news

Nothing wrong with presidential advice

By Staff Writer | Sep. 10, 2009

On Tuesday, President Obama delivered a back-to-school speech to students across the country that sparked unexpected controversy.

Duets from starlet and indie star

By Staff Writer | Sep. 10, 2009

Scarlett Johansson came to Pete Yorn in a dream in 2006. According to the new duo's web site, Yorn woke with a start after a battle with insomnia and a rough breakup, declaring that he needed to make a record similar to Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot. Johansson, at least according to Yorn, is the 21st century equivalent of Bardot.

Students act fast against new university printing rules

By Staff Writer | Sep. 10, 2009

As of Aug. 31, full-time students using the university's printers may only print 400 pages per semester for free. Use more paper than that and the university will charge five cents per page printed. The money will be deducted from the students' Pirate's Gold account. Part-time students are allotted 200 free pages per semester, according to a broadcast e-mail sent on Aug. 26. According to Richard Stern and Michael Taylor, heads of the Digital Sustainability Committee, last year the university's printers used in excess of three million pages, 80 percent of which were used in library. "We wanted to find out what we could do to lower that number," Stern, who is also a university librarian, said. Stern and Taylor said that the effort to reduce wasted paper originally began as a student-run grassroots movement towards making the university greener a few years ago. According to Taylor, the students bought the issue to Univresity President Monsignor Sheeran, who then charged the university with that same goal. The Teaching Learning Technology Roundtable originally tapped Stern and Taylor to head the Digital Sustainability Committee last year. The roundtable asked the committee to look into using teaching and technology to make Seton Hall a greener place. Stern said that he saw the amount of paper students were printing in the library and thought that there had to be something the university could do to effectively reduce that number. "There are many universities that don't give students any free printing," Taylor said. "Paper is one of the most polluting industries in the United States." Stern and Taylor said that they originally decided upon 200 pages per semester after talking to various administrators and faculty. However, the TLTR decided to up the number to 400 for full-time students. "(In order to) err on the side of caution," Taylor said. Not everybody is happy with the new limit, though, and the Student Government Association is currently working on a bill that will increase the paper limit. The movement, spearheaded by Arts and Sciences Senator Dana Kappel, will up the paper limit to 1,000 for full-time students and 500 for part-time students. "We came up with this number because of it is high enough where we can be agreeable to negotiations without compromising the original purpose of the bill," Melissa Boege, an Arts and Sciences senator for the SGA, said. Additionally, the bill includes a provision to ask faculty to consider the printing limit when assigning lengthy articles and to reconsider banning laptops in the classroom. According to Boege, the third provision of the bill is "an idea as to how Executive Board members of clubs and organizations could go about printing materials for their organizations without it interfering with their personal paper limits." Boege said that the solution suggested in the resolution is to install a printer in the SGA office."The basic idea is that club E-Board members could come during SGA office hours and print their materials, which would be supervised by SGA E-Board members and senators," Boege said, adding that there would be a system put in place to ensure the printer was only used for club materials and not personal use. Taylor and Stern agreed that they were open to compromise on the number, but that they also wanted to see the data for this semester in order to better analyze the amount of paper used. "(By swiping the card) you might be more aware of how much you are printing," Taylor said.While Taylor and Stern said they were more than willing to work with the SGA and students, they also said that they have to balance the needs of the students with the goal of being more environmentally friendly. Boege added that while some students have majors that require very little paper usage, others have majors or have joined activities that require a lot of printing. Both parties agree that their numbers are estimates and probably will need some tweaking in the future. They also agree that faculty should help with the new printing restrictions. According to Boege, the bill to increase the printing limit has been drafted and is in the revisionary process. Boege said that the bill sponsors are hoping to present it at the Sept. 14 meeting. Caitlin Carroll can be reached at caitlin.carroll@student.shu.edu.

Service increases as SOS replaces SHU500

By Staff Writer | Sep. 10, 2009

For years students utilized SHU500 to quickly fulfill service requirements and dedicate a day to service. This year, SHU500 is being replaced with Service On Saturdays (SOS) in an effort to better serve the community and students.SOS will take place over four Saturdays instead of the one day of service. Student may sign up for one of the four days. Each site can host anywhere from 20-200 students and each day will last from about 9 a.m. to 2 p.m."Discussions on how to enhance SHU500 began quite a few years ago," Michelle Sheridan, the director for the Division of Volunteer Efforts said. "Our numbers were increasing and we wanted to give our students a hands on and personal experience in service."Focus groups were established two years ago and last spring semester to examine student feedback on how the DOVE program was going."Out of that focus group we decided that this was something to try to make a more sustainable impact on the community by being present at these sights, four times rather than one time, to give our students a real, solid connection with our sites," Sheridan said."It's less numbers of students and easier for them to interact with the sites they will be working at."A small number of students means that participants will be able to do more personal work and make more lasting connections on sites. Some of the hands on activities, such as landscaping and painting, will be at the earlier SOS dates, while the November dates stick to indoor sites as an adjustment to the weather. Jill Matthews, the director of Media Relations, has worked closely in the past with SHU500."These changes really reflect what the students were asking for, they wanted a more meaningful experience a time where they could really work closely with the organization that they're serving," Matthews said. Matthews pointed out that there once was a cap on the number of students with SHU500 only serving 750 students. SOS will be able to serve about 1,200 students. Junior Matthew DiCarlo has been involved with DOVE for three years now, and has attended the past two SHU500s. "Having service opportunities on four different days should be more flexible and accommodating than one giant event," DiCarlo said. "It should be less confusing and hectic than SHU500. Not to say SHU500 wasn't great; having attended the past two years I can say the experiences have been worthwhile and provided as a great way to work with fellow classmates."Thomas Russamanno, the assistant director of DOVE, said that each site will be slightly different. "Some sites will be repeats from years past, not necessarily last year's SHU500," Russamanno said."There are a significant amount of new sites. We want to build a relationship between Seton Hall and places we haven't volunteered at before."Brochures will be given out to all participants that tell the student who they are serving, the history of the site, what their service means to New Jersey or the community, and extra space to write out a reflection.Jenny Zmirski, a student on Education Committee for SOS, said that her committee is in charge of putting together the brochures and coordinating the student leaders. She said that the committee is looking for about 20 students to act as leaders."I like the fact that it's a consistency with the service, where we're not focusing on service just for a day because it shouldn't be something we do every once in a while," Zmirski said. "We want to get the students visible to the university community so that they know that we're here to serve to enhance the community and make a sustainable impact on the site we're serving," Sheridan said. Students may sign up now for SOS dates on Sept. 26 and Oct. 24 dates. Registration for the Nov. 7 and 21 begins on Oct. 12. Students who are interested in becoming team leaders must attend the information session at 9 p.m. tonight in the Faculty Lounge.Stephanie Bower can be reached at stephanie bower@student.shu.edu.

Additional off-campus housing not in Seton Hall future

By Staff Writer | Sep. 10, 2009

Both students and other South Orange residents have said that if Seton Hall were to buy housing in a section of the Village specifically for their students off campus, it would alleviate some of the problem.

Seton Hall welcomes freshmen on Move-In Day

By Staff Writer | Sep. 1, 2009

*All photos by Milan Stanic.

Bradley charged in hit-and-run fatality

By Staff Writer | Aug. 26, 2009

Frank Bradley, a Newark native, was charged in a 13-count indictment by an Essex County Grand Jury earlier this week for his involvement in the fatal hit-and-run death of 49-year-old James Walsh last February.

Fire safety at 55 Ward

By Staff Writer | Aug. 18, 2009

55 Ward Place got a free evaluation from the South Orange Fire Department on Tuesday afternoon with off-campus student safety in mind.

Animal House' hinders student housing

By Staff Writer | Aug. 15, 2009

Due to frequent disruptive conduct and many complaints among residents, the South Orange Board of Trustees adopted an ordinance on July 27 that requires imposed sanctions on landlords who do not evict tenants repeatedly violating quality-of-life-laws.

Incoming baseball freshman found dead

By Staff Writer | Aug. 12, 2009

David Bachner, an incoming freshman who was on a baseball scholarship, was found dead inside his Plainsboro home yesterday.The 18-year-old pitcher earned a spot with the Pirates after a prolific high school career, setting numerous records on the mound for West Windsor-Plainsboro North High School.Just two months ago, the Times of Trenton named Bachner its Player of the Year.While no cause of death was announced by local authorities, it was known that Bachner had a heart problem and wore a monitoring device at times, according to the Times of Trenton. The issue was detected by Seton Hall officials during a physical exam.

LaSala to chair search committee

By Staff Writer | July 29, 2009

"Presidential Transition 2010" is officially underway, as the university has named a chair to the Presidential Search and Screen Committee.

Students, staff react to Sheeran announcement

By Staff Writer | July 19, 2009

"Half-Blood Prince" worth the wait

By Staff Writer | July 18, 2009

When it was announced last fall that the film release of the sixth installment of the mega successful Harry Potter series would be pushed back from November to July, muggles all over the country were not too thrilled. It has certainly been a long wait, but Harry's spell continues to work its magic. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is a gripping and visually stunning film and has already met success by taking in $22 million domestically from midnight showings on its July 15 release.

Never will say goodbye

By Staff Writer | June 30, 2009

As I write this, Michael Jackson has been deceased for days. In the time since his passing on Thursday, you have seen reports on the singer – the circumstances under which he died, the family's reaction, the looming questions about his estate – splattered across the Web. You've seen tributes flooding from every news outlet on the planet. You've seen MTV break their unwritten no-video rule to show the greatest clips by the King of Pop, and you've heard everything from "ABC" to "Smooth Criminal" blaring from someone's speakers.