Category: News

Madeline Diamond

Contributing Writer

Actor and comedian Nick Offerman will headline the University’s annual Center Stage event at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 19.

Offerman, who currently stars as Ron Swanson on NBC’s “Parks and Recreation,” will perform as part of his American Ham tour. Additionally, several student groups will perform, all on the Sojka Lawn. The Campus Activities & Programs (CAP) Center is organizing the event, along with input from students.

“We are excited to have him,” Assistant Director of CAP Chelsea Burghoff said.

The CAP Center is confident that the student body will also be enthused with the University’s choice to invite Offerman to campus because of their involvement in choosing the performer, Burghoff said.

This year, student polls contributed to the university’s choice to invite Offerman.

The student-run organization Activities and Campus Events (ACE) worked with the CAP Center to organize the event. Students involved with ACE contributed some input in choosing the performer and will also help with the event’s production.

“Overall, we are there to help ensure that the entire event runs smoothly,” ACE President Tory Cutting ’14 said.

Center Stage will also feature several student performers; in past years, student a capella and improv groups have performed.

“We like to provide a spotlight on student performers,” Burghoff said.

Before the main performances, the CAP Center will provide a dinner (also on the Sojka Pavillon Lawn) of soup in bread bowls as well as a dessert of s’mores roasted in chimneys placed around the lawn.

The five-year-old Center Stage show has hosted performers including Saturday Night Live’s Seth Meyers and Kenan Thompson, and B.J. Novak of the former television show “The Office.”

Kerong Kelly

Writer

A construction worker was rushed to Evangelical Community Hospital while working on a University project around noon on Sept. 11.

A Public Safety officer called an ambulance for the 28-year-old worker, who was exhibiting symptoms of heat exhaustion.

At the time, the worker and several others were working on the site of a new chilled water storage tank located directly adjacent to Health Services on campus. The storage tank will be used to air condition future upperclassmen housing to be built on the new South Campus, according to James Knight, senior associate director of Energy and Utilities.

The Facilities Department declined to comment on the condition of the worker, citing privacy laws.

Ethan Zubkoff

Contributing Writer

An award-winning journalist will discuss fracking in Pennsylvania from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 21 at the University Bookstore.

Dr. Walter Brasch, the author of a recently released book entitled “Fracking Pennsylvania,” will lead a discussion about the economic, political, health, and environmental impacts of fracking.

Brasch will also talk about the impact of fracking on people who live outside the Marcellus Shale region.

Currently, Brasch is a syndicated social issues columnist as well as the host of a weekly radio series called “The Frack Report” on WFET in Scranton, Pa. Brasch formerly worked as a newspaper and magazine reporter and editor, writer-producer of multimedia productions, and professor of journalism and mass communications.

In “Fracking Pennsylvania,” Brasch interviewed numerous people within the fracking industry, including environmentalists, physicians, and scientists, and he investigated the corporate and political aspects of fracking.

Ethan Zubkoff

Contributing

The University will add new security measures to University President John Bravman’s house after anonymous threats were posted on the Internet in response to the cancellation of House Party Weekend.

The posts, which were made anonymously on several sites, mostly threatened vandalism to Bravman’s home, and most were not credible.

The enhanced security measures include lights, which have already been installed, and a security camera that will be mounted soon.

Chief of Public Safety Stephen Barilar recommended that the camera, which was already budgeted for another location on campus as part of a growing surveillance network, be moved to Bravman’s home partly in response to the threats, according to Andy Hirsch, director of media and communications.

“It is not just solely for the President’s house, [the camera] also covers an area of campus that hadn’t been covered before,” Hirsh said.

The camera will be one in a growing network around campus that Public Safety uses to monitor high traffic areas and places on campus that are considered less safe for students.

The emergency blue light callbox located on the path behind Bravman’s home is the source of a large number of calls and false alarms, according to Hirsch.

“We are looking at areas that serve multi-purposes–for the best interests of the safety of the students,” Barilar said.

Amanda Waller

Contributing Writer

Fall Fest will be held Saturday on Sojka Lawn, and will feature the bands 3OH!3 and Kingsfoil.

The free event, which is sponsored by Campus Activities and Programs (CAP), will run from 4 to 9 p.m.

Activities this year will include a ferris wheel, photos and games for students, trucker hat giveaways, and a giant slide. There will also be refreshments, so students can look forward to hardy apple-cider and turkey legs.

“Fall Fest is one of my absolute favorite events of the entire year. We are really excited to be hosting 3OH!3 … I have seen them perform at another University and they put on a phenomenal show,” Director of CAP Laura Yeckley said.

The musical performances will begin at 6 p.m. with an opening act by contemporary indie rock band Kingsfoil. The headliners and electropop duo 3OH!3 will perform at 7:30 p.m.

The rain location is scheduled to be at Gerhard Fieldhouse.

Jackson McCarron

News Editor

The LGBT affinity house may soon host registered parties in Summit House, their new location, pending University approval.

Bill McCoy, director of the Office of LGBT Awareness, and Kate Albertini ’14, LGBT house student leader, hope that parties at Summit House will provide much-needed alternative party spaces on campus.

“The option is important. Just because the majority of campus is Greek doesn’t mean everyone on campus seeks out Greek events,” Albertini said.

Although Summit House is not likely to host events where alcohol is served this semester, Albertini and her housemates are actively looking into hosting an event where drinks will be available to students of age.

The possibility of the LGBT house hosting University registered parties first arose when the LGBT affinity program moved from Galloway House to Summit House, a space that until recently was occupied by a fraternity, McCoy said.

McCoy said that he began to inquire about the possibility of Summit House being used as a space for parties over the summer.

The University’s initial reaction was that such a thing was not possible, but after reviewing the handbook, it was determined that residential programs, like student organizations, were allowed to host parties.

“I think we get used to the status quo … it takes time to process things. But after about 10 minutes of questioning, it became clear that residential programs could in fact host parties,” McCoy said.

Funding for these events, according to Albertini, would be provided by the Office of Residential Education. The University would not provide the alcohol.

The LGBT student affinity housing program, known as Fran’s House, previously occupied Galloway House, a small space located downtown near Larison Hall, but was moved uphill this year to Summit House to accommodate an expanding program.

Ben Kaufman

Editor-in-Chief 

Rita Dove was named the new Janet Weis Fellow in Contemporary Letters on Sept 10.

Dove was the first African-American woman to serve as a Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1993-1995. She is also the second African-American to win the Pulitzer Prize in 1987.

“Dove is more than just a poet,”  Shara McCallum, director of the Stadler Center for Poetry said. “Her work will also appeal to people on a historical level. Her work is personal and political while exploring philosophical issues and questions.”

Dove will be the third woman to win this award after Toni Morrison in 2002 and Joyce Carol Oates in 2006.

The Janet Weis Fellow in Contemporary Letters, which is awarded by the Office of the President, began in 2002 as a way to honor and recognize distinguished writers in the literary fields of poetry, drama, fiction, and creative nonfiction. Other winners include Edward Albee, Robert A. Caro, Salman Rushdie, and Tom Wolfe. 

“We consult with numerous faculty in the literary arts, ask for their recommendations for individuals who they believe meet the standards of the Weis Fellow,” Pete Mackey, vice president for Communications and Community Relations said.

After receiving those recommendations, University President John Bravman suggests his favorites for the award, according to Mackey.

“The biggest qualification is to be a preeminent writer in one’s field,” McCallum said. Past winners include recipients of the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize in Literature.

Dove will give a poetry reading and question and answer session, moderated by McCallum, on Feb. 27 at 7 p.m.

William M. Fierman

News Editor

Three University students were transported to Evangelical Community Hospital by Public Safety staff this previous weekend.

A 20-year-old female student was transported to the hospital after she wandered onto 7th Street in front of a patrolling Public Safety vehicle, Chief of Public Safety Stephen Barilar said.

Public Safety officers transported a 20-year-old male student from Swartz Hall, and a male sophomore from the Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity house on the evening of Sept. 7.

Public Safety also logged seven alcohol violations by students that weekend.

“It was pretty much a normal weekend here,” Barilar said, in spite of the occasionally troublesome Bid Night and Welcome Night, in which the campus’s Greek community welcomes their new members.

“I think Dean Badal is a big part of that … she did a phenomenal job,” Barilar said, referring to Amy Badal, the associate dean of students and director of Residential Education and Fraternity and Sorority Affairs.

Barilar also personally met with fraternity and sorority leadership prior to the weekend.

Beth Rogers and Sophia Reeder

Contributing Writers

On Aug. 30, 120 little brown bats from Montana arrived on campus. They join the 80 bats currently residing in the Robert L. Rooke Science Center.

Currently, two biology labs are working on a joint research project studying the effects of white-nose syndrome (WNS) in little brown bats. The Reeder lab, led by Associate Professor of Biology DeeAnn Reeder, focuses primarily on the physiology and behavior of afflicted bats. The Field lab, led by Associate Professor of Biology Ken Field, is studying their immune response on the cellular level.

WNS is a devastating condition that has been linked to widespread mortality among multiple bat species in the northeastern United States. Since its discovery in New York during the winter of 2006-2007, WNS has spread as far south as Alabama and as far west as Missouri. It is almost always a fatal affliction, and nearly six million bats in North America have already been killed.

The disease is caused by Pseudogymnoascus destructans, a cold-loving white fungus that colonizes on the skin of bats while they hibernate. The fungus has been shown to invade the tissues and cause lesions on the wings and muzzles of infected bats. During hibernation, the fungus growth stimulates little brown bats to arouse more frequently, causing them to deplete their stored energy reserves to the point of death. The fatality rate for little browns with white-nose syndrome is almost 90 percent. Big brown bats have a WNS mortality rate of only 40 percent.

The most destructive characteristic of P. destructans is its tendency to be highly transmissible from bat to bat. Many of the bat species most commonly affected by white-nose syndrome form tight clumps when they hibernate, facilitating the spread of the fungus between both individuals and species. Currently there are no known means of preventing transmission.

Nine North American bat species have been affected by white-nose syndrome, although they don’t all seem to be affected to the same extent. Bat populations in Europe seem to be relatively unaffected by WNS. Researchers believe that P. destructans was present across the Atlantic long before it was transmitted to the United States, and that European bats possess an immunity to the fungus that North American bats lack.

Bats are known for being reservoirs for more than 60 zoonotic (human-infecting) viruses, such as rabies, Ebola, and a predecessor to the human severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) virus. But despite the deadly infections they host, the bat immune system remains largely misunderstood. What researchers are trying to discern is why, of all the pathogens that bats encounter, P. destructans is their Achilles’ heel.

The Field lab is working to develop an assay to detect anti-P. destructans antibodies, which will show if bats are mounting an adaptive immune response to the fungus. They are also studying the immune cells of both exposed and unexposed bats to get a better picture of how the different components of the bat immune system fit together.

“By understanding the immune responses of bats, we hope to discover a way to slow the progress of this disease,” Field said.

The Reeder lab is focusing on the physiological and behavioral consequences of white-nose syndrome in survivors.

This research project will result in increased understanding of the bat immune system and help to explain why different bat species respond differently to the same pathogens. In addition, it will lead to future investigation of why certain bat species are so vulnerable to P. destructans and ways that bats can defend themselves against white-nose syndrome.

 Gigi Flynn

Contributing Writer

The Lewisburg Community Garden, created by University students last year, is expanding.

The garden donates its crops to Community Harvest and to Dinner by the River, two local charities that provide free hot meals to the greater Lewisburg area.

“We start in February at the Bucknell greenhouse,” Stacey Sommerfield, assistant director of Service Learning said. “In May, we move the plants outside to the community garden, and in November we close the garden.” 

In addition to growing and maintaining the crops, the Lewisburg Community Garden also runs summer camps for 200 local underprivileged kids from ages four to 17. The kids learn about composting, solar cooking, and integrated pest management, in addition to completing various art projects.

Over this past summer, the Lewisburg Community Garden had two Americorp Vista workers, two University research students, and another hourly paid University student working at the garden.

“In the spring of 2012 and 2013, we teamed up with two Management 101 classes to raise money,” Sommerfield said. “That money we put toward infrastructure.”

The Lewisburg Community Garden is looking to expand even more for this next season. They hope to provide more summer camps and team up with another Management 101 class this winter to raise more money.