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The Volante
THE STUDENTS’ VOICE SINCE 1887
W E D N E S D AY, S E P T E M B E R 7 , 2 0 1 6
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Alpha Xi Delta launches campaign for new chapter house By Ally Krupinsky
Ally.Krupinsky@coyotes.usd.edu
What started as an upgrade to the plumbing system has become a $2.6 million project for the USD chapter of Alpha Xi Delta. The sorority recently announced their plans to build a new chapter house in its current location in a campaign called Coming Home: The Campaign for 214 North Plum. Alpha Xi Delta has been planning for the project for the last three years, said Mary Duncan, a 2001 USD graduate and vice president of the House Corporation Board. Duncan said after learning that necessary plumbing updates would cost upwards of
Illustration courtesy of the Epsilon Chapter of Alpha Xi Delta I The Volante
Alpha Xi Delta recently announced its plans to build a new chapter
house in its current location. $80,000, the chapter corpora-
ed to be done, and what option
tion evaluated what else need-
would make most sense for a
house more than 80-years-old. From there, they collaborated with a volunteer architect in Vermillion who had worked on Greek houses in the past. The decision to start over on a new house made more sense than a long list of renovations, Duncan said. “When you have 50 years of paint on a wall, and every year they’ve painted that wall a different color, that gets to be a lot of work for somebody,” she said. Duncan said though the project’s start date depends largely on donors, the goal is to start tearing down the house next year. It’s unknown exactly how long the project will take once
Months after a waste audit was completed at USD, the President’s Committee on Sustainability is still working on a recycling program.
the old house is torn down, Duncan said. Since the new house is going to be built in the same location as the current one, the chapter corporation still has some decisions to make in terms of interim housing for Alpha Xi Delta members. One of the main changes will be for the next year’s class of sophomores, who would normally be able to opt out of on-campus housing in order to live in the sorority house, will instead remain on-campus for their second year. Most decisions regarding transitional housing are still in the works, such as if execuSee HOUSE, Page A6
Rachel Newville I The Volante
Pilot recycling program to be completed by end of semester By Rachel Newville
Rachel.Newville@coyotes.usd.edu
A pilot recycling program aiming to make campus more sustainable is still in the works, months after a waste audit found that minimal recycling efforts were being made at USD. The program is expected to be put into action by the end of the semester. Currently, the Muenster
University Center is the only building with a USD-coordinated recycling program on campus. According to Bob Iverson, the solid waste director in Vermillion, to date the university has brought 142,617 pounds of recycling to the Missouri Valley Recycling Center this year. In 2015 the recycling center received 163,650 pounds of waste from the university. Iver-
son said that on average 10,00023,000 pounds of university waste are brought to the recycling center each month. Last spring the President’s committee on recycling hired the Verdis Group, an environmental consulting firm, to deliver an evaluation on USD’s sustainability program. Over the summer the committee has been evaluating the Verdis
Groups’ recommendation. Currently, the committee is waiting to hear back from facilities management on the logistical possibilities of a recycling program, according to Scott Pohlson, chair of the President’s Committee on Sustainability. “It’s not where I wanted it to be at this point, but it’s not a huge set back. We are probably a month be-
hind where I hoped to be,” Pohlson said. “Now we are waiting to see what does facilities management see as the pros and cons of the recommendation… I didn’t realize it would take this long. But where we’re at, truth be told, is facilities management needs more resources.” See RECYCLE, Page A6
Discovery District construction to begin in spring By Malachi Petersen
Malachi.Petersen@coyotes.usd.edu
After more than two decades of talk about building a research park in Sioux Falls, construction on the USD Discovery District is slated to begin next semester, combining business and innovation on one campus. The 80-acre corporate and academic research park was recently awarded a $755,000 grant by the U.S. Economic Development Agency for infrastructure development, which will help fund about 2,800 feet of roads and utilities needed to begin construction of the first building at the District. In total, the research park, which will be located in northwest Sioux Falls near the University Center and the GEAR Center, will have about 26 buildings, boast 1.1 million square feet of space and cost about $315 million to build over a 25-year period.
“The goal is really to create a place where private industry interacts with university being students and faculty,” said Rich Naser, Jr., president of the USD Discovery District. “The real primary goal of this is to create employment opportunities for our best and brightest of South Dakota so they don’t have to leave the state to pursue those opportunities if they don’t want to.” Naser said this is the third time an attempt to create an “innovation park” in Sioux Falls has been made. Discussions for a place where research and business could mesh were first discussed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, but failed to take shape after South Dakota Gov. George Mickelson, a leading proponent of the District, was killed in a plane crash in 1993. Among the seven other people killed in the crash were Sioux Falls Development Foundation
Submitted photo I The Volante
Artist rendering of what the USD Discovery District might
look like.
leader Roger Hainje and Economic Development Commissioner Roland Dolly. “(The District) didn’t occur, of course, because of the events that
transpired and the passing of not only the Governor, but of our economic community leaders that were involved in it,” Naser said. The second attempt at the cre-
ation of the District came in the early 2000s and the third attempt came in 2012 when legislation authorizing the establishment and operation of research parks on land controlled by the Board of Regents was passed. University of South Dakota Research Park, Inc. corporation was formed and in July 2013, the site was leased from the Board of Regents for 99 years. Multiple stakeholders are helping to develop the innovation park, including the Board of Regents, USD, the Zeal Center for Entrepreneurship, the Sioux Falls Area Chamber of Commerce, the Sioux Falls Development Foundation, Forward Sioux Falls and the City of Sioux Falls. The District will have a distinct biomedical “flavor” due to research being done at the nearby GEAR Center and the presence of See DISTRICT, Page A3