9/11: Ten Years Later New Tech Exhibit Receives Animosity ...

Current Events
Libya’s New Start
Libyan rebels end the tyranny of former leader Gadhafi and begin to establish a
democratic Libya
by Tuba Siddiqui
the rebels faced the problem of trying to restore order
Staff Writer, Senior
and services to Tripoli while Gadhafi’s whereabouts were
Libya, known as an oil rich nation in North
unknown. Guma El-Gamatay, the British based coordina-
Africa, has been under the dictatorship of Moammar
tor for the Rebel’s National Transitional Council (NTC),
Gadhafi for forty-years before pushing for a revolt and
believes that Gadhafi is either hiding in Tripoli or has fled
toppling the Libyan Regime. For about six months, a
to Chad, Southern Libya, or Algeria (countries that still
poorly trained rebel group, with the motivation to rid
support him) but El-Gamatay claims that he is most likely
Gadhafi from rule, successfully came through with their
in Libya but was not able to extrapolate on his claim
goal last month. However, the road to their accomplish-
since the information proving this statement is classified
ment came with a plethora of difficulties.
as secretive. Former U.S. diplomat Nicholas Burns said
On February 2011, a group of anti-government
that it is imperative that Gadhafi “be found quickly and
opponents organized themselves in the city of Benghazi,
the fighting must be brought to an end.” More so, the
where their movement ultimately spread to the capital of
International Criminal Court has issued warrants for the
Tripoli where Gadhafi responded with extreme violence
arrests of Gadhafi and his son Saif al-Islam Gadhafi.
and referring to the rebels as “very small groups of
Libya wants to create a functioning democratic
people who are collaborators with the imperialists.” In
system. Libya is in need of an interim in order to begin
response, the citizens of Libya created a makeshift army
writing a constitution, initiate elections, and establish
and portrayed itself to the West and other Libyans as an
democracy. The rebels have also set up checkpoints
army willing to end Gadhafi’s repressive rule. However,
around public buildings in order to promote public safety.
the rebels faced a possibility of being outgunned and
Reports have shown that loyalists to Gadhafi took off
outnumbered in their fight for civil rights. The United
their uniforms and have blended in with the crowd and
Nations Security Council authorized military action in
are hatching a plan to strike again. The NTC stabilization
order to make sure that the rebels could not be defeated
team has asked Arab states like Qatar, United Arab Emir-
by Ghadafi’s loyalist forces. On March 19, Americans
ates, and Jordan for a force of several hundred people
and Europeans began to create strikes against Gadhafi’s
(troops) to help protect the new installations established
government and got their point across through the use of
in Tripoli. The NTC has also set up a timetable for the
warplanes and missiles. Also, rebels were aided by NATO
new government: a fifteen person panel will draft a
airstrikes under a United Nation’s mandate to protect
constitution over forty-five days. The constitution will be
citizens. By August, the rebel forces began to make sig-
voted on a national referendum and legislative elections
nificant gains in Libya’s eastern and western territories.
will be held four months afterwards. Two months later,
By the night of August 21, rebels inundated Tripoli and
a presidential election will be held. NTC officials say
began to spread resistance and celebrate their accom-
that this process will take anywhere from ten to fifteen
plishments as they overran his compound and finally
months. The U.S. is working with the United Nations to
gained control on August 23.
release $1 billion to $1.5 billion to the NTC for hu-
Even though they ridded Gadhafi from power,
manitarian purposes and to help make certain that Libya
establish a secure and stable government.
In Case You Missed It...
by Amy Lowe and Nick Vincent
Staff Writers, Seniors
Apple Has Done it Again
With the release of the new Apple iPhone 5 on
the way, Apple lovers are eagerly anticipating its arrival.
After the hype surrounding the iPhone 4 there was
an anti-climatic down turn once the phone was lost in a
German pub. Once again, an Apple employee has lost the
new phone that is to be released this fall. This time the
phone was lost in a Mexican restaurant, and reportedly
sold on craigslist for a mere $200.
Page 6
New Goodies for the iPad
Logitech will become the next big contributor
to add new gadgets to the iPad. The company is releasing
a joystick and fold-up keyboard for the iPad 2. The
joystick will attach to the iPad with suction cups and
hopefully help make it more versatile for gamers. The
keyboard works only with the iPad 2 and will attach via
bluetooth. Both are available in September. The joystick
will cost $19.99 while the keyboard will sell for a whopping
$129.99.
Volume 51, Issue 01 September 2011
College Tuition: The Price is Not Right
University of California System might raise tuition costs by 16%
by Tuba Siddiqui,
Staff Writer, Senior
“This is ridiculous. The state government
should be doing more to
help out the UC system because the
UC schools are correlated with the
state.” -Jordan Booke, 12
Due to a state budget crisis, the University of
California (UC) system considered increasing tuition
up to 16% in the fall of 2012 and planned to increase it
over the next three years, nearly doubling tuition, if state
funding falls short. In fact, the UC system has lost $650
million in state funding this fall after lawmakers reduced
a budget shortfall from $26 billion to $5 billion. The UC
Board of Regents considered a four-year plan that will
help ease their $2.5 billion budget shortfall by 2015 to
2016 through the use of tuition increase of 8% to 16%
if they are unable to stimulate their financing. However,
to avoid this drastic increase, the regents have fostered
alternatives to the tuition hike.
In San Francisco, members of the UC Regents
System gathered around to plan possible means of obtaining
the increase in financing they needed to avoid higher
tuition rates for students to pay. These ideas included
holding a ballot initiative to raise taxes, raising revenue
from private sectors for scholarships, organizing a public
service campaign financed by Google or another firm
about the UC system’s contribution to the state, and
working with state lawmakers on securing more public
funding. The regents did not want to increase tuition
as Dianne Klein, spokeswomen for UC President Mark
Yudof, stated “we do not want to raise tuition and we do
not want to compromise quality.”
The four year tuition increase proposal has
provoked a negative response from students who claim
that they will not be able to pay off their tuition with this
increase. Leaders of the University of California Student
Association argued that this increase is effectively ridding
middle class students from gaining a higher public educa-
Prop 8: Bat-
tle Persists
by Evie Liu
Staff Writer, Sophomore
On Tuesday, September 6, 2011, there was a
hearing in San Francisco over the state’s ban on same-sex
marriage that was ruled unconstitutional by Chief US
District Judge Vaughn R. Walker in 2010. At the hearing,
the California Supreme Court was to decide whether the
sponsors of Proposition 8 have the legal standing to appeal
the ruling.
This case came up when first Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger and then Attorney General Jerry
Brown refused to appeal to Walker’s ruling. To this
the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals asked if a conservative
religious coalition called “Protect Marriage” could
represent a state’s interests in the appeal arguing that the
Governor and attorney general should not have the power
to second-guess the majority of Californians. .”rotect
Marriage.”is eager to claim a right to appeal because
without a standing, there is no case and that could mean
a possible resumption of same-sex marriage. Arguing
against “Protect Marriage,” same-sex couples and the city
of San Francisco say that California has given its attorney
general the right to appeal, settle, or concede defeat in
cases involving the state law. They also argue that cited
in a 1997 US Supreme Court ruling, doubt was expressed
over the authority of initiative sponsors to represent a
state in appeals involving the state law.
The case is a very complicated one and is more
than a debate over whether Proposition 8 is constitutional-it
is an issue over who has the right to argue a law.
The California Supreme Court remains undecided on this
case, they have 90 days to decide whether “Protect Marriage”
has the right to appeal to Walker’s ruling. If the
right is upheld, the case will go to the US Supreme Court
to decide whether Proposition 8 is constitutional or not.
tion. They claimed that if the proposal were to occur,
they would begin to protest against it. UC students must
pay $12,200 in annual tuition, but the total cost reaches
$30,000 (including books, supplies, transportation, etc).
For Universties such as UC Berkeley and UCLA, the
total cost reaches almost $40,000. This four year tuition
increase would bring tuition to about $22,110 by fall
2015.
Yoduf’s office claimed that “a bold new approach
is necessary to save the university from an
irreversible decline into mediocrity.” Furthermore, the
board’s finance committee stated that “a multi-year plan
would provide a stable and predictable framework by
which the university can meet its base budget needs, even
as the state’s fiscal situation continues to be immensely
unstable.” However, if the state is unable to increase
funding next fall beyond $2.37 billion, the UC system
will have to resort to the 16% tuition increase. If the state
is able to increase UC funding by 4% next year, the proposed
tuition increase would be 12%, and the fee increase
would be 8% if state funding were also raised 8%. These
tuition proposals are valid for the next three years as well.
Goldilocks
Scientists recently discovered a new “Goldilocks”
planet 31 light-years away from Earth, orbiting
an orange dwarf in the constellation Vela. Much like the
porridge Goldilocks picks in her story, this planet is “just
right” in terms of size and heat. It has a circular, stable
orbit; the only caveat is that it may or may not have a
suitable atmosphere for life. Until our instruments improve
or we find a way to travel 31 light-years, we’ll just
have to wonder if there is life out there.