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Nancy McDuff ensures that spring admits are able to transition smoothly. Univ. welcomes deferred freshmen By COLIN DUNLOP The Red & Black Attention all upperclass men: there has been an invasion. On Jan. 8, an unusually large group of 202 new first year students enrolled at the University to no pro test to begin classes this spring. The University accepted the students and deferred their enrollment to the spring semester as part of an initiative to spread out first-year enrollment over a 12-month period. Concerns about resourc es and maximizing the University’s capacity were behind the initiative, said Nancy McDuff, associate vice president for admis sions and enrollment man agement. “The University was looking at a way to have a capacity for 5,000,” she said. “We had brought in a 5,000 freshman class in summer-fall before it’s just too many students for the residence hall space and the core classes most of the students need to take.” Typically, 25 to 30 first year students enroll in the spring, having deferred their fall admission for medical reasons or extraor dinary opportunities, McDuff said. Starting one semester later than their cohorts may seem like a disadvan tage for these students, but the University took extra measures to avoid handi capping the late arrivals. “We didn’t put any restrictions on what stu dents did in the fall,” McDuff said. “We said ‘if you want to attend college somewhere else you can.’” After the fall, if students chose to matriculate to the University, their credits transferred just like an advanced placement or joint enrollment credit. If students enrolled with no credits, they should have little to no problems getting started with their core classes, said Jere Morehead, vice president for instruction. “My office works closely with the Franklin College and we communicate back and forth about the num ber of open seats,” he said. Though everyone may not get their first choice of classes, Morehead said, overall he has felt the spring admissions have been a success. Accommodating the new additions ran smooth ly for University Housing. Shay Little, director of resi dence hall administrative operations, said all first year spring admits have been accommodated, mostly in the freshman dorms. “Very few actually pref erenced to live [in East Campus Village],” she said. “Most of the students are in those first-year residence halls.” McDuff explained between the fall and spring, about 200 beds open up in the residence halls because of graduation and other reasons. Filling other openings were about 950 transfer students who had more than 30 hours of transfer able credit accumulated at other universities. This showed an increase of about 75 students over years prior, according to the Office of Admissions. McDuff said the University is responding to this large demand by mak ing the system more com petitive. The University has approved an increase of the minimum transfer grade point average for students with 60 or more hours in an effort to keep those admis sions competitive. The minimum GPA determined by grades in transfer-eligible classes only will increase from a 2.5 to a 2.8. The policy change will take effect for students enrolling in spring 2010. Fraternity raises S7SK for charity By KATIE VALENTINE The Red & Black Last semester, the Beta chap ter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon raised a record-setting $75,000 for their sole philanthropy, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. The total is the largest amount raised in the 37 years that the fra ternity has participated in this campaign, beating last year’s total of $59,356 and surpassing this year’s goal of $65,000. Dyer Rothrock, philanthropy chair for the fraternity, credits Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s 36 fresh men for the success of the under taking. “It’s the first-year members who are responsible for raising this money,” Rothrock said. “They each have a set amount to raise, and they send out letters to family members, friends and businesses GAZA: City organizes rallies Protesting for ceasefire > From Page 1 Yonis said she believes the American media has a strong pro-Israel spin because of the U.S. gov ernment’s support of Israel. “Even though the U.S. media is supposed to be unbiased, they are very pro-Israel,” she said. “You’ll see in stories at the beginning that two Israeli soldiers were killed, and then at the bottom that 10 [Palestinian] children are dead, so you can see the priorities.” Hadas Peles, a senior from Los Angeles, is a member of Dawgs for Israel and lived in Israel for the first 10 years of her life. She said though the violence is unfortunate, it is understandable. “My dad was actually on a bus that a bomb was thrown on, so I know what it’s like to experience ter rorism first hand, and have to rush to the hospi tal and experience that terror,” she said. “You have to look at the fighting this way. If Mexico or Canada threw one bomb or rocket at the U.S., the U.S. would have to defend itself, and there have been thousands of rockets thrown at citizens of Israel. It’s been eight years of rockets and JOBS: Work-study funds determined by Congress budget ► From Page 1 The amount of work-study money allocated for universities is determined by a Congressional appropriation, said Jay Mooney, associate director for Office of Student Financial Aid, in an interview Friday. “FWS is limited money. We are allocated X number of dollars each year. Therefore it is limit ed,” Mooney said. “The amount of the appropriation each institu tion receives is determined by the U.S. Department of Education.” Work for the toi&Black this semester. We are looking for all Editorial staff positions. if interested y<& must contact Tamara y gest. Recruitment Editor. i attecmitknent@randk.com. • %. t v % % v %). u | mm.% a ' ■ m irit 540 Baxter Str©6t p.. % ■ , ...... I {at nta fnn jvf Raviar U|||l and ask them to donate.” Paul Liles, a freshman SAE member from Concord, N.C., said he sent letters to his friends and family explaining what the society was and asking them to donate whatever they could, c; ■ “I raised SI,BOO, which was the minimum, but some people raised a lot more,” Liles said. “One fresh man, Duncan Walker, raised more than $6,000 by himself, which was the most raised by anyone this year.” The entire process took about three months to complete. In addition to the freshmens’ work, 35 members of the fraternity par ticipated in the “Light the Night Walk” in Athens, an annual, nationwide event that raises money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. One source of support for the campaign stemmed from of a ' < 9j3j|j|j9H l. tmi ** v 'toHw FRANNIE FABIAN i The Red & Black ▲ Palestine supporters march against Israel’s occupation in Gaza in Woodruff Park in Atlanta on Jan. 10. Students also participated in marches in Atlanta when attacks began in December. bombs shot over Gaza toward Israel, and Israel has to protect its citizens ... The rocket launching greatly escalated to the point where conditions were no longer livable,” she said. Peles said she appreci ated that President-elect Barack Obama had stated he supported Israel, and felt he was the right per son to help resolve issues affecting the area. “I hope he- helps them sooner rather than lat er, because [President] George Bush waited until the last year of his presi dency to help the Israeli people,” Peles said. The University received $939,386 in work-study allocation for the 2008-2009 schpol year, Mooney said. The University does not know what money will be appropriated to them for next year, he said. Mooney said funds are “never identical, but fairly close” every year and said he doesn’t expect next year’s funds to decrease drastically. The Department of Education gives each institution a prelimi nary amount, which is an esti mate of how much funding will be given in a year, Mooney said. NEWS Zaid Jilani, a junior from Kennesaw, supports an organization called J-Street that serves as a way for progressive Jewish-Americans to call for a ceasefire in Palestine. He also works with Athens for Justice in Palestine and attends several rallies meant to call for a cease fire. “On a personal level, I’ve met so many people from that area. You see it as a kind of extension of friend ship to be able to under stand what your friends are going through, worry ing about their loved ones and the challenges they faced when they were liv io % off with UGA Student ID! Free Delivery Anywhere 30-45 minute wait Come visit one of our two locations: Alps Road Epps Bridge Parkway Lunch Buffet Lunch Buffet nnCr tragic event for the fraternity. Rothrock said SAE lost Greer Yorke, one of its first-year mem bers, who fell from a cliff in Sewanee, Tenn. in October. Yorke’s mother chose to dedicate all donations sent in his honor to the society. Through the support of his mother, his friends and family, more than $3,000 was raised in his memory, Rothrock said. The fraternity’s history with cancer influenced its decision to choose The Leukemia and Lymphma Society for its philan thropy. In 1971, former SAE presi dent Hamilton Goss Ansley 111 passed away from leukemia. In his memory, the fraternity adopted the the society as their philan thropy. Since then, the fraternity has raised more than $1 million to fight leukemia, lymphoma, ing there,” Jilani said. Judeh and Jilani par ticipated with many in a ceasefire rally in Atlanta on Saturday, one of many rallies held around the world in major cities to demonstrate for peace in Gaza. “I really enjoyed the experience,” Jilani said. “I was surprised at how diverse the crowd was ... I was really happy to see such a diverse crowd because it’s not really something that affects Arabs and Jewish- Americans, it affects everyone. Plus, our coun try is involved. It’s in everyone’s interest to see “It’s not advised, but we are given a preliminary amount by late February, early March,” he said. “We work with the prelimi nary. We don’t anticipate this amount but work with it.” To participate in a work-study program next year, students must fill out student aid forms early. “If you do not submit your FAFSA very early (and complete verification if selected), you will not be considered for FWS,” Fern said in the e-mail to current work-study students. s“lt will not matter that your department The Red & Black | Monday, January 12, 2009 Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma. This year the society awarded SAE the Dr. Kenneth B. McCredie award for supporting the society for five years and raising more than $1 million. For the future, Rothrock said he plans to organize more events for the spring to continue to raise more for the philanthropy. “I’m hoping to do either a box ing event or a battle of the bands this semester,” he said. Wes Fugate, adviser to the Interfraternity Council, said Sigma Alpha Epsilon is consis tently one of the top fundraisers for charity at the University each year. “The IFC is always supportive and proud of the charity work our fraternity members do,” he said, “and we congratulate SAE on their outstanding accomplish ment.” wants to hire you back.” In addition to the FWS alloca tion provided by the U.S. Department of Education, par ticipating institutions are required to match 25 percent of the money allocated, Mooney said. “We will not know what adjustments may need to be made to the program until we receive our allocation figure for the 2009-2010 award year,” he said. “We are not aware of federal FWS funds reduction at this time as compared to the funding lev els in prior years.” peace, and I’m glad that [at the ceasefire rally] there wasn’t just one group or demographic.” “The people who are involved in the movement here in the U.S. aren’t doing so out of hate or demonization of Palestine and Israel,” Jilani said. “All we’re trying to say is our country should work as a fair negotiator to all sides to bring peace. If we only focus on peace to Israei, it will only hurt all sides in the long run, including Israel. We really just want to value every one’s lives fairly, and see peace in the long-run,” he said. 3