THE DAILY COUGAR Pocket aces: Houston pitching staff key to season /SPORTS
TODAY’S WEATHER
Students in action: UH volunteers impact campus, world /FEATURES Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Issue 95, Volume 74
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3-dayy forecast, Page 2
Hi 79 Lo 49 www.thedailycougar.com
Stimulus plan passed Bill heavily supported by Democrats, won majority vote in Congress by Heather Duran THE DAILY COUGAR
DAVID SHIH THE DAILY COUGAR
Students browse different volunteer opportunities at the Bauer College of Business’s first annual volunteer expo on Tuesday.
Non-profits seek Bauer volunteers By Sean Balay THE DAILY COUGAR Recruiters at the Bauer College of Business searched for students to work for them for free as the college hosted its first volunteer expo on Tuesday at Melcher Hall. “Part of our efforts today was to raise awareness and for us to get to know the organizations,” Frank Kelley, assistant dean of undergraduate business programs, said. Business student activities advisor Stephanie Krauss said the organizations represented at the expo either have a business focus or have worked with Bauer before. “This is mainly for recruiting,” Krauss said. “We don’t want to get in the habit of this being another career fair. We want to keep this volunteer-based.” Krauss used the Web site www. volunteermatch.org to enlist the non-profit organizations. She said when business students write personal mission statements, they identify areas of interests, which will be considered in expanding the expo in the future. “We’re looking for organizations with a proven track record, especially if they’re out of the Houston area,” Kelley said. Krauss said about 150 students
attended the expo, which serves as an opportunity for them to venture outside of their comfort zones. Junior Achievement, a non-profit organization that trains college volunteers to be mentors and tutors to children from kindergarten to 12th grade, gives business students a chance to use the objectives they learn in the classroom. Junior Achievement operations manager Saprina Richards said volunteers receive training to give classroom instruction on financial skills. “We teach kids about things we didn’t learn in school. We’re taught to go to school, graduate and get a job. We’re not taught how to save and spend our money, so we’re teaching kids about financial principles,” she said. Richards said potential volunteers are thoroughly prepared to instruct the children. “We train them and give them all the materials,” Richards said. “We make sure they’re comfortable to teach the kids.” Richards said volunteers are never alone in the classroom without the children’s teacher and visit each class five times. She said UH has several professors see VOLUNTEER, page 3
As President Obama prepared to sign the $787 billion stimulus bill Tuesday debates still raged over the allocation of the funds. The bill received votes from three Republican Senators and no support from House Republicans, but still passed through the Democratic majority in both chambers of Congress. According to the BBC, the stimulus package is roughly 36 percent tax cuts and 64 percent spending on federal programs, aiming to please both fiscal conservatives and liberals. Some of these tax cuts affect students and their parents, such as a rebate for up to $2,500 for full time students. Still, the bill has encountered opposition from Republicans in both the House and the Senate. UH Department of Economics chair David Papell explained why conservatives opposed the measure. “Republicans were opposed to the overall stimulus package because it contains spending,” Papell said. “They’re convinced that spending, particularly on some of these programs, may take years to put the money into the economy and will not have the stimulus impact today of creating jobs. “Their philosophy has always been that the tax cuts, giving
people immediate tax rebates, that’s money in their pocket they can go out and spend. So the McCain version of the bill was all tax cuts.” Despite this, Papell said he thinks governmental spending is the most effective method for jolting the economy. “The best thing about the stimulus bill is that it’s tilted much more toward spending than tax cuts. We know there will be a fairly quick effect on the economy,” Papell said. “The tax cuts are much more uncertain. If people think these tax cuts are permanent then they will have a big effect on spending. If people think these tax cuts are short term then that will have very little effect on spending. Last year we cut taxes, but only for one year, and it had no discernible effect on spending.” Political science lecturer Van Wigginton said the reason Republicans refused to sign the bill was not only ideological but was also a measure to secure re-election. This always occurs no matter which party is in the minority, he said. “Politically (Republicans) all want to see the stimulus package fail because in two years when they’re up for re-election, or four years in the presidential election, they can say, ‘Look at the failed policies,’” Wigginton said. “We don’t look at what the other party did to stop the plan when we evaluate the president four years
By the numbers
787 Billion dollar stimulus bill Obama signed Tuesday
64 Percent of the bill that will be spent on federal programs
36 Percent of the bill that will be tax cuts
2,500 Dollars full-time students may receive as a rebate
later. We just say, ‘Oh, it didn’t work.’” Still, when faced with lessons learned from other countries that have found themselves in similar situations, Papell said the U.S. has done a good job by acting quickly. “I’m pretty optimistic in the sense that we don’t seem to be making the same mistakes that Japan did,” Papell said. “We learned that if you have a recession and low inflation you need to do something to stimulate the economy quickly to avoid the possibility of deflation,” Papell said. “Japan did not do that. When Japan’s bubble burst they did not run stimulative fiscal policy. They waited too long.” news@thedailycougar.com
Admin answers at Town Hall By James Rincon THE DAILY COUGAR Students pressed administrators with questions concerning the campus community at a Town Hall meeting Tuesday in Melcher Hall. Students came with questions about parking and transportation, on-campus housing, transfer credits, student organizations and the endwment. Director of Parking and Transportation Bob Browand fielded questions regarding campus shuttles, parking problems and construction. Browdand said the new East Garage, which is under construction will add 1,500 parking spaces with 1,300 set aside for student use and the rest for faculty staff and visitors. Browand said the East Garage should open in the Fall 2009 semester. He also gave insight into the University’s big picture for parking. “TPAC, which is the Transportation and Parking Advisory Committee, has been working really hard this semester on a parking plan. What was a 3-year plan is now a 6-year plan,” Browand
TONY NGUYEN THE DAILY COUGAR
Executive Vice President of Finance Carl Carlucci fields students’ questions at the Town Hall meeting Tuesday in Melcher Hall. said. “Our goal is to try to plan ahead and get this parking in place before the actual construction of other projects starts, so we’re not in the same position we’re in now with the Calhoun Lofts and East Garage going up at the same time.” In addition to the East Garage, TPAC has plans to build two other garages. The location of those garages is a topic of debate.
“The plan right now calls for the 2011–13 time frame for those two projects. As Dr. Carlucci mentioned, though, it’s not going to be cheap,” Browand said. “Parking structures generally cost about five times more than what a surface parking lot costs, and since parking is an auxiliary service, we have to raise our own capital for these projects through fees see HALL, page 3