Fail

Mo’ money, mo’ problems

What constitutes a tuition increase? Well, it’s becoming increasingly clear that it depends on whom you ask. UA officials, including President Eugene Sander, have been championing a $0 tuition increase for continuing, resident undergraduate students next year. While that is a worthy goal, and a welcome reprieve from years of unmitigated price-of-attendance increases, the UA is not telling the whole story.

After the tuition “rebate” from the Arizona Board of Regents expires next year, every resident undergraduate student will effectively lose $750 in financial aid. So, yes, while the tuition rate is not going up, the rate at which students have to pay that tuition is. $750 is a lot of cheddar any way you slice it, and for the UA to not be forthcoming about this upcoming charge makes its assessment of the situation incomplete at best, and downright disingenuous at worst.

This is not to say that it isn’t admirable that the UA is doing as much as it can to try and stymie skyrocketing surcharges for students, far from it. For an overly rosy outlook that masks an increasingly bleak one, the UA and its tuition proposal both get a fail.

Fail

Cyberbully case faces setback

A New Jersey Superior Court judge on Monday ruled that part of the online room change request made by a student before committing suicide had to be redacted.

Tyler Clementi, the 18-year-old Rutgers University student who killed himself in September 2010, requested a room change after he said he found out his roommate had set up a webcam to spy on him. He jumped off a bridge the next day.

Dharun Ravi, his roommate at the time, has been charged with bias intimidation, invasion of privacy and hindering arrest. The prosecution wanted to use Clementi’s request, which states “roommate used webcam to spy on me/want a single room.” The judge decided to omit the sentence about the webcam because he said he considers it hearsay.

Just telling the jurors that he wanted a room change and not the reason why is ludicrous in this case. Clearly Clementi knew about the webcam and it was the last thing he submitted to the school before committing suicide.

For redacting evidence and censoring the victim, the judge gets a fail.

Incomplete

Internet privacy proponents are feeling lucky

Google Chrome will join a number of other browsers in adding a “do-not-track” button.

The purpose of this button is to allow users to opt out of sharing their information and to have more control over their personal data.

However, there are loopholes. According to Consumer Reports, even if you’ve activated the “do-not-track” button, if you are signed into your Google account in the Chrome browser, your information will still be used for targeted ads. Also, Facebook will still be able to track what users “like” or share.

While this is a step in the right direction for Internet companies, Google needs to commit to protecting the privacy of its users — especially those who have indicated they want more of it.

For giving users more control over their privacy, but not full control, Google gets an incomplete.

— Editorials are determined by the Daily Wildcat editorial board and written by one of its members. They are Bethany Barnes, Kristina Bui, Steven Kwan, Luke Money and Michelle A. Monroe. They can be reached at letters@wildcat.arizona.edu or on Twitter via @WildcatOpinions .