Technician
19 2011
Constant construction impacts daily life
University gives students a chance to combine physical activity with campus tours.
Hundreds of units to occupy ten stories off Hillsborough Street, but construction disturbs students.
Elise Heglar
John Wall
Deputy News Editor
News Editor
The University is embracing the growing bike culture in Raleigh by offering campus bike tours to students through Campus Rec. The tours began last fall with the start of the Wolf Wheels program, which enables students to rent bikes on a daily, weekend, weekly or semester basis. WolfWheels was started as an effort to make campus more sustainable in terms of transportation, according to David Crye, the outdoor adventures coordinator for University Recreation. “We are trying to develop more of a biking community on campus. WolfWheels had its first full year last year and we had a lot of success with that,” Crye said. WolfWheels provides bikes for students who do not own one and wish to participate in the campus tours. The tour focuses on the main campus area and also shows students some short cuts through campus, how to get to downtown Raleigh by bike and important campus landmarks. “Due to things like gas prices going up, the University being congested and sustainability awareness growing, biking is becoming a popular way for students to get around campus,” Crye said. Alison Carpenter, a planner for transportation and guide for the bike
A multi-million dollar off-campus apartment and parking deck project has begun to take shape off of Hillsborough Street. Located behind the Dan Allen parking deck and Sullivan Hall, the privately owned apartment building and adjoining deck will be finished Aug. 2012. All night construction over the summer has left residents of Sullivan Hall sleepless, many of whom are freshmen. The relentless heat this summer has forced general contractors at Brasfield & Gorrie to schedule work 24 hours a day. Concrete cannot be poured when the weather is too hot, so workers set up forms in the daytime, and then pour concrete at night when it is cooler. Overnight work will end once temperatures fall, according to project manager Dave Finch. “It’s not ideal to split your crews and work during the day sometimes and work at night sometimes. It’s a lot more cost effective for us to work during the day,” Finch said. “I know that’s a pain in the butt for people that live around here, and we certainly appreciate everyone’s cooperation. Night work should end soon.” Avery O’Brien, a freshman in management, said she has a friend in Sullivan, also a freshman, who loses sleep nightly due to construction noise. “Every morning around 3 a.m.
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WolfWheels offers bike tours
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Construction continues at the Valentine Commons apartment complex Thursday. When it opens in Aug. 2012, the complex will have two, three and four-bedroom units.
277 apartments will house 977 beds. Each apartment will have its own washer and dryer, and a private bathroom. Rising ten stories, tenants will be able to choose from two, three or four bedroom units, according to intern and civil engineering graduate student Elizabeth Western. Similar to on-campus residence halls, each f loor will have a study lounge. Also, a fitness center will be on the first floor. The University has no ownership stake in the property, but nonetheless a C-store will “eventually be added on a building,” Finch said. Capstone Development of Birmingham, Ala. owns the property. Capstone set up a leasing office
my friend and his roommate wake up and can’t go back to sleep. They just sit there and listen,” O’Brien said. “I have been in their dorm before at nighttime, and [the construction site] is literally right outside the window.” University Towers, although not as close to the site as Sullivan, is within earshot of noise. However, residents said they could not hear anything from inside. Lauren Lee, a freshman in chemical engineering and University Towers resident, has seen the construction such as the large crane moving, in her four days on campus. She has not been disturbed while in her room, though. Finch said he has not received any complaints.
across from the project on Hillsborough Street. Located next door to Pita Pit, it will open Monday at 9 a.m. Leasing agents were preparing for the opening Wednesday afternoon. They could not release vital information such as unit pricing, but did say renters would pay for single rooms --not entire apartments. This is consistent with other off-campus housing complex arrangements such as those at WolfCreek and Lake Park. Val Valentine, a local landowner and developer, sold the land to Capstone. Valentine owns the land in front of the site where ValPark currently sits.
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Community garden aims to expand Managers try to increase student interest.
Coaches’ Corner spotlight: Jim Valvano
Justin Rose Deputy News Editor
Part of this outreach includes a major effort to educate students face to face about creating safe environments for minority groups on campus. Bascombe said this idea came about very recently, and that he can’t wait to develop it more in coming weeks. “The most important thing should be to make students happy,” Bascombe said. “We can’t ignore offensive slurs and images in the [free expression] tunnel, but we can promote inclusiveness in hopes that it will overshadow hate and discrimination.” Other groups at the Jam said they had a similar objective for the semester. Lauren Collier, UAB committee chair and sophomore in animal
The Students For Organic United Living (SOUL) Garden, located on Centennial Campus, now in its second year, will focus on getting more students involved during the fall semester, according to managers. Expansion for the garden, which is still highly dependent on volunteer work and donated soil, started with increasing its personnel. New to the team is co-manager Ariel Greenwood, a senior in psychology, who joined over the summer. “We’re very optimistic to make the garden more communal and increase participation,” Greenwood said. “There will be more incentive to stay involved if students have plots out there.” Greenwood said she also hopes to get the attention of more students not necessarily involved in agriculture and make sure they stay involved -- an endeavor that will probably require more management and supervision. “The main objective is to have more volunteer opportunities structured in a way that they have a meaningful impact,” Greenwood said. “And if [plot] renters can grow more of what they want, they can tend their garden more effectively.” Bryan Maxwell, a senior in civil engineering and former chair of the Sustainability Commission, was one of first to help establish
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Members of the Alpha Nu Omega fraternity step dance for the Back to School Jam on Thursday.
sarah tudor/Technician
Student hosts Back to School Jam for TV
SPECIAL BACK TO SCHOOL HOURS: Friday - August 19 - 8am to 6pm Saturday - August 20 - 10am to 5pm Sunday - August 21 - 1pm to 5pm
www.ncsu.edu/bookstore
The spirit-nourishing fast
Ramadan is more than just a month of fasting, but a time in which muslims refine their faith. See page 5.
viewpoint features classifieds sports
or a 4 minute walk from Hillsborough Street
There is no access to the bookstore by car when classes are in session. However, on weekends and after 5pm, parking is open on campus.
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Kornelius Bascombe, a senior in sociology, covered his second event as a TV show host Thursday afternoon during UAB’s annual Back to School Jam on Harris Field. Bascombe recently won a national competition to host a debut Time Warner Cable Inc. TV talk show. He said he hoped the event- organized by the Black Students Board, one of N.C. State’s first African American organizations- would help minority students find their niche on campus and take a stand against discrimination. The young TV host took the stage to fire up the crowd and introduce various performance groups, including
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Deputy News Editor
Pack host first regular season game in renovated stadium. See page 8.
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NCSU dance and step teams, despite his initial anxiety about his second official test as an entertainer. “I’m a little nervous, definitely,” Bascombe said during the event. “But I want to remember to have fun with it and make it really interactive, too.” Bascombe’s first test for the show, called “TWC Presents: Born to Shine,” was in Miami, where he interviewed local African American celebrities who had impacted their communities in positive and meaningful ways. The Back to School Jam, however, was Bascombe’s first chance at State to show off in front of the cameras. He said the event is also the start of his official branding for the TWC show. “This is all about setting up the foundation and setting a direction for the semester,” Bascombe said. “I want to start building more on-campus relationships.”
Opener cements change in soccer landscape
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Contest winner gets first chance to cover an on campus event.
A bust of Jim Valvano will be added to the Coaches’ Corner. See page 8.
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