TECHNICIAN
thursday october
3
2013
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
Budget-cut related layoffs begin Chris Hart-Williams Correspondent
N.C. State laid-off three of its faculty members due to budget cuts on Friday. The layoffs are the result of the $400 million cut to the UNC-System just two years ago and an additional $138 million dollars in cuts that will be added this year. The three faculty members served as academic advisors in the Division of Academic and Student Affairs Transition Program. The program
was eliminated Tuesday and its responsibilities will now be managed by the First Year College. “If we had the money I think we’d still [have the Transition Program],” said Carrie McLean, executive director of Academic Programs and Services and director of FYC. The merger will bring many changes to Academic Programs & Services, a subdivision of the Division of Academic and Student Affairs, according to McLean,
who said the most prominent change is the layoff of Transition Program faculty. “It’s very painful because I like those people a lot,” McLean said. McLean said she speculates the discontinuation of the Transition Program may be followed by other budgetrelated changes to FYC and other Academic and Student Affairs programs in the near future. “We can only speculate for now,” McLean said “No one has told me anything yet.”
However, students of the program will continue to have access to the services and support once provided by the Transition program. Transition program students received an email Tuesday from McLean saying the changes to the programs are due to the recent cut backs in the budget of programs within the Division of Academic and Student Affairs. “This change is necessary because of the continued reductions in our state budget allocations which have forced
us to evaluate how we maintain programs throughout the Division of Academic and Student Affairs while serving the needs of our students,” the email stated. FYC faculty will take on the roles as Transition Program students’ academic advisors and instructors due to the merger. In addition to receiving all the services once provided by the Transition Program, students will also receive additional services, McLean said. New services open to students
include the Pack Academic Workshop Series, Academic Coaching, Faculty Connections Events and other additional programming and support. Advising will remain the same once students transfer to FYC faculty academic advisors of FYC and the former Transition Program are cross-curricular advisors, however they will have to do more work with less employees.
LAYOFFS continued page 3
Locopops to close Raleigh and Chapel Hill locations by end of October Jake Moser News Editor
VICTORIA CROCKER/TECHNICIAN
Students look at a car made by Tesla Motors on Wednesday. The Alternative Vehicle Showcase took place in the Brickyard and was a part of Campus Sustainability Day. Tesla Motors was among several car companies that presented cars in the showcase .
University showcases alternative-fuel vehicles Madeline Safrit Staff Writter
The N.C. State Sustainability Office partnered with Energy Management and the Staff Senate on Wednesday to host the Alternative Vehicle Showcase for Campus Sustainability Day. The event took place in the Brickyard and allowed alternative vehicle owners to present their knowledge of energy-saving vehicles and the benefits of driving them. A variety of energy-saving models were represented including the Nissan Leaf, the Chevy Volt, the Segway, N.C. State’s EcoCar and the Tesla Model S. Two of these Tesla models were positioned in the middle of the brickyard. Students climbed in and out of the driver’s seat to take a look at the “Quickest American Sedan,” one of which was
equipped with Google Maps “R ig ht now I a m and an Internet browser dis- plugged into the electric played on a 17” touchscreen. grid,”Vaidhyn said. “It costs Thomas Vaidhyn, a Tesla me one fifth of what I used to owner, purchased his vehicle spend on gas in my Beemer,” four months ago for $85,000. Ownership costs will conVaidhyn said he prefers this tinue to decrease with the inmodel to his old BMW. stallment of new Tesla SuperThe Tesla, charge stawhich is tions across b ot h b e nthe nation. eficial to the These staenvironment t ion s w i l l a n d c o s tultimately effective, has make travproven to be elling across extremely the country low maintec o s t f re e , nance, and according you only have to Vaidhyn. Claire Basisita, junior in to change the The Alterenvironmental engineering windshield native Vehiwiper f luid, cle Showcase according to Vaidhyn. is not just an opportunity to Vaidhyn said its cost-effi- exhibit cars, but also bicycles, ciency also convinced him scooters and even motorcythat the Tesla is a great in- cles. vestment compared to other Paul Liu, owner of an elecalternative vehicles. tric chopper motorcycle, al-
“ ... electronic vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric are not the end-all, beall.”
lowed students to take rides around the brickyard. The chopper, which reaches a maximum speed of 30 miles per hour, cost Liu about $800, proving to be affordable and a great hobby. Across the Brickyard, N.C. State students presented their contribution to Sustainability Day in the form of an EcoCar. Claire Basista, a junior in environmental engineering, said the EcoCar development team will be entering the vehicle in a three-year automotive engineering competition against 14 other schools. “The point is to convert a brand-new Chevy Malibu, donated by General Motors, into a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle,” Basista said. The team will work to produce this energy-efficient vehicle for the competition
VEHICLES continued page 3
Locopops will close its Raleigh and Chapel Hill locations due to shrinking income and high renovation costs. The Locopops store in Durham will remain open, but owner, Summer Bicknell, chose to concentrate on wholesale vending in the Raleigh and Chapel Hill areas. Freddie Schultz, a senior in psychology and Locopops employee at the Hillsborough Street branch, said employees from both stores received emails announcing the closure. “I was told in the email that we’re closing partially because it’s been quieter and we’ve been vending in a lot of places now, like Pullen Place across the street,” Schultz said. We’ve also been doing a lot more events, so we’re leaning more towards wholesale.” Locopops posted a comment on its Facebook page
Wednesday to further describe the store’s changing business model. “When we started, brickand-mortar locations made the most sense.But customer feedback tells [us] that folks increasingly want to enjoy Locopops during festivals, farmers markets, ball games, etc. and they want the convenience of grabbing a pop or pint while they’re shopping for other items or getting a coffee,” the post read. “They’re less and less likely to make a special trip for one item. This trend prompted me to explore new delivery models. Locopops in Raleigh has experienced increasing vending sales during Schultz’s two-year tenure with the store, and said most of its money comes from doing wholesale business. The Chapel Hill location is closing for similar reasons, according to Schultz,
LOCOPOPS continued page 2
N.C. Mutual executive speaks leadership at Wells Fargo lecture series Katherine Kehoe Correspondent
The chief executive of the oldest and largest life insurance company serving African-Americans in the United States spoke at the Poole College of Management’s Wells Fargo Executive Lecture Series on Wednesday. James Speed, president and CEO of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, spoke in Nelson Hall for an hour about the importance of change in a competitive business setting. He used
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his accomplishments with N.C. Mutual as an example of the benefits of change and innovation. “Everyone wants to get better but no one wants to change,” Speed said. “Change is inevitable. Embrace it, because it’s something that you are going to need to get used to.” N.C. Mutual, which is 115 years old, provides insurance to influential AfricanAmerican groups, such as members of the NAACP and
SPEAKER continued page 2