City College News - Latest Comments

Re: College tuition just obeying the law

James — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 18:12:24 -0000

Education, like anything paid for, is a commodity. And a degree, like anything that gives someone a "leg up", loses value when more people have one. If, then, tuition prices keep rising because more and more people feel entitled to a college education and more and more people hold that it will be a positive thing for them to get one (even if it won't), AND the real monetary value of a degree continues to fall as more and more people receive degrees, we will continue to see a bubble form until it bursts and either tuition rates are forced to fall, a degree is no longer seen as a necessary thing, or both. This is how all bubbles work. Housing, for instance: The price of houses became far higher than the actual worth of houses. The necessity of homeownership was felt by more and more people. The government-backed banks happily gave these people mortgages against all financial sense. Cheap mortgages continued to cause demand to rise; rising demand caused prices to rise; prices rising didn't stop politicians from convincing people that homeownership was a necessity. Mortgages continued to be handed out like candy. Then the bubble burst and got us into the mess we're in today. The exact same thing is currently happening with tuition. College costs far more than it is actually worth, not because the government isn't putting caps on tuition, but because the politicians are convincing people that it's a necessity.

Re: The Crumbling Fourth Estate

Rachele Kanigel — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 21:00:25 -0000

If you want to

Re: The Crumbling Fourth Estate

Rachele Kanigel — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 20:59:42 -0000

Very interesting take on both the convention and journalism today. As vice president of College Media Advisers, one of the sponsors of the convention, I take your comments seriously and we will certainly consider them when planning future conventions.

Re: The Crumbling Fourth Estate

Dan Close — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 15:00:48 -0000

Right on.

Dan Close, faculty adviser, The Sunflower, Wichita State University

Re: The Crumbling Fourth Estate

Roman Heindorff — Sun, 11 Nov 2012 00:01:19 -0000

"The student journalists with the most important stories to tell can’t afford to be here."

Do you think any of those individuals would be interested in live-streaming some of the sessions, to mitigate not attending the convention in person? Web attendance could be charged at a fraction of the cost and offer a bite-sized version of some of the benefits you've outlined.

Re: Emphasis AA degrees in danger of removal

Verta — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 22:13:31 -0000

Send an email! We need more student voices against this. Or sign the petition.

Re: Music and astronomy collide

dedsetmad — Mon, 29 Oct 2012 11:39:23 -0000

Music, science. mathematics, art, time, etcetera, do not ever "collide". They are all part of the "The Family of Universal Laws" (for want of a better man made term). It is man, that has always seen them to be in different categories; and he has this need to put everything into boxes or pidgeon holes and give then different names. Convenient....yes/no ?

Re: Voter fraud in MN? You betcha!

Sam — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 18:05:55 -0000

Obviously, this isn't free. We will pay for this process through our tax dollars, when we could have been doing something productive with our money, instead of spending millions to "fix" a top notch voting voting system. Free doesn't = $0 when you need other documentation to get your free ID. Those documents will often cost more than $20 and slow the process down, and the process has not been established yet, so we don't know how restrictive the legislature is going to make this. If you've recently immigrated here, it could take months to get necessary documentation to get an ID after you've requested it. It definitely gives the legislature the opportunity to create more or less voter suppression. I'm glad that you think of your ID as a "beer card" and yes, you need an ID to buy beer. Buying beer and going to the bar are engaging in commerce for pleasure, voting should be open to every resident of MN over 18 and if it's not then we're not in a functioning democracy and that's a little more problematic than not being able to go to the bar, which you're probably not thinking about much if you're in a situation where you don't have an ID. The state attorney general estimates the number of CURRENTLY REGISTERED voters with no state issued ID at 84,000, with another 131,000 that have a different listed address on their ID than their home polling place. If this passes, the legislature would have the power to demand an ID from deployed troops and anyone else voting absentee, such as the elderly. If you throw road blocks in front of voting to make it harder, less eligible voters will do it, that's really what's driving this. Think of the south when blacks were given the right to vote, but states then instituted a small poll tax or a literacy test. Just like those voter suppression efforts, this one is neutral on it's surface, but in practice will disenfranchise specific segments of our population. I think we want to encourage people to vote, not make it harder.

Re: Voter fraud in MN? You betcha!

Sam — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 17:55:30 -0000

What election did it decide?

I'm questioning the need to prohibit felons from voting, we should perhaps follow the lead of the 12 states that allow them to. In reality, the voter ID amendment would suppress many more than 200 votes from eligible MN residents, which should be a crime and is an expressly stated strategy of right-wing billionaires to grab more electoral power than non-affluent groups. It was once a CRIME for people of color, women, and people that didn't own a ton of property to vote. Was that bad when that law was challenged? Is that a law that should have been followed? Do we want to go backwards?

Were those people like rapists?

And how is sexual assault even relevant to this conversation? It's not at all logical. It sounds to me that whoever made such an illogical and non-relevant statement must eat the hearts of babies! THAT'S DISGUSTING AND WRONG!!! Killing a defenseless little baby to appease your bloodlust, that's what all you illogical people do after you produce non-germane evidence. That's SICK! GTH anon! You're a total freak, it's totally given away by your convoluted argument! You should be looked up forever!

Re: Voter fraud in MN? You betcha!

Anon — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 15:15:10 -0000

If you go to bars you need an ID anyway... except you need to pay for it right now. I'd rather get my beer card free, thanks. If you are so poor that you can't get a free ID your vote doesn't matter cus you don't exist. Free = $0. How does this cut anyone out dude?

Re: Voter fraud in MN? You betcha!

Anon — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 15:10:25 -0000

If you go to bars you need an ID anyway... who doesn't have an ID, seriously. Right now we have to pay for them, too. I'd rather get my beer card free, thanks.

Re: Voter fraud in MN? You betcha!

Anon — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 14:51:00 -0000

@sam:
Felons can't vote in MN so I don't see why you said it's legal in 12 states. It's clearly not talking about those states. Felons voting=voter fruad. That's a crime, and that's the definition of it. Crimes are bad. This stops crime.
And the sexual assult thing is smart as hell ot me man. He's right, it's as common as other crimes. Are you pro sexual assult? You are a freak, sam. I can't belive you are saying there isn't enough rape to make it signifigant. How can you say that crime shoudeln't be stopped here cus it's not enough when it DECIDED AN ELECTION. I bet you would vote against something that stopped rape too, woulden't you sam? Go to jail if you are someone who wants people to commit crimes dude. The rest of us follow laws. GTH, sam. Criminals and pro sexual assulters like you shoulden't be allowed to post or vote.

Re: Voter fraud in MN? You betcha!

Sam — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 11:27:11 -0000

One more thing, haha :) Think about the "fraud" that is being committed... felons voting! It's legal in 12 states, and frankly, I don't see why not let them. Certainly not worth the cost to the state and the obstacle or blockade to other voters to keep them from voting. I believe that felons can actually be elected to the national legislature, fact check me but I'm pretty sure that's happened a few times... not withstanding the felonious stuff that goes on when they get there anyway.

Re: Voter fraud in MN? You betcha!

Sam — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 08:12:04 -0000

Also, bringing sexual assault into the conversation adds absolutely nothing to your argument. Completely not germane to the question of if people are voting that shouldn't be, how we should remedy that, and the (maybe) unintended consequence of voter suppression - which gives us a larger problem than exists now.

No brainer? Stopping crime with a vote? If 177 people in the state were convicted of fudging their tax return a little bit, would the answer be to make the system so restrictive that whole blocks of people forgo the possibility of a return? At the cost of millions and millions to an already cash-strapped state? You're out of your mind man.

Re: Voter fraud in MN? You betcha!

Sam — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 07:59:51 -0000

It could more easily be addressed by sharing data between law enforcement and election officials, something that didn't happen in 2010 that will be happening this year due to the less than 200 felons found to have voted. Many times, felons are not aware that they can't vote, they are allowed to do so in many states. Your argument falls flat in this light. Especially when combined with the millions of extra dollars that will now need to be spent by already under-funded local governments, the potential to disenfranchise people of lower economic class, college students, deployed troops, and elderly people. It would be up to the legislature to finish writing the rules that will dictate the degree of obstacle these groups will face if this should pass, and it has the potential to be the most restrictive voter ID law in the nation. I think legislators should have worked that out up front so that voters will have known what they are voting on. Don't you? MN has a world-class voting system at the moment, this is a solution in search of a problem. Do you really think that people are so rabid to go vote that they will falsely impersonate someone with the risk of 1 year of incarceration for 1 vote? Doubt it. Is making it harder for eligible voters to vote not also a method of
swaying an election, on par (probably much more effective) with voter
fraud itself. Hmmm, amend the state constitution to stop a group of felons smaller than the attendees at most of the bar shows you might attend around town; instead of the obvious, simple, and probably more effective action of having different government agencies talk to one another. Do you also swat flys in your kitchen with bazookas?

Re: Emphasis AA degrees in danger of removal

Kim — Fri, 26 Oct 2012 17:39:44 -0000

If they do I will go somewhere else, even if it is outside of MnSCU. Not everyone can afford a four year degree and the two year AA's with emphasis offer skills, not just generals. If the people in charge did their job or knew how to do their job, it's not "rocket science" to make a list of classes on a piece of paper for students that is understandable instead of numbering them and having people look them up, which I don't find that hard to do either. (I have run into two counselors that gave wrong information out). The other thing that might help is the school not changing the program requirements every other year or discontinuing them on a regular basis. It's not that hard people.

Re: Exquisite Corpse: The Stigma of HIV and AIDS

Bonnie Chakravorty — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 16:27:17 -0000

Not clear on this- where was she doing the blood donating? In the US one cannot acquire HIV through making a blood donation. If she donated elesewhere in a setting in which the needles used in drawing blood were not sterile that would make sense.

Re: Yes on Voter ID a blank check to legislature

Dan McGrath — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 14:44:41 -0000

It's amazing how many people cite the News 21 report, when it's provably inaccurate. 200 people have been convicted (as in proven in a court of law) for voter fraud in Minnesota just from the 2008 election. That information is readily available from the state court administrator. I also personally informed the people at News 21 of their glaring error and they ignored that information.

Re: Not what I signed up for

AJ — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 15:49:24 -0000

I agree with you. Even if your grade is not lowered by the poor participation of your group members, it still tends to be very unfair to students who work hard. I had a class recently where my partner consistently came unprepared to do the lab. So he would expect that I would share all of my prep work with him. It was infuriating because I felt like I was rewarding his laziness. If he had just not understood the work, I would have been happy to help. But he just expected a free ride.

Re: Secretary of State Mark Ritchie kicks off vote push

City College News — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 19:53:42 -0000

Testing.

Re: New elevators prompt students to use stairs

SnapCab — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 15:25:25 -0000

"Any inconveniences during construction, such as noise and vibration will
be considered by coordinating the more disruptive work around campus
hours."

Part of this is making sure that the work performed to renovate the elevator interiors is done as quickly and efficiently as possible. With SnapCab, it takes less than a day. It's a pretty neat system!

Re: Sodexo boycott proposal simmers at Student Senate

Duramater22987 — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 14:20:26 -0000

I am sorry but when I am at school I do not have time to contemplate Sodexo. At MCTC we have a lot bigger issues then this company. As students we need to prioritize the changes we want to see at school. GET A GRIP no wonder no one graduates from MCTC.

Re: Pell Grant cuts to be enacted fall 2012

Fasdfsda — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 08:46:26 -0000

wow the new 6 year rule is asinine. More than half the engineers I know who have gpa's above 3.5 have been in school for 6 years.... they already give too much aid to easy-a worthless majors, now they're taking away aid from high unit majors that are high in demand (engineering and sciences)

Re: Testy-testZack

Klentsch — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 18:24:29 -0000

Testy testy test test testy testttttt :p

This is Katie fyi. Nice test.

Re: Funding for $13.4 million Technical building renovation poised for cliffhanger

$23498060 — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 13:52:11 -0000

What are the Woman and Minority hiring goals.