TECHNICIAN
Students debate minimum wage Jacqueline Lee Staff Writer
The Young Americans for Liberty Club held a debate Tuesday night at Riddick Hall concerning minimum wage. With President Barack Obama recently publically urging Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour, minimum wage has been a major topic in recent news and debates. Members from the Young Democrats and more YAL club members were supposed to attend, but only a few members showed up. The debate still continued with members of YAL taking opposing sides just to create good debate.
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Two student groups have each been awarded $50,000 in a competition that emphasized methods for schools to obtain funding and use innovative methods to improve the state of K-12 education. Pennies 4 Progress and TeacherLoop emerged victorious in the SECU Emerging Issues Prize for Innovation at N.C. State’s Institute for Emerging Issues’ annual forum held from Feb. 10 to Feb. 11 at the Raleigh Convention Center. The competition was jointly held with the State Employees Credit Union. According to Ryan O’ Donnell, chief executive of Pennies 4 Progress and junior in business administration, both teams entered the competition after working with the IEI through a lecture series hosted by the Caldwell Fellows program.
19 2014
IRC wins first place at NCARH conference Jess Thomas Staff Writer
HUNTER JOHNSON/TECHNICIAN
Ian Richardson, treasurer of Young Americans for Liberty, debates against the continuation of minimum-wage pay in a club debate held Tuesday evening in Riddick Hall.
Student groups win $50,000 in emerging issues competition Ravi Chittilla
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O’Donnell said the forum of this year’s theme “Teachers And The Great Economic Debate,” forced his team and others to consider how they were going to effectively deal with problems educators face despite being college students. “College students have great ideas, and you don’t have to have a Ph.D. in educational policy to make a significant impact in education,” O’ Donnell said. Pennies 4 Progress O’Donnell said he and his team wanted to implement an easier donation method, and after a year in which public education lost more than $500 million in funding in North Carolina, his team decided to enter the economy category to find a way in which private businesses and nonprofits could be helpful in increasing revenue for public edu-
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Last weekend, the Inter-Residence Council at N.C. State beat out 14 other schools across the state at the North Carolina Association of Residence Halls conference to become School of the Year. Conference organizers recognized the IRC for its programming initiatives, conference involvement and engagement with residents and leadership, according
“We had a very cool leadership style that attempted to unlock the mystery of leadership.” Shreye Saxena, vice president
of national communication coordination for the IRC
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE INSTITUTE FOR EMERGING ISSUES
Chancellor Randy Woodson stands with the members of TeacherLoop (pictured left to right), Sean Kramer, Shrey Satpathy and David Nacouzi and Board of Director of the SECU Foundation McKinley Wooten.
PHOTO COURTESY OF THE INSTITUTE FOR EMERGING ISSUES
to Shreye Saxena, vice president of national communication coordination for the IRC. The IRC also won awards for President of the Year and Student of the Year at the annual conference held at Appalachian State University. However Saxena said the biggest organizational award presented by the NCARH is the School of the Year Award. “It is a very prestigious award,” Saxena said. “Out of all the schools that come together, the NCARH looks at the organization of student leadership and not necessarily just the IRC, but also the RAs, Hall Council and anyone affiliated with University Housing,” Saxena said. Kurt Saenger-Heyl, the president of the IRC received the President of the Year award for his leadership, rebranding the proposals of the organization and his plans to increase the capacity of the IRC
Woodson stands with Pennies4Progress members Shreye Saxena, Brandon Narybouth, Joseph Moo-Young and Ryan O’Donnell and Wooten.
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Jobless rate high despite more efficient workforce Staff Report
SASHA AFANSIEVA/TECHNICIAN
Darwin Day included decorations, themes and food related to Charles Darwin and the theory of evolution.
Students, faculty members celebrate Charles Darwin’s life, scientific contributions Sasha Afanasieva Staff Writer
Students and faculty members gathered at N.C. State’s David Clark Labs Wednesday to celebrate the life and influence of Charles Darwin with evolution-themed food. The event, organized by Jennifer Landin, a professor of science education at N.C. State, offered a wide variety of treats ranging from cookies shaped like insects to Darwinthemed cupcakes. In addition to the snacks, participants took a quiz
about the scientist’s life. “The purpose is to celebrate Darwin’s life and contributions to the field of biology and to just appreciate an all around great guy,” Landin said. Large pieces of artwork such as paintings of a giant trilobite and a prehistoric anthropod and a cutout picture of Darwin painted by Landin were displayed near one of the entrances to David Clark Labs in appreciation of Darwin and the
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Though more jobs have been created in North Carolina since the recession, the unemployment remains high, according to Mike Walden, W.M. Neal Reynolds Distinguished Economics Professor at N.C. State. North Carolina has 250,000 more jobs than it did before 2010, however 320,000 residents are classified as unemployed, Walden said to WRAL. There is also an estimated 65,000 people who want to work, but haven’t found employment and have stopped searching and aren’t officially recognized as jobless. Overall, this means 130,000 more people are unemployed than before the recession. Walden offered several explanations for North Carolina’s slow recovery. First, the state’s workforce has become more efficient. Production per worker increased 7 percent between 2007 and 2012, which is more than the national average. “The bottom line is we simply need fewer people today to produce what we make and sell,” Walden said. However, the state also lost
a third of its construction jobs after the housing market crash, and these jobs have been decreasing during the past two years. “While we wouldn’t necessarily expect all construction and related jobs to return to levels of the housing boom, a return to pre-boom levels is reasonable,” Walden said. “This translates to about 45,000 construction jobs and another 45,000 related jobs – jobs that we currently don’t have.” Walden also said economists think the slow economic recovery is due to employers wanting skills that prospective employees don’t have. “A recent study estimated that up to a third of the increase in unemployment during the recession could have been due to this skills mismatch,” Walden said. “For North Carolina, this would translate to about 100,000 individuals not being employed because they aren’t trained in needed skills areas.” Walden said, federal legislation, such as the Dodd-Frank Financial Regulation Act and the Affordable Care Act could also be having an “adverse effect on job creation.”
Unrest in Venezuela escalates See page 5.
Double Barrel draws record turnout See page 6.
Clemson suffocates Wolfpack See page 8.
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