Brown and White Vol. 116 No. 1

              the brown and white lehigh university's student newspaper founded in 1894 tuesday september 2 2008 all the lehigh news first speaking in july dalai lama stressed compassion by chris knight vol 116 no 1 ■ for six days the spiritual leader delivered speeches and teachings in stabler arena the dalai lama speaking to a sold out crowd in stabler arena on july 13 encouraged compassion and kindness as a solution to the 21st century problems his generation will leave behind kindness and compassion brings in effect back confidence the dalai lama said that reduces fear sitting cross legged in the traditional buddhist maroon and yellow robe the tibetan leader brought the crowd of 5,000 to laughter and applause through out his lecture generating a good heart whereas his other lectures throughout his six-day visit were teach ings of a specific buddhist text the public lecture was a more general and informal talk about his life and his ideas first we need internal disconnect from dishonesty anger too much jeal ousy too much self-centered economics of interest those bring violence or con flict the dalai lama said among the flurry of simple advice was to always greet people with a smile which throughout his 73 years of life he has found brings most people joy the overall theme throughout the lecture was to develop compassion and a warm heart we all have some potential to de velop warm-heartedness not necessarily a religious person even someone who is very critical of religion those people need to use compassion the dalai lama said the dalai lama was brought on stage by president alice gast and was occa sionally assisted by a translator sitting on his left following an hour-long lecture gast asked him questions collected lead ing up to the event on a question about the high amount of unhappiness in the united states the b&wphoto by chris knight the dalai lama spoke in july at a public lecture about the importance of kindness and compassion in stabler arena citing rising building costs steps construction begins by andrew daniels construction on the science technology environment pol icy & society steps building began in august not in 2009 as originally planned according to a lehigh press release because of projected infla tionary increase of cost lehigh decided to begin construction immediately the university applied for construction permits in early july in order to construct the new 135,000 square-foot facility at the corner of west packer avenue and vine street the press release said earlier construction allowed for the most efficient and ef fective building plan the press release said it is also allowing lehigh to maximize its finan cial investment as construc tion industry costs continue to escalate construction began by re moving the trees and grass on maginnes lawn which took place over the summer since then construction crews have began excavating space for the foundation under the new schedule the university anticipates ajune 2010 opening this is a period of transfor b&wphoto by chaucy dixon mation for lehigh as we recog nize the increasingly complex challenges facing our world today and commit to creating future leaders who can address society's most pressing issues lehigh president alice p gast said in the press release the new building is de signed to be certified under the leadership in energy and environmental design leed green building rating system with an estimated 62.1 million price tag for construction and all relevant costs lehigh is also creating sev construction for the steps building located in front of maginnes hall began in august the leed-certified building is set to be completed by june 2010 parking fines increase to free up spaces by elaine hardenstine transportation and parking services has raised the price of parking fines citing the need to regain control of spaces that are in high demand parking fines will now be 25 up 15 from last year park ing without a permit costs 50 and any violation by freshmen who are not permitted to have cars on campus is a 75 mini mum fine all of these increased fines were put into affect on aug 3 the new rates are the first changes in prices in 20 years the increased fines were a long-time coming said brynn buskirk marketing specialist in business services which includes the parking office lehigh's fines were substantially lower than other colleges but most importantly we needed to con serve space buskirk said the parking office hopes the fines will free up spaces from illegally parked vehicles buskirk said the goal of the department is not to increase revenue - as some students may suspect - but to reduce the number of tickets issued she said parking services wants to avoid giving out tickets because it is an unnecessary chore bus kirk said despite the heavier charges parking services took active steps to make parking meters easier to use on campus she said the office installed buttons on meters that will give five free minutes of parking students can park their cars push the button and be granted free time to do quick errands like check their new parking fees • illegal parking 25 t parking without a permit 50 freshman parking on campus 75 at mm mail or get coins to fill a meter students can also buy smartcards a prepaid card that users insert into the meter for a specified amount of time without coins for example if the user pays for two hours with the card but returns early from his engagement he can reinsert the card and get money back it's a convenience factor said buskirk you save time and money students can use smart cards at gold and green meters on campus card users do not need a lehigh parking permit smartcards are available at the bookstore and parking services the meters are more conve nient for parking services too under a new system authorities can change meter settings on a day-to-day basis if they want to allow for free parking one friday they alter the meters quickly on a computer rather see dalai lama page 6 see steps page 7 see parking page 6 moving off the hill ks^^^h rt"n'n9 online greeks learn to cope center opens for breaking news page 9 page 20 thebrownandwhite.com