TECHNICIAN
wednesday february
6
2013
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
BIENVENIDOS
Obama to give DREAMers fast path to citizenship Mark Herring Editor-in-Chief
Erika Cervantes, a sophomore at Meredith College, heard good news Tuesday after the White House stated DREAMers may earn citizenship on a faster track than other undocumented immigrants. However, reform tastes bittersweet to Cervantes, a Mexican undocumented immigrant who has been in the United States for 12 years. If Obama has his way, Cervantes would receive citizenship before her father, who has worked here for more than 20 years. “Any feeling of getting closer to citizenship is a victory,” Cervantes said. “But the fact that I will become a citizen before the rest of my family doesn’t make me happy. For me, my family is everything, and once I have citizenship, I will support them.” DREAMers, undocumentedimmigrants in college or the Armed Forces, will receive an expedited path to citizenship, according to the president’s parameters of “commonsense” immigration reform. These immigrants earned their name after the DREAM Act, a bill that would legalize undocumented students, failed in 2010. Sen. Kay Hagan (Dem-N.C.) provided the final vote needed to kill the bill, sparking protests across the state. Cecilia Muñoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, said President Barack Obama wants Congress to act swiftly — in the next four to six
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GREG WILSON/TECHNICIAN
Students cross a busy intersection on the corner of Western Boulevard and Avent Ferry Road.
Study attempts to improve safety Tyler Gobin Staff Writer
A new study aims to provide safer ways to cross Western Boulevard, which advocates for the study say is dangerous for pedestrians and bikers. The North Carolina Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization coordinated the hiring of consultants to propose three possible solutions to the problem, according to Brian O’Sullivan, a representative from The Western Boulevard Crossing Study. The first proposal involved a pedestrian and bicyclist tunnel with possible future improvements to allow transit vehicles. The tunnel would aim to serve the Avent Ferry Complex and would go under Western Boulevard, ending between College Inn and Avent Ferry Road. The second proposal was a pedestrian, bicyclist and transit tunnel going under Western. This propos-
1995
Fix transit guideway, pedestrian/multi-modal tunnel
al’s difficulties arise from allowing “Students who have been around the transit vehicles to merge back for a long time know [the intersecwith Avent Ferry Road and Morril tion] has been a problem,” Christine Drive, said O’Sullivan. Klein, public communication speThe third possibility would re- cialist, said. quire total reconstruction of the Klein said she was once drivintersection with ing eastbound on Avent Ferry going Western and al“ underneath Westmost hit a student ern. According to who ran from the O’Su l l iva n, t he bushes. Ousdahl University has no said he had a simiinterest in a total l a r e x p e r ienc e , interchange overwitnessing a Papa haul. John’s car nearly O’Sullivan said hit a student. the University has A c c ord i n g t o Christine Klein, public not taken a formal O’Sullivan, no secommunication specialist stand on any of the rious injuries have alternatives. occurred, but the University does Michael Ousdahl, transportation not need an accident as incentive to planner, said he recognizes the in- take action. tersection of Western and Avent O’Sullivan said there are other exFerry has room for improvement. amples around the country of colHe said the intersection is the sub- leges creating pedestrian crossing ject of most criticism for the trans- locations to reduce risk. In North portation board. Dakota, for instance, a bridge was
Students who have been around for a long time know it has been a problem.”
2007
Add bicycle lanes and greenway trail connections, Add bicycle connection between campuses
2009
Lower speed limit, pedestrian signal phase
constructed over a major archway creating a gateway for the college. The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia extended a campus walk, which expands a roadway for pedestrians only. With other campuses illustrating the possibility to make a safer transportation system, O’Sullivan said the University needs to push a little more. According to O’Sullivan, N.C. State would not be the sole funder for the crossing project, but those in charge are waiting to hear what the University will contribute before taking the next step. “We will face an uphill battle with getting it funded,” O’Sullivan said. The University has yet to make a decision on which alternative it favors. According to O’Sullivan, the University could start to make progress by this June. For more information on the project’s progress and more specifics, visit www.westernblvd.net.
2012 Pedestrian/multi-modal tunnel SOURCE: WESTERNBLVD.NET
Club shows art of living through Indian music Greek life
prepared to grow in the next six years
Ravi Chittilla Deputy News Editor
With “so much stress and violence in the world,” Vaneet Goyal believes “there needs to be some peace.” Goyal and other members of the University’s Art of Living Club brought a moment of tranquility to N.C. State Saturday, Jan. 26, where students enjoyed and discussed classical Indian music and meditated on messages of peace. Goyal, a master’s student in Integrated Manufacturing Systems Engineering and president of the club, led the event. “The classic instruments resonate with our body. The moment you hear the music, you immediately fall into a meditative state,” he said. The event began in the early morning with an alap, the opening section of a classical performance, of a raag, or classical Indian melody, called “Ahir Bhariv.” A traditional composition, called a yaman, followed, accompanied by a table, a classical Indian drum. Two artists performed on sitar following these introductory ceremonies. After the concert, Goyal led the 50 participants in a yoga and medita-
Victoria Vesce Correspondent
KELSEY BEAL/TECHNICIAN
Senior in business administration, Akash Mahtani (left), and sophomore in electrical engineering, Iftekhar Hassan (right) run through the Bhangra Dance Team’s routine for their upcoming competition. “[We] compete at competitions along the east coast,” Mahtani said. “We’re usually in traditional clothing and have props,” Hassan added.
tion session. “Music and yoga allow us to reach a deeper level of concentration. With the stressful lives we all lead, both music and yoga have the ability to relieve that stress,” he said.
The club will hold similar events on campus this semester. Goyal leads an hour-long session of yoga and meditation in Witherspoon 201 every Tuesday from 7:15 to 8:15 p.m.
Goyal hopes to reach more people at the University and in the community with more meditation events and classical Indian concerts.
N.C. State will welcome three new sororities in the next six years. Set to be a part of Panhellenic on campus, they are Kappa Alpha Theta (ΚΑΘ), Kappa Kappa Gamma (ΚΚΓ), and Alpha Xi Delta (ΑΞΔ). Their addition to the campus will be in 3-year increments beginning this year. The first sorority to join is Kappa Alpha Theta, or just “Theta,” which will be welcoming recruits in the fall 2013 PanHellenic Recruitment, which is September 6 through 11. According to Carly Earp, a junior in criminology and Executive Vice President of NCSU PanHellenic, the Executive Board chose these three sororities based on their overall presentations to the board and current sorority
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