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Page 4 // Sept. 28, 2016 @bsudailynews
Ball State cuts down on campus testing labs Whitinger Building lab now serving only business majors Victor Hamilton Daily News Reporter For students needing to take a test in a lab on campus, there’s now one less place to go. Over the summer, the testing lab in the Whitinger Business Building was converted into a computer lab that will be utilized by the College of Business. It is no longer serving as a testing lab for the general student population. “I don’t think it’s a good idea that they closed this one down because I was trying to get to class [in the Robert Bell Building] the other day, and I couldn’t even get in my classroom because there was a line in front of my door,” said Quinn Hubert, a freshman computer information systems major. Currently, the new computer lab is used to teach a logistics class and is also used for special events. Brad Anderson, director of the Logistics and Supply Chain Management Center for Excellence, shares the room with Unified Technology Support and said the computer lab will be heavily utilized in the near future. “Although it’s not as busy right now, this will be a really busy room in the near future as capabilities change,” Anderson said. “By the end of the semester, I’m guessing there will be two or three regularly held classes in there because we’re putting specialized software in there that can’t be necessarily put in any classroom.” The new computer lab had its old computers replaced with newer ones and also had special software installed specifically for classes that are held in the business building. Anderson said this software has made class scheduling much easier for him. “Before, I didn’t even know where I would be scheduled, and now we have a room for it,” Anderson said. In addition to being a part of the Logistics and Supply Chain Management Center for Excellence, the lab can still be scheduled to use as a testing lab by Unified Technology Support. But this new change has left students with only two testing labs, Robert Bell Room 134 and Student Center Room 119. However, in order to accommodate for the testing lab closing down, Unified Technology Support added enough seats to the testing lab in Robert Bell to make sure that there is the same number of testing seats available this year as there was last year. Laura Petty, the director of Unified Technology Media, said there are actually more testing times now than there was last year because the testing Lab in Robert Bell is open longer than the testing lab in the business building had been. “Lab management actively reviews testing lab utilization to ensure that testing goes as smoothly as possible,” Petty said in an email. “As we have done in the past, additional testing labs are opened during midterms and finals.” Despite there being more overall testing times and seats in the Robert Bell lab, some students are facing challenges including longer lines and an overall time inconvenience. “There is definitely a longer wait time in Robert Bell, and it's annoying because we are college students and we procrastinate some times and having to only have an hour to submit tests is a bit annoying,” said Tasha Wilson, a senior telecommunications major. “I had to wait probably a good 10 minutes to get inside Robert Bell and it used to only take like two to five when they had more testing labs, but now it's just a little frustrating because I just want to get in and get out and I can’t do that.” For Luke Hill, a senior meteorology and climatology major, the new changes in testing have left him uncomfortable with the overall environment. “Personally, I don’t like how they got rid of the third testing lab in the business building because it was more spread out. It’s good that they added more seats into Robert Bell, but once again, I wouldn’t be taking a test in a comfortable zone,” Hill said. “If they put in too many seats, and I have been in there so I think they have, it just gets too crowded and I am not really a fan of people sitting right beside me while I’m trying to take a test.” The lab in the business building will be opened to students for midterm and finals testing. Students are also able to visit Ball State’s Testing Lab website or download the Ball State bConnected app to help see which testing labs are most available. Contact Victor Hamilton with any questions or concerns at vahamilton@bsu.edu.
Samantha Brammer // DN
The Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay came through Ball State’s campus Tuesday. Stan Sollars, a telecommunications professor at Ball State, ran the torch down McKinley Ave.
Indiana heritage on campus Bicentennial Torch Relay visits Delaware County, campus Sara Barker Multicultural Reporter Hoosier heritage came blazing through Delaware County Tuesday. The Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay is a celebration similar to that of the Olympics. The torch relay will visit all 92 Indiana counties, and Tuesday was Delaware County’s turn to carry the tradition. Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler was the first of 24 torchbearers on the county’s route. In a caravan of police vehicles and media vans, Tyler walked with three of his grandchildren. “Being a torchbearer is such an honor. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Tyler said. Tyler said he hoped he was nominated based off of his investment in the Muncie and Delaware County communities. “I’m so proud of our state, our history and our culture of being Hoosiers and it just means something very special for my community to have chosen me to be one of the torchbearers,” Tyler said. Stan Sollars, a telecommunications professor at Ball State, was the torchbearer who ran the bicentennial torch down Neely and McKinley avenues. As a cancer survivor, Sollars ran to represent both Ball State and cancer
patients who are and were fighting the disease. “Oh, it was wonderful … it was great to see all the people turning out to celebrate the state’s history and look to the future and wonderful community activity, and we have the best weather I think of any of the routes so far,” Sollars said. While carrying the torch, Sollars was supported by fans holding up signs and pictures of his face, cheering him along his route. “We ran it definitely faster today [than in previous practices]. It was just the boost you get from the crowd, I guess,” Sollars said. “Can’t give them extra credit but I saw quite a few of my graduate students as well as undergrads out, so that was a hoot.” Robert “Eli” Riggin carried the bicentennial torch posthumously for Rea Riggin, his great-great-grandfather. Rea Riggin started Riggin's Dairy in Muncie in 1911. Eli Riggin carried the torch in the family’s milk wagon, built in Indianapolis in 1929. “My grandfather was nominated because he did many many amazing things in Delaware County,” Riggin said. “During the Great Depression, he let men work off their grocery bills to feed their families. Since there wasn’t money going around, he said, ‘Come out and milk some cows.
Come out and work.’” Riggin was chosen to carry the torch for his great-great-grandfather because he is the last Riggin grandson. “It really is nothing but a gift that was given to me,” Riggin said. “It’s such a sense of pride in my community.” Jack Williamson carried the torch for half a mile while walking and riding in a car. Williamson is an amputee; he lost his right foot in a lawnmower accident when he was four years old. Williamson and his family started Jack’s Laughs, a service that sends toys in a “laugh bag” to hospitalized children across the nation. “[The relay] is really life changing because it’s rare for it to happen,” Williamson said. “It’s the birthday of Indiana.” Amanda Erk, Williamson’s mother, said their family started Jack’s Laughs 11 months ago and has sent out 35 laugh bags. “The parents, they hear their child laugh and they sometimes felt like they wouldn’t hear it again, and the child gets to have fun when they think that they might not get to have fun again,” Erk said. Torch relays will continue throughout the state into October and end in Marion County Oct. 15. Contact Sara Barker with any questions or concerns at slbarker3@bsu.edu.
Museums on wheels follow torch relay Freedom Bus and Bicentennial Experience Bus tour Indiana Sara Barker Multicultural Reporter It's not every day a museum rolls into town. The Freedom Bus and the Bicentennial Experience Bus brought Hoosier heritage on wheels to the Delaware County Fairgrounds as a part of the Indiana Bicentennial Torch Lighting Ceremony Tuesday. It displayed prominent Hoosiers, famous Indiana inventions and civil rights history in East Central Indiana. The Freedom Bus, a retired MITS bus turned mobile museum, shows prominent national civil rights leaders on its exterior, including Martin Luther King Jr. and Muhammad Ali, while the museum on the inside focuses on East Central Indiana, said Martin Luther King Jr. Dream Team chairperson Susan Fisher. “In the state of Indiana, local history is part of the curriculum for fourthand fifth-graders,” Fisher said. "So it’s aimed at that grade level, but to be honest, everyone enjoys it." The Freedom Bus project is run by the MLK Dream Team and based out of Muncie. The team is composed of community volunteers and hosts events such as a Black History Month celebration, canned food drives and an annual Day of Prayer event. The MLK Dream Team also gives back to the community through various essay contests and scholarships. The MITS bus transformation into
the current Freedom Bus began in 2005. Development was supported by various community and city grants, plus research and field tests from Ball State students from 2014 to 2016 about civil rights and possible civil rights exhibits. “The displays wouldn’t be at the level that they are without the help of Ball State University and so many of the students there,” Fisher said. Fisher said the Freedom Bus is a necessary reminder of how far the nation has come in terms of civil rights, and the message is an important one to send to the community. “I think in this day and age sometimes we take things for granted ... at one point, not everyone could use a municipal swimming pool, it was whites only," Fisher said. "So that’s kind of shocking for younger people to realize that, and that wasn’t that long ago." The Bicentennial Experience Bus was also a hit during the Bicentennial Torch Lighting Ceremony. Matt Hartzburg, who graduated from Ball State last spring, is the manager of the Bicentennial Experience bus. The position is his first job out of college, and Hartzburg said he couldn't be more proud to be a member of the project team. “As they say, you only get one bicentennial, and it’s been really cool to be a part of that,” Hartzburg said. "To say, ‘hey, you remember the torch relay? I actually worked on that project.’ And as a first gig getting out of Ball State, it’s really not been bad." The Bicentennial Experience Bus contains 200 years of Indiana history and
follows the torch relay whenever possible. At the Delaware County Torch Lighting Ceremony, the bus provided the backdrop for the lighting of the torch itself. “It’s quite a feat to take a museum, put it on wheels and take it to two stops a day every day,” Hartzburg said. "It’s not without its challenges but, like I said, it’s a very neat thing to take to people. It’s a lot of fun." Students from Heritage Hall Christian School took a field trip to visit the two mobile museums, and Iris Martz, a fourth-grade student at Heritage Hall Christian, said he was excited he got to visit both of the museums. “We’ve been studying Indiana history so we thought it would be good to come and look at all the things of Indiana,” Martz said. "I think it's really cool that the museum can go anywhere it wants." Ball State students were at the fairgrounds to check out the museums as well. Freshman psychology major David Bremon said he had never been to an experiential museum before, but after touring the busses, he hopes to learn more about Indiana's history and visit more museums. "I had never heard of these before so I wanted to see what they were all about," Bremon said. "I'm so glad I did, because this has so much information and it's honestly really cool to walk through." The buses will follow the torch to its next stops in Blackford, Grant and Wabash counties today. Contact Sara Barker with any questions or concerns at slbarker3@bsu.edu.