THE BG NEWS ESTABLISHED 1920 | An independent student press serving the campus and surrounding community
Monday, November 24, 2014
VOLUME 94, ISSUE 40
WOMEN IN STEM The University invites young females to participate in program designed to encourage excitement around career fields in STEM. Read more on Page 2. WWW.BGNEWS.COM
FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS Students, residence experience Indian food, performances at the “Diwali Mela” By Corey Maxwell Reporter
ERIC BURGASSER | THE BG NEWS
TOP: Dancers perform Saturday night at the 29th annual “Diwali Mela” hosted by the Indian Student Association. BOTTOM: Student performs a traditional dance at the “festival of lights.”
The Indian Student Association held the 29th annual “Diwali Mela” Nov. 22 in the Union Ballroom. The event featured authentic Indian food as well as authentic singing and dance performances throughout the night. University President Mary Ellen Mazey helped kick off the event with a speech regarding the event and how it helps spread diversity throughout the University. “This is the culmination of International Week here at BGSU and I cannot imagine anything that would be more innovating than this event this evening,” Mazey said. “Part of the BGSU strategic plan is inclusiveness and appreciating diversity and that’s what we’re here tonight to celebrate and be a part of.” Provost and Senior Vice President Rodney Rogers added the importance of celebrating Diwali Mela on campus. “What a great event this is,” Rogers said. “It’s one of the highlights of the academic year.” The “festival of lights” featured a number of dance performances including a performance of Andhra Natyam by doctoral student Srihimaja Nandamudi. Andhra Natyam is an Indian classical dance that origi-
University prepares for upcoming winter season
nated in the state of Andhra Pradesh and is a fusion of Bharatanatyam and Kuchipudi dance styles. Poorna Roy, a doctoral student in photochemical sciences, performed a medley of Bollywood songs including a song from the Indian movie ‘Ek Villain’. Sushmitha Ravikumar, a chemical engineering major at Ohio State, performed on the violin and keyboard and was welcomed with a standing ovation as her performance concluded. “Thank you so much for this opportunity, I’m so happy to be here,” Ravikumar said. “It was definitely a privilege to be able to perform in front of you. I hope I was able to share some of my musical journeys and experiences with you all and I hope you learned something as well.” The night concluded with an authentic Indian fashion show with many regions of India being represented including Gujarat, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh. The participants wore traditional Indian clothing including the dhoti, kurta and saris. The co-hosts of the event wrapped up the night by voicing their appreciation for attending and participating in Diwali Mela. “We hope you take with you the love and warmth we have showed during this event. Thank you for joining in our celebration,” they said.
LIGHTING CHRISTMAS TREE
National Weather Service unsure if winter will be worse this year versus past seasons By Corey Maxwell Reporter
Winter season is upon us and the University is gearing up to prepare for the snow. According to the National Weather Service in Wilmington, there aren’t currently any factors that are “standing out” to suggest that this winter will be worse than last year’s recordbreaking one, but that hasn’t stopped the University’s Campus Services in preparing for the snowfall. “We have a lot of equipment turnover, meaning a lot of our machines are capable of helping us in both the warm and the cold months,” said Director for Campus Services Andrea Depinet. The Campus Services Ground Crew has to clear snow on over 33 miles of sidewalk and four miles of roadways on campus during the winter. Some of the equipment used in clearing snow includes plows on trucks and front-end loaders. They also use stakes to mark where sidewalks and roadways are and use deicers to remove snow from entrance ways of campus buildings. Campus Services have also made
some adjustments this year that will better prepare them for snowfall, including implementing walkietalkies to all the team members and teaming up with an organization that provides national weather data to the University. “Before, we would watch the news and keep an eye on the National Weather Service to get information on the weather, but it wasn’t always spot-on,” Depinet said. This new system will provide much more accurate weather information that will better allow the campus to be better prepared, Depinet said. “We are also working on installing TVs in the garages and where other members of the University work to display this new weather data so that it’s easier to stay in the loop,” Depinet said. Since there isn’t enough information currently to tell whether the upcoming winter will be colder than last year’s, it’s unclear whether the University will have to cancel classes like they did last winter. The current cancellation policy states campus will only close when Wood County declares a Level 3 Snow Emergency
FALCONS COMPLETE SWEEP The BG Hockey team swept its weekend series at home against Bemidji State. The Falcons will return to action Dec. 5 on the road at Northern Michigan. | PAGE 3
for the area. However, junior Chris Starace does think that there are some things the University can do to become more mindful for when there are hazardous weather conditions. “I think they just need to have more caution for people’s health hazards. I live off-campus and if I can’t get a place to park, then I have to walk and I don’t think that’s always necessarily safe in the winter,” Starace said. Starace did have one idea on what the University should do to make going to class and campus easier for students. “I think changing the time of use on campus parking lots would really help,” Starace said. “Changing the time from 7:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. would really help for those that have late classes and don’t want to have to walk. Or they could open up more parking lots to students during the winter, or even when it just gets really cold.” Since it remains to be seen what kind of weather winter is going to bring, Depinet offered a final piece of advice for students waling to class. “Just bundle up,” Depinet said.
BEING AN EXTROVERT
EVAN FRY | THE BG NEWS
MEMBERS OF the Bowling Green community gather downtown to observe the lighting of the Christmas tree by the Bowling Green Public Library on Friday evening.
Columnist Abigail Kruse talks about what it means to be an introvert and extrovert. She talks about all the ways modern technology has made it difficult to be an extrovert. | PAGE 4
WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO PREPARE FOR WINTER? “I grew a beard and got my Carhartt out.” Allen Viancourt Freshman, Sales and Service Marketing