Elected Sweethearts Sweeten Fraternity Life Page 6 PAGE 1 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2011
Vol. 105, NO. 23 UATRAV.COM
Memorial Services Planned for Walker by MATTIE QUINN Staff Writer
ANDREW HAGOOD Staff Photographer Washington County Coroner officials gather outside the Flying Possum leather shop on Dickson Street. A fire Monday morning at the damaged the shop heavily, killing owner Bruce Walker. Flying Possum Leather was the third-oldest business on Dickson Street, founded in 1976.
In Flying Possum Owner Bruce Walker’s honor, George’s Majestic Lounge staff is hosting a memorial tribute Sunday in conjunction wit several Dickson Street business owners. “The event will take place from 1-9:30 p.m., and we will be having 16 local and regional bands playing in honor of Bruce. Several restaurants in the area have donated food for the event, including Flying Burrito, Jose’s, Pesto Cafe, Greenhouse Grill, Hog Haus, and others,” said Tanya Shylock, bartender at George’s and organizer for the memorial tribute. “The cover charge is tentative right now, but we recently found out that parking on Dickson will be free for the event, which we are very excited about. All proceeds from the event are going to benefit the Bruce Walker Memorial Fund.” For Shylock, hosting an event in honor of Bruce was the least she could do for an iconic figure in Fayetteville. “Bruce was such a staple on Dickson and a huge part of the music scene in Fayetteville. While we are all stunned, we want to celebrate his legacy. All of us coming together like this has reminded us why we all love Fayetteville,” Shylock said. “I got about a dozen calls on the day
of the fire saying we needed to have an event, so it all kind of fell in my lap. The biggest problem has actually been turning away bands, because I received a huge amount of interest from bands in the area and we just didn’t have enough hours in the day to have them all play on Sunday.” Walker opened Flying Possum Leather more than 34 years ago, and was one of the last remnants of the Dickson Street that existed before the enhancement project. As of Tuesday the cause of the fire was still unknown. “The cause of the fire is currently under investigation, but we have been able to rule out arson as a possible cause of the fire,” said Mauro Campos, public information officer for the Fayetteville Fire Department. “We pulled the store owner out of the fire, where he was unconscious. We preformed CPR on the scene, but he was pronounced dead upon arrival at the Washington County Medical Center.” Walker was a well-known figure on Dickson Street for selling Birkenstocks and his one-of-a-kind patented leather guitar straps, belts and sandals. His dog Bugsy was a constant
see MEMORIAL on page 5
Kimpel Hall Priority for Renovation by SABA NASEEM Staff Writer
Less than two weeks ago, a 4.7 magnitude earthquake shook Fayetteville, causing beds to rattle, desks to wobble, and for many students, it shook their faith in the structure of some of the campus buildings. If an earthquake with a higher magnitude hits, Kimpel Hall will probably be the first to go, some students and faculty said. Kimpel Hall was built in 1971 as a classroom and office space and was originally called the Communications Center. It was later renamed Kimpel Hall after the passing of Ben Drew Kimpel, an English professor at the UA from 1952 to 1983. In 2006, the first floor of
Kimpel Hall was reported as “falling down” or “sinking,” said Marti Thomas, office manager for the journalism department. Journalism professor Kim Martin has her office in the space that was experiencing problems and remembers the cracks in the floor and walls, she said. “Sometimes I would be sitting on my desk and something would just move,” she said. “Then one day I heard the sound of concrete cracking under my table.” Journalism professor Ignatius Fosu’s office floor actually started sinking and was separated from the wall by about three inches, Martin said. “The engineers came to fix the problem, but from what I
could see, all they did was shove a bunch of sand under the floor and replace the tiles. We were also getting cracks in the wall, which were about half an inch wide. They plastered the walls so that we couldn’t see them anymore,” she said. Experts with Facilities Management later discovered the floors and walls were sinking because the floor is based on clay, said Bob Beeler, associate director for design and construction in an interview in 2006. “Clay expands with water, making it a poor choice on which to base a floor. As the clay beneath the base dried, it contracted and left a gap beneath the slab, causing the floor to sink. It is not good fill material and is something they should
not have used 30 years ago,” he said in 2006. Facilities management fixed that problem, and have not heard complaints since then, he said. The floor and foundation are not the same, Beeler said. The foundations are stable because the concrete piers are drilled all the way into the bedrock. Larry Smith, a staff architect, agrees with Beeler in that the foundation of Kimpel is sturdy and its structure is fine, he said. However, institutional service assistant Jeanine Slagtand, disagrees, she said. “I’ve been working there since January of 2009 and it’s
see KIMPEL on page 5
Leaders Discuss Fulbright Colloquium by MATTIE QUINN Staff Writer
Several faculty members from the college of arts and sciences and the business college came together Friday to organize the first Fulbright Colloquium, a program dedicated to interdisciplinary exchange of ideas and research from faculty and students at the UA. “We felt a huge need to do an event like this. In the past couple of years there has been a great desire from faculty to see what their colleagues and peers were doing,” said Lindsay Puente, assistant professor of Spanish and Latin American studies, and one of the organizers of the event. “Twenty-first century academia is so interdisciplinary, and we have received so much support from faculty asking us why something like this hasn’t happened before.
We want to create conversations and stretch intellectual boundaries.” The talks that were given at the colloquium ranged from “What is the Human?,” “The State of the South” and a keynote address entitled “Erasthonenes Today!” by Chaim Goodman-Strauss, head of the math department. In Strauss’s talk, he told the audience of the need for more far-reaching teaching and thinking at the UA. “We’re going to get creamed when students can get cheaper education and not even get out of their PJs,” [in reference to for-profit universities like University of Pheonix.] “We have to distinguish ourselves. We don’t need to be broad, we just need to be deep,” Strauss said. Students attending the colloquium mostly came for
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2011 VOL. 105, NO. 23 UATRAV.COM
class credit, but all were enthusiastic about the talks given by their professors. “I have to come to a least one talk and write a paragraph about it for Spanish class. I could have come to the talk that is during my Spanish class, but I thought I would come hear GoodmanStrauss since he is the head of the math department and that is my major,” said junior Riley Clark. “He really focuses on how to teach math, which is what I want to do with my life.” Other students came to the talk eager to learn more about their line of studies. “I am an anthropology major so I thought I would come to the “What is the Human?” talk so I could get a feel of what I am going to be doing for the next three years,” said freshman Nicolet Smith. A major theme at the col-
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loquium was making the UA a more interdisciplinary institution with more criticalthinking from both faculty and students. “The long term health of our nation and our world depends on a population that can think critically, deeply and flexibly, communicate lucidly and fluently across cultural boundaries,” according to a letter signed by 60 Fulbright College faculty members in October 2010 that was presented in Goodman-Strauss’s talk. Students and faculty can anticipate a similar event in the years to come. “I would love for this colloquium to happen every year, and have a different department host it every year as well. I think it will end up a great way for younger faculty to talk and show-off their research and work,” Puente said.
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Students Could Avoid Judicial Board by JORDAIN CARNEY Asst. News Editor
ASG senators are considering legislation that would recommend granting students a onetime medical amnesty. If passed, the senate would recommend to university officials that students be allowed to call for help with alcohol emergencies once, without going through the university’s judicial board. “If we’re being ‘students first’ there’s nothing healthy about a student being afraid to call for help,” said Sen. Michael Dodd, the bill’s author. Students who complete the Medical Amnesty policy would have to undergo a brief psychoeducational intervention by Pat Walker staff, according to the legislation Officials strive to give sentences that are educational, but when sanctioins include fees they tend to think they aren’t, Dodd said. Sanctions range from alcohol education classes to 50 hours of community service or one year probation if it is a student’s first major alcohol violation, according to the OCSSE website. “This is a not a get-out-ofjail-free card,” Dodd said. “This is saving kids’ lives.”
ANDREW HAGOOD Staff Photographer Cracks in many parts of Kimpel Hall have caused some students and faculty to question the structural integrity of the building through the years, though officials said the building is safe. Renovations are expected in the near future, officials said.
Reserved Student Tickets Must be Picked up by 5 p.m. Thursday in the Union All students must have a Student ID
Public tickets on sale March 15 Students who wish to purchase additional tickets to the Keynote Address or tickets for the morning Panel Discussion may visit dalailama.uark.edu for an early access code. SATURDAY 62°
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