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Show Thank you sir as far as all other Kappa Sigma chapters nationwide. In an organization claiming 338 chapters, such a ranking is incredibly impressive and clearly denotes a dedication to community service that should alleviate a great deal of hesitation toward Kappa Sigma's presence on campus. However, Kappa Sigma was founded in 1869, and college life is indeed different now. While fraternities (and sororities) find their origins in service and academic purpose, perhaps the more contemporary cultural perceptions are more accurate. But Baranowski, Dalley, and the other leaders of the colony are aware of those perceptions and working hard to diffuse them for the sake of the strength of their organization. ANDYSHERWIN Asst. Opinions editor As our school grows into its relatively new identity as an actual university, so does the proliferation of more traditional "university" things. This includes competitive sports teams, increasing numbers of programs and that most controversial of institutions: the Greek system. According to the Kappa Sigma Fraternity at UVU Facebook page, Kappa Sigma is pursuing the lattermost institution by "bringing UVU its first Full-Blown fraternity!" While you may have seen "Animal House," I can specifically cite that, despite the stereotypes, such a portrayal is not accurate. Well, not •entirely accurate. From January 2007 to February 2008,1 worked as the house director and cook for a chapter of a major national sorority on Greek Row of the University of Utah. Yes, a sorority, not a fraternity. I lived in and was responsible for the safety and supervision of the 25 or so residents of the house. House directors, more colloquially known as "house moms,'1 are generally older women, maternal figures that are equally adept at offering romantic advice as they are brewing a pot of coffee for latenight finals cramming. Our house was sandwiched between several other houses in a small chunk of suburb across the street from campus proper. While there were a handful of late-night parties that migrated from the basement of the adjacent houses onto front lawns (and, in one case, the actual streets), forthe most part, the grounds of my neighbors remained well-maintained and moderately reasonable hours were kept. Danny Baranowski, the president and founder of Kappa Sigma UVU, said that it "was created as an organization that develops and strengthens leadership skills." Rhett V. Dalley, Kappa Sigma's Grand Master of Ceremonies, says that the organization's "four pillars of excellence [scholarship, fellowship, service, and leadership] ... are the central focus of our organization and we ave another UVU is growing. Open enrollment will probably not last forever, and as our student body grows, so, hopefully, will our prestige. Accordingly, certain aspects of college life will indeed make themselves present. Let us trust the stated purposes of Kappa Sigma and any other Greek organizations that we find in our midst, including a chapter Photo illustration by JAY ARCANSALIN/ of Alpha Chi Omega, the one don't UVU REVIEW official sorority at UVU. Such orgabelieve nizations are inherently a component that these should be second- of college campuses nationwide, and ary to anything, especially something their cultural duration should at least as trivial as partying." earn them the benefit of the doubt. Dalley also says that Kappa SigUnless they somehow earn the duma's members have donated enough bious honor of double secret probation. service hours to claim third place More government mac n' cheese DAVID SELF NEWLIN Opinions editor The day after the health care bill passed in the House was possibly the most annoying day in the history of days. Everyone, seemingly for the first time, cared about it deeply and expressed their views via Twitter and Facebook and annoying conversations on the bus. But very few people could tell you the%full name of the bill... Well, here it is - the Health Care and Education Affordability Reconciliation Act. What was once the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, the centerpiece of Obama's educational platform, was folded into the health care bill by amendment, probably in order to garner support for the health care bill. In its original form, the education bill would have been filibustered by senate Republicans, but after minor modifications, the bill became essentially bulletproof, which is to say, a bulletproof vest for the much more vulnerable health care half of the bill. No one in Congress, especially not Democrats, wants to vote against education if they can avoid it, and tagging on this bill likely brought on board some Blue Dogs who had previously leaned against health care reform: Perhaps the best part about the Reconciliation Act is that at least the education half of the bill is entirely free. It spends no money. Rather, it redirects subsidies out of the hands of private lenders, money which they never needed in the first place, since student loans have always been guaranteed by the government anyway, and puts it into things like, for instance, Pell Grants. Many didn't realize that Pell Grants were about to •i • • run out of money. 8 million students would have been left without Pell grant assistance in 2011 without this bill. Now, those of us who depend on these grants in order to make it through the year can look forward to an actual increase in the maximum grant to $5500 beginning in July of this year, and $5975 in the next seven years. Poor juniors whose parents have finally cut them off will be eating less 12-cent ramen and more of that swanky 33-cent mac l n cheese. Mmm. And no taxpayer had to give up a dime. In directing money away from the student loan lenders, the Act essentially eviscerates the entire industry, which was previously a source of easy money for private lenders for years. Now, in additidfc to more grants, loans come directly from the government. Repayment is also made easier reducing the monthly payment maximum to 10 • percent of discretionary income. And while you'd think this would extend the amount of time it takes to repay loans - and it will for some - nevertheless after 20 years the remaining balance can be forgiven. While Utah's college students stand to gain a great deal, Utah legislators and loan servicers are up in arms. The fate of loan servicers like the Utah Higher Education Assistance Authority, who have helped to make Utah's loan repayment rate the highest in the nation, is unclear. UHEAA is non-profit and therefore is interested only in making sure that loans are paid off as quickly, and therefore with as little interest, as possible. Hopefully an exemption can be made for non-profit servicers like UHEAA. But even if not, students will have an easier time getting the education they need. Hard times for adjucnts DAVID SELF NEWLIN Opinions editor Every student will at some point take a class from an adjunct faculty member. Our school has about 450 full-time faculty members, and about a thousand part-time faculty, most of whom are adjunct professors. Over 50 percent of the credit hours awarded are taught by adjuncts. In the rest of the nation, about 70 percent of faculty are adjuncts. Adjuncts are thought of as second-class aca- As it turns out, getting an education doesn't always pay as much as we like to think. demies, and for the most part are paid accordingly. At UVU, adjuncts are classified along with other part-time faculty. They teach, usually, but not always, fewer classes than tenure track faculty. But they often teach the same classes and often have the same sort of educational background - in other • words, an adjunct may be just as qualified as a tenure track professor. Still they teach for lower pay and no benefits. An adjunct teaching three classes - which any teacher will tell you qualifies as a full time job gets paid barely minimum wage for their efforts after spending years in graduate school earning a Master's or a Ph.D. As it turns out, getting an education doesn't always pay as much as we like to think. An adjunct teaching one or two classes makes, obviously, far less than this. It might be, and often is, argued that adjunct faculty value their mostly part-time status. Certainly this is sometimes true - it may be the case that an adjunct is willing to take a hit in pay and benefits in order to have time to do other things like family, research, personal activities, etc. There is a great . deal of sense in the idea that the same work and. the same qualifications demand the same pay, rather than the current two-tiered system. : The fact that adjuncts are classified as part-time hides a number of issues as well. They're part time • at this university, but often adjuncts will teach ; at more than one school in order to make ends meet. : Your part-time adjunct ' math teacher may also be teaching at SLCC or the U as well, and thus not only be working 40 or more hours a week, but be commuting back and forth. Even if an adjunct is teaching two classes, and a tenure track faculty two classes, the one is con; sidered part-time, and the other is not. As a matter of fact, UVU's reliance on adjunct faculty has gone down, bucking the trend ; of the rest of the nation. But with budget cuts bleeding the institution in the past few years, that trend threatens to change. Adjuncts are cheap and we need to save money. Heavy reliance on adjuncts is bad not because adjunct faculty themselves are bad, but because twotiered compensation for similar, and sometimes identical, work is bad. Both equalizing pay, and increasing tenure-track faculty positions, though difficult, is the only reasonable solution. There must be a place for adjunct faculty. We need teachers one way * or another, and we need to accommodate people who do value having a part-time status. However, there can be no doubt that having more full-time tenure-track faculty positions is better for every-' , one involved. 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