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Sen. John McCain’s Straight Talk Express passed through the First Coast Sept. 15 for a campaign rally at the Veteran’s Memorial Arena.

The event was originally scheduled to take place at the Jacksonville Fairgrounds but was rescheduled during the weekend to accommodate the overwhelming demand for tickets.

The original venue could only support 2,000 people.

Venue staffers estimated there were approximately 4,000 in attendance at the arena, only a quarter of its capacity.

Fifty-Five UNF College Republicans’ participated in McCain’s rally by waving “Ospreys for McCain” and “Read My Lipstick” signs, and 12 students, including Student Body President John Barnes, were selected to paint the letters M-c-C-A-I-N-*-P-A-L-I-N across their chests.

“We are in an historic election season, and it was a great experience,” Barnes said. “I encourage political participation, regardless of party affiliation. [Vice President Mike Saathoff] and I do not always see eye-to-eye.”

“But we work together for the best interest of the student body, regardless of who we individually support,” Barnes said.

Although she was not there, Sarah Palin garnered much vocal support from the audience, chanting “McCain, Palin” and “Sarah, Palin.”

McCain took the stage to Survivor’s “Eye of the Tiger” and enthusiastic supporters chanting “Country, First” and “McCain, Palin.”

McCain began with the importance of winning battleground states like Florida, Ohio and Michigan.

“We must and will win the state of Florida in the upcoming election,” McCain said.

McCain also commented on the tumultuous state of Wall Street and the bust of Lehman Brothers.

“I believe the fundamentals of our economy are strong, but these are very, very difficult times, so I promise you: We will never put America in this position again,” McCain said. “We will clean up Wall Street.”

“The McCain-Palin administration will replace an outdated, patchwork quilt of regulatory oversight and bring transparency and accountability to Wall Street,” he added. “We will have transparency and accountability, and we will reform the regulatory bodies of government.”

He touched upon several issues close to fiscal conservatives: lower inflation, low taxes and access to international markets and attacked Sen. Barack Obama’s position on free trade, stating, “Obama will not even agree to have a vote on free trade with Colombia.”

McCain also attacked Obama’s position on earmarks, stating Obama sought $932 million dollars since his election, or approximately $1 million per day, since he took office.

McCain renewed his pledge to fight earmarks and veto any bill containing them and will publicize any that came across his desk, stating, “earmarks breed corruption.”

Concerning energy independence, America must stop sending $700 billion a year overseas to dictators and enemies of America, he said.

McCain was promptly greeted with thunderous applause from supporters while chanting “drill offshore.”

Agreeing, McCain said America must also develop alternative energy solutions such as wind, solar, hydro-electric and nuclear energy.

In his closing remarks, McCain talked about the perilous times America is facing and promised to keep fighting the global war on terror. He also commented on the renewed Russian threat and the threat to Israel if Iran continues its nuclear program.

He once again said Obama would need “on-the-job training,” and “the presidency is not a job for on-the-job training.”

“I do not need any on-the-job training, and I know how to work with our friends and deal with our enemies,” McCain said.

He also brought up his ties to the First Coast, as he served at the Cecil Air Field during the mid-1960s.

McCain thanked the citizens of Orange Park for taking care of his family while he was a prisoner of war.

“My children had about 50,000 parents while I was in prison,” he said.

Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton, a McCain supporter, also touched upon this issue during his opening remarks.

“We will show [McCain] this town still remembers him,” Peyton said.

E-mail Jonathan Morales and James Cannon at news@unfspinnaker.com.

Owned and operated by the Mayes family, the new stand also operates the concession stand at the UNF Arena.

Miracle Kate’s stopped serving in January after Chartwells presented the mom and pop stand with a new contract, stating Miracle Kate’s had to serve one less day a week and could be asked to leave at any time, owner Mary Yeoman said.

In a previous interview with the Spinnaker, Yeoman said she believes it was also a personal issue because of the amount of money they made, forcing other on-campus eateries to compete for business.

“We didn’t consider [bringing Miracle Kate’s back],” said Dave Jordan, director of Chartwells. “They didn’t like the terms, and they just didn’t want to come back. We absolutely wouldn’t change the contract. They would have to operate under the same stipulation as any other contractor that would come on campus.”

Chartwells knew they had to bring in a new hot dog vendor since the departure of Miracle Kate’s due to the stand’s popularity and quick service, said Korey Konopasek, director of operations for Chartwells.

“We didn’t have enough food places to feed all of the students,” Konopasek said.

Chartwells asked Mays to fill the vacancy because they were already on campus, Konopasek said.

Mays didn’t know the previous circumstances, but believes his staff is more professional because they are accustomed to handling a high volume of customers, he said.

The stand opened during the summer B session on a request by Student Government.

“Once Kate’s left over a contract issue, we knew we had to do something to get a new hot dog stand,” Student Body President John Barnes said. “It’s great food at a reasonable price, and until the Student Union opens, it’s one of the few food options the students have on campus.”

The new stand will remain on campus for the remainder of the school year, until the Student Union is ready for business, said Konopasek.

“The last hot dog stand was good in service, but this one I can smell from a mile away,” said John Coniglio, sophomore business major. “I don’t know what I’m going to do when they don’t have a hot dog stand anymore.”

E-mail Josh Salman at managing@unfspinnaker.com.
Sarah Gojekian contributed to this report.

The Roadmap Initiative will outline term-by-term the recommended courses students should take in the particular major they have chosen, said Dr. David Jaffee, Assistant Vice President of Undergraduate Studies at Academic Affairs.

The program was modeled after the universal tracking system at the University of Florida as a way to provide students with guidance to move more expeditiously through their program, Jaffee said.

Some students select majors without really knowing the full curriculum requirements,
Jaffee said.

The roadmaps provided for each course will show students the full curriculum expectations if they wanted to get a sense of what the program would look like if they were to do it in four years.

The roadmap would benefit students with a chosen major as well as those who are undecided, Jaffee said.

“If you do know your major, then you have the roadmap and it gives you a clear idea of what general education courses you should take, if any in particular would be preparatory for your major, and also outlines semester by semester the courses you would take,” Jaffee said. “So it’s kind of like the ideal schedule.”

Developing the Roadmap Initiative will be a two-step process; the first step being the mapping of each program at UNF, a project that will take some time, Jaffee said.

The second part will consist of the tracking and advising that will ensue from the development of the program.

Initial efforts will focus on implementing roadmaps for pilot programs, and each college will be submitting two, Brown said.

The key to the initiative will be the development of Milestone Markers, courses each department will identify as major courses in a program so students and advisers can gauge success and timely progress.

The roadmaps will map out a four-year program consisting mostly of 17 credit-hour semesters, but the Milestone Markers will gauge student progress based on credits taken, rather than semesters completed and will alert advisers when a student is off-track based on Milestone Markers, Jaffee said.

If roadmap tracking determines a student is off track, an adviser will contact them to offer help and determine a possible change in major, Jaffee said.

“It really is a support system mechanism that, if works effectively, will probably lead to better retention and graduation rates,” Jaffee said.

Those desired results have been confirmed by Institutional Research at the University of Florida, where the program originated.

“The overall results have been that our graduation rates and retention rates have increased,” said Roxanne Barnett, senior Information Technology expert at UF.

The added work has created a position that will be dedicated to the success of the program. A new adviser has been appointed to handle the task exclusively.

Rachel Broderick has worked for UNF for 20 years, serving the past eight years as an adviser for the Brooks College of Health and will be taking the responsibility as Academic Roadmaps Adviser.

She hopes the results of the tracking will help departments with schedule planning, she said.

“They’re going to have to make some decisions based on the information we find,” Broderick said. “If we’re tracking students, we’re also letting departments know how many students they
can expect.”

Ideally, the initiative will let departments know where students are in their academic progress to open up extra sections to accommodate the “ideal schedule,” an issue that has caused some students at UNF to delay their graduation because of shortages in sections offered.

Kyle Groothuis, a sophomore transportation and logistics major on the men’s basketball team said he has spoken to many athletes who have taken classes they didn’t need, setting them back in their academic progress.

Like Groothius, sophomore civil engineering major Ray Ammons feels that not going to the adviser is stupid, and he has gone to one every semester, he said.

E-mail Jonathan Morales at news@unfspinnaker.com.

Adam Guillette, state director of the Florida chapter of Americans for Prosperity, and Ken Hurley, Greater Jacksonville American Civil Liberties Union president, debated formally proposed Florida constitutional Seventh and Ninth Amendments Sept. 15 in the Fine Arts Center.

“I hope we gave the audience some good information and entertainment along the way,” Hurley said. “Amendments Seven and Nine were struck down with good reason. We wanted to argue our point of view and deliver a little civics education along the way.”

Guillette’s goal was similar, but also hoped to increase membership of the UNF chapter of American for Prosperity, he said.

Approximately 75 people watched the two debate, which was a featured event of Constitution Week 2008, sponsored by the American Democracy Project.

Both the Seventh and Ninth Amendments were removed from the November ballot Sept. 3, following a Florida Supreme Court decision and ACLU lawsuit, according to the Supreme Court of Florida’s final
opinion.

The Seventh Amendment focused on private religious schools, while the Ninth Amendment focused solely on private schools.

Both amendments fought for the option of a voucher program in the current school system with hopes to improve the sub-par quality of education students are currently receiving in Florida, Guillette said.

“Moving to a new home isn’t always an option, so if a family isn’t happy with the level of education their child is receiving, they can’t do anything about it,” Guillette said. “It’s a matter of choice.”

Hurley and the ACLU argued the proposals would conflict with the separation of church and state.

After more than an hour, they reached no final conclusion, and both warned that the topic was far from over.

“It was enjoyable and good to get the opinions with out people hiking around the issue,” said Mike Wohlamn, an active duty U.S. Navy employee who was in attendance. “The proposal will now be delayed a few years, but it’s great to see people still enthusiastic about it.”

E-mail Josh Salman at managing@unfspinnaker.com.

For those interested in attending, here are some quick facts.

Who
Dr. Jarik Conrad, president of Conrad Consulting Group, LLC. Conrad grew up in a housing project in East St. Louis, Ill., an area that has been described as the most distressed small city in America.

Conrad recently led the Blueprint for Prosperity, an initiative to improve Jacksonville’s quality of life.

What
Conrad will speak about his new book, “The Fragile Mind: How It Has Produced and Unwittingly Perpetuated America’s Tragic Disparities,” which is part of his autobiography combined with research findings on racial disparities in America.

When
7:30 p.m., Sept. 23

Where
University Center

Experience
Conrad serves on the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations as well as several non-profit boards. He served in leadership positions with the St. Louis Cardinals, the Union Carbide Corporation, The Pillsbury Company, Citigroup, CSX and the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce. The Jacksonville Business Journal named him one of the top-40 professionals less than 40 years old in Jacksonville.

Education
Conrad earned his doctorate in Education from UNF, a Master of Industrial and Labor Relations degree and Master of Business Administration from Cornell University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Illinois.

Compiled by Holli Welch.

The Transportation and Logistics Flagship Program, ranked 13th in the nation by Supply Chain Management Review 2005, made great strides connecting the club with the local transportation and logistics network, an often overlooked industry with a viable job outlook, said Lynn Brown, Associate Director of TLS.

“Logistics is considered one of the four super-sectors in Jacksonville’s economy,” Brown said.

And with approximately 650 firms in the transportation and logistics field in Jacksonville alone, the opportunity for students to gain relevant knowledge is there, she said.

“One thing we do quite well with the business community in Jacksonville is private tours of facilities not made to the public,” Brown said.

These include an extra-exclusive tour of the Budweiser facility in Jacksonville as well as an upcoming tour of the new Sears distribution center to talk about operations, she said.

Brown attributes the growth and success of TLS to the demand for a highly skilled workforce and the activity of the Jacksonville Port Authority, she said.

In conjunction with the Coggin College of Business, TLS organizes an annual Career Day that provides students with one-on-one interviews with recruiters offering job positions, networking options and a sense of the success one can achieve in the industry.

Last year, 22 companies came to the Career Day and completed more than 300 interviews with more than 40 students, Brown said.

The recruiters included five alumni who came to represent the various companies and told students of their success in the business.

The Career Day’s popularity has prompted officials to add a second event date each year.

“We did a survey last spring after the career day, and it was pretty overwhelmingly in favor of twice a year, which shows you the demand,” Brown said.

Samantha Joseph, Co-Marketing director for TLS, wants to use the club as a tool to create awareness in a sometimes-overlooked job field and agrees the way goods and services come to job seekers is an important process, she said.

“[Transportation] touches every part of business in life down to the bottles of water you drink,” Joseph said. “Through UNF and using all the tools we have, hopefully we can produce workers who can make a difference in the field through innovation and design.”

She is excited to see future workers in the field earn a ludicrous living while making a difference in the world, she said.

David Aaron, a senior double-majoring in marketing and transportation and logistics was recently inducted as a new member to TLS at its first meeting Sept. 10.

Aaron was attracted to the club because of its notoriety and the many job positions available in the field, he said.

“I joined TLS to have experience and try to network my way into the business by the time I graduate and find where I fit in,” Aaron said.

E-mail Jonathan Morales at news@unfspinnaker.com.

The Sept. 13-15 Gallup Poll Daily tracking update shows Sen. John McCain (47 percent) and
Sen. Barack Obama (46 percent) locked in a close contest when registered voters are asked for whom they would vote if the election were this week.

DEMOCRATS
Barack Obama
46%

REPUBLICANS
John McCain
47%

Election notes
•  Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin discussed her goals as vice president Sept. 15 at a rally
outside of Denver: “My mission is going to energy security and government reform. And
another thing near and dear to my heart – it’s going to be helping families who have
special needs and children with special needs.”

•  Presidential hopeful Ralph Nader said Congress was passing “panic legislation without due
deliberations, without even having public congressional hearings” in response to news of
a possible automotive bailout for America’s largest three car-makers.

•  In response to Obama’s fundraising problems, Obama officials have refused to
allow House Democrats the ability to include Obama or Biden’s name for fundraising.

• Libertarian presidential hopeful, Bob Barr, won a landmark legal case concerning ballot
access in Pennsylvania. The major-party candidates “will have to compete for the votes of
Pennsylvania citizens instead of taking them for granted,” Russell Verney, Barr’s campaign
manager said in a statement.

Presidential Election countdown
48 days until the election Nov. 4.

Compiled by James Cannon II.

That’s the virtual equivalent Facebook users have faced, or will face, as the online hangout forces its 90 million members to adapt to a redesigned site, unveiled in late July. Beginning this week, users’ profiles will be irrevocably migrated to the new site.

And the changes are being met with a mix of protest and resignation.

Facebook’s main purpose for redesigning was to declutter, and the makeover is noticeable. Instead of finding a glut of information on a single profile page, personal news and photos are split up into tabbed pages. Also, third-party applications are more hidden.

Still, it’s unlikely that the dissatisfaction with the redesign will trigger a mass defection from Facebook to a competing social networking site, such as MySpace or Bebo. Instead, people will get used to the new digs, a now-common phenomenon as people reliant on the Web are at the mercy of designers who change the look and usage of sites as they see fit.

“Like anything, you have to get used to it, so there’s always that period where you can’t find things,” said 28-year-old Mike Kelly of Chicago, who’s been playing with the new Facebook since it debuted. “The functionality has actually improved. … I have heard a couple people complain, but I think that’s just growing pains.”

The transition, which started Wednesday, will take about a week. Users of Internet Explorer 6 are still unable to access the new site, an issue that Facebook said will be resolved in the coming days.

Since unveiling the redesign, Facebook allowed its users to toggle between the two versions or just stick with the old one. In the last month of testing, thousands of users have joined online groups and signed petitions asking Facebook to either dump the new site or continue giving them a choice between the versions.

Facebook has faced member mutiny before. It backed down last year after users balked at an advertising-related feature that shared data about their external activities, such as online shopping.

But social media experts point out that the previous controversy centered on privacy, a weightier issue than the largely cosmetic changes now taking place. Between setting up a new profile on a different site or living with a redesigned Facebook, users likely will opt for the latter.

“I already can’t remember what the old Facebook looked like,” said Chicagoan Karrie White, 27, who had minor quibbles with the new version but said there is “no way” she would jump to MySpace. “Things change; we get used to them. I’m sure they’ll change again too.”

Web analytics firm Compete found that users trying the new version were gradually moving toward using only the redesigned site. During the last few weeks of August, roughly 60 percent of Facebook members stayed on the new version rather than click back to the old site.

Compete analyst Becky Bitzenhofer said resistance is to be expected.

“With everything Facebook does that shows it as being more public and people having easier access, [core users] freak out and they do forget it’s Facebook and not their own site,” Bitzenhofer said.

Unlike Facebook’s abrupt introduction in 2006 of the “News Feed,” which summarizes friends’ updates in a continually updated stream, the site rolled out its redesign slowly and asked for user feedback.

Stratton Cherouny, creative director at Chicago-based Web development firm Gorilla, said such precautions are crucial for a popular site such as Facebook, which is “something you’re really familiar with and is a social space.”

Some critics of the redesign may follow the route of Ben Parr, who formed one of the original groups against the News Feed while he was an undergraduate at Northwestern University.

In response to the outcry, the site added privacy options to the News Feed. Two years later, the 23-year-old said he “couldn’t imagine Facebook without it” and considers it one of the site’s biggest benefits.

“I’m glad they’re telling Facebook they’re upset about certain things,” Parr said of the users protesting the redesign. “Facebook does listen, and they’ll probably change some things.

“But most of all, you have to give things time.”

(c) 2008, Chicago Tribune
Distributed by McClatchy Information Services.

The laptops must stay within the library and are equipped with the same operating system as the desktop computers, making them equally efficient in terms of their compatibility and processing speed, said Michael Cusack, director of Library Systems and Technology.

“During the summer, everything was moved to Vista using Office 2007,” Cusack said. “We spent lots of time with faculty to make sure the computers have everything that is needed and don’t have what is not necessary. And if students need to download additional stuff to get their work done, it is their
privilege.”

The wireless connection to the printers and fast internet are what students really appreciate, according to a survey administered by Library Systems and Technology in spring 2008.

“[The survey] results showed that students consider the Library to have the best wireless network, [and] we put lots of effort into the computers to make them run as quickly as possible,” Cusack said.

And students don’t have to worry about losing their data in cases of power outage, since computer systems are able to retrieve lost information as they regularly save new data.

“Computers map the documents and continuously store the information onto H hard drive from which the data can be retrieved,” Cusack said.

Although the computer software has recently been updated, the content of visited Web pages is not monitored.

“Students must be responsible themselves,” Cusack said. “This is a university environment where we support educational curiosity, [If] something should occur, we will deal with it accordingly.”

Despite the practicality of the new program, computers have not been rented very often.

“Right now we’re only getting three or four [rentals] at a time,” said Robb Waltner, head of Access Services.

Cusack believes the primary reason rentals aren’t occurring frequently is that students do not know about the possibility to check out laptops, he said.

“We will have to reconsider our advertising strategies and double our efforts,” Cusack said. “We have installed big-screen TVs on all floors to run updates that deliver information about the instant occupancy of desktop computers, opening hours or other services.”

The idea is the laptops will help students when all the desktop computers are occupied and students need computer access to complete work, Waltner said.

Junior psychology major Tommie Irving knew about the laptops but was not fully informed about the terms of using them.

“I am not very familiar with the program and would be worried about finding a place to plug the computer,” Irving said. “However, I might try the program in the future in case I can’t find a desk computer.”

The amount of computers purchased was derived from observing how many additional lab computers were needed to accommodate everybody, Cusack said.

“Monday mornings, when the traffic is really heavy, we had to make labs available holding around 40 additional computers, and we saw almost all of them were occupied,” Cusack said.

Renting the laptops demands user accountability, as overdue fines are set at $10 for every hour they are late.

A lost laptop can result in an $800 fee on a student’s MyWings account, imposing a financial hold, according to the Library’s Web site.

Though damage will inevitably occur as the computers age.

“Library counts with natural wear and tear and does not worry about viruses or information stored on the computer,” Cusack said. “Those get automatically wiped out once the user has finished with the computer.”

Technical equipment in most Florida university libraries is funded by the Florida Center for Library Automation.

Other limitations and fees are set by comparison to other libraries in Florida.

“Right now, we are reaching the limit the budget can handle by having 350 computers accessible to students,” Cusack said. “Despite the budget constraints, we are still considering more, which would require additional funding.”

E-mail Andrea Farah at news@unfspinnaker.com.

Nearly 130 presidents and chancellors have signed the Amethyst pledge advocating a factual and dispassionate debate about the effectiveness of the 1984 National Minimum Drinking Age Act, which imposes a 10 percent reduction in federal transportation assistance to states with drinking ages lower than 21.

It has been almost 25 years since the federal government coerced states into adopting the act, and after these university presidents witnessed the harm first hand, they claim the draconian prohibition law actually fosters irresponsible drinking rather than the purported goal of stopping young adults from drinking.

Instead of alcohol being considered a social norm, it is placed in the realm of moral taboos.

America has the highest drinking age out of every country that permits the use of alcohol within its borders.

In most eastern cultures, alcohol is introduced gradually over time and usually under the supervision
of parents.

However, in America, alcohol is usually first consumed in unsupervised situations, such as motels, beaches and “ditch” parties.

When peer pressure and the need to not be the first person to quit drinking are taken into account, it
becomes quite clear the other cultures have the right idea.

The government-commissioned Monitor the Future Study stated binge drinking, defined as more than five alcoholic beverages consumed consecutively during a period of two weeks, was actually on a decline years before the 1984 law took effect.

Even though proponents of the current drinking age are correct about the decrease in the number of alcohol related deaths since the enactment of the law, it fails to take into consideration the steady decline in alcohol related deaths since 1969.

Not to mention, the past two decades have seen countless advancements in automobile safety and medical procedures that at least mitigate the claim that prohibition works.

Staunch teetotalers such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving have been so enraged in the calls for a debate they have released a press statement urging universities to continue to follow the pseudo-science behind the current drinking laws.

“Parents should think twice before sending their teens to these colleges or any others that have waved the white flag on underage and binge drinking policies,” said MADD National President Laura
Dean-Mooney.

Forget for a second there is a difference between responsibly drinking and illegally driving while impaired – MADD’s argument should be with the non-existent public transportation options in most cities.

Cities that do have some semblance of a public transportation policy usually discontinue operation well before most bars are even open.

It would seem that in light of these administrators’ expertise in the area, MADD should begin advocating greater alcohol awareness and a revamped public transportation policy.