COLLEGIATETIMES
thursday september 4, 2008 blacksburg, va.
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news MOCK DUI WRECK ON DRILLFIELD The Virginia Tech Rescue Squad will conduct a mock DUI car accident on Drillfield Drive today at 7 p.m. There will be stages response from VT Rescue, Blacksburg Fire and Carilion Clinic Lifeguard.
Race task force aims to diversify faculty
$10 million Cowgill overhaul impresses
HOKIE PEP RALLY PLANNED
RILEY PREENDERGAST
The Roanoke Valley Hokie Club will host the ninth annual Hokie Pride day on Friday at 7:30 p.m. The event will showcase Virginia Tech cheerleaders, the Corps of Cadets band and the Highty Tighties and Tech’s football team. Subway spokeman Jared Fogle will participate in the Subway Tech Super Fan contenst.
ct news reporter
sports REDSKINS TO OPEN NFL SEASON The Washington Redskins will face off against the defending Super Bowl champion New York Giants tonight at 7:30 p.m. in Giants Stadium. The game marks the beginning of the 2008-09 season. The Redskins finished last year’s campaign with nine wins and seven losses.
corrections In the article, “Virgil scores points on field — with coaching staff,” (CT, Sept. 3) Virgil did not block an East Carolina extra point attempt; he caught the blocked attempt. In the article, “Memorial award to honor Clark,” (CT Sept. 3) committee members Joyce Long, Marcie Anderson and Commissioner Scott Dean are from Columbia County. The CT regrets these errors. If you see something in today’s paper that needs to be corrected, please e-mail our public editor at publiceditor@collegiatetimes.com, or call 540.231.9865.
weather SUNSHINE high 91, low 55
MIKE SHROYER/SPPS
Home to the architecture department and introductory design studios, Cowgill Hall’s recent re-design covered 31,000 square feet.
GABE MCVEY
ct news staff writer Renovations and upgrades that were taking place in the Cowgill Hall architecture building over the past year are now complete. Architecture and Design School Director Scott Poole said the overall project budget was $10 million. As a result of the spending, Cowgill now has new flooring, a process that involved an expensive asbestos tile removal and new finishes to walls and ceilings. Service Contracting of Virginia Inc. finished work on the walls and ceilings. “Most of the older buildings on campus have asbestos floor tiles, which are perfectly safe until they’re removed,” Poole said. The lobby received an extensive facelift, with new all-glass enclosures for staff offices and new wooden ribs running floor-to-ceiling along the walls. “These are new,” said Sam Dillehay, 2006 Tech graduate. “These used to have thousands of tiny holes in them.” The upper floors were also raised to allow electrical conduits to be run underneath them for repair and maintenance in a manner similar to a drop ceiling, Poole said. The over 31,00 square feet of flooring work was completed by Avis Construction. New windows were also installed to replace the existing single-pane windows. The new windows are glazed with energy efficient double-pane glass to improve the exterior walls’ thermal performance. “My office has glass on two sides, so I get sunlight in the morning and the afternoon,” Poole said, “By then it was like a sauna. The air conditioning and heating expense was
ct news staff writer
TOMORROW’S CT Check the sports staff ’s preview of the Hokies first home football game against Furman. Check out our multimedia presentation on a local Japanese restaurant, Tataki.
index News.....................2 Features................3 0pinions................5
Classifieds..............6 Sports....................7 Sudoku..................6
An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903 105th year issue 77
Warren said the library’s move to the first floor from the third was unfortunate because he missed the view. “That used to be my favorite view of campus,” Warren said, “I used to be able to sit in the library and look out over Burruss at the white campus, now it’s all office space. Still, library employee Donna Abel found the space superior and librarian Patrick Tomlin said there is, “a lot more room for collaborative work between students.” Plus, the quality of the furniture is definitely superior. “We have new computer shelves, before we just had homemade tables made from a door on a metal rack,” Abel said. Henry V. Shriver, a 1952 Tech graduate, designed Cowgill Hall in a modern style. The four-story, 63,000-square-foot reinforced concrete building is cut into the top of a hill along the northwest edge of campus. Cowgill Hall serves as office and studio space, houses the main classrooms for the School of Architecture and Design and serves as a home to its administrative offices. The facility also houses workshops for metalworking, woodworking, ceramics and graphics. Literature resources are housed on the ground floor of Cowgill Hall in the Art and Architecture Library, a branch of the University’s Newman Library. The Art and Architecture Library contains 53,000 volumes, 515 periodicals and 45,750 slides. In 2006 Cowgill Hall was named the winner of the Virginia Society of the American Institute of Architects Test of Time Award. This award is given annually to a building or group of buildings that has functioned in essentially the same manner as originally designed for at least 25 years.
see TASK FORCE, page two
VT Victims Act means Late dean’s contributions will not be forgotten across campus security changes NICK GALVIN
coming up
huge.” “I also like the new railings on the stairways. Before they had these old-fashioned wooden handrails,” Dillehay said of the new rails that were installed on each set of stairs to comply with safety regulations. Rooms are now equipped with occupancy sensor-controlled lights to improve energy efficiency and heating and air-conditioning systems were also upgraded to improve air quality and efficiency. Additionally, bathrooms have been brought up to code and new fixtures, tile and lighting have been installed. “We installed new interior and exterior doors, which is a huge energy savings,” Poole said. Poole said Cowgill received upgrades to elevators and sprinkler systems to meet existing regulations and bathroom upgrades to meet Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. Even some students got in on the act of renewing Cowgill. “I worked here this summer after the renovations were complete, moving furniture and stuff,” said sophomore architecture student Art Ivanov. “I heard this place was pretty beat-up before.” Others were struck by its new aesthetic qualities. “It’s nice, it’s all white and shiny,” said junior architecture student Chris Warren. “The old place looked really bad, these new wood (ribs) look a lot better than the old ones.” Additionally, Cowgill received extensive roofing work to repair several cracks and leaks. The School of Architecture and Design relocated to the Surge Building while renovations were made. Not all students are totally on board with the work.
A specialized group has been working behind the scenes for the past few years to set aggressive goals to diversify the Virginia Tech community. The task force on race and the institution released a series of reports suggesting key ways Tech could improve campus diversity. In late 2006, Tech became the center of controversy when the political science department chose not to renew the contract of Christopher Clement, a black political science professor. This task force answered the demands of the community to look into the matter. Some prominent members of Tech’s community, including some prominent minority faculty, are members of the task force. Wayne Scales, an electrical and computer engineering professor, is leading the task force’s diversity initiative. The task force was asked to devise a plan diversify the university in six categories. They include faculty and staff, undergraduates, graduate students, alumni and community engagement, the administrative structure, and academic programs, according to a university press release. One of the initiatives that gained momentum through this initiative was the Mosaic Program, headed by Ray Plaza, director of Diversity Initiatives at Virginia Tech and member of the racial task force. “The Mosaic Program is a racially diverse program that is housed in Slusher Tower, and has since last year almost doubled in size,” Plaza said. Tech created the “Presidential Scholarship Initiative” in order to offer a competitive financial aid program to attract a more diverse student body. “This will be almost like Virginia Tech’s version of a full-ride scholarship,” Plaza said. “It will state that the university will only match the amount of financial aid along with other scholarships that you are given, in order to bring in a more diverse student base.” The maintenance of a high GPA will be necessary to keep this scholarship, but it will be renewable for over four years. After the goals were set by the task force, an implementation team set out to determine which of these goals could feasibly achieved by Tech. “I am very happy with the way the implementation team has taken the task force’s goals and selected things to focus on … they set down concrete things and focused on getting them done … We will be building on existing capacities as well as creating new outlets for racial diversity,” said University Provost Mark McNamee. Tech will also be focusing on hiring a more diverse faculty, along with focusing on “expanding and strengthening” the already existing Africana Studies program. “We are in the process of putting a search committee together to help us find more faculty members to bring in … It will be a blanket search all over the country,” McNamee said. “It’s a deliberate process to
Similar to the effects that Sept. 11 had on the nation’s approach to national security, the events of April 16 redefined traditional methods of ensuring the safety of students and faculty members at colleges around the nation. While several colleges have already begun to improve their campus’ safety, Congress has taken it upon itself to establish a requirement that all colleges must now meet. Originally ratified in 1965, President George Bush signed a new and improved Higher Education Opportunity Act on Aug. 14. The bill had not been reauthorized in almost a decade. Included in the bill is the Virginia Tech Victims Campus Emergency Response Policy and Notification Act, or more simply, the Virginia Tech Victims Act. Section 488 of the bill states that college administrations will be required to “immediately notify the campus community upon the confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation ... unless issuing a notification will compromise efforts to contain the emergency.” “The idea of giving colleges 30 minutes to notify their campuses had been tossed around, but eventually we came to a compromise and settled with the somewhat more flexible language of ‘immediately notify’,” said Ray Zaccaro, communications director at Rep. Carolyn McCarthy (D-NY) office.
Rep. McCarthy appended the VTV Act to the Educational Opportunity Act. Several colleges in Virginia have already taken significant steps toward improving their methods of reaching students and faculty in the event of an emergency, including Bridgewater College, James Madison University, and Eastern Mennonite University. Much like Virginia Tech, they have added alert systems via cell phones and e-mails. “We elected to go with a solution called E2Campus,” said vice president of Student Life at EMU, Ken L. Nafziger, in regards to the university’s newly installed security capabilities. E2Campus allows students to submit up to two cell phone numbers and two e-mails, to which administrators can send alerts in the event of an emergency. The new system was introduced to incoming students at orientation and is being implemented in the upcoming fall semester. While the VTV Act is a vital part of The Higher Education Act, there are countless other changes the bill will put into effect. It aims to increase college aid for veterans and military families, make college more accessible to low-income and minority students, and even encourage colleges to adapt more sustainable and energy-efficient practices. These are just a few of the many goals set by this landmark bill, which are aimed at improving the live-
see EDUCATION, page two
MICHELLE RIVERA
ct news staff writer When Doug McAllister thinks of William E. Skelton, he thinks of the proverb, “Good men must die, but death cannot kill their names.” Indeed, Skelton’s name is stamped across the Virginia Tech campus, as timeless as the Hokie stone it is etched in and as long-lasting as the effect he has had on the Hokie community. Skelton SKELTON passed away Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008 at the age of 89. He was the former director of 4-H programs and the Virginia Cooperative Extension, and dean of the Extension Division. He was also president of Rotary International from 1983-84. Skelton graduated from Tech in 1940, later returned in 1949 to begin a 39-year career as a leader at the university, and after 1979 became a very giving and active volunteer for the alumni association and the 4-H program. Skelton played a significant role in raising funds for the conference center that would eventually bear his name. “He was truly the most significant volunteer in planning and leading the (alumni center) campaign
in the whole process,” said Tom Tillar, vice president of alumni relations at Tech, who worked directly with Skelton on the creation of the Skelton Conference Center and Inn at Virginia Tech. “There wasn’t anybody who did more. He was also a leadership donor, and he truly did make his mark on the alumni programs of the university by enabling us to have our first real alumni center.” Jim Weaver, athletic director at Tech, said that Skelton and his wife Margaret also established the Skelton Award for Academic Excellence in Athletics, which is an annual $5,000 scholarship awarded to one male and one female. It is presented at the Athletic Director’s Honors Breakfast each spring. “The one thing that I’ll always remember about Dr. Skelton was his willingness to volunteer and serve, and I think he epitomizes the Ut Prosim motto better than anyone I know,” said Weaver. “He got the Donaldson Brown Center built, which is now our graduate life center,” added McAllister, the director of development and strategic partnerships in the office of university development at Tech and the W. E. Skelton 4-H Educational Conference Center at Smith Mountain Lake. “I’ve been privileged to claim Bill Skelton as my mentor and friend for over 35 years,” McAllister said. Once Skelton hired McAllister at
Tech, the two worked together through Rotary International and on Tech activities. “He always displayed endless vitality, imagination, discipline, and a sense of tenaciousness on what he was working on than I’ve seen in any other professional,” McAllister said. “He just didn’t take no for answers; he got the job done.” Skelton, as Rotary International president for one year and a member for many years prior, Skelton influenced over 1.2 million people in over 200 countries. “He worked very faithfully and effectively to make life better for other people,” McAllister said about Skelton’s work ethic with Rotary. “The motto is ‘service above self;’ he did it for others.” Roger Ellmore, executive director of the Skelton 4-H Center, added that when Skelton was president, the Rotary International had the highest number of new Rotary clubs established in one year. “Up there in heaven somewhere Bill has restarted the Hokie chapter,” McAllister said. “The Hokies already got together, and he’s planning something in a tenacious way. That’s the way he was. It’s the kind of guy he was. Kind of quiet and serious, and kind of intimidating to some, but when you got to know him he was always trying to help out or accomplish something new.”
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