Student union renovation project gets final approval

Former bowling alley, Alpine Lounge to get face-lift

Catherine Quill - Business Affairs Beat

Phase I of Plemmons Student Union renovations are expected to begin shortly.

The construction should begin a few weeks after the state sets a preconstruction meeting. Main projects of the first phase include construction of a new ballroom, remodeling the Alpine Lounge, renovating the Peer Career Center and reconstructing offices for Club Council, the Black Student Association (BSA) and the ACT Community Outreach Center.

The Blue Ridge Ballroom will replace the area once occupied by the bowling alley. Meeting rooms will be divided by a moveable partiton and will include video equipment, data projections, movie screens and a sound system.

"It will be virtually the same overall size as Grandfather Mountain Ballroom," said David Robertson, director of Student Programs.

The new ballroom will be used for receptions, banquets, meetings and career fairs.

The next scheduled project is the renovation of the Alpine Lounge. Although it will still serve as a study area during the day, it will also be a nightclub during the evening hours, with an atmosphere similar to Legends.

Table Rock Room will replace the name Alpine Lounge. A small beverage bar will be added for water and soda. Dataports will be included, along with a checkout for laptops and the appropriate cables during the room's study times. New tables and chairs will be added, and the couches will be replaced by armchairs.

"We'll still have comfortable seating," said Robertson.

"We just felt sofas weren't an efficient use of that space."

Floors will be mostly hard surfaces for easy cleaning.

Robertson said students will be permitted to bring alcoholic beverages to certain events, although no alcohol will be served. Bands, private parties and other campus acts will be available to use the new room.

The Peer Career Center will be enlarged to hold a Freshman Seminar class. The volunteer center for the ACT Community Outreach Program will have an office that will be staffed by peer counselors and an ACT Impact Team.

Also included in the plans are new offices for Club Council and the Black Student Associaton, to be located near the Blue Ridge Cafe.

The cost of the project is $1.2 million. Money to pay for the construction will not come from state taxes, student fees, or tuition.

"There's no increase in student union fees needed to pay for this construction," said Robertson. "One of the reasons this is able to happen is because students have taken such good care of the student union since it was renovated in 1995."

Over the last five years, Plemmons Student Union officials have been saving money and placing the surplus dollars in the Student Union Reserve Fund. "Everything that's being spent is through the reserve fund," said Robertson. Robertson added that money was saved because there was not a high cost of maintenance fees. "There really is a connection when students take care of a university facility."

Although the project had been planned for two years, the university had to await state approval.

Once the project begins, it is expected to last about five months. Work will be completed by RDM Designs out of Davidson, near Charlotte, N.C.

"It will create some mess and debris on the hallway from Blue Ridge Cafe to the old bowling alley," said Robertson. However, a wall will be erected to provide a walking area separate from the work area. "It won't be disruptive to the student union," said Director of Design and Construction Dr. Clyde Robbins.

Phase II of the project, which will probably not be undertaken until late spring or summer, includes plans for a solarium to be built over the patio near the front entrance of the student union.

Ai Lin Loh - Multicultural Beat

Deborah Petroz, simply known as Dessa in the art world, is an Appalachian State University visiting artist from Switzerland who was born in Zimbabwe, has lived in Israel and has traveled extensively.

Growing up, Dessa never studied art. Instead, she studied music.

Music has influenced Dessa in many ways. Her art exhibition, which will be shown in the Appalachian Cultural Museum until Friday, centers around the work of Jewish composer Viktor Ullmann.

Ullmann composed his music in the concentration camp of Theresienstadt and his work was saved by a librarian there.

His parents converted from Judaism to Catholicism, but the act didn't save his family from the death camps. The Nazis looked into the history of his family, and the Ullmanns were sent to the concentration camp in 1942, according to Dessa.

Dessa felt a need to write a book in English about Ullman, which she donated to the music library.

"I wanted to leave something ... that people would know a little bit more about this man and to create some interest. "I like to think of my art and my work as a bridge ... between the past and present," Dessa said.

All artists need sources of inspiration, she said. "[The music] sort of changes the form. The music picks me up."

Dessa explained about her work that the sound brings out emotion and image which are translated into color.

She discovered Ullmann's work by chance. "How did these people [from concentration camps] compose such beautiful things?" She said she hasn't complained about lousy conditions since she learned about Ullmann's plight.

The artist has worn a long chain since she finished the Ullmann project to symbolize her long chain of friendships. Dessa started painting in 1987. She has her own studio where she paints and has a skylight. She has done other paintings to music, like Leonard Bernstein's "Age of Anxiety."

All of the composers she has painted to have died within the last century. Recently, though, a composer came to her and asked her to paint to his music, so that will be the first time she has ever painted with music from a living composer.

Dessa has also gone to China and worked with a musical instrument that has two strings, instead of a composer.

The artist uses oil acrylic in her work, and she paints on canvas. She listens to each piece of music several times.

ASU to host Family Weekend

Aaron Petticord - Student Development Beat

This weekend, Appalachian State University parents, siblings, and extended families, will travel to Boone from all over the region and country for the annual Family Weekend.

Every fall, Appalachian hosts Family Weekend. This is a weekend when many Appalachian parents come to visit their children and take part in events planned by the university and the Appalachian Parents' Association. All of these events are optional, but will provide an entertaining weekend for parents and students.

On Friday night the Steely Pan Steel Band, a steel drum band made up of Appalachian students, will play at Farthing Auditorium at 8 p.m.

The majority of the events will take place Saturday. The first of which is the Family Assembly where students, prospective students, and their parents will mingle, meet Chancellor Dr. Francis T. Borkowski, and see performances by the Marching Band and the Appalachian State University Cheerleaders. The next event will be the an information fair, where parents can have questions answered by Appalachian representatives, tour the campus, and be involved in departmental open houses.

There will also be a football game in which the Mountaineers will face the Bulldogs of the Citadel. Parents can buy tickets for the game between 9:30 a.m. and noon on Saturday in Broom-Kirk Gymnasium. A pre-game tailgate will be held between 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Visitors will be able to buy burgers, hot dogs and more.

The entire university community looks forward to family weekend, and welcomes all visitors to take part in the available activities.

For more information about Family Weekend, call the Office of Admissions at 262-2120, or go to www.appstate.edu.

Malcolm Smith - SGA Beat

For Freshman Sabrina Shaul, being elected senator is nothing less than thrilling. Shaul, along with 84 new senators, accepted the office on Sept. 8 to represent her peers at Appalachian State University for the 2000-01 term.

The overall election-deemed highly competitive by SGA officials- would come down to one run-off, in Coltrane Hall, to determine each residence hall's representative.

The senators are under extreme pressure to reach the goals of their newly elected posts. From attending senate meetings and writing legislation, the senators are essentially the liaison between the students and the Appalachian State University administration.

The primary duties of the senators is to represent their constituents. Each senator is responsible for the concerns voiced by the residents of their respective dormitory or off-campus residence.

"A lot of [senators] come in and they want to change one thing or they want to change another," said Katherine Allen, SGA state affairs director. "But it's just not about what they want to do, it is about what their constituents want."

Considered a veteran among many of the new senators, ex-cabinet member Gus Enriquez says being a senator is having a "direct voice to the adminstration." In his third year of serving in SGA, Enriquez mentioned his goal as senator is "voicing the students' opinions and promoting the best interest of the student."

The main issue on Enriquez's agenda is retaining the "small town" atmosphere of Boone by proposing that the admistration refuse the increase in population capacity on campus. The native Nicaraguan thinks the closeness of the Appalachian community is one of the campus' unequaled qualities.

Sophomore Scott Maxwell was so impressed with Homecoming festivities as a freshmen that he decided to become senator for Winkler Hall this year.

Maxwell became senator to become more involved in residential and campus affairs. He is working with the senate to make this year's Homecoming a "huge sucess." Maxwell is currently in favor of the proposed increase in tuition by the administration. Maxwell said, "If [Appalachian] is to compete with other universities, an increase in faculty pay is [imperative]."

Freshman Sabrina Shaul sees the senators' positions as stepping stones for the next four to five years. The ambitious freshman, also serving as president pro tempore (meaning she is available to run senate meetings if the vice president were not able to be present to conduct them), intends for the senate to be an arena to voice the concerns of her fellow students. Shaul's docket will include addressing everything from the need for an increase in tuition and housing, to security on campus.

SGA Vice President Preston Powell is optimistic of the job the new senators will do. "The senators lay the groundwork and are essentially the soldiers of [SGA]," Powell said.

The first official meeting was Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in Linville Falls Room of Plemmons Student Union, although the group normally meets in Grandfather Mountain Ballroom.

The senators were slated to vote on their first order of business-- selecting an election date to crown the Homecoming king and queen.

Kathryn Booze - Organizations Beat

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to run the school for a day? How about to have the Appalachian State University faculty and staff at your beck and call?

For all undergraduate students, here is your chance! Appalachian Student Ambassadors, in cooperation with Appalachian Popular Programming Society (A.P.P.S.), is hosting its annual service project, "Chancellor for a Day."

On Tuesday, Nov. 14, Chancellor Francis T. Borkowski will switch schedules with one lucky Appalachian student. While the student gets to attend the chancellor's meeting and appointments, Chancellor Borkowski will go to that student's classes and job. "It was really funny last year," said Mirian Candido, the Student Ambassador in charge of this year's contest. "

he student who won worked at Cascades, so on the appointed day, the chancellor was in Cascades serving ice cream." Ambassadors will be collecting food for Hunger Coalition at a contact table in the student union and in front of The Market throughout the week of Oct. 23-27, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Students who contribute money or canned or dry food will be added to the lottery of people eligible to switch schedules with the chancellor.

Only undergrad students will be allowed to switch, but donations from graduate students, faculty and staff will be appreciated. The winner will be announced the following week by the Ambassadors.