Some good news about the State University of New Jersey, which hasn't exactly generated the headlines they may have wanted in recent weeks. From the Star Ledger:
Rutgers University is near the top of a survey that ranks colleges on their return on investment.
The survey in the January issue of SmartMoney magazine looks at what graduates earned three and 15 years after leaving school, then compared it to what they paid in tuition.
Rutgers ranked sixth, ahead of Ivy League schools like Princeton and Harvard.
In a new twist on traditional college rankings, SmartMoney took a crack at quantifying the long-term value of a college education. Our goal was to spotlight the relationship between tuition costs and graduates' earning power. Working with consultant PayScale.com, which recently published a groundbreaking survey on alumni salaries, we first looked at what graduates from 50 of the most expensive four-year colleges earn in their early and midcareers. Then we factored in their up-front tuition and fees. The result? A unique "payback" ratio for each school.
The current cost of Rutgers in-state tuition to live on Campus including room and board is now $21,504 per year. For out of state students, it's going to cost them $31,718. Here's what the survey said about the return on that investment:
The survey found the median salary for Rutgers graduates was about $50,000 three years after graduation and about $92,000 after 15 years.
Three years out of college, I was a drag on that number and that's when it cost less to go there. A word of caution for the University, being a good return on your investment still doesn't mean people can afford you. As costs rise, grants dry up and loans become harder to get, this great opportunity for a return on their investment becomes that much harder to reach.
If the Rutgers University alumni in your neighborhood seem to be standing a little taller and walking with a bit more swagger than usual this weekend, it's probably because the university's big-time football team has scored a big-time honor: coach Greg Schiano and quarterback Mike Teel are sharing the "Goofball of the Week" laurels, bestowed by Bob Wojnowski of the Detroit News. Let him paint you a word picture:
Schiano is at least half a goofball for spurning Michigan to stay in New Jersey, where the Scarlet Knights are 0-3 and falling apart. Teel gets a well-earned share because he threw a late interception, then threw a punch at a teammate after Rutgers' 23-21 loss to Navy. Schiano declined to suspend Teel for the incident. Rutgers' opponents probably appreciate that.
As an alumnus reading this news, I felt the impulse to celebrate by peeling off a few Benjamins and flushing them down the toilet, just to keep in the spirit of the whole big-time football thing at my alma mater. Then good sense kicked in. When I'm in the presence of experts, my instinct is to step back and let them show everybody how it's done, and when it comes to squandering cash, these guys have attained a state of Zen-like perfection. And to think that they do it while wearing uniforms with misspelled names? Sheer artistry! The great ones always make it look easy! All I can say is: Keep chopping! (Bird-dogged by Rutgers 1000.)
Education is only meaningful if it translates into action. These are our peers that are dying in this war. Just recently, 91 Rutgers Newark students were recalled to active duty from reservist status in the National Guard. They will be in our thoughts on March 27th. ----Hoda Mitwally, Rutgers U.
How will you remember the sad milestone of 4ooo American souls lost in Iraq? Or the conflict's recent 5 year anniversary?
The Rutgers University community has an event planned this Thursday:
Timed to coincide with the 5th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq and the announcement of the 4,000th soldier killed in Iraq, the Rutgers Anti-War Walkout will begin at 1:23pm on March 27th with a rally at the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial on Voorhees Mall, on the College Avenue Campus.
According to Walkout Coalition organizer Sumia Ibrahim, last year's walkout was a far cry from years past when most Americans still took a dim view of anti-war activism:
"Last year hundreds of students marched into the heart of New Brunswick and received enthusiastic support from members of the community. As we walked along George Street, people were cheering, waving, flashing peace signs, and joining in."
According to one Rutgers University student, it's easy to understand the transformation of an American public whose support for Iraq has waned since the war's first anniversary.
Student organizer Timothy Horras tells Blue Jersey, "American people were lied to. And we expect one of the largest actions in the country on Thursday."
Either milestone -- 5 years, 4ooo lost souls -- would be sad enough in its own right. But to have them coincide like this makes it especially painful. And thanks to the Student organizers at Rutgers, folks in Central Jersey have a powerful way to register their discontent. (Details below the fold)
So what's going on in your community to mark the occasion?
The current issue of Columbia Magazine spotlights William Neal Brown, who while a professor of social work at Rutgers University found himself called upon to debate Malcolm X in the fall of 1961 on the issue of racial integration versus separation. The whole article is worth your time, for its local and national interest, its dual portraits of two extraordinary men, and its picture of a time and an argument that aren't all that far from the present.
The debate took place in November 1961 on the Newark campus of Rutgers University, in the heart of a rigidly segregated city that was only a few years away from exploding. Malcolm X was at the peak of his stature within the separatist Nation of Islam movement: over the next four years he would have a very public and acrimonious parting of the ways with the Nation and its leader Elijah Muhammad, convert to traditional Islam and begin reaching out to the civil rights leaders he had previously scorned as "Uncle Toms " and "professional Negroes." When Malcolm X was shot down in 1965, one man convicted in the crime and two others who were implicated but never arrested had links to Temple Number 25 in Newark, the very NOI mosque that the Newark debate helped establish.
There weren't many funny outtakes from the Corzine interview. But there was this gem, as a Lady Liberty likeness wandered into the shot as we were wrapping the session.
The racially and sexually inappropriate remarks made by shock jock Don Imus created a storm of protest last week that ended with both NBC and CBS firing the long-time provocateur. During a recent broadcast, Imus had taken aim at the Rutgers University women's basketball team, which had recently faced Tennessee for the national championship and had won acclaim for its grit and determination. Rather than applauding the efforts of the women's team that had rebounded from adversity all year, Imus referred to them as "nappy-haired hos." The firestorm that erupted caused Imus to apologize on numerous occasions and agree to meet with the team and extend an apology first-hand. However, with protests occurring on college campuses, outrage mounting in the African American community, and advertisers pulling their ads from his show, Imus was fired. The big loser in this saga was Don Imus, a member of the National Broadcasting Hall of Fame and a radio personality who earned approximately $10 million per year. The hands down winner was Rutgers University.
Governor Corzine is under some question for some gifts he gave to his ex-ladyfriend, who happens to be a Union leader. While I have never had a girlfriend myself, I kinda thought the whole point was to do nice stuff for one another?
The economic forecast for South Jersey looks bright, with tourism, businesses and hospitals in the region poised to capitalized on a rebounding economy.
I am still buzzing from last night's Garden State Equality gay-la. Unfortunately I didn't get a whole lot of sleep, so if I missed a news nugget out there somewhere, lay it on us in the comment section.
This year's erstwhile undedeated football record comes on the heels of Rutgers U eliminating their tennis and swim/dive programs.
Without getting into the whole debate about which programs deserve to stay or go (and how much the coaches deserve....or not) I can say this much: tennis and swim programs tend to attract good student/athletes who graduate.
Not sure what kind of talent pool RU expects to pick from after their latest athletic reshufflings. But nixing sports like tennis and swimming sure rule out a lot of bright, athletic New Jersey highschool seniors who would prefer to pay in-state tuition as they head off to college.
There is no doubt that this year's gridiron success has been thrilling to watch, but we should be mindful of what RU is giving up in its relentless persuit of football glory and dollars.
Gee, kids, how's the big game with Cincinnati going?
Maybe Rutgers University will win big. Maybe it'll lose big. Maybe the earth will open up and swallow both teams at the fifty-yard line and the question of What Might Have Happened On That Magic Night will never be answered.
No matter what happens, the big-time football remains a colossal boondoggle, and the justifications being offered for squandering millions on this nonsense convince me of nothing except this - if the Human Genome Project wants to discover a self-delusion gene, it should take blood samples from members of the Rutgers University administration and the Board of Governors.
I'm glad to see that the lonely band of heretics called Rutgers 1000 is more or less spontaneously reconstituting itself, despite the fact that the Scarlet Knights winning a few games has suddenly made the team into a sacred cow. (For purposes of disclosure, I should note that I took two of William Dowling's classes back in my bright college days, and I know no finer English professor.)
Apparently Rutgers University’s biggest contribution to popular culture — dwarfing Mister Magoo and Paul Robeson combined — is going to be the slogan "keep chopping." The New York Times explains:
"Keep chopping," advised Greg Schiano, the Rutgers coach.
It was Schiano who started this craze, after last season’s opening game, when Rutgers blew a 20-point lead at Illinois and he had no idea what to say.
Schiano gathered his players in a meeting room and recalled the words of a sports psychologist he once met at the University of Miami who told the team that playing football was like chopping wood.
Miami, never known as a timbering powerhouse, did not take to the analogy. But Schiano was desperate. He tried to extend the frontier metaphor.
It’s a little-known fact that Mister Magoo, the nearsighted old coot who led the UPA cartoon stable for three decades, was a passionate alumnus of Rutgers University who kept his old pennants and raccoon coats mothballed in the closet and never missed a homecoming game. His love of all things Rutgers kept his spirits high even as he entered the elephant wing of the city zoo thinking it was his old dorm (”Same inspiring view,” he murmured happily, staring at an elephant’s backside).
Little did I know that Mister Magoo has been in charge of the football program budget all these decades! How else to explain the expenditures tabulated in this outstanding expose in the Record, which ought to become the number-one topic in the state once the elections are finally out of the way:
As a Rutgers University alumnus, I guess I should be thrilled that the Scarlet Knights football team is actually winning games after umpteen years of serving as a ready source of laugh lines for The Sopranos. Time to get my raccoon-skin coat out of storage, break out some pennants and yell boolah boolah fom the stands alongside Mister Magoo — right?
Wrong. The university may finally be winning on the football field, but it’s still punting its responsiblities to its students. A season of gold-plated pigskin doesn’t make up for the tens of millions of dollars squandered in the pursuit of gridiron glory. The fact that some glandular cases get to do the funky chicken in the endzone doesn’t make up for the funding cuts, the tuition hikes, the sloughing off of teaching duties onto grad students, and all the other symptoms of McDonaldization that have followed in the train of the university’s quest to become a big-time player in college sports.
For your environmental edification on a very wet Earth Day, here's the story of how a New Jersey couple managed to live comfortably since 1980 without any oil heating bills, thanks to a little know-how and a floor-to-ceiling approach to energy conservation. The house looks pretty cute, too.
New York governor Al Smith was often called "The Happy Warrior," but the man I know who was best suited to that title was Wells Keddie, a labor studies professor, stalwart union member and social activist at Rutgers University. Keddie, who died recently at the age of 80, was a fighter without rancor -- there was something about his temperament that allowed him to be affable and welcoming even with his opponents. Even when he was up to his eyebrows in academic infighting and negotiations with the university (he was a bulwark of the American Association of University Professors), Keddie came across as a serene man enjoying life to the hilt.
He was also a walking encyclopedia of labor history and its lessons -- lessons that have become more relevant than ever, with unions everywhere on the ropes and the Republican administration in Washington apparently intent on recreating the predatory mores of the Gilded Age. I last spoke with him about a year ago, as I was starting a round of research into a Hudson County labor war of the early 1930s, and I could hear he was suffering from a condition that left him barely able to speak. That was the unkindest cut of all for a man who was one of the championship talkers.
U.S. District Judge Jose Linares is scheduled to hear New Jersey's lawsuit requesting an investigation of the deal to allow United Arab Emirates-based Dubai World Ports to take over of some U.S. port operations, including operations at Port Newark. Gov. Jon S. Corzine is also seeking permission to inspect documents given to a federal committee reviewing the deal. Of course, Bush's mind is made up and says his position isn't changing.
The citizens' group Stop Renewal Of Oyster Creek will get the public hearing they wanted on the safety of the of a metal liner that helps keep radiation in the reactor core. The nuclear power plant is licenced through 2009 and seeking to renew its licence until 2029.
Yesterday the Democratic State Committee agreed to pay a record $255,000 fine, levied by the State Election Law Enforcement Commission, for being late in reporting of contributions during the end of the 2001 election year. Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D- Union) said the mistakes were caused largely by an overwhelmed computer system; the Democrats raised a record $28 million during that election year.
Assemblyfolk Bill Baroni, Jennifer Beck and Linda Stender urged Rutgers University to retain Douglass College as a separate institution and not to combine it with the University's other colleges. Assemblywoman Stender has drafted a resolution to that effect, AR131. The companion bill, SR26, is scheduled for a committee vote on Thursday, while Douglass grads and students plan a rally at the statehouse.
The NJ Supreme Court unanimously upheld the state's standards for water clean-up at sites polluted by industry. Federal Pacific Electric Co. had challenged the standards in court, saying they violated the 1997 Brownfield Act, but were shot down. Score one for the environment!
The National Alliance on Mental Illness gave Our Fair State a C for its services to the mentally ill. They noted former Gov. Codey's improvements to the system during his time as governor, but said they are simply good starting points. The nation as a whole recieved a grade of D.
The child-care industry in N.J. had a direct economic impact of $2.55 billion in 2005, according to a report released yesterday by the New Jersey Child Care Economic Impact Council. The impact is more than the revenues of the agriculture, scientific research and development, and hotel industries in New Jersey, and employ more people than many industries such as telecommunications, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and transportation.
There was one winner in last night's $267 million Mega Millions drawing, and the ticket was sold in... Ohio. Better luck next time, NJ lottery fans.
