TCID:BW

Briefs

Volume 113 Number 4Thursday, Sept. 20, 2007

ield, Kan.Winf

The CollegianThe Student Voice of Southwestern College

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Partly Cloudy88°/66°

Sunny91°/64°

Weekend WeatherSource: noaa.gov

Academic ResourcesThe writing lab and math lab are open. The writing lab’s hours are Monday, Wednes-day, and Friday from 12 to 3 p.m. and Tuesday and Thurs-day from 6 to 8 p.m. The math lab is open Monday through Thursday from 7 to 8 p.m. For information on other academic resources, tutoring, or disabil-ity services contact Tami Pul-lins at ext. 6247 or tami.pull-ins@sckans.edu.

Yearbooks AvailableThe 2007 edition of the Moundbuilder is now avail-able for returning students. They can be picked up on the table outside of Mary Nichols’ office.

Faculty and StaffWe want to remember you. Please have your new staff ID made so we can publish your photo in the 2008 edition of the Moundbuilder.

Builder FestThe hype is over and the Builder Fest is almost here. Celebrate fall sports at Builder Fest. Bring your student ID from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday for free food and fun at Sonner Stadium.

Photo by Anthony Cook/Collegian photographerAli Schmidt, nursing senior, Cassie Reimer, math and science sophomore, and Addie Lambing, psychology junior, work at the leadership garage sale Sept. 15.

By Peggy WilliamsStaff reporter

Cellphonesareanimportantpartof life for any student. They are ameansofcommunicatingwithpeo-ple off campus, like family mem-bers, friends and significant others thatseemsofarawayattimes. They also have vital uses oncampus, like getting in touch witha friend and asking if he will signyouin toclasssoyoucansleepin.And with texting and internet theycannowalsobeafantasticreprievefromthehoursonendthatarespentinclass. Butacellphonedoesyounogoodunless it works on campus. Manyphones work in a student’s hometown,butwhentheygetoncampustheyceasetofunction. “IhaveAlltel,itdoesn’tworkwellat school. I honestly wouldn’t rec-ommendittoanyonehere,althoughit works very well at home,” saidThaddeus Carrena, computer sci-encesophomore. It is important to make sure thatthecellphoneprovideryouchooseworks both at home and at South-western. Winfield is an area that is difficult to find coverage for, so here are what fourof themajorcarriersCingular,

By Jessica BernhardtCopy editor

Sofar,348collegeshavesigned.OnlytwoofthosearefromKansas.Andofthosetwo,Southwesternhap-penstobeoneofthem. The President’s Climate Com-mitment was designed to “addressglobal warming by garnering insti-tutional commitments to neutralizegreenhousegasemissions,andtoac-celeratetheresearchandeducationaleffortsofhighereducationtoequipsocietytore-stabilizetheearth’scli-mate.” The task of reducing the envi-ronment of carbon emissions is alonganddauntingone. Itmay takemonths, years, even decades. DickMerriman, president, said, “I thinkthiswillbeathreetofouryeartran-sition. The first year will be devoted totakingtwosteps.” First, the college will measureits “carbon footprint,” which is es-sentially the total of the college’scarbonemission.Merrimansaid,“Agroupofstudents,undertheleader-ship of Professor Rick Cowlishaw,aregoingtodothat.Thestudentsin-volvedare fromthenatural scienceandfrombusiness.Thesecondstepistocreateacampus-widecommit-teethatwillmakeplansforstepswecan take to reduceourcarbonfoot-print.Theultimategoalistobecomecarbon-neutral.” Last year during the week ofEarth Day, Rick Cowlishaw, assis-tantprofessorofbiology,andmem-bersofTriBetadraftedalettertothepresidentchallenginghimtocommitthe school to a more environmen-tally friendly attitude. “He repliedimmediatelyafterwesent the letterandsaidhehadalreadybeenthink-ingaboutit,”saidCowlishaw. A team of four students and anadviser, also known as the GreenTeam,hasbeencreatedtoassistwiththeproject.Twomembersarefromthebusinessdepartmentandtwoarefromthebiologydepartment.Thebi-ology students find a way to reduce theimpactontheplanet.Thetaskforthe business students is to find ways to save thecollegemoneyandpre-pareforthefuture. Cowlishawsaid,“We’rebuildingconnection between students fromdifferent departments with a com-mongoal.It’sagreatwayforSouth-westerntosetitapartfromothercol-legesthataren’tdoingit.” TheonlyothercollegeinKansas

Alltel, Sprint, and T-Mobile had tosayregardingthecoverageofWin-field. Cingularhadthefollowingtosayabout the areaon itswebsite. “Theareas shown as an orange strippedpattern represent the coverage ofunaffiliated carriers and should have sufficient signal strength for on-street orin-the-opencoverage,butmaynothaveitforin-vehiclecoverageorin-buildingcoverage.ExcessiveuseofPartner coverage may subject yourservice to early termination, in ac-cordance with your service terms.Dataservicesmaynotbeavailable.” Alltel says that with its NationalFreedomplan,youhavefullcover-age in Winfield. “IhaveAlltel,itworksprettywelloncampusas longasIamoutside.It doesn’t work near as well insidethough,”saidNathanMorrison,ath-letictrainingsophomore. Sprintisoneofthemorepopularservices.Theyclaimtobeoneofthequicker services as far as connec-tionsgo.Theirmottois“experiencelife at high speed.” They claim toonly have fair coverage in Winfield, butJaredPaul,businesssophomore,seemed to be the happiest with hiscoverage. “IhaveSprint,itworksverywell.Iwouldrecommendittoanyone.It’s

Saturday

Sunday

FridayBluegrass pleases

not overly expensive and it workseverywhereoncampus,”saidPaul. T-Mobileisthelastprovider.Theyhave Winfield covered in roaming. Noextrachargersapply.“T-mobileworkswellenough,Igetcoverageoncampus,Ijusthavetobeintherightspotattherighttime,”saidKennethWright,businesssophomore.

that has been signed on, to date, isKansasWesleyan.Will this affect our tuition?Cowlishaw said, “Merriman wasvery realistic about it, hewon’t in-crease tuition to pay for the proj-ect.” The project is starting with nomoney,butwillgraduallyseeapay-back. “There is no federal moneyhelpingthecollegefundtheproject.Pay back in terms of energy effi-ciency and spending less money inoverall terms of college is decreas-ing.Thereisaslowpaybackinthatregard,” said Cowlishaw. “There ispotentialfordonorssteppinginandwantingtobepartofthis.Itcouldbesoldveryeasilytosomedonor.” Whatwillchangeforthecollege? Merrimansaid,“Wewillbelook-ing forways topurchaseelectricitythatiswindgeneratedor,betterstill,tryingtogeneratesomeofourownelectricity.” Cowlishawsaidthatinthefuture,there is potential of putting a windgeneratoronthehillbehindthesta-dium.“Wewouldgetthatenergyaswell as the City of Winfield electric-ity needs. Merriman told city man-ager thatwewere interested in thiscommitment and he’s excited. Wemaypotentiallyhaveawideraffecton thecommunity.SinceSC isdo-ingit,itmightruboffonthetown.” How will this affect future stu-dents? “It’sanotherexampleofwhatSCisdoingthatmakesitdifferentthanwhat everyone else is doing,” saidCowlishaw. “It could attract betterstudents.Itcouldbeanopportunityfor scholarships so students can beontheGreenTeam.” As for students on campus now,Cowlishawsaid,“Initiallytherewillbenoeffectatallonstudentsnotin-terestedoronGreenTeam.Thereisalotofbehind-the-scenesactionsthatstudents won’t know about. How-ever,Ithinkthemajorityofstudentsgoingtowanttobepartofthis.” Overtime,acarbonfootprintwillbecome more familiar to everyone.“We’regoingtoputthingsinplaceto make it easy for you to contrib-ute to thesolution to theproblem,”saidCowlishaw.“Some thinksinceit’sglobalitwon’thaveimpact.I’mnot concerned about that. Maybe Ishouldbe,butI’mnot.” Jessica Bernhardt is a sophomore majoring in journalism. You may e-mail her at jessica.bernhardt@sckans.edu.

All four providers offer someform of service in Winfield, so it just seemstobeamatterofdiscoveringwhichoneworksbestforyouinre-lationtowhereyouspendthemajor-ityofyourtime. Peggy Williams is a sophomore majoring in English. You may e-mail her at peggy.williams@sckans.edu.

• College to become environment friendly

Photo by Monica Springer/Collegian photographerA crowd listens to John McCutcheon at Bluegrass Sept. 15. This was the 36th year for the Walnut Valley Festival, held the third weekend in September.

Team forms

Quality of cell phone service varies

Photo illustration by April McCormick/Collegian photographerLeeAnne Whiteman, business administration senior, uses Verizon Wireless. She has service on campus but no service in Burden.

Many providers have poor service in Winfield

to go green