Thursday, November 15, 2012

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THE APPALACHIAN TheAppalachianOnline.com

Tuesday, November 15, 2012

Vol. 87, No. 21

Petitions for U.S. states to secede is ‘ludicrous’

by CHELSEY FISHER News Editor by STEPHANIE SANSOUCY Senior News Reporter

A

petition to the White House for North Carolina to secede from the United States has 27,669 signatures from citizens, as of press time. Every state except Vermont has started a petition. However, seven states have over 25,000 signatures, as of press time, according to petitions.whitehouse.gov. Any petition with over 25,000 signatures will get a formal response from the Obama Administration. The website lists Randy D. from Pittsboro as the creator of the petition for the Tar Heel State’s secession. However, for a secession to happen, it would have to be decided by the state legislature, not citizens, political science pro-

fessor Adam Newmark said. “It’s just a bunch of people who aren’t happy with the election results,” he said. Newmark said in most states, it’s just a “handful” of people who are upset about the election results. It would be difficult for a state after it secedes, since the “vast majority” of states currently trying to secede receive more federal funding than they give in taxes, Newmark said. “People will grumble for a few months but then this will die down,” he said. The biggest issue for a state that seceded would be allocating things within the state, Newmark said. “This is just so ludicrouss, it’s not going to happen,” he said. Political science professor Brian Ellison, said he too believes a succession is not possible. “North Carolina would have to defeat the U.S.

Source petitions.whitehouse.gov

military to secede,” Ellison said. “That’s the model and precedence set.” Vice Chair of the College Republicans Wesley Gwinn said, in his opinion, he could understand the sentiment and anger felt by the creators of the

petitions, but doesn’t think seceding is the correct answer. “Not only is it unconstitutional in the state constitution, but it’s not the right way to approach this,” Gwinn said. “It hides real solutions we could

University works toward susatinability by STEPHANIE SANSOUCY

Senior News Reporter

be getting to. It diverts from addressing the actual problem with an extreme approach.” Sophomore psychology major Evan Sakrison said even though he supports government at the state level, he does not agree

with the petition. “I find it hilariously ridiculous that states are attempting to secede from the union, especially after Obama’s re-election,” Sakrison said. “It completely deviates from people’s cries for ‘unity.’”

Club takes a stand for freedom for 27 hours by KELLI STRAKA

Editor’s Note: This is the second of a two-part series looking into different aspects of Appalachian State’s sustainability initiatives.

tion because it seems so crazy and unjust,” Barnett said. Appalachian’s IJM Vice For 27 hours, more than 100 President Taylor Smith came students are taking turns stand- Wednesday night to “raise ing for the estimated 27 million awareness across campus about slaves in the world today. the injustices in the world toThe event, Stand 4 Freedom, day.” takes place on Sanford Mall Smith said he hopes people from Wednesday at 5 p.m. to become more aware and conThursday at 8 p.m and is hosted science of what’s going on it the by the university’s International world. Justice Mission club, a human “Our generation is a generarights agency that secures jus- tion of people that want to be tice for victims of slavery, sexual involved and want to make an exploitation and other forms of impact,” Smith said. “We’re a violent oppression. very cause-oriented generation “We just exist for the purpose and I think this is a cause everyof raising awareness and educat- one can agree on and rally being our camhind.” pus, as well as Appalafundraising chian’s IJM “We’re college students for InternaPublicity and we’re all poor and tional Justice Coordinator starving, but for us to be M i s s i o n s , ” able to give a little back to Chr istopher President of people who really need it Ward, a seIJM Madisson nior industrial is a cool opportunity.” Barnett. design maThis is the Appalachian’s IJM Publicity Coordinator jor, stood on Christopher Ward club’s first seSanford Mall mester as an We d n e s d a y official orgaevening. nization. Ward said he came out to sup“It’s amazing how many peo- port what IJM stands for and ple don’t know slavery is still a the 27 million “voiceless” slaves problem in the modern day and around the world. we want people to know, because “This is our chance to support there are things people can do them and raise awareness for with their voice,” Barnett said. that,” he said. Barnett, a senior political As publicity coordinator, science major, hopes to have Ward said it was “exciting” to around 270 students come and organize the club’s first big raise $2,700 in donations to event of the year, and to “unite support the work of IJM. the campus for a common goal.” Currently, they have raised “We’re college students and about $1,400, Barnett said. we’re all poor and starving, but “I’m really excited and en- for us to be able to give a little couraged about reaching our back to people who really need goal,” Barnett said. “We might it is a cool opportunity,” Ward be poor college students, but we said. can give up a latte every now Stand 4 Freedom is a fall and then and just donate $5.” campaign for IJM, which AppaBarnett said she wants to en- lachian is one of seven universicourage students to give a little ties piloting the campaign. bit of their time and money for Donations will be accepted IJM. until the end of the semester at “When people are aware of ijm.org/campus-chapters/appathings like this, it turns into ac- lachian-state-university. News Reporter

Physical Plant Director Mike O’Connor said while Appalachian is sustainable, there is still room for improvement. “Are we doing everything 100 percent sustainability oriented? The answer is no,” O’Connor said. “There’s lots of room for improvement.” REI Brian Zimmer is a geology professor at Appalachian who considers sustainability to be a hobby of his. “Based on just looking at the specs [of the Broyhill wind turbine] myself, at its optimum output, at its optimum efficiency, the thing would be profitable in five to 10 years,” Zimmer said. “The problem is that we don’t have high class winds on top of the Broyhill. That pushes back the profitability time to 40 to 50 years in order for the turbine to pay off and that’s getting close to its time span.” The wind turbine, which was placed in 2009, was not put onto Howard’s Knob where it would produce eight times as much power because Appalachian does not own the land. Zimmer’s concern was that this “gives ammunition” to opponents of wind power because they can argue that it’s not profitable. Zimmer said if the wind turbine is looked at as a symbol and a learning tool then it is worth the time and money. But depsite the location, Zimmer said he still upholds the notion that the wind turbine is sustainable. “To say it’s not sustainable isn’t true,” Zimmer said. “Economically viable may be where it runs into trouble.” Crystal Simmons works in the Office of Sustainability and was the project manager for the wind turbine at the Broyhill Events Center when she was a student at Appalachian. “The mission of the REI is to offset the university’s fossil fuels and so where the university operates, that’s where we need to be installing renewable energy because it offsets our use,” Simmons said. She said the power the wind turbine generates compared to the power used on campus is less than a 10th of a percent. The Broyhill Events Center and the baseball field use the power generated by the wind turbine

Malik Rahili | The Appalachian

Photo Illustration | Olivia Wilkes

The wind turbine, located at the Broyhill Events Center, was placed in 2009 and produces power for the center and the nearby baseball field. Appalachian is among the most sustainable universities in the nation, receiving a score of 98 out of 99 on Princeton Review's 2010-11 Green College rankings.

when it is in use. “If any of the projects that the REI does were motivated by the paybacks, we wouldn’t do any of it,” Simmons said. “This is because Appalachian is a state institution and can not use state or federal tax credits.” Physical Plant O’Connor said the Physical Plant has been involved in sustainability through energy.

The Physical Plant has made investments in buildings to make them more efficient, which means better Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning controls, installation of efficient lighting – such as LEDs – and working on Appalachian’s steam system. Appalachian burns natural gas to turn it into steam and through a pipe system sends the steam into see SUSTAINABILITY, pg. 3

Correction: In the Nov. 13 issue of The Appalachian, the article “Residence halls working toward sustainability” cited sars.aashe.org, instead of stars.aashe.org. The Appalachian apologizes for the error.

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