THENORTHERNLIGHT NOVEMBER 30, 2010
NEWS
03
Proposition B: It passed. Now what?
UNIVERSITY OF ALASKA ANCHORAGE
A&E
08
Harry Potter:
OPINION
‘Deathly Hallows’ revives series
12
WWW.THENORTHERNLIGHT.ORG
Editorial:
Possible solutions to registration woes
Kent State, St. John’s take 2010 Alaska Shootout titles
COURTESY OF SHOOTOUT.NET
In the women’s bracket, UAA’s attempt at a five-peat was thwarted by the Kent State Golden Flashes, where the Seawolves lost 53-47 in the finals. The UAA men took fourth place, finishing with a 2-1 record in the Shootout.
FOR MORE ON THE SHOOTOUT, SEE PAGES 4, 6 AND 7.
Slow-moving chancellor search By Jerzy Shedlock The Northern Light
Report card grades UAA’s sustainable efforts By Alec Martinez
During the 2010-2011 academic year Chancellor Fran Ulmer has been working two important positions: chief executive officer of the University and member of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. Her workload will soon be halved, as she is expected to retire from the University as early as May 2011. The Faculty Senate is attempting to form a search committee to replace Chancellor Ulmer, but have expressed concern to UA President Patrick Gamble about prolonged inaction. The senate has not officially recommended anyone for the position, but a handful of senate members have approached Faculty Senate President John Petraitis suggesting UAA Provost Mike Driscoll. “Faculty members have talked about Mike Driscoll. They’ve approached me, but there is a lot of water cooler talk and at this point that’s what it is,” Petraitis said. “People have their opinions, but the senate has not taken a position on (Driscoll).” The provost’s name was mentioned multiple times during the recent Board of Regents meeting on Nov. 6. Faculty members commended Driscoll for his contributions to the university over the years. In addition, Ulmer supports the faculty’s comments. “I have relied upon Provost Driscoll’s energy, dedication and passion to move UAA forward during my time as chancellor,” Ulmer said. “His skill, intellect and humor have been indispensable in addressing the many challenges we’ve encountered and progress we have made. UAA would be well-served by his continued leadership in any position.” In the most recent chancellor search for UAA in 2002-2003 there were seven faculty members on a search committee. Petraitis recommends a search committee consisting of members from Faculty Senate, UAA APT (university governance) Council, UAA Classified Council, student government, UAA community campuses, administration and the community. The search typically begins with the hiring of a search consultant a full year before the new executive starts the job. Applicants apply for the position during the fall semester, semi-finalists are interviewed in early January or early February and finalists are brought on
SEE CHANCELLOR PAGE 03
The Northern Light
“Don’t waste water, water, water.” Some of us may remember the Sesame Street song that taught us how to be good stewards for our environment. Whether the song stuck with you or not, people are choosing to be conservative with our resources. Every year, a report card is sent out to every university in the U.S. along with colleges in eight Canadian provinces. It is no ordinary report card. This special report card is offers a grade scale telling how well any given college or university is sustaining its energy. On this year’s Green Report Card, UAA received a “B” while UAF received a “C.” According to the Green Report Card website, sustainability refers to meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Universities, as leaders of innovation in our society, have the potential to demonstrate sustainable principles in their campus operations and endowment policies. Their
examples can provide a road map for others to follow. Paula Williams, director of the Sustainability Action Board, has put many of her resources into attaining a better grade for the university over previous years, but the efforts are meant to be enjoyable as well. “The Green Report Card is important to UAA because there is a sustainability competition going on between UAA and UAF,” Williams said. UAA and UAF’s Chancellors challenged each other to a competition, as to who could obtain a higher grade on the Green Report Card. The losing chancellor, UAF’s Brian Rogers, will now have to cook a dinner made from local food products for the winner, Fran Ulmer, UAA’s Chancellor. The College Sustainability Report Card is also important to the University because the more UAA conserves its energy, the more it helps reduce costs of electricity, heat, trash disposal and paper usage. It helps save money that UAA can use for additional important programs, such as intramural sports. In the last school year, UAA spent over $3 million
on electricity expenses and an additional $2 million on natural gas expenses. This is only on the main campus and does not include the costs at housing. Williams would like to have an A, but seeing the improvement UAA has made from 2008, which was a C- in a four year span, she considers the new grade a major improvement. The University received a C for the food and recycling portion of the report card for obtaining its food products from outside state sources and not local. Transportation also received a C because there isn’t an absolute percentage for students that use alternative forms of transportation around, to and from campus. Car pooling and sharing isn’t offered as well. A car-sharing program should be available either Spring or Fall 2011. Its grade on Climate Change and Energy was a B. To better this grade, UAA is currently installing Digital Energy Monitors on each building, so it can track how much heat, electricity, water, and gas each building uses, so that it can identify future problems and correct them to cut down costs. UAF had not hired a
SEE REPORT CARD PAGE 02