Volume 88, Issue 14 | January 27, 2010
the
Charger Bulletin The official student newspaper of the University of New Haven since 1938.
www.ChargerBulletin.com
Haiti Struggles After Massive Quake landing strips either destroyed or unmanageable, aid reached –––––––––––––––––––––––––– the country at an incredibly slow rate. News crews from all over Jan. 12, 2010 was just a nor- the world were able to traverse mal day for many. For the people the country, located in Hispaof Haiti, it was a day that will be nola, before doctors, food, and remembered for years to come. rescue crews. Even when crews In mere minutes, a 7.0 earth- arrived the damage seemed too By ERIN ENNIS
ASSISTANT EDITOR
Haiti has been disturbed by major problems for many years. Political unrest, health care worries, and the occasional natural disaster have tormented the French Creole people who live in Haiti. Originally known as Saint-Dominque, the country was known for its French culture
Controversy Ignites Sparks as Housing Policy Changes
By ZACK ROSEN
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
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Room selection is experiencing a huge change at the University of New Haven. In order to keep with UNH’s educational philosophy of students moving to a more independent living environment throughout their tenure at university, room selection will be reversed starting this coming year. Instead of the precedent of seniors picking first, followed by juniors, sophomores, and then freshmen, this year the current freshmen class will be picking first. The senior class, contrary to tradition, will be picking housing last. Since The Charger Bulletin broke the news about changes in the housing policies at the University of New Haven on Jan. 9, students – both those who will be affected and those who will not – have been raising, standing up. and expressing their opinions on the situation. From letters to the editor within this paper, to ChargerVoice.com, to emailing and calling administration, and setThis Jan. 12, 2010 photo shows an injured person being tended to at Hotel Villa Creole in Port-au-Prince, Haiti after a 7.0-magnitude ting up a Facebook group, UNH earthquake hit the Caribbean nation. (AP Photo/Montreal La Presse, Ivanoh Demers) students certainly know how to quake struck the economically severe: the dead outnumbered and abundance of sugarcane and express their views. Housing fopoorest country in the western the living and the injured tra- economical success in the early rums were established on Jan. hemisphere. Destruction rav- versed the streets. Makeshift 1700’s. However, after a slave 21 and Jan. 25 to give students ished the country, demolish- hospitals were created in aban- revolt in 1791 and the subse- an opportunity to speak directly ing Port-au-Prince (the capital doned buildings and alleyways quent renaming to “Haiti”, cor- with President Kaplan and many city) and destroying countless and medical methods reverted ruption and human right abuses campus administrators. Many homes, businesses, and families. to the bare minimum. Water and began to plague the country as asked questions, some heated While the death toll is yet to be food quickly ran out, even for political security remained un- and some not, expressing their finalized, the remaining Haitian workers, as millions worldwide found. Although things had start- concern and understanding over government has estimated that watched the destruction from ed to look up for the extremely the policy changes. 150,000 bodies have been bur- their living rooms. President Kaplan spoke sinunsettled people of Haiti, many ied. cerely at the forum, stating that As one of the poorest counWith major ports and airplane tries in the western hemisphere, See HAITI page 8 "this entire issue was not handled
as I would have liked to have seen it happen.” He continued, saying that “there is, simply, no excuse for what happened as far as when you were informed. It was wrong, [and] I apologize for that. You should have been told earlier and, frankly, you should have been told in a much different way. And more importantly, and I know you feel this way very strongly, you should have been included on the conversation. […] All I can say is it was very unfortunate, and it was wrong, that you weren't included in this process, [...] and I apologize for that. It was a serious mistake, and we will make sure that that doesn't happen again. We should have heard from you, we should have gotten your thoughts.” The change to housing will be seen throughout campus as residences halls that held specific purposes over the last few years change to house different students. The majority of the freshmen dorms (Bixler, Botwinick, and Bethel) will continue to house freshmen as they make their first steps at the university. Soundview Hall, the newest residence hall on campus, will now house equal percentages of seniors, juniors and sophomores. Most on campus residence halls that normally house upperclassmen, including Winchester, Sheffield, and Dunham, will become priority housing for sophomores and juniors. Off campus residences, such as Regency and Savin Court, will be options for juniors and seniors as the spaces become available. See HOUSING page 3
NBC Debacle Causes Late Night to Lose Big By MATT DIGIOVANNI
STAFF WRITER; PODCAST EDITOR
–––––––––––––––––––––––––– Recently NBC has had its hands full with the debacle between Jay Leno, of The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and The Jay Leno Show, and Conan O'Brien, of Late Night with Conan O'Brien and The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. The root of this situation can be traced to 2009, when Conan O'Brien replaced Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show and Leno received his own prime time talk show, The Jay Leno Show. Flash forward to January 2010, and due to both shows having lower than desired ratings, NBC and its affiliates wanted change. The new schedule proposed
by NBC was to shorten The Jay always been at 11:35 PM and Leno Show to a half hour and to changing that would damage the push it later to 11:35 PM, result- show. NBC's response to Conan's ing in The Tonight Show being refusal of the deal was less than amiable. All Headline News reported that NBC had stated their intention to keep Conan off the
air for up to three and a half years if he did not accept the agreement. Despite both NBC and Conan agreeing that this claim was false, it is spawned from NBC Universal chief Jeff Zucker's belief that Conan's contract contained a clause allowing
NBC to keep him off the air for an additional year after his contract expired. It is at this point where the massive outpouring of support for Conan O'Brien came into See CONAN page 2
President Kaplan Responds to Students For the full story, see “Housing” above
“There is, simply, no excuse for what happened as far as when you were informed. It was wrong, [and] I apologize for that. You should have been told earlier and, frankly, you should have been told in a much different way. [...] It was a serious mistake, and we will make sure that that doesn't happen again. We should have heard from you, we should have gotten your thoughts.”
pushed back to 12:05 AM, and getting an hour time slot. These changes did not violate either host's contract; however, Conan plainly stated that he would resign if the changes took effect, because The Tonight Show has