Month: October 2017
Hockey Story
by: Henry Wyard
Newswriting 2
The University of Connecticut’s Men’s Hockey team moved to the Hockey East Association for the 2014–2015 season. This move from the Atlantic Hockey Conference pushes UConn hockey into an unprecedented position of dominance, according to a statement made by then athletic director Warde Manuel. The Hockey East Association is the premier conference in America, featuring a national best 8 NCAA championships in the past 20 years.
The Hockey East Association hosts some of the leading hockey programs in the country, highlighted by perennial powers Boston College, Boston University, and Notre Dame, among others. UConn is the 12thth team to enter the Hockey East Association following the admittance of Notre Dame in 2011 and the University of Vermont in 2005.
Top level hockey is a relatively new concept at UConn, with the program only elevating to Division 1 status prior to the start of the 1998–1999 season when it first played its games in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. It remained part of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference up until joining the Atlantic Hockey Conference in 2004, where it had remained until last season, when at last UConn was admitted into the Hockey East Association.
Prior to the move to the Hockey East, UConn did not award any scholarships for potential athletes to play for the university. Following its admittance into the Hockey East Association, UConn will now be able to offer 18 full athletic scholarships, the maximum number allowed under current NCAA regulations.
With a greater emphasis put on the future of hockey at UConn, the improvement of the current facilities for the team becomes a viable question. Prior to the 2014–2015 season, the hockey team played all of its games at Mark Edward Freitas Ice Forum, an on-campus facility that has the capacity to seat around 2,000 people. With the school looking towards the future of UConn hockey, there are plans to complement the commitment by upgrading the current facilities.
Though plans for improvement seem to be on the horizon, it is unclear to some UConn students and officials exactly where and when these changes will be made. Senior Erik Boswell, a Mansfield Apartments resident, said that he was fairly certain he knew where the new hockey facilities were going to be built.
“I heard that in two years, they’re going to tear down the Mansfield Apartments and put up a new hockey rink,” Boswell said.
The Mansfield Apartments are an undergraduate apartment option located on South Eagleville Road. Though the apartment complex is technically off of the Storrs campus, the land and apartments are owned by UConn and thus could be an option for the future location of new facilities.
With the commitment towards the improved future of the hockey program at UConn, and the emergence of the newly-offered athletic scholarships, there will be a need to upgrade the facilities so that they keep pace with the anticipated growth of the fan base that is sure to come with the rising success of the hockey team. Constructing a new hockey rink at the location of the current Mansfield Apartments would ensure that there are facilities that could sustain and complement the growth of the program.
Brian Gore, the Director of Project and Program Management said that this belief is rooted in some truth, but that it is unclear if this project will actually be undertaken in the future.
“[It is] correct that the current Master Plan shows Hockey at the current location of the Mansfield Apartments by my understanding is that Hockey may remain at Freitas in an expanded facility,” Gore said.
The on-campus facility, Freitas Ice Forum, with a seating capacity of 2,000, now hosts the hockey’s team non-conference games. The hockey team currently plays its Hockey East Association games at the XL Center in Hartford, a change that came with the start of the 2014–2015 season. While the facilities at the XL Center are certainly adequate to support a growing hockey team, it is challenging to develop a strong student fan base at UConn with the rink being a 30 to 40-minute drive from the Storrs campus.
Besides the problem of it being difficult to create a strong student fan base with the majority of the important games being played at an off-campus facility, the facility issue could also present a problem when trying to attract potential players to the team.
While the move to the Hockey East Association means that UConn will begin to offer up to 18 athletic scholarships, it may be difficult to lure top talent to Storrs without presenting state of the art facilities here on campus. Again, this problem has the possibility of being resolved if it is indeed true that new facilities are to be constructed on the site of the Mansfield Apartments. However, Director of University Planning Beverly Wood said that this is not currently in the immediate plans for the university.
“We have no immediate plans for constructing a new facility anywhere at the moment. The discussions I have heard are centered on a modest expansion of the Freitas rink. I don’t have the details, but I believe there are on-going discussions with the Conference officials,” Wood said.
As it stands, there are no plans in the foreseeable future to undergo any construction projects to create new facilities at UConn, despite what the Master Plan says. At the very least, this is likely to slow the rise of UConn hockey towards the level of superiority shared by some of the top universities in the Hockey East Association.
With that being said, past hockey coach Bruce Marshall (1989–2013) said in a statement that he believes there is a strong appetite for this level of college play here in Connecticut and that Husky fans will embrace the move.
Source List:
Erik Boswell: erik.boswell@uconn.edu phone: 860–462-9361
Beverly Wood: Beverly.wood@uconn.edu phone: 860–486-4418
Brian Gore: brian.gore@uconn.edu phone: 860–486-5759
Heritage Hunters Television Treatment
by: Henry Wyard
Outline Productions Internship 2017
The Increasing Cost of College
by: Henry Wyard
Newswriting 2 September 2016
The University of Connecticut’s Board of Trustees agreed Wednesday in principle to increase tuition by 31% over the next 5 years for in-state students. In-state Students will pay $3,275 more in 2019–2020 than the current cost of tuition.
Instate students currently pay a tuition of $10,524 will pay a tuition increase of 6.7% the 2016–2017 school year, an increase of $700. There will be an increase of 6.9% increase in tuition during the 2017–2018 year from the previous year which will cost students an added $775. In 2018–2019 there will be an increase of 7.1% which will cost students $850. Finally, in 2019–2020 there will be an increase of 7.4% from the previous year which will cost students an added $950.
UConn President Susan Herbst said that the tuition increases are necessary. The school has a projected $40 million budget deficit next year. Although the university is cutting costs, Herbst said that the cost-cutting alone is not enough to fix the deficit. The only two trustees to vote against the increase of tuition were the two student representatives.
80 percent of UConn’s student body is made up Connecticut residents. In-state students pay $10,524 currently, and are projected to have to pay $13,799 during the 2019–2020 year, an increase of $3,275.
While in-state students are going to have an increase of 6.7% for tuition for the 2016–2017 year compared to now, out of state students will not have as large of a tuition increase in terms of percentage. Out of state students, will have only a 2.9% increase in tuition for next year. Compared to instate students, out of state students only have around a 3% increase in tuition for the upcoming years until 2019–2020. In 2017–2018, out of state students will have to pay $34,066, an increase of 3.2% stemming from students having to pay an extra $1,050. The following year, out of state students will see their tuition rise about 3.4%, meaning they will have to pay $35,216 for tuition. Finally, in 2019–2020, out of state students will need to pay $36,466 for one year of tuition at UConn, a 3.5% increase. Out of state students, will thus see their tuition rise by a total of about 13% over the next four years after this school year, compared to about 24.5% for in-state students.
Herbst said that the coming tuition hikes stem from the push to maintain the academic quality without cutting corners and academic programs.
“No university strengthens academics by slashing academic budgets, that is what we are seeking to avoid,” Herbst said.
Students who are Connecticut residents will have an estimated total of $30,700 for the 2019–2020 year. This includes tuition, as well as the cost of living at UConn. For non Connecticut residents, the estimated total cost of attending UConn for a year will be $53,400.
UConn officials said they believe it is still a good value to attend UConn for Connecticut residents even with the coming tuition increases, because it is cheaper than other top state universities.
What will Marijuana Legalizations mean in CT?
By: Henry Wyard
Newswriting 2 December 2016
Will Connecticut Be The Next Green State?
When a Bethel Connecticut highschool student was arrested during his junior year at school for having less than an ounce of marijuana on him, he never imagined how his life would change. However, he found himself expelled from his school, a change that would affect him to this day. “Back when I was in school, there was a different stigma about marijuana… there was a thought that it was a horrible drug that would ruin your life. Maybe if I had been caught today, some different action would have been taken.”
That was in 2010, one year before a bill would pass in Connecticut decriminalizing the possession of marijuana up to 1 ounce. Technically, Steve Weiss would still have been a minor at this time, which would have resulted in a 60-day suspension of his license, but the public view of marijuana has certainly changed since then. Weiss said that he used to use marijuana as many as three times a week when he was in high school, while “hanging out with friends and to relax,” but said he had not used marijuana in the last year because of his work. As more and more states push for referendums meant to regulate and tax the recreational usage of marijuana, the question of whether or not this would be a positive change for Connecticut arises.
Marijuana is currently categorized as a Schedule 1 drug by the Food and Drug Administration, which places it among drugs like heroin, LSD, and Ecstasy. These drugs are said to have no medicinal benefit, and their categorization limits doctors from prescribing the drugs as medication. With that being said, marijuana has been used in America for decades both recreationally and for self medication.
It was not until 1996 when any legal movement was made. Proposition 215 passed by majority public vote (54 percent) to legalize the usage of marijuana for medicinal purposes in California. Since then, 24 other states have deemed marijuana to have medicinal qualities beneficial enough to prompt legalization.
It is of note that Proposition 215 passed despite not going through the standard Food and Drug Administration’s testing for safety and efficacy. Opponents of legalization point toward insufficient research as a primary reason behind their views, Scott Chipman of the Citizens Against Legalizing Marijuana said
“The truth in the matter is that science has not had enough time yet to do an adequate job in researching the long term health effects of marijuana usage. The increased potency of marijuana today is much higher compared to what it used to be. There simply has not been enough research to accurately predict effects of long term usage.”
Conversely, proponents of marijuana legalization have their sights set past just medicinal benefits, and towards recreational usage. It was not until recently that their efforts had any success, when in 2014 the usage of marijuana for recreational purposes was approved in the state of Colorado. The unprecedented American policy was the result of Colorado Amendment 64, which passed by popular vote (55 percent) on Nov. 12, 2012.
The amendment would come to be known as the “Cannabis Policy of Colorado,” which ultimately led to the legalization of recreational usage for adults 21 and over, starting on Jan. 1, 2014. The policy also came with other stipulations, namely the state control of commercial cultivation, manufacture, and sale. Basically, the governing body of the state of Colorado became in charge of the market and was able to regulate and tax the distribution of marijuana. Marijuana in Colorado became regulated in ways similar to how alcohol is regulated and taxed nationally.
Washington, Alaska, Oregon, and the District of Columbia followed the lead of of Colorado and became the only other places to date where marijuana can be used recreationally. With legalization appearing to gain momentum throughout the country, questions arise for the remaining states. Should they follow suit?
University of Connecticut graduate John Hudak is the Deputy Director of the Center for Effective Public Management and Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute based in Washington D.C. The Brookings Institute is a nonprofit public policy organization that researches new ideas to solve issues in America. Hudak wrote a book titled Marijuana: A Short History in which he traces the history of America’s laws and attitudes towards cannabis.
Hudak spoke about the unusual and unprecedented legal status of Marijuana in America, at a talk at UConn this past week. “One of the only places in history where something has been totally illegal at the federal level, but fully legal in some states.”
Hudak said that this unusual circumstance causes a ripple effect in policy, where owners of marijuana dispensaries are not treated like a normal business in the eyes of the government. “You can’t write anything off your taxes. Why? Because it is illegal federally. Despite that, they are supposed to pay every bit of their federal taxes.” Hudak said this can place up to a 175% tax burden on revenue, which can make it more difficult for these business to stay afloat. Additionally, owners of marijuana dispensaries do not have access to any sort of banking services, barring a business loan or a line of credit. While this is a problem for business owners in states that have passed laws regulating recreational marijuana, roadblocks remain for states that have only legalized marijuana for medical use.
According to Bill 5387, the Legislative Commissioner of the Connecticut House of Representatives approved the usage of medicinal marijuana on April 27, 2012. The bill was considered effective starting on Oct. 1 of the same year.
On the state government website, it states that patients can register for a medical marijuana certificate if they are a Connecticut residents being treated for a debilitating medical condition by a Connecticut-licensed physician. However, the definition of what is “debilitating,” is important to understand. A patient cannot simply walk into their doctor’s office and demand a marijuana certificate because of a sore tooth. Among the medical conditions that make a patient eligible for medicinal marijuana usage are: cancer, glaucoma, epilepsy, Crohn’s disease, and other serious medical conditions.
Something unique about medicinal marijuana in Connecticut is that up until recently, minors were not eligible to qualify for it. According to the state government website, as of Oct. 1, 2016, minors became eligible to be considered for medicinal marijuana. Gov. Dannel P. Malloy signed House Bill 5450, which allows minors to qualify if they have certain medical conditions. Qualifying minors must have serious debilitating medical conditions to be considered. A few of the conditions are: Cerebral Palsy, Cystic Fibrosis, Severe Epilepsy, and/or a terminal illness, among others.
In order to open a medical marijuana dispensary in Connecticut, a few expensive steps need to be taken in order for the state to approve the opening of a dispensary said Hudak. A potential owner would need to apply for a license which can cost up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. An additional 1.5 million needs to be placed in an escrow account, which is essentially an unaffiliated third party. The problem with this, said Hudak, is that it limits the marijuana industry to a certain demographic.
“Typically the type of person that has the money to open a marijuana dispensary are white, rich, older men,” said Hudak.
While recreational marijuana is not legal in Connecticut at this point in time, there has been some legal movement. According to the Marijuana Policy Project, possession of a half-ounce or less of marijuana was decriminalized in 2011.
A first-time offense is punishable by a fine up to $150, meaning it is not an offense that can warrant jail time. Subsequent offenses are subject to increased fines ranging from $200 to $500. Upon a third offense, offenders are referred to a drug awareness program, and if they are under 21, face a 60-day suspension of their driver’s license.
The states that have approved the usage of recreational marijuana all have one thing in common, the approved bills came from the results of a ballot initiative process. In Connecticut, bills are not decided by a popular vote, and instead by state legislators. As a result, elected officials would be the ones responsible for passing a bill legalizing the recreational use of marijuana.
Graham Puliston (22) has been using marijuana recreationally and medically for the last 5 years. A Connecticut resident, Teed said he often wonders what life would be like if marijuana were to be fully legalized in Connecticut. Although Puliston uses marijuana “several” times a week, he said he is unsure if legalization would be totally positive for the community around him.
“I think marijuana has a ton of benefits, and can really be beneficial for people who suffer from anxiety and other medical conditions. It seems possible that legalization would give children greater access to marijuana which I think could potentially be harmful.”
According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States. A 2013 survey conducted by the NIH estimated that there were 19.8 million current marijuana users, about 7.5 percent of people 12 years or older. State legalization did not start until 2014, which means that a majority of these users obtained marijuana illegally. These narcotic deals can be dangerous; as potential buyers are purchasing illicit drugs through criminals. Legalization and subsequent government regulation would aim to eliminate a black market that would otherwise never disappear.
The greatest benefit towards the possible legalization of marijuana in Connecticut, that proponents of legalization are pushing for would be the increased tax revenue. According to the Tax Foundation, a group that researches Tax in America, in Colorado, Proposition AA was passed in November of 2013. The bill established the state’s right to tax marijuana, beginning with the sale of marijuana state-wide in January of 2015.
In 2014 the state of Colorado collected $56 million in taxes from medicinal marijuana. Once Proposition AA was passed, officials estimated that the 2015 tax income to be around $70 million. In 2015, the state of Colorado actually collected $113 million in marijuana taxes, a 101 percent increase from 2013. Officials estimate that tax revenue will be upwards of $140 million in 2016, a 150 percent increase from 2014.
The reasoning behind the the massive increase in tax dollars is the structure of marijuana is taxed. According to the Tax Foundation, a 15 percent excise on tax is the “average market rate” of wholesale marijuana. That is added to a 10 percent state tax on retail marijuana sales plus the standard state sales tax of 2.9 percent plus local sales tax plus local marijuana taxes such as a 3.5 percent tax in Denver. Overall, taxes are about 29 percent overall of what the initial price would be. For comparison, the equivalent Colorado tax on cigarettes is about 31 percent while beer is only 8 percent.
-Henry Wyard