TECHNICIAN
thursday october
17 2013
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
N.C. underfunds historically black colleges Madeline Safrit Correspondent
North Carolina is one of 10 states in the nation that failed to provide more than $56 million in mandated state appropriations to historically black colleges and universities, according to a new report by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities. HBCUs across the country are scrambling to provide adequate services for their
students due to major cuts in funding, according to the report. The federal government, in part, funds land-grant universities, and states are required to match the federal government’s contribution. According to the APLU, predominantly white institutions received more state funding than HBCUs between 2010-2012. Under the 1862 Morrill Act, which created the majority of
U.S. land-grant institutions, and the Morrill Act of 1890, which established 18 historically black land-grant universities, the federal government became obligated to provide financial support to schools and states were required to match the federal funding levels. Randy Mills, associate vice chancellor of the financial planning and budget department at Winston-Salem State University, said he has
Moodle updates software, deals with technical challenges Jason Katz and Jake Moser Deputy News Editor & News Editor
Moodle has responded to the needs of students and faculty in reaction to inevitable technical difficulties. However, the process of creating a flawless university software system is still ongoing. Bob Larson, a lecturer in communication, said he uses Moodle in certain situations but doesn’t like the software overall. “It’s the lesser of evils to use it,” Larson said. “My other classes I just email.” The problem with Moodle, Larson said, is that it was designed by people who are extremely computer literate whereas “for the rest of us, good luck.”
witnessed underfunding routinely in his time with the institution. “During the economic recession, we started getting state budget reductions that, through this year, have amounted to $32.6 million,” Mills said. Last year alone, WinstonSalem State University had 600 students, of at least junior status, who were academically qualified to return for the next school year, but did
not return due to financial reasons, Mills said. “Financial aid sources need to return to more normal levels to help our students,” Mills said. Financial burdens have severely affected, not only student life at Winston-Salem State University, but also advancements in faculty employment. “This has impacted our ability to attract and retain better faculty,” Mills said.
Wendell Davis, vice chancellor of administration and finance at North Carolina Central University, said that although state support has diminished, there are ways to compensate for the underfunding. “Underfunding has been a challenge in general for our institution at NCCU, considerably, over the last five
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Martin S. Dulberg, senior coordinator of Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications, said that although Moodle can be very difficult to use for some people, support and training options are offered for faculty members. In the meantime, DELTA continues to upgrade the program in an attempt to fix problems and add functionality, Dulberg said. Larson said this year’s refinements improved the program, but he still thinks there should be more done for those who don’t want to use the advanced features, suggesting the option of a simpler Moodle. “They should have two versions of
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ARCHIVE/TECHNICIAN
Fairgoers sampling food along the seemingly boundless lines of food stands at the 2012 State Fair.
House raises debt ceiling to Mobile Security Device Checkpoint gauges safety of students’ smartphones end government shutdown and avoid default, Republican approval ratings down
Jacqueline Lee Correspondent
Students brought their iPhones, Android smartphones, iPads and laptops to the Brickyard on Wednesday to determine if their mobile devices were safe against security breaches. About 500 students attended the Mobile Security Device Checkpoint, hosted by the Office of Information Technology. OIT held the checkpoint, in its second year, as part of its annual Data Security Awareness Month. The event coordinator, Deborah Booth, an IT security analyst for OIT, said the office ran a diagnostic for each device to see if there was a need for software updates or a new passcode. “Our goal is to get students a little more educated on how to [update their phone]…on a normal, monthly basis, to check their phone’s security,” Booth said. Booth said members of OIT interviewed students to determine how much the student population knows about mobile-device security and how knowledgeable it is about protecting their devices. According to IT Security Officer, Tim Gurganus, the goal of the event was to make sure students are aware of the security breaches of mobile devices and how to configure protection. “Every phone I’ve looked at today has had applications that need updating,” Gurganus said. “Students don’t understand that their devices need updates to correct security bugs, so we show them how to do that and what the device will say if there is a patch needed.” Gurganus said OIT advised students how to arrange device-location services in case they lose a
Staff Report
COLE STITH/TECHNICIAN
N.C. State students Bethel Maekele, a junior in in science technology and scociety, Cedric Minor Jr., a senior in marketing, and Emily Sinclair, a senior in communication, listen as N.C. State Information Securty Officer Darren Fallis discusses how to keep data safe on an iPhone as part of the IT department’s Mobile Security Device Checkpoint.
device. He said many students who came by the checkpoint hadn’t set up that feature. The iPhone has a feature on iCloud, and Android users can use device location by configuring it at Android’s website. “Our goal is to make students aware of security features that are already on their phones, Gurganus said. “Each person we’ve processed today has learned something new.” Information security officer for OIT, Neal McCorkle said devices are at a high risk with all the data that are added every day. According to McCorkle, OIT is trying to help students locate lost devices as quickly as possible to reduce theft. McCorkle said he also told Android users why it’s important to set up an antivirus program, such as Sophos or Lookout. “Because [Android] can do more [and] it’s a more open platform… its security isn’t as tight,” McCorkle said. Operations and Systems Specialist Payman Damghani said he found
many students who were Android users were surprised that anti-virus programs were even necessary. Griffin Prufer, a freshman in psychology, said he learned several things at the device checkpoint. “I learned about the Google Device Manager app for my Android,” Prufer said. “I’ve always heard of different applications that had security protection, but this one seems to do everything I want it to do, like locating a device or wiping the information off if I need to.” Android users can reset the PIN, lock, call or locate their devices once they are registered with The Google Device Manager app. OIT is sponsoring several more data security events this month including one on Halloween called “10 Spooky Attacks Targeting You,” in which students have the chance to win prizes, such as an iPod by learning how cyber criminals make money.
After 16 days , the House of Representatives voted to end the government shutdown Wednesday night, just avoiding a potentially devastating financial default, according the The New York Times. According to The Times, the Senate had voted earlier on Wednesday evening, 81 to 18, on a bipartisan agreement that would keep the government funded until Jan. 15, and raise the debt limit through Feb. 7. The House subsequently voted to reopen the government but by a much narrower margin, passing the proposal 285 to 144. President Obama said he would sign the bill,
but said that he hoped this sort of thing will not reoccur. “We’ve got to get out of the habit of governing by crisis,” Obama said to The Times. “We could get all these things done even this year, if everybody comes together in a spirit of, how are we going to move this country forward and put the last three weeks behind us.” According to The Times, Republican polling numbers plunged as a result of the shutdown, which cost the government billions of dollars. “We fought the good fight,” Speaker of the House John A. Boehner said to The Times. “We just didn’t win.”
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