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Show Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2009 Page 3 StatesmanCampus News Anxious fans camp outside Spectrum Briefs Campus & Community Aggies spend the night in hopes of good seats Winter Gift Market open this weekend By RACHEL A. CHRISTENSEN news editor About 10 tents lined the outside of the Spectrum as of 5 p.m. Tuesday. The tents housed Aggie fans who camped overnight to get front-row seats for Wednesday night's USU vs. Brigham Young University basketball game. "I about died when I saw how many tents were up when I got here," said Ry Bay, broadcast journalism sophomore and die-hard Aggie fan. Bay said he arrived at the Spectrum around 2 p.m. Tuesday in order to snag his seat — front row of Section F. Bay said the earliest fans showed up at noon, and he expects the majority of fans will show up around 3 p.m. Wednesday. The Spectrum's doors will open and students will begin the dash to claim seats at 6 p.m. "I think people are more excited for this than for Christmas," Bay said. "I know I am," replied Chris Keller, sophomore in civil engineering who had also waited at the Spectrum since 2 p.m. Tuesday. Bay said athletics would be bringing space heaters Tuesday night to help warm the frozen fans. Most campers brought sleeping bags and blankets in order to fight off the December chill, and a few others ran electrical chords out from cracks in the Spectrum's doors to power their personal space heaters. The group of fans were piled in the vestibules of the Spectrum until night came, when they had to retire to their tents. They brought laptops and mov- AGGIE FANS PLAY VIDEO GAMES, text message and play games while they wait in between the Spectrum's doors. Students showed up as early as noon Tuesday to save a spot in line for Wednesday's basketball ies among other things to keep themselves entergame against Brigham Young University. CODY GOCHNOUR photo tained. "We plan on playing 'Super Smash Brothers' for neering, said he thinks the venue will make all the Spectrum is good for sound, Bay said, which also hours tonight," Bay said. difference in this year's game compared to the last helps for Spectrum fans to get a reputation of being Bay, who grew up as a Ute fan, said he became time BYU and USU faced off. Under Stew Morrill's loud. an Aggie fan when he came to a basketball game as near 12-year reign, Utah State has only seen 12 To say thanks for their dedication, Associated a senior in high school. Basketball became the realosses in the Spectrum. The most recent loss was Students of USU Athletics Vice President Jeremy son he chose to attend USU. to Fresno State in 2007, and since then the Aggies Winn brought doughnuts and hot chocolate, and "It changed my life. I canceled my scholarships have accumulated 35 straight home wins. Tai Wesley, Tyler Newbold, Matt Formisano and to other places," said Bay, who wore a shirt that The Spectrum gives away the most seats to its former Aggie basketball player David Pak brought read "In Stew We Trust." students, Bay said. pizza for the camping fans. Bay was at the USU vs. BYU game last year, front "And we fill them," Keller added. — rac.ch@aggiemail.usu.edu row. He said he felt the Aggies are better prepared Bay has theories about what makes the Spectrum this year than last. such a formidable venue. The shape of the James Putnam, sophomore in mechanical engi- ASUSU discusses possible studentfee increases By BENJAMIN WOOD news senior writer The Associated Students of USU (ASUSU) Executive Council pushed final legislation through on the ASUSU Information Desk Tuesday, bringing a months-long discussion to an end. The information desk bill, sponsored by Executive Vice President Spencer Lee, was passed by the council on Nov. 11, but came back to the legislative body after being amended by the Academic Senate. Taking effect on Jan. 1, the bill requires members of the Executive Council, Academic Senate and appointed officers to spend one hour weekly at the ASUSU Information Desk, located on the first floor of the Taggart Student Center. Officers who fail to complete this requirement would be penalized on a case-by-case basis by an ad-hoc committee chaired by the ASUSU president. It also restricts non-ASUSU entities from using the space for promotional activities without the approval of the executive council. In its final form, the bill specifies that the desk is to be used in conjunction with, as opposed to abolishing, previous legislation and dictates that elected officers have a representative responsibility toward all USU students and not just those that belong to their respective colleges or constituencies. Public relations Director Allie Anderson initiated a brief discussion about encouraging clarification regarding desk use by members of the Graduate Student Senate — who are not held to the same weekly requirement as other elected officers — but no changes were made. With Christmas break approaching, Lee urged members of the Executive Council to approve the bill as is. Lee reminded the council that the bulk of the bill's content had been previously passed and barred any objections to the amended material, changes to the bill would have to, again, go before the Academic Senate Degree: Regents' approval needed to be finalized, effectively forcing the initiative into next semester. Ultimately, the vote was nearunanimous in favor, with one opposing vote. "I am thrilled that we have finally passed it through both (legislative) bodies," Lee said. "We come back (next semester) and people will be at the (desk)." Regarding any possible misconceptions in the text, Lee said while the bill may not be perfect in reading, it captures the goal and offers an enforceable backing that the previous legislation did not have. During the meeting's council updates, Service Vice President David Knighton reported a significant victory over BYU in the most recent blood battle. USU students donated 433 units of blood, well ahead of BYU's 314. "We dominated BYU," Knighton said and, with a smile, added, "with class." In other business, members of the council reported on possible student fee increases for the next academic year. Many fees were reported as possibly not requiring an increase, and of those fee boards that will request more funds, the range was in the range of $1 to $2 per student. Athletics Vice President Jeremy Winn said the recreation fee will likely be a $1 to $1.50 increase to cover the rise in minimum wage for employees and keep the Nelson Fieldhouse open over the summer. The Academic Senate president reported a "set in stone" 53-cent increase to the computer fee. Graduate Studies Vice President Rick Kelly reported a roughly $1.50 increase to the health fee and undetermined increases were reported by council members for the activity and bus fees. Lee reported on the building fee, which may not increase this year and, if current enrollment trends continue, could possibly be reduced in the future. — b.c.wood@aggiemaiLusu.edu Space: People are interested in the unknown I continued from page 1 I continued from page 1 cial in their search for jobs, Hinton said. He also said that with the economic climate as it is and with as many companies that still have to lay off employees, the regional campuses have a chance to help start new careers for these people. Each regional campus has engineering faculty and a lot of classes for APE to be taught in with a faculty member in a classroom. However, Hinton said they will also use technology to teach the courses. "Technology allows us to do some wonderful things," he said. Some APE classes might originate in Logan and be broadcast to other campuses, Hinton said, or they might originate in one of the regional campuses and be broadcast to the others. Administration will decide whether to have faculty-taught classes or online classes depending on factors such as class sizes and the different faculty of the various campuses. "If we have a small class — one student in Uintah Basin, three in Brigham, etc. — it probably doesn't make sense to teach a course in each area," Hinton said. "With a course online with live video, it becomes viable." Hinton said the most important aspect of APE is that it allows USU to fulfill its land grant mission "by reaching out to rural areas and giving kids in those areas an opportunity to study engineering." According to the Board of Trustees document, APE was approved by the dean of the College of Engineering, the Educational Policies Committee and by the Faculty Senate before it was put before the Board of Trustees. The Board of Regents still needs to approve the program. — rac.ch@aggiemiaLusu.edu so many experiments already, that there was this community wisdom built up that helped a great deal." People have always been interested in the unknown, Dennison said. Dennison said much of entertainment, such as movies and shows, stems from the fascination with space. He said understanding space and a sense of discovery is just a part of human nature. "Anytime you're pushing the envelope of technology, it is going to pay off in the long hall," Dennison said. "And to keep going farther, you've got to constantly be looking at things in a new light and finding new ways to go beyond." — peterbrown@aggiemaiLusu.edu THE PANEL HOLDING USU students' projects goes through de-integration at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. USU had a double stack, which is a two-tiered experiment with 168 samples on the panel shown. The panel was returned to Earth by the space shuttle Discovery. photo courtesy of JOSH HODGES The Bullen Center, 43 S. Main, will be hosting the Winter Gift Market Dec. 4 from 6-9 p.m. and Dec. 5 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Local artists will be selling handcrafted gifts. There will also be live music, children's activities, a produce room and more. This year, the Winter Gift Market will have a produce room where Cache Valley Gardener's Market's produce vendors will sell locally grown items, fresh for holiday meals. Produce vendors who have edibles left over from the growing season should contact Becky Yeager to reserve a space at the Winter Gift Market. Yeager can be contacted at 757-6283 or blyeager@comcast.net . A neighboring business has about 52 big rolls of wax paper marked to package butter and hundreds of 1 gallon buckets that they are offering for free. These are headed to the landfill or recycling if someone doesn't take them soon. Contact Yeager to make arrangements for pick up. USU adds another eco-friendly bus USU Parking and Transportation will soon take delivery of a new natural gas bus. The bus is one of nine environmentally friendly cornpressed natural gas (CNG) buses that USU has in its shuttle fleet. The 2010 Thomas Safety Liner bus holds 40 passengers. "The addition of this bus into its fleet is part of the university's ongoing effort to provide safe, efficient and environmentally friendly alternative methods to access USU's beautiful campus," said Alden Erickson, Aggie Shuttle supervisor. The university's Aggie Shuttle system operates five routes during the academic year. Each day of operation the system averages approximately 6,700 riders. "We are pleased to announce this new vehicle to our fleet and look forward to offering the campus community the best service and equipment we can within our means," Erickson said. Professor receives award for service Brian Higginbotham, an assistant professor in Utah State University's Family Consumer and Human Development Department, was recently awarded the 2009 Early Career Achievement Award. Higginbotham received the prestigious award Nov. 11 at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the National Council on Family Relations held in San Francisco, Calif. The highly competitive national award honors a cooperative extension state specialist in family life and human development who has made a significant impact in the field within the first seven years of their career. "Higginbotham has used his talents and passion to promote and positively impact the children and families in Utah and around the nation," said Francesca AdlerBaeder, an associate professor and extension specialist for Auburn University. "To be given this award for his initial four years of service is nothing short of extraordinary." Higginbotham was recognized for his exemplary research and programmatic work in several critical family and human development areas, including adolescent development, marital relations and stepfamily dynamics, particularly among low-resource and ethnically diverse populations. He has secured nearly $5 million in external funding to support this work in the last four years. Higghinbotham is a nationally recognized scholar and has generated numerous research-based resources focused on healthy relationships, family dynamics and parenting. 11Compiled from staff and media reports |