TECHNICIAN
thursday august
21 2014
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
Public hearing draws Packapalooza protestors to campus to return to NC State Saturday
Katherine Kehoe News Editor
Opponents and supporters of hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, voiced their stances about new rules proposed by the North Carolina Mining and Energy Commission in front of a spirited crowd during a Raleigh public hearing Wednesday at the McKimmon Center. About 500 people attended the hearing and listened to more than 80 North Carolina residents speak out for up to 3 minutes apiece both for and against the NC Mining Commissions proposed set of rules governing the extraction of shale gas in North Carolina. These rules would regulate the construction of well shafts, chemical disclosure, water testing, site reclamation, the issuance of permits and other environmental and legal aspects related to shale gas extraction. The Republican-controled legislature is planning to lift the State’s ban on fracking next year which will open the door for fracking production to begin in the state.
Estefania Castro-Vasquez Staff Writer
COURTESY OF CHRIS SEWARD/THE NEWS & OBSERVER
A group against fracking rallies before a public hearing on proposed fracking rules held at the McKimmon Center on the N.C. State campus in Raleigh Wednesday.
The majority of attendees were in opposition to the proposed rules as well as all hydraulic fracturing activity in North Carolina, visually demonstrating their position with posters, t-shirts, sashes and a short protest before the hearing that followed. Groups represented at the protest included Greenpeace, Frack Free NC, Raging Grannies, Food and Water Watch, as well as members
of the general public. The vocal opposition expressed concerns about the environmental impact of allowing fracking to take place in North Carolina, arguing the proposed fracking environmental regulations would not adequately protect people’s health or the environment from the dangers of extracting shale gas from
FRACKING continued page 3
The largest and most anticipated of NC State’s Wolfpack Welcome Week events, Packapalooza, will return to Hillsborough Street Saturday from 2 to 10 p.m. About 45,000 people attended last year’s festival, and similar numbers are expected to return this year, according to the event website. Justine Hollingshead, co-chair director of Packapalooza, said she is ready to continue the annual tradition as organizers hope to appeal not only to students, but to the entire Raleigh and NC State community with both new and expanded-upon attractions. “There’s something for everyone,” Hollingshead said. “Whether you like turkey legs and the sports zone, or listening to music or shopping down Hillsborough, there should be something for everyone. It’s going to be a great day.” Jeff Murison, producer of Live
It Up! On Hillsborough, said that because of the success of previous years, new developments have been added to the showcase. Three new zones have been added to the event, a Service Zone, a Senior Zone and a Young Alumni zone, according to Hollingshead. The Service Zone will feature several organizations, including Habitat for Humanity, Kay Yow Cancer Fund and Feed the Pack, said Hollingshead. She said the new Senior Zone will be hosted at McDaids and will offer students who are in their senior year a place to network and learn more about the Alumni Association. Last year, more seniors signed up for the Alumni Association during Packapalooza than the entire previous year, according to Hollingshead. Hollingshead said the Young Alumni Zone will be at La Rancherita and will hopefully attract
WELCOME continued page 3
SAS partnership enhances research possibilites Jess Thomas Staff Writer
A recent partnership between SAS and NC State geared toward expanding research in cyber security, analytics and big data analysis is aiming to promote collaboration between the institutions and provide new opportunities for student researchers. Terri Lomax, vice chancellor of the Office of Research, Innovation and Economic Development, said the new agreement would be able to provide an easier collaboration between researchers at NC State and SAS. “It makes it so much easier to do business together, when our faculty and their researchers have an idea they want to work on together, they don’t have to negotiate a separate contract, the agreement allows them to just add a task order and get
to work,” Lomax said. Lomax said the new partnership will also provide opportunities for students to work at SAS due to the company’s large need for students in STEM disciplines within the company. “The more students that we can interest in this agreement, and that we can interest in doing internships with SAS will lead to an increase in the STEM talent,” Lomax said. The new agreement should also generate a lot of attention from various companies that want to collaborate with NC State in the future, which would be very beneficial to the university’s research programs, according to Lomax. “We’ve had around 60 master research agreements with companies, but this is a very significant one due to our long history with SAS and the close alignment between our interests,” Lomax said.
Tim Wilson, senior Intellectual Property counsel for SAS, said before the research agreement was created, it was difficult to organize a set of conditions between the two employers due to various time constraints. “It was difficult to get the terms and conditions ironed out between SAS and NC State given the time constraints and having classes beginning or ending, being able to get the contracts off the ground was difficult,” Wilson said. The collaboration agreement outlines a set of pre-existing conditions for research projects, which will eliminate the time consumption of creating a set of separate conditions for each project. “What this agreement will allow us to do is have a set of fundamental terms and conditions ironed out between SAS and NC State in advance, and now all we have to do now is
Jim Goodnight, CEO and founder of SAS, is an NC State alumnus.
identify a project and a cost and get it approved,” Wilson said. In addition to eliminating the
Back to School Jam welcomes students, celebrates culture
SOURCE: SAS
time consumption involved with writing a set of conditions for each product, the research agreement
insidetechnician
Casey Oldham Correspondent
Despite the sporadic rain, students ate, danced and celebrated the beginning of a new semester at UABBSB’s Back to School Jam Wednesday evening, an event geared toward bringing together new members and welcoming the black community back to NC State for another year. The event hosted several blackstudent groups, both non-Greek affiliated and Greek affiliated, that either performed or hosted a booth for students participating in the event. Performers included Dance Visions and United Praise Gospel Choir. Several student groups also performed musical acts. The director of this UAB-BSB event, Amira Alexander, said she hoped the new members of the black
JAM continued page 2
FEATURES
FEATURES
Student production company highlights diversity
Student visits Israel during crisis See page 5.
See page 6.
CAIDE WOOTEN/TECHNICIAN
Students perform outside of Witherspoon Student Center Wednesday afternoon at the UAB Black Students Board Back to School Jam.
SPORTS
SPORTS
N.C. State writing workshop acquires new director
Wolfpack makes history at Championships
See page 6.
See page 8.