AWA R D-W INNING CENTR A LR ECOR DER .COM Wednesday, February 8, 2012
Central Connecticut State University
Faculty Senate Request To Athletic Department Raises Questions justin muszynski the recorder
During the last Faculty Senate meeting, a motion was passed that requires the Athletic Department to disclose their financial report to several administrative and faculty committees. Guy Crundwell, of the University Planning and Budget Committee, who initiated the motion that called for “transparency” in the athletic department, gave a presentation at a UPBC meeting last semester in which he asked three questions: “Is there balance -spending on academics compared to spending on athletics?,” “Is the athletic program sustainable?” and “Where does the money to support athletics originate?” “Coming across that Knight Commission report, it shocked me,” said Crundwell, who is also a professor of chemistry. The report he is referring to found that at many bowl championship series schools, spending per athlete is rising much faster than spending on education-related activities per student. The report that Crundwell referred to was in regards to Bowl Championship Series schools however, CCSU is a Football Championship Series school. Paul Schlickmann, the director of athletics, says this is like “comparing apples to oranges.” But Crundwell insists that CCSU is very similar to BCS schools. “We fit the same profile,” said Crundwell. “We kind of follow what the smaller schools and the BCS ones are doing.” He also explains why he decided this was something CCSU should look into. “It was never a desire to say, ‘Athletics shouldn’t get the money and Academics should,’” said Crundwell. “We do a lot of assessments in the UPBC, we
have all this data in academic departments of cost per student that’s available. When I read the Knight Commission Report I thought that a (Full-Time Equivalent) student is a great metric.” However, the motion submitted that would call for the athletic department to break their numbers down into this category was shot down by the UPBC. Schlickmann says should the Athletic Department be asked to put their numbers together showing how much is spent on each FTE student they will be glad to do so. “We will work collaboratively to figure out what the best way to put the information together is so we can discuss it,” said Schlickmann. At the last Faculty-Senate meeting it was decided that Schlickmann, Crundwell and another member of the UPBC would return to discuss this matter further and figure out what’s the next step in this process, should there be one. In Crundwell’s presentation, he indicates that preliminary data acquired from USA Today and Institutional Planning shows a “ballpark” estimate of athletic spending per athlete, suggests it is growing faster than spending per academic students. He feels that should this data be confirmed, it is “problematic.” Crundwell is very adamant that this is not an attempt to move CCSU from a Division-I school to Division-II. He says that wouldn’t solve anything because the report he read shows that D-II schools are facing the same challenges that D-I schools are. Instead he says this may be an opportunity to look into alternative ways to increase the revenue that’s created by the REQUESt | cONt. ON 4
Volume 108 No. 17
The Buried Life Comes to CCSU
kenny barto i tHe recorder
Jonnie Penn from The Buried Life greets students during the event last Tuesday. racHael bentley the recorder
The guys from the MTV reality show The Buried Life came to visit CCSU to ask the question: “What do you want to do before you die?” On Tuesday night, in Welte Auditorium, over 500 students sat and listened to how this group decided to pack up and travel around North America, in a purple transit bus named Penelope, in the hopes of completing their list of “100 Things To Do Before You Die.” The twist is that for every item they cross off of their own list, they vow to help a total stranger cross something off of their own “Bucket List.” The company was created by Ben Nemtin, Dave Lingwood, Duncan Penn and Jonnie Penn who are British Columbia University students. They created this “extreme hobby” after being inspired by a specific stanza in the 1852 Matthew Arnold poem
entitled “The Buried Life.” “But often, in the world’s most crowded streets, but often, in the din of strife, there rises an unspeakable desire after the knowledge of our buried life”. During the presentation, students were able to get up and tell the cast of the show, and the entire audience, what they wanted to do before they died, as well as show off some of their own talents by singing or dancing on stage. The cast joked around and retold the stories of their travels and narrated a few key moments about what made them realize this is how they wanted to spend their summers. Backstage after the show, Jonnie Penn explained why they ask students the famous question and what stuck out to them the most. “The people who were forthcoming and honest about what they wanted always hits home, and being able to stand up and say it in front on that many people takes a lot
of guts,” Penn said. “Once you say out loud what it is you want to do, it gets you really thinking about it and that’s important”. Many CCSU students at the event were impressed that CAN and Events Management were able to put together an event this large with a group as famous as they are. Stanley Dombrowski was one of these students and he and his friends were one of the many who were lined up outside the doors of Welte Auditorium to get inside. “We came because I’m a big fan of the show, it’s a great thing that these guys are doing and I’m happy to support it,” Dombrowski said. “I just feel like something really positive will come out of it.” Freshman Kailyn Craham didn’t know much about the show, but the event was still something she looked forward to. “I actually didn’t know what it was but a lot of my friends were really into the show so I just decided to come and see what it was going to be like,” Craham explained.
Pfizer Recalls Millions of Birth Control Packets racHael bentley the recorder
Drug company Pfizer Inc. has recalled over one million packs of birth control after a packaging malfunction. This error could leave women with an inadequate dose of the hormone-based drug, which would increase the risk of getting pregnant. A company spokesperson told USA Today the problem occurred after both mechanical and visual inspection failures, but that the problem has been corrected. The malfuntion effects 14 lots of Lo/Ovral tablets and 14 lots of generic norgestrel and ethinyl
estradiol tablets. Not every pack of these products are affected, only certain lot numbers. Medication packages are tracked by lot numbers that are printed on the packages, usually next to the expiration dates. Most oral birth control tablets use a series of 21 drug tablets and seven inactive tablets to regulate and control a woman’s period while also providing contraception. Dr. Christopher Diamond,
University physician and Director of Health Services, explains that even though CCSU health services does not prescribe
“The first thing to remember is that the pills are not dangerous, it’s just that they were mixed up so that the birth control may not be effective,” Diamond explained. “We come back to this idea that if someone had been taking pills from one of these packs, they need to make sure they are using another form of birth control until they are sure they are back on a steady contraception.” CCSU graduate student Alli Johnston has had her own bad experience with birth control in the past. “I used to take Yaz a few
“The first thing to remember is that the pills are not dangerous” - Dr. Christopher Diamond Director of Health Services Pfizer birth control to students, if anyone has any questions about the recall they are encouraged to stop in and ask.
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years ago and after I went off of it I noticed that my body was never really the same,” she explained. “So I decided not to use birth control again after that. The long term effects are too risky for me and I don’t really trust the companies.”
For More Info: Students can go onto Central Pipeline for a list of affected lot numbers. Students that have been taking the affected product should notify their doctor and return the product to the pharmacy.