The Appalachian
TheAppalachianOnline.com
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Vol. 86 No. 14
President Obama visits High Country by ANNE BUIE Senior News Reporter
by JUSTIN HERBERGER Editor-in-Chief
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Pete Souza | Official White House Photo
President Barack Obama peruses the candy barrels at Boone’s Mast General Store, Monday during his three-day bus tour to promote the American Jobs Act.
SGA passes bill for mandatory student employer evaluations
resident Barack Obama took his jobs tour to the High Country Monday, meeting students in Boone and holding a speaking engagement near Wilkesboro. Student Government Association President Lauren Estes met with Obama prior to his speech at West Wilkes High School in Millers Creek. “I hugged the president,” Estes said. “It was awesome.” The president’s stop was part of his attempt to sell voters on the American Jobs Act. Obama said the bill would compensate for funding cuts in public education and infrastructure projects in order to alleviate concerns about unemployment. “All over the country and right here in North Carolina, folks are losing their jobs,” Obama said Monday. “Nearly 2,000 classroom positions have been eliminated this school year. It’s unfair to our kids. It undermines our future.” Estes said she spoke with the president about concerns expressed to her by Appalachian State University students, particularly education majors, who are concerned about their employment prospects postgraduation. “I’m glad I got the chance to plug Appalachian State to the most powerful man in the world,” Estes said. “It’s an opportunity and experience I will never forget.” En route to Wilkesboro, the president surprised the town of Boone with a visit around 3:30 p.m. While on King Street, he stopped by Anna Banana’s and purchased candy at Mast General Store. “I decided it was time to get out of Washington,” Obama said during his speech. “I wanted to hit the open road and come visit some of the most beautiful parts of this great country of ours.” AppalCART’s director of
transportation, Chris Turner, said Obama’s visit took the town by surprise. “The Secret Service has a thing about secrecy, so we had no idea he was coming until 1:00,” Turner said. Senior electronic media broadcasting major Collincia Rouse described seeing the president as an “amazing” experience. She was on her way to class when she noticed the Secret Service milling through King Street. “It was one of the things I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” Rouse said. “Obama drove up in his van and looked directly at me.” Rouse said she believes Obama visited Boone because the town is so democratic and was extremely active in the 2008 election. She said his brief visit was “awesome” for the town. “Boone doesn’t really get much recognition outside of football, so to have the president come is pretty awesome,” she said. Freshman undecided major Curtis Holmes said he had no idea President Obama was stopping through. “I was just coming to get a pack of cigarettes and had no idea he was going to be here,” he said. Holmes said he was in awe that President Obama would stop in Boone. “I don’t really know why he would be in such a small town,” he said. After hearing about Obama’s upcoming arrival, AppalCART chose to shut down some routes until 4 p.m. Ultimately, the routes reopened before then. Sergeant Matt Stevens of the Boone Police Department was involved with traffic control during the president’s stop in town, along with 50 other deputies and policemen from Avery County, Banner Elk and University Police. Stevens said the ultimate goal was to provide for the safety and movement of the president’s motorcade while having as little impact on motorists as possible. “It was neat that the president would have a little bit of a connection with a relatively smaller area and a kind of off-the-path area,” he said.
Construction update: Center for Student Leadership nears 2012 completion date
by HANK SHELL News Editor
by ANNE BUIE Senior News Reporter
The Student Government Association (SGA) passed a bill on Tuesday in support of mandatory employer evaluations for student employees of Appalachian State University. The current lack of such evaluations “overlooks the merit of deserving staff members and possible issues,” according to the bill. “Whatever is specifically written there, that is what the students want to keep,” said off-campus senator Frances Ramos, author of the bill. A survey sent to student employees asking if they supported a new evaluation received support from 92.8 percent of those who responded, Ramos said. Though the bill states students would have a choice of signing the evaluations or remaining anonymous, Ramos said SGA would move in the direction of making signing the evaluations mandatory. Student employees say the idea of accountability for the evaluations more closely parallels the professional world. “I think that’s a good practice for confrontation because we don’t really get that here on a professional level,” said Jessica Ferrell, a Food Services employee and junior elementary education major. “We get it on a student drama level.” Ferrell said she believes that the evaluations would help her relationships with her bosses. The evaluations would be available to students on ASULearn, incurring no additional costs to the university, Ramos said. Though Ramos said the bill received wide support from student employees, some employers feel that the new system would be redundant and a waste of resources as far as addressing complaints or problems. “The Equity Office, Human Resources, student coordinators – it’s a whole system we have in place right now,” said Art Kessler, Food Services director. Evaluations would be submitted to the director of each department, and with between 700 and 800 student employees at Food Services, it would be a “very cumbersome system,” Kessler said. Food Services is currently the largest student employer on campus. Though Kessler said he thought the current system of addressing problems between student employees and their employers, at least in Food Services, is effective, he did find the motivation of recognizing outstanding employers as positive. Both Ramos and Kessler agree that the concept still needs development before it is implemented. Ramos said the next step in the process would be figuring out how the evaluations could be distributed on ASULearn.
Olivia Wilkes | The Appalachian
The Center for Student Leadership Project is scheduled to be complete during the latter part of 2012. The residence hall and regional utilities building will be finished in summer 2012 and the annex wing will be ready for use in October 2012.
by KELLI STRAKA Senior News Reporter
The Center for Student Leadership, currently under construction on the east side of campus, includes four separate projects – an addition to the Plemmons Student Union (PSU), a new residence hall, an annex wing and an associate regional utilities building. Each project is slated to be completed in 2012 – some in October, some as early as that summer. “The concrete structural frames and floors of the residence hall, union addition and regional utilities building are nearly complete,” Project Manager David Sweet said. The residence hall’s interior framing, wiring, plumbing and piping are proceeding on schedule, along with structural work at the top floors, Sweet said. All four projects are supported from student fees. “No state appropriations were used for the projects as the state doesn’t fund student
housing nor student union construction,” DiBernardi said. “I think this is an important distinction, since some students and maybe others think that we have taken state appropriations away from our instructional core. These are separate funding sources and cannot be mixed.” PSU addition The student union will include eleven new meeting and conference rooms, including a new ballroom. The building will also feature public areas, including a lobby and seating throughout the four floors. “All students will be using the new addition,” said Dino DiBernardi, associate vice chancellor for student development. “These rooms and space will be available to all members of the university community.” Various departments on campus will move to the new student union area, including International Education and Development,
Undergraduate Student Research, Multicultural Student Development, the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership, Appalachian and the Community Together. The Dean of Students suite will be housed in the new addition as well, encompassing Student Conduct and Parent and Family Services. Completion Date: October 2012
New residence hall A new residence hall will boast ten floors in addition to a basement. It will include 18 double rooms, each with its own bathroom, and one single room on floors two through ten. No final decision has been made as to who the new residence hall will accommodate, though the priorities established for construction of the complex were to support additional upperclassman housing and to provide housing for students in the Honors College, DiBernardi said.
Completion Date: Summer 2012
Annex Wing
The annex wing, which will be connected to Cone Hall via bridge or walkway, will include a 24-hour desk, an administrative center, rooms for classes and meetings, and office space for the Honors College. “The annex will available for use by residents as well as others,” DiBernardi said. “The priority will be for classes during the day and it will available for other uses, particularly in the evening.” Completion Date: October 2012
Associate Regional Utilities Building
The Associate Regional Utilities Building will have two chillers and pumps for the air conditioning system, an emergency generator, a pump for the fire sprinkler system and various controls and related equipment inside the building. Completion Date: Summer 2012