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              THE MAROON A LOYOLA TRADITION SINCE 19 2 3 • "FOR A GREATER LOYOLA" FRIDAY, MARCH 26, 2010 Vol. 87, NO. 20 ONLINE EDITION AT LOYOLAMAROON.COM Students assess housing options Students are starting to think about housing optionsfor next year By ABBEY BRANDON Staff Writer With the semester in full swing and finals approaching, students arc beginning to think about living arrangements for the fall semester. Upperclassmen must make the decision to either live off or on campus. With on-campus living requirements for freshmen and sophomores, not all students have the option of living offcampus. Yet juniors and seniors must research and weigh the pros and cons of housing options. For those who choose to live on campus, the Room Draw period ends this week. On Wed. March 24. students met in the Audubon Room in the Danna Student Center to confirm their room assignments. On May 1. applicants will receive confirmation of the final assignments. The table on page five is a sample of living expeases comparing living off-campus versus on-campus. The oncampus sample shows the costs of a Carrollton Hall apartment. The apartment consists of single rooms connected to a common living area, kitchen and bathroom. The Canolton Hall option was chosen for the sample because its main occupants are upperclassmen with the option to live on or off-campus. A meal plan is included because it is required for all on-campus residents. The off-campus option is a single studio apartment located on St Charles Avenue. This apartment has similar amenities to Carrollton Hall: a living area, kitchen and bathroom. The apartment offers a nine-month lease, which is the same number of months occupants can spend living on-campus. Eli Nasser, international business sophomore, said that, if he had the option to live off-campus, he would not "I just got the opportunity to be a R.A. (residential assistant) so I get a single and my room and board are paid for," he said He added that he is not looking ELLE MALONEY / Photo editor Jonuel Hernandez, finance sophomore, helps students pick out rooms Wednesday, March 24 during Room Draw. Although freshmen and sophomores are reguired to live on campus, juniors and seniors must weigh their options when deciding where they live next year. Service trip planned in the bayou J Alternative spring break will be in bayou By ALEX FOURNET The M anion This spring break, some Loyola students have plans to get down and dirty. Led by associate chaplain Josh Daly, seven students and two faculty members will head down to the marshes of South Louisiana for the all new "Bayou Experience" alternative spring break trip, which will be, "One part service, one part learning," according to Daly. The purpose of the trip, possibly the first of many, is to educate and alert Loyola community members to the crisis facing Louisiana's wetlands and the danger that it poses to New Orleans. According to Daly, the focus of Loyola's community tends to be solely on rebuilding the city. Although this is important, Daly said. "It's really important to realize that there's a larger sphere, that without coastal Louisiana, there is no New Orleans, and there is an imminent danger of that being true." The wetland, which protects New Orleans from hurricanes and provides what is scientifically one of the country's most diverse and resource rich ecosystems, is disappearing at an unsustainable rate, losing between 25 and 35 square miles of land a year, according to the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources. In order to make the trip happen, the Ignacio volunteers, a service organization affiliated with the Jesuit order, are partnering with the Barataria Terrebonne National Estuary Program, or BTNEP, a group working for the preservation of the wetlands through a combination of volunteer organizing, state policy changes and education through partnership with schools. The Ignacio volunteers plan to make Loyola College of Law students volunteer services to taxpayers By PRECIOUS ESIE Assistant News Editor Loyola University College of Law students are attempting to provide a cost efficient way to get ta*es done. The Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program at Loyola, or VITA, allows low-to-moderateincome taxpayers to receive free tax preparation. The majority of the volunteers are law students fulfilling their Law and Poverty requirement, which requires students to either enroll in one of various courses focusing on poverty or perform 50 hours of volunteer pro bono legal services. "This is an opportunity for the students to give back, meet people on a personal level, sitting down, face to face, with a client sharing their personal financial life with you," said Andrew Piacun, VITA site coordinator and College of Law budget director. The program was started by the Internal Revenue Service to serve those unable to afford professional tax preparation. It was founded at Loyola by Bill Neilson, an associate professor at the College of Law, in 1983 and has been running continuously since then. "As a Jesuit institution it is our goal to help others and VITA does just that. It gives the student VITA volunteers experience in client contact, a small view of the tax world and the satisfaction of helping low income taxpayers," Neilson said. In order to volunteer, students must be trained and certified by the IRS. "I chose to participate in VITA because it offers me and my fellow students an opportunity both to learn more about how taxation works, and to put our skills to use helping the community around us," said Andy Prihoda, a second year law student. Volunteers will prepare forms such as 1040 EZ, 1040 and 1040 A but will not handle complicated forms. "We have had musicians, artists and local radio station DJs; students and parents; service personnel and shift workers come to our site," WAGNER PIERRE / Contributing photographer Brad Driscoll, Civil Law senior, helps people with their tax returns Monday, March 22. see HOUSING, page 5 see BAYOU, page 4 see TAXES, page 6 ,\ bullpen heating up SEE PAGE I ! MAROON DIRECTORY: CRIME WATCH, page 2 | LIFE & TIMES, page 7 | SPORTS, page 11 | EDITORIAL, page 14 | NEWS TIPS: 865 3535