Independent Student Newspaper for the University of Texas at San Antonio
11.16.2010 Vol. 44 Issue 13
The
Paisano
Celebrating Thirty Years of Independent News with a Brand New Design
Main Building
under heavy repairs Megan Lovelady
International education week
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UTSA’s inaugural celebration of International Education Week kicks off Nov. 15 and concludes Nov. 19. The weeklong event was planned and organized by College of Business student leaders from the Business Student Council and the Global Business Club to promote international understanding and build support for international education exchange. Their next event, “Madre: Perilous Journeys with a Spanish Noun”, is Nov. 16 in the biomedical science and engineering building in room 2.102 at 7 p.m. There will also be a International Roadrunner Mixer in the Texas room on Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. Nov. 17 there will be a roundtable discussion in the Business building seminar room entitled “The iMBA Experience: Something New or Same Old Same Old”.
Siempre Mexico
See CLASSES , Page 2
Main Plaza Conservancy brings ART to the Heart with Ordered Kingdoms by San Antonio artist Carra Garza. Ordered Kingdoms will be six 10ft x 10ft prints installed on three sides of both existing kiosk structures located on Main Plaza. The public unveiling and artist meet and greet will be held on November, 23, 2010 at 10 a.m.
Construction workers repair the exterior of the Main building.
UTSA to build another science facility? Brandon Hawkins
paisanonews@sbcglobal.net Freshly re-elected State Rep. Mike Villarreal wasted no time getting (back) to work last week, submitting three education bills on the first day of open filings. HB 134 is of particular interest to UTSA as it would authorize the state to issue $92 million in Tuition Revenue Bonds (TRBs) to cover the construction costs of an “experimental sciences building.” This building, also referred to among school officials as the “science instructional building,” would ease growing space deficiencies, shore-up subpar lab airflow safety standards, and further UTSA’s continuing aspirations to achieve Tier I university status. HB 134 is the culmination of several years of study and evaluation of the current Science Building. Recent studies have determined that the building’s mechanical airflow system -particularly the fume hoods in chemistry labs - does not meet current and future recommendations. Coupled with an explosion in student population, the time is right to expand. “The major beneficiaries of this project would be our students because our teaching labs are not equivalent to our research labs - and they both should be
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Burk Frey / The Paisano
Aida Cuevas, 2010 Latin Grammy Award winner will perform with the San Antonio Symphony and seven Internationally recognized Mexican singers including Mijares, Edith Marquez, Francisco Cespedes, Kika Edgar, Gerardo Flores, Carlos Cuevas and Margarita la Diosa de la Cumbia on Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m. Siempre Mexico is a non-profit association recently established with two major goals: To promote Mexican culture through music, literature, art, theatre and museum exhibits; and to financially support Educational and Arts projects in the United States. In addition to the Nov. 17 concert, the association has multiple follow-up events already planned for 2011. These events will be sponsored by many organizations, including various Mexican state institutions wanting to showcase their unique culture, food and art.
Woodlawn Theatre
The Main building at UTSA is undergoing repeated exterior repairs due to water penetrating through roof-lines and outside stones. BFW Construction Co., Ltd. constructed the Main building in 2002, but the company was bought out by Skanska USA Building Inc. (Skanska) in 2003. Skanska is a multinational development/construction company based out of Sweden with numerous offices throughout the United States and a local office in San Antonio. Even though the one-year warranty of the building has expired, the defective nature of the initial construction means that Skanska is responsible for all costs and repairs to the Main Building. “The construction is disruptive to UTSA but at no cost to UTSA,” Director of Engineering and Project Management Paul Goodman said. “We’re unhappy with the original project but happy with the response.” Current construction is a result of the rain from earlier this year,
which resulted in numerous leaks throughout the building through the walls. “Generally there isn’t a serious problem within the building unless there is a torrential downpour,” Associate Vice President of Communication and Marketing David Gabler said. “The problems are exacerbated if there are strong winds that push the rain closer to a horizontal direction.” The current repairs involve removing lines of exterior stone in order to fix the water-proofing detail of the stones and to prevent future water penetration. “We asked the contractor to come back and look at the work that they had done,” Assistant Director of Engineering and Project Management Robert Espinoza said. “[Skanska] took out some stones and on the interior face of those stones there was some water-proofing detail that was not correctly done when the building was built.” Skanksa has addressed all issues of water intrusion, Espinoza explained. “I have been here for three
Joesph Tidline/The Paisano
Weekly Beak
state of the art,” Dr. George Perry, Dean of Sciences at UTSA said. Albert Carrisalez, Assistant to the President points out that the building would not just serve the students. “We need facilities like this one to lure the academic rock stars out there to teach our students,” Carrisalez said. “Top-notch faculty aren’t necessarily interested in sharing office space.” The investment would also garner added trust and interest from local scientific industries
as they seek to employ UTSA’s graduates, helping to boost the local economy. The trouble is that the state will most certainly continue slashing its budget to cope with the global economy’s downturn. And while these bonds are long-term financial instruments and the university will certainly pay back the debt, it is the taxpayers who actually assume the bond’s interest payment obligations; UTSA will pay only the amount actually borrowed. While the ultimate outcome of
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Water Woes
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paisano-online.com
the bill will have to wait until the next legislative session in Jan. 2011, Rep. Villarreal is well aware of the concerns. “The future of our economy and our communities depends on investing in higher education. Some people may believe we should give up because of the state’s budget shortfall, but I disagree. We need to roll up our sleeves and help UTSA build the facilities it needs to train our nation’s future scientists,” Rep. Villareal said.
Entrepreneur Organization