Newspapers / Meredith College Student Newspaper / April 24, 2002, edition 1 / Page 2
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2 Campus News CHILLER continued from page one crews to deliver air.by-Friday, if possible. “Defeat terrorism. Get the Chiller running," said Facilities Services’ Greg Ahrendsen.jokingly. I'he company, however, had to buy new equipment, such as extra welding machines, because crews were doing twice the nonnal work load. "I wouldn’t have bought [the equipment] this week,” said Aycock, “but on down the road.” However, Aycock said the real expense was not the exird equipment the company had to buy to fix the Chiller by Friday but the “manpower.” “The.se guys aren’t cheap,”' he said, “You get what you pay for." , Overtime was not the only lab the College was accruing. For the Carolinas Psychology Conference, the College rented a 20-ton unit to accommodate over 400 people in the building. Sherry said the conference was “the initial thrust" to rent the portable unit.- The next week, the unit appeared over at the gym. On Friday, Sherry .said the purpose of the unit was to “cool down the gym" for the Faculty Awards dinner. The College rented a second 20-ton unit to combat rising temperatures in the cafeteria, which reached the mid-90s near the stoves, according to Sherry. The College rented the units from Pump and Power Specialists in Charlotte and had them rush ordered to campus for the cafeteria and the College’s planned week end events. According to the manager of Pump and Power Specialists, Steve Lowder, one 20-ton unit costs $480 a day, or $1200 a week. The College was charged a service fee for transporting the units from Charlotte to Raleigh. Sherry said that the unit in Ledford did not circulate air well. “[Youl must have a system to spread around the [air],” he said. However, the College did not rent portable units for the residence halls. President of the College Dr. Maureen Hartford said that “after the experience in Ledford,” she “didn’t have a lot of faith" in the portable units. “We did the experiment with Ledford, and when that failed so miserably, we thought another unit [for the residence halls] would not work,” she .said. Hartford also said that another factor was that I.«dford “is a much newer building than any of the residence halls.” Sherry said that the residence halls would not have supported a 20-ton unit because they are not wired to handle the electrical strain such a system would induce. “Breakers would be popping left and right,” said Sherry. However, according to Lowder, the College could have rented a portable unit as well as a generato. Together, they form a self-supporting system. Lowder rents 100-ton and 500-ton units in addition to the smaller 20-ton units. “1 could furnish the whole works,” said Lowder. However, because he must examine multiple variables when deciding what size unit best accommodates any building—such as building si?« and composition—if the College had rented a unit for the residence halls, he first would have had to send a team of specialists to campus. He said for a 500-ton unit with a generator, it would have cost an estimated S5,000 a week. Meanwhile, as the sun beat down, students like junior Amber Wood left campus and sought refuge thirty minutes away in her air conditioned home in Angier, NC. “It was over 80 degrees in the room," said Wood “You just couldn’t do work. You couldn’t think. It wasn’t a good learning environment.” Junior Hassie Hughes said that she tried to persuade other women to chip in with her and rent a hotel room. In the end, she stuck it out; how ever, she said she could not sleep. Art professor Carol Hayes, however, suggested that students did not have it so bad last week. She teaches class in the ceramics room in the Gaddy- Hamrick art building, a room that not only is without air conditioning but also is without any vents. To top it off, the room is filled with kilns that reach temperatures of 2,000 degrees. Her room reached 106 degrees on April 17. “You’ve got this for three weeks,” she said to her students. “I’ve got this for 365 days.” Biology professor Dr. Janice Swab said she was di.sappointed that the students did not use a week without air conditioning as a learning experience. “What would it mean if you had no air conditioning, no heat?” she asked. “How could we cut down on the use of these resources that are costing us so much'.^’ Swab said that when she taught students in Africa, they “lined up in the hot .sun” to get into her class, and when she taught in China, she had students standing outside the broken window of a classroom, “freezing in the snow” just to hear her lectures- “Those conditions are a little bit different from anything we have ever experi enced,” Swab said. “Certainly there are many students in many countries who do not have control over their environments.” “Right here in Raleigh wc have children who do not have air conditioning,” she said. “We just do not to see them.” “We’ve got learning opportunity here. Let’s take advantage of it -instead of running home and missing classes,” said Swab. Swab also said she thinks the administration could have “done more to prepare the students." “Things can catch you off guard. 1 wonder if they [the administration] didn’t misread the willingness of the students to cooperate. If so, we need to talk about that,” she said. Hartford equated the problems brought on by the sutprising 90 degree weather to “when a hurricane comes along.” She called it “an act DIRECTOR continued from page one a long-term goal of returning to Meredith — she hopes to return to the college to teach Knglish after she earns her doctoral degree. The Learning Center direc tor is primarily responsible for implementing the tutoring pro gram in writing and oversees the tutoring programs in math ematics and foreign languages for the College. The job description states that applicants must have sig nificant experience in teaching composition and literature, and preference will be given to candidates with a doctoral degree in English or a related field and evidence of adminis trative experience relevant to the position. Dr. Robin, Colby, profe.ssor of English, is heading up a search committee to find the best candidate to 1111 the posi tion. The committee is in the process of informing candi dates of their status, and a deci sion will be made by next week. Information regarding the candidates will not be available until a later date. over which the institution has no power.” However, Hartford said that “in the long run,” the new Chiller system is “going to create a much better living environment for students." “I guess I would be more upset if 1 thought this wa.s poor planning...North Car olina has enough variation in temperature any given month. This really is being responsive to issues students care about,” said Hartford. Ahrendsen said that by the third week in May the entire Chiller plant will be function ing. The plant includes two new units that will provide more uniform temperatures for the new math and science building and help to alleviate strain on the current Chiller, which cools most of the buildings on campus. The 20-ton portable air conditioning unit pumps cool air into the gym on Friday. It costs $1200 per week to rent the unit. St*«- Photo Br Christina Holder
Meredith College Student Newspaper
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April 24, 2002, edition 1
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