Brown and White Vol. 120 no. 7

              Vol. 120 No. 7
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
‘All the Lehigh News First’
THE BROWN AND WHITE
Lehigh University’s Student Newspaper Founded in 1894
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LIFESTYLE
Gas leak explosion devastates community
By MELISSA COLLINS
In the aftermath of late Wednesday night’s gas leak explosion, five lives have been lost, and many more are injured and displaced.
Among the survivors of the blast that took place at Wil­liam and Beatrice Hall’s home at 13th and Allen streets is Don O’Shall, a former Lehigh employee. O’Shall worked with Lehigh’s Facility Services for 23 years, most recently as manager of Access Control.
O’Shall lost everything in the Allentown blast, Sally Gil­otti, of Communications and Affairs, said in an e-mail.
“When O’Shall’s former colleague Donna Szczepanski, an administrative clerk at Facilities Services, discovered he lost everything in the Allentown gas explosion, she wanted to help,” Gilotti said.
Szczepanski then started a fund for O’Shall, accepting donations from anyone in the Lehigh community. Anyone wishing to make a donation should send it to Donna Szcz­epanski at the Office of Facilities Services at 461 Webster St, Bethlehem, Pa. 18015.
“In addition to monetary contributions, colleagues have committed household goods, bedding and more to O’Shall,” Gilotti wrote.
The explosion took place at 10:50 p.m. Wednesday because of a suspected gas leak of a UGI Corp. pipeline. The catastrophic event left five people dead, about a dozen injured and many more without homes, The Morning Call reported.
Among those who died were the Halls, whose house ignited as a result of the gas leak; Ofelia Ben, 69; Catherine Cruz, 16, a sophomore at Allen High School; and 4-month-old Matthew Manuel Cruz.
The blast also left residents with a fear that it could all happen again, thanks to aging pipelines beneath the city, according to The Morning Call.
UGI Corp. had routinely checked the pipeline in ques­tion on Tuesday, the day before the explosion, without finding any leaks or problems, according to The Morning Call.
Its detection system is designed to find even the smallest leaks that could seep through cracks in sidewalks, pave­ment or sewer gates. No leaks were detected from the pipe­line that was installed in 1928.
The Obama administration has been pushing for the renovation and repair of the 2.5 million miles of pipelines in the U.S., according to the article.
Still, center city residents are not at ease. Wednesday’s explosion was the fourth fatal blast since 1990, and several others since then have damaged homes and businesses, The Morning Call reported.
Further inspection of the gas line has not yet begun.
Just days after the blast, center city residents are slowly returning to their undamaged homes. However, many are left without a place to go home to.
“We have to help each other,” Szczepanski said. “I’m just happy to be at Lehigh now. I’m proud of the people.”
By AMALIA SAFRAN
“The Vagina Monologues” opened Friday night at Packard Laboratory for three performanc­es over the weekend.
It showcased 22 women in 18 monologues touching on top­ics such as rape, social pressures and taboo topics pertaining to women.
The show started off with a startling statistic that one in six women are raped or sexually assaulted, and the statistic raises to one in four women at colleges are sexually assaulted. Then, three women in the show said, “We’re worried about vaginas.”
“It gives people insight into vaginas — talking about it, look­ing at it. All the stories are very interesting,” said Wonu Owoseni, ’13, one of the performers. “They’re either uplifting or informative.”
The third monologue per­formed was “The Wear and Say Lists,” where three women an­swer the question, “If your vagina could get dressed, what would it wear?”
Before the show started, audi­ence members could text their own answers to the question for everyone to see.
Throughout the show, the au­dience was extremely responsive with constant laughing, cheering and even chanting “cunt” dur­ing the monologue “Reclaiming Cunt.”
A more serious monologue, “My Vagina Was My Village,” is dedicated to the women of Bos­nia and Kosovo.
“It was extremely moving, but also disheartening to hear about the soldiers raping the women,” said Sam Schmidt, ’13. “I thought that performance was really powerful.”
“The Vagina Monologues” have been performed at Lehigh for 10 years.
“I would say that ‘Vagina Monologues’ is an important event for Lehigh because it allows the campus to come to­gether to fight violence against women on a global scale, and
B&W photo by DAN COBAR VISUALS
From left to right: Becca Kelley, ’13; Christine Martin, ’13; and Kathleen DiGiulio, ’14, perform monologues in “The Vagina Monologues” this weekend. See more photos on page 3.
Student performances put violence in spotlight
Undergrads confused by cancellation policies
By MEGAN HANKS
Lehigh was covered in a blanket of ice on Wednesday, Feb. 2. The Lehigh website displayed a blue button that allowed students, faculty and staff to check on the status of classes.
First, the announcement said Lehigh would open at 10 a.m., which meant that all classes before 10 a.m. were canceled. Then, the announce­ment changed to read that Lehigh would open at noon. Finally, the announcement read that Lehigh would not be opening at all, because of the weather.
This cancelation of classes is the first since Feb. 10, 2010.
The standard protocol for canceling or delaying classes begins in the early hours of the morning, said Jen Tucker, assistant vice president of Uni­versity Communications.
Lehigh works with an out­side company to clear the roads and sidewalks.
Anywhere from 100 to 200 people, mostly people from the surrounding towns, are work­ing through the night, while students are sleeping, to clear the sidewalks and roads, she said.
The goal is always to have a decision about whether or not classes will be held at least two hours before classes are set to start, Tucker said.
At about 5:30 a.m. on snowy or icy mornings, em­ployees from Facilities Services hold a meeting to assess the conditions of the roads and walkways.
They then make a recom­mendation to Provost Patrick Farrell about whether classes should be delayed or canceled.
As soon as Farrell makes a decision, Tucker said she and the rest of University Com­munications staff are notified, so that the various methods of letting people know about the status of classes can be updated.
There are three main ways that students, faculty and staff are notified of delays or cancel­lations, Tucker said.
The Lehigh Univer­sity homepage, LU Alerts and Lehigh’s news hotline, 758-NEWS, are the three main ways that people can find out about the status of classes.
Tucker’s suggestion was to “rely on the university for most up-to-date information.”
“It’s good that they put it on Portal, but it would be nice if they sent out e-mails because I have a Smartphone, so I wouldn’t have to turn on the computer,” said Sara Titcher, ’14.
“I thought that the notifica­tion system about the closure of classes was very ineffective,” said Lauren Hochman, ’14. “Many other schools have a text-message system to alert
See CANCEL Page 5
See VAGINA Page 5