@FTCrimson
RIMSON The Florida Tech
@FTCrimson
The Official Student-Run Newspaper•since
crimson@fit.edu Issue 3
Our Mission: Live, discover and report the truth.
1967
FALL
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2018
Game night opens entertainment to public jesse villaverde \\ staff writer
emily walker // crimson
Dead Puffer Fish on the Shore of Indian River Lagoon
Indian River Lagoon becoming uninhabitable emily walker \\ staff writer
Marine life is dying in the Indian River Lagoon. Kara Watts, an animal behavior student at Florida Tech, said there are many reasons for this, one of which begins with algae. “Algae blooms come up, blocking the sunlight from coming down into the water,” Watts said. Watts explained that this keeps seagrass from growing, which throws off the lagoon’s whole ecosystem. “Without seagrass, that takes away an entire habitat for a bunch of marine life to live in,” she said. Watts said the creatures have nowhere to go without the seagrass. Dr. Glenn Miller, a biology professor and faculty advisor for
the biological honors society Tri Beta at Florida Tech, said much of the lagoon’s decline has occurred within the past ten years. According to Miller, seagrass beds in particular have recently become increasingly sparse throughout the lagoon. For several decades, the seagrass beds have been slowly disappearing, and in the last seven to ten years, their presence has dropped drastically. “They’ve been declining, and then they finally reached a point where they just all kind of died,” Miller said. The seagrass isn’t the only part of the lagoon that has suffered. Watts said oysters are dying off as pollutants fill the lagoon. Watts said sewage, animal
waste, and fertilizer pollute the lagoon and cause a buildup of muck on the bottom of the lagoon. This muck takes up space on the bottom of the lagoon where oysters normally grow. “Those filter feeders are kind of what help keep the lagoon clean,” Watts said, referring to the oysters. “Since there’s no room for the oysters, then the water quality goes down.” Another problem in the lagoon is invasive marine life. Greigh Olsen, a biology student preparing to switch to marine biology at Florida Tech, said lionfish have become a problem in the lagoon. These invasive fish are a threat
Continued on page 6
Pipe damage temporarily shuts down A/C system Kevin Boodoosingh \\ Design Editor
The importance of regular maintenance inspection was emphasized when the escalation of a dangerous situation was prevented. On Friday Sept. 7th the north campus Central Energy Plant, which provides power for the HVAC system that services all four eating facilities on campus and some academic buildings, was shutdown. The biggest buildings affected
Page 2 Welcome to the Jungle
INDEX
were Panther Dining Hall, Denius Student Center (SUB), Rathskellar, Clemente Cafe, Evans Library, Crawford Building, George M. Skurla Building, Link Building and the Shephard Building. “In an observation made by an astute employee, Jeff Sherman, he noticed that there was water running on the asphalt behind the Link building and determined that the water was coming from the Central Energy Plant,” said Dewey Yeatts, the director of Facilities Management.
Page 4
LAN Party
“Due to Jeff checking the temperature of the water, which was 52 degrees, we determined that the water is possibly coming from a chill water return line.” A chill water return line circulates cold water through the A/C system. Immediately after they determined where the water was coming from, work began. Yeatts said the decision was made to have a unplanned
Continued on page 3 Page 5
PS4 Spiderman
Evans Library’s Digital Scholarship Lab was transformed into a blur of screens, consoles, wires and students for their Library After Hours Video Game Night. “This event was for students to relax and have fun with each other,” said Martin Gallagher, manager of the DSL. “Originally GameStop was a part of this event, but the local owner had family issues last minute so we had to improvise.” Florida Tech students brought their own video game systems to the event, such as an original Xbox and Nintendo Gamecube, apart from what was available at the event. There were two big-screen projectors and five virtual reality headsets, including the popular Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.
Continued on page 4
Adjusting to life in the U.S. Xiao Liang \\ Staff Writer
Studying abroad is no simple matter; not only do foreign students have to overcome the language barrier, but they might also need some time to get used to the new environment. “I’ve been in the U.S for almost 5 years already, but I’m still not used to everything.” Jiahao Wu, a sophomore student from China, said. “Here people act different, treat things differently and sometimes it can be confusing.” Adjusting to a new environment can be difficult, especially for those who came to America for the first time. Many of these students come from different and diverse cultural backgrounds, and because of that, they might run into problems and difficulties that native students would rarely encounter. One common problem that occurs frequently among the international students is the language barrier. Although all of them have met the English proficiency requirement before being accepted to Florida Tech, actually speaking and using a language can be very different from studying it.
Continued on page 3 Page 8
Victory!
OPINION PAGES 2-3 CAMPUS LIFE PAGE 4 REVIEW PAGE 5 SCI/TECH PAGE 6 GAMES PAGE 7
SPORTS PAGE 8