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Show Page 3 StatesmanCampus News Friday. Sept. 7, 2007 Son of a preacher man HPER offering new fitness program, displacing clubs By LIZ LAWYER assistant news editor ELI BRAYLEY and Evan Schaible stood outside theTaggart Student Center this week and preached to passing students. Brayley said he is a member of Open Air Outreach, a born-again Christian organization.The two street preachers said they believe that until someone is saved by faith, they cannot do good works.They also said Mormonism is not true. Brayley and Schaible received some hostility from students. TYLER LARSON photo Facilities receives excellence award By LIZ WILSON staff writer The APPA, formerly known as the Association of Physical Plan Administrators, recently awarded USU Facilities its highest award, the Award for Excellence in Facilities Management. Facilities was said to exemplify excellence in the all of the criteria evaluated by the judges. The seven areas judges evaluate are leadership, strategic and operational planning, customer focus, information and analysis, development and management of human resources,' process management and performance results. Chris Ahoy, president of the APPA said, "Utah State University has an exceptional campus, not only in terms of Us buildings and grounds, but inclusive of the entire staff of the facilities organization." This award was created to recognize and advance excellence in the field of educational facilities. The successful award applicants were those who demonstrated the ability to look at the organization as a whole and concentrate on key issues with the goal of improving overall performance and customer satisfaction. "Utah State University's facilities organization is committed to continuous improvement, outstanding customer service, individual and organization development, and the use of core values to run its daily operation," Ahoy said. USU welcomed the recognition proudly. The associate vice president for Facilities, Darrell Hart, said, "It is an honor to be selected for this national award. It is evident that we are focusing on the issues most important to the university and serving the needs of the campus, community and the state." The APPA is now the association of choice serving educational facilities professionals. Its mission statement proclaims the organization is "an international association dedicated to maintaining, protecting and promoting the quality of educational facilities, APPA represents more than 1,500 learning institutions serving over 4,700 individuals." -liz.w@aggiemail.usu.edu A new fitness program providing free classes to students and faculty in the Health, Physical Education and Recreation building is starting Monday, but the new classes have displaced student dance clubs that have no other place to practice. The fitness program, Fun, Fit & Forever, was organized by Campus Recreation as a way to promote fitness and offer recreation opportunities to students. The classes are funded by student fees and are free to students with a current student ID. Classes available include yoga, hip hop dance, step, kick boxing, aerobics and jazzercise, as well as hiking and cycling classes which are not held in the HPER. Shelly Bybee, Fieldhouse manager and facilities scheduler who coordinated Fun, Fit & Forever, said nothing like this has been offered for students before. An older program, Recreation Instruction Program, was geared more toward faculty and their families and offered classes like karate, belly dancing, swimming and ballet. Bybee said the program was organized this summer because Campus Recreation felt the HPER should offer classes for students because it is funded by student fees. "There's not a lot to do here in Logan for (students), so we thought it would be a fun, interactive thing," she said. Kevin Kobe, director of Campus Recreation, said he hoped the program would offer something to the many students who don't use the Fieldhouse. "We wanted something for people who wanted something different," he said. "That's our job, to provide recreational activities for students." Bybee said the hiking class would be going on three different hikes this semester and the cycling class would take a road tour through Logan as well as a tour through backcountry roads and a mountain bike trail. Kobe said the classes would also teach road safety. Bybee said she hoped classes would eventually draw between 40 and 60 people each class. The classes are scheduled to take place Monday through Thursday evenings in the HPER. Not everyone is happy about the new program, however. Because of the new demand for space for the free fitness classes, several dance .clubs have found their usual time slots taken up. Whereas many liked to practice on weeknights in the HPER dance studios, now they find they must take a slot on Friday or Saturday, when fewer people are available to attend club practices, or hold their meetings in less desirable spaces. Benjamin Sundberg, president of the USU Swing Club, said his club had to take a Friday time slot even though they usually practice on Thursdays in the hope of getting more people to come. He said the best place on campus for dance groups to practice is HPER Room 215. Bybee said 215 is the "most sought-out place" in the building. There is another studio in HPER Room 102, but it is smaller and has lower ceilings than Room 215. Sundberg said he was disappointed the Swing Club's usual slot was taken. "I would like to know if there are only a few people attending the classes, if they could move it to the wrestling room," he said. Sundberg said the club has occasionally used the HPER basketball courts for practice, but because the shoes they use mark the floors and the courts are now held for students to play ball, that is no longer an option. Another dance studio in the Fine Arts building is not available for clubs to use, he said. Cameron Peterson, president of the West Coast Swing Club, which is just starting up this semester, said he secured a time slot for the club on Wednesday nights, but the only room they could get was HPER Room 203, the wrestling room. The room is not set up to be a dance studio, as it lacks mirrors on the walls and the floors are padded for wrestling. "The floors are a lot different," Peterson said. "It's not so much the mirrors that concern us. It's more that we don't want to dance on a floor our feet stick to. "I was just happy to get a slot, it was so packed." Peterson said he thinks the fitness program is a good idea, but he is concerned about what it means for the dance clubs. "It looks like they have a lot of stuff going on," he said. "That sort of program sounds like a good thing. I understand that they want to fill up the facilities. But it makes it harder for us to make our club useful to students. (Dancing) is growing in popularity. We're going to need more space if more people want to come." Peterson said in their first meeting on Wednesday, they had close to 30 people in attendance. One club was so dissatisfied with the slot they got they rented a room in the Whittier Center to practice in on weeknights. Traci Hanzilik, coordinator for the Middle Eastern Dance Club, of which about half the club are not students, said she was frustrated because she felt the university wasn't supportive of the clubs anymore, "We no longer have a place to go at a reasonable time," she said. "I got a slot on Friday because I probably was a pain in the butt." Kobe said the usual pecking order for time slots at the HPER is physical education classes for credit first, then activities for students offered through Campus Recreation, such as fitness classes or intramural sports, then athletics, then free student recreation, such as a pick-up game, club sports and student clubs and organizations, and lastly community groups. "None of this is a static thing," Kobe said. "The schedule changes every semester. "It's also a dynamic policy. If people have concerns they can write them down and submit them to the HPER policy board." For class times for Fun, Fit & Forever, go to www.usu.edu/camprec/rip. USU Swing Club meets Fridays from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in HPER Room 102. West Coast Swing Club meets Wednesdays at 8 p.m. in Room 203. Middle Eastern Dance Club meets Friday from 6 to 9:30 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. in Room 215. -elizabeth.lawyer@aggiemail.usu.edu Kiger: HASS dean praises college [I continued from page 1 by the performance hall, but also by the organization of the HASS hour lectures, begun by Kiger in 2004, in which faculty members give a 10-minute lecture that is open to students and the public. However, the thing of which he was most proud, Kiger said, was the foundation of the Caine School of the Arts. "We wanted to make this an umbrella school (for all art programs)/' he said. "And it sends a signal that the arts are important." During his last academic year as dean, Kiger said he wants to work on "departmental visioning." He wants each department in the College of HASS to consider how they are positioned relative to where their discipline is going. Thinking about how to improve and how to stay competitive is a goal for this year, he said. Another thing the college is working on is developing and updating tenure guidelines. At the end of his term as dean, Kiger will be eligible for sabbatical leave, after which he has the option of returning to teaching in the sociology department. Albrecht said, "Most of us got into this business to be teachers and researchers. It's time for him to go back to whatever he chooses. O M B U D S M A N C O M M I T T E E MEMBERS Bryan Olsen, Casey Snider and Adam He's an excellent faculty member, Croshaw discuss ways to improve USU over the next semester. DEBRA HAWKJNS photo but he may consider other options at other institutions if he likes." -elizabeth.lawyer@aggiemail.usu. edu dents who want to promote change to the By DEBRA HAWKINS people who can promote the change, said staff writer Casey Snider, junior Ombudsman memH continued from page 1 ber. USU belongs to the students and the Professors' ability to fail students on the Ombundsman is the committee that keeps rination, Colby Goodliffe, who works with project and engineering sup- mere suspicion of cheating and the lack of it that way, he said. port and also oversees water quality, said a public notice would be issued communication between USU and all of its "The university is for us," he said. "It if cryptosporidium became a problem in the HPER pool. regional campuses were primary concerns is important for the professors and the "We would put out a public notice and tell anyone with symptoms to discussed during the first of Ombudsman, university itself to remember that. We are see a doctor," Goodliffe said. "It's nasty stuff." Thursday evening at the Taggart Student going to take all of the concerns from the Goodliffe said this is unlikely, however, since the HPER pool is reguCenter. university and take it to the president of the larly tested for coliform bacteria, a precursor to cryptosporidium, and it The Ombudsman is a student-run university to try and change things because has never been an issue. organization that attempts to fix problems it is our university." There are some precautions students who wish to swim at the HPER that students are having with the univerOne of the concerns the Ombudsman is should take, however, as long as cryptosporidium continues to be a con- sity, Bryan Olsen, Student Advocate, said. dealing with this semester is the ability of cern in Utah. Students should make sure to shower completely with soap The Ombudsman committee is made up professors to fail students on the suspicion and water and stay away from swimming pools if they have been sick of student representatives from major of cheating, Olsen said. "We are meeting recently, Miller said. campus organizations, including a repwith some of the deans and we are trying Despite the increased cases of cryptosporidiosis in the area, Bauer said resentative from the various colleges, the to figure out exactly what this means and if students who wish to swim in the HPER should not be afraid. Greeks, The A-team and the Ambassadors. we can do something about it," Olsen said. -amanda.m@aggiemailusu.edu The Ombudsman takes concerns of stu-debrajoy.h@aggiemail.usu.edu Pool: Parasite cause for concern Students work toward goals Briefs Campus & Community University's Board of Trustees to meet today The Utah State University Board of Trustees will meet Sept. 7 at 10 a.m. in the Champ Hall Conference Room, Old Main 136, for its regular meeting. An executive session commences at 9:30 a.m. For a complete agenda, please link to the USU Board of Trustee's Web Page at: http://www.usu.edu/trustees/agenda/0907-07.pdf If you have any questions, please contact John Devilbiss, executive director of public relations and marketing at John. devilbiss@usu.edu or at 797-1351. Annual LOTOJA bike race begins Saturday The 25th annual LOTOJA Bike Race begins Saturday, with the first pack of cyclists leaving Logan at 6:30 a.m.. Avid bicyclists from all over the country flock to Cache Valley for the annual 206-mile race from Logan to Jackson Hole. This year's race starts at Sunrise Cyclery, located at 100 E. 150 North in Logan, and takes the participants up to Jackson Hole, Wyo. LOTOJA is capped at 1,000 participants and is the longest U.S. Cycling Federation-sanctioned event in the country. Since it is not a weatherdependent race, participants must be prepared for all types of weather and terrain. The highest elevation on the course reaches just over 7,500 feet. According to lotojaclassic.com, the LOTOJA Bike Race was pioneered and mapped by David Bern and Jeff Keller. Their desire for a European-style bicycle race set the course for this annual tradition. In 1982, nine cyclists, including the two founders, set off on the mapped course. Just over nine hours later, Bob VanSlyke crossed the finish line, taking first place, the Web site said. The LOTOJA Bike Race is a fund-raising event. Cyclist packs will begin the course periodically from 6:30 until 7:45 a.m. -heather.wilk@aggiemail.usu.edu 5K/1 Mile Run, Walk and Roll tomorrow A 5K/1 Mile Fun Run, Walk and Roll is being held Saturday at 9 a.m. The event will be at Willow Park, 340 W. 700 South. To get more information and sign up, call 753-5353. All abilities are invited. Copies of professor's book again available The Cache Valley Visitors Bureau has received its final shipment of National Geographic Society's recently released "Last Unspoiled Place, Utah's Logan Canyon" written by USU professor Dr. Michael Sweeney. Approximately 150 copies are available. "National Geographic has given us every hardback copy they have," said Julie Hollist, director. "This is it." Hollist also received word from National Geographic that the book will definitely be reprinted as a paperback in Summer 2008, in part because of Cache Valley's high demand for the hardback edition. The paperback edition will be available in all major bookstores, at the Visitors Bureau Gift Shop and online. Author Mike Sweeney said, "I'm thrilled that the National Geographic will be bringing the Logan Canyon book out in paperback and putting it in general release. It means more people, all around the world, will get to appreciate Cache Valley and the canyon. We've always known the canyon was special. Now everyone will." "Last Unspoiled Place" brings to life the legends, culture, geology, flora and fauna of the 41 miles of the Logan Canyon National Scenic Byway from Logan to Bear Lake. The full-color, coffee table publication was only available through National Geographies subscription series, but by special arrangement copies are being sold exclusively at the Cache Valley Visitors Bureau gift shop. The gift shop has sold 1,606 copies since the book's release in February. "Last Unspoiled Place" is $19.95 plus tax. The Cache Valley Visitors Bureau gift shop is located at 199 North Main St. and open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Call 755-1890 for more information. HCompiled from staff and media reports |