The BEacon
Vol. 117, Issue 10 November 6, 2014
Every Thursday
The Student Voice of the University of Portland Since 1935
UP Fashion Club makes fall lookbook Living, p. 9
Oregon 2014 midterm election results News, p. 2
Freshman walks on to women’s basketball team
Sports, p.16
EXTREME MAKEOVER
The University is raising money to turn the Pilot House into a central student center, complete with a pub and a stage
Christine Menges menges15@up.edu The Pilot House might look a lot different next year. The University plans to transform the building into a pub and event space that can be a central hangout for students, alumni and visitors. With an opening date tentatively set for fall 2015, the new Pilot House will feature a bar, a permanent stage, more seating, an open environment and late-night and weekend programming. Fr. Gerry Olinger, vice president of Student Affairs, said the project is a response to a survey taken three years ago in which students indicated they wanted laid-back programming where they were free to come and go. When UP began seriously considering an on-campus pub two years ago, they brought
Maureen Doyle, general manager of the University of Notre Dame’s nightclub and bar, Legends of Notre Dame, to campus. She pointed out that UP lacked a common area for students to socialize at night. According to Doyle, alcohol citations at Notre Dame decreased by 30 percent a decade after Legends of Notre Dame opened. After the renovation, the Pilot House will more closely resemble Notre Dame’s pub, with a permanent stage and better lighting and sound systems to facilitate music and other events. The rest of the inside of the Pilot House will also look completely different, with an open, modern lounge area. The wall separating The Cove from the rest of the Pilot House may be removed. “Right now, the space itself is not ideally set up,” Olinger said. “It’s kind of bifurcated. The
Alexandra Bush | THE BEACON
hope is to be able to knock down the division to create one large space.” The more open space symbolizes what he hopes the project will achieve: a greater sense of community. “This is like the front door when you come onto campus,” Vice President of University Relations Laurie Kelley said. “We want it to be a really welcoming space where people can meet friends and bring guests.” After viewing draft pictures of the new Pilot House online, sophomore Caitlin Varquez said the update is definitely an improvement. “I think that’s a good idea to update the Pilot House because that’s the first thing you see when you step on campus,” sophomore Caitlin Varquez said. Freshman Katherine Hays agreed. See Pilot House, page 3
Sketches courtesy of UP Marketing
Artist’s renderings of the renovated Pilot House show new features like a bar, a stage and pool tables. The renovation, which UP hopes to complete by fall 2015, is intended to make the Pilot House a central hang-out spot for students, alumni and other community members.
Practicum in Ghana canceled amid Ebola fears Alina Rosenkranz rosenkra17@up.edu
Rebekah Markillie | THE BEACON
UP canceled a social work practicum in Ghana in August as the viral disease began to present a threat to the region. Though Ghana is near some countries afflicted by Ebola, it borders countries without reported cases and has had no known cases of its own.
Concerns about Ebola have put UP’s social work practicum in Ghana on hold indefinitely. In August, as the outbreak in some Western African countries escalated, administrators canceled the program for the current semester. “With the risk of Ebola uncertain, and because the University did not have the resources on the ground in Ghana to be able to adequately respond to a potential emergency, the University decided to cancel the social work practicum experience in Ghana for fall 2014,” Provost Thomas Green said in an email.
“Any decision to cancel a program is based on ensuring the health, safety, and well being of students. Such decisions are made on a case-by-case basis after careful consideration of all available information.” According to the World Health Organization, as of Aug. 28 there were 1,552 deaths due to the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. The number of deaths continues to increase in three heavily impacted countries: Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 4,941 people have died in countries with widespread transmission. Ghana does not share a border
with any country with high Ebola infection counts and has no known cases of Ebola. “The [social work] program and I had no say in whether to cancel the program due to Ebola concerns,” social work professor Kevin Jones said. He met with the administration to tell them more about the program so they could make an informed decision. Junior Rebecca Tabor, the only student who planned to go on the practicum to Ghana this semester, declined to be interviewed. The social work practicum to Ghana started in fall 2013 with four UP students going to Ghana. They volunteered in Accra, the capital city, at a hospital and two orphanages.