Throughout the course of this week the Republican candidate has been touring the state emphasizing the importance of faith, family and freedom (ranked in this order of importance) as the guiding principles of his campaign.

To the observer, it may seem that Santorum’s battle is an uphill climb. On Monday he was greeted with a glitter bomb by Occupy Tampa protesters, his name has become a trending Google search term and he is currently ranking at 18% in the national poll, putting him in third place under Gingrich and Romney respectively.  Despite this, Santorum was eager to let it be known that he won’t be going anywhere.

The Senator opened his discussion on the importance of being active participants in protecting our own civil rights:

“What comes naturally is people who gain power and want to exercise that power and authority over the people who don’t have any… And unless you have generations of Americans who understand the threat of centralization and collection of power…the threat to you as folks who want to go out and exercise economic liberty, exercise political liberty, exercise moral liberties, religious beliefs—all of those things ultimately will be at stake.”

These concerns of an all-too powerful government became the overarching narrative of Santorum’s discussion as seen here:

And here.

There is a certain irony that is inherent in political agendas. In this case, Santorum’s claims can lead to some confusion about what his exact message is.

“I think that it’s good that he wants to concentrate more on what we need to concentrate on –to not concentrate on spending big money, but getting our money back,” said Brendan, a Junior Music Performance major. “The only thing I didn’t totally agree with was the fact that it seemed like he put a really big emphasis on religion, on Christianity. I wasn’t sure what he was saying about that. I want America to be a place where everyone has a choice to do whatever religious thing they want, as long as it doesn’t involve any religious sacrifices.”

The paradox is particularly apparent here, considering the Senator’s stance on same-sex marriage and abortion, among various other social issues.

Reactions to Santorum’s lecture were varied.

“I think he’s a principled man and I think he really does believe in what he says,” said Lawrence Dunn, a Senior Mathematics major. “It’s just that I think that what he believes is wrong. Basically, it’s ironic for him to talk about liberty and the Founding Fathers and then in the same sentence, talk about the fact that he doesn’t believe in gay marriage. He doesn’t believe that women have the right to an abortion. He doesn’t believe in legalizing drugs, despite all of the drug violence that’s going on that’s a direct result of the United States drug war. What he is trying to do is sell his principles and his rhetoric rather than actually fix things. I don’t think he wants to talk about real issues.”

To this criticism, the Senator is unapologetically straightforward.

“People say well, ‘What’s your position on the economy?’ ‘What’s your position on deficits?’ ‘What’s your position on all of these issues?’ I could go down and give you a laundry list of all of those things. But I think the most important thing for you to understand is how I look. It’s not what I believe, it’s why I believe. You want to understand how I’m going to approach every problem, now you understand…”

Not everyone was critical of Santorum’s application of principle to politics.

“[Santorum] always does a great job of relating his view points on social issues to his overall stances on everything and how that guides his beliefs in decision-making,” said John Clark, a sophomore Business Major. “Instead of ‘I believe in less spending’ or ‘I believe in a strong national defense,’ he really explains why he believes this. It’s something that you don’t see with a lot of candidates on the right or left.”

Still, Santorum may have a long way moving up in the polls and getting the support of Florida voters.

“He put a big emphasis on what he thinks we all should do,” said Brendan. “I admire that. It seems like he has a good moral compass. But, sometimes I think that leading by example, through things that are admirable to do, is more powerful than telling people what they should do.”

Florida’s primary is next Tuesday, January 31^st.

These are some of the highlights of West’s lecture accompanied by a song or artist that he referenced in his speech.

1. “Deep education is in some ways terrifying.”

West began his lecture reflecting importance of stimulating Paideia, or the ancient Greek notion of deep education. He notes that we have to be vulnerable enough to examine ourselves critically, and that we might not always like what we find. String Quartet in F Major, Op. 135, Beethoven’s last complete Opus, lends a piercingly eerie quality well-suited for self-reflection.

2. “The condition of truth is to allow suffering to speak.”

The structure of West’s lecture followed a chronology of a history of human injustice in the U.S. As we acknowledge wrongdoing in the past, we are awakened to the fact that everyone is suffering in some way or another. With that, here’s BB King’s “How Blue Can You Get?” to soothe the soul.

3. “What does it mean to be human?”

West promotes the pursuit of spiritual fortitude and determination. We should live to critique the world around us through the lens of deep empathy, compassion, and critical social dialogue. He referenced John Coltrane’s “Love Supreme.”

4. “What does it mean to find your voice?”

West prompts us to stand up against conformity and to challenges those around us to do the right thing. Need a little encouragement? Look no further than Sly and the Family Stone’s “Stand!”

5. “Wander in the dark and emerge in betterment.”

Carole King’s feel good vibes, especially in “I Feel the Earth Move,” are inescapable. Like West, they remind us that the best is yet to come.

6. “Justice is what love looks like in public.”

And the last of West’s words of wisdom? Have the courage to love. There’s little better representation than Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.”

Bill S.978, or the Commercial Felony Streaming Act, was proposed by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Chris Coons (D-DE) and John Cornyn (R-TX) on May 12, 2011, and was met with sensationalized media coverage that relied heavily on the question “Could Justin Bieber be sent to jail by S.978?” This is primarily due to Bieber’s early reliance on posting covers of songs on his YouTube channel, which eventually allowed him to rise to the level of fame that he has acquired today. However, S.978 is not necessarily bent on prosecuting YouTube users.

Under the current Copyright Act, streaming is classified as a performance of copyrighted material. The unauthorized streaming of copyrighted materials, such as posting a video utilizing copyrighted music on YouTube, under the Copyright Act, is a misdemeanor.

“[The Commercial Felony Streaming Act] ratchets up the streaming penalty so that it matches, basically, the penalty for distributing or reproducing,” said Jake Linford, Assistant Professor in the FSU College of Law. “[Streaming is] a performance. The copyright owner has an exclusive right to that. If I infringe the performance right, currently, the copyright owner could sue me and seek civil damages, or there could be criminal action, but the criminal action is just a misdemeanor, it’s like a parking ticket, it’s not a lot of damages, not a lot of jail time. And they’re trying to ratchet that up.”

Despite the bill’s proposed increase in the penalty for this copyright infringement, there are several conditions that must be met before someone could be prosecuted. The first, and fairly easy condition to be met is that there must be at least 10 streaming incidents over a 180-day period.

Next, for a penalty to be incurred, the video would have to result in commercial value. The amount of money that the copyright holder would license the material for would have to be more than $5000. Additionally, the amount of money made by the copyright infringer must be at least $2500.

YouTube does pay users that manage to produce highly popular videos, however, the amount that a YouTube user makes on a particular video that infringes on copyright would have to exceed $2500 for them to be prosecuted for streaming.

According to Linford, the bill targets people who are engaged in things like pirating television shows or movies.

“They’re going to be going after people who are copying whole episodes of Game of Thrones and putting it online so that people don’t have to pay HBO whatever you would normally have to pay HBO to stream the thing through authorized channels. That’s the kind of stuff, where you’re cutting into HBO’s market, where there’s probably more than $2500 on the line. Those are the kind of folks that you imagine the government going after,” said Linford.

Despite the fact that the intent of the legislation is to target people that are cutting into copyright holders’ profitability in the marketplace, there is the possibility that this legislation could affect musicians posting cover songs on YouTube.

“I play in a cover band and we play a lot of cover songs, and that’s the way that we build a lot of rapport with the audience is to play songs that they know,” said Peter Lebhar, a Family and Child Sciences major at FSU. “I know a lot of musicians who try to get people to look at their own stuff by playing a cover and that gets a lot of hits and then they go check out the artist’s original material.  So that could hurt a lot of artists.”

Another bill regarding internet-related legislation is SOPA, or the Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R.3261), which was proposed on October 26, 2011 by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), as well as 12 other sponsors.

Currently, the government has the ability to take down websites providing illegal access to copyrighted material as long as the websites are based in the United States. However, foreign websites are not subjected to US law. SOPA would allow for the government to obstruct the sites’ availability to Americans by disallowing search engines to list their URLs in search results, blocking internet service providers like Comcast from providing access to them, and preventing companies like PayPal from doing business with them. If the foreign websites want to react to these measures, they are then subjecting themselves to the US court system, thereby subjecting them to US copyright law.

The reaction to this bill on the Internet has been quite extensive. There is a large grassroots movement online that is joined by big companies like Google, Facebook, Microsoft and Intel. They believe that the bill allows for too much governmental interference with regard to the Internet.

A Political Science major at FSU, who wishes to remain anonymous to avoid prosecution for her usage of foreign websites providing access to copyright infringing material, believes that the legislation will be ineffective.

“Sometimes, streaming sites are the only way to watch shows. If there is a legal alternative, such as Hulu, I will use it, but sometimes networks block certain shows and illegal streaming is the only way to watch,” said the anonymous student. “If they block Americans from funding these sites, they’re not blocking them from watching them. Certainly some sites will be forced to close, but people from other countries will finance the sites. Honestly, the networks and studios should be happy we even bother watching their shows or movies. Not only are we consumers, but we are their best advertising, and if I can’t watch the show, I won’t be able to convince anyone else to.”

Interestingly, the platform that legislators are trying to inhibit, the Internet, is the very same platform allowing dissenters to make their voices heard. Stay tuned for further coverage of these issues online and in our print publication.

A report release, explaining this decision, was seen by Dr. Debra J. Wolgemuth, Ph.D. a professor and researcher at Columbia University Medical Center. Dr. Wolgemuth said that she was “intrigued,” and that “One company’s toxin may be another person’s contraceptive. She proceeded, with her team, to test the drug on mice at lower doses to see if the drug’s effects weren’t permanent. A four week-dosing cycle at 1.0mg/kg of the test subject’s body weight showed that the sterility caused by the drug was reversible.

 The most promising aspect of this new drug is that it may control reproduction while bypassing hormonal-based treatments. Such methods have, in the past, produced unwanted side-effects: higher risk for cardiovascular diseases, benign prostatic hyperplasia, ethnically diverse levels of efficiency, and a diminished sex-drive (one thinks of The Gift of the Magi). Dr. Chung, a research assistant working with Dr. Wolgemuth has stated that “an additional benefit of our compound is that it can be taken orally as a pill, avoiding the injection process. It also appears to have a very rapid effect on sperm production, and an even more rapid recovery when fertility is desired.”

Dr. Chung and Dr. Wolgemuth are currently planning longer dose cycles to insure that the drug can be administered over a number of years without causing permanent sterility or any other unwanted side effects. Before too long, men too may be inclined to get on the pill.

But arguably the strongest candidate was missing from the debate, because he had not yet officially announced.  Jon Huntsman, a name you may not recognize, will soon become much more familiar. As a fiscal conservative and social moderate who supports civil unions and strongly believes in the need to address climate change, Huntsman commands positions on issues that could significantly draw independents to his candidacy.  Huntsman campaign strategist John Weaver told Esquire this month why he believes the GOP could struggle this year.  “There’s a simple reason our party is nowhere near being a national governing party,” Weaver told Esquire. “No one wants to be around a bunch of cranks.”

As former governor of Utah and son of chemicals tycoon Jon Huntsman Sr., Jon Huntsman has become famous for his off-beat personality.  Aside from giving speeches recalling his years performing as keyboardist with his high-school band “Wizard” Huntsman is also an avid dirt biker.  Huntsman spent several years in Taiwan as a Mormon missionary where he learned Mandarin Chinese.  In 2009, President Barack Obama nominated John Huntsman to be ambassador to China where he served until resigning earlier this year to explore a run for president.  Undoubtedly Jon Huntsman will be an unconventional candidate and only time will tell if that’s what voters want.

This April, Florida lawmakers passed HB1355, a modification to Florida election law requiring all voter registration groups to submit completed forms within 48 hours, and it is stirring controversy in the state.  The law spurred accusations by President of the Florida League of Women Voters, Deirdre Macnab, of the legislature “reverting to Jim Crow-style tactics” in her Orlando Sentinel editorial.  The new change has prompted the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to file a lawsuit in U.S. district court, challenging implementation of the law prior to clearance by the Justice department.  Florida Secretary of State, Kurt Browning, is urging the Justice department to review the law soon, however in the meantime he is ordering the law to take effect immediately in all but five counties.

Critics assert that the new law requiring all voter registration groups to submit completed forms within 48 hours will be too burdensome on organizations like Rock the Vote, the Florida League of Women Voters, the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) and others.  Proponents of the law argue it will ensure that newly registered voters will receive their card in a timely fashion and narrow the possibility of fraudulent voter registration.  Opponents lament that their volunteers would be unwilling to drive three times each week to the Supervisor of Elections offices, limiting registration totals. Because many of these groups compete for limited grant money, they claim it is necessary to demonstrate their effectiveness through registration numbers.  If PIRG and other national registration organizations cannot demonstrate success in Florida, they will deploy their resources elsewhere.  In a swing state like Florida, still dealing with its mistakes counting ballots in 2000, this could be a big issue as we approach the 2012 election season.

With that said, one might be curious of some of the finer details of the new hall’s offerings and facilities. Thankfully, project director Lisa Durham and Housing Associate Director David Sagasar were kind enough to give us some insight into what role Phase II will serve on campus and what students can expect to find there.

According to the directors, Wildwood Phase II is going to be an apartment style hall in the vein of Ragans, and is geared toward senior students who have had their fill of sharing cramped rooms with a stranger or small apartments with 3. Thus the 6 floors of the building will consist of two-person apartments, so students can pick their one most special friend and live out their last few semesters here at FSU in peace and comfort.

There will be about 45 residents and 1 RA on each floor. Each two-person suite will contain a shared kitchen and living room, as well as private bedrooms and a “semi-private” bathroom that was described as a shared vanity leading to a single bathroom. At the time of interview the directors had yet to finalize the cost of residence for students, but they estimated that it would be comparable with Ragans Hall which amounts to approximately $600/month or $3000/semester. But such is the price of privacy.

Now, some may be wondering why with the current overcrowding of campus, Housing has decided to spend $25 million constructing a hall with only 270 beds. We asked this of Sagasar and he informed us that apartment-style rooms are in the highest demand every year on campus. Apparently every year approximately 1500 requests are made for the 600 beds available in Ragans Hall, and many disappointed students are relegated to “freshman” halls where they are unable to cook or have guests after 11pm.

The specific target demographic for Phase II according to Sagasar is upperclassmen wanting fewer roommates than Ragans assigns. “The hall is directed toward juniors and seniors,” he says “but sophomores will not be turned away.”

The Associate Director also imparted that there are plans for future, larger halls to accommodate more students and alleviate overcrowding, but that no projects are currently underway. More information can be found about Phase II on FSU’s Housing website at http://housing.fsu.edu/ for students who like the sound of the new prospect, and of course, who can afford it.

Speaking to faculty of FSU gathered in the Turnbill Conference Center, Barron said that over the past three years the state of Florida has appropriated $85 million less to the university than in previous years. Stressing the need to urgently secure funds, he gave six potential avenues:

• Receive state appropriations

Barron said it is unlikely that FSU will receive more monies from the state this year than previous years, especially since the state is anticipating another deficit.

• Raise tuition

Florida, as a state, is ranked 49^th out of the 50 states in tuition costs. A 15 percent increase in tuition at FSU would be the equivalent of Penn State having a 4 percent increase. According to Barron, FSU would still be a bargain compared to other out of state schools. Need-based students (students receiving pell grants) would not be affected.

• Increase student enrollment

FSU is only allowed to increase by 1 percent every year, and with the faculty reductions a student increase would be a burden to already overwhelmed instructors.

• Commence online education

Although it could potentially allow access to a wider range of students, FSU is currently only allowed to charge the “cost of delivery” to online students, thus making it non lucrative.

• Increase number of out of state students

FSU is allowed to charge 4 to 5 times for tuition for out of state students as opposed to in state students, which would be an excellent way to flip a profit. However, FSU is only allowed to accept 10 percent of its enrolled students from out of state. By raising the percentage of out of state students allowed, FSU could make more money faster.

• Increase philanthropy

FSU is currently ranked somewhere in the 300’s for philanthropy, the only unregulated route the university can use to raise funds.

“That is not appropriate for an institution this size,” said Barron.

He predicted that $30 to $40 million could be raised within a few years if the university made a dedicated effort. He stressed the importance of being able to show donors what they were contributing to in order to encourage them to donate.

Dr. Barron then expressed his wishes of increasing faculty size to enhance the quality of education. For research, he suggested using state and BP appropriated funds to build a new scientific and technology center at FSU in hopes of making FSU the epicenter of the Deep Water Horizon oil spill research.

After his speech, Dr. Barron was given the presidential medal by Board of Trustees Chair, William Haggard.

“I can’t speak for all of the trustees, but I think that we’re going to keep you,” said Haggard.

Once the ceremony was over, the faculty was treated to a lavish reception including cake, since it was Barron’s birthday.

Employers taking part in the Job Outlook 2011 Fall Preview survey from NACE are expected to hire 13.5 percent more new college graduates from the class of 2011 then they did from the class of 2010. This is up from the 5.3% increase that this same survey reported last year.

The report shows the highest increase of 23.5 percent in the West, with the number of 2011 projected hires growing to 1, 915 from the actual hires of 2010 at 1,550. The Southeast reported the lowest increase at 8.3 percent, with the projected hires for 2011 at 8,644 from 7,984 actual hires in 2010. Even though the percent change is greatest in the West, the largest number of projected hires is still taking place in the Southeast – something FSU students can be optimistic about.

“When you look at the entire table and you put all those pieces together, it looks like the Southeast would be a very advantageous place to go or to be when you graduate from FSU,” said Dr. Joseph Calhoun, an economics professor at FSU.

These positive statistics affect the university’s Career Center, which reported an increase in employer participation in the career fairs and career days it holds.

“I feel like we are slowly turning the corner economically, and of course its been well chronicled that the labor market is always the last part of an economic recovery,” said Dr. Jeff Garis, director of the FSU Career Center.

Slowly is the key word. Even though the job market for college grads seems to be improving, it is still difficult, requiring many students to be more aggressive and more flexible when considering their career options.

“It’s important for students to take the blinders off and understand that they can market their major in a lot of different ways,” said Garis.

That means some students may end up taking a job not directly linked to their major, or completely unrelated.

“It’s definitely tough out there,” said Michael Morris, an FSU senior. “You’ll take anything that you get. People are going out there, finding something they relatively want to do, and then using that as a building block.”

Samantha Flamand, a third year senior at FSU agrees that more and more students are looking at immediate employment after graduation as a steppingstone.

“I think college students are being less picky about what they do initially right out of college, and knowing that you shouldn’t have high expectations for how much we’re going to get paid,” said Flamand.

One reason for the perceived increase in college hires is the cheaper employment alternative they provide employers.

“As employers are now recovering and looking to expand their business, they want to do it in a risk averse way, especially when it comes to cost,” said Calhoun. “So they’ll take a chance on a new college grad because they’re relatively cheap and hopefully they can foster them along and turn them into even more productive employees.”

Michael Morris agrees.

“College kids are really eager,” said Morris. “They’ll do hard work for the most part just to put themselves in the market and they’re willing to take less money.”

Despite the reported positive trend in college graduate employment, the general consensus among college students is that the job market looks bleak, a perception consistent with the media coverage of the stagnant 9.6% national unemployment rate. This may not be an accurate portrayal of the college labor market, though.

“You know you need to look at it sector by sector, and industry by industry,” said Calhoun. “When you put them all in the same population and talk about an average, sometimes that can be a meaningless number.”

Flamand agrees that the positive trend in the college labor market runs contrary to the general pessimism reported in the mainstream media coverage.

“I don’t think its being publicized at all that things are getting better,” said Flamand.

Even when considering the discouraging national unemployment rate, college students can be optimistic for their own employment prospects.

“Sometimes the media is too concerned with the bigger picture, and looking at the national unemployment rate as opposed to the state unemployment rate, or the region or the industry,” said Calhoun. “When it comes to you, the only job you’re worried about is yours.”