thebattalion ● tuesday,
july 24, 2012
● serving
texas a&m since 1893
● first paper free – additional copies $1 ● © 2012 student media
Jennifer Nguyen — THE BATTALION
Power towers Utility system saves University millions, reduces greenhouse gas emissions Camryn Ford The Battalion
G
enerating up to 50 megawatts of power, Texas A&M University’s Central Utility Plant produces two-thirds of campus power through its combined heat and power generation system. The $73.25 million system which is about to reach its first birthday has covered its own costs in the past year, and is saving the University money which can be invested in other high priority requirements. Jim Riley, executive director of Utilities and Energy Services said, “The system operates continuously to provide two-thirds of the campus electrical power plus thermal energy
for cooling and heating campus.” The Combined Heat and Power system is projected to have an annual cost avoidance of $6 to $10 million with a payback period of less than 10 years. After it pays itself off, the system is expected to last an additional 20 years. While reaching 80 percent efficiency, it is providing a reliable on-site electrical and thermal energy
source for the campus, Riley said. The University spends $30 million each year on purchased utilities and about $40 million is spent on operation, maintenance, and costs that deal with the utilities and energy services, totaling $70 million in expenditures. Although the campus is in the expansion process, the amount of energy consumption has reduced by 25 percent with a 40 percent reduction in energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions on a persquare-foot basis over a ten-year period. “This energy consumption See Utilities on page 4
Roger Zhang — THE BATTALION
Switches integrate networks together and deliver Internet access to students and faculty. About every 20 months, bandwidth demand doubles. Future plans includes upgrading the current 20 gigabit network to 100 gigabit network — a first in Texas if approved.
Data centers decrease system downtime Roger Zhang The Battalion
T
ype in www.howdy.com in the URL address box in any Internet browser and the website magically works.
Services like Howdy Portal along with financial aid, grades, neo email, class registration and more are run by the University. Behind the scenes of these services lays an intricate network of servers, supercomputers, hard drives, cables and refrigerant that make the whole system work.
Texas A&M University has two tier-2-level data centers on campus: the main data center in the Teague Building and a smaller data center in the Wehner Building. These data centers house everything from student See IT on page 6
aurora shooting
religion
Former Blinn student one of 12 killed in CO
Holy month for Muslims begins
Suspected shooter may receive death penalty Trevor Stevens The Battalion Jessica Ghawi, avid hockey fan, aspiring sports journalist and Texas native, was one of 12 people killed early Friday morning when a man opened a spray of gunfire at “The Dark Night Rises” premiere in Aurora, Colo. Ghawi, a former College Station resident while attending Blinn College, moved from San Antonio, to study broadcast journalism near Denver, Colo., where Ghawi’s long-time high school friend from San Antonio, Brent Lowak, flew to visit Ghawi and see the midnight premiere. Moments before the two close friends would be struck by bullets, Ghawi texted her mother for the last time. “Get some sleep mom. I’m really excited for you to come visit. Need my mamma,” Ghawi
texted her mother, who uploaded a screenshot of the conversation on Twitter. The Associated Press talked with the parents of Lowak while he was in critical condition at Children’s Hospital Colorado. Lowak’s mother, Sue Greene of Bulverde, Texas, said the two were sitting in their sixth or seventh row seats when they heard the hiss of gas canisters thrown by the gunman. Greene said her son and Ghawi ducked, but not before Ghawi was hit in the leg. According to Greene, as Ghawi screamed, her son applied pressure to the wound. Then she stopped screaming. Lowak realized his friend had been shot again, and soon she was dead. He had been wounded, as well. Shot in the backside, he couldn’t walk or run to safety. Lowak crawled away, and he managed to find a van taking victims to the hospital. “Only then did he leave her. They were best friends,” Greene said. See Ghawi on page 5
During Ramadan, Muslims abstain from food, drink Joanna Raines The Battalion
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jessica Ghawi, former Blinn student and Texas native, avoided a Toronto mall shooting last month.
penn state
NCAA levies sanctions against Penn State amid scandal Penn State loses wins from 1998, must pay $60 million Aaron Deering The Battalion Eleven days after former FBI director Louis Freeh’s report on Pennsylvania State University’s football program, the NCAA announced a list of severe penalties against the school. Penn State will: pay $60 million, the equivalent of one-year’s revenue from the football program, which will go to an endowment for programs preventing child sexual abuse or preventing current victims; incur a four-year bowl ban; vacate all wins dating back to 1998; reduce 20 total scholarships over the four year period; and be placed on probation for five years. Penn State’s conference, the Big 10, has levied its own sanctions: a five-year ban from the conference championship and it will withhold Penn State’s allocation from the Big 10’s bowl
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revenue pool to the tune of $13 million, to be paid to charities of the Big 10’s choice. These sanctions come nearly a year after former defensive coordinator for the team, Jerry Sandusky, was accused of molesting children within Penn State facilities and his home. The Freeh report found that the head coach of the team for the past 45 years, Joe Paterno, along with other administrators hid information they knew about the scandal. Since the allegations arose last year, Sandusky has been convicted of 45 counts of child molestation and many school administrators have been fired. Andre Ward, a junior mechanical engineer, said he felt bad for the student athletes. “When you love playing as much as they do, this is a rough punishment,” Ward said. The NCAA’s sanctions have serious implications. First, by sitting out bowl games for four years and vacating all possible revenue from these games, the program will be hit hard and
boosters will have to carry the slack. This also sets back recruiting for the next five years due to the difficulty in recruiting top athletes when they know they won’t see a bowl game until 2017. Second, vacating wins dating that far back means Penn State gives up 112 wins, including six bowl wins and two conference championships. Paterno once stood as the winningest coach in NCAA history with 409 wins, but now slips to 12th with 298. People across the nation said Penn State could face the infamous ‘death penalty’ that Southern Methodist University in Dallas suffered in 1987, which cancelled their entire season that year along. Bryce House, junior accounting major, said the punishment fits the crime. “It’s justified, it’s just about right for what happened,” House said. “It definitely hurts the students though and the image of the University for the graduates.”
The holy month for Muslims, as dictated by the Quran, Ramadan began Thursday, This month commemorates the revelation Prophet Muhammad received which inspired the Islamic holy book. Ramadan occurs in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is a period of 30 days where Muslims abstain from eating, drinking, smoking and sexual relations from sunrise to sunset. The fasting is to Ramadan promote selfdiscipline and meals awareness of During Ramadan, God. two meals are Before the eaten. The first, fast begins, “suhoor,” is eaten Muslims prebefore dawn and pare both second, “iftar,” physically and after sundown. spiritually. “Throughout even the month before starting, all the Muslims try to gain up strength and eat healthy and rest, exercise, do all the different things to prepare mentally and physically,” said Amna Ahmed, Class of 2011 and current graduate student. Ahmed said the community also prepares spiritually by memorizing and trying to understand passages of the Quran. Living minimally for a month allows for a time of reflection and See Ramadan on page 5
7/23/12 10:25 PM