WMCN To Introduce Web Broadcasts

This semester, WMCN 91.7 FM, Macalester’s radio station, is testing a campus-wide web broadcasting system. According to the station’s general manager, Megan Sheehan ’05, web broadcasting will be restricted to the on-campus network.

“We just want to see how the technology will work,” Sheehan said. With strictly on-campus web broadcasting, the station will not have to pay the licensing fees that are required to have an outside website host the station’s broadcasts.

WMCN’s goal for the spring semester is to have international web broadcasts that anyone can access. According to Sheehan, the project was motivated in part by alumni suggestions.

“It would be awesome, especially for alumni—they’ve said that they’d like to listen to the station—and for recruiting students,” she said.

However, to have internationally accessible web broadcasts, Computer and Information Technology (CIT) would either have to increase WMCN’s bandwidth, which would cost thousands of dollars, or the station would have to pay approximately $150 per month in licensing fees. As Sheehan said, “It’s not for sure yet, but we’re in the process.”

–Brief written by Caitlin Donesley
 

Macalester Featured in U.S. News and World Report

This year’s U.S. News and World Report college issue features a lengthy profile of Macalester that highlights the school’s internationalism. The college has dropped one spot, however, from 25th to 26th, in the magazine’s annual ranking of 217 liberal arts colleges.

Tied with Bucknell University and Scripps College, Macalester’s drop in ranking was due to the fact that Mount Holyoke jumped a spot to 24th. The top college was Williams followed by Amherst and Swarthmore (tied for 2nd).

The magazine derives its ratings from a formula that includes the evaluation of seven categories: peer assessment, retention, financial resources, academic resources, faculty resources, student selectivity, graduation rate performance and alumni giving rate.

Macalester improved its alumni giving ranking from 71st to 62nd, but our academic ranking dropped from 15th to 18th. The college’s faculty resource rating, which includes class size, student/faculty ratio, faculty salaries, and the academic degrees held by faculty members, dropped from 49th to 61st.

College President Brian Rosenberg described the rankings as totally arbitrary in the grand scheme of things. He explained the drop in the ranking by pointing out that the college uses a high percent of its resources to cover financial aid for its students, both international and domestic. Rosenberg also noted that the data is slightly old, most of it coming from the 2002-2003 academic year.

The feature on Macalester illustrated many positive aspects of the college. The report said that Macalester “promises its students no less than the world” and highlighted the school’s emphasis on internationalism. Several alumni and current students are featured in the article. Krista Goff ’04 of Seattle, who studied abroad in Siberia and St. Petersberg, stressed the numerous options students have to study abroad.

Simone King ’04 talked about the political activism on the campus and the fact that students talk about these issues regularly. King recalled that the global awareness on campus prompted her to spend extra time reading up on current events when she arrived at Macalester. Kramer Lawson ’05 addressed the lack of a substantial conservative student body on campus, but goes on to encourage conservatives to come to Macalester because of the different points of view within the community.

Students at Macalester said they were concerned about the drop in Macalester’s ranking. Tim Lee ’08 said “Macalester life is not depicted through polls and thus does not accurately depict student life and the quality of academics.” Lee also said he thought that Macalester should be higher on the list.