Technician
february
9
2012
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
NCSU’s Confucius Institute celebrates Chinese new year A Chinese New Year celebration was held downtown last night. Will Brooks Deputy News Editor
While Americans celebrated New Year’s Dec. 31, Chinese-Americans waited patiently for the most widely celebrated holiday in their home country. Ann Lamm, manager of N.C. State’s Confucius Institute, helped organize the event, which was held in the Mahler Fine Arts Gallery downtown. “The Chinese New Year is based on the lunar calendar, that’s why it changes every year. Last year’s event was much later,” Lamm said. Lamm said the event aimed to celebrate the Chinese holiday, and provided insight to the holiday’s importance. “You have the 12 zodiac signs, so every year is a different animal. This year is the Year of the Dragon, they usually last for 15 days, and you have a different event that you do on each day,” Lamm said. Lu Yang, graduate student in middle grade education, said the event is widely celebrated and very important in China. “Chinese new year is the most important festival in China,” Yang said. Yang said the festival is very much like the American holiday season, in that it is celebrated for an extended period of time and is typically the most widely-celebrated holiday around the country. “Chinese New Year isn’t just one day, it is 15 days. The last day is a Lantern Festival,” Yang said. The Lantern Festival was celebrated in downtown Raleigh Wednesday night, representing the end of celebration and the beginning of a new year. Many other Chinese students explained that they too saw it as the most important holiday in Chinese culture. Liang Zhang, graduate student in
thursday
24-hour visitation regulation expands Beginning in the fall, five more residence halls will adopt a 24hour visitation regulation.
nior in marketing, said. She said some of the buildings surveyed already had 24-hour visitation, so their results were used to evaluate the system already in place. “IRC started working on this in the Laura Wilkinson late 1980s. The first building didn’t get Editor-in-Chief 24-hour visitation until 2010, for the Currently, only eight residence 2010-2011 school year,” Skully said. Before the decision was reached in halls offer 24-hour hall visitation, but a recently approved proposal will 2010, N.C. State was the only university in North Carolina that did not have expand that number to 13 this fall. Berry Hall, Becton Hall, Bagwell a 24-hour visitation policy. During Hall, Carroll Hall and Wood Hall the fall of 2010, three residence halls Building A will be added to the list — Bragaw, Turlington and North — of buildings with the 24-hour option. acted as trial runs for the regulation. According to David Meyer, a soph- In the spring of 2011, the trial period omore in first year college and vice ended and the final decision was made president of administration in the to continue allowing certain residence Inter-Residence Council, 24-hour halls 24-hour visitation. Currently, residence halls such as visitation means a student can have Tucker and Owen, a person of the opwhich cater mainly posite gender in the to first-year students, dorm room at any will not have 24-hour time throughout the visitation regulations. day for up to three “Down the road, consecutive days, or it’s important to have 10 days a semester. halls that aren’t 24 The Emerging Ishours,” Skully said. sues Commit tee One issue students within IRC conductand University Housed a survey in seving face is non-comeral residence halls pliance to the 24-hour regarding 24-hour regulations already in visitation, and then place. presented the results At IRC meetings, to t he Universit y Lindsay Skully, IRC president Skully said there were Housing Advisor y comments along the Committee, according to Jordan Lohn, freshman in lines of “It’s a rule that’s not enforced.” mechanical engineering and IRC Susan Grant, director of University Housing, said enforcement falls to representative, said. The survey indicated that 90 per- resident advisers. “Students live on floors where RAs cent of on-campus residents who did not already have 24-hour visitation live. It’s the RA’s responsibility to would be in favor of expansion of communicate what the rules, polithe regulation. The survey also said cies and regulations are,” Grant said. While 24-hour visitation is an op73 percent of respondents claimed visitation hours to be a key factor in tion for students in certain residence choosing where to live the next year. halls, Lohn said it is important for “The halls wanted 24-hour visita- roommates to discuss visitation when tion, but students wanted an option making roommate agreements. for not 24-hour visitation,” Lindsay Skully, president of the IRC and se-
“The halls wanted 24-hour visitation, but students wanted an option for not 24-hour visitation.”
thomas obarowski/Technician
A man paints Chinese characters on a piece of paper at the Mahler Fine Arts Gallery during a Chinese New Year celebration, Wednesday. Each character symbolizes another day of good health added to the painter’s life.
English, has only been in the United States for a short period of time and said the festival is widespread in China. “It’s a Chinese festival where everyone gets together and eats food like dumplings,” Zhang said.
University eGames expand with donation
Lamm said the event was a networking opportunity as much as it was a way to celebrate what the Chinese regard as their most important holiday.
new year continued page 3
make my day
A large donation from Bob Young of Red Hat will help expand and improve eGames over next five years.
and he serves on my advisory board. He’s been very supportive and always willing to help out ... I was absolutely thrilled when he said let’s get together,” Miller said. Miller said he is excited about the prospects of being able to expand Sarah Dashow the eGames with the assurance the Staff Writer donation provides. “We started brainstorming a lot of The Entrepreneurship Initiative has put on the annual N.C. State eGames ideas, and one thing that we want since 2009. This year, the games are to do is add more categories to the changing with a $250,000 personal eGames so that students can comdonation from Bob Young, founder of pete in different areas,” Miller said. A new category is being added to Red Hat and CEO of Lulu. It is the first large donation to support the eGames the games this year. To show support for the University’s new music specifically. The donation will be given over the entrepreneurship minor, there is an arts feasibility next five years. The challenge. name of the event “It’s more broad, has been changed the arts entrepreto the Lulu eGames neurship. We have to ref lect the new students who are sponsorship. Lulu less technica l ly will also be involved minded and [want in judging the comto] give them an petition. opportunity to get There are multiple involved as well,” challenges at the Miller said. eGames, and stuItalo Leiva, judents can work indinior in psychology vidually or in teams. Italo Leiva, founder of and founder of LeiThe prizes equal up Leiva Strings va Strings, particito $30,000. pated in 2010 and A self-starter himself, Young is a strong supporter of won in multiple categories. His comentrepreneurial endeavors. He has a pany creates colored guitar strings history with Tom Miller, senior vice that help make it easier to read sheet provost for Academic Outreach and music and learn guitar. “It gave me the tools I needed to Entrepreneurship, in starting up the Linux Expo and continues to partici- go out and pitch my idea, the right way. I am forever thankful for that. pate in the University’s program. “[Young] has known the work I’ve been doing ever since the early 90s, eGames continued page 3
“It gave me the tools I needed to go out and pitch my idea, the right way. I am forever thankful for that.”
oliver sholder/Technician
Ms. Wolf and her assistant shoot shirts into the crowd at the N.C. State vs. Boston College game. Every game, a few lucky game attendees will catch a shirt.
insidetechnician
Responses to “Evolution: theory, not fact” See page 4.
Protecting endangered species See page 5.
Ryan Hill is the man of the Mile See page 8.
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Valentines Specials - February 13&14 25% off all jewelry and plush toys Single-stem roses with baby breath - $7.99 Valentine’s Day tees 25% off
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