Month: October 2006

Bring on the HEAT!

By Madeline Helser 

Imagine that you’re walking back to your dorm from class in 30-degree weather. What is the one thing you are looking forward to? Being warm, perhaps? Did you ever stop to think about just where that heat is coming from and how much energy is being put into providing it? The Greening Committee asked that question, and instead of a straightforward answer, they received a tour of the basement of Main Building’s energy facility, more commonly called the boiler room.

As we arrived in the basement of Main Building, Stephen Sprague, the guy responsible for the heating, air conditioning, and plumbing, etc., showed us the ins and outs of the boiler room.

First, he showed us the new additions made in the energy facility. There are two new air separators, two expansion tanks, and bundles. The cost of all of the new equipment in Main Building was around $30,000.

The air separators are two yellow tanks that separate the air from the water in the expansion tanks. Previously, air would enter into the water tanks and stop the water from moving. This was obviously problematic. Because of this, they needed to attach a garden hose to the expansion tanks (which were located in the attic, as air travels to the highest point) in order to expel of the excess air. This made the two new air separators a replacement for the garden hose as well as a new-fangled contraption for our heating facilities.

The two new expansion tanks are now located in the boiler room. The old ones used to be in the attic, but because of the new air separators, they are now located in the basement. The expansion tanks are to contain water as it heats and expands in volume, which is then used to heat the building.

The bundles are basically a fancy radiator. Regulated by a thermostat, they convert steam into hot water. There are two burners that heat the water that is converted into steam. The steam needs to be converted into hot water because it is easier to control the temperature of water than steam. The boiler water is kept at 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Why is all of this important you ask? Well, because the building is heated by steam!

The water that is converted into steam is heated by natural gas. Antioch buys around half a million dollars worth of non-renewable petrol products each year. This gas comes from the Gulf of Mexico. It is shipped first from New Orleans, LA, to Dayton, OH, then on to us. Fun Fact: The shipment of the gas from Dayton to here is actually more expensive to ship than when it is shipped from New Orleans to Dayton. This is because the shipment of the gas from Dayton to here is regulated by the government, and the price of the shipment of the gas from New Orleans to Dayton is determined by free market trading!

Antioch usually buys a “winter strip� of gas for the period of October through March. The gas used to cost less that $2.50 per decatherm, or one million cubic feet of gas. Now, the gas costs $6.12 per decatherm. At one point last winter, the cost crept up to $16!

Where is all of this gas kept you ask? Well, I can tell you! According to Peter Townsend, natural gas is injected and stored in old oil fields all over the country. Right now, there is more natural gas being stored in our country than there has ever been before.

The main question being asked by the Greening Committee is, “Can we regulate thermostats in the dormitories in order to avoid losing heat to open windows if it becomes too hot?� Well, we can’t do anything in Mills and Spalt, because the heaters are located directly underneath of the windows. We can’t control the ones in Birch because they are mounted wall units. In North, although the heat is not controllable by the students, the thermostats respond to the exterior temperature of the building. So, for instance, if a window is open in North, although heat is escaping, the temperature of the inside of the building does not increase just because it becomes colder as a result of the window being open. In South Building, separate thermostats were installed around 10-12 years ago making the temperatures controllable.

The Greening committee and all who attended the tour were educated on how the heating system works, and how little control we have over it. So if you don’t want heat, but you don’t want to waste energy, the obvious solution is to wear bundle up and to go about your merry ways!

Editor’s Note: The Record office is very, very cold. If anyone has an extra space heater lying around, we could use it desperately.

From The Editors

20061020-luke.jpgDear Community,

Today I’m going to use this forum to reiterate my favorite excerpt from Antioch College’s mission statement for those of you who have yet to receive your student handbook.

“The primary mission of Antioch College is to empower students: the academic curriculum provides students with a broad liberal education that challenges their values and perspectives as well as their knowledge, ability to question, and general intellectual consciousness about the society in which they live; the cooperative education program provides life and work experiences which develop independence, confidence, and selfmotivation; and community structure offers significant responsibility for the social, cultural, financial, and policy issues that govern college life.�?

That last bit is my favorite. All that stuff about significant responsibility within the community seems at odds with the view that AdCil should be solely advisory, and that Community Government should be more educational than functional. What’s a primary mission anyway? We’re in the black, and our administration’s values are financial, not ideological. Still, I think its important that we remember what this place is really about, that we cling to the tradition of libertarianism and open mindedness that created Antioch, and not let some money grubbing suit destroy Horace Mann’s dream.

Love (mostly),

Luke

20061020-foster.jpgDearest Community,

What a long week it’s been. Hope I saw you in AdCil, Community Meeting and ComCil. If not, there’s always next week. Have you submitted to Livermore Street yet? Time is running out! The deadline is the 15th of November, but we are planning a party during which we will raffle off prizes for those who have submitted on the 11th of November, so get that work in!

Perhaps the reason the week has been so long is because it’s eighth week. I, too, though on co-op feel this pressure. Indeed, the demon lives. I would guess that this week were approximately eight inches long, at a speed of .5 snail.

At this point, I’m guessing you’re well aware that once again I saved this letter for last and have nothing to say. If you are, you are right. Nothing. That’s what I have to say. I’m tired, that’s what I have to say. I hope you like the Record. I hope you write us a letter. I hope you write a haiku.

Have you considered working for the Record? There are two co-op positions open for next term, and there should be seven FWSP open for staff. Doesn’t that sound exciting. Maybe that’s just because it’s next term and that means this term would be over. Indeed.

Foster Neill

Layout Editor

A.E.A. Student Murdered in High Profile Homicide

5 students lived together during their internships Cuiabá, Mato Grosso and worked at the Uníversidade Federal do Mato Grosso (Biolab)

5 students lived together during their internships Cuiabá, Mato Grosso and worked at the Uníversidade Federal do Mato Grosso (Biolab).
Back – Left to Right: Jason Watts, Wesley, Jorge, Danielle Klinkow (’06) Front – Left to Right Anne Fletcher, Michelle Gardner-Quinn, Late Larabee (from COA)

By Anne Fletcher and Madeline Helser

Late on the evening of October 5th, 21 year-old Michelle Gardner-Quinn went out barhopping with her friends in downtown Burlington, Vermont for a birthday celebration and never returned.

Michelle began her academic career at the University of Vermont. After being enrolled in 5 universities in the past 4 years, Michelle finally thought she had found the school for her at UVM. A senior, she majored in Latin American Studies and Environmental Science.

Michelle went on Antioch’s Brazilian Ecosystems study abroad program last fall where she became close with a group of Antioch students. At the time, she was attending American University in Washington, D.C. and in the processing of applying to transfer to UVM. According to Anne Fletcher, a fourth year student who also was on the trip, Michelle clicked well with the Antioch students, who encouraged her to transfer here.

According to police, at around 2:15 a.m., Michelle left her friends at the bar to walk back toward campus. The Police believe that her cell phone wasn’t’ working, and she stopped to use a man’s cell phone; ironically to tell her friends she was alright. A six-day search followed Michelle’s disappearance. This caught the attention of both the national and local media. Dozens of University of Vermont students searched the greater Burlington area and the surrounding countryside searching for any signs of her.

On the afternoon of Friday, October 13th police found Michelle’s body on the side of Dugway Road, after receiving a tip from a concerned resident. In a press conference on the eleventh, Burlington Police Chief Thomas Tremblay said they found her on the side of a rural road in Richmond, about 15 miles southeast of Burlington.

A suspect, identified as 36- year-old Brian Rooney of nearby Richmond, is being held on unrelated charges of sexual assault, attempted sexual assault and lewd and lascivious conduct with a child while authorities continue their probe into what they concluded was her homicide.

Anne Fletcher recalls that during the first week of orientation in Key Largo, Michelle and four Antioch students (Anne, Jason Watts, Leland Reilich, and Danielle Klinkow (’06) had a fun time drinking tequila and skinny-dipping in the lagoon they weren’t supposed to. Leland recalls, “She just had a pretty good spirit that we all related to pretty quickly. Real open and honest.� Anne remembers her as being laid back and intelligent, on top of her life and where she was headed, and very on point with her devotion to social change. “It seemed like the kids from Antioch were on a different from the kids from the other colleges in respect to our ideals and social interactions, and Michelle was a part of that,� said Anne.

For their internships during the last month of the trip, Michelle, Anne, Jay, Danielle, and Kate Larabee(a student from College of the Atlantic) all lived together in a house in the Brazilian city of Cuiabá in the heart of the Pantanal and worked at the Biology Department at the Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso. There, in that house, was where the students all connected. Anne even expected to be roommates with her some time in the future after college.

“I felt her values were real,� said Anne.

The media attention around her disappearance and death has brought a feeling of surrealism to the whole incident. Police are investigating her death as a kidnapping and murder, and have identified Brian Rooney, a 36-year-old construction worker who resides in Richmond as a suspect, said the October eleventh press release. Brian Rooney has been identified as the man seen in a video taken from a jewelry store security camera talking with Michelle at approximately 2:30 a.m. the night she disappeared. The court papers that were filed last Monday said that he denied having anything to do with the incident when police interviewed him. Judge Kathleen Manley set his bail at $150,000 until the full court proceedings take place. Rooney is pleading not guilty.

For those who knew her, the facts are still sinking in. Anne said, “It brings me back to the reality of our lives now, the beautiful people we have around us, and how much they mean in our lives. I really regret that I can never talk or organize or celebrate with Michelle again, but I am so happy to have known her and that we created the great memories that we did.� Michelle will be greatly missed by all who knew her. The world is missing a wonderful, beautiful woman, and we should grieve, but also realize the possibilities and beauty in life, in ideals, in passion, and in friends.

Dispatches from Community Meeting

By Kathryn Leahey

This week did not see a run-of-the-mill community meeting. Most noticeably, Levi B. was not joined by his usual cohorts. With one home sick and the other preparing for the Black and Tan bash, Hope and Melody were filled in for by the highly capable Ms. Sarah Buckingham. Beyond the obvious lineup change, more community members, that is, most of them, were conspicuously absent. McGregor 113 held a, sadly, farless- than-capacity audience when Levi called the meeting to order. Nagging Statement Number One: People, for the love of Pete, come to community meeting! By not going, you are only costing yourself some delicious berry-flavored ice cream and the opportunity to argue and make your voice heard. I have heard innumerable people around campus complain about community government being taken less seriously by this administration. If you want shared governance, take a flipping share in it. Do not submit to apathy.

The meeting began as usual with our weekly round of gratitude. Luke Brennan thanked the Record staff and all those community members who have contributed letters to the paper as of late. Levi B. thanked all those who volunteered in the CG office after the desperate plea for help was made on First Class. All those involved with Ann Shine’s piano recital, Community Day activities, the Pennell House art party, and Daniel Farrell’s speech were also thanked. Dennie Eagelson and Janice Kinghorn were thanked for the procurement of the aforementioned delicious raspberry ice cream. Additionally, two student-cum-nurses and an anonymous flower-bearing friend rounded out those on the receiving end of the community’s thankfulness.

As usual, Cil updates were not terribly extensive. As of the time of the meeting, AdCil had yet to meet for the week. However, we did learn the ComCil is continuing their discussion on REB versus RAB and are planning on establishing a RAB restructuring committee to meet the college’s present needs.

Most of the announcements made this week were repeat reminders of things announced at our last meeting. Once again, the Uprising Tour will be taking place on campus soon with a special performance by Drive By Shiavo, a speaker from the ACLU will be coming on the 23rd, and the Alumni Board will be here this weekend. Applications for CM and for Pennell House coordinator, Record editor, and C-Shop manager are still due on the 27th of October and 2nd of November, respectively. In new news, On Saturday at 8 pm, there will be a chem-free harvest-time themed party at the Wellness Center, and the Queer Center is having a meeting on Monday. We also learned as a community that Meghan Pergrem does, in fact, love Erin Winter, as was announced by the former this Tuesday. Then into the blender we went: it was time to Pulse. Our major topic this week was the issue of respect, especially that for CG, its officers, and its things. To begin, CG has office hours for a reason. We are all encouraged to use them. If no one is there during office hours and you need assistance, call the office at PBX 1050. More pressingly, as you may know, the old piano available for use in the Union, which may or may not have been slated to be thrown away, was destroyed at some point late last week. Levi commented that a general sense of entitlement may be cited as the reason why someone would do something like that. Nagging Statement Number Two: I’d like to send a big WTF to anyone involved in this senseless act of vandalism. What’s the point? Why destroy something that belongs to CG and, thus, in a sense, all of us? Step up. Take responsibility. Use this opportunity to change the bratty, privileged attitude that allowed you to do this in the first place.

After learning that a possible Cactus Liberation Front has stolen a giant cactus from Units 1, the conversation on this topic drifted to possible solutions to the problem. Jeanne Kay and Perry have started a fundraising effort to replace the piano. If you’d like to help, talk to one of them. Beyond possibly replacing the instrument, several schools of thought emerged about what ought to happen in regards to the situation. The idea that the pieces of the broken piano be turned into art was presented, although some felt that this should only occur if the piece of work would still be able to produce music. The idea that “people [the vandal(s)] must know they will suffer� was put forth, but others called for greater positive thought and action. Amanda felt as though the destruction of the piano can be contributed to a phenomenon referred to as the “tragedy of the commons� and suggested that a sign stating “My name is Betty. I’m a piano. Take care of me!� posted on the piano may have prevented such an occurrence, an idea that provoked giggles from the crowd but will have Levi looking into the idea of naming other things around campus. Finally, I think most people’s feelings can be summed up by what Nicole stated near the end of our short meeting: “We don’t have nice things. We don’t really have [pause] things…but don’t destroy ‘em, because we sure as hell aren’t going to get new things.� Until next week, Antiochians, to paraphrase Joe Cali, try not to break anything. And don’t fall down.

Vital Affirmations at a CG meeting

To the Community:

I appreciate Community Government’s strong affirmation of students’ right to freedom of expression. By unanimous vote at last week’s meeting, ComCil rejected a proposal by the Lawry administration to appoint an editorial board to oversee the Record.

In my view, the administration proposed this board to further its plan to censor and control what is printed in the Record — and thus to censor and control the students of Antioch College. As adjunct faculty mentor for the Record staff, and as a longtime friend and admirer of Antioch College, I applaud ComCil’s defeat of the administration’s proposal.

ComCil’s meeting was also an affirmation of the great value of Antioch’s unique system of shared governance, in which students play such a vital role.

This was the first ComCil meeting I’ve attended in several years, and I was deeply impressed — as I have been so many times in my 25-year association with Antioch — with the quality of the work that was done. And the way it was done: a room full of students deeply committed to Antiochian values interacted cohesively, respectfully and responsibly to serve the best interests of the college. Like the Record, shared governance is a both an important service to the Antioch community and a deeply significant educational experience. How can it be that this administration is so bitterly opposed to both?

Sincerely,

Don Wallis