TECHNICIAN
thursday august
23 2012
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
Quebec students outraged by tuition hikes
State takes measures to prevent E. coli at fair Noah Rouse Correspondent
78 May 22. The emergency law attempted to quell the student protests before the summer tourist season. According to the McGill Daily, the McGill University student newspaper, Bill 78 stipulates strict regulations on demonstrations and will impose large fines if these regulations are violated. “I think the law’s pretty harsh, and there are some crazy impositions to students,”Murtaza Shambhoora, a McGill senior, said. “Groups of 50 people or more protesting must submit their route and proposed venue for the police to approve. Let’s keep in mind this is an emergency law, but once they passed this bill, it made the situation worse.”
With the State Fair less than two months away, state officials have adoped regulations that will limit human-animal interaction in an effort to prevent a repeat of last year’s E. coli outbreak. Last year 27 fairgoers became infected with E. coli O157:H7, including a 2-year-old who was hospitalized for 16 days as a result. A public health investigation found the outbreak was the result of human exposure to goats, pigs and sheep housed inside the Kelley Livestock Building. Health officials believe interaction with the farm animals resulted in cross contamination with fair food. This is not the first time E. Coli has struck fairgoers. In 2004, the petting zoo left 108 people infected. In 2006, a pita stand was found to have infected three people with the same bacteria. In response to the outbreak, the newly-created State Fair Study Commission looked into policies that would separate competition livestock from attendees without preventing anybody from enjoying the fair. N.C.
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CONTRIBUTED BY DARLO AYALA OF THE GAZETTE
Protesters march against the tuition increases proposed by the Quebec Liberal Party during a large demonstration organized by the CLASSE student association in Montreal on Wednesday, August 22, 2012.
STUDENTCONNECTIONS Editors note: This is a new section connecting N.C. State students to students outside North Carolina and the struggles they face. Mark Herring
Hassan DuRant
Editor-in-Chief
Deputy Features Editor
Students in Quebec are protesting a proposal that will raise university tuition more than $1,600 between 2012 and 2017. According to the New York Times, Quebec’s average undergraduate tuition, at $2,519 a year, is the lowest in Canada, and the proposed increase is $254 per year. Within five years, the average university tuition
would increase nearly 60 percent. Thousands of students are outraged by the increases, and many have taken the streets this past year to demonstrate their frustration. The protests began as student strikes and demonstrations, but quickly grew with the support of major left-wing groups. In addition to demonstrations, many university students are refusing to attend classes, much to their educational detriment. William Raillant-Clark, a representative of the Université de Montréal, one of the city’s four major universities, estimated 12,000 of the 43,000 students have missed significant portions of their winter semester. The National Assembly of Quebec passed Bill
NCSU ranked 8th on Newsweek’s ‘rigor list’ Jake Moser Correspondent
For colleges, a place near the top of most national rankings is usually a good place to be–but not always. A recent Newsweek poll is a good case in point. The magazine recently ranked N.C. State the eighth-easiest undergrad program in the country. The article, which carried the headline “College Rankings 2012: Least Rigorous Schools,” rated 25 four-year universities based on their degree of selectivity and student-tofaculty ratio. The ranking system also relied heavily on a “workload score” provided by Collegeprowler. com. The ranking was particularly unkind to the biggest public universities in Florida. The University of Central Florida was ranked the least rigorous university on the list, with Florida State at No. 2, the University of South Florida at No. 4, Florida Atlantic at No. 14 and the University of Florida at No. 21. Other schools joining N.C. State in the top 10 on the list were California State Polytechnic UniversityPomona (No. 3), San Diego State (No. 5), the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (No. 6), Dallas Baptist University (No. 7), the University of Alabama (No. 9) and the University of Texas at Dallas (No. 10.) The article left some of students and faculty of the University confused and upset, while others questioned the criteria that went into the ranking. Lewis Carson from University Planning and Analysis double-
checked the statistics Newsweek used. While he confirmed the accuracy Newsweek’s data on median SAT score, number of applicants and student-to-faculty ratio are accurate, Carson he said he was still skeptical about the validity of the “workload score” component from collegeprowler.com, which compiles reviews from students who are currently attending various colleges. Those reviews cover everything from athletics, to parking to “girls” and “guys.” “They’re saying the workload is very manageable,” Carson said. Many University students dismissed the article outright. Michael Bissette, a senior in chemical engineering, was among them. “I can think of eight schools in North Carolina alone that are easier than N.C. State,” Bissette said. “We’re usually thought of as one of the better schools in the state. It just doesn’t make sense.” A closer look at the magazine’s selection criteria shows why none of those schools are included. Newsweek narrowed down its list to 200 schools in order to rank the “top” colleges with the easiest course loads. A major criterion for deciding which colleges would be considered “top schools” was selectivity, and several of N.C. State’s sister schools in North Carolina weren’t selective enough to
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Clark Dining Hall underwent a renovation over the summer, as shown here Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2012. Included in the renovations were new paint, new furniture, and the addition of booths.
Clark gets a makeover Noah Rouse Correspondent
After a summer of renovations, Clark Dining Hall reopened to the public for the fall semester with a whole new look. In the last few weeks, construction crews have been working hard to complete the final preparations before opening the dining hall for the fall semester. Their efforts can be seen in Clark’s sleek, modern design. Clark Dining Hall, or as it was originally called, Clark Hall Infirmary, was constructed in 1939 for treating sick and injured students on
campus. During its 73-year tenure at N.C. State, Clark has only been renovated twice: once in the early 1980s, and again in the spring of 2002 when it was opened as a dining hall for students living on East Campus. This summer was the first time Clark has been renovated strictly to improve its cosmetics. The original idea behind the renovations was the seating. Complaints of bulky, uncomfortable chairs led to the idea of creating a more comfortable, relaxing space for students to eat. “Seating was wearing down and wearing out, so we updated the seating to give it a more restaurant
feeling,” Keith Smith, food service manager at Dining and Catering Operations, said. University Dining staff wanted to make sure everything in the building was new this year. The biggest change, Smith said, has to be in aesthetics. The intention behind the renovations was creating a more café-style atmosphere. Sleeker chairs and tables were key in creating this effect. The completion of the renovations of Clark Dining Hall is just the beginning of many more changes
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