The Daily Targum 2012-01-31

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THE DAILY TARGUM Vo l u m e 1 4 3 , N u m b e r 8 1

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

TUESDAY JANUARY 31, 2012

1 8 6 9

Today: Sunny

COMMITMENT REAFFIRMED

High: 56 • Low: 39

Members of the Rutgers football team’s highly regarded group of offensive line commitments expressed excitement at Kyle Flood’s promotion to head coach.

IT’S FLOOD Long-time assistant loses interim tag, takes over football program BY STEVEN MILLER SPORTS EDITOR

CONOR ALWELL / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Kyle Flood told Rutgers football commit Brandon Arcidiacono it was the “proudest day of his life” Thursday, when he became interim head coach. His feeling Monday likely trumped it. Rutgers will remove the interim tag and name Flood the 29th head coach in Scarlet Knights’ histor y. ScarletReport.com first reported the story. The news developed quickly after Athletic Director Tim Pernetti spent the afternoon in negotiations with Florida International head coach Mario Cristobal. But Cristobal, a former Rutgers assistant, told his team at 3 p.m. he would remain in Florida. Pernetti turned to the 41year-old Flood, who remained a

finalist with Cristobal Sunday after interviews. Flood interviewed Saturday and said it went “very well.” “I’ve been working 19 years for this day,” Flood said that night at the Louis Brown Athletic Center. “Either John Wooden or Bill Walsh said you’re never ready for your first head coaching job, but I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.” He took over as interim head coach Thursday, when former head coach Greg Schiano abruptly left for the same position with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Flood said his role as interim head coach involved every responsibility a head coach typically has, but with Schiano’s departure less than a week from National Signing Day, recruiting was his focus. Schiano and his staff assembled a highly regarded recruiting class, and Flood’s first task as interim head coach was to keep it together as best he could. He said Saturday at the RAC that every player who previously committed remained so at the moment, and his fulltime appointment should solidify that. Flood keeps up the stability at the helm that Rutgers had with Schiano, who could

always sell a recruit. He will keep a pro-style offense and many members of Schiano’s staff. The seven-year veteran was the longest tenured member of Schiano’s staff, serving as offensive line coach since 2005. He earned the title of assistant head coach in 2008 and also spent a season as the co-offensive coordinator. His line allowed the nation’s worst sack total in 2010, but Schiano never publicly questioned Flood in an offseason of change, pointing to Flood’s track record. That record included a historic 2006 season in Piscataway. Flood coached an offensive line that allowed the fewest sacks in the nation with eight. All five starting linemen spent time in the National Football League. He was also influential in securing the commitment of Piscataway tackle Anthony Davis, who chose Rutgers that same year out of a group of finalists that included Ohio State and Southern California. Davis started for three seasons at Rutgers, declared for the NFL Draft and became the highest pick in school history

SEE FLOOD ON PAGE 7

Obama answers students’ concerns in virtual town hall forum BY ANKITA PANDA STAFF WRITER

President Barack Obama’s appearance yesterday at the nation’s first-ever virtual presidential forum, across WhiteHouse.gov, YouTube.com/whitehouse and the White House Google Plus page, addressed the issues of higher education and his plans to resolve them. California high school student Adam Clark said, during the virtual

INDEX UNIVERSITY Mason Gross School of the Arts graduate students exhibit artwork for their theses.

OPINIONS With the cost of college rising, students must weigh the costs and benefits of federal versus private loans.

UNIVERSITY . . . . . . . 3 WORLD . . . . . . . . . . 9 OPINIONS . . . . . . . . 10 DIVERSIONS . . . . . . 12 CLASSIFIEDS . . . . . . 14 SPORTS . . . . . . BACK

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office hours on YouTube, he was concerned that the struggling economy would render college-bound students and those already enrolled in higher education unable to afford tuition. “At a time when Americans are struggling to pay for daily necessities, you continue to push higher education for all Americans. But what is your plan to help students pay off all their student loans?” Clark asked.

In response, Obama said despite the recent economic lows, it is important that students pursue higher education as the unemployment rate of those students who do not is significantly higher. “Ever ybody [might not] need a four-year education. But the point is that it’s ver y hard for someone who just has a high school education to get a wellpaying job that allows you to support a family,” he said.

Obama said he would like universities and colleges to find costefficient methods for students enrolled in their facilities. “Colleges and universities [need] to think more about how to make higher education affordable,” he said. “Some of this is not [their fault since] they’ve been getting less support from states.” To achieve this, Obama said he believes in providing incentives to those schools that are doing a good

job of keeping prices down. He said universities and students could also make use of a three-year education, their school’s technology and online courses to be as cost-efficient as possible. Students should think wisely about their future and plan accordingly, Obama said. “I think young people have a little more responsibility now to think

SEE OBAMA ON PAGE 5

Environmental groups form energy consortium BY ALEKSI TZATZEV ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

Sustainability and clean energy sources were the focus of the first collaborative meeting last night between five of the University’s environmental organizations. The groups’ leaders discussed future projects and initiatives they could organize to keep the campus green at the Douglass Campus Center. “I want us to work together, helping each other, just making Rutgers a beautiful place to live — that is all I want us to do,” said Christopher Licitra, the undergraduate representative for the Rutgers Energy Institute, which sponsored the event. He invited the four other groups to collaborate in the upcoming months with Rutgers Day approaching. Melissa Lee and Joelle Zerillo, University alumnae and members of the Global Renewable Energy Education Network, said their organization presented students the opportunity to go to Costa Rica and work for 12 days at five different renewable energy plants, all within driving distance from one another. Lee said the program was piloted at the University three years ago and also pro-

vides international students with the opportunity to come in contact with operations at these plants. “In the United States, you can’t really touch anything at these plants, but the culture in Costa Rica is different,” she said. “For example, you are learning about thermal [energy] one week … then the next day you are asking all these different questions to workers at the plants.” Kevin Lyons, the University’s chief procurement officer and associate director of the energy institute, said the group was working on a program that uses social media to track and publish a student’s sustainability initiative through all four years at the University. This would result in a final “sustainability score” at the end of the four years. “There are a lot of universities in the United States that sort of take our stuff and run with it, and it seems they are doing so much better, and it is because Rutgers has not historically marketed sustainability,” said Lyons, a supply chain management and marketing sciences professor. He said a lot of projects implemented at JENNIFER MIGUEL-HELLMAN / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER other colleges were modeled after University Joelle Zerillo, left, shares information about a trip to Costa Rica initiatives. But because of financial difficul-

SEE GROUPS ON PAGE 7

energy plants last night during an environmental discussion at the Douglass Campus Center.


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