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Our Top 5 best and worst reasons to be back in the Forest
Women’s basketball in the midst of successful season
TheStentor.com
VOL 123, NO. 11
THE STENTOR
Publishing since 1887
Magna Est Veritas Et Praevalebit
JANUARY 29, 2009
Forester TV expects to overcome delays, launch in March
JUSTIN TARDIFF NEWS EDITOR news@lakeforest.edu Complications with the College’s cable television wiring have delayed the launch of e.Team sponsored network Forester TV, which will now be available exclusively through the Internet. Before winter break, posters around the Caf promoted a Jan. 11 launch date, but the project is now months behind schedule. “The project should be nearing its finishing stages in March,” explained Mario Baldassari, President of Student Government, in a campus wide e-mail to students. “Having a college TV station is an opportunity for groups including the TRC, the Stentor, and the communications department,” explained Dean Chris Waugh, e.Team advisor. TJ Sargent, e.Team President, and Pat Doggett, Program Director of the Mohr Student Center, came up with the idea last summer, after stumbling across Residence Life Cinema, a division of St. Louis-based Swank Motion Pictures. Residence Life Cinema provides large schools with a dedicated cable channel to show movies and to broadcast the campus radio station along with continually updated student announcements. “We were just sitting around the office and it came up; let’s do something about this,” said Sargent. Waugh explained that the delays are a result of poorly organized cable wiring on campus. While Comcast may have been able to provide a channel for Forester TV, company representatives said that the campus was not closed-off from the rest of the city of Lake Forest. Therefore, the channel would have been available to all Comcast subscribers in the city, which would have violated the agreement with Residence Life Cinema. Instead, several weeks before students returned, e.Team went back to the drawing board and proposed an online solution instead. “I think by having this channel online, more students will be able to access it because not everyone has a TV in their room,” explained e.Team Vice President Lorena Kennedy, who will be responsible for Forester TV’s upkeep. “Most people do have a computer, or access to one, though. Having this sort of thing on the Internet is groundbreaking, and we are one of the first colleges to do this - it’s very exciting!” To allay concerns that the online channel will slow down Internet speeds for students surfing the web, Waugh confirmed with
New cell phone tower to be built, campus Verizon customers thrilled
ALLY BAIN DEPUTY COPY copy@lakeforest.edu To improve cell phone coverage on campus and provide more safety for students and faculty, Lake Forest College contracted with cell phone carrier Verizon last Friday to build a tower behind the Facilities Management building on Middle Campus, according to David Siebert, Director of Facilities Management. “I see a lot of students standing outside, holding up their cell phones, and trying to make calls,” Siebert said. “The main reason for the tower is to provide cell phone coverage for these students.” Freshman Rachiny Samek, who has Verizon, came to school thinking she would get service because the Web site said the campus received fine service. “Once I got on campus, I realized that Lake Forest College was essentially a dead zone,” Samek said. “Luckily, Verizon is building a tower, and that means that I most likely won’t have to switch services.” Many students have had trouble making and receiving calls on campus due to poor reception. “One of my friends had Verizon,” said junior Derek Atchley, “and it was really annoying because I could never get a hold of him, and when I did, all I could hear was static.” Some students decided to switch services rather than stay with Verizon. John Stanescki, sophomore, switched to AT&T because he receives better coverage. “I had Verizon my entire freshman year, and the only place where I could get a decent signal was the fifth floor
Graphic courtesy Facilities Management
The above rendering shows what the College’s new cell phone tower will look like when positioned alongside the existing infrastructure. of Young,” he said. Emily Watts, freshman, has found a few places where she can receive reception with her Verizon service. “I usually get service everywhere except for when I’m underground or in the pool of the Sports Center,” she said. “I also don’t get service while standing in line at the café, but I do get service in the seating area, which is really weird.” “The best places I’ve found to get reception are on the soccer fields, behind the hockey rink, and I can get texts when my phone is behind my pillow,” said freshman Brooke Romansky. Though the cell phone tower has been in its planning stages since November 2007, Siebert said the contract should be signed by Friday, and the tower should be operational by mid-April. The tower, which will be 90 feet tall, is not the first to be built on campus, but it will certainly be the tallest, Siebert said. Prior to the Verizon tower, AT&T constructed a tower on the chimney of Facilities Management, but it was decommissioned shortly after AT&T’s merge with Cingular. Verizon operates the wireless network with the largest number of subscribers. Consequently, Lake Forest College chose it to build the cell phone tower on campus, in order to accommodate the most students. Though Verizon will be the primary tenant, other carriers have also expressed interest in space, and Siebert is still in discussion with other carriers. A number of students have complained to Verizon due to problems with reception on campus, which resulted in Verizon losing customers. As a result, many students were let out of their Verizon contracts early, Siebert said. Still, some students have stayed committed to Verizon despite the intermittent reception on campus. Sophomore Molly Shaw has had Verizon for the past two years as a Lake Forest student because the service is strong at home in Utah, and when she uses it anywhere outside Lake Forest. “I have thought about switching to another wireless company such as AT&T, but the cost of switching didn’t seem worth it,” Shaw said. “It is much cheaper for me to stay on Verizon because the rest of my family has it, so the unlimited calling and texting between Verizon customers is very helpful.” Along with better reception, the new cell phone tower also will increase safety on campus, according to Rick Cohen,
See Verizon on page two
College combats new asbestos in Harlan
KATHERINE LYMN ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR news2@lakeforest.edu Facilities Management at Lake Forest College recently found another outbreak of asbestos in Harlan Hall. David Siebert, FacMan director at the College, said that the material rarely reaches hazardous levels because the College immediately assesses and attends to any asbestos found on campus. FacMan employees who were looking to install a boiler to help fix and prevent steam leaks found the substance on a tank in Harlan Hall. Brennan’s Peb, an asbestos assessment company, determined the asbestos needed to be removed. Asbestos is a naturally occurring, high strength material; due to its resistance to heat and various chemicals, certain types of the substance can be used as building textiles, says the Environmental Protection Agency’s Web site. But if friable and airborne, the substance can be inhaled and cause diseases such as Asbestosis, lung cancer, and Mesothelioma. turb the asbestos and make it airborne and therefore hazardous. Asbestos has always been present within Lake Forest College buildings and boiler rooms. But Siebert negates labeling it a problem, as the outbreaks have been an “almost yearly” occurrence on campus since he began working at LFC. For example, explained Siebert, over winter break a steam line in Blackstone Hall required some repairs. “There is a steam line problem within a wall in Blackstone that needs the wall opened up in order to repair it. Most likely, there is asbestos around the pipe enclosed within the wall,” said Siebert. The steam line problem and the possible outbreak, harmless because it is enclosed by a wall, will be dealt with come summer to avoid disrupting student activity in the area during the school year, he said, assuring that “any asbestos enclosed within a wall does not pose a health threat unless it is disturbed.”
Photo by Kathryn Appelhans
Asbestos removal company Brennan’s Peb is tackling the newly discovered asbestos in Harlan Hall. The company owner calls Lake Forest College “the most proactive places I’ve ever dealt with.” Siebert explained that asbestos can be either friable or nonfriable. If asbestos is friable, it is disintegrating into a powder that can become airborne, and possibly ingested. Asbestos needs to be removed if it is friable, or if work is being done in the area with asbestos; this can also dis-
See TV on page two
See Asbestos on page two