Florida International University FIU Digital Commons The aP nther Press (formerly The Beacon) Special Collections and University Archives 1-27-2012 The Beacon, January 27, 2012 Florida International University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/student_newspaper Recommended Citation Florida International University, "The Beacon, January 27, 2012" (2012). The Panther Press (formerly The Beacon). 548. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/student_newspaper/548 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. 23, Issue 57 www.fiusm.com Friday, January 27, 2012 NATIONAL A NEW(T) DAY State of the Union address targets college tuition AARON PABON “I was appreciative of his Contributing Writer statements about wanting to [email protected] increase the number of students in work study and keeping the President Barack Obama students interest rates low” said outlined an economic plan Francisco Valines, director of during his State of the Union financial aid and enrollment Address on Jan. 24, which services at the University. included a strategy that would “Hopefully Congress will come affect tuition for University up with funding to increase the students. work study program.” “At a time when Americans The address came just owe more in tuition debt than credit card debt, this Congress needs to stop the interest rates on student loans from doubling I feel that our in July,” said Obama during his president really televised speech. understands the The president took aim at colleges and universities, and problem with the pledged that if they can not raise in tuition stop or fix the rising cost of around the nation. tuition, “the funding you get Leonardo Curiel, from taxpayers will go down.” President of the FIU “I feel that our President College Democrats really understands the problem with the raise in tuition around shortly after Florida House the nation,” said international leaders in Tallahassee put forth relations and economics major a proposal to raise tuition at Leonardo Curiel, who is the public colleges and universities president of the FIU College by 8 percent as part of a new Democrats. “He knows that budget plan. GOP hopeful speaks on campus it is to every state to decide “It is a shame that our legis- JONATHAN SZYDLO where their money is going lature considers other spend- BBC Managing Editor to be spent. He asked states ings more important than the [email protected] to make higher education a education of the future of this priority when they decide on state and this country,” said An eye of Newt, a touch of Rivera, each state’s budget.” Curiel. and a bit of Burton were the key ingre- The “Pay As You Earn” In 2009, the Florida Legis- dients to the political brew that was proposal of the Obama Admin- lature allowed the state’s public Gingrich’s campaign stop on Jan. 25 at istration will reduce monthly universities to increase their the University. payments for more than one and tuition rates by up to 15 percent The FIU College Republicans spon- a half million current college each year until tuition reaches sored a visit by Republican presidential students and borrowers. the national average of $3,735 candidate Newt Gingrich to the Univer- It will also allow about 1.6 per semester. sity’s Wertheim Performing Arts Center million students the ability to The proposal would also to gather the support of South Florida’s cap their loan payments at 10 reduce Florida’s contribution Hispanic voters. He focused his discus- percent starting next year and to higher education by approx- sion on Latin American policies which permit an estimated 6 million imately 6 percent, and tighten will be a key demographic in Florida’s students and recent college the requirements for Bright Jan. 31 GOP Primary election. graduates to consolidate their Futures scholarships. Present at the event were members of PHOTOS BY KRISTI CAMARA/THE BEACON loans. It would decrease the time the community at large, a few students (Top) Newt Gingrich, Republican presidential candidate, deliberated on the “Pay As You Earn,” is set to that students have to start using and a battalion of media crews gathered previous night’s State of the Union address. (Bottom) Rep. Dan Burton from Indi- reduce students’ loan interest funds from Bright Futures after to see what Gingrich had to say. ana, Rep. David Rivera from Florida joined Gingrich at his speech on Jan. 25. rates and forgive the balance high school graduation from Florida Representative David Rivera of their debt after 20 years of three years to two. delivered opening remarks in both issues facing our nation,” said Rivera to ical ads that were in opposition to the payments. Obama concluded his English and Spanish that had supporters a roar of applause. Gingrich campaign rejecting the idea that This may serve as a relief to message of college tuition by in attendance “smelling victory.” Dan Burton, representative from Gingrich resigned in disgrace as Speaker graduate students who suffered saying “higher education can’t “We’ve got the only Republican Indiana, then came on stage to not only of the Senate in 1999. He also denounced the loss of subsidies on their be a luxury - it’s an economic candidate in this race that actually has introduce Gingrich, but to “set the record loans earlier this year as a imperative that every family experience dealing with the important straight” by denouncing recent polit- SEE GINGRICH, PAGE 2 product of the Budget Control in America should be able to Act. afford.” COMING UP Sports ONLINE www.fiusm.com RADIO Radiate FM Check out Monday’s issue a Follow us on: Tune in to Radiate FM from 9 a.m. - 12 p.m. on profile on Cindy Russo, head Twitter - @FIUSM Mon., Wed. and Fri. for our Opinion, Sports coach of the FIU women’s Facebook - FIU Student Media: News, and News shows. basketball team. FIU Student Media: Sports The Radioactive Underground: 88.1 - 95.3 - 96.9 2 The Beacon – Friday, January 27, 2012 NEWS www.fiusm.com LIBRARY Financial setbacks threaten availability of journals MELhor Leonor the publishing industry into a small strategic initiative funding to the cancelling subscriptions for jour- “More recently, the ‘open access’ Contributing Writer number of very large publishers and libraries each year,” Probst said. nals that are not heavily used or are movement is gaining prominence, [email protected] the transition to a digital publishing “Without this funding, the libraries no longer needed to support research advocating for open Internet access environment.” would need to cancel subscriptions to and teaching,” Probst said. to faculty research and publications Academic journals, the basis for Another push for the increases journals and our students and faculty Additionally, the University is as an alternative to the high-cost and many student papers and reports, are is the dependence of universities on would lose access to these critical also reducing the number of printed subscription-only access currently being threatened by an increasing large commercial publishers. resources.” versions per journal as electronic available from traditional, commer- price tag. “It’s not just the library system University students and faculty options become more popular. cial publishers.” The University library system is at FIU. These price hikes affect have access to over 10,000 journals, Externally, the University is Moving towards this alternative struggling with a 3-5% increase per libraries and education everywhere,” some of which are used several thou- working with publishers, re-working benefits both the University and the year, which been occuring over the said Philip Bolton, an electronic sand times a month. contracts for lower pricing and to faculty that publish their research, last ten years. thesis and dissertations coordinator “Academic journals are crucial to develop alternative models that according to Probst. In 2011, the University spent at the University’s Graduate School. my majors,” said Marianne Liens, a reduce costs while also maximizing It would decrease costs and would $2.2 million in e-journal packages, a “Librarians are being forced to cancel junior majoring in political science access to journal content and retaining allow the faculty to keep copyright price that is bound to increase in the subscriptions to important databases and international relations. “Most of access to the most critical journals. of their work, a privilege they often coming fiscal year. and library funding has shrunk in my classes require a lot of written While rising costs are a problem, times lose when signing contracts “This is a problem that affects the recent years in conjunction with the work and regular Internet sources like Probst said the real issue to be with corporate publishers. publishing industry at large, especially economic downturn.” Wikipedia are unreliable. If academic addressed is the need for fundamental “Information is more important publishers of academic content, and In order to address the increases, journals would not be available and structural changes in academic than sports,” said Bolton, who studied the library/education community,” the University has begun to adopt through the University it would be publishing. library and information science at said Laura Probst, dean of libraries at strategies to lessen the effects on an extra cost to me, as a student, or a “The academic community is Syracuse University, “more impor- the University. “The reasons for the students and staff, among them are drop in the quality of my work.” exploring alternatives to commercial tant than brand new facilities, more problem are complex.