THURSDAY
February 10, 2011
Vol. 94 • No. 4
www.therambler.org
The Rambler The voice of Texas Wesleyan University students since 1917
Don’t know what to do this Valentine’s Day?
Local Hamburger joint serves homemade burgers and fries. Arts & Entertainment, page 4
Opinion, page 2
Spring break comes early for Wesleyan Shauna Banks
sbbanks@mail.txwes.edu
Students, staff and faculty were granted a prespring break by Mother Nature last week. As the snow, rain and ice accumulated on rooftops and roadways Monday night, Jan. 31, students hoped for a short break from their class loads, only to find the next morning that the university would be shut down for inclement weather. A new record at Texas Wesleyan was set in the following days, as the university shut down for classes and activities for six consecutive days until Jan. 6. Just three days later, a second smaller snow storm blew through North Texas and the university was shut down on Feb. 9 as well. “I slept a whole lot, went sledding with my boyfriend and friends, and of course movies and game nights kept me sane,” Christina Daniel, sophomore undecided major, said. Following the decision to shut down the university each day last week, Steve Roberts, vice president of administrative services and human resources, sent out text message, phone and e-mail alerts through the Wesleyan Emergency Management System. “It was student and staff safety that we were mostly concerned with,” said William Bleibdrey, senior vice president for finance and administration. Unlike major school districts in Texas, Bleibdrey said the university does not have to make up any of these days at the end of the semester, and the semester will continue according to the same schedule. He also said the days off have not cost the university any extra money since most things, including heating,
are on a fixed rate for Wesleyan. “We obviously have to continue to heat the buildings so pipes don’t freeze up,” Bleibdrey said. “The real danger is to have a pipe burst, and of course the expenses.” Although most buildings were closed all week, faculty, staff and student workers were given the opportunity to pick up paper checks on Friday, their normally scheduled pay day. Employees at Dora Roberts Dining Hall also took on the icy roads to make the cafeteria available to students living on campus with meal plans. “The ones that were hurt most were those support services around the university,” Bleibdrey said. Although it remained open, Dora’s still lost some profit due to commuter students and faculty who normally visit the cafeteria not coming in to eat all week. Subway and other surrounding businesses also saw a lull in customers. On-campus students were restricted to their residence halls and outside areas, but they still found ways to pass the time. “When college kids get stuck in a dorm with no way of getting off campus, we tend to find ways to entertain ourselves,” Marcus Harris, junior accounting major, said. “If we are rowdy, let us be rowdy. We don’t have school so there would never be any noise complaint, especially if you know everyone around you.” Others were content to enjoy the leisure time indoors. “I sat in the crib and studied a little bit, but mostly played on NBA 2k11 on the Xbox,” Earnest Williams, junior exercise major, said.
Norma Edith Nieto | Courtesy Photo Above: Senior education ec-6 major Norma Edith Nieto takes advantage of the snow storm that blew through north Texas by building a “cheesehead” snowman in support of the Greenbay Packers, winners of Super Bowl XLV last Sunday. The Packers defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 31-25. Left: The entire Wesleyan campus was covered in snow and ice from late Jan. 31 until late afternoon Feb. 5. Classes and activities were cancelled through Sunday for the university, but no days will have to be made up at Bradley Gray | Courtesy Photo the end of this semester.
See photos, page 3
Love at Lou’s no longer
D E L
N A C
L E C
Photo Illustration Meisa Keivani Najafabadi | Rambler Staff
Shauna Banks
sbbanks@mail.txwes.edu
Less than 15 minutes before press deadline for The Rambler, the Valentine’s Day themed dinner at Lou’s Place, originally scheduled for Feb. 12 at 8 p.m. was cancelled due to lack of interest. The dinner was originally put together by greek organizations Lambda Kappa Kappa, Alpha Xi Delta and Gamma Sigma Sigma. “The school is starting to try to get the students more involved and I think if people got more involved with the Greek organizations that would help improve campus life,” said Jazmin Mendoza, senior EC-6 bilingual educa-
tion major and public relations coordinator for Gamma Sigma Sigma. LKK helped Blair Moore, coordinator of New Student Programs to sell and create Vale-O-Grams for the Wesleyan community, which were sold for 25 cents each. Moore said if someone bought a Vale-O-Gram that person should notify the recipient they have something to pick up at the Academic Success Center. If the purchaser of the ValeO-Gram does not want to notify the recipient Moore said she will send notification emails. Vale-O-Grams can be picked up today and tomorrow from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Success Center.
Download any Mobiletag app and scan this barcode with your smartphone to see what Wesleyan students are doing for their significant others and with family members this Valentine’s Day.