Editorial: Reaping benefits from voting yes
Wedged between two blustering storms that left some of New Jersey and our coast in shambles was an even more crucial event with the potential to build up the nation again — Election Day. Although dodging Mother Nature’s curveballs has been the main focus for some, the country made the crucial decision to re-elect President Barack Obama for another four years and chose pass the bond referendum for higher education in New Jersey.
Winning both the popular and electoral votes, Obama still reigns among people’s favor, especially for college-aged citizens like us, as he plans to dive further into making higher education more affordable for all students.
Another effort passed to enhance New Jersey state colleges and universities is the approved question number one on the ballot — the Building Our Future Act. Prior to Election Day, Rider urged students to vote yes for question one wherever possible, such as on ads and in articles in The Rider News and on T-shirts given out to students from the Student Entertainment Council that said, “Vote yes for Question 1.” After a long time of hearing what great possibilities it could bring to our university if passed, it has finally been made a reality and our university will soon be reaping its benefits.
Like other New Jersey schools, Rider will be given a portion of the bond to use to upgrade certain facilities on campus. Yet, each school will be receiving different amounts of the bond, such as The College of New Jersey, which will be getting $25 million and Mercer County College, which is obtaining $7.3 million. Rider will be collecting anywhere from $2 million to $4 million from the bond according to Benjamin Dworkin, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics — which is little compared to other colleges.
The amount each college gets is based upon what they plan on doing with it, and the administration has possible plans for upgrading the journalism labs in Fine Arts or renovating Memorial Hall, according to President Mordechai Rozanski at this year’s convocation speech on Aug. 30. However, none of these plans have been confirmed yet.
Rider provided many helpful tips and directions regarding how and where to register and places you could go to vote. There was even a special shuttle that ran from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day and picked up students outside of the Bart Luedeke Center to vote every half hour.
These actions encouraged more students to vote and also to let their voices be heard. As college students it’s vital for us to know the issues that will affect our education now and our future in the real world.
The weekly editorial expresses the majority opinion of The Rider News. This week’s editorial was written by Opinion Editor Kristy Grinere.
