Brown and White Vol. 117 no. 7

              Vol. 117 No. 7
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
‘All the Lehigh News First’
THE BROWN AND WHITE
Lehigh University’s Student Newspaper Founded in 1894
SPORTS
Cross country runs past Lafayette
Page 20
ONLINE
Check online for breaking news
www.thebrownandwhite.com
Vampire craze
hits campus
Page 9
LIFESTYLE
Gast looks forward with plans at meeting
By OPEYEMI AKINBAMIDELE
President Alice Gast up­dated the Lehigh community about the implementation of the Strategic Plan, addressed Lehigh’s financial situation and introduced the new pro­vost in a town hall meeting on Thursday afternoon in Packard Auditorium.
Gast said that the goals of Strategic Plan include capital­izing on Lehigh’s strengths, enhancing scholarships and expanding research in gradu­ate education.
“We are very serious about moving forward,”Gast said.
Gast stressed that she did not simply want to brain­storm ideas and not enforce them.
“We are not sitting the plan on a shelf,” Gast said.
She introduced S.P.I.G., the Strategic Plan Imple­mentation Group, which will “reach out into the commu­nity and get things done,” Gast said.
Among those who spoke at the town hall meeting was Denise Blew, associate vice president for finance and treasurer, who confirmed that Lehigh was financially sound despite many worries during the recession.
Blew said that Lehigh was not heavily affected during the economic shake-up last year.
“We were well positioned,” Blew said.
A large part of Lehigh’s revenue comes from tuition and fees. Lehigh had a strong enrollment for the class of 2009.
In fact, Lehigh is slightly over enrolled. Lehigh ex­pected to have 1,170 students enroll in the fall but instead were greeted with 1,201 in­coming freshmen.
While student financial aid needs continue to increase, federal and state grants for financial aid continue to
Students tour STEPS building
By SUNG YOO
The Real Estate Club and Green Build­ers Club hosted a tour of the STEPS building construction site Wednesday.
Approximately 50 students attended the tour, given by Anthony Corallo, vice president for facilities services.
Andrew Maier, co-president of Green Builders Club, said the tour was organized so students could learn more about envi­ronmentally friendly construction.
“We emerged from the Real Estate Club, which is based entirely out of the business school,” Maier said. “We want to bring people of multiple majors together. A lot of kids are interested in LEED buildings – it makes buildings more sell­able and interesting to a client.”
The $62.1 million, 135,000 square-foot building is 20,000 square feet larger than Rauch Business Center.
During the tour, Corallo said the STEPS building will showcase many student-friendly features that make it rel­evant to today’s learning environment.
For instance, the building’s lab facili­ties, classrooms, seminar rooms and of­fices will be spread out throughout the building’s floors instead of being clustered separately in order to create a more inter­disciplinary environment, Corallo said.
“It’s not going to be like Whitaker, where there’s no room to hang out and talk to professors,” Corallo said. “We wanted students to go through the build­ing and see research being done.”
In addition, the building will have artwork.
“The trustees asked us to incorporate art,” Corallo said. “They wanted art to be a part of the building, not just on.”
Artists have developed beautiful gran­ite relief structures, as well as trees etched into glass.
“The trees on glass will symbolize an environmental building,” Corallo said.
Corallo described the many environ­mentally friendly aspects of the STEPS building design.
The building will have lighting tech­nology that will dim lights if there is sufficient natural light, environmentally friendly air circulation technologies, and skylights and atriums to let natural light in.
Corallo also said the building, designed in an L shape on the corner of Vine Street and Packer Avenue, was designed in a way that minimizes shadows and maxi­mizes natural light not only inside the building, but outside as well.
The STEPS building is divided into three distinct wings. The wing along Pack­er Avenue is one story tall, and will fea­ture a 75-person lecture hall along with a
n Doubts about the building are calmed after viewing the floor plans and technology advancements.
See TOWNHALL Page 4
See STEPS Page 3
B&W photo by STEPHANIE LIN
The environmentally friendly STEPS building is under construction and is slated to be complete in June 2010.
Disease-causing bacteria found, cleared from UC ventilation system
By ELAINE HARDENSTINE
A contracted University Center employee was diagnosed with Legionnaire’s disease, a form of bacterial pneumonia that is caused by Legionella bacteria, according to a campus-wide e-mail sent to students Saturday.
Although the lung infection should not be taken lightly, no serious risk to students exists, said Dr. Barb Plohock, director of Environmental Health and Safety, because the infection is spread through airborne bacteria – not from person to person.
Plohock said the case ap­pears to be isolated, and it is highly unlikely another case will develop.
Upon recognition of the problem, numerous tests were run to identify the source of the bacteria, which was the exterior HVAC units that serve the U.C.
“The entire heating, ventila­tion, and air conditioning system was immediately shut down, and the system has been treated following recommended proto­cols,” the e-mail read. “Remedia­tion has been successfully com­pleted and there is no further risk of exposure.”
Legionella bacteria tests of the U.C.’s water came back neg­ative, according to the e-mail.
The U.C. will remain open.
Jennifer Tucker, assistant vice president of communications, said the university took action to have the equipment tested Saturday after getting word from the worker’s family that they suspected he had the disease.
The system was immediately shut down and disinfected, and no other areas of the U.C. were affected.
No areas of the U.C. were shut down while the ventilation system was tested and cleaned, and the units are back up and running, she said.
Tucker said the worker’s con­dition is improving.
Tucker reiterated that the uni­versity is confident that this is an isolated case.
“It’s very unlikely, highly unlikely, that anyone would be affected,” she said.
The e-mail advised that stu­dents with cough and fever are more likely to have H1N1 flu than Legionnaire’s disease and should continue to self-isolate and self-treat.
— Additional reporting by Julie Stewart