Winner of florida Tech’s organization of the year award, 2011-2012, 2012-2013
february 18, 2014
sPRING, issue 3
President casts $100 million capital campaign in motion Rebekah Duntz Campus Life Editor President Catanese announced his $100 million capital campaign during the black tie President’s Ball in the Clemente Center a few weeks ago. This campaign is the largest fundraising effort ever made at Florida Tech. One of the goals of this campaign is to raise the endowment fund from the current state of $60 million to $100 million. The endowment is actually weak in comparison to the top 10 schools in the nation—Princeton’s and Stanford’s endowments in 2012 was more than $17 billion, and University of Notre Dame’s was almost $6.5 billion in 2012,
according to a U.S. News report. the interest earned to pay for that The university’s endowment chair. The university currently has has a set goal of $100 million, 10 chairs, and President Catanese which is a record for such a young hopes for the number to grow in school. “You’re still a child at 55,” the future. said President Anthony Catanese. The endowment fund is The endowment fund is left also how some students get their untouched “If you graduate and feel like for a year, and then af- you didn’t have a personal exter a year, a perience, then come talk to me percent of the interest directly and we’ll try to fix it.” -President Catanese will be taken out to pay for certain things. scholarships. At a private school Part of that endowment is with small classes, the tuition can $2 million for the Allen S. Henry get pricey—but Florida Tech is Chair, for example. This is a chair actually moderately priced comgiven to certain engineering pro- pared to others in the same state, fessors at the university. Every University of Miami being the year, five percent is taken out of most expensive and Rollins being
Security, Melbourne Police both deal with campus hit and runs Rebekah Duntz Campus Life Editor Getting out of class or work and finding your parked car damaged is not a good start off to the weekend. Finding the perpetrator might be an even bigger headache. One might want to know what to do and how this situation gets taken care of when the car is parked in a private university lot. The question is whether the Melbourne Police Department often gets involved, or whether Florida Tech Security takes care of it. “It depends on the amount of damage, and it depends on whether the student or the complainant wants the police involved,” said Kevin Graham, the director of security. If there isn’t much damage on the car, then the Melbourne Police may take a report, and that will be the extent of it. “What’s interesting is, we’ve had more luck finding the person who did it than the police do because my officers are here all the time,” said Graham. Security will do a full investigation, noting where the damage is, whether there is any paint transfer, whether there are any witnesses and finding any debris around the scene that may be useful to finding the perpetrator. “We have cameras, and if the cameras are trained on them in that area, then we’ll try to see if we can ascertain the make and model of the vehicle. Then the of-
ficers will go look for that vehicle,” said Graham. If there’s just a minor scratch on the vehicle, then there won’t be many repercussions. If the damage to a vehicle is substantial, then the perpetrator may be fined up to $500 to accommodate the victim. The university has top-ofthe-line “pan, tilt, and zoom” cameras installed throughout many buildings, though they need up to 150 more to cover the growing campus, now occupying 135 acres. “Every time we put a new building in, we put cameras everywhere,” said Graham. This also includes the parking garages, where there are many cameras installed on each floor, and even in the elevator. “I always tell students to be conscious of the fact that there are cameras in the elevator.” The Melbourne Police Department may get involved when there is a hit and run on campus if the damage is severe enough or if the victim wants to press charges. “We’ll typically send a traffic unit out to meet the victim,” said community relations officer Jennifer Amneus, who covers all of South Melbourne. “If we do locate the vehicle, we can try to arrest the suspect for leaving the scene of a crime, but it’s hard because you need a witness.” In a hit-and-run situation on campus, Florida Tech Security may have the upper hand because of the officers’ familiarity with the area and the people, and the growing number of camera coverage on campus.
the second most expensive. “We don’t want it to feel like a factory,” said President Catanese. “If you graduate and feel like you didn’t have a personal experience, then come talk to me directly and we’ll try to fix it.” The secondary goal for the capital campaign is to build a new facility for the Nathan M. Bisk College of Business. The college has gone from being one of the smallest to the largest, with the addition of the extended studies. There has also been discussion about a general classroom building, a conference center including a hotel, and a new performance hall. The Melbourne Harbor will also be transformed into a worldclass rowing facility. The current
house is dilapidating, and the rowing team essentially just uses tarps, Catanese said. The facility will also be used for ongoing environmental research on the Indian River Lagoon. Part of the funds from the campaign will be used to make improvements to the Vero Beach Marine Lab for ocean research. The university would like to see the importance of aquaculture showcased. The majority of the money will come from Florida Tech’s 35 trustees, individuals making a donation, corporations like Harris and Intersil, and over 60,000 alumni. “We’ll do it the old-fashioned way: knocking on doors, face-to-face fundraising,” said Catanese.
Perfect Pence: freshman pitcher throws perfect game
photo by Amanda Stratford Photography Rachel Pence is 4-0 on the season with one save and a 0.47 ERA.
David Barkholz Sports Editor Debuts in college sports don’t get any better any than Rachel Pence’s. Actually, for a softball pitcher, it would be impossible for anybody to have a better first game than she did, because the freshman was perfect – literally.
The right-hander struck out 10 on her way to sitting down every batter she faced over the game’s five innings, not once giving up a hit or walk in Florida Tech’s 10-0, Feb. 1 opening day victory over Fort Valley. Pence has since started four more games – all wins – struck out a total of 32 batters and owns a 0.95 ERA, a stat-line good enough to
earn herself two straight Sunshine State Conference Softball Players of the Week awards in addition to multiple radio appearances. The Crimson sat down with Pence on Feb. 14 to talk about the freshman’s instant success, the perfect game and how just how good her team is this year.
See pence, back page
Soccer fundraiser for Boys and Girls Club raises over $1,200 Sara Torabi Staff Writer Kicking for Kids, hosted by Chi Phi Xi Delta, was held Sunday morning at the Florida Avenue Soccer Fields. The fraternity focused on raising funds for the Boys
and Girls Club of America, whose mission is to facilitate after-school programs for young people while instilling a sense of belonging and worth for the individuals. Throughout the Florida Tech campus, Greek Life is known for its many philanthropic works
Live Free or Eat Free, you can only choose one See free, page 5
and fundraisers. The tradition of service has long been established in these fraternities and sororities. For Chi Phi, Kicking for Kids was the first large event that the chapter had done at Florida Tech. After deciding to host their first big event, Chi Phi pitched the idea of
a soccer tournament. Aral Taser, philanthropy chair of Chi Phi explained the reasoning behind the idea. “A soccer tournament seemed the most feasible idea, considering the amount of interest we have for the sport on the
All the information about the 2014 Oscars that you didn’t ask for See oscars, pg 6
campus.” Overall, fifteen teams participated in the competition on Sunday. The sudden death 8v8 soc-
See chi phi, page 3
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