Duluth: Then and Now, B4
THE STATESMAN Kirby starts to close UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA DULUTH
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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 24, 2013
Kirby Lounge renovations off to a late start, but moving forward
BY SHANNON KINLEY kinle005@d.umn.edu
Students may have noticed that the construction in the Kirby Student Center did not start over spring break. Even though the construction process was moved back, it will still be done in time for students come fall 2013. The construction of the Kirby Student Center will now be split up into two phases. The first phase will include the student lounge and the adjacent hallway that runs all the way from Heller Hall to outside of the Lower Level Bookstore. This phase will be ready for students when they come back in the fall. The second phase of the project will include the first floor student organization offices. It’s not certain when that construction will start, but Kirby Student Center Director Jeni Eltink estimates that it could be a couple years yet before they receive the funding to be able to complete the project. The review committee in charge of selecting the construction management firm for the project has recommended Johnson Wilson Constructors, but no documents have been signed to finalize a decision. “One of the things that we didn’t know at that point in the process (when the designers left) is what is going on behind the scenes,” Eltink said. “We learned that a lot of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment that serves this floor was installed in 1956.” After discovering all the changes that needed to be made in order to make the equipment safe and meet code standards, the committee soon realized that the budget they were given for the project would not cover all aspects of renovation. “We wanted to focus on the lounge and the hallway because those are the things that serve
ALEX LEONE/STATESMAN
The Kirby Student info desk gets the lock and key before being demolished to make room for the new study area.
every student,” Eltink said. “We wanted to impact the maximum amount of students with the amount of money that we had.” The first phase of this project will cost $1.5 million. Contractors are still unsure of how much the second phase will end up costing. However, the first phase of the renovation is already
underway. The Underground closed April 15 in preparation for the renovation. Soon to follow, the student organizations will be vacating their offices and the student lounge will be closed for student use.
UMD students try to bring healthy food options to campus BY MAEGGIE LICHT licht096@d.umn.edu
UMD students are joining together to change food options on campus and make the university menu choices more sustainable, locally produced, and include more variety for those with food sensitivities. Senior anthropology major Caitlin Nielson is one of the students at the forefront of these efforts. “The student body wants it,” Nielson said. “Now they have to demand it. We need to get a campus vision aligned. All the conversations we’ve had with students show that everybody wants this—more local food and more choices.” The group hopes to show Dining Services that the student body, faculty and staff all want to see more options and information about where food on campus comes from. Nielson said this could be tricky because of the turnover that often happens with student initiatives. “We need something that pulls this all together, like a charter down on paper,” Nielson said. “We need things in place that are not temporary. Student initiatives are temporary because students graduate and leave. We need something that will stay.” Senior health education major Judy Breuer sees a need for change in access to nutritional information on campus. “When I was a freshman, I took a nutrition course where we had to track everything we ate,” Breuer said. “It was hard to get nutritional information about the foods here.” Nielson started paying attention to her own food choices and thinks doing so is a pivotal aspect of student success. “As college students, (healthy food) is so necessary,” she said. “We’re under so much stress; our immune systems are under attack, and then we’re eating crappy foods. It’s a recipe for disaster. These changes could be the recipe for student wellness.” Though the students are happy about some positive changes happening on campus, they’re still not happy with what’s available. Senior anthropology major Sheamus Johnson often spends from 12 to 16 hours on campus as a student LIZ ABRAHAMSON/SUBMITTED employee. see FOOD OPTIONS, A3 Executive Chef Tom Linderholm holds up a succulent roasted chicken. INDEX:
News: A1 - A4 |
Opinion: A5 - A6 | Sports: B1 - B2 | Outdoors: B3 | Student Life: B4 - B5
see RENOVATIONS, A3
Students write stories with community members BY GRAHAM HAKALA hakal045@d.umn.edu
Several UMD creative writing students have been working with disabled members of the Duluth community as part of the Storytelling Project, a venture that pairs them together to write a story. “(The Storytelling Project) links creative writing students with community members who may have troubles with physical disability or some other impairment that makes it so they aren’t able to tell their story themselves,” said Jaime Jost, graduate student at UMD and coordinator for the project. Kathryn Van Wert, an English professor at UMD, started the Storytelling Project. The inspiration came from a similar project that she worked on in Rochester, N.Y. “(The project) was very successful, so I wanted to try something like it in Duluth,” Van Wert said in an email. Since February, students and community participants have met each week to go over how they would approach their stories. see STORYTELLING, A3