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Old Cynic archives show Sen. Sanders’ 1980s fight to tax UVM
The South End Art Hop returns to Pine Street Sept. 11-13
UVM graduate’s company, Powe, is growing in popularity
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ISSUE 1
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W E D N E S DAY, S E P T E M B E R 2 , 2 0 1 5
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Free Coffee! Construction on the Skinny Pancake’s campus location will not be completed until October. To compensate, the Skinny Pancake’s downtown location is offering free coffee for UVM students. The deadline to add classes is Sept. 4.
New freestyle soda machines are available in various dining locations on campus, such as the Marketplace for a fee. Go ahead and mix it up, we dare you.
Some walkways on Central Campus are closed due to the construction of the new STEM complex. Luckily, UVM has expanded the time in between classes to 20 minutes. pg. 2.
UVM welcomes Class of 2019 With the largest applicant pool in the history of UVM, the incoming class has been given the title of ‘most academically talented’ By Pablo Murphy-Torres pmurphyt@uvm.edu
As the Class of 2019 walked through UVM’s doors for the first time Aug. 28, dragging boxes, refrigerators and large plastic bags to their dorm rooms, they looked like just another class of students moving in. But this class is different. The applicant pool for the the Class of 2019 is not only the largest applicant pool that the University has ever seen, but has set a record as “the most academically talented class in school history,” they earned an average GPA of 3.53 on an unweighted 4.0 scale, and an average SAT score of 1197 which bests last year’s average by 12 points, according to UVM communications.
According to the same article, the nearly 2400 student class hails from 40 states and 18 countries. New international students make up 4.1 percent of the new population, Asian-American, Latino, African-American, Native American and multi-racial students are an estimated 11.5 percent and 16 percent are first-generation college students. They will be among the first classes to make use of the new STEM complex on Central Campus and to experience new academic programs like UVM’s sustainability requirement, which will take effect this fall. They will also be the first to use the $140,000 in new equipment the fitness center acquired this summer.
First-year average SAT scores 2004-2015
Part-time faculty now have more money, 8.75 percent more over the next three years to be exact, to distribute among their salaries.
(Above) The class of 2019 marches down Main St. to the Waterman Green. (Bottom left) A first-year holds a lit candle during the Twlight Induction. COLE WANGSNESS/Vermont Cynic
Check out the annual Labor Day Comedy Show put on by UVM Bored. The show features Brent Morin from NBC’s Undateable. The show is Sept.7. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show starts at 7 p.m.
The Word is a weekly collection of reminders, interesting events on campus, news items and more. Submit suggestions or comments to theword@vtcynic.com.
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Source: UVM Office of Institutional Research. SAT scores have risen from an average of 1162 in 2004 to 1197 this year. GRAPHIC BY PABLO MURPHY-TORRES
Campus policy bans use of tobacco UVM tries educational approach to promote a healthier and cleaner smoke-free environment BY Sarah Olsen solsen2@uvm.edu
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After four years of asking for student input and discussions, UVM officially became tobacco-free Aug. 1. UVM President Tom Sullivan announced the new policy in a June 30 memo to the UVM community, citing the known health risks associated with chewing and smoking tobacco. The policy is overarching, it bans all types of tobacco use. All types of smoking, which in-
cludes the use of e-cigarettes, any type of pipe, cigar, cigarette and any other smoking equipment are now banned. Smoking is still allowed on public property. Those who are caught smoking multiple times will be disciplined, according to the policy. A tobacco-free campus was first recommended by the University Benefits Advisory Council. Four years later, the campus joins the UVM Medical Center, Burlington’s Church Street Marketplace and local public school properties in a smoking ban. Jan Carney, professor in the College of Medicine, and Tom Gustafson, vice president of University Relations and Administration, are the co-chairs of the UVM Tobacco-Free Steering Committee, a product of Sullivan’s March 2013 proposal
for a tobacco free UVM, Carney said. The steering committee sought input from students and faculty through two surveys, one in 2012 and one in 2014. The committee also held four public forums in 2014 to discuss the possibility of a tobacco ban. Carney said the goal of the new policy is to change the culture of the campus so that not smoking tobacco becomes the norm. This is a process that has been used at schools with similar policies, and it will take time, she said. “It’s not a matter of handing out tickets or doing things that are punitive,” Carney said. “It’s a matter of promoting a culture that is positive and promotes health and also a cleaner environment on our campus.” Carney said it will mostly be
an educational approach, but the hope is that it will become peer enforced. Resident advisors in residence halls are able to remind students of the tobacco-free policy just as they would any other policy, and take further steps if necessary, Carney said. For UVM students, faculty and staff who want to quit smoking, the UVM tobacco-free initiative website has a list of resources available, Carney said. “We are very fortunate we are in a state where there are tremendous resources available to help people if they decide they would like to try to quit,” she said. UVM joins 1,500 other colleges and universities by implementing the policy, according to the June 30 memo.