WHAT’S INSIDE
NEWS 1–2
SPORTS 5–6
OPINION 3–4
CULTURE 8–9 I SSU E
61
The Independent Student Voice of Boise State Since 1933
Volume 22
First Issue
F R E E May 05, 2010
BSU Track and Field makes a splash!
5
Boise's very own 'Wu-Tang Clan'
PAGE
3
PAGE
Class sizes: How big is too big?
PAGE
ARBITERONLINE.COM
8
CarShare to help campus parking woes
LINDA A. CICERO/STANFORD NEWS SERVICE
Stanford students Galaan Dafa, left, and Shadi Bushra picked up a Prius reserved through Zipcar for a run to InN-Out Burger. Boise State plans to implement its own CarShare program starting this fall. David Gasch Journalist
Due in part to construction, parking spaces on campus continue to disappear, and student enrollment is growing. BSU students pay for parking passes, but still
struggle to find places to leave their vehicles. Students living on campus often bring their vehicles to campus with them, but leave them to sit for extended periods of time without use, further clogging campus. To help alleviate these is-
sues, Parking and Transportation Services intends to offer a new resource for transportation at Boise State. By the start of the coming fall semester, it hopes to implement a program called CarShare to help students travel around Boise and potentially
decrease congestion in the parking lots on campus. The program will provide cars, placed strategically around campus, available for students and faculty to rent by the hour. Cost is expected to be somewhere between $10 and $15 per hour. The
fee covers gas, insurance and maintenance for the vehicle. Individuals can rent the vehicles for however many hours they choose, pending availability. Parking and Transportation Services hopes the availability of these cars will persuade and allow students to leave their vehicles at home instead of bringing it to campus and taking up space. “The reason we are going with it (CarShare) is we are trying to alleviate the pressure of cars being brought to campus,” assistant director of Parking and Transportation Services J.C. Porter said. “We are hoping if the cars are already here then multiple people can use it, and it’s one car for multiple people instead of one car for each person. Hopefully it will open up parking spaces for other people to use.” A CarShare company has yet to be chosen, but most charge a member fee of anywhere from $25 to $50, which buys an entry key card, access to the online rental calendar and a few free hours with the vehicles. After a membership is established, individuals can simply reserve a time slot online, swipe their card, take the car and go where they need. When they finish using the vehicle, they park
it where they first got it and leave it there. One fan of CarShare is ASBSU President Stephen Heleker. “I would definitely use this program! I don't own a car and usually bike from place to place," Heleker said. "CarShare would enable me to drive to events that are further away or require me to bring stuff along without committing to a car payment." The CarShare vehicles will be available for dates, errands, ski trips -- basically anything for which they may be needed. They exist as an alternative to individual vehicles and can save money for students that would otherwise be spent on parking permits, gas, personal insurance and more. With CarShare, students only pay when they are directly in need of transportation. “I don't have a car because I am an out-of-state student. I have a car in Arizona, but it's too old to make an 18hour trip to Idaho,” freshman Stephanie Casanova said. “I'd use this program every so often for emergency purposes and getting to service learning places, running errands and going grocery shopping. But if I had a car I'd continue
See CarShare I page 2
Vibrant technology takes learning to new level Sarah Murphy Journalist
Students at Boise State are constantly surrounded with cutting-edge possibilities as new technologies are introduced. As faculty members in the Department of Educational Technology, Dr. Barbara Schroeder and special lecturer Chris Haskell have taken teaching to a new level. They incorporate technology into everyday lessons for students to apply what they learn in the classroom to the outside world. According to Schroeder, they use equipment such as Smartboards, Apple laptops, cameras, Airliner tablets and the Wii -- a videogame console made by Nintendo. The classroom is conveniently
mct
Barnes & Noble’s “Nook” e-reader, released in November, is priced about the same ($259) as Amazon’s popular Kindle.
set up with mobile furniture to be arranged, depending on the lesson for students. “Studies have shown technology to engage students,” Schroeder said. “It’s personal and powerful. It is collaborative and makes students part of a community of learners.” Haskell and Schroeder started a podcast two years ago to enable other professors and K-12 teachers around the world to use technology in the classroom. “We started talking about geeky stuff between the two of us, started recording it in audio and eventually got hosted on iTunes,” Haskell said. Schroeder added, “we wanted an outreach to publicize educational technology and provide technology tools and trends for teachers." E-readers, another form of new technology, have been gaining popularity among students. Schroeder and Haskell try to accommodate by selecting required books that are also available as e-books. Some students like this option and are learning to combine old school textbooks with them. Every semester, students may spend hundreds of dollars buying books and in the end, sell them back for a minimal
See Ebooks I page 2
TOWERS
Benjamin Mack/THE ARBITER
Rays of sunlight poke through the clouds in front of Towers Hall just before a storm Monday. All on-campus residence halls close for the summer at noon Friday, May 14.
New ASBSU President wants change for 'matching fund system'
STEPHEN HELEKER
KATY BUTLER Journalist
New ASBSU President Stephen Heleker is planning for changes in the upcoming year.
During the summer, Heleker, who replaced former ASBSU President Trevor Grigg in April, will be working with ASBSU to build the executive staff for next year and decide on an agenda. “We will be building procedures and job descriptions for the following years,” Heleker said. “I will look at presidents from other universities to help build something a little more durable than we’ve had to work with so far at BSU.” Heleker said his most important project will be re-
examining ASBSU's matching fund system to find new ways to support student organizations. The club fundraiser system is one in which clubs can raise up to $3,250 and ASBSU matches the club dollar-for-dollar after $250. “I am adamant about changing the process, and will be doing my best to revise the clearly inefficient system over the summer,” Heleker said. “We will be looking at the policies of other universities and paying special attention to those that work with a hy-
brid system involving some grant-style funding.” Heleker said he will also look at other universities for ideas on how to improve Boise State. “We're throwing out ideas looking at other successful universities and seeing what kind of system it would take to be up to par with other universities like the University of Washington and Berkeley -- situations with real success and respect," Heleker said. "We think BSU deserves to be looked at in that way (as successful).”
The Arbiter • arbiteronline.com