This third article I’ve looked at from the Columbia Spectator is a very short one. I feel like it’s weird that there is a conclusion listed under the featured photo that isn’t spoken about in the text of the article itself. The article is focusing heavily on Columbia’s unique non-traditional student base in their General Studies program. With this average age group of non-traditional students in general, one would expect that the dual degree program offered for General Studies students would represent that same age group. This program allows these students to study for two years at a university abroad and then the other two at Columbia in order to earn two bachelor degrees. However, the author of the article is showing how the program has been bringing in younger, more traditional students to make up this program’s population. The point is really missed by the reader if they do not read the photo’s caption. So, I think it would be important to note in the actual article that the result of this age change may be more financial help for students as well as the makeup of the student body might change. Also, include in the article why administration created this program; financial pressures to include more joint programs.
The next article I noticed for this week was one about how community safety and crime concerns in a local park have led to several attempts to improve it by town officials. Some methods of doing this included anything from more police presence in the park to more funding to afterschool youth programming to keep kids out of trouble. However, the biggest issue seemed to be the lack of visibility because of broken lights and poor set up of the park. There were many requests for funding to fight this issue at the root, but they were shot down many times from leaders saying there wasn’t enough money in the budget to allocate towards the issue. With the recent murder of a first-year college student in the park came an uproar of additional discussion about how to fix this issue. Even with other cases in the same park, there wasn’t enough clear evidence to convict someone of a crime in the same park because video footage was too dark because of a lack of light. After these tragedies, allocated funds and security presence were considered a priority. So, community members feel better about the plans to tackle the issue.
