SPEAKING UP
SLOW START
Presenters discussed personal struggles and racial differences during the seventh annual Diversity Conference Friday.
Softball comes away with two wins this weekend from the first five games of the season.
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Dai ly Eastern News
THE
W W W .D A I L YE A S TE R N N E W S. C O M
Monday, Feb. 9, 2015
Director finalist vies for new opportunity
“TELL THE TRUTH AND DON’T BE AFRAID”
VOL. 99 | NO. 93
Original orchestral pieces performed at Doudna
By Stephanie White Entertainment Editor | @DEN_News Editor’s Note: This is the first in a series of articles profiling each of the four finalists in the search for the director of the Tarble Arts Center. Four finalists are in the process of being interviewed to move into Michael Watts’ position as director of the Tarble Arts Center when he leaves in March. The first finalist to be interviewed was Peter Van Ael, the coordinator of the interdisciplinary certificate program of graduate study in museum studies at Northern Illinois University. Van Ael said he is also coordinator of the Jack Olson Gallery and Gallery 214 at the NIU School of Art and Design. He said he has done a lot while being coordinator at Northern. He has completed projects with his classes that involved working with museums and galleries nearby the university along with private collectors in the area. “Upon my appointment as coordinator of the museum studies program in 2009, I identified strengthening the program’s curriculum and making it more relevant to the profession by offering services beyond training tomorrow’s professionals as key priorities,” he said. Van Ael said curating is a process of learning and sharing of knowledge with the public. “I have a collaborative, outcome-based approach to teaching,” he said. “I strive to bring visibility and external validation to the program through the exhibitions and related programming produced by my classes.” His five exhibits he created with his classes are currently available for travel, which he said extends the geographic reach and visibility of the program he helped create. Van Ael said even though he is proud of what he has done at Northern and likes working with his current colleagues, it is time from him to move on and try new things. “I am at a stage in my career where I look forward to the opportunity to make significant contributions leading an American Alliance of Museums accredited art museum,” he said. TARBLE, page 5
KE VIN HALL | THE DAILY EASTERN NE WS
Members of the Count Basie Orchestra play trombones during their performance in the Doudna Fine Arts Center Saturday in the Dvorak Concert Hall. Count Basie performed several pieces of original music during their performance.
Bio building renovations to continue Eastern not waiting for state funds By Jarad Jarmon Managing Editor | @JJarmonReporter Re n ova t i o n s f u n d e d by s t u d e n t f e e s will be made to the Life Sciences Building throughout upcoming years with a growing need for updated facilities and lack of state funding support. Grounds crew will be working on replacing all of the mechanical systems in the building. Eric Wahls, the project manager of the building renovations, said they will be focusing on renovating the domestic water and hydronic system, which is a heating and cooling system for the building. Eventually, they will move to replacing
the electrical system. “ We are just basically giving it a mechanical, plumbing, electrical makeover,” Wahls said. The heating and cooling system in the building will be updated to replace the current water-based system that can only cool or heat the building at one time. Tim Zimmer, the director of facilities planning and management, said the current system must be drained and then refilled during seasonal changes. He said this makes it difficult during the spring and fall months. “On a cold spring day, when you need heating, there is no hot water in the pipes because you have already conver ted to chilled water,” Zimmer said. The ne w set of pipes will have both heating and cooling lines so the switch from heating to cooling is not so extensive.
Wahls said it was a revamp of the heating and cooling system as well as a way to get rid of the corroded piping in the building. Zimmer said the old pipes have left deposits on the walls. Most of the work is being done in the mechanical room to not disrupt classes underway. Much of the mechanical room was replaced, including new pipes for chilled water and a hot water generator. Zimmer said they are planning on having shifts at night to have work done in the hallways, since the main pipes will run down the middle of the hallways. Paul McCann, the interim vice president of business affairs, said a portion of student fees goes toward campus improvement.
RENOVATIONS, page 6
Free community college raises questions for universities By Luis Martinez Administration Editor|@DEN_News With President Barack Obama having indicated his goal for free community college tuition during his State of the Union address, universities like Eastern must wait for their states to react to come up with a plan. The idea behind the proposal was to raise students’ interest in going to college and making the idea appear affordable. Chris Dearth, the director of admissions, said a lot of details still must be worked out for Obama’s proposal. “The devil’s in the details, as they say,” Dearth said. “From a state’s standpoint, each state is going to have to determine how they would pay for the free tuition for students.”
Dearth said the money has to come from somewhere. “Community college tuition isn’t as high as some four-year institutions,” Dearth said. “If the state makes a commitment to pick up that cost, some of the money that goes to the four year public (universities) might get siphoned off to community colleges.” Dearth said it will ultimately be up to the states to decide how to proceed. If the state decides to support the proposal, then it would be up to legislators to decide how they would go about paying for the tuition. “I think a lot of states are still in the investigative stage, trying to figure out what it would look like, where would the money come from and how much it would cost each state,” Dearth said. The proposal consists the federal govern-
ment would be paying roughly 75 percent of the tuition costs, and the states would have to make up the remaining 25 percent.
“If the state makes a commitment to pick up that cost, some of the money that goes to the four year public (universities) might get siphoned off to community colleges” -Chris Dearth, director of admissions “Even if it’s only 25 percent, that’s money that the state’s not currently paying,” Dearth said. “They would have to figure exactly where would they grab that mon-
ey from.” Dearth said each state will be different in terms of deciding where the extra funds will come from. “A lot of them are expressing interest in supporting the community college,” Dearth said. “But I can’t say if that would come at the cost at the four year publics or if there would be another way for them to generate the money.” Dear th said some states have lotter y funds they are able to pull funds from in order to help cover costs for different things, but he has no idea where the funds to pay community college tuition would come from. Luis Martinez can be reached at 581-2812 or lpmartinez@eiu.edu.