The time of change is upon us. Changing our schedules for next semester, and changing them at night, even the clocks are changing forward an hour this weekend. With everything changing so much take some time out to read the one thing that will always be the same on Fridays: this week's laurels and darts.
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Unfortunately, this week brought a sad end to the fabulous season of the Rutgers women's basketball team. Ending with a final record of 28-7, the team was strong both offensively and defensively all season, especially in the NCAA Tournament. The ladies fought back and won against almost all of the teams they lost to during the regular season.
Special kudos goes out to leading players Cappie Pondexter, Chelsea Newton and Rebecca Richman. This was an especially sweet season for Newton and Richman, as well as Nikki Jett, who are graduating this semester. Head coach C. Vivian Stringer, who notched a historic career win No. 700 along the way, did an amazing job bringing the women so far. For playing hard and having a wonderful season, not to mention bringing Rutgers all the way to the Elite Eight, the Rutgers women's basketball team gets a laurel.
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President George W. Bush, in his recently proposed federal budget, plans to cut funding by 50 percent to all land-grant colleges. Land-grant colleges are ones that offer teaching and research in the areas of agriculture, food, nutrition, health and natural resources. Cook College is considered a land-grant college that will suffer if Bush's plan goes through. The money would be rerouted to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Research Initiative and a new grant program for State Agricultural Experiment Stations.
The University would lose $2.8 million for the 2006 fiscal year and $5.6 million in the 2007 fiscal year. With such a loss in funds, Cook College would be unable to continue the quality of research for which it is known, since the college could no longer afford it. Also, the competition for grants for land-grant colleges would increase, and the state might follow the federal government in cutting funds, leaving Cook in a fiscally awful situation.
For cutting funds to land-grant colleges, which produce students in fields necessary to our very existence, Bush gets a dart.
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The Dalai Lama is coming to visit the University on Sept. 25. He will speak on peace in the world community, and it is expected to be a very large event. However, the University does not want the event to be an isolated one. The issue of peace in the global community is a large one that should be especially close to the hearts of students.
To prevent it from becoming just a lecture, the Dalai Lama Student Planning Committee is encouraging student groups to plan events leading up to his visit. The first event will be held April 16 and is a "Day of Peace at Rutgers." There will also be a film series to be held on weekends for the rest of the semester as part of the 2005 New Jersey Spring Film Series. A slew of other events are also expected.
For recognizing that peace is an important issue to be considered for more than just one day, the Dalai Lama Student Planning Committee gets a laurel.
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The Community Health and Environmental Coalition of New Brunswick has recognized the problem of childhood obesity and the problem of a lack of green space in the city that could be utilized for children. The coalition has found a possible solution to both. It wants to introduce programs through the public schools that would get the children outside and gardening. Another aspect of the program would allow students to garden for a summer job.
Still working with the schools, the coalition plans to clean up a grassy plot that is contaminated with lead. It wants to not only physically clean up the lead, but also to make an education program that teaches children about the environmental concerns of the area.
For creating an environmentally friendly program that will teach children while making them healthier and improving their overall quality of life, the Community Health and Environmental Coalition of New Brunswick gets a laurel.
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