Spinnaker [Distributed: Wednesday, January 31, 2007]

In honor of Black History month, the African American Student Union and the Intercultural Center for Peace are working to bring UNF students and faculty together.

The first event of the week was the Black History Proclamation Jan. 30 featuring guest speaker Dr. Jarik Conrad, the executive director of the Jacksonville Blueprint for Prosperity. Conrad spoke about the gap between the black and white communities in terms of economics and job-employment opportunities. He also challenged the audience to improve Jacksonville by becoming more involved in the community.

"Our goal is to make Jacksonville into the most culturally inclusive city in America," Conrad said. "That is our vision, but we can't do that without your help."

The AASU also set up a black history exhibit for students in the library. The theme of black history is "From Slavery to Freedom," so the AASU added its own touch by incorporating "Progression" into the new library exhibit, said Rachel Tutwiler, a senior political science major and director of the AASU at UNF.

The AASU is bringing spoken word performers Chapmyn Spoken Word, to the Robinson Theater Feb. 12 from 7-9 p.m. for the enjoyment of the UNF student body, she added.

"They believe in one race, one people, one peace," Tutwiler said.

The ICP is sponsoring a Martin Luther King luncheon at noon Feb. 16 in the University Center Banquet Hall. The guest speaker for the event is Tavis Smiley, a well-known author, radio commentator and late night talk show host, said Bender.

Smiley will be a special speaker for UNF due to his notoriety and should be well received, said Associate Professor of the UNF Political Science Department and member of the Black History Committee, Dr. Henry Thomas.

Following Smiley's presentation from 8-11 p.m. in the University Center, Tutwiler said the AASU will be hosting a Valentine's Day ball tying in the theme of black history at the same time. The theme of their gathering is the "Harlem-Renaissance ball."

Keynote speaker and head of The Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, Khilil Osrisis, will share his vision with UNF students Feb.19 from 7-9 p.m.

On Mar. 5, Student Government and the AASU are teaming up to sponsor "Dream-Alive," a dedication to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Former Lieutenant Governor of Colorado, Joe Rogers will derive two of King's speeches focusing on, "where is the dream today?" Tutwiler said. The event is scheduled for 7:30-9:30 p.m in the University Center.

The events on campus for Black History month are "important for campus," Thomas said, "particularly in times where issues of race and diversity are becoming a problem again in our society."

Fee increases approved for 2007-2008

At its Jan. 26 meeting, the University of North Florida Board of Trustees approved the following for the 2007-2008 school year:

- The Athletic Fee will increase by 34 cents, bringing the total to $12.68 per credit hour.*
- The Activity and Service Fee will increase by 43 cents, bringing the total to $7.83 per credit hour.*
- A new Transportation Access Fee of up to $3.85 per credit hour will be assessed.
- A new parking permit system, which calls for the elimination of the general and second/third floor garage categories and the introduction of a new premium category, will take effect. Most permit prices will increase slightly, with significant increases to housing, discount and motorcycle permits.

* The Athletic and Activity and Service fees will only change if tuition increases by an expected 3 percent in 2007-2008.

Registration draws 75 new voters

The Duval County Supervisor of Elections co-sponsored a student voter registration drive on the University of North Florida campus last week.

A total of 75 students registered over the two-day period according to Kara Tucker, an elections poll worker and UNF rehabilitation graduate student. That's a huge increase compared to last year when only 17 students registered, she said.

The UNF drive was part of a countywide drive by the SOE office to get more students to register to vote, said Duval County Supervisor of Elections, Jerry Holland. The goal was to register 5,000 students in total, he said.

In all, the drive registered 5,173 students from the Jacksonville area, beating last year's 3,406.

"It was our best countywide drive ever," Holland said.

This is the fifth year the SOE office has done the countywide student drive, Holland said. Every public and private college, university and high school in the area participated in the drive, he said.

The goal of the drive is to bring the registration process to the people and to motivate them to start voting, Holland said.

"We think it sets a pattern and habit to continue to vote in their lifetime," Holland said.

Another focus of the drive was to make sure that people register in time for the upcoming first and general elections which will elect local and county officials, Tucker said.

"We're trying to make voting accessible to the average college student," said senior political science major and SG senator Sarah Grafton. "We're trying to get the college youth to vote."

Student Government and the UNF Volunteer Center partnered with the Elections Supervisor to support the drive, Tucker said. The goal was to register 100-200 students, she said.

"I think it's important to get anyone to vote," said Josh Pafford, a junior business major helping with the drive. "I think UNF is a good platform to get students to vote."

According to the Duval County Supervisor of Elections Web site, as of Jan. 30 there are 541,143 registered in Duval County. Of those 199,787 are registered as Republicans, 243,415 are registered as Democrats and 97,941 are registered as other.

Know your representatives:

Federal

U.S. Senate:
Bill Nelson
Mel Martinez

U.S. Congress: Corrine Brown - District 3
Ander Crenshaw - District 4
Clifford Stearns - District 6

State

Florida Governor: Charlie Christ
Florida Attorney General: Bill McCollum

Mayor: John Peyton
Sheriff: John Rutherford
Tax Collector: Mike Hogan

Upcoming Elections:

Duval County First Election: March 3, 2007
Voter Registration Deadline: Feb. 20, 2007

Duval County General Election: May 15, 2007
Voter Registration Deadline: April 4, 2007

For more election information and a full list of elected officials, visit www.duvalelections.com.

New center helps sharpen interview skills

Construction on a new Career Management Center in the Coggin College of Business began Jan. 29, and the college hopes the center will provide students with proactive experience for their future careers.

Kimberly Churches, director of development for the CCB, said the center will provide students and alumni with video interviewing, seminars viewed on the Web and access to state-of-the-art technology. Students will also be able to conduct mock interviews in one of the two glass-window interview rooms. The interviews will be taped, so students will see where they can improve, she said.

If employers can't make it to campus, students can interview via video conferencing in the center, Churches said.

The management center will not be a replacement for Career Services, an office that critiques resumes and gives students information on jobs, Churches said. This center will work with Career Services but will provide a more individualized approach with one-on-one training, she said.

Business students will also be able to practice networking and learn what to wear for an interview in the center, Churches said.

Junior Marketing major J.P. Phillips said he sees the benefits in having the Career Management Center. Phillips said he recalls in-class group projects, which focus on interviewing. He said those types of projects don't give you the real experience you need.

Phillips said interview practice inside the center will be taken seriously and will help make a first impression with a potential employer.

Shannon Italia, director of the new center, said a master plan has been drafted for the Coggin College but it will take seven to nine years to complete and said she wants to meet the students' needs now.

Italia said the center should bring more employers to campus and allow them better access to recruit students for full time positions and internships. Eventually, companies will be able to hold training in the center, she said.

The location of the center will also be beneficial to students and employers, because it is in a high-traffic hallway near the dean's office, she said. Italia said she hopes faculty and employers will have more interaction and plans on frequent conferences.

By using glass windows to frame the new facility, Italia said she hopes it will serve as a visible reminder to students to stay focused on their future.

Churches said she believes that with this new addition, UNF will be known for a highly qualified and competitive choice for its Business school.

The total construction cost is $300,000. Churches said the center was funded by businesses and individuals such as David Smith/PSS World Medical Inc., Luther and Blanche Coggin, The Jacksonville Bank, Reynolds, Smith & Hills, and Delores Kesler.

The construction will take about eight weeks to complete, Churches said. Several offices have been temporarily closed, but signs are posted to guide students to the new location.

Student Services has moved to the first floor.

Countries, cities, states join end run to Kyoto

Climate change is by nature a global problem.

So when a Pennsylvania State University graduate student presented Montgomery County, Pa., officials with a 145-page report on what it could do to reduce greenhouse gases - the culprits in global warming - Commissioner Thomas Jay Ellis was skeptical.

Could one county - even one with more people than some states - make a difference in such a huge problem?

Ellis and his fellow commissioners decided this month that it could at least try.

Montgomery County, which emits more greenhouse gases than more than half the world's nations do individually, joined a burgeoning list of cities, counties and states that have stopped waiting for federal direction on global-warming remediation.

"The leadership on global warming [...] is coming from city halls and state capitols, not from D.C.," said Glen Brand, director of the Sierra Club's Cool Cities campaign, which encourages local programs to address global warming.

"Counties are emerging now as a player," he said.

In Montgomery County, a new task force will begin meeting this month to consider options like switching to greener energy sources or vehicles for its buildings and fleet, expanding open space, planting trees, and making clogged roads flow faster.

"The nation as a whole wasn't taking any action," Ellis said. "We could be a leader. Every journey begins with the first step."

Over less than two years, nearly 370 mayors representing 56 million Americans have signed an agreement that calls for reducing greenhouse-gas emissions to pre-1990 levels by 2012 - a Kyoto Protocol target the United States has not endorsed.

Eight East Coast states have agreed to reduce power-plant emissions by 2019. A new California law imposes the first statewide limit on greenhouse gases and seeks to cut emissions to 1990 levels by 2020.

New Jersey and Pennsylvania also have new laws that will require reductions in automobile greenhouse-gas emissions in the future.

Meanwhile, local government leaders are working in smaller ways to reduce emissions, often without setting specific goals.

In Delaware County, Pa., Media is a leader in using solar and wind energy. Lehigh County, Pa., just bought its first hybrid vehicle and has started a biodiesel program. This year, Burlington County, N.J., will build a generating plant designed to use methane gas from its landfill complex to produce electricity. Nationally, Brand said, Houston and Charlotte, N.C., are buying hybrid cars for their fleets. Washington, D.C., is converting to buses that run on compressed natural gas. Salt Lake City installed more energy-efficient traffic signals. Waverly, Iowa, built windmills on farmland. Los Angeles is offering some free parking for hybrids.

"It's really even difficult for the United States by itself to have an impact," said Karen Palmer, a senior fellow at Resources for the Future.

Tom Kreutz, a Princeton University researcher who models the performance of energy systems, said returning to 1990 emissions levels can be difficult for growing areas, yet that is "a pretty modest goal in general, compared to where the globe needs to go."

The country needs taxes that make it costly to emit greenhouse gases, he said, and that needs to come from the top. "We can't do it without federal intervention. No question," he said. "Right now it's free to dump your CO2 [the primary greenhouse gas] in the atmosphere and, as long as it's free, people won't stop doing it."

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance this month released a discouraging report on progress made by 10 cities that have signed the mayors' agreement. John Bailey, a research associate who wrote the report, concluded it was unlikely that more than two could reach the Kyoto Protocol goals, "unless complementary state and federal policies are put in place," he wrote.

Only one city he studied, Portland, Ore., is close to 1990 emissions levels. Americans' driving habits have been a particular problem.

"Getting people out of their cars has been difficult," Bailey said.

Nevertheless, he still thinks the cities are on the right track. "To wait just doesn't make sense," he said.

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War strain leads to questions of draft

The war in Iraq marks the first time in modern history that the United States has fought an extended conflict with an all-volunteer military.

The strain of fighting nearly four years in a two-front war has put unprecedented stress on the Army and the Marine Corps - which have borne the brunt of the fighting - and has raised serious questions about whether an all-volunteer force can be maintained over the long term.

Even if U.S. troops were to pull out of Iraq tomorrow, the United States faces a war of unknown duration against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Other threats include Iran and North Korea.

The Iraq Study Group warned in its report last month that the war in Iraq has put the country in a bind.

"An extraordinary amount of sacrifice has been asked of our men and women in uniform, and of their families," the group wrote. "The American military has little reserve force to call on if it needs ground forces to respond to other crises around the world."

"I think America is on a collision course with itself because America has worldwide obligations," said Frank Schaeffer, co-author of "AWOL: The Unexcused Absence of America's Upper Classes From Military Service - and How It Hurts Our Country."

"All it's going to take is one more conflict or one more world crisis," Schaeffer said, "and we would be very soon facing the fact that no matter what our position on these issues is, we're going to be facing a simple choice of act or don't act. And if we do, then we're going to have to have alternatives."

At least one lawmaker has proposed a radical alternative. Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., wants to reinstate the draft.

His proposal would require all U.S. residents ages 18 to 42 to perform two years of national service, either in the military or as civilians working in ports, hospitals or some other public-service role.

The only people exempted would be high school students up to age 20, conscientious objectors and those who are too unhealthy to serve.

Rangel, an Army veteran who won a Bronze Star in the Korean War, opposes the Iraq war and has put forth a draft bill every year since 2002. Critics accuse him of political grandstanding.

Some fellow lawmakers find his basic argument compelling. If the war in Iraq is the national security threat that the Bush administration says it is, shouldn't all Americans be asked to shoulder their part of the burden to defend the country?

The president said he'd considered a draft, but rejected it. "I think the volunteer army is working, and we've got to keep it strong," he said.

Charles Moskos, a military sociologist at Northwestern University and a longtime advocate of the draft, said statements such as these exemplified what he called "patriotism-lite."

"It reflects badly not only on the national leadership, it also reflects badly on the American people," said Moskos, himself a former draftee. "They're not calling for the draft, either - you know, put my son in - but that's where it's got to start."

The United States hasn't had a military draft since 1973, when Congress eliminated conscription as the Vietnam War drew to a close. Five years earlier, Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman, a champion of free markets, had labeled the draft "inconsistent with a free society."

For most of its history, the United States has been without a draft. The North and the South conscripted forces during the Civil War. There was a draft during World War I and again in World War II. The last draft lasted from 1948 to 1973.

Many military officers, lawmakers and analysts oppose bringing back conscription, saying it would ruin the professionalism and quality that the all-volunteer force has built up over the last 34 years.

"The nature of decentralized tactics today demands a level of professional experience and competence far above what it was 30 and 40 years ago," said Rep. Geoff Davis, R-Ky., a former Army officer and West Point graduate who serves on the House Armed Services Committee.

The Bush administration recognizes there's a problem and has promised to add 92,000 service members to the Army and the Marine Corps over the next five years.

But that means Army recruiters will have to sign up another 7,000 men and women every year, when they're already struggling and standards have been dropped to meet the current quotas.

Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, the Army's chief of staff, has suggested that part of the answer is increasing the incentives to enlist. The Army already offers as much as $40,000 to recruits, however, and personnel costs are taking a larger chunk of the defense budget every year.

In the meantime, Defense Secretary Robert Gates has outlined plans to call up the National Guard and Reserves more frequently. But the more the military relies on its citizen-soldiers to fight the war, the less attractive the Reserves become to those who don't want full-time military careers.

There are concerns that overusing the Guard and Reserves could strain those forces as badly as the active-duty ranks.

"This is clearly not a risk-free set of solutions," said Christine E. Wormuth, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a national-security research center, and a former Pentagon official who's written extensively about the National Guard and Reserves.

The Pentagon estimates that it would cost about $4 billion more a year to reinstate the draft. New facilities would have to be built to train and house the large numbers of inductees who'd be brought into uniform each year.

The Census Bureau estimates that there are 30 million people ages 18 to 25 in the United States.

About 4 million men and women reach military age each year, but the military needs only a small fraction of that number. That's a fact that those who argue for a return to the draft tend to overlook, said Bernard D. Rostker, the author of "I Want You: The Evolution of the All-Volunteer Force."

"The fundamental question - which dogged us in the '60s and would dog us again if we return to conscription - is who serves when not all serve?" said Rostker, who's studied military personnel issues for more than three decades and served as a top Pentagon official in the Clinton administration.

Draft proponents say that those whom the military doesn't need could work in homeland security guarding airports, seaports and borders or could work in understaffed hospitals or schools.

The Gates Commission, which President Nixon created in 1969 to look at ways of ending compulsory service, considered a "stand by draft" to be an integral part of an all-volunteer force, Rostker said.

At least one commissioner was convinced that while an all-volunteer military might be possible to maintain during peacetime, the draft would have to be reinstated during a major conflict, Rostker said.

So far, the war in Iraq has defied those expectations.

"We're three years into a war right now, and the all-volunteer force is doing remarkably well," Rostker said.

But whether that's sustainable over the long term in the war on terrorism is an open question.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services -- PERMALINK -- TOP OF PAGE

Blog waxes philosophical

A University of North Florida philosophy professor launched a philosophy blog last week for students, and it received over 1,000 hits in its first day.

Professor Rico Vitz, who defines philosophy as "the love of wisdom" and "a quest for knowledge," and his philosophy students created a philosophy blog in the hopes that it will capture young minds who do not know about philosophy.

Vitz also said it may open their eyes to it for the very first time.

"This is a place where students can come together and talk about politics, religion, and science," Vitz said. "We discuss issues that everyone should care about like abortion, morals, and euthanasia."

With the creation of this blog, anyone in the world can join the philosophical discussions that occur on the blog via the Internet, Vitz said. Like other blogs, the one Vitz and his students created is similar to a discussion board. Different topics are posted by bloggers and readers can respond to those topics or start their own discussions.

Vitz said the idea for the blog came during his Theories of Tolerance course where he used Blackboard's discussion board option and he found out his students became very involved in the subject manner. He said this sparked his curiosity of how everyone could come together to discuss philosophy because college students usually have hectic schedules.

The blog went online Jan. 22 and by Jan. 26, it had over 100 postings on religion alone, Vitz said.

"It has been a great first three days," Vitz said.

Students from across the state have joined the discussions, Vitz said.

"We wanted to invite everyone because it shouldn't be limited," Vitz said.

The blog is accessible to anyone with Internet access because it is set up with the Florida Philosophy Association, which advocates the exchanging of philosophical ideas, Vitz said.

With the fast growth of the blog, Vitz said he hopes to have a student editor by the fall, so that topics and postings will be spread out more evenly and discussions will have a main focus.

The hope of the blog's creation is to spark philosophical debates and to stimulate the mind, Vitz said.

However, it also was created to explain to students what philosophy and what philosophers are all about, he said.

"Philosophers do a lot of interesting stuff, its very exciting now because philosophy is much more dynamic then before," Vitz said. The blog's Web address is www.unfspb.wordpress.com

Opinion lab furthers public sentiment research efforts

From determining the approval rate of the mayor of Jacksonville to assessing the importance of religion in politics, the Public Opinion Research Laboratory at the University of North Florida has completed a number of different surveys involving local and state issues.

Dr. Matthew Corrigan, an associate professor of Political Science, is the faculty director of the laboratory, which was originally a part of the school's Florida Center for Public Policy and Leadership

The center was headed by Adam Herbert, the former president of UNF and sixth chancellor of the State University System of Florida.

"When Herbert left for Indiana University, the lab broke off and became its own entity under the college of Arts and Sciences," Corrigan said.

In addition to Corrigan, the staff includes Assistant Director Mark Swanhart and Coordinator Jacqueline Dorey.

Corrigan estimated that the lab has completed over 80 projects since its inception in March 2001. During the 2005-2006 fiscal year, the lab conducted over 20 research projects, and its funding was increased 47 percent over the past fiscal year, he said.

Corrigan said that 70 percent of the lab's projects are funded, 20 percent are conducted for research and public service, and 10 percent are for instructional purposes.

While not the most commonly undertaken projects, the instructional portion of the lab allows students as part of a class project to practice conducting surveys, constructing questionnaires and picking populations.

"The students help drive the subject matter," Corrigan said. 'It's a very hands-on process, and the students collect the data."

The lab has also hired and paid more than 400 students over the past six years to gather data for various funded projects.

The students participate by calling randomly chosen numbers.

"The convenience of this is that it's on campus, and we are flexible with the hours students work," Corrigan said.

The lab uses Web surveys, mail surveys and focus groups, but more than 75 percent of surveys are conducted via telephone.

"Telephone surveys are the most reliable, but the Internet portion of our testing is going to grow," Corrigan said. "The problem with the Internet methodology is that it's not random, so there are some statistical issues. We use it when we have a defined group, like in an on-campus study, where most people have an e-mail address. If we survey the state of Florida, it's difficult because not everyone has Internet access."

One of the upcoming projects for the lab will involve Corrigan's Parties, Campaigns and Elections class. Students will analyze the campaigns of potential Democratic and Republican presidential candidates.

"We're providing a service to the students by letting them engage in social science research," Corrigan said. "Their work lets them accumulate experience in the field, and the results are beneficial to the community."

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NEWS

Campus groups celebrate Black History Month

Fee increases approved for 2007-2008

Registration draws 75 new voters

New center helps sharpen interview skills

Countries, cities, states join end run to Kyoto

War strain leads to questions of draft

Blog waxes philosophical

Opinion lab furthers public sentiment research efforts

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Peyton to speak at business summit

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