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Show StatesmanCampus News Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2010 Senator position discussed By JESSICA SWEAT staff writer The largest item of business at ASUSU's weekly executive council meeting was a first vote on the possible Graduate Student Senate's (GSS) arts senator position, brought to the council by Graduate Studies Vice President Trevor Nelson. During the most recent ASUSU elections, the creation of the position was voted on and passed by students and the GSS. The only vote now needed to make the position official is a final vote by ASUSU, on the agenda for next week's meeting. According to the GSS website, each college has their own senator, who serves as part of its representation. Each college currently has its own senator except for the newly-formed Caine College of the Arts. Cami Lyman, who represents the Academic Senate on the council, also presented at the meeting. Lyman informed the council on parliamentary procedure, which is the method organization the council uses in meetings. A typical meeting consists of calling the meeting to order, accepting minutes, or official notes, from the previous week's meeting and listening to updates from councilmembers and advisers. There is also a time for public comment, which anyone can use to bring concerns or information to ASUSU's attention. Following updates, any news items may be brought up for discussion. When a conclusion is met, the meeting can then be adjourned, Lyman said. In week's council updates, Brent Crosby, ASUSU executive vice president, said big numbers were brought in for the voter registration drive. Crosby said 910 students were registered to vote, which is double the amount of registration in 2009. Crosby's committee is also working toward establishing a Political Action Day, which they plan to hold Oct. 25. Other updates included President Tyler Tolson's upcoming Board of Trustees meeting, where Tolson and Vice President of Student Services James Morales, will present a new recreation center concept. Alex Putnam, athletics VP, named women's soccer as his "hot team of the week" for their two recent wins. He also discussed the status of USU athletics, but mainly on his work with athletic support group the HURD. Putnam said the group originally planned for 2,000 students to join, but currently has 1,500. He discussed ways they could better promote HURD involvement and suggested giving away HURD t-shirts to new members. Lacey Nagao, public relations VP, and the council discussed how to increase traffic to USU's website by linking it to USU's home website. Nagao suggested linking ASUSU and USU calendars as well. Nagao said she is working on a second draft of bylaw legislation for this idea. Other news from council members included the success of recent events around campus, such as the conclusion of business week, which raised about $9,000 for the Huntsman Cancer Institute. — jessie.a.sweat@aggiemail.usu.edu Page 3 Text and email system notifies students of all emergencies By BLAZE BULLOCK staff writer Utah State University has an alert system that can immediately inform students and faculty throughout the school in case of shootings or other emergencies. It's called Code Blue Emergency Alert System, or Code Blue for short, said Department of Public Safety Emergency Manager Judy Crockett. The alert system lets students know of various emergencies that happen on campus through voice, text and email, Crockett said. Currently, every student with a USU email will receive notification of any emergency that happens on or near campus, but students can also sign up to receive text messages in the event of a crisis as well. This would enable students to be alerted on their cell phones when they may not have e-mail easily accessible. So far only about 3,000 students are signed up to get text messages through the Code Blue. Crockett said she wants all of the students at USU to sign up to receive text messages in case of an emergency. "This is the perfect way to get people informed," she said. "This is an awesome system." Steven Mecham Police Chief and Executive Director of Public Safety of the USU Police Department agreed with Crockett and said receiving messages through text messaging is the best. "Most students aren't worried about e-mail," said Mecham. "The text is the best." Students can sign up by logging into banner, clicking on "personal information", then entering their phone number. They can also put in their parents' phone numbers so they, too, will receive a text or phone call about the emergency that occurred. Crockett said the message will also let people know how they can obtain more information on the matter at hand, whether it is a test alert or an actual emergency. Once students sign in their parents' information, they should tell their parents so they're not confused when they get the message, Crockett said. Students can also be notified by finding USU Emergency Management on Twitter or Facebook. Crockett said the emergency notification system is only used in the event of an emergency and nothing more. Students will never get messages through the system about tuition fees, payment of parking tickets or anything of that nature. "People are really, really concerned that we're going to use it for other things," Crockett said. "Absolutely not. That's not what it's here for. It's for emergency situations only." Capt. Steve Milne of the USU Police Department also said it will only be used for emergencies. "It's not going to be used to send advertisements or anything like that," he said. "Hopefully you never get it other than when we do the semiannual test, but it would still be nice to know if something's going down." The emergency alert system is used once a semester as a test, Crockett said. Code Blue will notify students if there were a shooting on campus, a chemical spill, hazardous weather that would result in school being canceled, fires, evacuations and building closures, she said. The emergency alert system was first started in 2008 and is being used by universities all over the state and country, Milne said. One of the main reasons the alert system has been started throughout the country is because of the shooting at Virginia Tech and other schools, he said. "Virginia Tech's the driving force in this," Milne said. "If you're walking up to the student center to go get something to eat and there's some guy in there shooting people, you would want to know that." Milne and Crockett both said the alert system won't help police stop shootings or aid other types of emergencies any faster, but it will help students get the information they need faster. Milne also said Code Blue could have been used while the "Logan Lurker" was stealing from apartments last school year. — blaze.bullock@aggiemaiLusu.edu Campus & Community Student business to be awarded Utah student entrepreneurs have one week left to be recognized as creators of one of the top student businesses in Utah. Open to any Utah business started in the past five years by college students, the Utah Student 25 is accepting nominations/applications through 5 p.m. (MT) on Tuesday, October 19, 2010. Qualifying businesses are judged on revenue and profitability growth. For consideration, businesses can apply for the 2010 Utah Student 25 program here. In its first year, the Utah Student 25 had companies started by students attending six different universities: BYU, the University of Utah, Utah State University, Utah Valley University, Weber State University and Westminster College. (Here is a link to a complete of the 2009 Utah Student 25 honorees, which included companies with annual revenue ranging from $25,000 to more than $1 million.) Winning companies and their founders/executives in the 2010 Utah Student 25 will be recognized at a "black tie optional" Awards Gala held the evening of Thursday, November 4, 2010 at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City. Tickets to the event range from $35 for students to $150 for VIP seating and can be purchased online. Carnival presents Di Seuss production The Caine College of the Arts of Utah State University welcomes Cache Valley residents and friends to the Chase Fine Arts Center for the Seussical Family Carnival held in conjunction with the Utah State Theatre production of "Seussical the Musical," beginning Oct. 28. Admission to the carnival is free, and various booths for games, arts activities, concessions and shopping will be set up throughout the Tippetts Exhibition Hall during most production dates of the Utah State Theatre production. "This carnival will be a fun, memorable activity for the whole family," Caine College of the Arts Dean Craig Jessop said. "We are excited to involve our community members in this entertaining fall family carnival, which corresponds with our own production of one of the most-performed, fantastical and magical shows in America, `Seussical the Musical."' "Seussical the Musical" runs Oct. 28-30 and Nov. 3-6 in the Morgan Theatre. Curtain time is 7:30 p.m., with an additional 2 p.m. matinee Saturday, Oct. 30. The Seussical Family Carnival is held daily during opening week of "Seussical" and the second weekend of the production's run. Charity event seeking artists CODE BLUE emergency alert system will be used strictly for emergency situations such as the shooting that occurred at Virginia Tech. USU Police Capt. Steve Milne said this system will prevent many students from being exposed to danger on and near campus. CATHERINE MEIDELL photo illustration Pando: USU researches largest organism in the world I continued from page 1 said. The real serious problem is that there's no new generation due to wildlife and livestock. Cattle roam through the Pando area and graze on the newly sprouted stems, he said. The forest is also home to elk and deer which also forage on the trees. "Aspen is like candy to goats, deer, cattle and elk," said Karen Mock, associate professor in conservation genetics. "Until aspen grows out of the range of those mouths, it's really at high risk." Mock said she began researching aspen clones about five years ago in the Logan Canyon. Her research led to the Pando. She questioned whether it was actually one big clone, or several smaller ones. "Based on leaf morphology, by and large, Pando is one huge clone," she said. Her findings also showed that there are approximately 47,000 stems. Pando is easily accessible by road because of its proximity to Fishlake National Forest, Mock said. It is possible there are larger aspen clones in more remote areas that have yet to be discovered. According to a video called "Fading Gold," produced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, aspen provide a habitat for ruffed grouse, beavers, moose, elk, black bears and migrating songbirds. Briefs Many animals are dependent on the aspen for nesting, foraging, breeding and resting. Various efforts are being made to prevent the Pando and other aspen clones from completely dying off, Rogers said. An 8-10 acre section of the Pando clone has been fenced off, yet deer still find a way to get to the sprouts. "We need to come up with as much money as we can and fence as much as we can," Rogers said. "If we had a million dollars, we'd fence the whole thing off." Rogers said because Pando is so close to a recreation area, fencing the whole area off is not an option. Research is focused on finding other solutions to the regeneration problem, such as burning the invasive conifer trees that block sunlight from aspens, Bartos said. Events such as forest fires stimulate the growth of new stems. Older aspens can be harvested for wood fiber which is used to make furniture and novelties such as souvenirs, he said. The trees self-limit to prevent overcrowding, so when old trees are cut down, new trees grow. "There's a lot of treating of aspen to get it back to a healthy nature," Bartos said. "In some instanc- es it works well and in some it doesn't." Mock said an ideal scenario would involve more research, like present-day surveys, historical surveys and aerial photographs. "We're choosing to be in a land grant institution where the questions are applied and where the answers are important to the citizens of Utah," Mock said. Rogers said that USU, the National Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are working together to fund sustainability efforts. While the forest service is busy fighting fires in other areas, the BLM is "becoming more progressive in some ways." "I'm the neutral consultant to provide scientific information," Rogers said. "The stage we're at now is we are trying to avoid calling names and learn how to work together. 'How do we fix this?' as opposed to 'Who do we blamer" — dan.whitney.smith@aggiemaiLusu.edu A charity event titled "Save the Arts Benefit Concert" is looking for volunteer musicians and artists to perform and display their work the night Nov. 11. The event will be held in the TSC auditorium and all proceeds from the concert will go to USU's Caine College of the Arts. Musicians are asked to pay a $2 entrance fee and artists a $1 entrance fee which must be submitted by Oct. 23. Those interested in participating are not required to try out. Musicians for the event are preferred to be mainly acoustic and play a set ranging from 10 to 15 minutes. Only 10 to 15 musicians who contact the event coordinators will be chosen to play in the showcase. All musicians that perform will also receive air time on USU's radio station. Many different forms of artwork will be acceptable to display such as photography, drawings, paintings and interior design work. All interested in participating must email Shanelle Brown at shanelle.b@aggiemail.usu.edu . lCompiled from staff and media reports |