THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
“Little good is accomplished without controversy, and no civic evil is ever defeated without publicity.”
da
Wednesday February 3, 2016
Volume 128, Issue 85
www.THEDAONLINE.com
Council approves Cobun Creek Dam by jake jarvis staff writer @newsroomjake
With little discussion except to reaffirm previous comments, Morgantown’s city council finished laying the groundwork on Tuesday night for the city’s future safe drinking water. The council approved a series of bonds and raised water/sewer fees as requested by the Morgantown Utility Board so that it can, among other things, address the Star City wastewater treatment
plant that’s nearing its breaking point. “The river is—well, water is essential to making us a river town,” said Councilwoman Nancy Ganz, Seventh Ward. “A river time relates to our prosperity and our continual development. If we don’t do this… we would lose part of the attractiveness of living in this town.” In approving the bonds (which will total no more than $180 million), the council effectively approved MUB’s plans to dam Cobun Creek. This
Students host camp to show support for children with cancer by amy pratt
staff writer @dailyathenaeum
Camp Kesem is a national grassroots organization run by students to organize summer camps for children who have parents or siblings with cancer. Last year, Nancy McIntyre, interim dean of West Virginia University’s College of Business and Economics, was approached about starting a Camp Kesem organization at WVU. After the initial paperwork was completed, Kayleigh Walsh, a junior finance student, and Megan Pumphrey, a junior management student, were appointed as directors of the program. “I think cancer has affected (everybody) in some way. If you think about the children of cancer patients, where they consistently have a parent in the hospital and they have to go back and forth, and they have a parent who can’t attend their school functions or after-school activities,” Pumphrey said. “They’re really limited in what they can do in their lives. It’s so much more than you really think.” The goal of Camp Kesem is to give children a week without worrying about cancer. They can have fun and meet other children in similar situations. “This particular camp pulled my heartstrings because it’s about what I call, ‘the forgotten kids.’ Kids whose parents, brothers or sisters have cancer,” McIntyre said. “These kids oftentimes don’t get to be kids.” WVU’s Camp Kesem is the first in West Virginia. Walsh and Pumphrey spent last spring recr uiting coordinators for the organization and started training in September. This year, they have been working on fundraising for the camp. Their goal is $30,000, and they have already raised $15,000. Walsh and Pumphrey have also worked on recruiting children for the camp and have had
one child sign up so far. “We go into a lot of family grief centers in this area. We reach out to a lot of hospitals and cancer (organizations). We go, and we try to contact them and see if they know of any kids that would benefit from this,” Walsh said. “Camp Kesem is really big now, and in other areas, it’s more popular because it’s been established longer. People in this area are already looking for it.” They have chosen a camp near High Point, West Virginia. Camp Kesem also offers students opportunities to gain leadership skills. “We have two missions. The main one you think of is the kids,” Pumphrey said. “But the other half of the goal is to be able to give college students leadership opportunities and leadership experience, just as much as we’re giving. And (they) benefit not only from the mental and emotional aspect, but also, be able to put this on a resume and show what you’ve learned from it.” Currently, Camp Kesem is looking for applicants for camp counselors or those interested in helping with fundraising and volunteering. “There’s a way people can become involved if they want to put in a lot of time or if they just want to in put a little bit of time,” Walsh said. “A lot of college students see fundraising as work. With Camp Kesem, you don’t get to see the reward until summer comes,” Walsh said. “The best thing I can say is knowing how big of a reward it will be seeing these kids have fun at camp and wanting to come back again and again makes it all worth it.” Camp Kesem will have general body meetings at 6 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month in Clark Hall, room 104. For more about Camp Kesem, visit their website, http://campkesem. org/wvu. danewsroom@mail.wvu.edu
60°/35°
FEBREWARY TAKEOVER
INSIDE
Big Timber makes its name in W.Va. A&E PAGE 4
RAIN
News: 1, 2 Opinion: 3 A&E: 4, 5 Sports: 7, 8, 10 Campus Calendar: 6 Puzzles: 6 Classifieds: 9
decision came easy for most members of council who worried about the potential of large federal and state fines if the wastewater treatment plant continued to near its maximum use capacity. When the facility was built in the 1960s, it was only supposed to last 25 years. It’s only allowed to treat 12 million gallons of wastewater a day and, according to MUB’s website, averages 10 millions of wastewater per day. Timothy Ball, MUB’s general manager, said
the facility has spiked up in some years during a heavy rain season and has almost gone over its limit. The new plant will be able to treat 21 million gallons of wastewater per day. Two residents that live outside of Morgantown’s city limits returned to council again, begging members to halt or at least slow the project so they have more time to become familiar with the plans. “I’m proud that we’ve been so forward thinking with this,” Ganz said.
The property where the dam is to be built was purchased in the 1950s. Councilors said leaders of the time knew that the area near Cobun Creek Road would one day be a good spot for a second source of drinking water. In addition to the bonds taking effect, water and sewer rates for all MUB residents will go up from about $34 to $55 a month, starting July 1. Also Tuesday night, councilors narrowly approved the first reading of an ordinance annulling a
portion of Wall Street near the Monongahela River. Councilmen Ron Bane, First Ward, Wes Nugent, Third Ward and Jay Redmond, Sixth Ward, voted in the minority. Landmark Properties, a developer from Georgia, wants to combine several parcels of land surrounding the street to build a 866bed apartment complex. “The question we have to ask ourselves here is this—‘Is this road used and useful?’” Bane said. “Or, is it
see CITY on PAGE 2
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MR. PRESIDENT
Andrew Spellman/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
Surrounded by his students, President E. Gordon Gee cuts his birthday cake. SGA hosted a surprise party for Gee’s 72nd birthday.
MSA breaks down stereotypes with hijab challenge by madeleine hall staff writer @dailyathenaeum
Noor Mozahem, a senior pre-med student at West Virginia University, was walking home one night when she came face to face with a terrifying experience of bigotry. “This person rolls down their window and screams the most vulgar, insulting thing you can imagine,” Mozahem described. “When I got home, I realized that the Paris attacks had just happened.” Mozahem chooses to wear a hijab, or head scarf, as an act of devotion to God and her faith, Islam. On Tuesday, the Muslim Student Association of WVU sponsored a hijab challenge, inviting women on campus to try the hijab for a day to break down stereotypes about Muslim women. The day ended with a panel of Muslim women sharing their thoughts and experiences with the hijab. The panel was moderated by Sara Berzingi, president of the MSA. Those on the panel began by diving into their personal hijab stories, describing the moments in their life that led them to choose to wear the head scarf. Berzingi, a junior biology and psychology student, initially began wear-
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Sara Berzingi talks to students about the hijab, a piece of head gear worn by Muslim women. ing the hijab to follow in parts of Syria, Iraq, Turkey are not Muslim women,” the footsteps of her Mus- and Iran, Berzingi returned Berzingi said. “We never lim friends in high school to Morgantown invested really ask Muslim women in Morgantown. more in developing her per- what their opinions are. She soon realized that the sonal spirituality. That’s what oppression is.” decision was a mistake. “(Wearing hijab) came Berzingi said that femi“It just may look like a to seem so beautiful to me. nism and Islam go hand in scarf on your head, but The hijab is who you are as hand, citing verses of the there’s a lot that comes with a person,” Berzingi said. “I Quran, the holy book of Isit,” Berzingi said. realized that wearing hijab lam, which gave fundamenWearing the hijab sud- was worth the struggle. I felt tal rights to women which denly made Berzingi a tar- like I was finally following had not yet existed. get for violent prejudice what I believed.” Panelist Alima Diakite and death threats, and she Berzingi believes the me- believed that hijab also fosdecided that she could dia often attempts to define tered a sense of community not handle going back to Islam for Muslim women, and allowed her to grow as school. perpetuating harmful ste- an individual by emphasizAfter spending a year in reotypes and implying Mus- ing internal and external her home region of Kurdis- lim women “are oppressed.” “But people who say this tan, an area encompassing see HIJAB on PAGE 2
GENDER INCLUSIVITY New all-gender bathrooms aren’t a ‘snub’ to those with disabilities OPINION PAGE 3
NO-HOLTON MAGIC WVU regains momentum, wins at Iowa State SPORTS PAGE 7