The Daily Targum 2014-12-08

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Serving the Rutgers community since 1869. Independent since 1980.

RUTGERS UNIVERSITY—NEW BRUNSWICK

MONDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2014

ONLINE AT DAILYTARGUM.COM

Students share experiences, advice for first year in college ERIN PETENKO ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

Ayush Joshi lives on Busch campus, but his favorite pastime is to walk between all five campuses. He regularly treks from Scott Hall to Passion Puddle, where he will relax for 30 minutes before moving on. Others frequently ask him why doesn’t just take the bus. He tells them that it would ruin the point of the trip. “Everything is a surprise at the moment,” said Joshi, an international student from Madhya Pradesh, India. “I travel a lot because I want to explore.” Joshi is a member of the Class of 2018 — the class that is approaching the end of its first semester at Rutgers. Discussions with several first-year students revealed a range of experiences and causes for happiness and anxiety. Hailing from a small village, Joshi struggled to gain acceptance into Rutgers. After a sponsor promised to fund his college education, he spent a year in Mumbai taking computer science courses to get ahead and take the SEE EXPERIENCES ON PAGE 5

Members of the Rutgers and New Brunswick community stage a protest against police butality as they rally on George Street on Dec. 5. to protest the grand jury verdicts for Eric Garner and Michael Brown. TRENT JOAQUIN

Hundreds protest for Brown, Garner jury decision AVALON ZOPPO, ALEXANDRA R. MEIER, KATIE PARK AND VAISHALI GAUBA STAFF WRITERS

Approximately 250 students and community protesters flocked to the Douglass Student Center Friday to protest the Staten Island grand jury decision to not indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo for causing the death of unarmed black man Eric Garner. The march, which began at the DSC, moved across New Brunswick, from Route 18, Route 27, George

Street, the New Brunswick Police Station, Easton Avenue and ending on College Avenue. Despite heavy rain, organizers staged a “die-in” in front of the New Brunswick Police Station to protest the latest verdict in a string of cases involving police brutality. A “die-in” is a protesting strategy in which participants simulate being dead. Protestors also blocked traffic on Route 18 and Easton Avenue, among other streets, causing major congestion throughout New Brunswick and its surrounding municipalities.

Beginning at the DSC, chant sheets and signs were distributed to students. Participants joined together to chant, “I Can’t Breathe,” “NYPD-KKK, how many kids did you kill today?” and “Whose Streets? Our Streets.” Organizers of the march stood in front of the crowd to deliver opening remarks and speak to the importance of the protest. The cancellation of the New Brunswick holiday tree lighting ceremony and the closing of the College Avenue Student Center bus stop were a result of the protest.

According to an email statement issued by Mayor Jim Cahill to nj.com, the cancellation would “better enable the police department to assist the exercise of First Amendment rights of the protesters ... and to ensure the safety of those in and about the area.” Malcolm Steele, a School of Arts and Sciences junior and a key organizer, said he did not view the city’s decision as a way for the police to work with protestors, but rather as a way for officers to “contain” protestors. SEE DECISION ON PAGE 4

Chancellor meets Obama for summit on education VAISHALI GAUBA NEWS EDITOR

A protester shouts at the National Guard standing on duty outside the Ferguson Police Department after the grand jury verdict in the Michael Brown shooting in Ferguson, Missouri, on Nov. 26. REUTERS

Professors weigh in on Ferguson decision SABRINA SZTEINBAUM ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR

As a human being, Aram Sinnreich likes other human beings. He deplores violence, especially by institutions against individuals. Sinnreich, an assistant professor in the Rutgers School of Communication and Information, along with other Rutgers professors, reacted to the grand jury decision not to indict Officer Darren Wilson. Wilson, a Ferguson, Missouri, police officer, shot unarmed 18-year-old

Michael Brown on Aug. 9, according to The New York Times. On Nov. 24, the St. Louis County prosecutor announced the grand jury decision not to indict Wilson, setting off protests around the country. “Generally speaking, I think it’s abundantly clear that we have a problem with institutionalized racism in this country, and it costs a great many lives and ruins a great many more,” Sinnreich said. Aside from racism, another problem in the Michael Brown case rests in the conflict of interest that exists

when prosecutors bring police officers before a grand jury, said Douglas Greenberg, distinguished professor in the Department of History at Rutgers. Prosecutors and police officers work closely, Greenberg said. The problem does not lie within the jurors themselves, but with the prosecutor’s relationship with the police, which makes it impossible for the jurors to represent the people’s view of what constitutes as crime. SEE PROFESSORS ON PAGE 4

Nancy Cantor was the face of Rutgers-Newark and Rutgers-New Brunswick at the second White House College Opportunity Day of Action held last Thursday at the White House. Cantor, the chancellor of Rutgers-Newark met with President Obama, Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and more than 300 educational leaders to discuss the Obama administration’s goals to expand college access to lower-income students. University President Robert Barchi was also scheduled to attend the summit, but was unable to do so since he was ill, said Courtney McAnuff, vice president for Enrollment Management at Rutgers-New Brunswick. All participating colleges, universities, non-profit organizations and foundations committed to promoting completion, creating K-16 partnerships around college readiness, investing in high school counselors as a part of the First Lady’s Reach Higher initiative, and increasing the number of college graduates in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, according to an article in philanthrophynewsdigest.org.

Universities around the nation were asked to submit information about programs that focus on educational access and were subsequently invited to the summit, Cantor said. One of the key programs she represented at the summit and is actively involved with was the Newark City of Learning Collaborative that aims to increase the percentage of Newark residents with higher education. “I’m very [nationally] involved in this work,” Cantor said. “It was an excellent day. The president, vice president and the first lady have focused on mobilizing college and universities [for education].” Another program that gained recognition at the White House is the Rutgers Future Scholars Program, a program tailored to increase college-readiness and access for low-income, first-generation college students, McAnuff said. Started in 2008, the program selects 200 seventh graders to join a “pre-college preparatory pipeline” and provides them services like mentoring, tutoring, academic preparation, among others. The program also urges its participants to apply to college and

­­VOLUME 146, ISSUE 120 • UNIVERSITY ... 3 • SCIENCE ... 6 • OPINIONS ... 8 • DIVERSIONS ... 10 • CLASSIFIEDS ... 12 • SPORTS ... BACK

SEE SUMMIT ON PAGE 5


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