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Tennessee Tech University | Cookeville, TN | 38505
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RACLE
Volume 94 | Issue 16 | Free in single copy | April 1, 2011
Henderson Hall faces summer, fall renovations By JUSTIN O’DELL Staff Writer
Students expecting to have class in Henderson Hall in the summer and fall will be meeting elsewhere. Henderson Hall will undergo a renovation that will begin this summer and continue into the fall semester. “There won’t be classes in [Henderson Hall] during the summer,” said Kurt Eisen, College of Arts and Sciences associate dean, “and it’s also been decided that classes won’t meet in [Henderson Hall] during the fall semester.” Students will still register for classes like usual, but a class that would be located in Henderson Hall will now meet in a different building. “We had to be creative in finding teaching spaces,” Eisen said. “With help from other departments and colleges, [the fall semester] looks okay so far. If we need more sections because we have more students, then the challenge will remain to find spaces.” The primary reason for renovating Henderson Hall is that the building has no sprinkler system. Also, the roof and fan coil units that
A typical classroom in Henderson Hall. Renovations include the addition of a sprinkler system. provide heating and air conditioning in classrooms and faculty offices are being replaced. “The problem with this building from a safety point of view is the open stairwells,” Eisen said. “Because it has open stairwells, it’s considered a fire hazard.”
According to Eisen, open stairwells are considered fire hazards because the fire can travel from floor to floor more readily. As a result, the seating capacities have to be at the low end of what the code allows, but the sprinkler system should help with that.
“If a classroom has a certain number of seats,” said Glenn Binkley, Facilities and Business Services associate vice president, “then when the classroom is full, another desk can’t be added. They must stay within the [maximum] number of seats.” The diminished class size
Photo by Justin O’Dell
could cause a major problem coming back into Henderson Hall after the remodel is complete. Classrooms will only be allowed one student per 20 square feet. Where most classes held 40 students before, the building will have only 25-30 students per class-
room. A smaller classroom could enhance the learning experience. When surveyed, several classrooms were given a “C” rating on an AF grading scale because there wasn’t an opportunity for collaborative learning. Currently, each classroom has a different level of technology. Some have PowerPoint, while others still have projectors. Some classrooms still have chalkboards. “The plan is to standardize the technology in all the rooms,” Eisen said, “so you don’t have to figure out the technology when you go from one room to the next.” Though the classrooms won’t be used, the faculty offices will remain open. Because the after-hours computer lab in Henderson Hall will be closed for the renovation, another computer lab will be opened temporarily in its place. The temporary lab location was undecided as of deadline. The renovation is expected to be finished before the fall semester is over, but it’s likely that students will remain in the classrooms in which they began the semester.
Suspected magazine swindle on campus defrauds students By ALEKSANDR PETERSON Staff Writer
University Police received a call March 14 reporting a suspected magazine sales scam. The complainant says he was approached in the RUC by two subjects—calling themselves “John” and “Kelly”—who persuaded him to spend $100 on magazine subscriptions. “They told him they were selling them for a fundraiser to pay for scholarships,” said Officer Tony Nelson in his report. “The numbers and e-mail address given by the suspects were false.” Campus Police Chief Gay Shepherd said this isn’t the first complaint she’s received this semester. Earlier reports of a so-called magazine scam described the same two suspects. “They’re hard to catch because people don’t report it until these guys are long gone,” Shepherd said, “but we’re still looking.” “John” and “Kelly” gave the March 14 complainant something resembling a receipt from a company called U..S. Circulation Corp. Trav-
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They told him they were selling them for a fundraiser to pay for scholarships.
el. The company’s website, www.uscctravel.com/, claims to offer a “Freedom Scholarship” of $500-$10,000 to students who work for them as traveling salespeople. The Georgia-based company’s website also claims that a percentage of proceeds go to charity. “At USCC Travel we are a socialy (sic) responsible copmany (sic),” the site said,“ and a portion of every sale is donated to various organizations, such as cancer research, diabetic research, children’s athletics, children’s hospitals, Red Cross/Haiti relief, and more!” Shepherd doesn’t think “John” and “Kelly” are affiliated with Tech or even from the Cookeville area. “Usually the kids that are doing this are getting scammed themselves,” she said. A user entry on Ripof-
Tony Nelson Tech Police Officer
fReport.com describes a similar scenario. A man said he agreed to purchase a year-long subscription for $51 after a young lady came to his door and introduced herself as Brittney Midgette. The girl told him cash would be preferable and that she was raising “points” for a scholarship. “I have called the customer service number they provide,” said Walt, of Miami, Fla., “and it always goes to voicemail, and most of the time it is full.” He never received any magazines. Shepherd noted that soliciting on state property is illegal. “If you see somebody soliciting, contact the University Police.”
For official campus crime updates, visit www.tntech.edu/police/ police-crimelogs
Courtesy of Goo Goo Dolls
The Goo Goo Dolls perform for an audience in the United Kingdom in 2006.
Goo Goo Dolls to rock the Hoop on Tuesday By BRITTANY RITZMAN Staff Writer
Tuesday night, the Hooper Eblen Center will be packed with students eager to see the Goo Goo Dolls, Vertical Horizon and Jeff Leblanc in concert. Though the event is only a few days away, planning for it has been an ongoing task since November. The concert has been a combined effort of SGA, the Student Organization Life Opportunity Fund and Student Activities.
Katie Williams, University Planning coordinator, has also taken a lead role in planning for the concert. “I’ve done Dancing on Dixie since 2005,” Williams said, “and I help in putting together a concert every spring. Those don’t involve nearly as much as this concert, though. I, personally, have never done anything on this scale, and it’s been a long time since the school has had anything this big. “With a concert of this size, there are also a lot of contracts that have to go out,” Williams said. “For example, I have to get a car service for the Goo Goo Dolls,
which is something I’ve never had to do with artists before. With Dancing on Dixie or our usual spring concerts, the artists usually just drive up and start unloading their cars.” Not only are there concerns with contracts and services, but also logistics that must be worked out on campus. The Hoop will be arranged so that approximately 6,000 people can sit in the stands, and 500 people will be allowed on the floor.
See “Concert,” page 2
IN THIS EDITION INDEX News.......................2-3 Opinion ...................... 4 Sports ........................ 5 Entertainment ............ 6 www.tntechoracle.com
Students respond to athletics fee increase Page 2
NEWS
Students should help those in need Page 4
OPINION
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