THE BG NEWS
ESTABLISHED 1920 A daily independent student press serving the campus and surrounding community
Tuesday
August 25, 2009
CAMPUS
WWW.BGVIEWS.COM
Extra credit hours, extra large tuition
While students found their
By Jason Henry Reporter
first classes of the semester
Florida State University has begun to charge students extra fees for excessive amounts of credit hours | Page 3
With college move-in comes the inevitable thefts
FORUM
Programs to offer advice about off-campus living
INSIDE:
Volume 104, Issue 3
Columnist Marisha Pietrowski gives some helpful tips for students to help keep their property from being stolen | Page 4
and enjoyed the new scenery of campus, cleaning was underway in front of McFall Center, and students were picking their favorite study spots. Flip to campus to see what happened on campus outside the classroom.
BEN LOHMAN | THE BG NEWS
Taking a breather between classes RELAX: Senior Amanda Jackson and sophomore Katie Giodzak take a break in-between the first day of classes to relax on the University lawn.
Gruesome tactics just make things worse
A BEAD IN
ODD NEWS
Throwing flour on Lindsay Lohan for wearing fur is not giving animal rights supporters a positive image, says Daily Bruin columnist Avni Nijhawan | Page 4
THE ROUGH Tye-Dye Thom returns to provide unique merchandise, high fives By Christie Kerner Reporter
A scantily clad thief
The Union Oval can be a daily social hub for organizations, fund raisers and businesses. Oval veteran Tye-Dye Thom sets up a tent and sells students not only clothing, tapesENOCH WU | THE BG NEWS tries and necklaces, POSTER: Tie Dye Thom (right) bags a but will also share a Nine Inch Nails poster for freshman Kesey friendly smile and off- Sturgill (left) as student helper Jessica Kremer the-wall knowledge. (middle) looks on. “I like to sell, I like the center of the business “When she introduced me to be the co-op of it all to the staff she spoke little to help others,” Thom said. Thom grew up outside the English and introduced Tyecity of Pittsburgh and eventu- Dye Jake and me as Tye-Dye ally attended the University of Thom and it stuck,” he said. He was eventually able to West Florida. He always knew selling set up a deal with the owner would be a part of his life after he noticed his motoras long as it looked to help cycle keys were missing. “She had a son who died on others. His business originally started when he moved to a motorcycle and made an New Orleans in 1994 on the agreement with me if I never famous French Market. This rode again,” Thom said. In their agreement he is where he also found his name when he was first intro- received a free storage facility. duced by the facility owner, a See THOM | Page 2 Vietnamese woman in New Orleans.
A Speedo-wearing burglar suspect was caught by a police dog that bit him in the leg as he was hiding behind a car | Page 8
A new place to call home The men’s soccer team has a new locker room that was designed by one of its own players, who is an architecture major | Page 7
SPORTS
Look at his overall career Sports editor Andrew Harner wants football fans to judge new coach Dave Clawson for his good work, not just this past season | Page 7
ENOCH WU | THE BG NEWS
DANGLIN’ BEADS: Hemp necklaces hang from Tie Dye Thom’s gazebo. The necklaces are hand-woven by Thom with beads provided by a student from the BGSU School of Art. In addition to hemp necklaces, Thom also sells flags, tapestries, posters and T-shirts of rock legends. Thom says proceeds go back to the students and to student organizations such as University Activities Organization.
PEOPLE ON THE STREET
By Kate Snyder Managing Editor
DOMINIC ELMORE, Senior, Education
“Build a biodome over the city to block the wind.” | Page 4
See OFF-CAMPUS | Page 2
The state of enrollment at the University Freshmen admission falls further
What do you think the University could do to improve enrollment?
Off-campus students may feel overwhelmed transitioning from residence halls to apartments or houses. The University wants to make sure the transition goes smoothly. The Office of the Dean of Students is developing new programs to help students be prepared. Assistant Dean of Students Andrew Alt said students who live off-campus or plan to live off-campus will have access to seminars titled “Off-Campus 101” and “OffCampus 102.” “‘Off-campus 101’ is a workshop that will last probably between an hour or two hours for students who are considering the move off campus,” he said. The workshop will give students a basic idea of what they need to think about before moving off-campus, such as what kind of apartment to look for, what questions to ask a landlord and how to budget. “Off-campus 102” will be a more specific workshop. “It’s going to be targeted to students who know they are going to move off campus and have decided where they are going to live in most cases,” Alt said. It will focus on neighbor relationships, maintaining roommate relations and time management, he said. These programs supplement the annual Housing Fair, which allows students to meet with rental agencies in the area. The fair will be held Nov. 19. Last year, other offcampus services, such as Student Legal Services and Student Money Management were in attendance. Student Legal Services is available to all University students for a small fee. According to Rodney Fleming, an attorney with the service, it can be very helpful to offcampus students. “One of the major things we do is assist them with landlord/tenant issues,” Fleming said. “This time of the year, when students are moving in, there might be repairs that need to be made, that they just can’t get their landlord to make. They can come here and we can help them get those repairs made.” The service can help with other legal issues too. “If you ever have any question about your legal rights or responsibilities, you should come see legal services immediately,” he said. “If you wait until it’s too late, many times you will have a big issue on your hands. If you had come to us earlier, we could have resolved things much more favorably.”
Overall enrollment on campus has dropped by about 700 applications since last year, leaving enrollment of incoming freshmen at the lowest it’s been in the last 10 years. Gary Swegan, director of undergraduate admissions, said freshmen enrollment has been dropping since 2007. Before then, from about 1999 to 2006, enrollment experienced a surge when the average number of incoming freshmen hovered around 3,650. Swegan said since 2007, some University scholarships were revamped to benefit a wider range of students. Prior to the changes, more money went to fewer students, but now, less money is going to more students. “Changes surrounding aid and scholarships definitely cost us a few students,” Swegan said. Swegan also said the eco-
nomic problems sweeping the country this year affected people’s decisions. He said considering the financial situation affecting families across Ohio and the nation, he was happy to have as many new freshman apply as they did this year. “The impact the economy seemed to have on us was we had fewer applications for freshmen,” Swegan said. But while both freshmen and overall enrollment is down, transfer students are up from last year at 625 students enrolled as of Aug. 18. Swegan said transfer applications were still down in the spring, but a slew came in over summer, and they increased by about 60 applications. Enrollment at Firelands campus also increased this year. Deb Divers, director of admissions at Firelands, said this year,
See ADMISSIONS | Page 2
BY THE NUMBERS Fall enrollment of freshmen and transfer students over the past 10 years. ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
1999 - 3,556 freshmen, 606 transfer students 2000 - 3,431 freshmen, 661 transfer students 2001 - 3,636 freshmen, 667 transfer students 2002 - 3,630 freshmen, 701 transfer students 2003 - 3,557 freshmen, 647 transfer students 2004 - 3,929 freshmen, 698 transfer students 2005 - 3,654 freshmen, 675 transfer students 2006 - 3,656 freshmen, 631 transfer students 2007 - 3,295 freshmen, 682 transfer students 2008 - 3,198 freshmen, 608 transfer students 2009 [as of Aug. 18] - 3,150 freshmen, 625 transfer students
Despite freshmen decline, minority numbers remain steady By Lin Chafetz Reporter
In Fall 2008, minority students made up 16.7 percent of incoming freshmen, a number which has fallen over four percent in the last three years, but the number of minority students overall at the University has remained high. While the number of incoming freshmen minority students has decreased, the University has kept minority students with numbers rising to nearly 20 percent of the student body. According to the Institutional Research Center at the University, in Fall 2008, 19.4 percent of the student body was a minority including 16.6 percent of the incoming freshmen. These minorities include African American, Asian American, American Indian, Hispanic American and international students. The number of incom-
“When the scholarship went down, so did the enrollment.” Gary Swegan | Admissions Director ing minority students has gone down from 20.9 percent in 2006 to 16.6 percent this past fall. However, Gary Swegan, director of admissions at the University, has a hopeful outlook towards the situation. He references the numbers of minority students at the University’s was at its highest at 13.5 percent in 2004 before jumping in 2005 and 2006 due to a scholarship awarded to students of color at the University. “These numbers are directly
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See MINORITY | Page 2