If you’ve taken a look at your tuition bill lately, chances are you’ll have noticed a slight boost in the numbers-a 5.9 percent boost to be exact, according to University of Miami Provost Tom LeBlanc.

“This increase is comparable to the increases we’ve had over the past three years,” Dr. LeBlanc said. “Most universities like UM look at what other schools are doing, where our tuition lies in comparison to peer schools, the current rate of inflation in wages and prices and other related factors to determine the amount of any increase in tuition.”

The raise in price has students talking.

“I’m all for increasing wages but when I look around and I see that money is going to things like plasma TVs in the UC and palm trees-that is genuinely unnecessary,” Slava Ostin, junior, said. “The thing is, it’s the look that the administration wants to impose on others. If it looks good to outsiders, they’ll get more money for future projects. It’s pure economics.”

But ‘Canes are in good company. According to Dr. LeBlanc, many private research universities have also increased tuition about five to six percent annually, including the University of Rochester, where Dr. LeBlanc served as vice provost and dean of the faculty before coming to UM.

“Well, it’s not that bad considering budget shortfalls in some states have caused tuitions at state universities to go up by 10 or 15 percent each of the past couple of years,” Josh Frank, senior, said. “And besides, we get free laundry now.”

The school is making an effort to alleviate students’ pain by significantly augmenting the financial aid available to them. For example, the Henry King Stanford Scholarship that the school offers was raised from $13,692 last year to $14,510 this year. Also, department scholarships have increased in number and the University has continued to compile a database of outside scholarships on the school website.

“[The tuition increase] is definitely a greater burden on students and their parents considering how expensive UM is already, but I understand that if I wish my school to continue on its route of improvement, it’s going to take some money to do so,” Edilberto Alvarez, senior, said. “Thankfully, I have scholarships to help me through the transition.”

Christine Dominguez can be contacted at c.dominguez3@umiami.edu.

EBay, prepare to meet the competition: CaneExchange, a user-friendly cyber-marketplace for UM students that has just opened for business, boasting a range of items from portrait-painting services and hiking equipment to off-campus housing. The brainchild of Vance Aloupis, former Student Government President, John Constantinide, Speaker Pro Tempore of the Senate and Michael Levine, a former College of Arts and Sciences Senator, CaneExchange aims to make the UM community more efficient and integrated.

“Every Student Government administration likes to brag about something they’ve done, whether it be improving laundry facilities or CaneExchange,” Constantinide said. “The main motive was that it’s something that makes the University more efficient-that’s why auxiliary services gave us money for it.”

CaneExchange works by allowing students, faculty, staff and administrators with a miami.edu or umiami.edu email to register and list products for free. The difference between this site and other exchange sites is that the financial transaction is not completed online. Instead, arrangements are made between parties to meet face to face, an added bonus that gives buyers a chance to actually see the product before purchasing it.

Although CaneExchange has only been in operation since Aug. 1, the idea has been in the works for more than a year and a half, beginning with Constantinide’s research for the project in May 2004.

“The main challenges that faced CaneExchange were creating the contract between SINAPSE Consulting, Inc., the makers of the CaneExchange software, and General Counsel of this University,” Constantinide said. “That was simply time-consuming, but it was a high-priority issue for them.”

The idea for the site, although popular, faced setbacks in its initial stages as permission by various UM departments, such as the bookstore and campus communications, was needed regarding many things from the sales concept to the website design.

“We had some problems convincing administration that this is something we should do because not a lot of schools do anything like this,” current Student Government President Pete Maki said. “Besides that, we’re taking business from the bookstore and there are other legal issues as well.”

According to Constantinide, these issues include problems which make the University liable-buying and selling certain items like paintball guns or other “weapons,” study guides made by students which could fall under the category of plagiarism and financial transactions gone awry.

While publicity for CaneExchange has been minimal, as of Aug. 25 there were 838 registered members and about 180 products for sale.

“I think it’s great that there’s finally a better system than book buyback at the bookstore to sell last semester’s books for a decent price,” Andy Valente, junior, said. “Plus, you can sell pretty much anything you need to get rid of securely without listing fees or being afraid that the product you buy wasn’t what you expected.”

Other successes include the $1,200 startup fee generously provided by Mel Tenen, director of auxiliary services, the acceptance and support by the student community, and the ever-growing recognition of CaneExchange as the site for UM students to buy and sell.

“Just imagine that your mother gave you a $200 vacuum cleaner that you’re never going to use-at least you can sell it back and make $100 or so,” Maki said. “Actually that did happen to me…that’s partly why I think this is such a good idea.”

For more information about CaneExchange visit www.caneexchange.miami.edu.

Teressa Dalpe can be contacted at t.dalpe@umiami.edu

Omicron Delta Kappa National Leadership Honor Society is now accepting nominations for new members. Nominate any student, faculty or staff member who has demonstrated outstanding leadership. Forms are available in the STIC (UC 209) and most administrative offices. Email m.garg2@umiami.edu for more information. Nominations are due back to in the STIC office no later than Friday, Sept. 16 by 5 p.m.

The Daily Iowan (U. Iowa)

(U-WIRE) IOWA CITY, Iowa-Late night venti frappacinos from Starbucks and large pizza deliveries might no longer be to blame for the dreaded Freshman 15.

Weight gain has now been linked to sleep deprivation, according to a report from the recent North American Association for the Study of Obesity conference. When a person is sleep-deprived, the level of the hormone leptin, which is involved in the regulation of appetite, is lowered. In turn, low leptin levels increase appetite.

College students should get nine hours of sleep a night, James Clack, the retired Duke University psychological services director, said in a telephone interview.

However, college students are among the most sleep-deprived Americans, averaging only six hours of sleep a night.

Kathy Mellen, a dietitian for Student Health Service, believes that more than hormone levels can be attributed to college weight gain. Weight can be altered by sleep deprivation, but an unhealthy diet can also affect how much a college student gains, she said.

“Students turn to food to keep up their energy when they are up late studying,” she said.

Duke University has attempted to help by eliminating 8 a.m. classes this fall in order to aid students in obtaining the recommended nine hours of sleep. Clack said most classes now fall between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.

The University of Miami recently launched its first podcast, capitalizing on the latest trend in digital communications. Podcasting is a method of distributing audio broadcasts via the Internet. The first podcast features President Shalala sharing her “Top-Ten List for New Students.” Visitors to the podcast Web page-www.miami.edu/canescast-can listen to the file on their computers or download it to their MP3 players.

The University of Miami moved up again in the U.S. News & World Report’s “America’s Best Colleges” rankings, from number 58 last year to number 55 this year in the National Universities category. This continues the steady upward trend that brings it closer to the top 50-last year the University moved from number 60 to number 58, and the previous year it experienced a dramatic six-point jump from number 66 to number 60.

TODAY

Author Toni Morrison, Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winner, will speak at the University of Miami Convocation Center at 6:30 p.m. The event is open to all students, faculty and staff with a ‘Cane Card. Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc., begins tabling in the breezeway and collecting donations in the residential colleges for Operation Big Bookbag. It will be accepting school supplies for children of inner city public schools.

WEDNESDAY

Hurricane Productions presents movie night at the Cosford cinema. Sin City is an adaptation of Frank Miller’s stories based in the fictional town of Sin City. Showings are at 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.

The Multicultural Student Association greets students each fall by sponsoring the annual Black Student Welcome Reception for new and returning students, faculty and staff. Students meet with key members from the University community as well as receive a copy of the Urban Access Resource Guide for students to assist them in their transition to the University of Miami. The event will be held in the UC I-Lounge at 6 p.m.

THURSDAY

The Lowe Art Museum will be holding the Monthly LoweDown Happy Hour and closing reception for Uncanny from 7 to 9 p.m., which will include jazz, light cocktails and a guided tour by the artist, Billie Lynn.

An info session for University of Miami Up ’til Dawn campaign to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital will be held at 5 p.m. in the UC I-Lounge.

Left in the aftermath of a storm that was widely underestimated, the Coral Gables campus remained closed through Monday after sustaining significant damage from Hurricane Katrina’s 86 mph winds and 18 inches of rain. The storm, which forecasters had expected would hit further north early Friday morning, picked up speed and reached Miami Thursday evening, shortly after school had closed at 6 p.m.

“The storm came up quick,” Dr. Pat Whitely, vice president for student affairs, said. “It was unexpected and our emergency operation hopefully got information out to students in time.”

By the time the storm passed, many students and facilities were left without power, buildings had experienced flooding and a significant amount of landscape damage blocked roads where trees had been knocked down or pulled from their roots. One tree, a banyan outside the bookstore, had been a trademark at the Rock for years.

“That tree didn’t have any damage during [Hurricane] Andrew but unfortunately it was a very old tree and I guess its time was up,” Dr. Whitely said. “It’s very sad because it was a significant tree and of sentimental value for many students.”

Clean-up crews, some brought in from Tampa, were on campus all weekend cleaning up the debris and clearing out roads. The work was expected to be done by the end of this week; in the meantime, University officials urged that students park their cars in garages as much as possible to ease the cleaning efforts.

Students living on campus experienced Katrina’s wind and rain-indoors.

“Everyone had flood damage of some kind whether from air conditioners leaking or windows leaking,” Cara Facer, junior, said. “It was scarier living in the apartment area during a hurricane than in any other residential college because of the large windows. During the storm, you could literally feel the wind blowing in.”

“We had recaulked all the windows [in the dorms] in the last three years,” Dr. Whitely said. “We had such intense rain in such a short period of time that we just had to do everything that could be done. We’ll have to investigate that.”

Residents living in the Holiday Inn and the apartment area lost power, which was not restored until Sunday.

Students in Mahoney-Pearson Residential colleges had water coming into their rooms, and the UC carpet in the first floor, which may have to be replaced, still carried a damp scent from flooding on Sunday.

Despite damages, the University tried to accommodate students as much as possible. Facilities such as the C-Store, Richter Library, the Wellness Center and food vendors remained open on Sunday and Monday with adjusted hours. HurryCanes shuttles also operated on adjusted hours, and a special service ran between Eaton and Mahoney. And in case students got bored with classes being cancelled, shuttle services were added for transportation to Sunset Place.

“People could go to an afternoon movie if they wanted to do that,” Dr. Whitely said.

Classes and all on-campus activities were cancelled Monday, mainly to keep students from coming to campus while clean-up efforts were still in mid-stride.

“We should be on our feet by Tuesday,” Dr. Whitely said. “The good news is that there were no significant injuries or loss of life. Aside from water and landscape damage we fared as well as expected given the severity of the storm and the fact that no one expected it to be this bad.”

For more updates on University advisories, go to www.miami.edu/prepare.

Natalia Maldonado can be contacted at n.maldonado@umiami.edu.

In an effort to increase the safety of students crossing the ever-busy U.S. 1 intersections running parallel to campus, the University has added a new route to the HurryCanes shuttle system.

The route comes as a result of the pedestrian safety issues that arose in the spring of 2005, when freshman Ashley Kelly died after she and freshman Andrea Cinque were hit by a car while crossing a U.S. 1 intersection. The topic became a heated platform through which the University administration and Student Government executives began their initiative for the construction of an overpass, which is not scheduled for completion until January 2009.

“President Shalala and I saw [the new routes] as a way to respond in the interim to the overpass,” Dr. Pat Whitely, vice president for student affairs, said. “It was a prudent step in protecting the students.”

The new shuttle route will go from Dickinson Drive to Stanford Circle and then make three stops along U.S. 1 at Starbucks, CVS and the University Centre Plaza shopping center. The shuttles will run from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week.

Although Student Government was a proponent of the new shuttles, the cost of the added route was paid for out of Dr. Whitely’s budget.

Further measures were taken that required county officials’ involvement.

“One of the things the school looked at to increase pedestrian safety was to petition for the county to put up a fence along the Metrorail and other areas where people would cross illegally and jaywalk,” Student Government President Pete Maki said. “That should be done in the next week or two.”

Additionally, safety videos that were featured in the Orientation sessions for all incoming freshmen will be shown repeatedly on the HurryCanes shuttles. Although the videos present basic ideas such as looking before crossing the street and using the crosswalks, the intent is to remind students that being cautious is imperative.

Costs for construction of the overpass are estimated at $6 million, a bill that the county is hoping not to have to front alone.

“One of the reasons the overpass will take longer than we originally thought is because the county is not paying for it,” Maki said. “They have appealed for federal funding.”

The overpass had been in planning long before Kelly’s death.

“After the tragedy, the plans were expedited,” Maki said. “The rallies held last semester moved the process into the public realm..”

The “expedited” path to construction may still be slow, since the county’s community impact study on pedestrian use of the area was conducted during the summer, a time when the University campus is nearly void of students. As a result, the statistics gathered are not an accurate representation of the usage of crosswalks.

“Until the overpass is complete, students should use the shuttle at all times and use the crosswalks [when on foot],” Dr. Whitely said. “Although, I always remind students, Ashley and Andrea were using the crosswalk when they were hit.”

Stacey Arnold can be contacted at s.arnold@umiami.edu.

While Hurricane Katrina was whipping sustained winds of 86 mph through Miami Thursday night, students weathered the storm like pros. Few seemed worried about the storm, and most readied themselves for a night of fun, relaxation or both.

With classes cancelled Friday, sleeping was not high on most people’s priority list as they rode out Katrina. Hip-hop music could be heard blasting from rooms and loud laughter echoed through the halls of Pearson Residential College and Mahoney Residential College (MRC). Many resident students from all parts of the campus could be seen wandering the halls during the storm, meeting new people and finding things to do.

“We got to meet all the kids on our floor,” Kelly Asher, sophomore, said. After saying hello to all the new faces, she said she passed the time playing indoor Frisbee down the hall.

Students who had planned to party Thursday night weren’t about to let a hurricane get in the way. They brought the club scene indoors, setting up and dancing in the classrooms at MRC with a deejay and strobe lights.

“Yeah, it felt like a sweatshop in there,” Asher said. She said she spent about an hour there before heading back upstairs.

Jodi Silver, sophomore, and her friends broke out their musical instruments, including flute and keyboards, while the storm broke even the largest trees out of their roots all across campus.

“We just played music and we jammed,” Silver said.

Others stayed in their own rooms throughout the storm, listening to music, playing computer games and watching TV shows on DVDs. For some, like sophomore Jared Spooner, the real entertainment was outside; he watched the storm blow from his window.

But it wasn’t all fun and games. Many students experienced flooding in their dorms and spent the night trying to keep their belongings dry.

“I bailed water from my room [in Eaton Residential College],” Jon Levin, sophomore, said. “We had a half inch of flooding from the window. We picked everything up but it still ruined the carpet.”

The hurricane also brought some minor, but still bothersome, inconveniences.

“The fire alarm went off in the apartment and we were trying to turn it off,” Juan Carlos Matos, freshman, said.

For juniors Ida Waagen, Victoria Moehling and Dana Lindemann, the night was a bit quieter than Matos’s. Instead of muting fire alarms, they ignored the hurricane’s fury and turned their attention to their favorite TV show in their Eaton room.

“We watched Friends,” Waagen said. “You know, a couple of seasons [in DVD].”

“The whole time,” added Lindemann.

Because the dining halls were closed, they munched on the goodies in their snack boxes as they enjoyed their DVDs-that is, until the power went out. But the loss of electricity by no means put a halt to their evening.

“When the power went out, we told stories in the dark,” Moehling said.

Sam West can be contacted at s.west2@umiami.edu.