TECHNICIAN
Wednesday SEPTEMBER
2013
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
RPD stops enforcing ban on feeding homeless Jason Katz Staff Writer
Raleigh Police Department’s enforcement of an ordinance that disallowed community members to hand out food to the needy in Moore Square made national news last month. Now, police have decided not to enforce the law. Serving food without a permit in Raleigh’s public parks has been against the law for many years, but police allowed volunteers to distribute food to the homeless until last month. The sudden enforcement raised ethical questions by many and prompted a quick response from the city.
After meetings held by the Law and Public Safety Committee and the Raleigh City Council, city officials decided last week to temporarily revert back to their policy and not enforce the law. Government officials will continue to hold meetings to determine a solution that they feel better fits the whole community, including possibly distributing the food at alternate sites. “The City Council’s Law & Public Safety Committee decided at its Aug. 28 meeting to recommend that, while the City works on a long-term solution, the City will continue its current policy of not enforcing the ordinances related
to, or arrest any individual or groups involved in, the food distribution to those less fortunate in Moore Square,” according to a news release issued by the City of Raleigh Public Affairs Department. Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown attended the committee meeting. According to transcribed notes issued by the RPD, DeckBrown said that there were a lot of factors to take into account and the department was doing its best to accommodate all involved. Wake Area Missions Ministries is a community movement that attempts to gather
HOMELESS continued page 2
McCrory: State will pay teachers with master’s degrees Chris Hart-Williams Correspondent
Teachers currently enrolled in master’s degree programs will no longer have to wonder if they will receive supplemental pay, Gov. Pat McCrory said in a statement last week. The state budget bill, which went into effect April 1, was criticized by people throughout North Carolina, according to Michael Maher, assistant dean for professional education and accreditation in the College of Education. A major reason for this criticism of the budget was a new policy which directed the State Board of Education to no longer give supplemental pay to teachers with master’s or advanced degrees after the 2013-2014 school year. “There was tremendous outrage across the state over this, so that if you go and get a master’s degree you don’t get any extra pay,” Maher said. McCrory said bad legislation was slipped into the budget bill concerning education policy.
“One part of our culture that did not change was passing some flawed legislation during the last hours of session with little debate, understanding or transparency” McCrory said according to a press release. “Too much education policy was slipped into the budget bill causing serious concerns especially from our teachers and educators.” According to the budget, teachers on payroll are not affected because they were hired under the old policy and will continue to see their pay supplements. The budget bill also says, “no teachers… shall be paid…or receive a salary supplement for academic preparation at the six-year degree level or at the doctoral degree level for the 2014-2015 school year.” According to The News and Observer, McCrory appealed to the State Board of Education to guarantee pay to teachers who are in an advanced degree program but will not graduate by 2013-2014. Reportedly, the chair of the board denied his request.
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A construction worker walks between buildings at the new Wolf Ridge Apartments Monday, Sept. 9.
Research offers solutions to common construction delays Jacqueline Lee Correspondent
Construction projects are prone to delays, some of which can’t be prevented. However, an N.C. State researcher has proposed solutions to some unnecessary problems. The study, titled “Application of Time Buffers to Construction Project Task Durations,” explained the reasons why construction project managers allot extra time to complete certain tasks for a project. The research also addressed how these delays can be avoided. The researchers examined survey results of 180 construction industry professionals from the country and found a number of factors that contribute to time buffers, according to the N.C. State Newsroom. Min Liu, an assistant professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering at N.C. State was the study’s lead author. “If a foreman thinks a task will take three days, but al-
lots four days to do the work, the work is more likely to take the full four days,” Liu said according to the N.C. State Newsroom. “It’s similar to Parkinson’s Law, which says that a task will fill the amount of time allotted to complete it.” The extra time project managers add to a project is referred to as a time buffer in the study and unplanned events such as bad weather, accidents, faulty equipment and other real world problems are factored in. “Understanding how the members of a team think and plan is critical to the success of a project,” Liu said. “The contributions to the body of knowledge include providing an understanding of why time buffers are added and quantifying the inf luence of various causes on the way construction personnel at various levels of management buffer and plan for uncertainty.” There are many factors that can delay construction projects, said Jennifer Gilmore, director of marketing and
communications for Campus Enterprises. A major reason that delayed projects all over North Carolina is the record rainfall over the summer. “In fact June 2013 was the 3rd wettest June ever in the Raleigh-Durham area (records kept since 1887),” said Charlie Marshall, associate director of the N.C. State Capital Project Management department, referencing a study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Marshall offered some other explanations too. “The most common reason for construction delays I experience are weather, differing site conditions and implementation coordination with dynamic needs of a large and diverse university community,” Marshall said. Marshall said these delay factors are constantly monitored to minimize impacts to contracted work, however there are some things they can’t foresee. “Projects depending on
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Large classes are a problem for students and professors Sasha Afanasieva Staff Writer
Most N.C. State students have taken a class with more than 200 people, and many incoming freshman are told in high school that large lecture classes are to be expected and are a fact of college life. However, students and faculty members are questioning the effectiveness of large lecture classes. Kelly Elder, a sophomore in political science at N.C. State, took calculus with about 240 ELIZABETH DAVIS/TECHNICIAN students. Edmond Bowden explains a chemistry topic to students after his lecture while Dr. Philip Brown “You couldn’t ask quessets up for his lecture in Dabney Hall on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013. The large size of the CH 101 tions, so I felt like if you had General Chemistry classes, it can be difficult for professors to have a small group discussion Student Special NC State TC072013.pdf 1 7/29/2013 5:09:55 PM a problem it would be harder with students facing issues with the material.
to understand [the material] unless you were in a smaller class. However, it was an easy class, so it wasn’t too big of a problem and there were TA’s,” Elder said. Some professors, such as Christopher McKittrick, an accounting lecturer at N.C. State, also said they have a problem with students not asking questions or participating in discussion. “It seems like I either have 250 students or 35 in classes I teach. It’s completely different to have a large class,” McKittrick said. “Getting people to ask questions in a large classroom is very difficult because people don’t
want to be embarrassed. So that’s always a challenge to get people to not be afraid to ask questions.” McKittrick said that in a large lecture an instructor also has to be entertaining to keep people payiang attention to the material being taught. “Another difference [from smaller classes], is it’s just a lot of people to manage. There are just so many things going on with people’s lives—there are family issues, activities, work issues—issues that impact their academics and you are trying to help as much as you can and be consistent and
CLASSES continued page 3
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