THE DAILY ATHENAEUM No investigation HALF SNOW DAY into alleged note
“Little good is accomplished without controversy, and no civic evil is ever defeated without publicity.”
da
Thursday January 27, 2011
VOLUME 124, ISSUE 87
www.THEDAONLINE.com
with racial slurs by erin fitzwilliams associate city editor
Brooke Cassidy/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
Students walk over snow and ice on the sidewalks and roads on North High Street Wednesday afternoon.
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“Until we hear from MECCA or the governor’s office, if we have a problem, we don’t feel we’re in a position to cancel classes or to close the University. We’re not dealing with kindergartners or firstgraders here.”
BY JOEL MORAELS
” WVU cancels
Vice President of Administration and Finance
STAFF WRITER
Wednesday evening classes DA staff
West Virginia University canceled all classes after 4 p.m. Wednesday due to inclement weather. Students, faculty and staff were notified of the cancellation at 2:32 p.m. via WVU alert, MIX and WVUToday. An assessment will be made at 4 a.m. Thursday to decide the status of classes. After Monongalia Emergency Centralized Communications Agency issued a statement at 1:56 p.m. asking residents to stay off the roads so plow and salt trucks can reach them, WVU canceled classes, said Narvel Weese, vice president of Administration and Finance. “The road conditions, they really didn’t start to deteriorate until about 2 o’clock,” Weese said. “Our intent and hope is we want classes to continue to take place.” More than 4 inches of snow accumulated on the ground by 4 p.m., and Weese said many classes after 4 p.m. are graduate courses in which people are traveling long distances to Morgantown. “From my understanding,
see classes on PAGE 2
Students walk over snow and ice on the Downtown Campus Wednesday afternoon.
BY JOEL MORAELS and travis crum DA STAFF
The Monongalia Emergency Centralized Communications Agency reported 60 traffic incidents in Morgantown by 4 p.m. Wednesday. Ten of the incidents reported injuries. MECCA also reported 45 calls for roadside assistance and 20 hazardous road conditions were reported. More than four inches of snow accumulated on Wednesday, said Brad Rehak of the National Weather Service. “The one thing we haven’t had are calls about trees or wires being down, but I’m sure those will come later,” said a MECCA representative. “There have been roads across the county being closed down and will continue to close throughout the night.” Monongalia County law enforcement agencies and MECCA requested motorist stay off roadways unless travel
MUSIC AS A WEAPON
INSIDE
Disturbed, Sevendust and Korn played at WVU Thursday. A&E PAGE 7
News: 1, 2 Opinion: 4 A&E: 3, 5 Sports: 7, 10 Campus Calendar: 6 Puzzles: 6 Classifieds: 8, 9
Brooke Cassidy/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
More than 60 car incidents reported due to snow
29° /27°
SNOW FLURRIES
erin.fitzwilliams@mail.wvu.edu
Professor, two students to study Marcellus Shale
Narvel Weese
by erin fitzwilliams and candace Nelson
The note found with alleged racial slurs and drawings in West Virginia University’s student food pantry has been deemed “not criminal” by Chief Bob Roberts of the University Police Department. Jacqueline Dooley, program coordinator of Student Organization Services, filed a police report on Jan. 18 after she found the note she believes was left on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. “The words were definitely offensive and should not have been used,” Roberts said. “But I don’t believe them to be criminal. I do not think this is a hate crime.” The racial slurs were written on the sign-up sheet for the food pantry, Roberts said. There were other “thank you’s” from students signing out food from the pantry, he said. The note allegedly depicted a monkey with large ears and was signed with a “thanks” and several racial slurs, Dooley said. Roberts said instead of the note allegedly depicting a monkey with large ears, there were four “smiley faces” along with the racial slurs. Dooley said the note was possibly targeting her because she is an AfricanAmerican and director of The Rack, the student food pantry located in the Student Organization Services wing of the Mountainlair.
Roberts said students speak differently toward friends but does not believe the messages were meant to be hateful or malicious. “It was offensive. It may not be illegal, but in my mind, I believe it is a hate crime,” Dooley said. Two classes from the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences sent Dooley a two-page letter of regret for what had happened to her, she said. The letter included sentiments like “we’re sorry this happened to you,” and said Dooley had a great initiative with the pantry and was doing a good thing. She said she does not feel her safety is at risk. The police report was not given to WVU’s Office of Social Justice, said Jennifer Mcintosh, executive officer for social justice. Mcintosh said since no report was given to the office, no steps would be taken to investigate the matter further. “It’s abhorrent and inappropriate. It’s not tolerable, and whoever did this did a terrible thing,” Mcintosh said. Dooley said she has talked to a witness who spotted four people near The Rack on Jan. 17. after hearing noises. The witness was unsure whether or not the individuals are WVU students. The Mountainlair night staff has been alerted of the four individuals’ appearance, she said.
What’s your view of Morgantown? Safely take a picture and tweet it to
@dailyathenaeum. Those who did yesterday are featured on page 2. was absolutely necessary. Several roads within the city were closed due to unsafe conditions such as Willey Street, Van Voorhis Road, Mon. Boulevard, Willowdale Road and Exit 1 on Interstate-68. More than 2,900 residents on Collins Ferry Road were without power for an hour, said Mark Nitowski, Allegheny Power spokesperson. More than 50 residents were also out of power in other parts of the city for more than an hour, he said. West Virginia University canceled all classes at 4 p.m. Wednesday in order to clear and treat roads and sidewalks. Many students braved
the wintry conditions to attend their morning and afternoon classes. “I’ve been avoiding going outside as much as I can by cutting through buildings,” said Rebecca Rich, a sophomore advertising major. Students were seen holding onto each other or anything that was connected to the ground in order to keep from falling down steps or on slush-covered roads. “I try not to stop in the snow too much and usually wear boots instead of holey tennis shoes like I am now,” said Josh Carte, a freshman pre-engineering major. “I try to layer up with jeans and long johns to keep warm.” Mark Stier, a freshman international studies student, also tried to stay warm while bearing the elements through the morning. “I just wear lots of layers to make sure I am warm while traveling between classes,” Stier said.
see conditions on PAGE 2
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INSIDE THIS EDITION Potential basketball recruit Jamal Reid gives his reasons why WVU is on his list of possible schools. SPORTS PAGE 5
A professor and two graduate students at West Virginia University are working on an 18-month project to remove natural gas from Marcellus Shale, one of the largest known natural gas fields in the world. Marcellus Shale, an immense stretch of rock that runs deep underground through parts of Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio and West Virginia, is rich in natural gas. “The petroleum and natural gas division is one of few organizations like it in the country,” said Mary Dillon, marketing and communications coordinator for WVU’s College of Engineering and Mineral Resources. “Since Marcellus Shale is happening in our backyard, it’s great to be involved from a research standpoint.” The goal is to obtain as much natural gas as possible while doing the least amount of damage to the environment, said Shahab Mohaghegh, a WVU professor of petroleum and natural gas engineering and principal investigator of the project. “There is a new technology that the industry has been pioneering for the last 15 to 20 years,” Mohaghegh said. “When it began, everybody thought we were crazy, and it wasn’t until quite recently that the industry realized its value.” The new technology, called “top-down modeling,” integrates traditional reservoir engineering anal-
ysis with new technology to generate a full-field model. By using the reverse of the traditional approach, researchers save time and resources while obtaining accurate predictive models. Facilities at WVU were used in the application of this groundbreaking technology, while the information remains public. “WVU’s part is to build a realistic model of gas production in Marcellus Shale,” Mohaghegh said. “If we can do this, we will be able to predict how the different wells will behave.” WVU is working with numerous parties to be successful in their endeavors at Marcellus Shale, including the University of Texas at Austin, Pennsylvania State University, Pinnacle Technologies, Range Resources, and Schlumberger Gas Institute, Mohaghegh said. Marcellus Shale controversy surrounds a way of drilling previously used called “fracking,” in which 8 million gallons of water and chemical additives mixed with sand or similar materials are pumped down a well under high pressure. This allows contaminated water to escape to the surface as well as unwanted gas release in the well. “Everybody is interested in Marcellus Shale right now,” said Mohaghegh. “We want to show that our technology will help increase production, while decreasing the environmental footprint it leaves.” danewsroom@mail.wvu.edu
WVU FACED THE CARDS With just eight eligible scholarship players, the West Virginia men’s basketball team traveled to face the Cardinals. Check out the results. SPORTS PAGE 3