Brown and White Vol. 117 no. 1

              New provost ready to set, achieve goals
By KATIE KARABASZ
Patrick Farrell is ready to face the challenges he will encounter as Lehigh’s provost.
Farrell, who became provost July 24, said he is excited to be part of the univer­sity community.
Farrell admitted he did not know much about Lehigh when President Alice Gast called him about the position.
“It seems like Lehigh is in a really in­teresting position,” Farrell said. “It is just on the cusp of putting a strategic planning process into action.”
After hearing about the ideas in place to improve Lehigh, Farrell said he felt ready to take on the challenge of imple­menting them.
The size of the campus and the inter­connectedness of the university will make the plans for Lehigh’s future easier to fulfill, although it will still be difficult, he said.
He said he wants the Lehigh commu­nity to look at itself with clarity and rec­ognize the potential it has as a university.
“It isn’t so much my goals for Lehigh, it’s Lehigh’s goals for Lehigh,” Farrell said. “My goal is to have Lehigh see itself as not so much a product of its own his­tory, which it clearly is, but as a creator of its own future.”
Farrell was provost at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for two years, with more than 25 years experience as a me­chanical engineering professor.
Farrell said his past experience as pro­vost will be helpful because he has seen the success and failure of strategic plans.
“He is a wonderful and brilliant scien­See
PROVOST Page 8
Vol. 117 No. 1
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
‘All the Lehigh News First’
THE BROWN AND WHITE
Lehigh University’s Student Newspaper Founded in 1894
SPORTS
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ONLINE
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LIFESTYLE
Students not yet sold on Sands
By AUTUMN GOULD
Since opening its doors on Memo­rial Day weekend, Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem has attracted thousands of gamblers from the Lehigh Valley and beyond.
While the casino has drawn mostly adults and senior citizens, Lehigh stu­dents have checked out the new destina­tion and so far differ in opinion.
Jaclyn Scher, ‘10, said, “I think it could be a lot of fun, but I don’t think it can be a regular place unless people are willing to spend a lot of money to eat and drink, and then lose more money gambling.”
Scher also said the casino is fun to go to every once in a while to change things up from the usual Lehigh bars.
Katie Iobst, ’10, said the casino may not be the right scene for college students.
“There is enough going on on campus that people probably won’t go often,” Iobst said. “Also, the casino isn’t do­ing much to draw in the students. It is a much older crowd, plus college students don’t have lots of extra money to spend.”
The casino’s somewhat removed loca­tion from Lehigh’s campus— 77 Sands Blvd., just off Route 412 — may be a rea­son students haven’t been going to the
See CASINO Page 4
Walkway construction changes traffic routes
By JOHN GILPATRICK
In a plan to make Lehigh’s campus greener and more pedestrian friendly, Library Drive has been converted into a stone walkway.
Tony Corallo, associate vice president of facilities services and campus planning, said the project has been in the works for a while, but thanks to a dona­tion from a generous, unnamed alumnus, it became a reality this summer.
“When traffic was taken out of the center of campus, it was a tremendous addition to the beauty, safety and sense of community on campus,” Corallo said. “This will do the same thing.”
Traffic patterns have changed on campus as a result of the project.
The loop consisting of Memorial Drive and Uni­versity Drive will now be one way, with the excep­tion of a portion of University Drive off Brodhead Avenue for cars to pull into and out of the Alumni Memorial Parking Pavilion. Vehicles exiting the upper level of the Parking Pavilion must turn right toward Brodhead Avenue.
Library Drive is not vehicle accessible, except for delivery vehicles and those in need of handicapped parking for Linderman Library on Rotunda Drive, according to Brynn Buskirk, assistant director of marketing.
Buskirk said parking spots lost on Library Drive should not have any negative impact on students, faculty or staff. “The Alumni Parking Pavilion was built a few years ago with this specific Library Drive project in mind,” Buskirk said. “Parking Services
See ROUTE Page 8
Map: Lehigh University
Cars are no longer permitted to drive or park on Library Drive. Drivers are now forced to loop around University Drive.
n The casino offers slots, virtual gaming and eateries, but some say it’s not for the college crowd.
B&W photo by CHRIS CHEW
Firefighters work to put out a fire Sunday afternoon that destroyed a West Third Street building and severely damaged another.
Building burns
By JULIE STEWART
A fire ravaged the Southside Burger Company, formerly known as Greek­ers, at 2 W. Third St. Sunday, and the building was in the process of being demolished Sunday night.
The fire started at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday, according to Fire Chief George Barkanic. Twelve people were forced to evacuate an adjacent build­ing, 4 W. Third St., but no one was in the restaurant nor the apartment above it when the fire started, he said. The fire marshal was investigating the cause of the fire Sunday. There were no injuries.
Barkanic said when his crew got to the fire, which started on the second floor and spread to the roof, they could see smoke, but not flames. They went in the building intending to put out the fire from the interior, but they experi­enced high heat on the second floor.
“Things deteriorated rapidly,” Bar­kanic said.
The firefighters exited when it be­came evident that the roof and floors were going to collapse, Barkanic said. A few firefighters were treated for exhaustion by emergency medical personnel and then promptly returned to fighting the fire. About 40 firefight­ers had responded to the blaze by late Sunday afternoon.
Barkanic said the firefighters were
Fire tears through Southside Burger Co.
See FIRE Page 5