Fizzliing Favre Quarterback hasn’t delivered in second half of career
Notorious L.E.E. pg. 6
pg. 11
T he G atepost T he Inde pendent Weekly Student Ne wspa per of Framingham State College Since 1932
find us online at www.thegatepost.com volume
78 l number 14
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Governor’s budget proposal is cause for “optimism” at All College Meeting
By Roya Bahrami
Tom Higgins/The Gatepost
A snowy afternoon on the FSC campus.
Assitant News Editor During Wednesday’s All College Meeting, administrators updated the campus community on current and future construction projects, academic programs, enrollment and the budget. According to Dr. Dale Hamel, senior vice president of administration, finance and technology, the release of Governor Deval Patrick’s 2011 budget proposal has brought “better news than we had anticipated or have seen for quite a while on the budget side.” Hamel explained that the governor’s new budget proposal could potentially bring “level funding” to higher education. This would mean that funding would not be cut or raised if the budget proposal is approved. However, Hamel said acknowl-
edged there are “many assumptions and criteria” that must be met in order for FSC to receive level funding. For example, the governor’s budget plan relies heavily on federal approval of extra stimulus funds, Medicaid reimbursements and the “refunding of debt service.” Hamel also noted the possibility that state funding could be allocated to colleges based upon enrollment increases. For example, some community colleges have experienced a 20 percent growth in enrollment in the past few years. Hamel said that, depending on how the state plans to allocate the funds, “it may not necessarily mean that we would be level funded in the end.” With regards to the budget development timeline, Hamel said, “There’s a lot to be done yet, in -Continued on page 5
Scott Brown wins Massachusetts’ 2010 Senate race
FSC voters say impatience with “change” led to Republican win
By Madison Dennis
Editor-in-Chief On Tuesday, Jan. 19, Massachusetts voters elected Republican Scott Brown to fill the late Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat. He defeated Democratic opponent Martha Coakley 52 to 47 percent. According to boston.com, Brown received a total of 1,168,107 votes, while Coakley received 1,058,682. The Libertarian candidate, Joe Kennedy, received 22,237 votes. Democrat Ted Kennedy held this seat for over 46 years until his death last August. Doug Telling, government professor, said many Massachusetts voters believed Coakley would win simply because of her status as a Democrat in a traditionally liberal state. “I think a lot of people weren’t paying attention until somebody made clear that she was vulnerable,” he said. Though many Massachusetts voters did not expect the election of a GOP candidate, others saw his popularity rising in the last few weeks, and were not surprised by the results. “If you would have asked me four weeks ago, I would have said ‘No way,’ but by the last week, you could pretty much tell,” said Global Change Initiative President Chris Donovan.
Greg Fraser, vice president of the Political Roundtable club, agreed with Donovan. “At first, this was a very boring election for me. … By the end, it got exciting. It’s amazing how many people would have to flip over to give Brown 52 percent of the vote. “It seems that the election has shown me that Massachusetts is a little bit more independent than I thought,” he said. According to Telling, many Massachusetts voters were unhappy with Coakley’s lackluster campaign, and impressed by Brown’s. “Brown ran an excellent campaign,” he said. “Coakley did not.” Telling also noted that Coakley failed to counteract Brown’s arguments, many of which were misleading. One Brown ad, he said, was “flat out wrong,” and yet Coakley didn’t stand up to challenge him in debates. SGA President Steve Whittemore thought Coakley’s campaign was the primary reason for her unpopularity. “Martha Coakley has no idea how to run a campaign - that was pretty evident. Her biggest fault was that she just couldn’t connect with the people of Massachusetts,” he said.
Racheotes, Scouler teach FSC about the blind experience
pg. 8
-Continued on page 3
The changing face of politics pg. 9
Photo courtesy of brownforussenate.com
Senator-elect Scott Brown emerged victorious on Tuesday, with 1,168,107 votes.
Lady Rams beat Suffolk in close contest pg. 10