Technician
friday february
25 2011
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
N.C. State the focus of Atorney General’s investigation A man from Utah has asked the N.C. Attorney General to investigate bid practices at NCSU and ECU. John Wall Staff Writer
Lynn Packer has asked the North Carolina Attorney General’s office to investigate bid practices at N.C. State and East Carolina University. N.C. State purchased 100 units of Mediasite appliances between 2004 and 2009, according to Packer. Mediasite is a product made by Sonic Foundry of Wisconsin that allows professors to record lectures using rich media capture. Blain Woods, assistant director for purchasing for the University, said he has pulled purchase orders back to 2004, and he has been told the equipment has been on the campus for ten to twelve years. Packer, from Utah, is in the process of bringing another lecture capture product to market, called V-Chassis. “In the course of bringing [V-Chassis] to market, I started doing research on how lecture capture equipment was marketed. That’s when I started to see indicators that Sonic Foundry was able to skirt competitive bidding laws,” Packer said. Packer said N.C. State bought Mediasite in 2010 without going through a competitive bid process. “States have laws that require state agencies to ensure that they use some sort of competitive bid process in order to procure goods and services,” Packer said. Woods weighed in on the Mediasite
bid process. “The departments already had inventory of the existing equipment from the same manufacturer and state law allows us to waive the bid process if there’s seniortization [sic] and compatibility,” Woods said. During his initial personal investigation, Packer contacted N.C. State to obtain documents relevant to the procurement of lecture capture equipment. Packer said he has been less than happy with the time the University has taken to send him documents he requested. Clifton Williams, University records officer, said he began working with Packer two months ago. “I have provided Mr. Packer with several hundred documents, and I continue to work with him on this,” Williams said. “I have explained to Mr. Packer that there is no specific timeline established in state law as it relates to the release of public records.” Packer also claimed an N.C. State faculty member, Tom Miller, was on a Sonic Foundry advisory board. “He was on the board near the time that the University acquired its first Mediasite appliance,” Packer said. “He has told me that he had nothing to do with that.” Miller, who said he wears “two hats,” is the vice provost for distance education and leaning technologies, and is also director of the University’s entrepreneurship initiative. “I served on the advisory board for Sonic Foundry. The advisory board is not the board of directors,” Miller said. “It’s an informal board that the company puts together.” Keith Nichols, director of news and
CSLEPS movie focused on combating local poverty CSLEPS members have made a short documentary to inform students about American social issues. Justin Rose Staff Writer
The Center for Student Leadership, Ethics, and Public Service is hoping to raise hunger awareness with their Campus Movie Fest submission, “Stamps.” The first part of this investigative film is comprised of several interviews from students giving their thoughts about poverty as well as hunger and the implementation of food stamps. The remainder explores what living off of $4.14—the cost of food stamps per day, $130 a month, in N.C.— equates to at the grocery store. Three students examined their choices and bought, with their $4.14, what they thought was sufficient for a day’s worth of food. Campus Movie Fest is a student film competition designed to showcase student talent through the creation of short, independently made,
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communications, commented on the role faculty members play outside the University. “It’s not unusual for faculty members, regardless of their discipline, to be in the position, whether they are on a formal advisory board or not, to interact with for-profit companies outside the University either on a formal advisory basis, or an informal basis,” Nichols said. “It’s not only not unusual, it’s expected. As faculty we’re expected to be practitioners engaged in whatever our field of knowledge is out in the community,” Miller said. Miller received compensation from Sonic Foundry for his involvement with the advisory board. Since the company is based in Wisconsin, Miller said he had to have compensation for the days he would take off from work, and for travel. Sonic Foundry also included stock options in his compensation package. “[Miller] never exercised the options, and in fact the options have expired,” Nichols said. Miller said he has not received compensation since 2005. Marc Hoit, vice chancellor of the office of information technology, said Central IT bought between 50 and 52 Mediasite appliances this past year. “We paid $440,000. They are around $8,000 to $9,000 apiece,” Hoit said. All 150 units cost the University more than $1 million, according
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photo illustration by Danielle Neujahr
Reenacting events that have happened on campus, Josh Helms, a freshmen in paper science, prays on Morgan Piner, a freshmen in marine science, as she sits outside the C-store in Central Campus. N.C. State is an open campus which means that people from anywhere can get onto campus without any problems.
Open campus has a dark side Incidents related to non-students raise concerns over campus safety. Joshua Chappell Senior Staff Writer
The daily crime log, published online by Campus Police, records oncampus crimes, disturbances and traffic offenses. For the most part, these incidents involve University students, faculty and staff. However, non-students are also frequently involved. During eight of the past ten days, at least one non-student has been involved in an on-campus incident requiring the involvement of Campus Police. This raises concerns about the level of safety on campus. According to Jon Barnwell, patrol division commander for campus police, the policy is essential to the identity of the University. “By focusing on practical education
for the common people, N.C. State became known as an institution for all North Carolinians,” Barnwell said. “As part of the UNC System, N.C. State’s campus and resources are open for use by the general public.” Barnwell went on to say while this principle is essential to the University, it comes with inevitable safety challenges. “Although [the policy] brings up concerns in relation to safety; the freedom of movement, interaction and the exchange of ideas is a core value for the N.C. State community,” Barnwell said. For Lauren Caddick, a sophomore in art and design, the policy of an open campus is important because it helps students learn how to live independently. “I think that a key part of the college experience is finally living out in the real world, which is not always a gated community,” Caddick said.
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films. The winner of the competition will go to Hollywood on the wings of a $10,000 grant. If “Stamps” makes it into the top 16, it will be premiered along with the other 15 at the campus cinema in Witherspoon this Sunday at 7:30 p.m. The doors open at 7:00 p.m. and students are encouraged to arrive early as a high turnout is expected. The top 16 films are unannounced prior to the event, meaning all the filmmakers will have to wait until the premier to see if their work made it to the big screen. However, even if “Stamps” is not shown at the event, or if students cannot make it to the premier, it will be made available for public viewing on the Campus Movie Fest website. Director Alexandria McCall, freshman in mathematics and mathematics education, said the filmmaking process was tiring and somewhat frustrating. “It was a lot of work,” McCall said. “I’m exhausted, but we had
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Wolfpack pulls out third straight win on Senior Night See page 8.
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Jamming out at the end of a difficult song, Branden Mooney, a junior in graphic design, shows off his skills at Rock Band on expert difficulty. Mooney is downstairs in Talley at least once a week, mainly to jam on Rock Band. “I love music and art, so video games are a good way to combine the two,” Mooney said. Talley Gameroom offers a membership plan which allows students to pay $10 per year in order to rent video games from the Gameroom. “[Video games] are a good way to take a load off,” Mooney said.
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