TECHNICIAN
tuesday november
23 2010
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
SG promotes no DE tuition penalty University slows down
for Thanksgiving break
The Student Senate recently passed a bill encouraging getting rid of the distance education tuition penalty. Chelsey Francis Deputy News Editor
Many University services will be closed or open for shorter hours this week.
UNIVERSITY CLOSINGS OVER THANKSGIVING BREAK
Allison Saito
Student Health Services Center: Wednesday 8 – 11:30 a.m. Closed Thursday - Sunday
Staff Writer
Currently, taking three hours of distance education classes in addition to 12 hours of courses on campus, results in $531 a student owes in tuition and fees. Taylor Hiott, a sophomore in political science and the academics chair for student government, took up the initiative to come up with a solution for the additional charges through Student Government. According to the bill that was passed with a 35 of the 36 senators voting in favor of the bill, 79,500 credit hours were taken through distance education courses during the 2009-2010 academic year. For the same period, 14,019 N.C. State students were enrolled in at least one distance education course. Ethan Harrelson, a senior in biological sciences and the student senate president pro tempore said Hoitt worked with Tom Miller, the vice provost for Distance Education and Learning Technology Applications. “The Legislative Branch partnered with him on this idea to put our 34,000 student stamp of approval on the idea,” Harrelson said. “By creating two distance education sections, one for full time students and one for distance education students, we can save students up to $125 per credit hour that they take online.” Harrelson said he is glad Student Government is working on this plan. “With all of the money students have to pay for their education, Student Government is thrilled to be able to give a way to take classes that are both affordable and convenient,” Harrelson said. According to Harrelson, a group took the bill to the provost on Friday. “Now that it’s to the provost, he will most likely create a taskforce to fix it unless one of the strategic planning committees decide to do it, which it looks like they won’t,” Harrelson said. The current system for distance education tuition and fees was changed in 1998, according to Miller. These changes included funding to support courses and programs offered through distance education. “The legislation specified that tu-
LEE DANIELLO/TECHNICIAN FILE PHOTO
Stephen Kouba, student senate president, speaks at the Senate Body Meeting held on Oct. 4. This meeting was held in order to discuss the tuition and fees increase for the 2011-2012 academic year. Other topics of interest included local hunger, agriculture appreciation, orientation counseling for the summer of 2011, and women’s center awareness.
ition for distance education would be nominally the same as for on-campus instruction, and that fees would be less. The rationale for reduced fees was that distance education students would not have access to campus resources such as the gym,” Miller said. According to Miller, the legislation failed to anticipate that there would be a large population of students taking both on-campus and distance education courses. “What happens is that even though
The Office of Sustainability sponsored an 8-week competition among the dorms. State set for ‘Atlantic Championship’ See page 8.
FreshBerry is a ‘chill’ place for all See page 6.
Friday, Dec. 3rd 12pm to 8pm
SG continued page 3
Carmichael Gymnasium: Closes Tuesday at 9 p.m. Closes Wednesday at 7 p.m. Closed Thursday - Sunday Carmichael Recreation Center: Tuesday 6 a.m. – 9 p.m. Wednesday 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. Closed Thursday – Sunday Casey Aquatic Center Tuesday 6:15 a.m. – 8:30 p.m. Wednesday 6:15 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. Closed Thursday - Sunday All libraries will be closed Thanksgiving. D.H. Hill closes at 10PM Wednesday, and reopens at 10AM on Friday. The Veterinary Medicine library will be open 6 AM to 5 PM on Wednesday. The Design, Natural Resources, and Textiles Libraries will be open from 8AM to 5PM, Wednesday. Case Dining Hall: Closed Wednesday - Friday Clark Dining Hall: Closed Wednesday - Friday Fountain Dining Hall: Wednesday 10:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. Closed Thursday SOURCE: UNIVERSITY OFFICES
break. “To have just a few students in a building, a building maybe the size of Bragaw, 780 students, with only two or three, or maybe even one that is there, that is not necessarily a safe environment,” Pappenhagen said. “We can’t really afford to shut down the service desk, have no RAs on duty, and have a student in a building by themselves.”
“DO IT IN THE DARK”
‘Change Your State’ energy contest nearing the end
insidetechnician
viewpoint features classifieds sports
the tuition rates for on campus and distance education courses are nominally the same, the fact that methods stipulated for calculating the tuition result in inequities when students take courses in both modes,” Miller said. According to Miller, the goal of the bill is to balance the cost for full time on-campus students and part time distance education students.
For students on campus during thanksgiving break, things will be different than they were during fall break. Because Thanksgiving is considered a major holiday, the University will shut down many services for a few days. One large difference between Thanksgiving break and fall break is that the residence halls will be closed for part of the break. The residence halls close November 24 at 10 a.m. and will reopen on November 26 at 7 p.m. Jim Pappenhagen, an associate director for University Housing, explained that closing allows staff to have time off. “It really gives students, our student staff, our residence directors, a break, for them to be able to spend the holiday with their family as well,” Pappenhagen said. Students will not be able to reenter the residence halls after they have been closed. Pappenhagen said, “Generally, if you forgot your glasses or some things of that nature [and want to get it from a residence hall], it probably wouldn’t work well.” According to Pappenhagen, exceptions may be made “if it is a dire emergency”. Students may be allowed to reenter a residence hall for special circumstances. “If it is medicine that is left that the person needs [and] occasionally for things like a passport, if someone happens to be travelling,” Pappenhagen said. Before University Housing started closing dorms for Thanksgiving, few students would stay in the dorms. “You can have between 250- 300 student support staff for maybe 50 students or less,” Pappenhagen said. Safety was another reason cited for closing dorms during Thanksgiving
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Chelsey Francis Deputy News Editor
For the first year, the Office of Sustainability is hosting a competition to get students to use less energy on campus. The contest is broken down into five different portions of campus. A weekly winner is determined in each portion of campus, and a campus winner is determined from the weekly winners. The dorms with the largest decrease in the amount of energy used are the winners. According to David Dean, Office of Sustainability Outreach Coordinator, student response has been positive, so far. “Being that this is the first time such a competition has been attempted at N.C. State, the student response has been very positive,” Dean said. “When students learn
that N.C. State’s electric bill averages $20 million a year, they immediately understand the need to conserve energy.” A large consumer of electricity is phantom loads which, according to Dean, are something students have a lot of control over. “One reason we are targeting on campus residents is they have a lot of control over their energy use,” Dean said. “The quickest way to reduce phantom load is to hook your appliances, including cell phones, fans and microwaves, up to a power strip then turning it off when leaving the room. Hitting the switch on your power strip should be as natural as turning off the lights when you leave the room.” According to Dean, this competition will continue into the spring semester. “As for the competition, we are going to regroup with University Housing, IRC and other key partners in December and look at the lessons learned from the past two
ENERGY continued page 3
d n a e s M s s S l a a le n i F
NC State Bookstores
40% off storewide! Some exclusions, see store or web site for details.
DANIELLE NEUJAHRAPERIO/TECHNICIAN
During the Thanksgiving Day Energy Rush, Rachel Conley, a junior in fisheries and wildlife, hangs up “Do it in the Dark” flyers in the halls of Tucker Residence Hall on Monday. Each residence hall was covered last year and the goal this year was to do the same as well as give information to residents about what to do over the holidays with their electronics. Conley said “Our main objective is to promote energy awareness.”
It’s Black Friday at the bookstore!!