Volleyball home winning streak comes to an end
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THE STATESMAN UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA DULUTH
WWW.UMDSTATESMAN.COM
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2013
UMD tuition 55 times higher than in 1960 BY JOHN FAHNENSTIEL fahne006@d.umn.edu
UMD tuition is 55 times higher than it was in 1960, and, after adjusting for inflation, a year at UMD today at the 1960 tuition rate would cost $1,683. According to UMD’s website, 2013 undergraduate tuition and fees are $12,786. Room and board is $6,956, combining for $19,742. That’s about $2,000 more than last year’s national average of $17,860, according
to CollegeBoard Advocacy & Policy Center. While students may be the ones most affected by rising tuition costs, UMD math and statistics professor Richard Green expressed concern with the disconnect between how much tuition is and how much it ought to be. “How (much) tuition should be is a matter of ethics,” Green said. “And then how you bring things about would be a matter of policy.” Green attributes rising tuition to higher expens-
es and decreased state support. “I think what happened (at some point) is that people went from thinking about education as being a public to a private good,” Green said. “At one time, (the state) was paying two-thirds of the cost of tuition, and now it’s one-third.” Associate professor of biology David Schimpf shares many of Green’s sentiments, especially about rising expenses being a cause of higher tuition. He gave technol-
ogy as one example. “Computers have added cost,” Schimpf said. “So in the ‘60s, we didn’t have a computer at UMD. The companies that make (computers) have planned obsolescence, so you have to replace your computers frequently even though they don’t wear out, because now they can’t run the new software properly.” State support for public universities has decreased since the 1970s, and Schimpf thinks this is
in response to the radical 1960s, where many college campuses, like University of California Berkeley, were notorious for being bastions of leftwing thought. “You could argue, at some level, that tuition at public institutions has gone up as a backlash against the ‘60s,” Schimpf said. “So in the ‘60s, campuses were the centers of protest and upsetting the social equilibrium of the country. Tuition was cheap at that time,” he contin-
ued. “Some people in the establishment didn’t like that and by the time the ‘70s came along, they didn’t want to support higher public education as much.” UMD tuition increased by 36 percent from 1969 to 1970, which is the biggest year-overyear increase in UMD’s history. Schimpf referenced the Powell Memo as evidence for this shift in government attitude toward higher education. see TUITION, A3
What’s the lowdown on the new building on St. Marie? BY KIM HYATT hyatt045@d.umn.edu
Students may be curious as to what building is under construction on West St. Marie Street. The Statesman asked John Rashid, associate director of the Department of Facilities Management, to explain. “The building on St. Marie is a utility building,” Rashid said. “It is being constructed to add chillers to campus. Chillers are what provide chilled water for air conditioning on campus. The building also is enclosing an
electrical substation. This substation is one of two main electrical feeds to campus.” The existing electrical substation on St. Marie provides power for half of campus. As for the chillers, Rashid said UMD already has five and the new utility building brings the total up to seven. “There’s certain buildings on campus that have air conditioning and certain ones that don’t,” Rashid said. “We’re adding capacity to add more air condition to campus.”
Across the street from Oakland Apartments on St. Marie Street, a new utility building is under construction. The building will hold an existing electrical substation and chillers to provide air conditioning for campus. KIM HYATT/STATESMAN
Government shutdown comes to an end BY MICHAEL SCOTT scott049@d.umn.edu
The United States once again narrowly avoided default by raising the nation’s debt ceiling. The last-minute deal — the day before default — could have sparked an international economic crisis. Both houses of Congress passed the bill on Oct. 16, which also reopened the federal government. The legislation ended a 16-day shutdown of the U.S. government. It was the first time the government was shut down since 1995, when a standoff lasted 27 days. The agreement, however, is only a temporary solution. The bill funds the government until Jan. 16. The nation’s debt limit was raised until Feb. 7. The Senate, which authored the bill, overwhelmingly voted to
reopen the government, 81-18. Minnesota’s senators, Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar, voted in favor of ending the crisis. The House then approved the bill 285 to 144. Minnesota’s Michele Bachmann was the sole member from the state who voted against the measure. Despite the partisan battle, Republicans joined Democrats to pass the legislation. Among the Grand Old Party (GOP), 27 Senators and 87 House Members voted to open the government. Many saw the vote as a victory for the Democrats. “We fought the good fight; we just didn’t win,” said House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) on Cincinnati’s WLW radio station. President Obama denounced the crisis on Thursday at the White House.
“Now, there’s been a lot of discussion lately of the politics of this shutdown,” Obama said. “But let’s be clear: there are no winners here. These last few weeks have inflicted completely unnecessary damage on our economy. We don’t know yet the full scope of the damage, but every analyst out there believes it slowed our growth.” Standard & Poor’s estimated that the shutdown cost the United States $24 billion. The president also addressed federal workers, who were able to return to work. “That brings me to one last point,” the president said. “I’ve got a simple message for all the dedicated and patriotic federal workers who’ve either worked without pay or been forced off the job without pay these past few weeks, see SHUTDOWN, A3
UMD students Steve Wick (left) and Eric Meyer show their support for the minimum wage hike despite uncooperative weather conditions Monday. SARAH STARK/STATESMAN
100+ rally to support minimum wage hike
BY JOHN FAHNENSTIEL fahne006@d.umn.edu
Despite gusting winds and rain, more than 100 people showed up for the March and Rally to Raise the Minimum
Wage on the public lawn in Canal Park on Oct. 14. The Minimum Wage Coalition sponsored the rally. The coalition’s stated goal is to raise the minimum wage to $9.50/hr by 2015. Minnesota’s minimum wage
is currently $6.15/hr, although this is below the federal minimum of $7.25/hr, so Minnesota’s de facto minimum wage is $7.25/hr. Many UMD students were heavily involved with the rally. see WAGE, A3
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