TECHNICIAN
thursday july
25 2013
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
Here we go again ... THE UNC SYSTEM WILL RECEIVE A $66 MILLION BUDGET CUT FOR THE 2013-2014 ACADEMIC YEAR
Jake Moser
State appropriations for N.C. State
600
News Editor
Actual
500 $Millions
The N.C. General Assembly approved the state’s $20.6 billion budget Wednesday after months of heated debate. The House voted 65-53 and the Senate voted 32-17 to approve the measure, which now awaits Gov. Pat McCrory’s signature, according to the WRAL. State lawmakers have met considerable backlash in recent months in response to proposed cuts to the state’s public schools—many of which remain in the current budget. McCrory released his budget proposal in March, suggesting a $138.5 million cut to the UNC System. The governor also hinted at closing some UNC System campuses or consolidating programs to save money. The State Senate recommended $50 million in cuts in its proposal released in May. The House’s proposed cuts were similar in scope to McCrory’s, recommending a reduction of more than $120 million. While the current cuts to the system were reduced to $66 million in the final version of the budget, they will be added to the long-term $400 million budget reduction handed
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Fiscal Year down two years ago—something opponents say will have drastic consequences for education. “I worry about the impact additional reductions will have on our ability to provide high-quality educational opportunities to our residents and to assist in North Carolina’s economic recovery,” UNC System President Tom Ross said in a March press release after McCrory announced his budget.
Exactly how much of the $66 million cut each school in the system will have to absorb is up to the UNC Board of Governors. The budget also raises tuition by 12.3 percent for out-of-state students at the UNC School of the Arts, N.C. A&T State, UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC-Wilmington. Other schools, including N.C. State, will institute a 6 percent increase for those students, according to the
2013
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SOURCES: NCSU FINANCIAL REPORTS, BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS
News & Observer. Tuition for community colleges will also be raised. While higher education is clearly being hit hard by a strained budget, the impact to public education in general in North Carolina is more difficult to discern. The budget offers no raises to teachers but will spend $120 million on teacher assistants. Likewise, the budget will stop giv-
ing salary boosts to teachers with advanced degrees but will spend $10 million in grants for low-income students to go to private schools. The budget also changes how the state deals with crime, affecting both law enforcement and the prison system. Lawmakers want to close minimum and medium-security prisons
BUDGET continued page 2
ACLU to challenge gay marriage ban Avery Hocutt Staff Writer
PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY GREG WILSON
Universities across the country, including N.C. State, are attacked constantly by hackers.
Foreign hackers target American universities
Jason Katz Correspondent
U.S. research universities have recently found themselves the target of millions of hacking attacks every week— many of which appear to have come from China. With systems designed to be open to tens of thousands of different users, universities like N.C. State are especially susceptible to cyberattacks.
“We get 90,000 to 100,000 attempts per day, from China alone, to penetrate our system,” Bill Mellon, the associate dean for research policy for the University of Wisconsin, said in a recent interview with the New York Times. Rumors of the Chinese instigating hacking attacks on the U.S. are not new—and The Times itself has been victimized. According to a New York
Times article published in January, Chinese hackers had broken into their system and stolen the passwords of every single employee of the newspaper. Hackers usually attempt to hide their location, and these hackers were no exception. They attempted to cover up their trail by first hacking into U.S. universities and then sending their signals
HACKERS continued page 2
The American Civil Liberties Union has moved to amend a 2012 lawsuit to include a challenge to North Carolina’s ban on same-sex marriage. The ACLU filed the original lawsuit, Fisher-Borne v. Smith, on behalf of six same-sex couples and their children. It challenged the
state’s ban on second-parent adoption, or when one partner adopts the other partner’s biological or adoptive child. Once the lawsuit has been amended, it will challenge both the ban on second-parent adoption and the ban on same-sex marriage. On July 12, North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper announced that he would not oppose the amendment to the lawsuit. Now The U.S.
Staff Report
Wednesday, Gov. Pat McCrory signed new tax legislation recently approved by the North Carolina General assembly . House Bill 998 aims to lower the state personal and corporate income tax rates, which has long been at the top of the state Republican agenda. Republica ns sa id t his ta x reform, accompanied by about $2 billion in
spending cuts, will help North Carolina stay economically competitive with its neighbors, according to the News & Observer. Most Democrats in the General Assembly voted against the bill because many of them said it unfairly shifts taxes from the upper class to the lower and middle class. Among other measures, House Bill 998 ends the state sales tax holiday, which allowed school supplies purchased in the beginning of August to be exempt from state sales tax.
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Junior pitcher Carlos Rodon complets another stellar game at the DBAP. See page 8.
growing in recent years thanks to more funding. See page 6.
ACLU continued page 3
McCrory approves tax bill
insidetechnician N.C. State is home to two recent Miss North Carolina pageant winners. See page 3.
District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina must give its approval in order for the amendment to become official, and then the newly modified lawsuit will be able to proceed. Amendment 1, which was passed in May of 2012, forbids the state from recognizing or performing same-sex marriages. The ACLU lawsuit,