Officials
brace for blasting to make way for Rivers Street Parking Deck
Catherine
Quill - Business Affairs Beat
Blasting rock,
the next step in the construction of the Rivers Street parking deck,
will commence within the next few weeks.
According to
Clyde Robbins, director of design and construction, a blasting conference
will be held Wednesday, Feb. 21 to discuss issues such as approach,
procedure and safety.
Robbins said
the blasting will probably begin the following week.
Other precautionary
measures have also been taken. "We've alerted the departments,
and they evaluated the effect it might have on some of their equipment,"
said Robbins.
Robbins also
said the contractors videotaped the condition of the Chemistry,
Astronomy and Physics Building (CAP) and the Kerr Scott Building
for a "baseline record" in order to determine whether
the blast impacted the structures.
Robbins said
most of the noise will go undetected because of blast blankets.
"Blast
blankets are usually made of rubber tires," said Robbins. "They're
very flexible. You don't see any surface residue coming out as you
would in an unprotected blast." Soil is usually placed on top
of the tires.
The existing
sod currently at that top of the site stabilizes the graded area
to prevent dirt from washing away in rain.
Robbins said
a "thump" will most likely be the noise to result from
the blast.
"The primary
evidence will be the movement instead of the sound." However,
Robbins said a slight vibration may be felt, especially nearer to
the site.
"The primary
place the vibration will be felt is the CAP building." Robbins
continued to explain, "The foundation of the CAP building is
integral with the rock profile."
"Conceivably,
they'll blast on the weekend," he said.
Robbins said
it is difficult to know how long the project will take because the
length of the project will depend on the depth of the rock.
"It depends
on the stratification," he said. "There's no way of estimating
the profile."
Robbins said
once the rock is blasted, removing the debris will be a simple task,
although it will not be performed by conventional equipment.
He said blasting
rock is not an unusual procedure and the tactic had been employed
before when the Appalachian State University baseball field was
constructed.
"We blasted
that hillside out," he said.
Barry Sauls,
director of university parking and traffic, said overall he was
pleased with the performance of T.A. Loving (TAL), the contractor
in charge of the construction.
"We're
very pleased with the progress," he said.
Sauls added
that they are still working at nights, early in the morning and
on some Saturdays. Weather has had a minimal effect on their work.
"That's
not typically what goes on with contractors," he said.
This is the
first time TAL has worked with the university.
Sauls said
it was fortunate for contractors to encounter rock at this point,
since they anticipated running into it at an earlier stage in the
project.
"That's
that much less that they'll have to remove," he said.
Sauls agreed
that the blast procedure will keep the effects to a minimum.
Contractors
will drill into the rock, place the materials inside and cover the
site with blast blankets, he explained.
"It won't
be anything anyone can see or hear," he said. After the blasting
is completed and debris is hauled away, contractors will work on
pouring the concrete.
"Fortunately,
we're headed to spring. That's going to work out nicely."
Sauls said
no delays have occurred once the project was underway.
"They're
still right on schedule," he said.
The expected
completion date for the parking deck is spring of 2002.
Faculty
Senate debates dean evaluations
Gates:
faculty, administration would both benefit from dean evaluation
program
Michael Wade
- Faculty Senate Beat
The Appalachian
State University Faculty Senate met Monday and discussed issues
such as a new dean evaluation system, the composition of Departmental
Personnel Committees, and a resolution concerning the new library.
The new dean
evaluation system will allow the faculties of respective colleges/schools
at the university to evaluate their specific deans using a standardized
system for administrative purposes. The system uses a series of
24 structured questions in the "strongly agree" to "strongly
disagree" format, and four open-ended questions.
If passed in
March by the senate, that program would be distributed to the faculty
by the end of that month with results returned by mid-May.
The debate
over this proposal centered around two questions. The first being
whether creating the program and seeing to its implementation should
fall on the shoulders of the administration or those of the senate.
The second was
over the issue of whether the results should be made public or kept
confidential.
The first question
was addressed by Dr. Paul Gates, assistant professor in the department
of communication. He believes that the program would be best served
if the administration and the faculty work together on this, saying,
"both would benefit." He also asserts that the correct
and complete implementation is best served on this partnership.
The private
vs. public issue was addressed by Dr. Jeff Bortz, of the history
department, who believes that the benefits of the public knowing
some or all of the results would out-weigh the outcome produced
by keeping the results sealed for administrative purposes. Those
affected can see the outcome first-hand instead of seeing just the
end results.
A motion was
passed on the subject of Departmental Personal Committees (DPC)
as well. The DPC deals directly with the hiring, promotion, tenuring
and replacement of faculty members within specific departments here
on campus.
This motion
states that the chairperson of a department cannot be the chair
of the DPC. The new chair of the respected DPC would be elected
by the faculty of that department.
The rationale
of this motion was centered, as stated in the motion, around avoiding
"conflicts of interest, real or apparent, and add(ing) an additional
measure of objectivity to the decision-making process."
Yet a discussion
arose out of the question of what role the departmental chair will
now play in the DPC. Fear of hearsay and misinterpretation arose
at the possibility of the departmental chair not being present.
These fears
were addressed by Dr. Andrew Koch, from the political science/criminal
justice department, when he said, "How do we ferret personal
basis out of the DPCs?"
The Academic
Committee of the Faculty Senate stated that the departmental chairperson
would be allowed to attend DPC meetings as a non-voting member.
This rested some reservations about the motion and it passed.
Gates stressed
that the faculty and the student body will be served by this change.
"The faculty will improve, which has a direct effect on the
environment of the university."
The resolution
dealing with the new library stated, "the new library should
be built with sufficient space to house all the present and expected
future holdings of Appalachian State's book collection on campus."
The resolution,
written by Dr. Koch, was passed unanimously but John Abbott of the
library stated that, "it is good we are passing this resolution,
but it needs to be stronger."
Gates said the
"library is the center of academic and intellectual life on
campus" and that the subject will be revisited at the March
meeting.
The next senate
meeting will take place on March 19.
|
