1st Story: CUNY Budget Cuts

“How are we suppose to accommodate the students if the school is not giving us the tools to help them, do you see the shit I have to go through,” said Whitney Brown. The image of Whitney’s frustrated and exhausted facial expression can be seen on many people’s faces all through out John Jay College of Criminal Justice for the fall 08 semester.

On August 19, 2008, Gov. David Paterson slashed $51 million dollars from the CUNY budget to cut state spending. The plan was introduced on July 30 of this year to address state finances for an economy Paterson could only described as "deteriorating."

The most common problem that every student at the college is facing is a 25 dollar raise in the technology fee for this semester. The small increase may not seem that bad on paper but students like Betzabel Felipe who has already taken out a small loan to pay for her tuition has something to complain about.

“I can’t stand how this damn tuition goes up every time I go to the Bursar’s Office, you can’t even go to school these days because the bill doesn’t even cover books,” said Felipe. Betzabel was lucky enough to receive a job at the college this semester but even the budget cuts are affecting her there, as well.

The payment that students receive from the school’s work study program has also gone down. The amount that a student would receive from working at the school was anywhere from 12 to 15 dollars two years ago but now the average amount is from 8 to 10 dollars which some students depend on to help them stay in school.

Other students like Akiele Reason have been force to drop most of his classes due to cut backs on Financial Aid and scholarships. “They told me that I was making too much money working at Sears, I’m not paying that entire tuition for five classes, I can only take two this semester,” said Reason.

Not only has the budget cut added on pressure for students to pay their bills on time but it has also limited their extra curricular activities as well. There are currently 17 official clubs in John Jay and they all will be expecting a deduction in funds that help support their events. The Student Council Department who handles the clubs in John Jay received a budget cut of 30,000 dollars from the amount they had a last year. The main problem has stemmed from an increase in enrollment in John Jay and the growth of new clubs. The Council can not take care of everyone.

Presidents and founders of the clubs are now facing the dilemma of how to keep their clubs from going under due to lack of funds. Founder of the John Jay Debate club Whitney Brown will have to manage without a promotion budget and a limited amount of traveling funds to help students get to debate tournaments. She claims that she has enough in the budget to send only half of the previous number of students to tournaments that she sent last semester.

Not only are the present clubs having trouble but the clubs that are trying to get started are not doing any better. Rachel Ramirez and Sif Az started the Fiction Writing Association three semesters ago. The Association is a club made for student to express their artistic side through writing exercise which is something that can help them in the future. The two have not received funding for the publication to put out student’s stories.

“The students are getting cheated out of their college years, plain and simple, just because we always have idiots in power,” said Ramirez

The budget cuts are expected to run through the entire 2008-09 and 2009-10 school years.

Response To 'India' Story

Mr. Timmons started her article by using colorful word like toothless and old to described the Indian natives not for a comical purpose but to show how cruel this type of fashion promotion really was. She doesn’t only give her own opinion but she lets her colleagues speak their voices as well to get her point across. The malice for the fashion magazine really can be seen when she wrote Mr. Gahlaut called the aid “downright distasteful.” However, she does let the fashion brands give their side of the story but it does really work out for them.

Heather Timmons made sure to show the lay back attitude that the fashion magazine had for their actions. It was very clear that Vogue India Editor Priya Tanna’s statement was a little careless when she said to “Lighten Up.” Heather Timmons added insult to injury when she explained India’s horrific conditions that 456 millions people live on less than $1.25 a day right after Ms. Tanna gave her explanation. The reader does get some insight on the culture of the eastern world and finds out that the usual norm is to show up your wealth. Even though the aid was definitely original, it does not bring out the fun side of fashion that it was intend to do.

Women have always had a unspoken responsibility to keep up with the newest fashion trends at all cost. However, regardless if you put the product on a wealthy man from Connecticut or a struggling family, the price stays the same.

edited copy spring story

There are many ways to get a person into the right mood for sex and not putting on a condom seems to be the way to do it. Condoms are so accessible these days that they can be found in your school’s nurse office or being handed out in the subway.
Even though they are easier to get now than before, condoms are being seen as the enemy of the bedroom.

In some situation, asking a person to put on a condom can imply that you think that he or she has one of the countless STDs that are out there or even HIV.

“I have never been a fan of condoms so in the heat of the moment right when you are about to have sex with a girl, condoms are the last thing I want that bitch to ask me, I have always been clean.” Alain Accco, a college student who has had unprotected sex.

This new trend that is growing and becoming a problem. Condoms are the only form birth control that protects against STDs and HIV.
According to aids.about.com, there are currently about 640,000 people who do not know that they are affected with HIV. By the time they find out, their condition has upgraded to AIDS. Nearly three-quarters of all people who have died with AIDS did not live to the age of 45.
The condom company Trojans states on the back their product that their condoms are 98% effective against pregnancy and sexual transmitted diseases when used the right way which is also the deal with others condoms like LifeStyles and Rough Riders.
“Call me old fashion but that whole excuse is the stupidest thing I heard so far. If I don’t know you then you better believe that you are putting a cover on that wee-wee.” said Lync Bether, a John jay college student.

Asking your partner to put on a condom can also imply that there has been some cheating going on from either the man or the woman. Tina Lewis is an 18 year college freshman who is unprotected most of time while having sex.
“Not using condoms with someone takes trust in a relationship. There are girls who have had over 5 abortions before the age of 17 and others are known for giving guys herpes for fun.” said Miss. Lewis.
Miss. Lewis has had unprotected sex with four men including her current boyfriend and has gotten pregnant twice from it but she has no plans on changing her ways.
While some may see not using protection on purpose is the worst thing you can do others see as being a basic human behavior.
“I know that you are not to trust EVERYONE but it really gets ignoring when a guy constantly nags me about if I am good or clean, if you really cared about that then you would never do me without protection.” said Katherine Brown, a mother of one.
This new trend is sadly making its way to children and more of them are losing their virginity at a younger age than before.
“The average age for kids having sex is getting younger each year. Five years ago the age kids started having sex was 16 but now it is 13. Other times, kids can have sex as early as 9 or 10 years old without using protection.” said Malaine Clarke, Health Service Coordinator at John Jay College.
According to www.coolnurse.com Swedish teens, Canadian teens, or British teens are having more sex than United States teens, but their pregnancy and abortion rate is lower.
“The lack of time parents put into educating their kids is the cause for why these kids are getting curious about sex at a young age.” said Clarke.
It’s that lack of knowledge that children have that has made the United States the highest western country in teen pregnancy.
“Kids today see sex every where, it is not a big deal, it is becoming a childhood thing like learning to put on deodorant for the first time.” said Alex Jean Jakes, a thirteen year old who has already had sex.
Even though young adults may be educated on everything that can go wrong with having unprotected sex, the risk is still not great enough. Dirita Longing works at the Woman’s Right Center in John Jay and provides papers and products to promote safe sex and knows how badly people are not using condoms. “I just hand out as much as possibly and most of the time kids don’t use it, they just pick them up to make a quick joke with their friends or throw them out later. And these are college student who are suppose to know better.” said Longing

1. I wished I could have found more direct sources who actually regretted the decision of not using protection when they had sex.
2. I would focus more on the growing trend of condoms being seen as the enemy than bringing in the subject of condoms’ availability but I could not find enough information on my original topic.
3. The article showed a little more in favor of one side. The news article should have shown an equal amount of both sides of the story. It gets to a point when it becomes an article to save kids from unprotected sex.
4. I would change my opening line to something like a quote from a person who is for unprotected sex. I was not happy with the sentence I had after the opening line as well.
5. I felt that I did not really get enough of the guy’s perspective on the condoms issue. I was hoping to find more guys that actually thought that lack of protected sex in this country was a problem