Thursday, January 19, 2012
A look at the Candidates
Get outdoors!
Will the 2012 Presidential election dissapoint?
Santa Clara’s Into the Wild club takes students on adventures
OPINION, PAGE 5
SCENE, PAGE 8 www.thesantaclara.com
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RLC Energy Challenge Doesn’t Generate Spark Residents need to beat last years record for victory Jacquelyn Pearce The Santa Clara
The annual RLC energy challenge continues throughout Winter quarter. Despite the event’s past success, most students still are not aware of its existence. Santa Clara’s 3rd Annual Energy Challenge kicked off Jan. 8. The energy challenge is an attempt to unify the Residential Learning Communities on campus to stress the importance of energy conservation. Although there has been a significant amount of energy conservation throughout the dorms in the last several years, it has been noted that there is a disparity between the level of awareness of the challenge between the smaller dorms and the larger dorms. “The only reason I even know about the challenge is because of a flyer I saw in the building,” said Claire Bevan, sophomore resident of Swigs SLURP floor. “I haven’t recieved any emails, the CFs haven’t spoken to us about it, and I think that our building is so big it is hard to get everyone to callaborate.” Swig’s seventh floor is known as SLURP, Sustainable Living Undergraduate Research Project, which brings together students who are prone to environmental awareness. The residents of the floor take pride in their ability to conserve energy year-round, and serve as leaders for the rest of the Santa Clara community. “The energy challenge draws attention to something SLRUP does throught the year”, said junior Claire Overholt. “I feel as though the challenge is a bigger deal for the other floors because we always deal with these environmental issues, not just during the time specifically allotted by the challenge.” Although the seventh floor holds their ground, Swig has still fallen short compared to the other RLCs the past few years. “It isn’t really presented as the cool thing to do in Swig, said Beavon.
“There are also so many of us that it often times gets looked over and no one really knows about it. I think if it was presented in a different light or a few students made it seem like the cool thing to do it would catch on better than it has in the past.” Bevan suggested the problem is because residents in the smaller dorms, such as Sanfilippo, have a much more tight-knit community and tend to have an easier time mobilizing in order to comply with the energy saving tactics. “Last year I lived in Sanfilippo and I remember how prevelant the energy challenge was in our community,” said Amanda Anvieh, sophomore resident of Swig. “This year I live in Swig and I actually did not know it was going on at all.” In the past the challenge has led students to drastically cut their energy use during winter quarter. Last year, students saved enough energy to power Malley Fitness Center for six weeks just by people “not really changing their behavior that drastically,” said Lindsey Cromwell Kalkbrenner, director of the Office of Sustainability. The idea of the challenge was brought to the attention of the Office of Sustainability by students in 2007. Once this idea was brought to the administration, energy monitors were purchased and installed in several buildings. Certain oncampus offices tracked the energy usage on hard-to-read websites. After all the hard work and expensive equipment, however, the monitors consequently paid for themselves with the saved energy. Today, with the exception of a few dorms, most buildings have an energy monitor. The measurements are then posted on an easy-to-use website where students and staff can track how much energy they have consumed. This information is categorized by building and then by day, week, month and year. According to Kalkbrenner, director of the Office of Sustainability, the university has made a commitment to become climate neutral by 2015. The purpose of this challenge is to get students and staff excited and used to performing certain energy conserving behaviors on a daily basis.
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49ERS DEFEAT SAINTS
“This yearI live in Swig and I actually didn’t know it was going on at all.”
See ENERGY, Page 3
SFEXAMINER.COM
Vernon Davis of the San Francisco 49ers celebrates in the end zone after catching a 49-yeard touchdown pass from Alex Smith. The 49ers defeated the New Orleans Saints and will play the New York Giants on Sunday. See page 10 for full story.
CFs Violate Alcohol Policy Residents react strongly to loss of four Casa CFs Kurt Wagner
The Santa Clara Despite garnering the support of residents and fellow student leaders, four community facilitators were dismissed from their positions last November after university officials found that the students had participated in off-campus drinking. The decision to release the CFs – sophomore David Garcia and juniors Leslie Quintanilla, Graham Turbyne and Dimitri Woods – was reached after Residence Life learned the students had consumed alcohol at the off-campus residence of a graduate
student over Halloween weekend. All four students, who were off-duty when caught drinking, unsuccessfully appealed their punishment to Residence Life. The four CFs were members of the da Vinci Residential Learning Community and lived in Casa Italiana before being asked to leave the building and the da Vinci community midway through last quarter. Although they knew their decision to drink was against the guidelines they agreed to, all four students remain frustrated with the severity of the punishment, citing similar incidents from previous years that have resulted in weaker repercussions, according to Turbyne. The students were kicked out of the building less than a week after the decision was made, said Garcia. “We write up kids for drugs and drinking all the time,” said Quintanilla. “And what (happens)? You give
Making a Splash Womens Water Polo hopes to build on last year’s momentum SPORTS, PAGE 11
them a slap on the hand, make them write an essay, maybe some community service. You don’t kick them out like they’re nothing.” Turbyne and Quintanilla were not alone in feeling that the punishment didn’t fit the crime. Residents from the da Vinci community hung signs throughout the hallways of Casa in support of their CFs. One sign read, “Casa can’t run without a Turbyne.” Garcia, Turbyne, Quintanilla and Woods are all under 21 years of age. A fifth CF, over 21, was placed on probation but not dismissed. “I’m just really surprised because it’s Santa Clara and there’s an expectation of how they treat their students,” said Quintanilla, who felt the punishment was too strong. “One bad move and all of a sudden we’re See REPLACEMENTS, Page 4