The University News Celebrating 90 Years as a Student Voice of Saint Louis University
unewsonline.com
Vol. XCI No. 15
WINTER RECAP
HAVE YOU GRABBED YOUR TICKETS YET?
Find out how the Billikens fared over break
BSC now closing at midnight
Thursday, January 19, 2012
>> SPORTS
State-of-the-art security
SLU announces Black Keys and Artic Monkeys concert >> ARTS
Pevely demolition plans denied Committee votes against SLU 3-2
New semester to bring new hours
By EMILY CAVALIERE Enterprise Editor
By KRISTEN MIANO Associate News Editor
Do you know what time it is? Students using the Busch Student Center late at night should probably check their watches, as the operational hours of the building have changed. Starting this semester, the BSC will continue to open at 7 a.m., but will now be closing at midnight, two hours earlier than in previous years. “When making this decision, we looked at cost effectiveness and the number of people who were using the building,” Cindy Bush, BSC building coordinator, said. The BSC uses a system called People Tracker, which monitors the number of people who enter the building throughout the day and tracks the amount of usage the building gets. The former manager of the BSC, Chris Grabau, looked at the numbers reported by People Tracker and saw that the building had very low traffic between the hours of midnight and 2 a.m. “We usually have two desk workers who stay until the building closes,” Bush said. “It didn’t make sense to keep them there during those hours.” According to Bush, the new hours were proposed to the Student Government Association last semester. SGA agreed that the reduced hours seemed reasonable. The primary concern Bush heard when implementing the new times was in regards to events in the building that may run late and how the building administration planned to deal with the issue. “Most student groups are done with their meetings by midnight,” Bush said, “but if an event runs past midnight, we are willing to accommodate. It won’t be a regular thing, but we are willing to keep the building open for events.” The student center got the message out about the new hours through the BSC directory, digital signage, Facebook and Twitter. “Not many people are using the building past midnight anyway,” junior Tony Burton said. “I don’t think this will be a really dramatic change.” Not every student is happy with the new building hours, however. President of SLU-TV and SLU weather man, David Koeller, sat in on the meetings in which the hours change was decided. He felt the reduced hours limited his organization’s ability to work effectively. “For SLU-TV, we often have projects or shows that continue late into the night,” Koeller said. “A lot of the students who work at SLU-TV don’t have time to work during the day and often work at 9 or 10 o’clock at night, and it takes longer than an hour to get a project done. If we have to leave at midnight, that will cut into our production time.”
Blue the Billiken It’s freezin’ out here!
Read and Recycle The University News prints on partially recycled paper.
exempt from being kept in the cell, Signorino added that he feels confident the cell will not have to contain any Saint Louis University students. “We have some good students here,” Signorino said. “They’re too focused on their school work to get in trouble.” The DPSSS facility also features new evidence lockers to store contraband and illegal substances until they are ready to be processed, in an effort to keep the chain of custody in tact. The lockers include refrigerated compartments and storage spaces of various sizes for evidence that may be larger than average. DPSSS has also added more offices, male and female locker rooms, a bike storage room and a squad room, a set up which allows officers to get ready for duty quickly. “The layout of the space will, by its nature, make us more effective and efficient,” Corvington said. In addition to their new facility, DPSSS plans to implement several other changes this semester. The department hopes to start hosting crime prevention seminars around campus, which will be open to students. In light of the recent
On Dec. 19, it may have seemed as if Saint Louis University students were the only people not preparing for the holidays and were instead cramming and power-napping in preparation for final exams. However, there were others besides SLU students who were not yet on Christmas vacation. The St. Louis Preservation Board held a meeting to discuss the city’s Cultural Resource Office’s denial of SLU’s request for a demolition permit for the Pevely Dairy plant building. The board voted 3-2 at the meeting in favor of the Cultural Resource Office’s decision. The panel denied SLU’s request to tear down the existing building structure. According to his January 2012 message, SLU President Lawrence Biondi, S.J., said that he, along with the Lawrence Group and SLU School of Medicine, “made a strong case for the need for this state-of-the-art facility.” The presentation can be viewed through a link in the message that was emailed to students on Jan. 17. While it is known that the Pevely building is on the National Register of Historic Places, Biondi said that the building was added to the register for tax purposes. “No one pushed for Pevely Dairy — built in 1915 — to be on the National Register of Historic Places until the most recent owner, developer Rick Yackey, sought the status in 2009 to obtain tax credits for a housing project that was unable to move forward,” Biondi said. In addition, the architectural importance of the building was not referenced on the application. For SLU, this decision means that in terms of the Pevely building, nothing can be done for one year. In his message, Biondi said that the University is investigating further options. He said he is still confident that they will ultimately be successful. “I firmly believe that St. Louis should not have to compromise the health of its citizens to preserve blighted,
See “DPSSS” on Page 3
See “Pevely” on Page 3
Jennifer Wang / Photo Editor
In the new Department of Public Safety and Security Services communication center, the department has access to all the cameras located around campus. The communication center is one of several new additions added to the department after their move to the Marvin and Harlene Wool Center from DuBourg Hall.
Facility features new technology to ensure safety on campus By KRISTEN MIANO
New Features:
Associate News Editor
Department of Public Safety and Security Services has stepped into the 21st century with their recent move from DuBourg Hall to the Marvin and Harlene Wool Center. The move, which began on Dec. 19, 2011 and was completed last week, was a muchneeded change, according to Field Supervisor Sergeant Pasquale Signorino. “We’ve expanded our personnel, and, to be quite honest, DuBourg was getting a little cramped,” Signorino said. DPSSS has grown to include more staff and technology in an effort to make the department more modern. The new facility includes a new communication center that has feeds from cameras around campus. This way, dispatchers can see incidents on campus as they are occurring and dispatch an officer even before a call to make a report is made. Signorino said that there are plans to add approximately 190 more cameras as the department continues to expand. “I think the new center provides a place where we can do more with technology and a place that, as far as the communication system goes, has
- Communication center-feeds
to cameras all across campus
- holding cell
- new locker rooms
- computerized reporting
and dispatch
- GPS systems on radios
- evidence lockers
moved the department into the 21st century,” Signorino said. The new technology in the DPSSS facility aims to increase the effectiveness of daily department activities. Global Positing Systems (GPS) have been installed on each officer’s radio to better keep track of their location while the officers are on duty, and the department has begun to computerize reporting and dispatching. “The use of technology will enhance our effectiveness in ensuring security,” Roland Corvington, DPSSS director said. “For example, the integration of the existing video
surveillance into one location is more effective because, before, we had multiple systems in multiple locations.” Along with increased surveillance, the facility includes a new holding cell. The cell will be used in the event of a situation in which an individual needs to be kept in custody while the St. Louis Police Department is contacted, and is only meant to contain suspects for a short period of time. The cell has only been used once to date, but Signorino said that it is available for any lawbreakers DPSSS may come across. Though students are not
College in Prison program broadens horizons By ANDREA ROYALS Senior Staff Wrtier
The Billiken base has broadened, and through the Monsanto Grow St. Louis contest, it can keep growing. The Saint Louis University Prison Program, which offers associate degrees to incarcerated offenders and employees of the Missouri Department of Corrections, is one of more than 140 local non-profit initiatives competing for donations of up to $15,000 from Monsanto as part of a contest to help keep St. Louis growing. The Prison Program, offered at the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre, Mo., is funded through private grants. The award from the Grow St. Louis contest could be used to compensate for tuition, faculty and administrative costs, such as travel and fees for guest speakers. The program’s first pilot included a certificate in theological studies. The program is now offering a pilot associate of arts degree, which seeks to earn $175,000 to be sufficiently funded. According to Kenneth Parker, director of the program and an associate professor of historical theology, the award from the Grow St. Louis contest could
Elections loom for SGA executive board hopefuls By MARTINA BOYTER Associate News Editor
Photo Courtesy of Mary Gould
The Saint Louis University College in Prison Program offers higher education to incarcerated offenders and employees of the Missouri Department of Corrections. contribute to the goal. “This is an opportunity for the SLU community, especially students, to demonstrate to their fellow students at Bonne Terre and the broader St. Louis community that SLU cares about incarcerated people and those who work in our prisons,” Parker said. Parker said he encourages the community to vote at least once per day until Jan. 29 on the Monsanto Grow St. Louis website to help the Prison Program win the contest.
Mary Gould, a professor of communication who has volunteered to teach public speaking and small group communication in the program, said that winning the contest would demonstrate public support for the work the University is doing. “The educational opportunities we provide through the classes, workshops and speaker events we facilitate for the staff and incarcerated See “Prison” on Page 3
On Feb. 27, the Saint Louis University student body will have the opportunity to elect the new Student Government Association executive board and Senators for the upcoming school year. Elections are facilitated by the election commission. It exists to ensure that the election remains fair and impartial to all slates and individuals. Campaigns are monitored in hopes that the playing field is level throughout the campaign period. The commission aims to protect the merit of each candidate and the issues at hand. Current election commissioner Kathleen Cadigan explains that the commission strives to keep the senate and executive board separate. “In the past, the elections have been very executive board-centric, which is not fair to those wishing to run for a senate position,” Cadigan said. “We want to encourage just as many people to run for senate and not let them be discouraged from the e-board
tickets.” Each year, members of the commission are chosen by the election commissioner based on an application open to the whole student body. Cadigan heads the commission of eight. It includes SLU seniors Julia Charles, Anelga Doumanian, Christopher Fidler, Ashley Garcia, James Meiners, Krishi Peddada, Caroline Rutledge and Andrew Stevens. To qualify for the election commissioner position, a candidate must have previously taken part in an election. According to Cadigan, this is one of the most important criteria. ”The election can become very technical, and unless you have been involved in it, you would not know such details,” Cadigan said. For instance, the breaching of campaign regulations can be categorized into three tiers of violations. Based on the type of violation, a sanction is agreed upon and issued by the commission as a whole. In response, a sanction can be appealed. See “Election” on Page 2