RSS and Aggregation

Basically folks sign up to receive news feeds online. See last post's comments for links to definitions.

Café De La Pensée Asks, "Do We Need GEU's?" But No One Answers

(See Above For Headline)
Date: 02-13-07
BLURB: Six members of Café club discuss problems with Lyndon State's General Education Unit; how to fix it.
By: Sarah Donaghy (edited for web by OnionFellow)

Disappointing Turn-Out at Pensée Club Meeting

On Friday, February 9th the Office of Student Life and the LSC Philosophy Club held another meeting of what LSC calls “Café de la Pensée”, French for “café of thought”. The topic that they hoped to discuss was the importance, or lack or importance, of the general education units that students take here at LSC.

That was what was supposed to happen but, although the announcement was sent out to everyone at LSC via email, even promising free coffee to those who showed up, only six people met in the Samuel Read Hall Library.
Of the six people, three were students and three were faculty.

Members Criticize Generalized Learning Program

All spoke fairly candidly about what they felt might be wrong with how things are run at the college. Among the things noted was the idea that the bar may be placed too low for most students when it came to GEUs, the thought that college admissions may be too lenient with the need to keep college finances up, that students who want their degree may not care enough about the education they are getting, and that perhaps the core courses need to be more tailor made to each students needs.

“I am actually a very big advocate for making [GEUs] major specific,” Jonathan Flom the Assistant Professor of Theatre at LSC and one of the attendees of the Café de la Pensée said. He also sighted his experience in college where they were asked to pick two choice studies in each of the areas instead of taking one choice and one GEU as students do at LSC.

The topic was hard to pin down among the other issues that the group felt ought to be addressed. Those present had issues with how the college was presenting itself as well as what it was doing for the students.

“It comes up at faculty meetings all the time, are we a [vocational/ technical college] or are we a liberal arts college?” Flom said.

Much is in flux at the college that could affect students’ futures and the path and effectiveness of their education but few students are taking the opportunities that are given to them to voice their opinions.

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Sidebar Name: "GEU's Questioned"

LSC Receives 1 million Dollar Grant from Valade Family Trust

(See Above For headline)
BLURB: At the last State of the College Address, it was announced that LSC has received a $1 Million gift. Students wonder where the money will go.
2/12/07

By Keith Whitcomb Jr. (Edited for the Web by Eric Downing)

Good News At The College Address

Carol Moore, president of Lyndon State College said at the State of the College address last Friday that a donor wished to only be known as the Valade Family Trust donated 1 million dollars to the funding of the college.
“I am pleased to announce that Lyndon has received its first $1 million gift,” said Moore.
The gift came as the result of an after-church meeting between chairwoman of the Board of Visitors, Peggy Thomas-Kezar, and Bob Wilson, an employee of ViaSat. “You never know who you are talking to and what’s going to come out of it,” Moore said.

Moore showed a breakdown of the ways in which the $1 million will be spent. One hundred thousand dollars will go to moving the Academic Support Center to the Samuel Read Hall Library, $200,000 will go to “quality improvements” and “student success”, $100,000 will go to an endowment for “lecture in the arts”, $200,000 will got to “faculty development”, $325,000 will go towards “matching endowments,” and $75,000 will go to architectural models for a new academic center and student center.

Mixed Feelings From Students

“How much of that am I getting?” Jason Cook, a junior Business major said. “I think it’s amazing that a bunch of flatlanders are going to be getting my money.”

“I think that in addition to that, everyone in the school should get an envelope with a dollar in it. Just to make us feel like a part of the process,” Mathew Wojcik, junior TVS major, said.

Moore also announced that the ViaSat company had given $500,000 in computer technology to the college, thus upgrading the college’s system to one gigabit. Richard Baldridge, president and CEO of ViaSat, a San Diego based company, spoke to those assembled about the gift via phone. “I just know that it’s IT equipment and they’re happy,” Moore said.

What Does This Mean For LSC?

The gift means that there is now a relationship between LSC and ViaSat, Chuck Kezar said.

Moore cited the importance of LSC gathering its own funds because financial aid from the state is low.

Among other news that Moore announced was a three percent increase in students for the spring semester, a slight slippage from last semester. Moore also said that LSC is on track with the budget, but the carry-over funds from last semester aren’t as high due to medical claims that were filed.


SIDEBAR version of Headline: "Million Dollar Gift"

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LSC STUDENT ENDS BASKETBALL CAREER FULL OF MEMORIES

-Brent Fowler, a student from LSC, graduates this spring, finishing a successful college basketball career.

A Leader Through Stressful Times

LSC's men's basketball team, the Hornets, has been going through some trying times with the school's switch from NAIA to the USCAA this season. Despite this, LSC senior, Brent Fowler says that, "it's been an awesome four years... I'm going to miss it." Fowler's been a captain for the Hornets during the past two years.

More Phony Lead-ins

Good evening, Lyndonville. Earlier today, a plane returning from New York's Kennedy Airport crashed on lift-off. The plane was carrying 45 passengers, including two Lyndon State College professors, whom escaped injury. In all, five of the TWA's passengers were killed, the rest injured. More details at 11.

West Fairlee's town meeting this morning came to the conclusion of raising the property tax 10%. This means that the average homeowner's rates will go up 200 dollars a year. This huge increase in taxes will go to building up West Fairlee's pathetic park.

Good Morning USA! Breaking News! West Fairlee's city council meeting concluded with a 10% increase in property taxes. Homeowners can expect a 200 dollar increase in taxes each year. This money will go to a project to increase the size of West Fairlee's park.

LSC freshman Randy Wilkinson, found passed out in a residence hall basement is facing charges of underage drinking yesterday at 7:20AM. Wilkinson had apparently fallen four stories down the laundry chute and received a concussion. He was hospitalized with head injuries but isn't in critical condition. Wilkinson's court date will...

Good Afternoon. This morning an LSC freshman was found unconcious in his dorm romm's laundry room. The student, Randy Wilkinson had apparently fallen down his fourth floor laundry chute while drunk. Wilkinson is being hospitalized with a concussion, but his condition is not serious. Wilkinson awoke to being charged with underage drinking....

This Story is NOT Real!!! Do Not Believe....

A horrible plane crash killed 5 and injured many today taking off from KIA. The plane, TWA, was carrying LSC professors John Dumont and George Johnson whom were among the forty passengers whom escaped injury. TWA was scheduled to return to Burlington from NY.

Money in the Online Media

A largely unsuccessful way to make money for a newspaper is putting the paper up on a website. Unfortunately, this is the only way for a newspaper to keep up with the rapidly changing times. People want instant graification in every thing these days, including news. It's much simpler to go onto a news website like CNN.com than to go out to a store and pick up the local daily paper. The problem with a newspaper moving to a website is that websites cost money to own and maintain, while providing little opportunity to make money. Websites have to turn to selling web advertisements to companies in order to support the much needed website. These ads are similar to those in the newspaper, except tha they generally contain less informations in themselves and more often link to a company's website. Unlike Newspaper ads, these online ads can work on a "per-click" payment system, in which the company re-imburses the newspaper based on the number of times someone clicked on the ad to learn more, whereas with a normal newspaper ad, the newspaper could simply sell the ad for a set amount based on position and size, and it was assumed that readers would always see the article and make the judgement to pursue the company or not at home.

Another thing newspaper sites can do is to create an archive (which costs a little more, as this requires online storage space) of back stories and issues of the paper which are only accessable with a form of paid membership or the like. This is still a low income-provider that does little to make the newspaper money. Newspapers have a lot of trouble trying to make money off of the internet to off-set the amount lost by consumers switching to digital media for their needs.

The Caledonian record's website doesn't seem to have a very effective way of making money. It has a decent number of non-invasive ads, but doesn't charge for the archive. I believe they should make the archive showy and impressive and charge membership fees. They need to find a way to reach a broader audience, expand interest, and compete with other online as well as solid newspaper competitors.

This is not a post!!

CATS!!!!