4

UTSAV GANDHI

campus@technewsiit.com

TechNews I TuesdayApril3,2012

CeaseFire Chicago aims to stop violence among youth

By Tanim Taher
TECHN EWS WRITER

Everyone is so excited and happy that
spring came so earlythis year in Chicago: It was
only mid7March, and at a time of year when
people are usually bundled up whenever they
venture outside, and kids are kept indoors by
their parents due to the cold, Chicagoans were
enjoying June like weatherl People were out
in their jogging clothes; kids were out playing
outdoors and enjoying the warmth Even nature
decided it was time to decorate 7 leaves started
sprouting all over 7 six weeks earlyl Beautiful
cherry blossoms filled the air with a sweet scent
pleasing the olfactory senses, and filled the
visuals with intricate shades of white and pink:

Everyone is so excited and happy that
spring came so earlythis year in Chicago: It was
only mid7March, and at a time of year when
people are usually bundled up whenever they
venture outside, and kids are kept indoors by

their parents due to the cold, Chicagoans were
enjoying June like weatherl People were out
in their jogging clothes; kids were out playing
outdoors and enjoying the warmth: Even
nature decided it was time to decorate 7 leaves
started sprouting all over 7 six weeks earlyl

Beautiful cherry blossoms filled
the air with a sweet scent pleasing the
olfactory senses, and filled the visuals
with intricate shades of white and pink:

The little sixyear old girl was playing in the
front porch of her house enjoying the weather
in this pleasant Saturday afternoon, while her
mother and younger sister watched nearby
Suddenly, loud thuds rang out that disturbed
the otherwise calm weekend afternoon What
was it? Was it thunder announcing the arrival of
rain 7 common for this time of year: Alas, it was
not! Rather it was the sound of gun shots that
announced the arrival of rain 7 a rain of tears:
The little girl was no more! This is not made
up 7 as heartbreaking as this reads, it is a true
event that happened on March 17th at Chicago’s

3100 block of South Springfield Avenue:

The truth is violent crime is more
common than anyone would like in this city
that we all love 7 Chicago: The truth is, and as
two oflicers verified to me last week, when the
temperature goes up, so do incidences ofviolent
crime, shootings and gang violence: In some
neighborhoods unfortunate incidences like the
one above are repeated again and again with
no end in sight: Is there a solution? Is anyone
doing anything tryingto stop it other than police
oflicers who mostly come in after the crime has
happened? Is anyone doing anything to prevent
crime in the first place?CeaseFire Chicago is
an organization that has been working in the
past couple of years to “Interrupt" the cycle
of violence in the troubled parts of Chicago:
The brave, commendable social workers from
Ceasefire work with troubled young people
caught up in the vicious circle of violence, gang
activities, drugs and prostitution 7 and their
goal is to interrupt the path these people are on
before things turn deadly A widely acclaimed

PBS documentary called “Interrupters” was
recently released that showcases the very
important and essential work CeaseFire is doing:
The US Attorney General Eric Holder

Jr: called CeaseFire “a rational, data7driven,
evidence7based, smart approach to crime 7 the
kind of approach that this Administration
is dedicated to pursuing and supporting"
IIT’s oflice of Service Learning and the
Muslim Students Association (MSA) is honored
to welcome Ceasefire Chicago’s Ameena
Matthews to deliver a lunch lecture at IIT’s
Engineering71 auditorium: Ameena Matthews
is the lead person featured in the “Interrupters”
documentary and has won wide acclaim and
national media attention for her work: The
lecture will be held on Wednesday, April 4th
from 12457 1:40pm: Please join us at thelecture
to learn what concerned citizens are doing to
turn the tide of violence, and be empowered
with knowledge to help impact positive change:
All details are in the flier, and you

may also visit http://msa:iit:edu for more info:

Future of nuclear energy in the United States still unclear

By Utsav Gandhi
CAMPUS EDITOR

Robert Rosner, Professor in the
Departments of Astronomy and Astrophysics,
the Enrico Fermi Institute, the Computation
Institute, and the Energy Policy Institute at
the University of Chicago delivered a talk on
“Prospects for Nuclear Power in the United
States and Abroad", at a joint seminar organized
by the Physics & ChBE Departments as well
as WISER: With the shock of the Fukushima
nuclear accident still heavy around the world
even after a year, the prospects of nuclear
power in this century are being scrutinized
both in the United States and abroad: His
talk addressed the issue from a variety
of perspectives, ranging from economics
to n0n7proliferati0n and was structured
to address the opportunities, constraints
and future of nuclear power in America:

Nuclear energy has remained under
a cloud for a number of complicated

reasons, and its opponents mainly argue
the unavoidable possibility of its use in
weapons programs 7 rendering its
civilian use very difficult to dissociate:

Professor Rosner firstly argued that
nuclear energy meets the criteria for a carbon7
free(r) future 7 as we look for alternatives
to GHG emitting fossil fi.1els, nuclear energy
is both untapped as well as clean: The
catch though is that 90% of the energy is
still residual in the fuel cycle: Indigenous
sources of uranium are constant, and thus
nuclear energy also meets the increasingly
important criteria for energy security In
recent years, however, nuclear engineering
jobs related to design and operations have
faced a decline in demand Today, the design,
build and execution of nuclear power plants
are turning increasingly n0n7American:

He also argued that the complete or
gradual decommissioning of nuclear energy is
especially risky considering internationally, the
demand is going up: China has about twenty

||T participates in national
competition to donate clothes

By Utsav Gandhi & Anita Thomas
CAMPUS EDITOR & TECHNEWS WRITER

Did you know that IIT is participating
in the national OneShirt competition? Anita
Thomas, the RA of the Service Learning
community in MSV is working with Lynne
Meyer, Director of Service Learning and
Spiritual Life, to encourage IIT students and
Chicago residents to donate their unwanted
clothing instead of overcrowding landfills:
From April 1 until April 21, anyone can
donate clothing, shoes, coats, etc to any of
the following drop off locations: McCormick
Student Village (MSV) lounge, Gunsaulus
lounge, State Street Village (SSV) 5th floor
lounges, the Oflice ofCampus Life, and the 10
west Tower (specific area will be pinpointed by
tomorrow 3/27): OnApril 27, all donations will
be weighed and then donated to God’s Closet
at First Trinity Lutheran Church: The campus
with the highest weight in donations will win
the national contest and receive free t7shirts:

“Heeding the biblical commands to care
for the poor, to clothe the naked, to love one’s
neighbor as one’s self, and recognizing the
call of faith to be responsible stewards and
caretakers of an increasingly fragile planet",
the God’s Closet at First Trinity strives to
provide an alternative source for clothing and
other goods in the Bridgeport community
The intent of God’s Closet is to both provide
resources for those in need in a life7giving
way, and a “green" venue for the redistribution
and re7purp0sing of clothing and other goods:

They are currently open to the public on the
following days and times 7 Tuesdays, 5 to 7 pm;

Fridays, 10 am to 1 pm and Sundays after church:
If you, your church, or your school would like to
volunteer time or clothing, please contact us at
3128427390 or gclos et@firsttrinitychicago:org:

Hundreds of colleges and universities
from every state willbe competing against each
other for the title of BIG SHIRT ON CAMPUS!
And, of course, national bragging rights: The
school that works with their community to
collect the most clothes [total and per student]
during Earth Week 2012 [April 16721] will
be declared the winner! Winning schools
will receive up to 507100% recycled, made
in America shirts for your club or group:
Additionally, Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival
will be awarding one Grand Prize of 24, four7 day
passes and premium camping to its 2012 event:

The average American throws
away 68 pounds of clothes every year:

Building on momentum from last year
when nearly 100 schools participated, SustainU
said in their oflicial press release that it expects
more than 200 schools in all 50 states to jointhe
inter7school competition during Earth Week
2012: Campus groups will rally their campus
and community to donate used clothing to
benefit local charities and job training programs:

Additionally, Bonnaroo Music
and Arts Festival will be awarding one
Grand Prize of 24, four7day passes
and premium camping to its 2012 event:

The average American throws away
68 pounds of clothes every year: The Oflice
of Service Learning challenges you to be
less than normal! Please contact Anita
(athomas5@hawk:iit:edu) or Lynne Meyer
(lmeyer2@iit:edu) for more information:

plants under construction, and countries
like India, South Korea and the United Arab
Emirates are also catching up: Germany,
earlier a major exporter of nuclear energy,
has stopped production after Fukushima, and
now imports its nuclear energy from Poland
and the Czech Republic: He raised concern
that countries like Vietnam, also considering
nuclear power, may not have human or
technical infrastructure to handle the spent
fiiel rods 7 there is a huge risk of major areas
of the world turning into plutonium mines:

He then spoke about what went wrong in
Japan 7 and how this probably won’t happen
in America: In Japan, the promotion and
regulation of nuclear energy is controlled by
the same entity 7 and since this is different
in America, the chances of a more structured
risk7based safety assessment greatly increase:
Fukushima was the result of lack of oversight:
The major issue was the placement of
emergency equipment so close to the actual site
and that too just a few hundred yards from the

shoreline: The disasterwas perfectly predictable
but the communication turned out to be quite
a faltering challenge: He also said the inherent
Japanese policy of respecting higher authority
to the T without critically thinking and raising
questions had a role to play In America, both
the organizational structure as well as the
technology is well equippedto question changes
critically as well as act quickly when needed:

Economically, he said that the current
poorly developed R&D structure for carbon
capture means that even though renewables
will play a large role in the fi.1ture, natural gas
demand as well as prices will probably go up:
Since it is more expensive in Asia, it makes
sense to export natural gas, even though
environmental constraints for hydrofracturing
remain: To address the expensiveness of
nuclear energy, we need to first move over our
reluctance and the regulatory environment:
For the future, he said that new designs, a more
productive workforce, reliance on robotics and
prevention of court delays are the way forward

FinancialAid Update:
Account holds explained

By IIT Office of Financial Aid

Registration for Summer 2012
and Fall 2012 begins April 91 Students are
encouraged to check the Finances Tab on
the MyIIT Portal to determine if they have
any holds preventing registration: There are
specific reasons why a hold may exist on a
student account and these can be identified
easily on the portal:

Outstanding Balance

Any outstanding balance on a
student account will prevent a student from
registering for classes: To determine if there is a
balance on a student account, please complete
the following:

Login to MyIIT, select the Finances
Tab, and select Manage My Account under
Manage Account in the middle column

Select the Manage My Account
button and view your Current Account Status
on TouchNet:

Students with an outstanding
balance need to pay the balance to register:
Payments can be submitted on the TouchNet
system directly, following the steps above,
or in person at the Cashier’s Oflice located
in Main Building, Room 104, open Monday,
Wednesday and Friday If you have questions
about your balance, please contact the Bursar’s
Oflice at bursar@iit:edu or 312756773794:

Outstanding Financial Aid
Requirements

Any outstanding financial aid

requirements on a student account will delay
disbursement of federal funds: If federal
fi.1nds did not disburse, please complete the
following:

Login to MyIIT, select the Finances
Tab, and select holds under Financial Aid
Requirements in the middle column

Unsatisfied requirements must
be submitted to the Oflice of Financial Aid
directly via e7mail at finaid@iit:edu, fax 3127
5677 3982, or inperson at Main Building Room
104:

Once a student submits documents,
the Office of Financial Aid will review
these within 7710 business days: Once all
outstanding requirements are satisfied on
MyIIT, federal funds will disburse to the
student’s account:

Immunization Compliance

Students are required by Illinois State
Law to provide proof of proper vaccine history
to the Student Health and Wellness Center:
If a student has outstanding immunization
requirements, registration will be prevented:
Any questions should be directed to Celia
Mayora at cmayora@iit:edu:

International Students

International students may have
outstanding requirements to keep their
student status at IIT Students with a hold due
to a status7based issue should resolve it with
the International Center Questions can be
answered by contacting their oflice at icenter@
iiLedu 0r 312756773680: