vroom vroom
opinion $3 million surplus goes untouched, page 10 sports Students bring sports to the office, page 23 This I See rockin’ out at stewart park, page 28
Professors take life by the handlebars, page 13
Thursday
Sept e m be r 1 0 , 2 0 0 9
The Ithacan
Flu Round 2
By Ashley MAy and Allison Musante Assistant News Editor and managing editor
to the mall with my friend, and we had to go on the thruway. We were going on the ramp and she’s texting and I had to
To adapt to the large freshman class this year, the college is restructuring introductory and freshman-level courses by opening additional sections of many classes, with more being taught by shortterm contract faculty than in previous years and in classrooms that have reached or exceeded capacity. Mark Coldren, asRountree said sociate vice president the studentof Human Resources, faculty ratio is said that every school still 12-to-1. had a different tactic for meeting the needs of its classes but generally more “temporary faculty” were hired this year. “With the influx of freshmen this year, some schools might not have wanted to hire a full-time faculty because after this year, they wouldn’t be needed again next year,” he said. This fall, the School of Humanities and Sciences offers three classes with more than 200 students and nine classes that have between 100 and 199 students. Kit Muma, instructor of biology, said her Fundamentals of Biology class has 237 students in it; the cap is 239. Last year’s class had 190. She said several students sit on the floor. “Students have been very patient so far,” she said. “Their main frustration is trying to find a seat in the lecture hall.” Kathleen Rountree, provost and vice president of academic affairs, said the student-faculty ratio will be 12- or 13-to-1, where it has been for many years. She said she expects the number won’t change dramatically, even with the extra enrollment, because part-time professors are teaching two or three additional sections. Generally, a greater number of adjuncts were hired to cover freshman-level courses. “But there was no plan to increase the load of our full-time faculty,” she said. “Some have agreed to take on extra classes because of their expertise or they volunteered.” In the School of Business, two extra sections of World of Business were added to accommodate about 40 extra students into the program. Faculty volunteered to teach the additional sections and no extra faculty were hired, according to Associate Dean Hormoz Movassaghi. Jack Powers, assistant professor of television and radio, is teaching two Introduction to Mass Media classes, one of which has 149 students, the other with 152; the cap is 150. Last spring, the class’s only section had 88 students; the cap was 90. Associate dean of the Park School, Virginia Mansfield-Richardson, said despite the larger class sizes, all students were accommodated during class registration. “The enrollment is higher,” she said. “But it is now closer to what the cap always intended.” Powers said one major limitation of
See vehicles, page 4
See classes, page 4
Colleges throughout the nation face new wave of H1N1 virus Staff Writer
As of yesterday evening, 18 students at Ithaca College have been determined by the Hammond Health Center to have the H1N1 virus, commonly known as “swine flu,” and eight students have reported flu-like symptoms through the “H1N1” portlet on the myHome Community Web site, according to Dave Maley, associate director of media relations. Theresa Lyczko, director of the Health Promotion Program at the Tompkins County Health Department, said health institutions across the county are no longer
testing for the H1N1 virus because it is the most prevalent strain of flu right now. The purpose of testing currently is to examine unusual patterns in certain cases but does not make a difference in treatment of patients, Lyczko said. On Saturday, sophomore Andrew Rivard had a sore throat and experienced slight dizziness. By Saturday evening, the soreness had worsened and a high fever developed. Sunday morning, incredibly dizzy, he went to the Health Center and was diagnosed with H1N1. “It was the worst I’ve felt in two years,” Rivard said. “It was absolutely awful.”
Rivard was given a “Flu Kit,” consisting of acetaminophen — a medication to reduce fever — a thermometer, alcohol-based hand sanitizer and tissues. He was advised to go back home to Connecticut for a couple of days. Unable to go back home, Rivard has stayed at the college wearing a surgical mask at all times. Rivard was advised to eat bananas, pasta and bagels, following the “B.R.A.T. Diet,” because he was vomiting — one of the symptoms of the virus. B.R.A.T. stands for bananas, rice, applesauce and toast, and is
See Flu, page 4
photo illustration by allison usavage
New York state to ban texting while driving By JEssica Dillon Staff Writer
Starting Nov. 1, text messaging addicts will have to keep their fingers off the keypad when behind the wheel. New York state will become the 18th state to ban texting while driving. The law will prohibit drivers from text messaging because of the dangers presented by cell phone use while driving. Drivers will be fined a maximum of $150 if they are pulled over for violating the law. Previously, only talking on a cell phone while driving was illegal. For some Ithaca College students, not being able to text while driving may be an adjustment. Junior Sarah Craig, a New York resident, said she tries not to text when driving because she realizes it can be dangerous but still finds herself doing it at times. “It depends on the level of importance of something, but if I’m trying to talk to someone and I
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Courses change to accommodate extra students
Swine
By Gillian Smith
I t h a c a , N . Y.
feel that it’s important, I’ll stop at a stop sign and text them real quick,” Craig said. According to a study by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute done in July, drivers who texted while driving were 23 times more likely to crash or come close to getting into wrecks than drivers who are not distracted. The study said in the moments before a crash, drivers spent nearly five seconds looking at their cell phones — not the road. Captain Derek Osborne of the Tompkins County Sheriff ’s Department said statistics on accidents in the county involving text messaging are hard to determine because the people involved will not usually admit to police officers if they were using their cell phones. “It’s very rare that we’re able to find somebody or be able to prove that one of the parties in the accident was actually texting,” Osborne said.
Senior Mike Sokol texts while driving yesterday afternoon. Starting Nov. 1, New York will become the 18th state to ban texting and driving.
Lauren Decicca/The Ithacan
Sophomore Amanda Sawnor said she has felt uncomfortable in situations involving her friends texting and driving while she is in the car. “Recently, I was on the way
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