'Moneyball' hits it out of the park A&E p. 3 Squad grinds out tie
Monday September 26, 2011 Volume 137, Issue 15
Sports p. 6
Student Union construction faces a six month setback Project still on budget, scheduled for completion by spring semester 2014 by Brittany Patterson Staff Writer
Construction setbacks have pushed back the completion date for the renovation and expansion of the Student Union until January 2014. According to Daniel Benavides, senior project manager for the Student Union construction project, the as-built drawings — blueprints of the original Student Union facilities — were not kept up like they should have been. “The biggest — they call them unforeseen conditions — had to do with the utilities on the west side,” he said. Chilled water lines, steam lines, irrigation lines, electrical duct banks, telecommunication duct banks and storm drains were discovered during construction that were not present on the original drawings, he said. According to Benavides, there were also problems with the piles system which serves as the support for the foundation of the building. Pile foundations, or deep foundations, are like studs in a wall, but within the ground, said Cathy Busalacchi, executive director of Student Union Inc. “We are probably six to eight months behind currently and a lot of it had to do with the pile systems that was initially engineered for the building,” she said. “The initial piles didn’t meet test capacity, so we had to redesign the piles to meet standards.” The poor soil quality of the construction site, which Benavides said is salty, full of silt and sits on a high water table, is to blame. To meet the standards, he said the piles were increased from 18 inches in diameter to 24 inches and are now being drilled an additional 10 feet into the Earth, from 80 feet to 90 feet. “I feel so excited to see the new building,” said senior accounting major Phuong Phan. “It’s kind of inconvenient right now, but it’ll be worth it.” Benavides said his team works with the Student Union staff to minimize student exposure to noise, dust and construction debris, which included putting up construction barrier walls in the bookstore and bowling alley.
Funding Emilie Thorburn, a senior global studies major, said she was never told why the renovation and expansion is being done. “I feel like this money would be
better spent on classes being cut,” she said. “No one bothered explaining to me why it’s taking an extra two semesters to graduate. If they told us it (the construction) was because of a safety concern, I might support it more.” According to Busalacchi, the project, which had a budget between $86 million and $88 million, is not funded with state funds or tuition, but a 2007 student fee increase and revenues generated by Student Union Inc. She said initially when the project was proposed to student focus groups they were unsure. “In those forums students initially when they thought about what the fee increase would be they were overwhelmed, but when they saw what was coming from it … probably 95 percent of students in each one of those forums were for the project,” Busalacchi said. The Student Union fee covers the expansion and renovation of the Student Union, Spartan Complex and Aquatic Center. A different fee is paying for the upcoming Student Health Center renovation. “They were doing all three of them at one time and because of the economy back then they had to stop the (Spartan Complex) and put it on hold,” Benavides said. Busalacchi said they are starting to look at the Spartan Complex again, beginning with the pool. Two design companies have been brought in to develop a space that will meet students’ needs, she said during an A.S. board meeting. The combination of the new Student Union, the Spartan Complex and the health center will take more capacity or power than the current central plant can provide. “Both the Student Union fee and the health center fee chipped in a little bit to renovate and upgrade the capacity for the plant,” she said.
The New Student Union “I’ve seen the pictures of what it’s going to look like and if it does look (like) that, it’s going to be awesome,” said freshman kinesiology major Veeral Sarhad. According to Busalacchi, talks of redesign and expansion began in the early 2000s when SJSU started to grow in both population and in the amount of student clubs and organizations that were active. “We began to have larger clubs and organizations … we didn’t have meeting rooms large enough for students,” she said. “Currently we have 350 student clubs registered. Many of those clubs have large attendance of over
SEE CONSTRUCTION PAGE 2
Lathrop Construction Associates employees coordinate the massive drill during Wednesday’s expansion efforts on the Student Union. SJSU is facing a six month delay in construction. Photo by Dorian Silva / Spartan Daily
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VICTORY!
Head coach Mike MacIntyre jumps into the arms of junior running back Ray Rodriguez following the Spartans’ 34-24 win on Saturday afternoon at Spartan Stdium. The victory gets SJSU into the
win column for the first time in the 2011 season and is SJSU’s first win over a Football Bowl Subdivision school since it beat the Aggies in 2009. Photo by Vernon McKnight / Spartan Daily
SEE SPORTS PAGE 6
Shared downtown workspaces offer networking, tools for up-and-comers TechShop and NextSpace provide location for S.J. makers and startups by Jeremy Infusino Staff Writer
Two new very different types of coworking spaces, TechShop and NextSpace, opened in the past few months in downtown San Jose. Coworking is a style of work that has individuals — not necessarily from the same profession — sharing a space but still working independently. San Jose TechShop manager Mike Catterlin got his start at the original TechShop in Menlo Park, Calif. According to its website, TechShop is a workshop where members have access to tools, equipment, instruction and a community to support them and things they want to build. “I just saw the intro-level position posted and thought it was the coolest thing I had ever heard of at the time,” Catterlin said. Catterlin said all types of people come to use the range of equipment available, from sewing equipment to laser cutters. “It’s a whole gamut,” he said. “It’s inventors, entrepreneurs, people that have an invention that they want to eventually sell and they’re making their prototypes here.” Industrial designer Dave Yale said he uses the TechShop as a place to design his furniture that he sells. “There’s something inspiring about being around other creative people,” he said.
TechShop member Chris Lucas says the shop is “an entrepreneur’s dream come true.” Lucas works in the textile station at the shop. Photo by Nick Rivelli / Spartan Daily
Yale said another reason he enjoys being a member of the TechShop is the access to tools he would not be able to use without spending a lot of money. “The thing I use the most here is called the ShopBot. It’s a CNC router generally used for cutting wood but you can cut all kinds of materials with it,” he said. “I don’t know what the price on one of those machines is but for as seldom as I would have been using it, it wouldn’t have made sense to spend six, eight thousand dollars on a machine.”
SEE COWORKING PAGE 2
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Serving San José State University since 1934 Volume 137 / Issue 15
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