This all comes on the tails of Supreme Court hearings earlier this year regarding the Defense Of marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8. The 90-minute debate that took place on Rhode Island’s Senate floor was nothing compared to the arguments heard on those bills. We will not hear deliberations on those cases until at least July.

The bill went to a vote in the Rhode Island House of Representatives in January of this year and was approved. After this, all 5 Republican representatives in Rhode Island agreed to support the passage of the bill.

This helped when the vote finally went to the Senate. The bill needs to return to the House for another vote scheduled next week, but this is basically a technicality.

With this law approved, same-sex marriages could take place as early as August. Rhode Island has allowed civil unions since the middle of 2011 along with eight other states. Civil unions will still be recognized, but they would no longer be allowed to be performed when that time comes this summer.

Rhode Island joins Maryland and Washington as the most recent states to approve same-sex marriage. Maryland is the first and only state so far to approve same-sex marriage by popular vote, though opponents did try to send it to a ballot referendum.

The Roman Catholic Church was the biggest opposition to the bill’s passage, with many priests in the state speaking up on the issue, saying in some form that marriage is between a woman and a man and should stay that way. Ministers have never been forced to marry any couple they did not want to, and this bill does not change that law. Under this bill, religious institutions can still choose who they want to marry.

The vote was difficult for many members of the Senate. As Rhode Island lays claim to a Catholic population of around 40%, there were Senators who struggled because of their personal, religious beliefs.

The Catholic population in Rhode Island has been the main reason Rhode Island did not join the ranks of other same-sex marriage-friendly states in New England. In nearly two decades, legislation for same-sex marriage has been brought up – and shot down.

Frank Ferri, D-Warwick and also a graduate of Bryant University, is an openly gay Rhode Island representative who lobbied for gay marriage before becoming a lawmaker himself.

“After all these years, all these setbacks, all the hearings, we kept at it and we got closer and closer each year…it’s almost surreal,” Ferri said.

Delaware could be in line to be the next state to legalize same-sex marriage – as the bill was just approved in their House on Tuesday. It will continue to the Senate for a vote.

Over the past few years, many wonderful, new academic, and social events, have been brought to Bryant’s campus. From the Diversity Contest, to the public speaking colloquium, and, finally, to REDay, there has been no lack of intellectually stimulating and thought provoking events for which students and faculty can display their achievements.

REDay, which stands for Research and Engagement Day, devotes one full academic day to showcasing and promoting the innovative, creative, and thought provoking research conducted by Bryant’s own students, faculty, and staff members. For some projects, students work with one another,
but it is not uncommon to find a group of students who work alongside a talented faculty or staff member on a collaborative project.

In this unique environment students and teachers can come together to share in the experience of working on a joint project, bringing some integration to an often segregated environment where the teachers teach and the students learn and work on their own (like in every day classes).

In the early hours of the morning this past Wednesday, anyone outside of the Bryant community might have been impressed to see the hundreds of dressed up students, faculty and staff scrambling around campus like a hive of busy bees. But these distinguished community members were not just making their way to another day of classes; rather, they were preparing to spend the next nine hours exhibiting research they had spent months, maybe longer, conducting. From 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, there were over 300 students, and 65 faculty and staff members giving over 100 presentations on any number of different topics.

This event reaches far beyond the desire to relay findings gathered by countless hours of research, investigation, and hard work; it strives to expand upon existing bodies of knowledge, and to garner a deeper degree of understanding for a particular area of interest. In the welcoming remarks on the REDay schedule, José‐MarieGriffiths, the Vice President for Academic Affairs, described the event by saying: “Here at Bryant, we maintain a strong commitment to not only pass on existing knowledge, we also want students to have hands‐on opportunities to learn the skills of creating knowledge. Participating with faculty and other students on projects like those showcased at REDay is an integral experience to becoming an educated person.”

In many ways, it seems fitting that this year Bryant celebrated 150 years of outstanding academic and creative excellence; for it is through events like REDay that we are reminded, not just every 150 years, but every single year that the Bryant community has so much to offer in so many ways. There is no limit to what a Bryant community member may achieve: especially at REDay. REDay encourages all students to join, in any number of ways, whether through presenting, or just going to the event. Committee member, Sam Grabelle shared her thoughts on what it was like to be a part of this wonderful event, saying: “for my third year of the committee it was so gratifying to see how REDay has caught on. It was especially cool to see all of the creative presentations. Personally, I enjoyed working with my colleagues and students to prepare and present our sessions.”

If you had a chance to enjoy any number of presentations during the third
annual REDay, I am sure you will be able to appreciate the amount of hard work and dedication that all members of the Bryant community put into their work. If, for some reason, you happened to miss this year’s event, you can be sure REDay will be back again next year with a whole new level of work.

The full list of committee members who worked so hard to put on, and execute, this wonderful event include: Laurie Hazard & Andres Ramirez: the co-chairs of the REDay committee. Committee members included: Angela Wicks, Christopher Reid, Daniela Espinosa Rodriguez, Jeffrey Kannally, Joseph Bona, Julia Crowley- Parmentier, Karen Maguire, Kelsey Nowak, Margaret Wong, Michelle Powers, Nicole Freiner, Sam Grabelle, Sharon Doyle, Stephanie Carter, Sue Wandyes, Tammy Duxbury, Tracie Sweeney, Yeawoma Johnson

Students pitched their ideas to a panel of judges and and were judged on the following criteria: feasibility, creativity, and overall pitch. Students were encouraged to be agents of change and “think outside the box”. The winning team was awarded a Lenovo Slate Tablet and the opportunity to work with the IT Department to develop the app for release next year.

Rohan Vakil came in first place with his concept to alleviate the haste of parking at Bryant University. His application named Parking Pains would allow mobile users to view the parking lot through a camera feed. These cameras would offer a snapshot every 30 seconds opposed to a live stream.

Rohan proposed that the Library, Freshman, Faculty, and Hall 4, 16, 17 parking lots would be monitored. Rohan said, “This will allow students and faculty members to quickly find a spot rather than snaking through the parking lots and waiting a lot of time.” Parking Pains would allow users to avoid the unnecessary time and gas of driving around campus looking for a parking spot.

Amanda Spaziano designed an application that would allow users to better select their course schedule. The proposal showed an easy to use alternative to banner where students could perform a quick “what if” analysis when adding and dropping classes. Additionally it would give users the ability to sort classes needed for a concentration or minor.

Renee Lawlor and Jenna Trinchini presented a mobile app ironically called Speedy South. It would alleviate the problem of waiting in the long kiosk ordering lines. From your phone you would be able to quickly and easily order your meal from any location on campus. You would enter your student identification number and pay with dining dollars or bulldog bucks the same way as you currently do. After your order was placed an approximate countdown timer would appear on the app telling you the time until estimated pick up. It would change depending on your order and the time you ordered.

Another excellent feature was delayed ordering. This would give students and faculty the option of placing an order early in the day and waiting until a later time to pick up. Lawlor said, “This would mean if you had class until 12:30 you could order in the morning and get out of class and go straight to South and pick up your meal.”

Cheikh Seck pitched a concept for an application that would allow you to download all your syllabuses and scan them to pull the important deadlines and grade weighting for each assessment. The app would then let you set goals for each assignment and then show you your projected final grade.

Finally Rohan Vakil pitched another idea to use the light sensors in the Unistructure classrooms to show if they were being used or not. He cited the common problem of spending 20 minutes walking in circles with your group looking for an open space to meet. He proposed displaying the data from the light sensors on a television by Janikies.

The idea was simple – back in November, the dining cameras that had been installed as a part of the winning mobile app from last year’s 1st Annual “App-a-Thon” were turned off. About a month ago, I wrote an article asking for students to participate in a survey that would ultimately decide the fate of these dining cameras. Today, I write to give the results of this survey and to let Bryant students know that our administration values our voices and is working with us to make Bryant a better place. YES – dining cameras will be back at Bryant, but maybe with some modifications.

Although there is a limit to what the dining cameras can do in their current placement, based off of the more than 230 open-ended question responses received over the past few weeks, I think the I.S. division has gained valuable insight into what the student body wants. The following are some anonymous comments that I believe are helpful and should be used for future consideration in improvements to this technology.

• “Students just need time to get accustomed to the idea, because when you think about it, there are security cameras nearly everywhere you go in today’s world”

• “If the cameras were only made available to be seen by the student body and not by any outside people, this would be acceptable” (require Bryant login/password)

• “Perhaps the cameras should only be operational during hours Salmo and South are open rather than a 24/7 live stream. This may avoid some of the privacy issues.”
• • “Explain to students how and where to access the video camera screenings” In fact, the survey results indicated that 50% of respondents were NOT even aware Bryant had installed the cameras in the first place!

• “Usually, lines are not the issue, but the number of tables open in
Salmo are. If the cameras showed how crowded it was inside Salmo it would be much more helpful to the students”

• “The web page they were posted on didn’t look official; it was kind of sketchy”

The Information Services division will work with students over the summer to make appropriate modifications to the dining cams, and gain approval from administration prior to reactivating them for fall 2013.

As I wrap up this article, I also wrap up my campus newspaper career! It has been an absolutely fantastic 4 years of writing for The Archway, and I have enjoyed covering topics such as this one, the Women’s Summit, various clubs and organizations, new staff members, the IDEA Program, and of course Blizzard Nemo.

I have seen a lot of great change occur at Bryant over the past 4 years and it has all come from the representation of our student voices to our administration. I have no doubt that Bryant will be a better place in 4 more years than it was when I was a Freshmen.

There are so many people that I could thank who have supported me in my writing – Mom, Dad, Nick, the Archway staff and editors -please know that I truly appreciate you putting up with my crazy ideas and being my biggest fans. To my fellow Bryant peers and our wonderful administration – thank you for listening to me and being open to change, and I look forward to reading more of The Archway as a proud alumna.

Over a calendar year after Twitter and Instagram were filled with pictures of individuals and group taking a knee to replicate the “Tebowing” craze, the internet is being flooded with the new trend, “Japanese Makankosappo.” This originated from a group of Japanese schoolgirls who photographed themselves as if they were being affected by a famous move from the popular franchise Dragon Ball. After these photos were posted on a popular Japanese bulletin, it spread to the Twitter world, and has now gone viral internationally. Variations of this trend have surfaced as popularity increases, and as groups begin to take a different spin on the concept. Groups have done everything from adding a beam on photoshop to exaggerating the powers, using lines in the sand to illustrate a ripple effect from the powers, and the addition of broomsticks in the pictures to make it appear as if a Harry Potter themed quidditch game is being played.

Maybe we are incapable of actual superhuman powers, but our ability to deceive
the mind can at least let us capture the illusion. So if you still want to live the dream of being a superhero, even if it is staged and there is no real crime, now is your chance. Show the world what you are fictitiously made of.

So YOU ARE NOT ALONE!
I’m a certified therapy dog. Did you know that? That’s why so many people feel pawsome after they pet me. Okay, that’s not really why…people in general feel better after interacting with pets. Did you realize that sometimes pets get stressed? Fur reals! I got my own ways to deal with it. I present to you “Tupper’s Top Five Creature Comforts” (see what I did there? BOL!):

5. TWITTER! I have friends in England, Norway, Greece, South Africa, South America, and all parts of the Americas. It doesn’t matter what time I wake up in a panic, there’s always someone on the Twitter to interact with and forget my problems.

4. MY PILLOW! A dog gets lonely sometimes. It’s all perfectly normal… nothing to see here, move on.

3. MY STUFFED ANIMALS! I’ve told you before, we English bulldogs like to suckle on them. We find it relaxing. Sometimes, I fall asleep with my stuffie in my mouth. Momma thinks it’s cute. She pretty much thinks everything I do is cute.

2. MY BALL! Have you met me in person? I’ve got a one-track mind when it comes to my ball. I love it SO much. I will knock over furniture, or plow THROUGH furniture to get my ball. Momma uses it
to get me to look at the camera when I’m taking pictures, but once I see it, I pay attention to nothing else until I GET THAT BALL! Once I have it, I’m so happy, I shake my head around a lot.

And my number one creature comfort:

1. MY MOMMA! I can always rely on my Momma to give me scratchies, hold my paw, rub my ears, and sing songs to me. I know she loves me and is always looking out for me. Even when she says the dreaded “N” word to me (“NO!”), it’s usually in my best interest. Don’t tell her I told you that, though!

So there you have it. Tupper’s Top Five Creature Comforts. Don’t forget – I’m on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ bulldogtupper), Twitter (twitter.com/ bryanttuppy), and Instagram (instagram. com/mascot_tupper). Get at me! ’Til next time…WOOF!

It is expected that those people making over $1 million will be paying more in 2015. Their taxes will be boosted by an average of about $83,000 due to Obama’s tax hikes in individual, corporate, estate, and excise taxes. Furthermore, this could decrease their after-tax income by nearly 3.8 percent. Obama has planned to raise their average federal tax rate to slighty above 41 percent which is 2.3 percentage points higher than it is today. Those making a million and above will pay 60 percent of the tax increases while those in the top 5 percent (above $227,000) will pay 85 percent of the new taxes.

Nevertheless, middle-income households will see a slight tax hike as well. People making between $50,000 and $75,000 will face an increase of about $60 in 2015, cutting their after-tax income by 0.1 percent. Despite representing about one-sixth of all taxpayers, they will only be held accountable for about 2 percent of the new taxes.

People earning between $100,000 and $200,000 will also see their after-tax income fall by about 0.1 percent while seeing an increase of about $150 on average. This class represents a smaller portion of taxpayers, 14 percent, and they only be responsible for a small percentage of about 4 percent.

By 2023, a key provision of Obama’s plan is to change the way income tax is indexed for inflation to the Consumer Price Index which would slowly but steadily raise taxes. This will allow for the middle-income households to pay a larger percentage of their incomes in taxes in a decade rather than 2015. In addition, Obama will extend his 2009 tax cuts for low- income families with children and those going to college beyond their 2017 expiration date. This plan will nearly double the share of the total tax that households between $100,00 and $200,000 pay to over 7 percent.
Obama’s new proposed budget has dozens of changes to the revenue code involving raising some taxes while cutting others. The high-income households will see tax increases while others will see a mix of both tax cuts and tax hikes.

Middle-income households are expected to benefit from two tax changes: a more charitable child and dependent care tax credit, and Obama’s proposal to extend those generous rules to child tax credit, education credit, and earned income credit. However, his proposed tobacco tax increase will disproportionately affect moderate and low-income taxpayers who generally spend a bigger share of their income on cigarettes than the wealthy.

Unfortunately for the high-income taxpayers, there is no good news. Obama will adopt a version of the Buffett Rule by imposing a Fair share minimum tax of 30 percent of adjusted gross income over $1 million, limit the value of itemized deductions and other tax preferences to 28 percent, and raise taxes on estates, gifts, and certain family trusts.

Obama’s proposed tax plan will do exactly as he said: raise taxes by about $1 trillion over the next decade. Despite most of the revenue coming from those making over $200,000, he slightly broke his promise of no taxes for those making less.

“In other industries what you see is that the first competitor that is similar to you to enter the market hurts you a lot, and the second competitor hurts you a little less, and the third even less. But that flips around in the venture capital industry, where the first competitor that is similar to you to enter the market doesn’t hurt you very much, but the second competitor hurts you a little more and the third hurts you even more. This makes sense because there is a beneficial element to the first competitor in the market if you are working together and sharing resources. But that benefit begins to go away with the second competitor, and it’s even less with the third.”

Cooperation is key in the VC market because some firms may be very adept at providing the expertise required to help a particular start-up grow, but may want to spread the risk by bringing in a partner to provide some of the needed capital. In certain cases, a start-up may need different types of expertise, access to networks, etc. One VC firm may provide some of that assistance, while another VC firm may provide other forms of support and guidance. Once firms work together on one deal, they may learn that they can work together effectively, and that each has important capabilities to contribute. That makes them likely to want work together again. Thus, cooperation becomes crucial to success in the VC market.

On the other hand, VC firms still compete to find the best deals, get the most favorable terms, identify the next hidden gem so that they can get in early, etc. What that means is that a feeding frenzy can eventually take place, where too much money is chasing too few deals… as a result, diminishing returns eventually can kick in, and returns on investment can fall. Cooperation doesn’t mean that rivalry won’t harm returns. That still happens, as it would in any industry.

The most relevant part of the law reads, “a person making sales of tangible personal property or services taxable under this article shall be presumed to be soliciting business through an independent contractor or other representative if the seller enters into an agreement with a resident of this state under which the resident, for a commission
or other consideration, directly or indirectly refers potential customers, whether by a link on an internet website or otherwise, to the seller”.

However as with most laws, this one does not have unanimous approval, as online retailers like Amazon and Overstock have appealed the case. They believe that a physical presence is required to actually collect sales tax, and have offered an Associates’ Program, where third parties would place links to go to the online retailers’ websites, and then they would be compensated by a commission payment. Most of the Associates would say they are from New York.

These Online Retailers’ were unable to convince the Court of their argument that the law was unconstitutional. According to Business Advocate, they had said the law was in violation of the Commerce Clause “because it subjected remote online sellers to New York sales tax.” It is also worth noting that this is not the first case to deal with Internet sales taxes; it was preceded by the U.S. Supreme Court case Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, which upheld what is known as the “bright line test.” This states that, “whether or not a State may compel a vendor to collect sales or use tax may turn on the presence in the taxing State of a small sales force, plant, or office”. This is what the Court in New York had interpreted differently.

New York’s Court had claimed that physical presence consists of economic activity being performed in the State, which would apply in regard to the aforementioned Associates. According to Business Advocate, “through this statute, the court reasoned that the New York Legislature believed there is significance to the physical presence of a resident website owner.”

The law, the Marketplace Fairness Act of 2013, was an attempt to level the playing field, because before people would just buy things over the Internet, creating an uphill battle for those who sold items in person, since they had to collect sales taxes. At some point, we will know if the Internet completely replaces physical stores as the world continues its advance.

• Had several huge conflicts of interest: (1) borrowed $500 million
  for personal use from EIG Global Energy Partners (2) ran a secret $200 million hedge fun trading oil and gas (3) used company jets for personal use, had employees do personal work for him, and had a corporate sponsorship deal with the NBA team he owned, Oklahoma Thunder
• Company stock down 20% this year.

Brian Dunn - former CEO of Best Buy
• Squandered $6.4 billion on share buy-backs.
• EPS and sales have fallen, cash reserves down 85%.
• Was unable to improve customer service and online offerings,
leading to five years of decline stock price and market share loss to Walmart, Amazon, Apple, and other online sellers.

Robert Diamond - Former CEO of Barclays

• Oversaw Barclays’ involvement in international scheme by banks to manipulate interbank lending rates for their own benefit.
• Paid $450 million to American and British regulators in settlement of interest rate fixing charges.

Stuart Gulliver - Former CEO of HSBC

• Director over activities at one of world’s largest banks which ended in a record $1.92 billion settlement over money laundering charges.
• Company faced allegations of transferring billions of dollars to countries like Iran, making it possible for Mexican Drug Cartles to move money through HSBC’s U.S. branches