NEWS
ENERGY
Energy audit comes to Guilford College
Continued from page I
funding for the team, which will have until
April 20 to complete the auditing process.
Goldman broke down the auditing pro
cess into the basic steps: the team begins by
looking at the energy-using systems in each
building. They examine and observe plugs,
appliances, mechanical systems, and air con
ditioning and heating systems.
"We determine a strategy to increase the
efficiency of the system, with detailed sav
ings and implementation costs," Munro said
concerning the steps of the auditing process.
"The Energy Audit is giving Guilford an
opportunity to save money and be more
sustainable," said Goldman.
^Goldman showed excitement about
Guilford's opportunity to make changes to
the campus that will replace outdated sys
tems with newer automated systems. The
school will also implement changes to build
ings if the energy auditing team calculates
that the changes to the systems will result in
a payback plan of two years.
"'The auditing team keeps one of the
school's main goals close to heart while it
works on documenting its findings. The
school currently spends on average $1.30-
$1.60 per month for every square foot of
physical building space on campus, and the
auditing team is working hard to help the
school achieve a goal of spending only one
dollar per square foot.
Varnell explained the benefits of the ener
gy auditing procedures.
"The audits are helping us get anoth
er evaluation of where we currently stand
in terms of energy consumption after nine
years of sustainability projects," said Varnell.
"The only way to address (possible energy
reductions) is to identify them."
Some of the buildings that the auditing
team has examined thus far include Dana
Auditorium, Duke Memorial Hall, Bauman,
New Garden Hall, and Pope House.
Varnell spoke about the opportunities for
the community to be involved in sustain
ability efforts on campus, but also spoke of
stewardship more universally.
"It should be a cultural expectation,"
Varnell said about the responsibility of peo
ple to live more sustainably and to take costs
into consideration.
Class of 2015 ready to "GO"
By Elisa Valbiiena-Pfau
Staff Writer
Two years ago, rumors of placing
students in off-campus housing abounded,
and getting to the front of the lunch line
seemed to average the same amount of
time as an evening class. This year, not so
much.
According to Randy Doss, vice president
for enrollment services, the class of 2015
followed the same trend as the class of 2014
in downsizing the first-year population —
360 this year as opposed to 371 last year
and 460 the year before.
Other differences in the class of 2015,
which hails from 33 states and eight
countries, is the male-to-female ratio — 55
percent male as opposed to last year's 52
percent female.
In a departure from orientations of years
past, the controversial "Todd and Amy"
lecture was replaced with a new program
called "Sex Signals."
The principal difference between "Todd
and Amy" and "Sex Signals" is, by and
large, the tone and structure. While "Todd
and Amy" was a lecture by a lawyer about
the potential lawsuit awaiting students
who have inebriated sex, "Sex Signals"
focuses on reading between the lines and
using your intuition to avoid a calamitous,
potentially unwanted sexual situation.
In "Sex Signals," two actors do comedic
sketch routines and incorporate members
of the audience by asking them to give
one actor a pick-up line to use on the
other actor. In between the lines, the
actors put the show on hold to provide the
educational aspect of what was happening.
These breaks in the routine allowed the
actors to go into more depth about a
variety of topics, ranging from dating to
coming on too strong.
"To some people, Todd and Amy
sounded too legalistic," said junior Taylor
Seitz, a Guilford Orientation (GO) leader.
"I had some friends who would listen
to it for entertainment or look for legal
loopholes. I feel like the whole tone of it
put a lot of people off."
Other changes to orientation included
a skit called "Maximize Your Buzz," the
general message of which was for one
to understand their alcohol limit and be
cautious. The yearly orientation carnival
had a highly popular "Survivor" theme,
replete with dog tags and, in another
popular change, a trained hypnotist.
Altogether, the changes made to
this orientation were met with upbeat
enthusiasm. First-year Zirkle Chandler
said that the programs were "funny,
educational and worth it."
While orientation appears to have
changed for the better, there is still room
for improvement. Megan Stern, a junior
GO leader, had a suggestion to maximize
cohesion among the first-years in the
future.
"I would like to see in future orientations
all the first-year get together on a field
and participate in exercises that try to
strengthen mutual experiences that they've
had in an effort to get to know each other
better," Stern said.
Overall, the orientation process went
very smoothly. Stern had particular praise
for Jen Agor, associate dean for Campus
Life, and for Campus Life as a whole.
"Jen Agor and the Campus Life staff
completely did an excellent job; they did
a great job to try and make orientation
excellent,' Stern said. "Without Jen Agor,
there would have been no structure. Jen
Agor was right on point all summer."
The new first-year class will become
more acclimated to Guilford College over
the next few weeks, but orientation remains
a success according to those involved.
SEPTEMBER2, 2011
Summer recap: what you missed
By Adrienne Matson-Perdue and Isaac Cook
Staff Writers
Campus was a whole world away this
summer, but now you are back and there
were some developments over the summer
that you probably missed.
HEAT bus subscription ends
In May, the contracts for student trans
portation with the HEAT and GTA buses
expired.
"The main reason was $80,000," said
Aaron Fetrow, vice president for^ student
affairs and dean of students.
Two-thirds of the operating costs for the
HEAT contract were covered by a federal
grant. The remaining costs were \ divided
among the colleges on the circuit, according
to enrollment.
The federal grant ended, leaving Guilford
College footing an $80,000 bill when the
total ridership only drew around $2,000.
The college tried to keep paying, but the
ridership numbers were too low to maintain
the costs.
"At that cost, it was cheaper to buy bus
passes," said Kent Chabotar, president and
professor of political science.
"The other reason was, quite frankly, we
had a lot of student feedback that the HEAT
bus was not very effective timing-wise,"
said Fetrow. "Paying that much for a service
that was questionable was a real difficult
thing to do."
There are solutions for those who actually
needed the HEAT bus, such as bus passes.
"They are $50 a month," Fetrow said. "So
let us say we have 20 people who need a
bus pass to actually get here for class. That
is $1,000 a month, times 10 months is 10
grand. We are still far ahead of the $80,000."
Students in need of a bus pass paid for by
the college may contact Fetrow at the Office
for Campus Life.
Guilford College named "Best Buy"
Over the years, Guilford has received
accolades, such as its place in the book
Colleges That Change Lives. Over the sum
mer, it gained a few more. Guilford has
recently been named a "Best Buy" in the
pages of the 2012 edition of The Fiske Guide
to Colleges.
"It is not just about price," said Chabotar.
"It is about outcomes, too. You are compar
ing what you get for what you pay."
Alongside this, Forbes Magazine rated
Guilford number 239 out of the 650 colleges
profiled in their "America's Top Colleges"
list and sixth out of the 19 North Carolina
colleges.
For more things you may have
missed, go to www.guilfordian.com
Community Senate Update
stuff we did
We received a lot of input about
what students want done at our input
meeting
We are recruiting seniors; ap
plications are at the Info Desk
stuff we're doing
stuff we' re
gonna do
The first full Senate meeting is next
Wednesday, Sept. 7, at 7 p.m. in the
Boren Lounge
Contact senate(gguilford.edu
with proposals, questions, any
thing!
stuff
you wqnna
see done