Cambria Roth

The loss of state funding for the Center for Basque Studies could result in a loss of revenue from the Basque government

By Cambria Roth

The fate of the Center for Basque Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno not only depends on the university, but also the Basque government.

According to the 2011 Budget Reduction spreadsheet, the program receives about $520,000 from the state of Nevada. It also receives about $500,000 from the Basque government. In addition, the Basque Advisory Board raises money for a quasi-endowment fund.

Sandra Ott, associate professor and co-director of Basque Studies, said that if the state halts funding, the Basque government could stop contributing money also.

“The important thing to bear in mind is that the Basque government money comes to UNR on the understanding that the state of Nevada goes halfway too,” Ott said. “It is sort of an unwritten deal, and the people of the Basque country and the government, because we are well known over there, are very concerned about this. There is a likelihood that the Basque government and the [Basque] Institute’s would stop giving us money.”

If both the state of Nevada and the Basque government were to stop funding, Ott said the Basque studies program would have a difficult time raising a half-a-million dollars a year.

However, she said that if worst comes to worst, it would not be the complete elimination of the center if they couldn’t raise the money by June 2012. Instead, the center would have to be downsized.

“This center is the greatest contribution to the international dimension of this university and its research,” Ott said. “We bring in a half-a-million dollars from the Basque government and [Basque] institutes, that is a lot of money every year and it is not that they are funding our salaries, rather they are funding activities in which we are highly engaged.”

The Basque government funds CBS Press, books, the recruitment of authors and an annual conference with well-known scholars.

“The Basque government wants more of the world to know Basques and the literature of other languages so they fund this activity,” Ott said. “There is a whole fleet of things the Basque country’s money does for this university and the Basque diaspora.”

There are currently three faculty members, and despite budget cuts, the center was given permission to add a fourth in July. Each faculty member has a Basque focus, but it is put into a wider context of what they are working on.

Although the impact would be less on the majority of UNR students and more on the research aspect of the center, a handful of graduate students would be affected  with the elimination of the graduate program.

“We have one of the highest completion rates for graduate students at the university so there would be a great impact on the graduate school,” Ott said.

Currently, there are six graduate students, and three of them are funded through the Basque government and another is funded through the preferential government of Gipuzkoa, which is money that could possibly end also.

Ott acknowledges that many students at UNR are not educated about the impact Basque studies has on the university. Annelyse Brechler, a first-year speech pathology student feels that because it has no affect on her, the elimination of state funding for Basque studies would not be a horrible decision.

“I know I won’t be affected because first of all, I didn’t even know what Basque studies was and it won’t even directly effect my major,” Brechler said. “I really don’t care if the Basque program gets cut because it doesn’t seem like its a very important part of UNR.”

Ashley Levin is a psychology major interested in the culture of people and feels the Basque culture is extremely important to Nevada and should not be threatened by budget cuts.

“The Basque culture is very small, and people need to know about it because it’s rare,” Levin said. “All of the Basque people came to Nevada and the Basque library is a collection that explains who the Basque people are, their culture, how they lived and how they came to America. They are a culture and culture is important, especially to a university.”

Those involved in the program are trying to remain calm so they don’t alarm the many governments involved in the Basque studies program.

“We don’t want to be panic mongers, so our tone has been that we don’t know what is going to happen, and while it’s not a pleasure to be called into the provost’s office, we are the kind of organization that if budget cuts do happen, we will certainly have a plan,” Ott said.

Students question ASUN student fees and the wasteful spending of their student government

By Cambria Roth

It is estimated that the Associated Students of the University of Nevada (ASUN) will collect at least $600 per student during their college education. This is a substantial amount of money and it leads to students questioning how their mandatory ASUN student fees benefit them.

With funding at an all-time low and major budget cuts effecting the university, ASUN fees could rise along with tuition.

“The only way we would see an increase in ASUN fees is if the student government decided that new fees were necessary to take on programs or services that are being cut by the university,” said ASUN Senator Jonathan Moore. “Fee increases would most likely go out to the student populous via referendum and would be voted on in an election.”

Moore pointed out that last year fees were raised when the Math, Writing and Tutoring Centers were on the chopping block and students voted to pay more to continue those tutoring services.

ASUN funds more than 200 different clubs and organizations. They organize several social events for students on campus, and provide scholarships as well as on-campus jobs.

“A lot of ASUN’s fees go to services and programs that a majority of students do not use, such as on-campus programming,” Moore said. “While there are benefits to these services, the amount of funding that goes towards them is probably skewed to be higher than it ought to be by the overactive and over-involved students who tend to gravitate towards the Association.”

Many students feel that because they are not in a club, they don’t receive a scholarship, or have an on-campus job, ASUN student fees do not directly affect them. Catherine Ho, 18, a first-year biology student at the university explained.

“I’m not in a club, so the money that I am paying is not really benefitting me, instead it is going to clubs like Abolish ASUN, which wastes money,” Ho said.

While Abolish ASUN seeks to bring about an end to student government, they also aim to show the wasteful spending of the student government.

“The whole point of the movement is for people to understand the nature of bureaucracies and governments. It’s to foster discussions about how people let authorities manage and allocate their resources,” said Abolish ASUN President Barry Belmont. “Essentially the idea is for people to draw the larger parallel to real governments when they think their student government does dumb things.”

Abolish ASUN was recognized as an official club in September and once approved, they received $4,995 in less than 15 minutes.

Belmont insists that the essential point of the club is its pointlessness, and while there is no direct mission, they strive to educate others and bring attention to the errors in government.

“Our pointlessness is intrinsically tied to the inherent pointlessness of all governments, all bureaucracies,” says Belmont. “We buy ponies for everyone to enjoy, we buy enough pizza for everyone to get a slice, we get bounce houses for everyone to play on. We waste our money for everybody.”

According to the ASUN Operating Budget 2011, ASUN will receive $1,667,000 in student fees. Altogether, clubs and organizations are supported with $152,676. The most money allocated in the budget ultimately went to the ASUN Office Expenses with $685,854.

“I ask myself why the most money goes to the ASUN office every day. I think it’s sick that so much of ASUN’s money goes to faculty and staff,” Moore said. “This is student money and we shouldn’t be paying administrative salaries with it. I wrote a bill to change this very thing two months ago, but because of internal politics, the bill was quickly done away with.”

The bill to place a question on the March 2011 ASUN elections ballot did not even make it to the committee.

The bill states the question, “Currently, students pay an ASUN fee of $5 per credit, an average of $75 per student per semester. Do you support restructuring the ASUN fee, so that students will pay a flat fee per semester for basic services at a significantly lower cost with optional components for additional services provided by the ASUN?”

“Naturally, there are some office expenses which the ASUN needs per basic functioning, such as paper and printing supplies as well as student employees,” Moore said. “But the administrative side needs to be cut back, or at the very least it should find some other way to support itself.”

The ASUN Senate also approved a bill for a capital expenditure for the replacement of association computers.

“The purpose of this bill is to provide authorization for the expenditure of capital funds to replace out-of-date computers for the Association and purchase a few new systems,” the document states.

With this bill, ASUN would receive three new Dell Laptops, 22 new Dell Desktops, 10 new monitors and a new MacBook Air. The grand total for all of these new computers would be $22,306 of student fees.

Jackie Edwardson, 18, a psychology major in her freshman year, feels ASUN is taking advantage of money that students need.

“I feel like the money they spend should go towards the students and not for ASUN’s own personal use because we are paying money to make the student government better for the school and not their own expenditures,” Edwardson said.

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Despite healthy options at the Downunder Cafe, students choose to eat unhealthy foods

In 2009, Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation reported that Nevada had the 32nd highest rate of adult obesity in the nation, at 25.1 percent. Not only is Nevada suffering, but two-thirds of American adults are either obese or overweight.

Health organizations are partnering to try to keep the nation informed of healthy eating habits in order to curb this epidemic. One demographic they focus on is college students because they believe lifetime eating habits begin at this stage in life.

For incoming freshman, the move to a new environment filled with making decisions makes it important to know about eating right.

Karen Spears, an assistant professor for the Department of Nutrition at the University of Nevada, Reno, is currently conducting research with college students to monitor their food intake, physical activity, relationship to food, body composition and body fat.

“The theory of the ‘freshman 15’ is not entirely correct and our study is to evaluate it with students throughout their four years in college,” Spears said. “People generally gain weight in their freshman year, but research shows the more education you have, the less at risk you are for obesity.”

The residence hall dining facilities could be playing a part in weight gain at UNR.

According to UNR Resident Dining Director, Barbara Hanke, the Downunder Cafe, with its buffet-style dining, has both healthy and unhealthy choices.

“Students have several options to choose from, and we have several students on campus with special diets so we generally have something to appease those students also,” Hanke said. “Whether you are looking for gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian, or fried foods, we have everything.”

Hanke reports that about 1,500 students are on a university meal plan. This plan provides students with a set number of meals in the Downunder Cafe and the D-C-Store per week, as well as ‘Foodbucks’ they can use at other dining facilities on campus.

Despite negativity towards the Downunder Cafe because it can lead to students overeating, Hanke believes that the DC only continues to progress.

“I think we get better every year and there are several healthy options to eat so I really don’t know how we would even need to go any further with what we do serve here,” Hanke said.

According to a Request for Proposal for Residential Dining, Catering, Retail Stores and Retail Carts, there are certain food standards the Downunder Cafe must follow.

“The general policy will be to prepare food on the premises on the day it is served, cooking temperature and cooking times will also be regulated in order to retain nutrients and serve palatable and attractive food,” The document states. “The award contractor shall generally prepare food items ‘from scratch’ with the use of convenience foods having prior approval of the university.”

The RFP has several other guidelines regarding leftover foods, fresh bakery items, food storage temperature, frozen foods and minimum daily menu specifications the cafe must follow.

Students at UNR acknowledge that the quality of food is good and while there are several options, the Downunder Cafe still gets repetitive. Justin Sipe, 18, a first-year engineering student at the university explained.

“The food is good, but if you eat all of the good food right away, it just gets old after the first week, and you turn back to unhealthy foods like pizza and fries,” Sipe said.

While many students blame the dining facilities, others believe the increased rate in obesity and weight freshman year is a direct result of the food choices students are making. Catherine Azada, 18, a nursing major in her freshman year, feels that while students are informed, they don’t actually apply skills to their daily lives.

“Everyone knows what is healthy and what is not healthy,” Azada said. “The test is moving from that knowledge to actual behavior.”

The most common food requested from students, Hanke notes, are chicken tenders, fries and hamburgers.

“The ‘fried food’ student is a bigger population than that of the healthy student,” She said.

This is why the D-C-Store has several unhealthy choices on their menu, because it is student-driven.

“The menu is ultimately based on the students coming out of food committees,” Hanke said. “Unfortunately, it is requested from that certain population of students.”

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