Obama wins 2008 Presidential Election. (Photo by MCT Wire)

Students beware of scholarship scam
By Jacqueline Prins
Web Design Editor

An organization known as College Financial Advisory is charging students $49 for their services. Financial Aid is investigating how they retained GRCC student information.

According to Jill Nutt, Executive Director of Student Financial Services, GRCC is confident the information wasn’t released directly to this company from anyone at GRCC.

“Name and address information about the students who go here are considered directory information.” Nutt said. “We may release this information if it is for an educational purpose, but it is not something we do very often. It is not a violation of FERPA.”

According to the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act Web site, schools may disclose, without consent, “directory” information, but they must tell parents and eligible students about it and allow them a reasonable amount of time to request that the school not disclose such information about them.

“This information is out there in a number of ways.” Nutt said. “Anyone who applies for financial aid is providing their information to the Department of Education, and they are usually very protective of this information. They follow the same FERPA rules we do, so that information is available from them as well.”

She also believes it is possible that another organization which GRCC released student information to passed it on or sold it to College Financial Advisory, which is a violation and should not happen.

Nutt went on to say that GRCC was not the only school that has been affected by the College Financial Advisory, nor does she believe it will be the last.

University of Vermont reported similar letters being sent to their students on their website, uvm.edu

Eastern Connecticut State University contained an article of caution against College Financial Advisory on their website, easternct.edu.

Nutt said students should never have to pay for financial aid. “I try to be objective, but if you were to ask me, I’d say not to do this,” Nutt said. “It is a waste of your money.”

Nutt also said the College Financial Advisory is an organization that uses information submitted by students to gather information about financial aid sources, mostly scholarships they believe the student qualifies for.

“What I think is misleading, is that in some round-about way they guarantee they can do something for you that you can’t.” Nutt said. “They are not telling you ‘we’ll take all your information and get you financial aid.’”

The letter sent out by College Financial Advisory is usually addressed to the student or the parents of the student, and it lists GRCC on it, although it is not affiliated with the college. Although College Financial Advisory does not ask for a Social Security number in their Student Aid Profile Form, which they send out with their letter, they do ask for student’s date of birth among other personal information.

“I would be worried about that [identity theft] because we don’t know much about the organization.” Nutt said. “Once you have those things, you can find out a lot about a person.”

Nutt said never to give personal information to an unfamiliar company, and advises students to always check with financial aid before using outside financial aid resources.

According to Nutt, the investigation is still under way, and GRCC hopes to resolve this issue soon.

(Top/Index)

Facebook overrides résumés
Employers are checking social networking sites before hiring
By Shanda Borst
Collegiate Staff writer

Facebook and Myspace are used by many landlords, admissions counselors, and employers throughout the U.S. before accepting an applicant.

GRCC seems to be an exception When it comes to social networking sites, many officials agree: keep it appropriate because they are looking.

“Social networking sites are not used as a standard part of our employment processes,” Kathy Keating, Executive Director of Labor Relations at GRCC said. “As the Director of the Job Placement Office we refer students to supervisors on-campus and employers off-campus, and in both cases we don’t get into these kinds of checking,” Jim Palmeri, Director of the Job Placement Office, said.

However, “accessing information that is available to the public on social networking sites is not a violation of an employee’s privacy,” Keating said.

In social networking sites, like Myspace and Facebook, users create profiles in which they have the ability to add photos and information such as job title, marital status, as well as a self-description. On these Web sites users build up their social network by accepting “friend” requests.

Once a user is accepted as a “friend,” the individuals are capable of sending a variety of messages that can be seen by other friends.

A recent survey of 500 top colleges, 320 of which submitted information for the survey, found that ten percent of admissions officers admit to referencing an applicant’s Myspace or Facebook. Not only are admissions counselors looking at your Internet persona, but landlords and employers are as well.

“I didn’t hire a nanny to stay with my 3 kids because of her Myspace page. I didn’t think it was appropriate she was smoking pot and drinking in a bar under age and bragging about it,” said Mary Smith, responding to a Collegiate post on craigslist.com.

Kenneth Edward, an Ottawa county landlord, said, “I definitely look at these sites as a reference. I wouldn’t want to rent out one of my homes to someone who is an avid pot smoker, binge drinker, or who knows what else, that has the stupidity to proudly post the pictures of them for the world to see.”

GRCC student Shanti Johns said, “I really don’t care that they look at my Facebook and Myspace. I don’t have anything to hide.”

Another student, Justin Meidema, said “I think that on Facebook it is not clear enough to actually see if a person is acceptable on the job. “Some people have pictures of parties on there but, how many times do those people actually go get drunk and party?”

(Top/Index)

Student Congress decides executive officers privately
By Lindsey Regan
Collegiate Staff Writer

While the rest of the world was focused on the presidential elections in America, GRCC’s Student Congress members were busy finishing up elections of their own.

However, many GRCC students had no idea these elections were taking place. Most of the members from Student Congress hold seats with an organization or club at GRCC. A member from each club must attend each Student Congress meeting in order to obtain funds from the Student Congress.

There are also a few open seat members who attend the meetings. These are open to anyone who would like to come in and have a say in what is going on. These seats are limited. Every year, the members of Student Congress elect a board of officers. This includes the president, vice president, budget director, and communications director.

The boards of officers are in charge of planning school activities, new programs, clubs and organizations, and much more. The President of Student Congress represents the student body at the GRCC Board of Trustees meeting every month. They’re also the people that decide the fate of the $184,00 that the congress receives from GRCC to allocate to the clubs.

While Student Congress has that much power and money over the student body, the Congress privately decides who will hold these officer positions. Student Life director and advisor Eric Mullen believes opening elections to the school is something he would like to see happen, but with lack of participation, it will never actually be accomplished.

“I would love to change the bylaws. Student Congress is evolving,” Mullen said. “The vision I have is that students become really active and engaged in Student Congress. If we can create enough student awareness and interest, it would be the appropriate time to open elections to the school.”

There are some Congress members who think it is unfair to not let the student body voice their opinion in what is going on in their school.

“I think if you claim to represent the student body, the student body should have a say in who’s representing them,” said BilliJo Russell, a board member from the Native American Student Organization.

“Their ways of recruiting aren’t successful. Opening it up to the students would help them get involved.” Some students at GRCC agree with Russell, saying they would love to participate and vote if they had the option.

“I think if they’re going to be representing the student body, we should get to appoint the people that hold some of the same beliefs that we do,” said student Junior Chavez.

Sophomore Cayla Lin agreed that it is not fair to close elections from the entire student body.

“They don’t represent the whole school. We have over 15,000 people in this school. We should get to choose,” Lin said.

Other members of Student Congress think that the voting should be left up to the Student Congress members.

“The student body doesn’t know a lot about what we do. I feel the club members should elect the congress board,” said President of Student Congress Sarah Wiltenburg. “If they were interested we would listen, but there doesn’t seem to be enough of the student body to care to hold an election.”

Sophomore Naomi Sippel helps make Sarah’s point a little more clear.

“I probably wouldn’t vote. I don’t really know that much about it,” Sippel said.

Fellow Congress member Jared Flanagan agrees that the election should only be held to Student Congress for reasons of simplicity.

“Getting all the students together is impossible,” Flanagan said. “I think it would be difficult and time consuming for Student Congress to open voting to the student body.”

As it stands now, there has been no motion to open elections to the student body. However, anyone can go to the Student Congress meetings as an open seat member. The meetings are held every other Thursday from 2-4 p.m.

(Top/Index)

News Briefs for November 12, 2008
Comiled By Collegiate Staff

Great American Smokeout Day On Nov. 20
GRCC will be celebrating the Great American Smokeout Day in an effort to launch the campus’ new Tobacco Free policy, as well as to educate students and staff about the benefits of going smoke free. Started by the American Cancer Society 32 years ago, the Great American Smokeout Day encourages smokers to quit. On this day, GRCC will be offering Free “Cold Turkey” sandwich coupons for Subway, as well as other incentives and information to help assist smokers in adapting to the new campus policy. For more information about the Great American Smokeout Day, or about the Tobacco Free policy, students can visit grcc.edu/tobaccofree.

Game Show brings free money to campus On Nov. 19
The Smith Agency is putting up “The Real Deal Crazy Game Show” from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. According to Amy Dreyer an agent from The Smith Agency, participants will have a chance to answer a question during the game. If the person gets it right, they can spin the wheel and win some cash money. If they get it wrong they have to act out a crazy gag, and then spin the wheel. The participant will then be able to choose between the amount of money they have won and a mystery price. At the end, the big price winner will have a chance to spin the wheel once again, with the chance of winning even more money. They can once again chose between the cash money, or a mystery price. The Campus Activities Board sponsors the event.

(Top/Index)

Police Reports for November 12, 2008
Compiled By Collegiate Staff

9/22/08 Harassment
A female student reported being harassed by fellow students. Police advised the woman to avoid the students. Police also advised the other students involved that they could be subject to expulsion if anything physical occurred.

10/07/08 Stolen Raider Card
A male student attempted to use his girlfriend’s Raider Card, with her permission, when police confiscated it. The owner verified she was the suspect’s girlfriend and that he did have permission to use it. She was then advised that only she could use her Raider Card. No action was taken against the male student.

10/21/08 Medical
A female student cut her finger while performing a science laboratory assignment. While attempting to put a cap on a “NMR tube,” the end of the tube broke off, and she cut her finger on the shattered end of the tube.

10/22/08 Damaged Property
The Spectrum Theatre sign had been smashed in two of its corners causing over $100 in damage. There are no suspects.

10/22/08 Altercation among instructors
Two GRCC instructors were involved in an altercation in the music building. One instructor accidentally struck another instructor who was standing on the opposite side of the door when he was opening the door. The second instructor believed the first instructor hit him with the door on purpose and was offended. Police officers were called to the scene to resolve the incident.

10/22/08 Medical
A woman tripped and fell on the sidewalk near a crosswalk on Ransom Street. The woman sustained minor abrasions on both of her knees but did not seek medical attention.

10/28/08 Applicant Refused
A woman attempting to apply for the nursing program was informed that she was ineligible for the program because her background check reported several felonies. The woman reportedly had several counts of assaults with dangerous weapons as well as retail fraud. She also had a dropped charge of assault bodily harm short of death. The applicant was told she was ineligible to join the program until 2015.

10/29/08 Graffiti
Racial graffiti aimed at Jews and African Americans was found in the men’s bathroom in the second floor of the Calkins Science building. There were no witnesses.

10/29/08 Damaged Property
A man’s driver’s side window was smashed after being parked for a few days with a blunt object by an unknown suspect. The vehicle was parked in Barclay parking lot on Ransom Street.

10/29/08 Medical
A man sustained a large welt on his forehead above his right eyebrow while working on a ladder drilling cement. The large drill malfunctioned causing the drill bit to bind which caused the drill to kick back and strike the man.

(Top/Index)

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Current Edition:
November 12, 2008

Next Edition:
November 26, 2008