BY TABISH TALIB CORRESPONDENT
From an informational blog to a website, three University students answer thousands of anonymous questions on topics ranging from New Brunswick student life to classes with a studentoriented perspective. Rutgerstips.com is a website designed to help current and prospective University students with questions they may have about student life or navigating the system, said Yvgeniy Demo, a School of Ar ts and Sciences junior. Demo, along with School of Ar ts and Sciences students Stephanie Lanza and Aakil Fer nandes, created the website during the summer to help students by sharing their experiences they went through at the University. Demo said some students are unaware of what websites to consult for information and gave an example of a student who was unsure of what classes she needs for her degree and how to access Degree Navigator. “Some of the tools, like Degree Navigator — she didn’t even hear about them, and she was taking random classes that were not for the major she wanted to go for,” he said. Many of the answers on the website are based of f the creators’ knowledge of the topic and their experiences at the University. One question posted on the website on Nov. 25 asked, “Are we allowed to hang Christmas lights from the ceiling?” The answer below it said, “You can’t hang anything from the ceiling because it’s a fire hazard. Just hang it along your walls.” Demo said he knew the answer because he spent his first year at the University living in a residence hall where a resident assistance told him these rules. When the creators cannot answer the questions, they look for answers on University websites. Answers also come from other students’ voices.
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A group of students yell together on the steps of Brower Commons on the College Avenue campus last night for one minute to raise awareness about gender violence and the resources available at the University.
U. community raises voice against violence BY ALEKSI TZATZEV ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR
On the 22nd anniversar y of the massacre of 14 young women at the École Polytechnique in Montreal, about 60 people screamed in unison last night against gender violence. The Students Challenging Reality and Educating Against Myths (SCREAM) program organized the event, which took place in front of Brower Commons on the College Avenue campus and included a reading of a poem by Abena Busia, chair of the Depar tment of Women’s and Gender Studies.
Megan Blazak, president of the Women’s Center Coalition, said the day had a par ticular significance other than its commemoration of the Montreal massacre. It falls between the “International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women” on Nov. 25 and “Human Rights Day,” which is observed on Dec. 10, she said. “We are really interested in establishing more safe spaces,” Blazak said. “It’s kind of an awareness initiative but with this idea that in the future, this will lead to more conversation.” The University provides resources for dealing with violence, but she said
The Human Rights House hosted a coffeehouse to raise awareness about gender violence and militarism.
BY JAMAAL BROWN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
OPINIONS The U.S. Justice Department decided that the prosecution of financial executives involved in the 2008 financial crisis should be left to regulators.
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Students consider value of journalism education
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most students are unaware of this. They might not encounter these resources until something happens to them or to an acquaintance. “A lot of the issues we are talking about — street harassment, sexual harassment, date rape — aren’t things that are commonly spoken about,” Blazak said. “We are trying to facilitate a more public discussion about violence … because a lot of it is silence, and that’s why we are screaming.” She said she hoped students’ screams, as well as the discussions following them, would open this
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A panel of speakers suggest different ways inventors can earn funding for their early-stage technologies yesterday at the Fiber Optic Materials Research Building on Busch campus. The Office of Technology Commercialization hosted the event.
With the economic downturn and shifting landscape of the journalism field, some University students are starting to question the value of a journalism and media studies degree. All journalism and media studies majors are required to take a minimum of 30 credits within the depar tment and, upon depar tmental approval, have an option to work 24 hours a week through an inter nship wor th six credits, according to the “Undergraduate Student Handbook” for journalism and media studies. But despite the depar tment’s administrators and professors working to connect students to open internship positions through daily emails, Woo Ree Kim, a School of Ar ts and Sciences junior, said the experience does not live up to students’ expectations. “I guess the internships are jour nalism-related, but they’re
usually not in the fields of journalism that me and most of the people I know are tr ying to get into,” Kim said. “Why spend so much money on a degree and not have experience in the field I want?” Sarah Introna, a School of Arts and Sciences senior, said she is completing an internship at Viacom. What Introna first thought would be the internship of her dreams became a disappointment, she said. “I just run around Manhattan and hop on different subways and run errands,” Introna said. “I’m not getting any type of experience or learning anything about journalism.” Elizabeth Fuerst, a part-time media lecturer, said she believes the strength of the department lies within the internship opportunities. “Because the journalism and media studies department has spent decades developing relationships with publications and editors, we are
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