Feb. 25, 2016

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TRAVEL COURSE LEADS TO A MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE ATOP A PYRAMID

COMMUNITY Pg. 3

Senior night

Men’s Basketball team honors its only graduating member in this season’s last game in the Fish Tank. SPORTS page 7

The Marlin ChroniCle THURSDAY 2.25.16 || MARLINCHRONICLE.VWC.EDU ||

VIRGINIA WESLEYAN COLLEGE

Campus growing pains

As construction of new science building gets under way, students living next to the site put up with noise and a blocked-off sidewalk BY BECCA LAZZERI ralazzeri@vwc.edu

The hustle and bustle of construction work for the Greer Environmental Sciences Center (GESC) continues to impact Village IV residents in many ways. “I wake up every morning at 7 a.m. to construction workers yelling ‘You’re good’ and loud vehicles coming in and out,” junior Justin Erby said. Erby and four of his roommates all said they are concerned about not only the noise but also the detour through Blocker Hall. “It’s unnecessary that we have to walk through Blocker everyday just to get to the dining hall,” Erby’s roommate, junior CJ Nichols, said. Hourigan Construction Project Administrator Janice Robbins disagrees. “For the next 18 months, the detour will continue. It is a safety precaution that we have to take to keep students out of harm’s way,” Robbins said. The group recently completed a construction job at the Virginia Beach Tidewater Community College campus before it took on the GESC, and it had a similar detour protocol at that location as well. Robbins said that with large cranes and other heavy machinery on site, it would be hazardous to allow students to go through the gates again before construction is completed. The detour requires students to walk around Village IV by the parking lot and through Blocker. Some students said when Blocker is closed late at night, it makes the walk much more inconvenient. Village IV residents said the noise is disruptive mostly for those who live closest to the construction site. “It is like waking up every morning to an unexpected alarm clock. I still like Village IV, but it makes me think otherwise about where I want to live next year,” junior Taylor Erby said. Robbins said the construction runs between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. and that all loud work ends in the afternoon to avoid disrupting residents in the evening. In regards to students who are looking to live in Village IV next year, Associate Director of Residence Life Ashley Jones said she acknowledges the frustrations involved in the construction. “I think the noise will definitely be a factor and is frustrating. I’m not sure what that will look like long-term, but that’s something that just comes with construction. We are going to do everything we can to make sure that people will enjoy living out there. As campus grows, these are growing pains that will be felt throughout the campus and not just Village IV,” Jones said. Students in Village II experienced a similar situation last year during the construction of Birdsong Field, and many said they agree that it is just part of attending a growing college. “The construction is definitely affecting my decision for housing next year.

SEE GROWING PAINS Pg. 2

Becca Lazzeri| Marlin Chronicle The sidewalk connecting Village IV to the Batten Center is inaccessible to students for now.

Zika causes concern LiveSafe app bugging out Students stick to travel plans despite spread of viral illness

BY ASHLEY KLINE aakline@vwc.edu

A new international health crisis is on the rise, the mosquito-transmitted Zika virus, but Virginia Wesleyan students forge on with mission trips and study away plans. Chaplain Greg West considered the threats of the Zika virus while planning the annual mission trip to Nicaragua he takes with a group of students over spring break. This year the trip is planned for March 18 through March 25. “It’s new for me. I’ve never had to walk through something like this. The region we’re traveling to in Nicaragua this time is also a malaria area, so that’s new for me as well,” West said. West provided all students with a link to the Centers for Disease Control website and ensured students were aware of the risks involved in traveling to Nicaragua. In addition to these efforts, he strongly urged students to communicate the risks to their parents and discuss the issue with the adults in their lives, he said. West said he was happy to announce that no students chose to withdraw from the trip due to concerns regarding the virus. A final group should be assembled by the end of this week. A dozen students are currently planning to participate. Individuals traveling to the Caribbean, Central America or South America must exercise extreme caution because these areas are where the virus is most prevalent. Neither a vaccine nor an antiviral drug is available. Most people who contract the Zika virus experience no lasting health complications. However, the Zika virus presents serious danger to pregnant women and those who wish

SEE ZIKA Pg. 2

Courtesy| Flickr The disease is transmitted mostly by mosquito bites but also by sexual activity.

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BY ROBIN PETERSON rapeterson@vwc.edu

The Virginia Wesleyan campus community is beginning to recognize some downfalls of the LiveSafe security app. Students said the app is buggy and not an effective early warning system for on-campus emergencies. LiveSafe is an optional campus-wide app that allows the VWC community to quickly share safety concerns with campus security by submitting texts, pictures, video and audio. The app was introduced in 2013 in response to a need for students to be able to interact with security on campus. “We had e2Campus since 2007,” Vice President of Student Affairs Keith Moore said. “Students were looking for a better system and some had better value than others, [such as] being more user-friendly.” The college chose to switch to an automated alert system in the wake of the Virginia Tech mass shooting in 2007. The college first opted to use the system, e2Campus, which offered an SMS-based system for alerts. However, this ended up being a limitation of the service because the system only allowed for one-way communication. After considering various companies that offered similar products, the college eventually chose to to switch to LiveSafe. “Three years ago, the consortium of schools that Wesleyan is a part of was looking at LiveSafe, and they agreed to partially fund [the company],” Moore said. LiveSafe was chosen by VWC administration over many other apps that other colleges adopted. William and Mary uses the app Rave Garden for campus emergencies. This app has an added feature which allows students on the campus to be able to check in with friends and family. Currently, Virginia Wesleyan is not the only campus which uses LiveSafe. Virginia Tech utilizes the app as well. The app is intended to offer students a means of reporting “fishy” incidents or on-campus crimes. Security officers are then able to see the reports in real time. LiveSafe reports also deliver to the inboxes of several administrative staff on campus, including Moore. However, students are raising concerns that the app may not be as useful as perceived. One of the main concerns about the app students brought forth is the timeliness of the alert. “There was a shooting down the road [on Baker] and the entire area was closed off. I heard about [the incident] on the news and got the LiveSafe notification an hour later,” sophomore Chase Curling said. Moore said the app only alerts if incidents could affect people on campus. “An alert only goes out if it directly impacts campus. I remember the incident that [the student] was referring to. I was on campus that day and talked to the police. It didn’t impact the campus,” Moore said.

SEE LIVESAFE Pg. 2 2/23/2016 11:33:05 PM


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