October 26th, 2012

Rams shatter records

Men’s Soccer turn things around

Football wins 7th straight game -

Rams sit in second place in the

p. 14

MASCAC - p. 15

Let’s get thrifty Cheap deals attract students - p. 10

T h e G aT e p o s T Framingham Sta te Unive r sity’s inde pe nde nt stude nt ne w s p a p e r s in c e 1 9 3 2

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GATEPOST@FRAMINGHAM.EDU

Student veterans voice concerns to Lt. Gov. Tim Murray

By Talia Adry EDITORIAL STAFF

Danielle Vecchione/The Gatepost

Suite Jacket Posse’s Tyler Menzdorf acts out building an igloo in the Forum.

Ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrates new planetarium opening

By Cristina Valente STAFF WRITER

Framingham State University faculty and staff, along with local politicians, gathered behind O’Connor Hall Tuesday, Oct. 23 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony commemorating the newly reconopen in spring, 2013.

After nearly 40 years, the FSU planetarium has been moved from its original location attached to the Hemenway Hall Annex to behind O’Connor Hall as an addition to the Christa Corrigan McAuliffe and Challenger Learning centers.

According to Executive Vice President Dale Hamel, the relocation of the planetarium is part of the Hemenway Hall reconstruction “science project” which has been in the works for the last three years. The original plan was to build the new science wing around, or behind, the existing planetarium, but “it became a cost-effective approach to move and update the planetarium.”

It was moved near the McAuliffe Center because its programs use the planetarium frequently, said Hamel.

The planetarium relocation and renovation project has a budget of $3.3 million, according to Hamel. The funds

came from a variety of sources: $1.25 million came from the “science project” budget and $1 million came from the funding that was left over from keeping O’Connor as a residence hall until 2015. An additional $500,000 came from remnant funding from other projects on campus such as the construction of North Hall, and another $500,000 was provided by the Massachusetts State College Building Authority.

According to Hamel, the planetarium also received $260,000 for a new digital SciDome XD planetarium projector system from the Christa McAuliffe state - Continued on page 6

Lt. Gov. Tim Murray met with student veterans Oct. 25 to discuss the nances.

Murray, along with Sen. Karen Spilka, Rep. Tom Sannicandro, and FSU President Timothy Flanagan, spoke to about two dozen service members, many of whom are students at FSU. The round table discussion also included veterans who were alumni of the college.

This past May, Gov. Deval Patrick signed “An Act Relative to Veterans’ Access, Livelihood, Opportunity and Resources,” also known as the Valor Act, which increases resources and opportunities for Massachusetts’ veterans in business and higher education.

“When I became Lieutenant Goverecutive orders the governor had to sign - back in 2007 - was re-establishing the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Veteran Services, which had existed in the past. … We had to ask, ‘What could the state be doing to help veterans?’”

Along with Spilka and Sannicandro, Murray said he is working to inform veterans about available resources and programs. “We see this as an ongoing conversation to see what works and what we can do better,” Murray said.

“Part of what we’re trying to do is make sure you’re successful,” Sannicandro said. “You guys stood up for us, and we’re trying to make sure we re- Continued on page 7

Jackson Katz educates FSU about gender violence

By Zachary Comeau EDITORIAL STAFF

As part of the President’s Distinguished Lecture Series, Jackson Katz spoke Tuesday night in the Forum about gender violence prevention.

Katz is a co-founder of the Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP) program, which advocates multiracial gender violence prevention for student athletes. MVP has also been recognized by the NFL, MLB and NASCAR. Katz has a Ph.D. in cultural studies and education, and is a former member of the U.S. Secretary of Defense task force on domestic violence in the mili-

tary. He also penned two anti-gender violence books, “The Macho Paradox” and “Leading Men: Presidential Campaigns and the Politics of Manhood.”

“I think calling it women’s issues is part of the problem,” Katz said. “I’m going to argue that [gender issues] are men’s issues. … We need a new conceptual frame to talk about these important subjects.”

Katz said that 2-4 percent of reported sexual assaults are found to be false. He also said that 75-80 percent of people who have been sexually assaulted do not report the crimes.

Katz said that “calling domestic and sexual violence ‘gender issues’” gives

men an excuse not to pay attention to gender violence. He explained that men’s minds process the terms “women’s” or “gender issues” as exclusively feminine. The men tend to separate themselves, Katz said.

He said that when men hear the term “gender issues” changed to “men’s issues,” the term becomes more offensive to men.

“It shows you how powerful language is,” Katz said.

According to Katz, men have a “key involvement” in gender violence, but on a large scale, completely disassociate themselves from it.

- Continued on page 11

Danielle Vecchione/The Gatepost

Jackson Katz, co-founder of the Mentors in Violence Prevention.

News

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Police Logs

Gatepost Interview

Sunday, Oct. 21, 2012

Assistant Professor of Psychology and Philosophy

22:17 Medical - Larned Hall.

Student passed out. FFD transported to MWMC.

Monday, Oct. 22, 2012 00:20 Harrassment - Larned Hall.

Report of person swearing at passerby. Report 23:21 Narcotics investigation. Towers Hill Road.

Report of smell of marajuana. Unfounded.

Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012 18:33 MVA (exchange-campus) - Maynard Road Parking Lot. Female report of backing into a vehicle. Report

Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012 03:23 Suspicious activity - Normal Hill Parking Lot. Suspicious activity observed. Individuals checked. Checks OK.

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Nicole Rossi

By Sara Silvestro EDITORIAL STAFF

Please provide a brief summary of your resume and educational background.

I went to undergraduate at Mount Holyoke College. It’s a small private all-women’s college and I majored in psychology and dance there. After that, I worked for a few years as a research assistant and then a research coordinator at McLean Hospital in Belmont and then the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Hospital in Jamaica Plain. During those jobs, I realized I needed an advanced degree, so I applied to a one-year master’s program at Brandeis University in psychology to get back into being a student again. Following Brandeis, I then went to the University of New Hampshire, where I got my Ph.D. in psychology. My area of specialty is in developmental psych.

Since 2007, I’ve been down in Georgia teaching at a state university there.

But I’m actually from this area of Massachusetts, so I’ve been looking to come home and fortunately, I was able to do that with this job.

The best part of my job is that I get to work with students. I mean, I’m a teacher but at the same time, I’m also a learner in the classroom. ... Ultimately, I really like making things interesting for the students and I enjoy interacting with the students, seeing that they are interested and invested.

What was your best college experience?

I think my best experience was making friendships in college. I have one friend in particular that I met when I was in college back in 1993. I have known her for almost twenty years of my life, which I can pick up the phone and talk to her after some period has gone by. It’s like no time has gone by at all.

Do you have a role model?

I don’t really have any professional role models that I look up to, but I would have to say that my parents

role models. … Both my parents worked full time - including my mother. I was born in the 70s, that was not typical for women in those years. I think Why did you decide to my mother has had a very major in psychology and positive impact on us - in dance? terms of me, my brother Sara Silvestro/The Gatepost and sister. … My parents, I had danced my entire no matter how busy they were in terms of childhood, and they had a physical eduwork and going to school - my father went cation requirement at Holyoke. We had to to night school when I was a child, really have so many phys. ed. credits, and dance my whole growing up he did - and they alcounted as phys. ed. It made sense for me ways took out time for the family to have to just add that on as a second major. But family events and vacations.

I didn’t start off as a psychology major. I entered Holyoke. … But once I got into the courses and was taking biology courses, I wasn’t carefully invested in that and they were boring. It wasn’t for me. I was learning about chick embryos and things like that. I just didn’t particularly enjoy it. I had to take a psychology class for a social science requirement and I took the class asked us what our majors were and she went around the room. I said I was a biology major. And she looked at me and said, “by the end of the semester you’re going to be a psych major.” And she’s right! So I became inherently interested in it and I’ve always been interested in people and why they do the things they do.

What courses do you teach here?

One course that I teach is the History and Systems of Psychology, and it is about the famous founding individuals within psychology as a discipline. ... It talks about major concepts and theories in psychology and that’s a senior level capstone course. I also teach in the research methods sequence. … Because my major is in development, I teach a child development course, here. So it covers from conception all the way up to early adolescence.

What’s the best part of your job at FSU?

Do you have any advice for students?

The big thing would be if you don’t understand something, have a question, or are unsure of something to ask - to utilize your professors. We are a resource, we are a tool and we are here to help you get through your education, and hopefully learn and retain some things along the way. Utilize your professors as a resource, whether that’s for concepts related to class, or [when asking] “What can I do after I graduate in terms of working or going to graduate school?” … We are just starting advising … and I haven’t had the experience yet in advising students in Framingham. When I was in Georgia, I would really focus on spending time with students with career goals and things in that nature, or graduate school. I don’t feel like anybody took that time with me when I was an undergrad. When I graduated, it took me some time to navigate world and what I need to do to get into graduate school. Part of the reason my education took a little bit longer was because I had an abstract concept of going to graduate school when I was an undergrad.

But I didn’t really know how to make that happen. ... I think if I had maybe utilized my professors a little bit more, and at the same time, if maybe, I would have been advised a little bit better as well - I think it’s on both ends - I think things would have turned out differently.

[Editor’s Note: Last week’s “Letter to the editor: The high cost of being a transfer” was authored by Alison Shwartz. The paper edition did not include the author’s byline. The Gatepost regrets the error.]

@TheGatepost

News

October 26, 2012

By Zach Comeau ARTS AND FEATURES EDITOR

Starting next fall, a new domain-based general education model will take the place of the existing, goal-based model for incoming freshman and transfer students.

According to Patricia Lynne, an English professor and former chair of Subcommittee D of the University Curriculum Committee, the model was passed by the All University Committee in May after being passed by the UCC earlier in the year.

The current program features 12 goals - writing, quantitative, language, literature/philosophy, visual/performing arts, physical and life sciences, historical studies, social/behavioral sciences, forces in the United States, non-western studies and gender, race and class - as well as a laboratory science and a class on state and federal constitutions.

In spring of 2010, two new gen ed models were proposed by the UCC model A, which was a restructuring of the current gen ed program, and model B, a domain-based model, which would later be adjusted slightly by the committee.

Model B was organized into three categories: Domain I – “the study of representations of human experience,” Domain II – “the study of problem-solving, and quantitative analysis” and Domain III – “the study of human behavior, cultures and societies.”

In spring of 2011, faculty began evaluating and discussing the proposed models on a Blackboard forum and via e-mails. That fall, the UCC held several open-session discussions on the new model, which students were invited to attend.

According to Ellen Zimmerman, associate academic vice president and Subcommittee D member, the UCC conducts a review of academic programs evwas re-established to review the gen ed model. The review included research of general education practices at nearly 30 institutions of public higher education.

Lynne said the subcommittee paid close attention to Bridgewater State University in particular, because it is the most similar to FSU in terms of student population and curriculum.

In a survey of faculty conducted by the committee in spring of 2010, 43.3 percent of the respondents disagreed that a goal-based program is more effective model, compared to the 36.3 percent who agreed. In the same survey, 53.7 percent of the respondents agreed that the number of gen ed requirements should be reduced.

Also in the survey, 65.5 percent of the respondents said they believe that the current gen ed requirements are “comprehensible” to students. However, in the fall 2011 student survey, approximately 75 percent of the students who responded indicated they were confused by the current gen ed requirements.

According to Lynne, a lot of students didn’t understand that although some they still had to take 12 gen ed courses.

“We ended up with courses overenrolled simply because they had two goals attached to them, and other courses

3

New gen ed model to take effect next fall

didn’t have enough enrollment for what students might generally be interested in,” she said, adding that the new model does not allow for “double-dipping,” or courses that satisfy two goals.

According to another survey conducted in late 2009 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, 80 percent of member institutions currently employ a distribution model.

“What we used as a base is the AAC&U. They have a list - a whole section on general education and goals for general education. We started with the institutions they said have the best practices,” said Lynne.

Zimmerman said, “We took all of the information into account,” adding that

goals.

“We are very carefully tracking which learning objective. We’re trying to … assess whether the program is, in fact, generating the learning outcome that we’re hoping for,” Zimmerman said.

According to Zimmerman, academic departments will be submitting courses this year to the UCC to be included in the gen ed program.

Chair of the UCC and Biology Professor Aline Davis said departments have been given a Nov. 15 deadline for a “streamlined review process” for current 100-level and 200-level courses for submission into the new gen ed program.

Constitutions goal removed

into “what kind of skills and habits of mind” are needed to be successful in the

Alexis Huston/The Gatepost

Patricia Lynne (left) consults with Aline Davis (right) about the new gen ed model.

of respondents said current gen ed requirements are “comprehensible” to students

agreed that the number of gen ed requirements should be reduced

A goal-based program is more effective and efficient than a course distribution model.

Agreed

Disagreed Deanna Collins/The Gatepost

21st century.

Over the last 10 or so years, Lynne said there has been a “notion of moving toward outcomes-based assessment,” meaning, instead of requiring students to take courses in a variety of disciplines, a student’s skills and habits of mind are being evaluated.

FSU, she said, is slowly moving toward that kind of assessment.

“If you can get those skills and habits of mind that you need from a sociology course, or a psychology course or a biology course, then it doesn’t matter [which courses you take] as long as you are getting those skills,” she said.

Under the new program, Zimmerman explained that students will have one course for gen ed credit in any given department. She said this gives students outside of their majors, which may help them develop a minor.

Zimmerman said the UCC is also trying to create a gen ed program under which departments could submit courses to satisfy a broader range of the gen ed requirements, whereas the current program limits departments to a strict set of

gen ed program, said Lynne, was the exclusion of the constitutions requirement.

Lynne said the committee believed the requirement was “not doing what it was designed to do,” which, she said, is to give students a familiarity with law in the U.S. and Massachusetts.

“What was happening was that students were not getting it in that context, or in any sort of concerted way,” she said. “They were seeing it as much more of a perfunctory checkbox. The students weren’t getting what they needed out of it.”

At one point, Lynne said a “kind of civics requirement” was considered to replace the Constitution goal, which she said would “get at the spirit” of the intended goal. She said she believes a civics requirement would be far more useful to students, as many students in her class don’t understand the importance of voting and civic participation.

The “interpretation” of the state law which had been used to make it a separate requirement “seemed to have changed,” said Lynne. She said the committee sought legal counsel and were advised that under the new understanding of the law, only education majors would

be required to take a course that covers both the Massachusetts and U.S. Constitutions.

“That’s the interpretation that’s functional among the state colleges now,” Lynne said. “Between those two things, we put up the idea of eliminating the requirement.”

The most vocal objections, she said, came from the history and political science departments.

Chair and Professor of the political science department Doug Telling said his department “went on record” to support keeping a course on the constitutions as a required goal.

“For one thing, it addresses one of the elements of our Mission Statement, and, I believe, core values,” Telling said in an e-mail. “The constitution requirement speaks to creating responsible citizens, ethical citizenship, public purpose and commitment. These may not be the prisues that we value and provides the basis for much of the commonwealth’s political and civil life.”

However, Telling said he is “withholding judgment” until the new program is implemented. He also said he is unsure how the changes will impact his department, as it has yet to be determined whether students take political science classes just to satisfy the constitution requirement.

“At this point, general education reform remains a work in progress and outJon Huibregtse, chair of the history department, said he had mixed feelings about the committee’s decision.

The current requirement, he said, “promotes citizenship and civic responsibility,” which he said are especially important this fall as the presidential election approaches.

He said while he is disappointed that students will no longer be required to have an understanding of the Constitution, he said a “stumbling block” for transfer students has been removed.

Since most other schools don’t require such a course, Huibregtse said transfer students have to take an extra course just to satisfy the requirement.

Huibregtse added that ideally, he would like to see an increase in history courses offered for gen ed credit, as well as more students taking history courses for gen ed credit.

“I’m curious to see how it’s all going to shake out. It’s going to have an impact on the departmental level that is hard to predict,” he said.

Huibregtse said he believes the new gen ed program “puts [FSU] more in line” with other colleges and universities across the country.

“I think if any sort of institution doesn’t change - it’s not a good thing.

Change is always hard, but change is evolution too,” he said.

Adrienne Salisbury, a sophomore, was enrolled at FSU as a freshman and then transferred to Bristol Community College. This semester, she transferred back to FSU. She said a number of her gen ed credits did not transfer over from BCC - even tution requirement. lem years ago. I feel like a lot of kids get screwed when they transfer from other - Continued on page 4

News

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- Continued from page 3

October 26, 2012

Class on constitutions no longer a gen ed requirement

schools because we require things that other schools don’t,” said Salisbury.

Amanda Staton, a senior, said the new program may be just as confusing as the current one.

“It sounds really overly complicated and confusing to navigate,” she said.

Staton also said she doesn’t agree with the decision to remove the Constitution requirement.

“I don’t really think it’ll help people complete a minor in four years by cutting out the requirement to learn about the history of our laws,” she said.

Diversity requirement eliminated current gen ed model is the elimination der, race and class and nonwestern studies.

Lynne said the committee “went back and forth” when trying to create a diversity requirement for the new model.

During the early steps of the revision process, she said, a survey revealed that the majority of faculty did not support the idea of a separate subdomain for diversity, “as if it didn’t belong throughout the curriculum.” However, she said, when the sub-committee attempted to draft the model with diversity throughout the curriculum, people objected.

Many students at FSU, she said, come from communities that are lacking in diversity, so exposure to “different cultures, races, religions, genders and so forth” will help to broaden their perspective.

“We live in a very small world in many ways,” said Lynne. “A college grad should have the ability to place themselves in someone else’s position and understand, at least generally, how that culture changes things.”

According to Lynn Parker, an English professor who was on Subcommittee D when the program was last under review in 2004, she rejoined the subcommittee because she “didn’t feel comfortable with the direction in which [the new gen ed proposal] was heading.

“I felt that it was important to me and that I needed to step forward,” she said.

Parker said there was a division in the subcommittee about incorporating a subdomain that directly addressed diversity.

While the committee, essentially, unanimously agreed that diversity should be included, she said, there were doubts on exactly how and where to include it in the new model. She said the diversity committee came and spoke to the UCC last year about the importance of “infusing” diversity throughout the model.

“The idea was to infuse diversity throughout the curriculum. It’s a lovely theory,” Parker said, “but the question is, ‘What kind of mechanism do you use to make sure it gets done?’

“It was certainly a contentious issue,” said Parker.

The diversity subdomain was the last issue the subcommittee “wrestled with” last winter, Lynne said. It was decided that under Domain IIIc, students would be required to take one course in Global Competency, Ethical Reasoning, and/or Human Diversity, but not one on diverHowever, Lynne said there was also an understanding that faculty would attempt to diffuse aspects of diversity throughout

the curriculum “wherever feasible.” She called it a “compromise” with which not everybody was happy.

Alexandra Sturchio, a junior, said a stronger focus on math and science versity requirement.

“Personally, the diversity classes didn’t really appeal to me anyway. In reality, math is something which we will need much more,” she said.

Analysis, modeling and problem solving requirement added Parker also said that she didn’t understand why there seemed to be a reduction in courses from the humanities. She said there was a “general assumption that more science and more math was better,” without considering what effect it might have on underprepared freshmen and

new model do not appear in the gen ed programs of other colleges and universities.

Students who struggle with math, she said, will be presented with challenges if they are required to take General Math

would mean that some students would have to take three quantitative courses.

Davis said the committee members considered the national and state emphasis on STEM education when they decided to maintain the two-course science requirement from the previous model.

This also led to the addition of a course in analysis, modeling and problem solving, which is under Domain IIa. Lynne said the requirement under Domain IIa does not require a student to take a quantitative course. Instead, she said the requirement is much broader.

Common Core Requirements A. ENGL 110 Expository Writing Course

B. MATH XXX College Level Mathematics

Domain I

The study of representations of human experiences A. One (1) course in Creative Arts

The study of creative expression through the practice of artistic problem solving.

Course (Specific course dependent on math

placement scores and major requirements) Any

to fill any other General Education Requirement.

Domain II

The study of artistic, literary, and philosophical works

C. One (1) Language course

A. One (1) course in Analysis, Modeling, and Problem Solving

through analysis and interpretation.

The study of language in its cultural contexts.

The study of analytical, quantitative, and/or formal reasoning methods involving the manipulation of

Domain III

The study of human behavior, cultures, and societies.

A. One (1) course in Perspectives on the Past The study of human behavior, culture, and

expression through explorations of the past.

B. One (1) course in Perspectives on the Contemporary World

numbers or other symbols to solve problems.

B. Two (2) courses in Natural Sciences (The two courses must be from two different prefix codes; at

least one of the courses must be a lab science course) The study of classical and modern principles of life and physical sciences, together with a critical

appreciation of how scientific knowledge has been constructed, including methods of validating the results of scientific inquiry.

The study of human behavior, culture, and

expression through explorations of the present.

C. One (1) course Global Competency, Ethical Reasoning, and/or Human Diversity The study of global systems and issues, ethical

principles, and/or differences and commonalities among groups of people.

Deanna Collins/The Gatepost

transfer students.

Although Parker said she has a math degree and is in favor of math and science in the curriculum, she said she places an equally high value on the humanities and “other things that make a well-rounded education.”

However, Parker said that despite her issues with the new program, “Any disagreements really came down to different perspectives on how we could create a system that provides the best education.” She added that she wished more students had voiced their opinions to the UCC during committee meetings, which were open to the public.

Parker admitted that she “is not a big fan” of the new model.

She said she believed that the campus community wasn’t as engaged in the process as she would have liked, but she remains optimistic.

“We’ll see,” she said. “Hopefully it’ll be highly successful, and I’d love to be proved wrong.”

Susan Dargan, chair of the sociology department, also expressed her concerns about the requirement that could present hurdles to students who struggle with mathematics.

According to Dargan, the “excessive” requirements under Domain II of the

obtain gen ed credit for a course in that discipline.”

The new gen ed program, he said, will help students make “informed choices of major by sampling various disciplines.”

However, Dargan still believes that the requirements of the domain-model are “a bit out of whack” in terms of schools similar to FSU. According to Dargan, sociology majors are already required to take three courses in research methods, which involve quantitative reasoning. She said her department is going to ask to have Subdomain IIa be met through the major, which would help reduce the number of potential quantitative courses required.

“I think quantitative reasoning has its place, but there are many other skills that also have their place. We need to respect the fact that students excel in certain areas,” she said.

Although Dargan believes that “a lot of thought” went into the creation of the domain-model, she acknowledged that

course used to fulfill this requirement cannot be used

The study of problem-solving, scientific discovery, logical reasoning, and quantitative analysis.

B. One (1) course in Humanities

ence for gen ed credit, and enables stu-

While she said it is possible to complete the requirement with another math course, she said other courses like Intro to Logic could be offered through that subdomain.

Philosophy professor Joseph D’Andrea said a course such as Intro to main.

“Logic is the study of the consistency of thought. It is, by its very nature, a formal investigation,” which he said adheres to Domain IIa’s description of getting students to utilize “formal reasoning methods involving the manipulation of numbers or other symbols to solve problems.”

According to Lynne, test results show that many college students are not able to do “that kind of careful analytic reasoning … the sort of careful walkthrough that analytic reasoning requires.”

She said computer science courses could also be offered under Domain IIa, majors in her Technical Writing classes.

David Keil, a computer science professor, said he favored the addition of Subdomain IIa because it enables the computer science department, “for the courses in the discipline of computer sci-

with the result.

“I appreciate all of the effort that the curriculum committee put into doing this, but it’s not easy - not everyone is going to agree,” she said. “But, I think it’s always a good idea to look at it and say, ‘What are we doing? Is it a good thing?

Let’s make changes.”

The next phase, said Dargan, is very important: how courses are selected for inclusion into the model.

“The jury’s still out on that,” Dargan said. “I think we’re all concerned about our students and just want what’s best for them.”

Andrea Langone, a junior, said she thinks the new model will help to take some pressure off of students because they will be able to take courses for gen ed credit that interest them.

“More options are always better,” she said.

Dylan Shea, a sophomore and former SGA senator, said the new model sounds “It’s a good thing for our school, seeing as how we always have a ton of student complaints about trying to graduate on time,” he said.

According to Shea, SGA brought up the issue of graduating in four years when they met with school administrators last year.

“It seems like they really took into consideration that a lot of people were upset about courses being useless and not graduating on time,” he said.

Larry Liuzzo, a junior and vice president of SGA, said he believes students model than the current one.

He said by reducing the number of required gen ed courses, the new model “allows students to strive to complete another major or pick up one or two minors.”

Liuzzo also said the new model eliminates students’ confusion, as the new model makes it clear to students how many courses they need to complete their gen eds, and also to graduate on time.

Although he will be a senior by the time the new program is implemented, he said he looks forward to the “freedom and transfer students will be exposed to.

“Who knows, maybe they will enjoy a course in a subject that they would have never thought they would have enjoyed,”

News

October 26, 2012

5

FSU took out $10 million loan for Hemenway renovations

Alexis Huston/The Gatepost

The front of Hemenway Hall is still visibly scarred by the reconstruction project.

By Michael Murphy ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR

FSU will have to pay back a $10 million loan received to help fund the school’s Hemenway renovations, Executive Vice President Dale Hamel told students at a journalism class news conference on Sept. 25.

The “science project,” as Hamel referred to it, has already begun with the reconstruction of Hemenway Hall and Hemenway Annex as well as the building of a new planetarium. A new science facility will also be constructed, which will house 16 new laboratories.

The $10 million loan, one of three funding revenues for the $65 million project, will be paid back in annual installments, which “are about $800,000 a year,” Hamel said.

FSU had initially received $51.2 million in general obligation bonds when the science project was added to the state’s $2.2 billion Higher Education Bond Bill in 2008.

In 2010, the project was added to The Commonwealth Five-Year Spending Plan, which is produced by the

FSU lobbied for special, and eventually approved, legislation concerning funding for public construction projects.

The legislation “actually permits campuses to borrow bonds to supplement the general obligation bond component from the projects that had been approved,” Hamel said.

The additional $10 million in borrowed funds not only allowed FSU to keep the project’s scope, but it also allowed FSU to begin the project sooner.

“When we added our project to Hamel said, “the $51 million was es-

of Capital Asset Management, a state agency.

Once this occurred, “we had free will to move forward with a project,” Hamel said.

The estimated cost of the project soon passed the initial $51.2 million budget to $75 million.

We had to go back and “value engineer” the project to try and “bring back the scope a little bit,” Hamel said.

There were concerns, however, that if the FSU administration did not receive additional funding, the project would lose too much of its scope.

While it was feasible to build “new facilities for biology and chemistry” with the $51.2 million, Hamel pointed out that “every other department would have been losing out.”

Dr. Susan Mullaney, professor and chair of the department of nursing, was pleased that her department would not be missing out.

“I have seen the blueprints for the nursing department’s additional space,” Mullaney said, “and aside from not having our currently existing facul-

In FY13, there was $25 million dollars scheduled. That meant we were going to have to wait two more years to start the project.”

Instead of having to delay the project, the $10 million allowed construction to begin early.

“That [construction],” Hamel explained, “started last summer [2011], and we did a lot of the infrastructure work.

“This summer, we did additional utilities work, all underground, including drainage and sewer work to support the new building, and we began to address accessibility issues.”

The ongoing construction work over the past two summers has not gone unnoticed by FSU employees.

“It was just constant,” said Debora Ferullo, administrative assistant for the nursing department. “There were times this summer I couldn’t hear myself on the phone.”

Despite the inconvenience, Ferullo said the noisy construction would be “worth it in the end.”

Not all of the reconstruction work on Hemenway Hall and Hemenway Annex was initially planned.

Further reconstruction became necessary when code compliance issues began to arise.

“When we got into the design,” Hamel said, “we started looking at all the different code issues that were, essentially, triggered by the investment in this facility. When you have a facility, it gets built per the code that was in place at the time the facility was built.

just about everything on our wish list that we provided to the building planners.”

Code compliance issues were uncovered in the math suite, “where all -

ing, ventilation and air conditioning] problems” that needed to be updated.

A new sprinkler system will be put in that will run both hot and cold water, Hamel said.

To bring everything up to code, the construction project’s cost ballooned past the university’s $61.2 million budget by $3.5 million.

Last spring, Hamel said, FSU’s administration asked for a separate authorization that would add $3.5 million to the science project.

The authorization for $3.5 million was approved and that money does not need to be paid back by FSU. When the science project is completed, students, he said, would be able to look forward to 16 new laboratories, a new animal facility and a new art studio.

Hamel said Larned Hill will be dropped about eight feet to open up that area of campus.

He added that the construction project could end as soon as 2014, but most

The ceilings of Hemenway are under renovation.

2015.

Many faculty and students seem to think the $10 million loan was a worthwhile investment.

Chemistry professor Dr. Sarah Pilkenton said the new laboratories that will be built are a necessity.

“The current laboratory facilities at Framingham State are showing their age,” Pilkenton said. “The chemistry labs in Hemenway Hall were built in the 1960s, and the labs in the Annex were built in the 1970s. The way chemistry is done and the personal safety requirements have changed a lot in the past 40 to 50 years.

“Brand-new labs will bring our laboratory facilities up to date, and will allow the students in chemistry courses to perform experiments that currently

cannot be performed due to a lack of hood space and electrical load.”

Sophomore David Heidkamp, a nutrition major, said new laboratories would be “very, very exciting” and that the “construction hasn’t been too disruptive.”

Cassie Ferragamo, a junior biology major, said that students should know that this construction is not only about making the campus look nicer.

“I don’t think it’s just for cosmetics,” Ferragamo said. “There are equipment in labs that don’t work. Some of the eye wash stations appear as though you would lose an eye if you turned them on, and some of the valves in the chemistry labs don’t work. I think it’s great that money is being spent on the labs.”

Alexis Huston/The Gatepost

Interest-free Student Loan Application Deadline Approaching Information and application forms for Ellen Hyde Loans* are -

-

Please call 508.872.9770 or email Office@AlumniHouse.org with any questions. *The loans are named for Ellen Hyde, an 1862 graduate of the State Normal School at Framingham, who taught at the school and became its principal only thirteen years after her graduation. From her intimate knowledge of the struggle many students had to pay their way, she felt the need for a fund that could be used to help them. Upon her retirement in 1898, she provided seed money and Framingham Alumnae Association members added donations and formally established the Ellen Hyde Fund.

News

6

October 26, 2012

New planetarium offers expanded programs - Continued from page 1

appropriation earmark.

Most of the equipment from the old planetarium, such as the seats, will be moved to its new location. Essentially, it is the same size as the old one, said Hamel.

However, the new, more powerful projector is set to work extremely well with the new nano seam projection dome, said Planetarium Director Kristin Chon.

Chon is “absolutely thrilled” about the new planetarium. She has wanted one for a long time and hopes that FSU classes will be able to use the planetarium more often because of all the new technology that comes with it.

Chon foresees the new planetarium technology bringing more to the entire FSU campus, rather than just to the astronomy classes and McAuliffe Center visitors. There are plans in place for programs that involve biology, weather and calendar history. She even hopes to get art students involved by creating graphics for the planetarium shows.

The new state-of-the-art projector will be able to “bring students through a human cell and to the darkest depths of the ocean,” said State Senator Karen Spilka at the ribbon-cutting.

Assistant Planetarium Director Bruce Mattson said, “The goal for the next year is to provide educational programming for teachers that are completely standard-based.”

One of the major projects in place, according to Mattson, is a history of calendars planetarium show. It will include the astronomical science behind the lunar and solar-based calendars. “We will write our own script and narration and develop and create our own music and graphics. It will be completely original.”

As for the old planetarium, it is still in operation until sometime this November, when it will be torn down and everything will be moved to the new location, said Chon.

The new planetarium location will

lished in 1986 in memory of FSU graduate Christa McAuliffe. She was aboard the Challenger Shuttle on Jan. 28, 1986 as part of the NASA Teacher in Space program. McAuliffe, along with the rest of the crew, was killed when the shuttle exploded 73 seconds after take-off.

The Challenger Learning Center aims to carry on Christa’s vision to support teachers and their work and also to excite students about space travel, said FSU President Timothy Flanagan at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The Christa McAuliffe Challenger Center, the only one in Massachusetts, educates nearly 12,000 students per year, said Lead Flight Director Evan Pagliuca.

The McAuliffe Center focuses on supporting K-12 teachers by way of enhancing classroom lessons, said McAuliffe Director Liscombe. “Our main focus is middle school. We want the students to

take what they learn in the classroom and apply it to what they learn here.”

According to the facility’s website, teachers attend a day-long workshop at FSU where they are introduced to the Challenger and McAuliffe centers and given an overview of the curriculum materials so they can “integrate these elements into their daily [classroom] activities” in order to prepare students for their visit.

According to Liscombe, groups of 30-36 students visit the Challenger Centrips. A day at the Challenger Center costs a class of 36 students nearly $400 plus an extra $125 for every planetarium lenger Center and planetarium can cost a middle school class nearly $1,000.

This cost is covered by the visiting schools. “It’s up to them whether they

Elizabeth Chauppetta/The Gatepost

Grace Corrigan (left) at the new planetarium ribbon cutting.

Learning Center and the planetarium will both be under the same roof, said McAuliffe and Challenger Center Director Mary Liscombe. This will make it a trips, and the staff will all be in the same place. However, Liscombe said, the students won’t get the chance to walk across campus.

According to Liscombe, one of the and summer programs offered at the McAuliffe Center was the outreach - students and parents had the opportunity to see Framingham State.

The planetarium and McAuliffe Center work in conjunction with one another, said Chon. The McAuliffe and Challenger centers are part of FSU, but the planetarium technically belongs to the physics and earth sciences department.

State Representative Tom Sannicandro acknowledged McAuliffe’s mother, Grace Corrigan, at the ribbon cutting and thanked her for all her hard work keeping “Christa’s mission alive and continuing to inspire children to reach for the stars.”

The Challenger Learning Center at Framingham State is one of 50 Challenger Centers worldwide. It was estab-

Elizabeth Chauppetta/The Gatepost

A new planetarium has been constructed in the McAuliffe Center.

Elizabeth Chauppetta/The Gatepost

President Flanagan celebrates the opening with McAuliffe’s mother, Grace Corrigan.

have the students pay for the trip or get the money elsewhere,” said Liscombe, “but if a school is having trouble coming sor for them, such as a rotary club.”

The Challenger Center missions offer students the “complete NASA experience,” said Liscombe.

When students arrive, they are brought en spacesuits and instructions for their mission. Next, students enter the Mars/ Mission Control Center where they begin their two-year voyage to Mars. “If you are in this room, you are on Mars,” said Liscombe.

In the Control Center, students assume roles in data and communications teams shuttle. The space weather crew uses the information provided by the three satellites to determine any posed dangers to the shuttle and crew members.

In the Space Station, the life support ter supply is contaminated. The students must then brainstorm and work through In the Clean Room, team members build a probe solely based on the information they are receiving via a camera and headphones from the teams in Mission Control. This project is conducive for building communication and problem-solving skills, said Liscombe.

In addition to students learning valuable problem-solving skills through the space missions, Liscombe hopes to extend the programs and missions to corporations as a way to enhance team building.

The Challenger Learning Center focuses on enhancing Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Education in the Massachusetts school systems and “engaging students at a young age,” said President Flanagan at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Senator Spilka spoke about the Challenger Center programs and how they relate to STEM education. “It is so important for something like this that is so hands-on, to have kids see and feel what it is like to learn these subjects without actually realizing that they are learning these subjects.”

State Senator Michael Moore is a native of Framingham who has always seen McAuliffe as a role model.

Moore said, “Enhancing STEM education is how our children learn to become successful.”

He believes that the Challenger Center and the new planetarium are important opportunities “to invest in our future and to invest in the community of Framingham and in the state of Massachusetts.”

After a tour of the planetarium and the many programs it will offer, Spilka described the renovation as a “wow factor.”

If there was anyone in the crowd more excited than Spilka to see these new amenities, it was McAuliffe’s mother, Grace Corrigan.

Corrigan looked up at the dome after the presentation and said, “It’s just beautiful. I can picture Christa looking down on all of us right now saying, ‘This is my school. This is Framingham State.’”

News

October 26, 2012

7

FSU Dance Team granted money for Celtics Game event

By Kärin Radock NEWS EDITOR

SGA allocated money to three clubs, including the FSU Dance Team for its spring 2013 Celtics Game and accepted the Transfer Advocacy Group’s (TAG) new constitution.

The FSU Dance Team came before Senate with a club request of $7,250 to fund its April 2013 Celtics Game event. A motion to allocate the full amount passed unanimously.

The Art Club came forward with a club request of $1,050 to pay for buses for three Boston museum trips which will be hosted throughout the year. A motion was made to allocate $330, which would cover the cost of a bus The motion passed unanimously.

SUAB came before senate with a club request of $317.73 to increase the amount it was previously budgeted for the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA) conference scheduled for November. A motion to allocate the full amount passed unanimously.

- Continued from page 1

turn the favor back to you so that you folks can all be successful.

“We know how important it is to get higher education, to get a college degree, not only for your futures - but for the whole commonwealth,” Sannicandro added.

Among the chief concerns of student veterans was balancing school

Veteran Administration.

Tony Nardone, a sophomore at FSU who served in Afghanistan, said he used the GI bill to help pay for college tuition, but now struggles to balance going to school and supporting himself.

“It affects all areas of your life,” said Nardone.

After returning home from two deployments in February, Nate Hall, who served in the Marine Corps, said vilian life. Hall said he struggled with getting the money from unemployment and his GI bill on time to be able

BSU came forward with a club request of $2,987.95 for its Nov. 3 fall party.

SGA Senate Chair Elizabeth Cameron said that because the club didn’t submit its request 20 business days before the event, the amount requested could not be allocated.

The Transfer Advocacy Group (TAG) came before senate with a new constitution request. A motion to accept the club’s constitution passed unanimously.

SGA Secretary Carly Granville said, “The club wants to give transfer students a chance to learn more about the campus through other students’ eyes and other transfers.”

She said club members hope to play a bigger role during orientation and transfer orientation.

Cameron said senators learned that TAG is open to all students, not just transfers.

Vice President Larry Liuzzo said on Monday, October 22 and Tuesday, October 23.

to pay his bills. school was the toughest, as he received both his unemployment compensation and his GI bill moneys late.

After he paid his expenses, he was left “scrounging” to pay for items like books for school and was left with only $5 in the bank.

“I’m surviving on my own at 25 years old, trying to save money and pay for my truck and go to classes full time. … I’d rather go back to Afghanistan at times than deal with all this,” Hall said.

Hall said he did learn the importance of reaching out and being vocal about what his needs are as a student and a veteran. “Right now, the issue is veteran coordinator that there is help,” Hall added. “You just have to go out and look for it.”

FSU’s Coordinator of Veteran Services Kevin Fields said that he is aware of the ongoing problems with the VA, and the pay issues that students face. He said that often, calls made to the VA get disconnected or

Spencer Buell/The Gatepost

A round table discussion on veterans’ issues was held in the Alumni Room.

Another concern for student veterans was getting college credit for the skills that were acquired while in service - a problem, in part, that the Valor Act addresses.

Fields said that much of the dif-

training while serving in the military.

President Timothy Flanagan said FSU became a “service members opportunity college,” or SOC, four years ago, which requires that the university accept credit through a system run by the American Council on Education.

Flanagan said he doesn’t want stu-

“I’m surviving on my own at 25 years old, trying to save money and pay for my truck and go to classes full time. … I’d rather go back to Afghanistan at times than deal with all this,” - Nate Hall, Marine Corps veteran

for veterans was in transferring skills

Spencer Buell/The Gatepost

Lt. Gov. Tim Murray listened to student veterans’ stories.

classroom, and transitioning into civilian jobs.

According to Murray, the Valor Act requires public schools and universities to develop an evaluation for academic credit for military skills.

For many student veterans, the problem of transferring credits is frustrating because it means that they have to start from scratch, despite already learning the skills required in real-life

dent veterans taking classes they do not need - especially when they are taking up seats in courses that could go to other students. He said FSU becoming an SOC is “a great way to recognize military service men and women.”

Rep. Sannicandro said, “The biggest thing we need to do to make veterans successful is to bring them together and give them the support they need.”

ARTS & FEATURES

October 26,2012

16

This weEk in photos.

Danielle Vecchione/ The Gatepost

Students make stunNa shades in the Dining ComMons.

Alexis Huston/ The Gatepost

Danielle Vecchione/ The Gatepost

Residents duke it out at a Cake BosS ChalLenge in Peirce HalL. Alexis Huston/ The Gatepost

Wildlife Club studies Saw Whet owls at LoOkout Rock in Oxford.