Spikin’ it
An Artful Touch
The importance of history
Volleyball serves up perfect
MazGal hosts interactive
conference record - p. 14
exhibit- p. 9
Residence speaks - p. 8
T h e G aT e p o s T Framingham Sta te Unive r sity’s inde pe nde nt stude nt ne w s p a p e r s in c e 1 9 3 2
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GATEPOST@FRAMINGHAM.EDU
kills two lizards By Spencer Buell EDITOR-IN-CHIEF By Kerrin Murray ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Two lizards were killed and classes
Hundreds of students gathered outside the building as they waited for give the all clear to head to class.
Danielle Vecchione/The Gatepost
President Flanagan surveys scene outside Hemenway Hall Wednesday morning.
FSU replaces taxi vouchers with expanded Ram Tram service By Cristina Valente STAFF WRITER
Framingham State University has recently terminated the sale of taxi vouchers due to a newly expanded Ram Tram service. The taxi vouchers had been sold in the game room for four years. They be used to go to various locations in the Framingham/Natick area such as Shopper’s World, the Natick Mall, AMC Movie Theaters and the Framingham Commuter Rail Station.
For three years, FSU sold vouchers from Tommy’s Taxi in Framingham for $20 per book. For the 2011-12 academic year, the vouchers were sold through JFK Transportation for $25 per book. Despite the price increase, 1,736 books were sold last year. Associate Director of Student Involvement and Leadership Development (SILD) Claire Ostrander explained that a state-regulated bidding system determined which company served the campus. Each year, companies would place their bids, and
whichever company offered the most inexpensive service won. Last year, JFK outbid Tommy’s Taxi. However, the $5 increase had nothing to do with the change from Tommy’s to JFK. The price was raised to help FSU subsidize the remaining cost for service, said Ostrander. Dean of Students Melinda Stoops said, “We paid the difference from the actual cost of the ride and the $5 the students paid.” - Continued on page 3
War reporter David Finkel speaks to Freshman class By Talia Adry EDITORIAL STAFF
For millions of Americans, the surge of 2007 was a news headline on their television screens, announcing that an additional 21,000 troops were being sent into the war in Iraq. For David Finkel, the surge was time spent wearing tactical gear driving in a Humvee, while surrounded by a battalion of 800 soldiers from Fort Riley, Kan. Last Monday, the Pulitzer-prize winning Finkel began his lecture at FSU with a video taken in East Baghdad. Finkel’s narration is soft and deep, quickly listing the protective measures the young soldiers had taken as they traveled from one base
to another: bullet-resistant glasses, 70 pounds of gear and body armor, knee and elbow pads. They carried with them tourniquets, bandages, ammuniWithout warning, an IED explodes in the far right corner of the screen. Dirt and smoke billow up into the sky. Iraqi civilians in a car on the side of “If you’ve ever wondered what ‘the surge’ felt like, this is what it felt like,” Finkel said in the video. Finkel’s book, “The Good Soldiers,” chronicles the eight months Finkel spent as an embedded reporter in Iraq between January 2007 and June 2008. Finkel said that the intent of the - Continued on page 8
Alexis Huston/The Gatepost
War reporter David Finkel.
ster by Hemenway’s front entrance with warped, blackened Plexiglas, damaged electrical equipment, wire mesh and charred wooden boards. sion cord ignited wood and mulch in an animal enclosure,” said Director of Facilities Warren Fairbanks. No students were harmed, and most of the animals which were being housed in the classroom were rescued, said FSU’s External Relations Coordinator Dan Magazu. “My understanding is that the vast majority of lizards that were in there did survive,” Magazu said. The rescued reptiles were reportedly relocated to a temporary holding place and were being held under constant surveillance in Hemenway 316B, but a young man who answered at a locked door in the room late Thursday night declined to comment. A piece of paper taped to the wall outside the room indicated that animals were being kept inside. smoke coming from Hemenway 313 at 7:09 a.m., and the Framingham Fire Department arrived shortly thereafter classroom had been used as a storage area for the reptiles, which he said were the subject of a behavioral study. Hemenway Hall and the Hemenway Annex are not equipped with sprinkler systems, Fairbanks said. Administrators sent out an FSUAlert to students’ cell phones at 7:54 announcing that the building would be closed until further notice, and later announced that it had been reopened just after 8:30 classes were scheduled to begin. Framingham Fire Chief Gary Daugherty told The MetroWest Daily News he estimated the total cost of damages would be $5,000 - 6,000, but Executive Vice President Dale Hamel said Thursday that cleanup will likely only cost only a few hundred dollars or less - Continued on page 5