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The Herald By and for the students of Hobart and William Smith Colleges
VOLUME CXXX ISSUE 4
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2007
RATS!
Geneva, NY
Recent Grads Head AmeriCorps Programs By John Heavey Arts and Entertainment Editor
Local Union Officials Picket Scandling Center By Trippe Duke Managing Editor For the past week three giant inflatable rats have been displayed in front of the Scandling Center protesting the construction firm Pike Co. for blocking local labor unions from bidding on the ongoing renovation. HWS does not find itself free from criticism however as the colleges have been accused of “failing their responsibility to the citizens of Geneva, and their own students” in a pamphlet handed out in front of Scandling Center. Clint Dunn, a Business Agent from the Laborers’ International Union of North America Local NO.435, pointed out that the Pike Co. hired subcontractors who employ mainly non-union workers. These laborers often lack health care and retirement benefits. Furthermore, when local unionized firms bid on the various subcontracting projects, they were effectively locked out of the process
by Pike who decided to go with other out of area contractors. Dunn also stated that he received no reply from HWS project manager Chris Buttons when confronted about the issue. There are many problems
“People tend to forget that Hobart is in the City of Geneva, This isn’t Hobart City.” -Jeremy Louise which arise from this lack of local participation in the Scandling Center renovation. Local jobs undoubtedly have a positive impact on the local economy, and the un-unionized and uninsured workers often hired by construction firms such as Pike Co. create an “uneven playing field”
for well trained skilled laborers, according to a Union Official. The picketers outside Scandling accused Pike Co. of employing low wage workers off payroll. These so called 10.99ers are not present on the jobsite however, according to Eric Schoenhardt the project manager at Pike. Utilizing the skilled labor of local unionized workers would provide many benefits to the town of Geneva. One of the main complaints against HWS is that their failure to utilize local labor alienates the school from its surroundings. “People tend to forget that Hobart is in the City of Geneva,” said senior Jeremy Louise. “This isn’t Hobart City.” Dunn hopes that with support from students and teachers, this problem can be resolved in a way that would be beneficial for both HWS as well as the Geneva community in which the colleges exist.
Hobart Alum Gives Students a Grim Outlook on Newspaper Business
By John Heavey Arts and Entertainment Editor
Tuesday, Sept. 18th, Tony Reid, Assistant Editor of the Washington Post’s Business Section, declared newspapers dead. Expectations from the attendants of his HWS Professionals in Residence segment “Good News, Bad News,” were most likely within the realm of how to break into and thrive in the newspaper industry. However, gripping copies of the day’s New York Times and Washington Post in his hands, he lamented, “This is not an efficient way to do business.” Condemning the papers and industry to the floor of Trinity 305, he concluded, “We can declare the newspaper dead.” After the immediate declaration of fatality, Reid purported a eulogy on how the business has changed, where it seems to be going and what the prospects are for college students considering careers in journalism. Reid cited journalist Jack Shafer and introduced the industry as “the slow, unstoppable train ride to hell.” Despite the speech’s doleful introduction, Reid gave a pragmatic address of the shift in the world of newspapers. Offering more catharsis than advice on the downward turn, Reid approached the issues with
general bewilderment. “It’s hard to talk about how great the newspaper is,” Reid offered, “when I know it won’t be around much longer.” He characterized the spiral of the industry as existing within two realms of shift; business and journalistic. For the past fifteen years, Reid explained, The Washington Post has led the nation in market penetration (the percentage of available market which buys your paper) at 48%, more than twice the runner-up in that category. However, he continued, this penetration, which peaked in 1993 with 832,000 circulation readers, has dropped over 20% to 650,000. These staggering numbers, Reid would elucidate to the group, are a result of the rise of internet publication and readership. He affirmed these numbers with further statistics, showing how much more a printed newspaper spends on advertisements per reader compared to the internet, thus embodying the shift of money, value, and readership away from the printed paper. Reid regaled the audience with stories from the days when newspapers were titans and empires and printing papers were equated with printing money. However, he had to conclude with the aforementioned empirical support that the newspaper business model is
dead. The other shift which confounded and worried Reid was the shift in journalistic writing and reading. Within the swing toward the internet, readers can find, pick, and choose anything they want, locating a plethora of perspectives on all stories. Reid clarified that on the other hand, in papers, subscribers are confined to reading only what is printed. With internet news, as opposed to the old standard of the few addressing the many, it has become the many addressing the one individual. “When you are working,” Reid offered to the young audience, “you’ll wake up, turn on the computer, and can read anything you want.” Notwithstanding the fact that this online shift is in large a contributor to the demise of the newspaper industry, Reid presented some optimism by drawing on the nostalgic dominance of the printed newspaper in American history. In papers, he stated, the editors and writers can guide and assert ideologies whereas online, any individual can select, edit, and draw together, piece by piece, their own
ALUM SPEAKS continued on Page 3
This fall, two recent HWS alums, Paul McNeil ’05 and Kate Ustach ’07, were hired by the Center for Community Engagement and Service-Learning to head two of the colleges AmeriCorps programs. McNeil has been put in charge of Jumpstart Geneva which hires students to be AmeriCorps members, and Ustach will serve as the new AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteer in Service to America) position. McNeil, as the Site Manager for Jumpstart Geneva will work with the Assistant Director and the Director of The Center for Community Engagement and Service-Learning to support the Colleges’ mission through the coordination of curricular, cocurricular, and residentially based public service programs. Jumpstart, founded in 1993 at Yale University dedicates itself to the public need for quality early childhood programs and the emerging national service movement recruiting thousands of college students to community service. For over a decade they’ve been bringing at-risk preschool children and caring adults together through one-on-one relationships that focus on building literacy in combination with social and emotional readiness. McNeil graduated from Hobart and William Smith in 2005 with a major in English and a focus in teaching at the high school level. Since graduation, he has spent four consecutive summers leading youth service and cultural exchange trips to Japan, Australia, Sweden, and Russia. “I couldn’t be more excited to return to Geneva-on-Seneca, New York,” said McNeil, “where I spent years falling in love with the dynamic and energetic Finger Lake’s population through student teaching, teenage poetry workshops, and America Reads.”
Ustach, a 2007 William Smith graduate, returns to the Center after working there throughout her four years at the Colleges in various positions. She contributed in realms such as Jumpstart Geneva Corps Member, Jumpstart Geneva Volunteer Coordinator, The Center’s Office Manager, and Co-coordinator for the inaugural year of the Summit Educational Outreach program. Additionally, she co-established service-learning opportunities for HWS students studying abroad in Galway. In her new position with the AmeriCorps VISTA program, Ustach will focus on community development with the goal of helping to end poverty. Her AmeriCorps position is through the Campus Compact program. Campus Compact is a coalition of nearly 1,100 college and university presidents — representing some 6 million students — who are committed to fulfilling the public purposes of higher education. Through their national office and network of 31 state offices, member institutions receive the training, resources, and advocacy they need to build strong surrounding communities and teach students the skills and values of democracy. Regarding her new position, Ustach commented, “I am thrilled to spend one more year at the Colleges, and am looking forward to strengthening and establishing relationships with community partners.” McNeil and Ustach were hired based on public service leadership experience, experience with AmeriCorps, working with pre-school and/or elementary aged children and a commitment to liberal arts education. They will recruit and train Volunteer Coordinators, Team Leaders and Corps Members as well AMERICORPS continued on Page 3
The Herald Inside NEWS AND CAMPUS REPOR T K ic k bal l fo r C anc e r HSG U pd ate Gym Class Heros to play in Geneva O P -ED W h e r e ’s M a r s h a l l ? AR TS AND ENTER TAINMENT Style Profile: Andrew Knox and Michael Er ic k s o n Movie Review: The Brave One SPOR TS T h i s We e k I n H W S A t h l e t i c s S t u d e n t - A t h l e t e S p o t l i g h t : B r a d We i n b e r g
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