The Beacon, August 29, 2008 Florida International University
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Florida International University FIU Digital Commons The aP nther Press (formerly The Beacon) Special Collections and University Archives 8-29-2008 The Beacon, August 29, 2008 Florida International University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/student_newspaper Recommended Citation Florida International University, "The Beacon, August 29, 2008" (2008). The Panther Press (formerly The Beacon). 180. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/student_newspaper/180 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the Special Collections and University Archives at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in The aP nther Press (formerly The Beacon) by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. A Forum for Free Student Expression at Florida International University Vol. 21, Issue 9 www.fi usm.com August 29, 2008 COUNTRY CLUB TURN OFF THE LIGHT GONE NUTS FOOTBALL RETURNS International students united Old schedule would save power Alumni go on comedy tour Golden Panthers take on Jayhawks AT THE BAY PAGE 3 OPINION PAGE 4 LIFE! PAGE 5 SPORTS PAGE 8 Tough times necessitate new GI Bill JULIO MENACHE plies. Servicemen can also Asst. News Director transfer unused benefits to their spouses and children. IDENTITY Sergeant Nathaniel Under the old GI Bill, Chapman is used to having soldiers needed to pay a bombs dropping all around $1,200 enrollment fee at CRISIS him. What he didn’t expect the beginning of their ser- was to have a “bomb” drop vice. Veterans would then on him back home. have 10 years after leaving The young FIU gradu- active duty to be eligible ate student, who just trans- for aid. Full-time students ferred from Kentucky State would receive monthly re- University, had just found imbursement payments of EACON B out the financial aid from $1,101 for a maximum of HE three years under the old /T the “GI Bill of Rights” would not come in on time GI Bill. to meet the tuition deadline “The new GI Bill will UADARRAMA G for classes. definitely help more in IInternetnternet uusese pputsuts sstudentstudents aatt rriskisk “It was really frustrat- terms of paying for housing IOVANI G ing because I didn’t have a and school. While housing job,” said Chapman. “With wasn’t a big issue for me PAULO O’SWATH networks are traditionally open and Malwares, which are malicious the GI Bill, you really need since I lived with my par- Asst. News Director unprotected environments, FIU’s wire- software, can infi ltrate a student’s to have a 40 hour a week ents, it is a big issue with less network is safe to use, according computer system and destroy their job.” other Marines,” said Carlos Students beware: using your lap- to Cheryl Granto, FIU’s Information hard drives. Besides tuition, Araica, a Marine veteran top around campus may expose you Technology security offi cer. Granto said that malwares are Chapman needed to pay for who currently works at the to identity theft. Still, while there haven’t been any something very common that oc- housing and car insurance, FIU’s Office of Veterans’ “This is something that I wor- hacking incidents over the FIU wire- cur when downloading illegal music, which together came out to Affairs. ry about a lot,” said Geoffrey less network, illegal downloading for which is why it is dangerous for stu- be $1,500 a month. Aside With the new GI Bill, Merconchini, a history major. music and movies puts students at risk dents to do so. from that, the young vet- however, there is no en- “Identity theft is no joke. I’m very for identity theft, Granto said. Another problem, especially dur- eran needed to worry about rollment fee and veterans cautious whenever I go online and “We’ve had computer misuse in ing mid-terms and fi nals , is unattend- paying back the $20,000- would have an additional check e-mails.” the past,” said Granto. “Illegal down- ed laptops. $30,000 in loans he’d taken five years of eligibility. The Federal Trade Commission loading is still a big problem we’re According to Identity Finder, a out previously. The new bill would pay estimates that as many as nine mil- continuously facing. It can bring dif- confi dential data loss and theft pre- However, Chapman for a veteran’s college ex- lion Americans have their identities ferent viruses and that can lead to po- vention software company, close to a may be seeing some relief penses, instead of reim- stolen each year. Florida had more tential hackers.” million laptops are stolen every year. soon. A new law signed by bursing them, according than 98,300 vicitms in 2006, accord- Illegal downloading causes hack- Stolen laptops are a goldmine for President George W. Bush to FIU Veterans’ Affairs ing to IdentityTheftSecurity.com, an ers to download malicious codes that hackers, who can go over stored in- will provide more financial Assistant Coordinator online identity theft prevention Web run malwares, like the Trojan Horse formation in hard drives and sell the aid to college-bound veter- Angel Contreras. site, making it the fi fth highest rank- virus, that can go undetected by com- information online. Identity thieves ans who served after 9/11. “The fact that it cov- ing state in the United States for iden- puter users. This causes computers to can now buy Social Security numbers, The new GI Bill of Rights is ers costs and takes care of tity theft. malfunction and allow unauthorized a massive spending bill that them, instead of supple- THEFT, page 2 Although many school’s wireless users to log in. may have a huge impact on menting them, makes the the daily lives of young de- new GI Bill superior to the gree-seeking veterans. old one,” Chapman. The law, which takes ef- Different versions of the Future dorms aimed at graduates fect late next summer, aims GI Bill have been imple- to add to the GI Bill. The mented since the end of CHERYL MALONE dergraduate enrollment, but the “The students’ [University] cap- bill was last updated in World War II. The origi- Staff Writer University will begin to reach out to ping is not an issue of concern for this 1984. nal 1944 plan gave soldiers graduate students as well,” Jones said. project,” Jones said. As a result of the new GI $500 a year for their col- While no exact date is set, both During FIU’s Town Hall meeting on She believes that the demand is Bill, the months of negoti- lege education. As the cost University Park and Biscayne Bay May 22, University President Modesto high enough that this expansion would ating between Democratic of college skyrocketed, the Campus have new dormitories in A. Maidique fi rst announced “FIU result in a marketable number. and Republican lawmak- bill had to evolve to meet store. 3.0,” a plan which would have selec- The dorms are not fi lled to 100 ers provides veterans who the new standards and costs “More student applicants will have tive enrollment, with fewer students percent capacity, and percentages dif- served at least 90 days af- of living. housing facilities to fi ll their individ- being accepted into the University ev- fer from one hall to the next, depend- ter Sept. 11, 2001 with full The GI Bill of the ual housing preferences, with greater ery year. ing on student preferences such as tuition and fees coverage 1940’s was updated to variety and location,” said Rosa Jones, However, even with the enrollment availability for private bedrooms and – equivalent to the most the Montgomery GI Bill vice president of Student Affairs and caps, Jones does not expect a decline apartments. expensive four-year public in 1984. According to Undergraduate Education. in applications in housing. Jones ex- Currently, out of approximately institution in the state. The Chronicle of Higher The end goal of the dormitory ex- plains that a key goal for the housing 36,000 students, 3,000 live on cam- In addition, veterans Education, the Montgomery pansion is expected to be a higher lev- project is to reach out to graduate stu- pus. Of the students attending FIU, will receive monthly pay- GI Bill covers about 73 per- el of residential student life. dents, who are a smaller population ments for housing and “At present there is higher un- than undergraduates in housing. DORMS, page 2 $1,000 for books and sup- GI BILL, page 2 2 The Beacon – August 29, 2008 NEWS www.fi usm.com New housing suites FUTURE LEADERS expected to encourage student involvement DORMS, page 1 “The new dorms will be based on similar values,” Jones said. Bonds only 13 percent are residents on will fund any new construction. campus. The new dorms will aim “The revenue stream used to for a minimum 7 percent increase. repay those bonds comes from “We want a lot of positive inter- students who live in the dormito- action on campus and more tradi- ries,” said Madeline Baro, assis- tional students and participation,” tant director of Media Relations. Jones said. “Construction of dormitories is not Matt Rhodes, a political sci- subsidized by any other source, ence major who drives to UP from such as tuition or state general rev- Hialeah, agrees that living on cam- enue funds.” pus presents a defi nite advantage. Angela Granese, a graduate “Living on campus would save student in linguistics, doesn’t fi nd me a lot of time and trouble,” he much importance for residential said. life. “I’d much rather commute, I “I did the whole dorm thing like knowing I can go and relax in in my undergrad years and it was VICTORIA LYNCH/THE BEACON privacy and study without distrac- a lot of fun.