VOLUME 46, ISSUE 33
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2013
KING OF VERSE
SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION
Celebrated Poet Visits UCSD
Getting The facebook fix
FEATURES , Page 7
opinion, Page 4
www.ucsdguardian.org
TOUCHING FIRST
tRITONS TAKE PCSC TITLES sports, Page 12
NAtion
Obama Calls for More STEM Students In his address last week, the president said that more science and math students can help the economy. BY ANDREW DOOLITTLE
SPECIAL To the Guardian WASHINGTON, D.C. — During his State of the Union address to a divided U.S. Congress last Tuesday, President Obama outlined steps to strengthen the middle class through education and immigration reform. Obama’s 2013 budget plan established funding for federal programs in science, technology, engineering and mathematics — or STEM — education at $3 billion, which rose by 2.6 percent since last year. With it, the president set a government-wide goal to increase the number of STEM graduates by one-third, or one million, over the next decade. According to the most recent UCSD student profile, more than half of the 22,600 undergraduates in fall of 2012 were majoring in STEM fields. By 2022, if Obama’s goal succeeds, UCSD would add over 3,800 more STEM students, about the current size of Thurgood Marshall College or undergraduates in the Division of Biological Sciences. Obama justified his plan by announcing the demand of over 2.1 million STEM-related jobs over the same period. About 1.3 million alone are computer specialist related. Also near the top of the list was Obama’s urge for Congress to reform the Higher Education Act, which determines how schools receive federal aid. It is scheduled for a reauthorization this year. “Colleges must do their part to keep costs down,” Obama said. “It’s our job to make sure they do so.” The proposed reform would account for affordability and value in determining which colleges receive certain types of federal funding, similar to his Race to the Top program with K-12 schools. Last Wednesday, his administration released a “College Scorecard” on WhiteHouse.gov to make campus comparisons. It is a standardized report used to decide “where you can get the most bang for your educational buck,” he said during the speech. Though there is not an actual score, per se, the scorecard reports details like net costs, graduation rates, default loan rates and median borrowing. It is expected to also report employment statistics, including graduate salary data, when available. For example, according to the scorecard, UCSD’s graduation rate is higher than the national average, while the percentage of students who default on student loans is much lower than See UNION, page 3
ALWIN SZETO/Guardian
WE COME RUNNING UCSD opened its 2013 Track and Field season against Claremont-Mudd-Scripps and Cal Poly Pomona in the UCSD/CPP/CMS Triangular at Triton Track and Field Stadium Feb. 16. UCSD athletes took first place in 20 of the one-day meet’s events. Above, Triton runner junior Ximena Cruz took third place in the Women’s 1500-meter run.
UC SYSTEM
CAMPUS
Governor Brown Releases Details on Education Plan
Google Talk Introduces Project Glass to Students
While campuses will see more funding, analysts say it may not be enough. BY heidi kim
G
Senior Staff Writer
ov. Jerry Brown released budget proposals earlier this month for California’s higher education systems that would increase funding for the University of California, the California State University system, and the California Community Colleges system. As stated in Gov. Brown’s report, the funding increases would be used for improvements throughout these higher education systems. The funds would be distributed to paying debts, employee pension costs and community colleges, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle on Feb. 12. Brown’s 40-page report was released on Feb. 12. Gov. Brown asked the California Legislature to pass a $1.4 billion increase for the 2013–2014 fiscal school year; this is a 13 percent increase in funding from the 2012–2013 fiscal year. The UC system in total would receive a $250 million increase, with $10 million for each UC and CSU campus. Community colleges would receive up to $16.9 million to fund more online courses. However, nonpartisan policy advisor at the Legislative Analyst’s Office criticized Gov. Brown’s proposals and said many of the goals could be reached with existing resources. Instead of providing $10 million for each campus to expand online education, LAO suggests a low-cost $1 million instead to widen the use of existing courses. A Feb. 16 opinion piece in The Daily Californian argues that Gov. Brown’s plans to improve higher education are vague and are seen as “undefined performance expectations” because the funds are “unallocated.” The state legislative analyst questioned Gov. Brown’s proposal, as this year’s increases in
A UCSD alumnus, now working for Google X, presented plans for new high-tech eyewear last week.
funding toward the public higher education system had unclear expectations. LAO said that Gov. Brown’s proposal had good general topics but that it lacked details regarding what improvements the funding would be allocated toward. The legislative analyst suggested that extra funding should be used to improve enrollment and student performance. Brown’s proposal also received criticism from the office for taking “key higher-education decisions out of the Legislature’s control,” as LAO wrote in its review. Because of the unclear distribution of increased funds and the expectations that follow, analysts do not agree that the proposal should pass. Another major concern was the topic of tuition. Gov. Brown proposed a tuition freeze that would keep tuition from increasing for the next four years. While this may seem like a favorable proposal to current students, the analyst’s office disagreed with the plan, arguing that future students might be hit hard with tuition increases. The office asked the legislature to reject Brown’s proposal, for the analysts said it could likely lead to steep tuition increases in the coming years if another economic struggle arrives. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported Feb. 13 that LAO said that California students currently pay roughly 30 percent of UC and CSU costs and 6 percent of community college costs through tuition, after state and financial aid distributed to students. “When the state’s done it in the past, usually it keeps for a couple years, but when there’s another economic downturn, then you’ll see a huge spike in
UCSD alumnus Steven Lau returned to campus on Feb. 11 to give a tech talk about Google X’s Project Glass, where he works as a senior software engineer and project leader. The talk was held in the Computer Science and Engineering building, Room 1202, where most tech talks take place. The room, which seats about 150, was packed with over 200 students by the time the event started at 7 p.m. Lau graduated from Revelle College in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in computer science and received his master’s degree in computer science from UCSD through the five-year master’s program. After working at several large and small startup businesses, he joined Google X about eight months into the project. Officially called Google X Lab, Google X is a separate group within Google made up of engineers, designers and inventors. The secret lab is
See EDUCATION, page 3
See GOOGLE, page 3
BY sean nam
Staff Writer