Brown and White Vol. 116 No. 13

              the brown and white lehigh university's student newspaper founded in 1894 vol 116 no 13 tuesday october 21 2008 gast others turn dirt in ceremonial groundbreaking for steps building by ryan sheehy lehigh ceremoniously broke ground on the 62.1 million steps building on thursday in the plaza outside fairchild-martindale library actual construction on the proj ect began in august to save money on rising steel and building material prices as impressive as the new facility will be we can't lose sight of the fact that steps is much more than bricks and mortar said president alice gast faculty and students in attendance joined gast in shoveling dirt while the song step by step by new kids on the block played loudly in the back ground during the ground-breaking the science technology envi ronment policy and society building will merge many departments and allow interdisciplinary work on envi ronmental initiatives at lehigh the facility will be 130,000 square feet with 80 offices 50 laboratories and a 75-seat auditorium gast said she said the facility should be completed by the 2010 academic year the integration of different aca demic areas from across lehigh's col leges will provide opportunities to obtain knowledge so that lehigh is more prepared to deal with the issues b&w photo by andrew maier that are currently plaguing the earth said dan smith president of lehigh's board of trustees areas of study will include climate change aquatic ecosystems nano technology groundwater contami nation environmental literacy and energy-related issues although the facility has been built on one of lehigh's last flat green spac es gast said they have designed the building to maximize green space the facility has been designed in an l-shape to allow for a new and improved frisbee field gast said gast spoke of the future research president alice gast and president of lehigh's board of trustees dan smith ceremoniously break ground at the steps building site on thursday the building is scheduled to be complete by the start of the 2010 academic year college democrats republicans debate college-relevant issues by shana bellin lehigh's college democrats and college re publicans met on oct 8 for a debate on health care the economy and education three issues presidential candidates have debated that may also affect students the debate was part of the clubs efforts to edu cate students about politics so they can make more informed decisions on election day we're in election season said rajan menon professor of international relations and moderator of the event the more that students are involved in the campaign and the choices it presents the better off we are the groups avoided more inflammatory topics such as abortion and capital punishment because they are difficult to debate they said these issues are far more complex than you squeeze into a five-minute speech said college republican trevor drummond 10 he said that while they've debated more topi cal issues in the past they diverged from that this year drummond said healthcare the economy and education are more condensable topics each group was allotted five minutes for a pre liminary speech followed by three minute rebut tals then the audience had time to ask questions chris addy 10 who spoke on behalf of col lege democrats said the economy was tanking as they spoke he discussed the nation's middle class social security and raising the gross domestic product we all love to be rich and we hate being poor but the stronger our middle class is the bet ter addy said nick hess 09 who represented college re publicans blamed liberal democrats for the cur rent economic downturn he said over the past few years they have been as job market dries up business school tries to ease concerns by julie stewart with banks failing and consumers defaulting on their mortgages the economy is in a slump and the job market is taking a big hit the unemployment rate recently hit 6.1 percent an increase of 1.4 percentage points over just one year according to a report released oct 3 by the bureau of labor statistics the financial services industry a popular desti nation for graduates has lost 172,000 jobs since its peak in december 2006 according to the report with jobs in financial services on the decline many seniors in the business college are looking for other options the college of business and economics in con junction with career services held a town hall mcc ing thursday to brainstorm strategies for business students to find jobs in today's economic downturn the forum entitled getting a good job in tough times was held in perella auditorium and attended by faculty from the business college career services counselors and about 50 students including many seniors majoring in finance paul brown dean of the college of business and economics assured students in attendance that the faculty and staff of the college of business and eco nomics will provide resources to help students strug gling to find jobs including more town hall meetings and information sessions we are going to make things work as much as we can to help you he said brown encouraged students to latch on to their favorite faculty members and use them as resources for career advice t he also encouraged students to look beyond wall street when looking for jobs although the invest ment banking industry is not dead it is in a severe crunch he said and students should consider other options if you had lehman brothers investment banking in mind choose another way he said brown said there are plenty of jobs in corporate finance especially in health care information sys tems and energy he also encouraged students to consider graduate study both to gain more skills and to delay entry into the weak job market kenneth sinclair professor of accounting said students may want to consider adding another major or minor to their course of studies to add marketability donna goldfedder director of career services said there are plenty of jobs available for business students but many discouraged by the weak econo my are burying their heads in the sand see steps page 4 see jobs page 4 see debate page 2 lehigh celebrates wen's soccer loses f0 check online for founder's day vjk 1 2tf american university breaking news page 9 t^<s page 20 www.thebrownandwhite.com