THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
“Little good is accomplished without controversy, and no civic evil is ever defeated without publicity.”
da
Friday November 7, 2014
Volume 127, Issue 57
www.THEDAONLINE.com
Apt. hunting made easier New website allows students to zero in across the country
by alexa mcclennen
by courtney gatto
correspondent @dailyathenaeum
staff writer @dailyathenaeum
West Virginia University students now have an easier and more efficient way to find housing instead of using numerous search engines and making countless phone calls. Cribspot, a newly emerged website, has been created to help students at 15 college campuses across the country find apartments for rent. Just recently, WVU was added to the list to aid in the search for housing in Morgantown. The website currently has over 800 Morgantown apartments all on a single, easy-to-use map, that offers plenty of information that is just a click away. “We have made it a lot easier for students to search for housing so they don’t have to go door-todoor or website-to-website to find a place,” said Kevin Gardner, the Cribspot content manager. The company started when a couple of recent college graduates took it upon themselves to change and simplify the way in which students shop for housing. It was a difficulty they faced all throughout their college years which they imagined countless other students also dealt with. “When we were searching, it was obvious there should be a simpler way to do this instead of having
Kyle Monroe/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
Large apartment complexes, such as The Domain at Town Centre, are included on Cribspot’s listings. to jump around different find the perfect apartment search and make it a litwebsites and keep track that tailors to their specific tle bit easier to know what of conversations all over,” needs. you’re looking at.” Gardner said. “Students can log onto The company has also Now, their vision is a re- our website, search West worked hard to make the ality. The site was designed Virginia University and website helpful for firstfor easy and efficient shop- see a map of Morgantown time renters. They have ping by giving renters the where all the rentals are provided neighborhood opportunity guides and to s earch tips to make for exactly When we were searching, it was obvious the process what they a little bit there should be a simpler way to do easier. are looking this instead of having to jump around for. All of the Cribspot rentals for a also underdifferent websites and keep track of specific area stands the conversations all over. stress of rentare placed ing an aparton the same ment does map, so everything is right in front of around campus,” Gardner not stop after the initial the shopper and they don’t said. “You can filter your search. The website can have to search for it. There search by price, number also be used to help the is an option to simplify the of bedrooms and a lot of renters pay their rent. A search, so students can other things to refine the feature called “RentPay”
“
”
is used so students can coordinate with roommates and parents, as well as submit payments to any landlord who accepts checks. Hayley Lindsey, a freshman child development student, said she has been looking for an apartment, and it has been really difficult. She said she believes Cribspot would be a great alternative from going door-to-door and making countless calls. “There’s so many different search engines, and you have to call a lot of places. It’s really timeconsuming,” Lindsey said. “Cribspot would make it a lot easier.” danewsroom@mail.wvu.edu
Local airport sets 10k enplanements goal by rachel mcbride
airline companies, such as Morgantown Municipal, have not had enough pilots available to run the airThe Morgantown Munic- port efficiently. This has afipal Airport is hoping to in- fected how commuters crease the number of airline function and has resulted passengers, or enplane- in a decreasing number of ments, over the next few enplanements. years. To reverse these effects, The goal of the local air- Morgantown Municipal will port is to be consistent in be providing several promo reaching 10,000 enplane- codes to customers wishments. In achieving this ing to book flights, allowgoal, the airport ing discounts will continue to Promotional codes on flight purreceive the Fedchases. The & discounts can eral Airline Asdiscounts be found at http:// and promo sociation’s $1 million fund. morgantownairport. codes are run This fund helps through Silcom ensure the airver Airways, port is operatthe airport’s ing to the best of its ability. carrier, and hope to attract “We’ve always had the more consumers into flying market, never had trouble out of the local airport. getting our 10,000,” said Glen If efforts to reach 10,000 Kelly, the Morgantown assis- enplanements do not suctant city manager. ceed, the airport will lose However, the problem of $850,000 from the FAA. This getting the 10,000 enplane- will alter the airport’s budments recently arose due to get, and the overall funcan increase in requirements tioning of the airport will be needed to be a licensed co- affected. pilot. The increase in re“(The budget) allows us to quirements has caused ma- take care of the airport and jor disadvantages for those the safety of the airport. We pursuing their dreams in want to ensure that we reach aviation. The impacts on 10,000 enplanements,” Kelly the airports have quickly said. occurred. Some West Virginia UniAs a direct result, small versity students may not be staff writer @dailyathenaeum
45° / 33°
PIU PASTA
INSIDE
High Street Pasta Co. offers affordable dining A&E PAGE 6
SHOWERS
News: 1. 2 Opinion: 4 A&E: 3, 6 Sports: 7, 8, 9, 10 Campus Connection: 5 Puzzles: 5 Classifieds: 9
WVU team to compete at NASA event in June 2015
Andrew Spellman/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
Planes prepare to take off into clear, blue skies Thursday afternoon at the Morgantown Municipal Airport.
Andrew Spellman/THE DAILY ATHENAEUM
At the Morgantown Municipal Airport, the baggage claim remains empty in the mid-afternoon hours on Thursday. aware of the airport’s exis- port, sophomore Destyne imity, Cresong said, “If I had tence or the possible benefits Cresong was unaware of the to use it, I would.” it could provide. When asked airport’s location. However, if she would ever use the air- once she learned of its proxdanewsroom@mail.wvu.edu
THE DA’s HIRING WRITERS
Inquire about paid positions at The Daily Athenaeum at DA-editor@mail.wvu.edu or pick up an application at our office at 284 Prospect St.
CONTACT US Newsroom 304-293-5092 or DAnewsroom@mail.wvu.edu Advertising 304-293-4141 or DA-Ads@mail.wvu.edu Classifieds 304-293-4141 or DA-Classifieds@mail.wvu.edu Fax 304-293-6857
BODY ART POSITIVES Tattoos aren’t just pretty, can be crucial to individual expression OPINION PAGE 4
A West Virginia University engineering team has been accepted into the 2015 Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts-Academic Linkage Exploration RoboOps Challenge for the fourth consecutive year. The competition, which is sponsored by NASA, will involve eight universities across the country to propose, design, construct and control a robot. The challenge requires each university to develop a rover for an interplanetary mission that can perform a series of challenging tasks while demonstrating its high-tech capabilities. Challenges will include a series of tasks such as having the robot move on upward and downward slopes, traveling through gravel and sand terrain, picking up and storing rocks on the rover and driving over large rocks. The competition will be held in June 2015 at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. At last year’s competition, WVU dominated with a 99 point score, the highest score ever received by a university, beating MIT and Virginia Tech. “We are very confident this year with the new design that we proposed; it should be very competitive. We are using the lessons we learned as a team from last year and are applying it to this year’s competition. We believe we have the best robot again this year, but we will have to wait till June to see,” said Powsiri Klinkhachorn, the team adviser who is also a computer science and electrical engineering professor at WVU. This year’s prototype is expected to be lightweight but more powerful and faster than last year’s. A big difference from last year’s prototype is the team replaced wheels with an integy track system, which is an independently driven and controlled track configuration allowing highly adaptable control and mobility. With the new robot weighing around 100 pounds, the team believes it is a simplified design and will significantly improve performance while reducing complexity. “By doing this, students and team members are getting hands-on experience not only in the engineering field but with NASA. It’s a great experience that requires hard work and dedication,” Klinkhachorn said. “The team is doing very well this year by putting in a lot of work, and that will show when we present and control our robot.” This year’s team members include Jason Battin, Adam Blakeman, Barrett Dietzius, Alexander Hypes, Brandon Johnston and John Lucas. Up to three members plus the team adviser will travel to the Johnson Space Center for on-site testing, while the remaining team members will stay back at WVU
see ROBOTICS on PAGE 2
TEXAS FACEOFF No. 23 West Virginia travels to Austin Saturday SPORTS PAGE 7