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UNIVERSITY Thursday, September 15, 2005 Volume 81 • Number 3 The truth about tuition Real answers about where students' money goes By Cory Streeter Mentioning the word "tuition" to a student on campus is beginning to ruin people's previously good moods. Considering that this year's tuition is $21,190, it's no wonder why sludents roll their eyes and scowl at the mere mention of it. The question is, though, are we actually well-informed enough to have a legitimate reason to be angry about the cost of tuition? Do we really know where our money goes? "I have no idea," stated sophomore Laura McCullum, when asked of her theory regarding how student tuition is dispersed. "I think it's ridiculous [how much it costs]. I don't know where it goes." Sophomore Emily Anderson wagered a legitimate claim toward the new sophomore dorm. "1 think a bunch of it went to pay for Lissner," she said, "where...I don't live. And we don't have air conditioning [in AVEast]..." Junior Jason Baalke placed his bet on the new furniture in the buildings. "Sure, 1 like it. It kind of looks nice, but when you actually sit on it..." Baalke was on the right track, though, when he mentioned that the main portion goes to faculty members, whom he believes "don't get paid enough." He acknowledged that professors "take that in stride knowing what we're trying to cover in tuition [with] everything else." These students were only partly correct in their assumptions of what exactly tuition fees cover for Bethel University. The usual suspects are, as Anderson pointed out, the brand-new Lissner Hall, and the yet-to-be- constructed student center. Yet most of us would be baffled to know that none of our tuition goes toward the construction of new buildings. According to the Bethel Focus Magazine spring 2004 issue, Lissner Hall was paid for through private donations only, "to secure a combination of tax-exempt and conventional financing for construction." Randy Thomann, executive vice president for business affairs, thoroughly supported that fact. "The student center will be built totally from [privately] contributed funds. Once it is up and operating, the opera tional costs—the utilities, the maintenance—will be part of the general operations." Thomann explained that endowment funds make up a vast majority of the private donations used by the university to pay for new facilities. "Endowments are specific amounts of money given by a donor that they explicitly say are endowment funds. When they say that, the meaning of that generally is that you cannot use the gift amount, but you can use any of its earnings." He said that in the event that Bethel received $5 million in endowment, "the $5 million is locked up...we virtually can legally never use the $5 million, but if we can earn 7% [interest] on it and it creates $350,000 a year of income, we can use lhat." According to Thomann, our endowment is about 520 million, which includes general endowment and scholarship endowment. Much of our scholarship money originates off the interest of those specific endowments. To address the faculty costs, it is true that a majority of our tuition fees go toward our professors' salaries and benefits, accounting for approximately 55% of Bethel (CAS, CAPS, and Seminary) University's $90 million budget. The fact that health care costs have risen in the past few years has affected Bethel, too. "When [health care] goes up ten to twelve percent, that hits us, too...we face those just like everybody else does," said Thomann. Thomann emphasized that in order to compete for faculty with other Christian colleges like Wheaton, Taylor, Messiah, Westmont, etc., it's necessary to provide the benefits and salaries that Bethel does. He said that Bethel is committed to providing high quality education, and the draw for faculty to teach that to students is absolutely necessary. • ' With the facts Thomann shed light upon, it gives us a clearer picture of where our tuition money goes — not toward construction - but toward competitive salaries and upkeep in general. Now when the word "tuition" is mentioned, maybe there will be a few less scowls. Gaza pullout raises new prospects for peace By David Miller During the month of August, the public saw one of the most ironic and emotionally wrenching scenes in modem Israeli history: Jewish soldiers forcibly removing 8500 Jewish settlers from their homes in the Gaza Strip. However, this momentous occasion, which Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been planning since December of 2003, marks much more than a tragic ending to the Israeli occupation of Gaza. It marks what many in the international community think could be Israel's first real prospects for peace since the failed attempts of the 1990 Oslo Peace Accords with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who failed to accept Israeli concessions and open the peace process. The event also holds a great deal of significance for Bethel University, since the school is inexplicably tied to the region through its Judeo-Chris- tian roots. However, despite the prospects for peace, the pull-out didn't occur without significant protest. Thousands of settlers left in a timely and orderly fashion, but thousands of others organized to peacefully resist the Israeli forces tasked with emptying the settlements. The settlers who refused to leave were joined by countless right-wing Israelis from outside the strip who insist that the government has no right to turn the settlements over to the Palestinians. These protesters, numbering 5000 strong, are young and have little to lose from military repercussions. However, in Palestine, the sentiment is quite different. The Palestinians have been claiming that the settlement was illegal since Israel began occupation of the strip during the Six Day War in 1967. The sentiment of the Israeli settlers reflects the long struggle the Jewish people have endured to gain a homeland. Bethel's own Professor Gary Long has spent quite some time in the region, and he explained in a recent interview with the Clarion that in the late 1800s, the Diaspora of the Jews brought thousands of refugees to the area which was primarily inhabited by Palestinians. After World War 11, the international community reached out to the Jews and worked to establish the region as the official homeland of the people who recently had lost millions in the holocaust. This pushed many Palestinians out of the region into surrounding Arab countries, and those who stayed were in essence forced into the Gaza Strip and the West Bank of Jordan. In Professor Long's interview, he described the pain and agony the people of the land have endured over the century. Tragically, both Is raeli and Palestinians have suffered tremendously at the hands of each other. Professor Long also remarked that he was very hopeful for the future of the region after the pull-out. Over the next 60 years, Israel lived in a tumultuous cycle of war with its Arab neighbors and was used as an indirect Cold War staging ground several times. This tragic but rich history has shaped the fragile and embittered political climate of today. Because of the precarious situation, Israel has been at the center of American foreign policy for decades, which in and of itself has caused a number of problems with other Middle Eastern countries. The US, and the international Community, remained largely silent during the disengagement last month to avoid being seen as "meddlers" in the sensitive operation. However, Israel recently requested a $2.25 billion dollar aid package, mainly to relocate Gaza military bases and assist with the evacuation, which certainly implicates U.S. involvement and support for the operation. However, the public shouldn't expect "The Road Map to Peace" to be a smooth one. The chances for violence from Israeli and Palestinian extremists remain tremendously high and could quickly jeopardize the recent good will between the Palestinian Authority (the official Palestinian government) and Israel. If Palestinians terrorists resume their attacks on Israel and the Palestinian governmental security forces cannot assert control in the Gaza ■ strip, then the process would effectively be halted and Israel will most likely respond Peace in the region also dramatically depends on the Israeli political situation. Although Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan has been popular with Israelis, it has been less so in the Israeli parliament, and there is a chance that he could lose the leadership of his party and effectively be replaced. If the political will for the evacuations ceases, then the road map will most likely go up in smoke. Overall, the situation should leave Bethel and the public feeling cautiously optimistic. The opportunity for both sides to make concessions and co-exist peacefully is very real. "Whatever we can do to help people coexist is a Christian core value," Prof Long adds. Students that the Clarion spoke with seemed very hopeful about the situation, and Professor Long drew the analogy of what recently happened with the disannament of the I.R.A. in Ireland: "It can happen over there and it needs to happen over there." Bethel sophomores stand up for comedy By Cory Streeter "I had butterflies in my pants," said a bandana-clad Dan Luedtke of his first time on the stage, where he had found himself equipped with only a microphone—and a silent prayer for escape from booing humiliation. "I was the first one out of the three of us to go up there, and I was perfectly fine," explained Dave Iverson, leaning on Luedtke's Razor Scooter. "[I was] like, 'I'm going to tear this joint down.'" Iverson threw back his bleach-blond hair and cupped his hands over his mouth, producing the tin can echo he desired to follow. "Then all of a sudden I heard, 'And next, Daaaaaaaavid Iverson'...then I peed my pants a little." He grinned sarcastically, an ear-to-ear smile. Apparently, comedy isn't the easiest, especially when one is all-of-a-sudden told to be just that: funny on command. Welcome to the world of standup. Sophomores Iverson, Luedtke, and Caleb Griffin all took their first stabs at standup comedy during spring semester of their freshman year at Bethel. The Acme Comedy Co. in Minneapolis offers the perfect venue for arrtateurs to make their mark on the comedic world, and this trio couldn't pass il up. One could say they spent their entire lives preparing for this, but how does the comedian prepare before going on stage? To Griffin, it's simple. Insightfully, he said, "Preparation H, mostly." With that answer, all three burst out laughing- While laughter is easy to create amongst friends, as they demonstrated, the trio explained that the ultimate challenge of being a great comedian is to replicate that atmosphere while alone on a stage. Not to mention, in front of a sea of faces whose eyes are fastened directly on you. Iverson stated the key to success: "It's about knowing the crowd and knowing how your crowd is going to react." Walking out of the "black abyss" of backstage, as Griffin called it, and into the blinding lights can be a bit much for amateurs. Failing to keep their crowd in mind, they often find themselves scrambling or frozen. And the three agreed that the simple fallback of inside jokes never works. "Yeah, we've seen some serious crash and burns," Griffin chuckled. When the comedian-audience connection is made, though, the feeling across the lounge of the dark Acme club is electric. "It feels super good," said Luedtke. "You get that little buzz [the crowd is] feeling." Continued on page five Howdy, partner Students galloped down to BSA's The Next Big Thing
Object Description
Description
Title | Page 1 |
Alternative Title | The Bethel Clarion |
Edition (Vol. No.) | Vol. 81 No. 03 |
Date Published | September 15 2005 |
Decade | 2000 |
Academic Year | 2005 - 2006 |
Frequency | Weekly |
Notes | This project has been financed in part with funds provided by the State of Minnesota through the Minnesota Historical Society from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. |
Digital Collection | The Clarion: Bethel University's Student Newspaper |
Digital Publisher | Bethel University |
Editor | Lee, Cara |
Contributors | Feltmann, Pamela (News Editor); Patton, Cara (Views Editor); Walters, Brett (Variety Editor); Richmann, Christopher (A&E Editor); Sveen, Tom (Sports Editor); Wolfe, Melissa (Layout Editor); Myers, Danica (Photo Editor); Baumgarten, Sherah (Copy Editor); Armbrester, Lindsay (Copy Editor); Kelly, Aaron (Business and Advertising Manager); Martin, Barb (Administrative Advisor); Alsdurf, Phyllis (Academic Advisor) |
Location |
United States Minnesota Saint Paul |
Time Span of Publication | Newspaper published from 1921 through present day |
Copyright | Reproduction or distribution of these files is permitted for educational and research purposes with proper attribution to the Bethel Digital Library. No commercial reproduction or distribution of these files is permitted under copyright law without the written permission of Bethel University Digital Library. For questions or further information on this collection, contact digital-library@bethel.edu. |
Type | text |
Format | image/jpeg |
Physical Dimensions | 12.5 x 23 |
Original Collection | Printed paper copies of original newspaper in the collections of the Bethel University Library and the History Center: Archives of the Baptist General Conference and Bethel University. |
Original Publisher | Bethel University |
Transcript | UNIVERSITY Thursday, September 15, 2005 Volume 81 • Number 3 The truth about tuition Real answers about where students' money goes By Cory Streeter Mentioning the word "tuition" to a student on campus is beginning to ruin people's previously good moods. Considering that this year's tuition is $21,190, it's no wonder why sludents roll their eyes and scowl at the mere mention of it. The question is, though, are we actually well-informed enough to have a legitimate reason to be angry about the cost of tuition? Do we really know where our money goes? "I have no idea," stated sophomore Laura McCullum, when asked of her theory regarding how student tuition is dispersed. "I think it's ridiculous [how much it costs]. I don't know where it goes." Sophomore Emily Anderson wagered a legitimate claim toward the new sophomore dorm. "1 think a bunch of it went to pay for Lissner," she said, "where...I don't live. And we don't have air conditioning [in AVEast]..." Junior Jason Baalke placed his bet on the new furniture in the buildings. "Sure, 1 like it. It kind of looks nice, but when you actually sit on it..." Baalke was on the right track, though, when he mentioned that the main portion goes to faculty members, whom he believes "don't get paid enough." He acknowledged that professors "take that in stride knowing what we're trying to cover in tuition [with] everything else." These students were only partly correct in their assumptions of what exactly tuition fees cover for Bethel University. The usual suspects are, as Anderson pointed out, the brand-new Lissner Hall, and the yet-to-be- constructed student center. Yet most of us would be baffled to know that none of our tuition goes toward the construction of new buildings. According to the Bethel Focus Magazine spring 2004 issue, Lissner Hall was paid for through private donations only, "to secure a combination of tax-exempt and conventional financing for construction." Randy Thomann, executive vice president for business affairs, thoroughly supported that fact. "The student center will be built totally from [privately] contributed funds. Once it is up and operating, the opera tional costs—the utilities, the maintenance—will be part of the general operations." Thomann explained that endowment funds make up a vast majority of the private donations used by the university to pay for new facilities. "Endowments are specific amounts of money given by a donor that they explicitly say are endowment funds. When they say that, the meaning of that generally is that you cannot use the gift amount, but you can use any of its earnings." He said that in the event that Bethel received $5 million in endowment, "the $5 million is locked up...we virtually can legally never use the $5 million, but if we can earn 7% [interest] on it and it creates $350,000 a year of income, we can use lhat." According to Thomann, our endowment is about 520 million, which includes general endowment and scholarship endowment. Much of our scholarship money originates off the interest of those specific endowments. To address the faculty costs, it is true that a majority of our tuition fees go toward our professors' salaries and benefits, accounting for approximately 55% of Bethel (CAS, CAPS, and Seminary) University's $90 million budget. The fact that health care costs have risen in the past few years has affected Bethel, too. "When [health care] goes up ten to twelve percent, that hits us, too...we face those just like everybody else does," said Thomann. Thomann emphasized that in order to compete for faculty with other Christian colleges like Wheaton, Taylor, Messiah, Westmont, etc., it's necessary to provide the benefits and salaries that Bethel does. He said that Bethel is committed to providing high quality education, and the draw for faculty to teach that to students is absolutely necessary. • ' With the facts Thomann shed light upon, it gives us a clearer picture of where our tuition money goes — not toward construction - but toward competitive salaries and upkeep in general. Now when the word "tuition" is mentioned, maybe there will be a few less scowls. Gaza pullout raises new prospects for peace By David Miller During the month of August, the public saw one of the most ironic and emotionally wrenching scenes in modem Israeli history: Jewish soldiers forcibly removing 8500 Jewish settlers from their homes in the Gaza Strip. However, this momentous occasion, which Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been planning since December of 2003, marks much more than a tragic ending to the Israeli occupation of Gaza. It marks what many in the international community think could be Israel's first real prospects for peace since the failed attempts of the 1990 Oslo Peace Accords with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who failed to accept Israeli concessions and open the peace process. The event also holds a great deal of significance for Bethel University, since the school is inexplicably tied to the region through its Judeo-Chris- tian roots. However, despite the prospects for peace, the pull-out didn't occur without significant protest. Thousands of settlers left in a timely and orderly fashion, but thousands of others organized to peacefully resist the Israeli forces tasked with emptying the settlements. The settlers who refused to leave were joined by countless right-wing Israelis from outside the strip who insist that the government has no right to turn the settlements over to the Palestinians. These protesters, numbering 5000 strong, are young and have little to lose from military repercussions. However, in Palestine, the sentiment is quite different. The Palestinians have been claiming that the settlement was illegal since Israel began occupation of the strip during the Six Day War in 1967. The sentiment of the Israeli settlers reflects the long struggle the Jewish people have endured to gain a homeland. Bethel's own Professor Gary Long has spent quite some time in the region, and he explained in a recent interview with the Clarion that in the late 1800s, the Diaspora of the Jews brought thousands of refugees to the area which was primarily inhabited by Palestinians. After World War 11, the international community reached out to the Jews and worked to establish the region as the official homeland of the people who recently had lost millions in the holocaust. This pushed many Palestinians out of the region into surrounding Arab countries, and those who stayed were in essence forced into the Gaza Strip and the West Bank of Jordan. In Professor Long's interview, he described the pain and agony the people of the land have endured over the century. Tragically, both Is raeli and Palestinians have suffered tremendously at the hands of each other. Professor Long also remarked that he was very hopeful for the future of the region after the pull-out. Over the next 60 years, Israel lived in a tumultuous cycle of war with its Arab neighbors and was used as an indirect Cold War staging ground several times. This tragic but rich history has shaped the fragile and embittered political climate of today. Because of the precarious situation, Israel has been at the center of American foreign policy for decades, which in and of itself has caused a number of problems with other Middle Eastern countries. The US, and the international Community, remained largely silent during the disengagement last month to avoid being seen as "meddlers" in the sensitive operation. However, Israel recently requested a $2.25 billion dollar aid package, mainly to relocate Gaza military bases and assist with the evacuation, which certainly implicates U.S. involvement and support for the operation. However, the public shouldn't expect "The Road Map to Peace" to be a smooth one. The chances for violence from Israeli and Palestinian extremists remain tremendously high and could quickly jeopardize the recent good will between the Palestinian Authority (the official Palestinian government) and Israel. If Palestinians terrorists resume their attacks on Israel and the Palestinian governmental security forces cannot assert control in the Gaza ■ strip, then the process would effectively be halted and Israel will most likely respond Peace in the region also dramatically depends on the Israeli political situation. Although Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan has been popular with Israelis, it has been less so in the Israeli parliament, and there is a chance that he could lose the leadership of his party and effectively be replaced. If the political will for the evacuations ceases, then the road map will most likely go up in smoke. Overall, the situation should leave Bethel and the public feeling cautiously optimistic. The opportunity for both sides to make concessions and co-exist peacefully is very real. "Whatever we can do to help people coexist is a Christian core value," Prof Long adds. Students that the Clarion spoke with seemed very hopeful about the situation, and Professor Long drew the analogy of what recently happened with the disannament of the I.R.A. in Ireland: "It can happen over there and it needs to happen over there." Bethel sophomores stand up for comedy By Cory Streeter "I had butterflies in my pants," said a bandana-clad Dan Luedtke of his first time on the stage, where he had found himself equipped with only a microphone—and a silent prayer for escape from booing humiliation. "I was the first one out of the three of us to go up there, and I was perfectly fine," explained Dave Iverson, leaning on Luedtke's Razor Scooter. "[I was] like, 'I'm going to tear this joint down.'" Iverson threw back his bleach-blond hair and cupped his hands over his mouth, producing the tin can echo he desired to follow. "Then all of a sudden I heard, 'And next, Daaaaaaaavid Iverson'...then I peed my pants a little." He grinned sarcastically, an ear-to-ear smile. Apparently, comedy isn't the easiest, especially when one is all-of-a-sudden told to be just that: funny on command. Welcome to the world of standup. Sophomores Iverson, Luedtke, and Caleb Griffin all took their first stabs at standup comedy during spring semester of their freshman year at Bethel. The Acme Comedy Co. in Minneapolis offers the perfect venue for arrtateurs to make their mark on the comedic world, and this trio couldn't pass il up. One could say they spent their entire lives preparing for this, but how does the comedian prepare before going on stage? To Griffin, it's simple. Insightfully, he said, "Preparation H, mostly." With that answer, all three burst out laughing- While laughter is easy to create amongst friends, as they demonstrated, the trio explained that the ultimate challenge of being a great comedian is to replicate that atmosphere while alone on a stage. Not to mention, in front of a sea of faces whose eyes are fastened directly on you. Iverson stated the key to success: "It's about knowing the crowd and knowing how your crowd is going to react." Walking out of the "black abyss" of backstage, as Griffin called it, and into the blinding lights can be a bit much for amateurs. Failing to keep their crowd in mind, they often find themselves scrambling or frozen. And the three agreed that the simple fallback of inside jokes never works. "Yeah, we've seen some serious crash and burns," Griffin chuckled. When the comedian-audience connection is made, though, the feeling across the lounge of the dark Acme club is electric. "It feels super good," said Luedtke. "You get that little buzz [the crowd is] feeling." Continued on page five Howdy, partner Students galloped down to BSA's The Next Big Thing |
Language | English |
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