THE BG NEWS Monday
Goodwill is brand name for students
January 29, 2007 Volume 101, Issue 89 WWW.BGNEWS.COM
By Jessica Spies Reporter
Film tracks child soldiers in Uganda
CAMPUS
ESTABLISHED 1920 A daily independent student press serving the campus and surrounding community
Rows and rows of used clothes, shoes and hats may not inspire most people. But the Goodwill in Bowling Green is always filled with college students. The store, located on Main Street, offers everything from personal football jerseys to never-worn Gap jeans. Mark Harris, marketing and development director for Goodwill of northwest Ohio, said the reason that Goodwill is so busy is because of the extremely low prices. College students are often trying to appear unique and will find a clothing item that they
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wouldn’t normally find anywhere else. Thrift shoppers like Michelle Federici, sophomore, agree. “A lot of the clothes are very inexpensive; there are always a lot of sales on vintage clothing,” she said. “I found some really obscure shirts there too. For me, if I can find things that reflect my own personality, then I’ll buy them.” Consistent business at Goodwill can be attributed to the fact that the store sells namebrand clothes for much less than other stores, said Alice Warner, manager at the Bowling Green Goodwill. Brands like Old Navy,
See GOODWILL | Page 6
By Megan Armentrout Reporter
ECHO VARGAS | THE BG NEWS
THRIFTY: Goodwill offers customers low prices on unique clothes with previous experience.
NATION
Crowds may hurt Yosemite Park, waterways A court battle will decide if the park should limit its number of visitors | Page 11
FCC cable policy change heads to court New rules will create more competition in the cable television market | Page 10
Hockey losing streak continues
SPORTS
Spratt saves 37 shots, but game ends in BG loss to Alaska-Fairbanks | Page 7
Senior class gets first win at EMU Women’s basketball team beats Eastern Michigan, wins 11th consecutive game | Page 7
Phasing out Fridays PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY JASON RENTNER | THE BG NEWS
Students kick Friday classes to the curb in favor of three-day weekends By Christy Johnson Reporter
WEATHER
PEOPLE ON THE STREET
WORLD
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Some want to go home for a three-day weekend, others simply find it too hard to pull themselves out of bed after a Thursday night out, but one thing is clear: Friday classes are not a favorite among students. “Not scheduling class on Friday was just something that worked out for me, and when my brother went here, he didn’t have Friday class,” Daniel Perry, freshman, said. Friday has become a popular day to keep open for students for various reasons. In fact, the University offers significantly fewer classes on Fridays than any other day of the week.
The average number of classes offered Monday through Thursday is 1,349. On Friday, 928 classes are offered, which is 421 less than during the week. Academic departments choose when they want classes scheduled. “Each department develops their schedule online, we check it for errors, and let them do what they want, as long as their schedules fall in line with our scheduling grid guidelines,” said Kathy Dean, Interim Assistant Director of Registration and Scheduling. The different academic departments have reign on whether or not they wish to schedule Friday classes. “I don’t schedule Friday classes to go home if I want to on weekends, because
Multitasking adds to student stress BOBBY WALTZER, Sophomore, Communications
“I would say no. I just think it’s bad for the economy.” | Page 4
TODAY Few Snow Showers High: 25, Low: 18
TOMORROW Snow Showers High: 24, Low: 14
By Christy Johnson Reporter
Stress from school, work and relationships are a problem that most students will face in their years at the University. And after graduation, other obligations will fill the stress void where school and homework once were. Sometimes it takes more than a weekend to get back the balance, control and simplicity that gets muddled up by life’s demands. “Balance, Juggle and Control — Finding your Nanosecond of Zen,” held in Hanna Hall Friday, was a discussion workshop, led by a panel of three women: Ellen
Nagy, director of first year experience at Heidelberg College; Annette Badik, assistant director at the BG Career Center; and Michelle Simmons, the Senior Associate Director at the University. The central message was that most of us are overworked, stressed out and ignoring our basic needs as people. After a briefing about how they found individual balance in their own lives, the panel quizzed the audience on some every day activities a person could engage in that would lead to being overwhelmed. “How many of you have talk-
See STRESS | Page 6
Top choice schools take second
my Monday classes don’t start ‘til 4:30, and because Thursday night is the night everyone goes out,” Maddie Revis, freshman, said. Revis is among many students who try to make their schedules out to nix the possibility of a Friday class. Changes in the Thursday night social scene play a role in this trend. “I have seen an increase of activity on Thursday nights in the 21 years I have been here,” said Campus Police Sgt. Tim James. The Thursday night social scene lures many students into bar hopping, and has even received a clever nickname from students called, “Thirsty Thursday.” Senior Elise Adams
NUMBER OF CLASSES OFFERED ON MAIN CAMPUS PER DAY
Monday-1,521 Tuesday-1,215 Wednesday-1,493 Thursday-1,170 Friday-928
NUMBER OF ARRESTS PER DAY IN 2006
Monday-618 Thursday-737 Tuesday-665 Friday-934 Wednesday-662 Saturday-865 Sunday-801
See FRIDAY | Page 6
There has been a recent trend for students to voluntarily choose to not attend their “top choice” universities because of the troublesome cost factor. A recent article in USA Today reported college students are not going to their first choice school, not because they were not accepted, but due to financial reasons. According to the University’s Web site, 17 percent of the incoming freshman class of 2006 named Bowling Green State University as their second choice or less. The price for the incoming freshmen of 2006 to attend BG for a year was $15,819 for Ohio residents and $23,127 for non-residents. This price includes tuition, room and board, and the basic meal plan. Gary Swegan, the director of undergraduate admissions, said the price will be different for the incoming class of 2007, and it will be set sometime in June. Swegan said admissions tries to help students afford tuition by offering scholarships. “A lot of the time we do not have the information as to who [other universities] we are compared to. We press for scholarships to help those students with financial concerns. The University will not go into ‘bidding wars’ with other schools for that student,” said Swegan. Jessica Kirkham, a junior biology major, was accepted to four universities both in state and out. Clemson University was her “top choice” college because of its reputation and research opportunities. Tuition costs played a large role as to which of the four colleges she chose to attend. “BGSU was the cheapest among the schools that I had been accepted to. Overall, my main reason for choosing BGSU as my undergraduate school was the price, as well as the distance from home and the programs to which my major belongs,” Kirkham said. Emily Piros, sophomore, named Duke as her first pick because of their pre-med program. The cost of college was also a determining factor in which college she chose to attend. “When I looked at the tuition prices, BGSU was the lowest and Duke was over $30,000,” said Piros. According to the University’s Web site, 83 percent of last year’s incoming class listed BG as their “top choice” college. Some of the factors that helped them to decide are the cost of tuition, financial aid offered, location, and the fact that BG graduates gain admission to top graduate schools. Ian Rodgers, senior, said that the University was his top choice school from the beginning for many reasons. “My parents graduated from here, the price, the GeoJourney program and BGSU has a friendliness about it that no other school I visited had,” Rodgers said.
Copyrighted material overwhelms YouTube.com By Stephanie Spencer Reporter
When YouTube.com was born in February of 2005 it was intended to be a place for users to share videos and pictures in an online community setting. In less than a year, YouTube. com boasts that their audience is watching more than 70 million videos daily with more information being added to the site every minute. The draw of companies like YouTube.com is that users can watch videos of their favorite shows and possibly many other copyrighted works, uploaded by users like themselves, any time they have a free second. But luxuries like these are
sometimes too good to be true. Companies that own the copyrighted works are outraged by the fact that they have no control over their product. This is where E. Michael Harrington comes in. Last Friday, Harrington, Professor of Intellectual Property at Belmont University, spoke about the importance of patents, copyright and trademark focusing on companies like YouTube.com for permitting their users to ignore the
rules. The first of three discussions of the Tech Trends Series on campus, Harrington was invited as one of the most recognizable voices on this issue in the nation. Before Harrington spoke, junior Kandra Flowers expected the usual comment on how restrictions on copyrighted materials are necessary for the entertainment business. “I still want them to be able to show what they show while making sure to do things legally,” she said. Harrington had an entirely different approach to the issue of YouTube.com and had planned to show over 25 videos from the
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See YOUTUBE | Page 6