TECHNICIAN
Raleigh, North Carolina
GoPasses bring backstage bus changes NEW CARDS TRACK ROUTE USAGE, PREVENT ABUSE OF TRIANGLE BUS SYSTEMS Briant Robey Correspondent
Local transit authorities, working in conjunction with Transportation, have implemented changes that affect the way students and employees ride their bus lines. The GoPass program, formerly known as U-Pass, allows students and employees of the University to ride buses in the Capital Area Transit and Triangle Transit systems without paying fare. Previously, under U-Pass, a rider would show his NCSU ID card to the bus operator. However, with GoPass, this is no longer the case. As of Aug. 26, students and employees must swipe a separate GoPass permit to use these bus systems. “[The GoPass] swipe card is the industry standard,” Christine Klein, information and communications specialist with Transportation, said. “It’s convenient. It just makes sense.”
The new system allows Transportation and the bus authorities to track the flow of bus riders from the University and ensure rider association with the University. “We have no idea what the demographic is,” Klein said. “We’d get the bills and the reports, but nothing concrete.” John Tallmadge, director of commuter resources for Triangle Transit, said verifying commuter status was one of the key reasons for the switch. “The number of people we had boarding buses that weren’t [current students or employees] was approximately one-third of all NCSU traffic,” Tallmadge said. “GoPass reduces the possibility of this happening.” Brian O’Sullivan, assistant director of planning and operations for Transportation, said GoPass holders will have to request new passes on a yearly basis because riders were taking advantage of the old system. “We do not ever anticipate peo-
ple getting their passes online,” O’Sullivan said. “We need to do the transaction in such a way that the pass is matched with an active student or employee.” Klein said she understands the inconvenience of issuing passes in person but supports the change. “Next year we hope to have a better, more proactive process,” Klein said. “It does require a bit of effort from students and employees to come pick up the passes from the [Transportation] office, but [the passes are] free.” The implementation of GoPass provides the bus administrations with more housekeeping tools, but for bus riders, the service remains mostly the same. “[The system change] was fine,” Forrest Stagner, a senior in political science, said. “I’m a senior, so I’ve had my student ID a while, and the bus drivers occasionally question my picture. Now, there’s no question about your ID, you just slide your card into
WHERE TO FIND A GOPASS: Students can pick up their free GoPass by visiting Transportation at 2721 Sullivan Drive. SOURCE: NCSU TRANSPORTATION
the slot.” Tallmadge said that students shouldn’t worry about the overall changes. “The goal is to streamline services and the way people can use these services,” Tallmadge said. “GoPass and U-Pass are just two different approaches to the same GoPass is free to all students, faculty and staff and must be renewed annually.
GETTING HYPED ON HARRIS
DAVID MABE/TECHNICIAN
Dancing at the pep rally, Brooke Brown, a senior in elementary education, performs with the Dance Team on Harris Field Wednesday. Students Today Alumni Tomorrow provided food before the event, and the rally included a pep talk from Tom O’Brien and the football team captains.
Introductory classes spark controversy Students don’t see the benefits of introductory college classes. Hannah Turner Correspondent
Almost every college in the University has an introduction class that new and transfer students are required to take. Classes like ALS 103 or E 101 are designed to familiarize students with all of the resources that are available at the University. “It’s one thing to bring students here, we need to make sure they graduate in a timely fashion,” Gerry Luginbuhl, assistant director of the College of Agriculture and Life Science, said. Hunter Sampson, a freshman in animal science, said the concept was noble, but didn’t see it’s practical necessity. “It’s a good idea but it’s too time consuming,” Sampson said. “It would be easier to find campus resources through a reference Web site.” Emily Haggard, a freshman in management, echoed his sentiments. “Sometimes we talk about topics that pertain to my college, but a lot of time is spent on outside topics like diversity.” Luginbuhl said the classes are intended to help students acclimate to college. “We make sure that you get some basic skills under your belt,” Luginbuhl said. ”We want everyone to make the most of their four years here so they can be successful students and alumni.” Luginbuhl hopes students will view the class not only as an educational experience, but also as a resource. “CALS has the class because we believe it contributes to student success; making sure the students have basic knowledge. If nothing else, the students know someone they can come to if they have a problem or a question.” The class also offers new students to explore opportunities they might not have otherwise considered. “For the most part, students come to this university with a declared major, but we know some students change their major, and we want to help students make sure that their major is right for them,” Luginbuhl said. “As the instructor, I have my own biases but I hope that it is truly helpful to
INTRO continued page 3
First day of Farmers Market a ‘success’
insidetechnician
James Cox Senior Staff Writer
The first day of the Campus Farmers Market was a success according to the market’s manager Ariel Fugate, though the sophomore in fisheries and wildlife said a minor hiccup early in the day had her concerned. “The meat vendor [Mae Farm] was late,” Fugate said. Suzanne Jones, one of the owners of Mae Farm, said she was running late and didn’t have time to pack the goat meat, but many vendors said they met or exceeded their initial goals. She described the traffic at her booth as steady and said she brought in more money than she expected. “People are defi nitely interested,” Jones said. Jones said she sold out of her milk, butter and heat-and-serve barbeque. Mae Farm is located in Louisburg and is owned and operated by Jones, her husband Mike and their three children. She said the family’s goal is to have the best tasting meat that is the most
MARKET continued page 3
TECHNICIAN
2009 Football VENDORS WERE ALWAYS BUSY WITH CUSTOMERS, SOME ITEMS SOLD OUT Preview
UNCENSO[
09.03.09
2009 RED Football preview See insert.
Luis Zapata/technician
Carter-Finley Stadium lays in wait for today’s season opener against South Carolina, when it will be filled with sudents and national media. A central “S” logo was replaced with two smaller logos in the corners of the field because it is better for the turf, according to Assistant Athletics Director for Outdoor Facilities Ray Brincefield.
Carter-Finley ready for action Following a summer of field renovations, fans will see changes Thursday night under the lights Brent Kitchen Staff Writer
Over the summer, the playing field at Carter-Finley Stadium underwent a $750,000 renovation to replace the familiar crowned field with a modern flat field. Casey Reynolds, a doctoral student in crop science, followed the renovations from the beginning and visited the completed field during Meet the Pack Day over the weekend.
“The biggest thing people are field said. “The best thing for our going to notice is that it’s flat,” student athletes is to make the area where all the play is as good as it Reynolds said. Fans will also notice the addi- possibly can be, and the only way to do that is not painting anything tion of a synthetic sideline. “The synthetic turf perimeter is between those hashes.” The new field will drain differgoing to jump out to everybody,” Reynolds said. “A lot of colleges ently due to the inclusion of a sand now have synthetic turf as their layer underneath the turf through entire field. I don’t think the play- which the water drains out. “When you build a sand-based ers will have any real objections to it because it’s nothing they haven’t field, you can have a tendency for the paint to leach down into the been on before.” Assistant Athletics Director for sand, and, essentially, what that SARAH TUDOR/TECHNICIAN Outdoor Facilities Ray Brincefield would do is it would slow down also noted a staple of past fields the drainage in that area,” Brincethat will be missing during the field said. The block “S” logo will appear upcoming season. “There will not be a block ‘S’ in in the corners of the field opposite the middle of the field,” Brince- the ACC logo.
See page 6.
Heidi Garrett, a junior in human biology, picks out some vegetables at the Campus Farmers Market on her way back from classes. “It’s really convenient being on campus, I can just stop by and pick up some fresh stuff.” Wise Farms will be on campus in the Brickyard every Wednesday until Sept. 24.
It’s good to be home
I
can’t really describe how excited to get back into the college game. I’ve been working hard all camp, and it’s great to get back into the groove of playing ball. Over the past few weeks, I’ve really been focusing, watching all the film I can and doing everything in the last detail in practice to get myself ready to play. I wasn’t sure Toney Baker where I’d be on Pack Halfback the depth chart – we have two great running backs in Jamelle Eugene and myself, and we’ll probably split time, which will be great for us in the long run. But as for South Carolina? I’ve been gone a while–after two knee surgeries in back-to-back years knocked me out of the line-up, I don’t think anyone knew how it would turn out. I just have one class on Monday and after that all I’m doing is resting my body or watch-
Spectators may be wary of these aesthetic changes, but the renovations to the field will improve the quality of play during the season. Over the summer, Coach Tom O’Brien discussed the changes with Technician. “The biggest change will be for our quarterbacks,” O’Brien said. “One of the things we wanted to do is make sure the game field reflected the same gradient that our practice field has so that everytime we throw a ball on the practice field it’s going to be the same when we step into the stadium to throw a pass.” So when fans watch the Pack take on South Carolina, though the field will look different, it will
Carter Finley FaCts: Original Construction: 1966 Total Capacity: 55,571 Construction of Murphy Football Center: 2003
Colony collapse disorder devastates bees
TONEY’S TAKE: WEEK 1
1c_3c_news_9.3.indd 1
]
summer camp. It was great to hear him say that, and great to hear that I’m coming back where I left off two years ago. It’s like I just took a very long break, but now I’m ready to go. The locker room has been buzzing these last few days. As an offense, I don’t think I’ve seen us this focused. It’s great to see us all on the same page, and that’s what will lead us to success. Personally, I’m very ready for South Carolina – definitely tired of running into our guys. We’re all ready to see some different colored jerseys. It’s going to be a big relief stepping out onto that field on Thursday. We’ve got a lot on the line and the eyes of the country on us. We’ve got to show up Thursday night and attack early. As for the coaches, believe me – they haven’t let up. They want to make sure that we’re focused completely and we have a great staff. They’re going to do their job. I remember back to last year
“...We’re on a mission this year
viewpoint science & tech classifieds sports
Willie Young’s
source: ncsu.edu
perform better. “If we didn’t know how it was going to react, then we would have some anxiety there,” Brincefield said. “But we know exactly what it does, we know how it plays, so we’re just excited to get the ball kicked off.”
4 5 7 8
guide to fandom
Veteran defensive end Young on what he’d like to see and hear this season at Carter-Finley
“I can’t wait to see them in the stands for the eight home games this year.”
“I haven’t heard anyone come up with a Willie Young chant yet, so I’m looking to hear something real soon. Maybe not the first game because I don’t know how much time I’m giving y’all to prepare for it; I think it’s kind of hard to get 60,000 people on the same page if you don’t rehearse it. I don’t know what it would sound like–you’ll have to make it up. That’s something I’m going to leave up to you.”
“I want to see some fan posters out there.” “I don’t want to see anybody sitting down.” “I’ve got to see the wave. To do the wave, everyone’s got to work as a team.”
9/2/09 11:56 PM