Friday, March 23, 2012
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"Campus Voice Since 1902" • Utah State University• Logan, Utah • www.utahstatesman.com
Albrecht proposes increase
Today's Issue: Campus News
BY MEGAN ALLEN assistant news editor USU President Stan Albrecht approached faculty and students with his recommendation to increase Tier 2 tuition at the annual Truth in Tuition hearing held Thursday. The recommendation will be taken to the State Board of Regents. After evaluating the current needs of the university, Albrecht said the Administration is asking for approval to raise Tier 2 tuition by 1.5 percent - the smallest increase since the creation of Tier 2 tuition in 2001. An increase of 1.5 percent is $35.53 for a Utah resident student, and $114.39 for non resident students, Albrecht said. The Board of Regents is expected to raise state tuition by 4.5 percent next year, making the overall cost of tuition increase by 6 percent. Albrecht said the increase will apply to students on USU's main campus, as well as those attending Regional Campuses and Distance Education and at USU Eastern. The money collected by Tier 2 tuition will total nearly $1.5 million, of which $498,000 will go directly to RCDE. and USU Eastern will receive $50,000. Albrecht said the rest of the additional revenue will be divided between three areas at the Logan campus.
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To continue the university's Promotion and Tenure process, Administration needs $488,000. Another $125,000 will go toward library support and paying for subscriptions to electronic journals, to which
Director fired over accounting irregularities
students have full access. The remaining $332,500 will help with building Operation and Maintenance costs and increased health benefits for faculty, Albrecht said.
BY CATHERINE BENNITT editor in chief
• See TUITION, Page 2
Jennifer Putnam Twiss, 34, was terminated Tuesday from her position as USU's executive director for Enrollment Services for the improper distribution of scholarship JENNIFER funds. USU issued an TWISS official statement, stating a regular internal audit found there were "irregularities" in Admissions funding. It was then determined that Twiss was the employee responsible for managing these funds. "We are still trying to determine the details," said Tim Vitale, USU executive director of Public Relations and Marketing. "USU Police are investigating, and we've turned it over to the county attorney's office." Investigators have not yet released the amount of funding that was mismanaged. Requests have been made that officers complete the investigation before the public is notified of further details. Twiss was hired as an Admissions recruiter and counselor in December of 2002 and in July of 2004 was promoted to assistant director of Admissions. She went on to serve as director of Admissions in 2006 and was promoted to executive director of Enrollment Services in 2011.
USU PRESIDENT STAN ALBRECHT EXPLAINS a proposal to increase tuition by 1.5 percent. Should the Board of Regents approve the proposal, it will be the smallest Tier 2 tuition increase in USU history. CURTIS RIPPUNGER photo
- catherine.meidell@aggiemail.usu.edu
High costs at the pump aggravate students BY ARIANNA REES staff writer Gasoline prices have risen substantially since last month and are continuing to increase, making it difficult for many
off-campus USU students to get to school and save money. Albert Packer, a senior majoring in graphic design, drives from Smithfield to campus five days a week. "I used to spend about $30 a
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PRICES AT THE GAS PUMP HAVE RISEN 31 cents per gallon on average in the U.S. in the last month. CODY GOCHNOUR photo
month," he said about his gas budget. "But then it hiked to about $12.50 a week, and now that amount (of gas) only lasts me two to three days. I am definitely worried it will climb and I just won't be able to afford it anymore." According to yesterday's AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report, the national average for regular gas is $3.88, up 31 cents from a month ago and increasing at a rate of 2 cents per week. Though Utah is among the nation's more affordable states to buy gasoline, the average price of gas in Cache Valley is currently $3.73, a number high enough to cause discomfort and penny pinching for many students. Aubri Olson is a freshman majoring in· law and constitutional studies. Olson, like Packer, lives off-campus and drives to school every day. She said because of rising gas
prices, she is forced to remain on campus for long periods of time to save money. "I have to stay on campus even when I have long breaks between classes," Olson said. "It would be wasting a ton of money to take the 15-minute drive home and come back later. I'd much rather come home and eat and do other things, but instead I have to stay." Gasoline costs Olson $75 a week on average, or more if she leaves the valley, she said. Randy Park, planning and marketing manager for Cache Valley Transit District, said the number of rides on CVTD buses has risen significantly over the past year. In the past two months, the number of rides is thousands more than one year ago. Park said the rise in ridership can in part be attributed to gas prices. See STUDENTS, Page 3
Golden Plates considered in differing viewpoints BY KEITH JACKMAN staff writer
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Richard Bushman, a former Harvard University professor and a leading authority on Mormon studies, delivered a speech on the Golden Plates said to have been translated by Joseph Smith, founder of the LDS church. "My contention is that the plates shift their meaning every time they pass from one kind of narrative to another," Bushman said. Bushman, who was invited to USU by Phillip Barlow, director of USU's religious studies department, spoke in the Eccles Science Learning Center on Thursday. Bushman said he has done research over the past couple of years for a book he's writing about the different ways the plates are viewed in different contexts. "We have two characterizations of Joseph Smith," he said. "He can be seen either as a fraud or as a prophet, with the plates being a hinge between the two. My approach to the plates is to think of them as living many lives ... By this, I mean they figure in many stories." The Book of Mormon, histories written
by early church critics, lore within the church and children's primary songs each depict the plates slightly differently, he said. "In each of these environments the plates take on a different coloration," Bushman said. First, the plates can be considered as a historical artifact, Bushman said. "They bear The Book of Mormon history - the equivalent of the parchment and paper on which the Bible is written," he said. Second, the plates are sometimes viewed as a temptation because of their monetary value. he said. "The plates ... are most notable of being gold, an object of immense monetary value," Bushman said. Third, the plates are seen as "a forbidden and holy object," Bushman said. "No one can look on them without permission." Bushman said these traits of the plates were never mentioned in The Book of Mormon itself. Bushman said when writing his book, "Rough Stone Rolling," he had to acknowledge that to most modern readers the plates were beyond belief. The LDS sources
he interviewed, however, accepted them as fact rather than fantastic, he said. In the early 19th century, when The Book of Mormon was first published, many people were examining long-held religious beliefs, he said. "God, Christianity and the spirituality
See HISTORIAN, Page 3
RICHARD BUSHMAN, A HISTORIAN SPECIALIZING in Mormon studies, delivered a lecture on the Golden Plates, which he said was the Book of Mormon was translated from. CODY GOCHNOUR photo