The Daily Barometer OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY • CORVALLIS, OREGON 97331
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 2014 • VOLUME CXVI, NUMBER 88
DAILYBAROMETER.COM • 541-737-2231
OSU employee sold universityowned phones for more than $14K
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OSU talks engineering changes n
By Sean Bassinger THE DAILY BAROMETER
THE DAILY BAROMETER
Oregon State University plans to file a report to Oregon State Police by the end of this week, because a former university employee sold 338 university-owned cell phones during a five-year span. In September 2013, it was learned that Christina Adams, who was an information technology consultant in the OSU athletic department, was selling outdated cell phones that were issued to coaches and other athletAdams ics department employees. Steve Clark, OSU vice president for university relations and marketing, said the university learned of this scheme last fall when the company See ADAMS | page 4
Randhawa, Ashwood speak to College of Engineering faculty, staff at Wednesday meeting
Sean Bassinger
| THE DAILY BAROMETER
Scott Ashford, appointed dean of College of Engineering, addresses a crowd of faculty and staff from the College of Engineering. Ashford will also serve as acting head of EECS and CCE before interim heads are selected.
Oregon State University Provost Sabah Randhawa and College of Engineering Dean Scott Ashford spoke to engineering faculty and staff Wednesday to address two abrupt changes in college leadership. The meeting, which took place in a packed Construction & Engineering Hall at the LaSells Stewart Center, addressed plans to move forward in the College of Engineering following Randhawa’s decision to have both Sandra Woods and Terri Fiez step down Friday. Woods served as College of Engineering dean and Fiez served as head of the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Both were dismissed prior to the end of their terms. “It happened with a lot of deliberation,” Randhawa said. Randhawa said the change was necessary since the declining leadership, which he did not discount any specific individuals for, didn’t match up with See ENGINEERING | page 4
Corvallis has highest vacancy rate in 5 years
MEGAN CAMPBELL
| THE DAILY BAROMETER
OSU crews worked to clear pathways after the February snowstorm. The sidewalk outside of Ballard Extension Hall shows a cleared path Feb. 9.
Beating inclement weather with adequate preparation Emergency services proud of response, continues search for city-wide improvements
immense impact on many residents’ lives. When weather conditions disrupt daily life in such a large way, the efficiency of local emergency service teams becomes imperative. By Tori Hittner In the transition of recovering from THE DAILY BAROMETER snow and preparing for potential The snowpocalypse. The gloriflooding, campus emergency serous extended weekend. Whatever vices are evaluating past responses Oregon State University students and working to improve future wish to dub the recent snowstorms plans. that descended upon Corvallis, See WEATHER | page 4 the inclement weather had an n
Unexplained vacancies, unclear needs lead to city housing study
changes in housing, a makeup that is not new to Corvallis. There are approximately 13,100 rental units in Corvallis, but there is little accurate By Emma-Kate Schaake data regarding how many, THE DAILY BAROMETER and there is a lack of accurate Despite a record Oregon data explaining either vacancy State University enrollment and rental patterns, or general fall 2013, Corvallis’ rental mar- housing needs. ket has the highest vacancy rate in years. “(Previously), there have been times in September when there was no place to rent,” said the city housing program specialist Bob Loewen. In years with a vacancy rate less than 1 percent, property owners from Albany, Lebanon, and even Salem were advertising to students in Corvallis. Now, Corvallis has an estimated 3.5 percent vacancy rate, the highest that it has been in at least five years. “It’s in constant flux,” Loewen said. “We are a very transient community, which makes it difficult to track.” Students and employees of OSU, tech companies and medical facilities like Samaritan Health attribute to the constant growth and n
Loewen attributes the higher vacancy rate to OSU’s largest graduating class June 2013, and the mandate for all incoming freshman this year to live on campus. Dawn Duerksen of Duerksen and Associates has been tracking more than a dozen major property man-
agement agencies in Corvallis comprehensively for more than a year. She tracks the vacancy rates, prices and locations and has now been able to compare the vacancy rates with those of last year. For the week of Feb. 10-14, See VACANCY | page 4