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Tapingo keeps business thriving and student workers busy
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PAGE 3 • THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019
Tapingo keeps business thriving and student workers busy
Julia Robbins
Correspondent
Tapingo quickly became popular after NC State partnered with the app in November 2015 and has since kept dining employees constantly working on large amounts of mobile orders.
Tapingo is a mobile app that allows customers to order food for delivery or pick-up. According to NC State Dining, Tapingo allows customers to pay using a credit card, meal plan or AllCampus student account. Currently, it is offered at 14 different dining locations on campus.
While Tapingo has proven to make ordering easier for students on campus, the app’s enormous popularity has caused incorrect wait time estimations and a backlog of orders.
Allie Davis, a third-year studying accounting, currently works at Port City Java in Talley Student Union. Davis said she feels that Tapingo can be stressful when trying to close at the end of the day, and the app could be improved by shutting it down 30 minutes prior to closing.
“When we are closing at 10:30 sometimes, we get like 10 [drink orders] on Tapingo at 10:28,” Davis said. “We are still making those drinks when we are doing a bunch of cleaning and trying to close.”
Shawn Hoch, interim senior director of hospitality services, said his goal is to support students who need food when studying at all times during the day and night. However, he said that an exception to providing that service would be if there were a multitude of orders coming in the minute before closing time.
“[If] we have 50 people, let’s say at 11:59 p.m., that are submitting an order as we close, we may need to figure that out,” Hoch said. “I will have to go look and see what the orders are in the last few minutes of the shift.”
Leif Eckstrand, a second-year studying materials science and engineering, is a student worker at Jason’s Deli. Eckstrand said he believes that the time estimations on Tapingo are frequently incorrect and that it can cause issues for students who are in a hurry.
“Since I have been there, I have noticed people come, see if their order wasn’t there and leave and never show up, and then we have orders that did not get picked up,” Eckstrand said.
Randy Lait is the senior director of administrative services for campus enterprises and has worked at NC State for 35 years. Lait played a large role in partnering NC State with Tapingo and explained that time estimations have been an issue from the beginning of its usage.
“The wait time on [Tapingo] wasn’t really designed into the system in a complex way,” Lait said. “On a college campus when classes let out, it’s a real flood of people, and so what we found is that you’d get this flood of orders that would come in, and it required a better way of addressing a lot of orders in a short window.”
According to Lait and Hoch, NC State is currently working on solutions to increase customer and worker satisfaction with Tapingo, such as renovating the Starbucks in Talley Student Union this summer in order for the cafe to run more efficiently.
Despite Tapingo having some issues, it continues to bring in multiple orders to dining locations throughout the day and has been shown to help students in a hurry between classes.
Anand Srinivasan, a graduate student in industrial engineering, works at Los Lobos. Srinivasan agrees that while Tapingo can be overwhelming during rush hours, it is a useful tool for students and is good for business.
“Students can order from their classes, so it makes their time more valuable,” Srinivasan said.
For more information about Tapingo, students can visit the NC State Dining website.
JEANINE MINNICK/TECHNICIAN Tapingo TV displays orders in front of Tuffy’s Diner in Talley Student Union on Monday, Oct. 8 during lunch time. The TV shows wait times for the different dining choices in Talley, including Jason’s Deli, which had a 30-minute wait.
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PAGE 4 • THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019
One dead following explosion in Durham
Staff Report
Around 10:07 a.m. on Wednesday morning, a building in downtown Durham exploded as a result of a gas leak, leaving one person dead and 17 injured.
Wil Glenn, public affairs manager at the Durham Police Department, said in a video posted on Durham Police’s Twitter account that the explosion occurred at 115 North Duke St.
“A gas leak was caused by a contractor who was [drilling] under the sidewalk,” Glenn said. “He hit a two-inch gas line, which caused an explosion and a partial building collapse.”
Durham Fire Chief Bob Zoldos explained the events leading up to the explosion and actions taken afterwards through a livestream on WRAL’s website.
“At 9:38 this morning, fire units were dispatched for a gas leak in the 100 block of Duke street,” Zoldos said. “Durham Fire Department Engine One arrived to find a significant gas leak, requested additional resources, including Dominion Energy, and started an evacuation in cooperation with the Durham Police Department.”
At 10:07, in the middle of the evacuation, the explosion occurred, which impacted five buildings on the block, according to Zoldos. This left 17 people injured, including a firefighter.
After the explosion, a significant fire arose, which was contained by the Durham Fire Department. Everyone known to be in the building has been accounted for, but additional investigations are still ongoing, Zoldos said.
“This will take some time to go through a very detailed search and rescue operation,” Zoldos said. “This could possibly go for a couple of days, during these operations some of the downtown will be shut down.”
Students in the Durham School of the Arts, which is located nearby, were evacuated as soon as it was confirmed safe to leave, according to WRAL.
The source of the gas leak still cannot be confirmed until investigation is complete, according to The News & Observer. Several people were taken to Duke University Hospital where six people were in critical condition, others were taken to Duke Regional Hospital and one individual was taken to the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center.
COURTESY OF FRANCES BEROSET/THE DUKE CHRONICLE
Bragaw parking lot construction anticipated to end before fall semester
Sofia Gonzalez Bertello
Correspondent
The current construction next to Bragaw is the beginning to the summer-long project to enlarge the sewers and add storm drains throughout Central Campus. This initiative required covering up a portion of Lee Lot as the early stages of construction began.
Because of the growing number of students, projects like these are necessary to provide adequate space on campus.
Charlie Marshall, the associate director of construction management, talked about what to expect in terms of construction over the next few months.
“This project has two components to it,” Marshall said. “Both of them are to improve the existing services that are already there... One is a sanitary sewer, because the existing sewers are too small and don’t have the capacity needed for everybody in the future. The other part is a storm drain to control rainwater.”
Although this project is intended to extend its reach to most of Central Campus, Marshall says the construction is expected to be ready before students come back for the fall.
“We expect this project to be done by the time school starts back up in the fall, as long as too much rain doesn’t interfere, and the parking spots will be back to the way they were,” Marshall said.
Because students are still occupying most of campus, the project cannot fully begin until classes and finals have ended and there is less pedestrian traffic.
“While the students are here, the construction is just in the Lee Lot,” Marshall said. “On May 13th, the construction will expand because the students won’t be here.”
Because some parking spots have been taken up by the construction going on, students have had concerns about parking.
Hannah Cole, a second-year in the College of Sciences, spoke about how the construction has affected where she parks on campus because of the lack of effective parking for students.
“Since the parking lot will become full quicker during move-out… some people are going to have to park in the Sullivan Lot and have to walk more with their items,” Cole said.
Because a number of parking spots were blocked off in Lee Lot, more students had to park in the other section of the Resident West lot.
“They made more people have to go from Lee Lot to Sullivan Lot, which is just more inconvenient than anything else,” Cole said.
Chris Dobek, the parking services manager, said over email that the university undersold the Resident West lots to compensate for the parking spots being taken up by construction, and all the parking spots will go back to normal in the next school year.
SWATHI KARTHIK/TECHNICIAN Parts of Lee parking lot, next to Bragaw Residence Hall, remain closed due to construction on Monday, April 1.
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PAGE 5 • THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019
Austin Dunlow
Correspondent
Pan-Afrikan Week is an annual event hosted by the University Activities Board and the Black Students Board that focuses on uplifting and celebrating the black students and black culture on NC State’s campus. Events throughout the week will highlight black culture and the experience of being black at a predominantly white institution.
Christian Carter, a third-year studying sociology and the chair of the Black Students Board (BSB), said that Pan-Afrikan Week gives black students on campus a chance to celebrate themselves and to be celebrated by others.
“Pan-Afrikan Week is a week given to the black students and students of African descent where we really get to celebrate our blackness and where we come from,” Carter said. “It’s just our week to have fun and be around each other and congregate that people look forward to every year.”
Naomi Ejim, a fourth-year studying Africana studies and the president of the African Student Union (ASU), said that the goal of Pan-Afrikan Week is to make students of African descent feel comfortable on campus.
“[Pan-Afrikan Week] is by the members of the African Diaspora, for the members of the African Diaspora,” Ejim said. “It’s important to me because, being a minority on State’s campus, more often than not a lot of programs that the university puts on are not for people who look like me. It gives me the opportunity to be my unique self and no one can check me.”
Carter said she felt that Pan-Afrikan Week is important to keep the number of students of color on campus from decreasing any more than it already has. In fall 2008, black students made up 8.5% of NC State’s total enrollment, compared to 5.8% in fall 2018, according to the Office of Institutional Research and Planning.
“NC State is a primarily white institution, so that can be really hard on a lot of black and brown students on campus,” Carter said. “Our numbers here at State have been dwindling the last couple of years, so it’s definitely more important now than ever to keep our students uplifted and comfortable and to make them feel safe and like they belong on this campus as much as anyone else.”
According to Carter, Pan-Afrikan Week is also an opportunity to highlight black organizations on campus and the work that they do.
“We gave outside organizations a chance to program, which is something we’ve done in the past as well,” Carter said. “It’s not just about BSB, but about BSB helping other organizations and other black organizations be uplifted and do what they want to do as well.”
ASU was one of the outside organizations that is brought in to help program for Pan-Afrikan Week, Ejim said.
“ASU actually starts Pan-Afrikan Week,” Ejim said. “The first Saturday of Pan-Afrikan Week every year is African Night. That’s how we give our little bit of involvement in the week and kind of bring it back to the motherland.”
The theme for this year’s Pan-Afrikan Week is “Watch the Throne,” which is meant to celebrate the royalty in every individual, Carter explained.
“‘Watch the Throne’ basically means claiming your throne or your royalty and what makes our students royal,” Carter said. “This is more than just our lineage, but it’s the stuff we do, our culture, the clothes we wear, our dances and everything like that. It’s just saying that we’re all worth celebrating.” Ejim says that not everyone is satisfied with how Pan-Afrikan Week is being presented. She says that some groups on campus still don’t feel represented during the week. “I think [University Activities Board] does a great job of planning Pan-Afrikan Week; however, I think there’s always room to grow,” Ejim said. “There’s recently been a lot of conversation about how Pan-Afrikan Week isn’t as inclusive to other parts of the African Diaspora besides Africans and African-Americans, but I feel like that’s a two-way street. The communities that want to be represented need to come forth, and BSB needs to also give them a larger platform to come forth, but I definitely feel like BSB is doing the best that they can right now.”
Looking forward, Carter is excited about the future of Pan-Afrikan Week, saying she hopes Pan Afrikan Week’s 50th anniversary is the largest event yet.
“It gives black students that sense of ‘We see you, we hear you, and we’re doing this for you,’” Carter said. “Next year is our 50th anniversary so that’s really exciting. It should be bigger and better than ever. So, look forward to that.”
Pan-Afrikan Week will continue to host events through the rest of the week with the African American Textile Society’s Annual Fashion Expose on April 11 at 6:30 p.m., the DanceVisions Annual Spring Concert on April 12 at 7 p.m., a Tent Party on April 13 at 1 p.m., the National Pan-Hellenic Council’s Pan-Afrikan Stroll Off on April 13 at 6 p.m. and the Silent Disco on April 13 at 11 p.m.. You can find a full schedule of Pan-Afrikan Week events on their website.
MARISSA MCHUGH/TECHNICIAN N’dea Pickett, a sophomore studying fashion and textile management, uses vibrant colors to paint her canvas at Trap n’ Paint in Talley Student Union on Monday, April 8.
Opinion
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PAGE 6 • THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019
Rural NC needs Medicaid expansion
A key policy that Americans seek to hear about from their elected officials is their stance on healthcare – and for good reason. In 2016, average American spending on healthcare reached another all-time high of $10,345. For most people, healthcare is an unavoidable expense that just keeps rising.
While we are still a long way away from being universal beneficiaries of social welfare programs like Medicare for All, Medicaid is still a large and impactful program. Established in 1965 by President Lyndon B. Johnson, Medicaid supplies healthcare access to millions of struggling Americans of all ages unable to afford insurance. Most Medicaid recipients are single parents, children, people with disabilities, low-income seniors or lowincome pregnant women.
North Carolina House Democrats and Gov. Roy Cooper are stepping in the right direction with their proposals to expand Medicaid access. Their proposal would make individuals living within 138% of the federal poverty line eligible for Medicaid. This push to expand access could provide healthcare for around 300,000-500,000 North Carolinians.
Medicaid expansion is perhaps the most beneficial in states like North Carolina, where large swaths of our state are rural areas. Rural counties are often inhabited by many citizens at the lower end of the income spectrum. In our state, the 20 highest poverty rates all belonged to rural counties.
With much of the rural population living in poverty, many of the patients that enter rural hospitals are uninsured. And because individuals without health insurance are less likely to go to healthcare practitioners for minor ailments, they often wait until their conditions have become severe. The treatment of these individuals, while moral and just, leaves healthcare providers and the hospital uncompensated. This continued treatment of patients without insurance leads these hospitals into states of bankruptcy, causing them to shut down.
Since 2010, North Carolina has seen a substantial number of potentially avoidable rural hospital closures. We are in a group of six southern states which have experienced five or more rural hospital closures since 2010 — all of which have forgone any Medicaid expansions.
Expansion of Medicaid has been assessed to greatly improve the state of rural hospitals. The medical journal Health Affairs published a study that found that “Medicaid expansion was associated with improved hospital financial performance and substantially lower likelihoods of closure, especially in rural markets.” Democrats in the House and Gov. Cooper must hold steadfast in this reasonable expansion of Medicaid eligibility. Since the Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, permitting states to more easily expand Medicaid via federal funding, 36 states have utilized this feature. North Carolina happens to be one of the 14 states that have not had any expansions in that 8-year period. Republicans, too, are becoming increasingly
aware of NC’s need for Medicaid expansion; however, they continue to bring unfit policy proposals to the table. A 2017 Republican proposal would have expanded Medicaid to those that were employed or actively looking for employment. Kevin Moye Staff Columnist In addition to the employment clause, this proposal also would have forced the Medicaid beneficiaries to pay a monthly premium for what is supposed to be a free program. Such a proposal would have failed to incorporate all of the people that are in need of healthcare while also setting an economic burden on those that did qualify for the program. Democrats must ensure that their expansion of Medicaid coincides with the righteous purpose of giving healthcare access to as many Americans in need as possible. Republicans in turn must step up to the table and pass laws that would benefit thousands of their constituents. For a state that has truly seen the pitfalls of not expanding Medicaid, North Carolina must make Medicaid expansion a non-negotiable issue. Access to proper healthcare should not be reserved for those fortunate enough to afford it. For our state to continue to be a prosperous place for all people, we must see that healthcare is treated not as a privilege, but as a universal right.
Learn something new with your literature requirements
Unless you graduated high school with a boatload of AP literature credits, you’re probably planning out what to take and when for your required literature courses here at NC State. Most, if not all of us, will ignore the “what” of the courses we take and instead just focus on something easy and at a convenient time.
This is understandable, since we’re all a bunch of overworked students who rarely have the luxury to take a really interesting general course of our choosing. However, if you can afford such a luxury in your tight schedule, you should take some time deciding what to take.
While it’s tempting to take something that may already be interesting to you – like science fiction or the ever-present western fiction – I’d argue that you ought to be expanding a narrow amount of knowledge in an unfamiliar subject area. There is a litany of specialized and in-depth literature courses here. Don’t settle for just the easy way out. Take one of the many courses about a group of people you may be unfamiliar with and broaden your horizons for when you go out into the world.
I should acknowledge that I’m currently taking this kind of literature class, and I’ve also taken a standard American literature class. And while I enjoyed the latter, the former has made me realize that the high school I attended barely scratched the surface of the entire literary community. I almost went through my whole time here at NC State without taking a class in an unfamiliar area of literature because it wouldn’t be “convenient.”
But you shouldn’t let that convenience dictate everything you put on your plate here at college. Marc Dudley, a professor of literature here at NC State, said, “I think that whatever you choose to take, that’s fine, but in the back of your mind, as a student, you should have a caveat, and that is to learn as much as you can. When else in your life are you going to learn so much in such a constricted amount of time?”
Adrienne Rivera wrote, “What makes the history of women’s writing so interesting is that in many ways it is a new area of study. The tradition of women writing has been much ignored due to the inferior position women have held in male-dominated societies.” This can apply to all the groups I’m discussing here. The pantheon of “great literary art” has for centuries been dominated by white male authors, and while many of their works certainly are great, it’s only a fraction of the excellent literature out there.
While you may be comfortable with these areas, you’re missing out by sticking
to them. As Dudley put it, “for somebody who’s a science major or an engineering major, you spend a lot of time on another part of campus, not exposed to this kind of thing, and maybe it’s a culture shock being exposed to a classroom setting like Colin this. Part of my mission as an ambassador McKnight to this mission is to expose you to someStaff Columnist thing different and get you to empathize a bit more.” I completely understand why, for example, someone who is a fan of or fascinated by science fiction would want to take the science fiction literature course. And if you still have to take two courses, then definitely take one of those as well. But the point of college is to learn things you don’t already know to be better prepared for the world. So if you don’t know much about the literature of other groups of people and you get the chance to learn, take that step and expand your horizons.
Don’t miss the ACC InVenture Prize finals!
Join us for a live TV recording of the most exciting ACC competition since the tournament. Students will pitch their boldest inventions and business ideas before a live audience and panel of judges for a chance to win $30,000 in prizes and serious bragging rights.
7:30 p.m. | Wednesday, April 17 Stewart Theatre, Talley Student Union
Free and open to the public. Reception to follow. Register at accinventureprize.com/ticket-request-form
As Seen Around Campus
TECHNICIAN
PAGE 8 • THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019
21 SAVAGE/TECHNICIAN Rapper 21 Savage performs at the 2019 Dreamville Festival on Saturday, April 6.
SARAH COCHRAN/TECHNICIAN Rapper Saba concentrates on his performance at the festival. The first ever Dreamville Festival featured music, food, drinks and activities and was sponsored by J. Cole’s record label Dreamville Records.
As Seen Around Campus
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PAGE 9 • THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2019
SARAH COCHRAN/TECHNICIAN Dreamville Records founder and rapper J. Cole sings during his performance at the 2019 Dreamville Festival in Raleigh’s Dorothea Dix Park on Saturday, April 6.
SARAH COCHRAN/TECHNICIAN Attendees of the 2019 Dreamville Festival await rapper 6lack’s performance on Saturday, April 6 in Raleigh’s Dorothea Dix Park.
