Brown and White Vol. 114 No. 39

              the brown and white lehigh university's student newspaper founded in 1894 vol 114 no 39 friday march 23 2007 all the lehigh news first linderman's doors open after lengthy renovation by emily iwan news writer librarians and administrators greet ed and gave tours to those who entered the library monday morning when af ter two years of renovations linderman library opened its doors at 9:30 a.m an hour after the li brary first opened concentration might have been a challenge for students as about 60 people congregated around the circulation desk discussing the new library and beginning informal tours of the building led by administrators and librarians bruce taggart vice provost and head of library and technology servic es was one of the administrators giving library tours he worked closely on the linderman renovations and says he has been pleased with the outcome it is tremendous to have linderman back online for students he said it badly needed these renovations the renovations combined the his toric traditional aspects of the building with modern lighting and technology the gold-plated ceiling has been re vamped and new skylights highlight the stained glass ceiling in the rotunda glass walls provide enclosed spaces for studying old spiral metal staircases wind up the floors and frosted glass stairs lead down to the new cafe the reading room contains a fire b&wphoto by doug moquet place long dark wooden tables com fortable chairs and several computers the renovations added 215 seats providing seating for about 500 the bayer galleria previously closed to the public is now open as a quiet study room taggart said this study area was formed in reaction to student feedback indicating a need for more collaborative work in group settings and taggart said he was confident linderman will pro vide this environment along with many quiet reading areas taggart described monday's event as a soft opening we wanted to give the students steve johnson 08 sits down to read at one of linderman library's new study locations the library's new configuration provides seating for about 500 students along the building's many windows tables and rooms tenants should scrutinize lease landlords say by matt stayman news writer understanding the terms of a lease can be important to student renters said local landlords at an off-campus housing forum monday night in packard auditorium the forum featured six landlords who rent houses to lehigh students the landlords high lighted both the lease and proper record-keeping as two of the most important aspects of off-cam pus living bonnie upton who has rented houses to le high students since she moved to the area three years ago said the lease is a tool that can benefit the landlord and tenant it protects you and it protects us upton said things to consider in a lease include heat wa ter sewage trash removal appliances and snow removal upton said she had several experiences in which students do not understand their full responsibilities i tell people don't come knocking if your dryer doesn't work it's not in the lease upton said having friends parents and a lawyer look over a lease is a good way to ensure that it is clear and fair said scott garrett a landlord and recent lehigh graduate many problems students have with their land lords can be solved by taking a few simple steps garrett said renter's insurance is a very inexpensive tool and it can protect you from a slew of problems he said another way to protect against liability is good record keeping garrett said he told stu dents that documenting the condition of a rental space before and after moving in is a good way early farmers altered climate scientist says by katie ginda senior news writer human beings began inadvertently manipulat ing the earth's climate thousands of years ago with the rise of agriculture said author and professor william ruddiman on monday ruddiman who is with the university of vir ginia spoke as part of the earth and environmental sciences department's annual d foster hewett lecture series ruddiman said he has been a subject of conver sation and criticism for this controversial hypothesis in his book plows plagues and petroleum how humans took control of climate i've taken a few slams from colleagues he said ruddiman deviates from the popular theory that the source of global warming appeared 200 years ago during the industrial revolution with the significant release of greenhouse gases specifically carbon dioxide and methane instead he argues that human effects on global climate have a much more extensive history deforestation and agricultural activities especial ly between 5,000 and 8,000 years ago can explain unnatural increases in carbon dioxide and methane concentrations ruddiman said because green house gases contribute to an increase global tem perature ruddiman said an ice age was avoided thanks to this phase in human development in a sentence farmers stopped a glaciation from happening ruddiman said b&wphoto by mike ilnyckyj professor william ruddiman spoke monday night in lewis lab see linderman page 2 see lease page 6 see earth page 5 students study wl goalie saves check online in many sites mr hp 9ame or women's or linderman around campus a lacrosse team special feature page 7 page 16 bw.lehigh.edu