In Debate Preview, Encouraging Signs for McCain
New York Times – Aug. 20
…Perhaps the biggest lesson, said David Lanoue, a political scientist at the University of Alabama and a specialist in televised presidential debates, is the importance of speaking in sound bites. “Obama’s answers were thoughtful and considered but a little meandering and not to the point,” Mr. Lanoue said. “A lot of winning a debate is winning the sound-bite war, and McCain definitely won there.”…“Hillary Clinton got the best of him quite a few times, and yet he still has this well-deserved reputation for eloquence that will follow him into the debates,” Mr. Lanoue said. “People still confuse Obama the public speaker with Obama the debater.”…Mr. Lanoue said that Mr. Obama’s chief task before the debates will be to “work on honing his message and making his case for himself; he needs to be able to get those phrases out that will translate on television the next day.”…
Pension ruling a partial win for both sides
Los Angeles Times – Aug. 21
…Added University of Alabama professor Norman Stein, an expert on pension law: “That could be a very significant victory for participants.”…
Economy makes impact on students
Crimson White – Aug. 21
…UA professor of economics James Cover said this is not enough to determine for certain whether we are in a recession. “Nothing has changed in the last nine months,” Cover said. “It’s very subjective.” There has to be a substantial decline, and it has to last at least six months. The data doesn’t show all that happening yet,” Cover said. “Usually a recession is over before data proves there was a recession.”…The University has experienced an increase in applications for financial aid. “Each year, we see slight increases in the number of students who apply for and receive aid,” said Jeanetta Allen, director of student financial aid. “This may be the result of the increase in enrollment as well as the economy.”…Peter Clark, an associate professor of chemical and biological engineering, said the decrease in gas prices can be attributed to a lower demand and a strengthening dollar. “Oil has gone from $147 a barrel to about $116. It’s a fairly significant drop,” Clark said. “Things have quieted down.” Clark said the demand for fuel has gone down because China is no longer stockpiling oil as it was doing before the Olympics. People are not driving as much as they were in the beginning of the summer and oil is not as tight as people had speculated, he said. “I’ve always maintained that if we cut our oil use by 5 percent the problem would resolve itself, and so far we’ve cut it by 3 percent or 4 percent,” Clark said. As for the cost of other commodities such as food, Clark said he does not know whether they will drop as quickly as oil prices. He said the rise in the cost of food was caused by more competition for corn, a drought in Australia, which killed wheat crops and the rising cost of transportation. “The cycle for wheat and corn crops is about a year,” Clark said. “Energy is on a much shorter cycle time.” …
United Way sets ambitious goal for 2008
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 21
…The Dahls are the first couple to serve as United Way campaign co-chairs. Carolyn Dahl is dean of the College of Continuing Studies at the University of Alabama. Dennis Dahl is a retired University of Illinois professor and has been involved in the Salvation Army…
Cason Kirby: ‘Driven’ to SGA success
Crimson White – Aug. 21
Cason Kirby…Kirby certainly wasn’t going to rest on Walker’s coattails; within days of unpacking his boxes in the new office, the SGA had a slew of updates for the campus. Before school let out, the new administration had announced free laptop rentals at the Ferguson Center and the transformation to wireless tickets for the upcoming football season…In the short amount of time he has been in office Kirby feels like the biggest achievement has been something that hasn’t made any headlines, augmenting the Emergency Student Loan budget. “So far I think our biggest accomplishment has been increasing the Emergency Student Loan Budget,” Kirby said. “It was originally 300 [dollars], last year it went to 350 [dollars], and this year I’d like it to be 500 [dollars].”…
Zheng blogs at Olympics
Crimson White – Aug. 21
Lu Zheng, a third-year doctoral student in the College of Communication and Information Sciences, is a reporter for Village Life, the official daily publication of the Olympic Village. Along with reporting for Village Life, Zheng blogs her experiences on the UA news Web site in a blog titled, “UA Blog: Inside the Olympic Village.”…Zheng’s blog includes pictures of cultural spots in Beijing…While Zheng uses the experience to learn much about Beijing and the athletes, she also uses the opportunity to promote the University. She describes how she mentions the University, primarily the college of communications and some of its professors, in her many interviews…