The Statesman informing stony brook university for more than 50 years
Volume LV, Issue 22
Monday, March 26, 2012
sbstatesman.com
Roller Hockey forfeits bid to the national championship By Nelson Oliveira Assistant News Editor
For five consecutive years, the Roller Hockey Club at Stony Brook University made it to the national championship. Despite being qualified for a sixth time this year, the team will not be playing at the tournament because the players could not afford to fly to Utah, where the event will be held in April. Roller Hockey Treasurer Harrison Last went to the Undergraduate Student Government Senate meeting on Thursday, March 22, to announce his team’s withdrawal from the national championship after the senate failed to vote on a revision to amend current Financial Bylaws flight restrictions. The National Collegiate Roller Hockey Association, or NCRHA was “very upset” at the decision, according to Last, and the team has been fined $795. He also said that other fines and sanctions could be announced soon and the team could even be suspended for a year. USG started imposing flight restriction when it revised its financial bylaws last summer. In the past, USG has paid for the Roller Hockey club to fly to Wisconsin and Illinois to compete in the national tournament. The team won the championship in the 2006-2007 season. A revision to allow USG to fund flights was discussed at the March 15 meeting, but the senate could not reach a consensus before the end of the meeting. Days later, the club told NCRHA it was forfeiting the bid to the tournament because the players could not afford to pay $5,200 to fly to Salt Lake City, where the games will take place between April 11 and 16. USG President Mark Maloof, who has pushed to end the restrictions, was upset at the situation. He said the USG could have done more to support what is now “one of the top roller hockey teams in the country.” “Disappointed doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel,” he said. “I wish there was a way to fix it.” USG Senator David Adams recently said he doesn't think USG should be paying for expensive "hobbies." "Limiting is a reality," he said. "If a hobby is more expensive, I am not saying that we don't give them any money, but we have to be more realistic and work within our budget." Although the revision was on the agenda last week, the senate decided to table it until the next meeting – this Thursday – so more urgent business could be taken care of. Last said he’s disappointed with the system, not with the senators.
Hindu Students Council came together to celebrate the beginning of spring for HOLI 2012. Photo by Ezra Margono.
"Where's the bus?" There's an app for that A new app will let students track the location of buses, give feedback on how they run By Chelsea Katz Staff Writer
Stony Brook students will no longer have to wait for extended periods of time for campus buses. The Center of Wireless and Information Technology is introducing a new system, SBU Smart Transit, which will allow students to track campus buses online and on smartphones. SBU Smart Transit uses global positioning satellite (GPS) devices to show how many students are on a
given bus, where the bus is in its route and its estimated time of arrival at the next stop. The GPS systems were recently installed on the buses, and bus drivers use an Android tablet to state if the vehicle is in or out of service. An infrared camera installed on top of bus entrances looks for the tops of riders’ heads and shoulders and provides a count of how many people are on the bus. Students have to completely move through a physical field in order to be counted as a passenger.
Students can also use the online SBU Smart Transit system to give feedback for transportation services, such as requests for a new stop or to report a bus that is not running on time. The system is currently in its pilot phase and is projected to have all aspects of the program up and running by 2013. The project for creating a GPS system for campus buses came about last spring, when students made a request for a smart system to track vehicles. This way, they would not
need to wait as long for buses in cold or inclement weather. The Facilities and Services department decided to work with CEWIT and use SBU undergraduates and graduates in effort to reduce the price of the project. Students formed teams to maintain the SBU Smart Transit services for mobile devices and website. “It keeps the fees for everybody low,” said Jennifer Wong, an associate Continued on Page 3
Walking the line with university police By Christine Powell Contributing Writer
The unseasonably warm weather has summoned the masses to Staller steps once more. But another grassy area close-by attracts a different group –slackliners. Slacklining is the practice of walking along or performing stunts on one-inch webbing held between two anchors, most commonly trees. Not to be confused with tightrope walking, the line is not taut and bounces under one's weight, which makes balancing more of a challenge. The group of slackliners has only recently resurfaced, though, after being
ordered to stop by campus police in November. According a practitioner who asked to remain anonymous, two police offers once approached the group and said that they were going to write a report on the incident, but revealed no reasoning other than that a member of administration had complained. "They asked us for our I.D.s and told us that someone had complained about us," the source said. "We asked them what rule we had broken and they wouldn't tell us. They said only that someone had complained." The source said that the officers took the identification information of two group members and threatened to
confiscate their equipment and punish the group with a referral if they were found slacklining again. In the past, the group has had pleasant interactions with campus police, who have stopped while walking or driving to watch their performances. According to the source, an officer once asked if he could participate and walked on the line himself. Since then, the group has spoken with administration and attempted to figure out what rule they had broken by reviewing the Student Conduct Code. "Failing to find any violations, we initiated the process of establishing ourselves as a club," the source said in an email. "At this point, we have
been engaged in this process for more than four months without making any substantial progress beyond receiving verbal permission to continue slacklining." Campus police did not return phone calls for comment. In the past, those who practice the sport on campus have had no real organization. Typically, they would arrange to meet each other through text messages whenever the desire struck, the source said. Once they gain official recognition as a club, though, that will change. Continued on Page 6