aggies beat the eagles at central The A&T
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RegisteR voluMe lXXXiv. No. 22
FebRuARy 23, 2011
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THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF NORTH CAROLINA A&T
unc budget cuts trickle down to a&t- Part 1 JasMine JOHnsOn Editor in Chief
Budget cuts are back in the UNC System, and are affecting A&T. During the 2011-12 academic year, the UNC System is expected to make cuts anywhere from 7 to 15 percent. As a result, each institution within the system would make cuts. From there, departments would make cuts where deemed necessary. For A&T that means cuts would be made from the individual colleges. More specifically, the College of Arts and Sciences, the largest college, which makes up 55 percent of all student credits and encompasses 34 percent of all majors offered, will see a $1.6 million cut. This current academic year,
Arts and Sciences has seen some of these cuts already. In order to combat the affect the cut could take on students and faculty, the college offered vacant positions. Vacant positions are those that the college has reserved to be filled at any time. This year, those vacant positions provided enough cuts so the college did not have to use other resources. Upon the end of this academic year, the college will receive those positions back to make available because it was not a permanent cut. However, for this next academic year, the college plans to offer the same vacancies. Former Interim Dean and current Associate Dean for Research and Graduate Studies of Arts and Sciences, David Aldridge, thinks those positions will be taken away permanently.
There will be approximately 11.3 vacant faculty positions and one staff vacancy position offered. Currently, the entire budget for Arts and Sciences is $21 million. Of that budget, $1.6 million will be cut next academic year. Although Aldridge is not worried about the cuts at this point in time, he does recognize that if asked to give more than the proposed $1.6 million, students may see the differences. “It’s not an immediate problem,” said Aldridge. “But it really robs the university of things in the future- the ability to create new programs, the ability to handle growth in programs and it also robs flexibility.” Apart from the vacant positions Arts and Sciences plans to offer for the cuts, it also has projected reducing its operating
budget by $133,000. The operating budget is used for various entities including: photocopiers, paper, ink, computer software, etc. The current operating budget is $720,000. Aldridge says that most of the college’s budget is for personnel and faculty. The proposed cuts have not been neither declined nor accepted. The Board of Trustees will make that decision. In case the Board does not accept the recommendations, the next place Arts and Sciences will have to look is at filled positions. This is where the possible cuts could directly affect students. “It’s largely a matter of figuring out how to make cuts with the least damage to enrolled students,” continued Aldridge. “As long as we can stick to $1.6
million, we can offer students the classes they need. If we’re asked for another $1.6 [million] it could start to make an impact.” There have been rumors that the College of Arts and Sciences has offered its auxiliary services to be taken by the cuts. This would include the Blue and Gold Marching Machine, WNAA 90.1 FM station, the T.V. studio and The A&T Register. Setting the record straight, Aldridge said those services have not been offered up as of yet. The College of Arts and Sciences main contribution to those previously mentioned services is to sustain the personnel who oversee the respective organization. “We are trying to sustain enrollment. Our objective is
to maintain the ability to offer courses. We are looking very hard at auxiliary programs that are not involved in the classroom,” said Aldridge. There will be cuts made across the board for A&T’s colleges. Aldridge was not aware of other specific colleges cuts, but he admitted that traditionally, Arts and Sciences does not receive the highest number. It is his belief that it is hard to cut the College of Arts and Sciences without cutting the ability to enroll students. With the UNC System making cuts to its 17 institutions, there have also been rumors to eliminate an institution from the system totally. “UNC [system] probably does have one too many institutions at this time,” said See budget on Page 2
African Aggies Coalition tries to spread awareness to all African issues Jessica grissOM
Register Reporter
The African Aggie Coalition (AAC) hosted “A Night for Change Benefit” Feb. 18 in Stallings Ballroom. The event was held to bring awareness to students on campus about the crises occurring throughout Africa, not only in Egypt. The benefit began with an informative video on the conflicts arising in areas such as Darfur, Sudan and Ghana as traditional African music played in the background. The video gave students a better perspective of the danger Africa currently faces. “We hope to bring awareness to all of the corruption occurring in Africa. Everyone seems
to be so focused on Egypt and the issues that they have forgotten the other countries that need help,” said AAC President, Sogbeye Okoro, a sophomore history major. “Many students have a very negative view of Africa and Africans in general. I want students to gain more respect and compassion for Africa as a whole.” The African Aggie Coalition not only consists of A&T students, but Bennett College and Guilford Technical Community College students as well. Representatives from all three institutions were present at the event. Couture Word engaged in a poetry slam at the event and spoken word poet Dezren See aac on Page 2
News Brief:
Photo by tRACy DURANDIS
silent library: silent library presented by couture Productions took place in exhibit Hall last thursday. the event resembled the tV show on MtV.
Silent Library comes to Exhibit hall desHaWn FleMing Register Reporter
SGA President Wayne Kimball announced Sunday that UNC-System president Tom Ross will visit campus rOss Friday to address student and faculty concerns regarding recent budget cuts. Students will have an opportunity to talk with Ross one-onone from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. in the Alumni Foundation Event Center.
Couture Productions together with Bull City Aggies hosted the A & T version of MTV’s Silent Library in Exhibit Hall on Feb. 17. MTV’s Silent Library is a game show based in a mock library, where a group of six friends try to be silent while performing funny and absurd tasks—on each other and to themselves—in an attempt to earn a monetary reward. The members of the group are seated at a table where they draw cards to determine who endures the task. From this point on the entire group must be silent; which is
much easier said than done. Making noise and laughing reduces the score and reward amount. In the end the money is divided among the group members. There was an admission fee of $1 for the audience and $20 per team. “The money raised here tonight, is a fundraiser for the mute charity; children who can’t talk,” said Jeanette Evans, President of Couture Productions. Silent Library: Exhibit Edition, was constructed with these same guidelines, but with a twist. Instead of just one team trying to increase their reward amount, it was made into a competition. Five teams [Tu-
nasub, Team Couture, Team Official, The Omen, and Top Chef] of five people competed for the money during five rounds. For each round, groups received one point for every task successfully completed without making noise. However, if a team member spoke while on stage, the group was disqualified and received no points for that round. During the first round players had to consume a cup of condiments such as relish, mayonnaise, horseradish, and olives with cottage cheese. In this round, Team Couture was disqualified for talking on stage. In round two, Tunasub was also disqualified for talking
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on stage and the tasks became more physical. Groups endured arm waxes, plucked nose hairs, putting make-up on their group member with puppet hands, and holding a whiffle ball in their mouth with closed lips for 30 seconds. During round three, no teams were disqualified, but the tasks went back to consumptions. Cheetos with honey, olives with cottage cheese, and marshmallows with horseradish were eaten after being smeared on a male student’s stomach. After partially cleaning his stomach, the remaining See silent library on Page 2
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