TECHNICIAN
april
12 2013
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
Students face obstacles of student loans
IT’S ALL THE RAVE...
Josue Molina Staff Writer
Student government hosts brickyard bash
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friday
PHOTO BY ALEX CAO
C. State’s Student Government holds an hour-long rave in the Brickyard on Thursday April 11, 2013. The first 500 students to attend were promised glow sticks to illuminate the brickyard.
Graduation day is nearing for the Class of 2013 and some students will begin life after college with a burden of student loan debt. Students across the country depend on financial aid to pursue their education at universities such as N.C. State, but student loans are becoming a significant liability for a growing number of Americans. According to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 37 million people share $1 trillion worth of student loan debt. Student loan debt is the only form of debt to grow since the peak of the consumer debt crisis of 2008. Student loan balances have also surpassed car loans, credit card loans and mortgages, according to a report aired by National Public Radio. The New York FED released a Household Debt and Credit Report that has a special section on student loans which gives an analysis on the increase of debt financed education. “Higher education is crucial to
improving the skill level of American workers, especially in the face of rising skill premiums and a relatively unfavorable labor market for less skilled workers,” the report stated. “Due to increasing enrollment and the rising cost of higher education, student loans play an increasingly important role in financing higher education, and student debt is the only kind of household debt that continued to rise through the Great Recession.” Fifty-five percent of the N.C. State class of 2011 graduated with an average debt of $17,317. The cost of tuition has risen since then and from this year to the next the expected cost of attendance will change from $20,644 to $22,184, thus student debt will be expected to rise in future years. Richard Wolfe, a sophomore in economics, will begin to bear the burden of student loans to pay for his education starting next semester. “The obvious thought is hopefully I
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Supreme Court tackles affirmative action Sara Awad Staff Writer
The Supreme Court recently announced the addition of Schuette v. Coalition to its growing list of affirmative action cases. Schuette v. Coalition developed in response to a Michigan state law prohibiting the inclusion of race as a factor in the college admissions process, The New York Times stated. The United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati deemed the law unconstitutional due to its incompliance with the equal protection clause. The Supreme Court will decide whether to uphold or reject the ruling. The case will be argued in addition to Fisher v. University of Texas, which gained national attention when the University of Texas at Austin denied Abigail Fisher and Rachel Michalewicz, both in-state applicants, admission to the University in 2008. The women claimed the decision was on account of their race, but the United States District Court backed the University’s admissions criteria since it did not violate the 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger affirmative action case. Michalewicz removed herself from the case proceedings in 2011.
Melvin Thomas, associate professor of sociology, said he was not confident the Supreme Court will uphold the rulings. “The Supreme Court I guess in recent years has been has been weakening affirmative action… from the Bakke decision in ‘78 on to the present, so I am not optimistic of a positive ruling from them,” Thomas said. Part of affirmative action’s negative connotation has to do with miscommunication, according to Thomas. “Affirmative action is opposed by most white Americans and a lot of African Americans because they don’t understand the extent of racism that currently exists, of discrimination that currently exists, as well as the impact of past discrimination. Because of that, affirmative action doesn’t seem to make sense because it seems to contradict the norms of meritocracy. In that context, it’s tough for affirmative action to survive, because the reasons for affirmative action are poorly understood.” Thomas said he found the Fisher v. University of Texas case interesting because the University still would not have admitted Fisher had race not been one of the factors in the decision. Louisiana State University
later accepted Fisher, so she did not have much ground for damages. Shirley Wilcher, executive director of the American Association of Affirmative Action, said the Supreme Court’s aggressiveness in the case was surprising. “I hope the court is far more insightful about the nature of the impact it has on the nation in the future. The Supreme Court has progressively made it more difficult to defend descendants of slavery. It’s time for the Supreme Court to take a look at the historical reasons for the Fourteenth Amendment.” Schuette v. Coalition probably will not have a lot of impact nationwide because it is confined to a state law, Wilcher said. The Fisher v. University of Texas will likely have a broader impact because it could outlaw the use of race in the admissions process on a federal level. Thomas Griffin, director of undergraduate admissions, said if the Supreme Court decides a state law banning affirmative action is constitutional, that might set the precedent for other states like North Carolina to ban affirmative action as well.
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GRAPHIC BY BRETT MORRIS
N.C. Science Festival embraces innovation Alden Early Staff Writer
The North Carolina Science Festival came to N.C. State Thursday when the Institute for Emerging Issues hosted the inaugural North Carolina Science Summit at the James B. Hunt Jr. Library. Science and technology leaders and advocates gathered from across the state for the event to identify and discuss the challenges facing the future of the innovative science, technology, engineering and math program. The Institute for Emerging Issues is one of the North Carolina Pathways Partnership members who helped organize the science and technology festival. James Moeser, chancellor emeritus of the University of North Caro-
lina at Chapel Hill and chair of the growth: health, education, economNorth Carolina Science Festival, ic development and job creation, said, “This is something that should arts, culture and tourism, and the rise above partisanship. We want to quality of life and the environment. have a science festi“The most imval within 30 minportant thing we utes of everyone in can do for ecothe state.” nomic growth is Bla nton G odprepare our chilfrey, dean of N.C. dren,” Decker said. State’s College of Decker, a naTextiles and chair tive of Rutherford of the Board of SciCounty, referenced Blanton Godfrey, dean of ence and TechnolC h i m ne y Ro c k College of Textiles ogy, said, “I hope State Park when she we never forget the told the audience fascination of science.” about the importance of tourism Speakers also stressed the critical to the state. nature of science and its relation “Over 200,000 jobs in this state to a strong, vital economy. Sharon come from tourism.” Decker, North Carolina’s secretary A brief video was shown during of commerce, told the audience the morning session about Anson about her five tenants of economic New Technology High School. The
“I hope we never forget the fascination of science”
rural high school, which is located in Wadesboro, N.C., is a STEM program success story. Craig Giffi, vice chairman and U.S. consumer and industrial products industry leader of Deloitte LLP, said, “The globalization we know today began about 20 years ago.” He told the audience about the emergence of the globalization era and the onset of “digital technology infrastructure.” Giffi said he thought very few regional trade agreements existed around the world before 1980. He said Brazil, China, Germany, India, Japan and the United States were the six, original regional powers. Giffi used the example of a
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